Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Alex Wagner: The Steal Sep 27, 2026

Show notes

For critics of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, much attention and ire is focused on the new justices appointed by President Donald Trump. But journalist Alex Wagner says the key president to note is Ronald Reagan, whose 1980 election marked a distinct right turn for American governance.

Wagner, host of Crooked Media’s “Runaway Country,” says Reagan’s election marked the return to power of the conservative right after many decades on the fringes: Tax cuts, aggressive foreign policy, and law and order would soon become the cornerstones of Reagan’s agenda. But, behind the scenes, a select group of administration officials and ideological allies had their eyes set on something much more valuable: an institution with the power to shape the country’s legal, cultural and existential identity, long after any presidential term ended.

Wagner says California’s own Ed Meese, an Alameda County district attorney, lawyer and aide to Reagan from his days as governor, knew exactly what he had to do to seize the Supreme Court: get as many judges on the bench as possible, and make sure they were as conservative as he was on issues like abortion rights, taxes and criminal justice. Working in parallel to achieve the same goal were a band of fellow true believers: Paul Weyrich, a firebrand organizer; Joe Coors, the beer magnate whose fortune funded many of Weyrich’s efforts; and Robert Bork, the towering legal intellect of the right and an important mentor to a few young law students starting a new organization called The Federalist Society.

By the end of the decade, these men would change the face of the American judiciary forever. Join us as Wagner draws on the work in her new book The Steal to go into the closed-door meetings, public nomination hearings, and back rooms of American political power to reveal the story behind one of the most significant moments in American history, and how it affects us to this day.

This content has EXPLICIT language.

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Recipe for Impact: How Sunnydale Market’s Social Enterprise Model Works Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

What happens when community knowledge, nonprofit purpose, business expertise, and long-term philanthropy come together to solve a basic neighborhood need?

San Francisco’s Sunnydale Market offers a compelling and nutritious answer.

Created in response to residents’ love of neighborhood, and their need for fresh and affordable groceries, the Sunnydale Market is catalyzed by community voices, the nonprofit 18 Reasons, and the for-profit Bi-Rite Family of Businesses. The Sunnydale Market partnership finds its home in a larger redevelopment made possible by Mercy Housing, Related Companies, and HOPE SF.

It is important that this partnership is made financially possible by a long-term commitment from Crankstart. Crankstart funding covers core operating costs so that fresh groceries can be offered to the Sunnydale community at wholesale cost. Sunnydale Market will anchor a thriving neighborhood hub, provide new and better jobs, and attract customers and visitors to Sunnydale to boost other neighborhood businesses and groups.

The Social Impact Forum will ask whether this promising model can create a market that will endure and that can be replicated elsewhere, while also considering community ownership and intergenerational wealth creation as important reference points in the broader social-enterprise landscape.

You’re invited to be part of this warm group discussion, and exchanging ideas with others over the subsequent community reception, with food and beverages provided by Bi-Rite.

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Francis Fukuyama: In the Realm of the Last Man Sep 26, 2026

Show notes

Francis Fukuyama, a leading public intellectual—including repeated popular appearances at the Club—is well-known for his significant, bestselling works of political philosophy and history. Now, for the first time, he examines his own political and intellectual evolution across five transformative decades.

In his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, Fukuyama invites us to follow him from the circle of students around the conservative intellectual Allan Bloom at Cornell, into the halls of power in Washington and at the RAND Corporation, and into private conversations with world leaders from Muammar Qaddhafi to China’s powerful elite. Fukuyama touches on his family’s story, including his relatives’ internment during World War II along with other Japanese Americans. And, in surprisingly personal terms, he reflects on the experiences that led him to reevaluate his own thinking, most notably his dramatic public break with the neoconservative movement over the invasion of Iraq.

Join us as Francis Fukuyama returns to the Commonwealth Club World Affairs stage to share his look at his own personal history as political history―the story of a life that illuminates the troubled fate of democracy and liberalism over the last 50 years. Returning to and developing the concepts that have been central to his work―recognition, thymos, trust, identity, human nature, institutions, and the Last Man―Fukuyama brings the depth and richness of personal experience and pathbreaking scholarship to illuminate the crises of the 21st century.

Come see how a major thinker grapples in real time with the convulsions of history—and looks ahead to our possible future.

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Emily Wilson, Translotor of the Iliad and the Odyssey: Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

Emily Wilson, whose translations of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad have captured a generation’s imagination, joins us virtually to explore the complicated terrain of reading and writing about the ancient past. Drawing on 20 years of scholarship and teaching, Wilson reviews the difficult choices that translators must make, the pleasures of finding new solutions to old problems, and the inevitable frustrations of never fully capturing what is in the original work.

Ranging from the politics of Helen of Troy to the obscenities of Aristophanes, from Roman imitations of Greek models to contemporary debates over “foreignizing” and “domesticizing” styles, Wilson examines how modern norms of gender, sexuality, violence, humor and power complicate our readings of ancient works. And how, even though translation always risks denaturing what is unique and strange about the ancient world, it continues to enrich our understanding of it.

In Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea, Wilson has created an introduction to the wonders of Greek and Roman literature, an invitation to encounter ancient cultures anew, and a manifesto for the value of translation in a rapidly changing world.

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CLIMATE ONE: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Won't Stop Talking About Climate Sep 25, 2026

Show notes

How should Democrats campaign on climate? Some are quietly shelving climate-specific language ahead of the midterms in favor of terms like “energy crisis” and “affordability.” But Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island has been talking about climate change on the Senate floor for more than a decade, and he has no plans to stop now.

“The most important thing that can be accomplished on the climate front is to end the pollute-for-free business model of the fossil fuel industry. It is morally wrong, it is economically wrong, it is an environmental sin, and there's literally no merit to it, which is why the fossil fuel industry has to prop it up with all this dark money and lies,” he says.

Plus, geothermal energy is having a moment – getting interest from data center developers and support from the Trump administration at a time when other renewable energy sources are getting the ax. What should we expect from the industry in the next five years?

Guests:

Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator (D-RI)

Jamie Beard, Founder and Executive Director, Project Innerspace

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction

02:00 – Sen. Whitehouse on his “Time to Wake Up” speeches

05:40 – Influence of the Citizens United decision on bipartisan climate action

07:45 – Progress on permitting reform bill

12:50 – Climate hushing and its impact on the midtems

14:00 – People want to hear more about climate change

18:00 – Off-shore wind projects getting on the grid in Rhode Island

23:00 – Sen. Whitehouse on data centers and their impacts

27:30 – What’s possible if Democrats win big at midterms

34:40 – Jamie Beard gives update on the state of the geothermal energy industry

43:30 – The odd and complicated politics of Trump administration supporting geothermal

46:00 – Potential impact of Geothermal Energy Advancement Act

51:00 – Geothermal’s bigger price is heat, not electricity

58:00 – Climate One More Thing

For transcripts, show notes, and related links, visit our ⁠episode page⁠.

***

Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠

Also: We’ll be having an electric conversation on October 14 at 6 p.m. between PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and California State Senator Scott Wiener about energy affordability, outages, and whether cities like San Francisco are ready to break up with the investor-owned utility model. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠

On October 20th at 6 p.m. join us, in partnership with The Redford Center, for a screening of the short film In Earth We Trust, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker, the film’s central figure, and other faith leaders. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠.

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YT’s Carlos Lozada: America Has Become a “Dangerous Nation” Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada has spent years examining the books, ideas and figures that shape American politics. Now, as America marks its 250th anniversary, he turns to the country’s global role. In Lozada’s view, the United States has gone from the leader of the free world to a “dangerous nation.”
Whether in the war in Iran, the jailing of Venezuela’s president, or Trump’s stated desire to “take Cuba,” Lozada sees a consistent pattern. Under Trump, he writes, U.S. leadership has been remade “from authority to domination, from persuasion to bullying, from nurturing alliances to wrecking them.”
Lozada argues that Pax Americana has given way to “Lax Americana”—a superpower that still expects the benefits of global leadership while shedding the obligations that once came with it.
Before joining The New York Times in 2022, Lozada served as The Washington Post’s nonfiction book critic, Outlook editor, national security editor and economics editor. Previously, he was the managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine. He’s the author of What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era and The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians. He joins us for a timely conversation about America’s changing role in the world and what it means for democracy at home.

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Jon Else: The Rise and Fall of Atomic Bombs Sep 20, 2026

Show notes

Come hear the story of a single nuclear bomb’s deep origins, brief life during the Cold War, and lasting environmental and political legacies―and how some are viewing the entire sweep of the American nuclear enterprise. A grave reminder of the frightening truth about nuclear testing, as international norms waver.

As the United States and Russia let one treaty after another falter and expire, Jon Else reminds us of the terrible price of those tests. In his new book Frenchman Flat, Else recounts the science, politics and human experience of those who developed nuclear weapons, suffered the consequences of their testing, and fought for and against arms control between the 1940s and 1990s. The throughline of this vast, complex story is a 37-kiloton atomic bomb dubbed “Priscilla” that was exploded above a custom-built mini-civilization at Frenchman Flat, Nevada, in 1957. Jon Else uses Priscilla and the bombs that preceded and followed to highlight the terrifying ways we have considered to blow ourselves to bits with nuclear weapons, how near and often we came to self-annihilation, how we managed to avoid it, and what we did to the planet and to our own bodies in the process, from wartime Los Alamos to the suspension of U.S. and Soviet nuclear testing in 1992.

