Top Political Soundbites of 2025, Trump's Israel and Tucker Friendships, and Life After a Pardon

The Megyn Kelly Show

SiriusXM

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 32.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Start 2026 right and subscribe to Mark's show Next Up: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-up-with-mark-halperin/id1810218232 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2f0n8G4xqUo8aGxbbbtRjH YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nextuphalperin?sub_confirmation=1 Mark Halperin opens the episode with his 2025 top political soundbites, revisiting the moments from politics and media that best captured the power shifts, internal party tensions, and national mood of the past year. From JD Vance’s viral confrontations, to Gavin Newsom’s rise, to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s dominance of the attention economy, to Ted Cruz–Tucker Carlson clashes inside MAGA, Mark explains why these clips mattered — and what they reveal about leadership, influence, and where American politics is heading in 2026. Mark is then joined by Dan Senor to discuss U.S. foreign policy and power inside the Trump administration. Senor explains why antisemitism thrives when leaders tolerate it, how political incentives shape silence on both the left and right, and why President Trump’s record on Israel has made him one of the nation’s strongest allies. He also breaks down how Secretary of State Marco Rubio has emerged as a singular figure in making U.S. foreign policy, wielding unusual influence through his close relationship with the president and his central role in managing global crises. Finally, Chris Collins joins Mark for a discussion about loyalty, justice, and what life looks like on the other side of a presidential pardon. Collins reflects on his status as the very first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump in 2016, his experience with federal prosecution, and the moment Trump pardoned him just days before Christmas. He also offers rare insight into Trump’s private leadership style — describing a president who listens carefully, values loyalty deeply, and often behaves far differently in private rooms than he does on camera. Masa Chips: Ready to give MASA or Vandy a try? Get 25% off your first order by going to http://masachips.com/MARK and using code MARK. Unplugged: Switching is simple, Visit https://Unplugged.com/MARK and order your UP phone today! Visit https://shopbeam.com/MARK and use code MARK to get our exclusive discount of up to 40% off.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody, Mark Alpert here. Thank you for being part of Next Up. This is our last show of
0:06.7	2025, eager to have a little bit of a holiday break. I hope you will too. And we'll see you the first
0:12.2	week of January. But a great show to finish off the year with that I'm super excited about. I am
0:16.7	the editor-in-chief of the Live Inter video platform two-way and your host here to
0:21.3	everything next up on the MK network.
0:23.6	Very grateful to you for helping us build the show this year.
0:26.6	We've got a lot in store for next year that we're excited to share with you in the new year.
0:31.4	But for now, again, we're all just super appreciative of how supportive you are, how the audience has grown,
0:37.2	and again, doing new stuff
0:38.7	together next year. Two great guests today, conversations. First, Dan Cynor, my friend, who is one of
0:45.0	the country's leading experts on foreign policy and particularly adept at understanding what is going
0:52.2	on within the American and Israeli governments, but other governments
0:54.8	around the world. He's a super well-wired guy. He hosts his own podcast, and we're always grateful to
0:59.2	have him here. I want to talk to him about what's going on with anti-Semitism here is the year-end,
1:04.5	unfortunately, what's going on with the Middle East peace deal and how that's progressing. And also
1:08.5	a really important topic that really doesn't get enough
1:12.0	coverage, which is Marco Rubio. Man in the job as both Secretary of State National Security
1:17.0	Advisor, we're going to talk about why that's so significant and how he's doing in the job.
1:21.1	And then Congressman Chris Collins is here. He was a congressman in New York. He was the first
1:25.6	member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump,
1:33.4	and then worked closely with President Trump until he got into some trouble with the law,
1:39.4	was indicted at the federal level, pled guilty, went to prison, and then was endorsed by President Trump. And now he's not only running for Congress now in Florida, but he's written a new book.
	...

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