Where contemporary history and politics meet the challenge of today. <br/><br/><a href="https://clairepotter.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">clairepotter.substack.com</a>
Why Now? A Political Junkie Podcast
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Where contemporary history and politics meet the challenge of today. <br/><br/><a href="https://clairepotter.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">clairepotter.substack.com</a>
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Recent Episodes
July 10, 2026
As Maine Goes
<p>We began this episode with Graham Platner’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mQbcsaoaiZU">announcement</a> on Wednesday that he will step down as the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine.</p><p>Our theme music this week is <a target="_blank" href="https://t.lickd.co/l/bO43EJp9q5n">Born Again</a>, written and sung by Jelly Roll, copyrighted music <a target="_blank" href="https://lickd.co/">licensed from Lickd</a>.</p><p>Former president of the Maine Senate Troy Jackson and Senate primary candidate Graham Platner at a Portland Hearts of Pine match on September 27, 2025. Jackson is now a candidate to replace Platner on the ballot. Photo credit: MAINEiac4434/<a target="_blank" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jackson_and_Platner_at_Hearts_of_Pine.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p><p><strong>In the news:</strong></p><p>* On Wednesday, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who ran a construction crew in Houston, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fox26houston.com/news/timeline-surveillance-video-family-account-help-reconstruct-final-moments-before-deadly-ice-shooting-hous">because the most recent casualty</a> of Donald Trump’s deportation machine. Araujo was approached by ICE agents, who claim he was in the United States illegally, and that he assaulted them. The evidence remains vague: Araujo’s son has suggested that his father was alert to being robbed for his tools and may have believed that the agents were thieves. The Office of the Inspector General and the FBI <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/07/08/feds-sideline-texas-officials-probe-into-ice-shooting-district-attorney-says/">have taken over the case</a>, sidelining local officials: the family has asked for an independent investigation. The Washington Post reported this morning that agents <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/us/witnesses-houston-ice-shooting.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">did not have a warrant for his arrest</a> and had mistaken him for another.</p><p>* Donald Trump’s <a target="_blank" href="https://freedom250.org/celebration/the-great-american-state-fair">Great American State Fair</a> ends today. Billed as a “A world-class exposition and modern-day World’s Fair” clustered around the National Mall, by all reports it was slightly better quality than <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46904445">the 2017 Fyre Festival</a>. It featured, among other things, a piece of the stage <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/dancers-dodge-death-as-donald-trumps-state-fair-stage-falls-apart/">falling on a troupe</a> dancing to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” Meghan McCain’s new game show <a target="_blank" href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/meghan-mccain-trump-great-american-state-fair-b3011169.html">streaming to an empty crowd</a>, massive amounts of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2026/07/09/great-american-state-fair-maha-mondays-are-deep-fried-contradiction/">junk food</a>, Kash Patel’s girlfriend Alexis Wilkins <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/alexis-wilkins-kash-patel-trump-great-american-state-fair-1236629693/">stepping in</a> when nearly every other performer pulled out, <a target="_blank" href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/02/us-news/the-top-10-most-unamerican-no-show-states-at-trumps-great-american-state-fair/">10 no-show states</a>, at least <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2026/07/09/great-american-state-fair-maha-mondays-are-deep-fried-contradiction/">one Confederate battle flag</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsweek.com/great-american-state-fair-visitor-escapes-extreme-heat-in-baptism-pool-12155229">a baptism pool</a> that fairgoers used as a swimming pool. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/us/politics/trump-allies-firm-organizing-250th.html">It is said to have cost $68 million</a>, funding run through a third-party, and was organized by a long-time Trump vendor, <a target="_blank" href="https://teamesi.com/">Event Strategies, Inc</a> of Alexandria, VA. Freedom 250 is claiming that 150,000 people attended: by contrast, the Minnesota State Fair <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mnstatefair.org/about">claimed almost 2 million visitors</a> in 2025.