Ep. 860 Elon Musk Goes All In on Donald Trump, and Predicting the 2024 Election with Nate Silver

Megyn is joined by Nate Silver, author of On the Edge, to discuss his exit from ABC’s FiveThirtyEight last year, how ABC didn’t understand the value of the product, FiveThirtyEight’s projections this year that overweighted Joe Biden’s chances, the challenge of seeing something you built turn into something you don’t support, the excitement and opportunity in independent media, how he got into politics through gambling, how his election forecast considers all different polls, why Kamala Harris is currently leading, why Donald Trump could still be the better bet to win, what is likely to happen in the final months of the election, Elon Musk’s shift to the right and supporting Trump for president, Silver’s own political point of view as a moderate liberal, whether his position will evolve more in the future, the value of risk-taking, what poker teaches us about the world, and more.

Then, Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz, authors of Stolen Youth, join to discuss the massive conversation on X Spaces between Musk and Trump, some on the left calling for Musk to be censored and even arrested over his comments and platforming, the prescriptions for how Trump and his campaign can get back on track, why he should focus on policies that resonate with swing voters and independents, questions about his COVID-19 policies and J.D. Vance’s media tour, the threats against Douglas Murray for making honest comments about the rise of radical Islamists in Europe, the anti-Jewish Imam associated with Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Walz, the anti-Israel student protests returning to college campuses, Glenn Close’s gross comments about Vance, and more.