Michael Shermer – A Skeptic's Guide to 2026

January 23, 2026·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

Glenn Loury asks skeptic Michael Shermer if mass irrationality stems from a crisis of speech, not just belief.

Lowry sets a scholarly table. He introduces Shermer through Skeptic Magazine, his podcast, his critical thinking work, and books on belief, morality, Darwin, conspiracy, and truth. The conversation keeps circling one question: can truth-producing institutions survive political figures who damage public trust? Shermer does not rush toward panic. On progressives and many liberals, he argues that inclusive instincts can harden into moral reflex before they have been reasoned through. Lowry then presses the conservative case. The sharper issue is whether Trump is unusually dangerous to institutions that produce and protect truth. Shermer answers carefully. He says Trump is not Hitler, not as bad as many critics claim, and still unusual as a political personality. The claim stays narrow on purpose. Shermer describes himself as libertarian in temperament, calling balls and strikes across presidents from Nixon through Reagan, Bush, Obama, and Trump. He expects life after Trump to look more continuous than some friends fear. People who think there will never be another election are, in his view, probably overstating how durable the rupture will be. Normalcy may come back unevenly. Shermer names possible successors from Vance and Rubio to Rahm Emanuel and Mayor Pete, with a pointed California aside about Newsom. Actions matter more than words. Because Trump’s relationship to truth is famously loose, Shermer says citizens should judge what he does instead of chasing every provocation. The ending turns inward. On the hereafter, the answer gets humbler: admit not knowing, and remember to live now. Lowry accepts that cadence and closes on Shermer’s book Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Matters, leaving the exchange with uncertainty instead of a tidy finish.

As heard by us

A patient, skeptical conversation about truth, politics, and living with uncertainty.

Michael Shermer and Glenn Lowry spend most of the episode circling truth, conspiracy thinking, institutional trust, and the way people sort politics into moral camps.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a measured conversation about truth, politics, and how to live with uncertainty, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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