That’s why I wanted to speak to Brad Lander. Fresh off a not guilty verdict after being arrested while trying to inspect conditions inside a New York City ICE detention facility, Lander has become one of a growing number of Democratic leaders making clear that opposition to Trump can’t just be rhetorical. Through his actions, Lander is demonstrating the kind of politics that’s visible, disruptive and willing to confront the systems enabling Trump’s agenda.

That energy is now at the center of Lander’s campaign for Congress. The former New York City Comptroller is challenging incumbent Democrat Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District. Lander says Democratic voters want leaders willing to take on Trump and the billionaire donors, corporate interests and institutions that bow to him.

This includes DHS. We got into border czar Tom Homan’s threat to dramatically expand ICE operations in New York following Governor Hochul’s recent immigrant protection package. Drawing lessons from Minneapolis, Lander believes New Yorkers are prepared to organize, accompany their vulnerable neighbors and build the kind of local support networks that can actually withstand federal intimidation.

“If they send ICE agents and federal troops here, boy, New Yorkers will come out in just that spirit.”

And anyone who is watching the joy and community pulse through New York City right now will believe every word of that to be true.

As Democratic voters search for leaders willing to do more than issue statements and hold press conferences, Brad Lander is making his case, as a modern joyful warrior, for a different kind of opposition politics.

Watch our full conversation below and let me know what you think.

Watch, subscribe and follow Gloves Off on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to this newsletter. Substack is the only place where we own our data. If big tech censors us on other platforms, Substack will be the only way I can tell you what’s going on.

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That’s one of the reasons I’ve been paying close attention to the Democratic Primary race for New York’s 12th Congressional District. This very crowded and national news-making primary race is providing a window into the wedge issues and debates within our big tent that I feel strongly will ultimately shape the 2028 presidential primary contest starting next year. Ahead of COURIER and MeidasTouch’s upcoming NY-12 Democratic Primary Debate this Wednesday, June 10, I sat down with two of the candidates running whose champion issues and campaigns represent pretty distinct approaches and visions for shaping the future of the Democratic party: Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson and political commentator, and Alex Bores, a NY state legislator who has found himself at the center of a multimillion-dollar fight for political influence between warring factions of the AI industry.

Coming from a legacy of political disruptors, Jack told me he is running today because corruption is the most important issue Congress needs to address and today’s Democratic Party “does not have an answer to Trump.” He says Democrats need to stop defending broken institutions and start giving voters a new reason to believe politics can still deliver real change.

Alex is approaching many of my same questions with a sharp focus on the role Democrats must play in shaping the future of technology and its impact on society. Once a Palantir data scientist, he says, “this race has become a test of whether democratic institutions can govern transformative technology before it governs us.”

As two of six candidates in one of the most competitive and buzziest primaries in the country, Bores and Schlossberg are pitching their theory of the case first to NYC voters, but their differing ideas on what they would focus on Day One if elected could shed light on whether running to fight corruption or running on a forward-looking policy agenda is more attractive to left-leaning voters at this critical juncture for both the country and Democratic Party.

You can watch my full conversations with both Jack and Alex on COURIER’s YouTube channel, or listen wherever you get your podcasts!

And if you’re following the race, you won’t want to miss COURIER and MeidasTouch’s NY-12 Democratic Primary Debate this Wednesday, June 10. Don Lemon, Katie Couric,l Jennifer Welch and other special guests will be interviewing the slate of candidates as they go head-to-head on affordability, housing, immigration, foreign relations, and more. RSVP to watch the livestream debate here and tune in this Wednesday at 7:00 pm ET.!

Watch, subscribe and follow Gloves Off on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to this newsletter. Substack is the only place where we own our data. If big tech censors us on other platforms, Substack will be the only way I can tell you what’s going on.

Although they’re locked in a fierce primary battle at the moment, Wahls and Turek seem to agree on more than they disagree. Both want campaign finance reform, term limits, and a ban on members of Congress trading stocks, and both are running explicitly against an establishment they believe has failed Iowa. “Politicians and diapers should be changed regularly and for the same reason,” Wahls told me, quoting Mark Twain. Turek sounded a similar note: “We can have oligarchy or we can have democracy. We cannot have both.”

Where the two candidates differ is a bit more telling: Wahls has been unequivocal since day one that he will not vote to keep Chuck Schumer as his party’s Senate leader, while Turek has declined to take a position, and is reportedly the top choice of the DSCC. What really separates them and their supporters, though, is their belief about what it will take to actually win statewide in Iowa in November.

That electability question is one that Democrats of all stripes are grappling with in primaries across the country, and Iowa voters will answer at the polls for themselves in just a few days: their primary election is on Tuesday. Give the episode a watch and share it with your friends and family in Iowa to ensure they vote in the primary on or by Tuesday!

You can also listen to this week’s episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for fresh content every week - it helps us reach more people when you do!

For the past decade, Democrats have tried and failed over and over again to flip the Lone Star State from Red to Blue, but despite large cyclical investments, a statewide win has remained out of reach. Texas progressives are hoping that could change this year, but remain clear-eyed about the massive challenge ahead. One of those people is Tory Gavito, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of progressive donor collaborative Way to Win. Ahead of today’s election, I spoke with Tory about the Senate race, what has (or hasn’t) worked in the past, and why investing in Texas is no longer optional for Democrats.