In the two decades after Hiroshima, a pair of dramatic stories unfolded alongside each other: the scramble to produce ever more powerful nuclear weapons, and the struggle to ban testing of those same weapons. The dramatic narrative takes in the physics of the megaton postwar bombs, the role of private industry, the near misses of the Cuban Missile Crisis and less well-known events, and the testimony of scientists, politicians, doctors, weapons developers, test-site workers, ranchers and families downwind of test sites.

Else reminds us how we have―so far―prevented nuclear war by deterrence, diplomacy and luck. It is for the moment a success story—and a warning.

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Sarah Longwell: How to Eat An Elephant Sep 19, 2026

Show notes

After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Sarah Longwell did what she's done nearly every week for the past eight years: She sat down with voters. She conducted hundreds of focus groups, listening to thousands of ordinary Americans―Republicans, Democrats, and the politically homeless―with the goal of understanding politics through the eyes of the people who will decide our country’s future.

American voters, and what they want for their country, are at the heart of her new book How to Eat an Elephant. Longwell, the founder of The Bulwark and a popular political communicator, lays out the playbook for building a coalition big enough, bold enough, and tough enough to defeat authoritarian populism for good. Not with a single election. Not by doing another poll or debating the benefits of being more progressive or more moderate, but by building something new: A modern pro-democracy movement that can create its own communications infrastructure―just like the right has done for decades―achieve narrative dominance, elevate more compelling leaders, and talk to voters like adults.

Drawing on her own unlikely political journey from a lesbian Republican operative to the vanguard of the anti-MAGA movement, Longwell makes an argument that is equal parts war manual and pep talk―with her personal and professional story woven throughout. With her trademark bluntness and humor, she explains exactly how we got here and, more important, what we must build next―all while directly quoting the most important but overlooked people in the country: the voters themselves.

Join us as she answers the question: How do you eat an elephant? One voter at a time, she says.

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Rethinking Homelessness Response: The Case for Belonging and Connection Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

The Social Impact Forum examines how promising approaches to social challenges translate into measurable results. This conversation will explore not only the role of belonging and connection in addressing homelessness, but also questions of effectiveness, accountability, duplication of existing services, and whether organizations practice the relational values they promote.

Homelessness is one of the most vexing issues in the social impact field. Despite countless attempts and huge budgets to address it, and everyone anxious for results, it persists. Many talk of housing first, what other inputs can achieve results, and how can they be measured?

Join moderator Kevin F. Adler, founder of Miracle Messages, for an intimate roundtable exploring a critical but often overlooked dimension of homelessness: the need for connection, relationships and belonging alongside housing and material support. Through lived experience, direct service, policy and systems-change perspectives, panelists Lawrence Lincoln, Khadijah Williams, Christina Garcia, and Miracle Messages founder Kevin F. Adler will discuss what it means to treat relationships as an essential intervention, not simply an outcome. Together, the conversation will examine how human connection can strengthen homelessness prevention and response, humanize social service systems, and shift the conversation from “housing first” to “housing AND belonging.”

A Social Impact Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

This program contains EXPLICIT Langauge.

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CLIMATE ONE: As the Midterms Approach, What’s Electrifying the Electorate? Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

As the 2026 midterms approach, voters are contending with concerns around affordability, the AI boom, and climate disruption in their daily lives. AI data centers have become the wild card in energy politics, driving up energy demand and utility bills, and playing a large role in a battleground House primary. A year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rolled back key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, many climate advocates assumed the energy transition was stalled out, but new research suggests otherwise.

How will climate and energy shape the ballot box this year? And what's it like to campaign on those issues in a swing state?

William Lawrence, Candidate, US Congress MI-07; Co-founder, Sunrise Movement

Leah Stokes, Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara; Author, “The Carbon Wave”

Lily Bermel, Visiting Fellow, Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy.

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our ⁠⁠episode page⁠⁠ at ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:25 William Lawrence on campaign messaging

00:05:48 William Lawrence on climate and data centers

00:08:05 William Lawrence on giving people more agency

00:13:21 William Lawrence on addressing decarbonization and affordability

00:16:41 Leah Stokes on rewriting narratives about having children in a climate crisis

00:18:55 Leah Stokes on what's driving climate hushing

00:26:36 Leah Stokes on working on climate policy and a high risk pregnancy

00:31:30 Leah Stokes on the trials and joys of working with others

00:36:17 Leah Stokes on what the future could hold after the midterms

00:39:42 Lily Bermel on the methodology of “Glass Half Full”

00:46:01 Lily Bermel on the other factors affecting solar and wind deployment

00:48:55 Lily Bermel on how energy could play into the midterm elections

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠⁠Sign up today⁠⁠.

***

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