Hoover Institution: Recent Episodes
Hoover Institution
Robert Staiger on the roles of the GATT and WTO in fostering international trade and prosperity.
Condoleezza Rice on the opt-in international system that arose after World War II and how it fostered prosperity.
Steven Davis here. Kevin Murphy and I are launching a new podcast called “Economics, Applied.” We are professors at the University of Chicago and Senior Fellows at the Hoover Institution. Our podcast aims to bring evidence and economic thinking to major policy issues. We interview guests who have first-hand experience in the policy arena and we discuss the issues with leading scholars. In some episodes Kevin and I just sit back and take stock of our conversations with guests and draw lessons. Please tune in!
The Hoover Institution and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) hosted Ensuring America’s Innovation in Artificial Intelligence with Condoleezza Rice and Dr. Fei-Fei Li on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to radically transform every industry and every society. Such profound changes offer great opportunities to improve the human condition for the better, but also pose unprecedented challenges. As this new era arrives, the creators and designers of AI must account for diversity of thought and ensure systems are built to properly reflect what it means to be human. Guiding the future of AI in a responsible way that translates American values of equality, opportunity and individual freedom will be paramount to ensuring our shared dream of creating a better future for all of humanity.
Recorded on June 11, 2020
Humanity’s control over infectious disease – achieved by modern science, good policy, and economic growth – is one of the most remarkable successes of our species. But can a history of this triumph help us evaluate how fragile it is? And what does the COVID-19 pandemic look like in the long perspective of human control over infectious disease?
Kyle Harper is Professor of Classics and Letters and the Senior Vice President and Provost at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma. A historian of Rome, Harper is the author of three books, Slavery in the Late Roman World, awarded the James Henry Breasted Prize; From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality, which received the Award for Excellence in Historical Studies from the American Academy of Religion; and The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire, which has been translated into 11 languages. His next project is a history of infectious disease, from human origins to the present, which will bring the natural sciences into conversation with the study of the human past.
ABOUT THE HOOVER HISTORY WORKING GROUP https://www.hoover.org/research-teams/history-working-group
This interview is part of the History Working Group Seminar Series. A central piece of the History Working Group is the seminar series, which is hosted in partnership with the Hoover Library & Archives. The seminar series was launched in the fall of 2019, and thus far has included six talks from Hoover research fellows, visiting scholars, and Stanford faculty. The seminars provide outside experts with an opportunity to present their research and receive feedback on their work. While the lunch seminars have grown in reputation, they have been purposefully kept small in order to ensure that the discussion retains a good seminar atmosphere.
A panel discussion of the public health, rule of law, civil society and global policy dimensions of Taiwan’s response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Featuring Dr. Jason Wang, Prof. Chang Wen-Chen, Prof. Fan Yun, and Lanhee Chen Ph.D. Moderated by Glenn Tiffert Ph.D.
Recorded May 14, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellows Eric Hanushek And Margaret Raymond discuss COVID-19 And Schools
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOWS Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. A leader in the economic analysis of educational issues, his research spans the impact on achievement of teacher quality, accountability, and class-size reduction. He pioneered measuring teacher quality on the basis of student achievement.
Margaret “Macke” Raymond is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the founder and director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University. CREDO's work, which analyzes and evaluates programs that aim to improve outcomes for K-12 students in public schools, is heavily relied upon by policy makers at all levels of government.
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Recorded May 12, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow Russell A. Berman: COVID-19 And Globalism.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW Russell A. Berman is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He formerly served as Senior Advisor in the Policy Planning Staff of the United States Department of State.
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Recorded May 8, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellows Edward Lazear and Niall Ferguson: COVID-19: Today’s Historic Jobs Report
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOWS Edward P. Lazear is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Davies Family Professor of Economics at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Lazear served at the White House from 2006 to 2009, where he was chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Before coming to Stanford, he taught at the University of Chicago.
Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies, Harvard, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. He is also a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.
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Recorded May 7, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow John Yoo discusses COVID-19 And Federalism.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW John Yoo is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California–Berkeley School of Law, and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
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Recorded May 5, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellows Scott Atlas And John Taylor: COVID 19 And Reopening the Economy .
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOWS Scott W. Atlas, M.D. is the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and was Chief of Neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center.
John B. Taylor is the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He chairs the Hoover Working Group on Economic Policy and is director of Stanford’s Introductory Economics Center.
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Recorded April 30, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow Larry Diamond discusses COVID-19 And Democracy Around The World.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. For more than six years, he directed FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, where he now leads its Program on Arab Reform and Democracy and its Global Digital Policy Incubator.
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Recorded April 28, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow George Osborne: COVID-19 And The UK.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW George Osborne is the William C. Edwards Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2010 to 2016 he served as Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, during that time he was a member of the National Security Council, and he also served as Britain's First Secretary of State. Prior, he was a Member of Parliament. Osborne is currently the Editor of the Evening Standard.
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Recorded April 23, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow H.R. McMaster on COVID-19: the Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Implications
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.
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Recorded April 21, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow Joshua D. Rauh on COVID-19 and the Government Response.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW Joshua D. Rauh is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Ormond Family Professor of Finance at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He formerly served at the White House where he was Principal Chief Economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers, as well as taught at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management.
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Recorded April 16, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution fellows David Brady and Douglas Rivers provide a briefing on COVID-19 and Politics.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOWS
Douglas Rivers is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of political science at Stanford University. He is also the Chief Scientist at YouGov PLC, a global polling firm.
David Brady is a senior fellow emeritus at the Hoover Institution and the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science in the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has published seven books and more than a hundred papers on elections, politics and public policy.
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Recorded April 14, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow and Director Designee Condoleezza Rice on COVID-19 and National Security.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW Condoleezza Rice is currently the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of political science at Stanford University. She is also a founding partner of RiceHadleyGates, LLC.
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Recorded April 9, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow Victor Davis Hanson on COVID-19 and the Lessons of History.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; his focus is classics and military history.
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Recorded April 7, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow John Taylor on COVID-19 and the Economy.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOW
John B. Taylor is the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He chairs the Hoover Working Group on Economic Policy and is director of Stanford’s Introductory Economics Center.
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Recorded April 4, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellow Ed Lazear provides a briefing on COVID-19 and today's jobs report.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
To receive notifications about upcoming briefings, please sign up by clicking here: http://eepurl.com/gXjSSb.
Recorded April 2, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Institution Fellows Michael Auslin and Lanhee Chen provide a briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic, China, and the Political Fallout.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
ABOUT THE FELLOWS
Michael Auslin is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian by training, he specializes in current and historical U.S. policy in Asia and political and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region.
Lanhee J. Chen, Ph.D. is the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University.
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MICHAEL AUSLIN and LANHEE CHEN: COVID-19, China and the Political Fallout. Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 11AM PT/ 2PM ET
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
NIALL FERGUSON: COVID-19 in the Light of History and Network Science. Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 11AM PT/ 2PM ET
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
SCOTT W. ATLAS on COVID-19 and Health Care Recorded on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 11AM
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars.
KEVIN WARSH on COVID-19 and the Federal Reserve Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at 11AM PT/ 2PM ET
Recorded March 23, 2020, 11AM PST
Hoover Senior Fellow John H. Cochrane provides a briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is affecting the US economy.
The Hoover Institution presents an online virtual briefing series on pressing policy issues, including health care, the economy, democratic governance, and national security. Briefings will include thoughtful and informed analysis from our top scholars
Hoover Institution fellow Bill Whalen discusses Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, defying projections by garnering 306 electoral votes; and also talks about how Trump could prevent falling below the 270 votes required to win the 2020 election. Whalen focuses on 10 states that have played pivotal roles in past elections and identifies others that will be important in 2020. He also sheds light on the upcoming gubernatorial elections in various states, including those that will have a major impact on the presidential race. He further describes how the candidate’s age is an important factor for voters. Lastly, Bill focuses on the nature of the attacks Trump will likely face from his opposition.
Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Lee Ohanian discusses the growing interest in socialism and socialist policies among some political circles. He also talks about the dangers that exist for our economy if socialist policies are implemented. He describes the examples of China and India, which both flourished economically after abandoning socialist policies. He also addresses the distortions that the 2020 democratic presidential candidates have presented about capitalism.
Hoover Senior Research Fellow Lee Ohanian discusses how the two major political parties have evolved over time. He also talks about the various candidates running for president in 2020 and how these leaders have evolved, sharing facts and figures and his thoughts on how they can impact the country.
Hoover Senior Research Fellow Shelby Steele discusses the face of racism throughout US history. He focuses on how liberal movements have changed the way people view racism and how the struggle with that old evil is still ongoing.
Hoover Research Fellow Abbas Milani discusses the implications of military confrontation on US-Iran relations. He explains the reason for turmoil between the two countries and how it can lead to war. He also explains the state of mind of US government leaders who do not want a war with Iran.
In this episode, Adam Segal of the Council on Foreign Relations discusses US-China relations in the context of cybersecurity, the digital supply chain, and trade.
Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson analyzes the evidence for a Trump administration doctrine and what has been accomplished. He discusses how polarization has made it hard to talk about Trump, but that the president’s tough stances in foreign policy have been working with NATO and Russia.
Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow H. R. McMaster discusses the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the prospects of future wars in the region. He explains how the threat of transnational terrorist organizations is getting larger and that the United States needs to structure future war efforts for sustainable political outcomes.
Senior Fellow William Damon discusses how the current American education system fails to instill a sense of purpose in students. He argues that schools ought to be places that encourage and cultivate students’purpose, which will benefit them immensely in the long run.
Senior Fellow Michael McConnell examines the Trump administration’s policies and the many legal cases that have arisen to challenge them. He breaks down the issues of the census citizenship question, the Muslim travel ban, and unlawful minority-voter suppression.
Payson J. Treat Fellow in Contemporary Asia Michael Auslin breaks down US foreign policy with regards to China, North Korea, and the Indo-Pacific. He grades the Trump administration on its policy stances toward this region and gives his midterm grade for the administration. Michael Auslin is the cohost of the Hoover Institution’s podcast The Pacific Century.
John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow Terry Anderson breaks down the reasons socialism doesn’t work by using the contemporary example of Native American reservations. He discusses the problems indigenous communities have historically had in attempting to gain fiscal independence from the US government and new changes under way among various tribes to start generating revenue.
Davis Family Senior Fellow Amy Zegart discusses the future of coercion between sovereign countries in the era of drones. She breaks down the different threats drones can pose, their cost differences compared to manned weaponry, and how the American people tend to approve of drone strikes against terrorists.
Louis Armstrong was interviewed on the Czechoslovak service of Radio Free Europe on February 10, 1968. This is a brief clip of one of Louis Armstrong’s responses.
Louis Armstrong was interviewed on the Czechoslovak service of Radio Free Europe on February 10, 1968. The interview is conducted in Czechoslovak with responses in English. Listen to Armstrong sing at 05:12.
The Hoover Institution hosted "Security by the Book with Henry Farrell & Abraham L. Newman" on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM EST.
Of Privacy and Power investigates how the European Union and United States, the two major regulatory systems in world politics, have regulated privacy and security, and how their agreements and disputes have reshaped the transatlantic relationship.
Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman was interviewed by Jack Goldsmith, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution.
In this episode, Stanford researcher Fiona Cunningham discusses cybersecurity in relation to China, addressing areas including military strategy and computer technology in the context of China’s overall strategic and geopolitical goals.
Clint Bolick, Hoover fellow and associate justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona, breaks down the future of the US Supreme Court, what will change with the new justices, and what will remain the same. He analyzes the current court’s makeup of textualists and living constitutionalists and what it means for the future of the United States law.
Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Lee Ohanian analyzes the policies of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. He discusses what the Green New Deal would mean for the economy and how the candidates in this election are moving the party further left.
Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow Michael McFaul discusses Putin’s Russia and the current state of “hot peace” foreign relations with the United States. He analyzes how more Russians and Americans have been sanctioned by both countries than were ever sanctioned during the Cold War and how the annexation of Crimea was the real turning point for Putin’s Russia.
H. R. McMaster discusses his time as President Trump’s national security adviser, and his experience dealing with transnational terrorist organizations and hostile states like North Korea. He breaks down why it is time to restore America’s strategic competence on the world stage.
Herbert Lin breaks down issues of cybersecurity in our increasingly cyberconnected world. He analyzes how cyberenabled information wars are a new form of warfare that is becoming increasingly dangerous as computers become part of every aspect of our daily lives.
John Cochrane discusses the current era of political polarization and how it can drive poor economic policies on both sides of the aisle. He analyzes various policies that have been proposed and talks about how those policies can hurt the economy in the long run.
Lanhee Chen breaks down the debate on single-payer health care, its different types, and why none of them will work.
Jack Goldsmith interviews John Judis about his book on the virtues and vices nationalism, why nationalism is a necessary prerequisite to democracy and social welfare, why we are seeing a global movement toward right-wing as opposed to left-wing nationalism and populism, and what Donald Trump got right in putting nationalist concerns at the center of the American political agenda.
Adam White analyzes the state the of the Supreme Court. He discusses President Trump’s judiciary appointments and how they are significantly overhauling the federal judiciary.
Terry Anderson discusses his work with indigenous tribes around the world, working on setting up profitable corporations run by the tribes to renew their indigenous economies.
Victor Davis Hanson discusses his forthcoming book, The Case for Trump, and assesses the impacts of President Trump’s foreign policy.
In this episode, Chris Bronk discusses the geopolitical implications of cybersecurity, including how control of information—and misinformation—impacts international relations.
About the guest: Chris Bronk is an assistant professor of computer and information systems and associate director for the Center for Information Security Research and Education at the University of Houston. His research is focused on the area of cyber geopolitics, with additional work in organizational innovation, knowledge management, and intelligence studies. Prior to joining the University of Houston, he was with Rice University's Baker Institute. Previously he worked as a foreign service officer.
Hoover Institution fellows Herbert Lin and Amy Zegart are interviewed by Hoover Institution fellow Jack Goldsmith, via Security by the Book, concerning their book Bytes, Bombs and Spies: The Strategic Dimensions of Offensive Cyber Capabilities.
In this episode, ex-Facebook security head Alex Stamos discusses cybersecurity in relation to disinformation and elections, the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, the breaches we don’t read about, and the challenges of securing social networking services.
About the guest: Alex Stamos is a cybersecurity expert, business leader, and entrepreneur working to improve the security and safety of the Internet through his teaching and research at Stanford University. Stamos is an adjunct professor at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute, a William J. Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution. Prior to joining Stanford, Alex served as the chief security officer of Facebook.
Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White debate Attorney General Sessions’s resignation, and the appointment of Matthew Whittaker as his temporary replacement.
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Norman Naimark, Admiral Gary Roughead, Russell Berman, and Michael Auslin discuss America’s role in the world today, focusing specifically on America’s strategies in regards to China and the Middle East.
Niall Ferguson discusses China’s increasing military aggression towards the United States, the Chinese economy in relation to the US economy, and the impact the current trade war is having on China’s economy.
Victor Davis Hanson discusses the aftermath of World War II, the state of the world back in 1945, and where the world is headed in today’s climate.
Larry Diamond discusses the authoritarian resurgence and the various forms of power projections on the part of Russia and China. These countries are becoming more authoritarian and prohibiting independent thought and independent organization in civil society. He discusses the challenges the United States is facing and what it can do to move forward.
In the aftermath of the Senate’s confirmation of Kavanaugh, Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss the need (or not) to change the Senate’s process, and recent criticism of the Court’s “legitimacy.”
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Recorded on August 10, 2018 Michael Auslin discusses the growing influence of China in global affairs. For example, recently, airlines were forced to remove all references to Taiwan as a country from their websites and instead indicate cities like Taipei as part of China. Airlines that refused to make this change were banned from landing in mainland China, causing several small airlines to shut down operations. With the growing influence of China on the world stage, Auslin argues that the United States needs to be prepared to come to terms with it.
Recorded on August 10, 2018 With the two parties at odds on the path forward for health care, Lanhee Chen discusses the prospects of health care reform in the United States. He analyzes the issues Americans face in the quality of care for routine issues versus specialty issues, difficulties with the Affordable Care Act, and more.
Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White look back at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, and then look ahead to the effect that Kavanaugh may have on constitutional law and the administrative state.
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In this episode, Lillian Ablon discusses cyber threat categories in relation to markets for stolen digital data; the longevity of zero-day vulnerabilities and the resulting impact on business risk profiles; and the white, gray, and black markets for zero-day exploits.
About the guest: Lillian Ablon is an information scientist at the RAND Corporation where her research addresses a range of cybersecurity topics including markets for zero-day exploits, cyber risks to the supply chain, markets for stolen digital data, cyber insurance, and corporate strategies for cybersecurity defense. She holds a BA in mathematics from UC Berkeley and an MS in mathematics from Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded a black badge at DEFCON21 and has recently provided congressional testimony on markets for stolen digital data.
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In this talk, Research Fellow Jennifer Burns taps into the Hoover Library & Archives’ extensive Milton Friedman collection. Drawing on her own research in the archives as part of a forthcoming intellectual biography on Friedman, she brings the Nobel Prize-winning Hoover fellow’s work to bear on current policy debates about a universal basic income.
The day after a federal jury convicts the Trump Campaign’s former chairman, Paul Manafort on tax and fraud charges, and President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, plead guilty to campaign finance violations. The Hoover Institution’s Richard Epstein and Adam White analyze these developments and argue about fundamental issues surrounding Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation of President Trump.
With Justice Kennedy’s retirement, and Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to succeed him, Richard Epstein and Adam White reflect on Kennedy’s legacy and discuss what Kavanaugh may bring to the Court.
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Kristen Eichensehr, Assistant Professor at UCLA School of Law, focuses on cybersecurity in a global context. Among other things, she focuses on extraterritoriality. Eichensehr talks about why extraterritoriality is particularly complex in the cyber context because a single document can be fragmented and stored in different places around the world at the same time. What and whose laws is the document subject to following?
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Introducing Cyberspectives, a new podcast analyzing the cyber issues of today with host John Villasenor. In the inaugural episode, guest Andrew Grotto provides analysis on a broad range of cyber issues, including questions regarding areas of cyber most in need of national level attention, aspects of cyber that are underappreciated, emerging opportunities in the commercial cybersecurity sector, and how the academic community can best contribute to the cyber policy dialog.
President Trump claims that he has the power to pardon himself. Is he right? On the other hand, was the Mueller appointment unconstitutional itself? On this podcast, Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss the latest constitutional debates surrounding Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump.