</p><p>* Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has asked Republican Senator and former majority leader Mitch McConnell’s staff <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/08/mcconnell-health-update-beshear-hospitalization-kentucky.html">for an update on his health</a>. McConnell has been publicly declining for months, has sometimes appeared to freeze in public, and has fallen in the Capitol. McConnell <a target="_blank" href="https://www.livenowfox.com/news/mitch-mcconnells-hospital-latest-wife-releases-statement">has not been seen</a> since an emergency medical call to his home on June 14, reportedly because of an “unconscious person.” Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Whip John Barasso (R-WY) <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5957438-mcconnell-thune-barrasso-health/">each claim</a> to have had “substantive” 20-minute conversations with McConnell on the phone, but no one—not even his wife, former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, claims to have seen him—and some are speculating that <a target="_blank" href="https://newrepublic.com/post/212798/mitch-mcconnell-office-dodges-questions-brain-dead">McConnell is in a coma and/or brain-dead.</a> However, his absence throws the Senate Appropriations Committee <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/09/how-mitch-mcconnells-absence-complicates-senates-business-this-summer/">into a deadlock around requests</a> from the Trump administration for enhanced military spending to find the war against Iran.</p><p><strong>Your hosts:</strong></p><p>Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">Political Junkies</a><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">:</a> From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller.</p><p>Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054">Coming Out Republican:</a> A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024).</p><p>Platner’s Senate campaign headquarters in Ellsworth, ME, following his victory in the Democratic Senate primary in June, 2026. Photo credit: Quintin Soloviev/<a target="_blank" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Graham_Platner_campaign_headquarters.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p><p><strong>News focus: Graham Platner is forced out of the Maine Senate race</strong></p><p>* Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner ended his insurgent candidacy last night after suspending it on Wednesday. The final straw was former girlfriend Jenny Racicot <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/06/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737">detailing rape allegations</a> from late 2021 to a reporting team from Politico. Racicot was one of three women, including Lindsay Fifield, a Republican political operative, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/politics/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html">who had spoken to the New York Times</a> about violence in their relationship with Platner prior to the primary. At the end of May, Platner’s wife Amy spoke to the campaign about Platner <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/us/politics/graham-platner-maine-senate-texts.html">sexting with other women</a>.</p><p>* The Wall Street Journal’s reporting team <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/graham-platner-maine-senate-campaign-43717e4c?st=8kFPqW">supplied a timeline</a> of Platner’s rise and fall, highlighting a 2024 Facebook post by Racicot that should have been a red flag, and an ambitious pair of progressive political consultants, Daniel Moraff and Morris Katz; Moraff has had close ties to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for a decade. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/opinion/graham-platner-rape-accusation.html">Platner’s social media posts</a> and his obfuscations about his motives, and understanding, of a tattoo that was a Nazi symbol, were an even earlier issue.</p><p>* In the aftermath of Politico’s story, new allegations have emerged from Fifield that Platner also <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5958131-ex-girlfriend-alleges-graham-platner-removed-condom-during-sex-without-consent/">removed his condom</a> while they were having intercourse, knowing that she was not on birth control.</p><p>* That day, Drop Site’s Ryan Grim appeared to be questioning Racicot’s account, inferring that she had invited Platner over: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2075255951460851921">Drop Site apologized</a> on Thursday, and Grim appears to have removed these posts.</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/08/graham-platner-potential-replacements-maine-00991341">Here</a> is a complete list of candidates who might replace Platner. In the first round of speculation, the New York Times included actor Patrick Dempsey, as well as historian and Substacker Heather Cox Richardson. Richardson then <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VIWmu0eTTQI">published a video</a> explaining why she is not interested in running for Senate.</p><p>* The state party <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/us/politics/platner-maine-democrats-replacement-candidate.html">is planning a nominating convention</a> to choose a new candidate.