Firing Line with Margaret Hoover

"The Iranian regime survived the worst-case scenario." Tamir Hayman of the Institute for National Security Studies explains why a post-war Iran led by Mojtaba Khamenei with an intact nuclear weapons program could present a "dangerous combination" for the U.S. and Israel.

As Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff lead U.S. negotiations with Iran, former IDF intelligence official Tamir Hayman worries they may be "missing the point"--and misreading the Iranian regime. "Iranians are proud, will not bend in front of pressure and pain." Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4ecOrSn

Former IDF intelligence chief Tamir Hayman says he is “worried” about the deterioration of America’s support for Israel, and he blames Israeli politicians’ “foolish statements” and “not acknowledging some compassion” for what happened in Gaza.

Former IDF intelligence chief Tamir Hayman warns extending a ceasefire could benefit Iran. "The time that passes is being used in order to recover by the Iranians...We are bleeding strategically in terms of how the war is portrayed in Israel, in the United States, worldwide."

Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy: “If we don't think about what the rest of the world thinks about what we're doing, about what our future thinks about what we're doing, about what our history will teach us about what we're doing, we put democracy in danger.”

What would happen if a president chose to defy a ruling by the #SupremeCourt? "Our democracy and our Constitution would be in danger,” Justice Anthony Kennedy told Margaret Hoover last fall.

"Democracy depends on a discourse that is thoughtful, reasoned, respectful, searching, inspirational," says Justice Anthony Kennedy. "You can't have that discourse if you're attacking other people because of their political identity." Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4heC73U

"We don't have civility in our public discourse and we must work to restore it," says Justice Anthony Kennedy. "The incivility that we see in our public life generally is creeping too much into the Court's opinions." TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET @PBS.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf

Anthony Kennedy says requiring Supreme Court justices to enforce an ethics code for each other would pose "a threat to our collegiality." "An intelligent, interested, well-informed press, an intelligent, interested, well-informed public can insist that violations of ethics be cured."

"The incivility that we see in our public life generally is creeping too much into the court's opinions." Justice Anthony Kennedy says there was a "marvelous" collegiality among the justices when he was hearing cases on the Supreme Court, but that has changed.

The White House has announced a partnership that will help users of the #TrumpRx website find cheap generic drugs through @mcuban.bsky.social's @costplusdrugs.com and other sites. In February, Cuban defended TrumpRx against Democratic critics. “Give them a chance,” said Cuban.

"We are all protectors of our Constitution. All of us have that obligation...," says former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at a @HooverInstitution.bsky.social event marking 250 years of American ideas and leadership. "Democracy is not a spectator sport."

"Unlike many of the other great men of history--you know, your Napoleon or your Caesars or your great conquerors--he uses his ambition, his power to bind a nation together, to heal." @ryan-holiday.bsky.social reflects on the Stoic virtues of Abraham Lincoln. Apple: bit.ly/4uKTU8q

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reflects on how George Washington embodied Stoicism. “He listens with the willingness to be persuaded. He quiets himself down, tones down his temper, and he learns,” says Mattis. “That is a man in control of himself.”

Fmr. Defense Sec. Jim Mattis and Ryan Holiday discuss the value of understanding history in the military. “The idea of learning by trial and error is both arrogant and reckless,” says Holiday. “We turn to the past because the people in the past lived through situations like we're in right now.”

"This idea that we're going to just pass on these freedoms and there's not going to be any kind of interruption of them is something that history would refute," says Jim Mattis of the importance of civic duty. See more of our interview with Jim Mattis and Ryan Holiday this weekend on PBS.org.

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says in times of crisis, we must look to the founding principles for guidance. “There's nothing new under the sun…and people have been through it before,” says Mattis. “So get over it. This is nothing. These aren't dark times. These are stern times.”

