¶ Political Podcast Discussion and Family Fun
you and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right . Well , I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right . There's only an up or down . This is the no doubt about it .
Podcast no doubt about it now your hosts christy and Mark Runcaddy .
Okay , it's go time .
All right .
How much is going on out there ? Well , it's kind of a middling type of atmosphere right now . The races across the country continue to cruise along . We're headed into the home stretch stretch about 40 some odd days left , right , so things are getting close on that front . We're going to talk about some of that going on .
Some interesting things here locally , some immigration , some border , some polling that we continue to track , and we'll look at all of this stuff and as well as some video at the end of the show . Whenever you can talk pandas , I think it's big time you do it , unless you're not really talking pandas .
Yeah , especially this one that I found that was ridiculous .
You did . We did have some fun this weekend .
Yes , we had Ava and Ella's homecoming dance . Yes , and this is Ella and some of her buddies , and these are some of the kids I teach in my rhetoric class . It was a surf's up theme , so we had this cool VW bus that came into the barn and I just thought it was such a cool theme .
It was fun to be able to work on it with a lot of folks , and this is Ava and Ella dancing , because they had a senior dance and so they asked all the seniors to come out and to dance with their siblings for one dance . It was a sweet little day because they teach all the kids these dances , yep .
And I just captured this cute moment , and it's kind of an emotional moment where this is technically the last dance that Ella and Ava will go to in high school , because Ella can't go to prom , right . Spring she's . She's only a sophomore .
Yep .
Anyway . So just a lot of fun , and then we took a little family photo real quick , as we were breaking everything down . Yeah , us chaperones , we dressed up as lifeguards . So that's why I have a lifeguard shirt on and a red whistle . And the girls are super cute and everybody did such a good job helping decorate it .
It was great . Their school does a great job of the right atmosphere , just really fun . They did a great job .
Yeah , they keep it light and just like a lighthearted theme and they're so serious , like they don't make it super serious , and you know we don't have like court or anything like that . We don't . Yeah , this school doesn't participate , anything like that . But anyway , okay , we got a couple of um interesting comments .
You got to do your dream of like a deep dive on electoral college last show . Well , I was that deep , but yeah , there was a map yeah , there was a map , there was an explanation , scenarios , but let's numbers and these , this is all your wheelhouse numbers , a map and mark it and tell Mark getting to tell you explain something .
Well , that's true . So how did it go over ?
Okay , so I think it went off really well . We got a lot of compliments on it . Actually , I just pulled a couple of them . Kara Fisher said thank you so much for going through the map of electorates and the popular vote Very educational so that we have a better idea of how things work .
Lisa Davis rocks wrote uh loved all the explanation of the maps and electoral college .
Nice . Look at this . Look at the nerd crew coming out . I like this .
I guarantee you these are the same people that loved your weather and that would love , and you would go on , like a deep dive of why the wind comes at a certain level of whatever .
Yes , exactly this is why I was not a weather person . Very well done .
Very well done , ken Whippy said . Thank you , ron Keddies again for a truly balanced and fair evaluation of current news and politics discourse . The show should be airing in primetime nationally .
Well thank you , Ken . Absolutely true , Ken .
Thank you Ken the American public would greatly benefit from the even-handed and honest addressing of the news . Thanks you guys for all the hard work and especially time needed to produce the podcast markets . Credit for that , because I basically just show up again . That's what I do . I mean , ask , Mark , I'm busy opening up the mail , so it's a full-time job .
You opening the mail , I pay the bills .
Mark produces the podcast .
There's kind of an even trade . Well , you know , I can . I appreciate Ken saying that our job is in and , believe me , we don't try to pretend that we're , you know , we're even handed . We have our beliefs . Everybody knows what those beliefs are . But we try to be honest brokers versus being just like partisan hacks , which I can't stand .
I can't stand if I know exactly what you're going to say about every single thing . Yeah , that's the worst , because you see it everywhere . You see all these people who just gin up the outrage machine and tell you you know , just push , push , push . Instead , let's educate each other , figure out what's going on here . Now , are we conservatives ? We are .
I mean , there's no doubt . Do I get a little spicy on certain topics ? I do , you do . And is our faith at the core of what we do ? Absolutely , there's no doubt about any of that . So we don't try to hide any of that . But by you saying that , I really do appreciate it .
It's very nice , and what we try to do is just give some information , some information behind maybe , some of what you see that maybe makes you think , oh okay , now I see why this may be happening .
Right , and I think the biggest goal of our show was , like what Mark said , to educate also , not to take on like these , these fights against people personally . It's not . It's about policy and it's about what policy is going to protect you , what's going to hurt you and how do you know the difference ? And do you know the difference ?
And I think that's really the passion that sits behind me doing this show . I know it's a big factor for you because you know policy inside and out , and I just think sometimes we , we , what we've learned of the last three years in the campaign life a lot of people don't know how policy works and nor do they think they need to be .
You know , some of them are like , well , I don't really know how this would impact me , and so I really felt like this is something we can do to try to hopefully move the needle along is to explain how certain things work in the state and on a federal level . So anyway , thanks , ken , we appreciate it .
Yeah , very nice .
And you do get all the credit for the producing .
No , there's plenty . Oh , you absolutely do . You absolutely do , you do plenty , but more than enough .
¶ Border Security and Political Divides
The question , though , now is so we're going to go with a few local stories , and one of these stories that popped up last week everybody's kind of talking about , like it was kind of new , oh , I know , Was Texas putting up the razor wire and the governor going back , and our governor going back and saying no , no , no .
So this is a story from KRQE where they said basically actually , Abe , why don't we go ahead and go back ? We'll just listen to what Dean says about this . He has a quick read on this through KRQE and then we'll react to it right after it's done .
Texas National Guard has installed razor wire along the Texas-New Mexico state line . Our sister station , ktsm , captured this footage showing the concertina wire and fencing west of El Paso yesterday afternoon out of concern that illegal migrant smuggling is spilling from New Mexico into Texas .
The border patrol says the Santa Teresa station here in New Mexico is one of the busiest in the country for migrant smuggling and many migrants have died in the desert near sunland park .
Governor michelle luhan grisham responded in a statement saying , quote governor abbott seems to be pushing to make texas its own country , without regard for his name no regard for the neighbors and and whatever it's .
It's a ridiculous statement . Now , this has been going on for a long time yeah , so we went down to the border in episode 52 . We went down a couple of different times .
Yeah , we got an episode three three and in 52 .
So when we went down in 52 , we went down to the area where they had Constantine , a wire between Texas and New Mexico which was several months ago . Oh gosh , it was almost a year ago . It was a year ago , so , um , let me just we'll play you just a little bit of this , and it's Kenyon Burns and I went down there .
The audio is not the greatest because we were , it was windy and we didn't have great audio but you'll be able to get the idea of what some of this looks like . Now . The wire they're putting up now is higher and it looks more significant , but this is this is what it looked like a year ago the , the border fence between New Mexico and Texas .
Yeah , we talked about it quite a bit on the show .
Right . So Kenya and I decided to go there and check it out . So here's that . So this is the vaunted razor wire between Texas and New Mexico . Governor Abbott put this in and I think he's struck a little bit by how low it is . You know I was expecting it to be a little bit higher than it is , but still it's .
You know I was expecting it to be a little bit higher than it is , but still it's something .
It's a statement .
Right .
I mean I don't want to have to try to cover it .
The statement is that New Mexico is doing very little . That's correct . Border security-wise , texas is doing a lot , and Governor Abbott was sending the message . We're not going to have people come flowing through Sunland Park and right into El Paso . That is exactly what he was trying to say .
He said you know , if you get a feel for it , I mean , this is exactly what's been happening for a while . So now this has happened again . So you know , suddenly it gets some play . Well , this governor of New Mexico has to understand that Texas has had massive problems with we're having massive problems with this .
It's leading to a cascading effects of problems across the country here and so going after Texas for protecting their own border and their own state line . I don't understand her logic in any way , shape or form . She should be working with governor Abbott . They should be working hand in hand . Nobody should care what party you're from , and it should be .
Hey , what can we do to work together to make sure people aren't dying in the desert who are trying to get into this country ? It's not compassionate , it's cruel .
So , instead of Governor Lujan Grisham coming out and deciding that Governor Abbott's her enemy , he should be her partner and she should be his partner , and they should be working together and saying all right , how do we do this ?
There are people dying , there are things happening in this country , obviously , that are stressing our hospitals , our social services , that aren't kind to the people that are coming in , and they sure aren't kind to this country too . So why not work together instead of placing blame and finger pointing ?
And I think that's my biggest problem with the governor's statement on the razor wire between the two states ?
Well , and again , in the show that we aired I I don't know what episode now , but it , it , it's coming back to me where she was recorded talking when she was she called in and she admitted fully on this recording that we have zero , zero officers and border patrol in New Mexico at this location , zero .
So to know that , to know that that got public attention on our show it was . I believe the journal covered it in a couple . I don't know if the TV stations covered that . Yeah , I believe they did , I think I don't know if they did or not , but we definitely talked about it .
We put it on social , the fact that she was openly admitting hey , we have a major crisis and we don't have anybody on the border , so why would she ? not say listen , we understand why he's actually doing this , because it is a huge problem .
And if she's been trying to draw attention to that to start with , why would she not continue that effort and say , listen , now I've got another state next to me putting up razor wire .
But the problem is it's not . It's not intellectually honest , it's more political , it's more politics , it's just more politics , and that's the problem I think we have all the time is it's it's politics over policy .
Every time it which is it's heartbreaking you and I were talking about this this morning just just how our frustration over the fact that you know , we , we , we are a state . That is what 20th we're in the 20th number most dangerous city globally now . High poverty rate , high crime rate , low education rate .
I mean just all the things that should matter to both parties . And what's maddening is that you continue to see weirdness going on between the parties and not , you know , just this fight that continues , this divide that continues now over a presidential race which , again , it's like , well , why don't we just talk about the policies instead of just the people ?
And it's like we cannot get away from the people . We , just we , it's like we just focus on .
look , personality matters in politics , it does .
I'm not saying it doesn't .
That's how most people vote . By the way , I understand that it is not on policy always .
It's also maddening . I get it , I get it you know , because we get some snarky comments from time to time on our show and my response back . I try to be really polite to those people , even when they're snarky , and I'm like what do you think you guys , what do you think we're winning in the state of New Mexico right now ?
Like , please educate me , because this is what I'm seeing and this is why I think it matters to the bulk of the people . I don't care what party you're in . I think people should be worrying about our safety of our kids , our businesses not growing .
You know things that we continue to talk about , the fact that we're all kind of trying to find more money than month , you know , as was something you made pretty famous in your campaign . These are issues that hit all of us , and so to brag and be snarky , about .
You know , they treat it like a sport , they treat it like their team's winning , and so we win , yeah .
But you didn't win anything . Yeah , right , well , no , and that's still losing , so well yeah , it's frustrating , there's no question .
And now so the journal has been doing a bunch of polling . They pulled the presidential race . We talked about that a week and a half ago . They've pulled the Senate race . They pulled a bunch of stuff . They pulled some issues as well and some interesting stuff from the journal .
This is actually Sunday morning , so they talked about New Mexico voters strongly backing raising the purchasing age for an AR-15 from 18 to 21 . Now you have to be 21 to get a handgun in New Mexico , but things like hunting rifles and AR-15s you can get them at 18 .
So when you look at the numbers and we look at the quote and the pull quote from this story , what it says basically is an overwhelming majority of New Mexico voters support increasing the minimum age to purchase certain semi-automatic firearms from 18 to 21 .
But it's much more closely divided when you start talking about banning guns across the state of New Mexico here . So here's a look at some of the numbers here and they're pretty significant . As far as the numbers go for raising the age , it's about 75% of people say they want to raise the age .
Now the different issue is do you support or oppose legislation in New Mexico banning the sale of AR-15 style semi-automatic rifles . Okay , I want to tell you something here about this . Now you look at it and say , all right , most people say they support it 52% to 43% . Here's the issue with this , and the question is one that we've heard before .
Last legislative session there was a bill put up that I think many people thought was going to pass session . There was a bill put up that I think many people thought was going to pass , which was not only banning the AR-15 , but banning all sorts of guns , including handguns , that women use for self-defense . So these bills are not , hey , ban the AR-15 .
It is a wide spectrum of things . Now , as far as the constitutionality goes , it's in direct opposition to the constitution , it's unconstitutional . So there would be a real pushback on that front ,
¶ New Mexico Crime and Political Polls
no doubt . But also this question it's the wrong question to ask because it's not what legislators in New Mexico are putting up . They're not putting up bills like that . They're putting up bills saying here's a long list of guns , this long , and we want to ban them . And so you have these . Two sides are divided .
So the journal comes out with this poll that says oh well , you know , more people support it than don't . Yeah , but that's just not what's going to end up in front of the legislature .
Right , it's a very misleading question because I think when you say AR-15 , most people probably connect AR-15 to a school shooter , right ? I mean , usually that's kind of what the I think the quick thought that people come to , and say but it's not what commits the crime in this state . I understand that .
I totally get that . I'm not even I'm just saying no , I know you're not .
I'm just trying to draw the line with what people are actually when you see a question or you're given this question . In what two seconds to answer it ? People think .
AR-15 , oh yeah , we should raise that , because I think that's the gun that's mostly involved with school shootings , right , that's just kind of the mental game that people play , not really evaluating that exactly what you said , that what they tried to put in front of people or put in front of this legislator , has a ton of guns associated with that .
So they should just ask the same question . That is the bill that's been trying to be proposed .
Right , but it is a little more in-depth , right . So they don't get that answer for you . And then they break it down by group , like who supports what , and all of this . And it's interesting because it breaks down by area of the state as well and gender . So if you look at the journal poll , do you support or oppose legislation banning certain guns ?
Right , most men don't support it . Okay , most men oppose it . Most women support it . And then if you're in the Albuquerque metro area , obviously knowing how bad crime is , that tends to get more support for it . But if you go to the Northwest , you go to the Southeast , east side of the state , you get much less support for it .
And then you go down to political party the democratic party much more supports banning these guns than the Republican Party does . And then independents break a little more with Democrats on this . And as you talk about purchase of AR-15s and switching that age 18 to 21 , that is more broadly supported across political parties .
Okay . But again , like , what's confusing to me about this is going back through and saying , hey , do you guys support this ban ? And you see you're saying okay , based on these numbers , Albuquerque see the crime numbers going up , so they support this ban .
Right .
Are they assuming ? Is the assumption that these criminals are going to follow the laws ?
Oh , not only . Not only will they not follow the law , they're not using AR-15s , right , so it's it doesn't . It'll have zero impact on crime .
I just feel like this poll whoever put this poll question together doesn't either understand actually what's happening , like what the legislature have been trying to do . So they formulate the questions properly .
Right , no , I would agree with you . I think , I think yeah .
Of what's actually going on .
I agree , I think it's a , it's a , it's a question that's . That doesn't really do much for you , but earlier in the week , right then , they start talking about crime . And where are we on issues of crime ? And this was interesting . It was 84% of people say crime is very serious or somewhat serious in the state of New Mexico . That is an unbelievable number .
What I thought was interesting , though , is they also try to figure out so why is the crime bad ? You know what's going on , that the crime is really bad , and the number one answer was drugs . I don't think that's necessarily incorrect . I think it's a variety of factors . Obviously , drugs are part of it . Poverty , second . I don't find that to be legitimate .
I think it's much more light sentences in a criminal justice system . That's churning people right back out , I think low-income people , you know . I think putting it that high , to me that's not a cause of the violence that we have here .
Right . And then talking about pretrial detention and catch and release , that number at 6% way too low . I think again , people , I think in general . I'll be honest with you before you started to run for office I didn't understand a lot of what pretrial detention and early release . I didn't really understand the catch and release and the revolving door .
I heard those words . I didn't really understand it until you started to run it , so I could really make sure I could answer those questions too . So I just think again , this goes back to when you're polling people and asking people a quick question on the phone when they don't understand it .
The quick and easy answer oh , it's drugs , it's homelessness , it's homelessness . It's like you think of the things that have been around since 1982 that have led to crime and that's the things right , poverty , drugs , that's it .
What do you think ?
And a lack of real understanding on what catch and release actually means .
Yeah , no there's no doubt . I mean , I think that you can definitely have . Especially if your laws are tight and you have good understanding of what needs to be done with people that are repeat offenders , you can get crime under control much more quickly . And so there's no doubt . But also the political party matters in this and how you look at crime .
Because if you look at political party and saying , is crime a very serious problem across the state of New Mexico , 47% of Democrats say it is , 60% of Republicans say that it is , 46% of men say it is Very interesting here , 57% of females say it is . Do they feel that there's no question ?
right and honestly I would say I think women also look at just merely not that men don't . I don't mean this as any sort of offense , but women are also thinking of their kids .
Absolutely , absolutely Are their kids .
Are they safe going out ? Are they safe in situations ? I think more women are automatically like when you tell them what I think . Is Albuquerque safe ? I think is it safe enough for me to my kids to go to a movie and be out at 11 PM at night ? And my answer is no , right , so that instantly comes to me .
It's not even about my safety , it's about the safety of our kids . I think a lot of females , probably a lot of women probably think similarly and also especially females .
in Albuquerque right , if you go region by region , east side of the state , you know there's very . You know Las Cruces area , even North central area , less of an issue . But then as you start to crank up Northwest it gets higher . And then Albuquerque , 60% . Yeah , people say , yeah , we got a problem here .
It's a huge problem , right , absolutely , and we're the bulk of the people live in the state .
Very true , it's here . So no , absolutely .
To say that we don't Okay . So a new NBC poll coming out . Yeah , not great numbers for Trump really .
Yeah , this was not a great of their polling , but I , but I do think this . So it's a five point lead right now for Harris , according to NBC . I don't think it's that high , but but okay either way . So you go to Nate silver , who , who combines all the polls more effectively , and this is always interesting .
So what he has right now as an aggregate of the polls , right now he has we close in on the save just a little bit See Harris up by three . Okay . So what I would tell you about Harris up by three , and this is a national popular vote . Okay , as we talked about last week , Harris up by three as a complete and total toss up .
There's just no , there's . She has to be up by three to have a chance . Okay , Just to be clear , because when you start getting into the state by state swing state polls , if she's not up by three , she's going to lose because of the way the electoral college breaks out . That's what we talked about , what we talked about last time .
So what's interesting now is and I want to go through a little bit here on on what's happening and what's happened to Kamala Harris in the past two months , and it's it was interesting on the NBC morning show today . Meet the press , they they break down their poll . Okay , and again .
Their poll , I think , is , if you look behind it , I think it's got some problems with it , but it's undeniable that you're seeing a very close race here . And for us to even have a close race , you , Kamala Harris , had to be rehabbed .
She had to be rehabbed . Yeah , she was very unpopular until they'd say hey , guess what You're a nominee .
Right and so and then everybody kind of gets in line . So listen to Steve Kornacki talk about what's happened to Kamala Harris and her favorability
¶ The Rise of Kamala Harris
.
Overall perception of Kamala Harris . Remember before she got in the race a lot of talk that you know . Her numbers didn't look better than Biden's she was 32 positive , 50 negative before getting in this race and now this is what you see .
And we have to pause here because this is the largest increase that we have seen for any politician since George W Bush in the wake of the September 11th attacks , on this issue .
Absolutely , kristen . I mean , we were seeing numbers like this for years for Kamala Harris . Now you're seeing a very different story and what goes into that , that new level of popularity she has . Take a look here , if we can .
