Mother Jones
Sold a Lie: Why Young Men Punished Trump
- Title
- Sold a Lie: Why Young Men Punished Trump
- Runtime
- 32:51
- Date posted
- 40 minutes ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
On this episode of Stress Test, David Corn and Garrison Hayes process the thumping received by Donald Trump and the GOP and the road ahead for Democrats. How the party balances investigating Trump and his cronies with delivering everyday economic relief will define the opening chapter of the new session.
“I think it’s a great message: affordability and accountability,” co-host David Corn explains. But knitting those themes together into a coherent governing strategy won't be simple. As David notes, Democrats must be strategic about timing their oversight so investigations “don’t step on each other,” while proving they can walk and chew gum by pushing legislation on healthcare, wages, the cost of living, the Iran war, and government ethics.
That imperative was made even clearer by a review of the voters who hit the polls on Tuesday. “It kind of turns out it’s a pretty ...
- Title
- Why Democrats' huge state-level gains are so important
- Runtime
- 1:24
- Date posted
- 4 hours ago
- Description
- For the last decade and a half, Republicans have dominated power at the state level.
Not anymore.
For the first time in decades, Democrats control a majority of governor’s offices and a majority of state legislative chambers.
This means they can now begin to reverse Trump’s MAGA agenda on redistricting, voting laws, abortion rights, gun control and much more.
That’s why the bottom of the ballot was just as important as the top on November 3.
- Title
- How the Texas Miracle Happened
- Runtime
- 3:00
- Date posted
- 5 hours ago
- Description
- Make no mistake: Blue Texas is a seismic event in American politics.
Just take it from the Republicans. Elon Musk warned that Talarico would usher in the end of the American experiment. Ted Cruz said that “if Texas falls, everything changes.”
Texas has fallen now, in almost every conceivable way.
Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Gov. Greg Abbott. Democrats are poised to flip all 17 statewide offices that were on the ballot and take control of the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since 2002. They gained one seat in Congress from a map Republicans just redrew to flip five to the GOP.
Mother Jones national correspondent Tim Murphy drove across Texas ahead of the election, talking to many of the winning Democrats. Everywhere he went, candidates shared the same sentiment: People are sick of the lies, high costs, and blatant corruption.
“Red Texas fell, in the end, as all great empires eventually do...
- Title
- JD Vance's Home State Drowns In a Blue Wave
- Runtime
- 2:56
- Date posted
- 24 hours ago
- Description
- Embattled Congressman Max Miller, the Ohio Republican accused of assaulting three women, has conceded his tenuous bid for a third term.
But he's just one of the many Republicans who lost in JD Vance's home state this week. Abby Vesoulis breaks down what happened in the state she grew up in.
- Title
- How are Republicans Enduring the Midterm Loss? Here’s How.
- Runtime
- 1:11
- Date posted
- 1 day ago
- Description
- Ranging from somber to angry, here’s how Republicans are enduring the monumental Democratic victory in the midterms.
- Title
- America Finally Has the Votes to End the Electoral College
- Runtime
- 1:53
- Date posted
- 1 day ago
- Description
- Tuesday's election means the president could be elected by the popular vote in 2028. Here's how.
- Title
- Stress Test: Tuesday Night Was A Big Moment For Black Women on the Ballot
- Runtime
- 0:33
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- The voters have spoken: Keisha Lance Bottoms, the newly elected Democratic governor of Georgia, will become the first Black woman to lead any state.
That win captured the meaning of this week’s midterm election for Garrison Hayes.
What did Tuesday's election mean to you? What races were you watching? Let us know, and watch our full election night breakdown HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPkbhopDzqc&t=106s
- Title
- The Last Days of MAGA: The Scramble to Dump Trump
- Runtime
- 28:48
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
The country is only hours into a stunning new reality: Democrats will now control both houses of Congress after voters staged a nationwide rout of the Republican Party. We’re still digging into the ramifications of the earthquake that hit last night—a change that David Corn calls “a political revolution... done through the ballot box.”
On this day-after episode of Stress Test, Garrison Hayes and David unpack what this mandate means and what happens next. They focus on a new, deeply diverse batch of Democratic talent that has been catapulted into power. With its message of faith, healing, and inclusion, this new coalition forged a fierce repudiation of Trump's politics of grievance. "These leaders, they're young... and they're talking about how to bring America, all of America, into the future,” David notes, pointing to their rejection of the MAGA "us versus them" playbook. As Garrison o...
- Title
- The Scandal-Plagued David Flippo Loses Election in Nevada
- Runtime
- 2:38
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- Nevada made history by electing a Democrat to Congressional District 2 for the first time since the seat was established in 1982. Here's what Congresswoman-elect Teresa Benitez-Thompson said of her scandal-plagued opponent David Flippo: “I think he’s packed up and back in Vegas by Nov. 15.”
- Title
- How Republican gerrymandering backfired, big time
- Runtime
- 1:50
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- The GOP’s mid-decade gerrymandering strategy was supposed to cement Republican power.
Instead, it helped unravel it.
- Title
- Talarico Wins the Most Expensive US Senate Race in History
- Runtime
- 0:48
- Date posted
- 2 days ago
- Description
- James Talarico delivered his acceptance speech last night after being elected Texas' newest US Senator. Talarico defeated Ken Paxton despite Elon Musk spending at least $212 million on this race alone.
- Title
- Talarico Beats Paxton—And Musk
- Runtime
- 1:50
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- James Talarico won the most expensive Senate race in American history on Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat in 32 years to win a statewide election in Texas.
The 37-year-old state representative defeated the scandal-plagued Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, by placing corruption at the center of his political campaign. Paxton was “the most corrupt politician in Texas,” Talarico said on the stump, and he linked the affordability crisis to a political system dominated by big-money donors—and one trillionaire in particular.
While Talarico was one of the strongest Democratic Senate candidates in years, and Paxton one of the weakest Republicans at maybe any level, it is hard to overstate what just happened. Elon Musk spent at least $212 million on this race.
But Musk’s money couldn’t buy the seat, in part because Talarico’s campaign was predicated on the idea that people like Musk would try to buy the seat. The fact that Paxton was...
- Title
- America to Trump: You're a Loser
- Runtime
- 24:18
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Tonight was a massive repudiation of Trump, his rampant corruption and his politics of fear, bigotry, and division. Across the map, Democrats defeated Republicans in race after race, gaining control of both the House and Senate. As they recorded this special election night episode, Stress Test cohosts David Corn and Garrison Hayes analyzed this historic moment, shaped by surprising upsets in South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and elsewhere.
“I’m calling this the Trump hangover election,” David said. “It’s as if voters woke up, it’s the morning after. They made a bad decision the night before, and now they’re correcting that. This is buyer’s remorse.”
For Garrison, the night’s meaning was captured by Keisha Lance Bottoms, the newly elected Democratic governor of Georgia, who will become the first Black woman to lead any state. “Black women have experienced, over the last decade, a kind of psychological injury, a kind of pummeling,” he said. ...
- Title
- Alabama Democrat Holds House Seat in District Drawn to Oust Him
- Runtime
- 2:59
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures just won a huge upset victory in Alabama's 2nd congressional district.
This was a district that the Alabama GOP specifically gerrymandered to oust Figures after the Supreme Court dismantled the Voting Rights Act.
But Black voters turned out in huge numbers to counteract that decision.
- Title
- Republicans Gerrymandered These Florida Districts. Democrats Won Them Anyway.
- Runtime
- 1:36
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Florida Republicans redrew districts to kick their Democrats out. It didn't work.
Several congressional districts that Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature heavily redrew earlier this year to favor the GOP have just elected Democrats to those seats.
Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat who has held her seat since 2007, was just reelected by more than 5 points on Tuesday night, beating Republican nominee Mike Beltran. The district, which originally included Tampa, was redrawn to include swaths of rural Hillsborough County, an area that voted for Trump by more than 10 points in 2024.