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On April 11, 2018, the Hoover Institution hosted a panel on female genital mutilation featuring Mary Wambui, the founder and director of Shelter Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Ngong, Kenya, along with Research Fellow Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Titled “The Human Rights Violation of Women that Rarely Gets Discussed,” the event illuminated not only the great harm caused by female genital mutilation but also its shocking extent. The discussion drew on the experience of Wambui and Hirsi Ali not only as advocates against the practice, but as victims of female genital mutilation themselves.
The event was organized by Christie Skinner-Gilligan, wife of Hoover director Tom Gilligan, who has been a longtime friend and supporter of Wambui after meeting her during a mission trip to Kenya. Skinner-Gilligan invited Wambui to visit Hoover following a presentation on female genital mutilation before the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
The discussion was moderated by Hoover research fellow Alice Hill, formerly senior counselor to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and founder of the internationally recognized Blue Campaign to combat human trafficking.
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin announced that “we’re putting the trade war [with China] on hold.” Meanwhile the NAFTA renegotiations seem to be stalling. Professors Epstein and White debate trade policy in theory and practice. Featuring cameo appearances by Ricardo, Keynes, Lincoln, Hamilton, Clay, Mnuchin, and Trump.
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The Hoover Institution hosted "Security by the Book: Habeas Corpus in Wartime with Amanda Tyler" on Monday, May 14, 2018 from 5:00pm - 6:30pm EST.
In her new book, Habeas Corpus in Wartime, Amanda Tyler traces the wartime the Anglo-American legal and political history of habeas corpus in wartime. Join Tyler and Benjamin Wittes for a wide ranging conversation covering the English Habeas Corpus Act, the English suspension framework, the United States Constitution's Suspension Clause, and habeas throughout many American wartime periods, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War II, and the War on Terror.
Adam White, a research fellow at Hoover and the executive director of the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, grades the Trump Administration on regulatory policy. Covering Trump’s campaign agenda through today, White tells a promising story about regulatory reform and explains how the president can ensure his accomplishments remain in effect through future administrations.
Renowned scholar of race relations Shelby Steele discusses the dissolution of cultural unity and the rise of moral division in America. He argues that much of the racial strife we see today centers on a struggle to reclaim moral authority that was compromised by “old evils” such as war and racism
Iran, argues Abbas Milani, is a nation of paradoxes. Seventy percent of the country’s citizens are younger than thirty-five years old, yet their political fate is in the hands of a cadre of septuagenarian-and-older religious leaders. The country’s leaders, Milani jokes, were already old men when he was jailed with them as a political prisoner in the 1970s. Four decades later, he maintains, they are finally losing their grip on power.
One of Hoover’s newest fellows and an expert on security and political relations in Asia, Michael Auslin argues that despite the best hopes of other analysts, China’s economic convergence with the West won’t be followed by an embrace of Western values and institutions. A more realistic view, he explains, reveals a China that is resolute in its own political model and engaged in a fierce competition with the West that extends beyond the economic arena.
Nearly 50 years old, the National Environmental Policy Act has become a major roadblock for modern infrastructure projects. Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White discuss whether it’s time to mend it—or end it.
As North and South Korean leaders meet to discuss a possible peace agreement and an end to decades of hostility, is President Trump’s next move a one-on-one summit with the “honorable” Kim Jong-un? Hoover senior fellow Thomas Henriksen assesses the stakes on the Korean peninsula and what Trump could and should not do to avoid the frustration experienced by recent American presidents.
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Ten years after the release of Nudge, the volume that popularized behavioral economics, Richard Epstein considers the shortcomings of the behaviorist school and the concept of “libertarian paternalism.”
First Lady Melania Trump has championed cyber-bullying as a cause, but Hoover visiting fellow Markos Kounalakis thinks she should broaden her horizons – to include a little diplomacy in her native Central Europe. It’s a portion of the world that’s drifted into angry nationalism, economic uncertainty and civil unrest, with one country (Poland) displaying troubling anti-Semitic tendencies. Kounalakis talks about all of that, plus he discusses Vladimir Putin’s Russia playing a meddling role around the world.
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Richard Epstein parses President Trump’s economic criticisms of Amazon — and examines a Supreme Court case that will determine how online retailers pay taxes.
Recorded on March 29, 2018
Washington Post columnist and author, George F. Will, sits down with Peter Robinson in Austin, Texas to chat about the current administration and America’s favorite pastime—baseball. They discuss politics in the age of polarization and the future of America.
Will argues that Americans need to stop looking at presidents as moral exemplars and instead focus on the president as the head of the executive branch. Will and Robinson discuss a quote from his 1984 book, Statecraft as Soulcraft: What Government Does, “The United States acutely needs real conservatism, characterized by a concern to cultivate the best personas and the best in persons. It should express appreciation for the ennobling functions of government.” They use this quote as a launchpad to discuss the future of American politics.
The discussion turns to young adults and teenagers, and Will argues why history should be a required class for all college students. They also discuss the rise in birth rates of illegitimate children and what that means for society. They talk about family as the transmitter of social capital and that when the family fails, free society fails too.
In the end they discuss baseball as America’s favorite pastime, and George Will argues it is the sport of America’s future as parents stop letting their children play football because of the dangers of lifelong head and body injuries
Victor Davis Hanson describes the philosophical conceits employed by defenders of illegal immigration — and explains how they’re undermining American society.
Now that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has pulled back on a plan to double the entry fees to America’s national parks, how will Washington address the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure backlog facing the National Park Service? Terry Anderson, the Hoover Institution’s John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow and a proponent of “free market environmentalism,” discusses how to modernize the park system while preserving its natural splendor.
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Victor Davis Hanson describes how President Trump’s unconventional approach to foreign policy has often proved to be more effective than the conventional wisdom proffered by the Washington establishment.
A quarter of a century since the nation’s first charter school opened in Minnesota, a new administration in Washington speaks of “school choice.” Eric Hanushek, the Hoover Institution’s Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow, and Macke Raymond, a Hoover distinguished research fellow and director of the Stanford-based Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), discuss the health of the charter-school movement and what needs to be done at the federal, state, and local levels to improve the nation’s classrooms.
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Richard Epstein breaks down the legal rationales that may — or may not — have justified the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. He also examines the broader trajectory of the Mueller investigation. Whose job is in more danger: Mueller’s or Trump’s?
In the immediate aftermath of an FBI raid on the office of President Trump’s private counsel, Hoover Institution fellows Richard Epstein and Adam White debate whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is a problem in terms of constitutional structure and accountability. Along the way, they discuss the criminal process, and the need for “republican virtue” in our constitutional system.
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The Hoover Institution hosts "'A Discussion of Tim Maurer's New Book: Cyber Mercenaries" on Thursday, April 5, 2018 from 5:30pm - 7:00pm EST.
Tim Maurer's new book, Cyber Mercenaries: The State, Hackers and Power, is an exploration of the intersection between cyberspace and geopolitics. In timely commentary considering recent revelations about state-sponsored cyber operations, Maurer describes a landscape of state actors deploying, sponsoring and exploiting hackers to express power in the international sphere. State-hacker relationships have created new frontiers for the regulatory and legal questions around offensive cyber capabilities. Through case studies, Maurer demonstrates the importance of creating a framework for understanding the pros and cons of using cyber operations as geopolitical tools.
The coming midterm election is more than a litmus test of the Trump presidency. It’s also a continuation of a fourth cycle of political polarization dating back to the Civil War. David Brady, the Hoover Institution’s Davies Family Senior Fellow, explains the sorting-out in the election – a possible surge in women voters, Trump loyalists’ enthusiasm, and the two parties dealing with their respective ideological differences in races nationwide.
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Richard Epstein discusses the history behind America’s anti-discrimination laws and explains why they’re not well-suited for the modern economy.
Recorded February 27, 2018 What do Catholics think of Pope Francis’s changes to the Catholic Church? Ross Douthat explores that question in his new book, To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism. Douthat joins Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge to discuss his new book, his thoughts and critiques of Pope Francis, and the changing conception of divorce under Pope Francis’s ambiguous teachings.
Douthat and Robinson spend a large portion of the episode discussing the Catholic teachings surrounding marriage, divorce, and communion. They examine the history of Catholicism and divorce, going back so far as to understand the lessons of the New Testament on divorce and how those lessons were radically conservative for the time. They talk about how problematic the terms “conservative” and “liberal” are when used in the context of the Church as the political leanings do not necessarily correlate with moral leanings of religion. They go on to discuss the future of the Catholic church under Pope Francis and how the Bishops can handle all of the changes.
T.S. Eliot deemed April “the cruelest month,” but for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg it’s been March with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal that’s cast doubt on the fabled “social network.” Niall Ferguson, the Hoover Institution’s Milbank Family Senior Fellow and a frequent author on technology and Silicon Valley’s prominence, examines the perils of “hyperconnection.” Has Zuckerberg fulfilled George Orwell’s vision of a society of addicted to an all-knowing, all-watching telescreen?
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Introducing Reasonable Disagreements with Richard Epstein and Adam White, a new Hoover Institution podcast where two lawyers and Hoover fellows discuss and analyze the top legal issues of the day, and debate points of disagreement between their libertarian and conservative perspectives. Richard Epstein and Adam White’s inaugural episode begins with a discussion of Epstein’s Defining Ideas column, “The Troubled Legacy of Dodd-Frank,” concerning proposals to reform the Dodd-Frank financial law and delves into a broader conversation on Dodd-Frank’s inherent problems.
“Making America toxic again,” as one publication suggested, or a public servant dedicated to paring honest science and environmental stewardship? Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, stops by to explain how the Trump Administration has reoriented the EPA, its highlights and priorities, and how a former college baseball player deals with political hardball in the nation’s capital.
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Recorded on February 25, 2018
“On Election Day in 2016, Donald Trump carried Ohio by eight percentage points. Our guest today carried the state by twenty-one. Senator of Ohio Rob Portman joins Peter Robinson at a special live taping of Uncommon Knowledge. They discuss the 2018 tax bill, the opioid crisis, the Parkland shootings, North Korea, and much more.
Senator Portman stands by his decision to vote for the new tax bill as he has seen the benefits right in his home state. He recounts several anecdotes of his constituents who have already seen benefits from the new tax bill. He tells the story of one small-business owner who is finally able to offer health care to her full-time employees because of the tax breaks for small businesses. He also discusses meeting with microbrewers who are now able to expand their facilities and grow their businesses because of the tax cuts.
Portman also discusses how the new federal budget helped the Department of Defense and the US military to build out their forces in order to project strength abroad. He explains ways that the Republicans and Democrats were able to compromise on increasing domestic discretionary spending so that they can also spend equally on defense. He recounts examples of bipartisanship in order to help Congress get work done.
Senator Portman goes into great detail about the opioid crisis a huge issue in his state. Portman is working hard to increase treatment programs for addicts to end the crisis. He tells a story about one young man he met who will be able to become sober and regain his life back because of the new treatment programs.
Peter Robinson takes the interview into a lightning round near the end of the program, asking Senator Portman quick questions for quick answers about his thoughts on the situation with North Korea, the Parkland shootings, conservatives and Donald Trump, and why Portman continues to be in public service. Portman ends the interview by explaining why public service matters to him more than making significantly more money in the private sector.
About the Guest: Senator Rob Portman is a junior senator for the state of Ohio. He has served as a senator since 2011. Senator Portman previously served as a US Representative, a United States Trade Representative, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Richard Epstein reacts to former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ suggestion that the Second Amendment be repealed — and explains why the constitutional arguments about guns may point in a different direction than the policy arguments.
How’s the Trump presidency faring and what’s its effect on “Victorian Reagan conservatives” and the political chattering class? Hugh Hewitt, a conservative talk-radio and MSNBC host (not to mention the recipient of several Trump barbs as a 2016 GOP debate host), weighs in on the good, the bad and the ugly of Trump’s reign.
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Donald Trump’s rallies with the Rolling Stone’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But If You Try Sometimes, You Get What You Need.” Is that the prevailing conservative attitude 14 months into his presidency? Rich Lowry, editor of The National Review, discusses the right’s complicated relationship with a President who both delivers for and confounds the Republican base, but do they get what they need?
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Richard Epstein explains how public pensions came to be a ticking time bomb for states and cities throughout the US, what the financial ramifications are, and why the road to reform is so perilous.
Russell A. Berman, cochair of Hoover’s Herbert and Jane Dwight Working Group on Islamism and the International Order, looks at the contemporary world stage with a focus on the relationship of Islam, global institutions, and American policy.
Victor Davis Hanson, chair of Hoover’s Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict, looks back at the first year of the Trump presidency—including the president’s foreign and domestic policy actions, his supporters and critics, and his unique style of leadership.
By the 2020 election, America’s “millennial” class will replace Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest age-bloc of voters. David Davenport, a Hoover Institution research fellow specializing in constitution federalism and Americans politics and law, discusses what it will take to get a cynical under-35 crowd to the polls and, in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, whether the even younger “Generation Z” will emerge as a political force.
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The latest FEMA “strategic plan” mentions “risking natural hazard risk” but not a peep about global warming, rising sea levels or devastating weather. Alice Hill, a Hoover Institution research fellow focusing on building resilience to catastrophic events, discusses the Trump Administration’s reluctance to utter the phrase “climate change” and where scientific debate stands in 2018.
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The twenty-first century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, in new book “The Square and the Tower,” historian and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us. From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, “The Square and the Tower” tells the story of the rise, fall and rise of networks, shows how network theory can transform our understanding of both the past and the present, and provides a brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we’re living through, as a struggle between old hierarchies and new social networks.
Jack Goldsmith and Niall Ferguson sit down for a discussion on the history of social networks.
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The Hoover Institution hosted "'Security by the Book featuring Amy Chua" on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
In her newest book, Chua argues that more successful foreign policy is only possible if the United States government acknowledges, and deals with, the realities of political tribalism. But Chua's analysis isn't limited to foreign political tribalism; she turns the magnifying glass inward to critique our domestic political culture. A successful America is one that overcomes the intense tribalism ripping apart our politics and our country by facing our inequities and differences no matter how difficult that process may be. Amy Chua was interviewed by Jack Goldsmith, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution.
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Niall Ferguson the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, gave a talk titled The Square and the Tower: Networks, Hierarchies, and the Struggle for Global Power from the Freemasons to Facebook
Drawing on his new book The Square and the Tower, Ferguson puts social networks in historical context, explaining six key principles that deal with networks and what they imply about policy and governance in the world today.
Admiral Gary Roughead (USN, Ret.)if the Robert and Marion Oster Distinguished Military Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He gave a talk titled Silk Roads and Bad Maps: China and the US in the Indo-Pacific.
The twenty-ninth chief of naval operations and one only two officers in the navy’s history to have commanded both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, Admiral Roughead discusses the rapidly developing strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific region and the foreign policy implications of China’s rise as a global power.
Tariffs and the looming threat of a trade war, the White House shaking up its economic team, and the president suggesting another round of tax cuts begs the question: what next in Washington, DC? Dr. Michael J. Boskin, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and the Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics at Stanford University, discusses what President Trump can do to keep the economy growing and takes a look at the financial health of California—the scene of this week’s visit by President Trump.
Richard Epstein contrasts two recent actions by the Trump Administration — the imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum, and the blocking of a foreign company’s attempts to take over an American tech firm — to demonstrate when national security concerns justify restrictions on trade ... and when they don’t.
Natan Sharansky sits down with Peter Robinson to discuss Soviet communism and its impact on his personal life. He discusses his book Fear No Evil: The Classic Memoir of One Man’s Triumph over a Police State, which details a compelling account of his time in a Soviet prison and the inspiration he found in himself, the Hebrew Bible, and Ronald Reagan’s speeches about freedom. Sharansky realized through KGB interrogations and his time in prison that nobody but himself is responsible for his own human dignity. Sharansky also becomes fully aware of how important freedom is—especially the freedoms included in the US Constitution and that Reagan often refers to in his speeches.
Sharansky's interview should open our eyes and minds to the lessons learned from silencing people we disagree with. The examples of silencing dissent, resulting in the empowerment of Stalin and the strengthening of the former Soviet Union, should be a lesson for all of us: to listen to ideas and views we may not agree with, and to speak up when we believe our friends and country are going in the wrong direction.
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China is a big player in economic and geopolitical matters, including trade, global aspirations, and finding a solution to the escalating tensions with North Korea. Michael Auslin, Hoover’s inaugural Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, discusses North Korea, China, trade wars, tariffs, ICBMs, China’s one belt one road plan to link the infrastructure and trade of Eurasian under Chinese auspices, as well as many other topics including China’s presence in the Arctic.
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How do we prevent war? How do we maintain peace? These questions have been posed by nations and people throughout history. The insights of historian and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson guide this documentary investigation of the United States’ successful deterrence of enemy aggression in the past and the efforts to sustain it in an era of rogue nations and nuclear proliferation.
The Hoover Institution hosted "Security by the Book: Max Boot's new book, 'The Road Not Taken,'" on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
Max Boot's new book, "The Road Not Taken" chronicles the life of Edward Landsdale, a relatively obscure but crucial figure in American military and foreign policy. In this new biography, Boot reframes Landsdale's legacy to demonstrate his contributions to American diplomacy, from the Philippines to the Vietnam war. While many of Landsdale's policy suggestions were ignored, they were insightful in their recognition of the importance of ideas and ideals in addition to cold and calculating warfare.
Benjamin Wittes interviewed Max Boot on the complex role Landsdale played in American military history.
Richard Epstein looks at how attempts to suppress conservative speakers on college campuses intersects with the First Amendment, and calls on 50 years of experience as a university professor to diagnose how liberal activism has changed over the years.
The state of the US economy in two words: “getting better.” That’s the learned opinion of John Taylor, the Hoover Institution’s George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He forecasts continued growth thanks to the latest round of tax cuts and regulatory reform – and wishes Washington would address another of his proscribed principles of economic well-being: budget reform.
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Richard Epstein looks at Janus v. AFSCME, a Supreme Court case out of Illinois with the potential to dramatically reduce the power of public sector unions.
Though it’s a relatively small expanse (just one-and-a-half times the size of the US), the Arctic Ocean is fraught with global strategic concerns. David Slayton, a Hoover research fellow and co-chair of Hoover’s Arctic Security Initiative, explains the Trump Administration’s options on “the top of the world” regarding military expansion, resource development and maritime passage.
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In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, Richard Epstein provides his legal analysis of where Second Amendment jurisprudence went wrong and explains what policy options might actually help to ease gun violence -- and why real solutions are devilishly hard to come by.
Victor Davis Hanson argues that the best way to upend insular elites is to relocate political institutions out of cosmopolitan settings.
A century ago, an American president had little to say while the world was ravaged by a flu pandemic. In 2018, in the midst of yet another flu epidemic, so too is President Trump silent. What are the Trump Administration’s options in terms of offering vaccines, speeding up drug research and raising public awareness? Dr. Henry Miller, the Hoover Institution’s Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy – and a physician and former flu researcher – discusses how to cure what literally ails the nation.
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Ordinarily, the second-place finisher in a presidential election doesn’t have a second political act. But the times aren’t ordinary and Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, is now a US Senate candidate in Utah. Hoover research fellow Lanhee Chen, Romney’s 2012 policy director, discusses what compelled his former boss to make the run and whether Romney will be a Trump White House ally or nemesis.
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Richard Epstein describes a potentially groundbreaking healthcare case out of Idaho, where insurers are looking to give consumers more options than are currently allowed under the Affordable Care Act.
Victor Davis Hanson considers the accomplishments of the Trump Administration's first year, looks at the president's shortcomings, and assesses what's next for both the Democratic opposition and Never Trump Republicans.
Shelby Steele, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and author of Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country , joins Peter Robinson to discuss race relations in the United States. Steele tells stories about growing up in segregated Chicago and the fights he and his family went through to end segregation in their neighborhood schools. He draws upon his own experiences facing racism while growing up in order to inform his opinions on current events. Steele and Robinson go on to discuss more recent African-American movements, including Steele’s thoughts on the NFL protests, Black Lives Matter, and recent rumors about Oprah Winfrey running for office.
Richard Epstein parses the memo recently released by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, a document that they claim shows impropriety in the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign.
A funny thing happened to America’s libertarian movement – it expected a champion to emerge in the 2016 election; it may or may not have one in Donald Trump. Richard Epstein, the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow and the voice behind “The Libertarian” podcast, grades the Trump presidency from a libertarian vantage.
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Hoover Institution senior fellow, Lee Ohanian, explains how California’s “tarnished” economic climate departs from a strong and successful history of pro-growth, free-market policy. Discussing regulatory, education, welfare, and other reforms, Ohanian explains how to get the state’s economic policy back on track.
Major recent data breaches underscore the cybersecurity vulnerabilities facing both individuals and governments in the online world. In his talk, Herb Lin, the Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy, explains the defensive technologies, policies, and practices needed in a world of constantly-evolving digital threats.
Just over one year into the Trump presidency, Victor Davis Hanson the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow, looks back at the policy platform that brought President Trump into office and assesses the accomplishments, challenges, and outlook for the future that characterize his presidency today.
With the polling data available, how does the discerning citizen make sense of the Trump presidency and the probabilities in the upcoming midterm election? David Brady, the Hoover Institution’s Davies Family Senior Fellows, offers his viewers’ guide for how to track U.S. politics in the months ahead. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe!
Richard Epstein opines on whether Donald Trump or Barack Obama deserves more credit for the current economic expansion, then tackles the policy agenda the president laid out in his State of the Union address.
Richard Epstein reviews how the new film The Post portrays the Supreme Court's free speech jurisprudence in the Pentagon Papers case.
Victor Davis Hanson describes how Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the legacy of the Obama Administration ... and explains why it's paying such rich dividends for the country.
California, the land of anti-Trump “resistance”, has its own problems both irresistible and intractable – mounting public pension debt, underfunded schools, and a revenue stream too dependent upon capital gains. David Crane, a Stanford lecturer, past economic aide to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and co-founder of Govern for California, weighs the health of the state so bitterly opposed to Trump.
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Recorded on November 9, 2017 With social networks like Facebook and Twitter in abundance, the effects of networks on society in the twenty-first century are inarguable. However, Niall Ferguson, author of The Square and the Tower, argues that networks are not a new phenomenon and have been impacting human culture from the beginning of history.
Niall Ferguson and Peter Robinson discuss networks and hierarchies throughout history in this episode of Uncommon Knowledge. Ferguson breaks down what he means by networks and hierarchies using the imagery of the Piazza Del Campo in Siena, where the Torre del Mangia, representing the hierarchy, casts a long shadow over the Piazza Del Campo, representing the network. Ferguson argues that this powerful imagery invokes the essence of his book and the intertwined nature of networks and hierarchies within society.
Ferguson goes on to discuss the importance of networks in social movements throughout history, including Martin Luther and the Reformation, Paul Revere and the American Revolution, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union, and social media and Donald Trump. He argues that a networked world is a dangerous world, in that it allows movements and societies to advance in unexpected ways.
Richard Epstein analyzes a lawsuit several major cities are bringing against oil companies over climate change, explains the economic and scientific considerations necessary to seriously grapple with the issue, and describes the libertarian approach to environmental harms.
Victor Davis Hanson weighs in on efforts to protect children brought into the United States illegally, considers how a humane immigration policy can be reconciled with America's national interests, and explains why paeans to diversity mask some of the most difficult issues surrounding immigration policy.
Victor Davis Hanson explains how identity politics threatens to undue America's standing as one of history's few successful multi-ethnic societies.
Eight years after Iran’s Green Movement and antigovernment protests, will the current unrest in the nation have no lasting impact or is it the beginning of the end for the repressive theocracy? Abbas Milani, a Hoover research fellow and the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University, explains the nature of the uprising, Tehran’s response, and the Trump administration’s options.
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Richard Epstein examines the deregulatory progress being made by the Trump Administration, explains the new tax law's implication for blue states, and imagines the consequences of a world in which the US withdraws from NAFTA.
Washington, DC, is a complicated town full of competing interests vying to control the federal government. Michael Franc, director of the Hoover Institution’s research and initiatives program in the nation’s capital and a former congressional aide, takes us through the past year’s drama, saying why the town hasn’t adjusted to the Trump presidency and offering a holiday guide as to who’s been naughty and nice in 2017.
Historian James Wright, author of Enduring Vietnam: An America Generation and Its War, joins Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge to discuss the challenges and successes of the Vietnam War. They discuss why the Vietnam War mattered, how the United States entered the war, the changing feelings of Americans at the time of the war, and much more.
Wright expands on how the Vietnam War fit into the greater strategy of the United States in the Cold War and why the United States entered it. He argues against the common idea that the baby boomer generation was the “Me Generation” in that 40 percent of them enlisted or were drafted into combat. He argues that we need to recognize that the baby boomer generation served our country in this war because most people today have not had to deal with the challenges faced by many during the draft.
Wright interviewed more than one hundred people for the making of this book; in it, he discusses some of the stories he learned from the many soldiers who fought in the war. He tells the story of Hamburger Hill and how the Americans fought to take and then hold the A Sau valley in South Vietnam. He writes how he believes this was an important battle in the Vietnam War even though many professors he’s talked to at West Point and the Army College do not teach it.
Wright discusses the changing attitudes of Americans toward the war after four years, and how as the number of people drafted and the number of casualties increased, Americans began turning against the war. He goes into detail about the strategies Nixon began to implement a phase-out for Americans in the war and start handing more combat and control over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. In the end, Wright argues that, even though Americans pulled out of the war because communist Vietnam did not prove to be a threat afterward because of their long-standing mistrust of China, the United States didn’t fully lose.
Richard Epstein explores how land use regulations have led to sky-high housing prices in some of America's largest cities.
For years Hoover media fellow Debra J. Saunders was the San Francisco Chronicle’s token conservative columnist until moving to Washington to cover the Trump White House for the Las Vegas Review–Journal. In this podcast she offers a ringside account of White House daily press briefings, Trump’s contentious attitude toward reporters, and what an unpopular political media can do to restore its prestige.
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As the US Navy carries out high-profile missions in the Persian Gulf and off the Korean coast, China’s navy quietly continues its expansion: a maritime silk road stretching across the Indian Ocean to the Gulf of Aden. Admiral Gary Roughead, former US Navy chief of naval operations and Hoover’s Robert and Marion Oster Distinguished Military Fellow, discusses the stakes in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific theatres and assesses the US Navy’s current operational, maintenance, and shipbuilding needs.
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Richard Epstein examines Carpenter v. United States, a Supreme Court case testing the limits of the government's ability to engage in digital surveillance, and explains the ideal balance between liberty and security.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the cultural factors that helped fuel -- and conceal -- widespread misconduct by powerful men in Hollywood and Washington.
Recorded on October 23, 2017 Could the Axis powers have won? What are the counterfactuals for World War II? Find out in part two of this episode as military historian, editor of Strategika, and Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson joins Peter Robinson to discuss his latest book, The Second World Wars.
Victor Davis Hanson explains the counterfactuals of World War II, the “what-ifs” that easily could have changed the outcome of the war. If Hitler had not attacked Russia or the Japanese had not attacked Pearl Harbor, the USSR would have never turned on Germany and the United States would have never entered the war. Hanson argues that the leaders of the Axis powers overreached in their strategies, which ultimately caused their downfall. Hanson also explores the counterfactual surrounding the American commanders and the “what-ifs” that could have prevented American success in the war.
Victor Davis Hanson also reflects on his own family history and connections to World War II and how it shaped him as both a person and a scholar in his life today. He talks about his motivations to write his latest book, The Second World Wars, and how his family history and the current political climate inspired him to write it.
A question over who’s in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has led to a standoff between the Trump administration and the Rebel Alliance: independent-minded CFPB staffers who believe they don’t report to the president. Hoover fellow Adam White discusses Trump’s battle with the administrative state, what 2018 could bring in regulatory reform, and whether the pace will pick up on Trump judicial nominees.
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Seventy-six years ago, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America went to war. Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover senior fellow and author of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won, discusses lessons learned from that conflict’s successes and failures and how they apply today.
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Richard Epstein considers what Michael Flynn's recent guilty plea means for President Trump and his administration, rebutting many of the misleading claims that have emerged in recent press coverage.
America at its worst divide since the Civil War? Not exactly, says Hoover senior fellow Morris Fiorina, the author of Unstable Majorities: Polarization, Party Sorting, and Political Stalemate. Fiorina contends that voters haven’t abandoned the center but that the two major parties have, the result being continued experimentation with the political order in Washington. Will 2018 see a continuation of the third great stretch of instability in national politics?
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Recorded on October 23, 2017 How were the Axis powers able to instigate the most lethal conflict in human history? Find out in part one of this episode as military historian, editor of Strategika, and Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow, Victor Davis Hanson, joins Peter Robinson to discuss his latest book, The Second World Wars.
Victor Davis Hanson explains how World War II initially began in 1939 as a multitude of isolated border blitzkriegs that Germany continued to win. In 1941, everything changed when Germany invaded their ally, the Soviet Union, and brought Japan into the war. He argues that because of the disparate nature of World War II, it’s much harder to think about as a monolithic conflict.
World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history with approximately sixty million people killed. Victor Davis Hanson argues that World War II and the many lives lost was preventable, but due to a series of missteps by the Allied forces, Germany believed they were stronger and their enemies weaker than the reality. He argues “it took Soviet collusion, American indifference or isolation, and British or French appeasement in 30s” to convince Germany that they had the military capabilities to invade western Europe. In the aftermath of World War I, the allies believed the cost of the Great War had been too high, while Germany bragged about their defeat as no enemy soldiers had set foot on German soil. Great Britain and France both chose appeasement over deterrence, which encouraged rather than deterred Hitler and Germany from moving forward with their plans.
In November 1963 Paul Gregory’s family resided in Fort Worth, Texas. As members of the city’s Russian immigrant community, they befriended Lee and Marina Oswald. Gregory recounts his time in the company of JFK’s assassin, possible motivations for Oswald’s committing the crime, and why he doesn’t buy into the many conspiracy theories surrounding the events in Dallas. Paul Gregory is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
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Richard Epstein looks at the law -- and economics -- of the Justice Department's efforts to block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner.
The good news for Angela Merkel is to be re-elected to a fourth term as German chancellor. The bad news is fashioning a working coalition of political parties divided over taxes, immigration, and climate policy. Hoover Institution senior fellow Russell Berman examines the options available to Germany’s chancellor, including any changes to her roles on the European and world stages.
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Recorded on October 24, 2017 How old are entitlement programs in the United States? Entitlement programs are as old as the Republic, according to John Cogan, former deputy director of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and a Hoover Institution senior fellow. Cogan joins Peter Robinson to discuss his latest book, The High Cost of Good Intentions,on the necessity for entitlement reform in the United States.
Richard Epstein responds to suggestions that the Justice Department may appoint a special prosecutor to probe corruption allegations around Hillary Clinton. Also on the docket: exactly how independent of presidential prerogative should attorneys general be? Is it time for Jeff Sessions to step aside? And are the legal suspicions around both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton evidence of a decline in America's leadership class -- or proof that, for all its flaws, the system still works?
A year after Donald Trump’s improbable win, voters went to the polls in Virginia to elect a new governor—a contest that was, in part, a referendum on Trump’s nascent presidency. Hoover senior fellow and renowned pollster Doug Rivers breaks down the Old Dominion vote and what the results say about the effectiveness of Republican and Democratic messaging on the verge of the 2018 midterm elections.
Richard Epstein reacts to the tax plan released by congressional Republicans and explains what steps are most essential for jumpstarting economic growth.
This panel features Senior Fellow John Cochrane, Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy Henry Miller, and Research Fellow Adam White in discussion of “The Need for Regulatory Reform.” Research Fellow David Henderson moderates the conversation.
Russ Roberts, the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Hoover, discusses “Restoring Faith in Prosperity.”
Peter Berkowitz, the Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow at Hoover, speaks on “Restoring Prosperity: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives.”
The Hoover Institution hosted "Listening In: Cybersecurity in an Insecure Age" on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
Ben Wittes joined author Susan Landau, author of Listening In: Cybersecurity in an Insecure Age, for a book discussion.
Victor Davis Hanson takes listeners on a behind-the-scenes look at his career, including his rise through academia, the decline of military history as a scholarly discipline, the importance of visiting battlefields, and why he felt compelled to write a new book on World War II
Richard Epstein reacts to the indictments brought against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, as well as to a guilty plea from former Trump aide George Papadopoulos.
Victor Davis Hanson gives listeners a guided tour of his new book, "The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won."
Richard Epstein responds to the Trump Administration's proposals for revising NAFTA, answers some frequent criticisms of free trade, and explains whether a legal challenge to a NAFTA withdrawal would hold up in court.
The Hoover Institution hosted "Scalia Speaks: Collecting the Wit and Wisdom of Justice Antonin Scalia" on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 from 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST.
In all of American history, few judges rival the late Justice Antonin Scalia's abilities as a writer. When he passed away last year, he left behind an immense legacy of judicial opinions, journal articles, essays, and other writings. But in addition to his voluminous published works, Justice Scalia also delivered countless speeches on the law, on life, on faith, and on his friends. Any library of Scalia's writings, limited to just his published judicial opinions and articles, would be incomplete without the speeches that he delivered to audiences fortunate enough to witness in person.
To fill the gap, we now also have Scalia Speaks, a collection of many of Scalia's speeches. Edited by Christopher J. Scalia, one of the justice's sons, and Edward Whelan, one of the justice's former clerks, this book collects Scalia's reflections on law, faith, and life well lived.
Christopher J. Scalia, the eighth of Justice Scalia's nine children and a former professor of English, works at a public relations firm near Washington, D.C. His book reviews and political commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, and elsewhere.
Edward Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a former law clerk to Justice Scalia. He is a leading commentator on the Supreme Court and on issues of constitutional law.
They were interviewed by Adam White, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and executive director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School.
Lionized in print and on theater stages, Alexander Hamilton is a curious bookend for a new president who likewise calls Manhattan home, is steeped in capitalism, and uses the media to joust with his rivals. Elizabeth Cobbs, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and author of The Hamilton Affair: A Novel, separates fact from fiction regarding the famed Founding Father.
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Richard Epstein explains the contents of President Trump's new executive order on healthcare, explores the controversy around a White House proposal to cut subsidies to insurers, and explains why conservatives who fretted about President Obama's use of executive orders shouldn't be bothered by this exercise of executive power.
The United States is tenth in the world among nations’ protecting intellectual property. In 2016 US patent applications declined by one percent. Stephen Haber, the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, examines a patent landscape that includes Big Pharma, Big Tech, legal trolls, and Keanu Reeves–like actors. He also offers a few suggestions for how the Trump administration can shield and spur American innovation.
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America’s GOP dominates at all levels of government—state legislative, gubernatorial, congressional, presidential—yet Republicans have struggled, quite publicly, to come to terms with the party’s direction during the era of Trump. Lanhee Chen, the Hoover Institution’s David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow, discusses the Republican identity crisis, the lingering effects on the GOP brand, and the party’s ability to produce change in Washington.
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Richard Epstein grades the Trump Administration's proposal for tax reform, explains the first principles of effective tax systems, and challenges the notion that progressivity is essential to an equitable tax code.
Recorded on October 6, 2017 A new administration means a new approach to federal energy approach, in the case of Donald Trump’s presidency, a new look at nuclear energy. Hoover research fellow Jeremy Carl, coauthor of Keeping the Lights on at America’s Nuclear Power Plants, examines the choices available to Trump on clean, green, and fossil energies.
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Norman Naimark, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and an expert on Eastern Europe and genocides throughout history, brings his considerable expertise to Uncommon Knowledge to discuss the history of genocides from ancient to modern times. Peter Robinson sits down with Naimark to discuss his latest book, Genocide: A World History. Naimark argues that genocides occur throughout history, from biblical to modern times across the world. He considers genocides to be “the crime of crimes, worse than war crimes or crimes against humanity,”
Naimark defines genocide as “intentional killing of a group of people as such,” meaning that the intention is to eliminate that group completely. He stresses the difference of this definition from warfare, as in war two sides are killing each other with the intention of subjugation rather than extermination. He goes into detail about a few incidents that he considers genocides, including but not limited to Nazi Germany, Stalin’s genocide of the kulaks, the Armenian genocide in the early 1900s, the Carthage genocide in 146 BC, the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s, and the Yuki genocide in California in the 1850s.
Naimark argues that as genocides occur in contemporary society, sovereign states have a responsibility to protect their citizens; if they fail to do so the international community has a moral and civic obligation to step in to stop those genocides from occurring. Granted, he argues, that the cost of intervention needs to be assessed before stepping in but that overall each country has a national obligation to prevent the systematic extermination of people.
Interested in buying Norman Naimark’s latest book, Genocide: A World History? You can buy it here.
About the guest
Norman M. Naimark is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is also the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies and a senior fellow of Stanford's Freeman-Spogli Institute. He currently serves as the Sakurako and William Fisher Family Director of the Stanford Global Studies Division.
Naimark is an expert in modern East European and Russian history. His current research focuses on Soviet policies and actions in Europe after World War II and on genocide and ethnic cleansing in the twentieth century.
Naimark is author of the critically acclaimed volumes The Russians in Germany: The History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949 (Harvard, 1995), Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in 20th Century Europe (Harvard, 2001), and Stalin's Genocides (Princeton, 2010). He is also author of the volumes Terrorists and Social Democrats: The Russian Revolutionary Movement under Alexander III (Harvard, 1983) and The History of the "Proletariat": The Emergence of Marxism in the Kingdom of Poland, 1870–1887 (Columbia, 1979).
