Trump’s Epstein Problem and His Authoritarian Slide (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)

Robert Wright's Nonzero

Sep 10, 2025•1 hr 8 min

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Episode description

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:28 "Would Putin send a weird sexually suggestive birthday greeting to a famous affluent well-connected pedophile?" 5:55 Decoding Trump's message in the greeting 13:19 Conspiracy theories vs official silence 19:14 Why is Ezra Klein content with "We'll never know"? 24:42 Why no president wants to release the Epstein files 26:50 Ghislaine names Clinton and Larry Summers 33:57 Does Epstein kill faith in democracy? 39:07 Trump vs. Putin: Authoritarian playbooks compared 43:18 Will Trumpism outlive Trump? 49:54 David Sacks embraces strongman tactics 56:36 How war changes everything overnight 1:00:59 Trump's Mexico invasion fantasy 1:05:33 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded September 09, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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