Why Should I Trust You?

Brinda Adhikari, Tom Johnson, Maggie Bartlett, Dr. Mark Abdelmalek
  • 5.0 (1)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated weekly

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. 

  1. 9 hr ago

    "We Will Fight Back": Leading MAHA & Dem Voices React To SCOTUS Ruling On Monsanto. Sen. Booker, Rep. Pingree, Zen Honeycutt, Rep. Tim Ryan & Kelly Ryerson Join Us

    Democratic Senator Cory Booker, Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine, MAHA leaders Zen Honeycutt and Kelly Ryerson, and former Congressman Tim Ryan join us to react to one of the Supreme Court's big decisions of the year as the High Court sides with Monsanto regarding glyphosate liability.  Our panel today represents a powerful, impassioned, and yes, unusual alliance, given MAHA's union with the Republican Party and President Trump. Today, we hear their reactions to this major setback. With the Court ruling 7–2 that federal law gives the EPA the final say over pesticide warning labels, thousands of pending lawsuits against Bayer-Monsanto will be impacted, marking a win for the company and the Trump administration, which took its side, as well as a significant moment in the ongoing debate over glyphosate. What does the decision mean for this bipartisan coalition united in support of the legal fight against glyphosate and for a future in which American farms transition away from its use? With MAHA and the Trump administration finding themselves on opposite sides in this case, where does the ruling leave that partnership? And finally, we hear about the formation of a new game plan for the movement opposing this ruling.  Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett (producer) Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off) Guests: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) Zen Honeycutt, MAHA activist, Moms Across America Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) Kelly Ryerson, MAHA Activist, Glyphosate Girl former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) 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

    38 min

  2. 1 day ago

    Don't Just Fact-Check Misinformation. First, Understand The Value It Holds. A Conversation w Researchers Michael Simeone & Kristy Roschke

    Fighting misinformation is seen as one of the defining challenges of our time. The term itself can be polarizing. And what if we're thinking about it all wrong? In this episode, we speak with researchers Michael Simeone and Kristy Roschke, who recently published a peer-reviewed article in a journal in the Nature portfolio, proposing a new framework for understanding why misinformation spreads. Their central argument is a surprising one: misinformation doesn't spread simply because people are uninformed, uneducated, or unable to distinguish fact from fiction. It spreads because it provides value--a coherent explanation amidst uncertainty and conflicting facts, reinforces identities, strengthens communities, and satisfies emotional and social needs. They also factor in the value misinformation might have for a broader community, a commercial platform, or AI.  Rather than asking, "How did people fall for this?", they encourage us to ask a different question: "What is this information doing for them?" The conversation challenges common assumptions about health literacy, fact-checking, and who is susceptible to misinformation (answer: all of us). In an era of algorithms, AI, and increasingly personalized realities, Simeone and Roschke argue that understanding misinformation requires us to look beyond individual biases to examine the broader social and technological systems we all help create. Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett Dr. Mark Abdelmalek Guests: Michael Simeone, co-lead of the Information Competition Lab at Arizona State University’s School for Complex Adaptive Systems and serves on the senior leadership team for the Global Futures Laboratory’s Decision Theater Kristy Roschke,  Associate Research Professor of Communication of Science and Technology; Executive Director of the McGee Applied Research Center for Narrative Studies Vanderbilt University Source: Value and Vulnerability: A Framework for Understanding the Complexity of Misinformation Use https://www.nature.com/articles/s44260-026-00079-x 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

    1hr 7min

  3. 18 Jun

    A Conversation with Dr. Mehmet Oz: On the Erosion of Trust in Experts, Rethinking Safety Nets & Fraud

    Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is our guest today. He oversees the government programs that provide health coverage to nearly half of all Americans and account for roughly a quarter of federal spending. At this moment of enormous change, what does Dr. Oz see as his mission? Alongside Vice President JD Vance, he has been tasked with rooting out fraud. He argues this effort, along with changes to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Act, will strengthen thesafety net and preserve it for the Americans it was intended to serve. However, an official nonpartisan government estimate finds that compared with the previous law, the new law will result in hundreds of billions fewer federal dollars going to Medicaid over the next decade and millions more Americans becoming uninsured. Dr. Oz insists America will spend more on Medicaid, not less. We ask him about that. We'll also dig into a larger question at the heart of this debate: Was the ACA's expansion of Medicaid—which has covered roughly 20 million additional Americans—ultimately a good thing?  And finally, we ask Dr. Oz, a renowned heart surgeon whose career was built on medical expertise, what he makes of this moment in America, where trust in experts is falling. Is growing skepticism a healthy correction, or is it taking us somewhere more troubling? Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Dr. Mark Abdelmalek Maggie Bartlett (producer) Khushi Patel (research) Isabella Didie (research) **Recorded at Switch & Board Studios in Washington, DC. Guest:  Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 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

    1hr 3min

  4. 11 Jun

    A Conversation w Sen. Cory Booker: On Our Health, Corrosive Money in Politics & America’s Urgent Moment. A Message to MAHA, RFK Jr & His Own Party.

    Senator Cory Booker joins us for a conversation about our dire chronic health crisis, the corrosive effects of corporate money in our politics, the power of making healthy food affordable, and our taxpayer-subsidized systems that fuel our chronic disease epidemic. These are issues he's been sounding the alarm on for years. Today, the New Jersey Democrat has a new message for his own party: rather than resist the supporters of MAHA, it's time to stand with them. Long before MAHA, Booker was raising the very concerns now at the heart of the movement. But while much of his party has greeted MAHA with suspicion and hostility, Booker is making a different argument: Democrats should find common ground wherever possible. So where, exactly, does he see common ground with MAHA? Can Democrats work with the movement while fiercely disagreeing on vaccines and other critical issues? And how does he answer critics in his own party who see MAHA not as a health movement but as an extension of MAGA? Today, as he pitches a new coalition: why should MAHA trust him?  And why should his own party? Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett (producer) Dr. Mark Abdelmalek Guest: Senator Cory Booker, D-NJ New to us? Check out these three episodes to get a taste!  Inside A Rare Conversation Between MAHA Grassroots and Public Health Leaders https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-should-i-trust-you/id1788335471?i=1000706783000 The Hepatitis B Birth Dose Vaccine: Do We Need It? An Honest Conversation w Dr. Paul Offit & Dr. Michael Mina https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-should-i-trust-you/id1788335471?i=1000727322530 A Conversation with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya: On the NIH, CDC, Funding, DEI & His Vision For Doing Science https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-should-i-trust-you/id1788335471?i=1000751774699 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

    56 min

  5. 4 Jun

    A Conversation w Gen Z On AI: Promise, Populism, Anger & Hope. How Do They Wish Older Gens Spoke About AI?

    Today, we're widening our lens to take on AI and trust because just like public health, science, and medicine, AI is becoming a trust minefield. As trust in institutions, experts, and Big Tech continues to erode, AI is arriving with enormous promises and profound uncertainties. (And don't worry—we're not taking our foot off the gas on trust and health. We're just doing more!) AI now has us confronting fundamental questions about winners and losers, promises of medical breakthroughs versus warnings of widespread job displacement, and whether the new technology encourages us to offload difficult thinking or frees us to think more deeply. And right in the middle of all these questions is the generation coming of age at the same time as AI. So, today, we've gathered Gen Zers, high school students, college students, recent graduates, young professionals, and people entering the trades. We discuss the issues surrounding AI, especially its impact on education and work, which are already shaping their lives. How do they see the opportunities and risks of AI? What excites them? What worries them? Ultimately, what kind of future do they want to build and what kind of lives do they want to lead? Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett Dr. Mark Abdelmalek Guests: Elizabeth Frost Khushi Patel Sawyer Everitt Bryson Craven Rotimi Kukoyi Matt Geistler Keren Michelle-Asare Rohan Licht Michael D. Green 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

    1hr 16min

  6. 28 May

    Is Parkinson’s A Preventable Disease? A Conversation w Dr. Ray Dorsey & Steve Brandenburg On Paraquat & Parkinson’s

