America Isn't Collapsing... It's Mutating. Michael Malice
Watch this video at- https://youtu.be/ukOGFaOAKkQ?si=8oHaK77YdTDrkPpX
228,207 views Oct 14, 2025 Full Interviews of Impact Theory
Shortform: Try Shortform free and get 20% off your annual subscription at http://shortform.com/tombilyeu Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/impact Check us out wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1nARKz2... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Do you need my help? STARTING a business: join me here inside ZERO TO FOUNDER (https://tombilyeu.com/zero-to-founder) SCALING a business: click here to see if you qualify (https://tombilyeu.com/scale) Get the exact systems, mindset shifts, and principles that built a $1B brand delivered straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe for free (https://tombilyeu.com) Check out our Video game - Project Kyzen: (https://projectkyzen.io/) Catch Me Streaming on Twitch - ( / tombilyeu ) Link to IT discord: / discord Tom's Favorite Things List: https://amzn.to/41Ftt7e On today’s episode of Impact Theory, Tom Bilyeu sits down with author and provocateur Michael Malice for an unfiltered deep dive into America’s current social and political turbulence. Are we living through an actual decline—or is that just a narrative fueled by polarization and economic anxiety? Tom and Michael clash over definitions, metrics, and the real-world symptoms of unrest, from “soft secession” among states to the creeping rise of populism and political violence. Together, they unpack the hidden costs of inflation, housing bubbles, and deficit spending, with Tom warning about a dangerous fork in the road ahead: revolution, civil war, or the quiet erosion into economic stagnation. Michael pushes back, claiming America is in “ascension” in some critical ways, but he doesn’t shy away from calling out the breakdown in civic discourse and the silos fueling division. They dig into historical context, global comparisons, and the role of universities as modern indoctrination hubs. This conversation doesn’t stop at politics—it veers into the future of AI, the meaning of tribalism, social credit scores, and how technological upheaval might drive us all into virtual worlds or leave millions behind. Buckle up for a wild ride through uncomfortable truths, dark humor, and some offbeat protein bar analogies—you’re about to hear two radically different views not just of where America stands, but what could come next.
00:34 – Michael Malice pushes back on “collapse” rhetoric
01:14 – America vs. the world: Perceptions of American power and value
04:16 – Political siloization and the shrinking space for dialogue
05:56 – Soft secession: State vs. federal power games
08:39 – Paths ahead: Civil War, Argentina, or revolution?
10:46 – Revolution mechanics: Is another 1860s-style war possible?
13:12 – Violence, political unrest, and expanding executive power
16:06 – Economic crushing of young people and the rise of populism
17:58 – Housing, inflation, and the struggle for the American Dream
20:08 – Currency as a store of value: Societal ruin and a lack of political will
23:10 – The Japan counterargument and the threshold for crisis
26:07 – What drives people to “blink” in political standoffs?
28:24 – Party priorities, empty rhetoric, and pivoting for power
32:00 – Economic disenfranchisement, the myth of moderate politics
36:56 – Populism vs. establishment: Energies within parties
39:03 – Political novelty, enthusiasm gaps, and voter turnout
41:38 – Global leftward drift: Authoritarianism in Canada, UK, and beyond
46:13 – “The time for talk is over”—what this actually means
47:27 – Universities as the “villains” and the creation of ruling elites
49:56 – Marxism, egalitarianism, and cultural bifurcation
52:02 – Cultural shifts, earnestness vs. revolution, and memory-holed leftism
54:00 – The dangers of social conformity and shifting the Overton window
56:29 – Can universities be reined in?
1:00:16 – Narrative control, new media chaos, and elite power after the Internet
1:06:49 – The politics of blame: Antisemitism, conspiracies, and populist rage
1:13:13 – Warning signs: Measuring society’s health by its scapegoats
1:19:12 – Israel-Palestine, war, and the elusive search for peace
1:21:52 – The next stage: AI, algorithmic reality, and broken discourse
1:24:00 – Goal orientation, skills, and navigating “useful” beliefs
1:25:18 – Tribalism, isolation, and the dangers for moderates
1:26:46 – Alex Jones, Candace Owens, and why conspiracy theories persist
1:32:00 – First principles: How to actually challenge your beliefs
1:33:56 – A personal story: Sleep apnea, anxiety, and reclaiming clarity
1:37:21 – AI, automation, and the fate of surplus labor
1:40:08 – Brave New World, artificial difficulty, and the post-economic Matrix
1:48:56 – Hardwired for scarcity: The psychological cost of abundance
1:51:16 – Trade-offs, Thomas Sowell, and the “protein bar” thought experiment
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out our ACU Patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/ACUPodcast
HELP ACU SPREAD THE WORD!
Please go to Apple Podcasts and give ACU a 5 star rating. Apple canceled us and now we are clawing our way back to the top. Don’t let the Leftist win. Do it now! Thanks.
Also Rate us on any platform you follow us on. It helps a lot.
Forward this show to friends.
Ways to subscribe to the American Conservative University Podcast
Click here to subscribe via Apple Podcasts
Click here to subscribe via RSS
You can also subscribe via Stitcher
Look us up on Amazon Prime
…And Many Other Podcast Aggregators and sites
ACU on Twitter- https://twitter.com/AmerConU . Warning- Explicit and Violent video content.
Please help ACU by submitting your Show ideas.
Email us at americanconservativeuniversity@americanconservativeuniversity.com
--------------------------------------------------------
To glorify Jesus Christ by leading and equipping pregnancy clinics to save more babies and souls.
Pre-Born! partners with life-affirming pregnancy clinics all across the nation. We are designed to strategically impact the abortion industry through the following initiatives:…
--------------------------------------------------------
Help CSI Stamp Out Slavery In Sudan
Join us in our effort to free over 350 slaves. Listeners to the Eric Metaxas Show will remember our annual effort to free Christians who have been enslaved for simply acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Savior. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas, join us in giving new life to brothers and sisters in Sudan who have enslaved as a result of their faith.
https://csi-usa.org/metaxas
https://csi-usa.org/slavery/
Typical Aid for the Enslaved
Thank you for your compassion Giving the Gift of Freedom and Hope to the Enslaved South Sudanese
--------------------------------------------------------
https://foodforthepoor.org/
Help us serve the poorest of the poor
Food For The Poor began in 1982 in Jamaica. Today, our interdenominational Christian ministry serves the poor in primarily 17 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Thanks to our faithful donors, we are able to provide food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise solutions and much more.
We are proud to have fed millions of people and provided more than 15.7 billion dollars in aid.
Our faith inspires us to be an organization built on compassion, and motivated by love. Our mission is to bring relief to the poorest of the poor in the countries where we serve.
We strive to reflect God’s unconditional love. It’s a sacrificial love that embraces all people regardless of race or religion. We believe that we can show His love by serving the “least of these” on this earth as Christ challenged us to do in Matthew 25. We pray that by God’s grace, and with your support, we can continue to bring relief to the suffering and hope to the hopeless.
Report on Food For the Poor by Charity Navigator
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/592174510
--------------------------------------------------------
We try to bring to our students and alumni the World’s best Conservative thinkers.
All views expressed belong solely to the author and not necessarily to ACU.
In all issues and relations, we hope to follow the admonitions of Jesus Christ. While striving to expose, warn and contend with evil, we extend the love of God to all of his children.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
