We caught up with Henry Olsen on the eve of the GOP convention in Cleveland to discuss the shape of the race right now, and the 
prospects for a return of ticket-splitting in down-ballot races if Trump loses. Also, one more victory lap for the fabulous Brexit vote, with a look at the surprising fallout in the British government under new PM Theresa May
In this special edition of the Power Line Show, Steve Hayward talks with author Robert Bryce about the new world of global oil prices which has ended, probably forever, OPEC’s 40-year dominance. They also talk about the perverse subsidies for and output from “renewable” energy, and why nuclear power may be poised for a comeback.
Tonight John, Paul, and Steve kicked around some of the major news stories of the day, including the terrorist attack in Orlando and the Democrats’ effort to change the subject to gun control. Also, Donald Trump’s train wreck of a campaign: can it get back on track? They were joined by Roger Simon, author of the just-released I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already. The conversation with Roger was lively, as always.
This episode of the Power Line podcast features an interview with Michael Walsh about his recent book The Devil’s Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West. Walsh explains how most of the nihilistic radicalism of our time derives from the “Frankfurt School,” the group of mid-20th century emigre philosophers whose eclectic post-Marxist thought can be found at the root of nearly everything wrong today. Overturn just about any radical thinker today and, to paraphrase the famous Bertrand Russell story, you’re likely to find that it’s “Frankfurters all the way down.”
John Hinderaker, Steve Hayward, and Scott Johnson got together in person for this episode, which features Steve’s interview with Robert Kaufman, author of Dangerous Doctrine: How Obama’s Grand Strategy Weakened America, and Scott’s reporting direct from the courtroom of the trial of the three “Minnesota Men.”
The show has been on hiatus while John toured Australia and the Caribbean. But he’s back now, and this afternoon John, Scott, and Steve recorded Episode 34 of the Power Line Show. Their guest was Pete Hegseth, an old friend from his days in the military and with Vets For Freedom. Pete’s new book is called In the Arena. He 
talked about his experiences as a soldier in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. Pete assesses Iraq as a tough war that was won, due to the surge, but then thrown away by the Obama administration. Afghanistan, he sees as a hopeless country and in that sense the wrong war. The conversation moved on to citizenship in a republic and the future of conservatism, two principal subjects of Pete’s book.
The remainder of the show was devoted to the current political scene. With Trump a near-inevitability, reactions ran from pessimistic to deeply pessimistic to let’s get out the popcorn. As Steve says, there’s got to be a morning after. And Scott says, yes, the morning after is when Hillary gets inaugurated.
John, Paul, and Steve got together for Episode 33 of the Power Line Show. They were joined by Jason Riley, author of Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed. It is a terrific book, and Riley was an excellent guest. Among other things, they talked about the fact that blacks made more economic and educational progress prior to the civil rights era and the dawn of affirmative action than they did subsequently. It is truly unfortunate that this history, which can fairly be described as heroic, has been obscured for reasons of political opportunism.
John, Paul and Steve went on to discuss the two hottest issues in the news: the Supreme Court vacancy resulting from the death of Antonin Scalia, and the GOP presidential race. Will Mitch McConnell and Charles Grassley find the right strategy to prevent the Court from lurching decisively to the left? Will Donald Trump’s supporters ever wise up to the fact that he is a Republican In Name Only, and an ugly one at that? No doubt these will still be burning questions when we get to Episode 34.
This afternoon Paul, Steve, and John got together for a guest-free edition of the Power Line Show. Topic number one was, of course, last night’s GOP debate in Iowa and the state of the races in both parties.
Steve and Paul ventured predictions on New Hampshire. They found time for a few more stories in the news, including the latest on Hillary’s home email server, possibly the worst IT decision in the history of the computer. The question, though, is whether anything short of indictment can derail the Clinton Express, given the Clintons’ already low reputation for honesty, transparency and so on. And, should Hillary unexpectedly be indicted, do the Democrats have a Plan B?
John, Scott, and Steve got together for a new edition of Power Line. Paul was unable to join due to a dentist appointment, which raises the question: would you rather get a root canal, or watch tonight’s State of the Union speech? Topics include the epidemic of mass sexual assault in Europe, and the podcast winds up with a terrific interview with Senator Jeff Sessions, which covers tonight’s speech, the omnibus budget bill, the filibuster, and more. You won’t want to miss it!
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The whole Power Line crew assembled to discuss the issues of the day—specifically, the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, the crazed liberal responses thereto, and the attack’s public policy implications with respect to, most notably, immigration. And also, of course, the incident’s potential impact on the 2016 presidential race.
The remainder of the show was devoted to campus craziness in its various manifestations—hoax “hate crimes,” absurd demands by identity groups, craven administrators, ticked-off alumni, and so on.
As the terror attacks in Paris unfolded, John, Scott and Steve hosted Episode 29 of the Power Line Show. The attacks threw both halves of the show into sharp relief. We started by interviewing Dan Polisar, author of in important article in titled “What Do Palestinians Want?”
