The Real Vibes in Critical Swing States

If you're feeling  a disconnect between the vibes and the polls, this episode is for you. Brian and Glennis share stories from their door-knocking experience in a Pennsylvania swing district, and give some important updates from the key battleground states that will ultimately decide this election.

And yes, that means we get into the whackiest political story (ever?) and discuss how gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has done his part to help Dems potentially flip North Carolina. 

All that before we play an it's giving, pull up our group chat and leave you with a good vibe. 

Tune in next week as we break down the VP-debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. Subscibe + follow on your podcast platform of choice so you don't miss it!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:29 Door Knocking in Pennsylvania
• 7:53 Battlegrounds
• 8:52 The Blue Wall (Michigan, Wisconsin, PA)
• 11:42 Arizona
• 14:51 Georgia
• 17:33 North Carolina
• 23:20 It's Giving
• 26:39 GROUP CHAT
• 31:42 GOOD VIBE GOODBYE

Transcript

Glennis Meagher: [00:00:00] No more brat Summer. 

Brian Derrick: No undisclosed personal relationships with former presidential candidates. 

Glennis Meagher: Just Vibes. This is Vibes Only, the podcast that promises to check the vibes of American politics every week. And the vibes this week. 

Ronny Chieng: This is the craziest combination of scandals I've ever seen. But the most insane part of this is that he said He said all of this stuff in the comments section of a porn site.

Brian Derrick: We'll touch on that truly wild story while doing an overview of the state of the race, particularly in the battleground states. 

Glennis Meagher: We'll also fill you in on our door knocking adventures this weekend, play an It's Giving, pull up our group chat, and leave you with a good vibe. Let's get into it. Hello, Brian.

Hi, 

Brian Derrick: Gigi. How we doing? 

Glennis Meagher: I'm good. How are you? 

Brian Derrick: I'm good. I'm a little tired. This morning because I was out late, late, late at the Charlie XCX concert. 

Glennis Meagher: I saw, I woke up, we were recording slightly earlier today and I, I [00:01:00] woke up and I went on Instagram and I was like, Oh, Ryan, was that Charlie? I saw Lorde showed up and Addison Rae big night.

Brian Derrick: It was wild. It was wild. We all just had a very brat summer and New York, I think was feeling it especially hard. So Madison square garden was. alive. It felt like I was back at the convention when Michelle Obama was speaking. That was 

Glennis Meagher: comparing the vibes. I also haven't seen you since this weekend when we were knocking on some doors.

How did it go for you? We haven't talked about it. 

Brian Derrick: We have not debriefed. We didn't ride back together. It was so fun. So we had over 200 people show up as you know, to knock doors in McCongee, Pennsylvania, uh, which is just outside of Allentown. And this is like swing district central. We were in a swingy, swingy state legislative district inside of a swingy congressional district inside of a [00:02:00] state that could determine both the presidential race and control of the U S Senate.

So super important area. And I was gagged by how many voters were undecided that I talked to. It was crazy. Yeah. What was your, what was your vibe check? 

Glennis Meagher: Same. It was a little, I was, Hey, it was a little, I was scared. I got back in the car, we drove back and I was like, okay, well there's a lot of work to be done.

And we knew going in, it's like a, like you said, a swing district, but I was pretty like, Ooh, well, you don't have a plan. You don't know who you're voting for yet. Okay. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, if you are out here on the internet like oh everything's underestimating Kamala We're actually just gonna pull off this landslide and which I do think is like a secret kind of unspoken Vibe that I'm getting from some people left of center online go to Pennsylvania Or Arizona or Nevada or Wisconsin or something else, but like, go, go knock on someone's door and have some conversations and you will eat some humble pie really [00:03:00] quick.

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. And I would, I would like double down on that. Actually sign up to canvas. 

Brian Derrick: A hundred percent. 

Glennis Meagher: If you're in New York, sign up with knock for democracy, go canvas in Pennsylvania. It really does. You could be the only voter contact that person has based on your conversation that could sway them to go vote for who you want them to.

So. 

Brian Derrick: No, no one I spoke to. Shared that someone else had come to the door before this cycle. I 

Glennis Meagher: unfortunately got someone who had just been knocked. It's not pleased. And I was like, okay, have a great day, sir. 

Brian Derrick: Like same day. 

Glennis Meagher: Same day. Yeah. It was like so strange. It was just like that one door on the turf. Yeah.

