

The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast
National Review
A show about politics, music, technology, rollercoasters, golf carts, and the United States of America.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 23, 2023 • 1h 6min
Episode 22: The Streets Are Made of Cheese — with Sam Negus
Overwhelmed by the number of questions he's received about his decision to emigrate, about the USA vs. the UK, and about whether he'd ever consider moving back to England, Charles asks Sam Negus, a fellow British Americaphile (and, now, a fellow American citizen), to chat with him about what it's like to move from the Old Country to the New World. Among the topics covered by Charles and Sam are whether they feel more American or British, why they call themselves "immigrants" instead of "expatriates," if it's possible for an Englishman to become Spanish, how long it took them to get into American sports, why the British are so flummoxed by the First Amendment, and why a song from An American Tail neatly sums up the American Dream.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Mar 14, 2023 • 48min
Episode 21: Uncle Louie's Latest Idea — with John H. Cochrane
In the wake of the second largest bank failure in American history, Charles eschews his monologue in order to chat to someone who knows what he's talking about: the economist, John H. Cochrane, who is the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a co-host of the show Goodfellows, and the author of the Grumpy Economist blog, and, most recently, of the book, The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level.After that, Charles talks to Henry Oliver, of The Common Reader, about whether literature students at Harvard are capable of reading, whether it's a problem that people want to shave the edges off Shakespeare, and how long copyright terms should be for authors.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Mar 3, 2023 • 49min
Episode 20: Major Questions — with Noah Rothman
Well, he waited for nineteen episodes, but eventually he let it all out. Charles explains why he is so worried about the constitutional crisis that President Biden has created with his illegal order "forgiving"—read: transferring—student loan debt. If it's not fixed, he argues, there is trouble ahead.After that, he asks Noah Rothman some tough questions about foreign policy and America's ideal role in the world.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Feb 24, 2023 • 44min
Episode 19: Charlie and the Outrage Factory — with Kat Rosenfield
The soufflé must be ordered with 24 hours' notice, but, as good luck would have it, this episode must not. This one shakes it up a bit and begins with a Q&A. "If you were to create a British Mount Rushmore, what four faces would it display?" Charles was asked by some rotter who then excluded "John, Paul, George, and Ringo" from eligibility. Charles tries to get through it nevertheless.Then it's time for a conversation with Kat Rosenfield, culture writer and author, most recently, of the novel You Must Remember This. Among the topics that were discussed were whether it matters that Roald Dahl's publisher has started rewriting his books to address so-called modern sensibilities, to what extent one should separate art from the artist who produced it, and which sorts of censorship are the most alarming.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Feb 13, 2023 • 44min
Episode 18: Everything Is Awesome? — with Marian Tupy
It's the day after the Super Bowl, and that means it's time for episode 18 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, which, this week, features a monologue about last week's remarkably embarrassing State of the Union address (which shouldn't exist), and an interview with Marian Tupy, co-author of Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. Are we richer than medieval peasants? Is it easier to buy a vacuum cleaner now than it used to be? Why is a bigger population not only not bad, but good? Do statist conservatives have a point when they complain about free markets? Is environmentalism a religion? Why does cancel culture threaten the economy? Charles asks all these questions—and more. Listen, or don't. It's up to you.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Feb 3, 2023 • 35min
Episode 17: The Man Who Knew Lee Harvey Oswald — with Paul Gregory
How many people can say they knew someone who assassinated a president? Charles's guest today is Paul Gregory, whose fascinating book, The Oswalds, relates his relationship with Lee and Marina. Paul tells Charles how he met the Oswalds, what he thought of them, why he still feels some "shame," why he thinks all the conspiracy theories are bunk, and why it took him six decades to put his story to paperCharles's monologue is on Florida's proposed "constitutional carry" bill, which, despite all the hysterics, actually represents a rather modest reform to the status quo.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Jan 27, 2023 • 43min
Episode 16: Cocktail Hour — with Vic Matus
It's Friday, and it's 5 o'clock somewhere. That means it's time for episode 16 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, in which Charles addresses everyone's favorite topic—how we can address our deficits and national debt, and why, despite their protestations, the Republicans aren't serious about doing so—and then chats with Vic Matus about his book on the history of Vodka in the United States, and, in particular, how a grain alcohol “without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color” became the most popular hard liquor in America.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Jan 19, 2023 • 49min
Episode 15: The Sound of Silence — with Billy Binion
On the fifteenth episode of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles looks at the case of hockey player Ivan Provorov, and argues that a tolerance for political silence should, in almost every imaginable circumstance, be the default position.Charles's guest this week is Billy Binion, a writer at Reason who tells him about the many disturbing cases of equity theft we are seeing in states such as Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. In the Q&A section, Charles answers questions about Florida's summer heat, his support for the Gators, and whether Americans are really as divided as the commentariat likes to believe. And, finally, it's time for another visit from John Ekdahl for this week's Jacksonville Jaguars Update: Kansas City Chiefs Edition.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Jan 12, 2023 • 1h 1min
Episode 14: Gas Panic — with Jonathan Adler
In this fourteenth episode of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles proposes that you should be deeply suspicious of anyone who picks up a cause, and, ten minutes later, sounds as if they’ve been fighting in favor of it for their entire life. Such people are impressionable, excitable, and ridiculous—and, ultimately, dangerous. After that, he asks Jonathan Adler, of Case Western Reserve University School of Law how on earth we can square the work of the Consumer Product Safety Commission with the limits on the federal government that are imposed by the Constitution's enumerated powers doctrine. And, finally, it's time for the Color Supplement, which, this week, features a timely Jacksonville Jaguars Update.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.

Jan 6, 2023 • 40min
Episode 13: Horse, Not Zebra
In the thirteenth episode of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, Charles argues that the ongoing freakout over the House of Representatives's apparent inability to find a Speaker is silly. Perhaps the opposition to McCarthy is frivolous. But it's not a national security threat, or a crisis. Next, Charles talks to Andy Kaplan, a cardiac electrophysiologist, and Steve Pirris, a neurosurgeon, about the effects on the heart and the brain of the cardiac arrest suffered by Damar Hamlin during last Monday's NFL game.The dial-up tone in the introduction was recorded by lintphishx and is used under a CC 3.0 License.