Published by Scheerpost
Scheer Intelligence features thoughtful and provocative conversations with "American Originals" -- people who, through a lifetime of engagement with political issues, offer unique and often surprising perspectives on the day's most important issues.
Listen on Apple Podcasts34 min
Anthony Fauci was once presented as the unimpeachable voice of science. Now, confronted with questions about gain-of-function research, the Wuhan laboratory and what government officials knew about COVID-19’s origins, he has invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern joins Robert Scheer to examine the newly released documents, the intelligence agencies accused of burying the truth and a corporate press more interested in protecting official narratives than exposing them. Millions died, the world was upended—and Washington still believes the public is not entitled to honest answers.
1 hr 13 min
As Donald Trump openly defies constitutional norms and concentrates power in the White House, many Americans see him as a dangerous break from the nation's democratic traditions. Sociologist Charles Derber argues the opposite. In this wide-ranging conversation with Robert Scheer, the Boston College professor contends that authoritarianism has been embedded in the American political system since its founding. Drawing on the history of the Constitution, the Magna Carta, corporate power, and popular resistance, Derber argues that Trump did not invent oligarchy—he simply stripped away the illusion that the United States was ever governed primarily by the people. The discussion explores the country's long struggle between concentrated wealth and democratic movements, asking whether today's crisis marks the collapse of an old political order—or the beginning of a genuine fight to build one that serves ordinary Americans.
41 min
The former congressman tells Robert Scheer that a provision buried in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act could integrate the United States and Israel at the highest levels of military technology—without meaningful public debate or congressional scrutiny. Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich has spent decades warning about the machinery of permanent war. But in a new conversation with Robert Scheer, he argues that Congress is now on the verge of crossing a line without precedent in American military history. At the center of Kucinich's warning is Section 219 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, a provision he says would formally integrate key areas of U.S. and Israeli military development, including artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, quantum sensing, cyber and electronic warfare, biotechnology, missile defense, drones and directed-energy systems. “They call it integration, but I call it a merger,” Kucinich tells Scheer. The implications, he argues, go far beyond traditional military aid or weapons sales. Kucinich warns that the provision could create new counterintelligence risks, deepen U.S. dependence on Israel's military infrastructure and technology, blur questions of war powers and further entangle Washington in Israel's expanding regional conflicts. Even more alarming, Kucinich says, is how little debate the proposal has received. Rather than being considered through a separate treaty or subjected to extensive congressional hearings, the provision has been folded into a massive defense authorization bill that lawmakers will face enormous political pressure to support. “This provision has been smuggled into the bill,” Kucinich argues. “There's never been any debate.” For Scheer, the contradiction is impossible to ignore. At the moment the United States marks 250 years since declaring its independence, Washington may be moving toward an unprecedented military dependence on another state—one whose conduct in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon has placed it at the center of international accusations of genocide and grave violations of international law. In this urgent edition of Scheer Intelligence , Scheer and Kucinich examine what Section 219 could mean for American sovereignty, constitutional government and the future of war—and why a provision of such consequence has received so little attention from Congress, the Democratic opposition and the mainstream press.
59 min
Women are more visible in public life than ever before. They lead corporations, run for president, dominate popular culture and shape public debate. Yet according to media scholar Allison Butler, visibility is not the same as power—and it is certainly not the same as being heard. In this wide-ranging conversation with Joshua Scheer, Butler discusses the themes of her book Judgment of Gender: Analyzing the Silencing of Women , examining how patriarchy, capitalism, media narratives and political power continue to shape whose voices matter and whose stories are ignored. From Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights to Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, transgender inclusion, critical media literacy and the enduring legacy of misogyny, Butler argues that many of the structures limiting women's autonomy have not disappeared—they have simply adapted to new cultural realities. At the center of the discussion is a challenging question: How can women be increasingly visible in politics, media and popular culture while simultaneously remaining marginalized, controlled and silenced? Butler contends that answering that question requires looking beyond individual personalities and toward the systems that determine which stories are told, who gets to tell them and who benefits from the status quo. The conversation is ultimately a call for critical inquiry—not only into media narratives, but into the economic, political and cultural structures that shape modern life. As Butler argues, meaningful change begins when people become willing to question what has been normalized and confront the power behind it.
