Today we discuss Epstein, Trump, MAGA, and how we know what we think we know. The actual economy exists, as does the attention economy; now Bret introduces a new term: the leverage economy. This implies that there is a commodity that we cannot see, which can be used to coerce players to act in certain ways. We see evidence of this in academia, in the news, and in politics. Discussion includes data mining, conspiracy, and whether Trump will pick up neocons as he loses some of his base.
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Mentioned in this episode:
Goldberg in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/opinion/trump-jeffrey-epstein-files.html
Trump on truth social: https://x.com/chesschick01/status/1945498352507879536
Heinrichs in the Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/p/the-rights-1939-project
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Holding Screen
00:05:36 A Strange Moment Across the Universe
00:19:18 Epstein and An Exercise in Campfire
00:26:15 Trump Reversing His Opinion on Epstein
00:32:56 NY Times Asking Why Epstein is a Line in the Sand Issue for the Coalition
00:37:51 Trump's Vulnerability
00:42:53 The Leverage Economy: A Terrifying Idea if True
01:06:05 What Caused Trump's Epstein Flip: Are There Lies in the Evidence?
01:17:25 Epstein and Trump's Base: Why This Issue is Not Like the Others
01:22:24 The Leverage Economy Offers Certainty
01:25:31 Why The Matrix is Sullied for Heather
01:29:04 Those in the Leverage Economy vs. in Reality
01:31:26 The Group of People Who Might Go to Trump's Side
01:39:20 Closing
Clipped from Episode 316, Bret and Heather discuss a new paper that finds infection tends to lead to greater frailty in older people. This reverses the causality of Terrain Theory of Disease (frailty of the body leads to greater susceptibility of infection), and also provides support for a prediction made by Bret and his co-author Debbie Ciszek in the unpublished, longer version of their reserve capacity paper from 2002.
Mentioned in this segment:
Ragusa et al 2026: https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/gerona/glag043/8497853
Weinstein & Ciszek 2002: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11909679/
Cleaning “spas,” massive brains, and mirror experiments.
"Do these truths about manta rays make them less beautiful to you? Have I stolen wonder from you by telling you some of what we know? Or rather, have I provided you even more basis on which to find more wonder, seek more beauty in the world? I hope that the latter is true."
Dr. Heather Heying reading the beginning of the chapter on beauty from her upcoming book
On a recent Inside Rail episode, Bret Weinstein explains why he still calls himself a liberal to guest Brandi Kruse.
Watch the full episode here: https://darkhorse.locals.com/post/7654402/the-views-of-brandi-kruse-on-darkhorse-podcast
“We can’t blueprint our way out of this puzzle. We certainly can’t conserve our way out of this puzzle. That’s the reason I’m not a conservative.”
X: https://x.com/BretWeinstein/status/2032183791910068292
Youtube: https://youtu.be/YRskSFo191Y
Rumble: https://rumble.com/v770s5i-unholy-war-a-conversation-with-tucker-carlson-on-darkhorse.html
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TBI0WTHGP71OOUf32Y1O1?si=aqFyIdHeQ-6Uv6GT6W2SnQ
Locals: https://darkhorse.locals.com/post/7762696/unholy-war-a-conversation-with-tucker-carlson-on-darkhorse
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1844433419562947
Transcripts and timestamps available for your convenience.
Full Episode:
The Origins of Jiang Xueqin
I find myself fascinated with Professor Jiang, who has been showing up in my X timeline and YouTube algorithm.
According to ChatGPT:
Jiang Xueqin is a Chinese educator and writer known for challenging traditional, exam-focused schooling. He advocates for a more holistic approach to education that emphasizes character, creativity, and personal growth. His work has gained attention for critiquing high-pressure academic systems, especially in China.
What’s interesting to me, though, is how he seems to be gaining attention more recently through his YouTube series Predictive History. What appears to have pushed him into the spotlight are his predictions regarding Iran, often framed using game theory. Lately, he’s been appearing on larger platforms, including shows hosted by Jimmy Dore, Piers Morgan, and Kim Iversen.
I’ve been listening to more of his content and came across an episode titled “Dawn of the Human Imagination,” where he discusses Darwinian evolution.
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