Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics radio show, Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon discuss the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a campus event in Utah, President Trump calling for the death penalty for the killer of Iryna Zarutska, the first excerpts from “107 Days,” the new campaign memoir from Kamala Harris, and a new effort by the administration to rein in desceptive pharmaceutial advertising. Later, James Robbins, the dean of academics at the Institute of World Politics, speaks with Andrew Walworth about Russia’s reported violation of Polish airspace with drones last night, and how the Trump administration might respond. 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 hosts weigh in on the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a campus event in Utah today. “Charlie Kirk is a very important, prominent voice in this country — especially in the MAGA movement and particularly among young people,” Tom Bevan said. “He built Turning Point USA from nothing into a juggernaut.” “This is an attempt to silence an important voice in American politics. It is an attack on democracy,” Carl Cannon said. “If we don’t stop this soon, we’re going to look back on this period and think we were at the beginning of a low-grade civil war. This is really dangerous.” *** They also discuss, starting around minute 8, the fallout from the murder of a Ukrainian refugee on public transit in Charlotte, North Carolina. President Trump is calling for the death penalty and highlighting that the suspect is a repeat offender who took advantage of lax bail policies after multiple arrests. “This case has become a tipping point or a catalyst that has sparked a discussion about the criminal justice system in this country,” Bevan said. “We need to take a good, hard look at some of the perhaps excesses that took place during BLM-cashless bail, that sort of thing.” “It’s time to reform the reform,” Cannon added. “You don’t want innocent people in jail, but you want to ask this magistrate: What did you think was going to happen when you let this guy loose? He’d attacked a family member; he was violent; he was mentally ill. You’re going to put him on a train with innocent people? That’s the public policy question that needs to be addressed.” *** In the next segment, around minute 10:30, the first excerpts from former Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign memoir, “107 Days,” were published this morning by The Atlantic. Cannon asked: “Do books like this have fact-checkers?” “No, this is her truth as she lived it,” Andrew Walworth said. The group reads some of the most interesting quotes. “I do believe what she says is self-evidently true: It shouldn’t just be up to the president and his spouse if he stays in office. She’s saying the process that eventually took place-where party elders came to Biden and said not to run-should have happened a year earlier,” Cannon said. “What do you mean the decision shouldn’t be up to Joe Biden to run again? Who’s it supposed to be up to?” Bevan asked. *** Next, starting at minute 22, President Trump has signed another executive order titled “Addressing Misleading Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements” directing the FDA to resume requirements for all pharmaceutical ads to include all information about side effects. A lot of them won’t be able to fit all that into a 30 or 60-second ad, is this going to be a major change for America’s health? “The first person I heard say this out loud wasn’t Bobby Kennedy-it was Bernie Sanders-who said these companies should not be able to market directly to consumers. That’s what he’s called for for years. I don’t really get that impulse, and I think there’s a very serious constitutional challenge,” Cannon said. “To quote my favorite Mormon politician: Corporations are people too, my friend.” “Why are we one of only two countries in the world that allow this?” Tom Bevan said. “This is one small piece of RFK’s effort to shake things up and reorient the entire system, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing.” *** And then, starting at minute 29, several Russian drones entered Polish airspace on Tuesday night, triggering an emergency response from NATO. James Robbins, the dean of academics at the Institute of World Politics, speaks with Andrew Walworth about how the Trump administration might respond. “I mean, we’re dealing with Russia. They say it’s an accident-these drones went off course-but I don’t believe it. Russia likes to push the envelope, to test. So they’re testing Polish capabilities, they’re testing Western resolve, they’re testing the United States and NATO,” Robbins said. “Yes, it’s true that accidents or unintentional things that court a response can lead to escalation, but it takes two to escalate. I don’t think Russia wants escalation, and they understand when they do these things that there will be a response, and they’re really just testing that.” “We’re really tightening up on the Russian oil market, because the previous sanctions regime basically just forced Russia to sell cheap oil, which China and India and others were happy to buy,” he explained. “I think the White House was going to do these secondary sanctions anyway. I think this is just a very convenient marker for them to say, okay, as the president said: Here we go.” *** 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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