The Lonely Liberal

Nick sits down in person with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, at a campaign stop in Warren. They get into the misconception that he's "just a socialist," why distrust in public health traces back to a healthcare system stuck behind a paywall, and his case for Medicare for All. El-Sayed makes his electability argument head-on: outspent 8-to-1 by AIPAC-backed money, he argues that message and work ethic — not cash — are how you beat Mike Rogers in November, and that every general-election poll backs him up. Plus: the AIPAC money fight, Thomas Massie's amendment to cut Israel funding, and a bench-press cameo. A sharp, funny, substantive conversation with one of the most nuanced progressives in the country.  

Graham Platner is out — and nobody knows what happens next in the most important Senate race of the midterms. Last time, I called him the right candidate but the wrong person. This week, that prediction cashed out. So what now? I break down how the campaign actually ended (hint: it was Schumer's money, not the allegation), the two-week scramble to replace him, the 600-delegate convention Maine Democrats chose over an actual election — two years almost to the day after Biden handed the nomination to Harris without a vote — and the Bernie vs. Schumer proxy war that created this mess and is already restarting. Plus: the contenders, whether Susan Collins just won by default, and how Patrick Dempsey briefly became a Senate prospect.

Nick and Rick break down America's 250th anniversary week — and the chaos that came with it. They open on the America 250 meltdown: the DC Independence Day Parade was canceled Friday night due to a 115-degree heat dome; Philadelphia's parade was canceled the day before; the Great American State Fair on the National Mall temporarily closed after 44 attendees needed medical attention for heat-related illness; Mt. Olive Pickle Company withdrew from the fair over Confederate flag displays at Southern state booths; and Trump used his July 4 White House speech to complain that he "wasn't treated that well" by the media. Then Trump's dark Mount Rushmore speech Friday night, where he called communism "the greatest threat to our country, including WWI, WWII, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11" — aimed at DSA-aligned Democrats — while Pope Leo XIV counterprogrammed from the Vatican, calling America a "byword for freedom" because it "opened its doors to successive waves of immigrants." Then to SCOTUS's blockbuster final week: the Court upheld birthright citizenship 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara, with Chief Justice Roberts writing the majority and Kavanaugh and Barrett joining the liberals to strike down Trump's day-one executive order; the Court also killed the 91-year-old Humphrey's Executor precedent 6-3 in Trump v. Slaughter, giving Trump the power to fire commissioners at approximately 24 previously-independent federal agencies — from the FTC and FCC to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the NTSB — with Justice Sotomayor reading her dissent from the bench; a separate 5-4 ruling blocked Trump from firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook, leaving the Fed as the sole exception; SCOTUS also protected cellphone location data under the 4th Amendment, declined to hear Trump's appeal of the $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict, and agreed to consider Arizona's proof-of-citizenship voter law next term.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled Trump's tariffs illegal — all $166 billion of them. The refunds are flowing right now, with interest. But they're going to Walmart, Target, and the importers, not to you — even though the Fed's own research shows American consumers paid nearly all of it, about $1,000 per household. Nick breaks down the triple-charge: you paid the illegal tax at the register, corporations get your refund, and the prices companies raised 'because of tariffs' are never coming back down. Meanwhile, Trump's DOJ is in court fighting to keep as much of the money as possible — and a new 15% tariff already replaced the old one. Nobody in Washington is even pretending you should be made whole.

Nick and Rick break down 10 days of chaos in American politics. They open on Trump's Iran deal: at Versailles during the G7 summit, Trump signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran's foreign minister — Strait of Hormuz reopens, sanctions lifted, $42 billion in frozen Iranian assets unfrozen, US forces removed from Iran's borders. Senators Cassidy and Tillis called it "the worst American foreign policy blunder in decades" — $100 billion spent, 13 Americans dead, two F-18s lost, and Iran got everything it wanted. The deal was already cracking by Friday: a cargo ship was hit on a UN-backed route in the Strait, Iranian drones struck Bahrain, and the US bombed Iran again — nine days after the "historic" peace deal. Then to Venezuela: twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck the northern coast Wednesday, killing at least 235 with the USGS estimating the total death toll could exceed 10,000. Trump pledged $150 million in aid — his largest humanitarian response since dismantling USAID last year — while the Supreme Court the same day cleared the way to strip TPS from Haitians and Syrians, with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus demanding a halt to Venezuelan deportations during the active disaster. Plus VP JD Vance at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on Thursday: "If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy." Vance also compared himself to Nixon. Also covered: Trump canceled the signing of the bipartisan housing bill at the Capitol because the Senate hasn't passed the voter ID bill — with McConnell, Murkowski, Collins, and Cornyn openly questioning whether Trump is deliberately sabotaging his own party's majority; the NYT revealed Stephen Miller pushed to suspend habeas corpus for immigrants and Vance and Miller pushed to invoke the Insurrection Act after the Alex Pretti killing, both quashed by Staff Secretary Will Scharf; the Pentagon reversed Hegseth on the flu vaccine mandate after a Lackland Air Force Base outbreak sickened 275+ recruits and one trainee died; all three Mamdani-backed insurgent candidates won their NYC congressional primaries — Brad Lander beat Dan Goldman, Darializa Avila Chevalier beat 5-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and Claire Valdez won the Velázquez seat; Pete Buttigieg revealed on Substack that his 4-year-old twins were separated from him for 24 hours after a false CPS report he believes was politically motivated swatting; and STAT News reported a 79-year-old man with refractory obesity, sleep apnea, and pulmonary hypertension received compassionate-use access to Eli Lilly's experimental obesity drug retatrutide in April — Democratic senators are now formally asking the White House whether the patient is Trump. We close with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool: Trump's $16 million "American flag blue" renovation that turned green within 24 hours from algae, started peeling within 10 days, and which Trump is now blaming on a vandalism conspiracy — six arrested, including a former US Olympic canoeist who said he was detained for touching loose paint. And the Great American State Fair opened on the National Mall — Massachusetts brought only maple syrup, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival was displaced to make room, and Vanilla Ice is headlining.  

