It’s Casual Friday! Sam and Emma host Dave Weigel, author of the “Americana” newsletter at Semafor, to discuss the state of play less than 2 weeks out from the midterm elections. Then, they’re joined by Matthew Film Guy! Emma and Sam first run through updates on the midterms, including Schumer’s statement to Biden on the PA Senatorial Debate, and Don Bolduc’s pivot against his pivot against election denial. Dave Weigel then joins as he dives right into the disconnect between polling and the actual state of democratic candidates heading into the midterms, exploring how the last few weeks have slowly revealed failures in the democratic messaging leading up to November. Stepping back, Dave, Emma, and Sam explore the particular failures of letting Republicans pretend the future of abortion isn’t actually at risk (when Roe was actually overturned) while also allowing them to fearmonger around crime (when no major police departments were actually defunded). Parsing through the house races in New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Dave looks at where and against whom the GOP was able to successfully center crime, before they shift the conversation to the Democrats’ failure to consistently hit on any of their inflation talking points. Wrapping up the interview, Dave walks through the Democratic House seats that are seriously endangered, and why beyond losing the House, they’re likely to drop the Senate as well. Matthew Film Guy then joins as he explores his recent bouts with Shingles and Marc Maron, before diving into his movie recommendations of Larisa Shepitko’s “The Ascent” and “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” from Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch Charlie Kirk praise Elon Musk’s liberation of Twitter before diving into why the profit incentive in a world that isn’t super pro-bigotry might not let that happen. Sam discusses his shadow ban from the Right Stuff (hopefully isn’t plaguing other Divorcées like Prager), and Tyler from Washington discusses the Right’s fear of debating Sam and why that fear doesn’t extend to women and people of color. David from Atlanta discusses the GA senate race, the crew discusses the home invasion of the Pelosi estate, and Stephen Crowder says ableism is the new racism, as if they haven’t gone hand in hand for centuries, plus, your calls and IMs!

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