The Dinesh D'Souza Podcast – "MYSTERY AT BROWN"
Date: December 18, 2025
Host: Dinesh D'Souza
Guest: Prof. Mark Defant (University of South Florida)
Episode Overview
In this episode, Dinesh D'Souza tackles three major topics:
- The mysterious and allegedly mishandled mass shooting at Brown University.
- The rationale and fallout of high-profile Trump officials giving interviews to a critical Vanity Fair.
- A critical conversation with Professor Mark Defant on the rigor and ideological underpinnings of feminist scholarship in academia.
1. The Brown University Shooting: Incompetence or Cover-Up?
[01:01 – 13:48]
Key Points
- Ongoing Mystery: D'Souza describes the mass shooting at Brown as shrouded in confusion; authorities have only recently moved from a "person of interest" to a "suspect."
- Police and Media Response: He expresses skepticism about indistinct security footage and questions why a wealthy university lacks better surveillance.
- Alleged “Insurrealism” of Authorities: Press conferences, particularly the sign language interpreter, struck D'Souza as bizarrely out of place for such a grave event.
- Potential Motives & Rumors: D'Souza references unconfirmed reports that the shooter may have shouted "Allahu Akbar", questioning officials' refusal to confirm or deny the information. He speculates if such reticence aims to curb "Islamophobia" or prevent public speculation.
- Link to Other Incidents: He ponders a possible connection to a contemporaneous murder of an MIT professor (later debunked as unrelated).
- Concerns Over Targeting: Acknowledges speculation that a student, who was vice president of College Republicans, was targeted. D’Souza finds this unlikely due to the indiscriminate nature of the attack.
- Public and Official Missteps: D’Souza criticizes how authorities handled an earlier wrongful arrest, voicing concern for the wrongly accused.
Notable Quotes
"...the whole thing has an element of mystery, if not an odor of incompetence. The press conference...was an exercise of insurrealism." – D’Souza [02:28]
"Why is it the case? How can someone come on a venue, into a classroom, shoot people and leave, and all you have is this kind of pathetic, grainy video?" – D’Souza [03:53]
"Are they trying to prevent Islamophobia? Are they trying to prevent public conjecture or speculation?" – D’Souza [05:29]
2. Trump Officials, Vanity Fair, and the Pitfalls of Media Engagement
[13:48 – 19:24]
Key Points
- Vanity Fair Interviews: D’Souza analyzes why Susie Wiles (Trump White House Chief of Staff) and others granted interviews to the left-leaning magazine.
- Historical Parallel: He draws a comparison with David Stockman’s infamous "Education of David Stockman" interview in The Atlantic during Reagan’s tenure and the fallout it caused.
- Media Strategy in 2020s: D'Souza speculates that such interviews nowadays have less impact, given the fragmentation and lowered authority of mainstream media.
- Conservative Reaction: Notes that any attempt to secure favorable coverage from adversarial outlets is often futile and may lead to misrepresentation or embarrassment.
- Vanity Fair Response: Susie Wiles later clarified her remarks were "spun" out of context, though not denied.
Notable Quotes
"You cannot be surprised that you’re being trashed in Vanity Fair, because that is kind of what they exist to do." – D'Souza [18:24]
"...the media today has a lot less power than they used to...Frankly, no one really cares." – D’Souza [17:50]
3. Interview: The Perils and Rhetoric of Feminist Scholarship
Guest: Prof. Mark Defant
[19:24 – 43:26]
Key Points
The State of Feminism in Academia
- Institutionalized Feminism: Defant and D’Souza discuss how feminism's tenets have become deeply embedded in university structures.
- Rebellion and Counter-Currents: D’Souza suggests a "ferocious counter feminism" is mounting among young people, but Defant counters that universities remain overwhelmingly feminist in culture and staffing.
Feminist Scholarship vs. Scientific Rigor
- Evolutionary Psychology as Counterpoint: Defant critiques feminist theories that attribute gender roles and differences entirely to social constructionism, ignoring biological underpinnings.
- Gender Pay Gap Discourse: He challenges the claim that pay disparity is purely due to discrimination, emphasizing choices, risk preferences, and the influence of hormone-driven interests.
- Example: Overrepresentation is only counted as problematic in male-dominated fields, not in those where women dominate.
- Jobs attracting more women (e.g., teaching, nursing) pay less due to oversupply, not necessarily institutional sexism.
Power, Ideology, and Academic Inertia
- Power Play in Academia: D’Souza raises the question of whether feminist "scholarship" is more about institutional control than pursuit of truth.
- Lack of Rigor: Defant argues that feminist studies are often unscientific and ideological, stating his critique isn’t well received in the field.
- Critique on Social Constructionism: Argues there is little empirical support for the blank slate theory; biological influences are evident from fetal stage onward.
The Endgame: Truth vs. Ideology
- Both agree that ideology often trumps scholarly rigor and objectivity in academic feminism.
Memorable Moments & Quotes
“This feminist revolution has now become fully institutionalized...young people who are rebelling against it, what you're describing is what they're rebelling against because this is the stuff that they have been bombarded with probably since infancy.” – D’Souza [24:31]
“I see the lack of rigor in feminist studies...the gender pay gap...there's a gap, but there's a definite reason for that gap. Men tend to be risk averse, they tend to be aggressive, and women tend to be more interested in social issues and they resist the risk...” – Defant [33:38]
“All this toxic masculinity nonsense...masculinity has a lot of good points too, and I hate to see that happening in our universities...” – Defant [28:19]
“If not, let's move out of the university system because we're looking for something called truth, not politics, not ideology, and not the pushing of those ideals that you think are important.” – Defant [42:05]
4. Extended Monologue: Consciousness, Free Will, and Human Nature
[44:31 – End]
Key Points
- Limits of Science: D’Souza asserts that aspects of human experience, like consciousness and free will, transcend scientific explanation.
- Philosophical Inquiry: Explores classic determinism (Laplace’s view) and challenges the idea that human choices are illusions.
- Societal and Moral Implications: Argues that the denial of free will would render history and morality nonsensical—no accountability or meaningful choice would exist.
- Critique of Free Will Deniers: Points out the contradiction of figures like Sam Harris urging people to buy books while denying free will.
- Philosophical Attempts to “Salvage” Free Will: Distinguishes between freedom from external constraint and true self-direction; argues the former is insufficient to explain authentic human choice.
Notable Quotes
"If there is no free will, the American founders didn't choose to adopt a Constitution in Philadelphia, nor did America elect Obama or Trump as president...the entire human experience altogether [becomes]...incomprehensible." – D’Souza [50:08]
"What is the point of persuasion if no one has free will at all?...the whole thing becomes senseless." – D’Souza [52:15]
"We can choose what we will, but we cannot will what we will...that is caused, that is predetermined...what we do have is a more limited kind of freedom." – D’Souza [56:36]
Timestamps for Major Segments
- Brown Shooting Discussion: [01:01 – 13:48]
- Trump Officials & Vanity Fair: [13:48 – 19:24]
- Interview – Mark Defant on Feminism & Academia: [19:24 – 43:26]
- Consciousness & Free Will Monologue: [44:31 – End]
Summary Takeaways
- Dinesh D’Souza paints the Brown University shooting investigation as muddled, possibly compromised by either incompetence or unwelcome truths officials are reluctant to address.
- He critiques the Trump team’s willingness to speak candidly to adversarial media, arguing that such interactions are rarely advantageous for conservatives.
- The conversation with Prof. Defant offers a robust critique of feminist ideology in academia, favoring evolutionary psychology and scientific rigor over social construction arguments.
- D’Souza closes with a philosophical meditation on free will, rejecting materialist determinism and championing the centrality of true choice for moral, historical, and societal coherence.