50 min
As millions of Americans struggle with soaring rents, crushing childcare costs, stagnant wages and a political system increasingly captured by wealth, a new political force has emerged from New York City. In this episode of Scheer Intelligence , Robert Scheer speaks with journalist and author Ted Hamm about the remarkable rise of Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a self-described democratic socialist whose message of affordability, economic justice and political independence has transformed him from insurgent candidate to one of the most closely watched political figures in America. Drawing on his new book Meet Mayor Mamdani , Hamm traces how Mamdani built a coalition around issues that cut across traditional political divides: housing, transit, childcare, inequality and the growing sense that the American economic model no longer works for ordinary people. The conversation explores whether Mamdani represents a revival of New Deal-style politics, why his success has rattled Democratic Party leaders, and how his outspoken support for Palestinian rights has reshaped political debate far beyond New York. At a moment when both major parties face deep public distrust, Scheer and Hamm examine whether Mamdani's rise is an isolated phenomenon—or the leading edge of a broader political realignment. Can a movement built around affordability and economic democracy challenge the power of billionaires, corporate interests and party insiders? Or will the forces that have long dominated American politics ultimately absorb or defeat it? The answers may help determine not only the future of New York City, but the future direction of American politics itself.
51 min
On this episode of Scheer Intelligence , host Robert Scheer speaks with media scholar Robin Andersen about her explosive new book The Complicit Lens: U.S. Media Coverage of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza . Andersen argues that corporate and legacy media did not merely fail to report the destruction of Gaza honestly — they actively distorted it through censorship, euphemism, and the suppression of historical context. From banned words like “occupation” and “genocide” to newsroom pressure campaigns and attacks on academic freedom, the conversation exposes how media institutions helped manufacture public consent while silencing dissent. What emerges is not simply a critique of journalism, but a warning about the collapse of democratic discourse itself.
43 min
A tenured professor can spend decades building a career, win awards, earn lifetime recognition, and still be discarded the moment political speech crosses an invisible line. That is what happened to Dr. Sang-hae Kil after she supported Palestinian protest on campus. Her teaching record was untouched, her scholarship praised, and a faculty panel ruled unanimously against punishment — yet San José State University fired her anyway. The message is unmistakable: on many campuses, academic freedom survives only until it collides with Palestine.
1 hr 1 min
The newly released Epstein files don’t just implicate a handful of powerful men—they expose an entire architecture of American power built on impunity, secrecy, and the quiet expectation that the rules apply only to everyone else. As Robert Scheer and Nolan Higdon dig into this week’s revelations, the picture that emerges is not simply one of individual crimes but of a political and financial aristocracy that treats the law as a suggestion, democracy as theater, and vulnerable people as expendable. From Harvard boardrooms to Clinton‑era fundraisers to Trump’s Justice Department slow‑walking disclosures, the documents reveal a culture where fixing, hiding, and protecting the powerful is the real bipartisan consensus. What’s breaking open now is not just a scandal—it’s a portrait of a system that was never meant to be fair in the first place.
59 min
Former congressman and longtime peace advocate Dennis Kucinich joins Robert Scheer for a stark assessment of what he calls the most perilous moment in modern U.S. foreign policy. With Washington openly coordinating military action with Israel and escalating toward direct confrontation with Iran, Kucinich argues the United States has reached the terminus of its imperial project — a point where decades of overreach, militarism, and economic decline collide. Drawing on his years in Congress fighting unauthorized wars, he warns that the killing of Iran’s leadership, the collapse of diplomatic credibility, and the fantasy of American omnipotence have created a crisis with no clear exit. Scheer and Kucinich trace the roots of the disaster from the 1953 coup against Mossadegh to Trump’s current campaign of regime change, asking whether Iran may become the graveyard of American empire — and what it means for a world no longer willing to accept U.S. dominance.
1 hr 16 min
As the U.S. drifts deeper into an era shaped by concentrated wealth, surveillance technology, and political strongmen, Robert Scheer sits down with Jonathan Taplin to examine what he calls the rise of “techno‑authoritarianism.” Drawing on decades at the intersection of culture, media, and technology—from producing Bob Dylan and The Band to directing USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab—Taplin traces how corporate monopolies, AI, and political intimidation have hollowed out the counterculture that once challenged American power. In this wide‑ranging conversation, Scheer and Taplin explore the collapse of artistic independence, the fusion of Big Tech and state authority, and the dangers facing a generation coming of age under unprecedented surveillance and economic inequality.
