The Free Press Interviews

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Free Press interviews always offer something different. We speak to the people who see changes coming. We speak to the people whose stories help us understand society. We speak to the people who are shaping America and the world. These are conversations you wonߴt find anywhere else, delivered with a dose of common sense. Only at The Free Press.

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  1. 3 hr ago ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Governor George Pataki on 9/11: Did the Terrorists Win?

    Twenty-five years ago, then-governor George Pataki led New York through the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, one that killed nearly 3,000 people and left the nation’s financial capital in ash and rubble. On September 11, 2001, Pataki closed bridges and tunnels and refused his own security detail’s advice to retreat to an underground bunker in Albany. Later that day, he was sitting across from New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in a makeshift command center in Lower Manhattan. In the weeks and years that followed, Pataki saw a level of national unity that offered the only silver lining to that day. A quarter century later, that unity—even the basic understanding that the United States has been the target of a terrorist attack—has collapsed. That collapse is what I asked Pataki about in our interview. For two decades, he has wrestled with the question he raised in his 2020 book, Beyond the Great Divide: whether the terrorists ultimately won, not on the battlefield but by unraveling the country’s unity from within. We talked about the rise of figures like Hasan Piker, the controversy over NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani’s planned attendance at this year’s memorial, and why Pataki believes America now faces a different kind of threat today: a moral rot eating away at the foundations of Western civilization. The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all book links in this article.

  2. 27 Aug ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Editors Killed My Story on Trans Athletes. I Resigned.

    Matt Calkins spent 11 years as a sports columnist for The Seattle Times. Last week he resigned after the paper refused to publish a column with a pretty basic thesis: that supporting the separation of biological males and females doesn’t make you transphobic. Calkins says the final column wasn’t a one-off, but the breaking point in a pattern of silencing dissenting voices. He describes a newsroom that changed dramatically over his tenure, especially after 2016, when what started as small edits to his columns turned into a pattern of spiked stories, sidelined pitches, and pressure to write pieces that aligned with the worldview of his paper. He says one editor told him to think about being “on the right side of history” after Calkins fought for one of his stories to be published. The piece that finally saw him resign came after a rally outside a Seattle Storm game in support of WNBA player Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly opposed transgender inclusion in women’s sports—a position roughly 80 percent of Americans agree with. Calkins announced his resignation on X and laid out the full story on his Substack, where he’s now publishing independently. Today, we talk about what actually happened behind the scenes—how his newsroom shifted over 11 years, how dissent got handled internally, why this issue has become such a flashpoint in women’s sports this year, and why he finally decided to walk away.

  3. 13 May ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    WATCH: Haviv Rettig Gur and Coleman Hughes on the New Fight for Western Values

    Watch now | A conversation with Haviv Rettig Gur and Coleman Hughes and hosted by Maya Sulkin on Israel, Iran, and the future of Jewish life in the West.

  4. 16 Apr ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Elise Stefanik on the ‘Rotten’ Ivy League, Mayor Mamdani, and Why She’s Leaving Congress

    Two years ago, in the wake of burgeoning antisemitism after Hamas’s October 7 attacks, Elise Stefanik sat across from the presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Pennsylvania and asked them a simple question: Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct? Their non-answers…

  5. 15 Apr ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    What Does the Government Actually Know About UFOs?

    Over the next four weeks, I’m hosting a video series called What Should Smart People Think About UFOs? As the conversation around UFOs has moved from the fringes of conspiracy culture into serious discussion, including at the highest levels of government, I want to speak with experts who have devoted real attention to the subject, to make sense of what …

  6. 9 Apr ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Niall Ferguson: Why Iran Thinks It’s Winning

    Late last night, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. But the first day has already proven rocky: Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel all reported missile and drone attacks from Iran; Israel carried out major air strikes against Hezbollah, raising questions about whether Lebanon is included in the ceasefire; and Ira…

  7. 3 Apr ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Trump Says We’re ‘Winning’ in Iran. It’s More Complicated.

    On Wednesday night, President Trump delivered a 19-minute address on Iran. As expected, he stressed his accomplishments: “In these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield. . . . Iran’s navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them. . . are now dead.” And he issu…

  8. 1 Apr ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Confessions of a Former Scientologist

    Most people have heard of Scientology, but have a limited understanding of what it really is. To many, it just seems wacky–associated with Tom Cruise jumping on a couch, and science fiction books staged as religious texts. But in preparing for my conversation with Claire Headley, who was born into Scientology and rose to a high-ranking position under leader David Miscavige, I was shocked by the depths of the abuses she endured. Under the control of the “church,” Claire was separated from her parents, subjected to brutal work conditions, indoctrinated into total obedience, and even, horrifically, forced to have an abortion. In Confessions, I sit down with people who have changed their minds to understand what it takes to confront closely held beliefs and pursue true ideological honesty. It’s hard to fathom the courage Claire needed to decide that everything she had known since birth was wrong, and to escape the church with her husband over two decades ago. We discuss her journey to leaving Scientology, how even as a child she sensed that something was wrong, why she decided to sign a billion-year contract with the elite Sea Organization religious order at age 16, and the disturbing patterns of abuse she witnessed at the highest levels of the church that eventually helped her change her mind. We also talk about why––even as people learn the cruel nature of Scientology––it’s remained largely unscathed in the court of law and accepted by Hollywood elites. Though Scientology continues to harass her family, Claire finally feels free—and she has an urgent message for anyone still trapped inside organizations that brainwash, abuse, and surveil.

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About

Free Press interviews always offer something different. We speak to the people who see changes coming. We speak to the people whose stories help us understand society. We speak to the people who are shaping America and the world. These are conversations you wonߴt find anywhere else, delivered with a dose of common sense. Only at The Free Press.

Information

  • Channel
    The Free Press
  • Creator
    The Free Press
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Provider
    Runaway Media Inc.

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