‘You're Wrong' With Mollie Hemingway And David Harsanyi, Ep. 201: Fails And Filibusters

Summary

Federalist Radio Hour: “You're Wrong” with Mollie Hemingway & David Harsanyi

Ep. 201: Fails and Filibusters – May 27, 2026
Host: Radio America | Guests: Mollie Hemingway (The Federalist), David Harsanyi (Washington Examiner)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into recent political developments, the economic turnaround in Argentina under Javier Milei, failures and shifting narratives in climate change activism, the lack of accountability in political scandals, U.S. Senate filibuster debates, and some lighthearted cultural recommendations. Mollie Hemingway brings firsthand insight from Argentina, while she and David Harsanyi engage in spirited debates about domestic and global politics, the legacy of “An Inconvenient Truth,” prosecutorial overreach, and the merits of Senate procedures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mollie’s Argentina Trip: Politics, Economy & Culture

[01:38–14:47]

• Europeanized Buenos Aires: Mollie remarks on the “incredibly European” feel of Buenos Aires, with “better versions of Paris” architecture and a diverse population.
• Religious Observations: The Hemingways visited a 170-year-old Lutheran church for Pentecost; only in Spanish, leading to humor over linguistic divides on a day celebrating understanding of all tongues.
• Economic Turnaround: Dramatic stories of past hyperinflation—households spent salaries immediately to avoid devaluation.
• Libertarian Reforms: Since President Javier Milei’s election, “every single economic measure in Argentina has blown past expectations” (David, [07:17]).
  • Deregulation by ‘Victim’: Key reforms target outdated, harmful regulations nominated by those worst affected.
  • Populist & Practical: The political base not ideological, but pragmatic—drawn by necessity from Argentina’s economic collapse (“destroying so much wealth…wear it like a skin suit,” Mollie, [06:01]).
  • Contrast to U.S.: Americans “aren’t hurting enough yet” for radical reforms; U.S. is “at the front end of the Peronista phase, perhaps” (Mollie, [10:49]).
• Milei’s Media Savvy: Winning over young voters via non-traditional, youth-oriented media, bypassing hostile corporate press.
  • “He would just go on different radio shows that young people listen to and that helped him a great deal.” (Mollie, [12:23])

“Argentina is amazing. I was just looking at the stat they had. 52.9% of the population was living in poverty when Milei came in and now it's down to around 31%...that is a dramatic and very quick turnaround.”
— David Harsanyi ([11:37])

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2. The 20th Anniversary of “An Inconvenient Truth” & Climate Change Alarmism

[15:20–27:04]

• Legacy of Alarmism: David recalls his unpopular 2006 climate-skeptic column, and Bill Gray—hurricane expert who critiqued “doom” narratives.
  • “Al Gore’s movie is… cartoonish. It has pseudo scientific charts. It told us Miami, New York were going to be submerged…Arctic ice cap would disappear by 2014…But…the scariest part…are the super hurricanes.” (David, [17:23])
• Prediction Failures: Actual data undermined most apocalyptic climate forecasts.
  • “Every single climate organization right now says that global surface temperatures have risen 0.35 Celsius on average since 2006. He [Gray] was right.” (David, [19:55])
• From Groupthink to Censorship: Mollie discusses shifting narratives—from “coming ice age” in the 80s to “global warming,” then “climate change,” and now “climate crisis.”
  • She expresses skepticism: “All the people who were pushing it had been pushing for communism or socialism during the Reagan era. And I found that very suspicious.” ([21:20])
• Danger of Discredit: Both agree that lack of accountability for failed alarmism—and the comparable media behavior during COVID and other political hoaxes—erodes public trust in experts.

“The alarmism that went along with this… that was a hoax and Al Gore was a fraud because nothing he said was true. And I suspect he knew none of it would be true. And he still hasn't ever even admitted that he's been wrong about anything.”
— David Harsanyi ([25:59])

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3. Accountability and Restitution for Political and Media Wrongdoing

[34:03–43:48]

• Calls for Accountability: Mollie questions how to hold climate change alarmists (and others) responsible for the damage caused by false or exaggerated narratives.
  • “What do you think would be a good thing to have happen to hold people accountable for all the damage they caused with their climate change alarmism?” ([34:03])
• Legal Funds for Victims: Discussion of Trump’s anti-weaponization fund for Americans targeted by government overreach—and the media’s negative response.
  • Mollie argues: “When you are attacked by your government, when you lose your First Amendment rights…and then that destroys your business, there should be restitution...the lack of restitution is a scandal.” ([41:13])
  • David worries such funds “reek of potential corruption” unless independently overseen ([38:22])
• Erosion of Trust: Repeated incidents (Russia collusion, COVID, prosecutions of Trump allies) have “done immense damage, probably irreparable damage to the republic as far as trust goes.” (David, [39:25])

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4. Domestic Politics: Paxton/Cornyn, Campaign Tactics, Senate Filibuster

[43:48–62:18]

• Primary Races: Dissecting John Cornyn’s (TX) weak primary showing and Ken Paxton’s presumed strength post-Trump endorsement.
  • “Negative campaigning moves votes. Even so, I expect that Cornyn will lose.” (Mollie, [46:14])
• Political Cynicism and Social Media: Politicians increasingly chase attention on platforms like X (Twitter), sometimes to the exclusion of constituents’ interests. Discussion concludes with the unpredictability of future races.
• Filibuster Debate:
  • Should the GOP kill the filibuster for the SAVE Act (election integrity)?
    • David: Firmly against scrapping the filibuster, even for bills he likes (“I think saving the filibuster is incredibly important.” [51:50]).
    • Mollie: Defends forcing a talking filibuster and using debate as intended, not “zombie filibuster” rules ([52:00]).
    • Both: Acknowledge that filibuster now functions as a partisan tool; principle or expedience?
  • Federalism Tension: David highlights risks of nationalizing election law; Mollie stresses the need for reforms when state voter rolls are flawed.
  • McConnell’s Legacy: Recognition of Mitch McConnell’s instrumentalism—using or scrapping filibuster tactics to achieve policy goals, not for the sake of the procedure itself.

“Once [the filibuster] is gone, we are in trouble. So I think for me it's a print. I will support anyone who supports keeping it in place.”
— David Harsanyi ([63:02])

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5. Cultural Picks & Fun Banter

[64:32–71:28]

• Mollie’s In-flight Cinema:
  • The Notebook – “Fine…Rachel McAdams is lovely…must be a girl's girl.” (Mollie, [65:24])
  • Rental Family (Japanese film with Brendan Fraser): “Well written and interesting…I’m being drawn to visit Japan.” ([66:40])
  • Micro Budget – “Absolutely absurd…liked it too.” ([67:42])
• David’s Recent Watches:
  • Culinary Class Warfare (Korean chef competition show): “I can't stop watching it. Each episode is like 2 hour and 50 minutes. It's just so ridiculous.” ([69:23])
  • Hazardous History (hosted by Henry Winkler): “Very light, fair…goes through crazy, dangerous things from the past.” ([70:16])
• Book Recommendations:
  • Mollie reading River of Doubt (Teddy Roosevelt’s Amazon exploration) ([68:58])
  • David working on a new book, admits little time for culture ([69:23])
• Lighthearted Disagreement: Mollie and David joke about the podcast’s name: “No, this is not good” as an alternative, due to their (mostly amicable) arguments ([64:09]).

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Notable Quotes & Moments (by Timestamp)

• On Milei’s Argentina:

  “They practice something called deregulation by victim… you nominate [the regulation] yourself or other people who are hurt by the same regulation. So it's almost like a very populist approach to deregulation…”
  — Molly Hemingway ([07:54])

• On the Media’s Role in Hysteria:

  “The people who did the Russia collusion hoax, they're still the reporters. The people who did the, the climate change hoax, they're still all in top positions…they figured out there was a way to make money by claiming to believe these things.”
  — Mollie Hemingway ([27:04])

• On Senate Procedures:

  “I don't want to get rid of the filibuster because it's the only thing that protects conservative rights in the Senate because we're always a minority…”
  — Mollie Hemingway ([52:00])

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Episode Structure & Timestamps

• [01:38–14:47]: Argentina travel, politics, economic insights
• [15:20–27:04]: Climate change alarmism, legacy of “An Inconvenient Truth”
• [34:03–43:48]: Accountability for hoaxes, government overreach, legal funds for victims
• [43:48–62:18]: U.S. primary politics, filibuster debate, Senate intrigue
• [64:32–71:28]: Cultural recommendations, book/movie talk, podcast banter

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Tone, Language & Dynamics

The conversation is spirited, skeptical, occasionally heated but good-natured, marked by policy wonkery, shared cynicism about media narratives, and frequent doses of humor. Hamilton and Harsanyi blend personal stories (like Mollie’s Spanish mishaps at Pentecost) with sharp policy critique and off-the-cuff cultural reviews.

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For First-Time Listeners

This episode is quintessential “You’re Wrong”—mixing firsthand reporting, irreverent skepticism, and insider political analysis. If you prefer fiercely independent journalism, a bit of inside-baseball on D.C. procedure, and media criticism from non-mainstream angles, this engaging back-and-forth will be both informative and entertaining.

Transcript

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[David Harsanyi]

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[Molly Hemingway]

I was. I would like to recommend that everybody on Earth go visit Argentina. Have you ever been there?

[David Harsanyi]

I have not, no.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah, I've never really been to South America. The closest I've been, I guess, is Aruba.

[David Harsanyi]

I went to Brazil for a week once for some political convention maybe 10 or more years ago. I loved it. Beautiful place. Yeah. Though the politics are not for me.

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, here the politics would be for you in Argentina. So the number. I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but I had no realization about how European the city would feel, how the buildings all look like a better version of Paris, how massive the city is. I mean, just many, many millions of people. Very cosmopolitan. You meet a lot of people named like Carlos schwarzman and Diego O'Reilly, Gustav Gustavo deal. You know, like everyone has these very Spanish first names and then very much not Spanish last names. I mean, there also are Spaniards there.

[David Harsanyi]

It's a predominantly German and Italian nation. Very European. They've always thought of themselves. I mean, I just know the history. I haven't been there. They think of themselves as Europeans and beautiful opera house. Yeah.

[Molly Hemingway]

Beautiful art. They're very focused on mid century modern design, I will say that. And I like mid century modern design. But it's just weird that every single furniture store I passed by had the same general aesthetic, either high end or less high end. Great leather goods, very good food. People are very nice. We went to church. It was Pentecost. While we were.

[David Harsanyi]

There must be a lot of Lutherans there if they're German, of German ancestry. No.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah. And I. I mean, I was. I know the popular conception of it being Germans who arrived not that long ago, but the church we went to had been around for 170 years or something like that, and very old Lutheran where you get the feeling they were immigrating to Argentina in the same way they were immigrating to the United States a lot in the middle of the 19th century. But. But it's Pentecost, which is when we celebrate the Holy Spirit giving people the strengthening of faith to spread the gospel everywhere. There are tongues of fire that are. That everyone, Everyone is heard according to their own. Everyone can hear the gospel according to the language that they speak in the Bible story. But what was funny is that this service was 100% in Spanish and there were basically no English speakers in the church. And my poor husband does not speak any Spanish. So I was okay. And I was not being a very good translator to him. But Mark thought it was just hilarious that on Pentecost, the day when you celebrate everyone hearing the gospel in their own tongue, that he couldn't hear it. What was that?

[David Harsanyi]

I said he got the gist of it. Spirit of it. I'm sure that's good.

[Molly Hemingway]

You follow the same liturgy, so that helps. And he could read better since he has some romance language. But anyway, I loved it and I would highly recommend it. We got to meet with some people from the Javier Malay political party. And they are true believers. And also, it's not like they're true believers in that sense that they're ideologues who just are hanging on to these ideas and trying to force them on people. They all came to them through experiencing the horrible economic policies of previous administrations. And we all know the story probably about how Argentina was a very wealthy country. And then the, you know, really, the Peronistas, beginning with Peron, but really, like after Peron, they just hollow out the entire economy and wear it like a skin suit, destroying so much wealth. The inflation that people were dealing with, they were telling us crazy stories like we would just talk to people that we ran into. And they would say that inflation was so rapid that the day you got your paycheck, the housewives would go buy everything they needed for the month or for two weeks, because within a day your money would be no longer having the same value. And they're still dealing with extremely high inflation. But not like that. It's much. You know, it might be 2 or 3% a month, which is insane, but it was, I think, like 30% a month or, you know, so it just. It was like, inconceivable how high the inflation was. And we did encounter what that's like for people who are selling things. Mark and I went into a record store and it was a very cool, very hip record store. And we couldn't afford any of the records that we wanted. But. But they had these systems where. And we saw this in more than one store. We saw this in bookstores and record stores. Everything is given a letter instead of a price. And then there's a code sheet, A to Z, where the price can be updated just on that sheet so that they don't have to go and update the. The books or the vinyl records themselves.

[David Harsanyi]

Yeah, yeah. It's been an incredible turnaround. Every single economic measure in Argentina has blown past expectations since Malay has come into power over Nevada on numerous occasions, he embraced the. I would say he's the most economically libertarian leader in the. In the free. In the world, obviously. And he's proven that a free market system can work and turn around a country relatively quickly on almost every front. Yeah.

