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
An Out Of Control Week w/ Ryan Welton From Oklahoma Memo
Another crossover episode this week! Every Friday, Grant joins Ryan Welton at the Oklahoma Memo to talk national politics. The two talk all about the shutdown…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Shady Shutdown Deals And New Epstein Emails
The longest government shutdown in US history is officially over after 43 days. But the worst of the fighting in Washington might just be ramping up. Grant…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Did The Democrats Cave Or Play The Long Game?
Eight Democratic caucus senators vote to end the government shutdown after 40 days, after brokering a deal with Republicans that doesn't include protecting…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
What Is Going On With MAGA Fashion? w/ Lindsey Louise
Grant is joined by fashion writer and the voice behind the great Substack, The Official Nancy Drew Newsletter, Lindsey Louise to talk about what the deal is…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
What Can We REALLY Learn From This Week's Elections?
It was a mini-midterm appetizer sampler of elections this week across the country. At nearly every turn Democrats won in high profile races big and small. But…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's 60 Minutes Confessional
President Donald Trump went on 60 Minutes for the first time in 5 years and laid out how he sees the most pressing issues, like the government shutdown and…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
America's Revenge Politics w/ Paul Starr
Grant is joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, Princeton professor Paul Starr. Paul is the author of the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Bad Is The Government Shutdown Going To Get?
The government shutdown is a month long now, just five days behind the longest ever. But it's not the record deadline that's the big one; it's the one…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Trump's Health And 3-Term Push Are Connected
Donald Trump says again he's not ruling out a third term, even though there's no legal way for him to become president again after 2028. But that's not…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The End Of The Voting Rights Act As We Know It w/ Dave Daley
This month, the US Supreme Court looks poised to cut out the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which has been making sure Americans of all kinds can take part in…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Trump's White House Tear Down Is More Than A Renovation
The president decided to demolish the East Wing of the White House this week without warning or approval to make way for his new ballroom. The images of heavy…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Big Of A Deal Was No Kings 2?
The second round of the No Kings protests swept the country over the weekend with an estimated 5-7 million people participating in more than 2600 rallies and…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
What's Going To Happen To Rural Hospitals Now? w/ Prof. Michael Shepherd
With the government still shut down and the Speaker of the House indicating they're willing to wait it out for the long haul, the Nov. 1 expiration date on…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Is This Supreme Court Going To End Voting Rights?
Grant breaks down the complicated case being heard by the US Supreme Court that could fundamentally change how we run our elections, especially in the South…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Is The Government Still Shutdown?
Members of Congress are still deadlocked over how to reopen the government as the shutdown hits the two-week mark. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says we're…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Do So Many Of Us Believe Conspiracy Theories? w/ Prof. Joe Uscinski
It seems like American politics right now is filled with conspiracies. Deep state plots to undermine Trump. Vaccines cause autism. Joe Biden's Autopen or The…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Insurrection Act: How Close Are We To Civil War?
The White House is in serious talks to invoke the Insurrection Act over nonexistent out of out-of-control crime and invented and self-incited scenarios of…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Can Trump Just Send Troop...Anywhere?
National Guard troops from Texas are now staging at a base an hour outside Chicago, preparing to be deployed to the streets of America's largest city. Grant…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Hostile Takeover Of America's Health w/ Dr. Scott Greer
Grant is joined again by Dr. Scott Greer from the University of Michigan to get a check-up on the Make America Healthy Again movement. They talk about how…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why is Trump Making The Shutdown As Painful As Possible?
The government officially shut down this week as Democrats refused to vote with Republicans, saying they want certain access to Medicaid and ACA insurance…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Department of (Culture) War
President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth address hundreds of military generals and admirals at an extraordinary assembly to talk about the future of…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Can We Fix America's Schools? w/ Jorge Elorza
American education is in crisis. Test scores are dropping. Whole classrooms are falling through the cracks. The federal Department of Education is being…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Does Congress Actually WANT A Government Shutdown?
The federal government shuts down in less than a week, and it seems like neither side wants the blame but might stand to gain from it. Democrats want a chance…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's New Pressure Push
After the death of Charlie Kirk, the Trump administration is trying to amp up the pressure on political opponents. The FCC made explicit threats and gave…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Talking Ourselves Back From The Brink with Prof. Karrin Anderson
There are clearer and clearer signs that the Trump Administration is pulling the US into what scholars call "competative authoritarianism." Grant it joined by…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Plan To Make Free Speech Illegal
Vocal leaders on the right, members of the Trump Administration and even the President himself are calling for the government to target not just violent…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket Crisis w/ Liz Dye
With the next Supreme Court term just around the corner, it's time to talk about the Court's "shadow docket" of emergency rulings that have been happening over…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Assassination of Charlie Kirk
The right-wing commentator, youth leader, and political power broker Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event in Utah on Wednesday. It's an event that…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Birthday Book Bombshell
House Oversight Democrats release THAT birthday book with Trump's message to Jeffrey Epstein, and it sends the White House scrambling to try and tamp down the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
CROSSOVER EPISODE: Grant Gets Interviewed On Let's Pod This
Today's episode is something different. Grant is the one being interviewed on the Let's Pod This podcast, discussing how Make It Make Sense is created, his…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Epstein Survivors Demand Action, Will Congress Listen?
