Join Magazine Executive Editor Jim Antle as he gives you the Inside Scoop on the top news stories fit to print in each Washington Examiner magazine. The show brings to life the pages of each issue with exclusive insight from the article authors.
This week, Antle discusses the cover story, “Elon’s exit: Lessons in government-cutting as Musk prepares to step back.” Antle covers Elon Musk‘s possible departure from the Department of Government Efficiency, highlighting his controversial tenure and the public backlash. Violence against his businesses, specifically Tesla, has hurt his bottom line, as most of the electric car companies’ customers lean Democrat.
Antle is joined by Tevi Troy, presidential historian and senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute, to discuss the controversies surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It’s been a rough road for many defense secretaries; Troy explores the history of defense secretaries and their challenges.
“There’s a reason these jobs are often really fraught and that many of the people who’ve had the job have not lasted that long,” Troy said. “It is a challenge to manage that Pentagon bureaucracy. And a lot of people, starting from the very first people to have that job, have run afoul of it.”
When Antle asked who Hegseth could look to as an example for himself, Troy said none other than Lloyd Austin.
“He may not like this one,” Troy said of the Biden defense secretary. “But Lloyd Austin was the Pentagon secretary who was the most in the hot seat that I found and still survived because President Joe Biden didn’t want the disruption, didn’t want to get rid of someone who he had some measure of faith in. I think, just like Biden’s approach led to Lloyd Austin surviving, Trump’s approach might lead to Hegseth surviving as well.”
Finally, as we are now a bit over 100 days in, Antle asks Tiana Lowe Doescher what part of the economy Trump can still blame on Biden. Doescher surmises that since President Donald Trump has enacted more executive orders than any other in history, Trump’s economy is largely his own. Except for one caveat, inflation, which is all on Biden. In fact, most of the disapproval from voters on Trump’s tariffs is unfairly placed, as those results won’t be felt until the 90-day tariff pause expires in July.
INSIDE SCOOP: DEMOCRATIC STAR SEARCH SIDELINED BY HAUNTED PAST AND CRIMINAL OBSESSION
“That’s when we’ll really see where Trump’s economic mojo actually is,” Doescher said. “But Trump is the president, and the buck stops with him, especially when he has so forcefully exerted economic powers traditionally reserved for the legislature and done so with the express intent of remaking the U.S. economy.”
Tune in each week at washingtonexaminer.com and across all our social media platforms to go behind the headlines in the Washington Examiner’s new show, Inside Scoop.