</p><p>* Did Democrats, in their eagerness to win the Maine seat, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/opinion/graham-platner-rape-accusation.html">create a situation</a> in which better candidates were ignored and Platner seemed like the most vigorous alternative to Susan Collins? </p><p>* In October 2025, when the news about the Totenkopf tattoo emerged, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/30/graham-platner-male-working-class">feminists Moira Donegan</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/opinion/nazi-tattoo-graham-platner-democrats.html">Tressie McMillan Cottom</a> both warned that Democrats were too infatuated with the illusion of working-class authenticity to heed the warning signs about Platner. <a target="_blank" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/212801/graham-platner-rape-allegations-progressives-working-class-voters">Monica Potts</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/graham-platner-out/">Katha Pollitt</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-women-saw-in-graham-platner.html">Rebecca Traister</a> have added feminist voices to the discussion.</p><p>* In the past two years, a Senate candidate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/upshot/platner-senate-replacements-history.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">has only been replaced nine times,</a> and in only two cases—Arkansas Republican Tim Hutchinson and New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg—has it been successful.</p><p>* That said, Nate Cohn argues that Platner was losing support, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/upshot/platner-maine-election-accusation.html">that a new candidate will boost the party’s chances.</a></p><p><strong>What we want to go viral:</strong></p><p>* Neil wants you to read Rose Horowitch’s tale of American literary apocalypse, “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/">The End of Reading is Here</a>,” (The Atlantic, July 8, 2026).</p><p>* Claire wants you to read, or listen to (as she did), Sarah B. Franklin’s tour de force about twentieth century publishing, <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781982134372">The Editor:</a><strong> </strong>How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America (Atria Books, 2025). Jones edited and cooked alongside Julia Child, Marcela Hazan and other great cookbook, as well as major authors like Anne Tyler and John Updike.</p><p><p>Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054">Coming Out Republican</a> or Claire’s <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">Political Junkies</a><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">:</a> as a welcome bonus.</p></p><p><strong>You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976"><strong>Apple iTunes</strong></a><strong>, </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l"><strong>YouTube</strong></a><strong>, or </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8"><strong>Spotify</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://clairepotter.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">clairepotter.substack.com</a>
July 3, 2026
The GOP’s Unwelcome Mat
<p>We began this episode with a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w72BdDKjzTc">June 30 clip of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis</a> responding to the United States Supreme Court decision to uphold birthright citizenship. In a feat of MAGA cognitive dissonance, DeSantis was at The Villages, an age-restricted adult community in Central Florida, to unveil a statue of President Abraham Lincoln.</p><p>Our theme music this week is <a target="_blank" href="https://app.lickd.co/music/artists/johnny-cash/track/redemption-song">Redemption Song</a>, written by Bob Marley and sung by Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer, copyrighted music licensed from <a target="_blank" href="https://lickd.co/">Lickd.</a></p><p>White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/<a target="_blank" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2025_Stephen_Miller_close-up_(cropped).jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a> </p><p><strong>In the News:</strong></p><p>* It was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/supreme-court-term-trump-conservatives.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">a big week</a> at the Supreme Court. In addition to the birthright citizenship case, the court <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8q2z5wpn2o">declined to take Donald Trump’s appeal</a> of the verdict in the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case, and Carroll’s attorneys <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/30/politics/e-jean-carroll-asks-for-release-5-million-dollars-trump">have asked the judge to release</a> the $5 million damages—now $5.8 million. Here’s a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/opinion/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-slaughter.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">summary of the full term</a> by three experts assembled by the New York Times. The court also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30/nx-s1-5836513/supreme-court-transgender-athletes">upheld existing state bans</a> on transgender girls and women participating in sports designated for women—<a target="_blank" href="https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/49229623/faq-supreme-court-transgender-athlete-ruling-title-ix-scope-states">here</a> is what the ruling has, and has not, settled. The court <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-allows-states-count-mail-ballots-arrive-late-rejecting-r-rcna266933">also rejected</a> the Republican National Committee’s bid to override state laws on the counting and timing of mail-in-ballots.</p><p>* Colorado held its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/colorado-primary-takeaways.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">primaries</a> this week: the well-funded Michael Bennet <a target="_blank" href="https://coloradosun.com/2026/06/30/colorado-primary-election-governor-phil-weiser-michael-bennet/">will return to the Senate</a> after State Attorney General Phil Weiser <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5945425-weiser-defeats-bennet-for-democratic-nod-in-colorado-governors-race/">ate his lunch</a>; at hte time we recorded, the Republican contest between Barb Kirkmeyer and Victor Marx was still too close to call; today, Marx appears to have taken the lead.</p><p>* Also in Colorado, Democratic Socialists of America are still on a little roll: Melat Kiros, <a target="_blank" href="https://time.com/article/2026/06/30/melat-kiros-democratic-socialist-colorado-congressional-race/">a lawyer and Ph.D. candidate</a> at UC-Denver, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democratic-socialist-melat-kiros-defeats-longtime-house-incumbent-in-colorado-primary">toppled</a> 68-year-old progressive incumbent Diana DeGette. Support for Israel appears to have been one issue, but Democratic voters discontent with the party establishment <a target="_blank" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/212581/colorado-democratic-primary-results-left-wins-gaza-socialism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily">may be</a> a bigger factor.</p><p>* A series ads attacking Ken Paxton feature the Texas GOP Senate nominee’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/paxton-talarico-corruption-affordability-texas.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">moral failings as a husband</a>. Presumably they are an attempt to heighten the contrast with Democrat James Talarico, a devout—and to all appearances, socially proper—Christian. This week, Talarico himself distributed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15936929/Ken-Paxton-US-Senate-campaign-Iceland-mistress.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus">Daily Mail’s story</a> about Paxton on his social media: not yet divorced, Paxton appears to have traveled to Iceland with a woman not his wife (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/ken-paxton-mistress-iceland-spotted">a different one</a> than the woman who appears to have precipitated the marital split.) But wouldn’t <a target="_blank" href="https://thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/17/ken-paxton-scandal-timeline/">a high focus on 20 years of corruption</a> be more effective?</p><p>* A new Times/Siena poll <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/iowa-ohio-governor-poll.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">reveals</a> that Republicans are in a dogfight to hang onto the governors’ mansions in two red states, Iowa and Ohio, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/new-poll-finds-husted-narrowly-leading-brown-ohio-governors-race-tied/">bellwether state</a> for 2028. Incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted leads former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown 50% to 47%, while tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy and physician Amy Acton are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/state/2026/06/29/amy-acton-vivek-ramaswamy-ohio-governor-race-poll-aarp/90708432007/">in a dead heat for the governor’s mansion</a>—except that Acton is up by three points. That same poll indicates that control of the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/polls-senate-control.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">is up for grabs,</a> with six seats in play: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/upshot/polls-ohio-iowa-alaska-carolina.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">Democrats must take four.</a></p><p><strong>Your hosts:</strong></p><p>Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">Political Junkies</a><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">:</a> From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller.</p><p>Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054">Coming Out Republican:</a> A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024).