What stories topped your priority lists this week? For me, as I tell Duane Patterson, the big story is the story that didn’t happen. What happened to TrumpMas? Duane’s choice was the TikTok hearings, and he brought out the clips to back up his choice. Along the way, we dive into the developments at Stanford, as well as yet another embarrassing hearing for a Biden judicial nominee … in which I channel my inner Marisa Tomei. (Well, sorta…)
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Welcome to our new VIP feature for Hot Air as well as a members-only show in the Hughniverse! Duane Patterson and I now are doing a Week in Review show for Friday evenings, exclusive to members in both platforms. Duane has been the Generalissimo behind the Hugh Hewitt Show for more than two decades, and we have partnered on weekly commentary since 2007.
- Duane and I have a lot of fun with Judge Kato Crews, who got nominated by Biden to a federal district court position. Senator John Kennedy depantsed Crews in his confirmation hearing, which prompted my Mona Lisa Vito impression.
- On Bragg’s dilemma and the position it puts Democrats: “I can’t remember where I saw it,” Duane says, “but now that the Bragg thing has fizzled … Smith’s gonna get [Trump]. The special counsel.” That’s what got Van Jones into trouble with progressives, I reply.
- A top TikTok exec testified on Capitol Hill, and that didn’t go well at all. “He tried to maintain all the way through this hearing that we’re no different than any other private sector company in America, that there’s a separation in China between the public and the private sector,” Duane says. “And just because our engineers are in China, and just because our database is in China, and just because all of our, our senior people are in mainland China, that doesn’t mean that there’s influence.”
- That actually prompted a brief debate over whether Beijing is communist or fascist, until we both agreed that it’s a distinction without a difference. I predicted that WeChat would be next, and might be more important than TikTok when it comes to curtailing China’s reach.
- On Stanford DEI dean Tirien Steinbach: “She thinks she’s Colonel Jessup,” Duane says. “You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.”
- Stanford must be worried about its standing in the judiciary at this point, Duane continues, especially in placing clerks. “Even if the judge is a lefty and otherwise sympathetic on ideology, they don’t want the headache of it, they don’t want to deal with that crap.” And I point out that this is already a real-world issue with federal judges after the leak of the Dobbs decision by some insider-activist.
Be sure to watch it all, and join the conversation in the comments!
