6/10/26: US Strikes Iran, Inflation Rises As Tech Stocks Fall, Platner Wins In Maine

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breakingpoints.com. All right. Good morning and welcome to Breaking Points, Emily. We have an incredible show today in the sense that you're not going to believe about half of what we're going to tell you. And that's because you're sensible. And you probably shouldn't, but we're going to tell you what people are claiming is going on between Iran, Israel, and the United States anyway. And when you say people, you mean the president of the United States who just called Fox News. We're juggling some breaking news here right now this morning.

He just called in a Fox News as we are recording this. So we're going to bring you the audio of what Fox News or the video of what Fox News, the video of what Fox News. news says the president conveyed about the downed Apache helicopter on Monday night. He's also been posting all morning on true social about Iran. So we have tons of updates to get to in the Middle East. We are, we're going to have CPI numbers. So inflation numbers coming out this morning, there's a lot to talk about, especially as the stock market took a real hit yesterday, Ryan. It was pretty interesting to watch that. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be much better today. Likely not. I think reality may be finally catching up. We've got election results.

Carolina governor, Nancy Mace, will tell you how she did. Graham Platner will tell you how he did. Janet Mills and Nancy Mace, who did better out of the two of them? Mills was at like 19%. What did Mace come in? It's a good question, but it's also sort of where's the bar, right? Like, Janet Mills is the sitting governor of the state. Nancy Mace is Nancy Mace.

We're going to look at a really crazy story that has not gotten the attention that it deserved, and that is the Ukrainian effort to assassinate Vladimir Putin at the end of last year, and we're going to go through the evidence that has been presented as to whether or not that happened, which includes apparently Volodymyr Zelensky just kind of admitting it recently, and talk about what the potential implications for that could be when it comes to nuclear war. And as this war is the war in Ukraine not getting as much attention since Epic Fury started, but that was an incredibly intense period right now as well. So super important story to get to.

Yeah. And we'll also be joined toward the back end of the show by Jane Kim. This is an attempt to rectify our East Coast chauvinism. Big important things happen all the time on the West Coast. We got Randy Villegas. Yes, we're going to talk about Randy Vegas. He won. We're going to talk about May Bang.

She won. But Jane Kim, on a insurance for all platform, won the California, insurance, with the backing of Bernie Sanders, it is not often that a statewide candidate wins on a populist message without corporate support in California. And so we're going to ask her how the heck she did that and what she's going to do with this very important but overlooked position that she'll have in California, state government. And then a friend of the show, Wanda V. Rojas, is going to be on to talk about a president that actually does seem to be doing stuff for the people that have elected her.

That's Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico. You're such a Shine Bomb fanboy. We are. We are here, right? We've generally been pro-Shimebaum here. She's Mexico first. I mean, what can you not love? Truly, Mexico first.

World Cup, obviously, beginning with games in Mexico on Thursday. And Pete Hegseth is in Guantanamo today. So want to feed. Rojas is very, he covers all of that very closely. a lot of questions to get to with him. Speaking of questions, Ryan, so many questions raised by President Donald Trump's interview with Fox News this morning. He apparently called Trey Yenxt, and Trey Yinks reported live on Fox what he heard from

the president about that down-a-patchie helicopter on Monday. Let's take a listen. I want to start with a story. The president told me new details about the downing of this U.S. Army Apache helicopter. President Trump tells Fox News that the Iranians. Donian drone lodged in between the two pilots in this helicopter. They were flying very low. And at that point, the drone didn't explode as it had intended to.

And so these pilots were trying to take down the helicopter with the drone lodged into this into this gunship without it exploding. And at any moment, it could have exploded, the president told me. And he said it was on fire. There was a lot of heat inside the cockpit of this helicopter. and ultimately these two pilots were able to take it down into the sea where ultimately they were rescued for the first time in U.S. military history by an unmanned sea drone. Now, President Trump also talked about the U.S. strikes last night against Iranian radar systems

and air defense sites. He said the Iranians had tried to rebuild during the ceasefire their defensive capabilities, but they were unable to stop these U.S. strikes overnight and they were hammered by U.S. fighter jets. Now, interestingly, President Trump told me that he is getting close to ordering new strikes against Iranian power plants and bridges. And so another friend of the show, Bashar al-Assad Mohammed Mirandi, posted on Twitter in response to this, Trump has just announced on Fox News the death sentence of the Saudi, Qatari, Bahraini, UAE, and Kuwaiti regimes as well as the global economy. So to back up, when this Apache helicopter first went down, it was reported as, we don't know why, it just went down. Then it was reported that it was hit by a shot

had drone. And people were like, that's very odd because these things, like you'd have to be drunk or asleep to get hit by one. Like, how does this happen? Like, these are not designed to hit Apache helicopters. Yeah. Now, maybe there's just so many Apache helicopters. helicopters and so many Shahid drones flying over the strait of Ramoos that one of them accidentally collided. Then other people said, well, maybe it was one of these loitering missiles that Iran has that operates similar to drones that are intended to hit aircraft like that. Or it just went down. Or none of this ever happened. Like there are all of these different ideas. And then Trump started to say, well, maybe it happened. Maybe it didn't. Like maybe it was an

accident and it looked like he was trying to find a way out. Instead, we went all the way with this claim from Trump. Yeah, we didn't have a lot. That the drone is lodged in between the two guys. We didn't have a lot of information for the last couple of days until this bit of information on Fox News. Can we call it information? We, I don't know what we have to call this. I don't know what we call this. It's a collection of words coming from the president of the United States. So we did know, part of the information we did have is, that the pilots were apparently safe. And we don't know how that happened, but now we're told they were rescued

for the first time in American history, I believe Yinks said, by a sea drone. Autonomous sea drone. According to the president. So this is like some rescue boat that's drone powered. Mm-hmm. That went out.

And so according to this, they safely landed the helicopter. Right, because you can't eject from this patchy. So you have to land in the water. There are blades as. far as I understand. Yes, yes. That would complicate the ejection of that. Yes, that would be a tough one.

So you have to land either on the land or in the water, and they were able to land in the water, and you got the autonomy of drones coming for you. So they land it in the water. The drone has not blown up yet, but it's on fire. Okay. Then they both get out of the Apache, I guess different doors, because there's a drone in between them,

according to Trump. the drone smashed through the window and it's sitting between them. Also, these Shah had drones are massive. Like, these are not the Hezbollah FPV drones. These are not the ones that you

got for Christmas and took to the park and used one time. Don't get Ryan a drone for Christmas. That's what I just took from it. My son. These things are huge. So, how a Shah had drone, a huge Shah had drone,

And in between the pilots, has Trump ever seen one? I know it's our job. I don't know if he would tell this story if he had seen one. I know it's our job, but at this point, I don't think it's even make sense for us to try and piece the logic together of the story. Maybe in post we can show up a picture, like a scaled picture of a shot-hed drone. About how big a shot-hat drone is. Compared to an Apache, actually. Like, they're huge.

Yeah, there's a lot. Okay, so we can put, so let's put up A-0-0. Trump has launched a wave after wave of strikes on a run. Iran has responded and now we're supposed to be getting more. But so here's what Trump had said after he launched several waves of these attacks. Iran's military, Iran's military is a complete and total mess. How's your Trump?

Much of it like their Navy and Air Force doesn't even exist anymore. They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The bully of the Middle East is dead. They've taken too long to negotiate a deal that we're, would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price. Your commitment waned about midway through reading the truth. Trump is like starting to actually bore me.

Yeah, it's... Even with all this spectacle. Because under normal circumstances, him saying what he said this morning, and even to say that they will have to pay the price, obviously it's huge news. It is still what we're leading the show with because it's huge news, but he's done this so many times that what, what it actually means remains in question, unusual for the President of the United States

to speak with such strong language historically and us be at an impasse for what actually is happening right now. Yeah, and he even went back to a new, like his all praise be to Allah. He posted this morning, where is the all praise be to Allah? I'm not finding it, but he did another one. He's on a complete and total rampage on true. social. This person about Joe Scarborough.

And he did it. Again, he did his praise B to Allah, which is. He's boomer posting. Sorry. Which is to try to put some rationality to it. I think when he does his praise be to Allah nonsense, his, he's trying to say, I'm crazy. He's trying to do the Nixon. Like, I'm so crazy that you better make a deal with me.

Because I'm so crazy, I'm just throwing out random praise B2A. But do you think it's a concerted effort, or do you think it is just crazy? I think it's, I think it's him trying to... But not to be meta, that's kind of crazy in and of itself. Yeah, I don't think it'll work. It's silly. Trying to be that crazy and sounding that crazy because you were trying to be that crazy. I think reflects a genuine crazy. Yes, so in that sense, yes, it's a put on, but it's not.

So Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi posted, and we can put up this next element. This was his response to the Apache going down. He said, foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors. Plain accidents were potentially being caught in crossfire to reduce risk. Best solution is for them to leave. We prefer language of diplomacy, but speak other languages too. And so here he was, he's being a tough guy, but also leaving kind of an opening for Trump at this point to say, okay, this was an accident. Like, and what he's saying is, like, if you don't like these accidents,

if you don't want your Apache helicopters crashing into drones and landing in the Strait of Hormuz and then getting picked up by an autonomous sea drone, then don't have your Apache helicopters flying over the Sea of Hormuz, a Strait of Hormuz, like leave, go somewhere else. Which, there's actually no flaws in that logic. Like, if you don't have your helicopters in Iran, They won't be crashing. They won't be crashing in Iran.

So the question for Trump is obviously what it has been. How much longer is it worth the Strait of Hormuz being closed? Do you escalate or do you de-escalate and look like you're taking an L, something worse than the JCPOA, risk everybody covering it as being worse than the JCPOA risk? Mark Levin, breaking off your beautiful budding friendship, that's where he finds. himself to the point that you're making about, well, if there are no Apache helicopters in the Strait of Four Moose, then you won't have any problems in the Strait of Four Moose. So part of what Trump has been trying to avoid is exactly escalatory potential like this.

If those pilots had died, what would have come from this week, the week ahead, would be very different. Of course, it would be very different. It sounds like, according to the president's story, that was a rather close call, according to the president's story, we should say. Although, as Morandi is pointing out, Trump and as, Oh, Professor Pape always points out, Trump is not actually totally in control of this. Like, he keeps wanting to toggle up and down and back and forth the level of hostility here,

but he also doesn't have the ability to control what's going on. And so as Mirandi is saying, Iran is planning a massive regional retaliation for what happened overnight now. On the point of the naval blockade, and I found this, I can send this to Mac, Trump says, the fake news media refuses to report how effective the U.S. naval blockade is, the most successful blockade in the history of naval warfare. Nothing gets through unless we want it to. It is a steel wall. Iran is doing zero business, not paying their military or any of their bills, and quickly becoming a failed nation. Lots of oil is getting out. Praise be to Allah, President Donald J. Trump. And so that's him, again, celebrating his successes and then adding in a little twist of, adding in a little twist of crazy.

So the attacks themselves, actually you want to talk about A1 while I send this to? Yeah. Well, yeah, so actually, we're starting with breaking news this morning on the president's comments, but of course what we'd plan to start with is the strikes yesterday. yesterday. So we can put a one up on the screen. This is from Sentcom posted at 5 p.m. last night. U.S. Central Command Forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. Eastern today at the commander-in-chief's direction. No, quote, self-defense strikes, the language there. In response, Sentcom went on to say to yesterday's downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.

And Ryan, that's language in the last sentence. You've covered this much closer than I have over the years. That's unusual language from CENTCOM, is it not, to say this is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression. It's very, it sort of wreaks of desperation. You're in announcing the strikes. You are as CENTCOM, not the president, not a political group, but CENTCOM telling you that it is proportional in response to unjustified attacks.

Right. Right. right it's it's it's following it's flowing it's flowing directly from trump where trump is trying to say i'm going to hit you uh a shot had lodged in between my pilots and so i'm going to hit you back but you shouldn't retaliate significantly you can do a little bit go hit kuwait a little bit um but don't but let's all let's all move on and get back to the deal get back to the deal making in fact we have reports that the Qatari negotiators are like on their way right now to Islamabad. And maybe we'll get a deal today. Like, who knows? But Trump is trying, he's trying desperately to be the

madman, but also remain in control. But he didn't stop with that, you know, first wave of attacks. We can put up A1 on. They then launched overnight a second and third wave of attacks on the Jask port, Kuimubarak, drop site reported fresh explosion sounds also reported in Syrac, and we can talk about the water tanks that were hit there. Iraqi news sources reported large numbers of U.S. fighter jets flying over Iraq near the Iranian border. Then a third wave of strikes went through near Bondar Abbas, Kesham Island. So hitting all across the kind of western, southern,

and you can see in central Iran and hitting, appearing to hit Tehran as well, we put up A2. In Syrac, it was reported that two residential water reservoirs were struck. You also had, in another region of Iran,

water tanks, water tanks hit, as we just mentioned. So, minimum tens of thousands of people affected by this. It is a war crime of the highest order to hit water infrastructure for obvious reasons. Anybody who is smart enough to have been able to click play on this understands why that is. And so if we put up A3, Iran began retaliating by hitting. So this is so, this is so, this is so, strange. Like, what are they doing? They're hitting military targets. I thought you're supposed to hit, like, you know, the water reservoirs. But strangely, Iran decides to attack the U.S. 5th Fleet Base in Bahrain and on other bases across the region. You had attacks reported in Kuwait as well. The Iranian Armed Forces released in their statement. Multiple U.S. bases in the region were struck by

Iranian army in high-jee's forces quote if the US criminal army repeats its aggression against the Islamic Republic massive and wider strikes will be carried out against designated targets across the region that's that's kind of where we are with Trump threatening further attacks we can we can put up a 5b actually Trump threatening further attacks and then the Iranian saying if if they continue like we're prepared to expand this war. Trump says, he tells ABC, quote, somebody's going to have to build all that infrastructure, new bridges, new this, new that, new power plants. They're talking about a trillion dollars as Iran, probably more. That's why we'll probably get involved in rebuilding, but we'll get half their

oil. Yep. Okay. So we're going to get half their oil and then we're going to rebuild their country. Yep. First, we're going to destroy it. Well, Trump's friends are going to rebuild their country. presumably. Somehow, the American people just can't see the wisdom of this. We put up A6. What's wrong with you guys? Come on.

