The Dispatch Podcast

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and David French to discuss the political battle over data centers and Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada.

The Agenda:

—Data center u-turn

—How data centers affect communities

—National security implications

—Misinformation about data centers

—The U.S.-Canada trade war

—Worth your time: Dolly Parton

Show notes:

—Megan McArdle’s podcast

—Wall Street Journal’s AI op-ed

—Fox News poll on data centers

—Why’d You Come In Here

—Dolly Parton's Johnny Carson song

—The Wailin' Jennys—Light Of A Clear Blue Morning

—Dolly’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson, and Mike Warren to discuss the U.S. crossing the $40 trillion debt threshold and the prospect of “growing our way out of it.”

The Agenda:

—Kevin explains how we got here

—Entitlement spending

—What would Paul Ryan do

—The DOGE effort

—Growing our way out of debt

—NWYT: Adulthood disappointments

Show notes:

—Kevin's Wanderland

—Kevin on the tragedy of U.S. debt

—Steve Hayes on DOGE

—"DOGE—the UNIPARTY killed it because it was working too well."

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Mike Nelson, and Kevin Williamson to discuss President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea, his “good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” and the U.S. munitions crisis.

The Agenda:

—Scaling back South Korea exercises

—Trump’s “relationship” with Kim Jong Un

—Abandoning Japan

—The U.S. munitions crisis

—Southern lane of the strait

—NWYT: The end of Colombia House mail-order club

Show notes:

—North Korea missile barrage

—Oil drilling in Greenland

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Steve Hayes is joined by Mike Warren, Jonah Goldberg, and Chris Stirewalt to discuss the future of the conservative movement ahead of the 2026 midterms and 2028 GOP primaries.

The Agenda:

—Subscribe to The Dispatch’s new newsletter, Next Right

—The war for the GOP

—Trump’s successor

—Ideological demography of Republicans

—2028 GOP primaries

—Mike’s conversation with Gov. Brian Kemp

—NWYT: Aspic

Show notes:

—Mike Warren on CNN

—How unpopular is Donald Trump?

—Boiling Frogs on non-MAGA Republicans

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Kevin Williamson to discuss the results of this month’s Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Michigan and the left’s shift away from the radical social justice positions of 2020.

The Agenda:

—Francesca Hong’s loss

—Abdul El-Sayed’s slim victory

—The limits of the far left

—The woke reckoning

—AOC: “Woke 1 was crazy”

—NWYT: A People magazine “exclusive”

Show notes:

—WSJ: “Midwesterners Show the Limits of the Far-Left”

—NYT: “A Stunning Loss in Wisconsin Shows the Limits of the Left”

—Megan’s Washington Post column on Wisconsin primary (Gift link)

—Jonah’s Wednesday G-File

—What Steve, Kevin, and Jonah have gotten wrong

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Mike Warren and John McCormack discuss the battle between moderates and populists in the Democratic Party and the abuse allegations against Republican Rep. Max Miller.

The Agenda:

—Michigan primary

—Minnesota and Wisconsin primaries

—Blue wave possibilities

—Max Miller allegations

—Trump’s support for Max Miller

—NWYT: The cost of a burrito

Show notes:

—Francesca Hong’s Culver’s tweet

—Francesca Hong’s Thanksgiving tweets

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg and Kevin Williamson to discuss Ross Douthat's departure from the New York Times to CBS News and reflect on the times in their careers where they got an issue wrong.
The Agenda:
—Who Will Replace Ross Douthat?
—MAGA representation in media
—Intellectual honesty vs. partisan loyalty
—Dangers of political journalism
—What Kevin's got wrong
—What Jonah's got wrong
—What Steve's got wrong
—NWYT: Good advice
Show notes:
—George Will: Defeating Trump should be top priority of conservatives
—Kevin: Why I Was Wrong About Head Start
—Steve's Florida piece
—Nick Catoggio: Which Republicans are deserting Trump? And why?

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, David French, and Mike Nelson to discuss the possible entrance of Russia and China into the Iran war and the possibility of unintentional escalation.

The Agenda:

—The War That Could Swallow the World

—Water system cyberattacks

—Putin and Xi’s calculations

—The Taiwan implication

—U.S. munitions stockpiles

—Trump’s madman theory

—NWYT: Trump’s golf title
The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson, and Megan McArdle to discuss the growing popularity of socialism on the left and Anthony Fauci’s testimony on Capitol Hill.

The Agenda:

—What is socialism?

—Polling on American sentiment toward socialism

—College dorm life as an ideology

—Tea Party redux

—When to start panicking

—Anthony Fauci’s testimony

—NWYT: Living too long

Show notes:

—Kevin on socialism

—Kevin on democratic socialism

—Occupy Wall Street’s puppet guild

—Jonah: We’re Not One Election Away From Ruin

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Mike Warren, and John McCormack to discuss Donald Trump’s obsessive push for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act and his resulting battle with Republican leadership in Congress.

The Agenda:

—Terminating the filibuster

—Is the SAVE America Act 4-D chess?

—Mike Lee’s suck-up strategy

—Is Trump joking about a 2028 run?

—Trump in the 2028 GOP primaries

—Will the SAVE America Act go anywhere?

—NWYT: The Odyssey and a return to theater-going

Show notes:

—Noncitizens voting in New Jersey

—Stephen Richer on the SAVE America Act

—Jonah’s G-File on The Odyssey (2026)

The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠.

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