The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Mollie Hemingway Reveals the Secret Behind the Supreme Court Dobbs Leak

Summary

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The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Mollie Hemingway Reveals the Secret Behind the Supreme Court Dobbs Leak

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show | May 4, 2026
Guest: Mollie Hemingway, Editor in Chief of The Federalist & Author of "Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution"

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Episode Overview

This episode features a deep-dive interview with journalist and author Mollie Hemingway about her new book on Justice Samuel Alito. The discussion explores behind-the-scenes dynamics of the Supreme Court, personal histories shaping legal philosophies, the fallout from the Dobbs leak, political violence, media bias, and upcoming political and legal battles. Through insights, anecdotes, and analysis, the conversation reveals the human and historic dimensions behind the highest court in the land.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Sam Alito? – The Untold Story

[04:54–07:05]

• Mollie was drawn to Justice Alito after repeatedly hearing from prominent figures that he was a major force in the court but underappreciated and underreported.
• Alito is described as brilliant in oral arguments, incredibly humble, and not seeking the limelight, which led to a lack of biographical focus compared to his contemporaries.
• “Despite being one of the most consequential justices we've had, most people don't know anything about him.” — Molly Hemingway [05:23]

2. Alito’s Immigrant Roots and Conservative Worldview

[07:05–10:32]

• All four of Alito’s grandparents immigrated from Italy; his father didn’t even speak English as a child.
• Alito’s perspective was shaped by growing up in a working-class, public-school environment—distinct from many Ivy League peers.
• He was motivated to work hard, not feeling entitled, and skeptical of elite institutions, even as he moved through them.
• “He doesn't really love elites like some people in Washington, D.C. do.” — Molly Hemingway [09:51]

3. The Dobbs Decision and the Supreme Court Leak

[10:32–14:39]

• Molly discusses the historical context of Roe v. Wade and its legal controversy that spawned the conservative legal movement and originalism.
• Alito authored the Dobbs opinion overturning Roe—a move requiring significant internal and public courage.
• Inside the Court: After the leak, conservative justices faced threats and personal danger. Liberal justices delayed the descent, drawing out a period of intense tension and fear.
• “Amy Coney Barrett had to put on a bulletproof vest in front of her children… Brett Kavanaugh had an assassin at his home.” — Molly Hemingway [11:57]
• “They delayed that dissent for seven weeks.” — Molly Hemingway [13:38]

4. Escalating Political Violence and Partisan Double Standards

[14:39–22:15]

• Political hostility toward conservative justices ramped up starting with Robert Bork’s nominee battle in the 1980s—radicalizing many in the conservative legal movement.
• Recent years have seen unprecedented threats and even assassination attempts against officials like Kavanaugh and Trump, often tacitly condoned or downplayed by high-profile Democrats and the media.
• “The problem with political violence right now is that it is embraced by the left… the people in power are not doing the right thing.” — Molly Hemingway [20:12]
• Clear legal prohibitions against intimidating justices were ignored by officials like Merrick Garland and the White House.

5. Media’s Role in Amplifying Hostility

[22:15–25:26]

• Major media institutions are accused of perpetuating double standards—magnifying threats against Democrats while downplaying those against Republicans.
• “When it's anybody on the right, they want to move on from that story as quickly as possible, and they don’t want to take responsibility for what they themselves have done to cause problems.” — Molly Hemingway [23:13]
• The language used by attackers often parrots rhetoric from mainstream left-oriented outlets.
• Dissonance seen after the President’s attempted assassination and the Correspondents’ Dinner—media personalities declined to self-reflect on their role.

6. The Challenge of Real Political Discourse and Journalism

[25:26–31:42]

• Critique of media grandstanding and lack of serious, substantive questions at press conferences.
• Molly encourages journalists to press for clear definitions of military objectives, cost, and endgame—using as examples current US actions in Iran and Ukraine.
• “What does winning mean? What does defeat look like? How much is it going to cost?” — Molly Hemingway [27:44]
• The lack of clear, compelling government communication is attributed to the complexity of modern geopolitics and political strategy.

7. Gerrymandering, Alito’s Voting Rights Act Decision & Representation

[35:15–39:58]

• Discussions on midterm political dynamics, redistricting, and recent Supreme Court rulings affecting gerrymandering.
• Molly explains Alito’s majority decision on race-based redistricting: “Racist gerrymandering is now illegal. It's unconstitutional.”
• She advocates for smaller, more numerous congressional districts to improve meaningful representation.
• “…You might have more competitive districts… I think that's actually healthy for the legislature…” — Molly Hemingway [39:38]

8. Alito, the Person & the Book’s Broader Significance

[39:58–41:22]

• Tudor reflects on biographies as potent windows into American history and the human stories behind public institutions.
• Molly notes the public’s growing interest in Alito and encourages readers to dive into his story as a window into constitutional history and contemporary legal battles.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He is very conservative. And I think conservatives also need to know about this justice who has delivered so many victories for them, of things that they've cared about for so long.” — Molly Hemingway [06:56]
• “He needs to do well in school to achieve his dreams. They can spend years protesting, getting their cat classes canceled, and then they go work at some hedge fund or… make a ton of money anyway. That wasn't something he had.” — Molly Hemingway [09:00]
• “Elena Kagan… went so far as to scream at Justice Breyer because he seemed willing to accommodate his conservative colleagues, knowing what they were all dealing with.” — Molly Hemingway [12:40]
• “It's not like it's serving [Black constituents’] needs particularly well. But you might have more competitive districts.” — Molly Hemingway [39:33]
• “If they want to be propagandists who lie with abandon and cause the entire Democrat party to believe in conspiracy theories… maybe don’t go to those things and treat those people as if they deserve any of your time.” — Molly Hemingway [25:15]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 03:19 – Tudor’s introduction to the episode and guest
• 04:54 – Why Mollie Hemingway wrote about Alito
• 07:05 – Discussion of Alito’s background and worldview
• 10:32 – The Dobbs decision and the Supreme Court leak
• 14:39 – Political violence: past and present
• 20:12 – The role of political leaders in fanning or diminishing violence
• 22:15 – How the media covers threats and violence
• 27:44 – Questions journalists should ask about war and policy
• 35:15 – Gerrymandering, Alito’s Voting Rights Act opinion, and political representation
• 39:58 – The importance of biographies like “Alito” for American history

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Tone & Style

Throughout the episode, the tone is forthright and analytical but also personal, blending sharp political criticism with storytelling and institutional analysis. Hemingway’s perspective is distinctly conservative, pragmatic, and focused on both historical context and present-day consequences.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Justice Alito’s background and philosophy are critical to understanding recent Supreme Court shifts, especially on issues like abortion and voting rights.
• The Dobbs leak deeply affected the Supreme Court’s internal dynamics and the safety of its justices.
• Political violence and its perceived legitimization by powerful officials and media have escalated, posing dangers to both fair governance and public order.
• Media narratives often reflect and reinforce partisan divides, with serious ramifications for public understanding and political behavior.
• Ongoing debates over representation, gerrymandering, and legislative reforms remain central to the health of American democracy.
• Mollie Hemingway’s “Alito” is positioned as a vital resource for grasping the personal and legal stories shaping the nation’s future.

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Transcript

[Tudor Dixon]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Molly Hemingway]

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[Tudor Dixon]

See full [e-mail] welcome to the Tudor Dixon Podcast. We have a great show for you today. If you love anything. Supreme Court, Washington, D.C. all the behind the scenes in history, today is you. But First, I need 60 seconds of your attention. I want to talk to you about love, generosity and compassion. We say those words all the time and they sound good and they feel good. But here's the truth. Those words don't mean much unless you turn them into action. I want you to think about this right now. Not later today, not tomorrow, but right now. There is a child in this world who doesn't know if they're going to eat. They don't know if they're going to

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have the chance to learn.

[Tudor Dixon]

They're not even sure there's any hope at all. And while we're busy, while life keeps us moving, that child is waiting. And this is where you come in. With Compassion International, you have the chance to change a child's future not with words, not with promises, but real help that provides food, education and hope through local churches and people who are already in their community. Put your words into action. Introduce a child to a loving heavenly father [e-mail] that's compassion.com now, as I promised, we have a great show for you today. We have Molly Hemingway with us. She is the editor in chief of the Federalist, a senior journalism fellow at Hillsdale College right here in Michigan, and a Fox News contributor. But now she is also the author of the newest book, Alito, which is an amazing book. It's Alito, the justice who reshaped the Supreme Court and restored the Constitution. Molly, welcome to the podcast.

[Molly Hemingway]

It's great to be here with you, Tudor. Thank you.

[Tudor Dixon]

The book is very cool. I will say I was telling you before we got on. I'm halfway through it right now. I think it's incredibly insightful about the Supreme Court. I think the Supreme Court for many of us is like this institution that is upheld, but we can't really get Inside of it, we don't really see the emotions of it. And yet it's a group of people who have different political backgrounds, but they don't bring politics into it. I think you captured that really well.

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, thanks. And that's exactly why I'm interested in the Supreme Court. We all know it's important. We all hear about how their decisions come down. And sometimes it's kind of public, like they read their decisions from the bench, they do oral argument that you can listen to. They are public about which cases they're gonna take. But a lot of it happens behind closed doors. So I wanted to take readers behind the scenes, see what happens when they're discussing things, what the process is like, and then also what these justices are like. We know about some of. But Alito, despite being one of the most consequential justices we've had, most people don't know anything about him.

[Tudor Dixon]

What made you decide that he was the one?

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, I had previously written a book with Kerry Severino on the Kavanaugh confirmation. And for that book we interviewed a lot of very high level people, including justices. And we kept hearing people say, why does nobody talk about Sam Alito? He's such a big force on the court. He's, you know, he's the best at oral argument. He's brilliant. And he's also shy or reserved. He's very humble. So he doesn't seek celebrity in any way. There'd never been a book written about him. Now this year there will be three. But that's why I wanted to do it. And also because I think it's important that we know a lot about the more libertarian minded justices, people like Scalia who died in 2016, or Clarence Thomas. But Alito, the left hates him for this. He is very conservative. And I think conservatives also need to know about this justice who has delivered so many victories for them, of things that they've cared about for so long.

[Tudor Dixon]

You had some interesting details in there, like when he was in college and they said, well, we're going to make this class pass fail. And he kind of had this moment of like, I've fought really hard to be here. And it was because they wanted to go out and protest. And there were a bunch of liberals who, I think the point was made something along the lines of, here's a bunch of kids who just kind of got handed this education and I've fought really hard to be here. It was the true American story and the American story that I think conservatives generally support. But sometimes in the midst of the passion of politics, we forget that that immigration story, that person who wants to be an American, that person whose parents brought them here when they were a baby and fought really hard to become American, and then goes to one of our elite universities and studies be eventually become a Supreme Court justice. But obviously he didn't know that at the time. As I was reading through this and seeing how his conservative views were shaped, it was really based on the constitution of this country.

[Molly Hemingway]

So I think his story is so interesting. Sam Alito, all four of his grandparents immigrated from Italy. His father was brought here as a baby. So even his father was an immigrant from Italy. And he didn't really come from, you know, particularly illustrious stock. One of his grandfathers didn't speak English. He didn't also speak Italian very well because they had, in Italy, they had all these regional dialects. And he wasn't, you know, it wasn't the great success story of one of his grandfathers, but his parents, they very much valued their upbringing. They cared deeply about education because they saw that education was the way that they could help or that they could achieve the American dream, and also their children could achieve the American dream. Sam Alito is obviously very impressive, but his sister is also very impressive. She's one of the top lawyers in New Jersey, known for her brilliant legal mind. And both of their parents, they were very much emphasizing education. So by strength of his intellect and his hard work, he gets to go to Princeton. He's a public school kid. He comes from an area where most people don't go to college, but he gets into Princeton and he's wondering, how am I going to compete against all of these elite people who are there that went to elite boarding schools? And what he finds is a lot of them got in because they were legacy children. They weren't really that great at their studies. He realizes that he and some of his other public school friends actually are better in their studies than their fellow students. But then when it comes to protest, it's the same thing. They're all out there protesting because they have the luxury of protesting. He needs to do well in school to achieve his dreams. They can spend years protesting, getting their cat classes canceled, getting them changed into pass fail, and then they go work at some hedge fund or, you know, do something where they're going to make a ton of money anyway. That wasn't something he had. And I think that he recognized that in an early age is also why he cares so much about middle and lower class people. Even though he went to Elite institutions like Princeton, like Yale Law, that he served in elite positions, the government and became a Supreme Court justice. He doesn't really love elites like some people in Washington, D.C. do.

[Tudor Dixon]

It's very interesting because obviously that story starts with the protests, but you go deeply into the Dobbs decision. He was a major voice in the Dobbs decision, especially when the leak happened. I mean, it was his dissent, really, that that leaked out to the public and his paper that leaked out to the public. Tell us a little bit about what that did to the court, what you found that did to the court.

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, and you kind of have to go back to the 70s. There you had a court that had strayed from any sort of coherent legal philosophy. They decided that they would just decide cases as if they were a legislature of nine people rather than a court that is supposed to, you know, interpret the Constitution. So you get a bunch of decisions that are a little weird. And what it. One of the ones that is almost always rated as a top five worst decision from the Supreme Court was Roe v. Wade. And people think of Roe v. Wade as just something that legalized abortion. But from a constitutional perspective, it was much different. It was saying that the founders of the country had hidden a right to abortion in the Constitution, that when the 14th Amendment was passed, the framers of that, that they hid it in there. And people who are pro life and people who are pro choice, who are honest, they never thought that was a particularly good decision. They thought it was awful. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she thought it was a mistake. A lot of people who said, I would totally vote to legalize abortion, I have no problem with that, but this is not constitutional law. So a movement develops to deal with this type of judicial reasoning, not that it was really reasoning, and that becomes the conservative legal movement and what is called originalism, where you go where you say, it doesn't really matter what we think per se, personally, we're gonna go on what the original meaning of the Constitution was at the time that it was passed. And so that springs up. It becomes a bigger force. It's now the dominant legal theory in America. But for some reason, it was like nobody could overturn Roe v. Wade. Every time they would come close, there would be massive public pressure campaigns and they would lack the courage to do it. So Alito was the one who wrote the majority opinion in Dobbs to overturn Roe v. Wade. We all know what a fraught topic that was and the courage it took to withstand that pressure. But I get into this in the book, but how he's able to get majorities together to do difficult things like this. But I also tell the inside story of what happened inside the court when that happened, how the liberal justices were very upset, how they delayed their dissent. You know, a decision isn't public until it's handed down. The decision isn't final until it's publicly released. So you have to have the decision, but also the dissent to be able to release it publicly. And so they were just delaying their dissent. And the justices had their lives very seriously threatened during this time. People had posted their home addresses. Amy Coney Barrett had to put on a bulletproof vest in front of her children. They were moved to secure locations. And so the justices asked their colleagues, like, could you wrap this up? We would like to not die. And Elena Kagan, according. You know, according to my reporting, actually went so far as to scream at Justice Breyer because he seemed willing to accommodate his conservative colleagues, knowing what they were all dealing with. And then they did. But they did delay that descent for seven weeks. And Brett Kavanaugh had an assassin at his home who was arrested, thankfully, that he got from, you know, during that time. So that's, like, really explosive stuff. Normally, the court isn't dealing with that level of death threat, but they certainly had to endure that at the time.

[Tudor Dixon]

That's what I was gonna say. Was this really the first. I mean, we saw this when Brett Kavanaugh was being confirmed, when he was going through the confirmation. We saw this level of hatred, and there were the threats then. Was that kind of the beginning of threats against the court, or has this always been something that we just haven't seen as much as we have recently?

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah, I do think that we have seen an increase in politics surrounding the Court since the middle of the 1980s. We really see things get going when Robert Bork is nominated. He's one of the fathers of originalism, along with Justice Scalia. And the left did not want him. So they ran a political campaign against his nomination. Hundreds of political groups got involved in all of that. You remember the Clarence Thomas hearings, where they ran a situation there of trying to stop him and then with Kavanaugh. But I've talked with a lot of conservative attorneys, and it seems like the people who are, like, become involved in the conservative legal movement, they end up being radicalized by the Bork hearings, the Thomas hearings, or the Kavanaugh hearings.