What's wrong with you? Yes. Trump approval stays near a record low as Americans expect higher gas prices. And gas prices have been ticking down a little bit the last few days, maybe weeks, slightly under. What? It's, you know, it's, I think people are bracing for much worse to come. We have been, you know, flooding the market with the strategic reserves and drawing down inventories in order to keep prices as low as possible. We can put up A6B just to try to stave off the very worst of this.

This is from dropside as well. U.S. crude inventories fell sharply last week for a combined draw of about 17 million barrels, according to American Petroleum Institute data. commercial crew drew down 9.1 barrels while the Trump administration released another 7.9 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is way ahead of the estimates that the oil analysts have been expecting the drawdown to go much slower the last couple weeks, and we're drawing down much faster than they expected. You guys can kind of be the judge of whether or not you think that's a good thing or not. Well, and one thing I wanted to highlight from this Reuters poll, the Reuters write-up of a poll, this is a sentence that Trump dreads. Americans are now more

dissatisfied with Trump's performance on the issue of cost of living than they were of his Democratic predecessor in office, Joe Biden, who closed out his term with 29% approval on the cost of living and 63% disapproval. Trump's under that? Trump is at 35% of respondents saying they approve of Trump's performance in the White House overall. Now, let's go back to cost of living in particular. Let's see where it is here. 22% of Americans approve how Trump is managing the cost of living for U.S. households compared to 70% disapproval. So again, Biden was at 29% and 63% disapproval. We're not even in margin of error territory. That's a resounding victory for Biden. The people yearn for Bidonomics. Yeah, they'd basically want it back. Given a dose of Trump's

We're still getting a little Bidenomics here, to be honest. Which part of the Bidenomics are we getting? I think we still have some inflation from overheated COVID spending. And I think probably some greedflation, too. And I think actually what we're probably seeing now, Trumpinomics, is even more greedflation when prices went up after Epic Fury. Right. I think, I don't know if that's Biden.

Well, none of that is Bidenomics. Well, because the spending was both split between Trump and Biden. Yeah, but the Biden, the two bills that Biden passed were heavy spending. That's true, but Trump completely slashed the second one. So inflation reduction act, all of that spending was completely withdrawn. The green energy spending. Which was most of it. That was the bulk of it.

There was a lot of spending so, though. I'm going with the war. It's clearly the war. To be fair, it's clearly the war. But all I was saying is that there's still some, I think there's still some inflation from Biden's spending, although actually we'll have inflation data to talk about in the next block, when Biden left office, inflation was lower than it is now. So Trump gets elected, again, we're going to talk about this in a second, but just to round this all out, Trump gets elected on a promise to bring down inflation.

Well, it had been going down at a rate until the war that was now lower than what it is post-war. So there's no question that it is primarily the war. But Ryan and I just debated those stupid little clip that I made. So you get a little extra in this blog. There you go. All right. Let's move on to prices.

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may be issued by On Deck or Celtic Bank. On Deck does not lend in North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval. Hey, it's Amy Brown here from Feeling Things with Amy and Kat. Okay, quick break. This is for any parent or caregiver of a child that experiences allergic reactions from food, medicine, insects, or other allergy triggers. This time of year can feel like a lot. Summer activities, camps, travel, and getting ready for back to school.

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So we did want to get to this extraordinarily disturbing story emerging out of, out of Israel and the occupied territories. If we can, you may have, you may recall that recently a seven-month-old baby was killed by IDF soldiers. And actually, let's start with, so that people have the IDF's context. Let's start with their statement. That would be A-8, because then we're going to, we now have video of what actually happened. So here's what the IDF had said on June 5th. Earlier today, during operational activity in the area of Hebron,

IDF soldiers perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them. Got that? An IDF soldier responded with single shots. We're inventing new phrases here. Single shots. Toward the vehicle. As a result, three Palestinians were injured and evacuated for medical treatment. strongly suggests that the Israeli soldiers had something to do with this evacuation, by the way.

An initial inquiry, inquiry is an interesting word, found that those injured were uninvolved civilians. The incident is under review, and the findings will be submitted for review by the relevant authorities. The last line is how you know when you're reading these statements. That's something very dark happened. the IDF expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals. Immediately the reports were that they had shot and killed a seven-month-old baby. Betzelem, the Israeli human rights organization, has since obtained two videos of this attack. And so let's take a look at the footage that Betzelem has obtained.

So there you see the car that was quote-unquote perceived to be accelerating toward them. it's nowhere near them when you see the soldier open fire on it and there you can see the father holding his murdered son in the street and then

in the hospital and here is Sam this is this is young Sammy before he was he was killed the IDF has since told Israeli media that these were young Israeli soldiers. Another thing, as if that somehow exonerates what's going on,

another thing you notice in that video is the complete lack of assistance. What you immediately notice, of course, is a soldier opening fire into a car with a family, a mom, a dad, and a baby, and killing the baby. which has to reflect an extraordinary amount of dehumanization going on between the people on either side of that wall. The fact that there was no attempt to help them immediately, like you don't, did you see any Israeli paramedics, Israeli soldiers anywhere near the baby as his life bled out of him? No, you did not. They just kind of kept it moving. There have been no arrests made here. For up to me, everyone in the chain of command would be under arrest and held without bond, top to bottom, involved with this.

This is five days ago. They knew this happened. I made the point also that Israeli, American police forces, I don't know that they don't know that they're They've killed a seven-month-old baby forever. But when they kill, when American police officers or ICE officials or CBP, if they kill an American citizen, there are enormous protests in the streets. 2020 saw riots across the country or the killing of a grown man. these Israeli forces kill a baby and there are a handful of people that you'll see protest

perhaps one or two maybe we're standing together but where where's the outcry like your country does this and you're okay with it your country does this and doesn't arrest the people involved and you're okay Well, yeah, I think that's actually the critical point. Because you can make the argument that tragic mistakes happen. They could be making that argument. Let them make it in court. Right, exactly, right. And again, you can make the argument that we took all the precautions,

we followed all of the relevant, salient relevant statutes, and just this tragic error happened. And what did they say after Shereen Abu Akla was killed? Well, eventually, after it took a long, long time, eventually, I think they said something like they were conciliatory in one way or another. But nobody's actually being, and actually somewhat similar in that case, but here it looks like no disciplinary proceedings so far. No, no, nothing. And Hepron is that, is this, is the famous town where Americans go there all the time. time and come back deeply radicalized by what they've seen. It's one of, because there are

checkpoints everywhere and Jewish Israelis are allowed to move around to different areas that Palestinians are not allowed to move around to. There are homes where you're only allowed to enter from one direction. The doors are barred on the other side. There are homes where, there are entire streets where the Jewish Israeli homes are on top. And the Palestinians have had to put netting up along all of their alleys. Yeah. Because to stop the, to catch the trash. Yeah.