51 min
In this edition of Scheer Intelligence , Robert Scheer sits down with journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin to unpack her blistering new documentary, Earth’s Greatest Enemy —a film that argues, with devastating clarity, that the U.S. military is the single largest institutional driver of climate destruction on the planet. Martin walks Scheer through the years‑long battle to make and distribute a documentary that Hollywood wouldn’t touch, exposes the Pentagon’s grip on media narratives, and traces how bipartisan militarism—under Democrats and Republicans alike—has locked the world into a self‑perpetuating cycle of war, extraction, and ecological collapse. What emerges is a sweeping indictment of empire at the precise moment when the planet can least afford it, and a call to recognize the shared human cost borne by soldiers, civilians, and the environment itself.
59 min
Welcome to Scheer Intelligence , hosted by the legendary journalist Robert Scheer . In this episode, Scheer sits down with media scholar Nolan Higdon to dissect the explosive revelations emerging from the Epstein Files — newly exposed documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. At nearly 90 years old, Scheer says he has never seen anything like this. This isn’t gossip. It isn’t tabloid scandal. It’s a rare, unfiltered look into how power actually operates in America. From Silicon Valley giants like Peter Thiel and firms such as Palantir Technologies , to Wall Street titans and political elites spanning both parties — from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump — the files reveal a bipartisan ruling class operating beyond traditional accountability. This week’s revelations focus on Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, alleged connections to gene-editing ambitions, intelligence networks, and a global web of influence reaching from Washington to Tel Aviv. Scheer calls it “techno-fascism” — a fusion of concentrated wealth, surveillance technology, elite universities, and intelligence agencies — where power believes itself immune from moral restraint. How did Silicon Valley become intertwined with the national security state? What role did academia play? Why does religion get invoked in public — but ignored in practice? And why are so many lawmakers still silent? Higdon, who has been combing through the primary documents, breaks down what’s real, what’s speculative, and what the public still hasn’t been allowed to see. This is Episode Three of their ongoing weekly deep dive. The question is no longer whether Epstein was powerful. The question is: what system made him possible — and who’s still protecting it?
40 min
In this second installment of our weekly deep dive into the Epstein files, Robert Scheer and media scholar Nolan Higdon unpack a wave of newly unredacted documents that expose the scale—and the culture—of Epstein’s elite network. In the last 24 hours alone, Congress forced the release of additional co‑conspirator names, revealing ties that stretch from Wall Street to Harvard, Silicon Valley, global finance, and even the intellectual world of Noam Chomsky. Higdon walks through the emerging picture: a ruling class that treated Epstein not as a pariah but as a peer, confidant, fixer, and ideological fellow traveler. The files show billionaires, academics, and political figures trading favors, seeking image management, and in some cases engaging in coded exchanges about trafficked girls—all while U.S. institutions look the other way. Scheer and Higdon connect these revelations to the broader crisis of American democracy at its 250‑year mark: a Second Gilded Age defined by impunity, eugenics‑tinged technocracy, collapsing accountability, and a political‑economic system engineered by figures like Lawrence Summers to shield the powerful from scrutiny. This conversation asks the question the mainstream press won’t touch: Is the Epstein network a window into the true culture of American power?
40 min
In this conversation, Robert Scheer and Nolan Higdon dig into the contradictions at the heart of America’s elite class — the philanthropists, technocrats, and political leaders who publicly preach democracy, equality, and women’s rights while privately orbiting Jeffrey Epstein long after his crimes were known. Higdon walks through the documents, the lies, the intelligence connections, and the cultural implications of a scandal that refuses to fade. What emerges is a portrait of a society where wealth shields wrongdoing, institutions collapse under their own corruption, and the public is left to pick up the pieces.
1 hr 16 min
On today’s episode of Scheer Intelligence , Robert Scheer sits down once again with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern for a rare, unvarnished look at the war in Ukraine, the collapse of nuclear arms control, and the dangerous return of great‑power spheres of influence. McGovern, who spent 27 years briefing presidents from Nixon to Reagan, argues that the conflict was provoked, that Russia believes it has already won, and that the real negotiations now bypass Europe entirely. Scheer pushes back, insisting on the human cost and the moral urgency of ending the war now — not after another round of geopolitical maneuvering. Together, they cut through media narratives and political posturing to expose what’s really at stake: the future of global security, the erosion of diplomacy, and the lives caught in the crossfire.
