Jim Antle, the magazine’s 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 the Democrats’ 2028 balancing act: Can they find a nominee, or even a nominating process, that brings the party together?
“It’s important for the Democrats to, one, arrive at a primary schedule that will make all of their different voting blocs feel like they have a say over the nomination process, something that had been a major issue in 2020 and 2024,” Antel said. “Also, they get a nominee that represents all of their various voting blocs.”
Antle points out that Harris’s strength lies in her double-digit black support, a factor that could be crucial in a diverse primary.
“Harris lost in 2024 largely because Democrats were too dependent on college-educated white voters and did not bring as diverse a coalition to the Election Day as they normally do,” Antle said. “Ironically, one of the reasons why Harris is such a strong candidate nationally is that she is the only one running, or appearing likely to run, who has double-digit black support in the national polls.”
Next, Antle joined historian Varad Mehta to discuss the Republican side of the 2028 presidential race. Mehta believes Vance will be extremely difficult to beat in the 2028 Republican Primary, but someone will try. Mehta suggests Vance’s strong position is due to his role as vice president and the historical trend of sitting vice presidents’ securing of the nomination, and believes any naysayers are just trying to “create drama” to keep the race “interesting.”
“Vance is a really strong front-runner,” Mehta said. “If you look at the CPAP poll from over the weekend, it was a little closer, 53 [Vance] to 38 [Rubio]. [Vance] with about a 15-point edge.”
Mehta also notes that any challenger, like a potential Nikki Haley 2.0, would likely face a similar challenge of appealing to a narrow non-Vance lane.
“She got the non-Trump vote, but it limited her appeal,” Mehta said. “The minute she got seen as the avatar, or the vehicle, for the donor class, or the establishment, the consultants… that was the end for her.”
Mehta believes Secretary of State Marco Rubio only has one shot at becoming the 2028 republican presidential nominee.
“If he’s in the race, I think it would only be because Trump has shifted his imprimatur from Vance to Rubio, and he would be running as the anointed heir,” Mehta said. “I just don’t see him running without that backing.”
What happens when the coverup is worse than the crime? Washington Examiner’s Homeland Security Reporter, Anna Giaritelli, shares her experience in an excerpt from her new book in this week’s Washington Examiner magazine. In this episode of Inside Scoop, Giaritelli spoke with Amy DeLaura about how she feels the justice system failed her.
“You can do everything right and still be assaulted, whether it be in the workplace, whether it be assaulted at a college party or assaulted in the street, like I was,” Giaritelli said. “You can try to make the best decisions as a woman, and you’re not guaranteed safety.”
In 2020, on a Saturday morning around 9:45 a.m., on a routine trip to the post office near her Capitol Hill apartment, Giaritelli was sexually assaulted on the street by a stranger. Police collected DNA from her clothing, and months later, they got a match. Her attacker had already been in the system. He was arrested, but the sense of justice was short-lived.
“The judge chose to release him the next day because the D.C. jail was overcrowded,” Giaritelli said. “In the next year and a half, he was arrested five more times for additional crimes and released the next day. To me, it felt like D.C. wasn’t doing enough to keep me safe, or anyone else in the city safe.”
INSIDE SCOOP: EMPATHY FOR AYATOLLAHS, FILIBUSTER OR BUST, TRANSGENDER TURNING POINT
“Under Assault: A Crime Reporter’s True Story of Overcoming Sexual Trauma and Exposing Injustice” is currently available for pre-order on Amazon, and you can read Giaritelli’s op-ed where she first spoke about how the D.C. Police covered up the crime here.
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.