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 — Tom Bevan, Carl Cannon, and Andrew Walworth break down the biggest political stories of the day, covering possible Democratic candidates in the next presidential elections, the latest arguments at the Supreme Court, the budget bill making its way through Congress, and President Trump’s big diplomatic trip to the Mideast. First, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel just told the ladies on ABC’s “The View” that he is “in training” for a presidential run. Is he serious? “He served in the House and was mayor of Chicago, chief of staff for Bill Clinton, ambassador to Japan — a pretty impressive resume,” Andrew Walworth said. “He says he’s in training, but he doesn’t know if he’ll make the Olympics. Not too subtle.” “Rahm is a smart guy,” Tom Bevan said. “He’s carving out a centrist/middle lane approach.” Carl Cannon speculated about whether this is a 3-D chess move: “Is Rahm trying to bait JB Pritzker into running for president so he can run for governor in Illinois?” *** After that, starting at minute 6, new data from the polling firm co/efficient shows 26% of voters believe “No One” is the face of the Democratic Party, tied with 26% who pick New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bernie Sanders, Jasmine Crockett, and Kamala Harris round out the top five. “Well, the people answering Jasmine Crockett are Republicans,” Cannon quipped. “Polls consistently show Democrats like Bernie Sanders and AOC. They are flying around and getting thousands of people at their rallies, pushing a very left-wing progressive message,” Tom Bevan added. “Next time, they’re probably going to be up against JD Vance, so Democrats may not be as cautious. They could go with their hearts instead of their heads and select AOC, at 35 years old, to run for president.” *** In the next segment, at minute 12, the Supreme Court heard arguments on birthright citizenship today, specifically whether federal judges can restrict the Trump administration’s executive order denying citizenship to babies born to mothers in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. “The justices seemed skeptical of the president’s position on birthright citizenship,” Carl Cannon explained. “But they also seemed skeptical of this idea that local district court judges across the country can issue nationwide injunctions stopping all the things Trump has done… The more they spoke, the more you realized how much of a mess this is.” “The first nationwide injunction was like 1963, and they’ve become much more prominent over the last 10-15 years. And a large majority of them have been used against Donald Trump,” Bevan added. “This is not random, progressives and Democrats file a lawsuit and get it in a court where they have a sympathetic judge, and boom, he or she issues a ruling and stops everything nationwide.” *** After that, at timestamp 18:30, a quick chat about three Yale professors who say they’re moving to Canada because President Trump, in their expert opinions, is a “fascist.” “The lesson of 1933 is you get out sooner rather than later,” A href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/opinion/yale-canada-fascism.”>they told the New York Times in a highly produced video. Is this too much? “We wonder why these demonstrations on college campuses are taking place, what are they being taught?” Cannon said. “Well, now we know what they’re being taught: gibberish. To panic, to catastrophize, to be hysterical and illogical. Three down, a few thousand to go.” “What are they going to do when it becomes the 51st state?” Bevan joked. *** Next, at timestamp 24:30, Carl Cannon spoke with RCP columnist Peter Berkowitz, former director of policy planning at the State Department and expert on Israel, about President Trump’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the latest on nuclear negotiations with Iran. “What is going on? Excellent question!” Berkowitz commented. “President Trump is trying to build partnerships for the U.S. in the Middle East based on commerce.” “Never mind that the leader of Syria is a longtime Sunni Muslim jihadist, he’s now wearing a suit and tie, maybe we can do business with him, let’s see. I assure you, the Israelis are skeptical,” he said. “Trump hasn’t made the old argument that economic liberalization will produce political liberalization. He’s just saying let’s do business that will produce friendship.” *** Finally, at timestamp 36:30, Andrew Walworth talks to John Feehery, former press secretary for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, about the internal politics behind budget negotiations and whether House Republicans can keep the majority in the 2026 midterms. “Some Republicans are going to be very unhappy, up until they end up voting for the bill. And then they’ll be happy,” Feehery predicted. “It’s in the hands of the whip, the speaker, and eventually the president who are going to have to crack some heads and get these guys to vote for it.” “Mike Johnson can lose three votes if the rest of the caucus holds,” Andrew Walworth added. “I’d give Mike Johnson an A+ as Speaker, he’s done a remarkable job of keeping his caucus together with such a slender majority. And he never gets upset!” Feehery commented. “Sam Rayburn used to say he’d rather have a one-seat majority than a 100-seat majority. When you have a slender majority, you’re all in it together.” *** 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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