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What is TMIQ Today? · The Most Important Question

• 0:00
  [upbeat music] Hello, everybody, Shit Givers.
• 0:09
  If you haven't heard my voice before, this is the producer, Willow, and we are here today to kind of explain what's been going on in your feeds.
• 0:19
  You may have noticed some short little episodes called "The Most Important Question Today" coming out a couple times a week, and I'm here with Quinn to kind of explain what those are. A couple implies two.
• 0:32
  I'd like to think, even though it's Tuesday and I haven't given you anything yet, that in the past couple weeks it's been more than a couple. But they are- I mean, I'm just trying to set expectations.
• 0:43
  You could have said sporadic on an interval. I- Yeah, on OM. Yep, Willow's the brains behind the whole thing. You should listen to her show. It's called Reality. It's better. It's more fun. It's part of culture. These...
• 0:55
  What's the sh- what's the short version here? I don't really write that much anymore, which is very sad for everyone involved, except for me. I record both the other shows.
• 1:05
  You just told me I've only recorded 12 real episodes of this show this year, which is fascinating 'cause I really was hoping you would say 15. You didn't.
• 1:15
  But those require a lot of work, and so does writing, even medium form, not even long form. And, you know, we've talked a lot about meeting people where they are more, not just with...
• 1:26
  Well, I guess mostly with the content we make has been the idea, with the parenting stuff
• 1:31
  and your show, and I think those things are much more intentionally targeted towards much bigger audiences than we've tried to go after before, like people who just care about grid connections or wastewater.
• 1:45
  But one thing I've always been horrific at, for a variety of reasons, is social media, and if we're gonna meet people where they are, that is where they are mostly. Not necessarily reading long newsletters, though.
• 1:58
  Podcasting is quite large and larger than it's ever been and, and what does that even mean anymore with video? And essays can be anything, and Sub Stack and all that stuff.
• 2:07
  But as much as I think short-form video has probably contributed to the fall of civilization,
• 2:14
  I do think it's an intersectional way to participate in the discourse, as you would put it, in the sense that it reaches people where they are. It's a format they're watching.
• 2:25
  It can be informative without being preachy, though that's hard.
• 2:30
  And we can tell people a thing they can do or connect with them in a way that doesn't require me putting it off for three months because it needs to be longer, but also doesn't require them to convert, as they say, to,
• 2:44
  "Come read our newsletter. Come listen to the podcast." 'Cause as you and I have realized, like, m-most people don't, don't cross over.
• 2:52
  So this was at the end of a year, maybe more, of me telling you I was gonna keep working on my new version of content. I've wrote all these things.
• 3:02
  I've recorded 200-something episodes of the main show, which all required a ton of work. We've been doing the parenting one a year plus of figuring out all the actually pro-life stuff, wrangling all of our research.
• 3:13
  I have actually been writing a, a lot. It's just not in a readable form. And I do still read the news, but very selectively in the, you know, custom pipeline you and I built that we of, of sources we trust.
• 3:25
  And I thought it would be a relatively, this is a bit of a paradox, relatively low risk, I don't wanna say easy challenge, to say, "Can I check out the news for the day and then marry that with sort of the broader context we've built over all this time about what it actually means for long term and for right now with something people can do about it, and in 60 seconds or less?"
• 3:52
  Failed on the last part. Right. We'll get there. Okay, so I think that kind of explains or you explained why you're putting these on socials- Mm... and trying to build our presence there. Mm-hmm.
• 4:02
  But what would you say is the purpose of having this, like, second shorter feed alongside our main show for people who have already opted into the long form Most Important Question?
• 4:13
  What do you see them getting out of these short- Um... daily news responses, basically? One, I've only recorded 12 of the main show this year.
• 4:22
  The feed is, I don't wanna say, like, barren, but you know, if, if an episode shows up, apparently it's pretty unexpected at this point, though hopefully more come.
