LARRY with Larry O'Connor

Ilhan Omar told Don Lemon there is "no legacy to honor" a year after Charlie Kirk's assassination, and posted nothing at all for the 25th anniversary of September 11th.

In the same week, police raided the Minneapolis home her 20-year-old son shares with a roommate and found weapons and ammunition belonging to that roommate, a convicted felon barred from possessing them. A Fox Digital reporter asked Omar about it on camera and got no answer.

The Homeland Security secretary, speaking to Benny Johnson at the party convention in Dallas, said of Omar: "We know that she married her brother to try to bring him in the United States," and called it an ongoing investigation. Tom Homan was then asked what denaturalization would actually require.

Larry O'Connor also covers Don Lemon's handling of the interview, Omar's record on red flag laws and weapons bans, and which other members of Congress - Rashida Tlaib, Chris Rabb, Ayanna Pressley - said nothing, or said something else, on the 25th anniversary.

Raise your hand as a Social Security voter: https://AARP.org/SocialSecurityVoter

Asked a fourth time about Hasan Piker, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed still won't say his name - he calls him "a streamer in California."

El-Sayed brought Piker to Michigan to campaign with him. On Face the Nation he was asked directly why he has condemned antisemitism but never Piker's rhetoric, and answered by counting how many times he had been asked about a Twitch streamer. The anchor then apologized for raising it. Asked again about Mike Rogers calling Piker his running mate, he made a joke about running mates instead.

Larry O'Connor also covers El-Sayed telling the press at a rally to stop asking, his comparison of his own story to Barack Obama's, the town hall in Detroit where he talks about unpaid debts, why a midterm is won on the base rather than the middle, and Mallory McMorrow on CNN saying she disavowed Piker during the primary and it didn't matter.

Raise your hand as a Social Security voter: https://AARP.org/SocialSecurityVoter

John Cornyn condemned a Republican candidate's post about the University of Texas, and Democrat James Talarico publicly thanked him for it by name.

Bo French, a Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posted a photo of the crowd at the Texas-Ohio State game with a comment about the student body. Cornyn, who lost the Republican Senate primary to Ken Paxton and said afterward that he would support the nominee, called it intolerance and asked whether other Republicans would condemn it or let it be normalized. Talarico, the Democratic nominee, replied thanking Cornyn by name and demanding Paxton do the same. Paxton's answer went after Talarico's own record on race.

Larry O'Connor also covers Cornyn's repost of a Wall Street Journal opinion piece likening JD Vance to Zohran Mamdani, Ted Cruz getting booed at the game, the enrollment numbers across the UT system, the University Democrats at UT Austin booking Hasan Piker to speak on campus, Brian Kemp endorsing Mike Collins against Jon Ossoff in Georgia, and what the Texas polling looked like in the summer of 2020.

Raise your hand as a Social Security voter: https://AARP.org/SocialSecurityVoter

On the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Larry O'Connor delivers a pointed opening on why the threat that caused the attacks hasn't disappeared, then turns to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Ground Zero remarks — contrasting them with a resurfaced 2019 clip where Mamdani framed 9/11 primarily around being bullied as a Muslim student. O'Connor plays NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch's remarks at a separate ceremony insisting on "moral clarity" about who the terrorists and heroes were, a clear contrast he says was aimed at the mayor. The segment includes video of Mamdani appearing to laugh and joke with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during the solemn reading of victims' names at the ceremony he insisted on attending despite objections from 9/11 family members. O'Connor then reviews Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's own 9/11 statement, and closes by replaying commentator Hasan Piker's recent remarks doubling down on his infamous claim that "America deserved 9/11," arguing Piker never actually walked back the sentiment, only the wording.

Larry O'Connor breaks down Senator Ted Cruz's closing-night speech at the Republicans' midterm convention, where Cruz warned about a "red-green alliance" between communists and Islamists inside the Democrat Party, drawing on his own family's experience under Cuban communism. O'Connor plays CNN Newsnight's reaction, where host Abby Phillip clashes with commentator Noah Rothman over whether Cruz's remarks target Islam as a religion or Islamism as a political ideology, with O'Connor walking through the distinction in detail and arguing Phillip doesn't understand the difference she's mocking. The segment closes with a speech from the same convention night by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lifelong Democrat, making nearly the identical argument about Islamism as an existential threat, a clip O'Connor points out CNN conveniently left out of the conversation.

Larry O'Connor breaks down Vice President JD Vance's closing speech at the Republicans' first-ever midterm convention, calling it one of the most effective political speeches of the cycle. He plays highlights of Vance quoting Democrat candidates in their own words on defunding the police, open borders, and radical rhetoric around Israel and 9/11, then explains the three strategic goals behind the two-day convention: energizing Trump voters for a midterm where Trump isn't on the ballot, touting the administration's accomplishments, and branding Democrat candidates as radicals rather than just political opponents. The segment gets personal when O'Connor covers Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed mocking Vance's late grandfather as racist toward Vance's wife, and plays Vance's pointed on-stage response defending his "papa." O'Connor closes by breaking down a chaotic moment where a protester rushed the stage waving a Mexican flag, Vance's sharp comeback, and why O'Connor thinks the moment crystallizes the choice voters face in November.

Larry O'Connor breaks down the fallout from the hung jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial, opening with a CBS Mornings clip where Gayle King presses a juror on the racial and age makeup of the panel — then visibly freezes when she learns the lone holdout juror who refused to acquit was a Black man. O'Connor walks through Gayle King's reaction moment by moment, arguing it reveals she'd assumed the holdout was white. He then turns to Oprah Winfrey's podcast, where a guest reframes the case around race and privilege rather than the murders themselves, drawing applause from the audience. In the back half, O'Connor plays juror interviews describing the holdout's behavior in the deliberation room, including a moment where he tied an exercise band around a water bottle to demonstrate how deliberate Clancy's actions were, and how he stood alone against the rest of the panel. He closes the segment with a homily from Father Dan Hill, an exorcist in the Archdiocese of Nashville, offering his take on the case and the public reaction to it.

Larry breaks down President Trump's speech at the first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where Trump told the crowd to "pretend I'm on the ballot," floated a controversial $5,000 dividend check for every American adult, and unloaded on Texas Senate candidate James Talarico's bizarre "Beat Meat" campaign moment. Plus, Attorney General Ken Paxton gets his turn at the podium, and Trump closes out the night comparing Talarico's looks to a certain Mad Magazine mascot.

Chapter compares every Medicare plan nationwide for free to recommend coverage based on your doctors, prescriptions, and budget. Call 580-308-0975 or visit chapter.com/oconnor. *Paid Partnership

Larry breaks down the Texas Senate race — predicting a coin-flip finish or a Ken Paxton lead over James Talarico — and hands the mic to rising GOP star Congressman Brandon Gill, whose midterm convention speech torches the Democratic Party's "land acknowledgment" culture and calls out its most extreme nominees by name. Then it's Talarico's turn in the hot seat: Larry replays his Fox News interview where he's pressed on saying "God is non-binary" and that there are "six sexes," and closes with a bombshell report on what Talarico's own pastor says about their congregation.

For complete Medicare guidance, dial 580-308-0975 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/oconnor

Hillary Clinton resurfaces on Morning Joe to warn about the "far right" — but Larry says her reappearance two months before the midterms is a tell that Democrats know they're in trouble. From there, the show tears into a CNN "investigation" that spends four minutes combing through a Texas congressional candidate's old YouTube jokes while giving his opponent a pass, and closes with a hard-hitting RNC ad reminding voters what some Democratic nominees have said about 9/11, Hamas, and "globalizing the intifada."

For complete Medicare guidance, dial 580-308-0975 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/oconnor

The special tells the story of how Charlie started Turning Point USA in his parents’ garage and built it into one of the largest youth organizations in the country, becoming the most consequential conservative voice of his generation.

Narrated by Mike Gallagher, Larry O’Connor, and Alex Marlow, with a special appearance by Larry Elder, the program will tell Charlie’s remarkable story largely through his own voice, including rare audio from his first interview with longtime host Dennis Prager when Charlie was just 22 years old.

The program draws from rare archival interviews and recordings, along with stories from those who knew Charlie throughout his rise from a young activist to a national conservative leader. More than anything, it will give you another chance to hear Charlie as you remember him: in his own voice.

For years establishment Democrats kept the socialist left the way you'd keep a pet alligator — feed it, show it off, use it to scare Republicans. Then Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi came downstairs and found it sitting in their chair.

Larry O'Connor lays out the mistake Democrats have made in these midterms: they invited Marxists into the coalition because they were good at organizing, and the organizers organized them. Bernie Sanders, AOC, the DSA and Zohran Mamdani won the primaries. Now the party has a turnout solution that has become a persuasion problem. 

Nowhere is that clearer than Michigan, where Democrats nominated Abdul El-Sayed, 54% of voters say his positions are too extreme, and the state's Jewish attorney general refused to attend her own party's convention over concerns for her safety.

Check out the latest news from Heartlander News: https://heartlandernews.com/

Eight weeks from the midterms, every cable panel is explaining the 2026 election with a single number — Donald Trump's approval rating — while telling you Trump isn't on the ballot.

Larry O'Connor makes the case that the number answers the wrong question. Elections are choices, not referendums, and being annoyed about grocery prices is not the same as wanting a 33-year-old democratic socialist running the country.

He walks through why August polling always looks like this for Republicans, who actually answers polls in August, and why the "polls are tightening" story arrives on schedule every single October. Then the part nobody on television will connect: the anger about Iran isn't about the Strait of Hormuz, it's about what happened to gas prices — and the national average everyone quotes is being pulled up by one state.

Gavin Newsom's California adds a premium to every gallon through regulations and taxes, and it lands in the number Democrats then blame on Trump. Plus the 2018 comparison the media keeps reaching for, why 2022 is the better analogy, and what Joe Biden's raid on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve actually bought him.

Check out the latest news from Heartlander News: https://heartlandernews.com/

Kmele Foster asked Jemele Hill one question about capitalism on CNN, and she had no answer for it. Jemele Hill argued on a CNN panel that capitalism is bound up with white supremacy.