Watch our full conversation here:

We both agree that winning Texas can’t continue to be seen as a pipedream, and that the only way to get there is for Democrats to start playing offense the way Republicans do. By 2030, the electoral map will effectively lock Democrats out of the White House and congressional majorities for a generation if they don’t quickly expand their power in southern states like Texas. As Tory told me, “the multiracial promise of the South makes it ripe for the taking. It’s not about justice or compensation. It’s actually really important fucking strategy.”

“Where are our teeth?” Tory posited to me in our conversation. “Where are our ruthless fighters that are going to stop at nothing and blow through every wall, as opposed to being like, ‘Oh, there’s a wall over there’?” That gloves-off posture, combined with serious, sustained investment in Texas infrastructure (like COURIER Texas!), is what it’s going to take.

Because turning Texas blue isn’t going to be easy - or easy to sustain if it does happen this fall. After crediting the hard-fought work over many years and cycles by a growing bench of talented strategists, organizers, and candidates on the ground for making this opportunity possible today, Tory was clear: “If Texas were to flip this cycle, keeping it purple is going to be war.” We talk about what that war looks like, and how Democrats can win it. I hope you’ll listen and share our conversation, and think about ways you can support efforts to turn Texas, and the South blue.

You can also listen to this week’s episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for fresh content every week - it helps us reach more people when you do!

For this week’s Gloves Off, I sat down with someone standing at the center of all of it: Alanah Odoms, the executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, the organization litigating the Callais case. In our conversation, Alanah provides one of the smartest legal breakdowns of what’s happening I’ve heard, shares the historical context behind the Supreme Court decision, and explains where we go from here. It was by far one of my favorite episodes of Gloves Off so far, and if it doesn’t give you goosebumps, I don’t think you listened closely enough:

What stuck out to me the most is that we like to tell ourselves that what is happening right now in our politics is a temporary break from who we are as a country. But as someone rooted in the American South, Alanah explains that what we’re seeing in the news right now is “actually quite American,” and is another example of racist policies that have reared their ugly head over and over again since the Reconstruction era. She’s 100% right.

Look no further than Alabama, where last week the Republican Speaker of the House said the quiet part out loud, proposing getting rid of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution all together. The 14th Amendment is what granted citizenship to African Americans following the end of slavery, and it is the legal architecture for millions of Americans’ civil rights, from public school integration to gay marriage. These abhorrent, small-minded people are only just getting started.

So what do we actually do about it? We spoke about that too - things like ending lifetime appointments for Supreme Court justices, returning the DOJ to its original mission and protecting the right to vote…and yes, building the damn matriarchy to replace this corrupt and abusive patriarchal system that the majority of Americans have had it with. But first, we have to win back the political power and build the collective will to accomplish it.

The attacks on our democracy are moving at a dizzying speed and are now completely out in the open. Our response has to be just as bold, just as clear-eyed, and just as unwilling to concede a single inch. I really hope you’ll listen to this week’s episode, and share it widely. It’s up to all of us to ring the alarm bells loud and clear.

You can also listen to this week’s episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for fresh content every week - it helps us reach more people when you do!

We started out by discussing the DNC’s very tough few weeks: posting a huge fundraising deficit against the RNC, seeing the lowest party approval numbers ever recorded, and Chair Ken Martin’s bizarre decision to keep the 2024 election autopsy under wraps. We also debate whether Democrats are actually learning the right lessons from Trumpism, why outsider candidates are gaining steam, and how social media platforms are reshaping our democracy in real time.

Watch our full conversation on YouTube here:

You can also listen to this week’s episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for fresh content every week.

Tim is uniquely positioned to answer that. As a former Republican strategist turned Bulwark host (he worked for Jeb Bush back in 2015!), he’s spent years watching his old party get hollowed out and rebuilt into something else entirely. His read on what’s coming next is more interesting than most of what I’ve been hearing from others- even as he has become fairly progressive on a lot of fronts in his anti-MAGA era.

His core argument is that the old Republican Party is dead, and there’s no path back to a Nikki Haley version of the GOP, at least not in our lifetimes. America First isn’t going anywhere when Trump leaves the stage. The real question, Tim says, is which version of America First inherits the movement. In our conversation, he laid out three scenarios: a Trump family monarchy, where Don Jr. or someone in the orbit gets anointed and we get more of the same grift in different packaging; a corporate-MAGA hybrid, most likely embodied by Marco Rubio; or an America First insurgency, where someone like Tucker Carlson or Marjorie Taylor Greene argues that real America First has never been tried.

Watch our full conversation here:

We also talked about what that transition could mean for the rest of us. If the GOP’s post-Trump future is some flavor of nationalist populism, then I certainly believe that the Democratic answer cannot be a return to the pre-Trump status quo. It has to be a real, muscular economic populism that speaks to the same grievances people like Josh Hawley and Tucker Carlson are speaking to, without the bigotry and conspiracy theories. Whether the Democratic party is ready to do that is probably one of the most consequential outstanding questions facing them in the lead up to 2028.

Tim and I covered a lot more in this conversation, including Democrats’ Virginia redistricting win, the intra-party fight over Hasan Piker, why neither of us has a horse in the Democratic nominee fight yet, and of course - New Orleans Jazz Fest, because IYKYK. ⚜️🎺⚜️

You can watch this week’s full episode on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for fresh content every week.

