Trump is weird

Panic World is finally here, baby! Our first episode is with my dear friend Katie Notopoulos, and we dig into the story of Nyquil chicken. Where did it come from? Why did the FDA put out a warning about it? Did anyone ever eat it? We answer these questions and more. You can listen to the episode wherever you listen to podcasts, but here’s a link to Apple podcasts if you want to add it.

Once again, a huge shoutout to our producer Grant Irving, researcher Adam Bumas, business manager Josh Fjelstad, and Gabby Kash, who did our incredible logo design.

We’ll have new episodes out every Wednesday and we’ll be putting a bunch of fun stuff up on our Patreon, including research notes, ad-free episodes, and bonus content.

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If You Say Internet Stuff Out Loud Now You Sound Like A Maniac

Former President Donald Trump did not have a good night last night. He ranted and raved about immigrants eating people’s pets, forced transgender prison surgeries, and windmills(?). He also looked bad. I found his gross neck skin thing particularly distracting last night. It shook when he yelled. He also had wet old man lip. He had the same slimy animatronic look as the Xenomorph from Alien.

I was hesitant to give Vice President Kamala Harris too much credit for Trump’s embarrassing performance last night, but after the third or fourth time she successfully pulled off the same maneuver it was obvious she knew what she was doing and that it was working as intended. Her strategy last night was an extension, or an evolution, of her campaign’s “Republicans are weird” line, but with a bit more juice behind it. And, well, if the X Trending Topics last night are anything to go on, it worked pretty well.

At multiple points during the debate, Harris would hit one of Trump’s big pressure points — his declining rally audiences, his various indictments, his role in January 6th — and set him off. He’d rattle off a bunch of half-remembered headlines from Fox News, get quickly fact-checked by ABC News reporters and moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir (my mom’s favorite TV man), and start ranting even louder. Which made his neck skin thing jiggle more violently. When it would be time for Harris to speak, she’d just laugh at him and carry on with whatever policy issue she was trying to get out.

As Late Night with Seth Meyers producer Sal Gentile wrote on X last night, “It's so funny how for weeks everyone telegraphed ‘she's gonna bait him’ and her team was like ‘we're gonna bait him’ and he managed to act normal for like three minutes and then she said one thing about his rallies and it was like feeding a gremlin after midnight.”

Now, it’s possible this strategy only really worked because of the debate format. As I wrote in GQ today, Trump’s use of conspiracy theories became a political liability last night because they weren’t allowed to go unchallenged. When reporters do even the most basic fact-checking imaginable, his whole schtick doesn’t really work. Without Davis and Muir (who my mom keeps saying I should act more like 🙄) shutting Trump down at every step, it’s likely Trump would have come out looking like he did after the debate with President Joe Biden. Though, maybe not.

NBC News’ Brandy Zadrozny had a good take on Trump’s repeated references to the conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets. “The thing with the right and rumoring is, it works, but the wildest claims have to stay on the fringe,” she wrote this morning. “Trump can wink at it, feign ignorance and benefit without the wider world thinking he's crazy. With ‘Haitians are eating pets,’ they got excited by memes and flew too close to the sun.”

Simply put: Trump looked weird last night. And though much has already been written about the whole “Republicans are weird” messaging, it’s part of a larger culture shift that Harris and her team have correctly identified from her campaign’s launch. The internet no longer prioritizes mass appeal. What’s popular isn’t viral and what’s viral isn’t popular. And you could argue that it’s because no one watches the news anymore. Or it’s because Facebook and Instagram are broken. Or it’s that streaming platforms don’t — and can’t — reflect real interest. Or it’s because TikTok’s algorithm flipped virality on its head, laser-targeting niche user interests rather than blasting out the same 10 mega viral videos at everyone. Either way, things are different now. And it has always been, ahem, low key cringe to talk about internet stuff out loud. But now if you do it you’re completely incomprehensible. And so, for the first time in Trump’s political career, last night, he was the one that got steamrolled, not his opponent. Because there is simply nothing more embarrassing than awkwardly trying to remember something you read online to try and win an argument.

