In the second of this week’s COMMENTARY podcasts, the hosts try to wrap their heads around a series of events that defy logic. Why would Donald Trump try to rehabilitate people who align themselves with torch-lit rally-goers chanting racist slogans? Why would the left go to the mattresses to defend their own violent elements? And what the heck is Steve Bannon thinking in general? And does the country now share our crushing morosity? Give a listen and find out.

On this week’s second podcast, the COMMENTARY crew takes on the bad choices in North Korea and—gasp—offers a defense of Donald Trump against his knee-jerk critics on the matter. After that, they wonder at the ongoing insistence by fans of Trump that the conservatives and Republicans critical of him should and must bend the knee to the president or be complicit in the ruination of the country. Give a listen.

On the second COMMENTARY podcast of the week, Abe Greenwald tells us about new legislation on immigration and what its larger meaning and political effect might be; Noah Rothman discourses on a new Justice Department investigation into unfairness in college admissions; and John Podhoretz just talks and and talks and talks. Give a listen.

On the second of this week’s podcasts, John Podhoretz gets into it with Noah Rothman on whether the president’s behavior toward his attorney general and the new White House communications director’s conduct toward the White House chief of staff constitute a “plan” of action or whether we are just living through nihilistic chaos. Where does Abe Greenwald come out? You’ll have to give a listen.

On the second of this week’s podcasts, the COMMENTARY crew is scattered far afield—I’m in Vegas, baby; Noah Rothman is at home in Jersey; and Abe Greenwald is in our offices in New York. Perhaps our distance accounts for a greater degree of disagreement and even disgruntlement as we consider the meaning of the Trump war on the media and its convenient crescendo during a moment in which it looks like the GOP hopes of scoring a health-care reform are in the process of crashing and burning. Give a listen.

The COMMENTARY crew is podcasting a day early in order to take the measure of the result in the Georgia special House election. Abe Greenwald, Noah Rothman, and John Podhoretz posit seven possible theories to explain what happened—and then we attack the theories! It’s positively Talmudic. Give a listen.

In the last of this week’s Commentary podcasts, the gang (John Podhoretz, Abe Greenwald, and Noah Rothman) break down former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before Congress: The headlines that are bad for Trump, the headlines that are good for Trump, and the revelations that will ultimately haunt the country. On that note, the hosts ruminate on the prospect of America’s norms prohibiting the corruption of federal public officials are gone forever. If they are, how can the country survive as we know it? Cheery stuff! Give a listen.

On the last podcast of the week, John Podhoretz, Abe Greenwald, and Noah Rothman do their best to break down what has to be the single stupidest 36-hour period in American politics in living memory. From the kerfuffle over “covfefe” to ISIS chic, Americans on the right and the left were compelled to debate inanities even more than usual this week. Also, we discussed Noah Rothman’s feature in the June issue, “How to Be a Conservative in the Age of Trump,” and where the right went wrong. Give a listen.

On the final podcast before Memorial Day, the COMMENTARY crew takes on the horror in Manchester and what it means about security, terrorism, and cultural integration. They move on to the assault perpetrated on a reporter by an out-of-control special-election candidate in Montana before concluding with the most important issue ever covered: Did Melania swat Donald’s hand away? Give a listen.