The Federalist Radio Hour

The long-awaited Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life makes its Netflix debut on Friday, Nov. 25. Our Federalist Radio Hour hosts, Mary Katharine Ham and Gracy Olmstead, are also Gilmore Girls super fans who discuss their predictions and hopes for the reboot. Senior Contributor Bethany Mandel also joins the conversation to argue which of Rorys three infamous boyfriends really proved to be worthy. I do wonder, depending on the show that comes out and what it does, whether it will call the viewer to more than just this kind of nostalgic, sit back and enjoy this small town life, Olmstead said. Or if it will draw on some of those old themes: life is hard, relationships are hard, you should pursue them anyways. andnbsp; andnbsp;

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday with rich traditions. Ben talks to Wall Street Journal opinion editor and author Melanie Kirkpatrick about the history and the meaning of Turkey Day. He also reads some of the prescient Thanksgiving proclamations from George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, and Winston Churchill. Kirkpatrick is the author of Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience and shares of some of the little known ways that Thanksgiving rituals have evolved. For the pilgrims, what we know as the first Thanksgiving, was not a Thanksgiving. It was instead a three day feast, she said. From Calvin Coolidges Thanksgiving Proclamation on November 5, 1923.  The American people, from their earliest days, have observed the wise custom of acknowledging each year the bounty with which divine Providence has favored them. In the beginnings, this acknowledgment was a voluntary return of thanks by the community for the fruitfulness of the harvest. Though our mode of life has greatly changed, this custom has always survived.

This episode originally aired on in November of 2015. Celebrity chef and culinary media personality, Christopher Kimball joins Federalist Radio to demystify the kitchen. Kimball share tricks and tips to use in preparing our holiday meals this year.  The host of America’s Test Kitchen, editor of Cook’s Illustrated, and most recently the founder of Milk Street Kitchen, Kimball explains his food philosophy. He argues that “cooking is not an art. Food is functional...I’ve adopted a very practical approach.” Originally a Columbia graduate with a degree in Primitive Art, Kimball launched a gourmet cooking career in the early 1980’s according to a simple and original recipe: “stubbornness, stupidity, and energy.” Since then, the chef has pioneered one of the most uniquely authentic and successful culinary brands.

Rebeccah Heinrichs, foreign policy expert and Hudson Institute fellow, joins Ben Domenech to discuss what national security and foreign policy in the Trump administration looks like. Domenech also responds to this weekends freakout over the cast of Hamilton lecturing Mike Pence, and the extreme virtue signaling we can expect from the left. These rights that you have are inalienable. Donald Trumps rise to the White House does not remove them from you, Domenech said. [The Left] is grappling with the idea that this rejection of their progressive world view means something that is going to tear America apart. Heinrichs explains some of the patterns she has seen in Trumps thoughts on foreign relations. He does want a greater contribution from our allies. He doesnt want the United States handling security abroad for free, she said. But when it comes to actual war fighting, hes been very clear, when it comes to ISIS for instance, that hes not afraid to use force. They discuss some of the names being passed around this week as potential cabinet members, and later in the hour, some predications of what will be the first major foreign policy fights of Trumps presidency.

Emily Ekins, Research Fellow and Director of Polling at the Cato Institute, joins Ben Domenech in studio to discuss what pollsters got wrong this year and some of the surprising data that is still being processed. When you have a lot of third-party voters, it creates a lot of uncertainty in the polls and thats what were seeing play out in the results, Ekins said. In swing states where Trump won, third-party votes actually exceeded the margin. This election also revealed that the emerging democratic majority theory was based on voter behavior that didnt happen as expected. Many hispanics are first or second generation Americans and over time their incomes are going to rise, education levels are going to rise, Ekins said. And as a result their going to be voting more Republican. I think most social scientists acknowledge this. Later in the hour, Ekins takes the Bubble Quiz.

Gracy Olmstead, associate managing editor, and Mary Katharine Ham, senior writer, host todays Federalist Radio Hour to discuss the continued post-election hysteria from celebrities, the media, and all of our Facebook friends. They also talk about feminism, Ina Garten, and the new Netflix series, The Crown. This week, the media continues to criticize the Trump transition team and react to every name suggested for his cabinet. If you freak out about everything, no one believes you that this is important, Ham said. That was the recipe for disaster for Democrats and for triumph for Trump the whole way through. Between critiques of Ina Gartens cooking and Hillary Clintons famous line about deciding to not stay home and bake cookies, women are sick of being told what should or shouldnt make them happy. The feminists of the world tell women, If you want to bake cookies, you are not fulfilling your greatest potential, and yet so many women actually do enjoy baking cookies, Olmstead said. And why shouldnt they?

Penny Young Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, joins Ben Domenech in studio to give the perspective from evangelical women who voted for Trump, and what they expect from the next four years. Nance is the author of Feisty and Feminine: A Rallying Cry for Conservative Women. In some ways, evangelicals had to settle for Trump as a defender for the things the believe, even if he does not practice those beliefs. Were looking for a fighter, and wouldnt it be shocking if we had a thrice-married, playboy, nominal Presbyterian who ended up being our champion, Nance said. I hope thats the case and Im going to do everything I can to make him successful. Nance discussed the Clinton campaigns poor use of celebrities and gender politics to win over women voters. And later in the hour, the potential fights the Trump administration will face with transgender bathrooms and other hot button issues. There are over 800,000 registered sexual predators in the United States. Im not worried about a young man whose grappling with his sexuality, she said. I am very worried about the fact that you have sexual predators who will use any excuse to get to women and children.

James Hohmann, Washington Post national political correspondent, discussed the role of confirmation bias in 2016, the names being floated for Trumps cabinet appointments, and the lessons that the press should take away from this election. Confirmation bias is a human condition in which we corroborate what we expect to happen. I think we put too much emphasis on the polls, Hohmann said. We shouldnt have treated the polls like they show her up by eight when she was really up by three... the anecdotal stuff needs to matter, that needs to get more attention in the future. Hohmann discussed the differences between people inside and outside Washington DC reacting to a Trump administration, as well as Obamas downplaying of how much damage Trump will actually do. If its not that big a deal to be president for four or eight years, then how can you in the next breath talk about how transformational your presidency was? Hohmann asked.

Dr. Matthew Spalding is associate vice president and dean of educational programs for Hillsdale College in Washington, D.C. On todays Federalist Radio Hour, Spalding discussed the election of Donald Trump from a historical perspective and what the American political tradition can teach us about populism in 2016. [Trump] is clearly a populist candidate, but the question is, what does populist governance look like, Spalding said. Usually a populist movement gets absorbed into one of the two parties and comes out later and the populist figure goes by the waste side. Domenech makes the case that the real forgotten man in this election was Bill Clinton. If you saw Bill on the trail at all near the end, he was sounding a completely different notes than she was, he said. He was talking about wage stagnation, economic problems, the need to come come back and be optimistic about the future, while they were talking about Trump, temperament, war on women... andnbsp;

Matt Lewis, CNN commentator and senior contributor at The Daily Caller, gives his reactions to the new Trump administration, the direction of both Republican and Democratic parties, and the media who cried wolf, all on todays Federalist Radio Hour. Is the Republican Party as we knew it, now the party of Trump? It would be easier for the Republican Party to become the majority party by not trying to win over hispanics per say, but by being the party of poor people or working class people, Lewis said. Since Tuesday, the media and the left have spend their days angry and confused. Over the past decade [the left] has come to believe not only are they right intellectually and philosophically, but that they were on the right side of history... and that the public was now with them and the world had changed so much, Lewis said. And that as part of the real shock and rude awakening.

