What's Up with Trump's Health? (feat. Keith Edwards)

About this episode

It is Pride Month, it is primary season, and the Democratic Party is having a moment. Brian and Glennis are back with our third-time guest, political strategist and one of the fastest growing podcasters in the game right now, Keith Edwards, for a wide-ranging conversation about Trump's health, the gerrymandering debate splitting the left, and the Patagonia versus Pattie Gonia trademark war that took over every progressive's Threads feed this week.

But first, we have to talk about Maine. Graham Platner, the oyster farmer and Marine veteran running to unseat Susan Collins, is now facing reports that he sexted multiple women early in his marriage, the latest in a string of controversies that includes a covered Nazi tattoo and a pattern of bad online judgment. Brian and Glennis land in very different places on whether any of it matters, and the conversation ends up being less about Platner specifically and more about what Democrats are actually looking for in a candidate right now, and what they are willing to overlook to get there.

Then Brian lifts the mood with the Oath candidate of the week: Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy winning musician running to flip a gerrymandered seat in Texas by performing at quinceañeras and meeting voters where they actually are. Glennis, reporting from Washington DC, takes us to the White House lawn, where a UFC cage is going up for Trump's 80th birthday.

After that, Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado - who under pressure from Trump - commuted the sentence of Tina Peters. Miss Peters, if you’re nasty, was the election denier convicted of tampering with voting equipment. She walked out of prison and went straight to Steve Bannon's podcast to call herself a political prisoner and accuse Democrats of cheating in the midterms. Polis was censured by the Colorado legislature and responded by showing up to a public event with his mouth duct-taped shut. Brian and Glennis are speechless, and then they are not.

We also check in on the AI IPO wave, with SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI all signaling public offerings at a combined valuation approaching three trillion dollars, and what that level of speculative concentration in the market actually means for the rest of us.

Then Keith Edwards joins the pod. He makes the case that authoritarianism, while real, has not fully landed the way some feared, and that Democrats are in a stronger political position than they have been in a decade. He tracks Trump's health with his signature forensic attention, flags six days without a public presidential appearance, and wonders out loud why the mainstream media is not pressing harder on the story. He and Glennis dig into the Patagonia versus Pattie Gonia lawsuit, the online mob dynamics that made it impossible to read clearly at first, and why trademark law exists to protect small businesses too, not just outdoor apparel giants. And he and Brian go back and forth on gerrymandering, with Brian now firmly in the outcomes camp and Keith holding the line on means.

Also, Keith did not respond to Pattie Gonia’s DMs. Glennis is wearing what may or may not be a Proud Boys jacket. Brian does his Rick Devens impression. And the gang has some things to say about Susan Collins' continued presence in the United States Senate.

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A full bonus episode with the complete Keith Edwards interview drops this Friday, everywhere you get Vibes Only.

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Vibes Only is a weekly political podcast hosted by Brian Derrick (Political Strategist and Founder of Oath) and Glennis Meagher (Political and New Media Strategist and Co-founder of Generator Collective), two political operatives turned creators breaking down the news of the week for you in terms of politics, elections, and culture. Consider us your weekly pause from doomscrolling and consultant-speak, just some solid vibes (and receipts) every Thursday morning.