• 4:31
  That's a lot less, not, maybe not a lot less than we've done in the past, but the point is, like, there's a bunch of people who've been listening for a long time who w- who not giving them much, who maybe only listen to podcast, and they're not even getting audio versions of my essays 'cause those aren't even being written anew.
• 4:48
  But also, I think you can look at some of the success of these more institutional daily shows, which are even longer. They're, you know, 15, 20 minutes or something.
• 4:58
  The Daily, Today Explained, you know, there's a bunch of different versions of n- NPR has one. There's a bunch.
• 5:04
  And I think there's an appeal in someone not having to go read all the news and have someone give them obviously a self-selected most important news of the day focus with a little more context to it.
• 5:20
  And I thought, "Boy, I would find that, that appealing if someone was like, 'Great, I, I can't lis- I don't have time to listen to an hour about this, and you're not making it anyways right now.'
• 5:31
  [chuckles] Or, 'I'm not gonna read 3,000 words.' You know, here's a little pop what's going on.
• 5:35
  But also, like, there is something you can do about it, and I've really tried to focus on, not always successful, like, taking specific actions that are in our app and, and including them, but also doing it in a way that doesn't require us saying, like, "Well, we gotta invent this thing."
• 5:50
  I try to make it very clear, like, these are just choices people are making. Here's the news.
• 5:54
  It's because of a choice a bunch of elected people made wherever on who they're affecting, and here's something we can do about it, most of which is usually provens, whether that's because it's done in one country and it's...
• 6:06
  it could work in another Or because some US states are doing it and some are either neutral and not doing it or, or against it, right? Mm-hmm.
• 6:15
  Like Lauren and I were having a long conversation yesterday about how some US states
• 6:20
  have really strong workplace protections around a variety of things, but we were talking specifically around heat and extreme heat, whether you're indoors or outdoors. Some states leave it to cities.
• 6:33
  Some states actually preempt cities and say, "You can't make protections at all."
• 6:42
  And then some, as we looked at Kentucky, for example, which is a really fascinating case because it's a very conservative majority, but the Democrat who's been elected twice as governor, Andy Beshear, is obviously not that.
• 6:53
  And so it's this really interesting battle.
• 6:55
  But they passed a law last year, just in 2025, saying any workplace protections in Kentucky have to be tied to the federal standard, which obviously is like good luck at best, right? He vetoed it, and they overrode him.
• 7:10
  So there's all these different examples, but the point is it does work, and they can work, and we can protect people, just like we can do from indoor air or whatever, or clean water. It's just a choice. It's not...
• 7:19
  It doesn't require invention or anything like that. So I'm trying to, again, make it as simple and as approachable as possible, however much that's succeeding. Right.
• 7:30
  So does that kinda tie into how you decide, like, which piece of news is the one you want to respond to every day? You can get into as much of the behind the scenes on that as you'd like. Yeah.
• 7:40
  So I, I found, and there's a, there's a newsletter I really like called What's Resonating. If you write it... I'm sorry, I can't remember who writes it. But it basically does like a, like a review of everything online.
• 7:53
  I don't know if it's from the day before or the day of, just kinda giving you like an overview of, I think it's a substack, and it just says like, "Here's on the left..." It's like a, a media-focused version of Tangle.
• 8:03
  It's like, "Here's what's really taking off on the left and the right and the center." Like, just measurably forget, like, what's important necessarily.
• 8:11
  Here's what's, like, getting the most views or listens or whatever it is among these subjects and on which network or podcast or feeds or whatever it is on the left and the right and center, internationally, whatever.
• 8:20
  And I thought it was really interesting the first time I saw it because the original Important and Not Important, Willow, and I swear to God I have a screenshot somewhere, was a Squarespace site.
• 8:28
  And the top, it was sh- it, it looked like a newspaper, and the top half said Important, and it was, like, important news that I, of course, deemed important, and the bottom half said Not Important, and it was all this different shit that was actually taking up all the headlines, and this was in, like, 2017, 2018.
