On Foreign Entanglements, Matt and Yousef discuss the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which Yousef believes leave foundational problems unaddressed. Can the US serve as an effective broker? Yousef offers a cynical take on the negotiations, arguing that the process is set up to fail. They discuss the current Palestinian leadership’s problematic lack of legitimacy. Finally, if the talks do fail, what should the Palestinians do next?
On The Glenn Show, the first topic is the fallout from the Zimmerman trial. Did activists err by making the case into a cause célèbre? Has Zimmerman himself been racially profiled by his critics? Glenn and Ann weigh the merits of stop-and-frisk policing. Turning to the travails of Anthony Weiner, Glenn doesn’t know what’s wrong with sexting. Wasn’t Eliot Spitzer’s behavior worse? Finally, they discuss the conservative backlash against the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling, which caused a major rift between Ann and her blog’s commenters.
On The DMZ: How the 2016 GOP primary is like the NCAA’s Final Four. What happens if Rand Paul and Ted Cruz both run? An interview with John McCain supports Bill’s prediction that a Paul nomination would rend the GOP asunder, and Matt recalls some other eerily accurate McCain forecasting. Matt and Bill consider whether Republicans will really try to shut down the government in an attempt to defund Obamacare. Bill is baffled by this strategy, which Matt calls “delusional.”
On Rational Actors, Kevin asks Ben to explain libertarian populism. How is it different from other kinds of reform conservatism? What does libertarian populism have to offer middle- and working-class voters? Ben points toward a number of areas ripe for reform: the payroll tax, farm and energy subsidies, and big banks. Would the GOP base accept a more progressive tax code? Kevin and Ben next discuss the changing media landscape, where ad-supported models are collapsing while paid subscriptions are on the rise. Plus: What Glenn Beck, Andrew Sullivan, and Netflix have in common.