“Let’s start off by saying, Garrison, this is all lies.
asserted
this → let → ?
It’s ludicrous.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
I mean, they’re saying things that are just not true.”
asserted
that → mean → things
That’s Stress Test host David Corn, describing to his co-host Garrison Hayes the barrage of Islamophobic attacks from Republicans desperate to hold on to Congress.
asserted
That → ’ → Congress
As this episode shows, the GOP—from Donald Trump to JD Vance to Cabinet secretaries to senators and representatives—has made hateful bigotry a central element of its final midterms push.
asserted
bigotry → show → push
Those assaults have primarily targeted Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, with Vance calling him a “cancer” with “zero attachment” to America’s land or history; Sen. Ted Cruz falsely labeling El-Sayed a “theocratic zealot” and lifelong Muslim Brotherhood supporter; and Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno declaring El-Sayed doesn’t belong in Washington, DC, because he doesn’t believe “Jesus came here for our salvation”.
asserted
Jesus → target → salvation
Pointing out that Moreno appeared to be establishing a religious test for service in Congress, David says, “That’s not what the Constitution says.
asserted
Constitution → point → what
That is what Christian nationalists say.”
asserted
nationalists → say → what
The race-baiting doesn’t stop there: Donald Trump warned that El-Sayed and Democrats will invite “hordes of jihadists” until Americans “cannot even have a Christmas.”
asserted
Americans → stop → Christmas
Noting that Vance mocked the names of Middle Eastern countries as unpronounceable, Garrison observes that the veep—a member of the elite with a Yale Law pedigree and financial backing from Peter Thiel—has been shamelessly code-switching: “I mean, he’s G-dropping: ‘When I was waitin’ at the gas—‘ Like, brother, we hear you speak.
asserted
you → note → gas
We know you don’t speak like that all the time.
asserted
you → know → that
What does all this bode for Tuesday?
asserted
this → bode → Tuesday
That’s one of the themes of this episode, as David points out that this divide-and-conquer racism and white nationalism has been building within the GOP for years:
asserted
racism → ’ → years
“They really have been heading toward—I should say, maybe galloping toward—this view that there are different types of Americans, and white Christians are the only true Americans out there.
asserted
Christians → head → Americans
“But this election is gonna tell us whether motivating the far-right base is enough for Republicans to win, even in red states.”
asserted
Republicans → go → states
To that end, Garrison and David bring in Mother Jones national voting rights correspondent Ari Berman, who has been on the ground in Alabama reporting on the backlash to the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act and allowed Republican legislatures across the South to gerrymander to dismantle majority-Black congressional districts.
asserted
legislatures → bring → districts
“This Callais decision has really resonated,” Ari reports.
asserted
Ari → resonate → ?
“This is the Dobbs decision of 2026,” referring to the 2022 ruling that abolished the constitutional right to an abortion.
asserted
that → refer → abortion
“It has motivated Black voters like the Dobbs decision motivated women voters in the last midterm election.”
asserted
decision → motivate → election
Black voters are acutely aware of why their rights are being targeted, Ari says: “They kept saying to me, ‘If our votes didn’t matter, why are they trying so hard to dilute our power, to gerrymander us out of representation?’”
asserted
they → target → representation
The resulting surge in early voting may be one reason why Trump appears to be on the defensive, forced to spend critical campaign days shoring up deep-red strongholds like Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Still, another threat looms after the votes are cast, when Trump’s election-interference schemes might kick into gear.
uncertain
schemes → result → gear
The good news, according to Ari, “is that you can’t nullify an election through Truth Social, okay?”
uncertain
you → accord → Social
Even so, Republican legal challenges are already underway, and “what I worry about,” Ari says, “is what happens after the legal process has played out, ’cause I think that’s where things went crazy in 2020.”
asserted
things → worry → 2020
The MAGA playbook at this point is clear: suppress the vote, stoke the base, then cry foul.
asserted
playbook → suppress → base
Whether that strategy prevails will be determined by voters on Tuesday.
asserted
prevails → prevail → Tuesday
The following transcript is generated using automated tools and may contain errors.
David Corn:
uncertain
transcript → generate → errors
Garrison Hayes: Trump is scheming to screw the election.
asserted
Trump → scheme → election
I’m David Corn.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
And I’m Garrison Hayes.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
It’s the final countdown.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
I don’t think we can actually cue the music.
asserted
we → think → music
] But we do have plenty of things to talk about.
asserted
we → have → things
It’s getting spooky out there, of course.
asserted
It → get → course
And Republicans are emphasizing a few things as we reach the kind of end of this stressful, maybe even exhausting, but very important midterm election season.
asserted
we → emphasize → season
Explicit bigotry, I think, is how you could describe it—Islamophobia specifically.
uncertain
you → think → Islamophobia
That’s where we’re at right now.
asserted
we → ’ → where
I mean, the Republican Party and the conservative movement have been drifting this way for years and years.
asserted
Party → mean → years
Islamophobia is nothing new, but they really are turning it up to 11 as we get into the final days here.
asserted
we → turn → days
And it’s being targeted primarily at Abdul El-Sayed, but they also are making this a general push against the entire Democratic Party.
asserted
this → target → Party
Yeah, we have a video that I want to play here, and then we can talk about it on the other side.
asserted
we → have → side
…and 234 more, not listed.
The Aporia
