Thomas Ravenel, the State Treasurer of South Carolina in 2007, is now a star on the reality TV show Southern Charm. In this engaging interview, we chat about the federal drug charges that removed him from office, where he would be if the charges hadn’t happened, his political views, and more. You’ll be surprised at the twists and turns that this interview takes as we make our way from Donald Trump, legalizing drugs, reality TV, and more.

Show Notes

• Why Thomas felt that Trump was going to win the election
• How he would have handled Donald Trump on the debate stage
• When his views started to skew more Libertarian
• Why he would make drastic cuts to the federal defense budget
• If he wants to run for office again or not
• Why he thinks drugs should be legalized
• About his drug issue and time in jail
• If he would ever run for president
• How he thinks Southern Charm has helped his image in South Carolina or hurt it
• Why his family didn’t want him to do Southern Charm
• What he thinks of our South Carolina politicians including Lindsay Graham
• Where he would be today if didn’t have a federal drug conviction
• Walking through how his conviction happened and why he thinks he was wronged
• Why he doesn’t regret doing Southern Charm
• Who he is actually friends with in real life from Southern Charm
• What to do if you find yourself in Charleston, South Carolina
• Why he is to the left of Democrats on many issues

Links

• Thomas Ravenel Wikipedia article
• Southern Charm on Bravo
• Fitsnews

David Garrow is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, best known for his biography on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. published in 1986. His new book is out in May, a comprehensive biography of America’s 44th president. In this episode, David discusses Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, as well as other current events including Trump’s election, the Supreme Court, and the current state of academia.

Show Notes

• What he was doing on election night and who he voted for
• How the rise of the Internet has dramatically altered US politics
• What David thought about the dossier and Buzzfeed’s publishing of it
• Trump’s Russia connection and if there are people in the intelligence community who are trying to take down Donald
• Trump
• Why there is no chance that Obama wiretapped Donald Trump during the election
• Why he thinks Gorsuch should be confirmed
• What has happened the the politicizing of the Supreme Court
• Why David thinks there should be a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices
• David’s rich understand of Justice Clarence Thomas
• How Barack Obama become a politician at the Illinois State Legislature
• What Obama would disagree with in this biography of him
• What he thinks about Barack’s reaction to Trump’s election
• Why David is disappointed in the current state of academia
• What happened when he won the Pulitzer Prize at 33 years old

Links

• Bearing the Cross
• Rising Star
• DavidGarrow.com

Alan Keyes gives a fascinating, wide-ranging, and passionate interview. From his life growing up as an Army brat, his time at Cornell and Harvard with Allan Bloom and Harvey Mansfield, to his presidential campaigns, Dr. Keyes gives a detailed account of his convictions and how he came to them.

Show Notes

• What values Alan Keyes learned growing up as an Army brat
• How he became an amazing orator
• About the speech he gave in High School about the Six Day War
• What was the important of Allan Bloom to his intellectual development
• Why he left Cornell University
• Why Alan Keyes thinks Uncle Tom is thought of in the wrong way
• How he ended up going to Paris for a year
• His experience during the Willard Straight takeover
• Alan’s move to Harvard
• How Harvey Mansfield influenced him
• Why he did not become a Senator or Representative
• The relationship between Trump and George Soros
• What happened to the Tea Party in Alan’s view
• What he has done in the decade since his last political campaign

Links

• 1969 Willard Straight Hall takeover
• Allan Bloom
• Harvey Mansfield
• Bill Kristol episode
• LoyaltoLiberty.com

Jamie Kirchick is a journalist and author who focuses on foreign policy and politics. He frequently writes for major newspapers and publications, but he’s here today to talk about his book The End of Europe. We talk about the rise of populism movements in Europe, how Trump’s attack on NATO effects European unity, and the danger Trump poses to a stable Europe.

Show Notes

• Why he was a never-Trumper
• How some of Trump’s actions can be attributed to his personality
• How the conservative media handled Donald Trump
• How Jamie K. describes his foreign policy worldview
• Is the Middle East ready for democracy?
• The lesson to be learned from Libya and Gaddafi
• What his book The End of Europe is about
• How Russia views NATO and Europe
• What he thinks about Trump attacking NATO
• Putin’s ultimate ambitions
• What European solidarity means
• Why Jamie K. thinks we need a European Union for a stable Europe
• The difference between the immigration problem in Europe and the United States
• What Europe looks like in 20 years
• How he became a journalist and a specialist in foreign policy
• Why it’s disturbing how far Alex Jones has come in 8 years
• Jamie K’s relationship with Christopher Hitchens

Links

• The End of Europe
• America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It
• The Plot Against Europe – article in Foreign Policy
• Christopher Hitchens
• Václav Havel
• Cry, the Beloved Country

Neil Howe co-authored the book The Fourth Turning, a book that was hugely influential on the world view of Steve Bannon, Trump’s top advisor. In this fascinating episode, Neil discusses the ideas behind his book, why he thinks history moves in cycles, and what Trump means for the world and its current cycle.