Maine should be the easiest Democratic Senate pickup of 2026. Susan Collins is uniquely vulnerable, Trump has never won the state, and it’s a midterm with an unpopular Republican president. So why is it a nightmare? Nick endorsed Graham Platner early — an anti-PAC, Bernie-backed, working class Marine veteran running the exact campaign Democrats say they want. Then came the scandals. The Reddit posts. The tattoo. The sexting. The NYT relationship story. Nick goes through all of it honestly — what’s real, what’s overblown, and what’s genuinely troubling — and lands on the harder question: what do you do when the right candidate is the wrong guy, and the party that created this mess is now debating whether to help him win?

The Iran deal text is finally out — all 14 points. Nick reads every one of them, ranked from least to most egregious, so you can hear exactly what was traded away and what wasn't. Iran gets immediate oil exports, $24 billion in frozen assets with no restrictions on use, and a $300 billion reconstruction commitment — before a single nuclear concession is verified. The nuclear program? Still standing. Enrichment? Deferred. Hormuz? Toll-free for 60 days, after which Iran negotiates the fees. Trump called Obama a traitor for a deal that involved returning Iran's own money. He just signed something twice as expensive with fewer conditions. These are the receipts.

Nick and Rick break down a chaotic week in American politics — recorded as the UFC fight unfolds on the White House South Lawn. They open on Trump's 80th birthday UFC spectacle: seven mixed martial arts matches with 4,000 spectators, including 1,000 servicemembers required to attend in uniform on their own dime and meet a waist-to-height ratio standard, plus a 120,000-person fan fest at the Ellipse and a federal lawsuit that lost on Friday — and Trump joking he might never take "The Claw" cage down. Days before the fight, a massive "86 47" mural appeared etched into the National Mall grass. Then to the wealth milestone: Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX's $1.77 trillion IPO — the largest in market history — pushing his net worth to roughly $1.1 trillion, nearly four times the next-richest person on Earth. And the bombshell from Haberman and Swan's forthcoming book "Regime Change": VP JD Vance and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles held secret Situation Room meetings without Trump's knowledge to contain the Epstein files fallout. Vance "appeared panicked" and floated a plan to have Tucker Carlson interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. Dan Bongino predicted Epstein would be "Trump's Iran-Contra." Trump has now launched a "massive" leak hunt to find the source. Also covered: the US struck Iran's drinking water reservoirs in Hormozgan after Iran shot down a US Apache, with Defense Secretary Hegseth dismissing questions about civilian infrastructure as "disingenuous"; FISA Section 702 expired for the first time since 2008 after Democrats refused to reauthorize warrantless foreign surveillance under acting DNI Bill Pulte — Trump then nominated SDNY US Attorney Jay Clayton as permanent DNI; Sen. Rand Paul released documents showing Fauci's NIH ties to the intelligence community date to 2003 and how he coordinated lab-leak pushback with the NSC; the US government ordered Anthropic to pull its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models globally — the first time the government has recalled an LLM, with Anthropic publicly disagreeing; a court forced Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center facade in an overnight removal; the US killed Tren de Aragua leader Niño Guerrero in a joint operation with the Venezuelan government; Graham Platner won the Maine Democratic Senate primary as expected, and Trump-endorsed Pamela Evette crushed Nancy Mace in the South Carolina governor primary. We close with Spencer Pratt's unhinged concession in the LA mayor race — calling Bass and Raman "dumb and dumber" and "corrupt communists," vowing FBI raids, claiming secret recordings — and Trump backing his "Rigged Elections!" fraud claims.

Trump just did something FDR tried and failed to do: he purged his own party. Three sitting members of Congress — Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Bill Cassidy, and Rep. Thomas Massie — crossed him, and all three are gone. So why does a president polling at 38% have this much power? Nick breaks down the math trick behind Trump's grip on the GOP, why the same anti-establishment fever just nominated an oyster farmer over Chuck Schumer's hand-picked recruit in Maine, who MAGA actually blames for $20 breakfasts, and the receipts showing Democrats are turning out at 2018-wave levels. Trump purged his party's shock absorbers five months before the crash — and the bill comes due November 3rd.

Nick and Rick break down a chaotic week in American politics. They open on the Trump-Israel rupture: Trump cursed out Netanyahu in a Monday phone call — "You're f***ing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. Everybody hates you. Everybody hates Israel because of this" — and then confirmed it on the record to the New York Post. Days later the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency raised Israel's counterintelligence threat to "critical" — the highest level, same as Russia and China — after Israel was caught spying on Trump's top Iran negotiators to learn his negotiating positions. Then to Maine, where the NYT published a hit piece on Senate candidate Graham Platner days before his primary — surfacing allegations from an ex-girlfriend that the source herself later said the Times "twisted" into something it wasn't — while Sens. Hassan and Slotkin lined up to express "concerns" without calling on him to drop out. Plus the DOGE bombshell: a WaPo whistleblower revealed the Trump administration planned to falsely classify 2.7 million living people — including US citizens, lawful permanent residents, and teenagers — as dead, using the Social Security Death Master File to destroy their financial lives and force them to self-deport. Also covered: the House passed an Iran War Powers Resolution 215-208, the first time the chamber has voted to end the war, with four Republicans crossing over; Iran struck Kuwait's airport and US bases in Bahrain after the US disabled a Botswana-flagged oil tanker with a Hellfire missile; the Senate passed a $70 billion ICE/Border Patrol bill 52-47 after a 19-hour vote-a-rama, funding Trump's immigration agenda through the end of his term; Pam Bondi told House Oversight that Todd Blanche "was in charge" of the Epstein files decisions; Trump floated government equity stakes in top AI companies on Air Force One as Anthropic confidentially filed for IPO at $965 billion; Jill Biden's memoir revealed she thought Joe was having a stroke during the 2024 debate and that doctors checked him moments after — contradicting the White House timeline; Hunter Biden returned to X with 102 posts in a day; the Iowa Senate primary set up Ashley Hinson vs. Paralympian Josh Turek; Karen Bass advanced in LA with reality TV star Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman fighting for the runoff spot; Trump named housing director Bill Pulte — with zero intelligence experience — as acting DNI; John Bolton reached a plea deal on classified documents; and Trump announced a $700M coal bailout in the Oval Office, then was caught dozing off mid-announcement the day after Rubio told Congress he'd "never seen" Trump fall asleep — and Ted Lieu played the video proving him wrong. We close with George Santos under DOJ investigation for insider trading on the prediction market Kalshi — he bet against himself attending the State of the Union, then posted videos saying he'd be there.  

