Midterm lessons from the Tennessee special election; A key villain in the Minnesota fraud scandal

Summary

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10 Minute Drill (Dec 4, 2025)

Host: Matt Whitlock
Episode: Midterm lessons from the Tennessee special election; A key villain in the Minnesota fraud scandal

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Matt Whitlock presents a rapid-fire, insightful analysis of two major political stories: the recent Tennessee special election and the ongoing Minnesota fraud scandal involving Attorney General Keith Ellison. Whitlock also covers Republican strategies for the 2026 midterms, especially focusing on affordability issues, critiques Democratic priorities, and spotlights a viral moment in a Supreme Court case about pregnancy resource centers. The episode closes with a satirical review of the UN’s approach to climate change and gender.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Lessons from the Tennessee Special Election

• Republican Matt Van Epps wins Tennessee's 7th District special election

  • Important signal for House Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms.
  • Van Epps credited military service and team mentality for campaign success.
    • Quote: “The military taught me what it means to be part of a team, to trust the person next to you… That’s the same spirit I’ll take to Washington.” (Van Epps, 00:56)

• Analysis of Candidates and District Dynamics

  • Republican success attributed to strong candidate quality and effective navigation of Trump-era politics.
  • The Democratic candidate, Afton Bain, criticized as a poor fit for the district. Her association with progressives like AOC and Al Gore seen as out of touch.
  • Quote: “Afton was a terrible candidate for Democrats who did not match the electorate they were trying to win. And it also didn’t help that she hated them and hated the place.” (Whitlock, 01:38)
  • The race highlights the ongoing importance of the Trump coalition in rural America.

• Broader Midterm Implications

  • Republicans must avoid complacency and “focus on the issues that people actually care about…make sure…Republicans are actually messaging on wins.” (Whitlock, 02:32)

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2. The “Affordability Election” of 2026

• Affordability as a Top Voter Issue

  • Rising living costs — housing, transportation, food, insurance, healthcare, and utilities — dominate voter concerns.
  • Whitlock attributes high costs to Democratic policies under Joe Biden (“Democrats did everything in their power to raise energy supply costs…”) (02:47)

• Republican Policy Response

  • Republicans plan to message around the “big beautiful bill,” especially as people notice larger tax returns in January.
    • Quote: “People are understanding that that had a lot to do with the big beautiful bill and things that Republicans have done.” (Whitlock, 03:34)
  • Detailed breakdown of typical family expenses using data from Qualtrics.
    • 32% on housing, 17% transportation, 12.9% food, etc.
  • Proposed GOP solutions:
    • Deregulation to boost housing supply and lower costs.
    • Highlighting GOP successes in lowering gas prices (“US gas prices sink below $3 per gallon for the first time since May 2021.”) (Whitlock, 04:33)
    • Challenging Democratic regulatory regimes that increase food and utility costs.

Healthcare Affordability and Creative Solutions

• Right to Transparency & Patient Choice

  • The healthcare system critique: massive price variations for the same treatments due to lack of transparency.
    • Quote: “The same aspirin costs 4 cents at Walmart and $82 in a hospital 2 miles away because patients shop blind.” (Tim Sheehy via Whitlock, 05:44)
  • Call for hospitals to post real prices upfront, “as gas stations do”.

• GOP Legislative Ideas

  • Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) proposes redirecting Obamacare subsidies from insurance companies to patients, boosting Health Savings Accounts and enabling patient-consumer choice.
    • Quote: “We want to take that money we’ve been given to insurance companies and instead we want to give it to patients, give it to consumers...” (Marshall, 06:49)
    • Quote: “Our price tags bill would save Americans a trillion dollars a year.” (Marshall, 07:46)
  • Emphasis on creativity to address voter frustration around healthcare costs.

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3. Minnesota Fraud Scandal: Attorney General Keith Ellison’s Role

• Background:

  • Members of Minnesota’s Somali community ran scam “Feed the Hungry” and autism programs, defrauding taxpayers out of over $1 billion, with some funds allegedly supporting terrorism.
  • Previous episodes covered Governor Tim Walz; this episode spotlights Attorney General Keith Ellison.

