Eric Weinstein

Investor, podcast host, public intellectual.

Financier, physicist, social critic and podcaster: Eric Weinstein is a modern polymath. For several years, he was widely recognised as a key member of the ‘Intellectual dark web’, a group of academics and commentators who came out in opposition to political correctness and left-wing identity politics. Today, he continues to host his popular podcast The Portal and researches potential extraterrestrial life as a member of The Galileo Project.

So why did we invite him on?

This is Eric’s third time on the show, and his first since he sat down with Sam Harris to discuss Israel’s war.  A year on, the world, again, seems like a different place. In the weeks leading up to the election, he was criticised for refusing to endorse either candidate. We wanted him to share his view on Trump, his victory, and what it means for America. Is this going to be a disaster, or “a new golden age?”

What does he think?

To Eric, this election cycle saw the Democratic Party degrade itself. Even their heroes came out dirty. Obama and the Clintons threw their support behind an incoherent party that can’t decide whether it represents “sweetness and light, the working class, or transgenderism.”   

In one breath, they claimed democracy itself was on the ballot. In the next, they endorsed Kamala Harris, who took the nomination without a primary. They’d communicated to the American people that, in no uncertain terms, democracy wasn’t about the people choosing their leader from a sample of millions, but two.

“Nobody is going to send their son with a rifle to fight for this vision of democracy. The thing that inspires us to put our hands over our hearts is the idea of a government by the people for the people.”

Eric saw this election as the logical outgrowth of his country’s growing obsession with ‘teams’: “Wokeistan” and “MAGAstan.” Two warring tribes fighting for control of an America that neither represents. But who’s to blame? Bots and social media might be contributing, but the issue seems more serious than that. Konstantin raises the subject of mainstream media’s flagrant dishonesty, which is worsened by what Eric perceives to be the public’s allegiance to it. For years, The New York Times and similar outlets represented “what you’re allowed to believe while at work … if you still wear a suit and tie and attend meetings.” But the whiplash of messages made their true interests clear to everyone and forced the machine to reveal itself. Will it ever recover?