Is Trump a fascist? Nick's guest says: wrong question. Dr. Eric Grube is a historian at Boston College who specializes in fascism, nationalism, and the far-right movements of interwar Europe — and he's back on the show six months after his last appearance to update his verdict. His answer has shifted: Trump isn't a fascist in the historical sense so much as a selfish egomaniac being driven by the Heritage Foundation's policy machine. But here's what Eric wants you to take away — fascism was never easy to categorize in the moment either. The bigger problem with forcing the label is that half the room shuts down the second you use it. So what do we actually call this? And does the name even matter if the machinery is already running?

Trump threatened to "blow up" Oman over the Strait of Hormuz while a tentative Iran deal sits unsigned. Ken Paxton crushed John Cornyn in Texas — the first GOP senator ever primaried out — and immediately started attacking his Democratic opponent's testosterone levels. Federal courts blocked two Republican gerrymanders in Alabama and South Carolina, taking a chunk out of the GOP's redistricting math. Plus: government-wide NDAs for federal workers, the DOJ unmasking ICE critics on Reddit, and Trump wants his face on a $250 bill and the National Mall's horses covered in gold. Nick and Rick cover the week.

Last week the Democratic Party released its official autopsy of the 2024 election. 192 pages. No mention of Gaza. No mention of Biden's age. No mention of the debate. Not once. Nick breaks down what the document actually reveals — not about 2024, but about a Democratic establishment that preaches getting money out of politics while backing Cuomo over Mamdani, that cried about losing young men and then tried to cancel the one media figure reaching millions of them, and that tried to do exactly what MAGA Inc. does — pick winners, freeze out insurgents, enforce conformity — and lost to its own voters every time. Cassidy is gone. Massie is gone. Cornyn is gone today. Trump's machine works because it's aligned with its base. The Democratic establishment keeps failing for the same reason: it isn't.

Nick and Rick break down a chaotic week in American politics. They open on Trump's revenge tour: Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein ousted Thomas Massie in the most expensive House primary in history ($32 million spent), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned in-district against Massie in apparent violation of the Hatch Act, and Trump endorsed Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in the Texas Senate runoff. Then to the GOP response to Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund: Mitch McConnell called it "utterly stupid, morally wrong," Tillis called it "beyond the pale," Capitol Police officers sued to block it, and Senate Republicans went home for Memorial Day without passing the ICE funding bill — meaning Trump's own slush fund killed his own immigration agenda. Plus DNI Tulsi Gabbard resigned after contradicting Trump on Iran in sworn testimony — Reuters reported the White House forced her out hours after the official "husband's cancer" announcement. And the DNC autopsy disaster: Chair Ken Martin finally released the 2024 report after months of pressure, then publicly repudiated it in the same statement, fired the author the same day, and revealed the report didn't interview Biden, Harris, Walz, or most top aides — all while the RNC sits on $124 million in cash and the DNC is $17 million in debt. Also covered: Trump and Rubio raised the specter of military intervention in Cuba a day after charging 94-year-old Raúl Castro, and the Treasury subpoenaed Hasan Piker, CodePink's Medea Benjamin, and Ilhan Omar's daughter over their March Cuba trip; USCIS announced foreigners must now leave the US to apply for green cards, reversing 50+ years of policy; Trump claimed a Strait of Hormuz deal is "largely negotiated"; and Mayor Mamdani launched a Twitch show the same week the most prominent socialist on Twitch got federally subpoenaed. We close with Trump skipping Don Jr.'s wedding to Bettina Anderson at Mar-a-Lago, his DC triumphal arch design getting approved, and the AI executive order signing getting postponed because Trump "didn't like certain aspects" — days after his stock disclosure showed heavy AI-adjacent buys.  

Trump sued his own government for $10 billion, was about to lose in court, and settled with himself — walking away with a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded fund he controls, a board he can fire, zero court oversight, and his personal IRS audit liability quietly erased on the side. Nick breaks down exactly what the Anti-Weaponization Fund is, who gets the money, who's running it, and why calling it a slush fund isn't a political attack — it's just reading the definition.

Nick and Rick break down a chaotic week in American politics. They open on Trump's two-day state visit to Beijing, where Xi warned that mishandling Taiwan would put the relationship in "great jeopardy" and Trump returned with a vague Iran commitment and a Boeing order — plus Pete Hegseth visibly sweating through the welcome handshake with Xi on Chinese state TV. Then to the quote of the week: Trump told reporters he doesn't think about Americans' financial situation as gas hit $4.50 a gallon and inflation hit a three-year high, and when given the chance to walk it back on Fox News, called it a "perfect statement" he'd make again. Plus Cuba's energy grid collapse: the country has run out of fuel under Trump's blockade, hospitals are suspending surgeries, the largest protests in decades have erupted in Havana, and the DOJ is preparing to indict 94-year-old Raúl Castro the same week the CIA Director made a surprise trip to Havana to demand "meaningful reforms." Also covered: SCOTUS gave Alabama back its previously-struck-down map and refused to save Virginia Democrats', Steve Cohen retired after Tennessee carved up Memphis, Bill Cassidy was ousted in the Louisiana Senate primary by Trump's revenge campaign, Jerome Powell stepped down as Fed Chair after eight years, Trump bought Nvidia stock days before approving its chip sales to China, and Trump is preparing to drop his IRS lawsuit in exchange for a $1.7 billion taxpayer-funded "weaponization" fund to pay January 6 defendants and his political allies. Mayor Mamdani delivered a balanced NYC budget and Newsom balanced California's. We close with the Health Secretary playing with a robotic surgery console mid-operation at the Cleveland Clinic, and the urologist behind a YouTube show called "Erection Connection" now running the federal hantavirus response.  

Ten years ago, Nick got laughed out of a grad school seminar for arguing that the U.S. isn’t a fair example of capitalism — by the same logic his classmates used to exempt the USSR from representing socialism. He’s been waiting for the right case study ever since. This week he found it: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and DOGE’s crusader against ‘wasteful’ government spending, built his entire empire on $38 billion in taxpayer money. SpaceX was seeded by NASA. Tesla was saved by a government loan. Its first profitable year was manufactured by government policy. Nick breaks down the numbers, defines the terms people weaponize without understanding, and compares U.S. corporate subsidies to Europe industry by industry. The free market isn’t a principle. It’s a punchline.

Nick breaks down a chaotic week in American politics. Opening on Iran: three US Navy destroyers came under missile, drone, and small-boat attack in the Strait of Hormuz, the US struck Iranian soil for the first time since the ceasefire, the UAE was hit by Iranian missiles, and Saudi Arabia pulled US airspace and airbase access — forcing Trump to abruptly pause "Project Freedom." Meanwhile, an Atlantic report this week revealed Trump is "bored" with the war, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Pope Leo at the Vatican, where the pope handed him a literal olive branch. Then to the Great Redistricting War: just eight days after SCOTUS gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Tennessee Republicans carved up Memphis to eliminate Steve Cohen's seat, and the Virginia Supreme Court threw out the voter-approved Democratic redistricting map on procedural grounds — handing Republicans a major net gain heading into the midterms. Plus: Senate Republicans tucked $1 billion in taxpayer funding for Trump's ballroom into the ICE funding bill after Trump promised the ballroom would be privately funded; the Court of International Trade struck down Trump's Section 122 tariffs in his second major tariff loss this year; ABC accused the FCC of violating its First Amendment rights over an investigation into "The View"; Kamala Harris privately told donors the DNC should release its buried 2024 autopsy as she eyes a 2028 run; and the Pentagon released its first tranche of UFO files. We close with the 22-foot gold statue of Trump unveiled at his Doral golf course this week, blessed by an evangelical pastor who insisted "this is not a golden calf."  

The 2026 midterms are supposed to be a referendum on Trump. But while everyone's watching that fight, corporations and billionaires are quietly buying the outcome. Nick counts down the Top 5 PACs already flooding Congress with cash — from the GOP's traditional money machine all the way up to Trump's $304 million protection racket. Crypto has $300 million in the game. AI companies are targeting state legislatures. And the biggest player of all is a sitting president's personal war chest, funded by people who need something from the White House. This is what Citizens United was always going to produce.

Nick is back from Spain and joined by Rick to catch up on two weeks of political chaos. They open on the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting: Pirro's confirmation that Cole Allen's bullet hit a Secret Service agent, and Trump's bizarre pivot to pushing his $400 million ballroom within hours of the attack. Then to Iran: the 60-day War Powers deadline arrives, Hegseth invents a "ceasefire pauses the clock" rule from the witness chair, Trump launches "Project Freedom" in the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian missile strikes a US Navy vessel, and gas hits $4.45 a gallon. Plus the bombshell SCOTUS ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that effectively guts Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and the gerrymandering arms race it's already touched off across the South. Also covered: Janet Mills drops out of the Maine Senate race, clearing the path for Graham Platner vs. Susan Collins; Trump's approval crashes to 37%; the record 75-day DHS shutdown ends with Speaker Johnson folding; the 5th Circuit blocks mifepristone by mail nationwide; and the Senate bans itself from trading prediction markets. We close with Trump's plan to bulldoze a public minigolf course for a marble statue garden of himself, and the Daily Beast investigation into his all-night Truth Social habit (including a midnight AI-generated bikini image at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool).  

A lot of people on the left are quietly asking the same question right now: if the Democrats keep letting us down, why bother? Nick brings his sibling Li on to work through it honestly — the Stein votes, the Gaza frustration, the feeling that even a Democratic win wouldn't have fixed anything. 

Over the last two years, at least 10 people with access to America's nuclear and aerospace secrets have died or disappeared. The FBI is now investigating. Congress has opened a formal inquiry. Trump was briefed and called it "pretty serious stuff." So what do we actually know? Nick walks through the cases, the official responses, and what remains unanswered — because this story is just getting started.

Week 8 of the Iran war, and the wheels are coming off. Iran re-closes the Strait of Hormuz just 24 hours after reopening it, gunboats fire on Indian tankers, and gas hits $4.12/gallon — while Russ Vought tells Congress he has no idea what any of this is costing taxpayers. The House war powers resolution fails by a single vote. Trump picks a fight with the Pope, posts an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus healing the sick, and cancels $11 million to Catholic Charities in the middle of it. Pete Hegseth quotes a Pulp Fiction monologue as real scripture at a Pentagon sermon. The Atlantic drops a bombshell alleging FBI Director Kash Patel is drunk on the job and unreachable behind locked doors. RFK Jr. launches a taxpayer-funded podcast the same week a new book reveals he once pulled over on I-684 to cut the penis off a dead raccoon while his kids waited in the car. Plus: Analilia Mejia blows out NJ-11 by 20 points in yet another Dem special election overperformance, Swalwell and Tony Gonzales both resign over sexual misconduct on the same day, 10 House Republicans defy Trump to extend Haitian TPS, and Kamala Harris says she's "thinking about" running again in 2028. A week where institutional pushback finally showed up — from the Pope, the courts, the voters, and the Republicans Trump can't count on anymore.  

