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On this week’s episode of the RealClearInvestigations Podcast, RCI Editor J. Peder Zane and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney mark Labor Day by giving their guests the week off. In an extended news round-up, Zane and Varney discuss two articles on the Iran conflict – a Tablet article detailing Trump’s evolving strategy and an AP piece on how the Pentagon’s latest precision missiles are not so precise.
Turning their attention to the changing world of journalism, they discuss a Semafor story describing how online ‘ghost creators’ are pushing fake news and a Columbia Journalism Review report on how New York City’s Mayor is shaping the news by paying social media influencers. Finally, Zane and Varney look at two articles related to the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
00:00 Cold Open: The Mamdani Influencer Story
01:16 This Week on RealClearInvestigations.com
02:00 Trump's Iran Strategy: A Third Way Between Bush and Obama (Tablet/Michael Doran) 06:18 AP's Investigation Into U.S. Precision Munitions & Pentagon Contracting
11:47 Semafor: The Rise of AI-Scripted "Ghost Creator" Influencers
12:44 Columbia Journalism Review: Mamdani's Paid Influencer Network
17:10 9/11 at 25: The Human and Economic Toll
19:44 Douglas Murray on Why Conspiracy Theories Endure
24:57 Who Falls for Conspiracy Theories — and Which Side Does It More?
Articles Discussed in This Podcast:
- Tablet: Trump's Third Way on Iran
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/trump-third-way-iran
- AP: Report: New US Missile Cut Deadly Path Through Iranian City
https://apnews.com/article/iran-lamerd-us-prsm-lockheed-martin-b4a37c59bcf5d1a11eb87aa79f153648
- Semafor: 'Ghost Creator' Videos Cashing in on America's Political Divide
https://www.semafor.com/article/09/02/2026/paid-actors-ai-writing-how-a-new-kind-of-video-business-cashed-in-on-americas-divided-politics
- CJR: Mayor Mamdani’s Friendly Influencers and the Funding of Public Messaging in New York City
https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/mayor-mamdanis-friendly-influencers-and-the-funding-of-public-messaging-in-new-york-city.php
- City Journal: The Staggering Financial Cost of 9/11
https://www.city-journal.org/article/911-attacks-financial-cost
- Free Press: 9/11 Conspiracies and the War on the Truth
https://www.thefp.com/p/douglas-murray-911-war-on-truth?utm_campaign=realclearpolitics
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