The Ricochet Podcast

We're a few days into a government shutdown, but James, Steve, and Charles are managing to get by. So it's business as usual as the trio pick apart the oddities of the week: Democrats attempt to dodge responsibility for their own filibuster; OMB's Russ Vought gets to work on his master plan; the Secretary of War stands accused of fat-shaming his generals; a man named Jihad does the unthinkable in Manchester; the Chicago Teachers' Union mourns the passing of a '70s cop-killer; and Hollywood resists the rise of digitally diverse actors. Sound from this week's opening: Pete Hegseth speaks in Quantico, listing practices that the military is "done with" going forward.

The executive branch's ambitious prosecutors have made first strikes against familiar, yet evasive, foes. That means it's time to bring back John Yoo — legal scholar, gastronome, Eagles fan — to parse through the Comey indictment, jurisprudence regarding domestic terror, and the legitimation of using military force against Venezuelan drug runners. Plus, Steve, Charlie, and James nod along to Trump's riff at the U.N. General Assembly but remain wary of the big warning against a common pain reliever. Sound clip from this week's open: President Trump goes off script at the U.N. Please visit this week's sponsors! Cozy Earth: Go to cozyearth.com/RICOCHET for up to 40% off your new favorite pajama set and blanket! Prize Picks: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/RICOCHET and use code RICOCHET and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup!

Steve Hayward is back with James and Charles after a few weeks away, and the trio sits down with Josh Hammer, senior editor-at-large of Newsweek, to talk about his murdered friend, Charlie Kirk. The gang discusses the Turning Point enterprise, the mission of its founder, and the ugly attempts by clickbait peddlers to contort the late-Kirk's message. Plus, the hosts break down everything right and wrong with Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, Pam Bondi's comments, the proposed investigation into Antifa, and the latest on the TikTok deal. Sound from this week's open: Trump and Jimmy Kimmel's latest public comments about each other.

James and Charles discuss the political assassination of Charlie Kirk and the disturbing implications it has for a country founded on certain inalienable rights. Sound from this week's audio: Utah Governor Stephen Cox announces the capture of the shooter. Photo: Dennis MacDonald / Shutterstock.com Please visit today's sponsor, Cozy Earth:

Steve Hayward is traveling abroad, so Ricochet co-founder Rob Long takes a break from his seminary studies to join James and Charlie in a discussion of worldly ways this week. The trio discusses property taxes, crazies with guns, and Bari Weiss's making a big deal over The Free Press. Plus, there's a comedian on trial in the UK, sustained outrage over Trump's law-and-order blitz, and disappointment among his enemies that he could be away from the cameras and alive at the same time. - Sounds from this week's open: Tim Waltz on Donald Trump's "death" earlier this week, and Donald Trump's announcement that he was not dead earlier this week. - Visit this week's sponsor, Prize Picks, and use code RICOCHET and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup!

This week's podcast starts out on a somber note, as this week's tragic news of the attack on Annunciation Catholic school hits unsettlingly close to home for one of our hosts. James, Charles, and Steve then chat with Will Chamberlain about next week's NatCon conference taking place in Washington, DC. The trio also weighs in on flag-burning. - Sound from this week's open: Jesse Merkel, who lost his 8-year-old son Fletcher in the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting on Wednesday speaks to the media.

Democrats have been worked up this week over congressional redistricting in Texas. But, hypocrisy aside, could this be a low priority for a party well into the double-digits in favorability? To get a sense of what the left ought to be doing instead, we welcome Ruy Teixiera back to the podcast to discuss the now-endangered liberal patriot. (Be sure to subscribe to his Substack of the same name!) Plus: James, Charles and Steve suss out the raid on John Bolton's house, have their voices heard on mail-in ballots, and collectively grimace at the Cracker Barrel rebrand.

Noah Rothman returns ahead of Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin to give a foreign policy progress report of the president's second term. He gets into the fraught history of US-Russia negotiations, applauds the latest maneuvers in the Middle East, and applies a big-picture framing of the geopolitical status quo in response to the charge that collapse is imminent. Plus, Charlie, Steve, and James discuss the federalization of law enforcement in D.C. and the administration's announcement of potential weed reform. Please visit our fantastic sponsors: qualialife.com/ricochet

In less than eighty years, the US has slipped from its baby boom heyday to a baby bust. Timothy Carney, author of Alientated America and Family Unfriendly, joins the Ricochet Podcast to discuss the implications and potential consequences of the nation's waning will to procreate. Steve, Charles, and James gab about the fuss over gerrymandering, appraise Trump's warning to DC leadership, and consider the predicament before Israel as they plan to occupy Gaza City. - Sound from this week's opening: Jim Acosta interviews an AI version of deceased Parkland shooting victim.

Another workweek, another outrage, another Casual Friday. Lileks, Hayward, and Cooke remain (reasonably) laid back in the face of madman theory in action, tariff tranches, deadly predators, and pun-heavy advertisements. - Sound from this week's open: Sydney Sweeny promoting American Apparel jeans and Donald Trump explains how to escape from alligators.

At 750 episodes, the Ricochet Podcast is ready to accept the responsibilities that come with joining the ranks of august institutions and fellow pillars of Western Civilization. To that end, our princely hosts, James, Charles, and Steven, convene with Ellen Fantini of The European Conservative for a digital roundtable on her magazine's unique efforts to restore the rites of the proud cultures on the other side of the Atlantic. Plus, the gents discuss the revisited Russiagate scandal, the Colbert affair, and Hunter Biden's...uh...transfixing effort to revive the family name. Check out Ricochet sponsors:

Hardly a week passes without an event happening that compels one to wonder what it means for the contemporary right. It just so happens that this week, Matt Continetti, author of the indispensable book about the right, is able to join us to discuss the latest intraparty quarrels over Jeffrey Epstein, the One Big Beautiful Bill, foreign wars, and the domestic cultural kind. Plus, John Yoo joins James and Steve in the co-host panel for a chat on the defunding of NPR and PBS, McMahon v. New York, migraine-inducing pop references, and the social uplift of fat-shaming. - Sound clip from this week's open: President Trump in the Oval Office calling the Epstein Files "a hoax." - Get a FREE report with all the details at Bank on Yourself.com/ RICOCHET

James, Steve, and Charles reconvene after an Independence Day break to catch up over some thoughts on the One Big, Beautiful Bill, Ketanji Brown Jackson's professional disorientation, and the latest dead end on getting to the truth about the twisted villain Jeffrey Epstein. The trio also discusses the newest superhero would-be-blockbuster that's betting on subverting viewer expectations, and James tells us about his own recent crime-fighting adventure... Visit this week's sponsors: qualialife.com/ricochet Sound clip from this week's open: Trump dismisses question about that Epstein creep.

Even bunker-busters dropped on a major enemy can't top the news cycle for a whole week these days, but James, Charlie and Steve get to that along with today's Supreme Court decision drop. They're joined by Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam to discuss New York City voters' decision to let Zorhan Mamdani turn America's largest city into a hipster paradise.

The Iranian regime is receiving an education of sorts this week, and while we await President Trump's decision on the extent of America's role in busting up the nuclear site at Fordow, the Free Press's Eli Lake (and host of the Breaking History podcast) returns to educate us on why surgical involvement in Iran fits with the "America First" agenda that voters signed up for last November. Plus, the reunited James, Charles, and Steve talk Skrmetti and Mamdani. - Music from this week's open: The Israeli Air Force has a hit on Iranian State Television

It's been an incendiary week since Charlie and Steve last spoke, but they return to chat the matters over as they wait for the smoke to clear. They share approval of Israel's strike at Iran, discuss the legal and political questions surrounding the unrest in LA with Andy McCarthy, and wish the great Brian Wilson peace in the afterlife.

It's just Steve and Charles this week, taking in another wild one. Don and Elon are on the outs — but is it permanent? The courts are busy, and a handful of great, unanimous decisions get their due cheer; Karine Jean-Pierre goes independent; Ukraine's drones remind us that modern warfare has changed; and Sam Tanenhaus published his long-awaited Buckley bio. Tune in for Hayward's review preview. - Sound from this week's open: Elon Musk distances himself from the Trump Administration in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning

Noah Rothman returns to the Ricochet Podcast to discuss the troubles of dealing with an uncooperative world. He, Steve, and James discuss the fall of the New Puritans in the real world as they resist from their barracks on prestigious college campuses. The gang then moves from culture war to the shooting kind as they consider Putin's recalcitrance and negotiations with Iran. Plus, Hayward and Lileks unpack the Court of International Trade's tariff intervention, the Big, Beautiful Bill that's worked its way out of the House, and Elon Musk's DC departure. - Sound from this week's open: CNN’s Jake Tapper on The Prof G Pod defending his 15-year-old son.

Western elites have run into a recurring predicament over the past decade: In a democracy, you can't abolish the voters. Populist coalitions are on the march in Europe, and while they've yet to take over their respective governments like their American counterparts, they aren't going away. So Henry Olsen returns to the podcast to give us the scoop on everybody from the Romanians, who just had their delayed election, to the Poles and Hungarians who have some coming up, along with Reform UK and AfD. We also dig into Trump's so-far successful 'Dirty Harry' theory of justice and the limitations any politician's gotta know — including the transformational ones. Plus, Lileks and Hayward yap about the latest with Harvard, the "stochastic terrorism" that killed two young Jews in DC, and Original Sin... - Soundbite from this week's open: UK PM Kier Starmer pivots on immigration

Conservatives love their histories; they lose themselves in great biographies; they have a voracious appetite for news and avidly devour op-eds. But the menu for literature on the right is, regrettably, if understandably, a bit limited. To add a bit of variety, Chris Scalia joins Peter, Steve, and Charles to discuss his soon-to-be-published book, Thirteen Novels Conservatives Will Love (But Probably Haven't Read). The boys quiz Chris on his selections and on the broader premise that the novel deserves greater attention from keepers of the cause. Plus, the hosts prattle on about the Pope, nationwide injunctions, Trump's trip to Riyadh, and the blasted SALT caucus. - Sound from this week's open: the president says his piece about neocons in Saudi Arabia. - qualialife.com/ricochet https://cozyearth.com