The Mental Toll of Polarizing Figures

The New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Donald Trump’s fondness for A.I.-generated memes and what it tells us about our current political climate. They talk about how Trump uses these images to bend the cultural narrative to his will, why the MAGA aesthetic is tailor-made for the age of A.I., and how the proliferation of A.I. slop is damaging our brains.

This week’s reading:

• “Trump Is the Emperor of A.I. Slop,” by Katy Waldman
• “My Brain Finally Broke,” by Jia Tolentino
• “How Is Elon Musk Powering His Supercomputer?,” by Bill McKibben
• “Is This the End of the Separation of Church and State?,” by Ruth Marcus
• “Twelve Migrants Sharing a Queens Apartment,” by Jordan Salama
• “How Russia and Ukraine Are Playing Trump’s Blame Game,” by Joshua Yaffa 

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.