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
December 5, 2024 • 29 mins
Has the law become the ultimate political weapon to be wielded by Republicans and Democrats? To the surprise of almost no one, Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son Hunter, the scope of which was far more sweeping than most legal experts expected. The move comes after four years in which Democratic prosecutors and Biden's Justice Department have been pursuing Donald Trump through the courts. Now President-Elect Trump has promised ...
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November 19, 2024 • 31 mins
Donald Trump has been quickly filling his cabinet and senior administration positions with a flurry of nominations to his cabinet. The key members of his economics team are still unclear, however. On Tuesday we learned Howard Lutnick will be nominated for Commerce Secretary, taking him out of the contest for Treasury, where the names of Scott Besent, Kevin Warsh, and Marc Rowan continue to circulate. Who will get the top jobs and ...
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November 14, 2024 • 28 mins
President - Elect Trump is rapidly rolling out his team for his second administration. Controversy swirls around some of his picks, most notably his selection of Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr for health and human services secretary. But he plans some of his biggest changes for the national security apparatus. On this episode of Free Expression, The Wall Street Journal's Editor at Large, Gerry...
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November 6, 2024 • 24 mins
In one of the greatest comebacks in political history, Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, winning all seven battleground states and seemingly scoring a popular vote victory over Kamala Harris. And with a Republican majority in the Senate and possibly the House as well, a second Trump administration will come into office with the expectation of a robust legislative mandate to roll back the progressive policies of Joe ...
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October 30, 2024 • 23 mins
With less than a week before polls close, the presidential race seems as close as ever and the contest for control of Congress is also on a knife edge. In a race this competitive almost anything could swing the vote one way or the other - from Joe Biden calling Trump voters "garbage” to the Democrats' traditional advantage in last minute get out the vote efforts.
On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, veteran pollster ...
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October 24, 2024 • 27 mins
With less than two weeks left to Election Day, the polling in the battleground states suggest the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is a dead heat. But there's a growing sense among the political classes that it seems the Republican candidate has a small but decisive edge. Early voting trends, voter registration and suggestions from both campaigns all seem to point - by a whisker - in Trump's favor. So what's the m...
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October 14, 2024 • 35 mins
The economy, stupid? Or maybe not? As Americans cast their votes for President they will be in part both passing judgment on the economic record of the last four years and signaling the type of policies they want for the next four. Donald Trump is promising solutions through tariffs and a range of tax cuts, while Kamala Harris says she will offer handouts for first-time homebuyers, middle-class tax cuts and what she calls “the oppo...
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October 9, 2024 • 32 mins
What will a second Trump term's foreign policy look like? How will it differ from the first term?
On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former Trump National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien looks at the multiple challenges that Trump would face if he wins the election next month and how his “America First” approach might play out with multiplying tensions around the world. He tells Wall Street Journal Editor at Larg...
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October 3, 2024 • 27 mins
JD Vance and Tim Walz took to the debate stage for a substance-heavy debate that was in contrast, not only to the highly personalized debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris last month but also to all the rancorous presidential debates of the last few election cycles. Still, it's unlikely to make an iota of difference to the outcome of the election now just a month away. So what will decide the outcome of this coin-flip elec...
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September 24, 2024 • 26 mins
When Hong Kong was handed over to China from the British in 1997, the city colony’s freedoms were supposed to be maintained for the next 50 years. But in nearly half that time, Beijing has broken its promises and imposed its totalitarian rule. A national security law that curtailed freedom of speech has contributed to turning a once-thriving city colony into a climate of repression. One man imprisoned under this national security ...
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September 17, 2024 • 20 mins
Donald Trump found himself the target of a second attempt on his life, this time from a gunman who was lying in wait for hours, only to be thwarted by the Secret Service. What’s happening with the former president’s security? And with less than 50 days to go to the 2024 election, has the intensity of campaign rhetoric become dangerous? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) tells Gerry Baker about ...
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September 12, 2024 • 26 mins
The verdict is in - Donald Trump came a distant second this week in his first - and perhaps only - presidential debate with Kamala Harris. The former president was repeatedly on the defensive and easily baited by the vice president, despite the fact that she is the candidate of the incumbent and largely unpopular administration. What went wrong? Will there be another chance for Trump to link Harris to the Biden record and to re...
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September 3, 2024 • 33 mins
While most voters are focused on the contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, there are key Senate races across the nation that will decide who will be in control of the chamber in January. One of the most important is in Pennsylvania, where Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey is being challenged by Dave McCormick, a businessman and combat veteran who previously ran for the Republican nomination for Senate in 2022. On this ...
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August 29, 2024 • 37 mins
Kamala Harris told the Democratic National Convention that she has plans for what she called an “opportunity economy.” But with little detail about what such a platform entails, except for promises to end so-called price gouging and raise taxes on companies and the better off, voters don’t seem to have a clear picture of what they will get if the Vice President wins in November. Meanwhile Donald Trump is pledging to extend and wid...
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August 21, 2024 • 27 mins
A month after abandoning their death march to the polls with President Joe Biden and switching to a campaign of joy with Kamala Harris, Democrats are in Chicago to formally nominate Vice President Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. But beyond spreading the happiness, what are the Democrats offering? On the strength of her few policy announcements, so far it looks likely that Harris is trying to put distance ...
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August 13, 2024 • 31 mins
With days to go before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the spotlight is shining brightly on Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, as they continue to enjoy a largely substance-free campaign honeymoon, with the sizable help of the media. Meanwhile, cracks in the once-confident campaign of Donald Trump are beginning to show. The former president has spent much of the last few weeks in the fever swamps of consp...
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August 8, 2024 • 33 mins
During Tim Walz’s first rally as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Americans got to see a quick-witted and effective speaker who knows how to go on the offensive when he needs to. But beyond the theatre, what’s his actual record as Minnesota governor? Two political insiders who’ve been following Walz for decades sit down with Gerry Baker to size up his tenure. John Hinderaker, president of the Center of the American Exper...
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July 26, 2024 • 35 mins
On this encore episode of the Free Expression Podcast, Gerry Baker speaks with Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness." Haidt discusses the dangers that are present on social media platforms and how easily accessible they are to kids with very little obstacles to get in the way of them being harmed psychologically.
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July 18, 2024 • 30 mins
The Republican Party gathered this week for its presidential nominating convention and the message coming from the gathering is clear: Donald Trump, after the failed assassination attempt on his life, has rallied the party successfully heading into the final stretch of the election. The selection of Sen. J.D. Vance as vice presidential nominee has doubled down on the party’s populist message, to the concern of some cons. Meanwhile,...
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July 10, 2024 • 26 mins
In what is the most important week of Joe Biden's presidency, Democrats are in disarray about the man at the top of the ticket for November's election. Despite strong pushback from the White House to calls for him to step down, the drumbeat demanding change is growing louder. Several members of Congress have called for him to go and many more are privately expressing despair about the party's prospects - in congressional elections ...
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