Republicans Play Chess with People as Pawns

The polls are still (hopefully?) broken. The stakes are more unprecedented than ever. 

Last week, the Supreme Court unanimously protected the abortion pill, mifepristone (for now), but didn’t close the door to hear new cases involving plaintiffs “with standing.” They also protected bump stocks, a tool that effectively turns a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun. Now Senate Republicans are playing games and blocking Senate Democrats’ attempts to write the TRUMP ban into law. We get into the games the NRA and Republicans have played since that ban was put into effect in 2017. 

Continuing with SCOTUS, Brian and Glennis catch up on the drama with the Alitos and their extremist, vindictive ideologies laid bare in a secret audio recording. 

Then, they talk about the latest example of Sinclair Broadcasting Group pushing scripts with a national political agenda onto local news outlets across the country. 

Finally, they discuss Democrats’ strategy leading into the ‘24 election - how the Biden campaign is messaging on his own record, plans, and the contrast with his opponent (a convicted felon). 

Subscribe to Vibes Only wherever you get your podcasts! If you enjoy the show, spread the word! And please consider giving us a rating and review so others can find it.

You can WATCH full episodes of Vibes Only on YouTube.

Follow COURIER on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, and Twitter/X.

You can find out more about COURIER at couriernewsroom.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:14 Ruling on Mifepristone/Future Challenges
• 3:57 Bump stocks ruling/Republicans blocking leg
• 9:08 Alitos Caught on Tape
• 14:58 Sinclair Broadcast Group
• 20:15 Dem Strategy
• 26:12 It's Giving - RFK Jr.'s Ravens
• 29:45 GROUP CHAT
• 36:55 Good Vibe Goodbye

Transcript

Brian Derrick: [00:00:00] The polls are still broken, at least we're hoping so. 

Glennis Meagher: The stakes are very much still unprecedented. 

Brian Derrick: I'm Brian Derrick. And I'm Glynis Mahar. And this is Vibes Only, a show that promises to check the vibes of American politics each and every week. And the vibes this week. 

CBS News Clip: The high court preserves access to the nation's most prescribed abortion drug.

Glennis Meagher: We'll talk about that abortion rights victory, at least for now, and another SCOTUS decision in a case we referenced last week on bump stocks. 

Sen. Martin Heinrich: These things just do not belong in the hands of civilians. They are effectively machine guns. We have lived in this country with a law against machine guns for almost 100 years.

How this is in any way different is beyond me. 

Brian Derrick: After a brief SCOTUS update, we'll talk about the latest instance of the right wing owned Sinclair Broadcast Group getting caught using identical scripts to inject a national political message across its local broadcasts. 

Glennis Meagher: Then we'll check in on the Dems strategy as we move closer and closer to the 24th election.

Brian Derrick: Stick around for an It's Giving, check in on our group [00:01:00] chat, and we'll leave you with a good vibe. Let's get into it. Another Friday episode. Glenis, ringing in the weekend. 

Glennis Meagher: I know. TGIF. Are you staying cool, Brian? It is exceedingly hot in New York City. 

Brian Derrick: A scorcher. Yeah, I can't believe. 

Glennis Meagher: I can. Climate change is real.

Brian Derrick: I know. I know. But it's like mid June and it's 95 degrees in New York. It's the in heat episode of Broad City every day in my house. 

Glennis Meagher: Literally. So, Brian, the time has come. SCOTUS is making some decisions. So we got some in. 

Brian Derrick: We are in the thick of it. We already got the MIFA Pristone decision. We have to talk about the bump stock decision and we still have 22 cases left to go, which is really unusual for mid June.

I know. 

Glennis Meagher: I didn't realize there were that many. Are we going to get them all in June? All 22? 

Brian Derrick: We're going to get them all in June. 

Glennis Meagher: My butt is clenched. Like, let's go. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. So we're. Supposed to be getting decisions Thursday and Friday this week, [00:02:00] so 

Glennis Meagher: it stresses me out. To be honest, I will say I went back and relistened to our episode with Lisa Graves because I was like, okay, wait, I know I was in the room like asking the questions, but I did find it valuable.

To sometimes I'm very meta and I have to zoom out, ground myself back in that just so I have some sort of anchor as like what's going on with the Supreme Court. And there is a lot going on with the Supreme Court. So Miffy Prestone, were you shocked by this ruling or not? 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: No. 

