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The Strange Religion of the American Podcast
Candace Owens, Joe Rogan, and Theo Von aren’t just entertainers. They’re building theological universes for audiences desperate for something to believe in.
By Liel Leibovitz
05.20.26 — Culture and Ideas
No description available.
“We live in the People’s Republic of Podcastistan, where Candace is queen and every new revelation is just the greatest, the wackier the better,” writes Liel Leibovitz. (Illustration by The Free Press)
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As you read these lines, the single greatest event in American history has already unfolded: Candace Owens has interviewed Hunter Biden on her podcast, in an episode that will drop on Thursday. Hookers, blow, shady deals with Ukraine—there’s no telling what we’re going to learn.

All right, so perhaps the interview isn’t exactly the single greatest event in American history—the Battle of Yorktown is a slightly better fit for the title—but many of us no longer live in America. We live in the People’s Republic of Podcastistan, where Candace is queen and every new revelation is just the greatest, the wackier the better.

In case you’re new to our fantasyland, here, in no obvious order, are a few gems shared recently by our most popular podcast hosts: Charlie Kirk was a literal time traveler who predicted his own death (Owens); Joseph Stalin was a great man whose birthday we should all be celebrating (Nick Fuentes); Israel manipulated America into fighting the war in Iran (Dave Smith); officers at the highest ranks of the military are telling their soldiers that the ultimate goal of the war in Iran is to usher in the return of Jesus Christ (Joe Rogan).

I could go on. After all, these hosts frequently sit down to bounce their outlandish theories off each other. Just this Monday, we were gifted with a three-hour conversation between Dave Smith and Nick Fuentes himself.

What ought we to make of this torrent of mind-bendingly, earth-shatteringly stupid pronouncements? Ask the medium’s many critics, and you’ll hear one of two prognostications.

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Liel Leibovitz
Liel Leibovitz is Editor at Large at Tablet magazine and a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Tags:
Candace Owens
Tucker Carlson
Conspiracy
Nick Fuentes
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