Best Tristin Thomas Podcasts (2025)

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EP 215: Brian Stewart on the 'Spinning Vortex' of News 51:40

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2d ago51:40

51:40

Today, as we go to air, our guest on the program takes the stage at Toronto Metropolitan University to address the next generation. He is a legendary Canadian journalist and he’ll be reflecting on the highs and lows that he’s experienced in his ringside seat to history, and how to navigate what he calls “the spinning vortex of ever-more complex new…

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EP 214: Justin Ling on Canada's 'Existential' Election 59:01

7d ago59:01

59:01

Earlier this year at Lean Out, we covered Canada’s federal election. It was a contest not just between candidates and parties but between dominant narratives about the challenges facing this country. Was our biggest problem the decline in material conditions, or was it Donald Trump? Our guest on today’s podcast was there, on the campaign trail. He’…

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EP 213: Aaron Pete on the Unmarked Graves Controversy 36:58

14d ago36:58

36:58

In 2021, Canada was rocked by a discovery at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops: what appeared to be the remains of more than 200 Indigenous children. The story went viral globally and was reported by The New York Times and others as a mass grave. But to date, no remains have been exhumed. Our guest on the program today is a First …

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EP 212: Andrew Coyne on Canada's Dysfunctional Democracy 46:06

21d ago46:06

46:06

September is here and Lean Out is back with a new season of conversations with writers and thinkers from around the world. We could not think of a more important topic to kick off our fall season than the state of Canadian democracy. Our guest on the program today has written a new book that serves as a wake-up call — he says that while we observe …

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EP 211: ENCORE - Tristin Hopper on What Happened to Canada 33:59

28d ago33:59

33:59

Lean Out is now on our annual summer hiatus. But we while we’re away, we wanted to bring you some popular encore episodes from our archives, including today’s show — from April of 2025. Enjoy, and we’ll see you in September! For some time now, writers and thinkers outside this country have been asking me: What happened to Canada? Our guest on the p…

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EP 210: ENCORE - Ruy Teixeira on the End of the Progressive Moment in America 48:02

1M ago48:02

48:02

Lean Out is now on our annual summer hiatus. But we while we’re away, we wanted to bring you some popular encore episodes from our archives, including today’s show — from November of 2024. Enjoy, and we’ll see you in September! With Donald Trump winning the presidency, the popular vote, the Senate, and the House, in what The New York Times has desc…

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EP 209: ENCORE - Nellie Bowles on America's Berserk Politics 32:30

1M ago32:30

32:30

Lean Out is now on our annual summer hiatus. But we while we’re away, we wanted to bring you some popular encore episodes from our archives, including today’s show — from May of 2024. Enjoy, and we’ll see you in September! 2020 was a turbulent year in American politics, and in the America media. The editor of The New York Times has conceded that th…

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EP 208: Thomas Chatterton Williams on 2020 and its Aftermath 36:34

2M ago36:34

36:34

The summer of 2020 was one of the most explosive periods of recent memory — with pandemic lockdowns, the death of George Floyd, nationwide protests and riots, and workplace purges and online mobbings. And yet, so much of what went on has now been forgotten. In his new book, our guest on the program today encourages us to take a good, hard look at t…

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EP 207: Andrew Doyle on the Decline of the Woke Left - and the Rise of the Woke Right 43:53

2M ago43:53

43:53

In the United States right now, we are witnessing the decline of what has often been called the woke left — and a backlash from an increasingly woke right that is now seeking to impose its own beliefs on society in similar ways. Our guest on the program this week has been an outspoken critic of illiberalism, wherever it originates on the political …

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EP 206: Meghan Daum and Lily Isaacs on 'Heterofatalism' 51:46

2M ago51:46

51:46

One of the themes of the Lean Out podcast is the ongoing tensions between men and women. This past week saw a shot fired on that front: a piece published in The New York Times Magazine, titled “The Trouble With Wanting Men.” For this special joint episode, we unpack this essay with podcaster Meghan Daum and a Gen Z guest. Meghan Daum is an American…

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EP 205: Jeni Gunn: I Am the Working Poor 28:07

2M ago28:07

28:07

The working poor in Canada are often largely invisible. The struggle to make ends meet in an explosively expensive era tends to be a private matter. But our guest on the show today has taken the step to make her own battle public, with a new cover story for Maclean’s that’s sparking discussion across the country. Jeni Gunn is a gig worker in Victor…

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EP 204: Full Press: Why is the Trans Debate the Third Rail of Canadian Journalism? 22:38

2M ago22:38

22:38

In recent weeks and months, a number of you have reached out to Tara about the debate on gender medicine for minors — and a lack of media coverage about it, particularly in this country. This is a topic that she recently covered on her other podcast, Full Press. And The Hub has been kind enough to let us bring you the free version of that episode t…