We are now in what I believe to be a second, and more powerful, wave of Me Too, with the Epstein Files investigation and cover-up still raging in Washington, and Americans across the political spectrum demanding accountability. Beyond Washington, another bombshell story about sexual assault has been reverberating this past week about a global online “rape academy” that shares videos and tips on how to effectively drug and rape your female partner, that saw 62 million website visits in the month of February alone. You don’t have to be a victim or survivor of sexual assault as I - and one-in-three women- are to find these stories deeply upsetting and infuriating. What gives me hope in this timeline however, is the renewed calls and actions demanding accountability and justice for victims and survivors, and the national dialogue we are having once again as a result.

Last week, I sat down with Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, who has been one of the earliest and leading voices demanding accountability on the Epstein Files in Congress, to hear how those conversations are evolving on the Hill, and to get a sense of how she and her bipartisan colleagues are building on this national dialogue and momentum to bring justice to more victims and survivors.

What struck me most about my conversation with Rep. Lee is how clear-eyed she is about what this fight is actually for. It is not only about the powerful men implicated in abusing their power to dehumanize women, nor is it about Democrats or Republicans scoring partisan points by taking out members of the other team. It is about justice for the incredibly brave survivors who have already given more than they should ever have had to, testifying at great personal risk against the most powerful people in the world, and to establish a new moral and legal imperative that ensures this level of abuse can no longer persist, nor be protected, within either party, regardless of the political outcomes.

“There’s a reason why predators believe they can do this,” Rep. Lee told me. “It’s because everything in our society tells them that even if they are caught, the consequences will be minimal. And even if consequences come, the survivor will be punished in some way for coming forward. There will be dual punishment. Those are the things we have to change.

Throughout our interview, Rep. Lee laid out a path for continued investigation of the Epstein cover-up, and detailed what she thinks needs to happen to pursue transparency, accountability, and justice on the issue. I hope you’ll watch or listen to our full conversation on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple podcasts and let me know what you think. And if you know of other voices leading on this renewed fight to end sexual violence against women in America, please send them my way - I would love to talk to them.

More things you should read this week:

The Cover-Up

What You Need to Know Since the First Lady Took the Podium

Welcome to the first issue of The Cover-Up’s weekly newsletter! Glad you’re with us to follow the latest developments and collectively turn information into justice…

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2 months ago · 26 likes · 2 comments · S.P. Galvin

Below The Beltway

ICE official behind warehouse detention camps quits after tense congressional hearing

Cam here 👋 bringing you your daily dose of what people are doing – good, bad, and otherwise – in the world of politics. We’re diving into the stories you won’t see anywhere else. And remember, you can also keep up with me over on TikTok and Bluesky…

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2 months ago · 29 likes · Camaron Stevenson

American Freakshow

Ciao Paolo!

Last week, we interviewed Amanda Ungaro, the deported former model haunting Melania Trump. RAI, the Italian broadcast network, has since broadcast a lengthy interview in which Ungaro shares more harrowing details of her longtime partnership with Melania’s former modeling agent – Trump’s current “Special Envoy for Gl…

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2 months ago · 141 likes · 12 comments · Nina Burleigh

This week on Gloves Off, I sat down with legal expert and viral YouTuber Leeja Miller to break down how Trump has systematically dismantled the DOJ’s independence and why it should alarm every American who still believes in the rule of law.

In our conversation, Leeja explained that the restrictions governing how the DOJ is supposed to operate stem from the Nixon administration—after Watergate, the country collectively decided that a president using the Justice Department as a personal weapon against his enemies was unacceptable. So, we built guardrails, and the DOJ at least maintained the appearance of impartiality. For decades, attorneys general from both parties understood that the job required maintaining some distance from the White House to preserve the institution’s credibility.

Over the past year, however, the Trump administration has taken a hammer to that credibility. “They’re not even pretending anymore to have an appearance of impartiality or propriety,” Leeja told me.

For example, from covering up the Epstein Files to attacking prominent Democrats, (former) AG Pam Bondi didn’t just fail to maintain distance from Trump, she sprinted to the Oval Office on a regular basis, openly calling her department “Trump’s DOJ” and doing whatever he asked. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t successfully weaponize the rule of law the way Trump needed her to, so she was forced out. Now, the acting AG is Todd Blanche, who served as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney, proving that loyalty to Trump, apparently, is the only qualification that matters. For more reading on Blanche’s unyielding loyalty to the President, you should read this report from COURIER contributor Nina Burleigh.

What I keep coming back to from our conversation is this: Trump’s goal was always to find lawyers willing to make arguments untethered from law, logic, or reason, and he has spent the past decade assembling exactly that team. The fringe right-wing legal theories, the boundary-pushing executive orders, and the attempted prosecution of political enemies are all stress tests of our institutions, pushed relentlessly until something gives. These tactics were bad in the first Trump administration, but this time around, they’re much, much worse.

While lower courts and the judicial system have been one of the few functioning checks on this administration, Leeja and I also spoke a bit about the U.S. Supreme Court’s trajectory, which has become more openly political and is poised to overturn decades of established rights this term, including the Voting Rights Act and rules around mail-in voting.

Donald Trump’s legal strategy and personal takeover of the DOJ is just one part of his administration’s efforts to rig the rules of our Democracy. Listen to our full conversation for more on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel so you don’t miss what’s coming next.