Farther south in the state, Pia Dandiya, the Democratic candidate for the redrawn District 22, was also winning Tuesday as of 8:30 p.m. EST by more than 3 points. The former educator and Apple manager ran against Republican Casey Askar, a millionaire businessman.
Some districts that had been solidly Democratic were also redrawn. Former DNC chair Rep. Debb...
- Title
- Democrats flipped a House seat in deep-red western North Carolina
- Runtime
- 1:45
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- As Democrat Roy Cooper surged to victory in the Senate race, Democrat Jamie Ager defeated Republican Jennifer Balkcom on Tuesday night in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district.
Ager’s victory is emblematic of the Democratic shift among voters nationwide on Tuesday, but it also underscores something distinct to Western North Carolina: widespread frustration with the Trump administration over its handling of Hurricane Helene, which hit the state in September 2024.
In addition to Helene recovery, Ager campaigned on lowering healthcare costs, reforming the immigration system, and weeding out government waste and corruption.
He’s also part of a growing number of North Carolina Democrats who have sworn off funding from AIPAC—showing how even more establishment candidates have become politically averse to the Israel lobby.
- Title
- The GOP's Perplexing Last Pitch to Voters
- Runtime
- 2:07
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- On Election Day, the US president bragged about his high approval ratings…in Israel, while his support back home was cratering—and other members of the GOP’s closing statements weren't much better.
- Title
- The One Thing Everyone Can Agree On: Flock Has Got To Go
- Runtime
- 1:42
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- Like the data centers cropping up across the country, automated license plate readers (ALPRs) like Flock have inspired fierce bipartisan backlash.
In the lead-up to today’s election, both Republicans and Democrats in battleground states like Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania have wooed voters by promising to place guardrails on unregulated surveillance technologies.
After a summer of controversies—ranging from reports about police misusing ALPRs to stalk their exes to a report of cops tracking an abortion-seeker across state lines—communities are speaking out about the erosion of privacy and civil liberties, and pressuring lawmakers to cancel contracts and remove the cameras, or even ban them altogether.
At the same time, congressional candidates and sitting legislators across the political spectrum are calling to rework the patchwork regulatory system that governs the cameras. At least four different congressional bills were introduced i...
- Title
- The issues that matter to these Alabama voters
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- The polls are about to close in Alabama. Hear from some folks why they voted:
- Title
- Stress Test: This Republican's Rally In The Final Days Before the Election Was...Weird.
- Runtime
- 0:49
- Date posted
- 3 days ago
- Description
- In the final days before the election... *this* is what the Republican campaign trail looks like.
Reporter Noah Lanard recounts his experience at an upstate New York rally for Republican Congressional candidate Anthony Constantino on this episode of Stress Test.
Watch the full episode at the link in our bio.
- Title
- Trump’s Closing Argument: Pool
- Runtime
- 0:48
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Will undecided voters in states such as Alaska and Michigan base their ballot decisions Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s fountain repairs in Washington, DC?
If so, Trump’s 47-minute appearance on Monday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool would make sense. But polls show voters are worried about high prices, corruption, and Trump’s war with Iran, not DC algae blooms. And the president’s use of his final scheduled appearance before the midterms to talk about pipe replacements looks like the bizarre self-indulgence of a guy utterly uninterested in the problems of regular Americans.
Shocker.
- Title
- James Talarico’s Campaign Is a Messaging Machine
- Runtime
- 3:00
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Is it Talarico time in Texas?
James Talarico is running a different kind of campaign than Beto O’Rourke did eight years ago. If the Democratic nominee for Texas’ US Senate seat has visited all 254 counties, he has kept it under wraps. He is not going to skateboard in a Whataburger parking lot or air-drum to “Baba O’Riley.” He is also not going to drop f-bombs or speak extemporaneously about taking away anyone’s guns, although it is his considerable gift to make lines he has delivered perhaps hundreds of times still sometimes sound extemporaneous. Even Talarico’s occasional attempts to moderate past comments come packaged for maximum effect. He is deliberate. He leverages high-value situations to score premium points. He is the person in “Supermarket Sweep” who goes straight for the hair products.
And in his race against Republican attorney general Ken Paxton, Talarico, a state representative and seminarian, has been laser-focused on connectin...
- Title
- "Despicable Betrayal”: The Wild Final Hours Before America Votes
- Runtime
- 32:55
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
It’s almost over, and on this special Election Eve edition of Stress Test, David Corn and Garrison Hayes deconstruct the manic final moments before America votes.
The big last-minute surprise was the 11th-hour bombshell out of Michigan. Defeated Democratic primary contender Haley Stevens sent shockwaves through the political world on Sunday when she rescinded her support for Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and endorsed Republican nominee Mike Rogers—a move that drew fierce condemnation from Democratic leadership and praise from Donald Trump.
What was especially odd was that Stevens could not clearly explain her rationale for this decision. But she claimed she felt “hurt” by El-Sayed. It was like a soap opera might determine control of the Senate. "American democracy may hinge on who wins the Senate," David observes, "and who wins the Senate may hinge on this littl...
- Title
- "Don't be weird. Go vote."
- Runtime
- 2:27
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- These pre-election vibes 🤩
Tomorrow, voters across the country will turn out for hundreds of consequential races in the midterm elections.
And in Alabama, all eyes are on a district the Alabama GOP redrew to favor Republicans, essentially guaranteeing a safe seat. But with Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures running for re-election, it’s not looking like the sure shot they hoped for.
But it’s hard to project what will happen. Alabama is one of only three states in the country that doesn’t have early voting. Bobby Singleton, Chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, says there’s really only one way to tell how voting will go. “Long lines,” he says. “Long lines, and people turning out early in the morning to vote.”
One Montgomery-based activist trying to fill those lines is Kenya Shavers, a community organizer and strategist for 334VOTES and voting rights coordinator at the ACLU of Alabama. We followed her while she was o...
- Title
- David Flippo Is Nowhere To Be Found
- Runtime
- 2:59
- Date posted
- 4 days ago
- Description
- Where in the world is David Flippo?
Our reporter, Noah Lanard, headed to northern Nevada to try something that should be easy for anyone covering a congressional race: finding the candidate.
It did not go well.
After months reporting on Flippo’s finances, his military record, and how his time as a financial advisor ended, Noah spent weeks waiting for the GOP House nominee to schedule a public event he could attend; he sent email after email trying to get in contact. He left voicemails. No reply, so he went to the only places Flippo’s campaign has actually told the public to look. But everywhere we turned, no Flippo.
Meanwhile, his Democratic opponent, Teresa Benitez-Thompson, showed up to face voters at three events in just 24 hours.
Beyond the financial and military valor controversies, Flippo has been accused of being a carpetbagger. He rented a home in Nevada's second congressional district and filed to run after l...
- Title
- Stress Test: Republicans Drew Congressional Maps That Disenfranchise Black Voters. It’s Backfiring.
- Runtime
- 1:01
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- The gutting of the Voting Rights Act paved the way for Republican legislatures across the South to gerrymander to dismantle majority-Black congressional districts.
But there's something happening they didn't anticipate: A surge in Black voter turnout.
Watch the full episode of Stress Test, where we break down more of the forces at play in the lead-up to the midterms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJayBiibmA
- Title
- He Used to Protest Outside Abortion Clinics. Now He's Rooting for a Democrat to Win Kansas…
- Runtime
- 3:00
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- The last time Reverend Rob Schenck was in Kansas, he was trying to shut down every abortion clinic in the city of Wichita. For the last decade, he’s been working to untangle himself from the religious right, which he helped build.
This fall, he returned to the Sunflower State to see whether Kansas is changing, too. Democratic candidate and fellow minister Adam Hamilton is running against incumbent Roger Marshall. Polls are showing a nearly tied race, and if Hamilton wins, it would be the first time Kansas has elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly 100 years.
- Title
- Inside the Fight to Flip the Biggest Battleground in Texas
- Runtime
- 2:59
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- Earlier this year, Republicans slashed 92 polling locations in one Texas county. It’s pretty obvious why…
Tarrant County has been an incubator for the far right and might be the state’s bellwether. Now Democrats hope it can power a blue wave.
While James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa have captured most of the headlines (guilty), the stakes are high in Tarrant County’s local races, where Republicans have held power for decades. Alisa Simmons, a Democratic county commissioner, is in a tight race against the incumbent county judge Tim O’Hare—a conservative Bo French ally who pushed the reduction in polling locations.
“He’s a really interesting person—I’m not sure why he even wanted to serve because he’s not serving,” Simmons said before a fundraiser at a private home in Colleyville, Texas.
In 2025, even before Republicans in the state legislature redrew the state’s congressional maps, O’Hare embarked on an unusu...
- Title
- Stress Test: How Worried Should We Be About Trump’s Truth Social Election Threats?
- Runtime
- 1:18
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- Wait…you CAN’T NULLIFY AN ELECTION THROUGH A TRUTH SOCIAL POST??
President Trump threatened to prosecute Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola in a Truth Social post this week. He has also threatened to nullify Alaska’s election results if Republicans don’t win.
It’s these moves—the ones that come in the days after the election—that we should be worried about, national voting rights correspondent Ari Berman tells us today on Stress Test.
Watch the full episode and subscribe now so you don’t miss our election night coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJayBiibmA
- Title
- A 3-minute crash course in Alabama's voting maps
- Runtime
- 2:54
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- The fight over Alabama's voting maps shows just how low the Roberts Court will go in allowing Republicans to draw Black candidates out of office.
And Montgomery, the birthplace of the civil rights movement, has seen again and again what happens when they lack that representation.
"The neighborhoods that were torn down to build those interstates, that was the heart of the Black business district," said Evan Milligan, executive director of Alabama Forward, a nonpartisan civic advocacy group.
"And when you're driving through Montgomery on the interstate, you're driving on the graves of, like, these neighborhoods."
Milligan took Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman on a tour of historic neighborhoods in Montgomery, where the civil rights movement really began. Not only did Milligan retrace key landmarks, like Rosa Parks' birthplace, he showed how white politicians specifically targeted these historically Black neighborhood...
- Title
- The Final Countdown: MAGA’s Racist Blitz and Trump’s Next Big Lie
- Runtime
- 31:10
- Date posted
- 7 days ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
“Let’s start off by saying, Garrison, this is all lies. It’s ludicrous. I mean, they’re saying things that are just not true.”
That’s Stress Test host David Corn, describing to his co-host Garrison Hayes the barrage of Islamophobic attacks from Republicans desperate to hold on to Congress. As this episode shows, the GOP—from Donald Trump to JD Vance to Cabinet secretaries to senators and representatives—has made hateful bigotry a central element of its final midterms push.
Those assaults have primarily targeted Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, with Vance calling him a “cancer” with “zero attachment” to America’s land or history; Sen. Ted Cruz falsely labeling El-Sayed a “theocratic zealot” and lifelong Muslim Brotherhood supporter; and Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno declaring El-Sayed doesn’t belong in Washington, DC, because he doesn’t ...
- Title
- Missouri GOP is using trans kids to sneak an abortion ban past voters
- Runtime
- 1:55
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- What happens when voters overturn an abortion ban?
Missouri was the first state to put a trigger ban into effect. It was also the first state to reject that ban with the passing of Amendment 3. But that wasn't the end of the story.
Now, GOP lawmakers are pushing another ban and they gave it the same name: Amendment 3.
And they're targeting trans kids to pass it.
- Title
- Has Partisan Gerrymandering Backfired for Republicans in Florida?
- Runtime
- 2:46
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- There are some surprising races in Florida up for grabs right now, despite Republicans’ gerrymandering efforts. Reporter Laura Morel visited a district that was recently redrawn to see how residents might buck Republicans’ expectations.
- Title
- David Flippo Was Fired for More Serious Reasons Than He Let On
- Runtime
- 2:00
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Nevada Republican congressional candidate David Flippo says his firing as a financial adviser two years ago was no big deal.
The records we obtained tell a different story.
- Title
- It’s the Corruption, Stupid
- Runtime
- 2:48
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- “Greg Abbott sold us out.”
Gina Hinojosa’s Whataburger cup (filled with nonsweet iced tea) is a fun campaign prop, but it’s not her strategy to win the race for Texas governor. Pointing out the rampant grift and corruption in her state just might be.
From Trump to Epstein to data centers, Democrats have seized on a rigged system as the unifying message of the midterms.
Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy sat down with Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor of Texas. The 52-year-old state representative had been criss-crossing Texas for months, while beaming into podcasts and TV shows outside the stateto build buzz and try to persuade national donors to support a contest that was never supposed to be this close.
When Tim asked her to describe her opponent, three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, in one word, Hinojosa brightened. If you’ve been paying any attention to national politics this year, you could probably guess what ...
- Title
- Attendee Compares Trump Rally to Jonestown on Fox News
- Runtime
- 0:35
- Date posted
- 8 days ago
- Description
- Fox News just got a bit of a surprise covering the latest Trump rally when they interviewed a man who compared it to... Jonestown.
- Title
- Is This the AI Slop Election?
- Runtime
- 1:27
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- This week, the White House posted an AI video altering footage from Charlie Wilson’s NPR Tiny Desk performance of the 1982 Gap Band hit “Outstanding” to include top Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero—a callback to a racist trope Trump’s crew has deployed before.
It’s not the only AI slop we’ve seen this midterm cycle. In fact, Garrison says on this episode of Stress Test, “This feels like the AI slop election. Incoherent is the name of the game.”
Watch the full episode and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QIwv0jdaM
- Title
- Why Black Voters in the South Are Flocking to the Polls
- Runtime
- 0:58
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- The backlash to the Supreme Court's decision to gut the Voting Rights Act is taking shape in the form of a surge in Black turnout in the South, Garrison Hayes tells us on today's episode of Stress Test.
Watch the full episode and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@MotherJones?sub_confirmation=1
- Title
- Alabama Republicans thought this seat was safe
- Runtime
- 2:57
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- You should be paying attention to Alabama.
Why? A congressional seat in this deeply red state, gerrymandered to essentially guarantee Republican control, might actually stay blue.
Meet Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama's 2nd congressional district. For Figures, running for re-election despite Republican redistricting wasn't a question.
"I don't come from a place where you can seek out a position in Congress when the environment is such that it looks like on paper it's in your favor, but when it looks like on paper it may not be in your favor, that you tuck your tail and run," Figures said. "We fight where I'm from."
In 2024, Figures’ election marked the first time that Alabama had two Black members of Congress. But following the Louisiana v. Callais decision, Republicans removed Figures’ hometown of Mobile, along with several Black Belt counties, from the district and added the overwhelmingly white and rural Wiregrass re...
- Title
- "Creepy, Weird": MAGA Flops Abroad and Flails at Home
- Runtime
- 37:04
- Date posted
- 9 days ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
With the midterms less than a week away, the closing stretch of the campaign is full of bad omens for MAGA abroad and peak weirdness at home. In Serbia and Brazil, Trump allies suffered stinging and surprising defeats driven in part by energized voter turnout. An anti-corruption youth movement spearheaded the surge in Serbia, while Brazil saw a dramatic comeback for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated staunch Trump ally Flávio Bolsonaro.
“Both of the losing candidates, Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vučić in Serbia, wrapped themselves around Donald Trump,” co-host David Corn says on this episode of Stress Test. “So we see in Serbia and Hungary authoritarian figures who try to emulate and ride the Trump wave being tossed out of office. And in [South America], where we've seen a right-wing tide… they beat it back” in Brazil.
