Anna Paulina Luna Wants Everything Disclosed

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

New York Times Opinion

Ross Douthat, News, Journalism, Society & Culture, New York Times

4.0 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In an era defined by deep institutional distrust, a new trend within populist conservatism has emerged. It’s a sense that the federal government is keeping secrets and protecting the powerful at our expense. My guest this week is Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a conservative Republican from Florida who has quickly established herself as a political troublemaker. She’s challenging fellow lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats — on issues like sexual harassment and ethics, but she doesn’t see her campaign to clean up Congress as in tension with her allegiance to President Trump. Luna has focused her first years in Congress on exposing what she views as coverups, from the Epstein files to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and longstanding government secrecy around U.F.O.s.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I don't think I'll ever be able to roll a little green man in on a silver platter for anyone.
0:06.3	But what I can do is I can present you with the evidence that we have seen,
0:09.8	and I can also tell you what we've been up against.
0:17.5	Representative Anna Paulina Luna, welcome to interesting times.
0:21.1	Thanks for having me on.
0:22.3	So I'm excited to talk to you, first of all, because I think you're a unique kind of political troublemaker.
0:28.6	You are a conservative Republican who's been in the House of Representatives for less than four years.
0:34.0	And in that time, in a very polarized environment, you've managed to make plenty of trouble for your own leadership and your own party,
0:42.1	as well as for the Democrats.
0:43.8	I think that this is just the bare minimum that we can deliver for the American people
0:46.9	is not tolerate public corruption in the House of Representatives.
0:50.9	And then second, I think that you embody a really important tendency in American
0:56.5	conservatism right now, which is the sense that American institutions, institutions of government
1:03.1	especially, are keeping important things secret. And sometimes those secrets have to do with
1:09.9	the misbehavior of powerful people. And sometimes they have to do with the misbehavior of powerful people,
1:12.4	and sometimes they have to do with the ancient American mythologies, like the JFK assassination,
1:19.2	or government secrecy around UFOs, where I should say I personally am convinced that something
1:25.7	is being kept secret. I'm just damned if I can figure out what it is.
1:29.8	So you're going to help me figure that out.
1:31.8	But first, how would you describe your own politics right now as a Republican Congresswoman in 2026?
1:38.5	I'd have to say that I am, and I think a lot of people have mainly said that, you know, you're a conservative, yes, but you have a strong populist streak. And also, too, I think I'm someone who wants to reform the Republican Party. So a lot of what I've been focusing on is how do you actually change the institution so that it better works for the American people. And I've been on a lot of sides of many
2:02.0	issues that I think are wildly popular among the, not just the base, but the American people. So 80-20
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York Times Opinion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York Times Opinion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.