Luke Thomas Gets Political (LTGP)

Luke Thomas discusses the need for the Democratic Party to prosecute all forms of corruption and law breaking if they take back the House in the midterms. That includes, but is not limited to Pete Hegseth.

#petehegseth #aoc #lukethomas

Luke Thomas goes over the latest political news for viewers on the weekly edition of this podcast.

#lukethomas #trump #election

Luke Thomas discusses on CNN whether Abdul El Sayed trying to prove his masculinity on the right's terms will be effective in generating support.

#abdulelsayed #lukethomas #cnn

Luke Thomnas: Pro-Palestinian advocates protested Zohran Mamdani, and Luke thinks they were right to do it. A viewer assumes the protest against the New York City mayor must have been a psyop. Luke lays out why it makes perfect sense.

Mamdani made a calculation. He wants to be the model of competent, transparent, affordability-focused governance, and that means playing ball with the system and the power lobbies that come with it. What it does not leave room for is the Palestine advocacy that defined his career before City Hall. City bonds tied to illegal settlements, the counterterrorism unit he pledged to disband, keeping Jessica Tisch as NYPD commissioner: Luke runs through what was promised and what was dropped, and argues that constituents have every right to make the mayor hear about it. He also explains why he gives Mamdani some grace, pointing to a book that traces how president after president tried to rein in Israel and got hamstrung by the lobby.

Then a question from Miami: was Markwayne Mullin right that Mamdani’s comments about ICE were dangerous? Luke walks through the shooting, the agent with a history of phony warrants, the NYPD body cam footage, and why the protests were already happening before the mayor said a word. He closes on why the right is so good at assigning blame and so allergic to taking any.

Listen to the full conversation over on Luke’s Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

Subscribe for more political commentary and turn on notifications so you don’t miss the next live chat.

Chapters

00:00 Why Protest Mamdani? Good.

00:40 Mamdani’s Calculation: Competence Over Everything

02:00 Playing Ball With the Power Lobbies

03:00 Bonds, the Counterterror Unit, and Tisch

04:00 No Right Way to Be Pro-Palestinian

04:45 Presidents Who Got Hamstrung by the Lobby

05:45 Politicians Are Employees, Not Heroes

06:30 Mullin Says Mamdani’s ICE Comments Are Dangerous

07:15 The Agent With the Phony Warrant

08:15 Body Cam Footage and Organic Protests

09:00 The Right Never Takes Responsibility

10:00 What a Spoils System Gets You

Historically, discussing the Israel lobby and its impacts in the United States has come with a variety of challenges. Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt earned enormous blowback in 2007 when they tried to simply argue there was such a thing as the Israel lobby. While now the existence of the loose federation of donors, organizations and activists isn’t necessarily contested, few actually understand how they operate, who funds them and perhaps most importantly, how their efforts influence our lives and government’s priorities.

That’s where today’s conversation comes into play.

In their latest book, investigative journalist Eli Clifton and political science professor Ian Lustick combine their expertises to explain what they call “the greatest story in geopolitics”, namely, how American domestic and foreign affairs are massively influenced by the Israel lobby, who seek to police our speech and cajole our national security apparatus to back “unpopular, costly and national security-threatening politics.”

This book deserves consideration because it illuminates what has long been hidden or poorly understood. Clifton and Lustick chronicle how the lobby came to be and why its aims have changed over time. They also expertly detail how its funding has grown and how those impacts have been felt plus the tactics it uses to deliver for the interests of Israel.

Most importantly, they leave us with a warning that the Israel lobby hasn’t merely degraded and frustrated American foreign policy for decades, but now actively seeks to turn their efforts toward the rest of American society, attempting to curtail our freedoms at home.

#israel #gaza #lukethomas

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Open

01:34 The Israel lobby’s response to the book

04:52 Support from the publisher to get the book printed

07:00 What is the Israel lobby?

11:54 The changing tactics of the lobby

15:50 Changes to Israeli society and how that’s influencing U.S. politics

21:37 The state and failure of the Israeli left

26:39 How the lobby is funded and how that’s changed

33:12 How the lobby was changed by Citizens United

34:22 Lobby and media coordination aligning against Abdul El Sayed

38:00 Israeli support in the Democratic Party

47:44 How the lobby has undermined U.S. Presidents

51:12 What is the IHRA antisemitism definition?

55:24 How this definition is policing speech

59:07 What can an average voter do to push back?

Luke Thomas discusses the UFC airing multiple MAGA Inc. ads during their recent UFC Edmonton broadcast.

#danawhite #donaldtrump #lukethomas

Luke Thomas discusses the latest political news around the midterms, the Fort Hood execution, Abdul El Sayed and JD Vance trading barbs and much more.

