Best Nonzero Podcasts (2025)

1
Disorder as the New Normal (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov) 53:41

Play Pause

7h ago53:41

53:41

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:29 What is Bob doing in Qatar? 3:34 “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Why Yeats felt this way 7:07 Peter Thiel’s Antichrist theory 9:16 Nikita: COVID was a weird time, and nothing has been the same since 14:27 Why Bob feels things are falling apart 17:58 Were…

1
AP x NonZero - Trump-Xi Truce, Gaza Ceasefire & Other Sketchy Deals 41:11

14d ago41:11

41:11

The greatest recurring crossover in the biz, between AP and ⁠NonZero Newsletter⁠, returns. ⁠Subscribe now to AP⁠ and you'll also get the overtime segment as well as a discounted membership to Nonzero! ⁠Part One Video⁠ (0:00) Bob tries to lower American Prestige’s self-esteem (3:07) The Trump-Xi trade talks (6:44) Making sense of Trump’s nuclear sab…

1
Special - The American Jewish Divide w/ Jamie Beran (Preview) 5:38

1d ago5:38

5:38

Subscribe now to listen to the full episode. Danny talks with Jamie Beran, CEO of Bend the Arc, about the political and generational tension reshaping the American Jewish community. They discuss the fallout from Zoran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York; the role of legacy institutions like the ADL; how debates over Israel-Palestine, antisemitis…

1
Is American Might Right? (Robert Wright & Shadi Hamid) 54:21

2h ago54:21

54:21

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 Shadi’s path to his new book, The Case for American Power 9:50 George W. Bush’s “Freedom Agenda” 13:19 Does America’s role in Gaza undermine Shadi’s case? 16:47 Shadi’s case for US moral supremacy 23:36 What does China want? 34:19 What justifies military intervention…

1
E334 - Silicon Valley and the Israeli Occupation w/ Omar Zahzah 52:40

3d ago52:40

52:40

Subscribe now to skip the commercials and get all of our content. Derek is joined by Omar Zahzah, Assistant Professor of Arab Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies at San Francisco State University, to talk about his book Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism. They discuss the Sheikh Jarrah uprising and the…

1
Special - Escalating Settler Violence in the West Bank w/ Jasper Nathaniel 54:45

3d ago54:45

54:45

Subscribe now for all of our breaking news specials. Danny and Derek talk with journalist Jasper Nathaniel about his reporting from the West Bank on settler attacks that have become routine and state-backed. They discuss the town of Turmus Aya, the far-right ministers pushing annexation, a mob attack on an American‐Palestinian lawyer’s neighbor, an…

1
Bonus - What Happened to Liberal Politics? w/ Tim Shenk (Preview) 10:26

5d ago10:26

10:26

Subscribe now for the full episode! Danny and Derek speak with historian Tim Shenk of George Washington University about how American liberalism lost its way. They discuss the Cold War purge of the left and the rise of the “vital center,” the Clinton-Obama years and the hollowing of class politics, the Democratic Party’s embrace of the professional…

1
Zohran, Epstein, and Two Decades of Bob and Mickey (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus) 1:56:53

19m ago1:56:53

1:56:53

0:28 This week in underappreciated world history 7:19 Were the elections all—or just mostly—bad news for Trump? 28:55 Will Trump invade Venezuela? 36:30 What’s the shutdown fight really about? 43:04 Mickey vs Ezra Klein (in absentia) on healthcare 51:22 Back down the Epstein rabbit hole 1:17:28 Was Tucker playing 4D chess with the Fuentes interview…

1
News - Trump Threatens to Invade Nigeria, Sudan Famine and RSF Offensive, Russia To Also Pursue More Nuclear Testing 57:29

7d ago57:29

57:29

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our content! Air travel might grind to a halt, but our news roundup marches on. After reflections on the Mamdani victory (0:30), Danny and Derek get into this week’s stories: Trump threatens to invade Nigeria (10:10); in Israel-Palestine, a Gaza ceasefire update (19:31) and West Bank olive harvest violen…