• Ellison’s Ties to the Scandal:

  • Ellison met with fraud perpetrators before they were charged, accepted donations, and was allegedly involved in efforts to deter investigations.
    • Quote: “Keith Ellison met with the culprits behind the $240 million Feeding Our Future Minnesota fraud scheme before they were charged. And then he and his son took donations from them amid promises to deter the investigation.” (Whitlock, 09:33)
  • Audio from meetings reveals Ellison’s concern for the perpetrators rather than the fraud itself.
    • Key exchange:
      • Ellison: “I’m very concerned about it. I don’t run the agencies.” (10:14)
      • Whitlock: “He’s concerned about the investigation into the fraudsters.” (10:19)
  • Emphasis on a potential quid pro quo: campaign contributions offered in return for political cover.

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4. Supreme Court Spotlight: First Choice Women's Resource Center vs. Platkin

• Case Focus:

  • Scrutiny of New Jersey AG’s efforts to investigate and harass pro-life pregnancy centers, allegedly on the pretext of donor complaints.

• Critical Exchange:

  • Justice Thomas presses the AG’s office for evidence of fraud or complaints against First Choice.
    • Quote:
      • Justice Thomas: “Did you have complaints that formed the basis of your concern about the fundraising activities here?”
      • AG Rep: “We certainly had complaints. About crisis pregnancy centers?”
      • Justice Thomas: “No, about this crisis pregnancy center.”
      • AG Rep: “So, I think we’ve been clear from the outset that we haven’t had complaints about this specific — ”
      • Justice Thomas: “So you had no basis to think that they were deceiving any of their contributors? So you had no complainants?”
      • AG Rep: “We had no complaints.” (12:06–12:34)

• Host’s Commentary:

  • Frames the investigation as a “classic fishing expedition” and attacks Democratic “harassment” of non-abortion pregnancy services.

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5. “You Can’t Make It Up”: UN and Climate Change Gender Claims

• Satirical Segment:
  • Whitlock lampoons a recent UN Environment Program claim that “climate change is not gender neutral.”
    • Quote: “How do you make the argument that somehow, for example, that bad weather, a tornado in Kansas is somehow skipping past the boys night at Buffalo Wild Wings to hit the Nordstrom and impact women differently? This is all made up.” (Whitlock, 13:12)
  • Criticism that climate change has become a catch-all justification for every progressive policy goal.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Candidate quality matters. Matt Vaneps was a very, very good candidate, a good bio, and he navigated working with President Trump very effectively…” (Whitlock, 01:38)
• “Republicans were elected to fix the problems of Joe Biden and voters are impatient.” (Whitlock, 03:11)
• “Force hospitals to post real prices up front as gas stations do, turn patients into consumers and watch those costs plummet.” (Tim Sheehy via Whitlock, 05:55)
• “A group met with Attorney General Keith Ellison to complain about the Education Department refusing to approve their meal claims… [Ellison:] I’m very concerned about it. I don’t run the agencies.” (10:07–10:19)
• “So you had no complaints. But…this is a classic fishing expedition. Oh, you almost had it. You gotta be quicker than that.” (Justice Thomas and Whitlock, 12:34–12:49)
• “When you use politics like a Swiss Army knife…climate change is their vehicle to attack things like…gender inequality, racial inequality, every political…wish list item they have, it loses all meaning.” (Whitlock, 13:35)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:36-02:45 — Tennessee Special Election: Van Epps’ win and Republican takeaways
• 02:45-05:33 — Affordability focus for GOP, policy breakdowns (housing, food, energy, etc.)
• 05:33-08:25 — Health care: price transparency and GOP innovation
• 08:25-11:30 — Minnesota fraud scandal: AG Ellison’s involvement and implications
• 11:30-12:49 — Supreme Court: First Choice Women’s Resource Center case, NJ AG challenged by Justice Thomas
• 13:12-end — Satire: UN Environment Program and gendered climate change claims

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Tone and Style

• Fast-paced, conversational, and wry.
• Mixes sharp political critique with humor and memorable soundbites.
• Focused on actionable GOP messaging and policy contrasts with Democrats.

