Jim Antle, the magazine executive editor, brings to life the pages of the Washington Examiner magazine in the show Inside Scoop. Each episode features exclusive insight from the article authors and expert analysis.
Antle gives his take on what November’s election results say about both parties. He highlights the controversial wins of Attorney General-elect Jay Jones in Virginia and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City, as both are seen as radical figures. Jones’ victory was notable despite his controversial text messages about political violence, while Mamdani’s win as New York City mayor reflects a shift towards socialist views.
“At one time, a major city would not have been a place where a socialist could get elected in the first place,” Antle said. “There’s anger among even fairly mainstream liberals that sometimes manifests itself, in violent rhetoric and fantasies, if not actions. There’s also a sort of radicalization where you’re seeing socialists, people who describe themselves as socialists and are avowed socialists, who are now electable, viable members of the Democratic Party, and some would say maybe even the future of the party.”
Antle notes the radicalization of the Democratic Party is possibly a failure of the Republican Party in addressing economic issues like inflation, which remains a significant concern for voters.
“Even if under the Trump administration we can see inflation get back down to around 2%, prices don’t necessarily go back down to where they were before inflation reached the 41 year high that it did under former President Joe Biden, so that many people will still feel that the cost of living is too high,” Antle said. “Because we have a two major party system, and elections are really a binary choice, if voters are unhappy with what the incumbents are doing, and in this case, it’s the Republicans, a radicalized Democratic Party is their only alternative.”
Antle interviews Sarah Bedford, Washington Examiner investigations editor, about her cover story on what protests in the street have in common with deep-pocketed radical movements.
“We started out looking at the no kings protests, which have probably been some of the most visible, high profile demonstrations against the Trump presidency,” Bedford said. “It’s not exactly clear what they’re angry about, except for this desire to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump and to see him obstructed by any means necessary.”
She highlighted the disparate issues protesters addressed, such as immigration enforcement and climate change. Bedford argues the left lacks a cohesive agenda and that can lead to extremist ideas taking over.
“The problem Democrats have is they don’t have an affirmative agenda,” Bedford said. “And when you have the organizers of these sort of demonstrations using rhetoric that’s really extremist and maximalist about ‘any means necessary’ being justified to stop Donald Trump, you create a permission structure for the darker side of that same ideology, which is Antifa.”
Bedford points out the left has superior organizing skills, leveraging anti-Trump sentiment which translates into higher voter turnout in primaries, favoring more left-wing candidates.
“The people who are most likely to protest are already Democrats,” Bedford said. “You’re talking about wealthy suburbanites who have that sort of time on their hands to care about what might be considered luxury beliefs, like climate change. Then you have very young people emerging from college who see the American Dream very far out of reach, and Trump is an easy person to blame for that.”
Bedford acknowledges Trump tends to suffer when it’s an off year, or even a midterm election when he is not on the ballot.
Bethany Mandel sits down with Antle to discuss the impact of Ambassador Richard Grenell on the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, which has led to what she calls a ‘commonsense revolution.’ She highlighted Grenell’s efforts to depoliticize the center, including lifting mask mandates and addressing financial mismanagement under the Biden administration.
“When Rick Grenell came in and everyone started accusing him of politicizing the Kennedy Center, I had the receipts in my brain of thinking, ‘No, it’s been politicized for a very long time,” Mandel said.
Mandel, a local who used to enjoy shows at the center often, explained from the types of musicals put on, to mask and vaccine mandates, the performing arts center has been used as a political tool.
“When Rick Grenell came in, one of the first things he said was no more masks, which is a crazy thing that he had to say this late in the game,” Mandel said. “In the summer of 2023 there was a show called 1776, and it told the story of the founding fathers with transgender, non binary and female characters only.”
Mandel learned these decisions from previous administrations were hurting the Kennedy Center financially.
“I noticed with 1776 they were just giving tickets away. They could not possibly fill the seats, because no one wants to sit through that performance,” Mandel said. “They decided, with a show like 1776 this is a show that has to be put on. ‘Who cares about the money?’ The message is the real priority here.”
Some shows have cost the Kennedy center $40,000 a night because of a lack of ticket sales. Mandel says this is something Grenell wants to put a stop to.
INSIDE SCOOP: MAMDANI’S SOCIALIST TAKEOVER, AMERICA IN TRANSITION, CAN CALIFORNIA GET EVEN BLUER?
He made a rule that if a new show is signed on, they have to be budget neutral at the very least,” Mandel said. “This is something that is common sense that didn’t exist before him.”
Tune in each week at washingtonexaminer.com and across all our social media platforms to go behind the headlines in the Washington Examiner’s magazine show, Inside Scoop.
