Thursday 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 — Tom Bevan, Phil Wegmann, and Carl Cannon discuss the drama over Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that she’s referring former President Obama and many of his top intel officials to the DOJ for possible criminal charges, and the season premiere of South Park making fun of President Trump. Finally, Michigan Democrat Senator Elissa Slotkin speaks to Phil Wegmann about how Democrats can find their way back to winning with “alpha” energy and “burning sacred cows.” *** First, Wegmann talks to Tom and Carl about the questions he got to ask Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at yesterday’s press briefing and how the world is reacting to the revelation that the administration wants former President Obama and some of his intelligence officials criminally charged over Russiagate. Obama’s DNI James Clapper told CNN last night that he’s “lawyering up.” “The most obvious question is why now,” Wegmann said. “There was nothing to stop him from releasing this information four years ago… We’re getting a sense of what that retribution Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail looks like.” “Where does this end?” Cannon wondered. “If Hakeem Jeffries gets in, do we get another impeachment? If the next president is a Democrat, do they then come under pressure to sic their DOJ on Trump’s people? Then Tulsi Gabbard gets indicted? It’s like the Hatfields and McCoys. I don’t think that’s any way to run a country.” “That’s why I asked Tulsi Gabbard, straight from Carl Cannon’s notebook, if this is just more weaponization of government,” Wegmann added. “They don’t know what charge they want to bring Obama up on. They know he has broad presidential immunity. They fought that case at the Supreme Court last year and won-for Trump. But Brennan, Clapper, Comey-some of these other characters-they don’t have that immunity.” “They told me yesterday: this is about finding the truth, this is about accountability. But they haven’t defined what that accountability is going to look like yet.” Tom Bevan added: “You look at John Brennan. It seems like he could easily be brought up on perjury charges because of the evidence we now have. But in past instances, when they spied on Congress, nothing happened. No accountability.” *** In the next segment, starting at minute 12:30, the season premiere of “South Park” reveled in crude but timely takedowns of Donald Trump and their own parent company, Paramount, last night. Paramount just settled a big lawsuit with President Trump. Are they begging Trump to sue again? “What would the discovery process be? The tort would be, I don’t have a small penis!” Cannon joked. “Trump is portrayed as a circus fat man, not well-endowed, who sues the town of South Park,” Cannon explains. “The president settles for $ 3.5 million, but they also have to do 50 public service announcements saying how great Trump is. So, Parker and Stone are challenging political correctness and liberal shibboleths, but also torching Trump.” Cannon’s favorite line is Cartman talking about how much he misses NPR: “Someone asks, what’s NPR? He says: You know, that hilarious show where all the Jews and lesbians complain about stuff.” The White House offered a classic response: “This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention… No fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak!” “Do they know what the Streisand effect is?” Wegmann wondered. “What Parker and Stone have always tried to do is piss both sides off. They point out hypocrisy on the right and the left. I think they’re the greatest satirists we have,” Cannon added. *** Finally, at minute 19:20, Phil Wegmann interviews Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin about her “economic war plan for the middle class,” the Trump administration’s accusations about “Russiagate,” and the “sacred cows” the Democratic Party needs to slay to find its way back to winning — including housing policy, immigration, energy, and “alpha energy.” “Slotkin’s a fascinating character because she won in a state that Donald Trump carried. She’s one of the few Democratic voices right now urging her party to embrace a new vision-to pump the brakes a bit-at a moment when the party continues to drift ever farther to the left. She’s tacking toward the center. It’s a pretty interesting conversation,” Wegmann says. You can read more about the interview here. *** 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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