Washington Post's Fake “Murder”, and Trump's Deportations "Soft Touch," with Tom Bevan, Plus Billie Eilish's Stolen Land Karma

Summary

After Party with Emily Jashinsky

Episode: "Washington Post's Fake 'Murder', and Trump's Deportations 'Soft Touch,' with Tom Bevan, Plus Billie Eilish's Stolen Land Karma"
Date: February 5, 2026
Host: Emily Jashinsky
Guest: Tom Bevan, Co-founder and President of RealClearPolitics

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Overview

Emily Jashinsky welcomes Tom Bevan to analyze the week’s biggest stories in news and pop culture. The episode covers the Washington Post’s dramatic layoffs and ensuing media meltdown, a sharp look at Billie Eilish's indigenous land controversy, political debates over voting legislation, Donald Trump’s shifting approach to ICE enforcement, insightful analysis on polling and public opinion, and a takedown of media bias in White House and New York Times coverage.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Billie Eilish and “Stolen Land” Irony (05:53–11:50)

• Emily opens with Billie Eilish’s Grammy speech on "no person is illegal on stolen land" (06:15).
• Tongva tribe responds, affirming Eilish’s LA mansion sits on their ancestral land, and challenges her to put her sentiments into action.
• Emily’s take: Wants Tongva tribe to approach Eilish “until we see Billie Eilish's security dragging the Tongva people off the property.” (07:20)
  • Points out the contradictions in progressive rhetoric about land and borders.
  • Highlights indigenous history and ongoing debates about legitimacy of settler claims.

Notable Quote:
“It is about damn time somebody who agrees with Billie Eilish puts her formulation to its logical conclusion and says, ‘Alright, this land is stolen...give us your house.’”
—Emily, (07:32)

• Reflects on anti-ICE protests and border-related chants ("The border walls have got to go." – Tom, 08:44).
• Emily contextualizes: Such positions on borders reveal contradictions in broader political movements when pressed to their logical limits.

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2. The Washington Post Layoffs “Murder” Saga (13:32–43:07)

Washington Post in Crisis (13:32–18:44)

• Tom Bevan jokes about offering “$50 million” to buy The Washington Post, down from Bezos’ $250 million purchase.
• Laments journalists’ outrage at layoffs, expecting "civic duty" from Bezos to indefinitely subsidize their jobs.

Notable Quote:
“The economics of this business are tough. They are immutable...at the end of the day, the economics will catch up to you.”
—Tom Bevan, (15:04)

• Bevan proposes putting journalist Carl Cannon in charge: “He could whip that place into shape and restore it to its former greatness just through...common sense and adherence to sort of the traditional journalistic principles.” (16:00)

Media Reaction & Hypocrisy (18:44–28:33)

• Emily and Tom highlight journalists' disproportionate response to media layoffs vs. those in other industries.
• Critique headlines like “The Murder of the Washington Post,” mocking the hyperbolic language (24:13–26:13).
  • Reno 911 clip played for comic relief: “Terry, you were murdered, okay? You obviously weren’t murdered because you’re alive…” (25:02)
• Tom: “No other business would be expected...to keep losing $100 million a year because I need a job and I want my cushy little corner office. It's absurd.” (20:50)
• Both agree that decades of editorial drift and resistance to necessary change—not recent management—are to blame for the layoffs.

Future of the Post & Media Trends (28:33–40:55)

• Discussion of Washington Post's pivot to video and digital strategy, referencing New York Times' similar struggles.
• Criticize siloed, partisan content for eroding trust and audience.
• Aggregators (like RealClearPolitics) avoid paywalled and highly ideological content from mainstream outlets.

Notable Quote:
"The Opinion page had become just a left wing fever swamp...we couldn't use anything from it."
—Tom Bevan, (37:40)

Historical Perspective & Legacy Media (40:55–43:07)

• Emily references past Washington Post figures like Ben Bradley and Sally Quinn to illustrate the illusion of the "golden era" of journalism.
• Highlights the media’s complicated relationship with power and historical controversy.

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3. Chuck Schumer, the SAVE Act, and Voter ID (44:47–52:15)

The Political Debate (44:47–49:14)

• Clip of Chuck Schumer labeling the SAVE Act (which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote) “Jim Crow 2.0” (45:13).
• CNN’s Harry Enten fact-checks the narrative: wide, bipartisan support for voter ID, including majorities of minority groups (46:26–47:08).

Notable Quote:
“The numbers are the numbers and good for Harry to do a segment...Democrats will never vote for this. They will always...call it voter suppression and call it Jim Crow 2.0, as ridiculous as that may be.”
—Tom Bevan, (47:21)

• Emily and Tom agree claims of voter suppression are contradicted by public opinion and turnout data; Democrats persist for ideological and electoral strategy reasons.

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4. Trump’s Immigration Reset: The Minneapolis ICE Saga (52:15–59:24)

Policy Recalibration (52:15–56:09)

• Tom Homan announces withdrawal of 700 ICE agents from Minnesota (52:15).
• Trump, in leaked interview, says they’re using a “softer touch” but insists “you still have to be tough. These are criminals we're dealing with.” (53:04)
• Tom Bevan: Trump recalibrated after negative PR around high-profile killings, aiming for better local cooperation and public messaging.
• Emphasizes how Democrats conflate enforcement on criminals vs. non-criminal illegals, affecting polls and public support.

Notable Quote:
“All we want is for cooperation to be able to get the bad guys who are here illegally from the jails. And if we’re able to do that, we don’t have to go out on the streets.”
—Tom Bevan, (54:20)

Polling Analysis (56:09–59:24)

• Trump’s immigration approval slips but remains above water on core enforcement.
• Public supports deporting criminal offenders, less so for non-criminal undocumented immigrants.
• Emily and Tom warn that chaos from both overzealous enforcement and out-of-control protestors threatens to backfire with “normies and independents.”

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5. State of the 2026 Midterms & Congressional Polls (59:24–63:19)

• Emily shares RealClearPolitics averages: Democrats’ generic ballot lead has grown from 1.5% to 5% but still trails the “blue wave” of 2018 (59:24–60:40).
• Tom Bevan: Dems are positioned to take the House if the margin holds, but with slim majorities, shifts are possible; Senate landscape remains tougher for Dems (60:40–63:19).

Notable Quote:
“Democrats usually...underperform their generic ballot numbers...but when you get to three points and beyond, Democrats definitely have an advantage.”
—Tom Bevan, (60:40)

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6. Kamala Harris’ Cryptic “Tomorrow” Post (63:19–68:08)

• Kamala Harris HQ posts a mysterious “Tomorrow” teaser, sparking 2028 presidential speculation.
• Both joke about politicians needing a podcast to launch serious runs (64:34).
• Despite leading early Dem polls, Harris elicits little visible grassroots excitement; skepticism persists about her ability to win a contested primary.

Notable Quote:
“She had been…her favorability ratings had been so low, and…she just struggled. Just struggled. Remember her press team kept trying to do these resets...she could never shake this idea that she was just not up to the job.”
—Tom Bevan, (66:57)

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7. Media Bias: The New York Times and White House “Doctored Photo” Controversy (71:52–end)

• Emily critiques a New York Times article about an activist arrested in an anti-ICE church protest, highlighting the uncritical and sympathetic framing extended by the White House correspondent.
• Slams both the inappropriate use of AI imagery by the White House and the Times’ melodramatic comparisons to slavery and historical racism.
• Argues such coverage enables the left’s blind spots and erodes public trust in media objectivity.

Notable Quote:
“When the New York Times is, is cheering you on all the way and, and you know, laundering your claims...you don’t have an incentive to be a more persuadable force for your own movement.”
—Emily, (after 75:00)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• Emily on Billie Eilish:
  "It is about damn time somebody who agrees with Billie Eilish puts her formulation to its logical conclusion and says, ‘Alright, this land is stolen...give us your house.’" (07:32)

• Tom on the post-layoffs media reaction:
  "No other business would be expected...to keep losing $100 million a year because I need a job and I want my cushy little corner office. It's absurd." (20:50)

• Emily on ‘The Murder of the Washington Post’:
  "If we say that cutting a third of the staff at this dying newspaper...is tantamount to a murder...the idea of blaming Bezos and Will Lewis is laughable." (25:13–26:13)

• Tom on the ideological drift of mainstream media:
  "The Opinion page had become just a left wing fever swamp...we couldn't use anything from it." (37:40)

• Harry Enten (quoted via Tom) on Voter ID:
  "The American people are with Nicki Minaj, whether they are Republican or even if they are Democrats...Voter ID is not controversial in this country." (46:26–47:08)

• Tom on Democratic strategy:
  "This is one of those issues...Democrats will never vote for it. They will always...call it voter suppression and call it Jim Crow 2.0, as ridiculous as that may be." (47:21)

• Emily on protestor media coverage:
  "When the New York Times is...laundering your claims...you don’t have an incentive to be a more persuadable force for your own movement." (near the end)

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Episode Flow & Timestamps for Key Segments

• Billie Eilish stolen land controversy: 05:53–11:50
• Washington Post layoffs and reaction: 13:32–43:07
• Voter ID/SAVE Act debate: 44:47–52:15
• Trump/ICE recalibration: 52:15–59:24
• Congressional polling and midterm outlook: 59:24–63:19
• Kamala Harris 2028 speculation: 63:19–68:08
• NYT/White House “doctored photo” and media bias: 71:52–end

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Tone & Style

The conversation is frank, irreverent, and witty—heavily critical of mainstream media groupthink, left-leaning ideological echo chambers, and performative outrage. Emily and Tom employ a conversational, sharp-tongued analysis, mixing humor and real industry experience.

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For anyone who missed it: this episode is a dense, humorous, and piercing look at how media, politics, and pop culture collide in early 2026—blending sharp critique, industry realism, and plenty of memorable zingers.

Transcript

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[Emily]

Welcome back to afterparty, everyone. As always, please do us a favor and subscribe on YouTube. It helps so much. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast podcast because you're not going to want to miss one single episode of After Party. Look at this. Our guest tonight, Tom Batman, co founder and president of RealClear Politics. We're bringing Tom in in just one moment. So much to get through. Washington. This, this beautiful, proud city had an absolute meltdown today over big cuts to the Washington Post. No question about it, about a third of their workforce slashed in downtown Washington today. But the meltdown was incredible and telling and so just taking piece by piece, you're going to enjoy every moment of it. Now, to be clear, not fun when people lose their jobs, but what was fun is a reaction from other journalists. It's incredible stuff. You're going to have to see it. I'm probably going to play a Reno911 clip. Also big, big news. Donald Trump's Super bowl interview with NBC starts has started to like leak out. So we have some clips that we're getting from that Tom is the polling guru. So we're going to break down the truth about what what's going on with Trump's approval rating as we head into the midterms. And Chuck Schumer in some trouble. He made some rather amusing comments about the Save act, which Megan actually asked Vice President Vance about today. He said he's pretty, pretty favorable towards the favor Save act, but of course doesn't know that it would be able to get through Congress. I know that's an issue that's important to a lot of people. Well, Chuck Schumer is pulling another page out of the Cynical. Cynical playbook of calling it racist. So we're going to show you that clip. And what he. He actually kind of got a clap back from cnn. So we have more to come on that front. Kamala Harris just dropped a very weird video on X. Makes it sound like she's about to announce a presidential run, like, years ahead of time. So I don't know. There are some different theories about what's going on. We're going to show it to you and get Tom's reaction to that as well. First, though I am obsessed with this Billy Eilish story. I can't get enough of it. I am absolutely, shamelessly in love with this storyline. Putting this on the screen now, if you haven't heard this, here we go. The Tongva tribe has said that Billie Eilish is living in a mansion built on the, quote, ancestral land taken from them. This is, of course, in response to Billie Eilish's claim during her acceptance speech at the Grammys on Sunday night. On Sunday night, that no person is illegal on stolen land. Well, the Tongva tribe said, and maybe Billie Eilish is perfectly consistent in this. They said, all right, you stole our land. Give us your house. Basically. So the statement to Fox News from the Tongva tribe is, quote, as the first people of the greater Los Angeles basin, we do understand that her home is situated in our ancestral land. Eilish has not contacted our tribe directly regarding her property. Incredible. Incredible. But of course, she says, no human being is illegal in stolen land. So as long as someone steals the land, I suppose there's nothing illegal about Billie Eilish being on the land. But let me tell you why I'm particularly obsessed with this story. What I think should happen is that the Tongva tribe should genuinely go to the gates of Billie Eilish's mansion, stay there until they get a hearing with her on camera. Until we see Billie Eilish's security dragging the Tongva people off of the property, saying, you must leave. Or armed security in maybe, like, black cars dragging people away, saying, you know, reading, leading them this way or arresting, having them arrested for trespassing. That's what I believe that the Tongva people should do outside of Billy Eilish's mansion. Because it is about damn time somebody who agrees with Billie Eilish puts her formulation to its logical conclusion and says, all right, this land is stolen. You're talking about stolen land. Well, we, the Tongva people, have been making this argument about stolen land for years. And I looked into the history of The Tongva people. It is very typical of Native American tribes history with colonists from Spain eventually, then the American government. A brutal history in some cases. And it looks like. I mean, so on the Long beach tourism website, they say that according to archaeological records, the oldest known Tongva village was settled some 9,000 years ago at Bolsa Chica Beach. By 3,200 years ago, the territory known as Tongvar was at the center of a trade network that stretched from the Pacific Northwest to Mexico. Okay, well, human history is a hell of a lot longer than 9,000 years old. So I don't know if that actually really settles the question of the true indigenous people of the land that Billy Eilish's house is on. But if they say it's stolen land, who is she to disagree with that? Who are they then? If they agree that nobody is illegal on stolen land. I mean, you see how this pulls that every thread in this house of cards, or I guess I'm mixing metaphors, it just is. It's like flicking the exact right cards here because the Tongva people are going to say, this is our land. Why? Well, because it's within our borders. We were the rightful settlers of this land. Then, of course, the United States says no through a series of. Of war and. And treaties. It is our land. You may have been treated unfairly, but it is our land. Billie Eilish says no, this land is stolen. It belongs to the tongue of a. To the Tongva people. Okay, but Billy, why? Because they settled it and they had borders. It's just, like, incredible. I. I'm telling you, the best thing that could happen is for the country right now, at this moment, is for the Tongva tribe to actually try, genuinely try to get Billie Eilish to seed their prop to cede her property back to them. I want to know what she really thinks. I want to hear the conversation between the Tongva people genuinely. I'm not saying this to be a jackass and Billie Eilish, because I want to know what it means to be illegal or not illegal on someone's land. I want to know if she thinks the land was stolen. I want to know if she thinks why somebody has a right to that land over somebody else. And then I want to know if she thinks that somebody actually can legally be on, quote, unquote, stolen land, meaning her. Does she have a right to that land? Put it to the test. Let's do it. Let's. Let's see it happen. I'm obsessed with the story. I think we desperately need as a country, the Tongva people to make a genuine effort to knock on the doors of Billie Eilish's mansion and get to the bottom of this. And I say that again, I promise I'm not trying to be a jackass. The protesters, the anti ICE protesters in Los Angeles the other night were chanting, see if I can just pull this up. Why not? One of the, one of the chants as they were going through the streets was, was very telling. Here it is. Look at me go.

[Tom Bevin]

The border walls have got to go.

[Emily]

Okay, so that's what you, that's, that's the, the key moment there. From Palestine to Mexico, Mexico, the border walls have got to go. That was one of the anti ICE protests in Los Angeles last week. I think that's from Friday. And so if that is the formulation, I mean, very interesting for defenders of the Palestinian people, by the way, because this question of borders itself, like as a fundamental concept, will you bet the Palestinian people believe in borders because they believe that was their land. And so the question of, of open borders in general, that is out of step actually with some of the people that open borders advocates claim to be representing and advocating on behalf of. And so that's all I'm saying is this, this core ideological commitment to the idea of open borders, I disagree with it, but it's an honest position to have. I just don't think a lot of people actually have that position. It's all anti American, anti Western at the end of the day. But when you push it to its logical conclusion, there are very few people who truly want to live in an open borders world where nobody can make serious claims to the land. I mean, the nation state is, is fairly new and some people are rather uncomfortable with it, of course, but I'm just saying test it to its limits. Let's go knock on Billie Eilish's gates and let's watch her either have a conversation or sick security on peaceful Tongva people trying to have a conversation about the land that Billie Eilish seems to agree was so stolen. I, I, I'm, I'm loving this story. I'm loving the story, but I actually seriously want to see something along those lines happen. Okay, we're going to bring in Tom Bevin in just one moment. We have so much to talk about with him. First though, you guys know I'm skeptical of pretty much everything. It's why I do this job. But especially skeptical of all that food that claims to be quote unquote healthy cereals are the worst. They're always loaded up with dyes and chemicals. You look on the back of the box. It's all unpronounceable. But Lovebird cereal is different. Started by a dad who would not feed his daughter the usual junk. Only seven clean organic ingredients on the front of the box. They fit on the front. No refined sugars, no fake flavors and no high potency sweeteners. I really like the cinnamon. I like the chocolate. Here's the cinnamon ingredients. Buckwheat, cassava, coconut honey, coconut sugar, cinnamon and sea salt. That is real food. And unlike corporate giants, Lovebird is family owned. Love that and donates 20% of profits to fight childhood cancer. That of course matters. So head to lovebirdfoods.com and get some for your family. Ready to take back your breakfast? Go to lovebird foods.com afterparty and use code AFTERPARTY for 25% off your first order. You can also find Lovebird cereals at Walmart, Whole Foods, Sprouts and other major retailers nationwide. Love Bird Cereal Join the real food revolution and take back our country's health from big food box by box.

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[Emily]

Let'S go ahead and bring in Tom Bevin, our friend. He's the co founder and president of RealClear Politics. He's the co host of RealClearPolitics on the Megyn Kelly Channel on Sirius XM111. And just an all around good guy, old guy, but a guy.

[Tom Bevin]

Love it. Good to be with you, Emily.

[Emily]

So happy to have you, Tom. Especially amidst your bid for the Washington Post. Tom Bevin has an offer on the table to acquire the Washington Post. Tom, you're offering What a cool 50 mil for the Washington Post. We can put it up on the screen.

[Tom Bevin]

So he bought, Jeff Bezos bought the post in 2013, 2014. It's been 12 or 13 years that he's owned it now and he bought it for 250 million, which was seen as kind of a bargain at the time. But obviously this thing has been nothing but a headache for him and he's been losing, well, a lot of money on it. Some say $100 million a year, maybe more. So you know, my idea was, I'm sure he's probably just fed up with it. He'd love someone to just take it off his hands. 50 million would seem like a nice round number for him. Although Carl Cannon on the show today, as soon as I made that offer, Carl's like, I think it's too much. I think and so today I said, I said 10 million. And he goes, no, 1 million. I doubt Jeff Bezos is going to sell the Washington Post for 1 million. So we'll see. Our offer is negotiable. But I do think as I look at that organization, how it's been run, that you know, you see all these journalists, the amount of emoting and running of garments on X today by all of these folks about how awful Jeff Bezos is and how he should just out of the goodness of his heart and because he's worth hundreds of billions of dollars, that he should just fund this indefinitely and just lose money forever and ever as a sort of his civic duty or something is kind of humorous to me as someone who's run, started a media company from scratch and has, we're independent. We don't have a big, you know, sugar daddy billionaire. We have to make payroll every single month and Let me tell you, like, the economics of this business are tough. They are immutable. You know, you can, you can put your head in the sand and try and ignore them, but at the end of the day, they, the. The economics will catch up to you. And so this idea that, you know, the Washington Post has to have a reporter or, or two or three reporters covering the intersection of race and gender, and I, you know, health care and all these things, it's just like, no, I don't think so. And by the way, my plan when I, when, when, when we purchase the Washington Post, would be to put Carl Cannon in charge. Now, Carl, as you know, his father worked for the Washington post for like 20 years, covered around Reagan. And Carl is an old school. It comes from sort of this old school dynastic journalism family. And if anyone could, could whip that place into shape and restore it to its former greatness just through you know, sheer common sense and adherence to sort of the traditional journalistic principles, it's Carl Cannon. And he could do it. And I'd be right there sort of cheering him along.

[Emily]

I love that idea.

[Tom Bevin]

I know, right? It's good. It's a good plan.

[Emily]

It'd be tough love, of course, from Carl Cannon, and some people just would not like it, Tom.

[Tom Bevin]

You know, but the thing about Carl is, is Carl is such an agreeable person. I mean, I've. Carl's worked for us for about, oh man, at least 15 years. But he's been in Washington for, for 40 years or so, 50 years, probably working, working in Washington for that long. And you can't say this about many people. He might be the only one. You can say this, but I've never met anyone in Washington who has a bad word to say about him. They all love the guy. And I know why. I mean, he's like a brother to me and, you know, we've come to become like brothers and like family. He is the nicest, most gentlemanly, most thoughtful. He can hardly ever raises his voice, if ever. He is always very sort of circumspect about all of these different issues and is just really thoughtful and treats everyone with dignity and respect, just as you would expect him to be. So it would be tough love. But I think he's a guy who could pull it off because he has the credibility and the track record and the demeanor. He could make the argument to even, I think, people who are, you know, at the Washington Post now who consider themselves liberal, that they need to be doing their jobs better and differently if they want to Win back the trust and respect of readers.

[Emily]

We get it, Tom. You're sick of working with Carl, but lots of good points. The news, of course. Let's put this up. F4. So Matt Murray sent an email to staff today high up at the Post and some of the bits here. The Washington Post search has declined by half in three years. This is from Max Tanning pulling the the top, the top lines really from this long email. Daily story output has, quote, substantially fallen in the last five years. Murray argues, quote, we too often write from one perspective for one slice of the audience. That is obviously true. But it's interesting in the era of siloing media properties. So New York Times, for example, CNN went so hard in the resistance paint 2017-2018-2019-2020, arguably still and saw its audience decline. But what they were trying to do was go for that niche, to develop a very loyal niche that they could, you know, mine for more and more cash. And Tom, you mentioned that you run a media company and I gotta ask you about this incredible Peter Baker post. Peter Baker is, if you run in journalism circles, whatever you think of the guy, one of the most respected people in DC Media. This is somebody who's considered like the top of the top.

[Tom Bevin]

Right.

[Emily]

Peter Baker posts. F3. We could put up on the screen this long thing on X about Jeff Bezos's wealth. How it was 194 billion in 2024, 215 billion in 2025. It's 250 billion. Now he goes through the cost of Bezos's yacht, the investment in the Melania, mov increase in Bezos's wealth since buying the Post. And then he goes number of years Bezos could absorb those losses with what he makes in a single week. 5. And he also says the last reported annual losses of the post was $100 million. You mentioned that number, Tom. Sounds right to me. So the answer here is that, that Jeff Bezos should keep his audience small as an act of charity to the nation, I guess.

[Tom Bevin]

I mean, it's his civic duty. It's what he, he owes all of these journalists, you know, six figure salaries and benefits. There's a certain level of, for declining performance that, that not just Peter Baker, but plenty of folks in the Washington, New York sort of acelic corridor have when it comes to, when it comes to media properties and journalism. And they think that they occupy this very sort of highly esteemed, morally righteous position. Right. They're the ones who are telling truth to power and they have these very sort of inflated opinions of themselves and what they do and their place in society and all that. Meanwhile, the rest of us, hundreds of millions of Americans, have to get up and go to work every day at jobs, and no other job would be expected to function. No other business would be. You'd be able to look at the CEO and be like, you know, we just need to keep losing 100 million a year and you know, for infinity, because I need a job and I want my cushy little corner office or whatever. I mean, it's absurd. And they, they don't seem to be able to recognize that I posted something on X about this. I mean, so the Washington Post. The Washington Post cuts 300 jobs, and there was a literal meltdown inside the Beltway by all of these folks on X. As I mentioned earlier, I don't know how many of these people even mentioned, but let alone had, you know, got all verklempt and had an emotional breakdown over the 16,000 people that Amazon laid off nine days ago and that news broke.

[Emily]

That's such a good point.

[Tom Bevin]

All of these people, I mean, and it happens. This is one of my pet peeves and hobby horses, right? It happens all the time in all across the country. And we read about it. These sort of anodyne pieces in the Wall Street Journal, they're just sort of news reports. You know, UPS laid off 30,000 people and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. When a couple thousand federal workers got laid off because of Doge, you would have thought that the world was ending in the Washington Post, the New York Times, they were running sob story after sob story, you know, oh, so. And so they had a great job and now they're, you know, they have to apply for unemployment or they have to eat ramen noodles. I mean, it was, you know, and I get it. It's like, you know, because people who live in D.C. they, they know they have friends who work for the government. Maybe they're married to someone who works in the government. So they're closely connected to this and they have a much more emotional connection. But it also just pisses me off that they aren't able to recognize that. Where are the sob stories for the worker in Ohio whose factory closed and they got put out of work? I mean, this stuff's been going on every single day in America for decades, and you hardly see stories about that. And. But when it comes, when it hits really close to home, then of course there's a. There's a huge uproar about it, which is exactly what we're seeing now.

[Emily]

Yeah, it's like, it's the same phenomena as when it snows in New York. It's just like 24. 7 Blizzard coverage. But if there's a tornado that rips through Oklahoma, they dip into it once. Like it's the perfect. Like that's exactly how they see the world. And it's with this case, I mean, you're talking about the Atlantic Publishing. Oh, I can't even read the headline. It's so funny. F2. We could put it up on the screen. The murder of the Washington Post. And Tom, you're gonna have to give me. I have to have to play a clip for you quickly because this is all I can think about right now when I see. This is Terry Reno 911. And yeah, here we have. I've got it. This is nick Swartzen's Reno 911 character.

