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The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan

Unafraid conversations about anything

andrewsullivan.substack.com
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  • 34 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 53 min
  • English

Episodes 34

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  • Friday · 39 min

    Christopher Caldwell On The Rising Right In Europe

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com My old friend Chris — the most intelligent, sane, and well-read conservative thinker writing in America today — returns to the Dishcast for his fourth appearance. He’s a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a contributing editor to the Claremont Review of Books, a contributing writer for the NYT and The Spectator, and a member of the editorial committee of the French quarterly Commentaire. The episode was recorded on October 14, 2026, and aired on October 23. Timestamps for the main sections: * 03:57: The Iran debacle and Trump’s broken promise on wars * 33:11: Gaza and surging antisemitism on the left and right * 46:01: Germany and the rise of the AfD * 103:12: The political situation in France and Spain * 112:03: The state of the right in the UK * 129:30: What the GOP might look like after Trump is gone For two audio clips — on the lawfare against right-wing pols in Europe, and whether the Iran War will split Trump’s party — head to our YouTube page. More topics covered: the CIA cautioning against the Iran War; gas prices and inflation; China “laughing at us”; the Houthis harming global trade; Trump’s fickle moods; protectionism and tariffs; staggering corruption in crypto and other cons; Vought and Miller; Musk’s DOGE demolition; USAID and bias; Rubio’s expansive role; his Athens speech and thymos; Vance and “heritage Americans”; MAGA vs international alliances; Obama opposing the Iraq War; Howard Dean; the war in Gaza; Israel as Goliath; college protests and woke antisemitism; the Groypers and rising antisemitism on the right; the dark talents of Fuentes; the left’s rejection of nationalism; AfD and its origins; lesbian AfD leader Alice Weidel; Merkel and Syrian refugees; the surging popularity of Marine Le Pen; the Vox party in Spain; the fall of Starmer; the Restore and Reform parties; the waning influence of Farage; Count Binface; Kemi’s leadership; and Orwell’s views on Englishness.

  • October 16 · 34 min

    Evan Barker On Wokeness Hijacking The Dems

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Evan is a former campaign fundraiser and political strategist for Democrats. She just published her first book, Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative, which really blew me away. She’s also a writer and podcaster on Substack. The episode was recorded on October 13, 2026, and aired on October 16. Timestamps for the main sections: * 02:18: Evan’s upbringing in a poor, tumultuous family and trailer park * 21:44: Her illness that led her to fight for Obama and his ACA * 33:43: When she started to turn against Democrats * 57:51: Getting canceled for being a “fragile white woman” * 111:55: The death of her veteran brother and a woke disdain for patriotism * 123:21: Her vote for Trump as a reactionary protest For two audio clips — on her lifelong illness that drove her to campaign for Obama, and the woke dominance of Dem donors — head to our YouTube page. More topics covered: how unions helped Evan’s family; the many marriages of her parents; going to 10 different schools; instability with money and healthcare; becoming a first-gen college grad; progressive activism; Bernie and AOC; the colorblind message of Obama; Hillary’s shift to identity politics; the smug elitism of Dem operatives; nepotism; weaponizing “oppression”; the Dem suspicion of straight men; Evan’s “masculine” approach to fundraising; the woke pipeline of the Ivy League; Kaepernick’s knee; oikophobia; immigration and the border; the ICE overreach; the silence of scared liberals; and how Dems haven’t gotten the message after 2024. Browse the Dishcast archive for episodes you might enjoy. Coming up: Chris Caldwell on the right in the US and Europe, Michael Barone on the midterms, Francis Fukuyama on his memoir, Hamish McKenzie on Substack and journalism, Cynthia Burack on gender studies, Cyrus Habib on leaving politics to become a priest, Catherine Conybeare on Augustine, and Nancy Sherman on Aristotle.

  • October 9 · 32 min

    Michael Lewis On The Civil Servants Who Defied Trump

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Michael is the best nonfiction writer in America — and another friend from the early TNR days. He’s the author of so many bestsellers, including Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, and Flash Boys. He was on the Dishcast four years ago to discuss The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, and last year to discuss a collection of essays called Who Is Government? This week we’re covering his new book, Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State, which profiles some unknown heroes in the bureaucracy who defended the rule of law against Trump in his second term — and faced the consequences. Think of it as the flip-side of Jake Weisberg’s treatment of the powerful cowards who caved. The episode was recorded on September 29, 2026, and aired on October 9. Timestamps for the main sections: * 03:36: How Michael decided to frame and shape the book * 11:32: DOGE as the tip of the spear for Trump 2.0 * 27:36: The physical takeover of buildings by DOGE * 42:45: The amazing story of Alex Marangides inventing a new fire science * 101:20: Covid policy and the turmoil at the National Institutes of Health * 119:32: Michael’s moving tribute to his daughter Dixie For three audio clips — why DOGE was never really about downsizing, the only member of DOGE who was fired, and Michael writing a play for his deceased daughter — head to our YouTube page. More topics covered: how Trump 2.0 is different than 1.0; firing his transition team in 2016; the purging of enemies after 2024; Musk wanting to take control of NASA; reversing woke terminology; bypassing Congress; weaponizing private data; Musk promising pardons to DOGE; dismantling USAID; Vought and knee-capping the NIH; Michael’s scoop that Francis Collins was actually fired; debating the culpability of Bhattacharya; the Clinton-Gore downsizing; fixing the ozone layer; Trump’s sycophants; the horrifying Howard Lutnick; and inspiring stories of civil servants standing up for their role and the rule of law.

  • October 2 · 42 min

    Emily Eakin On What Postmodernism Wrought

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Emily is a senior editor at the New York Times Book Review. She’s also worked as a senior editor at The New Yorker, an ideas reporter for the NYT, a fashion features writer at Vogue, and a deputy editor of Lingua Franca magazine. Her new book is The Frenchmen: Or, My Life in Theory. A polished transcript is here, including money quotes. Below are timestamps for the main sections of the pod: * 03:56: Emily’s upbringing in a Francophile family * 14:27: The postmodern idea that language is everything * 31:05: The postmodern New Right * 41:14: The dark dysfunctional lives of many of the French thinkers * 103:27: The fatalism in pomo discourse * 117:14: How Emily became skeptical of postmodernism For two clips of the episode — on the word games of postmodernists, and the screwed-up lives of Foucault and others — head to our YouTube page. More topics: Emily growing up in Indiana with regular trips to France; the country’s post-war boom but drop in world status; colonial revolt in Algeria; Heidegger and Nazism; Barthes and Maoism; Derrida and language; Levi-Strauss and structuralism; Camus and existentialism; nihilism; bourgeois as an epithet; Lacan and the unconscious; Althusser strangling his wife to death; the Straussian cult; Allan Bloom; the Sokal hoax; Stanley Fish and deconstruction; John Boswell and homosexuality; Foucault deconstructing gayness; the AIDS crisis; the prison system; Orwell and Oakeshott; Sarah Bakewell on Montaigne; HR and pronouns; the fatalism of Coates; and Trump’s exec orders on language in government. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Michael Lewis on the bureaucrats who fought back against Trump, Evan Barker on how the Democratic Party got hijacked by elite activists, Sean Illing on the relevance of Camus and Nietzsche, Catherine Conybeare on Augustine, and Cyrus Habib on leaving politics to become a Jesuit priest. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • September 25 · 36 min

