What the Hell Is Going On

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WTH Is Going On at the DNC? Fox News’s Jessica Tarlov Explains Aug 22, 2024

Show notes

The Democratic National Convention is full steam ahead in Chicago as the Democrats enthusiastically rally around their new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. However, amidst celebrity performances and impassioned speeches by former presidents, it can be easy to forget that Harris’s approval rating trailed even Biden’s dismal record up until recently. Moreover, Harris’s sole policy speech of her candidacy baffled even those in her own party. Will Harris be forced to define her policy platform before November? Or will she continue to climb in polls by running off of “vibes and joy”?

Jessica Tarlov joined FOX News Channel as a contributor in 2017 and serves as a rotating co-host of The Five. She also offers political analysis across FNC and FOX Business Network’s programming. In addition to her role on FNC, Tarlov serves as the Vice President of Research and Consumer Insight for Bustle Digital Group. Previously, she served as a senior strategist with Schoen Consulting and worked as a Democratic pollster.

Find the transcript here.

WTH Extra! Why Do Voters Hate the Biden-Harris Economy? Dany and Marc Explain Aug 20, 2024

Show notes

In today’s WTH Extra! episode, Dany and Marc discuss Marc’s latest Washington Post column, Two data points explain why voters hate the Biden-Harris economy. Kamala Harris’s previous attempts to defend Bidenomics have bombed with voters, and for good reason. During the Biden-Harris administration, Americans’ household savings have plummeted while personal debt levels have skyrocketed to the highest levels ever recorded. Yet instead of learning from her mistakes, Harris’s recent economic proposals double down on the policies that unleashed the very inflation Americans are struggling with today.

Read Marc’s column in the Washington Post here.

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WTH Should I Read This Summer ... LIVE! “Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization” by Brad Wilcox. Aug 15, 2024

Show notes

Closing out What the Hell’s summer book series, Brad Wilcox discusses his book Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization (Broadside Books, 2024) in front of a live audience of the very people on whom Wilcox hopes to impress his message: College students. Today, Americans are getting married and starting families older and older, if at all. But America’s youth might be surprised to learn that not only are married people more likely to be more financially stable and successful in their careers than their unmarried peers, but they are generally happier and feel more fulfilled as well. The data is there, we should all Get Married.

Brad Wilcox is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he directs The Home Economics Project. Wilcox is also a Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, where he directs the National Marriage Project, and is a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. He is the author of Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization (Broadside Books, 2024).

Find Get Married here.

Find the transcript here.

WTH Should I Read This Summer? “The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction” By Meghan Cox Gurdon Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of What the Hell’s summer book series, the WSJ’s Meghan Cox Gurdon discusses the wonders of audiobooks, reading aloud, and her book The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction (Harper, 2019). The idea of the “talking book” has been with us for almost a century, so why do so many consider audiobooks or books read aloud to us to be cheating? Not only does reading aloud to children and adults bring people closer together, but hearing a book out loud makes it come to life in a special way for the listener. Reading aloud also has incredible benefits for young children and audiobooks have allowed literature to become more accessible to us all.

Meghan Cox Gurdon is a weekly columnist for the books pages of The Wall Street Journal, covering children’s literature as well as a range of titles for adults. A former foreign correspondent and a magna cum laude graduate of Bowdoin College, Meghan has five children with her husband, the English journalist Hugo Gurdon. She is the author of The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction (Harper 2019).

Find The Enchanted Hour here.

Find the transcript here.

WTH Should I Read This Summer? “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier” By Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey Aug 01, 2024

Show notes

Kicking off What the Hell’s summer book series, Arthur Brooks discusses his new bestseller with Oprah Winfrey, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier (Portfolio, 2023). While happiness is traditionally seen as a field studied by philosophers and religious leaders, Brooks uses science and data to answer the question, WTH can I do to become happier? America is facing a happiness crisis. And while this may not come as a surprise, by prioritizing real relationships over social media, giving of yourself to others over selfishness, and acknowledging that you must take control of your life over waiting for the world to change for you, anyone can become a happier person.

Arthur Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. He was previously the president of the American Enterprise Institute for ten years, where he held the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Free Enterprise. He is the author of thirteen books and writes the popular How to Build a Life column at The Atlantic.

Find Build the Life You Want here.

Find the transcript here.

WTH Extra! Why Did No One Challenge Harris? Dany and Marc Explain Jul 29, 2024

Show notes

In today’s WTH Extra! episode, Dany and Marc discuss Marc’s latest Washington Post column, Harris is a gaffe-prone leftist. Why didn’t anyone challenge her?Vice President Kamala Harris is sure to be at the top of the Democratic ticket come November. But Democrats may end up with buyers’ remorse as voters get to know her over the course of the next hundred days. Harris was the most liberal senator during her time in Congress and is prone to public slip-ups, yet does not have the excuse of age. When the honeymoon phase is over, Democrats might wish they had had a real primary after all.

Read Marc’s column in the Washington Post here.

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WTH: Biden Out. Harris In. Ruy Teixeira Explains. Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

President Biden's sudden withdrawal from the 2024 election may have come as a surprise, but his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party's coalescing around the VP to be at the top of their ticket is not. The party of identity politics is now taking a huge gamble with an untested and unpopular likely nominee for president. Not only has Harris been less popular than Biden throughout his presidency, but she's entering the general election with a dismal electoral track record and will be forced to defend the current administration's unpopular policies. How will candidate Harris perform against Trump on the national stage? And how might a President Harris continue or change Biden's policy agenda?

Ruy Teixeira is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the transformation of party coalitions and the future of American electoral politics. Before joining AEI, he was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Teixeira is co-author of the books The Emerging Democratic Majority (Scribner, 2002) and Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes (Henry Holt & Company, 2023).

Read the transcript here.

WTH: How Will the Trump Assassination Attempt Impact the Election? Brit Hume Explains Jul 16, 2024

Show notes

Following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life in Pennsylvania, the former president is moving full steam ahead with his campaign as the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee. Trump started the convention Monday off with a bang, announcing his VP choice, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) – a controversial decision that promises handwringing around the globe. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign continues to flounder, struggling to reset post-debate disaster, with Democrats still speaking privately about a forced exit strategy for the ailing incumbent. How might Vance help or hurt Trump’s chances in November? And how are both parties shifting their tones following the tragic events of the weekend?

Brit Hume currently serves as a chief political analyst for FOX News Channel (FNC). He acts as a regular panelist on FOX's weekly public affairs program, FOX News Sunday, and contributes to all major political coverage. Before joining FOX News, Hume was with ABC News for 23 years and served as ABC’s chief White House correspondent.

Read the transcript here.

WTH Extra! How Can Trump Make NATO Great Again? Dany and Marc Discuss Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

In today’s WTH Extra! episode, Dany and Marc discuss Marc’s latest Washington Post column, How Trump Can Make NATO Great Again. While in office, President Trump pushed allies to meet their NATO commitments, leaving the alliance militarily stronger than it had been since the Cold War. But with a myriad of new threats facing the West, NATO is in an urgent need of a MAGA makeover that builds on the accomplishments of Trump’s first term.

Read Marc’s column in the Washington Post here.

Subscribe to our substack here.

WTH: The WSJ’s Annie Linskey Explains Her Reporting on Biden’s Cognitive Decline Jul 09, 2024

Show notes

On June 4, Wall Street Journal reporters Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes broke the groundbreaking story Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping. In response, Democrats and the media alike called it a “hit piece” against Biden designed to get Trump re-elected. But when Biden appeared on stage against Trump in their first presidential debate, America saw a frail and elderly president who before had only existed behind closed doors. Will Biden be the Democratic nominee for president? And how did the media help cover up Biden’s now obvious cognitive decline?

Annie Linskey is a White House reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Before joining the Journal, she worked for the Washington Post as a White House reporter and was the lead reporter on Democrats for the Boston Globe's Washington bureau during the 2016 campaign. She also reported on the Obama White House for Bloomberg News and BusinessWeek.

Read the transcript here.

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