Susan Del Percio (crisis communications expert) joins host Ron Steslow to examine what becomes of a populist movement once it captures the institutions it was built to attack.

They begin with the Epstein files and a new book from New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan about the White House’s behind-the-scenes scramble to respond, including a Situation Room damage control meeting, and why the leaked recording of that meeting is more alarming still. 

Next, they widen the lens to populism’s paradox, what happens when a movement built to distrust institutions takes them over and whether these movements need a single figurehead to lead them. 

Then they turn to Maine, where Democrats nominated Graham Platner, a self-described socialist with a Nazi tattoo and allegations from former romantic partners describing him as volatile and demeaning toward women, including one ex-girlfriend’s accusation that he physically intimidated and restrained her.

Finally, they weigh the economics underneath the populist rhetoric, from Platner’s “Epstein class” framing to a leftist turn toward capping growth and redistributing wealth, and why the politics of stagnation is a hard sell. 

In Politicology+, they dig into “jawboning”— the way governments lean on private platforms to suppress speech they can’t legally suppress themselves—and a new bipartisan bill to stop it.

POLITICOLOGY+

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Ron Steslow on X: https://x.com/RonSteslow

Susan Del Percio on X: https://x.com/DelPercioS

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Billy Binion (reporter at Reason Magazine) joins host Ron Steslow to examine how democratic governments are redefining speech as a harm to be managed and who pays the price when they do.

They begin with the White House's negotiation with Senator Marsha Blackburn, a deal that would trade federal preemption of state AI laws for the Kids Online Safety Act, the No Fakes Act, and federal age verification, and whether we are “one bad deal away from the era of online government censorship.”

Next, Britain's thousands of arrests each year for online posts, its mandate that Apple and Google build content scanning into every device, and Signal's vow to exit the market before that happens.

Then they turn to the killing of Henry Novak, whose dying words police discounted in deference to his killer's fabricated racism accusation.

Finally, they unpack Minnesota's multibillion-dollar benefits fraud—JD Vance's referral of Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, why warnings went unheeded, and the citizen journalist who made the scandal impossible to ignore.

In Politicology+, they discuss the bipartisan push to force UFO disclosure and the legal fight underneath it: whether the government should use eminent domain to seize allegedly recovered non-human technology from private contractors, and whether contractor employees who come forward deserve whistleblower protections.

POLITICOLOGY+

Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus.

Watch Billy’s Documentary about citizen journalist Priscilla Villarreal: https://bit.ly/3S4cuKJ 

Read Konstantin Kissin on Henry Nowak’s murder: https://substack.com/home/post/p-200293621 

SPONSORS & PROMO CODES: https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8

Send your questions and ideas to [email protected]

Ron Steslow on X: https://x.com/RonSteslow

Billy Binion on X: https://x.com/billybinion 

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To unlock subscriber-only content, visit: https://politicology.com/plus

Géraldine Blanche (Intellectual Property Lawyer and PhD candidate in Intellectual Property Law at the Sciences Po Law School in Paris) joins Ron Steslow to discuss the politics of fashion and intellectual property law

(01:26) Fashion in Politics 

(05:36) Iteration, interpretation, and inspiration

(09:47) The need for time in fashion and democracy

(14:24) Environmental impact of fashion

(26:42) The impact of AI on fashion

Follow Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

Follow Géraldine on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/designedbylaw/ 

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Hagar Chemali (Former spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN) is back in studio with host Ron Steslow to map the widening gap between the Trump Administration's declared aims in the Iran war, and the murky reality now shaping the region and the world.

First they discuss the state of the war with Iran and the supposed negotiations in which the two governments are describing opposite realities—and what it would mean for the US to “finish the job.”

Then, they widen the lens to China, tracing the argument that the campaigns against Iran and Venezuela are less about those countries than about choking off Beijing's energy supply.

Finally, they turn to the information domain and the Singham network, a Chinese Communist Party-aligned financing infrastructure that has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into American left-wing protest infrastructure and the deeper question it raises: how can a liberal society defend itself against foreign information warfare without surrendering the values it is fighting to protect? 

In Politicology+, they discuss Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte—a political enforcer with zero intelligence experience—as interim Director of National Intelligence and why it’s essential to understand what was going on behind the scenes in the lead up to Tusli Gabbard’s resignation. 

POLITICOLOGY+

Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus.

Watch Oh My World!: https://www.youtube.com/c/ohmyworldwithhagarchemali

SPONSORS & PROMO CODES: https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8

Send your questions and ideas to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at ‪(703) 239-3068‬

Follow this week’s panel on X (formerly Twitter):

https://x.com/RonSteslow

https://x.com/HagarChemali

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Géraldine Blanche (Intellectual Property Lawyer and PhD candidate in Intellectual Property Law at the Sciences Po Law School in Paris) joins Ron Steslow to discuss the politics of fashion and intellectual property law

(01:25) History of laws protecting creativity 

(09:20) What IP lawyers do

(12:50) What led Géraldine to fashion IP

(20:50) Fashion as political

(35:50) How politicians send messages through fashion choices

(41:41) Fashion as a signifier of political groups

Follow Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

Follow Géraldine on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/designedbylaw/ 

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Molly McKew is raising urgent funds for Ukrainian units that need help replacing critical equipment destroyed in a Russian strike and building a mobile rehabilitation hub for wounded soldiers near the front lines.

Donate directly at:  PayPal.me/MollyKMcKew

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In this mailbag episode of The Weekly, Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid sit  down to answer listener questions, on Latino dealignment, whether states should call a second constitutional convention, whether a hot war with China is coming, and whether a future administration could prosecute its predecessor without sliding into retribution.    

In Politicology+, they dig into Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas and use the Pope's choice between "constructing Babel" and "rebuilding Jerusalem" to confront what happens when we hand life-and-death decisions to machines that can't be held accountable.

POLITICOLOGY+

Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus.

SPONSORS & PROMO CODES: https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8

Send your questions and ideas to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at ‪(703) 239-3068‬

Follow this week’s panel on X (formerly Twitter):

https://x.com/RonSteslow

https://x.com/madrid_mike

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What are the psychological forces driving that partisan animosity?

What’s causing Americans to vote for anti-democracy candidates? 

Are there any interventions that might actually work  to turn down the heat and save our democracy? 

Robb Willer, professor of sociology, psychology, and organizational behavior at Stanford University talks with Ron Steslow about Stanford’s Strengthening Democracy Challenge, reducing partisan animosity and support for anti-democracy candidates .

(01:31) Robb’s background

(02:46) The growth of polarization and partisan animosity 

(15:08) The Strengthening Democracy Challenge

(22:40) Negative partisanship and support for undemocratic candidates

(29:46) How cues from leaders can reduce support for anti-democracy candidates

(32:17) Working together and respectfully discussing differences reduces partisan animosity 

(37:47) Misperceptions about how how you’re viewed by members of another party fuels animosity 

(46:47) Is there hope for overcoming animosity and acceptance of undemocratic candidates? 

(53:16) How to implement these ideas

(59:23) The role of emotions in decision making

You should check out the interventions we discussed: 

Elite Cues: https://bit.ly/3TEeS6Z

Positive Contact (Heineken Ad): https://bit.ly/3N74PEM

Misperceptions: https://bit.ly/3W4iMaN

Fear of Democratic Collapse: https://bit.ly/3W4awHO

Follow Robb and Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RobbWiller

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

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Ron Steslow talks to journalist Brady Dale about the U.S. government's unprecedented UFO/UAP disclosure: from the Pentagon's new PURSUE archive and President Trump's directive to declassify, to David Grusch's whistleblower testimony about crash retrieval programs, the bipartisan congressional fight over eminent domain and "non-human intelligence," the five observables, and how classified programs were stovepiped into private defense contractors beyond congressional oversight. They land on a bigger point — if non-human intelligence is real, the ontological shock may hit the institutions guarding the secret far harder than the rest of us.

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Brady Dale (Author of Front Stage Exit) joins Host Ron Steslow to examine the booming gray market for therapeutic peptides and what it reveals about medical freedom, institutional trust, and our resistance to the unfamiliar. 

They begin with the market itself, which Brady compares to the early crypto era he covered: people eager to risk their own money against regulators in the way. 

Next, they examine the cultural backlash, the moralism that casts GLP-1 weight loss as cheating, and a MAHA coalition at once wary of pharma yet drawn to gray-market compounds. 

Then, they turn to safety, where Brady argues the real hazard lies not in the peptides, but in contaminated manufacturing and careless injection. They also weigh the trouble of funding trials for compounds no one can patent.

Finally, they consider bodily autonomy and whether medicine should restore a baseline health or enhance it.

In Politicology+, they turn to a story Ron has been eager to bring to the show: the U.S. government has begun a historic effort to disclose its UFO files, and the officials behind the push say this is just the beginning. From whistleblower testimony about crash retrieval programs to a bipartisan Senate bill referencing "non-human intelligence" 22 times to the growing ranks of elite scientists taking it seriously, they dig into how we got here and why Congress can't get answers from its own government.

POLITICOLOGY+

Not yet a Politicology+ member? Don’t miss all the extra episodes on the private, ad-free version of this podcast. Upgrade now at politicology.com/plus.

Follow Brady’s work at Front Stage Exit: https://www.frontstageexit.com/ 

SPONSORS & PROMO CODES: https://bit.ly/44uAGZ8

Send your questions and ideas to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at ‪(703) 239-3068‬

Follow this week’s panel on X (formerly Twitter):

https://x.com/RonSteslow

https://x.com/BradyDale

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How does murder during a robbery-gone-wrong become an international conspiracy theory?

What even is a true crime story in the post-truth era?

Andy Kroll (Investigative Reporter at ProPublica, former DC Bureau Chief for Rolling Stone) joins host Ron Steslow to discuss his new book, A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy.

(01:34) What drew Andy to the Seth Rich story

(08:48) The facts of the Seth Rich case

(12:44) How conspiracy theories have changed in the 21st Century

(21:08) Russia, the DNC leak, and the need for a scapegoat

(24:22) The intersection of conspiracy theories

(29:06) The conspiracy theory economy

You should read A Death on W Street: https://andy-kroll.com/

Follow Andy  and Ron on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AndyKroll

https://twitter.com/RonSteslow

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