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The midterms are over. And what just happened hasn't happened in this country in more than 50 years. Democrats took the House with 247 seats — and counting. They flipped 7 Senate seats to take control at 54. There was not a single Democrat who lost a contested race. Every statewide race — every Senate seat, every governor's office up for grabs — shifted blue compared to 2024. Every single one. Except one rural county in Illinois that I genuinely need someone to explain to me. We break down the whole picture: the Senate flips that nobody saw coming — South Carolina, Iowa, Maine, Ohio, North Carolina — and the ones that are still being counted. Alaska's ranked-choice situation. And Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom is leading by just 1,700 votes and would become the first Black senator from that state since Reconstruction. Then there's Texas. Which is now a blue state. James Talarico beat Ken Paxton by 18 points. Gina Hinojosa beat Greg Abbott. The attorney general went blue. The lieutenant governor went blue. The state house flipped. Texas hasn't looked like this since the 1980s. We also talk about the milestones: the first Black speaker of the House, the first Muslim senator, Georgia's first Black woman governor, New Mexico's first Native American woman governor, and a record number of women elected to the House. And then — the Republican meltdown. Trump posts a VETO hat, then tells reporters he'll work with Democrats, then goes to a ballroom topping-off ceremony and talks for 20 minutes without mentioning the election once. JD Vance breaks openly with the president, blaming the results on the Iran war. Harmeet Dhillon resigns. And Ron DeSantis says it wasn't a tsunami — it was a meteor strike. This is the full breakdown of the most consequential midterm election of our lifetimes. Make It Make Sense is an independent political news show produced in Detroit. Subscribe so you don't miss what comes next — because Congress reconvenes next week and the budget fight starts immediately. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro - What the Hell Just Happened 1:45 - SaySo News - Ad 2:45 - The Numbers - House and Senate Results 5:30 - Senate Flips - South Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Ohio and More 9:00 - Kansas Sends Its First Democrat to Congress Since 1932 9:45 - Texas Is a Blue State Now 12:00 - Alaska and Mississippi - Still Counting 13:30 - The Historic Firsts - Governors, Senators, and the House 15:00 - Democrats Fight Over What Comes Next 17:00 - LiQure - Ad 18:00 - Trump Checks Out - The Ballroom Speech 20:30 - The "Too Big to Rig" Contradiction 22:30 - JD Vance Breaks With the President 24:15 - The Republican Meltdown - Resignations and Reckonings 26:15 - Outro - What Comes Next Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

It's Election Day. We finally made it. Today's episode is different. Instead of a news breakdown, because the news is moving too fast for that right now, Grant welcomed back Virginia Solomon, President and CEO of Common Cause, to walk us through every major legal fight over this election and what happens next. Here's what you need to know going in: the administration has been filing lawsuits against our elections since the summer. And they have been losing. In California. In Alaska. In court after court. Some of those losses have come from Trump-appointed judges. Virginia makes the point that the sheer incompetence of these legal arguments has accidentally protected democracy. They couldn't make a constitutional case to save their lives. They cover the DHS armed-agents-at-the-polls lawsuit that Common Cause filed in September, and why it's sitting ready to trigger a restraining order the moment anyone shows up. The Alaska Dans Sullivan case, now on its third appeal. The California ballot segregation case, which the administration has now asked the Supreme Court to take up, and why Virginia doesn't think they'll touch it. (They didn't after the episode was recorded) Finally, what Common Cause and their partners are most worried about after tonight: the federal government trying to interfere with ballot counting. If you're in line right now — stay in line. You have the right to vote as long as you were in line before polls closed. If you see law enforcement or interference at the polls, call 866-OUR-VOTE. Your ballot is safe. Go vote. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro - It's Election Day 3:00 - Virginia Solomon Returns - State of the Fight 4:20 - Armed Agents at the Polls - The Common Cause Lawsuit 8:50 - Why the Admin's Incompetence Has Saved Democracy 11:10 - Alaska - The Dan Sullivan Case Dismissed and Appealed Again 14:00 - California - The Supreme Court Asks and Purcell 20:10 - The Biggest Fear Tonight - Ballot Seizure and Chain of Custody 22:35 - Attestation and the Rule of Law After This Election 26:30 - Viktor Orban, Hungary, and What Comes After 29:05 - Outro - Thank You for Voting Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

Four days out from the midterms and everything is on fire at once. So today we're doing a political potluck because there is too much happening to cover just two stories, and you deserve to see what's going on in its totality. A federal judge issued a scorching ruling blocking the DOJ from forcing California to separate 20,000 ballots, calling it something that has never happened in American history. Washington State's Secretary of State told the DOJ to put up or shut up after they handed over a voter roll they admitted wasn't reliable. In Alaska, the DOJ just opened a criminal investigation into a Senate race over something the Attorney General himself said "should be" illegal, which is not how laws work. In Texas, a Republican county party is trying to stop election results from being certified before they even happen. We also have an update on the Rep. Ilhan Omar investigation, which is apparently now centered on a 10-year-old message board conspiracy theory that the Obama administration already looked at in 2016. And then there's this: the New York Times dropped a major investigation today revealing that a woman close to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was passing intelligence directly to China, and Trump was briefed on it over a year ago and did nothing. The same Trump who has made more than 100 trades of Nvidia stock worth up to $98 million, brokered a deal with the UAE to sell Nvidia chips in violation of sanctions, and whose family then received $500 million in crypto purchases from that same UAE regime. None of this should be happening four days before an election. There is a 60-day DOJ blackout rule for exactly this reason. And yet, here we are. Your vote is still safe. Your ballot still counts. The best thing you can do right now is make a plan and go vote. Head to vote.org to find early voting near you, your polling place, and everything you need to know before Tuesday, November 3rd. Make It Make Sense is produced independently. If this show helps you stay sharp, share it with someone who needs it. LINKS: Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is supported by Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro - The Political Potluck 1:30 - Vote.org - Make Your Plan 2:45 - California - Judge Blocks DOJ Ballot Scheme 7:30 - Washington State - DOJ's Unreliable Voter Roll 9:45 - Alaska - Two Dan Sullivans and a Criminal Investigation 13:00 - Texas - GOP Lawsuit to Stop Election Results 14:30 - Ilhan Omar Investigation Update 16:15 - Nvidia, China, and $98 Million in Trump Stock Trades 20:00 - The 60-Day Blackout Rule Being Broken Right Now 21:30 - Purposeful Chaos - Why Your Vote Still Matters Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

Five days to November 3rd. Mark Blumberg spent 30 years in the criminal section of the civil rights division at the Department of Justice. He wrote the FBI's guidebook on voter suppression enforcement. He investigated and prosecuted constitutional violations, hate crimes, human trafficking, and public corruption in red states and blue states, rural areas and cities, for six different administrations. He left in February of this year. He is now the executive director of the Rule of Law Project, a nonprofit built around former federal prosecutors and former FBI agents who left the DOJ when the mission changed — people who collectively represent hundreds of years of institutional knowledge that walked out the door and has nowhere to go. The Rule of Law Project investigates the same cases the DOJ should be investigating, builds them to prosecutorial standard, and hands them to state attorneys general, local prosecutors, or holds them for a future DOJ that will be ready to receive them. The cases: ICE officers who shoot people in the streets with no accountability. Public corruption. Voter intimidation. The subpoenas currently going out from the DOJ to California election officials that may or may not cross criminal intimidation lines. Everything the DOJ was supposed to do and has stopped doing. Mark also explains in plain English why the DOJ has never in his 30 years brought cases like the California ballot lawsuit this close to an election, what the historical policy was and why it existed, and what it means that those policies are being ignored now. His answer: "The only logical conclusion is that it's designed to have an impact on the election." And on accountability: Mark makes the case that the people saying "don't look backward" after the midterms are objectively wrong. Not politically wrong. Objectively wrong. Without accountability there is no healthy society. Criminal accountability is not abstract — it's what makes people feel like the rules apply to everyone. The Rule Of Law Project LINKS:  Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is supported by Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Five days out. Who is Mark BlUmberg and why Grant brought him on today. 3:26 - 30 years in the DOJ civil rights criminal section: what he investigated, what he prosecuted, what he built 5:50 - What it felt like inside DOJ as it changed: the sadness, the colleagues leaving, the mission drift 9:01 - Why criminal civil rights enforcement is supposed to be immune from politics and why it stopped being 11:14 - The brain drain: what hundreds of years of combined experience walking out the door actually costs 13:59 - When Grant’s timeline for what changed matches Mark’s without him saying it: the ICE shooting moment 17:21 - “This is not a just add water job”: why you can’t replace 30 years of experience overnight 20:22 - The Rule of Law Project: what it is, who built it, and why former Human Rights Watch people saw the signs 24:48 - How they investigate without subpoena power and why most of these investigations don’t need one at first 28:01 - The rubric: how they pick cases, what makes a case worth their limited resources, what they won’t touch 32:21 - Accountability as deterrence: why it matters even for people who feel immune from consequences 35:31 - “Criminal deterrence doesn’t always work — I had a job for a reason because people committed crimes” 36:25 - The rural southern sheriff story: why accountability is about the health of a community, not just punishment 39:31 - “They’re objectively wrong”: Mark on politicians who say don’t look backward after the midterms 41:25 - The California case, the Washington subpoenas, the Alaska lawsuit, the Minnesota investigation: all happening now 45:11 - Why the DOJ never brought cases like this close to an election in his 30 years there and what it means 48:35 - The career guys who would have stopped this are gone: who’s making these decisions now and on what basis 50:24 - What the Rule of Law Project hands over and who receives it: state AGs, local prosecutors, the next DOJ Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

Seven days to November 3rd.  32 million people have already voted. Democrats have an 80% chance of winning the House and a 57% chance of winning the Senate. Only 53% of people who voted for Trump in 2024 say they're enthusiastic to vote this time, essentially a coin flip. The "give them more Trump" strategy has failed. So the administration is trying something else: pulling votes from the count before the count is done. In California, the DOJ is still fighting to force LA County to identify and set aside 20,000 ballots from alleged non-citizen voters. When California actually looked at the list, 13,000 names weren't even in LA County. 48% didn't have active voter registrations. Nearly 40% of the people listed were born in the United States. Of the total names, LA County could only legally act on a third — and of those, DHS had it wrong between 40% and 90% of the time. The DOJ's expert witness in the case is a county clerk from Shasta County who seized ballots because some smelled too inky and some seemed too heavy and he believed they might be faked ballots from China made out of bamboo. He is currently a subject in a federal grand jury investigation about those same ballots. Grant also breaks down the data methodology DHS is using: old system from LexisNexis that the company's own homepage says is not designed to determine eligibility for anything, paired with the same deeply flawed SAVE system that multiple federal courts have already rejected, run through more government databases including potentially illegal Social Security number matching. Already bad data enhanced by a system that can't verify what it's producing. Meanwhile last night the DOJ said there are 400 alleged non-citizen voters in Washington State. In Alaska a judge is fast-tracking a case to stop election certification if the Republican loses. Trump was asked today if he'd accept the results no matter what. He said only if they're honest. Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is supported by Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Seven days out: 32 million votes already cast and where the numbers actually stand 2:00 - 80% House odds, 57% Senate odds, and only 53% of 2024 Trump voters are enthusiastic to vote again 4:00 - The nursing home mirage of early voting: what the demographics of early ballots actually tell us 5:30 - The enthusiasm gap: Democrats at 71%, MAGA at 68%, and what that 3-point difference means in a close race 7:00 - Why “give them more Trump” failed and what the coin flip on 2024 Trump voters means for his power 9:00 - The administration is trying to pull votes from the count as they come in: California, Alaska, Washington 11:00 - The California case update: what happened when they actually opened the flash drive 13:00 - 13,000 names not in LA County, 48% no active registration, 40% born in the United States 15:00 - The Shasta County clerk: ballots seized for smelling too inky, too heavy, possibly made of Chinese bamboo 17:00 - He is currently a subject in a federal grand jury investigation about those same ballots 18:30 - The DHS data methodology: LexisNexis that can’t verify eligibility plus the same flawed SAVE system 21:00 - “Already bad data enhanced by a system that isn’t digging any deeper”: the data nerd nightmare explained 23:00 - The Purcell principle: what it is, why the DOJ is asking a judge to ignore 20 years of precedent 25:00 - Washington State: 400 alleged non-citizens, DOJ moves last night, and the pattern across three states 26:30 - Why the DOJ isn’t going after Texas or Florida: this isn’t about election integrity, it’s about the president’s version of honesty 28:00 - Trump asked today if he’ll accept the results no matter what: what he said Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

11 days to November 3rd.  Cisco Aguilar is the Secretary of State of Nevada and the Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. He is one of the people most directly in the crosshairs of everything this administration has thrown at state elections this cycle. This is his first extended public conversation about all of it. The short of it: there's frustration. "We're actually running a f*****g election," he says. This summer the president went on TV and said there were 15,900 non-citizens on Nevada's voter rolls. The next morning the DHS Secretary was on TV threatening prison time for anyone who didn't comply with a purge order. Cisco called his Republican governor first to explain what was coming, then waited for the data set. Three weeks later they got an Excel spreadsheet with four columns and 6,400 entries, of which only 185 had even been investigated by DHS. Nevada went through all 185, verified each registration, verified the ID used to register, and came back with zero. Not one. Zero. They sent the DOJ a single-word response: zero. Cisco and Grant also cover the Alaska lawsuit the administration filed to block certification of the Senate race before the election has even happened, specifically if the Democrat wins, by trying to send someone door to door to ask voters which Dan Sullivan they meant to vote for. The DOJ's record in election lawsuits this cycle: 0 for 26. Nevada received a letter with cake mix in it. Federal postal inspectors showed up at the Secretary of State's office at 6:30 pm Tuesday and Cisco, on a plane, had to figure out if they were actually postal inspectors or DOJ agents pretending to be postal inspectors. States can no longer trust the federal government. The people who left the DOJ because they couldn't stomach what was happening are now on states' legal teams, and the states are winning. Cisco's closing message: if you don't trust the elections, go be a poll worker. A Republican man in Elko, Nevada did exactly that. He came in skeptical. He left saying, "We run really good elections." LINKS: Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is supported by Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - 11 days out. The administration is throwing everything at state elections. Here's the person fighting back. 4:23 -Meet Cisco Aguilar: Nevada Secretary of State, chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State 5:00 -The full list: what the administration has thrown at elections this cycle and Cisco's one-word verdict 6:48 -Trump goes on TV: 15,900 non-citizen voters in Nevada. Cisco calls the Republican governor first. 8:03 -The Excel spreadsheet: four columns, 6,400 entries, 185 investigated, and what Nevada found. 11:00 - The response to the DOJ: one word. Zero. 13:01 - Why the “one illegal vote cancels one legal vote” argument is designed to scare, not inform 15:32 - How Nevada rebuilt its entire election infrastructure from the ground up and got ranked second in the country by MIT 17:49 - CISA gutted, federal cybersecurity gone: states are on their own and building their own defenses 20:58 - Sponsor break 22:49 - Which threat is most dangerous: the totality, and why voter suppression through fear is the real goal 23:28 - Nevada is 30% Latino. One in five voters is Latino. Here’s who they’re trying to scare home. 24:33 - Federal agents knocking doors in nine states and the Alaska lawsuit explained 28:52 - Why going door to door asking how people voted violates the most fundamental principle of elections 30:56 - Monitoring the voter roll portal: Nevada’s IT team watching for suspicious logins and what they found this week 31:07 - The cake mix letter and the 6:30pm postal inspectors who may or may not have been postal inspectors 33:17 - ERIC explained: the interstate bipartisan voter roll system Hermes Dillon called a weapon 35:29 - The truck driver with two families in two states who both made him vote: Cisco’s favorite double voter story 37:15 - 0 for 26: the DOJ’s election lawsuit record and why secretaries of state are winning 39:41 - The Elko poll worker: came in skeptical, left saying “We run really good elections” 41:08 - Why the people who left the DOJ are now on states’ legal teams and what that means 42:14 - Know who’s running elections in your state: the Secretary of State race matters for 2028 Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

Over the course of the last week, Trump has had a remarkable number of incidents that raise serious questions about his mental state and physical health. He walked past his open limousine door and was turned around by a Secret Service agent while waving at no one. He tapped his right leg repeatedly in a pattern documented as a technique used by stroke recovery patients. Something visible below his right knee is affecting the shape of his pants, the way he walks, and the way he stands. In the Oval Office he snapped at a reporter with a flash of rage that Grant documents in detail, followed by four seconds of arm-pointing in which, as Grant puts it, he left his body. And in South Carolina, mid-sentence about Nikki Haley, Trump made a noise that caught even him by surprise. His eyes went wide, his jaw went slack, his tongue came out of his mouth, and for several seconds there was, as Grant describes it, no one home behind those eyes before he blinked back in and picked up where he left off. The White House has not commented on any of it. Grant is not making a diagnosis. He's documenting what's on camera and asking the same question any journalist should ask about anyone who holds the nuclear codes. Then: the Texas Senate race between James Talarico and Ken Paxton has become the most expensive Senate race in US history at over half a billion dollars. The dominant issue is not the economy, not the Iran war, not the border. It's anti-trans attacks against Talarico, who is not trans. A new investigation from Uncloseted Media and The 19th traced the entire network back to three posts on far-right Twitter in the minutes after Talarico won his primary, and the editor in chief of Uncloseted, Spencer McNaughton, formerly of 60 Minutes and the Wall Street Journal, walks Grant through exactly how it spread, who spread it, and what it means for trans Americans and the broader LGBTQ community. Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is supported by Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote. CHAPTERS: 0:00 12 days out. Trump's health has become impossible to ignore on the campaign trail this week. 2:00 The leg tapping, the brace visible below his right knee, and why Grant is documenting this 4:00 Walking past the open limo door and waving at no one: what happened at three separate events 6:30 The Oval Office rage flash: four seconds of pointing and what Grant says happened behind his eyes 8:30 The South Carolina noise: mid-sentence, caught him by surprise, and then no one home for several seconds 10:30 Why Grant is documenting this and why "what about Biden" is not the answer 13:00 Sponsor break 14:30 The Texas Senate race: half a billion dollars spent, Talarico up two in the latest Emerson poll 16:00 The dominant issue: anti-trans attacks against a candidate who is not trans 17:30 The mystery pamphlets: a shadowy Wyoming LLC, fake pro-trans group, sent to families across Texas 18:55 Uncloseted's Investigation into the anti-trans attacks against James Talarico: A timeline. 20:05 The investigation: three posts on far-right Twitter, eight minutes, and then it exploded 22:43 The network: Greg Price, the NRSC, Ted Cruz's comms advisor, then Libs of TikTok and millions of followers 25:53 AI ads of Talarico in dresses, defacing a Bible, about to perform surgery on a child: what Paxton spent tens of millions on 28:20 Ashley Saint Clair: Elon Musk's former partner and former far-right operative on the group chats and the paid posts 31:09 What this means for trans Texans and LGBTQ Americans: Spencer on the safety stakes 35:30 Vance starting to go after gay people: moving the goalposts, and who has always been behind these laws 39:22 The Democratic response: non-existent, and what that means going forward 42:39 What Uncloseted Media does and why accountability journalism for LGBTQ issues matters right now How Anti-Trans Backlash To James Talarico Spread Like Wildfire Uncloseted Media Substack Youtube Instagram: @unclosetedmedia Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

14 days to November 3rd. Today is a deep dive into the most important Senate race in the country: Michigan. JD Vance spent the weekend in Michigan campaigning for Republican candidate Mike Rogers. While he was there he sat for a CBS town hall that was, by every political measure, his first real audition for a presidential run. He got questions about gas prices, corruption, and the Iran war. Grant plays the key moments and walks through what Vance said, what he didn't say, and what it means that the Yale Law School graduate and vice president who gets daily intelligence briefings claimed he didn't know what conversation a Gold Star widower was asking about. On the Trump corruption question: in his first year back as president, Donald Trump has made $2.2 billion. That is $983 million more than he made in the previous 47 years of public filings combined. The top 29 holders of his personal cryptocurrency will get VIP access to a gala next month. Most of those spots appear to be held by overseas investors. Vance told the town hall he hasn't seen any corruption. Then there's Tommy. A viral clip from an El-Sayed town hall shows a young man named Tommy asking El-Sayed to disavow the Muslim Brotherhood based on a 2012 tweet from El-Sayed's estranged sister about a conversation with their mother from the 1970s, before El-Sayed was born, when the Brotherhood was a nonviolent movement. Tommy turns out to be Tommy Teepel, a paid Republican operative who until recently worked for Josh Hawley and whose father is connected to a prominent Christian nationalist who prayed over them at an event near Mar-a-Lago. Grant documents all of it, explains why El-Sayed's answer was both understandable and slightly flippant, and why nobody is asking Mike Rogers to disavow the 491 right-wing terror plots and attacks from the last 30 years. The episode ends with the most important frame for this race: if El-Sayed wins or loses, it won't just be about a Senate seat. It'll be about who gets to be the face of the Democratic Party after Biden and Harris, and what it says about us if the only options are doubling down on the racism or pretending it isn't there. Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is in partnership with Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote. CHAPTERS: 0:00 14 days out. Two weeks. Michigan is the race that tells us where both parties are heading. 2:00 JD Vance's CBS town hall: his first real audition for president and why it went badly 4:30 Gas prices and the Strait of Hormuz: what Vance said and what he conspicuously didn't 7:00 Blaming Biden in month 21: when does this administration own the economy it created 9:00 The corruption question: $2.2 billion in year one, Trump crypto VIP access, and "I haven't seen any" 11:30 The Gold Star widower question: what the vice president with daily intel briefings said he didn't know 13:30 What this town hall tells us about a potential President Vance before his campaign even starts 15:00 Sponsor break 16:30 Tommy: who he actually is, who his father is, and who prayed over them near Mar-a-Lago 19:00 The Muslim Brotherhood context: what it is, what it isn't, and what El-Sayed's actual connection is 21:30 El-Sayed's answer: why it was understandable, why it was slightly flippant, and why Rogers is lying 24:00 Rogers on CNN: "an ideology we should worry about." He means Islam. 25:30 Nobody is asking Rogers to disavow 491 right-wing terror plots. Grant on the double standard. 27:00 Islamophobia at a 25-year high: 51% of Americans falsely believe Islam promotes violence 29:00 What El-Sayed winning or losing actually means for the Democratic Party after Biden and Harris Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

17 days to the midterms. Eric Zuleger is reporting live from Tirana, Albania, where violent protests have been building for 139 days and escalated this week into what he calls the most violence he has ever seen in five years of living there. The backstory: Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama made backdoor deals with Jared Kushner's private equity firm Affinity Partners and Saudi royal money to secretly sell off protected wetlands on Sazana Island and the Zvernets Peninsula, some of the last wild wetlands in Europe. A leaker gave Eric documents showing the development was four times larger than anyone knew and included a 350-berth mega yacht marina. The protests started peacefully, were ignored, and this week a student protest was met with state violence. The footage went viral. Now buildings are burning. Grant and Eric also cover: why government corruption just surpassed the economy as the number one voter issue in a Fox News poll for the first time Grant has ever seen this close to an election; Trump's Russia diesel deal, which amounts to about eight days of US diesel use and will do nothing for prices but tells Europe we're willing to buy Russian energy while telling them not to; Iran's smart strategy of giving Trump enough rope to choke himself and betting on a Democratic Congress to hamstring him; Saudi Arabia's existential problem with the Houthis and why they're asking the UAE to borrow their paramilitary back; and what a Democratic Congress can and can't actually do to constrain a president the Supreme Court has said can do almost anything. LINKS: The Under Report Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo VOTE.org CHAPTERS: 0:00 — Eric Zuleger is live from Albania where violent protests have been building for 139 days 2:11 — The backstory: Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, Saudi money, and secretly sold protected wetlands 4:32 — The Flamingo Revolution: leaker documents, four times the known size, a 350-berth mega yacht marina 6:00 — Peaceful for 139 days, then a student protest met with state violence, footage went viral 9:14 — What Eric is seeing on the streets: buildings burning, cat and mouse with police, no way to de-escalate 12:34 — Secret kidnappings of protesters and break-ins at female dorms: what Eric is investigating right now 15:00 — Why the movement is leaderless and why that’s both a strength and a problem 17:16 — The global pattern: Albania, data centers, French schools — all the same extractive story 22:40 — Government corruption just beat the economy as the top voter issue in a Fox News poll 23:18 — Trump’s Russia diesel deal: eight days of US diesel use, means nothing for prices, tells Europe everything 25:00 — Why you should be suspicious any time petroleum is measured in tons instead of barrels 26:40 — Iran’s strategy: give Trump enough rope, wait for a Democratic Congress to hamstring him 29:01 — Saudi Arabia’s existential Houthi problem and “can we borrow your paramilitary back?” 33:00 — Where US strategy is actually working: South America, the Trump corollary, Colombia and Brazil 40:46 — Where US strategy has clearly failed: the Middle East, and why the Iran pitch was Dunning-Kruger foreign policy 48:00 — What a Democratic Congress can actually do: go after the people below Trump and flip them 53:00 — The worst of both worlds scenario: Democrats win but have to cut the worst Iran deal in history 58:00 — Eric says a Democratic wave in the Midterms could be good for Iran, not in the way you think.  Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

18 days to November 3rd. Two stories today, both of which tell you exactly where we are. The DOJ sent letters to California's Secretary of State and the head of elections in Los Angeles County demanding they purge more than 190,000 alleged noncitizens from the voter rolls in 48 hours, with 18 days to the election and millions of ballots already sent. The list was on a flash drive. The password was handwritten on a Post-It note stuck to the letter. LA County has 5.8 million registered voters, more than 27 states. Federal law requires individual voter reviews during the 90-day quiet period before an election. The head of elections in LA County said they haven't plugged in the drive because they don't know what's on it and it could be a security risk. The DOJ's track record on voter data lawsuits is 0 for 26. When states have used DHS information to find alleged noncitizen voters, error rates have ranged from 20% in Texas to 100% in Nevada. By noon today California hadn't complied and the DOJ sued, with the list now somehow shrunk to 20,000 names. Grant explains why California specifically, why now, and why this is the administration chumming the waters to claim fraud in a state with 52 House seats. Then: Trump called off the Fort Hood shooter's public execution by livestream after 8 days of near-universal backlash, including 80% of Americans, 64% of Republicans, 67% of veterans, and the Pope. The reason he actually pulled back had nothing to do with principle: he didn't know the man was in a wheelchair, and he doesn't like how people with disabilities look on television. The national security argument that the clip would be used to make a martyr helped. But the political fallout lands on Pete Hegseth, who announced the execution gleefully and made it about himself rather than Trump. When members of this administration stop putting their loyalty to Trump above everything else, they get shown the door. Hegseth has a problem. CHAPTERS: The DOJ's California voter purge demand: 190,000 names, 48 hours, 18 days before the election 2:00 The flash drive on a Post-It: what was actually in the envelope and why LA County won't plug it in 4:00 Basic math: 5.8 million registered voters, the 90-day quiet period, and why this is physically impossible 6:00 The DOJ's track record: 0 for 26 on voter data lawsuits, 20% error in Texas, 100% error in Nevada 7:30 California sues back: the list shrinks to 20,000 and why Article One makes this unconstitutional 9:00 Why California and why now: 52 House seats, the ICE operation already running, and chumming the waters for fraud claims 11:30 What happens if the judge says yes and what happens if the judge says no 13:00 Sponsor break. VOTE.ORG 14:30 Trump calls off the Fort Hood execution livestream: what changed in 8 days 16:00 The polling: 80% of Americans opposed, 64% of Republicans, 67% of veterans, the Pope 17:30 The real reason Trump backed down: a wheelchair, TV ratings, and a national security argument 19:00 10 to 20 million Americans who wanted to watch: what we have to reckon with about that 20:30 Why this is Hegseth's problem: he made it about himself, stole the spotlight, and handed Trump an embarrassment 22:00 "Severe problems." What Trump said at a Rose Garden event today and what it might mean. 23:30  When cabinet members stop making it about Trump, they get shown the door. Hegseth’s pattern fits. Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

