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Michael Tracey joins the livestream to talk about recent events. We start with the end of Orban’s reign in Hungary, discussing that nation’s role in American political discourse. This might be the last time in a while anyone in the US has any reason to care about this small central European country.

The bulk of the conversation focuses on the war with Iran and what comes next. Michael expects Trump to keep going all out for regime change, while my money would be on TACO. We read the tea leaves and debate Trump’s many muddled and contradictory statements.

I don’t have a high degree of confidence in my view; Trump is obviously an increasingly unstable lunatic who can go in any direction, and his babble on this topic is even more incoherent than normal. As I explained on X, I think that Hormuz and his lack of palatable options have broken him. But underneath it all, I believe that he’s first and foremost a political survivor, and that means trying to get the best possible outcome for Republicans in the midterms so nobody investigates his crimes and corruption.

We close with some discussion about the Eric Swalwell situation and questions from the audience.

Links to articles mentioned in the discussion

David Ignatius on what comes next

NYT on how Mojtaba Khamenei became his father’s successor, article and podcast

Note: If you would like to get this podcast through a regular podcast app, go to richardhanania.com on a browser on your device (it doesn’t work in the app), log in to Substack, and click on the tab for either the Hanania Show or the H&H Podcast. Select the episode you want, and then choose one of Apple, Spotify, etc. under “Listen on” to your right. You’ll be able to add the show through an RSS feed, after which you will get new episodes, either free or paid depending on what kind of subscriber you are, through whichever platform you use.

Something very strange just happened. I was doing a livestream on James Fishback, and the man himself joined us midway through.

This began as a stream with Nikos Mohammadi (X, Substack), a student at Columbia University whose work has appeared in UnHerd, The Spectator, and elsewhere.

As everyone knows, I’ve been fascinated by the Fishback phenomenon. Nikos wrote one of the articles I cited as a sign he was getting a respectful hearing in the right-wing press. My argument has been that those inclined toward populism on the right who are not Groypers have proved too eager to claim Fishback as their own, given his many scandals and shortcomings.

About forty minutes in, someone with the profile name James Fishback showed up in the chat. I was skeptical that this was the real thing, but then I saw one of his campaign staff vouch that it was actually him. Before long, Fishback, sitting in Starbucks, was taking questions on the stream!

I didn’t know exactly what to do with this, and it’s always awkward facing someone you’ve criticized harshly. There were a lot of angles that I could take, but I decided to focus on policy questions. I asked him about school choice, taxes, and crime. Fishback sounded more like a conventional Republican than I expected. On housing, I pushed back on his lack of enthusiasm for removing supply-side constraints, the one thing we really clashed over. I thought this would be more fruitful than fighting him on immigration, where he was less likely to budge. My view is that anti-immigration sentiment is too fundamental to populism to shift people on, but nearly everything else is more incidental, so I could maybe move him and his followers toward YIMBYism. I gathered that racism-related questions would be pointless, as I rarely find it informative when journalists focus on bigoted statements in interviews.

Still, I felt the need to ask about By’rone. I was surprised by the candidness of his response.

Having now personally experienced Fishback’s charm, I can confirm he’s very good at this. He said my name a lot, claimed to have read my book, and complimented me as a keen scholar of the conservative movement — particularly amusing since I have been arguing that his rise is a sign of its decline. After Fishback left, Nikos said he sounded more pro-market with me than he did during the discussions for UnHerd, which gets back to the idea that he is a talented politician. Fishback talked about learning economics from Mankiw’s textbook, which I have mentioned reading before. Maybe it was all coincidental, but the whole thing felt eerily micro-targeted.

Fishback ended up inviting me to come cover his campaign in Florida. I hope to take him up on the offer. Even in the likely case that he loses, I’m quite confident this guy is not going away, and we’re seeing the rise of someone who is going to be a major force in Republican politics for years to come.

Note: If you would like to get this podcast through a regular podcast app, go to richardhanania.com on a browser on your device (it doesn’t work in the app), log in to Substack, and click on the tab for either the Hanania Show or the H&H Podcast. Select the episode you want, and then choose one of Apple, Spotify, etc. under “Listen on” to your right. You’ll be able to add the show through an RSS feed, after which you will get new episodes, either free or paid depending on what kind of subscriber you are, through whichever platform you use.

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I’ve always seen Lauren Southern (X, Substack) as the original right-wing egirl. While they are a dime a dozen today, and the act has grown pathetically stale, a decade ago it was a fresh thrill to be an online rightoid and see a pretty young girl telling you what you wanted to hear about feminism and Muslim immigration. There had been Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, but they were a bit older and more established, and their relationships with the conservative audience were mediated by TV networks and book publishers. The egirl was directly yours. You could like her posts, leave comments, and, if so inclined, even harass her with non-stop DMs. The audience’s reaction was embedded in the creation of her work.

Lauren eventually dropped off my radar, though I would occasionally see right-wingers seethe about something she said or did. When her memoir This Is Not Real Life was released, I heard good things and decided to check it out.

Though I was involved with a more intellectual crowd, I ended up seeing parallels between her story and mine. If you’re a thoughtful person with a conscience, you eventually realize that conservative politics and media are corrupt to their core. Lauren writes about low journalistic and fundraising ethics, how English street thugs framed their activities as “defending Western civilization,” and even how her old friends didn’t seem to care when she was allegedly raped by Andrew Tate. Her story is a reminder that they were like this before Trump, though he has obviously made it much worse.

Today, Lauren joined me for a livestream where we discussed all that and more. I ask how she’s holding up now, how much what is said online bothers her, the fears she had of going to jail during the Tenet media investigation, and whether her realization about the flaws of right-wingers has made her question the wisdom of right-wing political views.

I was particularly entertained hearing her describe the story of Tommy Robinson. Here is an English hoodlum who once sold cocaine out of his tanning salon, and by making up things about local Muslims, including an underage boy, he would be championed by Elon Musk and other prominent right-wing figures as a persecuted dissident. After Lauren’s experience with Tate, she became the target of attacks, including by Milo Yiannopoulos, who was paid by Tate to go after her and say that she was sleeping with men so they would write articles for her.

I enjoyed the part of our conversation where I asked Lauren whether her experiences made her more sympathetic to feminism. Everywhere she appears to go, men in right-wing spaces are either trying to sleep with her or engaging in attacks related to her sexual behavior. She mentions growing up in an Evangelical background, amidst a high-trust community where she felt safe around men. I reflected on how different this sounds from the way that leftists portray the culture of conservative Christians, where they assume abuse and hypocrisy are rampant but hidden. I also bring up the story of Roger Ailes, as reported on in The Loudest Voice in the Room (review here). It almost seems as if the entire conservative movement at the top is just predators and grifters sucking up and victimizing the most naive members of the public.

It was a fun discussion, and, despite the setbacks she has faced, I hope that Lauren’s time as a public figure isn’t over yet.

Note: If you would like to get this podcast through a regular podcast app, go to richardhanania.com on a browser on your device (it doesn’t work in the app), log in to Substack, and click on the tab for either the Hanania Show or the H&H Podcast. Select the episode you want, and then choose one of Apple, Spotify, etc. under “Listen on” to your right. You’ll be able to add the show through an RSS feed, after which you will get new episodes, either free or paid depending on what kind of subscriber you are, through whichever platform you use.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.richardhanania.com

Graeme Wood (X account), a staff writer for The Atlantic who has reported extensively on the Middle East, joins me on the livestream to discuss the bombing of Iran and what comes next. This is a busy day for him, so I appreciate Graeme making time and fighting through his cough. Just yesterday, he published a well-timed profile of former regime official Jaber Rajabi, who argues that all you need to do is eliminate around ten people for the government to crumble. Well, as of this recording, reports are that the US and Israel may have taken out the top 5-10 members of the regime, with Khamenei confirmed dead. So it appears that we are testing that theory in real time.

We discuss Rajabi’s theory of the regime, and whether it is plausible. The conversation also covers Trump’s decision-making, whether the Iranians could have done anything to avoid this outcome, the logic of attacking the Gulf Arabs, the state of Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, and the roles of the Europeans and Russians. At the end, I ask Graeme who else to follow to be informed on the situation, and he recommends Karim Sadjapour and Arash Azizi.

I wonder whether, if this intervention works out well, as Venezuela has so far, there may start to be some sense among foreign policy elites in Washington that perhaps Trump has a point in his approach to hostile regimes. I think that while Iraq and Afghanistan were understood to discredit interventionism, it’s anti-interventionism that has had a bad last few years. I lay out some thoughts here on a proper synthesis incorporating all the lessons learned over previous decades, which converges on the view that while trying to do social engineering through force has failed, simply killing bad people and being pragmatic about what comes next makes sense as an approach to American foreign policy.

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Zoë Booth (X, Substack) is the Content Director for Quillette and host of the Quillette Cetera podcast. Amid all the talk about Epstein, she mentioned to me that when she was 15–16, she had sexual relationships with older men, yet did not consider herself to have experienced pedophilia. I wanted to talk about it, so I invited her on to stream. Funnily enough, the guys got mad at her when she stopped being woke. Yet despite the financial and cultural incentives to do so, she refuses to identify as a “victim” or “survivor.” We also discuss age gap relationships, gooning, safetyism, neuroticism, the evils of locking up female teachers for having relationships with male students, and the causes of actual pedophilia. As you can hear, the Squatty Potty guy is on my mind today. I argue that society is pushing to make heterosexuality resemble lesbianism. This is what ties together pedo hysteria and opposition to age gaps and power disparities within couples.

Near the end, we move on to other topics like immigration to Australia, Zoë’s upcoming marriage, testosterone and hormone replacement therapy, Bryan Johnson and how he makes me root for death, and having kids. A fun conversation, and obviously an enjoyable viewing experience too.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.richardhanania.com

I just did a livestream during which I read through the decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. To get the full benefit of this stream, you should watch the video, as I highlight text as I read. I share some thoughts about reading judicial decisions as a general matter, and Supreme Court justices functioning as philosopher kings. Topics addressed throughout the video include the logic of the IEEPA, the major questions doctrine, how much you should read into these opinions the justices’ views of the underlying policy, and the extent to which Trump can achieve the same results through different statutory authority. I argue that by changing the status quo, the Supreme Court has made the lives of Trump officials much more difficult.

I also explain why the judiciary is the one part of conservatism beyond the president’s ability to shape at will. In the first administration, Trump regretted most of his major appointments. Right-wing media has also been remade in his image, as has Heritage. This time around, he can have all new people in the executive branch, but he’s still stuck with those he put on the courts in the first administration. Moreover, judges go through more of an academic process to get where they are. This leads to some thoughts on the wisdom of lifetime appointments under the Constitution, as we are never one election away from a crazy person getting into power and dismantling norms and institutions. Even if Trump wants judges now who will pledge unending loyalty, there’s no way for him to enforce any promises that are implicitly or explicitly made.

I reflect on whether and how the existence of an individual as flawed as Trump changes the entire process of statutory interpretation. It seems possible to me that Kavanaugh’s dissent is correct that Congress in 1977 meant to give the president some power to implement tariffs. But they never imagined unlimited tariffs for an unlimited period of time without any procedural safeguards, enacted by a president this emotionally immature and economically illiterate. If they had foreseen someone like Trump, they probably would have explicitly limited the power to place tariffs in the IEEPA. If this is true, what does statutory intent actually mean? A lot of things are probably like this, where our laws, norms, and institutions assume a certain amount of good faith that no longer exists in the Trump era. This raises deep questions about the nature of democracy and how to protect the parts of our system that need to be preserved.

Note: If you would like to get this podcast through a regular podcast app, go to richardhanania.com on a browser on your device (it doesn’t work in the app), log in to Substack, and click on the tab for either the Hanania Show or the H&H Podcast. Select the episode you want, and then choose one of Apple, Spotify, etc. under “Listen on” to your right. You’ll be able to add the show through an RSS feed, after which you will get new episodes, either free or paid depending on what kind of subscriber you are, through whichever platform you use.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.richardhanania.com

Michael Tracey joins me after his brief hiatus offline to talk about the latest in the Epstein saga. As time goes on, we get more and more documentation and insight into who the man was and what he was doing, and believing in any of the conspiracy theories becomes ever more ridiculous. Yet the level of obsession with this story remains high. We talk a little bit about whether interest is increasing or decreasing among figures on the right and left.

Beyond Epstein, Michael and I go off in various directions, as we also discuss the Trump ape-gate controversy, Chuck Johnson getting out of jail, and more. Michael describes the connection between Epstein and Noam Chomsky, who bonded over neuroscience and the help the famed linguist received in a family financial dispute.

In the second half of the conversation, we watch a bit of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ian Carroll, which practically gives Michael a heart attack. I tried to explain to him that if he wanted to fact check every statement Tucker made, we wouldn’t be able to get through any of the conversation. But the lying was too much to take. I ask Michael whether he has hatred for people who lie like this, and he says no, showing that he is a better man than me.

An overall very fun conversation. This was my first stream from the new house, by the way, so as you can hopefully tell, production quality on these things will be higher than it was before going forward.

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Last week, Jeff Maurer, who publishes the I Might Be Wrong Substack, invited me on his podcast to talk about the recent overthrow of Maduro. Jeff used to write for John Oliver, and his Substack is a unique combination of comedy and serious analysis of current events. So kind of like Oliver’s show, but much less dogmatically leftist and more willing to engage with alternative viewpoints.

As Jeff mentions, we are perfectly positioned to have a fruitful conversation, as we have disagreements about a policy while sharing a similar underlying model of the world. This is the sweet spot — there’s not much point in talking to someone you agree with on everything, but when people are living in completely different realities, there’s often not enough common ground for a real exchange of ideas.

If you yourself are unsure about how to think about Venezuela, this is a good place to hear arguments on both sides. I’m rereleasing the podcast here on my own feed. As it is on Jeff’s Substack, here the first approximately twenty-four minutes are free, and you have to be a paid subscriber to get the whole thing.

I end up agreeing with Jeff that from an “America First” perspective, the gains to the US are uncertain and likely to be small. But I do believe in US foreign policy as a tool for spreading freedom abroad. In fact, this could be part of a new basis for national identity, as the inward-looking attempts to build one have in my view been a disaster.

Developments since this podcast was recorded have strengthened my belief in my position. There is now polling data showing that Venezuelans generally support what the US has done. There was a lot of talk in this conversation about a potential backlash in Venezuela or the region. We just do not see that in the data. Venezuelans know that they are poor, that their living standards have fallen in recent memory, and the socialists who run their country are responsible for their problems. They want hope for a better future, and this is something they care more about than abstract concepts like when it is appropriate to use force under international law or even nationalism, or at least the kind of nationalism that would spur them to rally around their failed government.

Unfortunately, amidst this new optimism, political repression is increasing even as the regime seeks to comply with the US on oil and economic issues. This won’t be a straight line towards a better future, but I’m confident there is more hope for Venezuela today than there was a few weeks ago.

For the Persuasion article cited in the discussion, see here. I would also recommend this profile of Delcy Rodríguez for some context regarding the type of person we are now dealing with. And in case you missed them, my two previous articles on the Maduro operation are here and here.

Note: If you would like to get this podcast through a regular podcast app, go to richardhanania.com on a browser on your device (it doesn’t work in the app), log in to Substack, and click on the tab for either the Hanania Show or the H&H Podcast. Select the episode you want, and then choose one of Apple, Spotify, etc. under “Listen on” to your right. You’ll be able to add the show through an RSS feed, after which you will get new episodes, either free or paid depending on what kind of subscriber you are, through whichever platform you use.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.richardhanania.com

I just did a livestream with Daniel Di Martino (X) of the Manhattan Institute. He immigrated to the US from Venezuela ten years ago and has a PhD in economics from Columbia University. I temporarily pulled him away from TV appearances and getting protein drinks to talk about what just happened in his home country. We go into the history of Venezuela, its relationship with Cuba, where Chavismo comes from, who actually is going to run the country now, what Maduro’s former vice president is up to, why Trump seems not to like María Corina Machado, and more. The conversation also touches on the conservative wave that seems to be spreading across Latin America.

There are a lot of ways Venezuela can go bad. But I’m sick of pessimism. There are also a lot of ways this can go right, and certainly at least be better than the government that was there before. We remember all the regime changes that led to disaster and forget Grenada and Panama because we’re so overwhelmingly biased towards negativity these days.

Whatever happens tomorrow, today is about congratulating the administration and the people of Venezuela.

In case you missed it, see my article from this morning on why Trump made the right call.

Note: If you would like to get this podcast through a regular podcast app, go to richardhanania.com on a browser on your device (it doesn’t work in the app), log in to Substack, and click on the tab for either the Hanania Show or the H&H Podcast. Select the episode you want, and then choose one of Apple, Spotify, etc. under “Listen on” to your right. You’ll be able to add the show through an RSS feed, after which you will get new episodes, either free or paid depending on what kind of subscriber you are, through whichever platform you use.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.richardhanania.com

Michael Tracey joins me on the livestream to discuss the latest Epstein file drop. He reminds me of how I thought this thing couldn’t keep going on forever during the summer, and yet we are still here. I acknowledge Michael’s prescience on this. We go through various reveals making their way on social media and he explains why they don’t actually show anything. Near the end we get distracted and start chatting for some time about video games, which people may enjoy. He wants to know why there aren’t more games he likes on the Switch 2. I’m still getting through Donkey Kong Bananza, which we both recommend.

Michael has been tweeting about the big “reveals” in the latest documents. See, in particular, the hoax Epstein letter to Larry Nassar and the document on the crazy person claiming to have been Trump’s driver.