The Nuance Hour

This episode of The Nuance Hour starts with a formal logical dilemma presented by Professor Adams and ends with some local Idaho politics beef. In our main segment, we explore how your political affiliation may or may not be predictive of your mental health — depending on who you ask and how you ask it.  In Philosophy 101 with Trevor, we spend some time walking through a dilemma to determine...

It’s our one-year anniversary of ranting into microphones, and in this episode, we reflect on the pod and share what we’re dreaming of for year two. While we’re never aiming for performative anger, we’re also thinking about how letting the high emotions of this unique time in history play out has been cathartic and important.  Next we dig into messages from listeners and some stellar episode...

The question keeps showing up everywhere — on Substack, in comment sections, in podcasts: where is modern protest music? Recorded live at Podfort during Treefort Music Festival, Emily and Trevor are joined by Rob Lanterman — musician, music writer, and label owner— to answer it. Turns out protest music never left. We're just stuck in our filter bubbles (again). We trace how growing up evangelical-...

In this episode, we drop any pretense of emotional distance and sit with the rage, grief, and fear stirred up by the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis and the broader wave of state violence and ICE abuses. We wrestle with what it means to honor anger without abandoning our core commitment to bridge-building, and we ask a simple but urgent question: What do we want to tell our g...

In this episode, we finally dive deep into religion—the topic we've been promising since day one. We're thrilled to be joined by Reverend Benjamin Cremer, who brings serious theological credentials and two decades of pastoral experience. More importantly, Ben brings the kind of honest, historically-grounded perspective on American Christianity that cuts through the Christian nationalist white nois...

In this episode, we kick off 2026 by throwing caution to the wind and making bold predictions across 13 topics—from politics and culture to tech, religion, and even rollerblading. After acknowledging the grim moment we’re living through, we dive into what the coming year might hold: midterm forecasts, the future of Trump’s influence, who could emerge in the 2028 presidential race, and what might h...

In this episode, we take on the grim (and increasingly undeniable) question of America’s slide toward authoritarianism, and why naming it plainly isn’t partisan. We talk about how the two-party duopoly keeps forcing every concern into a Coke v. Pepsi “they’re all the same” dead end, making it easier to normalize power grabs with “yeah, but the other side…” logic. Trevor makes the case that structu...

In this episode, we dive into why conspiracy theories feel so irresistible and ubiquitous right now, and why they’re also so corrosive. We talk about motivated reasoning, media bias, and our crumbling trust in experts, from JFK and 9/11 truthers to lab-leak debates, QAnon, RFK Jr., and the evergreen “do your own research” refrain. We also unpack how the attention economy and social media reward ra...

In our first Kitchen Sink roundup, we start with the week’s heaviest news: the assassination of Charlie Kirk. We talk frankly about political violence, free speech, and why “bad things are bad” should be a baseline instead of a partisan Rorschach test. From there, we hit a scatter of stories we’ve been tracking: the stalled push to release more Epstein files (and why Thomas Massie is a Libertarian...

In this episode, we try to untangle the ideological realignment of the Republican Party in the era of Trumpism. From Reagan’s conservatism to the rise of grievance politics, we unpack seven conservative principles—and ask if Trump ever pretended to adhere to them—delve into the Epstein files as a defining cultural myth for the MAGA movement, and question whether the MAGA coalition can survive with...

In this episode, we dive into research on violent and non-violent civil resistance movements of the past. What lessons can we learn from successful resistance movements? Is there a critical threshold of civic involvement in the face of oppressive regimes? We also report from our experience at the Boise No Kings protest in June. Are the 50501 protests different than the Women’s March and other resi...

In today’s episode, we’re tackling the Elon/Trump breakup, the rifts it reveals in the uneasy alliance between tech oligarchs and the populist far right, and immigration. It all connects, we promise. We talk through our personal opinions on immigration, including some philosophical underpinnings to our beliefs, and confront some immigration myths.  We wrap up the episode with a good take—coul...

What if you could lose your democracy and not even realize it? This week, we dive into the siren call of authoritarianism—and why so many experts believe the United States may already be living under a version of it. We take a deep dive into the theory of competitive authoritarianism and explore the slippery spectrum between liberal democracy and autocracy. Is there a bright red line that, when cr...

Authoritarianism shouldn't be a partisan issue. Full stop. In this episode, we discuss America's slide into despotism and our reaction to the Trump administration's extra-judicial deportation of immigrants without due process. We also introduce our newest team member, Kenny Wilson, who brings good looks and even better audio quality to the pod. As always, we end our show with our Nuance Corner seg...

Mentioned: 'We conclude' or 'I believe?' Study finds rationality declined decades ago: https://phys.org/news/2022-01-rationality-declined-decades.html#google_vignette W. Ada considers requiring ‘everyone is welcome’ signs at each school; claims teacher’s signs prohibited due to ‘design elements’: https://boisedev.com/news/2025/03/17/w-ada-considers-requiring-everyone-is-welcome-signs-at-each-schoo...

In our very first episode, co-hosts Emily Fisk and Trevor Adams introduce The Nuance Hour—a podcast about embracing the gray areas and digging into the layered, messy, interesting stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into headlines. We’re talking about the topics that deserve more than a hot take. In this intro, we chat about why we started the show, what “nuance” means to us, and what you can expect in...