The Political Conversation

Democrats like myself have exhaustively criticized Donald Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.  But coming from Democrats like me, folks say: “So what?  You’re just another Democrat who opposes Trump.  Big deal!”  

My guest  today is an economist with impeccable conservative credentials — Jessica Reidl. 

She is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, specializing in budget, tax, and economic policy. She previously served as chief economist for Senator Rob Portman (R‑OH) from 2011 to 2017, and worked as Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth. She spent a decade as the lead research fellow on federal budget and spending policy at the Heritage Foundation, served as director of budget and spending policy for Marco Rubio’s 2016 campaign and was the architect of Mitt Romney’s 10-year deficit-reduction plan during the 2012 campaign. 

In sum, Riedl is a heavyweight, and one we can and should listen to -- especially now.

A handful of ultra-wealthy donors have quietly fueled a campaign to swing San Francisco politics to the right -- according to Julie Pitta, the founder of The Phoenix Project. 

In our conversation, she maps the forces transforming San Francisco, from tech billionaires funding ballot campaigns to the rise of YIMBY politics and a new mayor few had heard of a year ago.

How has this city, long seen as a progressive beacon, become ground zero for privatized governance?

Warning: no discussions of reopening Alcatraz included. 

Chris Lehmann, Bureau Chief for The Nation in Washington, D.C., objects to the easy characterization of Trump as a populist by both left and right-leaning media, which misunderstands the term grossly. He explains that the idea of Trump as a populist is a tool in Trump's narrative—one that suggests he’s fighting for “the people.” This plays right into his hand, giving him a cloak of legitimacy that obscures his authoritarian nature.  

The past weeks' barrage of executive orders are keeping most of us, including those in the media, feeling underwater. But we don't have to wait for Trump to set the tone, or the narrative. Instead of responding to Trump, Chris and I discuss what Democrats should be demanding to get control of the narrative right now.  Let me know if you agree with our idea.

The dust has settled. The inauguration is around the corner.

In an effort not to disconnect, I turned to a wise friend for some insight and levity -- Mo Fiorina.

A professor at Stanford, Mo is one of the most respected political scientists in our country, and he's navigating this season with an informed, blunt perspective and --thank God-- some lightheartedness.

Pundits are, at the end of the day, motivated by attention. Their takes need to provoke and intrigue -- which is why, when looking for insight on this election, I prefer to turn to a people who are motivated instead by the drive to understand the moment, and to embed it in its context: Academics.

I sat down with John Mark Hansen, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Hansen recently wrote a piece of post-election analysis that hit the mark for Project Syndicate, so I invited him onto TPC to continue the conversation.

The last time Democrats won an election BIG was in 1964. Why?

Just a few days out from the November 5 election in which the victor will win by one or two percentage points, that question becomes pressing.

Timothy Shenk, an historian and assistant professor at George Washington University, who for years was co-editor of Dissent Magazine, has an answer and it is one that must be heard regardless of who wins the election on November 5th.

Mike Madrid, a leading Latino political strategist and co-founder of the anti-MAGA Lincoln Project, urges us not to underestimate the power of the Latino vote. Latino voters well outnumber the margins of error in most swing states, giving them significant power in this election. 

As we witness Republicans attempt to tie Biden's record on immigration to the Harris campaign, this conversation is pressing and relevant. Listen now. 

If you tuned into the debate, you may have done what I did —  wince, pace, and try to process the second-hand embarrassment. Even the most hardened partisans are having a hard time continuing to advocate for another four years for our rapidly declining President, even as Biden himself has rarely shown any signs of interest in stepping aside.The argument that Biden should step aside has been refueled by the debate, but well predates it. Even before this debate, Biden was losing. 

No matter what comes next, no matter who our candidate will be, we have to understand where Biden went wrong. 

Molly Ball, a Senior Political Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal covering the White House and Congress, zooms in on Biden's cross-pressured position between the more left-leaning elements in his voting coalition, and the centrist and swing voters that have decided the last few elections, and are likely to do so again. We discuss Biden's moves and mis-moves on immigration and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Biden is making a move on immigration — he has to because, as it stands, it's the Republicans issue to win on. Will it matter? For both the election, and at the border, this remains an open question. 

It's tempting to think of immigration in black and white terms — or, rather, in terms of the left and the right. But what Hein de Haas, author of "How Immigration Really Works" and a leading researcher in the field, teaches us is that many of our common beliefs about immigration — coded red and blue — could benefit from a hard look at the data.

His work shines a light on the connection between migration and the decline of the US middle class, while explaining that we got to where we are not because of the invisible forces of a nameless group of migrants, but because of the very real, very American, policy choice we have made. 

Lewis, a notable and long-standing member of the Harvard faculty, worries about the state of American education — what do we want our students to learn? For him, too much emphasis is placed in course catalogs on intersectionality, and too little on a more canonical foundation of understanding. 

For Lewis, the campus protests are a mere symptom — we are "reaping what we have taught."

Harry Lewis is the Gordon McKay Research Professor of Computer Science at Harvard, and was the Dean of Harvard College for 8 years around the millennium.