Newt's World

Millions of Americans are voting based on a picture of reality that someone else painted for them. Matt Towery calls it the mirage machine: a combination of legacy media, partisan fact-checkers, and compliant pollsters that has convinced a large swath of the public that President Donald Trump is ignorant, racist, a fascist, and a warmonger. Towery, one of the most accurate pollsters in the country and a longtime friend of Newt’s who chaired his political organization in the 1990s, joins Newt to discuss his new book, The Honoring of Ignorance: The 7 Mirages Destroying America. Drawing on four decades of watching American media transform, Towery breaks down how the mirage machine works, why most Americans never see positive news about Republican governance, and what conservatives must do to break through.

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Two-thirds of Americans now say they support Medicare for All, the highest level ever recorded. But Dr. Joel Zinberg warns that Medicare for All is not Medicare as we know it. It would ban the private insurance that covers more than half of Americans, eliminate Medicare Advantage and Part D drug plans, and replace the entire system with a single government program. Dr. Zinberg, Director of the Public Health and American Well-Being Initiative at Paragon Health Institute and a former White House health policy advisor to President Trump, joins Newt to explain what the Sanders bill would actually do, why countries like Britain and Canada offer a cautionary tale, how Medicaid reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill address sustainability, and what it will take to root out the fraud draining billions from America’s health programs.

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What will it take to open America's next frontier? Newt looks to the stars, beginning with Abraham Lincoln's Pacific Railway Act of 1862 as a model for unleashing private investment in space. From reusable rockets and nuclear propulsion that could shorten the trip to Mars, to a permanent American presence on the moon, the first American child born there, and hotels orbiting Earth, Newt describes how a new space economy could create jobs, inspire a generation, and see America's 300th birthday celebrated across the solar system.

Inspired by Newt's new book, America's Golden Age, available now, this episode explores the coming golden age of space—and the policies that will help America get there first.

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Could artificial intelligence be the most important development in human history? Newt explains why he believes AI will define the next 50 years, how it differs from the computing we've known for decades, and why its real power comes from combining with medicine, robotics, and space. He shares three predictions he's willing to defend, from robotic gardeners in the 2030s to self-driving trucks and a boom in cruises, and takes on the hard questions: how free nations keep AI from becoming a tool of control, and why keeping the lead over China must be a national security priority.

Inspired by Newt's new book, America's Golden Age, available now, this episode explores the promise and the risks of artificial intelligence—and how America can lead the way.

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What can 50-year stretches of American history teach us about 2076? Newt travels through America 50 years at a time, from the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826, to a young Abraham Lincoln campaigning for railroads he had never seen, to the age of Edison, Ford, and the Wright brothers. He then turns to the 50 years most listeners have lived through, from the gas lines and pessimism of the 1970s to the Reagan comeback and the young founders who built modern America, and explains why the biggest changes are always the ones nobody predicts.

Inspired by Newt's new book, America's Golden Age, available now, this episode explores how America constantly reinvents itself—and what that pattern tells us about the next 50 years.

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Why should Americans be optimistic about the next 50 years? On the day his new book is released, Newt explains the big idea behind America's Golden Age: science, technology, culture, and entrepreneurship are coming together to create an explosion of growth, opportunity, and choice. From the Wright brothers outpacing a government-funded rival to the telegraph, the railroad, and the aircraft carrier, Newt shows how breakthroughs build on one another—and why America, built on freedom, free enterprise, and the rule of law, is the nation where a golden age will happen.

Inspired by Newt's new book, America's Golden Age, available now, this episode explores why optimism has consistently beaten pessimism in America—and why our best days are still ahead.

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What will America look like when it celebrates its 300th birthday in 2076? Newt takes listeners on an imaginative journey 50 years into the future, exploring how artificial intelligence, medical breakthroughs, household robotics, and space exploration could transform everyday life. From personalized healthcare and virtual reality classrooms to lunar settlements and hotels orbiting Earth, Newt shares his vision of America's next great era of innovation and opportunity. Drawing from his new book, America's Golden Age, he explains why the choices we make today will determine whether America's brightest days are still ahead.

Inspired by Newt's new book, America's Golden Age, available October 20, this episode explores the possibilities ahead—and why creating a better future starts with the decisions we make today.

