Issue 004 · June 2nd 2026
the UNMUTED brief
both sides. two minutes. A quick read on what the right and the left (and others) are actually saying
This week: Ken Paxton and Graham Platner please their rabid bases to great dividends (right: Trump loyalty, left: kill the Oligarchs) and Israel moves farther into Lebanon then they have in 20+ years. Plus what events we’re going to, and as usual, the death of many talking points.
Talking point that died this week
Your past will haunt you…
Ken Paxton. Graham Platner. Hell, Donald Trump. Nobody cares about your past if they’re on your side. We are far from the days of Gary Hart..
TOPICAL TAKES OF TODAY
№ 01
Paxton Pulls It Off in Tejas
— The headlines you might be seeing —
MAGA Warrior Slays the Establishment · 'Texas is in play' for Democrats · Who is Ken Paxton and why are some Republicans worried?
Ken Paxton, the Texas AG who was impeached by his own party in 2023, just defeated John Cornyn, the Senate Majority Whip, in the Republican primary. Cornyn was the most powerful Texas Republican in Washington. It wasn't a close race. This is the clearest sign yet that institutional Republicanism is functionally over and that Trump loyalty is the only currency that matters in a GOP primary heading into 2026.
→ The Right is saying
Depends who you talk to. To many, Cornyn was a RINO who blocked Trump's agenda, cut deals with Democrats, and represented the old guard that voters rejected in 2016 and have been rejecting ever since. Paxton is a fighter who survived a witch hunt and won. The base choosing representation that actually reflects their values. But to some, Paxton’s win makes the GOP uniquely vulnerable in November, disillusioned Cornyn voters staying home entirely. To them, nominating the one Republican who could actually lose deep-red Texas is a self-inflicted wound.
← The Left is saying
Again, depends who you talk to. Many focus on Paxton’s history as proof that Republicans are fundamentally the “deplorables” that everyone’s favorite HRC said out loud, bye bye process and norms! A Senate with more Paxtons is a Senate that can't govern, and that's a feature, not a bug, for the MAGA movement. On the other hand, gleeful partisans see this as an opportunity to win a seat in Deep Red Texas with James Talarico.
You don't have to agree with it. But this is what the other half of the country read this week (if they like long form)…
The right: The Dispatch, ”Our Best Stuff on the Texas Senate Race”
Those damn centrist takes: Newsweek, “What Ken Paxton’s Primary Win Means for the Republican Establishment”
The left: Slow Boring: ”James Talarico has an Obligation to Win” (paywall - but you can get 7 day free trial!!!!)
the UNMUTED question
№ 02
The War We Don’t Talk About
— The headline you might be seeing —
Israel captures Crusader castle in Lebanon · US push for Lebanon ceasefire stalls · Israeli strikes escalate in Lebanon
Israeli forces this week seized the Beaufort Fortress, a 12th-century Crusader (y’know, those like Christian soldier people) castle in southern Lebanon, as part of a continuing ground offensive pushing deeper into Lebanese territory. The US-brokered ceasefire push has stalled. Israeli airstrikes on Beirut are back on the table. What’s fascinating here is that this is a discussion largely not happening in the zeitgeist (except the pro-Palestine activists) and there’s almost no serious domestic political debate about American involvement, exposure, or endgame.
→ The Pro-Israel crowd is saying
War is hell, get over it. Israel is doing what any sovereign nation would do after October 7. You’ve got eliminating the threat infrastructure on its northern border that Hezbollah spent decades building. And frankly, history backs this up. Half measures have not worked to deter terrorist attacks from Lebanon over the last 30 years, why would stopping work now? The ceasefire pushes are naive. You don't negotiate with an enemy that is still armed and still firing. Let Israel finish the job.
← The Anti-Israel people are saying
Unadulterated colonialism. Spurred by America’s continued support, and the rest of the world’s inability to do anything about it, Israel has continued its campaign moving well beyond self-defense into territorial expansion. Seizing Lebanese land, pushing toward Beirut, and blocking ceasefire negotiations is a different category of action, and the US blank check is enabling it. The civilian cost is not being reported proportionally and American complicity is not being debated proportionally.
