Michael Osterholm: Be Afraid – Very Afraid – of RFK Jr. & The Next Pandemic
John welcomes world-renowned epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm to discuss the threats to America’s public health system under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Osterholm catalogues the damage Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health & Human Services has inflicted in just seven months in office; the misstatements and misinformation he put forward in his recent appearance before the Senate; and his especially dangerous and scientifically baseless views regarding vaccines. Osterholm also discusses his new book, “The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics”—arguing that America is doing worse than nothing to ready itself for the all but certain eventuality of an outbreak far more deadly than Covid.
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1:04:40
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1:04:40
Frank Figliuzzi: Charlie Kirk’s Killing & America’s Political Violence Crisis
John welcomes former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi back to the show to discuss the murder of Charlie Kirk. Figliuzzi assesses the state of the investigation into the apparent assassination and manhunt for the killer; what we know and don’t know on the basis of the evidence that's been made public; what’s driving thecross-partisan epidemic of political violence in America; and what, if anything, can be done to break the vicious cycle. Figliuzzi also takes the measure of the first half-year of Kash Patel’s leadership of the FBI and the bureau's current capacity to handle the escalating crisis now before it.
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1:14:12
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1:14:12
Rob Reiner: The Spinal Tap Sequel, Like the Original, Goes to 11
John welcomes writer, director, and actor Rob Reiner to the show to discuss the release of the sequel to his genre-defining 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” — “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues". Reiner explains why it took 30 years for the follow-up to get made; how the original film went from box-office dud to cultural landmark; and its influence on a generation of comics, from Ricky Gervais to Ben Stiller to Jack Black, and movies and TV shows, from “Best In Show" to "The Office" to "Parks & Rec." Reiner also reflects on his extraordinary post-Tap career as a director and his relationships with his father, the legendary Carl Reiner, and his childhood friend, Albert Brooks.
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1:08:45
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1:08:45
Leigh Ann Caldwell: 12 Angry Women (& One Addled Man) Hit Capitol Hill
John welcomes Puck’s chief Washington correspondent, Leigh Ann Caldwell, back to the show to discuss Congress’s return to work after its August recess. Leigh Ann assesses the political potency (and limitations) of the public display of solidarity by a phalanx of Jeffrey Epstein survivors in the face of Donald Trump’s continued insistence that the story is a “Democrat hoax”; the potential implications of the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan laceration of RFK, Jr. over his tenure thus far at HHS; and the odds that John Thune and his “pocket rocket” can help avert a government shutdown later this month.
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56:55
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56:55
Jonathan Mahler: NYC’s 1980s Reinvention & The 40-Year Era it Spawned
John welcomes Jonathan Mahler, New York Times Magazine staff writer and bestselling author of “The Bronx Is Burning,” to discuss his new book, “The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990.” Mahler unpacks the reinvention of the Big Apple in the second half of the Eighties; riffs on the outsized characters (from Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani to Larry Kramer, Al Sharpton, and, of course, Donald Trump) who played key roles in it; and argues that the rise of Zohran Mamdani signals an end to the 40-year era spawned by that transformation. He and Heilemann also reminisce about crossing paths as undergrads in 1987—first as teammates and then as cellmates.
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Join Puck’s chief political columnist, MSNBC/NBC News national affairs analyst, and best-selling author John Heilemann as he roams the corridors of power and influence in America on this twice-weekly interview show, taking you behind the scenes and beyond the headlines with the people who shape and shift our culture: icons and up-and-comers, incumbents and insurgents, moguls and machers in the overlapping worlds of politics, entertainment, tech, business, sports, media, and beyond. The conversations are rich and revealing, unrehearsed and unexpected … and reliably impolitic. A Puck-Audacy joint, new episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday.
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