On Wednesday’s RealClearPolitics radio show, Andrew Walworth, Tom Bevan, and Carl Cannon discuss a series of new comments from the president that could become big political stories. Trump is threatening to federalize the DC government to get crime under control after some high-profile incidents, and he is considering an executive order to investigate his claim that he was “debanked” under pressure from the Biden administration. Trump is also starting to comment on 2028, naming Vice President JD Vance as the heir apparent to the MAGA movement. They also examine the escalating redistricting battle across the country, where Democrat-led states are threatening to retaliate if Texas Republicans move forward with an attempt to redraw their state’s congressional districts before the midterm election and discuss Glenn Kessler’s new post explaining why he left the Washington Post after almost three decades. Later, historian Jay Cost from the American Enterprise Institute joins Walworth to talk about why Congress takes the summer off and whether members will continue to hold town halls in their districts. You can listen to the show weeknights at 6:00 p.m. on SiriusXM’s POTUS Channel 124 and then on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and here on our website. *** First, President Trump is reportedly considering an executive order to investigate financial institutions that “debank” customers based on political or religious views. He specifically accused JP Morgan and Bank of America of shutting down his accounts under pressure from the Biden administration. Is this personal or political? “It happened to him, but this is something that has apparently been happening to conservatives for a long time,” Tom Bevan said. “It reminds me very much of the IRS scandal under Obama-with Lois Lerner targeting conservative organizations.” “I imagine we’re just scratching the surface here,” Carl Cannon added. “I’ve learned over the last nine years, Trump will say or do something that sounds insane, but then there’ll always be some truth to it.” *** Next, around minute 8, some high-profile crimes in the nation’s capital have led President Trump to threaten a federal takeover of the district. Would turning DC into “Trump City” make it safer? “These are horrific crimes. But the federal government already has a lot of power. These judges who are releasing people-they’re federally appointed. The prosecutors are federal. So this crime is not a reason to do what Trump is saying,” Cannon said. “The crime statistics are a mess, I’m skeptical that crime is really going down.” “This wasn’t just some anonymous staffer, this was ‘Big Balls!’” Tom Bevan noted. “That was his nickname. He’s a 19-year-old kid, and apparently tried to prevent a carjacking and got the crap beaten out of him.” Bevan added Trump’s threat “sounds like maybe not an idle one, but one meant to get the attention of Democrats and D.C. leadership.” “In his post, he mentioned that this isn’t just about needing safety for residents. It’s about how the world views D.C. This is the capital of the greatest country on Earth. We bring in foreign leaders. We hold meetings at the White House. And if the city is seen as a cesspool of crime, that reflects poorly on the entire country,” Bevan said. *** In the next segment, starting at minute 15, President Trump said yesterday that he considers Vice President J.D. Vance the heir apparent to the MAGA movement. It’s never too early to start talking about 2028! “I’m not sure Marco Rubio wants to wait another 4 or 8 years. But if he runs in the primary-and Trump is supporting Vance-we’ll find out in a hurry whether it’s still Trump’s party,” Cannon said. Trump didn’t mention any of his sons here. So at least in the short term, it looks like the movement is moving beyond just the family,” Bevan added. “Rubio is interesting. He’s the only one who’s crossed over from the pre-Trump era to the post-Trump era and remained relevant. That takes political skill.” *** After that, at minute 20, the battle over redistricting is escalating beyond Texas as more states threaten to change their congressional maps. “My guess is California won’t go through with it,” Cannon said. “They’ve got 52 House members, and nine of them are Republicans. Now they’re thinking they can get six more? The state is not 95% Democrat, it’s more like 60/40.” “In my view, it’s a deeply unpatriotic thing. You’re dividing the country for a temporary advantage in a midterm election. You’re disenfranchising millions of people. Look at Massachusetts and Maryland-between those two states, there should be at least one Republican representative,” he added. “The idea of a national, federal law about redistricting doesn’t seem feasible,” Bevan said. “We are a republic of nation-states, and the states get to make their own rules. Now, the fact that they’ve gone off the rails when it comes to gerrymandering is unfortunate. But Democrats have been at least as guilty, if not more guilty, than Republicans in many cases. So for Democrats to now cry foul-it’s a little rich.” *** And then, starting at minute 27:30, the panel considers Glenn Kessler’s new Substack post about why he decided to leave the Washington Post, where he’s written The Fact Checker column since 2011: “Why I Left The Washington Post” “The whole fact-checking rubric that grew up over the last couple of decades-largely because of Glenn Kessler … turned out to be extremely problematic because of the bias that was inherent in them,” Bevan said. “It would’ve been nice if fact-checkers had been able to be objective and down the middle, but that wasn’t the way it happened.” “There’s an exodus at The Washington Post,” Cannon said. “Some of the best are leaving-that’s my subjective judgment … It’s a passing of the torch, brought on by a lot of factors. Some people are aging out. Others object to the direction Bezos is taking the paper.” *** Finally, at minute 33, historian Jay Cost from the American Enterprise Institute joins Andrew Walworth to talk about why Congress takes such an extended vacation every summer and why the traditional town hall meeting might be “going the way of the dodo.” Cost is the author of“Democracy or Republic?: The People and the Constitution” and this new piece on the history of the August recess: “Why Does Congress Take a Summer Break?” “The summer recess dates back to the earliest days of the republic,” Cost said. “DC is bad enough with air conditioning.” “I know it sounds cushy, and for some members, especially senior ones, it probably is,” he said. “But the glamour of the job is mostly in its prestige. Members who take the job seriously do work hard, and the real payoff is in the honor of serving.” Cost also laments the increasingly performative nature of modern politics, from C-SPAN to local town halls. “C-SPAN has turned the United States Senate, the world’s supposedly greatest deliberative body, into people just scrapping for sound bites,” he said. “And even in overwhelmingly Republican districts, you can find 200 highly engaged liberal Democrats to pack a town hall. These folks aren’t there to listen, they’re not going to vote for the member. So if town halls are just becoming shouting matches dominated by ideologues, then yeah-they may be going the way of the dodo.” *** 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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