00:00Kurt, is this Epstein case causing a split in the Republican camp?
00:05I think it depends on how you define camp.
00:08I think a lot of the leading luminaries of Trump's movement are very concerned about this.
00:17And then, on the other hand, or meanwhile, I should say, it is robbing the administration of its anti-establishment energy.
00:26Let's not be naive here.
00:28If the economy is good, if the president's health is good, he can pretty much do whatever and enact whatever policy he wants to do.
00:39But if he tries to do George W. Bush's third term, a conventional Republican administration, he is going to, and I think you've already seen these levels of defections,
00:49he is going to lose a lot of the energy that got him elected in 2016 and again in 2024.
00:56And you're going to see an administration that, yeah, has the support of majorities of Republicans, has the support of 30 percent plus Americans,
01:06but does not have the sort of mandate energy that Trump had in January of 2020-25.
01:13And I think, frankly, it's because policy does matter.
01:18And the last two months, you have seen an administration that has basically cribbed from the George W. Bush playbook on foreign policy
01:28and is now casting aspersions on anyone who would ask basic questions on the Epstein scandal,
01:37which all of Trump's major protégés and acolytes did throughout the 2024 campaign, including his son, including the vice president.
01:46And it matters. And I think it's just basically the other side of the argument here is that we should shut it down.
01:53We shouldn't care. We shouldn't talk about this. I think it's a loser.
01:57It smells suspicious. It doesn't pass the laugh test.
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