WSJ Opinion: Free Expression

Donald Trump has been working at a breakneck speed during his first three weeks in office, prompting alarms from his critics that he is plunging the nation into a constitutional crisis. Many of the administration’s executive actions, including abolishing birthright citizenship, and the initiatives launched by Elon Musk and DOGE, have already faced judicial challenges. So is Donald Trump just testing the limits of his power, or is the criticism of his approach warranted? On this episode of Free Expression, constitutional law professor John Yoo tells Gerry Baker why a more active Congress would prevent Donald Trump from taking such drastic action to get things done, how the Supreme Court will factor into many of these executive orders, and which of those orders might ultimately fail.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Donald Trump making the elimination of diversity, equality, and inclusion programs in the federal government a high priority, there is no doubt the effort will extend to other aspects of society as well. And there are no institutions that are in need of an overhaul from these policies more than American universities. Will years of cancel culture and the obstruction of alternate views on campuses be coming to an end? On this episode of Free Expression, University of Chicago president Paul Alivisatos tells Gerry Baker about the shift he is seeing towards the Chicago principles of free speech, and the incredible advances being developed in the field of artificial intelligence.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With strong enforcement on immigration, executive orders ending DEI initiatives in the federal government, and confirmations of many members of his cabinet, Donald Trump spent most of his first two weeks in office showing the world he’s everything Joe Biden wasn’t. But what about the politics of what the administration is doing? On this episode of Free Expression, veteran pollster Mark Penn and Gerry Baker discuss the fallout after the pardons issued to the Jan. 6 defendants, what could happen if Donald Trump drifts too far to the right, the role tech CEOs will have over the next four years, and how the world at large will work alongside Donald Trump on foreign policy and tariffs.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the second Trump administration began with a flurry of executive orders and comments from the President about how he plans to approach Vladimir Putin and the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, threatening possible sanctions on Russia if a deal can’t be reached. So what are the prospects for peace, and what is the future for military aid for Ukraine with a Republican majority in both the House and Senate? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, investor Bill Browder tells Gerry Baker the desperate lengths Vladimir Putin will go to stay in power and conquer Ukraine, what the mood in Europe is like now that Donald Trump has taken office and has tariffs on his agenda, and how the destruction of NATO's credibility could be Putin’s “ultimate prize” to shake up the world order.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump has big plans for the economy. His Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent has set an ambitious triple goal of 3-3-3 - three percent growth; a three percent fiscal deficit and a three million a day increase in US oil production. But as Trump prepares to take office clouds are forming over the economic outlook with market interest rates up sharply on growing fears about lingering inflation and the federal deficit.  On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, economist and former dean of Columbia Business School Glenn Hubbard and Gerry Baker discuss whether Trump can achieve his goals, whether the Fed will be cutting or raising rates this year, and how Trump’s police’s may help or hinder growth and price stability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Free Expression's final episode of 2024 features some of Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker's best interviews of the year, including conversations with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Trump National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Republican Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise and Richard Fontaine and Robert Blackwill, foreign policy commentators and co-authors of “Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump’s political comeback, the decline and fall of Joe Biden’s presidency, Kamala Harris’ big defeat and continuing geopolitical earthquakes in the Middle East all contributed to one of the most tumultuous years in recent history. What does a first draft of history tell us about the significance of 2024 and what may come next?  On this special year-in-review episode of Free Expression, Commentary editor and podcast host John Podhoretz talks with Gerry Baker about the dramatic changes at home and abroad, politically, geopolitically and culturally and looks ahead to the big trends in 2025.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 a major overhaul of the FBI and the Department of Justice. His choice of Kash Patel to lead the FBI suggests this will be a top priority, but Patel has also unnerved people with his calls for retribution against some of Trump's opponents. On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, conservative attorney Mike Davis tells Gerry Baker why Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are the right people for the respective jobs they’ve been chosen for, what Hunter Biden’s pardon means for the legal future for the entire Biden family, and what kind of reforms will be part of a second Donald Trump administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 term?  On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Fox Business host and former chairman of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow discusses with Gerry Baker the Trump economic policy team, and explains why he decided not to pursue being Treasury Secretary himself after meeting with Donald Trump, why extending the Trump tax cuts will be the “first order of business” when the new administration takes over, and why tariffs are the way to fix a broken global trading system.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Veterans Affairs under the previous Trump administration, Robert Wilkie. Sec. Wilkie is heading up the Pentagon transition team and tells us about some of the new administration’s radical plans including removing some of the top military officers and overhauling the culture of the Pentagon.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 course.  On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley gives Gerry Baker an inside look into how this victory was secured despite Donald Trump’s felony convictions and other challenges, how Trump’s outreach to the Latino community become a major factor on Election Day, and how the Republican party is once again the “Donald Trump, America First ” party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Gerry Baker about the messages being sent by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s closing statements, why Trump might have an edge in the battleground states, what both candidates might do to grab remaining undecided voters and what the contentious post-election climate might look like and how long it will continue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 podcast, North Dakota Governor and one-time candidate for president Doug Burgum tells Gerry Baker why he is confident of a Trump win, but also talks about his concerns about the integrity of the ballot and what might happen in the days after the election if it is as close as it seems.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 inflation and interest rates higher than they were four years ago and say Bidenomics has failed while Democrats claim continuing growth and low unemployment vindicate their policies. On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, economist and head of global research at the Carlyle Group Jason Thomas tells Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerry Baker about how it would take “an outside shock” for the economy to fall into recession, where interest rates might move next and why Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on China could be a successful strategy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Iran’s nuclear facilities as it seeks to reduce Teheran’s threat. He also says a deal to settle the Russia-Ukraine war is possible but that the U.S. must show support for Kyiv to bring pressure on Moscow. And he responds to claims in a new book by Bob Woodward that Donald Trump personally sent Vladimir Putin American Covid tests during the pandemic, and that the two world leaders had multiple conversations after the election of Joe Biden.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Baker speaks with veteran pollster and consultant Whit Ayres about whether the polls will be accurate this time, whether Donald Trump is facing not just a gender gap, but a “gender chasm” with women voters, and how much race will be a factor in the 2024 Election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, who fled from the mainland to Hong Kong as a boy, became an outspoken critic of the People’s Republic of China after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and founded a lively free-speech-defending newspaper Apple Daily. In 2020 Lai became the first person convicted under the national security law and has served nearly four years in solitary confinement and is still in prison today.  On this episode of Free Expression podcast Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien and human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher discuss with Gerry Baker the latest on Jimmy Lai’s health and the appalling conditions he is living under, the bogus charges levied against him, and the diplomatic and economic pressure that can be put on China if Jimmy Lai does not go free.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 assassination attempts on Donald Trump. They also discuss the election itself and what will determine the outcome as well as the changing nature of the GOP and whether it can be the party of working people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 espouses? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Trump presidential transition co-chair and former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells Gerry Baker what he told Trump before the debate and how it went unused, why he thinks Trump should agree to another debate and Harris should not, if he will take a role in a possible second Trump term administration and what priorities that administration should pursue.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Gerry Baker about how the national debate on abortion is playing the Keystone State, whether the Democratic ticket change to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz could change the Senate race, and about that day in Butler, PA when Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and what role the former president may play in determining the outcome of this and other Senate races. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices