Podcast appearances and mentions of Janet Mills

Ralph welcomes back his old running mate, Native American activist, Winona LaDuke, who has devoted her life to advocating for Indigenous control of their homelands, natural resources, and cultural practices to talk about her latest incarnation: hemp farmer. Then, we'll speak to Hal Weitzman, from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, about how Elon Musk's feud with Delaware may transform corporate America. Plus, we tick off Robert Reich's ten policy prescriptions the Democratic Party should fight for to beat the GOP in the upcoming midterms.Winona LaDuke is an activist, economist, and author, who has devoted her life to advocating for Indigenous control of their homelands, natural resources, and cultural practices. She is also a two-time vice-presidential candidate with Ralph Nader. Ms. LaDuke lives and works on the White Earth Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota, where she runs Winona's Hemp & Heritage Farm. She is also a member of the Indigenous Hemp & Cannabis Farmer's Cooperative.I'm looking first at seed sovereignty. We're growing [European hemp] varieties and then we're growing these feral hemp varieties. They're called feral varieties (which of course, that's something that I love) which means that when they eradicated hemp in the 1930s with the Marijuana Prohibition Act—well, they missed some spots. And those guys kept growing. And so 80 years of being illegal—isn't that great? Something that's illegal for 80 years is still with us, rocking out. And so I figure if you grew illegally for 80 years, you are really a tough hemp plant…And so we are growing out these hemp varieties and built a cooperative because we want to own the seeds and we want to own the technology (the value-added processing), and we want to use this hemp as a part of our future as tribes.Winona LaDukeMy grandsons are farming. I don't know who else can say their grandchildren are farming—let me know. My grandchildren are farming. They're running the horses. They're running the farms. You know, that's a retirement plan. My 401k will be worth nothing, but my grandchildren will feed me. This is my strategy.Winona LaDukeHal Weitzman is Executive Director for Intellectual Capital at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, editor-in-chief of Chicago Booth Review, and host of The Chicago Booth Review podcast. A former Financial Times editor and foreign correspondent, he is the author of Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the United States and Started Prospering and What's the Matter with Delaware?: How the First State Has Favored the Rich, Powerful, and Criminal—and How It Costs Us All.There is a race to the bottom. There's been a race to the bottom for many decades. That's not new. I think it's accelerated somewhat. Delaware has joined that race from having been something of a “premium product” in terms of incorporating companies—Delaware has become a bit more “cut-price” I would say, and in that sense has followed Texas and Nevada. So the conclusion that we have a race to the bottom and it may be worse than Delaware—actually I think Delaware's already there. So it's not that it's getting worse outside of Delaware, it's getting worse including Delaware.Hal WeitzmanThe trend I think we're seeing is the exclusion of small shareholders completely—regardless of the status of your shares, this is about how big you are. And if you're a small shareholder there is no corporate democracy for you… It was practice in the past for activist groups, campaigning groups, to buy one share of a company and then to go to the shareholder meeting so they could make the point that they wanted to make. Now that kind of shareholder democracy is being encroached on. And the extent now is to say: unless you have a large position (regardless of the size of the company and the cost of the shares), you will not be allowed to bring suits against the executives for the correct running of the company.Hal WeitzmanNews 7/17/26* Our top story this week is New York Governor Kathy Hochul's decision to impose a one-year “pause” on the construction of AI data centers across the state. ABC7 reports that this is the first such moratorium in the nation, despite similar attempts in several states, most notably Maine where Governor Janet Mills vetoed a bill to this effect. Hochul argues that the pause is necessary so lawmakers and regulators can formulate “Guardrails to reduce the risk to our energy grid, minimize land disruption, noise pollution, and protect our natural resources, especially our water supply.” Hochul's move comes amidst a broader push against AI data centers from the left. Semafor reports Senator Bernie Sanders proposed a nationwide ban in March and many progressives running for state and local office in the midterms have made this a cornerstone of their campaigns. According to this piece, “In February, polling from Marquette Law School found 70% of all Wisconsinites agreeing that ‘the costs of the data centers outweigh the benefits.' Among Democrats, the number was 85%.”* Another progressive Member of Congress quite literally stepped into another hot-button political issue this week. While visiting a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, Al Jazeera reports armed settlers stopped the van of Representative Ro Khanna and were “later joined by Israeli soldiers who continued to block the road.” In a video, Khanna points out, settlers can be seen “brandishing M4s [rifles], kicking the tyres of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us.” This continued for over an hour and was only resolved when he reached out to the American Embassy, according to Khanna. Israel has responded to this fiasco by blaming Khanna, accusing the congressman of failing to coordinate his trip with the Israeli government; Khanna retorted that “The [Israeli military] is lying” and called for the arrest of the violent settlers. Conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson excoriated U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, writing “An American member of congress is threatened by foreign terrorists carrying American rifles, backed by a foreign military paid for by American taxpayers, and the US ambassador to that country says not a word in defense of his own countryman…It's too much, too insulting and humiliating to America.”* Following his return from occupied Palestine, Khanna again teamed up with Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky to sponsor an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would have removed the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative” from the must-pass legislation. Responsible Statecraft describes the initiative as “an unprecedented integration of the U.S. and Israeli military industrial complexes,” by creating “an executive agent within the Department of Defense whose sole responsibility is furthering U.S. and Israeli military tech integration across nearly every facet of the defense process.” This article also notes that “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described this shift in the U.S.-Israel relationship as ‘my plan.'” However, House leadership is not backing this commonsense, bipartisan amendment. In a letter, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would vote against the amendment, calling it “overly broad” and claiming the amendment would “restrict our country's ability to confront Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region who are sworn enemies of both the United States and Israel,” per the Times of Israel. However, Jeffries pledged not to whip votes against the amendment and indeed the House Minority Whip, Congresswoman Katherine Clark, voted for the amendment as did Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, despite the opposition of Jeffries and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. The Congressional Progressive Caucus reportedly whipped votes in favor of the amendment.* In more Israel-related news, this week Marco Rubio – who serves as Secretary of State as well as the acting National Security Advisor – announced that the State Department will launch a “sweeping campaign to dismantle…the International Criminal Court.” CNN observes that “The administration's ire against the ICC goes back to President Donald Trump's first term, when it targeted the ICC for seeking to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan,” and that since taking office for the second time, the Trump administration has “imposed a slew of sanctions against ICC officials for their attempts to investigate the US and Israel.” CNN also quotes a State Department official who said that top officials, including Secretary Rubio and US ambassadors, “are calling countries as part of a campaign to diplomatically isolate the International Criminal Court.” It is worth noting that “all American presidents since the ICC's ratification have maintained that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over Americans,” and that Congress even passed a law calling for an invasion and occupation of the Hague if any American serviceman was ever prosecuted by the ICC, implying that this crackdown on the court is not about American sovereignty at all but rather the prosecution of Israeli officials for their war crimes in Gaza.* In another stunning story starring Marco Rubio, the New York Times reports the Secretary of State is functionally “running Venezuela from afar.” The Times story characterizes Rubio's position as the “de facto viceroy of Venezuela,” effectively controlling the country's “finances, the distribution of its natural resources and its government.” This story makes clear that while Delcy Rodríguez, the former Vice President of Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro, nominally occupies the presidency, Rubio is the one really calling the shots, with Rubio setting the conditions on what Venezuela's export revenue “can be spent on, and by whom,” and having the authority to approve or deny key governmental appointments in the country, such as the minister of defense. In short, the United States has established a shocking explicitly neo-colonial regime in the country, fulfilling the gravest prognostications of anti-imperialist critics of American intervention in the Bolivarian Republic.* Closer to home, Bloomberg reports the federal government has officially launched a grand jury investigation into the United Auto Workers and the union's outspoken president, Shawn Fain. The investigation stems from accusations made by the union's Vice President, Rich Boyer, who alleged that Fain used his position to secure benefits for his fiancée and her sister – and when Boyer refused to approve the benefits, Fain retaliated by stripping Boyer of his duties as chief negotiator with Stellantis NV. Fain has called the allegations “false” and is accusing Boyer of seeking to influence the upcoming UAW leadership election. Fain also claims that Boyer is the one retaliating after Fain “refused the vice president's request to hire family members to positions in the union.” Fain has long maintained that the Justice Department, and specifically the DOJ-appointed monitor, Neil Barofsky, has a political grudge against him because “the UAW took an anti-war stance about what was happening in Gaza.” According to Bloomberg, “Both Fain and Boyer have slates running and each is accusing the other of attempting to abuse their positions to benefit family.”* This week, another victim of harassment by the federal government, student activist Mahmoud Khalil, filed a landmark civil rights suit alleging that the government conspired with a number of private groups – including the Heritage Foundation, Betar, and Canary Mission – to “suppress criticism of Israel through a coordinated campaign to dox, jail and ultimately deport student activists.” According to the lawsuit, said activists were “nearly automatically targeted by the Federal Defendants for arrest and removal.” Khalil's lawyers argue that this “public-private partnership” could violate the “Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law that sought to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups.” The suit is led by the Center for Constitutional Rights. The AP reports “Soon after his arrest, both Canary Mission and Betar boasted of their role in flagging Khalil's noncitizen status to the government.” Since Khalil's arrest, Betar has agreed to “dissolve its nonprofit status,” following a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accusing Betar's members of harassing Palestinians.* Turning to the state level, this week 12 state attorneys general, led by California's Rob Bonta, filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance, controlled by the Trump-aligned David Ellison. The proposed, $110 billion merger was approved by the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department last month, which reached the dubious conclusion that the merger is “not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers.” In the filing, Bonta and the state AGs for Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington allege that the merger “would extinguish competition between Paramount and Warner Bros. and inflict substantial harm on movie theatres, basic cable distributors, and, ultimately, audiences nationwide.” This from Reason.* In the world of philanthropy, CNBC reports Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has “excluded the Gates Foundation from his sizable annual charitable donations.” As this report notes, the Gates Foundation has been among the top recipients of his annual Berkshire donations, totaling $47 billion worth of Berkshire stock since 2006. The reason for the exclusion of the Gates Foundation has been much speculated upon, in particular, whether it was due to the recent revelations about Gates' relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Asked about this, Buffett said that he had “read a great deal…in terms of what happened, with Bill and Epstein,” calling their relationship “distasteful,” but also saying that he “found nothing in there that was beyond what [he] could picture [himself] doing.” Instead of the Gates Foundation, all of this year's donations will go to foundations linked to the Buffett family.* Finally, British multinational diamond conglomerate De Beers, famous for coining the “A Diamond is Forever” tagline in 1947, reported this week that they plan to halt work at their “flagship” Venetia mine in South Africa as demand for the stones wanes. The BBC highlights both slackening consumer demand as well as competition from lab-grown diamonds, particularly those produced in China. That said, the closing of the Venetia mine – the biggest in South Africa, accounting for over 40% of the country's diamond production – will send shockwaves through that country's already shaky economy. That mine alone employs more than 4,000 people, while the mining sector employs nearly half a million. De Beers said they plan to reopen the mine in two years; in the meantime, they are looking to expand copper mining to keep up with demand from AI data centers.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

This Day in Maine Wednesday, July 15th, 2026

Facilities face pushback nationwide Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order on Tuesday (July 14) imposing the country's first moratorium on data centers, whose hunger for electricity and water has raised fears of higher electricity bills and depleted aquifers. The order prohibits the Department of Environmental Conservation from issuing permits or licenses for pending data center applications for one year. It also tasks the agency and the Department of Public Service with developing standards to assess potential environmental impacts from the facilities. The warehouse-sized centers can house thousands of servers that are the repositories for the documents, images and video stored and shared by Americans through their smartphones and computers. Their construction has accelerated in recent years, driven first by cloud computing and cryptocurrency trading, and now by the processing needs of artificial intelligence (AI). Local officials and residents have expressed concerned that the energy required to run data centers will leave homeowners and small businesses paying higher rates and footing the bill for upgraded power lines. There are also fears that the water used to cool equipment will threaten aquifers and groundwater. New York will establish the "strongest standards in the nation," said Hochul, who opted to issue an executive order rather than sign a one-year moratorium approved by the Legislature. Her order directs Empire State Development to develop guidance for municipalities to obtain benefits from companies that want to build data centers. Earlier this year, Maine seemed poised to establish a similar moratorium. But the measure was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills because it would have blocked a proposed data center in a town that has struggled after a mill closed. Moratoriums have been proposed in at least a dozen states but have not gotten far, though some counties and municipalities have imposed temporary bans. For instance, the East Fishkill Town Board approved a three-year moratorium on June 25 after a nearly two-hour public hearing. The moratorium, which ends on July 1, 2029, prohibits permitting or consideration of any data center "until the completion of federal and state studies" of their power and water usage, noise and heat emissions. It passed amid protests from residents who learned that Treetop Companies had asked the New York Independent System Operator, which operates the state grid, to study the impact of an AI processing and cloud computing center at its property off Donovan Drive. While Treetop's center would connect to Con Edison's grid, NYISO will also study its effect on the Central Hudson's system, which distributes power to residents in Beacon and Philipstown. A proposal to build a 200-megawatt data facility at the shuttered Indian Point is also being studied. Protests also accompanied a vote by the Orangetown Planning Board on July 8 to require DataBank to undergo an environmental impact study of its plan to expand an existing data center. Bloomberg and JPMorgan want to expand data centers in Orangetown, and a developer is proposing to build a facility there. More than 100 communities nationwide have passed moratoriums, and eight municipalities and the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina have approved permanent bans, according to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker. The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Tuesday, July 14, 2026 Today, Trump will give a Thursday night address likely to produce falsified evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 election; a federal judge has sanctioned two lawyers and referred Blanche and Woodward to the Bar for disciplinary action after finding Donald's lawsuit against the IRS was a fraud on the court; the Justice Department has finally turned over evidence in the shooting case of Renée Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis; 12 states have filed a lawsuit to block the Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. merger; the Governor of South Carolina has appointed Lindsey Graham's sister to take over his Senate seat for the remainder of the term; ICE agents have killed another person in a vehicle in Biddeford Maine sparking protests at Susan Collins' office; 20 agents from the FBI and other federal agencies were seen with U.S. Capitol Police officers entering Lindsey Graham's house; Katie Phang fires back at Todd Blanche's refusal to release court-ordered Epstein documents; plus Allison delivers your Good News. 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Ralph speaks to historian Omer Bartov about his new book “Israel: What Went Wrong?” with special guest, international law expert Bruce FeinBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.Many of the things that you describe in Israel apply in spades in the United States. We also have an administration that says we're being invaded militarily by Venezuela gangs, so we have to go kidnap their president and annex Venezuela. We've stated that Iran is an existential threat to the United States because at some future time, it's conceivable they may get one nuclear weapon. We have 5,000, Israel probably has 300 or 400. Or make the argument that we are being invaded by defenseless immigrants across the southern border. And it does seem to me that all countries—I don't think it's unique anyway to the United States or Israel, but it's generally true those in power are there to manufacture fear, to inflate fleas into elephants and say “My gosh, tomorrow the sky is falling down. We need to have national emergencies, rule by decree.” Everything is “an imminent danger”, the Communist domino theory. It's a very challenging issue. I say what you've described in Israel is not unique to Israel. We confront it every day right in the United States. And it works.Bruce FeinOmer Bartov is the Dean's Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University. A historian, Professor Bartov was born on a kibbutz, grew up in Tel Aviv, and served in the Israel Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War. He went on to become a leading scholar of the German army and the Holocaust, before turning his attention to his native country. His early research concerned the Nazi indoctrination of the Wehrmacht and the crimes it committed in World War II. He then turned to the links between total war and genocide and interethnic relations in the borderlands of Eastern Europe. His current interest is reflected in his recent books, Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis, Israel: What Went Wrong?, and the forthcoming The Broken Promise: A Personal Political History of Israel and Palestine. The whole idea of creating a Jewish state (and it says so in the Proclamation of the State from May 1948) is that it would be a state for Jews—that it would be both Jewish and democratic. And that has proven to be not possible. A Jewish state can be both Jewish and democratic only if the overwhelming majority (if not all) of its citizens are Jews.Omer Bartov[Zionist zealots] believe that history is on their side—so in that sense, they are similar to Communists they're similar to Fascists they're similar to Nazis in that they believe that they can see the way forward, they know the logic of history, and the logic of history as they see it is on their side.Omer BartovIn Israel, since the 1980s (really since after the War of 1973, with the rise of the right wing in Israel in particular) the Holocaust has come to serve a particular purpose. Instead of being commemorated as an event that happened in the past that we should remember and commemorate and research, it's become a kind of image of an imminent danger to Israel. And the farther Israel has moved from the actual event of the Holocaust, and the more the Israeli army has become the military hegemon in its region, the more this alleged threat of an “Auschwitz around the corner” has been used by Israeli governments. Why has it been used? Because Israel actually needs to explain to itself and to its citizens: Why is it bossing it over millions of Palestinians? Half of the population under Israeli control are Palestinians. Two million are citizens, but they don't have equal rights, and the others have no rights at all (they're simply under arbitrary military rule). So how do you explain that? You explain that by telling your population and the rest of the world that those Palestinians—who have no power, who can never pose a threat to you—are an existential threat. And in Israel, that has worked quite well.Omer BartovBecause of the focus on Hebrew—to create Hebrew as a mother tongue for children whose mothers didn't speak Hebrew—because of that, there was a great antagonism towards speaking any other language. And the notion of having bilingual schools (that is, of having schools in Palestine where people would learn both Hebrew and Arabic, the language of the place) is not entertained by the vast majority of educators. Now, if you think about what would have been the result of having bilingual schools already in the 1920s and 30s, that children could speak each other's language and recognize each other's culture—that could have had a huge effect on how Zionism developed and how the state would have developed. But in today's Israel, the only bilingual population are the Palestinians. Palestinian citizens of Israel speak Arabic and Hebrew. Most Israelis don't speak Arabic. And most Israelis who trace themselves (quite large numbers) not to Europe, but to North Africa and the Middle East, where their parents and grandparents spoke Arabic (this was their language) have forgotten that language and were ashamed of their parents speaking it because it associated them with the Arabs. So the loss in this kind of creation of a nation around one language was the ability to imagine yourself as sharing the space with another group.Omer Bartov * Our top story concerns a progressive insurgent running in a must-win Senate race – and not the one you're thinking of. Late last week, Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed won the endorsement of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The New York Times notes that this is AOC's first Senate endorsement of this cycle, coming just about a month ahead of the August 4th Michigan primary. El-Sayed is quoted saying that he is “honored for what her support says about what this campaign is building and what we're fighting for,” adding that he thinks that “too many establishment Democrats are…afraid that I will win.” He pointedly attacked Senator Chuck Schumer, charging that the Minority Leader “doesn't want to see me on the inside of the U.S. Senate,” because El-Sayed would “call out the kind of politics where we take money from corporations and AIPAC to run milquetoast campaigns and don't say anything about the problems that everyday people are facing.” El-Sayed has announced that he will campaign with AOC and Senator Bernie Sanders in Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids on July 18th and 19th, per MLive.* Another earthquake occurred in the Michigan Senate race on July 5th, when State Senator Mallory McMorrow announced that she would be withdrawing from the race – turning what was a competitive three-way race into a head-to-head between El-Sayed and the Democratic establishment pick, Congresswoman Haley Stevens. The Detroit Free Press notes that this announcement “comes after absentee ballots have already been mailed out to some voters and too late to remove her name from the primary ballot,” though voters are able to rescind their absentee votes and submit new ones up through Friday, July 24th. In a video statement, McMorrow maintained that “People are crying out for change and we need to listen.” McMorrow once led her opponents in this race but saw her support collapse and was trailing in a distant third place in recent polls. Rumor also had it that outgoing Senator Gary Peters was privately calling for her to exit the race so centrists could consolidate around Stevens. While many of her supporters are expected to go to Stevens, El-Sayed is energetically courting McMorrow's voters as well. The Detroit News reports McMorrow herself has announced that she will remain neutral in the remaining days of the primary, leaving her voters to vote their own consciences.* In more Michigan news, DSA-backed congressional candidate Donavan McKinney is running strong in his primary campaign against incumbent Congressman Shri Thanedar, whom McKinney has labeled “​​Detroit's own Elon Musk,” according to the New York Post. If McKinney pulls it off, he will join the growing group of DSA members in the House, along with Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier and AOC from New York, Chris Rabb and Melat Kiros from Pennsylvania and Colorado respectively, and Rashida Tlaib from Michigan. Another candidate endorsed by his local DSA chapter, Kyle Blomquist, is running for Congress in Michigan but even if he wins his primary he is not expected to flip the deep red 1st congressional district.* In Missouri, Cori Bush has also won the support of DSA for her comeback congressional run against Wesley Bell, who defeated her in the 2024 primary, Andrew Solender reports. Bush had already won the support of her local DSA chapter, along with many other progressive organizations, and has been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, and former Congressman Jamaal Bowman. This week though, she won the support of the national DSA. In a statement, Bush wrote “I am honored to be once again endorsed by the Democratic [Socialists] of America as I campaign to return to Congress and keep building our movement to fight for economic justice, Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and a world where everyday people have a real voice in our workplace's neighborhoods and society.” Bush also praised DSA for its “decades of organizing…[mobilizing] thousands of people across the country to demand an economy that works for all of us…[and] take on war profiteers, the for-profit healthcare industry, and the billionaire funded lobbies that subvert our democracy.” There has been little polling of this race, but what there has been appears to show the race in a statistical dead heat. One sign that Bush is being taken seriously is the new $865,000 ad buy taken out by the United Democracy Project, an AIPAC cutout.* Ironically, it would seem that American Jews have a more favorable view of the progressive left than Israel. According to the Forward, a new AP poll found that “44% of American Jews hold a favorable opinion of Zohran Mamdani, compared with 39% who view him unfavorably.” This is in contrast to the 32% of respondents who said they have a favorable opinion of Netanyahu and 59% who said they have a negative view of the Israeli PM. Perhaps more surprisingly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a “staunch supporter of Israel,” garnered only a 41% favorability rating, though far more respondents said they don't know enough about him to have an opinion than said they have a negative view.* Turning back to the Senate, the other major story this week of course is the fall of Graham Platner. Accusations of sexual assault, detailed in a POLITICO article, resulted in a deluge of opprobrium that cascaded upwards culminating in Platner's earliest and highest profile supporter, Senator Bernie Sanders, calling on him to drop out of the Senate race in Maine. In a video message released Wednesday, Platner stated that he would be suspending his campaign effective immediately, later telling staff that he plans to wait until Monday, the final possible day, to formally withdraw from the race, Axios reports. In the same video, Platner categorically denied the accusations calling them “all false,” and maintaining that the “things that have been claimed did not happen.” He implied that the scandal was orchestrated by “those in power“ who would “rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next Senator from Maine.”* Platner's impending, late-stage withdrawal from the race has set off a chaotic blitz primary to replace him as the Democratic nominee. Numerous candidates have announced they are running including former Maine Senate president Troy Jackson, former Director of Maine's Center for Disease, Control and Prevention Nirav Shah, co-founder of Maine beer company Dan Kleban, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and state lawmaker Valli Geiger, along with Jordan Wood and Paige Loud, both of whom ran in the Maine second congressional district Democratic primary. The actual process for selecting a nominee has been the subject of debate – with many progressives arguing for caucuses – but POLITICO reports that by July 27th, “600 delegates must be selected,” including 500 from the state's 16 county parties, and these delegates will decide on a candidate to replace Platner via “an unprecedented nominating convention,” wherein all delegates come in unpledged to any candidate setting the stage for “what could be a raucous and unpredictable free-for-all.” It remains to be seen how this will all shake out, but it is notable that almost all of these candidates poll very strongly against Senator Susan Collins, with many polling higher than Platner ever did, while the Democratic Party's handpicked primary candidate, sitting Governor Janet Mills, still polls lower than Platner even since the scandal broke.* For our final Senate story, we turn to the senior Senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell. McConnell was recently found unconscious in his Washington, DC home and has been hospitalized since, and while Republican Senators and media figures like Scott Jennings claim to have spoken with him directly, his being sequestered away from the public has fueled rampant speculation about the severity of his condition and why it is being kept so secretive. Forbes reports that some figures on the right, including Steve Bannon, are “suggesting the Republican establishment is shielding the state of McConnell's health from the public to allow him to remain in office long enough to avoid [Kentucky Congressman Thomas] Massie running for his seat.” Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene told TMZ, “Thomas Massie would make a great senator.” The Hill reports that Andy Beshear, the Democratic Governor of Kentucky, sent a letter to McConnell's Senate office strongly requesting an update on the Senator's health, noting that “Over the last several weeks, Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the health and well-being of Sen. McConnell,” and that “Allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians, and my hope is that this provides him the opportunity to share the information in a transparent manner, direct from the source.”* In more positive news, AP reports former Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan, who helped an immigrant escape ICE by ushering him through her jury room door was spared prison time in her sentencing this week. After the incident in her court room, Dugan was convicted of felony obstruction in what was widely seen as a political trial designed to exact retribution on behalf of the Trump administration. Dugan resigned her circuit judgeship under this assault; in her resignation letter, she warned that this prosecution threatened “the independence of our judiciary.” Dugan was fined $5,000.* Finally, in spiritual news, a story in the National Catholic Reporter recounts how Pope Leo XIV excommunicated thousands of clergy and followers of the far right, schismatic group, the Society of St. Pius X. While bishops and priests are judged prima facie schismatic for their consecration in the Society, lay followers of the sect will be judged schismatic if they consciously choose “adherence to the society over obedience to the pope,” and “exclusive participation in Lefebvrian ‘ecclesial' acts, without taking part in the acts of the Catholic Church,” a reference to the group's founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The proximate cause of this excommunication was the Society creating four new bishops in open defiance of Pope Leo, essentially daring the Church to act. This piece notes that the Society “has long been a thorn in the side of Rome,” and notes that the new papal decree rolls back privileges granted to the sect under Pope Francis, including administering the sacrament of penance and solemnizing marriages.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

