The Argument Index
Debate potential by speaker, the highest-scored statement each year, and the companies with the most bearish calls on record. All of it clickable, all of it playable.
People
Average debate potential by speaker
All 153 guests with 5 or more scored statements, ranked. 6 more have fewer than 5, too few for a fair average, and the host is scored on his own page. Sort or filter below.
| # | Person | Avg debate potential | Statements scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russ Vaught Director, Office of Management and Budget | 4.06 | 16 |
| 2 | Coleman Hughes Author & Host, Conversations with Coleman | 3.4 | 45 |
| 3 | Marc Andreessen Co-Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz | 3.38 | 39 |
| 4 | Phil Gramm Nonresident Senior Fellow, AEI | 3.38 | 21 |
| 5 | Leonard Leo Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society | 3.36 | 11 |
| 6 | Roland Fryer Professor of Economics, Harvard University | 3.33 | 12 |
| 7 | Peter Thiel Partner and Co-Founder, Founders Fund | 3.29 | 28 |
| 8 | Balaji Srinivasan Founder, The Network School | 3.27 | 37 |
| 9 | Balaji Sr i n i v a s a n Founder, The Network School | 3.25 | 16 |
| 10 | Senator Eric Schmitt U.S. Senator, U.S. Senate | 3.21 | 14 |
| 11 | Zachary Levi Founder, Wyldwood Studios | 3.19 | 16 |
| 12 | Max Meyer Founder & Publisher, Arena Magazine | 3.18 | 11 |
| 13 | Niall Ferguson Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution | 3.16 | 31 |
| 14 | Congressman Mike Gallagher Head of Defense, Palantir Technologies | 3.16 | 19 |
| 15 | Dave Rubin Comedian & Media Host | 3.14 | 14 |
| 16 | Matt Ridley Author & Columnist | 3.12 | 16 |
| 17 | Bari Weiss Journalist & Founder, Substack Newsletter | 3.11 | 9 |
| 18 | Rep. Ro Khanna U.S. Representative, U.S. House of Representatives | 3.11 | 18 |
| 19 | Alex Karp Co-founder & CEO, Palantir Technologies | 3.11 | 18 |
| 20 | Anson Frerichs Founder, Athletic Capital | 3.11 | 9 |
| 21 | Dr. Cliff Winston Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution | 3.08 | 12 |
| 22 | Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi Crown Prince of Iran | 3.07 | 15 |
| 23 | Carlos Carvalho President, University of Austin | 3.07 | 27 |
| 24 | Aaron Levie Co-Founder & CEO, Box | 3.06 | 16 |
| 25 | Stephen Harper Board Chair, AIMCo | 3 | 21 |
| 26 | Philip Howard Founder and Chair, Common Good | 3 | 12 |
| 27 | Thomas Chatterton Williams Staff Writer, The Atlantic | 2.96 | 23 |
| 28 | Judge Glock Director of Research, Manhattan Institute | 2.92 | 25 |
| 29 | Tom Cotton U.S. Senator, United States Senate | 2.92 | 26 |
| 30 | Tyler Cowen Professor of Economics, George Mason University | 2.91 | 22 |
| 31 | Maria Corina Machado National Coordinator, Vente Venezuela | 2.91 | 22 |
| 32 | Eboo Patel Founder & President, Interfaith America | 2.9 | 10 |
| 33 | Guillaume Verdon Founder & CEO, Extropic | 2.89 | 19 |
| 34 | Kevin Stitt Governor, State of Oklahoma | 2.88 | 25 |
| 35 | Mike Solana CMO, Founders Fund | 2.88 | 17 |
| 36 | Mike Pompeo Partner, Niobrara Investment Partners | 2.86 | 21 |
| 37 | Joe Liemandt Principal, Alpha School | 2.85 | 27 |
| 38 | Keri Findley Founder and CEO, Tacora Capital | 2.8 | 5 |
| 39 | Ambassador Kelly Craft Head, Kelly G. Knight LLC | 2.8 | 15 |
| 40 | Richard Sandler Executive Vice President, Milken Family Foundation | 2.8 | 10 |
| 41 | Jonathan Greenblatt CEO and National Director, Anti-Defamation League | 2.79 | 19 |
| 42 | Steve Hilton Founder and CEO, Golden Together | 2.79 | 19 |
| 43 | Sam Lessin Founding Partner, Slow Ventures | 2.76 | 21 |