    Jacob Weisberg On Trump’s Collaborators

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Jake is a journalist and a dear old friend, starting in our early days as interns together at TNR. He’s the former longtime editor of Slate and the co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries. He’s also the chairman of The Committee to Protect Journalists and a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. His new book is called Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era. A polished transcript is here, including money quotes. Below are timestamps for the main sections of the pod: * 04:09: Jake’s background that made him especially attuned to corruption and totalitarianism * 18:45: Contrasting the craven Lindsey Graham with the principled Liz Cheney * 25:45: How Megyn Kelly — and others demonized by the left — came to support Trump * 35:15: Liberal lawyers like Brad Karp who needlessly bent the knee * 45:52: Debating the culpability of colleges targeted by Trump * 53:36: Jeff Bezos’ 180 and his lifelong obsession with space travel * 58:43: The abomination of January 6th and McConnell caving over the impeachment * 102:28: Debating the culpability of John Roberts for Trump’s success * 117:26: Reminiscing on our early days at TNR and the genius of Mike Kinsley For two clips of the episode — on why McConnell balked at banning Trump, and how Megyn Kelly became a bully — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: growing up in Chicago with public servants for parents; his dad taking on the Daley machine; Jake’s talent for takedowns back at TNR; South Park mocking Trump; Stop the Steal and Jan 6; Biden’s clusterfuck campaign; the Cheneys backing Harris; Trump’s retribution; the weakness of Schumer; McCain’s nonconformity; Massie’s cojones; the university deals with Trump; his talent as a bully; higher ed’s dearth of viewpoint diversity; anti-semitism in the Ivy League; Musk and the big subsidies for SpaceX; decimating USAID and PEPFAR; Bezos funding the Melania doc; SCOTUS checking tariffs; the presidential immunity ruling; the post-presidencies of Bush and Obama; and the one magazine piece I would never write. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Emily Eakin on the French postmodernists, Sean Illing on the relevance of Camus and Nietzsche, Michael Lewis on the bureaucrats who fought back against Trump, and Evan Barker on how the Democratic Party got hijacked by elite activists. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • September 18 · 44 min

    Arianna Huffington On Living Well

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Arianna is a writer and businesswoman. She co-founded The Huffington Post in 2005, and after it was acquired by AOL, she became the president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. She’s currently the CEO of Thrive Global and the author of 15 books, including Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. A polished transcript is here, including money quotes. Below are timestamps for the main sections of the pod: 5:05: Arianna’s meteoric rise at a young age and challenging left-feminism 28:05: IQ, meritocracy, and what sets humans apart from AI 50:10: A crisis of meaning and the “false god of productivity” 114:07: The importance of sleep and how to improve it For two clips of the episode — on the desperate need for grace in our discourse, and how to sleep better — head to our YouTube page. More topics: Arianna’s upbringing in Greece; her dad’s anti-Nazi magazine in WWII; the power of maternal love; her time at the Cambridge Union as its first foreign prez; her first book The Female Woman; her love affair with Bernard Levin; the feminism of the Gospels; meritocracy; AI surpassing us in intelligence; our culture’s distrust of nature; Arianna’s burnout in 2007 and my own in 2015; silent meditation retreats; Matthew Crawford and craftsmanship; Loren Eiseley the anthropologist; mental illness; psychedelics; God as love; Maslow’s pyramid; and Arianna giving me tips for my insomnia. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Emily Eakin on the French postmodernists, Sean Illing on the relevance of Camus and Nietzsche, Jake Weisberg on the cowards who caved to Trump, and Michael Lewis on the bureaucrats who fought back. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • September 11 · 40 min

    Azam Ahmed On The Aftermath Of 9/11

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Azam is an international investigative reporter for the New York Times. He used to be the Times bureau chief in Afghanistan, as well as Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. He won a Pulitzer last year for his work on the US intervention in Afghanistan, among other awards. He’s also the author of Fear Is Just A Word: A Missing Daughter, a Violent Cartel, and a Mother’s Quest for Vengeance. I discovered him simply by reading the paper and noticing an extraordinary ability to ferret out the truth. In conversation, Azam did not disappoint. A polished transcript is here, including money quotes from the chat. Below are timestamps for the main sections of the pod: 05:23: Growing up in a Pakistani family in a small-town Virginia 10:36: The value of fiction over nonfiction 22:26: Azam’s time reporting on Wall Street, and then the horrors in Afghanistan 46:24: A deep dive into a terrifying new wave of synthetic drugs 1:03:56: The violent settlers in the West Bank and the Israeli officials speaking out For two clips of the episode — on the new wave of dangerous drugs, and the Israeli government arming the West Bank settlers — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: the lack of bigotry in Azam’s upbringing in the South; how UVA was more tribal than his high school; the war on terror; nation-building; how little the US understood Afghanistan; funding warlords against the Taliban; not talking to Taliban officials; US propaganda and lies; a story of suicide; Estonia beating fentanyl; the mega-potency of new drugs like nitazenes; drug-soaked paper causing overdoses in US prisons; why targeting suppliers doesn’t work anymore; harm reduction and Narcan; methadone; decriminalization in Portugal; the popularity of weed; the cynicism and evil of Hamas; dead kids in Gaza and US bombs; the depravity of Ben-Gvir; high-ranking Israelis against the settlements; and Bibi’s polling for the coming election. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Emily Eakin on postmodernism, Jake Weisberg on the cowards who caved to Trump, Michael Lewis on the federal workers who fought back, and Arianna Huffington on living well. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • September 4 · 1 hr 25 min

    Louise Perry On The Sexual Revolution (Re-Aired)

    In our last summer-break podcast two-fer, we’re re-running two very different conversations on sex and race, with two very different characters: Louise Perry and Glenn Loury. Next Friday we’ll be back with fresh Dish as the new season of Dishness kicks off after Labor Day with some great guests lined up for the fall. We’ll also be introducing Weekly Dish 3.0! Stay tuned. Louise is a writer and campaigner against sexual violence. She co-founded a non-partisan, feminist think tank called The Other Half, and she’s currently a WSJ columnist and the host of the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast. In this 2022 episode, we discussed her book The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century. A polished transcript is here. You can find two clips on YouTube: on whether Louise finds it suitable to watch porn while married, and if gay promiscuity is more harmful than straight promiscuity. See you next Friday. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

  • September 4 · 1 hr 24 min

    Glenn Loury On Being A Minority Within A Minority (Re-Aired)

    In our last summer-break podcast two-fer, we’re re-running two very different conversations on sex and race, with two very different characters: Glenn Loury and Louise Perry. Next Friday we’ll be back with fresh Dish as the new season of Dishness kicks off after Labor Day with some great guests lined up for the fall. We’ll also be introducing Weekly Dish 3.0! Stay tuned. Glenn is an academic, writer, and podcaster. At the age of 33, he became the first African-American professor of economics at Harvard to get tenure. He’s currently the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics at Brown University, a columnist for UnHerd, and co-host of The Glenn Show, alongside John McWhorter. In this early 2023 episode, we talked about Glenn’s incredibly colorful life, and he subsequently published his memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. So in this conversation we got a preview of the book: the product of a remarkable American life. Read a polished transcript here. You can hear two clips on YouTube — how the insistence on the permanence of “white supremacy” hurts African-Americans, and how we are all “hypocrites” to some extent. Other topics covered: Glenn’s parents dealing with him as a prodigy; dropping out of college with a newborn; rebounding to MIT and Harvard; being ostracized by the black cognoscenti; his drug addiction; his conversion to Christianity; his loss of faith; falling out with the neocon right; the racial wealth gap; and affirmative action. See you next Friday. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 28 · 1 hr 56 min

    Charles Murray On Human Diversity (Re-Aired)

