WSJ Opinion: Free Expression: Recent Episodes
Gerard Baker, Editor at Large, The Wall Street Journal
Based on his Wall Street Journal Opinion column "Free Expression," Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker speaks every week with some of the world's leading writers, influencers and thinkers about a variety of subjects. Baker will welcome his guests from the worlds of politics, philosophy, and culture for wide-ranging dialogues that will enlighten and fascinate listeners. Episodes will be released each week.
Chris Christie has fashioned himself as the anti-Trump candidate in the 2024 GOP presidential field, but can his strategy really bring down the former president and propel Christie to the Oval Office? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, the former New Jersey Governor tells Gerry Baker about how he is tackling the task of unifying the Republican Party despite Donald Trump's influence, whether the Hunter Biden investigation should lead to the impeachment of Joe Biden, and why his run for president is not the "kamikaze mission" it's being perceived as to upend the Trump campaign.
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For the first time, voters got to see the major candidates for the Republican nomination for President on the same stage, with one glaring exception. On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, GOP strategist and columnist Karl Rove tells WSJ editor at large Gerry Baker why he thinks Vivek Ramaswamy had the worst moment of the night in Milwaukee, how Nikki Haley and Mike Pence advanced their cause and says Ron DeSantis just managed to survive, albeit with a couple of difficult moments. And he argues that Donald Trump's absence exposed his vulnerabilities as the frontrunner and insists the former president can still be beaten.
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Does the 2024 Presidential election rest on the legal troubles of Donald Trump and the Biden family? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, former Attorney General William Barr tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker why he thinks the latest indictment by Atlanta district attorney of the former president is excessive even as the federal charges he faces are stronger, but why neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will be the respective nominees for their parties, and why Hunter Biden "would already be in an orange jumpsuit" if he was a member of the Trump family.
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On this week’s Free Expression podcast John Bolton, who served as national security adviser to President Donald Trump tells Wall Street Journal editor at Large Gerry Baker there’s a good chance Trump will be convicted of criminal offenses ahead of the 2024 presidential election and if he is nominated by the Republican Party it will lead to unenviable defeat. He also argues the US needs to be doing much more to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine and to deter potential Chinese aggression in Taiwan.
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Has liberalism really failed and if so, what’s next for America and other democracies? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, political science professor Patrick Deneen tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker that the promotion of individual liberty as the organizing principle of society has resulted in the destruction of social cohesion and why it's time for a new political paradigm and the creation of a new elite in tune with true American values.
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Have Democrats taken African-American votes for granted? Could ethnic minorities find a home in the GOP? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker speaks with Georgia State Rep. Mesha Mainor about her decision last week to join the Republican Party and become the first African-American woman elected representative in the state legislature. She explains what Democrats get wrong about issues like school choice and affirmative action and how they continue to look to the past instead of the future.
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Is religious faith on the decline in the U.S.? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Catholic archbishop of New York, tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker that a lack of religion and moral conviction is to blame for our toxic cultural environment. He also discusses how Pope Francis is leading the church worldwide, the importance of the separation of church and state, and where the pro-life movement stands a year after the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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As Americans celebrate Independence Day this week, the Free Expression Podcast features some of Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker's best interviews, including conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, 2024 Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., commentator Heather Mac Donald, political scientist Ruy Teixeira and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers.
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After an abortive mutiny by Wagner Group leader and mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin, is Vladimir Putin "damaged goods" as the leader of Russia? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, former Ambassador to both Russia and China Jon Huntsman tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker why Prigozhin was exiled to Belarus while other Putin rivals have met a far worse fate, what the U.S. response should be, its effect on the Ukraine counteroffensive and why China may already be preparing for a new leadership in Russia.
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In this week’s Free Expression podcast Gerry Baker, WSJ editor at large, talks with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy about double standards of justice in politics, the corruption of the federal government and his plans to overhaul the administrative state. He also discusses his ideas for a radical reform of the Federal Reserve and the elimination of the FBI, how he plans to facilitate a peace deal in Ukraine to prise apart the Russia-China alliance. and whether he would consider being a candidate for Vice President for Donald Trump - or anyone else.
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On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, former Vice President Mike Pence tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker he can’t defend Donald Trump in his indictment over handling classified documents. Speaking just after Trump pled not guilty to criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Pence also says he will “clean house” at the Department of Justice. Pence also talks about Jan. 6 and Trump's criticism of him, says why he thinks now is not the time to "flinch" on pro-life abortion laws, and if he would support the eventual Republican nominee for President in 2024 if he does not succeed.
