Carl Cannon, Tom Bevan, and Andrew Walworth, on Friday’s RealClearPolitics podcast, break down the release of the DNC’s “2024 autopsy” report on why they lost the election, congressional Republicans rushing to leave Washington without voting on key issues, and the Justice Department’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
Ajit Pai, former FCC Chair and president of the wireless trade associations CTIA, joins the show to discuss the regulation of broadcast content, including late-night programming, and artificial intelligence competition with China.
The panel also looks at Medicaid fraud in Minnesota and Vice President JD Vance calling for a DOJ investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar. Plus, “You Cannot Be Serious?!” stories for the week.
Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or other platforms.
Walworth, Cannon, and Bevan start the show with the long-awaited release of the DNC’s “2024 autopsy” report on why Kamala Harris and Congressional Democrats didn’t win.
Read: DNC 2024 Campaign Autopsy
Watch: DNC Chair Ken Martin: “There’s No ‘Smoking Gun’ In This Report”
“We quickly learned why he wanted to keep it under wraps,” Walworth quipped.
“We don’t want to be focused on looking backwards, but what we want to do is learn the lessons of two years ago so that we can use those lessons to move forward. This guy has botched this in the worst possible way,” Bevan added. “One of the ‘insights’ was they didn’t run enough negative ads about Donald Trump. What are you talking about?!”
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14:18 — Congress Leaves Town Without Action
The panel turns to Republicans in Congress, leaving Washington without any action on multiple pressing issues. Is Trump putting them in too many difficult corners ahead of the election or are congressional leaders being negligent?
Stuff left unfinished for Memorial Day: Immigration bill, billion-dollar ballroom, the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.”
“Let’s dump on the Republicans for a while,” Carl Cannon joked. “Just to be fair, right? Well, they’ve got it coming.”
“This is the downside of taking people out in primaries or pushing them out and they still get to be around for a while. They get a little bit of revenge of their own on their way out the door,” Bevan said. “Thune was finally like, We’ve got to go home. We’re not dealing with this, and they kind of decided to just head for the exits.”
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18:47 — Ajit Pai on FCC, Colbert, Public Broadcasting, 5G, and AI
Former FCC chairman Ajit Pai joins the show to discuss how the administration is reacting to Stephen Colbert’s final CBS show, and the limits of FCC authority over broadcast content. They also discuss the U.S.–China 5G race, fixed wireless broadband, AI regulation, public television spectrum, and the growing need for data centers.
Watch: FCC Chair Brendan Carr at CPAC: “Look at the results so far. PBS defunded. NPR defunded. Joy Reid gone from MSNBC. Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd gone. Jim Acosta, gone. John Dickerson, gone. Colbert is leaving. CBS is under new ownership, and soon enough, CNN has got new ownership as well.”
“I think the broader debate that’s going on is about what the public interest standard means,” Pai said. “One of the things that has changed dramatically over the past, say, 25 years, certainly even over the last 10 years, is that the vast majority of communications today occur outside of that context, so that the FCC doesn’t have a role.”
“When it comes to this conversation with you, for example, or any conversation over the internet, on satellite, on subscription TV like cable, none of these rules apply,” he explained, regarding satellite radio and the internet. “I think increasingly a lot of this debate is going to become, if it hasn’t already become, academic, because there’s no government regulation when it comes to a lot of these communication media.”
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27:19 — Trump Declines to Regulate AI
Pai discusses President Trump’s reported decision not to move forward with an executive order regulating AI, warning that a European-style “precautionary principle” could strangle the technology in its infancy.
Washington Post: Pressure From Silicon Valley Helped Block Trump’s Expected Order on AI
He argues that regulators should not become gatekeepers for innovation, especially as the U.S. competes with China over AI, wireless technology, 5G infrastructure, and data centers. “That ‘Mother, may I?’ approach to innovation is going to strangle AI in its infancy.”
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33:25 — Minnesota Fraud / Medicaid and NGO Oversight
The panel discusses DOJ charges in Minnesota Medicaid fraud cases, the Feeding Our Future scandal, and broader concerns about fraud in federally funded state programs and NGOs, and Vice President Vance’s comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Watch: Vance Says Rep. Ilhan Omar Under DOJ Investigation For Immigration Fraud
Walworth points out that Omar’s response was, “So if they want to indict me, let’s see what they’ve got.”
“Not exactly a full-throated, ‘I did nothing wrong,’ was it?”
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44:00 — “You Cannot Be Serious?!”
The episode ends with the panel’s weekly “You Cannot Be Serious?!” roundup of entertaining headlines.
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