Glennis Meagher: Right. So I, Miffy Prestone was the, they were going to decide if this FDA approved drug that is one of two drugs used in medical abortions was no longer usable essentially.

And they said, no, you can use it. It's all good. 

Brian Derrick: But to be clear, they didn't say this drug is good to go and you can't sue on these grounds. What they said was that the plaintiffs did not have standing. 

Glennis Meagher: That's right. The doctor had never prescribed it. Oh my goodness. You're right. Okay. This is a very important The devil's in the details.

Ha [00:03:00] ha. 

Brian Derrick: The devil is in the details with the Supreme Court. And so they didn't actually reaffirm anyone's right to bodily autonomy or healthcare in this situation. All they said was this case is not going to be the one that we use to do this. And so a future court absolutely could still decide that abortion medication should not be available or should not be available via telemedicine or should not be available in the mail or all of these other restrictions that we talked about.

Glennis Meagher: Right. And they gave them like the code on how to be more successful at it. They're like, you just have to write the prescription as a plaintiff and then come back to us basically. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. The people funding this movement as we talked about are pretty much as extreme as they come. And so we're going to continue to see these types of cases work their way up through the courts.

And the only way to ensure that we maintain access after the next Supreme Court term and the term after that is to change the ideology of the majority of the Supreme Court. And we have to do that via appointment. 

Glennis Meagher: We're going to be talking a lot about that. But we're going to keep moving with the next ruling, which was bump [00:04:00] stocks, which Emily and your phone had a really good post on this this week, kind of charting the timeline of this and how the conservative movement is truly playing chess.

So if you recall, the bump stock ban was a Trump ban. Trump banned bump stocks after the horrific Vegas shooting at the Country Music Festival. If you don't recall, it was Truly horrific. One man in a window using a bump stock, 58 people were killed and 500 people were injured because of this one man and his gun and a bump stock.

Brian Derrick: People, 500 people. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. So Trump was like, I should do something. Ban them. Well, well, the NRA suggested that Trump banned bump stock. So the NRA said, let's compromise here. Let's ban this completely unnecessary accessory to a gun. This is in 2017. Then the NRA fought to strike down the regulation and they've been working that battle through the court system and they just won with the SCOTUS ruling.

Brian Derrick: And [00:05:00] this is the game that they play. So right after the shooting there was a push to pass a law banning bump stocks and there was momentum behind it. And that's like hard to remember, hard to believe, but it really did seem like that was going to happen after such a horrifying, violent incident. And rather than allow that law to pass, what the NRA really did was they were like, Oh, let's instead write it on a post it note.

Let's put this into like a regulatory decision that Trump will issue. He'll look good for doing it. It'll make him look less extreme and it'll be easier. To overturn later, because if it was a law, they would have, the court would have upheld it. And the future undoing of it would also require a piece of legislation.

Right. And so instead they're like, let's just make it a regulation. And then we will use the courts to overturn that regulation later. And that's exactly what they did. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, we're going to make the American public think that we're being reasonable with gun laws, when in fact we're just setting it up to make it appear that we are reasonable to make sure that the [00:06:00] Americans who are like super MAGA second amendment can have their bump stocks back come November 2024.

Brian Derrick: Yeah. And not to get too into the weeds, but I did speak with an attorney about the sort of ins and outs of this case and what they were really deciding on. And it comes down to. What it means to like have single function of a trigger and whether you include a finger pushing a trigger as part of the function of a trigger or whether you're only talking about the mechanics of the gun.

It's so crazy to me that that sort of technical wonky weedsy language is what is deciding whether or not someone can literally walk into a stadium or a grocery store or whatever with a machine gun like that's what we're relying on. It's so crazy. Which is bananas. 

Glennis Meagher: What I think I just heard you say is that they're arguing whether or not you should be able to just like hit play on a gun and have that gun then fire rounds as opposed to the human action of pulling the trigger.

And for me, it's [00:07:00] like in what world does any human being one need an automatic rifle? That's just that's a military grade weapon. We're not at war here in the United States. 

Brian Derrick: They're trying to basically say. Oh, a bump stocks, not a machine gun. And then I watched this video that Emily Amick shared on Instagram, comparing a assault weapon without a bump stock

to one with a bump stock. And I'm sorry, I have eyes. You cannot tell me that's not a machine gun. I don't talk to me about like the kickback and the trigger function. Like, don't talk to me about that. That's a machine gun. 

Glennis Meagher: Right? Like also that's to be dark, but you think the kids in Uvalde, you know, like, 

Brian Derrick: right, exactly.

