Jim Antle, the magazine’s executive editor, brings to life the pages of the Washington Examiner’s magazine in the show Inside Scoop. Each episode features exclusive insight from the article authors and expert analysis.
Are today’s socialist Democrats really blue-collar allies? Or is it all campaign branding? Antle examines the case of former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. While he painted an image of a hard-working oyster farmer, Antle says this image was exaggerated and largely contrived by political consultants.
“Platner grew up in a privileged background and actually derives very little of his income from oyster farming, and his mother’s restaurant is his main customer,” Antle says. “The polling showed that Platner was not getting very much support from working-class voters in Maine, which is one of the reasons why Platner is no longer going to be the Democratic nominee for Senate there.
Antle also looks at New York City Mayor Zoran Madani, a socialist success story who also presents himself as a blue-collar ally.
“The truth of the matter is that hard left politics in America generally are practiced by people with degrees and… relatively affluent,” Antel says. “Bernie Sanders and Mandani have tried to present socialism as largely an economic phenomenon, but the truth is, many of these socialist candidates who are running are peak woke. They don’t believe in borders. They don’t believe in prisons. They don’t believe in Western civilization. These are culturally radical people.”
Next in the show, Antle is joined by contributing writer, Jay Cost, to discuss the recently concluded Supreme Court term and the massive power justices yield. Cost warns that the Supreme Court is behaving like a political branch or a historian and not merely applying neutral legal principles.
“The Supreme Court is not supposed to be a political branch,” Cost says. “Justices serve life tenure. They are not elected either directly or indirectly by the people. They are meant to be immune from the political process.”
While Chief Justice John Roberts may be calculating his rulings to protect the court’s reputation as a nonpartisan actor, Cost believes Roberts is failing to do so.
“I don’t think he’s been very successful at that,” Cost says. “I think that the court has just managed to antagonize both the left and the right.”
Finally in the show, Antle sits down with Washington Examiner magazine managing editor David Mark to break down how the Nevada governor’s race outcome ran through Canada. Trump-era tariffs and the president’s recent rhetoric toward Canada have chilled Las Vegas, one of Nevada’s most reliable tourist pipelines.
“Canadians are not, generally speaking, are not real happy with the Trump administration over the tariffs, over Trump’s taunts against Canada about potentially making the 51st state, generally degrading them.” Mark says. “Tourism from Canada is down 23–24%. That’s a big chunk of dough for Las Vegas, which is already facing economic headwinds because, of course, gambling, sports betting is legalized in 38 or more states at this point.”
That economic squeeze could now migrate from the casino floor to the ballot box. The governor’s race pits Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo, a former Clark County sheriff, against Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford.
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“Whenever you have that big of a hit to the economy, you’ve got to figure it’s going to have a major impact on a statewide race like the governor’s office,” Mark says. “It’s just a question of, in this midterm environment where Democrats do seem to have the advantage, whether having an R next to his name will be politically fatal.”
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.