Diabolical Lies
Q&A: Creative Process, Conspiracy Theories, Careers Under Capitalism, & the Cop in Your Head
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com Caro & Katie discuss your questions about: * Whether the “financial independence, retire early” movement is an effective way to Cordyceps-bug (visual below) capitalism for your own freedom or a gateway drug to the life-diminishing tendency to obsess about money * Why Katie would accept Fox News’s radical Marxist label * Caro’s Yesteryear experience and why success sometimes feels like failure * The creative process and whether creating from a place of defensiveness makes for shittier art * The future of Diabolical Lies if you people continue to tolerate us * Politically agnostic friends and the expectation that every element of your personal life conforms to your political ideals * Whether Christianity and feminism are compatible, and if feminism can really be “compatible” with any belief system that evolved under thousands of years of patriarchy * Conspiracy theories we believe in * How to feel generally better about your career under capitalism * The difficulty of “killing the (misogynist, capitalist, etc.) cop in your head” and choosing more fulfilling work that may earn less or no money * Whether we use PowerPoints to present our outlines to one another and how our research process has evolved from our glorified voice notes * Neutralizing the male gaze and self-objectification theory We’ll see paid subscribers again in October for a topical episode that will (probably) be about the never-ending breastfeeding vs. formula culture war.
Nara Smith & the Great Tradwife Exodus
A quick heads-up: Around 1:34:00, we discuss postpartum psychosis, depression, filicide, and the Lindsay Clancy trial (no graphic descriptions). If that’s not something you’re up for today, take care and skip ahead to 1:40:00. It only felt fitting to wrap up our pre-maternity leave regularly scheduled programming with a conversation that brings our very first episode full circle. Skeptics of the tradwife shtick have long observed that tradwife influencers aren’t actually exposed to the risks of the conservative, traditional lifestyle they’re aestheticizing, because they—presumably—have access to their own money and, with it, some degree of autonomy and optionality. This summer, the years-long discourse has finally landed where it started, with the accusation—you actually have a job—being wielded effectively as a defense—yeah, this is a job, why is everyone calling me a tradwife? The result is a discursive ouroboros. Many fellow Discourse Vultures have perceived Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman’s disavowal of the tradwife label in recent interviews whilst wearing top-to-bottom denim as proof that this brand of motherhood is no longer in vogue, and that the reality of Smith and Neeleman’s family dynamics (50/50 partnerships, being a CEO) serve as evidence of that shift. The personal is political, as they say, but how effectively does personal experience really serve as a political defense? Can it nullify the ideological associations of powerful aesthetics, when those aesthetics are already central to American culture? This episode is a close read of three eerily similar themes that appeared across both recent interviews with some ~lite feminist theory~ layered atop them. THEORY Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich (1977), the original source from which the “mothering as experience” and “motherhood as institution” framework was pulled “A review of Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution” by Alice Braun (2019) “Institution of Motherhood” from Encyclopedia of Motherhood, edited by Andrea O’Reilly, Andrea (2010) “Mothering and Motherhood: Experience, Ideology, and Agency” by Min Jao from Comparative Literature Studies (2019) “Racism and Patriarchy in the Meaning of Motherhood” by Dorothy E. Roberts from Journal of Gender & Law (1992) “Filicide in the United States” by Phillip J. Resnick from the National Library of Medicine (2016) Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America by Rachel Louise Moran (2024) “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” by Audre Lorde (1984) CLOSE-READ INTERVIEWS “Nara Smith: Stop Calling Me a Tradwife” from Call Her Daddy (2026) “Ballerina Farm is Happy with Her Choices” by Stephanie McNeal from Vulture (2026) OTHER REFERENCED PRESS HITS “Tycoon or Tradwife? The Woman Behind Ballerina Farm Makes Her Own Path.” by Julia Moskin for the New York Times (2024) Alyssa Grenfell, the ex-Mormon YouTuber referenced “The Un-Trad Rise of Nara Aziza Smith” by Bianca Betancourt for Harper’s Bazaar (2024) “How Lucky Blue and Nara Aziza Smith Made Viral Internet Fame From Scratch” by Carrie Battan for GQ (2024) “Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children)” by Megan Agnew for The Times (2024) “Ballerina Farm opens its door to visitors” from ABC News (2026) “The ‘trad wives’ leaving high-control Christian nationalist communities” from CNN (2026) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
Does Hating Influencers Make You a Misogynist?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
How "Abundance" Lost the Left
The Democratic Party was facing an identity crisis when Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025. Just two months later, Democratic media Thinkboiz Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson published Abundance. Their theory of the case: We could “solve our problems with supply,” and that to do so, we needed to pursue “a liberalism that builds,” an idea that meant aspiring to “more than redistribution […], more than parceling out the present.” The text of Abundance focuses almost exclusively on examples of government proceduralism and self-defeating obstruction, while at times quoting books like Fully Automated Luxury Communism and even Karl Marx. There’s just one difference between the productive capacity imagined in Fully Automated Luxury Communism and Abundance: only one of these books sees this vision as compatible with capitalism. Over the months that followed its publication, an “intra-left” fight emerged between the “populist left” (represented by figures like Bernie Sanders and the DSA) and the “abundance left.” For a while, it looked like Abundance would set the vision for the future of the party. What happened? Diabolical Lies investigates. All citations and references can be found at diabolicalliespod.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
How 'The Botox Psyop' Broke Our Brains in the Name of Beauty
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
Alex Cooper, Alix Earle, & the Business of Relatability
Alex Cooper is one of the most successful podcast hosts in the country. Alix Earle is one of the most popular TikTok stars in America. The women, who appear to be separated by a single vowel and little else, have become central to a slow-burning pop culture feud representing two distinct, radically divergent archetypes: the Mean Girl™ and the Girl’s Girl.™ Cooper’s storied past includes a messy, public split with her former Call Her Daddy cohost, Sofia Franklyn, which she parlayed into an enormous deal with Spotify and, later, SiriusXM. Earle’s background is simpler and cleaner, involving a seemingly overnight ascent on TikTok and a Teflon-like immunity to controversy. Today’s episode is ultimately a story about the manipulation of discourse and how double standards don’t just exist between women and men, but between women who are, for all intents and purposes, functionally identical. It’s a deep dive into the characters populating the latest girl-on-girl morality play, a spectacle uniquely suited to demonstrate the skill of those seated atop the modern attention capture content creation industry. Enjoy this valiant effort to extract a takeaway other than “wow, maybe the internet really is making all of us stupider.” “Call Her Daddy’s Alexandra Cooper Made Her Name Talking About Sex. With Her Massive Spotify Deal, She’s Pushing Beyond That” by Eliana Dockterman for Time (2021) “Daddy Issues: Trouble Behind the Scenes of Alex Cooper’s Unwell Media Empire” by Clara Molot for Vanity Fair (2026) “Noticing Emily Ratajkowski’s New Essay, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Politics, and Alex Cooper’s Leadership Skills” from Good Noticings (2026) “Inside Alex Cooper’s Unwell: Tears, Screaming and Employees Looking for the Exit” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg (2026) “Alex Cooper, Husband Skip Team Meeting After Behavior Complaints” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg (2026) “Alex Cooper Went From Raunchy Podcaster to Gen-Z’s Barbara Walters” by EJ Dickson for Rolling Stone “The ‘Call Her Daddy’ Feud: What Happened?” by Taylor Lorenz for The New York Times (2020) Dave Portnoy’s obnoxious video to “Suitman” on the Call Her Daddy Instagram account during the negotiation breakdown “The truth about Call Her Daddy” on Alex Cooper’s YouTube channel “After Leaving ‘Call Her Daddy,’ Sofia Franklyn is Back with a New Podcast of Her Own” by Andy Meek for Forbes (2020) “Dave Portnoy Hates The Way Alix Earle Has Handled The Alex Cooper Controversy,” also known as a 50-year-old man hosting his favorite series, “Tea by the Sea” Brianna Chickenfry entering the chat “‘Call Her Daddy’ Host Alex Cooper Launches the Unwell Network, Inks Development Deals with Influencers Alix Earle and Madeline Argy” by Todd Spangler for Variety (2023) “The Alix Earle Effect” by Véronique Hyland for Elle “Alix Earle’s ‘Hot Mess’ Podcast Dropped by Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network (EXCLUSIVE)” by Tatiana Siegel for Variety (2025) “The Art of the Alix Earle Deal” by Sara Ashley O’Brien for The Wall Street Journal (2025) The first direct shot, fired by Alex Cooper “Alix Earle is Bringing Your FYP to TV with New Netflix Reality Series” by Melanie Whyte for Tudum, the Netflix site (2026) “The Conservative Star Who Wants to Host the ‘Call Her Daddy’ of the Right” by Ashley Carman for Bloomberg You know we’re in some rich pop culture territory when the right-wing reactionary framing almost exactly matches the mainstream framing “Alex Cooper’s Netflix Problem” by Natalie Korach for Status (2026) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
How Reality TV Makes Us All Republicans
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
The "Rise" and Fall of the Girlboss
RESTOCK ALERT: Just in time for your summer vacation, the Banned Books tote is back in stock. Alt. title: Katie finally bites off more than she can chew and attempts a nuanced exploration of the Lean In, Girlboss cultural era. 13 years ago, Sheryl Sandberg published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. The following year, Sophia Amoruso published #GIRLBOSS. The broad understanding of this period was that—for a few solid years—we widely embraced the edicts of “corporate feminism” or “Lean In feminism” or “Girlboss feminism,” so named for a societal shift that saw a recognition and celebration of women’s career ambition as a decidedly positive thing worthy of support and encouragement or, at the very least, a collection of sassy poly-blend T-shirts. We tried it, and it didn’t work. …but did we? Diabolical Lies investigates. All citations and references can be found at https://www.diabolicalliespod.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
How to Give Birth in America, Pt. 2
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
Gen Z Women's New "Anti-Woke Voice"
NEW SWAG ALERT 🚨 The Small Government line is back & better than ever. Get yours here. Katie’s back on her metaphoric “What’s Charlie Kirk up to these days?” editorial grind—checking in with one of the hottest new Gen Z Lady Voices taking the middle-aged men of the center-right by storm. In this episode, we check in with a writer we haven’t discussed since one of our very first episodes: Freya India, also known as three Jonathan Haidts in a very hot 26-year-old trenchcoat, just published her first book, Girls®—an excoriation of the modern world and its effects on The Youth (or, more specifically, the pathologies of liberal teen girls, as she often puts it). To hear India tell it, young girls have been Filtered, Diagnosed, Documented, Disconnected, Detached, and ‘Empowered,’ all thanks to the increasingly rapacious incentive structure of a pyramid-shaped economic system that necessitates a constantly growing consumer base wait, sorry, no. That’s not it. Actually, we’re not really sure why. You know what? It’s not important. Let’s move on. What Girls® lacks in explanatory mechanisms, it makes up for in solutions: Logging off, finding God, and starting a family. The ideological project underway here should be obvious to anyone whose brain hasn’t been marinated in a dutch oven full of expired bath salts, so why has this book been endorsed by a gaggle of high-profile, putatively left-wing men? Diabolical Lies investigates. All citations and references can be found at www.diabolicalliespod.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
Who's Afraid of Hasan Piker?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
The Caro Episode
Order Yesteryear if you like nice things, have good taste, or don’t want Katie to show up in the middle of the night at your house with a strongly worded remonstration. What does it feel like to spend 10 years of your life pursuing an uncertain dream when the chances of breakthrough success are one in a million? What does it feel like to—finally, at long last—be “the one”? Caro Claire Burke, one-half of your favorite podcast, is publishing her debut novel this Tuesday, April 7. Yesteryear is mouthy, thrilling, important, ambitious, and, as one of my favorite reviews said, “moves like a freight train.” Sound like anyone else you know? Today, I finally get the opportunity to talk to caro claire burke about: * whether publishing your debut novel is a dream come true or a nightmare * who she was before she wrote Yesteryear * her seemingly endless years writing clickbait for a paycheck in the content coal mines of various aggregators * how she felt when we met 🥰 * how I felt when we met 👹 * the psychological experience of feeling like everyone’s looking at you (Professionally™️) and knowing the precise dates and times when your life’s work will be dissected for sport in public lol * to what extent it’s fair to infer someone’s politics from their fiction (a la this piece) * her Official Stance on separating the art from the artist (compelling tbh) * a spoiler-frenzied discussion of the Next Great American Novel * and a very personal, very special update for Caro This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