21 days to November 3rd. This week started with DHS raiding the Washington DC home of Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar. Grant has investigated the claims behind this raid personally. Here is what he found. The DOJ says the warrant is judicially approved but won't say by which judge or court. The stated justification is an investigation into Omar's immigration and naturalization process from 30 years ago. Agents seized documents, campaign finance records, and electronics that have nothing to do with that stated justification. The three possible legal theories behind the raid are laid out in full: immigration fraud committed by her father when she was a minor, which federal law specifically protects against; the decade-old brother marriage conspiracy that originated in a single online post and has never been substantiated by any investigation including Grant's own; and a connection to the Feed Our Children fraud scheme, which was run by a white woman named Aimee Bock who is currently appealing her conviction and has every incentive to offer the administration a useful name in exchange for a deal. The raid also violates the DOJ's 60-day blackout period, the same rule Republicans accused Jack Smith of violating. The Public Integrity Section that handles these decisions has been gutted from 30 attorneys to 5. And Todd Blanche, who signed off on the raid, said on tape what amounts to: he wouldn't have liked this under a different president. On the Democratic agenda: with 21 days to go and the numbers looking strong, Democrats are starting to say out loud what accountability looks like. They're approaching it like a mafia case, going after lower hanging fruit first. Pete Hegseth is at the top of the list. New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury says he needs to be impeached and removed as a top three priority. Michigan Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet says Republicans might cross the aisle. Thomas Massie's eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth come to a vote when Congress returns after the midterm break. Also on the list: Linda McMahon, RFK Jr., and Markwayne Mullin. Trump himself is not first, for practical reasons Grant explains, though 55% of Americans said back in June that he had already committed impeachable offenses. CHAPTERS: 2:00 — Who Ilhan Omar is: one of two Muslim members of Congress, naturalized at 17, born in Somalia3:00 — What the warrant says and doesn’t say: judicially approved, no judge named, items seized don’t match the stated purpose4:30 — Theory one: immigration fraud by her father when she was a minor. Federal law protects against this.5:30 — Theory two: the brother marriage conspiracy. Where it started, who investigated it, and what they found.7:00 — Theory three: the Feed Our Children fraud scheme and why Aimee Bock has every reason to give them a name9:00 — The 60-day blackout period: the same rule Republicans accused Jack Smith of violating, now violated11:00 — The Public Integrity Section gutted from 30 attorneys to 5. Todd Blanche’s own words on tape.12:30 — The rally in Ohio: what Trump said, what the crowd chanted, and what that chant actually means15:00 — Why deportation is harder than it sounds and why the immediate threat is what matters more16:30 — What this raid tells us about the next 21 days and beyond18:00 — Sponsor break19:30 — Democrats start saying out loud what accountability looks like: the mafia case approach21:00 — Pete Hegseth is first: Stansbury, McDonald Rivet, and Massie’s eight articles of impeachment23:00 — Also on the list: McMahon, RFK Jr., Mullin. Why Trump is not first and why that’s the right call.25:00 — 55% of Americans said in June Trump had already committed impeachable offenses26:00 — The flip side of an unbound Trump: he no longer protects the people who serve him either27:30 — When the walls close in, they’ll start turning. That’s who Democrats are counting on.28:30 — What restoring checks and balances actually starts to look like from square oneSupport the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

The number one issue for voters heading into November 3rd is the economy. The cost of everything is too high. Groceries, gas, housing, healthcare. Inflation is outpacing wages. And most of the economics coverage sounds like it's in a foreign language by design. Kathryn Anne Edwards is a labor economist, Bloomberg columnist, co-host of the Optimist Economy podcast, and one of the clearest translators of people-focused economics working right now.  This conversation is about what's actually broken and what actually fixes it. Kathryn explains why the COVID recovery was the fastest in 50 to 70 years and what it tells us about what government can do when it tries. She breaks down the three separate problems that get lumped together as "the cost of living": the safety net we aren't maintaining, the investments we aren't making, and the crisis tools we only deploy when it's too late.  She explains why universal public healthcare is not radical, it's math: one in four Americans has medical debt, private health insurance is distorting the labor market, and a third of every state budget already goes to Medicaid. She explains why childcare at $2,000 a month in major cities is an economic policy failure that has a known, tested fix. She explains why unions are the single most effective tool ever identified for reducing economic inequality, backed by a Princeton study in the most prestigious economics journal in the country. And she explains why bringing manufacturing jobs back without unions is not a jobs policy at all, because manufacturing employment peaked in 1979 and has been automated ever since. The episode ends with Kathryn's argument to conservatives: You've had 50 years. You got everything you wanted. Deregulation, tax cuts, ending cash welfare, cutting benefits. If your policy was going to fix it, it would have by now.  Kathryn Anne Edwards PROMO CODES:  Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo This episode is in non-paid partnership with Vote.org. Midterms are November 3rd, and your voter registration may not be as solid as you think. Moving, a name change, or routine list maintenance can take you off the rolls without you noticing. Vote.org is free and nonpartisan. In about two minutes, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see your state’s deadlines, or request a mail-in ballot. Check now at Vote.org, then go vote. 0:00 The number one issue heading into November: everything is too expensive and here's why Grant brought in an economist 2:58 Meet Kathryn Anne Edwards: Labor economist, Bloomberg columnist, Optimist Economy co-host  4:10 Are we Wile E. Coyote or the Road Runner? 