A Fifth Of Fauci

This is a preview of The Weekender. Sign up for our Patreon and get access to the full episode every Friday, plus special Live Shows and our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman start with a war that keeps getting bigger while almost nobody covers it. Ukraine put a missile into an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, an Egyptian port took a suspected Iranian drone, Iran-backed militias in Iraq are making noise, and China has a shipment of missiles headed for Tehran. Laura Loomer turned up in a room with Volodymyr Zelensky, preaching MAGA solidarity with Ukraine, which is not something that happens by accident. Jared makes the case that nobody in this administration is steering. The people who are don't hold office and don't care whose flag wins.

Then Anthony Fauci in front of Rand Paul's committee, pleading the Fifth over a hundred times while his lawyer gets hauled off the floor. Jared and Nick get into why he's the test case and not the target, who the real target is, and why building bobbleheads of public servants was always going to end this way.

Finally, the number that radicalized Jared: Americans put $166 billion into sports gambling last year, more than they spent on movies, books, art and museums combined. He wants it abolished. Nick ran those ads on the other side of his business and is still paying for it.

What we're watching: Nick says The Invite is the funniest thing he's seen in years and to see it with a crowd. Jared finally caught Backrooms and can't recommend it enough.