American Thought Leaders

In a moment that stunned the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping were recently caught on a hot mic talking about increasing longevity and even achieving immortality through repeated organ transplants.For the last two decades, we've been reporting how the CCP kills prisoners of conscience, the main body of them being Falun Gong practitioners, for their organs.Joining me today to unpack the significance of this moment and what it teaches us about the inner workings of the CCP is Epoch Times senior investigative journalist Joshua Philipp, host of EpochTV's “Crossroads.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

As America has reeled from the assassination of Charlie Kirk, many have wondered what the future holds.How will this tragedy transform America? Will political violence continue to escalate? What is the path forward?To understand our current political and cultural moment, I sat down with legal scholar and political philosopher Robert George. He's a professor and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.“We're at an inflection point, and it's very worrying, very dangerous,” George said. “We could easily fall into a cycle of revenge, and then what becomes of us?”For years, he has been contemplating how the age of faith and the age of reason have been succeeded by what he has described as the “age of feelings” and moral relativism.His new book is titled: “Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth: Law and Morality in Our Cultural Moment.”In this episode, we have explored Kirk's legacy, the dangers of ever-growing polarization, and the pernicious ideas that have eroded civil discourse and the foundations of our free society.“If this generation rising today does not adopt a spirit of civic friendship, if they don't value civil discourse, then … this grand experiment in republican government and ordered liberty bequeathed to us by our great founding fathers will be lost,” George said.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

How have screens and social media altered the brains of children? What is the long-term impact on their happiness and ability to be prosperous, fulfilled adults later on?“Looking at the brain science, we really have to treat screens more in the category of a highly addictive drug like digital fentanyl than sugar,” argues Clare Morell, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of “The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones.”“These companies are in a race to the bottom. They're all in a race to get the youngest users. The incentives are not in place for them to put child safety first,” she says.While many apps advertise parental controls, the reality is there are far more hidden ways children can access addictive, dangerous, or pornographic content than parents may think, Morell says.“I just wanted to push back against this premise that the smartphone is an inevitable part of childhood. It doesn't need to be.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Is it possible that autism, Alzheimer's, bipolar disorder, and other major health challenges might all be related to the gut?That's the question Dr. Sabine Hazan, a gastroenterologist and CEO of Progenabiome, has been probing for years.The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the use of fecal transplants for research into the treatment of autism, and Dr. Hazan says this may open the door to real breakthroughs.She hopes to compare the microbiomes of autistic children with their neurotypical siblings and see if fecal transplants can help treat autism. She's already seen one remarkable case where restoring gut bacteria brought real improvements for a child with autism.Can these findings be replicated on a larger scale?During the COVID-19 pandemic, she observed that people who experienced the worst bouts of COVID-19 seemed to have significantly lower counts of a key microbe: bifidobacteria.“Bifidobacteria is important in absorbing sugar. It's important in your metabolism. It's important in your energy drive,” Dr. Hazan says.There are trillions of microbes in the gut, and scientists are only just starting to discover how this delicate balance of microbes impacts people's health, immunity, and mental wellness, Dr. Hazan says. There are “microbes that can kill us, but also microbes that can save us,” Dr. Hazan says.“You will see, probably in 10 or 50 years from now, there will be a connection between cardiac disease and the microbiome. We will be possibly able to fix the heart by fixing the gut, because it all is connected,” Dr. Hazan says.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In this episode, Jeffrey Tucker unpacks President Donald Trump's growing dispute with the Federal Reserve and his efforts to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for alleged mortgage fraud.“There's a lot more at stake than just this one regulation about residences and mortgages. It has to do with whether and to what extent the Fed is actually accountable to the President of the United States,” says Tucker.He's the founder and president of the Brownstone Institute and senior economics columnist for The Epoch Times.How did the creation of the Federal Reserve fundamentally change America? Does Trump have the authority to fire a Federal Reserve Governor? And what does it really mean to be an independent federal agency?“What's striking to me about this is that the Fed has been around since 1913. This question has never really been asked at this level—much less answered—for all these years in this country,” Tucker says.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

With President Donald Trump recently challenging pharmaceutical companies to “justify success” of their COVID-19 products, I'm sitting down with scientist, physician, and author Dr. Robert Malone to get his insights into what's going on behind the scenes.Dr. Malone is currently serving as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and also as a medical advisor for MAHA Action.The recent firing of CDC director Susan Monarez was followed by the resignations of several top CDC officials. At the same time, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also announced that the emergency-use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine products has been rescinded.Is Trump's recent Truth Social post a turning point in his stance on the COVID-19 vaccines and the success of Operation Warp Speed?What does the future hold for the ACIP? What will they be evaluating in upcoming meetings? And what challenges and major opportunities does Dr. Malone see?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In less than a decade, euthanasia has become tied for the fifth leading cause of death in Canada, accounting for one in every 20 deaths since it was first legalized in 2016. Over 60,000 Canadians have died via euthanasia.“This marks a massive cultural shift in how we live and die in Canada,” says Amanda Achtman, a leading critic of the practice and the founder of the Dying to Meet You Project.Patients no longer need to be terminally ill to request euthanasia, and there are ongoing debates about whether minors or people with mental illnesses should be able to apply. Disability advocate groups have been some of the leading critics of the program, arguing it sends a disturbing message: that the lives of those who are disabled are worth less.What are the ethical implications of Canada's euthanasia program? How is it changing family dynamics, societal norms, the meaning of a life well lived, and the fundamental role of a physician?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

When an 88‑year‑old Tennessee woman confronted representatives of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) when they came to survey her land for a methane gas plant project, her words—“you think you own something, you don't own nothing”—left a lasting impression on country artist John Rich.That moment became the spark for his new song “The Devil and the TVA” and the starting point for this conversation on “American Thought Leaders.”In this episode, Rich reflects on his journey from Texas family sing‑alongs to writing No. 1 hits with bands Lonestar and Big & Rich. He explains why he walked away from major record labels to protect his creative freedom, and he shares how songs like “Revelation” and “Earth to God” to connect present‑day turmoil with enduring spiritual truths.Along the way, he opens up about the lessons he has learned about faith, fame, and standing firm in what matters most.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

For years, U.S. strategic missteps have empowered Tehran and Beijing, according to political theorist Yoram Hazony. Now, as a new strain of isolationism grows in America, Hazony says, both isolationism and hyper-interventionism have key flaws.In this episode, we dive into President Donald Trump's distinct foreign policy approach as well as what Hazony sees as an assault on nation-states and their right to independent decision-making.Nationalism has been falsely vilified, and global governance has become the new mantra, he says.Hazony recently released a revised edition of his 2018 seminal work, “The Virtue of Nationalism,” which played a key role in bolstering the global national conservatism movement. Hazony is also Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, which hosts the National Conservatism Conference in the United States, Britain, and Europe.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Political economist Chenggang Xu grew up amid the upheaval of China's Cultural Revolution and in the 1970s was beaten, imprisoned, and subjected to years of forced labor by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).Today, he is a senior research scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and author of the new book, “Institutional Genes: Origins of China's Institutions and Totalitarianism.”For decades, Beijing has repeatedly deceived the world about its true intentions, Xu says. So why do we keep falling for it?In this episode, we dive into the origins of the Chinese Communist Party and why Xu believes its model of totalitarianism is distinct from any other regime today.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In this episode, I'm sitting down with award-winning investigative journalist John Solomon, founder and editor-in-chief of Just the News, for a deep dive into what we now know—nine years later—about the origins of the Russia collusion probe. How did these events change America?“We'll never know what history was stolen from us, what opportunities diplomatically were stolen from us, what security opportunities were thwarted because this dirty trick was allowed to extend so far,” Solomon says.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

How has Hollywood changed in the last several decades, and why are film productions leaving Los Angeles and increasingly going abroad? Where is the industry headed, and what role should Trump's “special ambassadors” to Hollywood play?“Hollywood spent probably the last 15 or 20 years basically telling half of its audience that they don't want them to watch, that they hate them, that they're deplorables,” says actor and filmmaker Nick Searcy. “They've driven half the audience away.”Searcy played James Baker in the Reagan biopic last year and is perhaps best known for his role as Art Mullen in the crime drama “Justified.” He's also the director of “Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer,” a film about an abortion doctor who was convicted for the murder of three babies.A few months ago, Searcy released his memoir, “Justify This: A Career Without Compromise.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

