551 Comments
Commenting has been turned off for this post

Love Ben! Thank you FP for having him grace this podcast. Well needed! Sam Harris is just another liberal with no other argument than Trump is a big mean, orange, guy . Trump 2024!!!

Expand full comment

Sam Harris is peak TDS. It’s not worth arguing.

Expand full comment

I am a Wisconsin voter. It was disappointing to listen to the debate, especially Sam Harris’s take on what should be important to voters. My questions for the candidates are based on the following

Who is most likely to…?

Protect women’s rights including the long fought battle for Title 9 equality and accessibility, unique to biological women only.

Protect school-age children from receiving information on sex, gender, and racial issues that they can’t process, particularly in a world where they are vulnerable, fickle, and attention seeking, like our European counterparts have done.

Protect racially mixed children where one parent is deemed oppressor and the other one oppressed.

Give universities students the ability to think critically, despite most professors having progressive viewpoints.

Ensure that Americans are able to decipher information by not censoring opposing viewpoints that differ from government opinions, ie covid mandates, vaccines and spread.

Use practical common sense approaches when it comes to the environment (energy use) and what the United States is ready for and what they are already doing compared to other countries.

Ensure that government agencies are not targeting citizens of the opposite political party.

Give equal access for quality education, whether that is vouchers or public schools.

Ensure that certain groups of people are not rewarded in order to get votes while others are left behind, i.e. student loans, racial incentives.

Ensure that our immigration policies eliminate people who can harm citizens while incentivizing people who want to contribute to our American way of life.

Stop drugs from coming into our country causing homelessness and premature death.

Stop foreign election interference and influence in our judicial system and press, i.e. George Soros.

Mr. Harris, these things if overlooked, will have a far greater permanent effect on our democracy and our way of life than your irritation with a blundering non- filtering 4 year president who has checks and balances.

Expand full comment

Every Australian I talk to is "voting" for Trump.

Whilst they say he is not the most likeable character and has some interesting morals, he is tough and the economy was booming under him. He also has the "unpredictable" factor which is ideal for dealing with the myriad narcissistic authoritarians out there: specifically the leaders of Iran, North Korea, China and Russia. Narcissists are unsettled and rattled by unpredictable leaders. In contrast, predictable people are easier to control.

Expand full comment

Sam Harris argued that Trump-45 should not be evaluated on its performance, but then points to the performance evaluations of the 44 former employees as damning testimony. The perception of those experts being valued more than the perceptions of ordinary Americans is exactly why so many are distrustful and skeptical, and flock to Trump as someone who made their lives better.

Also, convenient to excuse the lies of Biden and Harris but to condemn those of Trump. Simple questions: did she or did she not work at McDonalds? Did she or did she not observe Biden’s cognitive decline?

Expand full comment

Sam never made an argument for Kamala.

He never advanced the conversation and spent 2 hours filibustering on his "guardrails" appeal to the authority. He might have well started off every answer with "Well I come from a middle class family" because the result was the same-- I learned nothing new about his POV.

It was like a boxer clinging to the ropes, he refused to throw in the towel and left you wondering if he was injured or had simply never thrown a punch.

Expand full comment

Yes. Ben cleaned his clock. Logic vs. emotion.

Expand full comment

"I learned nothing new about his POV"

Well if not it because you already knew his POV. Look at his deflection at when Bari asks at (https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=rhaZAR18qxUOZHhU&t=7675) "that you have TDS, Trump derangement syndrome. Basically, a hatred of Trump so profound, that impairs your otherwise, you know, profoundly good judgment."

Sam, as he always does, being triggered by the label TDS obfuscates. Why doesn't he then just answer the question (TDS removed) "Why is your hatred of Trump so profound, that you let it impair your otherwise, you know, profoundly good judgment."

Expand full comment

I thought he might have gained some additional insight or perspective, either through of his own mental struggles or anything that was policy or outcome based from the last 3-4 years.

He seems to suggest void of evidence that Kamala can be the return to "normalcy" which was the same not quite a true Pro-Biden argument made in 2020.

Expand full comment

"a true Pro-Biden argument made in 2020."

That was back when

On the 20th of January, 2021, Harris had said on Twitter, “Feeling overwhelming gratitude for the adults in the room.” But by the 26th of August, it turned into an embarrassed “Publicly eating these words… syllable by syllable.”

Expand full comment

This was the best debate of 2024, but the bar was set pretty low. About 90 mins in the Socrates quote “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people” was screaming in my head. I was expecting more from Sam, but he could not get past personality and events. I'm not a Shapiro fan, but to his credit, he kept trying to bring it back to policy and ideas.

Expand full comment

Sam always looses it over the TDS label.

Look at his deflection at when Bari asks at (https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=rhaZAR18qxUOZHhU&t=7675) "that you have TDS, Trump derangement syndrome. Basically, a hatred of Trump so profound, that impairs your otherwise, you know, profoundly good judgment."

Sam, as he always does, being triggered by the label TDS obfuscates. Why doesn't he then just answer the question (TDS removed) "Why is your hatred of Trump so profound, that you let it impair your otherwise, you know, profoundly good judgment."

Expand full comment

Bari, at, acknowledges the "smartness" of her guests ~ https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=Vga9NJqtFQ4e3_4P&t=162

But a moment earlier, at https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=wCpDECeY2q2XmvBb&t=146 she, wishing to dispense with (credit to her) pageantry and make up (illusion) nevertheless hosts Sam who, despite his "smartness" resorts to sophistry.

Check him at https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=drCTdX4cCOQmanOs&t=7073

and

https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=Nzc_cMUYugpynFDm&t=7678

Expand full comment

I care. Do not insist we need our first woman president if a person who has obviously failed up is to be that woman.

Expand full comment

This debate might have just helped me seal the deal in favor of Trump for many of the reasons stated by so many who feel the same way. And once again, disappointed in Bari’s NON unbiased interviewing skills. TFP is going to lose most of their readers if this continues. Why are we continuing to come to this platform for truthful unbiased reporting? Someone help me understand before I unsubscribe and send my money somewhere else.

Expand full comment

This debate confirms for me that Republicans are the land of logic and Dems are the world of woo-woo. I feel for your woo-woo, but practicality and reason first.

(I’m a middle-aged woman with my shit together).

Expand full comment

“It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”

Every time Sam Harris opens his mouth, doubt disappears faster than a pack of smokes at an AA meeting.

Expand full comment

I mostly agree with what I think you are saying. But clarification on the word 'fool' is worthwhile.

Sam is undoubtably smart as Bari claims, (https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=Vga9NJqtFQ4e3_4P&t=162)

But of course Sam demonstrates his 'foolishness' in his unwillingness to be actually candid (perform without verbal makeup https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=lQbnFUd8V6roVQKl&t=146)

For me the two most obvious examples are https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=drCTdX4cCOQmanOs&t=7073 , seriously Sam? Biden/Harris could not have imagined what chaos might ensue with open borders? Bill Clinton's observation about not vetting people coming into the country could not have been foreseen?

And the second, https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=35OzFQbqGmV02mkm&t=7681, Sam deflects from the actual question of how it is not true that his hatred of Trump is so profound that it impairs his otherwise profoundly good judgment.

Expand full comment

"But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools"

Long Road Out of Eden - The Eagles

Expand full comment

Sam’s constant return to Trump’s character with no reference to Kamala clearly sleeping her way to the top of California politics nor Joe Biden and his grifting family discounts his main argument. I just wish Ben reminded all that the military is no longer non-partisan thanks to Barack Hussein, that General Milley traitorously contacted the Chinese during Trump’s administration and that other’s disparaging Trump are busy making millions with the Democrat open border (John Kelly).

Expand full comment

Sleeping? Who cares. That takes two. Lying to the top is a better point and shows a lack of personal responsibility.

