The Midterms Are A Final Exam

We start the morning with Nick Kayal back live on a Monday after the Fourth of July holiday, joined by Dawn Stensland, Shawn Farash, Phil Almquist, and Jimmy Kelly. Shawn immediately brings patriotic theater into the studio with a tricorn hat from Colonial Williamsburg, a mock land acknowledgement, and a full America 250 mood that sets up the morning’s larger theme. Nick previews the show’s main lanes: the midterms as a final exam, Josh Shapiro’s national spotlight, an update on a fallen Pennsylvania state trooper, a new patriotism ranking, Americans socializing less, and Harry Mays with the Cut Sheet. Dawn’s first news run centers on dangerous weather after overnight alerts, torrential rain, flooding, fog, and power outages across the region. She tracks the PECO strike, New Jersey heat deaths, Philadelphia police making arrests after protesters try to burn a large American flag with accelerant, and lawsuits tied to alleged toxic exposure at the former Frankford Arsenal complex. We also get updates on a Northeast Philadelphia barricade, the death of a Marsh Creek paddleboarder, and a CDC investigation into Cyclospora cases before the crew turns a gross health story into a ridiculous prop bit. The hour’s Big Take argues that the midterms are no longer just another political fight, but a test of whether America turns toward socialism or pushes back. Nick points to Democrat support for open borders, sanctuary cities, birthright citizenship, and candidates like Zohran Mamdani, AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Darializa Avila Chevalier as proof that the party’s leftward move is real. Dawn and Shawn respond by ripping the George Washington desk moment, Shapiro’s attempt to sound moderate on CNN, and what they see as a party now controlled by the very socialist and communist forces it refuses to reject.