Townhall Review | Conservative Commentary On Today's News

On Wednesday night last week I had the privilege of serving as guest conductor of Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. It was particularly sweet because of the efforts by many who worked against me. Members of the orchestra and Santa Monica political leaders tried to persuade orchestra members to refuse to play and persuade people to refuse to attend the concert. Two symphony members who are also UCLA professors put out a public letter labeling my positions, “horribly bigoted.” They were helped by the New York Times, NPR and the LA Times. But—I’m pleased to say—on Wednesday night the 2,200-seat hall was sold out. Despite all their efforts, the intolerant ones lost this time—and lost big. So, how was intolerance defeated? First, to be honest, they picked a fight with a fighter. Second, I didn’t fight alone. It seemed like the entire conservative world united behind me. And third, when people learned what was happening, conservatives helped fill the hall. This time, this good guys won.

All law students taking a First Amendment course, or even a constitutional law survey course, learn the rule of Brandenburg v. Ohio, a case that grew out of a 1964 KKK rally near Cincinnati. Brandenburg provides “that the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of using force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.” I celebrate Brandenburg when I teach it each year. The speech at the core of that case was every bit as odious as that used by the bigots in Charlottesville this weekend. But those bigots in 1964 lacked the present ability to incite violence. Those in Charlottesville had that ability to incite violence, and they used it. Now three are dead, including two state troopers. Others are severely injured. The investigation should be careful and professional but also resolute. Lots of people should be charged if they contributed to the mayhem that led to these deaths.

Townhall Review--August 19, 2017. Hugh Hewitt invites Politico’s Jake Sherman to review President Trump’s comments following the Charlottesville, Virginia demonstration. While on the Mike Gallagher show, Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire scolded president Trump’s remarks. Gallagher also interviews Rich Lowry, of the National Review, on his article criticizing the placement of some Civil War memorials. Hugh Hewitt interviews Wisconsin Congressman who sits on both Armed Services and Homeland Security Congressional Committees on the deeply troubling story in Iran. Michael Medved interviews James Damore about the events leading to his termination from Google. Hugh Hewitt asks Senator Chris Coon about a piece he wrote for “The Atlantic” on “Progressive Values Can’t be Just Secular Values.” Dennis Prager keys in on the tragedy of Charlottesville and how if free speech had been honored there, it may have never made the news.

Following the horrible events in Charlottesville, Virginia, the public seems deeply alarmed at the deep and dangerous divisions in the country. But what are the substantive issues that actually divide the country? When it comes to hate festivals staged by neo-Nazis and the KKK, there is virtually no disagreement: nearly every American, left or right, and certainly including President Trump, strongly condemns the racial extremism of such fringe groups. But all sides also agree they have a right to rally if they avoid encouraging or practicing violence. Meanwhile, overwhelming majorities of Americans support more economic growth, tax reform that lowers rates, better border security, health care reform that maximizes choice and slows the rise in premiums, a stronger military and a cautious foreign policy. While the media love to dramatize bitter feuds over the president’s personality, on more substantive questions of policy, Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and leftists, are hardly as polarized are the most hysterical voices on all sides love to suggest.

On Monday, the president gave a formal response to the alt-right, neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville in which he denounced the KKK, racism and neo-Nazi groups in no uncertain terms. He ought to be commended for his clear statement on Monday. But—there’s no doubt about it—he ought to have made that statement on Saturday and he ought not to have given that press conference on Tuesday. It’s a hard lesson but a lesson that’s worth stating: presidents don’t get mulligans. When the challenger exploded, President Reagan had Peggy Noonan to help him step up and meet his moment. But, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush chose not to go to New Orleans—and missed. And, of course, President Obama called ISIS the jayvee team. Unfortunately, as a president you never get back your mistakes. All you can do is make good the best you can. Ronald Reagan had Peggy Noonan and Peter Robinson to help him—immediately—to rise to the occasion and not miss the moment. George W. Bush had Michael Gerson and Marc Thiessen. What President Trump needs is a similar set of talents that help him take the crisis moments and use his place of leadership to draw our fractured nation together.

