KSEV Mornings · October 14, 2026 · Hour 1
Wayne was out on special assignment, so Craig flew solo, fought the soundboard, and still landed a National Review guest.
With Wayne Dolcefino out on special assignment, Wednesday’s first hour belonged to Craig Coglianese alone. As Craig put it at the top, it was “Mob Guy” on KSEV Radio, singular. He promised a lot of audio. Some of it was even loud enough to hear.
The Ilhan Omar “revenge” defense
Craig opened with the federal search of Ilhan Omar’s home and what Wayne had called a “revenge defense” the day before: the idea that Omar will claim the search only happened because the FBI raided Donald Trump’s house. Craig’s answer was simple. If Republicans really wanted to raid somebody out of spite, Omar wouldn’t top the list. He floated Chuck Schumer as a more likely pick, “just because that’d be fun.”
The comparison to Mar-a-Lago doesn’t hold up either, Craig argued. Trump was already running and was the leading candidate on the other side when that raid happened. “Ilhan Omar doesn’t remotely compare to that,” he said. He also found it funny that some reactions to the clip he posted on social media treated it as an obvious tit-for-tat.
Day one for the new press secretary
Next came the new White House press secretary’s debut briefing, which people online were tearing apart. Craig’s verdict: it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as people were saying. The White House had hyped it with a walk-and-talk video through the hallways “like a doctor show,” and Craig said that kind of buildup makes the moment harder. Speaking as a broadcaster, he explained that once you think you’re screwing up, “the eyes get tighter” and the reading gets harder.
He told a story about a free speaking engagement for a veterans organization (free, he stressed, because he knew Wayne would ask) where a war hero introduced him and he felt that same jolt of nerves. The real test, Craig said, is week two and month two, not day one. The newsworthy moment: she said Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ambassador to Greece, has been asked to resign. Craig also noticed that more women than men seemed to be piling on, which he found odd.
Stephen A. Smith asks where the money comes from
Craig played Stephen A. Smith asking how Bill Clinton, a lawyer from Arkansas, and Barack Obama, a community organizer, left office so much richer than when they arrived. “Amen, Stephen A. Smith,” Craig said, and then played it a second time because he liked it so much. He drew a line with Trump, who went into office rich. Then he walked through the book deals, speaking fees and insider trading that Rush Limbaugh used to talk about. A ban on members trading stocks wouldn’t stop it, Craig said, because they’d just find a relative a little further out to trade for them and split the money.
He also said Stephen A. probably has a real shot at winning something if he runs. Maybe not president, but if Craig were his political consultant, he’d be encouraging him.
Chip Roy, Josh Duhamel and actors with opinions
Chip Roy, not Craig’s favorite politician, made a point Craig agreed with on Fox Business and social media: James Talarico’s voting record is the real problem, from Texas energy to law enforcement to the border. The audio was too quiet to air, so Craig summed it up instead.
The Josh Duhamel clip did make it on air. Duhamel told Megyn Kelly that actors don’t need to preach to everybody, and remembered a friend picking him up at the airport in Georgia wearing a T-shirt that read “nobody cares what actors think.” Craig loved it. He pointed to Disney movies that struggled at the box office after their stars couldn’t stop talking politics, and closed with the old Michael Jordan line that Republicans buy shoes too.
A candidate interview to remember
Craig then turned to a viral public-access TV interview with Jaime West, a Democratic candidate in Fayette County, Indiana, who appeared to be heavily intoxicated on camera. Craig was careful to say he lost a friend who struggled with alcohol, so he wasn’t laughing at an illness. His problem was the arrogance of a candidate choosing to do the interview anyway, and a campaign team that let it happen. “They actively don’t like her,” he guessed.
He tied it back home to Harris County, where Letitia Plummer is running against Orlando Sanchez. He recalled Sanchez telling the show that Plummer’s campaign didn’t try to fix the tech before a remote debate and then blamed him when it failed. Craig’s advice from years in radio: test, test, test.
Jim Geraghty on the Texas Senate race
After admitting he’d botched the call time, Craig brought on Jim Geraghty of National Review, co-host of the Three Martini Lunch podcast, where Craig sometimes fills in. Geraghty said Talarico needed about five things to break his way and is now up to six or seven: an unpopular Trump even in Texas, a national mood that’s turned against Republicans, a closer-than-usual Greg Abbott race, and Republican outside groups spending more than $200 million on ads in a state where national groups usually don’t need to spend anything.
Geraghty compared it to Mark Sanford’s 2013 South Carolina comeback, when Sanford outworked Stephen Colbert’s sister with ten events a day. His message to Ken Paxton: this is not the time to phone it in. Asked point-blank whether Talarico really had the flu, Geraghty said he believes it was the flu, noting Talarico has type 1 diabetes, which can slow recovery.
Craig’s counterpoint: the money has finally flooded in for Paxton, so expect a big push at the end. And he still thinks too much of what Talarico has said is too far from the average Texan for him to win.
Also in this hour
- Geraghty on Hillary Clinton’s new podcast with Kara Swisher. Craig thinks it will hurt Democrats, “and I’m here for that.”
- A preview of Geraghty’s Morning Jolt on three fairly elderly men with their hands on nuclear arsenals. “Hey, nothing to worry about.”
Hear Craig and Wayne live weekdays from 7–9 AM Central on AM 700 KSEV, The Voice of Texas. Visit the KSEV Mornings show page for live-listening controls and more episodes.
