Venezuela After Maduro: Inside the First U.S. Visit with Shane Smith | Shane Has Questions

Ian Bremmer, one of the most connected geopolitical minds on the planet, sits down to explain the Iran crisis in brutally honest terms: why regime change was a fantasy, how Iran is somehow making more money since the war started, and why the real pain at the pump, at the grocery store, in your portfolio hasn't even hit yet. This isn't cable news spin. This is the unfiltered truth from someone who actually talks to world leaders. From Venezuela to Greenland to Lebanon to Cuba. Bremmer maps out a world unraveling in real time, where drone swarms are rewriting the rules of war, disinformation is making reality optional, and one miscalculation in the Strait of Hormuz could tip the global economy into freefall. If you've been watching the headlines and feeling like something massive is being missed you're right. Watch this. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code shane at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/shane Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, and energy expert Amos Hochstein is calling this the single greatest energy crisis in global history bigger than the 1973 OPEC embargo. With roughly 10 million barrels of oil per day missing from global markets, prices have surged from $60 to nearly $100 a barrel, gas is climbing toward $4 a gallon, and major producers like Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar have already slashed production. According to Hochstein, if the Strait remains closed for just 10 more days, the economic damage could become permanent and very difficult to reverse. The ripple effects are already being felt everywhere food prices, shipping, airline tickets, and everyday goods are all taking a hit. Meanwhile, Republican senators are privately warning the White House that if this continues, they risk losing both the House and the Senate. Hochstein breaks down the best case, worst case, and most likely scenario for how this war ends and what it means for everyday Americans already feeling the squeeze at the pump and the grocery store. The conversation also goes beyond oil, connecting the dots between energy, AI, and the new geopolitical battleground. The real competition isn't just over oil fields and shipping lanes anymore it's over data centers, chips, and who controls the future of artificial intelligence. With China closing the gap fast, the stakes for America's global dominance have never been higher. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane Smith sits down with Senator Bernie Sanders for a conversation that cuts straight to the heart of America's biggest crisis artificial intelligence. Bernie warns that a handful of the world's wealthiest men are quietly engineering the most consequential revolution in human history, one that could wipe out millions of jobs overnight and leave ordinary Americans with nothing but unanswered questions. Driverless trucks, automated warehouses, AI lawyers and accountants the future is arriving fast, and Congress isn't even having the conversation. Bernie then unloads on the billionaire class fueling this transformation exposing how wealth and power have never been more dangerously concentrated, how money has corrupted American democracy from Citizens United to Elon Musk's $290 million in campaign spending, and why a federal wealth tax may be the last line of defense for working people. This is Bernie Sanders unfiltered and he's sounding the alarm. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane Smith travels to Venezuela for a special episode of Shane Smith Has Questions, on the ground for the first meeting between U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez — the Trump administration’s first official visit since the regime change.Reporting from Caracas, Shane gets rare access as U.S. officials engage Venezuela’s new leadership and begin shaping what comes next for the country — and its vast oil reserves.He also sits down with Venezuelan journalist María de los Ángeles Graterol and Wall Street Journal South America Bureau Chief Juan Manuel Ferero to unpack the power shift, the stakes for Washington, and whether Venezuela is entering a new chapter — or a new uncertainty. A firsthand look at a country at a turning point. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at https://www.shopify.com/shane Subscribe to VICE News here: ⁠http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane sits down with Andrew Yang, entrepreneur, Forward Party founder, and former presidential and mayoral candidate for a wide-open conversation about what happens to America when AI collides with a political system stuck in the 1800s. They start with why anyone even runs for office in the age of opposition-research-as-bloodsport, then rewind to Yang’s 2020 run, when he was dismissed as the “magical Asian man from the future” warning truckers in Iowa that automation and AI would wipe out their jobs. Now that ChatGPT and self-driving tech are here, Shane presses Yang on UBI 2.0, why his original $1,000 “Freedom Dividend” is probably too low, and what a truly human centered economy would look like, one where people are rewarded not just in dollars, but through new forms of value for art, care, health, and community. By the end, Shane issues a call to podcasters and young voters to use their outsized cultural power to help build whatever comes after the two-party era, while Yang predicts that America will elect an independent president in his lifetime. Get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for 1 year at https://www.factormeals.com/SHANE50OFF and use code SHANE50OFF Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Harvard Law’s Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons and Equal Citizens, joins Shane for look at how money captured American politics and what it will take to break its grip. Lessig explains why the real super PAC problem wasn’t created by Citizens United but by a lower-court ruling, and why a new Maine initiative could become the test case that finally reins in unlimited outside spending, potentially nationwide by 2028. They dig into the Supreme Court’s expanding power, how crypto and AI money are rewriting policy in real time, and whether “lawfare” is a buzzword or a genuine threat. Along the way: wage theft vs. our TV-obsession with robberies, why institutions keep settling with extortionists, and what reform has the best odds. In the lightning round, Lessig names dark money as democracy’s bigger danger over disinformation. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane sits down with Maverick Carter, CEO of SpringHill Company, business partner to LeBron James, and one of the most influential figures in modern sports and entertainment, for an unfiltered, masterclass conversation about capitalism, culture, and coming up from nothing. Maverick opens up about his roots in Akron, Ohio, where his grandmother ran an underground after-hours club that doubled as a community hub and a crash course in entrepreneurship. He explains how sweeping floors and watching dice games taught him the rules of capitalism long before business school ever could. From there, the discussion dives into his early days at Nike, the founding of SpringHill, and his lifelong friendship with LeBron, including the now-legendary story of how a teenage LeBron turned down a $10 million check from Reebok to bet on himself and ultimately sign with Nike. Along the way, Shane and Maverick riff on the psychology of money, what it really means to “earn your name,” and how winning — in sports, business, or life — is about raising all ships. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane Smith sits down with Aaron Parnas, the 26-year-old lawyer, journalist, and viral political commentator who’s redefining how Americans get their news. Together, they unpack the collapse of public trust in mainstream media, the rise of social platforms as new journalism hubs, and how Gen Z’s relationship to truth and power differs from every generation before. Parnas opens up about growing up amid political scandal, as the son of Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, and how personal trauma forged his drive to bring clarity and speed to today’s chaotic information ecosystem. He explains how he built a platform reaching more than 80 million Americans on TikTok by reporting in real time using court filings, direct government sources, and social feeds instead of corporate newsrooms. Shane and Aaron compare notes on their own careers in war zones and misinformation battlegrounds, exploring how “social media has democratized journalism” but also created echo chambers, rage cycles, and conspiratorial feedback loops. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/SHANE. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Subscribe to VICE News here: ⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane Smith sits down with Hollywood titan Barry Diller, the media mogul behind Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, QVC, Expedia, and IAC, for a sweeping journey through one of the most remarkable careers in modern entertainment. From his mailroom days at William Morris to creating the “Movie of the Week” at ABC, Diller recounts how failure, luck, and relentless curiosity shaped his path to becoming one of the most powerful figures in media. He opens up about his nervous breakdown at 19, the creative chaos of running Paramount during Grease, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Beverly Hills Cop, and how he embraced technology early, spotting the potential of interactivity decades before the internet boom. Shane and Barry dive into the lost art of creative confrontation, the decline of instinct in Hollywood, and the tectonic shift from storytelling to data-driven content. Diller also shares deeply personal reflections on his relationship with Diane von Furstenberg, his sexuality, and how a lifetime of contradictions, the shy kid who became a global powerbroker, has defined him. Along the way, there are stories of Beverly Hills scandals, the Munich Olympics tragedy, near misses with Amazon stock worth billions, and why Barry still believes his greatest bet was always on curiosity itself. Book your doctor's appointment at https://www.zocdoc.com/shane  Get 50% off your first box, plus free breakfast for 1 year at https://www.factormeals.com/SHANE50OFF and use code SHANE50OFF Subscribe to VICE News here: ⁠⁠http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shane Smith sits down with Sam Harris, philosopher, neuroscientist, and bestselling author for a deep conversation about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the fragile future of humanity. They begin with Sam’s early life and unlikely path, from studying English at Stanford to dropping out after a transformative MDMA experience that led him to India and Nepal, where he meditated and even served briefly on the Dalai Lama’s security detail. What follows is a wide-ranging exploration of how psychedelics, meditation, and neuroscience all shape our understanding of the mind and what happens when machines start thinking faster than we ever could. From the quantum weirdness of parallel universes to the moral peril of unaligned AI, Sam warns that humanity isn’t in an arms race with China or Google—but with its own ignorance. The two dive into the ethics of wealth and power, the danger of tech billionaires acting like Bond villains, and how meditation might be the only antidote to an accelerating world we no longer understand. Funny, philosophical, and fearlessly honest, this episode tackles everything from Elon Musk and Bill Gates to psychedelics and the illusion of the self, weaving science and spirituality into a single, provocative conversation about where we go next. Subscribe to VICE News here: ⁠http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices