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 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
- What Really MattersBibi the GreatThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the arrest of Pavel Durov in France, the revision of U.S. job growth statistics, RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard endorsing Donald Trump, and how Benjamin Netanyahu secured his place in Jewish and world historyAugust 30, 2024
- What Really MattersKamala’s Economics and Alexander HamiltonThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss U.S. military plans for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Democratic criticisms of Kamala Harris’ economic plan, the darkening political picture in East Germany, and why Hamiltonianism is the best way forward in American domestic and foreign policyAugust 23, 2024
- What Really MattersDoes Soft Power Actually Matter?This week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Kamala Harris’ price control plan, America’s new class of Pacific missiles, the reemergence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and why soft power isn’t what it used to beAugust 15, 2024
- What Really MattersWalz, Sinwar, Biden, StocksThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss stock market trouble, Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, the Israel-Iran escalation ladder, and what Kamala Harris’ VP pick does and doesn’t meanAugust 9, 2024
- What Really MattersDing Dong! Haniyeh and Shukr Are DeadThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Biden’s plan to remake the Supreme Court, why housing is the most important political issue in the United States, Russian paramilitaries getting hammered in Africa, and how Israel’s assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah’s top dogs could change the region and U.S. policyAugust 2, 2024
- What Really MattersThe Foreign Policy of Kamala HarrisThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss Chinese and Russian warplanes off the coast of Alaska, Kamala Harris’ snub of Benjamin Netanyahu, whether the artificial intelligence bubble might pop, and what foreign policy would look like under a President Kamala HarrisJuly 25, 2024
- What Really MattersTrump, Vance, and the Shot Heard Round the WorldThis week, Walter and Jeremy discuss the rise of J.D. Vance, America’s nervous allies in Europe and Asia, Silicon Valley’s break right, and the near-slaying of Donald TrumpJuly 18, 2024