The Erick Erickson Show

Erick Erickson breaks down a brutal debate night in the 2026 midterms: Mike Rogers presses Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed on whether Israel or Iran is the bigger threat, his mother's ties, his Hasan Piker friendship and his Dubai property, while Susan Collins lands her sharpest blow yet on Maine's Troy Jackson. Erick also explains why Mike Collins is sinking in Georgia against Jon Ossoff, why you must vote all the way down the ballot, and remembers Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka, who passed away today. Mike Rogers vs. Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate debate: Israel or Iran, Hasan Piker, the Muslim Brotherhood question and Leland Vittert's viral follow-up Susan Collins vs. Troy Jackson in Maine, plus the Vermont Lieutenant Governor race and the family farm migrant worker controversy Why Mike Collins is dragging down Georgia Republicans against Jon Ossoff, and Erick's struggle over leaving a line blank Vote down the ballot, become a poll watcher, and the Peruvian candidate named Hitler Mussolini who…

Erick Erickson welcomes State Department deputy spokesman Luke Ortega to unpack Secretary Marco Rubio's Acropolis speech defending Western civilization, the new Greenland deal with Denmark, and the 250,000 visas revoked under President Trump. Then Erick breaks down the New York ICE shooting of Oscar Bergall, Mayor Mamdani's attack on federal agents, and the Obama appointed federal judge who blocked his deportation. Plus Tommy Tuberville's 7 to 0 win at the Alabama Supreme Court, Iranian AI influence operations, a rant on "super intelligence," and the White Sox in the playoffs. State Department deputy spokesman Luke Ortega on Marco Rubio's Acropolis speech in Greece, the Iceland, Greece and Portugal trip, and the call for Europe to rebuild its industry and defense The Greenland deal with Denmark: two new US defense areas, a bar on adversary bases and critical minerals investment, and no expiration date Over 250,000 visas revoked, why tourist, work and student visas are pulled, and the new travel.state.gov…

Erick Erickson makes the case, as a Christian who supports the death penalty, against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's plan to stage a public, live-streamed execution of Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Hasan, citing Army regulations, Tertullian, Augustine, Ezekiel 33:11 and the risk of turning a paraplegic terrorist into a martyr for Islam. Erick also explains how his faith has changed his politics, takes on progressives who twist scripture and conservatives who ignore the refugee on immigration, and then turns to TV: Slow Horses, 24, Silo, Severance, Game of Thrones and how pornography and gratuitous language coarsen the soul. Plus the Cornell seven text message, the Not Safe Radio Show, Hurricane warnings for the Southeast and a Friday round of golf. Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon's plan to publicly live stream the execution of Nidal Hasan: why Erick Erickson supports the death penalty but opposes public execution, the Army regulation that bans it, and the martyrdom propaganda risk across the Middle East Faith…

Erick Erickson makes the case that the Republican midterm bloodbath is overstated, backing Ken Paxton over James Talarico in Texas and Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, with a look at Senate races in Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina. He then digs into the new CBS News report on the Iranian attack on Camp Buehring in Kuwait, the aircraft losses the Pentagon downplayed, and word that President Trump wants a plan to finish the Iranian regime before the midterms. Texas Senate race: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico, the new UMass poll putting Paxton ahead, Texas suburban voters, Greg Abbott, and why Erick still thinks Paxton can pull it off Michigan Senate race: Abdul El-Sayed's silence on October 7th, his refusal to say whether Israel or Iran is the bigger threat, Mike Rogers, and the eight point polling miss on Republicans in Michigan Midterm elections 2026: Alan Lichtman's 52 Senate seats prediction, Michelle Tafoya in Minnesota, Ashley Hinson in Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio, and Erick's…

Erick Erickson opens with a Gulf Coast hurricane warning for Alabama and the Florida panhandle, then breaks down the New York Fed report showing tariffs raised prices on 67 categories of goods by 2.9 percentage points, plus Morgan Stanley data on the stock market slump and an AI boom holding up the economy. He defends Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent against a Wall Street Journal hit job, takes on the Kimberly Guilfoyle stories, and warns Republicans that corruption is now a top midterm issue. Gulf Coast hurricane: category two storm headed for Gulf Shores, Alabama and Pensacola, hurricane warning from Ocean Springs, Mississippi to Gulf County, Florida, flooding risk through Meridian, and the Georgia and Alabama game in Tuscaloosa Tariffs and prices: the New York Federal Reserve study of 67 categories of goods, the 2.9 point price hit, 26 percent pass-through to consumers, Erick's case that tariffs are 1950s protectionism, and the comparison to modern monetary theory under Biden Stock market and AI boom:…

Erick Erickson turns a left lane road rage story, complete with his Claude voice assistant joking about driver stereotypes, into a sermon on America as a low trust society, from McDonald's free refills to razor blades locked behind glass, with Jeff Bezos on Fox News defending success. He also takes on the code enforcers threatening a San Jose pastor's food pantry with $20,000 a day fines, Delta's Wi-Fi meltdown and the Starlink feud with Elon Musk, and the Wall Street Journal report on rogue pilots and intentional airline crashes. Joe Rogan's new Spotify deal and Marco Rubio's warning to Europe round out the hour. Low trust society: left lane slowpokes, Claude AI's Australian accent joke about BMW and Florida drivers, McDonald's ending free refills, Target and CVS locking up razor blades, Jeff Bezos on Fox News saying success is not villainy, the vilification of the wealthy, and airline early boarding abuse San Jose food pantry: Pastor Ralph Olmos and Lighthouse Food Rescue and Distribution, the code…

On the third anniversary of the October 7th Hamas massacre, Erick Erickson takes on the genocide in Gaza propaganda campaign, the rise of antisemitism on Ivy League campuses and in the West, and the real history of Judea and the Jewish homeland. Former Israeli ambassador Michael Oren joins to discuss Hamas, Iron Dome, the Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia, and why the Iran war and the Trump naval blockade have to be seen through. October 7th attack, three years later: Hamas paragliders, the hostages, Reuters running a photo of Gaza rubble, and Erick on why there was no genocide in Gaza Antisemitism in the West: Ivy League campuses, Boulder, the New York City mayor's remarks, Abdul El-Sayed, and Erick's warning that hatred of Jews is the canary in the coal mine Michael Oren interview: 365,000 Israeli reservists, Hamas's 450 miles of tunnels, Iron Dome, and the pager attack on Hezbollah Abraham Accords and the Gulf: Israeli Iron Dome crews in the UAE, Dubai and Tel Aviv flights, and the path to a Saudi Arabia deal…

Erick Erickson opens with Marco Rubio's Acropolis speech on the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto and October 7th, then covers breaking news from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney on an arrested ISIS-inspired plot to attack the Mall of America. He argues that a wave of parents killing their children is a sign of evil on the march, that pastors should preach repentance instead of partisan politics, and previews the midterm elections, Ken Paxton in Texas, and the polling unknowns. Battle of Lepanto and October 7th: Erick on why Hamas chose the anniversary of the 1571 Holy League victory over the Ottoman Empire, and Marco Rubio's speech at the Acropolis calling the West to unite against tyranny and the radical mullahs of Iran Mall of America ISIS plot: U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announces charges against an American-born man of Somali descent, accused of buying an AK-47 and 200 rounds to attack Minnesota's Mall of America, and Erick on assimilation and Minnesota Somali gang violence Evil on the march: a grim run…

Erick Erickson digs into the 2026 midterms and the CNN bloodbath polling, arguing that Republicans who refuse to talk to pollsters could leave the Democratic wave overstated, with Susan Collins, Troy Jackson, Abdul El-Sayed, Mike Rogers, Ohio and Georgia races in focus. He also covers the launch of Trump accounts for 70 million kids, the Michael Dell gift, and why the George W. Bush Social Security privatization plan still matters, then ends with a housekeeping note on ericerickson.com and the new text ERICK to 33777 landing page. Midterm elections 2026 polling: CNN's Harry Enten and John Berman on a Republican bloodbath, Trump voters slipping in Senate and House races, and Erick on why Republicans who skip pollsters make the polls unreliable (the known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns) Senate and governor races: Susan Collins versus Troy Jackson in Maine, Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers in Michigan, Vivek Ramaswamy and John Husted in Ohio, Rick Jackson versus Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, plus…

Broadcasting on location through a hotel hotspot, Erick Erickson defends President Trump's "let them take out Los Angeles" Nebraska remark in context, then warns that Democrats have 28 days of maximum outrage planned, from Karen Bass to the attack on Annie Andrews in South Carolina. Rick Scott on socialism and Abdul El-Sayed, the real story behind the France riots, Somali gang violence in Minnesota, and why America needs a melting pot, not a salad bowl. Trump in Nebraska, Los Angeles and San Diego, Iran, and Karen Bass calling the remarks irresponsible: Erick on context versus outrage season Annie Andrews, Lindsey Graham's South Carolina Senate race, and the Truth Social post that fed the 28-day Democratic outrage strategy Rick Scott on Fox: socialism, Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race, balancing the budget, and the GOP message for November France riots: school protests, the viral firefighter photo, population decline, and what overspending and failed assimilation could mean for America Immigration…

Broadcasting from a secret location, Erick Erickson breaks down Russia's mysterious pneumonic plague outbreak at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia, from Marco Rubio's warning to the MIT bioweapon theory, and explains why panic is just herd mentality. He tells the foster care to 7-Eleven to postseason story of Atlanta Braves pitcher Ray Kerr, weighs in on the Cornell Seven fraternity case with Michelle Cottle, Letitia James and Byron York, and covers the diesel shortage with Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Topics: Russia pneumonic plague outbreak: Marco Rubio, the Irkutsk lab worker, Kevin Esvelt's MIT bioweapon theory, antibiotics going to the Ukraine front, and why Erick says do not panic Midterm elections 2026: polling overstating Democrats by about 3 points, House lost but Senate saved, Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas, and Mike Collins in Georgia Ray Kerr, Atlanta Braves lefty: foster care, 7-Eleven and community college to the Phillies and Dodgers postseason, plus Erick on foster…

Erick Erickson, broadcasting from a hotel on assignment, tells listeners the midterm polling is bad but not as bad as the headlines, breaking down Steve Kornacki's NBC News poll on Hispanic voters (a 24 point Democratic lead on the generic ballot versus 22 points in 2022) and the cost of living and corruption problems dragging down Republicans. He then reports that James Talarico is now favored over Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race and that Paxton's campaign is being run from Washington, and he explains the fight between President Trump and Senator Tom Cotton over permanent daylight saving time. Steve Kornacki and Meet the Press: the NBC News poll of Latino voters, the 24 point generic ballot lead for Democrats versus 22 points in 2022, Trump approval with Hispanic voters, and why Erick says the GOP has held a 10 to 15 point gain Midterm issues: cost of living, jobs and the economy, and corruption as the number two issue, plus a CBS News Battleground Tracker poll showing Democrats winning the House if the…

Erick Erickson reacts to Southern Baptist Convention president Willy Rice telling Fox News that Christians need to step up in politics, and argues that believers cannot play team sport for the Republican Party while corruption is the number two issue for voters. Using the book of Lamentations, the Psalm 51 repentance of King David, and the 2000 Bush election and PEPFAR, he makes the case that Christians can be a prophetic voice to both parties, and that sitting out a race like Ken Paxton's Texas Senate contest can be a vote for better. A Braves upset of the Dodgers, a candidate quality warning for Mike Collins in Georgia and Max Miller in Ohio, and a Siberian plague rumor round out the hour. Willy Rice and the Southern Baptist Convention: the SBC president tells Fox News that abortion, gender identity, marriage, and immigration are theological issues, and Erick asks where the Southern Baptist voice is on corruption and on the humane treatment of illegal immigrants being deported Corruption and the Trump…

Erick Erickson opens with breaking news that the US has cleared Iraqi airspace for Israeli aircraft after pulling American troops out of Iraq, as armed skirmishes spread inside Iran, oil falls to $100 Brent, and B-1 bombers leave RAF Fairford after a foiled terror plot. He argues the carrier group and 10,000 Marines headed to the Middle East are there to contain a destabilization campaign, then pushes back on Nate Silver's call that Georgia's governor's mansion flips, with Rick Jackson, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Jon Ossoff in the mix. The hour also covers the Supreme Court's new term, Justice Samuel Alito, a University Heights, Ohio prayer meeting case, birthright citizenship, and the Cornell fraternity case. Iraqi airspace, Israel, and Iran: the US withdrawal from Iraq, Israeli access to Iranian airspace, armed skirmishes across Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el Mandeb, Houthi positions, and Erick's theory that a destabilization campaign is underway RAF Fairford and the Pentagon: 12 B-1 bombers moved…

Erick Erickson opens Open Line Friday with a sweeping history of social contagion, from the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague and the Salem witch trials to the McMartin preschool panic, then connects it to new data showing LGBTQ identification among kids in free fall and J.K. Rowling's take on the trans fad. He also reports that oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz has topped pre-war levels for seven straight days and takes calls on sanctuary cities, the Arizona immigration case, and CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. Social contagion history: Strasbourg dancing plague, tarantism, Salem, tulip mania, the Werther effect, Mattoon gas attacker, McMartin preschool, LeRoy Tourette's cluster New data on the collapse of kids identifying as trans, J.K. Rowling's post, detransitioners, and the rise and fall of transition surgeries Strait of Hormuz oil flow above pre-war levels, Brent crude near $100, Iran economy in free fall, and Erick's credit to President Trump Open Line Friday calls: why sanctuary cities and states…

Erick Erickson takes on a New York Times report that Anthropic quietly hosted religious scholars under nondisclosure agreements to discuss AI consciousness and Claude's moral status, and that the company reportedly considered pulling out of a Vatican launch event for Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI. Erick argues theologically that AI is a math equation that cannot have a soul, then takes Open Line Friday calls on the failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike, the death penalty, and who funds American mosques, from the North American Islamic Trust to the Muslim Brotherhood. Anthropic and AI consciousness: the New York Times report on private meetings with religious thinkers, Chris Olah, Claude's alleged moral status, and Erick's case that a word generator and math equation cannot have a soul (the Genesis bara argument) Pope Leo XIV encyclical on AI: Anthropic's reported push to pull out of the Vatican event, why none of the participants lead a congregation, and caller Adam's view that AI is just a tool like…

Erick Erickson wrestles with the Cornell Seven fraternity case, arguing that society cannot prosecute bad or immoral behavior, only crimes, and walks through New York consent law, the Duke lacrosse case, the University of Virginia fraternity hoax, and the Lindsay Clancy insanity verdict. He also reports that national Republicans are pulling money from Michael Whatley in North Carolina and Mike Collins against Jon Ossoff in Georgia to save Ken Paxton in Texas, then takes Open Line Friday calls on Mecca versus Medina Muslims, football season, and President Trump's Oklahoma stop with Kevin Hern. Cornell Seven fraternity lawsuit: the civil suit and reopened prosecution, the wrongly named Marine served in error, New York consent and revocation law, ex post facto limits, and Erick's case that you prosecute crimes, not bad things Cautionary history: the Duke lacrosse case, the University of Virginia fraternity allegations, Nancy Grace, and why social outrage and media mobs should not drive prosecutions Lindsay…

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

Erick Erickson opens with Senate Democrats killing the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act after both passed the House, then explains why the prepaid absentee ballot request forms in your mailbox are not ballots and how progressive groups use data brokers to target voters. He covers the deadly I-95 fog pileup over Lake Marion in South Carolina, the Flydubai hijacking and the hero pilot who saved the plane, the RAF Fairford terror arrests in the UK, and the left's political religion, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Senate Democrats kill the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act (passed the House 417 to 3), with Jon Ossoff voting to block, and why Congress campaigns on issues instead of solving them Absentee ballot request forms versus real absentee ballots: why prepaid return envelopes signal a request form, which states offer prepaid ballots, and how progressive groups track barcodes and ballot harvesting Mass casualty fog pileup on I-95 near Santee and Lake…

Erick Erickson opens with a warning that progressive politics has become a religion, from the collapse of the United Methodist Church and other mainline denominations to Maine protesters harassing Chief Justice John Roberts, and why pastors who preach politics are hurting their churches. Then he weighs in on Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra in the California governor race, makes the case that Barack Obama pioneered the partisan division he now laments, defends his Hunga Tonga volcano climate call with a caller, and unloads on Delta for refusing Starlink Wi-Fi. Politics as the new religion: the progressive pulpit, the new right-wing pastors twisting their theology, and why the fastest dying churches (United Methodist, PCUSA, Episcopal, ELCA, UCC) are the political ones while the PCA and LCMS grow Chief Justice John Roberts and the Maine "chi-activists": the New York Times report on flotillas, protests, and a neighbor-versus-neighbor split on Humber Island, and why Erick says a politics that ends friendships…

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

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

Erick Erickson takes on the online right's outrage over Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad, calling out the grievance politics and white victimhood peddled by click chasing influencers. He then argues Donald Trump's Iran sanctions and economic pressure are slowly collapsing the regime even as gas prices and diesel costs threaten Republicans ahead of the midterms, praises Brian Kemp's gas tax suspension, and mocks the rush to rebrand artificial intelligence as "superintelligence." The hour closes with Senator Eric Schmitt's embarrassing Jack Smith "Hawks game" gotcha that blew up on live television. Sarah Huckabee Sanders welfare ad: Arkansas welfare reform work requirements, the Brad in the basement ad, and why more white men than black women are on welfare in Arkansas, plus Erick's rebuke of the white right grievance crowd and Beau French's UT graduation comments. Iran collapsing under Trump sanctions: Economic isolation, hyperinflation, unpaid soldiers and teachers, reported…

Erick Erickson opens with the Speaker of the House's "common sense versus crazy" midterm pitch, then walks the 2026 Senate map from Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas to Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia, warning that MAGA alone cannot win in November while farmers rage over tariffs and diesel prices. He defends Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work campaign ad against a white nationalist backlash and takes on the grievance politics spreading on the populist right, with Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, Texas dyed diesel, and Marco Rubio on the Strait of Hormuz along the way. Common sense versus crazy: the Speaker of the House's midterm message, Scott Bessent's economy talk, and Erick's warning that Republicans cannot win with MAGA alone as independents break for Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans stay home Senate map breakdown: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas, Mike Collins in Georgia, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Sherrod…

Erick Erickson breaks down the Pentagon data breach that exposed nearly 3 million people and the FBI job site hack, asking whether Iran is probing American defenses while Pete Hegseth's future gets shakier heading into the midterms. He also warns that the 10-year Treasury yield at 5.29 percent is squeezing mortgages and credit cards, holds up Argentina's Javier Milei as a lesson in fiscal sanity, and digs into Derek Thompson's data on the collapse of hosting friends at home and what it means for loneliness, faith, and community. Pentagon and FBI data breaches: 2.76 million living people and 294,000 deceased exposed through the Defense Manpower Data Center, the FBI job application site under investigation, and Erick's suspicion that Iran or China is behind the probing Pete Hegseth's future: Republican senators whispering that the Defense Secretary will not survive the midterms, House Democrats eyeing impeachment, and the fired generals and admirals Congress liked Iran, Strait of Hormuz, and oil: Condoleezza…

Erick Erickson uses the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship plan to warn that America must not copy Europe's immigration failures, then argues the GOP can build a multiracial coalition by rejecting identity politics and grievance grifters, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare ad still fueling the fight. He also takes calls on assimilation and the melting pot, shares his taco soup recipe and cookbook plans after a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, and breaks down the Protect College Sports Act from Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell as an Auburn employee is charged with stealing athletic trade secrets. Europe's immigration mess: the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship routes, free speech arrests in Britain, immigrant ghettos, terror suspects out on bail, and why Erick says the United States must avoid the European Union's path GOP identity politics and the multiracial coalition: Donald Trump's gains with Hispanic voters, young black men, and Indian American families, the backlash over Sarah…

Erick opens with the good news: Iran's economy is collapsing under U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, and President Trump all detailing the pressure campaign as gas and diesel prices start easing on returning refinery capacity. He also covers SpaceX's historic Starship launch of the new Starlink V3 satellite and Scottie Scheffler's class act at the President's Cup. Then comes the bad news hour: Erick makes his case for why predictions of a GOP Senate wipeout in the midterms, driven by weak Republican turnout, Trump Jr.'s wedding scandal, and flawed candidates like Ken Paxton and Mike Collins, are overblown. Iran's economy craters under U.S. sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz naval blockade; Chris Wright, Mike Waltz, and President Trump lay out the pressure campaign as gas and diesel prices ease SpaceX successfully launches Starship carrying the new V3 Starlink satellite; Elon Musk explains why it dwarfs Delta's in…

Erick Erickson breaks down agentic banking, the new Wall Street fear from Apollo Global economist Torsten Slock and Bank of America analysts, as Meta's Muse AI agent helps consumers cancel subscriptions and chase high yield savings account rates. He also reports on the Macon, Georgia park shooting that wounded 12 teens, three blocks from his studio, and on huge crowds of young people turning out for Pope Leo in France, arguing the real fight is between the sacred and the secular. Agentic banking and Meta Muse: Erick let Muse read his bank accounts, and it found three Spotify subscriptions and an unused Peacock plan, saving him a couple hundred dollars a month Apollo Global Management's Torsten Slock and Bank of America analyst Ibrahim Punwala warn that AI agents moving cash to high yield savings accounts could drain cheap bank deposits and squeeze net interest margins Macon, Georgia mass shooting: 12 teens wounded at a park after an Airbnb party in Jones County, with the sheriff vowing to charge the adults…

Erick Erickson makes the case that abortion is his red line and that voters have every right to sit out races like the Ken Paxton versus James Talarico Texas Senate fight, warning Republicans that holding your nose for corrupt or unworthy candidates guarantees worse ones, from Vivek Ramaswamy's struggles in the Ohio governor race to Trump's taxpayer funded campaign ad. He also defends Georgia governor candidate Rick Jackson against an AJC attack on the self-made man, plays the Saturday Night Live Dario Amodei parody, and shares a UK counterterrorism update on five men released on bail in a suspected foreign state operation. Lesser of two evils: Erick explains why abortion is a red line, why he will not vote for two pro-abortion candidates, and why more disaffected Republicans and independents are tapping out of the 2026 midterms Texas Senate race: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico, John Cornyn's role, and Beau French's Railroad Commission risk, with Erick reminding Republicans they told voters in 2016 they…

Erick Erickson opens as President Trump welcomes Xi Jinping to the White House and the administration caves on its ban of CNN, MS Now, and Politico, then explains why a declining China, not a rising one, is the real danger: purged generals, a stalled Chinese economy, Iran's oil squeeze, and Beijing's push to get Trump to abandon Taiwan. Then Erick celebrates Argentine President Javier Milei's blistering United Nations speech, the free market results of ending rent control in Buenos Aires, and why EU bureaucrats, Adrian Vermeule's common good constitutionalism, and Abdul El-Sayed's word salad on Iran all point the same direction. Trump and Xi Jinping at the White House: the CNN, MS Now, and Politico ban reversed, and the Tiananmen Square irony of barring CNN on the day China's dictator arrives China in decline: Peter Schweizer on Xi purging the Central Military Commission and 45 missing generals, Greg Ip and Rhodium Group on a Chinese economy that may be growing near zero, and Senator John Kennedy's "he…

Erick Erickson reports from a Georgia fundraiser where Republicans finally felt some joy, as Rick Jackson's ad blitz on Keisha Lance Bottoms and the 2020 Atlanta riots moves the Georgia governor race while Democrats hold zero TV reservations for October. Then Erick sides with Judge Judy on retrying Lindsay Clancy, blasts The View for scolding Patrick Clancy for divorcing the woman who killed their three children, and argues true crime podcasts, Christian nationalism, and a Massachusetts mask bar are all symptoms of a society losing its mind. Georgia governor race: Rick Jackson's Keisha Lance Bottoms riot ad, $31.5 million in Republican October TV reservations versus zero for Democrats, and Mike Collins gaining ground against Jon Ossoff 2026 midterms: why September polling is shifting toward the GOP, reports the NRSC is eyeing New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota over Georgia and North Carolina, Ken Paxton's ads falling flat against James Talarico in Texas, and Erick's call of a 50 50 Senate with JD Vance…

Erick Erickson opens on Stanford University admitting its dining department used AI to turn a Hispanic male student into a Black woman in marketing photos, calling it DEI and identity politics run amok, and draws on his late friend Tim Keller's teaching that every person is made in the image of God. Then Erick turns to the farm crisis: Mike Rogers and Roger Marshall breaking with the White House on the Iran war as diesel prices top six dollars at harvest, why a diesel export ban would backfire, China reneging on soybean purchases, and farm bankruptcies piling up in Georgia. Stanford University AI photo scandal: a Hispanic student digitally turned into a Black woman, Stanford faulting only its AI policy, and Erick on DEI, identity politics, and why "woke" is alive and well on college campuses Tim Keller and the image of God: Erick's private conversations with Keller, why his critics twisted theology to fit politics, lessons from CNN friendships with Paul Begala and Donna Brazile, and Ketanji Brown Jackson as…

Broadcasting from the home bunker on a day of runaway mattress deliveries, Erick Erickson breaks down President Trump's United Nations remarks: the Shield of the Americas alliance with Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, renaming artificial intelligence "super intelligence," rejecting global AI restrictions, and a call for the complete economic isolation of Iran as Xi Jinping arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Then Erick explains why capping diesel prices or banning diesel exports would raise costs on everything shipped into America, how tariffs and the Canada trade war wiped out Vermont's Jasper Hill Farm, and why Kamala Harris may sit out 2028 while she campaigns for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Trump at the UN: Shield of the Americas, "super intelligence" replacing AI, 18 new munitions plants, and isolating Iran until it stops attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz Xi Jinping's visit, his purge of generals, and fears he thinks he can play Trump on Taiwan; Brent crude over $100 and a 19 year high in Treasury…

Erick Erickson says America needs litmus tests for crazy, starting with the Last Ditch lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where critics cried ableism and eugenics when the struggling bar dropped its N95 mask mandate one night a week, and moving to Bill Burr's defense of Luigi Mangione, Tyler Robinson and Charlie Kirk, and transgender athletes in girls sports. Then Erick explains why Xi Jinping is a real totalitarian, unlike Donald Trump, as the Chinese dictator arrives at Joint Base Andrews believing he can make Trump cave on Taiwan, plus the Paramount Warner Bros merger meltdown at CNN and the AI bubble coming for online retail. The Last Ditch lesbian bar mask mandate fight in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the "intersectional" backlash, and the Boston Globe's record breaking story Litmus tests for crazy: Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson, Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle, Tyler Robinson and Charlie Kirk, Lindsay Clancy, masks in 2026, and kids transitioning Xi Jinping's visit, his purge of Chinese generals,…

Erick Erickson explains why Meta's new AI agent Muse, the number one app in the Apple App Store, has Amazon blocking it and Wall Street dumping bank, insurer, telecom, and travel stocks, and why he is fine with AI agents canceling unused subscriptions and hunting down better deals even as a Financial Times study finds ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and Grok get financial questions wrong most of the time. Then, with the 10 year Treasury yield at a 19 year high, Erick plays Rand Paul on CNBC blaming both parties for the national debt, warns of stagflation and a bipartisan fiscal cliff Mitch McConnell predicted, and asks listeners to pray for Ben Sasse after his liver surgery. Meta's Muse AI agent: Amazon blocks it from shopping, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Allstate, and Charles Schwab shares slide, and Goldman Sachs flags telecom, insurance, and utilities as "consumer inertia" stocks at risk AI agents versus Main Street retail: Amazon's ad business, Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Blick, and why Erick misses…

Erick breaks down President Trump's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, from calling the International Criminal Court a rogue institution and an evil group of people, to the Iran ultimatum (a deal or annihilation, with no thought given to the midterms), to the moment the Cuban delegation walked out. Then a searing hour on Canada's MAID program and the death of 83 year old Brigitte Stegman, a Christian grandmother who told her family she had made a mistake two days before doctors killed her. Plus Marco Rubio made permanent as national security advisor, Zelensky laying white roses at the 9/11 memorial, and why deregulating natural gas in 1993 proved the free market right. Trump at the United Nations: the International Criminal Court, UNESCO, a 15 percent UN budget cut, and no global carbon tax on his watch Iran ultimatum from the UN podium, plus Marco Rubio on diesel prices, the Black Sea, and the Houthis The Cuban delegation walks out as Trump ties Havana to the Communist Party USA, Antifa, and the…

Erick takes apart the online outrage machine after Converse pulled a Chuck 70 ad over absurd claims that a K-pop star's photo evoked a KKK hood and a lynching, and explains why Nike's habit of apologizing to the white wokes helped drop it out of the S&P 100 for the first time since 1998. Then the mob turns on Taylor Swift for cheering her husband Travis Kelce during the Chiefs' 33 to 30 win over the Colts, Rick Jackson's brutal 2020 riot ad flatlines Keisha Lance Bottoms in the Georgia governor's race, and General Motors delivers Patriot missile housings to Lockheed Martin just 22 days after signing the contract. His thesis all hour: the only way to play the outrage game is to refuse to play it. Converse pulls the Karina Chuck 70 ad instead of saying "we did nothing wrong," and Nike falls out of the S&P 100 for the first time since 1998 Taylor Swift cheers Travis Kelce and gets attacked for it, plus Brad Wilcox and the Institute for Family Studies data on masculine husbands and happy marriages Rick Jackson's…

Erick Erickson walks through the economic war on Iran, with Brent and West Texas crude back below $100, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on CNBC detailing five new sanctions authorities that shut down Iranian airlines worldwide and closed branches of Egyptian, Turkish and Russian banks, and Wall Street Journal reporting on the US Navy blockade, stranded truckers at the Pakistani and Afghan borders, and Iran's paranoia after the Hezbollah pager operation. He covers record diesel at $6.31 a gallon, JP Morgan admitting it has no model for the endgame, Steve Moore's deregulation case, and the breaking news that the Trump administration is weighing a diesel export ban. Then former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin joins to explain the Education Freedom Tax Credit and why 20 governors still have not opted in, and Erick closes on the Associated Press tying a Mississippi killing to lynchings and on Senator John Curtis demanding an investigation of the Don Jr. wedding. Iran under blockade: Scott Bessent on CNBC,…

Erick opens on the Nikole Hannah-Jones piece in the New York Times Magazine, where the 1619 Project author admits she sent her own daughter into a failing New York City public school as an act of collective good, then watched the girl move to a better high school and discover she had never actually learned algebra. Fresh off his debut on ABC's This Week, Erick lays out the three things Donald Trump must do before the midterms: go quiet, kill every tariff, and finish Iran. Plus the networks suspending the White House pool, a $35,000 per pupil system that cannot teach long division, and why Republicans on the ground are in all hands on deck panic. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the 1619 Project, and the New York Times Magazine confession that her daughter's school failed her The case against public schools: teachers unions, no homework, Algebra for All, and New York City at $35,000 per pupil losing to Mississippi at $10,000 Erick's three-step plan for President Trump: disappear from social media, take all tariffs to…

Oil slips under $100 a barrel on talk of negotiations, but Erick Erickson argues the Iran story is Groundhog Day: the extremist faction now running Tehran has no interest in talking, is rebuilding its missile shield with Chinese technology, and is betting it can outlast Donald Trump until Democratic socialists gut the war. He walks the map of the world's great choke points, the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal, explains how the Houthi seizure of Perim Island closes the Red Sea, and makes a blunt proposal: buy drones from Ukraine, which will build over 5 million this year while America builds fewer than 100,000, and finish the job. Then a Cobb County mother named Harper calls with the story of a straight-A middle schooler who drowned in honors classes, and Erick returns to his most radical idea, abolishing public schools altogether. Iran's extremist faction consolidates power, pushes out its own president, and rebuilds its missile shield with Chinese help while Marco…

Erick Erickson plays a new Great Lakes PAC ad in which David Beamer, father of Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer, confronts Abdul El-Sayed over his refusal to disavow Hassan Piker's claim that America deserved 9/11, and calls it one of the most powerful spots of the cycle. Before that, a full teach-in on vertical and horizontal federalism and the case every American should be watching, Suncor Energy v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County, where Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is fighting a Colorado theory that would let one county regulate emissions produced anywhere on earth. Then Lincoln Public Schools, where the district quietly hired an LGBTQ+ advocate with a Luigi Mangione shirt while only 55 percent of its third graders read at grade level. Vertical and horizontal federalism explained: Article I Section 8, the plenary police power of the states, why Washington could not lock down your state during COVID, and Erick's case for repealing the Seventeenth Amendment Suncor Energy v. Boulder…

Erick Erickson opens Open Line Friday with the Democratic pivot nobody expected: Lindsay James running ads on girls sports in Iowa's second district, James Talarico backing off in Texas, and Democrats all over the map fleeing open borders and defund the police with forty days left before the midterms. Then a caller on the Lindsay Clancy mistrial sets Erick off, and he makes the case that the lone Haitian American juror who refused to be browbeaten is the hero of the whole story. Plus the real driver behind gas prices at the pump, why Ken Paxton still has a path in Texas while Republicans quietly pull money out of Georgia, and Erick's Sunday debut on ABC's This Week with Donna Brazile and Frank Luntz. The Democratic pivot on 80/20 issues: Lindsay James in Iowa, James Talarico in Texas, and the sleight of hand hiding inside "boys should not be in girls sports" Why the polling may be wrong again: the "who do you think will win" metric, Sean Trende, and the 2014 Pat Roberts lesson in Kansas The Lindsay Clancy…

Erick Erickson spends the back half of Open Line Friday on two collapses. Nike, the company named for the Greek goddess of victory, has been dropped from the S&P 100 after almost 18 years, having wiped out more than 200 billion dollars in market value since its 2021 peak, and Kylian Mbappe just walked away to On, the Swiss brand that hired Thierry Henry to run its entry into soccer. Erick argues the Colin Kaepernick lectures and the direct to consumer gamble did the damage the business press will not name, then turns to a New York Times guest essay arguing the University of California should stay away from the SAT, which sets up his case that poor black kids in Mississippi are out reading and out scoring rich kids in California. TOPICS Nike drops out of the S&P 100 after 18 years: more than 200 billion dollars in market cap gone since November 2021, Greater China sales down 17 percent, and CEO Elliott Hill trying to rebuild the wholesale relationships the company burned Kylian Mbappe leaves Nike for On, the…

