WTH is Going On With the UK’s “Grooming Gangs”?
Dominic Green Explains

Back

For decades, police, politicians, and community leaders alike covered up what is likely the largest peacetime organized crime spree in British history: The sexual grooming, exploitation, and trafficking of minors by predominantly Pakistani Muslim migrant communities. While new light is now being shed on this scandal by Elon Musk and brave journalists in Britain, there is an untold number of victims who will likely never see proper justice. How did British fixation on community relations lead to the sexual exploitation of minors? And what does the uncovering of this story, and the corruption that allowed it to occur, mean for the rest of the Western world?

Dominic Green is a fellow at the Royal Historical Society, a Wall Street Journal contributor, and a Washington Examiner columnist. He was previously a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and editor-in-chief of The Spectator’s U.S. edition. Dr. Green is the author of five books about British history and society.

Download the transcript here.

On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” attempting to change the current understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment by declaring that the children of illegal immigrants or people on temporary visas born in the United States are not granted citizenship. While many Americans may agree that the unfortunate realities of “birth tourism” and “anchor babies” in the U.S. need to be curbed or stopped, Trump’s executive order has been criticized as unconstitutional and the wrong way to approach the issue. How are presidents of both parties subverting Congress in their pursuit of legislative goals? And how did President Obama’s action on DACA and President Biden’s declaration on the Equal Rights Amendment help create precedent for Trump’s actions today?

Adam White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. Concurrently, he codirects the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Before joining AEI, he was a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Download the transcript here.

In the 300th episode of What the Hell is Going On? Dany and Marc discuss Marc’s column in the Washington Post, Donald Trump finally gets his honeymoon. When Trump first entered the Oval Office in 2017, the Democratic Party was in full “resist” mode, Trump was a Washington outsider, and protests engulfed America’s capital. Today, Trump enters office understanding the levers of government and how to wield them, issuing a flurry of executive orders and memoranda putting federal employees back to work, attempting to end birthright citizenship, canceling federal DEI programs, and more. How will Trump’s second term differ from his first? And how long will Trump’s political honeymoon last?

Many who follow Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have come to the same conclusion: Russia can defeat Ukraine with its “incredible” strength. However, Russia is much weaker than even many in the American media let on. The Russian military is bleeding troops for minor gains on the battlefield, running out of men to fight, and has so little equipment it’s turning to movie studios to recoup donated Soviet military equipment from the 1950s. How long can Putin continue his illegal war on Ukraine? How can Trump leverage Russia’s weakness to bring Putin to the negotiating table?

George Barros is the Russia Team & Geospatial Intelligence Team Lead on the Russia and Ukraine portfolio at the Institute for the Study of War. George’s work focuses on open-source research and geospatial analysis of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Russian information operations, and Ukrainian politics. Prior to joining ISW, he worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as an advisor on Ukraine and Russia for a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Download the transcript here.

While many understand the failures of the late Jimmy Carter’s presidency, he is often referred to as our “best ex-president” because of his humanitarian and diplomatic efforts following his loss to President Reagan. However, the rose-colored glasses through which many Americans view his post-presidency ignore his disastrous meddling in foreign affairs and blatant antisemitism since leaving office. Despite his humanitarian efforts, Jimmy Carter was not the elder statesman his allies alleged him to be. Rather, Carter’s true legacy is that of someone who wished to remain president without the constitutional fetters of the office, undermining his successors of both parties.

Steven Hayward is the Edward L. Gaylord Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University and a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute. He was previously a resident scholar at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and the F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute. Dr. Hayward is the author of The Real Jimmy Carter: How Our Worst Ex-President Undermines American Foreign Policy, Coddles Dictators and Created the Party of Clinton and Kerry (Regnery 2004).

Download the transcript here.

In this episode of WTH Extra! Dany and Marc discuss Marc’s column in the Washington Post, Does Trump want Putin to get Ukraine’s $26 trillion in gas and minerals? Ukraine is a mineral superpower, with some of the largest reserves of 117 of the 120 most widely used minerals in the world. And with the help of U.S. assistance, Ukraine has successfully defended roughly 80 percent of its known mineral deposits. If the U.S. continues to help Ukraine secure and develop its natural minerals, we can not only deal a strategic blow to Beijing and Moscow, but also bring enormous financial benefits back to the American people.

Download the transcript here.

Americans have lost faith in the expert class, and in some cases, for good reason. So-called “experts” didn’t just destroy livelihoods during the COVID pandemic or make China rich through normalized trade relations, they also looked down upon and antagonized the American people in the process. What role will experts play in the second Trump administration? And how can the expert class begin to regain the trust of the American people?

Robert Doar is the president of the American Enterprise Institute. While at AEI, Mr. Doar has served as a co-chair of the National Commission on Hunger and as a lead member of the AEI-Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity. He first joined AEI in 2014 to lead the Institute’s opportunity and mobility studies program after serving for more than 20 years in leadership positions in the social service programs of New York State and New York City. He is the host of the podcast One on One with Robert Doar.

Download the transcript here.

In roughly ten days, opposition forces in Syria were able to accomplish more than they did in a decade and topple the tyrannical Assad regime. But as the dust settles, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham – the U.S. designated terrorist organization that led the march to Damascus – will have to prove that it has moved on from its anti-Western Jihadist ideology and is committed to rebuilding a Syrian state that meets the needs of its people. Why did Assad’s regime collapse so quickly? And what does the future of Syrian governance look like?

Hassan Hassan is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of New Lines Magazine, an initiative of the New Lines Institute, and the founder of the institute’s Human Security Unit. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. He is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror (2016, Reagan Arts).

Download the transcript here.

After repeatedly pledging to the American people that he would not pardon his son Hunter, Joe Biden gave his son one of the most sweeping pardons in presidential history. The presidential pardon power has a long history of abuse, but never before has a pardon been so broad, over such a long period of time, and issued by someone possibly implicated in the case. Why did Biden choose to pardon his son now? And what does the pardon mean for the future of political lawfare?

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. At GWU, he is also the Director of the Environmental Law Advocacy Center, and Executive Director of the Project for Older Prisoners. Professor Turley has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades including the representation of whistleblowers, military personnel, judges, and members of Congress, and has testified before Congress over 100 times. His latest book is The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (Simon and Schuster, 2024).

Download the transcript here.

Late Tuesday night South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, accusing the opposition party of “legislative dictatorship” and vowing to eradicate “pro-North Korean anti-state forces.” Almost as suddenly as martial law was declared, the legislature voted unanimously for it to end – sending the very military forces that attempted to lock down the National Assembly packing. What do Yoon’s actions mean for the future of South Korean politics? How might a collapse of South Korea’s conservative party affect U.S.-Korean relations? And what are the broader implications for American allies and partners in Asia?

Zack Cooper is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he studies US strategy in Asia, including alliance dynamics and U.S.-China competition. He also teaches at Princeton University and serves as chair of the board of the Open Technology Fund. Zack previously served as the assistant to the deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism at the National Security Council and as a special assistant to the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense. His upcoming book is Tides of Fortune: The Rise and Decline of Great Militaries (Yale University Press, 2025).

Download the transcript here.