The Mona Charen Show
The Bulwark
After a great five year run on Beg to Differ, Mona Charen brings you a new show dedicated to deepening your understanding of complex issues and trends facing society. Each week she'll engage an expert for a probing discussion that goes past the day's headlines.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 23, 2026 • 44min
DOGE Dumbed Down the Nation (w/ Jessica Riedl)
Brookings scholar Jessica Riedl analyzes the DOGE debacle and the failure of Americans to make grown up choices about spending and taxes.
Mar 16, 2026 • 46min
Candace Owens Is Tearing MAGA Apart (w/ Will Sommer)
Will Sommer, investigative reporter and author of the False Flag newsletter who tracks right‑wing influencers and online extremism. He maps the new influencer networks and details Candace Owens's rise and factional fights within MAGA. He traces shifts at Turning Point USA, mainstreaming of extremists, and how personalities reshape political power.
Mar 9, 2026 • 42min
Why Primaries Reward The Most Extreme Candidates (w/ Nick Troiano)
Mona Charen talks with Unite America’s Nick Troiano about the structural problem driving America’s political polarization: the primary system.
Mar 3, 2026 • 54min
Tom Nichols: There Are 500 Ways This War Goes Wrong
In this emergency episode of The Mona Charen Show, Tom Nichols lays out the tremendous risks Trump has taken with Iran war.Go to https://Quince.com/MONA for free shipping and 365-day returns. That's a full year to wear it and love it. And you will.
Mar 1, 2026 • 1h 3min
Kleptocrat-in-Chief (w/ Alexander Cooley & Daniel Nexon)
NOTE: This episode was recorded before the US/Israel attack on Iran.Two professors describe the staggering corruption Trump is normalizing and how it is affecting foreign policy. Alexander Cooley and Daniel Nexon join The Mona Charen Show to discuss their Foreign Affairs piece “The Age of Kleptocracy.” Go to https://Quince.com/MONA for free shipping and 365-day returns. That's a full year to wear it and love it. And you will.
Feb 23, 2026 • 1h 1min
Health in the Time of MAGA (w/ Atul Gawande)
Dr. Atul Gawande reports on what cuts to USAID are doing to the world’s most vulnerable, as well as how that is coming home. Also a look back at Covid and reflections on end of life care.
Feb 16, 2026 • 52min
The Real Conflict is Between Decent and Indecent (w/ David French)
David French discusses culture wars morphing into hot wars, partisanship, and the idiocy of threatening Greenland.Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MONACHAREN at https://www.oneskin.co/MONACHAREN #oneskinpod
Feb 9, 2026 • 57min
Why Minneapolis Gives Hope (w/ Peter Wehner)
Mona is joined by the Atlantic’s Peter Wehner to discuss the psychology of MAGA and why defeating them must be the precursor to depolarization.Wildgrain is offering $30 off your first box - PLUS free Croissantsfor life - when you go to https://Wildgrain.com/MONA to start your subscription today.
Feb 2, 2026 • 53min
How Can I Save Democracy? (w/ Ian Bassin)
Protect Democracy founder Ian Bassin talks about victories and setbacks in the effort to thwart authoritarianism America-style, and what each person can do to preserve free and fair elections going forward.Go to https://Quince.com/MONA for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.
Jan 30, 2026 • 56min
Is a Blue Wave Coming in November? (w/ Dave Wasserman)
Dave Wasserman joins Mona to discuss what’s changed and what hasn’t since 2018, including electoral map, redistricting, public discontent, and likely turnout.
