Diabolical Lies
Diabolical Lies is a podcast hosted by Katie Gatti Tassin and Caro Claire Burke. It offers a smart and sane take on various topics, with an unbearable edge. The podcast is available on Substack and covers a range of subjects with a critical and engaging perspective.
Episodes
Nara Smith & the Great Tradwife Exodus
A quick heads-up: Around 1:34:00, we discuss postpartum psychosis, depression, filicide, and the Lindsay Clancy trial (no graphic descriptions). If that’s not something you’re up for today, take care and skip ahead to 1:40:00.It only felt fitting to wrap up our pre-maternity leave regularly scheduled programming with a conversation that brings our very first episode full circle.Skeptics of the tra
Does Hating Influencers Make You a Misogynist?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
How "Abundance" Lost the Left
The Democratic Party was facing an identity crisis when Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025. Just two months later, Democratic media Thinkboiz Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson published Abundance.Their theory of the case: We could “solve our problems with supply,” and that to do so, we needed to pursue “a liberalism that builds,” an idea that meant aspiring to “more than redistribution
How 'The Botox Psyop' Broke Our Brains in the Name of Beauty
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
Alex Cooper, Alix Earle, & the Business of Relatability
Alex Cooper is one of the most successful podcast hosts in the country. Alix Earle is one of the most popular TikTok stars in America. The women, who appear to be separated by a single vowel and little else, have become central to a slow-burning pop culture feud representing two distinct, radically divergent archetypes: the Mean Girl™ and the Girl’s Girl.™Cooper’s storied past includes a messy, pu
How Reality TV Makes Us All Republicans
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
The "Rise" and Fall of the Girlboss
RESTOCK ALERT: Just in time for your summer vacation, the Banned Books tote is back in stock.Alt. title: Katie finally bites off more than she can chew and attempts a nuanced exploration of the Lean In, Girlboss cultural era.13 years ago, Sheryl Sandberg published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. The following year, Sophia Amoruso published #GIRLBOSS.The broad understanding of this peri
How to Give Birth in America, Pt. 2
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
Gen Z Women's New "Anti-Woke Voice"
NEW SWAG ALERT 🚨 The Small Government line is back & better than ever. Get yours here.Katie’s back on her metaphoric “What’s Charlie Kirk up to these days?” editorial grind—checking in with one of the hottest new Gen Z Lady Voices taking the middle-aged men of the center-right by storm.In this episode, we check in with a writer we haven’t discussed since one of our very first episodes:Freya India,
Who's Afraid of Hasan Piker?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
The Caro Episode
Order Yesteryear if you like nice things, have good taste, or don’t want Katie to show up in the middle of the night at your house with a strongly worded remonstration.What does it feel like to spend 10 years of your life pursuing an uncertain dream when the chances of breakthrough success are one in a million?What does it feel like to—finally, at long last—be “the one”?Caro Claire Burke, one-half
How 'Love Story'—and the Kennedys—Fooled America
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
Jeffrey Epstein & the Ordinary Misogyny of "Extraordinary" Men
Some quick housekeeping to start this lovely Sunday:If you’ve already pre-ordered Caro’s debut novel Yesteryear, or wish to do so now, Knopf wants to thank you. They’re sending custom, limited edition bandanas to DL Substack subscribers — all you have to do is input proof of your order in this link here, and they’ll ship you the bandana, clean and simple. (This is only for US subscribers.) Thanks
The Myth of Centrism
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIf you pay attention to political commentary, you’ll often hear a few pieces of conventional wisdom:— America is “too polarized” — “Both sides” are “too extreme”— Or, most innocuously, that politicians should simply do that which is “popular,” which is itself code for policies that are considered “moderate”But d
Usha Vance, Rama Duwaji, & the Tragedy of Heterosexuality
Little bit of a heterosexual smackdown taking place today!But first, some housekeeping:As a reminder: Caro’s debut novel, YESTERYEAR, is coming out this spring (April 7th, to be exact), and she would love to see you all at the evening launch event in NYC. One can reasonably assume there will be laughter, tears, a book signing, and Caro on a stage looking incredibly sweaty while she talks about all
ICE is a Public Jobs Program for Losers
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comNote: This episode was filmed on Monday, January 19 and the edit was finalized early on Saturday, January 24, before news broke about the second (known) ICE execution in Minneapolis of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti.Today, we’re talking about a beloved American pastime: killing civilians in the nam
Scott Galloway vs. Heated Rivalry: Who Will Save the Men?