| 44 | Tim Urban Co-Founder & Writer, Wait But Why | 2.75 | 16 |
| 45 | Bjorn Lomborg President, Copenhagen Consensus Center | 2.72 | 18 |
| 46 | Brendan McCord Founder & Chair, Cosmos Institute | 2.67 | 18 |
| 47 | Dr. Mike Israetel Co-Founder, Renaissance Periodization | 2.66 | 29 |
| 48 | Shyam Sankar CTO & EVP, Palantir Technologies | 2.62 | 21 |
| 49 | Ethan Penner Chairman, Hill Street Realty | 2.6 | 10 |
| 50 | JD Ross Co-Founder & CEO, With Coverage | 2.6 | 25 |
| 51 | Wilbur Ross Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce | 2.59 | 22 |
| 52 | Whitney Baker Founder & CIO, Totem Macro | 2.57 | 14 |
| 53 | Sujay Jaswa Founding Partner & Managing Partner, WndrCo | 2.56 | 18 |
| 54 | Iyinoluwa Aboyeji Founding Partner, Future Africa | 2.56 | 25 |
| 55 | Paul Atkins Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | 2.56 | 16 |
| 56 | Brad Gerstner Founder & CEO, Altimeter Capital | 2.54 | 24 |
| 57 | Kevin Mandia Founder & CEO, Armadin | 2.54 | 24 |
| 58 | Alex Kolicich Founding Partner & CIO, 8VC | 2.53 | 17 |
| 59 | Elad Gil Founder, Gil Capital | 2.52 | 21 |
| 60 | Arthur Brooks Professor of the Practice, Harvard Kennedy School | 2.5 | 14 |
| 61 | Chris Sprowls Managing Partner, Rooker Ward Partners LLC | 2.5 | 18 |
| 62 | Jacob "Jake" Miller Co-Founder & Chief Solutions Officer, Opto Investments | 2.5 | 12 |
| 63 | Dmitri Alperovitch Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator | 2.5 | 18 |
| 64 | Kelly Loeffler Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration | 2.47 | 19 |
| 65 | Pete Florence Co-founder & CEO, Generalist | 2.47 | 15 |
| 66 | Jacob Helberg Under Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State | 2.44 | 16 |
| 67 | Eric Scott Founder, Overlook Capital | 2.41 | 17 |
| 68 | John Mackey Co-Founder & CEO, Love.Life | 2.4 | 20 |
| 69 | Jared Meyer Senior Advisor, Cicero Action | 2.4 | 15 |
| 70 | Nathan Mintz CEO & Co-Founder, CX2 | 2.4 | 15 |
| 71 | Jeff Wu Co-founder & Managing Partner, Anti Fund | 2.4 | 5 |
| 72 | Jake Paul Co-Founder, Anti Fund | 2.4 | 10 |
| 73 | Steve Blank Adjunct Professor, Stanford University | 2.38 | 13 |
| 74 | Andrew McAfee Principal Research Scientist, MIT | 2.36 | 14 |
| 75 | Bob McGrew Co-founder, Arda | 2.36 | 25 |
| 76 | Dr. David Ruth Provost, University of Austin | 2.36 | 11 |
| 77 | Chris Sununu President & CEO, Airlines for America | 2.36 | 11 |
| 78 | Emil Michael Under Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense | 2.34 | 47 |
| 79 | Sebastian Caliri Partner, 8VC | 2.33 | 15 |
| 80 | Adi Berlia Co-Founder & Pro-Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University | 2.33 | 15 |
| 81 | Reid Hoffman Partner, Greylock | 2.32 | 25 |
| 82 | Dr. Clay Johnston Co-founder & CMO, Harbor Health | 2.31 | 13 |
| 83 | Dylan Sirota Co-founder & CEO, Terminal | 2.31 | 13 |
| 84 | Dr. Peter Attia Founder, Early Medical | 2.3 | 23 |
| 85 | Dr. Rick Klausner Co-Chair & Chief Scientific Advisor, Altos Labs | 2.29 | 17 |
| 86 | Zach Bookman Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, OpenGov | 2.28 | 18 |
| 87 | Dr. Mark Esper Partner, Red Cell Partners | 2.25 | 28 |
| 88 | Andrew Yang Founder, Forward Party | 2.25 | 16 |
| 89 | Troy Carter Founder & CEO, Venice Music | 2.25 | 8 |
| 90 | Jeannette zu Fürstenberg Managing Director & President, General Catalyst | 2.24 | 21 |
| 91 | Jared Isaacman Administrator, NASA | 2.24 | 17 |
| 92 | Ashton Kutcher Co-Founder and General Partner, Sound Ventures | 2.22 | 9 |
| 93 | Pano Kanelos Founding President, University of Austin | 2.21 | 28 |
