Wednesday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Tom Bevan, Carl Cannon, and Andrew Walworth discuss new reporting on President Trump’s latest effort to end the war in Ukraine, a tense moment during the Saudi Crown Prince’s visit to the White House, and the president’s latest clashes with reporters. Later, RCP White House reporter Phil Wegmann joins the show to discuss how the Trump administration could handle Congress’ demand that it publish the remaining Jeffrey Epstein documents, and the group analyzes the latest twist in the national redistricting wars as Texas Republicans plan to take their new congressional map to the Supreme Court. You can listen to the show live each day 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 reporting from Axios that the Trump administration has been secretly working with Russia on a new 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine — without input from Kyiv. “Saying that the Russians ‘feel like they’ve been heard’ is kind of therapy speak,” Andrew Walworth commented. “It doesn’t sound like the Russians, but maybe they’ve evolved?” “The Russians are talking about ‘their truth’ – that Ukraine is not a real country,” Cannon quipped. “But this is a negotiation that is probably better off being done in secret because if it were done publicly, one side or the other would blow it up.” “In some ways, their wants seem irreconcilable, right?” Bevan said about Russia and Ukraine. “Trump thought he was going to get this done. He still hasn’t. He’s been working at it diligently for 10 months, and we appear to be no closer.” *** In the next segment, around minute 10:30, the group considers how Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman handled visiting the White House, where he faced a question about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. “The Crown Prince actually did sort of a non-denial denial – this passive lie in the passive voice,” Cannon said. “Trump didn’t need to weigh in at all, but I think he blurted out the truth: You’ve embarrassed my guest.” “Nobody’s defending the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” Bevan said. “And then her second question was about the Epstein files – for Donald Trump – trying to embarrass him… You might say it’s the press’s job to ask questions. But is it the press’s job to try and embarrass the president by asking his guests questions specifically designed to humiliate them or dredge up stuff that makes them look bad? Is this how the press operated 40 years ago in the Oval Office?” *** At minute 19, RCP White House reporter Phil Wegmann joins the group to discuss the latest turn in the Epstein files dispute, after Congress overwhelmingly voted to compel the DOJ to release more information to the public. How does this end? “The White House, I think, is just looking for a convenient out here. At this point, Trump has flip-flopped back to his original position,” Wegmann explained. “Remember: On the campaign, he said he wanted to release the files. Then he didn’t. Now he does.” “Trump absolutely botched this. He wanted to release the files during the campaign. It was a campaign line. Then, when he got into office, he didn’t do it. His administration didn’t do it. And we still don’t fully understand why,” Tom Bevan added. “Maybe we’ll never know. We’re going to get more information out of this – but I don’t think it’ll be enough for the MTGs of the world.” “There certainly is something to be said about precedent and due process,” Wegmann commented. “But on the slippery-slope question – how many more billionaire sex perverts with private islands are we expecting? Hopefully, this is a once-in-a-generation event.” *** Next, at minute 30, the conversation turns to President Trump blasting a reporter in the Oval Office yesterday, saying ABC News should “lose its license” for being “so fake and so wrong.” “This is the duality of Donald Trump,” Wegmann said. “We’ve asked him aggressive questions at RealClearPolitics – and he’ll respond politely. Or he might erupt at you. Something has gotten under his skin of late. He did not like that question from Mary Bruce, and he gave critics exactly what they wanted – another excuse to attack him as a boor.” “He had to know he’d get a Khashoggi question. Yet he still let the press into the Oval Office because he likes the attention. He can’t help it. The press is the beneficiary,” Wegmann added. *** Finally, 38 minutes into the show, the group looks at the “redistricting wars” ahead of the 2026 midterms, where Texas Republicans are taking their new map all the way to the Supreme Court after a panel of federal judges found that it was “substantially racially gerrymandered.” “This is what kicked off the entire redistricting war, which led California to put its map on the ballot, and now other states are weighing similar moves,” Tom Bevan explained. “I suspect it will go to the Supreme Court. I think it’s going to be hard for the court to avoid it, even if they don’t want to get involved in redistricting.” “What we’re seeing now is that Republicans may not get as much as they thought out of this strategy,” he continued. “Suddenly, the GOP’s ‘gain five to 15 seats’ scenario looks far less likely.” “At what point does purely partisan gerrymandering violate the Constitution?” Cannon said. “To use Jack Kent Cooke’s line: ‘I gave him an unlimited expense account – and he exceeded it.’ The court gave states unlimited power to gerrymander – and both parties exceeded it.” *** 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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