Thursday’s RealClearPolitics podcast starts with former first lady Jill Biden breaking her silence about how she saw Joe’s historically disastrous debate performance. Carl Cannon, Tom Bevan, and Andrew Walworth break down why she didn’t take him to the hospital, and then dig into new data from Emerson College Polling on the 2028 presidential race.
Documentary filmmaker Hannah Puder joins the show to discuss her new short film “Operation Arnon,” which tells the story of a daring June 2024 rescue mission to free four Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
After that, the group discusses New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new housing plan, and a new Washington Post article examines the effect Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs may have on the brain.
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 discuss former first lady Jill Biden’s stunning admission that her first thought when she saw Joe’s June 2024 debate performance was that he was “having a stroke.”
Watch: Jill Biden: I Thought Joe Was Having A Stroke At The Debate
“She was so concerned he was having a stroke, she took him to—not the hospital,” Tom Bevan quipped. “I find her to be one of the most malevolent, manipulative, power-hungry first ladies we’ve ever had. The stories about her … It was almost elder abuse what she was doing with Joe.”
“Making her staff call her ‘Dr. Jill’ when it’s not even a medical degree—that was the first sign,” Carl Cannon added. “She turned out to be the person who wanted the power, and not just for her husband.”
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14:00 — First Look At 2028 Contenders
The panel turns to a new poll sizing up the 2028 primary candidates for each party. Vance and Rubio are basically tied for the Republicans, while Buttigieg, Newsom, and AOC are all in double digits among likely Democratic voters.
Emerson Poll: Rubio Rises as 2028 Contender, Buttigieg, Newsom Top Democratic List
RCP Average: 2028 Republican Presidential Nomination (Vance 39, Rubio 22.9, Trump Jr. 10.4)
RCP Average: 2028 Democratic Presidential Nomination (Haris 23.6, Newsom 16.4, Buttigieg 13.8, AOC 13.6)
“Pete Buttigieg on the Democratic side has leapt into first place, and Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris have slid,” Bevan reported. “This is one poll, but Kamala Harris is still ahead in our average of the most recent polls. But Emerson’s a decent pollster.”
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24:01 — Inside Israel’s Most Daring Hostage Rescue
Documentary filmmaker Hannah Puder joins the show to discuss her new short film, “Operation Arnon,” which tells the story of a daring rescue mission to free four Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Watch the full film: Operation Arnon: Inside Israel’s Daring Hostage Rescue in Gaza
“When I heard about this, Operation Arnon on June 8, 2024, I was surprised it hadn’t been covered much,” Puder explained. “This was a successful hostage extraction. I felt it needed more media attention, and began digging into the story, and decided to make a documentary.”
“I am actually in contact with one of the four hostages that were successfully rescued, but he was not doing well and was not able to end up interviewing,” she said, but the parents of the one soldier who was killed said, “Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means for us, for Arnon’s story to be told accurately. You can consider your mission accomplished.”
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34:22 — Mamdani vs. Landlords
The panel reacts to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new “Block by Block” housing plan and his pledge to take “aggressive legal action” to “transfer ownership to responsible stewards” from “negligent landlords” in America’s largest city.
Watch: Mayor Mamdani Calls For “Aggressive” Crackdown On Bad Landlords: “Transfer Ownership To Responsible Stewards”
“This is what Hugo Chavez said when he took over in Venezuela,” Bevan commented. “We will just expropriate, take private land, and give it to people who we determine deserve it. It’s kind of frightening, actually, that this is taking place in New York City.”
“We’ll see what happens when they start taking people’s stuff,” he added.
“If they wanted to confiscate someone’s land, they couldn’t just do it. There are procedures, because the Constitution still applies to New York City,” Cannon said. “But when you do rent control and rent freezes, it makes it economically difficult to do all the repairs.”
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41:36 — What Is Ozempic Doing To Your Brain?
The episode ends with a new Washington Post article examining emerging research into how Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs may affect the brain in ways other than weight loss, and cause other side effects.
Washington Post: Ozempic May Be Reshaping the Brain, Scientists Say – Ariana Cha
“I could stand to lose 30 pounds. I’ve thought maybe I should just do the jab and get the GLP-1s, and then I’d be skinny,” Bevan said. “But it’s never that easy. There are no shortcuts. You start doing that, and invariably, it will create something. You’re changing your chemical makeup, and there are going to be consequences to that, whether some of them might be beneficial, some of them might not be.”
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