The Dinesh D'Souza Podcast – “PREPARE” (November 26, 2025)

Main Theme

In this episode titled “PREPARE,” Dinesh D’Souza delves into several contemporary sociopolitical and philosophical issues. He begins with a discussion on the Trump administration’s approach to designating Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist organizations, transitions into a critique of New York Times coverage of an identity theft case involving an illegal immigrant, and features an in-depth conversation with Dr. Cary Gress on modern feminism, patriarchy, and their cultural consequences. In the closing segment, D’Souza ties in physics and cosmology with theological implications, exploring the “anthropic principle” as it relates to immortality and the existence of multiple universes.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump Administration and the Muslim Brotherhood

• Topic introduction (02:03): D’Souza outlines the Trump administration's decision to designate “certain chapters” of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, but not others.
• Why the Brotherhood is unique:
  • Unlike ISIS or Al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood is a global, decentralized network:
  • "You won't find the Muslim Brotherhood...renting the monkey bars in Afghanistan." (03:18)
  • The organization’s strategy relies on infiltration rather than direct conflict; their motto, derived from the Quran, is “Prepare,” meaning “prepare for battle…with the enemies of Allah.” (05:04)
  • D’Souza critiques the U.S. for historically overlooking the Muslim Brotherhood’s danger in contrast to groups like Hezbollah or Hamas.
• Selective designation rationale:
  • Trump’s approach sets a terrorism “threshold,” designating only chapters involved in direct terror acts, not those acting benignly under U.S. law (e.g. running for school boards) (12:45).
  • Named concerns about Qatar’s and Turkey’s chapters being excluded, suggesting undue influence or double-dealing due to their connections and investments in U.S. institutions.
  • “Qatar plays this kind of middleman role…its influence in the United States is quite deleterious, quite nefarious.” (12:06)

2. Critique of Progressive Media Narratives

• Inflation and blue vs. red states (18:58):
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, in a wry comment, suggests moving from a blue to a red state to lower one’s inflation rate.
    • “Prices are lower in red states. Now, this is just a fact.” (23:25)
  • NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof retorts with life expectancy statistics, but D’Souza points out the logical fallacy in equating individual price impact with aggregate life expectancy differences: “If you move…what effect does it have on your life expectancy? Zero. Right.” (19:57)
• NYT profile: “Two Men, One Identity” (24:56):
  • D’Souza criticizes a New York Times article portraying both victim (whose identity was stolen) and the perpetrator (an illegal immigrant) as “victims.”
    • “This is kinda like saying…two victims. No, there aren’t two victims. There’s a victim and there’s a perpetrator.” (25:51)
  • Observes that if the perpetrator were not an illegal immigrant, NYT would not show such sympathy.
  • Memorable analogy:
    • “In the domain of art, you can have these sorts of sympathies…but this is not how I would feel if I actually ran into the Corleone in real life.” (27:26)
  • Concludes that media and progressive politics are orchestrating a “moral inversion,” blurring the lines between victim and wrongdoer based on identity.

3. Interview: Dr. Cary Gress on Feminism, Patriarchy, and the Cultural Divide

[Begins 28:40]

a. The Social Media “Battle” Over Feminism

• D’Souza notes a gender divide on social media debates: "It seems that basically the women are feminists and the men are anti-feminists, and a lot of the acrimony seems to come out of that." (28:27)
• Dr. Gress attributes heightened tensions to men increasingly finding their voice and pushing back, while women begin to face vulnerabilities after long cultural dominance.
  • "Men have gone more conservative and women are not moving the needle very much at this stage..." (29:53)

b. Educational & Ideological Indoctrination

• D’Souza asks if feminized education contributes to the schism.
• Gress:
  • For decades, culture allowed women to criticize men freely, while men did not respond—until recently (e.g. emergence of Andrew Tate as the “mirror image of the radical feminist”). (31:08)
  • Calls the climate “like watching a bad divorce…not really a way to navigate or heal it.“ (31:14)
  • Suggests that women have lacked models of “authentic femininity,” being instead encouraged to adopt vices like “rage, contempt, and envy” for political expediency.
    • “Women who are angry are a lot more politically expedient than women who are not angry.” (32:17)

