The Independent with Scott Atlas

In this episode of The Independent with Scott Atlas , Scott speaks with Jacques Pitteloud , a veteran Swiss diplomat, intelligence expert, and foreign policy leader who currently serves as Switzerland’s Ambassador to Belgium and Head of Mission to NATO. Jacques explains how Switzerland has built one of the world's most stable and prosperous societies through decentralized governance, direct democr...

In this episode of The Independent with Scott Atlas , Scott speaks with bestselling author and Senior Editor at The Federalist, Mollie Hemingway , about the lasting influence of Samuel Alito on the modern Supreme Court. The conversation explores Alito’s practical originalism, his commitment to constitutional limits, and how his background shaped his judicial philosophy. Hemingway explains why Alit...

Scott welcomes Iranian-American historian, educator, and author Abbas Milani, who was imprisoned by the Shah of Iran in 1975. He is now a research fellow and co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution and the Hamid and Christina Madam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University. He was born in Iran, came to California when he was 16 years old, and was educated at UC...

Scott welcomes Donald Boudreaux, Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. They have a conversation about free market economics, especially relating Hayek's fundamental points from almost a hundred years ago to what we see in America today and its relevance to the most important point of ec...

Scott welcomes Chad Wolf, Executive Vice-President and Chair of Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute. He previously served as acting Secretary of Homeland Security during President Trump's first term. He has received numerous awards and accolades for his service to the nation, including the US Secretary of Transportation 911 Medal, the US Secretary of Homeland Se...

Scott welcomes renowned author and scholar Shelby Steele. Steele is an expert on race relations and race-based civil rights policies in America He's formerly the Robert and Marianne Oster Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. He's received numerous honors and awards for his work, including the Bradley Prize, the National Humanities Medal, an Emmy Award, and the National Book Critic Circl...

Scott Atlas joins Ben Domenech, Mollie Hemmingway, and Chanel Rion for an in-depth discussion of the state of the American news media. America’s media is rapidly being transformed, and that transformation is accelerating. Beyond technology, the shift to social media was driven by a plummeting of trust in national news outlets, whose reporting was often overtly biased and false. Ironically, after s...

Scott welcomes back Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice. Prior to that she founded the Dhillon Law Group as well as the Center for American Liberty, a nonprofit dedicated to pursuing civil liberties legal claims. Her private law practice career is focused on free speech, civil rights, and campaign and election law issues. They disc...

Scott welcomes back Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice. Prior to that she founded the Dhillon Law Group as well as the Center for American Liberty, a nonprofit dedicated to pursuing civil liberties legal claims. Her private law practice career is focused on free speech, civil rights, and campaign and election law issues. They disc...

In this second part of his two-part interview, Scott Atlas and Victor Davis Hanson explore misguided progressive policies that disproportionately harm the poor, encouraging crime as lenient judges and prosecutors push alternative sentencing. They discuss New York's socialist electoral trends, fueled mainly by an attitude of entitlement among America's younger generation. They conclude with a discu...

Scott welcomes back acclaimed author and historian Victor Davis Hanson. They discuss the legacy of Charlie Kirk, and how lenient policies on crime and extreme media hyperbole against conservatives normalizes and even encourages political violence.

Part 4/4 of the Event "Free Speech Today in Free Societies," held September 5–6, 2025 at the Widder Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. Sponsored by the Global Liberty Institute. Andrew Tettenborn is a Professor and Chair in Law, Swansea University, and writer, United Kingdom. John Yoo is an Emmanuel Heller Prof. of Law, Univ of California-Berkeley; Distinguished Visiting Prof, School of Civic Leadershi...

Part 3/4 of the Event "Europe and the Trump Economic Policies," held September 5–6, 2025 at the Widder Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. Sponsored by the Global Liberty Institute. Barbara Kolm is the President, Hayek Institute, Vienna; Founding Director, Austrian Economics Center, and former Vice-President of the Österreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank). Reiner Eichenberger is the Professo...

Part 2/4 of the Event "Alliances and Freedom in the Trump Era," held September 5–6, 2025 at the Widder Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. Sponsored by the Global Liberty Institute. Joshua Rauh is a renowned economist, He is the Ormond Family Professor of Finance at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. He leads the Hoover Institution State and Loca...

Part 1/4 of the Event "Alliances and Freedom in the Trump Era," held September 5–6, 2025 at the Widder Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. Sponsored by the Global Liberty Institute. Chad F. Wolf is America First Policy Institute’s Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Chair of the Center for Homeland Security & Immigration. Previously, Wolf served as Acting Secretary of the U.S. Dep...

Scott welcomes Heather Mac Donald, one of the country's most important voices who exposes the truth and the data behind it. Heather is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a contributing editor of City Journal. Her latest book is When Race Trumps Merit. In it she explains what she calls the foolish pursuit of undermining meritocracy in favor of equal outcome. They discuss cri...

Scott welcomes Larry Arnn, the 12th president of Hillsdale College, where he's also a professor of politics and history. He received his undergraduate education at Arkansas State University and then graduated with an MA and a PhD in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He also studied at Oxford University in the UK where he served as director of research for Sir Martin Gilbert, the offic...

Scott welcomes Robert (Bobby) Robbins, President Emeritus of the University of Arizona where he served as president from 2017 to 2024. Prior to University of Arizona, he served as the president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center after being chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University. They discuss many of the issues facing college campuses today, including free speech...

In the second part of this two part episode, Scott welcomes Professor Michael McConnell, Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009 he served as circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. He teaches courses on constitutional law the first amendment and interpretive theory. He has published wide...

In this episode, Scott welcomes Professor Michael McConnell, Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009 he served as circuit judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. He teaches courses on constitutional law the first amendment and interpretive theory. He has published widely in constitutional law, es...

In this episode Scott welcomes Gad Saad, professor of marketing at Concordia University in Montreal and visiting professor at Northwood University. Professor Saad has pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. His works include several books and published papers, many at the intersection of psychology, advertising, medicine, and economics. He's also working on...

In this episode Scott welcomes economist John Cochrane who specializes in financial economics and macroeconomics. He's the Rosemary and Jack Anderson senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. Previously he was a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and before that at the University of Chicago Department of Economics. He also writes the very popular Grum...

In this episode, Scott welcomes Chanel Rion, former White House Chief Correspondent for One America News Network (OAN). She now hosts her own show on OAN called "Fine Point with Chanel Rion." Chanel earned her degree in international relations from Harvard, and since then she has been at the center of exposing some of the most impactful stories in recent politics and has special insight into the t...

In the second part of this two part episode, Scott welcomes Kim Strassel, an award-winning journalist, editorial writer and author. Kim is a member of the editorial board for the Wall Street Journal and is a regular contributor to TV news and political shows including CBS's Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press and the Journal Editorial Report. She is the author of “The Intimidati...

In this episode Scott welcomes Kim Strassel, an award-winning journalist, editorial writer and author. Kim is a member of the editorial board for the Wall Street Journal and is a regular contributor to TV news and political shows including CBS's Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press and the Journal Editorial Report. She is the author of “The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Sile...