The Pandemic has either caused a crack-up in our politics or accelerated the crack-up that was well under way. And just when it looked like things were stabilizing, the politics of Covid have evolved along with the Delta variant. Ground zero for how this is playing out right now is California. California is home to approximately 40 million people and the 5th largest economy in the world. It’s about to have an election on whether to re-call its incumbent governor, Gavin Newsom. How California voters have experienced government regulations — from lockdowns, mask mandates, school closings, and not to mention double-standards — shapes the political environment there. Is this a harbinger of what’s to come to our national politics? To help us understand what’s going on in California is the strategist who masterminded the last successful recall election. Mike Murphy was the chief strategist for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election in 2003, which was a re-call of then-Governor Gray Davis.

On this podcast, we focus on covid-19’s lasting impact on our economy and geopolitics. But what is playing out right in Afghanistan is too consequential. So we are going to dive into it today with Fred Kagan.

China’s borders have been sealed for well over a year now. And those borders will be closed for the foreseeable future. That, obviously, is a result of the pandemic; but, is there a larger grand strategy at play?

The Covid-19 recession technically ended in April 2020. At two months, it was one of the shortest economic recessions in history. Since then, however, some economists and market practitioners have been screaming from the hilltops about the risk of inflation. That’s because the US Government injected trillions of fiscal and monetary stimulus into the economy - the highest levels in history - and the US Government and governments around the world are still at it. All this spending was against the backdrop of staggering changes in our economy. Are there bright red flashing warning signs of inflation right now? If so, were the inflationary trends already in place prior to the pandemic? Or did the covid response policies of governments here and abroad accelerate them? And how do we unwind an inflationary cycle before it’s too late? Today we have the ideal guest to help us understand what we are dealing with. Dr Mohamed El-Erian is President of Queens' College, Cambridge University.

This was supposed to be the summer that we returned to normal, here in New York City and in every major city around the world. Right? But now there’s increasing speculation that it might not happen, because of the Delta variant, and other variants that may hit us from the mutating virus. How should our government and public health leaders respond? How should we respond?

Who do presidents, prime ministers and business leaders listen to in the midst of managing a crisis? It’s a question that’s always interested me, from my time in government and business and also as a moon-lighting student of history. I thought about that a lot during the covid pandemic. On this podcast series, we’ve talked about how the formal channels in our governments performed these past 18 months. But how about those unofficial channels from outside the government that wind up shaping our leaders' thinking and approach to world-changing events. Think about the number of informed practitioners that government leaders had access to during Covid, outside the regular bureaucracy of government. Practitioners in everything from the markets, to experience with supply chains, to the front lines of medicines. How many of these people had relationships with our leaders from a previous time in their lives, that could or should have made their mark during this moment? We are talking about a different category of presidential advisor. It’s what Gary Ginsberg calls “First Friends”, the title of his new book - the subtitle is “The Powerful, Unsung (And Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents”.

The coronavirus pandemic was a public health crisis and an economic crisis, but was it also a social crisis? Will we look back at Covid19 as being a catalyst for unifying our society, tearing it apart, or simply accelerating trends that were already in the works long before March of 2020?

Many have been surprised that areas of the real estate market are booming, Post Corona. So what do we know about the pandemic’s impact on an exodus from some cities, and the growth of other cities?

Today we’re doing a special convention tied to the news. Politics in Israel is moving fast. It’s not necessarily about the Coronavirus, but it’s important in our geopolitics.

The source of SARS-CoV-2 has been a mystery. One theory that was initially met with a scathing response from many in the media and some in the scientific community was that SARS-CoV-2 might have leaked from a research lab in Wuhan, Hubei in China - the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The leading voice elevating the need to investigate this possible scenario back in February of 2019 was U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). At the time, The New York Times declared Senator Cotton’s remarks a “conspiracy theory.” The Washington Post headlined an article: “Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked.” Was it debunked? Or has more light been shed on it that warrants further examination? That’s where we are today, in which we suddenly find the discussion turning.

When I was in Israel a few weeks ago, a number of the Israelis I interviewed marveled at how quickly things had gone back to normal in Israel, Post-Corona. One of those guests, Yonatan Sagiv - the novelist - told me that we’ll know we’re back to normal when Israelis have to resume dealing with their pre-pandemic problems. Well, over these past 10 days, one conflict lit right back up in a tragic way - Israel’s off-again, on-again war with Hamas. So that’s what we’re going to discuss in this episode.

