Firewall with Bradley Tusk

What if you could eat at a place where the food was fresh and healthy, prices were geared to what customers could afford and the staff was treated equitably? Legendary food writer Mark Bittman joins Firewall to discuss the imminent launch of Community Kitchen, his nonprofit corrective to a food world gone awry.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Join Bradley at P&T Knitwear as we celebrate Russ & Daughters Day on September 20, to mark the legendary shop's first-ever cookbook in their 111 years on the Lower East Side. For more details and to RSVP, visit https://www.russanddaughtersday.com/.

While all of you were enjoying a Firewall-free week, Bradley was undergoing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, a therapy designed to mitigate obsessive-compulsive disorder. "They put this thing over your head, and effectively, every two seconds, you get 30 pulses or shocks," he says. "They call them pulses because shock sounds bad. If you are a listener and you really do suffer from OCD or depression, this is a tool that I had not been aware of before that I'm very glad I tried." Plus, Bradley dissects the incentives for peace in Ukraine, explains why Democrats still haven't found a message to counter Trump, and floats a plan to make life better for baseball fans.Discussed on today's episode:How to Be a Good Intelligence AnalystThis episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

Two friends decided to turn their shared passion for tennis and food into — well, they don’t know what it could become, but for now it’s a Substack called The Play Boys. Bradley talks to Dave Allee and Paul Tedesco about the best and worst public courts in New York City, why breakfast is more central to their project than lunch or dinner, the surprisingly diverse tennis culture in different boroughs, and their favorite part of watching the US Open. Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

If Zohran Mamdani stands any chance of succeeding on his social agenda, he'll need a strong economy. Bradley hand-picks the policies and ideas that the likely next mayor of New York City should embrace to drive innovation, attract investment, and create jobs. Growth, he argues, will do the most good for the most New Yorkers. Plus, Bradley reflects on turning 52 — sharing lessons about reshuffling priorities, creating new habits and reining in his workaholic tendencies.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

What happens when a drugged-out visionary, a few brilliant businessmen and a generation of alt-rock misfits hit the road together? Tom Beaujour — co-author of Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival — joins Bradley to tell the inside story of America’s most chaotic traveling circus. From onstage shotgun blasts to backstage basketball beefs, it's a love letter to a weirder, sweatier, more combustible time in pop culture.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

Though he went to law school himself, Bradley used to tell people it was a waste of time and money for anyone who wasn't dead set on practicing law. Now, with the age of AI upon us, he thinks it could be the best way for young people to develop their critical thinking skills. Plus, he torches Trump’s latest moves as a coordinated assault on America’s economic foundations, quizzes Cory on the campaign to institute age verification for Citi Bike e-bikes, and concedes that the second part of the Billy Joel documentary didn't live up to the first part.Discussed on today's episode:Bad For The Jews, by Bradley Tusk (07/29/25)NYC pol wants to force Citi Bike to install system to ban kids from riding e-bikes, by Carl Campanile, The New York Post, (07/28/25)This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

Bradley talks with Eric Soufer, partner at Tusk Strategies and head of their advanced technology & crypto practice, about the dramatic shift in the regulatory and political climate surrounding digital assets. They unpack the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts, explain why stablecoins are going mainstream, and assess how the crypto lobby pulled off one of the most effective policy campaigns in recent memory. Plus, the future of prediction markets, the limits of Israeli politics, and why the Yankees' problems can be chalked up to its own version of the Deep State.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

As an American Jew raised in a household of Holocaust survivors, Bradley has always been unwavering in his support for Israel. But what once felt morally clear — Israel's strength as a shield against persecution — has given way to uncertainty, as the war in Gaza grinds on without a discernible ethical purpose. To preserve Judaism's core values, Bradley argues, Jews must reassert the moral standards that have sustained them for millennia.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

Why and how did progressives give up on actually building a better society? Marc Dunkelman, author of Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress — and How to Bring It Back, joins Bradley to discuss the central problem in American governance — not bad intentions, but a broken architecture of decision making. Power is now so diffused that virtually anyone can block progress, even on widely supported initiatives. “We’ve put the establishment in a cage," says Dunkelman. "And now we’ve put the bureaucrats in a cage. And there’s no one left with the power to say, 'This is the thing we’re going to do.'"This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: info@firewall.media.Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytuskSubscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.

This discussion dives into the power dynamics behind a Silicon Valley VC's controversial remarks on a NYC mayoral candidate. It explores the balance between individual expression and institutional risk. The UK’s proposal to lower the voting age to 16 sparks a conversation about engaging young voters in the U.S. Reflecting on the dual nature of humanity, the hosts ponder innovation's moral complexities. Plus, lively exchanges on favorite books and TV shows reveal their personal tastes and cultural observations.