The Mark Thompson Show

Is Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on the way out? Following a devastating midterm election for Republicans, Hegseth finds himself at the center of a political firestorm. With Democrats poised to take control of Congress and some Republicans blaming the war in Iran for the losses, Hegseth is now facing potential impeachment efforts from both sides of the aisle. Trump has publicly denied that he plans to fire his so called Secretary of War, but privately, there are suggestions that a strategic move to a Senate seat might be in the works. Today, we look at a new video Hegseth put out. it's defiant and strange and shows that he is feeling the heat. We are lucky to have political analysts Michael Shure and Mo Kelly looking at the biggest stories of the week in ‘This Week in Politics.' More reflections on the historic blue wave are incoming. Friday Fabulous Florida is straight ahead along with a visit from The Culture Blaster, Michael Snyder, to talk about the movies and streaming options on this chilly fall weekend.

The Democrats' midterm sweep has conservatives asking a big question: will Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas step down, or stay put? Suddenly, the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority feels fragile. Republicans worry that President Trump may finish his second term without filling a single seat, and that the next chance for a GOP-picked justice could be years away. We’ll discuss the ages, health questions, and history of retirements that make this moment so tense. Our Legal Analyst, former federal prosecutor David Katz will join us to discuss it all. Will also look at several legal rollings that came down against Trump in the day before the election to see whether those judgments played a role in the so-called blue tsunami.

Democrats just swept the House and Senate, flipping seats in places Republicans once called safe. Trump blamed Iran, gas prices—and everyone but himself. We'll look at the election results in what many pollsters correctly predicted would likely be a blue tsunami and we'll look at the possibility that with a shift in Congress will likely come investigations, impeachments and gridlock. We dig into the elections today looking at what happened at why and what it all means going forward. Political analysts Mo 'Kelly and Michael Shure are experts when it comes to providing context for the political stories of the day. Both appear Fridays on The Mark Thompson Show's This Week in Politics segment. They join for election coverage today. Find Mo online: https://mrmokelly.com/ Find Michael online: https://x.com/michaelshure The political conversation continues with John Rothmann - presidential historian, author & host of the podcast: Around the Political World With John Rothmann. David Cay Johnston will look at how Trump will likely react to this Blue Tsunami. Johnston has covered Trump for years and is a Pulitzer Prize Winning author and investigative journalist, Professor at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) and co-founder of dcreport.org David Cay Johnston’s Substack: https://substack.com/@davidcayjohnston Did he wake up with a renewed sense of hope? We'll check in with political analyst and author Jared Yates Sexton. The Mark Thompson Show 11/4/26 Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you’d like to help, here’s our Patreon Link: https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshow Maybe you’re more into PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24 And you’ll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.com The Mark Thompson Show has an official new Facebook page. Please join! Here's the link: https://m.facebook.com/TheMarkThompsonShow/ Show sponsors: coachellavalleycoffee.com - use code MarkT at check out to save 10%

Trump used the Reflecting Pool as a backdrop for his final stop before the midterms, but he didn't spend much time talking about the election. Instead, he did a deep dive into the details of his D.C. renovation projects, from Corinthian columns and topsoil to his thoughts on the "life" of grass. Slurring his words at times, he included jokes about renaming the Reflecting Pool after himself to bragging about his ballroom, new helipad and Triumphal Arch. There were just a few minutes actually spent on the political stakes of today's vote. In another setback for Trump, a last-minute legal push to have California pull thousands of mail-in ballots from the count went down in flames. The Supreme Court rejected the request without even asking California for its side of the story. We are following the election with a cast of political experts today. Anthony Davis is a British broadcaster, journalist and voiceover artist and the host of the award winning Five Minute News on The Meidas Network. Find Anthony Davis on substack: https://substack.com/@theanthonydavis David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and investigative journalist, Professor at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) and co-founder of dcreport.org David Cay Johnston’s Substack: https://substack.com/@davidcayjohnston Virgina Kase Solomon spent three decades fighting for social justice and civil rights. In 2024, she joined Common Cause as President and CEO. Previously, Virginia was the CEO of the League of Women Voters and the COO of CASA, an organization at the forefront of the immigrant rights movement. https://www.commoncause.org/ Mo 'Kelly & Michael Shure Political analysts Mo 'Kelly and Michael Shure are experts when it comes to providing context for the political stories of the day. Both appear Fridays on The Mark Thompson Show's This Week in Politics segment. Find Mo online: https://mrmokelly.com/ Find Michael online: https://x.com/michaelshure

Just two days before the midterm elections, former Democratic candidate Haley Stevens switched her endorsement from Abdul El-Sayed to Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race and her party is furious. Eight House Democrats are calling for her removal from the caucus, with progressive leaders like Rep. Pramila Jayapal saying Stevens "has no place in our party." Rep. Marc Veasey, who once supported Stevens, says he'd be the first to make a motion to remove her. The move threatens Democratic hopes of winning Michigan, a critical state for Senate control. We'll talk about why Stevens pulled a last minute switch and whether it could effect the outcome of this election. Guests today include: Host Mo Kelly joins Mark to talk midterm elections. ● Website: https://mrmokelly.com/ Jen Thompson, former GOP campaign manager, congressional lawyer, and author of a new memoir called Wild Pivot :Notes from a Political Life Rewritten Find Jen online: ● Website: https://www.jenthompsonwritesthings.com ● Substack: https://jenthompsonwritesthings.substack.com ● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-thompson-530076234/ ● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i.am.jen.thompson/ David Shuster Emmy award winning broadcast journalist who is best known for his work at NBC News and MSNBC and his ongoing YouTube videos on "Rebel HQ." ● Substack: https://substack.com/@davidshuster Activist Jessica Denson Host of the ‘Lights On’ podcast Find Jessica Denson at: ● Substack: https://jessicadenson.substack.com/ The Mark Thompson Show 11/2/26 Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you’d like to help, here’s our Patreon Link: https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshow Maybe you’re more into PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24 And you’ll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.com The Mark Thompson Show has an official new Facebook page. Please join! Here's the link: https://m.facebook.com/TheMarkThompsonShow/ Show sponsors: coachellavalleycoffee.com - use code MarkT at check out to save 10%

Would Ted Cruz be the first Supreme Court nominee to get a unanimous vote? President Trump thinks so...but not for the reason you'd expect. We look at Trump's latest joke about picking the Texas senator for the high court, claiming that both Democrats and Republicans would rush to confirm him just to get him out of Congress. The problem with what we perceive as being Trump's jokes is that they often end up coming to fruition (like the renaming of the Gulf of America and Lake America and the invasion of Venezuela). Cruz has repeatedly turned down the idea, but would he really turn down this job? Maybe he'd rather spend retirement in Acapulco. Today's guests include: John Rothmann - Presidential Historian, Author & Host of the podcast: Around the Political World With John Rothmann. Jared Yates Sexton is a political analyst and author. He is the co-host of The Muckrake Podcast and his writings can be found at Dispatches From a Collapsing State. https://www.jysexton.com/books Substack - https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/ The Mark Thompson Show 10/28/26 Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you’d like to help, here’s our Patreon Link: https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshow Maybe you’re more into PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24 And you’ll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.com The Mark Thompson Show has an official new Facebook page. Please join! Here's the link: https://m.facebook.com/TheMarkThompsonShow/ Show sponsors: coachellavalleycoffee.com - use code MarkT at check out to save 10%

In a major ruling, a federal appeals court is rejecting the Justice Department's emergency bid to force California to set aside votes from 20,000 people it claims could be noncitizens. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the court didn't have authority to step in before the district court weighed in and the judges made clear they're skeptical of the DOJ's case on the merits too. One Trump-appointed judge even said he'd rule against the government if given the chance. The case heads back to district court for a Tuesday hearing. We will discuss what this means for federal power over elections and state voting rights. Guests today include the brilliant Pulitzer prize winning author and investigative journalist David Cay Johnston. Find David online at: dcreport.org and on substack: https://substack.com/@davidcayjohnston Yanis Varoufakis, a former Finance Minister of Greece, Professor of Economics at the University of Athens, and leader of Greece's MeRA25 political party speaks with Mark about everything from the economy to affordability to the massive protests across Europe. Varoufakis is the author of Technofeudalism. His latest book is called Raise Your Soul. Find him online at: https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/ https://x.com/yanisvaroufakis https://substack.com/@yanisvaroufakis The Mark Thompson Show 10/27/26 Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you’d like to help, here’s our Patreon Link: https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshow Maybe you’re more into PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24 And you’ll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.com The Mark Thompson Show has an official new Facebook page. Please join! Here's the link: https://m.facebook.com/TheMarkThompsonShow/ Show sponsors: coachellavalleycoffee.com - use code MarkT at check out to save 10%