Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Tom Bevan, Andrew Walworth, Carl Cannon, and RCP White House correspondent Phil Wegmann analyze the latest strategic and political fallout as the U.S. war in Iran enters its 11th day. RCP senior elections analyst Sean Trende joins the show to break down last night’s Georgia primary results, the contest for California governor, and some of the most interesting Senate races. After that, the panel looks at Starbucks starting to leave Seattle in response to new taxes, and admires the quick reaction of the NYPD during an attempted IED bombing at a protest last weekend. You can listen to the show live, weekdays 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 the latest updates on Iran, as lawmakers split along familiar partisan lines and questions remain about the administration’s long-term strategy. “In fairness, a lot of presidents have said Iran can’t get a nuclear weapon. The difference is when Trump steamed a U.S. carrier strike group into the Mediterranean, it turns out he actually was going to do something about it,” Wegmann commented. “But voters don’t get a geopolitical good-governance coupon at the gas station. They just see how much more expensive it is to fill up their gas tank.” “Iran is trying to close the Strait of Hormuz. Normally, during a war, you’d blockade the country you’re attacking. In this war, the U.S. is trying to keep the oil flowing,” Cannon added. “So now we have a way of deciding whether this is successful. If Iran is reduced to the point where it has no drones, no missiles left, and no navy, and the Strait of Hormuz is open, well then it looks like the administration’s military strategy is working, right?” *** At minute 18, RCP senior elections analyst Sean Trende joins the show to discuss the results of primary elections last night in Georgia, President Trump’s grudge match against GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, the California governor’s race, and the battle for the Senate. “We all know that Democrats have a turnout advantage as their coalition shifts more toward upper-middle-class whites. So, the fact that a low-turnout, low-interest special election has a Democratic overperformance, I don’t think it’s as indicative of what we might see in the fall as people think,” Trende said about Georgia. “Trump hates Thomas Massie with a white-hot passion,” Tom Bevan said. “Trump gets invested in these grudge matches, and this certainly is one. It’ll be interesting to see what he says about Thomas Massie when he goes into his district today.” “It can’t be that bad because Massie doesn’t have a nickname yet,” Trende joked. “But look, even if Republicans lose the House, there’s some benefit to Trump in Republicans knowing he can keep them in line, right? It’s not likely to be a massive Democratic majority, and so there may be things where Democrats need to pick off a few Republicans in order to pass their legislation.” Trende added: “So, having this ‘sword of Trumpocles’ hanging over their head is probably beneficial to him.” *** At minute 36, the group turns to Starbucks and its billionaire founder Howard Schultz, as the company shifts part of its executive operations from Seattle to Tennessee to avoid a new 9.9% “millionaires tax.” “In Washington, the state constitution says they can not have an income tax. So they’re circumventing that by targeting it at millionaires,” Cannon explained. “I’m not a lawyer, but it’s clearly unconstitutional.” “But businesses are fleeing the state. Rich people are fleeing the state,” Bevan said. “And Katie Wilson sounds like she’s a sophomore in college on the campus quad, leading cheers, not the mayor of a once-great city.” “I don’t understand how these governors and mayors fail to recognize that money has become more mobile because people can work from anywhere,” Walworth added. *** Finally, at minute 45, the group looks at the NYPD showing that they’ve still got it with a heroic response to an attempted terrorist attack caught on video. “But let’s abolish the police,” Bevan quipped. *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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