Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
The political world is fast paced, chaotic and often it's just too much to keep up with. That's where Grant Hermes comes in. Grant has been a journalist over a decade on the ground covering the biggest US political stories, scandals and elections. Twice a week, he'll break down the biggest political news you need to know. It's never been more important to stay informed and sometimes all it takes is a little help to Make It Make Sense.
Episodes
243 episodes
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
ICE Kills A US Citizen In Minnesota, What Now?
An ICE officer shot and killed a 37-year-old US Citizen, wife, and mother named Renee Good on a neighborhood street in Minneapolis, MN. All of it was caught on video from multiple angles. Grant explains what the videos actually show...
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20:07
Trump's Old World Order Plan For Venezuela
It's been a whirlwind start to 2026. The United States is actively working to run Venezuela after bombing the country and capturing its leader, Nicolas Maduro. But we didn't do it for democracy or drugs or security. We did it for oi...
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25:50
Did The US Bomb Venezuela Or Not?
President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement the week of Christmas; the US had attacked a Venezuelan port with a drone strike. But no one has been able to prove it definitively, leaving Americans wondering, are we at war or not?Gr...
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13:03
The MIMS Christmas Story Special!
The first of what might be a new tradition here at Make It Make Sense. Grant reads you some of his favorite Christmas and holiday stories! First, The Polar Express. The Caldecott Medal-winning classic from 1985 by...
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18:45
The Epstein Files Redactions Are "Breaking The Law"
The Department of Justice missed its deadline to release all the Epstein files to the public and is now actively saying it's going to continue to break the law by continuing to withhold documents without justification. Grant explain...
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19:35
Do The Epstein Files Take Down MAGA? w/ Anthropologist Alex Hinton
With the Epstein files set to be released on Friday, Grant talks to Alex Hinton. Alex is a Rutgers Professor of Anthropology, Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, and UNESCO Chair on Genocide Prevention.He t...
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42:03
Trump's Right Hand Woman: On The Record, Off The Rails
Vanity Fair drops two bombshell stories based on months of interviews with the White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.Wiles says Trump has an "alcoholic's personality," that JD Vance is a "conspiracy theorist," and that Pam Bondi "whiff...
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19:11
"Children Will Die" Because Of Dept. of Ed's New Policy w/ Zero Abuse Project CEO, Jeff Dion
Grant sits down with the CEO of the Zero Abuse Project, Jeff Dion, to talk about the Department of Education's new policy to downgrade degrees for jobs required to report child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment. Jeff talks about the ...
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29:59
Congress Shrugs And Lets Insurance Costs Spike
After weeks of fighting over what will happen to Affordable Care Act subsidies that help millions of Americans afford their health insurance, Republicans in the Senate shrugged and voted to let prices spike. Not just for people on t...
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15:53
Who In Trump's Cabinet Is Getting Fired?
There's been a lot of talk about Trump getting fed up with certain members of his administration. Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Kash Patel, and Pam Bondi have all made the wrong kind of headlines. Grant breaks down what those headlines...
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21:34
Is This Millennials' Political Moment? w/ Amanda Litman from Run For Something
Grant welcomes Amanda Litman from Run For Something and author of the book When We're In Charge (link below) back on the show to talk about the tipping point in American politics that was this last fall. They talk about the...
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35:35
Pete Hegseth's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
It has been a week for the books for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. First, there was new, corroborated reporting that he might have ordered a war crime in the Caribbean. Second, the Admiral that Hegseth has been blam...
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18:39
Did Pete Hegseth Commit A War Crime?
A growing scandal rocked the White House over the Thanksgiving holiday. The Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave an order to kill two people who had survived an initial strike on their alleged drug boat.
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20:38
Why So Many Americans Are Afraid To Talk Politics w/ Junelle Cavero from My Code
This week’s interview is with Junelle Cavero, a State Representative from Arizona and head of political at the multicultural-focused media company My Code. She joined Grant to talk about the brand new polling that My Code just relea...
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36:28
Trump Signs Off On The Epstein Files And Chaos At The DOJ
Donald Trump signed the bill to release the Epstein files after being jammed by the Senate, which passed the bill in a matter of hours. Now it's in the hands of the DOJ to release the files which has spent months combing through and...
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17:50