Why Does Trump Want the Biggest Defense Budget Ever?

Plus: Mamdani’s city-run grocery plan, the Trump administration considers a Spirit Airlines bailout, and Iran peace talks drift without a clear endgame

Plus: Trump orders psychedelic drug research, Palantir calls for national service, and confusion surrounds Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

Plus: Viktor Orbán loses in Hungary, Kamala Harris and Eric Swalwell raise questions about Democratic candidate quality, and Anthropic’s newest AI model is too dangerous to release

Plus: Trump’s budget ignores the deficit, NASA’s Artemis program faces delays and rising costs, and a listener asks about libertarian alternatives to Medicare for All.

Plus: The Pentagon prepares for possible ground troops in Iran, a listener asks how libertarians should answer the appeal of collectivism, and ICE descends on airports.

Plus: the real legacy of Cesar Chavez, blue state tax policies are driving out wealth, and a jury clears Afroman in a free speech case.

Plus: The FCC threatens broadcast licenses over war coverage, J.D. Vance positions himself as an Iran war skeptic, and remembering Reason Senior Editor Brian Doherty.

Plus: Kristi Noem is fired as DHS secretary, a listener asks about libertarian drug use, and new polling reveals Americans distrust AI and each other.

Plus: Congress is reluctant to assert its war powers, the Pentagon brands Anthropic a national security threat, and a listener asks whether regime change is ever morally defensible.

Plus: The U.S. could be going to war with Iran, the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and why AI surveillance is worrying civil libertarians