Did you get a sense that folks were like annoyed that New Yorkers were knocking on their door? 

Brian Derrick: No, I think that that's always people's fault. fear. I think that people's big fears that they express to me are that someone's going to like call them out in some way for not living in the district. Or number two, that they're going to get like hardcore Trumpers and they're going to get screamed at.

And [00:04:00] both are exceedingly rare. We sort of did a flash poll in, on the bus on the way back conducted by yours truly. And almost every, and almost every single person on the bus raised their hand when I asked, were people nicer than you expected? And also everyone, almost, almost everyone raised their hand to say they would come back and do it again next week if they could.

Um, so yeah, I, I never once have had someone question where I'm from or why I'm doing this. Like people like that. In general, that you're volunteering and engaging in the election, and I had some really great conversations. What about you? Did you have any, like, any intense pushback or negative? 

Glennis Meagher: I had one. I was in an area that was either, like, pretty starkly, like, Trump, or, like, they were just, Super keen on not telling me anything, which was okay.

That's the right. And there was one lady who was comically [00:05:00] negative. It wasn't even like a bad experience. It was objectively funny, a caricature of a pissed off woman. It's just like, add it to the list. But you know, there was some really great interactions too. Like there was a father who answered the door.

And we, you know, I was asking questions and it was for his 18 year old daughter who like didn't want to come to the door because she was shy, but he was like asking, like I gave my whole spiel and he's like, what do you think? Does that sound good? Are you aligned with that? Like she was daughter in like a really sweet way.

And she's like, yeah, cause he saw that what was happening.

Brian Derrick: There's nobody there. It's just an empty room. 

Glennis Meagher: I mean, she was like sweet. She was like in the kitchen, just like, why are there human beings at the door talking about the election? You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, But it was, it was sweet to see her father, like giving her the independence of like confirming that she was okay with what I was pitching.

Um, it was, it was a sweet moment. And you know, she was 18, so she had just registered. Yeah. Uh, but that, that was a moment of light [00:06:00] in the day. How about you? 

Brian Derrick: I had no one yell at us. I had one person say, why would I vote for? And I said, thanks so much. Have a great day. Yeah. Like in a, in a negative way, like he was being satirical.

Like it was totally, the conversation was over when he, when he said that. And I was like, okay, all good. And then we moved on and 

Glennis Meagher: you're like, have a wonderful day. So 

Brian Derrick: exactly. And then my, my, I think it was my very next house where I asked someone, Oh yeah. Like I was talking to this very nice woman. She was, I'm going to say in her, in her thirties and.

I said, Oh, are you planning to vote November? Do you know who you're planning to vote for? And she said, I'm going to vote for who you think a teacher would vote for. And I was like, well, in my book, that means blank, blank, blank, blank, blank. I think that you would like find these candidates aligned. And she's like, I think you're right.

And I was like, and then we just, and then I got to like highlight who these down ballot races were, who she was not familiar with, [00:07:00] but lived in one of the most competitive areas in one of the most competitive states in the country. And so that also felt like a huge win where I found someone who was already mission aligned, already planning to vote.

Democratic, but literally did not know who these candidates were. And now we know for sure that she's going to vote for the people that are going to advance her interests and those of her students and all of that, which was awesome. So that was really cool. 

Glennis Meagher: Totally. And we're going to talk about this, this episode, but the margins in these states, right, are so small.

You need to relational organize. If you're not willing to door knock, I totally get it. It definitely takes a certain type of person to do it. You don't want to phone bank. I get it kind of, but you. Gotta text all your friends and family. 

Brian Derrick: 100%. If you are not convinced yet that every vote matters, look no further than the latest data that we have.

Shall we? 

Glennis Meagher: Let's get into it. 

Brian Derrick: Everyone, I need you to like take a deep breath before we cover this. And or cleanse 

Glennis Meagher: your butt [00:08:00] because it's, it's worthy of it. 

Brian Derrick: Big inhale, big butt clench. And you can 

Glennis Meagher: release when this segment is over. 

Brian Derrick: And here we go. Or 

Glennis Meagher: not. You can release on November 6th. 

Brian Derrick: So we know that the election is going to be decided in the Electoral College by Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Those are the seven that are going to determine, The outcome of the election and we just got new data this week that basically shows these states are as close as they've ever been, especially this close to an election where most of the margins in these races are under two points. Which is within the margin of error.

And so neck and neck is an understatement. Yeah. We're talking about a, a game of, of inches at this point. 

Glennis Meagher: So right now, looking at the, the numbers, it does look like the blue wall, which is the Wisconsin, Michigan. 

Brian Derrick: Um, it's [00:09:00] mis mis, ms. 

Glennis Meagher: Wisconsin. Don't, don't she do that. Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, the blue wall, that is her most likely path.

to victory. 270 to win. It's not just the name of a website. It is what you actually need from the electoral college to clinch the White House. 

Brian Derrick: And those three states in recent elections, like last couple decades, always swing the same way, which I think is not reported on electorates of each are very similar.

And Typically, they move in the same direction. It's by really narrow margin. So it's not hard to see how that could be broken when Wisconsin is occasionally decided by less than a point as it has been in the last few cycles. But so far in recent memory, all three jumped in the same direction. That was true for Biden in 2020 and for [00:10:00] Trump in 2016.

The other great news on the blue wall, Glennis, to your point, is that this week a Nebraska state senator came out and said that he would not support a change to how Nebraska allocates their electoral votes, which means Kamala can still win one electoral vote from the state of Nebraska, which she needs in order to make the blue wall plan work.

Because if she wins, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, she gets to exactly 270 electoral votes 

Glennis Meagher: just to take a step back. Nebraska is one of the few states that is not winner takes all for the electoral college. So you do have an opportunity to, to split electoral college votes based on congressional districts and how they vote.

And Nebraska is one of them. 

Brian Derrick: And for those that have wondered, or get really in the weeds, if that were to happen, if Nebraska changed, and then deprived her of that one vote, she won the rest of the blue wall and [00:11:00] nothing else, it would be an electoral college tie at 269 votes each, and then it would go to the House of Representatives, where each state gets one vote, and it basically goes down to Which party controls most of the delegation from that state.

And Republicans would almost certainly elect Donald Trump in the House of Representatives. So, that's a big deal, and it was a big win when that Nebraska legislator came out and said, Nope, not going to help Trump try to rig this one. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. I mean, thank God. And then also just speaks to the importance of knowing who you're voting for at the state level, which I think we would both die on that hill.

Yep. 

Glennis Meagher: Okay. Arizona, let's talk about a sunny, very, very hot, very warm Arizona. So Joe Biden in 2020, he only won Arizona by 10, 457 votes. Not a lot of votes. That's like less than half the people you were in [00:12:00] MSG with last night. I'm watching Charlie. 

Brian Derrick: Literally, literally. 

Glennis Meagher: So there's some stuff happening in Arizona, which we think might get more people to the polls.

One of them being prop 139, which I would give. Arizonians a state constitutional right to an abortion, which they don't currently have. And I think many people recall the suit, the crazy law that was like alive in Arizona for like a week or two, the 1864 bill written. Deja talked about this written by the predator, the predator of a man that basically took away all women's right to reproductive care.

And 

Brian Derrick: And punish doctors with a felony, like where, like present time, 

Glennis Meagher: like Texas does 

Brian Derrick: the right. 

Glennis Meagher: So when abortion has been on the ballot, you actually did a wonderful cheat sheet or microdose episode on this. When abortions on the ballot, Dems win. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, 

Glennis Meagher: people show up for their right to reproductive health care.

Brian Derrick: Track record includes wins [00:13:00] in Kansas, Ohio, Montana, Montana. Kentucky, Vermont, 

Glennis Meagher: Michigan, Michigan, there's some chatter and you know, in Florida as well, Florida has prop four, um, which is a similar state constitutional amendment that because these repro ballot props are on the ballot, that that could have more folks show up for Dems up and down the ballot.

What do you, what do you feel about that? 

Brian Derrick: It's, I think it's very real. There is an app. There is absolutely a turnout effect when you put reproductive rights ballot measures up for sort of a direct democracy play. But I will also say that it can draw a lot of split ticket voting as well, where just because you get a boost of five points for a repro rights ballot measure does not mean you're going to get a five point boost for all Democrats in the state.

Like lots of people are willing to vote Republican for certain candidates, and then vote yes, or the proper vote for [00:14:00] Abortion related ballot measure, even if those two things are contradictory in some cases where you're supporting electeds who support abortion bans and then protecting your abortion ban, or excuse me, protecting your abortion rights another way.

Glennis Meagher: Protect that abortion ban. Protect your personal abortion ban. Yeah, I've, uh, there were some people I spoke to on the doors this weekend who were voting for Trump, but they were also voting for the Democratic Congressional candidate we were canvassing for. So it's just, 

Brian Derrick: it's real. They are out there. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah.

So eyes on Arizona. That's one state. 

Brian Derrick: And don't forget in 2022, Chris Mays, who was the person to stand in the way of that abortion ban, won her statewide race in Arizona by less than 280. 

Glennis Meagher: Oh, oh, I have chills. Yeah. Okay, Georgia. I love Georgia. Georgia is a hot mess right now. 

Yep. 

Glennis Meagher: So Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020 by [00:15:00] 12, 284 votes.

And not without Donald Trump sending Rudy Giuliani on a plane down to Atlanta to try to interfere and overturn the election results in the state of Georgia. 

Brian Derrick: Right. We all, we all remember when he was looking for those votes when he called. 

Donald Trump: So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11, 780.

Glennis Meagher: And he's waiting for his criminal trial in Georgia to begin. Did you see the news on what they're doing with the ballots? 

Brian Derrick: You know, I did. 

Glennis Meagher: Okay. Tell the people. 

Brian Derrick: So Republicans in their infinite wisdom where they want to ruin their cake and eat it too. They are now basically requiring Georgia to hand count all votes in November.

This is the election board in Georgia, which has been sort of taken over and stacked with pro [00:16:00] Trump people. And it's also a consistent pattern across. Many battleground states where Republicans are saying they want election night results that they're going to call anything that happens after election night fraud, and they are actively putting in place measures to delay and slow the counting and processing of ballots.

And so they are creating this window. that Trump and or MAGA can take advantage of to try to undermine the results of the election. And that is particularly concerning with a statewide hand count in Georgia because of how long that would take. And as we know from multiple studies from nonpartisan sources, from published research, Hand counting ballots is less accurate than using machines that are built for that exact purpose, that are not connected to the internet, that are not some sort of like meta sponsored ballot counter, like, that, and [00:17:00] so it's extremely concerning, and It's definitely going to, it's going to court and they're going to try to block this, this ruling from the Georgia election board.

Glennis Meagher: Human error is real and like, no offense to the humans, but like, I prefer a calculator to do my math and my brain. 

Brian Derrick: Totally. You highlighted that the margin in Georgia was 12, 000 votes, but the total number of votes cast was about 5 million. So if we imagine counting 

Glennis Meagher: that 

Brian Derrick: and count 5 million votes on election night.

You're bonkers. You're bonkers. 

Glennis Meagher: Okay. North Carolina. Trump won North Carolina by 74, 483 votes. North Carolina currently has Democratic governor Roy Cooper. You may have, you may recall the name. He was in VP. Stakes for a little bit. Did you know that North Carolina has a rule that if you're not in the state, if you're the governor and you're not in the state for more than three days and technically you're no longer governor or that your lieutenant [00:18:00] governor is then actually in power.

And that is a problem because the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina is Monster? Question mark? Question mark? 

Brian Derrick: Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, for real. 

Glennis Meagher: An unhinged, dangerous individual. It is truly shocking to me that he even got elected in the first place, but I'm hoping because he is so off the rails, it may Close that margin a little bit.

So Mark Robinson is the current lieutenant governor and he's running for governor against Josh Stein, the democratic candidate for governor, Roy Cooper. His term is up. He can't run again. Let's talk about Mark Robinson a little bit. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, he's kind of the type of candidate who's. Let's like section of controversial statements and scandals on Wikipedia is longer than his like professional bio or early life and education or whatever.

It's crazy. He's a holocaust denier famously and out. Landishly [00:19:00] homophobic and transphobic, says horrifying things about women and people of color and every marginalized group under the sun. And even with all of that, even with all of the outrageous things that he has said that have caused a lot of backlash, he still found a way to outdo it all.

When this, when CNN dug up, 

His 

Brian Derrick: comments from a porn site message board on which he was a prolific poster about a decade ago. Probably like the pièce de résistance being that he called himself a black Nazi. 

Glennis Meagher: Mm hmm. 

Brian Derrick: But there was just a whole lot of gems. 

Glennis Meagher: He also said that he wished slavery was still around and that he would certainly have a few.

