Michael Malice: Anarchist author, podcaster (YOUR WELCOME), and provocateur known for books on North Korea and anarchism. Showed up to his 10th JRE appearance in Roy Lichtenstein-style polka-dot face paint.
What this episode covers
A sprawling nearly three-hour conversation that opens on the dark turn of the internet and AI validating people's worst instincts, then moves through the Epstein files, Russia ties, and online conspiracy culture. Long stretches cover New York City politics under a new socialist mayor, the Mamdani-vs-Cuomo dynamic, Gavin Newsom, and assisted-suicide (MAID) expansion in Canada. A big middle section is a fitness and nutrition deep-dive: aspartame's effects, carnivore bars, peptides, testosterone, bench-press injuries, and kettlebells. The back half turns ominous on AI-generated video and deepfakes, autonomous weapons (Anthropic vs the Pentagon), search-engine election manipulation, ICE enforcement, UK grooming gangs, and the U.S. seizure of Venezuela's oil after grabbing Maduro. It closes on Malice's 25-year passion project, a graphic novel called The Unwanted.
Recommended on this episode
Carnivore Bars
Carnivore Bar
“That's what I eat. Okay, send it to me. Send me some, guys... I eat those all the time. I take them with me. I throw them in my car. It's great.”— Joe Rogan
Carnivore Snacks
Carnivore Bar
“Oh, carnivore snacks is great. This is my go-to snack. When I go to the UFC, that's the stuff I bring.”— Joe Rogan
M Light Carnivore Bar
M Light
“No, I eat carnivore bars. You ever had carnivore bars? Just like fat and meat. I use M Light is the brand I use.”— Joe Rogan
Reframe Your Brain
Scott Adams
“Reframe your brain is a complete masterpiece because what he does is he goes through uh fra mindsets and instantly recalibrates them.”— Michael Malice
The guest's own work
The Unwanted
Michael Malice
“this converts to a graphic novel uh uh very easily... So I'm super excited about it... unwantedbook.com.”— Michael Malice
Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story
Harvey Pekar
“I met Harvey Pecar uh who later wrote a book about me in 2006 called... So he wrote a book about me.”— Michael Malice
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Glow (peptide blend)
BPC-157 / TB-500 / GHK-Cu blend
“I tried glow... Glow is this new peptide. It's a combination of three things and it's called glow because it's has heavy copper so it's blue.”— Michael Malice
American Splendor
Harvey Pekar
“the guy who did the keyboards for the band did the animation for American Splendor and through him I met Harvey Pecar.”— Michael Malice
The Ripperverse
Eric July
“There's a guy named Eric July who has this whole kind of empire. He did a Kickstarter. He made like a million for his first one. It's called The Ripperverse.”— Michael Malice
The Creepy Line
M.A. Taylor
“the creepy line guy. Creepy line. There was that documentary, The Creepy Line.”— Michael Malice
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Kevin James
“Mad respect for him. Point Ball Cop, the greatest comedy of all time.”— Michael Malice
John Wick
Lionsgate
“There's a video of me and Keano Reeves doing kung fu in this room... he's dressed up like John Wick, but it looks real.”— Joe Rogan
Survivor
CBS
“Survivor season one. So that was like 2000... They had the second to last episode. There's four contestants left.”— Michael Malice
Big reveals from this episode
- Malice claims quitting aspartame (Dr Pepper Zero) fixed his brain fog, word-recall problems, and low-grade anxiety within two days.
- Joe says he's been on testosterone replacement since nearly age 40 and 'highly recommends it.'
- They note Anthropic is clashing with the Pentagon, refusing to let its AI be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance while rivals say 'let's go.'
- Malice asserts ChatGPT was tasked to build a better version of itself (ChatGPT-5), describing recursive self-improvement.
- Rubio reportedly says the U.S. will control Venezuelan oil exports 'indefinitely,' requiring the acting government to submit a budget request.
- Malice recounts speaking at Scott Adams' memorial and being given two of Adams' markers by his ex-wife.
- Malice pitches a satirical 'Enslave Canada' reparations plan giving each African-American one Canadian.
- Malice describes confronting UK grooming-gang case files and Elon Musk amplifying his tweet on it.
Worth remembering
- New York City's proposed $127B budget is larger than the entire state of Florida's, which has roughly three times the population.
- Donald Rumsfeld, as CEO of G.D. Searle, helped push FDA approval of aspartame in the early 1980s.
- Carnivore Bar: two ingredients, 20g protein, 35g animal fat, 400-420 calories from grass-finished beef, shelf-stable.
- David Bars use an engineered fat substitute (EPG, made by Epogee) that passes through undigested, causing gas.
- Joe says creatine is a tremendous, safe, natural supplement young people should use instead of steroids.
- Robert Epstein's research shows curated search rankings can shift undecided voters by a meaningful margin.
- ICE recruiting offers up to a $50,000 signing bonus and $60,000 in student loan repayment.
- Of ~400,000 ICE arrests in Trump's first year, ~60% had criminal history but only 14% had violent-crime records.
- Roughly 90% of surveyed Olympians said they'd trade 20 years of life for a guaranteed gold medal.
- In 1947 President Truman offered Denmark $100 million in gold for Greenland; it was rejected.