Conspirituality Podcast – Episode 287: She Did Nuzzi RFK Jr Coming

Release Date: December 11, 2025
Hosts: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

Episode Overview

In this incisive, often acerbic episode, the Conspirituality team dissects Olivia Nuzzi’s controversial new memoir, "American Canto," which details her year-long, boundary-blurring relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The hosts use the book as a springboard to examine collapsing journalistic ethics, influencer culture, Kennedy’s paradoxical public persona, and the wider media ecosystem that enables both grifters and rising conspiracy-fueled fringes. They also weave in critiques of Kennedy’s performative politics, wellness influencer trends like the rise of Zyn nicotine pouches, and the doublethink that pervades both politics and media storytelling.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The RFK Jr.–Olivia Nuzzi Affair and "American Canto"

[18:18–38:04; 43:00–61:07]

• The Memoir’s Framing, Notoriety, and Critique:

  • Nuzzi is not simply telling her story, but using an “artful,” highly allegorical style that the hosts skewer as evasive and solipsistic – a "mythic" and "passive" lens that obscures ethical self-reckoning.
  • She blurs the line between personal memoir and journalism, declining all responsibility for collusion with Kennedy’s presidential campaign, instead presenting herself as swept along by historical and personal forces.

• Journalistic Ethics – Shredded Boundaries:

  • [24:20] Derek: “Sexting with a source you’re covering while feeding him inside information leaps over professional and ethical norms.”
  • The hosts describe how Nuzzi both became emotionally and professionally enmeshed with Kennedy – feeding him campaign advice and “catch-and-kill” information to help keep ahead of negative press.
  • [22:26] Matthew: Raises the specter of “collusion”—was Nuzzi more influential than Kennedy’s own staff?

• The “First Person Industrial Complex”:

  • The hosts situate Nuzzi in a broader trend of "method writing," confessional journalism, and the economic collapse of old-school reporting in favor of “hot takes” and brand-building.
  • [29:30] Matthew: Details cultural incentives toward oversharing, blurring memoir and news as prestige jobs dry up.

• Passive Voice & Lack of Accountability:

  • Nuzzi uses poetic metaphors (the raven, the flag, allegorical nods to Dante) to render herself, and America, as passive players—observers rather than actors with agency.
  • [27:47] Matthew (quoting Nuzzi): “Now a monumental fuck up had collided my private life with the public interest.”
  • [25:30] Matthew: “There’s no attempt to really ethically resolve any of the issues in the form of, like, oh, I really fucked up badly here and caused a ton of damage.”

• The Archetypal Framing – Psychological and Cultural Commentary:

  • [36:49] Julian (reading): “Certain dramas you can count on. Empires fall at last, heroes fail at first… I refer now to my own witness… I mean to tell you that this is more meaningful and more meaningless than you might think. I mean to tell you that before I was consumed by it, I could have told you what it was.”
  • Nuzzi’s device of referring to Kennedy as “the politician” (though she outs him immediately) allows obfuscation, aligning his narrative with the American mythos while evading direct criticism.

2. Kennedy’s Contradictions: Substances, Sobriety & Public Performance

[03:19–14:10; 54:20–56:53]

• Nicotinized Masculinity & Wellness Trends:

  • The hosts dive into the growing trend of Zyn nicotine pouches among right-leaning influencers—people like RFK Jr., Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Jake Paul—a subculture dubbed the “Zinternet.”
  • Nicotine is reframed as a “performance enhancer” and symbol of masculine rebellion, with its dangers and contradictions willfully ignored.
  • [03:16] Julian: “Nicotine pouches have increasingly become a symbol of right-leaning masculinity and even fitness culture… Tucker [Carlson]… vowed to start his own nicotine pouch brand…”

• RFK Jr.’s Substance Use: Heroin, Nicotine, Psychedelics, and AA:

  • Kennedy’s public narratives around "sobriety" clash with Nuzzi's revelations of continued use of nicotine and psychedelics like DMT, and a toiletry bag “full of prescription bottles.”
  • [51:02] Julian (reading): “The politician still does some psychedelics for fun… waited until his wife was not home to go outside and smoke DMT… The bag of toiletries… full of so many prescription pill bottles it seemed to barely zip closed… His sobriety was a central part of his self-mythologization… I did not question his definition of sober.”
  • The hosts urge caution about taking self-reported sobriety at face value and note Kennedy’s habit of picking and choosing which substances (or pharmaceutical companies) to vilify or embrace.

• Performative Politics vs. Principle:

  • Kennedy’s gym stunts (like doing pull-ups in airports with influencers and politicians), his mutability on policy, and use of self-serving narratives highlight his tendency toward theatricality over substance.
  • [55:43] Derek: “He does not mind being performative at every turn. So it kind of doesn’t surprise me that he would talk about being in these [AA] meetings because that is his MO. He is a performative dude.”

