The Bulletin

This week, protests continued against the Iranian government with the death count rising to more than 3,000, according to Iranian health officials. Jonathan Schanzer joins Mike, Russell, and Clarissa to discuss why this is such an important moment for the Iranian people and for peace in the Middle East. On Sunday, the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell released a video responding to grand jury subpoenas regarding renovation costs for federal buildings. Charlie Sykes explains the backdrop of the DOJ’s investigation and what this could mean for the economy. Then, Christine Emba stops by for a discussion about Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, which has begun granting a large number of user requests to undress images posted by other people.  REFERENCED IN THE EPISODE: -Updates on X’s policies regarding Grok’s image generation. ABOUT THE GUESTS:  Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and he is also on the leadership team of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power. He previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the US Department of the Treasury. Schanzer has appeared on CNN, Fox News, Al-Arabiya, and Al-Jazeera. Charles J. Sykes is a political commentator who hosted a conservative talk show in Wisconsin for 23 years. He was the former editor-in-chief of The Bulwark, and is currently an MSNBC contributor. Sykes has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Salon, USA Today, National Review, The Weekly Standard, and has appeared on the Today Show, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS, and the BBC. Christine Emba is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where her work focuses on gender and sexuality, feminism, masculinity, youth culture, and social norms. She is concurrently a contributing writer at The New York Times, and previously was a staff writer at The Atlantic, a columnist and editor at The Washington Post. She is the author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation.  GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:  -Join the conversation at our Substack.  -Find us on YouTube.  -Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.  ABOUT THE BULLETIN:  The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more.    The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.    “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today  Producer: Clarissa Moll  Associate Producer: Alexa Burke  Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps  Executive Producer: Erik Petrik  Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Protests escalate in Iran, growing from frustrations about the country's economy to more general anger over the country’s authoritarian government. Last week, an ICE agent in Minnesota shot and killed US citizen Renee Nicole Good. And, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller says power is the primary currency in the real world. Mike Cosper and Clarissa Moll discuss these headlines, and Mike sits down with Brad Edwards, CT’s Book of the Year winner, to talk about why the church matters.  REFERENCED IN THE SHOW:  -The Reason for Church - Brad Edwards GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:  -Join the conversation at our Substack.  -Find us on YouTube.  -Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.  ABOUT THE GUESTS:  Brad Edwards is the lead pastor and church planter of The Table Church in Lafayette, Colorado. He is a regular contributor to Mere Orthodoxy and The Gospel Coalition, and he cohosts the podcast PostEverything. He is Christianity Today’s 2025 Book of the Year winner for his book The Reason for Church. ABOUT THE BULLETIN:  The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more.    The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.    “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today  Producer: Clarissa Moll  Associate Producer: Alexa Burke  Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps  Executive Producer: Erik Petrik  Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world grapples with the US’s capture of Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro. The Hudson Institute’s Michael Sobolik joins the show to discuss how China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and others might respond. January marks the one year anniversary of California’s devastating Altadena and Pacific Palisades fires. CT’s Mia Staub shares about her reporting on churches whose buildings burned down and have not been rebuilt. Finally, many say revival is happening in America, but it doesn’t seem to be showing up in our churches or in research data. Michael McClymond from Saint Louis University joins Russell Moore, Mike Cosper, and Clarissa Moll to talk about the history of revivals, and whether it’s something we can predict.    REFERENCED IN THE EPISODES: -⁠A House of Worship Without a Home⁠ - Mia Staub -Religion Holds Steady in America - Pew Research Center ABOUT THE GUESTS:  Michael Sobolik is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He is the author of Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance. His commentary has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and Reuters, among others. He has also appeared on Fox News, ABC, BBC, and other outlets. Mia Staub is the senior editorial project manager at Christianity Today. She lives in Los Angeles, California, and is currently working toward a Master in Theology of Public Life and Justice with Princeton Theological Seminary. Michael McClymond is a professor of modern Christianity at Saint Louis University. He is the author of The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism and the editor of Encyclopedia of Religious Revivals in America. GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:  Join the conversation at our Substack.  Find us on YouTube.  Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.  ABOUT THE BULLETIN:  The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more.    The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.    “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today  Producer: Clarissa Moll  Associate Producer: Alexa Burke  Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps  Executive Producer: Erik Petrik  Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the weekend, American special forces captured and extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Attention shifts now toward New York where Maduro will appear in court for charges of drug trafficking and narcoterrorism. David French and Elizabeth Neumann join Mike Cosper and Clarissa Moll to discuss possible reasons for the capture, America’s history with executing regime change, and what could come next for the US and Venezuela.  GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:  -Join the conversation at our Substack.  -Find us on YouTube.  -Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.  ABOUT THE GUEST:  Elizabeth Neumann is a national security expert who has served across three presidential administrations: on the inaugural staff of the White House Homeland Security Council under President George W. Bush, as an advisor to the office of the director of national intelligence during the Obama Administration, and as the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy chief of staff and assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in the first Trump administration. Neumann is also a national security contributor for ABC News. David French is a columnist for The New York Times. He’s a former senior editor of The Dispatch and author of Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation. ABOUT THE BULLETIN:  The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more.    The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.    “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today  Producer: Clarissa Moll  Associate Producer: Alexa Burke  Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps  Executive Producer: Erik Petrik  Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russell Moore, Mike Cosper, and Clarissa Moll gather at the end of the year to reflect on 2025’s top news stories–what mattered, what didn’t, and what thoughtful media engagement means for Christians. Together, they consider the influential rise of artificial intelligence, the merging of politics with the pulpit, and the timeless call of Jesus–“Do not be afraid”--that anchors Christian hearts in the truth, no matter what the news cycle brings. GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:  -Join the conversation at our Substack.  -Find us on YouTube.  -Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.  ABOUT THE BULLETIN:  The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more.    The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.    “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today  Producer: Clarissa Moll  Associate Producer: Alexa Burke  Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps  Executive Producer: Erik Petrik  Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices