Clock It with Symone & Eugene

From oyster farmer to progressive star to Democratic party pariah, Graham Platner has been on a bumpy ride. His campaign survived questionable Reddit posts, sexts outside his marriage and a Nazi tattoo, until this week's accusations of sexual assault hit the press. Symone and Eugene ask how all of these red flags could have been missed – or ignored – by the strategists behind his campaign. And they react to the photo of a Black woman on the D.C. Metro surrounded by the Patriot Front (or, “nasty little racists,” as Eugene calls them). “ These are fear tactics, people,” he adds. And to wrap up t

Despite feeling somewhat conflicted about the 4th of July and the semiquincentennial of the country this week, Eugene and Symone went looking for hope. They found it watching the crowds at Democratic politicians’ campaign stops. They heard it when reporters like MS NOW’s Maya Eaglin sent in tape from talking to people on the street. And they point to it in polling. Eighty-eight percent of the people Gallup spoke to in May said they can think of at least one reason to be optimistic about America right now. The most popular reason? People willing to stand up for what they believe is right. Our h

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book about the first 14 months of Trump’s second term is out, and Symone and Eugene have questions. Is someone recording in the Situation Room? Why does Vice President Vance come out looking so good in all these stories? Speaking of which, why is he being graded on a curve? They also talk about Eugene’s interview with Senate candidate James Talarico, who is handling attacks on his masculinity pretty well – but seems to have not anticipated them, which was probably a mistake. And then our hosts take up a question from a longtime listener to Clock It: people w

This week Symone and Eugene cover the Obama Presidential Center, UFC 250, the fact that tomatoes are up 32%, and, most importantly, Juneteenth. “Rights on paper are not the same as rights in practice,” says Symone, “and we are literally living that right now. Freedom requires government action. Freedom requires enforcement. Freedom requires people willing to defend the promise.” And when Symone and Eugene look at pop stars and Black athletes they find out who's willing, and unwilling, to defend their values. Ariana Grande, Jane Fonda, Tessa Thompson and Ayo Edebiri beg the question: Is your fa

Graham Platner’s redemption arc starts now, after he wins the Democratic senatorial nomination for Maine. And while the rest of the United States is celebrating Pride, a handful of southern (plus Utah) Republican lawmakers have made it a point to rebrand June to disassociate with the LGBTQ+ community. The NBA Finals continue to heat up, in the same week 2026 World Cup kicks off. This should be a time for soccer fans across the globe to bow down at the altar of soccer, but politics – as it so often does – has gotten in the way. The African referee of 2025 was not allowed to enter the U.S. despi

This week we were keeping tabs on a very long primary day with races all over the country, Jill Biden's book tour, the "Summer House" reunion taking over our feeds, and a battle for the soul of “60 Minutes.” Symone and Eugene cover all of it, and then kick off Pride Month by welcoming internet and TV sensation Kalen Allen to the groupchat. The trio get into Hollywood’s beliefs about the market for queer stories – we may never get a Black “Heated Rivalry,” for example – and Kalen’s beliefs about the responsibilities of public figures. "I look at my life, I look at Eugene, I'm like – we are our

Even though President Trump continues to see spiraling poll numbers, the wallets belonging to his inner circle continue to get fatter. But it’s not just the money. Trump and his staff are also consolidating power by taking an axe to voting rights, specifically in southern states and marginalized neighborhoods. Symone and Eugene try to wrap their minds around the financial corruption within the White House before debating whether the NAACP’s call for Black athletes, families, and boosters to boycott colleges in southern states is the appropriate method to fight back. Then, W. Kamau Bell joins t

It’s official. CBS has closed the doors of the Ed Sullivan Theater to “The Late Show” and Stephen Colbert. The show’s expiration is a sign of the times, when media executives capitulate to federal power in order to get mergers approved and paychecks delivered. Eugene and Dr. Symone Sanders Townsend (yes, Dr. Sanders Townsend) lament the twilight of comedy on TV and ask what moguls like Byron Allen will do with the airtime going up for grabs. And then the conversation turns to the cruel face of the Trump administration’s immigration detention campaign. Before they go, our hosts congregate with

The hantavirus is not the next COVID (at least that’s what we are being told…and hope). But Symone and Eugene wonder if they can trust the public health officials in the Trump administration. And a week after Tennessee and Alabama stripped Black voters of their ability to elect the local representatives of their choice, Eugene and Symone warn that Republicans in power are not done. Experts, like Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, would argue that attacks on Black political participation are nothing new. “If you're a racist white oligarch, and let's say you're stealing from white people and Black people, how

Usually at this time of the year fans of art and culture, like Symone and Eugene, are enjoying (or critiquing) the looks from the Met Gala's red carpet. But 2026 was different, because Jeff “Temu Lex Luthor” Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez-Bezos, were the primary sponsors. Symone and Eugene are joined by Honey Magazine co-founder and Ebony Magazine former Editor-in-Chief Kierna Mayo to discuss why exactly the streets were upset with the cultural takeover by one of the world’s richest tycoons. And why they themselves are not ready to fault the Carter family for attending. Our hosts also cloc

AI – and coverage of it – is everywhere. But what is artificial intelligence, really, beyond the buzzword? Each week, in a special new miniseries - ‘The AI End Game’ - Chris Hayes is joined by preeminent experts on AI and its effects to help make sense of this revolutionary time in history. The series will feature in-depth conversations with experts, including: The Atlantic journalist Derek Thompson; professor at Wharton and New York Times bestselling author Ethan Mollick, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and member of the Berkeley AI Research Group Alison Gopnik; former co-lead of the E

There’s a lot going on this week: the Supreme Court took the Voting Rights Act off of life support, James Comey was indicted again, this time for a picture of seashells, and tit for tat gerrymandering is kicking into high gear. All this while gas is up, diesel is up, and fertilizer is up. And we have to talk about the White House Correspondents Association dinner that ended early on Saturday night. Symone and Eugene unpack the chaotic moments with their MS NOW colleagues Jen Psaki and Ali Vitali, who were all in attendance. The quartet talks about what was going through their minds, how quickl

As the U.S. tries to strike a deal in the Middle East, Symone and Eugene wonder why in the WORLD Jared Kushner and JD Vance are leading negotiations. Kushner’s private equity deals in the Middle East – and the chaos around Vance’s aborted trip to Islamabad this week – have Symone and Eugene asking who’s really running the White House. We know who’s running The Baltimore Sun, though: the chairman of right-wing media behemoth Sinclair Broadcast Group, currently “investigating” Maryland governor Wes Moore. But there are bright spots on the horizon. Eugene’s former boss, Politico co-founder Robert

Trump is a lot of things: the 45th and 47th President of the United States, the former host of “The Apprentice,” a man whose businesses have filed for bankruptcy six times, the owner of more than a dozen golf courses. But he is most definitely not Jesus. For one, while Trump may want to be known as a peacebringer, he keeps starting fights. This week the ceasefire in Iran is holding, but on Sunday Trump turned his gaze to the Vatican and started beefing with America's first pope. The leaders of Archdioceses in Newark, Washington D.C., and Chicago told “60 Minutes” the war in Iran is “not a just

This week gas prices were dramatic, brand new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin took to Fox News to walk back promises he made during his confirmation hearings just last month, and Trump (among other things) threatened journalists with jail time for protecting leakers. So Symone and Eugene ask Geoff Bennett, PBS anchor and author of “Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to '90s Sitcoms” to join the groupchat. Together they compile a list of ideas for distracting yourself – i.e. preserving your sanity – while the President of the United States

As the war in the Middle East continues and Americans take to the streets to protest, Symone and Eugene turn to a familiar figure to make sense of these strange times: "Auntie" Rachel Maddow. The trio ask if President Trump can distinguish reality from fantasy. Does he have a comprehension problem? Or is he emotionally lazy? But the thing is, Rachel Maddow doesn’t actually care what’s going on in his brain. “I am very disinterested in him as a person,” she says. “I know that Donald Trump wants to dismantle us as a constitutional republic. The most important thing is what the country is going t

