Ryan Walters resignation shock, Gundy out, and will D.C. shut down?

[upbeat music] Welcome to the first edition of the Oklahoma Memo Podcast, the weekly version. My name is Ryan Welton, and I am the founder and curator of the Oklahoma Memo newsletter, a daily news recap from the state of Oklahoma that comes to your inbox at 7 o'clock in the morning, weekdays, Monday through Friday. I'm a longtime journalist, having worked in local TV news for the past 20 years, and have been out on my own in the news creator space for the past eight months.

My focus is Oklahoma, and when I started the Oklahoma Memo podcast and was doing it daily, I realized just how much work that was going to be for... What I would say is, uh, it was sort of redundant. Uh, each day the newsletter would come out, and there would be a podcast. It was simply repetition of that, and I found that the people watching this video and listening wanted more.

You wanted to hear in-depth conversations and have more information and to get context, and that's what I'm here to try to do. So the Oklahoma Memo podcast should, uh, be 30 to 40 minutes long each and every week. It'll drop at Friday at 6 o'clock Central Time, and in it there will be a quick recap of the week's events, and then I'll have a, a newsmaker, somebody different every week.

And this week I'm joined by Sandra Valentine, who has been an active Oklahoma parent in the education space for some time, and she and I have known each other via the Oklahoma Memo TikTok channel and the Facebook channel, and she's kept me apprised of things going on with the State Board of Education. Uh, she's a delight. She's quite knowledgeable, and we're gonna talk for a few minutes about the biggest story of the week, which was the resignation of Ryan Walters, state superintendent.

He issued his resignation on Fox News Wednesday night on the Trace Gallagher Show at about 10:40 PM, and, uh, not in a letter to Oklahomans. In fact, he hasn't actually submitted his formal resignation yet as of 1 o'clock Friday afternoon, not to the best of my knowledge.

And the reason why that's important is because Governor Kevin Stitt can't appoint somebody until he actually has a resignation. Walters, uh, for what it's worth, is headed to become the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, uh, a division of Freedom Foundation, of an institution that he has been, uh, associated with for, for quite some time. Their mission will be to dismantle and destroy teachers unions.

And whichever side you fall on, that's where he's headed, and Governor Stitt's quest is to appoint somebody who will carry out some reforms, but also be able to get along with the board. And there was a Board of Education meeting this week on Thursday, but that wasn't the only big news in the state. In fact, before word of Ryan Walters' resignation crept out amongst folks at the Capitol,

Oklahoma State's winningest football coach was fired on Tuesday, Mike Gundy. Can't say that it was a surprise, and don't let the Oklahoma flag behind me fool you. Uh, I'm an admirer and respecter of what Gundy has done over two decades with the Cowboys program. Clearly the greatest coach in OSU history, for sure.

However, last year's 3-9 record, including not a single conference win, and this year's one-and-two start was too much for athletic director Chad Weiberg, who needed to make a change in direction now before it even got worse. Oklahoma State has a big game this weekend against Baylor, so we'll see how interim head coach Doug Meacham, formerly the offensive coordinator, how he handles it and how he does things. So go Cowboys.

So here's how the podcast will work each week. There will be a quick intro from me, and then we'll get into our first guest. Hopefully it's somebody different each week, somebody, uh, who, with some knowledge or some context relative to whatever the big story is.

And then I'll talk with former colleague and good friend of mine, Scott Mitchell, the political analyst for News on 6 in Tulsa and News 9 in Oklahoma City, and we'll talk about things happening in Oklahoma and to get his perspective and get his inside knowledge. And I'll also talk with former colleague from News 9, political reporter Grant Herms.

Grant has gone off on his own nationally, and he has a podcast called Make It Make Sense, and what he's doing is taking complex topics and making them palatable, understandable for laypeople like myself. And so I sat down with him this week to ask about the looming government shutdown. What is it exactly, and how does it affect Oklahomans like us? So I hope you'll stick around, and I hope you enjoy the con- conversation.

This is the first edition of the Oklahoma Memo podcast. I'd like to introduce you to the very first guest in the history of the Oklahoma Memo weekly podcast. This is Sandra Valentine, and I've known Sandra, uh, online via the Oklahoma Memo TikTok channel because of Oklahoma education and as a concerned Oklahoma parent.

And this week, I had reached out to Sandra a couple of weeks ago about talking to her about State Superintendent Ryan Walters and what's happening with the State Board of Education. And then the news broke this week that Walters was resigning. And so Sandra, I thought we would start, maybe just introduce yourself real quick and, and how you got involved in being active with Oklahoma education.

And I gotta ask, what's your reaction to the, the Ryan Walters resignation? So should we do a shout-out to the state of Oklahoma first? [laughs] It's fantastic. I bet the entire state is celebrating. [laughs] So I've, I've heard from lots of people who are having, like, their parties, popped their champagnes, all of that. And so I am Sandra Valentine. I am a mom of five, grandmother of sixSo, uh, I love being a grandma, I love being a mom. Um, [clears throat] five kids.

My oldest four have already graduated from Shawnee Public Schools, and my youngest is a freshman at Shawnee. So I got involved when my first daughter, who is now 26, when she started Head Start. And, uh, so I've been in this a really long time, over 20 years. Um, we did live in Texas at the time, and then we moved to Oklahoma, um, in 2005. So it's still [laughs] I've been doing this a really long time.

So, um, yeah, going back to the resignation, I mean, [clears throat] yesterday I was getting text messages in the middle of the day that it was about to happen, and of course, I'm excited as, as all get out and, um, hoping that it's true, right? Um, and then things started to get more and more serious and, um, and then Wendy Suarez put out what she put out, her little, you know, teaser, and it's like, "Oh my goodness, this is about to happen."

This is basically what we worked for s- since he was a candidate. Um, I- we worked really hard to get people to not vote for him. Um, he ended up winning the primary, he ended up winning, um, the, the nomination, and then he ended up winning, you know, becoming our state superintendent. And I have followed him since he was a candidate.

He made a visit to Shawnee, and that was when he said that he was going to do away with federal funding, and that video that I took of him just went completely viral. Um, I had journalists from France, from Germany, from all over the world contacting me, asking me, "Is this guy serious?" You know, "What is this gonna mean for US, for Oklahoma children?" Um, and then throughout his tenure, I mean, I've just been at certain places where he's made, you know, some other [laughs]

big news stories like the Tulsa Massacre was not about race, and then that v- video again went viral, and it seemed like everybody around the globe was asking us, what is going on in Oklahoma? And people here were just either they were too busy with their own lives that they weren't understanding what was going on, so [clears throat] I just started educating more and more and more, and it seemed people, um, were interested in what I was saying.

