The Megyn Kelly Show
Episode: Trump Highlights National Crime Crackdown, SCOTUS Revisits Voting Rights Act: AM Update 10/16
Date: October 16, 2025
Host: Megyn Kelly

Episode Overview

This episode centers on two major news stories:

• The Trump administration's recent nationwide FBI operation targeting violent crime, its results, and political reactions.
• The U.S. Supreme Court’s high-stakes case that could reshape the Voting Rights Act and redistricting, with analysis and heated debate about the implications for democracy and minority voters.

Political commentary, guests, and news excerpts are woven throughout in Megyn Kelly’s signature straightforward, critical tone.

Key Discussion Points, Insights, and Quotes

1. Operation Summer Heat: FBI Crime Crackdown

• Summary:
  President Trump’s new administration touts the success of “Operation Summer Heat,” a nationwide FBI crackdown on violent crime and gang activity from June–September across all 50 states.

  • 8,700 violent criminals arrested
  • 2,200 illegal firearms seized
  • 421 kg fentanyl taken off the streets
  • 5,400 missing children located
  • 4 of the FBI’s top 10 most wanted fugitives arrested
  • Trump claims a 20% nationwide crime drop compared to the previous year.

• Political Back-and-Forth:
  Trump and FBI Director Cash Patel contrast these results with those under the Biden administration, citing lower arrest numbers previously.

  • Quote (Cash Patel, 02:57):
    “If you look at the past four years of the Biden administration—16,000, 17,000, 15,000, 15,000—that’s the number of arrests year over year... Mr. President, in seven months you have 27, 28,600 arrests of violent felons in just seven months alone.”

• Trump Criticizes Local Leadership: Trump singles out Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for resisting federal help in Chicago:

  • Quote (Donald Trump, 03:34):
    “If we didn’t have to fight all of these radical left governors, we could have had Chicago taken care of as an example... They had 4,000 murders in Chicago. And we listen to this man [Pritzker] stand up and say that we’re bad people and the people of Chicago are walking around with MAGA hats. You have women, beautiful black women, walking around with MAGA hats. Please let the president in. And we don’t care how he does it.”

• Next Target: San Francisco? Trump suggests that San Francisco could be next for robust federal intervention at the “request of government officials,” referencing the city’s decline and his “great support” there (04:28).

• Corporate Reaction: Marc Benioff, once supportive of the idea of National Guard assistance, quickly backpedals after Democratic backlash (04:52).

  • Kelly’s sarcastic aside: “So by bring in the National Guard, he really meant don’t bring in the National Guard, but collaborate with private rent-a-cops. Okay?”

2. Cartel Bounties on Law Enforcement

• Escalation in Chicago: DHS reports that Mexican cartels, with U.S. extremist group collaboration, are placing bounties on ICE and CBP agents in Chicago—$2,000 for intel, up to $50,000 for assassinating high-ranking officials.

• Antifa Allegations:
  DHS bulletin claims Antifa provides “logistical support” for cartels through protest supplies and doxxing agents in Chicago and Portland.

  • Quote (DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, citing X post):
    “Their campaign of terror against the brave men and women who protect our homeland will be crushed and these cartel members will be brought to their knees. President Trump and I have the backs of every member of law enforcement across our nation.” (approx 09:20)

• Notable Incident:
  The arrest of a Latin Kings gang member for putting a $10,000 bounty on a Border Patrol chief. Democratic officials have yet to comment.

3. Supreme Court Revisits the Voting Rights Act

• Case in Focus: Louisiana v. Calais—a dispute over whether the state’s congressional map with two majority Black districts constitutes unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.

  • Black voters argue for proportional representation.
  • Non-Black voters, backed by Louisiana and the Trump administration, argue the new map is unconstitutional.
  • The Supreme Court asks for re-argument, focusing on the constitutional interpretation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).

• Legal Expert Analysis: Guest Hans von Spakovsky (Heritage Foundation) criticizes current use of the VRA.

  • Quote (Hans von Spakovsky, 11:26):
    “The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. It was intended to stop the kind of outright discrimination... That kind of discrimination has almost completely disappeared. So what it’s been now being used for... is [to claim] not denial of voting, but that their vote has been diluted… That is not what the Voting Rights Act was intended to do to help one political party or not.”

• Justice Jackson’s Memorable Comparison:

  • Quote (Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, 13:30):
    “Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act against the backdrop of a world that was generally not accessible to people with disabilities... The idea in Section 2 [of the VRA] is that we are responding to current-day manifestations of past and present decisions that disadvantage minorities and make it so they don’t have equal access to the voting system. Right. They’re ‘disabled.’... These processes are not equally open.”
  • Spakovsky rebuts sharply, calling it “an absurd claim that does not match reality” and “a patronizingly racist attitude towards black voters and black elected officials” (14:32).

• Implications and Predictions:

  • The media is widely predicting that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Louisiana (and the Trump administration) would “gut the remaining pillar of the act” (Vox, NYT).
  • Quote (Hans von Spakovsky, 15:32):
    “I don’t think the Supreme Court’s gonna throw out Section Two. I just think they’re gonna come out with much stronger rules saying you can’t order this kind of race-based remedy unless there was real discrimination going on... The same people who claimed the sky is going to fall in … were apoplectic when [Section 5 was struck], [but] that did not happen and I predict exactly the same effect with the current case.”
  • Spakovsky’s bottom line (16:31):
    “It will stop what has been happening in many federal courts where federal judges have misapplied the Voting Rights Act to not stop racial discrimination, but to stop election losses by the Democratic Party because they confuse politics with race.”

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• Crackdown Results and Trump’s Criticism of Illinois Leadership: 00:42–04:23
• San Francisco & Marc Benioff Comments: 04:23–05:06
• Cartel Bounty System, Antifa, and Law Enforcement Threats: 05:30–09:40
• SCOTUS Voting Rights Act Case Explained: 10:45–16:54
• Notable Quotes on Voting Rights Law and Justice Jackson’s Analogy: 11:26, 13:30, 14:32, 15:32, 16:31

Memorable Moments & Tone

• Trump’s Colorful Chicago Commentary:
  Referencing “beautiful black women, walking around with MAGA hats,” urging for federal intervention despite local resistance (03:34).

• Media and Political Satire:
  Megyn Kelly’s sardonic takes, especially in describing corporate and political reversals (see Marc Benioff, 04:52).

• Headlining Supreme Court Exchange:
  The exchange between Justice Jackson and Spakovsky underscores the episode’s sharp divide on how to approach race and the law, with vivid language and strong reactions.

Conclusion

This update episode delivers fast-paced, unsparingly critical coverage of Trump-era law enforcement highlights and a major Supreme Court showdown over redistricting and race. Key guests and sharply polarized quotes provide lively engagement for listeners, with clear stakes for national politics and legal precedent.