Rick's out sick, so Nick is flying solo with a quick-hit roundup of the biggest stories of the week. Six weeks into the Iran war, Trump threatened to bomb power plants on Easter Sunday, Vance flew to Islamabad for peace talks and came home empty-handed, Israel killed 300+ in Lebanon in a single day, and the Pope told everyone to knock it off. Then Vance hopped over to Hungary to campaign for Trump's favorite authoritarian — and voters threw Orbán out anyway. Plus: Melania held a press conference nobody asked for, Swalwell's gubernatorial campaign is in freefall after sexual assault allegations, Trump wants a triumphal arch next to Arlington (for himself), ICE arrested a soldier's spouse on an Army base, and inflation is back up. A lot happened. Let's get into it.

Trump threatened to destroy an entire civilization. Iran held firm. Two hours before his own deadline, Trump blinked — and called it a victory. This week, Nick breaks down what actually happened with the Iran ceasefire: what's in the deal, how it compares to what Iran was offering the day before the war started, and why the country that pushed America into this war just bombed Beirut hours after the ceasefire was announced. Plus: why the only people who stopped a potential genocide weren't in Congress.

Trump had one of the most chaotic weeks of his presidency — and that's saying something. He gave his first primetime address on the Iran war 33 days in, claiming total air dominance over a country that then shot down two of our jets within 48 hours. He fired his Attorney General for not being ruthless enough. He told a room full of Saudi investors that MBS better "be nice to him." And he dropped an f-bomb on Easter Sunday while threatening to bomb a country back to the stone ages. Oh, and NASA launched the first humans to the Moon in 53 years — which somehow got lost in the chaos. Nick and Rick break down Trump's contradictory Iran war speech and what the downed F-15 means for the conflict, the firing of Pam Bondi and what it tells us about the DOJ under Trump, the bizarre FII summit speech, the Supreme Court's skeptical reception of Trump's birthright citizenship case, Hegseth firing the Army Chief of Staff mid-war, the $1.5 trillion defense budget, 100% pharma tariffs, and a new executive order on elections that experts are already calling unconstitutional.

Cuba's power grid has collapsed. Hospitals are postponing surgeries. The government is telling people to cook with wood. And the United States is the reason. In this episode, Nick breaks down how Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign has effectively blockaded Cuba — cutting off its oil supply, intercepting tankers, and threatening any country that tries to help. It's the same playbook used on Venezuela, now applied 90 miles from Florida. And it's working, in the worst possible way. Plus: why Trump's Iran timeline probably isn't what he says it is — and why Cuba's crisis doesn't need Iran to end before it gets worse.

The Iran war hits one month — and the numbers don't add up. Trump says the U.S. is "way ahead of schedule," but his own intelligence community says only a third of Iran's missiles have been destroyed. Fifteen Americans are dead, 300+ wounded, oil is at $112 a barrel, and the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Meanwhile, Bannon says out loud that ICE at airports is a "test run" for the 2026 midterms, the DOJ is sharing voter data with DHS, and Trump's signature is going on the dollar bill for the first time in American history. And today — record-breaking No Kings protests erupted in all 50 states, with organizers claiming 8 million participants and calling it the largest protest day in U.S. history. We cover all of it.

Germany. Japan. Vietnam. Afghanistan. Iraq. Russia. Gaza. The country that starts a major war almost never wins it — and the pattern is so consistent it's basically a law of modern warfare. In this episode, Nick walks through the historical record, breaks down why aggressors keep failing, and then takes on the counterarguments head-on. What about Venezuela? What about Crimea? What about Gulf War 1? Spoiler: those examples don't hold up the way you think they do. And with Trump already eyeing Cuba as his next target, this conversation couldn't be more urgent.

It's week four of the Iran war, and the only thing Trump doesn't have is an exit strategy. This week Nick and Rick break down a stacked news cycle: the Pentagon is asking Congress for $200 billion to fund a war nobody authorized, Trump insulted Japan's Prime Minister to her face by joking about Pearl Harbor, and Attorney General Pam Bondi held a "briefing" on the Epstein files so evasive that Democrats walked out halfway through. Plus: the Pentagon quietly plans to keep the National Guard in DC through 2029, two FBI agents sue Kash Patel for firing them because they investigated Trump, the DHS shutdown hits day 35 as TSA workers quit and airport security lines stretch two hours, and Trump's Board of Peace puts a disarmament proposal on the table for Hamas — while Hamas sits back and waits to see how the Iran war plays out first.

The U.S. has spent at least $12 billion on the Iran War in under three weeks. Trump’s Pentagon wants $50 billion more. Meanwhile: 15 million Americans just lost Medicaid. 4 million lost food stamps. 759 rural hospitals are about to close. This week, Nick runs the numbers — five things America could have paid for instead. The math is damning. America First? Here’s the receipts.

The Iran war is two weeks old and spinning out of control. Nick and Rick break down Iran's new supreme leader vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut, the Pentagon confirming the U.S. struck an Iranian girls' school killing 165+ children, and the war's $11.3 billion price tag — in just six days. Plus: Trump says the war will end "when I feel it in my bones," admits Putin is probably helping Iran, and claims rising gas prices are actually good for you. Then: a Michigan synagogue attack linked directly to the war, Trump holding Congress hostage over a voter suppression bill he says will guarantee Republicans win "for 50 years," and a bipartisan housing bill that passed 89-10 and may be dead on arrival anyway. Also: UFC fighters training FBI agents, Jim Clyburn running for his 18th term at 85, and China's AI video trolling Trump's "Shield of the Americas."

The US entered the Iran war with four stated goals: destroy Iran's missile capabilities, destroy its navy, prevent a nuclear weapon, and defund its proxies. Two weeks in, let's actually check the scorecard. Gas prices are up 17%. The Strait of Hormuz — through which 20% of the world's oil flows — is effectively closed. Iran's new supreme leader is harder-line than the last one. And the nuclear deal? It's not just stalled. It's dead — possibly forever. We break down what the Iran war has actually achieved, and why the answer should terrify you.

The United States is one week into a war with Iran, and things are already a mess. Nick and Rick break down everything you need to know: how we got here, what's actually happening on the ground, why oil prices are spiking and markets are tanking, and what Trump's "I guess" answer about attacks on American soil tells you about how seriously this administration is taking the consequences of a war it chose to start. They also cover the House and Senate's failed attempts to reassert congressional war powers, Trump's feud with Spain after the Spanish PM told him to go pound sand, and the CIA's plan to arm Kurdish militias as a new front in the conflict. Plus: Kristi Noem is out as DHS Secretary after a disastrous Senate hearing in which she threw Trump under the bus — and Sen. John Kennedy held the match. Markwayne Mullin is tapped to replace her. The DOJ admits to removing nearly 48,000 Epstein files from its public database, including FBI interview records tied to a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse when she was a minor. Texas held its primaries — Jasmine Crockett lost to James Talarico, Dan Crenshaw is out, and Tony Gonzales admitted to an affair with a staffer who died by suicide and dropped out of his race. OpenAI's robotics chief resigned over the company's Pentagon deal. And a new global study finds nearly a third of Gen Z men believe a wife should obey her husband — twice the rate of Boomers. A lot happened this week. We cover it all.

The U.S. is tariffing Canada, threatening NATO allies, and freezing foreign aid worldwide — but Israel gets exempted from every rule, $16 billion in arms since October 2023, and total unconditional support. Why? We break down the three engines powering America's most lopsided alliance: the Cold War logic that outlived the Cold War, a lobby machine that's made it politically career-ending to ask questions, and 44 million evangelical Christians who support Israel because they believe it'll trigger the apocalypse and the second coming of Christ. Plus: the Democratic Party did an internal autopsy proving Gaza cost them the 2024 election — and then buried it. And for the voters who stayed home to 'send a message': how's that working out?

The United States launched a huge joint military operation with Israel targeting Iran's nuclear program, reportedly killing Supreme Leader Khamenei, and Iran struck back hard. We break down how we got here, what it means, and why Trump was negotiating with Iran just days before the bombs dropped. Plus: Trump's State of the Union was full of whoppers; we fact-check the biggest ones. The Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA tariffs in a 6-3 ruling, and Trump's response was... more tariffs. Bill Clinton testified before Congress about Epstein for six hours, while Republicans refuse to call the guy who actually partied with him. A leaked draft executive order would use a debunked China conspiracy theory to ban mail-in voting and hand Trump control over elections. The government is still partially shut down over whether ICE agents should wear body cameras. Trump banned Anthropic AI from all federal use — then the Pentagon signed a deal with OpenAI that includes the exact same safety rules Anthropic demanded. The Lancet calls RFK Jr.'s tenure "catastrophic" as measles cases top 1,000 in 2026 alone. An armed Cuban exile boat was shot up off the coast of Cuba. VP Vance froze $259 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota. And Trump floated a third term. Again.

Trump said Operation Midnight Hammer completely and totally obliterated Iran's nuclear program. His own envoy now says Iran is a week away from bomb-making material. So which is it? Nick breaks down the full Iran story — from the 2018 JCPOA withdrawal that accelerated Iran's enrichment, to the strikes that may not have done what we were told, to Netanyahu's 30-year track record of claiming Iran is always "one week away," to the Democratic Party's stunning failure to mount a real opposition. If you listened to Episodes 32 and 33 last summer, this is the follow-up you've been waiting for. The bombs didn't solve it. Now what?

Everyone's heard the claims: millions of illegal votes, stolen elections, rampant mail-in fraud. But what does the actual evidence show? Today, we go through the data, and it turns out the Heritage Foundation spent years building a database to prove voter fraud is rampant, and independent researchers keep using that same database to prove it isn't. Then we look at what happens when the myth stops being talking points and starts running the government — from the SAVE America Act moving through the Senate right now, to Tulsi Gabbard showing up at an FBI raid on a Georgia elections office hunting for evidence of a 2020 election that 62 courts already said wasn't stolen.

This week delivered one of the most explosive political moments in recent memory: At Pam Bondi's House testimony, photos revealed the Attorney General had a printout of Rep. Jayapal's Epstein file search history—raising serious questions about DOJ surveillance of Congress. When asked to apologize to the 11 Epstein survivors in the room, Bondi refused to turn around, calling it "theatrics." Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security shut down—sort of. While TSA agents, Coast Guard members, and FEMA workers go without pay, ICE and CBP continue operating thanks to a $140 billion slush fund. Democrats demanded reforms after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in Minnesota, but immigration enforcement marches on uninterrupted. Ghislaine Maxwell appeared virtually from prison and pleaded the Fifth on every question—but her lawyer says she'll "speak fully and honestly" if Trump grants clemency, claiming she can prove both Trump and Clinton are "innocent of any wrongdoing." Upcoming depositions include Leslie Wexner, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton. The Epstein files keep getting stranger: Dr. Oz invited Epstein to a 2016 Valentine's Day party. Steve Bannon strategized with Epstein about "taking down" Pope Francis. And new studies reveal Americans are bearing 90% of tariff costs—that's $1,300 per household, completely wiping out the average tax cut. Plus: The House passed the SAVE Act that could disenfranchise 21 million citizens, Trump threatened an executive order on voter ID, the EPA eliminated all climate regulations, Democrats showed up in Munich to counter Trump on the world stage, and we break down what it all means.

