Provoked with Darryl Cooper and Scott Horton

EP:8 - The Hidden Price of Empire: Endless War is Changing Who We Are


Listen Later

What happens to a country that fights war after war, year after year? The price goes far beyond the money spent and the lives lost overseas. In this candid and unflinching conversation, Scott Horton and Daryl Cooper dig into the less visible ways America’s global military machine eats away at our economy, our politics, and even our national character.

Scott begins with the financial side of the story. He explains how the government’s control over interest rates creates fake boom-and-bust cycles that hammer working Americans while keeping the war machine running. “They tax what they can, then they borrow more, and then they print the rest,” he says. This, he argues, quietly shifts wealth upward while ordinary people bear the pain through inflation and instability. Federal Reserve policy and military spending feed into each other, creating a loop where war looks “affordable” on paper, but its real costs are hidden.
Daryl takes the discussion into darker territory: the spiritual and psychological toll of perpetual war. Drawing on his time in the military, he describes how two decades of nonstop conflict have dulled our ability to feel outrage at atrocities. From Abu Ghraib to Gaza, repeated exposure to violence has numbed the nation’s conscience. “You’re a different kind of person once you’re inured to that kind of thing,” Daryl says. “And it’s not an improvement.” That numbness, he warns, reaches well beyond the battlefield—affecting civilians, too.
They also walk through striking examples from history and current events. Declassified documents on Russiagate reveal how manufactured narratives can shape public opinion for years. Scott revisits the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pointing out that top American generals—Eisenhower, MacArthur, Nimitz, and even Curtis LeMay—believed the bomb was unnecessary and immoral. For many, learning that challenges a lifetime of accepted history, sparking deeper questions about what else we’ve been told.
This is more than a discussion about foreign policy. It’s a reckoning with what decades of war have done to us as a nation. The most dangerous cost may not be measured in dollars or body counts—it might be losing the ability to recognize ourselves in the mirror.


(Cleaned up w/ the Podsworth app and re-released November 20, 2025. https://podsworth.com)


👉 Subscribe for more honest, unfiltered conversations that push past the noise.

🔹 No safe spaces.

🔹 No corporate filters.

🔹 Just raw, informed, and fearless conversation.


Provoked show website:

⁠https://provoked.show⁠


Darryl's links:

X: ⁠@martyrmade⁠

⁠https://subscribe.martyrmade.com⁠


Scott's links:

X: ⁠@scotthortonshow⁠

⁠https://scotthortonacademy.com⁠

⁠https://libertarianinstitute.org⁠

⁠https://antiwar.com⁠

⁠https://scotthorton.org⁠

⁠https://scotthorton.org/books⁠

⁠https://www.scotthortonshow.com⁠


🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 ⁠https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4904399580430336

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Provoked with Darryl Cooper and Scott HortonBy Darryl Cooper and Scott Horton

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

471 ratings


More shows like Provoked with Darryl Cooper and Scott Horton

View all
The Jimmy Dore Show by Jimmy Dore

The Jimmy Dore Show

3,944 Listeners

The Martyr Made Podcast by Darryl Cooper

The Martyr Made Podcast

5,462 Listeners

The Tom Woods Show by Tom Woods

The Tom Woods Show

3,366 Listeners

Part Of The Problem by GaS Digital Network

Part Of The Problem

4,852 Listeners

Ron Paul Liberty Report by Ron Paul Liberty Report

Ron Paul Liberty Report

2,267 Listeners

Scott Horton Show - Just the Interviews by Scott Horton

Scott Horton Show - Just the Interviews

944 Listeners

Liberty Lockdown by Clint Russell

Liberty Lockdown

1,129 Listeners

The Pete Quiñones Show by Peter R Quiñones

The Pete Quiñones Show

39 Listeners

Bob Murphy Show by Robert Murphy

Bob Murphy Show

482 Listeners

"YOUR WELCOME" with Michael Malice by PodcastOne

"YOUR WELCOME" with Michael Malice

2,148 Listeners

Judging Freedom by Judge Napolitano

Judging Freedom

906 Listeners

The Auron MacIntyre Show by Blaze Podcast Network

The Auron MacIntyre Show

508 Listeners

System Update with Glenn Greenwald by Rumble

System Update with Glenn Greenwald

1,171 Listeners

The Tucker Carlson Show by Tucker Carlson Network

The Tucker Carlson Show

16,962 Listeners

The J. Burden Show by J. Burden

The J. Burden Show

151 Listeners