Olivia Nuzzi, Mormon Wives, and the Death of Democracy

Dec 8, 2025

Alan Elrod, founder of the Pulaski Institution and media analyst, joins for a deep dive into how entertainment values are eroding democracy. They discuss the Olivia Nuzzi scandal, revealing broader issues of media ethics and public voyeurism. The conversation shifts to the allure of reality TV, with a focus on shows like Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, exploring society's hunger for dysfunction. Elrod argues that the current landscape undermines empathy and dignity, crucial for democracy, and links these themes to the toxic blend of politics and celebrity culture, exemplified by the Trump effect.

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INSIGHT

Spectacle Amplifies Human Voyeurism

Reality TV and social media amplify innate human fascination with others' failures into a vast, interactive spectacle.
Alan Elrod warns this amplification corrodes the mutual respect needed for liberal democracy.

INSIGHT

Dysfunction Sells, Democracy Suffers

Shows like Secret Lives of Mormon Wives profit from cast dysfunction and petty drama rather than human excellence.
Elrod argues that such programming trains viewers to see others as entertainment, not fellow citizens.

INSIGHT

Respect Is A Democratic Prerequisite

Liberal democracy requires baseline respect for individual dignity to function alongside political disagreement.
Elrod contends reality TV and social platforms tear at that baseline and promote dehumanization.

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Brad is joined by Alan Elrod, CEO and founder of the Pulaski Institute, for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens to democracy when entertainment values replace empathy. They start with the Olivia Nuzzi scandal and what it exposes about journalistic ethics, voyeurism, and the public’s fascination with watching someone fall apart in real time. From there, Brad and Alan zoom out to look at the rise of reality TV and algorithmic social media, tracing how both have shaped a political culture that thrives on humiliation, moral certainty, and the dehumanization of anyone outside one’s tribe.

The discussion turns to the viral hit Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and what its popularity reveals about our appetite for spectacle and dysfunction. Brad and Alan dig into why empathy and curiosity are essential for a functioning democracy and how those virtues are being eroded by the panopticon we now live in—one where everyone is a potential broadcaster and every misstep can become a public referendum. They explore how cancel culture, mob justice, and entertainment-driven politics harm people across the political spectrum, and connect these themes to the “Trump effect” that blurred the line between celebrity culture and governing. The episode closes with a look at a new national security document that frames American identity through Western supremacy, raising questions about how foreign policy, entertainment, and democratic decay are more intertwined than we might think.

A sharp, timely, and at times unsettling exploration of what happens when a nation starts confusing spectacle for civic life.

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