Monday on the RealClearPolitics radio show, Tom Bevan, Andrew Walworth, and Carl Cannon discussed the political and security implications of violent attacks at home and abroad, with a massacre at a Hanukkah party in Australia, a shooting at Brown University, and two U.S. troops killed in Syria this weekend. They next turn to Erika Kirk’s “town hall” with CBS News and the broader media shakeup surrounding Paramount and Netflix competing to acquire Warner Bros. Finally, the panel debates whether Democrats are drawing false connections between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, along with reactions to the shocking murder of Hollywood director Rob Reiner. You can listen to the show live, weekdays 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 opened with a discussion about the mass shooting at a Jewish celebration in Sydney this weekend, which raises questions about antisemitism, Australia’s strict gun laws, and immigration vetting. Cannon argued that the attack highlights broader failures of assimilation and immigration enforcement: “You let people immigrate to your country, and they sometimes bring toxic attitudes, which can then be further radicalized online … When people on college campuses say ‘globalize the intifada,’ this is what they’re talking about.” “You want people who want to assimilate, who want to adopt our way of life-not attack it,” Bevan commented. “That’s where the Australian government failed. Even the prime minister’s response-warning about possible right-wing backlash-reflects this reflexive fear of being accused of Islamophobia. That equivocation is part of the problem.” *** After that, starting at minute 10, President Trump says he “will retaliate” for the killing of two members of the Iowa National Guard in Syria. “It is a reminder that we still have people over there in harm’s way. We forget about them until something like this happens,” Bevan said. “Because of the fall of Assad, we have troops there trying to root out the remnants of ISIS and keep them at bay. But two members of the Iowa National Guard are now dead, and three more are wounded, and hopefully they’ll recover.” *** At minute 13, authorities are still searching for the person who killed two people and wounded nine others at Brown University, after releasing a man detained as a “person of interest.” “This FBI director-at some point, I’m going to start feeling sorry for him. He just can’t catch a break,” Cannon said. “You’re not supposed to announce that you have a suspect before you actually have a suspect.” “This poor kid-they splashed his name and picture all over the Internet. Newspaper outlets were reporting who he was-and it turns out he’s not the guy,” Bevan said. “So, where does he go to get his reputation back? Everybody just moves on like it didn’t even happen. He’s left to deal with the consequences.” *** Next, at minute 17, the group discusses Erika Kirk’s “town hall” on Saturday with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. “She’s done a lot of interviews. I didn’t get a whole lot new out of this one. Maybe she’s reaching a new audience,” Bevan said. “What I thought was interesting was the question at the end-from the last person to speak to Charlie Kirk before he was shot. And the question was about condemning Donald Trump’s rhetoric.” Erika Kirk is also expected to meet Candace Owens in private on Monday to discuss her spreading conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s death. Could they de-escalate the situation? “It would be nice if people could just ignore it, but for some reason, that just can’t happen,” Walworth said about the Candace Owens controversy. *** After that, at minute 23, the panel talks about the competition between Paramount and Netflix to buy Warner Bros., with potential implications for CNN and the broader political media landscape in the balance. “There’s fear now at CNN, because if Paramount wins the bid, they want to keep CNN. If Netflix gets it, they’re willing to spin CNN off into a different company,” Walworth explained. “But if Paramount ends up winning, Bari Weiss might be in charge of CNN and CBS.” “A lot of Hollywood types are rooting for Paramount, while many journalists are rooting for Netflix,” Cannon added. *** Finally, at minute 32, Congressional Democrats have published a new trove of Jeffrey Epstein pictures, some of which include President Trump. The panel argued that the release amounted to partisan manipulation and exploitation of Epstein’s victims. “Democrats will resort to any underhanded tactic. There’s no level they won’t stoop to try to get Trump on this,” Bevan said. “They put out a photo of Trump with six women-three on each side-and their faces are blacked out. It turns out this was an advertisement for a suntan lotion or something. It was an event at Mar-a-Lago. They blacked out the faces to make it look like Trump was standing with Epstein victims, possibly underage.” “When I was a kid, Democrats stood against guilt by association. They knew McCarthyism was wrong. Now they’re practicing it,” Cannon said. *** 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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