Why Should I Trust You?

Bold, unfiltered, and uncompromisingly honest, Why Should I Trust You? is a weekly podcast that looks at the breakdown in trust for science and public health. It drops every Thursday, with occasional additional special episodes sprinkled in. Hosted by Brinda Adhikari, the former executive producer of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” and a former TV news journalist; Tom Johnson, the former executive producer of “The Circus,” and also a former TV news journalist; Dr. Maggie Bartlett, a virologist and assistant research professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Dr. Mark Abdelmalek a skin cancer surgeon, a medical journalist and a dermatologist practicing in Philadelphia - each week we try to figure out what is behind this staggering collapse in trust and see if we can rebuild towards trust again.

Why Should I Trust You? is a news podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 109 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Why Should I Trust You?, a news show with 109 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #42

  Public Health, Docs, MAHA Mom React to Trump's Vaccine EO: We Speak w Drs. Deb Houry, Craig Spencer, Joel Warsh + Nancy Fuller

  Aug 13, 20261h 12mS2

  Dr. Debra Houry, the former CDC chief medical officer; emergency physician Dr. Craig Spencer; pediatrician and author Dr. Joel “Gator” Warsh; and MAHA supporter Nancy Fuller join us as we dig into President Trump’s brand-new executive order revamping the recommended schedule for vaccinating America’s children. The order reduces the number of vaccines recommended universally for children from 17 to 11, calls for the MMR vaccine to be broken up into three separate shots, and directs the administration to explore spacing childhood vaccines out across separate visits. It also directs the Department of Justice to examine whether parents’ rights are being protected in states that do not offer religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements. So…what exactly happened yesterday? Does it actually change anything? How are frontline doctors and MAHA supporters processing the President’s controversial comments at the signing ceremony? Is this latest effort to overhaul the schedule heading straight back to the courts? And how might this high-profile move affect the nation’s growing health polarization and eroding trust in public health? Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (on call) Guests: Dr. Debra Houry, former Chief Medical Officer, CDC; emergency physician Dr. Joel "Gator" Warsh, pediatrician, Integrative Pediatrics; substack author Between a Shot and a Hard Place Dr. Craig Spencer, ER physician, professor Brown School of Public Health Nancy Fuller, MAHA supporter, mother to a son with autism and epilepsy Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/public-health-maha-rfk/688014/?gift=jf1JNTlPW3HiCUoNqhv9pL4QDDQrO5E0bwhsoINyCrk https://drgator.substack.com/p/breaking-trump-just-tried-to-rewrite 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

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  Episode #41

  The Heat Is Killing Us. So Why Are We Beefing About Air Conditioning? We Chat w Noah Smith, Thomas Chatterton Williams & David Wallace-Wells

  Aug 6, 20261h 6mS2

  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 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

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  Episode #40

  A Conversation w Katelyn Jetelina & David Wallace-Wells: On Anthony Fauci & the National Covid Reckoning That Never Happened

  Jul 30, 20261h 1mS2

  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 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

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  Episode #39

  "I Used to Trust Vaccines. In the Next Pandemic, I Wouldn't." Five Americans Explain What Changed

  Jul 23, 20261h 30mS2

  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 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

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  Episode #38

  A Conversation w Dr Robert Malone and Dr Craig Spencer: On Ebola, On ACIP, On Malone's Break w MAHA and On Kennedy

  Jul 16, 20261h 26mS2

  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. 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

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