Podcasts and TED Talks are a lot of things, but short isn’t one of them. Sure, there’s a time and place for a three-hour deep dive, but the 15 minutes you have free after work isn’t one of them.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has spent the last four years turning the podcast he launched to defend President Donald Trump against impeachment into a regular, three-episodes-a-week gig, powered by a massive ...