On Friday’s RealClearPolitics radio show, Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Emily Jashinsky, who also hosts the After Party podcast, discussed the FBI raid of John Bolton’s home, a Florida judge ordering “Alligator Alcatraz” to stop expanding, and the pros and cons of mail-in voting. Plus, 45 words one group recommends Democrats stop saying, the politics of “Cracker Barrel,” and this week’s edition of “You Can Not Be Serious?!” Later, Maggie Miller talks with Dr. Kendall Conger, who claims he was fired from Duke University after questioning the school’s DEI agenda. You can listen to the show weeknights at 6:00 p.m. on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124 and then on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and here on our website. *** First, the FBI raided the home and office of former national security advisor John Bolton this morning, reportedly searching for mishandled classified information. The panel discusses whether the cycle of political retaliation is unstoppable at this point. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that eventually this shoe is gonna be on the other foot. If this becomes the norm, we’re really in territory that we never thought we’d find ourselves in in this country,” Tom Bevan commented. “If Democrats regain power in the next election or the one after that, you can bet there will be calls to continue and do more of the same.” *** After that, around minute 8, a Florida judge ordered the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility to stop expanding, citing environmental concerns in the Everglades. “They did build this thing very quickly. They probably bypassed a bunch of environmental regulations,” Andrew Walworth commented. “But does that rise to the occasion where a judge should be able to use those sorts of things to step in and stop something like this?” Emily Jashinsky emphasized the legal angle: “The judge decided the deportees are federal, and therefore, Alligator Alcatraz has to comply with federal environmental regulations as opposed to state environmental regulations… So it is way out in the legal weeds, and not at all what most people would think is the true question about Alligator Alcatraz.” *** In the next segment, starting at minute 15, a discussion about the future of mail-in voting, as President Trump declares he wants to end that practice. RCP featured pieces in support of and against mail-in voting this morning. How do you find the balance between making it easy to vote and keeping the vote secure? “Absentee balloting is different,” Bevan explained. “What we’re talking about is the wide distribution of ballots to voter rolls that could be outdated, duplicates, people who’ve left or moved to different states, to where you have all these extra ballots floating around.” “In principle, I’m somebody who doesn’t think voting should require minimum effort,” Jashinsky commented. “It’s just a murkier process when there are mail-in ballots being counted en masse. It raises so many questions that can be abused by bad actors who can more easily cast doubt on the results of an election, even if it’s not justified.” She added: “There’s something very important as a citizen about getting your butt out to the polls and casting a ballot in person.” *** Plus, around timestamp 20, the centrist/Democratic group “Third Way” published a list of 45 words Democrats should stop saying, including “cultural appropriation” and “heteronormative.” Is this helpful? Are progressives ready to leave critical theory behind? “The first step is admitting you have a problem,” Emily Jashinsky said. “As funny as it is that Third Way thinks they need to put this in writing, they’re kind of preaching to the choir… They’re not saying change the ideology, they’re saying change the language.” “Third Way makes a good point, which is that Democrats have lost touch with normies on a lot of this stuff,” Bevan said. “They signal to each other online and in other places, but it leaves Republicans laughing, and it leaves folks in the middle scratching their heads.” *** And then, at minute 27, the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain has apparently lost 7% of its market value, as both political parties and everyone in America reject their “woke” rebrand. Is the Old Country Store the next Bud Light? Plus, the weekly You Cannot Be Serious?! news roundup. “It looks fine, but it doesn’t look like Cracker Barrel,” Jashinsky preached. “If the conservative movement stands for anything, it should stand for a dimly lit, claustrophobic Cracker Barrel.” “The reason this became political is when you see someone so disconnected, for socioeconomic reasons, from their consumer base, it looks insulting,” she said. “It’s ridiculous, it’s Cracker Barrel, but they made it political by putting DEI initiatives, LGBTQ groups, and identitarian groups on their website. Of course, that stuff comes out when you have the CEO on Good Morning America discussing a rebrand in a way that feels disconnected. People wonder what else is disconnected.” *** Finally, at minute 38, Maggie Miller talks with Dr. Kendall Conger, a former Duke University physician who claims he was dismissed after questioning the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda. You can see the rest of the interview here and read Conger’s piece for RealClearInvestigations: “I Challenged Duke’s DEI Dogma – and Paid With My Job” *** Don’t miss an episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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