Podcast Summary: That Can't Be True with Chelsea Clinton

Special Episode Drop: The Checkup with Dr. Mike featuring Dr. Jeremy Faust

Date: April 9, 2026
Host: Dr. Mike
Guest: Dr. Jeremy Faust, Emergency Medicine Physician & Public Health Researcher

Overview

In this urgent, insightful conversation, Dr. Mike is joined by Dr. Jeremy Faust to dissect the rapid changes and alarming trends in healthcare and scientific research unfolding under President Trump's administration. The episode explores the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, major funding cuts to scientific research, the rise of pseudoscience and misinformation, and the corrosive effect of politicized public health messaging. Both physicians, speaking from frontline experience, illuminate what's at stake for medical innovation, pandemic preparedness, and everyday health — all with an eye toward why average Americans should care.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Alarms: The Administration’s Approach to Science and Global Health

• Stunning Shift: Dr. Faust describes how, from the first week, the administration moved to exit WHO, censor the CDC, and rapidly dismantle established structures, causing fear among scientists and physicians ([01:22]).
  • Quote: “It was so rapid fire that it was hard to keep up. ... People were really scared about the future of American healthcare and American science.” – Dr. Jeremy Faust [01:22]

2. Why Withdrawal from WHO Matters

• Global Consequences: WHO’s expertise in vaccine formulation, outbreak response, and pandemic prevention is unparalleled. Leaving WHO undermines global safety and America’s leadership ([02:35]).
• Policy by Grievance: The motivation seemed rooted in “grievances” rather than thoughtful reform, jeopardizing millions of lives ([05:24]).
  • Quote: “If you sign here, a million lives will be saved, you'd be like, yeah, let me do that … On the other side, you can Sign here, and 14 million people will die by the end of the decade because we're going to save a few bucks on global aid ... I want people to understand the stakes.” – Dr. Jeremy Faust [05:24]

3. Catastrophic Research and Healthcare Funding Cuts

• NIH & Training Grants Slashed: Cuts of 30%–45% to the NIH, including 20% to training grants, threaten basic research, scientific careers, and future breakthroughs. Researchers are considering jobs abroad due to both funding loss and censorship ([10:19], [11:58]).
  • Quote: "356 drugs were approved in the 2010s by the FDA. 354 of them had NIH funding in some way. … That is 99.4%." – Dr. Jeremy Faust [11:58]
  • Global Brain Drain: America risks reversing its role as the global hub of science and innovation ([09:15]).

4. Public Health Myths, Misinformation, and Pseudoscience

• The Nature Fallacy: Both doctors challenge the romanticization of "natural" health, the nostalgia for pre-modern conditions, and the anti-vaccine, anti-fluoride, and raw milk movements ([17:57], [39:59]).
  • Quote: "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. … The cavemen are sitting there and they're saying, boy, everything I eat is locally sourced, it's organic. But everyone dies at 30. Something's not adding up, right?" – Dr. Faust [17:57]
• Vaccine Misinformation: Secretary Kennedy is actively spreading disproven anti-vaccine claims (e.g., about HPV vaccine) from the leadership of HHS ([22:39]).
  • Quote: “The research that’s currently being done by the administration is being whipped up by AI with hallucinations in it, made up reports, completely fake. … What's on Secretary Kennedy's Twitter page, just blatantly lies.” – Dr. Mike [22:39]

5. The Dismantling of Evidence-Based Guidance and Rise of Censorship

• Key Structures Gutted: The CDC’s vaccine committee was vacated, replaced with individuals carrying deep anti-vaccine biases and conflicts of interest ([30:15]).
• Ideological Purges: NIH grants are now being terminated via keyword bans (e.g., “trans” leading to censored studies on neurotransmitters or transgender health), sometimes solely because of technical language ([61:34], [65:53]).
  • Quote: "They would say things like, 'We are trying to fight against woke science. And your project falls into that category.' ... Effective immediately, your grant is not paused for review, it has terminated permanently." – Dr. Faust [61:34]

6. The Communication and Transparency Crisis at CDC and FDA

• Reluctance and Bureaucracy: CDC is paralyzed by fear of being wrong or “political.” Their communication is outdated and their approach paternalistic, creating space for bad actors and misinformation ([47:38]–[54:58]).
  • Quote: "The CDC used to have a guideline where they wouldn't fact check misinformation. ... But if that's what's on people's minds, if that's what people wanna hear about, you're just allowing someone else to come in there and deliver the message." – Dr. Mike [54:58]
• FDA Under Pressure: Cuts and politicization of the FDA have led to non-scientific decision-making and the sidelining of career scientists ([68:03]).
  • Quote: "I'm really worried that the process by which we've all relied on has been undermined." – Dr. Faust [68:18]

