FAST READS with Molly Jong-Fast

I'm back, babe!

Molly Jong-Fast

Jul 11, 2025

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07/11/2025

Welcome to FAST READS with Molly Jong-Fast.

Please check out my latest Vanity Fair articles: Donald Trump’s Agenda Will Hurt His Base. Will They Notice? You can find an archive of my Vanity Fair pieces.

On FASTPOLITICS –

Video episodes:

Re-upping this from last year: Project 2025

Wired's Stephen Levy highlights a new Pentagon initiative, Detachment 201, which integrates top tech executives into the Army Reserve to leverage Silicon Valley innovations for military enhancement. Levy details the involvement of tech leaders from Meta, OpenAI, and Palantir, underscoring the initiative's goal to modernize the U.S. armed forces. However, he raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest, given these executives' dual roles in advancing AI technologies that their companies simultaneously aim to keep safe and non-lethal. The conversation delves into the ethical implications of using AI in warfare, regulatory lapses, and the paradox of tech companies working on both safeguarding humanity from AI's threats while potentially weaponizing it for military use. The episode underscores an urgent need for thoughtful regulation to prevent AI from becoming a destructive force.

Isaac Arnsdorf delves into his new book titled "2024: How Republicans Took the White House and the Democrats Lost America." The conversation explores the key reasons behind Joe Biden's election defeat, emphasizing his age and the Democratic Party's failure to craft a compelling economic narrative. They also analyze Kamala Harris's constrained campaign efforts and the strategic missteps that hindered her visibility. The discussion highlights the contrasting approaches of Biden's cautious strategy and Trump's charismatic immersion into cultural spaces. Isaac sheds light on the internal polling dynamics and the broader implications of the political maneuvers that shaped the outcome of the election, offering a detailed inside account of the electoral landscape.

Rebecca Grant , a tireless reporter and contributor to Teen Vogue, and author of Access: Inside the Abortion Underground and the Sixty-Year Battle for Reproductive Freedom discusses the increasingly dire landscape of reproductive rights following the Dobbs decision, which reversed Roe v. Wade. Highlighting the tragic case of a nurse named Adrena Smith in Georgia, Rebecca illustrates the severe consequences of abortion bans, including how they can strip families of critical medical choices. She notes rising anti-abortion violence, the attack on medication abortion, and the impact these restrictions have on maternal mortality rates, which have significantly worsened in states with strict abortion laws. Rebecca's new book sheds light on the ongoing fight for abortion access led by courageous activists both in the U.S. and globally, who operate within legal gray areas to ensure that people can access the care they need despite oppressive laws. This conversation underscores the broader, systemic misogyny that fuels abortion bans, positioning them as state-sanctioned gender-based violence that continues to marginalize and endanger women and other pregnant individuals.

Audio episodes:

MSNBC’s The Weekend anchor Jonathan Capehart details his new book Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home. The New Yorker’s John Seabrook examines his new book The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.

Actor and director Ben McKenzie details his upcoming film Everyone Is Lying to You for Money and breaks down the scams in the crypto world. Professor Dannagal Young, author of Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation, examines the state of American media and the spread of misinformation.

Jessa Crispin details their new book What Is Wrong with Men. Rebecca Grant examines her new book Access: Inside the Abortion Underground and the Sixty-Year Battle for Reproductive Freedom.

Senior White House reporter for The Washington Post Isaac Arnsdorf details his new book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.Adam Becker examines his book More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity.

My Recommended Reads For The Week: