The episode opens with two back-to-back OnDeck small business loan advertisements, promoting loans up to $400,000 and their A+ Better Business Bureau rating. Megyn Kelly then launches into a preview of the day's major stories: NPR's stunning false report about Justice Alito's retirement, Serena Williams's entitled behavior at Wimbledon, and a major socialist primary victory in Colorado — a coast-to-coast sign that the hard left is taking over the Democratic Party.

Megyn Kelly reports that the DSA's electoral surge, previously confined to New York City, has now reached Colorado, where Melat Kiros — a 29-year-old socialist — toppled 15-term Democratic incumbent Diana DeGette in a Denver House primary. Kelly lays out Kiros's platform: abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, a trans bill of rights, and fierce opposition to U.S. support for Israel. She notes the DSA's official platform goes even further, calling for defunding the Pentagon, de-incarceration, abolishing police, and eliminating the presidency, the Senate, and the federal judiciary. ^{[1] — Megyn Kelly "A 29-year-old socialist just knocked out a 15-term Democratic incumbent in Denver, and the DSA's official platform calls for abolishing the…" 00:57 Play} Kelly plays Kiros's victory speech — complete with an obnoxious air horn — in which Kiros vows to fight Trump, oligarchy, and AIPAC. She adds that Kiros was reportedly fired from Sidley Austin for signing a pro-Palestinian letter after October 7 and refused to back down. Kelly also explains the 'free Medicare for All' pitch and asks bluntly: who pays for it?

Megyn Kelly delivers a live ad read for SuperSure Insurance, describing it as a 'super agency' for businesses with more than 25 employees. The pitch highlights their Fine Print Facts tool, which translates policy language into plain English, and a business value calculator. Listeners are directed to supersure.com/Megyn.

Taibbi opens by agreeing with Kelly that Israel is now the single most powerful litmus test in Democratic primaries — and that supporting Israel is effectively disqualifying in the party's base. He traces the DSA's success to that issue, noting that after the New York victories, crowds chanted 'You are next' at Hakeem Jeffries on television. ^{[1] — Matt Taibbi "Taibbi draws a sharp line between Bernie Sanders's FDR-style populism and the new DSA wave. Having actually studied scientific communism at…" 09:25 Play} Kelly then draws Taibbi into a deeper discussion of who actually votes for these candidates, observing that in New York it was wealthy white voters who backed the radicals while Black and Hispanic voters largely did not. Taibbi validates this with his own research: while writing a book on Eric Garner's death, he spent roughly two years in the Staten Island neighborhood where Garner was killed, finding the community roughly 60-40 in favor of police presence because of the concrete benefits — fewer fights, fewer robberies. ^{[2] — Matt Taibbi "Poor neighborhoods are roughly split 60-40 in favor of having police — because they live with the consequences of crime. It's elite, wealth…" 12:50 Play} He then delivers his sharpest distinction: the new DSA candidates are a fundamentally different breed from Bernie Sanders, whom Taibbi knew well as a reporter and covered during his presidential runs. Having studied scientific communism at a Soviet university, Taibbi recognizes the real ideological type — and says this new crop, who talk freely of seizing the means of production, represents it far more closely than FDR-style populism.

Kelly plays audio of CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates describing the Supreme Court's trans sports ruling using the phrase 'assigned the male gender at birth' — language Kelly and Taibbi identify as politically loaded movement-speak rather than factual reporting. Kelly also references NBC's Craig Melvin, who delivered a trigger warning before reading biological sex language directly from the Supreme Court's opinion. ^{[1] — Matt Taibbi "CNN's chief legal analyst Laura Coates described the Supreme Court's trans-sports ruling as involving someone 'assigned the male gender at …" 18:50 Play} Taibbi explains how this happened: activist groups discovered they could pressure media organizations to adopt preferred terminology, beginning with 'undocumented' replacing 'illegal.' Once that worked, demands escalated. Terms like 'gender-affirming care' entered newsroom style guides without journalists fully understanding what they meant — specifically, that the term embeds a presumption that transition, rather than watchful waiting, is the appropriate response to gender dysphoria. Networks are now apologizing for using scientifically accurate language, Taibbi notes, which he calls an extraordinary inversion of journalistic purpose.

