Shock Florida Primary Victory, Brutal Graham Debate Answer, and Arday Debacle Fallout, with RealClearPolitics | Ep. 1382

26:30Is it big enough? Well, listen, I don't support the DSA agenda, as has been articulated by the DSA itself. Now, you're going to have individual members who have been elected in Democratic primaries. And if they are elected in the general in November, we'll be part of the House Democratic Caucus. It's going to be a broad caucus. I mean, like with all due respect to the Democrat Party, this this isn't Democrats like what the DSA is, the Democrat Socialists of America. They're not Democrats. They're socialists. They're pure socialists. They should just be S.A., not D.S.A., and which is a problem for Hakeem Jeffries.

27:15He wants them under his tent. He wants them to vote Democrat. But truly, what Democrat leader is enacting their agenda? Nobody nobody in elected office right now is as radical as that. Maybe the squad would be the closest thing. But I'm not like this is a whole new party, Andy. Like this is this is like I don't a tumor on the the body politic of Democrats.

27:38Tom Bevan:Yeah, well, and there's a debate within the DSA over this, over whether they should align themselves with the Democrats or whether they should just stand as their own party. And they call it the dirty breakup. That's a term you'll hear. It means that they're going to align themselves with the Democratic Party long enough to sort of infiltrate it, destroy it, and then they'll start the, then they'll go back to being the DSA and they will stand as their own party. It's kind of a stupid argument because if they end up destroying and taking over the Democratic Party, why would they need to change it?

28:10Tom Bevan:They would just own it. What I find interesting about this, too, is that, you know, you can see these sort of mainstream Democratic hopefuls for 2028 already sort of tacking to the left. You have, you know, Gavin Newsom talking about a wealth tax nationally. You've got Kamala Harris talking about, you know, rethinking the Supreme Court. You have a bunch of them talking about getting rid of the Electoral College. So these ideas are not just sort of so far to the left that they're sort of beyond the pale. Maybe Open Borders is at this point, maybe abolishing the police, but not abolishing ICE. And you'll just see, I think, between now and 28, the sort of Democratic leaders sort of tacking further and further to the left as they try to capture this part of the party.

29:02Tom Bevan:And then they'll have a lot of trouble tacking back to the middle in the general election. So it's going to be tough for Democrats over the next couple of years. Well, you guys were having a discussion, correct me if I'm wrong, Carl, but about who is the most exciting flavor right now over on the Democrat side? And the observation that it didn't take very long for Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer to feel like yesterday's news. They're kind of boring and old hat, not exciting at all. they sat down together recently and it's like, who cares? No one's excited by them. Like their little window seems to have already come and gone.

29:43That seems how fast this party's gone to the left. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Kamala Harris was nominated, Gavin Newsom was like a rock star. He walked into the press section and people would follow him and crowds of people really rushing after him. It was cameras everywhere. He was this, you know, oh, here's our nominee in waiting. And yet when he and him, he and Gretchen Whitmer, we, we, people talked openly. This is our dream ticket, Democrats said in four years, this, if Kamala Harris can't get it done, these are the people we want. And then they did this podcast.

30:20And you're right. We thought, well, gee, who's even talking about them anymore? And so we're talking about Ro Khanna and AOC is presidential timber. It's, It's dizzying how fast it's gone. But I agree with Andy, and I think with you, Megan, Tom, and I certainly agree with this, that what Hakeem Jeffries said, that's never been good enough for the media. We don't, you know, when there are Nazis, you know, every once in a while, neo-Nazi will crop up. We demand every Republican in office, denounce this person, separate themselves from him, say, they don't, they're not allowed to say, oh, you know, they have some good, we agree with some of the Nazi ideas.

31:01We just don't agree with all the Nazi stuff. This is democratic socialists is a term of art, but these are hardcore Marxists, Leninists, Maoists, you know, they're communists and they praise communist leaders. Andy's right. They don't really hide. And for Hakeem Jeffries and none of these Democrats to say, you know, I guess Rahm Emanuel has, but to say, no, they don't, they're not in our party. They're going to have to change. They're going to be in our party. They have to, you know, they have to adhere to our platform. And Hakeem Jeffries, that was not a profiling courage. And I dare, you know, and I'll repeat, it's not the media wouldn't accept that level of obfuscation from a Republican if it was some far right nut.