1
Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, and the Gatekeeper Question (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom) 50:56

4d ago50:56

50:56

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 The Carlson-Fuentes interview controversy 4:32 Paul: Candidate Carlson is coming 7:04 Is gatekeeping dead? 13:40 Is Carlson’s show respectable? 20:17 Carlson and Fuentes on the Israel lobby 25:28 William F. Buckley as MAGA precursor 38:20 Is antisemitism more organic…

1
Special - Dick Cheney (Preview) 10:32

1d ago10:32

10:32

Danny and Derek invite Spencer Ackerman to discuss the life and legacy of Dick Cheney. Check out Spencer's newsletter Forever Wars and his book Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump.By Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

1
E333 - The Wagner Group and the New Era of Private War w/ John Lechner 1:06:42

10d ago1:06:42

1:06:42

Danny and Derek welcome journalist and author John Lechner to discuss his book, Death is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries in the New Era of Warfare. The conversation cuts through the mainstream narrative of the Wagner Group to explore the true history of Yevgeny Prigozhin, from his start as a product of post-Soviet "gangster capitalism" in 1990s S…

1
Bonus - The Men’s Suit and the Aesthetics of Power w/ Derek Guy (Preview) 10:22

12d ago10:22

10:22

Subscribe now to hear the full episode and get access to all of our Sunday bonuses! Danny speaks with writer and menswear critic Derek Guy about the politics of fashion, exploring how style reflects class, power, and ideology. They explore fashion’s moral economy, how neoliberalism turned personal style into a marker of moral worth, the influence o…

1
News - Trump Asia Tour and Xi Summit, RSF Massacres in Sudan, US Continues Bombing Boats Off South America Coast 54:17

14d ago54:17

54:17

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more content! What’s spookier than international relations? This week in the news roundup: Trump tours Asia to talk trade deals (1:28), a Thai-Cambodia accord (7:11), and to meet with Xi (8:45); the RSF captures of Al-Fashir in Sudan with reports of mass killings (12:19); Gaza sees the deadliest day of Israeli …

1
Trump-Xi Truce, Gaza Ceasefire & Other Sketchy Deals (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner) 38:56

8d ago38:56

38:56

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Bob tries to lower American Prestige’s self-esteem 3:31 The Trump-Xi trade talks 7:08 Making sense of Trump’s nuclear saber-rattling 10:58 Signs of a US-China vibe shift 17:00 Is AI accelerating science? 23:49 Bill Gates’s climate change of heart 29:54 This week’s Ga…

1
The Trump Doctrine (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov) 50:53

9d ago50:53

50:53

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org This episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or…

1
E332 - ICE and the Age of Grift w/ Alex Aviña 1:01:21

17d ago1:01:21

1:01:21

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get much more content! Alex Aviña is back on the podcast, this time to talk about the evolution of ICE and the U.S. security state. They discuss the convergence of the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the war on migrants; the transformation of the border into a domestic counterinsurgency project; ICE’s roots in…

1
Bonus - The Forever War in Ukraine w/ Andrew Weiss (Preview) 10:32

19d ago10:32

10:32

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our Sunday bonuses! Danny and Derek welcome to the program Andrew Weiss, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin. They discuss the state of the war in Ukraine, the Biden and Trump administra…

1
News - Gaza Ceasefire Tenuous, US Strikes More “Drug Boats,” Saudi State Visit 55:23

21d ago55:23

55:23

Rest assured, no one on the AP team has any undeclared tattoos. In this week’s news roundup: In Israel-Palestine, Gaza’s so-called ceasefire holds after another weekend of Israeli strikes (1:36), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders Israel to allow more humanitarian aid (8:16), and reports emerge of a plan to partition Gaza (11:48) as J.…

