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 it’s being covered, this is the show for you. Real reporting. Clear explanations. Actual context.
Make It Make Sense drops three times a week. Subscribe so you never miss it.
Episodes
257 episodes
Pam Bondi Wants To Save The Lawyers Judges Hate w/ Liz Dye from the Law and Chaos Podcast
Grant is joined by Liz Dye from the Law and Chaos Podcast to talk about the shenanigans coming from the Attorney General's office. AG Pam Bondi is trying to meddle with state bar associations so DOJ attorneys can't face discipline for doing thi...
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36:33
Why Is The FBI Digging Through Arizona's Election Trash?
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 we...
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21:37
Trump Says The War In Iran Is "Complete," Is It?
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 Heg...
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15:46
How Big Spending Is Breaking Democracy w/ Tiffany Muller from End Citizens United
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...
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28:56
Kristi Noem Gets Fired, What's Next For Immigration?
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 pr...
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16:26
The Whys And How The US And Israel Went To War With Iran
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. ...
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20:22
Should Democrats Make A Nuremberg Caucus? W/ Cory Doctorow
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 ...
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38:54
Trump Leaves ICE Out In The Cold During The State Of The Union
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 ...
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13:34
Could The State Of The Union Be Trump's Most Important Speech?
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 ...
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17:47
Are We Going To War With Iran? w/ The Under Report's Eric Czuleger (again!)
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 "lim...
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58:09
The Trump Administration Is Getting Expensive...
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 ...
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14:19
10 Things Democrats Hate About DHS
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 Republi...
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17:42
America's Abandonment Issues w/ The Under Report's Eric Czuleger
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...
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1:10:21
Congress's Voting Bills Aren't About Protecting Your Vote
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 registe...
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17:33
The [REDACTED] Epstein Episode
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 we...
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17:06
Can Trump Break America's Elections? w/ Michael McNulty From Issue One
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 Polic...
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42:23
How To Break ICE To Fix Immigration w/ fmr. ICE AD Scott Shuchart
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. ...
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43:13
The Epstein Files Are Worse Than We Thought
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 allegatio...
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20:10
The Spies And Diplomats Working To Save America w/ The Steady State's Steve Cash
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.&...
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51:39
Is Funding ICE The Democrats' Last Stand?
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 cam...
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18:59
DHS Kills A Man Then Flees Minnesota, What Now?
After the latest fatality at the hands of DHS agents and the second in as many weeks in Minneapolis, ICE, DHS and the Trump Administration have begun to scramble. Grant breaks down the death of Alex Pretti, what we have to understan...
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16:34
What's Happening To Civil Rights Under ICE? w/ David Gans
Grant talks to David Gans about what we're seeing happen to civil rights and Constitutional rights as ICE continues to occupy Minneapolis. Gans is the Director of the Human Rights, Civil Rights and Citizenship Program at the C...
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30:12
Why Trump's Fight With The Fed Matters To You
The Department of Justice investigates one of the president's favorite political punching bags. This time it's the head of the Federal Reserve. While the president says he doesn't have any involvement, he's been targeting Grant expl...
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17:35
Venezuela, Latino Voters and Avoiding Nuclear War w/ Mike Madrid
Grant talks to Mike Madrid, the former GOP operative, consultant, and now the mind behind The Great Transformation Substack, about the bombing and capture mission in Venezuela, what it means for Latin America, Latino voters in the US, and the U...
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1:01:11