One theme was consistent throughout this election year: the assertion that democracy was under threat. Throughout the year, Jonathan Rauch weighed in on whether democracy is waning, and how the Republican party could build a future without Trumpism.

Jonathan Rauch joins Ray Suarez to discuss Trump's reelection, and how he feels today about the health of our republic. 

This is our final episode of On Shifting Ground. Thank you for all your support over the years. We'll miss you.

Guest:

Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Center for Effective Public Management

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to Commonwealth Club World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

In less than three weeks, Donald Trump will be back in the White House, and we’re waiting to see what he will tackle on Day One. On the campaign trail, Trump promised he’d end the fighting in Ukraine on January 20th. The war is nearing its third anniversary, and there are few signs an end is in sight.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has recently signaled he’s ready to compromise, but can president-elect Trump deliver a deal after almost three years of war?

This week, Ray Suarez speaks with former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul on the precarious future of Ukraine.

Guest:

Michael McFaul, Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to Commonwealth Club World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Election Day is over, and the results are clear: former president Donald Trump resoundingly defeated vice president Kamala Harris. We don’t have all the data, but a majority of US counties swung towards the Republicans.

How did Trump gain new working class voters? And where does the Democratic Party go from here?

Dante Chinni, director of MSU J-School’s American Communities Project, Rahul Bali, politics reporter at WABE, and Katie Meyer, government editor and reporter at Spotlight PA, breakdown the results.

Guests:

Dante Chinni, data and political journalist and director of the MSU J-School’s American Communities Project

Rahul Bali, politics reporter at WABE

Katie Meyer, government editor and reporter at Spotlight PA

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to Commonwealth Club World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

While many Baby Boomers have already left the workforce behind, almost half are considering coming out of retirement in search of a new purpose in life. Leading sociologist and business economist Mauro Guillén joins Ray Suarez to explain why the days of “OK Boomer” are coming to an end… and why the future of work will be “post-generational.”

Guest:  

Mauro F. Guillén, Vice Dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and author of “The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Post Generational Society”

Host:

Ray Suarez

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How does Russia benefit from conflict in the Caucasus? And what role can the media play in building bridges of understanding? In this episode, we revisit our conversations with Russian-American journalist Simon Ostrovsky and independent Azeri journalist Arzu Geybulla on the roots of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict post-Soviet collapse, and the potential for future reconciliation.

Guests:

Simon Ostrovsky, PBS NewsHour Special Correspondent

Arzu Geybulla, Independent Azeri journalist and Founder of Azerbaijan Internet Watch

Hosts:  

Ray Suarez

Teresa Cotsirilos

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In late September, Azerbaijan wiped out the self-proclaimed, ethnically Armenian Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. The attacks prompted Armenia to finally join the International Criminal Court—despite warnings from Russia.

Ray Suarez speaks with human rights lawyer Sheila Paylan about what Armenia’s decision means for the country’s strained relations with Russia, and why Armenians are accusing Azerbaijan of war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

Guest:

Sheila Paylan, International Lawyer and Human Rights & Gender Expert

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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The United Kingdom recently passed a law which grants immunity for the violence of The Troubles – adding another wrinkle to the ongoing Brexit saga. Jude Webber, Ireland correspondent for The Financial Times, joins Ray Suarez to unpack how the precarious peace held together by the Good Friday agreement is at risk of unraveling. 

Guest:

Jude Webber, Ireland correspondent for The Financial Times

Host:

Ray Suarez

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April marked the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, bringing to an end decades of violence known as “The Troubles.” But the chaotic implementation of Brexit and a new Northern Ireland Troubles “reconciliation” law from the UK are threatening that historic peace deal.

From our friends at Foreign Policy’s “The Negotiators,” Jonathan Powell, a chief negotiator of the Good Friday agreement, shares what actually happened in the room. Find the show’s new season wherever you get your podcasts. 

Guest:

 Jonathan Powell, chief negotiator for the Good Friday Talks under UK Prime Minister Tony Blair

 Foreign Policy Production Team:  

Host: Jenn Williams | Executive producers: Amjad Atallah, Jigar Mehta, and Japhet Weeks | Lead producer: Laura Rosbrow-Telem | Managing Editor: Dan Ephron | Additional support from: Rob Sachs, Rosie Julin, and Maria Ximena Aragon

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

If military cooperation with North Korea is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, why would Russia do it so publicly? And what’s in it for the Hermit Kingdom? Andrei Lankov, Director at NK News, joins Ray Suarez to explain why Kim Jong Un is solidifying relations with Russia… and not China.