They're just constantly throwing trash. It's this deeply militarized, occupied area. And so these soldiers are not remotely at risk at any way because, like, the place is so thoroughly locked down in such a dystopian way that, I was saying, people go there. And going there is the thing. That's where Tanahasi, Coates went and described like having the veil lifted before. I was thinking this is completely insane. So that's where this was. They're not at risk from anybody there, let alone from a seven-month-old

baby and his parents driving slowly in the street. These soldiers clearly felt they could do this and get away with it. And we'll see. So far, looking like that's possible. Yeah. In more bad news, take a look here at the economy because CPI number just dropped Ryan. Cashflow crunch. OnDak's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat.

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Hey, it's Amy Brown here from Feeling Things with Amy and Kat. Okay, quick break. This is for any parent or caregiver of a child that experiences allergic reactions from food, medicine, insects, or other allergy triggers. This time of year can feel like a lot. Summer activities, camps, travel, and getting ready for back to school. You're doing everything to make sure that your child is safe wherever you are. Educating coaches, teachers, other parents on your child's allergy.

! Scheduling doctor's appointments, filling out camp and school forms, and the million other things that come with managing your child's allergies. But at some point, you have to trust that they'll be okay if an allergic reaction happens when you aren't there, which is why I want to tell you about Nephi. The only needle-free epinephrine nasal spray for those who weigh 33 pounds or more. It's used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Neffi works as well as a needle injector and delivers the same, trusted epinephrine. It's designed to be safe and easy to use at first sign of symptoms. So in a high stress moment, your child or someone else can act quickly to treat an allergic reaction, even if you're not there. Neffi is also small, discreet, and easy to carry,

including in a backpack, lunchbox, or sports bag. So your child is prepared anywhere the day takes them. Pay as little as $0 for at least four Neffi devices, two packs. Through the co-pay savings program with commercial insurance if eligible. Patients should not pay more than $199 for Nephi. If you have medical conditions or take certain medicines, your condition may worsen. Tell your doctor about nasal, heart, thyroid, or kidney issues. High blood pressure, Parkinson's, diabetes, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, and all medications.

Side effects include nasal discomfort, headache, runny nose, shakiness, and throat irritation. These are not all side effects. Does your child need a new epinephrine prescription or refill? Don't wait. Ask a doctor about needle-free neffy today. Visit neffi.com or call 877 My Nephi to learn more. That's n-E-f-fy.com. Okay, not so fun fact. Autoimmune skin conditions are actually on the rise. Cases are climbing nearly 20% every year. I know. Terrible opener for a podcast ad. But here's the thing. I'm Holly. fry and our skin exists precisely because of stats like that. Because more people than ever are living with conditions like psoriasis and hydrodinitis superativa. And most of them are doing it alone, without answers, without community, without anyone to tell them what the heck is actually going on.

You know, not that many people knew about it and I felt kind of alone. Like, am I an outcast? That's where we come in. We talk doctors. We talk appointments that are, well, a disappointment. We talk about the flare-ups and the breakthroughs. Then we dive deep into the wild, occasionally gross, always fascinating history of how humans have tried to understand our skin over the centuries. Spoiler alert, we did not always get it right. Listen to season three of Our Skin, a personal discovery podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The much-awaited CPI inflation number just dropped. We have it for you here.

We can put the new element up on the screen. Inflation, according to CNBC, accelerated in May as rising energy costs contributed to pain for consumers, though underlying pressures were less intense. The consumer price index, which, as CNBC is describing here, is a broad gauge of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.5% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 4.1.4.4. 2%. According to the BLS report that was released this morning, both numbers were in line with the Dow Jay Jones Consensus. CNBC adds, inflation climbed above 4% for the first time in three years. Where does that put us? Right back in the pandemic era, Ryan, and CNBC says the increased met expectations amid concerns over how much the surge in energy prices would impact the economy.

The level was the highest since April 2023 and above the 3.8% level from April. I just can't put into words the depth of my hatred for Trump at this point. He did this 150% on his own. Like he inherited an economy that was improving. Yeah, absolutely. He inherited inflation that was coming down. Interest rates were coming down, mortgage rates were coming down. Stock market doing well.

Stock market's still doing well. It won't be great today probably. And he just did this for no reason, or for Benjamin Netanyahu, whatever. Yeah. Like, the future's sliding as we speak. And so the Times write-up of this has some other, like, it's bad. The top line is bad. You go even, you go second, third line, four-line.

They're all bad. They finish their kind of blog post update. The main factor keeping a lid on prices, so it would be much worse. consumers who have by now spent their tax refunds and have lately seen smaller increases in their paychecks. So just to explain what they mean by that, the main thing keeping prices down from where they would otherwise be is that you don't have any money. And because you don't have any money, you can't pay these high prices. So businesses can't charge the prices that they need. or want to keep up with the pressures that they're under.

So a bunch of them are just gonna go under. Some of them won't be able to do their greedflation as much as they would like to otherwise. But this is what's known in economics as, quote, demand destruction by saying, one way to keep inflation down is to make sure that there are more poor people. And because if there's more poor people,

there's fewer people in line at the shop, fewer people in line at the shop, shopkeeper can't raise their prices as much they want. So when Trump took office, CPI was at 3%. So January 2025, 3%. And heading down. Heading down. So it goes down. It jumped a little bit after, quote, liberation day, but really only back up to 2.7 and 2.9%. January 2026, CPI is at 2.4%. 2.4%. What happened in February? What did Trump do in February? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's right. He bombed Iran.

Yep. 2.4% in February, 26, January, 26. By March, it's climbing to 3.3. Right now, 4.2. As a reminder, 3% is where it was when President Trump took office in January of 2025. This is, as CNBC noted, the highest since April of 2023, which is right as we were coming down from the pandemic high in June of 2022. CPI was at 9.1%. So climbing back up. But actually, if you go historically, without the pandemic, the CPI hasn't been at 4.2%. Again, excluding the pandemic for a very, very, very long time.