A Good Post

Taylor Endorsed Kamala And Then Elon Threatened To Impregnate Her

America is a very normal place! Last night, Taylor Swift finally endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, writing on Instagram, “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.” Which, I have to say, is a clever way to phrase it. But the real winners here are Swift’s legions of long-suffering, well-meaning liberal fans that were beginning to get a little worried this week about Swift’s political allegiances after she was spotted hanging out with sentient Instagram Explore page and noted Trump supporter Brittany Mahomes.

Elon Musk responded to this by once again proving that he’s an absolute creep, writing on X, “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.” Not sure if he realizes stan armies like the Swifties are some of the last groups left on his dying app.

But more than anything the entire episode is just another example of how clearly this election has become defined by gender. It’s why President Joe Biden was floundering before he dropped out. Why Harris crushed the debate last night, specifically during the questions about abortion and reproductive freedom. And why Trump is so desperate to distance himself from Project 2025.

Alright, Let’s Talk About The Dare

I have purposefully ignored The Dare up until now. But I first heard of him after he was mentioned in some forgettable feature about the New York downtown scene I can’t currently find a link for, published during that fever dream period right after COVID lockdown lifted.

It seems like he’s finally making an earnest attempt to break through and now it is, I suppose, time to fully engage. Pitchfork just gave his new album a 6.2, which I think is a little generous. That said, I don’t hate what he’s doing. It’s basically LCD Soundsystem without the pathos, The Strokes without the edge, or MGMT without the hooks. To quote a deleted X post from user @kaylaancrum that I had earmarked to talk about this very idea, “Gen Z is always trying to recreate what it was like in 2006 (for good reason) and almost none of them succeed.”

But The Dare is also part of a new cohort of Gen Z-made and Gen Z-loved alternative music that is all breaking through right now. And though their view counts and streams are eclipsed by the pop girlies, I’d argue their impact — or lack thereof — will be a lot more important. Because that’s how alternative culture works. It bubbles up. Though, if I had to bet on any alternative group truly blowing up I’d put my money on Magdalena Bay. Their new album rips.

Moo-Deng Has Taken Over My Feeds

Have you encountered this baby pygmy hippo on your feeds lately? Her name is Moo-Deng, which is Thai for “bouncing pork” (lmao). It’s also a Thai pork dish. She lives at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Bang Phra, Thailand, who have been dutifully posting updates about her on X and Instagram. She’s also attracted a very intense fandom.

And it could be because of that fandom that Moo-Deng content is having a peculiar effect on my various feeds. Basically every single time I click on a Moo-Deng post, regardless of platform, my entire timeline suddenly because completely Thai. It’s fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like it. In fact, just pulling up the links for this section immediately sent this excellent Moo-Deng fan art into my feed. This little hippo has conquered the algorithm and I, for one, am think it’s a big improvement on anything that was on there before.

We Haven’t Checked In On AI Video In A Bit

I, personally, lost interest in generative AI right around when OpenAI released ChatGPT-4o. Because it seemed like that entire space had speedrun the history of the iPhone in about four years and was now doomed to churn out boring micro-iterations without really shaking things up. But I came across this (admittedly very lame) video in Benedict Evans’ newsletter and it’s a good demonstration of how these tools are starting to stack together in interesting ways.

The video footage is from Runway. The faux French gibberish music is from Udio. And it seems like the keyframes that Runway is animating came from Midjourney. Which would explain the orange color palette. Probably a bad sign that none of those tools are owned by OpenAI.

A Good 4chan Post

Some Stray Links

• “How 9/11 Became One of the Internet’s Most Popular Memes”

• “What I Learned When My AI Kermit Slop Went Viral”

• “The Most Sought-After Travel Guide Is a Google Doc”

P.S. here’s a good(?) 9/11 joke.

***Any typos in this email are on purpose actually***