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Firewall with Bradley Tusk: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Firewall
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.
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- 1 weeks ago1h 6m
Live at P&T: Where Are Democracy’s Lifeboats?
Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig joined Bradley for a live event last month at P&T Knitwear, co-hosted by Teddy Himler of Optimist Ventures, about the two most fundamental threats to American democracy and what to do about them. Lessig, founder of EqualCitizens.US and author of numerous books on copyright, technology, and political corruption, makes a surprisingly hopeful case that Super PACs can and will be ended without overturning Citizens United. Bradley makes his argument for mobile voting as the only scalable fix for low-turnout primaries that boost extremists in both parties. The two agree on a particular culprit — an engagement-based media economy that profits from turning Americans into "ignorant people who hate each other." Lessig offers the Titanic as a useful metaphor: If there's "a gash in the hull," don't waste your time clearing ice off the deck. This is a full-blown emergency and we need lifeboats.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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- 1 weeks ago52 min
The Secret to Writing Is Editing
Bradley shares his ten rules for writing well, starting with the most important: get it down fast and spend almost all your time editing. Plus: why the annual outrage over admissions to New York's most selective public schools keeps missing the point; how Governor Hochul's data center moratorium will play out, and what Bradley is doing on his non-vacation in the Canadian Rockies.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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- 2 weeks ago54 min
The Vibe Jive
Was MAGA's cultural dominance ever real, or was it always partly a joint hallucination of self-aggrandizing Republicans and self-lacerating liberals? David Wallace-Wells, opinion columnist for the New York Times, joins Bradley to argue that the vibe shift, to the extent it ever existed, has reversed itself. Trump's approval ratings are in freefall, his celebration of the nation's 250th birthday was a farce and the war against Iran is turning into a quagmire. But can Democrats seize the advantage? "When I look around and I'm like, you know, I find some of these leaders appealing rhetorically, politically," says Wallace-Wells. "But I'm like, what is the program they're proposing here? If it comes to pass that the Democrats even have a trifecta — what even would they try to do?"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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- 2 weeks ago46 min
The Case for Grace
What if the secret to happiness is as simple as learning to extend a little more grace? Bradley argues that every unnecessary judgment — of your own behavior, of other people's choices, of all the ways the world fails to meet your standards — creates small negative emotions that accumulate into a dark psychic cloud. Showing grace dispels that cloud. Plus, Bradley sketches out the highly unlikely but increasingly plausible sequence of events that topples the Trump administration and also explains how he fell in love with Stockholm on a recent trip abroad.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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- 3 weeks ago17 min
LIVE FROM P&T: The Astonishing Depolarizing Power of Dogs
In this special taping in front of a live audience on the Lower East Side, Bradley hosts his niece Ellie Gottheimer, daughter of Rep. Josh Gottheimer, and Larra Mullin, daughter of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to discuss their new children's book Shmoo & Ozzie Go to Washington, which imparts an important message about bipartisanship and democracy — through the story of two dogs. 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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- 3 weeks ago43 min
The Riddle of Knowing What You Don't Know
Fresh from celebrating his mother's 80th birthday in Paris, Bradley reflects on what makes the city so breathtakingly beautiful while also declaring it mightily overrated as a food city. Then he tackles one of the trickiest conundrums in business and life. Drawing lessons from business, politics and parenting, he argues that while not knowing what you don't know is obviously dangerous, knowing what you don't know and deferring to the wrong experts can often be just as costly.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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- Jul 2, 202632 min
Micah Wins!
Before he decided to run for Congress, Micah Lasher was a proud member of the Matzoh Ballers political consultant text chain. For the duration of the campaign, he had to disconnect. But now he's back with the Ballers — and headed to Congress. He joins Bradley to discuss how he won what may well be the most expensive congressional primary in American history, with $50 million spent across all sides. They talk about why OpenAI's decision to pour money into defeating his opponent Alex Bores backfired spectacularly, how the sophisticated voters of CD-12 recoiled at the avalanche of outside spending and what he can get done as a freshman member of Congress with virtually no power. Micah's top three legislative priorities: housing, childcare and a first-job guarantee for young people as part of a national service program. Plus, he intends to support Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker, should Democrats take back the House. "If you think the Democrats in the House are going to follow the example of the Republicans and weaken the speaker such that moving together with unity becomes very hard," Micah says, "that's going to be to our great detriment."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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
- Jun 30, 202641 min
Anxiety Defines Our Politics
Why do voters keep rewarding candidates with no realistic plan for fixing anything? Bradley argues that the far left's triumph in last week's New York primaries wasn't really about Israel or AI or the 1% — it was about tapping into anxiety rather than offering workable solutions. Then he turns his attention to Zohran Mamdani, who is riding a wave of historic approval ratings as he hits the six-month mark of his mayoralty. Bradley sees his early tenure as "a tale of two mayors," one as a successful politician, the other as a failing leader. "If you confuse his governing with Instagram likes," Bradley says, "that's a serious misunderstanding of the job." He closes with his ten favorite books of the first half of 2026, including a Stanford scandal exposed by a student journalist and a comedic novel imagining Trump running for a third term against a wrestler-mystic.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 episode: info@firewall.media.Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack.
About 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.
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