[Molly Hemingway]

This reminds me of one of the people that we. We met with, or actually several of the people who we met with were just telling us different things about how they handled deregulation there. And they practice something called, I think of something like deregulation by victim. And so they've got so many ridiculous bureaucratic rules in place that to highlight or to figure out which ones you tackle first, you kind of get. You kind of can nominate from the victims themselves. So someone's like, I would love to sell this agricultural good in this market. But a rule was developed in 1973 that says, I can't you nominate it yourself or other people who are hurt by the same regulation. And that's how they kind of decide which things get done. So it's almost like a very populist approach to deregulation, too. But it's just by necessity because there's so much that needs to be done. There's so many laws on the books. They did go into power with quite a Bit of forethought and planning something that would be good to see the United States political parties do so by the time. So when Javier Milei is elected, he's elected with almost nobody with him. But at their midterm elections, he gets a. I think they have a governing plurality now that's very good. So they could kind of start getting things done. And then they also have a little bit of a good cop, bad cop approach to things because their executive has so much power, particularly given that Congress supports the executive. There are multiple ways you can deal with bureaucratic resistance. If you want to get rid of a regulation or simplify something so that the economy can be unbridled, you can go to the bureaucratic department and say, okay, we'd like to see this done. And if they don't get it done, the entire department can be eliminated. It's like a good cop, bad cop. Like you can work with us or if you're becoming too difficult, you're just going to get written out of the budget. We don't have that in the United States and that's a huge barrier to dealing with our bureaucratic recalcitrants. But I liked it. It was fun to learn.

[David Harsanyi]

Weren't you in Poland recently where. I think we were talking about that as well, not that long ago. And they too, about a year ago. Yeah, they too had free market reforms and turned their economy around before them. Estonia did it before them. You know, Ireland was one of the poorest countries in, in Europe and now it's, I think, one of the richest, if not the richest of a major country. Singapore did it. South Korea was once the. One of the poorest countries. They did it. Now you have Argentina. And yet what are we doing here? What do Europeans do? They're constantly turning towards socialistic, so economic plans to turn things around for themselves.

[Molly Hemingway]

I do think part of the, part of the problem there is that things aren't bad enough for people to be pushing for the type of radical reform that we're seeing in Argentina. There's. Their country was being utterly destroyed through bad economic planning. I mean, just destroyed. Nobody who was of any import was staying in the country because it was just idiotic given the theft going on. Whereas in the United States, we're clearly on a bad trajectory, but things are still very nice for a lot of people. And so I don't think we have that openness to free market reforms. In fact, we have quite the opposite. We're at like the front end of the Peronista phase, perhaps.

[David Harsanyi]

I Don't know that we're on as bad a trajectory as you think we are. And I just have to say I think that the inability to make changes that are good works the other way too. It's very difficult to implement changes that are going to really hurt the country. And that's one of the reasons I don't love, you know, presidential edicts and stuff like that, because it can go both ways. But yeah, Argentina is amazing. I was just looking at the stat they had. 52, 52.9% of the population was living in poverty when Malay came in and now it's down to around 31%. I mean, that is a dramatic and very quick turnaround. You know, it's still a significant amount of poverty there, but it's just amazing. Sorry, interrupted you.

[Molly Hemingway]

Someone else that we were. No, sorry. One of the other people we were speaking with had said something about how people were willing to give Millay a shot and his party a shot, but they weren't really sure about it. And as it's working out, as people are finding stability with their income, it's making them much more favorable to his political party. And even something as simple as the price of beer going down is working for people. And it's just another reminder that when you're trying to do big scale reform, thinking about your entire base of political support. Oh, the other thing is apparently Milei did a really good job of dying Donald Trump, 2016 and 2024 style, reaching out to audiences that were completely outside of the corporate media. And so the corporate media were so opposed to him. But he would just go on different radio shows that young people listen to and that helped him a great deal.

[David Harsanyi]

It's much harder to sell the abstract ideas of free market, which in contrast to the risk aversion of socialism, where you have government helping you and propelled by envy and resentment and making things fair, which usually appeals to young, idealistic young people. So it's kind of a miracle that he appealed so, so widely to young people in Argentina. Obviously he's a force. You know, he's a very charismatic guy and you don't really get that kind of person to sell it very often. So I think his success is incredibly important for South America. And I'm happy you went and I definitely want to go. I've been thinking about it actually.

[Molly Hemingway]

Okay, so I. That's what you should do. You should go with your family down there for vacation. I think it's good to reward people who are trying to recover their economy, who care about their culture. You will have a wonderful time. And when you go, you can also go to that Recoleta cemetery where Eva Peron is buried, along with a bunch of other, you know, famous Argentinians. But I didn't really understand why it was so great to see her grave because I'm not the biggest fan.

[David Harsanyi]

I'm not really a fan either. Happy you went. Thanks for letting us know about it.

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[David Harsanyi]

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[Molly Hemingway]

So when you first heard people, how old were you? When you first heard climate change, or global warming as it was then called, this was a big issue. How old were you?

[David Harsanyi]

I don't remember, but I'm sure that in my early 20s people were already talking about global warming, meaning the early 90s. Would you say that that sounds about right?

[Molly Hemingway]

I think so. I was thinking about this recently just because I am of the age where when people first started talking about man made temperature changes, it was for the ice age.

[David Harsanyi]

I remember that. Yeah, I do. When I was a kid.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah. And I only really remember that because I had done a fifth grade science project on it, you know, and a few years later, maybe even it seems like, wait, how old would you be then? Yeah. So under, you know, fewer than 10 years later, all of a sudden global warming becomes this big issue. I was just suspicious because of that thing that I had been told we were going to have an ice age and now we were going to have global warming. And then that changed into climate change, which doesn't. It just didn't. It seemed so silly and absurd. What concerned me was that groupthink involved in it too. For me, I am willing to believe that man made climate change is a real thing that you should be concerned about. I'm totally willing to believe that. I never felt like the science supported it in a way that really made sense. All the people who were pushing it had been pushing for communism or socialism during the Reagan era. And I found that very suspicious. It seemed to me like with the end of the Cold war and with the demise of the Soviet Union, they needed a new reason to push centralized planning in the economy. And that only became more true over time. You would certainly see like a Mitt Romney or a George W. Bush sitting on the sofa with Bill Clinton or you know, those type people say, oh, we really got to worry about this. But I never found people I really respected in that space saying this is something we really need to drastically change everything about how we live our lives to avert this certain doom. Or even that nobody who cared about climate change cared about, like abortion or euthanasia. That also seemed weird to me. Like why are we caring so much about this when there's something right now that is also a big. Or that's definitely a big deal. And if you're caring about humanity, it seems you should care about the biggest human rights issues of our time. Sorry, I'm kind of rambling here, but.

[David Harsanyi]

No, no, I, I think you're wrong about something. I think they did care about abortion and euthanasia. I think they liked it because they

[Molly Hemingway]

were like, kill the babies and the old people.

[David Harsanyi]

Because what I do remember growing up and listen, I just didn't care enough as a teenager about any of this. I have to be honest, I was thinking about basketball or whatever. Population bomb stuff was always with us. The population scare was a part of my youth for sure. It was always there as something that was just de facto truth. So these people liked euthanasia and they liked abortion. Paul, I liked these things. He was for them. In fact, in some of his books he proposed that we should do it. So that's the first thing. But another thing that you said was interesting is how they kept changing. The language. Always starts with the language from climate, from global warming, from ice age global warming to climate change, which could be anything. But then they took it a step further. I don't if you remember, CNN wouldn't even say climate change. They changed it to climate crisis. They did that because the science had been settled and they decided that we weren't allowed to debate anything anymore. And the debate incidentally was not only over climate change. I am not a scientist. I concede. I'm not sure, you know, how much we have to do with that or if we have anything to do with that. It was about adaptability and it was about economic trade offs. What's the better thing to do? Should we adapt to the changes or should we tear down modernity and destroy our economy and become socialist? Which is what they wanted. But what's interesting is this week, this very week, or the UN is dropping its RCP 8.5, which is was there like red line. Remember everyone was always saying if we don't do something in this amount of time, it won't matter, we're finished. And in the UN now has dropped that. And everyone is kind of, you know, all these reporters have come out of the woodwork saying, you know, we should have done a better job letting people know that that was the worst case scenario and this and that. But they always change it. They've always changed their deadlines for how things are going to happen. And no one like with all the other hoaxes that have gone on. And by the way, I do think it's a hoax. I don't mean that it's a hoax in that there aren't some climate scientists out there who legitimately believe weather's changing. The alarmism, Al Gore's alarmism, the alarmism that went along with this, where, like I'm on a list on this site, I don't know if the site still exists. As one of the climate deniers, climate denial denier is meant to frame you as something morally akin to a Holocaust denier. You know what I mean? Someone who doesn't care about the future of your children and the earth and all of that stuff that was a hoax and Al Gore was a fraud because nothing he said was true. And I suspect he knew none of it would be true. And he still hasn't ever even admitted that he's been wrong about anything.

[Molly Hemingway]

That's how he's remembered about what you were saying, that he's out there bragging about all the good that he did by focusing on this. When you think about how much energy people put into this and how ridiculous the claims were that all of Florida would be underwater, that New York City would be underwater. And if you said I am skeptical of this, you were treated like you just said, David, as a denier of reality. And here we are. All the deadlines have passed for when everything was supposed to be underwater, where

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[Molly Hemingway]

I drive my bus in a busy city. That's why road safety is so important to me. I know that I must slow down and be extra careful when I make a wide turn. Buses need more room than cars. Everyone can help keep our roads safe. Next time you're driving, remember to give buses plenty of time and space to finish turning before driving ahead. Let's all plan to share the road safely. Learn how to at www.sharetherodesafely.gov. clearly the predictions were wrong and and grievously and dramatically wrong. And nobody's apologizing, nobody's held accountable. The people who did the Russia collusion hoax, they're still the reporters. The people who did the, the climate change hoax, they're still all in top positions and they did that. You know, the hoax, I think, is because they figured out there was a way to make money by claiming to believe these things. But it also reminds me of what happened with COVID The hysteria was insane. Or even, you know, the situation with Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of killing George Floyd. I feel so icky about not doing more to stop the hysteria around that time. There's no way you can say Derek Chauvin got a fair trial. The media convicted him immediately. I don't think the jury was in a free situation. I don't think that the courts handled that well. I do not feel confident in the outcome of that, of that trial.

[David Harsanyi]

Well, the Chauvin situation was with George Floyd was. I don't know technically and legally if he, if he maybe used some excessive force that he shouldn't have there and the legality of that. But there's never been a shred of evidence I've ever seen that he was. That. That was a racially motiv incident. Right. And all the trendy progressive causes went. It went from climate change to Black Lives Matter, where every shooting, so many of them that were framed as racial events had nothing to do with race. In fact, sometimes a black officer would be involved and they just say, like, you know, the police are by their nature racist even when they're black. And now I think that's just been transposed to like free Palestine, where every, where the media is happy to regurgitate every unhinged claim about genocide and this and that. That is not true. I was thinking about in the 2020 primaries, CNN held a seven. I'm not. This is not. This is true. A seven hour town hall on climate change. Seven hours where everyone agreed on everything. I mean, people just never cared that much.

[Molly Hemingway]

How weird it was when they would ask, like in the Republican primary, some left wing media outlet like CNN or CBS or whatever, they'd be asking them questions about climate change. Multiple questions about climate change in 2024. No Republican voter had fallen for it for years by that point. Right. Zero sense.

[David Harsanyi]

They used to say, raise your hand if you believe that man is causing climate change or whatever. You should just give them the finger when they do that. It's so stupid. And yeah, you're right. I think there's still, I mean, I don't. Just because this has happened does not mean that they're still not going to be invested in this. To some extent, virtually every Democrat has said that we are on the precipice of not being able to do anything, which now even the UN Says is not true. And I'm happy you brought it up. Who pays for this? Where is there ever going to be an acknowledgment that we just spent 20 years smearing? Incidentally, a bunch of scientists who stood up against the smearing, a bunch of people who said this was an emergency, destroying careers. No one, no one will pay. And the address will continue to go on. There was no reckoning for the Russia collusion hoax. There was no reckoning for the Kavanaugh hoax. There's no. There's going to be no reckoning for the genocide hoax, and there's going to be no reckoning for this. So I think actually climate change did more to corrode our belief in experts than anything but Covid, unquestionably so.

[Molly Hemingway]

I can't even think of something as widespread where people with their own eyes and ears could see the problems there. By the time Covid happens, then that was probably a bigger because of the immediacy of that issue. But it wouldn't have happened without some of these lies told by people who were paid to lie so that they could get big grants at their research institutions researching how everything was caused by climate change, including isis.

[David Harsanyi]

Let's not forget the government has redirected billions, tens of billions, maybe more dollars in funding from useful projects, curing cancer, curing diabetes, curing other things to deal with this thing that was not an emergency. So the UN stopped using the RCP 8.5 because it claims that we have avoided this cliff because of all the renewable energy and stuff like that. None of that is true because I looked. We are using more. We are emitting more CO2 into the air than they even predicted in 2011 when this first came out. The reason that the United States emits less marginal less is because we have moved from coal to natural gas. Something that all of these people, including Al Gore, are against. And they're also against nuclear power, which would help deal with this problem in a realistic way. We are not all going to be chugging along with vegetable oil, running our cars and our heating systems or windmills or choo choo trains or anything else, and all these kind of Luddite ideas of the past. So anyway, I'm happy I was on the right side of history with this one, but I too, was very of course, it immediately bothered me that all the socialists were the practitioner or the champions of this kind of thing. So it already made me incredibly skeptical about it. And the more I thought about it, the more skeptical I got as the years went on.

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[Molly Hemingway]

I have a question. You were talking about how people are not held accountable for being wrong. In many cases, they're even rewarded. What do you think would be a good thing to have happen to hold people accountable for all the damage they caused with their climate change alarmism?

[David Harsanyi]

Don't know. It's. I don't know. I think it's actually bad for society in general that we have no one to turn to that we can fully trust on these things or as far as legacy goes. And it might actually come and hurt us in the future when we have scientists warning us about something that is a real threat and we won't believe them where a lot of people won't believe them. I see some of that with vaccines, for instance. I think that's been incredibly detrimental, but deservedly, you know, not that the people deserve it, but the experts deserve it. So I don't know. I don't really have an answer for that. Do you have an answer for that?

[Molly Hemingway]

No. But I was thinking about it in relationship to the Russia collusion hoax. I definitely hear from a lot of people who have zero doubt about the validity of what we reported at the Federalist about the Russia collusion lie being a lie. And they think that what happened there is the worst thing they can think of that the government has done. Or they might feel that way about shutting down free inquiry and debate during the worst global pandemic we've had in our lifetimes. Or just general lawfare that was being waged against political opponents. And Trump won a settlement from his targeting, you know, the IRS had, you know, allowed one of its people, or, you know, one of his people at the IRS had leaked Trump's tax records to the New York Times, which I'm always amazed at how when you get quote unquote dirt on Trump, there's no dirt there. I mean, they leaked his tax records and he appeared to be doing a very good job with his filing of his taxes. They came up with the Russia collusion hoax, which would have gotten any of us. And he comes out of it appearing to have never done anything inappropriate with Russia. And, but he won a settlement, and the settlement goes to other victims of lawfare and the weaponization of government. So I've been paying a lot of attention to this because I'm a victim of lawfare and weaponization of government. The Federalist is a major victim of it. They tried to destroy our publication and it has been very difficult to keep, you know, keep food on the table for the kids and all that. And so I've just been kind of studying it and interested in it. I'm not saying we're the most worthy, although I certainly think we're worthy of restitution. There are many people who are worthy of restitution for what they went through. And the media, which were complicit in all of this weaponization against Republicans, are freaking out about this fund going to victims of lawfare and the politicization of the Department of Justice and other agencies. And it just makes me worried that if you don't have any restitution or accountability for what was done, no one's gone to prison, no one's lost their law license, nobody's been shamed by the media, nobody's been forced to pay. I worry about devolving into complete banana republic rejection of all institutions if no one is ever held accountable.

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[David Harsanyi]

I, I, I oppose the, the anti weaponization fund because it is ripe for corruption. You can't be giving out money to your friends in that way. I, I'm not saying it's, I don't think it, not an expert. I don't think it's unconstitutional or anything like that, but it reeks of potential corruption. So I don't think that's the right way to go about it. I don't have a very good answer, except for maybe civil, civil trials against people for, for slandering you, libeling you. So I don't love the anti weaponization fund. I don't really know. I don't really have a good answer though for I think that kind of feels Banana Republic as well because it can be abused. So. But for sure you're right. The lack of trust in government, the way they acted through all these incidents and that we just mentioned over the last decade and more has done immense damage, probably irreparable damage to the republic as far as trust goes.

[Molly Hemingway]

So someone who's very well respected and I have to imagine is respected by you, submitted a piece that will likely be running here by the time this podcast runs. And he was a member of Congress who was a victim of weaponized Justice Department and he had a line in this piece that said a 1.776 billion dollar legal fund, the number echoing the year Americans threw off a regime that used its courts to prosecute pretended offenses, does several things at once. It acknowledges and repairs harm done to Americans. It puts consequence free prosecutorial abuse on notice, and it provides resources for people who have no real way to fight back against the most powerful litigation operation on earth. He points out how this fund is certainly not unprecedented because, you know, the left has been using these funds for years with no opposition from senators. None from, you know, when Bill Clinton did it and Obama did it and Biden did it, you didn't hear peep obviously from Democrat senators or Republicans. And I mean, you heard a couple Republican senators who didn't like it. And now that Trump has done this to help the Americans who are targeted by the government, you're having Republican senators who couldn't find a spine if they had, you know, a diagnostic tool and instructions for idiots now saying, well, they're very upset. Not that Clinton did it, not that Obama did it, not that Biden did it, and not that they did nothing in the face of weaponization, you might remember that. I shouldn't say nothing. The senators did try to create a slush fund for themselves because they were spied on by the Biden and Obama DOJs or Biden DOJ. When people said shouldn't you help the American people before you benefit from it yourself, they decided to backtrack on that. But if they can't get their money for being spied on by the Biden doj, they certainly don't want to help out their constituents who have so fewer resources and who are put through so much more. I don't actually care if people are friends or enemies of Trump or Biden or Clinton or anything. I think when you are attacked by your government, when you lose your First Amendment rights by your government, which we, you know, in settlement got the government to agree with that they had done that in just, in just one of their agencies, the State Department, but we were also targeted by doj, by dhs, by the center for Medicaid Services. So hhs, when you have your First Amendment rights obliterated by the government and then that destroys your business, there should be restitution. And it's impossible to sue these people for defamation. And it's very, very difficult. Like we don't to have the money to sue these people is like an impossible dream. Imagine if you're just some low level person who just happened to get accused by Hillary Clinton's dirty works team of being a Russian asset. You know, the number of people who were harmed is great and the lack of restitution is a scandal.

[David Harsanyi]

I don't disagree with anything you're saying there. But just because others have created these kind of funds that in some sense arbitrarily decide who. Not arbitrarily, but unilaterally decide who gets what and who's deserving. I just think it's ripe for corruption. There has to maybe be some kind of independence, you know, overseer that people trust or something to give it more legitimacy. That's all I'm saying. And just pointing out that they did it, I get it. This is the new way and I completely understand why that if one side does it, we should be able to do it as well. You know, screw them and, and that's how it goes. And I guess that's where we are. So I understand the instinct for it, but I, in the end, you know what's going to happen. They're going to come back next time and do worse. And then on and on we go until we have nothing left. Well, let's talk more politics, I guess. Let's. We're taping Tuesday again. We did this last week. So we. Massie lost his race.

[Molly Hemingway]

He has handled his loss very maturely.

[David Harsanyi]

Yes. What makes me laugh. Yeah, so now I've said this many times. I think the Epstein file thing is ridiculous. But now he promises he before he leaves, he's going to read out all the names of all these pedophiles that allegedly exist. So you're telling Me, all this time he's been keeping it a secret. Why? Why has he been keeping all. There are pedophiles out there roaming free in the country. Why isn't he read these names already? What has held him back from doing that? I guess he can't be sued for

[Molly Hemingway]

doing it, but I saw that yesterday he'd started a fundraising operation. He says he doesn't know what office he's going to run for, but you can give him money for 2028. So for our listeners who are fans, and I know we actually do have fans, I myself was kind of a Massey fan. I'm sad about the weirdness of whatever's happening there.

[David Harsanyi]

A lot of people have been captured by X and social media and that audience. From my perspective, this happens on the left, too, when they take on these, this the quackery that they sometimes embrace. I think a lot of that is coming, you know, from pressure below. But, oh, Massey, maybe he'll be the Libertarian presidential candidate. Maybe he'll run for his seat again. We'll see.

[Molly Hemingway]

Sounds about the quality. No, he doesn't seem to care about his own constituents at the level that he. He was. I love having quirky Libertarian candidates. I genuinely love it. But you have to be good at representing your own district and your own people. Oh, we're taping this on Tuesday, which means that we. By the time this airs, do you think Cornyn or Paxton will win? Will have one?