Naimark earned a BA (1966), MA (1968), and PhD (1972) in history from Stanford University. Before returning to Stanford in 1988 Naimark was a professor of history at Boston University and a fellow at the Russian Research Center at Harvard. He also held the visiting Kathryn Wasserman Davis Chair of Slavic Studies at Wellesley College.
As Congress and the White House wrestle over immigration reform—funding for a border wall, protecting Dreamers—what is the public’s attitude? Timothy Kane, the Hoover Institution’s J. P Conte Fellow in Immigration Studies, highlights the findings of a new Hoover/YouGov survey on immigration and which policy ideas enjoy consensus approval.
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It’s a tradition dating back to the Founding Fathers: the American government financing safeguards, be it retirement (Social Security), health benefits (Medicare), or rewards for military service in the form of federal entitlements. In an age of debt and deficits, when will lawmakers address entitlement reform? John Cogan, Hoover’s Leonard and Shirley Ely Senior Fellow and author of a new book on the long history of federal entitlements, assesses where the Trump administration goes from here.
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Richard Epstein uses the recent push for independence in Spain's Catalonia region to consider the question of when separatist movements are justified in pursuing independent statehood -- and how they should go about it.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the hobby horse issues of various identity politics groups -- Black Lives Matter, LGBT advocates, modern feminists, and Hispanic activists -- and explains how each of them are overlooking more dire threats facing their communities.
Recorded on September 26, 2017
The largest nation on the other side of the Pacific Rim plays an outsized role in economic and geopolitical matters, including trade, global aspirations, and finding a solution to the escalating tensions with North Korea. Michael Auslin, Hoover’s inaugural Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, discusses just how communist China is, decades after Mao and the changed state of US relations with Donald Trump in the White House.
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Recorded on September 26, 2017
After nearly a quarter of a century of the same approach—diplomacy, sanctions, and concessions—the United States seems out of policy options other than a military solution with regard to North Korea . Michael Auslin, Hoover’s inaugural Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, discusses what scenarios may unfold on the Korean peninsula as well as the possibility of nuclear engagement and nuclear accidents.
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Richard Epstein responds to the controversy over an Obama-era policy allowing children brought to the U.S. Illegally to stay in the country and explains why America should embrace a more liberal immigration policy but reject open borders.
Victor Davis Hanson critiques the recent wave of national anthem protests in the NFL, explains why the league's activism can't be squared with the way it actually does business, and considers the importance of politics-free zones in American life.
“In Israel, in order to be a realist . . . you have to believe in miracles,” observed the late David Ben-Gurion. Peter Berkowitz, the Hoover Institution’s Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow and an expert on Israeli affairs, assesses the Trump administration’s peacemaking strategy, which includes deploying Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and taking into account Prime Minister Netanyahu’s fragile political health.
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The Hoover Institution hosted "The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World" on Monday, September 11, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
Jack Goldsmith, working group co-chair, interviewed authors Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, examining the role that war has played in international relations from the sixteenth century to the present -- a role profoundly transformed by the "Internationalists," who created the rules and institutions that gave us seven decades of unprecedented peace between states. Hathaway and Shapiro argue that as the world stands on the brink of rejecting the global legal order the Internationalists built, this is a moment to understand what is at risk.
Richard Epstein examines the Lefts' push for single-payer health care and explains why such systems are destined for failure.
An irony of Donald Trump: in the process of besting Hillary Clinton, he also divided conservatives into three camps. So contends Tevi Troy, a best-selling author and political analyst who worries about the lack of an intellectual presence in the current White House.
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Americans watched with forlorn fascination as devastating hurricanes laid waste to stretches of Florida and Texas. Hoover research fellow Alice Hill explains how the nation can better prepare for future natural disasters. The key word is “resilience.”
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The Dilbert comic strip artist and political philosopher Scott Adams sits down with Peter Robinson to discuss his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. He discusses with Peter his theory of “talent stacking,” the idea that rather than being an expert in one particular skill (i.e., Tiger Woods and golf), one can become successful by stacking a variety of complementary nonexpert skills. Adams demonstrates how talent stacking has been beneficial in his life because he has stacked comic artist skills with his MBA and experience in corporate environments to create a wildly successful comic strip that resulted in spin-off books, a television series, a video game, and merchandise. His business skills gave him the tools to create a business satire comic strip and the skill set to manage the business that evolved from that strip.
Adams also discusses how he uses his Dilbert blog to discuss his political philosophies and observations about the Trump administration. He wrote blogposts about the 2016 election and predicted that Donald Trump would win based on President Trump’s talent stack as a media mogul and businessman who had spent significant time in the public eye so was immune to scandals and thick-skinned enough to handle what the media and other politicians would throw at him. Adams argues that President Trump is one of the best branders, influencers, and persuaders he has ever seen, in that the president uses persuasive techniques in debates and on social media as a way to get people to do what he wants. Adams contends that President Trump’s persuasive techniques will help solve the problem of North Korea because he has already set up China to get involved by intimating that it tried and failed. Adams believes this will cause China to get involved to save face.
Scott Adams and Peter Robinson finish by chatting about Adams’s views on the story arc of life. Adams says that he believes he started intentionally selfish so that by the end of his life he can give away all of his wealth, knowledge, and wisdom, a process he says he has already begun. They also briefly discuss his new book, Win Bigly, about the persuasive strategies of Donald Trump.
Scott Adams is releasing his new book, Win Bigly, in October 2017.
Richard Epstein traces the origins and evolution of his libertarian thinking over a half-century in the spotlight.
Richard Epstein explores the history of the president's pardon power and examines whether former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was a worthy recipient of executive mercy.
Richard Epstein analyzes President Trump's new plan for Afghanistan, the threat from North Korea, and how the US should respond to trade tensions with China.
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat from Silicon Valley and vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, discusses the feasibility of re-creating the technology economy in other parts of the United States. Is there room for working with the Trump administration, or are his fellow Democrats preoccupied by Russia and impeachment talk?
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Recorded on July 23, 2017 Thirty years after Ronald Reagan’s famous denouncement of the Berlin Wall, Peter Robinson reflects on writing the Brandenburg Gate speech and why it was so important to include the now memorable words, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Pat Sajak, host of Wheel of Fortune, turns the tables on Uncommon Knowledge’s host, Peter Robinson, sitting him down in the interview chair to discuss that famous speech and his journey to becoming Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter.
Peter Robinson's journey to becoming Ronald Reagan's speechwriter began in Oxford as he was trying his hand at becoming a novelist. After a year of writing a book Peter wasn't thrilled with, William H. Buckley advised him to try to become a speechwriter in Washington, DC. Peter left Oxford and. after a series of interviews, was given the task of speechwriting for then vice president George H. W. Bush and eventually became a speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan.
Five years after Peter Robinson became President Reagan's speechwriter it was Peter's turn to write one of the president's important speeches of the year to be delivered in Berlin during the height of the Cold War. To get the speech right, Peter spent a day and half in West Berlin researching the points of view of diplomats and politicians, all of whom all made it seem as though the Berlin Wall was something people hardly noticed any more. This view turned out to not be shared by the citizens of West Berlin, as Peter discovered later that evening when he sat down to dinner with citizens of West Berlin, where the dinner host said if Mr. Gorbachev is serious about perestroika he'd get rid of this wall. Peter’s dinner hosts went on to talk about how much they missed their families whom they hadn’t seen in decades because, though they lived just a mile away, the wall stood between them. That statement and the sentiments of the people of West Berlin struck Peter; after a series of drafts he came up with the now well-known line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" That line, however, almost didn’t make it into the final draft of the speech as various advisers counseled against it and tried to persuade Peter and President Reagan to remove it. In the end, though, President Reagan insisted, and the line was kept in and remains to this day one of his most famous statements.
In the wake of violent protests in Charlottesville, Richard Epstein looks at the limits on government power to restrict inflammatory speech, considers Donald Trump's rhetorical response to the protests, and weighs in on whether confederate monuments should start coming down.
With schools in session across the country, Hoover senior fellow Paul Peterson details this year’s survey of American education by Education Next. Among the more notable results: teachers are wary of their colleagues’ performance; parents are increasingly dissatisfied with charter schools.
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Victor Davis Hanson places the new film Dunkirk in its full historical context, explaining the events that preceded it, the scope of the challenges facing the British military, and the reason why German forces didn't strike a killing blow despite Allied vulnerability.
Where does President Trump stand in the opinion polls now that his second hundred days in office are complete? David Brady and Doug Rivers, both Hoover senior fellows and Stanford political scientists, reveal data showing where Republicans and independents stand on this presidency and what if any effect developing news in Charlottesville and North Korea might have on Trump’s popularity.
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Richard Epstein responds to the controversy around Google's decision to fire an employee for a memo criticizing the company's diversity policy.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali joins Peter Robinson to discuss her new book, The Challenge of Dawa: Political Islam as Ideology and Movement and How to Contain It, and her views on the challenges facing Western civilization in regards to political Islam. She argues that Islam needs to be separated into two different parts, one part of religion and the other part, political philosophy. She concedes that many aspects of the religious part of Islam are peaceful but argues that the political side is much more concerning due to its focus on Dawa, which means “to plead or to call non-Muslims to Islam.” This call to convert people to Islam is what she argues was a driving force behind the spread of Islam throughout history.
Hirsi Ali argues that American political philosophy and classical liberalism are young philosophies in comparison to the fourteen centuries of Islamic political doctrine and that its age and layered-ness are often underestimated by Western minds who are more familiar with younger political philosophies. She discusses the critiques of the philosopher Karl Popper of communism and fascism and how they relate directly to the ideologies of Islam. She argues that the language of appeasement often used toward radical Islamic terrorism is too gentle and that discussions of how to deal with Islam need to be considerably franker.
Earlier this year Ayaan Hirsi Ali was called before Congress to testify on her book The Challenge of Dawa. She discusses her testimony and that although she was invited by a Democrat senator to speak “about the ideology of radical Islam,” the Democrats present didn’t ask her a single question because they were likely uncomfortable with what she had to say about Islam. She argues that just as Western civilizations have defeated dangerous ideologies in the past, she is optimistic that Western civilization will succeed against political Islam for, as she says, “[Jihadis] can’t destroy us without permission.” She says if we take the fight to the “battlefield of ideas” we can defeat radical Islamic ideologies with Western beliefs.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the the threat North Korea poses to the US and our Asian allies, explains how 30 years of bipartisan failures led us to this point, and describes the horrors that would accompany a war on the Korean Peninsula.
So many of the presumptions going into the November election–Donald Trump swamped by a tidal wave of vengeful women, minorities, and progressives – didn’t pan out. Why? Morris Fiorina, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and Stanford University political scientist, sees a divide: not between red and blue states but between the cultural elites (journalists and academics) and nonelites (the voting public).
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Richard Epstein looks at the virtues and vices of the failed congressional plans to repeal and replace Obamacare, explains what comes next, and lays out what meaningful free market reform would look like.
How do you remedy Americans’ lack of historical knowledge? By picking up a copy of On This Date–from the Pilgrims to Today, Discovering America One Day At a Time. The book’s author, Carl Cannon, is the Real Clear Politics Washington bureau chief and Hoover media fellow. In the book he reflects on his favorite calendar dates and the current state of relations between the Trump White House and the DC press establishment.
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Richard Epstein examines the most recent legal questions to emerge from the Trump White House: Could the president pardon himself? Was Jeff Sessions right to recuse himself from the Russia investigation? And could Donal Trump remove Robert Mueller as special counsel?
Six months into the Trump presidency the GOP Congress struggles with the promise of swift and dramatic reforms. Kevin Kosar, the R Street Institute’s vice president of policy and a ten-year veteran of Capitol Hill, discusses how the legislative branch became the weakest of government’s limbs.
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One hundred and fifty days into his presidency, Donald Trump is on pace to issue the most executive orders for a first-year president since Harry Truman in 1945. Hoover research fellow Adam White reviews the highs and lows of Trump’s signing flurry–and discusses the need for the Trump White House to pick up the pace for executive and judicial appointments.
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In an era of technology and automation, does tough physical work still matter? Victor Davis Hanson says the answer is yes -- and that, in fact, we have an innate desire to do work with our own two hands. Listen as he explores the cultural, intellectual, and psychological reasons that we should be wary of a future that promises the end of manual labor.
Recorded on February 27, 2017 In the latest episode from Uncommon Knowledge, Sir Roger Scruton, a formally trained political philosopher, talks about his life and the events he’s witnessed that led him to conservatism. He first embraced conservatism after witnessing the leftist student protests in France in May 1968. During the ensuing riots in Paris, more than three hundred people were injured. Scruton walked away from this event with a change in worldview and a strong leaning toward conservatism. Visits to communist- controlled Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1979 cemented his preference for conservatism and his distaste for the fraud of communism and socialism, initiating a desire to do something about it. From thereon he dedicated himself to helping organize underground seminars for the young people oppressed behind the iron curtain.
Sir Roger examines a brief history of conservatism in the twentieth century of England in regard to Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. Although he appreciates what Margaret Thatcher stood for, he argues that she had many conservative ideals but never used the conservative framework to organize her overall political strategy. Instead she organized around market economics, which was not always effective in the social, cultural, and legal areas. Peter Robinson argues that Winston Churchill did a much better job of organizing around conservative ideals but eventually lost an election because he didn’t have the vocabulary or the focus on free markets. They discuss the tenuous relationship between free markets and conservative ideals that have not mixed well together in British politics.
Robinson and Sir Roger discuss the 2016 political upset of Brexit in the United Kingdom and how the political analysts failed to predict the vote outcome, much like what happened in November 2016 in the United States. They deliberate how the issues around immigration from Eastern Europe to the United Kingdom contributed to Brexit, in addition to general dissatisfaction with the European Union. Thus, in the cases of both the United Kingdom and the United States, the media and intellectuals ignored the will of the “indigenous working classes” who made their voices known through their votes.
About the Guest: Sir Roger Scruton Sir Roger Scruton is an English writer and philosopher who has published more than fifty books in philosophy, aesthetics, and politics. His book discussed in this episode was How to Be a Conservative; it was published in 2014. He is a fellow of the British Academy and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He teaches in both England and America and is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington. DC. He is currently teaching an MA in philosophy course for the University of Buckingham. Sir Scruton was knighted in 2016 by Queen Elizabeth II for his “services to philosophy, teaching and public education.”
Richard Epstein reacts to the Trump Administration's exhortations to "buy American" and tackles common misperceptions about international trade, NAFTA, trade deficits, and manufacturing.
The Hoover Institution hosted "Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?" on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, invite you to a discussion of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? Jack Goldsmith, working group co-chair and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, interviewed author Graham Allison about why Thucydides's Trap is the best lens for understanding U.S.-China relations in the twenty-first century.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the major foreign policy challenges facing the Trump Administration, including how to properly calibrate the US relationship with Russia, how to defang a nuclear North Korea, and how to combat terrorism as ISIS shifts to a new era.
Richard Epstein looks at a recent Supreme Court ruling that could have major implications for when and how religious institutions can access public money.
As the nation prepares for its Fourth of July celebration, the question arises of where the Trump presidency fits in the mosaic of American leadership. David M. Kennedy, a Stanford University historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, discusses the current state of the Republic and whether Donald Trump is the second coming of Andrew Jackson, as Trump would have us believe, or similar to a more recent Oval Office occupant.
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Richard Epstein looks at the policy changes that would most effectively cure what ails American health care -- and responds to progressives calling for the adoption of a single-payer system.
Recorded on June 10, 2017 Senator Rob Portman sits down with Hoover Institution fellow Peter Robinson to talk about the threats and problems related to Russia's meddling in democratic elections in the United States and around the world. Portman then discusses the complex process of health care reform, noting that the process has been difficult because health care is a complex issue that needs to be handled correctly. In the conversation about health care reform, Portman says that the number-one cause of death in Ohio is opioid overdose and that Medicaid plays an important role in getting addicts the help they need so they don’t end up in jail or in the emergency room. Along with health care, the Senate will take up tax reform; Portman believes this is the most important reform that the Congress and the president can make to help the economy grow. Portman also touches on wages and jobs and helping those who are struggling to make ends meet. Finally, Portman reflects on the fraying of the American fabric and what can get us back to the concepts, values, ideas, and ideals that made the United States one of the most successful and longest-running democracies and a beacon of hope for the world.
Recorded on June 10, 2017
The forty-second governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, joins Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge to discuss Illinois’s budget crisis. With the end of the fiscal year deadline (June 30) looming ever closer Governor Rauner and House majority Democrats will have to come to an agreement to get the budget passed and prevent Illinois’s bond rating from being downgraded to junk, causing Illinois to lose investment-grade status. Peter Robinson and Governor Rauner discuss this financial crisis and Rauner’s goals for the budget. He insists that no budget will be passed unless it is a balanced budget that includes, but is not limited to, term limits, consolidating the government, and pension reform.
Governor Rauner talks about why he chose to enter politics after a successful business career and how he plans on fixing the state that is his home. He details out how Illinois has historically dealt with thirty-five years of deficits and how it ended up in the current financial mess. He also discusses the difficult opposition he's facing with a Democrat-controlled state legislature. The GOP governor and the Democrat-controlled legislature have reached an impasse several times during his tenure as governor, as he refuses to pass a budget that will increase the deficit further than in 2015 and 2016.
Background on the Illinois Budget Crisis: Illinois has been operating without a budget for two years now, as the state legislature has been unable to pass a budget up that will not increase the deficit and also satisfy the requirements of Governor Rauner. The Illinois legislature has managed to keep the state running through temporary stopgap measures, but as the state’s debts continue to rise to more than $150 billion, stopgap measures and the lack of budget will no longer be able to keep the state running. Illinois has been plagued with financial issues during the last several years, even being unable to provide lottery winners with their winnings. The state has been running a deficit for thirty-five years now. If a new budget isn’t passed by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year, the Illinois bond rating will be downgraded even more than it already has, and Illinois stands to lose millions of dollars in federal funding. To pass a new budget, the plan will have to be passed by a three-fifths majority vote in the Illinois House. As it stands, if Illinois’s bond rating is downgraded, Illinois will be the first state since 1970 to lose investment-grade status.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the growing political and cultural rifts between Red and Blue America, looks at the historical precedents for such alienation, and provides recommendations for how Americans can once again learn to live with one another.
Richard Epstein looks at a case challenging gerrymandering in Wisconsin, which the Supreme Court has agreed to hear in its upcoming term. Because the Court has never previously struck down a redistricting plan on the basis of partisan bias, the ruling to come could be a watershed.
