Podcast Summary: Behind the Bastards

Episode: Part Four: How Jeffrey Epstein Helped Build the Modern World
Date: February 26, 2026
Host: Robert Evans (Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts)
Guests: Andrew T, Clayton Eckerd
Theme: Exploring Jeffrey Epstein’s influence on the intellectual, technological, and political elite, with a focus on his role in seeding far-right ideology, scientific racism, and anti-transgender sentiment in the modern world.

Overview of the Episode

This final installment in the Epstein series moves beyond the details of his sex crimes to focus on his broader, less-discussed impact: how his money and connections helped shape reactionary intellectual currents, far-right politics, and the weaponization of “high-minded debate” among tech elites and public intellectuals. The episode uncovers the way Epstein and his circle—comprised of influential billionaires, media tycoons, technologists, and academics—supported the rise of the alt-right, eugenics, and anti-trans propaganda, and explores the ripple effects of that support.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why "Just the Sex Crimes" Isn't the Full Story

• Robert Evans (00:57): Notes that previous episodes covered Epstein’s sexual abuse in detail, allowing this episode to highlight his influence on powerful social, intellectual, and political movements.

2. Ferguson and the Rightward Shift in the Elite

• Ferguson’s Impact: The 2014 Ferguson protests were a turning point for many wealthy elites, including Epstein, pushing them further toward reactionary, race-based politics.
  • Robert Evans (07:05): “A lot of his behavior seems to shift. He gets more into right wing stuff…But there’s a definite moment we can easily say had a big impact…It’s Ferguson.”
  • Epstein, like much of his peer group, reportedly saw Ferguson as evidence of his "fears" about racial unrest, directly influencing his funding of white nationalist and eugenic research.

3. Correspondence with Ehud Barak: Elite Anxiety

• Email Evidence (11:09): In Nov 2014, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak congratulates Epstein on accurately predicting the “eruption” after the Ferguson grand jury decision—demonstrating Epstein’s focus on race and social control.
  • Barak’s Email: “Jeff, you’ve accurately predicted the eruption and together we predicted the mistakes which will follow. Let’s hope it won’t get worse…” (11:09)

4. Epstein's White Nationalism, Eugenics, and “Dangerous Ideas”

• Funding Scientific Racism:
  • Post-Ferguson, Epstein significantly increased his funding of scientific racism and eugenic projects, such as genetically modifying Black people "to make them smarter" (13:14).
  • Robert Evans: “He’s just a race science Nazi.” (13:21)
• Correspondence with Noam Chomsky (14:22):
  • Epstein tries to convince Chomsky of race-based intelligence, invoking discredited ideas and the work of notorious racist geneticist James Watson.
  • Chomsky (16:33): Pushes back, noting the correlation between systemic racism and outcomes for Black Americans, but still maintains a friendly correspondence.
  • Andrew T (19:18): “That’s Jeff’s foible. He’s a fucking pedophile fascist. We can all joke about that.”
• Weaponizing Intellectualism:
  • Epstein and peers frame reactionary ideas as “dangerous questions” at the elite’s edge—actually code for bigoted, exclusionary concepts.
    • Evans (24:02): “What if people couldn’t vote if they were poor? What if I could fuck teenage girls? Those are the three big issues at the edge of human knowledge that these guys are really interested in.”

5. The Edge Foundation: A Petri Dish for Bad Ideas

• Overview:
  • Created by literary agent John Brockman in 1996, the Edge Foundation gathered technologists, billionaires, and intellectuals, positioning itself as the “third culture” guiding the future.
  • Evgeny Morozov’s revelation: Brockman acted as Epstein’s “intellectual enabler,” directly connecting him to luminaries such as Steven Pinker, Joy Ito, and more.
  • Brockman’s Pitch (28:28): “Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire scientist philanthropist, showed up at this weekend’s event by helicopter with his beautiful young assistant from Belarus…he’s the guy who gave Harvard $30 million… he spent a year in jail in Florida. Crazy way to say he’s a registered child sex offender.”
• Billionaires’ Dinners: Regular, exclusive Edge events brought together the ultra-rich (Bezos, Musk, Brin, Zuckerberg, etc.) with Epstein at the center—often even after his conviction.
  • 2011 Dinner Attendees: Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Elon Musk; 2015: Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, and others (35:14–37:46).

6. Seeding the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) and Anti-Trans Wave

• Edge as IDW Precursor (42:17):
  • Evans and Castigan: Edge is framed as a predecessor to the Intellectual Dark Web, which popularized right-wing “dangerous ideas,” especially anti-trans content.
• Epstein and Robert Trivers:
  • Trivers’ Role: Evolutionary biologist, openly justified Epstein’s abuse: “By the time they’re 14 or 15, they’re like grown women… so I don’t see these acts as so heinous.” (58:35)
  • Epstein Funding Trivers (59:16): Pushes Trivers to research and publish anti-trans, pseudoscientific theories linking biology and gender, directly funding hate-based “science.”
  • Explicit Emails (63:50): “My recollection is that…you might want to focus on transgender biology. People would be interested and I would fund. I am a true believer in your talents.”

7. Anti-Trans Pseudoscience: From Theory to Policy

• Trivers’ Universal Theory of Gender Identity:
  • Mixed fetishization and scaremongering to push biological essentialism for gender, resulting in research cited by anti-trans groups (67:35).
  • Dr. Nichols’ summary: “Epstein funds Trivers’ research… hate groups pick up on the pseudoscience and use it as a justification for their regressive policy policies.” (68:46)
• Epstein’s Network: Links to the Sulzberger family (NYT), Leonard Black, Steven Pinker, etc. Used his access and funding to push anti-trans narratives in prestigious circles.

8. Epstein, Steve Bannon, and the Alt-Right Ecosystem

• Bannon Relationship (73:26–79:05):
  • Epstein/Bannon Correspondence: Shared disdain for Trump, admiration for each other’s manipulation and subversive tactics (“Bannon seems like the pretty smart puppet master.” – Epstein, 74:17).
  • Collaboration on Influence: Discussions about hiring hackers, influencing policy, and shaping global reactionary politics.
  • Evans: “They’re talking about everything, especially their crimes.” (75:44)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the grimness of the subject:

  • Andrew T (00:27): “You’re just like a low mimetic version of The Ring. Listening to the show—in seven days, you’ll want to die.”
  • Robert Evans (00:40): “That’s what we go for here at Behind the Bastards—make all our listeners want to die just a little.”

• On the edge of knowledge:

  • Robert Evans (24:12): “When these guys get together, primarily they talk about like—what if people couldn’t vote if they were poor? What if we had more money? What if I could fuck teenage girls? Those are the three big issues at the edge of human knowledge.”
  • Andrew T (33:23): “If you wrote dialogue this heavy handed, you’d be run out of Hollywood.”

• On the anti-trans agenda:

  • Dr. Nichols (cited, 68:46): “[Epstein] funds Trivers… hate groups pick up on the pseudoscience and use it as a justification for their regressive policy policies.”

• On the banality and power of evil:

  • Andrew T (68:46): “The best, most funded, absolutely cutting edge of right-wing thought is… the same as on the playground when they said if your hand is bigger than your face, you’re… That is literally the best these people can do.”

Timeline of Crucial Segments

• Epstein’s post-conviction influence & Ferguson turning point: 07:05 – 11:09
• Ehud Barak email, Ferguson and predictions: 11:09 – 13:21
• Epstein’s white nationalist/eugenics obsession: 13:21 – 19:18
• Chomsky email exchange: 14:22 – 19:45
• Edge Foundation background & role: 24:11 – 31:01
• Billionaires Dinners & their dark significance: 32:00 – 37:46
• Epstein’s anti-trans crusade with Robert Trivers: 48:49 – 68:46
• Trivers’ pseudoscience hatred ramifications: 68:46 – 69:14
• Epstein’s ties to Bannon, alt-right, and hacking: 73:26 – 79:05
• Closure, exhaustion, and the endless trove: 79:26 – end

Conclusion

Takeaway:
This episode reveals how Jeffrey Epstein operated as more than just a monstrous criminal—he was a vector through which some of the world’s worst and most regressive ideas were cultivated, laundered, and legitimized among the global elite. Via dinners, foundations, email threads, and funding, Epstein played a pivotal but often opaque role in seeding and amplifying reactionary ideologies within the supposedly “forward-thinking” tech and academic communities, particularly around racism, eugenics, and anti-trans hate.

Final Reflections (79:35):

• Andrew T: “The trove is endless. Endless content.”
• Robert Evans: “Maybe Jeffrey Epstein really just sacrificed himself for the global content mines…to ensure that there were plenty of podcasts and YouTube videos.”
• Clayton Eckerd: “I’d love to be done…this was painful.”

Summary prepared for listeners and researchers wanting to understand Jeffrey Epstein’s wider role as an architect of today’s reactionary culture and the networks that enabled him.