On Friday’s RealClearPolitics podcast, Tom Bevan, Carl Cannon, and Andrew Walworth discuss why the president fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the political fallout for Gov. Abigail Spanberger after a brutal murder committed by an illegal alien, weeks after she made Virginia a sanctuary state. Political scientist Josh Muravchik joins the show to argue that Iran’s history and national identity make it more capable of a transition to democracy than Arab states. Finally, the panel reflects on the life and legacy of legendary football coach Lou Holtz and gives their picks for the weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines. You can listen to the show live each day at 11:00 a.m. on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111 and then on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and here on our website. *** The show opens with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem becoming the first cabinet member to be fired during the second Trump administration. What was the final straw? Why did Trump pick Sen. Markwayne Mullin instead of Tom Homan to replace her? “She was very loyal to the president, and she thought she was doing what he wanted,” Cannon said. “I don’t think it was the ads that got her fired.” Vean asked about Trump choosing Mullin: “If part of your problem with Kristi Noem was that she mishandled this, and part of the mishandling was that she didn’t have the requisite experience, why would you replace her with someone who also has no experience?” *** In the next segment, around minute 11, the group discusses a shocking murder committed by an illegal alien in Virginia, just a couple of weeks after Governor Abigail Spanberger made it a “sanctuary state.” “She’s all in on the sanctuary-state thing, and she hasn’t spoken about this case,” Cannon said. “I think independent voters in Virginia are starting to think that maybe they were sold a bill of goods.” “And yet, she is a rising star in the Democratic Party. She gave the rebuttal to the State of the Union, and she continues to have this image-if you ask Democrats, they’d say, ‘Oh, she’s a total moderate,'” Bevan added about Spanberger. *** After that, at minute 18, foreign policy expert Josh Muravchik joins the program to discuss how possible a democratic Iran really is. “We’ve had a lot of disappointment watching the so-called Arab Spring of 2011, and trying to do things ourselves to encourage it, and it all came to naught,” he said. “But Iran is different than the Arab world. We Americans tend to lump them together, but they’re quite different. Iran is a wealthier country. It’s got a bigger middle class. It’s got a much more educated population. And it has a sense of national identity.” “I think democracy is much more possible in Iran than it proved to be in the Arab world. And we just wipe out their nukes, they’ll get busy starting that program all over again,” he said. “The key would be to go all the way to knocking out this regime. Not just knocking out their ballistic missiles, not just knocking out their nuclear-weapons program, but to get the regime out of power.” “If you look at all of Europe right now-what is the country that is friendliest to the United States, that is the most loyal ally, and also has the most capacity to do things? It’s not France. It’s Poland,” he continued. “Poland has the most potent army in Europe right now, and it’s the most absolutely devoted friend of the United States because Poles remember so vividly what it was like when they were under communism. And we could have something very similar in Iran.” *** At minute 35, the group looks back at the life of legendary football coach Lou Holtz. *** Also, 41 minutes into the show, the panel gives their weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines. *** Don’t miss an episode of the RealClearPolitics radio show – subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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