During our second hour, the hosts frame the 2026 midterms as more than a left-right contest, asking whether voters are being moved more by economic pain, cultural identity, institutional distrust, or partisan loyalty. From affordability, health care, immigration, crime, Trump, and competing media narratives, the segment probes which party can best reach Americans who feel squeezed, suspicious, and unseen by those in power. The show then wraps with Scott Gibbs, author of Toward the Turning: Rethinking the Meaning of 9/11, the Clash of Civilizations, and a Postmodern World. Gibbs is a California-licensed psychotherapist whose book examines how inherited religious, national, and cultural identities can harden into destructive cycles of fear, blame, and violence, using 9/11 and the War on Terror as touchstones for a larger argument about moving beyond reactive, identity-driven conflict.

Disruptive Airline Passengers | Anne Fundner on Fighting Fentanyl
49:55

What Does Labor Day Signify? | Brendan Mahan on Overcoming the Wall of Awful
54:34

Hour 2: Trump Scales Back South Korea Exercises | Prof. Robert Parkinson on Tyrants and Rogues
49:05