    (The full Dish returns on September 4. In the meantime, we are re-airing a handful of the most downloaded episodes from the early years of the Dishcast.) Charles is a writer, social scientist, and longtime friend. He currently holds the F.A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies at AIE, and his many books include Losing Ground, The Bell Curve (co-authored with Richard Herrnstein), Coming Apart, Facing Reality, and Taking Religion Seriously (which we covered last year). In this May 2021 pod, he and I discussed Human Diversity — a book that received little attention compared to the others. If you think you know who Charles is from the way the MSM has portrayed him for years, this conversation may surprise you. Like Cornel West, Charles is a one-off: absurdly brave (or dumb) in wading into truly touchy subjects, and always with reason. In many ways, I think if we’d been able to have a serious debate about The Bell Curve all those years ago — and I tried to encourage one — we might have avoided some awful subsequent mistakes. But we resorted to abuse and hysteria and went on to enact Woke 1.0 and, now, Woke 2.0. Go here for a polished transcript of Charles. We also have three clips on YouTube: on the different career choices of high IQ women; the “unearned gift” of a high IQ; and IQ’s irrelevance to the human worth, dignity, and essential equality of all people. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 28 · 1 hr 4 min

    Cornel West On God And The Great Thinkers (Re-Aired)

    (The full Dish returns on September 4. In the meantime, we are re-airing a handful of the most downloaded episodes from the early years of the Dishcast.) The academic career of Cornel West is long and storied. He has taught religion, philosophy, and African-American studies at Yale, Princeton, Harvard, and Union Theological Seminary. He has written or contributed to more than 20 books, including Race Matters and Democracy Matters — but he recommends you start with Chekhov. I met Cornel decades ago, when I interviewed him at Union Theological Seminary for a TNR piece I was writing on divinity schools. He has long fascinated me, and Race Matters had a real impact on me decades ago. Erudite, passionate, and deeply humane, he is an unapologetically leftist Christian who is also a champion of free speech, civility, and the classics. In other words: a rare and beautiful man. A key theme of the Dishcast is a willingness to talk to anyone across the political and ideological spectrum. We thought it would be cool if we re-aired this episode alongside that with Charles Murray, a philosophical opposite, but also a deeply decent man. Go here for a polished transcript of Cornel. We also have two clips on YouTube: on how he finds common ground with bigots and racists, and his take on CRT and the 1619 Project. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 21 · 1 hr 38 min

    Buck Angel & Helena Kerschner On Trans And Detrans (Re-Aired)

    (The full Dish returns on September 4. In the meantime, we are re-airing a handful of the most downloaded episodes from the early years of the Dishcast.) In addition to the Middle East, another topic that has generated a lot of heat on the Dish since 2020 is the issue of the gender revolution and the TQ+ movement. So here are two perspectives from an early pod — that shows again how we at the Dish have genuinely sought the truth in this area, have listened to all sides, and aired all the arguments. Almost no other place does this anymore. Which is why we’re so grateful for your support and subscriptions. Buck Angel was a pioneering porn star — the only trans man to ever win Transsexual Performer of the Year at the AVN Awards — and today he’s a sex educator, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. Helena Kerschner is a young woman who lived as a man on hormone therapy for several years before detransitioning. Buck’s transition saved his life, while Helena’s transition was a bit of a calamity, but they share a resistance to the dogma of the trans activist community and speak forcefully and elegantly against it. Go here for a polished transcript. Four clips on YouTube are also available: on the cult-like behavior of many trans activists; on the risks of puberty blockers; on the profound effects of testosterone; on how the hormone caused Buck, a former lesbian, to become attracted to men for the first time. This episode is part of an ongoing series on the lives of transgender people and the debates surrounding one of the most polarizing subjects of today, especially when it comes to kids transitioning. Our previous episodes welcomed three happily transitioned and brilliant women — Dana Beyer, Mara Keisling, Brianna Wu — along with a remarkable trans man, Shannon Minter. All of them pushed back against my views, and we agreed on a lot as well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 21 · 1 hr 23 min

    Yossi Klein Halevi On Zionism (Re-Aired)

    (The full Dish returns on September 4. In the meantime, we are re-airing a handful of the most downloaded episodes from the early years of the Dishcast.) The Middle East has become one of the most contested topics here at the Dish. So on our summer break, we thought we’d run some classics, popular with Dishheads and ageing well. So here’s the great and humane Yossi Klein Halevi from 2022. Yossi is an American-born Israeli journalist, and his latest book is Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. After our pod with Peter Beinart in July 2021, many of you recommended Yossi to balance out the discussion on Israel. I was grateful for the suggestion and truly enjoyed our January 2022 talk — alternately honest and difficult. How can one admire Israel while also being candid about its flaws? How deeply utopian was Zionism in the first place? Go here for a polished transcript. We also have two clips on YouTube — on the “bizarre, tragic” history of Zionism, and on the intractable nature of the Israeli settlements. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com/subscribe

  • August 14 · 58 min

    John O'Sullivan On Conservatism And Trump

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com (The full Dish is on vacation until Friday, September 4. This week’s episode was recorded on July 21.) John is a journalist and political commentator. He’s the founder and president of the Danube Institute, the international editor of Quadrant Magazine, associate editor of the Hungarian Review, former editor of National Review, a fellow of the National Review Institute, and editor-at-large of National Review. He’s the author of several books, including Sleepwalking Into Wokeness. For two clips of the episode — on falling birth rates and immigration, and comparing Thatcher and Reagan — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: growing up Catholic in Liverpool; his working-class parents; his dad on a hospital ship for D-Day; stories of John working closely with Thatcher; both of us British editors of US magazines in the early ‘90s; covering The Bell Curve; the Cold War and defeating the Soviets; muscular liberalism; Tony Blair and his tensions with Bush; what it means to be a conservative liberal; cosmopolitanism; the meaning of Englishness; oikophobia; multiculturalism; the World Cup; Trump and the Greenland threat; the Dem threat to democracy via institutions; the post-liberal left; Deneen and the post-liberal right; Trump getting Europe to bolster its own security; Ukraine; the Iran War and the nuclear threat; Trump’s character; the future of the GOP; AI and automation; Brits on the dole; the grooming gangs; Andy Burnham; premarital sex; how women civilize men; and the divorce rates among gays, lesbians, and straights. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Azam Ahmed on terrifying new drugs, Emily Eakin on postmodernism, and Arianna Huffington on anything but politics. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • August 7 · 45 min

    Ross Barkan On The DSA And Mamdani

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Ross is a journalist and novelist. He’s the editor-in-chief of The Metropolitan Review, and a columnist for the Nation and UnHerd. He’s the author of six books, including his new novel, Colossus. A new non-fiction book, about the rise of Zohran Mamdani, is coming soon. Find much more of his writing on his substack, “Political Currents.” For two clips of the episode — on whether the DSA is truly dangerous, and the US elites’ obsession with Israel — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: growing up Jewish in diverse Bay Ridge, BK; parents both federal workers; his dad working at the WTC on 9/11; Ross’ cynicism over Obama’s rise; coming of age in the Great Recession; the DNC screwing over Bernie in ‘16; Ross running for the state senate with Mamdani as his manager; identifying as “left-populist, woke-skeptical”; engaging and persuading ideological rivals; universal health care; questioning Covid policies; US aid to Israel; the horrors of Oct 7; the war in Gaza and the civilian toll; no pro-Palestine speakers at the ‘24 Dem convention; the decentralized DSA; calls to abolish prisons and the Senate; Jon Chait; AOC’s move to the center; border security; Trump’s norm-busting; Buckley and the Birchers; trans athletes; the + in LGBTQ+; corporations ditching DEI; the Arday scandal; The Odyssey; Jon Ossoff; the surprising surge of El-Sayed; and debating whether wokeness is dead. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: John O’Sullivan on conservatism, Emily Eakin on postmodernism, Azam Ahmed on terrifying new drugs, and Arianna Huffington on anything but politics. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • July 31 · 37 min

