The GOP’s Unwelcome Mat

As Maine Goes

We began this episode with Graham Platner’s announcement [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mQbcsaoaiZU] on Wednesday that he will step down as the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine. Our theme music this week is Born Again [https://t.lickd.co/l/bO43EJp9q5n], written and sung by Jelly Roll, copyrighted music licensed from Lickd [https://lickd.co/]. Former president of the Maine Senate Troy Jackson and Senate primary candidate Graham Platner at a Portland Hearts of Pine match on September 27, 2025. Jackson is now a candidate to replace Platner on the ballot. Photo credit: MAINEiac4434/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jackson_and_Platner_at_Hearts_of_Pine.jpg] In the news: * On Wednesday, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who ran a construction crew in Houston, because the most recent casualty [https://www.fox26houston.com/news/timeline-surveillance-video-family-account-help-reconstruct-final-moments-before-deadly-ice-shooting-hous] of Donald Trump’s deportation machine. Araujo was approached by ICE agents, who claim he was in the United States illegally, and that he assaulted them. The evidence remains vague: Araujo’s son has suggested that his father was alert to being robbed for his tools and may have believed that the agents were thieves. The Office of the Inspector General and the FBI have taken over the case [https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/07/08/feds-sideline-texas-officials-probe-into-ice-shooting-district-attorney-says/], sidelining local officials: the family has asked for an independent investigation. The Washington Post reported this morning that agents did not have a warrant for his arrest [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/us/witnesses-houston-ice-shooting.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] and had mistaken him for another. * Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair [https://freedom250.org/celebration/the-great-american-state-fair] ends today. Billed as a “A world-class exposition and modern-day World’s Fair” clustered around the National Mall, by all reports it was slightly better quality than the 2017 Fyre Festival [https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46904445]. It featured, among other things, a piece of the stage falling on a troupe [https://www.thedailybeast.com/dancers-dodge-death-as-donald-trumps-state-fair-stage-falls-apart/] dancing to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” Meghan McCain’s new game show streaming to an empty crowd [https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/meghan-mccain-trump-great-american-state-fair-b3011169.html], massive amounts of junk food [https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2026/07/09/great-american-state-fair-maha-mondays-are-deep-fried-contradiction/], Kash Patel’s girlfriend Alexis Wilkins stepping in [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/alexis-wilkins-kash-patel-trump-great-american-state-fair-1236629693/] when nearly every other performer pulled out, 10 no-show states [https://nypost.com/2026/07/02/us-news/the-top-10-most-unamerican-no-show-states-at-trumps-great-american-state-fair/], at least one Confederate battle flag [https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2026/07/09/great-american-state-fair-maha-mondays-are-deep-fried-contradiction/], and a baptism pool [https://www.newsweek.com/great-american-state-fair-visitor-escapes-extreme-heat-in-baptism-pool-12155229] that fairgoers used as a swimming pool. It is said to have cost $68 million [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/us/politics/trump-allies-firm-organizing-250th.html], funding run through a third-party, and was organized by a long-time Trump vendor, Event Strategies, Inc [https://teamesi.com/] of Alexandria, VA. Freedom 250 is claiming that 150,000 people attended: by contrast, the Minnesota State Fair claimed almost 2 million visitors [https://www.mnstatefair.org/about] in 2025. * Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has asked Republican Senator and former majority leader Mitch McConnell’s staff for an update on his health [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/08/mcconnell-health-update-beshear-hospitalization-kentucky.html]. McConnell has been publicly declining for months, has sometimes appeared to freeze in public, and has fallen in the Capitol. McConnell has not been seen [https://www.livenowfox.com/news/mitch-mcconnells-hospital-latest-wife-releases-statement] since an emergency medical call to his home on June 14, reportedly because of an “unconscious person.” Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Whip John Barasso (R-WY) each claim [https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5957438-mcconnell-thune-barrasso-health/] to have had “substantive” 20-minute conversations with McConnell on the phone, but no one—not even his wife, former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, claims to have seen him—and some are speculating that McConnell is in a coma and/or brain-dead. [https://newrepublic.com/post/212798/mitch-mcconnell-office-dodges-questions-brain-dead] However, his absence throws the Senate Appropriations Committee into a deadlock around requests [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/09/how-mitch-mcconnells-absence-complicates-senates-business-this-summer/] from the Trump administration for enhanced military spending to find the war against Iran. Your hosts: Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller. Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is Coming Out Republican: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Platner’s Senate campaign headquarters in Ellsworth, ME, following his victory in the Democratic Senate primary in June, 2026. Photo credit: Quintin Soloviev/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graham_Platner_campaign_headquarters.jpg] News focus: Graham Platner is forced out of the Maine Senate race * Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner ended his insurgent candidacy last night after suspending it on Wednesday. The final straw was former girlfriend Jenny Racicot detailing rape allegations [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/06/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737] from late 2021 to a reporting team from Politico. Racicot was one of three women, including Lindsay Fifield, a Republican political operative, who had spoken to the New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html] about violence in their relationship with Platner prior to the primary. At the end of May, Platner’s wife Amy spoke to the campaign about Platner sexting with other women [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/us/politics/graham-platner-maine-senate-texts.html]. * The Wall Street Journal’s reporting team supplied a timeline [https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/graham-platner-maine-senate-campaign-43717e4c?st=8kFPqW] of Platner’s rise and fall, highlighting a 2024 Facebook post by Racicot that should have been a red flag, and an ambitious pair of progressive political consultants, Daniel Moraff and Morris Katz; Moraff has had close ties to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for a decade. Platner’s social media posts [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/opinion/graham-platner-rape-accusation.html] and his obfuscations about his motives, and understanding, of a tattoo that was a Nazi symbol, were an even earlier issue. * In the aftermath of Politico’s story, new allegations have emerged from Fifield that Platner also removed his condom [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5958131-ex-girlfriend-alleges-graham-platner-removed-condom-during-sex-without-consent/] while they were having intercourse, knowing that she was not on birth control. * That day, Drop Site’s Ryan Grim appeared to be questioning Racicot’s account, inferring that she had invited Platner over: Drop Site apologized [https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2075255951460851921] on Thursday, and Grim appears to have removed these posts. * Here [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/08/graham-platner-potential-replacements-maine-00991341] is a complete list of candidates who might replace Platner. In the first round of speculation, the New York Times included actor Patrick Dempsey, as well as historian and Substacker Heather Cox Richardson. Richardson then published a video [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIWmu0eTTQI] explaining why she is not interested in running for Senate. * The state party is planning a nominating convention [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/us/politics/platner-maine-democrats-replacement-candidate.html] to choose a new candidate. * Did Democrats, in their eagerness to win the Maine seat, create a situation [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/opinion/graham-platner-rape-accusation.html] in which better candidates were ignored and Platner seemed like the most vigorous alternative to Susan Collins? * In October 2025, when the news about the Totenkopf tattoo emerged, feminists Moira Donegan [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/30/graham-platner-male-working-class] and Tressie McMillan Cottom [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/opinion/nazi-tattoo-graham-platner-democrats.html] both warned that Democrats were too infatuated with the illusion of working-class authenticity to heed the warning signs about Platner. Monica Potts [https://newrepublic.com/article/212801/graham-platner-rape-allegations-progressives-working-class-voters], Katha Pollitt [https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/graham-platner-out/], and Rebecca Traister [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-women-saw-in-graham-platner.html] have added feminist voices to the discussion. * In the past two years, a Senate candidate has only been replaced nine times, [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/upshot/platner-senate-replacements-history.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] and in only two cases—Arkansas Republican Tim Hutchinson and New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg—has it been successful. * That said, Nate Cohn argues that Platner was losing support, and that a new candidate will boost the party’s chances. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/upshot/platner-maine-election-accusation.html] What we want to go viral: * Neil wants you to read Rose Horowitch’s tale of American literary apocalypse, “The End of Reading is Here [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/],” (The Atlantic, July 8, 2026). * Claire wants you to read, or listen to (as she did), Sarah B. Franklin’s tour de force about twentieth century publishing, The Editor: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781982134372] How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America (Atria Books, 2025). Jones edited and cooked alongside Julia Child, Marcela Hazan and other great cookbook, as well as major authors like Anne Tyler and John Updike. Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s Coming Out Republican [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] or Claire’s Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] as a welcome bonus. You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on Apple iTunes [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l], or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe [https://clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The GOP’s Unwelcome Mat

We began this episode with a June 30 clip of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w72BdDKjzTc] responding to the United States Supreme Court decision to uphold birthright citizenship. In a feat of MAGA cognitive dissonance, DeSantis was at The Villages, an age-restricted adult community in Central Florida, to unveil a statue of President Abraham Lincoln. Our theme music this week is Redemption Song [https://app.lickd.co/music/artists/johnny-cash/track/redemption-song], written by Bob Marley and sung by Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer, copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. [https://lickd.co/] White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2025_Stephen_Miller_close-up_(cropped).jpg] In the News: * It was a big week [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/supreme-court-term-trump-conservatives.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] at the Supreme Court. In addition to the birthright citizenship case, the court declined to take Donald Trump’s appeal [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8q2z5wpn2o] of the verdict in the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case, and Carroll’s attorneys have asked the judge to release [https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/30/politics/e-jean-carroll-asks-for-release-5-million-dollars-trump] the $5 million damages—now $5.8 million. Here’s a summary of the full term [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/opinion/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-slaughter.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] by three experts assembled by the New York Times. The court also upheld existing state bans [https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/nx-s1-5836513/supreme-court-transgender-athletes] on transgender girls and women participating in sports designated for women—here [https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/49229623/faq-supreme-court-transgender-athlete-ruling-title-ix-scope-states] is what the ruling has, and has not, settled. The court also rejected [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-allows-states-count-mail-ballots-arrive-late-rejecting-r-rcna266933] the Republican National Committee’s bid to override state laws on the counting and timing of mail-in-ballots. * Colorado held its primaries [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/colorado-primary-takeaways.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] this week: the well-funded Michael Bennet will return to the Senate [https://coloradosun.com/2026/06/30/colorado-primary-election-governor-phil-weiser-michael-bennet/] after State Attorney General Phil Weiser ate his lunch [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5945425-weiser-defeats-bennet-for-democratic-nod-in-colorado-governors-race/]; at hte time we recorded, the Republican contest between Barb Kirkmeyer and Victor Marx was still too close to call; today, Marx appears to have taken the lead. * Also in Colorado, Democratic Socialists of America are still on a little roll: Melat Kiros, a lawyer and Ph.D. candidate [https://time.com/article/2026/06/30/melat-kiros-democratic-socialist-colorado-congressional-race/] at UC-Denver, toppled [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democratic-socialist-melat-kiros-defeats-longtime-house-incumbent-in-colorado-primary] 68-year-old progressive incumbent Diana DeGette. Support for Israel appears to have been one issue, but Democratic voters discontent with the party establishment may be [https://newrepublic.com/article/212581/colorado-democratic-primary-results-left-wins-gaza-socialism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily] a bigger factor. * A series ads attacking Ken Paxton feature the Texas GOP Senate nominee’s moral failings as a husband [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/paxton-talarico-corruption-affordability-texas.