Rich Text

About Rich Text

Claire Fallon and Emma Gray obsessively analyze our cultural obsessions, from fashion trends to books to the buzziest TV shows. patreon.com/claireandemma

Publisher

Emma Gray

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Mar 2021

Latest episode

6 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

33 of 327 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   6 Nov 2026TRANSCRIPT

   [PREVIEW] The Blue Tsunami & What Comes Next

   After a decade of election night despair, we really, really needed this. On Tuesday, November 3, after two years of unchecked MAGA cruelty and destruction, Democrats delivered a trouncing to the Republican party unlike anything we had seen in our lifetimes. It wasn't a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami, a blue cataclysm, a blue existential threat. Dems flipped the House, as expected, but also the Senate – both by larger margins than even the most optimistic projections. Democrats won gubernatorial races across the country. State legislatures flipped. And the staggering wins went beyond traditional swing states and into deep red territory. Texas is now as blue as their state flower, and Democrat Scott Colom is on the brink of flipping a Senate seat in Mississippi. Obviously, there was nothing else we wanted to talk about this week. We wanted to talk about the joy and relief of an Election Night that didn't make us sick to our stomachs, the return of millennial optimism, the diversity of this new class of Democratic politicians, the freshness and energy of their campaigns, and the mass disillusionment with MAGA politics among the electorate – even groups, like young men, who we feared were lost. So we did. We reveled in it, baby. For the second half of the episode, we were joined by a special guest to offer more of a political insider's perspective on this election cycle. Greg Krieg is a progressive political consultant, and a former journalist who covered the left for CNN. (He is also Claire's husband.) We asked him some of our burning questions about takeaways from this blue wave, whether rumors of realignment are premature, and how to capitalize on this moment. We hope you enjoy – and, more importantly, that you're all enjoying this week. Hope is fuel; may it drive us forward. xo Reading List "After the Midterms, Millennial Optimism Makes Sense Again," (https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a74336612/2026-midterm-elections/) by Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harper's Bazaar "Is This What Hope Feels Like?" (https://www.thecut.com/article/2026-midterm-blue-wave-hopecore-whats-next.html) by Andrea González-Ramírez, The Cut "The ‘Blue Wave’ Is Really a Black Tsunami," (https://www.thecut.com/article/2026-midterms-blue-wave-black-voters-organizations.html) by Brittany Packnett Cunningham, The Cut "Even Where MAGA Won, MAGA Lost," (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/11/maga-party-demographic-shift/689286/) by Adam Serwer, The Atlantic "Donald Trump’s Repudiation, America’s Revenge," (https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/donald-trumps-repudiation-americas-revenge) by Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker "Susan Collins Was Doomed by Her Moderation," (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/susan-collins-was-doomed-by-her-moderation.html) by Rebecca Traister, Intelligencer "Not In My Wildest Dreams Did I See A Texas This Blue," (https://defector.com/not-in-my-wildest-dreams-did-i-see-a-texas-this-blue) by Kelsey McKinney, Defector "Republicans Redistricted Themselves Out of Congress," (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/11/republicans-gerrymandering-redistricting-midterms/689296/) by Madeleine Carlisle and Russell Berman, The Atlantic "‘I Have Seen the Enemy, and It Is Us’: Inside Team Trump’s Historic Collapse," (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/04/us/politics/trump-midterms-losses-republicans.html) by Shane Goldmacher, Jonathan Swan & Maggie Haberman, New York Times "What the midterms mean for 2028," (https://www.vox.com/politics/509132/midterm-results-five-lessons-from-blue-tsunami) Astead Herndon, Vox "Arizona, Nebraska (https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/11/04/congress/arizona-nebraska-voters-approve-transgender-athlete-bans-01148445)  (https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/11/04/congress/arizona-nebraska-voters-approve-transgender-athlete-bans-01148445)voters approve transgender athlete bans," (https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/11/04/congress/arizona-nebraska-voters-approve-transgender-athlete-bans-01148445) by Bianca Quilantan, Politico "Washington Lawyers Up," (https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/washington-lawyers-up) by Ruth Marcus, The New Yorker "Midterms Analysis: A Blue Wave Just Crashed on Trump," (https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/a-blue-wave-just-crashed-on-trump) by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker "What Drove the Historic Blue Wave in the 2026 Midterms?" (https://www.rutgers.edu/news/what-drove-historic-blue-wave-2026-midterms) by Andrea Alexander, Rutgers Today "What a blue wave could actually do," (https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/508653/blue-wave-midterms-election-day-2026) by Caitlin Dewey, Vox "How Democrats Are Reclaiming the Politics of Populism," (https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/how-democrats-are-reclaiming-the-politics-of-populism) by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker

2. 

   30 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   [PREVIEW] Marissa Mayer's A.I. Wife & 'Nobody Wants This' S3

   Hosts Claire and Emma discuss Marissa Mayer's AI wife concept and the Netflix rom-com "Nobody Wants This" Season 3.

3. 

   23 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   [PREVIEW] You Can See Everything (And Nothing)

   Hosts Claire and Emma explore how directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim navigate the unknowable complexities of Elizabeth Holmes's persona in their new documentary.

Inside a recent episode

[PREVIEW] The Blue Tsunami & What Comes Next

Published 6 Nov 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] I was like, I feel like we've done an optimistic midterms podcast before. It was actually last year, which was probably the first hopeful election cycle that we had had since we started this podcast. And there were only like a handful of races to really hang your hat on because it was an off-year election. […]

Who has been a guest on Rich Text

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Anna Peele
• Laura Hankin
• Gibson Johns
• Carrie Rosen
• Annemarie Navar-Gill

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

105 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

68 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 59 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

91

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

67

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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