You don't have to agree with it. But this is what the other half of the country (or world) read about it this week (if they like long form)
The pro-Israel media: The Spectator: "Why Israel is carving out a buffer zone in Lebanon”
Those damn analyst takes: The Long War Journal, “Analysis: Israeli goals in Lebanon war shift from imminently disarming Hezbollah to reestablishing South Lebanon Security Zone”
The anti-Israel media: MS Now “Israel’s new ‘buffer zone’ in Lebanon is a huge gift to Hezbollah”
The UNMUTED question
№ 03
The Graham Platner Show
— The headline you might be seeing —
Graham Platner faces sexting scandal · How Do I Know Graham Platner Is Lying About the Iraq War? · Why the Attacks on Graham Platner Don't Work
Graham Platner, a rising Democrat Senate candidate in Maine, was caught this week in an explicit texting scandal: messages to women while married, allegedly on an app nicknamed "Predator's Paradise." His wife went public defending him, and ironically revealed even more. Nobody disagrees on the facts, but the story has been covered almost completely differently in terms of framing, depending entirely on which feed you live in.
→ The Right is saying
This is who the Democrats picked. Platner admitted to explicit texts with more than a dozen women, then sent his own wife out to clean it up. The wife's video defense only made it worse in conservative eyes, with reactions across X mocking it as a hostage tape and joking "blink twice if you need rescuing, Amy." And the texts are just the newest entry in a long file: the Nazi-style Totenkopf tattoo he wore for years, and the trove of deleted Reddit posts insulting women, Black people, rural Americans, police, veterans, and rape victims. The throughline of the attack is hypocrisy: a candidate who sold himself on military honor and working-class authenticity turns out, in this telling, to be a serial liar who couldn't even face his own scandal without hiding behind his wife.
← The Left is saying
Mixed. The Establishment is worried about a “pattern” of bad behavior - a Nazi tattoo, inappropriate Reddit responses, sexting, the concern is less about the texts themselves than about a pattern. The worry from them could be electability, but it could also just be that Establishment Dems don’t like his politics. The leftists feel differently - it doesn’t matter what the guy says or does, as long as he supports the policies that matter. Cory Booker (everyone’s favorite…) said he has concerns, but Bernie Sanders has stood by him, and Ro Khanna praised Platner for the "character" to stand against the war in Iran, against genocide, and against a lopsided economy.
You don't have to agree with it. But this is what the other half of the country read about it this week (if they like long form)…
The right calling out the left on selective coverage: The National Review “The Media’s Nazi Symbol Hunters Take A Holiday”
Those damn centrist takes: Free Press, ”Why the Attacks on Graham Platner Don't Work” (usually a right-leaning outlet, this is very well done)
Leftists not caring: Jacobin ”Why the Smears Against Graham Platner Didn't Work” (funnily enough, it’s the same explanation as the centrist take, just from a leftist writing point of view…is that funny? no. but it is true)
The UNMUTED question
The Room at UNMUTED - TONIGHT, June 2
NY State has some fun AI bills cooking up - in legal and healthcare. Will they save us from rogue AI chatbots, or just make life dumber and harder than it has to be?
Worth leaving the house for this week in
NYC
Wed 6/3, 7 PM
Magnifica Humanitas: Watch Party
Father Jonah Teller (St. Joseph’s)
Friend of UNMUTED. AI and God. Your boy, the Pope. Are humans wet robots? Good for learning about AI from a faith perspective.
Produced by St. Joseph’s.
Hosted at St. Joseph’s.
Sun 5/31, 6:30 PM
The Two Party Problem
Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) +
Daniel Russel (Asia Society) +
Orville Schelle (Asia Society)
The Three Body Problem? Taiwan vs China. Taiwan vs Taiwan. This reminds me of Netanyahu seeing Congress to spite Obama. Good for learning about the intra-dynamics of Taiwanese politics.
Produced by Asia Society
Hosted at Asia Society
Friday 6/5, 8 PM
Courage Can Save US
Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) +
Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) +
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) +
Rye Barcott (Book author)
F*ck, these guys get good speakers. Your Friday night… Bipartisanship. CIVILITY! Polite applause or real substance? Good for seeing whether civility can get an audience.
Produced by 92NY
Hosted at 92NY
That’s all for now. See you Space Cowboy…