Advertise on podcast: The Erick Erickson Show

Erick Erickson, broadcasting from a hotel on assignment, tells listeners the midterm polling is bad but not as bad as the headlines, breaking down Steve Kornacki's NBC News poll on Hispanic voters (a 24 point Democratic lead on the generic ballot versus 22 points in 2022) and the cost of living and corruption problems dragging down Republicans. He then reports that James Talarico is now favored over Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race and that Paxton's campaign is being run from Washington, and he explains the fight between President Trump and Senator Tom Cotton over permanent daylight saving time. Steve Kornacki and Meet the Press: the NBC News poll of Latino voters, the 24 point generic ballot lead for Democrats versus 22 points in 2022, Trump approval with Hispanic voters, and why Erick says the GOP has held a 10 to 15 point gain Midterm issues: cost of living, jobs and the economy, and corruption as the number two issue, plus a CBS News Battleground Tracker poll showing Democrats winning the House if the election were held today Texas Senate race: James Talarico leads Ken Paxton, leaked audio of Paxton complaining his campaign is run from Washington, billionaire donors who say they were never called, and Angela Paxton's vote Republican ad Trump, Tom Cotton, and permanent daylight saving time: the president posts Cotton's personal cell number on Truth Social, Cotton's school bus and standard time arguments, and Erick's text exchange with the senator Senate map and Erick's contrarian take: Republicans keep the Senate while losing the House, with Michigan, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas in play, plus the Not Safe for Radio Show at Gas South Theater this Saturday and an aborted takeoff story

Erick Erickson reacts to Southern Baptist Convention president Willy Rice telling Fox News that Christians need to step up in politics, and argues that believers cannot play team sport for the Republican Party while corruption is the number two issue for voters. Using the book of Lamentations, the Psalm 51 repentance of King David, and the 2000 Bush election and PEPFAR, he makes the case that Christians can be a prophetic voice to both parties, and that sitting out a race like Ken Paxton's Texas Senate contest can be a vote for better. A Braves upset of the Dodgers, a candidate quality warning for Mike Collins in Georgia and Max Miller in Ohio, and a Siberian plague rumor round out the hour. Willy Rice and the Southern Baptist Convention: the SBC president tells Fox News that abortion, gender identity, marriage, and immigration are theological issues, and Erick asks where the Southern Baptist voice is on corruption and on the humane treatment of illegal immigrants being deported Corruption and the Trump family: why corruption is the number two midterm issue, taxpayer funded ads recycled from 2024 campaign videos, a possible blanket pardon, and the administration asking DOJ and HHS to hold off on mifepristone restrictions until after the midterms Lamentations and King David: Erick teaches the book of Lamentations (steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, Jeremiah, Babylon, the fall of Jerusalem) and Psalm 51 to explain why Christians must hold their own side accountable as the prophet Nathan did Caller Steve and Ken Paxton: the lesser of two evils debate, the 2000 George W. Bush election decided by 537 votes, PEPFAR and adoption reform, why Paxton may lose Texas after paying restitution, and why loyalty to Trump in primaries is wiping out electability in Georgia (Mike Collins), Ohio (Max Miller), and Washington (Joe Kent) Braves upset the Dodgers behind a former 7-Eleven employee and a 21 year old rookie, a plague scare in Siberia after Russia lost a saint's bones, and ad reads for Rinnai tankless water heaters, Vision Computers, and American Financing

Erick Erickson opens with breaking news that the US has cleared Iraqi airspace for Israeli aircraft after pulling American troops out of Iraq, as armed skirmishes spread inside Iran, oil falls to $100 Brent, and B-1 bombers leave RAF Fairford after a foiled terror plot. He argues the carrier group and 10,000 Marines headed to the Middle East are there to contain a destabilization campaign, then pushes back on Nate Silver's call that Georgia's governor's mansion flips, with Rick Jackson, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Jon Ossoff in the mix. The hour also covers the Supreme Court's new term, Justice Samuel Alito, a University Heights, Ohio prayer meeting case, birthright citizenship, and the Cornell fraternity case. Iraqi airspace, Israel, and Iran: the US withdrawal from Iraq, Israeli access to Iranian airspace, armed skirmishes across Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el Mandeb, Houthi positions, and Erick's theory that a destabilization campaign is underway RAF Fairford and the Pentagon: 12 B-1 bombers moved home to Ellsworth Air Force Base after a foiled terror attack, Marco Rubio's spin, a Washington Post report on Operation Rough Rider and munitions shortages, and officers leaking to reporters because they fear talking to Congress Georgia politics: Nate Silver's forecast that the governor's race flips for the first time since 2002, Rick Jackson versus Keisha Lance Bottoms, Jon Ossoff crushing Mike Collins, split ticket voting, and Raphael Warnock's absence from the campaign trail Supreme Court: Boulder, Colorado's climate case, Justice Samuel Alito's interviews on originalism and the leaked Dobbs draft, the University Heights, Ohio prayer meeting case, and why Clarence Thomas's birthright citizenship dissent matters for a birth tourism ban Culture and news: Michelle Goldberg at the New York Times tying the Cornell fraternity case to President Trump, the Gaza genocide claim, and ad reads for Cozy Earth, Perfectly Snug, and Vision Computers

