The Daily Signal - The Daily Signal Presents "Problematic Women" - Unhinged DC Protester Shows Why Democrats Are Losing Ground | Ft. Reagan Reese, WH Correspondent

Episode Date: August 24, 2025

While D.C. residents are enjoying feeling safe on the streets of their community once again, angry middle class suburban protesters want the National Guard to leave the crime ridden city. When Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the National Guard troops at Union Station this week, protesters used their First Amendment rights to demand things go back to the status quo in the nation's Capital.    On this week’s edition of Problematic Women, we discuss the radical left’s bizarre campaign against the Trump administration's efforts to improve safety in Washington’s D.C.    Also on today’s show, President Donald Trump is working to secure a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, which might explain why Trump has not made many public appearances since his meeting with European leaders on Monday - he’s business negotiating a peace plan.     And Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese joins the show to give us an inside look into Air Force One and the press briefing room of the White House.    Plus, the Travis Kelce photoshoot is … well, we’ll let you decide. All this and more on this week’s show! Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/⁠   Connect with our hosts on socials!   Elise McCue X: ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/⁠   Virginia Allen: X: ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/⁠   Crystal Bonham: X: ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=crystalkatetx⁠   Follow Reagan Reese, Daily Caller White House correspondent X: ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=reaganreese_⁠   Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Keep Up With The Daily Signal   Sign up for our email newsletters:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.dailysignal.com/email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠     Subscribe to our other shows:    The Tony Kinnett Cast: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2284199939⁠ The Signal Sitdown: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2026390376⁠   Problematic Women:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL7765680741⁠   Victor Davis Hanson: ⁠https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9809784327⁠     Follow The Daily Signal:    X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=DailySignal⁠ Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/thedailysignal/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Truth Social:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://truthsocial.com/@DailySignal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  YouTube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠    Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. Hey, this is Virginia Allen, and I'm excited to share this episode of Problematic Women, one of the Daily Signals, other podcasts. Each episode, we navigate the biggest stories in politics and culture, and we have a lot of fun doing it, too. If you like what you hear today, make sure to subscribe to Problematic Women for weekly episodes. Welcome back to Problematic Women, where we give you this week's updates with a pulse on politics and pop culture. Here's what we're going to talk about today. First off, we're going to react to a crazy protestant.

that I saw at Union Station. I wonder if you've seen this video, I've surely made you guys watch this video. So we're going to react to their craziness in reaction to Trump's federalization of police in D.C. It's been two weeks since that happened, and it's been amazing. Also this week with Trump,

he had some key meetings with Zelensky and Putin. And finally, in sight for the Russia and Ukraine war. Look, I don't know, but what I do know is that Democrats are so unpopular right now and they're cosplaying conservatism, which just doesn't really work from Gavin Newsom to Travis Kelsey and with us today to break it all down

we have Reagan Reese, the White House correspondent for The Daily Caller, and welcome back to Problematic Women. Welcome back, I'm Elise McHugh. I'm Virginia Allen. I'm Chris Laban. And with us we have Reagan Reese, the awesome White House correspondent with the Daily Caller. Been the White House correspondent for how many years now? It's been two. That's crazy.

I believe I started this week two years ago. Oh my gosh, congrats. You've seen Biden, you've seen Trump. And now you get to see our new studio. Also, we're in a new studio, guys. So if you're not watching on YouTube or Rumble, feel free to join us. I was going to ask if it was all for me because I was off the grid last week in Vermont, which 10 out of 10 recommend.

And came back and now we're in this new studio. I'm like, oh. Yeah, we built it with you and mine. We think Crystal will like the white. Yeah, the white. We built it. Thank you. So first off, guys, I want to break down this one interaction that I saw at Union Station yesterday.

Pete Higgseth, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, they were all there to hang out with some of the National Guardsmen who've been protecting Union Station. Eat burgers. Eat burgers. Just have a good time, you know, per Trump's executive order to clean up D.C. And that's part of the effort. I live really close to Union Station.

So seeing all of these National Guardsmen's been so cool. It's like seeing little toy figurines come to life. But I saw one protester arguing with a cop because he said that, her wearing a kefia, which is that scarf that the pro-Palestine people wear, is cultural appropriation. So let's run the video right now. If you're on audio, really the audio is great too, because she is loud and proud, even without her megaphone. So let's go watch that. Appropriation by wearing a scarf that is trying to stop a genocide. You think that's appropriating a culture? Okay, maybe it's one way. How is that appropriating Palestinian culture?

How is my very much of being Palestinian refugees? Tell me. You're the one who's happy of us. I support Palestine. And so I am appreciating Palestinians. And everyone is given to me, in fact, because I stand in solidarity and the genocide. Wow. Yeah.

I know. Well, my favorite part was when she was like, my scarf that is trying to stop a genocide. I'm like, oh, that is a very powerful scarf. It's crazy. And I'm sure you guys have had interactions with people like this too in Union Station in D.C., but just initial reactions. Well, I think it's the double standard, right? Because we hear this all the time, like, oh, it almost trends back to like blackface things. But it's like, that's more extreme, obviously.

But it's like, okay, you can't have anything that would, you know, make mislead people. And, like, you know, it's like you're pretending to be another culture. and then, but in this case, it's okay. So it is the picking and choosing that we seek over and over from the left, right? I think these police officers just want to do their jobs. Yeah. You don't think that they... They're sick of being harassed.

Leave us alone. They're not like taking to the streets and like, yeah, Trump, let's get it. Like, they're literally like, they're in the police force because they're like doing badass things. They like doing whatever, just being a dude. Yeah. And they're not like, I don't think it's, they're inherently political. but the left always acts like they are and it's like this poor guy is like I know I just want to sit in

union station you know like stop bad stuff from happening yeah then I want to go home to my family at the end of the day and these people have to make it more than that and it's like but it's just so obnoxious because I mean these are guys that mostly men in the police force right that sign up to do an honorable job or reliable job like this is a great career when you're a kid you everyone's like oh what do you want to be on be a cop a firefighter a nurse at whatever it is like that's like one of staple careers when you're a kid that you're like, we look up to our cops. And how much pestering can you take before you snap and you're like, hey, you're appropriating a culture that's not your own. Also, like, these are the same people that will hold up the gaze for Gaza sign. If you were actually

in Gaza, it's not going to go well. It would not go well for you. Well, I just really want to know how long she was yelling at him before he spoke up because I did not see the beginning of that interaction, but he looked so smug. And you can tell he doesn't actually care. if she's a white person appropriating this culture. But he just, like, has a little smug face. And he was like, yeah, that's another thing. Where did the term Palestinian come from? And it's just like, I don't really know if police are allowed to, like,

interact, like, interact like that. But I'm glad I got to see it. Because I was like, you know what? Yeah, like, you're saying what most of us are thinking. So I was really enthused to see that. But do you guys have any interactions with protesters? Like, the really angry ones here in D.C. Oh, yeah.

I mean, have had plenty because, you know, like, as a journalist, You cover lots of protests in D.C., which there are plenty of. And I will say, Tanya Rabbit Trail, I do actually sometimes just appreciate seeing the protests because even though they're annoying and all of that, it reminds me how insanely blessed we are. And I'm like, if only they could recognize how insanely blessed that they are, that they get to protest freely in a free country. What a gift. This is actually awesome. Like, how did you get off your job?

You were free privileged. But anyway, they don't seem to recognize that part. But yeah, no, I mean, gosh, when you're out there on the streets and as soon as someone realizes, like, oh, you're a conservative. And so many of these protests, you're called every name in the book. I've had someone like stalk me before I protest. It can get weird real fast. You know, it's crazy that you mentioned just like seeing all these people and trying to talk to you, the protesters, try to get to talk to you and get you on their side. Actually, yesterday heading over to Union Station, it was me and Elizabeth Mitchell or White House correspondent.

we were walking there, some old white lady. Also, it's always the old white ladies. She, like, walks up to us when we're passing by all the tons of police cars and military vehicles. And she was like, does this make you ladies feel safe? And then we both look at her. We're like, yes. Actually.

And she was like, it makes you feel safe? Like, what? How? We stop interacting with her. And then she just kept bothering us. And I go, deterrence is strength. And then she walks away. She was like, well, I guess if it makes you feel safe?

And I'm like, do you not feel safer? I'm like this. We are in agreeance. She drove in from like suburban Maryland protest. So it's out of sight, out of mind for her. Yeah. No,

I'm excited to be able to actually go back to Union Station because honestly since COVID, so we work really close to Union Station, obviously, and they have the best restaurants for lunch. But I haven't gone there since COVID because it's just like,

it's kind of sketchy. It's not a pleasant experience. I made this point yesterday on Twitter. Do you guys remember when President Biden gave a campaign speech last year at Union Station? Oh my gosh, it was all lit up in red. It was like demonic. That was at Union Station?

Yeah. Oh, wow. Well, the thing that struck me about that speech, and I used to live on Capitol Hill, so I used to walk through Union Station every day. And I used to walk on, there's like a tunnel that you can walk through in Union Station. It's very beautiful to get to the metro. And I've always walked on the outside of it through the taxi cars, so I won't get, like, harassed by the homeless people.

And that day, I could walk right through Union Station because it was beautiful. They cleaned out all the homeless people. It was spotless. There was police everywhere. and then the day after Biden's speech right back to business as usual yeah and it was like and there was no outrage

there wasn't any outrage that the president of the United States cleaned something up just for a backdrop for a speech to make it look so amazing and then President Trump comes in and he tries to permanently do something and make people feel safe and there's outrage over that it's like so backwards and I think people are forgetting about this union station speech because it was it's just unreal that he did that

It's very much like Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, cleaning up their city, their state when some diplomat or some really important foreign person comes. And then they just let it happen again. They let all the homeless people come back. And I know it sounds really bad being like, oh, the homeless people are gone. But it's not any better just letting them live outside. This is like a personal story, caveat here to kind of paint the picture because this is something that literally communist China did. I was 11 years old. I was in China on this like ambassador trip.

and it was when they were preparing for the Olympics in Beijing, and they were building walls to hide all of the slums around where they were building the nest and all the other facilities for the Olympics. They were literally trying to hide the way that they treat their people and their way of life in a communist country. And it's exactly what the left is choosing to do across this country as well. It's just really sad. I just want to add that you're not supposed to call them homeless people.

I learned that this weekend. They're unhoused. So I moved from Capitol Hill because of crime. We had someone attempt to break into our Capitol Hill house. So I moved to Old Town, Alexandria, where it's safe and nice. And I watched a homeless guy beat up a pedestrian this weekend. And I had to call 911. And I'm like, can you get here?

Like, I can't break up this fight. And they're like, what race is the unhoused person? And I'm like, holy crap. This is my Alexandria? Yes. Like right near the water. I was like, get here. It was like there was no urgency.

I was so frustrated. So I was texting somebody this morning of power of influence. And I was like, can you get to? Like, can you start doing this other places too? Because I'm so annoyed. Let's spread this out a little bit. You truly cannot move far enough from D.C. Because it like goes into Northern Virginia.

You have to go out into like Loudoun County at this point. Loudoun County has their host of problems, which I don't know, we can talk about another day. But yeah, the left really cannot be happy about anything. This is their city too. is mostly their city, as we've seen in the way that D.C. votes, but they're going to complain about everything. Another thing that they're complaining about this week is the way that Trump has handled his meetings with President Putin, President Zelensky, and his summit with all of the European leaders that happened this week. Virginia, you've written about this so much for

the daily signal, so please break it out for us. Okay, this is big. And Reg and I, too, I want to get your thoughts because as the White House correspondent, I want to hear from your perspective, this Monday was like insane. And the number of times I heard people say, this is historic. Like, oh my gosh, everyone's talking about this is crazy because you have seven European leaders that really have the drop of a hat flew to the United States, met with President Trump, and were very vocal. That was one of my main takeaways from watching that meeting on Monday was all of these leaders saying more progress has been made in like two and a half weeks and has been made in three and a half years that finally we have people at the table. And it was interesting to see the level of agreement because I think for so long we have watched. obviously that epic meeting between Zelensky and Trump earlier this year that just exploded total disagreement, a lot of friction. But now it's like everyone's on the same page. And the number

one thing they're on the same page about is that Ukraine needs security guarantees. They need some protection. If they're going to sign a peace deal with Russia, they need to know that in two years, Russia is not going to be like, yeah, we feel like invading again. We're just going to do that. We're going to run that back. So I contacted a number of foreign policy experts, national security experts, and ask that question, like, what do security guarantees? What does that actually mean? There's sort of three main buckets that people are talking about, folks like KT. McFarland, the Heritage Foundation is Victoria Coates and Nile Gardner, those that work for organizations

that are very pro-Ukraine. So you have, like, the weapons bucket of if we essentially just give Ukraine like a pretty nice arsenal, that's a big deterrent from Russia. So, like, that's one option that also ties in a little bit with, like, the Article 5 stuff because if there's language that says, like, okay, if Russia invades Ukraine again, the U.S. could if they wanted to respond with force, not obligating us to, but it's language strong enough that would kind of threaten Russia. Another option is boots on the ground. That would probably be from France and Britain. Trump has been really clear. We're not sending U.S.

troops. It is important to understand, though, that if, like if NATO troops essentially are going in, well, from NATO alliance countries, that the U.S. then could, be responsible for backfilling some of those positions. So if they're, you know, having to vacate responsibilities in their own countries, we might step up and help them in some ways. So it trickles down. And then the third option, which I think is really fascinating or component of what this security could mean for Ukraine was something that Victoria Coates, foreign policy expert here at the Heritage Foundation raised. And that's border security. And it's like, oh, that's interesting. This is obviously something that's very appealing to the Trump administration. But she was like, you know, security

protections are kind of pointless if Putin still has a straight shot right into Ukraine. So that border that Ukraine shares with Russia needs to be fortified. And you can do that through technology. You can do it through troops, but you can even do it through a physical wall. Build the wall in Ukraine. Like, that's fascinating to me. But I would love to hear, Reagan, were you at the White House on Monday for these epic meetings? I wasn't. I'm not going to give away my secrets on how I do my White House job. But I figured out pretty well what events are worth like poking around the wayhouse at and which ones are better to watch from afar. Interesting.

This one I felt was best just with how crazy it is to watch from afar. It's like so chaotic when foreign press comes. Okay. I want your thoughts on this real fast. It's a hot take. Okay. So obviously Fox News, they do great reporting. Ducey, excellent at his job.

If I was a White House reporter in the Oval Office with Ducey, I would have been so frustrated on Monday because I think he asked about five questions. He was not sharing the floor. I was like, is this the same Peter as last time? It's almost like he has no choice. The president is looking at him and he's like, Peter, Peter. And President Trump does a really good job of going basically down the line and calling on everybody in the room or if you can make eye contact with him. And there are reporters that he knows very well like Peter Ducey.

And so what happened there from my understanding, I've been in the same. I've been in there with Peter Ducey before, and Trump is like, I'm going to give essentially Peter five questions. And then I'll get to the rest of you. And then I'm going to come back to Peter. That's exactly what he did. Peter's also like six, three and has a very deep voice. And it's hard to compete with that.

Like, it's just like, he just, I can yell loud, but I'm going to be screaming at the president of the United States. So there's like only so much I can do. Well, Europeans are not a tall bunch. So I feel like with the press pool, he really just sticks out over that. way. But I do want to say on the White House, the Zelensky stuff, the White House, I feel like I'm going to regret saying this, but I think things have been rather quiet at the White House

since Monday, which is rare, which I think means Trump is cooking. Yeah. I don't think we've seen from Trump, we've talked to Trump very much. He hasn't made a public appearance since Monday, really. Interesting. He's been truthing a lot. J.D. Vance has been out.

Yes. On the trail, certain things up, keeping people engaged and entertained. Which kind of tells me that there is a lot of sensitive stuff that's going on behind the scenes that he probably can't talk about and he's working, probably working the phones. And so we saw this huge day on Monday, which I think was a great step forward. And now it's like Trump's back in the Oval Office. He's cooking something up. And so that I really think that is a good indication that we're getting somewhere. It reminds me of something that Marco Rubio said this past week in an interview, I think, on Fox.

news, but he was just like, do you guys really think that we're going to tell the whole world our sensitive information? Like, I'm sorry you are saying it's not transparent right now, but like that's just genuinely how you make deals. And like, after the fact, we can let you in on it. But like, are you stupid? Like, we're not going to tell the whole world on your news show because you asked what exactly is going on behind the scenes. When it was a Sunday show that Marco Rubio was on this past weekend, where they were trying to say all these European leaders are showing up on Monday. because they're trying to run interference

and, like, prevent Trump from being a bully. And Marco Rubio was like, we've been talking to these people for weeks, for months, for, like, years. We all want peace. Our goal is peace in Ukraine. Yeah, yeah. What are you on? Yeah, it's crazy.

We need the room. Well, and I think one of the factors, too, that I was fascinated to learn, as I just dug into the topic more this week, was China and China's role here. And I spoke to Gordon Chang, he's a regular on Fox News, China expert. And he was like, you know, you really can't underestimate China's role here and the pressure that they might be applying to Russia behind the scenes because China actually wants the war to continue because they're scared if it all gets resolved that then the U.S. will put more focus on China.

They'll have more time to focus on the threat that China is. So it's to China's benefit just to keep this war funded and rolling on. It's like, that is crazy, but totally makes sense. Like there's so many factors at play that the president right now is sorting through. that's a great point I didn't really think about that I want to add something too I think to like the security guarantees

that you mentioned the president has ruled out boots on the ground but he hasn't ruled out boots in the air essentially which is American soldiers American planes

it sounds like in the air which I think is going to be a really interesting question for the administration to answer if they do go forward with that because I think that is how does that square

with America first. I think will be something that they'll hear from their base very often. And so I'm curious what they're going to do on that front, how they're going to kind of navigate this issue. But I did think it was a positive development for President Trump and his base to say, boots on the ground, no, boots in the air, maybe. We'll see. Yeah, that's a big deal. Well, Reagan, I want to hear more about your experience at the White House here in a second and since we've had you back on. But for all of our audience listening, if you love getting the news, you love staying up on what is happening, make sure that you are subscribed to the Daily Signal top news in 10 podcast. That comes out every single weekday morning. Our colleague Tony Kennett hosts that podcast and it's just a

great real fast rundown. This is the news you need to know. These are the insights of what is happening today sets you up for success. So if you want even more great content throughout the week from the Daily Signal, check out the Daily Signals, top news in 10. But Reagan, I was thinking back, it's been maybe like three months since we've had you on the show. And the last time we spoke, it was like, okay, you're adjusting to the pace of a Trump White House. Since we spoke, you've ridden on Air Force One, you've had that crazy experience.

Now that like you're in the thick of it, we're like, gosh, seven months? Eight. Wow. Eight. Eight to today. It's the 20, yeah. Wow. Okay.

Amazing. That's insane. So what had been some of like the key highlights, key moments for you since you became a White House correspondent under specifically. Okay. First, without a doubt, I got my ashes on Ash Wednesday in front of Air Force 2 with J.D. Vance. Oh, that's cool. In El Paso, Texas. Nice.

That's amazing. That's epic. It was unbelievable. I didn't think, I said to them, am I going to get my ashes? They told me, yes, we'll get you. back in time, trip gets delayed, they're not going to get back in time. I'm like, I haven't missed a Nash Wednesday in my 25 years of life. Are you kidding me? And we're like getting on Air Force 2. We're on the tarmac and I see a priest. And I'm like, no way. And I said to the team, like,

please, and they were like right after he goes, we'll run you up there. So that was really, really special. Elon Musk, I was one of my highlights and right at 100 days, they brought in about maybe 10 or 12 mainstream media reporters

and me to the Roosevelt room and we sat down with Elon Musk for an hour and we just talked to him. And it was, I really felt like I got to know Elon Musk in that conversation. He came in like giggling and he wanted to tell jokes.

And he was, and he really felt like, he's divulging how he's been sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom and Trump will text him and say, hey, go get some ice cream from the fridge downstairs and eat a tub of ice cream. And then two weeks later, I was in the press conference in the Oval Office with Elon Musk when Trump was saying goodbye to him and, you know, get to see him again before he has this giant meltdown. And I asked him, what do you think is harder making the government efficient or colonizing Mars? And I was serious and I thought it was funny because I thought there's a chance that he says

making the government efficient. He did say colonizing Mars. And my third, of course, would be riding on Air Force One. And things are so busy, as you mentioned, at the Trump White House, so I never got to do a food review. I really wanted to do a food review on Air Force One. I heard nothing but good things.

You can do it here right now. Let's do this. We, I'll say the vanilla lattes on Air Force 2 is the best vanilla latte ever had. Air Force one, it's a much bigger plane. It's much fancier than Air Force, too. We had a steak salad.

That was, it was the best steak. It was flavorful. It's like so good. And then if you're like still hungry, there's snacks in the back. There's candy, mince, whatever, all for the press. And then we had a fruit tart on our way. We were going to Iowa for Fourth of July celebration. It's the best, best fruit tart I've ever had.

I kept talking about it. I was like, do you guys think this is really good? When you're around the mainstream media, they're like, uh-huh. It's like not special to them. Yeah. And I was like, can I have another? That's so great. Are you going to finish here? On the way back, we had these like chicken pot pie nuggets or something.

It was like a little midnight snack because we came back pretty late and a key lime pie. And I was like, come on. Also amazing. The New York Times reporter I was with ordered a beer. And I was like, oh, I'd really love to say I had a beer. on Air Force One, but I was like so nervous that Trump was going to come back and I'd be like drinking a beer and you'd be like, way. You want one to?

Yeah. When you ride Air Force One for the first time, they also give you a little goodie bag. And so there's like a fact sheet in there about like the plane that you rode, where has it been? And then there is a box of M&Ms and they're in a match box. And Ronald Reagan, or up until Ronald Reagan, they used to give out cigarettes. and then Ronald Reagan was like, we're not giving out cigarettes anymore, but Nancy Reagan really loved the look of the matchboxes. So they were like, we'll keep the match boxes.

Ronald Reagan likes candy. We'll put M&Ms inside. But to keep in the spirit of the cigarettes, they now give you out a little set of matches that say Air Force One. That's cool. And then of course, I just got my certificate in the mail that says I wrote on Air Force One. And I was like, you guys, we have to talk about that. today.

Yeah. We have the photos. I remember for the photo. Oh, cool. That's so glamorous and so fun. I'm really like, was there anything that you ate that wasn't that good?

No. I don't think so. Actually, I will say the dressing for the salad. I didn't really like. And I was like, is this ranch? Like, what is this?

But you're like, you know, it tastes good because it's, yeah. You want to complain. I hope you are. Take the dressing right. But some of the more unglamorous parts, so I've heard, is the White House press room, the briefing room every few days with Caroline Levitt.

I mean, it's so cool. And I love getting to hear your questions up there. But I've also heard it's like brutal trying to get your seat, getting there early. So like, what is that process like? Well, so the Daily Caller has had a seat in the briefing room for a number of years. We're very blessed to have had that. And that has come from the long line of impressive White House correspondents that have come behind me. And all the relations, they've been able to work with the WHCA and the White House.

So we're, but we're in the back row. And during the Biden administration, Kareen-Jean-Pier, she called on those first three rows. The only time I got called on, it was like a snowstorm. No one, it's snowstorm. It's snowstorm. It was like an inch of snow. No one showed up. I got to move up to like the first couple of rows. And I got a question because she ran out of people to call.

on. Now it's like I'm in this back row. Caroline Leavid obviously knows who I am, but there are so many people and she, I'm, they're, everyone has their hand raised and I'm like, she can't even see me. So I sit now on a booster seat. It's like this thick. And it kind of raises me above everybody else. Yeah. You know, you like kind of lift yourself out of your seat. You lean forward a little bit. You start to yell. It is the decorum has fallen. people are like, it turns, like, she takes like three questions and then if she calls on like a general corner of the room, seven people will be like, thank you, Caroline. And then it's like, it's craziness. Yeah. I don't know how you solve that. I know a lot of people are irritated with

it. I don't know. I'm like, it's ultimately a good thing, you know, it was like so quiet and boring during the Biden administration. But it is, yeah, being within the one. White House. I know that there were like some mice running around a couple weeks ago. Wait, like actual mics? Yeah. It's like not. Yeah. I mean, that's not unlike the rest of DC. No, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. We get Eric Adams. Mice don't realize that they're not allowed in there. The Wi-Fi, horrible. Like, there's like still things. And you don't want to complain too much because you're like are in the White House, you know. But it is like, oh, there's a little rodent. Oh, you know, there's birds swooping down on Peter Ducey's hair.

the bending machines never stocked. And there's like little things like that where you're like, this is kind of like exhausting. Charming. What's your take on the new ballroom edition? Oh yeah. I love talking about the ballroom. When you have a state dinner at the White House,

it's on the South Lawn because there's no room in the White House that's big enough to host all these people. And so they put up a tent, like when you would have for like a high school graduation or, I mean, and I think that's so wrong. This is the White House. This is the most important place in the entire world. And you are hosting, well, aside from the Holy Land, I should say, most important political place in the entire world.

