Vibes Only

Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher
  • 4.9 (205)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

The polls are broken, the stakes are unprecedented, and vibes drive the future of American politics.  Every Thursday, political strategist Brian Derrick (founder of Oath) and new media strategist Glennis Meagher (co-founder of Generator Collective) break down the biggest stories in American politics, elections, and culture.  This isn't your standard cable news commentary. Get an insider's look at the US political machine, current news of the week, and the digital strategy shaping our world - delivered with the honesty, insight, and humor of two people who've actually worked in the trenches of US politics.  Hit follow and stay ahead of the news cycle every Thursday.

  1. 5d ago

    Ed Markey Wins and a USPS Whistleblower Complaint

    Your ballot is not cancelled. Sen. Richard Blumenthal released a 20-page complaint describing a rushed September 1 launch, a federal court order standing in the way, and one move that takes you off the list entirely: vote early. An anonymous federal official, represented by Whistleblower Aid, told Congress the Postal Service built its mail ballot verification system in weeks rather than the nine months to a year a project like this normally takes, with internal staff reportedly describing the process in language we cannot print here. Brian Derrick walks through what the system would actually do, why one bad barcode could reject an entire batch, and why the courts have already frozen it. Glennis Meagher makes the case that the panic is fair and the fix is boring: make a voting plan, vote early, and get your name off the turnout lists so campaigns can spend their time on someone who needs the reminder. Then the machinery. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned after months of friction with Pete Hegseth, six months into the Iran war, leaving the Army without Senate-confirmed leadership in uniform or out of it. The White House confirmed the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital will take a 35 percent stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, the Venezuelan firm owned by Alejandro Betancourt, in a deal signed by Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth that Sen. Jack Reed called a blatant abuse of power and taxpayer dollars. New CDC Director Erica Schwartz pulled two Pennsylvania measles deaths out of the federal tally, the first measles deaths in that state in 35 years. And Speaker Mike Johnson (good Christian man, he is - lol jk) told CNN's Manu Raju he still supports Max Miller's re-election and we have the receipts. Ed Markey held off Seth Moulton, which sets up Brian and Glennis on the actual argument underneath the age fight: what a 51-seat Senate majority means when any single absence gives it away. Your Oath Candidate of the Week is Matt Dunlap, running against Paul LePage for Jared Golden's open seat in Maine's 2nd.  Also for Clickbait or Double-Click we cover Kalshi suspending Laurie Buckhout for betting on her own race (and George Santos being back in the news whyyy), the RNC scheduling its first-ever midterm convention against the NFL opener, and the NTSB tracing a Marine One close call back to White House ballroom construction. Your Good Vibe Goodbye is Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields, which raised 20 million dollars for ten women's and girls' organizations after Melinda French Gates matched the total. CORRECTION: We describe the recalled Argentine beef as 300,000 tons of spoiled beef. The August recall was issued because roughly 30,000 pounds entered US commerce without required federal re-inspection, not because spoilage was confirmed. UPDATE: This episode was recorded the morning of Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Later that evening the House voted 413 to 2 to formally censure Chuck Edwards. Edwards denies the allegations and is not seeking re-election. New episodes of Vibes Only are available for download first thing every Thursday morning! Hit that FOLLOW and we'll keep you informed for the midterms. EPISODE RESOURCES/LINKS Oath Candidate of the Week: Matt Dunlap Clickbait or Double-Click 1: Kalshi Suspends Republican House Candidate for Betting on Her Own Race - The New York Times Clickbait or Double-Click 2: Influencers Have a Lot to Say About Politics. Many Are Quietly Paid for It. - The New York Times Clickbait or Double-Click 3: GOP convention will battle NFL openers for attention - AXIOS Clickbait or Double-Click 4: White House Construction May Have Contributed to Close Call With Trump’s Helicopter - The New York Times Good Vibe Goodbye: Olivia Rodrigo Raises $20 Million With Daisy Chain Fields Festival Thanks to Matching Commitment From Melinda French Gates - Variety Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Ed Markey Wins and a USPS Whistleblower Complaint

  2. Aug 27

    Mail-In Voting Panic, Ticketmaster, and Rob Sand's Iowa

    Your feed said the midterms are over. Brian Derrick says take a breath. Plus Rob Sand is the favorite to be Iowa's next governor. The Supreme Court's shadow docket order on Donald Trump's mail-in voting executive order launched a thousand dramatic headlines this week. Brian Derrick walks through what the 6-3 order actually did, which was lift one of two injunctions on standing grounds, and why the slow churn of the courts may be working in our favor before November 3. Glennis Meagher explains why the panic is still a fair feeling with ballots going out in a matter of weeks across 24 jurisdictions, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin among them. Also, Glennis looked up who cast a mail ballot in Florida's August 18 primary. It was Donald Trump. Then the numbers. Second quarter GDP growth came in at 1.5 percent, down from 2.1. New 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods took effect over the weekend and Mark Carney's government answered within days. Brian explains the death of deference, which is how a president keeps doing the exact thing the Supreme Court told him he cannot do, by citing a new law every single time. Glennis opens a new weekly corruption beat with the Wall Street Journal's reporting on Live Nation. Michael Rapino sat down with Trump in the Oval Office on February 27 to talk Kennedy Center bookings, and Trump asked why the antitrust case had not settled. Two words to a senior DOJ official, settle it, and a case built over years was resolved days into trial. Brian lays out how far the pattern now runs: four airlines controlling 70 percent of the market, three carriers controlling 98 percent of wireless, two companies controlling every pair of sunglasses you have ever owned. Plus the Joint Economic Committee report on Trump's oil and gas holdings during a war he started. Also this week for Clickbait or Double Click: the Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner meeting that content creator land could not stop talking about, CIA Director John Ratcliffe's unannounced trip to Moscow, and DHS quietly conceding that its 16,000 noncitizen voters in Nevada figure was preliminary, with only 185 confirmed so far. Then your Oath Candidate of the Week doubles as your Good Vibe Goodbye. Rob Sand is running for governor of Iowa, multiple prognosticators now have him as the favorite, and his coattails could put three Iowa House seats in play. We also take a minute for Dolly Parton. UPDATE: This episode was recorded Wednesday morning, August 26, 2026. Later that day the Kremlin confirmed Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence counterparts in Moscow and said Vladimir Putin was briefed but did not attend. Trump called the trip "semi-routine." New episodes of Vibes Only are available for download first thing every Thursday morning! Hit that FOLLOW and we'll keep you informed for the midterms. EPISODE RESOURCES/LINKS The Oath Candidate of the Week: Rob Sands Clickbait or Double-Click 1: Jeffries Defends Kushner Meeting, Vowing Tough Oversight of Trump - The New York Times Clickbait or Double-Click 2: White House Crops Natalie Harp Out of Grand Prix Content - Rolling Stone Clickbait or Double-Click 3: DHS acknowledges the noncitizen numbers it touted on voter rolls were inflated - NPR Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Mail-In Voting Panic, Ticketmaster, and Rob Sand's Iowa

  3. Aug 20

    Angie Nixon Won. Now What?

    Angie Nixon was outspent 16 to 1 and won Florida anyway. Brian Derrick breaks down what the establishment missed, and Alaska's Parent Trap problem with two Dan Sullivans on the ballot. Angie Nixon beat Alexander Vindman with 56 percent in the Democratic primary for Florida's Senate special election, the race to finish Marco Rubio's term through 2028. Brian's read is that the prognosticators missed a state legislator who physically showed up for every fight in Florida while a creator ecosystem amplified her all year. Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the race to safe Republican the next morning. Oath has not. She faces Ashley Moody in November. In Alaska, Mary Peltola finished as the top vote-getter ahead of incumbent Dan Sullivan, and there is a second Dan Sullivan on that ballot, a former fifth grade teacher running as a Republican who pulled about 2.5 percent. Republicans tried to strike his name. The courts said no. Then Brian gives the full midterm TLDR. The four Senate seats Democrats need and the order they are likeliest to come in. Why the House is the must-win. The 36 governor's races, from David Crowley in Wisconsin to Amy Acton in Ohio. And the part of the ballot almost nobody talks about: attorneys general, secretaries of state, and state supreme courts. Kris Mayes won Arizona by 280 votes out of 2.5 million. That is the whole point. Also: Comment Crossfire debuts, where Glennis Meagher answers the DSA members who said that criticizing Megan Romer's New Yorker Radio Hour interview was doing Republicans' work for them. Plus Clickbait or Double-Click this week gets into Zohran Mamdani promoting free Broadway tickets in four languages and the MAGA meltdown it created, Nancy Mace showing off her new tats and YouTube show on her way out of Congress, and the $900MIL White House construction bill. Last but not least, of course, we haveg a Good Vibe Goodbye starring the disgusting Cory Mills losing his primary. And The Oath Candidate of the Week is choose your own adventure. Go to oath.vote/states, find a competitive race in your state, and get behind somebody. New episodes of Vibes Only are available for download first thing every Thursday morning! Hit that FOLLOW and we'll keep you informed for the midterms. EPISODE RESOURCES/LINKS The Oath Candidate of the Week Primary Results - The New York Times Clickbait or Double-Click 1: Psaki questions Ossoff on White House aide remark - The Hill Clickbait or Double-Click 2: Zohran Mamdani’s viral new campaigns in Mandarin, Bengali and Spanish wins hearts: ‘Bro’s collecting languages like Pokémon’ - The Independent Clickbait or Double-Click 3: Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction - The Washington Post Good Vibe Goodbye: Embattled incumbent Cory Mills ousted in Florida primary - POLITICO Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Angie Nixon Won. Now What?

