Clearer Than Truth

85 Episodes

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Karen Elliot House | Former Publisher, The Wall Street Journal | Pulitzer Prize Recipient

2026-10-2341:23

Karen Elliott House, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, returns to Clearer Than Truth to discuss Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership and the future of Saudi Arabia. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience in the kingdom, House examines the tension between Saudi Arabia’s sweeping social transformation and its continued political repression, MBS’s ambitions to become a global powerbroker, and the economic and security pressures created by regional...

Richard Fontaine | CEO of the Center for a New American Security

2026-10-1541:53

Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the strategic challenges facing the United States in an increasingly contested world. From the Trump administration’s approach to military force and the future of American alliances to defense spending, the competition with China, and the growing role of artificial intelligence, Fontaine explores whether the United States has a coherent strategy to match its global power. He also explains why ...

Michael McFaul | Former US Ambassador to Russia | Author of "Autocrats vs Democrats"

2026-10-1338:20

Ambassador Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and author of Autocrats Versus Democrats, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine how Vladimir Putin transformed Russia’s relationship with the West and why the war in Ukraine remains so difficult to end. McFaul argues that Putin’s greatest fear is not NATO expansion but the spread of democracy, which threatens the legitimacy of his autocratic rule. He reflects on the achievements and failures of the Obama administration’s Russia reset, ...

Julius Krein | Founder and Editor-In-Chief of American Affairs

2026-10-1334:38

Julius Krein, founder and editor of American Affairs, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine why the United States has struggled to rebuild its industrial base even as the case for reindustrialization has entered the mainstream. Krein argues that tariffs alone cannot restore American productive capacity: the country needs strategic investment, skilled workers, coordinated supply chains, permitting reform, and institutions that can help critical industries become commercially viable. He explains ...

Barbara Keys | Author of "Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger's Legacy"

2026-10-1236:23

Historian Barbara Keys joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the making, breaking, and remaking of Henry Kissinger’s legacy. Drawing on her book Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger’s Legacy, Keys explores how Kissinger cultivated journalists, managed his public image, used personal relationships and behind-the-scenes pressure to influence coverage, and maintained extraordinary influence for decades after leaving office. She examines the gap between his private policy ...

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