Politics and Religion. We’re not supposed to talk about that, right? Wrong! We only say that nowadays because the loudest, most extreme voices have taken over the whole conversation. Well, we‘re taking some of that space back! If you’re dying for some dialogue instead of all the yelling; if you know it’s okay to have differences without having to hate each other; if you believe politics and religion are too important to let ”the screamers” drown out the rest of us and would love some engaging, provocative and fun conversations about this stuff, then ”Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other” is for you!
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Kevin D. Williamson of The Dispatch || “The Saving Grace of Trump Is That He’s Stupid and Lazy”
Épisode 476
mardi 27 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:22:54
Kevin D. Williamson says the saving grace of Donald Trump is that he’s stupid and lazy. And that’s just one of the things he says on this episode that will make somebody mad.
Kevin D. Williamson of The Dispatch joins Corey to talk about growing up in Lubbock, learning to write from Tom Wolfe and the back pages of National Review, and why his reporting method amounts to “send Kevin someplace he doesn’t belong.” Fresh off a week in the Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere in Texas covering the midterms, Kevin explains why Texas Democrats are courting a new constituency: normal people. Then the conversation turns to impeachment, corruption, Catholic and evangelical America, and why your politics shouldn’t be your religion.
✅ Share this episode with a friend who treats politics like a religion
Key Takeaways
Texas Democrats changed their slate. Outside of James Talarico, the party nominated boots-and-cowboy-hat Tejano candidates who talk about healthcare and gas prices instead of identity politics.
Corruption is becoming a kitchen-table issue. Kevin argues voters connect $6 diesel to the grifting they see from people in power, and it’s showing up in the polls.
Impeachment depends on the Senate. If Democrats win the Senate, Kevin expects impeachment plus a long run of oversight investigations, which he calls how the constitutional system is supposed to work.
Politics has replaced church for a lot of people. Bitter political tribalism has grown as participation in religious life has declined. If politics is your religion, Kevin says, you should try to fix that about yourself.
About Our Guest
Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent at The Dispatch, where he writes the Monday newsletter Wanderland. He spent 15 years as a writer and editor at National Review, served as theater critic for The New Criterion, and is writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His books include The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics among several others.
Proud to be part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.
“If Christians believed their own dogma, the world would look different from the way it looks.” Now go talk some politics and religion with gentleness and respect.
Two Young Parents in Statehouse Leadership, a Democrat and a Republican, on Bringing the Kids to Work || Terms of Service with Future Caucus
Épisode 475
jeudi 22 octobre 2026 • Durée 48:54
Terms of Service with Future Caucus
A Vermont Democrat and a South Carolina Republican, both young parents in legislative leadership, on what it takes to raise small kids while serving in the statehouse.
Terms of Service is a limited series from Future Caucus and TP&R, hosted by Future Caucus CEO Layla Zaidane. People run for state legislature to serve their communities, then find the fine print. This episode brings together Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone (D-VT) and Rep. Brandon Newton (R-SC), assistant majority leaders in their chambers, on bringing a baby to the House floor, scheduling around daycare pickup, and why legislatures need people living through the issues they vote on.
This series is a partnership between SCAN Media and Future Caucus. Executive Producers: Future Caucus and Layla Zaidane.
The norms are built around the 90. When only 10 of 100 lawmakers have small kids, defaults like a 5 p.m. call get built for everyone else. In South Carolina, committee chairs now aim to wrap by 5 p.m., a change in culture rather than in the rules.
A baby on the floor lowered the temperature. Stone brought her son Salem to the Vermont House every day of session, starting 10 weeks postpartum. Colleagues from both parties thanked her, and she says it helped her bipartisan bill banning toxic chemicals in baby food.
2026 Midterm Senate Forecast | Polls vs. Models with Silver Bulletin’s Eli McKown-Dawson
Épisode 474
lundi 19 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:09:18
Two weeks out, Silver Bulletin's forecast gives Democrats a 75% chance to win the Senate. But as our guest reminds us, one in four chances happen all the time.
Corey sits down with Eli McKown-Dawson, senior elections analyst at Silver Bulletin, to look under the hood of the midterm forecast. They cover how polls get weighted, why a four-point lead can mean a 90% chance to win, and go state by state through the Senate map, from Texas and Maine to Kansas and Nebraska.
✅ Share this episode with the friend who says the polls are always wrong
Key Takeaways
- Polls are snapshots, forecasts are probabilities. A poll captures opinion at one moment. The model combines polls with fundamentals and simulates the election many times.
- Not every poll counts the same. Silver Bulletin weights pollsters by track record, recency, and transparency, and adjusts for partisan house effects.
- The Labor Day shift was real. Once pollsters moved to likely voter models, the generic ballot went from about D+6 to D+9, reflecting Democrats' recent turnout edge.
- Candidates still matter. Maine is competitive mainly because of Susan Collins, and Ken Paxton's weaknesses help explain why Texas leans toward Talarico.