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Dave from Maine joins the show to give us a play-by-play on his viral video confronting Janet Mills at the airport.  Visit the Howie Carr Radio Network website to access columns, podcasts, and other exclusive content. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Graham Platner is out… but is he? Last night in Maine, he released an 11-minute video that savaged the Democratic establishment and the progressive establishment. He blamed everybody but himself for why he's suspending his campaign, saying all of his resources were taken away from him. The people who didn't fight for him — Ro Khanna, Bernie Sanders, Hasan Piker — all wound up in the blast radius.Everybody wanted Platner to be a lot more conciliatory. He was not. He was forceful. He took what he wanted. But here's the big question: you can't declare bankruptcy like Michael Scott. You can't just walk into the office and yell, “Bankruptcy.” You need to file paperwork. So even though Graham Platner suspended his campaign on Twitter, that doesn't mean his campaign is suspended in real life.Politics Politics Politics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.He's telling people he'll suspend his campaign on Monday. By the way, Monday is when he needs to file by. If Graham Platner gets a little sleepy on Monday and forgets to file, then there's no replacement. He's the nominee. That's something to keep an eye on. Now, full transparency: I don't believe he's going to do that. I do believe he's going to file either then or sooner, and this will eventually blow over. But, still, with this guy, you really never know.So the question becomes: who's running against Susan Collins? A handful of names are now in the mix, and they'll essentially be decided at a hastily thrown together state convention sometime in the next few weeks, because Democrats need an answer by July 27th. Troy Jackson tends to be more of the favorite of the progressives. Nirav Shah, the former Maine CDC director, is in the conversation. Dan Kleban, who had initially been running against Platner before dropping out when Janet Mills got involved, is back in a big way. Jordan Wood, Paige Loud, and Shenna Bellows bring up the rear.I don't know exactly what happens at that convention. Are they all going to debate on one stage? Are they just going to make their pitches and then have a back and forth? I do know this: if you leave it up to the supporters of those people, they're going to start knifing each other. And if you're a Democrat trying to take down Susan Collins, that's the last thing you want. You don't want this to get fractious.There's some polling from a pro-Nirav Shah outside group showing Shah up on Collins 47-46, Collins up on Troy Jackson 48-47, and Collins tied with Shenna Bellows 47-47. I don't know whether that's a reputable outfit or whether those are reputable polls. What I'll say is this: if you're tied with Susan Collins, you're losing. Platner, before the disaster, was running about eight to ten points ahead of Susan Collins. Now Democrats are looking at people who are tied, and Susan Collins regularly outperforms her polls by six to eight points. So if you're tied with Susan Collins, you're losing. Have we seen the last of Graham Platner? Man, I really don't know.Chapters00:00 - Intro03:52 - Graham Platner09:47 - Trump's Plane Switch12:40 - Mexico, ICE, and Dems Polling18:55 - Interview with Juliegrace Brufke52:36 - Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe

Fox's Capitol Hill correspondent Chad Pergram joins Marc with sharp insight on the Senate battlefield. Pergram breaks down how Graham Plattner's withdrawal exposes a deeper Democrat civil war between unvetted progressive insurgents and party establishment picks like Janet Mills, and lays out the tough map Democrats face trying to flip the Senate, needing wins in Georgia, Michigan, and beyond just to make Maine matter. He and Marc dig into the murky, weeks-long mystery surrounding Mitch McConnell's hospitalization, with Pergram urging caution against speculation while noting Republican leadership's apparent effort to show proof of life. The conversation draws a parallel to Congressman Tom Kean Jr.'s unexplained absence and raises real questions about lawmakers' responsibility to be forthcoming with constituents about their health. The Marc Cox Morning Show gets the inside scoop straight from Capitol Hill. Coming up: O'Fallon councilman Doug Link on the apartment moratorium debate. Hashtags: #MarcCoxMorningShow #ChadPergram #CapitolHill #MitchMcConnell #GrahamPlattner #SenateMajority #SusanCollins #DemocratPartyCivilWar #FaithFamilyFreedom #STLNews #MissouriPolitics #STLRadio

U.S. forces have carried out another round of strikes against Iran, targeting military sites along the country's coastline. U.S. Central Command said Monday's operation was aimed at reducing Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM says it struck about 90 Iranian military targets, including air defense systems, missiles and drone storage sites, naval assets and logistics infrastructure. CENTCOM says more than 20 U.S. Navy warships are now patrolling waters across the Middle East, and that U.S. forces remain ready to conduct additional operations if ordered.Graham Platner, the Senate candidate and self-described progressive from Maine, has dropped out of the race for one of Maine's Senate seats. It comes after mounting calls from within his own party, following a sexual assault allegation. In the state's primary last month, Platner was contending with Janet Mills, who won 41,000 votes compared to his 156,000 votes. Maine is a top target for one of the four seats Democrats need to gain to take control of the upper chamber. His replacement will be up against long-time Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who's held her seat since 1996.Bonnie Tyler, the three-time Grammy-nominated Welsh pop star, has died at the age of 75. A statement from her family says she died in a hospital in Portugal, where she was being treated for an illness. Tyler was known for her iconic gravelly tone, which helped her send her song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to the top of the charts. Some of her other famous releases include "Holding Out for a Hero," "It's a Heartache," and "Lost in France." She represented Britain in the 2013 Eurovision Song contest, and was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire in 2022 for her contributions to music.

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

July 7, 2026; 4pm: Time is of the essence, as Platner must drop out by this upcoming Monday, July 13, in order for Democrats to be able to replace him on the ballot. If he does drop out, the Maine Democratic Party has until July 27 to replace him on the ballot.   For more from Nicolle, follow and download her podcast, “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace,” wherever you get your podcasts.To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman break down the Graham Plattner Senate campaign finally hitting the wall it was always speeding toward, and neither of them pretends to be surprised. They walk through the accusation that dropped hours before recording, why the red flags were flying for months, and whether Janet Mills can salvage the Maine seat from Susan Collins without dragging the stink along. Then it's on to America's 250th birthday, a flyover-heavy festival of military hardware and stolen riches with a banking trail that runs straight to Trump's personal checking account. Trump also phoned FIFA to un-red-card his way to a better World Cup match, which somehow loops back to Christopher Steele, bribery, and the reliably rotten heart of the beautiful game. It all comes back to the sting of realizing you've been conned: the sudden fall of Freddy the German soccer fan, Michael Cohen angling to be the next Rush Limbaugh, and every "resistance" grifter who turned out to be in it for the money. Plus a check-in on Mitch McConnell's convalescence, and the mystery of why his wife suddenly needed to be in China. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon to hear the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

Scandal-ridden Graham Platner easily defeated Governor Janet Mills to become the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine. Will his controversies hurt him with voters? How has the Trump era changed the way voters respond to political scandal? This week on Say More's politics panel, Globe opinion writer Abdallah Fayyad and Joan Vennochi compare Platner's campaign to another scandalous Democrat in Boston, Rachael Rollins, who is running to reclaim her role as Suffolk County District Attorney. Then, they discuss a compromise on Massachusetts rent control and the World Cup in Boston. Email us at saymore@globe.com

On Tuesday night, oyster farmer and combat veteran Graham Platner overwhelmingly sailed to victory in the Democratic Senate primary in Maine. His opponent, Gov. Janet Mills unofficially dropped out in late April, leaving Platner effectively unopposed. But a series of scandals rocked his candidacy, leaving his viability against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November in question.The veteran has repeatedly emphasized the way his combat trauma made him a worse version of himself, and how in later years he has been able to heal and evolve. In Maine, Democrats so far appear to have accepted that message of redemption, and his promise to provide a progressive economic agenda for Maine.“It's a very working-class state that has been very badly impacted by job loss and then, in recent years, by a pretty extreme wave of gentrification,” Intercept reporter Noah Hurowitz says. “The progressive policy agenda of Graham Platner combined with the perceived authenticity of his ‘I am a fighter, I will actually do this,' whereas Janet Mills who has been in power and overseen a lot of this and has not been perceived to bring a lot of the changes that Mainers seek” is resonating with voters. We also check in on California, where Intercept contributor Jordan Uhl breaks down the latest conspiracy theories about voter suppression, which conservatives have hinged on the defeat of former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, and the early results in the governor's race. Uhl also breaks down how betting platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are adding to the confusion, and what that could mean come November. “If they don't like the outcome, it's rigged. If they like the outcome, it's fine,” says Uhl. “At the gubernatorial level, you can see how Megyn Kelly pointing to prediction market data is symptomatic of a larger problem here. People weren't looking to actual polling data. They were looking to the behavior of gamblers to inform their analysis.”Full transcript: https://interc.pt/3S6IcaaKeep our investigations free and fearless at theintercept.com/join. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this provocative commentary, the hosts highlight a perceived double standard in how hate symbols are treated in America based on political affiliation. The segment opens by discussing two recent instances in South Carolina—in Richland County and Hilton Head—where individuals faced severe backlash and enhanced criminal charges under local hate crime ordinances for spray-painting swastikas on property. The hosts contrast these local crackdowns with the national political stage, focusing on the unfolding controversy surrounding Graham Platner, the progressive candidate who just won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Maine. Despite mainstream media confirmations and reports from ex-girlfriends that Platner sports an SS Totenkopf tattoo—the symbol worn by Nazi concentration camp administrators—his popularity among the Democratic base actually surged. After his main primary opponent, Governor Janet Mills, suspended her campaign, Platner's polling numbers jumped from 61% to a commanding 73% victory. The commentary sharply critiques the political Left, accusing primary voters of harboring a deep anti-Americanism and utilizing online platforms like Blue Sky to mask extreme ideologies, concluding that the establishment is willing to overlook literal hate symbols when they are attached to an aligned political agenda. Graham Platner, Maine Senate primary, Janet Mills, Susan Collins, Richland County, Hilton Head, Hate crime laws, Swastika graffiti, SS Totenkopf tattoo, Double standards, Blue Sky, Political commentary

