Why Should I Trust You?
Why Should I Trust You? is a bold, unfiltered, weekly look at the collapse of public trust in science, medicine, public health, and AI. Every Thursday, we dig into what's behind that breakdown and whether there is common ground beneath our division.
Described as "truly excellent" in The New York Times, WSITY has drawn attention across America's divides, from being mentioned on Joe Rogan's podcast to NPR. We host conversations that cross political and cultural lines, bringing people together with the experts they no longer trust. Hosted by Brinda Adhikari (former EP of The Problem with Jon Stewart), Tom Johnson (former EP of The Circus, former TV news journalist), Dr. Maggie Bartlett (virologist and assistant research professor, University of Texas Medical Branch), and Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (skin cancer surgeon and medical journalist).
Episodes
115 episodes
Experts Say AI Could Kill Us. Why Should We Trust Them? A Conversation w Jennifer Reich, Stephen Witt & Rachael Bedard
AI’s story feels like it's gotten a lot scarier. Some people in the tech world building AI now say it poses a meaningful risk of catastrophic harm, or even human extinction. Others insist this kind of “doomerism” is wildly exaggerated—that the ...
RFK Jr.’s Former Campaign Adviser Charles Eisenstein: On MAHA & The Kind of Candidates America Needs
Charles Eisenstein was a senior adviser and speechwriter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his 2024 presidential campaign and an early architect of the ideas that would help shape MAHA.In a wide-ranging interview, Eisenstein talks about hi...
What Happens If Your AI Is the Better Doctor? A Conversation w Dr. Robert Wachter & Dr. Dhruv Khullar
A debate has broken out in medicine and tech over what the role of AI should be. Is it a useful tool for doctors to consult when making a diagnosis, or, given studies now showing how powerful AI can be in diagnostics and other areas, should the...
What Is MAHA Right Now -- Is It Working? A Conversation About the Future of MAHA w A Group of Its Supporters
It’s been two years since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Donald Trump and forged an unlikely alliance between the Make America Healthy Again movement and MAGA. Now, as we head toward the midterms, with Kennedy campaigning for Republican candida...
What Lindsay Clancy's Story Does & Doesn't Tell Us About How We Care For Patients: A Conversation w Drs. Julia Riddle, Anne Zink & Bryan Shapiro
Has the Lindsay Clancy trial quickly become a proxy for something larger? — arguments about psychiatry and medication, motherhood and mental illness, personal responsibility, and whether our medical system is fundamentally failing the people wh...
"It's Time For a New Public Health Led By Radical Engagement": A Conversation w Dr. Sandro Galea, Dean of WashU Bursky School of Public Health
That’s the challenge facing Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the brand-new Bursky School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. It is the first major school of public health to open in the United States after the pandemic.In th...
Public Health, Docs, MAHA Mom React to Trump's Vaccine EO: We Speak w Drs. Deb Houry, Craig Spencer, Joel Warsh + Nancy Fuller
Dr. Debra Houry, the former CDC chief medical officer; emergency physician Dr. Craig Spencer; pediatrician and author Dr. Joel “Gator” Warsh; and MAHA supporter Nancy Fuller join us as we dig into President Trump’s brand-new executive order rev...
The Heat Is Killing Us. So Why Are We Beefing About Air Conditioning? We Chat w Noah Smith, Thomas Chatterton Williams & David Wallace-Wells
What if one of the biggest public health debates of the next decade isn't about vaccines, Ozempic, or chronic disease? What if it's about air conditioning? The world’s temperatures are getting dangerously warmer. Europe is the world's fastest-w...
A Conversation w Katelyn Jetelina & David Wallace-Wells: On Anthony Fauci & the National Covid Reckoning That Never Happened
Few figures in America are as polarizing as Dr. Anthony Fauci. To some, he is the veteran scientist who helped steer the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. To others, he is the face of government overreach who suppressed the lab leak theory ...
"I Used to Trust Vaccines. In the Next Pandemic, I Wouldn't." Five Americans Explain What Changed
If a new pandemic struck tomorrow and scientists developed a vaccine in record time, would you take it? In this episode, we hear from a group of friends of the show and newcomers who describe themselves as vaccine-hesitant. Once broadly support...
A Conversation w Dr Robert Malone and Dr Craig Spencer: On Ebola, On ACIP, On Malone's Break w MAHA and On Kennedy
Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Craig Spencer are two influential voices on health in America today, reaching very different audiences. And it's no secret that on many critical issues, they fundamentally disagree. Yet as a deadly Ebola outbreak unfol...