7. Wellness Distraction and Disinformation: “Public Health Theater”

• Symbolic Changes vs. Real Action: The administration focuses on red dye or corn syrup, but ignores calorie intake, exercise, or the leading killers of kids (firearms, opioid crisis). Real interventions are absent ([41:11]).
  • Quote: "It's hard to take [them] seriously when they're focused on things that, in my view are rounding errors and that the science supporting it is really weak. This actually is a form of public health theater." – Dr. Faust [39:59]
• Supplements & Spending: Wellness spending is at an all-time high, but chronic disease rates are unaffected — “Clearly, the wellness spending isn't working either.” ([38:18])

8. The Need for Medical Community Unity and Action

• Silence is Compliance: Dr. Mike calls for medical associations and public figures to unify in calling for credible leadership — not just privately bemoan RFK Jr. or policies ([71:43], [79:22]).
  • Quote: "Start getting the ama, aoa, AAFP all together. Let's get everyone in the same room and just uniformly show how much disagreement there is from one individual." – Dr. Mike [79:22]
• Preparing to Welcome Back the Misinformed: “We should just be there and say, hey, let's do better, let's do it this way... to make it acceptable for people to change their views and change their teams.” – Dr. Faust [85:24]

9. Looking Forward: Two Americas and Existential Risks

• Two Americas: Dr. Faust fears the creation of bifurcated health landscapes — one group severely harmed by anti-science policies, the other only partly protected, but both worse off than today ([86:32]).
• Pandemic Readiness Gone: Funding for pandemic preparedness gutted, just as climate change and waning vaccine uptake create prime conditions for disaster ([92:05]).
  • Quote: "We've opened a cigar bar in a fireworks factory." – Dr. Mike [94:54]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Science Cuts:
  “That saved 25 million lives. And we started to hear in January, we're going to put this on pause right now, and we're going to put it through the wood chipper was what Musk said.” – Dr. Faust [05:24]
• On Communication Failures:
  “They were making misstep over misstep trying to take shortcuts to trying to take the paternalistic view … So they didn't see the value in social media the same way that when the pandemic hit, people who were in charge … said, 'Oh, you don't want to send out a garbled message that's going to confuse people.'” – Dr. Mike [47:38–54:58]
• On Anti-Vaccine Leadership:
  “Secretary Kennedy … currently has a tweet up that says the Gardasil vaccine, HPV vaccine has led to more deaths than cancers it saved or deaths it prevented. And that's who's in charge of our healthcare organizations.” – Dr. Mike [22:39]
• On the Urgent Need for Medical Unity:
  “Why are we not all signing petitions? When is it going to be that we realize that this is going too far? What issue needs to be had?” – Dr. Mike [71:43]
• On Future Hope:
  “If science such as you and I conceive of it is to get the upper hand again, that we need to swallow our pride and not play that dirty game that they're doing and say, look, they just got it wrong and we're going to get it right.” – Dr. Faust [86:32]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:22] – Early signs of radical changes post-inauguration
• [02:35] – Why U.S. withdrawal from WHO endangers global health
• [05:24] – Funding cuts and the moral cost, PEPFAR as case study
• [10:19] – Loss of top researchers, global brain drain
• [17:57], [39:59] – Nostalgia for "natural" health and its deadly history
• [22:39] – Secretary Kennedy’s anti-vaccine leadership and false claims
• [30:15] – Dismantling of CDC’s independent vaccine committee
• [47:38–54:58] – CDC/FDA communication crisis and failure to counter misinformation
• [61:34], [65:53] – Censorship of research via keyword-based grant cuts
• [71:43], [79:22] – Dr. Mike’s plea for the medical community to act
• [86:32] – Dr. Faust’s prediction: “Two Americas” in health
• [92:05] – Climate change, waning research, and the next pandemic

Tone & Style

The discussion is deeply concerned but never defeatist — Dr. Mike and Dr. Faust blend frank, evidence-based warnings with moments of dark humor (“nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”), drawing analogies to Star Wars, The Last of Us, and pop culture to make complex concepts accessible. Their language is clear, passionate, and direct, modeling the kind of authentic medical communication they wish U.S. agencies could emulate.

Conclusion

This episode is a wake-up call for anyone who cares about scientific integrity, medical innovation, and public health. Drs. Mike and Faust insist that “watching what they do, not just what they say” is crucial. The stakes are high: research today leads to the cures of tomorrow, and undermining science undermines the health security of all. Both hope that out of the current darkness, the scientific and medical community can unite, adapt, and ensure that facts — not fear and fiction — shape health policy in the U.S.

Suggested Further Reading & Follow-Up:

• Dr. Jeremy Faust’s newsletter: Inside Medicine (Substack)
• MedPage Today editorials
• CDC & NIH communication initiatives on public health misinformation