There it is Call this up here Some of the groups that have gravitated the most towards Harris just in terms of favorable this black voters 24 point increase . Independents 20 young voters 26 young voters . This is a group where Joe Biden , when he was still in , he was putting up very , very poor numbers for a Democrat .
With Harris , you could see a 26 point jump there in her favorable score among voters .
OK . So I want to say a couple of things quickly here . The vast majority of this , ok is Democrats coming home . That's what this is .
This is her rising up to be their nominee , because before they would look at her and they would look at Biden and the whole ticket was dragged down Right , okay , so the vast majority of what you're seeing in there is the Democrats coming home to their nominee , which they had no choice but to do .
But it is also aided by the fact that you've had the mainstream media completely get into line . Say wait a minute , what do we have to do to boost this candidate ? And we're going to do it .
Right , and so that's exactly what's gone Right . And also you can see that explosion even just in like social media posts . You saw nothing . I mean it was like a cricket on social media after the Joe Biden and Trump debate . From the democratic side of people . I mean literally like they just disappeared .
It was that meme that you love of Bart Simpson , or whatever the Simpson is , that disappears into the bush .
Yeah , yeah , absolutely yeah the meme .
Yeah , that meme . That's how I felt about the Democrats during that debate , Right , and then you have this Kamala uh Trump debate and they come bursting out of like she is the savior , be all . She's amazing . Even before that , yeah , like she is everything , and I'm sitting here just going , you know , I still kind of go . Is she , though ?
Or is her bar so low that you're like she's just not Joe Biden and she's just not Trump ? I just think that's all that I ever see from anybody .
Well , I think it's true , and so so the what I want to deep dive on now is that I want to look at voters who don't have the luxury of voting off of their feelings .
Okay , and I think it's something that the Kamala Harris is depending on and her supporters are depending on joy not only the joy , but you being okay as a voter , with having no idea what's going to happen , with you being just fine with that with having no idea who she is or what policy she's going to go , right , okay .
So , again on meet the press today , john Fetterman was on to talk about and to boost Kamala Harris and I and I will give the interviewer here credit for for continuing to push the issue . This is how good interviews work . So listen , here we're going to talk about fracking .
Remember , fetterman is the senator for Pennsylvania , big fracking state , big natural gas state . Okay , so she brings up not only Kamala Harris's issues with fracking but also John Fetterman's .
He does not want to talk about it .
Well , very clearly , go ahead and take a listen to this .
Vice president Harris , as you know , once supported a ban on fracking when she was running for president in 2020 . She even sued the Obama administration to prevent fracking off California's coast . Now she says she will not ban the practice as president . Why should voters trust that that is really what the vice president believes voters ?
trust that that is really what the vice president believes . So strange why we just keep talking about fracking . Back in 2020 , I said that that might be an issue , but it's not going to be a defining issue . And now , in 2024 , we're still trying to talk about fracking .
And now the other side , they're talking about eating cats and geese and dogs and saying absurd things and talking about how , if Trump doesn't win , he said that you know you have to blame the Jews on that , and just absurd things .
You know like having a serious policy conversation when the other side is just absolutely on fire , and here's where we are , but and here we are also that it's going to be very close in Pennsylvania and it's not going to be defined by fracking .
Well and well , we are talking about it because , of course , it supported 120,000 jobs back in 2022 . Let me read you some of what you have said about fracking In 2016 , you called it a stain on Pennsylvania . In 2018 , you said you don't support fracking at all . But then , in 2022 , you said you absolutely support fracking .
Senator , what exactly do you like about fracking now ?
It's strange for some , a weird gotcha kind of taking quotes out of context . And here I am now . I'm the United States Senator and I won by five points a record margin back in 22 . And again , it might be an issue in fracking , and I fully support fracking . So does the Vice President Harris .
And now if you want to have a serious conversation about policy , then I would challenge Trump in advance to have one other than talking about eating pets .
And we'll have plenty of questions for Senator Lindsey Graham . There's no doubt about that . But to the point what do you now like about fracking ? You say you're not going to ban it . You support it now .
They're eating dogs . There you go , ok .
Ok , I do appreciate the fact that she really did come back on him and say listen , you said that you support . What is it about fracking that you support ? Well , anybody that's not an idiot can see . Clearly , you work in a state , you represent a state , that that is a major industry in your state .
In fact , you're one of the biggest states with that industry . So for him to come out and say that he doesn't support it would be foolish . But yet he can't come around and even
¶ Voter Concerns on Policy Clarity
answer it again .
Well , it just shows you the dishonesty in all of this is that they're just treating people like they're stupid , right , and they're treating us like , like we don't deserve to know . And this is this is not the only issue . This is happening .
Right , it's happening on a bunch of different issues .
And so , as you look at it , this whole approach of we're just not going to answer your questions , we're just not going to do it . Kamala Harris is not going to sit down with somebody who's going to ask her tough questions . We now know that that's not going to happen .
