I want our public health institutions to be credible, and I think this is so frustrating because it just makes it really hard to build any trust that our public health institutions are doing the right thing.

Welcome to the Lost Debate on conventional media for the rest of us. I'm Robbie Gupta.

And I'm Corey Brafford. Welcome to our very first episode. And before we get down to the news of the week, I want to just take a step back and explain why we even exist, not just the show, but our entire company, The Lost Debate. And to start, I just want to tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in Staten Island, New York, to a family that's split politically

and a neighborhood that split politically.

And I've got people in my life that I'm either not talking to them or they're not talking to me because of my politics. And it makes me exhausted. And I've lived this divide that we have right now. And one thing that worries me deeply is that our media is driving us apart.

Our media lacks nuance, objectivity, any tolerance.

And I think that we need a different kind of project, a project that not only brings us together,

but challenges us to listen to each other.

And I couldn't be more excited than to start this journey with

Corey Bradford, straight from Oxford, Alabama. Welcome Corey. Well, thank you, Ravi. I appreciate that.

And, you know, when I discovered Lost Debate Online, it was really interesting because you guys

were already doing something that I had been doing because I have a background in politics as well.

But for the last couple of years, I've been entertaining Generation Z on TikTok. That's what I do. I'm still my famous TikToker. And, you know, I do these satirical videos about politics and history. And I usually take stabs at like, you know, both sides. I critique the right and the left, call them out on their BS, but also, you know, point out when they may be on to something. And that's exactly what Lost Debate is doing. So it's really, you know, a unique opportunity to do this at a more serious sort of kind of journalistic level. And I couldn't be more excited to start this revolution in media with you. Well, Corey and I are both what we like to call politically eclectics. So although we've worked in politics, our views don't fit

neatly in one side or the other. And this is a home for people like that. So whether you're an

independent, you're the dreaded moderate, or you're even somebody who has strong political

allegiances, but you're sick of living in an echo chamber. This is the place for you. And as background, I've worked in

politics. So I was one of the first staffers for Barack Obama's campaign, and I went on to start

an organization that trained over 100 successful candidates and over 1,000 staffers. But I also

was a principal and superintendent of a network of charter schools. And in that role, I worked alongside

Republicans to protect those schools.

And one thing I came away with is that our country, we have to live alongside people with different

political beliefs than we have. And that means we have to learn how to talk to each other about

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