Erick Erickson closes Open Line Friday with the fight that earned him death threats this week. He plays Hassan Piker telling Axios the Middle East would be more stable with an Iranian nuclear weapon, watches Jake Tapper and Abby Phillip try to make Tucker Carlson the right wing mirror image of a man Tucker just endorsed in Michigan, and then walks through Charles Haywood, the shampoo millionaire whose foundationalist manifesto, praise for Francisco Franco and whites only Society of American Civic Renewal are quietly buying their way into conservative boards and church bodies. Then breaking news from the Department of Justice: the federal ban on handgun sales to 18 to 20 year olds is unconstitutional and will no longer be enforced. Plus F-35 stealth components that disappeared into Hong Kong, and callers on assimilation, refineries and six dollar diesel. Hassan Piker on Axios saying Iran has a right to nuclear weapons and citing John Mearsheimer, why Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers make Michigan the test case,…

Erick Erickson opens on the Axios interview in which Twitch streamer Hasan Piker says the United States is worse than Al Qaeda pound for pound, and traces how Democrats built Piker into their answer to Joe Rogan before trying to walk it back. He ties Piker to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who deflects criticism of Sharia law as white supremacy and argues breast cancer research is overfunded because of white privilege, and to Michigan congressional nominee William Lawrence, who wants to abolish single family homes and heterosexual marriage. Then Erick turns the same spotlight on his own side, calling for the Republican Party to purge the white nationalists and Nazi sympathizers before independent voters decide both parties are crazy. Hasan Piker tells Axios that America has caused more terror than Al Qaeda, while the Democrats who elevated him into fawning New York Times and Vanity Fair profiles now claim he is just a live streamer Abdul El-Sayed on Sharia law, white privilege and breast cancer…

Erick Erickson devotes the hour to Greta Gerwig's new Chronicles of Narnia, beginning with The Magician's Nephew, and the decision to have Meryl Streep voice Aslan. He walks through why Aslan is C.S. Lewis's Christ figure, from the stone table in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, and argues that one small change guts the entire Christian allegory even if the movie sells tickets. He also defends Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey against critics on the right, and closes with a personal tribute to Dauvey Eisner. Greta Gerwig's Chronicles of Narnia reboot starts with The Magician's Nephew, and Meryl Streep voices a female Aslan, which Erick calls missing the point out of the gate Why Aslan cannot be female: the stone table, the resurrection at sunrise, the torn temple curtain parallel, and the line where Aslan tells the Pevensie children he has another name in their world C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Oxford pub, Mere Christianity, and how Tolkien brought Lewis to…

Erick Erickson turns his equal opportunity offending on the left, taking apart Congressman Thomas Massie's House floor claim that Israel committed a genocide in Gaza, and arguing that what happened was a war Hamas started on October 7th, not a genocide. He walks through the New York Times piece on Israel viewing itself as a victim, the Macklemore antisemitism fight that got the rapper booted from Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium and left Ed Sheeran's tour in limbo, and the Ms. Rachel YouTube backlash, then makes the theological argument that antisemitism comes from the devil and that no Christian can hate the Jews. He closes the hour on Constitution Day with a defense of compromise, federalism and gridlock, plus breaking news on a proposed U.S. Army base in Poland and Marco Rubio's new round of Cuba sanctions. Thomas Massie's genocide claim on the House floor, and Erick's argument that Massie let his critics radicalize him into contrarianism and antisemitism after 2016 Why there was no genocide in Gaza:…

Erick names the names. He walks through his newsletter on Charles Haywood, the shampoo magnate turned self described would be warlord whose money runs through the Claremont Institute, the Society for American Civic Renewal, American Reformer, New Founding and American Moment, and who is funding a push into the Southern Baptist Convention, the PCA and the Global Methodist Church. Then the economy turns ugly: oil over $100 a barrel, diesel near $6.22 a gallon, and a Federal Reserve under Kevin Warsh widely expected to raise interest rates. Charles Haywood, the "foundationalist manifesto," and the call for an American Caesar Claremont Institute money, the Society for American Civic Renewal, Nate Fisher, American Reformer, William Wolfe and the Center for Baptist Leadership Carl Schmitt's friend and enemy politics, the twisting of "love your enemies," and the "no enemies to the right" doctrine Bo French, Jack Posobiec and Benny Johnson attacking Indian American kids in Texas, and why it is racism Oil over $100,…

Erick breaks down the numbers in the Georgia governor race, where Republican Rick Jackson has reserved $40.5 million in ad time against Keisha Lance Bottoms and her $42,000, and calls Jackson's foster care and Atlanta riot spots the best political ads of the cycle. Then to Michigan, where Mike Rogers is sitting on opposition research that has Abdul El-Sayed in his own words saying the government overfunds breast cancer research, and to Texas and Florida, where James Talarico and Angie Nixon are handing Republicans the tape. Plus callers on Iran's enriched uranium buried under Pickaxe Mountain, why America cannot refine its own sweet crude, and Saudi Arabia firing a Chinese made Dongfeng missile in Yemen. Rick Jackson's $40.5 million ad reservation versus Keisha Lance Bottoms' $42,000, and why the Georgia governor race is not close on money Why Jackson's positive foster care ads let his negative Atlanta riot ads land without raising his own negatives Mike Rogers, Abdul El-Sayed, and the coming breast cancer…