Vibes Only

Vibes Only

By Brian Derrick and Glennis MeagherSociety & CultureNewsGovernmentPolitics
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Vibes Only episodes

  • Jon Ossoff's Guide to Winning Georgia?

    Jon Ossoff's 2020 interview is going viral again. Brian Derrick says Ossoff could win over median voters and that the internet's response right now is bananas, while Glennis Meagher is watching for a different problem entirely.

    The clip is from a November 2020 Axios on HBO interview and features a rapid round of yes or no questions: Green New Deal, Medicare for All, defunding the police, abolishing ICE, expanding the Supreme Court. Ossoff answered no to a lot of it. Nearly six years later it is circulating as a gotcha, and Brian's read is the opposite: this is how you win Georgia. Georgia is where the median voter lives, and Brian says Jon's clarity matters more than his answers. Glennis takes on the part of this convo few in the mainstream seem to be talking about, which is what happens to a candidate when a video from six years ago resurfaces mid campaign and they lose control of their own virality.

    This week we also get into the recently announced voting calendar for 2028. The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee signed off on the 2028 primary order: South Carolina January 22, Nevada February 1, New Hampshire February 8, New Mexico February 15, Michigan February 22, Virginia February 29, Super Tuesday March 7. Iowa is out. The full DNC votes on it in Austin next month. Brian explains why one national primary day would be a disaster for anyone who is not already rich, why going first is really about proving viability to donors before you spend down to zero, and what putting South Carolina at the front tells you about which voters the party is betting on.

    Plus what the Senate is actually trying to move in the two weeks before August recess: the NDAA and Trump's $1.5 trillion military ask, Reconciliation 3.0 and the attempt to bolt the SAVE Act onto it, and Jay Clayton's confirmation as Director of National Intelligence, replacing Trump's temporary pick Bill Pulte. Meanwhile John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination stuck in committee until the Justice Department kills off Trump's $1.776 billion anti weaponization slush fund in writing. Brian Poindexter, the union ironworker and Brook Park councilman running in Ohio's 7th, is your Oath Candidate of the Week, and we explain how you can help him flip a seat that got a lot more competitive the day Max Miller's divorce filings went public.

    Also this week for Clickbait or Double-Click: the New York Times story about Ken Martin, the DNC's finances and a whole lot of phone throwing, the Campus Guardian Angel drones that spray pepper gel now heading into nine schools this fall, and Trump's Correspondents' Dinner bit about Kaitlan Collins that landed about as well as the plane in LOST. Then we send you off with a Good Vibe Goodbye involving Kathy Hochul, your kid's phone, and the end of the algorithmic feed that has been pumping AI slop into their brains.

    UPDATE: This episode was recorded Wednesday morning, July 29, 2026. Late that night the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote on Todd Blanche, with Cornyn and Tillis still holding out for written assurances from the Justice Department.

    New episodes drop every Thursday morning! Hit FOLLOW and we’ll help you stay informed for the midterms.


    EPISODE LINKS

    Oath Candidate of the Week: Brian Poindexter

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    40 min
  • Arizona, Maine and Michigan's $50 Million Brawl

    Troy Jackson has the delegates in Maine, Amish Shah beat the DCCC in Arizona, and Michigan votes August 4. The party endorsement is now a liability.

    Arizona was the only state holding a primary this month, and it delivered the story of the summer. Amish Shah won the Democratic nomination in Arizona's 1st Congressional District over the candidate the DCCC spent real money to boost. Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher walk through why this might be happening, from Randy Villegas in California to Matt Dunlap in Maine, and what it means when the national party's blessing starts reading as a potential scarlet letter.

    Up in Maine, Troy Jackson has locked up the delegates to replace Graham Platner on the ballot against Susan Collins, and he is this week's Oath Candidate of the Week. A fifth generation logger who got into politics organizing his fellow loggers against a Canadian labor swap, Jackson starts from zero with a nominating convention set for July 25. Brian explains why this is one of the rare Senate races where an early contribution actually moves something.

    Then it's Michigan, where Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed are twelve days from an August 4 primary that has pulled in roughly $50 million in outside spending, including the largest single race investment AIPAC has ever made. Plus Pete Hegseth on the Hill pricing the Iran war at $37.5 billion while asking for tens of billions more, Kirsten Gillibrand pressing him on why a supposedly decimated Iran is still killing American service members, and the drone company investments Joe Rogan Googled live on his own show.

    Also this week: a rapid fire Clickbait or Double Click on the Cyclospora outbreak and your Crunchwrap Supreme, the Tate brothers' arrest in Miami, and Zohran Mamdani's viral Netanyahu video. Plus why Kamala Harris keeps getting handed the 2028 frontrunner label, and a Good Vibe Goodbye courtesy of John Cornyn, two ambassador nominations and PEPFAR.

    New episodes every Thursday morning! Follow so you never miss a check in!

    EPISODE LINKS

    Support Oath Candidate of the Week: Troy Jackson

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    39 min
  • Graham's Senate Shuffle and Blanche's AG Fight

    Lindsey Graham's sister just got picked by Trump via Fake Social to take his Senate seat, Trump's pet Todd Blanche wants to run DOJ, and we still managed to celebrate the good vibes this week.

    We get into the recent ICE killings that have people marching from Maine to Texas. Joan Sebastian Guerrero was shot by an ICE agent in Biddeford on his way to work, days after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed at a traffic stop in Texas, and the pressure is already forcing reversals out of DHS. As always, we're here to make the case for real accountability and in this week's episode of Vibes Only the podcast, we get into where the abolish versus reform fight actually stands for the party.

    Then the Senate gets weird. Lindsey Graham died, and his sister, Darline Graham Nordone, was sworn into his seat within days, reopening the South Carolina race and handing Dr. Annie Andrews a real shot at an open seat. We break it all down for you. As well as Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal lawyer now up for attorney general, and why an independent DOJ is the thing to watch. Plus a plain English take on Reconciliation 3.0 and the SAVE Act, including the Elizabeth Warren provision that would block defense contractors like Amazon and Google from stock buybacks.

    Also this week: a rapid fire Clickbait or Double Click on your paycheck versus inflation, a supposed uptick in threats against the Supreme Court, and the Strait of Hormuz is back in the news. This week's Oath Candidate of the Week is Ben Gruber, the conservation warden trying to flip the tipping point seat in the Wisconsin Assembly, and we've got a double Good Vibe Goodbye straight out of New York with Kathy Hochul's data center moratorium and a horse carriage ban for Manhattan inching closer.

    New episodes of Vibes Only the Podcast drop every Thursday morning! Follow so you never miss a vibe check.

    EPISODE LINKS

    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK

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    40 min
  • Platner Is Out: Who Replaces Him and the Fight Over Maine

    Graham Platner's Senate campaign just imploded, and it might be the best news Maine Democrats got all year. Here's who replaces him.

    Graham Platner is out, and the Maine Democratic Party has until July 27th to name a replacement. Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher get into who actually deserves blame for the whole mess in Maine and SPOILER it’s the consultants who recruited him, the party that let it get this far, and - of course - Platner himself. Then it's Weekend at Bernie's in the Senate as Mitch McConnell goes three weeks without a public sighting, and we walk through what happens in Kentucky if Governor Andy Beshear gets to make a move (Thomas Massie, anyone?).

    Donald Trump is still holding a genuinely good housing bill hostage over the SAVE Act, so we explain why that should shake anyone's trust in Donald Trump, the world’s worst businessman, on the economy. Plus we get into (not literally) the former Pfizer HQ on 42nd Street that's now leaning like a melted ice cream cone and forced nine buildings to evacuate, and yes, Brian needs a new apartment (Upper West Side leads welcome - DM us on instagram @vibesonlythepodcast).

    Also this week: a rapid fire round of Clickbait or Double Click on Iran, election funding, and Florida's Stop Woke law, this week's Oath Candidate of the Week is a real looker named Manny Rutinel in Colorado's 8th, and a Good Vibe Goodbye courtesy of the federal courts.

    Just the vibes. And the receipts. Every Thursday. 

    Follow the show so you never miss a check in!

    EPISODE LINKS

    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK

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    42 min
  • SCOTUS Rewrote Campaign Finance and DSA Sweeps Colorado

    Melat Kiros toppled a longtime incumbent and Phil Weiser beat a sitting senator: Colorado's progressive wave is real and we brought the receipts.

    This week Colorado handed progressives a statement night. Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated sitting US Senator Michael Bennet for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, 29-year-old democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseated 15-term Denver incumbent Diana DeGette in the 1st District, and state Rep. Manny Rutinel won the Democratic primary in the battleground 8th. Brian and Glennis dig into what's actually driving these wins: not a DSA litmus test, but voters hungry for candidates who fight and communicate.

    Then it's the Supreme Court's final day of the term. In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, the Court struck down limits on how much party committees can spend in coordination with their own candidates, a 6-3 ruling that reshapes money in the 2026 midterms. The justices also upheld state bans on transgender girls in girls' and women's school sports (West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox) and, a day earlier, let states count mail ballots that arrive after Election Day. In this episode of Vibes Only, we break down what each ruling means for real for real.

    Also: Trump's new financial disclosure showing more than $2 billion in 2025 income (roughly $1.4 billion tied to crypto and meme coins), the leaked 911 audio around Mitch McConnell being a breath from death, this week's Oath Candidate of the Week Keisha Lance Bottoms running for Georgia governor, and a rapid-fire round of Clickbait or Double Click.

    New episodes drop every Thursday morning! Tap follow now and stay ahead of the news cycle with us.

    EPISODE LINKS

    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK

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    43 min
  • Is Mamdani a Kingmaker? How DSA Swept New York's Primaries

    Zohran Mamdani is being called a kingmaker, and after this week's New York primaries it's easy to see why. Is the Democratic Party fundamentally shifting left, or are voters simply desperate for an alternative to the 70-year-old status quo?

    This week on Vibes Only, we break down the massive shockwaves from the New York primary elections. From Mayor Mamdani’s new proported kingmaker status to the DSA's historic triple-crown victories upending powerful establishment machines, we look at how young, energetic hustlers are changing the face of campaigning in 2026.


    Plus, we dive into the heartbreaking $27 million super PAC blitz that took down AI-reform candidate Alex Bores, why Trump is blocking his own bipartisan housing bill over the SAVE Act, and the terrifying reality of national security flying blind after the expiration of FISA. Pull up a chair cause the vibes are chaotic this week, but the analysis we are bringing - it is sharp.


    Vibes Only is a weekly political podcast hosted by Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher, two political operatives turned creators breaking down the news of the week in politics, elections, and culture with new episodes EVERY Thursday morning!


    EPISODE LINKS

    Today, Explained Episode with Alex Bores

    Tulsi Gabbard Expose by The Washington Post

    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK

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    34 min
  • BONUS: A Story DC Tried to Kill (Mrs. Frazzled Full Interview)

    Mrs. Frazzled (Arielle Fodor) did not set out to end a congressman's career. In this full bonus interview, the TikTok creator sits down with Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher to walk through exactly how she and a coalition of independent creators surfaced the sexual misconduct allegations that ended Eric Swalwell's run for California governor and his time in Congress.

    In this bonus episode of Vibes Only, Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher chat with Arielle about the parts of the scandal nobody posts, like… 

    • buying an umbrella insurance policy on her house as protection for her family
    • testing the Swalwell story on Threads before she ever made a video
    • calling CNN herself because she could not carry the reporting alone
    • And what it feels like to have an OPPO research binder written on you 

    Also: why she is done with investigative content for good, how broken disclosure laws turn every creator into a suspected paid operative, and her advice for anyone trying to build real trust in political media right now.

    This is the full conversation behind Thursday's episode. 

    If Vibes Only makes your week make sense, follow the show and leave a rating and review. It genuinely moves us up the charts and helps more people find the vibes. And the receipts.

    EPISODE LINKS

    Arielle Fodor aka Mrs. Frazzled on TikTok

    Cheyenne Hunt's Org "Reckoning Action"

    Meg Klink's Org "Pretty Informed Girls"

    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK

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    25 min
  • Can Creators Take Down Politicians? (feat. Mrs. Frazzled)

    A powerhouse coalition of independent creators just bypassed traditional newsrooms to end a sitting congressman's career. This week, Arielle Fodor (TikTok Star - Mrs. Frazzled) joins Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher to get into the takedown of sex pest, Eric Swalwell - from taking out umbrella insurance to testing the waters on Threads. Plus, the team breaks down Elon Musk hitting trillionaire status and Trump’s trashy UFC match on the White House lawn.

    This week on Vibes Only, Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher chat from across the pond to break down the sheer scale of infinite wealth, a pointless war that left us $100 Billion poorer, and the massive Supreme Court decisions dropping by the end of this month.

    Then, we are joined by the incredible Arielle Fodor (AKA Mrs. Frazzled) to pull back the curtain on how she, Cheyenne Hunt at Reckoning Action, and Meg Klink at Pretty Informed Girls bypassed traditional newsrooms to expose the open secret of former Congressman Eric Swalwell and Arielle shares what accountability can look like in the age of independent media.

    Tell your friends - Vibes Only is a weekly political podcast hosted by Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher, two political operatives turned creators breaking down the news of the week in politics, elections, and culture. 

    New episodes every Thursday morning and a BONUS EPISODE (our full interview with Arielle Fodor aka Mrs. Frazzled) DROPPING TOMORROW!

    EPISODE LINKS

    Arielle Fodor aka Mrs. Frazzled on TikTok

    Cheyenne Hunt's Org "Reckoning Action"

    Meg Klink's Org "Pretty Informed Girls"

    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK

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    35 min
  • Trump's 75% Inflation Spike and Bernie's Radical AI Plan

    Hunter Biden went viral, Graham Platner won Maine, and the AI bubble started to wobble, all in one week. Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher break down the new inflation numbers and what they actually mean for your rent and your retirement, why Hunter Biden's chaotic run on X and his Candace Owens interview might be the best thing to happen to the Biden family in years, and how Graham Platner survived a brutal week of headlines to win Maine's Democratic Senate primary and line up a fight with Susan Collins.


    Then it's billionaire season. Bernie Sanders wants the public to own half of every major AI company just as SpaceX races toward a record-setting IPO, three big bills are jammed in Congress deciding exactly where your tax dollars go (ICE funding, FISA, and a 1.5 trillion dollar military budget), and FIFA is on track to make a fortune off a World Cup that New York taxpayers are helping foot the bill for, the same week the tournament kicks off.


    Also: the Knicks have had all of New York in a happy unifying chokehold, Spencer Pratt loses in LA, and Josh Turek is our Oath Candidate of the Week.


    If this podcast makes your week a little less unhinged, be sure to hit follow, leave us a rating and a review wherever you're listening. It takes a minute, and is 100% the single biggest thing that helps new listeners find a small podcast like our’s. Thank you for your support!


    OATH CANDIDATE OF THE WEEK: Donate to Josh Turek's Campaign HERE!

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    44 min
  • BONUS: Pattie Gonia vs Patagonia (Keith Edwards Full Interview)

    Keith Edwards joins Vibes Only for the full interview on the Pattie Gonia vs Patagonia trademark fight, Trump's health, and the gerrymandering battle splitting the left.

    Our most frequent guest is back! Political strategist, commentator, and one of the fastest growing voices in the space, Keith Edwards sat down with Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher for the complete, unedited conversation. A slice of this aired in yesterday's episode. This is the whole thing.

    Keith opens on the question hanging over everything: is authoritarianism actually happening, or is the Democratic position quietly the strongest it has been in a decade? Then he gets into his running watch on the president's health, the bruises, the theories, and the stretch where Trump went six days without being seen in public.

    From there, everyone wades into the fight that took over Threads. Pattie Gonia versus Patagonia. Keith walks through why this is really a trademark case and not the simple corporate villain story the internet wants it to be, how a legal dispute ended up getting argued through Instagram posts, and whether Pattie Gonia took a genuinely good cause a step too far.

    That is where the real disagreement starts. Brian and Keith do not see gerrymandering the same way. Keith's whole thing is that you become what you are fighting, and Brian makes the case for caring about the outcome over the method and getting to a federal ban by 2029. Along the way they hit the podcast grift economy, why the parties keep getting more extreme, why Keith thinks most voters do not actually care about AI, the Graham Platner situation and the Maine Senate race against Susan Collins, and a closing round on knowing when it is time to step aside.

    Consider this your weekly pause from doomscrolling and consultant speak. Just solid vibes and receipts.

    Also: Keith is bringing red hats back - his makes an appearance, the girls are fighting (lovingly), and Keith reminds everyone he is still waiting on a billionaire to come buy his channel. Stick around for the goodbyes.

    Send us a text!

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    25 min

About Vibes Only

From the publisher's feed

The polls are broken, the stakes are unprecedented, and vibes drive the future of American politics. 


Every Thursday, political strategist Brian Derrick (founder of…

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