Expand full comment

Sam attempts to carry water for Kamala in the most pandering of ways. At 1:58:00, (https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=KHHk0LcaV6pTDJxp&t=7080) he suggests that Biden and Harris were just too incompetent to have foreseen that their border policy would do what? Allow millions of people to cross it? Hello? With hindsight, I would have foreseen that jumping off a roof would lead me to hit the ground at speed. Please forgive me for not knowing that. And once you've done that, please charge me with making all future important decisions equally and even more complicated.

At, https://youtu.be/cTnV5RfhIjk?si=hq2PMpgiYjWCV8En&t=7694 Bari asks Sam about hatred of Trump so profound that impairs your otherwise you know profound judgment.

Of course, Sam obfuscates. Rather than heed his own advice to Kamala to own her past mistakes, he does exactly what Kamala has been doing and changes the question. Look at the first paragraph here and ask yourself how Sam's covering for Kamala is anything but deflection. How can one pretend that it should legitimately be chalked up to confusion that if I leave the door open and unguarded, I'm inviting anyone who wants to enter to do so.

Yes, certainly Sam has been able to sort wheat from chaff (clarity from confusion) in the past. And I'm confident that he is able to here too. The problem is not the ability to do so. He is totally UNWILLING to.

Expand full comment

I thought the debate was unfairly moderated, Sam was allowed to go on and on and Ben was interrupted after one or two sentences.

Expand full comment

I agree, but perhaps she was trying to get some substance out of Harris which was hardly forthcoming. Notice how conservatives are to the logical point.

Expand full comment

I have enjoyed following Barri’s work and will continue to follow the Free Press. I thought Harris was rude and Ben too passive.

Expand full comment

I’ve been thinking about something since listening to this episode yesterday. Something that I realized hasn’t been given much oxygen these last few weeks.

We’ve seen a very clear migration of the Neocons over to the Dems this campaign season. No clearer indication than Dick Cheney himself. A man so devoid of heart or soul that he’d lie just to drop bombs on brown people, send American soldiers to die for those lies, and then gobble up all the military contracts along the way.

Along with the Cheneys though we’ve seen a fair few other lifelong neocon republicans - who were in Trumps administration - not just endorse Harris but make public statements conflating Trump with Hitler/fascism. This has all happened so we have to ask why. In the podcast (and everywhere else in the press) Bari kept pressing on the Hitler/fascism thing, which I think has missed something really important.

Trump has made clear he wants a foreign policy of peace. And Trump is hard to convince otherwise. For decades, the neocons had been bombing and rebuilding the world relentlessly. They had been given blank checks by EVERY administration before Trumps. Hillary would have obviously been laying more tracks down for their gravy train.

Then Trump tells them all NO. They all drop like flies. Afghan withdrawal is in motion under Trump. Wars are ending, and no new ones starting. Biden comes back in and the world is burning again. The gravy train is back.

Trump makes it through the lawfare. Makes it through the assassination attempts. He’s back in pole position and the Neocons who see their fucking gravy train coming to an end again lash out and call him Hitler.

The people who drop bombs indiscriminately on brown people are now calling the people who make jokes about brown people evil.

Think about this people.

Expand full comment
Oct 30·edited Oct 30

Here's an article for someone in The Free Press to go after: Donald Trump's Foreign Policy is Peace not War. Why are American Neocon Military Leaders Joining Arms with Dick Cheney in Opposition?

Who, with a platform, has the stones to go after that one?

Expand full comment

Your explanation is so damned insightful, for me at least. Now I get it! Thank you.

Expand full comment

Yea, I mean literally Dick Cheney's daughter was leading the lawfare against him. And now it's coming out that she was breaking rules to do so. It may be too late, they may still get their gravy train via the empty vessel Kamala. But I think trying once more to shine a light on all those neocon cockroaches before Nov 5th would certainly help.

Expand full comment