Conservative Conversation and Community
Who’s to blame for the great crack up of Obamacare repeal and replace? The importance of leadership. Some thoughts on Clay Kershaw, John McEnroe, a judo challenge, wealthy/powerful women and pretty men, or, vice versa, and Irving Berlin.
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Perry Link is one of the great China scholars of today. There have been two sides to his career: He is an expert on Chinese literature and language; and he has been a boon to Chinese dissidents. With Jay, he talks about Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel laureate and political prisoner, who died last week. And about other dissidents. And about various aspects of today’s China, and its relation to the West.
By the way, Jay mentions Professor Link’s famous essay “The Anaconda in the Chandelier,” which can be found here.
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Bill Browder, the man behind the Magnitsky Act and a tireless campaigner for human rights, joins to discuss the shady characters who met with Trump campaign officials last year. Browder knows them all, but his judgment is measured and cautious.
Jay and Mona also discuss whataboutism, the politics of jerseys, and slightly differ on the nature of Trump’s support.
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Throwing rules to the wind, Jay does a music program: a half-hour of music about summer, or related to summer. We’ll hear Mendelssohn, Webern, Barber, and others. There’s a girl named Jeannie involved, too (with light brown hair). This “Q&A,” or non-“Q&A,” is a midsummer night’s gift.
The playlist for this show may be viewed here.
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Frank Lavin has had a busy and interesting life. He worked for Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43. He was ambassador to Singapore. He is a robust free-trader. He is now a businessman. And he is the author of a book about his father: “Home Front to Battlefront: An Ohio Teenager in World War II.”
Jay picks his brain about an assortment of things, and Lavin’s brain is eminently pickable. A conversation about Reagan, Singapore, Japan, China, trade, the Republican party, the Greatest Generation, the American future, and more.
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Yuval Levin joins Mona and Jay to talk about health care: What to do? More specifically, what to do NOW, at this impasse? Then, Mona and Jay talk about Trump and Mika and Joe. Later, they talk about Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan – and tell some interesting stories.
The show ends with Marilyn Horne, singing “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (including the verses – rare!).
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David Satter is an American authority on Russia – a man who cares so much about Russia and the Russian people that he bothers to understand them. And to tell the truth about them, as he knows it. Speaking of knowing: His latest book is “The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep.”
With Jay, he talks about Putin, the diaspora, democracy, Trump, Stalin, literature, and a lot more. An experienced, learned, and bold scholar and journalist. He says that Westerners have misunderstood Russia for years – they think the rest of the world is like them. Satter, for one, avoids that mistake.
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John J. Pitney Jr. is a famous conservative professor of political science. He works at Claremont McKenna College, in California. Jay asks him about California – is there any gold left in it?
He also asks Pitney about his upbringing and education. And about his conservatism. How did he get that way? Well, at 13, he started reading National Review and corresponding with William F. Buckley Jr.
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From Steve Kerr to Bart Giamatti to class snobbery – NTK meanders this week. What the hosts are reading, watching, and thinking about on these long summer days.
Music: Suite No. 5 in E Major, HWV 430: IV. Air con Variazioni “The Harmonious Blacksmith”
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Prayers for Rep. Steve Scalise. Jay and Mona speak of the divisions in the country and whether this moment may lead to healing.
Mona reports from her home state’s primary, and Jay considers what U.S. policy in Egypt means for human rights.
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As Jay says, John O’Sullivan is one of the most eminent political journalists in the English-speaking world. He is British — a Liverpudlian, and an exact contemporary of the Beatles — but he has lived all over and worked all over. In this “Q&A,” he joins Jay from his home in Budapest.
He talks about the British election. And Brexit. And the EU. And NATO. And immigration/assimilation. And other critical issues of our time. He also answers such questions as, “How did you acquire your views?”
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Richard Brookhiser is a journalist and historian — the author of many books about the Founders. His latest book is Founders’ Son, about Abraham Lincoln and his relation to the founding generation.
Brookhiser is also Jay’s fellow senior editor at National Review — and, in this podcast, they cover a lot of ground.
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Well, the emergency was averted. Mona and Jay managed to record their discussion without the guiding hand of their producer. Kathy Griffin, Oslo Freedom Forum, Trump relatives, Russia, violence, campuses, pronouns. Not to be missed.
Music is from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite, waltz number 2.
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A few weeks ago, President Trump made some remarks about the Civil War. He said, “People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” He also said that Andrew Jackson – had he been “a little bit later” – would have prevented the war.
