After Party with Emily Jashinsky

Episode Summary: "Cowards in Congress, the TRUTH About Talarico, and Deep State Secrets with Roger Stone"

Date: March 5, 2026 | Host: Emily Jashinsky (MK Media)
Notable Guests: Rep. Thomas Massie, Roger Stone

Episode Overview

This episode of After Party delivers a wide-angle view on the state of U.S. politics, from congressional battles over war powers to the Texas Democratic Senate primary and the perennial intrigue of the JFK assassination and "deep state" secrets. Host Emily Jashinsky brings together interviews with Congressman Thomas Massie (fresh off the House floor), political operative Roger Stone, and dives deep into election analysis and a tragic criminal case in Fairfax County, VA. Throughout, Emily’s tone is incisive, skeptical, and big-picture, as she interrogates power and media narratives.

Key Segments & Timestamps

1. Rep. Thomas Massie on War Powers and Congressional Cowardice

[08:28–22:16, with highlights pulled earlier]

Main Themes:

• Debate Over War Powers in Iran: Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) co-authored a House War Powers Resolution requiring Congressional approval for military involvement in Iran. The bill faced steep opposition, especially with the Senate rejecting it.
• Executive Expansion vs. Constitutional Framer Intentions: Emily and Massie discuss how U.S. Presidents increasingly bypass Congress on questions of war, relying on legal technicalities and the weakness of post-1973 War Powers resolutions.
• Cowardice in Congress: Massie accuses colleagues of shirking their constitutional duty:

  “I have a theory. I think my colleagues don’t want to go on record because we have a terrible track record of meddling in the Middle East. They don’t want their name associated with this when it doesn’t turn out well.” — Massie [08:28]

• Political Risks and Donor Influence: Massie addresses President Trump’s criticism and big-money PACs opposing him, associating their real motivation with protecting the "military-industrial complex" rather than representing Jewish or Israeli interests.

  “It’s not because I voted against the big beautiful bill. It’s because I pushed the Epstein files Transparency Act through and threatened a lot of their friends, exposed a lot of their friends.” — Massie [19:57]

• Misaligned Incentives: Massie asserts that AIPAC and major donors aren't about Israel, but about war profiteering.

  “The only people benefitting from any of this are folks like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and the people making those drones and the anti-missile batteries.” — Massie [21:53]

• Bipartisanship and Skepticism: Emily reflects on interviewing Massie over the last decade, noting his ideological consistency even as he remains controversial within both parties.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Congress cannot be bothered with its constitutional duty because for many in this chamber, it’s easier to simply allow someone else’s sons and daughters to be sent to combat without their vote.” — Massie [08:28]
• “We are wildly out of step with the framers’ intention for war powers. I don’t care who is president.” — Emily [22:21]

2. Texas Democratic Senate Primary: The Populist Collision

[25:52–54:28]

Main Themes:

• Crockett vs. Talarico: Analysis of Jasmine Crockett’s defeat by James Talarico in what Emily calls “the most important primary in the country.”
• Populism, Style vs. Substance: Crockett ran as a stylistic populist (aggressive, viral, confrontational), while Talarico claimed the substantive populist, Bernie-tinged lane, but with a more conventional, civil style.

  "Style is substance, don’t get me wrong. But… Jasmine Crockett was not running as like a Bernie-aligned person, really. James Talarico has tried to swerve pretty fully into the Bernie lane..." — Emily [25:52]

• Elite Money, Left Ideology: Talarico took more K Street (corporate) money than Crockett, belying initial populist assumptions based on their personas.
• Crockett’s Election-night Rhetoric: Crockett initially implied election fraud, then conceded gracefully within 12 hours—Emily denounces this as reckless to public trust.

  “That is incredibly cynical behavior and I don’t want to let that pass at all. Whoever is playing with people’s trust in elections, I think we’re going to see more and more of it.” — Emily [34:03]

• Talarico’s Cultural Progressivism: Compilation of Talarico’s past statements (“trans community needs abortion care,” “God is non-binary,” Fauci action figures, etc.) highlighted as potential general election liabilities in Texas.

  “That is such a cringe performance of millennial progressivism, like peak millennial progressive BuzzFeed-era cultural politics from Talarico…” — Emily [43:03]

• Democratic Dilemmas: Emily predicts Talarico’s left-culture posts will be GOP attack fodder, and questions their appeal to working-class Black and Hispanic voters.

  “Don’t dismiss how some of this is going to land with working class Black and Hispanic voters. … Many of them actually reject it because they’re Christians, or because they are cultural conservatives.” — Emily [47:20]

Notable Quotes:

• “If you’re anti-war today and we can succeed, I welcome you to the cause.” — Massie [16:41]
• “Run on bold colors, not pale pastels.” (Reagan advice invoked) — Emily [28:30]
• “He couldn’t even win an election in Brooklyn anymore because that is such a cringe performance of millennial progressivism…” — Emily [43:03]

3. Roger Stone on JFK, Watergate, and Deep State Intrigue

[55:28–72:45]

Main Themes:

• JFK Assassination Theories: Stone repeats his well-known theory (echoed by the late Nixon directly to him) that Lyndon B. Johnson masterminded a plot with the CIA, organized crime, and Big Oil, motivated by looming prosecution and removal from the 1964 ticket.