Polisar reviewed years’ worth of public opinion polling of Palestinians. He found several common themes; a common denominator is a lack of contact with reality. As twisted as Palestinian culture is, what we saw in Paris tonight reflects an even more virulent version of the same ideology.
The Manhattan Institute’s Heather Mac Donald joins John and Steve to discuss her poltically incorrect (and therefore quite thought provoking) new piece in City Journal titled, “The Decriminalization Delusion.” Heather describes the “phantom bias” that the press and academics are trying to root out, because, as she notes in her article,
“At the state and city levels, hardly a single criminal-justice practice exists that is not under fire for oppressing blacks. Traffic monitoring, antitheft statutes, drug patrols, public-order policing, trespass arrests, pedestrian stops, bail, warrant enforcement, fines for absconding from court, parole revocations, probation oversight, sentences for repeat felony offenders—all have been criticized as part of a de facto system for locking away black men and destroying black communities.”
This morning Paul, Scott, and John got together for Episode 28 of the Power Line Show. They were joined by law professor David Bernstein to talk about his new book Lawless: The Obama Administration’s Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
This is a can’t-miss conversation and a must-read book. For the rest of the show, the PL crew talked about Hillary Clinton’s committee appearance yesterday: How did she do? What did we learn that we didn’t already know? How is her testimony being spun? What will the fallout be, down the road? And is there any chance that she will be indicted? It is a lively, fast-paced show.
Today, John, Paul and Scott got together for Episode 27 of the Power Line Show. They were joined by former federal prosecutor Bill Otis, and discussed the criminal justice “reform” bill that is being rushed through the Senate.
If you have wondered whether it is really a good idea to let a lot of convicted felons out of federal prisons on the ground that their drug dealing was “non-violent,” this conversation will answer that question. The rest of the hour was taken up with the big news story of the day, the GOP House’s effort to come up with a speaker. Once again, I plaintively posed the question: where in the Constitution does it say that the Senate minority gets to dictate federal spending?
The entire Power Line gang gathered for the latest episode of the Power Line Show. They talked about Rathergate and the absurd new movie mis-titled Truth, which just opened in Toronto. Harry MacDougald, the famous “Buckhead” of the Rathergate story, joined the group and related his part in one of the biggest journalism stories of modern times.
From Rathergate, the gang moved on to Iran and the tortured history of Corker-Cardin, which was abandoned today in the House and filibustered in the Senate. Paul offered his thoughts on the legal ramifications of the fizzling out of Corker-Cardin. And finally, a story that combines Iran and media scandal: the New York Times’s “Jew tracker,” which deserves to live in infamy. It was a spirited session, to say the least!
Today John, Paul, and Steve got together for Episode 24 of Power Line. They’re joined by Eliana Johnson, Washington Editor for the National Review. They kicked around the latest news and Washington gossip about the presidential race on both sides of the aisle.
The remainder of the podcast was spent talking about the Vester Flanagan murders and related topics such as, the political misuse of mass murder; the futility of more gun control regulations; the historic decline in violent crime, and whether that decline is now being arrested as a result of liberal urban policies; and whether a more effective mental health system could be of benefit, if such a thing is possible. Altogether, it is a lively hour of controversy and commentary.
Join John, Paul, and Steve for Episode 23 of Power Line. In this episode they are joined by Kristen Soltis Anderson, of Echelon Insights and author of The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America (And How Republicans Can Keep Up).
It was a wide-ranging interview with one of America’s most interesting young conservatives. The interview was followed by a spirited discussion of two of the day’s most important news stories. The first: is Hillary Clinton’s campaign imploding? And if so, what options do the Democrats have? The second: what is going on with the Chinese devaluation? Is it time to sell?
The entire crew — Scott, Paul, Steve and John — assembled for this episode of Power Line. They kicked around the issues of the day, including the pros and cons of Donald Trump, Cecil the lion, the seemingly bipartisan criminal justice “reform” movement, and the Planned Parenthood videos. The discussion was lively, to say the least.
If you haven’t been listening to the Power Line Show, this would be a good time to start!
The Power Line crew joins the Coalition of the Unwilling in finding nothing to cheer in the Iran nuclear arms deal that was announced today. But the first half of the show features a conversation with Stanley Kurtz, author of several important books including, most recently, Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities. Stanley has been all over the unfolding stealth regulations to extend the culture of Alinskyite “community organizing” to the suburbs through federal power. This ought to be a big issue in the next election campaign on all levels, but will only happen if people find out about it. There’s a reason Obama is being very quiet on this initiative.
This afternoon John Hinderaker, Steve Hayward, and Paul Mirengoff got together to record Episode 20 of the Power Line show. 
They talked with Dana Perino about her new book, And the Good News Is… Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side, her experience as press secretary for President George W. Bush, and her starring role on Fox News’s The Five.
Then it was on to the news of the day, in particular the Supreme Court’s one-two-three punch over the last 48 hours, with decisions on Obamacare, the Fair Housing Act and gay marriage. Their discussion combines sober legal analysis with outrage.
