Weekly Roundup: Fauci McCarthyism, Elon's Revenge Porn Lawsuit, Trump Africa AI Scandal (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

On the Weekly Roundup, Brad Onishi and Dan Miller breakdown three stories:

1. The GOP pursuit of Anthony Fauci over COVID era decisions and funding.

2. A new poll that shows 66% of MAGA supporters would continue to push for a candidate accused of sexual assault + Elon Musk's lawsuit against a law that bans nudifying AI.

3. The State Department's humiliating mistake in using an error-filled AI-generated map of Africa.

The thesis: You can't have democracy without shared facts, shared reality, and universal accountability.

(00:00) – Introduction and technological mishaps
(01:03) – The significance of shared facts and democracy
(04:12) – Democracy, truth, and trust: Maria Ressa’s insights
(08:39) – McCarthyism and the obsession with prosecuting Fauci
(12:14) – GOP's distraction tactics: From Fauci to election interference
(14:47) – The decline of literacy and its societal consequences
(19:23) – The post-literate society and the rise of influencers over facts
(22:46) – The crisis of accountability and the patriarchal narrative
(27:00) – Support for scandal-ridden politicians among GOP voters
(35:52) – The monstrous support for domestic abusers in politics
(44:42) – The suppression of free inquiry and Western civilization myths
(50:04) – AI, geography errors, and neglect of global health issues
(52:47) – Musk, deepfakes, and the devaluation of human life
(56:38) – Hope amid chaos: Reflections on political resilience and potential for change

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/-UxLRVkGjh8?si=mPOZJMOJvM-a69Gy

Maggie Haberman: Trump 'hears what he wants to hear'

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u6C-HpMGVyI

FBI won’t share Alex Pretti shooting evidence, Minnesota authorities say

The Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, has demanded an "impartial" investigation into the shootings in Minneapolis. 

"Trump's left hand cannot investigate his right hand," he said on Monday in response to the FBI's refusal to share evidence. "The families of the deceased deserve better."…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/16/fbi-alex-pretti-minnesota-authorities-information-sharing

 

 

Trump’s USDA Is Hiding the Data on Food Stamp Cuts – Mother Jones

Millions of adults ages of 55 to 64 may now be locked out of the program if they're not able to work—and in a one-two punch of attacks on federal services, the USDA has terminated its annual food insecurity survey, making it impossible to know just how devastating an impact Trump's backdoor SNAP cuts will have on aging adults who are unable to get exemptions from their state... 

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2026/01/trump-rollins-usda-snap-food-insecurity/ 

 

‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians

In May, an employee disrupted a keynote speech by Nadella in an act of protest, at one point yelling: "How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?"…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Diseases are spreading. The CDC isn’t warning the public like it was months ago : NPR

Some of the CDC's main channels for communicating urgent health information to the public have gone silent...

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/nx-s1-5387723/cdc-communications-cuts-social-media-public-health

 

An information dark age is upon us. I’m logging off | Stewart Lee | The Guardian

As Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos attempt to reshape our reality, my advice is to avoid their toxic platforms and wait it out…

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/19/information-dark-age-elon-musk-donald-trump-jeff-bezos 

Why speech could be a target for the anti-abortion movement in 2025

The anti-abortion movement is looking at ways to control information about how and where to obtain abortions…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/27/speech-anti-abortion-movement

 

How to Fight (and Win) an Information War | Peter Pomerantsev | TED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgHHRVH0NFo

“Wikipedia Is the Most Accurate Form of Information Ever Created” (Thomas Smith; Serious Inquiries Only podcast #389)

So says my esteemed guest, Dr. Amy Bruckman! Is she right? I won't be coy, I tend to think she is. But what a fascinating statement! And her thesis makes for an equally fascinating book - Wikipedia: The Most Reliable Source on the Internet? So let's dig in!

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-irjhm-1b09935a

Investigative journalist Dave Troy explains the psychological warfare pushing an anti-democracy agenda. (Anthony Davis; The Weekend Show podcast)

Investigative journalist Dave Troy explains to Anthony Davis the dangerous psychological games orchestrated by MAGA Republicans to push an anti-democracy agenda and confuse voters with false information overload.

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-fg9sc-1904f5c5

How to Be Persuasive, According to Science - Part 2 (Thomas Smith and Dr. Lindsey Osterman; Serious Inquiries Only podcast #325)

Dr. Lindsey Osterman explains the rest of the persuasion review paper. This episode has a lot of good, practical info if you’re wanting to try to change minds, for real!

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-kccyx-12fd02f7

How To Be Persuasive, According to Science (Thomas Smith and Dr. Lindsey Osterman; Serious Inquiries Only podcast #324)

With so many people in our country seemingly living in an alternate universe of facts, persuading people to change their mind has never been more important. But… how can we actually do that? What actually works? Dr. Lindsey Osterman is here to science us about it!

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-tkrqk-12ed8acd

Katie Couric (The Mary Trump Show)

Mary Trump calls out the danger of guns and their outdated culture and welcomes esteemed journalist Katie Couric. In their conversation they tackle the critical importance of honesty in reporting and the need to learn from your mistakes. They also look at the danger of media polarization, the legacy of racism in the country, and how audiences are creating silos of information through their preferences just as much as corporations.

Interview: 

https://audioboom.com/posts/8074734-katie-couric

John Oliver Blackmails Congress into Addressing Data Brokers

…In his natural fashion, Oliver then showed Congress "just how easy it is for anyone ― and I do mean anyone ― to get their personal information."…"If you're thinking, 'How on Earth is any of this legal?' I totally agree with you. It shouldn't be," he said. "And if you happen to be a legislator who is feeling a little nervous right now about whether your information is in this envelope, and if you're terrified about what I might do with it, you might want to channel that worry into making sure that I can't do anything."

https://www.mediaite.com/entertainment/john-oliver-finds-a-fcking-creepy-way-to-blackmail-congress-into-protecting-our-digital-data/

U.S. Battles Putin by Disclosing His Next Possible Moves - The New York Times

Declassified information is part of a campaign to complicate what officials say are Russia's plans to invade Ukraine…

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/us/politics/russia-information-putin-biden.html

Early Facebook Investor McNamee & Anti-Trust Lawyer Teachout Discuss Dangers Posed by Data Behemoths

Early Facebook Investor McNamee & Anti-Trust Lawyer Teachout Discuss Dangers Posed by Data Behemoths.

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-5pth5-dc804bc

Critical thinking, as we’re taught to do it, isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation. - The New York Times

 "Right now we are taking the scarcest, most valuable resource we have — our attention — and we're using it to try to repair the horribly broken information ecosystem,"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/fake-news-media-attention.html

The Great Free-Speech Reversal - The Atlantic

Liberals once believed that private corporations have far too much power over the flow of ideas and information in today’s society. Now it’s conservatives who are worried.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/first-amendment-regulation/617827/

Fighting the misinformation pandemic: Here’s help teaching students to distinguish real news from what’s fake - The Washington Post

...the News Literacy Project aims to do something that schools everywhere should be doing: teaching students how to distinguish what's real and fake in the age of digital communication...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/11/19/fighting-misinformation-pandemic-heres-help-teaching-students-distinguish-real-news-whats-fake/