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This concise, engaging episode gives listeners a roadmap of the GOP’s midterm focus, exposes emerging Democratic scandals, and closes with humor at the expense of global bureaucracies—ideal for anyone needing political updates without the spin.

Transcript

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Unpacking Tuesday night's special election results in Tennessee, what that race means heading into the midterms. And more fallout in Minnesota as new questions are raised about Attorney General Keith Ellison and his involvement. All of that and so much more today on 10 Minute Drill. Everybody get up. Get up.

The story of America is the story of an adventure.

[Republican Politician]

I can hear you.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

The rest of the world hears you.

[Republican Politician]

We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

On Tuesday, Republican Matt Van Epps was successful in the special election for Tennessee's 7th District.

[Republican Politician]

The AP has now called the special.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Congressional election in Tennessee for Republican Matt Van Epps a major win for House Republicans. Now, Matt Van Epps was a very good candidate who ran a very, very good race. Here's a little bit about him.

[Republican Politician]

The military taught me what it means to be part of a team, to trust the person next to you, to stay mission focused and to never leave anyone behind. That's the same spirit I'll take to Washington.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Now, Republicans won this race, and winning the race is always the most important thing. But it did have very important lessons for Republicans going into the midterms. You have to look out here, for example, Afton Bain, the Democrat candidate, was a terrible choice for. For a reddish district. Afton Bain, in the last week of the campaign campaigned alongside AOC and Al Gore.

[Republican Politician]

I'm super serial. Thank you, Al Gore.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

You're super awesome. So a couple lessons in conclusion there. First, candidate quality matters. Matt Vaneps was a very, very good candidate, a good bio, and he navigated working with President Trump very effectively in this campaign, even though President Trump wasn't on the ballot. And the other side of that coin on the candidate quality, Afton was a terrible candidate for Democrats who did not match the electorate they were trying to win. And it also didn't help that she hated them and hated the place. So if Republicans got that type of opponent in every race, we'd be in great shape. Republicans also continued in this race to hold together pieces of the Trump coalition that are very important, particularly in rural America, where Democrats continue to struggle as they are getting more and more elite, more and more rich white women focused on. So there are lessons here, but the most important thing for Republicans is to take from this that the environment is not one they can take for granted. We have to focus on the issues that people actually care about, but also make sure in this new year as we head into the midterms that Republicans are actually messaging on wins.

2026 is shaping up to be an affordability election. And we can point with a direct line to things Democrats did under Joe Biden that are continuing to have negative effects on affordability. Right. Utility bills are sky high because Democrats did everything in their power to raise energy supply costs. Food is more expensive in part because Democrats attacked every component of creating food and getting it to your table with surgical precision. Everything from regulations around farm equipment to soil and fertilizer to trucking regulations that made it more expensive for food producers to get food to stores and then onto your table. We can talk about that all day. The problem is we what polling is showing us right now and what we basically just understand from common sense is Republicans were elected to fix the problems of Joe Biden and voters are impatient. So in this new year, Republicans will be focusing on that affordability message. There are things from the big beautiful bill that they can tout, particularly making sure that when people see bigger tax returns in January, this is something that Scott Bessen has talked about quite a bit. People are understanding that that had a lot to do with the big beautiful bill and things that Republicans have done. The there's a number of points like that the Republicans need to make sure they're telling the story of. But the other part here is Republicans have to show creativity and ingenuity on this affordability issue first by approaching the things that are making people's lives the most expensive. This from Qualtrics highlights exactly what Americans are spending most of their money on. The average family spends 32% of their monthly expenditures on housing, 17% on transportation, 12.9% on food, 12% on insurance and pensions, 8% on healthcare, 6% on utilities. When it gets to housing, President Trump is already talking about things like deregulating the housing process, making it easier to build houses so we have a bigger supply so that costs go down. The contrast to that in California, for example, people that are trying to rebuild their houses after a wildfire are looking at a wait time of about 400 years because of Democrat red tape is 17% of people's monthly expenditures is going to transportation. We need to talk a little bit more about what we've already done on energy to lower gas prices. This is from the New York Post. US gas prices sink below $3 per gallon for the first time since May 2021. When it comes to food, continuing to attack the Democrats regulation agenda. Same thing goes for things like utility bills balancing, highlighting the damage that Democrats did to energy that drove up utility bills. But also everything Republicans are doing to free up energy supply that will eventually bring down those u But on health care, I think Republicans have gotten particularly creative.