[Tom Bevin]

Terry, you were murdered, okay? You obviously weren't murdered because you're alive and you're basically intact. You weren't murdered, buddy.

[Emily]

You were obviously not murdered because you're alive. I mean, Tom, like, can we put the Ashley Parker headline back? Because it's incredible. It's incredible. It's incredible. The murder of the Washington Post. If we are going to say the Washington Post has been murdered because 3, 30% of its staff was cut in a single day. And some of the, some of the choices, I mean, they, they cut somebody who was on the ground in Ukraine. I mean, I don't know, you could, I'm sure you could split hairs about what was right, what was wrong. But 300 people get cut at the Washington Post. It's clearly a long time coming. They had been telegraphing this was going to happen over and over and over again since Bezos revamp to their approach hires Will Lewis says we're going to go digital first and all of that. So if we say that cutting three. A third of the staff at this dying newspaper that's living $100 million a year is tantamount to a murder. The idea of blaming Bezos and Will Lewis is laughable in and of itself. Blame the people who drove the paper into the ground. And yet what they're doing is venerating the people who killed the Washington Post. It's incredible.

[Tom Bevin]

Yeah, yeah. Look, Ashley Parker probably didn't write that headline. And I, you know, I've met Ashley before and I actually thought she was very cool and I think she's a very talented writer. But she also, I mean, she does have this mentality. She's writing this for A magazine that is owned by Steve Jobs, widow, a billionaire who's funding it as a civic duty. She's losing money. I mean, it's the exact situation that apparently all of these people want. Now, look, you could say I heard a lot of griping from people like, oh, they closed the sports section. Like, that's stupid. They should be able to make money on local sports coverage, or they're doing away with the book section. Or, you know, you can quibble with maybe the decisions that they made. But your point is the fundamental one, Emily, which is they had to do something because the product they were producing was inferior and they were losing ground. And this is the same process that Bari Weiss is going through at CBS News, which is, you know, in a media environment that is more and more fractured, you know, you have to adapt. You have to be able to capture people's attention in the content that you're creating, or you're going to. You're going to fall behind and eventually lose. And the Washington Post was clearly had already fallen behind, but they had no interest in adapting or changing. And, you know, so that's the reality that they faced. And again, you can maybe quibble with, with the decisions they made, but they had to do something. And clearly losing $100 million a year for the foreseeable future was not really an option. And so they decided to. To, you know, I understand losing a third of your staff is. That's a big number. I mean, and I don't know how many employees they had over what it was 300. So they had about a thousand employees. Maybe that's a pretty good chunk. But they had to do it. And we'll see whether they're able to make the changes necessary to save the paper from actually being murdered, actually being driven into extinction. Because that's where it was headed.

[Emily]

Yeah, I mean, clearly. It's clearly where it was headed. And again, to blame people who came in. I mean, Bezos is actually not a bad culprit to blame because he was the one who greenlit the strategy of Democracy Dies in Darkness that made the people, people, the paper, less appealing to a broader audience and siloed it. And they looked at what the New York Times was doing, and they said, this is back in like 2016 era. They said, oh, let's get in on that action. Let's go pedal to the metal anti Trump and see if we can, you know, cultivate a really loyal subscriber base, which just, it didn't work because they didn't do it as well. As the Times, frankly. And then the Times had all of these other acquisitions and went with a game like business model. So let's put this on the screen from Joe Weisenthal, who pointed out the New York Times stock dipped. It dipped. And Weisenthal says New York Times's big bet on video is driving up costs, which is what seems to be spooking investors. Tom, people can go watch this. This video that I did like several months ago, where I talked about how I took myself out of the running for a job at the Post. But part of what I learned through that, that process was what they're doing is clearing room to afford a massive pivot to video, like a massive digital spend and video strategy that obviously costs a lot of money. And that obviously means that like a restructuring of a third of your workforce is kind of exactly what you would want to do to step in that direction.

[Tom Bevin]

Yeah, clearly. I think video is. And you know, the Washington Post actually had already gone into video. I don't know if you remember. I mean, there were. We've seen this iteration. I mean, Bloomberg spent millions of dollars to build a studio. They hired Mark Halpern and John Heilman to produce this stuff. And it like, was a complete loser. The Washington Post a few years back had this whole digital build out. I mean, they were. They spent millions and millions of dollars on video and couldn't get anybody to watch, so they shuttered it. I think part of that is maybe they were a little bit ahead of their time. Maybe it was also the way to succeed in video these days is doing what we're doing now.

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Tom Bevin]

And what Megyn Kelly does and Joe Rogan, which is, you know, it doesn't require a ton of investment and to. To have. Have a huge studio and have a massive staff and, and do all those things for. For slick production if you can provide good content that people want to watch.

[Emily]

Right. The New York Times's breakout video star is the person nobody expected to be. It's literally Ross Douthit, who sits in. In their already existing podcast studios with a microphone and gets mega clicks for them because he has interesting conversations. Yeah, exactly. It's so low budget. Like you don't need to spend that much money on it. Correctly.

[Tom Bevin]

Correct. And build out all these different, you know, and basically trying to be sort of cable news light. You know, I mean, I could turn on Fox or CNN or, you know, go to the Washington. That's what they were trying to do.

[Emily]

Right.

[Tom Bevin]

And they just couldn't find an audience to support it. But so maybe if the new strategy is more along the lines of what we were just talking about, they will end up having more success. Success. It, because it, it is a situation where, I mean, the days of, of people getting their newspaper thrown on their doorstep and bringing it inside and sitting down and, you know, opening it up and thumbing through it while they drink their coffee, those days are pretty much over, you know, and so they do need to, they need to do need to modernize and get with the times and maybe we'll see if they're able to do that or not. I hope they do. I mean, my offer still stands, of course, to buy the Post, but I do hope they succeed and I hope they succeed in reclaiming the sort of legacy of the Washington Post, which was for years it was a really, really good paper and it did have the kind of coverage that people were interested in. And somewhere along the way they sort of lost their, they lost their way. And I do hope that whether it's Will Murray and Bezos or it's the next owner or whomever, I hope they can figure it out because, you know, I would hate to see the Washington Post go completely out of business. But that's where they'll be if they don't, if they don't figure this thing out.

[Emily]

Well, I mean, my understanding is that Bezos wants to do like a long term revamp to basically try and build a new version of USA Today. Like the paper that was, you know, what that was at one point as a touchstone, like the, the paper that middle America had on its doorstep and it could speak to people in the center, speak to people on the left, speak to people on the right, and it was that kind of thing. That's my understanding. They're willing to like invest a ton of money to do that, which is very interesting because looking at, there are a couple more reactions I wanted to put up on the screen. F1 posts like this from Ben Mullen on the statement. Marty Baron put out a staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron. Quote, this ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations. And you know what? It does, like, to the point that you've been making, Tom, it does. But the question is, who put it into the, who thrust the Washington Post into the darkness? Sally Quinn has thoughts. If people don't know about Sally Quinn, Google Sally Quinn, you'll learn a lot. But this sort of queen of Georgetown, Sally Quinn, who was married to Ben Bradley and obviously has a close relationship with the Washington Post because of that. Here's what she had to say today. I think the only word I can say is grief. Everybody's in a state of grief. In the last year, it's just been one funeral after the other. We've had nothing but going away parties, people being laid off, people being taking the buyout, people just quitting. And it's just tragic what's happening to the Washington Post. And there's nobody who doesn't feel that way. It's not just me. It's not just the people the Post, but it's everybody in journalism. My colleagues at the New York Times are just as upset as anybody because they don't want to see journalism die lying. It just trust in media is at a record low right now, according to Gallup, which has been tracking this year after year after year after year. And Tom, I look at that and I'm like, why, Sally Quinn, weren't you weeping over the horrible Washington Post coverage that is losing the trust of readers? Like that's losing the money, that's losing the subscriptions, like that's what you should be weeping over, not the consequences of it?

[Tom Bevin]

Yeah, I mean, I, I saw, you know, there's a lot of schadenfreude out there on, on, on X. And I, I resisted the temptation to, you know, pile on and, and, you know, tell people to learn to code and, you know, all of that because, you know, people lost their jobs and that's always a tough thing. And I've had to, you know, I've had to let people go, people that I didn't want to let go. And it is a hard thing.

[Emily]

You have to fire Carl Cannon tomorrow.

[Tom Bevin]

Not quite. We're keep, we'll keep them around for a little bit longer, but it is a tough thing to do and to go through. However, to your point, where was the course correction? Where was the reflection? Where was the introspection? Where was the accountability by any of these people who were at the Post as they were speeding headlong into the iceberg? Democracy dies in darkness. And the problem that the Washington Post has and the New York Times has and what Bari Weiss is dealing with at CBS is the organizations have been so fully captured by the left, they've hired all of these smart young Ivy League kids that are, you know, out of Columbia Journalism school and the like, and they have basically sort of taken over the newsrooms that when you try to inject some, some change, some reformation, some sanity, you get met with a mob mentality. We saw that at the New York Times, we saw, I mean, even. And when the Washington Post hired Adam o' Neill to run the Opinion page, you know, what was it last year, just a few months ago. And he said, look, we're going to, and Bezos made that release that statement and said, look, we're going to focus on, you know, on the Opinion page. We're going to focus on like economic freedom and accountability, whatever it was. And people lost their ever loving minds over that. And how dare he, you know, dictate to us what we can write about and what we can't write about. And because the Opinion page had become just a left wing fever swamp of race and you know, Jonathan Capehart and Karen Attia and all these people, I mean, it was just, it was unreadable. Honestly, if you were, if you were not just a, you know, flaming left wing progressive, you'd go to that page. And I, I go to it every day as part of my official duties at Real Clear Politics to see what people are writing and aggregating, you know, content. And it was, it just became again, unreadable. Like we couldn't use anything from it.

[Emily]

Even though I was just gonna ask you that. I, I was just gonna ask you that. Cause I've sensed that like you, you actually don't link to the Post very often. And I wanted to ask like when, around when that started to happen.

[Tom Bevin]

So we've had an interesting relationship with the Washington Post over the years. It, when, when it started we purchased, there was the Washington Post Writers Group and they syndicated all of their columnists. Right? It was George Will and Charles Krauthammer and E.J. dionne. And it's a good stable of columns, like some of the premier columnists in the country. And so we purchased their content from, you know, the Washington Post Writers Group and then we would get it and we would put it on Real Clear Politics in our template. So say, you know, we'd usually, we'd always put the Washington Post byline on it when we posted it on the site. But if you clicked on it, it would go to a Real Clear Politics page. And what happened was, is that after a few years of that, the Washington Post basically cut us off because more people were coming to Real Clear Politics to read Charles Krauthammer and their columnists than were going to the Washington Post. And so they basically just said, we will not sell this content to you anymore. And we got cut off. And so, you know, that was kind of a whole deal. And, and it's not that we stopped using the Washington Post at that point. I mean, what our challenge as an aggregator, sort of a hybrid aggregator, publisher of content are paywalls, right? We can't link to articles that our readers click on and then go to and get hit with a paywall. And so you have to pay or you have to put in your email to register and create an account and all this stuff just to go through to see an article. I mean that's like a non starter for most of our readers, right? And we get, and we hear about it when they, when they click on something. So that's one of the reasons we stop going and using stuff from the Washington Post. It's one of the reasons we rarely ever use anything from the New York Times. There are a couple different workarounds that you can use. Like the Washington Post will, you know, they have their content which goes out, MSN grabs it. And so we can use an MSN link that does not have a paywall. And so typically that's when we link to something from the Washington Post. That's how we do it. But we, you're right, we, we don't link to the Post that often. And typically now we link to not stuff from the opinion page, but more news analysis articles and things that appear on the front page, news stories. And we usually link to it via some other website because the Washington Post will hit you with a paywall and our, our readers hate that.

[Emily]

It's entirely fair. We have so much more to get to with Tom. I'm going to take a quick break, but right before I do, I want to mention because Sally Quinn there. People think about this post war period of mass media as, as this golden era. And in some respects, obviously it was, you're making a lot of money in this sort of thing. But people can go ahead and Google Ben Bradley and Mary Meyer and if they don't know the story about how Mary Meyer, JFK's mistress who was murdered, how her diary ended up in the hands of James Jesus Angleton at the CIA. Well, the New York Times reported that it was one Ben Bradley who gave it to Angleton and the CIA. Obviously some questions about why the CIA would want the diary of JFK's mistress and some questions about why the CIA narrative seems to have its. The CIA seemed to have its fingerprints all over the Watergate narrative that was published in Ben Bradley's Washington Post. So just a little fun tidbit from history about the institutions that we are told to revere and respect as perfect and beautiful and infallible. Tom, we're going to be right back, but first we got to sell some Masa cheese chips so that Tom doesn't have to deal with a pay wall if he wants to link to the show. You don't have to overhaul your whole life in 2026. Just start with those simple swaps like upgrading your snacks. Masa chips are made with three real ingredients organic corn, sea salt and 100% grass fed beef tallow. No seed oils, no fillers, no mystery chemicals, just seriously good tasting food. I really do love them. Unlike regular chips, Masa leaves you feeling satisfied and energized, not bloated or sluggish. And because they're more fil, they're so sturdy you won't find yourself mindlessly snacking and still feeling hungry afterwards. My favorite masa chip flavor is lime, but I go back and forth on this. I really like the spicy ones too. I like the sweet. There's like a churro flavor. So good. So if you're ready to give Masa a try, go to masachips.com afterparty and use code AFTERPARTY for 25% off your first order. Or simply click the link in the video description or scan the QR code to claim this delicious offer. And if you don't feel like ordering online, that's fine. Masa is now available nationwide at your local sprout supermarket, so stop by and pick up a couple of bags before they're gone.

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[Emily]

Joined once again by Tom Bevin, co founder and President of Real Clear Politics. Boy, do we have a lot more to get to.

[Tom Bevin]

Let's do it.

[Emily]

I really want to ask about the Chuck Schumer debacle. I'm going to roll this clip here. S4 Chuck Schumer has called the SAVE act, which is a voting protection act. Jim Crow 2.0, a Republican, I should say Voter Integrity Act. Let's go ahead roll S4.

[Tom Bevin]

The SAVE act is an abomination. It's Jim Crow 2.0 across the country. We are, we are going to do everything we can to stop him.

[Emily]

It everything we can to stop it. Okay, so the Save act requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. So that's an important thing to know about the bill. When you hear Chuck Schumer saying things like that, echoing Joe Biden when he was talking about new voter laws in Georgia, which I think we're still in. Like what was the time that was like even Delaware had stricter voting laws than what Georgia should change it to. All right, so Harry Enton goes and pulls the numbers because Nicki Minaj posts. I mean this, these sentences are ridiculous. I'm talking about Chuck Schumer, Harry Anton, and Nicki Minaj is like a Stefan SNL sketch. Nicki Minaj posts what sensible, forward thinking, cutting edge leading nation is having a debate on whether or not there should be voter id. Like they're actually fighting not to have people. This is F7. Yeah. Present ID while voting for your leaders. Do you get it? Do you get it now? So Harry Anton goes and pulls the numbers. This is S6.

[Tom Bevin]

And what you see is that the American people actually it's not really all that controversial. The American people are with Nicki Minaj, whether they are Republican or even if they are Democrats. We're talking about 7 in 10 Democrats agreeing with Nicki Minaj that you in fact should show a voter voter ID to vote. What's the racial breakdown? Okay, what's the racial breakdown on this? Right, because, because I think a lot of people make the argument that people of color, non white Americans have a harder time procuring a photo ID to vote. But even here, take a look here. Favorite photo ID to vote, 85% of white people favor it, 82% of Latino, 76% of black Americans favor it. So the bottom line is this voter ID is not controversial in this country.

[Emily]

And it also, the bill also requires states to have a program that would remove non citizens from the existing voter rolls. Tom, what did you make of a little smackdown there from Harry Anton on cnn?

[Tom Bevin]

Yeah, I mean the numbers are the numbers and good for Harry to do a segment on that and point it out because you heard Chuck Schumer. I mean he said this is a non starter. We discussed this on our program. Carl was being his lovable, naive self, I think, and thinking that somehow because the, you know, public opinion was so much in favor of this that there would be maybe something they got done on this. And I, this is one of those issues that as Chuck Schumer said, Democrats will never vote for this. It doesn't matter if it's 100% people, 100% of people are in favor of this. Democrats will never vote for it. They will always, I think, call it voter suppression and call it Jim Crow 2.0, as ridiculous as that may be. I wonder if, you know, Chuck Schumer has any self awareness at how, when he uses that phrase, at how ridiculous it sounds and it is and how often the Democrats use it to try and explain the world around them because it's, you know, as you said, they used it in Georgia. They use it every time that there's any effort to put any sort of restrictions or you know, guardrails or anything on voters other than you can just vote. You can register the same day you can, you don't need id, you don't even have to be from the country. You can just, you know, anybody can vote. That's their policy and they're going to go to the mats to defend it no matter what the American public, how against them the American public might be.

