Provoked with Darryl Cooper and Scott Horton

EP:53 - Kiev Burning

July 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

A couple of Russians scaled the Empire State Building’s antenna to propose marriage, and the hosts of Provoked found themselves unironically rooting for them. “That’s gonna be the coolest thing that ever happened on the New York City skyline since ’74,” Scott Horton said, when someone put a high wire between the Twin Towers. The moment was a small, human interruption in a conversation that otherwise ranged across the American founding, the war in Ukraine, the psychology of the foreign policy establishment, and the slow-motion risk of nuclear escalation.

The Founding as a Weapon-System Moment

The episode opened on Independence Day, which led Darryl Cooper to reflect on the American Revolution as something more complicated than the mythology of cherry trees and pure idealism. He described it as a civil war driven by economic interests and westward expansion, but also as a unique experiment in refashioning a society from scratch. Scott Horton, who came to libertarianism through reading Jefferson and Madison before he ever found the Mises Institute, agreed that the concentration of world-historical intellects among the founders was objectively remarkable.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:26) **Opening & Independence Day Reflections** - The hosts pivot from personal banter to discussing the significance of July 4th and the American founding.
2 (05:39) **Patriotism, Deconstruction, and the Good in America** - The conversation defends American patriotism against cynical deconstruction, distinguishing the country from its government's actions.
3 (13:44) **Tragedy and Hope: Empire, Weapons, and Liberty** - The hosts delve into Carol Quigley's work, exploring the cyclical nature of civilizations and the relationship between weaponry and political freedom.
4 (25:50) **The Era of the Musket: The Founding Fathers' Arsenal** - The discussion narrows to the specific weaponry of the American founding era and its implications for citizen power.
5 (34:15) **The War in Ukraine: Attrition, Desperation, and Stalemate** - The hosts shift to analyzing the current state of the Russia-Ukraine war, questioning the narratives from both sides.
6 (40:40) **Roots of Russophobia: The Hostage Crisis and the 2014 Coup** - The hosts trace the origins of Western hostility toward Russia, focusing on the 2014 Maidan coup and its aftermath.
7 (44:24) **The Culture of the Russia Desk: Exiles and Axes to Grind** - An explanation of how the institutional culture of U.S. Russia policy was built by people with personal grievances against the country.