  4. Aug 13

    Steve Kornacki, Five USB Drives, and the Wisconsin Upset

    David Crowley beat Francesca Hong by half a point. Peggy Flanagan won Minnesota by 20. Same night, opposite answers about where the party is going. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley took the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary over democratic socialist state Rep. Francesca Hong in a nail biter that broke past 2 a.m. Brian had been telling anyone who would listen that Crowley was winning while prediction markets had Hong at 96 percent, and he takes the victory lap. His read on why: no AOC, no Bernie, no Warren, no signature policy that broke through, and a cancel Thanksgiving clip nobody could unsee. Glennis brings in the other variable, Megan Romer, one of the DSA's two national chairs, whose New Yorker Radio Hour sit down with David Remnick got clipped into oblivion days before Wisconsin voted. Also: five of nine Milwaukee flash drives showed up at central count carrying audit logs instead of results, and Steve Kornacki had to fill 90 minutes of live NBC air with nothing. Then the rest of the board. Peggy Flanagan beat Angie Craig by roughly 20 points in Minnesota, and Brian argues that race teaches 2028 more than Wisconsin does. Luke Bronin ended John Larson's 28 year run in Connecticut's 1st, the seventh House incumbent to lose after actually running, five of them over 70. South Carolina's special Senate primary heads to an August 25 runoff between Rep. Ralph Norman and appointed Sen. Darline Graham. Mike Lindell lost Minnesota's Republican gubernatorial primary to House Speaker Lisa Demuth and would not concede. David Crowley is your Oath Candidate of the Week, and he is starting from zero with a general election against Rep. Tom Tiffany in November. Plus AOC telling Jonathan Karl on ABC's This Week that "Woke 1 was crazy," and the real question underneath it: can somebody who was loud during Woke 1 be the 2028 nominee? Brian says the jury is out. Glennis says yes and names her candidate. Then the economy, where July CPI landed at 3.4 percent, the July jobs report came in at negative 23,000 against expectations near 85,000 with another 103,000 knocked off May and June, and workers' share of national income sits at its lowest point since tracking began in 1947.  Also this week for Clickbait or Double-Click: Trump slipping off Air Force One into an airport catering truck in Ankara while the press flew the decoy, Mamdani backing Tiffany Cabán's Delivery Protection Act to force Amazon to directly employ its delivery drivers, and the New York Times piece on Flock cameras that has liberals and conservatives mad at the same thing. Then a Good Vibe Goodbye where a guy on the Brooklyn Museum steps asks Mamdani to find him a date and the mayor's office answers with a borough by borough summer guide for anyone looking for cheap and cheerful dates in NYC. UPDATE: This episode was recorded Wednesday morning, August 12, 2026, while Wisconsin votes were still being counted. Since recording, the Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ officially called the race for David Crowley, who secured the nomination with 39.8% of the vote compared to Francesca Hong's 39.4%. New episodes of Vibes Only are available for download first thing every Thursday morning! Hit that FOLLOW and we'll keep you informed for the midterms. EPISODE RESOURCES/LINKS The Oath Candidate of the Week: David Crowley for WI Primary Results - The New York Times How Socialist Is the D.S.A.? Megan Romer Explains | The New Yorker Radio Hour Anything is Possible: AOC on Political Future Iran Insists Strait Will Stay Closed Until U.S. Agrees to Demands - The New York Times Labor Market Shifts Into Reverse as Employers Balk at Hiring - The New York Times Trump Said to Have Secretly Used Military Jet to Leave Turkey Amid Threats From Iran - The New York Times Fight Brews Between Mamdani and Amazon Over Delivery Workers - The New York Times Flock Cameras Can Track Every Car in America. Police Love Them. Citizens Don’t. - The New York Times Fix This Mamdani - Instagram Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Steve Kornacki, Five USB Drives, and the Wisconsin Upset