Guest:

Andrei Lankov, Director at NK News and Professor at Kookmin University

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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Russia is firing off more artillery shells than they can produce at home, forcing the Kremlin to shop around for a new supplier. Ray Suarez speaks with New York Times’ national security reporter Julian Barnes about Russia’s alleged arms deal with North Korea, and what it means for the war in Ukraine. 

Guest:

Julian Barnes, national security reporter for The New York Times

Host:

Ray Suarez

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As many as 150,000 US auto workers have walked out in a historic strike against the Big Three Automakers. In this special rerun episode, Mark Phelan, auto writer and columnist for the Detroit Free Press, joins Ray Suarez to break down why electric vehicles and wages are a red line for autoworkers. 

Guests:

 Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers 

 Mark Phelan, auto writer and columnist for the Detroit Free Press

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

In 2023, the rapid pace of innovation in Silicon Valley is making it increasingly challenging for our global partners to keep up. Ray Suarez speaks with Gerard de Graaf, Senior Envoy for Digital to the US, about strengthening US-EU cooperation on digital affairs. Then, Caitlin Chin, Strategic Technologies Program Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, returns with an update on the latest digital drama between Washington and Beijing… and where a possible TikTok ban goes from here.

Guests:

Gerard de Graaf, Senior Envoy for Digital to the U.S. and head of the EU office in San Francisco

Caitlin Chin, Strategic Technologies Program Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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Is West Africa going to war over Niger? And is the Niger coup part of a wider decline in French colonial influence – and growing Russian and Chinese interest – in the region? Ray Suarez sits down with security analyst Fola Aina and journalist Nabila Ramdani to discuss the coup in Niger – and across former French colonies in the Sahel region. They explain why the Niger coup could help the Wagner Group expand influence. 

Guests:

Fola Aina, international security analyst at the Royal United Services Institute of Security and Defense Studies in London

Nabila Ramdani, French journalist and author of “Fixing France, How to Repair a Broken Republic”

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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We’ve finally reached November 5th, Election Day in the US, and a majority of Americans remain deeply pessimistic about the state of the nation. Throughout the year, we’ve talked to voters about the issues they care about in 2024, and we share their stories in this election special.

We’ll revisit our conversations with Iowa voter Phil Hemingway, Latorya Beasley, therapist and in vitro fertilization (IVF) patient in Alabama, and Samaya Garza, J.D. Candidate at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Then, Ray Suarez speaks with Justin Grimmer, political science professor and senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, to break down whether we can trust the polls in the final days of the race.

Guests:  

Dante Chinni, data and political journalist and director of the MSU J-School’s American Communities Project

Phil Hemingway, owner, manager and automotive technician at Phil’s Repair, LLC

Latorya Beasley, therapist and in vitro fertilization (IVF) patient in Alabama

Samaya Garza, J.D. Candidate at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

Justin Grimmer, political science professor and senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution

Hosts: 

Ray Suarez

Mateo Schimpf

Elize Manoukian, producer

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to Commonwealth Club World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

What will happen to Wagner without Prigozhin? And can Russia continue to isolate itself from the economic chaos its war has created? Ray Suarez speaks with Catherine Belton, The Washington Post’s Russia reporter, about the mercenary organization’s future and the price Russians — ordinary and oligarch — are paying for Putin’s power plays.

Guest:

Catherine Belton, international investigative reporter for The Washington Post and author of “Putin's People” 

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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On August 23rd, Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a mysterious plane crash just 60 days after his mercenary group Wagner led a failed coup attempt that Russian president Vladimir Putin called “treasonous.”

Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum argues that Putin needed a spectacular act of violence after Prigozhin’s challenge to his power. She and Ray discuss what this means for a fragile Russia. 

Read Applebaum’s latest column for The Atlantic, Prigozhin’s Death Heralds Even More Spectacular Violence - The Atlantic.  

Guest:

Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, author of  Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and staff writer at The Atlantic.

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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The aftermath of the Chinese surveillance balloon saga reveals a growing diplomatic divide between the US and China. Where does this mistrust come from?

In “Wealth and Power,” authors Orville Schell and John Delury argue that foreign humiliation over the past century and a half is the story that holds China together. They join host Ray Suarez to discuss China’s quest for global dominance.

