Proud papa, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and arm-chair philosopher John Papola explores the biggest issues facing our country through the lens of fatherhood, releasing exclusive interviews and deep dives every week. We need to make sure the next generation of Americans is raised to thrive in a free society and be champions of civilization.
Dad Saves America has hosted all sorts of experts in the studio, including Jonathan Haidt, Dr. Drew, Michael Shellenberger, Bret Weinstein, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Adam Carolla.
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
I sat down with philosopher and author Dr. Stephen Hicks to unpack the West’s trajectory from medieval Christianity to modern progressivism. We explore the psychological fallout of online information overload and a failing education system that is fueling a socialist resurgence. Dr. Hicks breaks down how the rediscovery of Greco-Roman writings by figures like St. Thomas Aquinas—and, a few centuries later, the Protestant Reformation—set the stage for the Enlightenment, gradually developing the id...
I sat down with Rudyard Lynch, creator of WhatIfAltHist and History102 , to revisit his civil war prediction. He argues that the current psychological crisis is delaying an inevitable political crisis, drawing on the Mouse Utopia experiment, screen addiction, and the decay of internet discourse. Rudyard reflects on what he got right, what he got wrong, and why embracing honor culture might be our path back to sanity. We also get into the relationship between Christianity and socialism, the role ...
I sat down with anti-communist author Xi Van Fleet to learn about her upbringing under Mao’s Cultural Revolution and her concerns for the trajectory of America. Immigrating from China 40 years ago, she is a blunt critic of modern progressivism and sheds light on the pervasive Marxist influences in our politics, culture, and language—even among conservatives. Xi got involved in public advocacy following the explosion of leftist chaos during the 2020 BLM protests, recognizing echoes of the Red Gua...
I sat down with healthcare policy expert Michael Cannon to unpack why the U.S. healthcare system drives everyone crazy. From exploding costs and rampant fraud to government shutdowns over Obamacare subsidies, healthcare issues continue to monopolize our politics and our everyday lives. Contrary to what Bernie Sanders might think, government intervention—not capitalism—has rigged the healthcare system to benefit insurers, hospitals, and politicians at the expense of patients. We dig into how mora...
I sat down with journalist and author Michael Shellenberger to unpack the psychology of modern radicalism and why anti-ICE activists seem more interested in perpetual agitation than problem-solving. Michael reflects on his own radical past, including his experiences in Nicaragua, Brazil, and Venezuela, where socialist idealism gave way to corruption, gangsterism, and societal collapse. We also discuss his ongoing fight for free speech and the potential global impacts of recent European regulator...
I sat down with author and energy journalist Robert Bryce to unpack our society’s dependence on the electric grid and what that means for American security and prosperity in the future. The electric grid is far more fragile than most people realize—even more so given the so-called “clean energy transition” pushed throughout the 21st century. As we saw in Spain last spring, excessive reliance on renewable energy sources significantly raises the possibility of systemic collapse during electricity ...
I sat down with psychologist and author Peter Gray to unpack why anxiety, depression, and immaturity are rising at the exact moment kids have more “support” than ever. Peter explains how we stripped childhood of the one ingredient that actually builds competence: real freedom. We talk about the collapse of free, self-directed play, the fear-driven culture that keeps kids under constant adult management, and how modern schooling turns learning into compliance and metrics—resulting in bad habits a...
I sat down with clinical psychologist Dr. Camilo Ortiz to unpack why modern parenting has become so exhausting—and why it’s also making kids more anxious, not less. Dr. Ortiz explains why kids need daily exposure to the four D’s—discomfort, distress, disappointment, and danger—and how natural consequences teach better than nagging or punishment ever will. We explore the limits and potential harms of today’s feminized therapy culture and how we can rebuild real-world independence through risky pl...
I sat down with former Amway CEO Doug DeVos to talk about what it means to believe in the American way in an era defined by cynicism. Prosperity doesn’t come from slogans or politics—it comes from families, entrepreneurs, and community leaders who take responsibility and create real value. We unpack why pessimism has become a cultural default, how that mindset quietly erodes ambition and gratitude, and why faith in America must be rooted in action, not nostalgia. ________________________________...
I sat down with comedian, writer, and host of “Walk-Ins Welcome,” Bridget Phetasy to talk about how she recovered from divorce, hookup culture, and addiction—and how those experiences shaped her views on our current cultural crisis. Writing for Playboy in the 2010s gave her a front-row seat to a society going mad. Bridget’s previously mainstream liberal beliefs were shattered one by one, eventually leading to the realization that marriage and parenthood were right for her all along. ____________...
I sat down with Dr. Drew Pinsky to unpack how a culture of narcissism is warping our relationships, our politics, and the way we raise our kids. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Dr. Drew explains how collapsing family structures create adults who are fragile on the inside but obsessed with curating a perfect image on the outside. We talk about how social media rewards performative outrage and mob “justice,” why so many young people now filter everything through a lens of victimhood, an...
I sat down with neuroscience PhD Delia McCabe to explore why our brains are struggling in the modern world and what that means for our kids, our politics, and how we handle the AI revolution. Delia has spent her career digging into the effects of nutrition on mental health—either optimizing cognitive function or sending our brains into disastrous feedback loops. We also discuss biological sex differences, the rise of gender confusion, and the cognitive biases that have deranged our public discou...
I sat down with Jay Heinrichs, best-selling author of Thank You for Arguing , to explore the lost art of rhetoric and why Americans should relearn these skills. Most of us have forgotten how to persuade one another, and in an algorithmically optimized social media era, we’re increasingly vulnerable to constant manipulation. We dig into how, from Gavin Newsom to Donald Trump, our politicians use rhetorical tactics to greater and lesser effect. The ancient Greeks treated argument as a civic virtue...
I sat down with writer and free speech advocate Katherine Brodsky to explore how fear and conformity have paralyzed honest dialogue in the West. Drawing on her own experience as the target of a cancellation mob for what should have been an uncontroversial statement, she’s been grappling with how our culture can return to sanity and re-embrace free speech as a core value. We reflect on how social media algorithms have distorted public discourse, whether the right is now engaging in the same bad b...
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains how modern parenting, excessive scheduling, and pervasive social media have stunted Gen Z's development, leading to unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and fragility. He argues that by depriving children of unsupervised play and risk-taking, we undermine their ability to develop resilience, an internal locus of control, and essential life skills. The discussion highlights the critical need to re-embrace anti-fragility and independence to raise capable, happy, and competent adults, ultimately impacting America's democratic spirit and economic future.
I sat down with Mike Benz, former State Department official and founder of the Foundation for Freedom Online, to uncover how government agencies, intelligence contractors, and Big Tech built the surveillance, propaganda, and censorship machine now reshaping the internet. Mike explains how child protection measures have evolved into weapons against free speech and online privacy, how the CIA influences the tech industry, and why you should still work to protect your personal data—even with so muc...
I sat down with Joel Kotkin, author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism, to examine how America’s middle class is being erased and what that means for the future of civilization. Joel argues that we’re entering a new feudal order, where tech oligarchs and ideological elites control wealth, culture, and opportunity while ordinary families lose the ability to own homes, raise children, and build stable communities. We explore the roots of this transformation in collapsing birth rates, failing cities, a...
I sat down with author, entrepreneur, and leadership expert Robert Glazer to talk about how defining your values creates effective individuals, families, and organizations. His new book, The Compass Within , is a modern parable about how to establish clarity and purpose in your career and personal life. Robert is also known for his criticism of the “two-week notice” corporate norm, instead advocating for a more thoughtful process that aligns the interests of employers and employees cooperatively...
I sat down with Matt Kibbe, libertarian activist and founder of Free the People, to talk about his documentary series “The Coverup,” which exposes COVID-era malfeasance, America’s corrupt bureaucratic machine, and the failure of the “expert class,” best embodied by Anthony Fauci himself. Matt’s activism dates back to the early days of the Tea Party movement, where he took the tactics that leftists had perfected over decades and successfully wielded them for the anti-big-government, pro-liberty c...
I sat down with Aleks Svetski, author of “The UnCommunist Manifesto” and “The Bushido of Bitcoin,” to discuss why socialism fails, the fallout of the sexual revolution, and Bitcoin’s potential for our future. The Millennial generation was the test case for absolute gender equality—even to the point of ignoring biology—and now Gen Z is searching for different solutions, from full-blown communism to hard-core traditionalism. We dig into why socialists misunderstand the world, the need for values b...
I sat down with philosopher and author Peter Boghossian to wrestle with America’s deepening fracture. Why are so many people cheering political violence, and what—if anything—can pull us back? Ideological capture throughout the education system has broken our engines of knowledge production, turning them into “indoctrination mills” and teaching young Americans to see opponents as existential threats. Is reform even possible at this point? Peter makes the case for burning it all down—or, more acc...
I sat down with evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein to explore how evolution can help make sense of tribalism, religion, and the ongoing war in Gaza. He shares his experience commenting on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the simultaneous resurgence and weaponization of antisemitism, speaking both as a scientist and as an American Jew who doesn’t see his views reflected by either major camp. Bret warns against embracing our genetic programming for "lineage-against-lineage" displacement, rathe...
I sat down with evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein to unpack how behind-the-scenes power and perverse incentives have hollowed out America’s institutions. Bret argues that issues like the Epstein saga, COVID propaganda, and transgender ideology have exposed a deeper problem: elites wield leverage out of sight while government, media, and universities rely on theatrical, so-called “expertise” to bolster public authority. Our institutions so consistently engage in the exact inverse of good gove...
I sat down with neuroeconomist, author, and entrepreneur Paul Zak to discuss the neuroscience of human behavior and society. Paul explains his work on oxytocin—the "moral molecule"—and how it affects everything from political beliefs and economic systems to our most intimate relationships. We discuss why a lack of "friction" is making Gen Z miserable, why strong relationships are essential for success, and how to build a resilient mind in an anxious world. _____________________________________ P...
I sat down with Father Daniel O’Mullane, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, to discuss how and why he’s built a Catholic school based on the classical education model. Rather than obsessing over college and career preparation, the typical goals of primary and secondary schooling, he approaches education from the ground up, prioritizing the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of children. Fr. O’Mullane believes that time-tested teaching methods—measured in centuries, not decad...
I sat down with Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, to discuss why he believes we should significantly reduce immigration levels. Often, the immigration debate is so focused on illegal immigration that equally important questions about legal immigration are entirely ignored. As Mark points out, even President Trump—smeared as an anti-immigrant radical—has generally supported high levels of legal immigration. Mark, on the other hand, is an unapologetic restri...
I sat down with James Lindsay to unpack how woke Marxist ideology infiltrated Western society, starting from Marx himself up through the political turmoil of the past decade. While working on the “Grievance Studies” hoax papers alongside Peter Boghossian and Helen Pluckrose, James began to realize that the ideological rot in academia was worse than he thought. Following that experience, he dedicated himself to researching the long intellectual history of wokeness, critical theory, and communism ...
I sat down with Rob Henderson, author of "Troubled: A Memoir of Family, Foster Care, and Social Class,” to discuss why elite progressives promote radical ideas that they would never tolerate in their own lives. Coining the term “luxury beliefs,” he’s incisively diagnosed how their obsession with virtue signaling sacrifices the well-being of the poor. Rob shares how growing up in foster care, enlisting in the Air Force at 17, and later attending Yale and Cambridge shaped his worldview over the ye...
I sat down with Catholic social scientist and author Catherine Pakaluk to explore why some highly educated women are still choosing to have large families. A mother of 14 children herself, Catherine made “#postcardsforMacron” go viral after the French president made dismissive remarks about educated women not wanting large families. She has since written the book Hannah’s Children , in which she profiles 55 college-educated women raising large families in spite of societal trends against motherh...
I sat down with Sara Higdon, a transwoman and libertarian content creator, to unpack the uncomfortable truths about modern gender ideology. Sara shares her personal story of transition and her concerns about the transgender social contagion impacting children. We discuss the historical context of gender dysphoria, the multi-billion dollar “gender medicine” industry, and the radical activists working to eliminate parental rights. _____________________________________ Follow Sara on X (formerly Tw...