I'm going back here to post-recession. It's looking like, yeah, middle of the recession, we got up to 5%. June 2008. The other thing that the report makes clear is that Trump's other policy, which is to just flood money to AI, is also driving up prices all over the place in the obvious way, driving up your utility bills, your electric bills. But also, for decades, what we've experienced as consumers is the cost of technology going down. TVs come out. I'm like, wow, that's cool.

I can't afford it. I'll wait a year or two until the price of that comes way down. That's been what's going on. But because the AI build out is putting such pressure on chips, the price. of the chips that underline all of these consumer products is going way up. And so now, according to this report, you're seeing that one thing we'd kind of come to say, all right, everything sucks. And this is what you hear from like the Maddie Glaces of the world that, yes, okay, a lot of things are bad. But you've got like a 55 inch TV and you didn't pay much for it. Isn't that cool? Even that is going away. Because the price of the chips inside that 55 inch TV are driving up the price of that TV. So even, the little treats they give you to try to compensate for the collapse of everything else, those are going up. Yeah, and let's put up on the screen the Apple dip yesterday.

This is going to be B2. So Apple reveals, actually an anthropic revealed fable yesterday. Apple reveals its new Siri AI, also much awaited. And Apple shares were sliding, according to CNBC, yesterday. It's sort of a dud, people felt like, but it was. a reminder, Ryan, that some 30% of the S&P 500 is based on Meg 7 stocks. And we've had Rehapha-Hopra on to talk about this from our head of the CFPB. This is a really, really, really shaky economy.

And to this question of the Trump administration's accelerationism on AI, I was at a pen and pad with Senator Rick Scott earlier this week. And he was expressing, if people were asking him about AI, he was wearing a pin on his lapel that said jobs. So he was getting asked questions by the other journalists in the room about if he's worried that AI will cause a huge wipe out of jobs. He said he thinks that's all kind of alarmist and that technology always creates jobs. It all comes out in the wash, that sort of thing. And so I then asked him, aren't we in a trap then? So if this is such a huge part of the market that's predicated on Dario Amadez basically promised to take out 50% of white collar jobs,

in the next several years, are we either in for mass layoffs or a stock market crash? And he said, quote, unquote, there's no logic to the explosion in AI stocks. So I said, is Trump putting us further into the bubble? He said, quote, I think the difference is probably I wouldn't be talking about it. In my life, I can talk about jobs, right? I can talk about schools and talk about something I can measure. The fact that the market's trading at all-time highs, I'm going to say, man, I'm not doing that. It did not make me feel any better whatsoever about the state of the economy.

He goes, I ran a public company. Your stock is tied to what people think it's worth, not necessarily what it's worth. Now, as an investor, I can put a value on it until comfortable over a period of time. I can make money. I'm not buying something at 50 times earnings. How many things really keep growing at 50 times earnings? Not many. So SpaceX is going to be worth $1.8 trillion, right?

I think the revenues are like $4 or $5 billion in revenues, and we could get into that. And who is this again? Rick Scott. Rick Scott. Senator Rick's got, who's been bringing in some of these tech giants to talk to Republican senators and get them to ask questions back and forth of one another. So it has been studying the issue, we'll say. And so while energy prices are surging, I wanted to highlight one thing, put up B4 here, this is a new report out this morning from the Solar Energy Industries Association, which is the trade group

that represents the solar industry. As you know, Biden put tons of money into the clean energy market, kickstarted that thing. Trump ripped it all out, saying no. Like, he doesn't like clean energy. He likes the dirty stuff. America's future is in oil and gas, and that is going to be our critical advantage

against these other countries like China that are run by dummies who have been fooled by this clean energy thing. So ripped away all of the subsidies. So it's a straight up, just market question of how much, you know, what is utility? What is a residential home? What is a company want to do when it comes to building out energy? So let's see if the dummies were right or wrong.

Well, we do see, indeed, a 27% decline year over year in installation of. solar and a 42% decline compared with Q4 of 2025. Okay, so solar insulation is going down. But what do we see? 91% of all new electricity generating capacity added in the first quarter was solar. That's crazy. So people are getting what I'm saying here, right? So they stripped away all the subsidies.

succeeded in harming the industry such that we are installing much less solar than we would be otherwise and that we were when there were credits and other incentives to do it. Yet, we're still not doing anything but solar because solar is cheaper. And I don't know what part of this Trump doesn't understand. This is the first quarter, by the way, which you read the numbers off, inflation was low. We were not at war with Iran. We entered war with Iran in the final month of the first quarter, but for most of it, we were not at war with Iran. We had not destroyed the phosphon hydrogen. So even then, 91% of new electricity was solar. And that's solar and battery storage. So it's not just solar, but the battery storage is related either to wind or

or solar effectively. And so I would imagine that the second quarter is going to see 98%. Like, who out there is like, you know what we need to do? We need to invest deeply in building out our fossil fuel infrastructure at this point.

So, great job, Trump. Crazy. Bang up job. Great. I mean, that's nobody is talking about that. It's super interesting. I ran into this solar person at the event. I was going to ask.

It sounds like something that someone was like, hey, you should look into this. Ryan looked into it. Emily and I were supposed to meet up at a right-wing substack event last night. It was not right-wing. No, it wasn't. We determined this. We were fighting over Thomas-Pain.

I assumed it was right-wings. They didn't invite me. I just crashed. And I was like, you can have Thomas Paine. Yeah. Yeah, but your job site crew was there. I know. I assumed it was right-wing, too.

But it was not. Anyway, anywhere you see a founding father impersonator, you usually say, oh, this has got to be right-wing. But it was actually, it was kind of like a Georgetown set. Unusual scene for us, nonetheless. So met Jacob from TMZ. That was very cool. Love that. I'm so jealous.

But also met the solar person, who I had known before, but she's like, hey, we have this report coming out tonight if you want to see it. There you go. Like, just wild. This is why we go to these things. That's right. And we do it for you. We do it for you. We drink the free beer for you.

All right. Let's move on to the election results. On Deck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying. equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDex loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A-plus by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star trust pilot reviews, On-Dec delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at on-deck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by On-Dec or Celtic Bank. On-Dek does not lend in North Dakota

all loans and amounts subject to lender approval. Hey, it's Amy Brown here from Feeling Things with Amy and Kat. Okay, quick break. This is for any parent or caregiver of a child that experiences, allergic reactions from food, medicine, insects, or other allergy triggers. This time of year can feel like a lot. Summer activities, camps, travel, and getting ready for back to school. You're doing everything to make sure that your child is safe wherever you are. Educating coaches, teachers, other parents on your child's allergy. Scheduling doctor's appointments, filling out camp and school forms and the million other things

that come with managing your child's allergies. But at some point, you have to trust that they'll be okay if an allergic reaction happens when you aren't there, which is why I want to tell you about Nethy, the only needle-free epinephrine nasal spray for those who weigh 33 pounds or more. It's used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Neffi works as well as a needle injector and delivers the same trusted epinephrine. It's designed to be safe and easy to use at first sign of symptoms. So in a high-stress moment, your child or someone else can act quickly to treat an allergic

reaction, even if you're not there. Neffi is also small, discreet, and easy to carry, including in a backpack, lunchbox, or sports bag, so your child is prepared anywhere the day takes them. Pay as little as $0 for at least four Neffi devices, two packs. Through the co-pay savings program with commercial insurance, if eligible, patients should not pay more than $199 for Neffi. If you have medical conditions or take certain medicines, your condition may worsen. Tell your doctor about nasal, heart, thyroid, or kidney issues.