No , and even her supporters are going to come out and you're going to ask a pointed , good , fair question and you're just not going to get an answer .
Okay , so this is where I get back to the point of true voters who are sitting there looking at their finances , looking at true policy issues , which is ironic because because seven or federman's like well , I want to have a real discussion about policy and then won't have the real discussion about policy and he says but when trump and jd want to have one and
I'm like , oh , they'll be happy to have a ? conversation . They do it all the time . I know , I know it's , it's I would like to see jd and federman goodness , no , you would not . Um , so , so as so , we go to the next stage of this deep dive , and it's an .
It's a discussion between Stuart Steve or not Stuart Stevens , excuse me , brett Stevens and Stephanie rule , who is an anchor on MSNBC . Okay , and Stevens is not a Trump supporter and he says he's not going to vote for Trump , but he has real problems with Harris .
And the reason I pulled this clip is because it's illustrative , I think , of some of those swing voters who are trying to figure out what to do , some of those people that could slide either way in any election and want genuine answers but cannot seem to get them . And the response that rule has to Stevens is staggering to me .
And this is on Bill Maher right .
This is on Bill Maher show , so we just want you to listen to this .
Sir , are you going to vote for Donald Trump ?
No , I'm not . I just said I'm not going to vote for him .
Kamala Harris is not running for perfect . She's running against Trump . We have two choices , and so there are some things you might not know her answer to , and in 2024 , unlike 2016 , for a lot of the American people , we know exactly what Trump will do , who he is and the kind of threat he is to democracy . I don't know .
It's unclear to me how this could be an inform .
The problem that a lot of people have with Kamala is we don't know her answer to anything . OK , you know , and I think everything , and that's why I would never vote for him and people shouldn't vote for him . But people also are expected to have some idea of what the program is of the person you're supposed to vote for .
You're just not supposed to say well , you have to vote for Y , because X is this , that and the other . Let's find out a little bit more , and I don't think it's a lot to ask her to sit down for a real interview , as opposed to a pop piece in which she describes her feelings of growing up in Oakland with nice laws .
Then I would just say to that when you move to Nirvana , give me your real estate broker's number and I'll be your next door neighbor .
Okay , I'll tell you what . Here's a part of her response that is so galling to me . She is a multimillionaire who gets up there and has the luxury to say I don't care about policy because I am so rich and I am so privileged that , no matter who the president is , I win .
So I can now turn this into a popularity contest where I don't have to worry about my family's bottom line . I can just go collect my massive check from NBC .
And then you other people who have to actually deal with the policy , those middle income and low income families who care what interest rates are , who care how much it costs to go to the grocery store , you people I don't worry about the same things you people do , because I treat this like a homecoming vote , and if my candidate wins the homecoming vote , then
that's great and that I cannot stand . That is elitism at its finest .
Yeah , I mean , I just think it's unbelievable in this day and age and it's exactly what he said , I'm glad he said it that you're going to have a candidate that's going to be on the ballot , that nobody has any idea where she's standing on something and she continues to not get asked those questions and people are like , well , she's just not Trump .
So therefore , she's amazing , like that's literally what you see . You see these amazing posters of her that look like Barack Obama . They're colorized like that all over social media and I'm like tell me what policy you like that she supports , that you support . Tell me what it is that you're so fond of that she's done such a bang up job for .
Right and they can't tell you . And Stevens makes the point that I think a lot of swing voters are struggling with and that's why the winner of this election it's going to happen late and it's going to happen all at once , and I wouldn't be surprised if most of these swing states go in one direction or the other .
And I and when you really sit down and look at this and say , am I going to vote off of , I don't really know what she's going to do , but whatever , if you have that luxury , then you have that luxury . I think it's crazy . I think it's crazy .
I think it's crazy too , especially people , that maybe we're more sensitive because we live in a border state . So we do care about what happens with the border , we do care about that , but I think that's funneled into the bulk of the country now , so I don't know how that's just a border state .
But it's even the economy . The economy , even bigger Right .
I mean that that to me it's bigger , but I think that it is bigger of it . I didn't get it to you in time on this , but I did read recently this morning actually that Georgia now just passed a law I think 3-2 , or they've just passed some sort of rule that they're going to have to do hand counting of the ballots in November on top of the machine .
Okay , out .
Jeez .
Okay , how long is that going to take ? Well , that's what you were just saying .
You're talking about how long things are going to take to find out the hill . Interesting , okay , interesting .
They put it out that they're going to . They passed it three to two , so whoever votes for that , whoever that is so that they will , on top of the machine , vote , they are going to do a hand counting of the machine count and then they're going to hand count .
Yes , and then that's how they're going to verify the election results , and so they said it could take a while to get George's full count .
Well , yeah , Well OK . So you know , I mean that's what I read this morning . No , no , no , ok . So so I want to connect this then . So then Brett Stevens says these things , which is right . Right , he's absolutely right , and no fan of Trump , but he's exactly right . Stephanie Rule , I think delusional , whatever .
