Matters of Policy & Politics

The drama in Washington? A pittance compared to the upheaval across the pond: British prime minister Theresa May’s disastrous snap election. Hoover Institution senior fellow Niall Ferguson, a native Scot, assesses May’s future and that of Brexit, plus where the Trump presidency stands as it approaches the five-month mark. New episodes of Area 45 are released each week. Please rate, review, and subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or RSS on your favorite podcast platform. (Playing time: 35:19)

Presidents are defined by rhetorical moments: Reagan and Kennedy at the Berlin Wall; George W. Bush rallying the nation after the 9/11 attacks. And Donald Trump? So far his presidency hasn’t been one of major addresses. Hoover fellow Peter Robinson, author of Reagan’s famous speech at the Brandenberg Gate, discusses the art of presidential wordsmithery in this age of shock tweets and nonstop news cycles. (Playing time: 55:32)

Recorded on May 25, 2017 As far as the fate of Obamacare goes, the ball’s in the Senate’s court: to alter the House’s plan or develop a prescription of its own. Dr. Scott Atlas, the Hoover Institution’s David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow and a frequent author on Obamacare, discusses the most commonsense path for Congress to take, the chances of a repeal/replacement law emerging in the near future, and California’s ill-advised flirtation with adopting a single-payer universal health care system. (Playing time: 40:52)

The American dream rests on the notion on “rugged individualism”: freedom, liberty, and equality of opportunity and a tradition of conquering physical, economic, social, and political frontiers. David Davenport, coauthor of Rugged Individualism: Dead or Alive?, looks at President Trump’s political philosophy, his record to date and suggests ways the new administration can restore this flickering American tradition. If you like the show, please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 42:23)

It’s a threat the likes of which America has never faced: the theft of intellectual property, lifestyle disruptions, and attacks tailored to degrade or destroy the nation’s military capabilities. Amy Zegart, the Hoover Institution’s Davies Family Senior Fellow and codirector and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, outlines a strategy for how the United States can gain the upper hand in the global cyber war. (Playing time: 42:49)

Hoover senior fellow Russell Berman, a specialist in the study of German literary and cultural politics, takes us through the aftershocks of the French presidential election. Is German chancellor Angela Merkel breathing a sigh of relief or, despite the nationalist setback in France, does her future and that of the European Union remain in doubt? (Playing time: 39:49)

Hoover political scientists David Brady and Doug Rivers diagnose the Trump presidency’s health based on polling data and the state of antiglobalization populism on the eve of France’s presidential vote. Will European Union resentment, like many a would-be invader, fail to make it across the English Channel? (Playing time: 49:30)

Recorded on April 13, 2017 No presidency in the post–Watergate era has had this contentious a relationship with the Fourth Estate. Rarely have correspondents and news outlets been this boisterous in their objection to the policies and personality of a sitting president. Dan Balz, chief correspondent for the Washington Post and best-selling author and veteran observer of the Washington scene, assesses the current state of political journalism and what if anything can be done to mend the Trump-media rift. (Playing time: 31:49)

As the Trump presidency approaches its first notable milestone, we check in with Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover senior fellow and proprietor of The Classicist podcast, on the administration’s early moves. It was Victor Davis Hanson who saw the Trump train approaching long before it overran the political establishment. Does he think Trump’s “traditionalist” appeal is still working? Where is there room for presidential improvement? (Playing time: 42:21)

As Earth Day approaches, Hoover senior fellow Terry Anderson rates the new interior secretary and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator and suggests some free-market environmental principles for the two to pursue. Also should the Trump administration revisit the century-old monument-designation authority used as never before during the Obama years but wildly unpopular across parts of the American West? (Playing time: 38:49)