Podcast · podcasts.voxmedia.com
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Vox Media Podcast Network
Raging against the extremes. Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov are in the middle — and they’re mad, because being a moderate in America these days does NOT mean staying silent. New episodes every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
83 claims
Mixed60% confidence9 sourcesOct 27, 2026Jared Kushner made a deal with the Albanian government to develop a 4 billion dollar resort.Said by CSources support that Kushner-linked companies are pursuing Albanian resort projects that the government has approved or backed, but the dollar figure varies widely ($1.4B for Sazan, $4.7B for Zvërnec, about $6.1B combined, or 'at least $4B'). Affinity also disclaims involvement in the Zvërnec project, so 'Kushner made a deal with the Albanian government' is a contested characterization. The post's hedged 'I think it was' is a dropped qualifier and is graded normally.Mixed55% confidence8 sourcesOct 27, 2026Donald Trump owns 81 million dollars in oil and gas stocks.Said by CThe claim states a flat ownership figure of $81 million, but the only source for that number is a Democratic minority Joint Economic Committee estimate that puts Trump's oil and gas holdings at between $22.5 million and $81.6 million as of October 19, 2026. The $81.6 million figure is the upper bound of that range, and the White House disputes the estimate's premise, so the claim is only partly supported. The post dated 2026-10-27 used the same figure and the reports were published that day, so the claim holds only as the top of an estimated range.Mixed55% confidence6 sourcesOct 27, 202617% of the United States GDP is spent on the healthcare system.Said by AThe 17% figure is close to the record: a GAO forum summary says US health expenditures have been 'about 17 percent of GDP in recent years,' and 2023 was 17.7%. But CMS's official 2024 figure is 18.0%, and 2026 is estimated at 18.7%, so as of 2026-10-27 the most recent official share was closer to 18% than 17%. The claim's figure falls at the edge of the competing estimates rather than clearly inside one. The extraction is faithful to the post's wording.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.Mixed50% confidence8 sourcesOct 27, 2026Benjamin Netanyahu manipulated the U.S. president into going to war with Iran.Sources support that Netanyahu lobbied hard for the war and boasted of influencing Washington, and Rubio cited Israeli influence. But Trump denies Israel talked him into the war, and the WSJ and FPIF pieces argue U.S. leaders chose the war themselves, so 'manipulated' is a contested characterization, not an established fact. The claim also drops the post's 'feeble-minded' qualifier, which is a faithful-enough paraphrase.Mixed60% confidence9 sourcesOct 27, 2026John Tester lost a finger in a farming accident.Said by CTester did lose fingers in a childhood accident, so the core event is supported, but the claim says he lost one finger when sources consistently report three (from his left hand). Sources also describe it as a meat-grinder accident at the family butcher shop rather than a farming accident, though some call it a farm accident.Mixed50% confidence4 sourcesOct 27, 2026Kalshi odds show Democrats have a 65% chance to take back the Senate.As of 2026-10-27, the sources show Kalshi odds favoring Democrats but do not report a Senate-only figure of 65%. CNBC reported 63% for Democrats winning both chambers that day, and Kalshi's Senate market showed 68% two days later (Oct 29), so 65% falls inside a range of nearby readings that measure different things. The claim's direction is supported, but its precise figure is not confirmed for the Senate alone on the stated date.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.Mixed88% confidence7 sourcesSep 30, 2026John Cornyn held a fundraiser in Dallas with George W. Bush for every Republican Senate candidate in the country except Ken Paxton.Said by AThe record supports the core event: Cornyn hosted a Dallas fundraiser on Sept 21, 2026 with George W. Bush as special guest, and Paxton was excluded. The claim's scope is overstated, however: the fundraiser benefited six Republican Senate candidates (Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, plus Minnesota's Tafoya), not every Republican Senate candidate in the country.Mixed50% confidence5 sourcesSep 30, 2026A YouGov poll shows Democrats up 15 points on the generic ballot.A YouGov/Economist poll released Sept. 29, 2026 showed Democrats up 16 points among likely voters (53%-38%), close to the claimed 15, but the same poll showed only a 6-point lead among registered voters. A separate CBS/YouGov poll (fieldwork Sept. 30-Oct. 2) showed Democrats +9, so the claim's 15-point figure matches neither the registered-voter nor the CBS/YouGov result.Mixed75% confidence8 sourcesSep 30, 2026An Axios article published on the morning of October 1, 2026, stated that Eric Schmitt is considered a top contender to be JD Vance's vice president when JD Vance runs for president.Said by BThe core assertion holds: an Axios piece reported that Sen. Eric Schmitt was seen as a top prospect to be Vance's 2028 running mate. However, the sources date that Axios article to September 29, 2026, not the morning of October 1 as the claim states, so the date element is contradicted.Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.Reported in the post, not stated as its own.Mixed60% confidence7 sourcesSep 30, 2026Undocumented children are not entitled to counsel in asylum proceedings.Said by BSources support that unaccompanied children in immigration and asylum proceedings have no right to government-appointed counsel, but they also show a statutory duty to ensure access to counsel 'to the greatest extent practicable' and a right to counsel at the child's own expense, so the flat claim is contested. The claim also drops the speaker's qualifiers ('don't necessarily', 'always') and so reads more absolutely than the passage.True80% confidence2 sourcesOct 27, 2026Ken Paxton is the Attorney General of Texas.Said by BThe claim that Ken Paxton is Attorney General of Texas is supported as of the 2026-10-27 posting date. An AP Decision Notes piece from 2026-10-30 describes him as the state's Texas Attorney General, and the official Texas AG office page confirms he was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018 and 2022. The extracted claim matches the post's own wording, so it is graded normally.True97% confidence4 sourcesOct 27, 2026The Hamas-led attack on Israel occurred on October 7, 2023.Multiple tier1 sources (Reuters, AP, Congressional Research Service, BBC) confirm that the Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel occurred on October 7, 2023. The claim's date and attacker match the sources; the passage's framing of an upcoming Israeli election as the first since the attack is not graded here since the claim concerns only the attack date.