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Mamamia Out Loud

The Superstar Podcaster Who’s Been ‘Red-Pilled’ & Was JLo Really That Rude?

19 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.47 - 31.38 Jessie Stephens

You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast. Welcome to Mamma Mia Out Loud. It's what women are actually talking about on Monday the 19th of January. I'm Holly Wainwright and look, last week we welcomed back Mia Friedman to Mamma Mia Out Loud. She is now on every Tuesday and every Thursday show for subscribers. But now we're welcoming back someone else. Amelia Lester is in the house. Hello.

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31.401 - 36.467 Jessie Stephens

So good to be back here. What did you do on your holidays, Amelia? Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why haven't you been here with us?

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36.447 - 39.031 Amelia Lester

I've got three updates. First, I went bronze.

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39.592 - 41.915 Jessie Stephens

You did? Oh, you did too.

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41.935 - 45.901 Amelia Lester

Yeah, the barometer for me was Amal Clooney because she and I have a lot in common.

45.921 - 46.321 Holly Wainwright

You really do.

46.501 - 55.634 Amelia Lester

I did do one semester of law school back in the day, wasn't very good at it. But she went bronze and I thought it's probably time. It's time.

55.915 - 65.007 Holly Wainwright

There's something about that time of year. I also went, I did more of a drastic just like... make me really blonde. I wanted to do something to really feel fresh in the new year.

65.027 - 87.776 Amelia Lester

Are you feeling fresh? I'm feeling fresh. Second thing that's helping me feeling fresh. Heard M. Vernon on this podcast talking about Gua Sha. Now I've had a Gua Sha in my bathroom cabinet for years, but I've never bothered to use it. And then I thought, well, if I can look like M. Vernon by Gua Sha, I'm going to do it. So now I'm doing it. I'm not going to say anything about the numbers at all.

Chapter 2: Where is Greenland and why does Trump want it?

507.052 - 508.093 Holly Wainwright

We're still here.

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508.213 - 536.119 Jessie Stephens

We're still posting. Don't take my filters from my cold, dead hand. Amelia... As a bronze. As a bronze. Greenland, question mark. As an American-Australian foreign policy journalist. Because we all know that Amelia not only is an expert in all things America, but she literally works for a publication called Foreign Policy. So I can't imagine...

0

536.099 - 546.816 Jessie Stephens

that your holiday was that relaxing really because things haven't been very quiet on the foreign policy front. They did not respect Amelia's holiday in Margaret River at all. They didn't. Things have not been quiet at all.

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Chapter 3: What does it mean to be 'red-pilled' in the podcasting world?

547.177 - 570.476 Jessie Stephens

So I have questions and I know the Outlouders do. Those questions, of course, could be about ICE. They could be about the next steps with Venezuela. They could be about Trump's moves in Iran or about the mass protests in Minneapolis. But no, no. We have chosen a specific area to focus on today. And today I'm asking on behalf of the Outlouders, what about Greenland?

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570.677 - 592.954 Jessie Stephens

The only thing I really know about Greenland is it's not green. It's mostly white because it's an Arctic country. And today the temperature in Greenland is minus 21 degrees Celsius. But thanks to the wind chill, it feels more like minus 33. So I have to start there. Why does Trump really, really want this really cold place?

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593.137 - 615.385 Amelia Lester

You know how last week on the show you basically boiled down Trump's reason for kidnapping Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, as because Maduro made fun of Trump's dancing? Were you proud of me? I was proud of you because I thought that's exactly why Trump decided to kidnap Maduro. I think the reason why he wants Greenland is similarly quite silly.

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615.405 - 623.209 Amelia Lester

He wants Greenland because it looks really big on a map. Yes, this is my theory. And let me explain a little bit about it.

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Chapter 4: What are the implications of nostalgia for 2016 on social media?

623.289 - 638.859 Amelia Lester

So most maps are a bit distorted because it's something to do with the world being round. And then you have to put it on a flat piece of paper. Look, it's geometry. It's not my strong point, but maps are distorted. And Greenland on a map looks enormous.

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639.179 - 644.127 Holly Wainwright

It really does. I looked at it on a map and I was also surprised by how close it is to the US.

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644.147 - 660.272 Amelia Lester

Yes, it's technically part of North America. It is the world's largest island that isn't a continent, which as Australians we should be aware of. But it isn't as big as it looks. In fact, it looks on a map the size of Africa. Africa is 14 times bigger than Greenland. Wow. 14 times.

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660.973 - 663.037 Jessie Stephens

So some of this is geography blindness. Yes.

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663.057 - 680.029 Amelia Lester

So I think Trump looked at a map and he saw that Greenland looks really big and he said, I want that. Now, it is in a very geographically contested region because, for instance, in World War II, the Americans were worried that the Nazis were going to use it as a stepping stone to getting to the U.S.

680.009 - 691.681 Amelia Lester

This obviously didn't end up happening, but it is in this area where it's close to Russia, it's close to China, it's close to Europe, and it's very close to North America. So who's in charge of it now?

