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Emma Vigeland
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Matt
But you don't have Venice Beach. I found out.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah, not great. Sunset Lake is not that shady kind of place. They show their farming practices, they are transparent about it, and they take pride in its best in business customer service. So if you have an issue, they want to know so that they can make it right. And they're not going to use AI or bots to steer you in circles. They have products for everybody. I use a variety of different ones. I've got the Relax gummies over there. I'll pop one of those before I take the subway or walk home. I've got two different Sabbath lotions right here on my desk. I should probably just take the one that scented homes because it's a. It's a hazard for Sam. But I've got the unscented as well. Exactly. I love it, but Sam can't handle it. They have gummies and tinctures to help with sleep. It helps me fall asleep, which is sometimes difficult for me. They've also got topicals for relieving sore muscles and rehydrating dry skin and of course the smokables. If your order is over 7, $75, Sunset Lake Sabade can ship your order for free. And when you create an account on Sunset Lake Sebad's website, you can start earning rewards points and earn 10% back on all of your purchases. You can also refer to your your friends to Sunset Lake Sabade, send them a coupon on their first order and earn ten dollar store credit with every successful referral. As we mentioned, Sunset Lake Saba Day use regenerative farming practices. They pay their workers a minimum wage of $22 an hour. They never use pesticides. Pesticides. They use integrated pest management. This is the kind of company that you can get behind and feel good about supporting. Use coupon code left is best. All one word for 20% off your entire order at Sunset Lake. Sunsetbedday.com that's left is best. All one word coupon code for 20 off your entire order at Sunset Lake set betday.com and now time for the
Ryan Grimm
show
Sam Cedar
the Majority Report with Sam Cedar where every day's casual Friday. That means Monday is casual. Monday, Tuesday casual Tuesday, Wednesday casual hump day, Thursday casual Thirs, that's what we call it. And Friday casual Shabbat. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar.
Emma Vigeland
It is Friday, July 10, 2026. My name is Emma Vigeland in for Sam Cedar and this is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Ryan Grimm, journalist, co host of Breaking Points and co founder of Dropsite News, will be with us. Also on the program, a medical examiner has ruled Lorenzo Salgado Arroyo's death a homicide. After ICE killed him, DHS was forced to admit that he was not the target of their ICE search. They were just patrolling the neighborhood for two Guatemalan men to racially profile and ruin their lives and deport them. Claudia Sheinbaum says Mexico will push the US to file charges against officials responsible for the deaths of Mexican citizens by ICE in the streets and in ICE custody. Victor Marks is officially the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Colorado. Maybe my new favorite character in politics.
Sam Cedar
He's a real wild one.
Emma Vigeland
He's a killer, literally. Yes, he says he is. No, he says he won't.
Sam Cedar
Tell you how many people he brags
Emma Vigeland
about killing all the time. He also performs exorcisms over the phone. What a nice guy.
Guest or Co-host
Convenient.
Emma Vigeland
Exactly.
Ryan Grimm
I'm assuming that's not free.
Emma Vigeland
I don't think it's a public service now. After resuming bombing Iran, causing oil prices to skyrocket, Trump meekly says talks will resume. Israel shared intelligence with President Trump that Iran is trying to assassinate him. By intelligence I mean fables to try to get him to continue the war. Trump is refusing to sign the bipartisan housing bill that was passed with a veto proof majority, which means it's going to become law at midnight anyway. And he could take credit for it, but he's too petty because of the SAVE Act. New Mexico's attorney general says the DOJ is obstructing their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's estate. The White house purges the U.S. election Assistance Commission, ousting three sitting members yesterday ahead of the midterms. Not good. Venezuela's death toll from a pair of earthquakes has risen to over 3,800 as the country pleads for sanctions relief to attend to the devastation. Israeli attacks kill at least six people overnight in Gaza. The genocide is ongoing and the ceasefire is broken basically every day. And lastly, Graham Platner tells staff he will formally exit the Senate race on Monday. As Maine Democrats cobble together a nominating convention. Troy Jackson emerges as the left wing choice and the one that Platner volunteers are most enthusiastic about. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome to the show, everybody. It is casual Friday. Hallelujah, it is Friday. Hello, Matt. Hello, Brian. We've got a great show for you today. Ryan Grimm will be with us. We'll maybe have some disagreements. We'll iron some things out. And we'll be talking about the Senate races both in Maine, in Michigan, and more perhaps in Minnesota. And also the latest on the Iran war. But the Department of Homeland Security has now been forced to admit that Lorenzo Salgado Arroyo, the father of three who was killed by a federal immigration agent during a traffic stop in Houston earlier this week. They were just forced to admit that he was not the man that they were looking for. Instead, they were rolling through a historically Mexican neighborhood in the Houston area looking for people from Guatemala to round up and deport and ruin their lives. Arroyo was a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for 35 years. He leaves behind two years less than I've been alive. Right. Three. He older? Yeah, exactly. Older than me. He, he built a life here with children and a wife. His children went to college. They were. And he was. They are. And he was just as American as any of us, but was forced to languish in a sub citizen status because our immigration system is so sadistic and broken, because that we don't give pathways to citizenship for so many people in this country who then are exploited by their bosses with poor working conditions and poor wages and no health care. And that is beneficial to many people in our economy. And that's why this has not been addressed. And they are made more vulnerable in these kinds of situations. This makes 10 people now that have been shot and killed by the ICE Gestapo in Trump's second term. There have also been at least 50 people who have died in ICE custody that we know of. So once again, this is an issue of a federalized police force that is legally authorized to essentially racially profile, harass and abuse and kidnap people. Mark Wayne Mullen now leads the agency after Kristi Noem was a part of Trump's purge of women from his administration that were really just acting at his and Stephen Miller's directive in their sadism. But of course, all the women get fired first, which is just hilarious. Susie Wiles stands alone as the Trump whisperer in the White House who remains. But like DHS is now saying that the officers were not wearing body cameras. What a coincidence.
Matt
Literally nothing that DHS says should be taken at face value.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah. And we now have a Washington Post interview with three witnesses. They all say the same thing, that, that Lorenzo Salgado Arroyo did not ram into the unmarked ICE car, but that the agents fired at the vehicle anyway and that they were making fun of him and mocking the other passengers as he bled out. So here's what the Washington Post reported. We'll scroll to this, maybe third paragraph here. DHS released a statement hours after the deadly shooting saying that Salgado Arroyo had rammed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle and weaponized his white work van in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer. That is a lie, wrote Jose Trinidad Rojas, 51, in a handwritten statement. It is impossible for them to say that they were going to get run over. There were no officers in front of or behind the vehicle. They were on the sides. And then this is the attorney, Balderas Ibarra, who got these statements from these men, who, by the way, are now, as the article highlights, facing removal proceedings after going through this horrific event. They're incarcerated themselves because of their status, their, their undocumented status. Speaking to Rojas, Daniel Triodo Patoya, 43, and the shooting victim's brother, Victor Salgado, 44, and said he heard the same story from each as he interviewed them separately. The men are not being housed together. The attorney said all three are undocumented Mexican immigrants who are now facing removal proceedings. And then we can just skip ahead a little bit to they. They describe what happened here. The men who were in the van told this lawyer that Tuesday had begun like any other morning as they headed to a construction site. They were traveling on Wayside Drive headed toward Interstate 10. Around 6:30am after buying ice and water, they pulled up to a stoplight when an unmarked vehicle came from behind, came up behind the van and started following them. When the van accelerated as the light turned green, the unfamiliar vehicle pulled out onto the shoulder, accelerated and cut in front of Salgado Arroyo, who was driving, and tapped on the brakes, the men said. That's when Salgado Arroyo made a U turn. At that point, officers turned on their police lights, according to the testimony they gave the attorney. As the vehicle continued onto Canal street, they proceeded slowly because of heavy construction on the roadway. The men told Baldera Sibara again, this is their lawyer, that they were moving at no more than 5 miles per hour on the road. They said ICE rammed their vehicles into the work van, but at no point did Salgado Arroyo use his vehicle to hit law enforcement's cars. Lorenzo thought we had lost them, but suddenly they surrounded us, rojas wrote by hand on a legal pad viewed by the post. An officer then jumped out of one of the vehicles, ran toward them from the side and yelled, stop. He started firing from the passenger side of the van, hitting Salgado Arroyo in the abdomen. Victor Salgado, the driver's brother, said he felt the force of the firearm as the agent pointed the gun toward his brother. When he shot my brother, the gun was in front of my face, read Baldara Sabara from his interview notes of his conversation with Salgado. The brother was sitting in the passenger seat when the agent pulled the trigger. Salgado Arroyo was unable to stop the van and place it in park, the men said, but the officer or officers continued to unload additional rounds from the sides of the vehicle. Rojas described the agents violently pulling Salgado Arroyo out of the driver's seat and throwing him to the ground. They put handcuffs on their wrists and feet. Victor Salgado said his brother was yelling for help as he was bleeding out. It just happened so fast, salgado told the attorney. The three men lay helpless as their boss lay dying. This is in Spanish, but the translation is he heard an ICE agent, the brother saying to him in a mocking tone, you want to escape, right?
Matt
Sicare and escapar verdad? I wonder if that was a Latino ICE agent.
Emma Vigeland
The three men in custody have all been in the country for more than two decades, living without documents and with no criminal record. They have family and children here and now are currently after having to witness their friend and in one instance brother being murdered in front of them, are potentially having their families broken up and they're in nice custody as we speak.
Matt
At any point, Democrats could have done mass amnesty now, called it Reagan amnesty 2.0 and given all these people documentation. Instead, we've Been pitter pattering around, around, maybe we'll do something for the dreamers. You know, you need to take care of these people and get them out of this limbo. And that's after we stop this ICE Gestapo occupation of American cities where they're killing people.
Emma Vigeland
And this is now not a fringe opinion. Right. Like we talked about how abolishing ICE has become a mainstream opinion within the Democratic Party. And even the unfavorables of ICE creep into the. When you poll independents how disgusted they were after the Minneapolis surge and the killings of Preddy and Good that were so high profile and resulted in the aforementioned firings of Kristi Noem. But Mark Wayne Mullen has come in essentially with a mandate to do the same stuff, reducing their deportation quotas by a slightly less astronomical figure and, and doing it more quietly. All they've done is put a fresh coat of white paint on this.
Matt
Meet the new bus, same as the old bus is the who said.
Emma Vigeland
And so this is actually encouraging to see. This is Joe Scarborough here reacting to the ICE murder of Lorenzo Salgado Arroyo. And I think speaking for a kind of, as I say, a very mainstream opinion right now about immigration enforcement.
Guest or Co-host
You're gunning down people in the streets of America. Gunning down people in the streets of America. This is not going well.
Matt
No.
Emma Vigeland
Traumatizes and terrorizes communities.
Guest or Co-host
And politically, it's horrible for you. And yet you just continue. And as we have said here from the very beginning, you will never get the numbers that you want to get. That this, this, this is politically not sustainable. When you just go out and you put these random numbers out there telling ICE agents you have to go out and you got to get these numbers or else you're going to get in trouble. You won't be able to keep your job. That's not sustainable because you will never reach those numbers. You need to go to a plan B or a plan C because this ends in tragedy every time. What do you mean by don't tread on me? Isn't the time to say don't tread on me when Americans and other people who've been here for 30, 35 years are getting gunned down in the streets by federal troops.
Emma Vigeland
And if I could just add, for
Sam Cedar
those,
Emma Vigeland
usually if you're a migrant, if you're documented, if you're undocumented, if you're gunned down in the streets of America, it's still wrong and it's still a crime.
Matt
Yeah. Can I just make one quick point
Emma Vigeland
about this, about Joe Scarborough being unable to Talk. Stop talking over his wife and be such a toxic male. But anyway, keep going.
Matt
The early point he made about the numbers. Those numbers aren't just bad because they're implausible and impractical. They're. They're bad because they are a white supremacist fever dream about how many people we can deport. This is the Department of Homeland Security posting this image. I forget what the artist is, But America after 100 million deportations. 100 million. That is a Nazi style number. But even when J.D. vance, heir to Trump, probably presumptive air anyway saying 30 million, this is about deporting even people who are already citizens. White supremacist stuff.
Emma Vigeland
The 100 million figure, when they use that they mean every Latino American.
Matt
Every single Latino non white person. Exactly.
Emma Vigeland
That is, those are the figures that they're talking about. The one, the 30 mil or whatever is like basically anybody who isn't a full American citizen who is been naturalized
Matt
or who's been naturalized is a stripping citizenship. I believe that. Number one.
Emma Vigeland
Exactly. Exactly. This is a, about an ethnic cleansing campaign. And when we talk about them as a, as a Gestapo, what else should we refer to? A secret police that's trying to implement an ethnic cleansing campaign on behalf of a fascist administration? What else should we call them if not Gestapo?
Matt
Unmarked cars going around with surveillance technology just running people's plates through the, through it and saying, okay, let's, let's go draw our guns, guys.
Emma Vigeland
And I shouldn't say it's, it's overwhelmingly Latino people, but of course you have Somalis who are going to be the target of this. Syrians who are going to be the target of this.
Matt
You've had all sorts, literally all sorts. There's like an Irish guy early on that got caught up in this for like, I don't know if it was weeks, but like a long time.
Emma Vigeland
Haitian people have been the subject of these racist conspiracy theories.
Matt
Humanization by the vice president.
Emma Vigeland
So this is white supremacy. This is white supremacy. In a moment, we're going to be talking to Ryan Grim. But first a word from our sponsors here. You know, starting a business is a big deal. What surprised Sam, I think is that he was really, really freaked out about the idea of having to build a merch store from scratch. But then he found Shopify and it made it so much easier for, for this show. It had all of the tools that he needed to launch the merch store and it's all already included from day one. Shopify's templates and tools get you a stunning site up and running fast with no coding needed. Shopify checkout means more customers actually buy and returning ones can do it in a single click. And I can speak to this as a customer that uses Shopify myself, it makes it more likely for me to end up buying stuff when I don't have to go to my wallet and find my credit card and all of the information. It's just in there and you click and you're able to also track your packages. It's really nice. If questions come up, Shopify's built in Assistant Sidekick is ready to help you build, troubleshoot and keep moving. So you have a really quick way to fix any problems as well. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, from household names to small businesses that are just getting started. All you need is the idea Shopify handles the rest. If you're serious about hearing your first ka Ching, start your free trial@shopify.com Majority today. You heard that right? Start your free trial@shopify.com majority. That's shopify.com/main majority. We'll put a link to that in the video and episode descriptions and at Majority fm Shopify, stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free@shopify.com Majority and lastly, you know spring. You think about spring cleaning, you start with good intentions, but I actually ended up making an investment in myself this spring and it's something very important. Replacing my old mattress. I switched to an original king mattress from Lisa and it has been a much needed change. I have struggled with sleep. I toss and turn and oftentimes I end up falling asleep in weird positions that cause aches and pains. And it was, or I thought that's what it was at the very least, but it really was my mattress. And with my original King from Lisa, my bed now feels like a sleep sanctuary. I fall asleep a little bit faster, I stay asleep a little bit longer and I wake up feeling rested. Which has made doing what I need to do on a day to day basis much smoother. And so you know, I'm working on a better nighttime routine, less phone time, more reading TBD on how that's going. But my original king from Lisa has at the very least made things a bit better for me in my sleep routine. And my bed is my happy place. I got to be honest with you, I like to get horizontal on that bed. Lisa has a lineup of beautifully crafted mattresses tailored to how you sleep. Each mattress is designed with sleep specific positions and feel preferences in mind. From night one you will feel the difference. You just take the LISA Sweep Sleep Quiz and you'll find your perfect match in less than two minutes. You can get full body support put in that you want comfort no matter how you sleep. Leesa will find a solution for you. Leesa mattresses are meticulously designed and assembled in the US for exceptional quality and they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns and 120 night sleep trial. Lisa has been awarded best Hybrid and best memory foam mattresses by the New York Times Wirecutter and is featured by West Elm and as their go to mattress partner. LISA isn't just about sleep, it's about impact. They work with local nonprofits all across the US to donate thousands of mattresses each year to families in need. With over 43,000 mattresses donated to Date Plus, Lisa is committed to eco friendly materials and sustainable manufacturing practices and partners with organizations like Clean Hub and Green Worms to help remove harmful plastic waste from the environment. Go to Lisa.com for their July 4th sale to get 30% off plus an extra $50 off with promo code Majority exclusive for our listeners. That's L E-E-S a.com promo code majority for 30% off plus an extra $50 off. Support our show and let them know we sent you after checkout Lisa.com promo code majority. We will put a link to that down below in the video and episode descriptions. And a quick break and when we come back, we'll be joined by Ryan Graham, Foreign. We are back. And we are joined by Ryan Graham, journalist, co host of Breaking Points and co founder of Dropsite News. Ryan, welcome back to the show.
Ryan Grimm
Hey Emma, how you doing?
Emma Vigeland
I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. It's been quite a week for us both, I would say. And like also just in terms of covering progressive politics and anti establishment politics, let's just we'll start off in the most controversial place here because as I've said to you before, you're one of my favorite people to disagree with because it can always be evenhanded and in good faith. But just to catch people up, earlier this week you reported that there had been a detail that had been Left out of POLITICO's reporting on the rape accusation against Graham Platner. Politico didn't include, apparently that the woman accusing Platform Platner of this assault had asked him to come over for a glute massage the night of the alleged assault. And however, sorry, what'd you say?
Matt
Said she needed a glute massage but not to Ask him for it.
Emma Vigeland
Gotcha.
Matt
Recollection.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah. And afterwards she still said, do not come over. And you have faced some pushback for reporting this detail. And I guess I'm wondering what you think of that pushback, because my. This is what I would say. Right. Like we often will say on our show that it just. It's as important. Like, the substance of what we say is sometimes even less important than what we choose to highlight or cover. Right. And I think that perhaps emphasizing this detail gave a lot of people license to dismiss Jenny's accusation. Even if that's not in what the text said. That would be my critique. And I'm wondering what you think of that.
Ryan Grimm
Yeah, I don't think anyone seriously argues with the general idea that if we're going to try a very serious allegation in the court of public opinion, that the information that the media has about that should be public. Like, I think. I don't. I don't generally think that anybody really disagrees with that. And I think it's important to understand exactly how Politico reported this at the time. So I have it in front of me here. They wrote that night in late 2021, she said she had exchanged text messages with him and told him not to come over, saying she wasn't in the mood for company. Later that evening, she said she realized when she heard a sound on the stairs that he had let himself into her house. So the way that Politico presents it, they were texting, she says, don't come over. And then there's effectively a break in. Like, that's kind of the impression that you're left with here. The door is unlocked, but, like, if you don't permission to come in the house, like, you can't. You can't just come in an unlocked house. It's not how it works. Politico was aware that the exchange that they're referencing there included her saying she needed a glute massage. Him responding, I'm on my way over. And then she responds, I'm not, you know, don't come. I'm not in the mood for company. We don't know whether or not he got that message or he was just, you know, drunkenly driving over to her house. There are a lot of people who absolutely do not care about that detail and don't think it's relevant and are okay with it not being included. There are also many, many people who think that that detail is relevant for his state of mind and particularly whether or not the implication of a break in is accurate, which then, you know, shapes some of the rest of it. And what I would say to the people who don't think it's relevant, I
Emma Vigeland
would include myself in that, in that camp. So.
Guest or Co-host
Yeah, right.
Ryan Grimm
Absolutely. Yeah. You don't think it's relevant. That's totally fine. We live in a democracy where the entire public is involved in the deliberation of these questions. And so there are many people who do think it's relevant. Like, is it relevant that he was drunk?
Emma Vigeland
Like, but the disqualifying piece is the, is the rape accusation, not the break in. Right. So I guess perhaps this absolves him of the break in. But, but, but wouldn't her saying, still, you know, protesting and saying that it was not consensual.
Ryan Grimm
Absolutely. Obviously, if she said, and I thought this was more obvious, apparently, than it is.
Emma Vigeland
Right.
Ryan Grimm
If you say, I need a massage, let's say you say, come over and give me a massage. And he tries to turn the massage into something more than that, and she says no, and he pushes past it. It's obviously still rape. Like, there's zero question about that. But this kind of insistence that the facts aren't really important because of what she says happened in the end,
Guest or Co-host
I
Ryan Grimm
don't believe, as a journalist, our job is to put the facts out that we have and then let the public decide whether or not those are relevant. Now, if some people said, well, why don't you put in, like, what she was wearing? No, that is, that is completely different. Like, we are talking about two people who had been dating on and off for two years. At this point. The nature of the text message exchanges that they had that led him to come over is relevant to some people. It doesn't have to be relevant to everybody to be included, just some people. And I really don't actually think this is a controversial point. I understand why it's so sensitive. You know, particularly, you know, we live in a world where, in a, in a country where sexual assault is just rampant, so many people reading the story have themselves experienced sexual assault and are experiencing it both through the, the political lens, but also then through their, the prism of their own experience. So I understand why it's this sensitive for so many people. At the same time, the idea that Politico can have this information and decide on their own not to include it because they're worried about, let's be honest, about why they didn't include it. They're worried about what some readers might take from it. That's not Politico's place. That's my, that's my.
Emma Vigeland
I mean, so then it's a media critique. Is, is, is right. Well then, but, but, but the, but then if it's, if it is a media critique, then how, what is the intention of that critique in this moment? Like, do you see how it could serve a secondary, if not purpose that actually might be outsized, where it causes a large section of less media literate people to disparage this accuser and not take it seriously just because they're not going to maybe look into the details and just they're going to take away from it that the reporting was faulty because you have this critique that is much more narrow than what the takeaway is going to be. I mean, that's the responsibility piece.
Ryan Grimm
I've actually said repeatedly that the fact that Jenny was willing to share this detail with the Washington Post, I believe with cnn, which didn't include it, and with Politico, Washington Post did include it to their great credit. Nobody read their story because it was. They took more time with it, apparently. The fact that Jenny included this detail to me strengthens the credibility of her version of events. It shows a level of confidence in her rendition to share all of it for Politico then to decide on its own. I don't think people can handle this because it will. That's not what we're going for in this article is just wrong. And like, I understand that like people are going to be like livid at me for like putting the reporting out there, but like that's, it's, it's not up to. And also we shouldn't just because people are going to be livid at us, like, that's not a reason to like not report something.
Emma Vigeland
No, I'm in agreement with you there. I think, you know, it's just a question perhaps of timing and you know, a question of like, like, where do you place reporting in narrative construction? Like, is timing and emphasis as important as the granular nature of the details? Like, I think it is my, I
Ryan Grimm
mean, my view is completely different than how the world operates when it comes to these questions. Like, I think there should be. I think the public should take more time than it does with these allegations, like to have an article come out and then within basically an hour of that article coming out, the decision to have been rendered, I think doesn't do justice to the, to anybody. So that, but that's not the world we have. Like, the world we have is article. Wow, this is awful. Done like, this is over. I don't want to hear anything else about it. And if you tell me anything else about it, you are justifying what happened. I just don't believe that. I don't think that's how, like, knowledge creation should exist. I don't think that's how public trials of people should unfold. I am in the deep minority on the left on this.
Emma Vigeland
I understand.
Ryan Grimm
Well, I'm in the deep, loud minority on this. I think among the public in general, the two scenarios are different. One scenario being they exchanged text message, she said, don't come over, he came over anyway. Is different than two people had been dating for two years, exchanged messages about a glute massage. Oh, I'm coming over. Actually, I don't want company. Don't come over. Like, those are different. Those are different scenarios. And the public has a right to the actual scenario.
Emma Vigeland
Yes.
Ryan Grimm
Then most of them will look, I think, at that actual scenario and say, he's still guilty and I still want him gone. So that's the other thing that's so striking to me about this.
Emma Vigeland
But was that the takeaway from your audience or did they take away more that the, that it was a hit piece, like, you know, most.
Ryan Grimm
Most. Well, I think a lot of people believe that this was.
Emma Vigeland
You say it strengthens her claim, but I haven't seen that be the reaction to what the reporting is. It seems like people are taking that as a way to dismiss it.
Ryan Grimm
Now, what you're seeing is that like within a minute of the article being published, long before I did my own reporting, a huge portion of the public thought that this was a political pit job, like, period. Like a huge portion in particular in D.C. said, this is damning, he needs to go. A huge number of people do not have trust in our institutions and believed that this was an engineered, orchestrated hit job, that that's what you're seeing. And so for those people, they may also pick up on what we reported and circulate that. But that is like, that is an authentic kind of reaction that a lot of people have had. But. And in Maine, yes, it's not represented at all in the, in the media, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah. And I think, you know, we're, we can move on to the less, you know, granular, media focused part of the story and maybe talk more about the political fallout here. Because the, the reality is that Platner's branding as a, like an outsider. Right. And the other pieces that had come out against him prior to this, about the tattoo and about the unsettling behavior had, you know, contributed to an outsider status that had benefited him with Maine voters because of a justified mistrust of the national Democratic Party that has consistently let them down. And what I find kind of aggravating about this story is that there is this driving impulse by the national press to disregard what Maine voters actually care about or either. Or mischaracterize it in general. You know, I did an interview with Slate where she was, the host of the interview, was insisting that voters in Maine just voted for what she said was a guy and not his platform. And that is a mode. There's this motivated reasoning right now in the national press to foreclose any conversation about the ideological and policy civil war within the Democratic Party right now to essentially say that anybody that was highlighting how Platner was gaining popularity because he wants to cut off arms to Israel and tax billionaires, et cetera, shouldn't have any credibility anymore to say anything about this at all. And that's the critique of other media figures from national mainstream centrist press. But the problem is that they're not talking about the voters who supported that, or they're saying that they are basically dumb hogs that didn't know what they wanted and just got hypnotized by his voice and the fact that he was an oyster farmer. It's. There's all of these different conversations that are happening at the same time that still are drip with condescension about Maine voters saying, like, this is about representation, Democratic representation, and it's an issue set that we voted on, not. Not a celebrity. And liberals in the national press can't conceive of this.
Ryan Grimm
Right. It's an. It's an incredible level of contempt to have for, for the voters and men who came out. And what's. What's interesting is that, yes, it's true that he looks different than a typical politician, like a Jordan Wood or somebody who's running for Senate up there, but he also doesn't. You wouldn't be able to pick him out of a bar in Maine. Like, he looks like everybody else in Maine. So like it there. There's this. There's this Washington and New York idea that, like, there's something like unicorn about this guy when. When actually just looks like everybody else up there. And what's. So what was so unusual, I guess, is that somebody like that could then be so captivating to. For so many people in Maine. You know, there's a story about how right after he launched his. His campaign, he had already been Booked to shuck oysters at Troy Jackson's at a Troy Jackson campaign event. And so Troy, you know, gives his, gives his speech and says something like, you know, actually our oyster shucker over here, like just today or yesterday, you know, filed his paperwork, he's going to run for the United States Senate. And it's almost kind of like a joke. Like what a. Oh, you're serious. Like he got this, the oyster guy over here, it's actually running. And Troy's like, yeah, Graham, you want to say a few things? And Graham takes the, takes the mic and leaves the audience absolutely spellbound. Like completely overshadows Troy Jackson, who is very interesting politician with a, you know, profoundly working class background. Not a great speaker like Troy Jackson would not claim to be a great speaker. And the people there are just like our reporter was at this event. They're like, who is this guy? Where did he come from? And so there's this idea that he was like manufactured by these like out of state consultants. And it's true that like he was recruited by some out of state consultants, but also deeply with the collaboration of the labor unions in Maine, which gets completely overlooked. But he also had this unique ability to captivate people's attention and convince them that he was going to actually deliver on the things that he was saying. So it's one thing to say things, it's another thing to be able to convince people that you mean it and that you're trying to bring them in. And so like, yeah, that, that's what people were getting behind. Not this like, like, oh, he was wearing a flannel and had a deep voice. That's, that's such a condescending.
Emma Vigeland
Yes.
Ryan Grimm
Understanding of how things unfold and it's just not, it's just not accurate. People are actually on the lookout for that kind of thing. And, and if you, and if you're not authentic to it, it's, it's going to fall flat.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah. And I, that's the same condescension that caused them to continuously put up losing candidates against Susan Collins every time, including Schumer and Gillibrand. Clearing the field for a nearly 80 year old centrist who could not generate any enthusia. And so like, you know, when we're looking at right now what happens next in Maine, you. This is obviously a very messy situation. Not ideal, but by July 27, there's going to be 600 delegates that are selected at this nominating convention and they're going to be selecting a candidate that best represents, hopefully Graham Platner's platform, not his personal character, but what he stood for and what main voters said would best represent their interests. So you mentioned Troy Jackson here. And I want to play his launch video, his campaign ad for Senate because he's a really interesting candidate. But. But also, in just returning to Jenny Rasica co and her accusations against Platner, part of why she says she hesitated to come out and tell her story about her sexual assault was because she agreed with him politically and didn't want them to hurt his candidacy. So it's not just about honoring Maine voters, in my view and what they wanted from Graham's platform in selecting a candidate that is as representative of those interests as possible, but it's also honoring her sacrifice of coming out and saying her story publicly when she knew that it would be damaging, but she felt that she needed to say it. It's just another way to think about it here as well. But here is Troy Jackson, Senate campaign launch. And I'm wondering, Ryan, if you could weigh in after we watch this about what kind of candidate he is and how the Platner campaign infrastructure is trying to coalesce around him.
Troy Jackson
Hey, everyone, it's Troy Jackson. Right now there's a powerful movement of working class people in the state of Maine. And we're sick and tired of getting screwed and struggling to get by while greedy corporations get more and more. To all of you that have put your work, your dedication and your hope into this movement, I know you're hurting. I know it because I understand that. And I want you to know that your efforts aren't for nothing. Your voice matters. Your time matters. You matter. Together we can fix what's broken in Washington. We can pass Medicare for all. We can take on corporate power and the politicians in their pocket. We can take our country back. We can create the future Mainers and Americans deserve. I've been fighting this fight for 30 years and I'm sure as hell not backing down now. I'm a Mainer, a dad, a fifth generation logger from Allagash. I'm a progressive. I've been tested. I've won time and time again in deep red Trump country by double digits. I've won in progressive cities like Portland and Bangor. I know what a tough fight looks like and I know how to win because working people know I have their backs. They know me, they know my values and they know my character. We can defeat Susan Collins. The movement that you've built can win. So I'm in. I'm in this fight with you. And I'm asking you for your support so we can take back the Senate seat and send Susan Collins packing once and for all.
Emma Vigeland
So there you have it. Troy has also said Israel's actions are a genocide in God Gaza. Ettinger Mentum had a really great piece. People can check out his substack breaking down and ranking essentially the candidates to replace platform. And he had Jackson first. Here's what Troy said last night, talking about the Palestinian aid worker who organized the World cup watch party in Gaza and how Israel killed them before they were gathering to watch the Egypt Argentina game in a targeted strike. He said, this is unconscionable. Anybody with eyes and a heart knows the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza. It has to end and we as Americans have the power to end it. When I'm in the US Senate, I'll never vote in favor of US taxpayer funded military aid to Israel. So there you go. And yeah, I mean he's, he's from really far up north. He has been close to the Bernie wing of the party for a long time and labor. The questions more are about his candidacy. Does he have a lot of charisma? A lot of people say no. And then also like, does he have the ability to win outside of the areas in northern Maine where he traditionally had strengths electorally? Those are the questions that remain.
Ryan Grimm
Yeah. And he, you know, he's, he's an interesting guy and he's like, you can argue all day back and forth about the complicated nature of Graham Platner's working class credentials. There's no argument with Troy Jackson. He was, his mom was 16 when he was born, you know, four generations above him. And logging, he gets into logging. He went to community college and then immediately becomes a logger. And the way he became politicized is also interesting. Ironically you could characterize it, I'm only half joking as anti immigrant because there was this labor dispute between Maine loggers and Canadian loggers and the main loggers were saying that Canada was, was ignoring all sorts of, you know, immigration laws and labor laws and suppressing wages for Canadian loggers and then taking jobs from Maine loggers. They filed 100 plus complaints over this and even got involved with civil disobedience because it was existential to their, their entire way of life up there in northern Maine. He then, as he's fighting this battle, runs as a Republican because this is the type of working class area in the 90s that was represented by these, you wouldn't call them Dixiecrats because they're all the way up in northern Maine. But like these Blue Dog, Blue Dog Democrats who just held a corrupt lock on power for decades, he barely lost. Two years later, he runs as an independent and beats the Democrat. Eventually he converts and becomes a Democrat himself. One thing he's, he gets hit for is that he's had some traditional working class, conservative values. He was anti, he was anti abortion. There's some other kind of cultural issues where he's been, you know, where he's been, you know, Republican, basically. He, for the last 10, 15 years, he's had a perfect Planned Parenthood rating. He has, he said he was wrong on that. He's, you know, he's come around on a lot of those issues. But that, you know, he's a very, very interesting candidate and he is the one that the Platner volunteers are, are getting behind. Like they're, they're going to try to organize at these caucuses or these county events to try to get their delegates sent to the state convention to nominate Troy Jackson. As you see that, like, he's clearly not saying this. He's not, he's not Graham Platner. Right. But he, but he, he and he and Platner were running as a ticket basically together.
Emma Vigeland
And, and what the volunteers want is very relevant here. It's really important.
Ryan Grimm
Yeah.
Emma Vigeland
And there's. Right now, there's a lot of people that are like, why is Platinum not immediately dropping out? There are reasons for it. One, there's a campaign finance reason for it. It gives the campaign more time to settle their debts that they need to do before foreclosing the campaign, essentially. But two, they want the campaign infrastructure leverage to push Troy Jackson, and that's what they're trying to use. So a lot of, again, people in the national press are talking about how unseemly this is that he's not formally dropped out yet. It's happening. This is just about trying to set up the campaign infrastructure and the ideas in the best, most advantageous position ahead of a convention where it's going to be a lot of chicanery, I would guess, about like trying to get in a corporate, pro apex, stooge centrist that doesn't want to abolish the filibuster. So it's essentially just like Susan Collins, but with a Democrat next to their name. Like, they're going to try that, even though I think it's going to be more difficult because there are people like Joy Reid, who we played yesterday on the national stage or our show, saying, like, no, you've Got to represent the will of the voters. Don't try this now. But I guess I'm wondering what your kind of more meta take is on the attempt to go after the like campaign in this way. The campaign of Graham Platner. Like, you don't hear, read all these news articles about the consultants that helped Eric Swalwell and how they need to never work again. Right.
Ryan Grimm
They work for Becerra now. Right?
Emma Vigeland
Yeah. Right. But you do hear this now about Morris Katz and the Democrats that have worked on Democratic consultants that have worked on this campaign. And it really does feel like they're trying to use this moment to create a proxy war on the emerging left wing infrastructure. And the very few, this new tiny, tiny constituency of consultants that helped work on the Mamdani campaign are now on platter or on others. Right. Like these left, these small little leftist ad makers and firms that are a threat to the way that the behemoth Democratic Party consultant structure operates. Just your take on how like the knives are out for the consultants on the campaign in a way that seems very different than how other campaigns have been covered when their candidates are accused of sexual assault.
Ryan Grimm
It shows how cynical the establishment's approach to sexual assault is. Like, it didn't stop them for a second to even get behind Cuomo himself, let alone all of Cuomo's consultants. Like in every other case where somebody has been credibly accused of sexual assault, there's never been a moment where the consultants who elevated the candidate were somehow found to be themselves guilty and needed to be blacklisted in politics. It's because they're taking on the machine. It's very clear they're going after Dan Osborne now in Nebraska because some of the same consultants that work for Platner have also worked for Osborne. And so literally they're trying to like, tie Osborne to it. Like, as if Osborne has anything to do with what Platner did. Abdullah sayed too near a tannin. Like, saying, you know, he could be next.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah.
Ryan Grimm
Like she has some convoluted explanation for what she meant by that. Right. That, that isn't that she's suggesting that he's a, he's a predator and a rapist. But it like, makes no sense. They, they want to purge like the party of the people that are beating them in elections. And they want to do it in as undemocratic a way as they possibly can. Just, just to say, you're out, we're purging, you're gone.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah, that's what Democratic voters said after 2024, we want more smoke filled rooms.
Sam Cedar
Right?
Matt
Right.
Emma Vigeland
We want more smoke. We want less internal democracy and more smoke filled rooms. And yeah, it's, it's really reminiscent to me of, of the way, you know, the Labor Corbyn playbook, like they are seeing that the left is having success within the party. And I don't think it's a coincidence that there was reporting in the, in late 2024 after labor won those elections and now has completely collapsed by the way that they were talking to the Kamala Harris campaign about strategy. Like, I would not be shocked if the Democratic Party infrastructure is talking to these same firms and using the playbook to try to, you know, remove the emerging left wing insurgency from the party by hooker, by crook. And this Platner, you know, fiasco is a really convenient way for them to do that after DSA was racking up wins all of June.
Ryan Grimm
Right. And right. And August is, you know, July has Kai Newkirk who is now facing these like completely unspecified allegations apparently stem from this 2019 article that's been retracted. And so he's up July 21st and in Arizona against a new dam business friendly Democrat. And then you've got the August primaries in Missouri with, you know, you got Corey Bush, you've got a whole bunch in Michigan outside, but also, you know, several, you know, Will, Will Lawrence Bloomquist, Donovan McKinney all running insurgent campaigns in Michigan. So they're looking at a serious wave and they're thinking like we need to just kind of destroy the infrastructure underneath this. And it'll be interesting to see if it's possible because they're not doing anything to moderate the structural forces that have produced all the anger that is powering these candidates. Like I'm sure fight agencies ads are really nice and well done, but it's not like they can manufacture an entire movement, you know, with just the way that they color their ads.
Emma Vigeland
But, but that's what they think of voters though. Like, isn't that instructive? This is what they think of voters. I mean, and voter, the main voters, they don't, they think that essentially they're easily manipulated outside of the substance of policy. And like, I don't, in a, in a previous environment when we were covering politics, this might have worked when there wasn't this like more robust small donor network and there wasn't this like broad constituent and voter understanding about how money is corrupting that like gives credibility to candidates that aren't taking that kind of money. And frankly, if our media institutions still had the relevance that they used to, this would they would have been able to kill Platner's campaign much more early on, honestly. And they're lashing out because they were unable to do so. Even though let's be abundantly clear, Platner, due to his deception and his lack of forthrightness, at the very minimum. And then of course, I would say this really credible allegation of rape has given them immense ammunition.
Ryan Grimm
Right? Yes.
Emma Vigeland
And so. All right, well, we've talked about this story enough. I think just briefly before I let you go, Ryan, I want to talk about the Iran war because Trump is retreating once again and saying that they're resuming talks after calling the Iranian negotiators scum. Three weeks prior to that, he had talked about how great they are. And, you know, I also last night CNN reported that Israel shared intelligence, wink, wink, wink, wink, wink, with the United States that Iran is trying to assassinate Donald Trump. What do you make of these developments over the past 48 hours or so?
Ryan Grimm
The, the problem with Trump is that the problem for Trump and with Trump is that he exhausted his military capacity already. Like, if he was able to militarily take control of the Strait of Hormuz and overthrow the regime or dictate terms to the regime, he would have done it already. When they launched this war, they had, you know, they had exhausted some of their stock in the 12 Day War, but they had pretty much a full magazine of, you know, two aircraft carrier groups, all of, you know, all of the Tomahawks that they had, they were, they were stocked and ready to go. They threw everything they had at Iran and they used an enormous amount of what they had when it came to defensive capacity, ballistic missile interceptors and so forth. We reported it at drop site at the end of the war, Israel was down to double digit interceptors, ballistic missile interceptors. And they were relying almost exclusively on the US Navy to intercept ballistic missiles coming in from Iran. And Iran had not yet moved to its hypersonic and most recent weapons because you shoot the older, oldest ones first. So that's what the US And Israel got when they were fully loaded up. And companies across the world had their inventories, their oil inventories stocked up. Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve was stocked up and, you know, gas was at $3 a gallon or whatever. Like that's where we started. So the idea that he's going to come back for a third round with gas starting at $4, with inventories completely depleted, with the Strategic Petroleum reserve something like 19 million barrels away from the bottom, like, where it becomes, like, dysfunctional and you don't have a reserve anymore and you fired off tons of your Tomahawks, tons of your other missiles. One of your aircraft carriers had to go back because the undies caught on fire. Your other aircraft carrier group had to move out of ballistic missile range of, of the Iranians, and so therefore can't launch. The short range stuff, has to rely on the very expensive heavy range missiles. Like, the idea that in that scenario, you're going to be able to accomplish what you couldn't in the last one is so obviously untrue that you knew that when Trump started this that he was going to have to stop pretty soon. And so that's what he's done. So he has to either give up the Strait of Hormuz or conquer Iran. He can't conquer Iran. He can't bring himself to give up the Strait of Hormuz.
Emma Vigeland
So he's stuck and he's lashing out and using, I think, probably escalating rhetoric like scum to give a public perception of victory, which, like, say, you know, Iran right now is, I think, within their rights to want to make the west feel pain after Trump launched this war. But if they humiliate the United States, this might prolong it because Trump really only cares about the appearance of a victory here. And so I think, you know, them exerting their leverage is, is, is important. But there also is the question of Lebanon as well. And Israel has shown no desire to acquiesce and remove their forces from southern Lebanon, which Iran is holding firm. And their position continues to get strengthened as this goes on and the United States becomes more and more desperate that Lebanon and the cessation of hostilities there need to be included in any memorandum of understanding that is renewed or in any peace process.