Have you heard? The men of America are in the midst of an existential crisis. A battle for good, evil, and the future of humanity. Who will emerge out of the darkness to lead the masses to freedom? Enter, stage left: one Scott Galloway. Enter, stage right: two extremely hot and horny hockey players. WHICH OF THESE HEROES WILL SLAY GLORIA STEINHEM RESTORE GLOBAL DIGNITY TO THE MEN?Today, we find ou
The Texasification of America
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comEarlier this month, the Office of the Texas Governor Greg Abbott quietly released a statement that “emphasized the importance of TPUSA Club America chapter enrollment and involvement on high school campuses across the state,” in effect signaling their intent to support after-school programs for right-wing extrem
BONUS: Caro & Katie React to the Erika Kirk CBS Town Hall
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comSurprise! Caro & Katie react in real time to the programming we all should’ve seen coming: “CBS News Presents: A Town Hall with Erika Kirk.”
Don't Go to Starbucks This Holiday Season. Here's Why.
Coming at you with our first ever bonus conversation for the public, in which we discuss the ongoing Starbucks Workers United strike taking place at hundreds of locations (and growing) all over the country right now. It’s also a conversation in which we offer a humble request of you this holiday season: Don’t go to Starbucks right now, if you can manage it.If, for whatever reason, you do need to g
Is There a ‘Skinny Apocalypse’ in Hollywood?
First things first: Merch is here! Get it now before it’s gone. We’re so proud of this limited edition drop of deeply diabolical merchandise. Items will ship in mid-January, and 33% of all net profits will go to Feeding America, a non-profit nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based
Did Women Ruin the Workplace?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comFeminist hysteria has replaced logic and reason in the American public discourse, or so says one Helen Andrews. Today, we dive into the logical underpinnings for this argument and conduct a close read of the source material, which does a genuinely impressive job of evading all manner of pesky contradictory data
BONUS: Olivia Nuzzi, Trump/Mamdani, & Where Caro and Katie Disagree
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comAs a reminder, this is a bonus episode, which means (say it with us now) we didn’t try that hard
The Katie Episode
Earlier this month, Katie made a major announcement about her brand Money with Katie: In 2026, she will buy back her intellectual property rights and equity from Morning Brew, shutter the podcast for the indefinite future, take full ownership of the weekly newsletter, and return to her roots as a writer. This is a massive decision, to say the least, with major financial and spiritual implications
"Ethical Consumption" & the History of "Selling Out"
A “point, counterpoint”-style deep dive into the double-sided coin of “ethical consumption” and “ethical salesmanship” (or its alternative, “selling out”) under that little thing we call “capitalism,” sponsored by our treasured economic partners in the Saudi Royal Family.“Is There REALLY No Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism?” from Clotheshorse with Amanda Lee McCarty (2024)“This feminist t-shir
How to Give Birth in America, Pt. 1
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
BONUS: Taylor Swift's Rumspringa, Reviewed
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comAs with all bonus conversations, this episode breaks from the regular format of this show and operates instead like an homage to how it started—sending impassioned voice memos back and forth. Enjoy.*snaps into character to method-act as Tyra Banks* We were all rooting for you.
Biblical Womanhood, MAGA Girlbosses, and the Useful Myth of "Tradition"
Today’s conversation is a deep dive into the alliance between the neoliberal economic consensus and the social conservative movement in the late twentieth century—as told through the lens of a right-wing podcaster telling men they shouldn’t get married unless they’re capable of financially supporting a submissive wife and entire brood of children singlehandedly. This is a public episode. If you'd
BONUS: Charlie Kirk, Part Deux
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comAs promised, here’s a brief follow-up conversation on the Kirk of it all: one half news updates, and one half cultural analysis on the ongoing political fallout from Kirk’s murder.
Charlie Kirk & the End of Debate in America
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comCharlie Kirk “practiced politics the right way.” He was “a controversial and polarizing figure, but that doesn’t matter.” His “sort of dialogue is what universities are supposed to foster.” In the wake of Kirk’s murder, these are the sentiments that have been echoed repeatedly in op-eds written for our nation’s
Democrats Are Failing. What Comes After the Liberal Status Quo?
The Democratic Party’s approval rating is at a 30-year-low, and Americans rated them no better than the GOP at their ability to “manage the federal government effectively” or “bring about the changes this country needs.” A pretty damning indictment, considering the GOP is currently disassembling the government with a rusty hacksaw while wearing furry BDSM blindfolds.In the wake of running (and los
Can the World Force Taylor Swift to Speak Now?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comTaylor Swift recently confirmed the imminent arrival of her 12th studio album, Life of a Showgirl. Over the course of a single fateful podcast interview, a new musical era wasn’t ushered through our cultural door so much as it kicked down the door entirely, machine guns blazing, screaming at us to drop to our kn
Bonus: Bari Weiss Again, Somehow
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this (bonus) conversation…Ever wondered why Bari Weiss is constantly creeping around the perimeters of the conversations we have on this podcast? Well, folks, today’s the day to understand.
Why America Can't See Gaza
In this conversation…Who could’ve foreseen when we started this podcast nearly one year ago to discuss the Times of London Ballerina Farm profile that today we’d be publishing a two-hour episode about the most stereotypically “controversial” geopolitical “dispute” in modern history?There’s one thing you’ll hear repeatedly in conversations about what’s happening in Gaza: It’s complicated.Or, you mi
The Internet Has a Porn Problem—Just Not the One You Think
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
The Womanosphere Claims It's Winning Young Women—But Is It?
In this conversation…It’s the grassroots sensation sweeping the internet and, by extension, the culture—proof that conservative values are mainstream, conservative women are hot, and their rapidly proliferating attendant movement is finally overpowering the excesses of liberalism. “We aren’t running from culture anymore,” as Alex Clark put it, “We’re running it.” They’re courageous enough to stand
Sabrina Carpenter & the Politics of Pop Star Sexuality
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comWhen Sabrina Carpenter shared the album cover for her highly anticipated seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, the internet suffered an algorithmic nosebleed. An extremely high-stakes cultural debate unfolded: Was the photo (and correspondingly, her entire vibe) supposed to be funny? A form of edgy political
Bonus: Media's Mamdani Meltdown
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this (bonus) conversation…Reporting live from the basement where Annie Lowrey is chained to a radiator while a six-foot-tall sentient copy of Abundance holds a gun to her head, Caro & Katie review four pieces in major newspapers and magazines that were published in the days leading up to the New York City may
Liv Schmidt & the Sexless Allure of SkinnyTok
In this conversation…SkinnyTok is full of contradictions: You’ll hear you need to work hard to lose weight so you can be effortlessly chic; you’ll discover a world of corporeal obsession in which attaining a “hot body” is the ultimate form of pleasure. So why does it all feel so sterile? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes,
Taking Sex Differences Seriously
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…In 2015, Caro took a politics course at the University of Virginia called “Sex Differences.” This is her story. *law and order theme music*
The Kurious Kase of Karoline Leavitt
In this conversation…Six years and five Trump press secretaries ago, The Guardian reported that, thanks to Trump’s ceaseless tweeting, the press secretary position had become “redundant,” an anachronism from a quainter era of politics when presidents didn’t preside like mad kings over their own social media platforms. So what should we make of Karoline Leavitt and the role she’s performing in this
Who Wants Kids?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…Over the last several months, the policy agenda of the pro-natalist right has become startlingly clear. What’s much less clear, though, is how the left plans to counter such red-pilled pro-baby and pro-family rhetoric—or if the left even wants to counter this rhetoric.
Katie & Caro Shoot the Shit: Bonus April Grab Bag
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…Katie & Caro answer questions from our paid subscriber chat of Dirty Little Liars, like:* Who would be your dream guest on Diabolical Lies (if you ever get over your narcissistic obsession with being the only two people yapping)?* Are you actually joining DSA (Democratic Socialists of Americ
The Rise & Fall of Capitalism
In this conversation…It’s the best system we’ve tried so far! It’s just human nature! It’s the force that drives innovation! …or is it? What if capitalism isn’t pushing us forward anymore, but holding us back from the future that we could have? Diabolical Lies investigates. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dia
What Trans Athletes Actually Mean for Women’s Sports
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…You asked, we answered. Today we’re talking about the latest, greatest moral panic of our time: Are trans athletes ruining women’…
MAHA Moms & the Politics of “Wellness”
In this conversation…The “MAHA Moms” insist their healthy living movement is all about “the children,” who you’ll quickly learn are being “poisoned” by all the “toxic” ingredients in our food supply or corrupted by the crooked doctors in our medical system. But which kids is this really for?This episode is a Tour de Grift that explores some of the most notable figureheads, their claims, and how th
Hot Chicks, Wings, and the Liquidation Sale of America
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…What does it mean to “run the government like a business” in America today? In today’s episode, we scrutinize the fetishization of “efficiency” and the American businessman, the role this valorization played in the ascendancy of our current “leaders,” and what everyone’s getting wrong about
Lily Phillips & the Politics of Sex Work
In this conversation…Let’s get spicy, y’all! Today, we’re talking about the politics of consensual sex work, through the lens of a recent, extremely viral documentary that covered sex worker and OnlyFans influencer Lily Phillips’s 100-men-in-a-day sex stunt. If you haven’t watched the documentary yet, we’ve embedded it in this post for your easy viewing pleasure. And yes, this documentary is safe
What is a Woman? The Shifting Gender Aesthetics of the "New Right"