A few weeks ago, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a prominent advocate for religious freedom and human rights, was invited to the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria, alongside fellow religious freedom advocate Johnnie Moore.They had an intimate meeting with the new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.In this episode, the rabbi shares what he learned about al-Sharaa and whether he believes a peace between Syria and Israel is possible in the near future.“There's a term in Hebrew: It's called Kabdehu ve Hashdehu, [which] means show respect and verify,“ he says. ”So, this is not a ‘kumbaya' moment. This is a moment where there's great leverage.”Cooper previously chaired the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and also serves as associate dean and director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

As the Trump administration gives China another 90-day extension on elevated tariffs, I'm sitting down with China analyst Gordon Chang to get his read on U.S.–China trade talks, signs of infighting in Beijing and trouble for Xi Jinping, and the recent destruction of a Chinese coast guard vessel by a Chinese navy warship.Chang is the author of “Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Canadian-Chinese filmmaker Yan Ma knew from the outset that he was putting himself at risk for making a political thriller about a lab leak in China. “The Unrestricted War” is a movie that was inspired by the cover-up and outbreak of COVID-19 and spotlights how the Chinese Communist Party coerces its citizens, and even foreigners living within China, to achieve its ends.Officials pressured Ma's family members back in China in attempts to coerce him to stop the project. His Chinese team members faced similar pressure. Ethnically Chinese actors refused to participate in the film for fear of the Chinese regime targeting them, ruining their careers, or threatening their families. The actor cast as the lead of the project abruptly backed out just three days before filming, leaving Yan and his casting director scrambling to audition a new lead.In this episode, we dive into some of the extraordinary challenges Yan and his team faced to make this movie a reality, and why he feels it was all worth it.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“As an economist, it's extremely important to look at the data, rather than just on a theoretical basis,” says Mark Skousen. “We should be in a recession. Well, we're not in a recession; looks like we're coming out of slow growth, which is really important.”In this episode, I sit down with economist Mark Skousen to discuss taxes, tariffs, trade, and energy.“I think somewhere in between what the Fed wants and what Trump wants is a more reasonable approach to keep this economy on an even keel,” says Skousen. “The other thing that's really positive is President Trump's support for nuclear power, the small nuclear power plants, which don't cost as much and can be done much more efficiently. This is a breakthrough.”We also discuss his latest book, “The Greatest American: Benjamin Franklin, The World's Most Versatile Genius.”“There were many critics of Franklin, but he had a very interesting point of view. He said enemies will teach you a lot about yourself,” says Skousen. “So, you should be grateful for the enemies you have.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

How does the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) cognitive warfare manifest in the West? How prevalent is it? And how can Americans recognize it?Few understand this elusive subject better than Robert Spalding. The CEO of Sempre, Spalding is a retired Air Force brigadier general and B-2 stealth bomber pilot, former senior director of strategy at the National Security Council, and author of “War Without Rules: China's Playbook for Global Domination.”“We have these enormous political warfare and psychological warfare campaigns happening in the United States. We have nobody that's responsible for responding to them,” he says.In this episode, he breaks down how the CCP is influencing Americans and weaponizing resources like rare earths. And he explains why key vulnerabilities in America's networks could be exploited in ways devastating to the United States.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“Veterans are not being told the risk of their medications,“ says Derek Blumke. “Doctors themselves are not aware of the risks of those medications.”Derek Blumke served 12 years in the US Air Force and Michigan Air National Guard and is a longtime advocate for veterans. A bad experience with psychiatric drugs changed his life trajectory. He has been sounding the alarm about suicide and the overprescription of psychiatric drugs among veterans.“If we're going to treat a firearm with respect that we should and we do, which is making sure there's a safety on, making sure the weapon is not always loaded, don't point at people, this is a similar thing. If one of these medications can cause you to harm yourself or others, you should be told of that. And right now, we're not,” he says.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Bob Healey was in his 60s battling terminal cancer with only a product prototype when he sought advice from business coach Clay Clark. Now, his company is booming.It's never too late to succeed, Clark says.After building several multi-million dollar businesses, Clark developed a 14-step system to help budding entrepreneurs turbocharge their ideas.During the pandemic, he helped his clients not just stay afloat but even thrive.In this episode, we dive into how to grow a small business, what business schools fail to teach, and why America must rebuild its manufacturing and industrial capacity.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times

For years, award-winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson has been tracking the rise of censorship, biased “fact-checkers,” and what she describes as narrative-enforcing journalism.How has today's information landscape transformed? What does she make of the recent releases of new documents surrounding the Russia investigation? And will Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration be able to fulfill their campaign promises to reform the various health-related agencies?Attkisson is the host of Full Measure and author of a number of bestselling books, including “The Smear,” “Slanted,” “Stonewalled,” and most recently “Follow the Science.”

