Episodios

  • How Trump Could Break the 2026 Elections

    How Trump Could Break the 2026 Elections
    Feb 11 2026
    On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” David opens with his reaction to the racist AI video of Barack and Michelle Obama that was posted and quickly deleted by President Trump’s Truth Social account. He argues that when the president engages in this behavior, it undermines his administration’s other actions that resemble those of a normal presidency. David is then joined by Stephen Richer, a former Republican county recorder of Maricopa County. They discuss Stephen’s experience navigating Trump’s 2020 election denial, standing up to pressure from the president, and confronting election denialism within his own party. They also examine the Trump administration’s current activities in Georgia and how they could set the stage for more election denialism in 2026. Finally, David reflects on Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” as the series marks its 250th anniversary. Though the monumental work remains essential to understanding the fall of Rome, David explores how Gibbon’s moralizing of history can lead modern readers to dangerous conclusions. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h
  • Trump Versus Canada

    Trump Versus Canada
    Feb 4 2026
    On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” David opens with his thoughts on the reported $500 million-dollar deal between World Liberty Financial, a Trump-family business venture, and the United Arab Emirates, as reported by “The Wall Street Journal.” David discusses the helplessness we feel as we are bombarded with stories where it seems all restraint has broken down and explains what laws exist that are meant to curtail corrupt practices. Then, David is joined by former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to discuss the Trump administration’s overtures to an Albertan secessionist movement, the harm the Trump presidency has done to the American-Canadian alliance, and how Trump is pushing Canada into China’s arms. David and Premier Kenney also discuss how the failures to address immigration by liberal parties across the West have led to dangerous far-right populist movements. Finally, David discusses “The Imperialist,” by Sara Jeannette Duncan, and how it can help us better understand what is being lost by Trump’s destruction of the relationship between America and Canada. Sign up for David Frum’s newsletter alert. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 5 m
  • What the Neocons Got Right

    What the Neocons Got Right
    Jan 28 2026
    On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” David opens with his reflections on the recent shootings in Minneapolis. He argues that these killings, alongside ICE’s warrantless home searches and mistaken detentions, and the reports of deaths in custody, are not isolated abuses but signs of a rapidly deepening crisis in American democracy, one in which basic rights and due process are applied unevenly and are increasingly contested. David asks whether the country can find a way back from a dangerous moral and political impasse, as a majority of Americans recoil from these actions while a determined minority continue to defend them. Then, David is joined by the “New York Times” columnist and Atlantic contributor David Brooks. Frum and Brooks discuss the origins of the term “neoconservative,” what the neocons got right, and why they should be listened to today. Brooks describes how America’s problems long predate Trump, and why elections alone cannot fix what has been lost. Together, Frum and Brooks explore whether the country is capable of moral renewal, what rebuilding would actually require, and why recovery, if and when it comes, will be slow, difficult, and deeply personal. Finally, David ends the episode with his thoughts on “Death by Lightning,” a television series on Netflix based on the assassination of President James Garfield, and how, when watching historical dramas, we need to look back on the past with a contextual lens, one that we should bring to our present too. Sign up for David Frum’s newsletter alert. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 4 m
  • Why Trump Sides With Putin

    Why Trump Sides With Putin
    Jan 21 2026
    On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum examines one of the most consequential deceptions of the Trump presidency: the insistence that grocery prices are falling when Americans know from lived experience that they are not. David explains how tariffs and trade policy are deliberately driving food costs higher, why Trump keeps lying about it, and how breaking this promise strikes at the core of the fragile trust between voters and government. Then David is joined by Fiona Hill, a former adviser to three U.S. presidents and a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment, to analyze how Vladimir Putin sees the world and why Trump remains so drawn to strongman power. Frum and Hill discuss Putin’s long game in Ukraine, Trump’s archaic and backward worldview, and how Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Putin while steadily eroding American credibility abroad. Finally, David closes the episode with a discussion of “Among the Believers,” by V. S. Naipaul, reflecting on the Iranian Revolution and why authoritarian regimes repeatedly fail at modernity. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h
  • Trump Has Redefined Presidential Scandal

    Trump Has Redefined Presidential Scandal
    Jan 14 2026
    On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum discusses the menacing crises the Trump presidency is inflicting on the United States and its own movement to start 2026. David speculates that the recent lethal ICE incident in Minneapolis, Trump’s increasingly unhinged rhetoric, and the targeting of Jerome Powell indicate that the MAGA world is cracking. He argues that Trump’s increasingly unpredictable and escalating actions are taking the MAGA movement, the Trump presidency, the U.S., and the rest of the world down a path of doom. Then, David is joined by Timothy Naftali, the founding director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, to discuss perhaps Trump’s most brazen grift: his proposed presidential library in Miami. Frum and Naftali also discuss why comparisons of Trump to Nixon fall flat and how Trump’s actions in Venezuela reflect a policy of weakness. Finally, David ends the episode with a discussion of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    57 m
  • Trump Has No Plan for Venezuela

    Trump Has No Plan for Venezuela
    Jan 7 2026
    On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum discusses the American seizure of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and President Donald Trump’s deeply flawed thinking about Venezuelan oil. David argues that Trump’s worldview of exploitation and predation is likely to doom his ambitions in Venezuela rather than secure them. David is then joined by the national-security analyst David Rothkopf to examine the U.S. military operation in Venezuela and the Trump administration’s alarming lack of a coherent plan for what comes next. Rothkopf explores what it means for a president to sideline or altogether ignore the National Security Council before launching a major military action. Together, Rothkopf and Frum speculate about possible outcomes of the Maduro operation that Trump appears not to have considered. Finally, David closes with his thoughts on Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional” and the poem’s warning about national boasting, overreach, and the perils of collective foolishness. Sign up for David Frum’s newsletter alert. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    58 m
  • Bonus Episode: How Is Trump Planning to ‘Run’ Venezuela?

    Bonus Episode: How Is Trump Planning to ‘Run’ Venezuela?
    Jan 3 2026
    David Frum is joined by The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum to react to the news of the American raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in a special episode of The David Frum Show. Sign up for David Frum’s newsletter alert. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    31 m
  • Facts Vs. Clicks: How Algorithms Reward Extremism

    Facts Vs. Clicks: How Algorithms Reward Extremism
    Dec 31 2025
    On this week’s episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He examines the many actions President Donald Trump has taken that run counter to the ideals articulated in 1776, and considers how the Founders’ constitutional genius may ultimately be what frustrates Trump’s attempt to consolidate power. David is then joined by his Atlantic colleague Charlie Warzel, a staff writer and the host of the Galaxy Brain podcast, to discuss the temptations that come with launching a new podcast and the challenge of serving an audience that often rewards extreme content. Together, they talk about the responsibility that comes with hosting a podcast in a media environment that prizes clicks over truth. They also explore how conspiracy theorists have come to function as an alternate reality of “mainstream media,” and why the fight for truth may not yet be lost. Finally, David closes with a discussion of Edward Berenson’s The Trial of Madame Caillaux and what it reveals about how future generations may come to view our own beliefs. Sign up for David Frum’s newsletter alert. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h y 2 m