The Erick Erickson Show

Erick Erickson opens with a warning that progressive politics has become a religion, from the collapse of the United Methodist Church and other mainline denominations to Maine protesters harassing Chief Justice John Roberts, and why pastors who preach politics are hurting their churches. Then he weighs in on Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra in the California governor race, makes the case that Barack Obama pioneered the partisan division he now laments, defends his Hunga Tonga volcano climate call with a caller, and unloads on Delta for refusing Starlink Wi-Fi.

• Politics as the new religion: the progressive pulpit, the new right-wing pastors twisting their theology, and why the fastest dying churches (United Methodist, PCUSA, Episcopal, ELCA, UCC) are the political ones while the PCA and LCMS grow
• Chief Justice John Roberts and the Maine "chi-activists": the New York Times report on flotillas, protests, and a neighbor-versus-neighbor split on Humber Island, and why Erick says a politics that ends friendships is the real problem
• California governor race: Steve Hilton versus Xavier Becerra, the CNN debate clip on 479,000 missing unaccompanied migrant children, and whether a Republican can really win in California
• Barack Obama and the roots of American division: his 2024 remarks, the 2012 absentee ballot neighbor postcards, the IRS, Eric Holder, and a caller on MLK Day and Democratic Socialists
• Hunga Tonga volcano and the water vapor climate argument, plus Elon Musk's campaign against Delta Air Lines over Starlink Wi-Fi, Amazon Kuiper delays, and Delta's SkyMiles dial-up internet

Erick Erickson opens with Senate Democrats killing the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act after both passed the House, then explains why the prepaid absentee ballot request forms in your mailbox are not ballots and how progressive groups use data brokers to target voters. He covers the deadly I-95 fog pileup over Lake Marion in South Carolina, the Flydubai hijacking and the hero pilot who saved the plane, the RAF Fairford terror arrests in the UK, and the left's political religion, including Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.

• Senate Democrats kill the Stop Insider Trading Act and the Ratepayer Protection Act (passed the House 417 to 3), with Jon Ossoff voting to block, and why Congress campaigns on issues instead of solving them
• Absentee ballot request forms versus real absentee ballots: why prepaid return envelopes signal a request form, which states offer prepaid ballots, and how progressive groups track barcodes and ballot harvesting
• Mass casualty fog pileup on I-95 near Santee and Lake Marion, South Carolina, with Orangeburg County crews extracting victims by hand
• Flydubai hijacking: the Omani co-pilot's radical Islamist indoctrination, the stabbed pilot who opened the cockpit door, and Netanyahu and Modi praising a real hero
• RAF Fairford terror investigation: a UK and Iran dual national arrested in Westminster, radical Islam in US mosques, an imam facing deportation in Wisconsin, and Muslim missionaries harassing black churches in Michigan as Abdul El-Sayed runs

The President deserves a lot of credit in the middle east, Elon Musk's Starlink is awesome and more business should embrace it plus the current state of Senate elections around the country.

The President brings the heads of AI to capital hill plus the great success the Trump administration has had in almost completely wiping out muslim immigration. Good.

Erick Erickson takes on the online right's outrage over Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad, calling out the grievance politics and white victimhood peddled by click chasing influencers. He then argues Donald Trump's Iran sanctions and economic pressure are slowly collapsing the regime even as gas prices and diesel costs threaten Republicans ahead of the midterms, praises Brian Kemp's gas tax suspension, and mocks the rush to rebrand artificial intelligence as "superintelligence." The hour closes with Senator Eric Schmitt's embarrassing Jack Smith "Hawks game" gotcha that blew up on live television.

• Sarah Huckabee Sanders welfare ad: Arkansas welfare reform work requirements, the Brad in the basement ad, and why more white men than black women are on welfare in Arkansas, plus Erick's rebuke of the white right grievance crowd and Beau French's UT graduation comments.
• Iran collapsing under Trump sanctions: Economic isolation, hyperinflation, unpaid soldiers and teachers, reported skirmishes near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's banking isolation, and the risk of an October surprise before the midterms.
• Gas prices, diesel and the midterms: Former Deputy Treasury Secretary on Fox Business tying gas prices to the generic ballot, Treasury bond buyback limits, mortgage rates above 7 percent, Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, and California's gas tax.
• Trump's "superintelligence" rebrand: Erick pushes back on the fawning over renaming artificial intelligence, Laura Ingraham's praise, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta strategy, and Meta's Muse AI assistant.
• Eric Schmitt's Jack Smith gotcha backfires: The Hawks versus Hawkeyes mix-up, the Axios VP buzz for 2028, Scott Jennings on CNN, and Republican complaints about Jack Smith obtaining congressional and Molly Hemingway records.

Erick Erickson opens with the Speaker of the House's "common sense versus crazy" midterm pitch, then walks the 2026 Senate map from Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas to Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Georgia, warning that MAGA alone cannot win in November while farmers rage over tariffs and diesel prices. He defends Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work campaign ad against a white nationalist backlash and takes on the grievance politics spreading on the populist right, with Brian Kemp's Georgia gas tax suspension, Texas dyed diesel, and Marco Rubio on the Strait of Hormuz along the way.

• Common sense versus crazy: the Speaker of the House's midterm message, Scott Bessent's economy talk, and Erick's warning that Republicans cannot win with MAGA alone as independents break for Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans stay home
• Senate map breakdown: Ken Paxton versus James Talarico in Texas, Mike Collins in Georgia, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Susan Collins in Maine, and Josh Turek versus Ashley Hinson in Iowa
• Farm country fury: tariffs and diesel prices, weekly farm bankruptcies in South Georgia, Brian Kemp suspending the Georgia gas tax, and Texas allowing dyed diesel on its roads
• Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare to work ad: Erick backs the Arkansas governor against white nationalists, identity politics grifters, and the JD Vance loyalty crowd, and asks why Republicans keep attacking their most competent governors
• Also: Candace Owens rumors, vandalism at Susan Collins' Maine Senate office, New York Magazine's Elliot Page cover, and Marco Rubio on Iran, oil prices, and the Strait of Hormuz

Erick Erickson breaks down the Pentagon data breach that exposed nearly 3 million people and the FBI job site hack, asking whether Iran is probing American defenses while Pete Hegseth's future gets shakier heading into the midterms. He also warns that the 10-year Treasury yield at 5.29 percent is squeezing mortgages and credit cards, holds up Argentina's Javier Milei as a lesson in fiscal sanity, and digs into Derek Thompson's data on the collapse of hosting friends at home and what it means for loneliness, faith, and community.

• Pentagon and FBI data breaches: 2.76 million living people and 294,000 deceased exposed through the Defense Manpower Data Center, the FBI job application site under investigation, and Erick's suspicion that Iran or China is behind the probing
• Pete Hegseth's future: Republican senators whispering that the Defense Secretary will not survive the midterms, House Democrats eyeing impeachment, and the fired generals and admirals Congress liked
• Iran, Strait of Hormuz, and oil: Condoleezza Rice on Fox News, Abbas Araghchi's doomsday war warning on Meet the Press, and oil prices easing while Iranian crude stays bottled up
• Bond yields and Javier Milei: the 10-year Treasury at 5.29 percent, a national debt over 40 trillion dollars, stagflation fears, and Argentina cutting tariffs, freezing new currency, and taming inflation
• Americans stopped hosting: Derek Thompson at The Atlantic on monthly hosting falling from 42 percent to 12 percent, Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, Rosaria Butterfield, Pew data on church community and mental health, and Erick's Sunday night porch tradition

Erick Erickson uses the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship plan to warn that America must not copy Europe's immigration failures, then argues the GOP can build a multiracial coalition by rejecting identity politics and grievance grifters, with Sarah Huckabee Sanders' welfare ad still fueling the fight. He also takes calls on assimilation and the melting pot, shares his taco soup recipe and cookbook plans after a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, and breaks down the Protect College Sports Act from Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell as an Auburn employee is charged with stealing athletic trade secrets.

• Europe's immigration mess: the UK Home Secretary's new refugee sponsorship routes, free speech arrests in Britain, immigrant ghettos, terror suspects out on bail, and why Erick says the United States must avoid the European Union's path
• GOP identity politics and the multiracial coalition: Donald Trump's gains with Hispanic voters, young black men, and Indian American families, the backlash over Sarah Huckabee Sanders' Arkansas welfare ad, and Erick's warning that grievance politics loses elections
• Assimilation versus the salad bowl: a Jacksonville caller back from Alberta and British Columbia on Canadian immigration, and Erick on why America needs the melting pot
• Cooking, cookbooks, and hosting friends: a Low Country barbecue caterer calls in, Erick's 400 cookbook collection, Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, his taco soup and corn flake chicken recipes, and Meta's Muse AI app finding subscription savings
• Protect College Sports Act and Auburn: the bipartisan Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell NCAA bill clears the Senate, the transfer portal and endorsement caps, and an Auburn employee charged with theft of trade secrets
• Also: Chuck Grassley's memo on Jack Smith seizing reporters' records, Tom Cruise's poorly reviewed movie, and streaming picks including Slow Horses and Lanterns

Erick opens with the good news: Iran's economy is collapsing under U.S. sanctions and a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, and President Trump all detailing the pressure campaign as gas and diesel prices start easing on returning refinery capacity. He also covers SpaceX's historic Starship launch of the new Starlink V3 satellite and Scottie Scheffler's class act at the President's Cup. Then comes the bad news hour: Erick makes his case for why predictions of a GOP Senate wipeout in the midterms, driven by weak Republican turnout, Trump Jr.'s wedding scandal, and flawed candidates like Ken Paxton and Mike Collins, are overblown.

• Iran's economy craters under U.S. sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz naval blockade; Chris Wright, Mike Waltz, and President Trump lay out the pressure campaign as gas and diesel prices ease
• SpaceX successfully launches Starship carrying the new V3 Starlink satellite; Elon Musk explains why it dwarfs Delta's in flight WiFi
• Scottie Scheffler's sportsmanship highlights Team USA's President's Cup comeback win over Nico Echavarria
• Erick argues against GOP midterm doom: Republican voter turnout, corruption anger over Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding gift, and weak candidates like Ken Paxton and Beau French in Texas and Mike Collins in Georgia
• Trump's economy approval rating and lingering tariff anger are dragging down Republican prospects even as his Iran policy succeeds

Erick Erickson breaks down agentic banking, the new Wall Street fear from Apollo Global economist Torsten Slock and Bank of America analysts, as Meta's Muse AI agent helps consumers cancel subscriptions and chase high yield savings account rates. He also reports on the Macon, Georgia park shooting that wounded 12 teens, three blocks from his studio, and on huge crowds of young people turning out for Pope Leo in France, arguing the real fight is between the sacred and the secular.

• Agentic banking and Meta Muse: Erick let Muse read his bank accounts, and it found three Spotify subscriptions and an unused Peacock plan, saving him a couple hundred dollars a month
• Apollo Global Management's Torsten Slock and Bank of America analyst Ibrahim Punwala warn that AI agents moving cash to high yield savings accounts could drain cheap bank deposits and squeeze net interest margins
• Macon, Georgia mass shooting: 12 teens wounded at a park after an Airbnb party in Jones County, with the sheriff vowing to charge the adults who knew the kids had guns
• Pope Leo draws massive crowds in Paris and Lourdes, and Erick argues young people in a secular France and America are hungry for tradition, liturgy, expository preaching, and belonging
• Las Vegas family trip: Adrenaline Mountain machine guns, sniper rifles, Tannerite, and flamethrowers for his daughter's 21st birthday, plus a jab at Delta's Wi-Fi and the Pope's White Sox fandom