Night Owls

Joe Klein and John Ellis on what's happening and what happens next. Joe Klein is the author of seven books and "Sanity Clause," a Substack newsletter. John Ellis is the founder and editor of two Substack newsletters — News Items and Political News Items. The two friends have covered American politics for a combined 95 years.

Night Owls is a news podcast hosted by John Ellis and Joe Klein, with 77 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

John Ellis and Joe Klein hosts Night Owls, a news show with 77 episodes published.

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  Night Owls

  Night Owls Episode 78 (With Rye Barcott)

  Jun 2, 202644 minS0

  <p>In this episode of the Night Owls podcast, John Ellis and Joe Klein sit down with Rye Barcott, co-founder of With Honor, for a candid conversation about courage, service, and the collapse of civic trust in modern American politics. Drawing from his forthcoming book Courage Can Save Us, Barcott profiles a new generation of veterans-turned-public servants, including Mark Kelly, Wes Moore, Mikie Sherrill, and Dan Crenshaw, who are trying to navigate an increasingly toxic political system without surrendering their principles. The discussion explores bipartisan cooperation, the rise of political intimidation and death threats, the importance of national service, and...

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  Episode #77

  Night Owls Episode 77 (With Nicholas Eberstadt)

  May 1, 202645 minS1

  <p>In this episode of Night Owls, Joe Klein and John Ellis talk with political economist Nicholas Eberstadt about his latest book: a collection of essays entitled America’s Human Arithmetic. One of those essays -- 'Our Miserable 21st Century' -- remains the most read "article" in the long history of Commentary magazine. In the book, Eberstadt argues that while the U.S. is more prosperous than ever, tens of millions of Americans are not flourishing. </p><p>The conversation explores how cultural erosion, not just economics, drives these trends, touching on the collapse of community, failures in education, the uni...

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  Episode #76

  Night Owls Episode 76 (With Michael Fenzel)

  Apr 11, 202645 minS1

  <p>In this episode of Night Owls, John Ellis and Joe Klein sit down with retired Lieutenant General Michael Fenzel for a discussion about war, from Desert Storm to Afghanistan and Iraq to what we now call Gulf War 3. Fenzel's career in the military was shaped by war’s evolution and its enduring unpredictability. The conversation addresses Iran’s military calculus, the growing dominance of proxy warfare, and why today’s battlefields extend from the Strait of Hormuz to outer space. Along the way, Fenzel offers candid assessments of leadership, fragile ceasefires, and the limits of diplomacy in an age of per...

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  Episode #75

  Night Owls Episode 75

  Feb 21, 202650 minS1

  <p>In episode 75 of Night Owls, John Ellis and Joe Klein pour a late-night double of geopolitics, economics, and technological dread. The conversation opens with President Trump’s latest press conference on Iran, where the rhetoric is hot, the implications hotter, and the margin for miscalculation somewhere between “razor-thin” and “catastrophic.” Ellis and Klein unpack the strange chessboard of Middle Eastern politics, where every move, whether military, rhetorical, or symbolic, reverberates through Israel’s strategic calculus, Iran’s internal factions, and America’s appetite for risk.</p><p>Back home, the mood doesn’t exactly lighten. Inflation continues its slow, grinding assault o...

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  Episode #74

  Night Owls Episode 74

  Jan 23, 202643 minS1

  <p>In the 2026 premier of Night Owls, John Ellis and Joe Klein recap Trump's first year of his second first term as president. The discussion begins with Trump's behavior at the recent Davos conference, which raised more concerns about the president's mental "capacity". They wonder when the "elite" news media is going to address the "mental capacity" issue directly. Moving right along, they consider the Republican and Democratic parties' challenges leading up to the 2026 elections, the importance of cultural issues and the Democratic Party's over-optimism about "the affordability crisis." The conversation also highlights education reforms in Mississippi, ongoing international conflicts...

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