And that's why, yeah. 

Glennis Meagher: Knew the difference or the difference? Like, no one needs these types of weapons. Sorry. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. Or for that matter, the 500 cops that were outside that were afraid of the one gun. Right? Right. Like, when it really matters, [00:08:00] that's not what matters. Ugh. 

Glennis Meagher: The plot thickens because Senate Democrats, they are now trying to restore Trump's ban.

The irony of that, Senate Democrats are trying to restore Donald Trump's bump stock ban, but Senate Republicans are saying, We're going to block it. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. It's one of the most frustrating issues of our time to me, and I do find hope in organizations like March 4th, we've already quoted Emily Amick here several times, the work that she's doing.

And there are a lot of accounts focused on this. We have made progress at the state level. We've passed some really important red flag laws, extreme risk protection order. Legislation and other things at the state level to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. But even that's at stake with the Rahimi case, which we talked about.

Glennis Meagher: Objectively the worst defendant of all time. 

Brian Derrick: Totally. So we are going to be watching very closely as more of these [00:09:00] decisions come down. We will definitely be breaking them down on vibes only, but we don't just have. Decisions to deal with. We also have justices to deal with and their wives and their wives.

Yeah. Wait, somebody get Andy Cohen on here. Do we need Andy Cohen to literally come be a special guest on vibes only to talk about the real housewives of the Supreme court? 

Glennis Meagher: 1000%. Is 

Brian Derrick: that the show? Martha 

Glennis Meagher: Ann was, you got tracked. So for people who don't know what tracking is, this is something in our world, the political world, which is.

It seems bad, but it does give us results like this, which is someone on the opponent's side will track you, so they'll try and get you in a compromising position or on the record in an authentic way where the person might think that they're speaking to someone who is a trusted individual, and they're in fact not.

And this happened with Martha Ann. Mrs. Alito and Justice Alito as well. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, the [00:10:00] idea is like, you echo their own points back to them, you gas them up, they let their guard down, and then you ask the real question. And so somebody was like You're 

Glennis Meagher: like, say more, Martha Ann! Right. Say more! 

Brian Derrick: And so we have the Alitos.

Let's start with him because he's the one that really matters the most and is probably the most egregious where we now have Alito on tape saying that the country needs to return to a place of godliness and that ultimately one of the partisan sides will win and that there can't be compromise. 

Samuel Alito: One side or the other is going to win, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can't be compromised.

It's not like you're going to split the difference. 

Brian Derrick: He is literally echoing, like, the political theater and talking points of The far right. It's like really giving white Christian nationalism vibes in terms of where he thinks the [00:11:00] country needs to go and that he thinks that other people need to lose in order for us to go there.

Lauren Windsor: Like people in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that to return our country to a place of godliness. 

Samuel Alito: I agree with you. 

Brian Derrick: That's a politician in a black robe, to me. 

Glennis Meagher: Totally. Okay, Mrs. Alito, this was like She's truly an unhinged individual and something that really got me. There's a clip of her saying she's obsessed with flags.

Like I think flags are her, her flair, how she expresses herself. Cause I do feel like she's a suppressed individual, even though she says that she doesn't agree with the fem Nazis, as she calls feminists. Femme Nazis believe 

Martha Ann Alito: that he should control me. See, what the hell? He never controls 

Glennis Meagher: me. I'm like, I kind of think if flying a flag is the only way you feel like you can express yourself, maybe there's some unhealthy dynamics there.

But also you 

Brian Derrick: just like, that's not a thing. I'm sorry. [00:12:00] Being obsessed with flags and this being like some kind of excuse that like, oh I'm just a flag enthusiast, I'm collecting and displaying my flags. I'm like, no girl, you're an extremist. She's a zealot. Like, what are you talking about? 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. No, Martha Annalito is an absolute zealot.

You heard it here first. And she had said to this reporter from the undercurrent, Brian, that who was, you know, egging her on, gassing her up. She said, I want a 

Martha Ann Alito: sacred heart of Jesus flag because I have to look across the lagoon at the pride flag for the next month. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: Exactly. 

Martha Ann Alito: And he's like, Oh, please don't put up a flag.

I said, I won't do it because I'm deferring to you. But when you were free of this nonsense, I'm putting it up and I'm going to say it. And 

Glennis Meagher: it's like, girl, you are so homophobic. How can I now believe that your husband actually wants to give equal protections to all under the law? If that's how you talk about a benign pride flag during pride month to celebrate the [00:13:00] LGBTQ community.

