Episode Details

Air Date: 6/17/2026

Today we trace a pattern that repeated across half a dozen states this primary season: working-class candidates running on the cost of living beat the opponents party leadership hand-picked and funded. It looks like ordinary election news, but it's more pieces of a larger shift already underway; away from a politics of left against right and toward a new era of the elite vs working people.

Full Show Notes

Transcript

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TOP TAKES

KP 1: Hayes: Trump Is Chasing Good Press with Bombs - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 6-11-26

KP 2: Bernie Sanders Just Won Them All - The Rational National - Air Date 6-10-26

KP 3: We Sat AOC Down With Republican Voters. Can She Win Them Over? - More Perfect Union and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - Air Date 6-9-26

KP 4: "Fetterman Vibes?" DSA Dem WON'T DEFEND Graham Platner - Breaking Points - Air Date 6-9-26

KP 5: Abdul El-Sayed Thinks the Michigan Senate Race Will Come Down to This One Factor - Slate and Abdul El-Sayed - Air Date 4-30-26

(00:49:39) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Counterfeit Populism Is Dying

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DEEPER DIVES

(01:05:26) SECTION A: READING THE PRIMARY MAP

A1: Voters Reject the Establishment in This Week's Primaries - The NPR Politics Podcast - Air Date 6-4-26

A2: Josh Turek, Democratic Senate Nominee, on Why Iowa Will Flip Blue - Brian Tyler Cohen News - Air Date 6-3-26

A3: The Graham Platner Debate Part 1 - Majority 54 - Air Date 6-4-26

A4: Kentucky Senate Seat Is 'most Flippable' Race, Says Democrat Charles Booker - Meet The Press NOW _ NBC News NOW - Air Date 5-19-26

A5: The Democratic Establishment Can Be Defeated - Current Affairs - Air Date 5-15-26

(01:45:20) SECTION B: THE PLATNER RECKONING

B1: How Maine Democrats View Platner's Scandals and Chances to Oust Sen. Collins - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 6-9-26

B2: Graham Platner's Billionaire-Bashing Message Res