Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge is a bi-weekly show with host Peter Robinson. He seeks to engage guests in lively, informative discussions about public policy.

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

How did Donald Trump go from political defeat and the aftermath of January 6 to a second term in the White House? Hoover Senior Fellow @VDHanson joins Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson to discuss his latest book, The Counter-Revolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement.

Hanson argues that the prosecutions of Trump strengthened his candidacy, evidenced by his gains among Black and Hispanic male voters, and explains why prominent Silicon Valley figures (many former Democrats) rallied behind him. He also delves into Trump's second-term agenda, from immigration enforcement to his confrontation with universities, the media, and other institutions Hanson sees as centers of progressive power.

Watch @UncKnowledge on Hoover+: https://t.co/k6FGK7z8UA

Stay tuned for Part 2, in which Victor discusses his own health, the war in Iran, and Trump's promise to remake Washington and restore American strength.

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Hoover Senior Fellow @VDHanson joins Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson this Monday, October 19.

Subscribe to get notified when the episode premieres: https://t.co/mFL1dTHjhd

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

"Any great power spending more on debt servicing than defense risks ceasing to be great power," wrote 18th Century historian Adam Ferguson.

Hoover Senior Fellow @JoshRauh explains why the US is in danger of fulfilling Ferguson's warning.

Watch @UncKnowledge with @P_M_Robinson on Hoover+: https://t.co/ZW42jERzPY

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Senior Fellow @JoshRauh breaks down the federal budget, explaining how Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid consume half of all spending on autopilot while interest payments on the national debt take nearly one in five revenue dollars.

Watch @UncKnowledge with @P_M_Robinson on Hoover+: https://t.co/ZW42jER20q

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Hoover Institution economist @JoshRauh joins Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson to examine America's mounting federal debt and the political obstacles to controlling government spending.

Rauh discusses why higher taxes and faster economic growth alone cannot close the budget gap, warns that rising interest costs could lead to an inflationary crisis, and argues for slowing the growth of entitlement spending.

The conversation also covers President Trump's tariff policies; California's proposed billionaire tax and why it has the potential to drive taxpayers out of the state; and the lessons offered by states such as Texas and Florida.

Watch @UncKnowledge on Hoover+: https://t.co/ZW42jERzPY

[Uncommon Knowledge @uncknowledge]

The Uncommon Knowledge episode "Ben Sasse on Mortality, Meaning, and the Future of America" has been named a finalist in the Fifth Annual Signal Awards.

Vote for it here: https://t.co/An3pV2Ki9R

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Three Hoover Institution productions have been named finalists in the Fifth Annual Signal Awards, which recognize "the podcasts that define culture." Audiences can vote for each of them in the Listener's Choice Awards. Links below ⬇️

Indra Nooyi on Leadership and Innovation at PepsiCo, part of the Only in America series, in the Thought Leadership category: https://t.co/ErMICHQCCo

Ben Sasse on Mortality, Meaning, and the Future of America, part of the Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson series, in the Best Video Podcast Guest category: https://t.co/LjjPv2Ak8z

GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics, in the Best Video Podcast Co-host Team category: https://t.co/nREWKqn3eA

Voting is open now through October 15, 2026. Learn more about the Signal Awards and Hoover's finalists: https://t.co/RnuGder1oo

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Hoover Institution historian Andrew Roberts (@ARoberts_Andrew) shares his favorite historical counterfactual with Peter Robinson (@P_M_Robinson)—what if Churchill hadn't become prime minister in May 1940?

Watch Uncommon Knowledge on Hoover+: https://t.co/L84PztXnWw

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Hoover historian Andrew Roberts (@ARoberts_Andrew) describes why the recent charges by "historians" who claim Winston Churchill was to blame for extending WWII are completely wrong.

Watch Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson (@P_M_Robinson): https://t.co/L84PztXVM4

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Hoover Institution Director @CondoleezzaRice reflects on how President Bush became a wartime commander in chief on the morning of 9/11, and how the machinery for defending American territory had yet to be fully developed.

Out of that day, she says, came the decision to take the fight to the terrorists, and with it the Bush doctrine.

