The Labour Party secured a major landslide in Britain's elections, resulting in a parliamentary majority not seen since the early days of Tony Blair. The reign of the Conservative Party, who have governed for 14 years, ended in an ignominious rout. But Labour’s victory, led by Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, was achieved with the lowest share of the vote for a winning party in British history. A strong performance by the populist Reform UK party seems to have split the right wing vote. So what does the downfall of the Tories mean for the conservative movement in the U.K. and elsewhere? And what does Britain’s future under Labour look like? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, political commentator Tim Montgomerie tells Gerry Baker why the United Kingdom may have seen the end of the two-party system, how Keir Starmer will perform on the world stage, and how the Conservative Party can stage a comeback.

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By the time Thursday night’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump ended, one question was on everyone’s lips: will the president be persuaded to step down ahead of the Democratic convention? His weak and stumbling performance dramatically increased concerns about Biden’s age and stamina, as Donald Trump showed a discipline and focus that has not always been on display  

On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Karl Rove tells Gerry Baker Biden’s was the worst presidential debate performance he has ever seen, and he says there is no way back for him to win if he remains the party’s candidate. Rove says he therefore expects the president now to step aside and he assesses the likely field of Democratic presidential contenders.  

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Free speech is under threat in unprecedented ways in the U.S.. University campuses deny platforms to those who dissent from progressive orthodoxies. Tech firms block heterodox news and opinion on grounds of "disinformation." Companies discipline employees for challenging nostrums about race, sexuality and gender. How did it get this way? What can be done to reverse the tide? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, law professor and legal analyst Jonathan Turley talks with Gerry Baker about his new book, "The Indispensable Right," on the centrality of free speech to human life, and also about other threats to American rights and values including the ‘lawfare’ that is increasingly waged in American politics. 

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Are we losing the new Cold War? In a rare moment of bipartisan unity, all sides in America seem to agree that we are in a long new Cold War struggle with Communist China. But if that's the case, why are we just managing the contest rather than actually trying to win it? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, who led congressional efforts to confront China, including most recently with legislation banning TikTok, tells Gerry Baker how Beijing is aggressively advancing around the world - including here at home in the U.S., and how we can rise to meet the challenge. The once rising star in GOP ranks also talks about why he left Congress and how he sees the future of the Republican party.

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After Donald Trump’s conviction being on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records and as his sentence looms just ahead of the Republican National Convention, U.S. politics are deeper into uncharted territory. What might happen next? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former federal prosecutor and Trump lawyer James Trusty takes Gerry Baker through all the legal steps the former president will go through, including the appeals process. He explains why Mr. Trump has good reason to expect success but also expressed concern about the larger prospects for equal and independent justice in an age of partisan politics and ‘lawfare.’

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With the current polls looking better each day for a return to the White House for Donald Trump, what could the next 4 years look like at the southern border? On this episode of the Free Expression Podcast, Gerry Baker speaks with former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf who says a second Trump administration will make radical changes to border enforcement and immigration policy, ensure the deportation of migrants in the US illegally and seek agreements with foreign governments to take asylum seekers and deter migrants from coming to the US.

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It’s a rare subject of bipartisan agreement that China is the greatest strategic challenge facing the U.S., perhaps the greatest it has ever faced. And yet, despite a decade of admirations of both parties acknowledging the threat, we are woefully under-prepared for it. What can the next President learn from the mistakes of the recent past and how might he remedy them? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Richard Fontaine and Robert Blackwill, foreign policy commentators and co-authors of a new book, “Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power” talk with Gerry Baker about what went wrong and how the next ad ministration must fix it. 

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As global instability increases and threats to our national security grow, what can we learn from the history of warfare? In a new book, noted military historian Victor Davis Hanson examines how some wars have resulted not just in defeat for the vanquished but in the annihilation of their civilization and people. On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Prof. Hanson tells Gerry Baker about the parallels between these wars and the threats we now face from our increasingly bold adversaries. How can we avoid the mistakes of those previous civilizations and ensure our survival? He also talks about America’s internal fractures and how they are weakening our national security and what our political leaders can do to reverse the damage in a pivotal election year.

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Adult film actress Stormy Daniels took to the stand this week in the criminal hush-money trial of Donald Trump, surprising the media, legal experts and even the former President himself. But the more we heard the salacious details in the testimony, the more it seemed the move might backfire on the prosecution. In what already looks to many like a thin case against Mr. Trump, the admission of lurid stories about a sexual encounter that even the judge seemed to think might not be relevant only reinforced the perception that the prosecution is a politically-motivated attempt to discredit the former president and current Republican candidate. On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, former prosecutor Andy McCarthy talks to Gerry Baker about the case, why it would be a mistake for Donald Trump to testify in his own defense, and the many other legal threats Donald Trump is facing. 

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With the explosion of protests on university campuses and as Donald Trump sits in a courtroom facing felony charges, the 2024 presidential race is at a new level of volatility. Polls show Joe BIden trailing Trump in the key swing states, leaving the current President with only the slimmest of margins as a path to reelection. Six months out, what might change? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Cook Political Report Amy Walter and Gerry Baker discuss which states may decide the future of the presidency and the issues which mean the most when going to the polls. 

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