And so I've just done a lot, I've done a lot of underground work as well as a lot of, uh, educating at the top. So I've met, I started meeting with legislators. I did some interim studies, um, with Representative Waldron.

Um, so I've been a voice at the Capitol for at least the last three or four years, and then, um, yeah, and it, and then so this resignation was just, wow, all of our work, all of our collective work, putting together how dangerous this man is to Oklahoma Public Schools and this generation that is gonna grow up with his, you know, his theories, his, um, his ideology and, um, that, that is startling.

So we're very happy, we're very excited, still weary about what's to come, um, but still, I mean, we have time to pause and celebrate right now. And I've, I've always gotten a sense from, from you and from Sean that it's not animus toward Ryan Walters for the sake of animus.

It's, it's having somebody leading the entire operation who's against the entire operation. It's like- Yeah... having an arsonist as your firefighter. It's just, it's weird. It's a, it's a weird... Y- I mean, you want somebody who is pro-schools, pro-teacher, pro-student, um, and even though Ryan, to be fair, would say that, that he is pro-teacher, he comes at it a different way, but you have this entire other community of people who said, "Whoa, this, this really isn't the way to do this."

He didn't make a lot of friends, wasn't much of a compromiser. What do you hope to see, whether it be in the interim pick from Governor Stitt or whoever's elected, what do you want to see from that person? They don't, I mean, they don't have to agree with you on 100% of everything, right? Right. So, so let me start off with Ryan and I had a great relationship.

I mean, we would talk, um, you know, maybe not hours, but I, I was able to have good conversation with him. He knew my daughter by name. He asked us what we were doing for Christmas. I mean, we had very friendly conversations with each other. And I tried to explain from a parent point of view, um, I'm also, um, really solid in the, in, um, calculating our state report card.

So I would ask real detailed questions that he really didn't know the answers to, and so I would try to walk him through what this would actually mean to a certain population or a certain school or a certain part of our state. And he seemed like he was paying attention, and then all of a sudden, from one day to the next, I, I personally saw a big flip on him. And, um, and then from there we never spoke again.

So what I'd like to see with whoever takes this place is somebody, again, that I can go and speak to. I did it with, uh, Joy Hofmeister before Ryan Walters. Like I said, I, I would sit and s- uh, speak with Ryan Walters. So whoever the next person is, I would love to be at the table, you know, have a conversation about policies, 'cause that's, that's what it all boils down to.

I may not have, like, the big money or, you know, the big PAC dollars that some of these people are after, but my biggest commodity is my daughter and her public education and-When I think about the public education that I received in Texas back in the '80s and '90s, she's not getting the same thing that I got, and that is saying a lot because we're in 2025, and the things that we're going through in the public school system right now, we are so far behind, decades behind.

When my oldest was in school, she started back in 2004, even then I started to know the little differences that Oklahoma had from Texas. And so I would just like to have policy conversations about where do you see Oklahoma moving forward? How do we get out of 50th place? That should be everybody's [laughs] biggest concern right now.

How do we get out of 50th place? I would love for the board to be able to accomplish goals that would make this a reality. That makes a lot of sense to me. Sandra Valentine, Oklahoma parent, you have been instrumental in educating me about what's going on behind the scenes. Uh, you were, yeah, it's, you were the first person I heard of that this might actually go down, and then I followed Wendy Suarez like everybody else, who by the way, Wendy was amazing. By the way, I don't know,

I don't know why my video is all of a sudden blurry here. I'm gonna have to get a new camera, folks, at some point. But no, Wendy was amazing, and I will tell you that video, that video of her... By the way, I don't know, did you suffer through the Trace Gallagher show also? I did. I did. [laughs] Here's, here's, I'll tell you a funny story. Okay, so I, um, I had spent all day working in the city, right?

So I work in Oklahoma City, had to drive to Shawnee, knew that it was gonna come out around 10:45. I usually go to bed, I'm not kidding, around 8:30, so it was very hard for me to stay awake. So I- Mm-hmm... end up falling asleep on my chair, on my recliner, and I kid you not, it's like God gave me a little nudge.

I woke up right at the time that he was gonna do his announcement, and I just picked up my phone and it was like God said, "Hey, it's time to get up, Sandra." [laughs] And then I saw it. [laughs] Yeah. S- same. And it's, uh, yeah, it, it, I think it's weird that it was announced on Fox News as opposed to directly to Oklahomans, but it is what it is, and we hope for the best for the future.

Uh, Sandra Valentine, thank you so much for talking with us. I hope that you and I can connect on here for the Oklahoma Memo listeners and viewers down the road. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. You're gonna hear two folks in this next segment. You're going to hear the guy actually mowing and weed eating outside of my window, and you're going to hear my guest here, Scott Mitchell, longtime host of Your Vote Counts and Hot Seat on News 9, News on 6.

We've known each other forever, great friends, and when I want what the Oklahoma perspective is on news, I ask Scott. And the story that everybody's talking about this week, Scott, is Ryan Walters. What's the reaction to his resignation, how he resigned, the search for a possible successor even in the interim, um, and then we can after that talk about the impact to the '26 governor's race that he was never a part of.

But first, the reaction. What are people saying about Ryan Walters resigning? Um, well, what people are saying is h- here's the thing about this. There is, there's a, there's a situation in the Republican Party where that not everybody can be 100% frank, if you know what I'm saying, okay? And part of it is it, it's kind of like the guy next door mowing, okay?

I mean, there, you're having these conversations and then there's this chaos and all this stuff that comes in that is not part, pertinent to what's going on, but it gathers the attention, right? And Walters was that. Look, we had a fairly high-profile coach leave the ranks of high-profile coaching this week, and you know why he left? Because he developed a penchant for losing. You either win or you're out, right?

And let's, let's just start with here's what the data says. You, you taught me that phrase. Here's what the data says. Ryan Walters was losing, bigly. We're, we're, we're talking massive. I saw a number today, uh, 10 years ago we're in the teens in educational outcomes, and while we're talking about what's on the menu and the color of the drapes and what people smell like,

the whole education system in Oklahoma is going to hell, and the conversations were not about that. Hey, dude, you're being coached to win football games, and you're losing football games. I don't care if you have a persona TV commercial, Coach, you know? This gets into the r- I've got a standard go-to, Ryan, which is people ask me about this cat, and I go, "I am not a psychiatrist."

But I'm, I'm asked a, I'm asked once in a while, and I don't understand histrionic personality disorder. Remember the old definition of what pornography is, the Supreme Court back in the '60s? One of the justices, [laughs] "I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it." I don't know histrionic personality disorder or could, could diagnose it, but I know it when I see it.

And this, and here's the other thing. Dude was getting away with it. There were people that were kind of afraid of him, right? It, it seems like that fear, uh, pervades much of the discourse. Those who are fighting the culture war on either side, most of us don't want to get in the way of that traffic for fear of being injured. You know? We don't... It's like

those, those are arguments you can never win.Heck, you're 100% correct. You remember when the, the, the social studies thing was being debated in the legislature, and the legislature didn't do anything about it? That wasn't an accident. There's a s- there's a standard discourse right now, okay? There are people, many of them are friends of mine that I've known forever,

and you see and hear public comments, press releases, commercials, and they'll say something that's fairly provocative, but fairly mainstream in the base. And you know, and I know, and they know that what they're saying, they don't believe in. Right. And you know why they say it? Because they fear the base. Now, I'm talking about the intellectual, cerebral, right thinking sort of...

I'm talking about the ideological, emotional, the, the word that's often used is pejorative, but the, it's all... You know where it's g- what I'm about to say, right? The fill in the blank. The crazies. I'm saying it.

You know it. Everybody, everybody knows this, okay? And so w- here's, you asked me about the situation. What I'm hearing is that some civility, some civil discourse might return because when you have a bomb thrower, you can have the most cordial conversation, well thought out thinking, and when they come in and throw bombs and scream fire in a crowded opera house, guess what gets covered?

Right. The ar- the arsonist gets to, try to... You, you're depending on the arsonist to put out the fire. Yeah. And that, always a problem. And you say th- this will raise the, uh, civility of discourse. Could that impact even, uh, what we will see next spring in the governor's race? He's not gonna be a part of it now. He's going to be running this organization.

Yeah, unless un- they, you know, you'll never find another bomb thrower like this. I mean, there are some of them out there, and they'd like to be, but they wouldn't have the base that this guy's got. And we've been hearing this... I was gonna ru- I mean, uh, a lot of the stuff about this cat has been when people will say, "Well, this is what was said." And I go, "Were his lips moving?"

Because that was the disqualifier for me. If his lips were moving, and you know what we're talking about, he was... Churchill had a good word for lying. Uh, a, a fundamental misdirection or something like that, right? Right. So were his lips m- I mean, the to- the to- anybody that wants to understand the nature of this guy, just look at Tommy Johnson's press conference. I had a, after the TV thing, and, and this was...

You know, there's this whole saying about certain people, they'd rather climb a tree to tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth. I got one in my family, okay? And [laughs]

this is, I mean, this was the situation. When that TV thing happened, it sounded squirrely, right? Right. And then if, a, a, an insider with OHMS, who was the state's telecom, not telecom, but security, cybersecurity agency, said, "You know, if he'll just gather himself and hand this stuff over to us, we, if he's telling the truth, we can prove it pretty quickly."

But no, he had to go out there and then slander and libel these people on the board, which by the way, the statute of limitations ain't up on that. And if those people still decide to do a s- a slander and libel suit, okay? Right. Now, it's very hard to get one. In Oklahoma, we've, uh, under quote-unquote tort reform, we made libel and slander much more difficult. Mm-hmm. But, um, you know, a lot of legal people that I talk to go, "Well, that's a slam dunk if you can get past day one."

So, um, uh, not only that, but, uh, you probably saw the story about the former secretary of the Board of Education, uh, suing, a big suit there. Um, I mean, could there be other legal ramifications for his departure? I mean, I don't even know what it would be. I don't know. Listen, the guy didn't have enough money in his campaign kitty to pay his ethics fines. Then people were coming to me, "Oh, Walters is going to announce them."

Get out of here. Okay? Right. It's... And, and the numbers, the, a, a couple of pollsters I've talked to that are pros, okay? His numbers started going down after nudie gate, right? Had he handled that differently and just said, "I didn't do this"- Right... and then let the investigation play out. Here's the thing, and this is where you get into where you need to be a psychiatrist.

He knew he didn't do anything wrong. He knew it, so why lie about it, right? Sheriff Johnson described it perfectly. Yeah. This, this was an, an accident. It's... By the way, uh, you know, when I was at Griffin Media for seven and a half years, we've got Samsung MovieHub everywhere, and I, I know this because, like, up in the, the top area next to the kitchen, there would be, like, random music videos playing.

And I was like, I don't think anybody actually turned the TV to that. 100 miles an hour. I had, had a conversation with a good friend who has one of these in a big working area, and was asking the administrators about it. He'd, he'd heard it playing one night. Mm-hmm. He went up and asked, and the, the person that's kind of the general manager of the area said, "You mean the Ryan Walters TV?" Right. It, it happens, okay? Mm-hmm.

But why in the world would you go out there and say that Kevin Stitt and these board members were, it was some kind of a conspiracy when you knew that wasn't true? Right. Speaking of Governor Stitt, he's got a big decision to make. Are you hearing anything about who it might be?

I heard, I mean, even from Governor Stitt himself saying that he was just looking, uh, for somebody to do the work of Oklahoma schools, teachers, and students, somebody who is reform-minded, um, but, uh, works well with others is what I inferred from the, the whole thing. He just wants a team player.Two words I'm hearing, you'll love this one, that would be different. Responsible adult. I've heard, I've heard that from several. Responsible adult. And, and also in connection with...

And the difference is the next one's going to be responsible adult. I heard the same thing also of somebody with an education background and, um, but open to reform. And also when we were taping, I taped Your Vote Counts early this week, and, um, you know, one of the issues could be a lot of the names that are, are hearing, and not Shane Jett, not Mark McBride.

Now I've already heard, got through those. And then there were several others that were leaking their own names out there, um, this week. But, um, it's, it's pretty hard for a, a legislator or if a current or former, they gotta be out of state government for two years. And number two, the governor really can't go out of state. You've gotta have, uh, based upon what the statutes say about the superintendent, you gotta have somebody that could run or be qualified to run, for example.

And that means you could have the greatest reformer of New York State, and we think the statutes, I've only got two sources on this, so I, I... none of them are legal, okay? But the, that they're, uh, solid sources that he just cannot go outside of the state borders. Look, I mean, this is not, probably not the fairest thing to say, but, um, I would imagine Oklahoma State University's gonna do a nationwide search for their f- head football coach. Mm-hmm. And it seems,

uh, remarkable that the chief executive of the state of Oklahoma could not go outside of the state borders to find... Yeah. Yeah, to... I mean, who knows what's in that department over there. Nobody's been in there but loyalists for a while. I mean, to me, this is gonna be... You know, and, and today he did another, um, you know, I guess he was, like, trying to show up the board again.

