Wednesday 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, Carl Cannon, and Phil Wegmann discuss the situation in Iran as speculation about what Trump might do splits the MAGA movement, the latest Democrat to gain national attention by getting arrested on video, and what is driving young women to the right, politically. *** First, the world holds its breath as President Trump decides what to do about Israel’s attack on Iran. He told reporters this morning, “Nobody knows what I am going to do.” “This is like the truest thing he’s ever said,” Tom Bevan commented. “He doesn’t know what he’s going to do until he makes the decision. He may change his mind three times before then. What has made Trump’s foreign policy successful is that no one knows what he’s going to do.” “The other day he called for the unconditional surrender of Iran, a nation the U.S. is not at war with,” RCP White House reporter Phil Wegmann remarked. “He’s blurring the lines between the U.S. just being an ally of Israel, who is at war, and the U.S. being at war.” Carl Cannon quipped: “Imagine you’re the Iranians watching this. ‘The future of my country rests in the hands of this guy? Damn right we don’t know what he’s going to do, he starts sentences without knowing where they’re going!'” *** In the next segment, at minute 18, New York City mayoral candidate Brad Lander is the latest Democrat to be handcuffed, getting himself arrested by trying to prevent a deportation at an immigration court. Senator Alex Padilla delivered a tearful retelling of his brief detainment by the Secret Service. Is provoking a physical response from law enforcement the Democratic Party’s new strategy for grabbing attention? “These guys are trying to get themselves arrested because it plays well with the base,” Cannon said. “It reminds me of street gangs in Los Angeles, where you have to get arrested and do a little time before you’re fully accepted into the gang.” “I saw Mamdani on TV and they were talking about Lander and his arrest,” Bevan added. “It was great earned media for him, he got one of the front-runners in the race wasting his TV time talking about him!” “They’re showing up and ‘exercising their congressional oversight,’ that’s what they’re saying,” Bevan added. “What’s that phrase we like in America these days? No one is above the law.” “So why is Sen. Padilla on the Senate floor weeping about it?” wondered Cannon. “I do think Democrats have talked themselves into a frenzy with the belief that Donald Trump is Hitler, and democracy is over,” Bevan said. “So I think their concerns are misplaced, but real to them. But also, if you’re going to make a scene and get handcuffed and get publicity, man up. Don’t go on the Senate floor and boo hoo about it. Do the Cory Booker and get mad!” *** After that, at minute 25, Tom Bevan talks to EJ Dickson about her recent article about Turning Point USA’s “Young Women’s Leadership Summit” in Dallas, and what factors explain the recent rise in support for MAGA among women aged 18-29. She wrote in The Cut: “More Babies and Beef Tallow, Less Blue Hair and Birth Control” “I’m more of a culture writer, but I’ve been very interested in Gen Z’s shift toward conservatism,” Dickson said. “A lot of the media focus is on how young men shifted toward Trump, but some polls say Gen Z women shifted seven points.” “Trump was not what attracted these women to this movement,” she said. “It was more a reaction to the brand of feminism that Millennial women have been sold — have-it-all, girlboss feminism.” “A lot of these women said they realized from watching their mothers and grandmothers try to do this that it was kind of a sham, so they were attracted to the softer, more gentle form of femininity that the right offers.” *** Finally, at minute 35, RCP contributor Charlie Stone talks to Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen about the No Kings demonstrations, Iran, and what happens next for Kilmar Abrego Garcia. *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics weeknight radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
RealClearPolitics Videos