1
Mindfulness and the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Robert Wright & Vincent Fakhoury Horn) 1:00:24

14d ago1:00:24

1:00:24

Via the post on the Buddhist Geeks Substack: In this Buddhist Geeks episode, Vince Fakhoury Horn and Robert Wright explore the intersection of Buddhism, ethics, and geopolitics as they reflect on Palestine, Jewish-Buddhist responses, moral responsibility, and the role of mindfulness amid global violence. This is a public episode. If you'd like to d…

1
E331 - The Myth of Free Speech w/ Fara Dabhoiwala 1:01:49

24d ago1:01:49

1:01:49

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our episodes! Danny and Derek speak with historian Fara Dabhoiwala, author of What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea, about the complex history of one of liberalism’s proudest ideals, and how it largely emerged from hypocrisy and self-interest. They trace its 18th-century birth in the polem…

1
The US-China Microchip-Minerals Showdown (Robert Wright & Paul Triolo) 49:14

24d ago49:14

49:14

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 What triggered Trump’s 100-percent tariff threat? 9:39 How China is mirroring the US playbook 17:14 The real escalation: America's "50% rule" 25:57 Why has US media coverage been so bad? 28:37 Biden's role in fueling the trade war 40:08 US China policy as cognitive e…

1
Bonus - The Insurrection Act, Trump, and the Crisis of Civil Authority w/ Joshua Braver (Preview) 11:26

26d ago11:26

11:26

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all of our Sunday bonuses! Danny and Derek speak with Joshua Braver, assistant professor of law at the University of Wisconsin, about Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act. They discuss the president’s power to federalize the National Guard, the Posse Comitatus Act, the limits of judicial def…

1
News - Gaza Ceasefire, CIA in Venezuela, Madagascar Coup w/ Nathaniel Powell 1:05:06

28d ago1:05:06

1:05:06

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our content. Lead might be in our protein supplements, but Danny and Derek bring you the news free of most heavy metals. This week: the ceasefire in Gaza begins with prisoner exchanges (1:38), but controversy arises over deceased captives (5:30), plus Israeli violations and Hamas clashes with armed facti…

1
Rationalism and AI Doomerism (Robert Wright & Liron Shapira) 47:06

28d ago47:06

47:06

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Why Liron became a Yudkowskian 4:47 Eliezer Yudkowsky’s vision of AI apocalypse 12:15 Does intelligence want power? 18:54 Decoding Yudkowsky’s key Darwinian metaphor 30:42 Is doomerism crowding out other AI worries? 40:08 Liron: The silent majority is very AI anxious…

1
E330 - American Sociocide w/ Charles Derber 1:27:08

1M ago1:27:08

1:27:08

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more episodes. Danny and Derek speak with sociologist Charles Derber about how American society is tearing itself apart, as explored in his book Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations, and the Quest for Democracy. They discuss the decline of civic trust, the rise of atomized “me” culture, the tech-driven…

1
Bonus - The Historical Columbus w/ Juan Ponce Vázquez 55:46

1M ago55:46

55:46

Producer's note: This is a re-posted episode originally from Columbus Day 2023. Subscribe now to skip the ads and get access to more bonus episodes like this one. Danny and Derek speak with Juan Ponce Vázquez, associate professor history at the University of Alabama, about Christopher Columbus. They explore his Genoese origins, his journeys to the …

1
Bonus - Blowback: The Forgotten Cold War Front in Angola w/ Brendan James and Noah Kulwin (Preview) 13:21

1M ago13:21

13:21

Subscribe now for the full episode! Danny and Derek welcome back Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, of the Blowback podcast, for a tour through their latest season, which takes the show to Angola. They discuss how Angola became one of the largest and least-remembered battlefields of the Cold War, Reagan’s return to proxy wars, Cuba’s decision to send t…

1
Whose Toady is Bari Weiss? (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom) 44:01

1M ago44:01

44:01

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Amazing Bob-Paul discount deal! 2:36 The Bari Weiss trivia test 19:18 Lasting peace in Gaza? 21:55 Why did Trump finally get tough on Bibi? 27:18 MAGA free speech debates 31:22 Is the AI bubble about to burst? 34:11 If anyone builds it, will everyone die? 41:48 Headi…

