WSJ Opinion: Free Expression
Based on his Wall Street Journal Opinion column "Free Expression," Editor-at-Large Gerry Baker speaks every week with some of the world's leading writers, influencers and thinkers about a variety of subjects. Baker will welcome his guests from the worlds of politics, philosophy, and culture for wide-ranging dialogues that will enlighten and fascinate listeners. Episodes will be released each week.
Episodes
October 15, 2025 • 42 mins
We may be seeing peace break out in the Middle East, but it’s still trade war elsewhere - especially with China. Donald Trump has threatened a 100% tariff on the rival superpower if Beijing goes through with its plan to impose tough restrictions on exports of the rare earth minerals critical to the U.S. economy. These could well be mere negotiating tactics but they’re a reminder of the wider friction that now dominates global econo...
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October 8, 2025 • 38 mins
In America and much of the West, it's become axiomatic to regard colonialism as a stain on human history. The story told in classrooms and popular culture is one of unrelenting exploitation of hapless people of color by white imperialists. And the narrative has contemporary relevance: demands for reparations for the victims of oppression - But is the modern West's history really a litany of crimes against humanity? Should we pay re...
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October 1, 2025 • 45 mins
Last week at the United Nations, Donald Trump derided the climate change movement, calling it a ‘con job,’ a view that the Republican party signed onto as the president won his second term last year. While it may not be a hoax, there's growing evidence that the supposed catastrophe climate change represents has been way overblown. One person whose views have undergone a radical change in recent years is Ted Nordhaus, co-founder an...
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September 25, 2025 • 43 mins
The murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the summer of rage that followed was a seminal event in U.S. politics. It was seized on by progressive ideologues who controlled most of the cultural and political discourse in America to assert an identity-based ideology and to marginalize dissent.
But their efforts to cement a woke revolution and cancel opposition has come back to haunt them. The re-election of Donald Trump last year r...
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September 17, 2025 • 38 mins
The assassination of Charlie Kirk marked the latest escalation of politically motivated violence, and it may be a breaking point for the country. After the murder of Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota and the attempts on President Donald Trump’s life last year, the U.S. seems to be returning to the dark days of half a century ago when politically motivated violence was almost routine. President Trump and his allies put the blame on...
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September 3, 2025 • 30 mins
With Donald Trump’s tariffs heading towards a Supreme Court showdown, his efforts to reshape the Federal Reserve in his own image intensifying, and another Washington battle under way over funding the federal government, the U.S. economy and markets face new uncertainties entering the fall.
On this episode of Free Expression, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan tells Gerry Baker that despite the uncertainty, he sees no U.S. rec...
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August 13, 2025 • 31 mins
With emerging signs that Donald Trump's revolutionary tariff regime may be starting to take a toll on U.S. economic prospects, what's the outlook for the immediate future? And how is the latest wave of technological change, allied with a new strand of government activism, going to change longer term economic performance?
On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Gerry Baker speaks with financier and philanthropist Glenn Hu...
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August 5, 2025 • 36 mins
Liberal democracy is under siege. Domestically, popular discontent with civic, cultural and political institutions is tempting voters in many democracies towards more authoritarian leadership. Globally, the axis of autocracies in Russia and China threaten to upend weaker democratic neighbors. Donald Trump’s trade policies and diplomacy are weakening alliances and undermining faith in "the west.” Is democracy in retreat? Does it m...
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July 29, 2025 • 42 mins
While Israel continues to achieve great military successes against Hamas, Hezbollah and most recently Iran in its almost two year campaign, the humanitarian consequences of the conflict in Gaza are growing worse. There is growing evidence of famine throughout Gaza, caused by disruptions in the delivery of aid, and both sides are being accused of causing the crisis. International pressure on Israel is mounting. Last week, Emmanuel...
