Podcast
Posting Through It
Hosted by Jared Holt and Michael Edison Hayden · EN
"Posting Through It" is a political news podcast exploring the intersection of modern politics and social media through independent reporting, analysis, and commentary. It is hosted by acclaimed investigative journalists Jared Holt and Michael Edison Hayden and regularly features in-depth interviews with guests.
Support the show and listen to weekly bonus episodes: patreon.com/PostingThroughIt
57episodes
Episodes
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122: Maine Feed Episode feat. Nathan Bernard
4d ago01:14:52Tap to summarizeGraham Platner, a progressive candidate for US Senate in Maine, managed to defy an array of scandals as he rose to become the frontrunner to take on thirty-year incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. But last week, after a former romantic partner credibly accused him of rape, Platner suspended his campaign and withdrew his candidacy — leaving his supporters heartbroken and the Democratic Party scrambling to find a replacement candidate.Journalist Nathan Bernard joins Jared and Mike to break down the collapse of Platner's campaign and what comes next for Democrats who have been desperately trying to unseat Collins without success. Bernard was on the ground from day five of Platner’s campaign. He walks through what Platner meant to Maine Democrats, why volunteers stuck around through earlier controversies, and how the mood darkened after a rape allegation ended his political aspirations.With Platner out, the question is whether an alternate candidate like Troy Jackson or Nirav Shah — or even Ms. Rachel — can consolidate support fast enough to make Collins "concerned" about her reelection.Links for Nathan:X (Twitter): @nathanTbernard / Bluesky: @nathantbernard.bsky.social /In Letter, Platner Volunteer Network Warns Dems: Nominee Must Back Same Agenda to Win Our Full Support (Drop Site, July 2026)Platner Volunteers Want to Move Forward with a New Candidate (Drop Site, July 2026)Voters Weigh In: From Waterville to Ogunquit, Mainers Are Standing By Graham Platner (Drop Site, Oct 2025)Transition Music: "Pale Horse (live in london)" by Truman Sinclair
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121: Twelve Angry Kirks [Preview]
1w ago00:04:05Tap to summarizeTo access premium episodes, subscribe to our Patreon: https://patreon.com/PostingThroughIt~~~Preliminary hearings began this week in the case against Tyler Robinson: the 23-year-old man accused of murdering conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a campus speaking event in September 2025. Jared and Mike break down the scenes at the courthouse, where a gaggle of Kirk's former employees and friends filled the gallery to watch prosecutors present their evidence against Robinson. Then they turn their attention to right-wing conspiracy theorists, who remain largely unconvinced that it was Robinson who pulled the trigger.Unlike Kirk, it seems like viral speculation about the forces behind his murder may never die. And despite TPUSA's efforts, they haven't been able to dissuading high-profile influencers like Candace Owens from just asking questions: Why didn't the bullet go all the way through Kirk's neck? Was it an inside job orchestrated by TPUSA staffers? Can we be sure Mossad wasn't involved? Or Egypt? What if Kirk is still alive and his death was staged? But before that, Jared and Mike address the campaign-ending allegations against US Senate candidate Graham Platner, who was running to dethrone Sen. Susan Collins until a former romantic partner accused him of drunkenly raping her. They also discuss the surprise rally staged by Patriot Front in DC on the Fourth of July, where some participants may or may not have soiled their khakis.Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of alleged instances of sexual assault and rape.
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120: The MAGA Wanker Cometh feat. Madeline Peltz
2w ago01:30:18Tap to summarizeAmerican patriotism just hit a 25-year low, and the country celebrated accordingly: a 56-year-old man we're calling the "MAGA Wanker" allegedly cranked it to some acrobats on a mostly empty field, and Michael Knowles spoke to a ten-year-old about the merits of burning women at the stake. Researcher and reporter Madeline Peltz returns to Posting Through It to relive America's 250th birthday party and take stock of the MAGA movement as of July 2026. Mike, Jared, and Madeline trace how a bipartisan congressional commemoration curdled America's anniversary into a freakish spectacle — funded by dark money and PragerU-supplied educational materials. This episode also features on-the-ground guest reporting from photojournalist Dominic Gwinn.By now, you've probably heard that America's 250th birthday celebrations were a debacle. Now it's time to learn how bad it actually was.Hide your communist flags, folks. Storm's brewing.