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[Tudor Dixon]

We say those words all the time.

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They sound good, they feel good. But here's the truth. Those words don't mean anything unless you turn them into action right now. Not later today, not tomorrow. There's a child in the world who doesn't know if they'll eat, if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's any hope at all. And while we're busy, while life keeps moving, that child is waiting. This is where you come in. With Compassion International, you have the chance to change a child's future not with words, not with promises, but with real help that provides food, education and hope through local churches and people already in their community.

[Tudor Dixon]

Put your words into action.

[Compassion International Sponsor]

Introduce a child to a loving Heavenly Father, father [e-mail] that's compassion.com support for

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the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public

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[Martha Stewart]

is Martha Stewart from the Martha Stewart Podcast. Ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret Getting ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens Countertop Prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter beforehand so the paper grips and stays in place. Then lay down the Reynolds Kitchen's countertop prep paper so drips and spills stay on the paper, not all over your kitchen counter. You can roll out dough, prep a party spread or cook alongside family when you're done. Cleanup is as simple as lifting the paper and revealing that clean counter underneath. Effortless. You can use it for cooking and baking prep and even crafting, especially when you need extra working space because when the mess is already handled, you can focus on what matters. The food, the people, and the moment. It may look effortless, but now, you know, it's Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Take a tip from me. Wet it, set it, prep it. Done. Make it easy, make it with Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper available now in the Reynolds wrap aisle in Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Costco.

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[Tudor Dixon]

So, as we've seen, certainly what we saw with the correspondence dinner, we've now seen assassination attempts against the President three times. Obviously, we all live through the death of Charlie Kirk. I think this was kind of the beginning of when the left really in our lifetime, or at least in this political cycle of, I would say the last 10 to 15 years. Kavanaugh was the beginning of the real. We're gonna send an assassin. We're really serious about this. We're gonna take someone out. And it just seems like it continues to ratchet up. And yet there doesn't. This. This latest with James Comey and the indictment of James Comey seems to be the government pushing back on these open death threats against elected officials, certainly against the president. Do you think there's a way to stop this? I mean, how? You were so intimately involved with the court in these interviews and discussions. Did they ever say, like, enough is enough. We've gotta enforce the part of the First Amendment that says, yeah, but you can't threaten people's lives.

[Molly Hemingway]

So I think the big problem with political violence right now is that it is embraced by the left rather than, you know. You know, people can be violent all over the map, but usually the powers that be say, that's not okay. You can't do that. What we've seen with the left is some of the highest officials in the Democrat Party, unfortunately, have been participating in this. So I think of Chuck Schumer when he was minority leader in 20. I don't remember exactly when. It was not that many years ago. He actually stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and threatened violence against Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch if they did not agree with him on a particular decision. So instead of someone like Chuck Schumer saying, we all need to stop doing this, he's actually Fanning the flames and encouraging people. And what happens a couple years later? Someone tries to kill Brett Kavanaugh and his family. So the issue really seems to be that the, the people in power are not doing the right thing. When people went to the justices homes to threaten them in order to get them to change their. The Dobbs case, that's against the law. That's clearly against the law. Federal statutes say you are not allowed to do things like this to try to change the outcome of a decision. What did Merrick Garland do? Literally nothing. What did the Biden White House do? They said they wanted the protests to continue and they described them as peaceful. They weren't peaceful. They were. They were trying to affect the rule of law through these protests, some of which were violent and some of which led to actual assassination attempts. So when the President and the Attorney General and the minority leader are actually fanning the flames, that's where I think we have the problem. Because there will be sinful people no matter what you do. But it certainly makes it worse when people who are supposed to uphold rule of law are breaking it down.