  5. Trailer

    Vibes Only is Your Weekly Guide to the 2026 Midterms

    Vibes Only is a weekly political podcast hosted by Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher, two strategists who have spent their careers inside the machine. Brian is a political strategist and the founder of Oath, a platform that has raised millions for candidates in state and local elections. Glennis is a political and new media strategist and the co-founder of Generator Collective. Election day is November 3. Between now and then you are going to hear a lot of noise engineered to make you feel helpless. Vibes Only with Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher is the antidote... The news, the races, and the culture, explained the way two people who actually work in this business talk when the cameras and microphones are off. No panic. No jargon. No consultant speak. Just the vibes with receipts attached. New episodes every Thursday. Start here, then follow the show and pick any episode. If you like what you hear, a rating and a review is the single biggest thing you can do to help other people find us. Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

  6. Aug 6

    Abdul El-Sayed on Hasan Piker and His Narrow Win

    Abdul El-Sayed narrowly won his Michigan primary against Haley Stevens. Brian breaks down what that proves, and the much harder thing progressives have to prove next in the generals. Abdul El-Sayed beat Haley Stevens in the Michigan Senate primary and now faces Republican Mike Rogers for a seat Democrats almost certainly need. Brian had it at two to three points in his pre election briefing while the loud polling said ten plus, and he explains why the margin matters less than what comes next. Michigan is a must win. It is also the first real test of whether the progressive surge that started with Mamdani actually converts in a general. The rest of the map was messier. William Lawrence, who helped found Sunrise Movement, took Michigan's 7th with 43 percent against two moderates who together got more. Donavan McKinney took the 13th. In Missouri, Wesley Bell beat Cori Bush in a race that drew 8.4 million dollars, 7.2 million of it behind Bell. Virginia moderates swept. Brian's read: progressives just bought themselves a put up or shut up November. Glennis makes the case that what moves a general is relational organizing and message discipline, not plane tickets. Then the money. Nike booked a 986 million dollar tariff refund. Ford expects 1.3 billion. Businesses can claim roughly 166 billion total after the Supreme Court threw out the IEEPA tariffs in February, S&P 500 profits are running near 50 percent year over year, and your grocery bill has not moved. Brian's question is the one nobody is asking: the tariffs are gone, so where is the price drop? Also: Oath's new Dirtbag Slate, Chuck Edwards dropping his reelection bid hours after the House Ethics Committee recommended censure, Todd Blanche clearing committee 12 to 10, and Brian teaching Glennis what vibe coding is. Clickbait or Double Click takes on Gen Z and the cost of a first date, California's billionaire tax, and Jeanine Pirro walking back the reflecting pool cases. Then a Good Vibe Goodbye out of Missouri and Kansas, where voters buried two Republican amendments to their state constitutions. UPDATE: This episode was recorded Wednesday morning, August 5, 2026. At time of recording, The Associated Press called Michigan for El-Sayed at 9:56 a.m. that morning and Haley Stevens conceded shortly after and Todd Blanche has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee but has not received a full floor vote. New episodes drop every Thursday morning! Hit that FOLLOW and we’ll help you stay informed for the midterms. EPISODE RESOURCES/LINKS Defeat the Dirtbags with Oath Clickbait or Double-click 1: Gen Z Can’t Afford a First Date - The New York Times Clickbait or Double-click 2: California Democrats Support Billionaire Tax, Infighting Lingers - The New York Times Clickbait or Double-click 3: Prosecutor in D.C. Moves to Dismiss More Reflecting Pool Cases - The New York Times Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Abdul El-Sayed on Hasan Piker and His Narrow Win

  7. Jul 30

    Jon Ossoff's Guide to Winning Georgia?

    Jon Ossoff's 2020 interview is going viral again. Brian Derrick says Ossoff could win over median voters and that the internet's response right now is bananas, while Glennis Meagher is watching for a different problem entirely. The clip is from a November 2020 Axios on HBO interview and features a rapid round of yes or no questions: Green New Deal, Medicare for All, defunding the police, abolishing ICE, expanding the Supreme Court. Ossoff answered no to a lot of it. Nearly six years later it is circulating as a gotcha, and Brian's read is the opposite: this is how you win Georgia. Georgia is where the median voter lives, and Brian says Jon's clarity matters more than his answers. Glennis takes on the part of this convo few in the mainstream seem to be talking about, which is what happens to a candidate when a video from six years ago resurfaces mid campaign and they lose control of their own virality. This week we also get into the recently announced voting calendar for 2028. The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee signed off on the 2028 primary order: South Carolina January 22, Nevada February 1, New Hampshire February 8, New Mexico February 15, Michigan February 22, Virginia February 29, Super Tuesday March 7. Iowa is out. The full DNC votes on it in Austin next month. Brian explains why one national primary day would be a disaster for anyone who is not already rich, why going first is really about proving viability to donors before you spend down to zero, and what putting South Carolina at the front tells you about which voters the party is betting on. Plus what the Senate is actually trying to move in the two weeks before August recess: the NDAA and Trump's $1.5 trillion military ask, Reconciliation 3.0 and the attempt to bolt the SAVE Act onto it, and Jay Clayton's confirmation as Director of National Intelligence, replacing Trump's temporary pick Bill Pulte. Meanwhile John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination stuck in committee until the Justice Department kills off Trump's $1.776 billion anti weaponization slush fund in writing. Brian Poindexter, the union ironworker and Brook Park councilman running in Ohio's 7th, is your Oath Candidate of the Week, and we explain how you can help him flip a seat that got a lot more competitive the day Max Miller's divorce filings went public. Also this week for Clickbait or Double-Click: the New York Times story about Ken Martin, the DNC's finances and a whole lot of phone throwing, the Campus Guardian Angel drones that spray pepper gel now heading into nine schools this fall, and Trump's Correspondents' Dinner bit about Kaitlan Collins that landed about as well as the plane in LOST. Then we send you off with a Good Vibe Goodbye involving Kathy Hochul, your kid's phone, and the end of the algorithmic feed that has been pumping AI slop into their brains. UPDATE: This episode was recorded Wednesday morning, July 29, 2026. Late that night the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote on Todd Blanche, with Cornyn and Tillis still holding out for written assurances from the Justice Department. New episodes drop every Thursday morning! Hit FOLLOW and we’ll help you stay informed for the midterms. EPISODE LINKS Oath Candidate of the Week: Brian Poindexter Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Jon Ossoff's Guide to Winning Georgia?

  8. Jul 23

    Arizona, Maine and Michigan's $50 Million Brawl

    Troy Jackson has the delegates in Maine, Amish Shah beat the DCCC in Arizona, and Michigan votes August 4. The party endorsement is now a liability. Arizona was the only state holding a primary this month, and it delivered the story of the summer. Amish Shah won the Democratic nomination in Arizona's 1st Congressional District over the candidate the DCCC spent real money to boost. Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher walk through why this might be happening, from Randy Villegas in California to Matt Dunlap in Maine, and what it means when the national party's blessing starts reading as a potential scarlet letter. Up in Maine, Troy Jackson has locked up the delegates to replace Graham Platner on the ballot against Susan Collins, and he is this week's Oath Candidate of the Week. A fifth generation logger who got into politics organizing his fellow loggers against a Canadian labor swap, Jackson starts from zero with a nominating convention set for July 25. Brian explains why this is one of the rare Senate races where an early contribution actually moves something. Then it's Michigan, where Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed are twelve days from an August 4 primary that has pulled in roughly $50 million in outside spending, including the largest single race investment AIPAC has ever made. Plus Pete Hegseth on the Hill pricing the Iran war at $37.5 billion while asking for tens of billions more, Kirsten Gillibrand pressing him on why a supposedly decimated Iran is still killing American service members, and the drone company investments Joe Rogan Googled live on his own show. Also this week: a rapid fire Clickbait or Double Click on the Cyclospora outbreak and your Crunchwrap Supreme, the Tate brothers' arrest in Miami, and Zohran Mamdani's viral Netanyahu video. Plus why Kamala Harris keeps getting handed the 2028 frontrunner label, and a Good Vibe Goodbye courtesy of John Cornyn, two ambassador nominations and PEPFAR. New episodes every Thursday morning! Follow so you never miss a check in! EPISODE LINKS Support Oath Candidate of the Week: Troy Jackson Send us a text! Watch us on Youtube Follow us on Instagram  Oh, we're on TikTok too Follow Brian on IG  Follow Glennis on IG

    Arizona, Maine and Michigan's $50 Million Brawl
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About

The polls are broken, the stakes are unprecedented, and vibes drive the future of American politics.  Every Thursday, political strategist Brian Derrick (founder of Oath) and new media strategist Glennis Meagher (co-founder of Generator Collective) break down the biggest stories in American politics, elections, and culture.  This isn't your standard cable news commentary. Get an insider's look at the US political machine, current news of the week, and the digital strategy shaping our world - delivered with the honesty, insight, and humor of two people who've actually worked in the trenches of US politics.  Hit follow and stay ahead of the news cycle every Thursday.

Information

  • Creator
    Brian Derrick and Glennis Meagher
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    90
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Vibes Only The Podcast LLC
  • Show Website
    Vibes Only