5:00 The safety net nets: what government can do when it tries and why the COVID recovery was the fastest in 70 years 6:42 The three separate problems: safety net we aren't maintaining, investments we aren't making, crisis tools we only use in emergencies  8:25 “How confident are you in those nets?” What two years of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP actually mean 11:22 The cost of living isn’t just groceries and gas: housing at 7% mortgage rates, healthcare, education, the dream receding 13:08 Healthcare: one in four Americans has medical debt, a trillion dollars in tax preferences, and a fix that’s been running for 60 years 15:00 Universal public health insurance explained: why states get a 30% budget hole they can spend on local problems 16:40  Childcare: $2,000 a month in major cities, childcare deserts everywhere else, and a fix that’s already been tested 18:00  “You just hit the good government button and start solving problems”  the economic Stockholm syndrome 20:00  Why the minimum wage is $7.25 in Texas and McDonald’s has iPads anyway: the automation threat was always a lie 23:07  Unions: the single most effective tool ever identified for reducing economic inequality, backed by a Princeton study 25:09  Manufacturing jobs peaked in 1979: why bringing them back without unions is not a jobs policy 28:18  The service sector jobs that can never be exported and why making them good is the actual policy:  AD 30:41  Vote.org: check your registration before November 3rd 31:32  The two lies: women and immigrants taking your jobs, and cheaters on Medicaid taking your benefits 43:48  What they’re not saying: JD Vance can’t defend the cost of healthcare so he talks about fraud instead 46:37  The Battle of Newburgh, the welfare queen, and why this poison has always been in the water 53:58  Medicaid cuts are an attack on men: substance use disorder treatment and who actually uses it 55:33  “The death rattle of conservative economic policy”: 50 years, everything they wanted, and here we are 58:38  The argument to conservatives: you’ve had your runway, you got everything you asked for, it’s not working 1:01:00  Grant gives grace to the people following these leaders, even when the leaders are lying Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

25 days to the midterms. Trump knows what's coming. And he's telling us what the last stretch looks like. First: a mea culpa on Tuesday's episode. In trying to contextualize what Trump said about Iran and LA, it came across like Grant was defending it. He wasn't. This episode explains why accurate context matters, why sanewashing is different from journalism, and why getting it right is the whole job even when it's inconvenient. Then: why Trump keeps saying it anyway. The LA and San Diego moment is now a rally fixture because backing down would mean admitting defeat. In San Antonio he doubled down and got more specific. In a one-on-one interview after the rally he said "I say this all the time." He doesn't. Nobody does. The reason we're all talking about it is because nobody does. The reason he included both LA and San Diego? It was a leak. ICE launched an aggressive new operation into both cities today, ordered to "go after anybody" for the next 45 days. Trump was so excited about the coming crackdown he couldn't help himself. Now the bigger picture. Michael Wolff, four-time Trump biographer, says what's coming after the midterms is an existential collapse of who Trump is as a person if he suffers a second election loss. His response to that will not be withdrawal. It will be escalation. The signals are already here: threatening federal troops in Chicago over a fabricated crime wave, a presidential decree that anyone using "artificial intelligence" instead of "super intelligence" is the enemy, the DOJ rehabilitating Nixon's legacy via a 78-slide presentation from a conspiracy theorist, "I can do anything I want" said out loud in the Oval Office, planning potential Iran strikes the day before the election, and the Substack piece on plans to seize ballots and voting machines that's free to read this week. Trump's calculation is simple: after January 3rd he's a lame duck with nothing left to lose. He's already showing us the playbook. Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo CHAPTERS: 0:00 A mea culpa on Tuesday: what Grant said, what it sounded like, and why accurate context is still the job 3:00 Why contextualizing isn't sanewashing and why authoritarians love being misquoted 5:00 The San Antonio doubling down: more specific, a missile now, and "I say this all the time" 7:00 Why LA makes sense as a target and why San Diego was the weird one 9:00  The real reason he said San Diego: it was a leak about a new ICE operation starting today 10:30  “Go after anybody” for 45 days: what the new California ICE operation actually means 11:30  Ken Paxton: Trump humiliates him at his own rally and why Paxton is down six in the Times/Siena poll 13:30  Sponsor break 15:00  Michael Wolff: an existential collapse if he loses a second election, and what he’ll do with that 17:00  More deportations, federal troops for Chicago, and a fabricated crime wave 19:00  Chicago crime is actually down three years running. Trump fabricated it completely. 20:30  A presidential decree: anyone saying “artificial intelligence” instead of “super intelligence” is the enemy 21:30  The DOJ rehabilitates Nixon via a 78-slide presentation from a conspiracy theorist 23:00  “I can do anything I want.” The Supreme Court basically agreed. 24:00  Considering Iran strikes the day before the election: what the Atlantic reported and where it stands 25:30  The ballot and voting machine seizure plans: what this week’s free Substack piece actually says 27:00  Lame duck with nothing left to lose: what the next 25 days and then some are going to look like Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

27 days to November 3rd. Here's where things actually stand. In the House: 49% of Americans say they're voting Democratic compared to 41% who say Republican. Decision Desk HQ puts Democratic odds of winning the House at 75%. The Cook Political Report now projects Democrats winning a 15-seat majority, somewhere between 230 and 235 seats. That's not just a wave. That's a tsunami. A 15-seat majority is practically defection-proof and gives a party with a real plan the power to actually use it. In the Senate: four states that have sent two Republicans to Washington for years — Maine, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas — are now toss-ups. Alaska is in the lean Democrat column. Kansas, deep red Kansas, has a megachurch pastor named Adam Hamilton leading sitting Senator Roger Marshall by two points. Michigan is the only bright spot for Republicans, and Abdul El-Sayed is still up seven in the latest Marist poll. And up two in the White House's own internal poll. On the issues: voters trust Democrats more on healthcare, cost of living, the economy, and AI. The only issue Republicans still lead on is immigration, by one point, 38 to 37. And 73% of voters say Republicans are at least somewhat corrupt. 82% say Republicans are focused on helping the rich and powerful. 59% say Republicans are not focused on helping people like them, compared to 46% who say the same about Democrats. That 13-point gap tells you everything you need to know about where this election is headed. Then there's the campaign tour. Trump has been to Oklahoma, Texas twice, Alabama, Ohio, Nebraska, and Maryland. Two of those six states have races Republicans need to win. In Nebraska, trying to explain why high gas prices are worth it, Trump conjured the image of Iran bombing Los Angeles and San Diego. The crowd cheered. Grant walks through what LA and San Diego actually contain and explains why the headlines calling it an invitation to Iran are wrong — and why what he actually did is arguably worse. Today's Episode is in partnership with VOTE.ORG. Don't know if you're registered? Don't know where to go? Don't know how to check? Head to Vote.org to get all the voting tools you need to make a plan. Then, go vote.   