Honestly with Bari Weiss

Written by: The Free Press
  • Summary

  • The most interesting conversations in American life happen in private. This show brings them out of the closet. Stories no one else is telling and conversations with the most fascinating people in the country, every week from The Free Press, hosted by former New York Times and Wall Street Journal journalist Bari Weiss.
    © 2021 Honestly with Bari Weiss
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Episodes
  • Tiger Mom Amy Chua Takes Washington
    Feb 1 2025
    Fourteen years ago, Amy Chua published Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It was received less like a book and more like a nuclear bomb. Here are some headlines from the time: “Why I Will Never Be a Tiger Mom.” “Why Amy Chua Is Wrong About Parenting.” “Amy Chua Is a Circus Trainer, Not a Tiger Mother.” “The Human Race Needs Elephant Mothers, Not Tiger Mothers.” “Amy Chua's Recipe for Disaster and the Externalized Cost of Book Sales.” Then, just as the publicity around Tiger Mother died down, Amy came out with The Triple Package, about why some ethnic groups succeed. People called her racist. Then she came out in support of Brett Kavanaugh's court nomination in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (before he was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford). Afterward, people accused her of misogyny and grooming. And she was almost forced out of Yale for it. Then, in 2021, she was accused of hosting boozy dinner parties during COVID lockdowns and “dinner party-gate” was born. Yale punished her by barring her from teaching her “small group” first-year student contingency. Fast-forward to 2025. And the tables have turned. Being a strict “tiger mom”? In. Free speech? In. Wokeness and hypersensitivity? Out. Covid lockdowns? Definitely out. Vicious character assassinations at Senate confirmations? Out. As Free Press reporter Peter Savodnik just wrote: “The ideas that Chua was pilloried for are suddenly back in fashion.” Just a few weeks ago, she attended the inauguration of the incoming president and vice president—one of whom happens to be her former student and mentee. It’s easy to be a weather vane—to go where the wind blows. It's hard to be Amy Chua—to stand up for your beliefs even when they are not popular, even when it means personal consequences. On today’s episode, live in D.C. during inauguration weekend, Chua explains how and why she won—and what it feels like to be vindicated. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins
  • Trump’s Second Week: DeepSeek, DEI in the Military and . . . Baby Chickens?
    Jan 30 2025
    It’s President Donald Trump’s second week in office, and he has wasted no time being the wrecking ball he promised his voters he would be. On Tuesday, he issued a memo freezing trillions of dollars in federal funding, in his attempt to purge the government of “woke ideology,” which was followed by chaos and confusion—and ultimately blocked by a federal judge. Earlier in the week, Trump convinced Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro to accept deported Colombian migrants—who Petro had turned away from his borders only a day earlier—after Trump threatened a 25-percent tariff on Colombian imports to the U.S. Back in Congress, the Senate narrowly confirmed Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense in a dramatic tie-breaking vote cast by a hurried J.D. Vance who showed up just in the nick of time. Meanwhile, RFK Jr. is currently having his highly anticipated confirmation hearing to run the Department of Health and Human Services. Just as that began, Caroline Kennedy—the only surviving child of John F. Kennedy—came out Tuesday with a bombshell public denunciation of her cousin, calling him unqualified, “a predator,” and a hypocrite. She also alleged that he used to “put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks.” Can’t say we had that on our 2025 bingo card… Finally, the Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek sent tech stocks plummeting on Monday (to the tune of more than $1 trillion) after it rolled out a new app on the U.S. market that is a fraction of the cost of American AI competitors. All of which brought up questions—and panic—about our brewing AI war with China. To talk about it all, Free Press senior editor Peter Savodnik is joined today by Brianna Wu and FP investigative reporter Madeleine Rowley, who spoke to Hegseth this week about his plans to end diversity, equity, and inclusion in the military. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Get $10 for free when you trade $100+ with code HONESTLY: https://kalshi.com/honestly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 mins
  • 'MAHA': The Unexpected Coalition of Nutritionists, Mushroom Shamans and Moms
    Jan 28 2025
    There has been a cultural sea change over the last year when it comes to health in America. It is shepherded by an unexpected coalition of nutritionists, longevity experts, wellness influencers, holistic and functional medicine doctors, moms wearing babies and natural deodorant, mushroom shamans, and some vaccine skeptics. They’ve gathered under the banner of Make American Healthy Again, or MAHA, and they’re here to tell us that plastic cutting boards, Diet Coke, and pasteurized milk—all things that once seemed perfectly normal in American life—are actually killing us. A decade ago, if you read that list of personas you would think MAHA is some woo-woo, hippie progressive movement. But here we are in 2025, and this is the same group that helped usher Donald Trump to power. What does MAHA stand for? What does it look like when it marries itself to power? And what will MAHA actually be able to accomplish over the next four years, under their fearless leader—and risky Health and Human Services nominee—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? Live in D.C. during inauguration weekend, Calley Means, Jillian Michaels and Vani Hari explain. Calley is the founder of Truemed and co-author of Good Energy. Jillian is America’s original fitness expert and the author of nine books. Vani is the founder of Truvani, and you probably know her from her blog Food Babe. She also got Subway to remove “the yoga mat chemical” from its breads. And, the fact that there was a yoga mat chemical in its bread is the whole purpose of this conversation. Today, the three MAHA whisperers explain why this movement just might be the most powerful political force in American life. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 8 mins

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