Jay takes the occasion to have a “Q&A” with one of the most distinguished historians of the United States, and in particular of the American South: J. Mills Thornton III. They talk about the origins of the Civil War; the effect of slavery on Manifest Destiny; the issue of the Confederate flag today; and other things.
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Zip Recruiter Vladimir Kara-Murza is a Russian democracy leader, and one brave hombre. Twice, he has been poisoned. Twice, he recovered. And he is still at his work.
Jay wrote about him earlier this year in a three-part series: Part I, Part II, and Part III. And Kara-Murza is Jay’s guest on this “Q&A.”
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Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980. Since then, it has been ruled by one man: Robert Mugabe, the dictator. Like most Zimbabweans, Evan Mawarire has never known any other leader. Today, he is Mugabe’s worst nightmare: a principled, moral, talented, brave critic.
Mawarire is a Christian pastor. Last year, he made a video, expressing love of country, and exasperation at the longstanding dictatorship. The video went viral in Zimbabwe. Mawarire was arrested, of course, and eventually had to flee the country with his family. He has since returned (and, of course, been arrested again).
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This week, Jay has been at the Oslo Freedom Forum, the annual human-rights gathering in the Norwegian capital. Its founder is Thor Halvorssen, who also started the Human Rights Foundation, which is based in New York.
And he is Jay’s guest on this “Q&A.”
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Gao Zhisheng is one of the most heroic men in China, or anywhere. He is a human-rights lawyer who has put his neck on the line and paid for it with ten years of imprisonment and torture.
His wife and two children fled to America. One of those children is Grace, a senior in college, who is presently at the Oslo Freedom Forum, where Jay is too. They sat down for this “Q&A.” What’s it like to be the daughter of such a man? What does it do to you?
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It’s been a terrible week for Trump – which means a terrible week for those who love this country. Jay and Mona consider the implications of the Russia probe, Flynn’s conduct, the Comey business, and the president’s leaked comments to the Russians about Comey. What a world. The podcast ends with some happy musings about music, and a note of hope, if not exactly optimism, from Jay.
Music is Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Third movement.
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Casper, Zip Recruiter Daniel Krauthammer joins Need to Know to talk of the divide on the right over nationalism versus patriotism. Is nationalism a good impulse or not? He also offers views on the Comey firing.
Jay and Mona then speak of the French elections, immigration, the unfilled jobs in the Trump Administration, how to boost the economy, Prince Phillip’s retirement, uniforms (school and otherwise), and the great Kate O’Beirne – RIP.
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Diana Damrau is an opera star – a German soprano – and a total delight. Jay sat down with her in New York for this “Q&A.” They talk about her new album – a compilation of Meyerbeer – and many other things: her children, her favorite singers, her technique, her dancing (including Michael Jackson routines).
No one can resist this soprano onstage. She is pretty irresistible in interviews, too. See what you think.
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John Negroponte is one of the leading diplomats of our age. When he was a young man, he was at Henry Kissinger’s side in Vietnam. He had a Latin American career, including the ambassadorships to Mexico and Honduras. He was also ambassador to the Philippines.
In the George W. Bush years, he was ambassador to Iraq, and ambassador to the U.N. He was also director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state.
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At Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, Calif., there is a student-hosted podcast: “Free Food (For Thought).” Jay was on the campus recently. And he sat down for a podcast with two hosts, Zach Wong and Bryn Miller. It was obviously unusual for Jay to be in the “A” chair, the answerer’s chair. He is used to being in the “Q” chair. So, for something different, we thought we would share this podcast with you. The hosts ask a range of questions, some of which require a little self-reflection. Jay balks at these. But he stumbles through, in his fashion.
Claremont McKenna College students conducted this podcast. They can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and SoundCloud.
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This is Tara Ross’s moment – an extended moment. She is one of the country’s foremost experts on the Electoral College. This institution was put in the spotlight in 2000. And again in 2016. Tara Ross is the author of “Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College”; a children’s book, “We Elect a President: The Story of Our Electoral College”; and the forthcoming “The Indispensable Electoral College: How the Founders’ Plan Saves Our Country from Mob Rule.”
Jay asks her a series of questions: Why do we have it? Is it fair? What should be changed about it? And so on.
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The Atlantic’s David Frum joins NTK to evaluate Trump’s first nearly 100 days. Mona plays Devil’s advocate with Frum, a Trump critic – at least for a while. Jay engages David about the French elections, and then conversation turns to the March for Science, O’Reilly, FoxNews, the Detroit Tigers, and David Selznick.
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