[Tudor Dixon]

Yeah, you're just reminding me. I mean, I think it was 2018 when Maxine Waters went out and said, don't let them get gas, bother them at the gas stations, go into the restaurants. Essentially anyone who was a Trump supporter or a Republican at that point, she was saying harass them. And then you actually saw this start to happen. I think it was. Wasn't Sarah Sanders who got pushed around in a restaurant and told to leave. And, and we, I mean, we've had multiple times where people have gone in and harassed Republicans in Restaura and they've been told to continue. I mean, you talk about the protests. Kamala Harris was the one who said, stay in the streets. And yet regardless of the number of times this continues to happen, even the press being there, I mean, that's what stuns me is just this past week when the press is there, it's the correspondence dinner. And still out of that dinner, you hear some people going, I think it was a hoax. That blows my mind.

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, I do think also we should point out how the media are about these things. Now. If a Democrat has his or her life threatened or if there's a problem there, they're pretty good about making a big deal about it, talking about the underlying causes, talking about what can be done. When it's. Anybody on the right, they want to move on from that story as quickly as possible, and they don't want to take responsibility for what they themselves have done to cause problems here. So you take the guy who tried to kill Trump and his cabinet. At that correspondence dinner, I saw Chuck Todd saying, oh, I'm not. I'm too afraid to go anywhere where the President is now. Well, in that note that that attempted assassin wrote to his family, he said that he believed the Russia collusion hoax and various other hoaxes that had been perpetrated by Chuck Todd. Chuck Todd went on air every day during the first Trump presidency and perp delusional conspiracy theory that caused people to question the validity of the 2016 election. He regularly was suggesting that Donald Trump was a traitor. And that man who tried to kill him, what did he say? He said, because he's a traitor. And so I wish the media would take more responsibility for their own role in causing hatred and division. They do a horrible job of covering things, and then they celebrate themselves with a fancy dinner. And then, yes, as you note, even when they do that fancy dinner and someone tries to take out out the object of their hatred, there's no self reflection. There's absolutely nothing other than them all wanting to talk about how special they are.

[Tudor Dixon]

You make such a great point because it's always when, when you see the manifesto or you see the posts that these people make after the fact, they're always using their exact language. Hitler, rapist, pedophile. All of these things are coming from the view, coming from these people that are, are speaking every night, their opinions on national television, and the words are exactly the same. And yet when it happens, they go, you know, Donald Trump's rhetoric is bad.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah. And it's not just like extremists. It's. They are kind of extreme. But the Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times, msnbc, cnn, these aren't fringe parts of the left media ecosphere. These are actually pretty major parts of the left's media ecosphere. So. But again, I think people who do recognize the problems caused by these media folk should also not give them power that they don't deserve. I am actually shocked and somewhat disappointed that any Republican administration would honor the White House correspondence dinner with their presence. If they want to be propagandists who lie with abandon and cause the entire Democrat party to believe in conspiracy theories. I mean, one of the polls that came out recently showed that half of Democrats believed that the left's previous assassination attempts on President Trump were hoaxes that he had, you know, concocted himself. So maybe don't go to those things and treat those people as if they deserve any of your time.

[Tudor Dixon]

Yeah, I saw the other day, Secretary Hegseth was giving a press conference, and someone asked him. I don't know the exact words they used, but they essentially said, when you plan these attacks and you bomb Iran, do you get some sort of adrenaline rush? I was stunned.

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, and there really would be good to have a media asking good questions about the current situation versus with Iran versus the US There are many good questions to ask, but too much of what we see, actually from all sorts of people is just grand, grandstanding, emotionalism, Gotcha questions. And it doesn't help the American people, I don't think.

[Tudor Dixon]

When I said you were gonna be on the podcast, so many people said to me, that's amazing. This is like real journalism. You'll get to really talk to someone who is legitimately a journalist. But the fact that you just made that point, what would you ask? I mean, because I think we have so many people that. So many podcasters and so many people out there that are giving their own opinion and bloviating about something that they really don't know about, and we haven't gotten to those questions. What do you think are the questions should be asked of the administration right now?

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, in the recent situation with Pete Hegseth, he was there talking about the budget for the Defense Department, and it is a massive budget that they're asking for. So I would just. I would. I think that what is always important to do with military intervention, talk about what the objectives are, what the range of objectives are. What does. What does winning mean? What would defeat look like? How much is it going to cost? How long will people be expected to support this? I would also ask about, you know, this is not the only conflict we're involved in. We're also involved with Ukraine. That's now been going on for quite. I mean, how many is that? Four years now?

[Tudor Dixon]

It's like we forget about it.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yes. And it's a lot of money that taxpayers are spending there. So again, what's the objective? What will victory look like there? Is there any endpoint to supporting that? I think the people can handle answers to these questions and also deserve answers to these questions. We're always expected to foot the bill for these things. And I think it would also give an opportunity to learn more about the administration's thinking. I do think this is something that they could be messaging much better. Unlike a lot of people who are like, they have no idea what they're doing, I actually think they might have a really interesting game plan, like even shutting down the strait, you can see in a long term way where that would really reorder the global markets in a way that would be to the United States advantage. But it's also probably true that the amount of time that would be needed to do that blockade would come at the expense of Republicans having any victory in November. So finding out more about those timelines and whether the benefit of that reordering of the global situation would be worth the cost of handing Democrats the House and possibly now the Senate, I think that's like a good discussion to have.

[Tudor Dixon]

It's interesting. You're not the first person to say that there's more to the story, but we're not hearing it. It's not being framed the right way. Discussion is not being had. And I do think that obviously when you go into these or when you're watching one of these press conferences, it is kind of a sparring event. But why do you think it is that we're not. They can control the narrative too. And the president is a genius when it comes to this, having his own press conferences and having the discussion. Why do you think that they haven't done that at this point?

[Molly Hemingway]

I could not. I actually have. I'm not sure. I think in some ways is it's a complicated goal structure and complicated goals can be difficult to communicate. So if you look at when President George W. Bush was launching his war with Iraq, he did make the case to the American people for a very long period of time. Now, it turned out in the end not to be the best case, because the whole case was that they had weapons of mass destruction and we had to remove them. They didn't, but he believed they did. And he made that case over a long period of time going through Congress and going to the UN and building a coalition. And I could see where that seems like something that President Trump didn't feel that he had time for. But you also have a downside of that, which is that a majority of Americans do not support this action versus Iran. And even when they talk about it, they're listing like 8, 12, 16 goals and objectives. And I compare it to, like when you hear Bibi Netanyahu talking about the case for why they're at war with Israel, it's actually pretty clear and makes sense that they're at war with Iran. You know, he's like, they want to, they want to eliminate us all. It makes sense for the US It's a different situation. You can say, well, Iran has always said that, that they want death to America. Sure, they have. We're not right next door. We're not, you know, it's a different situation. And so I understand that it's more complicated. But that just means that the communications should be, you know, they should put more effort into the communications.

[Tudor Dixon]

So interesting.

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Before

[Tudor Dixon]

I let you go, there's some other interesting things happening come this midterm. The midterm is going to be, oh, gosh, I just think it's going to be so ugly. I already see it happening on the ground. I mean, obviously we see what's happening in Texas. Here in Michigan, we see some interesting clashes with the Democrats. We've got Mallory McMurra running for Senate against Abdul Al Sayad, and those were the two progressives here. They are kind of like warring for that piece of the pie right now. So obviously we're seeing politics heat up. If you're in politics, you're watching it closer than most people. But we're also seeing these redistricting wars. And I noticed that they've been talking about this actually quite a bit on Fox lately. And there was a bit of a sparring yesterday of like, well, you know, Democrat and Republican. Well, do you think it's okay when Republicans do it if Democrats are doing it? And the answer was sort of overwhelmingly, we, we don't at all want it. Like, we don't want these. We don't want the gerrymandering at all. What is your opinion on that?

[Molly Hemingway]

