Firewall with Bradley Tusk
Firewall
Recent Episodes
What does it take to unseat a 20-year incumbent? Raj Goyle — fresh off his successful campaign to ban smartphones in New York schools — returns to Firewall to discuss why and how he’s running for state comptroller. First step: Convincing voters that the often overlooked position has untapped power to make real progress on affordability.
This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.
Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].
Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.
Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s real edge isn’t charisma or disruption, says Bradley, but a deeply “regular” superpower - backing things like universal school meals, subway security, phone bans in schools, childcare tax credits, and a crackdown on shoplifting simply because normal people want them. Plus, Bradley sees Trump and Mondami’s buddy act as a masterclass in pure political athleticism, admits he’s utterly perplexed by what Marjorie Taylor Greene is doing, and dissects the now-withdrawn White House AI executive order as proof that the administration still doesn’t understand how regulation actually works.
This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.
Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].
Be sure to watch Bradley’s TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.
Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.
Bradley talks to Oliver Libby — venture investor, civic reform advocate, and co-founder of The Resolution Project — about his new book Strong Floor, No Ceiling: Building a New Foundation for the American Dream. They dig into Libby’s “radical moderation” framework: the idea that America can rebuild its civic culture by pairing a rock-solid baseline of opportunity and support with an unapologetic embrace of ambition, innovation, and upward mobility. If we get to write our own future, says the self-described sci-fi nerd, it ought be pretty easy to choose between a dystopia where giant companies quietly set the rules and a society like Star Trek, where "people don't really talk about money and everyone has enough and people get to do really cool stuff."
This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.
Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].
Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.
Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.
While the Mobile Voting Project posted its open-source code to GitHub, where it is available for any jurisdiction to use, the New York Times ran a front-page, above-the-fold story on Anchorage utilizing it for elections next spring. Bradley reflects on what it took to reach this point and where it goes from here. Plus, he offers two strategies for Mamdani — deploying AI to free up billions for the new programs he wants and playing hardball on Staten Island secession —and discusses how a minor confrontation at the gym got him thinking about how our daily lives are shaped by the clash between zero-sum and abundance mindsets.
This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.
Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].
Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.
Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.
Bradley sits down with two Erikas — Erika Augustine, who runs The David Prize, and Erika Sasson, a winner of said prize — about why $200K, no-strings grants can unlock long-horizon, relationship-driven change in NYC. They get into Sasson’s restorative-justice work on serious harm and why apologies, agency, and community can lower future violence better than ever-longer sentences. Bradley also floats an AI-sentencing thought-experiment, sparking a sharp debate about bias, deterrence, and what justice is actually for. New Yorkers can throw their hats in the ring at thedavidprize.org, initial deadline is Nov 17 for their 2025 open call for visionary ideas.
This episode was taped at P&T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street — New York City’s only free podcast recording studio.
Send us an email with your thoughts on today’s episode: [email protected].
Be sure to watch Bradley’s new TED Talk on Mobile Voting at https://go.ted.com/bradleytusk.
Subscribe to Bradley's weekly newsletter and follow Bradley on Linkedin + Substack + YouTube.