I mean, just- Before he exits the state. The theme of today's, uh, board meeting was, "I control the agenda. If you don't like it, you can sue me." Um, which is, you know, just contrarian. Yeah. Yeah, you own it. You own the 50, pal. Right, so, uh- So congrats... so, uh, what about the candidates who have already said that they were running for state superintendent? Would Rob Miller from Bixby... He's already running.

He's popular. Yeah. He's a Republican. That's a possibility. I've heard the name. I've heard Senator Adam Pugh. I named a former, uh, house comm ed chair, um, I'm not sure it was comm ed, one of the education committees, um, his name isn't spoken. Uh, Representative Baker, who's now with the city, uh, chamber. So there, I mean, there's any number of folks, maybe someone from academia. I don't know.

This is not gonna be a caretaker thing, I don't think. Okay? I don't think they'll be looking... This is a legacy pick for the governor. And, and it sort of goes to one other thing that he's, that he's mentioned, he governor, Stitt. The, the press just rolled over this one some time ago, but he said, you know, maybe six months ago, you may recall, he said, "We need to revisit how we're electing every single thing that moves Oklahoma."

You know, we've got... Just think about it. Insurance commissioner, labor commissioner, auditor and inspector. You want a politician bean counter, a politician regulator, a politician labor... Look, the President of the United States owns the cabinet, right? He appoints his people, do his deal. Now, if you're on the out- the party on the outside, you don't like it.

The party on the inside, you can sort of run the government. But we have, we have time in Oklahoma where that the lieutenant governor was from the opposite party of the governor and, you know, trying to, um, karate chop him the whole time he was in. It's, it's stupid. And here's the thing, Ryan. We all know about the Founding Fathers in Oklahoma. They were populist. They hated big government.

They hated concentrated power. But you take a situation where they, what they did, what they did, but who owns the insurance department? Who, who gives the campaign donations? Let me rephrase. Who puts the money in for the labor, uh, for the insurance commissioner? Insurance companies. You think consumers have the same sway there as the in- No. Okay? When you, when you look at,

um, the Corporation Commission, who, who gives the biggest amount of campaign contributions? Corporations and utilities. Consumers? You got AARP out there watching the windmills turn, right? Like Don Quixote. So, uh, the irony is, is that the Founding Fathers wanted to decentralize power. They put it all together. And so you've got things like the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which is a

academic and a management and a futuristic sort of person, and you go out and you elect, uh, demagogues and ideologues like Oklahoma's been stuck with for the last three years. And here's another thing. Th- there really wasn't time, there's not time to vet these people. Nobody has got time to do... I mean, how many is it? 12, 13, 14 we're electing? Right. Right. So anyway, it's just, uh, it's just mass chaos.

I think the governor will do it pretty quickly, though. I think the pressure is on, because, man, whenever Walters steps out of that office, it's gonna be the most anticipated takeover since, um, what was the cat that went into Jimmy, uh, not Jimmy Hoffa's, Al Capone's vault? [laughs] Heraldo. Heraldo. Right. I'd like to be with the, I'd like to be with the new person and walk in that building. Right.

I think developing a relationship with the, the Board of Education members is a big deal. I agree. It's a, it's a legacy pick. Um, but I, I think it's one that-95% chance the governor nails. It's going to be hard to get this one wrong. There was a collective exhale. I watched the entire Trace Gallagher show last night, which was painful. It was... It's just, it's... He's a good anchor, Trace Gallagher. It's a goofy show.

But I watched the whole thing to wait for that moment, um, and I could feel the state just exhale, say, "Okay, I don't care if it's left, right, whoever," the two words that you said, responsible adult. Hey, can I throw one more thing in here? Sure. 'Cause I know we're short on time. You and I had this when you were at Griffin, and we still have this conversation once in a while.

I haven't spent a lot of time talking about this guy because I felt like every t- like very seldom did he come with something that seemed substantive to me. It seemed like clicks. Right. Okay? 'Cause I'm looking at, what is your job, dude? Your job is to make sure that we're competitive, right? And I don't give a flying crap about, uh, the stuff he was talking about, okay?

A lot of this stuff should be done in the homes. Now we're finding out these Bibles are, like, they flunk. You know, they don't have half the government in them, half the- the Constitution in them. So my point was is that I was trying to offer some discipline, and you go all the way back to presidential campaign back in 2016, media got beat up for covering Trump all the time, right?

And then in 2020 they took a different tact. The whole point is, you know, sometimes I think the media, we, um, have got to be judicious about how we cover some people who are clearly don't like the media. And I get it, a lot of people don't. Uh, you just m- mentioned a channel I ain't gonna watch because I... There's almost a billion dollars' worth of reasons why.

That they paid, had to pay a l- uh, they lied, and they paid almost a billion dollars for lying. Done. I'm not gonna watch somebody that does something. Right. Right? Right, right. Yeah, it's... You- you- you bring up a- a great point.

Um, there's an interview on KOCO tonight where they sit down with Ryan to talk about his new position, and they brand it as an exclusive, and I'm like, that doesn't impact Oklahomans whatsoever unless you can ask him questions about how he's leaving the department, which he won't answer. He won't... You know, the- the thing is is that, yeah, it's, uh, it's for clicks and to fight the culture war, and again, not doing the business, the actual business of Oklahoma schools, teachers, and students.

Yeah, that doesn't, that doesn't enrich the culture. It doesn't answer any questions. It just gives, uh, a, a, you know, a politician a platform to just spew more hate. I- I remember exactly what I was going to say now. We in the media have often abrogated our responsibility as gatekeeper. The thing about the Fourth Estate is that we have a responsibility to be gatekeeper.

There's always the discussion of, do we give the viewer what they want or what they need to have? And we've been entrusted with that gatekeeper role, and I think it's important that we don't pander to the audience. So that would mean, you know, I... And Wendy Suarez did a fantastic job this week, uh, breaking the news, following him after the interview last night. Just brilliant, brilliant, brilliant job, and I admire...

Robin Marsh did a brilliant job talking to, uh, Ryan Walters th- the morning after or whenever he was on the air. I forgot the situation, but I texted her and I said, "That was a master class." Mm-hmm. It was brilliant. It's we don't, we don't need to push back against, uh, elected officials for the sake of pushing back. It's because of our role.