  “Lyndon Johnson as the Vice President was at the helm of a plot that included the Central Intelligence Agency, that included organized crime, that included certain foreign and financial interests, that included Big Texas Oil, all of whom had their own individual reason to replace John F. Kennedy.” — Stone [60:10]

• Recent Document Releases: Stone claims new documents vindicate his views, especially around the CIA’s knowledge and possible handling of Oswald.

  "They [the CIA] not only knew everything about him, but he had a handler, and we now have that handler’s records." — Stone [65:54]

• Watergate & Deep State: Draws straight line from the JFK assassination to Nixon’s ouster; asserts four Watergate burglars were CIA payroll and at Dealey Plaza in 1963.

  "Those who killed Kennedy also effectively removed Nixon." — Stone [67:51]

• Modern Parallels & Trump: Stone says the Deep State persists and alludes to assassination attempts on Trump as following the same playbook.

  "These are the same forces who attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan in the first year of his term and a failed assassination. I believe they are the same forces who tried…to kill President Donald Trump." — Stone [69:46]

• Lack of Transparency: Both Nixon and Trump allegedly tried to access suppressed files; Stone points to entrenched intelligence establishment power.

  “Nixon confronts the CIA Director…says to him flatly, ‘look, I know who shot John.’” — Stone [66:18] “Why is the Trump CIA still stonewalling or attempting to?” — Emily [65:54]

Notable Quotes:

• “[Nixon said] Lyndon and I both wanted to be president. The difference was I wasn’t willing to kill for it.” — Stone, quoting Nixon [58:44]
• "There is a straight line from the murder of JFK to the silent coup under which Richard Nixon was out." — Stone [67:51]

4. Crime & Policy: The Stephanie Minter Case

[72:45–81:50]

Context:

• Background: Stephanie Nicole Minter, a Fairfax County mother, was murdered at a bus stop by an alleged undocumented immigrant, Abdul Jalo, with a long record and local police warnings about his dangerousness.

Main Themes:

• Criminal Justice Reform Critique: Emily lambasts progressive prosecutors, especially Steve Descano (described as "Soros-funded"), for policies that let repeat violent offenders walk.

  “It’s not a question of if but rather when he will maliciously wound or worse. Again.” — Police warning email quoted by Emily [74:03]

• Elite Influence, Public Helplessness: Emphasizes disconnect between progressive criminal justice ideology and lived experience of crime in blue communities.

  “People who live in these communities, deep blue communities… feel utterly helpless because all of the money and the momentum was with these Soros-type prosecutors.” — Emily [79:22]

• Political Implications: Predicts fallout for Virginia Democrats and articulates the principle that “100% of crime committed by non-citizens is preventable.”

Notable Moments:

• Emily’s Bluntness:

  “Insane that you have a non citizen with a rap sheet like that who is on the streets. Virginia Democrats are going to have to answer for this one.” — Emily [81:50]

Additional Memorable Moments & Commentary

• Emily’s skeptical but consistent tone: She expresses admiration for some guests’ ideological consistency, even where her views diverge.
• TV/Epistemology Critique: Channeling Neil Postman, Emily laments how algorithmic, TV-style, and now “peak woke” social media culture drives political actors toward empty performance over substance, across left and right.

  “There’s no way we were ever going to avoid the ‘television-based epistemology’ Neil Postman wrote about… it changes our politics in ways we haven’t been well equipped to handle.” — Emily [37:37]

• Populism’s Contradictions: The Texas race is repeatedly used to illustrate the tension between political branding (populist, “bold colors”) and the realities of money, ideology, and voter bases.

Notable Quotes By Segment

• Massie:

  • “Congress must decide war if American lives are to be risked and American blood is to be shed…” [08:28]
  • “We dragged them kicking and screaming into this debate and into this vote...” [13:33]

• Emily:

  • “That is incredibly cynical behavior and I don’t want to let that pass at all.” [34:03]
  • “Don’t dismiss how some of this is going to land with working class Black and Hispanic voters.” [47:20]

• Roger Stone:

  • “Nixon called the Warren Commission the biggest goddamn hoax in American history.” [58:44]
  • "There is a straight line from the murder of JFK to the silent coup under which Richard Nixon was out." [67:51]

Structural Overview

1. War Powers & Congressional Accountability (Massie Interview)
   • Congressional process, Middle East war, institutional incentives, donor influence
2. Texas Democratic Primary Analysis
   • Populism, viral politics, authenticity vs. performance, left/right culture wars
3. Deep State, JFK, and Watergate (Roger Stone Interview)
   • Historical conspiracies, CIA’s lasting shadow, current transparency debates
4. Crime, Justice Reform & Systemic Failure
   • Devastating true crime case, critique of blue-city criminal justice, public safety

Value for Listeners

This episode is a dynamic tour through both breaking and structural U.S. political trends, offering context and commentary you won’t find in mainstream news roundups. Emily’s interviews are pointed and push guests beyond prepared talking points, while her monologues link the day’s developments to long-term cultural, political, and institutional currents. If you missed the episode, this summary gives you both the highlights and the flavor of the show—quotable, skeptical, sometimes sardonic, and always searching for the big picture.