Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast.

I'm Steve Hayes.

Sarah Isker has the week off.

The focus in Washington this week is squarely in one place.

Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are scrutinizing a decision

that gives shape to the Biden administration's foreign policy,

and where they're debating the key components

of the Biden administration's domestic agenda.

We'll start there, and then we'll pull back the camera

a bit to talk about, well, threats to the Republic

and the future of the country.

Let's start with Afghanistan and the hearings that took place

on Capitol Hill yesterday.

We had the Secretary of Defense, the head of Central Command,

and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

sitting before the Senate Armed Services Committee,

being grilled by senators, some of whom

seem to actually want to understand what

happened in Afghanistan better, some of whom

seem to determine to get their face on the cable news.

Evening shows with manufactured outrage.

But we learned some things, I think, from the hearings.

...