— Tara

P.S., I’m hosting a Substack Live with Nina Burleigh at 4:15pm ET today (Thursday, April 16th) to talk about the latest in the Epstein Files cover-up. You can tune in and add to your calendar here.

For this week’s episode of Gloves Off, I spoke with Charlie Goldensohn, a political strategist and fast-rising content creator (@chez.chuck) who thinks Democrats are approaching their young men problem all wrong.

“These conversations are still decades behind where they need to be,” Goldensohn told me. Too many Democrats still talk about Joe Rogan as if he were simply a Republican pundit, when in reality, Rogan built his audience the same way many of these creators did: through hours of casual, unfiltered conversation that made listeners feel like they knew him. He built trust first, then influence, then political relevance. His lack of filter isn’t a liability, it’s his entire appeal.

The continued “manosphere” panic on the Left is flattening different figures into the same category, as if figures like Nick Fuentes, Rogan, the Nelk Boys, and Andrew Schulz, are all doing the same thing for the same reasons. Some of them, like Fuentes, are ideological, some are opportunistic, and some are simply following their audience wherever it goes. Goldensohn’s point from our conversation is that Democrats keep confusing these categories because they are looking at the landscape through an old political lens instead of one focused on culture and building community.

Maybe that’s why some of the same Democratic operatives who have bemoaned their Party’s problem with young men are now suddenly up in arms when candidates have campaigned alongside liberal streamer Hasan Piker. They still expect allied media personalities to tow their lines, repeat their talking points, and preach their politics—despite creators like Piker growing their reach by speaking to their communities in an unfiltered, authentic way. This posture is harming their ability to take advantage of a key opportunity: recent polling found that young male voters are starting to move away from Republicans by significant margins.

At the end of the day, most successful social media creators and podcasters are not created in a lab for the purposes of a political agenda. A lot of these podcasters and YouTubers are growing because they offer young men emotional or cultural connection before hard politics, and until Democrats are open to engaging with creators who compete on those terms, they’ll keep losing the audience to the Right.

You can listen to our full conversation on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure to subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for fresh content every week.

Tomorrow, I’ll be joined by COURIER national correspondent Camaron Stevenson to discuss his latest breaking news reporting on the Epstein beat, as well as our plans to continue investigating one of the biggest cover-ups in recent political memory.

Join us live at 1:00 pm ET tomorrow, April 7th here on Substack »

After joining her on “I’ve Had It” a few weeks ago, I invited Welch onto Gloves Off this week to get her thoughts on our current political moment. And lucky for us, our conversation came right on the heels of both the cringe-inducing Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and a fairly hot (and 2016-PTSD-triggering) fight that’s still churning in our “big tent” between progressives who stan Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and the Democrats who hate (or fear) him…

I wanted to ask Welch about a certain moment I had caught from CPAC last weekend where the crowd cheered when asked about calls for impeachment hoping it was a sign of a deepening wedge on the right, and learned the man who was doing call-on-response on the CPAC stage was actually an alleged sexual abuser himself. This launched us into a conversation about the deeply hypocritical fusion of Christian virtue signaling with cruelty and abuse. In Welch’s words, Republicans keep “trotting out the sexual assaulters, the sexual abusers, the pedophiles,” all while pretending to speak for morality. She sees that contradiction as the kind of thing Democrats should be hammering relentlessly, not gently acknowledging and moving past.

“We have to talk policy, and we have to gossip,” Welch says. “We have to do reputational damage to their brand that is long-lasting because the way people vote now is different. There are vibe voters.” That idea sits at the center of our whole conversation. If Democrats want to win, she says, they need to learn how to define their opponents the way Republicans have defined them for years. Thankfully, they keep giving us fresh material!

That isn’t the only knock Welch has on the Democratic Party either. She has palpable frustration with party leaders like Chuck Schumer, who she doesn’t miss a beat in calling a “fascist collaborator” for failing to offer a clear opposition to Trump-era authoritarianism, and for treating the left as a problem rather than a source of energy.

Despite some political consultants’ frustration of “creators’” increasing influence over the political conversation today, Welch isn’t speaking as an outside critic throwing stones from a distance. Her rise in reach and influence is actually proof that audiences are hungry for voices who sound real, rather than poll-tested, and as she says, is an indictment of corporate media and a sign that people are building new political ecosystems outside the old guard.

I don’t agree with Welch on everything, but she and I do share a deep-rooted belief that the people who got us into this mess are decidedly NOT the ones who are going to get us out - and that by attacking those who are building influence by saying the true things many Americans are feeling, they are only reinforcing how deeply out of touch they are with an increasingly fed-up electorate. But don’t take it from us - that’s what primaries are for.

Listen to our full conversation on Spotify or Apple, or subscribe to COURIER’s YouTube channel for more clips from the interview.

“There was a group of people, I call them the Epstein class, who had wealth and power and thought that their wealth and power and connections entitled them to treat young girls as totally disposable and dispensable,” Khanna told me. “Some of them participated in the rape of these girls. Some of them abused these young girls. Some of them covered up the abuse of these young girls. And it’s totally disgusting.” These are the wealthy, well-connected men who believed their money, lawyers, and political friends entitled them to do whatever they want, cover it up, and then go back to writing checks to politicians and flying on private jets.

Throughout our conversation, he also talks about the Epstein issue in a way that relates to the troubles of regular working Americans. “Maybe this is the reason that people aren’t getting relief because these rich and powerful people have co-opted government, not allowing us to deal with the health care costs rising, not allowing us to deal with rents rising,” he said.

This is what two systems of justice look like in practice. One system where an average American gets jailed for a small time offense, and another where billionaires with private islands can traffic minors and still have their names redacted by the government you pay for. I think this is one of the most striking parts of my conversation with Khanna: how clearly he connects the Epstein scandal to the broader democratic crisis I’ve written about here week after week. When ordinary Americans say the system is rigged, this is what they mean, not a vague conspiracy theory but a decades-long pattern where some of the richest people on earth commit crimes and then get protected by the very institutions we are told to trust.

For many MAGA voters, the Epstein cover-up confirms every suspicion they have about a corrupt elite that gets away with everything while their communities suffer under rising health care costs and rents. For Democrats, it is a test of whether we are willing to stop scolding those voters from a distance and instead show up with them in fights that expose how deeply the Epstein class has co-opted our government and the economy.

I started Gloves Off to find out who is actually willing to do what it takes to get our country back on track in this new authoritarian era. Khanna’s work on the Epstein files is not perfect or finished, but it is a model for the kind of courage and cross-ideological organizing we are going to need a lot more of in the years ahead.

If you found this week’s interview worth your time, forward this email with a friend or colleague, share it on social media, and listen to my full conversation with Rep. Khanna on Apple or Spotify.

In our conversation, Raskin called Donald Trump’s deception around the Epstein files “one of the greatest coverups in American history, if not the biggest.” He described how Attorney General Pam Bondi initially ducked a subpoenaed deposition, choosing instead to deliver a short “briefing” filled with empty talking points. When Democrats finally secured a closed-door session, Republicans turned it into a three-minute stunt with no prepared materials, prompting Raskin and his colleagues to walk out.

With Republicans shielding Bondi and the administration, the strategy now seems to be delay until after the midterms. Bondi’s refusal to testify mirrors that of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was ousted after Raskin referred her to the Justice Department for alleged perjury tied to a $200 million taxpayer-funded ad contract.

Raskin’s relentless focus extends beyond corruption to democracy itself. The GOP’s SAVE Act—which they claim protects against voter fraud—would in reality impose new barriers by requiring documents like birth certificates or passports to vote. “When they talk about election fraud,” Raskin told me, “they mean to perpetrate it on the public.”

If (when) Democrats retake the House in the midterms, Raskin’s committee will take the lead on renewed investigations into Trump and his allies’ corruption, including potentially filing articles of impeachment. The panel is already compiling a record of violations for potential follow-up action.

Raskin’s approach offers a model for Democrats to truly stand up to the authoritarian moves defining this administration. Watch our full conversation on YouTube here, or listen to the audio version on Spotify or Apple.

This week, I had the opportunity to sit down with two of them—El Sayed and McMorrow—to hear how they would tackle everything from AI data centers in their communities to the Iran War, universal healthcare, and standing up to both status-quo protecting Democratic colleagues and the Trump administration in Washington.

El Sayed, a physician and public health expert endorsed by Bernie Sanders, has made universal healthcare via Medicare for All a centerpiece of his campaign (he literally wrote an entire book on it), and if elected to the seat, would become the Democrats’ first medical doctor in the Senate. He told me that Democrats should aggressively work to lower costs for working people, whether it’s in the form of medical bills or grocery bills. “I’m running to do three very simple things. I wanna get money out of politics, I wanna put money in your pocket, I wanna pass Medicare for All,” he says. He also discussed his concerns with massive AI data center projects, which have become a major issue with Michigan communities - and an issue more Democratic candidates running this year should work to bring attention to.

McMorrow, on the other hand, has become a rising star in the party due to her bold advocacy against Republican extremism in the Michigan state legislature. “We need Washington to function more like Michigan... I helped break the Republican super majority... and we really got to work delivering,” she says. Her campaign has been anchored by focusing on lower costs, democratic renewal, and to some extent, tech accountability. In our conversation, she took an aggressive posture against the big tech and AI companies that are increasingly taking over our politics and daily lives. “ I have parents tell me they’re at their wits end. I’m gonna quote one here: ‘fuck these tech companies for breaking my kids’ brains, period.’ How do we make sure tech companies are held responsible for creating safe products?”

At the end of the day, whoever emerges from Michigan’s Democratic primary in August will have a tough fight ahead of them in November—Michigan is the quintessential swing state after all. But, after speaking to both of them, they each exemplify a “gloves off” approach that I think is sorely needed in our politics right now.

Make sure to watch both episodes on COURIER’s YouTube channel, or listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts - and please share them with your friends and family in Michigan before their August primary!

This week, for our weekly podcast and YouTube series Gloves Off (this newsletter’s new namesake!), I was fortunate to sit down with Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, a leading voice on the House Oversight Committee and one of the fiercest, clearest truth-tellers in Congress demanding justice for the victims and survivors from the Epstein scandal and the systemic cover-ups that have protected powerful men for decades. She talks candidly about what it was like to depose former President Bill Clinton, why Donald Trump is now a person of interest, and how a new “Epstein Truth Commission” in New Mexico is poised to turn files into trials.​

Watch the full episode below:

We covered a lot of ground: Congresswoman Stansbury details how Donald Trump is a “person of interest” in the Epstein files with at least two to three separate allegations against him, and explains that his administration is actively breaking the transparency law he signed himself. She also discloses that the DOJ redacted some perpetrators like foreign leaders and Trump allies accused of rape, while exposing survivors’ names, photos, and addresses, calling it either gross incompetence or intentional intimidation.​

We also spoke about how New Mexico’s legislature unanimously launched an “Epstein Truth Commission” with subpoena power to investigate Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, the first reported abuse site to the FBI in the 1990s that was never searched by feds, despite raiding other properties. Stansbury is pushing states like New York and Florida to follow suit.

I hope you, like me, come away from this conversation with more clarity about how deep this cover-up runs. The only way this ends in real accountability is if we refuse to look away, keep the pressure on our elected officials, and help leaders like Stansbury fight for justice.

If you found this episode useful, please:

• Share the video on your social channels and send it directly to friends, family, and colleagues

• Subscribe to COURIER on YouTube so you don’t miss future Gloves Off conversations with the people doing some of the hardest, most necessary work in this moment.​

It’s been a big week: Polls are showing minimal support for the war, gas prices are surging, the MAGA coalition is fracturing publicly (don’t let the $170M jet door hit you on the way out, Kristi Noem!), and Epstein revelations are continuing to fuel accusations that all of this is just a deliberate distraction from his own corruption. Meanwhile, in scattered elections on Tuesday, Democratic candidates overperformed in Red districts and among key voter groups, which foreshadow major Democratic victories are coming in November.

On a number of fronts, the president and his allies have overreached and are vulnerable, and now is the time to put our foot on the gas pedal.

The war Americans don’t want

President Trump’s unauthorized airstrikes on Iran last weekend, launched without congressional approval or public support, have triggered widespread backlash. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found just 27% of Americans approving of the war, with nearly half of Americans less likely to support the campaign if gas prices continue rising, with overall disapproval hitting 59% in a CNN survey.

As we’re just days into the bombing campaign that could last weeks or months- or even years, that’s terrible news for the administration. Economic approval for Trump is also tanking amid the fallout, as voters connect the dots between his careless foreign crusades and their personal pain.

Pain at the pump

The visible impact of the war is starting to hit Americans’ wallets. AAA reports the national average gas price jumped nearly 27 cents in a week to $3.25 per gallon as of March 5. Analysts are warning the price increases are far from over. Trump has been downplaying this, telling reporters that the high prices will be resolved quickly. But other administration officials conceded it as a foreseen factor that they knew would happen all along.

Cracks in the MAGA machine

Some of the loudest and most visible frustrations about the war are coming from the President’s MAGA allies. Far-right personalities Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Matt Walsh have criticized the war, accusing Trump of being beholden to Israeli interests. Carlson didn’t mince words, he called last weekend’s attacks “absolutely disgusting and evil.” Meanwhile, members of Trump’s own administration can’t even agree on how or why we started this war, further reinforcing the lack of any cohesive strategy or loyalty within the president’s own ranks.

How Democrats can fight back

It’s within this context that I interviewed Congressman Pat Ryan (D-NY) this week, who is a rising star in the party and someone who served two combat tours in Iraq as an Intelligence officer and actually understands the nature of foreign entanglements. I asked him how Democrats should respond to the Iran war and he was unequivocal in his position.

Rep. Ryan laid it out pretty clearly: Democrats must refuse to fund this unauthorized war, forcing accountability and exposing Trump’s overreach. His blueprint emphasizes restraint and putting Americans first — a direct counter to Trump’s endless escalation. He also shared a vulnerable moment about how he hopes we can get back to a place where his own sons could be proud to serve their country under leadership that can be trusted to put Americans’ safety above their own self interest, a sentiment I imagine many parents across the country are thinking right now. You can watch our full conversation here.

As a fellow millennial whose own personal life and professional trajectory was directly shaped by 9/11 and the disinformation-laden, costly wars another Republican President started in reaction to them, I could not agree more with Ryan that this deathly military invention by Trump not only has the opportunity to further drag down this corrupt administration, but that it is up to all of us to ensure it does. Democrats in Congress should heed the lessons of our past interventions in the Middle East and stand their ground against this, and every unconstitutional move by this administration, and all of us should demand they do so.

What I’m reading this week:

Trump kicks Tucker Carlson out of MAGA movement after talker’s Iran war criticism: ‘Lost his way’ (NY Post, ⅗)

“Tucker has lost his way,” the commander-in-chief told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Thursday. “I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”

Five Ways the Paramount-WBD Merger Is Bad News for Us All (Free Press, ¾)

“What’s good news for this president is bad news for our democracy and the constitutional rights that safeguard people across the United States from tyranny.”

New poll: Democrats’ real problem isn’t being too liberal — it’s being seen as too weak (Strength in Numbers, 2/27)

“The top descriptors of the party are empathetic (54%) and principled (49%). Comparatively few people think of it as “tough” (31%), and nearly half the country calls the Democrats weak (48%) and ineffective (47%). Democrats’ competence rating is 46% — five points higher than the GOP’s — but it’s the weakness and ineffectiveness labels that dominate voters’ impressions and national discourse about the party.”