What does it actually take to force a Cabinet official to resign? In this episode, I lay out the historical standards for accountability — then rank five current administration officials who, in my view, fail those standards. From DOJ transparency to public health governance, from classified handling to domestic terrorism rhetoric, this is a standards-based evaluation — not a partisan rant. Accountability isn’t radical. It’s normal. The question is whether we still believe in it.

Today’s episode is a snapshot of where U.S. politics is heading as the 2026 midterms come into focus. We start with Donald Trump saying he wants to “nationalize” the midterm elections and Steve Bannon openly calling for ICE to be sent to polling places — a threat that, even if it never happens, can still chill turnout through fear and intimidation. From there, we cover Trump boosting racist content depicting the Obamas as primates and refusing to apologize, plus the latest Epstein-related Oversight Committee moves as Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to sit for depositions. We also dig into the growing pattern of personal branding and transactional governance: reports that Trump dangled infrastructure funding if Penn Station were renamed for him, the launch of TrumpRx, and a major foreign-linked stake reported in a Trump-family crypto venture. Finally, we hit the economic headline about the sharp jump in announced layoffs, a new diplomatic spat involving the U.S. ambassador to Poland, and a few of the week’s more surreal culture-war stories — including a proposed Columbus statue at the White House and the allegations swirling around Rep. Nancy Mace.

Trump keeps saying he wants to “nationalize” elections—and he’s now urging Republicans to “take over the voting” in multiple places ahead of the 2026 midterms. In today’s episode, I break down what that phrase actually means in a country where elections are run by states and local jurisdictions, why a president can’t simply seize election administration, and the more realistic ways federal power can still be used to pressure the system: investigations, funding leverage, and intimidation of local officials. Even if a full takeover is legally unworkable, the rhetoric matters—because it normalizes the idea that elections should be controlled by whoever’s in power, and it primes millions of people to distrust results if they don’t like the outcome.  

This week, the fallout from the Minnesota ICE shooting turns into a full-blown national political fight — not just over what happened, but over how the administration is trying to frame it. We break down the scramble to defend the killing of Alex Pretti, the flood of viral “context” clips (and why some may be unreliable or manipulated), and the internal shakeups as the Trump team tries to contain the damage. Then: Democrats spend the week warning they won’t fund ICE… and ultimately vote to avoid a shutdown anyway. We talk about what that reveals about the party’s strategy, its fractures, and what “governing under hostage politics” does to everyone’s incentives. Plus: Ilhan Omar is attacked at a rally, Don Lemon is arrested during a protest inside a church, and millions of pages of Epstein files drop — packed with allegations involving major public figures, but still demanding careful, sober scrutiny. Finally, we hit the week’s bigger power signals: Trump reportedly moving to nominate Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair, Rubio testifying on Venezuela, an FBI probe tied to the 2020 election ecosystem, Trump suing the IRS and Treasury over tax-record leaks, New York City launching 3-K/Pre-K applications, and the strange new reality of “extraordinary talent” visas in influencer culture.

Is the world quietly preparing for a future where U.S. leadership can’t be taken for granted? In this episode, we take a deep dive into whether the West is beginning to hedge away from the United States — and why China may be gaining soft power faster than many Americans realize. Sparked by blunt warnings at Davos and reinforced by shifting trade patterns, currency hedging, and alliance strain, this episode argues that the real story isn’t a sudden handoff from the U.S. to China, but a faster-than-expected erosion of trust. We break down what “soft power” actually means, why alliance damage is harder to repair than markets, how the dollar can remain dominant while still becoming politically riskier, and why China benefits by default when the U.S. appears volatile and unpredictable.  Email us at [email protected]  

This week, U.S. politics detonated on multiple fronts: federal immigration enforcement killed another American, Democrats threatened to block ICE/DHS funding, and Trump took his brand of “deal diplomacy” to Davos—alienating allies while claiming a Greenland framework and stoking fresh NATO exit fears. We break down Trump’s “New Gaza” plan and his new “Peace Board” drama, the Justice Department’s potential gun-control rollbacks, RFK Jr.’s escalating 5G/cell radiation crusade, and Trump’s headline-grabbing $5B lawsuit against JPMorgan. It’s one of those weeks where the “news cycle” isn’t a cycle—it’s a pileup.  

In this episode, Nick sits down with Dr. Jesse Turiel to make ten bold-but-defensible predictions for U.S. politics in 2026. We dig into the coming “Map Wars” over mid-decade redistricting, why the Epstein files likely won’t produce a single political earthquake, and how Cuba could re-enter the headlines as a flashpoint for U.S. pressure and posturing. We also unpack the growing MAGA vs. establishment rift in state-level races, and why AI/data centers may become a surprising cultural wedge issue—pitting progressive concerns about costs and communities against corporate comfort. It’s a fast, argument-driven forecast for the year ahead.  

This week, Rick and track the through-line behind a chaotic stretch of headlines: power—who has it, who checks it, and what happens when institutions get tested. We start with Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying the Trump administration is launching a probe against him, and what that could mean for central bank independence. From there, we zoom out to Congress: the Senate blocks a bill aimed at curbing Trump’s war powers in Venezuela, while Trump’s own rhetoric on Iran spikes (“help is on the way”) and then quickly walks back—raising the question of how much foreign policy is being made in real time, in public. Then it’s tariffs and alliances: Trump threatens 10% tariffs on several European countries amid a Greenland standoff, and we look at how trade policy is being used as geopolitical leverage. We also cover a striking signal of shifting alignments: Canada and China reach a trade deal that suggests Ottawa is diversifying away from U.S. dependence. In tech and defense, the Pentagon partners with Grok as part of broader AI contracting—plus the political framing that other models are “too woke.” We also hit Gaza, where Trump announces a new “Board of Peace” for restoration, and in clean energy, offshore wind notches a key court win that could shape how far the administration can go in halting permitted projects. Finally, we do a fast misinformation cleanup: a viral claim that the Proud Boys founder was “in ICE” via a data breach doesn’t hold up. Plus: a symbolic Machado–Trump meeting that generated headlines but (so far) little policy change.

Minnesota has become the collision point for three national flashpoints at once: a massive pandemic-era fraud scandal, a sweeping ICE enforcement surge that turned deadly, and a president threatening the Insurrection Act over protests. In this episode, I break down what’s actually known, what’s alleged, what’s been proven in court, and why Minnesota—of all places—suddenly feels like the center of the national political storm. In this episode: The fraud saga (Feeding Our Future): how a COVID-era child nutrition program became the site of one of the largest alleged pandemic fraud schemes in the U.S., and what federal prosecutors say happened. Timeline, plainly explained: when the scheme ramped up, when charges were filed, and what happened under Biden vs what’s happening now. The “Somali” angle and the politics around it: how real criminal cases have been used to paint an entire community, why that’s both inaccurate and dangerous, and how scapegoating is shaping federal rhetoric. Why Minnesota is getting so much ICE attention: the administration’s justification vs what Minnesota officials and civil rights groups argue is really going on. Metro Surge: what it is, how large it is, and why its scale has made it impossible to ignore. Shootings and protests: what’s been reported, what’s being investigated, and why clashes escalated so quickly. The escalation: lawsuits, funding threats, and what it means when a president threatens the Insurrection Act. Key takeaway: This isn’t “one weird Minnesota story.” It’s a case study in how governance failures, real criminal wrongdoing, and political incentives can combine into a fast-moving crisis—where accountability, due process, and civil liberties all get tested at the same time. Sources referenced (high-level): Reporting and documents from DOJ filings/announcements, Reuters, and the Associated Press, plus relevant court and civil rights filings. If you liked this episode, please follow/subscribe, and leave a rating!

Today’s episode is about what happens when federal power stops asking permission. We start in Minnesota, where an ICE officer shot and killed Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old American citizen—sparking protests, dueling narratives about what happened on the scene, and a growing fight over accountability after state investigators say they’ve been cut off while the FBI leads the probe. Then we zoom out to the Trump administration’s renewed Greenland push—complete with talk that “military action is always an option”—and Stephen Miller’s chilling cable-news argument for annexation-by-strength. From there, we dig into Venezuela: the Senate moving to curb Trump’s military authority, reports that lawmakers weren’t briefed, and a sweeping executive order declaring an emergency to shield Venezuelan oil revenues—while oil executives reportedly signal they’re not eager to bet big on a chaotic, high-risk rebuild. We also break down the House vote to revive ACA subsidies (what it could mean for premiums and coverage), the latest U.S. strikes in Syria, and the emerging Iran uprising—where blackout conditions and conflicting death-toll estimates make the picture both urgent and hard to verify. If you’ve been feeling like the news is turning into a stress test of democracy, alliances, and basic guardrails—this one’s for you.

In under a year, the Trump administration has expanded U.S. military strikes across seven countries — from high-volume campaigns in Yemen and Somalia, to one-off “precision” strikes in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Nigeria, plus a controversial maritime strike campaign tied to Venezuela. In this episode, I go country by country (least strikes → most) to answer five questions for each: when did the strikes happen, what was the stated justification, how many people died, are more strikes likely, and were they justified? The headline: strike counts are easier to track than deaths — because official casualty reporting is often incomplete, and independent monitors don’t always agree. Countries covered (least strikes → most) Iraq (1 strike) A March 2025 precision strike that CENTCOM says killed ISIS’s “global #2” leader and one other operative. Nigeria (1 strike) A December 2025 U.S. strike in Sokoto State; AFRICOM said “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed, without giving a public number. Iran (1 strike operation) A June 2025 strike package reported to hit Iran’s main nuclear sites (Natanz, Isfahan, Fordow), involving B-2 bombers, bunker-busters, and Tomahawk missiles. Public casualty totals are unclear in the reporting. Syria (1 major operation / many targets) Operation Hawkeye Strike (Dec 2025): CENTCOM said the U.S. hit 70+ ISIS targets using 100+ precision munitions, following attacks on U.S./partner forces. Venezuela-linked maritime campaign (30+ strikes/operations) Since Sept 2025, Reuters reports “more than 30” lethal operations against suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 110 people. Human Rights Watch argues these actions amount to unlawful “extrajudicial killings.” Somalia (111 strikes) Al Jazeera, citing New America’s strike tracking, reports at least 111 U.S. strikes since Jan 2025, tied to operations against al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia. AFRICOM statements and independent reporting disagree at times on civilian harm, and total deaths across the full set of strikes are not publicly consolidated. Yemen (339 strikes) Yemen Data Project reports 339 U.S. strikes in 53 days (Mar 15–May 6, 2025) during “Operation Rough Rider,” with at least 238 civilians killed and 467 injured (including children). Reuters reported a ceasefire announcement in early May. Big takeaways The strike campaign is highly concentrated in Yemen and Somalia, with a separate and legally contentious campaign at sea tied to Venezuela. Counting strikes is easier than counting deaths — especially where official casualty reporting is limited or disputed. The “justified?” question depends on which framework you use: self-defense & counterterror vs sovereignty, proportionality, transparency, and civilian protection. Sources ACLED (as cited by Al Jazeera), Yemen Data Project, Reuters, CENTCOM, AFRICOM, Human Rights Watch, and New America strike tracking.