The Josh Hammer Report

Josh Hammer

Newsweek Senior Editor-at-Large And Host,
"The Josh Hammer Show"

Welcome back! Here are some highlights from the last week.

My most recent column pointed out the myriad ways last Wednesday's second GOP presidential primary debate was terrible and suggested an alternative (and superior) hypothetical course that the debate's moderators might have taken instead. Perhaps the moderators might have used the debate's magisterial setting, in the iconic Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, to frame the debate as revolving around what has changed—for both the Republican Party and the nation itself—since Reagan's presidency, and how those changes now impact the various GOP presidential primary candidates' policies, proposals, and worldviews. For example: Do the candidates share Reagan's views of liberalized immigration and laissez-faire economics as ends unto themselves? Or do they have concerns with the post-Reagan "Washington Consensus" and the neoliberalism run amok that the post-Cold War era has ushered in? Do they agree with Reagan that "the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism," or do they instead see in libertarianism an atomizing ideology that is a political and moral dead-end? This would have made for a much livelier and more substantive debate.

My most recent podcast episode discussed the recent federal government shutdown that was narrowly averted and the (unsuccessful, as it turns out) fight for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) political career that quickly ensued, the curious decision of California Gov. Gavin Newsom to name a Maryland resident (on explicit intersectional/identity politics grounds, no less) as the late Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate for the remainder of the term, and analyzed the winners and losers of last week's GOP debate and exhorted the Republican National Committee to do considerably better than it has been doing thus far this cycle. As usual, I concluded the show with our now-signature "Hammertime" closing segment. You can listen to that episode on Apple, Spotify or here. I will have much more to say about Tuesday's dramatic decapitation of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, which you can look forward to in next week's newsletter.

In terms of other media hits and appearances since our last newsletter, I published an essay in the new issue of Deseret Magazine, in which I argued that old-school, neoliberal-leaning "fiscal conservatives" and "New Right" nationalist-populist conservatives must reach a grand bargain and unify against their common leftist adversary; guest-hosted "The Jason Rantz Show" on AM 770 KTTH (Seattle) again last Wednesday, September 27 (you can listen to hour 1, hour 2, and hour 3 of the program here) and Thursday, September 28 (you can listen to hour 1, hour 2, and hour 3 of the program here); joined Alice Stewart on SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S. to unpack last week's GOP presidential primary debate; co-hosted (as always) the Edmund Burke Foundation's two latest "NatCon Squad" podcasts; joined Jason Rantz (who is now back in studio) to analyze Donald Trump's latest lawsuit, this time a civil fraud case in NYC; joined Jenna Ellis on the eponymous "Jenna Ellis in the Morning" on American Family Radio to discuss Gavin Newsom's new constitutionally dubious pick for U.S. senator from California; joined Newsmax's "Newsline" to discuss Rep. Jamaal Bowman's (D-N.Y.) egregious attempt to disrupt House proceedings over the weekend, as well as Bill Maher's recent call for President Biden to not seek re-election next fall; and joined "Tipping Point with Kara McKinney" on One America News Network to discuss the current tensions within the GOP fold and my new Deseret Magazine essay on a possible path forward.

Our additional highlighted right-leaning Newsweek op-eds from the past week include selections from Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), Rep. Andy Bigg (R-Ariz.), Kevin Roberts, Joseph Epstein, and Mark Mix.

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Spotlight

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The Missed GOP Debate Opportunity

Wednesday's second Republican presidential primary debate bore a striking similarity to the first debate one month earlier. Post-debate polls and focus groups indicated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won (albeit in less than knockout fashion), former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and smarmy "entrepreneur" Vivek Ramaswamy delivered polarizing performances that one either loved or hated, substance and policy took a back seat to internecine squabbling, irrelevant candidates who shouldn't be near the stage hogged up far too much microphone time, moderators did a poor job of crowd control and question selection, and viewers were left wondering whether any of this actually matters while front-runner Donald Trump refuses to show up.

The second GOP presidential debate, in other words, was a largely missed opportunity. Part of the problem was on the candidate side: DeSantis, who consistently polls in second place behind the former president, finally took some much-deserved shots at the absentee and mudslinging Trump, but something more has to happen to meaningfully alter the trajectory of the primary. One can only slay a dragon with sword in tow and spear firmly in hand, not by stealth or beating around the bush.

But a big part of the problem was on the moderator and host venue side. Given the location of the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and host network Fox Business' playing of famous clips from the Reagan presidency, the "missed opportunity ... for the conservative movement," Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts tweeted in the aftermath of the melee, was "the absence of the glaringly obvious question: What has changed about America since Reagan was president?" Indeed, if the moderators had taken advantage of the iconic Air Force One Pavilion setting to take the debate in this natural direction, Republican primary voters would have benefited greatly.

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