    Parkinson’s Disease is rising worldwide. It is the fastest-growing neurological disease in the world and is being called a “slow-motion epidemic.” And there is no cure.  So what’s driving the increase? There are several culprits, including a body of research associating exposure to the farm herbicide Paraquat. Paraquat is banned in 70 countries. At the same time, in America, the EPA and other major reviews say the evidence still falls short of proving a direct causal link. We speak with one of the nation’s leading Parkinson’s researchers, Dr. Ray Dorsey, along with a man living with Parkinson’s after decades during which he says he was exposed to Paraquat. But this story goes beyond one chemical or one disease. It’s about how we should make decisions regarding health amidst conflicting perspectives over science, data, warning signs, and painful lived experiences. Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett Dr. Mark Abdelmalek Guests: Steve Brandenburg, worked for 30 years as a producer on a video team in the agricultural industry. He has since been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He  hosts a podcast called “The Secret Life of Parkinson’s". Dr. Ray Dorsey, neurologist and one of the country's leading researchers on Parkinson's disease. He is the Director of the Center for the Brain and Environment with Atria Health and Research Institute. Research on Paraquat and Parkinson's https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21269927/ https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra2401857?utm_source=openevidence https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/paraquat-pesticide-parkinsons-disease#:~:text=A%20common%20pesticide%20called%20paraquat,can%20cause%20the%20movement%20disorder https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11491592/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S147444222500287X EPA on Paraquat and Parkinson's https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/paraquat-dichloride 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

    58 min

  7. 21 May

    A Conversation w MAHA Supporters & Public Health Veterans: On Thomas Massie + Cuts To USAID Amid An Ebola Outbreak

    We’ve got a major news-driven episode today, focused on two stories that hit home for two big parts of our audience: MAHA and public health. First, the political earthquake rocking MAHA: Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie's defeat in his primary after a full-force effort by President Trump and MAGA. Massie was beloved by many in MAHA as an independent-minded fighter willing to challenge both parties and powerful interests. Where does this leave the MAHA-MAGA alliance?  Then we turn to the outbreaks of Ebola and Hantavirus. How is the group processing the emergence of these outbreaks, especially after this administration dismantled USAID, which long supported disease surveillance and relief in hot spots, including the site of the current Ebola outbreak?  Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off) Guests: Aaron Everitt, video journalist, writer Besides the Revolution, House InHabit, former Kennedy campaign volunteer. Elizabeth Frost, co-founder MAHA Ohio, Independent Force Consultants, former Kennedy campaign grassroots organizer. Jeff Hutt, former National Field Director for the Kennedy campaign; former spokesperson for the MAHA PAC. Dr. Nahid Bhadelia,  infectious disease physician, Associate Professor at Boston University School of Medicine,  founding director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research. Dr. Craig Spencer, emergency medicine physician and Associate Professor at Brown University 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

    1hr 13min

  8. 15 May

    Special Ep: A Conversation w Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Lead Reporter for the NYT Covering RFK Jr. & MAHA In An Era of Mistrust

    We are joined today by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, one of the country’s leading health reporters and a correspondent for The New York Times, covering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA movement. In her words, Stolberg covers “the intersection of health policy and politics,” a job to which she brings decades of experience covering federal health agencies, Congress, and two presidencies as a White House correspondent for the Times. Before joining the Times, she shared two Pulitzer Prizes for reporting at The Los Angeles Times on racial unrest and an earthquake. We talk with Stolberg about covering the MAHA movement and Kennedy, including the movement’s internal dynamics, the Secretary’s successes and setbacks at HHS, and fresh reporting on the resignation of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. In addition, we discuss what it’s like working as a reporter during a time in which trust in the mainstream media has fallen. Finally, we take up the subject that sits at the center of our discussions about health today—the breakdown in trust in public health, and specifically in the federal health institutions she covers. The history of that breakdown is the focus of a book Stolberg is working on. Hosts: Brinda Adhikari Tom Johnson Maggie Bartlett Dr. Mark Abdelmalek Tom and I wrote a piece, check it out! It's Time to Blow Up The Public Health Events Model: https://whyshoulditrustyou.substack.com/p/its-time-to-blow-up-the-public-health Guest: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, correspondent for the New York Times, covering healthy policy and politics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and MAHA.  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

    1hr 10min
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About

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. 

Information

  • Creator
    Brinda Adhikari, Tom Johnson, Maggie Bartlett, Dr. Mark Abdelmalek
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    101
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Why Should I Trust You?
  • Show Website
    Why Should I Trust You?

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