[David Harsanyi]

I'm not. I don't make predictions, but from what I'm reading, it looks like Paxton will win, obviously with the endorsement of Donald Trump. That's an incredibly important person supporting you, to say the least, especially in any kind of primary race. So I suspect Paxton will win. If he doesn't, I think that actually would be embarrassing for the president. So because he didn't really need to get involved in this race. He did. That's fine. What do you think? Do you have.

[Molly Hemingway]

I thought that when they had their primary and Cornyn didn't win it outright that it was over for him. I saw this article. I meant to go back and find out who wrote this. I think it was Axios. It might have been Politico. So Texas has their first primary. I don't understand these states with their complicated primary systems, but they have their first round of voting that then produces a runoff. So for their first round of voting, Cornyn, I think maybe came in first, but with a really low percentage of the vote. It was under 50%, first off. And he's not just an incumbent, but an extremely powerful incumbent. And the. His buddies in the Senate had spent like $100 million on his first round of primary just to make sure that he didn't have to face a runoff. And he did not win that outright. But Axios or Politico come out the next day, and they go with this amazingly strong showing of John Cornyn. Trump is expected to endorse everyone in Texas. Was like, what strong showing? This was an embarrassment. This was humiliating. So I'm not shocked that he's in a. In dire straits right now, although he's continued to spend a lot of money and he's gone very dirty in the last few days, which is kind of easy to do against Paxton and dirty wins. People always like to say that they don't like negative campaigning, but negative campaigning moves votes. Even so, I expect that Cornyn will lose. I would be, you know, I'd be surprised if he pulled it off. But not shocked, but surprised.

[David Harsanyi]

Yeah. One of the big myths of politics is that negative people don't like negative campaigning. It is literally the most effective way to campaign. Everyone who wants to win does it. The only people who campaign almost purely positive are people who aren't really running against anyone. You know what I mean? Like, if you have it in the bag, you'll be all positive to polish your image. But almost everything else going on is negative, negative, negative.

[Molly Hemingway]

You can do it if you're trying to stay in a race and then later go negative. You know, sometimes being nice, you can get good pole position without while saving your negative ammo for later. I do want to say, you think. Do you think John Cornyn runs his own Twitter account or.

[David Harsanyi]

No, probably not. I don't know, though. Actually, he's responded. I think he might have responded to me. So I don't care about any of these people. I'm sorry. But I got mad at him because he, on more than one occasion, actually has teamed up with the authoritarian Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut to pass gun laws and gun legislation. I forgot what the name of the bill was under the Biden administration that I think is unconstitutional. He's from Texas. He should not be doing that sort of thing at all. I am not a fan of Paxton just because he feels. Again, I know I'm going to get mail. I'm just saying I don't know much about him other than there's clearly some serious and legitimate concerns about corruption with him. I think. I don't just think it's dirty campaigning on one side. I think there's some. Something there I think there have to be better choices, but it is what it is.

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[David Harsanyi]

He will definitely be more in line with Donald Trump. He'll probably always be in line with Donald Trump. Problem with that is, and you said this last week and I actually saw you online talking about this with people and I wanted to discuss it with you is some columnist and pundits have brought up that. Well, I should say this, actually. I think what happened was that they wanted Cornyn to help pass the SAVE act. To break the filibuster, to destroy the filibuster. Now, now we're not even pretending anything else. I saw Mike Lee tweeting out that we should get rid of the filibuster, legislative filibuster. So the he, I think opposed it. But then didn't he come around to saying that he would do it?

[Molly Hemingway]

No, he never opposed it. Are we talking about Cornyn?

[David Harsanyi]

Yeah, I know he's been for the SAVE act itself.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah, he never publicly opposed it. The question was always, are you going to do, are you going to force a filibuster or not? Like, are you going to force people to talk it out, fight it out, see if there's some kind of room for compromise, get anything in the Save America pac. Pass, Save America act passed. Are you going to do all that or not? And Cornyn, I think he was a co sponsor, but the question was never, are you a co sponsor? Because I think every Republican was, it was like, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to get it passed or to get some aspect of it passed? And that's where Cornyn kind of fell down on the job. He's in leadership and he always be like, no, I'm really working hard here. Two days a week I'm out here working really hard to get this passed and we just can't get anything done. But he technically was always for it.

[David Harsanyi]

So that's what I respect about him because I think saving the filibuster is incredibly important. And I think Donald Trump realized that wasn't going to happen.

[Molly Hemingway]

By the way, I just want to say I know we have fought about this before. I am also a fan of the filibuster. I don't want to get rid of the filibuster because it's the only thing that protects conservative rights in the Senate because we're always a minority and it's the only thing that can help us from preventing bad legislation. Does not mean that I oppose using. Because I'm a fan of the filibuster. I'm okay with using a filibuster or forcing its use. Maybe you win, maybe you lose, but it's okay to have a debate. And I don't understand why people who claim that they care so much about the filibuster are so scared of debate.

[David Harsanyi]

Doesn't care. I don't, I don't get why you, you're misrepresenting what's happening. That is not. There is a time limit on. You will lose every time because they'll go through the motions and they'll debate which you, by that you mean giving long, boring speeches. No one's really debating anything. And then it will be over and the filibuster does not exist in that world. Everything else will be shut down. So sooner or later, the filibuster will be dead. Doing that kills the filibuster. And Mike Lee now is just for getting rid of the filibuster. He's not even doing that cockamamie plan anymore. So to pass the SAVE Act. So I don't, you know, I don't know why you keep making it out like it's. I'm for the zombie filibuster because it's the only way to maintain, like the

[Molly Hemingway]

fake, not actual filibuster.

[David Harsanyi]

That's right. That's what I'm for. Since we've had, since 1971, I believe, because that's the only way for the minority to have any voice we had, the only way to keep any kind of stability in the Senate or in governance. We will go back and forth all the time with massive legislation, including the SAVE Act. That's going to be the first thing Democrats get rid of if they ever get back into power. And it just doesn't seem worth it to me to get rid of it for the SAVE act because as I've asked you before, and I'm for the, I mean, for the SAVE Act, I, I have no problem with the legislation. But the truth of the matter is it doesn't change anything on the ground right now. There is no state that's lost, no district that's lost because of illegals voting right now. And if I'm wrong, someone should send me the proof.

[Molly Hemingway]

You should.

[David Harsanyi]

It's just not worth the.

[Molly Hemingway]

You should read the book Rigged how the Media, Big Tech and Democrats Seized Our Elections. And one of the things that's important about making sure that people who are voting are citizens is not. That is not just because we do have some non citizen voting, but our voting lists are in horrifically bad shape and there's a lot of manipulation of those lists for absentee ballot voting problems and getting integrity, getting control, getting integrity in our voting lists and getting control over them or will do such great work for our elections. This isn't about Republicans winning or Republicans losing. It's about how our election administration system is ripe for malfeasance. And it's very difficult to catch when you don't have like good data going in and making sure that everybody is who they say they are and that they're an American citizen and that they're not voting in multi, you know, voting in different states, which is something that we also have happen to some degree. That's all good. It's not. And also if you're not going to do it now, when the heck are you going to do it if you're not even going to try to do it now? Get the ball going and learn how to actually persuade people on the Senate floor, supposedly this most august institution in the world for debate. And as you point out, apparently there's been no debate since 1971. So I don't even know why they told us growing up that this was a great place for debate when nobody debates anymore.