News just out of the CDC has created fresh opportunities for normal, communal time together, indoors — just like we did pre-Corona. One of the rituals I have missed over the past year has been attending synagogue. But long before the Covid-19 pandemic, participation in organized religion - across all walks of religious life - was on the decline. Americans had become less engaged in religious institutions, whether it was regular attendance or membership and donations to their local congregation. Did the pandemic arrest these trends? Did virtual platforms provide new opportunities for religious and communal engagement?

Today we’re doing something… different. After 15 months of avoiding business travel, I boarded a plane to attend meetings in Israel. When I landed, it felt more like I boarded a DeLorean and time-traveled ahead to the era of Post Corona - a land far, far away.

China is in the midst of a global vaccination campaign. According to published reports, China’s Government is supplying 10 times as many doses to other countries as it is to citizens in its own country. China’s vaccination campaign is currently engaging 45 countries spread across multiple continents around the world. Why? What is China getting in return? And should the US also be engaged in vaccine diplomacy? This is just one of many ways in which the Pandemic has upended geopolitics as we know it.

As we crawl out of the pandemic to a post-corona world, will the tension build to return to the movies? Right now, we are seeing early signs of a market for the sanctity of the movie theater experience. To help us understand the history of the film business and where it goes from here, post-corona, John Podhoretz returns to our conversation.

When we think about industries that immediately got hardest hit during the pandemic, the images that come to mind include restaurants, travel, theater, sports and - higher education. In the US alone, higher education is almost a three-quarter-of-a-trillion dollar sector. To help us understand what the disruption and the coming transformation might look like, we sit down with my friend Daniel Pianko.

What was the impact of Covid19 on the political landscape? What will it mean for elected leaders who governed during this past year? Today we sit down with someone who knows something about covering a president during a pandemic that consumed his presidency.

So far more than 70 percent of Israelis, ages 16 and older, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and many of them two jabs. How has Israel done this? Well, Israel’s prime minister negotiated with Pfizer to obtain millions of vaccine doses early. Israel paid a premium for this upfront supply, but also agreed to provide the company with indispensable clinical data, made possible by Israel’s digital health infrastructure. Now the prime minister has set a goal of getting Israel’s economy completely re-opened by the Spring. To explain what may be heading our way, we have Yonatan Adiri returning to our podcast.

Is there any good news? Are there any lessons from the crisis that should give us some optimism about how we contend with future pandemics? That’s what we try to untangle today with science journalist Jim Meigs.

Will a new American president lead us to a post-Corona return to normal? Or has the American presidency become an impossible job? It is, according to 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson, “The Hardest Job In The World”.

It seems like analysts of foreign affairs and super power politics are always worrying that “the world is a mess”. But has the international order - to the extent it existed in recent years - become even more disorderly due to the pandemic? What effect has covid had on Great Power politics?

How will we know when we actually arrive at the Post-Corona phase? This is the second part of a two part conversation on this question, the first of which was when we looked at Israel (Vaccination Nation). Today, we’ll talk about the US -- when we will arrive at post-corona and what is standing in our way?

Dan speaks with president of the Manhattan Institute, Reihan Salam, and deputy director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, Rafael Manguel, about the role crime will play in slowing, or even halting, the City’s Post-Corona recovery.

How will we know when we actually arrive at the Post-Corona phase? Well, THE milestone along the way will be getting entire populations vaccinated. One country may show us the way - Israel, which is on track to vaccinate its entire population by the end of March.

Dan sits down with Niall Ferguson, a historian and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, to discuss how history will remember 2020.

Dan speaks with John Podhoretz, Editor-in-Chief of Commentary Magazine, to discuss the hotly debated question: "Is New York over?" On this episode of Post Corona, Dan asks John to help us understand the short history of Broadway’s economic boom and where it goes from here.

Dan invites Reihan Salam and Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute to discuss the hotly debated question: "Is New York over?" On this episode of Post Corona, Dan and his guests explore how subways play a role in the city's future.

Billy Beane, Executive Vice President of the Oakland Athletics, joins Dan to discuss the future of sports.

Adam Grant, a professor of organizational psychology at Wharton, joins Dan to discuss the future of work.

On the first episode of Post Corona, Dan Senor invites The Atlantic's Derek Thompson to discuss the future of the American labor market.