The MAGA Representative Crusading Against Government Secrecy
6/5/20261 hr 21 min
In an era defined by deep institutional distrust, a new trend within populist conservatism has emerged. It’s a sense that the federal government is keeping secrets and protecting the powerful at our expense. My guest this week is Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a conservative Republican from Florida who has quickly established herself as a political troublemaker. She’s challenging fellow lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats — on issues like sexual harassment and ethics, but she doesn’t see her campaign to clean up Congress as in tension with her allegiance to President Trump. Luna has focused her first years in Congress on exposing what she views as coverups, from the Epstein files to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and longstanding government secrecy around U.F.O.s.
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:31 - Luna's politics: "Conservative with a streak of populism"
- 08:07 - From chaos to conservative influencer
- 16:17 - Critiquing the ethics of Congress
- 24:55 - Presidential ethics and the Epstein files
- 36:25 - The U.A.P. activity at Eglin Air Force Base
- 41:02 - The "mosaic" around the J.F.K. assassination
- 47:50 - U.A.P. evidence
- 54:30 - Whistleblower retribution and protections
- 57:57 - Secret programs: "A stronger dose of strangeness"
(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.)
Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsWinna Lu0:01
I'm Winna Lu. I write the game Connections, one of the puzzles from New York Times Games, and I love horror movies, I love my dog, and I love trying to trick you.
Tracy Bennett0:09
I'm Tracy Bennett. I get to pick the Wordle word every day, which is not as easy as it sounds. A fun fact about me is that I am descended from a witch who was put on trial in Salem.
Speaker 30:20
New York Times Games are made by people, like the ones you just heard from. Go to nytimes.com/games to start playing today.
Ross Douthat· Host0:30
What- I don't think I'll ever be able to roll a little green man in on a, a silver platter for anyone.
Ana Paulina Luna· Guest0:37
But what I can do is I can present you with evidence that we have seen, and I can also tell you what we've been up against.
Ross Douthat· Host0:42
Representative Ana Paulina Luna, welcome to Interesting Times.
Ana Paulina Luna· Guest0:51
Thanks for having me on.
Ross Douthat· Host0:52
So I'm excited to talk to you, first of all, because I think you're a unique kind of political troublemaker. You are a conservative Republican who's been in the House of Representatives for less than four years, and in that time, in a very polarized environment, you've managed to make plenty of trouble for your own leadership and your own party, as well as for the Democrats.
Ana Paulina Luna· Guest1:14
I think that this is just the bare minimum that we can deliver for the American people is not tolerate public corruption in the House of Representatives.
Ross Douthat· Host1:21
And then second, I think that you embody a really important tendency in American conservatism right now, which is the sense