Join the SaySo News App! SaySo is a brand new news app built for people who actually want to be informed, not just keep scrolling. No outrage-chasing algorithm, no AI slop, just vetted creators delivering fact-driven coverage you can get through in a few minutes a day. I'm one of the early creators on the platform, posting there alongside others I trust. Check it out and download SaySo CHAPTERS: 0:00 — 27 days out. Time to take the 30,000-foot view of where things actually stand. 1:30 — Vote.org: check your registration before November 3rd. It's not permanent. 3:30 — The House: 49 to 41, 75% Democratic odds, Cook projects a 15-seat majority 5:30 — What a 15-seat majority actually means: practically defection-proof and built to do real work 6:30 — Why Trump is scared: Democratic odds of winning both chambers are now above 50% 7:30 — The Senate map: Maine, Ohio, Iowa, Texas all toss-ups. Alaska leans Democrat. 9:00 — Kansas: a megachurch pastor leads Roger Marshall by two points 10:30 — Michigan: El-Sayed up seven in Marist and up two in the White House's own internal poll 11:30 — Why Kansas and Iowa being toss-ups is the best proof of how broken gerrymandering is 12:30 — The issues: Democrats trusted more on everything except immigration, by one point 14:00 — 73% say Republicans are corrupt. 82% say they help the rich. 59% say they don't help people like them. 16:00 — Sponsor break 17:30 — Trump's campaign tour: six states, two of them competitive, a lot of taxpayer money 19:00 — The Ohio get out the vote message: "shove it up their ass" at the press riser 20:00 — "Pretend I'm still on the ballot." Nebraska and why Republicans are in a pickle. 21:30 — Trump's approval is at 32%. Some Republicans are keeping him at arm's length. 22:30 — The Nebraska LA and San Diego moment: what he actually said 24:00 — What LA and San Diego actually contain: a $1.5 trillion economy, 140,000 active duty military, Camp Pendleton, the second largest naval base on the planet 25:30 — Why the "Trump invited Iran to bomb LA" headlines are wrong and why what he did is arguably worse 27:00 — 25th Amendment calls, Newsom orders a threat assessment, and what this campaign tour is really about 28:30 — After the midterms Trump has nothing left to lose. He's already showing us what that looks like. Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes

The Supreme Court's new fall term starts Monday. Melissa Murray, NYU law professor, co-host of Strict Scrutiny, and New York Times bestselling author of The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader — is back on the show to break down what's coming and to give her verdict on the Jack Smith hearing. Her verdict on the hearing: "The political equivalent of standing in line for something dumb that you don't want to." It wasn't that Smith got raked over the coals, he handled it with his characteristic steadiness. It was four hours of his life he'll never get back, spent explaining basic facts about how law enforcement works to people who either already know those facts and are performing ignorance, or actually don't know those facts, which is somehow worse. Melissa and Grant go through the poster board moment in full, including her observation that she's not sporty and even she knew the Hawks and the Falcons are two different sports. They talk about John Kennedy's Rhodes Scholar accent that didn't exist 10 years ago, Katie Britt's recovery move, and what it means to have the rule of law on trial in a Senate hearing room. On the Supreme Court fall term: birthright citizenship is back, run rights, religion in schools, climate change, expanding presidential power, and leaving space for the president's coming election challenges regardless of who wins. Plus, could it be the end of the line for Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas? Is it the end for Chief Justice John Roberts? What is going on with Justice Brett Kavanaugh? CHAPTERS:  0:00 — Grant is back after being sick — and the Supreme Court's new term starts Monday 2:26 — Melissa Murray: NYU law professor, Strict Scrutiny, NYT bestselling author of the US Constitution guide 2:56 — "It's a bummer we need a Constitution guide right now — but great that people are dialing in" 3:18 — The Jack Smith hearing: four hours he'll never get back 3:56 — Melissa's verdict: "The political equivalent of standing in line for something dumb" 4:49 — "This isn't Jack Smith. This is law." — the grand jury in plain English 5:28 — Eric Schmitt: "How do you come to work and make Josh Hawley look like an elder statesman?" 6:00 — The poster board: two seconds, bifocal readers, and a smoking gun that wasn't 7:22 — "I'm not sporty and I knew the Hawks and the Falcons are two different sports" 8:15 — The Golden State Warriors enter the picture — then exit just as quickly 9:35 — Caitlin Clark and why Jack Smith was in Maryland watching women's basketball 10:31 — "Did Schmitt's staff not know women's basketball exists?" 11:47 — The slow zoom on Katie Britt: "Are we the baddies?" 12:56 — "There are always women who have to clean up after mediocre men — Katie Britt is just one of them" 13:25 — "Ted Cruz tried." The end. 13:47 — John Kennedy's Oxford Rhodes Scholar accent that didn't exist 10 years ago 15:00 — "I hate elites, do not look too closely at my Wikipedia page" 16:13 — What Kennedy used to be in hearings vs. what the Foghorn Leghorn act has become 28:49 — The shadow docket never ends — and why October and November are unusually light on cases 29:18 — The cases Melissa is watching: light docket by design, December is the banger 29:57 — The free exercise of religion case flying under the radar — Roberts checks off the last conservative agenda item 31:30 — RNC versus Mi Familia Vota: the big citizenship and voting rights case coming this term 32:00 — The Suncor climate case: Alito recuses himself — after the long conference where he learned the votes were fine 33:40 — What is going on with Brett Kavanaugh: OJ energy, "pick me" concurrences, and auditioning for chief justice 35:44 — Kavanaugh's mail ballot concurrence: "The timing appears to be arbitrary and capricious" — and what that means for 2028 37:24 — Is Kavanaugh auditioning for chief justice or does he want off the bench entirely and into the executive? 38:10 — Is this Thomas's last term? What the midterms mean for potential retirements — and who replaces them The Constitution Strict Scrutiny Podcast DHS Says It's Finding Noncitizen Voters. It Won't Say How.  Support the show Follow along on social media  SaySo: @GrantHermes  X: @GrantHermes Insta: @Grant__Hermes Tiktok: Grant_Hermes