3. Memoir as Self-Mythology and National Parable

[43:00–61:07]

• Comparison with Cheryl Hines’ Memoir ("Unscripted"):

  • Hines, Kennedy’s wife, writes a sanitized account framing her husband as misunderstood, sidestepping or both-siding vaccine science, and omitting her own pro-vaccine hypocrisy during the infamous Kennedy household party.
  • Both memoirs erase the centrality of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism.
  • [44:36] Derek: “I’ve seen Cheryl do this in interviews… Framing it as if doctors were really debating the efficacy of the vaccine. Which is not what happened... Perhaps more shockingly, vaccines don’t make a single appearance in 'American Canto.'”

• Kennedy as Paradox, "Novel," and Demagogue:

  • Nuzzi frames Kennedy as a “brave warrior” whose “hundreds of lies… amount to one big truth,” a phrase the hosts ruthlessly unpack as indicative of the collapse of meaning and standards in contemporary politics.
  • [46:33] Julian (reading Nuzzi): “He was also clear eyed about the President himself. ‘I always thought of him as a novel. Hundreds of lies that amount to one big truth.’”
  • [47:21] Derek: “What a self reveal. Hundreds of lies do not in any known universe add up to a big truth.”

• Falconry as Metaphor for Grooming and Control:

  • Nuzzi repeatedly returns to extended metaphors of birds—especially the raven—as a stand-in for the author's own experience of being “trained” or entranced by Kennedy.
  • [57:47] Julian (reading Nuzzi): “Every morning he would step outside and throw a treat into the air and every week the raven would fly less skeptical… I want her to eat from my hand… I can't tell her my intentions.”
  • The hosts read this as unwitting self-diagnosis: a recognition of being manipulated under the guise of intimacy and freedom.
  • [59:29] Matthew: “I think the raven is her… she really wound up tied to this guy on a lead, as it were… It also allows her to imagine she can still fly, at least in flights of prosecution.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24:20 | Derek | “Sexting with a source you’re covering while feeding him inside information leaps over professional and ethical norms.” | | 25:30 | Matthew | “…there’s no attempt to really ethically resolve any of the issues in the form of, like, oh, I really fucked up badly here and caused a ton of damage.” | | 27:47 | Matthew (quoting Nuzzi) | “Now a monumental fuck up had collided my private life with the public interest.” | | 36:49 | Julian (quoting Nuzzi) | “Certain dramas you can count on. Empires fall at last, heroes fail at first… I refer now to my own witness… I mean to tell you that this is more meaningful and more meaningless...” | | 44:36 | Derek | “Framing it as if doctors were really debating the efficacy of the vaccine. Which is not what happened… Perhaps more shockingly, vaccines don’t make a single appearance in American Canto.” | | 46:33 | Julian (quoting Nuzzi) | “‘I always thought of him as a novel. Hundreds of lies that amount to one big truth.’” | | 47:21 | Derek | “What a self reveal. Hundreds of lies do not in any known universe add up to a big truth. Yet I suppose if your MO Is lying all the time, you’d like to believe that the compass is pointed to an honest North Star.” | | 51:02 | Julian (quoting Nuzzi) | “The politician still does some psychedelics for fun… The bag of toiletries… full of so many prescription pill bottles… His sobriety was a central part of his self mythologization...” | | 59:29 | Matthew | “As far as introspection goes, I think she is indicating that she has understood what has happened, because I think the raven is her… an attempt to describe grooming in a way that preserves a sense of possible dignity and freedom…” |

Segment Timestamps

• Nicotine Pouches & Masculinity: [03:16–14:10]
• RFK Jr., Substance Use, and "Sobriety": [06:32, 51:02–54:20]
• The RFK Jr.–Nuzzi Affair (Book Analysis): [18:18–38:04]
• Collapse of Journalistic Ethics: [19:04–39:41]
• The “First Person Industrial Complex”: [29:30–34:18]
• Mythmaking, Metaphor, and Passive Voice: [36:49–38:11, 57:47–61:07]
• Cheryl Hines’ Memoir Comparison: [43:00–46:33]
• Kennedy as Paragon of Contradiction: [46:33–49:45]

Tone & Language

The episode is intellectually rigorous, sharply sarcastic, and unsparing in its judgment—particularly toward hypocrisy, self-mythologizing, and the erosion of professional standards. The hosts often slip into literary analysis, quoting at length with wry asides and dry wit. Irreverence, exasperation, and disappointment pervade their tone—directed both at conspiritualist grifters and the media environment that nurtures them.

For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode is crucial listening for those interested in:

• The collapse of journalistic boundaries in the age of “influencer” reporting
• The intertwining of personal narrative, meme culture, and political power
• How supposed wellness trends (like Zyn) become culture-war totems
• Behind-the-scenes dynamics of Kennedy’s campaign, hypocrisy, and self-mythology

Even without reading "American Canto" or following the “nutzi” saga, listeners will come away with a much deeper understanding of the ecosystem that sustains both conspiracism and media personality cults, as well as the dangerous muddling of truth, accountability, and spectacle.