There’s a growing sense that voters w...
- Title
- This Nevada Republican Refuses to Vote for His GOP Replacement
- Runtime
- 3:00
- Date posted
- 10 days ago
- Description
- It's not often you hear a retiring Republican congressman call the Republican running for his seat a "fraud."
But that's what Mark Amodei has to say about David Flippo, the embattled Nevada congressional candidate, following a string of controversies that include misrepresentations about his military record and questions surrounding the candidate’s personal and campaign finances. Amodei invited Mother Jones reporter Noah Lanard and producer Sam Van Pykeren to his home in Nevada to tell us why he's not voting for Flippo.
Read Noah's full investigation into Flippo's military record and campaign finances here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/10/david-flippo-nevada-bronze-star-valor/
Reporting by Noah Lanard
Video by Sam Van Pykeren
- Title
- Lula’s Win in Brazil Is a Big Loss for Trump
- Runtime
- 2:46
- Date posted
- 11 days ago
- Description
- After a neck-and-neck race where the future of the Amazon was at stake, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a historic reelection victory on Sunday. Hedefeatied Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of disgraced former President Jair Bolsonaro, and earned a record fourth term.
His stunning victory deals a massive blow to Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine” of US dominance in Latin America and throws cold water on the MAGA world’s hope that Brazil would become the latest nation in the region to elect a right-wing president.
Lula won 51.79 percent of the vote in a runoff that saw millions more voters turn out compared to the first round. The Worker’s Party leader made a historic comeback, becoming the first Brazilian candidate to win the election after finishing second in the opening round.
Borrowing from his father’s– and Trump’s– playbook, Flávio Bolsonaro refused to accept the results, pointing to a Supreme Court decision to keep the...
- Title
- Vance Blames “Tin Pot Dictators” for High Gas Prices
- Runtime
- 1:50
- Date posted
- 11 days ago
- Description
- Vance Blames “Tin Pot Dictators” for High Gas Prices and Skips the War Trump Started
Gas prices just “skyrocket” every time a “tin pot dictator decides to throw a tantrum,” explained JD Vance today at a campaign rally in Belgrade, Montana. Vance went on to give other historic examples when gas prices have increased, but failed to acknowledge the Iran war launched by the Trump administration.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that higher fuel costs are a small price to pay for what he says is a necessary action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
At a campaign rally in Georgia over the weekend, Trump said that while Americans are paying more at the pump, “the United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“I don’t give a damn, I’m going to say it,” Trump boasted. “We’re making a freaking fortune.”
- Title
- Somali immigrant describes Guantanamo Bay
- Runtime
- 2:53
- Date posted
- 11 days ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
In late August, the Trump administration loaded 12 Somali immigrants onto a plane and flew them to an ICE facility at Guantanamo Bay. “Nobody tell us that we’re going to Guantanamo Bay,” Sakariye Abdi Mohamed told journalist Amanda Moore in a phone call last month from the infamous detention facility. “Just like kidnapping.”
Gitmo, Mohamed said, was “the worst place ever I’ve been in my life.”
The Department of Homeland Security has denied mistreating the Guantanamo prisoners—and it insists the Somali men sent there are “some of the worst of the worst.” But we found no evidence that Mohamed had been accused of any wrongdoing. “I don’t have no criminal record,” he told Moore. “I don’t have no tickets.”
A few weeks later, ICE deported Mohamed to Somalia—he was shackled for nearly 40 hours during the trip, he says. In a new video for Moth...
- Title
- This South Texas Singer Could Be A Big Winner For Democrats
- Runtime
- 2:33
- Date posted
- 11 days ago
- Description
- Bobby Pulido, who’s running for Congress in Texas, is more than just a quinceañera singer. But it helps.
Pulido played one of the final shows of his career in early October at a street festival in the South Texas town of Alice, where LBJ’s allies stole the 1948 Senate election and generations of Tejano music stars got their start.
The 53-year-old Pulido is both a Tejano music legend and the son of one, as well as the Democratic nominee in a freshly gerrymandered swath of Texas that starts on the border in Hidalgo and stretches north for about 300 miles. When he entered the race last year to unseat Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, it seemed like an uphill battle. Donald Trump carried the district by 18 points in 2024 and Republicans were so encouraged that they redrew the maps to secure a clean Republican sweep. But polls have shown the Democrat with a consistent lead in the race, and the Cook Political Report now considers it a “toss-up.”
- Title
- Nevada House Candidate David Flippo Was Accused of Stolen Valor. Now He Blames His Grandkids.
- Runtime
- 2:53
- Date posted
- 14 days ago
- Description
- First David Flippo blamed his staff. Then he blamed his grandkids.
When it came out that the Nevada Republican’s campaign had falsely claimed he received a Bronze Star with valor, Flippo pointed the finger at his staff. There was just one problem. For years, Flippo, an Air Force veteran, wore a hat with V-shaped emblems that strongly suggested he received that award. His new explanation? His grandkids added the Vs without him noticing.
But Flippo’s resume isn’t the only thing that doesn’t add up. As Noah Lanard reported for Mother Jones, Flippo says he’s put more than $2.5 million of his own money into his past two congressional campaigns, despite having no apparent source for that kind of wealth. And for four years running, he has failed to file a legally required financial disclosure statement that would help explain his finances.
Instead, he has only released a handwritten list of his assets. That list shows that his largest asset is...
- Title
- How the Supreme Court’s Gutting of the VRA May Have Inspired a Blue Wave
- Runtime
- 2:28
- Date posted
- 14 days ago
- Description
- Alabama Democratic Congressman Shomari Figures rallied with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, former Montana Senator Jon Tester, and Alabama Democratic nominee for Gov. Doug Jones on Thursday in Dothan, Alabama. They drew a huge, standing-only crowd of 400-500 people in a county that Trump won by 48 points in 2024. Locals told Mother Jones it was the largest rally for Democrats they’ve seen in Dothan in decades.
The turnout is a sign of how a blue wave could reach even deeply red areas. After the Supreme Court effectively destroyed the Voting Rights Act in the Louisiana v. Callais decision in late April, Alabama Republicans redrew Figures’ district to make it more Republican, even taking out his hometown of Mobile. But Figures is fighting back, and his race remains unexpectedly competitive.
Locals in Dothan said the redistricting in Alabama is motivating Democrats to get to the polls in higher numbers. “It just really rallied us and motivated us to even ge...
- Title
- A Week of Trump Rallies in 90 Seconds
- Runtime
- 1:35
- Date posted
- 14 days ago
- Description
- While the country faces one of the worst affordability crises in recent times and the GOP struggles to maintain control of the House and Senate, the Republican president is "ranting" and "raving." (His words, not ours.)
- Title
- Mamdani on Trump, Floods, and the Fight Over Data Centers
- Runtime
- 15:55
- Date posted
- 14 days ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
His name might not be on the ballot this November, but New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in American politics right now. After his barrier-breaking victory late last year, Mamdani has emerged as the face of the no-holds-barred progressive movement and has spent the season leveraging his rising capital to shape races with a string of endorsements.
In this episode of Stress Test, co-host Garrison Hayes sits down one-on-one with Mayor Mamdani in front of a live audience at The New School’s Tishman Auditorium during Climate Week NYC last month—for an event co-presented by Mother Jones, Capital B, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
With the midterms looming, Mamdani dives into an issue rapidly redefining the political landscape: the nationwide AI data center building boom. He breaks down why the surging demand for energy and ...
- Title
- Stress Test: Will Elon Musk Be the October Surprise?
- Runtime
- 0:57
- Date posted
- 15 days ago
- Description
- Elon Musk is the midterms’ biggest disinformation risk, reporter Anna Merlan told us on Stress Test. Will he be the midterm’s October surprise?
Watch the full Stress Test episode and subscribe at YouTube.com/MotherJones, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday.