Trump says he was the first person to think ICE agents would help with the interminable lines around the country. “That was like the paperclip,” he said, standing on a tarmac in West Palm Beach on Monday. “You know the story of the paperclip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paperclip. It was so simple and everybody that looked at it [would] say, why didn't I think of that?” And Eugene points out that no one else thought of it because it’s a terrible idea. He and Symone also call the war in Iran “a choice,” and look at the small percentage of Americans (it’s 1%) that stands to benefit from

Symone and Eugene observe the fallout of war in the Middle East, which has widened to include Iran’s soccer team, the price of gas all over the world, and the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Then Sam Sanders joins to talk about Oscars wins and merger losses. He argues that we’ll remember last weekend’s Academy Awards – when interesting movies like “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” won big – as the end of an era. “The version of Hollywood that we are walking into will be much less likely to actually green light those kind of films,” says Sam. And he places the blame for

As the war in Iran extends into week two, the White House is turning the deadly fighting into a meme, while the president and Marco Rubio eye their next target: Cuba. And after being arrested for covering an ICE protest in Minnesota, Don Lemon comes on the show and gets real about his legal battle with the Department of Justice. The independent journalist and former CNN anchor has been called a “sleazebag” by the President of the United States. But he remains undeterred. He reminds us that the First Amendment is the “bedrock of our constitution,” and at the end of the day he believes he will h

"You don't talk to me for hope," she says. But we found a little bit. First, Ayman Mohyeldin stops by to break down how he’s watching the news out of Iran, and what he sees in the chaotic conclusion to the Democratic primary for a Senate seat in Texas. In our guest segment – the groupchat – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and creator of “The 1619 Project” Nikole Hannah-Jones warns us that we have entered a second Nadir, a period when progress toward democracy is being rolled back. And returning to an era of Civil Rights enforcement is not a short-term struggle. But, she says, in the words of

Trump’s 2026 State of the Union was … one for the record books. Literally. In the longest State of the Union address in history – something the president is no doubt proud of – Trump continued to declare that America is  bigger, better, richer, hotter, and stronger than ever before. Marc Lamont Hill joins Symone and Eugene to discuss how that could be possible when the price of beef, orange juice, and rent is up, and when Americans are looking down the barrel at losing their voting rights. Symone and Eugene also apologize to Vini Jr. – on others’ behalf – ask how FBI Director Kash Patel ration

Why is Donald Trump so angry? Because former President Barack Obama is cool and he’s not – at least according to journalist Jemele Hill. Jemele joins Symone and Eugene to chat about Obama’s reception at the NBA All-Star Game, why Stephen A. Smith is proof that the age of the celebrity president isn’t going anywhere, and why the Olympics are turning out to be an embarrassing moment for America. And they pay their respects to Civil Rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson, whose call-and-response adaptation of the poem “I Am Somebody” can serve as a reminder for all of us. Sign up for MS NOW Premium o

In the inaugural episode of “MS NOW Presents: Clock It,” Symone Sanders Townsend and Eugene Daniels share the latest coming out of the Texas Senate race, chat about how Jeff Bezos had enough pocket change for the “Melania” documentary but not enough for the journalists and readers of The Washington Post, and they kiki about how the Benito Bowl was a love letter to ALL of the Americas. Plus, President Fitzgerald Grant III (aka Tony Goldwyn) stops by, along with Tony-winning actor Myles Frost. They talk about their new play “Chez Joey,” why artists need community (just like the rest of us), and

Symone Sanders Townsend and Eugene Daniels were once at odds as White House staffer and White House reporter. Now they’re friends and colleagues–each co-hosting their own shows at MS NOW. But their off-air conversations are where the real action is. Their new show, “MS NOW Presents: Clock It” is an invitation to their groupchat, the liveliest—and most informative—out there. Whether it’s ICE getting dispatched to the Super Bowl because Bad Bunny’s doing the halftime show, or Nicolás Maduro’s Nike Tech fit, or Michael B. Jordan’s sole Oscar nomination despite playing three roles in Sinners, ther