On Friday’s RealClearPolitics podcast, Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon discuss President Trump announcing that the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, California Gov. Gavin Newsom trolling Republicans online, and a new RCP piece from David DesRosiers about Tyler Robinson’s family: The Parents of Charlie Kirk’s Prodigal Assassin.” Finally, Dan Varroney, author of “Rethinking Economic Growth: How Small Business Can Help Consistently Grow the Economy,” joins Carl Cannon and Andrew Walworth to talk about what government can do to support the growth of small businesses in America. 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, President Trump notified Congress this week that strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug smugglers in the Caribbean are part of an ongoing “non-international armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations. The U.S. does not recognize the government of Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and has sent a considerable number of ships to the region. Could this escalate into a real war? “It’s not a good look for any president to be indiscriminately killing people around the world — even if they are bad guys,” Bevan said. Carl Cannon recalled the 1989 invasion of Panama: “Manuel Noriega-the president of Panama, elected in a fake election-was basically kidnapped by American armed forces, brought to this country, put on trial and imprisoned. He died in prison in the United States. Is that the future they envision for President Maduro?” “If I were the president of Greenland, I’d be doubling my security right about now,” Walworth joked. *** In the next segment, around minute 14, California Gov. Gavin Newsom seems to have forgotten that he supported a law banning the use of AI to make fun of politicians last year, and totally embraced the Great Meme Wars of 2025. “There’s a distinction between deepfake videos-trying to trick people into thinking a politician said something horrible they didn’t say-and memes,” Bevan said. “But with that law, who gets to decide where the line is? What’s parody, what’s not parody, what’s considered misinformation?” “This is why ‘fact-checking’ sort of ran its course,” Cannon added. “Fact-checkers in the legacy media were fact-checking comedy, parody, satire-only from the conservative side, of course-and it made them look humorless and dense.” *** After that, around minute 20, the group discusses a new RCP piece from David DesRosiers about Tyler Robsinson’s family: The Parents of Charlie Kirk’s Prodigal Assassin” “I think David gave voice to something we all have in the back of our minds whenever we see something terrible like this happen: There but for the grace of God go I,” Bevan said. “How do you square unconditional love with justice? David talks about how the father turned his own flesh and blood in to the authorities-brought him to face justice. What would you do as a parent faced with that choice?” *** And then, at minute 26:30, Dan Varroney, author of “Rethinking Economic Growth: How Small Business Can Help Consistently Grow the Economy,” joins Carl Cannon and Andrew Walworth to talk about what government can do to support the growth of small businesses in America. “We need consistent 3% growth to maintain our standard of living and quality of life throughout the country. In my research, I identified opportunities to achieve that consistent growth, and I landed on small business,” he explained. “Two of three private-sector jobs come from small businesses. Half the total workforce works for small businesses.” “Both political parties need to embrace the power of small business in their communities. They do a great job with the romance; delivering legislatively-not so good,” Varroney said. *** Finally, at timestamp 38, the group shares their picks for this week’s “You Can Not Be Serious?!” roundup of ridiculous headlines. *** Don’t miss an episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
RealClearPolitics Videos