It’s a (Red) Trap!
This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the killing of Sinwar, how AI is fueling demand for nuclear energy, why the media is the least trusted institution in America, and how the Chinese Communist Party got caught in a trap of its own making
This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the killing of Sinwar, how AI is fueling demand for nuclear energy, why the media is the least trusted institution in America, and how the Chinese Communist Party got caught in a trap of its own making.
Each week on What Really Matters, Walter Russell Mead and Jeremy Stern help you understand the news, decide what matters and what doesn’t, and enjoy following the story of America and the world more than you do now. For more, check out tabletmag.com/whatreallymatters. You can read Walter Russell Mead’s Tablet columns here and check out more from Tablet here.
- What Really MattersTrump’s Deal With Moscow?This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss fears of a U.S. recession, universities abandoning DEI under pressure from the White House, a new Chinese railway in Africa, and how Trump’s approach to Putin compares with Roosevelt’s to Stalin, and Nixon’s to BrezhnevMarch 14, 2025
- What Really MattersTrump, China, and the Tariff WarsThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the U.S. cutting off intelligence sharing with Ukraine, shutting down American consulates overseas, TSMC’s $100 billion investment in Arizona, and Trump’s on again, off again tariffs on U.S. allies and enemiesMarch 7, 2025
- What Really MattersTrump’s Establishment Russia PolicyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the Trump-Zelensky mineral deal, the rise of Christian faith among American youth, Germany’s election results, and why Trump’s Russia policy is also Obama’s, Merkel’s, and Biden’s, only with greater chance of successFebruary 27, 2025
- What Really MattersWhich Way Euro Man?This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the White House scrapping environmental regulations, the Trump-Modi bromance, the New York Times’ adoption of AI tools, and the beginning of the end of the trans-Atlantic allianceFebruary 19, 2025
- What Really MattersJFK, DOGE, China, JewsThis week, Walter and Jeremy talk the FBI’s Kennedy assassination files, a constitutional crisis manqué, antisemitism among the young, and how Trump is hoisting China on its own green petardFebruary 13, 2025
- What Really MattersWhat Is Foreign Aid For?This week, Walter and Jeremy talk Donald Trump’s plans for Gaza, buying out the CIA bureaucracy, the problems of the NGO complex, and the controversy around USAIDFebruary 7, 2025
- What Really MattersWalter’s Holiday Gift Buying GuideIn the last episode of 2024, Walter gives his picks for what you should read and learn next yearDecember 13, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Syrian QuagmireThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the prospects for a Trump-brokered cease-fire in Ukraine, South Korea’s martial law scare, the fall of the French government, and what the latest developments in Syria tell us about Israel, Russia, and AmericaDecember 6, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Trump Team: Season 2This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Trump’s promise to China, Mexico, and Canada with tariffs, his attempts to solve the fentanyl crisis, and what Walter saw and heard in a remote Indian hilltop town on the border of Bhutan and ChinaNovember 26, 2024
- What Really MattersTrump and the Spirit of Davy CrockettThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss how Donald Trump won over Gen Z, Latino, and blue-state urban voters, and how the history of the American South, Latin American populism, and Davy Crockett-style mass politics explain the greatest comeback in American political historyNovember 8, 2024
- What Really MattersAmerica’s Crisis of LeadershipThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss voter stratification by education and gender, why America’s bipartisan China strategy is faltering, Biden’s October surprise ‘garbage’ gaffe, how the United States got itself into a generational leadership crisis, and predictions for election dayNovember 1, 2024
- What Really MattersUkraine’s Future Under Kamala and TrumpThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss America’s new lithium wealth, leaking Israeli war plans to Iran, Chicago’s ongoing financial collapse, and how the war in Ukraine would end up under Kamala Harris or Donald TrumpOctober 25, 2024
- What Really MattersIt’s a (Red) Trap!This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the killing of Sinwar, how AI is fueling demand for nuclear energy, why the media is the least trusted institution in America, and how the Chinese Communist Party got caught in a trap of its own makingOctober 18, 2024
- What Really MattersOne Year of October 7This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss White House frustration with Israeli war plans, a new Republican advantage in party identification, Democrats losing ground with Arab American voters, and how Oct. 7 changed the worldOctober 11, 2024
- What Really MattersBiden’s Magical Unicorn DiplomacyThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Zelensky’s visit to Washington, why Gen Z men are more religious than their female peers, how U.S. airstrikes are helping the Houthis, and what exactly President Biden and his national security team still don’t understand about diplomacySeptember 27, 2024
- What Really MattersAmerica Is Sleepwalking Into World War IIIThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss exploding Hezbollah pagers, the Fed’s interest rate cut, Gavin Newsom vs. AI, and how the United States is stumbling blind into world warSeptember 20, 2024
- What Really MattersHow Sept. 11 Still Shapes Our PoliticsThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the Harris-Trump debate, Iran selling ballistic missiles to Russia, Europe’s never-ending decline, and how Sept. 11 continues to shape American and world historySeptember 13, 2024
- What Really MattersTucker Finds HitlerThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Joe Biden’s move to block the sale of U.S. Steel, Chinese spies in New York state, the Hamas massacre of Israeli hostages, and the larger meaning of Tucker Carlson’s crank historical revisionismSeptember 6, 2024