A public radio station in Berkeley, California, KPFA, recently disinvited world-renowned scientist Richard Dawkins due to his alleged “abusive speech” about Islam. Over the years, Richard Dawkins has basically insulted the intelligence of anyone and everyone who believes in God. He has made extremely caustic comments about Christianity and every other theistic worldview, including Islam. Dawkins says the station’s accusation that he has engaged in abusive speech about Islam is libel. Moreover, he points out, “I am known as a frequent critic of Christianity and have never been de-platformed for that. Why do you give Islam a free pass? Why is it fine to criticize Christianity but not Islam?” Now that’s a really good question. Why is Richard Dawkins not de-platformed for criticizing Christianity, but rather for Islam? It is because of the very twisted understanding of sensibilities, the redefinition of speech, and the protection of certain groups rather than others. The story also sadly tells us how a radio station that’s supposed to serve the public in encouraging and allowing conversation, instead can and will simply shut it down.

Recently an Iranian drone came within 100 yards of an American F-18 in the Persian Gulf. After a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shot, an Iran Navy patrol boat charged our ship before veering away. Recently I asked National Security Advisor General H. R. McMaster if the rules of engagement for U.S. forces operating in close proximity to the increasingly reckless Iranian forces were clear. General McMaster gave an emphatic “yes”—and also noted that President Trump would stand behind any American commander taking steps to protect his soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. This was a great message to hear from National Security Advisor McMaster—especially given the many dangers our forces are facing down around the planet. He made it clear that he is—and the President is—backing up American troops in harm’s way. It’s been too many years since such a policy was explicitly stated and backed by the Commander in Chief. Good for McMaster. Good for President Trump. And good for our military.

On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump vowed repeatedly to cut and limit federal regulations that threaten to kill jobs and restrict economic growth. So far, he’s made good on that promise. A study just out from the American Action Network found that in their first six months, the Trump administration has proposed regulations at a far slower rate than during a similar period of time during the Obama administration. And for every new regulation the Trump administration has proposed, they have cut sixteen existing ones. The impact of these changes is both dramatic and impressive. The report concludes that President Trump has imposed 1/20th of the lifetime costs, 1/11th of the annual costs, and 1/8th of the paperwork burden that President Obama did during his first 100 days in office. Regulatory reform doesn’t grab headlines, and the mainstream media doesn’t often talk about its impact. But make no mistake. President Trump’s policy in this area will pay big dividends for America’s workers, its companies, and our nation’s economy.

Townhall Review--August 12, 2017. Hugh Hewitt speaks with Congressman Mike Gallagher, a former Marine and a member of the House and Armed Services Committee about the direct threat N Korea posses against the U.S air base in Guam. Hewitt also interviews Robert Costa, reporter for the Washington Post, about President’s Trump's recent heated rhetoric towards N Korea. Sam Malone, from AM1070 The Answer in Houston, turned to Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis on how this N Korean threat is viewed from the Pentagon. Hewitt interviews David Drucker, senior political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, on Google Engineer James Damore being fired for a memo questioning the company’s overt and aggressive political correctness. Michael Medved discusses with Dr. Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University and author of “Not a Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth,” about the political correctness taking over many college campuses. Hugh Hewitt speaks with Angel Aloma, executive director of Food for the Poor, on how to help the conditions of the Haitian people. Dennis Prager interviews Andrew Apter, a professor at UCLA, on why he called Prager a hateful bigot. Michael Medved talks about the cuddling industry, yes, the cuddling industry.

President Trump’s “fire and fury” comments about North Korea set off the predictable hyperbole among his blindly furious foes on the cable shows, few of whom seem to grasp that the North Korea crisis has been growing since almost the Armistice was signed and accelerating since Bill Clinton’s much-celebrated then and understood as disastrous today deal of 1994. Neither George W. Bush’s nor Barack Obama’s various diplomatic overtures yielded much besides more tests, more time, and now more nukes and missiles. Blunt—indeed provocative—talk may or may not work but it can’t be said that Trump was upsetting a successful strategy put in motion by his predecessors. The villain on the Korean peninsula is Kim Jung Un. American media in love with hating Donald Trump can continue in their patterns, but suggesting Trump is somehow the source of the problem in Pyongyang is a poker tell of incredible ignorance about the region, and perhaps a fundamental inability to report the news.

Oregon legislators earlier in the summer adopted legislation that will now make Oregon not only the state with the most liberal abortion laws in the nation, but also the only state that will now compel all of its citizens to pay for abortion. As the editors of the National Review commented, “Once upon a time, Democrats wanted abortion to be ‘safe, legal, and rare.’ Today, that mantra is ‘unregulated, on demand, and’—in the state of Oregon—‘free.’” ABC News indicated just how radical this law is saying, “The Oregon bill is unique . . . in that patients would have access to the procedure for virtually any reason, at any time, including sex-selective and late-term abortions.” Now, that’s not a conservative website or a conservative politician or theological figure making this remark. It’s ABC News noting that the radical nature of this law comes down to the fact that taxpayers in Oregon are now going to be by this legislative decree not only complicit in abortion, but complicit in abortion for any reason.

There are still very important lessons to learn from the life and death of little Little Charlie Gard. Over the course of the last several weeks, no story has been as important as the tragedy of this little baby in the United Kingdom with a rare mitochondrial disease. His story first came to world attention when his parents made a public appeal to the people of Britain and all around the world of the fact that they were no longer able to make decisions on behalf of their infant son and his health treatments. They knew that there were experimental treatments. They raised money on their own to try to make those treatments available for their infant son. There’s a good reason why Charlie Gard became such a focus of conversation and concern. Columnist Charles Krauthammer put his finger exactly on the issue, when he wrote: “There is only one real question. What’s best for Charlie? But because he can’t speak for himself, we resort to a second question: Who is to speak for him?” Yes, that is exactly the question, and it has answered with parents, not with the medical establishment, nor with the government. That’s what’s at stake with this tragedy, and we dare not forget it.

To place our polarized politics in proper perspective, conservatives need to look back at the nearly half-century struggle known as “the Cold War.” The Soviet Union and its satellites really did amount to an “Evil Empire” and the US and our allies constituted the necessary counterweight of goodness and decency. But many of the most important nations in the West—including Britain, France, Germany and Canada—were really “welfare states” with centralized, government-dominated economic policies, well to the left of anything the American Democratic Party demands for the US today. Moreover, many domestic liberals- including Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Senator Scoop Jackson—played heroic roles in opposing the tyrannical menace of international Communism. This history should encourage conservatives to place our current conflicts in the right context. In this dangerous world, contemporary liberals—for all their wrong-headed ideas on health insurance, taxes or social issues—ought to count as necessary allies, not implacable enemies.

There isn’t going to be a trade war with China. The risks of a real war with North Korea are now simply too high. General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has said—and I quote—“It is not unimaginable to have a military option to respond to the North Korean nuclear capability. What’s unimaginable to me is allowing a capability that will allow a nuclear weapon to land in Denver, Colorado.” Hisense Electric, a Chinese state-owned tech manufacturer, is now being sued in California courts by Sharp, a Japanese company now owned by Taiwanese company Foxconn. Sharp claims shoddy workmanship by Hisense has done deep damage to the Sharp brand. Even though President Trump campaigned on an aggressive trade agenda with China, the reality is that the United States needs China right now more than we need fair trade. Sharp and the state of California might have to fight for their own interests any legal way they can. But the federal cavalry isn’t coming over the hill in the China trade battle anytime soon. The Trump administration needs to tell its grass-roots supporters why.

The Townhall Review--August 5, 2017. President Trump enthusiastically welcomes newly appointed General John Kelly as the new Chief of Staff. Hugh Hewitt speaks with James Hohman, Political Correspondent for the Washington Post, about how General Kelly is shaking things up at the White House. Mike Gallagher turns to Luke Rosiak of the Daily Caller on the White House staff scandal involving a now arrested aide to the former DNC Head Debby Wasserman Schultz. Michael Medved speaks with Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson on his plan to break the GOP healthcare logjam. Hugh Hewitt asks Molly Ball, staff writer of the Atlantic Magazine, about the White House Chief of Staff replacement. Dennis Prager interviews Alex Epstein, head of The Center for Industrial Progress in San Diego, about former Vice President Al Gore's newly released documentary, “An Inconvenient Sequel.” Hugh Hewitt speaks with retired Admiral and former head of the US Navy’s Southern Command, James Stavridis about Venezuela moving to a full military dictatorship, led by President Nicolas Maduro. Larry Elder speaks with Professor and Lawyer Keith Fink on the First Amendment situation at UCLA that led to his firing. Mike Gallagher invites author Dinesh D’Souza on the show to talk about his new book, “The Big Lie: Exposing Nazi Roots of the American Left.”