Watch the full episode of Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson and Stephen Hadley here: https://t.co/FRJvwCEPg5

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Historian Andrew Roberts (@ARoberts_Andrew) discusses Winston Churchill's complicated views on race and argues that they must be understood in the context of his times.

Watch the full conversation with Peter Robinson (@P_M_Robinson) on Uncommon Knowledge: https://t.co/L84PztXVM4

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

In this special crossover edition of the Hoover Institution podcasts Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson and Secrets of Statecraft, @ARoberts_Andrew explains why great individuals still shape history—and why Winston Churchill remains history's ultimate example.

Roberts confronts attacks on Churchill's record, explains Britain's decision to fight Hitler in 1940, and discusses tyranny, Brexit, socialism, immigration, Donald Trump, and Britain's future. He also despairs of the decline of literacy and historical memory and reveals both the world leaders he admires today and the source of his podcast's title, Churchill's enduring advice: "Study history, for therein lie all the secrets of statecraft."

Watch more @UncKnowledge on Hoover+: https://t.co/L84PztXVM4

[Charles Murray @charlesmurray]

I've watched the whole thing now, and I'm ready to say this is the favorite of any interview I've ever done in 40+ years of doing interviews, edging out my second-favorite, which was the interview I did with Peter Robinson about Coming Apart. He has an incredible gift for enabling people to say what they mean more clearly than they thought they could do on camera.
https://t.co/E51W9LSb5f

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Charles Murray explores the mystery of the Shroud of Turin, from its detailed photographic image to the scientific debate over its age and the still-unresolved question of how the image was created.

Watch Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson on Hoover+: https://t.co/uLv7k4p0Yn

[Peter Robinson @p_m_robinson]

Sitting in a chair across from someone with something worth saying as we recorded an episode of Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson--that's the way I've spent some of the most enjoyable hours of my working life. Now the Hoover Institution has brought to together the entire UK catalog on Hoover+. Have a gander. https://t.co/Wahg5fEr0w

[Uncommon Knowledge @uncknowledge]

Watch the full conversation on Hoover+: https://t.co/Z9ebKg1n0k

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

.@CharlesMurray reflects on his journey from casual agnosticism toward religion and his realization that spiritual perception may be a capacity some people experience more naturally than others.

Watch Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson on Hoover+: https://t.co/uLv7k4p0Yn

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

For most of his life, @CharlesMurray was a casual agnostic who assumed smart people had left religion behind. Now he's not so sure. Murray joins @P_M_Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge to discuss the evidence that forced him to reconsider God, the soul, and Christianity—from near-death experiences and the mysterious Shroud of Turin to the historical reliability of the Gospels and the Resurrection.

It's the story of an empirically minded skeptic following the evidence wherever it leads—and discovering that faith may be far more reasonable than he once believed. Watch more of @UncKnowledge on Hoover+: https://t.co/uLv7k4p0Yn

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins argues that the US squandered an opportunity by overregulating crypto. Blockchain is the real breakthrough, he says, and could make markets faster, more efficient, and more secure.

Watch Uncommon Knowledge with @P_M_Robinson: https://t.co/V42B43jXxJ

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins traces the agency's origins to the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash and explains how the SEC's mission has evolved to oversee the institutions that underpin US capital markets.

Watch a new @UncKnowledge with @P_M_Robinson: https://t.co/Hxa4fNSE1F

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

For decades, young companies raced to the public markets. Today, they wait years longer—if they go public at all. @SECPaulSAtkins explains the shift and what reforms could make US public markets more attractive.

Watch @UncKnowledge with @P_M_Robinson: https://t.co/Hxa4fNTbRd

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

"America was an investment before it was a nation." That idea anchors this Uncommon Knowledge conversation between SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Peter Robinson.

@SECPaulSAtkins argues that vibrant capital markets are essential to American prosperity and explains why he believes excessive regulation has discouraged companies from going public and innovators from building in the United States. The discussion also covers crypto, disclosure rules, investor protection, and the role of free markets in driving economic growth.

Watch the full episode of @UncKnowledge with @P_M_Robinson on X: