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Federalist Radio Hour
‘You're Wrong' With Mollie Hemingway And David Harsanyi, Ep. 182: ICE And Iran
01:11:53
Join Washington Examiner Senior Writer David Harsanyi and Federalist Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway as they analyze the Minneapolis ICE shooting, discuss recent developments regarding the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, dive into the news on...
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- [00:00]
Molly Hemingway
Foreign.
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David Harsanyi
Welcome back, everyone, to a new episode of youf're Wrong with Molly Hemingway, editor in chief of the Federalist, and David Harsanyi, senior writer at the Washington Examiner. Just as a reminder, if you'd like to email the show, please do so at radio the federalist.com hey, Molly. Last week when we were on, just as we were on, a story broke about the ICE shooting in Minnesota of a. I think I'll call her, an activist named Renee Good by an ICE agent. It was a huge story. Everyone was on the Internet doing forensic investigations of the video. You know what I mean? And a big argument broke out about whether the. The shooting was justified legally or not. Uh, what was your first reaction when you saw that?
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Molly Hemingway
Oh, well, first reaction is just how awful it is to see because, you know, the. The way the story broke is that people were posting video. And I don't care who these people are. It's just awful to see someone get shot and killed. I don't. I don't want to see things like that. And I don't like how it. In this case, it just kept coming over and over and over again. And so it was hard, hard to watch for the reason of just loving your fellow man and hating to see a violent loss of life. And then it became something that you had to keep watching again because of what you just said. Everyone had decided that they knew exactly what was in the mind of both of the ICE agent who shot the activist and the activist who was in the car. And there were so many details in play that were newsworthy that I had to keep watching it just to kind of get a feel for what had happened. Not great, but it's weird also to have so much video from so many different angles of something like this and further reporting that explains this situation. So ICE is carrying out efforts to enforce our country's immigration laws throughout the country. But in certain states, they get assistance from local and state government, and in other places, they get actual opposition and hostility, which just blows me away that it's like the segregated south or something that we're dealing with of certain governments actually trying to fight federal agents as they enforce the country's laws. And it's been kind of tolerated in a weird way that. That clearly is leading to people getting hurt or killed. But anyway, Minnesota is one of those places where the government of Minnesota is trying to be hostile to the federal government's law enforcement efforts. And so they're having to kind of ramp up the federal enforcement. And I just want to say A lot of people are like, why are they sending federal agents to Minnesota to enforce immigration laws? Which is kind of surprising to me that that's even a question. ICE has had a presence in Minnesota for decades, since ICE was form in the, I believe, poorly designed Patriot Act. And they're having to ramp up there because of the hostility from the other government. Sorry, I'm getting too far afield, but I feel like sometimes the background is important and then there are really well coordinated, well funded volunteer efforts to interfere with law enforcement. And they're very open and honest about it. We are trying to interfere with law enforcement and that has also been tolerated by, in a weird way, that just does not make sense to me. And Renee Good was part of this activist network of people trying to interfere with lawful, with, with law enforcement that is engaged in lawful proceedings.
- [04:09]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, I agree with all that. I think that the hysteria around ICE is in some sense caused this. People feel licensed to just act against law enforcement in ways that are incredibly dangerous for themselves. I, you know, unlike most people, I don't know if the ICE agent was legally justified in shooting, but I think that a few things can be true at once. Renee Goode acted very poorly. She was obviously, from what we've learned later, intent on disrupting law enforcement efforts. Hitting the gas on your car when you're surrounded by cops, I don't care what kind of cops they are, is going to end tragically, probably for you, in most cases. And her actions were completely irresponsible. Was that like, I'm not a thousand percent, even though my instinct is to side with the officer because, you know, everyone's slow mowing the video. I don't, I think that doesn't benefit the ICE agent when you slow mo it down. It looks like he has all this time to think about what's going on, but he really doesn't. He's making a split second decision about whether he's in imminent danger or not. I don't know if he was or not, but he's not the person who created that situation. When people say, oh, why, like you mentioned, why are they even there? Well, they're there because they. We pass laws and we have those laws and we have an agency that is a law enforcement agency whose purview is to enforce those laws and that's why they're there. You know, if you don't like it, you have to go to your politician, overturn those laws, go to court. If they're doing something you think is illegal, then there's this Whole thing where the people who are sure it was murder keep calling it murder. She was executed, she was assassinated. You know, this is just nonsense. It's clear to me. I don't think she was trying to run him over, frankly. I think she was just trying to get away or something from what I've seen. I also don't think it's in any way a murder. I think, you know, there's this officer felt in danger. I think that that's fair to say so. I don't know. Those were my feelings on it. I think it's tragic. I think a lot of this has to do with this, I don't know, misplaced anger and activism against ice. Yeah. Do some ICE agents probably behave poorly? Yeah, we always, you know, this is not utopia and people act in ways they shouldn't. But in this case it seems to me it was just something tragic that happened fueled by anti ICE hysteria.
- [06:42]
Molly Hemingway
We've had so many incidences of left wing activists prompted by the leaders of their, of the Democrat Party and the left wing movements in general going to ICE facilities or going to ICE operations attempting to harm ICE officers. There was the, there was the killing down in Texas where a left wing activist went on the roof of an ICE building or some building and tried to kill ICE agents and accidentally killed two illegal immigrants that were in detention with ice. But that doesn't change the fact that he was trying to murder ICE agents and just managed to murder his beloved illegal immigrants. There have been, you know, in LA there were efforts to cause physical harm to ICE agents who have antifa outposts in Texas again who have been trying to kill ICE agents. So it's not like it's going to become a problem. It's been a problem all year and I'm a little frustrated with the DOJ which has no problem going after every like depressed uncle and elderly grandma who entered the capital and destroying their lives. But for some reason hasn't really done anything on Antifa and other left wing domestic terrorist organizations like this one that is giving people instructions on how to disrupt law enforcement. And J.D. vance spoke at a press conference last week and I really appreciated what he had to say. It's very simple. But he was saying if you don't like our country's immigration laws, you have every right to protest them. If you don't like the way that we are enforcing those laws, you have every right to protest them. And that is First Amendment protected activity. And interfering with law enforcement is not First Amendment protected activity. Because you hear some people in the media and other Democrats be like, she was a protester. Well, what she was doing was not protesting. It was interfering with law enforcement activity. And there's not a place in the world where you get to do that without consequences. And I'm not saying it should be a capital offense to do this. But she was in her car. She was with her very aggressive partner who was telling her to drive, who herself said, I'm the, I'm the, like I'm to blame here for her getting shot because I was the one like doing all this stuff to get her to do this. She was aggressive. She was in a vehicle which is a dangerous weapon when there can be a dangerous weapon. And she hit the officer. There's so many things I want to say really quickly here, and I don't want to forget the part about how the media portrayed her hitting the officer with her vehicle. But this is happening in Minneapolis where they. That was like ground zero of the BLM riots. And you might remember that Antifa and other left wing Democrat organizations literally burned down the 7th Precinct Police Precinct in Minneapolis and then wrote a guide for other people about how they too could burn down and take over police buildings. Hold on. And the BLM riots happened because the left wing, including the media, claimed that black men were uniquely at risk from basically that police were out there trying to kill black men. And I don't feel like enough people have commented on how this was a white woman who felt entitled to hit a police officer with her car to interfere with law enforcement and thought that nothing what happened to her. I mean, to me, either side could kind of work with this, either pointing out that in fact, if you behave this way, it doesn't matter if you're black or white, you're putting yourself at risk. Or the people who are professional race mongers could point out how entitled she was, acting in a way that, you know, supposedly no black person would ever act. Not like I believe that's true. And also because of the BLM riots in Minneapolis. I just don't care about left wing domestic terrorists. I don't care. I don't like not trying to feel what do they feel? And listen to their side of things. They destroyed the country. Dozens of people were killed in the BLM riots. $2 billion in damage in the BLM riots. And the response of the elites in our country were for Mitt Romney to go march with them, for corporations to turn over $100 billion in racist and other extreme funding. You know, BLM said, you, you can pay Reparations. To us or to other groups. You can support radical trans activism or racist hiring practices and then we'll, you know, we'll sort of absolve you of your sin. And corporations went along with it and I'm still angry about it. I mean, when, when Trump won election, all these corporations tried to meet with non leftist media and stuff and they were like, we just want you to know that we're sort of like not doing that anymore. And every single meeting I would look up how many millions or billions of dollars they gave as part of the BLM shakedown and I'd say, okay, well you gave 100 million for this and you set up this program for this. What are you doing for us? Oh yeah, no, we're just getting out of the business of race mongering and pushing political activism. Oh, you are? How convenient after spending a billion dollars on it. Thank you, megacorp.
- [12:27]
David Harsanyi
You know, Tim Walls says he's going to call out the National Guard to oppose the federal government. Like you said, you compared this to the south in the 60s. I mean that's what this is. Ice has every right to be there and you don't have a right to try to run them over. Okay, can I just say, David? Yeah.
- [12:46]
Molly Hemingway
There were a lot of left wingers on Twitter and other social media saying like, I can't believe people would look at this law enforcement shooting and think that this was anything other than a warrantless execution of an innocent woman. And other people, I think probably the vast majority of Americans look at this and go, oh, like, wish that hadn't happened. But she, she behaved very recklessly and he didn't know she wasn't. I mean, we don't know anything. We, maybe she was trying to kill him. I don't know. I don't think so. But you certainly can't expect a guy who's just been hit by a vehicle to know the state of mind of the driver who has been repeatedly defying police commands. I mean, they repeatedly tell her to get out of the car and her partner says drive baby, drive or whatever and she peels out of there after spending hours, days, weeks interfering with law enforcement. It's not like this just was, as the some Democrats said, this was a woman who was just dropping her kid off at school and ICE assassinated her. No, not true. She was, her child went to a activist school, a charter activist school that's known for pushing left wing activism. But she had been out there in the streets for quite some time trying to interfere with law enforcement.
- [14:16]
David Harsanyi
Just, you Know, when I became a parent, I started acting differently. I felt a little different about the world. I felt like I had a responsibility to my kids. So I didn't go out and do the dangerous things that I did when I was younger. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't think she deserved to be killed, obviously, but she put herself in a very bad situation. And I had liberals yelling at me, too, like. Or people who said this was an execution. This is a woman in a Honda Pilot. So what? A Honda Pilot is a weapon. You could kill someone with a Honda Pilot. Many people die because of Honda pilots.
- [14:47]
Molly Hemingway
But I do think that what you see is related to what you believe. That was something, you know, you see, I've never seen anything like this. Different people see different things, and I actually think they're seeing the exact same thing, but they're just interpreting it differently based on whether they support rule of law or not. So if you think this is an evil, racist, despicable country with horrible laws and that we are living in a fascist state with a tyranny under Donald Trump, you see this and you go, how could they shoot her? Right? If you think that we are a generally good country with generally good laws and that if you don't like the laws, you have a number of ways to protest those laws, and that that doesn't involve interfering with legal law enforcement proceedings, you say, oh, this was a bad situation and she behaved poorly and now she lost her life. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, you're not necessarily seeing different things. You're just interpreting them differently based on whether you support the law or not.
- [15:53]
David Harsanyi
Don't you think part of it. So someone told me, well, lift the situation and transpose it into a different one. Like, say this was a drug stop or just a traffic stop. Would it. Would you say the same thing? And I honestly tried to think about it that way. And I would say the same thing. I think if a car tore out and sideswiped you, a cop who stopped you on a highway cop might shoot you. You know, I think that could happen, and I would probably have the same feeling about it. Kind of unsure if it was legally justified, but understanding why the cop did it, if that makes sense. I don't know. How about you?
- [16:24]
Molly Hemingway
Well, we have a very good example. I mean, it's sad, but a very good example to look at, which is the shooting and killing of Ashley Babbitt. And when that happened on January 6, contrary to what the media and other left wingers have said the only person killed that day was not a police officer, it was a protester. She was, yes, she was protesting, but she was also engaged in unlawful behavior. Right. Like she get, she gets shot while trying to come through a broken window, I think in the Capitol.
- [17:02]
David Harsanyi
Well, I agree with you. I have the same exact thoughts on that. When you have a mob banging at the door and you're inside protecting people and you don't know what's going to happen, maybe you're not legally justified in the end, you know, technically. But I can understand why a cop would react that way in this. It's almost the same situation for me.
- [17:22]
Molly Hemingway
Yes. So I think a lot of people said, oh, I really wish that everything about how that protest was done were handled differently on both sides. Right. Like it was. I think the normal American response is to just be like, that was awful. And also it probably, like, probably that cop didn't need to shoot her. But how did he know that in that moment, Right. And turned out he was someone who was not with the most stellar record and that the management of the Capitol police force at that time was not great. You know, there's a lot you can complain about, but you never saw a single after, you know, day after protest action over the killing of Ashley Babbitt from conservatives. And it's not because they loved that she was killed. It's because they understood the complexity of the situation. Right. And as the Biden Merrick Garland DOJ handled everything about that so poorly and in a way that was in no way equivalent to how they've handled previous protest actions. I think people got more and more upset about and the lies, you know, they would say, Donald Trump personally murdered six police officers. Not a single one was killed. Right. The only person killed was Ashley Babbitt. Or you could say that other protesters were trampled or had heart attacks and things from how it was handled that day. But you didn't see any corporations like, you know, calling for money to be given to Ashley Babbitt's people, or you didn't see any in the street protests in LA or New York or Iowa. You know, you didn't see anything like you see now, you didn't see Republican members of Congress getting out there and saying this Capitol police force is a fascist regime that is executing citizens. You just didn't see literally anything that you're seeing from not just left wing activists, but their Democrat elected representatives. Right. Even from people who are, you know, on more of a fringe on the Republican side. And because like you shouldn't you shouldn't, you know, you shouldn't put yourself in situ. Like the whole of civil society is enabled through proper administration of justice, including at the law enforcement level. And you can't just walk around acting like you don't need to obey when a cop tells you to. When you're engaged in a law breaking activity and a cop tells you to do something, you can't just act like that's not something you have to follow.
- [19:59]
David Harsanyi
And no matter how passionate you are about something, you still have to use common sense. I know this sounds weird, but, you know, I tell. When you teach your kids, my kid will say, I had, you know, learning how to drive the. Right away. Yeah. But you still look, a car could come and hit you. Like, you don't put yourself in situations, especially when you have children, for God's sakes, that it's going to, you know, put you in danger. They want, the left wants this to be a new George Floyd. Right. They want protests on it. I don't think that's happening because of the. Because it's a different time. Right. And also the situation's different.
- [20:33]
Molly Hemingway
By the way, when the.
- [20:33]
David Harsanyi
Yeah.
- [20:35]
Molly Hemingway
Very like, troubled life of George Floyd came to its sad end and everyone said that this was evidence of how evil America is and how irredeemably racist we are, and every media person amplified this. You had all the left wingers in Minneapolis marching in solidarity, including their mayor, Jacob Fry, who went through a Chinese struggle session on video because he was white. And I did notice, and I realize it's the dead of winter in Minneapolis and I wouldn't want to be there in the dead of winter. But when a white lady got killed by a cop, I did not see that. Solidarity from the brothers and sisters of Minneapolis. Did you notice that?
- [21:19]
David Harsanyi
Well, we can't hide from this issue. If this had been a black man or a black woman who was shot, the dynamic here would be probably much different. It would, it would be colder. I don't, I don't know if the cop was black or white. Not that people usually care, but. Yeah. There's no denying that. Even though, you know, from my perspective, I don't think the George Floyd. There was no evidence ever that I've ever saw that the George Floyd killing had anything to do with race. I know this bothers people, but it just, it's just a fact for me. Yeah. And it is what it is.
- [21:54]
Molly Hemingway
Okay. I just want to also say the media has behaved horribly in this story. Absolutely lying. What was it? I think it was the Washington Post had a thing that said there's no evidence that the police officer was hit. When the. On the. Again, the slow mo video, you can see the vehicle hit him literally. So they're just willing to lie brazenly about everything. And all under the banner of experts say, as if you can't find. Like, we've been living under 10 years of experts being wrong about literally everything to the point that it's actually something of a crisis, I think. And the media, rather than restoring trust, is like, what if we just kept going with these hoaxes and scams that we're running? And it's really reprehensible. And also, I'm very glad, you know, the moment this happened at the Federalist, we're all normal people. We look at this and we're like, oh, this is sad or horrible. We also understood that at that moment that happened, the media would be marching in print and video in lockstep with the most extreme elements of their political party. And so we just got out there immediately being like, you're not gonna. You're not gonna. Derek Chauvin, this guy, you know, and you have to learn from previous information and disinformation operations put out by the left and realize, like, you can't. You can't give in to these people for a minute. They're monsters. Like, if I can do a little segue really quickly, it reminds me of when the Washington Post came out against Kavanaugh and they sort of tried to accuse him of attempted rape and murder when he was a high school student. And I'm on. You know, I was on some of these, like, supposedly conservative journalist chat groups. And the moment that came out, there were some people associated with some ostensibly conservative publications and stuff who was like, oh, this looks really bad. This looks really bad. Trump should probably get ready to put a different nominee out. And I just immediately flash back to being a preteen teenager. I can't remember when it happened exactly in the Clarence Thomas hearings. And exactly the same thing happened. The media conspired with other Democrat partisans to smear Clarence Thomas of what now is a much lesser crime, but at the time was horrific of sexual harassment. And I saw how the operation went down, and I was like, well, they're not gonna do this. Like, I'm not. Maybe Brett Kavanaugh, respected federal judge of 12 years, is secretly a rapist and murderer. Maybe that's true, but I'm sure as hell not going to take the Washington Post's word for it. They're going to have to do a lot better than running one of these operations while they're still running all sorts of other hoaxes like the Russia collusion hoax. And people who are not left wing need to be smarter about the information wars that we're in and immediately understand what's at stake, like for the whole country if you don't stand strong against left wing terrorism.
- [25:13]
David Harsanyi
Well, the Washington Post, yeah, they reported that analysis suggests there is no clear evidence from the footage that he was hit or an imminent danger. Now the first part of that is completely wrong because I watched the video and he was clearly sideswiped. Right.
- [25:28]
Molly Hemingway
And the second is very subjective.
- [25:30]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, exactly. That can be, I don't know what experts, how an expert can, can judge that in the moment, especially without seeing the full context of what happened. I don't know what the woman said, for instance. I don't know what she did five minutes before or how she acted. What if she said I have a gun? I mean, you don't know what, what she said. So I don't know how you can make that kind of determination. I would also just quickly say we can debate this another time. I think experts are right about plenty of things. And the, the Kavanaugh thing, yeah, I sniffed that out right away. Like you said, it is exactly the same playbook just for a much more serious crime that they use for Clarence Thomas. It was clear from the beginning I thought the Post was supposed to improve. They haven't. So Amazon, Amazon guy said they were going to, they were going to be better.
- [26:17]
Molly Hemingway
I actually think they're probably marginally better. It's just that when you've, when you've got cancer, being 10% better is not what you're looking for. You're looking for complete healing and eradication of the badness.
- [26:29]
David Harsanyi
Well, I think they brought some decent people onto the editorial board, but I'm not sure, you know, if that means that news coverage is good because quite often the papers, even when you have a decent editorial board, the news, I.
- [26:40]
Molly Hemingway
Think, I don't know who's all been brought on, but I assume that it's still a total, grand total of one person at the entire Washington Post organization who voted for Trump. And that's Mark Thiessen, who's great, but not a representative of the like average MAGA voter himself probably. You know what I mean? Like there's, they are so far out there and people have this battered wife syndrome where they act like it's okay to be treated like you are not just a second class citizen, but like A fourth class citizen by your elite institutions and I'm done with it. But go on, we should move on.
- [27:11]
David Harsanyi
I mean, when I say it's good or the people are good, I mean they're good for me. I like them because they're free market fans. I don't, you know, I don't care who they vote.
- [27:18]
Molly Hemingway
That is good. But I like that.
- [27:20]
David Harsanyi
But I get, but I get what you're saying. I mean, you have a two time president and yet you can barely get even on boards that are trying to be fair. Someone who actually supports the guy. That's weird, right? It's, it's not reflective of what's going on in the country. So I get that as well.
- [27:41]
Molly Hemingway
This is Molly Hemingway encouraging you to listen to my favorite podcast, issues, etc. Every day you get in depth interviews with host Todd Wilkin asking expert guests substantive, thought provoking questions on all of the important news and issues of our day. The expert guests are in culture, law, ethics, philosophy, theology and apologetics. Expert guests, expansive topics, always extolling Christ issues, etc.
- [28:15]
David Harsanyi
You want to talk about Jerome Powell?
- [28:18]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah, just briefly.
- [28:20]
David Harsanyi
So the DOJ as a grand jury out has something to do with what is it something with a building and misappropriation, maybe a funding or something, right?
- [28:31]
Molly Hemingway
Well, I think it might be about lying to Congress about the funding. So the Federal Reserve is building a new building. They were appropriated certain amount of funds. It is going to be way over budget. It's becoming like a luxury building process that has been poorly managed, which is one thing that happens all the time in D.C. probably. But Jerome Powell had been asked about it in Congress and had, apparently you can say misled or lied about the cost overruns, why they exist, what's being done about it. And there is an investigation going on into the funding and we're talking like billions of dollars of over overruns. Like it's not, it's not like $20,000 or $200,000. It's, it's a really big boondoggle.
- [29:22]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, I mean to me the smacks of lawfare. Right. I, I, I just don't buy that this kind of thing would happen to someone that the administration wasn't trying to pressure if they had spoken to Congress and said what he had said. Obviously Trump doesn't like Powell. He wants interest rates lower than the Fed has them at for, for his own reasons. I feel like I have a decent grasp of economics, but the Fed is sometimes a mystery to me. I think they've done an okay job. It Seems to me. But I'm no expert on it because I. It's a mystery to me. Right. Why they do what they do sometimes. But this is not the way to deal with that. And I think it cheapens in a way and undermines legitimate investigations that should be going on against Comey or whatever. It makes it look like the administrator DOJ is acting in a partisan way rather than going after. People really deserve it, in my view. I don't know. That's my impression of it. What about you?
- [30:22]
Molly Hemingway
I. I don't actually know. I don't know about the grand jury, why it was called. Those are usually secret proceedings. Jerome Powell chose to go public with things. So there's. I truly have no idea if. If your allegation that it's lawfare is in any way.
- [30:42]
David Harsanyi
I said. I said it smacks of it. I mean, there could be something in there I don't know about, but seems unlikely to me, the way he's reacted. Thinking about, like you said, we have a federal judge for 19 years. We have a guy here. Everyone knows. He seems. I'm not saying maybe he's. He seems like an upstanding guy to me, whether.
- [31:00]
Molly Hemingway
Jerome Powell.
- [31:01]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, he seems like a guy who's trying. You could laugh. He seems like a guy who's trying to do the right thing.
- [31:06]
Molly Hemingway
Oh, my gosh. No, no. I mean, listen.
- [31:08]
David Harsanyi
No, I do.
- [31:09]
Molly Hemingway
I'm for the independence. I actually am not even a huge fan of these secret central banks. But assuming that we're not debating that issue, I. I actually think there's a. Not just something to be said, but a lot to be said for the independence of that. Now, in a constitutional republic, nothing is truly independent because that would mean that it would be tyrannical and that the people would have no means of holding people accountable. But I just want to explain, like, I am. I am generally in favor of independence. If it were Lawfare, if it is found to be lawfare, that's not good. But a. Jerome Powell is one of the most partisan hacks leading that bank in a long time. Repeatedly did things to help out Joe Biden, his, you know, beloved Joe Biden, to make the economy seem stronger than it was. And has, on the. On the other hand, been pumping the brakes on everything for Trump. And that is something that a lot of people have observed. It's not like he's some big, like, people. Even the way he comes out with this, like, weird video the other night, and he's like, so. By the way, I am the most honest person in the history of the world. And what's happening here is Lawfare. And the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia came out. He's like, they're trying to criminally indict me. And so he's the one who reveals the grand jury proceedings and the subpoena that had been sent his way. And there were two comments that I thought were interesting. One came from the U.S. attorney of the District of Columbia, and she's like, we never went public with this. We're just trying to get documents. And. And the Federal Reserve has refused to hand them over, so there's not much we can do here other than subpoena them. And then the other comment came from a former administration official who said agencies get subpoenas every year, and it doesn't become some big production with, like, a woe is me video from most people. You just comply with the subpoena. And so, while agreeing with you about the need for the independence of the central bank and not to be cowed to political pressure, I just want to point out again, Jerome Powell hasn't done that. And also, independence does not mean that you get to do literally whatever you want, including misappropriation of funds and lying under oath about it, without legal repercussions. You can't have a central bank head be above the law, right?
- [33:39]
David Harsanyi
Yeah. I don't want him to be above the law. I just told you that. My sense is that this is politically motivated to pressure him to do things. Things. Obviously, Trump dislikes him very much, and people in the administration dislike him. I disagree with you about what you said about his sort of partisan leanings, but that's fine. I agree with you also, the Fed. Independence is just convention. It is not law. They are not independent. So the, you know, they're not above the law, but it's prudent. Just like you want to let the AG uphold law and not be too partisan with that. You know, them.
- [34:11]
Molly Hemingway
You.
- [34:12]
David Harsanyi
You know, with ags, you don't want to be too partisan or partisan at all.
- [34:17]
Molly Hemingway
With the Fed, maybe instead of making a video, he should just turn over.
- [34:20]
David Harsanyi
But you have the president attacking that guy constantly, and then you have a subpoena. So I can understand why he would feel like he's under attack from the administration. Well, he don't want him. They don't want him there.
- [34:33]
Molly Hemingway
He, without evidence, accused Trump of, like, personally leading this investigation.
- [34:38]
David Harsanyi
Have you heard what Trump says about him? I mean, he does personally attack him all the time.
- [34:42]
Molly Hemingway
All the time. He's very transparent about it. And that's why I'll point out that when were like, what do you think about this subpoena of Jerome Powell? He's like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I just kind of assumed that because he's so open about his hatred for Jerome Powell that if he did know about it, he'd, like, make the case for it. You know what I mean?
- [35:01]
David Harsanyi
I do not think that Donald Trump ordered someone to go move forward with this. I do not. I think that.
- [35:07]
Molly Hemingway
But maybe you're saying someone did it because they thought it would please the.
- [35:11]
David Harsanyi
Leader, not even police him, but to put, you know, to help him. And, and, you know, I don't know what their motivations were. I mean, it just feels like that I don't. We don't know everything. Just like, you know, when, When Russiagate stuff happened. I'm not comparing this to the same level or anything, but, you know, you feel like the timing is a little too perfect, the way things are falling, the things that Trump's saying, so on and so on.
- [35:34]
Molly Hemingway
I was on TV earlier this week on Fox, and Stuart Varney had exactly your perspective. He's like, including. He was like, the health stock market is way too important to bother Jerome Powell with an investigation or whatever. And then he cuts to the guy on the panel, and I forget who this guy. I forget his name, and I'm sorry about it. But he was like, sure, understand what you're saying. And also, if this guy headed any other agency and had overseen billions of dollars of potentially fraudulent expenses, there's no question that he would be under indictment.
- [36:12]
David Harsanyi
Oh, please. Every department has billions over and, and, and looks like. It looks like if it were in the private.
- [36:19]
Molly Hemingway
You're supposed to do it in a proper way. You know what I mean? Like, you're supposed to. You're supposed to at least do a fig leaf of, oh, we didn't mean this.
- [36:29]
David Harsanyi
I, I bet you could find something similar and probably far worse in every agency in government. Here's my thing. If Jerome Powell is doing what Trump wants, is this investigation going forward? Probably. I would sense. I, I don't know, but my sense is probably not. That's all I'm saying. It's just. Just theorizing. I don't know for sure. I can't know what the grand jury saw. All right, we want to talk about the Iranian protests.
- [36:58]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah, so.
- [37:00]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, go on.
- [37:01]
Molly Hemingway
No, I mean, did you watch any of the stuff this weekend?
- [37:04]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, I've been, I've been. I've been following it Initially, I was, Listen, though, I am on the side of the Iranian people. You never know what's true or not. We don't have good reporting there. But now I think, yes, for people I've spoken to, I think I trust on this, that this is real, that it is widespread, even to places that typically, you know, because it's largely urban, people who rebel against the mullahs and clerics. Now this is spread to places that are more rural. I also believe, though I don't know what that number would be, that thousands of people could be anywhere from 2 to 20,000 people have probably been killed. Tons have been arrested. I don't. You know, Donald Trump is obviously on the side of the Iranian protesters. He's threatened military action against the clerics in Iran. I don't know what the right policy is. I will say this. It is unless there's an internal coup or some kind of internal upheaval in government in Iran, it's going to be very difficult to have a successful revolution there or external, like we start bombing and force them. But I would say that there's the Shah, remember? So he left years ago to save himself and to probably save his people from a civil war. You had Assad left Syria recently to save himself. The mullahs are built differently. They have an apocalyptic idea, especially the Shia there who run that country. It is very. It seems unlikely to me that they would leave until everything was burning. Right. And so that makes it a very difficult situation. They're not rational people. So I don't know where this goes. And. But I think anyone who cares about human rights is on the side of protesters and against the mullahs. And as you've noticed, the people who pretend to be for.
- [39:00]
Molly Hemingway
For.
- [39:00]
David Harsanyi
For human rights in Gaza and elsewhere are silent. And that says a lot about their position as well.
- [39:06]
Molly Hemingway
So that, that just reminds me. Yeah, I did not watch the Grammys, but I saw a couple of stories about the Grammy. Wait, not the Grammys. Sorry.
- [39:16]
David Harsanyi
Golden Globes.
- [39:17]
Molly Hemingway
Golden Globes. Sorry.
- [39:18]
David Harsanyi
It's okay. Same. Same crap.
- [39:21]
Molly Hemingway
And one of the stories was about the different political pins that people wore. And, yeah, there was nothing for the Iranian people, even as we have, you know, a massive. So the government of Iran. Iran has shut down all communications. It's very hard to find out what's going on, which is not what a good government does, first off. And there are reports of them killing thousands of protesters. And the. The sheep of Hollywood were still wearing pro Hamas pins.
- [39:52]
David Harsanyi
Well, and you know, they're out there calling America A fascist state. Which is funny that you can do that. You can go to an award ceremony where you, you made millions of dollars that year, you're winning awards and you're telling people we live in a fascist state freely, without worry that you're going to end up in prison. Unlike in Iran where person who's marching might end up dead. I don't mean they're all going to end up dead. I mean, there's a chance that you will. Yeah. You're risking your life to do it.
- [40:19]
Molly Hemingway
I think the head of the DNC is Ken Martin and he was out there saying, if you don't like that. Some people are comparing the regime of Donald Trump to the Iranian regime. Stop being so much like the Iranian regime. You know, we can't speak out freely, just like the Iranian people. It was like you're literally tweeting right now. You're literally tweeting about your hatred of the current administration with no problems.
- [40:43]
David Harsanyi
X is shut down in Iran. No one can tweet. Yeah, no one can tweet in Iran. No one can tell you what they think. Where. You know. Yeah, go on.
- [40:51]
Molly Hemingway
I just want to say that there was one person in particular at the Golden Globes and her name is Hannah Einbender. Her mom was on the original cast of snl and her dad's like a big Hollywood person too. And she's. This, she plays. She plays, is a really annoying person on this show. Hacks. Have you ever seen Hacks?
- [41:13]
David Harsanyi
Yes, unfortunately. Go on. Okay, well, I mean, this, this one can't. She doesn't have three brain cells to rub together. She is so stupid and she annoys me so much with her. She like speaks for the Jewish people, you know, and that just drives me crazy. But go on.
- [41:31]
Molly Hemingway
I just, in addition to having bad politics, it makes me mad how annoying her character is. And I don't know if it's. I would normally just blame this on the writers and say she's doing a very good job of executing a bad character. Except she plays that character in real life too. So I think it's actually her that destroyed an otherwise really enjoyable show with Jean Smart.
- [41:53]
David Harsanyi
I detested that show and I'll tell you why. So the show is like she's woke and then her boss is an old timer, entertainer, comedian. I forget what it is, you know, is like gruff, old fashioned conservative, supposedly, who always. Every episode I watch, I think I watched two or three. It's the gruff old timer who learns a lesson about life. Enlightened young youngster. You know, woke person. It was so annoying, I had to stop watching it. Even though the performance of the lead. Lead woman, I forget her name is pretty good. Okay, this woman is Lorraine Newman's daughter who was in the original cast.
- [42:30]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah, yeah.
- [42:33]
Chris Markowski
Regime change sounds great, but what's the real story in Venezuela? The Watchdog on Wall street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day, Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and how it affects your wallet. Maduro's captured, but his entire apparatus is still there. Are they truly liberated? Will the US have to cut a deal with whoever's left? Even after this operation, whether it's happening in D.C. or down on Wall street, it's affecting you financially. Be informed. Check out the Watchdog on Wall street podcast with Chris Markowski on Apple. Wherever you get your podcast.
- [43:06]
Molly Hemingway
Back to Iran. I think it's important to note that people are out in the streets protesting because they're in economic crisis and they are rejecting their mullahs for their poor leadership of the country. I note this only because I think we frequently want people to rebel from bad systems. And my husband always notes that it's really being poor that motivates people to act or being unable to be sure that you're going to be able to feed your family and stuff like that. And we're seeing this in Iran in the same way we saw it decades ago when they were very frustrated with their. Lots of people were frustrated with their government for not providing things. I have a friend who used to live in Iran. Oddly enough, he, like, just happened to live there when the revolution happened. And he's like, it's not surprising that this is happening in the winter. People are probably not able to heat their homes. They've been dealing with a bad economic situation for a very long period of time, and they are done with it. He's pretty optimistic that things might be happening this time, and it does seem that things are much better.
- [44:19]
David Harsanyi
Well, can I quickly just. No, political Islam is a totalitarian system that lords over all your spiritual and economic decisions. Like it's a. It's like it. It is a completely totalitarian system. Their economy sucks because of their radical and extremist views on fit. On religion, because they use the country as, you know, for instance, their. Their obsession with getting nuclear weapons is driven by religious extremism. They put their country in terrible position constantly over this one issue. And they've done it now for, you know, since. Since the revolution almost. So they're interconnected is all I'm trying to say. Iran is a rich, oil rich nation. It should not be a poor nation. Iranian people are amazing, actually, you know, and they've been oppressed. So I don't know what's going to happen. I, I'm always a little skeptical. It's very hard to dislodge these kind of regimes. But. And you say your friend is, is, is optimistic, so that makes sense.
- [45:25]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah, but he's just, he also doesn't know because there have been previous pretty good efforts at, at overthrowing the regime.
- [45:31]
David Harsanyi
I'm curious what you think, or if you think we should do anything like.
- [45:36]
Molly Hemingway
Yes, well, that's what I wanted to talk about. But I just want to say first off that if this, if this government were to fall and be replaced with anything marginally better, I don't think people understand what a massive shift that would be globally. I mean, people do.
- [45:49]
David Harsanyi
Oh, yeah.
- [45:50]
Molly Hemingway
You know what? You even just talked about the existential threats in the region.
- [45:56]
David Harsanyi
Virtually every bad thing that's happening in the Middle east goes back to Iran from the Houthis, who are, you know, funded by them, which causes problems with Saudis and so on. Who are our allies, whether you like them or not, Obviously Hamas, Hezbollah, even in, you know, Muslim Brotherhood stuff. Like, they're their footprints all over the place. Now, obviously, you know, there are other countries that cause trouble there, Turkey and others, but Syria was also there. There, you know, Assad was propped up by them, so the whole world.
- [46:22]
Molly Hemingway
And it also shows how this change in Venezuela is affecting things globally.
- [46:26]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, it's one of their only allies in the world. Right, right. And I would say this, too, and, and I've said it before, I think, on the show, but there is no real genuine geopolitical reason for Iran and Israel to be at war. They, they are actually for many reasons in the world, and they were sort of not allies, but they were not, you know, when the Shah was in control, it was not this way. So I'm, I hope so. It would be. It's. I want to say we talked about the Gordian Knot and Trump and all that last time, but, and people I see, even conservatives, are still critical of him on foreign policy in a way because he doesn't have these kind of like sharp answers or plans exactly, you know, laid out, though I think his people probably do. It's been a bad 12 months for dictators in this world. It's been a, a bad time for the Islamists in the Middle East. A bad time to be a strong man in Latin America. And it's been Bad for Iran. So I think that's good for the world.
- [47:24]
Molly Hemingway
So you asked what I think about military intervention, and I was thinking about this this weekend as you saw the protests kind of growing, however limited information you're getting. But first off, I'm really glad that these. I'm sure the CIA is all over every country in the world or whatever, but doesn't seem like this is being, you know, led by the United States. It's a genuine domestic unrest in that country, and that's how it should be. Regime change always happens the best from within. It's always the most enduring and best for a country when people themselves set about to change what's happening, and that is happening. I also think that if there were ever a time, And I'm not advocating for this right now, I'm just saying that if there were ever a time to do a helpful strike, it would be at a time like this, when there are people who are being killed by the government, and yet they, you know, the regime still has a tremendous amount of power but is weakened. This would. This would greatly help their effort. And if you even look at our own revolution in our country, how we got help from other countries, it wasn't like they were leading the American Revolution against. Against the British, but they would help out with it in ways that were really key. And I think there's something about the Trump Doctrine that fits here. So we had a lot of people for a long time think that if you wanted a different. If you wanted a change in a country, you had to implement the whole thing. You're like, we. And then the change always involved, like, starting schools for girls. I don't know why that was the obsession of our US Military for so long, but it was always like, okay, we don't like how things are there, so we're just gonna come in with hundreds of thousands of people, and we're gonna force the change. And the Trump Doctrine seems to be more like, I don't like that bad guy in Iran who's killing all the Americans, so we're just gonna take him and his people out, and then we're just gonna go. And that, to me, is. Is such a more effective approach of using our strength in the national interest without it becoming a huge liability as well. And I know there are variations here for all sorts of things, but I was just thinking, like, this might be the time to help the Iranian people. What do you think?
- [49:48]
David Harsanyi
Oh, I definitely want to help the Iranian people. There are. I agree with you. If there's no Organic uprising or organic call for regime change. What are you really doing here? Obviously there is and there has been for a long time. The Obama administration did nothing and so on. I. But yeah, I agree with you in general that we can help them. Though it seems like with Venezuela, maybe the Trump administration is trying to pressure the leadership there, if they don't think they'll be toppled, to make reforms. Maybe.
- [50:23]
Molly Hemingway
Well, and that does sound like that's what's happening. And it threatened force. Threat of force can accomplish good things. Right. And the White House has said that Iran is. Yeah. Trying to negotiate with the Trump administration.
- [50:37]
David Harsanyi
That's what I wanted to say. I'm sorry. A lot of times, I'm sorry. A lot of times we want to topple a regime because they're our enemy. And a lot of times we don't think through the consequences in the sense that what could come next could be worse for us in the long run. Maybe the Soviets when they were in Afghanistan, whatever it is, I don't think that it could be worse in Iran. I don't think that what's coming could be worse, could be wrong. But it seems like that is a country that really and a people and by the way, that's a very diverse country and there are a lot of people actually hate each other in that country. But minorities and so on. But I'm talking about in Tehran and in the more secular places and urban places. I think those people want to be to join the world. Last thing I want we wanted to talk about, I think was Planned Parenthood. The other day, Politico reported that a lawsuit had been dismissed after the Trump admit against Planned Parenthood. After the Trump administration restored millions of dollars to I for I think tens of millions of dollars to I forget how many Planned Parenthood. But I don't know what you call them outlets. But I don't know how you feel. I mean, I do a little bit, but it feels like this administration has said a lot of good things about the issue of life but hasn't followed through on many. I. Part of the blame, I think is probably RFK Jr. Who is, has been a pro abortion person his entire life. But with abortion pills, slow, slow movement on that, with, with this issue now, I don't know, it just seems like they're forsaking people who supported them. And we're very happy about this issue and obviously I'm happy Roe was overturned and I give Trump a lot of credit for that. But I don't know, it feels like we're taking A step back.
- [52:28]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah. And I, I need to because it came from Politico and I just don't know if what they're reporting is accurate or not. We have to look into it. But it was a very disheartening report about the ACLU dropping its case because they, and they're like fine with the funding that's flowing from you and me to the largest abortion corporation in the country, also known for transing children and other problems. It's worse than just this though when it comes to the larger issue that you're talking about. And Jordan Boyd at the Federalist has done some really good reporting recently on. Okay, so Obamacare subsidies expire at the end of the year, I think, or there. And so there are negotiations about how to proceed. And just first off, this is the Democrats problem, right. They are the ones who forced Obamacare through. They are the ones who created a system that's in something of a death spiral. You have to keep on having more and more federal taxpayer subsidizing of insurance companies, which is like my least favorite group to subsidize in order for the program to keep operating.
- [53:45]
David Harsanyi
And can I quickly just add one thing? And this aspect of Obamacare was supposed to be a market based, you know, a market for people. And a market doesn't need to be completely subsidized more and more each year. Each year it is not a market because every, even insurance companies have fallen out because it's terrible. So you have like monopolies essentially in states and then we're subsidizing, subsidizing the monopoly. It's just, it's terrible.
- [54:10]
Molly Hemingway
And then they, yeah, the insurance companies have the, everybody buy the cojones because they can just say, oh well like if you, we've got these exorbitant prices that we've set and if you don't subsidize then these people are going to have to spend more. And part of passing Obamacare, if you will recall, was every vote counted for Obama. And there was this one guy who purported to be pro life, he was a Democrat named Bart Stupek. And in order to get his vote, I can't remember the exact thing, but like Obama set up a thing claiming that funding wouldn't go to abortion directly. It would be like a two step process or something. And for some reason Bart Stupak was like, that's good enough for me, I'll vote for it. And it's something that pro lifers have long opposed because it's also in contradiction of the Hyde Amendment, which says that no federal taxpayer funding should go for the violent ending of human life in the womb. And it's been something that's just kind of worked for decades. Like, okay, even if you think it should be legal to kill an unborn child, you can't take taxpayer money to subsidize that. Now. Money is fungible. You know, they would even say, as they were subsidizing Planned Parenthood, this goes for your electric bill, not for the baby killing part, you know, which doesn't make any sense. But as they're in negotiations and Democrats really, really, really want Obamacare to continue, there needs to be insurance that the Hyde Amendment will be fulfilled. And Trump said something a couple weeks ago about people need to be flexible on the Hyde Amendment. And I and anyone else who considers themselves pro life, we're like, yeah, no, that's literally the lowest possible standard of being, even pretending to be pro life is that you don't force people to fund the violent destruction of life in the womb. And so the White House has kind of walked it back a little bit. I think the Daily. I can't remember, sorry, Daily Wire, Daily Caller, Daily Signal. Someone had a report in there. I think it was Daily Caller, actually, about the walk back that the White House has done on that. But there are also been issues with the Republicans in the Senate, including ostensibly pro life Ohio. I shouldn't say ostensibly. He is a pro life senator from Ohio, Bernie Moreno, who was, you know, his grassroots army was all motivated by him being pro life. And he's leading a lot of these negotiations. And we got a statement from him this weekend saying that he was going to be strong on this issue. But pro lifers are just not just worried. They're sad that they have to be worried, given that this is such a low standard to meet. The Trump administration has just not prioritized this. Now, I like you, I'm not going to be one of those people who's like, they're the worst. Literally, without Donald Trump, we would not have overturned Roe v. Wade, which is what enables us to even have some of these fights that we're needing to have. And I am extremely grateful for that. But, yeah, yeah, it's not good.
- [57:26]
David Harsanyi
Well, how can we. You can't be flexible on the Hyde Amendment because the Hyde Amendment is the law. We're not flexible on the law. Obviously, we. We have been flexible in the sense that we look the other. We. Like you mentioned or you alluded to, dollars are fungible. So even now, this money that's going to go to these Planned Parenthood outlets. They are ostensibly going to be used for birth control and this and that, but of course, they'll just move money around. They're an abortion mill. And the aca, the Affordable Care act, has always allowed for money to go to insurance plans that have abortion within them, so cover abortion within them. So it's always been ridiculous. And by the way, the Hyde Amendment was literally supported across the board almost forever. I think in 2016, when Hillary ran, she was the first candidate ever, I think. When, when did it. I think in 74 or something like that, it was passed. And Hillary was the first candidate to oppose the Hyde Amendment. We don't have to be flexible on it at all, you know, by the way, I mean, I don't know, things could have changed. But when I looked at polling, I think last year, and you. If you ask people, do they support the Hyde Amendment, it's low. If you ask people, do you support tax dollars going to fund abortions, it's like 70% of people don't. You know what I mean? It's very high numbers. So it's not even like, this is something that's an unpopular position to take. So I don't understand why it's going in this direction.
- [59:00]
Molly Hemingway
Right. That's why I think it's so discouraging to people, is that they understand, like, this isn't even one of the difficult issues of being pro life. You know, this should be just the lowest possible standard to be met.
- [59:12]
David Harsanyi
And I get that this isn't like Donald Trump's forte, you know, you know, the life issue, really, and that, again, props for everything, but it's just unnecessary.
- [59:22]
Molly Hemingway
A lot of people just kind of want to move on from the issue and pretend nothing's happening. By the way, another issue that's been bad for the Trump administration is that most abortions now take place through chemical abortions. And the Trump administration has allowed to stand some of the worst regulations on the planet about these types of abortions. They are very dangerous for certain people. And what I mean by that is, like, let's say you're having an ectopic pregnancy and it's not being treated by a doctor, and you take an abortion pill, it can be very, you know, it's not just a situation already that's very bad for the baby. If it's ectopic, but it's terminal for.
- [60:02]
David Harsanyi
The baby, I bet you it's more dangerous than yellow dye number five or whatever RFK is worried about.
- [60:07]
Molly Hemingway
It can be extremely dangerous. For the mother and can cause, you know, serious physical harm. And under the first Trump administration, you at least had to have, like, a doctor oversee stuff, and now you don't. And they are allowing these bad Biden era regulations to continue. And the reason why this is important because I think there are people who just don't care about the abortion issue as much as some of us do. But in fact, it's probably a pretty small percentage of the Republican Party voters who are seriously obsessed about this issue. But they happen to be the people who actually run your get out the vote operations who are willing to go door to door getting ballots, getting the ballots into the boxes. And in a very tough election year, to demoralize the one group of people you can count on to go out and hustle because they care so deeply about this issue is just bad politics, too.
- [61:05]
David Harsanyi
I mean, it's the Hyde amendment. It's the bare minimum. You're not asking them to pass a law to ban abortions across the country or anything. You're asking for the bare minimum to be upheld, a law that's been on the books in 74 or whenever. All right, great. You have some culture for us.
- [61:23]
Molly Hemingway
Not much, but.
- [61:25]
David Harsanyi
Hey, actually, can I ask you a question? I heard from someone you that you'll be recording your own forthcoming book. Is that true?
- [61:34]
Molly Hemingway
Yes, in a couple weeks. I have to record it, and so I was letting you know about that for our scheduling purposes. Have you ever recorded a book?
- [61:44]
David Harsanyi
No, I usually have to. I mean, for. For my last few books, I have to pick someone. So for my gun book, I picked someone who sounded like he was like a western dude and he read it and so on. But I think it's exciting that you get to read it. You have a very. You have a. You have a voice for audio audible.
- [62:00]
Molly Hemingway
Thank you. Well, when Carrie Severino and I wrote justice on Trial about the Kavanaugh confirmation, she and I read the book and we alternated chapters and we got very good marks on it, you know, from the sites that write these things. And people said they really enjoyed it. And my second book, Rigged, happened during COVID and they were like, don't even think of recording it. Like, someone else will record it and you have no options. And then for this book on Alito, which comes out April 22, they likewise said I couldn't record it. But I had gotten so many complaints about not recording Rigged. I mean, it's still something people will regularly be like, I don't like that you didn't record it. Which I had nothing. I mean, I had no say in it, but I get the complaints, so I really wanted to record it. And they were like, yeah, you can't, but you have to pick who's gonna do it. And I was like, I don't care. Just. Just pick whoever you want if I can't do it. And somehow saying that, the publisher was like, okay, fine, you can do it. So I'll be recording.
- [63:07]
David Harsanyi
How long does it take to record a book like that? I assume this book's around 350 pages. Is it something like that?
- [63:13]
Molly Hemingway
I think so.
