068: How the Fight Against Disinformation Failed feat. James Ball

Jared comes back from a nice rest to find Mike playing the role of Ian Miles Cheong, helping him “Catch Up” on all the news that matters. “No Kings” blew out CPAC in terms of social media engagement, but it’s hard to know why — with poor women expected to have babies, Michael Knowles positioned as a symbol of machismo, and Josh Hammer crying about Tucker Carlson. The hosts then learn about Lindsey Graham’s “princess scepter” before moving on to Byron Noem’s big ol’ balloon boobs. The Noem family dog has seen them — have you? Finally, Jared and Mike take a look at Usha Vance and her totally normal and romantic marriage. “Posting Through It” returns—and we’re out on these streets, burning a million quid.Listen to the full episode: patreon.com/postingthroughit

This episode was originally released to Patreon subscribers on Mar. 12, 2026. Jared is on vacation, so everyone is getting it in the main feed this week! ~~Mike and Jared took a break from Iran War coverage to look back on "Lady Ballers": a feature-length film The Daily Wire released in 2023, at the height of MAGA's efforts to stoke an anti-transgender moral panic over women's sports. The guys reexamine the movie as an artifact that helped deliver the MAGA movement we see in 2026 and an example of conservatives' efforts at counter-programming against a dominant liberal culture.We've never tried an episode like this before. Here at Posting Through It headquarters, we're curious what people will think. But we never forget the sage wisdom of Coach Rob: "Winners are just losers who win."Jared's album recommendation: PUP, Morbid Stuff, 2019

Things are getting stupid out there, thanks to Web3 — the grift-crazy era of crypto and the A.I. slop. Our friend Hannah Gais joins the show to talk about her experience at a Polymarket pop-up bar in Washington, D.C., where people were encouraged to drain their wallets betting on the news and shrug off the possibility that our government is engaging in insider betting on the platform. We also discuss the death of Sora, OpenAI’s video platform, and what that says about the field. Jared, Mike, and Hannah then struggle to make sense of the influx of videos focused on A.I. fruits cheating on one another — and stage their own play inspired by the genre.Come for the slop; stay for check-ins on two of the greatest freaks of the era: Forgiato Blow and Nick O’Neil.

If you’re alive in America today, you’ve seen the ads — on TV, at bus stops, and on your phone. We have a gambling problem in this country, and it’s getting worse by the minute. With a rapid, billion-dollar boom in sports betting already underway, we now have to reckon with the next phase of this trend: betting on news events.Journalist and author Danny Funt joins Posting Through It for a conversation about online gambling at a time where the culture around it is tightening its grip on everyday life, mutating into something that goes beyond prototypical American capitalism and imposes consequences that affect us all.Check out Danny's book: Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling (2026)Transition Music: "School" by Great Wealth

Posting Through It says farewell to two of the worst websites to have ever existed: The Daily Stormer and Infowars. Andrew Anglin and Alex Jones have claimed their respective demises before, but something feels markedly different this time. Both are facing declining revenue and mounting debts from lawsuits and dwindling web traffic. Meanwhile, the MAGA movement that once supported them has largely moved on—absorbing their tactics, their bits, and their bigotry. Join Jared and Mike for a trip down memory lane with two of the worst characters from the earliest days of MAGA as they simultaneously (and finally) bid adieu.

MAGA is at an existential crossroads right now. If that sounds strange to you, you haven’t paid much attention to the movement’s struggles with antisemitism, which exploded after the assassination of Charlie Kirk at a college speaking event last September. Our guest, investigative reporter and author Art Levine, recently covered the GOP’s crisis with antisemitism in the Washington Spectator.It’s arguably the biggest issue facing the conservative movement today, and what happens next may determine their future—and ours.Link for Art Levine:Washington Spectator: Inside the MAGA Meltdown Over Antisemitism"Mental Health, Inc.: How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Vulnerable Citizens"Links for us:Join us in Washington, DC, for the release of Mike's first book, "Strange People on the Hill": Politics & Prose, April 11 @ 5pm (Free)Transition Music: "Swaying Palms" by High Tides

Mike and Jared took a break from Iran War coverage to look back on "Lady Ballers": a feature-length film The Daily Wire released in 2023, at the height of MAGA's efforts to stoke an anti-transgender moral panic over women's sports. The guys reexamine the movie as an artifact that helped deliver the MAGA movement we see in 2026 and an example of conservatives' efforts at counter-programming against a dominant liberal culture.We've never tried an episode like this before. Here at Posting Through It headquarters, we're curious what people will think. But we never forget the sage wisdom of Coach Rob: "Winners are just losers who win."Listen to the full episode on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PostingThroughIt

In this intimate, two-handed edition of Posting Through It, Jared and Mike try to figure out whether the MAGA movement is actually faltering, as some news coverage would suggest. The short answer is yes: poll numbers are sagging, the economy is slumping, influencers are turning on one another, and the rhetoric has grown so absurd that less-online working people can no longer follow it. The more nuanced answer is that while the MAGA movement may be faltering, it could also be more dangerous than ever — precisely because of that chaos. The hosts close out the episode with a look at a corner of 4chan that serves as a "factory floor" for AI deepfake pornography.It’s a weird time. But at least the Dow is over 50,000... right? Links:Jared's latest at Open Measures: This 4chan Board Became a Factory for Explicit AI ‘Deepfakes.’ Nobody Is Stopping It.Join us in Washington, DC, for the release of Mike's first book, "Strange People on the Hill": Politics & Prose, April 11 @ 5pm (Free)Transition Music: "The Grind" by Closed City Terror

Well, we are at war. It doesn’t matter what MAGA calls it tomorrow — it’s war. Jared and Mike may not be foreign policy analysts , but they know enough to recognize who else isn’t, either. The hosts wade into a Caspian Sea of bad takes in this premium episode, running through the propaganda of Zionist extremists, antisemitic extremists, and, in some cases, people so stupid you'd consider it extreme. Stick around to the end to find Malaysian website personality Ian Miles Cheong riding a bomb over the skies of Dubai like Major T.J. “King” Kong. It’s an Iran-filled episode that only the ghost of John McCain could truly love.Support the show and gain access to weekly bonus episodes: patreon.com/postingthroughit

Jared and Mike dive into the growing world of contrarian punditry that seeks to downplay Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex abuse and discourage audiences from drawing conclusions about his connections to some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. They take a closer look at one online personality, Michael Tracey, to unpack this surreal and alarming trend.Later, they’re joined by Ileana Justine, a journalist and content creator whose analysis of how Epstein and his powerful friends shaped the world millennial women were raised in recently went viral on Instagram and TikTok. They discuss the importance of confronting the impact of the Epstein Files on women, the harm encouraged by contrarian punditry that dismisses it, and which children’s movies have the best soundtracks.Links for Ileana:Instagram (@ileana.justine) TikTok (@ileana.justine)Links for us:Join us in Washington, DC, for the release of Mike's first book, "Strange People on the Hill": Politics & Prose, April 11 @ 5pm (Free)Transition Music: “Time Capsule” by Fields & Forests