Justin and John sit down with Dmitri Mehlhorn, an entrepreneur, financier and political strategist. Dmitri teamed with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to launch Investing in US, a fund that supports advocacy organizations dedicated to defeating the MAGA movement. The group discuss the campaign landscape and propose creative strategies for the coming election.

Justin and John sit down with political analyst Rachel Bitecofer. Rachel is the author of a new book titled Hit 'Em Where It Hurts, which offers advice for how Democrats can exploit negative partisanship to win in 2024.

For more on the book, visit Rachel's website: https://www.hitemwhereithurts.com/

John sits down with journalist and author Joshua Green, author of The Rebels, a new book on left-wing American populism. Joshua previously wrote The Devil's Bargain, which profiled Steve Bannon and the populist movement in the Republican Party. John and Joshua discuss the overlap between these two populist camps, the differences among key leaders of the progressive movement, and whether a left-wing populist candidate can win a presidential election.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586025/the-rebels-by-joshua-green/

Justin & John sit down with Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign-affairs correspondent at The Wall Street Journal. Yaroslav has covered wars and terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, and now reports on a war in his own home country, Ukraine. Yaroslav's new book Our Enemies Will Vanish offers stories and lessons from the first year after Russia's massive escalation against the country.

Buy the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/731521/our-enemies-will-vanish-by-yaroslav-trofimov/

To learn more about presidential impeachment, Justin and John sit down with Professor Michael J. Gerhardt, the leading scholar of American impeachment law. Gerhardt appeared as an expert witness in the impeachments of both President Trump and President Clinton, and he recently appeared as a witness in the impeachment inquiry of President Biden.

Gerhardt is the author of many books on impeachment. His latest book on the subject, The Law of Presidential Impeachment: A Guide for the Engaged Citizen was released on January 9th, 2024. Find the book at the link below.

https://nyupress.org/9781479824694/the-law-of-presidential-impeachment/

Journalist Aaron Rupar joins Justin and John to discuss President Biden's accomplishments, Trump's legal troubles and what to expect in 2024. 

If this conversation interests you, please check out Aaron's newsletter Public Notice here: https://www.publicnotice.co/

On Sunday, December 10th, Argentina inaugurated a new president, the eccentric "anarcho-capitalist" Javier Milei. To learn about this new chapter in South American history, Justin and John sit down with Ariel González Levaggi, an academic at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Ariel describes Argentina's journey from a global economic powerhouse to a stagnant, indebted nation, explaining why voters have turned to the colorful Milei for radical solutions. He also offers some commentary on Venezuela's threats to invade Guyana in the north of the continent.

Read more from Ariel here: https://www.csis.org/people/ariel-gonzalez-levaggi

Justin and John sit down with  Astead Herdon, national politics reporter for The New York Times and host of the podcast “The Run-Up.” Astead recently published a major profile of Kamala Harris, including an exclusive interview he conducted with the vice president herself. With the PM101 team, he discusses his reporting on Harris, describing her difficulty building a national public persona despite her successful career as a prosecutor in California.

Find more of Astead's work here: https://www.nytimes.com/by/astead-w-herndon

In a special crossover episode, Justin and John sit down for a wide-ranging conversation with the hosts of Beyond Politics, Paul Hodes and Matt Robison. 

Paul is a former U.S. Congressman who represented Justin and John's home district in New Hampshire. Matt is a senior political strategist who served as Paul's chief of staff. Together, the group talk about the changes to the American political system that they've observed over their careers, with shifts in media and technology dramatically reshaping how the public understand and respond to news events.

For Part 2 of this discussion, listen to the Beyond Politics podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-politics/id1369437819

A month into the devastating war between Israel and Hamas, Justin and John sit down with diplomat and analyst Aaron David Miller. An expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Aaron spent 25 years at the U.S. State Department advising Republican and Democratic secretaries of state on Middle East policy.

Aaron describes how the horrific terror attacks on October 7th have affected Israel, how Israel and the United States perceive the increasing criticism of civilian deaths in Gaza, and how the conflict may unfold in both the immediate and long term.

Find more of Aaron's analysis at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: https://carnegieendowment.org/experts/1744

India and Canada are engaged in a heated diplomatic dispute after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of planning the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, near Vancouver. Indian officials deny the allegation and accuse Canada of harboring terrorists affiliated with the secessionist Khalistan movement.

To discuss these events, John sits down with Sadanand Dhume, Wall Street Journal columnist and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Sadanand describes the perspectives of different players and assesses how the feud might affect India's standing in Western capitals.