[Emily]

Yeah, it's been this way on voter ID for years and years. Yeah. And they say the citizenship is no problem whatever. Well, we'll check it in just a second. But my understanding here in D.C. is.

[Tom Bevin]

In Georgia and some of these other places like black Turnout was at historic highs. I mean it's just, it's craziness. The idea that having any of these sort of, you know, even saying that for example, you can only have early voting for 10 days instead of a month or six weeks or something, that somehow that's, you know, voter suppression. Yeah, no, there was, there was a piece, I'm trying to remember who, who wrote it, but basically saying, I think it might have been in the Washington examiner, but basically saying, you know, voter ID isn't racist. The Democrats arguments against it are the racist, they're the races for saying oh, you know, black people can't get, they can't get IDs or they can't figure out how to, you know, navigate the system or you know, somehow. And by the way, Sean Trendy, our senior elections analyst was on today, we were talking about this in the SAVE Act. There's no evidence to support the idea that in any empirical way that black voters are somehow, you know, disproportionately impacted by voter ID restrictions or laws or regulations at all.

[Emily]

Which is the entire premise. It's like the entire premise, just incredible. Incredible. So last question on this then, Tom, is why? Because you've, I know you followed this for a long time. Why in your estimation is it, is it just this sort of progressive ideological commitment to making voting as easy as as possible? Want 16 year olds to vote? They want non citizens to vote? Is that what it is?

[Tom Bevin]

Yeah, I think so. I think there is a deep, deep belief among Democrats that the more people who are allowed to vote, the better off they do in elections. And that is not always the case, as we saw, I think in the last presidential election, high turnout. There has been this orthodoxy, this, you know, conventional wisdom, if you will, that that high turnout elections always benefit Democrats. That is not true. And so I think they do want the idea that any sort of restrictions end up hurting them. That's the way they view this. And so they don't want any restrictions. And then there is the, the component about people who are coming into the country and they don't, you know, they don't want to scrub voter rolls, they don't want to update lists or anything, keep anything current, anything that does anything around securing our elections. They reflexively argue that it is, it is Republicans who are, you know, a racist and B, trying to suppress the vote of people that's been their standby sort of go to argument for 25 years and I'm sure it'll be the same way for another 25 years.

[Emily]

Yeah, that sounds right to me. Speaking of the court of public opinion, let's go on to Tom Hellman's announcement today that the Trump administration, according to Reuters, is, quote, withdrawing some 700 federal immigration enforcement agents from Minnesota, although about 2,000 will stay in place. According to Homan, an announcement that he made this morning, Donald Trump, in some excerpts here that are getting leaked from an NBC super bowl interview, addresses what's happened with ICE in Minnesota. And we're going to get to some poll numbers in just one moment. But let's start here with S9.

[Tom Bevin]

Speaking of Minneapolis, what did you learn? I learned that maybe we can use.

[Emily]

A little bit of a softer touch.

[Tom Bevin]

But you still have to be tough. These are criminals we're dealing with, really hard criminals. But look, I've called the people, I've called the governor, I've called the mayor, spoke to them, had great conversations with them. And then I see them ranting and raving out there literally as though a call wasn't made.

[Emily]

He also said, you know, there were mistakes made. Nobody feels worse. What did you make of that, Tom?

[Tom Bevin]

Well, I think it's clear, you know, that, that the Trump administration has, and Donald Trump in particular has engineered a sort of reset recalibration there. You know, the Alex Paredy killing was a, was a tipping point that I think made them rethink who was the face of the organization, who was in charge and how they were messaging because they were losing the PR war and also an effort to reach out, as he said. I mean, he made these phone calls, he had these conversations and try and lower the temperature and get, look, Tom Homan said as part of his announcement that they were withdrawing these 700 agents, that it was because he'd had unprecedented cooperation. Now, I don't know if he's, you know, if that's true and that's really the reason or whether, you know, maybe he was doing a little jujitsu and trying to get, get Tim Walls and Jacob Fry in trouble with their base by suggesting that they're cooperating with him, you know, to get the lefties riled up. I don't know. But, but I think it is, you know, because he wants to, I think still as, as Donald Trump did in that interview. This is not a retreat, right? It is a, it is a recalibration. They still want to, they still want to continue with these enforcement actions. And what had happened, though, with the, with Renee Good's killing and Preddy's killing is that, you know, Democrats were able to conflate what people were seeing on the street and say, look, this is an overreaction by these out of control federal agents. What, what Homan has said and I think done a very good job of sort of resetting the, the baseline here, which is all we want is for cooperation to be able to get the bad guys who are here illegally from the jails. And if we're able to do that, then we don't have to go out on the streets. And it's safer for us, it's safer for the public, it's safer for the people that we're rounding up. I mean, it's, and it's something that we've been doing it this way for a long, long time. We've never had any problem with it. And suddenly now we're having a problem. So if we could just get back to cooperation. I think he's done a pretty good job of doing that. And so we'll see how this progresses. But clearly Donald Trump saw the writing on the wall that the way thing, the trajectory that it was going with the ICE action, particularly in Minneapolis, was causing issues for him in the court of public opinion and he made a change.

[Emily]

So this is the RCP aggregation of polls on immigration. Your number has him right now at 8 below water. So disapprove at 52.4% on immigration, 44.4% approve on immigration. It's actually not disastrous. I mean, it's one of his key issues. But when you consider the killings of two American citizens, it's, it's not double digits, which you might expect in a case like that. Quinnipiac apparently here had had post pretty and good a 21 point disadvantage for Trump. So that's, that's brutal. Morning consult had a tie. Tom, a lot of this looks kind of all over the place. What have you seen in these numbers?

[Tom Bevin]

Yeah, I mean, for, for, for most of his first year of his second term, Trump's approval rating on immigration was higher than his overall approval. And that was, I think it was the only issue. I mean, he enjoyed real sort of support, obviously among Republicans, but even among independents with the sort of mass deportation program as it was rolled out. It was one of the cornerstones of his, of his election. It's only recently that we've seen him now dip down into the mid-40s on immigration and that is now, I think, below his, his overall job approval rating. So, but there were, you know, a couple polls out last week, there was a Harvard Harris poll showing I think 73% or something of people still approve of the federal government taking people who are here illegally and who have committed crimes either while in this country or in their country of origin and shipping them out. That is still a majority approval position in this country. Where the drop off happens is when you ask, asked, should people be deported if they are only here illegally, but they haven't done any, they haven't committed any other crimes. And there you still have Republicans, a strong majority of Republicans say, yeah, we still want those people gone because they're here illegally. But support drops among independents and drops pretty significantly among Democrats. And so, and that's the issue where Democrats have done a good job of sort of muddying the waters and conflating those two. So to help, I think, drive public opinion in their direction on that. But look, I think Trump's overall position and the thing that he was elected on still has majority support when it's presented to the public that way and it's delivered sort of on the ground in a sort of orderly fashion. When you have chaos in the streets, when you have people getting shot, that, that's a problem. And by the way, and I've said this before, this is where Democrats are. You know, they, they've, they're sort of riding this tiger of, of immigration protests. But what are we seeing? Well, we're seeing like them, we're seeing these protests get out of control in Portland, in Los Angeles, in other cities around the country. And the public is not going to like that either. Independents and normies are going to recoil from that as well because they don't like seeing chaos in the streets. And if the Democrats are cheering them on and they're aiding and abetting that kind of stuff, they will pay a price for it.

[Emily]

Let's put F8 on the screen. Last week, Tom, on, I think it was the Wednesday show, I went and looked back at the RCP averages in, in 2018 and I think also 2022 and on the congressional ballot as well. And what we're looking at right now, as you pointed out in this post on X, people can see the rcp, the average here on the generic congressional vote. What we're looking at here is a widening gap, but still not an insurmountable one. You say when Trump took office in late January of last year, Dems were at 44% in the generic ballot test and trailing the GOP by 1.5%. A year later, they're at a new high of 47.6%. Now lead the GOP by 5 points, 5%, I should say And Tom, you have watched this happen for a long time. Trump himself said at his speech in Iowa last week, he's like, you know, you never win the midterms when you're in power. Like already trying to temper expectations. Sure. This is still, though, less of a lead. When I went back and looked at you all as average from 2018, it's, it's a slightly lower lead for Dems than It was in 2018, which I guess could suggest they're on track for less of a bloodbath. I mean, that was a historic blue wave election cycle that probably still will do well. But what do you make of these.

