Podcast Trifecta!
A bonus 3WHH episode this week (with a new video feature), plus the Week in Headlines
This was Peak Podcast Week, with a trifecta instead of the usual Ricochet/3WHH double-header. I have resumed my old “classic format” podcasts with one-on-one conversations with authors and other interesting people, and the first of this revived series features Michael Walsh, discussing his terrific new book, A Rage to Conquer: Twelve Battles That Changed the Course of Western History.
One way to get a feel for the candor and bracing character of Michael’s book is this passage from the Afterword, reflecting on the ambivalent reaction to the 9/11 attack:
“The imperial Romans would have gone full delenda est on Saudi Arabia, razed its cities, destroyed the Kaaba, leveled the mosques, occupied the oil fields, seized its wealth, executed its leaders, and sold the populace into slavery; they knew an existential struggle when they were in one.”
Our conversation ranges far beyond the four corners of his book, into music, Ireland (Michael’s ancestral home and part-time residence today), the suicidal multiculturalism of Europe, and why the Chinese military threat is overrated.
As usual, listen here, or over on our page at Ricochet:
And then comes the regular Friday Ricochet Podcast, this week featuring James, Charles, and me conversing with an unusually cheery (for him) Noah Rothman. He gets into the fraught history of US-Russia negotiations, applauds the latest maneuvers in the Middle East, and applies a big-picture framing of the geopolitical status quo in response to the charge that collapse is imminent. Plus, we discuss the federalization of law enforcement in D.C. and the administration’s announcement of potential weed reform. So listen here, or at the link above:
And finally, the Three Whisky Happy Hour, which covers some of the same territory, but with our usual flair. Amazingly, John manages to "out-Lucretia" Lucretia with a radical suggestion for what Trump really ought to do with DC, and speaking of Lucretia (this week's show host, on her best behavior believe it or not!) vents about how much she wants to see some real accountability for the Russia Hoaxers, about whose perfidy we received additional details this week.
We round out with a brief discussion of a variation of the "desert island book" idea, namely, what book would each of us recommend as the best introduction to conservative thought for someone who is seriously curious to read up on the subject. John again surprises by making the most impractical suggestion of all, while Steve and Lucretia go with some old standards (though not without some disagreement). We'll attempt a sequel next week, anf by the way, we encourage listeners to send in questions they'd like us to take up, and we'll try to do that, too. So listen right here, or when it goes live on Ricochet:
I keep being told that lots of podcast listeners like to listen/view them on YouTube rather than through earbuds on their phone or driving in the car, or have them running in the kitchen while making dinner, pouring cocktails, or whatever. So as an experiment, we have posted the Zoom video of this week’s episode, right here. It includes some bonus material (chiefly our chit-chat during the ad breaks) not on the audio version. So if you want to watch how the whisky (or is it sausage?) is made, here it is, and let us know if you want this as a regular feature:
And now to the Week in Headlines:
Please do keep the video coming.
Democracy! Whiskey! Sexy! But seriously, Walsh’s book “Last Stands” was an awesome read.