• 8:44
  Of course, I, like, never updated it once after the first day because that's just- Mm-hmm... so much work.
• 8:49
  But that was kinda the original idea, so it was interesting looking at what's resonating and being like, "What is half of this shit?"
• 8:54
  Like, none of this stuff matters versus a lot of the work we believe in that we're doing, we're trying to say, like, "This is the stuff that's gonna matter in a long time."
• 9:02
  You know, even honestly, especially your news show, you're saying, like, unscripted TV is, like, the biggest thing we have maybe besides, like, live sports, and it affects so many people in the way we talk and think about people live.
• 9:14
  It affects culture in so many ways, and how does that reflect us? Mm-hmm.
• 9:19
  And so I've tried to take the what's resonating idea and say, "Of the news I've already read for the day, is there any in here, thing that has traction that's actually, I think, measurably meaningful, and does it fit in sort of our prism of here's something you can do about it?"
• 9:32
  To try to, again, like, we've talked a little bit about you and I about if we're ever gonna make news shows, like, can they be sort of an, an antidote or an intervention to people's feeds and whatever, whether it's the nanosphere or whatever the fuck it is.
• 9:44
  And so trying to find the intersection of that, saying, "If I put this out there," obviously there's some hubris here, like, could this be an intervention in saying, "Oh, people are covering this.
• 9:52
  This is big, and it does fit within our prism. Here's the real deal on why it's happening and what you can do about it," again, in a certain amount. But I found that that was really- Right...
• 10:00
  helpful 'cause otherwise I have to be on social media, and I don't know, one, how it works and, two, how to find, like, what's trending. I don't know. Yeah.
• 10:09
  Yeah, that is the balance of, like, trying to grow on socials and, you know, be, I guess, ideally a force for good there, but also not falling into, like, the algorithm trap, right- Yeah...
• 10:21
  of just responding to these things, you know, that are trending right now but not necessarily helpful or, um- Yeah, and I'm trying not to take it-... just distracting from-... as like a hot take.
• 10:32
  Again, like coming back to, to your show- Yeah... like sometimes you guys talk... Like you talked about the Dallas Cowboy thing and y- cheerleaders, and you and I talked about how, like- Mm-hmm...
• 10:39
  they have actually been huge for, I'm 1,000, like 35, 40 years, right? They're a cultural thing. It's not just- Yeah...
• 10:45
  the show that came out and how that's influenced all these other things but also is born out of, like, Texas beauty pageants and all this shit.
• 10:53
  I, I don't wanna participate in, like, hot takes, but I do wanna be like, "This news headline that might be gone tomorrow 'cause everything is so fucking chaotic is important, and here's why and why it's a thing, because people chose it to be, and here's something we can do to either support it if it's a positive thing and make more of it or put it to rest, hopefully, in some..."
• 11:13
  Is it still a hot take? Kind of. I don't know.
• 11:16
  And also, I mean, I was just thinking about this as you were talking about your conversation with Lauren and really specific, like, state level things, actions, and, like, where we can be most impactful and, like, I don't know.
• 11:29
  Specifically for this project, like the Most Important Question today and responding to the news, one of our goals eventually is to expand our reach outside of just like an- Mm-hmm...
• 11:39
  American-focused coverage, which, you know, obviously, like, 90% of our listeners right now are American- Sure... and you're American, and so just that's where it, it makes sense.
• 11:48
  But how do you see this project kind of maybe continuing to- I think there could be amazing people that, that do... Again, it's not fucking complicated, you know? It's like we've done all this work to realize- Yeah...
• 11:59
  like it's not complicated. It's a set of, like, morals basically that we've decided to put measuring sticks on in a world where, like, people have less of those, much less, like, shared ones.
• 12:09
  We don't have a shared reality anymore. Nobody goes to church anymore, for better or worse, like all these different things.