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With the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, has Russia's invasion of Ukraine reached a critical turning point? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker speaks with House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) about the United States' commitment to aiding Ukraine financially and with armaments, whether Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO, and the concerns that European nations are overpromising and under delivering when it comes to providing support in the conflict. Plus, Rep. Waltz gives his takes on Donald Trump and the person he replaced in Congress, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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With the U.S. economy facing a highly uncertain 2023, what’s the bigger threat - inflation or recession? Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is signaling slowing in the pace of interest rate increases after its fierce tightening this year, but has the Fed already gone too far? On the latest episode of the Free Expression podcast, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerard Baker speaks to former Fed vice chairman Alan Blinder about what’s next for the economy and monetary and fiscal policy.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker the Republican Party needs to look forward not backward as it considers its future, has admiring words for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and explains how a Republican-controlled House of Representatives can block Joe Biden's agenda and build some legislative achievements in a divided Congress.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker talks with conservative author and commentator Matthew Continetti about why an expected dominant victory for the GOP on Election Day never came to fruition, what the results mean for a potential 2024 matchup between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, and how Republicans can formulate a message on issues like abortion and crime to increase their popular vote numbers.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, policy analyst Reuel Marc Gerecht tell Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker why Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his regime see the most recent protests in Iran as a dangerous threat to their power, why sanctions won't stop Iran's significant nuclear program, and why Iran is aligning with Russia and China in a new Cold War with the West.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker about why he thinks the Russia/Ukraine conflict is an "unnecessary war," why the United States should send a strong message on defending Taiwan in the face of China, and how the left has sabotaged U.S. global power and made America look weak on the world stage.
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Whose turn is it to run Britain? On the latest episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker explores the turmoil in what used to be called the world’s most successful political party - the U.K.’s Conservatives. Tim Montgomerie, a leading conservative thinker in Britain, explains how after 12 years of the Tories in office, the aftermath of Brexit and the challenge that populism poses to conservatives, British politics has become so chaotic.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker why there is a growing backlash to woke capitalism, why both sides of the cultural divide have embraced victimhood, and why there will be major hurdles on the road back to excellence.
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On a new episode of Free Expression, energy expert Daniel Yergin explains to Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker the turbulence in global energy markets, how the Biden administration’s confused policies on energy are undermining America’s energy security and says a rational mix of natural gas, oil, nuclear and renewables offers solutions to our long-term energy needs.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, professor Steven Pinker tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker whether humans are becoming more rational, why reason should be taught in schools like math and reading, and if society is seemingly becoming more susceptible to conspiracy theories and confirmation bias.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, epidemiology expert Jay Bhattacharya tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker about what the world learned from the mistakes made during the pandemic, and the economic damage done by lockdowns and how to avoid resorting to them again.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, pollster Mark Penn talks to Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker about the messages both Democrats and Republicans need to convey to voters in November, why Joe Biden's anti-MAGA speech in Philadelphia may backfire on the President, and why the GOP is still in search of a national leader to unify the party.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, military historian Fred Kagan tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker why the recent counter offensive by Ukraine is the most significant event of the war, why the will of the Russian military is at a breaking point, and how the world would react to Vladimir Putin using tactical nuclear weapons when faced with no other choice.
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, former senior adviser to President Trump Jared Kushner tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker about how the disruptive Trump presidency led to foreign policy successes, why he thinks the Biden administration provoked the war between Russia and Ukraine, and why the FBI's document search of Mar-a-Lago and the failures of Washington could lead Donald Trump to another White House run to correct "unfinished business."
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On the latest episode of Free Expression, constitutional lawyer Alan Dershowitz tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker the chances of an indictment for the former President are rising. But he says the aggressive approach by the Department of Justice and the FBI are undermining trust in American justice and explains why the hard left is the true danger to the future of democracy.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with economist Nicholas Eberstadt about why men are leaving the workforce in greater numbers, what these men are doing with their time while not employed, and if the policies and economics of Covid-19 have forever changed the culture of the office.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with China expert Michael Pillsbury about the fallout from Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, what more the U.S. can do to protect Taiwan from aggression from China, and if there is an internal power struggle within Chinese politics.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with analyst Michael Shellenberger about why extremists on the left only speak about climate change in the most unnecessarily apocalyptic terms, why the world needs an energy abundance and not energy scarcity, and how progressive policies on crime and drugs have ruined many American cities.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with talk show host and columnist Dennis Prager about why there is so much censorship of conservative speech by the left, why leftists see organized religion as a hostile force, and why he thinks people would rather be taken care of than be free.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with economist Mohamed El-Erian about when the U.S. economy will see any relief from the high rate of inflation, the mistakes made by the Federal Reserve to try to fix the problem, and the probability of a recession under Joe Biden's fiscal policies.