This week, Jason Bassler, Matt Agorist, and Don Via, Jr. welcomed Dave Benner to the podcast. Dave is a historian, author, and contributor to platforms like The Tenth Amendment Center, the Mises Institute, and the Abbeville Institute. He has penned essential books such as Thomas Paine: A Lifetime of Radicalism, Compact of the Republic: The League of States and the Constitution, and The 14th Amendment and the Incorporation Doctrine. A staunch advocate of Jeffersonian principles, Dave is an outspoken critic of centralized authority and federal overreach, offering an insightful historical lens to today's most pressing issues.

The conversation begins by examining the current administration's increasingly aggressive posture toward Iran, which Dave argues is bringing the U.S. closer to the brink of a hot war. This leads into a deep dive regarding the curious rebranding of Jeffrey Epstein as a Russian intelligence asset. Dave provides a brilliant analysis of why the "Russia" label is being used as a desperate limited hangout to protect the domestic and allied intelligence agencies that actually facilitated Epstein's operation. We clarify that critiquing the state's narrative doesn't make one a friend to foreign criminals like Putin, but rather highlights how the establishment uses foreign boogeymen to shield itself from a true domestic reckoning.