28 Comments

I have come to assume that every article, every podcast from the Free Press will not only be extraordinarily interesting and informative, but also delightful. Bari Weiss, thank you. And thank you, NYT, for driving her away. Your stupidity has given us the best source of information available today.

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Oh my gosh I did enjoy that!!! I am an ethics/philosophy professor and I studied postmodernism and Freud but for much the same reasons as Gad Saad describes I abandoned postmodernism but less so Freud.

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Thanks for my introduction to Dr. Saad. Great interview and a great intellect. His prediction of a revolution in the US makes me sad. This was a wonderful country, and still better than any but I share his sentiment. I particularly enjoyed the segment about post modernism. I see it all around but I didn't realize it had a name. Lots of food for thought, so the answer to your question about your chosen vocation is a resounding yes.

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I recently attended Dr. Saad’s eye opening lecture at Cornell U. and have since become a loyal fan. I wonder if he has read Signs of the Times: Deconstruction and the Fall of Paul de DeMan” a seminal book about how deconstruction poisoned the humanities and how one of the leading academics who popularized this theory is at Yale and elsewhere) was revealed to be a Nazi in his home country of Belgium. The scandal caused a major furor in many Ivy English departments.

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Gad must have read the Thomas Sowell essay" Is Anti-Semitism Generic?" or the more detailed book chapter, "Are Jews Generic?" in Black Rednecks and White Liberals. Sowell describes a historical pattern of many "middleman minorities" around the world persecuted, expelled and killed because of the economic and social roles they played in larger society. Successful minorities that outperform lagging majorities are scapegoated by politicians seeking to leverage public resentment. Sadly, winning Michigan and placating the university/media elite drive political willingness to scold Israel's self-defense while downplaying antisemitism. Appeasing Iran ("Death to America!") while releasing billions in frozen assets to them indirectly supported Oct 7th. Trump's an idiot, but Jews voting democratic simply ignores the dark future Gad portends.

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Gad is a brilliant and very rational man. His explanation for reasons one might vote for Trump were logical. I hope Bari will reflect on his wisdom as her TDS has reached a critical level if she would even consider supporting a Democrat who will continue policies that she deplores. Sadly, all politicians lie and most are narcissistic. I haven’t been excited about voting for a presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan . I vote based on policies that are important to me rather than personalities. Even George Washington would have a hard time getting elected in today’s negative environment.

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Great podcast as Gad never disappoints. His perspective on the blessings of North America / Western Civilization from immigrant perspective is certainly shared by many of the illegals that leave hell holes masquerading as countries to get to Europe and North America. And when, at least in the USA, getting citizenship lean right after witnessing insanity of the left. Self loathing of leftist elites has always been with us, just look at Marx, but it's the indifference of current gate keepers and their total lack of moral spine that allowed the few lunatics to commandeer the asylum that lead to Orwellian realities when victims are blamed and perpetrators are praised, competency and merit are subordinated to equity, senile politicians that are claimed to be in full mental capacities one day are unfit for office the next, while others considered disastrous and unpalatable to the electorate are proclaimed the best even when not being capable to comprehensively formulate their own policies.

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Oct 25·edited Oct 25

Loved Gad. But Bari, you asked Gad how he could vote for Trump, as he is not always truthful. Kamala, however, lied about Joe's mental acuity to the whole country / world. How can you even ask that question about Trump, knowing that? Why does she get a pass for this very dangerous lie, where she played the American people as fools. Sorry Bari, Kamala is not a paragon of virtue, she does her fair share of lying.

(I cannot believe that you can even be in her corner the way she, Joe, and the man behind the curtain, Obama treat Israel. You really have a blind spot.)

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The most enlightening interview I’ve heard lately about the problem Islam has with Jews is in the following link. It really opened my eyes to the mindset of Islamists.

https://youtu.be/OsE5B-9uMYk?si=sCRW1ppR-ofVFcuf

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Loved this interview that is so much more interesting with Bari asking the most pertinent questions.

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Which parasite is more refractory to treatment, antisemitism or TDS?

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Great discussion. I was glad that Bari allowed Gad to explain why he prefers Trump, but her TDS really does get tiring when you listen to all of the podcasts. His totally reasonable explanation won’t resonate with her at all, sadly.

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Once again,an absolutely brilliant piece of journalist integrity. Bari gracefully let's Gad expound on ideas she may or may not agree with. That said,Bari really needs to reconcile with Elon Musk and Tucker. My gosh, her and Gad agreed with them both on 90% of the issues. Tucker interviews everyone. Much like Thefp .Yes Darryl Cooper was an idiot. VDH,who is the absolute authority on WW 2 proved that. But it is time to "kiss" and make up. David Jisha. Beaumont Texas.

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founding

I've listened to Gaad a lot and he's uniquely qualified to comment on the current state of both the US and Middle-East politics. That said I was disappointed to hear Bari compare the illiberalism of the progressive left and the self loathing of all things "America" as illustrated by Macklemore's "Fuck America" comment, with Tucker Carlson's comment about how bad the US Government treats it's citizens. Tucker refers to this particular administration's treatment of Americans, not the US as a whole as I understand the commentary. Bari appears to balance the illiberalism of the left with the right's dislike of the "Administrative State" in the form of the current administration. I don't see the equivalency or balance in those two narratives.

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This was a superb interview. I learned so much, Gad really has away of making you enlarge and reconsider your patterns of thinking and ideas.

And Gad may be correct on policy regarding Trump…but even if I did agree with all of Trumps policies….he is not an acceptable POTUS because he refuses to adhere to the peaceful transfer of power. Nothing else matters if that fundamental core concept is broken because it is what holds our democracy together. Otherwise we become Venezuela w Maduro.

Great episode. Bari best interviewer.

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Just asking: If Trump should win, should we be concerned if Harris, as Vice President, will willingly and honestly fulfill her responsibility to certify the election?

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This is a great take. Gaad is a suburb intellectual but his logic is flawed on Trump. I appreciated how Bari pushed him respectfully, essentially saying: “how can you claim to care about truth if you accept Trump spreading lies about the election.” Gaad’s logic on Trump seems to be pushing a double standard; earlier, he criticizes the cowardice of the religious mind, saying that believers want a “magic pill” and want to put their fingers in their ears and say “La la la,” in order to assuage their fear of death. I view Gaad’s take on Trump to be much the same; he wants to have Trump as his magic pill to bulldoze the “woke mind virus” and to not have boys in girls bathrooms but chooses to ignore the 10,000 lb gorilla threat of not ceding to a peaceful transfer of power and inciting an insurrection on J6 which could actually lead to civilizational collapse. C’mon Professor, I have to go honey badger on you on this one!

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It was not an insurrection.

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Respectfully, you have it backwards. It is the current administration that has now approved a DoD edict to use the military against American citizens who disagree with the government. The true threat to democracy in America is this abominable announcement effort to thwart free speech. Fascism on the left is to be feared. Donald Trump is not. He has RFK,Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk in his inner circle to prevent annihilation of our Constitutional Republic & of Israel. Wake up. You’ve been warned. Shadow government Kamala is puppet for represents true threat to our freedom.

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Oct 25·edited Oct 25

It's so crazy how the media has brainwashed people into thinking January 6th is the worst think to happen to America. Yet they can't see how the government is using social media to silence free speech, jailing little old ladies who pray in front of abortion clinics, leaving drowing people to die after a hurricane, yet helping illegal immigrants change our country and get everything for free. Or how women cannot see that this administration is letting men take over womens spaces and sports. But I live in a nice town in MA and work at a software company in Cambridge (next to MIT) and the people around me are not effected by the insanity - yet...

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Hi Linda, with all due respect, there is no evidence of men “taking over women’s spaces and sports,” sure there are edge cases of transgender people wanting to use a space that aligns with their gender identity, but there is no mainstream takeover. On the other hand, there is mountains of evidence of what Trump was trying to do on January 6th to pressure Mike Pence to not certify the election. Simply read the transcript of his speech that day and it will be clear in plain text. Unfortunately, the media will have you believe that a couple people trying to use a bathroom of their preferred gender identity is a bigger threat that not abiding the peaceful transfer of power and the incitement of a mob to overturn a democratic election.

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Oct 25·edited Oct 25

¨ ...there is no evidence of men “taking over women’s spaces and sports,”

Is this a joke?

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Bess, there are many who support Trump in part because they did not regard the 2020 election as a legitimate peaceful transfer of power but one that was decided by election fraud. Given all we have learned about the weaponization of government institutions the last decade it seems too simple to dismiss demands for the sanctity of an election to be verified before its outcome is certified given all of what appeared to be ballot counting irregularities. Better to investigate and prove the outcome than to create permanent doubt in peoples' minds. The decisions made to not investigate them have now left us with tens of millions of Americans who now distrust just about everything their Government tells them.

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There is so much proof of fraud and capture of the 3 letter agencies. More and more is coming out about COVID and regulatory capture - the government knew the harms of the jabs and not only supported, but mandated. We have Nancy Pelosi saying it was her fault they did not have enough security on January 6th and proof of agitators. People like Bess will never believe what is happening in our government, until they come for her.

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Hi Alan,

It was investigated and dozens of his cases were dismissed! And let’s not forget “find me the 11.000 some odd votes”.

I respect and encourage questioning our system, we must! Trump refused to accept reality and continues to spread conspiracy theories. Deeply destructive.

Reagan gave a speech where he described “the miracle” that is our peaceful transfer of power. It is sacred.

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Those cases were dismissed for procedural reasons and nothing to do with actual evidence. Evidence was never allowed to be presented. So for all we know, all of those cases may have proved that fraud was committed.

The "find me..." comment did not bother me as almost every election that I recall seems to find boxes of ballots in that were found misplaced in the trunks of cars or other locations.

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Is there a transcript to read? I don’t have 98 minutes to listen?

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If it works for you, listen at 1.5x.

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