The fate of the country rests in the hand of the twenty thousand stupidest Pennsylvanians. We're going to be waiting around for two months to determine whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will be president, and the whole thing will ultimately come down to the opinions of the twenty thousand or so Pennsylvanians who still remain unbelievably undecided. How can you still be undecided about Donald Trump after nine years at this point, Like, what new information do you need
to have? Anyway, the thing I'm realizing is that so much of politics is dominated by dumb people who happen to have attained positions of power. And the next great example of this that I have is something coming out of the RNC. Now, I will note that so much of the electorate is voting for stuff based on vibes,
and most of the Republican electorate just likes Trump. They just like him, And if you criticize him, even if it's for the same kind of thing that you would have gotten mad at any other Republican for, then you're a bad guy. If mint Romney had watered down the Republican platform with regards to abortion. Probably most conservatives Republicans would have blasted him, but Trump doesn't.
No one seems to care.
This is not to say that I love Mitt Romney or hate Donald Trump, but I do think that there is a kind of loyalty to Trump that we just did not have with prior Republican presidents or presidential candidates.
So I'm going to do this.
Test before you realize, because I don't know how many people exactly know who the head of the RNC is. For those of you who know who the head of the RNC is, you might react a different ways. So I'm just gonna say I want you all to test your reactions. Those of you who are listening to this who don't know who the head of the Republican National Committee is and the head of the Republican National Committee, what is their job. Their job is raising money and
helping Republicans get elected. That is the job of the RNC. So if you're the RNC chair right now should be the literal busiest time of your life, the busiest There is no busier time for the RNC head than we're two months out from the election. You've got to be pedal to the medal, working to fundraise for all of your candidates, all of your House candidates, all of your Senate candidates, and you're trying to get a president elected.
All right, So if you're the head of the RNC, that's really import Now the head of the RNC has released a music video. I'm not gonna say the head of the RNC is man or a woman, but this head of the RNC is a singer, and the head of the RNC has released a music video for a song called Hero. This song is a tribute to firefighters and first responders. Now, I like firefighters, I like first responders. I like cops.
I think they're swell guys.
My job, though, is running Right to Life es Central California and hosting a radio show.
If my board of directors learned.
That I was releasing a music video for a song I'd written to promote a music video for a song I'd written about firefighters, and I was trying to promote it, my board of directors at Right to Life might say things like, Hey, why.
Are you doing that? What is this that you're doing?
Is this interfering with your job at all? It's certainly I think one should ask this question of the head of the RNC, why are you doing this? Like, Yes, firefighters are good, we love we like firefighters. Firefighters are wonderful people. I get a little cringey when conservatives do this thing. Liberals and conservatives do this thing, by the way, where you take some job and you canonize them as everyone in that profession is saints. Liberals tend to do
this about teachers. Conservatives tend to do this about military and cops. I think any job is filled with some people who are excellent, some people who are a lot of people who are okay, and some people who stink at their job. I don't think every firefighter is a saint, I think, but of course they are signing up for a job that involves some measure of risk and danger and self sacrifice, and I don't mind honoring the profession as such in that regard. Same with cops, same with soldiers.
That doesn't mean every single cop, every single soldier, every single firefighter is a superhero. And I think no one would agree with that sentiment more than active cops, firefighters, and military personnel. Regardless, when you hear that the head of the RNC is spending time recording releasing promoting a music video two months out from the election. I think probably your first instinct as a conservative listener who has been skeptical of the RNC. Conservatives have been skeptical of quote,
establishment Republicans my whole life, and with good reason. Establishment Republicans have often, I think, been phony and not really believed what they believed. Case in point, Michael Steele. Michael Steele was the RNC chair proximate. I think he was sort of RNC chair for sort of the Romney campaign era around twenty eleven twenty thirteen ish. Michael Steele is right now actively supporting Kamala Harris, which really shook.
Me when I learned.
