This week on The Necessary Conversation, it’s Chad, Haley, and Mary Lou. Bob is still out recovering but he sent in a video rant about Trump’s election interference in Alaska that we watch together on air. 🗳️ With the midterms days away, Trump’s DOJ is suing to overturn election results before the elections even happen. In Alaska, the DOJ asked a federal judge to block certification of the Senate race — but only if the Republican loses. Trump said the quiet part out loud: “I’m the one that said do it.” In California, the DOJ sued to stop officials from counting over 20,000 mail ballots. Suing to invalidate elections before they happen is unprecedented. We watch Bob’s video rant about it and ask Mary Lou: what does she think Trump will do if Democrats win? 🖥️ Videos are spreading online of voting machines flipping votes from Democrats to Republicans in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Ohio — even Dolly Parton’s sister reported it happening to her. Officials say it’s calibration errors. But a ProPublica investigation revealed that Trump political appointees at DHS asked CISA to secretly hack a voting machine and report the findings to Trump — without alerting the manufacturer about any security flaws. We ask: why would Trump want to know how to hack voting machines and keep the vulnerabilities secret? 💣 Pressure is building on the Pentagon to come clean about the true damage to U.S. bases in the Middle East. Iran has hit facilities in eight countries. Hundreds of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The Pentagon is considering permanently closing some bases. Russia is supplying Iran with missiles being used against us — and Trump is simultaneously helping Russia by waiving their sanctions. Eighteen U.S. service members are officially dead and over 800 wounded, though the real numbers may be higher. 🌀 We simmer down to discuss whether reality has shifted since they turned off the Large Hadron Collider. 😵 Trump had a string of bizarre moments on the campaign trail — making strange guttural and gagging noises mid-speech, struggling to keep his eyes open on stage, and posting on Truth Social: “A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one.” He offered no explanation. The 80-year-old president was also seen with a new bruise near his temple. We ask: what’s going on with him? 🎤 Barack Obama hit the campaign trail in Detroit, rallying for Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson. Obama took shots at Trump and Hegseth, particularly targeting Hegseth’s obsession with projecting manliness. The Michigan Senate race could decide control of the chamber. We ask Mary Lou: does Obama campaigning help or hurt El-Sayed? 🤮 Republican candidate for Ohio governor Vivek Ramaswamy ran an ad featuring the estranged birth mother of his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton — a woman who was removed from her mother’s custody at 12 after her stepfather was charged with raping her. The ad uses Acton’s childhood abuse as a political weapon. JD Vance said he’s “disgusted” by Republicans who criticized it. The backlash crossed party lines, with a Republican senator saying he wouldn’t have run it and a former Ramaswamy primary rival switching his vote to Acton. We ask Mary Lou: why are Republicans okay with this? Bob couldn’t be here but he made his voice heard. Election week is next. Stay tuned. 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss an episode. 💬 Drop your thoughts in the comments — we read them all. #Midterms2026 #ElectionInterference #VotingMachines #TrumpHealth #Obama #Ramaswamy #IranWar #TheNecessaryConversation #FamilyPodcast #PoliticalDebate #MAGA #Liberal