[Tom Bevin]

Numbers in the House? Yeah, no, I, yes, I think, look, Democrats usually historically sort of underperform their generic ballot numbers. Like, if they're leading by a point or two, you can say because of the way their votes are distributed around the country that, that, you know, Republicans tend to sort of overperform. But when you get to, you know, three points. We were talking with Sean Trendy about this today on our, on our show, you know, we get to three points. And beyond that, Democrats definitely have an advantage, not as big of an advantage as they did in 2018. And so, yeah, they might not do as well. I don't, I'm not sure there are as many competitive districts as there was in 2018 as well. That might also mitigate some of the damage for Republicans. But they also have, you know, I mean, the margins are so thin, they only pick up, what, three seats or something and for the majority. So they're definitely well positioned at this point with a five point lead to, to capture control of the House of Representatives. But to your point, I mean, we're sitting here, it's early February, there's a lot of time left. And certainly that ground can be made up by Republicans. I think if Republicans could get the generic ballot, if it goes back down to under three points, then I think it's probably going to be a toss up in the House. And certainly the Senate's a whole different ballgame and it's a much harder road for Democrats to end up taking control there. They're going to need, they would need a sort of 2018 size wave to really get what they need, a net of four seats. I mean, that's, they're gonna have to win Texas or Alaska or some of these states that are considered a real stretch.

[Emily]

Nebraska, that's an interesting one.

[Tom Bevin]

Nebraska. I mean, you saw Vindman just declared, you know, in Florida. I mean, they, they are hoping to knock off Susan Collins, they probably get a good shot in North Carolina, you know, with Cooper. So. But they also have to defend Georgia. I mean, Ossoff is not, you know, that's going to be a tough race for them. They've got Michigan as well to defend. So, you know, I think the Senate is, like I said, it's just a different ball game given the states that are in play. But as far as the House goes, I mean, I think if you were a betting person, and you can be if, I guess, if you go to Polymarket or Couch here when he's placed, don't do it.

[Emily]

Don't give them your money.

[Tom Bevin]

Oh, you'd have to give the advantage to the Democrats right now in the House.

[Emily]

So finally, Tom, actually a great transition here to a bizarre post from Kamala hq. So this is the official office of former Vice president Kamala Harris. So they have their X account of the official office. And about four hours ago, so six, around 6pm on a Wednesday evening in, in February, year of our Lord 2026, Kamala Harris HQ posts this S11 for the listening audience. There's a little like, login and Kamala HQ is typing in, like, passwords. The babysitter is weird. It's one of them. Project 2025 was real. Then they finally type in headquarters and boom.

[Tom Bevin]

I thought the password was going to be Chardonnay.

[Emily]

Oh, that was good. And finally then it just says, tomorrow, Tom. People are taking this as like some type of sign. She's running for president. Max Tanny of Semaphore posted. What are the odds that this is a podcast? I think that might be the best, the best prediction.

[Tom Bevin]

Well, yeah, and those things aren't mutually exclusive, right? I mean, these days, if you want to run for president, you got to have a podcast and you got to write one book, maybe two books. And Gavin's on his releasing his first book dealing with sort of his personal issues. And I'm sure we'll get a second book that'll have his policy prescriptions and all of that as we get closer. So look, Kamala Harris, you know, she's got this weird thing going, right? She's leading in the polls. She's, you know, she does do well. When people are asked, Democrats are asked their preferences for 2028 in the polls, she. She polls well. However, that is juxtaposed with, you know, you just see this anecdotal stuff. There's of people who, like, there's just no interest. So Nate Silver and some of the, some of his pals, they did like a live show. I don't know if you saw this clip where they did this 2028 draft. And they started. They were. It was in front of a live audience and they said, you know, they would shout out names and say, you know, cheer if you want this person to run for president in 2028. It was like Pete Buttigieg, you know, and all of that. Gavin Newsman and then Kamala Harris. Crickets. Not a single person cheered or clapped. Like, there was no. And they were all kind of like, wow, you know, that's crazy. But you keep running into moments like that where, you know, on one hand she's selling out. You know, her book was a big seller and she was selling out all these events, and yet nobody really wants her to run for president. I don't know. She's very interesting in that sense. Like, she could clearly make the case that she should be in the race and she's got enough support to be considered a real contender. And yet, on the other hand, there's a real. Maybe it's the unspoken sort of dislike, distaste, apathy toward her that. That is just sort of bubbling and simmering out there.

[Emily]

Yeah, I mean, I think the Biden cover up still really resonates with people. I've heard Marie Glues and Camp Perez say it should, like, literally still, like, elderly lawmakers is still something that she hears about when she's back in the district. People absolutely hate that. And Kamala Harris is just kind of, unfortunately for her, became the face of that. And I don't, I don't know that that is ever something you can overcome in a national race.

[Tom Bevin]

Well, I mean, to get to the national race, I mean, she'd have to, you know, we're talking about winning the primary and we're a little ahead of our skis. Yeah, well, and the problem is, you know, when she ran in the primary in 2019, like, she didn't even make it to the starting gate. And I firmly believe, and I said this at the, at the time, if she were forced to do some sort of mini primary when Biden dropped out and it wasn't just handed to her that she probably wouldn't have been the nominee, that it would have been Gavin Newsom or someone else, because, like, she had been, you know, her, her favorability ratings had been so low, and her, you know, she just struggled. Just struggled. And remember her. Her press team kept trying to do these resets and reintroductions to the American people. And, and I mean, she just could never Shake this idea that she was just not up to the job. And then once it was handed to her, her favorability skyrocketed and suddenly she was the, you know, she was this great nominee and she ran a great campaign and all that. It seemed just totally manufactured to me. And I think if she had to do it again and start on her own, I don't know that she. I don't know that she can win a primary. I don't.

[Emily]

Yeah, no, I think that's totally right. We'll see. I mean, I. Nobody's gonna announce a run for president in 2026, but if she announced early, she could try to consolidate the lane and do all that kinds of stuff. Who knows? We'll be watching it closely, of course. And I know that over on the Megyn Kelly Channel, Sirius XM111, where Tom is the co host of Real Clear Politics. Of course, he's also the co founder and president of Real Clear Politics. But I know you guys are going to be watching it closely, too.

[Tom Bevin]

Tom, we are. We are. We are crushing it five days a week, leading the lead into Megan. So. No, it's good. Please check us out. We're having a lot of fun.

[Emily]

11:00Am Tons of fun. All right, Tom, thank you so much for stopping back on the show.

[Tom Bevin]

Absolutely. Thanks, Emily.

[Emily]

Oh, absolutely. My mom was so excited that Tom was on the show. She was like, oh, Tom Bevin's on the show tonight. Can't wait. And I was like, I'm here too, Mom. Oh, goodness gracious. Okay, more to come in just one moment. I am going to do a little autopsy on a New York Times article because, you know, I can't resist an opportunity to do that. But first, everybody's talking about weight loss injections because as we all can see with our eyeballs, the results are so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. So what if you're looking to lose weight but not interested in those painful weekly injections? Especially when you hear about some of the crazy side effects. That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called Lean. And the results are remarkable. The studied ingredients in Lean have been shown to lower your blood sugar, burn fat by converting it into energy, and then curb your appetite and cravings so that you're not as hungry. But listen, Lean is not for the casual dieter. With only a few pounds to lose, the doctors at Brick House Nutrition created Lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. So. So let's get you started with 20% off and free Rush shipping so you can add lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit takelean.com and enter Emily for your discount. That's promo code.

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[Emily]

