Podcast Summary: "Is Matt Taibbi a Right-Winger?"

Conversations With Coleman (S3 Ep.4), February 25, 2022
Guest: Matt Taibbi (journalist, author, podcaster)
Host: Coleman Hughes

Episode Overview

This episode features a wide-ranging conversation between Coleman Hughes and Matt Taibbi. The primary themes are the transformation of media platforms (especially Substack), the dynamics of public health messaging during COVID-19, accusations of ideological shifts among journalists, censorship and free speech in both tech and politics, the perception and reality behind Trump's 2016 victory, and speculation about the origins of COVID-19. The discussion is candid, analytical, and at times personal, with both men reflecting on their principled stances and frustration with contemporary media and political narratives.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Matt Taibbi's Unconventional Background

[03:44–09:24]

• Born in New Jersey, grew up in a journalistic family but aspired to be a novelist, influenced by satirists like Gogol, Evelyn Waugh, and Joseph Heller.
• Spent over a decade in the former Soviet Union, participating in adventures like playing basketball in Mongolia and baseball in Moscow, bricklaying in Siberia, and learning Russian.
• This global exposure made Taibbi more skeptical and less insular, especially about American journalism and politics.
  • Quote: “When you spend a lot of time outside the United States, you realize how insular reporters are in America.” – Matt Taibbi [07:04]
• Lessons: Corruption and media manipulation are worldwide; U.S. exceptionalism is often just about scale, not substance.

2. The Substack Revolution and Media Malaise

[09:24–14:22]

• Substack’s appeal lies in its transparency, lack of censorship, and its model of writer-reader relationships.
• Traditional media is criticized for predictable, ideologically filtered content; audiences increasingly resent being talked down to.
  • Quote: “They like to be treated like grownups. They like to be given the information and left to their own devices to decide what to do with it.” – Matt Taibbi [11:55]
• Substack’s limitation: It’s hard to monetize time-consuming, in-depth investigative journalism compared to serial opinion and commentary.

3. Paternalism vs. Transparency in Public Health Messaging

[14:22–20:50]

• Coleman highlights the debate: Should public health officials be totally transparent, or massage the truth for “best outcomes?”
  • Example: Fauci admitting to shifting herd immunity targets based on perceived public readiness.
• Taibbi insists that honesty is essential; audiences resent being lied to and are more capable than elites assume.
  • Quote: “If you lie to them even once the game is over … they are never going to listen to you again.” – Matt Taibbi [16:32]
• Both critique the “white lies” that erode public trust, particularly among non-conformists.

4. Elites’ Disconnect—Understanding Trump’s Rise

[20:50–27:42]

• Both acknowledge having been blindsided by Trump’s 2016 victory, blaming elite insularity and lack of contact with everyday Americans.
• Taibbi: Much mainstream media used polling without actual on-the-ground understanding; they missed complex factors behind Trump’s support.
  • Quote: “Most of these people had never met somebody who supported Donald Trump.” – Matt Taibbi [21:55]
• Trump’s election cannot be explained simply by a “racism spike”; economic and class grievances, distrust of elites, and veteran’s issues were crucial.
  • Quote: “Race was clearly a major factor in Trump's rise, but there were so many other things that were going on … [like] this hatred of the corporate press, the two political parties.” – Matt Taibbi [25:45]

5. Are Taibbi and Greenwald Right-Wing Now?

[27:42–34:04]

• Both Taibbi and Greenwald have faced accusations of becoming “right-wing” simply for holding to traditional liberal principles like free speech and skepticism about Russiagate.
• Taibbi: His political stances haven’t changed; the landscape shifted around him. The “right-wing” label is often a lazy ad hominem.
  • Notable Moment:
    Coleman [30:26]: “Oh, but that’s a right-wing talking point.”
    Taibbi [30:34]: “Well, exactly right. And impossible… Reality is much more complicated.”
• Coleman argues that holding to principle will align you with different parties at different times; party is not principle.

