{"id":93186,"date":"2026-05-15T22:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/rcp-podcast-trumps-china-summit-cia-back-in-cuba-the-american-mind-ai-has-no-soul-you-do\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T22:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T22:43:02","slug":"rcp-podcast-trumps-china-summit-cia-back-in-cuba-the-american-mind-ai-has-no-soul-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/rcp-podcast-trumps-china-summit-cia-back-in-cuba-the-american-mind-ai-has-no-soul-you-do\/","title":{"rendered":"RCP Podcast: Trump’s China Summit, CIA Back in Cuba, ‘The American Mind,’ AI Has No Soul–You Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Andrew Walworth hosts RCP president and co-founder Tom Bevan and Washington bureau chief Carl Cannon to break down what the president accomplished in China, and reports that the CIA might finally be on the verge of taking down the Castro regime in Cuba. Matthew Spalding joins the show to explain why the Declaration of Independence was not merely an expression of the Enlightenment, but a distinct argument from the perspective of a distinct American mind that still shapes our society. Plus, the panel previews Pope Leo XIV’s first major encyclical, which is expected to warn that artificial intelligence does not have a soul and the moral distinction between human beings and machines. Plus, the group shares their weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines. Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, or other platforms. <\/p>\n

00:00<\/a> – Opening: What Did Trump Accomplish in China?<\/b> President Trump is leaving China without any major announcements, having renewed questions about flashpoints like Taiwan and the Strait of Hormuz. Tom Bevan and Carl Cannon debate whether Trump’s personal diplomacy is actually effective. Watch: Trump: Xi Is “Central Casting” As A Chinese Leader<\/a> Watch: Trump On Taiwan: “1982 Is a Long Way Away”<\/a><\/b> My guess is the Chinese think Trump is much smarter<\/a> than he comes across. I would like it to be true, but I fear that it isn’t,” Carl Cannon added. “What I mind is the president of the United States coming back and gushing over the guy like he’s some drunk in a bar.” Tom Bevan asked: “Do you think not talking to them is somehow going to give America more influence?” “All our diplomacy with China, going back to Nixon, is built around these summits with pomp and circumstance,” Andrew Walworth said. *** 13:26<\/a> – CIA in Cuba?<\/b> The panel turns to reports that the CIA Director met with Raul Castro’s grandson in Havana this week, as the island runs out of fuel. What can the U.S. do to help bring about a stable end of the Castro regime after more than six decades? Watch: Secretary Rubio: “Our Plan For Cuba Is A Prosperous Future”<\/a><\/b> “There do seem to be lots of carrots and sticks going on here. That’s what makes me think that there may be a deal in the making here,” Andrew Walworth said. “But there are just fewer and fewer places where you can go into exile these days. You can’t go to Iran. You can’t go to Russia.” *** 20:00<\/a> – What Jefferson Meant by The American Mind<\/b> Matthew Spalding joins the show to explain why the Declaration of Independence was not merely an Enlightenment document, but an expression of a distinct American mind that still shapes American civic life. Spalding is the dean of the Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College and the author of The Making of the American Mind.<\/a> “The problem, of course, is we just read the famous lines and don’t read the rest,” Spalding said about the Declaration. “It’s a political document. It is passed by Congress. It’s edited. It’s probably the greatest example historically of a legislative editing process we know of. It’s not just an ‘Enlightenment’ document by Jefferson. It’s a legal document.” “Here’s the legal case. Here we are submitting it to the judge – both God as a judge, but also the judge of history and posterity,” he said. *** 36:00<\/a> – Pope Leo XIV Expected To Declare AI Has No Soul<\/b> The panel previews Pope Leo XIV’s first major encyclical, where he is expected to warn about the dangers of AI, following up on his statement that technology must be used “so that it does not absolve humans of responsibility for their choices and does not exacerbate the tragedy of conflicts.” “Are they creating a new species in Silicon Valley and in China in these labs? And if so, what does it mean for the human race, and what does it mean for human spirituality?” Carl Cannon asked. “We love this technology. It increases productivity. It makes our lives easier in so many ways. It doesn’t have a soul, and the people developing it often don’t stop and think about that.” *** 44:40<\/a> – You Cannot Be Serious?!<\/b> The episode ends with the weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Listen to RealClearPolitics weekdays at 11 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, or other platforms. Subscribe for more RealClearPolitics analysis, interviews, and political commentary.
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Friday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Andrew Walworth hosts RCP president and co-founder Tom Bevan and Washington bureau chief Carl Cannon to break down what the president accomplished in China, and reports that the CIA might finally be on the verge of taking down the Castro regime in Cuba. Matthew Spalding joins the show to explain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1139,258,541,264,2710,517,14433,29145,9345,6631],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}