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119: What We Know About the Prairieland 'Antifa' Trials [Preview]
2w ago00:04:51Tap to summarizeFor access to the full episode, subscribe to our Patreon: patreon.com/postingthroughit---Mike and Jared break down the recent sentencing in the Prairieland "antifa" trials, wherein 450 years were handed down across eight defendants who attended an anti-ICE protest outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, on July 4, 2025.The guys walk through what happened — a noise demonstration, fireworks, graffiti, and Benjamin Song firing 11 shots from a wooded area, hitting a law enforcement officer, before his gun jammed. One defendant got 30 years for moving a box of zines after his wife's arrest. Another got 50 years for sitting in a nearby car. Prosecutors pointed to possession of anarchist literature, use of Signal, and wearing black as evidence of a terrorist conspiracy.Then there's Judge Reed O'Connor, a Federalist Society fixture who stated from the bench that he was imposing maximum sentences to send a message to people who share the defendants' ideology. O'Connor has become the go-to judge for far-right causes, including Elon Musk's dubious lawsuit against Media Matters. He's the man behind these sentences — an outcome that, predictably, delighted Andy Ngo.Links:PrairielandDefendants.com[This episode was recorded on June 28, 2026. Mike is traveling this week.]
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118: Greg Bovino Wants to Be Your President feat. Christopher Mathias
3w ago01:18:08Tap to summarizeDo you remember the small guy in a big, fashy-looking coat who oversaw ICE's invasion of Minneapolis — the operation that led to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti? His name is Gregory Bovino, and he wants to be your president.Acclaimed To Catch a Fascist author Christopher Mathias rejoins PTI this week. After a brief detour into the sentencing of antifascists in Texas, he joins Jared and Mike to paint a picture of Bovino: beyond standing just 5'4", the man is afflicted with a metastasized strain of MAGA, one fixated on "remigration" — that is, deporting upwards of a hundred million people. This year, he stepped down from commanding ICE and moved into new territory: cozying up to hardened white nationalists and meeting with extremists abroad.So dust off your VHS copy of "The Border" and join us as we get to the bottom of the most shocking truth of all: Bovino may look like he's from Long Island, but he's not!Links for Chris:Talking Points Memo: "Greg Bovino’s Retirement Plan? Go Full Fascist"MSNOW: "After teasing a presidential bid, Greg Bovino joined a white nationalist’s podcast"Blueksy: @letsgomathias.bsky.social / X: @letsgomathiasBook: "To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right"
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117: Gotta Have My 'Goyslop' [Preview]
3w ago00:04:40Tap to summarizeListen to the full episode on Patreon: patreon.com/postingthroughit---Mike and Jared dig into the ADL's recent campaign against "goyslop": an antisemitic meme that now travels across social media with no context, delighting freaks of all kinds. Then they take stock of JD Vance’s life of ongoing humiliation after becoming the fall guy for the Iran War. Kash Patel returns to PTI after he definitely, totally, for sure foiled that "UFC Freedom 250" domestic terrorism plot, and definitely did not “choke on his own smoke,” as some haters are saying. On June 14, a group of Christian extremist, TikTok-posting knuckleheads allegedly planned to fly explosive drones over the White House UFC arena and kill high-value targets with connections to Israel. But the plot unraveled when a 19-year-old Ohio co-conspirator's mom called the cops. Consider yourself warned. PTI’s secretly designed brown goo will kill you.
