Meet the voices of Ricochet

Adam J. White is an assistant professor of law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, where he directs the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Administrative State. And he is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, writing on American constitutionalism, the courts, and the administrative state in AEI’s Program on Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies.

Dr. Albert Cheng is an associate professor and Assistant Director for Classical Education at the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University. His scholarship focuses on school choice, classical education, faith-based schooling, and homeschooling. He is also a research affiliate of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at Cardus, and a regular co-host of The Learning Curve, an education podcast produced by the Pioneer Institute

Alisha Thomas Searcy is the Southern Region President Democrats for Education Reform. She was the 2022 Democratic nominee for Georgia state school superintendent. She is a former six-term state legislator in Georgia. Alisha was co-author of the state’s constitutional amendment to create a state charter authorizer, and author of the state’s intra-district transfer law. She is former Superintendent of Ivy Prep Schools in Atlanta.

Amy Jo Clark is "Daisy." Before becoming a Chick on the Right, Daisy was a Medical Writer and Communications Consultant in the private sector for over 20 years, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Communications. She grew up in the South and considers Dolly Parton, Julia Sugarbaker, and Joan Rivers her spirit animal trifecta. Daisy attended University of Tennessee for undergrad school, and ever since then, she’s bled orange. Because of that, Fall is her favorite season, and anyone who plays the Vols can bow down.

Anastasia Boden is an attorney in Pacific Legal Foundation’s Economic Liberty Project, where she challenges anti-competitive licensing laws and laws that restrict freedom of speech.

Bethany Mandel is a freelance journalist and co-author of the best seller, "Stolen Youth." A former editor of Ricochet, she is a stay-at-home mother of six children.

Charles is a senior writer at National Review, and the host of the Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

Christopher J. Scalia is a senior fellow in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies department at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on literature, culture, and higher education. Dr. Scalia has a PhD and MA in English from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has a BA in English with a minor in history from the College of William & Mary.

Danielle Pletka is senior vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she oversees the Institute’s work on foreign and defense issues. Ms. Pletka writes regularly on national security matters with a special focus on the Middle East. She also holds the Andrew H. Siegel Professorship on American Middle Eastern Foreign Policy at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Before joining AEI, Ms. Pletka was a senior professional staff member for the Middle East and South Asia for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Ms. Pletka has authored, coauthored, and coedited a variety of studies, monographs, and book chapters, including the introduction to AEI’s forthcoming “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East”; the report “Tehran Stands Atop the Syria-Iran Alliance” (Atlantic Council, 2017); the chapter “America in Decline” in “Debating the Obama Presidency” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016); “America vs. Iran: The Competition for the Future of the Middle East” (AEI, 2014); “Iranian Influence in the Levant, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan” (AEI, 2012); “Containing and Deterring a Nuclear Iran” (AEI, 2011); and “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World: Empowering Democrats” (AEI, 2008). A regular guest on television, Ms. Pletka appears frequently on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” Her broadcast appearances also include CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, and MSNBC. She has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Hill, and Politico, among other outlets. Ms. Pletka is also the cohost, with AEI’s Marc Thiessen, of the podcast “What the Hell Is Going On? (Making Sense of the World).” She has an MA from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a BA from Smith College.

Investor, geopolitical analyst, and bestselling author, Dan Senor co-authored “Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle”, a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller. “Start-Up Nation” has been translated into over 30 languages. A former top advisor to Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and the Pentagon under President George W. Bush, Dan writes frequently for the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, and is a regular guest on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" and “CBS This Morning”.

Dave Carter is a truck driver, retired military veteran, former private detective, and radio show host. As a Security Forces member and Senior Historian in the US Air Force, he deployed throughout Asia, Europe & the Middle East. Author of over 40 volumes of Air Force histories, he also accompanied aircrews on combat missions in order to record combat events from a participant’s perspective. Dave is a Contributor for Ricochet, The Federalist, and Conservative Review.

Denzil Mohammed is the host of JobMakers, a weekly podcast brought to you by Pioneer Institute and the Immigrant Learning Center. Denzil is the Director of the Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute, where he focuses on specialized online education, research, conference presentations and events that promote immigrants as assets to America. He has a decade of experience in journalism and previously worked for swissnex Boston/Consulate of Switzerland. Denzil has an MS in Global Communications from Northeastern University and a BA in Communication Studies/Literatures in English from University of the West Indies. Contact him at denzil@jobmakerspodcast.org.