Kelly, a former Fox News Supreme Court correspondent herself, explains why a justice retirement scoop is the single most prized story in the court-reporting world — the 'motherlode' — which makes Totenberg's failure all the more inexplicable. ^{[1] — Megyn Kelly "Nina Totenberg reported Justice Alito's retirement on NPR after mishearing the phrase 'retirement announcements' from an unidentified perso…" 21:35 Play} She walks through Totenberg's on-air apology, read in full on NPR's All Things Considered: Totenberg says she rushed out of the courtroom, heard someone say 'retirement announcements,' missed the S on the word, and assumed it referred to Alito — with no one ever naming the justice. Kelly is floored: even if she had independently heard Alito was likely to retire, that wouldn't make a hallway overheard phrase publishable. Kelly's verdict — 'either she has dementia, she's making it up, or she needs to be fired for malfeasance' — is sharp and unambiguous. Taibbi draws the comparison to All the President's Men, noting that Woodward and Bernstein were afraid to publish with four confirmed sources, while Totenberg published with zero. He also cites Rolling Stone's UVA rape story disaster as the defining cautionary tale for editors about blind trust in reporters — a lesson NPR's executive editor apparently never learned.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post tweets that NPR recognized its mistake and corrected it within minutes — asking 'what would you have them do other than not making a mistake?' Kelly is incredulous: this isn't a math rounding error, it's a massive journalistic failure at the highest-stakes beat in the business. Peter Baker of the New York Times posts that no one is more mortified by a mistake than a journalist committed to factual reporting, and that Totenberg has done the honorable thing. ^{[1] — Matt Taibbi "NPR's executive editor published the Alito story without any verification because Totenberg told him there had been a courtroom announcemen…" 28:50 Play} Kelly pivots to a damning detail: NPR's (briefly live) headline on the false story read 'Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, retires.' By contrast, NPR's headline on RBG's actual death read 'Justice RBG, champion of gender equality, dies at 87.' The ideological asymmetry is unmistakable. Kelly also raises Totenberg's previous false report that Gorsuch refused to mask up when the Chief Justice asked him to — a story both Gorsuch and Sotomayor jointly and publicly denied in a rare joint statement. Kelly's conclusion: Totenberg has been protected by her liberal politics for too long and this must be the end of her career.

Kelly plays audio of Melat Kiros in an interview with Hasan Piker calling for an immediate pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants — no ICE, no deportations, immediate amnesty. Kelly then shifts to an even more powerful story: while Kiros was winning her primary, Sheridan Gorman's mother was testifying before Congress about her daughter's murder at the hands of an illegal alien on a Chicago pier. Kelly provides the harrowing backstory: 18-year-old Sheridan was shot in the back of the neck at 1:30 AM while fleeing a gunman, and died alone on the pavement after making it only 40 feet. Her mother came to Congress to demand answers — and instead was lectured by the committee's Democratic members about procedural fatigue.

The most emotionally charged segment of the episode opens with Rep. Pramila Jayapal offering condolences to Sheridan Gorman's mother and Angel Family member Mr. Abraham — then immediately pivoting to note that the committee had now held four hearings on sanctuary cities and there were many other issues she'd rather be addressing. Rep. Jamie Raskin follows with a nearly identical pattern: sympathy, then complaint. ^{[1] — Megyn Kelly "Sheridan Gorman's mother came to testify about her 18-year-old daughter, shot dead by an illegal alien in Chicago. Democrats Pramila Jayapa…" 44:00 Play} Then Sheridan's mother speaks — and Kelly's team plays her full testimony. She was clearly not prepared for what the Democrats said, but her improvised response is devastating. She tells them that failed border policies and sanctuary city laws 'sent her to her grave,' asks when protecting Americans stopped being Congress's first priority, and then turns it personal: 'There's no but when your child is in the coffin.' ^{[2] — Megyn Kelly "There's no but when your child is in the coffin." 49:54 Play} She closes on the heartbreaking detail that Sheridan made it 40 feet running for her life before she fell. Taibbi reflects that Democrats seem to have lost the ability to sense how they sound to ordinary people — and that their disrespect for the grieving provided a massive political gift to their opponents.

Megyn Kelly delivers a live ad for The Wellness Company's Medical Emergency Kit, which includes prescription antibiotics like amoxicillin and a generic Z-Pack for treating common illnesses at home. She frames it as essential for summer travel when access to doctors and pharmacies may be limited. Listeners are directed to urgentcarekit.com/mk with promo code MK for a $45 discount.