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share]. Presumably they are an attempt to heighten the contrast with Democrat James Talarico, a devout—and to all appearances, socially proper—Christian. This week, Talarico himself distributed the Daily Mail’s story [https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15936929/Ken-Paxton-US-Senate-campaign-Iceland-mistress.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus] about Paxton on his social media: not yet divorced, Paxton appears to have traveled to Iceland with a woman not his wife (a different one [https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/ken-paxton-mistress-iceland-spotted] than the woman who appears to have precipitated the marital split.) But wouldn’t a high focus on 20 years of corruption [https://thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/17/ken-paxton-scandal-timeline/] be more effective? * A new Times/Siena poll reveals [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/iowa-ohio-governor-poll.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] that Republicans are in a dogfight to hang onto the governors’ mansions in two red states, Iowa and Ohio, a bellwether state [https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/new-poll-finds-husted-narrowly-leading-brown-ohio-governors-race-tied/] for 2028. Incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted leads former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown 50% to 47%, while tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy and physician Amy Acton are in a dead heat for the governor’s mansion [https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/state/2026/06/29/amy-acton-vivek-ramaswamy-ohio-governor-race-poll-aarp/90708432007/]—except that Acton is up by three points. That same poll indicates that control of the Senate is up for grabs, [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/polls-senate-control.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] with six seats in play: Democrats must take four. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/upshot/polls-ohio-iowa-alaska-carolina.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] Your hosts: Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller. Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is Coming Out Republican: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott, who filed concurrent suits for their freedom in 1852. The Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision on the grounds that, as enslaved African Americans, they had no claim to citizenship, and that—as property—to free them violated the Fifth Amendment. Image credit: The Century Magazine/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dred_Scott._Harriet,_wife_of_Dred_Scott_LCCN2014645331_(cropped).jpg] News focus: Birthright citizenship survives the Trump administration—for now * Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of birthright citizenship [https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/about-immigration/birthright-citizenship/] in Trump v. Barbara [https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-365_4hdj.pdf]. The vote was 6-3 on the constitutionality of the executive order, but 5-4 on [https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/in-birthright-citizenship-opinions-a-major-constitutional-disagreement]the core constitutional question: does the Citizenship Clause protect the children of people who are temporarily or illegally in the United States? * Two Trump-appointed associate justices, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, voted with the majority on the EO; Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision, and Clarence Thomas wrote a 91-page dissent: Alito and Gorsuch wrote dissents; Associate Justice Jackson wrote a concurrence rebuking Thomas; and Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence in which he joined the minority on the constitutional question, and urged Congress to pass a law to amend birthright citizenship. You can read about it all here [https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/breaking-down-the-birthright-citizenship-decision/]. * Caveat: much as Republicans promise that they will introduce a law [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/01/supreme-court-ruling-birthright-citizenship-congress-trump/90759645007/] to ban birthright citizenship outright, that too would be dead on arrival because of Barbara. The Constitution itself would have to be amended. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) claims [https://time.com/article/2026/06/30/birthright-citizenship-constitutional-amendment-republicans-supreme-court/] he plans to spearhead that effort, while other Republican Senators vow to take up Kavanaugh’s invitation to legislate on the question of temporary or illegal status. * Why does birthright citizenship matter [https://campaignlegal.org/update/why-birthright-citizenship-essential-part-our-democracy] to our democracy? Here is how the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment of the Constitution has been commonly interpreted [https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xiv/clauses/700]; here is the Trump administration’s argument [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-the-trump-administrations-challenges-to-birthright-citizenship] against it. * Claire and Neil discuss history of birthright citizenship [https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/02/a-history-of-birthright-citizenship-at-the-supreme-court/], how the concept has evolved legally since the Dred Scott case in 1857, and the importance of United States v. Wong Kim Ark [https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/169us649] (1898). In that case, the Supreme Court affirmed that Asian Americans born in the United States whose parents had been barred from naturalized citizenship were entitled to Fourteenth Amendment protection. Nativists then turned to anti-immigration laws to limit the non-white population: the reform of these statutes began in 1952 [https://cis.org/Historical-Overview-Immigration-Policy] with the McCarren-Walter Act [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act]. * Perhaps the most important reform, and the one most despised by today’s MAGA zealots, was the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act [https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-of-1965/], which eliminated the racist quota system, prioritized highly skilled immigrants, and had a provision for family reunification. Today, most Americans support birthright citizenship. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/us/politics/birthright-citizenship-support.html] * It is this last provision that white nationalist Republicans have spun into a vast conspiracy theory, contending that the only way Democrats can win elections is by importing and “breeding” voters. It was Jeb Bush [https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/02/anchor-baby-myth], as a presidential candidate in 2015, who promoted the myth of the “anchor baby,” a phrase that first emerged in 1987 [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/whats-behind-anchor-babies-buzz-phrase] in relation to a wave of immigrants fleeing communist Vietnam. * Since 2009, and the rise of the Tea Party movement, a Republican party moving right has leaned in hard [https://theconversation.com/republicans-once-championed-immigration-in-the-us-why-has-the-partys-rhetoric-and-public-opinion-changed-so-dramatically-239836] on the idea that immigrants defraud the American people, and at the heart of any social and economic problems that may exist. * Trump-aligned forces are now elevating the harm of so-called “birth tourism,” and are vowing to stop all pregnant women who are not citizens [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/01/after-supreme-court-loss-on-birthright-citizenship-white-house-eyes-crackdown-on-pregnant-foreigners-00984187] at the border. Coming to the United States exclusively to give birth, and registering that child as a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment, is already prosecutable as visa fraud and is a rare crime. [https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5951451-trump-birthright-citizenship-outcry/] What we want to go viral: * Neil just binged season three of “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders [https://www.netflix.com/search?q=dallas%20cowboy%20cheerleaders%20season%203&jbv=81685878]” (Netflix, 2026), which follows this hard-working squad through the pains and gains of a new season’s selection process. * Claire wants you to read Louisa Thomas’s piece, “Serena Williams Returns to Wimbledon [https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/serena-williams-returns-to-wimbledon?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_070126&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=5bea04353f92a404693e32a3&cndid=44691879&hasha=30ca3164a2ee75a2fcdea9acd31c7ff0&hashb=4a143b91923b930db563c95a184a15acc3e47348&hashc=175c7ebc71d84b708080750f16f4c04e9b95345a322caadb0210b3539946bd09&esrc=OIDC_SELECT_ACCOUNT_PAGE&mbid=CRMNYR012019],” (The New Yorker, July 1, 2026) which delivers the sad news that age really does impose limits on the best, most ambitious, hardest-working, and most gifted of athletes. Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s Coming Out Republican [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] or Claire’s Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] as a welcome bonus. You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on Apple iTunes [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l], or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe [https://clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

It’s Not Easy Being Green

We begin with a June 22 press conference [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY08SA92fQA], in which Donald Trump blames faceless, nameless enemies for the failed renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Our theme music this week is Dirty Water, written by Ed Cobb and performed live by the Standells [https://t.lickd.co/l/8YLv05mGlZE]; copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. [https://lickd.co/] The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on the National Mall as it appeared on June 16, 2026, chokes with algae and with bits of the liner floating to the surface. Photo credit: G. Edward Johnson/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2026-06-17_Cleaning_algae_from_the_Reflectiong_Pool_Washington_DC_18-57-39_1.jpg] In the News: * On Monday, a federal judge in Minnesota unsealed a ruling [https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/judge-says-justice-department-overstepped-with-subpoenas-to-minnesota-officials-bae70b1e?st=4QSLwL&reflink=article_email_share] that six elected officials in Minnesota, including Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, were improperly subpoenaed in relation to resistance to federal immigration enforcement last winter. Patrick Schlitz, a George W. Bush appointee, said there was no plausible justification for this investigation aside from political retaliation. * New York City’s primaries are over: we saw big victories for candidates endorsed [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/nyregion/mamdani-politics-influence.html] by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, several of them dramatic upsets. Former city councilman Brad Lander defeated [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/brad-lander-trounces-new-york-rep-dan-goldman-in-election-upset-00972326] incumbent Dan Goldman for the nomination in NY-10; Assemblywoman Claire Valdez defeated [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/claire-valdez-wins-brooklyn-queens-primary-00972255] Antonio Reynoso in NY-07; and in a major upset, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a doctoral student and pro-Palestinian activist, defeated Adriano Espaillat, a five term incumbent in NY-13 and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In NY-12, Micah Lasher dashed the dreams [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/nyregion/schlossberg-loses-camelot.html] of multiple candidates, including Jack Schlossberg, in a $26 million primary mostly focused on the future of AI. * Yesterday, in a perhaps unprecedented act of petulance, Donald Trump canceled a signing ceremony for a major bipartisan housing bill [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/24/trump-abruptly-cancels-signing-bipartisan-bill-affordable-housing/] that seeks expand the residential housing stock and limit the number of units that private equity companies can stockpile (hello, Jared Kushner [https://www.propublica.org/article/kushner-apartments-lawsuit-baltimore-maryland-settlement]!) The event was set up in the Capitol when, 90 minutes before it was supposed to start, Trump announced he would not sign it until Congress passed the SAVE Act, federal voting legislation that lacks the votes to pass in either chamber. Both majorities for the housing bill are veto proof [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/us/politics/congress-housing-bill.html]—but will Republicans have the courage to not reverse their votes? * In Texas, nine protesters prosecuted as terrorists received decades-long sentences [https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/06/23/alleged-antifa-members-texas-get-maximum-sentences-ice-protest/] for a protest at a federal detention center that turned violent. They were prosecuted under a September 2025 executive order [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/designating-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/] that designated “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization. The sentences were longer than any sentence handed down for J6 defendants. Your hosts: Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller. Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is Coming Out Republican: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Claire’s favorite social media meme about the Reflecting Pool News focus: President Renovation Strikes Again * Donald Trump has committed over $1.2 billion to 18 different construction and renovation projects around Washington [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/24/us/trump-dc-costs-ballroom-arch-pool.