6. Free Speech, Censorship, and Book Bans

[34:04–40:58]

• Rising support for government/Big Tech censorship among Democrats; decline among Republicans.
• Republicans’ efforts to ban books (including Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist) are unwise and counterproductive; local bans have less impact than Big Tech censorship.
  • Quote: “The reason I don’t spend as much time talking about those local banning issues is because I just don’t think they’re as dangerous as the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube banning…” – Matt Taibbi [39:31]
• Coleman and Taibbi agree: Removing books merely lends them attention and doesn’t address the Internet’s supremacy as a cultural source.

7. The COVID Lab Leak Hypothesis and Censorship

[40:58–56:40]

• The hypothesis that COVID-19 leaked from a lab was heavily censored online before becoming an accepted possibility.
• Both point out the string of facts supporting the plausibility of lab leak, from Fauci and Collins’ direct support of gain-of-function research in Wuhan to known precedents of lab outbreaks.
• The case’s censorship is a prime example of why fact-checking should be independent and not dictated by conflicted authorities.
  • Quote: “This is the major argument for why you can’t have censorship. Because somebody has to be doing the deciding about what people will and will not see. And sometimes those people are wrong, and other times those people are conflicted and wrong…” – Matt Taibbi [44:58]
• Taibbi reveals that YouTube bases misinformation guidance on government agency consultation, compounding the risk of bias and error.

8. Profiteering During COVID—Taibbi’s Next Book

[56:40–60:18]

• Taibbi is working on a book about the COVID-19 pandemic as a driver of wealth consolidation and a massive transfer of money to billionaires and big corporations.
• He details how bailouts and government policy favor asset-holders and financiers, not ordinary people.
  • Quote: “The reality is basically that in a bailout economy where the Fed is spending four or five trillion dollars… If you own financial assets, you’re going to get richer. If you don’t, you’re going to lose.” – Matt Taibbi [59:05]
• The book will explain, sector by sector, how industries profited from COVID relief while widening inequality.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On media transparency:
  “They like to be treated like grownups.” – Matt Taibbi [11:55]

• On public health information:
  “If you lie to them even once the game is over ... they are never going to listen to you again.” – Matt Taibbi [16:32]

• On elite/political reporting:
  “Most of these people had never met somebody who supported Donald Trump.” – Matt Taibbi [21:55]

• On political labeling:
  “My politics really haven’t changed since I was a teenager ... what’s happened is I’ve just kind of stuck to what I do believe and that just happens to be unpopular now.” – Matt Taibbi [29:05]

• On censorship and trust:
  “This is the major argument for why you can’t have censorship. Because somebody has to be doing the deciding about what people will and will not see. And sometimes those people are wrong, and other times those people are conflicted and wrong…” – Matt Taibbi [44:58]

• On pandemic profiteering:
  “The reality is basically that in a bailout economy where the Fed is spending four or five trillion dollars… If you own financial assets, you’re going to get richer. If you don’t, you’re going to lose.” – Matt Taibbi [59:05]

Timestamps for Major Topics

• 03:44–09:24 – Taibbi’s background, journalism roots, and worldview shaped by foreign experience
• 09:24–14:22 – The rise of Substack and decline of traditional media
• 14:22–20:50 – Public health messaging: paternalism vs. honesty
• 20:50–27:42 – Elites, cloistered reporting, and why Trump’s win surprised the media
• 27:42–34:04 – “Moving right”: why principle isn’t partisanship, shifting left/right labels
• 34:04–40:58 – Censorship in Big Tech vs. local book bans
• 40:58–56:40 – COVID lab leak theory: censorship and flawed gatekeeping
• 56:40–60:18 – COVID, inequality, and Taibbi’s forthcoming book on pandemic profiteering

Summary

This episode of Conversations With Coleman offers an unfiltered, deeply analytical look at media trust, the dynamics of political labeling, and the urgent debates around openness versus censorship—whether in public health, journalism, or politics. Hughes and Taibbi, both self-described as principled iconoclasts, push back on simplistic labels and advocate for transparency, rigorous reporting, and the refusal to cede control of information to conflicted authorities. Their conversation is essential for anyone grappling with the realities of misinformation, cancel culture, and polarization in the modern media landscape.