Standing Room Only

From trolling the media to gaslighting the public, it's no surprise Donald Trump chose 27-year-old Karoline Leavitt as his new press secretary. In this episode, Amanda unpacks Leavitt's combative style with reporters, including scolding the press and calling their questions "stupid." She also looks into her curious rise from White House intern to MAGA mouthpiece and examine why the tactics may backfire. There's also the lie that Leavitt is an empowering role model and her questionable style. Communications specialist Kate Bernyk is this episode's guest.

What's wrong with a kid wearing cat ears or roaring like a lion at playtime? Texas Republicans and Gov. Greg Abbott don't like it and they have a plan to ban dress-up and other "non-human behavior" in schools. In this episode of Standing Room Only, Amanda details how a logic-defying culture war about litter boxes turned into a real bill aimed at forbidding kids from playing pretend at school. For the Pass the Mic segment, Imara Jones, journalist and CEO of TransLash Media, provides more context on why it's happening and how to make it stop.

RFK Jr. and Dr. Casey Means are examples of the weird and growing crossover between health influencers and Christian right politics. Amanda breaks down why it's happening and the specific dangers of Means, an unlicensed functional medicine doctor who talks to trees, hates sunscreen and apparently is also an amateur poet? In this episode, Amanda reads Means' poetry and explains why RFK Jr.'s minions include the Christian right and anti-science MAHA moms. Journalist Lindsay Beyerstein, who writes about fringe health schemes, joins the Pass the Mic segment this week.

In this episode, I try the Hallow app. This Christian prayer app is trending in MAGA circles and as someone who is not religious, I wanted to understand what it's all about. But wow, it's weird. Here's what I found as I took courses on the app, such as "The Feminine Genius" and "Fasting Fridays," featuring actors Chris Pratt and Mark Wahlberg.