The Daily Beast Podcast

“We are in a crisis and this governor is raising money off of anti-Fauci merch and going to other states to do fundraisers,” Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried says of Ron DeSantis. Also in the episode, Ian Dunt—editor-at-large of Politics.co.uk, host of the Oh God, What Now? podcast, author of How to Be a Liberal—talks about Boris Johnson’s COVID fiasco in Britain, where he hosted a re...

Dr. Peter Hotez has been battling vaccine disinformation for years. But he was still shocked to see United States senators like Ron Johnson peddling anti-vaxxer agitprop. “Historically, this is what the authoritarian regimes do,” Hotez tells Molly Jong-Fast on the latest episode of The New Abnormal. The anti-vaccine anti science aggression has extended to the individual scientists,” he adds. “They...

In this bonus episode of The New Abnormal Elie Honig, CNN legal analyst and author of the new book about Bill Barr called Hatchet Man, talks about all the ways that Barr failed as AG, how Merrick Garland is sitting on his ass and whether he thinks Donald Trump will go to jail. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad...

In this episode of The New Abnormal, Kathryn Kolbert and Julie F. Kay, authors of CONTROLLING WOMEN: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom, tell Molly-Jong-Fast not to trust John Roberts and why Roe isn’t enough to protect abortion rights in this country—something much bigger is. If you haven't heard, every single week The New Abnormal does a special bonus episode for Beast Inside, the...

In this episode of The New Abnormal, Noah Hurowitz, author of El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World's Most Infamous Drug Lord, tells Molly Jong-Fast how Chapo was found naked, the reason he and his wife had matching jackets during his trial, and why he believes the Kingpin isn’t as evil as people assume. If you haven't heard, every single week The New Abnormal does a special bonus episode for Be...

In this bonus episode of The New Abnormal, Julie K. Brown, the reporter who pursued the Jeffrey Epstein story at the Miami Herald and author of Perversion of Justice, explains the four reasons she doesn’t believe the convicted pedophile died by suicide. Plus, she has some thoughts about Alan Dershowitz, Ghislaine Maxwell and what is next for this case. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Imagine if Fox News host Tucker Carlson went from “just asking questions” about the COVID-19 vaccine in primetime every night to showing a photo of himself taking the shot and telling his viewers to do the same. Would we be “looking at a very different country right now?” co-host Molly Jong-Fast asks on the latest episode of The New Abnormal. Next on the show, David Wallace-Wells, a writer at New...

Did Donald Trump REALLY defend Hitler at a World War memorial? On the latest episode of The New Abnormal, a look at the latest post-presidency books. One of the most outrageous claims from the deluge of new Trump books hitting the shelves this month is that the then-president lavished praise on Adolf Hitler at a memorial for World War One. Michael Bender, the author of Frankly, We Did Win This Ele...

On this special episode of The New Abnormal host Molly Jong-Fast and The Daily Beast's Diana Falzone talk to Bill O’Reilly accuser Andrea Mackris about the forces that protected the Fox News host from her sexual harassment accusations for 17 years, her "forced" NDA and why she doesn't care about the financial consequences of breaching it. If you haven't heard, every single week The New Abnormal do...

Did you know that there was a female version of the Tiger King in New Jersey? “Orchid Thief” author Susan Orlean did and wrote about it. She joins Molly Jong-Fast on this bonus episode of The New Abnormal to talk about the weird stories she loves to pursue, from a New Jersey Tiger Queen and an orchid thief to show dogs. Plus, she explains how dogs might actually solve our country’s divisiveness. H...

“There has been no detail that has come out that has been different than the four years we saw him do in office,” Slade Sohmer, editor in chief of The Recount, says on the latest episode of The New Abnormal. But no one knows image rehabilitation better than Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner—in fact, they’ve been doing it for years, Sohmer says. “‘Sources close to Jared and Ivanka say’ was the most us...

Daily Beast political investigations reporter Jose Pagliery explains how the divorce of Jennifer Weisselberg and Barry Weisselberg was the match that lit the Trump Organization on fire and why Trump is in more trouble than we think. Plus! Bloomberg opinion columnist Robert A. George tells Molly Jong-Fast how Sen. Ron DeSantis’ COVID response set up mind traps for progressives and Heather Cox Richa...

A lobbyist for a giant oil company admitted in a video that the industry spreads disinfo to stop efforts to combat climate change and no one really talked about it. Molly Jong-Fast had Emily Atkin, climate reporter and author of the daily climate newsletter, HEATED, come on this bonus episode The New Abnormal to find out why: “The fuckery is immense.” If you haven't heard, every single week The Ne...

A lobbyist for a giant oil company admitted in a video that the industry spreads disinfo to stop efforts to combat climate change and no one really talked about it. Molly Jong-Fast had Emily Atkins, climate reporter and author of the daily climate newsletter, HEATED, come on this bonus episode The New Abnormal to find out why: “The fuckery is immense.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Substacker and The Nation columnist Jeet Heer explains with no hesitation why Capitol insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt’s death is on Trump, Rep. Cori Bush (MO-D) sends a clear message to Majorie Taylor Green and gets real about defunding the police and Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action reveals a gun crime stat that would freak out conservatives. If you haven't heard, every single week The New Abnor...

The Trump Organization is now feeling the heat, with its CFO under indictment for grand larceny. Prosecutors are clearing to get that money man, Allen Weisselberg, to flip on his boss. But one interested observer says there may be another member of the Trump crew who’s even more likely to turn on the Don: his daughter, Ivanka. Both Ivanka and Weisselberg benefitted from a similar perk, if that ind...

New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams, Black anti-racist, pro-cop former cop, is a walking anomaly. “There's an entire group of voters who aren't being represented here. And I think Eric Adams kind of represents what they want,” data scientist David Shor tells Molly Jong-Fast on this episode of The New Abnormal. Plus, the two also discuss how Dems can keep their majority in the House, and why...

So House Majority Kevin McCarthy says he’ll strip committee assignments from any Republican who deigns to serve on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 select commission. The New Abnormal co-host Molly Jong-Fast wants to know: Can he actually do that? Not by himself, says NBC News reporter Jonathan Allen. “In order for Kevin McCarthy to make good on this threat, Nancy Pelosi would have to allow a House f...

Washington Post reporters Yasmine Abutaleb and Damien Paletta join to discuss all the juicy and terrifying details from their book, Nightmare Scenario, which recounts how the Trump administration responded during COVID. Plus! Dr. Peter Hotez goes over the effectiveness of the vaccines against the variants and Reason’s Editor at Large Nick Gillespie tries to explain why Trump is the right’s God and...

In this bonus episode of The New Abnormal, historian Kevin Kruse makes the case that Republicans might actually agree with Critical Race Theory if they actually knew what it was. Oh, and those angry parents protesting it just might be plants. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Would you be willing to be arrested for something if you didn’t know what it was? Would you vote against it? Would you stake your party’s chances in the 2022 midterms on it? This week in Loudoun County, Virginia, a furious man was arrested for trespassing following a raucous school board meeting that erupted into protests against critical race theory and a policy on transgender students. “These pe...

Not if, but when. “By this time next year, we will be talking about which way the Supreme Court chose to functionally end abortion rights in which states. That's going to be the conversation a year from now,” Elie Mystal, The Nation’s justice correspondent, tells Molly Jong-Fast on the latest edition of The New Abnormal. “That is just what's going to happen.”But here’s the thing. The Court’s conse...

Brian Stelter, CNN media reporter and author of Hoax, knows way too much about Fox News. He joins Molly Jong-Fast in this bonus episode to tell her how the network has changed since the election and Jan. 6, the battle with Newsmax for viewers and news about Fox’s Decision Desk Director that may or may not be public yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about...

The president’s adviser is falling all over himself to kiss his boss’ ass. “Mr. President, we’re all so proud to work for you. You’re saving the world!” It sounds like something you could imagine Jared Kushner would say to Donald Trump. But the groveler in question is none other than Henry Kissinger, and the occupant of the White House is Richard Nixon. Yes, Trump is a descendent of Nixon’s, says...

Attorney General Merrick Garland has been busy lately. In this episode of The New Abnormal, Molly Jong-Fast chats with FBI agent Peter Strzok about “Watergate on crack” aka these Trump DOJ subpoenas. Plus! Journalist Francesca Fiorentini takes on America’s hypocrisy and Sen. Alex Padilla (CA-D) drops the mic about the immigration debate. If you haven't heard, every single week The New Abnormal doe...