That’s when the story exploded: One week after Nina published her story, NPR probed the DOJ’s handling of withheld Trump-related docs, and the New York Times also detailed how files related to the decades-old claims against Trump have now vanished from the files’ public releases.

These revelations are important because the DOJ is required by law to release these documents, and they had previously certified that all documents were public and in order. According to The Times, they’re now backtracking, saying in a statement that: “Should any document be found to have been improperly tagged in the review process and is responsive to the Act, the Department will of course publish it, consistent with the law.”

House Oversight Democrats are now accusing the White House of a cover-up, and the story appears to be far from over.

This is just one small example of the power and necessity of independent journalism in America today. While mainstream outlets either abandon stories like the Epstein Files to continue to ride the news cycle - or worse, fail to assign reporters to them at all for fear of retribution by the Trump administration - fearless outlets like COURIER and journalists like Nina are staying on the beat, reigniting stories with new, unreported details, and planting the seeds that eventually lead legacy outlets to pick up the story and increase demands for accountability.

I know I talk and write about the Epstein Files a lot, and I do so for a number of reasons. For one, it is the biggest coverup story in our nation’s history - far, far bigger than Watergate, and one that reinforces the widespread belief among Americans that the powerful and wealthy individuals who run our institutions and industries are both deeply corrupt, and above the law. This has made the Epstein Scandal the most powerful political wedge issue we have seen in a very long time, with Americans on all sides of the political spectrum tuning into, and demanding accountability from our leaders. The MAGA regime was swept into power by screaming about the Epstein Files for years, and now that they’re in charge, they’re doing everything they can to protect their leader (and themselves) from humiliation or consequences. By exposing the corruption and hypocrisy of this administration, coverage of the atrocities in the files has only super-charged engagement on the story, and widespread, bipartisan calls for justice for the victims and survivors as a result.

It is my personal belief that this story is the Watergate of my generation, but instead of a legacy newspaper like the Washington Post leading the charge for truth and accountability, it will be independent news networks like COURIER.

- Tara

Support our Epstein Coverage Here >>

Watch: My “Gloves Off” interview with Miles Taylor

For the latest episode of Gloves Off, I sat down with author, security expert, and Trump Administration 1.0 whistleblower Miles Taylor. Taylor has firsthand experience fighting gloves-off with Donald Trump: after serving as a high-level admin official at DHS during his first administration, Taylor learned just how far over the line Trump was willing to cross – and how many people were willing to let him get away with it. Taylor joined me to discuss what it was like to work alongside Stephen Miller, have his life unraveled TWICE as a result of speaking truth to power, and how we can all defy corruption every day, if we’re only willing to look it in the face. I hope you’ll watch our conversation on YouTube, or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.

What I’m reading this week:

Tech, TV, Movies & News: Ellisons on Brink of Colossal Empire (NYT, 2/27)

“If Paramount can close its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Larry and David Ellison will influence nearly every corner of news, entertainment and tech.”

Paramount Skydance Poised to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery After Netflix Bows Out of Bidding War (Variety, 2/26)

“Netflix says WBD deal was ‘no longer financially attractive’; Warner Bros. now says sale to Paramount ‘will create tremendous value for shareholders’”

What Are Young Men Seeing About the Epstein Files on Reddit? (YMRI, 2/26)

“While most political information on Reddit is “apolitical,” Epstein content seems to be more directly aimed against Republicans than other political news.”

The Media Merger You Should Actually Care About (New Yorker, 2/26)

“An under-the-radar, Trump-approved deal could create a broadcasting behemoth that controls local news stations across more than forty states. Why do some MAGA diehards oppose it?”

You’re Invited: Upcoming COURIER Events

• A Texas-sized Primary Debrief: Join us on Wednesday, March 4 at 1:00 PM ET/Noon CT for a virtual conversation breaking down what the Texas primary results tell us about the road to the 2026 midterms. Featuring COURIER’s Dawn Jones and Katie Serrano, alongside Matt Angle of the The Lone Star Project, this discussion will offer on-the-ground analysis of a pivotal election moment in Texas. More details + RSVP here >>

• MAHA & the Midterms: Join COURIER and 314 Action on March 12 for a live conversation that will examine how political choices are reshaping healthcare access ahead of the midterms. We’ll break down how Trump, RFK Jr., and the broader MAHA agenda are impacting public health, who benefits, and what’s at stake for families across the country. More details + RSVP here >>

First of all, 80% of Americans say people have a responsibility to stay informed when they vote, and 78% say news helps with voting decisions. That’s not surprising. But, only 11% call following the news “extremely important” as a civic duty, and many say it doesn’t help with daily life or being engaged in their communities at all.

Then there’s the exhaustion factor: 52% of Pew respondents said they are worn out by the sheer volume of news. 48% say most of it isn’t even relevant to their lives. Two-thirds have ditched a specific source, and six-in-ten have cut back overall. Just 9% follow the news because they enjoy it.

Staying informed by reading or watching the news has become a chore at best, and a threat to our mental health at worst, and one that many Americans would rather not deal with. That has dramatic implications for the fragile state of our Democracy.

It probably won’t surprise you that I place the blame for much of this exhaustion and “tuning out” of the news squarely on the failures of the legacy press, who spent years putting up paywalls and catering to elite audiences while their corporate owners consolidated and shuttered outlets left and right. Couple that with our new era of cowardly, pro-Trump capitulation from major networks and newspapers, and it’s no wonder many audiences are turned off.

