J. Peder Zane joins the show to talk about his new piece on the timing of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s preemptive pardon, and then the group discusses a new bill giving worshippers more federal protections and shares their picks for the weekly “You Can Not Be Serious?!” roundup of funny headlines.
Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or other platforms.
00:00 — Opening: What’s Tucker Carlson’s Endgame?
Walworth, Cannon, and Bevan discuss ex-MAGA Dissidents led by Tucker Carlson floating the idea of running a third-party presidential candidate in 2028
Watch: Tucker Carlson: Complaining About Debt Slavery Is The Real Third Rail In Politics
Watch: MTG: The American People Are Going To Have To Step Up — It Can’t Just Be Tucker And I Starting A Third Party
“Is this a gambit to try and fire a shot across, you know, the USS GOP and say, ‘If you run Marco Rubio, Carlson will run,'” Carl Cannon asked. “The fear among Republicans is that Tucker would siphon just enough votes to assure a Democratic victory.”
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12:49 — Dems Circle Wagons Around El-Sayed
The panel turns to how the Democratic Party is processing Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Michigan Senate primary, as figures like Gavin Newsom and Wes Moore close ranks around the outsider candidate.
Watch: CNN to Abdul El-Sayed: How Was Your Call With Chuck Schumer?
Watch: Haley Stevens: “I’m Proud To Be A Democratic Zionist”
“Establishment Democrats may not have wanted him. Maybe he’s the last guy they want in the Senate. But they want to control the Senate. And if they lose Michigan, we’ve talked, it gets so much harder,” Cannon said.
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19:33 — The Limits of Fauci’s Pardon
J. Peder Zane joins the show to discuss his new piece arguing that Biden’s preemptive pardon of Anthony Fauci, dating back to 2014, raises questions about the period when NIH-linked funding reached Wuhan research. “Why the start date six years before the pandemic erupted? It suggests that Biden or someone in his administration knew or at least suspected that Fauci may have engaged in criminal activity connected to the emergence of the virus,” Zane wrote.
The Era of Cover-Ups
“I salute Rand Paul for pressing to get answers here — but to blame Fauci for a million deaths seems highly irresponsible and undercuts what he’s doing,” he said. “What Jay Bhattacharya was talking about is this more important point, which is Fauci made decisions that they then tried to cover up, and he was involved in funding the Wuhan lab, which is likely where this virus started. We don’t know for certain, but it sure seems that way. And there was an effort to cover it up.”
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39:04 — Cruz, Slotkin Introduce “Right to Worship” Act
The panel debates bipartisan legislation from Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and Michigan Democrat Sen. Elissa Slotkin creating a 100-foot protection zone around religious services, making disruptions at places of worship a federal crime.
Read: ‘”Right to Worship Act’”–Protecting the Right to the Free Exercise of Religion
Susan Crabtree strongly supports the measure. “I just would never think that this would be possible. So it’s obviously needed, and I hope it passes. I hope it sails through.”
“I don’t think 100 feet is enough, personally,” Carl Cannon says. “But, you know, will it be enforced?”
“More than that, we need a consensus among all people who are practicing politics that this is wrong, that people have a right to worship in peace.”
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43:50 — You Can’t Be Serious?!
The episode ends with the panel sharing their favorite crazy headlines of the week in the “You Can Not Be Serious!?” segment, including the University of Michigan getting rid of letter grades for freshmen to protect their mental health, Angel Reese’s suggestion that as a girl she couldn’t find dolls resembling her, and Andrew Walworth highlights “ChatTJB,” a human-powered parody of AI.
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