In this episode, I sit down with the 28th governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, to learn about how he's reducing his state's vulnerabilities and dependency on communist China.We also dive into Oklahoma's push toward critical-mineral production and the governor's mission to promote economic development and reignite the American Dream.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“China is surpassing American strength, whether it be naval forces or nuclear forces,” says retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills.His four-decade career has spanned key roles from the Cold War era to the War on Terror. At the Department of Defense, he directed cybersecurity policy.“I was brought into cyber in 2007 when the threat really was Russian cyber adventurism, but by 2012, from that point onward, it was all China—wasn't even close,” he says. “For every dollar Russia spent on misadventure, China spent 20.”In this episode, we dive into the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) influence globally and how it has created what Mills calls a “world on fire.”“All the playing pieces are kind of in place for [CCP leader Xi Jinping] to make his move around the world, to establish China as the dominant nation state, and everything else, all other nations, would be tributary vassal states, including the U.S.,” Mills says.“They are absolutely advancing a relentless onslaught of information warfare, through their media, through their wolf warriors, to advance a Chinese communist message that just drowns out everything else.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Former Trump national security adviser retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn found himself at the center of a national firestorm when he was charged with lying to the FBI over a phone call he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States.The DOJ would later drop the case, saying there was no “legitimate investigative basis” to have targeted him.In his new book “Pardon of Innocence,” he details his story.As new documents are released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, we sat down with the 33-year military veteran to understand how he sees everything that happened to him, almost a decade later.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“A quarter to a half of the exploitation that's happening to our own nation's youth ... it's a caregiver doing it—it's a familial figure,” Jaco Booyens says.He is the founder of Jaco Booyens Ministries (JBM), an anti-human trafficking organization working to protect American children from predatory exploitation.“We're talking about a $52 billion industry of buying and selling predominantly women and children inside this country—American citizens. The discussion about an immigrant child or an immigrant in the country is a completely separate conversation,” he says.Booyens says laws against human trafficking are not being sufficiently enforced. Why are cases continuing to increase, while prosecutions decrease? And how is pornography a “gateway drug” into the trafficking industry?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Kelly Walker, a local coffee shop owner in Tucson, Arizona, never imagined how his world would be turned upside down when he started speaking out publicly against COVID-19 mandates and the harm to children.He and Sam Sorbo are cofounders of the Parents Demanding Justice Alliance. They have put together a report detailing alleged actions taken by local authorities to censor, surveil, and pressure parents who protested policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.Editor's Note: Kelly Walker previously has done work for The Epoch Times as a freelance marketing writer. Sam Sorbo previously hosted a show on EpochTV called School's Out with Sam Sorbo. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In this episode, Rushan Abbas reveals how the Chinese communist regime has escalated its campaign against the Uyghurs.Uyghurs are being mass surveilled, forcibly sterilized, and exploited as slave labor both in Xinjiang and in other provinces across China. There are growing signs of large-scale forced organ harvesting in the region—including an apparent special lane in the city of Kashgar's airport dedicated to the transport of human organs.In 2018, the Chinese regime imprisoned Rushan Abbas's sister Gulshan in an apparent attempt to silence Rushan. Her sister was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and she has since spent almost seven years detained—with no end in sight.Rushan Abbas is the author of the powerful memoir “Unbroken: One Uyghur's Fight for Freedom.” She is the founder and executive director of the Campaign for Uyghurs and chairperson of the World Uyghur Congress's executive committee.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In this exclusive interview, I spoke with Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), about his first 100 days in office and how he is transforming the agency.In this wide-ranging interview, we dive into his work to change food guidelines and drug approval processes, reduce supply chain vulnerabilities, and tackle conflicts of interest. We also address criticism of some of the FDA's recent decisions surrounding vaccines.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly established U.S.-backed aid group distributing food in Gaza, is under fire from critics who say hundreds of Gazans have been killed near its distribution sites.But is there a bigger story here?In this episode, I sit down with Johnnie Moore, executive chairman of the GHF and former commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.“We have one mission, to feed the people of Gaza in a way that Hamas—a designated terrorist organization in the United States and Europe—can't steal the food because for many, many years, Hamas has been stealing the food of the Gazan people,” Moore says.“The problem in Gaza is that the United Nations and other international agencies created a system which empowered virtually every bad actor and every bad force in the Gaza Strip to make a bad situation worse.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“We're living in this strange day and age when we've essentially bio-hacked all of the things that we do and really come to organize our lives around our little rewards, right? So, we wake up in the morning, we reach for our phones, we have our cup of coffee, we have our favorite muffin.”Dr. Anna Lembke is a psychiatrist, professor, and medical director of addiction medicine at Stanford University. She's the author of “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.”“This is, of course, the great paradox, that although we want to avoid pain, our efforts to avoid pain actually lead to more pain,” she says.How have technology and modern living led to mass overconsumption in America?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

For decades, we've been reporting on the ways the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) crushes the religious freedom of its citizens. But in recent years, the CCP has been escalating its tactics against a religious group here—on American soil.In this episode, I sit down with religious freedom lawyers Justin Butterfield and Lea Patterson to understand what's going on and discuss their response to a recent lawsuit against Shen Yun, the performing arts company founded by Falun Gong practitioners in New York. The case touches on vital questions about what it means to be able to practice your faith—and guide the education of your children in America.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

When Adam Coleman was 8 years old, he was institutionalized after contemplating suicide. He shares his struggles—and the struggles of so many others in America—of growing up without a father in his new book, “The Children We Left Behind: How Western Culture Rationalizes Family Separation and Ignores the Pain of Child Neglect.”“I went through a lot when I was a kid, and I want my story to be an example that, yes, certain things happen to you when you're a child, but when you're an adult, you make life happen for you. So, it is possible to overcome these circumstances,” he says.Only 60 percent of children in America live with married biological parents. Among black children, it's 33 percent.What's fueling the rise of divorce and family separation in the West? How do we make resilient, two-parent families the norm?“There are a lot of people who are afraid of marriage, afraid of having children, afraid of being alone with the opposite sex because of their childhood situation,” says Coleman.“If we demonstrate a household that is proper, that is healthy, then you have more kids who grow up with a good, positive image of having children, wanting a bigger family, of having marriage as the priority.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Recently, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met for the first time after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced its entire membership with new picks.In this episode, I'm sitting down with two new ACIP members, Dr. Robert Malone and MIT professor Retsef Levi, for a deep dive into all things ACIP.“They basically impact billions of dollars of revenue for the pharmaceutical industry. So there's big money at stake here. There's big policy at stake,” says Malone.“One of the problems that we had in the context of vaccines, and more broadly maybe pharmaceutical products, is that debate was considered confusing to patients and something that we should avoid,” says Levi.We take a look at some key discussions during the recent meeting, from thimerosal in certain flu vaccines to RSV shots for children, and what may happen with this committee moving forward.“What you're seeing here is a firm commitment on the part of these two volunteers, and I think the committee as a whole, in trying to be open and transparent to the general public,” Malone says.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

John Eastman is founding director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. He is also a former law professor at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law and served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the 1990s. He has represented over a dozen parties before the U.S. Supreme Court.His life took a sharp turn when he helped President Donald Trump challenge the integrity of the 2020 election results.He is facing disbarment and criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

To understand Middle East dynamics, I always count on Michael Doran, Director of the Middle East Center at the Hudson Institute.“For the first time, Jan, in history, Israel and the United States have taken military action together. This is totally new,” he tells me.We sat down to discuss what has now been dubbed ‘The 12-Day War' and how Middle East political realities have been transformed.“One of the most amazing things about the Israeli attack against the Iranians is that they totally took the Iranians by surprise. Scientists were in their beds. Commanders all got together, thinking they were safe. That is just remarkable,” says Doran.How did the strikes on Iran change the geopolitical landscape? Was World War III ever a real possibility? And has the threat of a nuclear Iran been neutralized … for good?There's still a little lingering doubt that maybe some of the enriched uranium was squirreled away by the Iranians in some other secret site,” says Doran. “Right now, Iran is a nuclear power of indeterminate status. So, we have to wait and determine.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In this episode, I sit down with Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization. We dive into his vision for revitalizing American manufacturing, making American-made products competitive globally, and building alternative financial and tech systems where people can't be canceled.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