Erick Erickson opens Open Line Friday with a sweeping history of social contagion, from the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague and the Salem witch trials to the McMartin preschool panic, then connects it to new data showing LGBTQ identification among kids in free fall and J.K. Rowling's take on the trans fad. He also reports that oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz has topped pre-war levels for seven straight days and takes calls on sanctuary cities, the Arizona immigration case, and CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. Social contagion history: Strasbourg dancing plague, tarantism, Salem, tulip mania, the Werther effect, Mattoon gas attacker, McMartin preschool, LeRoy Tourette's cluster New data on the collapse of kids identifying as trans, J.K. Rowling's post, detransitioners, and the rise and fall of transition surgeries Strait of Hormuz oil flow above pre-war levels, Brent crude near $100, Iran economy in free fall, and Erick's credit to President Trump Open Line Friday calls: why sanctuary cities and states are legal, the Arizona immigration ruling, the 1984 drinking age and Louisiana highway funds lesson CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Erick's view on Islam and the West, plus Not Safe for Radio Show tickets for October 10 in Duluth, Georgia, Hunga Tonga rain, and the Braves

Erick Erickson takes on a New York Times report that Anthropic quietly hosted religious scholars under nondisclosure agreements to discuss AI consciousness and Claude's moral status, and that the company reportedly considered pulling out of a Vatican launch event for Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI. Erick argues theologically that AI is a math equation that cannot have a soul, then takes Open Line Friday calls on the failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike, the death penalty, and who funds American mosques, from the North American Islamic Trust to the Muslim Brotherhood. Anthropic and AI consciousness: the New York Times report on private meetings with religious thinkers, Chris Olah, Claude's alleged moral status, and Erick's case that a word generator and math equation cannot have a soul (the Genesis bara argument) Pope Leo XIV encyclical on AI: Anthropic's reported push to pull out of the Vatican event, why none of the participants lead a congregation, and caller Adam's view that AI is just a tool like a socket wrench, plus Mark Zuckerberg's far humbler AI pitch Christa Pike and the death penalty: Tennessee's failed lethal injection, her lawyers' torture claim, Erick's disagreement with the Pope on pro-life and capital punishment, Marsha Blackburn's electric chair push, and the Noah covenant Mosques, the Muslim Brotherhood, and intersectionality: the North American Islamic Trust, the Holy Land Foundation case, Qatar and Saudi funding, Michael Youssef's book The Unholy Alliance, and Erick's warning about the right-wing woke in JD Vance's orbit Open Line Friday fun: slow left lane drivers and Sheriff Tyler Hooks of Morgan County, Georgia, gas pump pet peeves, New Way Lunch chili dogs in Macon, and Erick's Pine Tree golf putt with Van Allen Golf

Erick Erickson wrestles with the Cornell Seven fraternity case, arguing that society cannot prosecute bad or immoral behavior, only crimes, and walks through New York consent law, the Duke lacrosse case, the University of Virginia fraternity hoax, and the Lindsay Clancy insanity verdict. He also reports that national Republicans are pulling money from Michael Whatley in North Carolina and Mike Collins against Jon Ossoff in Georgia to save Ken Paxton in Texas, then takes Open Line Friday calls on Mecca versus Medina Muslims, football season, and President Trump's Oklahoma stop with Kevin Hern. Cornell Seven fraternity lawsuit: the civil suit and reopened prosecution, the wrongly named Marine served in error, New York consent and revocation law, ex post facto limits, and Erick's case that you prosecute crimes, not bad things Cautionary history: the Duke lacrosse case, the University of Virginia fraternity allegations, Nancy Grace, and why social outrage and media mobs should not drive prosecutions Lindsay Clancy verdict: Massachusetts' unique burden on prosecutors to prove sanity and what jurors said afterward Georgia and North Carolina Senate races: national Republicans pull money from Michael Whatley against Roy Cooper and Mike Collins against Jon Ossoff to fund Ken Paxton in Texas, and Erick's I told you so Open Line Friday calls: Mecca versus Medina in the Quran, women and men bearing responsibility in the Cornell case, false allegations like the Dodgers player, Panthers hockey, football season, Trump and Kevin Hern in Oklahoma, and the car loan interest deduction

Erick Erickson opens with a blunt monologue on the Gaza genocide narrative and the violence it keeps inspiring, from a thwarted mass shooting plot at the Texas State Capitol in Austin to the Boulder attack and the Pennsylvania governor's mansion arson. Then he covers the botched Christa Pike execution in Tennessee and digs into the 2026 Senate midterms, with Harry Enten's polling data, James Talarico, Ken Paxton, Susan Collins, and why polls keep oversampling Democrats. The Gaza genocide claim, the foiled Texas Capitol shooting plot, and the media's refusal to push back Rising antisemitism on the left and the right, and the threats Erick still gets for calling out white nationalists Christa Pike's botched lethal injection in Tennessee, the all-female execution team, and the governor's pause on executions 2026 Senate midterms: Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Maine, and why Republicans likely hold the Senate while losing the House Harry Enten on polling misses, why polls oversample Democrats, and the Ken Paxton versus James Talarico race in Texas

Erick Erickson opens with a warning that progressive politics has become a religion, from the collapse of the United Methodist Church and other mainline denominations to Maine protesters harassing Chief Justice John Roberts, and why pastors who preach politics are hurting their churches. Then he weighs in on Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra in the California governor race, makes the case that Barack Obama pioneered the partisan division he now laments, defends his Hunga Tonga volcano climate call with a caller, and unloads on Delta for refusing Starlink Wi-Fi. Politics as the new religion: the progressive pulpit, the new right-wing pastors twisting their theology, and why the fastest dying churches (United Methodist, PCUSA, Episcopal, ELCA, UCC) are the political ones while the PCA and LCMS grow Chief Justice John Roberts and the Maine "chi-activists": the New York Times report on flotillas, protests, and a neighbor-versus-neighbor split on Humber Island, and why Erick says a politics that ends friendships is the real problem California governor race: Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra, the CNN debate clip on 479,000 missing unaccompanied migrant children, and whether a Republican can really win in California Barack Obama and the roots of American division: his 2024 remarks, the 2012 absentee ballot neighbor postcards, the IRS, Eric Holder, and a caller on MLK Day and Democratic Socialists Hunga Tonga volcano and the water vapor climate argument, plus Elon Musk's campaign against Delta Air Lines over Starlink Wi-Fi, Amazon Kuiper delays, and Delta's SkyMiles dial-up internet

Erick Erickson opens with Senate Democrats killing the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act after both passed the House, then explains why the prepaid absentee ballot request forms in your mailbox are not ballots and how progressive groups use data brokers to target voters. He covers the deadly I-95 fog pileup over Lake Marion in South Carolina, the Flydubai hijacking and the hero pilot who saved the plane, the RAF Fairford terror arrests in the UK, and the left's political religion, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Senate Democrats kill the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act (passed the House 417 to 3), with Jon Ossoff voting to block, and why Congress campaigns on issues instead of solving them Absentee ballot request forms versus real absentee ballots: why prepaid return envelopes signal a request form, which states offer prepaid ballots, and how progressive groups track barcodes and ballot harvesting Mass casualty fog pileup on I-95 near Santee and Lake Marion, South Carolina, with Orangeburg County crews extracting victims by hand Flydubai hijacking: the Omani co-pilot's radical Islamist indoctrination, the stabbed pilot who opened the cockpit door, and Netanyahu and Modi praising a real hero RAF Fairford terror investigation: a UK and Iran dual national arrested in Westminster, radical Islam in US mosques, an imam facing deportation in Wisconsin, and Muslim missionaries harassing black churches in Michigan as Abdul El-Sayed runs

The President deserves a lot of credit in the middle east, Elon Musk's Starlink is awesome and more business should embrace it plus the current state of Senate elections around the country.

The President brings the heads of AI to capital hill plus the great success the Trump administration has had in almost completely wiping out muslim immigration. Good.

Erick Erickson takes on the online right's outrage over Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad, calling out the grievance politics and white victimhood peddled by click chasing influencers. He then argues Donald Trump's Iran sanctions and economic pressure are slowly collapsing the regime even as gas prices and diesel costs threaten Republicans ahead of the midterms, praises Brian Kemp's gas tax suspension, and mocks the rush to rebrand artificial intelligence as "superintelligence." The hour closes with Senator Eric Schmitt's embarrassing Jack Smith "Hawks game" gotcha that blew up on live television. Sarah Huckabee Sanders welfare ad: Arkansas welfare reform work requirements, the Brad in the basement ad, and why more white men than black women are on welfare in Arkansas, plus Erick's rebuke of the white right grievance crowd and Beau French's UT graduation comments. Iran collapsing under Trump sanctions: Economic isolation, hyperinflation, unpaid soldiers and teachers, reported skirmishes near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's banking isolation, and the risk of an October surprise before the midterms. Gas prices, diesel and the midterms: Former Deputy Treasury Secretary on Fox Business tying gas prices to the generic ballot, Treasury bond buyback limits, mortgage rates above 7 percent, Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, and California's gas tax. Trump's "superintelligence" rebrand: Erick pushes back on the fawning over renaming artificial intelligence, Laura Ingraham's praise, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta strategy, and Meta's Muse AI assistant. Eric Schmitt's Jack Smith gotcha backfires: The Hawks versus Hawkeyes mix-up, the Axios VP buzz for 2028, Scott Jennings on CNN, and Republican complaints about Jack Smith obtaining congressional and Molly Hemingway records.

Erick Erickson opens with the Speaker of the House's "common sense versus crazy" midterm pitch, then walks the 2026 Senate map from Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas to Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia, warning that MAGA alone cannot win in November while farmers rage over tariffs and diesel prices. He defends Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work campaign ad against a white nationalist backlash and takes on the grievance politics spreading on the populist right, with Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, Texas dyed diesel, and Marco Rubio on the Strait of Hormuz along the way. Common sense versus crazy: the Speaker of the House's midterm message, Scott Bessent's economy talk, and Erick's warning that Republicans cannot win with MAGA alone as independents break for Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans stay home Senate map breakdown: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas, Mike Collins in Georgia, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Susan Collins in Maine, and Josh Turek versus Ashley Hinson in Iowa Farm country fury: tariffs and diesel prices, weekly farm bankruptcies in South Georgia, Brian Kemp suspending the Georgia gas tax, and Texas allowing dyed diesel on its roads Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad: Erick backs the Arkansas governor against white nationalists, identity politics grifters, and the JD Vance loyalty crowd, and asks why Republicans keep attacking their most competent governors Also: Candace Owens rumors, vandalism at Susan Collins' Maine Senate office, New York Magazine's Elliot Page cover, and Marco Rubio on Iran, oil prices, and the Strait of Hormuz

Erick Erickson breaks down the Pentagon data breach that exposed nearly 3 million people and the FBI job site hack, asking whether Iran is probing American defenses while Pete Hegseth's future gets shakier heading into the midterms. He also warns that the 10-year Treasury yield at 5.29 percent is squeezing mortgages and credit cards, holds up Argentina's Javier Milei as a lesson in fiscal sanity, and digs into Derek Thompson's data on the collapse of hosting friends at home and what it means for loneliness, faith, and community. Pentagon and FBI data breaches: 2.76 million living people and 294,000 deceased exposed through the Defense Manpower Data Center, the FBI job application site under investigation, and Erick's suspicion that Iran or China is behind the probing Pete Hegseth's future: Republican senators whispering that the Defense Secretary will not survive the midterms, House Democrats eyeing impeachment, and the fired generals and admirals Congress liked Iran, Strait of Hormuz, and oil: Condoleezza Rice on Fox News, Abbas Araghchi's doomsday war warning on Meet the Press, and oil prices easing while Iranian crude stays bottled up Bond yields and Javier Milei: the 10-year Treasury at 5.29 percent, a national debt over 40 trillion dollars, stagflation fears, and Argentina cutting tariffs, freezing new currency, and taming inflation Americans stopped hosting: Derek Thompson at The Atlantic on monthly hosting falling from 42 percent to 12 percent, Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, Rosaria Butterfield, Pew data on church community and mental health, and Erick's Sunday night porch tradition

Erick Erickson uses the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship plan to warn that America must not copy Europe's immigration failures, then argues the GOP can build a multiracial coalition by rejecting identity politics and grievance grifters, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare ad still fueling the fight. He also takes calls on assimilation and the melting pot, shares his taco soup recipe and cookbook plans after a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, and breaks down the Protect College Sports Act from Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell as an Auburn employee is charged with stealing athletic trade secrets. Europe's immigration mess: the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship routes, free speech arrests in Britain, immigrant ghettos, terror suspects out on bail, and why Erick says the United States must avoid the European Union's path GOP identity politics and the multiracial coalition: Donald Trump's gains with Hispanic voters, young black men, and Indian American families, the backlash over Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Arkansas welfare ad, and Erick's warning that grievance politics loses elections Assimilation versus the salad bowl: a Jacksonville caller back from Alberta and British Columbia on Canadian immigration, and Erick on why America needs the melting pot Cooking, cookbooks, and hosting friends: a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, Erick's 400 cookbook collection, Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, his taco soup and corn flake chicken recipes, and Meta's Muse AI app finding subscription savings Protect College Sports Act and Auburn: the bipartisan Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell NCAA bill clears the Senate, the transfer portal and endorsement caps, and an Auburn employee charged with theft of trade secrets Also: Chuck Grassley's memo on Jack Smith seizing reporters' records, Tom Cruise's poorly reviewed movie, and streaming picks including Slow Horses and Lanterns