In an ideal world (again, not the two above situations which were plagued by scandal and embarrassment), conventions are held every four years as a ceremonial opportunity to stump for each party’s respective presidential nominees. It’s pageantry. That’s it.

But the RNC is instead using a myriad of state “conventions” to raise money at a time when more and more Americans are squeezed out of affordable housing, home ownership, health insurance, full gas tanks, and food.

Which brings us to Texas and a bizarre state convention next week. Of note: The state Texas held its primaries and, so far, none of their GOP candidates have dropped out, making the need for a midterm convention utterly unnecessary.

You’d think that with the state’s senate contest in a statistical tie that the RNC would want nothing more than candidates to do all the hard work of actual campaigning instead of paying thousands to attend a vanity fest for Trump. Instead, tickets to events, including the upcoming Texas Republican Convention will cost up to $20,000.

From a July article in Politico (when these various shit shows were announced):

“An invitation from the Denton County Republican Party outside of Dallas offers attendees at the GOP’s midterm convention a chance to be “honorary delegates” for a cool $20,000.

And in California, a $250,000 “golden VIP member” ticket to the convention buys four floor badges, four hotel rooms, hotel transfers, gifts – and concierge services for the weekend.”

Trump and his party are bilking their own party members at a time when the message of the midterms is “affordability.” Just imagine for a hot (and unpleasant) minute if the DNC announced tickets to an unnecessary California “convention” with tickets that ran upwards of a quarter of a million.

You can’t because it would never, ever happen.

Yes, both parties court big donors and, yes, we need to get money out of politics. But these Texas races are closer than they should be, despite the state’s mid-decade redistricting scheme. A reminder that Texas had a deeply conservative Texas Republican senator who was up for reelection, a seat that Trump leveraged to win a primary for his buddy (and impeached Texas AG) Ken Paxton.

Once again: This isn’t necessary, but the GOP doesn’t really know how to do anything anymore except cater to rich people and treat their based like they’re fucking losers who don’t deserve actual automony over their bodies or their communities.

Tim on YouTube: Trump calls anti data-center voters “backwards and poor.”

Money can go far in any election. But ask the average Democratic voter if money is the only thing you need to win, and most of us will point to the DNC’s cash advantages in both 2016 and 2024.

Money goes far; but it isn’t enough.

Even if this “convention”/Trump suck-up fest in Texas brings in millions, those candidates still need to knock doors and meet people where they are, something that Texas Democrats are doing passionately at the moment.

As we close in on November remember these moments and ask yourself why these are the GOP’s priorities. Ask yourself why—as the 25-year anniversary of 9-11 is upon us—this is how they acknowledge the failure of the Iran War. Ask yourself what DOGE brought us when the government continues cuts yet more cyclospora research projects despite ongoing foodborne pathogen outbreaks?

Because they don’t care about anyone but rich people. It’s that simple.

He also explains why the allegations against Miller shook his district to its core, and what it says about a justice system where the wealthy and well connected get one set of rules and everybody else gets another.

Poindexter says he didn’t get into this race because of Miller’s personal life. He got in because Washington hasn’t heard from anybody who works for a living in a very long time.

Support Brian at PoindexterForCongress.com

Get Angry: Trump’s Trade War NUKED the Farm Economy - and MAGA still supports him

Donald Trump’s policies are hurting American farmers and ranchers. So why do so many still support him?

The Get Angry crew breaks down Trump’s foreign beef plan, the hypocrisy of MAGA’s “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” rhetoric, and the government bailouts his supporters conveniently ignore. They also examine Project 2025, Christian nationalism, Republican loyalty, and why politicians like Ted Cruz keep winning despite repeatedly failing the people they represent.

Plus: Could voting based on policies instead of party labels finally break America’s political brain rot?

Brad + Cory Show: This is how MAGA preys on LONELY men

Cootermaxxing, Andrew Wilson, and Red-Pill OnlyFans Pipeline

The MAGA manosphere preaches “traditional values” - but behind the moral outrage is a booming pipeline of rage bait, sexual content, and shameless grifting.

Brad, Cory, and Zak break down how OnlyFans creator Savanna Cannon uses recycled right-wing talking points to attract conservative men. They also cover how debate streamer Andrew Wilson profits by humiliating young women while selling masculinity and “verbal combat” to his audience. But when someone challenges Wilson’s own traditional image, the tough-guy persona quickly falls apart.

