Brief: Antifascist Christianity: Bonhoeffer (Pt 1)
Matthew recounts the story of a young, hoity-toity soft-nationalist German theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who discovered the radical soul of antifascism by hanging out in a Black Baptist church in Harlem in 1930. He came to the US believing in the white Jesus of European empire, but left enthralled by the Black Jesus of the oppressed. Back in Germany, he played 78s of spirituals and gospel tunes for the students of his illegal seminaries as he and other members of the Confessing Church issued some of the earliest formal rebukes to the Reich. And then he joined a plot to assassinate Hitler.
272: Jillian Michaels is the Biggest Loser
The unavoidable question of the week: why is Jillian Michaels on CNN commenting on slavery, exactly? As it turns out, Netflix provides the answer. The three-part docuseries, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, creeps behind the scenes of this uber-popular and uber-disturbing reality show that weirdly promoted fat-shaming while simultaneously pretending to alleviate it. As we’ll discuss today, we can’t shake the feeling that the biggest loser from this entire mess is all of us.
Brief: Ground Zero Grifting
Plandemic creator Mikki Willis recently hosted an hour-long webinar to promote his supplements company. Marketed as a storytelling hour to share the power of immunity and god with their followers, the conversation went off the rails. Derek and Julian tune in and discuss.
271: The Miseducation of PragerU
Founded in 2009 as a right-wing alternative to reality, PragerU is a sprawling, well-funded network that teaches kids to hate DEI, love paying taxes, and recognize that the Bible offers the only salvation on this planet. Could it replace Sesame Street, however?
Brief: Olympics for Dopers
The Enhanced Games promises to display the "true potential" of athletes by letting them use any sort of performance enhancement drugs available when it launches in Las Vegas in 2026. Yet why would a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and venture capitalists with no interest in sports be behind it? Likely because it's all a supplements grift, as Derek and Julian discuss.
270: Kennedy's Bloodbath
The implications of awarding Robert F Kennedy, Jr with a position he’s completely unqualified for are becoming clearer by the day. While he’s made numerous egregious and dangerous moves as Secretary of HHS, canceling nearly $500 million of mRNA research grants is one of the most startling and shortsighted to date. Today we look at both the microcosm and macrocosm of such a move.
Brief: Nair, Mamdani, and Culture against the Culture War (Pt 1)
Matthew on Zohran Mamdani’s intellectual and emotional heritage.
Brief: DJ Khaled of Pseudoscience
Against all odds, Theranos is back, with a wellness twist, as the new founder is directly courting MAHA.
268: Rogan’s Christian President
We catch up on three figures this week: Bari Weiss, who's trying to sell her upstart media org, The Free Press, to Skydance for a reported $250 million; RFK Jr and his continued dismantling of our public health system; and Texas state representative and Presbyterian pastor-in-training, James Talarico, who had a viral moment on Joe Rogan.
Brief: Mehdi Hasan vs Jordan Peterson
Mehdi Hasan's recent Jubilee appearance has blown up—and so has criticism of the entire media operation. Derek and Julian discuss the value and pitfalls of this format, contrasting the far-right participants sitting across from Hasan from another recent episode, when atheists went to battle with Jordan Peterson.
267: Epstein Never Died
Jeffrey Epstein’s name is being screamed into the headlines again. And the conspiracies about his files are creating a civil war in MAGA.
Brief: Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 1)
Matthew looks at the overall liberal manosphere politics of Lost Boys, including the evidentiary claims put forward by their premier guest Richard Reeves, who Galloway calls his “Yoda” on the subject of how men are doing these days.
266: Jubilee’s Body Image Debates
We look at a few recent episodes of Jubilee that deal directly with body image issues, from being jacked and bro’d up to the challenges of obesity and eating disorders, and discuss how they walk such a precarious tightrope.
Brief: Vaccination, a Delusion?
In 1898, British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace published a pamphlet entitled, "Vaccination a Delusion; Its Penal Enforcement a Crime." This work became the foundation of the modern anti-vax movement. Derek discusses how even though vaccination science is constantly evolving, the rhetoric of people like RFK Jr is just rehashing old and outdated ideas.
265: Guru Rehab
We return to the ongoing saga of Aubrey Marcus and end with an update on the crash out of the Liver King.
Brief: The Liver King Crash-Out
On June 24, Brian Johnson, aka The Liver King, was arrested in Austin for threatening Joe Rogan. The infamous raw organ "primal" influencer has since published dozens of videos detailing what appears to be a downward spiral—though the problems date back years. Derek and Julian detail the crash.
264: The Mamdani Effect
Is Zohran Mamdani the hero we've been hoping for, or are his hard-left positions corrosive to a broader anti-Trump coalition?
Brief: Greta Thunberg’s “Super Power” vs. Fascists and Liberals (Pt 1)
As Greta Thunberg broadens her target to capitalism and colonialism writ large, it’s more and more clear that she’s confronting what autistic philosopher Robert Chapman calls “the empire of normality”, from her lived experience of autism, about which so many of the conspiracy theories we cover here swirl.
263: The Apostle Assassin
The New Apostolic Reformation is not some small fringe movement. Key figures in the Trump administration are adherents. We revisit this apocalyptic evangelical Christian cult and consider its political violence and religious extremism.