Political conversations around tech tend to gravitate toward AI, chips, and advanced robotics, but these topics are far removed from what most Americans think of as the types of technology that power their daily lives. For most, tech is about cable, or streaming, and how they connect to the internet.

Former U.S. senator Cory Gardner, now president and CEO of NCTA, the Internet & Television Association, joins Oren to walk through the political dynamics tied to these issues. They discuss why access to spectrum is so important and make sense of the future of 6G, and explore why China presents a threat to not just Americans' wireless access but also their data security. They close with a discussion on how to keep kids safe on the internet, and how feasible age-gating really is.

At the 2026 New World Gala, American Compass introduced Reclaiming American Citizenship, a new "project for the people" to confront the existential task of revitalizing what it means to be an American citizen, not merely as a matter of who gets to be here, but about the responsibilities inherent in that privilege. Compass policy advisor Chris Griswold joins Oren to make sense of what doing so means in practice on the eve of America's 250th anniversary.

They discuss how a fuller understanding of being a citizen breaks from the libertarian notion that liberty is merely a question of maximizing the freedom to do what one wants, and how a commitment to the latter has done so much damage to our body politic. And they outline the pillars of how to reclaim our citizenship, and what America could look like if we did.

Further reading:

• Reclaiming American Citizenship, American Compass

After decades of sacrificing economic security for the sake of the free market, American policymakers are returning to the wisdom that economic security and national security are inextricably linked. At American Compass’s 2026 New World Gala, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined Oren to explain why this shift is vital for the national interest.

They talk through how COVID didn’t create but revealed our supply chain crisis for vital resources, and what the Trump administration is doing, from pharmaceuticals to military readiness and beyond, to restore preparedness. Finally, they discuss the “raw deal” so many young Americans have gotten in today’s “lottery economy,” and how to restore hope in the system.

Further reading:

• Reclaiming American Citizenship, American Compass

Pope Leo XIV’s highly anticipated encyclical marks a significant milestone in the debate around artificial intelligence and what it means for the future of humanity.

To analyze the document and its many implications, Oren speaks with American Compass policy director Chris Griswold, Foundation for American Innovation executive vice president Max Bodach, and Leah Sargeant, editorial director at the Institute for Progress and author of Other Feminisms and The Dignity of Dependence. The group discusses to what extent AI can exhibit human characteristics, the Pope’s surprisingly strong takedown of universal basic income, and what the encyclical says about the new technology’s potential role in labor relations.

They conclude by looking at how the United States should approach AI development, competition, and regulation, and how to balance those competing interests while keeping an eye on global allies and adversaries alike.

Foreign policy debates have taken center stage in the second Trump administration, from U.S.-China relations to the ongoing war in Iran. 

To assess the situation, Oren speaks with A. Wess Mitchell, who co-founded The Marathon Initiative along with Elbridge Colby and served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs during the first Trump administration. Cass and Mitchell discuss the renewed intensity of foreign policy debates, particularly on the Right-of-center, the posture of the United States during the post-Cold War era, the Iran war, and the correlation between economic and military power. 

They conclude by looking at the future of American power abroad, and what it will take for the U.S. to maintain its leadership in global affairs amid both a rising national debt and increased defense spending. 

The Democratic Party continues to reel from its 2024 electoral defeat and struggles to connect with the American people. But the party remains captured by special interests and sacred cows that its leaders refuse to confront.

Few understand this dynamic better than Ruy Teixeira, author and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and founder of The Liberal Patriot, a now-defunct newsletter. He and Oren discuss what happened to TLP, formerly a source of difficult truths for Democrats, how the advocate class has moved the party so rapidly to the left, and why the Democratic establishment so stubbornly refuses to learn anything new. They conclude by looking at what it all means for the future of both parties, and whether there's an off-ramp for the polarization dominating American politics.

What’s going on in Iran? Who controls the Strait of Hormuz? And why did America get involved in the first place?

Bradley Devlin, politics editor at the Daily Signal, joins Oren to try to make sense of the current state of the U.S. military operation in Iran. They discuss why President Trump deployed troops in the first place, the various ways a peace deal could shake out, and what path forward is really in the interest of the American people.

The affordability crisis has become Washington’s favorite talking point, but the solutions proposed so far won’t solve it. From capital gains tax cuts pitched as relief to renewed enthusiasm for Chinese investment as a growth strategy, many policymakers are circling the problem without addressing its core drivers: stagnant wages, distorted incentives in trade and industrial policy, and an economy that has stopped reliably producing gains for working Americans.

Chris Griswold, policy director at American Compass, joins Oren to discuss how affordability is less about marginal tax tweaks and more about rebuilding the productive foundations of the economy. They also explain why proposals to deepen economic integration with China ignore the strategic and structural realities of a state-directed competitor. Finally, they explore what a more honest political message would look like heading into the midterms, one that connects affordability to wages, industry, and national strategy rather than short-term price relief.

The fight over net neutrality was supposed to determine the future of the internet. Advocates of net neutrality warned that repealing it would lead to censorship, higher costs, and the collapse of an open web. But nearly a decade later, those predictions never materialized, and the debate has taken on new significance as broadband, 5G, and AI become central to economic growth and national power. What was once treated as a moral emergency now looks more like a case study in regulatory overreach and political panic.

Ajit Pai, former chairman of the FCC, and current CEO of CTIA, joins Drew Holden to revisit the net neutrality battle and assess its legacy. They discuss why the backlash became so intense, what actually happened after net neutrality’s repeal, and how the policy shift affected investment in broadband and wireless infrastructure. They also explore the stakes of today’s telecom landscape, from the race with China over 5G and role of spectrum in AI development, and consider what it will take for the United States to maintain its technological advantage.

Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, but our ability to measure what these systems can actually do—and the risks they may pose—has lagged behind. Headline benchmarks and viral demos offer snapshots of a system's performance, but they say little about how AI behaves in complex real-world settings or how much autonomy models can sustain over time. As these systems take on more consequential roles, the challenge is not just building more powerful models, but developing credible ways to evaluate their capabilities and limits.

Chris Painter, president of Model Evaluation and Threat Research (METR), joins Oren to discuss how researchers are building new frameworks to assess AI systems and what those efforts reveal about the trajectory of machine intelligence. They explore “time horizon” as a measure of autonomy, the difficulty of evaluating alignment and sabotage risks, and the constraints posed by compute and organizational bottlenecks. They also consider what it will look like when AI systems begin contributing even more to their own development and their capabilities outpace our ability to measure them.