The Lonely Liberal Podcast

Vivek Ramaswamy spends $4 million on an ad featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother, and Trump and JD Vance defend it. Plus: the H3 Podcast blowup, as Hila Klein reveals Ethan’s affair and the crew walks away; the Justice Department suing to block Alaska from certifying a Mary Peltola win because two candidates are named Dan Sullivan; a Vanity Fair report that Saudi and Emirati rulers put $2 billion in accounts for Jared Kushner; Trump using “Shylock” in Kansas; Mike Rogers asking Abdul El-Sayed if he’s “for these terrorist groups”; Steve Witkoff calling Putin “a humanitarian”; plans to resume Iran strikes after the midterms; Trump wanting the briefing room turned into a pool; Wedgewood’s fake polls fooling the poll aggregators; and Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary. Ethan Klein, Hila Klein, H3 Podcast, Vivek Ramaswamy, Amy Acton, Ohio governor race, Jared Kushner, Mary Peltola, Dan Sullivan, Alaska Senate race, Shylock, Abdul El-Sayed, Mike Rogers, Steve Witkoff, Putin, Iran war, Wedgewood polls, Nate Silver, Nathan Fielder, Elizabeth Holmes, midterms 2026, Lonely Liberal Podcast Chapters 00:00 Intro: Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes doc 02:55 DC trip: lunch at the Pizzagate pizzeria 04:41 “Liberals are the new racists” ad and the attacks on Omar’s name 13:27 Vivek Ramaswamy’s Amy Acton ad 20:08 Trump’s “Shylock” comment 22:04 Rogers vs. El-Sayed and Trump’s “jihadist” post 25:07 DOJ sues over Alaska’s two Dan Sullivans 31:21 Todd Blanche’s “doomsday” certification comment 32:31 Plans to resume Iran strikes after the midterms 34:53 Should Americans protest like the French? 43:40 Witkoff calls Putin a humanitarian 47:38 Kushner’s alleged $2 billion from Gulf rulers 52:27 A pool in the briefing room, and Trump’s golf days 55:10 Israel’s election 58:28 The UN says 1.5°C is gone 59:56 Wedgewood’s fake polls 1:05:22 Gossip corner: the H3 blowup 1:14:41 Back to Fielder: the new cringe comedy

Investigative climate journalist Amy Westervelt, host of Drilled, joins The Lonely Liberal to talk about her new book Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy, and the century-long corporate propaganda machine behind today’s disinformation. Amy argues disinformation isn’t a social media problem. It’s the result of more than 100 years of PR men, think tanks, and oil companies working to shape what we believe so they could avoid regulation, taxes, and accountability. We get into the PR pioneer who pushed the “crisis actor” myth in 1914, the oil industry money that paid a Catholic priest to preach free-market capitalism, how Mobil invented the advertorial, and where the “offshore wind kills whales” story really came from. We also talk about Michael Shellenberger, Elon Musk and X, whether the left needs its own propaganda machine, AI and data centers, and whether we can still have a Silent Spring moment. 📖 Brought to You By (Bloomsbury): https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/brought-to-you-by-9781639736331/ 🎧 Drilled: https://drilled.media/ Chapters 0:00 Intro +00:00 Michigan's Upper Peninsula +02:32 From online-shopping magazine to managing editor at 23 +05:22 The Gavin Newsom story (remove if not airing) +10:51 How a Shell case study started her climate reporting +13:27 Big Oil money paid a Catholic priest +14:56 The "offshore wind kills whales" myth +20:40 Disinformation is a symptom, not the disease +24:43 Ivy Lee and the 1914 crisis-actor myth +26:53 Herb Schmertz, Mobil, and the invention of the advertorial +34:37 Today's propagandists: Michael Shellenberger +39:48 Does the left need its own propaganda machine? +43:19 How the Atlas Network builds a movement +45:54 Why radical flanks work +47:49 AI, data centers, and climate +50:51 Can we still have a Silent Spring moment? +56:46 Mamdani, El-Sayed, and the hunger for moral clarity

Homeland Security agents raid Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home and seize her passport in a push to strip her citizenship, and Nick and Rick ask whether this happens to any other member of Congress. Plus: Shane Gillis’s SNL monologue, and whether it was offensive or just bad stand-up; Ken Paxton’s New Year’s Eve in Dubai with two indicted fugitives as James Talarico pulls ahead in Texas; Press Secretary Katie Zacharia out after five days (we play her one and only briefing); Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns as ambassador to Greece over a $100,000 Amex bill; Pete Hegseth’s firing-squad livestream gets canceled; the $333 million list of Trump ballroom donors, including Apple, Nvidia and Google; Trump waives the new Russia sanctions as Starlink goes dark in Ukraine; and Trump’s dinner with Kid Rock, Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith. Ilhan Omar, Shane Gillis, SNL monologue, Ken Paxton, James Talarico, Texas Senate race, Katie Zacharia, White House press secretary, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Pete Hegseth, Trump ballroom donors, Russia sanctions, Starlink Ukraine, Zelensky, Bill Maher, Kid Rock, Stephen A. Smith, Iran war, midterms 2026, ICE, Lonely Liberal Podcast

Back from a week off, we start with a wedding, a blazer put on trial, and why a man who's never set foot on the US mainland gets a federal holiday. Then a rough week: Trump says the US won’t strike Iran until after the midterms, cuts a diesel deal with Putin while Ukraine’s allies sit in peace talks, and tells rallies, “let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles” — we play the clip and argue about how charitable to be. We get into why Israel dominates so much of the conversation on the left, the Kraft–Macklemore mess, and Rubio vowing to dismantle the ICC hours after a former ICC judge wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Plus the Senate debates in Georgia, Michigan and Maine — Ossoff putting Mike Collins “on trial,” Mike Rogers going after Abdul El-Sayed’s mom, and Susan Collins versus Troy Jackson — the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of the Fort Hood shooter, Susan Dell’s viral Oval Office appearance, a plague death in Siberia, Trump’s SpaceX bonds, and the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger. #Trump #IranWar #Putin #Russia #ICC #NobelPeacePrize #NaviPillay #Ossoff #AbdulElSayed #MikeRogers #SusanCollins #TroyJackson #Hegseth #FortHood #DeathPenalty #Execution #SusanDell #Paramount #CNN #Midterms2026 Chapters (00:00) The wedding and the blazer trial (04:44) Columbus Day vs. Indigenous Peoples’ Day (09:29) A depressing week, and the Dixie Chicks (11:57) Macklemore, Ed Sheeran and Robert Kraft (15:15) Why Israel gets so much attention (23:57) No Iran strikes until after the midterms (25:41) Saudi Arabia asks for help, Trump buys Russian diesel (29:27) “Let them hit Los Angeles” (35:29) The Senate debates: Ossoff puts Collins “on trial” (41:28) Rogers vs. El-Sayed (49:53) Collins vs. Jackson in Maine (58:42) A livestreamed firing-squad execution (1:10:14) Trump loses the Nobel (1:11:07) Susan Dell and the media’s clickbait bias (1:13:56) A plague death in Siberia (1:17:04) Rapid fire: Paramount, Kushner, SpaceX bonds (1:19:56) Pat McAfee and football announcers

Conventional wisdom says a swing district demands a candidate who runs to the center. Matt Little did the opposite, and won his primary in the most evenly divided district in Minnesota running unapologetically to the left. Nick sits down with him to figure out how. They get into the story that made Matt political in the first place (watching his mom fight her employer, her doctors, and her insurance company all at once), why he thinks conviction beats calculation in this moment, and what it's like to run in the state that's been at the center of every national story, from George Floyd to the assassination of a colleague he knew. Plus a genuinely eye-opening look at prediction markets from someone who watched people bet on his own race, and why he thinks "boring enough to win" isn't the flex his opponent thinks it is. Find the show at thelonelyliberal.com or @thelonelyliberal.