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American Thought Leaders

The Epoch Timeswww.theepochtimes.com
At a time when our nation is portrayed as increasingly polarized, media often ignore viewpoints and stories that are worthy of attention. American Thought Leaders, hosted by The Epoch Times Senior Editor Jan Jekielek, features in-depth discussions with some of America’s most influential thought leaders on pertinent issues facing our nation today.
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Episodes

How Xi Jinping Broke All the CCP’s Rules | Heng He

“We are witnessing the turning point of the Chinese Communist Party rule. … The chain of command in the military is totally broken,” says veteran China analyst and Epoch Times columnist Heng He. On Jan. 24, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced that two top military generals, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, were under investigation for “serious disciplinary and legal violations.” This comes on the heels of a series of purges of Chinese military leaders. Of the seven original members of Chi...

Jan 31, 202646 min

The False Promise of Antidepressants | Dr. Joanna Moncrieff

Dr. Joanna Moncrieff is a British psychiatrist and author of “Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth.” She challenges the long-held belief that depression is caused by a lack of the hormone serotonin. “The serotonin myth … was first put out there in the 1960s, then picked up by the pharmaceutical industry in the 1990s and widely propagated by them as part of their campaign to sell SSRIs, their new generation of antidepressants,” she said. Contrary to what many peopl...

Jan 30, 202642 min

In Some States, Parents Risk Losing Custody for Rejecting Child’s Transgender Identity | Erin Friday

Erin Friday is an attorney and the co-lead of Our Duty, a parent-led international organization that opposes transgender procedures for minors. When her daughter was 13 years old, she began identifying as male, and school staff began using a male name and pronouns to address her—without the knowledge or consent of her parents. When Friday found out, she called the school and told them to stop. A week later, Child Protective Services showed up at her door—followed by the police a day later. No ac...

Jan 28, 202651 min

Why Steak Is at the Top of the New Food Pyramid | Dr. Shawn Baker

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy recently unveiled a new food pyramid and dietary guidelines for Americans that emphasize high-quality protein, dairy, healthy fats, vegetables, and fruits. Whole grains are downgraded, and processed foods and added sugars are discouraged. “We’ve been consuming this ultra-processed food, which I call human pet food,” says Dr. Shawn Baker. A former orthopedic surgeon and world champion athlete, he’s the author of “The Carnivore Diet” and co-founder of the online cli...

Jan 24, 20261 hr 7 min

A New Approach to Alzheimer’s? | Lou Reese

A typical vaccine stimulates a person’s immune system, yet only a portion of the immune response actually targets the disease it’s designed to protect against. However, a new technology may be changing that dynamic. In this episode, I sit down with Lou Reese, an entrepreneur who has led or co-founded several biotech companies and has been working on synthetic peptide-based active immunotherapy medicines. He’s co-CEO of United Biomedical and co-founder of Vaxxinity, Cana Life, and Axxium. He’s wo...

Jan 23, 202651 min

The Failures of the Mental Health Drug Revolution | David Cohen

An estimated one in six American adults today are taking some form of psychiatric medication. Yet it seems mental health outcomes across America have seen no significant improvement, despite the promises of the psychopharmacology revolution. David Cohen, professor of social welfare and associate dean at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, argues that many of the core assumptions of modern psychiatry are flawed. Cohen is known for his research on psychotropic drugs and coercive mental health ...

Jan 21, 202643 min

Dr. Mehmet Oz: Up to $4 Billion in Health Care Fraud in California

“Minnesota … is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Minnesota has become the epicenter of several overlapping fraud investigations of childcare programs, small business pandemic loans, and Medicaid services. Earlier this month, Dr. Oz traveled to Minnesota to tour suspected fraud sites and meet with whistleblowers and announced that over $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding might be withheld. “What we’re se...

Jan 17, 202640 min

The Evidence of Harm: What the Data Really Show About Pediatric Transgender Procedures | Leor Sapir

One of the first executive orders President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration last January was titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” The order directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce a systematic review of pediatric transgender procedures and their impact on children within 90 days. In May 2025, HHS published a more than 400-page review, titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices.” I...

Jan 16, 202648 min

The Untold Story Behind Reagan’s ‘Tear Down This Wall’ Speech | Producer Mark Joseph

Ronald Reagan first visited the Berlin Wall in 1978, during the Carter administration. While there, he reportedly told his aides: “We’ve got to find a way to bring this down,” says Mark Joseph, producer of the 2024 film “Reagan.” “Reagan” is a biographical movie starring Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan and Jon Voight as KGB agent Viktor Petrovich. In this episode, Joseph shares why it took nearly 20 years to bring this film to the big screen, and what it was like to film during the height of COVID...

Jan 14, 202632 min

Devin Nunes on Ending the Politicization of America’s Intelligence Agencies

It’s been almost a decade since then-House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes first launched his investigation with now-FBI director Kash Patel into the scandal that became known as “Russiagate.” His watershed memo back in 2018—dubbed the “Nunes memo”—detailed what he describes as grave abuses in how the FBI obtained surveillance warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to surveil Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and later the first Trump administration. It’s “the big...

