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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Do You Believe in Miracles?
<p>Because that's what Bradley argues retail investors will be banking on if they buy OpenAI stock if it goes public as early as this fall. Taking a careful walk through the numbers, he set it up as a classic conflict between math and mythology. Does a debt-laden company with massive annual losses and hard-core competitors deserve to be instantly admitted to the ranks of giants like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon? Plus, Bradley recounts his epic weekend stroll down Broadway, from the Bronx to the Staten Island Ferry, and imagines what a Mamdani-esque ticker tape parade might look like if...
How to Find a Meaningful Job
<p>If government is one of the best career moves a young person can make right now, why does nobody seem to know it? Caitlin Lewis, Executive Director of Work for America, joins Bradley to extol the benefits of working for state and local governments. They're desperate for talent, they pay better than you think and the work makes a difference in people's lives. Not that there aren't problems, like painfully long and onerous hiring processes, which Caitlin is addressing. She and Bradley talk about the long shadow of Tammany Hall, how displaced federal workers are finding new jobs and...
A Healthy Obsession
<p>What are the ingredients of a healthy life? Bradley discusses the major changes he made after turning 50, including protein shakes, testosterone therapy, sleep apnea mouth guards, a stay this summer at the Hoffman Institute in the Canadian Rockies and a complete abstinence from ice cream, even though he loves it and would eat it at every meal if he could. "All I can do is just try to do the practices that will maximize my chances of living a healthy life," he says. "Ultimately, you can do all that stuff and if you lack unconditional love and support and...
Hear Your Body Talk
<p>Have we been gradually destroying our physical health by sitting still and staring at screens? Manoush Zomorodi, author of the new book Body Electric, joins Bradley to explain how our digital addictions are bad for us in ways that we rarely consider — spiking blood sugar, wrecking posture, and darkening our moods. The fix, she argues, is easily within reach: as little as five minutes of movement every half hour has dramatic health benefits and actually raises productivity. Bradley argues, in turn, that smartphones manufactured an ADD epidemic in otherwise normal people.</p><p>This episode was taped at P&T...
My Ten Most Formative Sandwich Experiences
<p>Yes, we're talking about sandwiches — which, to Bradley, almost constitute a religion. What matters most is not the food itself but the human connections that surround it: the first po'boy that made him fall for New Orleans, the brisket at a Texas wedding that defined a circle of loved ones and the fish sandwich in Bellevue that made him feel like an adult for the first time. Plus, Bradley responds to a listener who challenges his description of Mayor Mamdani as "a nice guy" and assesses Ben Thompson's argument that defusing opposition to data centers is quite simple: just gi...
What Good is a State?
<p>Is there any level of American government that is actually doing its job well? Bradley sits down with his Tusk Strategies partner Shontell Plummer to talk through the slow-motion dysfunction of Albany. Why is the state budget late when there are no major issues at stake? How come Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani can't get along? What will gerrymandering do to the congressional map? Plus, what's going on with the NY-12 race and is Hakeem Jeffries cut out to be House Speaker?</p><p>This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only...
All We Have to Do Is Be Nice
<p>Why is that so hard? Bradley argues that the zero-sum mentality driving our politics and social media has infected our basic daily behavior — the phone zombies blocking subway doors, the gym hogs who won't let you work in, the airplane line-cutters — and that only a shift in social norms, not legislation, can fix it. Plus, Bradley breaks down why Mamdani put pandering to his base ahead of the city's well-being in his ill-conceived targeting of Ken Griffin. That wasn't so nice, either.</p><p>This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only fre...
Get Unstuck
<p>Are you climbing the right mountain, or just getting really good at the wrong one? Bradley sits down with Judah Taub — Israeli intelligence veteran, cybersecurity investor, and author of How to Move Up When the Only Way is Down — who borrows a concept from machine learning called the "local maximum" to explain why smart people and successful companies so often underperform their potential. Plus, how AI is affecting cybersecurity, why mandatory military service in Israel produces better founders than any business school, and whether a diverse, equal society can ever agree on the collective good.</p><p>This episode was...
California's Billionaire Tax Is a Very Bad Idea
<p>Is the richest, most productive state in America about to shoot itself in the foot? Bradley argues that California's proposed 5% tax on assets over $1.1 billion is a losing bet that will hurt the very people it claims to help. When billionaires leave, he says, jobs will follow. And if the legislature gains the power to lower the threshold whenever it needs cash, today's billionaire tax becomes tomorrow's millionaire tax. Bradley proposes an entirely different path, based on the radical idea that the goal should actually be helping people, not feeding the political machine that claims to represent them.</p><...
What If Albany Suddenly Made Sense?
<p>Bradley sits down with Matt Wing and Josh Mohrer to talk about Smith & Moses, their newly launched AI venture that ingests every bill introduced in the New York State legislature in real time, summarizes it in plain English, and scores each legislator based on the impact and passage rate of their bills. It's essentially a performance review for Albany, an exciting new way to understand what our elected leaders are really doing and to hold them accountable.</p><p>Learn more at www.smithmoses.com</p><p>This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New Yo...
