Friday’s RealClearPolitics podcast focuses on the political fallout from New York’s Democratic primaries and the question of whether socialism is becoming mainstream inside the Democratic Party. Elections analyst Sean Trende joins Carl Cannon, Tom Bevan, and Andrew Walworth to discuss why socialism is appealing to younger, urban voters, opposition to the Trump administration’s attempt to involve the Postal Service in mail-in ballot controls, the closure of Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz detention facility, and Republican rhetoric on immigration and assimilation. Plus, the panel discusses the World Cup’s symbolic political significance and offers their weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” absurd stories. Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or other platforms.

00:00 – Opening: Is Socialism Mainstream Now? Sean Trende joins Walworth, Cannon, and Bevan to discuss Rahm Emanuel’s warning that Democrats cannot build majorities or win elections by going further left and debate whether AOC is really going to run for president. Watch: Rahm Emanuel: You Win By Turning Red Districts Blue — The Socialist Wing Is Turning Blue Districts “Midnight Blue” “I don’t think you can draw any conclusions about socialism being mainstream because a DSA candidate wins in an 80% Harris district,” Sean Trende said. “When socialist, DSA candidates start winning in Trump-plus-one districts or Harris-plus-one districts, then you can start to make that case.” Tom Bevan warns the party’s left flank could become the face of Democrats. “The people who were elected on Tuesday are very radical, and they replaced Democrats who are already very progressive, already left-wing,” he said. “There are going to be six DSA candidates in Congress now, and they’re going to be shaping Democratic thought and opinion.” Watch: AOC on Primary Sweep: The Democratic Electorate Sees Progress Is Not Happening, Voting To Change Their Representation Bevan says AOC is definitely running for president in 2028, while Cannon still thinks she’ll settle for Senate, while Trende said it’s tough to tell: “At a certain point, you realize that political advertisements are no longer aimed at you. This is one of those moments. I thought the Mamdani videos were the corniest stuff I’d ever seen, but people loved it.” *** 14:11 – Trump’s Postmaster General Takes on Mail-in Voting The panel turns to President Trump’s executive order directing the postmaster general to develop a plan concerning mail-in ballots and absentee voter rolls. After playing Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s sharp criticism of the proposal, Sean Trende says absentee-ballot fraud concerns are real, but warns that using the Postal Service to obtain voter rolls raises different questions. Carl Cannon and Tom Bevan debate whether the administration is trying to highlight vulnerabilities in the voting system or gain access to state voter lists. Watch: Sen. Elissa Slotkin Blasts Postmaster General: “Please Push Back On Being A Pawn In This Authoritarian Playbook” *** 22:46 – Alligator Alcatraz Is No More The panel discusses the closure of Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center. Walworth started the conversation with these questions: “Is this a victory for those who opposed it, because people have been trying to close this down since the day it opened? Or is it a victory because, as the Florida governor says, we did it and we closed it?” Watch: Gov. Ron DeSantis: Alligator Alcatraz Was Always Meant To Be Temporary “It’s sort of symbolic of how the administration was in the first year, really ramping up the mass deportation. We saw that climax tragically in Minnesota, and since then, it’s been ramping down,” Tom Bevan said. The discussion broadens into Trump’s immigration numbers and the sharp decline in border encounters compared with the Biden years. *** 30:45 – GOP Done Being Careful With Immigration? The conversation shifts to the annual Faith and Freedom conference, where House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said he was ‘done being careful’ about being called racist and argued that immigrants who do not assimilate should leave. Is America a melting pot or a tossed salad? Watch: Rep. Tom Emmer: If Immigrants Don’t Assimilate They Should Go The Hell Back Where They Came From Cannon says Ilhan Omar’s response was effective and argues that sweeping rhetoric about Somalis does not help the assimilation debate. Bevan defends the broader point about shared civic values while criticizing the delivery, and Walworth invokes Ben Wattenberg’s melting pot versus salad bowl framework to argue that American assimilation is still working. Watch: President Trump Headlines Annual “Faith and Freedom” Conference *** 38:49 – World Cup With the World Cup nearing the knockout stage, the panel reacts to Politico’s piece on Democrats’ discomfort with the tournament’s success under the Trump presidency. Politico: Democrats Grapple Uncomfortably With World Cup Success. Watch: Speaker Mike Johnson: World Cup Lets Visitors See The Genius Of American Freedom Carl Cannon says the event has become a showcase for America but warns against overdoing it, while Tom Bevan argues that most fans just want to see the U.S. win, regardless of party. It’s only in the media and some people who live on Twitter, Bevan said, criticizing these stupid think pieces. *** 43:12 – “You Cannot Be Serious?!” The show closes with the weekly You Cannot Be Serious segment. Andrew Walworth criticizes The Atlantic for questioning feel-good World Cup coverage after a Swedish influencer who praised America was revealed to be an OnlyFans model: The Feel-Good Story of the World Cup Is Too Good to Be True Tom Bevan blasts the WNBA’s handling of Caitlin Clark, arguing that the league is mishandling its biggest star: WNBA Suspends Alyssa Thomas For ‘Recklessly’ Hitting Caitlin Clark in Throat During Scramble Carl Cannon closes by mocking JD Vance’s claim that Watergate would be a 12-hour story today: Vance: Watergate Is A “Story Of How The Deep State Took Down Nixon”

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