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 what will they mean for economic policy in the second Trump...

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 Baker sits down for a conversation with former Secretary of...

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 Biden and Kamala Harris and chart a new populist...

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 and political consultant Doug Schoen tells WSJ editor at large...

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 mood among Republicans? On this episode of the Free Expression...

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 opportunity economy.” More importantly Republicans point to...

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 Large Gerry Baker it would “make sense” for Israel to attack...

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 election? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Gerry...

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 law has become the face of Hong Kong's suffering. Jimmy Lai,...

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 the mistakes made by Secret Service leadership in both...

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 remind voters of the far left policies she supposedly no longer...

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 episode of the Free Expression podcast, McCormick speaks with...

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 widen his tax cuts from 2017 that are due to expire next year,...

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 between distance herself and Biden. But can she really...

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 conspiracy theory and grievance and Harris seems to have edged...

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 Experiment, and Scott W. Johnson, a retired Minneapolis attorney...

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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, the chorus of Democrats calling for Joe Biden to step aside...

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 as well as at the presidential level - if he remains the...

The Labour Party secured a major landslide in Britain's elections, resulting in a parliamentary majority not seen since the early days of Tony Blair. The reign of the Conservative Party, who have governed for 14 years, ended in an ignominious rout. But Labour’s victory, led by Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, was achieved with the lowest share of the vote for a winning party in British history. A strong performance by the populist Reform UK party seems to have split the right wing vote....

By the time Thursday night’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump ended, one question was on everyone’s lips: will the president be persuaded to step down ahead of the Democratic convention? His weak and stumbling performance dramatically increased concerns about Biden’s age and stamina, as Donald Trump showed a discipline and focus that has not always been on display   On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Karl Rove tells Gerry Baker Biden’s was the worst presidential...

Free speech is under threat in unprecedented ways in the U.S.. University campuses deny platforms to those who dissent from progressive orthodoxies. Tech firms block heterodox news and opinion on grounds of "disinformation." Companies discipline employees for challenging nostrums about race, sexuality and gender. How did it get this way? What can be done to reverse the tide? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, law professor and legal analyst Jonathan Turley talks with Gerry Baker...

Are we losing the new Cold War? In a rare moment of bipartisan unity, all sides in America seem to agree that we are in a long new Cold War struggle with Communist China. But if that's the case, why are we just managing the contest rather than actually trying to win it? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, who led congressional efforts to confront China, including most recently with legislation banning TikTok, tells Gerry Baker how...

After Donald Trump’s conviction being on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records and as his sentence looms just ahead of the Republican National Convention, U.S. politics are deeper into uncharted territory. What might happen next? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former federal prosecutor and Trump lawyer James Trusty takes Gerry Baker through all the legal steps the former president will go through, including the appeals process. He explains why Mr. Trump has...