Show Notes

• The idea behind The Fourth Turning
• What a “Turning” is
• Why we are in the Fourth Turning and what is going to happen
• What Neil knows about Steve Bannon
• How the 2008 crisis was the beginning of the Fourth Turning
• What a Great Champion is
• How Trump works into this idea of cyclical history
• Why they decided to write the book
• When Turnings are not deterministic
• Why academic history is less relevant for people today
• What Neil can and can’t predict with his theory

Links

• The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny
• Generation Zero
• The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
• The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War

Martha MacCallum is the host of Fox News’ The First 100 Days, which covers the beginning of the Trump Administration. I talked with her at Fox’s studio about meeting Trump, why he is the only GOP candidate who could have won, and how his celebrity plays into how we view him. She talked about the role of the media in today’s political climate, the atmosphere at Fox News, and how she got to where she is in her career.

Show Notes

• Where Martha was on election night
• What Trump is like when the camera is not on
• How we’ve become a reality-TV nation
• Why Trump is the only GOP candidate that could have won
• How the Trump White House is doing so far
• Why so much of how we view Donald Trump is colored by how we knew him as a celebrity
• What to do as journalists knowing Trump regularly speaks in an exaggerated manner
• What the role of journalists should be in the Trump era
• About his CPAC speech
• How she got the 7pm slot on Fox News
• What is happening in the Democratic Party at this moment
• How the atmosphere has changed at Fox after Roger Ailes
• About Martha’s theater background

Links

• The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I
• Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission
• More about Martha MacCallum
• Martha MacCallum on Twitter

Hugh Hewitt is the host of the Hugh Hewitt show, an MSNBC contributor, and author of several books. He’s on the show today to talk with Jamie about his interactions with Trump and how Hugh thinks Trump is doing in his first week as President. They discuss Trump’s cabinet, his policies, and the recent immigration ban. Hugh also talks about what will happen in 2018 should Democrats gain control of the House.

Show Notes

• Hugh’s personal interactions with Trump
• What Hugh thinks of Trump’s first week
• What he thinks about the alt-right
• Why he doesn’t read Breitbart
• How Trump’s cabinet is doing
• What will happen in 2018 if the Democrats win congress
• How Trump could get impeached
• What he thinks about Trump’s immigration ban
• What Trump’s foreign policy is all about
• How Trump won the Republican primary
• What to do to become the next Hugh Hewitt
• Hugh’s career story

Links

• David Horowitz
• In But Not Of
• Ben Shapiro

In this episode, Jamie Weinstein talks with former director of the CIA General Michael Hayden about the Buzzfeed intelligence reports, Trump’s security picks, and more.

Show Notes

• What General Michael Hayden makes of the Buzzfeed article
• Whether or not parts of the report or true
• His views on the Russian hack of the DNC headquarters
• How Putin views the world
• What he thought of Rex Tillerson’s testimony
• What he thinks of Trump’s national security team
• How the CIA forecast the populist movements in the West
• Career questions for Michael Hayden

Famed radio talk show host, author, and conservative thinker Dennis Prager joins us on the podcast this week. We discuss his views on progressives and The Left, as well as his views on Israel and Jewish leftists. He talks about why he supported Trump in the general election even though he didn’t support him in the primaries. And we finished with what he says people should do to gain wisdom and educate themselves.

Show Notes

• Why Dennis was so happy the night of the election
• His take of the fight that happened during the election among conservatives
• Why he thinks The Left is the greatest danger to the United States
• How he was anti-Trump during the primaries
• What Trump’s position on Russia really is
• Why the conservative base is different than Republicans think
• Where he thinks Trumps stands on Israel
• Why Dennis thinks so many Jews vote democratic
• The only time that Dennis has ever raised his voice on his radio show
• How the media covered the 2016 election
• How to get more conservatives in Hollywood and academia
• His relationship with Adam Carolla
• How to be the next Dennis Prager
• What we do to gain wisdom, and how it is different than knowledge
• How Dennis taught himself how to conduct music
• Why there is too much power in Washington

Links

• Jonah Goldberg
• Alan Dershowitz episode
• Michael Oren episode
• Man’s Search for Meaning
• DennisPrager.com
• Prager University

A pioneer in the field of political blogging, writer Mickey Kaus is a liberal cut from a different cloth. He voted for Obama twice, then voted for Trump. He holds views that differ from democrats on issues like immigration, his signature cause at the moment. In this interview we discuss his views on Trump, why immigration is important to him, his failed Senate run, and more.

Show Notes

• What Mickey was doing on election night
• Why he cast his first vote for a presidential Republican candidate ever in Mr. Trump
• The policies that he is for that Trump put forth during the campaign
• Why immigration is one of his key issues
• How amnesty and border protection would work in Mickey’s view
• Mickey’s concerns about Trump
• Democrats that he would have voted for over Trump
• What he thought of the Obama presidency
• What he learned from his failed senate run
• How the media treated Trump during the campaign
• About his dinner with Matt Drudge
• His time being a political blogger for Slate