Mark and Carrie

An announcement from Mark and Carrie

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Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• 2024 election update: Biden struggles to get his message to Americans, while Trump’s hush-money trial might be playing into his strengths
• What to think of US presidential polling 6 months out from November’s election
• SCOTUS term wraps up
• The muddled political impact of campus protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza
• Can the dollar be too strong? 
• Tariffs, foreign competition, reviving national industry – is it the 1930s or 1800s? 
• The TikTok "ban” in Congress - national security priority, or tech extortion play?
• Mark and Carrie are very nice to dogs

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• What Truth Social going public means for Donald Trump’s finances
• How Trump is navigating the complex politics of abortion within the Republican Party
• Looking ahead to congressional special elections, and how they could affect Washington going into the 2024 election
• Congress is back from recess…but will they do anything? 
• Why Democrats’ much-hoped-for ‘Biden bump’ has yet to materialize
• Inflation, wages, price-setting, and the pleasantly informative world of econo-Tik Tok
• The Israel-Hamas War six months in, and what’s next for Israel, Gaza, and the Biden Administration
• Russia blames Ukraine for a devastating attack in the suburbs of Moscow
• Is this the year women’s college basketball entered the mainstream?
• The Kate Middleton, AI, and epistemic nihilism 

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• Democrats' and pundits' concern over the growing realization that President Biden is old
• Why, despite Biden’s weaknesses and the tough map for Democrats in 2024, control of Congress will likely still be up for grabs in November
• The Alabama Supreme Court rules that frozen embryos are people, and the Republican Party's toxic politics of reproductive rights
• Why Trump’s legal troubles might not be as financially damaging as they seem…
• The continued tragedy and impossible politics of the War in Gaza
• Sanctions, military expenditures, global isolationism, and the forces shaping the Ukraine War two years in
• The UK’S dysfunctional economic agenda, part 78

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• Trump’s domination of the GOP primary, and what the MAGA-ficaiton of the GOP means for 2024
• The politics of Trump's legal troubles
• Making sense of America’s “vibe-cession” and disinflation
• Claudine Gay’s resignation as Harvard’s president, and the Right’s strange relationship to the Ivy League
• Where does China’s economy go next?
• Unpacking the calls to ban Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party
• Why is the UK trying to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda?
• The Super Bowl meets the Taylor Swift-Industrial Complex

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• Trump potentially gets removed from the GOP primary ballot in Colorado, and the risks of involving the courts in a presidential election
• How the politics of immigration will affect the 2024 race in the US
• Elise Stefanik grills University presidents on Capitol Hill, highlighting the thorny politics of Israel, Gaza, and free speech on college campuses
• The political economy of Argentina’s new president Javier Milei
• The Fed decides to hold interest rates steady, and the market reacts with…enthusiasm
• China’s economic slowdown, and the limits of growth in authoritarian societies
• Where the Israeli-Gaza conflict goes from here, and how it might affect US politics going forward
• Google’s loss in court to Epic Games, and American’s very mixed record regulating monopolies. 

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• The state of the Israel-Hamas War, and its geopolitical and economic implications
• Discouraging polls for Biden, promising victories of Democrats in November’s special elections – what does it mean for 2024? 
• The new Speaker of the US House does the same thing his predecessor got kicked out for doing
• Mark and Carrie push their Bible knowledge to the limit
• Xi warms up to the United States…a little
• Don’t worry about the UK – David Cameron is back! 
• David Beckham – more interesting than his looks would suggest?
• Mark doesn't think much about the Roman Empire

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• Grading Mark and Carrie’s Supreme Court predictions
• A disturbingly warm summer for all, and the financial repercussions of it being too hot to go outside. 
• Gender equality, austerity, and the financial time-bombs in English municipalities
• The Trump trial/campaign continuum
• Life under a gerontocracy
• Testing the West’s stamina for the War in Ukraine
• Unpacking the ‘immaculate disinflation’
• Google v US, and the “franchise-ization” of the American Economy
• Together, Mark and Carrie ‘Barbenheimered’

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• The US debt ceiling deal: nobody won, and it was all based on a deep ignorance of how the economy actually works
• DeSantis goes peak geek and launches his presidential candidacy with on a glitchy Twitter Spaces™
• Will Trump’s future criminal charges help or hurt him at the polls?
• Predictions on the Supreme Court’s final cases of the term, including decisions on environmental protection, affirmative action, and student loans
• Where does the US-China relationship go from here?
• Mark and Carrie wonder what AI is thinking
• The next demoralizing phase in the War in Ukraine. 
• A surprise twist: good news!

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Brown University, share their take on the news.

On this episode:

• Biden, Trump, and the upcoming “remaquel” to the 2020 election
• Fox settles with Dominion, fires Tucker Carlson, and will be just fine
• The debt ceiling crisis: America’s ‘Brexit’?
• Clarence Thomas is very corrupt, but will face no consequences
• Diane Feinst—wait, have we talked about anyone under 80-years-old on this episode?!
• King Charles III is crowned, and no one seems to care
• Mark and Carrie try to end on a positive note. They fail.

Learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts