The Leverage Economy: The 285th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

Today we discuss Epstein, Trump, MAGA, and how we know what we think we know. The actual economy exists, as does the attention economy; now Bret introduces a new term: the leverage economy. This implies that there is a commodity that we cannot see, which can be used to coerce players to act in certain ways. We see evidence of this in academia, in the news, and in politics. Discussion includes data mining, conspiracy, and whether Trump will pick up neocons as he loses some of his base.

*****

Our sponsors:

Everyday Dose: Coffee plus collagen, mushrooms & nootropics – delicious! Get 45% off your first subscription order and also receive free gifts at  everydaydose.com/darkhorse.

Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club: Scrumptious & freshly harvested. Go to www.GetFreshDarkHorse.com to get a bottle of the best olive oil you’ve ever had for $1 shipping.

Sundays: Dog food so tasty and healthy, even husbands swear by it. Go to www.sundaysfordogs.com/DARKHORSE to receive 35% off your first order.

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

*****

Mentioned in this episode:

Goldberg in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/opinion/trump-jeffrey-epstein-files.html

Trump on truth social: https://x.com/chesschick01/status/1945498352507879536

Heinrichs in the Free Press: https://www.thefp.com/p/the-rights-1939-project

Support the show