The Erick Erickson Show

Episoder

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  S15 EP177: Hour 1 - Social Contagions 02.10.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens Open Line Friday with a sweeping history of social contagion, from the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague and the Salem witch trials to the McMartin preschool panic, then connects it to new data showing LGBTQ identification among kids in free fall and J.K. Rowling's take on the trans fad. He also reports that oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz has topped pre-war levels for seven straight days and takes calls on sanctuary cities, the Arizona immigration case, and CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. Social contagion history: Strasbourg dancing plague, tarantism, Salem, tulip mania, the Werther effect, Mattoon gas attacker, McMartin preschool, LeRoy Tourette's cluster New data on the collapse of kids identifying as trans, J.K. Rowling's post, detransitioners, and the rise and fall of transition surgeries Strait of Hormuz oil flow above pre-war levels, Brent crude near $100, Iran economy in free fall, and Erick's credit to President Trump Open Line Friday calls: why sanctuary cities and states are legal, the Arizona immigration ruling, the 1984 drinking age and Louisiana highway funds lesson CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Erick's view on Islam and the West, plus Not Safe for Radio Show tickets for October 10 in Duluth, Georgia, Hunga Tonga rain, and the Braves
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  S15 EP177: Hour 2 - Does AI Have a Soul? 02.10.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson takes on a New York Times report that Anthropic quietly hosted religious scholars under nondisclosure agreements to discuss AI consciousness and Claude's moral status, and that the company reportedly considered pulling out of a Vatican launch event for Pope Leo XIV's encyclical on AI. Erick argues theologically that AI is a math equation that cannot have a soul, then takes Open Line Friday calls on the failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike, the death penalty, and who funds American mosques, from the North American Islamic Trust to the Muslim Brotherhood. Anthropic and AI consciousness: the New York Times report on private meetings with religious thinkers, Chris Olah, Claude's alleged moral status, and Erick's case that a word generator and math equation cannot have a soul (the Genesis bara argument) Pope Leo XIV encyclical on AI: Anthropic's reported push to pull out of the Vatican event, why none of the participants lead a congregation, and caller Adam's view that AI is just a tool like a socket wrench, plus Mark Zuckerberg's far humbler AI pitch Christa Pike and the death penalty: Tennessee's failed lethal injection, her lawyers' torture claim, Erick's disagreement with the Pope on pro-life and capital punishment, Marsha Blackburn's electric chair push, and the Noah covenant Mosques, the Muslim Brotherhood, and intersectionality: the North American Islamic Trust, the Holy Land Foundation case, Qatar and Saudi funding, Michael Youssef's book The Unholy Alliance, and Erick's warning about the right-wing woke in JD Vance's orbit Open Line Friday fun: slow left lane drivers and Sheriff Tyler Hooks of Morgan County, Georgia, gas pump pet peeves, New Way Lunch chili dogs in Macon, and Erick's Pine Tree golf putt with Van Allen Golf
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  S15 EP177: Hour 3 - The Cornell Seven and the Limits of the Law 02.10.2026 37min

  Erick Erickson wrestles with the Cornell Seven fraternity case, arguing that society cannot prosecute bad or immoral behavior, only crimes, and walks through New York consent law, the Duke lacrosse case, the University of Virginia fraternity hoax, and the Lindsay Clancy insanity verdict. He also reports that national Republicans are pulling money from Michael Whatley in North Carolina and Mike Collins against Jon Ossoff in Georgia to save Ken Paxton in Texas, then takes Open Line Friday calls on Mecca versus Medina Muslims, football season, and President Trump's Oklahoma stop with Kevin Hern. Cornell Seven fraternity lawsuit: the civil suit and reopened prosecution, the wrongly named Marine served in error, New York consent and revocation law, ex post facto limits, and Erick's case that you prosecute crimes, not bad things Cautionary history: the Duke lacrosse case, the University of Virginia fraternity allegations, Nancy Grace, and why social outrage and media mobs should not drive prosecutions Lindsay Clancy verdict: Massachusetts' unique burden on prosecutors to prove sanity and what jurors said afterward Georgia and North Carolina Senate races: national Republicans pull money from Michael Whatley against Roy Cooper and Mike Collins against Jon Ossoff to fund Ken Paxton in Texas, and Erick's I told you so Open Line Friday calls: Mecca versus Medina in the Quran, women and men bearing responsibility in the Cornell case, false allegations like the Dodgers player, Panthers hockey, football season, Trump and Kevin Hern in Oklahoma, and the car loan interest deduction
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  S15 EP176: Hour 1 - No Genocide in Gaza and A Terror Attack in Texas Thwarted 01.10.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens with a blunt monologue on the Gaza genocide narrative and the violence it keeps inspiring, from a thwarted mass shooting plot at the Texas State Capitol in Austin to the Boulder attack and the Pennsylvania governor's mansion arson. Then he covers the botched Christa Pike execution in Tennessee and digs into the 2026 Senate midterms, with Harry Enten's polling data, James Talarico, Ken Paxton, Susan Collins, and why polls keep oversampling Democrats. The Gaza genocide claim, the foiled Texas Capitol shooting plot, and the media's refusal to push back Rising antisemitism on the left and the right, and the threats Erick still gets for calling out white nationalists Christa Pike's botched lethal injection in Tennessee, the all-female execution team, and the governor's pause on executions 2026 Senate midterms: Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Maine, and why Republicans likely hold the Senate while losing the House Harry Enten on polling misses, why polls oversample Democrats, and the Ken Paxton versus James Talarico race in Texas
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  S15 EP176: Hour 3 - Barack Obama Divided America 01.10.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens with a warning that progressive politics has become a religion, from the collapse of the United Methodist Church and other mainline denominations to Maine protesters harassing Chief Justice John Roberts, and why pastors who preach politics are hurting their churches. Then he weighs in on Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra in the California governor race, makes the case that Barack Obama pioneered the partisan division he now laments, defends his Hunga Tonga volcano climate call with a caller, and unloads on Delta for refusing Starlink Wi-Fi. Politics as the new religion: the progressive pulpit, the new right-wing pastors twisting their theology, and why the fastest dying churches (United Methodist, PCUSA, Episcopal, ELCA, UCC) are the political ones while the PCA and LCMS grow Chief Justice John Roberts and the Maine "chi-activists": the New York Times report on flotillas, protests, and a neighbor-versus-neighbor split on Humber Island, and why Erick says a politics that ends friendships is the real problem California governor race: Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra, the CNN debate clip on 479,000 missing unaccompanied migrant children, and whether a Republican can really win in California Barack Obama and the roots of American division: his 2024 remarks, the 2012 absentee ballot neighbor postcards, the IRS, Eric Holder, and a caller on MLK Day and Democratic Socialists Hunga Tonga volcano and the water vapor climate argument, plus Elon Musk's campaign against Delta Air Lines over Starlink Wi-Fi, Amazon Kuiper delays, and Delta's SkyMiles dial-up internet
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  S15 EP176: Hour 2 - Senate Democrats Kill Two Bipartisan Bills 01.10.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens with Senate Democrats killing the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act after both passed the House, then explains why the prepaid absentee ballot request forms in your mailbox are not ballots and how progressive groups use data brokers to target voters. He covers the deadly I-95 fog pileup over Lake Marion in South Carolina, the Flydubai hijacking and the hero pilot who saved the plane, the RAF Fairford terror arrests in the UK, and the left's political religion, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Senate Democrats kill the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act (passed the House 417 to 3), with Jon Ossoff voting to block, and why Congress campaigns on issues instead of solving them Absentee ballot request forms versus real absentee ballots: why prepaid return envelopes signal a request form, which states offer prepaid ballots, and how progressive groups track barcodes and ballot harvesting Mass casualty fog pileup on I-95 near Santee and Lake Marion, South Carolina, with Orangeburg County crews extracting victims by hand Flydubai hijacking: the Omani co-pilot's radical Islamist indoctrination, the stabbed pilot who opened the cockpit door, and Netanyahu and Modi praising a real hero RAF Fairford terror investigation: a UK and Iran dual national arrested in Westminster, radical Islam in US mosques, an imam facing deportation in Wisconsin, and Muslim missionaries harassing black churches in Michigan as Abdul El-Sayed runs  
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  S15 EP175: Hour 1 - Trump Winning the Middle East 30.09.2026 36min

  The President deserves a lot of credit in the middle east, Elon Musk's Starlink is awesome and more business should embrace it plus the current state of Senate elections around the country.
