Erin Murphy, Des Moines bureau chief for The Gazette, lists his top five Iowa political/governmental headlines from 2023 and uses his crystal ball to project the top five stories for 2024.

Scott Eyman, author of book Charlie Chaplin v America: When Art, Sex and Politics Collided, talks about Chaplin’s impact on the American film industry.

Veteran foreign affairs and Pentagon correspondent Tom Squitieri talks about the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East war, the hold on Pentagon nominations, US and European readiness and much more.

US Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-17) looks back on his first year in Congress and talks about bipartisanship, the economy, climate, AI and much more.

Steven Conn questions the idea of a single rural America that is “left behind” or in crisis and instead says there are many rural Americas and they have been shaped by the same forces that impacted the rest of the country. His book, The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is—And Isn’t also challenges the notion that rural America values capture the “real America” and why rural areas supported Donald Trump.

Marc Johnson, author of Mansfield and Dirksen: Bipartisan Giants of the Senate, talks about two senators, one from each party, who put aside partisan interests and worked together to pass historic legislation in the 1960s. It’s a timely story of true leadership that our current elected officials would benefit from examining.

Max Fraser, author of Hillbilly Highway: The Transappalachian Migration and The Making of a White Working Class, discusses the differences with other parts of the white, working class, misperceptions of this overlooked group, the role of country music, their political impact and much more.

Allison Jaslow, CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) talks about key issues facing our nation’s veterans, including the need for better leadership, the Afghanistan withdrawal, impact of the hold on US Military nomination in the Senate, the VA and veterans health care, and much more.

Gerry Baker, author of American Breakdown: Why We No Longer Trust Our Leaders and Institutions and How We Can Rebuild Confidence and former editor-in-chief at the Wall Street Journal, talks about growing distrust in government, big business, media and medicine, the widening gap between elites who control these institutions and the public, solutions to rebuild confidence and much more.

Josh Kraushaar, editor-in-chief of the Jewish Insider, author of Sunday Sneak at Axios, and FOX News Radio political analyst, talks about the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, the upcoming invasion of Gaza, the possibility of a wider Middle East War, rising anti-Semitism in the US and around the world, and much more.