    Megan McArdle On DC Elites In A Failing Republic

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Megan is an old friend, a journalist, and an OG blogger — starting way back in 2001. We were bloggers at The Atlantic together, and she went on to write for Newsweek, The Daily Beast, and Bloomberg View. She’s now a WaPo columnist, a contributing writer at The Dispatch, and a co-host of the podcasts “Reasonably Optimistic” and “Central Air.” She’s also the author of The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success. For two clips of the episode — on the appeal of socialism to those under 30, and the secrecy of ailing politicians — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: growing up on the UWS; her prof dad meeting her mom while she TA’d for him; Frank Gannett in her family; peaking at 6’2’’ in 7th grade; an eating disorder to try to counter her height; the heightism of women on dating apps; the coziness of elites in DC; Fauci worship by the Dems; his coziness with Jake Tapper and Hollywood celebs; his diary; Fauci’s lie over masks; masks at the Floyd protests; vaccine mandates; lab leak; Mitch McConnell MIA; Rep. Granger in memory care; Rep. Kean’s depression; Biden’s infirmity; age limits on the presidency; FDR’s overreach; post-Nixon reforms; the constitutional crisis over the Iran War; dwindling Tomahawks; Lindsey Graham’s closeness with Bibi; 9/11 and Islamofascism; nuclear proliferation and the Saudis; whether Vance or Rubio would make a better successor to Trump; Rubio’s designs on Cuba; Vance’s populism and lecturing the Pope; presentism; Jon Ossoff; Rahm Emanuel; the Stonewall myth; misusing rape stats and the UVA hoax; critical theory; the DSA, and its over-educated, downwardly mobile youth. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Ross Barkan on the DSA and Mamdani, John O’Sullivan on conservatism, Emily Eakin on postmodernism, Arianna Huffington on AI, and Azam Ahmed on terrifying new drugs. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • July 24 · 1 hr 3 min

    Robby George On Natural Law And Christianity

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Robert P. George is a legal scholar and political philosopher. At Princetown, he’s the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and the director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He’s also a senior fellow at both the American Enterprise Institute and the Witherspoon Institute, which he co-founded. His many books include Making Men Moral and In Defense of Natural Law. We spent many years sparring in print over marriage, gays, and Catholicism. For two clips of the episode — on disobeying unjust laws, and the supposed harms of gay marriage — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: his dad’s harrowing service in WWII; Robby growing up in Appalachia with his grandfathers in the coal mines; first in his family to go to college; stories of both of us being at Oxford at the same time; the origins of bluegrass; Robert Byrd’s legacy; Plato’s Gorgias; Aristotle and friendship; Robby’s close friendship with Cornel West; Montaigne; Aquinas; Vatican II; Eastern Orthodox liturgy; neo-scholasticism; Darwin’s survival of the fittest; Nietzsche; loving one’s enemy as uniquely Christian; just law and unjust law; MLK’s letter from a Birmingham jail; Hume; Oakeshott; natural law theorists vs legal positivists; the AIDS crisis; Christian marriage vs civil marriage; divorce; the Manhattan Declaration; Henry VIII’s annulments; the sexual habits of Clinton and Trump; illiberalism on the left and right; and the beached squids of Ptown. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Ross Barkan on the DSA and Mamdani, John O’Sullivan on conservatism, Azam Ahmed on terrifying new drugs, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • July 17 · 52 min

