The DSA Candidate who wants to cancel Thanksgiving; Michigan Dems pick radical Abdul

Summary

Podcast Summary: 10 Minute Drill Episode: The DSA Candidate who wants to cancel Thanksgiving; Michigan Dems pick radical Abdul
Host: Matt Whitlock
Date: August 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this fast-paced, ten-minute episode, Matt Whitlock and his co-host cover the fallout from Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, highlight controversial quotes from Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates, and scrutinize waste in American healthcare. The episode blends sharp political analysis with biting humor, focusing mainly on two stories: Abdul El-Sayed’s upset victory in Michigan, and Francesca Hong’s headline-grabbing statements in Wisconsin. The episode also features a regular “can’t make it up” segment, this time taking aim at Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Michigan Senate Primary: Abdul El-Sayed’s Victory

• Abdul El-Sayed wins the Democratic Senate nomination, marking a significant defeat for party leadership:
  • “This is probably one of the biggest rebukes of Chuck Schumer and the Democrat establishment that we've seen so far this year.” (Host, 00:34)
• Past controversies resurface:
  • El-Sayed criticized for previous statements perceived as sympathetic to Iran after the Ayatollah’s death and justifying violence in Dearborn:
    • “Not only is he a radical anti Semite, but he's also insane on policy. He wants to ban private health insurance.” (Host, 01:17)
• Election day activities reinforce celebrity critique:
  • He attended a content creator pool party with Hasan Piker, then a dance class:
    • “He simply wanted to be a celebrity and a podcaster. And the way that he spent this final time before the election suggests that she may have been right.” (Host, 01:50)
• Opponent Haley Stevens gives an awkward concession:
  • Mix-up between “salty grapes” and “sour grapes” noted, followed by a Marge Simpson impression:
    • “I don't know if there's some kind of Michigan folksy thing about salty grapes…” (Host, 02:38)
• General election outlook:
  • Mike Rogers positioned as the strong GOP candidate, having nearly beaten Slotkin in 2024:
    • “I believe Mike Rogers will enter this general election race a favorite or at least have a very strong fighting chance.” (Host, 02:54)

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2. Wisconsin Governor’s Race: Francesca Hong in the Spotlight

• Hong, DSA candidate, advances as establishment rivals collapse due to scandals:
  • Mandela Barnes drops out amid sexual impropriety probe.
• Media scrutiny reveals controversial statements:
  • Thanksgiving controversy:
    • “Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities.” (Co-host quoting Hong, 04:40)
    • “I would love to know who these people are in the communities that find Thanksgiving to be incredibly painful.” (Host, 04:45)
    • Past tweet: “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original super spreader event...” (Host paraphrasing Hong, 04:52)
  • Racial comments in social media posts and public statements:
    • On eating at Culver’s: “Too many old white people who didn't think we spoke English. Yikes.” (Host quoting Hong, 05:49)
    • On her biracial son: “My proximity to whiteness continues. Right? My son is biracial. He's half white and half Korean.” (Co-host quoting Hong, 06:11)
  • On climate change:
    • “The climate crisis is America's steadfast celebration of white supremacy.” (Co-host quoting Hong, 06:42)
    • Host sarcastically: “How does that work, if most of the climate crisis is being driven by China? Make it make sense.” (Host, 06:48)
  • On tipping:
    • “If we look at the history of tipping and how racist it is and how it's kept wages low for black people for very long time...” (Co-host quoting Hong, 07:04)
• Democratic disarray:
  • “Democrats have a hot mess on their hands.” (Host, 07:17)
  • Suggestion that if Hong wins, the race will likely go to Republican Tom Tiffany.

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3. Maine Senate Race and Candidate Vetting Issues

• Troy Jackson’s controversial background:
  • News of having children with his second cousin:
    • “New York Post: Maine Dem Senate candidate Troy Jackson fathered two kids with his second cousin. Yikes.” (Host, 08:33)
  • Adds to broader Democratic candidate headaches (mortgage fraud, violence allegations).

