Brian and Glennis are back in studio for week two and a lot just happened. Trump's economic disapproval hit 70%, the highest of his political career. Inflation jumped to 3.8%. Gas hit $4.50 a gallon. The Supreme Court greenlit racial gerrymandering as long as you call it partisan. Five states moved to redraw their maps in seven days. And the President of the United States looked into a camera, on his way to Marine One, and said "I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody."

In this episode, Brian Derrick (Political Strategist and Founder of Oath) and Glennis Meagher (Political and New Media Strategist and Co-founder of Generator Collective) walk through the economic data dump that should be the only thing Democrats talk about: the biggest monthly jump in credit card debt since the pandemic, a savings rate at its lowest level since 2022, consumer sentiment cratering, and 80% of Americans saying Trump's policies are driving up the cost of living in their communities. While he spends a billion dollars on a gold ballroom and proposes a $1.5 trillion military budget, the largest in U.S. history and more than the next ten countries combined.

Then the redistricting wave. Brian breaks down all five fronts. The Supreme Court ruling that opened the door. The Virginia Supreme Court body blow that overturned a ballot measure passed by voters and cost Democrats four seats. Tennessee breaking up the city of Memphis. Louisiana pausing a primary 40,000 votes in to redraw the map. Alabama getting a green light to eliminate its only majority Black district. He pulls out the board and walks through the math: Democrats are likely down five additional seats before a single vote is cast, which means flipping the House is now an eight seat lift, not three. The path is still there. He explains why.

Plus the bombshell that Iran still has 90% of its missile capacity after $70 billion in U.S. bombing. The Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel circus on Capitol Hill (including Patel demanding $21 billion for the FBI while polygraphing his own agents over leaks). The unconstitutional War Powers Act workaround the Trump administration is trying to pull. The California gubernatorial jungle primary heating up between Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra, Katie Porter, and Matt Mahan. And the Nebraska Senate move where a Democrat won her primary specifically to drop out and clear the path for independent Dan Osborne, after Pete Ricketts tried to buy the seat by recruiting a fake MAGA Democrat to split the vote.

Also: Glennis recounts sitting ten feet from JD Vance and Kash Patel at a USA hockey game in Milan with effectively no security, the Mitch McConnell Capitol Hill moment that even Brian is calling elder abuse, Spencer Pratt running for LA Mayor as a 9/11 truther, the leaked Sam Altman texts that have now turned "directionally very bad" into a meme, and Glennis pitches a startup idea live on the pod called facial DNA.

The midterms are six months out and the receipts are piling up - stick with us.

New episodes of Vibes Only drop every week. If you like the show, the single biggest thing you can do is leave a rating and a review… it's free, it takes ten seconds, and it's how we get in front of more people who need a politics podcast that isn't going to make them want to move to the woods.

Vibes Only is a weekly political podcast hosted by Brian Derrick (Political Strategist and Founder of @oath.vote) and Glennis Meagher (Political and New Media Strategist and Co-founder of @generatorcollective), two post-Obama political operatives turned creators breaking down the stories of each week in politics, elections, and culture. We aim to be your break from the doom-scrolling and consultant-speak. Just the vibes (and the receipts) with new episodes every Thursday morning.