On Brand with Donny Deutsch

Bestselling thriller author Harlan Coben reveals his writing process, how to beat writer's block, and the heartbreaking story behind his father's last words.

With more than 100 million books sold and hit Netflix series like Fool Me Once, Harlan Coben is one of the world's most popular mystery writers. Donny Deutsch talks with his longtime friend about his new memoir, Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft, which is part memoir and part writing guide.

Harlan explains why he always knows the ending before he starts (his "GPS theory"), why rewriting matters more than writing, and why he believes "plot is character." He talks about imposter syndrome and creative self-doubt, why boredom is good for creativity, and why he needs to leave the house to write. He also shares how losing both parents young led him to write about missing people, and tells the story of a hotel key found in his father's pocket.

There are lighter moments too: his childhood Nerf basketball league, the "scary" children's book Are You My Mother?, being named a Jewish All-American at Amherst, his view on AI and books, and "The Boys," the friend group that includes Michael J. Fox and George Stephanopoulos.

If you're an aspiring writer, a Harlan Coben fan, or love stories about creativity, friendship, and grief, this conversation is for you.

📖 Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft by Harlan Coben is available now wherever books are sold.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Donny Deutsch and Lou Pellegrino run through who's up and who's down in American culture. They start with a CDC report finding that most U.S. adults are running on empty, then compare notes on five o'clock naps and why sleep has become a $100 billion industry. From there it's senior TikTok creators talking openly about sex and intimacy, the University of Chicago banning AI and laptops from its core courses, and the dictionary's newest additions, including "parasocial," "cuffing season," and "Sunday scaries."

A new Gallup finding that adults under 35 are now the loneliest Americans leads into one of the week's most surprising brand ups: the comeback of the American mall. Donny and Lou trade Queens Center and Roosevelt Field memories along the way. They also check in on Taco Bell's new branded hotel in Palm Springs, question some of Ad Age's picks for 2026's hottest brands, and look at pickleball's fourth straight year as America's fastest-growing sport. Rounding out the list are the fitness shift from weight loss to strength and longevity, "DivorceTok" as a content category, social saunas as Gen Z's new third place, and the milestone of fewer than half of married women taking their husband's name.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony Scaramucci joins Donny Deutsch to break down his new book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, a sharp and surprisingly self-critical look at how America got here. The SkyBridge founder and co-host of The Rest Is Politics: US walks through the three turning points he believes set the stage for MAGA: letting China into the WTO without checking its rise, the post-9/11 wars funded by tax cuts that blew up the deficit, and a 2008 bailout that rescued the banks but left Main Street behind. As Scaramucci puts it, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party "had a baby, and they named it baby MAGA."

Donny and Anthony also get into the fixes: restoring pay-as-you-go budgeting, ending Citizens United, and open primaries to break the two-party duopoly. They discuss Trump's fight with Canada and why Scaramucci predicts a deal is coming, the odds of a blue wave in the midterms, whether the Democrats can win back the center, and the Shapiro vs. Ossoff vs. Newsom debate. Plus, what happens to the Republican Party after Trump, why MAGA may not survive him, and whether "The Mooch" would ever run for office himself.

🎙️ Subscribe to On Brand with Donny Deutsch for more unfiltered conversations on politics, media, marketing, and culture with the biggest names shaping the national conversation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CNN's Dana Bash joins Donny to talk about her new bestseller, The Elections That Changed the World: 15 Pivotal Moments That Shaped How We Live — from Hitler's rise through a democratic vote to the small-town election that launched Martin Luther King Jr. into the civil rights movement.

Dana shares her own sixth-grade run for school president and how it shaped her instinct for fairness and truth-telling. Then she and Donny dig into the moment we're in now: the midterms, gerrymandering and the vanishing swing district, whether the Democratic Party's future runs through its left flank, if MAGA can survive without Trump, dark-horse 2028 contenders on both sides, and the unsettling question of AI outpacing human control.

Be sure to check out the ⁠⁠⁠On Brand with Donny Deutsch YouTube page⁠⁠⁠.

🎙️ Subscribe to On Brand with Donny Deutsch for more unfiltered conversations on politics, media, marketing, and culture with the biggest names shaping the national conversation.

⭐ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded on September 10, 2026.

Donny sits down with Jessica Tarlov — co-host of Fox News's The Five and Scott Galloway's Raging Moderates — for her first-ever appearance on the show. They dig into her new book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, and what it actually takes to debate someone without torching the relationship.

Jessica opens up about the real dynamic behind her on-air chemistry with Greg Gutfeld and Scott Galloway, why conservatives are often more willing to move past politics than liberals are, and how she uses polling and data to hold her own in front of a hostile audience. She and Donny also get into her cheesesteak-fueled college thesis on Philly culture, the pop-culture characters (Tracy Flick, Elle Woods) who shaped how she thinks about being underestimated, and advice from Roger Ailes that changed how she sees her own voice.

The conversation turns personal and political as they discuss the widening rift between the Democratic Party and Israel, Donny's on-air clash with Joe Scarborough, and — a day before the 25th anniversary of 9/11 — Jessica's reflection on losing her father to complications from the attacks, and what she hopes the anniversary will mean under a new mayor.

Plus: a Thanksgiving-table survival guide, straight from the book.

Be sure to check out the ⁠⁠On Brand with Donny Deutsch YouTube page⁠⁠.

🎙️ Subscribe to On Brand with Donny Deutsch for more unfiltered conversations on politics, media, marketing, and culture with the biggest names shaping the national conversation.

⭐ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices