And we continue at twelve oh seven in the West on the John Phillips Show, mister Randy Waggs in Culver City.
Yeah, you can say, and we continue because we were here last night.
And I was up early in the morning doing a hit on the radio talking about the election.
John. It looks like, as we're still counting ballots, that it is a short thing that Javier Bessera is going into the runoff in November. And here's one thing you may not have known about Javier Besera. He's kind of creepy.
The California Dream It's alive tonight and you see I get to hug it and kiss.
It every night. Oh whoa, I don't want to know what that means. What do you think Tom Styer's doing at night?
Well, I mean he definitely needed to to relieve some stress. His speech was very angry. He was very upset at all the corporations that spent against him, even though he spent way more than they did, so he probably needed to go get to Koreatown.
And I'm Tom Steyer. I'm about to ride the team. I love the fact that all that guy does is go off on rich people and he's a billionaire. He's a self hating richie. He's like Clayton Bixby. Remember him.
Oh, was that the the Dave Chappelle sketch the black white supremacist.
Yes, yes, he is the billionaire Clayton Bixby.
Well, Johnny, we have a lot of electure results as the counting continues, and the counting will continue for several days.
How do we allow this to happen? I guess it's not just our roads that are third world? So is the way we count ballots. How do they do this in one day in Brazil but we can't do it here. Well, we allow people to sign up at the last minute, and we allow people to show up at the last minute, and then it takes a month to figure out who went wins the election.
I mean, yes, the election gets certified in a month. That's true, and it's been true forever. It's been true everywhere. But the projections you can usually see out because most of the ballots are counted before the last minute. But
from what we have right now, and these numbers will update. Currently, in the California governor's race, Steve Hilton in first place with one point three to eight million votes, Javier Bakaria in second place with one point two six million votes twenty seven percent Hilton twenty five percent Bisera, and then below him it's Tom Steyer with under a million votes so far at nineteen percent. Could those numbers change, possibly, but probably not.
Well, go back to the LA Mayor's race the last time around, when we all went to bed thinking that it was Rick Caruso who was going to be the mayor, and then it was like a ten point swing.
Well, if we had a ten point swing for Tom Steyer, then that would knock Besera out right. Now, Steve Hilton with the percentage of votes that he has, we'll see what happens now. It is true that these smaller, more Republican counties count their ballots faster. So maybe what was we're waiting to come in is a lot of Los Angeles, which is a heavily Besera area, the Bay Area, which is also a heavily Besera area. The only places where tom Styer has been leading so far is like Eureka.
Okay, so think about this though for a second. Let's just assume that there's some avalanche of ballots that exist that we don't know about right now. In theory, the Democratic vote is going to be split between Bessarah and Steier and to a lesser extent, Mayhan, Porter, Vira Gosa, and Thurman.
I mean barely.
But he's not going to get one hundred percent of the Democratic votes like he would if it was one on one. Just because a Democratic ballot comes in doesn't mean he's going to get that vote. It means he may get a portion of those votes, but he's not going to get all of them like he would into straight up Republican versus Democrat matchup.
It could be one of the eighteen thousand people that voted for Eric Swalwell.
That's true. Who the hell is voting for Eric Swalwell at this point.
You either have people that are so checked out they didn't know that story, or they took his side on the rape allegations.
Imagine being that guy. Imagine taking up one morning. You're drinking your coffee, you're eating your cereal, you're looking at the morning paper, you have the Today Show on in the background, and you go, this state has a million in one problems. Homelessness, crime, the budget, affordability, you name it. We have a problem. You know who would be a great steward of this state to fix what's broken. A rapist, that's who. What California needs is someone who won't take no for an answer.
I mean, currently it is zero point three seven percent of the vote, but that's something. And how about our poor girl, Katie Porter, who officially conceded last night, not even breaking five percent.
Okay, so what do you think she's doing right now? Do you think she's punching holes in the wall or do you think she's watching more porn on the television in the living room.