• 12:14
  And we're just being like, "Here's the things that we think everybody deserves, and, like, fuck you if not, and here's how the news affect those."
• 12:20
  But, like, that's both the same in India as it is here in the sense like you either have relief from extreme heat or you don't.
• 12:30
  But we do have, like, some pretty common denominators of ways cities and states and countries can improve that, whether it's covered bus stops or whatever. Mm-hmm. There's a thousand different ways.
• 12:40
  Air conditioning, which Europe just patently refuses to do, and so people are just dying everywhere. I get it's a cultural thing, but we're past that, you know?
• 12:48
  But there's no reason somebody can't be on the streets of Paris be like, "Nobody can escape the heat 'cause the buildings aren't built for that. They were built for breezes that don't really cut it anymore." You know?
• 12:57
  That's why that's in the news. But it's a choice we as a Parisian people can make to say, "We would like air conditioning now, please." You know?
• 13:05
  And yes, everyone loves the pictures of, like, the beautiful Parisian rooftops and all that stuff and all the... Great, but also it's terrible, you know, out there. Mm-hmm. So I think that's applicable. And, uh,
• 13:17
  I feel like the, the format is applicable, right? Because what we've tried to do with the actual- Right... pro-life stuff is just be like, "It doesn't matter what your fucking politics are," right?
• 13:26
  Either you think people should have clean water or you shouldn't. Right.
• 13:29
  And, like, right now maybe the news you're responding to or the actions that you're recommending might be American specific, but, like, the message behind them is, like, a bigger thing, right, that connects back to our, you know, our, all of our positions or our principles, right, which
• 13:47
  are universal. It should. You know? Right? And nothing- Yeah. Look, what's I believe is simple is, is sort of these eight principles, right? And, and the idea that no life is worth more than another.
• 13:59
  But the constructive politics behind that anywhere are co- complicated. You know, you, you're from, like, oil land Canada, right, originally. Like, Alaska- Mm-hmm... is completely beholden to
• 14:11
  a refund that, that Alaskan taxpayers get because of the oil industry, and yet, like, the state's disappearing. You know, all the things that have held up its wildlife and things like that, we're doing Julian.
• 14:22
  That's much more complicated than here where we just have, like, some asshole coal people and a train company down the road who have made it... We can make that go away much more easily, you know?
• 14:30
  We're building this huge wind farm. We can do those things. That's just, that's, that's, that's a relatively easy stuff. But those morals should be more applicable either way. But we are in the US where
• 14:42
  fortunately and very unfortunately these days, and a lot of times in history, we also affect a lot of other places directly and indirectly, which could be amazing, but mostly sucks these days for a lot of folks.
• 14:53
  So I do believe in that as well. Like, yes, it's US-centric, but we're trying to rebuild US- Mm-hmm... where we can. You know, or at least the- Yeah... the outcomes of it in some way. Not that it was perfect- Mm-hmm...
• 15:04
  but it was fucking something. PEPFAR something. Mm-hmm. All right. Anything you'd like to say to someone who's, like, deciding to add The Most Important Question Today into their daily routine?
• 15:15
  Like, why should they do that? They shouldn't. Listen to your show. It's so much more fun. It's so much more fun. I don't know.
• 15:22
  I'm, I'm not trying to say, like, it's all the news or all the most important stuff are the only things you should pay attention to. I try to be not balanced about it, but equal opportunity each day about, like,
• 15:33
  in a world where it feels like everything is on fire or being lit on fire, to use the active voice, to cover the full spectrum. I do focus a lot because of who I am on, like, kids shit and stuff like that.
• 15:43
  But I don't know. If, if you need [laughs] if, if you need a little dose of daily cortisol but you don't wanna doom scroll- [laughs]...
• 15:50
  just listen to what turns out to be, like, three-plus minutes of this, which doesn't fit into stories, and I f- often forget to put it there. But in your reels- [laughs]... you're welcome.