How 'Love Story'—and the Kennedys—Fooled America
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
Jeffrey Epstein & the Ordinary Misogyny of "Extraordinary" Men
Some quick housekeeping to start this lovely Sunday: If you’ve already pre-ordered Caro’s debut novel Yesteryear, or wish to do so now, Knopf wants to thank you. They’re sending custom, limited edition bandanas to DL Substack subscribers — all you have to do is input proof of your order in this link here, and they’ll ship you the bandana, clean and simple. (This is only for US subscribers.) Thanks so much for the support, y’all! Jeffrey Epstein got away with it because he was richer than God. No — he got away with it because he had a rolodex filled with the most influential and powerful people on the planet. No — he got away with it because of his wiliness, and his almost preternatural ability to charm people. All of these claims have been discussed to death in both mainstream and alternative media, and continue to serve as the prevailing theories for why this man was able to abuse young women at a terrifying scale for decades without suffering legal repercussions for it. Today, we discuss an alternative hypothesis. ”A Young Jeffrey Epstein Made An Impression On His High School Students,” by Cat Schuknecht for NPR “Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich,” by David Enrich, Steve Eder, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and Matthew Goldstein for The New York Times “The Talented Mr. Epstein,” a March 2003 profile by Vicky Ward for Vanity Fair “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery,” a 2002 profile by Landon Thomas Jr. for New York Magazine Here’s one of the many, many early pieces of reporting I leaned on from The Palm Beach Post; not going to link all of them because it would fill Substack’s word count limit but highly encourage poring through their 2005/2006 archives And here’s a pretty interesting FBI transcript of an interview with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, conducted in 2020 And here’s the deposition interview between unproblematic king Brad Edwards and World-Renowned F*****g Loser Epstein: Highly encourage anyone and everyone to read Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s Girl Here is the deposition Katie and I role-played where a Very Smart Lawyer played Very Smart Gotcha with Giuffre about, checks notes, whether or not she was a bartender in 2007 Here’s where a federal judge decided that Giuffre’s testimony about Epstein’s sex trafficking ring was not relevant to a case about Epstein’s sex trafficking ring Here is a timeline from the Miami Herald on all this gruesome shit; cc looking through their archives, too, as well as the archives for The Tampa Bay Times for any interested armchair sleuths If you liked that timeline by reporter Julie K. Brown, consider reading her book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story ”How JPMorgan Enabled the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein,” by David Enrich, Matthew Goldstein, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg for The New York Times “Newly Unsealed Epstein Records Shed Light on Years of His Financial Transactions with Wall St. Figures,” by Kara Scannell for CNN Here’s a link to the Epstein email dump, neatly organized in this little faux-inbox Here’s the meta study elaborating on the justice gap, which highlights precisely how f****d survivors of sexual assault are in their efforts to seek justice Read Jessica Knoll’s phenomenal book, Bright Young Women, if you want a highly entertaining and cathartic literary experience to exorcise the fury from your body Thanks (and also sorry???) for listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
The Myth of Centrism
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com If you pay attention to political commentary, you’ll often hear a few pieces of conventional wisdom: — America is “too polarized” — “Both sides” are “too extreme” — Or, most innocuously, that politicians should simply do that which is “popular,” which is itself code for policies that are considered “moderate” But do voters really punish candidates for being extreme? Are most “popular” ideas the “moderate” ones? And, moderate or not, does popularity necessarily indicate merit? The supposed antidote to this handwringing about political polarization is, more often than not, the mythical “centrist” candidate who will appeal to the even-more-mythical “ordinary American.” Centrism is, as the name implies, an ideology that lacks an ideology. Today, Diabolical Lies investigates the myth of centrism. [Full references and citations can be found in the show notes at www.diabolicalliespod.com.]
The Shawn Ryan Show
Stuff You Should Know
This American Life
The Ezra Klein Show
The Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset
The Oprah Podcast