The American Compass Podcast

As outside groups continuously file lawsuits to slow down the Trump administration’s agenda, many Americans are wondering: how much power does the president rightfully have?

Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law professor and co-author of the Executive Functions Substack, joins Oren to break down the judicial landscape less than two months into the second Trump administration. They discuss the modern presidency and constitutionalism, limits on executive authority, and everything from impoundment to more aggressive theories of the unitary executive.

America isn’t the only place where the political Right is beginning to move in a new direction.

On this episode, Michael Gove, the legendary former Conservative UK MP and cabinet secretary and current editor of the Spectator, joined for a discussion of trade, tariffs, and where conservatism is headed across the Atlantic.

They talked through the challenges faced by the British Right to combat the legacy of free trade, which mirror fights in the American Right today. Following Vice President Vance’s remarks in Munich about our European allies, the two discuss how a nation founded to “get away from continental entanglements” and “ancestral quarrels” should approach foreign policy.

For more, watch Gove and Cass’s dramatic victory in a debate at the recent Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’s conference in London about whether “protectionist policies make us poorer.” (Spoiler alert: they do not.)

Every app on your phone brags about being “AI-powered.” Policymakers and pundits predict that the technology will soon dominate every aspect of life. But what’s actually happening with AI, and what can America do to “win” the global race to activate the tech’s promise?

On this episode, Colin Kahl, Biden’s former undersecretary of defense for policy and now co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, breaks down where things stand. He and Oren talk through what the AI debate gets wrong, whether “winning” the tech race with China is even a sensible goal, and the policy decisions that confront today’s leaders.

Further reading:

• “Is It Interesting to Say That AI Isn’t That Interesting?” by Oren Cass 
• “Here’s Why Oren Is Wrong About AI,” by Abigail Ball

Remember when the student loan market melted down during the George W. Bush administration? No? That’s because Karl Zinsmeister, Bush’s chief domestic policy advisor, kept it from happening. Every administration encounters this kind of near-calamity and relies on the steady hands of staff to address them.

On this episode, Zinsmeister joins to tell that story for the first time, and explains how the Trump-Vance administration should think about its popular mandate. He and Oren talk about the ascendant populist wing of the Republican Party, why Zinsmeister believes it isn’t as different from the spirit of Bush 43 as some might think, and what Trump’s return portends for the country and conservatism.

Further reading:

• Backbone: Maverick essays in praise of middle America—Why American Populism Should Be Welcomed, Not Feared by Karl Zinsmeister.

On a special, tax-focused episode of the Talkin’ (Policy) Shop, chief economist Oren Cass and policy director Chris Griswold join guest host Drew Holden to talk about the brewing fight on Capitol Hill about taxes.

The group makes sense of what we learned from the soon-expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the malign legacy of the anti-tax fundamentalism that has animated the Republican Party for decades, and what the American people actually want from the tax code. Finally, they dive into American Compass’s new collection of proposals for fiscally responsible conservative tax reform.

Further reading:

• No Tax Cut Is Free, American Compass
• “The Fringe Cause That Could Derail the Republican Agenda,” by Oren Cass, New York Times

Just in time for the Super Bowl, Jude Russo, managing editor at the American Conservative joins Oren to discuss the proliferation of online sports betting and the harm done by the technology.

The two discuss the damaging consequences—from increased bankruptcies to upticks in domestic violence and beyond—we've seen in states that have allowed the practice and why it shouldn't be treated as just an innocent pastime. Finally, they talk through what can be done to rein in the now-ubiquitous apps undermining fans' enjoyment as we approach sports' biggest night.

Further reading: "It's Not Too Late to Ban Online Sportsbook" by Jude Russo.

On this episode, Leah Sargeant, author of Other Feminisms, joins to debunk claims blaming pro-life state laws for the death of expecting mothers in the wake of the Dobbs decision.

She and Oren Cass discuss the misleading reporting that ignited these false allegations and diagnose the real problem: the often tragically poor quality of maternal health care. The two unpack why the allegations not only side-step the real conversations needed around supporting pregnant women but also endanger all expecting mothers.

And they talk about what a realigned conservative movement should do to support mothers during and, critically, after their babies are born.

Further reading:

• "Pro-Life Laws Didn't Kill These Women" by Leah Sargeant 

On this episode, Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Patrick T. Brown joins guest host and American Compass managing editor Drew Holden to discuss how COVID's remote-work baptism-by-fire led to a surprising boom in babies born during the pandemic.

The two talk through the lessons that companies should take away from the experience in order to support working parents as well as why these companies, and society more broadly, should be expected to help share the burdens placed on new parents. And as President Trump returns to the White House, they take stock of the GOP's realignment on how best to support families.

Further reading:

• "Remote Work Created a Baby Boom. Can We Keep It Up?" by Patrick T. Brown

Why would any sane parent subject themselves to the high costs and grueling hours of travel sports teams for their kids?

In this episode, Michael Brendan Dougherty, senior writer at National Review, joins to discuss his feature essay on the subject for our just-launched magazine, Commonplace. As a dance and travel baseball dad himself, he explains that these teams are often the only ways kids and parents today can form high-trust communities in an atomized world much different from the one Dougherty grew up in.

He and Oren also talk about the conservative media universe more broadly, and how Commonplace can offer an alternative to the legacy publications resistant to the changing interests and priorities of ordinary Americans on the new right-of-center.

Further Reading:

• "In Defense of Travel Teams" by Michael Brendan Dougherty.

President-elect Trump campaigned on a fresh economic platform prioritizing ordinary Americans, departing considerably from the Old Guard Republican Party that came before him. But how much of that innovative thinking will actually become policy in his second term?

Oren Cass appeared at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting on a panel alongside former Council of Economic Advisors Jason Furman (Obama admin) and Richard Burkhauser (Trump admin) as well as economist Kimberly Clausing, to make sense of what will come next, and the forces that could try to slow down the president-elect’s changes.

This is the second in a two-part series from the discussion, focused on immigration and financial policy. To listen to part one, about trade and industrial policy, click here. And you can read the New York Times story about the panel here: "Economists Are in the Wilderness. Can They Find a Way Back to Influence?"