Elizabeth Slattery is a senior legal fellow and deputy director of Pacific Legal Foundation’s Center for the Separation of Powers. She’s an evangelist for the separation of powers, spreading the good news about the Constitution’s greatest protection for Americans’ individual liberties.

Erick Erickson practiced law for six years and oversaw a number of political campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. He was also an elected city councilman in Macon, Georgia. In addition to hosting a show on WSB radio Erickson is a Fox News contributor after spending three years at CNN. He has also appeared on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. According to Newsweek, “Erickson has grabbed his party’s power brokers by their elephant-stitched suspenders.” Erickson is known for a willingness to speak candidly about and challenge the Republican establishment as well as rally conservatives to push their agenda at both the federal and state level. He has used his position to help raise the profile of a number of conservative candidates across the country from Marco Rubio in Florida to Nikki Haley in South Carolina to Ted Cruz in Texas. The London Telegraph named Erickson the sixty-fifth most influential conservative in America in 2010. He is co-author of the book RedState Uprising. Each weekday morning, Erickson writes his “Morning Briefing” email, widely considered a must read among conservative pundits and activists. “The ability of [Erickson's Morning Briefing] to shape a message illustrates the power of the conservative network,” according to Washington Post. The Hollywood Reporter describes Erickson as "the most influential conservative blogger on the Internet." Erick Erickson earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, majoring in History and Political Science. He earned his juris doctorate at Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law.

Ginny is the host of the Freedom to Learn podcast and Education Freedom and Parental Rights Director at the Defense of Freedom Institute. Gentles is a long-time school choice advocate and former state and federal education policy leader. She is regularly called on to provide testimony before Congress and provide in-depth analysis of the issues facing American education for Newsweek, National Journal, Fox News, and other major media outlets.

Glenn Loury is an economics professor by trade and public intellectual by avocation. Born in 1948 on Chicago’s South Side into a close-knit, working class family, he was raised by a single mom in segregated neighborhoods. He was educated in public schools, and then attended Northwestern University on scholarship before earning a doctorate at M.I.T. In 1982 Glenn became the first black American to be awarded tenure in Harvard’s economics department. Much of Glenn's work has focused on race and disparities in the U.S., with books such as One by One from the Inside Out (1995), The Anatomy of Racial Inequality (2002), and Race, Incarceration and American Values (2008). He has also published many academic research papers in the top economics journals. Among other honors, he has been elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economics Association. He currently occupies a chair as the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University.

Co-Host of Three Martini Lunch. Host of Veterans Chronicles and Expert Insights. Radio America News Director

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Olsen began his career as a political consultant at the California firm of Hoffenblum-Mollrich.

Hugh Hewitt is the host of the nationally syndicated Hugh Hewitt Show. He formerly served as President and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation and the Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management under President Reagan.

Jace Lington is Policy and Strategy Director at the Gray Center and co-host of the Center’s podcast, “Gray Matters.” He is also Director of Analysis for The America Fund, where he evaluates individuals and organizations positioned to preserve the American way of life. His writing has appeared online at Ballotpedia, The American Conservative, The Federalist, and Lyceum. He studied American Politics and Political Philosophy at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship.

James is an American journalist, columnist, and blogger. He lives in Minnesota.

Jeff is the host of The American Idea and the Executive Director of Ashbrook. Since 1997, he has been a professor of political science at Ashland University. He has lectured and written on American political thought, religious liberty, the Supreme Court, and Constitution.

Jim is the senior political correspondent for National Review, and author of the Morning Jolt newsletter.

Joe Selvaggi is the host of HubWonk. Joe is a US Navy veteran, entrepreneur, investment professional, former candidate for US Congress, and political commentator. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. He lives in Boston.

John Podhoretz is the editor of Commentary Magazine, a columnist for the New York Post, and co-host of the GLoP Culture podcast.

John Yoo is a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute, and a distinguished visiting professor at the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley where he supervises the Public Law and Policy Program among other programs at Berkeley Law. Concurrently, he is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Jonah Goldberg is the editor in chief of The Dispatch and a former senior editor at National Review. He's also the host of The Remnant podcast. He has two dogs, one of which is a dingo.

Kara Kennedy is a freelance writer with work appearing in The Times, The Spectator, GQ and others.