But then let's look at how they both answer the same question , which is what are you going to do to bring down prices ? What are you going to do ? In this past week , they both answered it .
Right , and I want to add that Harris's answer was done on this Oprah Winfrey interview .
Softball yeah , it was super softball .
It was an interview and then , after having all these celebrities come out and praise her for what I'm still trying to figure that part out not being Trump . I think that's honestly what they were praising her for . And then she gets some calls with real people and so when you hear her answer , that's what it's coming from .
Yeah , it was a couple that said to her hey look , we've moved in , we bought our own home , but interest rates are so high we had to bring my brother and his wife in to live with us just to be able to make the payments , which wire interest rates higher , because inflation's higher . Why is inflation higher ?
Because of two bills that the Harris administration sponsored and passed into law that skyrocketed prices . She's the one who caused it . I mean , there's no deny on that , right , ok , so so when they start to answer this question , this is how they're both going to answer it and you'll see the difference .
And that's why I think , at the end of the day here , the issues still being the economy and , to a lesser extent , the border , still favor Trump If people sit down and assess it that way . So just listen to these two answers and you tell me where you come with it .
Bring down the cost of food and groceries .
Good , very good , thank you . So we have to start always with energy , always . I don't want to be boring about it , but there's no bigger subject . It covers everything . If you make donuts , if you make cars , whatever you make , energy is a big deal and we're going to get that . It's my ambition to get your energy bill within 12 months down 50 percent .
If I can do that , you've done a hell of a job . Five oh five , not 1550 . Interest rates are going to follow , and actually they're going to follow for another reason the economy is now not good . And interest rates you'll see , they'll do the rate cut and all the political stuff .
Tomorrow , I think , and you know , will he do a half a point , will he do a quarter of a point ? But the reason is because the economy is not good , otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it . But we're going to get interest rates down and we got to work with our farmers . Our farmers are being decimated right now .
They're being absolutely , absolutely decimated , absolutely , absolutely decimated . And you know , one of the reasons is we allow a lot of farm product into our country . We're going to have to be a little bit like other countries . We're not going to allow so much . We're going to let our farmers go to work .
We really would love to know what your plan is to help lower the cost of living .
Yeah , first of all , thank you both for being here and yours is a story I hear around the country as I travel and in terms of both rightly having the right to have aspirations and dreams and ambitions for your family and working hard and finding that the American dream is , for this generation and so many recently , far more elusive than it's been .
And she keeps going . It does not get any better than that .
So Trump is , by the way , dead on Energy . Is everything OK if you bring down the cost of energy ? He's right . And also there's a bunch of ways you can go . You can increase energy , not only production in the United States , but as we export that energy across the world , that can help bring down the debt .
There's a bunch of things you can do , but he's right on the cost of energy . That's a specific right . That's a specific . And also talking about interest rates and things of that nature , he's right on that . The farm thing is a little different now . Now you start getting into something , but still that's what Trump believes and he's giving you real answers .
She's not giving you real answers , and so this , just as it , continues to stretch out here . I'm not saying that it's not going to be close . I think it is going to be very close .
But I think if you're genuinely a family really looking hard at this down the road over the next month and you see where this is going Kamala Harris is trying to make a bet that you're not going to care about details , and boy , I think that is a tough place to be and I think that's why I still think Trump's got a real chance , for that exact reason that
he's much more serious about addressing these issues .
Okay .
¶ Economic Policy Concerns and Zoo Shenanigans
Another interesting thing that I feel like Harris keeps pushing out the door is that she's going to give these tax incentives for people who want to start small businesses . Okay , so I'm sitting here listening to this as somebody who has started I have started three small businesses in the last 24 years .
I and , and trust me , one of my small businesses would have taken an enormous amount of money to invest in to start it . I sat down and did a business plan , which is what I think you have to do to start a business , and I ended up doing the business plan that needed the least amount of income initially to start up my company .
Okay , her saying I'm going to give $50,000 to new business startup companies , or $5,000 , or whatever it is that she's going to give right Like tax credit , Tax credits . I'm sitting here just going . Maybe what we have to do is , I mean , are you just going to get that , no matter who you are ? Do you have to give like a business plan ?
Who's paying for that ? I just think again this goes back to stop looking for all the handouts and actually think about people who have started their own business .
Most people in this country that started their own business either had to take a loan out to start it themselves or had to come up with a plan and started small and then could grow bigger , and I just feel like she's missing the mark on that part of it too . It's not . You don't just get to buy a house because you get all these tax incentives .
That couple , by the way , that she had on there . I've listened to their backstory . They live with their parents , first to save up the money for their deposit . Then they let their brother and sister-in-law move in with them so they could start saving as well , but now it doesn't matter because things have gotten outrageously expensive .
So she didn't address either one of those issues .
And I just think these little band-aids that she's talking about just more handouts isn't going to fix , inevitably , what is broken with the economy . That's my two cents on that Right right , and it could flush more money into it , especially the down payment assistance .
That's the thing that's going to skyrocket prices because you're just going to push a ton more money back into that system . What were you wondering , Ava ?
Yeah , so I actually saw something recently . People were talking about a policy she had in place for new homeowners where people were acting like it was a huge deal . It was this great thing where she was going to offer them $50,000 towards their first home .
Yeah , it's 25 , 25 .
But yeah , she didn't mention that that's only for first generation homebuyers and people don't know that first time homebuyers first generation first generation .
No one in their families before them ever bought a house .
If your parents owned a house . It doesn't apply to you Interesting If your grandparents owned a house . It doesn't apply to you , I don't know how far back , it goes more than that , but I know for sure it's parents and grandparents , which is like . I heard that and I was like , oh , maybe that's a good plan . $25,000 for my first time home .
You guys own a house , so I am , I don't . I don't apply for that at any point in my life .
That's the interesting point , because it's trying to get that younger vote though . Okay , so right .
Well , maybe , but it's also picking winners and losers , right In the respect that . Okay , well , your , your family did this , so you don't get it , but your family did that , so you do right . I mean , that's , that's not government's role .
Government's role isn't to go pick winners and losers by looking at your background and saying , oh no , we like that background , you get government help you . Oh , we don't like that . Everybody should get an equal shot .
Well , I also think that her tax policy plans are very vague because , again going to Ava's point , the tax break you get on she wants to do for people who have a baby . That's just for newborns , so it's a tax break for the person that has a baby .
In that one year , in that one year Right .
Also not clear .
This stuff is not real . I mean , let's be honest .
And Congress has to vote on any of this anyway .
Well , it does . But that's very true . And not only that , it's also I think you know broadly . What you're talking about here is these things are talking points and they're not real economic policy . It's like her trying to control grocery prices by price fixing , like you don't . You don't get to do that .
I mean it's just not going to work . She just doesn't seem to know have a real stable plan in my mind about how to fix the economy problems , how to run a like , how to think business minded things and how to you know that just doesn't seem like it adds up .
Well then , that's you know again . But you can have people around you that are good and can brief you on that . I get that , but that's not happening .
No , that's not happening . Okay , here's what something . I sent you this because I just had a question for you . I mean , I know we don't go to the zoo a lot . I love the zoo I know you and Ava love .
There's two people that are okay with zoos , but we don't love them , right , okay , but I feel like if you went to this zoo , do you know what a panda looks like ?
I think so .
Okay , Cause here's yeah . Cause , let's just show you some video . First of , what a panda is , that's a panda .
Yep , it's good looking panda , let's look at it .
This is a panda .
Yeah .
For eat bamboo .
Yeah , they do . He's chowing down on bamboo right there , I'd like to show you they don't pant .
Right , there's no panting involved . Okay , this is a zoo in China that decided to paint chow dogs , chow chow dogs . Oh my God , To fool , to fool . Look how ridiculous .
This is . This goes into the dumbest video of the week .
It even has that chow tongue . Oh , it's a walking chow . They put makeup , they paint this poor dog's face . Oh , man , holy cow , it's a chow , which , by the way , is the number one most famous dog in China , according to this article .
Oh my gosh , so it's not like the Chinese people that are going to the zoo didn't know what a chow was to start with and they're trying to pan these off as pandas to the people who go pay the money to see the pandas at the zoo . And when asked the zoo people why did you do this ? They said well , we don't have any pandas at our zoo .
Well , okay , guess what ? We don't either in Albuquerque . But if they painted , a chow .
I guarantee you that people should be painting chows .
We absolutely should be .
Yeah , you know , we should do a curly tail , they pant . Yeah , no , we should get white Huskies .
Much smaller than a panda . Yeah , you would think look at that little guy right there . Yeah .
Unbelievable . Yeah no , we should just get white Huskies and stick them in an enclosure and say we've got polar bears in the backyard .
That's a good idea . Yeah , yeah , just see how dumb people are .
Yes , okay .
I was like I when I read that story . I was like man got to be joking that they even remotely tried to fool people . With this I mean paint a different bear , at least .
Yeah really , I'm not sure any bear is going to let you touch them , though , oh yeah , you're going to have to , you're going to have to give them a little crank dart and then bring them in you know , you know crank it .
Yeah , yeah , yeah yeah .
And then you do the dye job and then you send them back out and they're just like it's like when you go and take your dog , and we used to , it does , but other dogs .
You , you , you can give them haircuts , right , yeah , so we , we had a dog that we gave a haircut and the dogs would always come out , like every summer , and be so embarrassed , right , the dog would come out and be like , oh my gosh , I can't believe you cut my hair , I mean literally humiliated . Yeah , for like a week , right , yeah .
And so you know , when you were to take a bear and you change it all up , change this coloring up , it comes out and it's like a brown bear and it's like it's now , you know , it's now a panda . It's like , yeah , okay , this is really embarrassing . So I , that's what she should be doing . I guarantee you that chow has no idea .
Oh no , the chow's like whatever .
Hot , so I'm just going to sit here and pant Anyway we hope you guys enjoy the start of your week and we will see you guys back here on Thursday .
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