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with conservative commentator Noah Rothman about what he calls the "new Puritanism," the left's modern secular religion that attempts to extinguish pleasure from our lives in pursuit of social justice, green extremism and ordered Utopianism, and why they won't succeed.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker talks to historian Andrew Roberts about the left’s campaign to defame and discredit the West’s history and the pushback against the woke cultural revolution. And as the British Conservative Party elects a new leader, they consider the condition of modern conservatism on both sides of the Atlantic.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with Kellyanne Conway, former counselor to President Donald Trump, about the Jan. 6 Committee, Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, Donald Trump's possible candidacy in 2024, and why the Republican Party should be recognized for championing women and the issues they value most.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with professor and bioethics expert O. Carter Snead about what Americans have gotten wrong about the original Roe. v. Wade decision, why the debate over what is considered a "person" still continues, and why the electorate will ultimately decide how lawmakers act on abortion in a post-Dobbs world.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with law professor and former Supreme Court clerk John Yoo about the historically significant conservative direction of the Court, the damage done by the leak of Justice Samuel Alito's draft decision in the Dobbs case, and why the Founding Fathers would have been suspicious of the January 6th Committee hearings.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with essayist Wesley Yang about how the ascent of progressive ideas in the last few years represents a 'successor ideology”. Seeking to supplant traditional liberalism, it is an authoritarian dogma that has captured most of our cultural, political institutions and even business leadership, compelling compliance with its beliefs on social justice, anti-racism, identity politics and other left-wing nostrums.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with author and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali about how ideologues and a lack of leadership created a lack of confidence in Western civilization, how the youth of today misinterpret concepts like free speech, and why it's not too late to stop the West from imploding from within.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, about what tragedies like the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre say about guns, mental health and young men, and if the tide will turn against cancel culture and the war on language.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with biophysicist Michael Levitt about the economic and social damage caused by lockdowns, why there should have been more disagreement among the experts studying Covid-19, and why he thinks the politicization of science will get worse before it gets better.
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Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with geopolitical analyst Ian Bremmer about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revitalized the west and harmed Moscow, why cyberattacks are more of a threat than nuclear proliferation, and how the world now faces three major crises that will require a revival of American unity and purpose to overcome.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with legal scholar Jonathan Turley about the ramifications of the leak of the Supreme Court's draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, how legal and constitutional norms are being trampled and what the possible final ruling may mean for abortion, the law and politics.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with political theorist Yoram Hazony about how conservatism has gone astray from its roots and how it can be rescued by a new generation that embraces religion and traditional values at its heart.
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On this episode of Free Expression, author and commentator Douglas Murray speaks with WSJ Editor at Large Gerry Baker about how a culture war has been declared on the traditions and history of the West, the problem with looking at America through a racial lens, and how the United States has become "an exporter of bad ideas."
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about why Vladimir Putin did not attempt an invasion of Ukraine during the Trump administration, why Americans are worse off now than during Donald Trump's years in office, and whether Pompeo is considering a run for president in 2024.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with Russian-born chess grand master and outspoken Vladimir Putin critic Garry Kasparov about how the U.S. and its allies are still not taking the Russian menace seriously enough and why the future of the free world may depend on the collapse of the Putin regime.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about the need for a new US global strategy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, why Putin’s war is faltering and how the west should deal with the emerging challenges from the China-Russia alliance.
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Wall Street Journal Editor at Large Gerry Baker speaks this week with author and scholar Orville Schell about whether China can put pressure on Russia to end the invasion of Ukraine and what effect it may have on Xi Jinping's own ambitions to forcibly reclaim Taiwan.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker speaks with Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla about how his company was able to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in under a year, the risks of new variants, and why some people distrust scientific institutions.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker speaks with one of the world’s pre-eminent historians of Russia, Stephen Kotkin, about the autocratic ambitions behind Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, how the west can do more to resist his aggression and how he has placed China at an inflection point in its rise to global superpower status.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker speaks with William Barr about his tumultuous time as Attorney General in the Trump administration. Barr forcefully refutes Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen, states why Donald Trump should not run again in 2024, and explains how the Trump presidency began to turn the tide against the progressive march through U.S. culture and institutions.
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On this episode of Free Expression, Gerry Baker speaks with historian and author Niall Ferguson about why the war in Ukraine represents a paradigm shift for the world, why Vladimir Putin is “rattling the nuclear saber,” and how this crisis is worse for Joe Biden than the ones that engulfed Jimmy Carter’s presidency in 1979. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of "Free Expression," former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers tells Gerry Baker why he would have rather been wrong in predicting the high rate of inflation, why the risk of a recession is high, and why the idea of a federal gas tax holiday is "the ultimate policy gimmick." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the inaugural episode of Free Expression, Wall Street Journal Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker speaks with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the latest developments in the Russia/Ukraine crisis, the United States' possible role in the conflict, and her take on free speech on college campuses in her role as Director of the Hoover Institution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wall Street Journal Editor-At-Large Gerry Baker explains what is new podcast "Free Expression" is all about Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices