Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly vote to release the Epstein files ( Grant reacts live) but it's only the beginning of the process. 

Grant explains Trump and Republican leaders' flip-flop on releasing the files, whether it's really an about-face, and whether the Senate might use the files as a political bargaining chip. 

Plus, Trump's weekend crash-out over the files. He lashes out at reporters and long...

Another crossover episode this week! 

Every Friday, Grant joins Ryan Welton at the Oklahoma Memo to talk national politics. 

The two talk all about the shutdown, the shocking details in the Epstein files and whether MAGA is starting to sour on Trump or if there's anything that could ever make that happen. 

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Oklahoma Memo

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The longest government shutdown in US history is officially over after 43 days. But the worst of the fighting in Washington might just be ramping up. 

Grant explains what's in the final government reopening deal, the blatant self-dealing grift GOP Senators tucked into the deal, and when you'll start seeing government money again. 

But with the shutdown out of the way, it means the fight over forcing the DOJ to release the E...

Eight Democratic caucus senators vote to end the government shutdown after 40 days, after brokering a deal with Republicans that doesn't include protecting healthcare subsidies for millions of Americans. It was the reason Democrats forced a shutdown, and now it looks like they get nothing. 

What was it all for? Did the Democrats really cave or were they playing the long game?

Grant explains the deal the Senate made, the divide w...

Grant is joined by fashion writer and the voice behind the great Substack, The Official Nancy Drew Newsletter, Lindsey Louise to talk about what the deal is with MAGA fashion and political fashion in general right now. 

Lindsey breaks down how fashion on the right is about power, who has it, who doesn't, and what value messages MAGA's different factions are sending each other and the rest of the world 

Plus, what the Left&a...

It was a mini-midterm appetizer sampler of elections this week across the country. At nearly every turn Democrats won in high profile races big and small. But what does it mean? Does it mean anything? 

Grant breaks down the races for governor in VA and NJ. The California vote to redistrict the state and the huge win for Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York. 

Those races were certainly rebukes of the Trump administration, b...

President Donald Trump went on 60 Minutes for the first time in 5 years and laid out how he sees the most pressing issues, like the government shutdown and high prices. 

Those answers were telling, but throughout the entire interview, Trump was mostly telling on himself. He admitted to pardoning a money launderer without knowing anything about the case. He said he didn't think ICE is going far enough in cities like Chicago and ...

Grant is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, Princeton professor Paul Starr. 

Paul is the author of the new book American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to now (link below). He talks about how we got to this moment of retribution and revenge, how it's different from how political scores used to be settled, and why Americans have stricter rules for Dem...

The government shutdown is a month long now, just five days behind the longest ever. But it's not the record deadline that's the big one; it's the one happening this weekend. 

On Nov. 1, food stamp benefits and health insurance subsidies expire for tens of millions of Americans who rely on those programs to avoid starvation or get vital care. 

Grant explains whether a judge in Massachusetts can stop kids from going hun...

Donald Trump says again he's not ruling out a third term, even though there's no legal way for him to become president again after 2028. But that's not stopping MAGA from talking about and some Republican Senators not ruling it out either. 

But the new focus on a third term comes as Trump reveals new things about his health, namely, he underwent an MRI and more cognitive tests at a mystery second visit to Walter Reed ...

This month, the US Supreme Court looks poised to cut out the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which has been making sure Americans of all kinds can take part in free and fair elections with a chance to have their voices represented at all levels of government. 

Grant talks to Dave Daley, an elections expert, about what this recent case in front of SCOTUS is, how the VRA actually works, and what it means for Americans of color and all...

The president decided to demolish the East Wing of the White House this week without warning or approval to make way for his new ballroom. The images of heavy machinery tearing into the First Lady's office have sent shockwaves through our collective ideas of American imagery. 

Grant talks about how Trump went back on his word about not touching the White House, what we're losing by losing the East Wing, how this is unlike ...

The second round of the No Kings protests swept the country over the weekend with an estimated 5-7 million people participating in more than 2600 rallies and marches. But what did they actually do?

Grant breaks down what the largest US protests in 50 years actually means, how  the White House is doubling down on calling Trump a king as he continues to threaten American cities with the Insurrection Act. 

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With the government still shut down and the Speaker of the House indicating they're willing to wait it out for the long haul, the Nov. 1 expiration date on affordable healthcare through tax credits for millions is coming quickly. 

Grant is joined by University of Michigan Assistant Professor Michael Shepherd, who studies rural health care and how it meets politics and race. They explore what it means for rural hospitals that ar...

Grant breaks down the complicated case being heard by the US Supreme Court that could fundamentally change how we run our elections, especially in the South. 

The court could potentially make it legal to draw districts based on race, which could bring back Jim Crow-era elections and put people of color out of power for decades. 

Ending this part of the landmark Voting Rights Act has been the goal of Chief Justice John Roberts, and he...

Members of Congress are still deadlocked over how to reopen the government as the shutdown hits the two-week mark. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says we're "barreling" toward the longest shutdown in history, but has his own motives for not coming to the table including carrying out Project 2025 and helping Trump keep the Epstein files hidden. 

As that's happening, Democrats continue to push for restoring Medi...

It seems like American politics right now is filled with conspiracies. Deep state plots to undermine Trump. Vaccines cause autism. Joe Biden's Autopen or The Epstein Files. 

But University of Miami political science professor Joe Uscinski tells Grant, it's not the conspiracies that are the problem, or even how many people believe them, but that so many people in power right now believe them. 

It's a conversation that j...

The White House is in serious talks to invoke the Insurrection Act over nonexistent out of out-of-control crime and invented and self-incited scenarios of violence against ICE agents in Chicago and Portland. 

As Texas troops stand ready to invade Illinois on the President's orders, Grant breaks down what it would mean for Trump to use the Insurrection Act, how it works and answers the question, just how close are we to civil wa...

National Guard troops from Texas are now staging at a base an hour outside Chicago, preparing to be deployed to the streets of America's largest city. 

Grant breaks down whether Trump can really just send troops into cities wherever and whenever he wants, how that's gone in other states and what the law says about it. 

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