On Friday’s RealClearPolitics podcast, White House reporter Phil Wegmann joins Andrew Walworth and Tom Bevan to discuss his new piece on how the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement could shape the future of the Republican Party. Then, former ESPN producer Mike Leon joins the group to unpack the incredible NBA/Mafia gambling scandal revealed yesterday by the FBI. After that, Beau Bayh, the son of former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh, speaks with Phil Wegmann about running for Indiana secretary of state and how Democrats can succeed in red states. And finally, the guys share this week’s You Cannot Be Serious stories. 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 group reviews Phil Wegmann’s latest piece for RCP on how the MAHA movement could influence the Republican Party in future elections: “MAHA’s Moment To Prove Itself: The 2026 Midterms” Wegmann says the midterm elections will answer two questions: “What does MAHA actually mean? And then, what is MAHA worth?” “There’s some polling that suggests about 4% to 6% of first-time Trump supporters in the last general election supported Trump because of his adoption of MAHA,” Wegmann explained. “There are disparate factions who say the country should be most focused on the pharmaceutical industry, or big agriculture, or vaccines, or the food industry. As Trump tries to grow the Republican coalition and expand the party’s footprint, it’s an open question if these voters-who previously probably would have been inclined to vote Democratic-stay in the GOP fold.” “Democrats have dominated the health-care debate as long as I can remember,” Tom Bevan added. “The MAHA movement gives Republicans an entree into health care with an argument that appeals to a lot of people: we’re spending trillions of dollars-$ 5 trillion a year-on health care, and yet we have one of the sickest populations.” “One of the influencers I talked to said, ‘Look, we’re not going back to the Democratic Party. Every time RFK Jr. is on Capitol Hill, he gets attacked by Democrats and it’s Republicans who rush to his aid.’ So I think they’ve locked those folks down,” Wegmann concluded. “The question is: If you love Trump and RFK Jr., do you love your congressional district’s representative?” *** In the next segment, around minute 14, “Can We Please Talk” podcast host Mike Leon joins the group to dig into the fascinating gambling scheme the FBI made public yesterday. They’ve reportedly arrested dozens of mafia figures and three former and current NBA players and coaches for what the FBI is calling “an illegal gambling and sports-rigging operation that spanned years.” “It’s two separate things: it’s the mob having ties into one of them, in terms of the games-and Jones and Billups kind of ushering in people with money so that they can be taken advantage of-whereas Rozier is kind of more of a stockbroker,” Leon explained. “The Sopranos memes are out there with Chauncey Billups replacing Paulie’s head. La Cosa Nostra is involved. They’re bundled together in the news because of the NBA banner.” “The common fan asks: You make $ 24 million a year-why do this?” he also said. “This happens across sports… All of these teams either have individual deals with the gambling companies, and then the media rights holders have deals with the gambling companies. The lines are blurred, for sure.” “You can never put the genie back in the bottle,” he said. “How can these games ever be on the up-and-up? I just think it’s too big now. The NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, NFL, and Major League Soccer, to a lesser extent, all know that they’re in bed with legalized forms of gambling that are addictive.” *** After that, around minute 27, Beau Bayh, the son of former Democratic Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh, speaks to Phil Wegmann about his decision to run for Indiana secretary of state, the increasing political divide between rural and urban voters, and how he believes Democrats can succeed in red states. He praised Indiana’s Republican state legislature for “standing up to a president of their own party” and not redistricting the state’s congressional map. “One of the problems in our state is that we rank 50th -the bottom- in voter participation,” Bayh said. “Studies I’ve read show the main driving force behind that is voter apathy. Can you imagine the increase in voter apathy that would result from further gerrymandering?” “I feel like we’re on the playground again. When have two wrongs ever made a right? Because they’re doing it in California doesn’t necessarily make it okay to do it in Indiana,” Bayh said. “This is everything people hate about politics – politicians in Washington viewing politics as a zero-sum game where we have a red team and a blue team doing whatever it takes to win.” “There’s nothing partisan about the office I’m running for or about what I believe in and how that office should be run,” he said. “Democrats and Republicans alike in Indiana can all get behind rooting out waste and bald corruption in our politics.” “The Democratic Party needs to focus on the issues that matter to most people,” he said. “Most people are sitting down at their kitchen table – they’re not worried about ‘woke’ issues, and everything bound up in that term.” *** Finally, starting around 41, the guys share this week’s You Cannot Be Serious roundup of unbelievable headlines. *** Don’t miss an episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
RealClearPolitics Videos