"With every joy now, there's a mixed sadness." "Dispatches from Grief" author Danielle Crittenden explains how the loss of her daughter inevitably impacts even celebratory events like the birth of her first granddaughter. Follow on Apple: bit.ly/49EQ4FI

Danielle Crittenden and David Frum's daughter Miranda died suddenly in 2024. In her new book, Crittenden grapples with her grief and remembers the daughter she lost. "She was brilliant...One of her friends said that he had never met in real life a person who was so casually witty."

"The person who's lost this child just learns to go quiet because they can't express what they're really going through." Danielle Crittenden--whose daughter Miranda died at age 32--says she wrote "Dispatches from Grief" to help others understand the pain experienced by parents who suffer that loss.

"Dispatches from Grief" author Danielle Crittenden acknowledges she has learned something from suffering, but she rejects the "happiness hucksters" who insist grief is a gift. "It does make you, I think, a bigger and better person. But as a gift, I would happily return it."

Danielle Crittenden, who wrote a book about losing her daughter, expresses the frustration of coping with her daughter’s death in the digital age and accessing her old accounts. “Our digital lives outlast our physical ones,” says Crittenden.

The best way to comfort someone grieving is to lean into that pain, even if it means saying the wrong thing, says Danielle Crittenden, who wrote a new book about losing her daughter. “What you want are people to lean into the suck…and just to take your hand.”

"It's not a book I ever, ever, of course, wanted to write." Danielle Crittenden talks about "Dispatches from Grief," her journey through mourning, and living with the loss of her daughter. TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET @pbs.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf

Of the 12,000 amendments that have been proposed, the Constitution has only been amended 27 times since the founding of America. Did the founders intend for it to be so hard? “They disagreed on this question,” said Jeffrey Rosen, CEO Emeritus of the @constitutionctr.bsky.social.

"Primaries have ended up being an anti-democratic element of our system," says AEI senior fellow Yuval Levin, "because they empower a very, very narrow sliver of the American people to make the essential first mover choice in our system." Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4d0WOi2

"Congress has come to see itself as a secondary player in a fundamentally presidential drama, so that the question they always face in their own minds is a yes or no question about the president…," says Yuval Levin. "They have a real job to do."

Yuval Levin, a senior fellow at AEI, says Congress has become "the most dysfunctional" branch of our government. "Congress is sitting on the sidelines watching it happen and functioning as a kind of commentariat rather than as the chief actor in the system."

The framers of the Constitution intended for the House of Representatives to regularly expand as the population grew, but that has not happened for over 100 years. “It's just a way to restore the logic of the system,” said Yuval Levin of AEI, who supports expanding the House by 150 members.

In “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,” Ben McKenzie interviewed people who had been scammed by crypto—and yet they still believe in cryptocurrency. “For some of these guys, this was a major investment for them, not just financially, but mentally, psychologically. This was their ticket out."

Actor @benmckenzie.bsky.social explains why he has criticized fellow celebrities like Matt Damon for promoting cryptocurrency. "This is an investment. This is not a car or soap. And you're not supposed to offer people financial advice unless you're a licensed financial advisor."

"If Jeffrey Epstein's core businesses were money laundering and blackmail, a pseudonymous currency that operates outside the banking system would be very attractive," @benmckenzie.bsky.social says of Epstein's investments in the early stages of cryptocurrency. Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4e9HvG7

Cryptocurrency is “very dangerous” because it “undermines the faith and confidence that we have in our current system,” said @BenMcKenzie.bsky.social discussing “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money.” “I really want people to understand how fragile these social constructs like money are.”

"He's the most corrupt president in U.S. history...and it's not even close." "Everyone Is Lying to You for Money" director @benmckenzie.bsky.social assesses #PresidentTrump's crypto ventures--and the profits he has reportedly made off them since returning to office.

"Could you use crypto for a good purpose? Sure, it's a tool," says "Everyone Is Lying to You for Money" director @benmckenzie.bsky.social. "But... the amount of crime that's facilitated via cryptocurrency is staggering." TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET @PBS.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf

"If we start mixing the fake money with the real money, all hell will eventually break loose." Filmmaker @benmckenzie.bsky.social warns allowing cryptocurrency to become entwined with the traditional banking system without sufficient regulation could lead to another financial crisis.

Actor and filmmaker @benmckenzie.bsky.social says “our current financial system sucks,” but crypto is not the answer to those grievances. “Crypto is in many ways just a get rich quick scheme…Crypto can't be anything other than, at best, a zero-sum game where for me to win, you have to lose.”

"When the cameras go on and the recorders start recording, it is hard, I think, for Republicans and Democrats to come together and even agree on basic things," says health care policy expert Lanhee Chen. "Because compromise is not seen as a good thing as we sit here in 2026."

While he advocates for more price transparency in health care, Lanhee Chen says it is only “part of the puzzle” of fixing the system. "There is a tendency amongst some to argue that price transparency is like the holy grail. I don't feel that way… There's no silver bullet." Apple: bit.ly/4chWzAa

“Our immigration policies are undermining supply of labor in a lot of different areas, including and particularly health care,” says Lanhee Chen. What has made the American health care system “the finest in the world…is that we have been able to train and retain talent from around the world.”

Health care policy expert Lanhee Chen proposes Individual Health Accounts, but he recognizes “it's not for everybody at this point.” “Health savings accounts as they exist now are predominantly a vehicle for middle, upper-middle income, higher income folks to save for their health care expenses.”

Government price controls might cap health care costs in the short term, says Lanhee Chen, but they won't solve the problem. "In the long run, it's not going to cost less. What it will do is create a precedent for the government aggressively rationing access to health care."

"If you are looking to have a significant surgical procedure, you're probably going to do it in America," says Lanhee Chen. "Yet we have a health care system that produces unreasonably high rates of infant mortality." TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET @PBS.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf

Republicans “lost moral high ground” on health care because “for too long Republican policymakers were animated by one goal, and that was the repeal of Obamacare,” says health care expert Lanhee Chen.

Yale Law School Prof. @oonahathaway.bsky.social said in Feb. the Supreme Court has become "extremely partisan in a way that we haven't seen... in my lifetime." "Big question is, are they going to apply the same limitations to President Trump that they applied to President Biden?" bit.ly/4vdQmN0

"What it takes to change politics is for young people to get involved, to do the hard work, and to play their role in the system," says Oona Hathaway, citing last fall's NYC mayoral race as an example. And Philip Wallach argues Gen Z can help fix a political system that is driving Americans apart.

Voters should put the onus on members of Congress to reassert their power, says Philip Wallach. "I think we as citizens should all remember that these legislators can make this institution what they decide for it to be."

“Legislators see themselves first and foremost as team players for their parties, not as members of the first branch,” says AEI’s Philip Wallach. Republicans have “made it quite clear that they don't see their job as placing limits on the president,” adds @oonahathaway.bsky.social.

Yale Law School Prof. @oonahathaway.bsky.social warns Congress risks becoming a "completely irrelevant institution" if it doesn't reassert power over matters like declaring war. "It needs to be willing to push back against the president, which right now this Congress is just not willing to do."

"Legislators see themselves first and foremost as team players for their parties," says Philip Wallach. "They don't see their job as placing limits on the president," says @oonahathaway.bsky.social. "They see their job as enabling him." TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET @pbs.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf

The War Powers Resolution requires congressional approval to wage war, but “presidents have all sorts of ways of manipulating it,” says Philip Wallach. “Presidents of both parties have found if they initiate short actions, there's very little that Congress can do to really second guess them.”

If Congress doesn’t do its job, “you end up with something closer to a monarchy or a dictatorship,” says @oonahathaway.bsky.social. “The whole reason for the revolution was to reject that form of government…When the president is able to act without any checks from Congress, all of that goes away.”

“There's,,, all sorts of new products that are going to be put in the market," says "1929" author @andrewrsorkin.bsky.social. “We're now going to take companies that have no disclosure rules and we're going to allow them effectively to be in the public markets without the same rules.”