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0:00 The crisis of belief and the crisis of speech

4:30 Michael: Deport the criminals, leave the gardeners

10:37 Michael’s list of the biggest, craziest, and most dangerous conspiracy theories

15:47 When trust in institutions breaks down

22:06 Why well-meaning people make absurd claims

26:01 Is Trump uniquely dangerous to American institutions?

29:04 Where Michael gets his news

31:49 How liberal institutions lost the plot

36:15 The roots and appeal of QAnon

41:06 Down the Jeffrey Epstein rabbit hole

44:47 Michael’s definition of truth

51:23 The stakes of religious belief

58:47 Can we live with “I don’t know” as the answer to the big questions?

Recorded January 19, 2026

Links and Readings

Skeptic magazine

Michael’s new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters

Michael’s book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational

Michael’s book, Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It?

The Free Press

Glenn’s most recent conversation with Charles Murray

Murray’s book, Taking Religion Seriously

Martin Rees’s book, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe

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