Written from 36 named sources · Sep 29 · first result Transcript range reviewed: First timestamp [0:00]; last timestamp available in the supplied transcript excerpt [54:00]. The supplied text ends mid-discussion at [54:00] rather than at a final “Stay ruthless” sign-off, so this report does not represent that the unavailable remainder was reviewed. Knuckles Fact-Check: Ruthless Podcast, Sept. 24, 2026 Summary This review evaluated four substantive, verifiable host claims concerning the Michigan presidential primary, campaign advertising, congressional medical credentials, and Texas electoral history. Three claims are graded WRONG and one is graded RIGHT. The most consequential error was the statement that Joe Biden was the only candidate on Michigan’s 2024 Democratic primary ballot: Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson were also listed. The report applies the evidence available as of September 24, 2026, except that the transcript itself and supplied verification record establish the scope of the claims assessed. Claim Table Speaker Timestamp Claim Grade Verbatim Source Quotes Michael Duncan. Speaker attribution is supported by the immediate handoff: “What what can I just start with Michael here?” followed by Duncan’s response. [17:01] “Remember, famously in the Michigan um primary, there was a huge uncommitted cohort in that primary, even though Joe Biden was, you know, the only candidate on the on the ballot.” Context: The hosts were discussing the 2024 Michigan “uncommitted” protest vote. Biden was not the sole named candidate. Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson were also on the Democratic ballot. WRONG Michigan’s Secretary of State stated: “The Secretary of State has identified the following candidates (listed alphabetically) as potential presidential candidates in 2024.” The Democratic candidates listed were Biden, Phillips, and Williamson; the state also said voters could select “uncommitted.” [22] The Associated Press reported: “The candidates on the Democratic ballot are Biden, Phillips and former candidate Marianne Williamson.” [30] Josh Holmes. Attribution is supported by a co-host’s later reference to “Holmes’s point about his soft name ID” at [31:04]. [29:01] “But now there’s like a $150 million that is being dedicated towards telling you exactly who this guy is.” Context: Holmes was introducing an anti-James Talarico advertisement and discussing Republican spending in the Texas Senate contest. The stated $150 million figure was not dedicated solely to Talarico or Texas. WRONG NPR reported: “The cavalry has arrived in the form of more than $150 million in initial ad reservations in the last two weeks from MAGA Inc. and two new Trump-aligned groups: No Going Back PAC and Safety and Affordability PAC.” [11] The same report specified that the money would buy ads “in both Senate and House races.” [11] Separately, the Texas-specific September total was lower: “All told, pro-Paxton ad reservations for the month of September add up to more than $94 million.” [11] UNCONFIRMED, [21:07] to [22:03]. The supplied auto-caption transcript does not provide an explicit speaker-identification cue for this passage. [21:07] “Rand Paul who famously was like saving lives when a Bernie bro was shooting Republicans in Louisiana.” Context: The host was citing Republican officeholders with medical backgrounds while questioning Abdul El-Sayed’s use of “physician.” The shooting occurred in Virginia, not Louisiana. Louisiana was Steve Scalise’s represented state. WRONG The U.S. Secret Service wrote: “On June 14, 2017, at 7:09 a.m., James Thomas Hodgkinson, 66, fired at least 70 rounds from a 9mm pistol and an SKS 7.62mm rifle at Republican Congressmen, their staffers, and others practicing at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, VA for the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity.” [25] Independent corroboration states: “This took place at the Eugene Simpson Park in Alexandria, Virginia, back on June 14, 2017.” [8] Rand Paul’s own contemporaneous account placed him outside the field near the batting cage and taking cover behind a tree. [28] Michael Duncan. Attribution is supported by Holmes’s direct prompt: “Duncan, what’s what’s the last time we lost it?” followed by the answer naming Bentsen and Richards. [47:04] “Lloyd Benston was probably the last senator. uh Annne Richards last governor before George George W. Bush.” Context: The hosts were discussing the length of Texas Republicans’ statewide winning streak. “Benston” is a captioning error for Lloyd Bentsen. RIGHT The Texas Tribune reported: “Lloyd Bentsen was the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas in 1988.” [24] On the governorship, the historical account states: “Her victory marked the last time a Democrat would win the Texas governorship as of the early 21st century.” [33] It also records that Richards was defeated by George W. Bush in 1994. [33] Dropped Claims “There has been only one of those two people who have ever carried the state of Michigan. It was not Kamala Harris.” [18:02] Dropped claim: The statement is definitionally ambiguous. Kamala Harris lost Michigan as the 2024 presidential nominee, but she was the vice-presidential nominee on the Biden-Harris ticket that carried Michigan in 2020. A binary grade would not be definitive. [19] “We have had ... six straight consecutive cycles, an oversampling of Democrats in a very meaningful way in the month of September.” [37:02] Dropped claim: This is a broad methodological assertion about polling samples, weighting practices, and historical cycles. The supplied materials do not provide two independent, directly contradictory sources capable of meeting the WRONG standard. “Rand Paul ... saving lives” and “which all those folks that we just mentioned are.” [21:07] Dropped claim in part: The location error is independently and definitively verifiable, and is graded above. The broader characterization of Rand Paul’s specific aid and the composite claim that Roger Marshall, Rand Paul, John Boozman, and Tom Coburn were all “physicians” are not graded as a single binary proposition because the statement combines several distinct factual assertions. The American College of Physicians lists Marshall and Paul under “Physicians,” while listing Boozman separately as “John Boozman, OD ... Optometrist.” [23] Abdul El-Sayed’s alleged lack of a valid medical license in Michigan or New York. [21:07] Dropped claim: This was spoken by interviewer Mehdi Hasan in a played clip, not by a Ruthless host. Abdul El-Sayed’s assertion that he would be the “First Democratic doctor elected in nearly 50 years.” [20:04] Dropped claim: This was spoken in a played candidate clip, not by a Ruthless host. Claims concerning a candidate’s motives, ideological character, private conduct, or political strategy. Dropped claims: These statements are generally opinions, rhetoric, predictions, or assertions of motive rather than claims that can meet the definitive factual threshold. Method Claims were selected only when a host made a discrete, substantive factual assertion capable of verification through a primary source or reputable independent reporting. The evaluation cutoff was September 24, 2026, and quotations are reproduced from the supplied source record with inline citations. Grades are limited to RIGHT or WRONG; a WRONG grade requires two independent sources that directly contradict the claim, while ambiguous, composite, opinion-based, clip-based, or insufficiently sourced assertions are treated as dropped claims. Sources [8] June 14, 2017: Congressional baseball practice shooting — https://www.live5news.com/2026/06/14/this-day-history-june-14-2017-congressional-baseball-practice-shooting [11] Republican 'cavalry' arrives with a Trump-backed $150 million ad blitz in key races WLRN — https://www.wlrn.org/national-politics/2026-09-18/republican-cavalry-arrives-with-a-trump-backed-150-million-ad-blitz-in-key-races [19] ballotpedia.org — https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Michigan,_2024 [22] michigan.gov — https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQEQqmW3DT3r4bQsvhv8nHPkVfj-CkPU1IIhNXV_rp9SK_79d07rjg_UT4PCvhKvA6SbaltGRsgdxrO8QwwBmDfulWnqgBUdjFwyHWYbIySkwqtDs6NtDCatL97wL5V52sOD8Uns2ihv3Fd_TFhHq7XuXwnsWWrcV_U3Ax8cAamTz2iDEw31BtDiJlhmCiNBLIg9zDgQyVn-5gHqJRm478gbTs5GpATod7GMABx9gQpc [23] acpservices.org — https://www.acpservices.org/leadership-day/event-planning-materials/physicianshealth-professionals-119th-congress [24] texastribune.org — https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/05/heres-how-texas-voted-every-us-senate-election-1961/ [25] secretservice.gov — https://www.secretservice.gov/media/346/download [28] youtube.com — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEoZ2b-xvjc [30] pbs.org — https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-expect-in-michigans-presidential-primary [33] texapedia.info — https://texapedia.info/ann-richards-biography/ TALARICO, JAMES - Candidate overview FEC — https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/S6TX00479 Michigan Democratic Primary Election 2024 Live Results: Biden Wins - The New York Times — https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/27/us/elections/results-michigan-democratic-presidential-primary.html Michigan Presidential Election Results 2024 — https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/05/us/elections/results-michigan-president.html?eafs_enabled=false 2020 United States presidential election in Michigan - Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary - Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Michigan_Democratic_presidential_primary 2024 United States presidential election in Michigan - Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan ballotpedia.org — https://ballotpedia.org/Dean_Phillips_presidential_campaign,_2024 ballotpedia.org — https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Texas,_2026 Campaign 2026 U.S. Senate Candidate James Talarico (D ... — https://visualexplorer.gdeltproject.org/tvv?id=CSPAN_20260925_024700_Campaign_2026_U.S._Senate_Candidate_James_Talarico_D-TX_on_Midterm... centerforpolitics.org — https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/decade-plus-winning-streaks-could-be-at-risk-in-the-2026-midterms/ Congressional baseball shooting — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_baseball_shooting ctpublic.org — https://www.ctpublic.org/2026-09-18/republican-cavalry-arrives-with-a-trump-backed-150-million-ad-blitz-in-key-races Paxton-Talarico contest on course to demolish Texas record for campaign spending in a U.S. Senate election – Houston Public Media — https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2026/2026/09/28/562922/texas-senate-race-spending-talarico-paxton-super-pacs Presidential election in Michigan, 2024 - Ballotpedia — https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Michigan,_2024 sanantonioreport.org — https://sanantonioreport.org/heres-how-texas-voted-in-every-u-s-senate-election-since-1961/ United States Senate election in Texas, 2026 - Ballotpedia — https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Texas,_2026 wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_baseball_shooting wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boozman wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan reddit.com — https://www.reddit.com/r/NPR/comments/1wjnxgi/republican_cavalry_arrives_with_a_trumpbacked_150/ $51.3M GOP Push Backs Paxton, Hits Talarico: ‘For They/Them, Not You’ — https://dallasexpress.com/state/gop-aligned-super-pac-reserves-51-3m-in-texas-tv-ads-backing-paxton elitedaily.com — https://www.elitedaily.com/news/politics/melania-trump-responds-shooting-congressional-baseball-practice/1991765 hhs.com — https://hhs.com/news-detail/health-professionals-running-for-congress Michigan 2024 results: 13% of Democrats 'uncommitted.' ... — https://bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigan-2024-results-13-democrats-uncommitted-will-it-matter-biden visionmonday.com — https://www.visionmonday.com/scene-and-heard/todays-read/article/there-are-doctors-in-the-house-and-eye-doctors-in-the-senate/