Brian Derrick: I think it's very telling about who they want freedom, air quotes, for, because to cast yourself as the victim of the gift of sight. You know what I mean? Like, that you have to literally see something, that this thing is within my view of the world, where I choose to spend my time, is So 

Glennis Meagher: elitist. 

Brian Derrick: is crazy.

It's crazy that your rights are not being infringed upon by someone else flying a flag on their property, et cetera, when they're not a Supreme Court justice. And so I think that it actually perfectly captures the viewpoint of the right right now, which is that I should be able to walk about the world, do what I want, and not have to interact with anyone who is different than me or feels differently about my religion, my political beliefs, my 

Glennis Meagher: sexuality, 

Brian Derrick: [00:14:00] nationalism.

Right, exactly. And not only is she attacking the fem Nazis and horribly victimized by the sight of a rainbow flag, but she's also now coming up with her own line of flags. 

Martha Ann Alito: I made a flag in my head. This is how I satisfy myself. I made a flag. It's white and it's yellow and orange flames around it. And in the middle is the word Vergonia.

Vergonia in Italian means shame. Vergonia, V E R G. O G N A, vergonya, shame, shame, shame on you. What a loser! 

Glennis Meagher: Martha Ann Alito, loser. I'm gonna make that flag. Fly that one. 

Brian Derrick: Well, I'm like, you should be ashamed. Like, that's perfect. Actually, you should wear that on, like, put it on a t shirt and wear it around.

And it's like, shame on you. I'm good with my pride flag. You can keep your shame flag. And we'll all be happy.

Should we talk about the cult [00:15:00] of Sinclair Broadcasting Group? 

Glennis Meagher: Is this news? Didn't we know this? 

Brian Derrick: Well, no, something new happened. 

Glennis Meagher: Okay, I thought this was just like standard news, but apparently there's breaking news? 

Brian Derrick: If anyone saw the John Oliver piece that was really well done on this, this group has been buying up all these local media stations and then requiring those local stations that are reporting on the weather and the traffic and, uh, like getting really innocuous.

This street fair is happening. That's the kind of news that's being reported on. They're pushing conservative messaging and talking points out through these platforms, literally in a scripted, very Orwellian way. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: Our greatest responsibility is to serve our Treasure Valley communities, the El Paso, Las Cruces communities, Eastern Iowa communities, 

Brian Derrick: Mid Michigan communities.

Sinclair Broadcast Group: We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that [00:16:00] CBS4 News produces. So 

Brian Derrick: they're doing it again, and I think leaning even harder into the openly partisan nature of it. They took this Wall Street Journal piece, which was, in my opinion, and I think the opinion of a lot of people, wrong. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: Yeah, 

Brian Derrick: really poor journalism where they're quoting Kevin McCarthy as like an objective voice on on this issue.

And the baseline of the piece is Biden's really old and he's losing it. Okay, and Kevin 

Glennis Meagher: McCarthy is their like source of this, right? 

Brian Derrick: And Kevin McCarthy is the source as well as like just like unnamed Republicans and stuff. It's pretty ridiculous. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. 

Brian Derrick: And they turned this into a new segment and then pretty maliciously, I would say, pushed it out to all of these local stations.

So that again, gives it the sense or the framing of being this really organic story. All the [00:17:00] while it was scripted by a single person or single group of people in a dark room. We don't know where. Right. Being sent to all of these local journalists, and it's a requirement that they read it as as scripted, as being like part of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.

And so Popular Information, one of my favorite like weekly newsletters, they're so on top of it, called them out. Let's go to the clip. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: The Wall Street Journal calling in Wall Street Journal has published a story. The Wall Street Journal is out with new reporting calling into question the mental fitness of President Joe Biden, 

Sen. Martin Heinrich: calling into question The mental fitness of President Biden.

Sinclair Broadcast Group: President Joe Biden's Mental Fitness. being questioned once again. As national correspondent Matt Galka tells us, the issue could be an election decider. As national correspondent Matt Galka tells us, the issue could be an election decider. As national correspondent Matt Galka tells us, the issue could be an election decider.

But 

Sen. Martin Heinrich: could it be an election 

Brian Derrick: decider? Here's Matt Galka with a story for us. Do you think it could be an election [00:18:00] decider? Also, everyone was white in that clip, by the way. I mean, not shocking given the local news coverage I personally have seen, but let's be clear, reporting on the president and a candidate for the next term is a completely legitimate thing.

Sinclair Broadcast Group: Yes. 

Brian Derrick: But having all of this come from a single source, only emphasizing a single point of view, this is a single piece from one reporter at the Wall Street Journal, which again was poorly sourced, gives the impression that there's some sort of unanimous agreement on an issue that there is no unanimous agreement on.

And it is increasingly and Inherently problematic when the viewers and the listeners have no way to like fact check that in another way We all have to rely on the media to understand what happens like behind closed doors with the president And so it's extremely irresponsible to be reporting on Biden's mental unfitness for office [00:19:00] based on sources that, you know, have an incentive to lie.

Glennis Meagher: Right. Or like three people in a room literally wrote a narrative and they shipped it out to essentially millions of Americans who watch the 530 News. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, and these are the types of insidious media strategies that I think conservatives outplay Dems on constantly, where you're getting people who are not looking for political news to consume your political talking points, whereas Dems just want to like, have a press conference and tell everyone the policies that they support and like, do you know who hears that?

Or like policy wonks. And that's it. Having someone else. AKA, this allegedly non partisan media do your dirty work for you, is Allegedly. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. I guess if you're a Vibes Only listener, text your family, who might be watching 5. 30, 6 o'clock local news, and just say, FYI. Sometimes it's a little coded. It's a little conservative coded if you're comfortable doing that.

[00:20:00] Cause I know many people come from conservative families and they're not conservative, but it's something to look out for. I watch the news at home when I'm at home with my parents and I see it. I see it upstate big time.

Okay. Brian, let's like do a quick touch base on Dem strategy. 2024 we have the highly anticipated debate next week on the 27th. How are we feeling about Dem strategy so far? 

Brian Derrick: The debate isn't going to be a big deal. I am like truly on the edge of my seat where after the state of the union, it was an unusual state of the union in that we act, we did see a sustained improvement for Biden since then.

And he's just now starting to overtake Trump in some, some polls. And so the stakes feel really high. If Biden crushes it, it makes it so much harder for the far right to try and claim that he is this senile old man. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: And 

Brian Derrick: they're setting him up [00:21:00] hopefully for success to do that. Trump won't be able to interrupt.

His mic will be turned off when it's not his turn to speak. They're not. Both 

Glennis Meagher: of theirs will. 

Brian Derrick: Right, exactly. Sorry. Thank you. And so it does feel like there's potential upside that comes with risk as well, where calling Biden senile lowers the bar, but we really can't afford for him to bomb the performance.

No, you know, at this point. 

Glennis Meagher: Yes, we're waiting with bated breath and we'll actually record before the debate. Next week. So we'll do a debrief 

Brian Derrick: after, 

Glennis Meagher: yeah. And then the following week, I didn't also come out with a new ad. Have you seen it? 

Brian Derrick: I haven't. 

Glennis Meagher: Well, it's effectively an ad around Trump being convicted of 34 felonies and kind of just leaning into that.

Do you really want to vote for criminal? 

Joe Biden Presidential Ad: In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He's been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. Meanwhile, Joe Biden's been working, lowering health care costs [00:22:00] and making big corporations pay their fair share.

This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family. I'm Joe Biden and I approve this message. 

Glennis Meagher: I saw on TikTok immediately after the ruling, people were already creating swag, being like, can't wait to vote for Felon November 5th, 2024.

So there's a huge, I think, group of Americans who have such distrust in the system full stop. And Trump was a leader for them in that movement. They don't care at all. 

Brian Derrick: But yeah, and we have to accept that that is always going to be the case with anything in politics. Some group of people are going to come out in support of you, but let's not overthink it.

Trump being convicted of felonies is a bad thing and we should call him out for it. Like the, the system worked as it is supposed to work. He was convicted of a crime that he committed, of crimes that he committed. And so we, we shouldn't overthink it. And we don't need to like [00:23:00] always panic that every single thing is going to be perfect.

Good for Trump. There's, uh, I think a piece in the Atlantic or something about this, how we do have a tendency to be like, even when there's good news, we're like, this is going to help Trump. Like, I don't know how yet, but it's going to. And I don't think that it will. 

Glennis Meagher: Something that I struggle with just in the Dem strategy full stop.

It's so It's so general, right? Like it is important, I think, especially for younger voters to get into specifics. Like, what is it? What does he mean? He's he's taxing corporations. Oh, he's taxing them at 15%, which will mean that we have X amount more revenue, you know, over the next 10 years because of that tax.

