I just wrapped a subscriber Q&A, and I wanted to put a quick recap here because we hit three stories that are connected in a way most coverage refuses to say out loud.

We talked about Iran, and why the biggest danger right now isn’t just “what happens next” overseas — it’s what happens when leadership treats escalation like a performance. When the rhetor…

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I’m posting this conversation with Noah Taylor because Kansas is about to matter a lot more than the national media wants to admit — and because too many people still treat the Senate like it’s some abstract DC chess match.

It’s not.

The Senate is where accountability either happens… or dies. It’s where judges get confirmed, agencies get funded — or hollowed out — investigations get blocked or buried, and where extremists get empowered when decent people decide politics is “too exhausting.”

And here’s the truth: if Kansas doesn’t have accountability candidates — candidates who answer to voters instead of party bosses, donors, and the MAGA machine — then the same people who lied about January 6, excused political violence, and normalized corruption are going to keep writing the rules for the rest of us.

That’s what Noah and I get into here.

Not consultant fluff.

Not safe soundbites.

The real questions:

How do you build a campaign that can actually compete in a place the establishment loves to write off?

How do you reach voters who’ve tuned out?

How do you fight propaganda with receipts?

How do you make accountability feel real again?

Because “accountability” isn’t a vibe.

It’s a choice.

It’s whether elected officials fear the voters — or whether voters are trained to fear the officials.

One thing I’ve learned over the last few years is that what you hear about candidates — who they are, what they stand for, whether they’re “viable” — depends a lot on where you’re getting your information.

That’s why I use Ground News.

Ground News is an app and website that lets you compare how different outlets are covering the same story. You can see political bias at the publication level, compare headlines, and spot when certain candidates or issues are being emphasized — or ignored — depending on the audience.

During an election cycle, that matters.

If you want the full picture instead of just one version of it, you can subscribe to Ground News’ Vantage plan for 40% off here:

Here’s the Ask

Two parts.

First: support Noah Taylor.

If you want accountability candidates, you don’t just like a post and move on. You help them build the infrastructure — donations, volunteers, doors knocked, calls made, and enough resources to break through the noise.

Back Noah. Share his name. Help grow this into something Kansas can rally around.

Second: support the Defend Democracy Tour.

This is why we’re on the road — Kansas, Pennsylvania, Boston, and more to come. Because democracy doesn’t live on TV. It lives in communities.

If you want more of these conversations, more town halls, more real reporting from the ground — help keep the tour moving.

Watch the full conversation. Share it with one Kansan who still gives a damn.

Then do one real thing to help — for Noah, for the tour, for what comes next.

The Michael Fanone Show is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I jumped on a live conversation with Raw America and we talked about what’s happening right now — the real-world consequences of Trump’s agenda: ICE tactics on the ground, what’s breaking inside the system, and why the midterms are going to be a fight over power, not policy.

Here’s the thing: people keep treating these stories like separate lanes. Immigr…

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I sat down live with Katy Tyndell, who’s running in Kansas’ 4th Congressional District, and what stood out to me wasn’t just her platform — it was how she thinks about the job.

Because right now, we don’t just have a policy problem in this country.

We have a leadership problem.

Katy didn’t come into this conversation trying to give …

Join us for an exclusive BYOB Substack Q & A with Mike and Peter Fanone. Become a paid subscriber to help support the show.

I sat down with Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis about their new book, Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department. This isn’t a victory lap. It’s an autopsy. How the place that’s supposed to be the country’s spine — the U.S. Department of Justice — let politics and fear bend it, and what it’ll take to make it stand up again.

I spent almost twenty years wearing a badge. There were rules that weren’t optional: the Constitution first, human dignity always, and power only when you have to use it.

What I watched this week wasn’t policing. It was the costume of authority used to humiliate people in their own homes.

I’ve used strong language for a reason. When agents kick in a door …

I went live not long ago to cut through the noise with Sen. Ruben Gallego. We talked about power, impunity, and what accountability looks like when the stakes are real.

* Trump’s playbook right now — what’s theater vs. what actually moves power

* The Epstein “sweetheart deal” era and what real accountability should’ve looked like

* How to spot the next disinform…

Today the takes will drift away from that day. Their whitewashing will pivot to new stories.

Five years to the day, we went live with people who’ve carried the facts and the scars: Jim Acosta, Heather Cox Richardson, Glenn Kirschner, Adam Kinzinger, Miles Taylor, Olivia Troye, and more. We talked about what it looked like, what it cost, and why “move on”…