</p><p>Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott, who filed concurrent suits for their freedom in 1852. The Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision on the grounds that, as enslaved African Americans, they had no claim to citizenship, and that—as property—to free them violated the Fifth Amendment. Image credit: The Century Magazine/<a target="_blank" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dred_Scott._Harriet,_wife_of_Dred_Scott_LCCN2014645331_(cropped).jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p><p><strong>News focus: Birthright citizenship survives the Trump administration—for now</strong></p><p>* Yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/about-immigration/birthright-citizenship/">birthright citizenship</a> in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-365_4hdj.pdf">Trump v. Barbara</a>. The vote was <a target="_blank" href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/in-birthright-citizenship-opinions-a-major-constitutional-disagreement">6-3 on the constitutionality of the executive order, but 5-4 on </a>the core constitutional question: does the Citizenship Clause protect the children of people who are temporarily or illegally in the United States?</p><p>* Two Trump-appointed associate justices, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, voted with the majority on the EO; Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision, and Clarence Thomas wrote a 91-page dissent: Alito and Gorsuch wrote dissents; Associate Justice Jackson wrote a concurrence rebuking Thomas; and Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence in which he joined the minority on the constitutional question, and urged Congress to pass a law to amend birthright citizenship. You can read about it all <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/breaking-down-the-birthright-citizenship-decision/">here</a>.</p><p>* Caveat: much as Republicans promise <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/01/supreme-court-ruling-birthright-citizenship-congress-trump/90759645007/">that they will introduce a law</a> to ban birthright citizenship outright, that too would be dead on arrival because of Barbara. The Constitution itself would have to be amended. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) <a target="_blank" href="https://time.com/article/2026/06/30/birthright-citizenship-constitutional-amendment-republicans-supreme-court/">claims</a> he plans to spearhead that effort, while other Republican Senators vow to take up Kavanaugh’s invitation to legislate on the question of temporary or illegal status.</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://campaignlegal.org/update/why-birthright-citizenship-essential-part-our-democracy">Why does birthright citizenship matter</a> to our democracy? Here is how the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment of the Constitution <a target="_blank" href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xiv/clauses/700">has been commonly interpreted</a>; here is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-the-trump-administrations-challenges-to-birthright-citizenship">Trump administration’s argument</a> against it.</p><p>* Claire and Neil discuss <a target="_blank" href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/02/a-history-of-birthright-citizenship-at-the-supreme-court/">history of birthright citizenship</a>, how the concept has evolved legally since the Dred Scott case in 1857, and the importance of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/169us649">United States v. Wong Kim Ark</a> (1898). In that case, the Supreme Court affirmed that Asian Americans born in the United States whose parents had been barred from naturalized citizenship were entitled to Fourteenth Amendment protection. Nativists then turned to anti-immigration laws to limit the non-white population: <a target="_blank" href="https://cis.org/Historical-Overview-Immigration-Policy">the reform of these statutes began in 1952</a> with <a target="_blank" href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act">the McCarren-Walter Act</a>.</p><p>* Perhaps the most important reform, and the one most despised by today’s MAGA zealots, was the <a target="_blank" href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-of-1965/">1965 Hart-Cellar Act</a>, which eliminated the racist quota system, prioritized highly skilled immigrants, and had a provision for family reunification. Today, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/us/politics/birthright-citizenship-support.html">most Americans support birthright citizenship.</a></p><p>* It is this last provision that white nationalist Republicans have spun into a vast conspiracy theory, contending that the only way Democrats can win elections is by importing and “breeding” voters. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/02/anchor-baby-myth">It was Jeb Bush</a>, as a presidential candidate in 2015, who promoted the myth of the “anchor baby,” a phrase <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/whats-behind-anchor-babies-buzz-phrase">that first emerged in 1987</a> in relation to a wave of immigrants fleeing communist Vietnam.</p><p>* Since 2009, and the rise of the Tea Party movement, a Republican party moving right <a target="_blank" href="https://theconversation.com/republicans-once-championed-immigration-in-the-us-why-has-the-partys-rhetoric-and-public-opinion-changed-so-dramatically-239836">has leaned in hard</a> on the idea that immigrants defraud the American people, and at the heart of any social and economic problems that may exist.</p><p>* Trump-aligned forces are now elevating the harm of so-called “birth tourism,” and are vowing to stop <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/01/after-supreme-court-loss-on-birthright-citizenship-white-house-eyes-crackdown-on-pregnant-foreigners-00984187">all pregnant women who are not citizens</a> at the border. Coming to the United States exclusively to give birth, and registering that child as a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment, <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5951451-trump-birthright-citizenship-outcry/">is already prosecutable as visa fraud and is a rare crime.</a></p><p><strong>What we want to go viral:</strong></p><p>* Neil just binged season three of “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.netflix.com/search?q=dallas%20cowboy%20cheerleaders%20season%203&jbv=81685878">America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders</a>” (Netflix, 2026), which follows this hard-working squad through the pains and gains of a new season’s selection process.</p><p>* Claire wants you to read Louisa Thomas’s piece, “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/serena-williams-returns-to-wimbledon?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_070126&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=5bea04353f92a404693e32a3&cndid=44691879&hasha=30ca3164a2ee75a2fcdea9acd31c7ff0&hashb=4a143b91923b930db563c95a184a15acc3e47348&hashc=175c7ebc71d84b708080750f16f4c04e9b95345a322caadb0210b3539946bd09&esrc=OIDC_SELECT_ACCOUNT_PAGE&mbid=CRMNYR012019">Serena Williams Returns to Wimbledon</a>,” (The New Yorker, July 1, 2026) which delivers the sad news that age really does impose limits on the best, most ambitious, hardest-working, and most gifted of athletes. </p><p><p>Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054">Coming Out Republican</a> or Claire’s <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">Political Junkies</a><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">:</a> as a welcome bonus.</p></p><p><strong>You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976"><strong>Apple iTunes</strong></a><strong>, </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l"><strong>YouTube</strong></a><strong>, or </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8"><strong>Spotify</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://clairepotter.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">clairepotter.substack.com</a>
June 26, 2026
It’s Not Easy Being Green
<p>We begin with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY08SA92fQA">a June 22 press conference</a>, in which Donald Trump blames faceless, nameless enemies for the failed renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. </p><p>Our theme music this week is <a target="_blank" href="https://t.lickd.co/l/8YLv05mGlZE">Dirty Water, written by Ed Cobb and performed live by the Standells</a>; copyrighted music licensed from <a target="_blank" href="https://lickd.co/">Lickd.</a></p><p>The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on the National Mall as it appeared on June 16, 2026, chokes with algae and with bits of the liner floating to the surface. Photo credit: G. Edward Johnson/<a target="_blank" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2026-06-17_Cleaning_algae_from_the_Reflectiong_Pool_Washington_DC_18-57-39_1.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></p><p><strong>In the News:</strong></p><p>* On Monday, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/judge-says-justice-department-overstepped-with-subpoenas-to-minnesota-officials-bae70b1e?st=4QSLwL&reflink=article_email_share">a federal judge in Minnesota unsealed a ruling</a> that six elected officials in Minnesota, including Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, were improperly subpoenaed in relation to resistance to federal immigration enforcement last winter. Patrick Schlitz, a George W. Bush appointee, said there was no plausible justification for this investigation aside from political retaliation.</p><p>* New York City’s primaries are over: we saw big victories for candidates <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/nyregion/mamdani-politics-influence.html">endorsed</a> by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, several of them dramatic upsets. Former city councilman Brad Lander <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/brad-lander-trounces-new-york-rep-dan-goldman-in-election-upset-00972326">defeated</a> incumbent Dan Goldman for the nomination in NY-10; Assemblywoman Claire Valdez <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/claire-valdez-wins-brooklyn-queens-primary-00972255">defeated</a> Antonio Reynoso in NY-07; and in a major upset, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a doctoral student and pro-Palestinian activist, defeated Adriano Espaillat, a five term incumbent in NY-13 and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In NY-12, Micah Lasher <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/nyregion/schlossberg-loses-camelot.html">dashed the dreams</a> of multiple candidates, including Jack Schlossberg, in a $26 million primary mostly focused on the future of AI.</p><p>* Yesterday, in a perhaps unprecedented act of petulance, Donald Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/24/trump-abruptly-cancels-signing-bipartisan-bill-affordable-housing/">canceled a signing ceremony for a major bipartisan housing bill</a> that seeks expand the residential housing stock and limit the number of units that private equity companies can stockpile (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.propublica.org/article/kushner-apartments-lawsuit-baltimore-maryland-settlement">hello, Jared Kushner</a>!) The event was set up in the Capitol when, 90 minutes before it was supposed to start, Trump announced he would not sign it until Congress passed the SAVE Act, federal voting legislation that lacks the votes to pass in either chamber. Both majorities for the housing bill <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/us/politics/congress-housing-bill.html">are veto proof</a>—but will Republicans have the courage to not reverse their votes?</p><p>* In Texas, nine protesters prosecuted as terrorists <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/06/23/alleged-antifa-members-texas-get-maximum-sentences-ice-protest/">received decades-long sentences</a> for a protest at a federal detention center that turned violent. They were <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/designating-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/">prosecuted under a September 2025 executive order</a> that designated “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization. The sentences were longer than any sentence handed down for J6 defendants.</p><p><strong>Your hosts:</strong></p><p>Claire Potter is a historian of politics and media, a writer, a podcaster, and the sole author and editor of the Political Junkie Substack. Her most recent book is <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">Political Junkies</a><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">:</a> From Talk Radio to Twitter, How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy (Basic Books, 2020), and she is currently writing a biography of feminist journalist Susan Brownmiller.</p><p>Neil J. Young is a historian of religion and politics, a journalist, and a former co-host of the Past Present podcast. His most recent book is <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054">Coming Out Republican:</a> A History of the Gay Right (University of Chicago Press, 2024).</p><p> Claire’s favorite social media meme about the Reflecting Pool</p><p><strong>News focus: President Renovation Strikes Again</strong></p><p>* Donald Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/24/us/trump-dc-costs-ballroom-arch-pool.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">has committed over $1.2 billion to 18 different construction and renovation projects around Washington</a>: he has produced conflicting statements about where the money for them is coming from, has made his projects a destination for donor money at the same time as taxpayer dollars are diverted to meet ballooning budgets. The historic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is only <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-undertakes-sweeping-makeover-white-house-washington-2026-06-05/">one of Trump’s efforts</a> to put his stamp on the Capitol. It is an effort that has precedent: during Franklin Roosevelt’s four terms, he <a target="_blank" href="https://dcist.com/story/17/09/13/map-see-all-of-dcs-new-deal-projects/">made Washington D.C. into a modern metropolis</a> with federal dollars.</p><p>* The Reflecting Pool has also become <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/reflecting-pool-visitors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">a metaphor</a> for the President’s slumping popularity. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/dc-reflecting-pool-renovation-timeline-2026-rcna351410">Here is a timeline of the project</a>, beginning on April 23, that has produced acres of green sludge and detached fragments of flag-blue pool liner.</p><p>* A firm tied to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/politics/trump-donor-contract-reflecting-pool.html">Trump donor John Cafano got the no-bid contract</a>, the bill for which came to over $16 million: Cafano, who resembles <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/style/murray-hill-showbiz-netflix-somebody-somewhere.html">drag king Murray Hill</a>, is a Mar-A-Lago neighbor. His company, Greenwater Contracting, won a no-bid federal contract last year <a target="_blank" href="https://voiceofsandiego.org/2026/06/22/environment-report-reflecting-pool-contractor-tried-cleaning-tijuana-river-too/">to clean the Tijuana River</a>—also a failure. The Reflecting Pool has been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/05/31/us/trump-reflecting-pool-problems.html">plagued with problems</a> since it was created in the 1920s, and a new liner and filters were unlikely to address them.