Kelly introduces Rob Finnerty by playing the viral Newsmax clip that put him on her radar: a pointed, comedic rant about news anchors who shapeshift into exaggerated Spanish accents when reading Hispanic names — including 'Kilmar Abrego Garcia' — but never do the same for Chinese, Japanese, or Irish names. Finnerty, who once did theater alongside hockey, deploys a spot-on Irish accent to prove the point and reveals his producer had to whisper in his ear not to demonstrate a Chinese accent live. Kelly heartily agrees, connecting the practice to the broader media pandering culture she had been discussing with Taibbi regarding Craig Melvin's trans-sports trigger warning. The two then continue into Kelly O'Donnell's NBC commentary framing the Supreme Court's transgender sports ruling as Trump 'boiling it down to bumper sticker language,' which both find deeply disingenuous.

Kelly reads from an Out Sports article estimating tens of thousands of uncloseted transgender athletes at the high school level, directly contradicting media claims that only a handful of trans athletes compete in women's sports. Finnerty picks up the thread with two concrete examples: Lia Thomas, a biological male who won a Division I national swimming championship at UPenn, and Peyton McNabb, a female high school volleyball player who was spiked in the face by a 6'3" biological male in 2022, was knocked unconscious for over a minute, and suffered a traumatic brain injury requiring hospitalization. ^{[1] — Matt Taibbi "CNN's chief legal analyst Laura Coates described the Supreme Court's trans-sports ruling as involving someone 'assigned the male gender at …" 18:50 Play} Finnerty makes a moral argument as well: even if the numbers were small, as the left claims, that would not make it acceptable — drawing the parallel to Sheridan Gorman's murder, which Democrats similarly try to dismiss as an isolated incident. Kelly credits McNabb with helping build the case that led to the Supreme Court's ruling.

Kelly plays video clips from the New York Dyke March and Washington Square Park showing participants climbing poles and twerking in extreme fashion while crowds threw bottles at police. Finnerty reflects on the arc: when he worked in local Tampa news during the 2015 marriage equality decision, Pride events were relatively calm — he even had to ride a Pride float as a condition of employment. Now, barely a decade later, the same events feature scenes his local affiliate would never have aired. He notes that Seattle Pride ended with arrests of both perpetrators and independent journalists trying to document the chaos, while mainstream media blacked out the violence entirely. Both agree that Pride's cultural capture of major institutions has enabled escalating behavior that would be front-page news under any other political banner.

Kelly flags a Minneapolis policy move to repeal the ban on public bathhouses — originally enacted in the 1980s, when Mayor Ed Koch closed them in New York and cities across the country as AIDS spread without treatment. A local Minneapolis lawmaker defends the repeal by arguing that critics are 'weaponizing hypersexualization' to suppress queer community life, and that allowing these spaces would bring 'joy' to the city. Kelly and Finnerty both respond with skepticism, with Finnerty noting that bathhouses in the 1980s operated with significant corruption and documented trafficking of minors, and that there was no viable health inspection framework for them then or now. Finnerty also critiques pharmaceutical ads that normalize living with HIV rather than emphasizing safe sex, and both hosts question why the city is reviving a public health risk in an era when HIV remains incurable despite being treatable. Kelly closes by noting the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an op-ed framing the bathhouse revival as a potential 'public health win.'

Kelly plays video of Jussie Smollett dancing at Harlem Pride to the lyric 'I ain't hurt no more,' suggesting he's signaling a comeback. Finnerty notes Smollett is not a bad dancer, but that's beside the point: this is a man who staged a fake hate crime, humiliated Robin Roberts with a false interview, avoided meaningful jail time, and is now performing at a Pride headliner slot. ^{[1] — Megyn Kelly "Jussie Smollett appeared at a Harlem Pride event dancing under the lyric 'I ain't hurt no more.' Finnerty and Kelly argue the episode confi…" 1:14:50 Play} Finnerty makes a broader structural argument: cancellation simply does not apply to left-leaning public figures. He notes Matt Lauer — accused of far worse — has been largely absent for a decade, while Smollett, whose offense was fabricating a racial attack on MAGA supporters, is welcomed back within a few years. Kelly adds that Smollett was able to walk free partly because of COVID-related release conditions, and predicts he will get a second career in Hollywood because he is a 'leftist, gay, Black man' whose race hoax targeted the acceptable target.

Kelly plays a clip of Pritzker calling Trump cognitively impaired and blaming him for dementia-like statements. Finnerty points out the spectacular hypocrisy: the same party that ran Biden in 2024 — visibly deteriorating, conducting his 2020 campaign from his basement via Zoom with his wife beside him, shielded from scrutiny by a compliant press corps — is now freely armchair-diagnosing Trump. Finnerty says he's not a Trump sycophant, but two eyes and a brain are sufficient to see the difference between the two men's cognitive states. He singles out Jake Tapper specifically: Tapper covered up Biden's decline for years, then wrote a book about it for profit after the 2024 debate blew everything open. Kelly adds the Nina Totenberg parallel — Totenberg knew RBG had pancreatic cancer and also chose not to report it, putting loyalty to a liberal icon above journalistic duty.

Kelly reads ads for two sponsors: the Electronic Payments Coalition/Herald Group warning about the Durbin-Marshall credit card routing mandates and directing listeners to guardyourcard.com, followed by Birch Gold Group offering a free America 250 silver round for every $10,000 in gold purchased before July 10th, with gold cited as having risen from $1,200 to $4,500 per ounce over the past decade. Listeners are directed to text MK to 989898.

Kelly frames the Wimbledon discussion with Osaka, who famously refused to face press at the French Open citing mental health concerns and changed tournament rules to accommodate players' psychological needs. Now Osaka arrives at Wimbledon in an elaborate white kimono, commanding maximum attention — but on her own terms. Kelly notes the contradiction: Osaka wants the spotlight but not the scrutiny that comes with it, complains about press aggression but stages elaborate arrivals. Finnerty reflects on the contrast with the competitive tennis icons of the 1990s — Sampras, Agassi, McEnroe, Evert, Steffi Graf — who competed fiercely and submitted to the press as part of the job. He says today's generation has become a cohort of 'weaklings' who are too fragile to hold a press conference while earning millions in endorsements.

Kelly and Finnerty tear into Serena Williams's Wimbledon return. Kelly acknowledges Williams is the GOAT of women's tennis — possibly with 23 Grand Slam singles titles, comparable to Steffi Graf — but argues that age and entitlement have caught up with her. She lost in the first round to 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint, ranked 78th in the world, who beat the far older Serena in a third-set collapse. ^{[1] — Megyn Kelly "Serena Williams returned to Wimbledon at 44, lost in the first round to a 20-year-old ranked 78th in the world, gave a weak handshake, skip…" 1:23:50 Play} What followed was a cascade of poor behavior: a barely-there handshake to her young opponent who had just beaten her idol, a refusal to attend the tournament's mandatory post-match press conference, and a complaint to Wimbledon organizers that the five courtesy cars she had been allocated — for herself, her mother, her sister, her trainer — were revoked after her loss. ^{[2] — Rob Finnerty "Walk into that media briefing room, drink your Gatorade, and give a press conference and answer every single question. Answer every single …" 1:26:10 Play} Kelly also surfaces the 2022 precedent: after losing to Harmony Tan at Wimbledon, Serena blocked Tan on Instagram immediately afterward. Finnerty draws the Michael Jordan comparison — Jordan sat through brutal playoff losses in the media room and came back to win six titles. Serena, Finnerty concludes, 'handled it like a total loser. And it's a shame.'

Kelly plays a clip of Governor J.B. Pritzker calling Trump demented before pivoting to a lighter story: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson publicly declaring he wants to keep his politics out of his art, saying 'the main thing for me is creating.' Kelly and Finnerty both approve — they argue this is exactly what the right has been asking of Hollywood for years: just let us enjoy you without knowing whether you hate us. But the left will not allow it. George Takei and Wil Wheaton — the latter famous as a child actor in Stand By Me — have publicly attacked Johnson as a coward for the stance. Finnerty notes that The Rock has a live-action Moana coming out July 10th and that 'Republicans go to movies too,' suggesting the business logic is obvious. He then offers Johnny Carson's 30-year late-night dominance as the definitive proof that political neutrality is a winning long-term strategy — and contrasts it with the self-destructive partisan branding of today's hosts and actors like George Clooney and Ben Affleck.

Kelly closes by thanking Rob Finnerty and inviting him back, teasing Maureen Callahan's upcoming content on the Megyn Kelly Channel on SiriusXM 111. A promotion for the SiriusXM Megyn Kelly Channel plays, listing contributors including Mark Halperin, Lynn Loren, and Emily Jashinsky. The episode ends with closing ads for OnDeck small business loans and a cross-promotional ad for the 'Long Winded' podcast from host Gabby Windy.