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  S15 EP175: Hour 2 - AI Super Intelligence Weirdos 30.09.2026 37min

  The President brings the heads of AI to capital hill plus the great success the Trump administration has had in almost completely wiping out muslim immigration. Good.
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  S15 EP175: Hour 3 - Sarah Sanders' Welfare Ad Sparks the White Right 30.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson takes on the online right's outrage over Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad, calling out the grievance politics and white victimhood peddled by click chasing influencers. He then argues Donald Trump's Iran sanctions and economic pressure are slowly collapsing the regime even as gas prices and diesel costs threaten Republicans ahead of the midterms, praises Brian Kemp's gas tax suspension, and mocks the rush to rebrand artificial intelligence as "superintelligence." The hour closes with Senator Eric Schmitt's embarrassing Jack Smith "Hawks game" gotcha that blew up on live television. Sarah Huckabee Sanders welfare ad: Arkansas welfare reform work requirements, the Brad in the basement ad, and why more white men than black women are on welfare in Arkansas, plus Erick's rebuke of the white right grievance crowd and Beau French's UT graduation comments. Iran collapsing under Trump sanctions: Economic isolation, hyperinflation, unpaid soldiers and teachers, reported skirmishes near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's banking isolation, and the risk of an October surprise before the midterms. Gas prices, diesel and the midterms: Former Deputy Treasury Secretary on Fox Business tying gas prices to the generic ballot, Treasury bond buyback limits, mortgage rates above 7 percent, Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, and California's gas tax. Trump's "superintelligence" rebrand: Erick pushes back on the fawning over renaming artificial intelligence, Laura Ingraham's praise, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta strategy, and Meta's Muse AI assistant. Eric Schmitt's Jack Smith gotcha backfires: The Hawks versus Hawkeyes mix-up, the Axios VP buzz for 2028, Scott Jennings on CNN, and Republican complaints about Jack Smith obtaining congressional and Molly Hemingway records.
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  S15 EP174: Hour 1 - Common Sense Vs Crazy 29.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens with the Speaker of the House's "common sense versus crazy" midterm pitch, then walks the 2026 Senate map from Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas to Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia, warning that MAGA alone cannot win in November while farmers rage over tariffs and diesel prices. He defends Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work campaign ad against a white nationalist backlash and takes on the grievance politics spreading on the populist right, with Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, Texas dyed diesel, and Marco Rubio on the Strait of Hormuz along the way. Common sense versus crazy: the Speaker of the House's midterm message, Scott Bessent's economy talk, and Erick's warning that Republicans cannot win with MAGA alone as independents break for Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans stay home Senate map breakdown: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas, Mike Collins in Georgia, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Susan Collins in Maine, and Josh Turek versus Ashley Hinson in Iowa Farm country fury: tariffs and diesel prices, weekly farm bankruptcies in South Georgia, Brian Kemp suspending the Georgia gas tax, and Texas allowing dyed diesel on its roads Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad: Erick backs the Arkansas governor against white nationalists, identity politics grifters, and the JD Vance loyalty crowd, and asks why Republicans keep attacking their most competent governors Also: Candace Owens rumors, vandalism at Susan Collins' Maine Senate office, New York Magazine's Elliot Page cover, and Marco Rubio on Iran, oil prices, and the Strait of Hormuz
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  S15 EP174: Hour 2 - Pentagon and FBI Data Breaches Rattle Washington 29.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson breaks down the Pentagon data breach that exposed nearly 3 million people and the FBI job site hack, asking whether Iran is probing American defenses while Pete Hegseth's future gets shakier heading into the midterms. He also warns that the 10-year Treasury yield at 5.29 percent is squeezing mortgages and credit cards, holds up Argentina's Javier Milei as a lesson in fiscal sanity, and digs into Derek Thompson's data on the collapse of hosting friends at home and what it means for loneliness, faith, and community. Pentagon and FBI data breaches: 2.76 million living people and 294,000 deceased exposed through the Defense Manpower Data Center, the FBI job application site under investigation, and Erick's suspicion that Iran or China is behind the probing Pete Hegseth's future: Republican senators whispering that the Defense Secretary will not survive the midterms, House Democrats eyeing impeachment, and the fired generals and admirals Congress liked Iran, Strait of Hormuz, and oil: Condoleezza Rice on Fox News, Abbas Araghchi's doomsday war warning on Meet the Press, and oil prices easing while Iranian crude stays bottled up Bond yields and Javier Milei: the 10-year Treasury at 5.29 percent, a national debt over 40 trillion dollars, stagflation fears, and Argentina cutting tariffs, freezing new currency, and taming inflation Americans stopped hosting: Derek Thompson at The Atlantic on monthly hosting falling from 42 percent to 12 percent, Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, Rosaria Butterfield, Pew data on church community and mental health, and Erick's Sunday night porch tradition
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  S15 EP174: Hour 3 - Europe's Immigration Warning and the GOP's Identity Politics Trap 29.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson uses the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship plan to warn that America must not copy Europe's immigration failures, then argues the GOP can build a multiracial coalition by rejecting identity politics and grievance grifters, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare ad still fueling the fight. He also takes calls on assimilation and the melting pot, shares his taco soup recipe and cookbook plans after a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, and breaks down the Protect College Sports Act from Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell as an Auburn employee is charged with stealing athletic trade secrets. Europe's immigration mess: the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship routes, free speech arrests in Britain, immigrant ghettos, terror suspects out on bail, and why Erick says the United States must avoid the European Union's path GOP identity politics and the multiracial coalition: Donald Trump's gains with Hispanic voters, young black men, and Indian American families, the backlash over Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Arkansas welfare ad, and Erick's warning that grievance politics loses elections Assimilation versus the salad bowl: a Jacksonville caller back from Alberta and British Columbia on Canadian immigration, and Erick on why America needs the melting pot Cooking, cookbooks, and hosting friends: a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, Erick's 400 cookbook collection, Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, his taco soup and corn flake chicken recipes, and Meta's Muse AI app finding subscription savings Protect College Sports Act and Auburn: the bipartisan Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell NCAA bill clears the Senate, the transfer portal and endorsement caps, and an Auburn employee charged with theft of trade secrets Also: Chuck Grassley's memo on Jack Smith seizing reporters' records, Tom Cruise's poorly reviewed movie, and streaming picks including Slow Horses and Lanterns
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  S15 EP173: Hour 1 - The Good News and the Bad News 28.09.2026 36min

  Erick opens with the good news: Iran's economy is collapsing under U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, and President Trump all detailing the pressure campaign as gas and diesel prices start easing on returning refinery capacity. He also covers SpaceX's historic Starship launch of the new Starlink V3 satellite and Scottie Scheffler's class act at the President's Cup. Then comes the bad news hour: Erick makes his case for why predictions of a GOP Senate wipeout in the midterms, driven by weak Republican turnout, Trump Jr.'s wedding scandal, and flawed candidates like Ken Paxton and Mike Collins, are overblown. Iran's economy craters under U.S. sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz naval blockade; Chris Wright, Mike Waltz, and President Trump lay out the pressure campaign as gas and diesel prices ease SpaceX successfully launches Starship carrying the new V3 Starlink satellite; Elon Musk explains why it dwarfs Delta's in flight WiFi Scottie Scheffler's sportsmanship highlights Team USA's President's Cup comeback win over Nico Echavarria Erick argues against GOP midterm doom: Republican voter turnout, corruption anger over Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding gift, and weak candidates like Ken Paxton and Beau French in Texas and Mike Collins in Georgia Trump's economy approval rating and lingering tariff anger are dragging down Republican prospects even as his Iran policy succeeds
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  S15 EP173: Hour 2 - The "Agentic Bank Run" 28.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson breaks down agentic banking, the new Wall Street fear from Apollo Global economist Torsten Slock and Bank of America analysts, as Meta's Muse AI agent helps consumers cancel subscriptions and chase high yield savings account rates. He also reports on the Macon, Georgia park shooting that wounded 12 teens, three blocks from his studio, and on huge crowds of young people turning out for Pope Leo in France, arguing the real fight is between the sacred and the secular. Agentic banking and Meta Muse: Erick let Muse read his bank accounts, and it found three Spotify subscriptions and an unused Peacock plan, saving him a couple hundred dollars a month Apollo Global Management's Torsten Slock and Bank of America analyst Ibrahim Punwala warn that AI agents moving cash to high yield savings accounts could drain cheap bank deposits and squeeze net interest margins Macon, Georgia mass shooting: 12 teens wounded at a park after an Airbnb party in Jones County, with the sheriff vowing to charge the adults who knew the kids had guns Pope Leo draws massive crowds in Paris and Lourdes, and Erick argues young people in a secular France and America are hungry for tradition, liturgy, expository preaching, and belonging Las Vegas family trip: Adrenaline Mountain machine guns, sniper rifles, Tannerite, and flamethrowers for his daughter's 21st birthday, plus a jab at Delta's Wi-Fi and the Pope's White Sox fandom  
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  S15 EP173: Hour 3 - Why Erick Won't Hold His Nose for Two Bad Candidates 28.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson makes the case that abortion is his red line and that voters have every right to sit out races like the Ken Paxton versus James Talarico Texas Senate fight, warning Republicans that holding your nose for corrupt or unworthy candidates guarantees worse ones, from Vivek Ramaswamy's struggles in the Ohio governor race to Trump's taxpayer funded campaign ad. He also defends Georgia governor candidate Rick Jackson against an AJC attack on the self-made man, plays the Saturday Night Live Dario Amodei parody, and shares a UK counterterrorism update on five men released on bail in a suspected foreign state operation. Lesser of two evils: Erick explains why abortion is a red line, why he will not vote for two pro-abortion candidates, and why more disaffected Republicans and independents are tapping out of the 2026 midterms Texas Senate race: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico, John Cornyn's role, and Beau French's Railroad Commission risk, with Erick reminding Republicans they told voters in 2016 they were electing a politician, not a preacher Ohio governor race: Vivek Ramaswamy slipping in the polls, and Erick's charge that some on the right will not vote for a brown-skinned Hindu candidate after demanding everyone hold their nose for Donald Trump Trump taxpayer funded campaign ad: the White House swapped the paid for by Trump for President tag for a government one, and Louisiana Senator John Kennedy is among those calling it out Rick Jackson and the self-made man: Erick answers an Atlanta Journal-Constitution column calling the self-made man a myth, and argues for helping the deserving poor while ending bailouts for repeated bad choices Also: Saturday Night Live's Dario Amodei and Anthropic parody, UK counterterrorism police releasing five arrested men on bail in a suspected foreign proxy operation, and the Laughing Cow's scowling new ad campaign
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  S15 EP172: Hour 1 - Xi Jinping Comes to the White House 24.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens as President Trump welcomes Xi Jinping to the White House and the administration caves on its ban of CNN, MS Now, and Politico, then explains why a declining China, not a rising one, is the real danger: purged generals, a stalled Chinese economy, Iran's oil squeeze, and Beijing's push to get Trump to abandon Taiwan. Then Erick celebrates Argentine President Javier Milei's blistering United Nations speech, the free market results of ending rent control in Buenos Aires, and why EU bureaucrats, Adrian Vermeule's common good constitutionalism, and Abdul El-Sayed's word salad on Iran all point the same direction. Trump and Xi Jinping at the White House: the CNN, MS Now, and Politico ban reversed, and the Tiananmen Square irony of barring CNN on the day China's dictator arrives China in decline: Peter Schweizer on Xi purging the Central Military Commission and 45 missing generals, Greg Ip and Rhodium Group on a Chinese economy that may be growing near zero, and Senator John Kennedy's "he learned to lie before he learned to talk" China, Iran, and Taiwan: Beijing helping Iran target Americans, U.S. missile batteries on Philippine islands in the Luzon Strait, and why Erick wants Reagan style confrontation instead of friendship Javier Milei at the UN: a "cast of fatally arrogant parasites," Argentina's economy rebounding after cutting tariffs, price controls, and rent control, and the free market lesson for Trump populists and JD Vance EU Digital Markets Act rules forcing Apple to rewrite its app tracking prompt, Britain's disinformation push, Adrian Vermeule's common good constitutionalism, and Abdul El-Sayed refusing to condemn Khamenei and the IRGC in Michigan
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  S15 EP172: Hour 2 - Judge Judy Is Right About Lindsay Clancy 24.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson reports from a Georgia fundraiser where Republicans finally felt some joy, as Rick Jackson's ad blitz on Keisha Lance Bottoms and the 2020 Atlanta riots moves the Georgia governor race while Democrats hold zero TV reservations for October. Then Erick sides with Judge Judy on retrying Lindsay Clancy, blasts The View for scolding Patrick Clancy for divorcing the woman who killed their three children, and argues true crime podcasts, Christian nationalism, and a Massachusetts mask bar are all symptoms of a society losing its mind. Georgia governor race: Rick Jackson's Keisha Lance Bottoms riot ad, $31.5 million in Republican October TV reservations versus zero for Democrats, and Mike Collins gaining ground against Jon Ossoff 2026 midterms: why September polling is shifting toward the GOP, reports the NRSC is eyeing New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota over Georgia and North Carolina, Ken Paxton's ads falling flat against James Talarico in Texas, and Erick's call of a 50 50 Senate with JD Vance breaking ties if the election were today Lindsay Clancy retrial: Judge Judy on the danger of copycats, a defense attorney targeting the lone guilty juror, and why prosecutors must try the case again The View and Patrick Clancy: Alyssa Farah Griffin as the lone voice of reason, and how true crime podcasts and Candace Owens style conspiracy theories are rotting brains Christian nationalism: Andrew Walker's World magazine piece, pastors and marriage counselors on grievance driven young men in the church, and Erick's comparison to the masked holdouts at a Massachusetts lesbian bar; plus flamethrowers in Las Vegas and Erick's favorite mail order butchers