Dozens of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, their families, lawyers, and a bipartisan trio of lawmakers came to the Capitol to demand that leaders sign off on just…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's Proof Of Life Press Conference
After nearly a week of not being on video, rumors swirled over Labor Day weekend that Donald Trump might have had some kind of emergency. On Tuesday, the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
A Shooting in Minneapolis And An Attack On Mental Health
After another deadly mass shooting in a school in the US, Americans are looking for answers among the horror. The White House and Conservatives are using the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Dictator Week At The White House
Donald Trump floats the idea of being a dictator as he threatens to send National Guard troops into Chicago and other cities. He also uses the DOJ to go after…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Ratf*cking America w/ Author David Daley
Extreme gerrymandering is ruining American democracy and right now, the country is in the middle of a redistricting arms race. Essentially, it's politicians…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Is The DOJ Going After Children's Doctors?
The DOJ sent out dozens of subpoenas to hospitals and doctors demanding private information about their patients. social security numbers. Diagnoses…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Whose Side Is Trump On In The War In Ukraine?
Grant breaks down what happened at the Alaska Summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, how it looks like Trump got bowled over by the Russian president…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Safe to Speak? Whistleblowing In Today's America w/ Whistleblower Aid's David Kligerman
As the second Trump administration has been firing ethics officials and accountability officers, the whistleblower has become more important than ever. But who…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Is Trump Meeting Putin In Alaska?
Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday to start another round of peace talks to end the war in…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Moves To Make DC A Police State Capital
Donald Trump has federalized the DC Metro police and called in hundreds of DC National Guard troops to fight crime and homelessness in the nation's capital…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Adopted and Afraid w/ Adoptee Rights Law Center's Greg Luce
As the Trump administration continues to more aggressively target immigrants to boost arrests and deportations, there has been a growing fear among a group of…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The President Who Cried Hoax
It's been a week of big news in two things Trump has called hoaxes: Russian election meddling and the Epstein files. First, Grant breaks down what's going on…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
A Texas Sized Stand-Off Over The 2026 Election
A fight over the landscape of the 2026 midterms has been playing out in Texas, and this week it crossed state lines. Grant breaks down what's happening with…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Are Politicians Such... Weirdos? w/ Democratic Strategist Mike Nellis
Democratic strategist Mike Nellis joins Grant to talk about the future of the Democratic party, specifically with his old boss Kamala Harris who announced she…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Stocks, Locks and Two Angry Men
A little watched Senate committee boiled over this week as Senators are trying to pass a bill that would ban members of Congress and future Presidents and Vice…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's Deal Making Smoke and Mirrors
Donald Trump has promised huge things on trade and tariffs, setting the deadline (again) for this Friday, Aug. 1. But so far, those deals haven't come through…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Dismantling Justice w/ Justice Connection's Stacey Young
After a week of a lot of news comign from the Department of Justice surrounding how it's handled the Epstein Files, this week's interview is a look back at a…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump and The Epstein Files: Is It A Lie or A Cover Up?
Two bombshell reports from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times say Donald Trump is named multiple times in the Jeffrey Epstein files, and that he was…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Do Democrats Even Want To Win Again?
The official Democratic Party review about what went wrong in the 2024 election is nearly done, according to a new story from the New York Times. In it, the…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why Trump Can't Make The Epstein Files Go Away
Grant breaks down the latest chapter in the Epstein saga as one that Trump has been unable to shake. No matter how hard he's tried, it's stuck with the media…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The GOP's 9 Billion Dollar Take-Backsies
Republicans in Congress, at President Trump's request, are calling take-backsies on $9 billion in funding for PBS, NPR, and foreign aid. Despite all three of…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Will The Epstein Files Tear MAGA Apart?
The Make America Great Again movement is splitting at the seams after the Department of Justice said there wasn't a "client list," something Trump's base…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Who Are The New Generation Of Leaders? with Amanda Litman
After the unexpected victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York mayoral primary, one question has emerged; is this the new model for Democrats. The party has…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump's 90 Days Are Up... Where Are All The Deals?
Trump blows through his 90 deals in 90 days deadline, extending when he'd finally make good on threats to start tariffs to August 1. But if he's the Deal Maker…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Is Trump Building Detention Centers...Or Camps?
With the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, US immigration forces are getting a major boost in funding. A lot of it is going to ICE for new agents as…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Why The Texas Floods Are Bad For All Of Us
The state of Texas is dealing with massive, deadly flooding just outside San Antonio. While the National Weather Service did predict heavy rain and gave…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Will Trump Have To Bail Out The Big Beautiful Bill?
Congress passes Trump's Big Beautiful Bill. Despite its name, it will cut more than a trillion from Medicaid. It will make deep cuts to SNAP, clean energy…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The Senate Passes The Big Beautiful Bill...What Now?
The Senate passed the One Big Beautiful Bill that's filled with a budget that's going to remake Medicaid, SNAP, and American wealth for a generation. It passed…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
BONUS: The Supreme Court's BIGGEST Ruling Yet?
A quick bonus episode about the Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. CASA that might remake the way federal laws are applied and enforced across the country…
- Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
How Trump Embraced Christian Nationalism and Bombed Iran (w/ Matt D. Taylor)
In the conversation about the US bombing Iran, there has been a lot of talk about the mission, the policy behind it, and how well it worked. But one of the…