From “cootermaxxing” and fake podcast studios to debate courses, military claims, and a $300,000 Candace Owens showdown, this episode exposes the hypocrisy powering the red-pill economy.

No one should weep for the far-right MAGA poster child Milo Yiannopoulos.

The dude has said such horrendous shit over the years, it’s hard to repeat a single syllable of any of it. He was banned from the Twitter of old for his horrific hate speech. He was once the editor of the far-right, Trump-loving Breitbart “News” where he spewed absolute bullshit about everything from feminism (which he consistently refers to as “cancer”), Islam to racial and social justice.

He rose to prominence in alt-right circles by helping to solidify Gamergate as a cultural moment (one that is deeply gross, mind you), and remained a professional online troll by fanning the flames of every single online controversy you can name.

He was, and is, a total piece of shit.

You can assume, correctly, that his positions on immigration are awful. (We love that the trade publication Courthouse News referred to Yianopoulous as a “cheerleader for mass deportations.”)

Because Milo doesn’t understand the movement of hate he helped foster, he became a victim of it. Current Trump whisperer Laura Loomer bratted that it was none other than her who reported him to immigration authorities for overstaying his visa (he is a British citizen).

Tim Fullerton on Threads: “This is one ICE arrest I can get behind.”

It’s better for all of us if we don’t dive too deeply into the latest skirmish in MAGA world. But, because he briefly worked for the racist/antisemite Ye’s presidential run (gross, it’s all so gross), he put himself in the crosshairs of a movement built on the shifting sands of loyalty and paranoia.

These are all deeply disturbing and dangerous people. What is clear is that Trump’s allies within the government are using this arrest as an opportunity to remind everyone that they will turn on their own and quickly. (Milo has recently become uber buddies with another of Trump’s fallen angels, Marjorie Taylor Greene. We did mention this was all gross.)

But maybe America, which is suffering through yet another of Trump’s deeply stupid and pointless renaming schemes (Dear Google: it’s still fucking Lake Ontario), has earned this moment of schadenfreude. If you want to look at Milo’s grim headshot and laugh so loudly they can hear you on Mars?

Don’t let us stop you.

It’s a reminder that no one flying too high in the saddle in Trump’s innermost circles should ever get too comfortable, especially if they are no longer useful to him.

Some of these other racist clowns should make note. He’ll turn on them, too.

And leopards? Yeah. They’re not picky when they’re hungry.

In solidarity,

The Find Out Team

Anarchy, Capitalism, and The Haymarket Bombing

In the season finale of Executive Dysfunction, Amanda Nelson tells the story of the 1886 Haymarket Affair, when a massive labor movement in Chicago collided with police violence, a mysterious bombing, and a trial that put anarchism itself on the stand. Eight men were convicted despite no proof that any of them threw the bomb, and four were ultimately executed.

It’s a story of class warfare, immigrant workers, corporate power, and the bloody struggle behind workplace rights Americans now take for granted.

NEW Get Angry: Trump Voters Are Finding Out (feat. Bofa Deez)

TikTok creator LongLiveJudah aka Bofa Deez joins Bryan and Luke to discuss a question that’s getting harder to ignore: How much of this are we supposed to keep pretending is normal?

From farmers getting burned by the policies they voted for to MAGA regret, ICE, racism, Christian nationalism and the friends and family who still expect forgiveness, the guys unpack what happens when politics stops being an abstract debate and starts wrecking people’s actual lives. They also get into why so many voters support progressive policies while rejecting progressive politicians, the masculinity obsession on the right, AI and billionaire power, and whether America’s institutions can survive another round of this.

Find Out Lunchtime LIVE at NOON ET

Join us for our weekly hang where we talk about anything and everything that comes to mind. (Yes, we respond to the live chat.)

We’ll be here, unpacking the latest stories (RIP to the GOAT, Dolly Parton!) and questioning which inland waterway Trump will rename via a social media post next.

American Power: Trump’s Trade War With Canada Could Leave America in the Dark

Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with Canada could raise car prices, increase housing costs, damage American industries, and potentially threaten the deeply interconnected power grid shared by both countries.

Nat, Chad, and Matt (“Mr. Global”) break down Trump’s proposed 50% auto tariffs, Canada’s retaliation, the growing boycott of American products, and why millions of Americans depend on Canadian electricity.

Then they examine America’s $40T national debt, how it affects everyday consumers, and why immigration, trade, and consumer spending may be essential to preventing an even deeper economic crisis.