The only job in America that's actually in the Constitution, journalism, and it's that important. And to, to your point, when we abrogate our responsibility as gatekeeper, then yeah, it becomes a click-chasing endeavor. Well, I interviewed him once. Uh, I think it was a hot seat probably three years ago, and, um, that was at that period of time when I had a lot of people going, "Hey, this is a thoughtful guy." Okay? Right. I remember.

I remember when you and I did the Echo- Yeah... uh, conversations with all, all of the, you know, folks from there. Um, it was, it was a different time, and he was a different persona. And I think the question has been, is this an act? Or did, you know, did he get indoctrinated in some way? Because where the media's mishandled this one is his job, he didn't do his job. Okay?

Head coach of the football team, baseball team, it's wins and losses, man. Yeah. Yeah. All right, Scott, the, uh, I appreciate you joining me. I hope you'll join me every week, but I can't let you go this week without talking about Packers-Cowboys. What happened to the Packers against the Browns last weekend?

And surely, I guarantee, uh, Packers always do brilliantly when they're in Arlington, Texas. Oh, yeah, they, uh, they'll have to go fish the guys with the silver stars on their helmet out of the locker room. Uh, Cleveland's got a really good defense, and, uh, the Packers got to reading, "We're gonna, we're gonna go undefeated" stuff.

And Jordan Love made a boneheaded play, and Rich Bisaccia, I loved him as the coach of the Raiders, man. I'm the last, I'm n- I'm the first in the line, like, I think you gotta get rid of Rich Bisaccia. He's a bad special teams coach. And that's one t- I mean, it was just weird.

So right now what I'm just trying to do is I, um, I know tomorrow you'll have a guest that's fun, but I, I do want to pass on to Herms that, um, all the Detroit fans were counting all of their, their World Series wins and their Super Bowl wins and-Um, we- we'll beat Dallas pretty bad this weekend, but we really did show them lions, so we'll be coming up on that.

We'll fix this. We'll fix it Rebounded very nicely. That, that win against Baltimore was pretty, pretty good. Hey, listen, you got one in three Baltimore and one in three Kansas City this weekend. That's crazy. Is that nuts? Somebody's in trouble, okay? Yeah. Somebody's gonna be one in four. Yeah. Scott, thank you very much. Have a good show. Oh, by the way, I love Riverside. I love your...

I'm stuck with StreamYard, which is a horrible, horrible company. I love Riverside. Thanks for using Riverside. Anybody that follows me knows I still use StreamYard because they re-upped me again at twice the price and never talked to me about it. But Riverside rocks. Good job, Ryan Wiltern. Thank you very much. We will talk to you next week. And now I'd like to welcome a familiar face to those of you who are from Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma City portion of the Oklahoma Memo audience.

You may recognize him from a few years back on News 9, political reporter Grant Herms. Welcome to the Oklahoma Memo podcast. I am thrilled to be here, Ryan. Thank you so much, man, really. You notice I'm wearing the Detroit Tigers cap. I, you are, you are a Minnesota Twins fan, but you're living in Detroit now, and I just got through talking to Scott Mitchell, and we were talking some baseball, and he's just hoping that the Tigers cannot- [laughs]...

finish off a generational collapse. [laughs] I mean, I would like them to not finish off that collapse as well, but boy, this last series last weekend, that was... They're not given any, any options outside of that right now for this. But I would like them for the city to continue, 'cause also as a long-suffering Minnesota sports fan,

I gotta have something to hold onto while I'm, you know, not at home. [laughs] Right. Well, it's a big series against Boston this weekend. Yes. And as a Texas Rangers fan, we're out of it. I just don't wanna see the Astros in the playoffs, so. I... Yes. Yeah. I, I- Go, go Tigers. 100%. [laughs] We, we know baseball will be happening next week. The playoffs start next week.

On the other hand, the federal government may cease to function- Right... starting on Wednesday, and what I wanted to do as part of this segment, which each week we will talk about national topics and how they relate to Oklahoma in a way that anybody can understand, if you will, you'll help us, uh, you'll help it, uh, Make It Make Sense, which is the name of your podcast. So I want you to tell us about that, but talk about the government shutdown, and maybe start at the very beginning. Yeah.

What exactly is a government shutdown, and why should I here in Oklahoma be paying attention to this? Sure. A, a government shutdown is when Congress cannot get the federal budget agreed on, and that's where it has to start. It doesn't start with the president. The president has his own idea of what a budget should be, but he doesn't decide that. He just has to carry it out, whatever Congress decides.

And for a long time, this wasn't as [smacks lip] almost immediate every six months or so as it has been in the last couple years, maybe the last, I don't know, five to 10 years at the most. Really won't look back that far. But it does feel like we're on this merry-go-round of they're gonna pass a couple things in a budget, and then they're gonna kick this can down the road every few months.

And what we're at right now is a position where the government could not have enough funding to stay open in its full capacity. So emergency things stay open, vital, essential resources stay open, but that also means that a lot of people have to go to work and don't get paid or are gonna be temporarily laid off, it's called furloughed, staggered so that the government doesn't have to pay them because they're running out of money.

And it's just not the best way to run a railroad. I mean, nobody likes this situation on either side of the aisle, but it is a good chance for all of them to play real politics with people's lives.

And we see this thing happen frequently around holidays, and so this is actually a kicking the can down the road from back in May, uh, when they wanted to get out of Dodge for Memorial Day weekend, and now we're just hitting this here in September, and they, you know, or in October, they just missed, uh, Labor Day weekend, but they're gonna try to kick this again down the road to around Thanksgiving.

And the hope when they schedule these things around the holidays is that they can force people into a deal by threatening with keeping them there for the holidays. [laughs] Uh, but what, what happens this time around is the money runs out, uh, October 1st, which is Wednesday next week. I was gonna say Tuesday because my days are all off. But it's Wednesday at midnight, so 12:00 AM October 1st- Mm-hmm... government shuts down. And that impacts a lot of things.

I mean, we are talking about, yes, you always hear, like, you know, national parks and monuments are closed. That is a thing. Uh, you talk about the other things that really impact our lives, TSA, air traffic control. Those people go to work, they're not getting paid. Some of them don't show up to work if they're not gonna get paid, and that's a real problem right now, especially for air traffic control. Yeah.

These flights might get canceled. Right. You're... Yes. I mean, uh, in 20- I think it was 2018, 2019, which was the, the second-longest shutdown we've ever had, uh, just 10 air traffic controllers didn't come to work at LaGuardia in New York, and it grounded flights. Just 10 people. And so that could happen all over the country.