Robby Soave, associate editor at Reason, and Ben Domenech share their Election Night experiences and to discuss how the lefts culture of extreme political correctness was among the many reasons Donald Trump beat Hillary. Soave said the people who voted for Trump have been repelled by far-left progressives who demand changing words they use and the video games they play. I have been warning that this thing we saw happening on college campuses, and has moved onto Twitter, and is taking over lives...is going to inspire a terrifying backlash. And this is that backlash, he said. They discuss the degree to which the Clinton relied on celebrity endorsements while ignoring the lower middle class white historically-democratic voters. Todays modern progressives didnt want to have to cater to them anymore, Domenech They were happy catering to a more multi-cultural, college-educated, urban audience as opposed to dealing with a portion of their base, that was still from their perspective, stuck in the past. andnbsp;

Earlier in the election cycle on The Federalist Radio Hour, Senior Editors Mollie Hemingway and David Harsanyi wagered a bet on who would be the next president of the United States. On todays show they discuss Tuesdays outcomes, the medias response, the deceiving election day polls, and the future Trump administration. Pundits and media who are shocked at the outcome of the race will now be forced to look for failures in their coverage and analysis of the race. Polling clearly predicted a Hillary Clinton win. The modeling based on polling predicted a Hillary Clinton win with certainty ranging from 66 percent to 100 percent, Hemingway said. That did not happen. From those on the left, we are already hearing calls for federalism and for congress to take back legislative power. I find this unbelievably hypocritical on the part of our media and democrats, that they were such big fans the growth of this administrative state so long as it benefited them, but now that Donald Trump is in power, they suddenly have qualms about it, Hemingway said. andnbsp;

Mary Katharine Ham and John McCormack, senior writer at The Weekly Standard, discuss swing state voters and other Election Day news with John Davidson, Federalist senior correspondent, and Kelly Maher, a Colorado GOP operative. Davidson recently returned from traveling through the Rust Belt where he talked to local voters about the economic downturn in their states. I think the first step is to acknowledge what has happened to some of these places, he said. We have to talk about and think about people as they are. The reality is in a place like Northeast Ohio or western Pennsylvania, a lot of people do received public assistance because the economy in those places has been absolutely gutted. Maher discussed some of the oddities that make up the Colorado electorate and some surprises that she has seen happen on the ground already. Usually Republicans peak early and dont then turn in late, and the first week we saw that Democrats were actually leading Republicans in the state in turnout, Maher said. Then Republicans actually came back and are now going into election day leading...

Two Trump supporters give their case for the Republican nominee on the final day before voters head to the polls. Mercedes Schlapp, Fox News contributor and Washington Times Columnist, and Jeffrey Lord, CNN commentator and American Spectator contributor, join Ben Domenech on The Federalist Radio Hour. Schlapp discussed the importance of minority voters and maintaining control of the Supreme Court. I see it as, [Trump] has made it clear where hes going to go forward on the Supreme Court, and hes talked issues that are resonating with the American worker, Schlapp said. Plus hes laid out a tax reform plan that we know are going to cut taxes and cut regulation which we hope will boost the economy. Lord said he believes that Trump can organize and influence guiding principles for Republicans after the election. Im suggesting that their are people out there who can carry the Trump flag into the next election, he said. Hes picked up this massive army of people who are quite serious about doing this.

The acquittal of Ammon Bundy and 6 others in the Oregon Refugee Occupation trail came as a surprising verdict last week. On todays Federalist Radio Hour, we talk about the case, the prosecutors, the trial, and what it means for federal land management. Ben Domenech interviews Karina Brown, Oregon-based reporter for Courthouse News; Mike Arnold, Oregon attorney, and Ammon Bundys original lawyer; and Lisa Ludwig, defense lawyer and standby counsel for Ryan Bundy. We were very vocal in the media trying to establish the narrative of the political protestors, rather than the previous media narrative being armed militants. Arnold said. The government failed to charge these people with the one crime they were expecting to be charged with, and that was criminal trespass. That was because the government overreached and they lost. Ludwig said the prosecutors attempt to use guns as a scare tactic in the courtroom did not phase the jury. Running a prosecution based on scary firearms in front of a jury that wasnt going to buy that was probably an error, she said.