In this episode, I'm sitting down again with Kyle Bass, founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management and founding member of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, to get an update on how China's economy is faring since our last interview five months ago.“There's nothing that's going to bail China out of their economic spiral. They're having a real estate crisis, a banking crisis, a youth unemployment crisis, and now they need to be worried about their current account,” Bass says.How have the Trump administration's policies and recent events affected China and its economy?And how do the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites impact the Chinese regime's ambitions in Taiwan? How likely is a kinetic war?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

President Donald Trump has recently criticized the ANC-led government of South Africa for what he says are state-sanctioned, racist policies that have been endangering white farmers.In this episode, I sit down with South African businessman and entrepreneur Robert Hersov to get a read on what's happening in the country. What is the real story surrounding white farmers in South Africa today? What role have Iran and Russia played in the region? And what can we expect from U.S.-South Africa relations moving forward, after the confrontational meeting between Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa last month?“In South Africa, we have two farm attacks a day, two murders of farmers a week. And of those farm murders, 20 percent of them involve rape and torture,” says Hersov.“Cyril Ramaphosa went back to South Africa and proclaimed his meeting as a huge victory,” says Hersov. “I think America is about to unleash serious punishments—not on South Africa, but on the leaders.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

On June 20, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 56 into law, criminalizing geoengineering and certain weather modification activities in the state, with violations classified as a third-degree felony.“They were intending to alter the trajectory of hurricanes using things like silver as a way to change the precipitation and intensity of these storms. Later, in Vietnam, for example, they used it for increasing weather, such as precipitation, on the so-called ‘enemy.' Project Popeye [using cloud-seeding] is well-established to have been a successful weaponization of the weather. So, there is a pretty long history of weather modification and militarization of weather modification technology,” says Sayer Ji, chairman of the Global Wellness Forum and founder of GreenMedInfo.com.“What the main concern is, is that there are other operations that are clandestine [where] we don't actually know what the agenda is, outside of official acknowledgement that solar radiation management technologies are being deployed, which include using things like sulfur, calcium, titanium—various elements to create a dimming effect,” he said.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Five months into the Trump administration, I sit down with Heritage Foundation chief economist EJ Antoni to get his insights into how the American economy is doing, where the US-China trade war is headed, and how he assesses the “big, beautiful bill,” which has engendered significant debate among conservatives.How are Americans faring financially today compared to a few months ago?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

John Miller is the CEO of Superb Industries. He resisted mounting pressure to move his production overseas to China, and instead innovated and grew a thriving made-in-America component manufacturing business.“Do you make decisions based on the long-term benefit that are principle-based, or do you make decisions for financial gain in the short term, at the cost of the long term?” he asks, rhetorically. “[Other businesses] made a lot of money by outsourcing to China over a short period of time, but then lost their ability to make stuff, and now they're paying the price.”Miller has close ties to Ohio's entrepreneurial Amish community and is an advocate for what he calls “food freedom.”“We joined forces and started what we call the Food Independence Summit that basically brings specialists together to teach people how they can become self-sustaining on food, even if it's only on a fractional basis,” says Miller. “To change culture, you have to change the structure.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Say we had credible intelligence about an impending terrorist attack or major acts of violence, what actions are justifiable to prevent these crimes from occurring? How do we balance the urgency of preventing harm, with the importance of safeguarding civil liberties?“We have to make trade-offs all the time, and there's no jurisprudence to that trade-off. We live in the preventive state,” says Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. “We are moving more and more toward replacing deterrence and reaction with prevention.”He is the author of the new book, “The Preventive State: The Challenge of Preventing Serious Harms While Preserving Essential Liberties.”Should someone charged—but not convicted—with a serious crime be denied bail to potentially prevent further crimes? Should governments be able to compel inoculations in a scenario where that could actually prevent deadly contagion? And notably, a few days after this interview was filmed, Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. When is such preventive military action warranted?In this episode, we dive into the legal framework laid out in his new book—which he describes as the most important work he's ever written—and get his insights into the debate around deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles, the Trump administration's clash with Harvard University, the dilemma of tackling Chinese espionage on college campuses, and the growing erosion of free speech protections in Europe.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

