The False Alarm That Almost Started a Nuclear War. Plus: the Tupac Trial, With Joel Anderson.

About this episode

Wait a Second… is kicking off Terror Month with the most terrifying idea of all: nuclear annihilation. Following news last month that an AI chatbot nearly got us into a war with China, Jason and Tyler look back at the early-’80s incidents that nearly brought the Cold War to a boil. With the help of The Ringer’s Joel Anderson, they talk NORAD and real-life war games. Later, they break down the Tupac murder trial and conviction of Duane “Keefe D” Davis, which Joel wrote about on The Ringer last week. Today’s agenda: (00:00) The real-life ‘WarGames’ (02:39) Our guest today: Joel Anderson (04:00) Could AI accidentally start a war? (08:17) Setting the stage for a nuclear near-miss (26:17) The Cold War gets very, very close (39:13) The Soviet “Dead Hand” System (42:30) The Tupac murder verdict and the conspiracy theories (53:56) The LAPD, Keefe D, and the case against him (58:08) The American Idol Murder Case (01:03:17) A Bob Iger COVID conspiracy (01:06:59) Hackers breach the FBI. What did they want? (01:09:49) The mysterious Milwaukee “bad boy” sound Read Joel’s piece on the Keefe D verdict here: https://www.theringer.com/2026/09/23/music/tupac-shakur-murder-trial-