Mission Implausible

How are the Russians getting Trump to do what they want? There are many theories, but we've reached our own conclusion.

The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee (PAC) founded in December 2019 by moderate conservatives and former Republican Party members who oppose U.S. President Donald Trump and Trumpism. In the midst of the 2024 election, having run over 700 different ads, co-founder Rick Wilson offers one-of-a-kind insight into the American electorate.

37 years ago, Trump returned from a trip to Moscow obsessed that America wasn’t getting paid enough for protecting its allies, that our leaders weren’t tough enough, and that America’s economy was destined to self-destruct within the next four years. And he never stopped. Why would a self-obsessed New York real estate developer suddenly care about America’s international politics?

Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested called up the leader of The Proud Boys and got an invite to tag along to The Insurrection with his cameras. Quested’s eye-witness footage was part of the Congressional January 6th Committee evidence and now part of Jack Smith’s case against Trump. Quested shares his insights and his predictions about what will go down this November.

Jerry and John -- and Adam! -- think about the current hurricanes and the dangerous conspiracy theories that weaponize them. As always, they view the larger context of false weather beliefs.

Certain American are repeating Russian propaganda and might not even realize where it came from. Russia is pushing the narrative that America is a disaster, and Trump has picked up the thread. How does Russia feed their message into U.S. conversations and how do they benefit from it? It's the end of our trilogy of Michael Weiss' illuminating interview.

Would you take $100,000 per week to parrot Russian propaganda on your podcast? Well, some guys did, and are now indicted.

How did the Russians get so good at the disinformation game, how do they do it, and who's doing it for them?

Adam’s wife has a lot of personal CIA questions for John & Jerry.

If not the CIA, then maybe the FBI? How about both? Philip Mudd worked for both agencies and then resigned and he has the answers. Including whether RFK Jr.'s suspicions about Operation Mockingbird are valid.

Jerry and John reflect on how intelligence services employ honey traps — snaring assets using sex.

Are our brains wired to believe in conspiracy theories? Brain expert David Eagleman (“Inner Cosmos”) tells John & Jerry how, and how to break through.

Former Republican National Committee spokesman Tim Miller tells John & Jerry what it's like trying to meet the requirements of membership of today's Republican party.

The 1985 NBA Draft was one of the most controversial in NBA history. How did The New York Knicks land first pick and get Patrick Ewing? Was it rigged? Sports Illustrated writer Chris Ballard might know the answer. 

Two Simpsons legends explore the theory that The Simpsons either predicts the future or causes the future, perhaps in cahoots with the CIA. Then they ask John & Jerry inside-CIA questions they always wanted to know.

Who are these “elites” that are running everything? And don’t we all aspire to be elite anyway?

Adam Davidson usurps the podcast with questions he always wanted to ask about the CIA, starting with Surveillance Detection Runs.

Brent Lee went deep down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories then climbed himself out. Too much of it didn’t add up, especially the idea of crisis actors faking mass shootings and the election of Trump. 

The school shootings in America have been real. We discuss how the concept of them being faked with crisis actors is completely impossible, but why some people spread the conspiracy theory and why others choose to believe it. And what's behind that politically.

Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks the Catholic Church is too nice, and also run by Satanists. A Florida deputy sheriff writes disinformation for Russia. Stalin - Never Stop Applauding. And Keep Zimbabwe Great Again. And a dig at Ted Cruz, because that always plays.

The laptop is back, thanks to the recent Hunter Biden court case. John and Jerry, two of The Dirty 51 (signers of a letter written by former intelligence officials warning of Russian elections interference via the laptop Giuliani was hawking) are joined by another signer, former CIA officer Doug Wise, and podcast legend Adam Davidson to catch up to all the misinformation and misdirection around this laptop.

Crazy claims of the week: Hunter Biden's prosecution was a red herring; Cheap Fakes; and Emmanuel Macron's wife is a man. Plus The Epoch Times and new congressional Republicans put on Intelligence Committee.

Routine military training exercises, in the eyes of paranoid extremists, were a pretense for Obama to have the U.S. take over Texas. Which... uh... does't it already have?

Some people believe Alaska and Hawaii belong to Russia. Mainly Russians believe that.

Part Two of our interview with the Russian-Israeli-American “businessman” who, when partnered with Rudy Giuiliani, tried and failed to come up with dirt on the Bidens for Trump. And he's got a long list of names of the others who were in on it.

A Russian-Israeli-American “businessman,” partnered with Rudy Giuiliani, tried and failed to come up with dirt on the Bidens for Trump. It was all Russian disinformation.

Are gold-painted street performers in Pakistan actually spying on its citizens? John & Jerry look at this trend in the context of Pakistan's history, and recall some of their own surveillance stories.

One time when the CIA got it very wrong (with John Sipher, Jerry O'Shea and Adam Davidson)

Were Margaret Trudeau's “borders” open to Cuba? (with Jon Lovett)

We’re ALL The Deep State. Whistleblowers, whistleblowees, and the people who defend them. (with Mark Zaid)

This week, an attempted coup in Germany was stopped. A "prince" believed that a bureaucrat loophole could restore his lineage to power and reboot Germany to its pre-WW2 glory.

Guest Denver Riggleman gripes about his time as a sane Republican in Congress and how he was shunned for his morality. How Jerry was recruited into the CIA. And how to win a bar fight.

The conspiracy to protect Trump's lie about how it was the Ukranians who interfered with the 2016 election and not the Russians. How people rationalize taking money from Saudi Arabia. And two Russian spies were caught in Germany. (with Adam Davidson)

Is there a conspiracy to spread conspiracy theories?  (with guest David Corn and suprise dramatic readings!)

When did UFOs become "UAPs" and, as always, why is the government hiding them? (with Michael Ian Black and Seth Shostack)

In this minisode, John & Jerry look at the battle happening right now over FISA. How did it snare Trump's squad and do the blockers understand how many lives it saves?

Is “Stranger Things” a true story?  (with Mike Rothschild and Christopher Garetano)

What has the government acknowledged and what are they doing about it?  (with Marc Polymeropoulos)

Who has it? Where did they get it? Is it real?  (with Jon Lee Anderson)

Who are The Dirty 51? And why were John & Jerry on the cover of The New York Post?  (with Adam Kinzinger)

Isn’t it Russian disinformation? Was Guiliani a “useful idiot”? (with Asha Rangappa and Denver Riggleman)

Is it safe to go back in the water of The Red Sea?

What did the government secretly build under the Denver Airport and what's the password to get in when the s**t comes down?

How lonely is it to be one of only two Republicans who's willing to say that the election wasn't stolen and storming The Capital was wrong?

What are those white clouds that come out of airplanes and how can we blame everything bad on them?

What's the absolute least cost-effective way to start a forest fire and how did they pull it off?

So Bill Gates started Covid to create a need for vaccines that were a Trojan Horse for putting microchips in people to track them? And this was a better plan than just using cell phones because... ?

As former high-level CIA operatives, John Sipher and Jerry O'Shea would create fake conspiracies around the world. Now, with the help of experts, they execute their own fun and fearless investigation into conspiracy theories past and present to assess what's real. And how. And why.