Well, I have to bring it back to the book right now about Justice Alito because he just authored the decision that is going to affect a lot of Southern states. We've already seen them deciding that they need to quickly redistrict so that they're not having unconstitutional districts. The Alito decision said that this interpretation of the Voting Rights act, which. There was this interpretation that said you can't draw. Draw majority white districts, but you have to draw majority black districts. It was this interpretation that Alito wrote for six. For six of the justices. It's just not true. You cannot mandate racism from a state, particularly when we have the 15th amendment of the Constitution, which says states aren't allowed to be racist in anything dealing with elections. So. So Democrats had exploited this to get more seats out of the south in particular, than they would have gotten otherwise. So racist gerrymandering is now illegal. It's unconstitutional. So that will affect a bunch of states. But I just think. I don't like gerrymanders, period. And I think it's very radical. But my own thought is that we have. Our congressional districts are too large, and we should expand the size of the House of Representatives so that people have legitimate representation. I think it would be a mess. It would be like, you know, thousands of representatives, but it would mean that people actually had real representation. You wouldn't have to have these clownish, cartoonish, gerrymandered districts. You could just kind of have blocks throughout your state, but you would have. You would know who your representative is and you could talk to them and you could have them advocate for the things you care about as opposed to what it is now, which is just. They mostly seem to be beholden to very powerful special interests.

[Tudor Dixon]

Hmm. Yes. Just really quickly going back to the Alito opinion on that. Do you believe that. I mean, this has happened. This has happened in our state as well. Do you believe that over time that decision will then reshape those maps as well? That it'll. People will go back and the local government will go back and say, well, this is gerrymandered race.

[Molly Hemingway]

They will have to. It's actually now because it's illegal to do what has been done with these. With these maps. So you could still gerrymander, but you can't be racist when you gerrymander. And that's what we were allowing the Democrat Party basically to have some racist gerrymandered districts. Now, I actually think it's not as bad for Democrats, as they said, or as good for Republicans as they think, because the Democrats are saying, if we're not allowed to be racist in the creation of these districts, it's going to hurt us. Well, what you're going to see is you're going to have populations more evenly divided by area as opposed to race. And I think that that will mean. Mean that even without my idea for Increasing the size of the House, you will have congressional districts that are more responsive to people without dividing them according to race. It clearly has not worked out well for black people. Like, they're not getting a lot out of their racially gerrymandered districts anyway. It's not like it's serving their needs particularly well. But you might have more competitive districts. You might have less of this situation where, you know, Republicans know that they can hold onto a district no matter what, and Democrats know they can hold on to a district. There might be more districts where they're little competitive and you see them moving back and forth. And I think that's actually healthy for the legislature, both in the House and the Senate.

[Tudor Dixon]

You mean having to actually learn what everybody needs and learn? Yeah, yeah.

[Molly Hemingway]

Serving a broad group of people as opposed to just being, like, not caring at all, except for the narrow constituency, that isn't really a natural constituency.

[Tudor Dixon]

And obviously, there's going to be places where, regardless, everybody is somewhat the same, but for the most part, I mean, I come from a state where you can encompass a lot of different cultures in one small area. So it is nice to have representation that has to actually learn who they're representing. I'm excited about the book. I think that so many people should. I read a book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg a few years ago, and it was fascinating because it was similar in the. In the standpoint that you get so much history in it. And that, to me, is what's fascinating about these books is these are. These people are larger than life. And. And he. She was. And he is. And that, to me, is the. Is where you can really, like, you know, just lock into your American history and. And go, this is. This is my country. This is what it's all about. So I'm excited about the book. I'm excited for other people to read it. I'm excited to finish it, because, like I said, it is. It really draws you in. So I appreciate what you did tell people where they can.

[Molly Hemingway]

Yeah. Alito is sold wherever books are sold. Amazon and Barnes and Noble seem to be where most of the sales are coming from. And I. And I'm thrilled that it made the New York Times bestseller list, which means other people are really interested in him as well. But, yeah, I would love, love for people to read and know more about this very interesting man.

[Tudor Dixon]

It is amazing. Well, thank you for sharing. Molly Hemingway, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

[Molly Hemingway]

Thank you, Tudor.

[Tudor Dixon]

Absolutely. And thank you all for tuning in. As you know, you can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Rumble, or YouTube. Wherever you get your podcasts, just make sure you tune in. And right now, have a blessed day.

[Sophia Donner]

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[Martha Stewart]

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[Molly Hemingway]

I think when you're diagnosed with cancer, you crave a semblance of normalcy and control. And so work allowed me to be me. So I think it's really important that companies stay flexible. Cancer in a diagnosis can be all consuming, but it doesn't have to be.

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[Tudor Dixon]

for healing, learn more and sign the [e-mail].