Seven six fifty five Carosity Detalk Station, A very happy Thursday to you, made even happier and extra special the return of the Honorable Kenneth J. Blackwell. Currently he's a chair for the Center of Election Integrity over the American First Policy Insto. We all know him as former mayor of the City of Cincinnati, Treasurer of the State of Ohio, and Ohio Secretary of State, author and intellectual genius. He is Ken Blackwell. Welcome back to the fifty five Carssee
morning show, my friend. It's always a pleasure having you.
On top of the morning Brian. Good to be with you.
So let's dive in on to tariffs. I think one of the most eye opening things which really was flying
under everybody's radar. Donald Trump talked about reciprocal tariffs and talked about, you know, we're being tariffed and never really saw the flesh on the bones of the state and well, when you get a full list of the one hundred and fifty or so tariffs along with what those countries have been for a long time charging us, it's a real eye open Like for example, China Lovey's a sixty seven percent tariff on US we're now at fifty four percent.
But across the board, you know, Cambodia charges ninety seven percent on all of our goods. We're now at We just flapped a forty nine percent tariff on Cambodia. I don't know how much trade we have with them, but it's looks like that across the board. It has been an unfair playing field for a long time. And I'm just waking up to this cold water dose reality, Ken because I was a little concerned.
Oh I am too. I look free and fair trade, we sort of forget that turn of phrase free and fair trade. With Donald Trump has understood for a long time is that there has not been fair trade and if it's not fair and it's not free. And so he's just trying to balance the scale. And I think that, like you, initially, I was saying, Okay, this guy's going against the orthodoxy of free traders, and in the final analysis, he's understood better than most what is at the essence
of free and fair trade. And like I said, and like you just described, he's balancing the scale. And I think that he also has an understanding something that you and I have talked about before, and that is the nature of capital. Capital seeks the path of lease resistance and greatest opportunity. And what he is trying to do is to create an environment where capital is in sight
attracted back to the United States. And what he is using as a guide post is what he was able to do in his first term when he changed the direction of about three billion dollars in capital, and that translated into economic growth, job creation, putting people back to work and giving them a chance to to build a better future for for themselves and and and their families. Uh. And so I mean this, this is this is uh a tough but I think a pretty smart call on
on his part. Uh. And the one thing that uh he knows and that you and I have talked about before, and I'll use a Turner phrase of the great Satchure page, and that is that it is damn difficult to steal second base if you want to keep a foot on first base. Uh. Great face, great a great base. Run us actually know how to take a risk and and and and this is a measured risk of doing the right thing, even in the playing field. Uh. So Uh, that's that's where we are.
And Uh.
One of the things that he also understands that you and I have talked about over the years is that dogs don't bark at park cars, and so he has to go wow dogs because they're not just bucking like uh, like crazy.
A couple of great analogies there. I love it, Ken Blackwell, Now I think we have to acknowledge there's going to be some at least short term pain. If we get some business back in the United States, the long term gains could be very significant. That'd be wonderful for the US economy and for US job creation. But if you are imposing UH tariffs on imported goods, and lord knows we import a lot of goods, it is going to have somewhat of an inflationary effect, is it not.
I'm not sure it's going to have a long sustaining inflationary effect, but you're right. I mean, there will be some ratchet up of prices. But look, one of the things that we I think we should come to realize is that there has been a mindless destruction of manufacturing capacity UH in the United States. It is not that we've done totally away with our capacity to manufactured goods and to generate service service. A broader service industry. But
we have done I think, great damage to our manufacturing capacity. Uh, and that's one of the things that he's trying to to h to re establish, and that is a manufacturing base that is that is growing at a rate that not only creates jobs, but puts us back in control of.
Our national national security.
And so yeah, sometimes you just can't have You can't build muscle mass without in tract build enough a little muscle fatigue. Yes, sure, as you well.
Ken Blackwell, isn't a lot of the problem with difficulty in manufacturing this country and losing manufacturing capacity in this country the product of self inflicted wounds. I mean, regulation burden is insane, Environmental burdens are insane, Litigation burdens are crazy. And this whole idea of climate change, I mean it's a preposterous notion. I think we can get enough energy to run these run our business and industry with windmills and solar panels. And yet that's what is inflicted on us.
It's cost, it's driven the price of energy up. It's only been recently that we're now trying to at least the conceptual idea of embracing nuclear power, which seems to have satisfied all the climate change alarmist needs because it doesn't produce any emissions. And they have modular reactors now which are easily built, very small footprint, and can well, let's face it, it can run an entire artificial intelligence computer network. And that's why I think we're getting there.
But the Trump administration is lisa taking in all the above approach, which should lower the cost of doing business in the United States.
Couldn't sid couldn't have said it any better myself, Brian. Look, he understands that high taxes bundles over red tape. Again going back to what we said, that runs capital away, you know, creating an atmosphere where capital seeks the path
for leases distance and greatest opportunity. And one of the realities is the way we were able to build an accelerated UH growth in our economy and create jobs was was that we in fact had created an environment that attracted capital and and and look it's it's it's been
smart even in Cincinnati. UH the times of our most productive period of our most productive periods of time had had it's been when we in fact have adopted policies that expand the UH low tax rates, but expand the tax base so that you have actually more people working, more people giving. And that's that's a real smart approach. But when you start to tax, when you start to chase food's dreams, when you start to put bundles of of uh regulations on on capital, what we see as capital freeing.
Uh and and and in.
The audience, just look at Cincinnati when you've had bundles of red tape, when you've had high taxes, We've had a very difficult time keeping.
Our jobs and our.
Tax producers. Yeah, and and and that that same applies for.
The United States.
Uh and and President Trump has has a strategy. It's it's it's it's it's worked. Uh And again, Uh, this guy is willing to put the chips on on on this play, stendorships on this play.
Well, Ken Black Life can only hope that the mayor and the members of the city Council heard your words in that regard, because they're going to the polar opposite direction. And I don't need to dwell on the City of Cincinnati issues, but Lord Almighty micromanaging neighborhoods telling them they can and cannot do the regulatory burdens and challenges to develop and have smaller developers takeover properties convert them into
businesses or living spaces. That's all basically been roadblocked by our city council, and it's not doing anything by way of bringing people into a welcoming environment that facilitates what you're talking about. Well, let's pivot over real quick on
this whole idea. You know, at one point, I think Elon Musk the darling of the global warming climate change people, because he created the best electric vehicle on the planet and everybody wanted one, either the virtue signal or because they love the way the car works and operates it's zero emissions. But then this happens. Elon must starts identifying how much fraud, waste and abuse there is in government.
He hasn't stopped Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, but he sure has identified a whole lot of areas where there is fraud, waste, and abuse. That sounds like a good thing for everybody. It's going to keep the programs alive for longer because he's eliminated the opportunity for people to up off the American taxpayer. And yet he's become this evil nazi fascist, call it what you will. They're vandalizing automobiles, they're calling for his head. This makes absolutely no sense.
Ken Blackwell, can you make any sense of it or can you at least react to what's going on with Elon musk.
Well, it's just this gangster opportunism on the part of the radical radical left and the weaknees in the Democrat Party. They know that President Trump had been elected by a clear majority of the voting electric that he in fact had got three hundred and twelve Electoral College volks, which is a hefty margin, well over two seven needed. So and he's a fighter. So they what they've done. They picked the target that they were angry with because in
their view, he had abandoned them too. He is a white South African uh and and and therefore and he was rich and so for the radical left, that made him a much easier target than a popularly elect their president. And so that's what they're trying to because they they've found him at their rich target of opportunity to start to weaken what they see as a as an alliance that that's pretty hard to beat. So they tried to chip away using using the themes of the Hollywood and that is create the venom.
And well, and they're incapable of explaining why exactly it is they think it's okay to burn up a tesla.
You.
I mean, you've seen interview after interview or efforts to speak with some of these people by members of the press and other citizen journalists, and they just don't want to talk about it, it seems to me, and I want to get your reaction to this conclusion that I've reached. Of course, social media and when you have well funded far left individuals, you know, I throw out George Soros is a great illustration, but other well funded organizations you
can easily get people together. Useful idiots is what I call them, to make a great showing. And yet I firmly believe they are a small sliver of the population. They just show up in what appear to be large numbers because they've been given orders to show up. We're going to be there from you know, eight am to noon on a Friday this particular day, and you get two hundred three undred people show up. It gets a
lot of media press, but that's it. The most of us say, no, we shouldn't be spending twenty billion dollars on you know, Assesame Street program in Iraq or whatever. I mean that logic and reason trumps all of these useful idiots.
Oh absolutely. And what we what we actually have to keep our focus on is that we are the real target. You know, Elon is just an instrument as far as they're as far as they're concerned, and as you just describe, they have tried to define the target and the enemy. You know, Lewis Carroll through his character Humpty Dumpy once said he who defines is the masters. And so they are trying to define the characters of this play so that their war strategy, their tax strategy is easier for
them to implement and accomplish. I will just tell you we need to understand that we the base of support for this forward looking economic expansion, national security strengthening strategy of Trump is we are the target. Yeah, our will you know, that's the that's the that's their target.
Well, Ken blackwell, we had to push to push back. Oh yeah, well that I do it every day here in the morning show, Ken Black one, I know you do it every day in your work. Real quick here and before we part company, and I cannot thank you enough for spending time with my listeners and me to day. I love hearing you. What is the ultimate end game, this strategy of demonization and this and that. What do they hope to accomplish? In your mind? What's if they
if they got their wish, their long term dream? What's it going to be? The destruction of America? Generally speaking?
Yes, absolutely, they They are being driven by globalists. You know, they won't voters without borders. They think we can be a nation without borders. Uh. They they are trying to define or used a narratives that will eventually be destroy our country. Right. Look, we are at a hinge of history and and a hint that concept, a hinge of history refers to.
A critical moment in time, often considered to be a turning point, where decisions and actions taken have a disproportionate impact on the future course of history.
You know. And so what what what we're in a battle for is who's going to control the trajectory of civilization? And we must understand that the radical life you know, George Soros and others, they're trying to destroy Western civilization.
That makes perfect sense, Ken Blackwell, God bless you, sir, thanks again for your time today. I look forward to talking with you again real soon. Keep up the great work.
My friend God.
Thanks to you fifty five Carosee the talk station Man, I'm so lucky to be able to have him on the program. If Harry bounce on your credit card, you're paying too high that's right. Take a look at your interest rate. I mean I've seen interest rate there there,
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