Plus: a promising clean-fertilizer breakthrough, a heartwarming Canadian road trip, and otters returning to New York City.

MAGA Christians want to be oppressed SO BAD.

It’s almost like the GOP is so lacking in vision they just make weird shit up.

Abdul El-Sayed’s election victory has

MAGA convinced that a “communist Muslim takeover” is coming, and conservatives are responding with panic over Sharia law, personalized Coke cans, and Muslim swimwear.

Brad, Cory, and Zak break down the latest right-wing outrage cycle, the attacks on Muslim politicians like El-Sayed and Zohran Mamdani, and why manufactured fears keep replacing meaningful conversations about affordability and healthcare.

Plus, the guys debate which famous men are actually attractive before Brad travels to a terrifying MAGA version of the future.

Ross's new organization, Man Made, is at wearemanmade.org.

Let’s say he truly put his efforts behind trade agreements and reinvested in domestic labor that somehow unwound 50+ years of neoliberal economic policy, reshoring high-wage, quality jobs back to the rust belt.

In four years. Wait, sorry. Eight years.

If we saw glimmers of that, even amidst the chaos, we’d be the first group of people to reluctantly admit that on this one issue, maybe he had found a way to do what both Obama and Biden tried (and sometimes failed) to do.

Tariffs never, ever would have aided any of that effort.

Zero credible economists agreed that tariffs would somehow encourage domestic production and consumption. All credible economists warned that tariffs would shrink the economy and raise prices. This Supreme Court officially disagreed with Trump’s haphazard, illegal tariff policy and forced the U.S. to pay companies hundreds of billions in collected taxes that are…missing?

Right.

We don’t really know where the money is. From a story published last week in Fortune:

“The magnitude of tariff refunds the Trump administration must dole out is now outpacing how much money it’s bringing in through the import taxes, and it’s dealing a new blow of damage to the U.S. economy, one think tank warned.”

Why—in the name of all that is fucking holy—is Trump beefing with our closest neighbor (and one of our largest trading partners) again?

He’s ramping up a trade war with Canada solely because he’s the brand of pathological (and maybe now, just purely senile) liar who believes his own con.

His idiotic lunacy is going to push the working people who voted for him further and further into economic security because “vibes.”

For more on this absolute hot mess we grabbed some stories for you:

What to know about Trump’s 50% tariffs on Canadian goods that just went into effect | PBS News

The lesson from Canada’s collapsed trade talks with the US: negotiation may be futile | The Guardian

Canada, US and tit-for-tat tariffs: How will they impact their economies? | Al Jazeera

Tim Fullerton on Trump’s Tariffs

Trump is hellbent on driving prices up.

If this is the issue voters are concerned with right now; and if it’s looking like prices are what is animating people as we find ourselves officially hurtling towards November, why would you make prices higher?

Because you’re a senile old man who doesn’t give a shit about his party or his country? Sure. Let’s go with that.

Brad + Cory: This is why Trump ABANDONED his cabinet - Plus Rubio’s Ears, The Zapper Conspiracy, and more chaos

Donald Trump’s secret Air Force One escape may be the headline, but it’s only the beginning. Brad, Cory, and Zak break down the latest Trump chaos, from Marco Rubio’s evasive response to questions about the alleged security threat to viral speculation that aides are secretly waking Trump up when he appears to fall asleep in public.

The episode also explores Trump’s fixation on “Sleepy Joe,” growing questions about his age and public appearances, and the bizarre spectacle surrounding his administration. It’s a sharp, hilarious look at the latest Trump news, MAGA politics, and the absurdity of American political life.

Then after Troy heads out, the crew breaks down why he might be a stronger general election candidate than Graham was, what actually happened in Collins’ 2020 blowout, and the GOP’s full coordinated meltdown over John Ossoff’s Natalie Harp joke — which, as Rich points out, is not the reaction of people with nothing to hide.

Find Out Livestream at Noon ET

The crew will be back for our lunchtime hang to talk about whether or not we’d be willing to ride in the trunk of a limousine just so we don’t have to be apart from our senile daddy/boyfriend figure. Also, other things happened this week that are slightly less gross but no less infuriating.

See you there!

Help Us Reform the DNC!

We have our work cut out for us to take our country back from Republican authoritarianism.

And no one who works at the DNC should have to do that important work with one hand tied beyond their back.

It’s why we’ve laid out a five-point plan to reform the DNC.

