The Federalist Radio Hour

Jared Meyer, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy joined Ben in studio today. Meyer explained why local governments like to regulate Uber and other sharing economy businesses out of business, despite the market demand for them, and how Washington elites are betraying millennials. Washington Democrats, including both Bernie and Hillary, are lining up against the sharing economy, citing that these businesses exploit workers and decrease public safety. Theyre making all these arguments that people who actually everyday engage in the sharing economy completely reject, Meyer said. So youre seeing a big disconnect between progressive voters and progressive politicians. Many entrepreneurs have tried to export the connivence and success of ride-sharing companies to other types of services and products. Of course Uber gets the most attention, but confining your view of the sharing economy to just the popular ones, which is what a lot of politicians are doing, is ignoring the reality that a lot of people would love to be there own boss, Meyer said. Two-thirds of millennials want to work for themselves.

Mike Needham, chief executive officer of Heritage Action for America, joined Ben Domenech on Federalist Radio to discuss the future of conservatism and the ways in which Trump has inserted himself between the Republican Establishment and the conservative base. The 2012 Republican Party platform has been largely ignored this election cycle, but Needham said the problem is not with the platform itself. The 2012 Republican Party platform is a pretty awesome document of all the things that unite us as republicans...the question is, do you follow through on it? Needham said. Needham explained how if conservatism is really about limiting government, it cant be under a party with the same incentives as the democratic party. We need to go back to that type of aspirational, ideological type of party if conservatism is going to win or achieve its objectives, and away from this patronage party that I think weve become. Later in the hour, Domenech and Needham discuss what a Trump presidency might look like and how it effects conservatism. I have no doubt that there is a big bloated highway bill waiting on the agenda of a Donald Trump who wants to build big infrastructure projects, Needham said.

T. Becket Adams, media reporter at the Washington Examiner, joined Federalist Senior Editors Mollie Hemingway and David Harsanyi in studio to discuss the medias reaction to the violence and riots at a Trump rally in California this week. Leftists dont view this as part of their movement, or part of the Left. Its just some separate thing that happens and maybe Trump deserves it because violence begets violence, Harsanyi said. I think the coverage does reflect that in a way. If this was a Hillary outing and Trump supporters did this, we would be in the middle of a giant conversation. They discussed Paul Ryans Trump endorsement and Hillary Clintons attacks against Trump in her speech on foreign policy on Thursday. A lot of her main criticisms against Trump, not just that they were coherent and fluent, but they were familiar because all of them were the exact same argument put out by Rubio and Ted Cruz and republicans, Adams said. So that explains why the RNC didnt have a rapid response for a really long time. andnbsp;

Mary Katharine Ham dug into gears of polling today on the Federalist Radio Hour with Stephanie Slade, deputy managing editor at Reason Magazine, and Alex Smith, national chairman for College Republicans. They discussed the usefulness of polling this prematurely to the general election, how polling outfits actually gather data, and what polls have told us about millennial voters. Because of a shrinking number of landlines and plummeting response rates, its becoming increasingly difficult to reach people to poll. Remember that things can change very quickly after a partys nominee gets the nomination locked up, Slade said. Were actually seeing that right now with Donald Trump. Although hes been leading for months and months, there were a lot of hold-outs...now theyre coming around. There is no silver bullet when it comes to best practices in polling. You ultimately still have a problem of figuring out who is actually going to turn out to vote, and what is the electorate going to look like demographically, Slade said. College Republicans just released data from their survey of young Americans that show millennials favoring Democrats but prefer limited government. This generation is one that actually uses freedom in its everyday life, Alex Smith said. Thats why its so incompatible with a top-down structure like healthcare, telling us we all have to fit in the same box. andnbsp;

Mary Katharine Ham spoke with Reason Magazines Katherine Mangu-Ward on this weekends Libertarian Party convention in Orlando, the potential for a third-party candidate, and how the meaning of the word socialism has changed. Mangu-Ward explained how the Libertarian Party had, not one but two, principled blue state governors to put forth as candidates. We have two choices, and many people are not enthused with either of these choices, Ham said. And so, we look, many people for the first time ever, over to the Libertarian Party. Many of the words that Bernie Sanders has been using have a glowing attraction to millennials, but the words capitalism and markets are not included. When Bernie is out there using the word socialist or democratic socialist, we should be clear that whatever people are hearing when they hear him say that word, theyre definitely not hearing what socialism really means, Mangu-Ward said.

