ChinaTalk

I’m usually as impressed by the quality of the guests as I’m, like, disappointed by, like, like, Jordan.

Yes it is

Jordan covers China from angles I haven’t found in other podcasts, and his passion and sincerity are contagious. His interests are many and his questions are thoughtful. I appreciate Jordan’s ability to have hard-nosed policy discussions without being a perma-hawk and while retaining some sense of wonder about and kinship with a country that fascinates him. I also appreciate how many episodes feel like organic conversations, with some but not too much preparation. On occasion, however, this leads to a tendency to ramble, and to gaps in the flow of the show. I (reluctantly) took a star off for that as well as for the fact that a lot of episodes lately have touched on China only tangentially, if they have at all. It’s natural for a host to stray once he has a platform, especially when he is as curious and knowledgeable as Jordan. But a show named ChinaTalk should always have China at its core. A show here and there about semiconductors, AI, and US defense policy is welcome enough, and these can be tied back to China without too much trouble. Don’t do it too hastily, though, and don’t do it too often. Other episodes, like the recent one about macroeconomics (how worried should we be about US wage inflation? To what degree should central banks experiment?) with Jason Furman, stray a little too far.

The guests are great and the topics are very timely. However, as a host, Jordan Schneiderman is a trainwreck. If you did a word cloud based on his portion of the dialogue, the words ‘Um’ ‘Like’ and ‘You Know’ would crowd out all other words. He also doesn’t come across as highly prepared, will go on a long soliloquy before asking the guests “do you agree?”, and overall just sounds unprofessional (see Rahm Emmanuel replying to facile questions with “is that really what you want to ask me” or Dmitri Alperovich telling him he is wrongly interpreting Soviet Cold War history). I want to like the show but he makes it very hard.