RCP Podcast: France's Culture War, the Bolsonaros Win Big, Politics vs. Supreme Court
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/10/05/rcp_podcast_frances_culture_war_bolsonaros_win_big_politics_vs_supreme_court.html

Monday on the RealClearPolitics podcast, Carl Cannon, Tom Bevan, and Andrew Walworth discuss foreign policy, including riots over immigration in France and Sunday night's presidential election results in Brazil. Next, they look at President Trump's new assistant press secretary, Beni Rai Harmony, and President Trump saying he intends to send $90 "Medicaid refund checks" to 20 million seniors.

Plus, a look at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's new book and press tour, wondering whether he may be getting ready to retire, and a preview of the first batch of cases the court is considering this season, including Boulder's climate lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor featured this morning on RCP:

Boulder vs. Big Oil: Who Pays for Climate Damage? (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/10/05/boulder_vs_big_oil_who_pays_for_climate_damage_154560.html) | Matthew Tejada, RealClearPolitics

People's Republic of Boulder Wants To Run Your Energy Policy (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/10/05/peoples_republic_of_boulder_wants_to_run_your_energy_policy_154559.html) | Larry Behrens, RCP

Listen live weekdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on SiriusXM's Megyn Kelly Channel 111, or on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/realclearpolitics-podcast/id1509826894), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/5FkNemg3aIaPPNBImIcW2l), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@realclearpolitics4074), or other platforms.

00:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ap4E__bjqM) - Opening: Is France a Warning for America?

Walworth, Cannon, and Bevan discuss riots in France and whether coverage understates the scale of the violence and the role of immigration and assimilation, and whether French political leaders have been too sympathetic.

"France has an assimilation problem," Carl Cannon says. "We use the phrase 'culture wars' in the United States. We don't mean it literally. But that's what this portends: a literal cultural war."

***

10:36 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ap4E__bjqM&t=636s) - Bolsonaros Win Big in Brazil

The panel turns to the presidential election in Brazil, where Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (convicted and under house arrest for allegedly trying to lead a coup against the current president after losing the previous election), appears poised to win a runoff later this month.

"It's more than just his son - his wife and other son won Senate seats. This really is a rebuke of the Brazilian establishment."

"Is this what Donald Trump Jr. wants to do? We're never going to be rid of these people," Cannon added. "The Democrats need to be very careful ... Lula's seen as a feckless left-wing has-been. I imagine there are some very ambitious political consultants calling Donald Trump Jr. this morning."

***

17:53 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ap4E__bjqM&t=1073s) - WH's New 24-Year-Old Press Aide

The panel discusses the newly announced White House assistant secretary Beni Rai Harmony, a 24-year-old former White House reporter, and the trends in journalism toward quantity over quality that she represents.

"It used to be ... basically, the pinnacle of your career would be to cover a presidential campaign, to be the national political reporter," Bevan said. "Somewhere along the line, there was this shift where they basically took a bunch of kids - put a camera in their hand, and sent them out on the trail. They embedded people with every single campaign."

"The good news was you had a lot more information," he said. "The downside is that these kids had literally no institutional knowledge, no historical knowledge of politics. It was more information, but devoid of context or meaning."