On the Media

J.D. Vance: Iran Deal Fall Guy

Donald Trump has signed a preliminary agreement to end the war in Iran. On this week’s On the Media, hear how J.D. Vance has been positioned to suffer the political fallout from the conflict – and from the much criticized deal. Plus, the theological tensions dividing the MAGA coalition. [01:34] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Joe Perticone [https://bsky.app/profile/cheetah.bsky.social], national political reporter at The Bulwark, about how J.D. Vance is being set up as the Iran deal “fall guy.” [18:26] Micah talks to Oren Persico [https://www.the7eye.org.il/writer/oren-persico], staff writer for The Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli website devoted to journalism and freedom of the press, about the Israeli media coverage of the Iran deal as a ‘catastrophic capitulation,’ the fracturing relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu and what it may portend for Israel’s political future.  [34:14] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Matthew D. Taylor [https://matthewdtaylor.substack.com/], visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice, to discuss how the growing factions in the Republican party over Israel and the Iran war are part-policy, part-divergent Christian theologies. Further reading: * “JD Vance Is Being Set Up as the Iran Deal Fall Guy,” [https://substack.com/home/post/p-202311097]by Joe Perticone * “How Christian Zionism and Christian Antisemitism Are Tearing MAGA Apart [https://substack.com/home/post/p-202077732],” by Matthew D. Taylor * The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy [https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506497785/The-Violent-Take-It-by-Force], by Matthew D. Taylor On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Cat Ladies Haven't Forgotten

This week JD Vance has been doing a lot of press; partly to sell the quote-unquote peace deal with Iran that he had a hand in brokering. But he’s also on a book tour! Communion, out this week, is Vance’s follow-up to his 2016 best seller hillbilly elegy.   Some of the excerpts being circulated are making their own headlines, like this one, quote; “One of the dumbest things I ever said came when I argued that ‘childless cat ladies’ across the Democrat Party were running our country into the ground,”  He first made his cat lady quip when he was running for office in Ohio and it came up again when he was on the campaign trail with Donald Trump in 2024.  So while Vance is attempting to claw his way back into the good books with said women, we are taking this opportunity to rerun a fabulous conversation Brooke had in 2024 with Kathryn Hughes, author of the book Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania. In it, she traces the many meanings ascribed to cats and their guardians, because cruelty to cats has a long tradition. Early on, Hughes described the notorious case in 1730 of the Great Cat Massacre in Paris. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The UK’s Violent Riots Were Stoked by Elon Musk and a Global Far-Right Network

This week, a mob attacked immigrant communities in Northern Ireland after Elon Musk fomented anger on X. On this week’s On the Media, hear how a group linked with a global neo-Nazi movement organized the riots. Plus, what the recent upheaval at 60 Minutes tells us about the state of TV news. [01:34]  Micah speaks with David Gilbert [https://www.wired.com/author/david-gilbert/], a reporter at WIRED covering disinformation and online extremism, about the anti-immigrant riots that exploded across the UK and more recently Northern Ireland, and how Elon Musk stoked violence on X. Plus, the racist ideology behind the attacks.  [17:29] Micah sits down with Oliver Darcy [https://bsky.app/profile/oliverdarcy.bsky.social], founder of Status [https://www.status.news/]and co-host of Power Lines [https://www.status.news/power-lines], to discuss the turmoil at 60 Minutes since Bari Weiss fired about half a dozen staffers.  [32:52] Brooke talks with Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev, the authors of the upcoming book How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America [https://wwnorton.com/books/how-to-survive-authoritarianism], about how Russian words and phrases can help Americans understand what's happening in their country today. Further reading: * “A White Supremacist Youth Group Helped Orchestrate the Belfast Riots,” [https://www.wired.com/story/a-white-supremacist-youth-group-helped-orchestrate-the-belfast-riots/]by David Gilbert * “Elon Musk and America’s Far Right Stoke Anger Over Murder of UK Teen, [https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-and-americas-far-right-stoke-anger-over-murder-of-uk-teen/]” by David Gilbert * “Bari in the Bunker and Ellison at the Gates,” [https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-david-ellison-lesley-stahl-60-minutes]by Oliver Darcy * “Pelley’s ‘60 Minutes’ Revolt,” [https://www.status.news/p/scott-pelley-60-minutes-nick-bilton-bari-weiss] by Oliver Darcy * How to Survive Authoritarianism: A Russian's Phrasebook for Everyday Life in America [https://wwnorton.com/books/how-to-survive-authoritarianism] by Maria Kuznetsova and Dan Storyev On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Making China Great Again" One Web-Novel At A Time

China is home to over one billion internet users, and about half are consumers of internet literature. While the industry started as a group of hobby writers, it's now a multimillion dollar industry that has spawned adaptations to TV shows, films, and games. One of the most successful genres has become a phenomenon in and of itself. It's called "alt-history" fiction, which typically follows a contemporary man traveling back in time to save ancient China from a crisis. Brooke sits down with Rongbin Han [https://spia.uga.edu/faculty-member/rongbin-han/], a Chinese cyberpolitics expert at the University of Georgia, about why this particular genre of web novel has grabbed so many readers' attention, what it can teach us about how Chinese people are imagining China's rise on a global stage, and how it's an illustration of a state and its people co-producing, or negotiating, a shared vision of an ideal, powerful China.     On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How Anthropic Became Holier Than Thou

This week, Anthropic filed for an IPO following a valuation of nearly $1 trillion, which would make it one of the largest IPOs in history. On this week’s On the Media, the company’s marketing campaign to position it as the “good guy” of AI. Plus, what a literary AI scandal reveals about our vanishing ability to tell what’s human and what’s not.  [01:00]  Micah speaks with Brian Merchant [https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/], a tech journalist and author of the book and newsletter Blood in the Machine, about Anthropic’s successful positioning of itself as the “ethical AI company,” even gaining themselves a seat at the table when the Pope debuted his encyclical on AI, and how fostering this image seems to be paying off in the form of a massive valuation and upcoming IPO. [16:18] Micah sits down with Vauhini Vara [https://www.vauhinivara.com/], a contributing writer for The Atlantic and the author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, on the infiltration of AI into literature, and how publishing and journalism have entered a new era of trying to keep AI writing at bay.  [27:51] Brooke talks with David Garrett, founder of the new non-profit the Institute for Primary Facts, about the pop-up exhibit [https://trumpsonian.us/] he organized in New York City that displayed over 3,400 printed volumes of the Epstein files, and how he intends it to be a “pressure campaign” for accountability. Plus, Andrea Sterling, an online content creator and a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, on the impact of seeing the files in real life. Further reading: * “How Anthropic used AI ethics slop to play the pope and eclipse OpenAI [https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/how-anthropic-used-its-ai-ethicslop],” by Brian Merchant * “This Literary AI Scandal Changes Everything [https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/05/granta-ai-fiction-book-scandal-changes-everything/687243/],” by Vauhini Vara On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm [https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm]). Follow our show on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia] @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.