Q & A, Hosted By Jay Nordlinger

David Normoyle is a golf historian and an altogether exceptional person. He is also an old friend of Jay’s. Recently, David went on an extraordinary journey: a 40-day car trip through COVID America. He chronicled his trip, daily. In conversation with Jay, David talks about what he saw, and a slew of other subjects as well. Enjoy a conversation between two old friends, on golf and life. Source

In a career of writing extraordinary books, David Pryce-Jones has written a new one: “ Signatures: Literary Encounters of a Lifetime.” DP-J has a collection of about a hundred books inscribed to him by their authors: Aldous Huxley, W. H. Auden, Saul Bellow, Somerset Maugham, Rebecca West, Erich Segal, and so on. He talks about these authors in “Signatures.” The book is a series of brief lives... Source

Mathis Bitton is a summer intern at National Review and a sophomore-to-be at Yale. He has a lot to say – about many subjects, but today’s subject is France, a rich, varied, and inexhaustible subject, to be sure. Jay puts the young monsieur through some paces: about the French language, and English, for that matter; about French poets, novelists, painters, scientists, cars, etc. Source

Radek Sikorski is a man of considerable experience: as a journalist, for National Review, The Spectator, and many other publications; and as a politician. Sikorski was foreign minister and defense minister of his country, Poland. Today, he is a member of the European Parliament. He talks with Jay about a slew of issues: the recent Polish election; the EU; NATO; the United States... Source

John R. Bolton – who has served in every Republican administration from Reagan on – has kicked up a fuss with his memoir of the Trump White House: “ The Room Where It Happened.” With Jay, he talks about the president, the world, and himself. Source

Greg Mankiw – N. Gregory Mankiw – is a famous economist. His name is pronounced “Mankyoo,” rhyming with “Thank you.” He is a professor at Harvard (granted tenure on his 29th birthday). Under George W. Bush, he was chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He is a great admirer of Milton Friedman. As a blogger, he can be found here. With Jay, he discusses life and economics... Source

Orin Kerr is a law professor and legal writer extraordinaire. He teaches at Berkeley. He writes widely, including on Twitter (@OrinKerr). With Jay, he talks about life and the law: judges, presidents, senators, pardons, and more. Also: How’s life on campus? Free and easy or illiberal and hard? Orin Kerr is a natural teacher and interviewee. Source

Jay is joined by an old colleague and one of the best political reporters in America: Tim Alberta, of Politico. He is the author of the bestselling book “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump.” He and Jay talk lockdown politics, the John Bolton book, Campaign 2020, and so on. Whom will Biden pick as his running mate? Will Trump dump Pence? Source

The absence of a baseball season has hit many people hard, and it’s hit George Will very hard: The game is a big part of his life, and he is an authority on it. (See “Men at Work.”) Will has two teams, the Cubs and the Nationals. He and Jay talk about baseball this year, or the absence of it. They also talk about the Astros cheating scandal: the meaning of it. Further subjects are police brutality... Source

Elaina Plott is a national political reporter for the New York Times. Before that, she worked for National Review, Washingtonian magazine, and The Atlantic. She and Jay are old friends. Elaina grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and is currently working on a story about Jeff Sessions, the ex-senator from Alabama (who wants to be a senator again). Elaina went to Yale. With Jay, she talks about reading... Source

Jim Harbaugh is the coach of the University of Michigan football team. For 14 seasons, he was a quarterback in the NFL. He has coached both at the college level and in the pros. Last month, he and Jay had a leisurely conversation about many things. (They are old friends.) Now they have done Round 2. Today’s subjects include: a recent RV trip; dreaming about playing; the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s... Source

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, for her department’s new Title IX regulations on campus. These have to do with the rights of accusers and accused. Nadine Strossen was president of the ACLU from 1991 to 2008. On this issue, she disagrees with the ACLU and agrees with DeVos. With Jay, she talks about this and much else: including her... Source

Jeb Bush knows a thing or two about being a governor – including in bad situations. That’s when you really have to “suit up,” as he says. With Jay, he talks about governors in a time of pandemic. The politics of lockdown. And so on. Other subjects include China; Bush 43; the coming campaign (will there be conventions?); balloting (is mailing in okay?); and the beauty of George H. W. Source

As regular listeners know, Robert Costa is one of Jay’s favorite journalists and people. Costa is a national political reporter at the Washington Post. He is the moderator of “Washington Week” on PBS. And he is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. With Jay, he walks about reporting in a time of pandemic. The White House press operation. The nature of Donald Trump. The weirdness of the... Source

As Jay points out at the beginning of the show, Mark Helprin has been thinking about pandemics longer than most of us have. Here is a piece he published in 2006. “We face a danger that approaches steadily from the far distance like a tsunami in slow motion. It will almost certainly strike in one form or another, it could strike tomorrow . . .” Helprin, as you know, is the novelist... Source

Jay’s guest is his erstwhile podcast partner and always friend, Mona Charen. They talk about this period of home confinement. And when to “reopen” the economy. And the question of the World Health Organization and China. And a lot more. Mona has been baking lately, as many people have, which has led to a shortage of yeast. Mona has always baked when at home for extended periods. It is her “comfort... Source

Jim Harbaugh is the coach of the University of Michigan football team. He quarterbacked that team, too, in college. Then he went to the NFL, for 14 seasons. After his pro career, he turned to coaching, at both the pro and college levels. (University of San Diego; Stanford; San Francisco 49ers; Michigan.) He and Jay are old friends, having grown up together. They talk about sports – everything from... Source

Alberto Mingardi is a writer and political scientist who heads the Bruno Leoni Institute in Milan. This is Italy’s free-market think tank. He is an old friend of Jay’s, and a familiar guest on “Q&A.” Italy has been very hard hit by the coronavirus, and Milan and its environs have been particularly hard hit. Jay asks Mingardi to talk about this, in personal, social, and political ways. Source

Katie Harris is an expert on languages and a YouTube star. You will find her in “ Easy Italian” videos. You will also find her at joyoflanguages.com. Jay talks about one of his favorite subjects – languages – with a master, and a delightful one at that. Source

Ben Hubbard, the Beirut bureau chief of the New York Times, has written a new book: “MBS: The Rise to Power of Mohammed bin Salman.” Jay talks to him about this consequential young ruler. Is he a liberal reformer? What about the “guests” at the Ritz-Carlton? How about the kidnapping of the Lebanese PM? What about Trump and Jared? And the murder of Khashoggi? And the bugging of Bezos’s phone? Source