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Scott and Matt Taibbi look back at the 2024 election. They discuss the reason Trump was able to quickly return to form, Biden getting tossed out, the many weaknesses of Kamala Harris and, of course, how awful the media was. 

Discussed on the show:

• The Pentagon Wars (IMDb)
• “How America’s Accurate Election Polls Were Covered Up” (Racket News)
• Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi

Matt Taibbi is a journalist, author and political commentator. Subscribe to his Substack publication: Racket News and follow him on Twitter @mtaibbi.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Robers Brokerage Incorporated; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; Libertas Bella; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjY

Pentagon reporter Mark Perry discusses the recent appointment of retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor to a senior advisory position under President Trump’s new secretary of defense. Perry calls Macgregor one of the greatest military minds in America; after a distinguished Army career that included one ofAmerica’s swiftest and most lopsided victories in the Persian Gulf War’s Battle of 73 Easting, Macgregor became a military historian and scholar. He continues to openly share his sometimes unconventional views of the U.S. military, including the need to get out of our forever-wars as quickly as possible. Perry and Scott both suspect that this is why Trump has appointed him, and fervently hope that he will be able to deliver on his plans for peace.

Discussed on the show:

• “The revenge of Col. Douglas Macgregor” (Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft)
• Battle of 73 Easting
• Eleventh Hour in 2020 America

Mark Perry is the author of Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies, The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur, and The Pentagon’s Wars. Read his work at The American Conservative Magazine and follow him on Twitter @MarkPerryDC.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Grant Smith discusses the concept of “QME”, or “Qualitative Military Edge,” and how Israel and their lobby in the U.S. use it to get billions of dollars from the American taxpayers. Smith explains that during the Cold War, the doctrine of QME was used to keep the U.S. ahead of the Soviet Union and its allies—today, the same doctrine is being advocated by those who see Israel as a beacon of freedom and goodness amid a sea of enemies. And they use this concept to justify billions of dollars worth of arms “sales” to the Israeli government, which really, says Smith, amount to taxpayer-funded giveaways.

Discussed on the show:

• “The Israel Lobby’s ‘QME’ Scam” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “How Four U.S. Presidents, including Obama and Trump, Helped Protect Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal” (The New Yorker)
• “Neoconservativism in a Nutshell” (LobeLog)

Grant F. Smith is the author of a number of books including Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America, Divert!, and most recently The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. He is director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, D.C.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott interviews Danny Sjursen about where his former commanders from Afghanistan have ended up in the years since the surge. Sjursen goes through a handful of these men: almost without fail, his former generals have ended up with profitable jobs in the arms industry or at hawkish think tanks, and his colonels have been promoted to take the place of those retired generals—and will surely join them in the private sector soon enough. The fact that none of this surprises us should be a reminder of just how corrupt America’s military-industrial complex is. A path to a six- or seven-figure salary in the defense industry is virtually guaranteed for any senior military officer after retirement. On a more positive note, Scott and Sjursen discuss President Trump’s recent appointment of Colonel Macgregor to the Pentagon, a move that may signal his intent to push troop withdrawals during what may be his final months in office.

Discussed on the show:

• “Where Are They Now? Leaders From My Afghan Tour Are on to Bigger and Bankable Things” (Antiwar.com Original)
• Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
  
• “War Machine (2017)” (IMDb)
• The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan
• “Afghan Futility and the Not-So-Curious Case Of Lieutenant Jordan Rich” (The American Conservative)

Danny Sjursen is a retired U.S. army major and former history instructor at West Point. He is the author of Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge and Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War. Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Scott interviews author and peace activist David Swanson in honor of Veterans’ Day, or Armistice Day, as it was originally known. Swanson begins by describing the way World War II has become the justification for just about every use of military force by the United States since then. This particular part of American history has made an impression on many people that war can be necessary and good, and that America can be the world’s police force. In a new book, Swanson tries to shift that conversation, both taking his readers back to the circumstances that gave rise to World War II, and also dispelling many of the myths about the war. In particular, he tells the little-known history of U.S. indifference toward—and, even worse, cooperation with—the worst of the Nazi regime, arguing that the real reasons for fighting the war were much less noble. Finally, even if the unique evil of Hitler and the Nazis could justify World War II (an argument Swanson doesn’t buy), that still wouldn’t validate the arguments for why America has to join in any other wars, which clearly fall short of the unique circumstances of Nazi Germany.

Discussed on the show:

• Leaving World War II Behind
  
• Wilson’s War: How Woodrow Wilson’s Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II
  
• Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy
  
• Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II
• Day Of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor
  
• Catch-22
• The Sovereign State of ITT
• IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation-Expanded Edition
  
• Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler
  
• American Swastika: The Shocking Story of Nazi Collaborators in Our Midst from 1933 to the Present Day
  
• Trading With the Enemy
• Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization
• The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government
  
• I Paid Hitler
  

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, radio host, and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. He is the author of War is a Lie, When the World Outlawed War and Leaving World War II Behind. Find him on Twitter @davidcnswanson.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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With Joe Biden apparently poised to be America’s next president, Scott talks to Dave DeCamp about some possible foreign policy changes under the new administration. To begin with, DeCamp worries that Biden will use a recent uptick in violence as an excuse to keep American troops in Afghanistan indefinitely, basically the strategy he advocated as Vice President. On Israel, DeCamp says that Biden was known as one of the strongest zionists in Washington until Trump showed up, and so we can expect very little positive change on that front either. Finally, Scott and DeCamp discuss the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and its implications for the rest of the world.

Discussed on the show:

• “Biden says US must maintain small force in Middle East, has no plans for major Defense cuts” (Stars and Stripes)
• “The US is secretly helping the Taliban fight ISIS in Afghanistan” (Washington Post)

Dave DeCamp is the assistant news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Jeff Deist discusses the idea that the best path forward for America may be some kind of peaceful breakup. He reminds us that America has never truly been one country, the way that, for instance, many small European nations are—and indeed the United States was never really supposed to be a single unified monolith. With such a diversity of culture over such a huge geographical area, a federal government was meant to serve a very limited purpose while leaving most decisions up to the individual states. Deist and Scott see today’s culture war as a symptom of an unhealthy and unconstitutional growth of executive and federal power, which turns every national political debate into a fight for absolute control. Deist hopes that we can find an answer to America’s division in the form of decentralization or peaceful secession before it comes to any kind of open ciil war—an outcome that nobody wants to see.

Discussed on the show:

• “When Will Americans Realize They Aren’t ‘One Nation’?” (The Libertarian Institute)
• Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century

Jeff Deist is president of the Mises Institute, where he serves as a writer, public speaker, and advocate for property, markets, and civil society. He previously worked as a longtime advisor and chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul, for whom he wrote hundreds of articles and speeches. Follow him on Twitter @jeffdeist.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Nicolas Davies joins the show for an update on the situation in Bolivia, where President Evo Morales was forced to flee the country last year after allegations that his party fixed the elections to give him another term. Davies argues that the elections probably were fair after all, but at the time these allegations were enough to set in motion a military coup that saw the installation of an interim government more aligned with America’s interests. Interim President Jeanine Áñez twice delayed a promised round of new elections, prompting widespread protests from Bolivian citizens. When elections were finally held, Morales’ party took back power in a landslide victory, which Davies considers a clear repudiation of what amounted to a Western-backed coup attempt last year. He says that the United States government must stop trying to interfere this way all over the world if it wants to maintain any of its former credibility as a beacon of freedom and democracy.

Discussed on the show:

• “Ending Regime Change — in Bolivia and the World” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “10/2/20 Nicolas Davies on America’s Culpability for the War in Yemen” (The Libertarian Institute)

Nicolas J.S. Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq. Follow him on Twitter @NicolasJSDavies.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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Matt Taibbi discusses the controversial new developments surrounding possible corruption in the Biden family. Taibbi takes us back to the original controversy of Biden’s supposed pressure on the Ukrainian government to dismiss prosecutor Viktor Shokin when Biden was Vice President. The mainstream press, says Taibbi, remains united in their view on this issue: the dismissal had nothing to do with Hunter Biden’s activities on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, and anyone claiming otherwise is just spouting right-wing talking points. In his latest series of articles, Taibbi reexamines some of the circumstances surrounding this story. He also ties it to more recent revelations about Hunter Biden’s laptop, a story that has received even more disdain from the mainstream media. Taibbi is deeply concerned about tech company censorship of news organizations, fearing that this could signal a trend that spells the loss of a free press in America.

Discussed on the show:

• “10 Ways to Call Something Russian Disinformation Without Evidence” (Reporting by Matt Taibbi)
• “Glenn Greenwald On His Resignation From The Intercept” (Reporting by Matt Taibbi)
• “With the Hunter Biden Expose, Suppression is a Bigger Scandal Than The Actual Story” (Reporting by Matt Taibbi)
• “Facebook and Twitter’s Intervention Highlights Dangerous New Double Standard” (Reporting by Matt Taibbi)
• “Article on Joe and Hunter Biden Censored By The Intercept” (Greenwald)
• “Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies” (The New York Times)
• “Email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian biz man to dad” (New York Post)
• “Told You So: After Supporting Censorship of Others, Mother Jones Now on the Receiving End of It” (The Free Thought Project)
• Collateral Murder
• The Good Soldiers
• “All the President’s Men (1976)” (IMDb)
• Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus
  
• “The Insider (1999)” (IMDb)

Matt Taibbi is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and winner of the 2008 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. He is the author of numerous books, including I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street and Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus. Follow him at taibbi.substack.com or on Twitter @mtaibbi.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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