The Mona Charen Show

After a great five year run on Beg to Differ, Mona Charen brings you a new show dedicated to deepening your understanding of complex issues and trends facing society. Each week she'll engage an expert for a probing discussion that goes past the day's headlines.

Episodes

The Dark Passions and How to Counter Them (w/ Bill Galston)

October 13, 2025 • 59 mins

Bill Galston joins Mona to discuss his new book about the vulnerabilities of liberal democracies and how to relearn the importance of rhetoric.

Anger, Fear, Domination: Dark Passions and the Power of Political Speech: https://a.co/d/9OPWkKP

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How Bad Is It and How Can We Recover?

October 6, 2025 • 64 mins

Damon Linker on just how crazy awful things are, but with some optimism for climbing out of the abyss.

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How Trump is Using Kirk's 'Martyrdom' to Create a Fake Emergency

September 29, 2025 • 43 mins

The Atlantic's Jonathan Chait discusses how MAGA is using Kirk's tragic death as a pretext for full-on authoritarian repression of dissent.

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Just How Much Damage Can RFK Jr. Do?

September 22, 2025 • 56 mins

The Bulwark's Jonathan Cohn discusses the harm RFK has already done, and what he's planning, which may be worse.

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The Religious Impulse Behind Trumpism

September 15, 2025 • 53 mins

Holly Berkley Fletcher explains the mindset of white evangelicals from a unique perspective—that of missionary kids. She was one. Her new book sheds light on a key MAGA constituency.

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More Marriage = More Happiness

September 8, 2025 • 33 mins

Mona welcomes UVA's Brad Wilcox to discuss the latest stats on marriage, what singlehood means for kids, men, and women, and marriage's new alt-Right foes.

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REFERENCES:

Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization ...

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Can Democrats Stop Bleeding Voters?

September 1, 2025 • 56 mins

Third Way's Matt Bennett and Sarah Longwell join Mona to talk about tanking Democratic voter registration numbers, words you should never say, the working class, the donors, and more.

REFERENCES:

Was It Something I Said? A memo to All Who Wish to Stop Donald Trump and MAGA from Third Way.

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Will Trump Solve Homelessness?

August 25, 2025 • 39 mins

FREOPP's Michael Tanner joins Mona to discuss homelessness causes and potential cures.

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Steve Vladeck on Trump, the Courts, and the Rule of Law

August 18, 2025 • 61 mins

Georgetown law professor Stephen Vladeck joins Mona to unpack the Justice Department’s attack on Judge James Boasberg, Trump’s efforts to bend universities to his will, the Supreme Court’s retreat into procedural evasions, and the broader erosion of guardrails in American governance. What happens when process itself—the foundation of the rule of law—comes under assault?

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They Should be Ashamed of this Manifesto

August 11, 2025 • 48 mins

Walter Olson of CATO discusses the Manhattan Statement on Higher Education, which would license Trump to ignore law, procedure, and precious liberties.

REFERENCES:

The Manhattan Statement on Higher Education
A Troubling Right-Wing Manifesto on Universities, by Walter Olson at Persuasion

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Fact-Checking Zohran Mamdani

August 4, 2025 • 63 mins

AEI's Sadanand Dhume joins the podcast to discuss Zohran Mamdani's ideological origins, why government stores are not a fresh, new idea, Indian democracy, poverty, capitalism, and how Bangladesh went its own way.

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The Greatness of Bill Buckley

July 28, 2025 • 73 mins

Author Sam Tanenhaus discusses his new biography of the multi-talented Buckley and the movement he did so much to create.

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Can We Unpolarize?

July 21, 2025 • 30 mins

Mona Charen speaks with More in Common co-founders Tim Dixon and Mathieu Lefevre about rising polarization, the “exhausted majority,” and how loneliness, media incentives, and misinformation are fueling division. (Full disclosure: Mona is on More in Common’s board of directors.) They discuss global trends, practical solutions like refugee sponsorship, and the urgent need to rebuild community and trust in democratic societies. ...

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Must Geniuses Be Ass-----?

July 14, 2025 • 68 mins

The Atlantic’s Helen Lewis joins Mona Charen to discuss The Genius Myth, her new book exploring whether genius is a real phenomenon or a socially constructed label. They examine how society elevates certain individuals—often more for charisma or timing than raw talent—and how the genius myth can excuse bad behavior while undervaluing empathy, humility, and collaboration. The conversation also touches on the “genius wives,” pr...

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ICE is Coming for All of Our Rights

July 7, 2025 • 49 mins

CATO's David Bier explains who ICE has scooped up—93 percent are not criminals—and what's coming next. Bier describes aggressive, anonymous arrest tactics and overcrowded detention centers with inhumane conditions, and warns of efforts to undermine birthright citizenship and due process.

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Why Nothing Works and What to Do About It

June 30, 2025 • 57 mins

Author Marc Dunkelman discusses his new book Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress―and How to Bring It Back.Dunkelman contrasts past centralized efficiency with today’s slow, decentralized system full of procedural roadblocks. They close with a hopeful look at reform efforts, like Josh Shapiro’s in Pennsylvania, as one potential model.
The Mona Charen Show is a weekly, one-on-one discussion that goes in depth on political...

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A Novel About the Spanish Inquisition

June 23, 2025 • 65 mins

Linda Chavez joined Mona Charen to discuss her debut novel The Silver Candlesticks, inspired by a personal revelation during an appearance on Finding Your Roots that her ancestors were secret Jews persecuted during the Spanish Inquisition. The novel explores themes of religious identity, repression, and survival, drawing on her family's history in Spain and the New World, as well as her own experience converting to Judaism. Th...

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Stop Making Excuses for Americans

June 9, 2025 • 61 mins

Kevin D. Williamson of The Dispatch muses about the voters' culpability for Trump, socialism, and the "Abundance" agenda. They explore the cultural and economic decline of American civic virtue, the bipartisan slide into demagoguery, and Williamson’s disdain for both Trumpism and technocratic central planning.

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Most Corrupt Ever

June 2, 2025 • 44 mins

The Atlantic's Jonathan Rauch joins Mona to talk about Trump's Achilles Heel.

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Conservatism RIP?

May 26, 2025 • 50 mins

Jay Nordlinger returns to discuss whether conservatism remains valid in the MAGA era.

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REFERENCES:

Against All Hope – Armando Valladares
Memoir of a Cuban dissident imprisoned for his anti-Castro beliefs.
Children of Monsters – Jay Nordlinger
Referenced indirectly by Mona as p...

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The Mona Charen Show

Episodes

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}How Bad Is It and How Can We Recover?

How Trump is Using Kirk's 'Martyrdom' to Create a Fake Emergency

Just How Much Damage Can RFK Jr. Do?

The Religious Impulse Behind Trumpism

More Marriage = More Happiness

Can Democrats Stop Bleeding Voters?

Will Trump Solve Homelessness?

Steve Vladeck on Trump, the Courts, and the Rule of Law

They Should be Ashamed of this Manifesto

Fact-Checking Zohran Mamdani

The Greatness of Bill Buckley

Can We Unpolarize?

Must Geniuses Be Ass-----?

ICE is Coming for All of Our Rights

Why Nothing Works and What to Do About It

A Novel About the Spanish Inquisition

Stop Making Excuses for Americans

Most Corrupt Ever

Conservatism RIP?

Popular Podcasts

The Dark Passions and How to Counter Them (w/ Bill Galston)

How Bad Is It and How Can We Recover?