It might not happen, you know, at Tulsa International or Will Rogers World Airport, but, like, it, it might happen other places, and that could affect your flights. It could make lines at the airport longer. But that's just one part of this.

We are also talking about people who go out and inspect oil fields across the state of Oklahoma to make sure that they are safe and operating properly for the people who are working on them, for the places where that oil or that natural gas gets shipped to across the state of Oklahoma.

We are talking about the people that go in to inspect farms and ranches to make sure that those animals are safe and healthy, the people who are working there are safe and healthy and being treated according to federal safety guidelines, but also so that our food that comes out of those places is also safe.

We are talking about a lot of military and service members. You can think about, like, Tinker, right? Uh, you know, and, and also Lawton and all the other places that are around Oklahoma, uh, Enid, right? That-Those folks still have to go to work. They're still s- you know, service members. Uh, but they're not gonna get paid, and a lot of times their paychecks are put on hold.

Uh, the civilian members who work in defense in the state of Oklahoma, a lot of those folks might get furloughed. And when we talk about those things too, those people do eventually get paid back most of the time. The people who don't are the contractors that work with all of the government agencies, and the government is a giant employer at the federal level, but also at the state level too.

And so you're talking about a lot of mostly small businesses who are working with the government as contractors who are gonna have to shut down during the government shutdown, and then never get paid for that lost time or that work that they did because they had to go to work, and that's really tough for a lot of people.

We are also talking about the IRS not being able to process things like real estate validations, which is a huge deal, especially when we're talking about land buys, when we're talking about people trying to get and keep their homes or sell their homes. And then the, the ones for me that I think are really, really important because they affect people immediately are the things that we're talking about with SNAP benefits, WIC benefits.

Those are things we would traditionally call food stamps, but those payments can halt. A lot of states will try to kinda get in front of those, and so maybe if you're someone who uses those, you'll get an extra check, and you'll have to make that stretch for as long as the shutdown lasts. But that's pretty hard to know, so you don't know how to budget that out, and that's money for poor people, for mothers, for hungry kids who need that for baby formula, specifically if it's WIC and baby food.

And then we're talking about Medicaid and Medicare as well, which Oklahoma over 2020, '24 had the second-highest uptake in people who joined Medicaid, and that's a lot of people. It was something like, like, uh, something like 600% increase in Oklahoma. Huge.

Those people may not be able to get access to care during government shutdown because the people that would take the bills from the hospitals who work at the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services don't go to work, or, you know, are at work and they're just not really working because they're not getting paid.

So it, it is more than just the national parks shut down and Congress isn't at work or, or whatever. It's... It really does have a pretty immediate effect on our lives. I hope that wasn't too long of a, a ramble there. No, no, that, that was perfect. And, and I would encourage folks, I will have a link in the show notes to your podcast- Mm... Make It Make Sense, where you really go into even more depth.

One of the things that you mentioned, uh, before we started recording, uh, was that there could also be an ulterior motive here for- Yeah... the Trump administration. Yeah. Could you tell us about that? Yeah. So I, I'm gonna break out two ulterior motives because there are other motives on both sides of the aisle here. I'll start with the Trump administration, um, because that's what you, you asked.

So there are two things happening on the right. Uh, I will say too, nobody on either side of the aisle wants a shutdown of Congress. They, they don't really. But there are ways that they could win even if they lose, so that's what these things are. There's a, a guy in the Trump administration who is the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Name is Russell Vought.

He doesn't like federal employees. He said in 2020 he wants federal employees to feel like they're in trauma when they come to work. I don't know what this guy's deal is. I, like, yeah, on a human level, that's just not a thing you should want for other people, regardless of how you feel about the federal government or federal employees. That's just bad. I don't know. Uh,

but this guy, uh, when he heard about the looming government shutdown, sent out a memo saying there could be mass reductions in force, basically mass firings, and this is part of a playbook called Project 2025 that you, you and listeners may have heard of during the campaign. Trump at that point in time said he didn't know anything about it. Since then, they've implemented about half of what was in this playbook.

Now, there are a lot of people in the administration that came out of that same group, so there's that. But one of those things was to really shrink the federal workforce, which is the nation's largest employer, uh, in the federal government, by hundreds of thousands of people. And in a shutdown, Russell Vought, who is the architect of this idea, might get what he wants there. Again, I don't know if everybody in Congress wants this thing, but this is a way that Vought might be able to do that.

So again, Republicans could win if they lose in the shutdown here. The second thing is the Epstein files, uh, which I'm sure your listeners are familiar with at this point. I don't wanna really rehash that here. It would take us an hour.

Uh, but there is this thing called a discharge petition that is in Congress right now, and how this works, really quick 'cause you need some base for this, is the Speaker of the House, who's a guy named Mike Johnson, is in charge of which pieces of legislation get voted on in the House. A discharge position means that a number of, a majority rather, 218 house members can sign this letter and say, "Mike, we want you to put up this bill that you've been not putting up."

And that bill is a bill that would make the DOJ, the Department of Justice, release the Epstein case files. This week, there was a special election in Arizona. A Democrat won that election, and there is now 218 votes for that to be sent to Mike Johnson to release this vote for the Epstein files. Mike Johnson canceled all votes Monday and Tuesday next week,

and he did that because this new Democrat can't actually do anything on the petition and can't vote until she's sworn in. But if there are no votes, she can't be sworn in. So he is hoping that he can keep this vote off the books, off the table for just a little while longer, and if there's a government shutdown, then they've got this other fight that's happening, and who knows how long that lasts, and they can push the Epstein file thing a little further away.

And that is what Mike Johnson wants because it's what the president wants. And, like-I don't know or understand motives there. I don't claim to. That's just what's happening here. On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats here are hoping for also two things. The first one is they are really holding up stopping this government shutdown at this moment.

Republicans want to pass this thing, which is called a continuing resolution. It's a CR you'll hear it called, which means government funding stays exactly where it is. They want to add somewhere between $85 to $120 million for security for elected officials right now, given the increase in threats that we've seen over the past few years, and a lot of them are really scared, and that's a valid, valid concern.

Democrats are hoping to get back some protections for healthcare that were lost under the big beautiful bill earlier this year. So Democrats want to add back somewhere between $705 billion to maybe a trillion dollars in healthcare tax credits and expansions and keeping things in place that would stop about 6 million people from losing healthcare coverage under things like the Affordable Care Act.