- [63:13]
David Harsanyi
Yeah.
- [63:14]
Molly Hemingway
I think so. I don't know. So it will take four to five days now. And it's really interesting. You go up to a special book recording studio in D.C. and there's a director, and he guides you on. He directs you on how to do things or if you have a problem with pronunciation. And that's one of the things, like, when you're writing and, you know, I'm, like, writing Supreme Court cases down, but I've never said them. I might not know, you know, how to say a particular proper noun or. So I'll be reading it out loud to myself prior, just to make sure I have a feel for what I'm saying. And then I'll go up and I'll. Yeah, break it up into four parts, I guess, and do it over four or five days. And you have to wear really soft clothing. You have to be careful about what you eat because, like, it could pick up a stomach growl. You have to, you know, be careful on your breathing. I have had a cold for the last two weeks, and I'm, like, terrified about it that it's not going to be done in time to record this.
- [64:23]
David Harsanyi
I. We talked about this off air, but it is when it's someone like you who's on TV who people recognize whose voice they recognize. It would be weird for me to listen to a book from Molly Hemingway with someone else saying your words, I think. So I'm happy that you're recording it. By the way, a publicist got in touch with me about your book and said, I'd like to send out the book. Would you like to interview the author? Let me know. Psycho. No, I don't need an interview, but I'd like the book, please.
- [64:55]
Molly Hemingway
You have been the very, very first interview I've ever done. When previous books came out, do you remember that you were the first interview for justice on Trial?
- [65:04]
David Harsanyi
Yeah. I was incredibly impressed by that book, and I already knew you were amazing, but that was you Know, I was just blown away by the level of journalism. I mean, I think people should read it today. They think they're past the stuff in that book. You're not. That gives you a real good historical understanding of the left's modest operandi when it comes to new justice nominations, etc.
- [65:26]
Molly Hemingway
This does remind me, I was thinking about it this week, because this week we had oral arguments in a variety of trans cases in front of the court. And one of the things that I'll, you know, that I discuss in the book is Justice Alito is really good at oral argument, and a lot of his colleagues pointed that out to me. And once you see it, you can kind of not. You have to. You have to keep seeing it. And he did a really good job of just wrapping the trans lawyers around the axle in terms of how they didn't have, like, a legal coherence to their argument. And I'm happy that this book is coming out at a time when so many people are realizing, like, wait a minute, this quiet, unassuming guy is a giant on the court. And I'm just happy it's coming out now.
- [66:22]
David Harsanyi
It was funny. You have a court, you have the high court of the land. Your expectation is that they're going to get into the nitty gritty of law and constitutionality and history, and instead they're there trying to define what a girl is or a boy is, and it comes off like a cuckoo, crazy idiocracy, frankly, that we even have to have these kind of discussions in the High Court, at least that's, you know, I haven't paid a ton of attention to the case, but that's how that, that was the impression I got, that we live in idiocracy.
- [66:52]
Molly Hemingway
Harvard law professor Adrian Vermeule, who, you know, has interesting thoughts, but he said, I just can't get deeply interested in the transgender sports cases in any reasonably well ordered polity. Such cases would never arise in the first place. The very fact the highest court in the land is solemnly deliberating over them is an indictment in itself. I agree with this. Like, it's, it's, I don't know, you hear people go, oh, the arguments went really well for the side that believes that boys and girls are different. And then you realize the fact that we had to have that go well for people who believe basic reality is not a great sign for what we're dealing with in this country.
- [67:38]
David Harsanyi
It, from what I saw, it did not go well for the pro trans people at the court anyway. So culture okay.
- [67:49]
Molly Hemingway
And then I. I watched with Mark, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
- [67:55]
David Harsanyi
Remember that movie with Steve Martin from the 80s?
- [67:58]
Molly Hemingway
I mean, it's a total gimmick movie, right? So.
- [68:00]
David Harsanyi
Yeah. Doesn't it intersperse real old timey movies?
- [68:03]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah, exactly. It's in black and white. It intersperse. Intersperses probably like 20 old film into a barely cohesive plot. It's goofy, but it kind of wore on me pretty quickly. So I love it. You liked it though?
- [68:18]
David Harsanyi
Honestly, I probably saw it as a teenager. I don't really remember if I liked it. You know, when you're a teenager, pretty much like anything that's goofy. So maybe I did.
- [68:25]
Molly Hemingway
But yeah, and then I watched a. A movie. It was like an inspirational movie with my kid called Soul on Fire, about this kid who was burned on 100% of his body and then like succeeded in life. And he was a big Cardinals fan. William H. Macy plays Jack Buck, which was very exciting. And it was actually like. For being that kind of movie. I know that sounds like an insult, but for being that kind of movie, I really enjoyed it. I was crying. The kid was, you know, deeply moved. So it was, it was.
- [69:07]
David Harsanyi
No.
- [69:08]
Molly Hemingway
And if you're from St. Louis or you have St. Louis connections, you basically have to watch the film because it's all about St. Louis. Ozzy Smith was in it.
- [69:18]
David Harsanyi
Oh, did he do a backflip?
- [69:20]
Molly Hemingway
No.
- [69:23]
David Harsanyi
I won't watch that one. Sorry. It sounds sad and I don't have any interest in being sad. I have nothing, really. I. I have two shows I probably mentioned in the past that have new seasons that I'm watching. One is Fallout with Walton Goggins. That's not for you, Molly. I don't think it's.
- [69:42]
Molly Hemingway
I love, I love Goggins.
- [69:44]
David Harsanyi
Yeah, he's good in it since. Plays a ghoul. He plays the ghoul. It's. It's very stylized, violent. Not for kids. Sci fi based on a video game, I should say. It's not for you. I don't know, maybe this for you, but I. I feel like probably you wouldn't enjoy it that much. I don't even like it that much. I find it pretty boring, I have to be honest.
- [70:08]
Molly Hemingway
Okay.
- [70:08]
David Harsanyi
The other one is Landman with Billy Rapton. So I'm watching the new season of that. It's got. Who's that old timey guy? Sam Elliott's in it this season. Demi Moore is in it. You know, it's fine. It's fine. It's about Texas. Do you like that kind of thing. It's good in oil. It is not like a left, lefty show. They actually. There's an episode everyone was talking about a few weeks ago where they mock the View and the people on the View as being millionaires who are angry at billionaires or something like that. And so if it avoids the usual lefty, you know, storylines and stuff.
- [70:56]
Molly Hemingway
Yeah. Mark was telling me that he had watched the Pit and he had to stop watching it because. Not because it wasn't a good show, it actually was a good show, but they were gratuitously inserting, like, radical left wing politics in a way that was harming his.
- [71:10]
David Harsanyi
Makes me so mad. I like that show now. I know I'm gonna have the same feeling about it. I was watching some show, I forgot what it was called on Apple, and I sort of liked it, and then they were inserting things like that, and I just. It was so. It was gnawing at me, and then I just stopped watching it, so. All right, if you have better suggestions for us, please email us@radioheferralist.com we love to hear from you. We'll see you next week. Until then, be lovers of freedom and anxious for the fray.
- [71:43]
Molly Hemingway
Sam.