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What Next | Daily News and Analysis

TBD | Inside the MAGA Content Mill

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As Trump throws out journalists and outlets that report anything negative about him, he’s limiting access to a group of right-wing influencers who work to further his agenda. Guest: Makena Kelly, tech and politics writer for WIRED. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

There's a good Spanish.

0:07.0

Hello, I'm Christy.

0:10.0

Hello, I'm Christy.

0:14.0

I wanted to ask you a few questions.

0:17.0

How long have you been in the United States?

0:19.0

There's this video that was circulating

0:20.9

on X recently. In it, you can see DHS Secretary Christy Knoem, accompanied by federal agents,

0:27.4

and she's leaning into the backseat of a car in Portland. She's talking to a man who she says

0:33.1

is an immigrant with a sex offense conviction. I asked McKenna Kelly from Wired to describe it.

0:39.5

She kind of opens up this car door and leans over against this man who appears to be at least some kind of, like a detained immigrant.

0:49.6

And she, on this video, is interrogating him about how many times he's crossed the border.

0:56.0

When was the first time he illegally crossed the border?

0:59.4

It was seven years ago.

1:00.9

They go back and forth through an interpreter.

1:03.3

But Noam's message is clear on camera.

1:06.1

You also know it's a crime to be here illegally and you won't be prosecuted for it.

1:10.3

Correct?

1:12.6

Noam is being filmed, not by a journalist, but by MAGA influencer and podcaster Benny Johnson.

1:19.9

Benny Johnson is a history character in digital media. He used to write for BuzzFeed, where he was fired for plagiarism. And then he kind of had,

1:33.3

he was one of the first people, honestly, who had this like canceled to stardom rise, right? Like he had

1:40.4

been canceled or been, you know, accused of doing terrible things.

1:45.9

And it only made his career grow.

...

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