Mollie Hemingway and David Harsanyi, senior editors at The Federalist, discussed documentary making in light of last weeks backlash against Katie Courics deceptive editing in her documentary on gun control. Theres really no debate about whether the Couric documentary was deceptive, Hemingway said. Once the perpetrator has admitted to the crime, you dont really need to keep on saying alleged. Harsanyi and Hemingway discuss the upcoming Ghostbusters remake and Sonys attempt to save it from tanking. I hate that politics and identity politics are attached to almost everything these days, Harsanyi said. I just want to see funny movies. The years National Spelling Bee ended in a tie for the third consecutive year. I am totally opposed to the idea of co-champions. I think its un-American, Hemingway said. So much about life right now...you get a participation trophy, you get accolades regardless of whether you deserve them or not. But a spelling bee is a really nice contest of skill and Im glad that our country still celebrates it.

James Hohmann, national political correspondent for The Washington Post and author of the 202, joined Mollie Hemingway and David Harsanyi, senior editors at the Federalist to talk about why this election is stuck in the past. Nearly every day now we see either the Trump or the Clinton campaign bringing up either the good things about their careers theyve done in the past, or the negative scandals and political gafs about each others careers. It feels increasingly like its going to be a lesser of two evils election, Hohmann said. When its an unpopularity contest, you win the unpopularity contest by making the other person look unpopular and the way you do that is by talking about the past. They debated on the permission structure in the Republican Party and the differences among Republican leaders who have or have not endorsed Donald Trump. It gives cover to a lot of people who are uneasy about Trump. It frames the election as, I dont like Trump, but I hate Hillary Clinton, Hohmann said. The stunning, breath-taking, juxtapositions between some of the comments will not look good in history.

Betsy Woodruff, politics reporter at the Daily Beast, joined Mary Katharine Ham on the Federalist Radio Hour to talk about Obama lifting an arms embargo in Vietnam and to break down whats going on inside both the Trump and Clinton campaigns. Kristen Soltis Anderson, columnist at The Washington Examiner, also joined to give an update on the latest polls reporting both candidates extremely high unfavorable ratings. Earlier this week Obama announced U.S. companies can sell weapons to Vietnam, and lobbyists connected to Hillary Clinton may have something to do with it. It certainly shows that if you a despotic government and youve got a million bucks in the bank, you can hire some of Hillary Clintons best friends to grease the skids for you, Woodruff said. Between Paul Manafort, Rick Wiley, and Corey Lewandowski, the Trump campaign staff seem chaotic both behind the scenes and in their messaging. Its hard figuring out if there is any organizing principle of the campaign, because it just feels like such a crapshoot at this point, Woodruff said. This is how surreal this entire race is: theres not normal expectations for this campaign.

Emily Yahr, pop culture and entertainment reporter at the Washington Post, joined Mary Katharine Ham, senior writer at the Federalist, to break down this season of reality and prime time television. They recap the season premiere of The Bachelorette, the many Netflix 90s reboots, and the season finales of The Good Wife, Nashville, and Dancing with the Stars. Despite its ridiculousness, even intelligent, independent, strong women religiously watch dumb TV like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. It is outstanding to me so many people that I admire and love their writing-- you wouldnt think they would be the target audience, Yahr said. People love a love story...even if you know its all fake and manipulated. There are a number of emerging themes in this coming falls lineup of major network television shows from time travel to family comedy sitcoms. Usually, it is once the networks see something is working and makes money they will just follow over themselves to make a copy of it, Yahr said. Thats why you have 18 reality TV shows about storage lockers. Later in the hour, Ham and Yahr discussed expectations for Netflixs reboot of Gilmore Girls and why award shows have become so long and exhausting.

Shane Harris, senior correspondent at the Daily Beast, has been following American military activity in the Middle East, the developing prosecution of Hillary Clinton and her email scandal, as well as the controversial 28 pages that remain to be declassified from Congress investigation of the 9/11 attacks. Harris joined todays Federalist Radio to discuss these foreign and domestic state of affairs. The Obama Administration has been adamant in saying that American troops are not playing a combat role against ISIS in the Middle East. The difference here is that we dont have the large number of troops whose purpose is to go out and kill ISIS guys, but theyre frequently going out on raids with other forces, Harris said. It becomes undeniable once the larger number of people start to get killed. Compared to past Secretaries of State and other officials who have leaked far less classified information, Hillary Clinton should already be at the point of indictment. People from both parties have said to me, Had I done what she did, I would be in jail, Harris said. I dont know if its the politics that are making people hesitate... or if we just simply havent seen the evidence. andnbsp;

