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4 days ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Katherine Eban
Calley Means is a top adviser to RFK Jr. and an outspoken proponent of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Katherine Eban joins Jen to discuss her latest piece in Vanity Fair investigating Means’ rise to power, his nonexistent background in medicine and healthcare, and the general erosion of the Department of Health and Human ServicesRead Katherine’s piece The Dizzying Rise of MAHA Warrior Calley Means, RFK Jr.’s Right-Hand Man in Vanity Fairhere.
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4 days ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
At a town hall meeting in Parkersburg, Iowa, last Friday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R) faced a boisterous room of constituents, with many in the crowd expressing concern about the “big, beautiful” budget bill on its way to the Senate, with proposed cuts to the committee that oversees Medicaid.
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5 days ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Justin Wolfers
A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects a significant drop in global economic growth. Is it possible that this has anything to do with the tariff-happy posse in the White House? Jen is joined by Justin Wolfers to discuss the implications of continued economic deceleration, the chances of a bond market crisis in the U.S, and how the “crisis of competence” at the White House is set to worsen living standards around the globe.
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6 days ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Michael de Adder
Michael de Adder is an award-winning editorial cartoonist. You can find him on Substack here.
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6 days ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Tim Mak
In a surprise attack 18 months in the making, Ukrainian agents successfully executed Operation Spider’s Web, sneaking drones thousands of miles behind enemy lines to destroy billions of dollars worth of Russian aircraft. In the latest episode of Where in the World is Tim Mak? Tim joins Jen from Kyiv to discuss the strike, the ingenuity of Ukrainian special operations, and the future of the war as peace talks conclude in Turkey.
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6 days ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Alex Aronson
By Alex AronsonThursday night, in response to a ruling by a three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade—since stayed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—blocking the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs program, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to post a tirade against Leonard Leo, the dark-money impresario who shaped Trump’s first-term judicial appointments.
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1 week ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Norman Eisen
The end of this week brought two of the most dramatic scenes yet in the decline and fall of Elon Musk—and of his and Donald Trump's failed DOGE effort to remake government. Despite all the damage that they have done (and that Trump will continue to do) we should take a beat to appreciate the milestone. It speaks to the power of the patriotic opposition—and of the role you’ve played, dear Contrarians.
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1 week ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Emily Beyda
You are what you eat, the truism goes, but these days it might be more accurate to say we are what we watch other people eating. Media related to cooking and eating has been popular since media began, but, thanks to the rise of influencer culture, it’s more intimate and more reflective of our individual and sociocultural desires than ever before.
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1 week ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Joshua Kolb |Lily Beau Conway |Joyce Vance
Otto von Bismarck, the political genius who unified and ruled Germany for decades in the late 19th century, famously said that politics is the art of the possible, indeed the “art of the next best.” This is a lesson the novice Elon Musk learned in calamitous fashion over the past few months. This week’s Democracy Index shows how Musk’s ignominious departure — though not a panacea — represents a signal failure for him, and therefore for Donald Trump.
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1 week ago | 
contrarian.substack.com | Owen Pence
By Owen PenceThe air all around us is abuzz with women’s basketball chatter. It’s in the morning coffee, the afternoon smoothie, and the nighttime cup of tea. To say women’s basketball is having a “moment” would be to undersell reality. Moments are fleeting. Women’s basketball is here to stay. How did we get here? The bro at your friend’s housewarming party breathlessly tells you it’s all Caitlin Clark’s doing, but he’s comically misinformed.