Monday on the RealClearPolitics radio show — weeknights at 6:00 p.m. on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124 and then on Apple, Spotify, and here on our website — Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon break down the reactions around the world to U.S. air strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, tomorrow’s Democratic primary for New York City Mayor, and new polls from the Reagan Institute about public attitudes on national security issues. *** First, making sense of how Republicans and Democrats are reacting to President Trump bombing Iranian nuclear facilities this weekend, as well as Tehran’s retaliatory strike on a U.S. air base in Qatar. Trump announced later on Monday afternoon that a ceasefire would start overnight. “It still isn’t clear just how much of the MAGA movement is against this,” Tom Bevan commented. “You also have other folks, like Charlie Kirk, saying we need to trust Trump on this, and that striking Iran is not the same as sending 400,000 troops into Iraq.” *** In the next segment, at timestamp 13:25, the Democratic primary for New York City Mayor is tomorrow, featuring a crowded race and ranked-choice voting. New research from Emerson College Polling predicts that Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani could defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the eighth ranked-choice elimination round. Is that an effective way to run an election? “It sounds on paper like a wonderful reform,” Carl Cannon said. “It’s supposed to get politicians who run constructive, issue-based campaigns. But the New York Democrats are trying to game the system, saying: Vote for me and then vote for this guy second! Vote for Cuomo last!” “You list your top five choices, and if someone doesn’t get 50%, they knock off the bottom person and reapportion their votes until someone gets more than 50%,” Andrew Walworth explained. “We’ll find out tomorrow, but if Democrats end up with a socialist who believes in globalizing the intifada as their nominee, Eric Adams could come back into play,” Cannon added. “Mamdani is a socialist, a Muslim immigrant. He wants to build a network of government-owned grocery stores to lower prices, freeze rent, make public transportation free, universal healthcare,” Tom Bevan said. “He wants all of these goodies, but he hasn’t explained at all how they’re going to pay for it.” “This is what the people want, though, and they’ll deal with the consequences — as we learned in Chicago,” Bevan added. “Mamdani is promising the moon, and that often works in politics. People will find out there’s no way to pay for it after they vote for it.” *** In the next segment, at minute 21:30, Carl Cannon talks to RCP special correspondent Addison Graham, reporting from Brussels on the European Union foreign ministers’ meeting. How do they view next steps in the Middle East and Ukraine, and President Trump’s role in reshaping U.S. foreign policy? “The agenda for today, scheduled months ago, was Georgia, Ukraine, and general trade issues. But every reporter was asking about Iran,” Graham said. “They’re worried about escalation in the region, but the foreign minister of Estonia even said, basically, no one hates the idea of Iran’s nuclear capabilities being weakened. That’s similar to what a lot of American politicians are dealing with. Nobody wants to be wedded to a decision that ends up going south, but everyone is cautiously optimistic that this will blow over and Iran will emerge very much weakened.” *** Finally, at minute 32, Tom Bevan talks to Rachel Hoff, Policy Director of the Reagan Institute, about its new “Summer Survey,” which polled U.S. public attitudes toward Iran, NATO, and national security. It turns out 84% of Americans, 89% of Republicans and 91% of MAGA Republicans, said Iran’s nuclear program was a “serious” or “significant threat.” “The poll was conducted in early June, so before the strikes in Iran, but at least we have some fresh data on what the American people think,” she explained. “The way the question was worded was: Does this matter to U.S. security and prosperity? And I like that wording… It turns out Americans think many of the things we asked about, including the war between Russia and Ukraine, a potential war between China and Taiwan, tariffs, and the southern border, do matter to U.S. security and prosperity.” “One thing that stood out was the prospect of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” she said. “That came out around 10 points above each of those other things. A huge majority of that 84% believed it matters a great deal. And you don’t get numbers like 84% without it being bipartisan.” *** 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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