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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.

A few highlights of today’s show:

• “Here’s the good about Donald Trump, if you compare him to Joe Biden,” Duane says about the CNN town hall event on Wednesday. “Donald Trump had more energy in 5 min on stage than you’ll see from Joe Biden in six months, right?” The bad side, however, is that Trump let CNN frame the whole election in one night. “It was not hard to see what CNN was going to do,” Duane continues. “CNN was going to spend the entire time talking about 2020 and J6.”
• Duane sees this as a mistake on CNN’s part, as they are currently negotiating with the RNC to do primary debates. I disagree. “CNN made a brilliant move here,” I counter. “They got Donald Trump to frame the 2024 election precisely in [those] terms,” I argue. “That plays right into Joe Biden’s ‘this is all about 2020 all over again, it’s all about the risk to democracy'” narrative. “And CNN’s questioning was designed to make this election all about the 2020 election because that’s the only way Joe Biden can win.”
• For CNN and the rest of the Protection Racket Media, “the main mission right now is to protect Joe Biden and drag him across the finish line in November of 2024,” I conclude. “All other conditions are secondary.”
• “Speaking of Protection Racket Media,” Duane replies, “how many seconds of media time was spent on covering oversight committee hearing [Wednesday] morning?” That brings us to the Biden Inc story, which topped both our lists.
• While the NY Times rushed to assure us that the report exonerated the Bidens — and every other media outlet ignored the story outright — the revelation of payments by foreign entities filtered through 20 or more LLCs controlled by the Bidens raise plenty of red flags. Especially, as I point out, when their “clients” are known front operations for China’s intel services. “As our friend Jim Geraghty wrote,” Duane replies, “you cannot craft a legitimate reason for this. You cannot invent a scenario that justifies and makes all this explainable.”
• We both agree that George Santos’ indictment was coming for legit reasons, but the timing is awfully convenient. “That was a squirrel,” Duane says, “a door for Rose to park her fat ass on while Jack drifted into the frozen abyss.”

There’s plenty more in the conversation! Watch the whole show, and join the conversation in the comments!