It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC.

Good morning, everyone, and happy June.

If you're happy when it's summer, happy June first.

Some recent lines and episode titles from the New Yorker's political scene podcast go a long way to describe the moment the United States is in right now, I think.

Susan Glasser and Evan Osnos are two of the co-hosts of that podcast, and they'll both join me in a minute.

They're also going to do one of these live at the

92nd Street Y this week. We'll tell you about that. But some of those episode titles,

have billionaires gone too far? Corruption toppled Victor Orban. Could Donald Trump be next?

And the art of no deal, Trump's approach to the Iran war. And these episode titles

dovetail with actual news headlines from the last few days. Did you stay with the news late

enough into Friday to see that courts, at least for now, struck down both Trump's anti-weaponization

fund, which many see as corrupt, and ordered the Kennedy

Center not to rename itself after Trump. We will see if the courts weigh in on Trump creating

a new $250 bill with guess whose face on it. But these New Yorker political writers also know that

none of this guarantees Democrats' victory in the midterms

and that they have their own branding problems. Here, for example, from Morning Edition today

is a clip of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, even as he fends off a focus on his

past behavior, which has been in the news, saying the Dems have to get more real

about how they bring it to these midterm campaigns.

Everybody knows that this system is built to screw working people.

And what we need in this country is a clear political message about who is to blame.

Because it isn't immigrants.

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