31:41But can I we did just get new polling out about the presidential race. And I found this one really interesting. A Financial Times poll, almost 2000 voters, registered voters. And it showed over on Team GOP that Vance was polling at 45 percent. Rubio was the next closest at 20. So still on the Republican side, it's Vance's to take or give up, depending on what he decides. But on Team Dem, Kamala Harris is way ahead. This is awesome. I love this. She's at 26. And the next closest is Gavin Newsom at 15. Buttigieg remains high. He's kind of always high in these polls at 13. Relatively high, I should say.

32:30AOC at nine, Shapiro at eight. But Harris at 26, you guys like. Is it possible they really will do it again? I know the conventional wisdom is you don't renominate somebody who already lost. But, you know, they did it with Trump and he won. And Kamala Harris has got the whole the whole hundred and seven days excuse. So honestly, like she seems to be tacking to the left, too, in like the way she's talking lately. There was this one sound bite. This is like more on the cultural stuff, but she sat down with Stacey Abrams and said the following. Listen here to SOT 29. Part of the pain of this moment, Stacey, is these so-called leaders who are pushing this narrative about who is a legitimate American citizen among American citizens.

33:26This blood and soil narrative that's being pushed at the highest levels of our government to suggest that, you know, once again, to hearken back to times when it was explicit that there was a hierarchy among Americans and who was superior and whom was inferior, all citizens. And that's what's happening right now. okay that was an improper use of the term whom um but you tell me talking about i don't know carl you tell me well there's american citizens are american citizens i don't i don't know what she's referring to um do you do is it the birthright citizenship thing i i well look and remember this you thought you're right she's got that asterisk she lost but she only had 109 days And she was following this president who she was stuck with his policies and he was accused of being senile.

34:27So but the truth of the matter is that she lost ground. She started out higher. The longer she campaigned, the lower she went. And so I don't I don't if Democrats nominate her, she's going to have to. Well, she's going to run a better campaign. Remember this. She didn't she didn't hold a single press conference. She's going to have to change her entire personality. That would help. I mean, Democrats are really that's the truth. They are in trouble. I would I would point out one thing, Megan, though, what's interesting is, you know, the polls are saying one thing. They're saying Kamala Harris is ahead.

35:03And most of the polls do say that. But if you go to the betting markets, Kamala Harris is is not in the lead. In fact, she's down in third or fourth and sometimes even fifth place. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is on polymarket. Like she's at 20%. She's leading Gavin Newsom's in second place. So people who actually are betting on who the nominee is going to be in 2028, because they know that Kamala Harris is a terrible candidate. She's word salad. She doesn't get such a wet blanket, Tom. Yes. Well, sorry. These are just these are just facts. But to your point, Megan, the Democrats have they've gotten themselves in a real problem because they just confirmed that they're going to have South Carolina is going to be the first state.

35:44So if, you know, and that is a built in advantage for Kamala Harris with African-American voters, African-American women in particular. And so if someone is going to, you know, be able, they're going to have to withstand losing that first state most likely, or they're going to have to go around black women and go to just basically younger, more progressive voters, which is what is powering all these DSA candidates around the country. So the Democrats have a real conundrum on their hands for 2028. Kamala seems like she would be the establishment option, if you will, right? Or they're going to go to the left.

36:22And that could be, you know, Ro Khanna, it could be AOC, it could be somebody else. And that would also present some interesting problems for Democrats potentially. I mean, the other thing that's interesting, too, is AOC is, you know, sort of woke one was crazy, you know, ha ha ha. That was so crazy. All lives we ruined. Yeah. Right. But where they're headed is way crazier. I mean, it's the idea that if she's trying to distance herself from woke one, and yet here the party is coming in with all, you know, here the DSA candidates are coming in with all these, like, super crazy ideas about abolishing the Senate.

37:02and all this stuff. How is she going to reconcile that? I mean, how is she even going to handle that? It's going to be really interesting to watch. It's true. Crazy talk. All right, wait, we have to spend a minute on what happened with South Carolina. Of course, Senator Lindsey Graham died unexpectedly at age 71 and President Trump appointed his sister Darlene to fill his seat, but she's got to run for reelection just like anybody would have. And right now she's in a runoff with one other Republican to see who's going to be the Republican nominee. She's not secured as the Republican nominee for the general election contest for this seat.

