The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mzUUDz14Ac Podcast audio: In this special podcast episode, Yaron Brook and Elan Journo interview Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas founding leader who became one of Israel’s most valuable intelligence assets. Raised within the movement, Yousef recounts how his experiences led him to break decisively with Hamas and oppose it at great personal risk. The conversation centers on the ideological nature of Hamas, an aspect often evaded by its apologists. Drawing on firsthand experience, Yousef describes a movement rooted in a culture of sexual repression and the subordination of women. He argues that these are foundational aspects of the religious Islamic ideology that suppresses dissent, encourages mass murder, and brutalizes its own people. One of the most striking aspects of the interview is Yousef’s account of the conscious moral choice that guided his transformation: the choice to protect human life. In contrasting Hamas with Israel, he identifies a fundamental difference in values between a movement that glorifies death and a society that values human life. Topics include: Yousef’s defection from Hamas; The ideology of Palestinian brutality; Indoctrination in Palestinian society; Palestinians’ repeated rejections of peace; Risks of working with Israeli intelligence; October 7; Q&A. This podcast was recorded live on February 18, 2025, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credit: Noam Galai / via Getty Images.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDKszEjACFA Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Agustina Vergara Cid and Brandon Lisi about their new article: “’I Chose to Be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.” Topics include: Motivation for the article; Why Rand chose America; Obstacles Rand faced; How Rand pushed America to live up to its values; Archival resources consulted; Most surprising facts about Rand’s story; Impact of the article. Read the article here: “’I Chose to be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.” This episode was recorded on February 23, 2026, and posted on February 24, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49b6O7nOtZI Podcast Audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Mike Mazza discuss the opposition to autonomous vehicles. Topics include: Why some people oppose autonomous vehicles; The safety of autonomous vehicles; Economic costs of automobile Accidents; Fear of displacing jobs; The “common man” argument; Divine right of stagnation. Resources: Nathaniel Branden’s essay “Divine Right of Stagnation” in The Virtue of Selfishness This episode was recorded on January 12, 2026, and posted on February 12, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credits: Waymo: Mario Tama / Staff / via Getty Images; Hawley: Chip Somodevilla / Staff / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g8n9_LOSwc Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver and Ben Bayer discuss a new policy in Texas A&M University that restricts professors’ ability to teach topics related to gender and sexual orientation, which resulted in one professor being prevented from teaching Plato’s Symposium. Topics include: Texas A&M’s policy; The case of Plato’s Symposium; Relation to intellectual freedom; Who should decide in public universities; Motives behind the policy. Resources: Ayn Rand’s essay “Fairness Doctrine for Education” in Philosophy: Who Needs It Onkar Ghate and Sam Weaver’s article “Trump vs. Harvard: Intellectual Freedom in the Crosshairs” This episode was recorded on January 27, 2026, and posted on February 5, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credit: Jon Hicks / Stone / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyYlYiLE7Y Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the implications of the killing of Renee Good for the rule of law. Among the topics covered: Topics include: ICE operations resembling military operations; The immediate aftermath of the shooting; The administration’s contempt for the rule of law; ICE is not real police; They way ICE conducts arrests; The argument that the Constitution doesn’t apply to immigrants; The administration playing to its base’s tribalism; The administration’s loyalty tests; The shooting of Ashli Babbitt; The future of America. Resources: Synchronized videos of Renee Good’s shooting The White House’s January 6 timeline The shooting of Ashli Babbitt Harry Binswanger’s essay “ICE vs. the rule of law, not of men” Podcast episode: ICE Raids vs. Rule of Law: Interviewing Institute for Justice’s Josh Windham This episode was recorded on January 21, 2026, and posted on January 22, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTl2m5StrvQ Podcast audio: The crimes of the French Revolution have long been regarded as indicting Enlightenment ideals. Its Reign of Terror has been seen as the product of an overconfident belief in reason, liberty, and human perfectibility. The American Revolution, by contrast, is said to have succeeded only because it was more moderate and traditional. In his 2025 OCON talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” Don Watkins challenges this narrative. What history shows, Watkins contends, is that Enlightenment ideals in France were largely confined to intellectual elites within a rigid, hierarchical society. French culture was also shaped by powerful anti-Enlightenment currents — notably Rousseau’s elevation of passion and the collective over reason and the individual. These ideas later fueled the Terror. By contrast, many American colonists read thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Franklin and had long practiced self-government, giving Enlightenment ideals real cultural depth. Watkins highlights a further, crucial difference between the two revolutions. The French were fundamentally motivated by hatred towards the ancien régime. French mob violence was widespread and brutal, since it sought, above all else, to eradicate the nobility, the clergy, and every other symbol of the past. Similar unrest was relatively limited and contained in America, where Americans resisted British rule with a positive aim: to establish a government that protected individual rights. Among the topics covered: Narratives about the French Revolution; The rise and fall of the Revolution; Two Revolutions compared; Contrasting motivations. This talk was recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.