Jan 10, 20261 hr 1 min

Exclusive: Inside SBA’s Crack Down on Loan Fraud Nationwide | Administrator Kelly Loeffler

The Small Business Administration (SBA) recently suspended nearly 7,000 Minnesota borrowers for suspected fraud in pandemic-era small business loans totaling nearly $400 million. “We worked through the holidays, from Thanksgiving up to New Year’s on about 20,000 different files, found about 8,000 instances of fraudulent loans, and moved quickly to make sure that those borrowers … could never access the services of the SBA again,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. They’ll now be taking the s...

Jan 09, 202629 min

Why Maduro’s Capture Is a Major Blow for Beijing | J. Michael Waller

In this episode, we sit down with J. Michael Waller, a senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy and author of “Big Intel,” to understand the geopolitical implications of America’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. “For the first time in a very long time, the President of the United States has reasserted the Monroe Doctrine to keep foreign empires out of our hemisphere,” he says. By capturing Maduro, President Donald Trump sent a signal to all of America’s adversar...

Jan 07, 202638 min

Link Between Antifa and Homelessness Nonprofits | Jonathan Choe

“I’m seeing crime, chaos, and death on the streets of America. ... The homeless are being used. And Antifa, the far left activists, they want to keep the tent encampments on America’s streets to show that capitalism isn’t working,” said Jonathan Choe, a reporter for Turning Point USA’s Frontlines and a senior journalism fellow at the Discovery Institute. At Turning Point USA’s AmFest conference, I sat down with Choe to discuss his investigations into Antifa and the homelessness epidemic in Ameri...

Jan 03, 202625 min

Alex Berenson: What Teens Should Know About Cannabis and THC

Former New York Times reporter and now independent journalist Alex Berenson is the author of “Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence.” In this episode, we dive into the debate around cannabis and THC and President Donald Trump’s recent executive order directing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. Berenson argues that it’s a bad move. Schedule I substances are defined as having high potent...

Jan 02, 202651 min

Chloe Cole Breaks Down Major HHS Shift on Gender Medicine—and Why It Matters

At age 12, Chloe Cole began identifying as male and started socially transitioning. Soon after, she was put on puberty blockers. Testosterone injections followed at age 13, and she underwent a double mastectomy at 15. Shortly after the surgery, she realized that it had all been a terrible mistake: “I didn’t believe that I was a boy ... until that idea was put in my head.” When she decided to detransition, the community that once eagerly encouraged her to transition into a boy treated her like sh...

Dec 31, 202544 min

The Woke Movement Has Peaked. What’s Next? | Andrew Doyle

Have we reached the end of “woke”? Comedian and writer Andrew Doyle thinks yes. But he believes new forms of what he calls the “authoritarianism impulse” will follow. He’s the author of “The End of Woke: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution.” Doyle is the creator of Titania McGrath, a fictional ultra-woke activist whose X account became hugely popular and currently has over 700K followers. Doyle has also published satirical books under Titania’s name, i...

Dec 27, 20251 hr 22 min

How Overdiagnosis Turns Healthy People Into Patients | Alan Cassels

“We get a lot of inappropriate over-prescribing for almost everything,” says drug policy researcher and journalist Alan Cassels. Cassels is the co-author of “Selling Sickness: How the World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients.” For Cassels, it was one disease in particular—osteoporosis—that changed his entire view of medicine. Based on changing definitions of the disease, large swaths of Americans could suddenly be declared sick and in urgent need of drug treatmen...

Dec 24, 202546 min

Rob Schneider: Here’s What’s Wrong With Our Culture Today

“COVID was a really dark time for me and for a lot of people,” said Rob Schneider. For the famous comedian and actor, the years of the pandemic were a time to take stock of what had become of America, speak up about it—and even write a book. “You Can Do it! Speak Your Mind, America” was published in September 2024. “If we’re going to continue to have a free society, it’s going to require people to step up and be courageous,” Schneider said. Schneider, who is also a screenwriter and director, ros...

Dec 20, 202559 min

The Reagan-Era Strategy That Could Reignite America’s Technological Power | Michael Sekora

As early as 1989, intelligence officers in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recognized China as the next threat, says former DIA officer and physicist Michael Sekora. “We identified what [China] was doing to become a superpower faster than any country in history, and we were on track to containment,” Sekora says. Back in the 1980s, he led a classified Defense Intelligence Agency program called “ Project Socrates ” that was created under the Reagan administration to determine the cause of U....

Dec 19, 202558 min

What Americans Aren’t Told About Psychiatric Medications | Robert Whitaker

For the past half century, Americans have been told that psychiatric drugs fix chemical imbalances in the brain. But this is nothing but a myth, says journalist Robert Whitaker. Whitaker is the publisher of MadInAmerica.com and is known for his influential critiques of modern psychiatry and psychiatric drug treatment. It was hypothesized that depression was due to too little serotonin and that schizophrenia was caused by too much dopamine—and that drugs could fix that, just like insulin for diab...

Dec 17, 20251 hr 17 min

Former US Army Pacific Chief Reveals What’s Missing in US Taiwan Strategy | Gen. Charles Flynn (Ret.)

