Shows / Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Politics has never been more chaotic, and most podcasts just add to the noise. Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes cuts through it.Grant is an AP Award-winning journalist with over a decade of on-the-ground reporting on the biggest political stories, scandals, and elections in America. Twice a week, he takes the stories dominating the headlines and breaks them down in plain English — no jargon, no spin, no shouting.If you care about what’s happening in this country but you’re exhausted by how…
Episodes
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
DHS Raided a Sitting Member of Congress Over A 30 Year Old Rumor
21 days to November 3rd. This week started with DHS raiding the Washington DC home of Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar. Grant has investigated the claims…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
We Can Fix The Economy, We Just Have To Want To w/ Labor Economist Kathryn Anne Edwards
The number one issue for voters heading into November 3rd is the economy. The cost of everything is too high. Groceries, gas, housing, healthcare. Inflation is…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Is Telling Us He's Escalating. We Should Listen.
25 days to the midterms. Trump knows what's coming. And he's telling us what the last stretch looks like.First: a mea culpa on Tuesday's episode. In trying to…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
"Let 'Em Take Out Los Angeles," 27 Days Out
27 days to November 3rd. Here's where things actually stand.In the House: 49% of Americans say they're voting Democratic compared to 41% who say Republican…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Religion. Guns. Votes. The Supreme Court Is Back. w/ Melissa Murray from Strict Scrutiny
The Supreme Court's new fall term starts Monday. Melissa Murray, NYU law professor, co-host of Strict Scrutiny, and New York Times bestselling author of The…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Jack Smith Went To Washington And Republicans Dunked On By Caitlin Clark
Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today for the first time since the January 6th prosecution was shut down. Republicans had hours to…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
A Harvard Psychiatrist Just Updated His Assessment of Trump. It's Getting Worse.
In May, Dr. Henry Abraham and about 30 colleagues published a letter saying medical professionals have a duty to warn the public about what they are observing…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The US Rolls Out The Red Carpet For The World's Leading Communist
Two things happened today that don't add up when you put them next to each other.At 1 am, a federal judge ordered Trump to immediately reinstate CNN, MSNBC…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Banned The Press And Threatened Iran With A Nuke...Again
Three things happened today that, on any other day in American history, would each be the only news story anyone talked about.At the UN General Assembly, Trump…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Did A Bipartisan Group Just Introduce a Fix To The Gerrymandering War? w/ Michael McNulty from Issue One
Only 18 of 435 House seats are genuinely competitive in 2026. That means 95% of Americans go to the polls for their House race with functionally one real…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Goes All In On Rogue AI, What Could Go Wrong?
Today is National Voter Registration Day. Go to vote.gov right now. Check your registration — if you've moved, changed your name, or missed a few elections…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
He Helped Create DHS. 25 Years after 9/11, Was It The Right Thing To Do? W/ The Steady State's Steve Cash
Twenty-five years ago today, Grant was eight years old, watching the second plane hit the second tower before walking to school. He didn't know what he was…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Begs And Bribes In Dallas. It Just Might Work
Night one of the first-ever Republican midterm national convention in Dallas is in the books. Grant was watching so you didn't have to.The arena was half full…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Republicans Are Paying $25,000 to Attend a Convention That's Just About Trump.
Something that has never happened in American history is underway in Dallas right now: the first-ever midterm Republican National Convention. Past midterm…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Lawyer for the USPS Whistleblower On The Record w/ WhistleblowerAid's David Kligerman
EDITOR NOTE: This episode was recorded before a federal judge in Massachusetts issued her ruling blocking the mail-in ballot rule. North Carolina and Delaware…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Candidates Who Rejected Corporate Money Won Anyway w/ End Citizens United's Tiffany Muller
The 2026 midterms are on track to be the most expensive in American history, $12 billion in ad spending alone, before counting what's sitting in PACs and super…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Calls 75% of Americans Stupid Over AI Data Centers
A USPS whistleblower, protected by Whistleblower Aid, came forward today with allegations that in order to meet the September 1st deadline for the new mail-in…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
She's Won 24 Lawsuits Against Trump. Here's What She Thinks Is Coming Next
This week has been one of the most chaotic and fast-moving weeks in the fight over how Americans will vote in November. The USPS mail-in ballot rule went…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's Midterm Hail Mary Is More Trump
68 days to the midterms. The road to Republicans keeping the House is all but closed. And this week the White House made a series of moves that look like the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Supreme Court Won't Stop Trump's Mail-In Ballot Block. For Now.