[David Harsanyi]

Are we really pretending that we're not debating out in the world right now? It used to be different because you could debate on the Senate floor. Now you could debate on online all day long. You could debate in a million places.

[Molly Hemingway]

People understand to debate the senators who pass the laws should be debating and using the arts of persuasion to get things done, to get good things done that both sides agree on. The Democrats did claim when they allowed debate for like 30 minutes one day, the Democrats were like, we actually have no problem with citizen voting. It's like, okay, let's go with that. Let's start with, let's start down that road, see if we could get something there.

[David Harsanyi]

Not a single person is going to change their mind because. Because some Senators up there talking, that's fine. Again, I am not opposed to the SAVE act, the things in the SAVE act, but I'm saying that right now, as soon as it's passed, if it would pass, it would be immediately taken to court, is beyond the scope of, of national, you know, federal government. And I, I don't know if I want to nationalize elections because that's going to hurt conservatives in the long run. But more than that, so it just seems like fan service. This why what I saying a talking point and what you're saying, not a talking point.

[Molly Hemingway]

This is my don't want to federalize elections.

[David Harsanyi]

That's not a talking point. I wrote about that when Democrats tried to do it.

[Molly Hemingway]

So David, why aren't you pushing to get rid of all of the rules governing federal elections that have been in place with many pieces of legislation? I've never heard you complain about that once. Why do you allow like which one? Overseas voting?

[David Harsanyi]

Okay, because that's a federal concern. Military is a federal concern.

[Molly Hemingway]

Oh, is it a federal concern? Hold on. Is it a federal concern whether you are a US Citizen voting in federal elections? Is that a federal concern?

[David Harsanyi]

Where, where is there a state that allows non citizens to vote right now?

[Molly Hemingway]

I just asked you, is it a federal concern whether you are.

[David Harsanyi]

Yes. When, when a state offers illegals voting rights, you could take them to court because it's a federal concern.

[Molly Hemingway]

What you should, I mean if you really believe this, you should be.

[David Harsanyi]

And again, there's a lot more to

[Molly Hemingway]

the SAVE act, all the legislation, federal elections of which there is quite a

[David Harsanyi]

bit anyway, it's not going to pass because there aren't enough people in the Senate who are going to break a filibuster or destroy the pass because the

[Molly Hemingway]

Republicans in the Senate don't want it to pass. They don't like they claim.

[David Harsanyi]

Your argument, by the way, on this makes no sense how you keep calling them cowards for not doing it. The fact of the matter is, if you're telling me everyone's for it and every Republican's for it and they still don't break the, the, the filibuster, then they're not the cowards. They're standing up to the mob. No. Yes, you what you can.

[Molly Hemingway]

David. David, what do the, what does the current crop of Senate leadership really want to do? Are you saying, are you arguing that they are like deeply principled conservatives who would be doing stuff but they just can't because of their small minority? Or do you think they want to like serve the moneyed Interests that, that.

[David Harsanyi]

No, I don't believe they get. Reelect the money. No, I don't believe they want to serve the moneyed interests. I think that's a conspiracy theory. I think that McConnell, for instance, has consistently, whether it's Obama or Trump. I understand. I'm just telling you, has consistently been against weakening the filibuster. In fact, he was against the weakening the judicial filibuster as well, and other senators as well. Now, you can accuse them all of just caring about money, but I think other senators just give in to the mob. They don't care about their institution.

[Molly Hemingway]

I have interviewed Senator McConnell about his views on the judicial filibuster, and you might recall that he got rid of the Supreme Court judicial filibuster for Gorsuch. But when I interviewed him, he'd actually been wanting to get rid of that for a long time. But he needed the right set of circumstances. And Democrats acting so crazy when Gorsuch was nominated gave him that right set of circumstances. You could read all about it in the book justice on Trial.

[David Harsanyi]

If Harry, if Harry Reid would have not used the nuclear option, McConnell never would have done that. Right. Is that fair to say?

[Molly Hemingway]

Here's I, I'm going to say something nice about Mitch McConnell. He doesn't care about the filibuster. He cares about getting what he wants. And he's very good, or he was in his prime very good about getting what he wanted. Now, I like this because I care a lot about conservative judges and justices, and I feel very Simpatico with Mitch McConnell when it comes to judges and justices. I am less simpatico with him when it comes to almost all other pieces of legislative reform or other issues. Not all. Actually. There are other things. He's had his upsides and his downsides. It's the same thing right now with his successor, John Thune, who doesn't care about the filibuster. You and I care about it more because we're conservative and we know it protects conservative rights. He cares about getting things done that meet his needs and his interests and not the needs and interests of people. He doesn't care about Save America Act, 80% approval, very popular approval, very popular piece of legislation. It's not high on his agenda items. It just doesn't really matter. Does he care more about what the people who are funding Republican campaigns or their issue? You know, does he care about those people and their issues? Yes, I think he does. I don't even think that's nefarious, per se. It's just how politics is right now. And so that's why he doesn't want to move this piece of legislation or do any work associated with it because it's just not high on his hey,

[Ryan Seacrest]

it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Summer is here and the sun is out. Make sure you take care of your skin this summer. Now through June 23rd. Shop for you. Save days and get great savings on all your favorite skincare Essentials and earn 4 times points. Shop in store or online and save on sunblock from Neutrogena Sun, Bum Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat and coppertone and earn 4 times points to use for future savings on groceries or gas. Offer ends June 23rd. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit out robertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Molly Hemingway]

List of Priorities okay, well, I don't

[David Harsanyi]

have your ability to divine why people are in born to their soul and know why they're doing things. But I do know this someone like Mike Lee who's defended the filibuster's whole career. I watched videos of him, I read his pieces and now says nuke the filibuster for this legislation that I like is a hypocrite and doesn't have principles. That's what I think. I don't care that the SAVE Act's important to you. I'm sure that Democrats had important bills for them and they couldn't get it done themselves.

[Molly Hemingway]

So I, I again, I I'm with you. I don't want them getting rid of the filibuster. But I don't think we should call it a principle. It's more like a tool that works for us because we are in a minority viewpoint place.

[David Harsanyi]

I mean, right? People can read my book. What is it called? The People have spoken and they are wrong for many many years ago where I make a principled appeal for both sides on the filibuster and I think it is the only tool and it's not in the Constitution. I get it. But it's the only tool preserving any kind of federalism in this country. Once it's gone, we are in trouble. So I think for me it's a print. I will support anyone who supports keeping it in place. I don't care if it's a zombie filibuster or not. I need, you know, anything. It should. There should be no time limit on it. That's how I view it. And I don't care about big moneyed interests and I don't care about what corporations are supporting Me or not. Other than the one, you know, that pays my paycheck, I care about. But anyway. And they don't tell me what to say, so. All right. I don't know. I'm happy we argued about something. We got a letter that I forgot that someone was annoyed that we're never yelling, you're wrong at each other anymore.

