Riley Gaines and the Problem of Persona

True crime historian Rachel McCarthy James joins to talk about Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder, tracing humanity's relationship between axe and skull, where questions about Axe-related word play are axed and answered. Then the show pivots to how algorithms elevate the most loathed spokespeople on every hot-button issue, from Riley Gaines to Jasmine Crockett and Greta Thunberg, and why our brains can't easily separate "the person" from "the cause." Finally in the Spiel Mike discusses Marjorie Taylor Greene, Zohran Mamdani, and whether renouncing past rhetoric—be it "Jewish space lasers" or NYPD boots laced by the IDF—should earn politicians anything more than a provisional, closely watched second chance.

Produced by Corey Wara

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