c. Conservative Men “Endorsing” Feminism & Backlash Against Conservative Women

• D’Souza reflects on conservative men embracing “happy wife, happy life” attitudes out of chivalry or avoidance.
  • “Men have been reluctant to get into it…So they tend to bow out of the debate.” (33:35)
• Now, even conservative women (e.g. Lila Rose, Ali Stuckey) are being sharply criticized by anti-feminist men online for advocating male virtues, called out for “not learning about the patriarchy.”
  • Dr. Gress: "They're actually not embodying what the patriarchy is, they're embodying a kind of machismo or something very disordered." (35:41)

d. History and Real Meaning of Patriarchy

• D’Souza: The pre-feminist patriarchy was more complex and nuanced; women worked within it, sometimes wielding power covertly.
  • “The patriarchy was hardly…my grandfather was the general and...my grandmothers were the soldiers taking orders.” (37:45)
• Dr. Gress: Real patriarchy is hierarchical but inclusive—like the military, everyone finds a role and place. In contrast, unchecked egalitarianism can lead to “ghettoization” or suppression of youth.
  • "Men don’t exclude people, they find a place for them in the hierarchy. This is what women don’t do. We want everybody to be equal..." (39:14)
  • Emphasizes the role of fathers in healthy development and cautions about the cultural absence of positive patriarchy.

e. Theological Foundations of Feminism

• D’Souza: Seeks clarification that the roots of feminism are inherently anti-hierarchy—not just later “waves” but from the first-generation feminists.
• Dr. Gress connects early feminism's theological underpinnings (e.g., Mary Wollstonecraft's embrace of Unitarianism/atheism) with both philosophical and spiritual attacks on hierarchy and mediation (including Christ).
  • “First wave hadn’t really paved the way for it theologically and philosophically.” (44:38)

4. The Anthropic Principle, Multiple Universes, and Life After Death

[Begins 46:45]

• D’Souza explains the “anthropic principle” — the universe appears finely tuned for human life.
  • If constants were even minutely different, “you would get a universe with no life at all.” (48:19)
• Scientists troubled by theological implications speculate about multiple universes (multiverse theory) to avoid invoking a Creator.
  • “The idea of multiple universes is interesting…even if it’s just made up…” (51:25)
• Cites Christian astronomer Owen Gingrich: The concept of heaven is compatible—even illuminated—by multiverse thinking.
  • “Heaven becomes a very understandable possibility under this notion…” (53:10)
• Concludes: Modern physics, far from disproving the possibility of life after death, expands its plausibility by demonstrating the flexibility and limits of material existence.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• D’Souza on the Muslim Brotherhood’s long strategy:
  • “There’s a time for blowing up a building. There’s a time for taking over a school board. There’s a time for fielding candidates in an election.” (07:46)
• On New York Times “moral inversion”:
  • “There’s a victim and there’s a perpetrator. The victim is the one who suffers unjustly…The perpetrator is not a victim because the perpetrator is getting his just desserts by being held accountable…” (25:52)
• Dr. Cary Gress on current feminist anger:
  • “Women have been really focused on exercising the vices of rage, contempt, and envy…because women who are angry are a lot more politically expedient than women who are not angry.” (32:16)
• On real patriarchy:
  • “Leadership has a very strong component of servant leadership…that the job of the leader is just not to drag everybody behind him, but rather to serve the people that he is put in charge of.” (42:19)
• On the limits of scientific atheism:
  • “Modern science has proven itself not to be the enemy of religious believers, but their unexpected ally.” (55:45)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Trump & the Muslim Brotherhood: 02:03 – 12:45
• Qatar’s double-dealing influence: 11:18 – 12:45
• Inflation & blue vs. red states: 18:58 – 24:00
• NYT Identity Theft Critique: 24:56 – 28:10
• Feminism & Gender War (Dr. Gress): 28:40 – 44:49
  • Modern feminist/anti-feminist schism: 28:40 – 31:45
  • Backlash vs. conservative women: 35:22 – 37:39
  • Patriarchy & its history: 37:39 – 44:49
• Anthropic Principle & Physics: 46:45 – 55:45

Conclusion

Dinesh D’Souza’s “PREPARE” episode weaves through policy, media critique, gender ideology, and metaphysics, using a blend of personal insight, theory, and guest expertise. D’Souza challenges mainstream narratives on terrorism and progressive victimhood, exposes the unforeseen consequences of culture wars over gender, and finds unexpected harmony between modern science and religious possibility. Dr. Cary Gress’s contributions provide a thought-provoking dissection of feminism’s philosophical roots and its impacts on men, women, and society.