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PODCAST

Firewall with Bradley Tusk

Politics, technology and the pursuit of happiness. Twice a week, Bradley Tusk, New York-based political strategist and venture investor, covers the collision between new ideas and the real world. His operating thesis is that you can"t understand tech today without understanding politics, too. Recorded at P&T Knitwear, his bookstore / podcast studio, 180 Orchard Street, New York City.

news news commentary

All Episodes

40:15

The World Needs Another Outlier Pope

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/22

The selection of the next pope, argues Bradley, isn't merely a religious decision but a face-off between competing global visions: one of fear-driven, zero-sum authoritarianism versus one rooted in love, abundance, and compassion. Church leaders have a chance to do more than celebrate Pope Francis’s legacy of moral courage — they can, and should, perpetuate it. Plus, how Chuck Schumer's own moment of moral courage could come back to bite him and why we need a new kind of punditry.This episode was

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47:28

Who Carries the Bloomberg Torch?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/17

In this new installment of The Race to Gracie Mansion, Bradley and Tom quiz investor and education reformer Whitney Tilson on his effort to position himself as the pro-growth, pro-business candidate. The best way to fix New York’s affordability crisis, Tilson argues, is by making the city a place where private investment thrives. He promises to tackle housing, schools, and crime with pragmatic reforms—streamlining regulations, welcoming charter schools, and restoring public order—while standing up

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32:36

Most Popular I've Ever Been

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/15

For 48 hours in Vancouver, Bradley felt like he had the world eating out of his hands. Whatwas going on? Let's just say it was a very good night for mobile voting. Plus, Bradley handicaps the Meta-FTC face-off, offers advice for staying grounded in these chaotic times, agrees with Hugo that paying federal taxes feels worse than ever this year and admits to getting into watching golf on TV for the first time.

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33:56

Manage The Whole City

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/10

"You're spending all this money," says mayoral candidate Michael Blake, "but you're not getting enough back." In the latest installment of The Race to Gracie Mansion, Firewall's co-production with City & State, the former NYS Assemblyman and DNC Vice Chair talks about helping New Yorkers make and keep more money, stopping Trump from meddling in city affairs, modernizing municipal services with AI, expanding humane mental health interventions, and fixing transit by recovering lost revenue and

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44:18

Bonus Episode: A Little Law That Will Go a Long Way

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/09

As New Yorkers know, scaffolding has become a serious scourge on our streets. What began as a safety measure has now done the opposite and helped to breed crime. But thanks to a recent legislative effort by New York City Council Member Keith Powers, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, scaffolding regulations have been reformed for the better, and New Yorkers can expect a lot less in their neighborhoods in the coming years. Powers and Bragg join

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44:41

Who Doesn’t Like Abundance?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/08

The hot new book in policy circles, Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, defines a new liberal agenda for promoting growth of housing, green energy and transit. Bob Greenlee joins Bradley to debate how these nice-sounding, well-intentioned ideas might actually get off the ground. Plus, Bradley has a memo for Democrats — lock in on what tariffs are doing to the economy and voters will punish Trump.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free

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42:24

Seizing the Middle Ground

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/03

Jim Walden is next up on The Race to Gracie Mansion, Firewall and City & State's series on the 2025 New York City mayor's race. Walden, a litigator and ex-prosecutor, presents himself as an untainted centrist with an emphasis on competence, recruiting top talent and learning from data. He talks to Bradley and Tom about a revival ofBroken Windows, getting serious about involuntary commitment, rehabbing NYCHA from the ground up, suing China over fentanyl smuggling, and setting up a truly

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01:00:56

How to Make Americans Happier

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/04/01

The just-released World Happiness Report places the United States 24th globally. That's the bad news. The good news is that a big part of our problem is based on a fixable misperception that we haveabout each other. Bradley outlines a new regimen of building bettervibes. Plus, he explains why Trump is shredding our system of checks and balances so easily (because it's actually reliant on norms, which Trump does not observe), how Trump's rejection of good politics should eventually sap his momentum,

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47:34

The Vindicator of Queens

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/27

In this first installment of The Race to Gracie Mansion — a series of interviews with New York City mayoral hopefuls, co-produced by Firewall and City & State —Jessica Ramos, State Senator from Queens, lays out her vision for a more equitable, better-run city. She takes on police deployment, fair fares, Cuomo’s comeback, and why she'll never promise childhood friends a job in her administration.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast

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38:49

How to Clean Up the Mess We Call Government

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/25

Bradley offers a framework for thinking abouthow government at all levels shouldapproach AI in terms of regulating it, deploying it and dealing with its ramifications. It doesn't have to be like DOGE, he argues, but there are definitely things we can learn from Elon. "The point of government," he says, "is to serve the collective needs of the people, not to employ a workforce of people."This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording

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50:09

Mean Streets

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/20

What makes the politics surrounding transportation so murky andinsidious? Nicole Gelinas, author ofMovement: New York's Long War to Take Back Its Streets from the Car, a Gotham Book Prize nominee, talks to Bradley aboutthe hidden forces keeping mass transit in check, how environmental regulations are usedas a scapegoat and why Amazon deliveries are killing the streets. Plus, she weighs in on Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral run and whether New Yorkers will trade scandal for competence.

