Empty Missile Racks, Michigan's Democrat Civil War, and Ariana's Exit

MayaGood morning, good morning. Welcome back to the Morning Rundown.

DavidGlad you're with us. This one's loaded. Totally. So CNN's got a report out this morning that has us a little rattled.

Speaker 3Yeah, missile interceptor stockpiles. We'll dig into what's actually driving that shortage.

DavidAnd it ties right into some tense moments overseas, too.

Speaker 3Then we head to Michigan. That Senate primary between El-Sayed and Stevens is razor thin.

DavidPlus, the DCCC just widened their target map. We'll ask if that's strategy or just a good fundraising pitch.

Speaker 3Before that, though, Ariana Grande stepping back from the spotlight on her own terms this time.

DavidAnd Perez Hilton's hospitalization, which is a heavier story.

Speaker 3We'll close it out light. Naomi Watts is now Spider-Man's AI assistant.

DavidWild. All right, David, kick us off with those missile numbers. Eighty percent. That's the number stuck in my head this morning.

Speaker 3Eighty percent of what, though? That's not a random gap.

DavidInterceptors. According to CNN's Zachary Cohen, Jim Sciutto, and Haley Britzky, the U.S. has burned through nearly eighty percent of the key missile interceptors it relies on for defense.

Speaker 3In a CBS News report, it almost the same thing on long-range missiles. The Iran campaign drained that stockpile, too.

DavidCommanders are calling it dangerously low.

MayaThat's their phrase, not mine.

Speaker 3So the real question, why didn't production ever scale up? This isn't a surprise threat; we've seen it coming for years.

MayaI mean, come on, you'd think somebody in a budget meeting would have said, order more before we actually need them.

Speaker 3It's a factory problem as much as a money problem at this point. You can't flip a switch on precision interceptors. Lead times run years, not months.

MayaYears, and we're promising to turns in what?

DavidWhat, three theaters at once?

Speaker 3That's the tension. You can write a check for defense spending, you can't print interceptors overnight.

DavidAnd it's already showing up on a second front. The New York Times reported Russia's missile attack on Kyiv exploited Ukraine's thinned out air defenses.

Speaker 3Yeah.

DavidSame shortage, different map.

Speaker 3If we're stretched thin supplying ourselves, how much is actually left to send over there?

DavidThat's the math nobody wants to say out loud.

Speaker 3Hmm. Speaking of stretched, Axios says the U.S. is close to a deal on the Strait of Hormuz, with an announcement expected today.

DavidWhat does Washington actually get out of that?

Speaker 3Unclear. Axios reported Iranian leadership signed off Tuesday, but the terms haven't leaked. I want to know what gets traded away for a quiet Strait.

DavidIt's never free. And Gaza's not settling either. AP News quoted Netanyahu saying Israel won't withdraw. Don't withdraw until Hamas is fully disarmed.

Speaker 3Which pushes back on the deal Trump's team floated.

DavidFriction between the U.S. and Israel out loud, in public, that doesn't happen often.

Speaker 3No, it doesn't.

DavidSo thin stockpiles, two hot fronts, a straight deal nobody's seen the fine print on, and an ally openly disagreeing with Washington.

Speaker 3All at once.

DavidThat's a lot of promises for a country running low on what backs them up.

Speaker 3And that gap, promising more than you can deliver, it's not only a Pentagon problem.

DavidOh?

Speaker 3The DCCC just added a dozen

DavidWow.

Speaker 3more seats to their midterm target map. P

DavidOkay, I see what you're doing there.

Speaker 3I'm just saying adding targets is easy, funding all of them is a different story.

DavidSo if the Pentagon's stretched on interceptors, are Democrats about to get stretched on cash of their own? Here's the thing. Same fight, different battlefield.

Speaker 3Yeah?

DavidMichigan Senate Primary just closed, and Abdul El-Sayed's got a narrow lead over Haley Stevens.

Speaker 3How narrow are we talking?

DavidTight enough that the New York Times ran it as a live count deep into the night.

Speaker 3So it's the party's left flank against the machine.

DavidThe Guardian framed it just like that, the universal health care progressive versus the establishment-backed moderate.

Speaker 3And the money and endorsements split right along that same line.

DavidWhich, I mean, tells you where this party's head is right now.

Speaker 3Except a primary electorate in August isn't the electorate you get in November.

