Conspirituality

Exvangelical author Tia Levings joins Matthew to discuss her harrowing memoir of indoctrination, abuse, recovery, and advocacy, The Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy. It’s a wild GenX journey that tells us a lot about the logic of evangelical support for Trumpism, and how those caught within it can see their way clear the gender terror, rape culture, and fantasies of retribution. Show Notes Tia Levings This season, Patreon is checking some big things off your wish list Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve spent one minute on social media in the last few months, you’ve probably heard that seed oils are extremely toxic, food dyes are the reason for rising obesity rates—oh wait, that’s glyphosate—and vaccines are still causing autism. Nevermind the fact that the supposedly criminal preservative, thimerosal, was removed from almost all vaccinations in 2001. Clinical research is irrelevant in MAHA, RFK Jr’s Make America Healthy Again MAGA ripoff. Wellness acolytes have found a champion in Kennedy, who’s going to immediately end chronic diseases and reduce obesity rates by…checks notes…making sure every American has a gym membership. We’ve covered Bobby a lot on this podcast, so today our fearless correspondent, Mallory DeMille, returns to investigate one very vocal and very relieved cohort, the MAHA Mamas. They just know Kennedy is going to truly save the children, science be damned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An essay from Matthew on how MAGA religiosity obscures the religious nature of liberalism, and how both obscure the underlying religion of capitalism. Inspired by Walter Benjamin, who in 1921 wrote: One can behold in capitalism a religion, that is to say, capitalism essentially serves to satisfy the same worries, anguish, and disquiet formerly answered by so-called religion. Capitalism is a pure religious cult, perhaps the most extreme there ever was. Within it everything only has meaning in direct relation to the cult: it knows no special dogma, no theology. Show Notes Mutual Aid Hub Martin Luther King Jr: Dialectics, Materialism, and the Black Radical Critique of Racial Capitalism with Andrew J. Douglas and Jared A. Loggins 230: How Did We Get Here? Walter Benjamin, "Capitalism as Religion [Fragment 74]," Max Weber and Walter Benjamin Without Dream or Mercy Has Capitalism Become Our Religion? On the Concept of History - Walter Benjamin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Free Press founder, Bari Weiss, recently hosted Peter Thiel on her podcast. While The FP markets itself as as a return to independent and non-partisan real journalism, Julian and Derek point out that's not the case at all—especially when the organization's $15M in funding comes from rightwing and libertarian VCs. Will Weiss factcheck Thiel's misinformation in real-time, as a "non-partisan" outlet should? Show Notes Lapdogs Of The "Counter-Elite" Authoritarians Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the election, Democratic voter disbelief and despair has alternated between grief and rage. We watched some erstwhile vociferous critics of Trump in the legacy media, like Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, kiss the ring and bend the knee, while others adopted a contorted posture of seeming legitimization, like NPR hosting Leonard Leo for a nice long sit-down interview. Meanwhile, the big egos of MAGA 2.0 seem to rise like Soviet propaganda banners over the American landscape. Trump has named his cabinet picks at lightning speed. His list includes a pro-wrestling executive, a Hare Krishna cult member, a tech billionaire, an anti-vax conspiracy peddler, a FOX News host with far-right tattoos, an alt-med snake oil salesman, two sex offenders, a COVID-contrarian doctor—and, contrary to his claiming to know nothing about it during the election, prominent Project 2025 authors. What most high profile nominations all have in common is being completely unqualified for the job. Maybe that’s the point. We look at the cabinet picks that intersect with our beat, as pseudoscience conspiracism now completes its journey from the social fringes to deciding White House policies—and all the consequences that entails. Show Notes Conspirituality’s Project 2025 coverage Everything You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s FDA Pick No, Medical Errors Are Not the Third Leading Cause of Death Dr. Oz Shilled for an Alternative to Medicare Trump picks former Florida Rep. Weldon to lead CDC 13 things everyone should know about Pete Hegseth Trump reportedly plans to kick trans troops out of the military within days of inauguration Transgender Military Service in the United States Did RFK Jr. eat McDonald’s in that viral pic aboard Trump’s plane? Here’s the answer Part One: Vince McMahon, History's Greatest Monster - Behind the Bastards C-03-CV-24-004019 — John Does suit against WWE, trigger warning. Case 3:24-cv-00090 Document 1 Filed 01/25/24 — Janel Grant suit, trigger warning. 152: Tulsi Gabbard’s Krishna Consciousness (w/Nitai Joseph) Tulsi Gabbard's ties to the Science of Identity Foundation, a controversial religious sect that some call an abusive 'cult' Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe? Tulsi Gabbard’s ties to secretive cult may explain her perplexing political journey Islamophobic World View of Tulsi Gabbard's Guru Revealed in Unearthed Recordings – Can she Still Run for President? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew here with the fourth installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Rob Schenck joined me in Episode 199 to discuss his deradicalization from the Evangelical anti-abortion movement. Today he joins me to discuss some things he’s learned about hope, faith, resilience and building community in hard times. Show Notes Costly Grace - Rob Schenck 199: Inside Anti-Abortion Christian Nationalism (w/Rob Schenck) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate denialist who exposed the so-called “censorship industrial complex” returns, this time at another congressional hearing. Michael Shellenberger has come to blow the whistle on Big Government’s UFO cover-up. Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Anna Paulina Luna alternate between showing off their knowledge of fantastical History Channel “documentaries” and playing bad cop interrogators. Reverse-engineered UFO’s! Recovered alien “biologics!” Interdimensional beings! Organic machines that defy the laws of physics! Shellenberger and his fellow “witnesses” provide precisely zero evidence for any of these earth-shattering claims. Welcome to the Government Oversight and Accountability Committee circus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AG1 built a billion-dollar brand in large part by tapping into the fitness and wellness podcast and YouTube markets. Recently, AG1’s founder, Chris Ashenden, resigned after a decades-old real estate scam in his native New Zealand came to light. While Chris has mentioned it in passing, he’s always claimed to have paid full reparations for his crime—and it was a crime. Turns out that he hasn’t paid it all, as uncovered by New Zealand journalists Jonathan Milne and Mike Wesley-Smith. They join Derek to discuss their year-and-a-half long investigation that resulted in a billionaire founder leaving one of the most well-known supplements brands in the world. They also talk about why journalism still matters in a world seemingly run by billionaires. Show Notes AG1 founder Chris Ashenden resigns amid scrutiny of NZ criminal history DELVE: Powder Keg podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart Trump sues for billions from media he says is biased against him Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josemaria Escriva founded Opus Dei, an ultra-conservative, high-demand, secretive Catholic organization in Madrid, Spain, after receiving a supposed vision from God in 1928. His small inner circle initially initiated university students into strict obedience, celibacy, medieval practices of self-flagellation, and deceptive recruitment techniques to convert their friends. Operating outside of the mainstream church, Opus Dei rose to prominence under Spain's authoritarian dictator, Francisco Franco. Escriva was eventually canonized as a saint while the group amassed enormous wealth and influence around the world. Today, their reactionary religious and political mission has established a foothold in Washington DC through the Catholic Information Center—the tabernacle closest to the White House.Bill Barr, Leonard Leo, and Project 2025 mastermind, Kevin Roberts, all visit for spiritual guidance. Meanwhile, scandals and lawsuits involving child sex abuse, money laundering, and human trafficking plague Opus Dei's reputation. Gareth Gore joins us to discuss his controversial new book on the past and present of this secretive organization, Opus. Show Notes Pew Research Center: America’s News Influencers How Opus Dei Converted DC Gareth Gore Author page for his book, Opus Opus Dei Paid $900K to Settle Sexual Misconduct Claim Argentine Prosecutors Accuse Opus Dei of Human Trafficking Maria del Carmen Tapia Book Summary on Opus Dei Financial Times on Opus Biblical omen uncovered in aftermath of Hurricane Helene | Daily Mail Online Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A personal journey through health describing what led Derek to focus on health, science, and healthcare as a career and, eventually, this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The post-election online chaos has a lot in common with what can go wrong in online survivor groups. Matthew tracks how opportunities for connection and solidarity can crater into gravity wells of recrimination, trauma-dumping, moral outrage porn, and the rise of new influence hierarchies. Not just because of differences in politics and values and temperament—but because of inequality and privilege. A meditation on the difference between building a boat to sail in vs. a boat in a bottle, on considering the second arrow, and on when to log the fuck off. Show Notes Mutual Aid Hub MORAL OUTRAGE PORN C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams The Second Arrow — Sutta Central Log the Fuck Off with Amber Frost, Matt Christman, & Ben Fong Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once upon a time, there was a golden age. A time when the news media was fair and balanced, unbiased and honest. But we've lost all that to the corrupting influence of big money, political correctness, and woke censorship. Blame the radical left. Not to worry: the online charisma of heterodox new media figures like Bari Weiss and her plucky, centrist, truth-telling little start-up, The Free Press, has come to Make Journalism Great Again. Yet their supposed heterodoxy is neither neutral nor journalistically rigorous. It's pure culture war contrarian sensationalism that wastes little ink critiquing the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. We trace these tangled threads by listening in to the supposedly non-partisan The Free Press election night livestream, which giddily praised Trump for being the consummate bullshitter that will take an ax to Democratic institutions. Show Notes The evolution of France’s left and right politics, from the 1789 French Revolution to this year's election What to Know About the Origins of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ in Politics, From the French Revolution to the 2020 Presidential Race Our American Zion When a Terrorist Comes to Your Hometown Columbia's Own Middle East War Bari Weiss’s Unasked Questions TFP latest round of funding Thiel/Lonsdale and UATX funding UATX huge cash injection after pro-palestine protests Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew got The Question on the morning after the election. At that moment, he came up with nothing but a hug. But then he chewed on it for days, and came up with eleven things to consider. So here are some notes for possible conversations with tweens about anxiety, bullies, fascism, friends, mutual aid, and love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek discusses Tucker Carlson advocating for corporal punishment as a way to discipline children in his appearance at the Turning Points USA MAGA rally. This is an unlock from a recent Patreon bonus, with a new intro from Matthew. Show Notes Stephen Colbert: Tucker Carlson’s Weird Daddy Issues Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rapid-response electoral punditry is not our lane. So, while we gather our feelings and thoughts, Matthew hosts novelist Sheila Heti for a discussion of her encounter