Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes

Grant gives an update on the war in Iran after a new report shows the US did in fact bomb a girls' school, Iran chooses to start deploying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, new US intel finds Trump has been lying about the Iraninan regime being weakened and a Senate briefing on the outlook of the war looks bleak. 

THEN, what does the FBI want with Arizona's election trash? The DOJ just took custody of records of a chaotically...

After struggling to explain the objectives for entering the war in Iran, the Trump administration is struggling to define whether the mission is close to completion. The president said it was "very complete," while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it was "just the beginning," only for Trump to say it was both. 

Grant explains what's going on and how we're feeling the war where it's hurting th...

The 2026 midterm election is shaping up to be the most expensive in American history, with the combined races for Senate already reaching the $5 billion. Ad spending is expected to break $10 billion as billionaires, corporations, and dark money groups spend money to elect candidates to do their bidding, much of it without the public ever being able to know who is spending a single dime. 

Grant is joined by Tiffany Muller, President ...

In a bombshell piece of news, Donald Trump announced that Kristi Noem would no longer be the Secretary of Homeland Security. After several big scandals, some really bad hearings on Capitol Hill and a major mistake of saying the president approved a $220 million ad campaign, Noem was fired. 

In her place Trump named Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin who is best known for trying to start a fight with the head of the Teamsters during a...

After three days of the Iran War, the reason the US struck first is still shifting target for the Trump administration as it tries to make its case to the American people about how and why the US is at war again in the Middle East. 

Grant explains how peace talks ended and how the President and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu worked to make a plan to attack Iran amid the talks. He also goes through the long list of changing justificat...

Grant talks to the author, journalist, activist Cory Doctorow, about his recent article calling for Democrats to create a Nuremberg Caucus to hold federal agents, administration officials, and elected leaders accountable after the Trump era is over. But, instead of building those cases when Republicans are out of power, he wants them to start collecting evidence, out in the open, right away. 

He explains his ideas about how it would...

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump made his usual sweeping statements, false claims, and insults at Democrats. 

But in what was a very long (1 hr and 47min!) speech, he left two key things out. In fact, they were two of his signature policy agendas for the year. ICE deployments and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

Grant breaks down why it's interesting that those were left on the cutti...

Donald Trump gives his first true State of the Union speech to Congress since becoming president for a second time. It just might be the most important speech in his political legacy. 

Trump is going into this speech as weak as he's ever been. His approval ratings are the lowest they've been, as are the approvals of his handling of every top issue, and the belief that he's fit to do the job. 

Grant explains what you ca...

Grant brings Eric Czuleger back on the show for the very first back-to-back guest on Make It Make Sense. 

With the largest military buildup in the Middle East since 2002 happening right now and President Donald Trump promising a "limited strike" in Iran, the world is on edge... again. 

Grant and Eric talk about how the US got here, why it's different than the last time the US bombed Iran, and whether the US is about to...

Donald Trump ran for president promising to make Americans richer and bring prices down, starting on day one. So far, that's not panning out. 

The cost of the ICE and troop deployments to US cities and around the globe has ballooned into the billions. Despite promising it would bring in money to the US, Trump's tariffs have cost Americans billions of dollars out of their own pockets. So have the president's pet projec...

The government is in another shutdown. This time, it's only a partial one. Every agency inside DHS isn't being funded, except ICE. 

Grant explains the 10 demands Democrats have and why two of them are already non-starters for Republicans who are looking to capitalize on the crises to force through their voter ID bill. 

MANTRA MATCHA

If coffee makes you alert and deeply unwell, it might be time to switch it up.

Mantra Matcha o...

Grant is joined by Eric Czuleger, the voice behind The Under Report, which covers foreign policy, open-source intelligence operations, and what's really happening outside the borders of the US. 

Most if Eric thinks is part of what he calls "strategic abandonment" by the US; the idea that the US is breaking old alliances and abandoning long-term agreements in favor of short-term wins. 

PLUS, what was the deal with the p...

As the Senate takes up the House's voter ID bill, Grant explains what's in it. Known as the SAVE America Act, along with its partner bill the MEGA Act, Republicans are hoping to make it harder to vote by imposing strict rules on who can register to vote (which already exist), showing proof of citizenship at the polls, and ending the popular mail-in voting rules. 

Grant breaks down what's behind these bills and why we ...

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are getting increasingly angry with the Department of Justice and the president after they were supposed to have been given access to unredacted Epstein files. 

Instead, what they got were files that lacked victim protections and went out of their way to protect potential co-conspirators, in direct violation of the law. 

Grant breaks down what we know from members of Congress, whether Tr...

Grant is joined by Michael McNulty to talk about a wild week of the federal government attempted to interfere in the 2026 elections. 

McNulty is an elections expert with promoting democracy in authoritarian countries and is now Policy Director at the bipartisan non-profit Issue One. 

They talk about Trump's push to "nationalize" elections, what the latest round of voting bills would mean for voters, and a brand new rep...

Grant talks to Former ICE Assistant Director for policy Scott Shuchart. Scott served in both DHS as a senior advisor for civil rights during the Obama and first Trump Administrations and as the AD for policy at ICE under Joe Biden. 

The two talk about how far ICE and DHS have fallen from their original mission and what Tom Homan is really doing in Minneapolis. PLUS the big question, what it would mean to dismantle ICE, and why Scott...

The Department of Justice has released millions of documents, photos and videos from the Epstein Files. Despite it being 6 weeks late and still refusing to publish millions more documents, what was released has some incredibly damning allegations for the president and some of the world's richest, most powerful people. 

Grant breaks down the allegations you need to know about, what the DOJ isn't doing about them, and what C...

Grant is joined by the Executive Director of TheSteadyState, Steve Cash to talk about the mission of the nearly 400 intelligence and diplomatic community members who turned their experience dealing with authoritarian governments abroad inward. 

They talk about where the US is on the road away from democracy, how DHS and ICE have changed into an aggressive, paramilitary force being used against Americans, and what needs to happen to ...

As the deal to avoid a government shutdown seems likely, Democrats are grappling with what it would mean to continue to allow DHS and ICE to operate the way it has been. 

Senators are asking for big changes at ICE, like more body cameras, no masks, and no roving patrols, but the clock is ticking against the deadline to fund the government... and keep their voters' support. 

All that is happening as ICE seems to be in full retrea...