Lucretia assumes hosting duties for this week’s potpourri of a show because I am recovering from major surgery, which I relate at the show opening today. (It includes a theological dimension!) But while I’m improving, the recall effort against California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears not to be. I explain the reasons why the polls show a strong turnaround in Newsom’s favor over the last week to 10 days, and why Larry Elder’s campaign has not been as effective as it could be.
From there we share our own recollections of the morning of 20 years ago—me from just three blocks away from the White House, and Lucretia over in Europe—and then answer the question: are we better off than we were 20 years ago? The answers are less than reassuring. President Biden’s absence from a public speaking role today underscores the problem that is getting more difficult for the White House to conceal with every passing day: the man isn’t up to the job. And that’s even more worrying than the larger geopolitical scene of the moment, which is distinctly more ominous than it was 20 years ago.
Finally, we can’t help but beat up on higher education, which got a lot of very bad press last week, though we end up playing TV critic about the Netflix comedy “The Chair,” about a diversity-obsessed English department at the fictional “Pembroke College.” Despite its flaws, I rather liked the series; Lucretia—surprise, surprise—didn’t.
You know the rest: listen here, or from our hosts at Ricochet or your favorite podcast platform—we’re on all of them (though not always as soon as here and Ricochet).
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