Jamie Weinstein, senior editor at the Daily Caller, joined the Federalist Radio Hour to talk about the medias coverage of Donald Trump, the relationship Trump has with wealth and the actual amount of his worth, and the potential for a third-party candidate. When it comes to reporters asking Trump difficult questions, he knows how to play the refs. He makes it so difficult when you ask a question. Hell go on Twitter and attack the questioner. Hell pretend that you asked the most difficult question in the world that you almost dont want to ask a tough question, Weinstein said. One of Trumps most sensitive areas of self-consciousness is his money, perhaps because he fudges how much he actually has. We know he has a history of lying about his net worth. If I had a to take a guess, I would guess maybe under what Forbes and Bloomberg say, he said. Later in the hour, Weinstein and Domenech talked through the logistics of VP candidates and potential third-party candidates. If you at the numbers at the polls, there a lot of people yearning for someone else to get in the race, Weinstein said. We have a choice right now between malaria and ebola. I think Hillary is malaria. I think Trump is ebola.

Josh Kraushaar, Politics Editor at National Journal, joined the Federalist Radio Hour to give his take on the shaping up of the general election and the Trump and Clinton campaigns. Kraushaar explained some the latest polls, surprising endorsements, and the speculations around Hillary Clintons potential VP pick. Its going to be a competitive race, and I think the polls suggest that Donald Trump has a floor, Kraushaar said. The battleground state map is probably going to be similar to what we saw in 2012, but the worry for Donald Trump is that he has a ceiling with some demographic groups. Robert Bluey, Editor in Chief of the Daily Signal, attended the meeting Mark Zuckerberg hosted at Facebook this week for conservative leaders in the media. Bluey shared some of the things they were told at the meeting and what changes we could see being made at Facebook in the future. One of the things Im more hopeful about is maybe this leads to some more conversations with Facebook about how the Daily Signal, or the Federalist, or any other conservative news organization can better leverage Facebook to distribute our content, he said.

Emily Washington, policy research manager at the Mercatus Center and writer at marketurbanism.com, studies land-use regulation and policy as it relates to urban development. Washington joined the Federalist Radio Hour to discuss the current state of affordable housing, zoning issues, Jane Jacobs, and transportation. The marketplace in urban areas faces a challenge in supplying the higher number of millennials and their housing needs, and government often feels pressure to weigh in. A lot of cities are revisiting their planning codes and in many cases adopting more liberal codes that are improved for denser and mixed-use development, but its often a very long and difficult process because homeowners want to keep things the way they are, Washington said. Jane Jacobs advocated for diverse, walkable, and mixed-use neighborhoods. Many modern city planners agree with her views, but often fail to create policies that reflect her ideas. To the extend that cities are willing to persue deregulation, allowing more freedom for developers to build what they see consumers demanding, that will get us closer to Jane Jacobs approach to urban development, she said. Later in the hour, Domenech and Washington discussed the overlapping patterns of crime, subsidized housing, and anti-poverty programs.

John Tamny, Forbes columnist and editor at RealClearMarkets, joined the Federalist Radio Hour to explain misconceptions about trade, banking, the Fed and the housing market. Tamnys new book is titled Who Needs the Fed?: What Taylor Switft, Uber, and Robots Tell us about Money, Credit, and why we should Abolish Americas Central Bank.  Tamny explains why Ubers surge pricing is actually a good thing and how it compares to the way the Fed operates. If you dont allow price signals to work, then no one is served, and applied to Uber, if surge pricing didnt exist it wouldnt be in business today, he said. In the real economy, the price of credit floats up and down as though there is surge pricing. The problem with the government having a revenue after taxes is that it gives politicians more money to grow federal programs. What weve found is higher revenues never lead to paying off debt, they just lead to more programs, Tamny said. Think about how much better your life would be if government spent less so that people like Jeff Bezos and the late Steve Jobs could spend and invest more. Your lives are much worse because of the big tax that is government.

Kelsey Harkness, senior reporter and producer at The Daily Signal, joined the Federalist Radio Hour after returning from North Carolina where she spoke to lawmakers and civilians about the the governments push that public schools comply with new transgender bathroom laws. Lawmakers down there really feel that the Obama administration is using children as pawns to further their political agenda when it comes to their transgender bathroom policy, Harkness said. Republican lawmakers feel that they are bearing the brunt of the blame here. Also surfacing in political news in the last week is the reports of Facebook manipulating their algorithms to suppress conservative news, keeping conservative conversations out of the Trending Topics feature. There is a very real problem here for Facebook that I think goes beyond even what people have appreciated about this right now, Domenech said. Where this hurts them directly is in their business model. andnbsp;