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

In part one of Red Eye Radio with Gary McNamara and Eric Harley, voters in Maine have spoken. Liberal upstart Graham Platner won Maine's Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday night, defeating Maine Gov. Janet Mills weeks after the more establishment-backed pick ended her campaign. The Associated Press called the race soon after polls in Maine closed at 8 p.m., where voters in the state are not only weighing in on one of the nation's most significant Senate races but also on a comeback attempt for a controversial former governor and a contest to decide the next governor that features several famous names. Also a Collin County jury has sentenced Karmelo Anthony to 35 years in prison after he was found guilty of murder in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Memorial High School student Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas / Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham squeaked out a win Tuesday night in a crowded primary race for the Republican nomination in South Carolina / During a House Judiciary Committee hearing attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center, Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas gets a gentle rebuke from the niece of MLK / President Trump locks in ICE funding through end of presidency after the House passes $70B package / Social Security Administration projected to run out reserves in 7 years / and "Pet Talk" with Gary and Eric. For more talk on the issues that matter to you, listen on radio stations across America Monday-Friday 12am-5am CT (1am-6am ET and 10pm-3am PT), download the RED EYE RADIO SHOW app, asking your smart speaker, or listening at RedEyeRadioShow.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Graham Platner blows out his primary in Maine following the multiple assault allegations and N*zi tattoo on his chest. The attempted murder caught on camera by a Sudanese immigrant has resulted in setting things on fire in Belfast. How did Janet Mills run this poorly of a race?! More on Karmelo Anthony.Thank you for supporting our sponsors that make The Dana Show possible…Relief Factorhttps://www.ReliefFactor.comDeclare your independence from pain with Relief Factor—start the 3-Week QuickStart for just $17.76Prebornhttps://www.PreBorn.com/DanaDonate today to help another Mother and Father experience hope. $28 sponsors one ultrasound and can help save a baby's life. Or Dial  #250 and say BABYNative Path Grass Fed Collagenhttps://GetNativePath.com/DanaFor my special offer get up to 45% OFF. Try it risk-free with a 365-day money-back guarantee.Byrnahttps://Byrna.com/DanaTrusted by law enforcement, security professionals, and everyday Americans—defend yourself and your family with Byrna.HumanNhttps://Humann.com/DanaSave $5 on HumanN Cholesterol Health Daily at Sam's Club. Head to your local Sam's Club and do more to support your cholesterol health with the science-first brand. Patriot Mobilehttp://PatriotMobile.com/DANAVisit online or call 972-PATRIOT and use promo code DANA for a FREE month of service.Ghost Bedhttps://GhostBed.com/DANAGhostBed has the cooling luxury mattress you need for the best summer sleep. Use code DANA for an extra 10% off sitewide.Noble Goldhttps://NobleGoldInvestments.com/DanaIf you want to see how physical gold and silver could fit into your portfolio, download Noble Gold Investments FREE Wealth Protection Kit. Pocket HoseText DANA to 64000For a limited time, get two FREE gifts—a 360° rotating pocket pivot and thumb drive nozzle when you buy a new Pocket Hose Ballistic; just text DANA to 64000, message and data rates may apply.Subscribe today and stay in the loop on all things news with The Dana Show. Follow us here for more daily clips, updates, and commentary:YoutubeFacebookInstagramXMore InfoWebsite

Chuck Todd opens with the resolution of a story he's been tracking for weeks: Graham Platner cruised to victory in Maine, comfortably clearing 70% even with Janet Mills' name still on the ballot — which he says means the scandals that had Platner in "save my campaign" mode turned out to be far less than a five-alarm fire. The deeper lesson, Chuck argues, is uncomfortable but revealing: for a significant share of Democratic primary voters, high character has become a luxury item, because the base is so exhausted by losing and capitulating to the establishment that it will forgive a flawed candidate who actually seems willing to fight. He notes that Maine has gotten meaningfully bluer since Susan Collins was last on the ballot (Harris underperformed nationally but actually drew more raw votes in Maine than Biden did), that a generic Democrat should win this seat by six or seven points, and that the only real question left is how many squeamish Democrats sit the race out rather than pull the lever for Platner. He runs through the rest of the night — Lindsey Graham narrowly avoided a runoff in South Carolina, the GOP gubernatorial race there is headed to a runoff that knocked out both Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — and pulls back to identify the defining theme of the entire 2026 cycle: everyone, in both parties, is running on a message of change, with no candidate anywhere running on restoration the way Biden did in 2020. The messaging this cycle is relentlessly future-focused, the exact opposite of Trump's nostalgia, and Chuck reiterates his running observation that the worst possible first name to have in politics right now is "congressman" — because Washington experience carries zero value to voters this cycle. The split-screen between the parties remains stark: Republican voters still reward confrontation while Democratic primary voters are gravitating toward electability and consensus, Democratic turnout is rising while GOP turnout is flat or falling, and the throughline that's held for a decade is only intensifying — voters are demanding major change, and they'll punish anyone who doesn't offer it. Then, Lauren Pinkston — the independent candidate for governor of Tennessee — joins the Chuck Toddcast to make the case that the deepest problem in her state isn't left versus right, it's the near-total absence of two-party competition that has allowed one-party rule to calcify into something genuinely unhealthy. Pinkston, who was raised in an evangelical environment where she was taught that voting Democrat meant going to hell, offers a fascinating personal and political journey: she lived in communist Laos where people were persecuted for their faith, which gave her a firsthand understanding of why the Founders deliberately kept Christianity out of the Constitution, and she's now running explicitly against the kind of Christian nationalism that teaches America was divinely ordained. She argues Citizens United is a major reason Tennessee became so uncompetitive, walks through the mechanical difficulties of mounting a serious independent campaign, and contends that Marsha Blackburn isn't nearly as strong a candidate as she thinks she is. The conversation digs into Pinkston's actual governing vision and her theory of how an independent can build a winning coalition in one of the reddest states in the country. She wants to reform education and make teaching a genuinely fun profession again, and she's passionate about the way Nashville soaks up all the state's political investment while Memphis gets neglected — pointing out that crime in Memphis is at a 20-year low yet the city still can't attract investment, and that St. Jude is struggling to recruit talent because of H1-B visa denials. Pinkston is candid about the structural obstacles: Tennessee's constitution doesn't even allow for ballot measures, the GOP holds a stranglehold on the statehouse, and Republican leadership has been kicking moderate candidates off the ballot entirely. But she argues there's a real opening — Republicans in the state are looking for an offramp that isn't a Democrat, and even staunch Democrats are frustrated with their own party. Pinkston is energized about working with the Working Families Party and the Forward Party to build toward a more moderate, genuinely competitive two-party system, argues this is the strongest group of independent candidates to run in years, and wonders aloud whether being "too educated" has perversely become a negative quality in a candidate. She closes with a sharp observation that cuts to the heart of the whole project: Americans demand more than two options for literally everything in their lives except politics, politicians increasingly rely on performance over substance, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip parties and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:15 Graham Platner cruised to victory will Janet Mills still on the ballot 04:15 Platner comfortably cleared 70%, it’s not a five alarm fire 05:45 Will there be more scandals from Platner? If so, what type? 06:30 For some primary voters, high character is a luxury item 08:15 The Democratic base is tired of losing & capitulating to establishment 08:45 A Platner election victory could change perception of the Democrats 10:30 Maine has gotten bluer since the last time Collins was on the ballot 11:30 Harris underperformed nationally, but had more raw vote in Maine than Biden 13:30 How many Dems will sit out the race rather than vote for Platner? 15:00 A generic Dem should win this race by 6-7 points 16:00 Lindsey Graham manages to avoid a runoff 16:45 South Carolina GOP gubernatorial race headed to runoff 17:15 Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman didn’t make the runoff 18:30 Everybody running in 2026 is running on a message of change 19:30 There’s no message of restoration similar to Biden’s campaign 20:30 Messaging is more future focused, the opposite of Trump 21:30 The worst first name to have in politics is congressman 24:45 Washington experience won’t carry value to voters this cycle 26:00 GOP voters still seemingly reward confrontation 27:00 Dem primary voters looking to electability/consensus candidates 28:45 Dem turnout on the rise, GOP turnout stagnant or down 29:30 For a decade, voters are demanding major change 36:45 Lauren Pinkston joins the Chuck ToddCast 37:45 Why run for governor as an independent? 39:00 There’s a lack of two party competition in Tennessee 40:45 Some of the barriers for an insurgent candidacy have been removed 42:45 Citizen’s United was a big reason for TN becoming uncompetitive 43:30 Lauren was raised to feel that voting Dem meant going to hell 45:30 Politics has courted the evangelical vote & leaders for decades 46:15 Jimmy Carter’s pure faith made it harder for him to govern 47:00 Churches teach nationalism & that America was ordained by god 48:00 Founders specifically didn’t put christianity & religion into the constitution 49:00 Lauren lived in communist Laos, where people were persecuted for their faith 50:00 The mechanical difficulties of running as an independent 51:15 Businesses afraid to support a non-Republican candidate in TN 52:45 Democratic opponent has been receiving calls to drop out 54:00 Any chance Marsha Blackburn isn’t the GOP nominee? 54:45 Blackburn isn’t as strong of a candidate as she thinks she is 55:15 Three leading candidates are white women with colors in their name 56:45 What big ideas are you proposing that you hope stick with voters? 57:15 Want to reform education and make it a fun field for teachers to work 58:45 Nashville gets all the political support and Memphis gets neglected 59:30 Crime is at a 20 year low in Memphis, but it still doesn’t get investment 1:00:30 St. Jude struggling to recruit due to denial of H1-B visas 1:01:00 How would you govern with a Republican stranglehold on the statehouse? 1:01:45 State constitution doesn’t even allow for ballot measures 1:02:30 Need to invest in Chief Information Officers are the county level 1:04:00 Attracting support from disaffected Democrats and Republicans 1:06:30 There’s a deep history of good governance out of east Tennessee 1:07:45 Need leaders and not party puppets 1:08:45 GOP leadership in the state has kicked moderate candidates off the ballot 1:09:45 Republicans in the state are looking for an offramp that isn’t a Democrat 1:10:15 What does your winning coalition look like? 1:12:30 Can you succeed without winning? 1:13:00 Want to give people an onramp to political engagement 1:14:15 Excited about working with WFP and Forward Party 1:14:45 Want to create a more moderate two party system 1:16:30 Strongest group of independent candidates running in years 1:17:30 Possible that being too educated will be a negative quality in a candidate 1:19:00 Voter turnout is pretty low in both Nashville and Memphis 1:20:45 Even the most staunch Democrats are frustrated with their party 1:22:00 It will be hard to get either opponent to agree to a debate 1:24:00 People demand more than two options for everything except politics 1:26:00 Politicians rely more on performance now than substance 1:27:45 People will die if governing isn’t taken seriously 1:29:15 Lack of competition in one party states isn’t good for democracy 1:30:30 Independents have better chance to win in one party states 1:32:30 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 1:33:45 More senate seats are creeping to “in play” status 1:36:00 #1 North Carolina 1:37:45 #2 Ohio 1:40:45 #3 Michigan 1:44:15 #4 Iowa 1:47:15 #5 Maine 1:52:15 Ask Chuck 1:52:30 Could politicians' investments be limited by law to index funds? 1:54:15 Correction on Jeri Ryan’s Star Trek series 1:55:45 If candidates like Platner and El-Sayed lose, could progressives change course? 2:01:45 Will Trump’s disciples try to be too much like him once he leaves politics? 2:05:30 Are you seeing a real shift in coverage from CBS News? 2:10:45 Thoughts on Brendan Soresby being reinstated after gambling on himselfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with the resolution of a story he's been tracking for weeks: Graham Platner cruised to victory in Maine, comfortably clearing 70% even with Janet Mills' name still on the ballot — which he says means the scandals that had Platner in "save my campaign" mode turned out to be far less than a five-alarm fire. The deeper lesson, Chuck argues, is uncomfortable but revealing: for a significant share of Democratic primary voters, high character has become a luxury item, because the base is so exhausted by losing and capitulating to the establishment that it will forgive a flawed candidate who actually seems willing to fight. He notes that Maine has gotten meaningfully bluer since Susan Collins was last on the ballot (Harris underperformed nationally but actually drew more raw votes in Maine than Biden did), that a generic Democrat should win this seat by six or seven points, and that the only real question left is how many squeamish Democrats sit the race out rather than pull the lever for Platner. He runs through the rest of the night — Lindsey Graham narrowly avoided a runoff in South Carolina, the GOP gubernatorial race there is headed to a runoff that knocked out both Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — and pulls back to identify the defining theme of the entire 2026 cycle: everyone, in both parties, is running on a message of change, with no candidate anywhere running on restoration the way Biden did in 2020. The messaging this cycle is relentlessly future-focused, the exact opposite of Trump's nostalgia, and Chuck reiterates his running observation that the worst possible first name to have in politics right now is "congressman" — because Washington experience carries zero value to voters this cycle. The split-screen between the parties remains stark: Republican voters still reward confrontation while Democratic primary voters are gravitating toward electability and consensus, Democratic turnout is rising while GOP turnout is flat or falling, and the throughline that's held for a decade is only intensifying — voters are demanding major change, and they'll punish anyone who doesn't offer it. Finally, Chuck updates his ToddCast Top 5 list of senate seats most likely to flip parties and answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:15 Graham Platner cruised to victory will Janet Mills still on the ballot 04:15 Platner comfortably cleared 70%, it’s not a five alarm fire 05:45 Will there be more scandals from Platner? If so, what type? 06:30 For some primary voters, high character is a luxury item 08:15 The Democratic base is tired of losing & capitulating to establishment 08:45 A Platner election victory could change perception of the Democrats 10:30 Maine has gotten bluer since the last time Collins was on the ballot 11:30 Harris underperformed nationally, but had more raw vote in Maine than Biden 13:30 How many Dems will sit out the race rather than vote for Platner? 15:00 A generic Dem should win this race by 6-7 points 16:00 Lindsey Graham manages to avoid a runoff 16:45 South Carolina GOP gubernatorial race headed to runoff 17:15 Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman didn’t make the runoff 18:30 Everybody running in 2026 is running on a message of change 19:30 There’s no message of restoration similar to Biden’s campaign 20:30 Messaging is more future focused, the opposite of Trump 21:30 The worst first name to have in politics is congressman 24:45 Washington experience won’t carry value to voters this cycle 26:00 GOP voters still seemingly reward confrontation 27:00 Dem primary voters looking to electability/consensus candidates 28:45 Dem turnout on the rise, GOP turnout stagnant or down 29:30 For the past decade, voters are demanding major change 35:15 ToddCast Top 5 senate seats most likely to flip 36:30 More senate seats are creeping to “in play” status 38:45 #1 North Carolina 40:30 #2 Ohio 43:30 #3 Michigan 47:00 #4 Iowa 50:00 #5 Maine 55:00 Ask Chuck 55:15 Could politicians' investments be limited by law to index funds? 57:00 Correction on Jeri Ryan’s Star Trek series 58:30 If candidates like Platner and El-Sayed lose, could progressives change course? 1:04:30 Will Trump’s disciples try to be too much like him once he leaves politics? 1:08:15 Are you seeing a real shift in coverage from CBS News? 1:13:30 Thoughts on Brendan Soresby being reinstated after gambling on himselfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