I know it's truly horrific. Not to mention the, you know, blatant hypocrisy [00:20:00] around, you know, sexuality and, and, you know, all of that. But he's an unmitigated nightmare. 

Brian Derrick: A hundred percent. And this is like separate and apart, far away, the greatest scandal that any elected official is facing in this election cycle.

And in just recent memory, he was immediately uninvited from all Trump events. And Trump went to North Carolina shortly after this was published and didn't even mention his name, which is extremely rare and unheard of for someone to not talk about A gubernatorial candidate in a competitive race in a battleground state, like as at a presidential rally in that state, that's, that's crazy.

So he's trying to distance himself. All of his top staff have quit his campaign manager, his finance director. I think the field director, like basically all of his consultants, everyone has, has left him. He's left with like three interns basically to run his campaign. And he's still trying to deny the story, but.

Like, [00:21:00] everything matches, the math is math ing, it's He also was, someone offered, or some Republican firm offered to like Dig up the ISP of who posted these things to prove that it wasn't him. And he was like, no, I'm good. 

Glennis Meagher: Cause he knows you did it. Who like clearly JD I'm sure had a ton of media training and it's just never landed with him.

It never landed. He said that the Mark Robinson allegations are not necessarily reality. 

Brian Derrick: Well, look, the allegations are pretty far out there, of course, but I know that allegations aren't necessarily reality. Do 

Fox & Friends: you believe him that those were not his posts? 

Brian Derrick: Uh, I don't not believe him. I don't believe him.

He's like, I'm just here to sell my own lies and I can't be worried about other people's lies. Straight also, 

Glennis Meagher: regardless, Kamala Harris's team is still trying to keep a strong connection between Mark Robinson and Donald Trump because you know, before this, this scandal, but all the other scandals were okay for Donald Trump, but this one really put him over the edge.[00:22:00] 

He had called Mark Robinson, an 

Donald Trump: unbelievable Lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson. This is. Martin Luther King on steroids. One of the great stars of the party, one of the great stars in politics, Lieutenant Governor Mark Yeah. I 

Brian Derrick: mean, they've been backing him during all of his nonsense. And if you don't love me at my black Nazi, you don't deserve me at my Holocaust denier.

Like, we knew who he was. We did not need the porn 4chan drop to know that this is who Mark Robinson is. 

Glennis Meagher: Right. I know. It's like, who's surprised? Not me. And why is, why is everyone dropping now? 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. So North Carolina is a very winnable battleground state. Trump won by less than a point and a half in 2020.

And keep in mind Ohio, which people still kind of think of as a battleground state. He won by eight points. 

[00:23:00] So 

Brian Derrick: North Carolina is purple and we need to like absolutely keep Mark Robinson out of office. And we need to show that it is winnable for Kamala this year. Yeah. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah, if you or someone you know lives in North Carolina, text them, make sure they have a voting plan, and talk to them about the election.

Giving is giving. It's giving. 

Brian Derrick: I'm always a little annoyed with the stay in your lane commentary on celebrities, especially from people wearing black. Political hats. 

The Good Liars: Yeah. 

Brian Derrick: But we got an especially good one from The Good Liars. 

The Good Liars: Uh, what do, what do you think about Taylor Swift? I can't stand her. I think she should just mind her own business and sing songs.

Uh, what do you think about Kid Rock? I like Kid Rock. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's a great, uh, American. Uh, Kid Rock has a song where he says f you to AOC and Nancy Pelosi. Oh, I wish more people would sing that song. But he's not minding his own business. Yeah, but they're assholes. 

Glennis Meagher: It's giving hypocrisy, it's giving case in point, it's giving pot [00:24:00] kettle.

Like, thank you for proving our point. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah, it's definitely giving Freedom of speech for everyone who agrees with me. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. That 

Brian Derrick: is the Republican way. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. It's giving. I'm a victim. 

Brian Derrick: Always, 

Glennis Meagher: always, always. Poor you poor. Like what did Nancy Pelosi ever do to you besides try and get you more rights? 

Brian Derrick: I mean, I don't blame them for hating Nancy, Nancy Pelosi.

She's like one of the most dominant political forces of our lifetime. 

Glennis Meagher: But it's not about that. It's about. That she's a woman. Notice how they are both women. IOC, Nancy Pelosi. 