00:00:00 — Intro

00:01:01 — Financial Times UFC and Trump quote

00:01:24 — Weekly CNN appearances with Audie Cornish

00:02:59 — Remote host setup on today’s CNN show

00:04:50 — Michigan Senate race and progressive movement

00:07:19 — Scenarios if El-Sayed loses

00:11:09 — Super chat questions begin

00:11:22 — Zionism and Anglosphere colonial history

00:15:36 — Federal gun laws passable in our lifetimes

00:15:50 — Screen share trouble

00:16:04 — RAND gun policy research walkthrough

00:21:36 — Starshield throttling for Ukraine

00:23:08 — Mehdi Hasan vs Neera Tanden debate

00:23:22 — Joe Walsh on Never Trump Republicans

00:23:30 — Neera Tanden establishment denial

00:25:53 — Odds of Dems taking House and Senate

00:28:04 — Ilhan Omar raid and deportation threat

00:30:51 — Trumpism and who counts as citizen

00:32:51 — Press secretary fired breaking news

00:34:55 — How long is a Scaramucci

00:35:20 — How past Trump press secretaries left

00:36:30 — Leaked CBS editorial meeting

00:36:56 — GOP risks between election and January

00:39:10 — Samson option concerns

00:40:23 — Israel crazy state strategy book

00:42:52 — Marc Lamont Hill collab chances

00:43:28 — Abolishing the presidency

00:45:39 — Super chat comment on worsening outlook

00:45:50 — Task Force Radar election cyber unit

00:46:12 — Entre dos tierras song tangent

00:46:43 — Balancing CNN prep and progressive coverage

00:47:09 — Forensic accounting after Trump administration

00:48:36 — Gun laws and protecting children

00:50:32 — Other candidates to watch

00:50:56 — Candidate watch list

00:52:16 — Mixed support for ending the filibuster

00:52:33 — DC home rule and the filibuster

00:55:33 — Jordan Breen request, no MMA chat

00:56:07 — Twitter replies and MMA fatigue

00:57:04 — Final super chat call

00:57:36 — CNN next Friday announcement

00:57:53 — Outro

#abdulelsayed #lukethomas #jdvance

Luke Thomas: The Cornell Seven case exposes how sexual violence gets excused when the accused are athletes, fraternity brothers, or celebrities like Conor McGregor. A viewer asks what men should actually do when accused rapists are celebrated as sports heroes, and the answer is more uncomfortable than a simple yes or no.

The conversation moves from the Snapchat group chat at the center of the Cornell fraternity case to the broader culture of impunity in MMA, where fighters hype Andrew Tate and fans shrug at serious allegations. There is a personal story about a female Marine who kept years of harassment to herself, and a blunt argument that most men have no scale for how much women navigate on campuses, in workplaces, and in the military.

Then the case itself: New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed Letitia James as special prosecutor, the governor’s own statement signals distrust of the local district attorney, and new evidence keeps surfacing. Whether or not criminal charges follow, the question of what these seven men did to Jane Doe is not a close call.

From there, a harder look at what is ailing young men. Fraternity houses as problem institutions. Porn as the primary sex education of a generation. Political leadership that modeled “grab them by the pussy” to boys who are now in their twenties. And finally, why the right’s response to Cornell lands the way it does, and why the left spends so much energy critiquing centrists instead of MAGA.

Listen to the full conversation over on Luke’s Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

If you want more political commentary that does not flinch, subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications.

#lukethomas #andrewtate #tatebrothers

Chapters

00:00 Should men boycott accused athletes?

01:24 McGregor, Gable and sports impunity

02:32 A female Marine’s untold story

04:42 False accusations and fraternity houses

05:52 The grab them by the pussy generation

06:42 Due process vs what women face

07:57 Cornell Seven: they preyed on her

09:39 Hochul appoints Letitia James

10:39 Sexual violence is not new

11:21 Why this fraternity chapter should go

12:07 Porn, power dynamics and young men

15:00 The right’s response and MAGA

Luke Thomas discusses the new Israeli documentary movie NAZA about the use if artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the war on Gaza.

#israel #gaza #lukethomas

If MAGA loses the midterms, what happens to the celebrities and politicians who backed it? Luke Thomas says the answer depends on the Democrats, because winning power back means nothing without a theory of governing, and Zohran Mamdani is the one Democrat proving what that actually looks like.

Luke walks through why he thinks MAGA comes apart as a coalition after Trump but is not convinced a big midterm loss makes being formerly MAGA politically toxic yet. Then he pivots to the part he cannot stress enough: Democrats only talk about winning elections. Mamdani is governing big and small at the same time, from childcare and late-night rec centers to cleaned-up playgrounds and 70,000 arts tickets, and his approval is still climbing nine months in. Luke calls it the most pro-social governing he has seen in years and argues that is how the left wins.

A viewer pushes back on Luke's take that California had leverage in the Warner Bros merger fight. Luke does not budge. They won the TRO, the Paramount threat was a bluff, and the party still folded. His verdict on a party that has made surrender part of its culture is not gentle.

Listen to the full conversation over on Luke's Substack: https://lthomas.substack.com/

Luke Thomas Gets Political lives on YouTube, Substack, and as a podcast. Subscribe here and hit the bell so you never miss a live chat.

Chapters

00:00 What Happens To MAGA If They Lose?

00:45 Does MAGA Survive Trump?

01:20 Winning Means Nothing Without Governing

01:50 Mamdani's Potholes To Liftoff Theory

02:45 Childcare, Parks, And 70,000 Arts Tickets

03:40 Why Mamdani's Approval Keeps Climbing

04:20 This Is How The Left Wins

04:45 Viewer Pushback On The Warner Bros Deal

05:30 California Won The TRO And Folded

06:10 Democrats Have No Appetite For Battle

#maga #donaldtrump #lukethomas