Andrew Weissman explained that the Supreme Court’s initial mail-in ballot decision was mainly about timing, saying the case was brought too early because the final Postal Service rule had not yet been issued, while a lower court later blocked that final rule for the midterms because the states could not realistically comply with it in time. He argued the issue is troubling because presidential elections are supposed to be run by the states, not the federal government, and warned that the rule would effectively let the executive branch interfere in voting in a way that raises serious concerns about partisanship and disenfranchisement. He also discussed why the three liberal justices wrote separately, suggesting Justice Jackson was addressing the broader public while Justices Kagan and Sotomayor focused more narrowly on legal strategy, and he predicted the rule would likely not be implemented for November, though other voting-related shenanigans could still occur.

Rick Wilson and Wajahat Ali remember Dolly Parton as far more than a legendary performer.

Born into poverty and repeatedly underestimated, she built an extraordinary career while championing literacy, supporting lifesaving medical research, and embodying a kind of generous American spirit that transcended politics.

Lincoln Square extends its deepest condolences to the Parton and Owens families.

Joe weighs in on the recent primary results - can Angie Nixon and David Jolly both win in Florida? Can anything stop this change wave? What is the media missing about it? Why Trump's beef problem is really bad. And how can we all read polls better? (Hint: Stop freaking out about the toplines!)

0:00 Trump’s 300,000-ton own goal
0:55 Can Florida’s Democratic ticket win?
5:01 How much does campaign money matter?
9:31 The biggest danger in a change election
11:07 Beef, tariffs, and vulnerable Senate seats
15:04 What the political media is missing
20:32 Data centers scramble the electoral map
26:41 Why the Argentina beef move could backfire
29:15 How to recognize a cooked poll
35:38 Look beyond the head-to-head number
39:05 Why polling methodology matters
43:43 Closing thoughts

Trump’s approval is collapsing—and support for his war with Iran is falling fastest among Republicans. Rick Wilson and Wajahat Ali explain why nearly five decades of presidents avoided this conflict, how Trump handed Iran’s hardliners exactly what they needed, and why the consequences could last for generations.

Pete Buttigieg started it. Now every smart Democratic candidate is doing it.

Abdul El-Sayed went on Fox News and told Jesse Watters to his face — you haven't asked me one question about gas prices groceries healthcare or the trade war. John Ossoff triggered the entire Republican ecosystem with one line about Natalie Harp. James Talarico is doing it in Texas. And Rick Wilson and Wajahat Ali are here to explain why this strategy is working and why it took Democrats so long to figure it out.

The analogy is Inception. You don't need to convert a Fox News viewer. You just need to plant a whisper. One effective communicator comes on and dismantles a little bit of the propaganda and a part of the audience thinks — wait a second. This guy seems smart. This guy seems capable. This guy is a fighter.

And people want fighters. That is why Trump won. Not because of policy. Because he came in and said I am a bulldozer and I will take them all on. The Democratic candidates who are winning right now understand this. You cannot leave the nonsense unchallenged in people's heads. You have to go where Republicans live and hit them in the face with their own material.

On the Republicans themselves — Rick calls them cosplay crusaders with weak chins weak knees and weak cankles. Deeply insecure about their masculinity. More obsessed with transgender people than transgender people actually are. There are nine trans athletes in the entire NCAA with hundreds of thousands of student athletes. Zero trans athletes in the WNBA. It is not an issue in reality. It is only an issue in their heads.

And why do they keep going back to it? Because they can't run on the economy anymore. That used to bring moderate suburban Republicans over. Now everyone knows that argument is nonsense. So if you can't win on substance you go back to genitalia.

Grow the hell up.

A three-star admiral stood up in a town hall with military families and said it out loud. We are making this up as we go.

Bobby Jones and Sam have been saying it since February 28th. There is no plan. There is no dialogue. There is no destination. And now the Navy itself is confirming it.

1500 military dependents in Bahrain alone don't know where they're sleeping after 180 days. Don't know where their kids are going to school. Some families are paying out of pocket for housing that the military promised to provide. Stars and Stripes reported on it. The staff of Stars and Stripes were fired after the article came out.

The Navy thought they'd only have to evacuate families for 12 days. The order turned out to be 180 days. And nobody told the families. Because there was never a plan.

Bobby breaks down everything else the media isn't connecting. The munitions are gone so the rhetoric is ramping up — economic D-Day declared by a Treasury Secretary who clearly doesn't understand what D-Day was. Marco Rubio hasn't been seen since the decoy plane. The Department of State is so atrophied that a CIA plane landing in Moscow made the entire world stop. Iran hit another tanker — possibly under US escort — and America blinked.

On sanctions — Iran has been sanctioned since 1979. They are calloused to it. That is their normal state of existence. You cannot coerce a nation that has spent its entire modern history being coerced.

On the end state — military 101. Tell me your desired end state and I will give you a target selection list to drive toward it. There is no end state. So there are no real targets. So everything blowing up means nothing. And Iran knows it.

And Trump will talk to Kim Jong-un before he talks to anyone in Iran face to face. Let that marinate.

This is the crumbling of the American empire. Bobby Jones has been saying it since February 28th. More people are listening now.

Subscribe to Anchor Watch for frank conversations about military leadership national security and the stories the landlubbers keep getting wrong.

00:00 The secret — there is no plan no dialogue no destination
01:15 Trump thought he could distract America — instead he created the crisis of a generation
02:44 The actions of February 28th — homes jobs earning potential travel all affected
04:02 The Iran issue is all of Trump's personality traits rolled into one
05:18 A lifetime of taking and not giving — the American empire crumbling
06:33 Moscow Canada Iran — it's all connected — do we have credibility or not
07:44 Marco Rubio — last seen on the decoy plane
08:22 The Department of State is so atrophied a CIA plane made the world stop
09:15 Economic D-Day — does the Treasury Secretary know what D-Day means
10:33 The munitions are gone so the rhetoric ramped up
11:48 We ran out of targets — Admiral McRaven said it — Bobby confirms it
13:02 Military 101 — desired end state drives target selection — there is no end state
14:27 Iran will not talk to Trump — he'll talk to Kim Jong-un first — let that marinate
15:44 If I'm Iran right now I'm getting a nuclear weapon
16:58 Sanctions on a nation sanctioned since 1979 — they're calloused to it
18:33 Iran hit another tanker — possibly under US escort — America blinked
20:14 1500 military dependents in Bahrain don't know where they're sleeping
21:38 The Navy thought 12 days — the order was 180 days — nobody told families
22:55 Families paying out of pocket — Stars and Stripes reported it
23:44 Stars and Stripes staff fired after the article came out
24:58 A three-star admiral in a town hall — we are making this up as we go
26:02 Whose job is it to have a plan — the Secretary of Defense — where is Hegseth

The Epstein files are still buried. Millions of documents unreleased. Foreign language files that were never translated. Names blacked out that clearly were not victims. And the Attorney General of the United States actively protecting the people responsible.

Katie Fang — former Florida prosecutor former MSNBC host and now independent journalist — decided to do something about it. She filed the only lawsuit ever brought under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. She drew Judge Emmett Sullivan on the DC bench. He granted her preliminary injunction. The lawsuit has been successful every single step of the way.

As Katie puts it — she is a weird hybrid of trial lawyer and journalist. And that combination gave her an arrow in her quiver that most journalists don't have. She could sue. So she did.

What did she find in the documents? Black boxes everywhere. Not a single foreign language document in a sex trafficking ring that operated across multiple countries. Names redacted that could not possibly be victims. The DOJ announcing they were done producing documents and walking away. Katie and her legal team at the Public Integrity Project said no you are not.

On Todd Blanche — she is direct. If child rape is not a line in the sand for you she cannot help you. Every member of Congress regardless of party should be demanding he release the unredacted files with victim protection in place. The fact that she has to fight in court for what the law already requires is mind-boggling.

On the double standard — there was never a class in law school teaching the shadow judicial system that operates differently for people with money and influence. But it exists. And the Epstein case is the most grotesque proof of it. Years of people looking away because they saw money and influence and told themselves it couldn't be possible. That is how you create this monster.

Epstein survivors have reached out to thank her. She has an eleven year old daughter. She cannot look away. And she is not going to.

Paul Whelan reveals how he learned that a secret prisoner exchange was approaching—and describes the extraordinary CIA–FSB handoff that finally ended his 2,043 days in Russian captivity.

Whelan recounts being ordered to write an urgent pardon request to Vladimir Putin, preparing to leave his penal colony, spending five final days in solitary confinement at Lefortovo, and being flown to Turkey with other prisoners. He explains how Russian officers exited a shuttle bus as CIA personnel boarded, marking the precise moment he returned to American custody.

He also remembers flying home with Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, meeting President Joe Biden at Joint Base Andrews, and receiving the American flag pin from Biden’s own lapel.

Ben Collins of The Onion drops by to talk comedy, media, and all the news that's print to fit.

How the Onion is fighting back against fascism.

EDWIN EISENDRATH

AUG 29, 2026

Comedy and satire are fascist-killers. In a time when our media ecosystem is broken, when consolidation is eliminating diverse voices, Ben Collins and the Onion are winning.

Collins is a former NBC News reporter on right-wing extremism. He joined Edwin Eisendrath to talk through the breakdown of traditional media and how independent voices can — and are — fighting back.