As Donald Trump’s presidency passes the five-month mark, Hoover senior fellows Dave Brady and Doug Rivers share their polling on Trump’s support from Republicans and independents, plus his policy strengths and weaknesses. We also take a further look at the significance of the United Kingdom’s “snap” election, which Doug Rivers correctly forecasted (words not often said about pollsters these days!).
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The Hoover Institution hosted "The Ideas Industry: How Pessimists, Partisans, and Plutocrats are Transforming the Marketplace of Ideas" on Thursday, June 15, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, invite you to a discussion of The Ideas Industry: How Pessimists, Partisans, and Plutocrats are Transforming the Marketplace of Ideas. Jack Goldsmith, working group co-chair and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, will interview author Daniel Drezner about how political polarization, heightened inequality, and eroding trust in authority have ushered in the change. A limited quantity of complimentary copies of the book will be provided to attendees.
Richard Epstein analyzes the latest developments surrounding the Trump Administration and the investigation into its potential ties to Russia.
Victor Davis Hanson traces the parallels between President Trump and the Roman emperor Claudius, explaining what the former can learn from the latter.
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.
Recorded on June 2, 2017
Senator Benjamin Sasse joins Peter Robinson to discuss his book The Vanishing American Adult and the growing crisis in America of prolonged adolescence. Senator Sasse argues that children are growing up, entering adolescence, and becoming stuck in the transitional stage to adulthood as they fail to become financially independent from their parents. He argues that because this generation of children is growing up during a time of relative peace and prosperity, it has allowed millennials to grow up without the issues of previous generations that were raised in war time. In this era of consumption and material surplus, he argues that adolescents are leading age-segregated lives and not developing a work ethic and that both their parents have an obligation to teach their children to grow up. Furthermore, he stresses the importance of intergenerational learning by allowing children to be raised around their grandparents and other adults to help them learn that the trivial trials of youth don’t matter in the long run.
Senator Sasse believes that there are certain virtues that American children have to learn to become productive and happy adults. Part of that is by teaching children the distinction between production and consumption and how to find happiness and self-worth through jobs that make one feel like a necessary part of the company/society. This, he argues, will help raise peoples’ self-worth and lead them to happiness and fulfillment in their everyday.
Senator Sasse finishes by stressing the importance of building children’s identities as readers to help foster the growth of ideas and active learning over the passive activities of sitting in front of screens. He notes that sedentary life is not fulfilling and that by encouraging people to participate in production over consumption will lead to more fulfilling lives. He ends on the optimistic note, that while our youth may still need guidance, overall America’s best days still lie ahead.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali calls for decoupling political aims from the religion of Islam to combat growing radicalism. She also discusses counterterrorism strategy, which she argues should focus on battling the ideas that spread radicalism rather than the radicals themselves.
Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson offers his take on President Trump’s first hundred days, discussing the president’s policy and international impact in the wake of the Obama years, as well as Trump’s complicated relationship with the Republican Party.
Hoover Institution fellow Michael Mcconnell discusses the interplay between the rule of law and human nature in our legal system and how it affects the independence of our legal institutions.
Today, we’re introducing Area 45, a new political podcast from the team behind Uncommon Knowledge, The Classicist, and the Libertarian. Host Bill Whalen interviews Uncommon Knowledge’s host, Peter Robinson about presidential communication in this age of shock tweets and nonstop news cycles. 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. New episodes of Area 45 are released each week. Subscribe now on iTunes, SoundCloud, or via RSS on your favorite podcast platform.
Richard Epstein charts the decline of Illinois -- along with similarly situated states like Connecticut and California -- and demonstrates how bad public policy can drive states into an economic death spiral.
Criticizing both the science and the economics, Richard Epstein makes the case for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
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.
Recorded on May 11, 2017 John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney, director of the Office of Budget and Management, sits down with Peter Robinson to discuss the complex process of budget reform by having to blend President Trump's budget proposal with the realities of dealing with Congress. Mulvaney explains the need for bipartisanship in budget negotiations within the Senate to get the budget passed, which means getting at least eight Democrats to vote for the proposed budget (to get to the magic number of sixty votes) and keeping Trump's promises to his base.
Mulvaney talks about the unique opportunity for the Republicans to reform the federal budget five months ahead of schedule as a result of the Obama administration’s inability to get a twelve-month budget passed. Furthermore Republicans have been able to invoke old laws that allow them to undo many policies enacted in the late days of the previous administration. That loophole allowed them to confirm several appointments and to pass the proposed budget without the requisite sixty votes but with fifty votes. But the Republicans need sixty votes in the Senate to pass the appropriations bill. The Democrats wanted a shutdown, but the Republicans were able to move money around to satisfy the Democrats and get the votes necessary to pass the appropriations bill and avoid a shutdown. For example, there was/is no money for new bricks and mortar construction of the “Wall,” but Republicans moved money around and funded their priorities for border security via a virtual wall with money already available for technology and surveillance.
Mulvaney notes that the budgeting/appropriations system is set up so the House and Senate pass twelve appropriations bills every year. Those are the spending bills, which are the end process of the budget. The budget is the start of the process, authorizations go in the middle, and appropriations go on the end, which is how money gets out to be spent. Mulvaney was in Congress for six years, in which time Congress should have approved seventy-two appropriations bills but only approved three. Mulvaney says that the system is broken because of the sixty-vote rule to approve appropriations bills in the Senate. Therefore instead of small manageable appropriation bills that Congress could negotiate and pass, Congress ends up with large unwieldy bills that no one knows what is in them and thus punts with a resolution to continue with what done earlier.
Mulvaney says that the system is not even close to what the Founding Fathers created and/or what is needed for a manageable and functioning government and society. Mulvaney describes his vision for the future of the American economy, noting that the way to reduce the deficit isn't necessarily cutting spending or raising taxes but creating room in the American economy for growth. He argues that the lack of new businesses and jobs, because of regulations and taxes, has prevented the ideal three percent growth necessary to eliminate the deficit and grow the economy. He also argues that regulatory reform can have twice the impact on economic growth that tax policy can.
Mulvaney ends the interview saying that he loves his job and loves going to work. The eighty-plus-hour workweeks go by in the blink of an eye because the work is engaging and invigorating and because he feels he has a golden opportunity to change things for the better and get the United States, especially the economy, on a better trajectory. Mulvaney said that he is working at the highest levels on complicated but wonderful ideas, ideals, and issues with the leader of the free world and that President Trump is a great boss.
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.
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.
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Released May 18, 1996 In the 1996 first ever episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson discusses the origins of Uncommon Knowledge before invited guests former US attorney general Edwin Meese III and former San Jose police chief Joseph McNamara. They have a spirited debate about the war on drugs and the best way to handle the drug problem in the United States. According to Peter Robinson, “Ed Meese wants to win the war on drugs; Joe McNamara wants to end it.” Twenty-one years later, we look back as Meese and McNamara debate the merits of marijuana legalization and make predictions about where the United States would be in ten years (2006). Although their predictions were not entirely accurate, their insights into the legalization debate and the war on drugs remain helpful today. They answer questions about how they believe that legalizing marijuana will increase crime and addiction rates, how to beef up educational and prevention programs, and the effect of middle-class drug use in the United States.
Victor Davis Hanson describes the Trump Administration's challenges with Russia, North Korea, and China. He also weighs in on the recent debate between Rex Tillerson and John McCain over the proper balance between advancing America's national security interests and advocating for human rights abroad.
Richard Epstein looks at the political and legal fallout from allegations that President Trump may have disclosed classified information to Russian diplomats, and that he may have had an improper conversation with then FBI Director Jim Comey.
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.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, discussion of Oppose Any Foe: The Rise of America's Special Operations Forces. Jack Goldsmith, working group co-chair and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, interviews author Mark Moyar, a member of the Hoover Working Group on Military History and Conventional Conflict, about this first comprehensive history of America's Special Operations Forces and his recommendations for special operations forces and policymakers.
Oppose Any Foe is the epic story of America's most elite warriors: the Special Operations Forces. Born as small appendages to the conventional armies of World War II, the Special Operations Forces have grown into a behemoth of 70,000 troops, including Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Air Force Night Stalkers, Special Operations Marines, Rangers, and Delta Force. Weaving together their triumphs and tribulations, acclaimed historian Mark Moyar introduces a colorful cast of military men, brimming with exceptional talent, courage and selflessness.
Recorded on March 16, 2017
Although many people have heard of Carly Fiorina, former presidential candidate and first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, few have had the chance to sit down and speak with her. In this special live taping of Uncommon Knowledge, at the National Review Institute’s Idea Summit, with guest host Michael Franc, director of Hoover’s Washington, DC, Programs, Fiorina discusses the 2016 presidential election, her personal path to conservatism, and her beliefs about the future for US and global politics. She opens up about the often-brutal criticisms she received during the election, her choice to become conservative, the loss of her stepdaughter to drug addiction, and the ways in which she believes conservatives are fighting to help people help themselves by giving them the tools and resources necessary to change their own path. Fiorina goes on to analyze the current state of the union, the disenfranchised Americans she’s met, and the solutions she believes in for the future of the United States.
Special Guest Host: Michael Franc is the Hoover Institution’s director of DC programs, where he oversees research and outreach initiatives to promote ideas and scholarship in our nation’s capital. He holds a dual appointment as a research fellow. Mike Franc is a longtime veteran of Washington, DC, policy making. Before joining Hoover, Franc served as policy director and counsel for House majority leader Kevin McCarthy. He also served as the vice president of government relations for the Heritage Foundation from 1997 to 2013. During that time, he managed all the think tank’s outreach with Capitol Hill and the Executive Branch. He also completed a tour of duty as communications director for former House majority leader Dick Armey (R-TX) and worked for the US Department of Education and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He has been quoted widely in the print and broadcast media and was a regular contributor to the National Review Online and other publications. Franc has a BA from Yale University and a JD from Georgetown University.
Richard Epstein reacts to the news that Jim Comey has been fired as FBI director, grapples with the ensuing criticisms of the Trump Administration, and looks back at Comey's legacy as head of the Bureau.
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?
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?
Richard Epstein explains what's good, what's bad, and what's missing in the recent tax reform proposals issued by the Trump Administration.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at how the Left's rhetoric on the environment, immigration, and higher education have become increasingly divorced from reality.
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.
Richard Epstein reacts to the first round of balloting in the French presidential election and explains the implications for the broader state of politics in Europe.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at how American warfare has changed since Vietnam and explains the implications for today's policymakers.
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?
The Hoover Institution hosted "Privacy & Power: A Transatlantic Dialogue in the Shadow of the NSA-Affair" on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office discussed Privacy and Power: A Transatlantic Dialogue in the Shadow of the NSA-Affair. Benjamin Wittes (Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution), Russell Miller (professor of law at Washington & Lee University School of Law) and Prof. Ralf Poscher (professor of law at University of Freiberg) discussed fundamental differences in the way that Americans and Europeans approach the issues of privacy and intelligence-gathering.
Edward Snowden’s revelations of American intelligence-gathering and surveillance activities around the world stirred widespread resentment and dramatic law and policy responses in Europe. It is clear that there is almost nothing on which Americans and Europeans differ so dramatically as the questions of privacy and security. In dozens of contributions from leading commentators, scholars, and policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic, Privacy and Power definitively documents and critically engages with those differences. The book’s opening section acknowledges that Snowden’s revelations, and the startling glimpse they give us into the implications of our new big-data era, challenge us to reconsider our old notions of privacy. The book’s second section, featuring contributions from Benjamin Wittes (Brookings) and Anne Peters (Heidelberg Max Planck Institute), distills, embodies, and frames the transatlantic debate on these issues in these succinct terms: “Germany needs to grow up” and “American needs to obey the law”. The book’s third section consists in a collection of chapters from leading American and European privacy law experts that both substantiates the transatlantic divide and exposes the diversity of views within those spheres. A fourth section features commentary from experts on the supranational and international law implicated by these issues, thereby giving the European Union privacy and data-protection regimes the central role in the debate they are due. The book’s final section concludes with a collection of cultural commentary offering profound and challenging insights into the deeper causes of the American and European differences on these issues.
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?
Richard Epstein weighs the merits of President Trump's decision to strike Syria after the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons.
As tensions mount on the Korean Peninsula, the possibility increases of a US military strike against the rogue regime of Kim Jong-un. Tom Henriksen, a Hoover senior fellow emeritus and author of multiple books on US military and diplomatic approaches to the non-Western world and rogue regimes, discusses the policy options available to the Trump administration in dealing with North Korea.
Victor Davis Hanson examines how permissive attitudes towards illegal immigration undermine respect for the rule of law and traditional notions of citizenship.
Recorded on October 31, 2011
Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell, UCLA, and Amherst. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books. His most recent book is The Thomas Sowell Reader.
Recorded on May 7, 2012
On the occasion of the publication of a new edition of his book Intellectuals and Society, Thomas Sowell returns to Uncommon Knowledge for a wide-ranging interview.
Recorded on May 16, 2013
Thomas Sowell discusses is newest book, Intellectuals and Race, which argues that the impact of intellectuals' ideas and crusades on the larger society, both past and present, is the ultimate concern.
Recorded on December 19, 2014
In this episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson interviews Hoover fellow and author Thomas Sowell, on his 5th edition of Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy. In this interview, Sowell brings the world into clearer focus through a basic understanding of the fundamental economic principles and how they explain our lives. Sowell draws on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history.
Recorded on September 18, 2015
Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Sowell discusses poverty around the world and in the United States. Poverty in America, he says, compared to the rest of the world, is not severe. Many poor people in poverty in the United States have one or two cars, central heating, and cell phones. The real problem for the poor is the destruction of the family, which Sowell argues dramatically increased once welfare policies were introduced in the 1960s.
Recorded on September 8, 2016
Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Sowell discusses inequality and how it is part of the human condition. Sowell notes that political and ideological struggles have led to a dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture. What is important is not inequality but human capital; once human capital is unleashed it creates an enormous amount of wealth for people of all classes. In addition there needs to be a sense of humility and gratitude for the generations that have gone before us for the prosperity we have today.
Richard Epstein examines the principles that should guide efforts to reform America's tax system.
Recorded on March 22, 2017 In a lively debate Avik Roy and John Podhoretz discuss health care coverage and whether the American Health Care Act (AHCA), created to replace Obamacare/Affordable Care Act (ACA), will solve our health care problems. They both agree that if we could begin again we would never design a health care system like ours, but, since we cannot start over, how can we make things better.
They debate whether universal health care coverage is a good idea, how to provide health care coverage to the most needy, and allow the wealthy and more capable citizens to choose and pay for their own coverage. Roy thinks the system the Affordable Care Act put in place caters too much to the wealthy and that the AHCA will just exacerbate health care inequality.
Podhoretz and Roy’s debate ranges from health care to race, inequality, history, and the election of 2016. They note that the Republicans and Democrats are split/disagree on many issues and ideas. Trump voters watch different TV shows and movies, read different newspapers, and have different cultural experiences than the Clinton supporters; therefore the two parties see the world through very different lenses. They examine the changes in the Republican and Democratic Parties over time, including their involvement in the Civil Rights movement and the rise of identity politics and racism.
The interview ends with a question on fatherhood and how it shapes both Podhoretz's and Roy's thinking as journalists and public intellectuals. Podhoretz does not want to foist his feelings and views on his children but notes that the media no longer make it possible for children to keep their innocence. Roy dreads sending his children to public schools and discusses some of the problems facing parents and children today. Roy says that parents can choose the environment in which they will raise their children and that there is no need to turn their children over to popular culture.
On the 100th anniversary of America's entry into World War I, Victor Davis Hanson looks at the Great War's legacy in terms of politics, foreign policy, and military history.
As the US Senate decides the fate of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, we look at the fragile state of the federal judicial nomination process. Hoover senior fellow Michael McConnell, who served alongside Gorsuch on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, offers insights into the judge, the merits of the Senate’s “nuclear option,” and what it’s like to endure a confirmation process.
Richard Epstein looks at Donald Trump's recent executive orders on energy and environmental issues, explaining how free-market economics can be reconciled with good environmental stewardship.
The Hoover Institution hosted "The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State" on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office held a discussion with author of The Way of Strangers, Graeme Wood. Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Benjamin Wittes, along with Samuel Tadros, distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, interviewed Wood, who discussed his definitive, electrifying account of the strategy, psychology, and theology driving the Islamic State.
The Way of the Strangers is an intimate journey into the minds of the Islamic State's true believers. From the streets of Cairo to the mosques of London, Graeme Wood interviews supporters, recruiters, and sympathizers of the group. We meet an Egyptian tailor who once made bespoke suits for Paul Newman and now wants to live, finally, under Shariah; a Japanese convert who believes that the eradication of borders-one of the Islamic State's proudest achievements-is a religious imperative; and a charming, garrulous Australian preacher who translates the group's sermons and threats into English and is accused of recruiting for the organization. We also learn about a prodigy of Islamic rhetoric, now stripped of the citizenship of the nation of his birth and determined to see it drenched in blood. Wood speaks with non-Islamic State Muslim scholars and jihadists, and explores the group's idiosyncratic, coherent approach to Islam.
The Islamic State is bent on murder and apocalypse, but its followers find meaning and fellowship in its utopian dream. Its first caliph, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, has declared that he is the sole legitimate authority for Muslims worldwide. The theology, law, and emotional appeal of the Islamic State are key to understanding it-and predicting what its followers will do next.
Through character study and analysis, Wood provides a clear-eyed look at a movement that has inspired so many people to abandon or uproot their families. Many seek death-and they will be the terror threat of the next decade, as they strike back against the countries fighting their caliphate. Just as Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower informed our understanding of Al Qaida, Graeme Wood's The Way of the Strangers will shape how we see a new generation of terrorists.
Richard Epstein analyzes the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, compares and contrasts the judge with the late Justice Scalia, and considers the potential demise of the filibuster.
Recorded on December 2, 2016
Professor Douglas Irwin defends the benefits of free trade and explains why protectionism, high tariffs, and currency wars could cause economic problems. Irwin explains the misconceptions around trade surpluses and deficits and the historical consequences and benefits of trade. He talks about an absolute versus comparative advantage with trade and why and how a trade deficit with China still benefits the United States. Irwin refers to Adam Smith’s view of trade in explaining the absolute advantage of trade. Smith argued for unregulated foreign trade, reasoning that if one country can produce a good, for example, steel, at lower costs than another country, and if a different country can produce another good, for example, an iPhone, at lower costs, then it is beneficial to both parties/countries to exchange those goods. This has become known as the absolute advantage argument for both international and domestic trade.
Irwin notes that trade still benefits the United States enormously and that striking back at other countries by imposing new barriers to trade and/or ripping up existing agreements would be self-destructive. Finally, Irwin talks about problems within the American economy, how too many people are not working, which cannot be blamed entirely on the trade deficits. Some reasons people cannot find jobs are mechanization, efficiency, productivity, technology, and skills. Irwin discusses a few options for helping people with limited education and few skills survive, including paying a basic wage, improving our educational system, and reducing regulations so the costs of hiring an employee are not as steep.
Recorded on February 28, 2017 Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas joins Peter Robinson to discuss the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, an immigration reformation bill he is cosponsoring. He notes that American workers have been getting a raw deal since the immigration laws were changed in 1965. The American workers’ wages have not gone up but income inequality has. Senator Cotton thinks this is largely due to flooding the labor market with millions of low-skilled, low-wage workers. In rethinking our immigration policies we need to look at whether our laws are serving the American people.
Senator Cotton uses examples of the different approaches Norway and Sweden have had toward immigrants and refugees as illustrations of what America should and shouldn't do concerning refugee resettlement and immigration. He argues that Norway has a limited yet stable system for refugee resettlement compared to the unstable Swedish system, which has economic and security problems.
Senator Cotton claims that the legal immigration system as it currently is set up in America is hurting the American worker. A desire to protect American workers drove him to cosponsor the RAISE Act. He explains that the RAISE Act is a threefold bill that will prioritize visas for immediate family members only, eliminate the diversity lottery for immigration visas, and limit the number of incoming refugees to 50,000 a year. Reducing immigration, he argues, will help American workers because millions of Americans who are not now in the workforce will be able to find jobs.
Senator Cotton argues that America’s current immigration policies strain our resources, disrupt integration of other recently arrived immigrants, and lower wages for the working class. He notes that immigration is an area in which elites are disconnected from the reality of what most citizens’ face. Only one thing has stopped the elites from their desired immigration policy: two-thirds to three-quarters of Americans consistently oppose any increase in immigration. Americans want an immigration policy to be in the economic and social interests of American citizens.
Additionally, Senator Cotton and Robinson discuss the role of Congress and whether it can reassert itself in an age where the president and the courts have been gaining influence. He then analyzes the classified leaks that have occurred since President Trump was sworn in and Congress's role in resolving the issues.
Richard Epstein warns of the dangers of Donald Trump's position on international trade, and considers controversies about trade deficits, the border adjustment tax, and job losses due to automation.
President Trump calls it “the civil rights issue of our time,” offering low-income families their choice of better schools. Checker Finn, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and chair of Hoover’s Task Force on K-12 Education, assesses the state of vouchers, charter schools, and the Trump administration’s willingness to take on an establishment “blob” that’s dead set against reform.
Richard Epstein looks at recent on-campus controversies involving Charles Murray and Milo Yiannopoulos and examines what can be done about the increasingly hostile environment in American higher education.
President Trump wants a nearly 10 percent increase in defense spending. Is the new administration on the right track? Hoover research fellow Kori Schake, coauthor with Defense Secretary James Mattis of Warriors and Citizens, a book detailing the civil-military gap–civilian leaders out of touch with the realities of military life and wartime service–discusses the peaks and valleys of a military buildup.
Richard Epstein looks at how both federal interference and local regulations conspire to drive up the cost of housing.
Comprehensive immigration reform is dead in Washington, but there’s a step-by-step approach on the economics, safety, and fairness of immigration reform that’s feasible if the president and congressional leaders are willing to try it.
What to make of U.S.-Russian relations? Michael McFaul, the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow and US ambassador to Moscow from 2012-2014, deciphers the riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, that is the coming diplomacy between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Richard Epstein argues that a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians is destined to fail (at least in the short-term) and that the uneasy status quo may actually be the best option available to both sides.
As the Trump presidency reaches its four-week mark, questions persist as to a personnel void within the new administration: hundreds of subcabinet presidential appointments still unfilled that are necessary to manage the labyrinth of federal departments and agencies properly. Annelise Anderson, a Hoover senior fellow and veteran of two presidential transitions, discusses why policy confusion may be at the heart of the Trump administration’s awkward start.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the early initiatives coming out of the Trump Administration and reflects on whether the new president's momentum is sustainable over the long run.
Richard Epstein looks at recent setbacks to Obamacare -- including the implosion of state exchanges -- and describes what Congressional Republicans can do to reform the system without compounding uncertainty.
President Trump has indicated that a “phenomenal” tax reform will materialize in two to three weeks. John Cochrane, Hoover senior fellow and author of the Grumpy Economist blog, walks us through the intricacies of what may evolve and why a carbon tax espoused by Hoover’s George Shultz makes economic sense.
Only two weeks into the job and President Trump hasn’t lacked for action – or drama. That includes executive orders, meetings with foreign leaders, a Supreme Court pick and an open question as to implementing an ambitious agenda. Hoover polling experts explain how the busy pace has affected Trump’s approval numbers and what that bodes for his presidency moving forward.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the early initiatives coming out of the Trump Administration and reflects on whether the new president's momentum is sustainable over the long run.
Richard Epstein weighs in on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court and explains what makes an effective justice.
Based on his new Hoover Institution Press book, Rugged Individualism: Dead or Alive? co-authored with his longtime Pepperdine colleague Gordon Lloyd, David Davenport discusses our unique brand of individualism that dates back to the American founding. Davenport begins with the articulation of American individualism in the Declaration of Independence, following it through its safeguarding in the US Constitution, its flourishing in westward expansion, and its declining in the face of progressive ideology and New Deal politics. He also discusses the ebbs and flows of our “rugged individualism” through the decades since, from the great society to the Reagan revolution, as well as Herbert Hoover’s role as one of that philosophy’s most ardent champions.
The international security climate may be volatile, but according to Research Fellow Kori Schake the most serious threat to the United States is domestic policy failure. Drawing on her work with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and former commander of the US Strategic Command James O. Ellis Jr. in the Blueprint for America project, Schake explains a number of key insights for strengthening the domestic institutions and policies underlying US national security strategy. After turning outward to explore what she and her Blueprint coauthors identify as the most serious external threats to US security, Schake closes by identifying a new challenge to cohesive strategy that is emerging in 2017: lack of consensus within the Trump cabinet and between the new administration and Congress.
The Hoover Institution hosts a discussion on "How America Lost its Secrets" with author Edward Epstein on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:0pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, invite you to a discussion with author of How America Lost its Secrets, Edward Epstein. Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Benjamin Wittes will interview Epstein, who will discuss hacker turned avenging angel Edward Snowden while revealing the vulnerabilities of our national security system.
After details of American government surveillance were published in 2013, Edward Snowden, formerly a subcontracted IT analyst for the NSA, became the center of an international controversy: Was he a hero, traitor, whistle-blower, spy? Was his theft legitimized by the nature of the information he exposed? When is it necessary for governmental transparency to give way to subterfuge? Edward Jay Epstein brings a lifetime of journalistic and investigative acumen to bear on these and other questions, delving into both how our secrets were taken and the man who took them. He makes clear that by outsourcing parts of our security apparatus, the government has made classified information far more vulnerable; how Snowden sought employment precisely where he could most easily gain access to the most sensitive classified material; and how, though he claims to have acted to serve his country, Snowden is treated as a prized intelligence asset in Moscow, his new home.
Victor Davis Hanson explains how political and cultural changes in California have eroded the state's status as a national leader.
Richard Epstein considers the legal and policy merits of Donald Trump's decision to crack down on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries and to build a border wall with Mexico.
Richard Epstein analyzes the major initiatives on health care, trade, immigration, regulation, and crime coming out of the first week of the Trump Administration.
Two days before the presidential inauguration, we took a look at the contentious relationship between Donald Trump and California. In addition, we analyzed a Hoover Golden State Poll that gauged Californians’ attitudes toward various aspects of the Trump agenda: immigration, Obamacare repeal, tax reform. Finally, as California braces for another round of storms, we look at the politics of water in 2017.
Richard Epstein examines efforts by the new Republican Congress to restrict the power of federal regulators, and explains the history of how unelected administrators came to hold so much political power.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the constituent parts of Donald Trump's political beliefs and attempts to deduce the animating principles of Trumpism.
The Hoover Institution hosted "The Drone Memos" on Monday, January 9, 2017 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, held a discussion with author of The Drone Memos, Jameel Jaffer. Hoover working group member and senior fellow, Jack Goldsmith interviewed Jaffer, who led the ACLU legal team that secured the release of many of the documents and evaluated the "drone memos" in light of domestic and international law. In an introductory essay, Jaffer provides an overview of the drone campaign and an analysis of some of the legal arguments underlying it. He also offers a first-hand account of lawsuits in which the ACLU and others challenged the targeted killing policies and the secrecy that surrounded them. He argues that Americans invested power in the presidency because they trusted President Obama, and that as a result President Trump will inherit sweeping authority that is not meaningfully constrained by law.
Richard Epstein breaks down the complicated path to replacing Obamacare without destabilizing America's healthcare system.
Victor Davis Hanson describes how higher education and the media have eroded -- and provides recommendations for reforming each.
Richard Epstein looks at how the modern regulatory regime has slowed development and hindered infrastructure projects.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the controversies around Donald Trump's relationship with the Russian government and analyzes the trajectory of Washington's relationship with Moscow.
Richard Epstein responds to the controversy over Russia's meddling in the presidential election, Donald Trump's national security team, and the president-elect's skepticism of the One China policy.
The Hoover Institution hosts "Company Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs, and the CIA" on Wednesday, December 7, 2016 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology and Law Working Group , along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, invite you to a discussion with award-winning author Christopher Moran as he digs deep into the tumultuous relationship between the CIA and former agents who try to go public about their careers. Hoover working group member and senior fellow, Jack Goldsmith will interview Christopher Moran on his new book, Company Confessions.
Drawing on interviews; the private correspondence of such legendary spies as Allen Dulles, William Colby, and Richard Helms; and declassified CIA files, Company Confessions examines why America's spies are so willing to share their stories, the damage inflicted when they leak the nation's secrets, and the fine line between censorship on the grounds of security and censorship for the sake of reputation.
Richard Epstein explains why both the legal and policy complexities of immigration make the issue more difficult to tackle than most pundits imagine.
Victor Davis Hanson provides cultural and historical context for Donald Trump's presidential victory and speculates on what the early days of the new administration may yield.
Richard Epstein describes how government interventions have driven the Golden State's housing prices to extraordinary heights.
Richard Epstein looks at the legal and policy controversies emanating from the office of the president-elect.
Hillary Clinton got close to the same number of votes as Barack Obama in 2012 yet lost. How’d that happen? With the 2016 American election settled, will the populist uprising carry over into 2017 when Europeans go to the polls?
The Hoover Institution hosted "Soldiers on the Homefront: The Domestic Role of the American Military" on Monday, November 14, 2016 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, held a discussion on the legal dynamics that shape the domestic role of the American military. Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Benjamin Wittes interviewed author William C. Banks on his new book, Soldiers on the Homefront. America's military is uniquely able to save lives and restore order in situations that overwhelm civilian institutions. Yet the military has also been called in for more coercive duties at home. At a time when the military's domestic footprint is expanding, how will we establish best practices for military responses to future crises?
Victor Davis Hanson talks about the just concluded 2016 presidential election and its implications for the future.
With the returns in and the presidency decided, we discuss why the polls didn’t get it right in 2016. How much criticism does the polling industry deserve, or was it just one more victim of one of the most unpredictable elections in American history?
Richard Epstein shares his reaction on learning that Donald Trump will be the 45th president and provides recommendations for the new administration's policy agenda.
Among presidential exponents of American exceptionalism, Presidents Herbert Hoover and Ronald Reagan are in a class by themselves. In his talk George H. Nash discusses the experiences underlying Herbert Hoover’s prescient conviction that the social, economic, and political institutions of the United States were superior to the collectivist systems that were then sweeping the globe. Annelise Anderson explains Ronald Reagan’s vision of the United States as a “city on a hill,” and how that vision guided his foreign and domestic policy.
Victor Davis Hanson explains why many Americans are increasingly removed from the nation's core political, economic, and cultural institutions.
With less than a week to go until Election Day, a conversation about what the polls are suggesting in the way of the late-breaking voters and predictions on who’ll be the next president and which party will control the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Richard Epstein looks at New York's recent efforts to crack down on the short-term home rentals offered by Airbnb.
Constitutional safeguards help protect the United States from bad governance, regardless of who holds office. Those safeguards are predicated, however, on civil, electoral, and educational institutions, all of which are eroding as the result of troubling domestic trends. Our constitutional system and overall political health depend on the reinvigoration of those institutions and restoring our nation’s commitment to classical liberal values.
The current international political order, maintained largely through the United States’ exertion of soft power on the world stage, doesn’t simply benefit our allies; it crucially supports our own interests. The alternative to US dominance is a framework of international rules and norms determined by other powerful states. Schake argues that we should strengthen, not abandon, the institutions and alliances that uphold the current international order and maintain the exemplary status of our domestic institutions in the international community.
The United States’ unique position in the international order is not preordained. Instead, according to Victor Davis Hanson, it is the result of unique demographic, economic, political, and educational characteristics. As these strengths diminish, so too does our status as a world power. To reverse this trend, we must restore our confidence in the exceptionalism of American institutions.
The rule of law is the legal cornerstone of the United States’ economic prosperity and political freedom. Yet the deviation of US law from transparency, equality, and impartiality threatens to unravel a fundamental institution that took centuries to build. Threats to the rule of law should be taken seriously, but potential intellectual and political reforms, and the American electorate’s visible determination to address our political and economic troubles, are cause for optimism.
The Hoover Institution hosted "The Presidential Role In Disaster Management" on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 from 12:00pm - 1:30pm.
In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton wrote that constitutional government would benefit from “energy in the executive,” not just in foreign affairs and national defense but also in "essential to the steady administration of the laws.” Today, this “energy” is especially evident in the President’s power and responsibility to respond to unpredictable disasters. From massive storms, to domestic terrorism, to economic turmoil, modern presidents have the power to—and are expected to—assert leadership and control in crises.
The Hoover Institution in Washington hosted a discussion featuring Hoover Research Fellow Adam White and Dr. Tevi Troy, a leading scholar of presidential history, on the President's evolving power and duty to respond to domestic disasters and emergencies, dating back to the beginning of our republic. This was the focus of a new book by Dr. Troy: Shall We Wake the President? Two Centuries of Disaster Management from the Oval Office. A limited quantity of complimentary copies were provided.
Opening Arguments: Conversations on American Constitutionalism is a new series of interviews with key authors with a background in Constitutionalism and Executive Power.
The latest Hoover Institution/Lane Center Golden State Poll reveals the state of the presidential and US Senate races in California. A discussion about how changing generational sensibilities are affecting initiative battles over marijuana legalization, repealing the death penalty, and extending a tax on the wealthiest Californians.
The Hoover Institution hosts "The President's Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America's Presidents from Kennedy to Obama" on Thursday, October 13, 2016 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, invite you to a discussion on the unique relationship between the President and the intelligence community. Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Jack Goldsmith will interview author David Priess on his new book, The President's Book of Secrets. The interview will take an in depth look into the top-secret document known as the President's Daily Brief, or "the Book" as intelligence officials like to call it.
Victor Davis Hanson points to a future in which many of America's key political, social, and media institutions will erode as a consequence of the 2016 election cycle.
With twelve days remaining to the election, a conversation about the art and science of polling–with the numbers showing Hillary Clinton in the lead in a race that’s tighter than it was a week ago--and why the notion that polls are rigged or unfairly weighted to one side’s advantage just doesn’t hold up.
Richard Epstein weighs the dangers of a Donald Trump presidency against those that would attend a Hillary Clinton Administration.
RIchard Epstein considers the arguments for an against the Electoral College, describes how the process of picking a president has changed over the years, and provides prescriptions for electoral reform.
Tom Donnelly describes how the U.S.'s nuclear deal with Iran opened for the door for the regime in Tehran to strengthen its position in the region and the world.
Kori Schake explains why the long-term destabilizing effects of the Iran deal likely offset its short-term benefits, and gives advice on how the next president should handle the potential danger.
The aftermath of the second of the three presidential debates: what the data is telling us about the state of the race. Is the contest over after Trump’s bad run of stories; should Hillary Clinton start measuring the Oval Office drapes?
Richard Epstein probes the legal and policy arguments made by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as it attempts to block the development of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
On the eve of the second presidential debate, we look at why Hillary Clinton has taken a lead over Donald Trump since their first onstage encounter. With various polls showing differences in the size and scope of the gender gap, we examine what the candidates have to address in Sunday’s debate and what constituencies they need to bolster.
In the middle of the debate portion of the general election, there’s once again a question of media bias. Fred Barnes, cofounder of the Weekly Standard, discusses how political journalism has evolved during his forty years in Washington and recalls his role as one of three journalists asking questions in the first Reagan-Mondale debate in 1984.
The Hoover Institution hosts "How Everything Became War And The Military Became Everything: Tales From The Pentagon" on Wednesday, September 28, 2016 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.
Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Benjamin Wittes interviews author Rosa Brooks on her new book, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything. The interview will took a look at the growing lack of distinction between wartime and peacetime. A limited quantity of complimentary copies will be provided.
Security by the Book is a series of interviews of key national security authors conducted in partnership with Lawfare. Visit Security by the Book's website for past podcasts.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have had their first debate; in this podcast we discuss that debate’s effects on the polls. Both candidates did their best to appeal to an already angry electorate. Did either candidate sway any votes? We also discuss the October 4 vice presidential debate, including whether either candidate might have an Admiral James Stockdale moment.
Richard Epstein describes the dramatic failure of the federal government's attempts to balance anti-discrimination laws against religious liberty protections.
Victor Davis Hanson explains why the waning months of Barack Obama's presidency may turn out to be one of the most volatile periods for national security that America has seen in decades.
Richard Epstein analyzes the various components of Hillary Clinton's tax plan -- and proposes a classical liberal alternative.
Richard Epstein argues that the European Union's decision to impose heavy tax penalties on Apple may not be quite the disaster that critics suggest.
Benjamin Wittes's interview with Walter Pincus on his recent essay “Reflections on Secrecy and the Press from a Life in Journalism.”
Hoover Institution fellows Bill Whalen and Douglas Rivers talk about the health of public polling – how political and policy sampling has evolved since the great presidential meltdown in 1948. We discusses how pollsters as well as political scientists make sense of all the statistical data scattered about in this election.
On the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Peter Mansoor reflects on America's subsequent war on terrorism ... And on what must be done to ultimately emerge victorious.
Military and diplomatic historian Williamson Murray explains why terrorist attacks on the West have grown smaller in scope since 9/11 — but warns of nightmare scenarios that may still remain on the horizon.