The more people sign our petition, the more pressure we can put on party leadership to do the very thing we need them to do: LISTEN TO THE BASE!

Please sign the petition and we will deliver it to the DNC.

Thank you for all you do and see you today at noon!

In solidarity,

The Find Out Team

On this episode, Nat, Chad, and Matt unpack the crisis aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and what it reveals about military leadership, morale and America’s ability to project power around the world. Plus, why dwindling diesel inventories and uncertainty around the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could create the next major economic headache.

New Brad + Cory Show: This is why Trump ABANDONED his cabinet

Plus Rubio’s Ears, The Zapper Conspiracy, and more chaos

Donald Trump’s secret Air Force One escape may be the headline, but it’s only the beginning. Brad, Cory, and Zak break down the latest Trump chaos, from Marco Rubio’s evasive response to questions about the alleged security threat to viral speculation that aides are secretly waking Trump up when he appears to fall asleep in public.

The episode also explores Trump’s fixation on “Sleepy Joe,” growing questions about his age and public appearances, and the bizarre spectacle surrounding his administration. It’s a sharp, hilarious look at the latest Trump news, MAGA politics, and the absurdity of American political life.

Tim Fullerton Reacts to the Furor Over Trump’s “Assistant”*

(*Sure. Let’s go with that.)

Until this week, maybe you didn’t know the name Natalie Harp. She’s the latest Ivanka stand-in for Donald Trump to come under scrutiny in a scandal that would otherwise bring down most presidents. Her presence is so notorious in DC circles that all Jon Ossoff had to do in a recent public campaign appearance was mention her by her first name (and offhandedly at that).

And then Republicans LOST their minds.

Here’s Tim on the latest faux outright from the far right. Triggered much?

https://youtube.com/shorts/GV-8lx8pVfU?si=gHfbM_c2ahZrUiIr

Why are they so defensive about these revelations about Trump’s latest daughter/girlfriend/babysitter bottle blonde?

Maybe it’s because DC Republicans are less than thrilled by her ubiquitous presence at the President’s side. (Have we mentioned that she looks a WHOLE lot like his favorite daughter yet? Did you know they call her Trump’s human printer? Yep. Not made up. All true.)

From a Slate article (see above link):

“It has been reported that those employees have tried and failed numerous times to push her out, worrying that she is a danger to herself and the president. The deal seems to be that she’s so scarily devoted to Trump that she worries her colleagues, which is saying something.”

Did we mention that the journalist and White House correspondent Maggie Haberman called Harp Trump’s “human binkie” and that she fled with Trump on the decoy plane?

Speaking of triggered WTF with these tweets????? (At least Tim is entertained.)

https://youtube.com/shorts/eKWvo1gnglA?si=nN7pB2QMQSbCx93N

November is coming. And they all know it.

The left argues the DNC itself has the power to rig elections.

Moderates claim the organization couldn’t manage its way out of a paper bag.

Both? Dead wrong.

The people who work within the DNC are smart, they care, and they have been fighting with one hand tied behind their backs for years.

The problem is the machine itself, and not the people running it. The DNC was built for election cycles that no longer exist in this country. In 2024, that traditional style of campaigning failed us. The only choice we have now is to rebuild and reimagine the DNC for the audience we actually have. The good news? When we do that, we earn back the trust of a base that’s still willing to give it.

We call on the Democratic National Committee to adopt the following:

Click here to endorse reforming the DNC.

Below are five ways the DNC can be reformed and start to build a true grassroots movement to take on Republicans and defeat them.

1. Take no corporate or PAC money

Clinton, Biden, and Harris all outraised Trump. They beat him once. Across three campaigns that is $4.4 billion against his $2.55 billion, a two-to-one cash advantage that did not buy us victory. Today, the DNC is broke despite all that money, and mega donors haven’t fixed that.

Swearing off PAC and corporate money would send a jolt through this party and show the faithful something they need to see: Unlike the GOP, we live our values.

2. No candidates over 70

The Constitution sets no age or term limits. Regardless, Democratic Party must take a stand. No one over 70 gets party support as a candidate for national office. Period, full stop. Four Democrats have died in office since 2025, eight since 2022, and with margins this tight every loss makes this administration harder to stop. Voters have asked for this. It is an easy win, and it is how we get younger voters back.