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116: The Right's Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Machine Targets James Talarico feat. Parker Molloy
4w ago01:21:28Tap to summarizeJames Talarico, a Texas candidate for US Senate, might be the Democrat who Republicans fear most ahead of 2026 midterm elections. Talarico has gained national attention for the unusual ways he's centered faith, masculinity, and progressive politics in his campaign — often defying the right-left "culture war" paradigm. As polling shows him to be a serious threat to the GOP's control of the Senate this fall, the Right's attacks against him have taken on an increasingly bigoted tenor, with right-wing politicians, influencers, and activist groups portraying him as secretly gay, transgender, or part of a broader LGBTQ conspiracy. Jared and Mike are joined by Parker Molloy, an award-winning journalist and the author of "The Present Age," whose work is essential reading for those seeking to understand the modern conservative media ecosystem. Together, they examine MAGA's attacks against Talarico, the resurgence of anti-LGBTQ politics on the American right, and how messaging once aimed primarily at transgender people have expanded into a broader strategy of ridicule, fear, and moral panic. They also discuss this year's Pride Month controversies, the role of right-wing media in shaping political narratives, and whether Republicans have succeeded in moving anti-LGBTQ rhetoric back into the mainstream.Happy Pride! Please enjoy this episode before Stephen Miller decides it's too gay.Links for Parker:Newsletter: "The Present Age"Bluesky: @parkermolloy.comTransition Music: "The Execution of All Things" by Rilo Kiley
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115: I'm Worried the Baby Thinks Graham Platner Can't Change [Preview]
4w ago00:04:54Tap to summarizeListen to the full episode on Patreon: patreon.com/postingthroughit~~~Jared and Mike finally sit down to talk about the embattled political campaign of Graham Platner, who won his primary election in Maine last week and will attempt to dethrone the state's longtime Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins, this fall.This episode reviews Platner's political career and the cascading personal scandals that have threatened to destroy it, from the problematic Reddit posts to the tattoo that looked awfully similar to a Nazi symbol to the allegations of mistreatment toward women. But despite everything that's been said about Platner — and much certainly has been said — recent pollsstill favor him to win.To debate what Platner's campaign means for this year's midterm elections, the guys slicked back their hair and sat down over some "sloppy steaks" at Truffoni's. ("It's a steak with water dumped on it. It's really, really good.") Graham Platner used to be a real piece of shit. Do Maine voters think people can change?
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114: All My Apes Gone to DC feat. Molly White
Jun 1501:11:52Tap to summarizeMaybe you've seen the president of the United States promoting what seems like obvious cryptocurrency scams. Or perhaps you've been frustrated lately with the amount of AI-generated "slop" polluting social media lately. What you may not know is that the industries behind both of those things have been working hard (sometimes together) to forcefully ingrain themselves in our nation's government -- spending hundreds of millions of dollars in political campaigns and helping to inflate Trump's personal net worth in obviously corrupt ways. That affects all of our lives, whether you're excited about these technologies or deeply skeptical of them.Jared and Mike are joined by Molly White, a researcher and writer who has spent years chronicling the sector of so-called "Web 3.0" tech and the cryptocurrency industry's growing influence on US politics. Together, they talk about Trump's bizarre cryptocurrency gambits, the regulatory favors his administration has handed out to crypto, and why so many of the same people who became notable for selling the public sleazy NFTs and meme coins are now selling us artificial intelligence.This one's for all the apes we lost along the way.Links for Molly:Tech Influence WatchWeb3 is Going Just Great"Citation Needed" newsletterBluesky: @molly.wikiTransition Music: "Prelude" by Crystal Joy
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113: Garden of Sleepen [Preview]
Jun 1100:05:27Tap to summarizeListen to the full episode by signing up for our Patreon: patreon.com/postingthroughit---Welcome to the official basketball podcast of New York City, where the hosts occasionally dip their toes into political discourse. We're your hosts Mike "Dunk'em Donuts" Hayden and Jared "Bench Toaster" Holt.The guys discuss Orange Cheeto Drumpf's appearance at the third game of the 2026 NBA Finals, where he almost certainly caused our beloved New York Knicks to lose to the San Antonio Spurs. Depending what new channel you watch, you either heard that our decaying president was met with chants of "USA!" or an arena-shaking cacophony of boos.After that, Jared and Mike turn their focus to recent reporting in Politico detailing under-the-table payments that Polymarket, an online "prediction market" where users gamble on the outcomes of world events, made to a host of social media personalities over the last year. The characters getting rich off the quiet promotional campaign included a transphobic swimmer, a (alleged) drug-addled bigot, and the single-dumbest conservative influencer who's crossed our timelines.When it comes to news, Posting Through It is on its ass like back pockets.
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