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4. Waste Wednesday: Nonprofit Hospitals & Obamacare Subsidies

• Critique of U.S. healthcare system “waste, fraud, and abuse”:
  • Pandemic Obamacare premium subsidies expire, some blame Republicans, but host argues original subsidies were broad and misdirected.
• Nonprofit hospitals like Banner Health cited in New York Times articles as struggling:
  • Host notes:
    • Offshore accounts: “Banner Health has offshore accounts totaling almost a billion dollars…”
    • Executive compensation: “Amy Perry makes $5.6 million. Her predecessor made $14 million.” (Host, 11:05)
  • “Our healthcare system is full of waste, fraud and abuse.” (Host, 11:20)
• Hospitals criticized for using public money for “NBA practice facilities,” “massive art displays,” not charity care.

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5. “You Can’t Make It Up” Segment: Keith Ellison Birthday Roast

• Minnesota AG Keith Ellison accused of corruption:
  • “He was recorded colluding with Somali fraudsters.” (Host, 13:44)
  • Recaps campaign donations in exchange for leniency:
    • “He promised them that if they gave him campaign cash, he would help the investigations into their activities go away.” (Host, 13:50)
  • Fraudsters receive light prosecution, fueling suspicions of protection:
    • “It’s as if there had been no criminal prosecution at all.” (Co-host, 14:38)
  • Host closes the segment with biting sarcasm:
    • “Happy birthday, Keith. We hope to see you in prison soon.” (Host, 14:52)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Abdul El-Sayed:
  • “He is onto the general election. But first, here's how the two candidates spent election day. Abdul went to a content creator pool party with Hasan Piker...” (Host, 01:50)
• On Francesca Hong and Thanksgiving:
  • “Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities.” (Co-host quoting Hong, 04:40)
  • “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621.” (Host paraphrasing Hong, 04:52)
• On hospital waste:
  • “Banner Health has offshore accounts totaling almost a billion dollars, and yet if this bailout to insurance companies is cut, they're saying they're going to have to close facilities and leave patients out to dry.” (Host, 11:00)
• On campaign corruption:
  • “He promised them that if they gave him campaign cash, he would help the investigations into their activities go away.” (Host, 13:50)

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:34 – 02:54: Michigan Senate Primary, Abdul El-Sayed’s background and primary synopsis
• 04:40 – 07:20: Francesca Hong’s controversial statements and scrutiny in the Wisconsin governor’s race
• 08:30 – 09:25: Troy Jackson’s background and implications for Maine Senate race
• 10:00 – 12:30: Waste Wednesday: Nonprofit hospitals, Obamacare subsidies, and hospital administration critique
• 13:36 – 14:52: “You Can’t Make It Up” segment: Keith Ellison controversy and humorous birthday jab

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Episode Tone

Whitlock runs the show with a rapidly-paced, irreverent, and often sarcastic tone. He and his co-host employ sharp humor and pointed asides to critique political figures and policies they consider extreme or unwise, focusing on the latest gaffes, scandals, and controversies making headlines on the Democratic side in 2026.

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Conclusion

This episode efficiently covers major political developments, providing context and analysis on high-stakes Democratic primaries and controversial candidates. Whitlock is especially critical of DSA-aligned figures and what he frames as hypocrisy or corruption in the healthcare sector and among prominent Democrats. The “can’t make it up” birthday segment closes the episode on a wry, skeptical note typical for the 10 Minute Drill.

Transcript

[Host]

The results are in. In the long awaited Michigan Senate primary, we break it all down. One Democrat socialist wants to cancel Thanksgiving. We tell you all about it. And one of 10 minute drill's you can't make it up segment all stars is celebrating a birthday and we pay tribute in a way that only we can. All of that and so much more today on 10 Minute Drill. Everybody get up.

[Co-host]

Get up.

