Shannon Busta Riches

Since it's a matter of public controversy: Last month we recorded an interview with Seth Harp but decided not to publish it as an episode of Interesting Times. As one of my producers told him in a message that he has published, the main reason for the decision was our own overcrowded schedule and our sense that we had missed the ideal spot in the news cycle for a conversation pegged to the Delta Force raid in Venezuela. But another reason was my own judgment that the episode did not hold together well. I was primarily interested in discussing Mr. Harp's reporting on drug dealing and corruption in the Special Forces and linking that to a discussion of how a reliance on special operations has shaped U.S. foreign policy and military preparedness. But I felt that the latter half of our discussion became unmoored from Mr. Harp's specific reporting in a way that undermined the first half of our conversation. "Interesting Times" is a show where I try to give a lot of space to the guest's perspective while posing challenging questions, creating episodes where the audience gets the best version of an idea or worldview that they might not have understood before. I don't think I succeeded in that goal in my conversation with Mr. Harp. If he believes I'm covering up the fact that he beat me in some sort of debate, I think I didn't make my intentions and the goal of the show clear to him -- which may help explain why it was an unsuccessful episode. Ultimately that responsibility is mine and I'm sorry for taking his time without steering us to a fruitful destination.

Well, quite a week to launch a new podcast, but here we go: nytimes.com/2025/04/07/opini…