Episode 162: Trump’s Debate Meltdown and the Scourge of Disinformation

Van Badham and Ben Davison (and Germanicus the dog) HAVE RETURNED!

As Ben recovers from twelve months of illness, this long overdue return to The Week on Wednesday begins with heartfelt gratitude for the Medicare system, as you’d expect. Our delighted duo then analyze the first U.S. presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, highlighting Harris's effective preparation and Trump's off-chops - and certainly weird - shouty rants about pet-eating in Ohio.

They also explore news from the word of “Disinfoland”, concerning the arrest of Telegram's Pavel Durov in France, the suspension of Elon Musk’s “X” platform in Brazil  and the indictment of two alleged Russian agents for “information laundering” pro-Putin talking points through U.S. right-wing influencers. Ben encourages you to JOIN A UNION, and Van cuddles the dog.

A big shoutout to our supporters who’ve stayed with us all these months; friends, we are SO BACK.

More on the US Presidential debate: https://www.npr.org/2024/09/11/nx-s1-5108401/donald-trump-debate-eating-dogs-cats-immigrants-false-stereotype

Great piece from Alexander Howard about the present window for effective social media platform regulation: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/opinion/telegram-tiktok-x-social-media.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Sally McManus explains the allegations against the CFMEU: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Srn4vDrnuCrxcmCa/

Come see Van’s new show about Nazis in Melbourne: https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/werewolf/

Buy us some coffee (and we’ll spend the money on ads): https://buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday