This week Rachel and Aaron stick to the one scandal that’s finally sticking to Teflon Don: Jeffrey Epstein, and the Trump Administration’s spectacular inability to control the narrative. Rachel dives into the need to “politicize everything.” A look at how Trump 2.0 is using immigration to destroy democracy with quiet bureaucracy. And why are some Dems demanding to fight “fire with fire” after the latest GOP effort to retain control of the U.S. House?

LINKS:

• The Cycle (Substack): Politicize Everything: A Blueprint for a Party that Fights
• YouTube: 'You’ve got no rights’: teenage US citizen records violent arrest by immigration officers
• The Guardian: How Trump has supercharged the immigration crackdown - in data
• YouTube: 'Epstein Partied With Trump': Texas Congressional Candidate Dragged Out Of Hearing
• YouTube: California's Newsom Calls To 'Fight Fire With Fire' As Texas Considers Redistricting
• Surrounded (Jubilee Media): 1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives (ft. Mehdi Hasan)
• 50501: Rage Against the Regime | August 2, 2025
• The National: Convicted US Felon to Arrive in Scotland

This week, as Trump’s FEMA struggles to answer questions about consequential budget cuts in the aftermath of Texas flooding, Rachel and Aaron look at how the Republican Party deliberately turned climate change into a conspiracy theory. It’s MAGA thought control. Plus, the FBI tries to go after thought crimes. And the Epstein Scandal threatens to unravel MAGA, despite Trump’s best efforts to move on. Which of his allies aren’t letting it go?

LINKS:

• The Cycle (Substack): The Big Ugly Cuts to Climate Science
• Nancy Pelosi & Newt Gingrich Climate PSA (2008)
• Frontline: Climate of Doubt
• New York Times: The F.B.I. Is Using Polygraphs to Test Officials’ Loyalty
• KOCO-TV (Oklahoma City): OSDE introduces 'America First Assessment' for teachers moving from certain states
• Megyn Kelly & Charlie Kirk on Epstein scandal
• The Hill: Bannon warns GOP could lose 40 House seats over Epstein files
• Vox: Why everyone runs for president these days
• Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game

Live Free. Die Fast. Get Digested… slowly. Welcome to “Alligator Alcatraz,” America’s first concentration camp. Plus, Rachel and Aaron explore the future, or not, of Elon Musk’s new “America Party.” Why, exactly, is America stuck with a two-party system? Meteorologists show us how cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service impact weather disaster warning systems. And Jeffrey Epstein’s client list: What happened to piss off MAGA all over again?

LINKS:

• The Cycle on Subtack: Elon Musk announces a new party
• KXAN-TV (Austin, TX): Head of local weather warnings takes early retirement as NOAA cuts continue
• Oxford Reference: Duverger’s Law
• Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game