What is that tax going into? I know it sounds so granular, but like, I think that Gen Z millennials who. We were so like culturally disenfranchised from politics and government because it's so much of we make your life better. I'm using air quotes and objectively, a lot of what the Biden administration has done is making American lives better, but just getting one more level into like the weeds of that, I think is something that I mean, especially on digital is important.

Brian Derrick: Yeah, I [00:24:00] agree. I think that they are running a bit of an old school dem playbook of like healthcare, taxing wealthy people and social justice issues feel like at the core of what they're, they're, they want to be the message. What we've seen happen in the last month is that All the billionaires are falling in line behind Trump and writing seven, eight, nine figure checks, whatever to support him.

And that's what I think we should make the election more about. I think that Biden should be leaning more into the tax policy of it all and the wealth inequality of it all. Like Democrats should fundamentally be running on an economic message around it. More fairness in like wealth distribution, taxes, et cetera.

And so I genuinely think that Biden has an opportunity to highlight Trump trying to beg or trade oil executives for a billion [00:25:00] dollars for his campaign. And him saying that he's going to cut the corporate tax rate when it's already near historic lows and him saying that he's going to reduce taxes. On the wealthiest people.

He's he wants to extend the Trump tax cuts for the super wealthy back from 2017, even further costing America trillions of dollars. And so there is an opportunity for Biden to really lean in. in to being for working class people. It is a fact that Biden has not raised taxes on anyone making less than 400, 000 a year.

And we should be talking about it and contrasting what's going to happen. And the wealth distribution to the top that's going to happen under Trump versus the continued turning of the screws on tax cheats and greedy corporations that will happen under a second Biden administration. 

Glennis Meagher: Totally. And there's a direct link between the wealthier getting wealthier And everyone else getting left behind and that's why the cost of living crisis is what it is.

So there's all these [00:26:00] different narratives to pull from that. I agree. Put us on the road. We'll do the, we'll do the economic door with Bernie Sanders and Senator Warren. 

Brian Derrick: I'll bring it on. I'm ready. 

Glennis Meagher: Giving. RFK. So besides being a conspiracy theorist, he's also, he, he's almost like a Snow White of sorts. He has a way with animals.

RFK Jr.: Hey everybody, these are my two ravens. They're, um, they're not actually mine. They are just, I'm just taming them. They live in a palm tree. They have roosts in a palm tree about a hundred feet from my house. And I've, I've gotten them by feeding them every day. I've gotten them to come in and, and, uh, join me for meditations every morning on my balcony.

They have two babies who they feed, and the babies don't come in, but they come very close. I'm working on getting them to eat out of my hand. It's giving me Game of 

Glennis Meagher: Thrones. 

Brian Derrick: No, [00:27:00] it's giving you on Instagram. 

Glennis Meagher: No, literally, it's giving me at my terrace, birding. 

Brian Derrick: It's giving a Glenys Instagram story. Because it's so chaotic, it's completely unrelated to the primary brand of what's going on, and the train of thought is like, where?

It's giving 

Glennis Meagher: derailment. Well, that's how I, I start talking about one thing, and then the way my brain works, I think of something else. Okay, this is like, I don't know if you want to use this, it's giving relatable, but it's also giving, because I guess, Because it's like, I, that's how I do a video is I'm just like, these are birds.

I like, 

Brian Derrick: I've never been proven right faster than you saying that's relatable. I do not find that relatable at all. 

Glennis Meagher: I find it dangerous because I, I see as someone who is in touch with animals and with nature and with the world around me. I thought the Times article was very forgiving. I thought it humanized him in a dangerous way.

Like, we [00:28:00] should not be taking RFK seriously as a presidential candidate. His ego is so large, the fact that he thinks he can run and win and that this is his like duty to do this is like, no, you're just actually messing up. This election cycle like just go back to your Ravens and sit down and quite frankly shut up.

I found it kind of dangerous because I saw the video and I was like, Oh, this is cute. Like I was like, Oh, he's he likes birds and the birds like him. I see that I see the threat of it. 

Brian Derrick: The birds also like literal dumpsters and like puke on the sidewalk. So I don't think birds are the great judge of character, but 

Glennis Meagher: Well, I mean, we can do another podcast about this.

Birds are very Pigeons, yes. Pigeons are rats with wings. But there are other birds out there, Brian. 

