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Video Links

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

This conversation with Daniel Bessner is only one segment from last week’s livestream, which also included a conversation with my team about ICE’s action in Minnesota and an appearance by Murtaza Hussain, who came to talk about his reporting on the Epstein Files. The full show is available here, but only for full subscribers. So if you want access to everything—including viewing privileges for new streams and access to video and podcast versions afterward—consider signing up. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience supported. We need your help in order to keep delivering the show week after week, along with all the other content we post here. So to those of you who are already full supporters: thank you for all you do. And if you’re not yet a supporter, please consider becoming one.

Video Links

0:00 Trump’s ambitions in Venezuela

2:09 The downsides of American empire

5:44 Is Trump protecting US interests or engaging in regime change?

13:42 Ground News ad

15:38 Danny’s critique of realist foreign policy

23:11 The perverse domestic effects of American militarism

32:00 America’s very real but rather weak democracy

35:22 Viewer question: Could wars of conquest revivify America?

38:20 Rob’s question: Won’t a $500 billion increase in the military budget create massive inflation?

42:11 Danny: Why buy Greenland when we already have a military presence there?

47:49 Trump’s real estate instincts on the global stage

51:42 The trials and tribulations of a humble Housing Provider

Recorded January 9, 2026

Links and Readings

Danny’s podcast, American Prestige

Lindsey O’Rourke’s book, Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War

John Mearsheimer’s book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics

Michael Sherry’s book, In the Shadow of War: American since the 1930s

Richard Waterman’s book, Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

The Glenn Show kicks off 2026 with a strong episode featuring Murtaza Hussain on the Epstein Files and Daniel Bessner on U.S. actions in Venezuela. The episode opens with discussion of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, urging caution and fact-finding amid polarized reactions and official statements. Hussain explores Jeffrey Epstein’s opaque financial dealings and rise to power, while Bessner analyzes the strategic motivations behind recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela, situating it within broader patterns of American empire.

Read Murtaza Hussain's reporting for Drop Site.

Check out Daniel Bessner's podcast, American Prestige.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

Video Links

0:00 Why another biography of FDR?

3:41 David’s dispute with the “heroic” view of FDR

5:56 David: “The main focus of FDR was FDR”

10:05 The surprising continuity between FDR’s and Hoover’s monetary policy

16:01 Canada’s avoidance of the banking crisis

19:50 FDR’s failed attempt to unilaterally set gold prices

26:14 Why did FDR intern Japanese Americans, despite his advisors’ opposition?

30:45 FDR’s apparent indifference to lynching

35:00 David: Roosevelt actively opposed Jewish refugees entering the US

41:42 The “unconditional surrender” policy’s negative consequences

47:31 Stalin’s victory at Yalta

51:28 How David thinks we should teach FDR and WWII history

53:54 David weighs in on Darryl Cooper

Recorded December 30, 2025

Links and Readings

David’s new book, FDR: A New Political Life

David’s book, The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance

Larry Kotlikoff’s book, Jimmy Stewart Is Dead: Ending the World’s Ongoing Financial Plague with Limited Purpose Banking

David S. Wyman’s book, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945

Earlier this month, I recorded a conversation with my friend Patricia Agupusi, assistant professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an expert on insurgencies, political violence, and state capture, among other topics. She has lived and worked extensively in Nigeria, where her fieldwork included interviewing Nigerians displaced by political, ethnic, and religious violence. When I asked Patricia to come on the show, I was seeking some background on the Trump administration’s statements about anti-Christian violence perpetrated by Boko Haram in the northern part of the country. I suspected that the situation, while undoubtedly dire for Christians, was more complex than the White House’s messaging made it sound.

My suspicions turned out to be correct. In this episode, Patricia offers a nuanced account of terrorism, religious radicalism, interethnic conflict, and government corruption and neglect that has led to the deaths and displacement not only of many Christians in northern Nigeria, but of many Muslims as well. Patricia provides a rich account of the region and its history. It was recorded weeks before the US conducted an aerial strike on Sokoto, a predominately Muslim state that many have described as an unusual choice, if the goal was to inflict damage on major terrorist networks.

In this conversation, Patricia expressed skepticism at the efficacy of US military intervention. The strike seems to have done little to change her mind. In an email to me sent after the attack, she wrote:

Due to the urgency of the matters under discussion, I’m releasing this episode today, to everyone, for free Normally, only full subscribers get new episodes on Mondays. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

Video Links

0:00 Intro: Last week’s military strikes in Nigeria

00:36 Getting beneath the headlines in northern Nigeria

3:55 What is Boko Haram?