Guests:

John Delury, US Professor of Chinese Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea

Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China relations at the Asia Society

Host:  

Ray Suarez, host of World Affairs

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Groups like the Reichsbürger and Sovereign Citizens are not new, but the ways in which they radicalize each other on the Internet are. Ray Suarez and journalist Julia Ebner explore how once-fringe movements like QAnon are popping up in European political circles.

Guest:

Julia Ebner, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and author of “Going Dark: The Secret Lives of Extremists”

Host:

Ray Suarez

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When former President Trump incited his followers to storm the US Capitol, he punctured a 220-year-old tradition in the US. And from the looks of things, the country is headed for another contentious election in 2024. Ray Suarez and New York Times columnist Tom Edsall explore whether we’ve passed a point of no return in American politics. 

Guest:

Thomas B. Edsall, political columnist at The New York Times and author of “The Point of No Return: American Democracy at the Crossroads”

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Asian carmakers have pulled ahead in the race for EV innovation, leaving the US in their rearview mirrors. International auto journalist Hans Greimel joins Ray Suarez to break down how Asian countries are tackling the transition, and what the future of electric vehicles looks like.

Guest:

Hans Greimel, Asia editor for Automotive News

Host:

Ray Suarez

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President Biden’s bold energy future features significant investment in electric vehicles, but the United Auto Workers are pumping the breaks. Mark Phelan, auto writer and columnist for the Detroit Free Press, joins Ray Suarez to break down why the threat of EVs is a red line for autoworkers. 

Guest:

Mark Phelan, auto writer and columnist for the Detroit Free Press

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Elon Musk’s leadership at “X” (formerly Twitter) has been messy, and his disregard for user safeguards is part of a troubling trend in Silicon Valley. Ray Suarez sits down with NYU professor Dr. Scott Galloway to explore how Silicon Valley’s profit-chasing – and unchecked influence – is destroying American society… and our kids.

Guest:

Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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With a few keystrokes, users across the world can find virtually anything online. But at what cost? UC Berkeley researchers Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros join Ray Suarez to break down how everyday exposure to trauma is affecting social media users worldwide, and to discuss their upcoming book, “Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in our Online Lives.” 

Plus: check out our past conversation with Alexa Koenig on How Technology Fights – and Fuels – Misinformation to learn more about what UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Investigations Lab does.

Guests:

Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros, co-founders of UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center Investigations Lab and co-authors of “Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in our Online Lives”

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

In June, retired General David Petraeus joined the Marines’ Memorial Association “Leading From the Front” speaker series, where he offered insights on how small nations can contend with formidable superpowers, and how President Volodymyr Zelenskyy scored the role of a lifetime.

Guest:

General David Petraeus, Former CIA Director and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute

Host: 

Mike Cerre, PBSNewsHour Special Correspondent

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Donald Trump’s anti-establishment message has galvanized tech leaders across the US, including in former Democratic Party stronghold, Silicon Valley. This American Life’s Zoe Chace speaks with our producer, Mateo Schimpf, about what happened when Michigan Republicans took his advice and actually tried to buck the system.

And tech billionaires have had their fingerprints all over the 2024 Presidential Election, but can we trust them? Journalist Kara Swisher joins Ray Suarez to discuss her newest book, “Burn Book,” and the psyche of Silicon Valley’s biggest players.

Guests:  

Zoe Chace, Producer, This American Life

Kara Swisher, author of “Burn Book,” and host of the podcast “On with Kara Swisher”

Hosts:  

Mateo Schimpf

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to Commonwealth Club World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

After 20 years of “forever wars,” the American contest for influence and control in the Middle East hasn’t stopped. But now the US has company, and the countries in the region have options. Mara Rudman, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, joins Ray Suarez to dissect the delicate state of play in the Middle East. 

Guest:

Mara Rudman, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress

Host:

Ray Suarez

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At the 2023 APEC Forum in Detroit, Malaysian Deputy Minister Liew Chin Tong tells Ray Suarez how spaces like APEC are key to balancing relationships with competing superpowers. Then, Deputy Secretary Vangelis Vitalis shares how the demand for traditional Kiwi exports has kept Aotearoa’s economy afloat.

Guest:

Liew Chin Tong, Deputy Minister of Malaysian Investment, Trade and Industry

Vangelis Vitalis, Deputy Secretary, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Host:

Ray Suarez

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US Trade Representative Katherine Tai played host to the APEC Forum in Detroit, where she balanced American interests, international trade agreements and ongoing rivalries with China. Ambassador Tai joined Ray Suarez to speak about how that meeting went, and what it really means to put workers at the center of US trade policy. 

Guest:

Ambassador Katherine Tai, US Trade Representative

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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Researcher Christopher Reddy has watched in despair as public confidence in science has plummeted. He joins Ray Suarez to discuss his new book, “Science Communication in a Crisis,” and why scientists may be part of the problem in science denialism.

Guest:

Christopher Reddy, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and author of “Science Communication in a Crisis”

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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In his new book, “A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World,” nature writer David Gessner grapples with communicating about climate change with the next generation. David and his daughter, Hadley, join Ray Suarez to have that conversation, and to spur all of us “hypocrites” who drive cars and fly in planes to fight the climate fight.

Guest:

David Gessner, nature writer and author of “A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World”

Hadley Gessner, David’s daughter 

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Screenwriter Noah Pink tells Ray Suarez how he discovered the true story behind “Tetris,” from the Cold War race to secure the rights to the classic video game to its escape from the former Soviet Union.

Guest:

Noah Pink, “Tetris” screenwriter 

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Putin may have won the “battle” against Wagner’s Yevgeny Prigozhin, but he’s losing the meme war. Ray speaks with Jen Kirby, Vox’s foreign and national security reporter, about fact verification and conflict reporting amidst state propaganda and viral Twitter memes. 

Guest:

Jen Kirby, senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Peace is a process, not an outcome. And in the case of Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s meddling in the country’s civil war has prevented peace for almost a decade. Ray Suarez speaks with Arwa Mokdad, Peace Advocate with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, about what a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran could mean for the future of Yemen.

Guest:

Arwa Mokdad, Peace Advocate with the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Can a single gathering of world leaders really pull billions of people out of poverty? Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, joined Ray Suarez days before the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris to share how international financial institutions can make up for past mistakes.

Guest:

Eric Pelofsky, Deputy Chief of Staff and Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation

Host:

Ray Suarez

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Conspiracy communities that once promoted QAnon and anti-vaccine theories have now sunk their teeth into an even tastier morsel: our food supply chain. Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom,” joins Ray Suarez to break down how cracks in our food system have paved the way for international conspiracy theories about the ongoing food crisis. 

Guest:

Laicie Heeley, Executive Producer and Host of “Things That Go Boom”

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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During the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump's campaign has been fueled by some surprising supporters… leaders in big tech. According to recent reporting from The New York Times, tech billionaires like Elon Musk have built a “shadow campaign” to put Trump back in office. 

WIRED’s Steven Levy joins Ray Suarez to talk about why big dollar donations are causing a big divide in the once deeply blue Silicon Valley.

Guest:

Steven Levy, Journalist and Editor, WIRED

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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Concerns about a 'global elite' exerting control over demographic shifts and our food choices have hit the mainstream, and they are feeding anxieties. Ray Suarez speaks with French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane about the "great replacement theory", and what it takes to be considered “French first.”

Guest:

Ridha Khadher, baker and owner of Au Paradis du gourmand

Rim-Sarah Alouane, French legal scholar

Host:

Ray Suarez

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The 1998-1999 war in Kosovo may have ended the fighting between Serbs and Albanian Kosovars, but it didn’t end the conflict. Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, joins Ray Suarez to explain why ethnic tensions are once again flaring up in the Balkans.

Guest:

Anatol Lieven, journalist and Eurasian Program Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Host:

Ray Suarez

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s all-powerful leader of 20 years, was recently re-elected, raising serious questions about the state of Turkey’s democracy. Is Erdoğan trying to rebuild the Ottoman Empire? And is his republic Russia’s Trojan Horse in NATO? Ray Suarez speaks with Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy about Erdoğan’s imperial ambitions.

Guest:

Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy

Host:

Ray Suarez

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For decades, Georgia has tried to extricate itself from Russia's shadow. But with the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees and anti-war Russians and the rise of Georgia’s Dream Party, the former Soviet state is once again walking a political tightrope between Russia and a tenuous future with NATO. In this episode, reporter Levi Bridges takes us on the ground to hear about the dangers of standing up to Russia.

Reporter:

Levi Bridges, journalist 

Featured guests:

Daniil Chubar, co-founder of Emigration for Action 

Monika Jaranowska, Director of Kids Club "Happy Me" Tbilisi

Giga Bokeria, leader of the European Georgia party

Sonja Schiffers, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Tbilisi Office

Giorgi Khelashvili, Georgian Dream MP and Deputy Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

“How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government?” asked retired Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, in her testimony during the first impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump in 2019. 

In her absorbing memoir, “Lessons from the Edge,” Yovanovich reflected on the disinformation campaign that eventually led to the end of her post as Ambassador to Ukraine. Ray Suarez spoke with Yovanovitch about a lifetime of public service, and why she remains optimistic about Ukraine’s fight for freedom.

Guest:

Marie Yovanovitch, Former US Ambassador to Ukraine and author of the memoir “Lessons From The Edge”

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

The innovative concept of a “15-Minute City” holds the potential to address many urbanization challenges. But it hasn’t been without its critics. Ray Suarez and ‘CityNerd’ creator Ray Delahanty, delve into the eccentric conspiracy theories surrounding it, and its feasibility for the future of urban planning in American cities.

Guest:

Ray Delahanty, Host and creator of CityNerd 

Host: 

Ray Suarez

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Derailed trains, collapsed bridges and an unreliable power grid point to America’s growing infrastructure problem. And though President Biden campaigned on “building back better,” these issues have taken a back seat to political gridlock—at home and abroad. 

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joins Ray Suarez to break down how the Biden administration plans to get America’s infrastructure back on track — one EV at a time. They spoke following the APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting in Detroit, Michigan.

Guest:

Pete Buttigieg, US Secretary of Transportation

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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The hard truth is that whenever tensions escalate between the US and Asian nations overseas, Asian Americans bear the brunt of that anger at home. In this episode, we revisit the story of Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-American scientist who was falsely accused of spying for the Chinese government, with Helen Zia and George Koo.

Guests:

Helen Zia, journalist, activist and author of Last Boat out of Shanghai and My Country vs. Me

George Koo, retired business consultant and writer

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

For decades, Asian-Americans have been the least likely racial minority to hold political office, accounting for less than 1% of elected leaders. But a new generation of Asian American leaders is changing the tide. In this episode, World Affairs President & CEO Philip Yun tells the story of the election that altered the course of his life. Then, California Assemblymember Alex Lee tells Ray Suarez about the political responsibility he has to all Americans.

Guests:

Philip Yun, President and CEO of World Affairs

Assemblymember Alex Lee, California State Assembly, District 24

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Aarthi Shahani, author of the memoir Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares, joins Ray Suarez to discuss her family’s painful path to citizenship, and why it’s time to change the immigration narrative in America.

Guest:

Aarthi Shahani, author of the memoir Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares and host of “Art of Power”

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

We're entering the final days of the 2024 presidential election, but a lot can change in a few weeks. Historically, several presidential contests have been upended in October. Coined the "October Surprise," for decades candidates have been tested at the finish line... and many have faltered. So what could trip up Harris or Trump? 

Ray Suarez hosts a panel featuring political strategist and pollster Rachel Bitecofer, Jonathan M. Metzl, author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland, and Tara Setmayer, co-founder and CEO of the Seneca Project.

Guests:

Rachel Bitecofer, author, political strategist and pollster

Jonathan M. Metzl, author and director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University

Tara Setmayer, co-founder and CEO of the Seneca Project

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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Everybody knows the immigration system is broken. So what are policy makers doing to fix it? And with the end of Title 42 – a pandemic-era order to deny asylum at the US-Mexico border – Biden’s immigration policy will face new challenges.  

Ray Suarez speaks with Sabrina Rodriguez, national political reporter at The Washington Post, about what the end of Title 42 means for the 2024 presidential campaign.

Guest:

Sabrina Rodriguez, national politics reporter for The Washington Post

Host:  

Ray Suarez

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In an era where changing social norms and labor-market shifts are pushing men to the sidelines, can a crisis of masculinity explain why men are falling behind? Idrees Kahloon, author of “What’s The Matter With Men?,” joins Ray Suarez to explain why improving the welfare of struggling men may help bring greater gender equality.

Guest:

Idrees Kahloon, DC bureau chief for The Economist and author of “What’s The Matter With Men?”

Host:

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.

Despite being found liable for sexual abuse, many commentators wonder if the E. Jean Carroll verdict will burden — or boost— Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. The rise of strongman rhetoric and polarizing gender politics is fueling a cultural war in the US, and masculinity is at the center of the debate.

Angela Saini, author of The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule, joins Ray Suarez to break down what the “patriarchy” is, and how it operates.

Guest:

Angela Saini, author of The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule

Host:  

Ray Suarez

If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to World Affairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.