with A Course in Miracles, and what she discovered when she investigated its origin story for Harper’s Magazine. Was Helen Schucman, the book’s “scribe”, mentally ill? Was she unduly influenced by her boss at Columbia Medical School, William Thetford, who once worked for the CIA’s MKUltra programme, and with whom she was clearly in love, even though he was gay? Were they dropping acid on assignment from Langley? Why was the initial dictation of the book so radically altered by its first editors? Why did Helen Schucman curse A Course in Miracles so soon after publication? Why did she keep writing trite poems to Jesus before dying in bitterness? Heti was the ideal gumshoe for this project, because as a novelist all-too-familiar with internal voices and the feeling of “channeling,” she was able to feel her way into Helen’s life. Matthew asks her what she found. Show Notes The New Age Bible — Sheila Heti Sheila Heti — website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Having lived under Apartheid in South Africa, voted in the UK, and now staring down this terrifying US election, Julian reflects on the political differences between the three countries. Stay tuned for some hopeful poetry at the end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently, “holistic veterinarian” Marcie Fallek, whose latest book, “Little Miracles Everywhere: My Unorthodox Path to Holistic Veterinary Medicine," is the #1 bestseller on Amazon in the Alternative Holistic Medicine category, appeared on Children's Health Defense's daily morning show. During “Pet Vaccines and Holistic Vet Care" she spreads the same sort of vaccine misinformation and fear-mongering that RFK Jr's nonprofit has become infamous for. All of which made Derek realize that yes, they're actually coming for our pets. Show Notes Why Your Vet Bill Is So High Private Equity Is Killing Your Pets Nearly 70% of veterinarians have lost a colleague or peer to suicide, study finds The acute suicide crisis among veterinarians: 'You're always going to be failing somebody' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With days left before the most consequential US election in our lifetime, we reflect on the last 4.5 years of this podcast while expressing our hopes–and our own reporting goals—for the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew here with the third installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Michelle Cassandra Johnson was an early guest on our show and helped us lay the groundwork for understanding the reality and impacts of racism in the worlds of wellness and new spirituality. She’s an author, activist, and racial equity trainer. Her latest book, A Space For Us: A Guide For Leading Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Affinity Groups, was published by Beacon Press in August 2023. She lives in North Carolina with her sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees. Show Notes Michelle Cassandra Johnson Conspirituality 40: White Supremacy: Grift and Gravity (w/Michelle Cassandra Johnson & Daniel Lombroso) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek discusses Tucker Carlson advocating for corporal punishment as a way to discipline children in his appearance at the Turning Points USA MAGA rally. Show Notes Stephen Colbert: Tucker Carlson’s Weird Daddy Issues Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billionaire legal activist Leonard Leo has had a role in placing all six conservative justices on the SCOTUS, and so therefore is in large part responsible for the overturning of Roe V Wade. But his right-wing activism isn’t even close to over, as he recently stated during a rare interview with The Daily Wire. Derek and Julian discuss Leo’s dark vision for the future. Show Notes Swamp Creatures 6: Leonard Leo, Judicial Kingmaker Inside Leonard Leo’s Plan For Conservatives To ‘Crush Liberal Dominance’ We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority Leonard Leo’s Extremely Revealing Letter to a Dark-Money Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Oct 4, Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy at Stanford, held a symposium at his university. Titled “Pandemic Policy: Planning the Future, Assessing the Past,” it was marketed as an open-minded series of panel discussions involving a range of experts to debate and discuss the efficacy of Covid mitigation techniques. In reality, it was a collection of mostly anti-vax and definitely anti-lockdown contrarians that tried in vain to bait people like Dr Peter Hotez to attend in order to give the event an air of legitimacy. Held on the anniversary of the “Covid is bad for business” doctrine, The Great Barrington Declaration, the day presented an opportunity to air supposed “censorship” grievances and demands that the public should have a say in the science of future pandemics. The rub: most everyone involved is invested in the economics of public health, not the science, though those lines were freely and falsely blurred throughout the day. Considering Stanford’s new president, economist Jonathan Levin, gave the opening remarks, the Covid contrarians took one more step into the mainstream with their business-first, science-whatever attitudes. Show Notes Pro-COVID UK Charity With Anti-Vax Ties Behind Controversial Stanford Health Policy Conference Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says a failing economy is worse than coronavirus Dr. Vinay Prasad: “Public Health’s (Mis)Truth Problem” Can Stanford Tell Fact from Fiction? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the world watches, Israel and Iran are squaring off for a potential war. Meanwhile, a Texas evangelical preacher, who runs the biggest Christian Zionist group in the world, is cheering on the coming apocalypse—as predicted in his 2005 book, Jerusalem Countdown. John Hagee even flew to DC to persuade Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, to jam through another military aid package. Julian examines the real-world significance of conflicting religious prophecies focused on one particular piece of real estate in East Jerusalem as the “shoreline of eternity”—the portal into God’s Kingdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump’s Town Hall DJ love-in stumped a lot of folks. From the conspirituality angle, however, there’s something familiar about this improvised ritual. Because the world we cover is strewn with the wreckage of charismatic patriarchs who bleed their followers dry in the closed-loop system of cultic dynamics. When leaders like Trump get to the end of the line, all that’s left is pure affect. They have exhausted themselves in the efforts of self-aggrandizement. They have nothing left to say because they’ve said it a 1000 times. They’re all out of stories. They might even be bored of their own bullshit. Underslept or dysregulated by chaotic schedules, they may not be sure where they are. They’re beset by enemies, ill and in cognitive decline, but can’t admit it. And when they start to feel overwhelmed by their followers' pathetic—in their view—neediness, they will reach for any help they can get in maintaining their emotional dominance. What October 14 showed us is that in these moments, Trump’s go-to resource is canned music, and, without his own iPad at the ready, a DJ handler who can spin the tracks and support his reverie of relief and control. Show Notes Trump holds town hall in Pennsylvania suburbs with focus on economy How Media Outlets Covered Trump’s Musical Town Hall Donald Trump is DJing weekly at Mar-a-Lago, plays Broadway songs and Celine Dion from his iPad, report says DJ T: How Trump controls the music at Mar-a-Lago Twitter thread 152: Tulsi Gabbard’s Krishna Consciousness (w/Nitai Joseph) PLAYING FOR OSHO 1989 Introduction – Chinmaya Dunster Patted Down by India’s Hugging Saint The Soft Nationalism of Amma, India’s Hugging Saint 37: Guru Jagat Cultjacks Kundalini Yoga (w/Philip Deslippe & Stacie Stukin) Letter to Sogyal Rinpoche from current and ex-Rigpa members details abuse allegations Trump's bizarre music session reignites questions about his mental acuity Brief: Trump’s Impending Ego Implosion (w/ Daniel Shaw) Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation Sex abuse allegations surround L.A. Buddhist teacher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People will reach for anything to relieve the stress of climate anxiety. There’s outright denial: this can’t be happening. It doesn’t fit in with my understanding of the world. The science must be wrong. During Milton, Catturd wonders why the wind speed keeps changing on the weather reports. They must be making it up. Or the guy in Galveston, TX, posting that he can’t see any hurricane from his Gulf view. When denial is impractical, there’s political displacement: our enemies are responsible. They’re seeding the clouds, they’re spewing the chemtrails. The Democrats are sparking tornadoes with invisible drones over swing states. They’re using radio waves to steer the hurricane’s eye. They’re clearing land for lithium mining so they can take our gas hog pickups away. But when the storm surge is just too high to attribute to Jewish space lasers, there’s also good old spiritual displacement: God is punishing our enemies for their sins. We didn’t stop all their abortions and anal sex, and now we are caught in the crossfire of God’s just vengeance. Today we look at the distortions and disruptions, the fallacies and fables—and not all of them from the right—that keep people locked in climate paralysis. Show Notes Food Babe misinformation carousel Wigington v. MacMartin, 2:21-cv-02355-KJM-DMC Record Hot Water Is Fueling Hurricane Milton Hurricane Milton: what causes such intense storms? What Big Oil knew about climate change, in its own words Early oil industry knowledge of CO2 and global warming | Nature Climate Change Exxon Confirmed Global Warming Consensus in 1982 with In-House Climate Models No obituary for Earth: Scientists fight climate doom talk Guy McPherson and Near Term Human Extinction - The Mike Nowak Show with Peggy Malecki Arctic News: It’s time to pursue hospice, by Guy McPherson Statement on Guy McPherson - Eugene The faulty science, doomism, and flawed conclusions of Deep Adaptation - Ecological Grief as a Response to Environmental Change: A Mental Health Risk or Functional Response? - PMC The faulty science, doomism, and flawed conclusions of 'Deep Adaptation' | openDemocracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew fields excellent questions about his new book from colleagues Ann Gleig and Michelle C. Johnson. NAB Show Notes This event includes discussions on sensitive topics related to abuse; sexual assault; high-demand tactics; racism; gender-based violence; and systems of dominance, patriarchy, and oppression. We know that these topics may be distressing or triggering to some attendees, and we invite you to take care when listening, and to tend to your needs if you feel activated, overwhelmed, or emotionally impacted. We're so grateful you're here, and we thank you for coming. We also want to thank survivors of sexual violence and abuse in yoga, wellness, Buddhist communities, and beyond, whose stories, voices, and feedback have been invaluable to the work each of us continues to do in service of healing our communities from the harm of sexual violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Born in 1831, Helena "Madame" Blavatsky pioneered the New Age grift. The Russian aristocrat plagiarized her books while claiming to be channeling the “Masters of Ancient Wisdom” to tell a dodgy heroic back-story. She founded the Theosophical Society in New York, claimed to have learned a secret Tibetan language, and laid the foundation for alien channelers and Woo-Anon. She also inspired the Nazis. In the latest episode from a series on the pseudoscience New Age roots of today’s conspirituality phenomenon, Julian pins Blavatsky on the cork-board map. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On September 29, a predicted one million people were going to show up for the Rescue the Republic event in Washington DC. Founded by the libertarian party chair, the Defeat the Mandates founder, and “professor in exile,” Bret Weinstein, about 1,500 mostly MAGA acolytes showed up. Yet the event represents something a long time building in America: the strange and at times uncomfortable merging of wellness and right-wing politics via MAHA and MAGA. Sure, RFK Jr was there, but today we’re going to look at a few figures we haven’t covered in a while, or at all. As can be expected in conspiracy land, the C-list celebrities brought some of the most outlandish, and most dangerous, ideas along with them. Show Notes Orange Shirt Day | The Canadian Encyclopedia National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the History of Residential Schools - Foundry Phyllis’ Story - Orange Shirt Society More Than Anything Else, the Rally to Rescue the Republic Was Awkward Are food dyes used in the US banned in other countries? No, not really. IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive - Israel News - Haaretz.com Have no childhood vaccines ever been tested using double-blind placebo controlled trials? ​​Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" paintings vandalized hours after activists sentenced for similar incident - CBS News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With MAHA taking over stages nationwide, we’re experiencing a deluge of wellness influence and contrarians screaming about systemic issues with food, medicine, and government. Yet the solutions they offer never actually address public health. Ironically, the same trend has been occurring in investment-driven medicine, where both government and private sector money is flowing into individualized medicine at the expense of public health. Derek dives into this sordid affair, concluding with six steps experts agree would actually do something about the state of our health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finally: a dedicated, concise report on RFK Jr’s sordid history with women, with all the sources. Why? Because now one of the allegations involves a criminal act. And because it’s becoming clearer that the emotional manipulation he allegedly deploys in his personal life—many sources say that “love-bombing” is his technique—rhymes so closely with his political day-to-day that it’s hard to find the lines between stumping, white knighting, seducing, and screwing. Correction: The RFK Jr clip “I’m not a church boy” ran on Breaking Points, not Majority Report. Show Notes The real victims of Olivia Nuzzi’s affair with RFK Jr are other female journalists | Moira Donegan | The Guardian Exclusive: Multiple Women Claiming Romantic Relationships With RFK Jr. Threaten His Standing in Trump Orbit RFK Jr.’s Family Doesn’t Want Him to Run. Even They May Not Know His Darkest Secrets. | Vanity Fair Damning Report Reveals RFK Jr.’s History of Alleged Sexual Assault | The New Republic RFK Jr. Was a Compulsive Womanizer, and Yes, We Should Care | The New Republic 43 suspected mistresses found in RFK Jr.’s phone Former babysitter for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accuses him of sexual assault in Vanity Fair profile Woman who accused RFK Jr of sexual assault says he apologized by text | Reuters Keith Edwards — “I’m not a church boy.” Massachusetts Sexual Assault Laws Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Texts Apology to Woman Who Says He Sexually Assaulted Her A Timeline of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Controversies The Last Days of Mary Kennedy: 'She Is Angry and Depressed, but She Is Not Ill' (Exclusive) AA meetings in the White House? Kennedy, a recovering addict, says it's just one of changes he'd make RFK Jr. Wants to Send People Addicted to Antidepressants to Government “Wellness Farms” – Mother Jones Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cleanse the soil! Purify the blood! Save the children! Make America Healthy Again! On Sept 23, Jordan Peterson, RFK Jr., rising alt-health stars Casey and Calley Means, and many other nutrition non-experts gathered for a live streamed event they called the American Health and Nutrition Roundtable, hosted by Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Their subtitle, A Second Opinion, was an apt description for the alternative fact-filled diatribes that ensued. The soil has been poisoned, everyone is fat and sick, the entire medical industry is corrupted by Big Pharma, and Big Food is enacting a genocide on the American people via metabolic dysfunction. COVID skepticism and anti-vax messaging lurked just beneath the surface. The speakers painted a terrifying picture and then presented themselves as benevolent common-sense saviors. At the climax of her speech, Casey Means, fresh from her career-boosting Tucker Carlson appearance, took a deep breath before declaring that this is all actually a spiritual crisis. Show Notes Killers of the Flower Moon: The real history behind diabetes and Native Americans. Special Report: QAnon Fantasies Look Like Colonial Realities (w/Julian Brave NoiseCat) — Conspirituality Palestinians pampered”— Robert Kennedy Jr CDC Sociodemographic Data on American chronic disease Commonwealth Fund: Portrait of the Failing US Healthcare System Mikhaila Fuller | Yeah, I get botox. From the latest Q&A, link in bio. | Instagram Mikhaila Peterson’s life at the molten core of the culture wars - New Statesman NPR on International Journal of Obesity Study Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew here with the second installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Does Natalie Wynn need an introduction? Or do we simply know that every frame of every Contrapoints essay is a gorgeous still life, a love letter to the unknown viewer thirsty for smarts and queerness and justice? Often, top-tier artfulness will wind up concealing the artist. But despite the rigors of curation and the introversion Wynn ‘fesses up to in this interview, she also communicates welcome and generosity, and it was an honor to hear her speak personally about these Big Things.. BTW: here are the five questions. You can think about them too. What terrifies you most in these times? What is the most meaningful and supportive idea or story you return to for reliable wisdom and relief? What is the greatest obstacle you face in forming community relationships, and how do you work to overcome it? If you were responsible for comforting and guiding a child terrified of climate catastrophe, how would you do it? What would you say? If your wisest ancestor came in a dream to offer you one piece of advice about living in difficult times, what would it be? Show Notes ContraPoints - YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An essay from Matthew exploring the problem of authenticity which plagues every investigation we do on the spiritual influencer beat. There are queasy questions we’re always contending with when we’re listening