The Tony Michaels Podcast

Send us Fan Mail If AI is going to change everything, why are the only people getting a say the billionaires building it and the politicians trying to control it? That's the question at the center of Bernie Sanders's proposal for public ownership of AI. Tony breaks down why the real issue isn't whether Elon Musk, Sam Altman, or government officials control AI. The real issue is acco...

Send us Fan Mail Trump got cornered by the House vote on his Iran war powers — and the GOP split is now on the record. The House passed a War Powers Resolution 215–208, with four Republicans joining Democrats to say Trump should not be able to keep U.S. forces in hostilities with Iran unless Congress authorizes it. This vote did not end the war. But it did something Washington hates. It put names...

Send us Fan Mail Bernie Sanders is proposing a public ownership stake in major AI companies through a sovereign wealth fund. You can support that idea, oppose it, amend it, or reject it — but Congress cannot keep hiding from the biggest power question of our time. AI is already reshaping energy demand, water use, land use, labor markets, privacy, surveillance, education, copyright, public infrastr...

Send us Fan Mail Donald Trump just got a lesson in something he hates hearing: No, you don't have that power. A federal judge ordered Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center after ruling that only Congress—not Trump, not his board, not his loyalists—has the authority to rename a national memorial created by Congress. But this story isn't really about a sign. It's about som...

Send us Fan Mail The AI data-center boom is no longer a simple left-right issue. In Pennsylvania, Republican lawmakers are pushing an 18-month pause so local communities can update their rules before massive data-center projects get locked in. A Democratic state senator is pushing an even longer moratorium. Governor Josh Shapiro still wants Pennsylvania in the data-center race, but with guardrails...

Send us Fan Mail Obama had it right: don’t boo, vote. Today we’re talking about congressional term limits — and why a reform that sounds like accountability could actually take power away from voters and hand more of it to lobbyists, donors, party machines, and the executive branch. The real term limit for the House is already built into the Constitution: every two years, members have to come back...

Send us Fan Mail They want you to forget one simple truth: You are not powerless. For decades, we’ve been taught that the future is decided by party machines, corporate donors, and "protected predators" like the Epstein class. But the Constitution didn't begin with "We the Wealthy"—it began with We the People. In this special address from The Coffman Chronicle newsroom, we...

Send us Fan Mail The DOJ reportedly wants names, addresses, banking information, and other identifying details tied to anonymous social media users who criticized ICE online. But this story is bigger than a subpoena. It raises a much deeper question: What happens when government power starts asking who criticized it? In today's show, Tony breaks down why this is not just an ICE story, a DOJ s...

Send us Fan Mail Congress still has constitutional power. The question is whether it will use it. Today we break down how Rep. Thomas Massie could use a discharge petition to force Congress into a public vote on the AI data-center boom — and why this may become one of the defining political fights of the next decade. This is not about banning technology. It is about public consent, concentrated po...

Send us Fan Mail Federal judges just reminded America that the Constitution still exists. The Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is bigger than immigration politics — it’s about whether executive power can ignore court orders, avoid accountability, and punish people after getting caught. Today’s opening argument breaks down: Why this ruling matters for checks and balances How the courts pushed back against...

Send us Fan Mail AI data centers are being built all across America. And most communities are finding out after the decisions are already made. This isn’t just a technology story. It’s a story about power. Who controls the electric grid? Who controls the water? Who gets the tax breaks? Who pays the cost? And who gets to decide how the future is built? Tonight’s show breaks down why the AI infrastr...

Send us Fan Mail Trump went to China with CEOs, billionaires, and corporate power beside him — but where was Congress? This is not just a story about China. It is a story about concentrated power. When Article I weakens, Article II becomes the fast lane. And money always studies the room where decisions are really made. Today we break down: Trump’s CEO delegation to China Why Congress matters in t...

Send us Fan Mail This isn’t just another political show. The Tony Michaels Podcast exists to defend dignity, solidarity, liberty, and the idea that democracy belongs to ordinary people — not concentrated power. In this video, Tony Michaels explains the mission behind the show, The Coffman Chronicle , and the growing community of listeners who believe free people deserve dignity. Because solidarity...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Johnson abruptly canceled a scheduled House vote on Trump’s Iran war powers just before lawmakers left Washington for Memorial Day recess. The vote appeared likely to pass after a previous War Powers Resolution failed in a 212–212 tie — meaning Congress was one vote away from reclaiming its constitutional role. This episode of The Tony Michaels Podcast breaks down the real st...

Send us Fan Mail JD Vance keeps showing up like a man being tested for the chair. Tested in the briefing room. Tested in donor rooms. Tested on foreign policy. Tested in front of Trump. Tested by the machinery of power. But the real question is not whether JD Vance wants to be president. Of course he does. The real question is whether the power structure around Donald Trump believes Vance can oper...

Send us Fan Mail Trump-backed Ed Gallrein defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s Republican primary after months of pressure from Trump-world. But this was not just a local race. Massie’s real offense was refusing to obey — on the Epstein files, war powers, spending, and congressional oversight. Tony breaks down how Trump used loyalty politics to punish a Republican who challenged executive pow...

Send us Fan Mail Trump just exposed the filibuster scam. When the filibuster blocks health care, wages, voting rights, immigration reform, or labor protections, Republicans call it Senate tradition. But when it blocks Trump’s election agenda, suddenly he wants it gone. Today we’re breaking down how selective procedural compliance moves power away from the people and toward the executive. This is n...

Send us Fan Mail Tennessee Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map, carving up Memphis and threatening the state’s only majority-Black congressional district. Civil rights groups are suing, protesters packed the Capitol, and Marsha Blackburn said the quiet part out loud: the goal was to “cement” Donald Trump’s agenda. Tony breaks down how Tennessee became a case study in concentrated powe...

Send us Fan Mail Trump’s March 31 executive order on mail voting and voter lists is now being challenged in federal court, with Democrats and civil rights groups arguing the president exceeded his constitutional authority over elections. At the same time, Louisiana lawmakers are moving to redraw congressional lines after the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, with the state Senate pass...

Send us Fan Mail Trump’s Iran war is not just a foreign-policy crisis. It is a constitutional warning. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and names the president commander-in-chief. Those are not the same thing. A commander directs a war. A republic decides whether to enter one. But once again, the president acted first, Congress reacted late, and the American people are left...

Send us Fan Mail Republicans think redistricting is just math: break apart protected Democratic districts, spread voters into surrounding areas, and lock in power before Election Day. But there may be a massive miscalculation hiding inside the map. The voters do not disappear. They get moved. And in a country already going through a political realignment, GOP mapmakers may be drawing yesterday’s A...

Send us Fan Mail Louisiana voters had already started participating in the state’s U.S. House primaries. Ballots had already been returned. Then Governor Jeff Landry suspended the congressional primaries after the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. This is not just a redistricting fight. This is about election trust, representation, emergency power, and whether voters still choose t...

Send us Fan Mail Ben Shapiro and The Daily Wire are facing audience decline, ideological fragmentation, and growing pressure inside the movement-media ecosystem they helped build. But this story is bigger than conservative media. Tonight we break down: audience capture movement media outrage as a business model incentive pressure coalition loyalty constitutional accountability and why independent...

Send us Fan Mail Is John Fetterman switching parties? That’s the headline — but it’s not the real story. In today’s show, Tony breaks down why the Fetterman drama is really about something much bigger: the Great American Realignment, the collapse of trust in party labels, and what happens when Article I politicians stop acting like representatives and start acting like personal brands. Because whe...

Send us Fan Mail The Tennessee redistricting fight is about more than partisan maps. It’s about whether Congress still represents voters — or whether political parties increasingly engineer electorates to protect power. Tonight we connect: Tennessee’s map fight congressional weakness executive power growth the culture-war coalition era and the Great American Realignment happening in real time. Wat...