So they want to win there. And Democrats, maybe one of the only issues that they're really above water on when it comes to who's in the majority of these things is healthcare, and so they know that that's a winning issue for them. They also are gonna see this, and are seeing it right now, as a way to stand up to Donald Trump and members of Congress who are doing almost everything that Trump has asked in a way they didn't last time.

And a lot of voting Democrats were saying back home, "You need to do more." And so this is them doing more. And so again, if there's a government shutdown, Democrats might win even if we lose in this shutdown. And so there's this layer that is like this is what happens at the government shutdown, and then this under thing that is this real politics playing. And

I will say, this is the kind of thing that makes people hate politicians, Ryan. Like, this is, this is the thing that, like, there's, there are these things happening under the surface, and these are always happening. But we've got real people's lives on the line, people with access to medication, access to food, access to things like Social Security checks, payments to service members, and what we're doing here is, is playing political tennis back and forth.

Uh, and, and it's, it's really frustrating to watch, I think, for a lot of people. Right. I have to imagine, do you have a gut hunch as to how this is gonna end up? Um, you know, if you were a betting man.

I am, I'm a terrible bettor because I'm always an optimist about these things. Um- I am, too. I am, too. Yeah. So right now, the, the president was supposed to meet, I should say, earlier this week with Democratic leaders and canceled that meeting at the last minute, and there have been no discussions between him or someone like Mike Johnson or the leader in the Senate, a guy named John Thune, and Democratic leaders at all.

They are fully at an impasse here, and it's Friday morning as we're recording. Things could happen over the weekend, uh, but again, the House leaves. They're, they're on, they're adjourned. They're on recess, uh, Monday and Tuesday next week.

And so I would like to think that there is some late-night thing that happens on Sunday night, say, uh, you know, or Monday early morning when they can hammer this thing out and maybe, you know, Democrats get a third of what they're asking for, but it also forces this Epstein petition to happen and, you know, maybe that thing happens.

I don't know. I really don't. I would like to think that a deal gets made here, uh, but it really seems like the president has dug his heels in on this and doesn't want to move. And Democrats, on the other side of this, are also doing the same because they don't want a repeat of what happened back in the spring. It's gonna be really interesting to watch, and I think frightening for a lot of people who rely on the services of all the things that we just talked about. So I, I truly do not know.

There is a fun kind of gauge that I do use for this, and it's, uh, [laughs] if you can, like, look up, like, a, a DoorDash heat map, uh, so you can see, like, where all the activity is, right? Um, and if there's a bunch of DoorDash activity around the Capitol this, this weekend, it's a good indicator that things are getting done.

And one of those things, too, is, like, if you're someone who pops in online or you see pictures of things on, on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, if you see a bunch of pizzas being wheeled into the Capitol Building, that's a good sign that work is getting done. Uh, [laughs] so, like, if you got Dashers not around the Capitol, maybe not great. So, like, that is a, a little, like, it's like the Waffle House index kind of thing.

One question I just want to ask you just real quickly before we- Yeah... get into talking about your podcast that, uh, I didn't spring on you before, before we started recording is what is the situation with all these generals being summoned to, to talk to Hegseth? Oh. Yeah. Okay. So we don't know. That's this thing. And for-- Do your listeners know about this, or do you want me to, to- Uh, yeah, explain it. Explain it. Sorry. So- It's just something I saw the other day on Drudge. Yeah.

So yesterday, uh, it was reported first by The Washington Post and then everywhere else that the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of War, I guess, is the on-paper name, but the Department of Defense is still the Department of Defense, um, because the Congress has to change that name.

But Pete Hegseth sent out a letter to some 800 generals, admirals, flag officers, these are top-level people, and their staff across the world and ordered them to come back for a mystery meeting in Virginia, uh, in Quantico. We do not know what that is about. Uh, Quantico is also where the FBI headquarters is. I don't know if it's taking place at the FBI headquarters, but it's really, really odd.

Um, and it's got a lot of people freaked out by the reporting that I, I'm seeing here and some of the folks that I'm talking to, and these are people who don't easily get freaked out, right? These are, [laughs] these are, like, star generals and admirals and people who lead people in sometimes dangerous parts of the world, in sometimes places in which we need them there, and they're being recalled back.

And there are lots of concerns about having, first of all, just this many military leaders in one place and then having that be broadcast to, you know, uh, uh, everyone. Uh, and not just because, you know, I don't mean to say that, like-It, it's Virginia's at risk or anything like that. But, like, now there's, like, a leadership hole in a lot of these places around the world in which you prefer them to not be there. But then second, we don't know.

Um, Hegseth earlier this year did sort of cull a bunch of, of top military brass, but that was more really, like, a changeover in the administration. He did say earlier this year he wanted to get rid of about 100 top generals and, like, shrink sort of what he called bloat in the Pentagon. Um, different people on different sides of the aisle have talked about that for years, and whether we need that or we don't need that, so... And that's also up to kinda his prerogative a, a little bit.

Um, but we don't know what this is. Um, it, and, you know, there are a number of things on the table. It could be anything from, from a, a, a different kind of, of directive that he wants to do in person. Um, there's been a lot of speculation out there about, like, it could be more firings of generals and all that thing. I think that's a step too far. It's saying a thing we don't know yet. Um,

there's, you know, there's the actions the United States has taken recently against Venezuela and alleged, uh, drug traffickers. Um, and it could be, you know, a new mandate in stepping up a certain thing like that. It's, it'd be weird if it was just a policy change to have all these people fly in, but could be that. Could be Hegseth just wants a face-to-face with these people, uh, instead of having to go tour oh where all they are and never meet them.

Um, I, I don't know what this is, but it is odd, and it is something to keep an eye on, um, because it's so out of the ordinary. And I just... This is a silly question, but if the government shuts down, this still happens. I mean- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm... they, they, yeah. It's, it's not like they're going to... Yeah. Yeah, it's [laughs] yeah, their, their plane tickets don't get canceled. Right. These guys still gotta go to work.

These men and women still gotta show up, and then, and then, like, if their directive is, because, you know, Secretary of Defense says, "You gotta come to Quantico," they gotta get on a plane. It might be a terrible, like, you know, cargo plane from the Army, but, like... Which, if you've ever been in the back of the one, I don't recommend that.

I did that, uh, for a hurricane in Houston one time, and it is, uh, loud, and it is cold, and I did it for 30 minutes, and I was like, "That's all I got. No thank you." [laughs] Right. Absolutely. Well, thank you for helping us make it make sense, if you will. I wanna take some time, though, and tell us, uh, about what you're doing, what, what the podcast is, where people can find you. Because I, I've been following you. You're everywhere.

