Neuroscientist and podcast host Sam Harris has sparked controversy with recent comments acknowledging areas where the Trump administration has exceeded Democratic performance, particularly on foreign policy.
Speaking on a podcast, Harris, a longtime Trump critic, made the uncomfortable admission while discussing Iran and the administration’s approach to combating Islamism.
“I obviously despise Trump and Trumpism and 95% of what he’s been about as president,” Harris stated. “But I can readily admit that some things he’s done have been good.”
Harris specifically praised the administration’s “fairly uncompromising” stance in defending open societies and Israel against what he called “this specific species of enemy which is global jihadism.” He argued that instability in Iran appears to be “a feather in Trump’s cap with respect to foreign policy,” suggesting that support for Israel and participation in b**bing Iran may have been the proximate cause of recent unrest there.
The philosopher was particularly critical of previous Democratic administrations’ handling of Iranian uprisings. “I think it’s scandalous how mealymouthed Obama and Biden were on that front,” Harris said, noting that Iranian women have shown “a lot of courage” in fighting for political equality over many years while receiving inadequate support from Democratic governments.
Harris attributed what he sees as a failure of the political left to address threats from radical Islam to “lingering moral confusion” around these issues. He argued that the left has been unwilling “to draw too clear a line against the problem of theocracy,” creating an opening for Trump to appear stronger on national security matters.
“I think Trump has been better on this issue than we would have any right to have expected Kamala Harris to have been,” Harris conceded, adding that the admission caused him “a fair amount of pain” but remained true nonetheless.
Sam Harris on Trump: “He’s been better than many people could have hoped and certainly than really any Democrat would have been expected to be. It causes me a fair amount of pain to admit that, but I just think it’s true.”pic.twitter.com/3VCKURphAi
— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) January 17, 2026
The comments represent a significant moment for Harris, who has been among Trump’s most vocal critics in the intellectual sphere. His willingness to credit the administration on specific policy areas demonstrates what he described as maintaining intellectual honesty even when politically uncomfortable.
Harris also criticized what he termed the Democratic Party’s capture by its activist wing, suggesting that “pandering to the loudest and most hysterical of the far left has to stop.” He expressed hope that 2024 might represent “the high water mark” for this trend but warned that failure to course-correct could result in continued Republican dominance.
Harris has made similar points elsewhere, including in a podcast episode with Triggernometry, where he discussed Joe Rogan and the pandemic-era media climate in the context of Rogan’s interview with Donald Trump. Reflecting on that period, he argued that establishment voices repeatedly failed the public at critical moments.
“There were some very clear moments where the mainstream political messaging, the public health messaging was disastrously bad and/or dishonest,” Harris said. “And that was super consequential.” For Harris, these failures didn’t just erode trust in institutions, they actively pushed people toward alternative platforms and figures like Rogan, who appeared more willing to question official narratives, even to the point of hosting Trump for a long-form, unfiltered conversation.