Read more from Sadanand here: https://www.aei.org/profile/sadanand-dhume/

Justin and John discuss the efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The two countries have been moving steadily towards strategic convergence, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has requested major concessions from the United States before formally establishing ties. John explains the Saudi approach and the reasons that American political figures - including Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner - have treated the issue as a priority.

Justin and John discuss the drama on Capitol Hill over government funding, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy works to avoid a government shutdown. McCarthy faces intransigence from renegade members in his own Republican caucus, including media lightning rod Matt Gaetz. Justin Higgins, a veteran of GOP congressional offices, explains the dysfunction engulfing the Republican faction.

After recent health scares for Senator Mitch McConnell, Justin and John discuss the difficult issues of age and health in political leaders. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley are often criticized for delaying retirement, as is President Joe Biden. Justin recalls his experiences working with the office of Senator Thad Cochran, a powerful Senator who handed his responsibilities to his staff when his health declined. John offers some international comparisons, noting the trend of young leaders in Europe and elderly leaders in Africa.

After the first Republican primary debate, Justin and John try ranking the candidates according to their performances. Burgum, Christie, DeSantis, Haley, Hutchinson, Pence, Ramaswamy, and Scott are each evaluated, with Donald Trump looming outside the field.

Justin and John sit with Evan Drellich, senior writer at The Athletic. The group discuss baseball's major changes to game rules, assessing whether the sport can regain its place as the most popular pastime in American culture. Despite momentum with attendance and ratings, baseball faces challenges in a fragmented media system.

Evan is the author of Winning Fixes Everything, a recent book about the Houston Astros cheating scandal. His articles for The Athletic can be found here: https://theathletic.com/author/evan-drellich/

A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that China and Cuba are working to establish a spy facility 100 miles from Florida.  To understand this development, John sits down with Dr. Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College and a Senior Associate at CSIS. Dr. Ellis describes China's activities in Latin America, assesses the level of threat, and evaluates the Biden administration response.

Read more from Evan Ellis here: https://www.csis.org/people/evan-ellis

Justin and John sit down with technology reporter Katie Notopolous to discuss the new app Threads, launched in July by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta. The app seeks to supplant Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, as the leading platform for microblogging and text-based social media. Katie gives her assessment of the new app's strengths and weaknesses, addresses the rivalry between the two enigmatic founders, and offers her thoughts about the shape of the digital industries today.

The Daily Beast's Matt Lewis sits down with John and Justin to discuss his new book, Filthy Rich Politicians. Matt explains how politicians get rich through leveraging their position as elected officials -- legalized corruptions of sorts, including book deals and stock trading. Matt examines Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and many more politicians in this interview. 

You can buy Matt's book here:  https://www.centerstreet.blog/filthy-rich-politicians 

Justin and John discuss the recent discord in the House Freedom Caucus, as members move to punish Marjorie Taylor Greene for embracing GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The Republican conference may move to oust McCarthy from leadership before the end of the year.

The pair then discuss the differences in leadership style between Republicans and Democrats. They also offer first thoughts on the new Meta app Threads, launched to rival Twitter.

Justin sits down with Tingting Liu, News Anchor, Foreign affairs and military correspondent for TVBS to discuss Taiwan's domestic politics ahead of the 2024 Presidential election. 

Tingting provides analysis on how the three leading political parties approach the cross-straight relations (Taiwan - China), the ongoing Me Too movement on the island, and what we should look forward to during the next six months of the campaign. 

Follow Tingting on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/tingtingliuTVBS?s=20 

Justin and John sit down with Gregory B. Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Greg recently returned from the Shangri-La Dialogue, a defense forum held in Singapore and attended by the United States, China, and other key players in the Asia-Pacific. He describes the arguments made in the American and Chinese presentations and assesses how they were perceived by crucial Southeast Asian states. 

More from Greg here: https://www.csis.org/people/gregory-b-poling

After an explosive expose, CNN's CEO Chris Licht was fired by his bosses at Warner Bros Discovery. This came after a year of disappointing ratings and head-scratching programming decisions.

Justin and John sit down with Meg James, senior entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times. Meg helps explain the crisis at CNN, based on her own reporting from the company. They also discuss the macro forces threatening the very existence of cable news.

Read more from Meg here: https://www.latimes.com/people/meg-james

Justin and John discuss the surprise deal reached between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), who had backed the upstart rival LIV Tour. John draws on his experience working on public investment projects in the Arab Gulf States.