How to Get a Visit from the Secret Service

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit <a href="https://www.richardhanania.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_7">www.richardhanania.com</a><br /><br /><p>I just did a livestream with Nicholas Decker (<a href="https://x.com/captgouda24?lang=en" target="_blank">X</a>, <a href="https://nicholasdecker.substack.com" target="_blank">Substack</a>), a PhD student at George Mason University. I met Nick last year at Manifest, and encouraged him to write more, as I thought he had a lot of interesting ideas. I believe I might’ve also told him to not be afraid of being provocative. He apparently took that advice to heart! </p><p>For the last few days, he’s become a major villain among MAGAs for his article <a href="https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/when-must-we-kill-them" target="_blank">“When Must We Kill Them?”</a> His <a href="https://x.com/captgouda24/status/1912662152986402931" target="_blank">tweet promoting</a> the essay has as of this writing gotten over 10 million views. Nick has been receiving nonstop threats through email and twitter, and even had a visit from the Secret Service. I ask him what that’s been like, and also how he thinks the recent controversy will affect his future job prospects. Surprisingly, he thinks it will actually help. </p><p>I disagree with Nick that this is something we should even be discussing at this point. See my article on <a href="https://www.richardhanania.com/p/why-are-there-so-few-assassinations" target="_blank">why political assassinations</a> are bad. But I do have to admit that there’s nothing wrong with saying that there can be a time when government crosses a line, at which point violence is acceptable. And he’s been extremely brave throughout this whole thing, even posting the address he was living at before his landlord kicked him out. </p><p>Prior to this incident, his biggest brush with attention was over <a href="https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/why-your-children-shouldnt-be-your" target="_blank">his argument</a> that he wants to have children that are not genetically his own. I ask Nick whether he’s found the people whose offspring he would like to raise, how he selected them, and what his timeline is for becoming a parent. </p><p>You’ll find that Nick isn’t exactly what you might expect. He is a kind of über nerd whose eyes light up when discussing dense economics papers. We talk about one of my <a href="https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/why-do-firms-choose-to-be-inefficient" target="_blank">favorite articles</a> he has written, on how consulting can make firms more efficient. </p><p>Nick is someone I have been reading and would’ve been happy to stream with at some point anyway, so this controversy mostly just provided an excuse to chat. I don’t think we should be talking about political violence at this point, but I am an admirer of intellect and courage, and Nick has unquestionably shown a high degree of both. Admittedly, I also love a good anti-MAGA troll, probably to a fault. It seems likely that Nick has the same weakness. </p>