3. Build an army of clips

We are getting crushed on digital platforms by a cabal of billionaires funding creators who don’t play by our rules. The DNC needs to staff a team that hunts clips 24/7 and pushes them across a vast network of accounts. The best part? This will cost a fraction buying TV ads nobody watches. The DNC has a professional modern studio. That studio should be open to progressive groups and creators around the clock, not just for cable hits. In red states, we don’t really have a choice. Creators may be the only way to rebuild without spending millions on party infrastructure. This is how we compete everywhere.

4. Pay creators like the professionals they are

Stop sending creators press releases and start making them part of the movement. Pay them. It’s a job. Give them the information and let them make their own work without narrow guidelines and suffocating talking points. If you wouldn’t do it to a CNN producer, don’t do it to a creator. Fund groups already building the next generation: Chorus, which trains creators to become self-sufficient, and Run for Something, which trains people on the left to run.

5. Make the party a movement again

The 2008 Obama digital program made supporters feel like they were part of something, instead of just begging for money every 18 months. Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani proved what still works: Run an authentic digital campaign and, yes, people will give. Don’t frighten people. Inspire them. Sure, stoking panic and fear juice short-term numbers, but it also exhausts supporters in the long run. Retire the subject lines that read “PANIC” and “We are devastated!!!” and build a grassroots program that treats people like they believe in something.

It is time to take action before it is too late.

Please sign the petition and we will deliver it to the DNC.

The more people sign, the bigger impact it will have.

Thank you and proud to be in this fight with you.

Tim

Then it's the rest of the flailing: floating the annexation of the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to bomb Oman, and demanding aircraft carriers be redesigned to look like they did in WWII.

Plus the Turkey decoy plane fiasco that may have pushed Karoline Leavitt out the door, MAGA voters still finding out at the deportation office, and Mamdani's New York quietly racking up wins. We close on some actual good news: the DNC's new primary calendar puts South Carolina first — and we game out what that means for Newsom, Harris, and a certain Georgia senator who swears he's not running.

You can watch the episode above!

Nola Haynes is Not a Spy: Rep. LaMonica McIver on ICE Detention and the Fight for Accountability

In a deeply personal conversation, Dr. Haynes chats with Rep. LaMonica McIver (D, NJ) about fighting for her constituents as she faces federal prosecution stemming from an oversight visit to an ICE detention center.

McIver reveals what she witnessed inside the facility and why she believes the charges against her are politically motivated. She also talks about the personal and professional costs of navigating her legal battle while pregnant and how she refuses to let that fight steal her joy.

She candidly discusses the affordability crisis in New Jersey’s 10th District, especially how those economic pressures impact Black women and why Democrats need to move with greater urgency if they regain control of the House.

Plus, she explains why the Congressional Community Safety Caucus is pushing to treat violence as a public health issue, and how Newark experience shaped her approach to keeping communities safe.

The Ongoing Adventures of Find Out’s Tim Fullerton!

Check out Find Out’s own Tim on Sirius XM’s Steve Scully Show

The midterm map is better than Democrats admit.

Tim on The Great Battlefield Podcast

Tim Fullerton joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about his career in politics and co-founding Find Out Media, a progressive podcast show based media company aimed at reaching men.

https://greatbattlefield.com/episode/building-a-progressive-media-company-with-tim-fullerton/

The Department of Defense, then headed by career war hawk Donald Rumsfeld, simply didn’t have an adequate supply of armor to protect the transport Humvees which were being deployed as assault vehicles (for which they were never intended or designed).

Soldiers were coming home maimed, National Guard members deployed into military situations for which they were never trained. Service members were forced to comply with successive tours of duty, a further assault on their physical and mental safety.

It was, to put it mildly, a total and utter shit show.

By then—six months into a war we had no business starting (sound familiar?)—what was increasingly obvious is that the Bush administration had rushed the invasion, and was in no way prepared either logistically or administratively for what became an all-out and hostile disaster in nation building and occupation.

The nation’s press corp, one that had largely swallowed and regurgitated the administration’s hard-boiled bullshit about Iraqi WMD’s, found its spine. Why, Rumsfeld was asked, were ground troops not given the tools and armament they needed to defend themselves?

Rumsfeld’s galling, tone-deaf, let-them-eat-cake explanation:

“As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”

The better answer, and the honest one, would have been something along the lines of: “We shouldn’t have done this, we should have listened to military experts who advised against it, we don’t have enough equipment, people, or expertise to occupy a nation. Our bad.”

Today, as with everything: History doesn’t repeat, it rhymes.

News broke this week that members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln attempted to jump overboard in a desperate act to avoid the extended deployment and abhorrent conditions aboard the carrier. As the U.S. missile stockpile shrinks, and service members are pushed to the brink of suicide, Defense Secetary Hegseth—who probably should go down as one of the most odious chodes in all of American history—uttered an equally tone-deaf, bullshit response.

From an interview with the far-right, MAGA-friendly Newsmax:

“Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” the Defense secretary said. “Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas and those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible.”

War hawks in the GOP have learned nothing in the intervening 2-plus decades since the Iraq War.

Trump (and W) have agency and are ultimately responsible for their respective debacles in the Gulf. Both were equally incapable of leading the largest democracy on earth; both seduced by the war-thirsty members of their own party.

Being a war president is in the minds of conservative leaders tantamount to heroism. Never one to back down from being the center of the fucking universe, Trump couldn’t resist the temptation.

A hunger for complete dominance of that region rests within the core of the GOP, a moral bankruptcy so profound, endless wars are seen as an acceptable outcome.

No matter the cost to anyone.

New Episodes of American Power, Brad + Cory, and Executive Dysfunction

The Brad + Cory Show: THIS is why Trump and America might just surrender to Iran

Donald Trump promised a quick deal with Iran, but now he may declare victory and walk away without a nuclear agreement. Brad, Cory, and Zak break down Iran’s demands, the battle over the Strait of Hormuz, rising gas prices, and why Trump’s Iran strategy appears to be unraveling.

They also examine the Trump administration’s weak job numbers, Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of the U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan, and the growing consequences of Trump’s foreign policy. Plus: Could Barack Obama return to face Trump in the ultimate presidential rematch?

American Power: OPEC Has Been Rigging Oil Prices to Control U.S. Elections

OPEC may have hidden nearly 500 million barrels of oil - manipulating global prices and preventing an oil-market crash.

This week on American Power, Nat, Matt, and Chad expose the hidden forces controlling oil prices and explain how OPEC, China, Russia, and Iran use energy as a geopolitical weapon. Plus, could renewable energy finally free America from foreign oil and strengthen national security?

Plus, where did climate-change messaging go wrong? And could energy independence, lower electricity costs, and national security build broader support for renewable energy?

Executive Dysfunction: Hateration in the Democracy [Hamilton vs. Jefferson]

America’s founders feared political parties - then immediately created them.

In this episode of Executive Dysfunction, Amanda Nelson traces the birth of America’s two-party system, from the bitter feud between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson to newspaper propaganda, congressional brawls, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the first constitutional crisis over a presidential election. Along the way, she reveals how fights over slavery, wealth, and foreign policy hardened into the partisan warfare that still defines American politics today.

We talk about that as well as the balance of power between moderates and progressives in the Democratic Party.

Find Out Friday Livestream

Join us for our Friday casual hang as we do our usual: take questions from the live chat and whatever other stream-of-consciousness topics come our way.

See you there!

In solidarity,

The Find Out Team

He was born to not one but two accomplished academics. His father was a math professor at the University of Maryland (where Sergey got his undergrad) and his mother was a NASA researcher. His family emigrated here (from Russia) to enjoy a better life.

Looks like that’s, you know, worked out pretty well for him.

If you don’t know his name, here’s some more background. He met his buddy Larry (Page) while they were at Stanford together getting doctorates and discovered a critical relationship between data mining and ranking those results. The rest of the story is essentially “and then they made Google.” (Something they could never have accomplished without Brin’s late ex-wife, Susan Wojcicki.)

Google is, without question or argument, one of the most profitable firms of all time. You could make an argument that is the most successful publicly traded company ever. You know what? Let’s make that argument.

Google is the most successful public company of all time. Sergey, Larry, and Susan were brilliant innovators who also happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right tool.

Today, Brin is worth anywhere between $250-300B on any given day depending on the value of his insane stock portfolio. He could buy most of our lives a million times over if he wanted to. He could give away a tiny percent of his net worth and probably solve the homeless crisis in his state.

If he wanted to.

Instead, he’s spending over $100M to stop the proposed so-called billionaire tax in California, the state that gave him the foundational resources he needed to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful men alive. What an absolute dick.

https://youtube.com/shorts/38c9U5SPH7U?si=GhMb2y4zpRthnNDI

Prop. 40 (aka “the billionaire tax”) would assign a one-time 5% tax on anyone worth north of $1B and the funds would be utilized for low-income healthcare plans, education and more.

