Interesting Times

By New York Times OpinionSociety & Culture News

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Interesting Times episodes

November 05, 2025 Mamdani’s Victory Is Less Significant Than You Think
Does Zohran Mamdani’s win mean a new dawn for the Democratic Party? Not exactly, Ross Douthat argues. In this mini-episode of “Interesting Times,” Ross explains that the New York mayor’s office has historically been a “springboard to nowhere,” rather than a precursor for national politics.
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
5 min
October 30, 2025What Palantir Sees
Who’s afraid of Palantir? The company’s chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, joins Ross Douthat for a conversation about what the shadowy company actually does — and the thorny political and ethical questions it faces. They also discuss the new era of collaboration between Silicon Valley and the military, a personal project for Sankar, who was recently commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.
01:37 - So, what does Palantir do?
07:45 - The “kill chain”
13:27 - The tech company’s relationship with I.C.E.
18:09 - What happens to privacy?
25:30 - Palantir and Israel
27:22 - Sankar’s personal military journey
34:43 - Silicon Valley’s militarization
43:09 - TITAN, A.I. and the “Iron Man” suit
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
59 min
October 29, 2025 Taylor Swift’s Trad Turn
Is Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” the soundtrack for the Trump era? Self-titled “conservative dad” Ross Douthat thinks so, and explains why in this mini-episode of “Interesting Times.
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
5 min
October 23, 2025The Next Economic Bubble Is Here
Is the artificial intelligence revolution keeping the entire economy afloat? This week on “Interesting Times,” Ross talks with Jason Furman, an economist from the Harvard Kennedy School and a contributing writer for Times Opinion, about how investors, policymakers and consumers should think about the boom — and potential bust — of the fastest growing segment of the American economy and look to past bubbles for answers.
01:12 - Okay, so are we in a bubble?
08:51 - Historical comparisons of past bubbles
12:45 - The case for an A.I. bubble
22:07 - The case against an A.I. bubble
29:44 - What if it bursts?
34:15 - The economic health of the Trump administration
45:08 - “I'm reasonably optimistic.”
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
54 min
October 16, 2025Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era
Justice Amy Coney Barrett is playing the long game. In this week’s “Interesting Times,” she walks us through the current court’s most controversial rulings, why she believes that her originalist interpretations are resistant to ideological pressures and why she’s not comfortable thinking of herself as a cultural icon.
02:19 - Balancing the personal and the professional
11:45 - The theory and practice of originalism
18:00 - Why was Roe. v. Wade overruled?
27:19 - Stare Decisis and Overruling Decisions
35:29 - “Judges are human and judges are fallible.”
42:49 - The Supreme Court is taking the long view
53:20 - The Court's relationship with the executive branch
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
1 hr 5 min
October 09, 2025He Believes America Should Be a Theocracy. He Says His Influence Is Growing.
Evangelical pastor and self-proclaimed Christian nationalist Doug Wilson has been preaching for decades that America needs to reclaim its Puritan past. But in 2025, he believes he’s “significantly” more influential. Does that mean America is closer to Wilson’s goal of theocracy? In this episode, nothing is off limits — even Ross’s own salvation.
01:36 - Doug Wilson's vision for a Christian nation
08:37 - Wilson’s ideal theocratic republic
19:12 - Theocracy and religious diversity
30:50 - Do women have rights in this new republic?
36:59 - Christendom and slavery
46:50 - How far does Wilson’s influence go in a “clown world”?
59:54 - Calvinism activism and quietism
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
1 hr 15 min
October 02, 2025Hasan Piker Is Flirting With the Revolution
The Twitch and YouTube star Hasan Piker understands what pushes people to commit acts of political violence. But does that understanding tip over into appreciation? In this episode of “Interesting Times,” Ross Douthat and Piker debate why Piker’s post-liberal rhetoric attracts criticism from the right (and results in the occasional platform suspension) and why Americans’ changing attitudes on Israel feed his “revolutionary optimism.”
02:14 - Life during and after Twitch
10:45 - The Hasan Piker worldview
15:57 - “Revolutionary violence”
20:13 - Is it hyperbole or incitement?
30:48 - Hasan’s Luigi Mangione coverage
41:35 - The danger in pushing taboos
51:52 - Anti-Zionist advocacy and Hasan’s Turkish background
1:08:00 - “Revolutionary optimism”
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
A full transcript of this episode is also available on the Times website.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
1 hr 14 min
September 25, 2025The Grand Strategy Behind Trump’s Crackdown on Academia
What is wrong with higher education in America? According to many on the right, a lot. This week, Ross Douthat talks to May Mailman, the lawyer behind President Trump’s battles with Harvard and Columbia, about the administration’s assault on the Ivy League and why “a glorification of victimhood” is changing the relationship between universities and the federal government.
02:51 - What is a “culture of victimhood”?
07:38 - Mailman’s political awakening
11:44 - Social media and protest culture in the 2010s
19:39 - The Trump administration’s strategy against universities
26:33 - The financial levers that could ensure compliance
36:09 - Ideological diversity and free speech
47:56 - How legal is all this?
52:25 - Higher education in 2030
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
A full transcript of this episode is also available on the Times website.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
1 hr
September 18, 2025Ezra Klein Is Worried — but Not About a Radicalized Left
Ezra Klein argues that the left desperately needs a unifying project — for its own survival and for the sake of the country. In this episode of Ross Douthat’s “Interesting Times,” Ross and Ezra assess the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and debate whether the left has taken a dark turn.
00:25 How liberalism became “uncertain and exhausted”
08:37 The void in the Democratic Party
12:21 Does progressive despair lead to radicalism?
15:04 “Violence is contagious"
19:24 Can the left be more malleable?
28:20 The hippies, Peter Thiel and technology
32:11 Does the American left need cosmic hope?
41:59 A vision of the “good life”
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
A full transcript of this episode is also available on the Times website.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
48 min
September 11, 2025 I was set to interview Charlie Kirk. Then he was assassinated.
In moments of political shock and horror, where can we turn? Ross was supposed to interview Charlie Kirk next month for the show and now offers his reflections on Kirk, his political movement and his assassination.
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
9 min