High blood pressure, Parkinson's, diabetes, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, and all medications. Side effects include nasal discomfort, headache, runny nose, shakiness, and throat irritation. These are not all side effects. Does your child need a new epinephrine prescription or refill? Don't wait. Ask a doctor about needle-free neffy today. Visit neffy.com or call 877 My Nephi to learn more. That's neffy.com.

Okay, not so fun fact. Autoimmune skin conditions are actually on the rise. Cases are climbing nearly 20% every year. I know, terrible opener for a podcast ad. But here's the thing. I'm Holly Fry, and our skin exists precisely because of stats like that. Because more people than ever are living with conditions like psoriasis and hydrodinitis superativa, and most of them are doing it a low,

without answers, without community, without anyone to tell them what the heck is actually going on. You know, not that many people knew about it, and I felt kind of alone. Like, am I an outcast? That's where we come in. We talk doctors. We talk appointments that are, well, a disappointment. We talk about the flare-ups and the breakthroughs. Then we dive deep into the wild, occasionally gross, always fascinating history of how humans have tried to understand our skin

with most of the votes counted at this point, Graham Platner is sitting at 72% of the vote against Mills with 20% who had suspended her campaign and also ran candidate picked up 8% as well. Graham Platner with a rather energetic speech last night, I think you could call it. It's a banger. It was filled with bars. Went hard at Susan Collins, who will be his Republican opponent, and also addressed some of his controversies.

Let's listen to a little bit of Graham Platner here last night. I am a son of rural Maine. I was a kid who picked blueberries under the July sun, and then one day, I was a kid who signed up and left to fight for his country. And when I returned, I carried with me the weight of forever wars and the struggle and the alienation that came with it. But I'm also a lucky one who found his way back,

who found a living on the same, and a home and a community that offered love and redemption. Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination. It's a journey. I've made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret that I live with, and that I continue to learn from. And I'm still far from perfect.

But every day I wake up and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than I was the day before. And if you give me the chance, I will be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator.

I will stand up for you and against billionaires and greedy corporations. I will serve you, the people of Maine, not some lobbyist or party boss. I will be the champion for your dreams as if it were my own, no matter the challenge or the expense. I will fight for you.

I have been willing to die for my country. There is nothing that I will not do for the state of Maine. And another point, Emily. But first of all, has nobody used that line before? That is a bar. Which one? I will be a senator for people who cannot afford to buy one. That was the, I thought that was the best line, too.

What a line. It's fantastic. He also talked a lot about Susan Collins, how her husband, who was a lobbyist, and she have gotten extraordinarily wealthy. And then he had this refrain where he said it rhymed with what Trump has said on the on the on the on the on the on the campaign trail, which is that The mainstream media keeps looking for that one story that one headline that is going to take him out. But he said they've spent so much time trying to figure me out what they don't understand is it's not about me. Yes. It's about all of us which is Trumpian by the way the Trumpian line version is they're not coming after me. They're coming after you, but I'm standing in the way exactly. I'm. Exactly. And so it's a similar, but it's a little more us. Like, interestingly, it's like Trump is a little more right-coded, the me and the you, and he's a little more left-coded with the us.

Right. But otherwise, it's the same concept. Yes, the point is, you see me as a vehicle to advance your interests, not corporate interests. And so do they, and that's why they're coming after me. Exactly. That I'm essentially a pawn in the effort to take you down, to undermine you. And so the NRC, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, put out a memo that, it looks like they gave it to Politico this morning saying that Maine is now the lynchpin.

That is the quote they use. Maine is the lynchpin. They say Democrats cannot win the majority without it. That's not necessarily true. They could potentially do Ohio. They could potentially do Texas. Well, they could do Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, which is not out of the question at all,

and Nebraska. But that would be unusual. So, yeah, they probably do need Maine. Not impossible without it. But again, NRC this morning saying that this race is the lynchpin, quote, Graham Platner is the most left-wing Senate nominee Maine has ever seen. That might be true. His platform aligns directly with national progressives featuring Medicare for All,

Green New Deal, universal basic income, government-funded universal childcare, free college, and a wide-open pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. You can see what in this race they're now pivoting to, which is not Nazi stuff. Now they are talking about the kind of nuts and bolts, they were not before. I think it signals that they're pretty scared of Graham Platner at this point. I was always the most concerned when it came to his chances of exactly that, that he actually is like super populist and progressive. Yeah, he is far left. It's fair to say. And but and so that would have been to me the smart line of attack. From Mills. Yeah, from from Mills, from Susan Collins,

from Republicans. Instead, they've spent the last several months calling him an abuser, a Nazi, a like fake working class guy, like going after, and a lot of the arguments, particularly calling him a Nazi, cut against that he's a left-winger. So, yeah, main voters are like, wait a minute, You spent the last several months telling us he's a Nazi. A bunch of your online people are still calling him a Nazi and are going to call him a Nazi for months to come. Right. But he's also too far left wing. You say he hates women, but he's too far left wing.

Right. So their attacks, their inconsistent contradictory attacks cut against them being able to marshal a straightforward message. plus, yes, he's backing that kind of list of Bernie Sanders things and Bernie Sanders backs him. When he talks, he talks in economic populism. Yes, yes. He doesn't talk in cultural, like, whatever you want to call it. He pivots cultural issues, which will be, I think, I do think will be difficult for him because the trans participation in sports has been a big issue in Maine. I think there's currently a bill in Maine on that.

So he's going to have to answer. run on that. Right, because she took on Trump over the issue as she saw it. And so it's going to come up. I don't know that Susan Collins necessarily wants to lean into it either. Susan Collins shies away from those issues for the most part, but he'll be asked about it. And he always pivots, he actually has good lines that I disagree with, but I think they're good lines pivoting it back to the economy every time culture comes up. He says literally billionaires are the reason you're asking me this question when reporters ask him the question, which is a very good line of reflection. I disagree with it, but it was very good.

Let's take a look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and... Before we get to that, before we get to that, let's get to the Mills Mafia. The Mills Mafia. The Mills Mafia was out and forced at the polls. Jumping on tables. Nathan Bernard, dropside correspondent, went to two different polling locations,

one in Augusta, one in Waterville. He actually talked to 121 voters. Impressive. And just for fun, we did a exit poll, and he nailed it. It's kind of wild. We didn't call it scientific because it's only two different polling locations and you've got to do the whole state. You've got to do bigger sample. But his numbers were within like the margin of error of what the actual voters across the state did. Here's one of his interviews with a, he talked to a decent number of Janet Mills voters. But here's one of them. And I think we forget that this is how a decent number of Americans kind of approach voting. Let's roll C5. Senate.