46 min
Today on the show, Joshua Scheer speaks with award‑winning investigative journalist Peter Byrne about the explosive conclusion to his 10‑part Project Censored series on the militarization of artificial intelligence. Byrne’s reporting uncovers how Silicon Valley billionaires, the Pentagon, Wall Street, and corporate media have fused into a single war‑driven superorganism—one that feeds on conflict, surveillance, and profit while pushing humanity toward nuclear brinkmanship. In this conversation, Byrne dismantles the mythology surrounding companies like Palantir and Anduril, exposes the New York Times for cheerleading a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget, and explains why China is not the existential threat Americans are told to fear. He argues that AI is already embedded in a self‑propelling war machine that may be beyond meaningful human control. This is a deep dive into empire, technology, and the death‑driven logic of American militarism—and what it will take for life‑affirming movements to resist it.
44 min
Every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, official tributes reduce a radical critic of empire, capitalism, and militarism into a safely packaged icon — while quietly ignoring the brutal reality of how the U.S. government treated him in real time. Martin Luther King Jr. was not merely monitored by the FBI; he was hunted, harassed, and psychologically terrorized by a federal agency determined to silence a man whose moral authority threatened entrenched power. In this republished interview, acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard exposes the depth of the FBI’s crusade against King — a campaign far darker than most Americans are ever taught. Revisiting this history is not an exercise in nostalgia, but a necessary confrontation with how the state responds when demands for justice move from rhetoric to action.
53 min
Today on Scheer Intelligence, we pull back the curtain on a crisis unfolding quietly but catastrophically across American higher education. Robert Scheer sits down with Professor Steve Macek — scholar, organizer, and one of the country’s sharpest analysts of academic freedom — to examine what he calls an unprecedented assault on the institutions that produce knowledge itself. From Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department to Democratic governors signing bills that criminalize criticism of Israel, the attack on academic freedom is no longer coming from the fringes. It’s bipartisan, it’s systemic, and it’s reshaping the university into a place where surveillance replaces debate and self‑censorship replaces inquiry. In this conversation, Scheer and Macek trace the historical lineage — from Galileo to McCarthy to the present — and confront the chilling reality that tenure no longer protects scholars, adjuncts are silenced by precarity, and entire universities can now be punished for allowing dissent. If you want to understand why America’s intellectual life is collapsing into fear, conformity, and political intimidation, this episode is essential.
43 min
As the world stumbles into a new year, journalist Robert Scheer sits down with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern for a conversation that feels less like a holiday reflection and more like a warning flare. Both men came of age in the shadow of World War II, lived through the Cold War, and spent their lives studying the machinery of American power. Now, they confront a moment they argue may be even more perilous: a nuclear‑armed standoff between the United States and Russia, shaped by political chaos, military inertia, and a peace movement too faint to hear. In this episode, Scheer and McGovern revisit the promises, failures, and back‑channel dramas that brought the U.S. and Russia to the brink—unpacking Trump’s claims he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, Biden’s abandoned assurances, and the quiet but escalating risks that rarely make it into mainstream headlines. What emerges is a sobering, unsentimental look at how fragile global stability has become, and why the coming year may determine far more than most Americans realize.
29 min
Academic freedom in the United States is hanging by a thread — and nowhere is that more visible than in Texas. In this episode of Scheer Intelligence , Robert Scheer speaks with Dr. Daniel Braaten, Associate Professor of Criminology and Political Science at Texas A&M–San Antonio, from what may be the epicenter of the most aggressive political assault on higher education in modern American history. As state legislators, governors, university boards, and now the federal executive branch move to police curriculum, punish dissenting faculty, and weaponize funding, Texas has become a testing ground for how far political power can go in controlling what is taught — and what is silenced. Braaten details how professors are being publicly targeted, fired without due process, and subjected to ideological litmus tests — not only in the humanities, but across all disciplines, including science and medicine. From audits of course syllabi to bans on “race or gender ideology,” to social-media-driven intimidation campaigns, the goal, he argues, is clear: to weaken universities until they submit. But this conversation goes far beyond Texas. Scheer and Braaten connect these state-level attacks to a broader national and global pattern — from Trump-era threats to withhold federal research funding, to the cynical weaponization of anti-Semitism, to the erosion of shared governance that once made American higher education the envy of the world. As Braaten warns, there are no “safe” fields: when academic freedom collapses in one discipline, it collapses everywhere. At stake is not only the future of professors, but the education of students, the pursuit of truth, and the ability of a democratic society to think critically about power, science, war, climate, immigration, and human rights. This is a conversation about how democracies lose knowledge — and how they might still fight to defend it.