Howie discusses a specific Al Sharpton sound bite he's anticipating. Mark and Howie analyze Scott Pelley's demeanor following his departure from 60 Minutes, noting the attention his recent comments have received. In Maine, Graham Prattner's electoral chances are currently viewed as even, while Governor Janet Mills faces significant political challenges. Howie suggests that Representative Jared Golden could be a strong candidate for governor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight's main event features the New York Knicks facing the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Mark outlines the procedures for attendees, particularly in light of President Trump's presence in the audience. During a recent interview on Meet the Press, Kristen Welker pressed President Trump about his claims regarding a rigged election, referencing California's primary as an example. The exchange quickly became heated. Democrats are praising Welker's assertive questioning, while Republicans are commending Trump's pushback. Mark takes your calls! Mark interviews Boston radio host Howie Carr. Howie discusses a specific Al Sharpton sound bite he's anticipating. Mark and Howie analyze Scott Pelley's demeanor following his departure from 60 Minutes, noting the attention his recent comments have received. In Maine, Graham Prattner's electoral chances are currently viewed as even, while Governor Janet Mills faces significant political challenges. Howie suggests that Representative Jared Golden could be a strong candidate for governor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight's main event features the New York Knicks facing the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. Mark outlines the procedures for attendees, particularly in light of President Trump's presence in the audience. During a recent interview on Meet the Press, Kristen Welker pressed President Trump about his claims regarding a rigged election, referencing California's primary as an example. The exchange quickly became heated. Democrats are praising Welker's assertive questioning, while Republicans are commending Trump's pushback. Mark interviews Boston radio host Howie Carr. Howie discusses a specific Al Sharpton sound bite he's anticipating. Mark and Howie analyze Scott Pelley's demeanor following his departure from 60 Minutes, noting the attention his recent comments have received. In Maine, Graham Prattner's electoral chances are currently viewed as even, while Governor Janet Mills faces significant political challenges. Howie suggests that Representative Jared Golden could be a strong candidate for governor. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill is addressing alleged fabricated stories about incidents at Delaney Hall, an ICE facility in Newark. President Trump is expected to announce his nomination for the next National Intelligence Director soon. Former 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley gave his first interview following his recent dismissal. Tanya Simon, a longtime producer with strong connections to the program, was also let go. Mark interviews NY Post journalist Miranda Devine. Miranda talks about how Scott Pelley reacted to being let go from CBS's 60 Minutes, and the conversation turns to how unpredictable job security can be in broadcasting. NBC's Kristen Welker is catching some heat for the way she handled her Meet the Press interview with President Trump about voter fraud. Miranda also shares highlights from her latest episode of Pod Force One, where she had a positive conversation with President Trump. Also, how well is Jill Biden's new book doing?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with an uncomfortable truth Republicans are doing everything possible to avoid acknowledging: Trump turns 80 next week, his physical and mental decline is increasingly visible to anyone paying attention, and the GOP is now repeating exactly the same mistake Democrats made by ignoring Joe Biden's obvious deterioration. The cruelest irony: Trump literally built his entire 2024 campaign on the premise that his opponent was too old and too sleepy to do the job, but Biden's catastrophic debate finally broke the Democratic silence in a way the GOP shows no signs of replicating. Chuck argues Trump's behavior isn't unusual for an 80-year-old — it's deeply unusual for an American president. He warns that Senate Republicans made an enormous mistake by not killing the weaponization fund, that every GOP incumbent up for reelection is now vulnerable to extremely effective attack ads, and that acting DNI Bill Pulte is almost certainly holding that position illegally — the courts will probably step in to declare him ineligible. He previews Tuesday's primaries in Maine and South Carolina, where Lindsey Graham looks genuinely vulnerable, and notes that if Graham gets forced into a runoff, history says he's in real trouble. He's watching how much protest vote Janet Mills picks up in Maine, and on Graham Platner — who has been saying that the war "messed him up" — Chuck offers a pointed observation: just because behavior is explainable doesn't always make it excusable.He closes with a sharp analysis of the Scott Pelley firing at 60 Minutes, arguing the real story isn't Pelley at all — it's the Ellisons, who are using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip with Trump to get their Paramount merger approved. He believes 60 Minutes is a symbol with massive brand equity, and Trump wants to bring it to heel or topple it altogether. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the infamous quote “Have you no sense of decency” from the Army/McCarthy hearings, why McCarthy was one of the first American politicians to master the attention economy, and why that famous quote precipitated the decline of McCarthy’s influence. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Trump turns 80 in a week. Plans on celebrating himself with UFC fight 06:30 You can tell that Trump is not doing well physically/mentally 07:30 Republicans ignoring Trump’s decline like Dems did with Biden 10:00 Trump won’t do events where he has to stand, he sits now 11:30 Trump’s staff has been padding his schedule with private meetings 12:30 Trump built his campaign on premise his opponent was too old & sleepy 13:15 Biden’s debate broke the Dems silence, GOP hasn’t done same with Trump 14:30 Trump has influence and pull over his party that Biden didn’t 15:15 Trump’s behavior isn’t unusual for an 80 year, is unusual for a POTUS 16:00 Reinforces public perception that parties will say/defend anything for power 19:00 This will add to the credibility problems for the Republican party 19:30 Senate Republicans made huge mistake not killing the weaponization fund 20:15 Every Republican up for reelection is now vulnerable to easy attack ads 21:15 It’s probably illegal for Bill Pulte to hold the acting DNI position 23:00 Courts will likely step in to declare Pulte ineligible for position 25:30 Major primaries coming up on Tuesday including ME & SC 26:45 Lindsey Graham is vulnerable in South Carolina 27:45 Christian conservative right has always been skeptical of Graham 28:45 Outsiders have been ousting incumbents across the country 30:15 Since the Tea Party, GOP base has gone against the establishment 32:30 The anti-war vote will have qualms with Trump & Graham 33:15 Graham’s career is defined by being a political weathervane 35:00 If Graham is forced into a runoff, history says he’s in trouble 35:30 Will be interesting to see how much protest vote Janet Mills gets in ME 36:15 Platner says war messed him up… does he have the temperament for the job? 37:45 Just because behavior is explainable, doesn’t always make it excusable 38:15 Platner is in “save his campaign” mode 39:30 Bad actors will exploit California’s slow ballot counting process 40:30 Counting process requires people have faith in it, slowness hurts credibility 42:00 California has a duty to make citizens confident in the election 44:00 Thoughts on changes at 60 Minutes and Scott Pelley’s firing 44:30 Too much focus on Pelley and not enough on the Ellisons 45:00 Publicly traded media companies have all folded to & appeased Trump 47:30 Companies have a responsibility to shareholders, bad for news integrity 48:30 60 Minutes is a symbol, and Trump wants to bring it to heel/topple it 49:30 We don’t know the politics of the Ellisons, but they want their merger approved 50:30 Ellison’s know one 60 Minutes piece Trump dislikes could blow up merger 51:45 Bari Weiss is being used… is she comfortable being used? 53:00 Scott Pelley has the money to speak out and fight back 54:00 Journalists that stayed hoping to weather the storm & wait for new management 55:15 60 Minutes has incredible brand equity and is being gutted for the merger 56:45 The story is the Ellisons using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip 1:02:15 ToddCast Time Machine - June 9th, 1954 1:02:45 “Have you no sense of decency?” quote becomes famous 1:03:30 Quote came during the Army/McCarthy hearings 1:04:00 The famous line didn’t end McCarthyism 1:04:45 The myth is that McCarthy created the Red Scare… he did not 1:05:30 The Cold War was not a distant abstraction, people were worried 1:06:00 McCarthy didn’t create the wave… he was surfing it 1:07:15 Mass media was growing in America and sped up the information wars 1:08:00 McCarthy understood media and how to create anticipation 1:09:30 McCarthy mastered the politics of attention, his and Trump’s mentor was Roy Cohn 1:11:30 The fear of communism still existed, but public confidence in McCarthy eroded 1:12:30 Television exposed McCarthy in a way quotes and newspapers couldn’t 1:14:00 Army/McCarthy hearings started as a personnel dispute for Roy Cohn ally 1:15:30 There were multiple institutions moving against McCarthy 1:16:30 Army chief counsel Joseph Welch spoke the infamous line 1:17:00 Welch gave words to a conclusion Americans were reaching on their own 1:19:45 Ask Chuck 1:20:00 When will congress actually hold cabinet members accountable? 1:26:45 Thoughts on DHS pulling CBP from sanctuary city airports? 1:30:45 Navigating the tension between voting for and against a candidate? 1:36:45 Thoughts on Democrats proposing a national gerrymandering ban?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chuck Todd opens with an uncomfortable truth Republicans are doing everything possible to avoid acknowledging: Trump turns 80 next week, his physical and mental decline is increasingly visible to anyone paying attention, and the GOP is now repeating exactly the same mistake Democrats made by ignoring Joe Biden's obvious deterioration. The cruelest irony: Trump literally built his entire 2024 campaign on the premise that his opponent was too old and too sleepy to do the job, but Biden's catastrophic debate finally broke the Democratic silence in a way the GOP shows no signs of replicating. Chuck argues Trump's behavior isn't unusual for an 80-year-old — it's deeply unusual for an American president. He warns that Senate Republicans made an enormous mistake by not killing the weaponization fund, that every GOP incumbent up for reelection is now vulnerable to extremely effective attack ads, and that acting DNI Bill Pulte is almost certainly holding that position illegally — the courts will probably step in to declare him ineligible. He previews Tuesday's primaries in Maine and South Carolina, where Lindsey Graham looks genuinely vulnerable, and notes that if Graham gets forced into a runoff, history says he's in real trouble. He's watching how much protest vote Janet Mills picks up in Maine, and on Graham Platner — who has been saying that the war "messed him up" — Chuck offers a pointed observation: just because behavior is explainable doesn't always make it excusable.He closes with a sharp analysis of the Scott Pelley firing at 60 Minutes, arguing the real story isn't Pelley at all — it's the Ellisons, who are using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip with Trump to get their Paramount merger approved. He believes 60 Minutes is a symbol with massive brand equity, and Trump wants to bring it to heel or topple it altogether. Then, David French — New York Times columnist, veteran constitutional attorney, and one of the sharpest legal thinkers writing today — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a riveting conversation about how the legal system is straining to handle a world being remade by AI, an out-of-control executive branch, and the slow erosion of America's basic constitutional architecture. French opens with the chilling case the Florida Attorney General has now brought against OpenAI in connection with the Florida State University shooter, who asked ChatGPT how to disengage his weapon's safety just three minutes before opening fire. French argues that if ChatGPT had been a human person, it would unquestionably have been charged as a co-conspirator — humans get prosecuted for encouraging suicide all the time — and that when ChatGPT is speaking, OpenAI is legally speaking, full stop. He walks through the murky liability questions the law is now scrambling to answer: Google Search has never been held to the same standard as ChatGPT, but ChatGPT actively generates new speech rather than just pointing users to existing content, and French argues that litigation needs to function as a meaningful deterrent rather than mere compensation — though ultimately Congress is going to have to actually legislate AI regulation rather than leave the entire field to civil lawsuits. The conversation turns to what French sees as a more immediate constitutional crisis: Trump's blanket immunity for tax violations and the "anti-weaponization" slush fund scheme, both of which French argues are flatly indefensible on legal grounds. He explains the deeper problem — Trump suing his own government creates a fiction of an adversarial proceeding when there isn't actually one, and Trump cares far more about the liability shield than the slush fund itself, because he's trying to remove himself from the operation of the law in essentially the same way a king would. The pardon power only covers federal crimes, not civil offenses, and Congress has clear authority to stop this if it had the will. French offers several concrete reforms: require congressional approval for legal settlements above a certain dollar threshold, force members of Congress to obtain a certification in the Constitution itself, and that political parties should perform comprehensive background checks for their candidates, On the question of whether the Founders intended a Christian nation, French is unequivocal: they didn't, and Madison rebuked Christian nationalism explicitly. The deeper structural problem behind the DOJ's loss of credibility is the unitary executive theory itself — Article II of the Constitution is dangerously vague, the executive was never meant to be a co-equal branch (Congress was supposed to be most powerful), and the only durable fix may require constitutional reform to formally remove the DOJ from executive control. French closes on a hopeful note: after every dark period in American history, the country has entered a major era of reform — and he believes one is coming again. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit the infamous quote “Have you no sense of decency” from the Army/McCarthy hearings, why McCarthy was one of the first American politicians to master the attention economy, and why that famous quote precipitated the decline of McCarthy’s influence. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Predict the action all the way through the finals. Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on https://fanduel.com/predicts Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 05:30 Trump turns 80 in a week. Plans on celebrating himself with UFC fight 06:30 You can tell that Trump is not doing well physically/mentally 07:30 Republicans ignoring Trump’s decline like Dems did with Biden 10:00 Trump won’t do events where he has to stand, he sits now 11:30 Trump’s staff has been padding his schedule with private meetings 12:30 Trump built his campaign on premise his opponent was too old & sleepy 13:15 Biden’s debate broke the Dems silence, GOP hasn’t done same with Trump 14:30 Trump has influence and pull over his party that Biden didn’t 15:15 Trump’s behavior isn’t unusual for an 80 year, is unusual for a POTUS 16:00 Reinforces public perception that parties will say/defend anything for power 19:00 This will add to the credibility problems for the Republican party 19:30 Senate Republicans made huge mistake not killing the weaponization fund 20:15 Every Republican up for reelection is now vulnerable to easy attack ads 21:15 It’s probably illegal for Bill Pulte to hold the acting DNI position 23:00 Courts will likely step in to declare Pulte ineligible for position 25:30 Major primaries coming up on Tuesday including ME & SC 26:45 Lindsey Graham is vulnerable in South Carolina 27:45 Christian conservative right has always been skeptical of Graham 28:45 Outsiders have been ousting incumbents across the country 30:15 Since the Tea Party, GOP base has gone against the establishment 32:30 The anti-war vote will have qualms with Trump & Graham 33:15 Graham’s career is defined by being a political weathervane 35:00 If Graham is forced into a runoff, history says he’s in trouble 35:30 Will be interesting to see how much protest vote Janet Mills gets in ME 36:15 Platner says war messed him up… does he have the temperament for the job? 37:45 Just because behavior is explainable, doesn’t always make it excusable 38:15 Platner is in “save his campaign” mode 39:30 Bad actors will exploit California’s slow ballot counting process 40:30 Counting process requires people have faith in it, slowness hurts credibility 42:00 California has a duty to make citizens confident in the election 44:00 Thoughts on changes at 60 Minutes and Scott Pelley’s firing 44:30 Too much focus on Pelley and not enough on the Ellisons 45:00 Publicly traded media companies have all folded to & appeased Trump 47:30 Companies have a responsibility to shareholders, bad for news integrity 48:30 60 Minutes is a symbol, and Trump wants to bring it to heel/topple it 49:30 We don’t know the politics of the Ellisons, but they want their merger approved 50:30 Ellison’s know one 60 Minutes piece Trump dislikes could blow up merger 51:45 Bari Weiss is being used… is she comfortable being used? 53:00 Scott Pelley has the money to speak out and fight back 54:00 Journalists that stayed hoping to weather the storm & wait for new management 55:15 60 Minutes has incredible brand equity and is being gutted for the merger 56:45 The story is the Ellisons using 60 Minutes as a bargaining chip 1:04:00 David French joins the Chuck ToddCast 1:05:30 Insurance companies & gambling companies have opposite incentives 1:08:00 States liberalized sports gambling and the public hasn’t liked it 1:09:45 Trying to regulate after the fact can be difficult 1:11:00 Common law concepts are starting to come into regulating AI 1:11:30 Florida AG has brought criminal case against OpenAI over FSU shooter 1:13:00 There has to always be human liability in AI cases 1:15:00 If ChatGPT was a human in FSU case, it would have be charged as co-conspirator 1:16:00 Shooter asked ChatGPT how to disengage the safety 3 mins before shooting 1:18:00 In Canadian school shooting, ChatGPT’s participation was overt 1:20:30 Determining liability is murky. Google search isn’t held to same standard as ChatGPT 1:22:00 Humans can be prosecuted for encouraging someone to commit suicide 1:23:15 There are circumstances where criminal liability could apply to AI 1:23:45 When ChatGPT is speaking, OpenAI is speaking 1:25:00 Litigation needs to be a deterrent, not just compensation for victims 1:27:30 We need to pass laws regulating AI, not just pressure via civil lawsuits 1:28:45 How is blanket immunity for Trump tax violations remotely legal? 1:29:45 Congress’s job to stop weaponization fund & Trump IRS immunity 1:30:45 Legal system rests on an adversarial relationship in court cases 1:31:45 There’s no adversarial proceeding when Trump sues his own government 1:32:30 Trump cares more about liability shield than the slush fund 1:33:30 Pardon power only applies to federal crimes, not civil offenses. Can be sued 1:34:15 Trump is trying to remove himself from the operation of the law like a king 1:35:00 How can congress stop Trump’s DOJ from issuing these settlements? 1:36:45 Congress should have to approve settlements above a certain amount of $ 1:38:30 Member of congress should have to get a certification in the constitution 1:39:45 Parties should force candidates to pass a comprehensive background check 1:41:00 Why aren’t state funded partisan primaries a violation of equal protection? 1:44:15 Partisan primaries are killing the political system 1:45:00 States can say that they’ll only fund open primaries 1:46:15 Campaign finance reforms and PACs have weakened party control 1:48:00 Did the founders intend for America to be a christian nation? 1:49:00 Founders were biblically literate, but not particularly devout 1:49:30 Founders intentionally did not create a christian nation 1:50:30 Madison argued against paying clergy with tax dollars 1:51:15 Madison rebuked christian nationalism and immigration restriction 1:53:45 DOJ has lost credibility, how can we separate the DOJ from the executive? 1:54:30 Problems with DOJ are downstream from the unitary executive theory 1:55:30 Article II of the constitution is vague and inexplicit 1:56:45 After dark period, America enters periods of reform, which we badly need 1:58:45 Never supposed to be co-equal branches. Congress should have most power 1:59:30 Have to remove executive’s ability to claw power to the top 2:00:30 Would likely need constitutional reform to pull DOJ out of executive branch 2:03:00 Past congressional leaders wouldn’t voluntarily cede power 2:04:45 In late 80’s - early 90’s, congress was incentivized to compromise 2:05:30 Changes to college basketball in one-and-done and NIL era 2:07:00 Transfer portal has created a new form of one-and-done 2:08:45 NBA can only improve regular season by reducing the 82 games 2:10:15 Regular season NBA games are more intense than 30 years ago 2:13:45 ToddCast Time Machine - June 9th, 1954 2:14:15 “Have you no sense of decency?” quote becomes famous 2:15:00 Quote came during the Army/McCarthy hearings 2:15:30 The famous line didn’t end McCarthyism 2:16:15 The myth is that McCarthy created the Red Scare… he did not 2:17:00 The Cold War was not a distant abstraction, people were worried 2:17:30 McCarthy didn’t create the wave… he was surfing it 2:18:45 Mass media was growing in America and sped up the information wars 2:19:30 McCarthy understood media and how to create anticipation 2:21:00 McCarthy mastered the politics of attention, his and Trump’s mentor was Roy Cohn 2:23:00 The fear of communism still existed, but public confidence in McCarthy eroded 2:24:00 Television exposed McCarthy in a way quotes and newspapers couldn’t 2:25:30 Army/McCarthy hearings started as a personnel dispute for Roy Cohn ally 2:27:00 There were multiple institutions moving against McCarthy 2:28:00 Army chief counsel Joseph Welch spoke the infamous line 2:28:30 Welch gave words to a conclusion Americans were reaching on their own 2:31:15 Ask Chuck 2:31:30 When will congress actually hold cabinet members accountable? 2:38:15 Thoughts on DHS pulling CBP from sanctuary city airports? 2:42:15 Navigating the tension between voting for and against a candidate? 2:48:15 Thoughts on Democrats proposing a national gerrymandering ban?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Graham Platner is leading Susan Collins in one of the most important Senate races in the country, and instead of asking how Democrats can win the seat, half the party seems busy feeding its own candidate into the purity machine.We break down the allegations against Platner, what he has admitted, what he denies, and why the political background of his most prominent accuser matters. We also talk about the larger question Democrats keep refusing to answer: what exactly is the standard?Because Donald Trump has 34 felony convictions, was found civilly liable for sexual abuse, owes millions in defamation damages, and is still treated by Republicans as perfectly fit to govern. But Graham Platner, a Marine combat veteran and PTSD survivor running against Susan Collins, gets treated like an extinction-level event by his own party.Also in this episode: Trump cries election fraud while his own candidates are winning in California, Pete Hegseth's Pentagon slashes recognized faiths and leans harder into Christian nationalism, Republicans briefly flinch at a $1.8 billion weaponization slush fund before protecting the possibility of bringing it back, Trump's White House ballroom donors rake in billions in federal contracts, and the House moves to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War.It is corruption, hypocrisy, purity politics, and institutional cowardice all the way down.Keywords: Graham Platner, Susan Collins, Maine Senate race, 2026 Senate election, Democratic Party, Democratic purity test, purity politics, Trump corruption, Donald Trump, Democratic double standard, Graham Platner allegations, Susan Collins Maine, Maine primary, Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer, John Fetterman, Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna, Janet Mills, Project 2025, Heritage Foundation, Independent Women's Forum, Brett Kavanaugh, Trump felony convictions, E. Jean Carroll, Pete Hegseth, Department of War, Department of Defense, Christian nationalism, Pentagon religion policy, Trump election fraud claims, California primary, Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Trump ballroom, White House ballroom donors, federal contracts, weaponization fund, Democratic leadership, We Saw the Devil, political podcast, left wing politics, anti corruption, authoritarianism, media hypocrisy, Democratic infighting, Susan Collins challenger, Graham Platner Maine SenateBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/we-saw-the-devil-unfiltered-political-analysis--4433638/support.Website: http://www.wesawthedevil.comPatreon: http://www.patreon.com/wesawthedevilDiscord: https://discord.gg/X2qYXdB4Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WeSawtheDevilInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/wesawthedevilpodcast.

When a Senate campaign gets hit with a sexting scandal, the spouse is supposed to disappear. Amy Gertner grabbed her phone, walked into a cloud of Maine blackflies, and recorded the most effective crisis response of the cycle.Everyone is covering the Wall Street Journal texts. Molly is covering the betrayal underneath them, and the moment a candidate who built his brand on owning his record reached for the worst page in the 2026 crisis playbook.Chapters:0:00 — The Reddit Bomb That Finally Detonated on Platner4:30 — How Amy Gertner's Confession Reached Genevieve McDonald8:30 — Linda Tripp, Monica Lewinsky and the Betrayal Pattern13:04 — Amy Gertner's Blackfly Video Goes Viral on X18:01 — Why Amy Nailed the Platner Playbook Solo20:00 — The NPR Interview Showing What Accountability Looks Like22:29 — The Vrabel Playbook Platner Borrowed By Mistake27:30 — Barney Frank, Janet Mills and the Democratic Party Distance30:00 — Silda Spitzer Versus the Amy Gertner Standing-By Model33:00 — The High Road Takeaway and Why Platner Is LimpingWe dissect:• Why Reddit was supposed to be Graham Platner's kryptonite, and the one trait that kept disarming every landmine until this one• The Bernie Sanders rally moment when Amy disclosed the texts to political director Genevieve McDonald, the inciting incident the WSJ buried• The Linda Tripp parallel and why the public judges the telling of a scandal as harshly as the act itself• "This is like my 20th take" — the unedited blackfly video Amy posted from a road in Sullivan, Maine, and why the imperfection is the point• The NPR interview that aired right before the WSJ broke, where Platner answered directly on the SS-resembling tattoo and Jake Auchincloss calling him disqualifying• The exact moment Platner called the texts "gossip," blamed the press, and reached for the Mike Vrabel playbook — the worst page in any 2026 crisis manual• Barney Frank criticizing Platner from hospice in Ogunquit, Janet Mills as the party's preferred candidate, and what "same technique, opposite loyalty" actually looks like• Silda Spitzer standing reluctantly behind Eliot versus Amy Gertner standing forward for Graham, with Amy Vrabel's conspicuous absence as the counter-exampleThis is not a recap of the WSJ story. It is a forensic look at why the spouse out-executed the candidate. When a campaign built on "own it, explain it, promise it" suddenly stops owning it, voters notice before pollsters do.What you'll learn:• How to tell the difference between privacy and a cover-up when a campaign says "it's handled"• Why raw, one-take video reads as truth in 2026 and a polished statement reads as guilt• What "someone else's worst" framing signals to voters, and why blaming the press accelerates the collapse• How to read a spouse's presence, posture, and word choice as the first real signal of what is actually trueYou can't blackmail someone who confesses first. The only thing you control is whether you face it before someone else does.Want More Behind the Breakdown?Follow The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson on Substack (https://open.substack.com/pub/mollymc...) for early access to podcast episodes, private member chats, weekly live sessions, and monthly workshops that go deeper than the mic. It is the inside hub for communicators who want real strategy, clear judgment, and a little side-eye where it counts.Follow Molly on Substack (https://mollymcpherson.substack.com/)Subscribe to Molly's Weekly Newsletter (https://www.mollymcpherson.com/newsle...)Need a Keynote Speaker? Drawing from real-world PR battles, Molly delivers the same engaging stories and hard-won crisis insights from the podcast to your live audience. Click here to book Molly for your next meeting (https://www.mollymcpherson.com/speaking).Want More Behind the Breakdown? Follow The PR Breakdown with Molly McPherson on Substack for early access to podcast episodes, private member chats, weekly live sessions, and monthly workshops that go deeper than the mic. It is the inside hub for communicators who want real strategy, clear judgment, and a little side-eye where it counts.Follow Molly on Substack Subscribe to Molly's Weekly Newsletter  Need a Keynote Speaker? Drawing from real-world PR battles, Molly delivers the same engaging stories and hard-won crisis insights from the podcast to your live audience. Click here to book Molly for your next meeting. Follow & Connect with Molly:https://www.youtube.com/mollymcphersonhttps://mollymcpherson.substack.com/https://www.tiktok.com/@mollybmcphersonhttps://www.instagram.com/molly.mcpherson/...

On today's "DMZ" podcast conversation, Washington Monthly's Bill Scher and Matt break down the chaotic Maine Democratic Senate primary one week before voters decide.Graham Platner has weathered wave after wave of scandals — old Reddit posts mocking a wounded soldier, sexting on a sketchy app, defensive ambush interviews, and more — yet polls have held. With ranked-choice voting and Gov. Janet Mills still on the ballot, Democrats have a real off-ramp — but will they take it?We debate the big questions:— Do voters actually care about character anymore?— Is “authenticity” worth the risk in a must-win Senate race?— Should Democrats lower standards to match the other side, or hold the line?— Broader implications for the party in the Trump era.— Plus: quick hits on California, Iowa, and Trump's foreign policy frustrations.Subscribe to Matt Lewis on Substack: https://mattklewis.substack.com/Support Matt Lewis at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattlewisFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MattLewisDCTwitter: https://twitter.com/mattklewisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattlewisreels/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhSMpjOzydlnxm5TDcYn0A– Who is Matt Lewis? –Matt K. Lewis is a political commentator and the author of Filthy Rich Politicians.Buy Matt's books: FILTHY RICH POLITICIANS: https://www.amazon.com/Filthy-Rich-Politicians-Creatures-Ruling-Class/dp/1546004416TOO DUMB TO FAIL: https://www.amazon.com/Too-Dumb-Fail-Revolution-Conservative/dp/0316383937Copyright © 2026, BBL & BWL, LLC

Every single Democrat asked about Graham Platner yesterday gave the exact same rehearsed dodge — "let the voters decide" — from Adam Schiff to Michael Bennet to Andy Kim, word for word. Then Alexander Vindman, a Jewish American who impeached Trump over "morals and values," got hostile with a reporter for daring to ask if a guy with a Nazi tattoo should drop out of the race. Meanwhile, Janet Mills just reactivated her campaign account, and the polls show Susan Collins has been down 12 points at this stage before — and won by ten. Pledge to protect Social Security at https://aarp.org/WeEarnedIt SHOP OUR MERCH: https://store.townhallmedia.com/ BUY A LARRY MUG: https://store.townhallmedia.com/products/larry-mug Watch LARRY with Larry O'Connor LIVE — Monday-Thursday at 12PM Eastern on YouTube, Facebook, & Rumble! Find LARRY with Larry O'Connor wherever you get your podcasts! SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/7i8F7K4fqIDmqZSIHJNhMh?si=814ce2f8478944c0&nd=1&dlsi=e799ca22e81b456f APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/larry/id1730596733 Become a Townhall VIP Member today and use promo code LARRY for 50% off: https://townhall.com/subscribe?tpcc=poddescription https://townhall.com/ https://rumble.com/c/c-5769468 https://www.facebook.com/townhallcom/ https://www.instagram.com/townhallmedia/ https://twitter.com/townhallcomBecome a Townhall VIP member with promo code "LARRY": https://townhall.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Graham Platner's Maine Senate campaign is being derailed by a new scandal, which may lead Janet Mills to resume her campaign.  Visit the Howie Carr Radio Network website to access columns, podcasts, and other exclusive content.

Look at us. Three weeks in a row! Chaper 29 of News to ME: Ken & Mike Redux. We discuss Texas politics, whether or not the MAGA victories in the primaries helps the dems in the general election, should a dem vote for Janet Mills over Graham Platner, and the transgender proposal off the ballot. Listen, enjoy, like, and subscribe!

This week, Julia sits down with 78-year-old Janet Mills, Maine's first female governor, first female DA, and first female AG in the state's history. Governor Mills, who recently suspended her Senate campaign, takes Julia behind the scenes of that legendary White House moment when she looked Trump in the eye, said "see you in court," and won. Julia also learns how Janet navigated the ups and downs of becoming a stepmom to five young girls, and what her Republican family said when she became a Democrat. Plus Julia and her 92-year-old mom Judy talk about the broad appeal of Mary Oliver and Judy's own journey to becoming a Democrat. Follow Wiser Than Me on Instagram and TikTok @wiserthanme and on Facebook at facebook.com/wiserthanmepodcast. Find us on Substack at wiserthanme.substack.com. Keep up with Janet Mills @governorjanetmills on Instagram. Pre-order the latest book from Julia's mom Judy Bowles here: https://finishinglinepress.com/product/they-spoke-of-the-river-by-judith-bowles/   Find out more about other shows on our network at @lemonadamedia on all social platforms. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today by hitting 'Subscribe' on Apple Podcasts or lemonadapremium.com for any other app. For exclusive discount codes and more information about our sponsors, visit https://lemonadamedia.com/sponsors/.  For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.

Vice President JD Vance was at a rally in Maine today and discussed fraud in the state. Vance said the federal government is willing to help fight fraud, but Janet Mills isn't looking to address it.  Visit the Howie Carr Radio Network website to access columns, podcasts, and other exclusive content.

