Why Should I Trust You?

What if one of the biggest public health debates of the next decade isn't about vaccines, Ozempic, or chronic disease? What if it's about air conditioning? The world’s temperatures are getting dangerously warmer. Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent with estimates that this summer the heat contributed to 10,000–14,000 deaths over just a few weeks. The United States suffers deadly heat waves too. But Europe experiences much higher heat-wave related death tolls. One major difference people are pointing to? Air conditioning. Americans have a LOT more of it than Europeans do.
Defenders of Europe's lower use of air conditioning argue that simply installing more AC isn't the answer. Critics say: this has gone too far. Too many people are dying. Just get air conditioning already.
But beneath this debate are some very big questions: What do we owe one another in a warming world? What does adaptation look like? And who bears the costs when our solutions create new problems?

Hosts:
Brinda Adhikari
Tom Johnson (off)
Maggie Bartlett
Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off)

Guests:
Noah Smith, economist, publisher of Noahopinion substack.
Thomas Chatterton Williams, staff writer The Atlantic,, author of Summer of Our Discontent and Self Portrait in Black and White.
David Wallace Wells, writer/columnist, The New York Times.  Author The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. 
Related articles by our guests:
Europe's Resistance to Air Conditioning is Driving It Insane: Noah Smith
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/europes-resistance-to-ac-is-driving
The Overlooked Reason Why Europe Doesn't Have AC: Thomas Chatterton Williams
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/europe-heat-wave-air-conditioning/687729/
We Need to Retrofit the Planet. The Heat Wave Proves It: David Wallace Wells
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/opinion/heat-wave-europe-america.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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Few figures in America are as polarizing as Dr. Anthony Fauci. To some, he is the veteran scientist who helped steer the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. To others, he is the face of government overreach who suppressed the lab leak theory to avoid accountability for research funding decisions they believe contributed to the pandemic.
This week, those worlds collided in a Senate hearing room as the retired former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was subpoenaed to testify before an inquiry led by his longtime critic, Republican Senator Rand Paul. Fauci accused the senator of having an "unhinged obsession" with him and seeing him sent to jail before invoking his Fifth Amendment right and declining to answer questions. Senator Paul, in turn, accused Fauci of deception and of refusing to accept responsibility.
In today's episode, we ask: Why, six years after the pandemic began, are we still talking about Anthony Fauci? Was this hearing a legitimate effort to uncover new facts about COVID-19's origins, assign accountability and learn from the past, or was it driven by political point scoring and vengeance? 
Joining us are Dr. Katelyn Jetelina of Your Local Epidemiologist and David Wallace-Wells of The New York Times to unpack what remains one of the most consequential and bitter public health debates of our time.

Hosts:
Brinda Adhikari
Tom Johnson
Maggie Bartlett
Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:
Katelyn Jetelina, founder and CEO of Your Local Epidemiologist
David Wallace-Wells, columnist and opinion writer, The New York Times

Jetelina on Fauci:
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/its-time-to-leave-the-man-alone

Wallace-Wells on Fauci:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/04/24/magazine/dr-fauci-pandemic.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

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If a new pandemic struck tomorrow and scientists developed a vaccine in record time, would you take it? In this episode, we hear from a group of friends of the show and newcomers who describe themselves as vaccine-hesitant. Once broadly supportive of vaccines, they explain how their experiences during the pandemic changed their views. From concerns about mRNA technology and the speed of development to public health messaging and mandates, we explore how and why their perspectives changed, and trust was lost. While a large body of scientific research holds that the COVID vaccines were safe and significantly reduced severe illness and death, we examine why that evidence remains unpersuasive to them today, just as it was during the pandemic. Finally, we tackle what that means for their trust in the broader medical and public health community today.

Hosts:
Brinda Adhikari
Tom Johnson
Maggie Bartlett
Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:
Aaron Everitt, Ft. Collins, Colorado
Jeff Hutt, Corpus Christi, Texas
Lori O'Connell, Darlington, Pennsylvania
Daniel DeLuca, Athens, Ohio
Theresa Dixon, Frederick, Maryland
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Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Craig Spencer are two influential voices on health in America today, reaching very different audiences. And it's no secret that on many critical issues, they fundamentally disagree. Yet as a deadly Ebola outbreak unfolds in Central Africa, they find themselves agreeing on more than you (or they) might expect. 
In this episode, the two physicians discuss what allowed the outbreak to spiral, the geopolitical priorities that shape the world's response to outbreaks (too often reacting to crises rather than investing in preparedness), whether the dismantling of parts of America's global health infrastructure played a role, and what America's role should be in supporting global public health going forward. Dr. Malone also opens up about his break with the MAHA movement and its leadership, and where he disagrees with the administration's approach to global public health.

Hosts:
Brinda Adhikari
Tom Johnson
Dr. Mark Abdelmalek
Maggie Bartlett (producer)

Guests:
Dr. Robert Malone, physician, vaccine researcher. 
Dr. Craig Spencer, physician, public health professor Brown School of Public Health.
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We have a good one in store for you, we are recording it on Thursday morning, so you'll see it on here in the afternoon. Thanks for understanding and see you soon!
Thanks for listening! If you like us, please leave a review, rate us, and please subscribe! 

Got questions? Comments? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at questions@whyshoulditrustyou.net