Time now for a midweek check in on some major political developments so far this week with Rylan Barden, who is a Kentucky based editor with NPR National Public Radio.

Good to see you, Ryland.

Good to see you, too, Renee.

So let's start with the news that we've learned about how there is an alliance between Kentucky's senior and junior U.S.

Senator Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell on an issue that's related to President Trump's economic plan.

When it comes to tariffs on foreign imports.

Tell us about how these two are coming together against this particular effort.

Yeah, well, first off, you know, Senator Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell are they're very different kind of Republicans.

But there's there's also kind of like a third type of Republican these days, which is the more, you know, totally Trump aligned Republican.

But and Rand Paul and McConnell have distanced themselves from former President Trump's position on instituting tariffs, especially from China, that Trump wants to institute a 60% tariff on goods from China and 200% on Mexican auto imports and 10% on all other foreign goods.

And, you know, this is this is something that, you know, is in line with a lot of Trump's kind of more isolationist economic policies.

But I think it's just a it's been a step too far for some more traditional politician in the United States who recognize that a lot of this international trade actually ends up benefiting the United States a whole lot.

And to institute such drastic tariffs could really flip upside down how a lot of things work at the moment.

But it just an interesting little political tip, especially because Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell do disagree on a lot of issues, especially when it comes to the former president.

And, you know, we're only a, you know, a little bit over a month out before the election.

And this is such a central position for the former president who's running for reelection.

So, you know, it's this is the former president's also been a little all over the place on these issues.

So we'll see exactly if this gets more specific or even if this would ever be able to be implemented if he were to be back in office.

Yeah, And we didn't get a lot of clarification on that during last night's vice presidential debate either.

So a lot of not a lot of it shared about how that would work.

So let's move on and talk about a former Republican nominee for governor and the former attorney general of Kentucky, Republican Daniel Cameron, is back in the news again.

And this time it's a story about how he was possibly launching a criminal investigation into two abortion providers connected to the University of Louisville.

What do we know about this?

Right.

So former Attorney General Daniel Cameron had impaneled a grand jury and it sought to get a subpoena for records of doctors who work at University of Louisville Hospital, but who also back when there were abortion providers in Kentucky pre summer of 2022 who are also performing abortions, apparently arguing that this was either a misuse of public funds because they were employees of a state university or that this would was actually this would actually be an illegal use of funds.

It is a little unclear exactly what he was seeking here.

But those doctors.

So part of why we know about this is that Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Sheppard ordered this case to be unsealed, which has been going on since 2023 when the when former Attorney General Cameron was launching this apparent investigation.

But we and so we do see the the the court's original ruling and also the appeals court's ruling which accused him of launching a fishing expedition in kind of a and apparently to seeking out of that as part of his anti-abortion agenda.

But just being kind of a a pro-life or anti-abortion candidate here.

Those doctors sued to quash that subpoena and were ultimately successful.

And yeah, and and just recently this week, the judge finally ordered those records unsealed so we could see a little bit of what was going on there.

And meanwhile, you know, the attorney general was running for governor at that time.

So, you know, who knows where that would have ended up if if those records had come out?

Has Daniel Cameron made a comment about this news development yet?

I have not seen a response from from Cameron on this.

I mean, obviously, he's not really in his own public office anymore.

But yeah, I would be interested in knowing more about exactly how his how his office was operating at that time, especially on this issue.

Right.

Yeah.

A lot more to learn about that.

And we'll end with the current governor who had faced a challenge from Daniel Cameron just last year.

The governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, keeps on making the list.

Right.

The A-list.

And we learned that he's also an illustrious list this time by TIME magazine.

What's this all about?

Yeah, the governor, Andy Beshear, is on the Time 100 Next List, which is it's it's highlighting potential rising political stars.

You know, we've heard a lot of this over the last year, his name being mentioned in these national circles.

Certainly after his reelection.

We saw him, you know, launching his own national pack and then him, you know, apparently being in the veepstakes, I mean, vetted as a potential vice presidential candidate alongside Vice President Kamala Harris as she runs for the presidency this year.

You know, his name's just been out there a whole lot more this year.

He was pretty high profile in his first term, you know, really being going around the country, talking about Kentucky during natural disasters, but also during the coronavirus pandemic.

So I think, you know, this is I think more than anything reflective of the, you know, Democrats really trying to build up their bench over these in recent years, which it it it really gotten depleted before that.

So there's there's a lot more of these characters that we're seeing in national headlines, seeing and then just in conversation right now.

And Andy Beshear is one of them.

And you know, we'll see you know, we'll see where he ends up next is he's committed one way or the other to finishing out his term as governor.

But I think he has kind of left I can't remember where he's at now if he's left the door open on.

Yeah, if if you were ever called up for an appointment in some future administration, if you would ever run for any higher office.

But we'll see.

You know, promises change.

You know, a lot of these politicians have said, you know, they won't run for office again or they won't go only seek certain term limits.

But, you know, you can't legislate the future.

That's right.

When he's leaving the door open and I've had some conversation with folks who said, wonder how Andy Beshear would have done against J.D.

Vance last night and the debate as there's been some criticism of how Governor Walz did perform and some were underwhelmed by his performance and wondered if Andy Beshear or Josh SHAPIRO, the governor of Pennsylvania, could have done better in that situation.

That was interesting.

And also, I noted to that Governor Walz, you know, brought up a story that Governor Bush was told a lot of the young woman from Western Kentucky who saw an abortion when she was a child after being raped by her stepfather, and how she knew that was really a central part towards the ending of Governor Bush's successful reelection campaign last year.

It's something that Democrats are really trying to hammer home in this year's election when abortion is on the ballot in so many states.

Yes.

Only 30 something odd days to go before November 5th.

We thank you so much of Ireland for keeping your eyes on all the developments.

We appreciate you.

Thanks, Renee.