How might a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan unfold? China’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) strategy—a combination of missiles, submarines, sensors, and air defenses—is designed specifically to block and disrupt US air, sea, and even space and cyber power. But the true outcome of the operation will hinge on the rapid mobilization of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ground forces, argues recently retired four-star general Charles Flynn, former commander of U.S. Army Pacific. He warns that the ...

Dec 13, 20251 hr 29 min

Future of European Security and Russia-Ukraine Peace Efforts: Latvia Foreign Minister Baiba Braze

Amidst ongoing U.S. efforts to mediate a Russia–Ukraine peace and the release of a new U.S. national security strategy that has sent shockwaves through Europe, I’m sitting down with the foreign minister of Latvia, Baiba Braze, to get her unique perspective. Latvia is a small Baltic country bordering Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia. In the 1940s, the Soviets occupied Latvia and its neighboring countries—a reality that has made Latvia hyper-vigilant against potential Russian expansionism. ...

Dec 12, 202548 min

Former CDC Director Calls for Removal of mRNA Vaccines for COVID-19 | Dr. Robert Redfield

Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says he’d like to see the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines phased out and eventually removed from the market. Redfield led the CDC from 2018 to 2021. While an avid proponent of vaccines in general, he hopes that the fallout from the emergency-authorized mRNA vaccines will lead to a broader recognition that vaccine manufacturers must no longer be exempt from liability. Redfield is a clinical virologist who, prior to his...

Dec 10, 20251 hr 29 min

Robert Kiyosaki: Why America’s Middle Class Keeps Getting Poorer

“I’ve been fighting communism by teaching capitalism,” says Robert Kiyosaki, holding up a copy of Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” and a copy of his book “The Capitalist Manifesto.” Robert Kiyosaki became famous as the author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” a book that has sold 48 million copies worldwide since its 1997 publication. Kiyosaki maintains that in today’s America, plagued by high inflation and a crumbling dollar, rich dads are getting ever richer while poor dads are getting poorer: “Food ge...

Dec 06, 202541 min

Does the Soul Exist Outside the Brain? Insights from a Neurosurgeon | Dr. Michael Egnor

“Neuroscientists who stand up and say ‘we have souls’ are few and far between,” says pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor. “But when you look carefully at the neuroscience—the best neuroscience over the past century—it clearly points to the existence of the soul and to the existence of aspects of our mind that don’t come from the brain.” Egnor himself started off as a materialist and atheist. But 40 years and more than 7,000 brain surgeries later, he concluded that reason and free will do no...

Dec 05, 202555 min

From Statins to Paxil, Here’s What’s Wrong With a Lot of Medical Research | Maryanne Demasi

Maryanne Demasi is an independent investigative journalist based in Australia and a former medical scientist with a PhD in rheumatology from the University of Adelaide. For many years, she worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and gained wide attention for reporting on controversial medical topics, particularly the efficacy and safety of statins and psychiatric drugs. Demasi was eventually suspended from her position at ABC in 2016 following controversies over her comprehensiv...

Dec 03, 202552 min

Exclusive: Kash Patel Talks China Fentanyl, Violent Networks, ‘Burn Bags,’ and More

In this exclusive interview with FBI Director Kash Patel, we dive into the agency’s crackdown on crime and foreign espionage, his trip to China, the “burn bags,” and recent criticisms. What exactly is the “764 network,” and how is the FBI working to target these actors? Why did President Donald Trump label Antifa a domestic terror organization, and how does this alter the playing field? Does the FBI director’s recent visit to China signify a pivot in the agency’s priorities? Given Beijing’s reco...

Nov 29, 202532 min

Why These 9 Institutions Must Be Reformed Post-COVID | Jeffrey Tucker

For many Americans, the COVID-19 era revealed profound ruptures in American society. While some are eager to move on from that period and simply return to “normal,” there are others who wonder: Is it really that simple? How can we move forward without truly reconciling with the profound brokenness that was revealed in the last five years? How can we simply ignore or forget those who were censored, deplatformed, surveilled, fired, socially exiled, or irrevocably injured? And if a new virus were t...

Nov 26, 20251 hr 6 min

How a Little Known Technology Can Break China’s Rare Earths Stranglehold | Dr. James Tour

In a few years, America may not need to buy critical minerals from China anymore, says synthetic chemist and nanotechnologist James Tour. Why? Because of a method called flash Joule heating that he and his team have been studying at Rice University. China currently has a near-monopoly on global processing capacity for critical minerals, including rare earths. These are essential to much of our modern economy, from electronics to defense to medical devices. The United States has access to plenty ...

Nov 22, 202544 min

How Your Private Data Is Packaged, Sold, and Deployed to Target You | Joe Weil

Most Americans have little understanding of the vast amount of private data harvested from their smartphones by third parties, said Joe Weil, a former Apple product manager and the founder of Unplugged. Where you go, who you associate with, what you like, is all easily discoverable, Weil said. “It’s publicly available. It’s purchasable.” What’s even worse is that the Fourth Amendment does not protect this advertising data, he said. The U.S. government, for example, does not require a warrant to ...

Nov 21, 20251 hr 1 min
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