David Sirota buckles up for a drive through rural Maine with the Senate candidate that the Democratic establishment doesn't want — but can't afford to lose. Just two days after Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of Maine's U.S. Senate race, David Sirota hopped in a car with Graham Platner — the long-shot candidate who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee — for an unfiltered, on-the-road interview. In today's episode of Lever Time, you'll hear Platner on where he thinks the Democratic Party went wrong, why he thinks the United States went from President Barack Obama to President Donald Trump, how he feels about combat and war, his latest views on gun policy, and, if he wins, what kind of senator he intends to be. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bite-sized bonus Focus Group episode, Sarah Longwell breaks down the political earthquake in Maine after Janet Mills dropped out of the Senate race. Why are Democratic voters rejecting establishment candidates, forgiving scandals that once would've been disqualifying, and demanding fighters over polished politicians?Tickets for our Bulwark Live shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in May: https://thebulwark.com/events

Sam Tripoli, Dylan Wrenn, and Darksmith are back to break down: Comment of the Week, the fake assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Oz Pearlman the Israeli mentalist somehow not seeing it coming, the suspiciously calm reactions from JD Vance, Bondi, and Rubio while Cheryl Hines gets completely ignored by the Secret Service, the Henry Martinez tweet that allegedly named the shooter back in 2023 and whether the whole thing was pre-planted or backdated by Twitter insiders, the rainbow saturation butler-moment psyop and the entire coordinated influencer rollout afterward, Lindsey Graham losing his election and going full kamikaze for a $400 million taxpayer-funded "ballroom" that just happens to look exactly like the Third Temple, Shalom Baranes scoring a no-bid contract via an "urgency exemption" usually reserved for war and disasters, Trump reading scripture about Solomon's house of sacrifice on national television, the "two kings" tweet days after telling 60 Minutes he's not a king, King Charles and Donald Trump being 15th cousins because of course they are, Senate quietly voting down a resolution to block military strikes on Cuba while everyone freaks out about the shooter, Ozempic turning beautiful people into Gila monsters, Anne Hathaway tossing out "inshallah" on the Devil Wears Prada 2 press run, Megan Thee Stallion explaining why Klay Thompson should be paying her $40k a month, the 2027 mandate putting AI surveillance cameras inside every new vehicle and the Hutchinson-style kill-switch implications, Janet Mills vetoing the data center moratorium, weaponized ticks and red-meat allergies conveniently arriving while Bill Gates invests in lab-grown meat, and why moving to the Appalachians might be the only move left. Grab Tickets to Sam's Live Shows Here: https://samtripoli.com/events/ Huntington Beach, CA: 5/05 Austin, TX: 5/22 (Live Taping Of Sam Tripoli's Comedy Special) Albuquerque, NM: 6/12-6/13 Austin, TX: 6/18 Saint Petersburg, FL: 8/14 Lawerence, KS: 9/17-9/19 Tulsa, OK: 10/9-10/10 New Orleans: 11/14 Austin, TX: Dec 11th-13th Buy Our Merch or Sam Will Fight You: https://conspiracy-social-club-aka-deep-waters.myshopify.com/ Subscribe to the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkaDeepWaters Check out Dylan's instagram - @dylanpetewrenn Check out Deep Waters Instagram: @akadeepwaters Check out Bad Tv podcast: https://bit.ly/3RYuTG0 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: LUCY Nicotine Pouches Go to LUCY.CO/CSC and use CODE "CSC" for 20% OFF your first online order 1-800 FLOWERS To claim your Double Roses offer before they're gone, visit 1800Flowers.com/CSC BLUECHEW GOLD Go to BlueChew.com and use promo code "DEEP" to get your 3rd month free

Welcome to Last Call, a look at the biggest stories Jim and Greg covered over the past week on the 3 Martini Lunch.This week they break down Nazi tattoo guy Graham Platner effectively clinching the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in Maine, the Justice Department's new charges against former FBI Director James Comey, and the left's bizarre insistence that the would-be White House Correspondents Dinner shooter was not political despite his manifesto. Plus, they examine the latest twist in Al Gore's climate change charade.First, Jim and Greg break down Gov. Janet Mills dropping out of the Maine U.S. Senate race, a move that all but hands the nomination to Platner. They revisit the disturbing controversies tied to Platner and highlight how aggressively Mills had previously criticized him.Next, they react to a federal grand jury returning two felony indictments against Comey tied to his “8647” Instagram post last year. Comey now faces charges of threatening to kill President Trump and then distributing that threat through social media. Jim and Greg have no love for Comey, but they explain why this prosecution is likely to fail.Then, they focus on the would-be shooter and his manifesto. And Jim and Greg are stunned as Barack Obama and others on the left claim the motive was unknown long after the manifesto had already been released.Finally, they get a good laugh as former Vice President Al Gore, after decades of warning about the supposedly catastrophic effects of global warming, is now sounding the alarm in the opposite direction.Please visit our great sponsors:Fast Growing TreesBetter plants, better growing, and an extra 20% off with code MARTINI at https://FastGrowingTrees.com/Martini for a limited time; terms and conditions may apply.Noble GoldSchedule a free gold strategy session with Noble Gold. Visit https://NobleGoldInvestments.com/3ML to learn how to build lasting financial security.New episodes every weekday. 

The BP Friday team looks at Trump considering new attacks on Iran this weekend, Janet Mills dropping out of the Maine Senate Dem primary as Graham Platner's momentum rises, a NYTimes piece on the fears of an AI Underclass, and bizarre allegations from a JPMorgan employee accusing another colleague of sexual slavery. Griffin: https://www.instagram.com/griffinpdavis/ To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.com Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on The Editors, Rich, Noah, Michael, and Dan discuss the SCOTUS ruling on racial gerrymandering, the Comey indictment, and the Maine Senate race. Editors' Picks: Rich: Giorgia Meloni's piece “Why ‘Meritocracy' Enrages the Left" Noah: Phil's post “Maine Shows Antisemitism Is a Shortcut to Success in the Modern Democratic Party” MBD: Armond White's piece “The Rummage Sale of The Devil Wears Prada 2” Dan: Noah's post “The Monarchical Logic of Trump's Tariffs” Light Items: Rich: Hotel alarm clocks Noah: Musical season MBD: Your Friends and Neighbors Dan: The Pitt Sponsors:VaerRed Flags PressCatholic Charities This podcast was edited and produced by Sarah Colleen Schutte. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Sarah Isgur to discuss the role of populism within the Democratic Party and the second Department of Justice indictment of James Comey. The Agenda:—Maine Gov. Janet Mills drops Senate bid—Right-wing vs. left-wing populism—Populism meets reality—The James Comey indictment—Indicting political opponents—Future of the justice system The Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Dispatch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch's offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. If you'd like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠by clicking here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi. Ken Klippenstein joins Katy, Cody, and Jonathan to talk about the Supreme Court effectively overturning the Voting Rights Act, the White House Correspondents' Dinner suspect, Janet Mills dropping out of the Maine Senate Race, and what got cut out of Donald Trump's "60 Minutes" interview.PATREON: https://patreon.com/somemorenewsMERCH: https://shop.somemorenews.comYOUTUBE MEMBERSHIP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlj0IzjSnNoduQF0l3VGng/joinMother's Day is Sunday, May 10th and bouquets are selling out fast. To claim your Double Roses offer before they're gone, visit 1800Flowers.com/NEWSSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Florida lawmakers have approved a new congressional district map designed to flip four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives from Democrat control to Republican, giving Republicans better odds at maintaining control of the chamber. We discuss what this means for voters, how it affects the midterms and whether the redistricting wars will ever end. Plus, Maine Gov. Janet Mills ends her campaign for Senate.This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, political correspondent Ashley Lopez, and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

On today's Predictable w/ Stu, Stu reacts to the latest Iran war driven spike in oil prices and breaks down what the markets are signaling about where things could head next and how it may impact the 2026 midterm elections. Plus, the Supreme Court's redistricting ruling has both parties scrambling. Stu looks at which states are best positioned to take advantage and what this decision could mean for the political map moving forward. And finally, Stu's first thoughts on Janet Mills dropping her Maine Senate campaign for Nazi-tattoo enthusiast Graham Platner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's an Emmajority Report Thursday on The Majority Report   On today's program:   Republicans are feeling the heat going into the midterms. Conservative CNBC host Joe Kernen fact checks Steve Scalise on his lie about gas prices and the war on Iran's effect on the economy.   Jeremy Scahill, journalist, author and co-founder of Drop Site News joins Emma to provide updates on the ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.   Eli Hager, writer at ProPublica joins Emma to discuss his piece: "The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families".   In the Fun Half:   Brandon Sutton and Matt Binder join the show.   Janet Mills suspends her Senate campaign in Maine, clearing the path for Graham Platner to be the Democratic Nominee to challenge Susan Collins.   Susan Collins refuses to comment on Graham Platner, saying that today is about Janet Mills.   Michigan candidate for Senate Haley Stevens says that Israel comes to her in her dreams, and she can see the future of Israel. Please Haley, on behalf of Abdul El-Sayed, please stay in the race.   A street performer named Crackhead Barney asks Congressional candidate for NY-12 tries to get Jack Schlossberg to say Free Palestine, but he refuses.   Erika Kirk is a lunatic.   All that and more.   To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: BABBEL: Learn a new Language and get up to 60% off your subscription at Babbel.com/MAJORITY AURA FRAMES: Exclusive $25-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/MAJORITY. Promo Code MAJORITY ONESKIN: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MAJORITY at https://www.oneskin.co/majority SUNSET LAKE CBD: Use coupon code "Left Is Best" for 20% off of your entire order at SunsetLakeCBD.com Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.  

Perry Bacon speaks with former NBC News correspondent and editor for the Midcoast Villager in Maine, Alex Seitz-Wald. Right Now with Perry Bacon: a twice-weekly show diving into U.S. politics, democracy, and the authoritarian threats facing America. Each episode, Perry strives to go beyond daily headlines and actually connect the dots to what's happening in America. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Jim and Greg for the Thursday 3 Martini Lunch as they react to Nazi tattoo guy Graham Platner effectively clinching the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in Maine, a powerful new campaign ad from Los Angeles mayoral candiate Spencer Pratt, a possibile rift in the Trump administration over the war in Iran, and a strange new poll in the California governor's race.First, Jim and Greg break down Gov. Janet Mills dropping out of the Maine U.S. Senate race, a move that all but hands the nomination to Platner. They revisit the disturbing controversies tied to Platner and highlight how aggressively Mills had previously criticized him.Next, they applaud Pratt's new ad in the LA mayor's race. It establishes a stark contrast with failed incumbent Karen Bass, but can Bass be defeated in such a deep blue area.Then, they react to a report from The Atlantic suggesting that aides to Vice President JD Vance are concerned that Donald Trump may not be receiving accurate information from the Pentagon regarding the Iran conflict and the state of U.S. missile stockpiles.Finally, they tear apart a new poll on the California governor's race over it's bizarre descriptions of the candidates.Please visit our great sponsors:Pocket HoseFor a limited time, get two free gifts—a 360° rotating pocket pivot and a thumb drive nozzle—when you buy the Pocket Hose Ballistic; just text MARTINI to 64000, message and data rates may apply.Fast Growing TreesBetter plants, better growing, and an extra 20% off with code MARTINI at https://FastGrowingTrees.com/Martini for a limited time; terms and conditions may apply.OneSkinTarget the visible signs of aging with OneSking's OS-01 Peptide.  For a limited time, try OneSkin with 15% off using code 3ML at https://Oneskin.co/3MLNew episodes every weekday. 

Grace starts the show by discussing the news that Janet Mills is bowing out of the Maine Senate race, which leaves Graham Platner as the front runner for the Democratic nomination.  Visit the Howie Carr Radio Network website to access columns, podcasts, and other exclusive content.