Michael Shermer – A Skeptic's Guide to 2026

Support The Glenn Show at Video Links 0:00 The crisis of belief and the crisis of speech 4:30 Michael: Deport the criminals, leave the gardeners 10:37 Michael’s list of the biggest, craziest, and most dangerous conspiracy theories 15:47 When trust in institutions breaks down 22:06 Why well-meaning people make absurd claims 26:01 Is Trump uniquely dangerous to American institutions? 29:04 Where Michael gets his news 31:49 How liberal institutions lost the plot 36:15 The roots and appeal of QAnon 41:06 Down the Jeffrey Epstein rabbit hole 44:47 Michael’s definition of truth 51:23 The stakes of religious belief 58:47 Can we live with “I don’t know” as the answer to the big questions? Recorded January 19, 2026 Links and Readings Skeptic magazine Michael’s new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters Michael’s book, Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational Michael’s book, Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? The Free Press Glenn’s most recent conversation with Charles Murray Murray’s book, Taking Religion Seriously Martin Rees’s book, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/

You can listen to Michael Shermer – A Skeptic's Guide to 2026 online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Michael Shermer – A Skeptic's Guide to 2026 is an episode from The Glenn Show by Glenn Loury.

This episode is 64:30 long.

This episode was published on Jan 23, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Glenn Show when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.