It Could Happen Here – Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #39

Date: October 31, 2025
Hosts: Garrison Davis, Robert Evans, James Stout, Mia Wong

Episode Overview

This week’s White House Weekly delivers a sobering tour through the ongoing unraveling of America’s social safety net, a heated look at political scandals and the rise of uncompromising populist rhetoric, the disturbing militarization of federal immigration enforcement, international trade and tariff antics, and a window on domestic election anxiety. The hosts, with their signature mix of acerbic humor and urgency, unravel the consequences of government dysfunction, what it means for ordinary people, and why the border is the future.

Key Topics & Timestamps

1. SNAP Benefits Slashed and Food Bank Fallout (03:35–10:01)

• SNAP (food stamp) cuts hit 40 million people on Nov 1st, the day after Halloween.
• Garrison calls it "grim," noting neither the Trump administration nor Republicans show any willingness to negotiate without sweeping cuts to healthcare.
• Gavin Newsom’s deployment of the National Guard to CA food banks sparks backlash; as James notes, "Many food banks...have refused the help of National Guard members" because people are afraid to seek help when soldiers are present, especially in immigrant communities (04:37).
• Bay Area and Alaska communities especially hit: Alaska climate refugees lose both homes and food stores, now also denied federal help.
• Host critique of governmental disconnect: Robert notes, “It’s remarkable how detached the people who make our laws are from the working class experience” (08:28).
• Call to mutual aid: Food banks themselves rely on SNAP and federal programs; the hosts urge listeners to donate or help with food pickups.

Notable Quote

"One of the biggest problems is how much food banks get food. Also through these programs. Food banks themselves are going to be struggling right now."
— Garrison Davis (06:06)

2. The Graham Platner Political Scandal (10:01–28:29)

A Progressive Rises … Then Falls to Scandal

• Background: Graham Platner’s populist, anti-billionaire, pro-social safety net campaign in Maine once led Dem polls, especially among youth.
• Major scandal: Platner exposed for having a Totenkopf ("death’s head") tattoo, an unmistakable Nazi symbol.
  • Claims tattoo was a drunken mistake in Croatia as a young Marine.
  • Kept the tattoo for almost 20 years, only covering it up after media exposure.
  • Multiple reports suggest he knew what it signified and even joked about it.

"Let me be clear. I don’t actually think Graham is a secret Nazi sleeper agent. I really don’t. I think he’s a guy with really questionable judgment..."
— Robert Evans (14:42)

• Platner’s reaction: Blames Dem infighting, claims conspiracies.
• Youth support paradox: Despite widespread online awareness, young voters remain solidly behind him, showing the power of his anti-establishment rhetoric.
• New blow: News he worked for Blackwater (now Constellis) in Afghanistan in 2018 further erodes progressive trust.

Hosts’ Analysis

• Critical of binary purity tests but wary of recent, unreconciled past:
  "Maybe doing it in 2018 is too recently for me to want him in Congress as a progressive.” — Robert Evans (24:03)
• Fear of populist reactionary traps: Both Platner’s refusal to accept responsibility and the coalition defending him offer a cautionary tale about personality over principle.

3. Escalating Federal Repression: ICE, Border Patrol & “Fash-Wave” (32:43–50:00)

Border Patrol Raids on Chicago’s Halloween Parade

• Immigration enforcement interrupts a children's parade (33:00), using tear gas on crowds, including kids—directly violating a court order.
• Border Patrol chief Greg Bavino (Vivino) is photographed flouting court restrictions, appearing in court in a trench coat described as "very SS-looking."
• DHS is rebranding Bavino as a macho, almost fascistic poster child, producing “fash wave” edit reels of his raids. The hosts lampoon this social media campaign and point out the overtly Nazi or hyper-militaristic iconography.

Institutionalizing Repression

• ICE, under new Trump directives, is having its field chiefs replaced by Border Patrol and DHS hardliners, shifting focus from targeted enforcement to broad sweeps.
• James notes Border Patrol’s historically toxic, misogynistic, self-styled “paramilitary” culture (42:16).
• The name of mass raids: “Operation Midway Blitz” — hosts mock the use of Nazi-baiting language (“Blitz. Really. Blitz.”)
• DHS’s top-down direction is described as a new phase of mass repression, not just against non-citizens but for potential use domestically, foreshadowing further crackdowns in 2026.

Notable Quote

"You can't let this organization continue to exist, nor can you let the people doing this stay free if you ever take power again. There has to be accountability..."
— Robert Evans (37:47)

4. Surveillance, Technology, and Erosion of Rights (52:03–55:09)

• ICE is now using facial recognition technology (Mobile Fortify, CBP1 apps) that determines citizenship status, and officers are "ignoring even birth certificates" if the app flags someone as an "alien" (53:15).
• Technology routinely misidentifies faces, especially Black and brown people, and has been determinative in denying migrants asylum access—misuse likely to grow beyond immigration cases.

Notable Quote

"ICE, using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested, is a frightening, repugnant and unconstitutional attack on Americans rights and freedoms."
— James Stout quoting Rep. Bennie Thompson (53:29)

5. Public Lands, the Border, and Legislative Manipulation (55:09–59:05)

• Sen. Mike Lee is using border panic to try to gut public lands protections—proposing new wilderness road-building and essentially opening preserved lands for “border enforcement.”
• The bill would also prohibit sheltering migrants on federal land unless in a prison.

Notable Quote

"Building roads into the wilderness will permanently change the nature of that wilderness and will lead to other losses of protection on public land."
— James Stout (57:14)

6. International: Tariff Drama, Canada, China, and All the Crowns (64:26–72:21)

Trade Negotiations and Symbolic Politics

• Trump’s Asia visit: Given a giant golden crown by South Korea’s president, “the largest crown I have ever seen” (65:06).

• Tariff updates: US trade war with China eases somewhat (rare earth restrictions halted, 10% “fentanyl tariffs”), but remains volatile; symbolic Senate votes to end emergency tariffs on Canada and Brazil will have no impact as the House is functionally shut down.

• Trump imposes new tariffs on Canada after seeing a pro-free trade ad he thought was disrespectful:
  “He just put another 10% tariff on them because he was mad about it.” — Mia Wong (70:21)

• The hosts riff on the absurdity: "I don't know how to do analysis of the fact that we just have a child king setting tariff policy." (71:33)

7. Domestic Governance: Election Monitors & Gerrymandering Battles (72:39–75:37)

• Federal monitors dispatched to oversee California elections sparks accusations of voter intimidation (Gavin Newsom: “This is about voter suppression, period, full stop.” — 73:53).
• California’s response: Assigning “monitors to monitor the federal monitors”, especially notable because of Prop 50 (“revenge gerrymandering”) on the state ballot.
• Deep anxiety expressed regarding the normalization of authoritarian tactics and the use of federal enforcement as political theater.

8. Breaking: TX Attorney General Sues Tylenol over “Autism Risk” (75:45–77:27)

• Texas sues Johnson & Johnson for allegedly failing to disclose autism risks in Tylenol—hosts mock the suit as baseless and leverage it for jokes about pregnancy and drug warnings.

Notable Quote

“Welcome to the resistance, Big Pharma.”
— Robert Evans (77:27)

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• "But what’s spookier than [losing SNAP]? One thing you can’t say about the government is that they’re not failing to celebrate the holiday."
  — James Stout (03:53)

• "It’s remarkable how detached the people who make our laws are from the working class experience."
  — James Stout (08:28)

• "There’s gotta be another candidate without a Nazi tattoo who can say this stuff."
  — Garrison Davis (21:32) on Platner

• "I don’t think having been stationed to guard a place where horrible things, like war crimes, were committed necessarily damns you forever... But at some point he did, and that wasn’t like, the moment where he was like, ah, fuck."
  — Robert Evans (24:26)

• "Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of law enforcement officers. They just don’t. And you can’t use riot control weapons against them."
  — Judge Sarah Ellis, quoted by Garrison Davis (34:59)

• "The DHS Twitter account has been doing these little cute Nazi posts for a long time now. They know what they’re doing."
  — Garrison Davis (48:02)

• "All of DHS, we need to get rid of."
  — Robert Evans (48:56)

• "It will be looked back on in the same way that Allende promoting Pinochet is looked back on…"
  — James Stout (49:10) on keeping Bavino in power

Overall Tone

The hosts blend biting sarcasm, gallows humor, and political urgency. Their analysis is sharp and left-leaning, often lamenting the normalization of authoritarian tactics and collapse of basic democratic and social norms.

Final Takeaways

This week’s episode paints a vivid picture of government breakdown—where hunger, unchecked militarization, and bureaucratic betrayal become the new normal, while the American political class fumbles basic governance and symbolic outrage supplants real action. The warning is clear: none of these crises will be solved by waiting for the next election, and the capacity for people to build solidarity and mutual aid outside the system has never been more vital.

For Further Listening

• Food bank resources and donation links in show notes
• Back episodes on border technology, the evolution and abuses of CBP/ICE, and Prop 50/gerrymandering
• Rerun on the so-called ‘Tylenol autism’ panic

Happy Halloween, and—seriously—good luck out there.