Scott is so chalk filled with references and names and facts from so many different experts and journalists and people, its actually remarkable. He also writes a huge number of references in all of his books, so it makes sense. What was really cool was how scott clearly re-watched this and fact checked himself (or at the least someone else did), which goes to show how careful and rigorous he is. This is admirable. The reality and complexity and backstory for the Military Industrial complex and America’s involvement in the middle east is incredibly overwhleming, and also makes a 10.5 hour MONSTER of a podcast actually necessary and worth listening to (if you care enough about these details). I was definitely not focused the entire time, but it held onto my attention pretty well 50-75% of the time (over 6 days of listening…lol). I was rating throughout, and felt a 7.5-8 waivering depenidng on the different topics, and ended up at a 7.6 with a long and drawn out ending about the Ukraine/Russia war (reminded me of Putin and other historian type angles that are just drowning in random details). In general that was a major ‘flaw’, not necessarily with Scott, but just with the topic. SO much going on and its so complex and alot of it sounds crazy/mean with a tone of your grandpa, so its just hard to listen to. Would recommend trying to listen to most on 1.5/2x speed if possible and you actually care about alot of this, and then slowing down when things are interesting to you.