to the preaching of Charles Eisenstein, Kelly Brogan, Zach Bush, or RFK Jr: Has this person really committed to the spirituality they are presenting? Or is spirituality instrumental to them? Do they have experience to share, or programs to sell? It’s hard if not impossible to find the line between these things, especially in the society of the spectacle, especially when we’re talking about influencers we don’t personally know. But it's an important consideration because assumptions made in one direction or another taint the entire discourse. Maybe, we’re talking about the difference between unearned faith and earned faith. Show Notes Zero at the Bone: Wiman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson sponsored a congressional panel entitled "American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion." Unfortunately no actual health or nutrition experts were invited. Instead, the four-and-a-half hour event featured speakers like Robert F Kennedy Jr, Jordan Peterson, Jillian Michaels, Vani Hari (Food Babe), and a host of other influencers and contrarians. Derek investigates all the science that wasn't told—and all the products and services that were sold. Note: Derek meant to compare aluminum fear-mongering with thimerasol (organomercury) but instead conflated them. Both are safe at the level used in vaccines as adjuvants, though most thimerasol was removed due to public outcries and an abundance of caution. Links added to Show Notes. Show Notes Mandela Barnes Says Sen. Ron Johnson 'Bought and Paid for' by Big Pharma The Congressional "American Health and Nutrition Roundtable" was an egregious display of anti-science disinformation MEDIA ADVISORY: Sen. Johnson to Lead Roundtable Discussion: “American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion” Thimerosal and Vaccines Adjuvants and Vaccines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tens of people will be flocking to Washington DC this Sunday as Rumble comes to life during Rescue the Republic, a one-day event featuring RFK Jr, Russell Brand, Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Tulsi Gabbard—it’s quite an impressive roster of anti-vax luminaries and right-wing contrarians gathering under the pretense of what is effectively a glorified Donald Trump rally. And that’s not hyperbole, given that Trump is seated next to Elon Musk on the marketing materials, which is a graphic retelling of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. While this event is already infected with tons of conspirituality, one late addition caught our attention: Human Garage. This fascia-release-cures-everything organization had to flee California for Canada due to legal troubles, yet their star continues to rise as they embark on their “Transforming Trauma” world tour. And nothing says “healing” more than spreading pseudoscientific wellness jargon and hawking turmeric supplements at a Trump event. Show Notes Apostolic Journey to Singapore: Interreligious Meeting with Young People in the Catholic Junior College (13 September 2024) | Francis Lord by Thy Holy Cross Pope: War in Gaza is too much! No steps taken for peace - Vatican News Physio Reacts: Episode 1 - Human Garage (Part 1 of ?) Physio Reacts: Episode 2 - Human Garage (Part 2) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The British occultists took the thin and sickly but beautiful boy away from his family. Groomed him for 20 years to become the savior of humanity. Trained him between 1909-29 to be a serene guru and charming English aristocrat. He looked good in a double-breasted suit and had fabulous hair. Huge amounts of money flowed into the organization they built around him. But Krishnamurti became a man the day he shocked them all. Julian’s latest chapter of his historical series wraps up Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society—one of the crucial 19th century roots of New Age metaphysics, and the phenomenon we call conspirituality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“God talks to human beings through many vectors. But nowhere with such detail, and grace and joy, as through creation. When we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine.” With this April 2023 tweet, RFK Jr inaugurated his presidential campaign, which has now folded into a daily ritual of Trump bootlicking. Now, Bobby is telling Tucker Carlson and the world that climate change cannot be solved through commitment to the “carbon orthodoxy.” “It’s not about quantifying stuff,” he says. “That's what the devil does. But the reason we're preserving these things is because we love our children.” What does this mean? Matthew tracks the sources and implications of Kennedy’s broken climate discourse—rooted in St. Francis of Assisi, appealing to gentleman farmers and homeschoolers, allergic to the scientific abstractions that give us a truly global picture, and always committed to the free market. Show Notes RFK Jr: Teaming up With Trump, Pavel Durov’s Arrest, CIA, and the Fall of the Democrat Party Birdwatching with Jonathan Franzen: 'Climate change isn't the only danger to birds' Special Interview: Nostalgia for the Superego (w/Sam Binkley) — Conspirituality Laudato si' (24 May 2015) | Francis Brian Swimme: The Cosmos Watching Itself (E35) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s been a question gnawing at fans of Charles Eisenstein: what does he really feel about RFK Jr’s pivot to Trump? The always aspiring poet-philosopher was hired as a messaging advisor to Bobby, after all. We’ve spotted little fragments of Eisenstein’s exceptionally long essays sneaking their way into Bobby’s speeches. There was some influence, for sure, even after Charles went on multiple Costa Rican sabbaticals right in the middle of campaign season and apparently cut his consulting rate down from $21k per month, perhaps out of the goodness of the heart he knows is possible. And yet, for weeks after Bobby jumped the shark, Charles remained silent. Until now, that is. With the publication of his recent 6,711-word essay, “Shades of Many Colors,” Eisenstein finally breaks his silence and lands firmly on the side of…well, we’re not quite sure. But one thing that’s emerged is Charles’s penchant for not crediting the source of some of his galaxy-brained ideas. Today, we’ll look at some of what Charles says in his latest opus, and try to figure out what exactly he’s saying. Show Notes mRNA vaccine spike protein differs from viral version The effect of SARS-CoV-2 variant on respiratory features and mortality SARS-CoV-2 Infections in mRNA Vaccinated Individuals are Biased for Viruses Encoding Spike E484K and Associated with Reduced Infectious Virus Loads that Correlate with Respiratory Antiviral IgG levels. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Connective Tissue Disorders Following COVID-19 Risk of autoimmune diseases following COVID-19 and the potential protective effect from vaccination: a population-based cohort study The Lancet: Most comprehensive study to date provides evidence on natural immunity protection by COVID-19 variant and how protection fades over time Conspirituality 1: Coronation for Whom? Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality 86: Charles Eisenstein, New Age Q — Conspirituality Disavowing Disinformation - North Atlantic Books Inside the Last Weeks of RFK Jr.’s Campaign Charles Eisenstein - What is the Next Story? - Scientific and Medical Network Brian Swimme: The Cosmos Watching Itself (E35) ​Charles Eisenstein Whitewashes Trump, Caricatures & Demonizes Democrats in Post Decrying Caricatures & Demonization (Part 1) Charles Eisenstein Endorses Trump, but Thinks You're Not Clever Enough to Notice (Part 2) Cardiac Events Following Mpox Vaccine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Biohacking expert" Kayla Barnes recently published a 31-minute video about her morning routine, filled with EMF-blocking shields, grounding protocols, and 40 different daily supplements. Good if you can afford it, but then she sells questionable protocols at her Cleveland, Ohio-based clinic, Lyv Wellness, despite having no clinical training. Derek watches what she says, then watches what she sells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tucker Carlson is the Steve Bannon of Joe Rogans. Tucker surpasses Rogan’s massive reach at times, but his curated guest list drives a deliberate agenda: normalizing neo-fascist political discourse. He does it all with an affable, friendly, just-asking-questions, I’m-not-as-smart-as-my-guests attitude that may disguise what he’s doing—like interviewing a Holocaust-denier Nazi apologist, or framing modern-day dictatorships as admirable, or promoting the anti-semitic Great Replacement Theory, or globe-trotting to flatteringly interviewing brutal enemies of democracy like Viktor Orban or Vladimir Putin. In the wake of recent controversy about WWII revisionism on Carlson’s show, Julian breaks down the accelerationist contours of Tucker’s far-right influence and agenda. Being fired from FOX News and going “independent” has only made it worse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2022, Tucker Carlson produced a documentary called “The End of Men,” his contribution to the so-called “masculinity crisis.” That’s when testicle tanning hit the mainstream, which one astute observer dubbed “bromeopathic therapy.” Turns out the former Fox News host isn’t done dabbling in conspirituality. This year, he’s platformed the QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley; lyme disease conspiracist, Kris Newby; the “other” Naomi, Naomi Wolf; brother-sister optimizers, Casey and Calley Means; and he’s currently on a 16-city tour with the likes of Russell Brand and Alex Jones. He’s also partly responsible for helping usher RFK Jr into Donald Trump’s camp. While the former CNN and MSNBC host turned far right provocateur isn’t leading wellness retreats (yet), he’s certainly being shared by an increasing number of wellness influencers, and we want to know why. Show Notes DOJ Accuses Russia of Sprawling Election Interference Campaign Homeland Violence and Diaspora Insecurity: An Analysis of Israel and American Jewry | Politics and Religion | Cambridge Core Safety through Solidarity by Shane Burley, Ben Lorber Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s the first installment of a regular timeline cleanser featuring interviews with folks reflecting on hope, faith, resilience and building community in hard times. You know—all the things that conspirituality itself can’t offer. These are short, personal visits in which Matthew asks each guest the same five questions about their life wisdom—at least as it’s coming together in this moment. To start this series, Matthew hearkens back to the roots of Conspirituality Podcast in the yoga world with guest Jivana Heyman. Jivana is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings and supporting yoga teachers. He’s the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body; Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion; and The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body. BTW: here are the five questions. You can think about them too. What terrifies you most in these times? What is the most meaningful and supportive idea or story you return to for reliable wisdom and relief? What is the greatest obstacle you face in forming community relationships, and how do you work to overcome it? If you were responsible for comforting and guiding a child terrified of climate catastrophe, how would you do it? What would you say? If your wisest ancestor came in a dream to offer you one piece of advice about living in difficult times, what would it be? Show Notes jivanaheyman.com 9: Ableism in Conspiracy Theories (w/Jivana Heyman) — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to spill ink on dispelling conspiracy theories about non-existent children being murdered, while actual children are being murdered? At what point does the labour of debunking right wing wackjobs also do the shadow-work of supporting the liberal-center orthodoxy? Matthew looks at how with QAnon, the liberal-center press criticized irrational responses to imaginary traumas, with a great sense of urgency. But on Gaza, they criticize rational responses to actual traumas, and imply that protesters are asking for too much, too fast. What happens downstream of denials, minimizations, and contradictions? What are the social and mental health implications of moral injury? Are these not some of the same social conditions that generate conspiracism? Content warning: discussion of children, genocide Show Notes Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza? New