And that's where you're putting, this is like what it looks like. It's this kind of dinky tent. Yeah, I think it's so weird. And so I love the fact that they're building the ballroom. It absolutely needs to happen. You should come to the White House and it should be like, wow and it's being privately funded it's not like we the taxpayer are funding for it or paying for it and even if we were there are so many ridiculous things our taxpayer dollars go for like so true so i hate

the outrage of it it's like the same thing out there was a bunch of outrage over the flagpoles i'm like what is wrong with you people so that's that's how i feel i welcome it and i hope that they get on it yeah there's so much outrage over everything. And I do think that is a huge part of why the Democrats are so unpopular right now. There's just such fatigue, Democrat fatigue. Everyone's like, oh, there's like protest or fatigue or feminist fatigue. And I'm like, no, it's just generally liberal fatigue. And Crystal was actually showing me before this a really cool, well, I think it's cool. They probably wouldn't agree. New York Times, of all places, put out an article saying that the Democrats voter registration

is down across the board, across all states. We can actually throw up the clear. appear of that map, but we'll show everyone here as well. It's crazy. Yeah. No one likes them. So the Democrat Party is hemorrhaging voters like every single state. It's insane. And you can see on the map, it's like, I don't know if you've seen this area, but I'll show you while we're sitting here. But you see this reaction to honestly a focus on really poor policy priorities. Right. And the number of new voters nationwide since 2018 is dramatically in the Republican Party's favor. And so there's this kind of question, right? And this is the New York Times. So it's probably took a lot for them to like

swallow in order to put this out and be like, well, the data is the data. We can't really fight this. But you see, we'll talk about this, like the cosplay of people like Travis Kelsey and Gavin Newsom in trying to be cool. And the study that the Democrats funded to understand white men. and things like this and it's just like, have they totally lost it? Yeah. I mean, clearly voters are not keeping up with them. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think yes at the moment they've lost it and you can never be comfortable, right?

Like this is the lesson of politics. You can never be like, oh, yay, like Republicans and conservatives have won and like we're in the clear. Like, no, it's a constant fight. It's a constant battle. And there's a lot of money going into fixing this map. Like Democrats are looking at this. They're like, okay, we have time. Three years is a long time to get it together for the next presidential election.

And they are not going to rest until they see a change in this trend. So is their current strategy working? Absolutely not. It's so crazy. But I can't help but think they're saying what their strategy is like making. I don't know. Like, did they even have a strategy? Well, like they started trying.

They tried this with the Kamala. Walls campaign, right? Where they started trying to play Tim Walls up as this like Midwest normal guy, the camo hats that they put out for the campaign and things like this. They're super relatable and normal. They obviously are not. But it's kind of dovetailed. Like I said, I was off the grid last week. So I missed the GQ shoot that Travis Kelsey did where he's like in the swamp. He's like on a TV wearing this like fur coat. I'm like, it's giving Macklemore Thrift Shop vibes to me. I'm like, you're trying. We need you put these pictures at.

We'll put these pictures up. But it's such a stretch. And I'm like, of all people, Travis Kelsey, they're trying to like take this masculine NFL player with a wildly successful career. He's obviously with Taylor Swift, which is a whole other dynamic and say like this is blue collar-esque. It's just not relatable. I actually don't think that cosplay and conservatives is like as a concept of bad idea. Like I, because we've seen like Gavin Newsom, for example, or Pete Buttigieg kind of start to move towards the middle. And that's like that was the lesson of the 2024 election.

The American people are normal. They don't want the far left policies. They're shifting towards the right. And so it would be, I think, smart on the left to start to shift towards the right. And so like trying to be like what's normal, like what do normal people want is like what they should be doing. But they're like almost like swinging back the other way where they're like, trying to wear it as a costume. They're like, oh, I'm going to go like fishing and do something that's unnatural. Rugged and normal, but not. Just be authentic. And I think that's actually something

the right does really well is they're just authentic and real and like, oh, this is what we are like and they wear that on their sleeves. And so it's like, and I think the left doesn't understand that. They think they have to like put on this costume of what conservatives are. But the whole concept of like trying to move to the right or emulate that a little bit more. is something that they should There's something there, yes. Well, it's been 10 years since there's been like a normal leftist, but after Obama, after Obama 2.0, especially in reaction to Trump,

we just saw it get worse and worse and the very vocal progressive minority of the left really shaped the way that people think of them for better or for worse. So it does, I do see what you're saying, but I'm just like, I just don't even know if they know what a normal liberal looks like anymore. Do they know? Can they invent that? As far as I'm concerned, it's not Harry Sisson and all these people. Have you seen, this is my message.

