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Welcome to our 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.

Highlights from today’s show include:

• Duane scolds Vivek Ramaswamy over his entirely transactional approach to alliances, specifically Taiwan. Ramaswamy had told Hugh Hewitt this week that he’d defend Taiwan until after the US successfully reshored its semiconductor industry. “In which case,” Duane says, Ramaswamy signals to China,” you can have Taiwan.”
• “So basically what you’re telling me,” I reply, “is that Taiwan can depend on the United States until the chips are down.” [Cue Price is Right loser musical sting] Believe it or not, that wasn’t my worst joke on this matter.
• We then move to the Fani Willis indictment, which looks like more than just a reach to both of us. “To call this a stretch,” I quip, “is to suggest that Tommy John just needed to limber up a little bit more after his injury.”
• Duane predicted — accurately — that the decision to cancel the press conference Monday was Trump’s prelude to officially bailing out of the debate. But that leads to other problems, Duane argues. “When you’re under indictment like he is,” Duane points out, “his legal team won’t want him opening his pie hole publicly about anything, for good reason.” That will limit what Trump can do on the campaign trail, however. “It’s going to force him to run a Joe Biden campaigning-from-the-basement campaign.”
• As much as we both like Michael Shannon, we agree that Terence Stamp made the better Zod.
• What in the world was Never Back Down thinking with that dumb debate-strategy memo yesterday?
• That’s nowhere near as bad, however, as Joe Biden’s response to the Maui catastrophic fire thus far.
• We also cover Gavin Newsom’s decision to save his own political career by trying to stop San Francisco’s collapse. The media keeps saying this is more of a right-wing narrative, but we both scoff at that characterization. Just this week, the Biden administration told federal workers to return to their offices from pandemic-created distance working. However, they advised federal workers in San Francisco to avoid coming to the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building because of threats to public safety.

Be sure to watch it all, and join us in the comments!