The Common Good Podcast

Byron Wien, Vice Chairman of Blackstone and Joe Zidle, Managing Director and the Chief Investment Strategist at Blackstone come together for an unprecedented conversation on the economy.  Join us with these legends of the industry, experts of Wall Street and icons in the economic world for a special forecast on the economy and the markets given the many unusual factors - Covid, a new Administration and the continued political divide, raging unemployment, etc. What are we likely to see in the next few months and what can we hope for?  

Byron Wien is Vice Chairman of Blackstone’s Private Wealth Solutions group where he acts as a senior adviser to both the Firm and its clients in analyzing economic, social and political trends to assess the direction of financial markets and thus help guide investment and strategic decisions.   

Joe Zidle is a Managing Director and the Chief Investment Strategist in the Private Wealth Solutions group. He has been on CNBC and is known for his ability to spot trends in reams of data.    

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Join us for a conversation with NYT editorial board member Jesse Wegman as we discuss his book and possible reforms of the presidential vote and the Electoral College. The way we vote for the only official whose job it is to represent all Americans is neither fair nor just. Major reform is needed―now. Isn't it time to let the people pick the president?  

Twice in the last five elections, the Electoral College has overridden the popular vote, calling the integrity of the entire system into question―and creating a false picture of a country divided into bright red and blue blocks when in fact we are purple from coast to coast. Even when the popular-vote winner becomes president, tens of millions of Americans―Republicans and Democrats alike―find that their votes didn't matter. And, with statewide winner-take-all rules, only a handful of battleground states ultimately decide who will become president. Jesse Wegman draws upon the history of the founding era, as well as information gleaned from campaign managers, field directors, and other officials from twenty-first-century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College.  

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As the Trump Administration comes to an end, there is a burning question we are all wondering: can the President pardon himself, and will he? An idea that has never been tested, we bring you one of the strongest legal minds and experts in this area, Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney and MSNBC contributor and Harvard Law professor and contributor to The New Yorker, Jeannie Suk Gersen to discuss this topic and help us full understand the practicality to this never-before-tested idea.   

Joyce Vance served as the U.S. Attorney for North Alabama and was one of the first women nominated to the role of U.S. Attorney under President Obama. Her career has made her name be credited with pursuing public corruption prosecutions with integrity. Vance adopted a "smart on crime" approach to violent and recidivist crime, intending to prosecute the most significant cases facing the district so that communities would be safer. As U.S. Attorney, she was responsible for overseeing all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions in north Alabama, including matters involving civil rights, national security, cybercrime, public corruption, health care and corporate fraud, violent crime and drug trafficking.   

Jeannie Suk Gersen is a professor at Harvard Law School and is known for her specialty in a large range of topics (including constitutional law, criminal law and procedure). She has written countless articles three books, one of which, At Home in the Law, was awarded the Law and Society Association's Herbert Jacob Prize for the best law and society book of the year.   

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Author David Paul Kuhn, whose book The New York Times recognized as one of the "100 Notable Books of 2020,” and former Virginia Senator Jim Webb to discuss the drift of the white working-class voter to the Republican party and the enormous impact on U.S. politics. Together, they’ll help explain what drove the white working-class away from the Democratic party and towards Republicans and how that schism continues to drive class conflict and political polarization today. In light of the most recent election, this will surely be a timely and essential conversation. The conversation will be moderated by the brilliant journalist Clyde Haberman.   

Election expert and past TCG speaker, Charlie Cooke, described David’s new book, “The Hardhat Riot: Nixon, New York City, and the Dawn of the White Working-Class Revolution“ as well-written, painstakingly researched,...an important book that gives life to history and explains the divorce between working-class whites and the Democratic Party”.    

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Join us for a discussion with the New York Times bestselling author of The Gatekeepers, on his new book The Spymasters as we get a a remarkable, behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to run the world’s most powerful intelligence agency, and how the CIA is often a crucial counterforce against presidents threatening to overstep the powers of their office.   

Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities—spying, espionage, and covert action—take place on every continent.   

The Spymasters resonates with themes from today’s headlines. It is the story of how CIA directors have stood up to rogue presidents, from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump. It was Director Richard Helms’s refusal to carry out the Watergate coverup that brought down Nixon; in the scandal over President Trump’s shakedown of Ukraine’s president, it was a CIA whistleblower who brought Trump to the verge of being removed from office. Most important, in times of national crisis, including deadly pandemics, the CIA director must be the president’s, and the nation’s, honest broker of information.  

Chris Whipple is one of the most accomplished multimedia journalists of our era: a writer, documentary filmmaker, and speaker. He is a multiple Peabody and Emmy Award–winning producer at CBS’s 60 Minutes and ABC’s Primetime.   

Kai Bird is an author and columnist who has written on numerous topics and won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography on Oppenheimer. His books have received critical acclaim and popular success, including The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, which was a New York Times best-seller. His memoir, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.  

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While the last four years in America have certainly felt crazy and chaotic, the best-selling author of the recent book, “Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History,” Kurt Andersen, contends that the insanity actually started much earlier, beginning back in the 1970s. Joined by rock-star Vanity Fair journalist, Joe Hagan, Kurt traces where America went wrong, what exactly happened and how we can get back to a more equitable, prosperous and ultimately more sane America.   

Who are the evil geniuses and how did we get here?  

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After approximately two years, $14 billion (yes, you read that right) and countless hours of our attention, the 2020 campaign is finally coming to a close. While it seems Joe Biden may have won the presidency, as of writing this, several states are still counting ballots and President Trump is still contesting the results. We’re bringing you a panel that truly meets this historic moment. Our all-star panel includes The Cook Report founder, Charlie Cook, Co-Founder of the Lincoln Project, Rick Wilson, and former Senator and SNL writer Al Franken, with award-winning journalist for The Washington Post, Jonathan Capehart, as our moderator.   

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After Election Day, what should we expect? The list of possibilities is keeping experts on both sides of the aisle getting ready to take action.  The Common Good hosts, “The Election That Could Break America” with Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Bart Gellman, and moderated by Tom Rogers.  You will not want to miss Gellman dive into his most recent much-talked-about article in The Atlantic and his insights into the unprecedented scenarios that we may encounter post-election.   

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In keeping with the theme and general ethos of 2020, we had a few last-minute changes. Fortunately, the inimitable author, strategist and pollster Doug Schoen stepped in, along with the razor-sharp election whisperer, Rachel Bitecofer, as well as the brilliant, Emmy award-winning  journalist, Cynthia McFadden, as moderator. And we’re lucky they did, as there’s plenty to unpack from the final (*phew*) presidential debate.   

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Covid-19 has changed all aspects of our society throughout the entire country and the world, and continues to do so today. How did we get here? What should we expect now? And where are we going? Are just some of the questions on the forefront of everyone’s minds. Join The Common Good for Covid-19: Then, Now, and What’s to Comes moderated by HHS Deputy Asst Secretary for Health Rear Admiral (ret) Susan Blumenthal, MD with Dr. Daniel R. Lucey from Georgetown University and a leading scholar in infectious diseases, and former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden as we learn about the origins, the spread and what the future will be like as a result of Covid-19.    

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