Watch Punching Up with Maya May, featuring special guest Tim Whitaker
Host Maya May Punches Up at the powers that need Punching, and Punches Up the message from the leaders who will get us out of this mess. Politics today is brutal - and with this election outcome, it's only going to get worse.
Host Maya May and an amazing slew of political junkies, experts, thought-piece masters, smarties, and comedians are taking aim at those in power and those vying for power, because they are the ones Up there who need to get Punched. *(We won’t punch down. Nobody needs that).
Trump and his minions have a strategy to dismantle democracy. The fierce opposition must strategically and effectively fight back. Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, and Joe Trippi talk with operatives and experts to help chart a path to thwart Trump's attempts to irreparably change America and create the essential wins we need in the 2026 midterms. Tuesdays, 7 PM ET.
WATCH Punching Up with Maya May. New episodes every Wednesday night at 7p ET.
Trump and his minions have a strategy to dismantle democracy. Strategist and attorney David Pepper joins the Strategy Session to break down what Trump and Musk are doing and why it's essential we fight back NOW! Join the fierce opposition on Strategy Session with Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, and Joe Trippi.
NEW EPISODE! Maya welcomes Reecie Colbert to Punching Up. We’ve seen the world coming down around us, and the democrats - who are supposed to be our opposition leaders - are basically silent, with a few notable exceptions. It can feel like we’re just screaming into the void, and the void is like, “Mailbox full.” So the people we expect to represent us - to guide us through this hellscape - are gone. But that doesn’t mean we’re alone. There are leaders out there who come with receipts. Black. Women. Black women have always voted overwhelmingly on the right side. To everyone else, MAGA bullshit looks like a smokescreen. Totally inscrutable. But black women can read it like the Rosetta Stone, and they’ve been trying to tell you for DECADES. Maya's guest, Reecie Colbert, knows how to fight. They talk about how to pick a fight & how to win it.
Week 1 of Trump 2.0 is in the books and, ya know, it wasn’t so bad. Maybe we all need to settle down and give the guy a chance. Kidding! He is as bad as we knew he would be and he’s only getting started. Not only are Trump’s actions predictable, they were published prior to the election in the Project 2025 manifesto. We sounded the alarms with help from all of you, so what now? Molly Jong-Fast joins the Strategy Session with Rick Wilson and Stuart Stevens to break it all down LIVE at 7P ET.
We are living through crises. Not a crisis. But crisEEEES. Many. Multiple. All the time. Every second. Just reading that is a gut punch. Really makes you feel hopeless, doesn’t it? But we got this. Juliette Kayyem, author of The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters, says crises will inevitably come. How we prepare for them before they happen and how we deal with them afterward really matters. Of course, right now, while we’re living through a crisis, we’re also dealing with the one that happened yesterday and trying to guess which one will happen tomorrow. Tonight on Punching Up, Juliette & Maya will talk survival. We can get through this, but we need to get to work. Watch Punching Up with Maya May, tonight at 7P ET.
You can't look at Trump's first 36 hours and legitimately deny that there is a fascist administration in the White House. That is our reality, so what is the strategy for fighting back against his abhorrent agenda, unacceptable nominees, and to win in '26 and beyond? To break it all down - and unpack what we saw and heard in his second inaugural address, join Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, and Joe Trippi with special guest Doug Jones at 7P ET.
The MAGA response to the California fires reinforces a really hard truth - no one is coming to save us. They want to argue about bathrooms and genders and pore over how many rounds can fit in a standard issue magazine. But they are not here to solve real problems. It turns out, that’s going to be on us. Tonight, Maya welcomes Alfredo Morales, an unlikely hero who fought fires in California for two years while incarcerated. His work - and the work of some 3,000 other inmates involved in California fire suppression each year - saves countless lives and huge swaths of land and property. In a world where the powerful spend their time placing blame and sucking up as much wealth as possible, it’s people like us - and Alfredo - who are going to have to step into the breach and solve problems. The world’s on fire, and we’re going to put it out together.
Watch Punching Up with Maya May and hear Alfredo Morales’s incredible story. Tonight at 7p ET.
Confirmation hearings for the Unacceptable Four and all their incompetent friends kicked off today with Secretary of Defense nominee and Christian nationalist Pete Hegseth. Where does his nomination stand after day one and are there any ripples in the Trump Swamp after the release of Jack Smith’s report? Simon Rosenberg joins the Strategy Session at 7 PM ET to talk about where we are and the strategy for getting to where America needs to be.
Host Maya May Punches Up at the powers that need Punching, and Punches Up the message from the leaders who will get us out of this mess. Politics today is brutal - and with this election outcome, it's only going to get worse. Host Maya May and an amazing slew of political junkies, experts, thought-piece masters, smarties, and comedians are taking aim at those in power and those vying for power, because they are the ones Up there who need to get Punched. *(We won’t punch down. Nobody needs that).
January 6th came and went without much fanfare...this time. Millions of people hold their breath, waiting for the next administration to take power. We are not waiting, and you shouldn't either. Tonight, we welcome former Senator Doug Jones to talk about how democrats - and all of us - can fight back starting right now. Join Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, and Joe Trippi with special guest Doug Jones, tonight at 7P ET.
Tune in Wednesday at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT when Maya is joined by Matthew D. Taylor, expert on Christian Nationalism and Independent Charismatic Christianity, and Jeremy Alder, comedian and survivor of a fundamentalist missionary upbringing. Can we punch up at Christian Nationalism - oh Hell yes!
Jen Taub and David Pepper are our guests this week for a special "Ask Them Anything" episode!
Join Maya May with special guest Gen Z political strategist Victor Shi. This conversation is all about short and long-term strategy and tactics. We're talking taking action and punching up for a better future!
Julia Davis, creator of Russian Media Monitor, joins Rick, Joe, and Stuart to discuss the implications of the incoming Trump Administration and Trump's fondness for Putin. They'll talk Ukraine, Gabbard, al-Assad and Syria, and much more.
It’s an open question if Trump and his Project 2025 minions have hearts, but they do understand that hearts and minds are won in our schools and universities—places, Jason Stanley explains, that democratic societies across the world are now ill-prepared to defend against the fascist assault currently underway. How do we punch back at those trying to erase our history to change the future? Join us at 7PM ET/4M PT when we’re Punching Up!
It's live Q&A time with Rick, Joe, and Stuart. Join us Tuesday at 7 PM ET.
Jen Mercieca writes: "If you look into your heart you know deep down that predatory capitalism has us all sick, has enabled a war & prison industry, that our society is configured in ways that divide and alienate us from what is our best nature, that the two party system entrenches power. Let them break it. Let them defund it. It didn't protect us anyway. The system was built on fascism. This will be our chance to rebuild a system based on democracy and equality. It's a gift, actually. A painful and stressful gift."
Okay, Jen, tell us who to punch! This week Maya is joined by rhetoric expert, Dr. Jennifer Mercieca. Wednesday, November 27 @7p ET.
With Trump headed back to the Oval Office, the MAGA Republican strategy to roll back civil, political, and privacy rights and subvert American democracy are well underway. David Noll, co-author of Vigilante Nation, joins Rick Wilson, Stuart Stevens, and Joe Trippi to lay out the strategy for beating the Christian nationalists at their own game. Join us Tuesday at 7 PM ET.