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54:55

Does Elon Musk Know What He Doesn't Know?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/18

In word, no — not when it comes to the government, anyway. Bradley reviews the careful balance you need to strike when working in areas outside your expertise. Plus, he mulls over whether getting Western Europe to bulk up its armed forces will make theworld safer, how Chuck Schumer's self interest and the national interest coincided on his vote for the continuingresolution on the budget and (because we needed to lift the mood) what makes a great cover version of a pop song.LIVE SHOW: Join Bradley

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54:01

Who’s for Involuntary Confinement?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/14

A new poll reveals what New Yorkers really think about the state of the city—and the results might surprise you.Kicking off theRace to Gracie Mansionseries, Bradley and guest co-host Tom Allon (City & StatePublisher) break down the largest study of NYC voters in years with the people behind it: John Della Volpe (Founder & CEO, SocialSphere) and Jamie Rubin (Board Chair, NYCHA). As the 2025 mayoral race heats up, they take a closer look into what New Yorkers are actually saying about crime,

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44:02

Decide Who You Are

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/11

The advice for how Columbia University should respond to Trump's slashing of funds is the same for anybody facing adversity — start by knowing your own values. Without that, argues Bradley, no strategy or tactics, however brilliant, are going to work. Plus he explains why "Trump is like the Terminator, he comes back stronger," weighs his own skills as a probabilisticthinker, and reveals why he never ever carries anything with him. That's just who he is.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at

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51:19

What's Your Tribe?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/06

Columbia Business School professorMichael Morris, author ofTribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together, joins Bradley to break down the psychology behind how humans organize into groups, why we’re wired to trust and follow, and how these instincts shape everything we do, especially politics. "People aren’t just voting for policies," Morris says, "they’re choosing a tribe, a social identity. That’s why facts alone don’t change minds."This episode was taped at P&T

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51:51

Why Do We Stroke God's Ego?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/03/04

Sitting in a long Bar Mitzvah service, Bradley started wondering about the performative side of religion.If we believe in a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, what does God need with all this endless praise? Kinda reminds you of someone else, doesn't it?Plus, Bradley unloads on the cruelty of Trump and Musk's proposed budget cuts and analyzes whether a big drop in popularity can stop Trump this time. Finally, now that the Andrew Cuomo redemption tour is officially on, why is

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01:01:33

Fix the Broken Stuff

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/02/27

Raj Goyle argues that Democrats don’t need a radical agenda to beat Trump—they just need to prove they can solve everyday problems. The founder of Phone Free New York joins Bradley to talk about the fight to ban phones in schools, how the legal system quietly robs every American, and why campaigns should be run like startups—fast, lean, and ruthless.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your

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53:12

No, Our Phones Aren't Killing Us

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/02/25

A lot ofwhat we do on our phones — maybe even most of it — is positive and productive, argues Bradley, but we need to clearly differentiate between good habits and mindlessscrolling. He lays out the concept of "a screen time diet" that evaluates our digitalconsumption just like we do our nutritional intake. Plus, what brings Trump crashing back to earth, how a brokenCity Hall affects life in New York and why short players are great for basketball.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180

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47:56

Wildfires, Psychedelics and the Future of Wellness

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/02/20

How does a venture capitalist find start-ups that are worth believing in?Bradley sits down with Pip Lawrence, co-founder of Delphi VC, for a wide-ranging discussion on his approach to investing, what attracts him to psychedelic therapy, how LA feels in the aftermath of the fires and why he's committed to the cause of Holocaust education.This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s

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01:10:29

Does Imperialism Sell?

Firewall with Bradley Tusk ·

2025/02/18

Get ready for big ideas flying all over the place in this episode. First,Bob Greenlee arguesthat Trump's pitch to expandthe American empire — into Greenland, Gaza, Panama and Canada— goes hand in hand with his campaign to eradicate DEI. Taken together, they tell a heroic narrative meant to inspire and channel ambitions toward new visions of greatness. But is it a hustle or a real thing that Americans genuinely want? Plus, Bradley and Bob debate the idea that any particular religion could be

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472 results

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