Glad I Got Disillusioned || Retired Pastor Pat Kahnke on the Evangelical Trump Vote
Épisode 473
vendredi 16 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:14:30
Twenty years in the pulpit. Ten years of disillusionment. He says he’s better for it.
Pat Kahnke cast his first vote for Ronald Reagan, spoke on behalf of the pro-life movement, and picked his church because he walked in on Pro-Life Sunday. Then 2016 sent him back to rethink all of it. In this Substack Live conversation, Corey and Pat talk about why the “binary choice” argument falls apart in the primaries, what “if love is obedience” says about authoritarian faith, the Somali community and the ICE occupation in Minnesota, and Pete Hegseth’s push to livestream an execution.
✅ Share this episode with someone who’s been told voting is a binary choice
Key Takeaways
Disillusionment can be a gift. Pat has lost his illusions about the movement he came from, about the average voter and even about Minnesota. Seeing what actually is helps him get past most of the anger and try to be useful.
The binary choice is a myth. White evangelicals chose Trump over every other Republican in the primaries. Pat says that blows the “lesser of two evils” excuse out of the water.
Earned authority vs. positional authority. Pat’s biggest fights with his own church elders were over whether authority is owed or earned. He sees an authoritarian kind of Christian who will back anyone willing to exercise power over the people they fear.
Calling the 2026 House & Senate Races || To the Republic... To the Pub: The Prognostipalooza Edition
Épisode 472
mardi 13 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:35:54
Last time we promised unreasonably irresponsible midterm predictions and got sidetracked. This time we actually make the calls.
Chip is back at Doc’s Inn for another round of “To the Republic... To the Pub.” First comes a fight over whether the polls lean left, what Nate Silver actually said in 2016, and whether 2024 Trump voters are staying put. Then the House, and the Senate map race by race, from Georgia to a wild card in Nebraska. Also featured: a Kalshi bet, a Montblanc pen, and a shot riding on the outcome.
On the Map
The House, plus Senate races in Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, Texas, Alaska and Iowa. Corey also brings a wild card: Nebraska. Some calls we agree on. Some we definitely don’t.
A Conservative Votes Blue || Matt K. Lewis on the 2026 Midterms
Épisode 471
vendredi 9 octobre 2026 • Durée 50:54
He almost never votes for Democrats. This year, he’s making an exception.
Matt K. Lewis has spent his career on the right. He’s won a Buckley Award, he was named CPAC Blogger of the Year, and he once wanted to grow up to be Alex P. Keaton. In this Substack Live conversation, Corey and Matt dig into why he’s voting blue in 2026, how Trump broke up his own coalition, the Senate races worth watching four weeks out, and what both parties could learn from a wave, if one comes.
✅ Share this episode with someone who’s rethinking their vote this year
Key Takeaways
A vote meant as a message. Matt sees a blue wave as the lesson Republicans need to finally put distance between themselves and Trump. If the wave doesn’t come, he worries the party decides it has to stick with him.
Connect the dots. Warnings about norms and the rule of law don’t move enough voters on their own. “He’s building a ballroom while you can’t afford gas” does.
Don’t get high on your own supply. Matt argues that a wave won with candidates like Roy Cooper and Mary Peltola isn’t a mandate to move left. He thinks the smarter read is economic populism without the culture-war baggage.
His 2026 vote is a message about Trump. In 2028, either party has to earn it.
Trump Has Finally Lost the Plot || with Jonathan Rauch & Peter Wehner
Épisode 470
mardi 6 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:24:18
For ten years, Pete Wehner's email subject line for every new outrage was "No bottom means no bottom." Now he and Jon Rauch think they may have found one.
Jonathan Rauch and Peter Wehner join Corey to talk about their New York Times essay, "Trump Has Finally Lost the Plot." They lay out where Trump succeeded, where his effort to remake American society failed, and why Minneapolis, the courts, and his falling approval numbers made the difference. Jon stayed for some bonus time to talk about when to keep a hard conversation going and when to walk away.
Rauch and Wehner put Trump's agenda into three buckets: lowering the country's norms, running the government as a family business (Max Weber's "patrimonialism"), and using federal power to rewire civil society. He mostly succeeded at the first two and failed at the third.
They credit the people of Minneapolis, the lower courts, and approval ratings in the 30s with forcing the administration to retreat.
Drawing on a sermon by Rabbi Michael Holtzman, Rauch says walking away from someone is sometimes fine. Walking away with contempt is the problem.
About Jonathan Rauch
Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institute, a contributing writer at the New York Times and The Atlantic, and the author of The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth.
The Polls Were Right! || Carl Allen on the 2026 Midterms, from Texas to Maine
Épisode 469
vendredi 2 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:05:58
Everyone says the polls blew it. Carl Allen says they didn't, and his research shows candidates averaging 49% or higher in well-polled races have won 98% of the time since 2004. Then we go race by race: Texas, Ohio, Maine, and two red states that could shock everyone on election night.
Recorded live on Substack, this conversation with data analyst Carl Allen starts with why polls aren't predictions and ends with a tour of the 2026 Senate map, with real poll averages and prediction market odds pulled up as we talked. Along the way, Carl explains why a one-point lead can be safer than a three-point lead, and why undecided voters in Minnesota aren't the same as undecided voters in Ohio.
✅ Share this episode with the friend who refreshes the polls every morning
Key takeaways
Polls estimate a candidate's current support, not the final margin. When late deciders break heavily one way, as they did for David Crowley in Wisconsin's governor primary, that isn't a poll error.
Watch the 50% line, not the spread. A candidate near 50% has little room to be overtaken, no matter how many voters are undecided.
Undecided voters aren't a monolith. That's why prediction markets give a small Democratic lead in Minnesota 90% odds while a similar lead in Texas gets about 60%.
Carl's sleeper races are Kansas and Nebraska. If Democrats have a strong night, he expects those two to move together.
About Carl Allen
Joan Blades and Jacob Hess || MoveOn's Co-Founder and a Utah Conservative Walk Into a Living Room
Épisode 468
mardi 29 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:30:18
Joan Blades helped launch MoveOn. Jacob Hess grew up a conservative kid in Utah. Their friendship is the argument.
Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn and Living Room Conversations, and Jacob Hess of the Deseret News join Corey to talk about what happens when political opposites actually sit down together. They cover MoveOn's 1998 start as a one-sentence petition, why these conversations feel scary before they feel fun, and how local pride could rebuild trust in our elections.
Hess traces his turn to a graduate school computer lab, where a classmate held him after he learned his brother was being sent home to die. After that, the culture war rhetoric about "dangerous" people stopped making sense.
Hess argues dialogue shouldn't ban persuasion, because people with conviction end up feeling they must leave it at the door. Blades says curiosity and listening build the relationship that makes honest grappling possible.
Hess frames this work as public health, since chronic anger is chronic stress. Blades adds that if we're in a loneliness epidemic, human relationships are the obvious remedy.
Yeah, Woke 1 Was Crazy || But That Laugh Will Not Do
Épisode 467
vendredi 25 septembre 2026 • Durée 21:18
"Woke 1 was crazy," AOC said on national TV, and then she laughed. Corey wants to know what that laugh leaves out.
This morning, Corey published a new essay on Substack about what the woke era actually cost: friendships, careers, invitations that stopped coming. It's also about the friends who stayed close anyway, across real disagreement. This episode, Corey reads it to you himself.
Fixes for parents help everyone. Vermont lets members vote remotely in committee up to three times a session, and older members used it during flu season as much as parents did. Small changes like that make the job workable for anyone with something else going on.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone (D) represents Burlington in the Vermont House and serves as an assistant majority leader, first elected in 2022. She is an occupational therapist at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
Rep. Brandon Newton (R) represents District 45 in Lancaster County, South Carolina, first elected in 2016 at age 22. He serves as an assistant majority leader and teaches as a college professor. Host Layla Zaidane is president and CEO of Future Caucus.
- Try to understand why people believe what they do. Eli's advice is to separate someone's politics from how you feel about them as a person, and to bring some intellectual humility.
About Our Guest
Eli McKown-Dawson is a senior elections analyst at Silver Bulletin, where he writes about polls, politics, and elections and develops polling averages and election forecasts. He previously contributed to YouGov's U.S. politics team.
Pick one issue. Instead of arguing with friends and family about everything, Pat suggests learning one issue well and discussing it calmly, with facts. For him, that issue is immigration.
About Our Guest
Pat Kahnke is a retired evangelical pastor who spent 20 years in ministry in the Twin Cities, including a church he planted in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood. He’s the author of MAGA Seduction: Resisting the Debasement of the Christian Conscience (2020) and A Christian Case Against Donald Trump (2024), and he hosts Culture, Faith, and Politics on YouTube and Substack.
Matt K. Lewis is a political columnist for The Washington Sun and a former senior columnist at The Daily Beast. He’s a podcaster, YouTuber, and frequent political commentator on television, and he wrote Too Dumb to Fail and Filthy Rich Politicians.
Peter Wehner is a senior fellow at The Trinity Forum and a contributing Opinion writer at The New York Times and The Atlantic. He served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations and is the author of The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump.
Carl Allen is a researcher and analyst of sports and political data and the author of The Polls Weren't Wrong (CRC Press, 2024). His research focuses on inefficiencies in political betting markets and improving polling methods, and his background includes quantitative analysis for University of Louisville Baseball and MLB data work for Stats Perform.
Blades is organizing locally around a principle from Braver Angels' cross-partisan work: voting should be easy, cheating should be hard. Local pride in how elections work, she says, is the path to national trust.
About Joan Blades
Joan Blades is a co-founder of Living Room Conversations, MoveOn, and MomsRising. A mediator and attorney by training, she co-authored The Custom-Fit Workplace and The Motherhood Manifesto.
About Jacob Hess
Jacob Hess writes for the Deseret News and co-authored You're Not as Crazy as I Thought (But You're Still Wrong) with Phil Neisser. A former board member of the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation, he teaches mindfulness and researches long-term healing from depression. His upcoming book is Recovering Hope.
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