Ryan Grimm
Yeah. And I think a thing you can add to it is the psychological effect for Trump of seeing the millions of people in the streets mourning the man that he assassinated and was told was deeply unpopular and is dumb enough to believe what he's told. He certainly he was unpopular. A lot of people didn't like him. A lot of people also loved him. There are millions that came out in the streets in Iraq. Millions. Not just Iran. Iraq too. And so I think he saw that too, and that that was deeply souring his mood. Feel like he sort of had to get this out of his system. If you noticed, they hit the train lines going to and from Meshage where the ayatollah was being buried, so that all of the mourners are then either attacked or deeply inconvenienced in having to, like, get home. So, like, the pettiness.
Emma Vigeland
Right.
Ryan Grimm
Of that divorced from any plausible military rationale. Because you can put like you bought. If they're hitting the bridge, like, okay. That it's going to have an economic impact. And the economic impact means that you can't produce as many weapons, I guess. Blah. Like, but hitting the, just the tracks. Within 24 hours, they've got the tracks put back together. So you're only doing it because you're a baby and you're salty that people are, millions of people are out in the street.
Emma Vigeland
Right. And I mean it because. But it returns to his fixation on the optics of like.
Ryan Grimm
And it's a war crime. Just to be clear.
Emma Vigeland
Yes. And the attacks on civilian infrastructure that he's, he's bragging about. Right. Are war crimes. And we, we still don't know the true death toll. But, but let's just recap some of the stated objectives. Regime change. He. They can't spin that. Netanyahu can't even spin that domestically within Israeli public that they've actually done regime change because it's still the same regime. It's just not with the older figurehead who. And then, of course, the regime change would have been the necessary component of that, would have had to been mass unpopularity about this leader. And Trump is seeing these images showing that that's actually not the case. Then the nuclear, the, the nuclear weapons issue. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Trump is saying a lot that part publicly because that's clearly the most fertile ground for negotiations here. But then also control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran now probably has this understanding. Like, we can, we can give a lot of leeway on the nuclear issue here because we now have demonstrated our capability to use our territorial leverage to control the Strait of Hormuz. And I think is what is Trump fixated on the fact that they're going to keep trying, that they're enforcing that by attacking those ships after they were warned not to go into those waters. And to that, like, tolls are a very likely option. Very likely outcome here.
Ryan Grimm
Yeah. If Iran will probably wait to transition the tolls in. But what they're trying to do now is, is establish just institutionally the structures by which the ships transit. So say, like, you got to go through our straight authority, whether you're going through Oman or whether you're going through, you know, the south or whether you're going to the north. We're going to work with Oman. Nobody's, nobody's going through with their transponders off. Not, not going through the system. It's free now. But you have to register with us. And they don't want to register because they don't want to institutionalize the, you know, like you said, control of the Strait of Hormuz. But then you should have won the war. Like, you're like, at this point, right. They, they run it and if you don't like that, you can fight them, but you can't fight them. So they run it. Like, that's, I don't know what to tell you. Like, you, it was open before the war and if you should have listened to Emma and not go to war. Yeah, that's all we got.
Emma Vigeland
Right, Right. Well, I like that sentiment, but I mean, yeah, no, it's, it's, you lost. That's the problem. And, and, and I think, you know, that's a very difficult pill for him to swallow. What'd you say, Matt?
Matt
Oh, impossible for. Impossible for how much we've spent on the military for the last, I mean, centuries.
Emma Vigeland
Yeah, exactly. Right.
Ryan Grimm
Well, Ryan, military keeps coming back for supplementals for every war. It's like, shouldn't the military budget be. Include war costs especially.
Emma Vigeland
Right. It increases every year. And now Trump was asking initially for 1.5 trillion.
Ryan Grimm
Like, and they want. And when they go to war in Iran, they're like, oh, we need an extra 150 billion for that war. It's like, wait a minute, what is the trillion dollars bias if we can't even get a war out of it? The war is extra
Emma Vigeland
defense stocks. We get to boost defense stocks and make it. And subsidize their enrichment for a trillion dollars.
Ryan Grimm
You should get at least one war covered. Really?
Emma Vigeland
I think you're right. I think you're right.
Ryan Grimm
It's a trillion dollars just to have the military to use it, you have to pay extra. That's very American.
Emma Vigeland
I mean, for one, Ryan, I'm not sure why you're complaining about us potentially being thrown into a global recession. Because Trump wants to face, you know, guess you don't care about America or something like that, but amazing. Ryan Grimm, appreciate you coming on Today. Journalist, co host of Breaking Points, co founder of Drop Site News thanks so much for your time today, my friend.
Ryan Grimm
You got it.
Emma Vigeland
All right. With that, folks, we're going to wrap up the free part of this program, head into the fun half of this program where we will actually have fun today. I am very excited to make fun of this gubernatorial candidate in Colorado. That's, that's got me in a good mood. Matt, what's happening on left? Reckoning with the Jacobin show, Jackman show
Matt
actually at 3 o'. Clock. So I will actually probably have to leave here a little bit after two, but we have a live Jacobin show for the first time ever. Griscom and I are going to be live on the Jacobin Meg YouTube channel. So go subscribe to that.
Emma Vigeland
All right, check it out. Speaking of socialism, if you want to join me at the DSA program launch for the 2026, 2027 program, workers deserve more. I'm going to be moderating, doing a special introduction Tuesday the 14th. We will have a link to that in the description if people want to go check it out. It's virtual and it's at 8:30pm Eastern on Tuesday. So very excited. And I think, you know, some of our lessons here include, at least for me, going all the hell in on DSA for the rest of this cycle and, you know, believing in that as a, you know, and its infrastructure as a way to kind of incubate and vet candidates and have accountability with your comrades and with the people that are in your chapter who understands your values, your platform and can vet people and, and vouch for people who best represent those interests in a way that avoids certain situations like this.
Sam Cedar
So
Emma Vigeland
go DSA. Check that out. Join themjorityreport.com if you'd like to support this show. Helps us stay resilient when we're on these third party platforms. Anything else, folks? Or should I plug anything? Am I forgetting anything? Just coffee, co op, fair trade coffee. And one other thing that I forget. I could just look this up before the show, but I forget every single time. All right, guys, see you in the fun half.
Ryan Grimm
Okay, Emma, please.
Emma Vigeland
Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the Majority Report.
Guest or Co-host
Wait, whoa.
Sam Cedar
Look. Sam is unpopular.
Guest or Co-host
Deserve a vacation at Disney World. So, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Emma to the show.
Emma Vigeland
It is Thursday.
Matt
Yeah, I think you need to take CO for Sam.
Guest or Co-host
Yes, please.
Sam Cedar
No, no, no, no.
Guest or Co-host
I'm, I'm, I'm going to pause you right there.
Wait, what?
You can't encourage Emma to live like this. And I'll tell you why. Someone offered a tour, Sushi and poker with the boys. Twerk. Sushi and poker with the boys. Who was offered with tour? Yeah, sushi and poker with the boys. What tour? Sushi and poker.
Emma Vigeland
Tim's up.
Guest or Co-host
Sushi and bulker or two Boys. He was offered a twerk sushi. And that's what we call biz. Sushi and bulker or two boys.
Emma Vigeland
Right?
Guest or Co-host
Twerk sushi.
Emma Vigeland
We're gonna get demonetized.
Guest or Co-host
I just think that what you did to Tim Pool was mean.
Emma Vigeland
Free speech.
Guest or Co-host
That's not what we're about here.
Look at how sad he's become now. You shouldn't even talk about it. I think you're responsible.
Emma Vigeland
I probably am in a certain way. But let's get the meltdown here.
Guest or Co-host
Sushi and poker with the boys.
Sam Cedar
Oh, my God. Wow.
Guest or Co-host
Sushi. I'm sorry. I'm losing my mind. Someone's offered a tour. Sushi and poker with the boys.
Sam Cedar
Logic.
Guest or Co-host
Tour sushi and poker with the boys. I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a kid. I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a little kid. Had this debate 7,000 times. A little kid. Think I'm like a little kid. Little kid. Think I'm like a dick. I'm losing my mind.
Sam Cedar
Some people just don't understand.
Guest or Co-host
So I'm not trying to be a dick right now, but, like, I absolutely think the us should be combining me with a wife and kids.
Emma Vigeland
That's not what we're talking about here. All right?
Guest or Co-host
It's not a fun job.
Sam Cedar
That's a real thing. That's a real thing. Real thing. Willy Walker. That's a real thing. That's real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's got a real thing.
Guest or Co-host
Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Rogan has done it again that offered it work.
Sam Cedar
That's a real thing. I think he might be blowing it out.
Guest or Co-host
Portion.
Sam Cedar
Real thing. That's poker with the boys.
Guest or Co-host
Offer.
Sam Cedar
That's a real thing. That's poker. Let's go, Joey.
Guest or Co-host
Twerk sushi and poker with the boy. Take it easy. Sushi and poker. Things have really gotten out of hand. Sushi and poker with the boys. Delusional sushi. You don't have a clue as to what's going on. Sam has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Emma Vigeland
Sam doesn't want to do this show anymore.
Guest or Co-host
Anymore.
Emma Vigeland
It was so much easier when the majority report was just you.
Ryan Grimm
You're happy.
Guest or Co-host
Let's change the subject. Rangers and Nicks are doing great.
Emma Vigeland
Now shut it up. Don't want people saying reckless things on your program.
Sam Cedar
That's one of the most difficult parts about this show.
Emma Vigeland
This is the pro killing podcast.
Guest or Co-host
I'm thinking maybe it's time we bury the hatchet.
Emma Vigeland
Left his best violet door.
Sam Cedar
Don't be foolish and don't tweet at me. And don't the way Emma has cucked all of these people love it.
Emma Vigeland
That's where my heart is. So I wrote my honors thesis about it.
Ryan Grimm
Oh, sorry, you wrote an honors the. I guess I should hand the main
Sam Cedar
mic to you now.
Guest or Co-host
You are to the right of me on foreign policy.
Emma Vigeland
We already fund Israel.
Guest or Co-host
Dude.
Emma Vigeland
Are you against us?
Guest or Co-host
That's a tougher question I haven't answered.
Sam Cedar
Incredible theme song.
Emma Vigeland
Hi, Bumbler.
Sam Cedar
Emma Viland. Absolutely one of my favorite people, actually.
Ryan Grimm
Not just in the game, like, period.
Episode 3685
Date: July 10, 2026
Title: ICE Is Caught Lying; What’s Next In Maine’s Senate Race; Iran Traps Trump w/ Ryan Grim
Main Guest: Ryan Grim (Journalist, co-host of Breaking Points, co-founder of Dropsite News)
Host: Emma Vigeland, in for Sam Seder
This episode tackles several urgent political topics, including the Department of Homeland Security's admission of falsehoods after a fatal ICE shooting, fallout and dynamics from the Maine Senate race following allegations against a progressive candidate, and the United States’ ongoing tensions with Iran in light of Trump’s recent foreign policy retreat. Emma Vigeland and regular Majority Report crew are joined by journalist Ryan Grim for in-depth discussion, focusing on issues of justice, political credibility, establishment power-plays, and public perception.
Segment Start: [03:53]
“...he was just as American as any of us, but was forced to languish in a sub citizen status because our immigration system is so sadistic and broken... they are made more vulnerable in these kinds of situations.” ([06:56])
“At any point, Democrats could have done mass amnesty now, called it Reagan amnesty 2.0... Instead, we've been pitter-pattering around...maybe we'll do something for the DREAMers…” — Matt ([15:20])
“Meet the new bus, same as the old bus, as the Who said.” — Matt ([16:35])
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough is played responding passionately against ICE’s conduct, stating:
“You're gunning down people in the streets of America. Gunning down people in the streets of America. This is not going well.” ([16:56])
“This is about an ethnic cleansing campaign...a secret police that's trying to implement an ethnic cleansing campaign on behalf of a fascist administration... what else should we call them if not Gestapo?” — Emma ([19:23])
Segment Start: [26:02]
“Perhaps emphasizing this detail gave a lot of people license to dismiss Jenny's accusation...” — Emma ([27:00])
“As a journalist, our job is to put the facts out that we have and then let the public decide whether or not those are relevant.” ([29:38])
“...there is this driving impulse by the national press to disregard what Maine voters actually care about...” — Emma ([37:14])
Segment Start: [44:37]
“I've been fighting this fight for 30 years and I'm sure as hell not backing down now. I'm a Mainer, a dad, a fifth generation logger from Allagash. I'm a progressive. I've been tested...” — Troy Jackson ([44:37])
Segment Start: [51:59]
“It shows how cynical the establishment's approach to sexual assault is... It's because they're taking on the machine...” — Ryan Grim ([52:56])
Segment Start: [57:52]
“...they threw everything they had at Iran...The idea that in that scenario, you’re going to be able to accomplish what you couldn’t in the last one is so obviously untrue...” — Ryan Grim ([58:37])
“It was open before the war and if you should have listened to Emma and not go to war. Yeah, that’s all we got.” — Ryan Grim ([66:30])
“You’re gunning down people in the streets of America. ...this is politically not sustainable.” ([16:56-18:06])
“America after 100 million deportations. 100 million. That is a Nazi style number.” — Matt ([18:33])
“It shows how cynical the establishment’s approach to sexual assault is... In every other case where somebody has been credibly accused...the consultants who elevated the candidate were [not] found to be themselves guilty and needed to be blacklisted. It's because they're taking on the machine.” — Ryan Grim ([52:56])
“So they run it. Like, that's… I don't know what to tell you…if you should have listened to Emma and not go to war.” — Ryan Grim ([65:30], [66:30])
This episode spotlights how anti-immigrant violence and lies from federal agencies continue unabated, how national political elites and media dismiss or actively sabotage left-wing insurgency, and how the U.S.'s imperial arrogance is running up against hard geopolitical limits. Through extended debate, case studies, and candid critique, listeners are given a comprehensive view of the state of American politics from the Majority Report’s progressive perspective.