Want to put this article up on the screen. This is from the New York Times. The headline here is they Couldn't Break Me, A Protester, the White House and a Doctored Photo. It is about one and here you can see the photo actually that the New York Times chose to run this article with. It is about one Nakimi Nakima Levy Armstrong Young, who of course ran the protest that disrupted the city's church Baptist service in St. Paul. Now what? Almost two weeks ago. We're going to take the story almost line by line. This is a story by the New York Times's White House correspondent, one of The New York Times's White House correspondents keep that in mind. This, this reads to me like a story of that would be written by a columnist. But of course, I think that's a rather important distinction when you have somebody on the street news team over at the Times. The lead of the story is when Nakima Levy Armstrong was transported from the Federal Courthouse in St. Paul, Minnesota to the Sherburne County Jail. With three layers of shackles on her body, around her waist, her waist and feet. It was the closest she said that she had ever felt to slavery. That's the first line of the article. It goes on to say, still she walked calmly, her face resolute, her head held high. Is this the framing? Does this read like the framing of a. A neutral voice of God observer who is looking at a story of somebody who pretty obviously violated the face act, pretty obviously trespassed on private property? Is this the framing of a neutral glimpse into Nakima Levy Armstrong's activism on behalf of the anti ICE movement? You can tell from the first two lines, no. And again, if you are somebody who wants to venerate Nakima Levy Armstrong as a opponent of ISIS activities in Minneapolis, then this is some beautiful writing. Moving, touching, beautiful writing. Great. That's not the job of the New York Times White House correspondent. Unless the New York Times wants to help fix trust in media overnight by just admitting the stuff is biased in one direction very clearly now, the story is really about something the White House did that I actually think is wrong. As the author goes on to say, if you saw a photograph of the White house disseminated of Ms. Larry Armstrong, who was arrested for protesting in a church service, you would not know it. So the White House, as the story notes, quote, posted a manipulated photo of her arrest to its official social media account depicting Ms. Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and activist, as hysterical, tears streaming down her face, her hair disheveled, appearing to cry out in despair. Arrested was emblazoned across the photo along with a Misleading description of Ms. Levy Armstrong as a, quote, unquote, far left agitator who was orchestrating church riot rights in Minnesota. Okay, so the picture actually fooled me as I was scrolling and I think I mentioned it. I want to say I mentioned it on the Megyn Kelly wrap up show. I said something like, if a picture the White House just released is to be believed, she was crying when she was taken into custody. It was a very well done AI generated image. And the reason that I think it was a dumb thing for the White House to do is I hate any authorities who play with that without flagging it as AI generated unless it's so obviously AI generated because it's like a cat piloting a space shuttle, something like that, but fairly believable. Somebody getting arrested might be, might be crying. So it just to me is one of those things that it's not worth messing with the public's trust on what's real and what's fake right now in AI. So I don't think the White House should have done that. That. But, but come on, come on. This was a moment where she was very calm and yet it was the closest she had ever felt to slavery. So how dare the White House depict her as somebody who was crying. There clearly is a tone of racism on this. The writer goes on to note the exaggerated features in the darkened skin. She said Nakimi Levitt Armstrong said I can't believe I have to read the next sentence, but I don't want to read the next sentence. Reminded her of when the bodies of enslaved people were left disfigured to deter uprisings on plantations or during Jim Crow when racist propaganda would depict black people as caricatures. She said she remained, quote, cool, calm and collected during both her arrest and the transport to jail. They couldn't break me by arresting me, Ms. Levy, Armstrong said. So they doctored an image to show the world a false iteration of that time to make me look weak. Reducing my image to some scared crying woman was just so degrading and it just shows how far the office of the President has fallen. Ma', am, you were arrested for a serious charge, a civil rights charge, the FACE act, which by the way, I've said many times don't agree with the Face Act. I think it's question it's really tested. The First Amendment has all kinds of problems for that. Say that as somebody in the anti abortion world who has seen what it's it's done in the past. I don't know that Nikima Levy Armstrong has any problems whatsoever with the Face Act. Probably wants to get all those pro life protesters the heck away from the abortion clinics. But all that is to say she her claims right now that this is in any way comparable or reminiscent of the depictions. Seriously, quote, it reminded her the exaggerated features on the dark and the darkened skin on an AI image that just showed her crying reminded her of when the bodies of enslaved people were left disfigured to deter uprisings on plantations. This is being treated seriously by the New York Times. Well, I don't even know what to say to that. It's so stupid. Let's keep going. By the way we know it's being treated. Seriously, because this isn't there. There's no, there's no holes being poked in any of this. It's being framed as powerful and moving. Incredible. By not having someone else, you could easily insert someone else into the story and being like, like being like, you know, it's a. It was just a. It was just a joke. Like it's an AI image. Something like that. You could even. Because this writer is, is using such a heavy voice in the article, you could even say that yourself. You could even hint at that yourself. I can't believe that the New York Times White House correspondent seriously wrote that. When asked about the doctored image, which the New York Times independently confirmed had been manipulated, the White House was unapologetic. Kaylin Dore, the deputy communication director, brush it off last week as a meme. Enforcement of the law will continue, Mr. Doy wrote on social media, posting the doctored photograph. The memes will continue. All right, so that's nice. They had the response from the White House in here. But again, what they are clearly doing is framing, especially with the flattering photography. It's always unflattering when you're framing it the other direction. But they're framing this as a serious, incredible claim that the White House editing an AI Meme of somebody who got arrested on good cause, by the way, who disrupted a church service and potentially set the anti Ice movement back by doing that. So even if you're an anti ICE person on the left, you could say that was tactically an absurd decision. The New York Times is treating this, framing this as though it's probably perfectly, perfectly credible and serious. And they go through, you know, the, the meat and potatoes kind of legal questions. But she, the story notes when she's being arrested, she asked one of the agents why he was filming the arrest. It's not going to be on Twitter, the agent assured her. We don't want to create a false narrative, the agent added. She said, she responded that she, she did not want to be a, quote, trophy for MAGA. But soon after arrest and the image of Ms. Levy Armstrong was on Twitter, Chrissy Gnome, the Homeland Security secretary, posted an arrest picture of Ms. Levy Armstrong, apparently without the digital manipulation. But within hours, the doctor photo that the White House posted had ricocheted around the country. It had been viewed more than 6 million times. All right, here's the altered image. You can see as the New York Times apparently confirmed with, with an outside expert. Yeah, I mean it's, it's not obviously when you see it for the first time, a doctored image, which is why I think it's just reckless. I don't care if it's Democrats or Republicans are doing that. You can't afford to play with the public's trust on this issue. But legal experts, according to the Time, said that the fake image could hurt the justice department's case against Ms. Levy Armstrong. Her lawyer could use it to accuse the Trump administration of making what are known as improper extra, extrajudicial statements. Okay. I mean, come on, come on, seriously. And it goes on to say, like to talk about the AI stuff, which some of it, by the way, I agree with, talks about her activism in the deaths of Michael Brown and other cases. Doesn't talk about how the entire narrative from that, which I'm sure Levy Armstrong was a super spreader of. Of turned out to be false, really doesn't get into any of that. It's just a friendly profile of her. And it says here it ends on a quote. You always know this is how they're trying to punch you in the gut with the end quote. She says now the, the author says now she sees a silver lining in the White House's release of the doctored photo. It was a wake up call for the nation in terms of really understanding political prosecution, she said, and that people are being targeted and penalized for speaking out against the tyranny and fascism of the federal government. Ma'. Am. Political persecution. You stormed and persecuted people in the pews of a church. It's not political persecution. For then the law that Democrats put on the books to protect the civil rights of people worshiping, to see that actually enforced, I like, again, it's fine for an activist to speak like this. It's fine. I get it. That's what activists do. I don't think everybody has the most well rounded worldview and we're all completely. Nobody is immune to hypocrisy and double standards and the like. Although if you're, you're putting your life into something like this, I would expect you to be maybe a little bit more aware of the holes in your own worldview. But why would you have any incentive to when the New York Times is going to glaze you with like basically no outside criticism about whether what you did was a serious act of political persecution? Is there a hypocrisy storyline here? Are there other people's civil rights in question right now? Did you set your own movement back. Literally none of that, that, none of that in the story from a White House correspondent, not even from a columnist or an analyst or a justice reporter like some papers have, this is the White House correspondent. So no, I mean, yeah, it's, it's just a good reminder of why it's often a problem for Democrats. Not always, but sometimes it becomes a problem for them that the media is so biased towards cultural leftism. It becomes actually honestly a problem sometimes because people in that space aren't used to the rigorous criticism that people in right wing activism are subjected to and they're less poorly equipped to defend their own worldview. I mean if you're getting glazed for disrupting the civil rights of people to worship, nobody, like there's a very small part of the country that agreed with that thought that that was great and lovely and acceptable. So all that is to say, like when the New York Times is, is cheering you on all the way and, and you know, laundering your claims of, that this was reminiscent in any way whatsoever of, of bodies being. I mean, I just can't even get back into that. It's so profoundly depressing that that made that to print. But when the New York Times is treating that seriously and not poking holes in it as is is their job, then no, you don't have an incentive to be a more persuadable force for your own movement. And so anyway, just wanted to go through that article as that one was one of the more egregious ones as you're going line by line through how it was framed and really unbelievable, very believable circa like 2017. But for the New York Times, which has started to question some of the pre existing narratives on things like gender, medicine and race to some extent and, and you know, bring the volume up on, on some different voices just again to have that in the news section from your White House correspondent is, I find it profoundly depressing. Okay, that does it for us. On today's edition of After Party. I already recorded this week's Happy Hour because I'm going on a little vacation but, but I'll see you all here back here on Monday. You can still send your questions in, of course to emilymadecaremedia.com we'll get to them on next week's edition of Happy Hour. This week's is still going to air per usual on Friday. It's an extra long one. I was not watching the clock, so if you like to hear me ramble, you're going to love this content. Have a great evening, everyone. We'll see you back here on Monday.