Episodes

“Fidel Castro told his aides, ‘We’re going to fill his arms with shit.’ That is an example of weaponised migration. What we’re experiencing now is on a thermonuclear scale.” — Peter Schweizer Is best selling writer Peter Schw...

“I have always said that they are the same person. And the drama of this story is that one ends up dead in the darkest prison in America, and the other in the White House.” — Michael Wolff A few days ago we had Jason Pack on ...

“The fatal error is ours. Legislators set out a regulatory regime that keeps regulation at bay. The only other industry with a similar protection is the gun industry.” — Olivier Sylvain There are certain words in book titles ...

“They’re both naughty boys in the playground, leveraging the absence of clarity to their own advantage. Neither one of them is an authoritative leader of opinion with the interests of everyone at heart.” — Keith Teare What a ...

“All my life, I’ve absolutely opposed all terrorism by anyone under any circumstances. I define terrorism as the deliberate killing of noncombatants.” — Daniel Ellsberg, October 2001 Last week we had Tom Wells on the show tal...

“I don’t think we’re sleepwalking, because people have striven to be as thoughtful as possible. In some ways, they’ve been too thoughtful. We’re paralysed, in fact, by our risk awareness.” — Christopher Clark It’s 1830 in Eas...

“We should all be able to look at the numbers and agree that this is not sustainable and that whatever we’ve been doing is not working. Democrats have had their chance, and Republicans have had their chance, and it’s only got...

“If we let things continue in the direction that they are taking now, I think it is more likely than not that we will end up in some kind of Great Power war within the foreseeable future.” — Arne Westad This conversation was ...

“When you use humor to degrade people, you can get away with it—but you’re also doing something that’s completely devastating.” — Rae Lynn Barnes Donald Trump’s recent retweet of Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes was...

“If you disestablish Christianity, then Christian leaders need to make Christianity a consumer product. They need to give the American people something they want.” — Matthew Avery Sutton Over the years, Keen On has done many ...

“We keep telling you there’s an eviction crisis, so organize with us. Feel free to come into our meetings. Feel free to learn about the lives of people who have been here for a long time.” — Manissa Maharawal Yesterday we spo...

"He's blundered here. He's trying to set policy for the government on the use of AI through a sales contract." — Keith Teare on Dario Amodei There's only one story this week: Dario Amodei's refusal to let the Department of Wa...

"You can't wear a yellow vest on a demonstration anymore because you get arrested as soon as the police see you." — Ida Susser In November 2018, something strange happened in France. People from the urban periphery—truck driv...

"He lied more than I thought he did—and I thought he lied a lot." — Tom Wells on Henry Kissinger In our Epstein age, everyone seems to have access to everyone else's dirtiest secrets. But half a century ago, in the Watergate ...

"They are fundamentally bound at the hip, because the Trump age is a conspiratorial age and a backlash against global wealth inequality... Epstein facilitated the rise of Trump." — Jason Pack Late last year, Disorder podcast ...

"The House hasn't reorganized committee jurisdictions since the early 70s—before the internet existed." — Maya Kornberg America is stuck stuck stuck stuck. Almost exactly a year ago, I interviewed the Atlantic's Yoni Applebau...

"We didn't have to grow up with that." — Ross Greene, on school shootings One of the most persistent worries these days is that our kids aren't okay. With most of the blame, of course, now being placed on the ubiquity of soci...

"I wake up at 3 AM, check my phone to see what fresh hell has come out, and it's usually two words: 'Trump threatens.'" — Peter Bale We're reversing the lens today. Rather than examining America from the inside, we're peering...

"Great minds think alike? It's completely wrong. It's not that great minds think alike; it's that different minds are great." — David Oppenheimer It's diversity week. Yesterday, Brian Soucek argued in favor of what he calls t...

"They are changing venture capital from a 30% tax to 0% tax. If Robinhood succeeds, it makes Sequoia and Andreessen's business model untenable." — Keith Teare The Silicon Gods must have their blood. And they've finally come f...

"150 universities have adopted neutrality policies just since October 7th. I'm on the losing end of this trend." — Brian Soucek Universities keep claiming what they see as the moral high ground of neutrality. But Brian Soucek...

"72% of Americans say they hate big corporations—including Republicans." — Charles Derber It's not just the right that's reacting against liberal democracy. Some progressives are also embracing populism. Charles Derber , long...

"American culture likes martyrs, not marchers." — David Masciotra, quoting Jesse Jackson A couple of days ago, a great American died. Jesse Jackson was 84. He was somebody. Even Donald Trump acknowledged the passing of "a goo...

"It truly is becoming a desert right now for book publicists." — Bethanne Patrick A couple of weeks ago, there was an " absolute bloodbath " at The Washington Post with hundreds of workers laid off and the book section totall...