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EP 203: Beth Kaplan on Getting Stuck - and Breaking Loose 43:51

3M ago43:51

43:51

In recent years, we’ve read a lot of memoirs from women who feel stuck in specific ways: single, childless, consumed by work, and disillusioned with hook-up culture. Our guest on today’s program is the author of the first memoir we have read about breaking free from that pattern — and the story of how it happened is as moving as it is surprising. B…

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EP 202: Daniel Oppenheimer on How the Left Loses People 52:17

3M ago52:17

52:17

With the excesses of 2020 now being examined in mainstream outlets like The New York Times, we are witnessing a moment of introspection on the American left. To unpack this development, we're joined by a writer who has studied the history of the left. And in this week's conversation, we wrestle with our own complicated — and at times conflicted — r…

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EP 201: Joan C. Williams on How the Left Lost the Working Class 42:50

3M ago42:50

42:50

It’s common knowledge these days that the left has lost the working class. But there is little curiosity about how, and why, and what that means for our politics. Our guest on this week's program has written a deeply researched book on the subject — and she has some ideas on where the left should go from here. Joan C. Williams is a Distinguished Pr…

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EP 200: Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee on How Our Politics Failed Us in the Pandemic 50:05

3M ago50:05

50:05

Three and a half years ago, during the pandemic era, we launched Lean Out to explore some basic questions about illiberalism in our response to the crisis — and in our culture, our politics, and our newsrooms. Today, for our 200th episode of the show, we're thrilled to be joined by two academics who have written a deeply researched book that provid…

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EP 199: Jenara Nerenberg on Resisting Groupthink in Polarized Times 29:46

4M ago29:46

29:46

In polarized times, our tolerance for different perspectives decreases. Groupthink becomes common, and we can often find ourselves either censored, or self-censoring. Our guest on the program today has done a deep dive into this topic, and she has some thoughts on how we can begin to speak up — while still seeing our ideological opponents as human.…

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EP 198: Eric Kaufmann: Is Woke Dead? 31:21

4M ago31:21

31:21

Tonight, in London, England, a group of writers and thinkers will gather to debate a key cultural question: “Is woke dead?” And tomorrow, the inaugural conference of a new centre for social science kicks off. Academics will gather to talk through the intellectual origins of this movement and its politics, psychology, and driving interests, to estab…

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EP 197: ENCORE: Larissa Phillips on Bridging Our Divides 30:55

4M ago30:55

30:55

As Tara puts the finishing touches on her next book, on declining trust in the media, we wanted to bring you a few encore interviews that have helped shaped her thinking on the media — including today’s episode. Since the election win for Donald Trump, we are seeing a renewed sense of scorn for Republican voters in parts of the mainstream media. Th…

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EP 196: ENCORE: Musa al-Gharbi on the Cultural Contradictions of the Elites 52:13

4M ago52:13

52:13

As Tara puts the finishing touches on her next book, on declining trust in the media, we wanted to bring you a few encore interviews that have helped shaped her thinking on the media — including today’s episode. The period often referred to as The Great Awokening is winding down now, and we’re starting to get a better understanding of what happened…

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EP 195: Meghan Daum on Life's Catastrophe Hours 36:29

4M ago36:29

36:29

In this turbulent era, for many of us there is a moment in every day when anxiety steals over us. We pause, and in that rare period of stillness, the fears surface — but sometimes, if we’re lucky, so too do the reflections and the insights. Our guest on today’s program has called this interlude “the catastrophe hour,” and she’s just published a boo…

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EP 194: Darrell Bricker on Our Divided Nation 25:05

5M ago25:05

25:05

Now that the dust has settled on the Canadian federal election, we can pause for a moment and assess where we are at as a country. What lessons can we take from the election results? Our guest on today’s program has been polling Canadians for decades — and he says that we are now a divided nation. Darrell Bricker is the CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs.…

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EP 193: David Zweig on Pandemic School Closures 34:55

5M ago34:55

34:55

One of the most polarizing policies of the pandemic era was the extended school closures. Critics have now been validated, with The New York Times reporting that “a growing body of research shows that pandemic school closures came at a steep cost to students” — while doing little to stop the spread of the virus. Our guest on the program today is a …

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EP 192: Election 2025 - Victor Febres on Political Polarization 31:01

5M ago31:01

31:01

Last week, at the English-language election debate, the leaders’ press scrums were cancelled after tensions between media outlets erupted into shouting in the press room, and other confrontations. This incident is a distressing example of how polarized our press has become. But of course, we are not the first country to grapple with this dynamic. M…

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EP 191: Election 2025 - Ramona Coelho on Assisted Dying 35:42

