To defend democracy, one has to believe in it. To believe in democracy, one has to understand it. Where it came from. How it works. What’s true. What’s not. What others did before you. How it could be better. How to make a difference.
Each week, The David Frum Show digs deep into the big questions people have about our society, explains the progress Americans have made together, and reminds us that the American idea is worth defending.
On this week’s episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He examines the many actions President Donald Trump has taken that run counter to the ideals a...
On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the Trump administration’s hostility toward NATO. David discusses why NATO was created, what it does, and why we should care about it. He also analyzes the United State’s glo...
On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the shooting at Bondi Beach and the rise of anti-Semitic violence globally. He discusses what governments can do to crack down on radicals and prevent future acts of violence...
How to Stop Trump’s Plan to Steal the 2026 Elections
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On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the absurd Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump by FIFA. David discusses how the invented prize reflects what FIFA understands about our president—that he’s the kind of leader...
Architect of Obamacare: Health Care Is Still a Mess
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On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the shocking alleged corruption that has informed President Donald Trump’s actions towards Ukraine and the scandal of the recently proposed “peace plan” by the United States....
On this episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the unceremonious end of the Department of Government Efficiency. He examines the legacy DOGE leaves behind, why it failed, and how it became yet another example of the Trump admini...
On this episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the recent gifts given to President Donald Trump by the Swiss government. He argues that the incident is yet another example of Trump’s favor being won through personal gifts and an...
On this episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts about the impending end to the government shutdown. David argues that the fight within the Democratic Party about ending the shutdown isn’t about the shutdown itself; rather, it’s abou...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about the coming Supreme Court battle over President Donald Trump’s use of tariff powers. If the Court endorses Trump’s claim that anything he deems an emergency allows him to impose tariff...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with reflections on the new Trump administration’s pattern of “politicized stupidity”: the willful refusal to understand abuses of power, including the destruction of the White House’s East Wing and the p...
The Triumphs and Tragedies of the American Revolution
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On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with an urgent warning about TikTok’s looming sale to Donald Trump–aligned insiders—a move David calls the “biggest giveaway since the days of the railway grants.” He argues that the American media landsc...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with observations about the ongoing government shutdown, how it could be a strategic mistake for Republicans, and why this political standoff is best understood as a “quasi-election” about the rule of law...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with reflections on the strange and revealing controversy over Donald Trump’s rumored commemorative coin and what it says about the culture of flattery and self-abasement now defining MAGA politics.
Then...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with reflections on the malicious prosecution of James Comey and what it reveals about Donald Trump’s growing power over the justice system. He explains how the United States, unlike other advanced democr...
Why Assassinations Shaped the 1960s and Haunt Us Again
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On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum argues that President Donald Trump is making a miscalculation in his second term. Instead of consolidating power before plundering the state, Trump has reversed the sequence, imposing massive tariffs that raise...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with reflections on President Donald Trump’s repeated delays to enforce the congressionally mandated TikTok ban. He explains how Trump’s pattern of ignoring laws, whether by inventing tariffs, bypassing C...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum examines how President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy decisions are undermining U.S. alliances and global credibility. He discusses incidents including the detainment of South Korean workers in Georgia and alleg...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum discusses recent questions about President Donald Trump’s health and explores what a potential J. D. Vance presidency might mean for the country. He contrasts Trump’s impulsive, ego-driven style with Vance’s me...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with reflections on the misuse of history in today’s politics. He argues that fascism, once thought to have been buried by the Second World War, has reemerged in modern forms, thriving on the endless hunt...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum begins with reflections on how Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown has transformed America into what he calls a “society based on fear.” Frum warns that the president’s methods risk discrediting not j...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with reflections on the upcoming 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and what Donald Trump’s recent statements about “Victory Day” reveal about how America is forgetting the meaning of peace, coop...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about the crumbling of U.S. support for Ukraine under President Donald Trump. He lays out how the Trump administration has slowed the flow of weapons to Ukraine, undermined sanctions on Rus...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum examines how protectionism, once a fringe idea in U.S. politics, became central to modern Republican trade policy. He traces how President Donald Trump made tariffs a political weapon, and why these policies co...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about President Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on press freedom. David discusses Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, explains how Trump is using presidential power to suppre...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about President Donald Trump’s decision to shut down the conversation around the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. David explains why Trump’s move has triggered backlash from part...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about the deep implications of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”—not only for Americans’ rights and freedoms, but also for the future of American economic strength. David ar...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning: The United States’ support for Ukraine is collapsing under Donald Trump’s second term—and with it, the global system of peace and security that has protected Americans for decades. David e...
The Atlantic’s David Frum opens this episode of The David Frum Show with a statement about Trump’s Iran strikes. The strikes fulfilled commitments of past presidents, who have long maintained that the U.S. would not allow an Iranian nuclear bomb. David also makes the point th...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum urges an end to wishful thinking about Iran, and a focus instead on the regime’s threatening words and murderous actions.
Then David is joined by the Carnegie Endowment scholar Karim Sadjadpour for an urgent c...
On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about how President Donald Trump could be testing a strategy to subvert the 2026 midterm elections by creating chaos to justify his use of extreme executive power. David also discusses how ...
