This episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or by setting up the paid-subscriber podcast feed, which includes all exclusive audio content. To set that up, simply grab the RSS feed from this page (by first clicking the “...” icon on the audio player) and paste it into your favorite podcast app.
If you have trouble completing the process, check out this super-simple how-to guide.
0:00 Teaser
0:56 "Would Putin send a weird sexually suggestive birthday greeting to a famous affluent well-connected pedophile?"
6:23 Decoding Trump's message in the greeting
13:47 Conspiracy theories vs official silence
19:42 Why is Ezra Klein content with "We'll never know"?
25:10 Why no president wants to release the Epstein files
27:18 Ghislaine names Clinton and Larry Summers
34:25 Does Epstein kill faith in democracy?
39:35 Trump vs. Putin: Authoritarian playbooks compared
44:14 Will Trumpism outlive Trump?
50:22 David Sacks embraces strongman tactics
57:04 How war changes everything overnight
1:01:27 Trump's Mexico invasion fantasy 1:06:01 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
Nikita’s Substack:
Overtime titles:
0:00 South Park on AI and VC culture
22:29 Telepathic AI
30:48 The Russian "foreign agents" laws
38:28 USAID and "independent media"
47:10 Misusing the "terrorist organization" label
Overtime video:
