Thursday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Peter Berkowitz, the author of “Explaining Israel,” joined Andrew Walworth, Carl Cannon, and Tom Bevan to talk about the details of the new deal President Trump brokered between Israel and Hamas, gubernatorial debates yesterday in New Jersey and tonight in Virginia, and a new Gallup poll showing Americans continuing to lose faith in institutions. Finally, Edwin C. Hagenstein, author of “Vanishing Point: In Search of our Constitutional Future”, joins Andrew Walworth and Carl Cannon to discuss how the Constitution is handling the current political environment. 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, Andrew Walworth, Carl Cannon, and Tom Bevan discuss the future of Gaza and President Trump’s new peace plan with Peter Berkowitz, author of “Explaining Israel: The Jewish State, the Middle East, and America” Berkowitz discusses the details of the agreement, which promises a return of hostages and IDF withdrawal from a significant portion of Gaza. President Trump says the 20 living hostages should be released by Tuesday. “I think we need a good mix of cautious optimism blended with reasonable skepticism,” Berkowitz said. “It’s a great achievement to have brought eight Arab and Muslim countries, including Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, and Indonesia on to this agreement, and gotten Israel and Hamas to agree to it.” But Berkowitz cautions that this is “not the end of the war.” “From Hamas’ point of view, by virtue of their own statements, this seems to be a pause in their war on Israel,” he said. “The ceasefire and release of the hostages cover roughly the first two or three points of the peace plan. The plan also calls for disarming Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and the deradicalization of the population. All of that depends on whether Hamas is willing and able to renounce the very goal of its organization. Color me skeptical.” *** After that, starting around minute 17, the group discusses this year’s gubernatorial elections, with debates taking place yesterday in New Jersey and tonight in Virginia. Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill leads Republican Jack Ciattarelli by 3.3% in New Jersey. “We’ve got three polls in our average taken over the last three weeks, and one has the race tied, one has Sherrill up two, and one has Sherrill up eight,” Tom Bevan explained. “That’s close.” Former Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger leads Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears by 7.9% in Virginia. “Turnout is the big reason the Virginia gubernatorial race is often the opposite of the presidential race that came before,” Carl Cannon explained. “Spanberger has a pretty healthy lead at this point.” *** In the next segment, around minute 27:30, a discussion about a new Gallup poll measuring how Americans feel about 15 federal government agencies. The Post Office was the only one above 50% approval, while FEMA, CIA, CDC, FDA, EPA, and the IRS are at their lowest point ever. Interestingly, DHS is the only one that saw improvement. “After all the grief that ‘ICE Barbie’ Kristi Noem has gotten, people are apparently happier with DHS than they were a year ago,” Bevan commented. “All these agencies have had their missteps, and they’ve been politicized, and this is the result.” Carl Cannon raised the larger trend of trust in institutions in general: “This is a long-term crisis of confidence in ourselves and in our country, and I hope as we begin examining the meaning of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country, we talk about this.” *** Finally, starting at minute 31, Edwin C. Hagenstein, author of “Vanishing Point: In Search of our Constitutional Future”, joins Andrew Walworth and Carl Cannon to discuss how the Constitution is handling the current political environment. “2020 felt like something of a watershed, but one that we were building toward for a long time,” he said. “I feel like something is collapsing, or some sort of period is ending, and it’s a little bit unclear to me what that is.” “It might be a roughly 60-year stretch of modestly progressive politics and leadership in this country coming to a kind of a natural ending — or it might be bigger than that,” he said. “The book is an effort to step back from the day-to-day stuff and try to get some perspective on the broader currents in our constitutional life over the last century.” He interprets the Constitution through the lens of three thinkers: classical liberal Richard A. Epstein from the University of Chicago, progressive Obama alum Cass Sunstein, and conservative Harvard Law professor Adrian Vermeule. “The Constitution ultimately really is a piece of paper-however much reverence we have for it-without a populace that can live under it and make sense of it and talk through our troubles and challenges under its terms,” Hagenstein said. *** 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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