That was Plattenor and Mills. Oh, okay, thank you. I need that.

Mills and Flattner. Graham Platner. So you ranked Mills first? Yes. Okay. And then for Governor, do you remember? Come with a list again. That was Narav Shaw.

You had Troy Jackson, you had Chely Pingree, I mean a Hannah Pingree. Shannon Bellows. Hannah, Shah, and Troy Last. So when people look at the 20% that Mills took home,

some people who hate Graham Platner are going to look at that. And you're like, see, she dropped out and she still got 20%. Right. She's the sitting governor. And like just through inertia, you're going to get some set of people voting. And the reason he named them both is that Maine has ranked choice voting. So he ranked Mills first and then Graham Platner second. The Graham Platner doesn't vote doesn't count because he got more than.

Well, actually, I guess in the ranked choice voting, that will count because she finished under 50%. It sucks. Sorry. We should have that debate sometime. I stand with him. It's interesting. Yeah. Anyway, so you were saying, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Yeah, let's take a look here at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. This is C3. Here's how she reacted amidst all the controversies of the last several days. C3. When it comes to the substance of this reporting, obviously there's a lot in that behavior that's really challenging. It's hard to stomach, you know, in some of it.

But, at the end of the day, I think that this is a choice. If the choice on the ballot is between that and a senator who's voted to take health care away from millions of Americans, that's the situation that we have to weigh. What say you, Brian? Well, the body language there is interesting. She's sort of like physically recoiling at the like thought of Graham Platner, it seems like. Yeah, that was an interview with CNN on Rajah outside the Capitol.

And, you know, so she has not endorsed in this race. Yeah. And so I guess she can't endorse in the primary. Clearly, what she's saying there is she didn't even come out and say she would support Graham Platner against Susan Collins. She would. She implied. She implied that she would. and should like, I guess this is what we have to do.

It's a little reminiscent of the fascinating interview that Crystal did with Chris Rab, the DSA Justice Democrats-backed Democrat who's going to represent Philadelphia. If people haven't watched that, they should go watch it. We don't, like, our candidate interviews, if you go to YouTube in particular, interviews with candidates will get like 70% less audience. Yeah, because it feels localized.

Right. than typical. So the algorithm probably didn't show that one to you. So go find it. It's really interesting. And a lot of people were dunking all over Chris Rab for it. I actually, I think this is an important and needed conversation to have. That's one reason that I'm glad that Graham Platner's in the race because he's forcing this conversation.

And you can't, I don't think you can kind of force people. You can't force it back in, but what you can do is have that conversation. And talk to me, like, why are people so passionately supportive of Graham Platner? Tease it out. And then get from people like, why do you hate him so much? Like, what is it? Like, because for Rab, and for I think a lot of others, it's just aesthetics. It's like that he looks like somebody they don't like.

I think that's correct. And that's why I want that conversation, because I feel like we can maybe break through. It's a great conversation for you in particular to have because we've been talking about this for a long time. I mean, it's a flip side of back in the early 2010s and 2000s, when the gay rights movement was gaining steam. The Barney Frank argument? What people discovered, yeah, is that you've got a gay uncle. You're like you actually, once people started coming out of the closet. The Andrew Dan Sullivan argument.

Yeah, once people started coming out of the closet, like, oh, that guy's gay. I love the guy. He's great. And my life is fine around him. this is the reverse for liberals. It's like, this is a white guy, and he's actually pretty nice. A big burly combat vet. A big burly combat vet.

Someone you could see with Joe Rogan. And he's fine. Don't be afraid. Don't be scared. Like, the current cultural divorce between kind of progress and white men is so, like, stark. That it is, it's just, culturally, morally, ethically wrong, but also just pragmatically from a political perspective,

you can't build a national party. Yeah. If you assume every white guy or every white guy with a deep voice as a combat vet or whatever, is like out to get you. Or if you talk about him in a way that implies he does have sort of built-in problems. Right. So. Just inherent toxicity or something.

Yeah. whether you're talking about racism or sexism, yes. And if you believe that, you can point to a lot of things he said in the past, be like, oh, I can't deal with that. Ro Khanna, though. That's what I was just going to say. Because it's interesting to do the contrast with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna, actually, because there's also a theory here that maybe there's rumblings in DNC-type circles

that Moore is coming out on Graham Platner or that he's going to be used as an albatross and other races, which I honestly doubt. I think that might be true with James Talarico. I don't think it's true with Plattenor, but saying, you know, just be careful because you don't want to have to answer for him everywhere you go. Oh, you endorse Graham Platner? Oh, you like Graham Platner? Okay, so tell me why you like sexual assault, constantly following you around the campaign trail. Even though he hasn't been accused of that.

Right, right. But you know that's how people are taking it, of course. And so that's the question that'll follow if you endorse. Here's Roe-Conna leaning all the way in, C-4. If the Democratic Party is going to exist, it needs to become the anti-war party. I fucking love this place. I don't know why you want to go to the Senate. I think a lot of people in this country would like to see more regular people in politics.

And most people in this country have gone through some form of transformation throughout their lives. They've not been living perfect lives on the time. What do you say to someone that says, oh, Roe, I agree with Graham's policies. I'm glad you're going there. But, you know, after the stuff coming out, I just, my granddaughter. What do you say to someone like that? If you believe in transformational politics, you need to believe in the ability for people to transform.

And I came out of the infantry at a time where, like, you sucked it up. Were you getting help or no? No, God, no, which is why I was self-medicated. Right. And this was a point of my life where I didn't believe that PTSD was real. Did you ever have flashbacks? It really just manifested as, like, deep depression and anxiety. Intense combat sort of changes your brain.

Do you now seeing where you are saying, hey, I could have been a better point? person in terms of how I was. I had frankly witnessed the most awful things a person could witness and see. And it was all done in the service of seemingly nothing. Oh my gosh, just hearing the boats bump up against the dock and the wall. That was a very well done video. It took you right to Sorrento, Maine, where it was filmed. It did.

And I said earlier that there's a particular problem that Democratic liberals kind of have with white guys. it's, and it is particular to white guys, it's also all guys. Yes, yes. Black and Hispanic men went for Trump and he made real inroads with black and Hispanic men for a reason. And I also think people don't fully internalize.