California Proposition 40, One-Time Wealth Tax for State-Funded Healthcare, Education, and Food Assistance Programs Initiative (2026) - Ballotpedia

And we could go on for another several thousand words (don’t worry, we won’t) about the divisions among California dem leaders who are torn on whether or not this is the right way to extract any value from a group of the most narcissistic goobers in the history of America.

At least the voters get to decide.

God forbid any of these horribly selfish people ever support democracy. Ironic that Brin is crediting his newfound zeal for politics on the Soviet-style socialism he and his family fled, ignoring the very similarities between Trump and post-Soviet Russia.

So much for “Do no evil.”

My Pillow Founder and Professional Election Denialist Mike Lindell Defeated in Minnesota

And he’s accepting the results of the free and fair election. LOL of course he’s not.

https://youtube.com/shorts/3JNgOIH8u44?si=LKBLMyE9faeHPRKR

This week, Nat, Chad, and Matt explore how oil has become one of the world’s most effective geopolitical weapons. They unpack new reporting that suggests hundreds of millions of barrels of oil may have gone unreported in global inventories, and what that could mean for energy markets.

The conversation also examines how countries weaponize energy through sanctions, shipping lanes, pipelines, and what true energy independence could mean for America’s future.

Brad and Cory Discuss Andrew Tate’s Manspreading*

THIS is why the red pill is turning men GAY

Does the manosphere hate femininity so much that it accidentally becomes obsessed with men?

On this episode of The Brad + Cory Show, the guys examine Andrew Tate and Adin Ross’s bizarre alpha-male dynamic and debate whether red-pill culture’s fixation on muscles, money, status, and dominance is really designed to impress women or win the approval of other men.

The conversation expands into masculinity, situational sexuality, Cory’s experience in the military, and the damaging consequences of suppressing your identity. Plus, the crew reacts to Hunter Biden’s claims about closeted Republicans in Washington and imagines the alleged world of political sex parties, drugs, secrets, and blackmail.

It’s a chaotic conversation about Andrew Tate, the manosphere, MAGA masculinity, LGBTQ identity, repression, and the strange contradictions lurking beneath America’s alpha-male culture.

Doctorow has a way of making complex ideas around Big Tech (social media, AI, and e-commerce to name a few) simple and legitimately funny.

We had a great time chatting with him about how we can return the web to a pre-enshittified era, saving public discourse, protecting ourselves from our AI overlords and more.

Nola Haynes is Not a Spy: DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene on How Democrats Win Back the House

This week, Dr. Nola Haynes sits down with Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (Chair, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) to discuss why affordability has become the defining issue of the election, what Democrats are doing to win back the House, and why there are no “cookie-cutter” candidates in the fight for Congress.

Together, they explore the expanded Child Tax Credit, lowering health care costs, supporting caregivers, the importance of Black voter engagement following changes to the Voting Rights Act, and why DelBene believes winning swing districts requires candidates who reflect the communities they serve.

Find Out’s Tim Fullerton Featured on News Nation: El-Sayed’s Michigan Primary Victory

After his narrow victory last week in Michigan, Tim went on News Nation to talk about what’s next in this critical battleground state as Dems vie for control of the Senate in November.

American Power: Are We Running Out of Missiles?

This week, Nat, Chad, and Matt examine two stories with major implications for American power. First, they break down the growing concerns over U.S. munitions stockpiles, why Patriot and THAAD missile shortages matter, and how countries like Iran, China, and Russia may be adapting their strategies to exploit America’s political and military vulnerabilities.

Then, the conversation turns to the global energy market, where Chad and Matt trace a series of dramatic oil price swings tied to announcements about the Iran conflict. They explore allegations of market manipulation, why geopolitical messaging can move billions of dollars in minutes, and what happens when war, energy, and financial markets become deeply intertwined.

Votes on amendment referendums in the MAGA midwest are often hard to follow if you don’t actually live there. The media nationalizes discussions to such an unnerving degree that nuance is usually (okay, always) lost.

Since you know how we do things here (“we bring the nuance!” isn’t a great tagline, but here we are), we wanted to remind everyone that anti-democratic billionaires aren’t guaranteed success just because they have deep pockets and puppets to do their bidding.

Speaking of those puppets: Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe. Kehoe cooperated with his GOP supermajority in the Missouri Legislature to put not one, not two, but three Amendments in front of voters in both last week’s August primary and one set for the November general election.

