Katherine Mangu-Ward

Katherine Mangu-Ward is the editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine, the nation's foremost libertarian publication. She joins Heaton to weigh in on Justin Amash's presidential aspirations, and whether he is more apt to hurt Trump or Biden in 2020.

Sure, people say sometimes that the past is a different planet. But the past week? Yet here are, the world shutting down all around us, anxiously comparing coronavirus growth curves to Italy and South Korea, retreating to four-way remote podcasting set-ups, trying to make sense of a story that changes seemingly by the hour. On today's Reason Roundtable, Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch offer different perspectives in the teeth of a pandemic. What part of today's clampdown is with us for the long haul? What does this once-a-century challenge tell us about comparative health policies? Are we comfortable with mayors and governors shutting down entire swaths of the economy? Did Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders recalibrate their presidential pitches even a little bit? And how will Nick tie this all back in to some 1970s Charlton Heston movie? These are among the questions that you can listen being addressed right here. Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor. Music credit: 'Ninja Tortoise' by Verified Picasso Relevant links from the show: "Coronavirus Is the Health of the State," by J.D. Tuccille "COVID-19 Reminds Us: Social Media Is Good, Actually," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown "Coronavirus Epidemic May Be Slowed by Warm and Humid Weather," by Ronald Bailey "The Coronavirus Debate Was Bernie Sanders' Last Chance. He Blew It," by Robby Soave "Price-Gouging Laws Will Do More Harm Than Good During the Coronavirus Pandemic," by J.D. Tuccille "Biden Promises 'Major, Major, Major Bailouts' in Response to Coronavirus," by Eric Boehm "Trump Gets What He Wants as Federal Reserve Interest Rate Target Drops to Zero," by Brian Doherty "Tired: There Are No Libertarians in a Pandemic. Wired: There Are Only Libertarians in a Pandemic," by Nick Gillespie "Coronavirus Is Going To Be Expensive. Too Bad the Government Is Already in Massive Debt," by Eric Boehm "America Doesn't Have Enough Hospital Beds To Fight the Coronavirus. Protectionist Health Care Regulations Are One Reason Why," by Eric Boehm "St. Phineas: How P.T. Barnum helped invent business ethics," by John Mueller

Though it sometimes feels here at Reason like every day is Festivus—at least the Airing of Grievances part, if not quite the Feats of Strength—it is also true that the Seinfeld-concocted holiday comes every December 23. That means two things: 1) the annual tweet-storm from Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) and, if it falls on a Monday, 2) a Festivus-themed episode of the Reason Roundtable podcast. Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Matt Welch huck darts at, among many other targets, last week's "bucket of garbage" budget deal, our brand new Space Force, Democratic presidential candidates, cigarette prohibitionists, presidential cultists, trade warriors, governor sons of governors, nu-trad-con manifesto writers, would-be campaign-finance regulators, politicians who can't stop yammering about baseball, and whichever alien force lives inside Nick Gillespie's mouth robotically dispensing Zardoz references. There's even a shocking twist or two near the end, so be here now until the final second, if time even exists. Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor. Music: "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies" by Tchaikovsky Relevant links from the show: "A Special Reason Festivus Airing of the Grievances: Podcast," by Matt Welch "'Until You Pin Me, George, Festivus Is Not Over!'" by Jesse Walker "Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding," by Jacob Sullum "Bipartisan 'Bucket of Garbage' Budget Bill Contains $50 Billion in Special Interest Tax Breaks," by Eric Boehm "Republicans, Democrats Agree to Dump $738 Billion More Into the Forever War and Space Force," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown "Even in Impeachment-Crazed D.C., It's Always a Good Time To Borrow and Spend!" by Nick Gillespie "America's Forgotten Debt," by John Stossel "Here's the One Book All the Democratic Candidates (and President Trump) Should Read," by Nick Gillespie "Democrats Still Fundraising Off Citizens United, Still Wrong About What It Means," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown "Warren and Buttigieg Spar Over Who Has the Purest Donors," by Scott Shackford "The Cult of the Presidency," by Gene Healy "House-Passed Budget Deal Raises Age To Buy Cigarettes to 21," by Christian Britschgi "It Wasn't Just a Chokehold That Killed Eric Garner," by Jacob Sullum "This Week Is a Crucial Final Exam Capping the Second Year of Trump's Trade Wars," by Eric Boehm "The New Trustbusters Are Coming for Big Tech," by Thomas W. Hazlett "The Moral Scolds of the New Illiberal Right Are Coming For Your Internet," by Peter Suderman "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to State Economy: 'Drop Dead,'" by Nick Gillespie "The Five Faces of Jerry Brown," by Jesse Walker

Matt Kibbe is joined by Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor-in-chief of Reason, to discuss how government and tech companies form an unholy alliance to restrict our speech online. In this libertarian nerd-fest, they also talk sex work, the War on Drugs, and capitalism, and as a bonus, you’ll get an answer to the burning question of whether Mark Zuckerberg is a lizard person.