1
News - Venezuela-US Escalation, Myanmar Airstrike, France’s Political Crisis 41:03

1M ago41:03

41:03

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more content! Yes, we will be releasing 25 subtle variations of this news roundup in order to catapult ourselves to the top of the podcast charts, and no, we are not sorry. This week: a ceasefire agreement was reached for Gaza, but there was too much information for us to cover in the news, so please check out …

1
Special - Hamas Accepts the Ceasefire Deal (Preview) 5:28

1M ago5:28

5:28

Subscribe now for the full episode and access to all breaking new specials. Danny and Derek break down the first stage of the ceasefire deal reached between the U.S., Hamas, and Israel. They talk about the phased releases, Israel’s partial withdrawal, and the question of whether Marwan Barghouti will be freed. They also discuss Trump’s role in push…

1
LAST CALL: Vote for American Prestige in the 2025 Signal Awards! 0:24

1M ago0:24

0:24

Greetings Everyone, There's just one more day to vote for American Prestige in the 2025 Signal Awards for best News & Politics program (viewer's choice). If you can take a second, please go there now and do so! Jon Stewart is gaining on us! You'll have to confirm the vote via your email, but we promise it's a quick and easy process. It'd be great t…

1
Bari Weiss, CBS, and Israel (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov) 1:02:57

1M ago1:02:57

1:02:57

By Robert Wright

1
E229 - How The Simpsons Reshaped American Comedy w/ Alan Siegel 57:23

1M ago57:23

57:23

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get much more content. Don’t forget to vote for AP in the 2025 Signal Awards! In a break from the (overtly) political, Derek and Danny are joined by The Ringer’s Alan Siegel to talk about his new book Stupid TV: Be More Funny, a cultural history of The Simpsons and how it changed American comedy. They discuss how a…

1
Special - The Gaza Negotiations w/ Sami Al-Arian (Preview) 26:53

1M ago26:53

26:53

Derek speaks with Sami Al-Arian, Public Affairs Professor and Director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Zaim University, about the forthcoming Gaza talks and the prospects for a ceasefire.By Daniel Bessner & Derek Davison

1
Bonus - The Death of the Iran Deal w/ Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (Preview) 10:03

1M ago10:03

10:03

Subscribe now for the full episode. Don’t forget to vote for AP in the 2025 Signal Awards! Derek welcomes back to the show Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation and professor at Johns Hopkins, to talk through the slow demise of the Iran nuclear deal. They delve into Europe’s decision to trigger the UN “snapback” mechani…

1
Special - The Gaza Ceasefire w/ Mohammad Alsaafin and Dalia Hatuqa 13:18

1M ago13:18

13:18

Subscribe now for the full episode! Vote for us in the 2025 Signal Awards! Danny and Derek update everyone on what we know about the Gaza ceasefire that Hamas just accepted and where things go from here. Then, for subscribers, they speak with Mohammad Alsaafin, journalist at AJ+, and Dalia Hatuqa, a journalist specializing in Israeli/Palestinian af…

1
News - Trump’s Gaza “Peace Plan,” UN Reimposes Sanctions on Iran, "Gen Z Protests" in Madagascar and Morocco 50:46

1M ago50:46

50:46

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get more content. Don’t forget to vote for AP in the 2025 Signal Awards! Danny is back on American soil and joins Derek to bring you the news. This week: Trump circulates a Gaza ceasefire proposal with Hamas’ response pending (2:39), Israel issues its final evacuation notice for Gaza City (9:30), and the Samud flot…

1
How We Mishandled the Covid Pandemic (Robert Wright & Stephen Macedo) 54:54

1M ago54:54

54:54

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Steve’s book In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us 10:26 Were school closures smart policy? 17:48 The mask mandate question 23:57 Did medical experts get too much say? 30:24 The role of social class and political tribe 37:17 How dissent was suppressed 45:23 Bob…