What Happened w USAID? Rhetoric, Reality & Real World Impact w Former USAID Leaders Andrew Natsios & Jeremy Konyndyk
One year ago, the Trump administration dismantled USAID, America's largest foreign aid agency. The administration argued the agency had become wasteful, ideological, and ineffective. Critics warned the consequences would be measured in lives lo...
Two Farmers Walk Into The Oval Office. What Happens Next Surprises Them. A Conversation On the Future of Farming w Jonathan Lundgren and Will Harris
On the very day the Supreme Court handed a major legal victory to Bayer Monsanto, a ruling backed by the Trump administration but viewed by many in the MAHA movement as a betrayal, two regenerative farmers were invited to the Oval Office.
Can Understanding Libertarianism Help Explain Our Health Politics? A Conversation w Katherine Mangu-Ward, Editor in Chief of Reason Magazine
It’s almost Independence Day, and we’re exploring one of the most influential political philosophies in America: libertarianism.In the age of medical freedom and MAHA, libertarian ideas are helping shape debates over vaccines, public hea...
"We Will Fight Back": Leading MAHA & Dem Voices React To SCOTUS Ruling On Monsanto. Sen. Booker, Rep. Pingree, Zen Honeycutt, Rep. Tim Ryan & Kelly Ryerson Join Us
Democratic Senator Cory Booker, Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine, MAHA leaders Zen Honeycutt and Kelly Ryerson, and former Congressman Tim Ryan join us to react to one of the Supreme Court's big decisions of the year as the High Court si...
Don't Just Fact-Check Misinformation. First, Understand The Value It Holds. A Conversation w Researchers Michael Simeone & Kristy Roschke
Fighting misinformation is seen as one of the defining challenges of our time. The term itself can be polarizing. And what if we're thinking about it all wrong?In this episode, we speak with researchers Michael Simeone and Kri...
A Conversation with Dr. Mehmet Oz: On the Erosion of Trust in Experts, Rethinking Safety Nets & Fraud
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is our guest today.He oversees the government programs that provide health coverage to nearly half of all Americans and account for roughly a quarter of federal...
A Conversation w Sen. Cory Booker: On Our Health, Corrosive Money in Politics & America’s Urgent Moment. A Message to MAHA, RFK Jr & His Own Party.
Senator Cory Booker joins us for a conversation about our dire chronic health crisis, the corrosive effects of corporate money in our politics, the power of making healthy food affordable, and our taxpayer-subsidized systems that fuel our c...
A Conversation w Gen Z On AI: Promise, Populism, Anger & Hope. How Do They Wish Older Gens Spoke About AI?
Today, we're widening our lens to take on AI and trust because just like public health, science, and medicine, AI is becoming a trust minefield. As trust in institutions, experts, and Big Tech continues to erode, AI is arriving with enormous pr...
Is Parkinson’s A Preventable Disease? A Conversation w Dr. Ray Dorsey & Steve Brandenburg On Paraquat & Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s Disease is rising worldwide. It is the fastest-growing neurological disease in the world and is being called a “slow-motion epidemic.” And there is no cure. So what’s driving the increase? There are several culprits, inc...
A Conversation w MAHA Supporters & Public Health Veterans: On Thomas Massie + Cuts To USAID Amid An Ebola Outbreak
We’ve got a major news-driven episode today, focused on two stories that hit home for two big parts of our audience: MAHA and public health.First, the political earthquake rocking MAHA: Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie's defeat in his p...
Special Ep: A Conversation w Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Lead Reporter for the NYT Covering RFK Jr. & MAHA In An Era of Mistrust
We are joined today by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, one of the country’s leading health reporters and a correspondent for The New York Times, covering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA movement.In her words, Stolberg covers “the intersection of...
Are MAHA & Public Health Going About Change All Wrong? A Conversation w Organizational Transformation Author Greg Satell
The one thing Americans seem to agree on these days is that our systems need to change. But what actually creates meaningful change?For some, it means tearing broken institutions down to the studs and rebuilding from scratch....
The Most MAHA Democrat We've Met: A Conversation w Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) On A New Politics in America
Tim Ryan, the moderate, 10-term Democratic congressman from Ohio's Rust Belt, has pushed for a different conversation for years: one that reimagines America’s approach to food and health.Long before it had a name, Ryan was championing ma...
The Movement v Monsanto: Our Conversations w Rep. Thomas Massie (R), Sen. Cory Booker (D) & MAHA Influencers Alex Clark & Del Bigtree
Hosts:Brinda AdhikariTom JohnsonMaggie Bartlett (producer)Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (seeing patients)Guests:Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)Alex Clark, TPUSA, MAHA...