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share]: he has produced conflicting statements about where the money for them is coming from, has made his projects a destination for donor money at the same time as taxpayer dollars are diverted to meet ballooning budgets. The historic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is only one of Trump’s efforts [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-undertakes-sweeping-makeover-white-house-washington-2026-06-05/] to put his stamp on the Capitol. It is an effort that has precedent: during Franklin Roosevelt’s four terms, he made Washington D.C. into a modern metropolis [https://dcist.com/story/17/09/13/map-see-all-of-dcs-new-deal-projects/] with federal dollars. * The Reflecting Pool has also become a metaphor [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/reflecting-pool-visitors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] for the President’s slumping popularity. Here is a timeline of the project [https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/dc-reflecting-pool-renovation-timeline-2026-rcna351410], beginning on April 23, that has produced acres of green sludge and detached fragments of flag-blue pool liner. * A firm tied to Trump donor John Cafano got the no-bid contract [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/politics/trump-donor-contract-reflecting-pool.html], the bill for which came to over $16 million: Cafano, who resembles drag king Murray Hill [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/style/murray-hill-showbiz-netflix-somebody-somewhere.html], is a Mar-A-Lago neighbor. His company, Greenwater Contracting, won a no-bid federal contract last year to clean the Tijuana River [https://voiceofsandiego.org/2026/06/22/environment-report-reflecting-pool-contractor-tried-cleaning-tijuana-river-too/]—also a failure. The Reflecting Pool has been plagued with problems [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/31/us/trump-reflecting-pool-problems.html] since it was created in the 1920s, and a new liner and filters were unlikely to address them. * Having claimed [https://x.com/bulwarkonline/status/2069178160847962311?s=12] that the new pool liner was indestructible, Trump now blames vandals for the problem [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/us/trump-reflecting-pool-green-peeling.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share]. He has surrounded the tourist attraction with security personnel, and threatened 10-year sentences [https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2069054344515797157?s=20] for the mysterious figures he believes are responsible. U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro has vowed to prosecute the culprits [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5933461-lincoln-memorial-pool-vandalism-prosecution/]. As the Anonymous X account pointed out, [https://x.com/YourAnonNews/status/2069034529965162525?s=20] the Reflecting pPool is surrounded with security cameras, and any vandal should be easily detected; in other words, there is no evidence that this is anything but a renovation failure. [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-reflecting-pool-is-about-to-be-drained-again-heres-what-to-know] * Yet, according to the Associated Press [https://apnews.com/article/reflecting-pool-liner-cut-national-park-service-trump-98e11bfcb5899753c79bf55698dc958f?taid=6a3d5a134493680001f18a36&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter], in a court filing today a National Parks Service official attested that the liner was cut with a knife or other sharp object. * For historians, this is a relaxing, old-fashioned scandal: Claire and Neil point to Mayor William “Boss” Tweed’s court house at 52 Chambers Street [https://www.nyc.gov/site/dcas/business/dcasmanagedbuildings/tweed-courthouse.page] in New York City, opened in 1881. Initially budgeted at $250,000, the Board of Supervisors began to smell a rat [https://www.americanheritage.com/house-tweed-built] when the bill went over $3.1 million; an investigation showed that the project was a pass-through for payoffs and graft. Tweed was convicted of corruption [https://history.nycourts.gov/figure/boss-tweed/#:~:text=Tilden's%20anti%2Dcorruption%20crusade%20was%20a,to%20the%20Presidency%20in%201876.&text=Tweed%20was%20arrested%20in%20October,on%20%241%20million%20dollar%20bail.] in one of the unfinished building’s courtrooms in 1876. * However, it also seems like Trump, frustrated by problems of his own making, is returning to his roots [https://www.rawstory.com/trump-wollman-rink-reflecting-pool/] to create the illusion of success. In 1975, in his first major Manhattan project, he bought the decrepit Commodore Hotel over Grand Central station [https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/04/archives/deal-negotiated-for-commodore-hyatt-would-operate-it-after.html] and built the Grand Hyatt; and in 1986, he took over the renovation of Wollman Rink [https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/07/nyregion/trump-to-rebuild-wollman-rink-at-the-city-s-expense-by-dec-15.html] in Central Park. Another gag at Donald Trump’s expense found on social media. What we want to go viral: * Claire wants you to read (or listen tomorrow which is what she is doing) Tia Levings, A Well-Trained Wife [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781250898050]: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy (St. Martins, 2026.) Don’t miss our conversation about how this book does, and does not, teach us about the politics of gender on the Christian fundamentalist right, and why conservatives are so committed to the gender binary. * Neil is repping Spencer Kornhaber’s article about why a rapper is trying to take America back to the 1990s, “Vanilla Ice Knows When America Was Great [https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/06/vanilla-ice-america-250/687661/],” (The Atlantic, June 24, 2026.) Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s Coming Out Republican [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] or Claire’s Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] as a welcome bonus. You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on Apple iTunes [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l], or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe [https://clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

No Donald, You Can’t Have A Pony