| 94 | Boyan Slat Founder & CEO, The Ocean Cleanup | 2.19 | 21 |
| 95 | Michael Bettersworth Chief Innovation Officer, Texas State Technical College | 2.18 | 11 |
| 96 | Palmer Luckey Founder, Anduril Industries | 2.17 | 23 |
| 97 | Mike Reiser Chancellor & CEO, Texas State Technical College | 2.17 | 6 |
| 98 | John Chambers Founder and CEO, JC2 Ventures | 2.17 | 12 |
| 99 | Andy Lowery CEO, Epirus | 2.17 | 23 |
| 100 | Dr. Francisco Gimenez Partner, 8VC | 2.16 | 19 |
| 101 | Scott Kupor Director, United States Office of Personnel Management | 2.15 | 13 |
| 102 | Scott Wu Co-founder & CEO, Cognition | 2.15 | 34 |
| 103 | Dhani Jones Chairman and Founder, Qey Capital | 2.14 | 7 |
| 104 | Adm. Bill McRaven Professor of National Security, UT Austin | 2.13 | 15 |
| 105 | Adrian Fenty Founding Managing Partner, MaC Venture Capital | 2.11 | 9 |
| 106 | Ken Langone Chairman, Invemed Associates | 2.06 | 17 |
| 107 | Maleka Momand Co-Founder & CEO, Esper | 2 | 22 |
| 108 | Daniel Lubetzky Founder and Chairman, Camino Partners | 2 | 6 |
| 109 | Doug Proctor COO, Candid Health | 2 | 5 |
| 110 | Dr. Rebekah Gee Founder & CEO, Nest Health | 2 | 8 |
| 111 | Yitz Applbaum Co-Founder and Partner, MizMaa Ventures | 2 | 10 |
| 112 | Guillermo Rauch Founder & CEO, Vercel | 2 | 14 |
| 113 | Raj Bhakta Founder, BHAKTA Spirits | 2 | 14 |
| 114 | Ian Cinnamon Co-Founder and CEO, Apex Space | 2 | 23 |
| 115 | Aaron Cannon Co-founder & CEO, Outset | 2 | 12 |
| 116 | Russell Kaplan Co-Founder & President, Cognition | 2 | 17 |
| 117 | Ryan Holiday Founder & Host, The Daily Stoic | 1.95 | 22 |
| 118 | Jake DeWitt Co-founder & CEO, Oklo Inc. | 1.94 | 17 |
| 119 | Nick Perry Co-Founder & CEO, Candid Health | 1.93 | 14 |
| 120 | Joe Gebbia Founder, Samara | 1.92 | 36 |
| 121 | Eddie Margain Founder & CEO, Pixiu Investments | 1.91 | 11 |
| 122 | Sri Ganesan Co-founder & CEO, Rocketlane | 1.9 | 10 |
| 123 | Gene Berdachevsky Co-Founder & CEO, Sila Nanotechnologies | 1.88 | 17 |
| 124 | Kimbal Musk Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, The Kitchen Restaurant Group | 1.87 | 15 |
| 125 | Ben Black CEO, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation | 1.87 | 15 |
| 126 | Zach Latta Founder and Executive Director, Hack Club | 1.86 | 21 |
| 127 | Ben Rubinstein Co-Founder, Yodle | 1.85 | 13 |
| 128 | Bo Marmon Co-founder & CTO, Chaos Industries | 1.84 | 19 |
| 129 | John Mack Senior Advisor, KKR | 1.83 | 12 |
| 130 | Kimmy Scotti Co-Founder, Fig.1 Beauty | 1.82 | 11 |
| 131 | Tony Fadell Principal, Build Collective | 1.81 | 16 |
| 132 | Jimmy John Liautaud Founder & former Chairman, Jimmy John's | 1.81 | 16 |
| 133 | Tade Oyerinde Founder & Chancellor, Campus | 1.8 | 15 |
| 134 | Scott Nolan Founder & CEO, General Matter | 1.78 | 18 |
| 135 | Eliot Hodges CEO, Anduin | 1.75 | 8 |
| 136 | Charles Koch Chairman & Co-CEO, Koch, Inc. | 1.74 | 19 |
| 137 | Nima Ghamsari Co-Founder & CEO, Blend | 1.73 | 11 |
| 138 | JoeBen Bevirt Founder & CEO, Joby Aviation | 1.72 | 54 |
| 139 | Sal Churi Founder & General Partner, Trust Ventures | 1.71 | 7 |
| 140 | John Milles-Kiriazzi Co-Founder & CEO, Standard Metrics | 1.71 | 14 |
| 141 | Tyler Scriven Co-Founder & CEO, Saltbox | 1.7 | 10 |
| 142 | Dino Mavrucas Co-Founder and CEO, Saronic Technologies | 1.67 | 12 |
| 143 | Boris Sofman Co-Founder and CEO, Bedrock Robotics | 1.67 | 18 |
| 144 | Harish Abbott Co-Founder and CEO, Augment | 1.67 | 18 |
| 145 | Hayes Barnard Founder & CEO, GoodLeap | 1.62 | 13 |
| 146 | Ivan Dimov Co-founder & CEO, Orca Bio | 1.62 | 13 |
| 147 | Will Fry Founder & CEO, American Operator | 1.62 | 16 |