5M ago35:42

35:42

As election day nears, Lean Out continues to highlight the issues that we feel have not received enough attention in this news cycle. My guest on the program today is a physician who serves on death review committee with Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner. In today’s emotional interview, we take a close look at medical assistance in dying, or MA…

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EP 190: Election 2025 - Mike Moffatt Answers Every Question You've Ever Had About the Housing Crisis 42:49

5M ago42:49

42:49

We are in the final week of the Canadian federal election. And while Trump’s trade policy has received much coverage this election season, our housing crisis has been less of a priority for the legacy press. We at Lean Out happen to think this is the most important issue in the country — and so, on today’s program, our guest is here to answer every…

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EP 189: Election 2025 - Tristin Hopper on the State of the Nation 33:41

5M ago33:41

33:41

For some time now, writers and thinkers outside this country have been asking me: What happened to Canada? Our guest on the program today has asked this question himself, in a new book that takes a deep dive into our decline — and arrives just in time for the federal election. Tristin Hopper is a columnist and reporter for The National Post, based …

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EP 188: Vicky Nguyen on Her Journey From Boat Baby to the Today Show 40:17

5M ago40:17

40:17

As we all navigate a period rife with political tensions on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border, we wanted to bring you an incredible story that celebrates the human spirit and affirms our common humanity. Our guest on the program today was an eight-month-old baby when her parents smuggled her out of communist Vietnam, crossing the South China Sea…

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EP 187: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on Heteropessimism 29:20

6M ago29:20

29:20

Throughout the Canadian federal election, we’re taking weekly breaks to think and talk about other things. On today’s program, in light of ongoing debates in American pop culture, we’ll be discussing the phenomenon of heteropessimism with a Toronto culture critic who is quite literally writing the book on it. Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a Toronto-based jo…

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EP 186: Election 2025 - Melanie Paradis on Women's Fertility 25:07

6M ago25:07

25:07

Women’s fertility is a third rail in Canadian politics. We all learned this again last week, when Pierre Poilievre made a comment about biological clocks that sparked outrage. If you followed the controversy in the mainstream media only, you might not know that a number of women were glad to see Poilievre raise the issue of fertility — including my…

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EP 185: Adam Gussow on Interracial Family Life in America's South 47:41

6M ago47:41

47:41

During the 2025 Canadian election season, we’ll be pausing from time to time to take a breather and to think about other issues — often interesting new books. My guest on today’s program is a blues musician, a scholar, and a heterodox thinker. He joins us for a conversation about his deeply personal new book on interracial family life in the south.…

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EP 184: Election 2025 - Brian Dijkema on the Collapse of Support for the NDP 32:15

6M ago32:15

32:15

One of the big stories in the Canadian federal election so far has been the collapse of support for the NDP. New polling from Ipsos shows support for the party continuing to decline. Our guest on today’s program is a former labour representative — and he has some thoughts on where the traditional party of working people has gone wrong. Brian Dijkem…

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EP 183: Election 2025 - Laurent Carbonneau on Canada's 'Corporate Welfare Bums' 17:48

6M ago17:48

17:48

As election season builds steam, here at Lean Out we are focused on the question of why daily life in Canada has become so expensive and so dysfunctional. My guest on today’s program has some insights to share. He recently wrote a well-researched book on the federal government’s corporate subsidies — which, he says, “exploded in magnitude” under Ju…

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EP 182: Ann Bauer on Booksellers' Moral Contract 29:15

6M ago29:15

29:15

With the Canadian federal election now underway, we’re going to have a lot of political content for you in coming weeks. But today, we wanted to change things up a bit and bring you a lighter story about books — and how hard it is these days to find bookstores that stock a range of different perspectives. Our guest on today’s program argues that bo…

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EP 181: Election 2025 - Tom Korski 23:12

6M ago23:12

23:12

After much speculation, Prime Minister Mark Carney has called a snap spring election, and Canadians will be heading to the polls on April 28. To kick off Lean Out’s special election coverage, we bring you a conversation with a veteran Canadian journalist about the unusual moment the country is in — and why, in his view, the current disconnect betwe…

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EP 180: Dave Snow on DEI in Federal Granting Agencies 28:17

6M ago28:17

28:17

In the wake of President Trump’s executive order on DEI, debates in America have renewed a conversation around DEI in this country. And while the baseline value of greater inclusion is one that many of us share, some DEI programs have proven controversial. Our guest on this bonus episode is the author of a recent report that dives into DEI practice…

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EP 179: Andrew Potter on the End of the Trudeau Era 25:02

6M ago25:02

25:02

With Mark Carney in his first week in office as Canada’s new Prime Minister, the Justin Trudeau era is quickly fading in the rearview mirror. But before we move on, it’s important to take stock of what went on in this country during Trudeau’s tenure. Our guest on today’s program says it is time for a national conversation about Trudeau’s legacy. An…