A 33-year-old researcher and her 34-year-old boyfriend, both Chinese nationals, were recently charged with allegedly smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, a potential bioterrorism weapon.This recent case is just the tip of the iceberg, says investigative reporter Sam Cooper.He played a key part in uncovering a similar case in Winnipeg, Canada.“A married couple from China had been allegedly—according to the documents we now have access to—working with the highest levels of the Chinese military's bioweapons program in Ebola research,” Cooper says. “They were running, clandestinely, materials from China and connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology into the Winnipeg lab.”For years, Cooper has been at the forefront of exposing Chinese Communist Party infiltration in the West.He is the founder of The Bureau and author of “Wilful Blindness: How a Criminal Network of Narcos, Tycoons, and Chinese Communist Party Agents Infiltrated the West.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Dr. Kirk Milhoan is a pediatric cardiologist and senior fellow at the Independent Medical Alliance. He has been treating children with myocarditis and other cardiovascular issues associated with COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccines.“Four years later, five years later, I'm seeing this constant and dramatic change in who I'm seeing coming to see me. They're complaining their heart doesn't beat normally. And it beats fast for no reason at all,” says Dr. Milhoan. “Specifically after the second dose of the new platform for the COVID vaccine, we were seeing an increase in myocarditis in children that we've never seen before with any vaccine product in children.”In this episode, we dive into the apparent rise of cardiovascular conditions in children and how to better address and understand them.“We need to return the idea of a patient-doctor relationship,” says Dr. Milhoan. “You're not a consumer. We've made this too marketing-oriented. We need to go back to: ‘I'm a physician who cares for you because I have compassion for you. And because of my compassion, I want you to do well, and I want you to be healthy.'”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“You can essentially divide the region between two sets of players. You have the, broadly speaking, Western-aligned players, which essentially consist of Israel and the non-Islamist Arab countries—countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE—and then, on the other hand, you have the axis of Islamism—of support for Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadism. And that, these days, is mostly the Iranian regime of course, Turkey unfortunately under Tayyip Erdogan, and Qatar, Qatar being the lead financier of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood,” says Josh Hammer, host of the Newsweek podcast “The Josh Hammer Show” and author of “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.”“Iran is the source of evil in the Middle East. We should be very clear about that,” he says. “This is the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism. They have been ever since the hostage crisis that formed this horrific regime that ended the Jimmy Carter presidency in 1979.”What does an America First foreign policy look like? How does Trump's Middle East strategy fit into it? And what about the U.S. relationship with Qatar?“America has always been engaged on the world stage. So the fact that we're not necessarily going to be going around crusading in the name of spreading liberal democracy does not necessarily mean that we have no interest in the world. We're America first, but you have to be America smart as well,” says Hammer.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“When we are dispersed and we interact with other human beings only online, and the algorithms feed back our preferences and desires to us, what it effectively does is kind-of isolate us in these multiple sub caves.”Jacob Howland is the provost of the University of Austin, a new, private liberal arts university that is pushing back against censorship and politically popular narratives in higher education.As dean of the Intellectual Foundations program, Howland gives students a comprehensive education in the Western tradition, emphasizing both “Athens and Jerusalem,” he says.“After communism fell, it's as if the historical amnesia had removed the capacity of those who were still around to reckon with the past,” he says. “There are inexhaustible resources in the tradition, and if we're going to find our way forward, we've got to understand the past.”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Few people understand artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as MIT physics professor Max Tegmark. Founder of the Future of Life Institute, he is the author of “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”“The painful truth that's really beginning to sink in is that we're much closer to figuring out how to build this stuff than we are figuring out how to control it,” he says.Where is the U.S.–China AI race headed? How close are we to science fiction-type scenarios where an uncontrollable superintelligent AI can wreak major havoc on humanity? Are concerns overblown? How do we prevent such scenarios?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“It's now been revealed that the Chinese—who manufacture virtually all of our solar panels, both in the United States and Europe—have been installing cellular radios inside the inverters, which can act as kill switches,” says Michael Shellenberger, an investigative journalist, author, founder of Public, and CBR Chair of Politics, Censorship, and Free Speech at the University of Austin.Shellenberger is the author of the books “San Fransicko” and “Apocalypse Never.”In this wide-ranging interview, we dive into key vulnerabilities in America's energy grid, how Trump is transforming America's energy future, the current status of the “censorship industrial complex,” as Shellenberger describes it, and his continued fight for government transparency, including around unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).Two years on from the publication of the Twitter Files—in which Shellenberger played a key role—where are things now?Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Dr. Lynn Fynn is a clinical research scientist and a retired infectious disease specialist. We sat down together to discuss issues she sees plaguing medical research, including the misallocation of funds, a broken peer review process, and major conflicts of interest.”Any time you incentivize something, you're creating a bias. And when you create a bias, there's an element of truth that's removed from the equation,” says Dr. Fynn.“When a pharmaceutical company gets to pour money into a program, the curriculum is going to reflect what they want it to reflect, to make it a profitable transaction for them. It's a return on investment.”What practical steps are needed to restore public trust in science and medicine?“Where there's transparency, there's trust. It's really that simple,” says Dr. Fynn. “Oftentimes, [in] what used to be the scientific method, the process gets reversed. They look at the conclusion that is agreeable or preferred, and then they start working backwards. How can we prove this conclusion?”Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

“Hollywood is about as left and progressive a community as there is in this country. And unfortunately, part of the box you have to check in that very left, super progressive space is being anti-Israel and being pro-Palestine in an anti-Israel way,” says Jonah Platt.Platt is a jack of all trades in the entertainment industry—an actor, director, producer, and singer. In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis led by terrorist group Hamas, he launched the podcast “Being Jewish.”He recently visited Auschwitz, the largest German death camp, alongside over a dozen Muslims. He went with the organization Sharaka, which builds on the work of the Abraham Accords and educates Middle Easterners and other Arabs and Muslims around the world about the Holocaust.“Some of these people came on this trip at great personal risk. If you're coming from Pakistan to hang out with Jews in the middle of this Israel-Gaza war, I mean, you could be in real, physical danger. Some people—they couldn't be in any photos and their identities had to be kept secret to protect them,” says Platt. “There were Jewish slaves [at Auschwitz], working out in that kind of rain in threadbare pajamas, starving to death, and having to do physical labor and be shot if they didn't keep up. And meanwhile, I'm freezing in the cold, but I get to go on a warm bus and get a hot meal after this.”In this episode, we discuss how to navigate being Jewish and Zionist in a society that is becoming increasingly hostile to Israel.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.***Disclaimer: One of the producers for American Thought Leaders participated in the Sharaka program to Poland on an all-expenses paid trip.

“Service … it's a great healer for a broken heart. It helped me a lot through our fight for our son, and the difficulties and the challenges of fighting for him and then losing him,” says Gary Sinise.An Emmy Award-winning actor, producer, director, and musician, Sinise has dedicated his life to supporting America's active-duty military, veterans, first responders, and their families.The Gary Sinise Foundation has raised over $500 million in support of these communities, and Sinise has won many awards for his humanitarian contributions, including the Presidential Citizen Medal, the second-highest civilian honor in the United States.In this episode, Sinise reflects on his three decades of service, from building dozens of specially modified homes for wounded veterans and first responders to playing nearly 600 concerts with the Lt. Dan band (named after his Forrest Gump character) at military bases across the United States and overseas.Sinise's son McCanna Anthony “Mac” Sinise died last year at age 33 after a five-year battle with a rare bone cancer called chordoma. Before he passed, he was able to record an entire album of music that he'd begun in college. It's titled “Resurrection & Revival.”Mac's story and his father's full tribute to his son can be found here on the Gary Sinise Foundation website: https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/mac-tribute

A few months ago, Canada unveiled its national memorial to the millions of victims of communism.In this episode, Ludwik Klimkowski, chair of the Tribute of Liberty, gives us a tour of the memorial and reveals the 17-year battle to realize it as the group navigated changing political winds.“This is a memorial to those who still struggle. This is the memorial given to those who still want to escape. This is the memorial to those who are still sitting in prison, whose organs are being harvested,” Klimkowski says.The memorial was inaugurated last year, although the final elements on the Wall of Remembrance are still under development.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.