</p><p>* Having <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/bulwarkonline/status/2069178160847962311?s=12">claimed</a> that the new pool liner was indestructible, Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/us/trump-reflecting-pool-green-peeling.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share">now blames vandals for the problem</a>. He has surrounded the tourist attraction with security personnel, and <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2069054344515797157?s=20">threatened 10-year sentences</a> for the mysterious figures he believes are responsible. U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro has <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5933461-lincoln-memorial-pool-vandalism-prosecution/">vowed to prosecute the culprits</a>. As the Anonymous X account <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/YourAnonNews/status/2069034529965162525?s=20">pointed out,</a> the Reflecting pPool is surrounded with security cameras, and any vandal should be easily detected; in other words, there is no evidence that this is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-reflecting-pool-is-about-to-be-drained-again-heres-what-to-know">anything but a renovation failure.</a></p><p>* Yet, <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/reflecting-pool-liner-cut-national-park-service-trump-98e11bfcb5899753c79bf55698dc958f?taid=6a3d5a134493680001f18a36&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter">according to the Associated Press</a>, in a court filing today a National Parks Service official attested that the liner was cut with a knife or other sharp object. </p><p>* For historians, this is a relaxing, old-fashioned scandal: Claire and Neil point to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/dcas/business/dcasmanagedbuildings/tweed-courthouse.page">Mayor William “Boss” Tweed’s court house at 52 Chambers Street</a> in New York City, opened in 1881. Initially budgeted at $250,000, the Board of Supervisors <a target="_blank" href="https://www.americanheritage.com/house-tweed-built">began to smell a rat</a> when the bill went over $3.1 million; an investigation showed that the project was a pass-through for payoffs and graft. Tweed was <a target="_blank" href="https://history.nycourts.gov/figure/boss-tweed/#:~:text=Tilden's%20anti%2Dcorruption%20crusade%20was%20a,to%20the%20Presidency%20in%201876.&text=Tweed%20was%20arrested%20in%20October,on%20%241%20million%20dollar%20bail.">convicted of corruption</a> in one of the unfinished building’s courtrooms in 1876.</p><p>* However, it also seems like Trump, frustrated by problems of his own making, is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rawstory.com/trump-wollman-rink-reflecting-pool/">returning to his roots</a> to create the illusion of success. In 1975, in his first major Manhattan project, he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/04/archives/deal-negotiated-for-commodore-hyatt-would-operate-it-after.html">bought the decrepit Commodore Hotel over Grand Central station</a> and built the Grand Hyatt; and in 1986, he took over <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/07/nyregion/trump-to-rebuild-wollman-rink-at-the-city-s-expense-by-dec-15.html">the renovation of Wollman Rink</a> in Central Park.</p><p> Another gag at Donald Trump’s expense found on social media.</p><p><strong>What we want to go viral:</strong></p><p>* Claire wants you to read (or listen tomorrow which is what she is doing) Tia Levings, <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781250898050">A Well-Trained Wife</a>: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy (St. Martins, 2026.) Don’t miss our conversation about how this book does, and does not, teach us about the politics of gender on the Christian fundamentalist right, and why conservatives are so committed to the gender binary.</p><p>* Neil is repping Spencer Kornhaber’s article about why a rapper is trying to take America back to the 1990s, “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/06/vanilla-ice-america-250/687661/">Vanilla Ice Knows When America Was Great</a>,” (The Atlantic, June 24, 2026.)</p><p><p>Don’t miss new drops from Claire and Neil. You can subscribe for free or support us for only $5 a month. You can also become an annual supporter for $50/year and choose Neil’s <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9780226818054">Coming Out Republican</a> or Claire’s <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">Political Junkies</a><a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/110427/9781541644991">:</a> as a welcome bonus.</p></p><p><strong>You can also get all audio content for free by subscribing on </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-now-a-political-junkie-podcast/id1653007976"><strong>Apple iTunes</strong></a><strong>, </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@PoliticalJunkieSubstack-j3l"><strong>YouTube</strong></a><strong>, or </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3Azy3LXNaKhUhVAWnaoRv8"><strong>Spotify</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">clairepotter.substack.com/subscribe</a>
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