logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2025
22m 6s

#433 — How Did We Get Here?

SAM HARRIS
About this episode

Sam Harris speaks with Dan Carlin about the decades-long buildup to our current political moment. They discuss the growing powers of the presidency, executive orders, different factions within the Republican Party, the fragmentation of our society, Libertarianism, the growing prospect of political violence, racism and scapegoating, foreign interference in American politics, immigration, global trends towards autocracy, whether "gatekeepers" in the media are necessary, holocaust denialism, and other topics.

If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

Up next
May 12
#475 — The Hard Problem of Consciousness
Sam Harris speaks with Michael Pollan about consciousness, the mind, and the self. They discuss Pollan's new book, the relationship between consciousness and intelligence, whether consciousness is a product of evolution, the role of psychedelics in consciousness research, AI and ... Show More
25m 52s
May 7
#474 — More From Sam: Hasan Piker, Islamism, Making Sense Community, and More
In this latest episode of the More From Sam series, Sam and Jaron talk about current events. They discuss the launch of Making Sense Community, Sam's Ben Shapiro conversation, the New York Times's embrace of Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani's approach to Islamism, the misuse of the wo ... Show More
17m 4s
Apr 29
#473 — Money, Power, and Moral Failure
Sam Harris speaks with Lloyd Blankfein about finance, politics, and the state of American society. They discuss Blankfein's memoir, Goldman Sachs and its role as a market maker, the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the AI investment bubble, wealth inequality and the rise of trillionai ... Show More
22m 4s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2018
David Neiwert on Trump and the rise of the radical right | ANTIDOTE 2018
<p> "Dehumanisation is the essential program of the radical right."</p> <p>David Neiwert believes that the so-called “alt-right” of right-wing populists in America has been born of a toxic mix of factors: mainstream conservatives unifying with the racist far-right; a young, media ... Show More
54m 25s
Jul 2024
Can America come together after the Trump assassination attempt? | Ian Bremmer
In this urgent conversation, president and founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media Ian Bremmer joins TED’s Helen Walters to discuss the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and its profound implications for American politics and democracy. Listen for the latest ... Show More
37m 29s
May 2025
Why has America been fighting Islam for decades?
In this 2016 discussion, we delve into key political developments, including the heated Republican debate, President Obama's controversial visit to a mosque, and the evolving U.S. strategy in Syria. Joining us for expert insight is Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, Marwan Bi ... Show More
42m 55s
Dec 2024
Paul Pierson and Eric Schickler, "Partisan Nation: The Dangerous New Logic of American Politics in a Nationalized Era" (U Chicago Press, 2024)
American democracy is in trouble. At the heart of the contemporary crisis is a mismatch between America's Constitution and today's nationalized, partisan politics. Although American political institutions remain federated and fragmented, the ground beneath them has moved, with th ... Show More
32m 14s
Jun 2024
The Biggest Political Divide Is Not Left vs. Right
<p>The biggest divide in our politics isn’t between Democrats and Republicans, or even left and right. It’s between people who follow politics closely, and those who pay almost no attention to it. If you’re in the former camp — and if you’re reading this, you probably are — the l ... Show More
1h 10m
Oct 2025
On Politics: The Online Right (and Left)
For the best part of a decade, a new type of anti-systemic, nationalist politics has been emerging from different corners of the online world. In Britain, this has united with older forms of cultural conservatism to propel Nigel Farage and Reform UK to within touching distance of ... Show More
1h 15m
Sep 2025
STATE OF THE NATION | What now America? | After Kirk with Chis Hedges and Jackson Hinkle
<p> After the shocking killing of Charlie Kirk, is America heading toward civil war? With political violence escalating and divisions deepening, the question of what comes next is more urgent than ever. On The Mother of All Talk Shows, George Galloway brings together two of the s ... Show More
1h 41m
Oct 2024
Musa al-Gharbi on Elite Wokeness, Islam, and Social Movements
tail spinning
49m 3s
Mar 2021
TEASER: Jelani Cobb: Jan. 6 Was the Beginning of GOP’s Mess, Not Ending
It’s not hard to see that the Republican party was the Party of Trump during the four years he was president. But what kind of party are they now? Honestly, it’s hard to tell. “When you looked at the platform for the 2020 election, they didn't create one,” says New Yorker writer ... Show More
6m 15s