Friday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Carl Cannon, Tom Bevan, and Andrew Walworth break down the economic situation 60 days out from the midterm elections and redistricting fights still going on in Maryland and Missouri. And, is Secretary of State Marco Rubio channeling Ross Perot with his latest argument against globalization? Constitutional law professor Josh Blackman joins the show to discuss his argument that the American Bar Association has been ideologically captured by the left, and its accreditation regime appears likely to be phased out by red states and perhaps the whole country. The group also breaks down the drama over FOX News removing Trump-favored anchor Maria Bartiromo and shares their “You Can Not Be Serious!?” picks for this week. Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or other platforms.

00:00 – Opening: Jobs Up, Gas Prices Up Walworth, Cannon, and Bevan discuss the latest economic numbers going into the midterm elections, where we see a combination of wage growth not keeping up with inflation, unemployment down, and record-high gas prices. “We should add that these numbers can get corrected by a factor of ten after the fact, so who knows what the numbers really are,” Walworth notes. Watch: VP Vance: When Will Iran Stop Shooting At Ships? You’ll Have To Ask Them “This is a good news/bad news situation for the White House,” Bevan said. “Employment is almost triple what Wall Street expected, but we’ve never seen gas prices this high on Labor Day.” *** 07:25 – Missouri and Maryland Redistricting The panel turns to fights over congressional maps in Missouri, where courts have rejected maps that have already been used to hold primaries, and Maryland, where voters might decide to eliminate the state’s only GOP-leaning district. “So you’ve got primary winners under the new maps that are going to now run for a general election under the old maps, which is unprecedented, unheard of, and quite frankly seems insane,” Walworth reported. “The Missouri attorney general says we’re in a full-blown constitutional crisis 60 days before the election,” Bevan said. “They’re obviously petitioning the Supreme Court to help them work this out, but it is a mess in Missouri right now.” *** 12:55 – Rubio’s “Ross Perot Moment” The panel debates Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s argument that the post-Cold War embrace of globalization and specialization has left the U.S. manufacturing economy dangerously hollow. Has he identified a genuine failure of free-trade orthodoxy or is he overstating the case for political effect? Watch: Secretary Rubio: America Made A “Terrible Mistake” Deindustrializing For Globalization “Fantasy” “We woke up during COVID and realized, holy sh-t, we don’t have the supplies that we need,” Bevan said. “If America can’t even make surgical masks, we have a big problem.” *** 24:05 – Trump Could Kill the ABA Constitutional law professor Josh Blackman argues that the American Bar Association has been ideologically captured by progressives and risks losing its influential role in law school accreditation under the Trump administration. “The Texas Supreme Court, in the last year or so, said they will no longer rely on the ABA’s accrediting power,” Blackman reported. “Florida had a similar move. Ohio’s considering it. Tennessee’s considering it.” “But the irony, perhaps, is that even though the ABA is no longer required, all the Texas law schools still voluntarily comply.” Blackman writes: “The End Is Near for the American Bar Association” “In the short term, not much will actually change,” he said. “First, most accreditation is a waste of time. It’s a lot of bureaucracy, filling a lot of paperwork and satisfying these standards that have no relationship to the success of students.” “The second part is these groups that have accreditation have been captured by the left, especially in medicine, where they require people who want to get a medical degree to take all these DEI classes and learn about how race and medicine are related and things that really have no bearing on the actual occupation and profession,” Blackman said. “It’s sort of the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know.” *** 36:40 – Bartiromo Out at Fox The group breaks down Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt exit from Fox News and speculates about what she might do next, as President Trump describes her as “a total professional and a true warrior.” Watch: Vance on Maria Bartiromo as Next WH Press Secretary: “Hahaha, I Don’t Know, Man — No, I Don’t Think So” “The circumstances are what’s interesting,” Tom Bevan said. “We don’t know exactly what it was about. There are a couple of different reports out there, but eventually we’re going to find out exactly what transpired.” “She really does have a lot of fans, and they are going to follow her wherever she goes,” Bevan says. *** 41:10 – You Can Not Be Serious?! The episode ends with a review of the silliest headlines of the week, including a Zohran Mamdani look-alike contest, Rep. Max Miller’s family drama, and someone referring to Hakeem Jeffries as a “monkey” in a “specifically non-racist way.”

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