Bonus Edition of The Big Ben Show on Trump's Whirlwind White House

Plus: Spanberger's Virginia struggles, AOC's not crazy talk, WBD sale possibilities

Oct 27, 2025

A bonus edition of The Big Ben Show dropped this weekend, and I hope you’ll take the time to listen to my conversation with The Daily Wire’s Brent Scher about covering this White House and more. We may do more of these audio only bonus eps if you like them…

These Democrats Were Runaways — Til They Weren’t

WSJ:

Democratic leaders hoping to revive the party’s fortunes this fall pinned their hopes on two gubernatorial candidates—Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia—betting on both women’s moderate pragmatism and experience in national security.
The wager is looking increasingly risky. A texting scandal in Virginia has prompted Republicans to inject more money into a race that once looked as though it would be Democratic landslide, while polls in New Jersey have significantly tightened, putting Democrats on edge.
Spanberger and Sherrill still hold leads over their opponents, but their relative underperformance stands in contrast to what is shaping up to be a runaway victory in the New York mayoral election for the democratic-socialist assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who represents another vision for the party. Mamdani has been leading the race against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by double digits. A Fox News poll from mid-October shows Mamdani with a 21-point advantage.
Spanberger and Sherrill were backed by Democratic national leaders who saw them as more-suited for attracting suburban, swing voters than the populist alternative supported by the party’s progressive flank. Mamdani touts a rent freeze, free daycare and grassroots power, drawing endorsements from the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.). Party elders have largely kept their distance—wary of giving Republicans easy fodder for painting Democrats as radical and out of touch…
In Virginia, Spanberger, a former member of Congress, has built her campaign around economic anxiety and federal-workforce turmoil. The commonwealth is home to hundreds of thousands of federal employees, many of whom faced job losses or furloughs during the recent government shutdown.
Spanberger’s emphasis on the economic fallout from federal cuts has secured her as a front-runner, and she still appears to have the inside track. A poll of likely voters released by Suffolk University on Thursday shows Spanberger leading 52%-43% statewide, but other polls put the race closer.
The election took on a new dimension in recent weeks after the release of text messages from the Democratic candidate for attorney general in Virginia, Jay Jones, in which he discussed hypothetically shooting a GOP state lawmaker. Spanberger’s opponent, GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has sought to tie Spanberger to the scandal. Republicans have flooded the airwaves with ads attacking Spanberger on the issue, featuring Spanberger urging supporters to “let your rage fuel you,” framing the Democrat as tone-deaf to the threat of political violence.
Spanberger has tried to avoid discussing the scandal as she toured Northern Virginia and the Richmond suburbs, focusing instead on the shutdown’s impact and pledging to bring stability back to a state heavily reliant on federal paychecks. At rallies, she has highlighted her background as a former Central Intelligence Agency officer and a centrist, swearing off “political nonsense” in Washington.
Earle-Sears has leaned into her combative debate performance at Norfolk State University, where she repeatedly accused Spanberger of lacking “courage” to distance herself from Jones.
She has launched advertisements connecting Spanberger to transgender ideology, asserting that Spanberger supports permitting boys in girls’ locker rooms as well as gender transitions for children.
The real vulnerability for Spanberger lies in turnout. Virginia Republicans—such as Gov. Glenn Youngkin—have historically performed well in mobilizing base voters in off-year elections, especially on social issues. Virginia law bars him from serving consecutive terms.
In a campaign marked by federal layoffs, debates over schools and a polarized electorate, Spanberger’s centrism could be a double-edged sword: appealing to moderates while failing to excite the base enough to overcome energized conservative turnout.

Backing Zohran, AOC Insists: We’re Not Crazy, You Are

Politico.

“We must remember in a time such as this, we are not the crazy ones, New York City. We are not the outlandish ones,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said at Mamdani’s “New York is Not for Sale” campaign event. “They want us to think we are crazy. We are sane to demand affordable and decent housing, a decent wage, the right to health care, that we pay to care for our people instead of the flattening of Palestinians and oppressed people abroad.”
When it was Mamdani’s turn before the nearly 13,000 people at Forest Hills Stadium, he credited Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had just introduced him.
“I stand before you tonight only because the senator dared to stand alone for so long,” he said. “I speak the language of democratic socialism, only because he spoke it first.”
Six decades after the Beatles played the same venue, Zohranmania came to Queens. And the stadium was a big tent. Along with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani’s rally also featured Gov. Kathy Hochul, a more moderate, business-friendly Democrat who campaigned for him Sunday night for the first time since endorsing him in a September New York Times op-ed.
While much has been made of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ long-delayed and lukewarm endorsement of Mamdani, the event showed the extent to which the democratic socialist candidate has not just been accepted, but championed by mainstream Democratic players in New York.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie spoke on stage too. With Hochul, the three leaders negotiate New York’s $250 billion-plus budget, and all three reiterated support for Mamdani priorities like free, universal child care.
Hochul would have been an unlikely sight at a Sanders presidential rally in 2016 or 2020, but she was there Sunday urging New Yorkers to vote for Mamdani — and once again defeat the man who once appointed her as lieutenant governor, Andrew Cuomo.
Aside from doubling as a democratic socialist apostolic succession of sorts, the rally served to demonstrate just how much mainstream Democratic leaders have been forced to respond to the populist demands energizing Mamdani’s campaign, as well as those of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez’s before him.
As Hochul spoke, the crowd broke out into spontaneous chants of “tax the rich!” several times. Increasing the personal income tax on city residents making more than $1 million is a key Mamdani proposal to fund his plans — a plank of his platform Hochul has said she’s not willing to support.
“I hear you,” she said to the chanting crowd with an awkward chuckle. “I love to see this energy and this passion.”

Warner Bros.’ Explosive Sale Possibilities

Bloomberg:

Now Zaslav finds himself once again dwarfed by larger competitors, only this time he’s sitting on more desirable assets: Warner Bros. owns the biggest TV studio in the world and HBO, long coveted by everyone from Apple to Netflix.
While most people expect Warner Bros. to change hands once again, Zaslav isn’t as desperate to sell as former Paramount owner Shari Redstone, whose family fortune was melting away. If the Warner Bros. CEO isn’t blown away by any offers, he can go ahead with plans to split the company in two.
For all of Zaslav’s confidence, executives at Warner Bros. aren’t sure Apple or Amazon will take a real run at the company. Entertainment is a marketing expense for those companies, which make most of their money from consumer electronics, e-commerce and cloud computing. Like every other major technology company, they are more concerned with winning at AI than the Oscars.
Apple services boss Eddy Cue has told people he would at least like to look. Amazon media boss Mike Hopkins is going to take a look as well.
But Apple has generally eschewed major M&A, and it’s hard to imagine CEO Tim Cook explaining to shareholders why his company’s biggest deal ever is for a shrinking media company that would provide a marginal lift to its core business. Amazon, at least, has already made a major investment in media.
Executives at Warner Bros. see Netflix and Comcast as more likely bidders. Comcast has obvious reasons to do a deal. Like Paramount, it could combine two studios and streaming services. Comcast’s Peacock, Paramount+ and HBO Max are all third-tier services that would benefit from more desirable programming and a larger subscriber base. Comcast already has a deal with Warner Bros. for the Harry Potter rides at its Universal theme parks and could integrate DC Comics and other franchises into its businesses.
Comcast has expressed no interest in the Warner Bros. cable TV networks and would face real regulatory concerns given the Trump administration’s antipathy toward its major shareholders, the Roberts family, and the company’s MSNBC cable network. (Comcast is one of the donors to Trump’s new White House ballroom.) There would also be regulatory hurdles in Europe for many companies given Warner Bros.′ TV assets there.

Related from the Hollywood Reporter: Taylor Sheridan to Leave Paramount for NBCUniversal. Is gaining Bari Weiss + HBOMax while losing Taylor Sheridan part of David Ellison’s plan?

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The Transom

Bonus Edition of The Big Ben Show on Trump's Whirlwind White House

Plus: Spanberger's Virginia struggles, AOC's not crazy talk, WBD sale possibilities

These Democrats Were Runaways — Til They Weren’t

Backing Zohran, AOC Insists: We’re Not Crazy, You Are

Warner Bros.’ Explosive Sale Possibilities