On the issue of health care affordability. This is one where there has to be creativity because this system we've known is broken for 20 years and every time anyone tries to fix it, the political forces from all sides attack them and destroy them. But there are a lot of opportunities for small fixes that will have a major difference. Tim Sheehy and the Wall Street Journal A GOP playbook for an Affordability Offensive Rip up red tape, force transparency and unleash Unleash competition or watch the mandate evaporate by 2026, the same aspirin costs 4 cents at Walmart and $82 in a hospital 2 miles away because patients shop blind. Every developed country that spends half what we do on healthcare has mandatory price transparency. We don't because the hospital lobby fights it. Let's force hospitals to post real prices up front as gas stations do, turn patients into consumers and watch those costs plummet. This is very simple. How weird is it that when you go to a hospital for a process, whether it's having a child or whether it's for any kind of treatment, you have no idea what you're going to be paying until you get that bill and realize it's going to cost more than your mortgage or in a lot of unfortunate cases, more than a year worth of your mortgage payments. That's crazy. But Republicans are talking about creative things to do about this. Here is Kansas Senator Roger Marshall.

[Republican Politician]

We're giving big insurance companies $150 billion a year that the insurance wrote Obamacare. We want to take that money we've been given to insurance companies and instead we want to give it to patients, give it to consumers. When we pair that with price tags, when we give patients, put that money in a health care savings account and give them the prices with at hospitals, then they can make choices. They can become consumers again.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

So one of the things Republicans have been talking about is instead of the massive funding that goes directly to insurance companies, which is a big complaint Republicans have about Democrats plans with these Obamacare pandemic subsidies, it's just a massive wealth shift to the insurance companies. What they would do is have money go to patients to have more control so that they can use through health savings accounts money however they want instead of going to these massive expensive insurance plans that a lot of people don't even use. Here's Marshall talking about that also in a hearing.

[Republican Politician]

Our price tags bill would save Americans a trillion dollars a year.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

So again, what Marshall's talking about here that a number of Republicans are supporting is a bill that pairs giving people more control over the money that they're spending on health care through things like health savings accounts with also access to transparent prices to know what that money would actually be spent on. Some of that sounds so elementary it's crazy we don't already have that. But this is the kind of creativity that voters will appreciate because they are also incredibly frustrated seeing things like these gigantic medical bills that add to the costs in their lives that everything so unaffordable.

On Tuesday, we talked about this Minnesota fraud bombshell where members of the Somali community have run scam programs to take more than $1 billion from taxpayers through either fraudulent feed the hungry programs or fraudulent autism diagnoses and healthcare setups like that. Some of that money has made it to terrorists. Everyone's been talking about this all week. It's a crazy story. One thing that we didn't get into as much is the culpability for other Democrats. We talked a little bit about Tim Waltz. But one person who hasn't gotten enough attention this week is Attorney General Keith Ellison. First, I want to go back to the New York Times on this. Here's a line that I thought was really important. No one was doing anything about the red flags. It was like someone was stealing money from the cookie jar and they kept refilling it. Somebody was refilling that cookie jar. And there's a very good chance it's people that knew that it was being taken out and used for fraud and bad purposes, but they wanted the political support from the groups that they were doing the fraud with. But here is Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer, Tim Walz, and his Attorney General, Keith Ellison.

[Republican Politician]

Since they took office, they have not.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Only not investigated the fraud, they have purposely stopped investigating him. One thing that has been actually reported extensively over the last few years is Keith Ellison and his relationship with the fraudsters. Reminder, Keith Ellison met with the culprits behind the $240 million Feeding Our Future Minnesota fraud scheme before they were charged. And then he and his son took donations from them amid promises to deter the investigation. And we have audio of that meeting. That's from A.G. hamilton, 29, one of our good friends on X. We have that audio.

