On Friday’s RealClearPolitics podcast, Tom Bevan, Carl Cannon, and Andrew Walworth discuss House Republicans forcing the Clintons to testify about their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, and how Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would impact the political media landscape. Peter Berkowitz joins the panel to discuss the chances of war with Iran as negotiations continue in Geneva and a second carrier strike group arrives in the region. The show wraps up with Andrew Walworth’s essay on the “Pirates of the American Revolution” and the panel’s 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 what House Republicans hope to gain by dragging the Clintons in to testify on their relationship, or lack thereof, with Jeffrey Epstein. Will this give Democrats an excuse to call Donald Trump to testify one day? “Bill has some ‘splaining to do,” Tom Bevan said. “But nobody is better at parsing language and deflecting and getting around questions than Bill Clinton.” “This is worse than a fishing expedition,” Carl Cannon said. “Chairman Comer’s like the dog that chases the car. Now he’s caught the tire in his mouth. Now what? The dog never wins.” “We are RealClearPolitics. We focus on the politics of things. But there are real victims here,” Walworth added. “They’re not trying to get him to admit a crime. They’re trying to understand more about this massive network that Jeffrey Epstein built,” Bevan said. “Like, how did this all happen? How did Bill Clinton get in his orbit and become such a frequent member of the, you know, friends of Jeff?” *** In the next segment, around minute 16:20, the group discusses Paramount Skydance outbidding Netflix to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, and how this will impact the political media landscape. “If this merger goes through, they’re going to put somebody new in charge of CNN,” Bevan said, suggesting something like what happened at CBS. “In CNN’s heyday, it covered the news. It had news bureaus all over the world. It was a breaking news channel. They were the pioneer 24/7. It was a behemoth,” Cannon said. “But the business model changed, I’d start with fewer high-paid anchors and more reporters, for instance?” *** After that, at minute 24, Peter Berkowitz joins the group to assess the chances of war with Iran. As negotiations continue in Geneva and the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group arrives in the region, both sides are talking tough. And, if the U.S. doesn’t act, what signal does that send to Beijing and Moscow about American resolve? “JD Vance says we’re not going to get involved in a long, drawn-out conflict, so what does this look like?” Bevan asked. “The Trump administration has not been forthcoming on its battle plans. That’s actually good,” Berkowitz said. “I myself believe that we should have as the military objective of these strikes severely degrading Iran’s ability to threaten militarily our bases – 18 or 19 or so – in the Middle East, and to threaten our friends and partners – the moderate Arab regimes and Israel.” “Our aim should not be regime change, although we can wish and pray for that. Our aim should be something we know how to do: blow things up – and blow things up to the advantage of the United States and our friends and partners,” he explained. *** At minute 39, Andrew Walworth discusses his new contribution to RCP’s America 250 series on the privateers that helped the U.S. win its independence: “Pirates of the American Revolution” “When the war broke out – actually even before – we started issuing letters of marque. We issued about 800 of them. So ship owners on the Eastern seaboard would go out in their boats, some large, some small, and try to capture British shipping. There were about 2,000 ships involved,” he said. “Pirates with papers.” “They intercepted about 10% of British trade. It really did change the course of the war,” Walworth explained. *** Also, 46 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.
RealClearPolitics Videos