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July 23, 2025 • 34 mins
Donald Trump’s control of the Republican Party is almost complete. But there are still some members pushing back against the president. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a persistent dissident. She was one of the few Senators to vote against a recent package of cuts that had already been approved in a spending bill. She has also voted against and expressed reservations about a number of Donald Trump’s cabinet members. She voted to convict hi...
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July 9, 2025 • 41 mins
The hottest properties in the Democratic Party at the moment are self-described democratic socialists. Zohran Mamdani won the party’s nomination for New York City mayor last month while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders (who’s not even a Democrat) are in the forefront of the party’s campaigning against President Donald Trump. The trend alarms the party’s leadership and mainstream establishment, who see it as a quick rout...
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July 2, 2025 • 24 mins
Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress set a July 4th deadline to pass a spending package the President and others gave the moniker the “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” Getting the measure to the president’s desk hasn’t been plain sailing - the Senate version passed this week only with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President JD Vance. Now fiscal conservatives in the House are battling over some of the details, but it seems likely to ...
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June 25, 2025 • 38 mins
A shockwave rippled through New York politics this week as little-known 33-year old assemblyman Zohran Mamdani toppled Andrew Cuomo, whose political lineage could not compete with his scandal-ridden tenure as governor, to win the Democratic primary nomination for the city’s mayoral election. Mamdani mobilized a coalition of young voters, ethnic minorities and others behind a hard-left platform that called for even higher taxes tha...
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June 17, 2025 • 36 mins
Israel’s air assault on the heart of Iran’s nuclear program has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East. Iran’s bid for regional hegemony and the survival of the Islamic regime itself is now under serious threat. But can Israel finish the job on its own or does it need the U.S. to tighten the vise on Teheran? While Donald Trump still says he wants to see a deal made, his administration is also weighing whether to join Isr...
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June 10, 2025 • 33 mins
Few people have lived the entertainment world like Barry Diller. Over 60 years in the business, he has run movie studios and TV networks and most recently built a portfolio of digital media properties. In the process he has seen the sector move from a studio-and producer-driven model to the increasingly tech-dominated business it is today.
On this episode of Free Expression, Diller speaks with Gerry Baker about his life in the ...
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June 5, 2025 • 38 mins
The House of Representatives has passed Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and now the Senate is pondering its version. Chief among the concerns for some senators is how much it will add to the federal debt. Already at $36 trillion, how much is too much? Are we on the brink of a major fiscal crisis? On this episode of Free Expression, Bridgewater founder and investor Ray Dalio talks to Gerry Baker about the risks of a debt calami...
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May 30, 2025 • 33 mins
Improbable as it would have once seemed, Donald Trump is the dominant political figure of the first quarter of the 21st century, creating a populist movement not seen in recent American history. But is he really a conservative, and what are the defining characteristics of the way he has bent the Republican party to his will? On this episode of Free Expression, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich talks to Gerry Baker about hi...
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Actor Kelsey Grammer is known for his many acting roles, most notably as radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane in the long running TV sitcom “Frasier.” But behind the comic mask lies a lifelong story of pain and grief. Fifty years ago, his beloved sister Karen was abducted, raped and murdered. In a new memoir, “Karen: A Brother Remembers,” he writes of how the tragedy shaped his own life. On this episode of Free Expression, Grammer sp...
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May 14, 2025 • 34 mins
This week, Donald Trump celebrated a “reset” with China, lowering tariffs and signaling a major thaw in the trade war between the two countries. Meanwhile, as the President traveled to the Middle East, House Republicans announced their framework for the “big, beautiful” spending bill looking to make changes to Medicaid and reduce the budget deficit. Where does Donald Trump's wider economic agenda now sit?
On this episode of Fr...
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May 6, 2025 • 43 mins
The conclave of Cardinals to choose the 267th pope, bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church opened Wednesday at the Vatican. Whoever is chosen by the 133 voting Cardinals from all over the world will follow Pope Francis, the first Jesuit Pope who died last month. What kind of leader are the cardinals looking for and where is the church headed? On this episode of Free Expression, theologian, author and commentator George ...
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