• 16:00
  I do believe people should stay engaged, but it's also very understandable and justifiable to become disengaged these days. But there are important things- Yeah... and I'm trying to point those out.
• 16:10
  And, like, everything we make, you know, sometimes it's difficult to do this, but we really do try and make things that are, as we say, you know, action-oriented and future positive and, and try and take that angle with it as much as we possibly can without, you know,
• 16:27
  being toxically optimistic or whatever. Um- But you're not that way about your show. Like, you're taking your favorite hobby and dissecting it, like, as they say, like, live on TV. I know, and I've ruined it. Right?
• 16:37
  You fucking ruined it. It's ter- Yeah. But, like, you're not like, "Hey, this thing... I'm complicit, this thing I've been doing all along. It's, it's terrible. I'm gonna walk away from it."
• 16:46
  That, like, that's what I did with the NFL, you know? I was like, "Yeah- Yeah. Yeah... I cheered for the Washington Redskins for my entire life. Like, holy shit, man." But also, like- Mm-hmm...
• 16:56
  domestic abuse and CTE and all the things, like, nightmare. I'm happy to say all that.
• 17:01
  You're like, "No, I do still enjoy and, and find solace in this," but that doesn't mean you're not like, "We should talk about how we do it." Yeah. And there's definitely dark parts of it, for sure. All right.
• 17:13
  I'm gonna challenge you. [laughs] Oh, fuck. If you had to describe The Most Important Question Today in one sentence for someone who's never heard it, what would you say? You can do it. And I genuinely don't know.
• 17:25
  I genuinely don't know. It's so funny you said that because I just took a bunch of screenshots of the descriptions, the, the descriptions in Apple Podcasts of,
• 17:37
  like, the first two lines of Up First from NPR, The Daily, Today Explained, and a bunch of others trying to figure out how to rewrite our description- Mm-hmm...
• 17:48
  to not just switch it over to this, 'cause it's not completely switching over, but to accommodate for it. I, I don't know, Willow. NPR's Up First is, "The news you need to start your day.
• 17:57
  The three biggest stories of the day with reporting and analysis from NPR News in 10 minutes." That's not what it is. The Daily is, "This is what the news should sound like."
• 18:05
  Today Explained is, "Vox's daily news explainer podcast guide you through the most m- more import- important stories of the day." I, I mean, can I come back to it? Can I... I'm not gonna... It's not gonna happen.
• 18:15
  It's okay. We're still workshopping it. It's fine. It's fine. It's not gonna happen. Just letting listeners into the process here- It's not pretty... a little bit. It's not pretty. I don't know. There's a version of it.
• 18:23
  If you have an, an idea, please tell us, and I'll just type it into the box. That would be great. Mm-hmm.
• 18:29
  The Bulwark Daily, "Tim Miller and guests discuss the latest political news for the flagship podcast of the Never Trump movement and the reality-based community," something like that. I don't know. I don't- Yeah.
• 18:40
  I, I really don't know. I'm terrible at this part of it. Well, either way, we'll figure that out. We'll let you know. I'm sure you'll hear it in a future episode, [laughs] so stay tuned.
• 18:49
  But yeah, hopefully you've been enjoying these. Like Quinn said, there's more to come. And we do have long form conversations. We're planning to do more of those this year, so just look out for those.
• 19:02
  Yeah, and check out Quinn's other show, Not Right Now, that he co-hosts with Claire Zulkey. It's funny. Even if you don't have kids, I think it's relatable.
• 19:11
  You know, parenting these times/just surviving as a person in these times. I think anyone can connect to that.
• 19:18
  And yeah, if you like reality TV and you don't find the sound of my voice too grating, you can check out It's Called Reality. [laughs] Yeah. We're, we're really proud of our work here. Yeah. Okay, that's it.
• 19:30
  I don't have anything else. I stretched this into 25 minutes. You're welcome. [outro jingle]