[Republican Politician]

A group met with Attorney General Keith Ellison to complain about the Education Department.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Refusing to approve their meal claims.

[Republican Politician]

Well, let me tell you this.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

I'm very concerned about it.

[Republican Politician]

I don't run the agencies.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Now that is Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison meeting with the fraudsters and saying he's concerned about the investigation into the fraudsters. But let's pick back up.

[Republican Politician]

What are they doing? Are they denying they stopped the program?

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Carte blanche?

[Republican Politician]

They said there's too many people being offended now.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

They weren't being investigated for feeding too many people. They were being investigated for feeding fake people. And they had been investigated for eight months. So it's interesting that the state attorney general was unaware of that but willing to meet with these people, telling them he'd look into it. But then also just getting the inquiry.

[Republican Politician]

From Beijing is sometimes enough to make.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

People knock it off. Really important to understand what Ellison is saying there. In a conversation where members of the Minnesota Somali community who are involved in this fraud scheme are telling him they will give him campaign contributions and support, Ellison is also committing to help them by trying to shut down this investigation. He says there that he can send messages that will get people to knock it off and end this. This is not the last thing that we have heard about Keith Ellison, the incredibly shady Attorney General of Minnesota and his role in this insane fraud scheme.

On Tuesday we talked about First Choice Women's Resource center versus Platkin, a major Supreme Court case dealing with pregnancy resource centers. One of the major issues in this case was the New Jersey Attorney General's pretext for harassing these pregnancy resource centers, which they then appealed to the Supreme Court was the suggestion from the Attorney General that donors to First Choice may feel deceived not knowing they were giving to a pro life pregnancy resource center. Justice Thomas got the New Jersey Attorney General's office to admit pretty quickly that they didn't have very good grounds for that.

[Republican Politician]

Did you have complaints that formed the basis of your concern about.

The fundraising activities here?

[Conservative Political Commentator]

We certainly had complaints. About crisis pregnancy centers?

[Republican Politician]

No, about this crisis pregnancy center.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

So I think we've been clear from the outset that we haven't had complaints about this specific.

[Republican Politician]

So you had no basis to think that they were deceiving any of their contributors? So you had no complainants?

[Conservative Political Commentator]

We had no complaints. But the so again, Justice Thomas forces him to admit that they didn't have any actual complaints of this because this is a classic fishing expedition. Oh, you almost had it.

[Republican Politician]

You gotta be quicker than that.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

The goal of The New Jersey AG's office was to simply harass First Choice and make it more difficult for them to go about doing their business. Now again, as we talked about on Tuesday, their business is simply caring for women and children. The fact that Democrats are so hell bent on shutting down any alternative to abortion providers again is incredibly chilling.

[Republican Politician]

For.

[Conservative Political Commentator]

Our you can't make it up segment today. We often love to talk about how the United nations, once known for being a broker of peace, is very focused on everything but trying to broker peace. They have become an engine for social engineering of the very worst kind. Here is the latest example from the UN Environment Program. Climate change is deepening inequalities and climate change is not gender neutral. Now, I'm not a scientist, but I have a lot of trouble understanding how you could argue that climate change now in this case, when they're talking about climate change, they are arguing, you know, climate change is when I put gas in my car, yada, yada, yada, there's bad weather somewhere. How do you make the argument that somehow, for example, that bad weather, a tornado in Kansas is somehow skipping past the boys night at Buffalo Wild Wings to hit the Nordstrom and impact women differently? This is all made up. And the problem here is when you use politics like a Swiss army knife and you have an issue like climate change, which isn't just about climate change anymore. For the left, climate change is their vehicle to attack things like in this case, gender inequality, racial inequality, every political sort of wish list item they have, it loses all meaning. And that, my friends, is our you can't make it up segment for today. That is all the time we have. Thank you for joining us. Please, like, subscribe, tell a friend, leave a review, have a great day.