Conversations with Coleman

This week we're joined by historian Niall Ferguson to help me make sense of Iran’s unprecedented wave of protests. We talk about why this moment feels different to previous uprisings, the regime’s growing crisis of legitimacy, the limits of sanctions, and how the long shadow of 1953 still shapes everything in Iran. We also look at what Trump’s “maximum pressure” could mean, and the risks posed by any form of U.S. intervention.

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Thor Halvorssen is a Venezuelan-born human rights campaigner and the founder of the Human Rights Foundation. His life as an activist began after his mother was shot and wounded by pro-regime forces for trying to expose election fraud under Hugo Chávez, an event that turned his work from theory into something painfully concrete.

In this episode we talk about how Venezuela’s dictatorship operated more like a cartel than a state, why the regime survived despite losing elections, and how oil, narcotics, and foreign alliances sustained one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the hemisphere. We also discuss why Venezuela is not another Iraq, how major Western media outlets repeatedly misread the regime, and what a realistic political transition might look like.

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Gelet Martínez Fragela is a Cuban activist and journalist and a close watcher of Venezuela who’s tracked how authoritarianism hollowed out a once prosperous country.

Gelet talks about the warning signs, the lies that sustained the regime, and why President Maduro’s trial in the United States matters far beyond Venezuelan borders. Gelet also answers the question: Why were Cubans responsible for guarding President Maduro? And how will the country function in the wake of the U.S.’s shock intervention?

For Gelet’s personal story, listen to our episode from October: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-cubas-police-state-from-ration-cards-to-black/id1716338488?i=1000733663296

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Dr. Anna Machin is a British evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Oxford who studies the neuroscience and psychology of love. Anna and I talk through what science actually says about attraction, attachment, and long-term relationships, and why so much modern dating advice gets human nature wrong. We get into dating apps and how they shape behavior, whether love at first sight is real, what attachment styles do and don’t explain, and what science says about polyamory. We also discuss common myths about pheromones, love languages, and whether having kids really makes people happier.

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My producer Poppy Damon and I are back for another Ask Me Anything. In this bonus episode, I answer your questions on President Donald Trump and the attention economy, declining birth rates, psychedelics and mental health, AI and the future of work, social media and kids, religion, meritocracy, and more. 

As 2025 wraps up, it felt like a good moment to step back, take stock, and talk through the questions many of you have been thinking about. Thanks for listening this year—and here’s to more Conversations like this one in the year ahead.

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Tim Miller is a political commentator and former GOP strategist who became one of the most outspoken “‘Never Trump”’ conservatives in the country. Tim and I talk through the Republican Party’s transformation, from the guardrails John McCain tried to hold in place, to the anger and conspiratorial thinking that helped fuel Donald Trump’s rise. We get into what it was like to be an openly gay Republican in the 2000s, why Trump’s favorability is collapsing, and the administration’s bizarre new policy of blowing up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. I also ask him about his recent interview with journalist Olivia Nuzzi and more. 

Bundle FOX One and FOX Nation to stream the entire FOX Nation library, plus live Sports and Entertainment at our lowest price of the year.

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My guest today is entrepreneur and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. He’s now facing something most tech business people never imagine: being personally targeted by a sitting president’s Department of Justice. Reid and I talk through the rise of politically motivated prosecutions, the erosion of trust in institutions, and how social media and AI have accelerated our collective slide into suspicion. We get into deepfakes, vaccine skepticism, the inequality debate, and whether billionaires should exist at all. Reid also walks me through what it’s like to wait for an indictment he believes is purely retaliatory. This is a conversation about democratic guardrails, not partisan talking points—and about what happens when political power becomes personal.

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In today’s episode, I sit down with former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy, now a columnist at the National Review. He is someone whose legal commentary I’ve followed closely for years. Andy has consistently offered analysis of the major legal battles shaping American politics. In our conversation, we cover everything from the rise of modern lawfare to the prosecutions of both Donald Trump and his political opponents. It couldn’t feel more timely; last week, a federal judge dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Andy provides sobering analysis for what all of this means for the future of the justice system.

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Today I’m joined by Warren Smith, a teacher and filmmaker. He created a viral video challenging a student to explain why they believed J.K. Rowling was a bigot. It sparked a national conversation and ultimately cost Smith his job. We talk about that fallout, compare our experiences on college campuses during the height of wokeness, dig into Trump’s attempts to reshape elite universities, and explore what might actually fix higher education.

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Today I sit down with journalist Astead Herndon, whose award-winning political reporting has appeared in The New York Times, on CNN, and now in Vox, where he serves as editorial director.

Astead and I explore how President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory reshaped our own views of American politics. We disagree—cordially—about how much of Trump’s rise was driven by racism, and what that moment revealed about the country. From there, we discuss why more black voters have been moving to the right, and what that shift says about ideology, class, and generational change.

We also dive into Astead’s take on New York City politics, including Zohran Mamdani’s victory, touching on debates over Israel and Palestine, and Mamdani’s pivot away from “Defund the Police” and his evolving stance on rent control. 

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