Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
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Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
@firinglineshow.bsky.social
A rigorous contest of ideas in the Firing Line tradition, every week on PBS with Margaret Hoover.

Listings: http://to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
Youtube: http://bit.ly/FLMYT4
Podcast: http://bit.ly/FLMH4
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In an interview from 2020, Bari Weiss told Margaret Hoover that the rise in antisemitic violence under President Trump was “of course not” an accident.

“He is dismantling the moral guardrails that keep bigotry down,” said Weiss.
January 2, 2026 at 7:49 PM
In 2020, Bari Weiss told #FiringLine, “There are controversies…that are not intended that are tripping into landmines... But when I create a controversy because I have afflicted the comfortable, I'm really happy about that."

FRIDAY @pbs.org

Local listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
January 2, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Cindy McCain acknowledges @wfp.org had gotten "a little top-heavy," and she has taken steps to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

"Using data better, using science and technology better, all of makes us a better organization."

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December 29, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"The soft power that the United States had through the food aid and the aid in general that they were distributing and helping out with is very important."

@wfp.org Executive Director Cindy McCain responds to U.S. humanitarian aid funding cuts.

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December 28, 2025 at 7:59 PM
As leaders in the U.S. and Europe scale back foreign aid, @wfp.org Executive Director Cindy McCain warns hunger could fuel mass migration toward their countries.

"You would do anything to feed your family, and so they will hit the road and migrate."

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December 28, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"In many countries, we're just barely hanging on," says @wfp.org Executive Director Cindy McCain.

"We don't have the access to get to where we need to go, and the amount of food that we're trying to get in is not enough. And that's because of funding cuts."

FULL EPISODE: bit.ly/4gTy78T
December 27, 2025 at 7:59 PM
"I would challenge anybody from the private sector or any other area to try to do what we do and do it efficiently, effectively, and get the job done," says @wfp.org Executive Director Cindy McCain.

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December 27, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"In many countries, we're just barely hanging on."

Amid funding cuts from the U.S. and others, @wfp.org Executive Director Cindy McCain discusses the challenges of feeding the hungry in Sudan, Afghanistan, and other regions in crisis.

TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET

@pbs.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
December 26, 2025 at 7:59 PM
"Food security is national security."

@wfp.org Executive Director Cindy McCain discusses the challenges of confronting global hunger, fighting famine, and why the U.S. and other countries should fund humanitarian aid.

FRIDAY @pbs.org

Local listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
December 25, 2025 at 4:06 AM
"If it is determined that he committed crimes, I'd like to see him convicted," Rob Reiner said of Donald Trump in 2019.

"If that doesn't happen, it basically paves the way for anybody to take stuff from foreign governments... to do whatever it is you want, and we don't want that in the president.”
December 23, 2025 at 7:59 PM
In a 2019 interview, Rob Reiner said Hollywood doesn't care about a filmmaker's politics "if they're making a lot of money," but being conservative might hurt an actor's career.

"You can hire another actor. But for the people who are in power to actually make the films, I don't think it matters."
December 23, 2025 at 1:34 PM
In 2019, Rob Reiner questioned whether American institutions could survive President Trump.

“I'm nervous about it,” he told Margaret Hoover. “Right now, we're being tested.”
December 22, 2025 at 8:00 PM
"I've always said you cannot have a healthy democracy unless you have a healthy Republican Party and a healthy Democratic party," Rob Reiner said in 2019, "so that we can actually debate the ideas of where we are."

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December 22, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"I don't believe I have changed many people's minds," Rob Reiner said of the impact of his criticism of #DonaldTrump in 2019.

"What you do is, you keep the people who are going to be engaged engaged to get out there and vote."

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December 21, 2025 at 7:59 PM
"We are a capitalist nation," Rob Reiner told Margaret Hoover in 2019.

"But we also have a lot of socialist programs inside the capitalist nation and we have to find a way to balance those things."

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December 21, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"The good Republicans that I talk to all the time, their hair is on fire..," Rob Reiner said in 2019.

"At a certain point, you've got to say I care more about this country than I do about my getting reelected."

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December 20, 2025 at 7:59 PM
"When you look at the sweet spot of any great civilization, it's usually 250 to 300 years," Rob Reiner told Margaret Hoover in 2019.

"We're coming up against that."

FULL EPISODE: bit.ly/3MNi15N
December 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"Benjamin Franklin said we were a republic if you can keep it," Rob Reiner said in 2019.

"And right now, we're being tested. We, as a country, are being tested, whether or not we can keep it. But there's no guarantee."

Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4asuKEU
December 20, 2025 at 2:49 AM
"The two most important issues that I care about is one, the environment... and two, the survival of democracy."

Rob Reiner discusses his political activism in an updated 2019 interview with previously unaired material.

TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET

@pbs.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
December 19, 2025 at 8:05 PM
In 2019, Rob Reiner acknowledged many voters in swing states dismissed him as a coastal elite.

"I understand that I'm toxic in those ways for those people. But if anybody wants to spend any time actually talking and talking about how policy can be effected...I can sit and talk with them."
December 19, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Long before bipartisanship was a catchphrase, Rob Reiner helped match Republican Ted Olson and Democrat David Boies to advance the cause of marriage equality.

“The fact that they teamed up basically took the politics out of the issue,” Reiner told Margaret Hoover in 2019.
December 19, 2025 at 2:36 PM
"There's no guarantee that democracy survives forever."

In an updated 2019 interview with previously unaired material, Rob Reiner discusses his political activism and his fears for America's future.

FRIDAY @pbs.org

Local listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
December 18, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Ret. Lt. Gen. @MarkHertling.bsky.social says President Trump’s focus on regional hegemony is “troubling.”

“It appears that instead of looking at worldwide potential deployments that would stand for the values that we hold dear, we're focusing on just one part of the world.”
December 16, 2025 at 1:34 PM
"I'm trying now to give new advice to a new generation."

Ret. Lt. Gen. @MarkHertling.bsky.social discusses his upcoming book, "If I Don't Return," which is based on journals he wrote for his sons while serving in Iraq in the 1990s.

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December 15, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Ret. Lt. Gen. @MarkHertling.bsky.social calls for Congress to do "a whole lot more" to dig into the Venezuelan boat strikes, including probing the retirement of the head of U.S. Southern Command after reported tensions with Sec. Hegseth.

"That tells me there's a whole lot of fire behind the smoke."
December 15, 2025 at 1:33 PM