Chapter 5: What role does celebrity culture play in public expectations?

691.701 - 712.623 Amelia Lester

300 years ago, it was colonized by Denmark, but now it is run by Greenlanders. So self-determined. Self-determined. After World War II, Denmark said, you have home rule, you're semi-autonomous, you can have an independence referendum. They haven't gone around to having that yet, but All indications are they do not want to be sold to the United States.

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712.723 - 718.01 Amelia Lester

They're not completely happy with Denmark being in charge, but they're moving towards a place where they will be their own country.

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718.03 - 727.061 Jessie Stephens

That means like about 60,000 people or something? There's actually 57,000. So that's a small population but still a population.

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727.081 - 730.446 Holly Wainwright

I have a dumb question. Since when can you just buy a country?

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730.486 - 730.667 Amelia Lester

Yeah.

731.228 - 735.335 Holly Wainwright

Is that a thing that we can just go, let's look at a map and go, I'll have that one?

735.535 - 739.061 Amelia Lester

It's actually not a thing. America has tried it before though.

Chapter 6: How does JLo's behavior on the red carpet reflect societal expectations?

739.241 - 760.591 Amelia Lester

In 1946, President Truman said to Denmark, look, I'll give you $100 million in gold for it. And Denmark said, no, but feel free to come and put military bases here because Denmark and the US are very good friends. And the US, in fact, has a military base there. But these days, Denmark can't even sell it if it wanted to, because it has said that Greenland is in charge of Greenland's future.

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760.992 - 766.078 Amelia Lester

So it is simply not possible for Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States.

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766.099 - 774.714 Jessie Stephens

So Greenland has to consent to any takeover. Now, what about the stuff I'm hearing about? It's got lots and lots of rich minerals and Trump would love to get his hands on that.

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775.195 - 784.333 Amelia Lester

Look, it does, but they're under glaciers and they're quite hard to get to. It's sort of like Venezuela has a lot of oil, but the oil's really hard to get to.

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Chapter 7: Why are women still being asked to smile in public?

784.313 - 797.408 Amelia Lester

So I think in both the case of Venezuela and Greenland, we're kind of trying to find reasons why Trump would want to do this very silly thing and we're retrofitting these explanations onto them. But they don't really make sense.

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797.768 - 810.944 Holly Wainwright

Okay, so is this like a thing that Trump wants or is there support for this in the US? Like are the Republicans on board? Is this something that like there's great public support sentiment like, yeah, let's go get Greenland?

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810.964 - 819.237 Amelia Lester

Yeah, no. I don't think most people in the US really know where Greenland is or particularly covet Greenland.

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Chapter 8: How do societal pressures impact women in the public eye?

819.358 - 842.456 Amelia Lester

But I think Donald Trump wants Greenland and I think he's got his acolytes around him who want it as well. So this weekend, I sort of thought this was bravado. He's been talking about capturing or buying Greenland since his first term and I've sort of dismissed it. Yeah. But this weekend, he kind of upped the stakes in a way that made my stomach feel queasy because I think he's serious about it.

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842.476 - 858.52 Amelia Lester

Because he told Europe that unless Denmark sells him Greenland, which again is not legally possible, he's going to essentially start a trade war with Europe. And that made me think, I think this guy is serious about wanting Greenland.

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858.56 - 867.993 Jessie Stephens

So what would it look like for America to get Greenland? Like they want it to be like the 51st state. What would it look like? What are they proposing? Yeah.

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868.513 - 889.483 Amelia Lester

So he said to Europe on Truth Social that if Europe didn't allow the complete and total purchase of Greenland, he would increase these tariffs on European countries. So... Here's what's going to happen. Denmark cannot sell Greenland to the United States. So presumably Trump's going to increase these tariffs on Europe. Europe is going to respond by saying that the U.S.

0

889.543 - 907.916 Amelia Lester

can't sell any of its goods to Europe and we're going to enter a trade war. That is the best case scenario. The best case scenario was a trade war. You know what the worst case scenario is? He invades Greenland. which, by the way, he's meant to be protecting because the US, under the NATO alliance, protects Greenland from Russia or from anyone else who wants to invade.

907.936 - 912.145 Jessie Stephens

And you mean literally invades it, like sends troops to seize the government?

912.726 - 918.118 Amelia Lester

Well, as discussed, he can't buy it. So if he really wants it, what's the next step going to be?

918.098 - 936.868 Holly Wainwright

So it feels, I mean, I studied as part of history, like post-colonial history and the word there that's the operative word is post. This feels very colonial. It feels like it is a man who wants to create an empire, which feels very World War I, World War II to me. Is that why you've got the queasy feeling?

936.888 - 954.275 Amelia Lester

Yeah, I've got a queasy feeling. He says the US needs it because Russia and China want it. China doesn't want it. That's just not something that's even on China's radar. Russia might want it, but you know who's meant to protect Greenland if Russia decides to invade Greenland? The United States.

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