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More than a trillion chips are made every year, roughly 150 for every person on earth. They power our phones, our cars, our missiles, and the artificial intelligence revolution. And more than 90% of the most advanced ones come from a single company in Taiwan, built with machines that only one company in the world can make. Rakesh Kumar, professor of computer engineering at the University of Illinois and author of The Chip Age: How Semiconductors Became the World’s Most Powerful Resource, joins Newt to explain how a sliver of silicon became the world’s most consequential resource. Drawing on six decades of innovation, espionage, and geopolitical rivalry, Kumar breaks down how the chip industry works, how fragile its supply chain really is, and what the race for chip sovereignty means for America’s competition with China.

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The Houthis’ slogan is ‘Death to America, Death to Israel.’ They seized Yemen’s capital in 2014. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Israel have all bombed them. They have been sanctioned and designated a terrorist organization. And they are still standing, still expanding, and more capable than ever. On October 10th, a Houthi strike on Riyadh’s international airport killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 300. So how does a militia from Yemen’s northern mountains keep surviving? Nadwa Al-Dawsari, associate fellow at the Middle East Institute and a Yemeni American with more than 20 years of field experience in Yemen, joins Newt to explain who the Houthis really are, how Iran shaped them, why military campaigns have failed to stop them, and where they are expanding next.

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For 150 years, the price tag was a promise: one price, the same for everyone. That promise is gone. Today, algorithms help landlords set your rent, software tracks your clicks to figure out the most you will pay, and two shoppers can buy the same carton of eggs in the same store on the same day for different prices. Lindsay Owens, president and CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative and author of Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet, joins Newt to explain how pricing became a weaponized science. From grocery stores and airline tickets to concert seats and apartment rents, Owens breaks down who changed the rules, how artificial intelligence supercharged the shift, and what her Shopper’s Bill of Rights would do to restore a fair price.

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With 27 days until the 2026 midterms, mail-in voting is already underway and the polls are moving. Since September, the generic ballot has shifted toward Democrats, and prediction markets now give them roughly a 90% chance of winning the House. But is the race as settled as it looks? Newt brings together two of the sharpest political strategists in the country, one Republican and one Democrat, to make their case. John McLaughlin, President Trump’s pollster since 2016, and Doug Sosnik, who ran the political operation in the Clinton White House, break down what the polling really shows, where the key inflection points have been, and who they think will control Congress on November 4th. With a month still to go, Newt knows from experience: a wave can build fast, and nothing is decided yet.

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Nearly half of American voters now call themselves independents, but Adam Brandon argues they are far more than a mushy middle ground between the two parties. In his new book, The Exhausted Majority: Building a Home for the Politically Homeless, Brandon profiles a coherent, center-right bloc of Americans tired of hyper-partisanship who simply want to see Washington get things done. Brandon served as president of FreedomWorks for over a decade and helped lead the Tea Party movement. Now he has co-founded the Independent Leadership Council with former Senator Joe Manchin, backing independent candidates in the 2026 midterms. Newt talks with Brandon to discuss why both parties keep losing ground, who the exhausted majority really is, and whether independents can become the force that finally changes how Washington works.

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Ukraine has become the most innovative military power in the world, building drones by the millions, fielding ground robots, and wiring the battlefield together with software. Russia is racing to match it. Iran has used $35,000 drones to force the United States to fire interceptors costing millions. And yet, only 8% of Americans are aware that AI is being used in modern warfare. Newt sits down with Jonathan Guyer, program director at the Institute for Global Affairs at the Eurasia Group, to discuss how drones and artificial intelligence are remaking warfare in real time. Drawing on his new report, War President: The Iran Trap, Guyer breaks down what the technology revolution on today's battlefields means for American strategy, public oversight, and whether Washington is paying close enough attention.

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Before Trace Gallagher became one of Fox News's most recognizable faces, he was a professional water skier at Six Flags Marine World, where he once taught Jimmy Buffett to ski. A knee injury ended that career and sent him on an unexpected path through announcing, local television, and eventually Fox News, where he has been a fixture since the network's launch in 1996. In his new memoir, Turns Out They Were Right All Along: Life Lessons I Learned Eventually, Gallagher reflects on the detours, setbacks, and unlikely breaks that shaped his life and career. Newt sits down with Gallagher to explore the wisdom that only comes from living it, the moments that tested him, and what three decades in breaking news have taught him about perseverance, purpose, and getting it right.

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In January 2025, Tyler Hassen was running a diversified energy business in Houston. Weeks later, he was inside the West Wing as a DOGE senior insider, named Acting Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of the Interior with authority over $35 billion in spending and 8,000 federal employees. Now he's written the first book-length account of DOGE from someone who actually executed the work. Hassen joins Newt to discuss Inside DOGE: The Real Story from a Senior Insider — part memoir, part management autopsy. He describes late-night West Wing meetings, an $830 million contract request he says he could have designed in high school, a California water crisis that became an international media firestorm, and the personal cost his family paid. His verdict: the waste was real, the resistance was fierce, and the work is far from finished.

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Last month, a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general announced what may be the largest consumer protection settlement in American history: a $17 billion dollar agreement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. California Attorney General Rob Bonta led the fight, accusing Meta of deliberately designing features to drive compulsive use among children and teens while lying to the public about the harm. AG Bonta joins Newt to explain how the coalition built its case, why Meta settled less than two weeks into trial, and what the agreement actually changes: two-hour default time limits for minors, overnight and school-hour blocks, a ban on cosmetic surgery filters, removal of “like” counts on children's posts, and an independent auditor to enforce it all. He also explains why this settlement is just the beginning, with TikTok, YouTube, and Snap still in his sights.

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One year after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University, his friend and longtime confidant Christy Edwards Lawton joins Newt to discuss her new memorial photo book, Charlie Kirk: In His Own Words. Built entirely from Charlie's own posts on X, never-before-seen photographs, and tributes written the day he died by Melania Trump, Elon Musk, Ivanka Trump, and others, the book is organized around the causes Charlie cared about most: faith, free speech, family, immigration, and Gen Z. Christy shares intimate memories from eleven years of friendship — from the lanky 22-year-old she met at a Trump fundraiser to the husband, father, and movement leader he became. She reflects on what it means to "live like Charlie," and why every net dollar from the book goes to Carry the Torch, a nonprofit dedicated to finding and funding the next generation of young conservative leaders.

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More than seven million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease today, a number projected to nearly double by 2060. It already consumes 20% of all Medicare spending and costs the economy close to half a trillion dollars annually. But the science is finally catching up. Newt is joined by former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and Dr. Brent Beasley, a retired internist who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 57, for a conversation about new blood tests that detect the disease early and what treatments are being developed. Dr. Redfield draws on his decades leading America's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic to argue that Alzheimer's disease demands the same sense of urgency. Dr. Beasley shares his remarkable personal journey: how an early blood test and a new monoclonal antibody treatment reversed his decline. Together, they lay out the five policy changes needed now, from routine blood testing for everyone over 50 to removing CMS barriers blocking access to approved treatments, including passage of the bipartisan ASAP Act, which would create a Medicare pathway for FDA-cleared blood-based Alzheimer's biomarker tests.

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Most political analysts say Generation Z is quietly turning conservative. Rich Baris says the data tells a completely different story. The director of Big Data Poll and the most accurate national pollster of both 2016 and 2024 joins Newt to discuss his new book, Burn It Down: What the Polls Say Young Americans Really Want. Baris argues that young Americans aren't becoming more conservative; they're becoming more radical and revolutionary, convinced the system can't be reformed, only replaced. He and Newt dig into the staggering affordability numbers driving that anger (home prices up 230% since 2000, real wages up just 13%), the rise of "ledger politics" and left-wing populism, why two-thirds of Democratic primary voters now identify as socialists, and the urgent warning Baris has for Republicans heading into 2026: you can't out-resent the left. You have to out-deliver them.

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The federal debt just crossed $40 trillion, months ahead of schedule and less than a decade after hitting $20 trillion. Net interest payments now exceed what America spends on defense or Medicare. Thomas Hoenig spent 38 years at the Federal Reserve, including two decades as president of the Kansas City Fed, and was one of the earliest voices warning that the Fed's own quantitative easing policies were enabling Congress to borrow without consequence. He joins Newt for a frank diagnosis: how cheap money created a decade of fiscal irresponsibility, why abandoning the gold standard in 1971 removed the last external discipline on spending, what the slow decline of the British pound tells us about the dollar's future, and whether Washington can bend the curve before the debt hits $50 trillion. Hoenig's conclusion: it's possible, but only if Congress chooses to act.

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