Friday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Tom Bevan, Carl Cannon, and Richard Porter evaluate how Pam Bondi performed as attorney general and who the president could pick to replace her, the Pope’s recent comments on war and morality, and signs of a religious revival among Generation Z. Timothy S. Goeglein from the Christian organization “Focus on the Family” joins the show to talk about his new book on returning the focus of our culture on “what really matters.” Finally, the panel gives their picks for the weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines. 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 opens with President Trump firing Attorney General Pam Bondi, where she ranks in the history of the Justice Department, and who the president could pick to replace her. Names mentioned as possible successors include EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, DOJ Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro. “She did a better job than I expected, but you could see poor judgment come out at times,” recovering lawyer Richard Porter said. “She should have been much more cautious about how she handled the Epstein files. She should have described the facts as they were, as opposed to trying to embellish them. I think she created expectations that she then was unable to live up to.” “If the Democrats end up indicting her and making her a martyr, she’ll be remembered,” Carl Cannon said. “She was unsuccessful, but I think Trump set her up to fail.” *** At minute 23, Timothy S. Goeglein of Focus on the Family joins the show to discuss his new book, “What Really Matters: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Family,” and why more young Americans appear to be turning back toward faith. “People of goodwill on both sides of the political aisle are particularly concerned about the lowest marriage and fertility rates in recorded American history,” he said. “But as I write about in the book, there are various factors that I think in this very distracted digital age are contributing in a great measure to the things we’re talking about today.” “I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, but really it’s different since COVID,” he said. “Left and right, it’s the same sort of angst. It’s easy to forget how much brokenness this rising generation of young Americans have really lived through.” Goeglein also argues that the resurgence of faith is “absolutely real” among young men. “Counterintuitively, even in urban and blue areas, which in the era before COVID seemed to be at a plateau or declining in faith, all of a sudden there is a resurgence,” Goeglein said. “I think it is rooted, as I say in the book, in this plague of loneliness. I write at length about the huge percentage of American men who say they have no friends. This combination of spiritual resurgence and seeking a community, seeking fellowship, connection, continuity, I think it all goes together for this kind of restoration that we are witnessing.” *** At minute 39, the panel breaks down Pope Leo’s vocal opposition to war, including his recent statement that “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” “You don’t want to argue theology with the pope,” Carl Cannon said. “I’m an admirer of Leo, as I was of the previous pope, but you don’t want to be too simplistic about this. Sometimes in this world, evil needs to be confronted.” “I understand why he’s against the war. Pete Hegseth recently got some bad press because he had basically used the language that God was on our side and he was hoping that God would help protect our soldiers and make our missiles kill the bad guys,” Tom Bevan added. “So religion is mixing with politics and war on multiple levels.” *** Finally, 46 minutes into the show, the panel gives their weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines. *** Don’t miss a single episode of the RealClearPolitics daily radio show – subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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