The Federalist Radio Hour

Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review senior editor and Bloomberg View columnist, joins Ben Domenech in studio to discuss the impact Trump has had on the conservative agenda, and what the future looks like for those agenda items such as immigration, foreign policy, trade, and the Supreme Court. The rise of Trump is evidence for the need of an updated conservative economic agenda for the working class. Youre going to need, if you want a center-right majority in this country, an agenda that is capable of commanding the loyalty of the working class white voters about whom weve heard so much, Ponnuru said. But also some significant percentage of non-white voters. When it comes to free trade, Ponnuru said politically Republicans should make the case for it in less abstract terms. Theres been no move toward a protectionist direction in the last 10 years, he said. The public is still pretty solidly on the side that its more of an opportunity than a threat.

Benjy Sarlin, political reporter at NBC News and MSNBC, joins Ben Domenech on The Federalist Radio to discuss this weeks conversation around the FBI, Donald Trumps obsession with revenge and violence, and the future of The Republican Party. Many of the biggest news stories from the campaign trail this year can be traced back to Donald Trumps habits of retaliation. [Trump] has gotten this far in life with this very specific philosophy that no matter what happens, if anyone touches you, you have to immediately respond. You have to respond in force, Sarlin said. Later in the hour, they discussed what types of fights on the Right will play out after the election. There is not really an effective advocacy structure for this group that Donald Trump has brought up. Theres talk radio, theres populist outlets on social media, theres Breitbart... but they dont have the most coherent policy agenda, Sarlin said.

Mollie Hemingway and David Harsanyi, senior editors at The Federalist, discuss this weeks media meltdowns over James Comeys letter to Congress and the debunked story of Trumps Russian server on The Federalist Radio Hour. With unsubstantiated claims and anonymous sources, this attempt at an October Surprise against Trump was a failure. I couldnt believe how poorly this was done, that they couldnt get anything on him, Hemingway said. Within a couple of hours, the New York Times had debunked the server story. The Lefts attack on James Comey this week shows just how far they will go to protect Clinton. They have no problem taking down the FBI, they have no problem attacking any institution that threatens Hillary. So, I think the problem of partisanship is much worse than I thought after seeing this whole thing go down, Harsanyi said.

Shane Harris, senior intelligence and national security correspondent for The Daily Beast, joined Ben Domenech in studio to talk this weekends breaking news surrounding the FBIs discovery of Hillary Clintons emails on Anthony Wieners laptop. They also discuss DNC hacks, Putin, Russia, and the threat of cyber wars. New reports have revealed the internal tension between the FBI and the DOJ. There are at least four FBI field offices we know from the Wall Street Journal report that have been looking into aspects of this including the Clinton Foundation, Harris said. Its clear that there are FBI agents who felt for sometime that Comey should have pressed for the case and that there was more there. Many have questioned the relationship between Donald Trump and Russia, and whether he is more than just a useful idiot for Putin. Russian understanding of the way our government works is getting more sophisticated, he said. This is a domain, cyberspace, in which the Russians can compete with us and in many ways are better at it than we are.

On todays Halloween edition of Federalist Radio, Mary Katharine Ham talks all things spooky: Obamacare, horror movies, and ghosts of Washington D.C. Featuring guests Guy Benson, political editor at Townhall, Alex West, co-host of The Faculty of Horror podcast, and Christopher Robin, ghost expert from National Nightmares. The average baseline premium under Obamacare is going up by double digits, and Hams own is increasing by 96 percent. Its not affordable, which was the selling point of the whole thing, Ham said. I would refer to my monthly payment now as having gone from a decent car payment to a real America mortgage payment. From slasher films to the supernatural, Alex West suggests some of the best horror movie classics to watch this year. I wanted to get to the meat and bones were of these films...what are the themes, why does it matter what were scared of? Later in the hour, Christopher Robin describes some of the haunts and ghosts hes been spooked by on Capitol Hill.

Evan Smith, CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, joins Ben Domenech in studio to talk state politics, digital media, Ted Cruz, and Texas as a battleground state. The state of Texas has significant ties to issues like healthcare, immigration, gun control, oil, and the many of the most recent Supreme Court cases. Everything that is meaningful in this country from a public policy standpoint really starts in Texas and migrates out to the rest of the country, or starts somewhere but hits Texas with a particularly loud thud, Smith said. Smith discussed The Texas Tribunes approach to new media and how theyve navigated success and failure in todays journalism. The media has faulted on its responsibility to grab people by the collar and to tell them, This is important. Pay attention, he said. I think our success has been in part betting that if we did tell people to pay attention, that they would. Later in the hour, Smith shares stories from his interviews with Senator Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, and how Texas politics have been impacted by Donald Trump.

Alyssa Rosenberg, culture opinion writer at The Washington Post, watched and read her way through the last 100 years of American cop stories. She describes how the depiction of police has evolved in television and movies on todays Federalist Radio Hour. It struck me that the undercurrent of all conversations about policing and police-involved shootings...really depended on our expectations for the role of officers in a community, Rosenberg said. And one of the biggest sources of those expectations is mass culture. Eventually audiences became more interested in the superheroes than they did the cops. The point of a superhero is that they operate outside the law in this gray area where theyre leaving the bad guys tied up for the cops, maybe, Domenech said. The whole storyline of almost every superhero story begins with a situation of the unjustified guy who is set free. Later in the hour, Rosenberg reviews the new HBO series Westworld. andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp;

Garry Kasparov is Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, Russian pro-democracy leader, former world chess champion and author of “Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the enemies of the free world must be stopped. On the Federalist Radio Hour, Kasparov gives analysis of Russian politics and the dynamics between Putin and Donald Trump.  It is starting to become clear that Putins political intentions may go beyond the surrounding European countries, and into the U.S. For Putin and other world leaders...they can no longer pretend to be democratic leaders, Kasparov said. Their goal is to drag everyone else down to their level, and of course Putin saw Trump as a perfect agent of chaos. Kasparov said he doesnt believe that the Republican party will be able to recover after this election. I think we are facing a major shift in domestic U.S. politics because both parties are no longer capable, in my view, of presenting coalitions that can move forward under one roof, he said.

