The American Compass Podcast

As the Trump administration reshapes how federal dollars flow to universities, reform-minded academics are rethinking how to fix the systemic problems on campus without jeopardizing important research.

Simon Johnson, professor of entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management and Nobel Laureate in Economics, joins Oren to unpack why our nation’s bloated and bureaucratic universities need reform and how smarter use of federal fun...

Even as the U.S. begins decoupling from our Asian rival, the threat of a second “China shock”—one where the country’s economy dominates key resources and minerals—is rapidly emerging.

Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Oren to dig into how China’s new wave of industrial overcapacity, currency manipulation, and continued cheap exports could ravage America’s economy a second time. They explore how th...

Are we all post-liberals now? 

The leading voice in the debate about what comes after liberalism, Notre Dame professor Patrick Deneen, joins the podcast to discuss where American politics is headed now that the push for a globalized society has failed to survive contact with geopolitical reality.

He and Oren unpack the failures of the liberal age, from free trade and open borders to foreign wars of adventure, and how a new conservati...

The United States remains wholly dependent upon China for 95% of rare earth elements, 100% reliant on imports for 15 critical minerals, and over 80% reliant for eleven more. These minerals enable everything from batteries to semiconductors—and without domestic access, America’s technological dominance is at risk.

Robert Bryce, a leading energy policy scholar, joins Oren to explore how decades of shortsighted policy let China dominat...

Over the last two weeks, an online battle has broken out among the New Right over the Israel-Iran conflict and the Trump administration's bombing of an Iranian nuclear facility. Regardless of whether the recent ceasefire between Iran and Israel holds, the events so far have drawn clear dividing lines within the coalition. What does "America First" mean for Middle Eastern policy?

Josh Hammer, author of Israel and Civil...

Economists have claimed for years that Americans are prospering more than ever before. So why do so few people feel that way?

Philip Pilkington, author of the forthcoming The Collapse of Global Liberalism, joins Oren to discuss how these economic metrics are obscuring real problems. The two challenge the assumption that consumption is an unalloyed good and discuss the need to think about our nation's economic health in a way th...

When news broke that the local paper mill in Chillicothe, OH, was closing its doors and laying off 780 employees, one Ohio senator made it his mission to fight for those workers.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) joins Oren to talk about his efforts to put American workers and their families first. The freshman senator explains how his background led him to Congress and breaks down the forces driving the political realignment he’s helping l...

Today’s Republican Party has come a long way from the days of William F. Buckley, Jr., but his legacy continues to be felt across the conservative movement.

Sam Tanenhaus, former editor of the New York Times Book Review and author of the newly released Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America, joins Oren to discuss the conservative statesman’s life and work. The two discuss how Buckley viewed himself as a reactionar...

Vice President JD Vance joined Oren Cass at American Compass’s five-year anniversary celebration for a wide-ranging discussion of the ongoing political realignment, the importance of conservative economics, and where the movement goes from here.

During their conversation at the New World Gala, Vance and Cass discuss the rapid shift in conservative thinking on issues like trade, industrial policy, and education, as well as the Trump ...

American conservatism has never been static. Changes in our national political environment have previously shifted what the Republican Party stands for. But how does today’s New Right compare to earlier realignments driven by President Ronald Reagan or William F. Buckley Jr.?

Before the June 3rd release of The New Conservatives, Matthew Continetti, director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Oren ...

Globalization and deindustrialization have brought with them a sense among American workers that the good jobs they could once count on have disappeared. As family-supporting careers evaporate, service jobs with lower pay and unpredictable hours take their place in many communities across the country.

Zeynep Ton, professor of practice at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, joins Oren to discuss what a better future of work could look ...

The Trump administration’s new trade policy toward China has revealed just how deeply enmeshed major American corporations are with our chief geopolitical rival. Apple’s story is perhaps the most dramatic.

Patrick McGee, author of Apple in China and San Francisco correspondent for the Financial Times, joins Oren to discuss how Apple, like so many other nominally American companies, is constrained by the rules, regulations, and indus...

The second Trump administration has spurred a wave of domestic industrial investment and a recognition that making things in America matters. But what does that look like from the factory floor?

Chris Power, founder and CEO of Hadrian, joins Oren to discuss how his company is helping lead reindustrialization efforts here in the United States. He explains the revolutionary technologies Hadrian uses to compete at scale with foreign fi...

What should conservatives make of the first 100 days of Trump’s second term? Rachel Bovard, vice president of programs at the Conservative Partnership Institute, joins Oren to discuss how to measure an unconventional administration’s early successes, what to make of DOGE, and where the administration should direct its efforts to capitalize on its public mandate.

Plus, they discuss one major change that all conservatives should celeb...

How has the American media gone from the days of Walter Cronkite to open hostility toward the president and his party?

Mark Halperin, editor-in-chief of 2Way and host of the new program "Next Up" on the Megyn Kelly network, joins guest host and managing editor Drew Holden for a conversation about the state of the U.S. media. They discuss why the media so often gets the story wrong about President Trump, why the press refus...

If you’ve spent time on social media or watched cable news recently, you’ve almost certainly encountered some of globalization’s staunchest defenders, trotting out their favorite arguments against tariffs.

On today’s episode, Mark DiPlacido, American Compass policy advisor, joins Oren to break down the worst of these arguments and share some handy responses for your next important meeting, debate in the office break room, or cocktai...

The congressman who introduced the bill to implement President Trump’s 10% global tariff wasn’t a member of his own party, but a conservative Democrat from a Trump-won district in Maine.

Congressman Jared Golden (D-ME), the sponsor of the BUILT USA Act, which would set the 10% global rate, joined Oren to talk about why Congress needs to permanently codify the new trade policy. To spur long-term investment in American industry and li...

For decades, American men have been in crisis. Globalization has caused millions of jobs to disappear, divorce rates have increased, life expectancy has decreased, and deaths of despair have skyrocketed in many working-class communities.

Amber Lapp, research fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and stay-at-home mom, began talking to her neighbors in her working-class community in southwestern Ohio over a decade ago to try to g...

The “China Shock”—triggered by the country’s entry into the World Trade Organization—devastated America’s heartland, causing a sudden exodus of manufacturing jobs and disrupting the communities that depended on them. Promoters of globalization promised “better” jobs would take their place. Nearly 25 years later, has that happened?

David Autor, professor of economics at MIT and co-author of the famous “China Shock” paper, joins Oren ...