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…A woman’s appearance has always been inseparable from her message in politics. So what does this latest, conspicuous shift signal? In this episode, we’re taking a question the New Right is obsessed with—what is a woman?—and answering it by analyzing the aesthetic transformations of the women
A Tale of Two Algorithms
A few days ago, shortly after the TikTok ban was lifted, we recorded this conversation about the dueling algorithmic histories of TikTok and Facebook, the strange mirror world they provide for us to understand US vs. China sentiment, and the crack-in-the-universe moment that RedNote offered the world.In the time since we recorded, a few major news stories have broken:* TikTok users are reporting t
Luigi Mangione & the Making of an American Terrorist
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit diabolicallies.substack.com.Since the passage of the US PATRIOT Act in 2001, the culture of anti-terrorism in the United States has proven fertile ground for at once legitimizing a threat as extreme and delegitimizing the context which produced it. So
How "Reactionary Feminism" Infiltrated the Mainstream
Feminism is in the midst of an identity crisis: What is feminism? What does it mean to “be a feminist”? The gap has created an opening for a few media-savvy writers and thinkers to refashion the movement in their own image: a “women’s rights” movement that uses anti-capitalist language to make things like unprotected sex and unpaid labor look like liberation.For notes, citations, and bonus reading
Evie Magazine, Ballerina Farm, & the Yassification of Christian Nationalism
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation...Evie Magazine bills itself as a “Cosmopolitan for conservatives,” but is that the best description for this editorial mission? Spoiler alert: No! Today’s sprawling conversation explores every nook and cranny of this dumpster fire of a “media company,” as well as the… uncanny, let’s say, ti
"The Men Are Not All Right"...Right?
In this conversation…Caro & Katie dive headfirst into the “male loneliness epidemic,” “the boys are not all right,” “feminism hurts men” discourse to understand which right-wing think tank’s research suddenly indicates The Men™️ are struggling, its curious timing, and the frustrating tendency of all the coverage to completely gloss over the core problem.References in this EpisodeOf Boys and Men, b
What a Viral Tradwife Rant Reveals About Gen Z's Alt-Right
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comIn this conversation…Caro & Katie engage in a close read of the viral Free Press debate TikTok that stars a young woman angry she can’t live on a homestead, and accidentally discover it’s uniquely emblematic of the sort of right-wing radicalization we’re witnessing en masse in the United States.
Abortion: Say It With Your Chest
In this conversation…Caro & Katie talk about abortion in America, starting with leaders in the evangelical church recognizing it as a political tool in the 1970s with which to gain power in the face of unwanted desegregation, to the profound discomfort that modern politicians across the spectrum express about the subject—that is, until maybe, right now. It turns out that American women have never
The Liberal-to-Brave-Independent-Thinker™ Pipeline
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.comOur first bonus episode! The first 40 minutes of this conversation are available to everyone, but if you'd like to become a subscriber, join us on Substack or Apple Podcasts.In this conversation…A critique of work that best illustrates different elements of the, “I used to be a liberal, but…” media personality t
The *Real* Reason Republicans Are Desperate to Impregnate You
In this conversation…Two pre-menopausal females break down the replacement theory panic disguised as Reasonable! Political! Concern! and why it’s completely unnecessary and counterproductive to entertain the pronatalist conversation on their terms: that is, litigating the validity of having (or not having) children. It is not, and has never been, about the kids. Bonus ReadingThe Dawn of Everything
Taylor Swift, Injectables, and Other Genres of Magical Thinking
In this conversation…The picture heard ‘round the Reddit Popular page has reignited the internet’s favorite form of is-that-misogyny? debate: Ladies, are we allowed to talk about what may or may not be happening on Taylor Swift’s face? Plastic surgery speculation is an online sport in its own right, but the real story is what it tells us about our culture’s attitude toward cosmetic procedures (and
Bama Rush Post-Mortem: Patriarchy Rocks, Dude
in this episode: caro & katie debrief on the bama rush / rushtok phenomenon, through the lens of katie's experience going through alabama rush 10 years ago and the deconstruction process that followed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com/subscribe
Blonde Highlights Are Gender-Affirming Care
101s on the latest gender panic event at the Olympics“The Right-Wing Campaign to Purge Women from Women’s Sports” — The Intercept“Boxer in Controversy Over Eligibility Lets Her Gloves Do the Talking” — New York Times“Imane Khelif and Western Delusions of White Innocence” — Al Jazeera“Imane Khelif Fights The World's Greatest Boxers—and Bigots” — Qasim Rashid Substacksome helpful 101s on debunking g
AgriCulture Wars
In this conversation* What even is free will?* What the follow-up article means about the response* The Venn diagram between fundamentalist Christianity and white supremacy is a circle* Where we go from hereWe’ll be releasing these types of conversations as the zeitgeist allows. Subscribe for more!ResourcesPrimary cited sources Meet the Queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children)My day with
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