Brian Derrick: That's there's something to that. I can see that, but 

Glennis Meagher: there's something to the patriarchy. There's no, 

Brian Derrick: no, I agree. I mean, I was, I was going to say like, I mean, we, we sort of have the same thing with Mitch McConnell.

Where he's like the ultimate villain to people on the left. And it's because he's really good at his [00:25:00] job. And so is she. Um, but ultimately the idea that celebrities need to be robots and perform for you and not have opinions is like, just not interesting. I'm like boring. Tomato, 

Glennis Meagher: tomato, tomato. Fox news has a, another conspiracy about who is running the country.

Fox & Friends: And the other thing is, uh, regarding Jill Biden. Uh, saying we got to wrap this up. Maybe she's saying that because she's running the country. Yeah, she was at the cabinet meeting on Friday. She was at the head of the table. Here's a picture of her. And I was watching Fox and Friends weekend and I turn on the TV and I see her at the end of the table.

I'm like, where is he? Why isn't he at this meeting? There she is. Miranda Devine writes, who, who's that, who exactly is running the country? Certainly appears to be Jill Biden and not Joe Biden. 

Glennis Meagher: For those just listening, the camera starts and ends with Joe Biden. 

Brian Derrick: In the president's chair at the [00:26:00] cabinet meeting, which is like an assigned, like, seating situation.

There's a specific way they sit in that room. I've been in it and it has their titles on the back of the chairs. Yeah. Why are you so obsessed with me? Like they're so obsessed with this whole conspiracy around Jill and Joe, and I know it's so weird. I'm like, he's not running, he's literally doing his job.

You can see his schedule every day, the events that he's at, the meetings that he's holding, the press, the open press, things that he's doing. You know that this is misinformation. 

Glennis Meagher: All is lost for Fox.

Okay, group chat. Brian. I have to admit something. I'm only halfway through the first episode of Survivor. Did I know what happened? Let's wrap 

Brian Derrick: here. Let's wrap here. Go ahead and go finish that. We need you to watch it right away. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. Well, I know who got voted off because it was all over the internet, but I know that it was like it's, it's Titled the most perfect episode ever or something.

So I know there's [00:27:00] going to be a meltdown at some point and someone might get injured. So I just need to like, I need to sit down and watch it, like finish it tonight. 

Brian Derrick: I won't judge you. The more important thing is Survivor is back. And my continued efforts to turn this into a survivor podcast are alive and well, and I will be sneaking in references to the current season throughout every episode between now and the election.

Done! Any, any reference I can sneak past our producer is, um, is my goal. But, um, yeah. Yes, but the main newsworthy bit there is that John Lovett is on this season of Survivor, and he is one of the co hosts of Ponce of America, and so, yeah, I've always, as we've said before, I won't reiterate, I've always wanted to do the show, and I feel like he's, you know, the closest thing that I'm going to have to a proxy on the show because we're both like 

Glennis Meagher: given the outcome of the first episode.

Brian Derrick: Okay. Well, if you're going to say that, then we have to [00:28:00] put a spoiler alert somewhere. 

Glennis Meagher: People should know that. I 

Brian Derrick: guess it's a week old. It's a week old. That's fair. That's fair. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. 

Brian Derrick: Okay. What else is in your 

Glennis Meagher: group? a white gay podcast host to be. 

Brian Derrick: Yeah. If they're looking for someone who'd be better TV, hit me up.

Glennis Meagher: You'd be ruthless. 

Brian Derrick: I would be. 

Glennis Meagher: I know. 

Brian Derrick: That is correct. 

Glennis Meagher: Yeah. Like, I would not, if we were on a tribe, I'd be like, we're in an alliance. Um, okay. So this has been in my group chat a lot, but I'm not really, and I I'm guilty of this, of talking about it, but everyone's talking about her, Olivia Newsy, who was a New York mag reporter who has to take a leave of absence because she had some sort of inappropriate relationship with RFK Jr.

Um, which is just. Journalistic 101. You don't have a, even a deep friendship with the source because then it's no longer credible. So that's a buzz. And then someone else came out last night saying that he also had a relationship with [00:29:00] her. It's just like the woman never wins in these situations, even though like they're just doing the same thing as the men.

But 

Brian Derrick: I have to say the most shocking part of the story to me is that anyone would want to spend any amount of time privately with RFK. Period. I wouldn't have coffee with that man. I wouldn't want to walk past him on a sidewalk. Like I truly could not be less engaged by that energy. I'm like get away from me.

Truly get away from 

Glennis Meagher: me.

So that's the level of conversation you're having with him. 

Brian Derrick: Did you see my post about Celsius? That was my group chat for real. I stirred up some shit. 

Glennis Meagher: Why? 

Brian Derrick: Because Politico, which is obviously the way to get news in front of me, if you want me to see something, did this story about how Celsius is sort of, Mismarketing itself.

Oh, I saw 

Glennis Meagher: this. I did see this. 

Brian Derrick: Essential energy instead of as an energy drink and how that's actually really marketing to women primarily who [00:30:00] don't drink Red Bull for the most part, but are drinking Celsius by the case. Um, but it actually, I didn't know this until I read this, which is embarrassing because I've had a more than my fair share of Celsius.

I won't 

Glennis Meagher: touch Celsius for this reason. 

Brian Derrick: 200 milligrams of caffeine in it. That's too, that's too much. It's more than two cups of coffee or six cans of Coke. 

Glennis Meagher: Well, I drink a lot of coffee, but yeah, I mean, I was introduced to Celsius by someone I work with and I thought it was a wellness drink at first. And then I, you know, I looked in the back of the can and I was like, Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I know. This is not good for you. 

Brian Derrick: I'm going to pretend like I don't know this now through November 5th and then I'll have an awakening after that. Yeah, I 

Glennis Meagher: have a friend also in politics who kind of like microdoses it. She like gets the powder packs and she just like pours a little in her like water all day.

Oh 

Brian Derrick: my god. She says it 

Glennis Meagher: really works. They're like her little potions that she makes. Well, 

Brian Derrick: yeah. It's crazy. Literally crack. Like, 

Glennis Meagher: yeah, 

Brian Derrick: the Jew crew was my group [00:31:00] chat in a big way. Oh, 

Glennis Meagher: oh, the one, the photo that I'm going to publicly shame everyone. Although I guess I am like I am the Gentile, but this Instagram post goes up.

And it's all my friends and not me. And I go, wait, what's this photo taken? And then Brian did call me out because they did call my name a couple of times. And I said, 

Brian Derrick: we were screaming for you to come over and you were 

Glennis Meagher: like, okay, I was having a lovely conversation with the volunteers. for Susan Wilde's campaign, who were going to drive us around town all day.

Brian Derrick: I mean, between that and Charli XCX, my group chats were flutter.

For our good vibe this week, we have another record that has been set by Kamala Harris. In addition to the record number of tie breaking votes that she cast in the U. S. Senate as vice president, in addition to the records that she has set in the amount of money that [00:32:00] she raised upon campaign launch, and in just an extremely short amount of time, she has now set a record for the largest jump in favorability for any politician since.

George Bush and 9 11. 

Glennis Meagher: Oh, not the 9 11 reference. 

Brian Derrick: It's true. After 9 11, in this like moment of unity that feels very far away these days, but for the country, George Bush's favorability rating jumped up. And this is on par with that. That is how, that is the impact. That Kamala Harris is having on the country and bringing this huge coalition of people together.

She has jumped 16 points since July, which is just like a rocket ship, 

Glennis Meagher: rocket ship. And I'm going to double down on, you know, the vibes are high, but vibes are not votes. So take this energy, people text your friends and family, call people, volunteer. Brian, what did you say on Instagram the other day? 

Brian Derrick: Your vote is not a prize to be [00:33:00] won.

It is a tool to protect the people that you love. 

Glennis Meagher: Yes, so just make sure everyone has a voting plan. 

Brian Derrick: Absolutely. And those are all the Vibes this week. Thanks for listening. If you don't mind, please tell a few friends about our show. Now is the perfect time for them to get engaged in the election. It's been great seeing our listenership grow.

for the past few months, and we hope to keep reaching more people in the final stretch of the election. We'll be back again next week to check the vibes of the vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. Tune back in for that next week. Catch you then.

Glennis Meagher: Vibes Only is a production of Courier, a civic media company that protects and strengthens our democracy through credible, fact based journalism and seeks to create a more informed, engaged, and representative America. Vibes Only is produced by Devin Maroney with support from Courier's Kyle Tharp, R. C.

DeMezzo, Daniel Strasberger. Video editing is by Shane Verkist. Tara McGowan is founder and publisher of [00:34:00] Courier.