Donald Trump has big plans for the economy. His Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent has set an ambitious triple goal of 3-3-3 - three percent growth; a three percent fiscal deficit and a three million a day increase in US oil production. But as Trump prepares to take office clouds are forming over the economic outlook with market interest rates up sharply on growing fears about lingering inflation and the federal deficit. 

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, economist and former dean of Columbia Business School Glenn Hubbard and Gerry Baker discuss whether Trump can achieve his goals, whether the Fed will be cutting or raising rates this year, and how Trump’s police’s may help or hinder growth and price stability.

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Free Expression's final episode of 2024 features some of Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker's best interviews of the year, including conversations with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Trump National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Republican Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise and Richard Fontaine and Robert Blackwill, foreign policy commentators and co-authors of “Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power.” 

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Donald Trump’s political comeback, the decline and fall of Joe Biden’s presidency, Kamala Harris’ big defeat and continuing geopolitical earthquakes in the Middle East all contributed to one of the most tumultuous years in recent history. What does a first draft of history tell us about the significance of 2024 and what may come next? 

On this special year-in-review episode of Free Expression, Commentary editor and podcast host John Podhoretz talks with Gerry Baker about the dramatic changes at home and abroad, politically, geopolitically and culturally and looks ahead to the big trends in 2025. 

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Has the law become the ultimate political weapon to be wielded by Republicans and Democrats? To the surprise of almost no one, Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son Hunter, the scope of which was far more sweeping than most legal experts expected. The move comes after four years in which Democratic prosecutors and Biden's Justice Department have been pursuing Donald Trump through the courts. Now President-Elect Trump has promised a major overhaul of the FBI and the Department of Justice. His choice of Kash Patel to lead the FBI suggests this will be a top priority, but Patel has also unnerved people with his calls for retribution against some of Trump's opponents.

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, conservative attorney Mike Davis tells Gerry Baker why Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are the right people for the respective jobs they’ve been chosen for, what Hunter Biden’s pardon means for the legal future for the entire Biden family, and what kind of reforms will be part of a second Donald Trump administration.

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Donald Trump has been quickly filling his cabinet and senior administration positions with a flurry of nominations to his cabinet. The key members of his economics team are still unclear, however. On Tuesday we learned Howard Lutnick will be nominated for Commerce Secretary, taking him out of the contest for Treasury, where the names of Scott Besent, Kevin Warsh, and Marc Rowan continue to circulate. Who will get the top jobs and what will they mean for economic policy in the second Trump term? 

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Fox Business host and former chairman of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow discusses with Gerry Baker the Trump economic policy team, and explains why he decided not to pursue being Treasury Secretary himself after meeting with Donald Trump, why extending the Trump tax cuts will be the “first order of business” when the new administration takes over, and why tariffs are the way to fix a broken global trading system. 

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President - Elect Trump is rapidly rolling out his team for his second administration.  Controversy swirls around some of his picks, most notably his selection of Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr for health and human services secretary. But he plans some of his biggest changes for the national security apparatus. On this episode of Free Expression, The Wall Street Journal's Editor at Large, Gerry Baker sits down for a conversation with former Secretary of Veterans Affairs under the previous Trump administration, Robert Wilkie. Sec. Wilkie is heading up the Pentagon transition team and tells us about some of the new administration’s radical plans including removing some of the top military officers and overhauling the culture of the Pentagon.  

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In one of the greatest comebacks in political history, Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, winning all seven battleground states and seemingly scoring a popular vote victory over Kamala Harris. And with a Republican majority in the Senate and possibly the House as well, a second Trump administration will come into office with the expectation of a robust legislative mandate to roll back the progressive policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and chart a new populist course. 

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley gives Gerry Baker an inside look into how this victory was secured despite Donald Trump’s felony convictions and other challenges, how Trump’s outreach to the Latino community become a major factor on Election Day, and how the Republican party is once again the “Donald Trump, America First ” party.

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With less than a week before polls close, the presidential race seems as close as ever and the contest for control of Congress is also on a knife edge. In a race this competitive almost anything could swing the vote one way or the other - from Joe Biden calling Trump voters "garbage” to the Democrats' traditional advantage in last minute get out the vote efforts.

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, veteran pollster and political consultant Doug Schoen tells WSJ editor at large Gerry Baker about the messages being sent by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s closing statements, why Trump might have an edge in the battleground states, what both candidates might do to grab remaining undecided voters and what the contentious post-election climate might look like and how long it will continue.

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With less than two weeks left to Election Day, the polling in the battleground states suggest the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is a dead heat. But there's a growing sense among the political classes that it seems the Republican candidate has a small but decisive edge. Early voting trends, voter registration and suggestions from both campaigns all seem to point - by a whisker - in Trump's favor. So what's the mood among Republicans? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, North Dakota Governor and one-time candidate for president Doug Burgum tells Gerry Baker why he is confident of a Trump win, but also talks about his concerns about the integrity of the ballot and what might happen in the days after the election if it is as close as it seems.  

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The economy, stupid? Or maybe not? As Americans cast their votes for President they will be in part both passing judgment on the economic record of the last four years and signaling the type of policies they want for the next four. Donald Trump is promising solutions through tariffs and a range of tax cuts, while Kamala Harris says she will offer handouts for first-time homebuyers, middle-class tax cuts and what she calls “the opportunity economy.” More importantly Republicans point to inflation and interest rates higher than they were four years ago and say Bidenomics has failed while Democrats claim continuing growth and low unemployment vindicate their policies.

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, economist and head of global research at the Carlyle Group Jason Thomas tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker about how it would take “an outside shock” for the economy to fall into recession, where interest rates might move next and why Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on China could be a successful strategy.

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