    David Thomson On Cinema And America

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com David is a historian and perhaps the greatest living film critic. He’s the author of more than 20 books, including biographies of David O. Selznick and Orson Welles, and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. His new book is called A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies. It’s a wonderful extended rant in some ways, a love letter and a searing indictment of cinema. I was a little intimidated talking with him, but it was a lot of fun. For two clips of the episode — on the uptight genius of Hitchcock, and the authoritarian nature of cinema — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: born in South London in 1941 and his home damaged by the Blitz; his father leaving when he was born; his boyish mix of fear and delight at the cinema; the shower scene in Psycho; how film denies you the chance to stop and think; the directors who relish white space (e.g. PT Anderson); Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will; newsreels before TV; real nuke explosions on screen; Oppenheimer; from communal theater viewing to solo smartphone viewing; Game of Thrones and the insane production value of TV these days; Breaking Bad; Trump the ultimate product of TV; his telegenic Cabinet; the danger of deepfakes; Paul Schrader’s First Reformed; the audience’s love of car crashes and villains; Godfather I and II; contrasting Hitchcock and Malick; Tree of Life; nature in Thin Red Line; Fincher’s Seven; Robert Bresson’s religious films; Scorsese’s Silence and Last Temptation of Christ; the vulgarity of Spielberg (e.g. the red dress in Schindler’s List); ep. 3 of Adolescence; and Nolan’s new Odyssey. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: John O’Sullivan on conservatism, Azam Ahmed on terrifying new drugs, Robby George on natural law, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • July 10 · 47 min

    Stephen Grosz On Love And Psychoanalysis

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Stephen is a psychoanalyst and author. He used to teach clinical technique at the Institute of Psychoanalysis, and also psychoanalytic theory at University College London. He’s the author of The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, and his latest book is Love’s Labor: How We Break and Make the Bonds of Love. For two clips of the episode — on what psychoanalysis is really for, and the benefits of friendship vs romantic love — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: born in Gary, Indiana; his birth defect requiring many surgeries; his Jewish family emigrating from Eastern Europe; college at Berkeley and Oxford; arrested at the Chicago Dem convention; befriending Anna Freud; Sigmund and his studies in hysteria; loneliness in adolescence; how falling in love is very different than love; my own psychoanalyst of 25 years; trauma from my childhood; the losses that marriage entails; breakthroughs after breakdowns; detaching from the idea of yourself; legal marriages vs psychological ones; falling back into trauma because it’s familiar; the power of love’s precarity; victimology; Philip Roth’s “the ecstasy of sanctimony”; lessons from Othello; surrender vs submission; Esther Perel’s Mating in Captivity; seeking traits in a partner that mirror a dysfunctional parent; how sex is different for men and women; gay promiscuity; male-male marriages lasting the longest; HIV and the threat of deportation; dating with HIV in the ‘90s; and how to be a better listener. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: David Thomson on cinema in US history and culture, John O’Sullivan on conservatism, Robby George on natural law, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  • July 3 · 56 min

    John Gray On Trump's New World Disorder

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com John is a political philosopher. He retired from academia in 2007 as Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, and he’s now a regular contributor and lead reviewer at the New Statesman. He’s the author of two dozen books, and the most recent is The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism, which we discussed on the Dishcast last year (after first having him on the pod in 2023). For two clips of the episode — on what the Founders would think of the 250th, and sizing up the next prime minister of the UK — head to our YouTube page. Other topics: the deadly heatwave in Europe and its lack of AC; the Putin-esque corruption of Trump; the Joker-esque nature of US politics; civic exhaustion; our broken trust with the rest of the world; losing the Iran War; the stranglehold of Hormuz; fears over the Strait of Malacca; the JCPOA; Fukuyama; edge-lording and DOGE; the embarrassment of Trump’s 250; his plunge in the polls; the socialist wins in NYC; DEI collectivism; Vance’s Catholicism; Rubio’s future; Tucker 2028; the collapse of free speech in higher ed; Keir’s departure; Andy Burnham’s rise; his neo-Blairite populism; Farage and Reform; Restore Britain; Kemi Badenoch; Scott Wiener hounded by transqueers; masks used by ICE and activists; the surge of antisemitism on the left and right; the Le Pen and Bardella factions; AfD; the EU becoming more right-wing; mass migration and Boris; the Swedish crackdown; Islamism; Meloni becoming a centrist; Putin and Ukraine; the drone revolution and Taiwan; the hope of Ossoff; and the World Cup. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema in American history and culture, John O’Sullivan on conservatism, Robby George on natural law, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

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