After Kehoe bent the knee to Trump and cooperated with the latter’s redistricting scheme, he immediately turned his attention to three pet projects popular with the conservative right: Taxes, direct democracy, and abortion.

Kehoe’s two bills that went on Tuesday’s August primary ballot (presumably he and the goons in his party assumed lower voter turnout and, therefore, an assured victory) along with redistricting are his signature legislative achievements. Amendments Four and Five would have, respectively: made it all but impossible for voters to pass laws directly at the ballot box; and eliminated state income tax.

How did they fare? They fucking cratered. Voters didn’t bring pens to the ballot box. They brought canons.

From The Missouri Independent:

“Amendment 5, which sought to phase out Missouri’s income tax and allow lawmakers to replace the lost revenue with broader sales taxes, drew just 16.6% of the vote Tuesday — the third-lowest level of support for any constitutional amendment since Missouri adopted the initiative process in 1908.

Amendment 4, another Republican legislative priority, fared only slightly better. The proposal to require citizen-led constitutional amendments to win statewide and in all eight congressional districts received 19.7%.

Both failed in every county in Missouri.”

How about we raise a glass to that, Team Democracy?

And over in Kansas, Missouri’s literal neighbor, voters rejected an attempt by conservatives to overhaul how the state’s Supreme Court justices are selected with similarly overwhelming margins. This was and is a naked play to punish voters for rejecting another amendment that would have permanently banned legal abortion in the state (that, you may recall, was a very big deal in 2024).

From The Kansas Reflector:

“Kansas voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to rewrite the state constitution and elect Kansas Supreme Court justices, spiking a plan long coveted by Republicans who want more conservative rulings on issues including abortion and school funding.

About 62% of Kansans were voting “no” on the constitutional amendment with 593,695 votes counted as of 11:15 p.m.”

As for the abortion vote in Missouri, an amendment that would overturn legal abortion (a right voters overwhelmingly legalized in 2024) is slated for the November midterm.

And how’s that looking?

As of the time of this publication, the grassroots effort to oppose the ban (groups who have organized to maintain legal abortion access in Missouri; it’s not just you, it’s super fucking confusing) now has $6.5M cash on hand and includes a $1.5M donation from none other than Michael Bloomberg.

How about we don’t do the usual, “Why do people vote for progressive issues but not progressive candidates there?” discussions? There are all sorts of complex—and yes, nuanced—reasons that statewide democrats fail but votes for causes we support don’t. (A reminder that Kansas currently does have a two-term Democratic governor.)

Make no mistake that these losses sting, and they sting badly. The GOP tried to pass cowshit off to voters in one of the most conservative states (we mean Missouri) by insane margins (a state Trump won by almost 20 points) and instead of eating it, voters threw it back in their smug faces.

When the tides turn against a corrupt, kleptocratic, oligarchic dictatorship, all wins aren’t just intellectual victories. They aren’t just moral, either. They are tactical.

How much money will conservative donors be willing to invest in the upcoming November abortion vote in Missouri, knowing they’ll be trounced? With margins like that in Kansas, how will that bolster Cindy Holscher’s opportunity to replace Democratic Governor Laura Kelly in November?

Yes, voters are partisan. But they’re not dumb. And November is coming, and along with an angry electorate that is sick to death of being fed the same bullshit by the same MAGA bullshitters.

For more on Missouri, Rachel Maddow did a pretty great breakdown here.

Thank you for all you do! November is looking bluer by the day!

In solidarity,

The Find Out Team

They next dive into the Trump family’s legal fight with Capital One, presidential immunity, COVID conspiracy politics, and why Republicans keep dragging Anthony Fauci back into the spotlight whenever the headlines get ugly.

They also unpack Missouri’s latest tax shell game, explain why rural America keeps getting sold out, and make the case that progressive candidates from Zohran Mamdani to Abdul El-Sayed are succeeding because working people are tired of paying more to get less.

For more, Luke breaks down the, oh, let’s be gentle and call it “troubling” lawsuit the Trump family filed against Capital One for following the letter of the fucking law.

Trump is robbing us blind and smiling while he does it

Join our Friday Live show!

We are going live today at 12:00pm ET to talk about El-Sayed’s win in Michigan, and all the other insane news we heard this week.

Together with Nat Towsen, Chad Scott, and Matt Randolph, he breaks down the Strait of Hormuz, diplomacy with Iran, the AI race with China, the future of the electric grid, and why America can’t compete globally without investing in the infrastructure that powers its economy and its military.