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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, June 28, 2025


** Elon Musk and JD Vance Want You to Breed. A Lot.
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What do Silicon Valley billionaires, religious parents of six, and eugenics-curious biotech founders have in common? Welcome to the world of pronatalism—a growing movement that aims to solve the so-called population crisis by making more babies.

We follow the unlikely alliance between tech futurists and traditional conservatives who think it’s their duty to repopulate the Earth—with intelligence, ambition, and carefully screened DNA. Many believe our economic future is at stake without more humans.

“If you think of government as a business, then babies are its future customers,” said Patri Friedman, grandson of the economist Milton Friedman.

This week on Reveal, we go inside NatalCon, a gathering where embryo optimization meets Old Testament values. From Elon Musk’s fertility tweets to startup founders planning five-child families like product launches, this isn’t just about babies—it’s about engineering civilization.

But in some corners of the movement, a darker theme emerges: Who’s deemed fit to reproduce, and who’s left out? We also talk with the Reverend Rob Schenck, a former leader in the Christian nationalist movement, about his multidecade plan to repeal abortion rights and push the American government to the right.
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** Mohsen Mahdawi Fought ICE and Won His Freedom. For Now.
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It was just a few months ago when pro-Palestinian student activists seemed to be getting arrested and whisked away from college campuses left and right. Mahmoud Khalil. Rumeysa Ozturk. And our guest on this week’s episode of More To The Story: Mohsen Mahdawi.

The Trump administration made clear in its first few months that it wanted to silence pro-Palestinian activists who opposed Israel’s response to Hamas’ devastating October 7, 2023, attack. Many were arrested by plainclothes ICE officers and detained without a way of challenging their detention. But now, things are shifting. Last week, a judge released Khalil, the Columbia University student who led some of the campus’s protests and was the first known activist detained under the Trump administration’s crackdown. That decision followed a similar one for fellow Columbia student activist Mahdawi.

Mahdawi grew up in a West Bank refugee camp and witnessed a number of violent incidents before moving to the US a decade ago. While at Columbia, he became a prominent Palestinian activist and pushed for the university to divest from Israel. He was soon targeted by the Trump administration, which called his very presence and activism harmful to US foreign policy interests.

Today, he’s back in his home state of Vermont after being released on bail by a federal judge and is suing the Trump administration over his detention. His legal case isn’t over. But he’s speaking out about his arrest on this week’s episode of More To The Story with Al Letson. As the Trump administration continues its immigration raids around the US, their conversation is an illuminating look at the way this one ICE arrest played out—and how Mahdawi came out on the other side.

- Josh Sanburn, More To The Story producer



** In Case You Missed It
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** 🎧 2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together? ([link removed])
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One of the party’s first big tests since Trump’s win just happened in New York City.

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** 🎧A Retired Brigadier General Slams Trump’s Military Power Grab ([link removed])
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A former National Guard officer discusses the perils of politicizing the military and why the Insurrection Act needs reform.

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** 🎧 Trump’s Trade War Is Stressing Red State Farmers ([link removed])
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A Missouri corn and soybean farmer fears tariffs could threaten his business.
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** 🎧The 13th Step ([link removed])
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People struggling with addiction look to treatment centers for help. But many women are encountering sexual misconduct by the people who work there.
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This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Arianna Coghill and copy edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

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