I DM'd with Harry Sisson a little bit recently. Oh, did he slide in? Because I, like, he was on the Adam Friedland show. He's a comedian. He's like super far left comedian. And he just ran circles around Harry. And Harry couldn't be normal. Like, he, like, asked him about baby Grock hitting on Libby Dunn.

And he was like, couldn't answer the question. It was like, dude, just be a guy. Be like, yes. Yeah, like Libby Dunn's hot. I don't know, like anything. The guy, like the normal 22-year-old guy who's a little promiscuous, like all the conservative like, hot pros, and it's like, no, that's just fun. Yeah.

And I, Harry DM'd me about it, and I will keep most of it private, but I was like, come do an interview with me, and we haven't set it up, and I want him to do an interview because I think you just need to be authentic. And Harry says, and if you just, like, let down his walls and was a guy, that's, like, so more relatable for Democrats than just being like so in your box and your talking points that you can't react to the culture things that are going on and the right is dominating culture now and that's where the left they just can't catch up. My big conspiracy theory and we can get back to Travis Kelsey after this because I know we talked about about Travis. My big conspiracy about all this is

they're trying out all these things in public with Gavin Newsom, Travis Kelsey, Harry Sisson, just the way that everyone's reacting in the background, they're listening to all the conservative commentary ad nauseum because they know that we're all talking about it on shows like this, bigger shows, and they're quietly taking notes, and this is how they're doing their field research. They're like outraging us and trying all these things than seeing what we're saying. And we're like, oh, that's not going to work. And we don't like this. And they're like, okay, we're going to write that down.

So that's what I think they're doing. But no, Travis Kelsey, actually, I did like the photo shoot. It reminded me of Lana Del Rey's husband. Hot take. Hot take. When he wore the little yellow neon vest, I'm like, okay, it's giving Trump that one rally. I just felt like it was a little bit, it was a little like extended beyond reality. Like I don't think they were trying to make him look very relatable.

I thought they were like, oh, it's cheap. So it's like high fashion, right? Yeah. More or less. So you're like, okay, you kind of expect high fashion stuff to be a little out there, a little weird. It felt a little strange for him. Yeah. Because like, why are you wearing a safety vest?

in the ocean like this, but why would you not, at least? I had fun with it, and I'm just glad that they're not putting him in a skirt. That's fair. Okay, so, it's money. I'm just going to say it.

Like, he probably got a really nice paycheck from doing that shoot. And he's dating, in my opinion, the most brilliant businesswoman of our generation. I mean, like Taylor Swift or not, the woman is brilliant. And so he got this opportunity, and she was like, you get to essentially wear costumes and get a giant paycheck at the end of it.

Like, why would you not do this? Yeah. It's totally on track with who they are. Yeah. I don't know if anyone on the left is seeing that and being like, wow, that's a blue-collar man right there. Because it is geeky at the end of the day. But I was here for it. He's attractive.

And we talked to this last week with Emily Dishinsky, but she was like, he is the embodiment of toxic masculinity in their. and the left's parameters. So the fact that he was dressing up in this conservative costume, I don't think was them pandering to the left or to the right, but I do think the fact that Travis Kelsey is so prominent right now and dating Taylor Swift, that is the more subtle, like, okay, vibe shift, culture shift to the right. Like the left is accepting with open arms this toxic masculine man.

She's so wise. That's a great take. You know who doesn't give off like toxic masculine energy, but just toxic, though? I have a new song. He reminds me of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. I don't trust that man. Freaks me out. Well, so the annoying thing is right now, like his whole team is like, oh, like we're doing

all these memes and everything to like in the Trump style to show like Trump how ridiculous he looks. And like, no, you're doing it because it freaking works. You're doing it because it's an effective messaging campaign. And right now, everyone is viewing Gavin Newsom as a very, very likely Democrat candidate for 2028. And so they're testing it out. They're saying, does this actually work?

Should we do more of this? Please, it is not a holier than now moment at all. Their testing strategy. 100%. Right? And it's like they have for, since Elon bought X or Twitter and renamed to X, they've been complaining time and again that X is now this conservative pro-maga echo chamber. And so by modeling all of their content after President Trump, it's like you're not fooling anyone.

This is exactly what you're doing. And also, please, please keep pushing Gavin Newsom on the left and on your party because if you look at the state of California, there's been a mass exodus for years. It's become a completely failed state. And people are sick of it. Everyone I grew up with that still lives there, they're desperate to find a way out. it's tough because this is your home. It's where you grew up. Like,

you may still have family or there's, like, legacy there, right? And it's, it's really sad to have to, like, abandon your home.

But everyone's like, nope. If this is the direction that the state is going to continue to go, yeah, it seems like they're doubling down. It's just, like,

absolutely insane. Go back to French laundry, enjoy your meal, shut the beaches down. Okay, go wrong. It's so sad. California, beautiful California.

All right, Well, so question of the week. So last week, we asked you guys... What's your craziest crime story? Or a crime story in general. And you guys actually were not here last week, so I really want to know. We talked about protesters at the top of the show, but do you have crime-specific stories?