I, I see you on Facebook, I see you on TikTok a lot, uh, and of course, the podcast each, each week, and I find that I'm learning something, uh, every time you post a recording. That is, man, that is the compliment for me. That you, you take away something, you learn something from this. The show is called Make It Make Sense with Grant Herms.

You gotta do the whole name when you search it, 'cause there's a lot of folks out there that, that have the name Make It Make Sense. Uh, and what we do, uh, what I do is three times a week you'll hear from me. Twice a week you get a m- a show that's somewhere between 15 to 25 minutes long, so it's right there for your drive into or home from work.

And we're gonna talk about one big story of the day, and I'm gonna give you the context for it. It's no-frills. Uh, I, I am not going to, like, both sides this thing. If one side is being crazier than the other, you're gonna hear that from me in this. And in, just like the conversation, you know, Ryan, you and I just had now about these ulterior motives to these things, you're gonna hear about those too on both sides of the aisle.

There's als- and then on Fridays, you get a, a longer interview, usually with an expert talking about something really big. Um, you know, a couple weeks ago I was talking to a guy who was talking about prescription drug prices. This week I'm talking to a Democrat who's for school choice, which is a super interesting conversation. Uh, I, I've talked to people on both sides of the aisle about where they want things to go next in America, and, and how we can learn from each other in those things.

And there's also a Substack, which those newsletters drop on Wednesdays. Um, there might be more coming soon, so stay tuned. Um, that is a weekly much more in-depth article. So there's, a l- if you want a little bit more sense to be made, I'll break that down on one of the bigger stories of the day.

This week it was the, the president h- has had a long obsession with good genes versus bad genes, and sort of some fear for him around autism, and how those two things are colliding right now when we talk about Tylenol and autism and what's happening at Health and Human Services. Um, but this is for people, really, who know they should be paying more attention to politics, but it's a lot. You're busy. You've got work. You've got kids.

You don't wanna be inundated with this stuff, but you know you should be informed. That's what Make It Make Sense is all about. That's who it's for, and that's who I wanna talk to. It's very much aligned with what I'm trying to do with Oklahoma Memo. Yes. Just it is very important to the future of democracy to help people understand what's happening- Yes... at federal, state, local levels.

This is complicated stuff. It's not easy, and I appreciate you, uh, taking some time every week, uh, to talk to us. Well, thanks for having me as always, Ryan, really. Awesome. Have a great weekend. You too. And now I wanna give you a preview of a new podcast I've started with longtime friend of mine Jeremy Cook. I'm a Boomer Sooner, and he's a proud, loyal, and true Oklahoma State Cowboy.

We got the idea, uh, quite a while back to do a podcast about friends who root for opposite teams, and we often root for opposite teams. It's not just in college football. But we thought even though the Bedlam rivalry is essentially dead with the Sooners being in SEC and Oklahoma State in the Big 12, the rivalry and the conversation doesn't have to be. So we created a podcast called Bedlam Buds, and I wanted to give you a taste of it right here.

It was the right week to launch this podcast with the dismissal of longtime coach Mike Gundy, and the elevation of, uh, Doug Meacham, offensive coordinator, to be the coach for the Pokes when they take the field this weekend against Baylor. Here's a taste of Bedlam Buds. [upbeat music]Welcome to the pilot episode of Bedlam Buds. My name is Ryan Welton, Boomer Sooner, and this is my good friend, best friend from way back, the man who officiated my wedding, Jeremy Cook. Go Pokes.

Um, you know, a perfect day for a pilot episode, but a sad day for the legacy of head coach Mike Gundy, who was essentially fired today. Some people said he's out after 20 years. KOCO, they just went out and said he was fired. I mean, I think we see the writing on the wall. What, what's your reaction, man, to all this?

Well, I mean, it- the reaction is torn because Coach Gundy was, is the winningest coach OSU has ever had. He's the best coach, football coach, that OSU has ever had. There's no way around that. There's no way you can deny that. I mean, if you look at his record, if you look at what he's done, if you look at the longevity and his ability to stay 20 years in one program, that's kinda remarkable in and of itself.

You know, s- that longevity doesn't really happen. He's an OSU alum. He's an OSU grad, and you know, he bleeds orange. So it's, it's a sad day that, you know, the, the guy that only had two losing seasons out of all of his complete years at Oklahoma State, of all places, is now gone. So there's a lot of, a lot of sadness involved with this. Unfortunately, that's the situation that we're in. And so, you know, now what we do is we gotta look forward, we gotta look to what's next.

But Mike Gundy himself, he's a terrific individual. He's a, he's a good man, and y- and you hate to see somebody like that, you know, be removed from their position. But we all know Coach Gundy's gonna be okay. He's gonna land on his feet. He's gonna be all right. Hope you enjoyed that, and I hope you got something out of each of the conversations that I had this week on the first weekly Oklahoma Memo podcast. I appreciate you.

If you're to this point, you've listened to the entire show. I really greatly appreciate that, and I would love any feedback that you have. You can message me anytime at news@oklahomamemo.com and let me know whether you're watching this or you're listening to this and how you, how you found us. Each week, I plan on talking to Scott and to Grant and to different guests from across the state of different political ideologies.

If you would be interested in being a part of this program, message me at news@oklahomamemo.com as soon as I get this posted. The goal is to have this live at 6:00 PM each Friday night, but this weekend there is a special event happening in Oklahoma City. It is the Oklahoma City Greek Festival. It is a favorite of mine as somebody who loves good food and drink and European culture, and I especially love Greek food, and I love Greek beer. Alpha, uh, if you've never had it, it's just really...

It's extra carbonated. It's like Rolling Rock with muscles. Um, it just... I really, really enjoy it. Love the dancing, love the conviviality, love the baklava. Come on, it's a great time. So whatever you got going this weekend, whether it's that, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Tulsa playing Tulane, that's an interesting game. Perhaps the future Cowboys coach is coaching in that game.

The Sooners are off this week. We hear that John Mateer, his surgery went well with Dr. Shin on the hand, on the thumb, on the wrist, whatever exactly it was. We just hope he's back soon. But in the meantime, we are fully behind Michael Hawkins Jr. for the game next week against Kent State, and then of course, against the archrival University of Texas. But for now, that is it for Oklahoma Memo.

If you haven't subscribed to the newsletter, please do so at oklahomamemo.com. It's one email each day, a news recap that hits your inbox at 7:00 AM every weekday. Thank you again. My name is Ryan for Oklahoma Memo. [upbeat rock music]