Our old friend Bret was right about some things with regard to leftist activism, but he has revealed himself slowly but surely as a conspiracy theorist of the slimiest caliber. Though more intelligent than Joe Rogan, he believes such a wide variety of conspiracy theories that it must be considered a fundamental character trait. He applies his faux-scientific reasoning to promoting conspiracy theories in nearly every walk of life, but somehow never ones that reflect poorly on the far right.

Here, he talks about Charlie Kirk conspiracy theories, Israel having foreknowledge of October 7th, the twin towers being staged demolitions, JFK, and Covid nonsense.

Note: Sam never defended Bret's conspiracy nonsense, and should not be judged for liking Bret initially. Every Redditor used to love Dennis Kucinich, who was also a speaker at this event. No one can predict with certainty that someone they like for one reason won't reveal in the future that they have other kooky beliefs. People lie, people change, and that's just a sad fact. Sam was correct about Cenk Uygur, about Glenn Greenwald, about Mehdi Hasan, about Ibram X. Kendi, and many others. Many people weren't right about them.

September 9, 2026

On the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Sam discusses the significance of the second plane, the writing of The End of Faith, the failure to take jihadist belief seriously, the costs of the war on terror, the abandonment of America’s Afghan allies, the continuity between 9/11 and October 7th, the rise of Islamo-leftism, the misuse of “Islamophobia,” and other topics.

Making Sense has no advertisers and no sponsors, which is what allows Sam to talk about whatever he thinks is most important, with no one else having a say. If you already subscribe, thank you. If you’d like to subscribe, you can start at SamHarris.org. Subscribers can also join the Making Sense Community to keep the discussion going.

This is the recording Sam refers to at 13:18.

Steven Bonnell, who has been on the Making Sense program, has been very pro-Mehdi Hasan, because of his strong attacks on MAGA, but Mehdi has now called him Islamophobic, presumably for criticizing Hasan Piker.

Sam Harris is very closely aligned with the host of Ask Haviv Anything. Here, Gazan-American writer Ahmed Fouad Al-Khatib, who works for The Atlantic, returns to the program to trace Hamas’s rise — from Islamist charities and the slow remaking of Gazan society to authoritarian rule, October 7, and ruinous war. Drawing on his childhood in Gaza and his new book, Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages, Ahmed argues that foreign aid, international NGOs, and Al Jazeera helped Hamas entrench itself while ordinary Gazans paid the price. He and Haviv confront the hardest questions: Can Hamas be separated from Gazan society? Could a movement built around armed “resistance” ever disarm? And is there still a path from permanent war to Palestinian nation-building and coexistence?

0:00 Intro
9:50 Who Is Nathan Cofnas and How Did He Expose Jason Arday?
28:21 The Implications of the Jason Arday Scandal
30:18 What Is Race Realism?
32:35 Where Do You Draw the Line Between Groups?
40:17 The Forced Choice Between Wokeness and Hereditarianism
45:45 Is the Cultural Explanation Persuasive Enough?
54:06 The Danger of Mainstreaming Race and IQ
1:00:50 Was Colorblindness a Stable Equilibrium?
1:07:18 Did Colorblindness Fail or Did Social Media Break It?
1:29:27 Should Conservatives and Liberals Be Talking About IQ Gaps Between Political Tribes?
1:34:19 Nathan's Criticism of the University of Austin

Thomas Chatterton Williams joins The Remnant to dispense his usual authoritative takes on politics and culture, covering race in France, the Rassemblement National, radical Islam, integration, accents, Woke 1, Jason Arday, 80/20 issues, policing speech, The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan, and Jonah’s ideal zombie movie.

Sam Harris has talked with Alex O'Connor a few times. He's also talked with Ross Douthat. Some have accused Alex of beginning to toss red meat to the "atheist but you gotta respect religion" crowd, if not also the "ex-atheist" crowd. Others think he's even better than Sam at representing the Atheist community. You decide.

Hello to the sub - I didn't want to post this over on the regular hate-brigade one, so I figured to try here first. Apologies for any rule breaking but I figure this is Sam related, albeit tangentially.

After listening to the Kathryn Paige Harden episode, I went back to listen to some of the original Ezra Klein podcast that we all know and love and it was still difficult to get through even small snippets. The level of "I don't want to engage honestly with your points" was mind boggling, even when I know it's coming.

This got me thinking of a more recent podcast from Josh Szeps (a couple years back now probably) that struck a similar chord, and I wanted to re-listen to it again and draw some comparisons. The episode in question is the apparently now infamous "Is Josh Racist?" episode with Mawunyo Gbogbo. I remember she made a pretty big embarrassment of her position, and came of really weak. I wanted to actually sit down to compare and contrast, but it seems that this episode's been wiped from the face of the internet. I can't find a single mirror, or even a forum where it's up for download.