Karin Lips is the Founder and President of the Network of enlightened Women (NeW), author of You’re Not Alone: The Conservative Woman’s Guide to College, and editor of She’s Conservative: Stories of Trials and Triumphs on America’s College Campuses. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia School of Law. Karin practiced law at Wiley Rein LLP. She was a Spring 2016 Resident Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. Karin speaks frequently on conservative public policy solutions, feminism, and equal pay. She is a contributor to the Washington Examiner and has been published in The Washington Post, Time Ideas, Politico, National Review Online, Fox News, The Atlantic, The Boston Herald, and The News & Observer, among other outlets. She has appeared on Fox, CNN, and C-SPAN. In 2019, she testified before the Utah Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on equal pay. In October 2014, Karin was selected as one of Fortune’s 55 most influential women on Twitter. In August 2013, she was named to Red Alert Politics 30 under 30 list. In 2012, Karin was selected for the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Law and Policy. In 2010, she was awarded a William F. Buckley Award from the Young Conservatives Coalition for her work leading NeW. NeW website: https://enlightenedwomen.org/ NeW Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enlightenedwomen/ NeW Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnlightenedWomen NeW X: https://x.com/NeWNetwork Karin Lips's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karin.lips/ Karin Lips's X: https://x.com/klips

Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., was named president of The Heritage Foundation in October 2021.

“Lucretia,” the nom de plume for Power Line’s International Woman of Mystery, is a senior administrator and professor of political science and constitutional studies at a major southwestern university. She prefers her single malt whiskys at least 18 years old.

Marc Thiessen is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) where he studies and writes about American presidential leadership and counterterrorism. He also writes about general US foreign and defense policy issues and contributes to the AEIdeas blog. A member of the White House senior staff under President George W. Bush, Thiessen served as chief speechwriter to the president and to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Before joining the Bush administration, Thiessen spent more than six years as spokesman and senior policy adviser to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC). A biweekly columnist for The Washington Post, Thiessen is also a contributor to Fox News, appearing regularly on “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” “America’s Newsroom,” and other programs. His book on the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation program, “Courting Disaster” (Regnery Press, 2010), is a New York Times bestseller. Thiessen is also the coauthor, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, of “Unintimidated” (Sentinel, 2013). Thiessen has done postgraduate studies at the Naval War College and has a B.A. from Vassar College.

Mark Bauerlein is Senior Editor at First Things and Professor Emeritus of English at Emory University where he taught from 1989-2018, with a two-and-a-half-year break in 2003-05 to serve as the Director, Office of Research and Analysis, at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Mark Krikorian is a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues and has served as Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies since 1995.

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.

Michelle is the digital content manager at The Heritage Foundation.

Mockarena (or “Mock” for short) used to work in Human Resources prior to becoming a full time Chick on the Right, focusing on recruiting and hiring, and avoiding the tasks of firing and employee relations as much as possible without getting fired herself. She’s the product of Polish immigrants, who came to the United States in 1969 legally, and taught her what it means to melt into the great American pot. Mock is a University of Kansas grad, but is a fan of Georgia football thanks to her husband being an alum (and the fact that their colors make for better fashion choices.)

Nat Malkus is a resident scholar and the deputy director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he specializes in empirical research through the use of quantitative data to analyze K–12 schooling. He also focuses on the transition to postsecondary education. His work on a range of educational issues, including Advanced Placement, teachers unions, charter schools, standardized testing, and high school credit recovery programs, has been widely published and quoted. He is currently focusing on career and technical education, school choice, discipline in schools, and teacher quality.

Richard A. Epstein is a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute. He is also the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, where he serves as a Director of the Classical Liberal Institute, which he helped found in 2013. He has served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow (adjunct) at the Hoover Institution since 2000. Epstein is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.

Rob Long is a co-founder of Ricochet.

A writer and editor from Michigan, Ryan Shinkel is the host and producer of Madison's Notes, the podcast of the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

Host of the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Co-host of Political Beats at National Review.

Head of the Political Questions substack, author, occasional academic.

Timothy Doescher (pronounced Desher) is the associate director of Coalition Relations at The Heritage Foundation, tasked with maintaining relationships and promoting Heritage policy surrounding tax, energy, agriculture, budget, and economics in general. Prior to this, Doescher spent two years as a research associate in Heritage's Project for Economic Growth, supporting the work of economist Stephen Moore, and writing frequently on various economic issues.

Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; his focus is classics and military history. He is a Daily Signal senior contributor, hosting a podcast, producing video commentaries, and writing a weekly column. He is the author of “The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement.”