[Host]

The story of America is the story of an adventure. I can hear you, the rest of the world hear. We are a nation under God and I believe God intended for us to be free. Ladies and gentlemen, the results are in. Michigan has officially selected Abdul Al Said to be the Democrat nominee for Senate. What a journey. This is probably one of the biggest rebukes of Chuck Schumer and the Democrat establishment that we've seen so far this year. You will remember the Abdul Al Said is a terror sympathizer. After the death of the Ayatollah, he told supporters he didn't want to say anything because he knew that some people in Dearborn were actually upset about the death of the Iranian butcher. I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. When a radical Islamic terrorist tried to attack a Jewish preschool, his first reaction was to justify it by saying hurt people do hurt people. Not only is he a radical anti Semite, but he's also insane on policy. He wants to ban private health insurance. He's embraced all of the worst policies of the Democrat socialists of America. And he is onto the general election. But first, here's how the two candidates spent election day. Abdul went to a content creator pool party with Hasan Piker. As you look at these images, you'll see these are content creators from Los Angeles, New York and all around the country. One of Haley Stevens strongest attacks against Abdul Al Said was he simply wanted to be a celebrity and a podcaster. And the way that he spent this final time before the election suggests that she may have been right. He also went to this very strange dance class, obviously in his genes, because who doesn't go to Latin dance classes or exercise classes in their jeans. He also had some time to remind everybody how he feels about America. On the removal of a whole people founded on the idea that we could compromise on whether or not people as a function of the color of their skin could be enslaved by other people. Hayley Stevens was asked if she lost, if she would endorse Abdul Al Said. And she gave a very Haley Stevens answer. And I'm not salty grapes.

[Co-host]

You know, I've been joyous, excited, enthusiastic.

[Host]

You'll notice right after she says salty grapes. Now, I think she might have meant sour grapes. I don't know if there's some kind of Michigan folksy thing about salty grapes, but she pivoted into the classic Haley Stevens, Marge Simpson impression. And that's the Michigan way.

[Co-host]

Because that's the Michigan way.

[Host]

Now onto the general, facing Mike Rogers. Now, Mike Rogers only lost his last race in 2024 by 19,000 votes against now Senator Alissa Slotkin, who's a significantly better candidate than either Abdul or Haley Stevens. And she outspent Rodgers 5:1. So I believe Mike Rogers will enter this general election race a favorite or at least have a very strong fighting chance. If you like what you're hearing on 10 Minute Drill, please leave us a five star review on Apple Spotify. Leave us a comment. Leave us a review. Tell us what you'd like to hear more of. With the Michigan primaries behind us, we now can focus on the most fascinating race left, and that is the Wisconsin governor's race. We've talked a little bit about Francesca Hawke Hong, the DSA candidate who's risen to the top not through being a good candidate, but through the process of elimination as establishment Democrats have risen and then fallen based on scandals. Latest being former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, who left the race just a few days ago after Politico started looking into sexual impropriety. Francesca Hong is riding the wave of scandal that has crushed all the establishment candidates to a commanding lead in their primary, which is next week. But right now, prediction markets and polls suggest that she is skating towards an easy win, which means she's getting scrutiny that she has not gotten before. And it is yielding a lot of very interesting moments. We have talked before about her record of saying insane things. And on Monday, we talked about how on Fox News with Dana Perino she was pressed on some of those past views, didn't have any good answers. It was very robotic, shifting into some Kamala word salad. She's continued on this media tour and it hasn't gotten any better.

[Co-host]

Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities.

[Host]

I would love to know who these people are in the communities that find Thanksgiving to be incredibly painful. That was a horrific answer, evidenced by the fact that probably 20 or 30 prominent Democrat consultants, strategists and elected officials tweeted about this exchange and said, why can't you just say no, you don't want to cancel Thanksgiving? The reason she can't say no is because I think she does want to cancel Thanksgiving. Here was the original tweet. Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original super spreader event that killed indigenous folks with an X and women, so be it. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that is just the beginning of crazy takes from Francesca Hong. We're going to go down just a little bit of a wormhole here because I think it's important to understand just how insane this person is as essentially the final boss of DSA communist Karen's. This is, for example, her tweet about an experience she had at Culver's, which has delicious burgers. I ate two bites of my kids cheeseburger at Culver's in Black River Falls and told them they ran out of ice cream. Mostly just wanted to leave because I was on the verge of an anxiety attack. Too many old white people who didn't think we spoke English. Yikes. She is running to represent a state that is majority white. And that is not the end of the tricky race discussion. For example, she said this about her own son.

[Co-host]

My proximity to whiteness continues. Right? My son is biracial. He's half white and half Korean.

[Host]

I always tell people that. If you're a big poster on social media, consider the fact that your kids may one day see this and her kid will likely one day see the fact that she complained about the fact that he is increasing her proximity to whiteness by being half white because the former husband that she had this child with was a white male. Very strange. But let's not leave out her views on climate change.

[Co-host]

What we've learned is that the climate crisis is America's steadfast celebration of white supremacy.

[Host]

The climate crisis is America's celebration of white supremacy. Now, how does that work if most of the climate crisis is being driven by by China? Make it make sense. But last of all, the other thing that she said is rooted in white supremacy. Tipping.

[Co-host]

That tipping in itself. If we look at the history of tipping and how racist it is and how it's kept wages low for black people for very long time, the history

[Host]

of tipping is racist. That sounds like somebody who just wants to eat at a restaurant and not leave a tip. But again, Democrats have a hot mess on their hands. You've seen a lot of national Democrats and Democrats in Wisconsin suggest that if she is the nominee, they're going to lose this race to Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate. And looking at this Rolodex of clips and her inability to defend correct make a compelling case that she's evolved on any of these issues suggests that they might be right in the wake of the Graham Platner fallout, we've talked a lot about Troy Jackson and the fact that he also did not receive any vetting. He also did not receive a single primary vote in the Senate race. He did receive some primary votes in the governor's race just a few months ago where he came in third. So again, not the strongest candidate. One reason why he seems like kind of a quirky dude. This from New York Post Maine Dem Senate candidate Troy Jackson fathered two kids with his second cousin. Yikes. Maine Democrat Senate candidate Troy Jackson is in a long term relationship with his high school sweetheart who is also his second cousin, according to a new report. Jackson, 58, and Lana Pelletier share two adult sons and the same great grandparents, according to Thursday's report by independent journalist Steve Robinson, who notes that such relationships are both legal under state law. Democrats face a challenge here in the fact that Graham Platner's hand picked replacement not only has kids with his cousin, but is also accused of things like mortgage fraud, violent interactions with female state lawmakers, and a lot of other issues that might suggest that he might not be a particularly strong candidate going into the general election. Against the Buzzsaw that is the great Susan Collins for our Waste Wednesday segment today, I want to go first to a New York Times story. New York Times Uninsured Patients Rise Sharply Hospitals report Citing Obamacare Cuts More people who lost coverage after Congressional Republicans ended enhanced federal subsidies are now seeking care in emergency rooms and unable to pay bills. Now you may remember we talked a lot last year about the end of the Obamacare pandemic premium subsidies. They were short term. Democrats actually had put the expiration date on them. Republicans declined to extend them because there was a lot of major problems with those subsidies. Part of it was they went to people making way too much money. They also only really drove a tiny part of the increase in premiums for anyone who had them. It's been overblown because people used criticism of the end of these pandemic subsidies as a sort of scapegoat for all of the larger problems with Obamacare. But New York Times is very eager to help both hospitals and insurance companies with this quirky attack line. And here's Congressman Brendan Boyle. Congressman Brendan Boyle tweeted, Republicans refused to extend Affordable Care act tax credits and cut health care for millions of Americans. Also, billionaires could get more tax giveaways. Now ERs are filling up, Americans are deferring care, and our hospitals are being strained. Now that is what I really want to get to today, the idea that hospitals are being strained. The New York Times paints a picture of hospitals that are really struggling to keep up here. However, some of the hospitals they cited are nonprofit hospitals that are taking billions of dollars from taxpayers and not actually providing the charity care they're supposed to. For example, they discussed the situation of Arizona's Banner Health. Hospitals will face even more unpaid bills as the changes to Medicaid are expected to go into effect next year, said Amy Perry, the chief executive of Banner. Hospital Systems like hers are looking at where they can save money, including closing facilities, which may mean patients would have to travel farther for care. We're doing that in every market in our portfolio, Ms. Perry said. Okay, now I want to pause right there. Banner Health has offshore accounts totaling almost a billion dollars, and yet if this bailout to insurance companies is cut, they're saying they're going to have to close facilities and leave patients out to dry. Let's take a look at how much this nonprofit hospital's CEO makes. Amy Perry makes $5.6 million. Her predecessor made $14 million. So again, I highlight this as a part of Waste Wednesday to help remind the fact that our healthcare system is full of waste, fraud and abuse. We have billions of dollars going to these nonprofit, nonprofit tax exempt hospitals and instead of handing it off to patients, they're using it for massive CEO salaries. Things like $1 billion in offshore investments, things like NBA practice facilities in Cleveland or things like a massive art display at the University of Miami Hospital. These are crazy and this is not what our tax dollars are for. But you need to understand we're spending those billions. It's not making it to patients. And you still have Democrats saying Republicans are taking away health care for millions of people when they end these wasteful subsidies that aren't actually helping anybody. We have talked quite a bit about Zoran Mamdani's government grocery stores, or as I call them, Zoran's Commie Momdami Marts. He made a lot of news this week when he was asked how people will ensure it's only New Yorkers getting these benefits. I'm going to pass it over to our EDC head Jeannie Pac to add some additional details.

[Co-host]

Yes, if you look at our RFP for the operator, we are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be at sort of a library card esque thing.

[Host]

Now understand what they're talking about there. This is going to require identification. Now I support if you're going to run a communist grocery store finding a way to ensure that the benefits from that only go to taxpayers and that it's not another part of a giant scam. But this turns all of Democrats messaging about things like voter ID on its head. How will unmarried women ever be able to access this grocery store? That was one of the top complaints about the SAVE act, the fact that married women have trouble getting certain kinds of identification. They also always say that it's Jim Crow to require voter id. Who knew that Zoron was opening Jim Crow grocery stores? And this isn't the first time that Zorron's played a little fast and loose with Democrat narratives on id. You'll remember to shovel snow and get paid for it. In New York, you had to show two forms of voter id. All you need to bring is two forms of ID to ensure you get

[Co-host]

paid

[Host]

for our you can't make it up segment. Today we're celebrating a birthday. Whew. You know, hey, Keith Ellison here. That is our favorite criminal, Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota, who is still wearing that fedora in honor of his birthday today. We want to remind you of some of the terrible scandals he's been a part of. First off, he was recorded colluding with Somali fraudsters. Getting the inquiry from G is sometimes enough to make people knock it off. Now, that was just a sample, but the larger audio highlights the fact that he met with people that were just weeks later tied to fraud. He promised them that if they gave him campaign cash, he would help the investigations into their activities go away. And then he took a campaign donation from them and cashed it. Well, those fraudsters are back in the news this week, not for good reason, but 5 Investigates found defendants walked away with lesser charges on their record.

[Co-host]

It's as if there had been no criminal prosecution at all.

[Host]

Is this just another example of Keith Ellison paying back the fraudsters who gave him campaign cash? Or is it just another reminder that Keith Ellison is willing to protect criminals at every opportunity? We may never know, but bottom line, happy birthday, Keith. We hope to see you in prison soon. That is all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us on 10 minute drill. Please leave us a rating, leave us a review, tell your friends and have a great.