37:41They had a debate last night. This is two Republicans, Darlene and this guy Norman. And there was kind of a shocking moment when the issue of Taiwan came up. It was hosted by Newsmax and my old colleague Greta Van Susteren asked the question. Watch this. Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? If so, why? I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? And if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security. I'm not that informed on national security.

38:23So, but I do support the military. Oh, God, that I am sorry. I know she's just pinch hitting, but that's disqualifying, is it not? Probably. She's going to be a United States senator. She's supposed to she is a United States senator now. She's supposed to vote on, you know, appointments to the Pentagon and Pentagon budget. And it's all the more shocking because her brother, that was his. She didn't get anything through osmosis from her brother about foreign policy, apparently. I mean, that's all he talked about. Nothing. Not even through osmosis. Not even through sitting in the Senate for the past couple of months.

39:04Like, I'm mortified by that answer. Like, it's not really exactly her fault. Although she did accept the appointment. but has no one looked into whether she knows anything about politics, world events, international events? Like this actually is an important thing to understand as a U.S. Senator.

39:23Tom Bevan:Yeah, I think she may have just lost the runoff with that one statement. Ralph Norman actually answered the question. He answered it pretty well. It wasn't a knock it out of the park, but at least he. But he didn't attack her, which was a lost opportunity. Yeah. I mean, look, she's a sympathetic figure, but he should have said with respect, you know, I understand Darlene is grieving her brother, but she has no business being a U.S. senator and not able to answer that question that he should have done it. Guys are always too afraid to hit women, you know, not physically, rhetorically in a political debate.

40:01They're afraid. And she's sympathetic, but she deserved to have a little, you know, the nose rubbed in it in that moment just so he could finish off the moment.

40:08Tom Bevan:I think he was, you know, who knows, but I think he might have been so stunned that she came up with that answer. You know, she was named in the spot as sort of a placeholder. And I think that's the way people sort of thought of her initially. And then she served, what, eight days and buried her brother and decided that she wanted to keep the seat. And the president is behind her. And it'll be a question now, how much energy does the president put behind her at this point? Because in a sense, I mean, I guess it would be nice to have her there if you're Trump. But at the same time, Ralph Norman is not the worst thing in the world for him, is it?

40:50Tom Bevan:He's a serious person. Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see how the White House reacts at this point. She may be just damaged goods. I think Trump is headed to South Carolina this week. So it's going to be an awkward moment for him. I mean, I do think that the problem that she was facing, right, is that she's an unknown quantity, right? People don't know anything. They don't know anything about her other than that she is Lindsey Graham's sister. And now they know two things about her. Exactly. They had two weeks to find out. And this is the thing that they found out, which is she knows nothing about foreign policy.

41:26And that's going to fill the void. And it's a real problem for her. I think she did just lose this race. I don't think she has any business running for the Senate. She doesn't. Also, her whole that's like it's like, look, I understand she was his sister and all that was like. But if I were you a senator and God forbid something were to happen to me, you can't go get Strudwick. my lab and make them a U.S. set. Like you have to look for something more than did they love each other? Like you actually need some basic qualifications. And I think many of us gave her the benefit of the doubt and said, OK, she's going to enact Lindsey Graham's agenda.

42:04You know, she's just a temporary place filler, but she has disqualified herself with that. And like, it's a hard no. Can't we have one body at least of the Congress that we can respect a little? I realize we have to deal with Maisie Hirono, but we don't need another one. Yes. And typically, I would say most people, I bet you could find that polling would show most people, they don't like seeing elected offices, whether they're dog catcher all the way up to senator, being treated as heirlooms to be passed along from one family member to another, regardless of their qualifications. I mean, that's just not something that that's not how the country was conceived.

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45:59Kelly, Real Clear Politics, and many more. It's bold, no BS news only on the Megyn Kelly channel, Sirius XM 111, and on the Sirius XM app.

46:13I want to move on to Jason Arday because the latest in that case is crazy. It's getting crazy now. And all three of you, in addition to being very smart politics editors, are journalists and understand what the rules would be and when reporting a big story. And that's what this case has now come down to, whether the people who reported on Jason Arde's many, many lies are to blame, whether they were irresponsible in reporting the lies because he ultimately chose to take his own life when caught in the midst of his own created scandal. And like the most galling thing, I've seen the activists, they're still out there, I'm going to play some of the sound, you know, saying, oh, you better, you know, you're in trouble and we're threatening you and you caused his death.

46:58OK, they're crazy. We get all that. But the Guardian, the Guardian, which is under fire for doing a couple of explosive pieces on our day, they did their duty as a news organization and reported on the lies. The Guardian is out with a piece attacking the right for its reporting and commentary around Jason Arday. This publication is trying to have it both ways, and it's incredibly galling. All right, so here's the story. They did a piece on August 12th on him. They did a very in-depth piece shortly after that. And now they have come out with a piece that is not signed. It doesn't have like an author, but they are ripping on the media for having the nerve to report on Jason Arday.

47:47And hold on a second. I'm trying to find the actual piece. Here it is. Yeah. They write as follows. In Arday's case, alleged shortcomings in his record rapidly became weaponized by the right in an argument about diversity and black academic advancement. The Guardian sought to establish what was true. That is the proper function of journalism. Reporters were contacted by Arday a year ago and worked extensively to verify what he had told them. So Arde contacted them. He wanted to be in the paper. He just didn't want them to report what was real and then got upset when they did. In many instances, they could not verify what he had told them.

48:27It was right for The Guardian to publish this investigation. And it is wrong that the journalists who did their job responsibly are now being subjected to an onslaught of abuse because it's The Guardian reporters in particular who are being targeted because they're of the left. and they know they're not going to shame the Megyn Kellys of the world out of reporting on this, but they see blood in the water when it comes to Guardian reporters. Then they go on to say, OK, in its journalism, the Guardian sought to meet tests of importance and proportionality, covering the issue with nuance. This could not be said of much of the right wing media and its social media contenders.

49:03Arde became an exhibit in an ideological, almost Trumpian campaign against diversity and inclusion. The allegations were no longer simply about one academic's behavior or his past record. They were used to suggest that Arde had never deserved to be there in the first place and that he had only been advanced because of his race. Right, because that's what was obvious. That was the heart of the whole issue. Why are you making it sound like that's dishonest? Then they go on to say the attacks were relentless, often partisan and amplified without respite online. Like journalists have an obligation to give respite to the target of their reporting.

49:47What? Since when? This is racism at work. White academics are generally allowed to fail as individuals. Black ones are not. What's your evidence of that? What's your evidence of that, Guardian? This is so inappropriate. And by the way, if they're if they want to cast blame like it's right wing pundits who caused Jason Arday to take his own life. Who do you think Jason Arday cared about more reporting on him? The Guardian, The Atlantic and The New York Times or right wing media, social media influencers online noting that this guy was a serial fabulist. He didn't give a shit about the right wing.

50:27It was his people, his leftist friends who were reporting on him, who I'm sure bothered him more than any. And he freaked out. He was begging the Guardian not to do this reporting. This has become a big deal. Oh, you had noticed people at the Guardian that he was not feeling well, that he was deteriorating and you still reported. I mean, Carl, you tell me as our resident left-leaning person, but honest journalist, whether they have a point that you owe respite to a subject of your reporting if he asks you for it. No, they're wrong. And they're not even, I don't even think they believe half of that.

51:07They're trying to divert attention and say, you know, we did reporting, but the right-wingers piled on. But I agree with you that it wasn't he didn't look. Suicide is a sign of a lot of things, mental health, mental breakdown. But it's a cowardly way out. And he didn't he didn't want to face what he'd done, which was create a career based on fraud. And it's sad to me because he had children, wife. There's people, parents of people who loved him. And I think if he had, you know, owned up to what he'd done and changed, I think the guardian and a lot of people would have forgiven him and he could have had a productive life.

51:43He chose to lie. He chose to kill himself. I don't fault the journalists who exposed it were doing their job. It's really that simple. Yes. And yet you get people like this. This is an author named Kelechi Okafor on The Guardian. Take a listen to this woman, Sop 19. because whilst i'm not uh you know a professional journalist i keep my boots to the what the ground and i keep my ear to the what the streets and i've stumbled across some information that i think would be in the public interest to know that on the 31st of july you were made privy to the fact that jason arday was not doing well with the media scrutiny archie katherine now professor jason arday is dead right so why didn't you do your due diligence all of you need to pay for this so i'm coming to you first katherine viner not because you're a woman because i know that Some of you will now try to run that.

52:35You're the one that's going to need to hold this. And it's a shame because I pulled up your birth chart really quickly, your astrological birth chart. I don't know your time of birth, but just to get a rough idea, you have Mars conjunct my Venus in Scorpio. In another life, we would have gotten on, right? And my collective, our community, we're showing up together to say, baby, by Tuesday next week, I think I want to see a resignation letter. If you try to hold on to this post, I'm only going to show up more because me, I'm like a dog with a bone baby. I'm not letting up because you were told that this was dangerous.

53:06You were told that Jason wasn't in a good place. So can you hear me clearly? Is this my con? Catherine, I'm going to need to see that resignation letter, baby. And Archie, I don't mind yours either. Pass it on through. Landry, I don't even have anything to say to you. she's attacking the more senior people at the guardian and not exactly the author of the pieces who we believe is black he's not white we know that he was the third one there so she's reserving you know her her attack on him but clear threats to katherine viner who's high up at the guardian tom uh what do you make of it preposterous i mean just just embarrassing look i agree this is a tragic case, right?

53:47This guy taking his own life, this ending this way. But at the end of the day, I mean, what were people supposed to do? Just continue to ignore all of this serial fabulism that he was, all of these stories that he was putting out. I mean, he was held up as this model, the youngest, you know, youngest professor ever at Cambridge. And it turned out it was all based on fabrication and lies. And so - And plagiarism. And plagiarism, exactly. And so you have a duty to expose that stuff. It doesn't matter what your race is. I mean, we can't have, we shouldn't have people getting in positions of power who do that through deceit.

54:35So I don't understand, and you're right, Megan. I mean, the Guardian is trying to have it both ways. They're trying to basically say, well, we did responsible journalism, But, oh, it was the right wing that, you know, it was their problem that caused him to take his life because they piled on and there's horrible people and they, you know, said he was a DEI hire or whatever. So they can't have it both ways. They have to. Tom, that thing about they saying it wasn't just one guy. It became a stand in for DEI. That's the public policy question here. That is what journalists. Yes. What journalists are supposed to do.

55:07And institutions of higher learning. We elevated this guy. Why did we elevate him? We bragged about his race when we elevated him. And we made it clear that we were proud that we had hired a young black professor. That was their story. And it reminds me of, do you remember when Elizabeth Warren, I will not repeat what Trump says, the word he uses for her, the nickname he's given her. Pocahontas. You're right. We call her chief lies a lot. We call her chief lies a lot. She took great exception. And liberals just are aghast when anybody ever suggested that her hiring at Harvard was in any way, you know, an affirmative action hire.

55:48But when when Harvard hired her, they put out a press release bragging, you know, it's Native Americans. And, you know, this is what they they wanted credit for it. And so then you're not. And it is interesting, too, that The Guardian points out Jason Arday contacted them. He wanted to be in the paper. He was looking for PR. Well, he got it. I'm sorry that he was a serial fabulist and that he got it in a negative way. But I mean, you tell me, Andrew, if somebody comes to you and says, I'm going to kill myself if you run this article, do you not run the article? That happened to me, Megan, once.

56:25Yeah, I was writing about a Catholic priest who was accused of molestation. And he called me. I still remember him. He was an Irish priest and said that he would do something to himself. And it was a heavy thing. And he was being charged criminally, though. And we wrestled with it. And we finally ended up naming him, and he did not kill himself. But it was a heavy thing. It's something you can't, you have to weigh it, because we're human beings. And what he did was not a capital offense. It was sinister, but it, you know, and I didn't want him to die. See, I don't think you have to weigh it. I think, I think it would be negatively affected by it.

57:05I would feel bad. I would be disturbed, but it wouldn't pause me for one second from running. Well, that's what, that's the decision my editors made and we ran it. So yeah, you have to, you have a journalistic duty to do. And unfortunately somebody's emotional response to your true reporting is not to sound too callous, their problem. Like it's, he chose a life in the public eye. No one forced him to do that. He chose to tout the DEI. He chose to tell us all those lies. It was just a matter of time before it came back up on him. And he really should have not been put out there by Cambridge because obviously he wasn't a well person.

57:45Obviously, somebody who's lying like that is not all there. And Cambridge had an obligation to see that, too. And at any event, even though Cambridge does have some blame in the end, this was Jason Arde's doing, and it was his fault what happened to him. Guys, we got to leave it at that because we're out of time. Great to see you all. We'll see you on the MK channel over on SiriusXM, and you can download the RCP podcast as well. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

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