Dear listeners,
The holidays are upon us, and this is the last Central Air episode of 2025. However, we have exciting news: Ben, Megan and I will be doing our first Substack live video chat this Friday at 1pm Eastern / 10 am Pacific. We plan to offer last-minute Christmas gift recommendations and discuss holiday baking strategies, but we also look forward to taking your questions and addressing the topics that are of interest to you.
You’ll see a link to join the conversation if you come to our web page (link below) or open the Substack app on Friday. And if you can’t join us live on Friday, a replay of the conversation will be available for paying subscribers, again at either of those locations.
As for today’s episode, we discuss President Trump’s gross and remarkably self-centered response to the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner, and the strangely candid interview that Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles granted to Vanity Fair. We look at reporting from The New York Times on how Jeffrey Epstein rose to prominence and success on Wall Street, despite very early signs that he shouldn’t be trusted, and how the reporting gives us some clues on why very prominent people made very dumb choices about their dealings with him later in his life.
We consider an essay in Compact arguing that diversity mandates at academic, arts and media institutions have been designed by older generations to fall solely on the backs of white men who are millennial and younger, producing institutions staffed by old white guys and very few young white guys. We discuss bad ideas about backyard gardening, and we make predictions for 2026.
We hope you enjoy the show, and we’d love to hear your responses in the comments below.
Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy new year,
Josh
