The Last Institutionalists

The Weekly

Mike Madrid (Author of The Latino Century) joins Host Ron Steslow to dive into how populism is consuming both parties and the institutions meant to contain them, from a socialist sweep in New York to a building debt-and-oil crisis.

They begin with New York’s primaries, where DSA-aligned candidates won and Zohran Mamdani emerged as a kingmaker—signaling the Democratic party’s “Tea Party moment.”

From there, they ask whether the party is radicalizing or whether its establishment wing is the last refuge of institutional conservatism

Then they trace an oil crisis to a draining Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the rising cost of servicing the national debt, and the first moves of new Fed chair Kevin Warsh.

Finally, they map the vise closing on the White House before the midterms: a standoff with Iran, a depleting reserve, and a choice between a weak deal and economic shock.

In Politicology+, they discuss Mike’s invitation to the Oxford Union, where he argued the position that Donald Trump has betrayed the conservative movement.