On Monday the Supreme Court issued an unsigned shadow docket opinion lifting a federal judge's block on Trump's new postal service rule, the one that would let…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
A Former Intel Officer Explains Exactly How Trump Plans To Hijack The Midterms
74 days to the midterms. Alexandra Chandler is the Director of Free and Fair Elections at Protect Democracy, a former Naval Intelligence officer and former…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
$40 TRILLION Dollars In Debt And Counting
Primary season is officially over. 75 days to the midterms.In Alaska, former Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola got more first-round votes than sitting…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The President's "Human Binky" And His Lawyer
Natalie Harp. She's a 35-year-old White House staffer who credits Donald Trump, not her doctors, with saving her life from bone cancer. She slept in the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
"Authoritarian Projects Don't Like Science." And Other Vaccine Truths
When the White House announced its new vaccine recommendations this week, Grant knew he needed someone who actually understands what these diseases do to human…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Sailors Are Jumping Off A Navy Ship As Trump Plays White House Foreman
The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for 250 days without making port. Sailors are supposed to dock every 30 to 45 days to resupply with food, fresh…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The American President Hid In A Catering Cart
Two stories this week. One is absurd. One is alarming. Both are real.The New York Times, backed by multiple outlets, reported that during Trump's NATO trip to…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Two Former Republican Strategists Watch the Michigan Primary. Here's What They Saw.
This is the election night conversation. On Tuesday, as the Michigan primary returns came in, Grant sat down live with Mike Madrid from The Great…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
What Just Happened In Michigan?
Abdul El-Sayed beat Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary by one point. He had a 15-point lead in polls going in. Grant was on…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Pentagon Is Out of Missiles and Crowdsourcing Ideas To Win In Iran
Four stories today, none of them good for anyone in charge.On Iran: Trump said the US was on the verge of its largest attack since World War Two. He called it…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Did Trump Use the CIA to Lie About 2020? Ex-Intel Officers Say Maybe
When Trump released a tranche of declassified documents to support his national address claiming China stole the 2020 election, most reporters treated them as…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Fauci Pleads The Fifth 111 Times
Two stories this week, connected by one thread: what happens to people who don't follow Trump in lockstep.Todd Blanche, Trump's personal criminal attorney who…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
98 Days Out. Republicans Are Drowning. Democrats Are Broke.
98 days to the midterms. Here is where both parties actually stand.Republicans: Trump has a 30% approval rating and every Republican running has to tie…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
We Don't Know How To Get Out Of Iran And It's Everyone's Problem
Eric Zuleger is back on the show! He's the reporter and analyst behind The Under Report. He spent 10 days on the ground in Lebanon during active conflict, got…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
You've Paid $1,341 in Tariffs And Congress Just Left for Summer
The House of Representatives left for summer recess today. In their final 48 hours they passed three bills and sent them to the Senate.The continuing…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Is Entering His Escalation Era
Last weekend was the deadliest stretch of the Iran war in months. Three US service members were killed and one is still missing after strikes on US bases in…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How John Roberts Broke the Supreme Court This Term
Andrew Torrez is a lawyer and co-host of the legal podcast Law And Chaos who has spent his career watching the Roberts Court systematically reshape American…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Is About to Lie to You About 2020. Here's What's Actually True.
Tonight Trump is giving a national address about foreign interference in the 2020 election. Grant recorded this episode to get ahead of the lies before they…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Lindsey Graham Died. Trump Wants to Blow Up a Mountain.
Senator Lindsey Graham died Sunday morning from an aortic dissection. He was 71. Grant's assessment of his legacy is honest: a foreign policy expert who never…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Feds Are Erasing History. America's Top Historian Has Receipts.
On July 4th, America's 250th birthday, the White House published a report on its own website calling the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
"I Have Bread That Lasted Longer Than Trump's Iran Ceasefire."
The ceasefire Trump called a once-in-a-generation peace deal is over. It lasted three weeks. Grant has bread on his counter that lasted longer.Trump declared…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Senate Is About to Explode. Here's Every Race That Could Make It Happen.
A New York Times/Sienna poll just found that for the first time, the key states needed to flip the Senate from Republican to Democrat are either Democratic…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
America Turns 250. Trump Is Hijacking It For Himself.
One week before America turns 250, Congress set aside money to celebrate the country. Trump's private organization, Freedom 250, is siphoning that money into a…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Holds His Own Housing Bill Hostage To Throw Tantrum In The Senate
The most bipartisan housing bill in 40 years passed the House 358-32 and the Senate 85-5. Trump himself called it "the most comprehensive and consequential…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Trump Turned a Botched Pool Job Into A National Scandal
A convicted felon named JJ Cafaro, who runs a company called Greenwater Services, was awarded a no-bid $1.7 million contract to paint the Lincoln Memorial…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Constitution Is Still Working... But Just Barely. w/ NYU Professor Melissa Murray
Two weeks before America turns 250, Grant sits down with NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray, co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast and one of the country's…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Signed Iran's "Deal" at Versailles And JD Vance Is Already the Fall Guy
Trump gave his longest speech since the State of the Union at a press conference in Paris, then flew to the Palace of Versailles to sign the Iran memorandum of…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
After 40 Broken Promises, Trump Says the Iran War Is Over. Did The US Lose?
Over the weekend, on Trump's birthday, the US and Iran announced they'd reached a deal to end the war. The actual text has not been released. What we know so…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
She Locked Up Detroit's Corrupt Mayor. She Says Trump Is Doing the Same Things. She Has a Fix.
Barb McQuade spent her career as a US Attorney prosecuting organized crime, including the conviction of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on extortion…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Announced a Ground Invasion of Iran. Then Called It Off, Six Hours Later.
103 days into a war Donald Trump promised would never happen, the United States is striking targets inside Iran and along the Iranian coast for the third…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Got Debunked in California, Booed In New York, and Then Iran Shot Down a Helicopter
California held its primary last week. Six days later, votes were still being counted. That's normal. But Trump, Elon Musk, and Mike Johnson decided it was…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Has Made $1.8 Billion From Crypto While President. A Corruption Researcher Explains How.
Zach Everson is the research director at Public Citizen and the head of their Trump Accountability Project. He is a former Forbes reporter who has spent a…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Hadn't Been Seen in a Week And Then Showed Up Like This?
Trump went seven full days without a public appearance. When he resurfaced, it was first in a pre-taped podcast interview with a friendly outlet where he…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's $1.8 Billion Slush Fund Is Collapsing. His Own Party Is Turning on Him.
Two federal judges have now stepped in to freeze Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization slush fund. One judge in Virginia halted all payouts. A judge in Miami…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
A CIA Veteran Says Trump Is Using "National Security" the Way Dictators Do. He's Seen It Before.
Steve Cash from The Steady State is back on the show this week. He spent his career as a prosecutor, CIA counterterrorism officer, and DHS intelligence…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Iran Violated The Ceasefire While Making A Deal, Troops Ready To Invade Cuba & Trump's Face On Money
It's a grab bag episode, because everything is happening at once.Iran launched missiles at Kuwait AND drones near the Strait of Hormuz while reportedly…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump said the Iran deal was 'DONE.' Now we're back at war.
Trump spent the weekend claiming an Iran deal was basically done, just some last-minute details to iron out. Except that those "details" were Iran's entire…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The DOJ Is Being Dismantled From the Inside, A Former Insider Explains What We're Losing
The Department of Justice has lost over 10,000 employees. The acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, appears to be auditioning for the permanent job by doing…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The DNC's 2024 Autopsy Is a Mess, Here's Everything Wrong With It
The Democratic Party just released its long-awaited autopsy of the 2024 Harris campaign, and it's not what voters were promised.The 192-page report has no…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Trump Just Shielded Himself from the IRS — And Made You Pay for It
The ceasefire in the Iran War officially expires TODAY and the White House is searching for a loophole to restart military strikes without Congressional…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Harvard Psychiatrist to Congress: Trump Is Too Dangerous to Have the Nuclear Codes
36 doctors, psychiatrists, and Nobel laureates just signed an open letter, now part of the official Congressional Record, saying Donald Trump's mental and…