Kmele Foster answered with Adam Smith, private property and gains from trade, and asked her what any of it has to do with white supremacy. She never answered on the set. The next day she posted the argument on X and was met with a Community Note: enslaved labor produced roughly 10 to 13 percent of GNP around 1860, cotton 5 to 6 percent, and American economic dominance came from northern industrialization after 1865. She posted again and drew a second note. Larry O'Connor then turns to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the collapse of socialism across the Western Hemisphere and his description of American socialists as overeducated and underachieving, and to the House resolution denouncing socialism that 192 Democrats voted against. Tim Burchett walks off the floor with the last word.

Check out the latest news from Heartlander News: https://heartlandernews.com/

Kathy Hochul said on live television that she wishes ICE would disband, then blamed Donald Trump for defunding the police.

At a press conference the New York governor claimed the federal government is withholding 40 percent of the state's counterterrorism money, $87 million, and translated it as Donald Trump defunding the police. Larry O'Connor walks through the vote: not one New York Democrat, not Chuck Schumer and not Hakeem Jeffries, voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security during the shutdown their own party ran at ICE and the Border Patrol. Hochul then goes further on television, calling ICE a rogue agency and saying she wishes it would disband and go back to the old Immigration and Naturalization Service. That is Abdul El-Sayed's talking point, and Larry sets it against the decades when the same coalition called the INS a secret police force, and against Hochul's own campaign stop at a New York mosque.

The clip closes on the Times Square stabbing that killed one person and left another hospitalized, and the NYPD officers who ended it after a taser failed.

Check out the latest news from Heartlander News: https://heartlandernews.com/

Kamala Harris told supporters the midterms are being rigged and to make the vote "too big to rig" — language that would have gotten a conservative channel demonetized two years ago.

Larry O'Connor walks through what the Supreme Court actually allowed on Post Office ballot delivery, and the difference nobody on cable will explain: an absentee ballot you request because you're traveling, ill or in the military, versus states like California, Oregon and Colorado mailing live ballots to everyone on a stale voter roll.

Then Scott Jennings takes apart a CNN panelist arguing that Trump is trying to stop people voting — while the host interrupts him and lets her finish. Trump's own words on turnout are in there too, and they say the opposite of what the panel claimed.

Plus the California man arrested for registering and voting illegally, who was texting a federal agent about his midterm plans while he did it.

Check out the latest news from Heartlander News: https://heartlandernews.com/

Abdul El-Sayed refused to say Hasan Piker's name at a Michigan press conference, calling him "a social media person in California" — after inviting him to campaign.

Larry O'Connor breaks down El-Sayed's damage control: the "hurt people hurt people" statement after the attack on a synagogue and a Jewish summer camp in Michigan, the walk-back that never quite becomes an apology, and the shift from "we" to "I" depending on whether he's distancing himself or defending himself.

A Fox News reporter presses him on whether he'll condemn Piker, notes that Jewish voters are asking the question, and El-Sayed shakes his head while his press secretary tries to take control of the room. Then Dave Weigel gets Piker on the record: El-Sayed's campaign asked him to come to Michigan, not the other way around.

Larry raises the question no one has asked yet — whether any money moved between the El-Sayed campaign and Piker's podcast for the appearances, the travel, or the mentions. Plus Mike Rogers on Democrats for Rogers in Detroit, the Haley Stevens voters in play, and the new ad built entirely out of El-Sayed's own words.

Check out the latest news from Heartlander News: https://heartlandernews.com/

Larry O'Connor sits down with David From of Americans for Prosperity — host of the American Potential podcast — for a Small Business Month conversation that starts with a tribute to Dolly Parton as one of the great American entrepreneurs and ends with the roadblocks strangling small business owners. David From tells the story of Colin Raby, a Louisiana farmer merging AI with agriculture, and Chris Thomas, an Ohio veteran who handed his employees a 30-40% raise after the Trump tax cuts. Plus the Mike Rowe statistic about the trades that stopped David cold.

Nominate a small business owner at https://www.AmericaBuildsFreedom.com

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner stood at a podium and said the White House ballroom is going to get blown up in an "official ceremony" — and that he'll keep a piece of it as a paperweight on his desk. Larry rolls that clip, then the one where Krasner tells ICE agents he'll hunt them down "the way they hunted down Nazis," then Attorney General Todd Blanche's on-air response. Plus: Krasner gets cornered by a kid with a camera in a public park and completely loses it, and Kathy Griffin resurfaces to explain why she's the real victim of 2017.

For complete Medicare guidance, dial 580-308-0975 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/oconnor

CNN told viewers that Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was "distancing himself" from Twitch streamer Hasan Piker — then Manhattan Institute's Jesse Arm read the anchor her own words back on live TV and the whole framing fell apart. Larry plays El-Sayed's FULL statement, the one CNN cut, and it never names Hasan Piker, never quotes what Piker said, and never says El-Sayed disagrees. Then Piker himself goes live to confirm it: El-Sayed isn't moderating on anything, and he's still their guy.

For complete Medicare guidance, dial 580-308-0975 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/oconnor