I’ve talked about Gary Stevenson many times (specifically, in weeks 38, 39, 42, 43, 49, 72, 78, and 81). One of the things he’s expressed frustration about is that the field of economics has been stuck for decades in a model that just doesn’t work any more. Thus, we have a bunch of PhDs running aroun
Except that things are, slowly, changing. More and more often we’re starting to talk to economists who understand how our growing wealth inequality and rampant monopolies turn the “free market” into something that can’t possibly work the way the old-school capitalists described it. Gabriel Zucman (weeks 86 and 89), Kyla Scanlon (weeks 26, 57, and 78), and Clara Mattei (week 26) are all speaking Stevenson’s language, decrying the staid academics who have gone before. And, this week, Jon Stewart speaks to another one: he interviews Kathryn Anne Edwards on this week’s Weekly Show. I found a lot of what she says to be simple common sense: much more so than what our “traditional” economists arew spewing. There are lot of great quotes here (including the one I used for the title of this post, and another where she says she’s “optimistic out of spite”), but my favorite is this one:
I like to turn on my, like, heartless, economist, sarcastic voice and be like, listen: I also hate children. I hate their mothers, but I hate kids, and I don’t want to invest in them any more than you want to invest in them. Those snot-nosed little devils, they’re ... vectors of disease. But I’ve got to give them daycare if I’m gonna get more hours of work out of their mom, which is good for the economy.
And so I can, like, code switch ...
And I think that’s what we need: more progressive economists who know how to appeal to the heartless conservative traditionalists in their profession. And I think we’re starting to get them.
Other things you need to know this week:
- On Thursday’s Daily Show, Michael Kosta has the perfect deconstruction of Kimberly Guilfoyle’s new scandal, and just how dumb it truly is.
- More solid “Kinzinger Report"s:
- On Moday, Adam talks about Senator John Kenned
y— or, as Michael Ian Black from Have I Got News For You? is fond of referring to him as, “Senator Foghorn Leghorn”— talking about Trump going from “zero to A-hole in 3 seconds”, Ka$h Patel chasing conspiracy theories, and more. - On Thursday, he covers the bizarre fact that a convicted, incarcerated election denier is now handling federal election security. To understand that weirdness, you need to remember that Tina Peters, a county clerk in Colorado, was convicted in 2024 on seven charges of tampering with election machines in the 2020 election. In 2025, Trump claimed to have pardoned her, even though these were state crimes, for which a federal pardon doesn’t apply. In June of this year, Democratic(!) governor Jared Polis commuted her sentence and let her out of prison. Now she’s meeting with Trump and advising him on plans to seize ballots if the midterms don’t go his way. I cannot agree more with Adam’s response: “Trump couldn’t pardon her state crimes, so he threatened Colorado’s federal funding until the governor, Jared Polis, commuted her sentence. He said she was remorseful. Jared, if you’re watching this: you’re an idiot.” (Plus more on the Guilfoyle scandal, and other bits and bobs.)
- Kinzinger also has strong opinions about Pete Hegseth’s proposed execution livestream. As Adam points out, we currently have a government who seems to think the way to look tough is to kill people: by bombing boats, by encouraging ICE to murder citizens, and now by conducting televised executions. Can’t say I disagree with Adam on any of his points: both that the target may deserve it, and that it’s bringing us that much closer to living in Idiocracy.
- Gabe Sanchez is back again, this time to talk about the spectacular failure of TrumpTV. Trez amusing.
- Some More News covers the 10-year anniversary of the “grab ’em by the pussy” tape and all the progress we’ve made since then. Wait, no: all the progress we wish we’d made since then. My mistake.
- Another great More Perfect Union video this week, this time on how AI is being used to deny your healthcare claims.
- Strict Scrutiny covers the latest atrocities out of the Supreme Court, but also they talk a bit about the humiliation of Eric Schmitt (which you may recall from last week). My favorite quote was from Melissa Murray: “And this whole episode was so delightful in its complete and utter stupidity. I mean, literally this was like confusing Genghis Khan and Chaka Khan.” Nailed it.
- Have you ever wondered why Congress sucks so much? Well, no: you already know why it sucks. Except, maybe you don’t realize how bad it truly is. Let Some More News educate you. Soooo many awful things going on on Capitol Hill.
On this week’s Coffee Klatch, Robert Reich and Heather Lofthouse are joined by their digital strategist Vishal Shankar, and they’re talking about what the Democrats’ chances are of retaking the Senate.
Now, I will once again stress that I am not a Democrat. The Democrats are run by greedy corporate bastards, just like the Republicans, are led by ineffectual cowards such as Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries (just like the Republicans), and, in my view, are at minimum equally responsible for the sorry state our of country. In fact, one could make an argument that they’re even more responsible in some ways: after all, it was a Democrat who failed to prosecute Trump when he had the chance, allowing him to run out the clock until he could regain power; it was a Democrat whose idea of Supreme Court reform was talking it to death and taking no actions; it was a Democratic administration that spawned multiple failed programs (such as rural broadband) that gave the Republicans something to point to when begging the American people for another bite at the apple. “Politics as usual” has utterly failed, and I don’t feel confident at all that putting the Democrats back in charge will result in any meaningful changes.
Sadly, they’re the best option, because the Republicans’ response to the fact that politics as usual have failed is to make politics thoroughly unusual: by bilking the government for all the money they can, elevating racism to national policy, and lying about everything, even things that don’t matter a whit (see also: reflecting pool). So leaving the Repubs in charge would certainly be far worse, and that means I have to root for the Dems to take the Senate. Yay.
So what are the odds? In January, the answer to that question was “slim to none.” But, weirdly, the answer these days is closer to “it’s a toss-up.” The Democrats are currently 3 seats down in the Senate, so if they gain 3 seats, they tie, but that does them no good because JD Vance is the tie-breaker. If they gain 4, they’re technically in the majority, but that realistically does them no good because John Fetterman seems to have forgotten he’s a Democrat (sort of like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema had an idiot lovechild). So the Dems, realistically, need to flip 5 or more seats, while not losing any (or at least only losing as many as they beat that magic number 5 by). Not gonna lie: it’s tough.
On the “not losing” side, the 3 close states are Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed (who we talked about mostly in week 81, but also in weeks week 82 and week 84) is looking strong but not a lock; New Hampshire, where Jeanne Shaheen used her retirement to cover her cowardice when she and 7 other Dems caved on the government shutdown (cf week 43), so now Chris Pappas (current NH Rep and first openly gay man to serve NH in Congress) holds a narrow lead over John Sununu (former NH Senator who was ousted by Shaheen back in 2008, and son of Bush Sr’s chief-of-staff); and Minnesota, where Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (who was notable for speaking out after the Renee Good shooting: see week 51) is in close to a dead heat with MAGA nutjob and former sports reporter Michele Tafoya. I feel cautiously optimistic about most of thos
The possible flips are more varied. Texas is getting all the press, where James Talarico (who we started noticing way back in week 6, and continued to cover in weeks 19, 34, 57, 71, and 86) has the good fortune to be up against one of the most hated men in Texas politic
None of these are a guarantee (apart from North Carolina, which most agree is a done deal). Some of these are places where voters consider voting Republican a part of their cultural identity: Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988; Kansas hasn’t done so since 1932. Dan Osborn in Nebraska is running as an independent to avoid association with the Democratic party. So it’s not the individual races where we’ll get our hope this week: it’s the plurality of them. We’re talking about nine opportunities to flip a seat, where we only need five (or six, if Pappas can’t hold the line in New Hampshire). Those are still not great odds, but it’s a real chance.
And that’s more than we’ve seen in a long time.
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