| 148 | Maria Davidson Founder & CEO, Kojo | 1.6 | 15 |
| 149 | Jake Kloberdanz Founder & CEO, ONEHOPE Wine | 1.58 | 12 |
| 150 | Dr. Clarence Jones Chairman, Spill the Honey Foundation | 1.57 | 14 |
| 151 | Byron Boots Co-Founder & CEO, Overland AI | 1.57 | 14 |
| 152 | Rahul Gandhi CEO, Crossterra | 1.44 | 9 |
| 153 | Maureen Hillenmeyer CEO & Co-Founder, Hexagon Bio | 1.35 | 17 |
Companies
The most bearish calls
Debate potential is an AI score of how much a statement invites disagreement. Bearish counts tally what was said about a company on the show; they describe the conversation, not the company. Every count opens to the exact tape. full disclaimer →
All 159 companies, funds and products with at least one bearish claim on the record.
Highest debate potential, by year
2026
Black: Donald Trump is the most financially astute US president ever
“President Trump is so fantastic is he is the most financially astute president we've ever had, and he's really focused on how economics makes the world go round and what it means for not just the exercise of American power, but building out the next century to…”
2025
Thiel: Lawsuit discovery proved the Army covered up reports favoring Palantir
“And then when you and then what you can do when you sue somebody is you get discovery and you discover, and you sort of discover what's going on in the sausage making factory that no one's investigated for 22 years. And there's a lot of stuff and we're sort of…”
Andreessen: Universities and employers hire African immigrants over African Americans
“Both the universities and the corporate employers are literally, this is true. They're literally, they literally import Africans so that they don't have to hire African Americans. Because they still count as black.”
2024
Fryer: Police Study Found Racial Bias in Non-Lethal Force, None in Shootings
“And what we found was that on the lower level uses of force, there are racial differences that we couldn't explain. And we put them through formal bias test, and there is bias that goes on in the lower level uses of force. What we didn't find was any, that tha…”
Verdon: Centralized bioweapon defense research accidentally created a damaging virus
“There was centralized research on Bio, you know, bioweapon defense. Right. And we were worried about a potential virus that could do a lot of damage. And then it was actually accidentally created through that research.”
2023
Aboyeji: The American liberal system emasculates Black men
“Look, I'm gonna be honest, and maybe it's a little bit of a controversial point of view, but it's the emasculation of black men. That is just a fact, right? It is a big topic. It is something that, that we talk about. Black men simply have not been empowered b…”
2022
Ro Khanna: Twitter and Facebook Erred in Suppressing Hunter Biden Story
“In fact, you know, in the book I write about how I thought it was a mistake for Twitter to take down some of this stuff about Hunter Biden or Facebook to do that. And I think that story was total hogwash. I think Joe Biden was unfairly attacked because of his …”
2021
Jaswa: Race-Conscious UC Admissions Policy Feels Strictly Anti-Asian
“I mean, to me, it just feels, you know, strictly anti-Asian, actually.”
Ferguson: US Education System Is Captured by Ideology Hostile to Science
“All of that's become much harder, because our educational system has been captured, now almost from the very bottom, from kindergarten to grad school, by an ideology which is profoundly hostile to the scientific method, and increasingly regards science itself …”