The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the major budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last month, includes important changes to federal energy policy — among them, an earlier end to wind and solar tax credits than outlined in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and expanded support for nuclear and geothermal energy, as well as fossil fuels.

Center for Energy Studies Senior Director Ken Medlock joined the podcast to discuss the bill’s implications for the clean energy landscape and the key role of energy markets in dictating the future success of decarbonization and broader efforts to tackle climate change.

Featured:

• Ken Medlock, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/kenneth-b-medlock-iii

This conversation was recorded on Aug. 6, 2025.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

Texas Republicans are moving to redraw the state’s congressional district map and flip five House seats for the GOP — an unusual mid-decade redistricting effort that comes at the urging of President Donald Trump ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. To block the map’s passage, Texas Democrats have fled the state, denying Republican state leaders the quorum needed to hold a vote.

Political science fellow Mark P. Jones joined “Baker Briefing” to break down the political standoff and what’s at stake for electoral politics in Texas and nationwide.

Featured:

• Mark P. Jones, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/mark-p-jones

This conversation was recorded on Aug. 5, 2025.

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://bit.ly/47jPYD6

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

One of the striking trends in American religion and politics over the past decade has been the extent to which Christians have rallied around President Donald Trump. Their support has been most pronounced among white evangelicals, but the president has gained electoral ground with nearly all Christian denominations since his first term.

Trump hasn’t just appealed to Christian voters through rhetoric. He’s also courted them through policy. Recent examples include a new task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” in the federal government and a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the vast budget package signed into law earlier this month, that strips Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. (The Hyde Amendment already prohibits federal funds from being used to cover abortions in nearly all cases.)

Seven months into Trump’s second term, how do his policies measure up for his Christian base? Michael Emerson, director of the Baker Institute Religion and Public Program, joined the podcast to help unpack how Christian support affects Trump’s policy agenda — and vice versa.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism, and Right-Wing Identity Politics in the West by Tobias Cremer
• “My beautiful ‘practicing’ Christians: As churchgoers’ numbers shrink, their social views grow more similar” by Michael Emerson

This conversation was recorded on July 24, 2025.

Access a transcript of this episode.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

As Harris County judge, Ed Emmett led the emergency response to weather disasters in the Houston region for nearly 12 years. Bill King is the former mayor of Kemah, Texas, and served on two Texas commissions studying the aftermath of deadly Hurricanes Rita and Ike.

They draw on their experience in disaster mitigation and response and offer reflections on the devastating Texas Hill Country floods, the second deadliest flood event in state history, as a special legislative session begins in Austin and lawmakers put forth proposals for strengthening weather communications and warning systems.

Featured guests:

• Ed Emmett, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/edward-m-emmett
• Bill King, https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/bill-king

This conversation was recorded on July 17, 2025.

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/4o2pNqx

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

What is Christian nationalism, and why is it having a moment in U.S. politics? And what does it mean for democracy in our increasingly diverse and pluralistic society?

The ideology’s influence hasn’t faded with the dawn of the second Donald Trump administration, and it’s worth returning to this episode, originally released in October 2024, in which our Religion and Public Policy Program experts Michael Emerson and David Brockman explain what Christian nationalism is (and isn’t), what its proponents want to accomplish, and what makes the current iteration of the movement different from what we’ve previously seen in U.S. history.

The conversation is a primer for understanding related developments in U.S. and state-level politics today (which we'll explore in future episodes), including recent policy actions by the Trump administration and new public education measures in Texas.

Among these: the state’s adoption of a controversial “Bible-infused” reading and language arts curriculum for K-5 students, which Brockman reviews in a new report out today from the Baker Institute.

Featured guests:

• David Brockman, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/david-r-brockman
• Michael Emerson, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/michael-o-emerson

Mentioned:

• David Brockman, “Texas’ ‘Bible-Infused’ Public School Curriculum Raises Church–State Questions”
• David French, “What Is Christian Nationalism, Exactly?”

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/46GyWig

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

John Diamond, director of our Center for Tax and Budget Policy and host of “The Two-Handed Economist,” analyzed the macroeconomic impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — the sprawling tax-and-spending package now signed into law by President Donald Trump — using the Diamond-Zodrow model of the U.S. economy. The results?

The package could modestly boost GDP — but the long-term benefits are limited. It will drastically increase the debt-to-GDP ratio, leading to a crowd-out of private capital and a decline in investment over time. Hear Diamond lay out the good, the bad, and the ugly in the legislation on the podcast with Baker Institute director David Satterfield.

Featured: John Diamond, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/john-w-diamond

Mentioned in this episode:

John Diamond, “Macroeconomic Effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act”

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, “The Meh Tax Bill That Has To Pass”

James Baker III and John Diamond, “DOGE Won’t Be Enough to Get the Federal Debt Under Control”

This conversation was recorded on July 2, 2025. A transcript of this episode is available here: https://bit.ly/46s24cY

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

The Middle East has undergone major shifts over the past 18 months, not least the Israel-Iran war that lasted for 12 days earlier this month and saw Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. A conversation with former diplomats Daniel Kurtzer and Aaron David Miller this past May illustrates the political dynamics shaping the future of power in the region, Israel’s war in Gaza, and the evolving U.S.-Israel relationship.

This conversation was recorded at a Baker Institute event on May 15, 2025.

Featured guests:

• Former Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, https://spia.princeton.edu/faculty/dkurtzer
• Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, https://carnegieendowment.org/people/aaron-david-miller?lang=en

Learn about future events and live recordings of the “Baker Briefing” podcast by subscribing to our “Events Digest” newsletter: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/newsletter

A transcript of this episode is available here: http://bit.ly/3I59qZR

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

The U.S. is currently hosting the FIFA Men’s Club World Cup, an international competition between soccer club teams and the prelude to the larger and more widely anticipated FIFA Men’s World Cup hosted next summer across 16 North American cities. (The latter tournament is played between countries, instead of clubs.)

Fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen explains why these competitions and other global sports tournaments aren’t just entertainment, but a space where politics, economics, and diplomacy increasingly intersect, with a look in particular at the case of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Coates Ulrichsen is the author of the forthcoming book “Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer,” which will be published by Hurst on Aug. 21. The book goes beyond the popular term “sportswashing” to explore how and why Saudi Arabia burst onto the international soccer stage in 2023 and won the rights to host the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2034.

Featured:

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Ph.D., https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/kristian-coates-ulrichsen

X: https://x.com/Dr_Ulrichsen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristianulrichsen/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kristianulrichsen.bsky.social

Mentioned in this episode:

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer (Hurst, 2025), https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/kingdom-of-football/ (forthcoming).

This conversation was recorded on June 3, 2025.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.