We begin with a clip [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-jKOTpNdds] from the June 14 2026 UFC event on the White House Lawn, in which MMA fighter Josh Hokit declares that Jesus Christ is greater than Hulk Hogan and Michelle Obama is a man. Our theme music this week is Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas [https://t.lickd.co/l/D9XWBeVB2wx], copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. [https://lickd.co/] President Donald J. Trump and Dana White, President and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the mixed martial arts event on Sunday, June 14, 2026, on the South Lawn of the White House. Photo credit: Andrea Hanks/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UFC_Freedom_250,_the_mixed_martial_arts_event_produced_by_the_Ultimate_Fighting_Championship,_Sunday,_June_14,_2026,_in_the_Grand_Foyer_of_the_White_House_-_11.jpg] In the News: * Georgia had its primary on Tuesday: [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/us/politics/georgia-alabama-elections-trump-takeaways.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] health care executive Rick Jackson beat out Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, and incumbent Senate Democrat Jon Ossoff got the opponent he wants: extremist Mike Collins. Ossoff also got an obscene new nickname [https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-80-hurls-obscene-nickname-at-rising-dem-star-jon-ossoff-in-morning-meltdown/?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning&user_emailA=30ca3164a2ee75a2fcdea9acd31c7ff0&user_emailB=175c7ebc71d84b708080750f16f4c04e9b95345a322caadb0210b3539946bd09&lctg=5bae999d3f92a46ecbcfef8a&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=260617-AMDigest&utm_term=F%20List%20Daily%20Beast%20Newsletter%20AM] from Donald Trump, who has now dubbed a sitting senator Jon Oss(jerk)off. The Jones loss is being read as an upset and a defeat for Trump, since the President endorsed him: but is it really? Since Jackson claims to be embracing a softer version of MAGA, that would mean that Trump, and the movement that brought him to power, are becoming two different things. In other news from The Peach State, election denier Vernon Jones lost his bid [https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/06/17/tim-fleming-wins-gop-secretary-state-runoff/#:~:text=(Atlanta%20News%20First)%20—%20Tim,state%2C%20defeating%20Democrat%2Dturned%2DRepublican%20Vernon%20Jones.] to represent the GOP on the Secretary of State ballot line. * Could the District of Columbia be putting a Democratic Socialist mayor right in Donald Trump’s back yard. It looks like it! Democrat Janeese Lewis George has took an early double-digit lead [https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2026/06/16/dc-mayor-primary-election-live-results-democrats-vie-replace-bowser/] in the primary to replace centrist Muriel Bowser, and never let go of it: her opponent, Kenyan McDuffie, conceded earlier today [https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-primary-mayors-race-results-draft/4115973/]. Lewis George currently represents Ward 4 on the D.C. Council—and as we know, the Democratic primary is basically the whole race. * Republicans have told us nonstop that cuts to the social safety net are just about fraud and waste, but ProPublica reports [https://www.propublica.org/article/snap-benefits-children-food-stamps?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature] that as of this week, over 770,000 children have been cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), born in 1939 as a New Deal program commonly known as food stamps. Altogether, almost 1.7 million people have been dropped from federal food assistance using a common tactic: increasing the paperwork necessary to receive the benefit. * In yet another attack on LGBTQ+ people timed for Pride Month, on June 12, the Department of Veterans Affairs ordered VA hospitals to end gender-identity based initiatives [https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/trump-abandons-lgbtq-veterans], and to dismantle networks and services designed to support LGBTQ+ veterans. This includes mental health and cognitive behavioral health programs designed to help former service people cope with homophobia, as well as removing the presence of LGBT+ folks from the website. Your hosts: Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller. Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is Coming Out Republican: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Podcaster Joe Rogan interviews UFC Fighter Ilia Topuria at the ceremonial UFC Freedom 250 weigh-ins on the Ellipse, Saturday, June 13, 2026. Photo credit: Sgt. 1st Class Brittany Primavera/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UFC_Freedom_250_Ceremonial_Weigh_In_(9748628).jpg]. News focus: * On Sunday, Donald Trump celebrated his own birthday and launched a series of events intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with an Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed-martial arts extravaganza on the White House lawn [https://www.npr.org/2026/06/15/nx-s1-5858610/trump-birthday-ufc-white-house]. It cost at least $60 million [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5919806-trump-administration-ufc-60-million-white-house-cage-fight/], which is said to have been absorbed by sponsors and by the UFC (Dana White, the CEO of the UFC, is a long-time friend of Trump’s [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/white-house-ufc-event-spotlights-trumps-decades-long-partnership-with-dana-white].) It’s unclear whether this includes the $700,000 in security provided by the District of Columbia Police. * First of all, what is the UFC [https://www.opro.com/en-us/blogs/fighter-hub/what-is-ufc-guide?srsltid=AfmBOopwBaHXLc3_r8t0G8roqj-BKVowVgcFtXqOK4kYUICVSgZ_auPM]—and why do Trump—and other MAGA celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk—identify with it [https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/06/trump-ufc-250-and-barthes-spectacle-excess/687549/]? The audience is largely male, and Trump has been [https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/06/trump-ufc-250-and-barthes-spectacle-excess/687549/]involved with the sport since 2001 [https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/06/trump-ufc-250-and-barthes-spectacle-excess/687549/], when he owned the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. UFC has also been welcomed to David Ellison’s new CBS: a televised event three months ago drew almost 2,5 million viewers. [https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2026/03/ufc-cbs-viewership-debut/] The UFC is worth over $1 billion, [https://time.com/article/2026/05/26/dana-white-ufc-white-house-fight-interview/] and has an overwhelmingly male audience. * The event sparks memories of other Presidents staging other controversial events at the White House. In 1837, Andrew Jackson installed a 1,600-pound block of cheese in the entrance hall [https://www.foodandwine.com/news/real-story-huge-chunk-cheese-sat-white-house-year] of the White House and invited “the people” to come in and hack away at it; Jackson’s inauguration also turned into a riot [https://www.whitehousehistory.org/events/whhl-inaugurations-gone-wild], where the guests refused to leave and had to be lured out of the building with ice cream and whiskey punch. During the Senate inquiry into the Teapot Dome Scandal that began in 1923, it was revealed that President Warren G. Harding held smokers in the White House that featured illegal alcohol and fight films. In a different vein, Theodore Roosevelt was at the center of an uproar when he invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House [https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/domestic-affairs]. And there have been several presidents who have been characterized as rubes: Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton spring to mind. * The New York Times’s Michelle Goldberg, thought it was significant [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/opinion/ufc-freedom-250-fight.