What the Hell Is Going On

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The American Enterprise Institute’s Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen address the questions we’re all asking in their podcast, “What the Hell Is Going On?” In conversational, informative and irreverent episodes, Pletka and Thiessen interview policymakers and experts, asking tough, probing questions about the most important foreign policy and security challenges facing the world today.

  1. 1D AGO

    WTH: Trump's Capital Crime Crackdown. Rafael Mangual Explains.

    According to major news outlets, the capital of the free world is under federal occupation by Donald Trump. Here in D.C., the 30-day public emergency has expired and Pam Bondi’s “takeover” of the MPD has ended, but National Guard troops aren’t going anywhere with an extended deployment to Nov. 30th. Their presence has led to a major reduction in violent crime, but what happens when they vacate? Is this something that could or should be replicated in other cities across the country? Beyond this highly successful stop gap measure, how can we keep our cities safe? Rafael Mangual is the Nick Ohnell Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a member of the Council on Criminal Justice. He has authored and coauthored a number of MI reports and op-eds on issues ranging from urban crime and jail violence to broader matters of criminal and civil justice reform. In 2025, he was appointed to serve a second term as a member of the New York State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to our Substack here.

    56 min

  2. SEP 11

    WTH There Is No "State of Palestine". Elliott Abrams Explains.

    After splashy announcements from our European, Australian, and Canadian allies, later this month, the UN will vote to “recognize a Palestinian State”. While theatrical and without legal import, the vote can only be understood as a reward for terrorism and October 7th. Hamas and too many Palestinians have no interest in state building, institutions, democratic elections, or taking part in the “two state solution” and never have. And yet, while Hamas is still holding hostages and blocking humanitarian aid, the UN is displaying its bias against Israel. Will a “state” ever satisfy Palestinian nationalism? Are European leaders just making a play for domestic favor? Will the Jordanian option ever see the sun? And if we wanted to, how would we return to status quo ante October 7? Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Chairman of the Tikvah Fund, and the Chairman of the Vandenberg Coalition. He previously served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor in the administration of President George W. Bush, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East for the White House, and as Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela in Donald Trump’s first administration. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to our Substack here.

    50 min

  3. SEP 4

    WTH Is the Path Out of the Wilderness for the Democratic Party? Jay Cost Explains.

    The intersectional coalition the Democrats put together in 2024, comprised of the 1%, coastal, corporate, elites and the 20% on 80/20 issues, is failing to register new voters or execute at the polls. While they abandon their historic constituencies and adopt more radical left wing cultural ambitions, it’s not clear how the Democratic Party will rebuild. Between inflation and immigration, the Party has antagonized enough voters that they now face a monster structural problem for elections to come. We ask Jay to contextualize the history, how they got here, and how this roadmap will affect the gerrymandering debate, policy, and who we’ll see on the ballot in 2028. Jay Cost is the Gerald R. Ford nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on political theory, Congress, and elections. He is also a visiting scholar at Grove City College and a contributing editor at the Washington Examiner. He writes and speaks frequently on American elections, with a special attention on placing contemporary trends in historical context. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to our Substack here.

    1h 11m

  4. AUG 28

    WTH Should I Read This Summer? "The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature" by Charlie English

    Closing out What the Hell’s summer book series, we offer a timely reminder of the value of free speech and critical thinking from a time when it wasn’t taken for granted. Charlie English discusses his book, The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature (Random House, 2025). Charlie chronicles George Minden’s 1980s covert intelligence operation that smuggled literature into Poland from beyond the Iron Curtain. From its Manhattan headquarters, Minden’s “book club” secretly sent ten million banned titles into the East and combated communist censorship, creating a vibrant culture in Poland that would outlast the toppled Soviet regime. What is the value of printed word in our society? Can ideas beat out on the battlefield? Charlie reminds us they can. Charlie English is a London-based non-fiction writer and the author of three internationally acclaimed books. He has appeared on NPR, the BBC and Channel 4, written for numerous newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Independent, and given talks at Hay, Jaipur and the Royal Geographical Society, where he is a fellow. Formerly, he was Head of International News at Guardian News and Media. Find The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature here. Find the transcript here.