Ralph Peters warns that the willpower and resolve of Islamic terrorists counterbalance's the West’s material and financial advantages.
Richard Epstein looks at the uses and abuses of the Martin Act, a New York law that has given activist attorneys general a free pass to persecute their political opponents.
The presidential race passes Labor Day and the polls tighten. Will the results continue this era of partisanship in Washington and changing control of government?
Victor Davis Hanson examines Donald Trump’s shifting tone on immigration — and provides a prescription for what a sensible immigration policy should look like.
Richard Epstein responds to the recent controversy over sharp increases in the price of EpiPens and explains the economic dynamics underpinning the larger debate about prescription drug costs.
Victor Davis Hanson explores the tensions between technological progress and cultural vitality.
As we move toward the end of August and the Labor Day holiday, polling reveals a couple of trends – Hillary Clinton is in the lead and Donald Trump’s disapproval numbers vastly outweigh his approval numbers. Are the polls accurate? Is there a hidden Trump vote not reflected in the polls? And how does this relate to a political urban legend born in California several decades ago – the “Bradley Effect”?
Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Henriksen discusses the North Korean regime’s aggressive activities, which continue to cause alarm in the international community—but do they truly threaten global security? Placing the regime’s hostile behaviors in both a political and a historical context, Thomas Henriksen argues that North Korean threats are credible and several. The regime’s capabilities for a direct nuclear attack are developing, as evidenced by their increasingly successful nuclear tests. There are also multiple avenues by which they may furnish nuclear components to other rogue regimes. Whether such threats will continue in their current state depends on several factors that are subject to change. Kim Jong-un could reveal himself as an incremental reformer. The next US president may shift our policy toward the regime. Regional conflicts might disrupt the balance of power around the Korean Peninsula. What exactly will unfold, however, and whether changes in the status quo will prove positive or negative, remains uncertain.
Hoover Institution fellow John Cochrane discusses the “new normal” of 2 percent annual growth in GDP, which doesn’t sound far off from the 3.5 percent growth that characterized the US economy from 1950 to 2000. Compounded over decades, however, this seemingly small disparity represents huge amounts of forgone income—for both individuals and the nation. Politicians and media may focus on interest rates, pay equity, or union rights as economic remedies, yet, as John Cochrane shows, economic growth is largely a function of productivity. Unfortunately, burdensome regulations act like “sand in the gears” of the US economy, slowing productivity and throttling economic expansion. Cochrane explains a number of commonsense fiscal and institutional reforms to accelerate economic growth and restore—or even surpass—the upward trajectory of incomes enjoyed in earlier decades.
In a sampling of recent news stories, Richard Epstein tackles the NLRB's ruling allowing graduate students to unionize, a federal judge's injunction against the Obama Administration's transgender restroom regulations, and a move to restore voting rights for ex-cons in Virginia.
The following is taken from the Regulation and Rule of Law working group Conference on the Role of Executive Power and Discretion Under the Rule of Law. This recording is a discussion on Issues about Regulation and the Rule of Law featuring Michael Rappaport of the University of San Diego, Ed Rubin of Vanderbilt University and John Yoo of the University of California, Berkeley.
The following is taken from the Regulation and Rule of Law working group, Conference on the Role of Executive Power and Discretion Under the Rule of Law. This recording is of Barry Weingast of the Hoover Institution and Stanford University presenting his paper, “Executive Discretion and the Rule of Law: A positive Analysis of Presidential Signing Statements.” The discussant is Nate Persily of Stanford University.
The following is taken from the Regulation and Rule of Law working group, Conference on the Role of Executive Power and Discretion Under the Rule of Law. This recording is of Christopher DeMuth Sr. of the Hudson Institute presenting his paper, “Can the Administrative State be Tamed.” The discussant is Michael McConnell of the Hoover Institution.
The following is taken from the Regulation and Rule of Law working group, Conference on the Role of Executive Power and Discretion Under the Rule of Law. This recording is of Richard Epstein of the Hoover Institution and New York University, presenting his paper, “The Role of Guidance in Modern Administrative Procedure.” The discussant is David Freeman Engstrom of Stanford University.
The following is taken from the Regulation and Rule of Law working group, Conference on the Role of Executive Power and Discretion Under the Rule of Law. This recording is of Zachary Price of the UC Hastings College of Law presenting his paper, “Waiving rules of Law.” The discussant is Michael Azimov of Stanford University.
The following is taken from the Regulation and Rule of Law working group, Conference on the Role of Executive Power and Discretion Under the Rule of Law. This recording is of Jennifer Arlen of New York University presenting her paper, “Prosecuting Beyond the Rule of Law: Corporate Mandates Imposed Through Pretrial Diversion Agreements.” The discussant is Daniel Richman of Columbia University.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at how the year 1941 transformed World War II from a regional conflict into a global conflagration -- and explains how lessons from that era apply to modern foreign policy challenges.
For the second time this summer, Donald Trump shakes up his campaign’s management team and doubles-down on the same approach that delivered the GOP nomination. What do we know about Trump voters – are there enough of them for Trump to prevail in November?
Richard Epstein explains what the flight of insurers from Obamacare exchanges means for the program's future -- and describes the steps necessary to reform American health care.
With Democrats moving left and Republicans abandoning many of their traditional principles, Richard Epstein proscribes an alternative pro-growth policy platform for 2016.
Richard Epstein looks at the policy proposals animating Democrats in 2016 – and explains why they’ll lead to continued economic anemia.
Hoover Institution fellow Morris Fiorina and Stanford professor Bruce Cain note that Donald received a slight bump in the polls after the Republican Convention and that Hillary received a bump after the Democratic Convention, but whom, they ask, will win over the voters during the next few months? Hillary is well known, but it is a close race, with the possibility of the campaigns determining the elections. The numbers/polls after Labor Day will be a better indicator of the eventual winner.
Richard Epstein looks at the massive financial risk emanating from underfunded public pensions.
Hoover Institution fellows David Brady and Douglas Rivers note that Trump received a slight bump in the polls after the RNC convention, but the poll numbers need to be checked after the DNC convention. Both Brady and Rivers note that we have a real race on our hands.
Benjamin Wittes interviews author Stephen Budiansky on his new book, Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union. The interview takes a look at the NSA's origins, its war against the Soviet Union and how the war relates to the Edward Snowden revelations.
Hoover Institution fellows David Brady and Douglas Rivers note that Trump needs to unify the Party and choosing Pence to be his vice president is a step in the right direction. Brady and Rivers also discuss poll numbers and how Trump can improve his negative numbers.
Richard Epstein looks at a controversial judicial ruling in Mississippi limiting conscience protections for religious individuals on LGBT issues.
Hoover Institution fellow David Brady looks at data and what it means for the election. Brady looks at party identification and how members of the different will vote at this time. Brady uses the YouGov poll. In short, for Republicans to win—then and now—they have to hold their own voters and then get more Democratic voters than they give up or win Independents. In this space we will give you our monthly updates from the YouGov recontact survey, same 5,000 respondents each month so we can track change over time.
Victor Davis Hanson considers whether flaring racial tensions throughout the country can be salved – and whether our politicians are up to the task.
The Hoover Institution hosts "We the People: The Supreme Court’s Duty to Enforce the Constitution" on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 from 12:00pm - 1:30pm.
Our Constitution vests sovereignty in “We the People.” But what does this mean? And how should it be vindicated in the courts? The Hoover Institution’s Johnson Center in Washington, D.C. invites you to a discussion of these fundamental questions, featuring Randy Barnett, author of eleven books, the most recent being Our Republican Constitution, a reflection on how to “secure the liberty and sovereignty of We the People.”
In this new book, Barnett appeals to “the bedrock principle of the Republican Constitution: that governments are instituted among men to secure their natural rights.”
And, in drawing lessons from the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision upholding the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate as a constitutional “tax,” Barnett urges that “it is not enough to debate what the Constitution means … As Chief Justice Roberts’s ruling shows, we also need to debate the proper role of judges in enforcing that meaning.”
These arguments are aimed not just at lawyers, but at the public at large—for the Supreme Court’s decisions have a significant gravitational pull on our politics.
Professor Barnett will discuss these themes with Hoover Research Fellow Adam White, who reviewed Professor Barnett’s book for the Wall Street Journal.
Richard Epstein looks at the recent controversies over police shootings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota, and the subsequent attacks on police officers in Dallas.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Amy Zegart and Stephen Krasner
Benjamin Wittes interviews Amy Zegart and Stephen Krasner on their document, Pragmatic Engagement Amidst Global Uncertainty, which was produced by the Hoover Institution’s Working Group on Foreign Policy and Grand Strategy, presents three key challenges to the future of U.S. security—China, Russia, and unconventional threats—and outlines three principles that should guide the United States’s response, ultimately calling for a pragmatic foreign policy that does not go in search of monsters abroad.
Richard Epstein examines FBI Director Jim Comey’s rationale for not leveling charges against Hillary Clinton as a result of her e-mail scandal.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the factors that may predict an irreversible American decline.
Richard Epstein looks at what the Supreme Court’s ruling in a recent case out of Texas means for the future of abortion policy.
Victor Davis Hanson analyzes what Britain’s exit from the EU means for the future of European culture and international security.
Richard Epstein examines the Supreme Court’s ruling in Utah v. Strieff, expanding the types of evidence that can be used against suspected criminals.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Fred Kaplan
Benjamin Wittes interviews author Fred Kaplan on his new book, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War. The interview takes a look at the past, present, and future of cyber war.
Richard Epstein looks at the policy disputes that have broken out in the wake of a mass shooting in Florida.
The Hoover Institution hosts "Dark Territory: The Secret History Of Cyber War" on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm.
Hoover working group member and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Benjamin Wittes interviews author Fred Kaplan on his new book, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War. The interview takes a look at the past, present, and future of cyber war.
Security by the Book is a series of interviews of key national security authors conducted in partnership with Lawfare. Visit Security by the Book's website for past podcasts.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at why America has been the historical exception to the failure of multiethnic societies – and examines the trends threatening to undo that accomplishment.
Richard Epstein considers whether Donald Trump’s behavior – including a gratuitous attack on a Hispanic judge – ought to disqualify him from the presidency.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: William McCants and Joby Warrick
Benjamin Wittes interviews William McCants and Joby Warrick on their new books, The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State and Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS on the Islamic State including its history, the ideas behind it, and the people who made it happen and watched it happen.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Charlie Savage
Jack Goldsmith interviews Charlie Savage on his new book, Power Wars: Inside Obama's Post-9/11 Presidency, for a discussion of the Obama administration’s national security legacy. The conversation is full of insider accounts of just about all of the most important Obama administration legal and policy decisions. Savage discusses how Abdulmutallab’s failed underwear bombing affected President Obama, and the two discuss exactly why a president who came into office critiquing Bush's national security policies ended up keeping so many of them. Savage and Goldsmith even touch on whether he will actually shutter Guantanamo Bay.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Edward Lucas
Benjamin Wittes interviews Edward Lucas on his new book, Cyberphobia: Identity, Trust, Security and the Internet where Lucas discusses the rapid increase in cybercrime, the difficulties of identity verification on the web, and why, even today, we still do not take cybersecurity seriously enough. Lucas paints a bleak picture of our cybersecurity landscape, but closes with a few recommendations for how we can fix it. It’s a conversation that prompted Ben to digitally betray his country, and the rest of us to grab our dongles and strengthen our passwords.
Richard Epstein looks at whether the Libertarian Party can capitalize on voters’ distaste for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Gaylor Tzemach Lemmon
Benjamin Wittes interviews Gayle Tzemach Lemmon on her new book, Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield. Lemmon, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discussed the growing role of women soldiers in special operations and beyond, examining the story of a cultural support team of women hand-picked from the Army in 2011 to serve in Afghanistan alongside Army Rangers and Navy SEALs. Their conversation dives into how the program developed, the lessons learned in the process, and why its success may provide critical insights for future force integration. Former Marine and current Lawfare contributor Zoe Bedell, who served in a similar capacity in Afghanistan, joined them on the panel to discuss her own experiences.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Orde Kittrie
Jack Goldsmith interviews Orde Kittrie on his new book, Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War, examining the deployment and impact of lawfare, the role played by the private sector, and real-world examples of its use by the United States, China, Iran, and Israel.
Victor Davis Hanson describes how a new class of young, entitled, culturally conformist leaders are rising to power in Washington, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: General Michael Hayden
Benjamin Wittes interviews General Michael Hayden on his book, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror, where Hayden provides an inside look at some of the most critical intelligence decisions since 9/11, including the CIA’s controversial rendition, detention, and interrogation program, the NSA's Stellarwind program, and the U.S.’s interactions with the intelligence agencies of its allies in the following years. In addition to weighing in on the ongoing FBI vs. Apple battle, Hayden also offers his perspective on the successes of the intelligence community, and outlines the challenges it will face in the coming years.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Juliette Kayyem
Jack Goldsmith interviews author Juliette Kayyem on her new book, Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home. The interview examines the smart, measureable guidelines that every American citizen can follow in order to make a more resilient home and a more resilient nation.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Adam Segal
Jack Goldsmith interviews Adam Segal about his new book, The Hacked World Order, which begins at what Segal calls “year Zero”—sometime between June 2012 and June 2013—explaining that the events in that year ushered in a new era of geopolitical maneuvering in cyberspace, with great implications for security, privacy, and the international system. These changes, he suggests, have the potential to produce unintended and unimaginable problems for anyone with an internet connection.
INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Jefferson Powell
Jack Goldsmith’s interview with Jefferson Powell on his new book, Targeting Americans: The Constitutionality of the U.S. Drone War. The interview focuses on the legal debate surrounding drone strikes, the use of which has expanded significantly under the Obama Presidency as part of the continuing war against terror. Despite the political salience of the legal questions raised by targeted killing, the author asserts that there has been remarkably little careful analysis of the fundamental legal question: the constitutionality of the policy.
Richard Epstein considers the choice facing Britons in June: whether or not the United Kingdom should remain a part of the European Union.
Tom Donnelly lays out the first principles of military readiness and analyzes whether America is prepared for the foreign policy challenges ahead.
Victor Davis Hanson describes how progressive clichés like “settled science” and “the right side of history” distort political thought.
In this informative briefing, Kori Schake discusses the evolving threats to US interests that are waiting for the next presidential administration. Schake raises concerns about continued Iranian hostilities in the Straits of Hormuz, faltering soft US power in Iraq, and mounting civilian casualties from untargeted attacks in Syria. She discusses other developments giving rise to concern in Afghanistan, Russia, China, and North Korea but also points out recent areas of policy improvement. Schake then draws a conclusion with important implications for the next presidential administration: threats to the United States’ international interests are increasing, but the US response is lagging alarmingly behind.
According to Victor Davis Hanson, calls for trigger warnings, campus diversity programs, and other policies aimed at shielding students from emotional discomfort and divergent opinions are warping the educational mission of US colleges. In addition to compromising educational quality, Hanson points out that those activities divert attention from more serious threats to student well-being, such as skyrocketing educational costs and student loan debt. Aside from youthful naiveté and progressive ideology, he blames a noncompetitive environment among and within colleges for many of the problems. He proposes accountability-based reforms such as university exit exams, academic freedom rankings, and closer donor oversight as possible solutions.
Richard Epstein looks at tensions resulting from a Supreme Court divided between four Republican appointees and four Democrats.
Retired Admiral James Ellis describes the principles that are needed to keep America secure at a time of geopolitical uncertainty.
Richard Epstein examines the legal and political controversies stemming from North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law.
Donald Trump’s rise as a front-runner in the 2016 presidential primaries may be a surprising development, but according to Victor Davis Hanson, it isn’t without explanation. Hanson discusses why Trump’s radical proposals on immigration and trade are finding receptive audiences who are willing to tolerate his inflammatory rhetoric. Hanson closes with an assessment of what Trump’s candidacy will look like should he secure the Republican nomination, describing the 2016 election as a choice not between good and bad but between bad and worse.
Cyber threats from rogue actors, and the need to secure critical digital infrastructure against attack, have earned a prominent role in the US national security strategy dialogue. Most often, the focus of the conversation is defensive. Herbert Lin, however, adds an interesting dimension to the discussion: the potential use of cyber attacks by US agencies to disrupt the operations of our adversaries. Lin explains a menu of options for offensive deployment of cyber tactics but also points out complex political, legal, and ethical implications surrounding their use.
President Obama often highlights his administration’s success in spurring a robust economic recovery; Lee Ohanian, however, is less optimistic about the state of the US economy under his leadership. Ohanian argues that Obama’s narrative rests on flawed economic logic and blames the lackluster recovery on a departure of US economic policy from free market principles. With this sober assessment of the current US economy in mind, he explores the potential for improvement under each of the leading 2016 presidential candidates and measures their platforms in terms of promoting freedom, enterprise, and the Constitution.
According to Abbas Milani, crafting cohesive policy to deal with instability and threats in the Middle East requires understanding the ideological, social, and regime-based catalysts of unrest. He explains the return of puritanical Islamist ideology as a reaction to the stagnation of Islamic societies relative to their western counterparts. This trend is not new, but such factors as oil wealth, social media, and communications technology have given it unprecedented strength. Milani stresses that this movement is approaching a dangerous crisis point, one that that, unfortunately, policy makers in the west are failing to adequately address.
This talk, which comes on the heels of Atlas’s latest book, Restoring Quality Health Care, brings clarity to the increasingly complex topic of US health-care policy in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. Atlas cuts through spurious metrics to reveal the pre-Obamacare US health-care system as a world leader in delivering quality care. He goes on to explain what the fiscal and regulatory impacts of Obamcare mean for patients and doctors and how the reforms proposed in his book can reduce costs, eliminate regulatory burdens, and promote innovation in health care.
Much has been said about the legacy of US Supreme Court justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia since he died in February 2016. Renowned legal theorist Richard Epstein—a longtime colleague and friend of Scalia’s—, however, brings something new to the discussion. Epstein frames Scalia’s jurisprudence in the context of western legal thought going back to the Roman Empire. He explains the influence of Roman legal concepts on the US founding, and their relevance to the modern struggle of constitutional interpretation in which Scalia was an influential participant.
In this talk, General Mattis applies his extensive national security and policy experience to current US-Iranian diplomacy. He centers his remarks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear agreement, which he views as a serious misstep in US policy. He explains the political and historical context of the deal, analyzes how the Iranian regime is modifying its behavior in response, and how US policy makers can correct course. Although Mattis is measured in his analysis, he draws a stark conclusion: “the Iranian regime is the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.”
Richard Epstein describes how the federal government is driving controversies over sexual assault on college campuses.
Victor Davis Hanson considers the issues that will face the next President of the United States both at home and abroad
Richard Epstein looks at the Second Circuit’s decision to uphold the NFL’s suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Richard Epstein looks at the leftward lurch of the Democratic Party on economic issues in the era of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the factors behind European decline – and analyzes whether those factors will soon manifest in the United States as well.
Angelo Codevilla examines the fallout from the Iranian nuclear deal and predicts how it will affect America national security in the future.
Kori Schake examines the variables that will determine whether the nuclear deal with Iran pushes the country towards radicalism or reconciliation.
Richard Epstein examines the novel legal rationale behind a Wisconsin judge’s decision to overturn the state’s right-to-work law.
Milani focuses on Iran but paints a more complex picture of a state divided, with movements toward reform and international engagement clashing against authoritarian elements within the government. Stressing understanding a regime as a crucial prerequisite to effective strategy, Milani calls for targeted US policy toward Iran that bolsters movements for change and undermines support for the status quo.
Sofaer argues that Reagan’s Cold War strategy offers important lessons for contemporary US policy toward Iran, despite Reagan’s failure to apply those lessons in his own negotiations with the Iranian regime. Recounting five principles from Reagan and Shultz’s diplomatic work with the Soviet Union, Sofaer shows how parties opposite the table can be effectively engaged without losing focus on the US agenda.
According to McFaul, some—but not all—of the lessons from Reagan’s Cold War diplomacy are applicable today, although, even under identical circumstances, the same strategy may not produce the same results. Applying this equivocal perspective to current issues in international relations, McFaul’s remarks give an informative overview of the challenging landscape faced by diplomats and strategists.
Schake introduces economics to the discussion, describing effectively targeted sanctions as one of the most powerful diplomatic tools available to policy makers. She attributes the Reagan administration’s success in Cold War negotiations to pragmatism, including open lines of communication, recognizing opportunities for advancing the US agenda, building partnerships in the international community, and supporting ideological allies within rogue states. She also emphasizes the United States’ soft power as an intellectual influence on the world’s elites as a promising force for change.
Wolf’s remarks center on fostering reform in China, offering a counterpoint to Yarim-Agaev’s focus on regime change and support for internal dissidents. According to Wolf, several avenues for further democratic evolution, political reform, and marketization exist within the People’s Republic of China’s existing institutional framework. He suggests that stimulating further interaction between professional organizations in the United States and their bureaucratic equivalents in the Chinese Communist Party is the most practical strategy for accelerating such reforms.
Secretary Shultz’s work alongside Ronald Reagan in crafting Cold War strategy and negotiating with Soviet leaders adds a valuable firsthand dimension to the discussion. Shultz outlines President Reagan’s diplomatic “playbook”: execute against your word, be realistic, lay a strong hand, and know your agenda, illustrated with personal stories from his experience in executive office. He also applies these lessons to current US relations with Iran and China, demonstrating a troubling deviation of today’s diplomacy from tested strategic principles.
Yuri Yarim-Agaev offers a methodical approach to the topic, explaining key general characteristics common to authoritarian regimes, including intrinsic opposition to US interests. As a result, according to Yarim-Agaev, regime change is the only viable solution to security threats from rogue actors. He argues that Ronald Reagan’s strategy for fostering peaceful change from within was proven effective during the Cold War and is an equally viable strategy for dealing with contemporary authoritarian regimes.
Richard Epstein analyzes the most bitterly debated provisions of the Constitution and reflects on where the Founding Fathers may have erred.
Victor Davis Hanson presents a decalogue to guide the behavior of the next inhabitant of the Oval Office.
Richard Epstein dissects the newest Supreme Court case aiming to resolve the tension between Obamacare’s contraception mandate and rights of conscience.
Victor Davis Hanson weighs in on the prospect of a contested GOP convention and the decision points in a general election that could pit Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton.
Richard Epstein discusses the controversy over Senate Republicans’ decision to block Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination and examines the decline of the confirmation process.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at how a declining respect for the rule of law and a rising tide of multiculturalism combine to exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration.
Richard Epstein responds to the criticisms of free trade coming from Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton.
Victor Davis Hanson separates myth from fact in an in-depth discussion of the second Gulf War.
Richard Epstein analyzes a lawsuit that seeks to hold gun manufacturers responsible for mass shootings.
Victor Davis Hanson considers a future in which it’s increasingly likely Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee.
Richard Epstein on the political and legal considerations behind adding a new justice to the Supreme Court.
Raymond Ibrahim explains how Islamic history and theology have influenced the development of ISIS.
Mark Moyar looks at how ISIS fits into the broader history of terrorism, and examines what it’s ambitions for a caliphate mean for American national security.
From Bernie to Beyonce, a look at the multitude of factors driving America’s cultural instability.
Richard Epstein addresses the controversy around Apple’s attempt to resist a court order that would force them to help the FBI unlock the phone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at how three events – the American intervention in Libya, the failure to maintain a military presence in Iraq, and the lack of follow-through on the Syrian “red line" – led to the present instability in the Middle East.
Richard Epstein recalls his friend and onetime colleague Antonin Scalia – and explains the similarities and differences in their respective legal philosophies.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the factors that have led to a decline in the quality – and an increase in the cost – of American higher education over the past several decades.
Richard Epstein looks at the legal battle that has led the US Department of Justice to take Ferguson, Missouri to court.
Abbas Milani, a research fellow and codirector of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution, discusses ISIS, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the future of the Middle East. Successive US administrations have declared Iran to be one of America’s most serious national security threats. Yet the last four wars the US has fought in the region — in Afghanistan, in the two wars in Iraq and in the current war with ISIS—have resulted in either removing or containing Iran’s powerful adversaries. In all these cases, Iran has fanned the flames of war — by encouraging anti-Americanism in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and by encouraging Shiite sectarians in Syria and Iraq — but also worked on the same side with the US. The fight against ISIS is the most notable example. Milani is not optimistic about the future of the Middle East, saying he has never seen so much turmoil. The social and cultural systems and boundaries that were implemented after World War I are now coming apart. Seven to ten countries in the Middle East are failed states; then you have nonstate actors such as ISIS. The sand is shifting in the Middle East in profound ways and affecting the whole world. Milani also discusses ways to counter ISIS and help the Middle East.
Hoover Institution fellow Bill Whalen discusses Iowa Caucus Night and that Iowa kept to form on the Republican side: the “one of us” candidate prevailed. It continues a trend among Iowa Republicans dating back to Bob Dole’s takedown of George H.W. Bush in 1988. Dole was an extension of Iowa – a son of Kansas and defender of ag interests. The last three Republican winners – George W. Bush, Mike Huckabee all made their personal faith a larger part of their campaign narratives – a huge plus in a devout state (about three-fourths of Iowans are Protestants; half of those evangelicals). Cruz continues the trend, despite the Trumped-up turnout. To his credit, Trump was gracious in defeat (words rarely if ever written). But in Iowa, he was as successful at changing politics as he was in reshaping the faces of casinos, airlines and professional football. Speaking of tradition, a Trump win in New Hampshire continues the GOP’s habit of changing horses in the first two states. Forget about Groundhog Day: we could be in store for a long Republican winter. On the Democratic side, the woman who’s been at the top of the Democratic pyramid for nearly a quarter of a century couldn’t generate one percentage point of space between herself and a Senate backbencher who’s not even a card-carrying Democrat – in a state where she’s no stranger. Sanders drew crowds; Clinton banked on mechanics. It’ll get Hillary the nomination, but it suggests a very bad “enthusiasm gap” coming her way this fall.
Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson discusses deterrence in terms of world affairs and especially after Obama. Deterrence is a clear display of overwhelming military strength, and the real probability of being willing to use it, so it reminds would-be aggressors not to start stupid conflicts — given that the possibility of winning something through war is overshadowed by the risk of losing far more. A world where everyone knows the unspoken rules as well as the moral and material relative strength and weakness of the various nations is a safer place for all involved. To restore the Western-inspired postwar order and hold chaos at bay, the next president will have to restore deterrence, both materially and psychologically. And that will be one difficult and dangerous endeavor — made worse by shrill attacks coming from those who have done so much to lose it. If the Obama administration cannot keep speak softly and carry a big stick, then at least it should keep quiet—and quit egging on those it cannot or will not deter.
Victor Davis Hanson explains the dangers inherent in Donald Trump’s presidential bid – and why it would also be a mistake for Republicans to ignore his supporters.
Hoover Institution fellow and former United States ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul shares his thoughts on current US-Russian relations. As there was after Putin’s action in Ukraine last year, there has been a chorus of commentary on his supposed strategic genius. He is acting decisively, seizing the initiative and creating facts on the ground--so the narrative goes--in contrast with the West’s feckless pursuits in Syria. The opposite is true. Five years ago, Russia was in a much stronger position, both at home and in the world. Today, Putin is playing defense, doubling down on bad decisions guided by an outdated theory of international politics. Recognition of Russia’s mistakes, however, does not guarantee future failure. The United States and its allies cannot stand idly by, waiting for Russia to fail. Instead, we must adopt a comprehensive strategy to minimize the negative consequences of Russia’s actions and maximize our positive ones.
Hoover Institution fellow and former secretary of state George P. Shultz illuminates Conquest’s far-reaching influence on Ronald Reagan’s administration. Robert Conquest set the gold standard for careful research, total integrity, and clarity of expression about the real Soviet Union and provided guidance about the roots of the USSR's policies around the world.
Journalist John O’Sullivan investigates Conquest’s influence on Margaret Thatcher’s administration. Firm of conviction and excellently informed, Conquest provided countless politicians, including Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, with guidance about the roots of the USSR's policies around the world.
Poet Sam Gwynn presents a talk on Conquest’s literary achievements and his relationships with well-known writers such as Kingsley Amis. Among his considerable gifts, Bob was a superb conversationalist. He had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh: the look of playful delight that animated his face as he nailed a punch line is impossible to forget.
Hoover research fellow Stephen Kotkin discusses Conquest’s revelatory work on life behind the Iron Curtain, noting that Conquest definitively established the colossal scale of Soviet horrors, correctly identified their source in Marxist ideas and practices, and underscored the legions of Western dupes who retailed Soviet lies, beginning when Stalin was alive and decades thereafter.
Richard Epstein looks at the legal issues emerging from revelations that there are potentially dangerous amounts of lead in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan.
Richard Epstein looks at the recent twists and turns in both the Democratic and Republican Parties’ presidential contests.
Richard Epstein examines the legal issues underpinning Donald Trump’s argument that Ted Cruz may be constitutionally ineligible to be president
Victor Davis Hanson explains the fundamentals of deterrence, looks at historical examples of its failures and successes, and examines how the Obama Administration has failed to use the strategy.
Richard Epstein uses Barack Obama’s recent executive actions on guns as a springboard to discuss the President’s history of exercising unilateral executive power.
Victor Davis Hanson provides a series of New Year’s Resolutions for a politically correct America.
Richard Epstein dissects Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that could dramatically diminish the power of public-sector unions.
Victor Davis Hanson examines the fallout from the recent terror attack in San Bernardino and how it is shaping the 2016 presidential election.
Richard Epstein looks at the issues underlying the affirmative action case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, and whether the University of Texas at Austin’s affirmative action program complied with the stringent legal test the court set out in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003).
Richard Epstein examines the controversies around gun control, immigration, and surveillance that have emerged in the aftermath of the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
Richard Epstein responds to the controversy over Woodrow Wilson’s legacy at Princeton, and examines whether students are justified in wanting to disassociate the university from its former president.
Victor Davis Hanson surveys the history of missile defense initiatives and considers how the technology will have to adapt to new national security threats.
The Hoover Institution's National Security, Technology, and Law Working Group, along with Hoover's Washington, DC office, in partnership with Lawfare host a discussion about the Obama Administration's strategy on The War on Terror. Hoover Institution Senior Fellow and Working Group Member Jack Goldsmith, will interview author Charlie Savage on his new book: Power Wars: Inside Obama's Post-9/11 Presidency.
Richard Epstein looks at the relationship between the war in Iraq and the current fight against ISIS, analyzing which lessons President Obama has and hasn’t learned.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the recent controversies attending free speech and political correctness on college campuses.
Richard Epstein considers what the controversy over political correctness at Yale says about the state of free speech on America’s college campuses.
Richard Epstein looks at the controversial decision by New York’s attorney general to subpoena documents from ExxonMobil relating to the company’s research on global warming.
Recorded on October 20, 2015 – Hoover Institution fellow Amy Zegart notes that during the past two years Hoover has conducted a cyber boot camp for senior congressional staff that has already paid dividends in legislation on Capitol Hill. Zegart notes that cyber threats are everywhere and that we need to know about them. The threat environment the United States confronts today is unprecedented. During the Cold War we faced the grave prospect of nuclear Armageddon. But in terms of the threat landscape it was straightforward. We knew who our adversary was and we knew where it was located. Today the threat landscape is more crowded, more uncertain, and more dynamic. The complex threat environment is filled with rising states such as China, declining states such as Russia, weak states, failed states, rogue states like North Korea, non-state actors such as ISIS or Anonymous, transnational threats such as Ebola, global pandemics, global climate change, and so on. There are, however, two big differences in the threat environment today. One, for the first time one of the world’s major powers will be a developing country, China. Two, we live in a dramatic asymmetrical environment where great powers such as the United States are threatened by weak states or nongovernmental actors or by bands of individuals who can wage disproportionate war or damage our society. And, the threat environment is changing rapidly. Every year the director of national intelligence issues a list of threat assessments facing the United States. In 2007, cyber security did not make the list of threats. In 2009, cyber security was on page thirty-eight of a forty-five-page document. Cyber threats did not jump to the top of the list until 2012. Zegart concludes that in the jungle of the Internet it is easier for the bad guys to hide than it is for the good guys to find them; developing good policies is hard, but we must do it to confront and reduce the threats.
Recorded on October 19, 2015 – Hoover Institution fellow Kori Schake discusses the importance of defense spending, noting that we have bigger problems than defense spending and are not likely to solve those problems until we can agree on entitlement spending. Such an agreement will make it possible to get the resources for more defense spending. The United States enjoys a wide margin of error in defense policy, but we are playing a strong hand weakly. Geoffrey Blainey wrote that wars are begun by states who believe they can win. It’s not arms buildup, it’s not cultural factors, and it’s not one power being stronger than another; wars begin because a country thinks it can win. We are at risk for war because Obama has abandoned his global responsibility. Schake concludes with a warning that, until we get an agreement on entitlement reform showing we are governable as a society, we are going to be at risk. An entitlement agreement is the canary in the coal mine.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the increasing tensions between rural Americans and their urban cousins and considers the implications for the nation’s politics and culture.
Recorded on October 19, 2015 – Hoover Institution fellow Gary Roughead discusses China’s importance and the strategic competition in the next 100 years between the United States and China. The last transfer of strategic power, between Great Britain and the United States was relatively seamless. We came from similar foundations, similar legal structures, similar ideas on trade, and so on. That is not the case with China, where demography is a problem, meaning, we need to look at the playing field differently. Because China will have a significant role in Asia, we need an interdependent relationship with China and Asia. We need to understand the broader context in which the United States, China, and other countries will be playing and what rules, guidelines, and behaviors we can expect in the coming years. Roughead concludes that we need to have the long view, accept that China and the United States will be interdependent, and think in broader terms of the Indo-Pacific playing field and the countries involved. For the United States to succeed we need to view the whole field and realize it is the next strategic competition.
Recorded on October 19, 2015 - Hoover Institution fellow Michael McConnell discusses the US Supreme Court, noting that the New York Times refers to the past term as the most liberal term since the Warren Court in the 1960s. During the past term, the justice most often voting with the majority decision was Stephen Breyer; number two was Sonia Sotomayor. It was also a divisive term. Will that be a blip or the new normal for the Court? It is hard to tell because the Supreme Court does not hear that many cases, but its ideological complexion is determined by the issues the justices are addressing. McConnell concludes with two cases he believes are the most important constitutional cases of our time. One concerns Obama giving legal status to more than four million undocumented workers, meaning they are eligible to work, get Social Security, and so on. Can Obama do this even though it goes against laws Congress has passed? The second case concerns whether Obama can use money from the Treasury, which Congress has refused to appropriate, for payments to insurance companies to reimburse them for losses under Obamacare.
Richard Epstein looks at the grassroots/establishment fight in the Republican Party, the prospects for Paul Ryan’s success as Speaker of the House, the ideological shift within the Democratic Party, and what they all might mean for the 2016 elections.
Victor Davis Hanson pulls away from the media’s stories du jour and examines the broader trends shaping the 2016 presidential election.
Richard Epstein looks at FBI director James Comey’s claim that police are taking a less proactive approach to crime in the wake of repeated racial controversies.
In 'The Heroic Heart', Tod Lindberg traces the quality of heroic greatness from its origin in prehistory to the present day.
Richard Epstein analyzes Supreme Court jurisprudence on the Second Amendment and responds to common arguments made by both liberals and conservatives in the fight over gun rights
Victor Davis Hanson looks at the disjuncture between the values progressives claim to hold and the way they actually lead their lives.
Richard Epstein examines a new Supreme Court case that could upend the way congressional districts are shaped.
Richard Epstein casts a critical eye toward Pope Francis’s pronouncements on economics, income inequality, and poverty.
Victor Davis Hanson looks at how current tensions in the European Union could lead to political fissures throughout the continent.
Richard Epstein looks at the pronouncements Pope Francis made on Syria, climate change, and organ donations during his recent visit to the United States.
Victor Davis Hanson analyzes the latest developments in both the Republican and Democratic presidential fields and considers what effect President Obama’s legacy will have on his successor.
Hoover fellows Carson Bruno and Bill Whalen are joined by Stanford political science professor Bruce E. Cain to discuss a new Golden State Poll examining Californians’ views on what should be done to solve the water crisis occasioned by a massive drought.
Richard Epstein reacts to Donald Trump’s broadside against the hedge fund industry, explores the controversy around carried interest, and examines the merits of various proposals for tax reform.
Richard Epstein looks at how the shortcomings of the Obama administration’s foreign policy have fueled the refugee crisis that’s left Europe reeling.
The Hoover Institution’s David Brady and Douglas Rivers look at the results of new polling to examine where Donald Trump’s support comes from and explain the ramifications for the broader GOP presidential field.
Victor Davis Hanson considers the trajectory of the West’s war with terrorism and radical Islam in the fourteen years since the 9/11 attacks.
Richard Epstein looks at the tangled legal history of the Clean Water Act — and the continued excesses of the EPA — and explains how to construct an alternative consonant with classical liberal principles.
Barry Strauss examines the historical track record of arms control agreements and what it means for America’s nuclear deal with Iran.
Angelo Codevilla argues that arms control agreements have little practical worth and that the recent agreement with Iran will actually aid Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.