That made me think this guy was in charge of fundraising for a publican candidates from Sea to Shining Sea, and apparently his principles, his convictions were so weak that he thinks it's okay to endorse, to actively endorse as a positive good Kamala Harris. Your first instinct hearing the head of the RNC is releasing a music video two months out from the election would probably be to say, that's ridiculous, What the heck is the RNC doing. This
is why Republicans never win. We have idiots and incompetence running the RNC. That's ridiculous. But if I tell you that the head of the RNC is Donald Trump's daughter in law, Laura Trump, oh, does that change how you feel about it at all? Does that change things for
you at all? Because basically what's happened is this young writer for National Review named Naton Ehrenreich wrote a short piece, a short little blog post on National Review's blog, Lara Trump, RNC co chair, prepares for the election with a new music video. All he's doing is stating this, he says, when Donald Trump installed his daughter in law Lara Trump as co chair of the Republican National Committee, he assuredly
picked the best person for the job. Her qualifications to run one of the two major American political parties are impeccable. She studied at the French Kulinary Institute in New York, and her last name is Trump. Now she is vindicating her supporters by spending the crucial months ahead of the election by releasing fresh music videos. Alongside Madeline James. She recently released Hero, a moving, read cringe inducing tribute to firefighters. If you want to be inspired read inspired to stab
your eyeballs and tear your ears off. Feel free to check the whole thing out up below. It's an important reminder of the amazing things our Republican Party leaders are up to in these pivotal times. For this, this clearly legitimate critique. Now he wanders into sort of attacking her credentials to be the head of the RNC in general, although I think that is fair. Her last name is Trump. Does she have any other qualifications for doing this? This is Eric Trump's wife. Why is she the head of
the r NC other than her last name is Trump? Now, it's one thing, you know, I am not as suspicious of nepotism as I think a lot of Americans are. I've seen lots of family businesses, particularly here in the San Laquin Valley. Among there are various families who have supported right now to life, and it's sort of you have the dad or grandpa or instead of brothers who started the business and it goes down to their kids.
And what I've seen in these different family businesses has actually been that the succeeding generation who begins to take on more and more of the business. I've always been extremely impressed by the next generation. I'm not saying that nepotism is inherently bad or or and it's not even really nepotism. It's passing on this business that you established
to your children to carry on. I've actually seen that the children in those situations tend to be, at least in my experience, remarkably hard working, successful, accomplished people themselves. But the RNC might be kind of a different kind of ballgame. And it would be one thing if Laura Trump was absolutely killing it and the Republicans were raising more money than the Democrats.
They're not.
The Democrats are kicking our butts in fundraising. Democrats are kicking Republicans' butts when it comes to fundraising. And here she is, two months out from the election, releasing a music video, and you've got conservative talking heads, conservative talk radio hosts, conservative commentators, all very firmly in the Trump camp blasting not Lara Trump, but this kid writer from National Review who had the temerity to say, what the
hell is Lara Trump doing. She's the head of the RNC, We're two months out from an election, and she's releasing music videos with songs because she's kind of like a singer or something, songs about firefighters. Why is she doing this? Is she trying to set up her next gig once she's done being the RNC chair, to sell mediocre music to conservatives. You know, alongside their maga hats, they'll have a CD of Lara Trump songs. What are we doing?
This is ity again. We're two months out from the election. Her job as the co chair of the RNC is to fundraise from Shining Sea doing a music video about firefighters. As nice as that would be if she doesn't have a job, if her job was just being a musician, if her job was just being a singer, if she wasn't the RNC co chair, that's great, But I think it's this thing of in any context outside of the
current context. If you heard the RNC chair was releasing a music video about firefighters too out from the election, you would have said, these Republicans are such idiots, these Republicans are such mores. But when it's a Trump, all of a sudden, people are like, oh, why are you focused on that? Why are you undercutting the cause. I'm
not undercutting the cause. She's releasing a music video and her job is to raise money for Republicans two months out from the election, clearly trying to set herself up for her whatever enterprise she is going to engage in after the election. And this is the stuff that drives me crazy is that I think so many people in American politics are just choosing these things based on how they feel and not really based on anything having to do with reason or policy. You know, people like Trump.
They like him.
Republicans like Trump. They think he's funny, they like his personality. His personality is obviously extremely different from the buttoned up Romney's and McCain's and Bushes and all those people. They like him, and so they're willing to overlook his peccadillos left right and center, and the peccadillos of people in his orbit in ways that they simply wouldn't have done
for Romney or for McCain or for Bush. And I just at a certain level, I just don't think that's great when the point of this enterprise is winning elections to change the laws to make this country a better, more prosperous, and more just place. If you actually care about winning this election, this is not how you should behave if you actually care about enacting solid legislation by winning elections. This is not how you would behave if you care about I mean, you know, I not to
bring in my constant hobbyhorse about pro life issues. God forbid, I mention this thing that results in the intentional killing of a million human organisms every year. But if you actually care about the cause of life, it should concern you that every thing about abortion was taken out of the Republican platform. But I think people just don't really care about that stuff because they just happened. They just
like Trump. They like Trump, or on the other side of it, alleged conservatives who are supporting Harris because they think Trump is so bad. Don't you cannot claim yourself to be a conservative and support Harris. We'll talk about those people in the next segment. This is the John Girardi Show on Power Talk. I'm convinced that most people just vote for vibes. They're not really voting for issues,
and they they like whom they like. The heart wants what it wants, and this results in people being willing to overlook flaws in one party or the other's approach to things in ways that are that kind of baffle me. Frankly, certainly, I think Trump is for the life issues, is a better outcome than Harris. I anticipate he would govern in a better way, although his IVF proposal that he's given is so wild, it's beyond even what Kamala Harris is
even pledged to do, and it's so wildly bad. But I want to instead of for those of you who think I'm just beating up on Trump supporters, which I'm not. I mean, again, I think Trump is a Harris would be a disastrous, disastrous outcome.
I want to focus on.
Alleged conservatives actively supporting Harris. Now, there are some people on the right, Liz Cheney, now, Adam Kinsinger, Michael Steele, the former R and C chair, who are enthusiastically endorsing Kamala Harris. And certainly there's been a lot of being spilled about commentators who have done this, Commentators who began endorsing Joe Biden, comment who you know, lifelong conservative commentators who all of a sudden turned to endorsing Joe Biden
to endorsing Kamala Harris. But now we've got actual politicians doing it. And again, I just think these people are acting on the basis of vibes ideas sort of sentiments, attitudes, rather than anything that has to do with policy. Look, if you think Donald Trump is a some kind of betrayal of conservatism in some way, shape or form. If you think his character flaws are so bad that you
don't want to vote for him, okay, I can. I might not one hundred percent agree with you, but I understand you, and maybe I on some level I do agree with you in certain respects. I certainly am not crazy about Donald Trump's character issues. I think maybe you know the days of you know it being an issue when Ronald Reagan was running for president because he had been divorced once those days are long gone. Clearly might have been a better Amarria. Those days weren't long gone.
But I can understand a conservative saying I don't like Donald Trump. What I cannot understand is a conservative saying, therefore, I will vote for Kamala Harris.
Let alone, I.
Will enthusiastically support Kamala Harris and positively endorse her.
That I don't get. That is insane to me.
If you purport to be a conservative, you cannot positively vote for someone else who has all of Trump's character flaws, I think, or many of Trump's character flaws on a personal level, and endorses wildly horrifically terrible policies.
I can understand sitting it out.
I can understand sitting the election out, and especially for people who I don't live in a swing state, I can understand sitting out the presidential election. What I can't understand is positively endorsing Harris. And I think just what's happening is people like the vibe of being part of the respectable crowd or well. And I think on both
sides people like different kinds of vibes. I think enthusiastic Trump supporters who are willing to overlook policy changes when it comes to abortion or policy changes here there or wherever. I think they like the vibe of being a Trump supporter.
In some cases, I think they like, you know, you're if you're going to say, if you're going to change your views on the abortion issue just in response to Trump changing his views on the abortion issue, then I question whether you really believed in those things to begin with, whether you really cared about those things to begin with, or if you just liked the vibe of being a Trump supporter, the anti authoritarian feeling, the anti establishmentarian feeling
associated with the Trump campaign. Likewise, on the flip side, if you're a.
Respected conservative pundit who likes buttoned up, suit and tie wearing conservatism, like Mitt Romney and John McCain and George W.
Bush, if you're that kind of conservative and all of a sudden you're actually actively endorsing Kamala Harris, I think what you care about is the vibe, the attitude of respectability, more than you actually care about policy. You want to be part of the respectable crowd. You want people to think that you're a respectable, curious person who doesn't hold
with Donald Trump's nonsense. I would rather have Donald Trump's nonsense and be correct on policy nine times out of ten, then be ReSpectacle and buttoned.
Up any day of the week.
But I think both sides are willing to compromise, jettison, get rid of their beliefs for the sake of maintaining this vibe that they like, this attitude, that they like, these characters or characteristics that they like, They like portraying themselves as this kind of a political supporter, this kind of an American, this kind of when it comes to media, when it comes to talking heads, this kind of a
thinker or a talker, this kind of a politician. And again, I'm not trying to actually I'm some superhero, but I think it frustrates me that what I've always cared about is the policy, and I'm going to call it like I see it when it comes to how the policies are being promoted and promoted or not promoted. In his first term, Trump was doing really well on most things, not every single thing, but most things related to abortion policy, he was doing great, and he has changed his views
on a lot of those things. I don't know how I can but react negatively to that. I'm not in it for the Trump vibes. I'm in it for the policies that I hope that this or that presidential candidate will bring about because I care about these fundamental issues of justice for my fellow man, and politics and law
are the means to help establish justice. So anyway, again, I'm not trying to say I'm better than everyone else, but I am frustrated that we're so focused on personality and forgetting what's the point of this enterprise.