    46 min

  5. AUG 21

    WTH Should I Read This Summer? "Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archeologists are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations" by Sam Kean

    In the next episode of our annual What the Hell’s summer book series, we are time traveling around the world with experimental archeologist, Sam Kean, who shares with us his latest science narrative novel, Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations (Little Brown and Company, 2025). Sam took us on an adventure of the senses, back through the history of mankind and across the globe, from the Egyptian pyramids to the temples of Mexico. “Above all,” he writes, “I hope this book can reveal what unites us today with people from long ago, and help us understand that they were just people, no different than us.” WTH can we learn from living like those in the past? And WTH do caterpillars taste like? Sam Kean is the New York Times-bestselling author of seven books that combine history and science. His stories have appeared in The Best American Science and Nature Writing, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Slate, among other places, and his work has been featured on NPR. His books The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist’s Thumb were national bestsellers, and both were named an Amazon “Top 5” science books of the year. Find Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations here. Find the transcript here.

    48 min

  6. AUG 14

    WTH Should I Read This Summer? "The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines" by Jonathan Horn

    In this episode of What the Hell’s summer book series, bestselling author, Jonathan Horn, discusses his new book, The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines (Scribner, 2025). In it, Jonathan tells the tale of lesser-known American Pacific Theater hero, General Jonathan Wainwright. General Wainwright’s story is a lesson of the importance of keeping your word and honor. As a leader, he says, “no other course of action would be honorable but to stay with my men and share their fate.” What else came of the man left behind? What led him to his infamous surrender? And beyond the medal they share, how should the two generals be remembered? Jonathan Horn is the author of Washington’s End and the Robert E. Lee biography The Man Who Would Not Be Washington, which was a Washington Post bestseller. Jonathan has written for outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times Disunion series, New York Post, The Daily Beast, National Review, and POLITICO. A former White House presidential speechwriter, Jonathan served under President George W. Bush.  Find The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines here. Find the transcript here.

    45 min

  7. AUG 7

    WTH Should I Read This Summer? "Tides of Fortune: The Rise and Decline of Great Militaries" by Zack Cooper

    Kicking off our annual What the Hell’s summer book series, Zach Cooper discusses his new book, Tides of Fortune: The Rise and Decline of Great Militaries (Yale University Press, 2025). How will the United States and China evolve militarily in the years ahead? Many experts believe the answer to this question is largely unknowable. But in his book, Zack Cooper argues that the American and Chinese militaries are following a well-trodden path. For centuries, the world’s most powerful militaries have adhered to a remarkably consistent pattern of behavior, determined largely by their leaders’ perceptions of relative power shifts. WTH is China on this path? And importantly, WTH is the US? Zack Cooper is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies US strategy in Asia, including alliance dynamics and US-China competition. He also teaches at Princeton University and serves as chair of the board of the Open Technology Fund. Before joining AEI, Dr. Cooper was the senior fellow for Asian security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Find Tides of Fortune: The Rise and Fall of Great Militaries here. Find the transcript here.

    43 min

  8. JUL 31

    WTH Is Responsible for Hunger in Gaza? Matti Friedman Explains.

    Almost two years after the October 7th attacks, facts about the state of life in Gaza are almost impossible to glean from the daily news. Much of what used to be mainstream journalism has become political activism, and Palestinian allied NGOs, UN organizations, and international press are using selective information as a weapon. Are Palestinians starving? Or is this just another lie in the war on Israel? Matti Friedman joins us to talk about his important piece on Gaza for The Free Press. Matti Friedman is a Jerusalem-based columnist for The Free Press. He’s an award-winning journalist and author of four nonfiction books, of which the most recent is Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai. A former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section, he previously wrote a monthly feature for Tablet Magazine. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, the Atlantic, and elsewhere. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to our Substack here.

    1h 4m
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About

The American Enterprise Institute’s Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen address the questions we’re all asking in their podcast, “What the Hell Is Going On?” In conversational, informative and irreverent episodes, Pletka and Thiessen interview policymakers and experts, asking tough, probing questions about the most important foreign policy and security challenges facing the world today.

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