NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Erick Erickson, Atlanta’s longtime ultraconservative radio host, just launched a rant that hit Democrats and Republicans alike. “Both sides serve one candidate’s shit sandwich, point across the aisle to the other side’s shit sandwich, and insist that you have to eat theirs because the other one is worse.” In keeping with the culinary metaphor, this caught my attention because I have long felt that national politics has increasingly become a stew of hypocrisy. Watching Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders endorse Graham Platner, the extremely strange Senate candidate from Maine with a Nazi tattoo, was stomach-churning. You just know that the liberal wing would have savagely attacked him if he were a Republican. They and other Democrats finally got off the bandwagon when news broke that Platner’s ex-girlfriend alleged he had raped her. TRUMP TO MEET MAMDANI IN NEW YORK AMID HIGH-Stake MEDIUM-TERM PUSH Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine, points out a covered tattoo that had previously been an image recognized as a Nazi symbol, during an interview Wednesday in Portland, Maine. (WGME via AP) Republicans rallied behind North Carolina Rep. Chuck Edwards despite growing allegations that he had fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment. But then the House ethics committee called for his censure for inappropriate actions toward two employees. The congressman showered them with gifts (jewelry totaling more than $1,000, designer handbags, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, a KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuum cleaners, vacations, tickets to shows and one-on-one dinners, if you need to know). Fellow North Carolina lawmaker Sen. Ted Budd urged Edwards to withdraw from the race, and the congressman quickly complied. “Cycle after cycle,” Erickson says, “we never get better candidates. We get more corrupt, more terrible candidates, and once again we are told we must vote for them or the republic will fall… Apocalyptic prophecies are simply the parties’ way of tricking voters into holding their noses for their pet perversions.” It all depends on whether you have a D or an R after your name. It’s a masterclass in selective outrage, and if your target changed parties, you would immediately change your stance. Erick Erickson argued that both parties are forcing voters to accept flawed candidates, and warned that selective outrage and political hypocrisy are fueling voter frustration ahead of the midterm elections. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images) There is so much anger in the air right now – with war, inflation, rising prices – that liberals are demonizing conservatives and vice versa. Social media has often become a forum of pure hate. I’ll let you decide which side is worse or if you’re in smallpox camp in both houses. There are huge policy differences between the two parties, but most voters do not study them carefully. They evaluate the character of the candidates. If they are disappointed, it is very likely that many will simply stay home. And turnout is crucial in a midterm election. DESPITE THE PUBLIC FIRINGS, WHY WERE TRUMP AND HIS TEAM PRIVATELY OBSESSED WITH THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN SCANDAL? Amid predictions of a blue wave – even though the GOP has a much larger war chest – veteran political analyst Charlie Cook has this to say about independent voters: “They tend to be very fickle. They read, watch and listen to the news less than partisans. They tend to have buyer’s remorse and turn on anyone they want.” voted two years earlier. “Extremist candidates, once considered fringe figures, have become more common, especially among Democratic socialists who are winning primaries. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, had to apologize last month after making sympathetic comments about a terrorist who attacked a synagogue. He also campaigned with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who said the United States “deserved 9/11.” Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed applauds during a press conference in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue on August 5, 2026, in Detroit. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images) ‘DESTROYING THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE’: EL-SAYED’S POLITICAL ORBIT COMPLICATES EFFORTS TO MODERATE HIS IMAGE Darializa Ávila Chevalier, who won with the support of the socialist mayor of Nueva York, Zohran Mamdani, has called Joe Biden a “rapist,” wanted to abolish police and prisons, and was arrested for helping to take over Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. On the other hand, Texas Republican Ken Paxton was impeached by his own party. Gone are the days when President George HW Bush felt he had to apologize for calling Bill Clinton and Al Gore “these two idiots.” Back in the day, when Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill fought during the day and shared drinks after work, Howard Kurtz is a political and media analyst and former host of FOX News Channel’s MediaBuzz, who joined the network in 2013 and regularly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier and The Story with Martha MacCallum, among other shows.
