How Is This Better?

Akilah Hughes sits down with Cassie Willson to unpack the (media manufactured?) controversy over Zohran Mamdani’s influencer strategy,. Akilah and Cassie were both mentioned by different NY outlets, The New York Times and The New York Post respectively. They discuss why these traditional media are freaking out, and the double standard when it comes to *actually shady* coordination with right-wing...

Denny Carter joins me to break down the wave of gambling in sports – from the scores, to the stats, to the moment-to-moment plays. We also talk about prediction markets and celebrities who are getting in on the action. We're looking at you Lebron James and Sydney Sweeney. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when AI starts to feel like something you can talk to... confide in even? Akilah Hughes talks to tech and culture podcaster Bridget Todd about the surprisingly common phenomenon of AI intimacy, and why laughing at people with AI boyfriends might mean we're missing the bigger story.  Check out Bridget's new audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy a...

After you watch/listen to this, check out this video from Aidin Robbins. Original description: Last year, Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent a letter to 1000 probationary National Parks staff – firing them – only to reinstate them weeks later. Pretty INefficient…   But that wasn’t just a distraction. It wasn’t just a fumble. It was the opening s...

Ariana Grande has asked everyone to stop talking about her body. But now everyone is just talking about… how we shouldn’t talk about her body. Perhaps we’re missing the larger discussion. Have GLP-1s reinforced a beauty standard we thought we had overcome with the body positivity movement?  Akilah examines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood used to feel like a place where anything could happen. Akilah Hughes talks to Stinson Carter about the strange magic of 2000s Hollywood, the Chateau Marmont, Entourage, and whether the Hollywood dream still exists. Check out Stinson's piece for Esquire, "Bartending at the Edge of Fame." And subscribe to How Is This Better? wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices....

Face it: Americans have a literacy problem. Host Akilah Hughes is joined by Oliver Speaks, author of the memoir Unread and literacy advocate, and Lauren Coffey, a journalist with EdSurge, to get to the bottom of why no one wants to read anymore. If you're inspired to pick up a book, start with Oliver's! You can find it here. Remember to subscribe to How Is This Better? wherever you get your podcas...

It seems like everyone is talking about AI. Because they are. Across both sides of the aisle, whether you support it or you loathe it, AI is one of the most talked-about hot-button issues of 2026. It's everywhere — in our phones, on our computers, at our jobs, and even in our backyards thanks to data centers and flock surveillance cameras. Hell, even the Taco Bell drive-thru isn't safe anymore. Un...

When students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School launched March For Our Lives after the Parkland shooting, they helped spark one of the largest youth-led movements in American history. But nearly a decade later, gun violence remains the leading cause of death for American children and teens—and the issue no longer commands the same national attention it once did. This week, Akilah Hughes ta...

Today, we are sharing an episode we first-aired a year ago (nearly to the day). Back then, Trump and his administration would not stop saying "DEI" as if it were a slur. Their efforts to white-wash history have not gone away, so we wanted to share this episode again, today, on Juneteenth. Guests: Roy Wood, Jr., actor and comedian Kali Holloway, columnist, The Nation Jeremy Taché, Miami-based sport...

A UFC fight on the White House lawn sounds like satire. But it's real. Before Ryan Broderick and Grant Irving of Panic World travel to Washington to attend the event, Akilah Hughes talks with them about what they expect to find there, who they're hoping to talk to, and what this bizarre spectacle might reveal about American politics. Ryan and Grant will be reporting from the event itself, but firs...

Long before Donald Trump entered politics, he understood professional wrestling. In this bonus conversation from How Is This Better?, Akilah Hughes sits down with writer and former WWE writer Dave Schilling to unpack how wrestling became a blueprint for modern political culture. From Trump’s relationship with Vince McMahon to the rise of political "heels," they explore why voters connect more with...

Akilah Hughes travels to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama for “All Roads Lead to the South,” a national day of action responding to the Supreme Court’s latest attack on the Voting Rights Act. Along the way, she speaks with Bernice King, Justin Pearson, and Janai Nelson about the fight over racial gerrymandering, the future of democracy in the South, and why organizers say this moment demands action f...

Young voters — especially young men — are drifting to the right. At least, that’s the narrative dominating politics right now. But according to Elise Joshi, the head of More Perfect University, the bigger story might actually be something deeper: a generation that feels increasingly disillusioned with the economy, institutions, and the promise that hard work still leads to stability. This week on...

After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Erika Kirk tried to turn grief into political momentum. Instead, the internet turned the entire thing into a meme. Akilah Hughes talks with journalist Kat Tenbarge about Erika Kirk’s chaotic rise inside Turning Point USA, the backlash to her grief tour, and her feud with Candace Owens. This episode explores internet culture, conservative media, gender politics,...

What happens when fashion’s biggest night starts to look like a billionaire branding exercise? This week, we examine the growing influence of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos on the Met Gala—and what it says about power, philanthropy, and who gets to shape culture in America. With Rebecca Sananes and Meredith Lynch, Akilah unpacks the contradictions at the center of the event: a fundraiser depe...

The American healthcare system is sick. This week, Akilah talks with Abdul El-Sayed—physician, public health expert, and U.S. Senate candidate—about the structural problems at the heart of American healthcare, from medical debt to for-profit insurance. They also unpack the growing gap between real public health expertise and the rise of political figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, a...

Why have Democrats recently struggled to connect with working-class and rural voters – and what would it take to change that? Akilah Hughes talks with journalist John Russell about class politics in America, the rise of Trump, and the missed opportunities that reshaped the political landscape. Drawing on his reporting in Appalachia and across the country, Russell explains how economic frustration...

Mormonism is having a pop culture glow-up. But did it happen by accident? In this episode, Akilah Hughes digs into the rise of Mormon influencers, the explosion of “MomTok,” and the broader cultural moment putting LDS aesthetics front and center. With reporting from New York Magazine’s Bridget Read, we explore how Mormon women helped shape modern influencer culture, and why that’s now paying off i...

As younger generations continue to turn towards the internet for their content, what fate awaits for Hollywood? Last Sunday, celebrities and renowned members of the Academy gathered together to celebrate the Oscars. The awards show is considered one of the touchstones of modern-day media culture, but how much impact does it really have? And what messages are the films we’re praising really sending...

AI-generated war footage is spreading across the internet faster than the truth. As conflict escalates in Iran, social media platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok are being flooded with AI-generated missile strikes, fake battlefield footage, and fabricated videos of captured soldiers. Some posts rack up millions of views before anyone can confirm whether they’re real. In this episode of How Is T...

Are we at war or not? According to Trump, he's scoring a 15 out of 10 "on the war front," and Department of War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, says the fighting in Iran has "just begun." Yet House Speaker Mike Johnson insists "we're not at war."  Instead of debating the political spin, Akilah wanted to sit down with the people who've been asked to fight American battles. On this episode of How Is This B...

People keep comparing ICE to the Gestapo. But is that the right historical analogy? We we talk with public historian Ashley Baron aka @ashleytheebarroness who went viral making the argument that the comparison overlooks a home-grown analogy. We also speak with Claire Aubin who is a Nazi-era historian and host of the podcast, This Guy Sucked, to break down what the Gestapo actually was — and why th...

Homeownership used to be a starter pack for adulthood. Now it feels like a luxury good. This week, Akilah asks a question most of us have yelled at Zillow at least once: when did buying a house become a fantasy? Business Insider's James Rodriguez joins to help explain how we got here and why the future might be… single-family homes you can never actually own. Get unlimited premium wireless from Mi...

Your conservative uncle is wrong about Bad Bunny. So are Trump, all of MAGA, and the angry drunk guys who watch the NFL. They're mad because Bad Bunny will be performing the half time show at the Superbowl this Sunday, and he'll be singing in Spanish - you know, the language the songs are written in - and believe that that makes him fundamentally un-american.  Unfortunately, this is not a unique e...