Brian Derrick: Oh God. Oh Lord. Okay. We're gonna, I'm gonna need, we're gonna do an evening episode. I'm gonna need a drink before we start. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: You're burning. 

Brian Derrick: Um, but As far as whether RFK is a serious person or not, this [00:29:00] week was the deadline for him to meet for the CNN debate that's happening in June, and he did not qualify.

Glennis Meagher: Thank God. 

Brian Derrick: Not even close. You have to have a path to victory is the criteria. There's a polling requirement. Really? That's it? No, literally, you just have to be on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win. Two hundred and seventy electoral votes is like the core of the requirement and he's not appearing on those ballots.

He's not a serious contender. His only potential role is a spoiler and he can go away anytime if he wants to make my day. 

Glennis Meagher: I totally agree. Like go meditate with your Ravens. Do not mess up the twenty twenty four election.

Brian Derrick: I did have a surprise result. In my metaphorical group chat, which is really my Instagram story. Some new polling came out around Biden and Trump. We won't get into it. Polling is broken, but it gave me sort of like, [00:30:00] I was getting so many DMs about it. It gave me an idea. I posted a poll. I was like, what do you think is going to happen in November?

Not who do you want to land slide for Biden, nail biter for Biden, nail biter for Trump, landslide for Trump. What'd you say? 

Glennis Meagher: Nail biter for Biden. 

Brian Derrick: 80 percent of people said nail biter Biden wins. And I was kind of shook by that. Um, I 

Glennis Meagher: was 

Brian Derrick: expecting almost 50, 50 nail biter Biden, nail biter Trump. I think that people are underestimating the likelihood that Trump could win.

Glennis Meagher: I am a manifester. Like I like to create the reality I want to see. And that's why I was very deliberate in my. You know, responding to that poll, but I'm with you. I think that it's a yes. And yes, we should be cautiously optimistic that Biden will win this election. And we have to do every single thing we can in our individual and collective power to make sure he gets elected.

If that means texting your friends, if that means doing some phone banks, if that means canvassing, whatever you're most comfortable doing, we do [00:31:00] not want to repeat of 2016 where the, like the majority, the actual majority of Americans woke up. And said, what the hell just happened? 

Brian Derrick: I'm all for optimism, but I, and I don't want people to like walk around terrified of a Trump administration, but I also want people to feel ownership over the result in November.

I like, you are not a election forecaster, even though I asked you to be on, 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: even though 

Brian Derrick: I asked you the question, I want to make sure that like, You, that makes sense for you, Glennis, because every day you wake up and you think about the November election and what you're doing to change the outcome of it or to impact the outcome.

And I just want other people who are answering that nail biter Biden to also remember, okay, well, if it's going to be a nail biter and decided by a few thousand votes, I could do it. Actually make a difference in who those few thousand votes go to, that you have the power to do that via your voice, your [00:32:00] platform, your dollars, where you show up, whether or not you vote, how you talk to your friends, all of these things matter, and that we have months that the number of votes that you could rack up for Biden in the next few months is actually significant.

I'm curious if our vibes only audience has the same vibe. As my Instagram audience. So please send us a group chat and give us your November prognostication right now. What the vibe is. Are you feel, are you feeling like a very narrow Biden win? Are you feeling a big Trump win? What do you think is the vibe?

Going to happen and what are you doing to make sure that it's the outcome you want? Totally. What has your Pride Month group chat vibe been like? You're like straight. 

Glennis Meagher: No, it's, I'm actually 

Brian Derrick: bummed, 

Glennis Meagher: I have to go to VidCon for work, which is like a big digital thing out in Anaheim. So I'm missing Pride Weekend in New York and I am bummed because [00:33:00] every year I have a great.

Pride weekend. I do the drag March, which is like the protest March on Friday night. And then I do fun things on the Sunday, you know, but I'm missing it. How about you? How's your pride been? 

Brian Derrick: I don't think that people out unless you have real. Gbfs, unless you have like real gay friends. I don't think that a lot of straight people realize the Planning that goes in to these pride weekends.

There are Google sheets. There are ticket wait lists there are pre booked transit and insane schedules packed to the brim to try to see all your people and your chosen BAM and just Yeah, I have someone visiting that weekend. So my schedule is loaded to say the least. 

Glennis Meagher: I'm really bummed. I've grown to really love this weekend.

Even though it literally is, to your point, like boom, boom, boom, boom. There's so much to see and do and like just so many parties. One or two of my friends, they throw [00:34:00] the most insane party on Sunday on the parade route. And it's It's so much fun. So cool. Tell 

Brian Derrick: me the Addy. 

Glennis Meagher: Oh, it's like the lesbian party.

Like it's, it's, it's really joyful. It really does. That's when you really look around. And I think, you know, New York and all cities that celebrate pride where it's safe, it's just a moment to really be joyful and celebrate who you are and have pride. 

Brian Derrick: Absolutely. Do you know what else we're celebrating?

Matt Gaetz downfall. I don't know if you saw, but the house ethics committee has Matt Gaetz Venmo history, which you know, looks like Christmas at a Chapel Rhone concert. The number of 

Sinclair Broadcast Group: snowflake 

Brian Derrick: emoji, snowflake emoji, girl emoji, girl emoji, snowflake emoji. Like 

Glennis Meagher: wank, wank, nudge, nudge. Yeah. 

Brian Derrick: And so, They usually do not give journalists comment on ongoing investigations, but Gates has been attacking the ethics committee's investigation relentlessly.

And so they [00:35:00] really sent him a message and they were like, just so you know, we subpoena Venmo and we have the Venmo receipts literally. So I would shut your mouth until we come out with our findings. But this could be the end of Matt Gates. Hopefully he's such a loser, 

Glennis Meagher: such a pain in the ass, 

Brian Derrick: deeply uncool.

Millennials were personally victimized over the weekend when JT was arrested for a DUI in the Hamptons and the young people were literally like, who? 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. The cop who arrested him didn't know who he was. And JT mumbled under his breath, this is going to ruin the tour. And the cop goes, what tour? Like get in the car.

Brian Derrick: And he said the world tour world tour. 

Glennis Meagher: Oh, wow. Um, if I've only listeners did not know this about me, you will now. I am definitely in the top 5, 000. Britney Spears fans in the world. I love her. I have [00:36:00] loved her since my best friend from high school was on MTV's Fanatic for Britney Spears. It was like, I was not Okay.

I had to be a fan because Matt was such a fan. So for me, I was like, karma. 

Brian Derrick: Oh girl, I'm like the least read in on this shit ever. So I don't even remember what the beef is. 

Glennis Meagher: The quick and dirty Is it from the denim? 

Brian Derrick: It's from the denim. 

Glennis Meagher: No, Justin Timberlake has a bad reputation. If you remember the Janet Jackson Super Bowl.

Of course I remember that. I have. Okay, and Janet was cancelled, not him. Britney Spears was completely crucified for like living her life and Justin blamed her in the Cry Me A River music video. And he's just gotten away with a lot. So for a little, a little. Consequence to action. We're gonna take it. 

Brian Derrick: That tea is steeped.

That tea is old. Okay, period. Well, good luck Justin I hope that you can make it to your show on time. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, call an uber next time.

Brian Derrick: If you haven't heard about Maryland Governor Wes Moore, you're gonna hear a [00:37:00] lot more about him. In the next couple of years because he's a rising star in the Democratic Party and he is making moves to have a legacy and lasting impact on the state of Maryland during his tenure and this week to add on to that legacy, he pardoned over 175, 000 people convicted of marijuana related offenses, which is Big deal.

He's using the power of his office to try to right a past wrong in how marijuana convictions, uh, and offenses have been handled, the over policing of black and brown communities, the war on drugs, and its outsized impact in criminalizing people for using something that's now legal in, in most of the country, and so, Super exciting, really big impact.

And this is something that is a unique power to state governors. So it's awesome to see Westmore using it to make a difference for people who need his help. 

Glennis Meagher: Brian, that is amazing. That is an awesome [00:38:00] vibe for the week. I will take it. I will toke it. 

Brian Derrick: Happy Friday. 

Glennis Meagher: Thanks for listening. We'll be back again next week at our usual time, Wednesday morning.

Before then, check Don't forget to weigh in on our group chat question of the week. What is your vibe heading into November? Think the polls are missing the mark and that Biden is heading for a landslide? Think it's going to be the other way or it's too early and too close to tell? Let us know how you're feeling by texting us a line at the top of the show note.

We love reading your texts and we'd love That's it for today. Bye for now.

Brian Derrick: Vibes Only is produced by Devin Maroney. With support from Courier's Kyle Tharp, R. C. DiMezzo, and Daniel Strasburger. Tara McGowan is founder and publisher of Courier.