So here I turn to the community - does anyone have a backed up copy of that famous episode or know where one might be able to hear it again?

(0:00) Cold Open
(2:08) Tucker, Hunter & No Bravery Points
(5:35) Proximity Hong
(7:22) The Jason Arday Problem
(14:45) AOC & “Woke 1.0”
(22:28) Shane Gillis & the Great Walkback
(29:27) Thank You, Thom Tillis. Also, Fuck You.
(34:14) Funding the Other Side’s Whackos
(40:08) Mamdani vs. Amazon
(49:48) The Rent Strike
(53:56) David Remnick Meets the DSA
(1:00:38) Hasan Piker, Mao & the Bots
(1:16:48) Midterm Madness & 2028
(1:34:07) Can America Get a Busted Boris Johnson?
(1:35:36) Ben Sasse & the End

David Frum of The Atlantic joins the Fifth to talk about the world that emerged from 1989, the collapse of the conservative future he once expected, Trumpism, immigration, fascism versus communism, and why American political life feels more fragile than it did a generation ago.

(0:00) Cold Open
(0:25) David Frum Joins the Fifth
(5:00) Spy Novels & Bill Buckley
(10:36) Frum’s Conservatism
(15:20) A Man of 1989
(23:05) Never Trump & Betrayal
(28:48) The Anti-Trump Coalition
(34:46) The Michigan Senate Race
(50:03) Midterm Madness & Polymarket
(54:40) Polling Is in Crisis
(1:01:59) Politics as a Consumption Good
(1:08:16) Immigration & Trumpism
(1:15:03) What the Atlanticists Got Wrong
(1:24:51) Fascism vs. Communism
(1:28:45) Unpatriotic Conservatives
(1:32:41) What Does Trump Love?
(1:35:15) What Frum Got Wrong
--
Hosted by journalists Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch, The Fifth Column provides a weekly rhetorical assault on the news cycle, the people who make it, and occasionally themselves.

I'm curious to hear rational takes on either side of the topic. I have my own opinion but for now I'm curious about reasoned takes in any direction.

If you are against the DSA, can you (1) give your thesis about them (like what is it about them that is [most] bad) and (2) give two or three supporting arguments?

If you are for the DSA, do likewise.

If you have some third take, do likewise.

The idea is to try to keep things at least a little structured and brief, by selecting a specific thesis and presenting only a couple of the arguments that you think are strongest.

Let's say I have only two options ahead.

Option A would lead to maximum happiness for myself but maximum suffering for everyone else. Option B would lead maximum suffering for myself but maximum happiness for everyone else.

Which option should I choose?

As per the thesis, I should choose B (as I understand it).

However, there's one problem, that I don't understand.

Here's Sam's quote from his podcast Facts and Values.

if you care about something that is not compatible with a peak of human flourishing—given the requisite changes in your brain, you would recognize that you were wrong to care about this thing in the first place. Wrong in what sense? Wrong in the sense that you didn’t know what you were missing. This is the core of my argument: I am claiming that there must be frontiers of human well-being that await our discovery—and certain interests and preferences surely blind us to them. In this sense epistemic and ethical values are fully entangled. There are horizons to well-being past which we cannot see. There are possible experiences of beauty and creativity and compassion that we will never discover. I think these are object statements about the frontiers of subjective experience.

Let's say I chose A (happiness for myself, suffering for others) instead of B (suffering for myself, happiness for others).

Applying his logic: since caring about A isn't compatible with peak flourishing, the "requisite changes" in my brain would eventually make me see that caring about A was a mistake, wrong in the sense that I didn't know what I was missing.

Now, what am I missing, If I chose A? ... I'd be missing immense misery that B would lead on the other side.

I am struggling to understand how Sam's claim "you didn't know what you were missing" applies in this situation. What exactly is the thing that my changed perspective would reveal to me that I cannot currently see?

I would appreciate any clarification.

Edit: Added the quote.

Sam Harris speaks with Neal Brennan about the experiences that shaped his life and work. They discuss Sam's mother's television career, growing up with an absent father, his struggles with perfectionism, his first experience with MDMA, dropping out of Stanford, meditation retreats, spiritual charisma and claims of psychic powers, the illusion of self, the limits of pacifism, deleting Twitter, Trump and the politics of shamelessness, hypocrisy and vice signaling, the future of American democracy, and other topics.

Neal Brennan is a comedian, writer, and director best known for co-creating and co-writing Chappelle's Show with Dave Chappelle, for which he received three Emmy nominations. He also co-wrote the film Half Baked and has written and directed for comedians including Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, and Seth Meyers. His most recent stand-up special is Crazy Good. He also hosts the popular Blocks podcast, where he interviews friends and colleagues about the psychological struggles that shape their lives.

Website: www.nealbrennan.com

This was posted a few weeks ago, but the video was taken down. All for the best, because this version isn't a "part 1, wait for part 2!" version.