Report from BU School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic Lays Out Case Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza | UN News Dems Gave the 'Uncommitted Movement' Space to Talk About Gaza — Just Not on TV First-Ever DNC Panel on Palestinian Rights: We Need to “Restore the Soul of the Democratic Party” “Stop Arming Israel”: Meet the DNC Delegates Who Unfurled Banner During Biden Speech 201: Librarians Are Not Groomers (w/Heath Umbreit) — Conspirituality What I Saw Was “Unfathomable”: Doctor Who Worked in Gaza Speaks Out Against U.S. Arming of Israel Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential - The Lancet Clearing Gaza of almost 40m tonnes of war rubble will take years, says UN Israel Has Killed 2,100 Babies Under 2 Years Old in Gaza, Rights Group Says | Truthout NYU barricades benches College Administrators Spent Summer Break Dreaming Up Ways to Squash Gaza Protests The Black Mark on the Democrats’ Big Party | The New Republic Amnesty International Warns of U.S. Complicity in War Crimes in Gaza Christian Wiman | Yale Divinity School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calley Means is the cofounder of TrueMed, a company that helps businesses qualify products and services like supplements and ice baths for HSA and FSA money. Casey Means is the founder of Levels, a continuous glucose monitor subscription service aimed at the biohacking community. The brother and sister recently appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast to rage against seed oils, as well as the food and pharma industries' focus on profits over people. Derek dug into their business models, finding them guilty of the same "crimes" they accuse others of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RFK Jr has dropped out of the presidential race and thrown his weight behind Trump. In our 10th episode on the man in the last year-and-a-half, we look at the potential dangers of this unholy alliance, and what it means for America. Show notes are extensive, visit patreon.com/conspirituality or conspirituality.net for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Born in 1831, Helena “Madame” Blavatsky pioneered the New Age grift. The Russian aristocrat plagiarized her books while claiming to be channeling the “Masters of Ancient Wisdom” to tell a dodgy heroic back-story. She founded the Theosophical Society in New York, claimed to have learned a secret Tibetan language, and laid the foundation for alien channelers and Woo-Anon. She also inspired the Nazis. In this debut episode from a series on the pseudoscience New Age roots of today’s conspirituality phenomenon, Julian pins Blavatsky on the cork-board map. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dems are laughing about Donny Dentures or #TrumpisDone, but the reality inside his head, and Mar a Lago, will be very grim, and there will be a lot of collateral damage. Mental health titans like Robert Lifton have reached the consensus that Trump has been mentally ill for a long time. They’ve diagnosed him with “narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, delusional disorder, malignant narcissist,” and so on. Such patients meet predictable ends when the wheels fall off. In the cult world (where Lifton has been so influential), there are bangs (Jim Jones) and there are whimpers (Keith Raniere). What might it look like for Trump? No one is more qualified to discuss the possibilities with Matthew than Daniel Shaw, LCSW, a psychotherapist trained in psychoanalysis as well as in trauma-informed psychotherapies. He is in private practice in New York City and in Nyack, New York; and Faculty and Supervisor at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York. He is the author of Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, published by Routledge in 2014, and nominated for the prestigious Gradiva Award. His book Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear was published in 2021. He is known for his work with cult trauma survivors and with clients who have experienced narcissistic abuse. Show Notes Daniel Shaw, LCSW Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In one survey, 82% of young people aged 18-25 searched the internet for mental health advice. Another survey of university students found that 44% report using the internet to learn about sadness, anxiety, or confusion. Regardless of what mental health experts advise, people of all age groups are turning to the internet and social media for help. What are the potential risks and rewards of using these platforms to try to communicate credible mental health science? And what happens when you’re endlessly trolled for being a “Big Pharma shill,” even when you don’t have prescriptive powers and only offer talk therapy in your clinical practice? Clinical psychologist Jonathan Stea joins us to discuss these difficult questions. His new book, Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry, is a field guide that responds to some of the intense challenges earnest seekers face when trying to navigate waters filled with supplements-slinging sharks who believe they can diagnose mental health conditions with zero training. Show Notes AI-generated video of Trump on ayahuasca Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter McCullough recently shared a ton of misinformation about mpox while speaking to Drew Pinsky; both men work for The Wellness Company, a supplements company that weaponizes anti-vax misinformation to sell products. Mikki Willis uses the Hero's Journey as a guide to dealing with mpox—and falsely represents Joseph Campbell's work. Russell Brand and Bret Weinstein claim mpox is a government psyop and nothing more. Derek looks at the conspiritualist fervor bubbling up around what's turning out to be another dangerous virus by men who do everything but point to sound public health measures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ProPublica recently got a hold of 25 Project 2025 training videos—over 14 hours worth of content revealing the policies the Heritage Foundation would like to see implemented if Donald Trump regains the White House. Derek and Julian break down one of the most egregious. Show Notes Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos Undercover in Project 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices