Offline with Jon Favreau

• Could Blowing Up Google Save The Internet? Plus MAGA's Birth Obsession and Your Questions Answered

  Google’s antitrust trial is all gas no breaks this week, with the Justice Department asking a federal judge to break up the $1.81 trillion dollar company. Jon and Max discuss all the possible outcomes, and why Google’s products have stagnated the more they’ve come to dominate the internet. Then, new research finds that people who deactivated Facebook or Instagram before the 2020 presidential election became significantly happier and less anxious. The guys break down the study's unsurprising results, then set their sights on dual right wing fever swamps: the online charge to overthrow the Supreme Court and the pronatalist movement championed by Elon Musk and an army of tradwives. Finally, what is Cluely, the undetectable AI designed to help you cheat, and is it really as harmless as spell check or calculators? Max and Jon round out the episode by answering listener questions—what historical event does Max wish he could’ve spied on via Signal chat? And when was the last time Jon touched grass?For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

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• Zuck Takes the Stand, ChatGPT Turns on Lovett, and the Surprising Ties Between Our Biology and Our Politics

  Free speech warrior Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand this week to defend Meta in a big antitrust case that, if successful, could break up the social media giant. Max and Jon run through the trial thus far, and discuss how Silicon Valley tycoons skewered themselves by supporting Trump. Then, the guys delve into the ever-improving state of AI, with help from Offline AI correspondent Jon Lovett. To round it all out, Dr. Leor Zmigrod joins the show to talk about her new book, The Ideological Brain, which explores the neuroscience of ideology and why some people are more susceptible to extremist thought than others. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.

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• Real Men Love Tariffs, Elon Gets Cyberbullied, Meta Whistleblower Testifies

  Ryan Broderick, host of Offline’s most-cited newsletter “Garbage Day,” joins Jon to talk tariff turmoil—how it will affect the TikTok deal, whether Trump has lost the faith of bro voters, and why the online right thinks a collapse of the global economy could solve America’s masculinity crisis. Then, is Elon Musk getting Ramaswamied? Was his nerd king persona ever more than a PR stunt? And what did we learn from Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams’ congressional testimony—and will Mark Zuckerberg try to clear his name?   For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.  

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• Jon’s Twitter Fight with JD Vance and Elon’s Scheme to Buy Votes

  How does J.D. Vance have so much time to fight with Jon on X? Why are the courts letting Elon Musk buy votes in Wisconsin? And are we, as a society, ready forxAI to be trained on tweets from Catturd and Libs of TikTok? With Max out on vacation, Jon is joined by The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel to process this week's online maelstrom—from horrendous deportations to Studio Ghibliesque edge lords—and to share what it was like for his boss to be mistakenly added to the Houthi PC Small Group chat.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.This April, enjoy 30 days of Crooked's Friends of the Pod subscription—FREE. Support Crooked’s mission while unlocking ad-free episodes for Offline, exclusive content, a great Discord community, & more. Sign up now at crooked.com/friends or through this feed on Apple Podcasts to start your free trial. 

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• Offline PC Small Group

  They weren’t war plans, they were BATTLE plans—that’s the White House's new, extremely believable spin on why J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth and countless other Trump officials were using a Signal chat to coordinate a military strike. Jon and Max relish the idiocy of what’s now become the most famous group chat in the world, and then dive into Snapchat’s latest feature that’s making teens even more glued to their screens. Then, the guys run through DoorDash’s new partnership with micro loan company Klarna, and why it’s shocking Apple allowed the Severance finale to air. Plus! Max sits down with journalist Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators and host of a spinoff podcast, to talk about why connecting with people you disagree with builds stronger coalitions, and why values unify voters better than ideas. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast. 

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