We all need to stop worrying about who the Democrats will nominate in 2028, argues Bradley. Unless it's someone from the far Left, the main candidates are essentially interchangeable — structural conditions, not the picayune distinctions between them, will determine the outcome. Plus, Bradley and Hugo discuss what makes life worthwhile, trade basketball stories, and discuss why starting a band might be the answer to everything that ails us.

Discussed on today's episode:

Start a Band, Even if You’re Terrible, by Hugo Lindgren, The New York Times (03/22/26)

Why Sweden punches above its weight in music, by Henrik Karlsson (03/21/23)

The Web of the Game, by Roger Angell, The New Yorker (07/13/81)

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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How did the Democratic party drift so far from the real interests of the poor and working class it historically championed? Legendary journalist Joe Klein joins Firewall to argue that the rot starts with his own generation — Baby Boomers — who indoctrinated two generations of Americans in ideals that have never worked in the real world. Bradley and Joe find surprising common ground on three big fixes.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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On the eve of a college trip with his son, Bradley reflects on the murky future that kids are facing and how education will have to be massively rethought. Plus, he thoroughly debunks the concept of the all-powerful Israel lobby, chastises the Mamdani administration for policies that will adversely affect quality of life, and contemplates how to manage the level of difficult news we let into our lives.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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One big reason that the Left has grown so powerful in the city, Bradley argues, is that the Partnership for New York — the group that should have been fighting for centrist, pro-business interests — never showed any inclination to play politics. That could be changing now that Steve Fulop, former three-term mayor of Jersey City, has taken over as the Partnership's CEO Fulop joins Firewall for a spirited debate on what it will take for business to punch its weight in political matters and reinvigorate the pro-growth agenda.

Discussed on today's episode:

What Steve Fulop Needs to do to Make the Partnership for New York City Relevant and Effective Again by Bradley Tusk, November 5, 2025

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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Progressives make life hard on the rest of us, Bradley argues, by claiming to champion the poorest Americans while supporting policies that reflect their own biases and selfishness. But his ultimate conclusion is that far-left behavior, for all its flaws, is fundamentally and recognizably human — driven by a mix of self-interest, genuine idealism and the universal desire to belong to something meaningful.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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Even when your issue won't win votes, there are ways to make your political opponents pay. Bradley sits down with his friend and partner, Tusk Strategies CEO Chris Coffey, to break down how the firm helped a climate group go after Rep. Chip Roy in a Texas Republican primary. Running ads on Truth Social and Rumble, they attacked him for not being MAGA enough — a strategy that produced a roughly 20-point swing and forced him into a runoff without mentioning climate change once. Bradley and Chris also dig into New York City's budget crisis, the upcoming 2026 congressional primaries in New York, and what it will take for Mayor Mamdani to succeed in a job that demands pragmatism over purity.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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Why do a small minority of selfish, fear-mongering people wield so much power over the rest of us? Bradley argues that most of us want essentially the same things: meaningful work, healthy families, a little fun, and some peace. The problem isn't human nature — it's broken systems that reward the loudest and most divisive voice. He also weighs in on whether Trump's instincts are well suited to the Middle East, why the AI companies fundamentally misread their political situation, and what makes Los Angeles his ideal "composite city."

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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Does fixing America's $5 trillion healthcare crisis start with taking a single picture? Bradley sits down with Andrew Lacy, founder and CEO of Prenuvo, to explore how full-body MRI scans are shifting healthcare from reactive to proactive — and why that shift could be the most important change in medicine today. They discuss Lacy's 80/20 approach to personal longevity (sleep first, everything else follows), his vision of patient-driven healthcare spending and why AI promises to make world-class diagnostics accessible to everyone.

Firewall listeners can go to prenuvo.com/firewall to get $300 off a scan from Prenuvo.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].

Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

But in taking a principled stand against the Pentagon and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, it will gain valuable trust with customers, argues Bradley, and that means winning the war. Plus: Jack Dorsey's 4,000-person layoff at Block is a sign of things to come as AI efficiency tools displace white-collar workers — and nobody has a real plan for what comes next; why the addiction claims being made in the lawsuit against Meta are "1,000 percent accurate" but that doesn't mean it's illegal; is Mayor Mamdani governing as a pragmatic big-city leader or showing his progressive stripes; a Chuck Klosterman theory about political movements that Bradley mostly finds fault with; and the case for cautious optimism about the Mets pitching staff.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

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Early childhood education has quietly become one of the most successful — and bipartisan — reform movements in the country. Elliot Regenstein, author of Readiness: Preparing State Early Childhood Systems for a Brighter Future, sits down with Bradley to explain how it's working. They dig into why the system is more adaptable than K-12 or higher ed, which states are leading the way, and what the Trump administration's push to dismantle the Department of Education could mean for the most vulnerable kids.

This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.

Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].

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