Are all Republicans 'MAGA Republicans?'

🙌 Celebrating: Moms!

🏝️ Reading: The Tribe And I Have Spoken

⛓ Assembling: a bench swing

🔪 Watching: The Sopranos

🐘 Examining: MAGA Republicans

Last week, I shouted out Aziz Ansari’s guest appearance on SNL as Ka$h Patel. He was already back again last night, alongside Colin Jost’s Secretary Hegseth and guest host Matt Damon as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (is it bad that I didn’t know if he was playing Kavanaugh or Chief Justice Roberts when I first saw the clip on social media?).

Meanwhile, my Friday video covered Patel’s week at the FBI. In Normal Times™️, he would’ve been fired months ago. But these times are not normal, and satire is just literally explaining what happened in a slightly different context.

I’m just glad I was able to make the “Kash money!” joke before SNL:

Thanks to all our new subscribers this week, many of whom did not know I had left the Post. The beauty of social video algorithms is that you’ve probably seen my videos since leaving The Washington Post. The downside is that no one (including myself) really looks at the @ once they see someone they recognize on TikTok. So, in many cases, longtime fans have no idea anything changed!

I’m glad you know I’m independent now. A lot has changed and you can see it reflected in our Transparency & Ethics Pledge at the bottom of every single email. One thing I’m most proud of that separates us from the Post? We don’t use AI to make our journalism.

I hope you’ll become a paying member if you haven’t already. We’ve got big, ambitious plans for the rest of 2026. Thanks for joining us on this ride and please don’t be surprised if I keep mentioning I left the Post in future videos, until everyone on the internet knows.

Okay, let’s get into the five most important things in my life today.

Thanks to all the moms in my life, including my own personal mom Mary, my sisters Katie and Ellen, and my wife Mariana. It’s the hardest job in the world, often with the highest expectations but not enough praise. You are appreciated!

Since 2010, I’ve listened to Rob Cesternino talk about Survivor on his namesake podcast, Rob Has a Podcast. I loved Rob on season six of Survivor, and had just started getting back into the show with season 20’s Heroes vs Villains. As an early podcast adopter, it was like his podcast had been created for me. But it turns out it was for a lot of other people, too. Armed with a dream and some clout from his time on Survivor: Amazon, Rob built a reality TV podcast empire out of RHAP.

While my own job is not recapping reality television, I’ve always looked up to Rob and the example he sets every single day, producing podcast episodes nonstop. His hard work, persistence and resilience are unmatched to any content creator I know. This is not hyperbole! He’s a machine.

On top of that, Rob has made a very clear impact on Survivor, creating an army of strategists that know the game inside and out. Over time, this impact leaked into casting, as the show went from casting one to two superfans a season to casts that were almost entirely made up of superfans. And what do most of those superfans listen to? Rob Has a Podcast.

This is a ton of build up to say that I was thrilled to see Rob had released a book on the definitive history of Survivor. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far and I’m glad that this book, by default, properly gives him credit for his contributions to Survivor.

I also love all the illustrations. This Rob Animorph, showing him transform from college student to Survivor contestant to podcaster took me out.

Just in time for the warm weather, I swapped out our rotting unpainted bench swing in the back with a brand new bright orange swing. This is where I will go now in the morning to stare deep into the Missouri woods and come up with whatever weird video I’m making that day.

We got this half price from Wayfair. We are not sponsored by Wayfair. But maybe we should be?

I don’t know if you all have heard of this little tiny TV show that started in 1999 but it’s called The Sopranos and it turns out it’s pretty good? Who would’ve known that the show that is arguably responsible for the the longform cinematic television we experience today is actually brilliant writing, acting and storytelling?

Anyway, we started watching The Sopranos this last week. It’s the first time I’ve gotten into a show that is nearly three decades old without having seen any of it before. So, it’s a little strange experiencing something “new” for the first time that is clearly dated in its clothing and references. But it really holds up. Even the poor taste jokes technically “hold up” because they’re usually coming from morally corrupt people.

Despite its 27-year existence, the only thing I’ve been spoiled on is the controversial ending. But to be honest, with good storytelling like this … who cares? It’s not the cut-to-black destination, it’s the early 2000s journey.

As our toddler re-learns sleeping through the night for the tenth time, we will likely finish this episode-by-episode over several months. What show did you “discover” after it had been on for decades? Let me know at [email protected]. Maybe it’ll be our next show, if we haven’t seen it already.

One distinction I noticed news orgs making far more consistently in the last few years is the “Republican” and the “MAGA Republican.” The latter is shorthand for saying “this Republican is in Trump’s corner and was likely endorsed by him.”

This made sense for awhile, especially in the early days when the majority of the party still seemed a bit bewildered by the overwhelming support for Trump. Anyone else remember when Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz all openly hated Trump and called out his bad behavior? I do! Even in 2020, the Never Trumpers seemed determined to eradict Trump from the party once and for all.

But today, a “Republican” politician and “MAGA Republican” politician are one and the same. All the Republicans that found the courage to fight Trump were voted out. Or in some cases, they were already retiring and wanted to save their footnote legacy in the history books on the way out (people don’t forget, Mitch McConnell!).

Today, Republicans are working to bend every rule in the rulebook, fighting (and winning) the gerrymandering battle against Democrats. This scorched Earth tactic may or may not result in a Republican majority. The line has been drawn in the sand, and gerrymandered on the map. Whatever happens in the midterms, I think it’s safe to say there won’t really be any non-MAGA Republicans left in the House or Senate after 2026.

But while non-MAGA Republican politicians may be erased, will non-MAGA Republican voters remain? Most of the 2020 Never Trumpers left the party altogether. Some are actively running as Democrats. But what about your neighbor who tells you they hate Trump but could never vote for a Democrat?

I could ask the following question in the r/AskTrumpSupporters subreddit, but these days, it’s mostly trolls on both the left and right.

So I want to ask you: are you, or someone you know, in this boat? A Never Trump Republican that also happens to remain loyal to the party? Shoot me an email at [email protected].

A fun fact for you: while I was making a somewhat cheap joke about some photos of Kash Patel when I crossed my eyes in Friday’s video, I actually have that condition.

The screen grab below is what my left eye actually does when I’m not wearing contacts or glasses. It’s been that way since I was 18 months old. My mom said she looked at me and thought “I need to take him to the eye doctor” and “oh good, he can’t be drafted!”