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 — Tom Bevan, Andrew Walworth, and National Review’s Heather Wilhelm discuss new polls showing President Trump’s approval rating steady in the mid-40s and Republicans down by a normal amount in the generic congressional ballot, the WH’s shifting strategy for responding to a seemingly constant stream of Jeffrey Epstein questions, and the president’s new executive order on paying college athletes. Plus, the weekly “You Can Not Be Serious!?” news roundup. After that, Maggie Miller talks to RealClearInvestigations editor J. Peder Zane about his recent commentary on the implications of AI for relationships and society. And finally, Carl Cannon talks to legal scholar Harry Litman about Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal. *** First, the gang unpacks some new polls on President Trump’s approval ratings and the generic congressional ballot. When can we start projecting for the 2026 midterms? “We had four polls come out today-Quantus Insights, Rasmussen, the Wall Street Journal, and Emerson-and Trump’s approval rating overall was 46, 46, 47, 48. So a good amount of data shows him clustered in that 46–48% range, which is not bad, given that, in the Gallup poll, Democrats give him a 2%,” Tom Bevan explained. “That’s not too shabby,” Heather Wilhelm added. “In July of 2017, in the first term, he was at minus 16 — his approval rating was 39.7%, disapproval 55.7%. So this is quite a lift from that.” *** In the next segment, starting at minute 10:20, the White House is shifting strategy on the Epstein Files again. Is Trump making this worse or better for himself? “You have to assume the Trump administration has seen the files. Based on how they’re handling it, maybe it is more damaging than we think. That would explain why they’re tying themselves in knots not to release it,” Bevan commented. “It reminds me of when they released all those UFO files and nobody cared,” Wilhelm added. “The real issue is the process-the perception of a cover-up, dishonesty, and flip-flopping. That’s what damages trust. Transparency would help more than anything.” *** And then, at minute 16:30, a conversation about President Trump’s new executive order attempting to set standards for “name, image, and likeness” payments for college athletes. “The idea of paying college athletes has been around a long time and has merit,” Bevan said. “It’s got to be fixed, but I don’t know if Trump or Congress are the ones to do it.” “One of the interesting things is the push to make them employees, something Bernie Sanders and others have pushed. They want athletes to unionize, organize, and strike. The Trump administration does not want that,” Andrew Walworth added. “Gotta seize the means of production!” Bevan joked. *** After that, at minute 23, the weekly “You Can Not Be Serious?!” roundup of ridiculous news items from the past week. Heather Wilhelm calls out the upcoming “Aztec Batman” movie, and Andrew Walworth comments on the FCC approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger. *** And then, at minute 27:30, Maggie Miller talks to RealClearInvestigations editor J. Peder Zane about his new article on whether you should say please and thank you to Siri and if “AI romantic partners” spell the end of humanity: “Why AI’s Siren Song Is So Hard To Resist” “I don’t think it’s a healthy thing either. But what I don’t hear people saying is: Why is this happening?” he said. “We may not like the fact that machines seem to dehumanize us in some way and make us more attached to inanimate objects than animate ones. But the question is: why?” “What I hoped to add to the conversation was this law of physics that helps explain how we, as supposedly rational creatures with free will, are often guided by forces of nature to act in ways that others would say are against our self-interest.” *** Finally, at minute 36:30, Carl Cannon talks to legal scholar Harry Litman about Donald Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal. The president is adamant that he did not write the “bawdy” birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein that the Journal published, and is asking for $ 10 billion. “Anyone in the D.C. press world knows they could not have published this without buttoning it down six ways-plus suspenders-and with lawyers in the room. They were ready for this,” he said. “What struck me as so imprudent is that Trump made it all about the existence of this one letter. The odds that it doesn’t exist are astronomical.” “He’s weathered worse storms before by just saying: Yeah, you got me, I’m a jerk,” Litman added. “We know they had a falling out in 2004 over a real estate deal. He could’ve leaned into that. But instead, he’s made the existence of this card the punchline. When that card gets turned over, the MAGA crowd is going to say, he fooled us!” *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
RealClearPolitics Videos