They hear him say that he did four combat tours. They hear him say that. I don't think they internalize what that means and in particular what it means to have been a Marine and Ramadi in Fallujah. You could just go Google like Ramadi Marines 2005, 2006. There's movies about it, but there's also lots of, like, real-time footage that has been

captured of, and it, Ramadi in particular, at the time that he was there in the unit that he was with is understood to be, it was the most violent place on Earth, and his unit saw extraordinary numbers of casualties. And on a daily basis, he, his job was a machine. gunner. Like, his job was to put out this suppressing fire as the unit is moving through, moving house to house and block to block. And now I also understand people on the left who are like, you know what, anybody who did that,

you're out. I don't want to hear from you. I think that's idealistic. And kept doing it. In the Marxist sense, it misunderstands. For the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, you're going to get that without disaffected soldiers? You'd be like, hey, did you, did you, did you, did you bayonet somebody? Like, I don't want, I don't want you out in the streets. Like, it was soldiers, peasants, and workers that led the revolution. Like, disaffected soldiers are, are critical to any kind of workers movement. You're really arguing now in Leninist terms. Because you're arguing with, you're making a point two people who would have that.

Yeah, yeah. Whatever, there's not a lot of them in man. They're against him. It's more of that. That's more of a national conversation. Is that a real conversation in, like, DSA world? Oh, absolutely. And I get it. I've seen some of it. I get it. Like, I think it's very hard for people to put themselves in his frame of mind where he wanted to go to war.

And he's basically rebuked most of what he did. And that's a really critical difference. Right. But so as a machine gunner, you are going house to house every single day. if you mess up, your comrades die. If you don't mess up, you kill a bunch of people. Now it's combat, but to then later come to terms with the fact that you were fighting for nothing means that you killed those people for nothing.

You killed those people to save your own men's lives and women's lives. But they shouldn't have been there in the first place, you realize. And he has realized. So to witness that, to take part in it, to come to terms with what you did and that it all being for nothing is that is the thing that produces so much depression, anxiety and terror in combat veterans. this understanding that what you did was for nothing, what your friends died for. And reckoning with it on these scattershot Reddit posts for years. It's actually kind of an interesting window into the mindset.

And I think just that's why I say people hear him say he did two combat tours. But I think it's impot. Well, two combat tours in Iraq and then four total. Yeah. But it's very hard to internalize what that does to your soul. and to have somebody who's processing that and then to come back and have an opportunity to go to the United States Senate

to fight against sending more people to do that is just extraordinarily powerful. He said in one of our first interviews that his hero is Smedley Butler who committed far more atrocities than than maybe anybody. Good Lord. Like Nicaragua, Honduras. like China, Philippines.

China, on and on, across the world. And then wrote war as a racket in the 1930s, which really birthed a real piece in an anti-war movement. But he was a general. To have a grunt come to the Senate and talk about that, I think would be extremely powerful.

Also would love to see him interrogating like the top brass in the military. Oh, fascinating. Like they do not want to hear that. from a grunt. No. But that would be amazing to see. So I just think it's such an important voice to have, whether it's Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever, like to have that experience and to bring it to bear at the national level is something that this country really needs, I think, to reckon with what we've done and what we continue to do. 70% of voters agree with

Ryan in the main Democratic primary. So now it comes down to Susan Collins. Honestly, I could about this for the whole show because it's such an interesting race. And I know we're going to keep talking about it. We should probably tick through some of the other wins. Randy Villegas, Ryan. Yes, we can put up C6. Democrats in the House are absolutely livid at the D-Triple-C for spending a bunch of money and teaming up with DMFI,

Democratic majority for Israel, in trying to elect Jasmine Baines, trying to get her into the top two. Instead, yeah, this is a Jewish insider. Their headline is anti-Israel Democrat. Vigas declares victory in California House primary. This is Randy Viguez. You may remember from his interview he did here a couple weeks ago.

So he'll go on to take on the Republican incumbent, which makes this a very important race for kind of the left's idea that you can have populist policies. This is a, he's a community college professor and a, owns a, or like runs a garage in Bakersfield, to have somebody like him running on a Bernie platform up against a Republican. The left's argument has been that you can win with that. And if you win with that, you will then deliver for people, and then people will reward you.

Democrats have really not gotten to try that, basically, since the New Deal. So the other attempt to do that, well, it's slightly different. The attempt to take out an incumbent seems to be going quite well. Justice Democrats and WFP backed May Vang, who was. also, remember she was on the program a week or two ago, put up C-7. Doris Matsui, long time incumbent, she and her husband have held his seat for 40-plus years. She spent a fortune trying to boost that guy down at the bottom, Zach Woods, Republican College kid. And I kept saying she better be careful.

It's not guaranteed she's going to be the number one seed here in this tournament. And Mae Vang has now overtaken her. And so Doris Matsui is, she will make the top two, but she almost kind of rat after way out into the number three position, which would be. Brutal. That would have been the funniest thing. You spend all this money and you boost this guy Woods. It would have been pretty funny. Past yourself.

It would have been pretty funny. She's cooked, though, because Sacramento, like news media is turned against her. I don't see how the Republicans who voted for Woods are going to then shift to Matsui. Because if you're a Republican there, Matsui's been your representative for decades. I think you'd probably just, even if the person's further to the left, you'd probably just like to get rid of her. We'll see. That'll be an interesting one. So tell us about, oh, so tell us about, and Tom Steyer has conceded he's not going to make the top two.

Just a reminder, Tom Steyer spent about $200 million. He didn't even make the top two. $200 million after about $300 million trying to run for president. His net worth is estimated at about $2.4 billion. So, fabulously wealthy man, he's not Jeff Bezos, rich. And he's spent now half a billion dollars of a $2.4 billion estimated net worth

trying to be an elected official. Never trust anybody who wants to be an elected official to the tune of half a billion dollars. That's insane behavior. That's like joker-style behavior. Also, he could have run for a house somewhere or something. Yes, exactly. He's conceded.

Buy a house seat. C-9. Yeah, that would have been fine. But yes, he did concede. It looks like Steve Hilton is going to make the runoff. Now, the other thing that happened last night is Lindsey Graham took about 58% of the vote. It's looking like right now, he always has a primary challenger one time, including from Southern Charm. You may remember that season.

But it did not work out well for Lindsey Graham's primary opponents this time. round, he ended up over 50% easily. So Nancy Mace goes down in the gubernatorial primary. Fifth, fifth, she finished lower than Ralph Norman. Trump candidates were the favorites in that race. But Nancy Mace couldn't even get top three, let alone top two, let alone a win, finishes at five. 12% of the vote, yeah, 12% of the vote.

So really brutal result there for NAPE. Nancy Mace, who definitely felt like she had momentum and wind at her back for a while. And, you know, maybe the momentum stalled. Listen, I don't think Nancy Mace was going to win this election. I do think probably she lost some momentum when Trump got upset over people pushing further, further for more and more Epstein disclosure. And Nancy Mace was certainly a part of that. Yeah.

So the number of casualties from Epstein, certainly very few men who are actually implicated. in the Epstein ring. But so far, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, casualties of it. Interesting how that works out. On Deck is built to back small businesses.

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