After Party with Emily Jashinsky

Episode: Tulsi vs. Deep State, Dems Lose Voters, and Cracker Barrel’s Disastrous Rebrand

Host: Emily Jashinsky
Guests: Ryan Grim (Drop Site News, Breaking Points), Sean Davis (The Federalist)
Date: August 21, 2025

Overview

This episode brings together political journalists Ryan Grim and Sean Davis for a wide-ranging, energetic conversation about the shifting media landscape, the decline of Democratic Party voter registration, the ongoing wars over institutional trust, the “deep state” retaliation by Tulsi Gabbard, and the cultural significance (and controversy) of Cracker Barrel’s rebrand. Emily anchors the discussion in her signature big-picture, fun-yet-serious style, drawing out sharp insights and memorable moments.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Media’s Changing Landscape and Journalistic Influence

[02:45-13:57]

• Transition from Old to New Media: Ryan Grim recounts his path from MSNBC to Huffington Post and now to Drop Site and Breaking Points, underscoring the transformation from old-school cable and blog news to the digital/podcast boom.
• Social Media’s Rise and Fall: Early dominance by sites like Drudge and HuffPost gave way to platform pivots (notably Facebook’s “pivot to video”) and then a general decline in traffic and influence from social platforms.
  • “Social media failing in what it used to do...After Trump won, they basically closed off news.” – Ryan Grimm [06:12]
• What is a Journalist Now? Pew research shows public confusion about the definitions of journalist and influencer; Grimm and Jashinsky discuss the expanding boundaries of the term, especially in podcasting.
  • “Anybody who is engaged in...communicating the news...is a journalist.” – Emily [09:20]
  • “It needs to include anybody who has an audience....If you’re talking about news and if you’re sharing information, you’re a journalist.” – Ryan Grimm [10:16, 11:49]
• Responsibility and First Amendment: The pair note the responsibilities that come with free speech/freedom of the press, even for comedians or creators who present news or analysis.

2. Podcasting as the New Agora

[12:44-15:52]

• Emergence of podcasting as a social surrogate, filling the “collapse of community” with digital companions.

• Left’s engagement with podcast culture: Once wary of right-leaning or controversial podcasters, major progressive groups are now sharing and clipping their content, signaling a pragmatic shift in media engagement strategies.

  “The fact that they’re now sharing it...shows that rubric has broken down and they’re like, oh, we actually need to engage here. This whole thing...where we tried to completely cordon things off and shut down debate...that didn’t work.”
  — Ryan Grimm [14:07]

3. Trust, Class, and Losing Voters

[15:52-24:47]

• The duo explores the class divide in journalism, the loss of institutional trust, and their impact on political realignment.
  • “You kind of lose your, I mean, you’re in a bubble, even if you try to get out of your bubble.” – Emily [15:52]
  • “There are tons and tons of right wing people who were also good people, even though they’re wrong about X issue.” – Ryan [17:08]
• Democrats' Voter Registration Crisis [19:22-24:47]:
  • Citing a New York Times investigation, Emily highlights a 4.5 million voter swing toward the GOP since 2020.
  • Discussion of the self-inflicted wounds of Dems alienating their base, over-emphasizing combative centrism, and losing the essential ground game once powered by groups like ACORN and Planned Parenthood.
  • ACORN’s collapse is critiqued as a moment of cowardice and strategic error for Democrats:

    “James O’Keefe comes out, Andrew Breitbart, and, you know, catches a couple ACORN staff saying...embarrassing things, and they shut the whole damn organization down. What are you doing?”
    — Ryan Grimm [27:44]

  • The party’s inability to fight for its own infrastructure is identified as a key reason for hemorrhaging voter registrations.

4. Community Organizing and Political Power

[24:47-30:07]

• ACORN and Planned Parenthood as Ground Game Engines:
  • Dems' past success in organizing was built on delivering tangibles (rental rights, healthcare), which converted into reliable voter turnout.
  • Both organizations are now diminished (ACORN destroyed, Planned Parenthood hit by policy attacks), weakening Dems’ relationship with working-class voters and minorities.
• What If ACORN Existed for Today’s GOP Base?
  • Ryan suggests if Republicans organized Hispanic voters along the Texas border like ACORN once did for Dems, electoral dynamics could be reversed.

5. D.C. Crime, Media Narratives, and Political Caricature

[30:32-33:32]

• Emily plays a clip of Stephen Miller blaming “white hippies” and framing D.C. crime as a Trump-fixable problem – a moment that prompts both amusement and disbelief.
  • “I just can’t believe this guy’s not in prison...instead is like, one of the most powerful people in the country.”
    — Ryan Grimm [32:27]

Sean Davis Segment

6. Trump, Museums, and History Wars

[35:27-42:35]

• Context: Trump’s Truth Social post criticizing the Smithsonian for focusing too much on “how bad slavery was.”
  • Left-wing media and academics frame it as “fascist” and “racist”; Sean Davis offers a combative response.

  “Anyone who’s literate and not a moron knows about that truth tweet...Trump is saying, you know what? Maybe our museum should focus on more than just how awful America has been...”
  — Sean Davis [38:29]

• The American Story: Trump, according to Davis and Jashinsky, is tapping into a hunger for stories of American achievement—technology, civil rights progress, peace and war—without erasing the darker chapters.

7. Tulsi Gabbard vs. the Deep State

[44:51-50:00]

• Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence:
  • Recent action: stripping security clearances from 37 current and former intel officers involved in “politicizing and manipulating intelligence”.
  • Davis highlights the strategic significance, naming key Russiagate actors and Schiff staffers as central to the intelligence abuses.

  “We have been lied to so many times...by so many different intel officials...Below that top layer, there’s...this middle layer of just awful, awful people who were likely the ones doing the leaking, spreading the lies.”
  — Sean Davis [46:15]

• The Stakes: Security clearances are more than perks—they enable lucrative careers post-government and, when misused, conceal or facilitate leaks.
  • “Having a security clearance is a privilege. It is not a right.”
    — Sean Davis [48:06]
  • Media and left cry “vengeance,” but Davis argues this is overdue accountability: “They rejected that old world and we’ve adopted their rules and now they're going to deal with it.” [49:09]

8. Cracker Barrel’s Disastrous Rebrand: A Microcosm for Cultural War

[51:42-58:03]

• Corporate Branding Meets the Culture War:
  • Cracker Barrel’s new logo and decor prompt outrage. Davis sees it as part of a broader “deconstruction” in corporate America—removing nostalgia, tradition, and even self-deprecating humor (the peg game’s “ignoramus” label is sanitized).

  “First off, it’s Land O’Lakes and Aunt Jemima all over again. They call it Cracker Barrel and they took out the cracker and the barrel. It’s unacceptable.”
  — Sean Davis [53:33]

  • Davis riffs: “I don’t need queer chicken fried steak...I just want comfort food and I want to look at old farm equipment.”
• DEI and Wokeism in Middle America:
  • Jashinsky notes the “crazy DEI stuff all over the Cracker Barrel website. It’s exactly what you would expect to see from Bud Light circa 2020.” [56:15]
  • Davis and Jashinsky agree that the belief “woke is over” is naïve—the culture war continues inside America’s iconic institutions.

9. Reflections on Cultural and Political Resilience

[59:16-60:38]

• Davis: The left never rests; conservatism’s error is believing cultural and political battles are ever “won”. The cultural left is always regrouping, and the right must stay vigilant and assertive.

  “The war is never over. And the left understands that better than anyone...they’re not just going to stop because they lost an election.”
  — Sean Davis [59:16]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media’s Evolution:
  “In the 2010s...writing mattered...You had all those sharp, like, Gawker style. The personal essay boom.” – Ryan Grimm [08:08]
• On Class and Partisanship:
  "Tons and tons of right wing people who were also good people, even though they're wrong about X issue...I always hated...I was one of those people that thought both parties were awful." — Ryan Grimm [17:08, 18:28]
• On Cancel Culture’s Limits:
  “This whole thing where we tried to completely cordon things off and shut down debate and cancel everything outside of this narrow bound, that didn’t work.” — Ryan Grimm [14:16]
• Cracker Barrel Rebrand:
  “I don’t want to sound melodramatic. We need to throw that woman in a volcano. It’s awful.” — Sean Davis [53:54] “Brands mean something. You have a legendary brand here that means comfort food in a safe environment that reminds you of a simpler time.” — Sean Davis [54:12]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment Description | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:45 | Media landscape shift: From MSNBC/HuffPo to podcasts | | 09:20 | Defining “journalist” in the digital era | | 15:52 | Institutional trust, class, conservative-left dynamics | | 19:22 | Dems voter registration crisis: NYT report discussion | | 24:47 | Collapse of ACORN, Dem ground game operations | | 30:32 | Stephen Miller clip, crime in D.C., political narratives | | 35:27 | Trump, museums, and “history wars” discussion w/ Sean Davis | | 44:51 | Tulsi Gabbard moves against “Deep State” actors | | 51:42 | Cracker Barrel rebrand: Why it matters culturally | | 59:16 | Culture wars: The left’s persistence, right’s awakening |

Final Thoughts: Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Populist Pulse

[62:25-end]

• Emily offers a nuanced analysis of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s interview with Megyn Kelly, framing MTG not as a fringe outlier but as a true avatar of the MAGA populist base—representing skepticism of institutions, the lived experience of small business America, and a deeply-felt alienation from both political parties.

  “I think she’s actually truly representative, more than anyone else in Congress, of where the average MAGA Trump base voter is.” – Emily [end]

• She calls for genuine engagement with populist leaders rather than ostracization, arguing: “To ignore her is to ignore the suffering. Basically, that’s what a lot of people ultimately end up doing.”

Episode Tone and Atmosphere

Throughout, Emily keeps the conversation smart, fast, irreverent, and open-minded. Both guests bring candor and humor—even as they starkly disagree on policy and worldview—making the podcast feel like a rollicking, unwieldy dinner party mixing the Beltway’s serious policy talk with barstool banter.

For Listeners Who Missed the Show

This episode is a prime sample of “After Party’s” blend of political substance and pop-culture savvy. You’ll come away with new frameworks for understanding why Democrats are struggling at the grassroots, how the very definition of journalism is in flux, why "woke" culture wars are far from over, and what the populist surge means for both parties’ futures. Whether you’re interested in the deep state or deep-dish pancakes, you’ll find something to chew on here.

End of Summary