These stats present hard truths for those of us who spend all day, every day thinking about how we reach and inform our audiences with relevant information about government, politics, and what’s happening in their communities. But, this current, somewhat sad state of news consumption also presents opportunities for new models to emerge of reinventing news distribution and making content that feels relevant to Americans’ lives.

At COURIER, we’ve spent six years experimenting and growing our strategy along these lines. By combining original reporting via free local newsletters and creator-driven social accounts with community news, lifestyle tips, and on-the-ground reporting, we’re reaching news-avoidant Americans directly in their feeds and inboxes. Year-round, we’re building trust and shifting opinions (and this year, ICYMI, we’re growing)!

So, if you work in media or politics, I hope you’ll take a look at Pew’s report and see it both as a wake-up call and a clear opportunity. The old guard’s failures have created an opening for newer models that reach Americans directly with news content they actually want to consume. Aside from COURIER, there are a number of independent creators and media brands that are growing and reaching audiences effectively in this new environment, and when you come across them, make sure to give them a follow, a share, and your support.

- Tara

Watch: My interview with Kara Swisher

Big Tech has been a prominent force in our culture for decades, but it’s only more recently that they’ve become a prominent and problematic force in our government. Kara Swisher is a journalist known for interviewing almost every tech CEO over the course of a quarter century, so if there’s anyone who knows the ins and outs of how these people think, it’s her.

What I’m reading this week:

Stephen Colbert says CBS didn’t air interview out of fear of FCC (NBC, 2/17)

“Colbert kicked off Monday’s episode of “The Late Show” by saying that the network’s lawyers told him he could not have Texas state Rep. James Talarico on the broadcast.”

X’s Algorithm Pushes Users to Lean More Conservative, Researchers Find (Gizmodo, 2/20)

“In case you had any doubt, Elon Musk’s X has an algorithm that favors conservative content posted by political activists over liberal content or posts by traditional news media accounts, according to a new study published in Nature.”

Trump met with David Ellison days before saying he’s ‘not involved’ in Paramount’s Netflix battle (CNN, 2/12)

“Paramount CEO David Ellison returned to the White House last week to meet privately with President Donald Trump, amid Paramount’s ongoing hostile takeover bid for CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery. Ellison and Trump had two wide-ranging conversations, according to two sources with knowledge of the meetings…”

I’m excited to share some big news from the COURIER team: Over the coming months, we will be launching nine (!) new local newsrooms across the country — bringing our successful model of values-driven, independent political and cultural journalism to communities in California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, and Utah. 🚀

That means by the end of 2026, our local news network will span 20 states in addition to our national outlet and bureau in Washington D.C.—each with its own on-the-ground reporters, online products and digital channels, all dedicated to reporting local stories, amplifying community voices, and connecting the dots on how politics and policy actually impact people’s lives.

Read more about our growth plans here in Axios >>

This expansion comes on the heels of a huge year of growth for COURIER. In 2025 alone, we more than doubled our online audience from 4 million to over 9 million followers and subscribers, and delivered over 4.5 billion content views across platforms, all by meeting readers and viewers where they are online with fearless coverage of the stories that matter most.

While so much of the legacy media world is disappearing or bending the knee to the current administration, COURIER is growing faster than ever, and it’s no accident. When we launched COURIER in our first six states in 2019, we were laser-focused on building a new kind of news organization—one that was transparent and unabashed about our values, and that centered the communities we serve in our reporting and distribution strategies—communities that have been left behind by traditional media that cater primarily to elite audiences today. That vision became a reality through the extraordinary work of our 100+ reporters, correspondents, and staff, who in the face of the most anti-press administration in our history, have not only delivered on our mission each and every day since, but who continue to ask what more they can do to hold this corrupt administration accountable.

Over the past 6+ years, our newsrooms and reporters have won dozens of state and national press awards, broken heartwrenching and policy-moving stories, and built innovative tools to make critical information more accessible to more people. This rapid expansion of our model is a testament to that work, and would also not be possible without the support of our brave investors, underwriting partners, sponsors, and most of all, the tens of thousands of readers and subscribers who donate to our newsrooms with their hard-earned dollars each and every day. Doing this work is both a privilege and a responsibility our team takes incredibly seriously, and we will never compromise on our values or mission to build a more informed, empowered, and civically engaged America.

This expansion to nine new states and communities brings us one big step closer to our long-term goal: bringing our values-driven news and content to people beyond the political bubble in all 50 states and U.S. territories, while setting a precedent for others on what credible social-first local journalism can look like.

In order to be successful, we know that our team’s growth will require even more support from this community, as well as buy-in from new partners on the ground in the states where we plan to work. We truly have no time to waste in getting these new newsrooms off the ground, so if you work in media, advocacy or just have meaningful networks in the states we are bringing COURIER to this year, please reach out to us, and spread the word to help us hit the ground running. You can find job descriptions for some of the new roles we’re hiring for here.

If you want to learn more about our work or follow along as our new newsrooms go live, check out our beautiful new local network site at courierlocal.com

At COURIER, we believe that the future of news that our democracy urgently depends on is honest, accessible, transparent, and powered by communities, not corrupt corporate conglomerates or ragebait— and it starts right here and now with all of us. Thank you for being part of this journey and this work as we build the media ecosystem we all deserve, together.