[Molly Hemingway]

So we had a good name change for us. What was it?

[David Harsanyi]

I forget.

[Molly Hemingway]

Dang it.

[David Harsanyi]

So Mark is the. The name of the person who wrote in. And you said we were talking about something, and you said, this is. No, this is not good. And he thinks we should change the podcast. This is not good. Which I actually like. This is not good. Okay. Do we want to talk about culture?

[Molly Hemingway]

Because I've got some talk about culture.

[David Harsanyi]

Oh, nice. You were very excited. You told me you had some stuff coming on, so I really wanted to

[Molly Hemingway]

talk about Argentina, so thank you for letting me begin. So for people who are preparing to make their summer or really do it in the winter so you can go in better weather than we did going to Argentina, you should know it's a very long flight from the United States. Apparently, when you're flying straight north or south, it takes longer because you're just battling the rotation of the earth and all that. So I watched movies down and up. On the way down, I watched a movie that I'd never seen before that I. I always feel it's like with Seinfeld. You know, people are always making Seinfeld references, and you should have a little bit of knowledge. So. So it is with for women, this movie, the Notebook.

[David Harsanyi]

Ugh. Yeah.

[Molly Hemingway]

So I watched that. I thought it was fine. I don't.

[David Harsanyi]

Ryan gosling and Rachel McAdams. Yeah.

[Molly Hemingway]

Oh, Mark Hemingway did say something I thought was funny afterwards. He saw that I'd watched it, and he said he thought there was a looks mismatch with the really couple.

[David Harsanyi]

I'm like, which one?

[Molly Hemingway]

He's like, well, that Ryan Gosling is so strapping. Rachel McAdams is just fine. And I was like, wow. I would have said the opposite. I mean, I think Ryan Gosling is nice looking, but I think Rachel McAdams is lovely. And then I realized she must be a girl's girl. What do you think about her?

[David Harsanyi]

I think. I think that's a good, fine match up there. And Ryan Gosling is also very likable. I see him in interviews. He's kind of funny and self deprecating. He looks. I am not the best judge of this. He looks like a handsome man. To me. And she is an attractive woman for sure. I don't know what Mark's talking about.

[Molly Hemingway]

Okay, so on the way back, I watched a movie called Rental Family.

[David Harsanyi]

Oh, I think I've seen this. Is this with Marky Martin? What's his name? Mark Wahlberg?

[Molly Hemingway]

No, no, it is a Japanese film with Brendan Fraser.

[David Harsanyi]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Molly Hemingway]

And I did like it. I thought it was well written and interesting. And I like movies about Japan. I'm being drawn to visit Japan. And I think a listener had complained when I'd said that I didn't really like that Lost in Translation movie. A long note about how really it's a love letter to Tokyo and you're a fool for not understanding it. And I realized there was some truth to that. So I've been. Anyway, I enjoyed that. And then I watched like a seven minute film called Animated film called When I Retire. It's like an Irish short film, which was okay. And then I started watching Interstellar solely for the music because I thought it would help me go to sleep. I love the soundtrack. And I did. I went to sleep. Oh, and then I watched another one. Sorry, sorry. When I woke up. It was called Micro Budget.

[David Harsanyi]

Micro Budget, I think that's what it's called.

[Molly Hemingway]

It's a parody of. It's a. It's about this guy making a movie with his very pregnant wife and it's absolutely absurd. And it's called Micro Budget because they're trying to do a low budget indie movie. But I liked it too. That was good.

[David Harsanyi]

Never. Never heard of it.

[Molly Hemingway]

Okay. When did it come out?

[David Harsanyi]

2024.

[Molly Hemingway]

I got an all star cast. It was really good.

[David Harsanyi]

I wouldn't call this an all star cast. Molly has Hal Linden, who played Barney Miller. Chris Farnell.

[Molly Hemingway]

I don't mean. Okay, maybe not all star, but it's got great actors. Yeah.

[David Harsanyi]

Chris Parnell was an all star cast in 1976.

[Molly Hemingway]

Maria Bamford, who I very. I think is funny. Yeah.

[David Harsanyi]

There's a documentary about her out I saw about her life that's supposedly good. I wanted to mention you had Rental Family. I remember seeing the preview for that and it reminded me of this movie from the early 90s called Mr. Baseball. Have you ever seen that with Tom Selleck?

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah.

[David Harsanyi]

Where he's like a veteran baseball player and he goes to play for the Japanese team and has culture clash and all that. I like that movie also.

[Molly Hemingway]

Just one last thing. I'm reading river of Doubt, which is a book about Teddy Roosevelt's trip exploring that river, which is now Called the Roosevelt River. I think after he lost his bid for the third round in office and he was depressed. But I'm only about halfway through. But I'm really enjoying it. It's good.

[David Harsanyi]

I don't have much. I've been working on a book myself, so I haven't been watching much tv. But I am obsessed with a show that's on Netflix. It's called Culinary Class War. Now, it's not like a class war of culinary people. It's not rich cooks against poor cooks or whatever or working class cooks or anything. Is a Korean show. It's one of these. It's culinary class pause warfare war. And it's, it has the great, the best Korean chefs in Korea, but from around the world. And it's a competition show and it is. And they cook all these kind of exotic, weirdo foods. And I'm trans. I'm just, I can't stop watching it. And each episode is like 2 hour and 50 minutes. It's just so ridiculous. But I've been watching that and, and there's this show. My viewing. This is really low brow. But anyway, I. There's this thing called Hazardous History. It's like on the History Channel. It's Henry Winkler, I think, is the, the host of it. And it just goes through these little historical snippets of crazy things we used to do in the past, like dangerous things like, you know, giving, giving heroin to children to make them go to sleep and medicine in the 1800s and, and, or then there's an episode on like Action Park. Do you remember? You know, Action park in New Jersey was this crazy, dangerous place and talks about playgrounds in the 1800s. So it's just, it's very light, fair and I watched a little bit of that. Other than that, I've only been watching the Knicks rampaging through the NBA. I'm a fair weather fan. I always watch when they're winning. And that's it for me. I don't have anything else. If you have some suggestions, you can email the showadiothefederalist.com we love to hear from you. We read all your mail, as Molly said. Do you have anything else, Molly?

[Molly Hemingway]

No, but I'd loved fighting with you. And we'll see you next week.

[David Harsanyi]

We will. Until then, be lovers of freedom and anxious to the fray.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Summer is here and the sun is out. Make sure you take care of your skin this summer. Now through June 23rd, shop for you. Save days and get great savings on all your favorite skincare Essentials and earn 4 times points. Shop in store or online and save on sunblock from Neutrogena, Sun Bum, Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat and coppertone. Enter earn 4 times points to use for future savings on groceries or gas. Offer ends June 23rd. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.