Kaitlan Collins, entertainment editor at The Daily Caller, joins Mary Katharine Ham in studio to talk the latest WikiLeaks news, this weekends Saturday Night Live, and the disappointment of The Walking Dead. The WikiLeaks emails have confirmed what everyone believed about Hillary Clintons campaign and her corruption. These emails show the internal discord between her campaign. Theyre worried she doesnt seem sincere. John Podesta said she was low energy, Collins said. Saturday Night Live is finally bouncing back with this election season after several years of bad ratings. Twice this year theyve had the highest ratings theyve ever seen, Collins said. It proves that mocking Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is really good for business. andnbsp; andnbsp;

Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor in chief of Reason magazine, discusses free speech issues in campaign finance, on college campuses, and Facebooks board of directors. In regards to Hillary Clintons beliefs on free speech, Mangu-Ward said what Clinton says in public, is what she really believes about the first amendment. She started her career saying lets put labels on music, she said. She wanted to use the power of the state to shut down people who were being mean. Bre Payton, staff writer at The Federalist, later joins the program to discuss the recent history of rigged or stolen elections. When Donald Trump says the election is rigged, I think it implies there is this larger, globalist conspiracy at work, which we dont have any evidence that that is occurring at all, she said. But there are so many examples of vulnerabilities and issues with our electoral system.

Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist, wraps up the final debate of 2016 and discusses what will happen after November 8th. He is joined by Andrew Stiles, political reporter at Heat Street, and Charlie Sykes, radio host and editor in chief of RightWisconsin.com. The first half hour of the debate was particularly substantial on issues of the Supreme Court, gun control, and abortion. I had a hard time imagining any conservative or pro-life voter who watched that who was not horrified and was not convinced that no matter what you think of Donald Trump, you can not possibly think about voting for Hillary Clinton, Sykes said. But the line from the debate that newspapers are still talking about is Donald Trumps refusal to say he will accept the results of the election if he loses. Hes insured that he will have the highest rated concession speech in the history of America. And thats good for Trump, good for the media, Stiles said.

Lachlan Markay, reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, discussed expectations for the final presidential debate tonight and his reporting on WikiLeaks and the Podesta emails. Ben Domenech and Markay also explain the conservative digital media amidst the mainstream media landscape. What direction will Donald Trump aim his attacks in the last debate against Hillary Clinton? He thinks the problem is that some of his core supporters are no longer with him because the media is lying to them or the Republican establishment is trying to siphon them away from him, Markay said. John Podestas emails provide an insight into the world of Clinton donors and the many hats the Podesta wears on her campaign. This is who weve been saying Clinton and her people are for years and this was basically the entire impetus for Bernie Sanders support...this notion that it is a total political machine, Markay said. andnbsp;

Republican Strategist Kevin Madden sits down with Ben Domenech to discuss the frustrations, debates, and impact of the 2016 election compared to past presidential campaigns. This election cycle seems to be driven more by grievances than higher ideals, Madden said. This is a race to see who hits the bottom last and we may lose a generation of people who may have gone into politics. They discussed the ways in which the orientation of the Republican Party may shake out among its electorate over the next two years. Recognizing that you cant win this column of economic populist who are driven more by their support of the individual than than the issues, and the alt-right which is much more focused on taking down the establishment, Madden said. And then appeal to those conscientious objectors who want a center-right country. andnbsp;

Ben Jacobs, political reporter for The Guardian, joined Ben Domenech in studio to discuss this weeks election news, the countrys heightened distrust in the media, and Trumps influence on future politicians and down-ballot Republicans. There havent been people yet conscientiously modeling themselves after Trump, trying to adopt the avatar, Jacobs said. Part of it is that this has happened in such a dramatic way that if you were in a primary in March or April, no one would even think of being this sort of avatar Trump movement. Sites like InfoWars and Breitbart have allowed Trump and his supporters have built up an echo chamber of far right media. Once you have a splinted landscape where there arent as many gatekeepers, consensus opinion is harder to form around a particular group of facts, Domenech said. andnbsp;

Robby Soave, associate editor at Reason Magazine, joins Federalist Radio to discuss the latest ludicrous college campus Title IX cases, the victims accusing Donald Trump of sexual assault, and problematic Halloween costumes. Because of Title IX and the Office of Civil Rights, university students have become more aggressive in asking these institutions to prevent harassment. Not everything that makes you uncomfortable meets the legal definition of harassment, Soave said. When it comes to investigating sexual assault cases, it can be difficult to sort out who is lying and who is genuine, Soave said. I think just being emotionally too one way or the other, to always believe or always disbelieve, does not serve us well especially when the things are major public policy matters. Mary Katharine Ham also joined the conversation on this years Sexy Harambe costumes and culture appropriation. I wonder if this year people seem more tame because the entire political conversation feels like a constant crossing of every cultural boundary, she said.