Richard Hanania is a political scientist and president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology. He spent about a decade as one of the most influential voices on the online right — first writing pseudonymously in the alt-right, later as one of the intellectual influences on the Silicon Valley tech right. Then he watched his own ideas take power, and changed his mind. His new book is Kakistocracy: Why Populism Ends in Disaster. Kakistocracy is Greek for rule by the worst. The argument inside it is one very few people are willing to make right now: that Western elites are not overrated but underrated, and that our institutions work far better than we give them credit for. Zoe and Richard get into Australia's populist surge, what actually makes someone an elite, the backlash against skilled immigration and the H-1B fight in the States, whether Sydney's housing crisis is really about immigration, and what frightens him most — which turns out to have a lot to do with fertility. Also: is Zoe an elite? Are you? There's a test. 00:00 Who is Richard Hanania 02:27 The case that elites are underrated 04:50 What actually makes someone an elite 07:04 Do people care about the truth? 08:45 When federal bureaucrats became shitposters 09:38 Populism as rule by the id 11:33 Australia's populist surge 15:57 The awkward part: immigration 18:45 Australian vs American assimilation 21:46 Is Pauline Hanson a serious person? 23:33 Getting elites to take immigration seriously 26:06 Cofnas, Arday and academic gatekeeping 30:03 The H-1B backlash explained 32:58 Zero immigration and the fertility problem 34:05 Anti-Indian sentiment in Australia 35:40 Is Sydney's housing crisis about immigration? 38:30 The chapter Zoe couldn't finish 39:12 Are you an elite? Take the test 41:28 The Manosphere, and what a "chud" is 44:14 Nine-fifty in the morning in Sydney 46:32 The thinkers behind the book 48:15 AI, fertility, and what frightens him most 50:50 Why nobody's pairing up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Author David Maywald joins Zoe Sankey to discuss the female wage premium among young Australians, the collapse of male rites of passage, and why boys are told from primary school that masculinity is a problem to be managed. His essay for Quillette: https://quillette.com/2026/05/05/the-emerging-female-wage-premium/ The Relentless War on Masculinity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1764339703?tag=quillette-20 00:00 Young women are out-earning young men 04:48 Why boys never got the same lift 11:14 The post-war family was the anomaly 15:12 Childlessness and a stake in the next generation 22:03 The rites of passage boys no longer have 28:49 Why it's rites, plural 36:58 100 of the Best Books for Men 45:21 Where the bias against boys begins 48:20 Why only 17% of primary teachers are men 55:19 What young men actually think 1:00:01 Abbie Chatfield and the podcast that started this one 1:10:12 Male psychology: the next frontier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Zoe Sankey sits down with Crémieux (the pen name of researcher Jordan Lasker), the formerly anonymous X writer-researcher whose data threads on genetics, demographics and metabolic drugs have drawn a following of more than 260,000 — including some very prominent readers. It's a wide-ranging conversation. They cover collapsing fertility rates and the Victorian obscenity trial he argues helped set them falling; his case that dog breeds — pit bulls especially — behave the way they were bred to, and why he thinks people resist that; what he makes of the evidence on GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and retatrutide, microplastics, and the wellness industry; El Salvador's transformation under Nayib Bukele; IQ testing, genetics and embryo selection; populism, personality and politics; free will; and being Jewish and atheist at once. ⏱️ Chapters: 00:00 Intro — who Crémieux is and how he built his following 02:24 Fertility collapse and the Bradlaugh–Besant trial 05:00 Silphium, abortion and the long human history of family planning 06:00 Strong convictions, and why he wants to live forever 07:49 Brian Johnson, longevity and the wellness-hype problem 10:56 Microplastics: what the evidence actually shows 13:24 Zinc, Accutane and the biology of acne 18:08 Ivermectin, Demodex mites and skin 20:22 Pet rats, lab rats, and which animals we call "cute" 22:56 UFOs and the Trump-era document releases 25:11 Pit bulls: breeding, behaviour and public denial 30:06 Ira Glass, greyhounds and virtue-signal dog ownership 34:11 GLP-1 drugs: Ozempic, retatrutide and the medical turnaround 36:00 His own weight loss, muscle and travel-for-work 37:57 Próspera, El Salvador and Bukele's gang crackdown 42:49 Duterte, Hanania's Kakistocracy and populism 45:42 IQ, classical liberalism and organising society 47:12 China, dumping, open-source AI and pharmaceutical free-riding 50:36 Tariffs and the destination-based cash flow tax 51:49 Hope, ageing, and the generational wealth question 55:14 Truth-seeking, reform, and why people don't change their minds 56:46 Jewishness, identity and defining who counts as a Jew 59:11 Antisemitism, zero-sum thinking and its long tradition 1:01:05 The future of Israel and the Hilonim birth rate 1:04:04 IQ tests, Mensa and gaming the matrices 1:05:27 Embryo selection and raising smart kids 1:08:36 Nature, nurture and what mothers influence 1:09:20 Politics shaping personality — and the La Piere study 1:14:30 The Big Five, intelligence and conscientiousness 1:18:14 Free will: Pinker vs. Harris 1:20:38 The name "Crémieux" and Adolphe Crémieux 1:21:59 Wrap-up — 📩 Subscribe to Quillette: https://quillette.com 🎧 Listen on Apple & Spotify 🐦 Follow Quillette: https://twitter.com/Quillette — Guest: Crémieux — https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil | Substack: https://cremieux.xyz — Referenced in this episode: • Rob Brooks, "The Tragedy of the Unwanted Child" (Quillette) — https://quillette.com/2022/06/24/the-tragedy-of-the-unwanted-child-what-ancient-cultures-did-before-abortion/ • The Bradlaugh–Besant trial (1877) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradlaugh%E2%80%93Besant_trial • Richard Hanania, Kakistocracy — https://link.amazon/B0g92Tesm • Herasight (embryo screening) — https://www.herasight.com • Orchid (embryo screening) — https://www.orchidhealth.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rachel Moiselle is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and one of Ireland's most visible activists against antisemitism. In this episode of Quillette Cetera, she joins Zoe Sankey to discuss what it's like to defend a community of roughly 3,000 Jews in a country that largely denies it has an antisemitism problem at all. Rachel talks candidly about the ignorance surrounding Jewish culture in Ireland, how left-wing ideology has shaped anti-Israel sentiment and political discourse, and why Irish national identity has become entangled with the Palestinian cause. She also shares a very different side of her work: her research into Irish Sign Language, deaf culture, and the role AI translation technology plays for a minority language community, and how that experience shaped her thinking on identity and belonging more broadly. The conversation moves through her own path toward converting to Judaism, the friendships she's gained and lost since October 7th, the online abuse that followed her Sunday Independent article, and why she still believes speaking up is worth the cost. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and guest background 02:30 Antisemitism in Ireland: perceptions and realities 08:02 The Irish Jewish community: size, ignorance, and challenges 11:57 Denial of antisemitism and its consequences 13:57 The influence of left-wing ideology and anti-Israel sentiment 17:00 Irish national identity, flags, and cultural symbolism 20:57 Ireland's history, independence, and reunification debates 24:12 The role of the EU and language education in Ireland 30:09 Language revival, Irish Sign Language, and cultural identity 37:03 Deaf community, minority identity, and activism 41:08 Technology, sign language translation, and deaf culture 46:02 Jewish identity, conversion, and community engagement 1:03:51 Friendship, loss, and personal resilience 1:14:00 Social media, online abuse, and activism 1:24:05 Future outlook, hope, and community support Guest: Rachel Moiselle on X: https://twitter.com/RachelMoiselle More from Quillette: Read Quillette: https://quillette.com Follow us on X: https://x.com/Quillette Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quillette Subscribe to Quillette Cetera for more conversations on free speech, identity, and the ideas shaping public life. #Antisemitism #Ireland #JewishCommunity #Quillette #IrishPolitics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rachel Moiselle is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and one of Ireland's most visible activists against antisemitism. In this episode of Quillette Cetera, she joins Zoe Sankey to discuss what it's like to defend a community of roughly 3,000 Jews in a country that largely denies it has an antisemitism problem at all. Rachel talks candidly about the ignorance surrounding Jewish culture in Ireland, how left-wing ideology has shaped anti-Israel sentiment and political discourse, and why Irish national identity has become entangled with the Palestinian cause. She also shares a very different side of her work: her research into Irish Sign Language, deaf culture, and the role AI translation technology plays for a minority language community, and how that experience shaped her thinking on identity and belonging more broadly. The conversation moves through her own path toward converting to Judaism, the friendships she's gained and lost since October 7th, the online abuse that followed her Sunday Independent article, and why she still believes speaking up is worth the cost. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and guest background 02:30 Antisemitism in Ireland: perceptions and realities 08:02 The Irish Jewish community: size, ignorance, and challenges 11:57 Denial of antisemitism and its consequences 13:57 The influence of left-wing ideology and anti-Israel sentiment 17:00 Irish national identity, flags, and cultural symbolism 20:57 Ireland's history, independence, and reunification debates 24:12 The role of the EU and language education in Ireland 30:09 Language revival, Irish Sign Language, and cultural identity 37:03 Deaf community, minority identity, and activism 41:08 Technology, sign language translation, and deaf culture 46:02 Jewish identity, conversion, and community engagement 1:03:51 Friendship, loss, and personal resilience 1:14:00 Social media, online abuse, and activism 1:24:05 Future outlook, hope, and community support Guest: Rachel Moiselle on X: https://twitter.com/RachelMoiselle More from Quillette: Read Quillette: https://quillette.com Follow us on X: https://x.com/Quillette Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quillette Subscribe to Quillette Cetera for more conversations on free speech, identity, and the ideas shaping public life. #Antisemitism #Ireland #JewishCommunity #Quillette #IrishPolitics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices