The Independent with Scott Atlas

Scott welcomes Iranian-American historian, educator, and author Abbas Milan, 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 Berkeley and got a PhD from University of Hawaii. He's published many books including The Myth of the Great Satan: A New Look at America's Relations with Iran and The Shah. They have a fascinating discussion on the state of affairs in Iran and the Middle East.

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 economic freedom - that it's the basis for all freedoms in America today.

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 Security Distinguished Service Medal, and the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. They have a conversation about immigration, national security issues, and the work being done in the Trump administration to ensure safety and freedom in America today.

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 Circle Award in 1990. Perhaps he's best known for his 2006 book, White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era. They have a provocative conversation about the polarizing issue of race relations.

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 social media platforms emerged as the new town square, they rapidly became tools for censorship, at times in collusion with government, most vividly on display during COVID. This forum will explore the future of social and legacy media in the search for objective information, especially as we enter the era of artificial intelligence.

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 discuss the important work being done in the Trump administration regarding civil rights and freedom in America today.

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 discuss the important work being done in the Trump administration regarding civil rights and freedom in America today.

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 discussion of how Trump's authentic, resilient persona drives leftist vitriol, and how the political landscape might change in a post-Trump America.

Victor Davis Hanson, a historian and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins the conversation to dissect America's growing political violence and divisiveness. He argues that lenient crime policies and inflammatory media rhetoric exacerbate the situation. Hanson also explores how past electoral responses can counter radical movements and critiques the politicization of universities, noting their impact on academic integrity and student attitudes towards violence. Additionally, he reflects on the legacy of Charlie Kirk in galvanizing youth participation.

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 Leadership, University of Texas-Austin, USA. Joachim Steinhoefel is an Attorney, civil rights and media law, and active litigator; Hamburg, Germany.