DavidRight, that's the trap. Primary voters run energized and ideological; the room isn't the country.

Speaker 3Four other states voted that night, too; Washington's the one worth watching.

DavidMarie Gluesenkamp Perez

Speaker 3She survived a crowded, all party primary. The Guardian The Guardian had her taking fire from both the left and the right.

DavidWait-is she the one who bucks her own party constantly?

Speaker 3That's her-and she's defending a district Trump carried in twenty twenty four.

DavidSo Abdul's bet is go further left, energize the base.

Speaker 3And Haley Gluesenkamp Perez is the live counterargument same election night.

DavidOpposite conclusions, one ballot.

Speaker 3Democrats can't even agree with themselves on primary night.

DavidMeanwhile, the DCCC just added twelve Republican seats to its target map.

Speaker 3Twelve more bringing the whole list to fifty-eight. Politico had that number.

DavidFifty eight seats. That's a big map.

Speaker 3Adding a name to a spreadsheet costs nothing. Funding fifty-eight real campaigns is the hard part.

DavidFollow the money: half of that list is strategy, half is a fundraising pitch to donors.

Speaker 3Look how huge the battlefield is. Now write a check. Beck, that's the real pitch.

DavidNo shade, that's just how the game runs.

Speaker 3Sure, but nobody's emailing me about the House Ag Committee.

DavidThey're emailing about grocery prices and the border, same as always.

Speaker 3Right.

David:

Speaker 3The primary fight is an argument about theory; the receipt at the register is what people actually feel.

DavidAnd Michigan arguing over what the party stands for doesn't touch either one today.

Speaker 3It answers who holds the microphone-different question entirely.

DavidSpeaking of who holds the microphone---- Microphone.

Speaker 3Where is this going?

DavidAriana Grande told her Chicago crowd she's stepping back from public life and she wants it clear that's her call, not a retreat.

Speaker 3A star deciding to write her own story instead of letting everyone else do it for her.

DavidSpeaking of controlling your own story.

Speaker 3Ariana Grande?

DavidRight. She got on stage in Chicago and told fans this break isn't her running from anything.

Speaker 3Didn't she also pull out of some stage show?

DavidSunday in the Park with George, the 2027 London run, she's out. Maria Sherman's AP piece says a rep confirmed she's stepping back from public-facing work once her Eternal Sunshine tour wraps.

Speaker 3So she's announcing it instead of just disappearing.

DavidRight, she's drawing that line herself before anyone else gets to draw it for her.

Speaker 3Not a lot of people get that kind of choice.

DavidAnd that's the harder story today. Perez Hilton was hospitalized.

Speaker 3I saw that. Rough.

DavidNBC's Emilie Dorn and Dennis Romero reported it followed reports of self-harm during a live stream. I'm not going into details. It's not ours to spread.

Speaker 3No, it shouldn't be anyone's entertainment.

DavidThat's what gets me. There's a whole economy built around- around watching people fall apart on camera.

Speaker 3We click, somebody profits, and nobody actually helps.

DavidMaybe both stories land the same place, people deciding how much of themselves they hand over.

Speaker 3Yeah, that tracks.

DavidOkay, much lighter note.

Speaker 3Oh man, please yes.

DavidNaomi Watts is in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Speaker 3Wait, wasn't she his mom in that Tsunami movie?

DavidThe Impossible, 12 years ago. Variety's Zack Sharf reported she's now is now voicing Peter Parker's AI assistant.

Speaker 3From playing his mom to being his Siri.

DavidWatts said it herself, from playing your mom to your AI.

Speaker 3That's one hell of a career arc.

DavidTwelve years, same actor, wildly different job. All right, that's the rundown from missile interceptors to Michigan.

Speaker 3Yeah, and the through line's the same. Capacity problems don't stay contained. Defense stockpiles, campaign cash, it all runs thin the same way.

DavidRight, whether it's the Pentagon or the DCCC's map, the room running it isn't always the room deciding it.

Speaker 3And that contrast between Ariana Grande choosing to step back and the Perez Hilton news. News, stuck with me; one chosen, one not.

DavidMeanwhile, Naomi Watts voicing Peter Parker's AI assistant-wildest crossover of the week, hazy-if

Speaker 3you're enjoying the show, subscribe and drop us a review-it really helps.

DavidThanks for starting your morning with us.

Speaker 3See you tomorrow.