You mentioned your house almost got broken into it. What's your DC crime story? So when we were on Capitol Hill, not very far from the Heritage Foundation, it was like Saturday morning, and I was like a freak on the rain camera. that we had because I was so afraid of things happening. And I got a notification like 8 a.m.

I wasn't at my house, but I saw a man walk up to her house, look in all of the doors and windows, look around our house. And he's on camera saying, damn, she's locked up. And then he like walks away. So I had to file a police report. After that, I was like way too spooked. And it was just, I did not feel safe where we were. And I had interned down here.

while I was in college. And so, and we lived not far away. And we had to call the cops that year, too. It was a really stupid thing. And the cops said to us, hey, like, when we got the call, we were like, really? Like, this area is so good. We never get any calls to this area. So to then, a couple years later, feel not safe and to have this happen to me and

have to have the police come and follow a police report, I was like, oh, this is so devastating. So then I ended up moving to Old Town, Virginia. and I've been feeling so awesome. And this week I'm coming back from church. I have to stop in a convenience store. And there's a homeless man loitering outside and pedestrian. He gets in the way of a pedestrian and pedestrian says like, where'd you come from, move, or something like that.

It was loud enough that I turned my head. And I see the homeless man stare at the pedestrian who's walking away and just start charging. Oh my gosh. Terrifying. I'm like, here we go. You know, I run in the CBS and I call 911 and I said earlier on the show. They were annoying.

And I'm talking to the workers and they were like, yeah, tell them it's the guy with the crooked neck. They'll know who he is. And I was like, what do you mean? They were like two weeks ago, he did the same thing. He had this outburst. He was angry. He tried to beat up a pedestrian. And they were like this in the street, like punching, like boxing.

And they came, arrested him. a couple hours later, dropped him back off. He walked in the CVS and stole something. And now he's standing here beating somebody up again. And I was like, what is this? Like, how did this happen? And it's such a nice area of Virginia where there's so many tourists and the police are constantly around.

And I was like, this is just should not be happening. Well, it goes to the issue of prosecutors not prosecuting. That is the center of this issue. Like, we're not holding criminals accountable for their actions. and that has to change because you're going to keep having the crime. Even the number of times that the police do their job is like the criminal justice system has to do their job too. Press charges. Yeah.

Repeat offender story when I was on H Street. Oh, why would you do that? Great question. I was on H Street and I was in the Apollo. So like kind of bougie like above the whole foods like whatever. How was there today? And yeah, there you go. And I mean, I loved it.

Walking Distance for the whole thing. And that was a couple years ago when one of Ram Paul staffers was stabbed, like a block from my building. And it was late at night early in the morning. Like it was clear like he had just been coming from bars like, cool. It's like Friday or Saturday or something like awesome. The guy had just hours before been released from prison. Oh my gosh. I didn't know this staffer that worked on the hill.

but it was a random attack, like stabbed him multiple times. It was a whole day and I was like, time to move to Virginia. Yeah. It's not wasting time. I used to go when I interned down here to the bars on H Street and walk home without a care in the world with my friends and we were all together and never thought twice about it.

And then I would go to Solid Core right on H Street. And the one day I would, it was like dark. It was only two blocks away, but I put on my running vests and I would sprint there because I was like so afraid of the dark. And I have this giant light. on my chest and I catch two guys breaking into a car. Yes. And they flee, they see my light, it's good deterrence, and I couldn't go after that.

I was like too freaked out to go. It's really like a lifestyle change, right? Like I don't think in D.C. I've had a personal experience yet, knock on wood. Yeah. Key word there. But it's like I also have adjusted my lifestyle to make sure that I avoid situations as much as possible. No, I, on, I mean, in general, I'm not a huge city person, but.

I, on weekends, like I don't go into D.C. to hang out. I usually go to small towns and Virginia, like an hour and a half away. I want something quiet and safe. I was at that Orange Theory this morning on H Street. And I will say this week has been the first time. Oh, no. It's been the first time I walked to my class and not seeing like a dude peeing on the sidewalk. So I'm like, hey, that's a win. We'll take where we can get. We'll take what we can get. But for this week's question of the week, I want you guys to all answer this. We have it in our Instagram story. So follow us on Instagram. You can also comment in the comments, but also on Instagram for bonus content. Can the Democrats save face with voters? Are they too far gone?

What can they do? Just sound off with all of your thoughts on the state. The tragic state of the Democrat Party right now. And we can they say face so excited. And also like can conservatives keep up the momentum? Yeah. It's precarious. This power shift. A lot is on us guys. Just enjoy it for now. Thank you. Reagan so much for joining us. This is so much. fun. Tell us how we can follow all your work. Absolutely. Oh, it's Reagan Reese. Super easy. R-E-A-G-A-N was named after the president. Boop-Boo. Amazing. I was recently told by one of his staffers that he would have been like so, he would, so humbled by the fact that he was,

someone was named after him. I thought that was really sweet. Yeah, Reagan Reese, Twitter, Instagram, Daily Collar website. Of course. All the places. We'll drop all of that in the show notes. So please, please also go support Reagan and all of her amazing work. You don't want to miss it. And thanks for joining us today. See you next week. Bye, guys.