Our Guests
Bill Ballenger
Is a seasoned political commentator and analyst with a distinguished career in Michigan politics. A former Republican member of both the Michigan House of Representatives and the State Senate, he also served as editor of Inside Michigan Politics until January 2016. In March 2016, he founded The Ballenger Report, a political blog, and launched a weekly podcast, further shaping Michigan’s political discourse. Ballenger is a frequent commentator on Michigan politics for various national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, and the BBC. Mr. Ballenger holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare.

Josh Ruebner
Is Policy Director at the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project (IMEU Policy Project). He is also adjunct lecturer in Justice and Peace Studies at Georgetown University and is pursuing his PhD at the University of Exeter’s European Centre for Palestine Studies. Prior to joining IMEU, Ruebner worked at American Muslims for Palestine and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights after a stint as an Analyst in Middle East Affairs for Congressional Research Service. He is the author of Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace and Israel: Democracy or Apartheid State?