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 analysis on the rise, fall, and potential return of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). Initially, Walz faced a scandal that ended his bid for a third term as governor.
“The Minnesota scandal really will bring to light the idea that Democrats are often willing to support massive government benefits at cost to the taxpayer for undeserving people,” Antle said. “Then also are, because of their woke culture, really afraid of criticizing anything that could be perceived as racist, even if it is ripping off taxpayers of every race and ethnicity.”
Antle suggests Walz return to relevance is due to him emerging as a leading voice against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after a woman was shot for allegedly trying to run over an ICE officer.
“The ICE shooting in Minneapolis is really polarizing the country. Tim Walz, because he is the top Minnesota Democrat, has really become the national face of the left’s protests against what ICE is doing,” Antle said. “Once again, this could commit Democrats to a position that they don’t think interior immigration enforcement of any kind is really morally permissible, which is an extreme position.”
Next in the show, Antle is joined by Sean Durns to discuss the U.S. intervention in Venezuela and the ousting of Nicolas Maduro.
“It became a strategic imperative for the United States to oust Maduro and to remand him back to United States for custody,” Durns explains. “A variety of reasons for that, certainly drugs and oil, and this is something that a lot of folks have brought up. But also, just basically, Maduro and before him, Hugo Chavez had turned Venezuela into a forward operating base of sorts for our enemies, China, Russia, Cuba and Iran, among others, and this is something the United States simply couldn’t tolerate in its own backyard.”
Durns feels the operation, Operation Absolute Resolve, was successful because there were no U.S. casualties and many enemy soldiers killed. Durns predicts the U.S. will maintain flexibility, possibly avoiding further troop deployment.
“So Delcy Rodríguez, who is now running in Maduro stead, is a dictator,” Durns said. “She is a Chavista. She is very much committed to the Chavez line. However, I think the Trump administration is trying to see what develops. I don’t foresee more American boots on the ground than were briefly there during the operation. I think they’re taking a wait and see approach, seeing if Rodriguez and other Chavistas will fall in line and comply, or if the US will have to take other measures.”
Durns also notes the significant impact on Cuba and other regional countries, and the potential implications for U.S.-China relations due to the loss of Venezuelan oil.
“There were Chinese envoys that were there in Venezuela at the time to meet with Maduro and China,” Durns said. “You don’t want to overstate it, they were getting Venezuelan oil. Is it absolutely essential? No. But now it’s a complicating factor that they no longer have access to this Venezuelan oil, and the United States has been able to show that it is willing to protect and secure its own backyard. And you can’t be a superpower without doing that.”
Our in-depth report takes a look at how the streaming war could be leading to a loss of common culture. If you were hoping to watch the NFL Wild Card Weekend playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, and you were not already a member of Amazon Prime, you were out of luck. Conn Carroll explains how live sporting events are at the center of an economic battle between media giants right now.
“There are literally trillions of dollars involved in this media war, and no one knows what the winning business model will be,” Carroll writes. “It is very tempting for free-market-minded individuals to sit back and let the media giants fight it out, but what if something is lost in the process?”
Carroll continues, “America used to have a common culture. For most of the 20th century, large national events — the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Oscars, the Emmys, even sitcoms — were experienced together, at the same time, by rich and poor alike, free over the air. These shared rituals gave Americans with little else in common a sense that they still belonged to the same community.”
Carroll believes these games should be more readily accessible since the NFL teams are funded by taxpayer dollars. The Kansas City Chiefs just took $3 billion from taxpayers to build their new stadium, and the Chicago Bears are looking for taxpayers to pick up the tab for their new stadium to the tune of at least $2 billion.
INSIDE SCOOP: IT’S PRICES, STUPID; MODERN MIDDLE EAST, VIOLENCE VS FREE SPEECH
“If NFL owners want to continue to dip their beaks in taxpayer coffers to subsidize their stadiums, they have no right to complain if Congress turns around and starts setting some requirements on how games can be sold to media companies,” Carroll says. “When the stadium is public, the game probably should be too.”
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.