The point of this exercise is law. And policy.
When we return, everyone in media is getting paid off by a government, except for old Johnny g Next on The John Girardi Show, there's a fascinating couple of stories coming out about how many different people in media and in politics are being influenced by foreign governments. So a story came out after some indictments were enceealed on Wednesday that the Russians were paying off through a company that you have RT Russia today, which is this media entity
controlled by the Kremlin. They funneled money through a Tennessee based company, which that company then paid money to various kinds of sort of political podcaster talking head.
Types, sort of a.
Somewhat right wing leaning stripe to influence them to back Kremlin positions on a variety.
Of issues, including the war in Ukraine.
This indictment unsealed on Wednesday alleges, and this is a story about it.
In National Review written by David Zimmermann.
The indictment unsealed on Wednesday alleges that two employees of RT, a Kremlin controlled media outlet, funneled nearly ten million dollars to a Tennessee based digital content company in order to sew division within the US and to weaken US opposition to Russian interests like the Ukraine War. The description of the company included in the indictment matches a recently launched outlet called Tenant Media T E N E T. The
media startup paid well. One unnamed influencer was paid four hundred thousand dollars per month to produce videos, on top of a one hundred thousand dollars signing bonus. According to the indictment, two of Tenant Media's top commentators are Tim Poole and Benny Johnson, both of whom have millions of
followers across YouTube and other platforms. Pool and Johnson issued statement Wednesday afternoon claiming they were victims of the alleged foreign influenced scheme and accepted the Kremlin provided funds under false pretenses, but maintained full editorial control of the content they produced. So these guys are getting paid off by the Russians. We then learned that we have also learned, though, that other media figures on the left or of the left have been paid off in other ways. Max Boot
a columnist for Believe. Max Boot was calumnist for the Washington Post. He, through his wife Max Boot's wife was charged with violations of FARA Foreign Agent Registration Act charges. Basically, she was a spy on behalf of South Korea and was working with him to promote South Korean, to promote Korean interests. So that that's kind of kind of from the left. So here's kind of a summary. Jamal Kashogi was a calumnist for the Washington Post. He was taking
money from Qatar. Max Boot's wife took money from Korea. Mehdi Hassan another talking at. It has been off and on Qatar's payroll his whole career. Qatar has invested fifty million dollars in Newsmax, the sort of TV news media outlet. The Biden's got money from Ukraine and China. The NBA ows a ton tea. All of these different media entities are getting money from foreign.
Influence.
And I'll just I just want to ask if there's any I want to put this offer out there, basically to any foreign governments who might be listening to the John Girardi Show. I am open for business, okay, Like, if you want to pay me ten million dollars to promote your country. And by the way, FBI, US government, I will do all the fara disclosures to let everyone know that I am being a shill on behalf of a foreign country.
I will gladly take their money.
If you turn on your radios someday and hear John Girardi talking about you know how wonderful, you know how wonderful tourism.
Is to Latvia, you'll you'll know what's going on.
If I say, come to Latvia, enjoy the pristine landscape.
I'm literally googling Latvia as I do this.
Flights from Boston to Riga on discount the Baltic What a beautiful place to visit. We are not taken over by Russia yet, Come to Latvia. Listen to our national anthem, diev vetti lats ju God blessed Latvia. Anyway, so if anyway, if any foreign governments want to pay me, please please do it does sort of really make you. And by the way, and I've heard other stories allegations too, of individual writers or outlets getting money from other kinds of
foreign governments. The American Conservative, which is a conservative sort of journal publication, there was a time when they were taking a very sort of aggressive stance against most Republican foreign policy initiatives, and as a result, they had a writer who was publishing a bunch of stuff against the Republican position on Iran and in favor of actually Barack Obama's position with regards to Iran and the Iranian deal. Later we found out that the American Conservative was getting
money from Iran. I guess, in short, there's not too much of a message to this segment, other than to realize how much media, how much opinion consumption, you're getting, especially when it comes to anything having to do with foreign policy that is or could be fueled by foreign money, that it involves foreign governments trying to influence you to think one way or another. And frankly, it's made me kind of want to ask some questions about my Ukraine
skepticism now. I think, you know, I came to a position of sort of Ukraine skepticism, skepticism about American military funding and involvement with Ukraine. You know, I'd like to think I came to that fairly, honestly, without being too much influenced by too many other influencers. I don't think I had ever actually read any of these people who are you know, funded by the Russians, I've not really read any of their opinions. I don't really follow any
of them. I don't listen to their podcasts, I don't read them, I don't follow them on Twitter, et cetera. I think my viewpoints on Ukraine and Israel are fairly consistent. Namely, I don't like the United States funding other people's wars. If you give military funding to Ukraine, if you give military funding to Israel, it means that you are involved, and.
I don't know that we want to be. I don't know that.
We want the undying enmity of Russia because we are funding the Ukrainians. I don't know that we want the undying enmity of terrorist organizations and much of the Middle East because we're funding Israel's war. Fundamentally, I don't know that it makes much of a difference for United States national interest who controls the Dnbas region of Ukraine. I feel bad for Ukraine. I don't like Russia. I don't support Russia. I don't think Vladimir Putin's a good guy.
I think his invasion of Ukraine was monstrous in a war crime. I just don't know that America should be involved. And I think it's much more a question of Europe's security than ours, and the Europeans don't seem to want.
To pay for it anyway.
I'd like to think I come to all of those opinions honestly, but it is really making me question, like when I'm hearing a talking head or when I'm hearing a columnist, right, how much could be the result of influence pedaling, legal or illegal, or even flat out espionage. One of the other things we've been learning is Governor Kathy Hakul had a staffer who was arrested as being
a Chinese spy. Dianne Feinstein had a Chinese spy working for Eric Swaalwell was had fell for a for a I believe it was a Chinese honey trap spy situation where he slept with literally was sleeping with the enemy.
I mean, it's all I think.
We don't want to believe that this stuff goes on because it sounds too much like a Tom Clancy novel. We we sort of don't want to, you know, we think, well, the Cold War's over, how much of this? Clearly a lot of this stuff is happening, and if we know about this much, it means I mean, presumably there's more of this stuff that happens that we don't know about.
Anyway, consume your media carefully.
But again I will say, if there's any small, impoverished third world country that would like to give me, you know, ten million ruples to promote tourism or whatever to their country, I am open for business. If you see me taking a lot of you know, suspicious vacations to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the folks at Power Talk will know what that's all about. When we return my ode to the undecided voter. Next on the John Girardi Show, I want to talk about the undecided voter for a minute. I just want to
try to enter the mind. Yeah, I talked about that earlier in the show, that the twenty thousand, you know, for the next two months, we're all going to be waiting in anticipation about how the future of the country is going to go based on the decision of the twenty thousand stupidest Pennsylvanians. I really do think that if
you're still undecided about someone like Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been in our lives now for nine years, since twenty fifteen, He's a known entity at this point, you either like him or you don't, or you're in the middle somewhere. But the idea that you're waiting on new and I gotta figure out, Well, I wonder what makes this Donald Trump guide tick? How are you still undecided? What is it about Kamala Harris that you still need to know? I just feel like deciding who to vote for?
The idea that you can have these shifts in the electorate, even for something like the like the debate, like Okay, the Biden Trump debate clearly went terribly poorly for Biden. Biden looked like an idiot. Biden lost all these points in the polls. Did people not know he was? I mean, most Americans knew he was too old, But I guess it's just you actually see it. Maybe that changes, But
I guess I just don't understand the big shift. Like I didn't change my opinion about anything because of that debate. I didn't change my opinion on any I guess I just don't don't understand how adult Americans who've known about Donald Trump for nine solid years could still just be like, gosh.
Am I am I voting for this guy.
I'm just I just don't know, it just baffles me, and it's a it's a limitation of democracy. I gotta say, the decision about to whom you extend the franchise is always one of the questions of democracy. Okay, the people decide, but obviously you don't let all people decide, So how do you qualify who you don't let kids decide? So how do we qualify who is a decider? And we've just basically decided, well, anyone is an adult, and is
that the wisest thing in the world. And then the problem is when you start doing any sort of line drawing, you wind up having a bunch of people who are deserving on the don't get to vote side of the line. So we've just basically decided anyone is an adult. And that's a line that seems to work that people don't get upset about. I just really wish the fate of the country again did not rest in the hands of
the twenty thousand stupidest people in Pennsylvania. That'll do it Andorari show see next time on Power Talk