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] that the UFC fight occurred on the same day that a memorandum of understanding was signed with Iran to end a needless and unprovoked war that has left the United States, and the world, in a worse position than it was before the conflict. Both things, she argues, indicate the nation’s decline. Here’s what the MOU says [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5927787-trump-iran-agreement-details/] (it pretty much gives Iran everything they might want in exchange for nothing.) * There are risks to having high-profile events at the White House: [https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/49081439/fbi-arrests-suspects-planned-attacks-white-house-ufc-event] the FBI claims to have made four arrests of people allegedly conspiring to attack the event with explosive drones. Apparently the investigation is ongoing: as usual, Keystone Kash announced it, presumably to nudge the Secret Service, which owns the operation, [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/16/secret-service-kept-ufc-plot-probe-secret-fbi-kash-patel-announced-it/90581017007/] out of the limelight. Fourteen other people were arrested at the event for crimes like disorderly conduct and drug possession. * Hope Reeves, a liberal journalist, wrote about taking her teenage sons to the event, [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/opinion/ufc-trump-fight-white-house-birthday.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share] and their love for UFC fighting: what’s the argument about this being an entertainment for kids that isn’t so terrible? What we want to go viral: * Neil wants you to read Matt Flegenheimer, “New Yorkers Are Living in a Peculiar Harmony. [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/nyregion/knicks-nba-finals-nyc.html] Thank the Knicks” (New York Times, May 29, 2026). * Claire wants you to read Claire Hoffman’s “The Gospel of Erika Kirk: [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/erika-kirk-christian-women-tpusa-1235576963/] Leaning In with the Christian Women of TPUSA” (Rolling Stone, June 13, 2026). Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s Coming Out Republican [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] or Claire’s Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] as a welcome bonus. You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on Apple iTunes [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l], or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe [https://clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Clap If You Believe in Fairies

We begin with a clip from an ad circulated by Lone Star PAC [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhQ6ReF1bGM] that asserts Democratic candidate for Senate James Talarico is “too weak and weird for Texas.” Today’s theme music is “Lola [https://t.lickd.co/l/jB7V5lbdgY1]” (2020 Stereo Remaster) by The Kinks; copyrighted music licensed from Lickd [https://lickd.co]. On February 12, 2026, New Yorkers rallied at the Stonewall National Monument to protest the “de-gaying” of the federal site bu the Trump administration. Christopher Penler / Shutterstock.com [https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-usa-february-12-2026-2738360741?trackingId=c4e2c6f8-43c4-43ee-ab0b-799959891b44&listId=searchResults] In the News: * They still have almost half the ballots to count in California, but the field for the general election is starting to shape up [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/us/elections/results-california-primary.html]. Republican Steve Hilton is currently leading the pack in the governor’s race, with Democrat Xavier Becerra, former Secretary of HSS in the Biden administration, a close second, and self-funded billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer a more distant third. Incumbent Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has made it to the general election, [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/us/elections/results-california-mayor-los-angeles.html] but again—with almost half the ballots left to count, Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt and LA City Council member Nithya Ramen are battling it out for the second spot. Becerra’s success was the big surprise in this election [https://www.kqed.org/news/12086134/becerra-defies-doubters-surges-in-california-governors-race], with some observers claiming that Democrats are embracing establishment figures again. * In Iowa [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/us/elections/results-iowa-primary.html], paralympic athlete and Democratic state legislator Josh Turek soundly defeated his progressive colleague Zach Wahls for the Senate seat left vacant by Joni Ernst’s retirement; [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/us/elections/results-iowa-us-senate-primary.html] he’ll face Representative Ashley Hinson (IA-01), a self-described conservative mom who says she wants to make Washington D.C. run more like Iowa. * Late last week, a federal judge in Miami re-opened the settlement in Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, saying that the lawsuit itself was “a product of collusion and is itself a fraud on the court.” The White House seems to want to make another deal, signaling yesterday that it has abandoned a plan for a $1.8 billion fund [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/02/trump-retreated-his-payout-fund-some-republicans-want-proof-its-dead/] to compensate the President’s various allies for their legal troubles. Both Republicans and Democrats have labeled the proposed compensation [https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/19/us/trump-news] “a slush fund,” as has the libertarian Cato Institute [https://www.cato.org/blog/trumps-anti-weaponization-fund-another-slush-fund]; it is to be created as part of a large reconciliation bill currently on the House floor. Acting AG Todd Blanche was back in Congress [https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/02/us/trump-administration-news] defending the settlement on Tuesday. * Also last week, the Trump administration released new proposed guidelines [https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/29/2026-10817/regulation-for-federal-financial-assistance#footnote-68-p32214] by which all federal grants would be held to the litmus test of President Donald Trump’s political priorities. The guidelines turn Trump’s various executive orders into a federal regulation [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/us/politics/trump-budget-grants-omb-vought.html], and prohibit (among other things) grants to projects or groups that “deny the biological reality of sex or the sex binary in humans,” or initiatives that “promote anti-American values,” contribute to illegal immigration, advance diversity, equity and inclusion or assist in voter registration. Grants could also be terminated if the administration finds they are not in “the public interest.” * On Tuesday, we learned that Bill Pulte, a long-time Trump ally and currently head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will become the acting Director of National Intelligence [https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/bill-pulte-director-national-intelligence-85c65c29] when Tulsi Gabbard departs in July. Pulte has no national security experience. At all. Pulte is independently wealthy, and came up with the genius scheme to go after Trump opponents Adam Schiff, Letitia James, and Lisa D. Cooke for mortgage fraud. Your hosts: Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller. Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is Coming Out Republican: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024). USNS Harvey Milk, a John Lewis class replenishment ship in December, 2024. Named after gay activist Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran and the first openly gay man to be elected to office. On June 26, 2025, his name was stripped from the vessel and replaced with Medal of Honor winner Oscar V. Peterson. Photo credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky/Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Gerald_R_Ford_(CVN_78)_conducts_RAS_with_USNS_Harvey_Milk_(T-AO_206)_(8800545).jpg] News focus: * Last week, when the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, James Talarico, confirmed that he is in a relationship with a woman, Congressman Wesley Hunt (TX-38) quipped [https://19thnews.org/2026/05/texas-senate-race-manliness-testosterone/]: “What’s his name?” Republican attacks [https://www.npr.org/2026/05/30/nx-s1-5839468/texas-senate-talarico-paxton-gender-masculinity] on Talarico’s masculinity, sexual orientation, and gender identity beyond the fact that he defended LGBT+ people in the Texas legislature: they are part of a larger cultural attack on LGBT+ people. The ACLU is currently tracking 530 bills across the United States that attack LGBT+ rights. * Project 2025 [https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf] took aim at policies that promoted LGBT+ equity and human rights. The document criticized USAID for imposing an LGBT+ “agenda” on African nations, referring to it at one point as “bullying.” It criticized HHS for LGBT+ family equity, saying such policies should be replaced with new rules that encouraged “marriage, work, motherhood, fatherhood, and nuclear families;” and that the agency had unjustly penalized those who had opposed pro-choice and LGBT equity policies on the grounds of conscience. It also argued that Trump should rescind ant-discrimination policies that prohibited “discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics.” * On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/] eliminating federal recognition of transgender people: buried in that document were five orders to eliminate federal guidance on harassment and inequity by sexual orientation in schools and the workplace. * But LGBT+ people are also literally being erased from patriotic sites. In June, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth renamed the USNS Harvey Milk [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pentagon-strips-harvey-milks-name-from-ship], commissioned in 2021: he replaced Milk’s name with Medal of Honor winner Oscar V. Peterson, saying that he was “taking the politics” out of the military. * Since then, states have gone into motion to suppress discussion of LGBT+ people [https://mapresearch.org/equality-map/lgbtq-curricular-laws/]. Seven states have banned the teaching of all LGBTQ texts and topics from publicly funded schools (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Carolina.) Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma ban discussion of LGBT+ sexuality in sex ed; while Florida, Texas, Utah, and Iowa ban LGBT+ books from public and school libraries. All in all, 19 states have at least one law of this kind. * Utah, Idaho and Montana ban the flying of Pride or Black Lives Matter flags [https://pen.org/flags-are-increasingly-targeted-by-government-bans-with-complaints-focused-on-pride-and-black-lives-matter-flags/] on public property; there are similar bills pending in Wisconsin, Tennessee and Ohio. Florida [https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/2025/05/20/pride-lights-bridges-skyway/] and Texas [https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/16/san-antonio-rainbow-crosswalk-removal-protest/] have prohibited street art, painting crosswalks, and bridge lighting with Pride themes. * Other than a 2019 Twitter thread, Donald Trump has never recognized [https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-recognizes-lgbtq-pride-month-first-time-n1012611] Pride Month: in February, 2026, the National Parks Service removed the Pride flag [https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/02/10/lgbtq-flag-trump-administration-remove/] from the Stonewall National Monument (it was restored after protests and a lawsuit.) However, references to transgender people have been removed from the physical site and the website, and NPS has put a pause [https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm] on any donations to or research at the site. * But this year, MAGA has gone further, by choosing June as the month to celebrate heterosexuality, patriotism, and “traditional” values. In Arkansas, on May 27, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared [https://www.ky3.com/2026/05/30/governor-sanders-declares-june-fidelity-month/] June to be “Fidelity Month,” during which Arkansans are urged to commit to fidelity to God, family, community and country, all of which contribute to human flourishing and support a stable society. In Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee signed a proclamation in April that designated June [https://www.wsmv.com/2026/04/16/tennessee-governor-signs-resolution-designating-june-nationally-recognized-pride-month-nuclear-family-month/] “Nuclear Family Month.” Mike Braun of Indiana and Spencer Cox of Utah have signed similar proclamations [https://www.wsmv.com/2026/04/16/tennessee-governor-signs-resolution-designating-june-nationally-recognized-pride-month-nuclear-family-month/]. * Attacks against lesbian and gay people on social media have also accelerated. Representative Andy Ogles (TN-05) celebrated Pride Month by posting on X [https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2061818273289646366] “Homosexuality has no place in America,” although he later claimed the post had been put up by an errant staffer. Meanwhile, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who will face Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette in that state’s Republican primary, has issued a campaign ad [https://x.com/NancyMace/status/2061560965347324055] charging that Evette’s consulting company “took millions from the woke mob” to implement DEI. The ad is decorated with Pride and Trans flags. What we want to go viral: * Neil updates us on right-wing influencer and conspiracist Candace Owens’ new passion: Russia! In “Why Candace Owens Went to Russia [https://www.thefp.com/p/why-candace-owens-went-to-russia?hide_intro_popup=true]” (The Free Press, June 3, 2026), Parker MacDougald digs into an infatuation that is becoming more common among MAGA dissenters—who may be running a massive propaganda operation on behalf of a foreign state. * Claire wants you to read Yudhijit Bhattacharjee [https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/yudhijit-bhattacharjee]’s “In Plain Sight [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/05/25/the-human-trafficking-victim-next-door#rid=d88712a5-1ef3-4e8b-b0ea-410f1da37cd3&q=trafficking]” (The New Yorker, May 18, 2026), about a Guinean girl named Djena who was trafficked by her father, first to a highly placed political family in Guinea at 8. They then trafficked her to the United States at the age of ten to work as an unpaid servant for their daughter and her family. Important fact: over 70% of people trafficked to the U.S. are brought not for the sex trades, but for coerced labor. Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s Coming Out Republican [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054] or Claire’s Political Junkies [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991]: [https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991] as a welcome bonus. You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on Apple iTunes [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l], or Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8]. This is a public episode. 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