meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Winston Marshall Show

Sam Harris: “The Left Has Been Manipulated By Islamists”

The Winston Marshall Show

Winston Marshall

Society & Culture

4.8656 Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2026

⏱️ 90 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of The Winston Marshall Show, I sit down with neuroscientist, author, and public intellectual Sam Harris for a conversation on political extremism, Islamism, Trump, open societies, religion, and the future of the West.We begin with the rise of political violence in America and whether the chaos consuming both the Left and the Right points to something deeper than Trump himself. Harris argues that ideological extremism on the Left has become normalised within mainstream institutions, while populism on the Right has eroded confidence in liberal democratic norms.The conversation then turns to Islamism, the Middle East, and the future of Western civilisation. Harris lays out his long-standing argument that jihadism represents a genuine ideological threat to open societies, while I challenge him on nationalism, religion, and the limits of secular liberalism. Together, we explore Israel, Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, mass migration into Europe, and whether the West still believes strongly enough in its own values to survive.We also examine the presidency of Donald Trump, with Harris criticising Trump’s character and transactional worldview while simultaneously acknowledging that many of Trump’s foreign policy instincts — particularly regarding Iran and Islamism.Finally, the conversation moves into deeper philosophical and spiritual territory. Sam and I challenge each other on Christianity, sacrifice, suffering, and meaning, while Harris defends secular rationalism and critiques revealed religion as fundamentally dangerous when taken literally.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch the extended 1 hour conversation with Sam HERE: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/p/sam-harris-on-what-nobody-wants-to?r=18lfab-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

assassination attempt on the president, seemingly the vice president as well.

0:03.9

Political violence is absolutely on the rise.

0:07.0

Celebrating Hassan Piker as though he were the new face of progressive politics.

0:11.1

This is obviously morally deranged.

0:14.4

The left has been successfully manipulated by Islamists and apologists for Islamists,

0:20.5

and people on the left are morally confused.

0:22.6

Do you think Mamdani is an Islamist?

0:24.6

Jihadism and Islamism have to lose.

0:27.6

That it can be no accommodation with it. Islamophobia is pure bull.

0:31.6

As long as that scripture exists, you're always going to have some people who take it literally.

0:36.6

That's why I said Islam needs a reformation,

0:39.3

that would be a disaster reformation.

0:40.3

And several civil wars.

0:42.3

But what's happened more recently is that there's a side of the right that seems to be taking the same position.

0:48.3

A lot of the anti-Muslim rhetoric that's put out there originates with people who are very, very pro-Israel, who kind of need

0:57.6

us to demonize them?

0:59.1

Most people think that if Israel just went away, all of this conflict would disappear.

1:03.5

What you'd see is Muslims have to be in the business of killing jihadists.

1:13.6

Do you think Islam is compatible with the West? You have been a fierce critic of Trump.

1:17.6

You lay out that his bias are actually not just in favour of the West,

1:22.6

but his bias is against the Islamist world.

1:26.6

Given that you had previously supported or endorsed

...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 2 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Winston Marshall, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Winston Marshall and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.