The Gist - Michael Kirk — “RFK Jr.’s Latest Addiction: Attention”
Frontline's Michael Kirk discusses The Rise of RFK Jr., charting Kennedy's path from sex and drug addiction to what Kirk calls "an addiction to validation." He describes a man driven by grievance, and details how the alliance between Kennedy and Trump built the so-called "MAHA movement," and why it may collapse under its own contradictions. Plus: a breakdown of how Supreme Court shifts and redistricting could strip representation from Black voters in states like North Carolina and Louisiana.
Produced by Corey Wara
Production Coordinator Ashley Khan
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1A - The Map Men On Missing Islands And The Meaning Of Mistakes
The GPS systems in our pockets have come a long way from the first known map, carved into a mammoth tusk 30,000 years ago.
But even with satellites tracking us and the ever-changing Earth from the skies – digital maps aren’t fact. Errors can show up and are sometimes as old as maps themselves. The phantom island of Sandy Island appeared on Google Maps until 2012, when Australian scientists sailed to its supposed location and found only open ocean.
Mistakes on maps were sometimes intentional, sometimes not – but every single one tells a bigger story.
How and why did it get there? What does it reveal about the creator of the map and the world around them?
We sit down with Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, better known as the Map Men on YouTube, to talk through these questions and more.
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Federalist Radio Hour - How Radicals Co-Opted The Homelessness Industrial Complex
Read the report "Infiltrated: The Ideological Capture of Homelessness Advocacy" here.
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The Bulwark Podcast - Michael Weiss and Karine Jean-Pierre: Low Energy Trump
Karine Jean-Pierre and Michael Weiss join Tim Miller.
show notes
- Michael’s Substack “Foreign Office”
- Story from “The Insider,” “Our people poisoned Navalny”
- WSJ article on Havana Syndrome
- Karine Jean-Pierre's book
- Start your new morning ritual & get up to 43% off your @MUDWTR with code THEBULWARK at mudwtr.com/THEBULWARK! #mudwtrpod
- Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to www.joindeleteme.com/BULWARK and use promo code BULWARK at checkout.
The Commentary Magazine Podcast - Getting on Board with Getting Hamas
Is the Trump administration's success in the Middle East going to have an effect on the way the more extreme elements of the right talk about Israel and Jews more broadly? And if podcasters continue to trash-talk Trump on this and other matters, will Trump take it lying down—or will he insist on a loyalty test for them too? Give a listen.
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The Daily - How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights
During his second term, President Trump has upended 60 years of civil rights, largely under the guise of attacking diversity, equity and inclusion.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, who covers racial injustice and civil rights for The New York Times Magazine, discusses the end of an era, and the growing fears of what a post-civil rights government will mean for Black Americans.
Guest: Nikole Hannah-Jones, a domestic correspondent for The New York Times Magazine covering racial injustice and civil rights.
Background reading:
- How Mr. Trump upended 60 years of civil rights in two months.
- The “colorblind” campaign to undo civil rights progress.
Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Honestly with Bari Weiss - How Katie Herzog Drank Her Way to Sobriety
If you’re listening to this, you probably know someone who has struggled with alcohol addiction, or maybe you’re an alcoholic yourself. It’s one of the most universal human experiences. In 2023, 10 percent of the U.S. population met the criteria for alcoholism. That’s 30 million people.
And throughout the past hundred or so years, there’s basically been one solution: total sobriety, talk therapy, and Alcoholics Anonymous. And yes, there are countless people ready and eager to say, “AA saved my life.” We know and love many of those people.
But as Katie Herzog writes: “The dominance of AA obscures the fact that other options exist too.” Okay, so what are these other options? One of them is a drug called naltrexone that can let alcoholics keep drinking—yes, you heard me right. Katie describes it as a chemical safety net that makes you want to drink less.
And in order for the drug to work, you actually have to drink—at least at the beginning. The goal with this method is not necessarily abstinence. It’s reformed, moderate, responsible drinking.
Is this all starting to sound like snake oil—or worse, even dangerous? We understand. Over 175,000 Americans die each year from excessive drinking. It causes heart disease, cancer, domestic violence, and suicide. It costs the U.S. economy nearly $250 billion in healthcare expenses. There’s loss of productivity, criminal justice fees, vehicle wrecks—I could go on. And living with alcoholism, or being close to someone who struggles with addiction, can be devastating.
So when someone comes along and says, “Your alcoholic loved one can actually drink with naltrexone,” the knee-jerk reaction is to say: “Hell no.”
But Katie Herzog, in her new book Drink Your Way Sober, argues that AA—and our traditional thinking—has not worked, and will not work, for everyone. And she makes the case that we should be more open to alternative forms of treatment like naltrexone.
You’ll know Katie from her hit podcast Blocked and Reported, which she co-hosts with Free Press contributor Jesse Singal—though she likes to say she is “the only host of the only podcast.”
And today, Bari asks her how she got sober using naltrexone—and a program called the Sinclair Method—how the drug actually works, why it’s been shunned by the medical community, and whether she thinks society will buy into it.
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The Ezra Klein Show - The Rural Power Behind Trump’s Assault on Blue Cities
President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard from red states into blue cities isn’t just a partisan attack; it’s also a geographic one. In the 2024 election, Donald Trump won rural areas by 40 percentage points. And you could see what’s been happening in Washington, D.C., and Chicago as a rural political coalition militarily occupying urban centers. The rural-urban divide in America has become so big it’s dangerous — for our politics, and for democracy. And yet, just a few decades ago, this divide didn’t exist. Urban and rural areas voted pretty much in lockstep. And for Democrats to gain power again, they’ll need to figure out how to win some of those voters back.
So how did the Democratic Party lose rural voters? And what could they do to win their votes back?
Suzanne Mettler is a political scientist at Cornell University and the co-author with Trevor E. Brown of the new book “Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy.”
Mentioned:
Rural Versus Urban by Suzanne Mettler and Trevor E. Brown
Four Threats by Robert C. Lieberman and Suzanne Mettler
Book Recommendations:
The Politics of Resentment by Katherine J. Cramer
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Devotions by Mary Oliver
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Will Peischel. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Michelle Harris, Marina King, Emma Kehlbeck and Jan Kobal. Original music by Isaac Jones, Carole Sabouraud, and Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Pod Save America - Trump Unloads on No Kings
After millions rally at No Kings protests, Donald Trump posts an AI-generated video of himself wearing a crown, spraying poop from a fighter jet onto the crowds below. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy discuss how far we've fallen and then get into the news, including the political prosecution of John Bolton, Trump's threat to send troops to another California city, and the prospects for peace in Ukraine, war in Venezuela, and the breakdown of the Gaza peace deal. Then, Tommy sits down with Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, to discuss his recently resurfaced Reddit comments and the disillusionment he experienced after returning from Afghanistan.
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