4:28 Childcare intermission: How Glenn and Patricia started working together

7:19 Boko Haram’s attack and recruitment strategies

11:44 Patricia: Boko Haram targets both Christians and Muslims

13:33 Ground News ad

15:25 The complex religious demographics of northern Nigeria

19:16 The history of Nigerian jihad

23:27 The state’s complacent reaction to anti-Christian violence

33:57 Patricia’s fieldwork with internally displaced Nigerians

36:16 Patricia: Fear and government dysfunction, not poverty, motivate people to join Boko Haram

41:14 The surprising popularity of US intervention among Nigerians

43:32 Patricia: If the US wants to help, it should sanction politicians and their families

54:10 The pointlessness of US military intervention

58:01 The best case scenario for Nigeria’s next decade

Recorded December 4, 2025

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

Video Links

0:00 The shooting at Brown University8:09 The Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach11:42 Ground News ad13:34 Searching for a narrative in an information-thin environment17:34 Is the pro-Palestine movement about “whiteness”? 23:26 Glenn: There’s more to Israel-Palestine than race29:44 What does a representative American look like?36:50 Trump’s inflammatory comments about the murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer42:40 Trump’s allegedly declining help 51:26 Why John won’t write a memoir

Recorded December 18, 2025

Links and Readings

John’s book, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America

William Greider’s 1981 Atlantic article, “The Education of David Stockman”

Glenn’s memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

On this episode, shootings at Brown University and Bondi Beach, race or colonialism in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the tragic deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer, Trump’s apparently poor health (and John’s speculations thereon), and John’s reasons for not writing a memoir.

Plus, our monthly subscriber Q&A.

Note: This episode was recorded before the identification of the Brown University shooter.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

In this episode, in conversation with Robert Patton-Spruill, Mark Sussman, and Nikita Petrov, I provide an introduction to the life and work of Thomas Schelling and consider how a “Schellingesque” point of view might influence our interpretation of current events, like the Ukraine War, the “human shields” argument in Gaza, the Trump administration’s new national security strategy, nationalist and populist movements throughout the world, and nuclear deterrence today. We also talk about Schellingesque approaches to AI, but that segment of the conversation is available only to full subscribers.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience-supported. To gain access to all our content and to get all future premium and bonus content, become a full subscriber today. Thank you to all free and full subscribers—I couldn't do what I do without you.

Video Links

0:00 Who was Thomas C. Schelling?

8:51 The Schellingesque

13:22 Ground News ad

15:05 Battlefield commitment and signaling

27:00 How deterrence works

35:14 Schelling's role in conceptualizing Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove

49:08 Europe, Ukraine, and Trump's new national security strategy

1:04:41 Why does the US care about immigration in other nations?

1:09:02 Glenn: Bill Maher is either dishonest or wrong about asymmetrical war in Gaza

17:54 Schelling and Glenn on new nuclear powers

1:26:00 The problem of self-command

Recorded December 12, 2025

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

In this episode, in conversation with Robert Patton-Spruill, Nikita Petrov, and Mark Sussman, I pay tribute to Tom Schelling’s major contributions and the personal affect he had on me, as a colleague, friend, and, at times, surrogate father figure. We talk about Schelling’s understanding of battlefield commitment strategy, signaling, interstate conflict, and the nuclear weapons “taboo.” We watch a clip of Tom talking about helping Stanley Kubrick to conceptualize his film Dr. Strangelove by gaming out how a doomsday machine capable of launching ICBMs would affect the decisions made by the US and the USSR. I often find myself asking, “What would Tom think?” about one question or another, and here I try to answer that question as it pertains to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. And finally, Tom died before AI developed to its present state. He would have had a field day thinking through its implications, and we try to do him justice.

The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

This is a free segment from a two-hour livestream of The Glenn Show. To watch the whole thing, become a full subscriber. You’ll get access to all TGS content, including video of livestreams, audience Q&As with me and John McWhorter, and lots of other great content. The Glenn Show is almost entirely audience supported. Thank you for all you do.

In this TGS Live segment, Glenn Loury and TGS contributor Robert Patton-Spruill discuss Larry Summers's withdrawal from teaching at Harvard and expulsion from the American Economics Association. Glenn and Rob talk about how Glenn's own experience with public disgrace shapes his thinking about Summers's case.

Watch the video here.

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com

On this recording of last week's livestream, we discuss my conversation with a Nigerian development economist, Trump's moves against Venezuela, Pete Hegseth's boat strikes, flooding and winter weather in Gaza, and Bernie Sanders's call for government regulation of AI.

Last week, Larry Summers stepped back from teaching at Harvard and was banned for life from the American Economics Association after it was revealed that he maintained a friendship with Jeffrey Epstein even after Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution with a minor in 2008. I talk about my own experience with public disgrace, and explain why I think the AEA has acted too hastily in this instance.

This recording of the stream is available to full subscribers. We’ll make a long-ish clip available for free subscribers on Friday. But if you want the whole thing, consider becoming a full subscriber. The Glenn Show is almost entirely viewer supported, so to those of us who are already full subscribers, let me extend a heartfelt thank you. And if you’re not yet a full subscriber, please consider becoming one. The Glenn Show can only do what it does through the generosity of viewers and listeners. For a mere $6/month or $50/year, you’ll get weekly episodes of The Glenn Show earlier than their public release, monthly Q&A episodes with John McWhorter, access to the full Substack archives, and other exclusive bonus content.