Friday on the RealClearPolitics radio show — weeknights at 6:00 p.m. on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124 and then on Apple, Spotify, and here on our website — Andrew Walworth, Carl Cannon and National Review contributor Heather Wilhelm discuss President Trump’s two-week deadline for Iran to come to the negotiating table, a court decision denying California Gov. Newsom’s objection to Trump deploying the National Guard, Caitlin Clark’s cultural impact on the WNBA, and the dumbest stories of the week. After that, Carl Cannon speaks to Peter Berkowitz about the Iran nuclear crisis, and RCP’s Maggie Miller talks with Rupert Darwell about the future of energy. *** First, the White House announced yesterday that President Trump is giving Iran two weeks to resume diplomacy before he considers entering the war on Israel’s side. Why two weeks? Is the situation already spiraling out of control? “It doesn’t sound like Trump knows what he’s going to do. He’s thinking aloud,” Carl Cannon said. “He’d like to have a big negotiation instead of a big war, but the Iranians may have missed that moment.” “This gives diplomacy some time to work, gives Israel some time to further degrade Iran’s air defenses, more time for the U.S. to harden our vulnerable targets in the region, evacuate personnel, and reposition naval assets. It does seem like time, for once, is sort of on our side. But I’m not sure the Israelis see it that way,” Andrew Walworth said. “We’re very blessed in America now to have thousands of Iran experts weighing in on social media,” Heather Wilhelm quipped. “Whatever the U.S. does or doesn’t do to help the Israelis, if, when it is over, the ayatollah is still in power, he’s gonna think: Boy, I really do need that bomb,” Cannon added. *** After that, at minute 9, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that the president could maintain control over the California National Guard, despite protests from Gov. Gavin Newsom. “Trump won in the courts, but Newsom really has emerged as the first among equals among the would-be Democratic standard bearers,” Cannon said. “They’re both kind of getting what they want.” “A great side story came out of this,” Wilhelm explained. “Apparently, when L.A. was burning on June 7, Newsom was — in classic style, at a wine tasting in Napa. It hearkens back to the French Laundry thing during COVID. It is a fair point that he’s getting a lot of attention by facing off with Trump like this, but when it comes time for him to run for president, he’s not going to run against Trump — theoretically. And then it comes back to California, and what a calamity California is. This seems like a short-term strategy.” RCP’s Susan Crabtree wrote this morning: “Newsom Loses in Court But Sees Political Upside With Democrats” *** Next, at timestamp 14:30, WNBA star Caitlin Clark appears to be changing professional women’s basketball for the better, but it seems like a lot of other players don’t like her very much. What’s up with that? “Caitlin Clark has elevated their sport, elevated attention, and can make them all richer. And all they have to do is not assault her on the court. Doesn’t seem that too much to ask,” Cannon said. “It seems like it’s becoming like hockey, the fights are as big a part of the story as the game itself,” Walworth commented. “I actually am a big basketball fan, although I follow men’s basketball, I have never followed the WNBA — until now, which is so interesting,” Wilhelm said. “Look, we’re here on a podcast talking about the WNBA. The nation is talking about the WNBA. I think a couple of years ago, that would have been unheard of.” “We’ve had players come into the NBA like this-Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and then Michael Jordan,” Cannon said. “These players come along and change the game, and fans love them. In this case, though, 17 or 18 percent of the flagrant fouls have been committed against one player.” *** And then, at minute 23, this week’s You Can’t Be Serious segment, where everyone shares the goofiest story they could find. This week, a UCLA graduate bragging about using ChatGPT to cheat on his exams, Whoopi Goldberg’s take on women’s rights in Iran, and Congress ignoring new estimates that Social Security and Medicare have less than 10 years of solvency left. *** In the next segment, at minute 26:30, Carl talks to RCP contributor and former State Department official Peter Berkowitz about the confrontation between Israel and Iran, and his forthcoming book “Explaining Israel: The Jewish State, the Middle East and America” “Israel now has eight days of extraordinary achievements behind it, and it faces very serious challenges and dangers as we go forward,” Berkowitz said. “They still have a ways to go in degrading Iran’s ballistic missile supply and launchers, and ending its nuclear program-even as Israel continues every day to absorb ballistic missiles to its cities and civilian population.” “In fairness to President Trump, it’s a hard decision to bring the United States into a Middle East war-especially for a president who has run twice against bringing the United States into Middle East wars,” he said. “Does America have an interest here, just bailing Israel out? I think the United States does. Here’s why.” “Trump was never an isolationist. He was never against using American power. He wants to use American power decisively. And he wants to win. Entering on the side of Israel to bomb Fordow is not entering into a forever war. It’s delivering a decisive strike that helps defeat Iran.” *** Finally, at minute 40, RCP Contributor Maggie Miller talks with Rupert Darwell, senior fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics and the author of the forthcoming book: “The Age of Error: Net Zero and the Destruction of the West” *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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