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  S15 EP172: Hour 3 - Stanford Used AI to Erase a Student's Race 24.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson opens on Stanford University admitting its dining department used AI to turn a Hispanic male student into a Black woman in marketing photos, calling it DEI and identity politics run amok, and draws on his late friend Tim Keller's teaching that every person is made in the image of God. Then Erick turns to the farm crisis: Mike Rogers and Roger Marshall breaking with the White House on the Iran war as diesel prices top six dollars at harvest, why a diesel export ban would backfire, China reneging on soybean purchases, and farm bankruptcies piling up in Georgia. Stanford University AI photo scandal: a Hispanic student digitally turned into a Black woman, Stanford faulting only its AI policy, and Erick on DEI, identity politics, and why "woke" is alive and well on college campuses Tim Keller and the image of God: Erick's private conversations with Keller, why his critics twisted theology to fit politics, lessons from CNN friendships with Paul Begala and Donna Brazile, and Ketanji Brown Jackson as the stigma of hiring by race Iran war and diesel prices: Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers and Kansas Senator Roger Marshall urging a wind down, John Kennedy's "colony of reptiles" line on China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, and $6.53 diesel hitting the harvest Diesel export ban: $100 billion a month in goods arriving by cargo ship, Russia's export ban, and the American Petroleum Institute's warning that refiners would cut gasoline and jet fuel too Farm bankruptcies and soybean prices: China buying from Brazil instead of American farmers, falling Chinese hog demand, Brooke Rollins telling families to eat lentils, weekly farm bankruptcies in Macon, and population decline
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  S15 EP171: Hour 1 - Trump, Xi, and Peace 23.09.2026 36min

  Broadcasting from the home bunker on a day of runaway mattress deliveries, Erick Erickson breaks down President Trump's United Nations remarks: the Shield of the Americas alliance with Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, renaming artificial intelligence "super intelligence," rejecting global AI restrictions, and a call for the complete economic isolation of Iran as Xi Jinping arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Then Erick explains why capping diesel prices or banning diesel exports would raise costs on everything shipped into America, how tariffs and the Canada trade war wiped out Vermont's Jasper Hill Farm, and why Kamala Harris may sit out 2028 while she campaigns for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Trump at the UN: Shield of the Americas, "super intelligence" replacing AI, 18 new munitions plants, and isolating Iran until it stops attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz Xi Jinping's visit, his purge of generals, and fears he thinks he can play Trump on Taiwan; Brent crude over $100 and a 19 year high in Treasury yields Why a diesel export ban and price caps backfire: global diesel prices, cargo ships, import costs, the aluminum tariff lesson, and the Canada tariffs that gutted a Vermont cheesemaker Kamala Harris says she has not decided on 2028, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, and Andy Beshear circle, and Abdul El-Sayed's "cars are modern day cigarettes" and uncommitted past in the Michigan Senate race against Mike Rogers Macro versus pocketbook economics, JD Vance's "give us more time" message, and Democrats attacking George W. Bush for campaigning for Susan Collins, Dan Sullivan, and Mike Rogers
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  S15 EP171: Hour 2 - Litmus Tests of Crazy 23.09.2026 36min

  Erick Erickson says America needs litmus tests for crazy, starting with the Last Ditch lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where critics cried ableism and eugenics when the struggling bar dropped its N95 mask mandate one night a week, and moving to Bill Burr's defense of Luigi Mangione, Tyler Robinson and Charlie Kirk, and transgender athletes in girls sports. Then Erick explains why Xi Jinping is a real totalitarian, unlike Donald Trump, as the Chinese dictator arrives at Joint Base Andrews believing he can make Trump cave on Taiwan, plus the Paramount Warner Bros merger meltdown at CNN and the AI bubble coming for online retail. The Last Ditch lesbian bar mask mandate fight in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the "intersectional" backlash, and the Boston Globe's record breaking story Litmus tests for crazy: Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson, Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle, Tyler Robinson and Charlie Kirk, Lindsay Clancy, masks in 2026, and kids transitioning Xi Jinping's visit, his purge of Chinese generals, Uyghur concentration camps, a declining Chinese economy and birth rate, and the fight over Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, and Japan Trump versus a true totalitarian: court losses on tariffs, birthright citizenship, and banning CNN and Politico from the White House pool The Paramount Warner Bros deal, Bari Weiss, Kara Swisher, a 90 day diesel export ban, and Amazon blocking Meta's AI shopping agent as Wall Street sees an AI bubble