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EP 178: On the Media with Aaron Pete 1:02:47

7M ago1:02:47

1:02:47

Regular listeners of the show will recognize the name Aaron Pete. He’s a talented young broadcaster from B.C. who has guest hosted Lean Out from time to time. Last month Aaron invited Tara on his show, the Bigger Than Me podcast, to discuss some of the hot-button issues from the past few years, and how the Canadian media has handled them. Tara enjo…

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EP 177: Joanna Williams on Trump and Women's Rights 38:34

7M ago38:34

38:34

On Monday night, American legislation to ban transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports in schools was blocked in the Senate. The topic was a sleeper issue in the American election — with polling showing public support for sports participation based on biological sex. Today on the program, in an episode recorded ahead of the Senate vote, w…

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EP 176: Andrea Mrozek on Why Marriage Still Matters 33:57

7M ago33:57

33:57

One of the themes of the Lean Out podcast is the breakdown of trust between men and women. For a marker of this rupture, we need only look to declining marriage rates. Our guest on today’s program has penned a new book about the institution of marriage, making the case that we should reconsider its benefits — not just for individual health and happ…

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EP 175: Full Press 39:59

7M ago39:59

39:59

This week, we're changing things up, here at Lean Out. We are pleased to be able to bring you an episode of Tara's new media criticism podcast with The Hub. Her co-hosts are Harrison Lowman, managing editor of The Hub, and Peter Menzies, a former newspaper executive. On this show, they discuss an interview with the new president of the CBC, the use…

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EP 174: Scott Oake on Addiction, Loss, and Hope 25:42

8M ago25:42

25:42

Negotiations over border security and the Trump administration’s tariffs have once again highlighted the opioid crisis that’s taking so many lives on both sides of the border. Today on the program, we’re going to leave behind the political and instead focus on the personal. My guest is a beloved Canadian sportscaster who lost his son to an overdose…

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EP 173: Jeff Rubin on Economic Warfare 27:15

8M ago27:15

27:15

It’s been a whirlwind news cycle here in Canada, in the wake of President Donald Trump imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now announced that these tariffs are on hold for 30 days, as Canada implements its 1.3-billion-dollar border strategy, aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl. The American tariffs ha…

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EP 172: Catherine Tsalikis on the Life and Times of Chrystia Freeland 42:24

8M ago42:24

42:24

The Liberal leadership race is heating up, and former deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland has now thrown her hat in the ring. Freeland is a powerful figure in Canadian politics, a former journalist who went on to become one of the Prime Minister’s most loyal cabinet members — until her surprise resignation in December. Toda…

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EP 171: Christine Van Geyn on Prorogation 20:13

8M ago20:13

20:13

This week on the Lean Out podcast, we continue our coverage of a chaotic time in Canadian politics. As many of you know, in the wake of Justin Trudeau’s resignation, the Prime Minister asked our Governor General to prorogue Parliament until March 24, as the Liberal Party conducts its leadership race. This move has sparked a legal challenge, and ove…

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EP 170: Jen Gerson on the Chaos in Canada 46:39

9M ago46:39

46:39

If you follow Canadian politics — and even if you don’t — you probably know that we are in a historic moment in this country. Just over a week ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would be resigning as leader of the Liberal Party and intended to step down as prime minister as soon as a new leader was in place. Parliament is now pror…

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EP 169: Richie Hardcore on The Way Forward for Men 52:56

9M ago52:56

52:56

Lean Out is back from our holiday break, and we are resuming our interview series on the challenges facing modern men. Our guest on the program this week is someone we've been wanting to speak to for some time. He’s a former martial arts fighter who has spoken to tens of thousands of men — and he has some insights to share on how to forge healthier…

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EP 168: Sebastian Junger: Encounters With An Afterlife 41:14

9M ago41:14

41:14

New Year’s Day is often a day of quiet contemplation. A day to take stock of our lives, to review the past year and to look toward the one to come. As we settle in with our coffees, we wanted to bring you an encore presentation of one most powerful interviews of the year — with a war reporter who spent his adult life on the frontlines, until one da…

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EP 167: Richard V. Reeves on Why Modern Men Are Struggling 36:40

9M ago36:40

36:40

No podcast series on the challenges facing modern men is complete without hearing from my guest on today’s program. He’s a policy scholar who has been ringing the alarm on the social, economic, and health crises facing men for years now — so much so that he recently founded a national research organization dedicated to tackling these issues. Today …

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EP 166: Nicholas Eberstadt on Men Without Work 35:09

10M ago35:09

35:09

This week at Lean Out, we continue our podcast series on the challenges facing modern men, from declining educational achievement to rising suicides and overdoses. We’re happy to bring you an encore presentation of an interview from 2022, with a political economist who says prime, working age men in America are facing Great Depression-era levels of…