Clock It with Symone & Eugene

This season of America continues to get more and more violent. Last Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the administration would livestream a public firing squad execution. That same day in New York City, an ICE agent shot immigrant Oscar Bergal in the neck while he was driving a car with his five-year-old son in the backseat. “We're moving the bar on what is socially acceptable,” says Daniel Peña, the latest member of the Clock It groupchat. Symone and Eugene invited the Pushcart Prize-winning writer & Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholar to discuss his new book “How to Look Away,” America’s evolving relationship with violence, how hit TV shows from the 2010s predicted Donald Trump’s rise and the use of force for political gain. “ For people who were like, it was outside the realm of their imaginations that Trump could happen, you saw pretty quickly like, no, this is in the DNA of the country right now,” he says.

Editor's note: After this episode was recorded and originally published, President Trump posted on Truth Social that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan on December 3rd will not be livestreamed.

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Michael Steele remains a Republican, but the party as it stands today is unrecognizable to him. “For the sake of power, we bought the idea of the South will rise again,” he says. “We should've killed it in its infancy and [been] done with it because it gave rise to what happened on January 6th.” The first Black chairman of GOPAC and the RNC joins the groupchat to offer his take on big money (and dark money) in politics, to reflect on how his faith guides his politics, and to explain why he’s stuck with the Republicans in spite of their about-face with regard to individual liberties. “ The easiest thing to do is walk away,” says Steele. “ I have to believe in your rights as a citizen under the flag and the Constitution to be on this soil, to live on this soil, to flourish on this soil – however we find you on this soil.”

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We're a month out from the most consequential midterm elections of the 21st century. With momentum on its side, the Democratic party is hoping that big wins in November will lead to a dredging of the entire federal government – one that's continued an ICE surge with impunity, that's failed to stem a worsening affordability crisis, and that's started wars after promising to end them. As the countdown to the elections winds down, Symone and Eugene invite the one-and-only Rachel Maddow back into the groupchat to share their hope that the Democratic party will rise to the occasion and start cleaning up the political mess we’re in. They also get into how her new true crime documentary – Kill, Bury, Print – reflects local communities fighting back against corrupt forces in government. "This is not a smoke detector moment. This is a flames in the kitchen moment," says Rachel, who has not given up. "Even their own people are repulsed by the worst things they're doing. And that to me is a healthy sign."

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On Saturday, September 26th, Symone and Eugene taped an episode of Clock It in front of a live audience as part of MS NOW’s Together in Texas event.  They spoke about the money pouring into races all over the country, and polling that shows Trump underwater and Republicans in suddenly competitive contests. But they pointed out that it’s not enough for Democrats to win back the House – or even the House and the Senate. Symone implored the audience to hold the people they elect to their promises. “It's not just enough to take power and not do jack-ish with it,” she said.  “This is why I think some people [are] about to lose their seats, some Democrats have lost some primaries, and some new folks are about to get elected. And these are people that are not about business as usual. They are going to challenge the status quo. They're going to ask for things to be done differently.”

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Last week, President Trump banned CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House grounds. And this is just the latest in a long list of times Trump has taken up metaphorical arms against the press. Symone and Eugene get into why the president -- under water in the polls as Republican candidates start to distance themselves -- might have decided to ban our journalists 40 days before the midterms. And with November approaching, our hosts invite one of the rising stars of the primaries, Florida's surprise Democratic nominee, Angie Nixon, to the groupchat. Nixon called in from the campaign trail -- specifically, from her van (“The Vangie”) -- to shed light on how much support she's receiving from the Democratic party, if the South can actually be repainted blue, and how she's being prosecuted for protesting redistricting. “ I have to push back," she says. "I know what we deserve, and I'm going to continue to fight for it.”

Note: This episode was recorded and scheduled for release before a federal judge blocked the president's ban on MS NOW, CNN, and Politico, citing a lack of due process. Visit ms.now for real-time updates on this developing story.

As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

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If you’re thinking why did Symone and Eugene invite a live streamer to Clock It – or what even is a live streamer – that’s fair, but stay with us. Because right wing media is trying to drag this live streamer into the center of the culture wars. And Democratic candidates -- some of them -- feel the need to take public stances on him. He says he’s become the new War on Christmas. So instead of talking about him, or about other people talking about him, Symone and Eugene decided they'd rather talk to him. “I'm simply one individual that is now being presented as, like, the main media figure of this growing Democratic Socialist movement in the country,” he says. “But there is this broad left populism that is growing in places that I have not touched at all.”

As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

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We are eight weeks away from the midterms. While Symone and Eugene are optimistic about the multiple paths Democrats have to victory, there is angst that the polls aren't as reliable as people might hope. To better understand how to forecast what will happen in all the pivotal races this November, they called upon MS NOW’s Director of Elections & Analytics Kabir Khanna to read the polling tea leaves -- and teach voters how to read them themselves. The hosts also explore the latest political discourse online, from derogatory language directed at Hakeem Jeffries to John Fetterman’s staffers leaking like a sieve, as well as going around the media to anonymously self-publish dirt on their (former) boss.

As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

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Following a whistleblower report that the White House is ignoring a court order to stop its attempts to manipulate mail-in-ballots, Eugene and Symone come to the conclusion that, “These norms ain’t working!” Then the duo is joined by best-selling author and “The Atlantic” staff writer Clint Smith to discuss the current assault on Black political power in the U.S., how racist iconography like Confederate statues help shape public policy, and how the triumphs of Black American resistance have become a source of inspiration around the globe. “ The most remarkable thing about all of it,” says Clint, “is that it was ordinary people who abolished slavery. It is ordinary people in Japan who are fighting to abolish nuclear weapons. It is ordinary people on the streets right now who are trying to imagine what life after this moment will look like, and who are trying their best to push us out of this moment that we're in.”

As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

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The Democratic Party is overperforming and polling well all over the United States, but the candidates winning primaries look a little different than expected. And the map keeps changing. While the DNC struggles with debt, senatorial candidates like Angie Nixon in Florida and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan beat very well-funded primary opponents. And they did so while supporting policies Americans for a long time have considered socialist. Symone and Eugene welcome friend of the show and fundraising-wizard Rufus Gifford to debate what makes a Democratic candidate viable, why donors are not giving to the DNC like they used to, and how the Democratic party should start thinking about who their presidential candidate will be in 2028 right now.

Editors' note: an early version of this story named David Crowley as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Michigan rather than Wisconsin. The file has been updated to correct this error.

As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

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For a special live taping of Clock It, Symone and Eugene traveled down to the ATL to kiki in front a standing-room-only crowd of journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention. They enraptured the attendees talking about the role White House reporters should play. And they got into Trump ditching Air Force One – and all of the members of the media and the administration still on it – to jump on a decoy plane. As a special treat the hosts welcomed actress, activist, and media personality La La Anthony to the stage. The trio dove into La La’s ThreeSixty program, which is dedicated to mentoring and supporting young men incarcerated on New York City's Rikers Island. “These aren't bad kids that just wake up like, ‘I just wanna do bad today,’” La La said. “I've had the joy and the blessing to get to know them, get to work with them, get to be a piece in changing their trajectory and their life. And it's what I'm passionate about.”

As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this and other MS podcasts without ads. As a subscriber, you'll also get exclusive bonus content.

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