Sorry for the noise, I'm cutting carrots. Well, typically when you go through something like that, you got to let off some steam. And for some people the way you let off some steam is with some heated rivalry on HBO. Why do you have to watch porn in the living room?
Well, in the old days, it would have been little Debbie to blow off some steam. But now that that is pharmaceutically prohibited, I don't know what she's gonna do. I'm just glad I'm not Irvine right now.
Also, one thing that at least as the as the numbers hold, and the numbers have been pretty close to what the polling has looked like over the last couple of weeks, it doesn't look like at least at this point, there's a whole lot of danger of a D lockout or an R lockout. No, No, And Tom Steyer though, claims that he is not dropping out of this election until he is officially knocked out of the race by
the Secretary Area State. And you look at the betting markets which are still going on right now, and Spencer Pratt is certainly a heavy favorite to move on in November. Steve Hilton is a heavy favorite to move on in November, but they aren't at one hundred percent yet.
No.
And in fact, on Calshi, which this is what the news organizations do, we go to the betting markets. CNN does it, so we might as well. Tom Steyer currently still has a twenty six percent odds to advance.
Yeah, let me tell you something. If you really want to destroy public confidence in the elections here in California, you have two candidates who are up by like ten points on election night and then a month later you go, oh, yeah, that guy lost.
Well, it's been working that way for a while in California, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but at least for right now in the California governor's race, with the amount of results that we have in Steve Hilton is in first place with twenty seven percent of the vote. That we'll probably go down a bit, but it looks like he's making the top two.
Well, here's another thing to think about. If you're worried about shenanigans, like I know many of you are, and I am too, one of the things that would prevent that from happening in this particular cycle is that I don't think the Democrats want a Democrat on Democrat matchup in November, particularly against Tom Steyer, because what would you would end up with is a very rich Democrat spending whatever it takes to knock Besarah out and destroy his reputation,
and then you'd have the unions and the Democratic Party interest groups all getting behind Besserah to try to keep him in the catbird seat, So it would cost them a fortune, it would result in his reputation being ruined, and it would be a never ending nightmare that would go on through November. So I don't even think they want that.
There is a finite amount of money that can be raised that can be spent on all kinds of races. As we go into November, nobody wants to spend any money if they don't have to on the California governor's race, and if it is Besara versus Hilton, they don't really have to spend a lot of money. The more I watched Bessera, and I watched him on television last night, and we've certainly been watching him throughout this election, he
is the California Joe Biden. You go back to twenty twenty, when Joe Biden initially won that Democratic primary, he was not the guy who looked like he was going to win when that thing started. Oh and in fact, he came in fifth place in the Iowa caucus.
Yeah, fifth place in the first one. Then he went and got wiped out in New Hampshire, and then he got wiped out in Nevada, and then it all came down to South Carolina. And what saved him in South Carolina was that Jim Clyburn endorsed him and through the black vote to Biden, which in South Carolina is a sizable portion of the Democratic primary. And then after that, a bunch of Southern states voted also with large black populations, and it was black voters that saved Joe Biden. They
voted for him over Kamala. By the way, Well.
I think Kamala had dropped out before the first vote was even cast.
But yes, that is true. Yes, so he was just the sole survivor. He was last man standing. He wasn't the one that they wanted. He was the one that they ended up with. And you look at Besserah. Nobody
wanted him. The people who have worked with him throughout the years in Congress, in the Biden administration, they all think he doesn't have two brain cells to rub together, and they're perfectly happy to tell that to any reporter with a pen and paper, and those stories you've been all over the place ever since Besarah became the guy.
But go back to the beginning of that election. They all thought Kamala was going to run and it was going to be a coronation, and then she took forever because she's selfish, and then decided that she wasn't going to do it. And then Alex Padilla was the guy. Everyone thought he was going to jump in the race and he was going to be the next governor, and then he took forever to decide that he wasn't going
to do it. And then it became Eric Swallwell, and he ran as the guy who knew nothing about California but was the number one Trump hater in the country, and that was good enough for them. And then we found out that Eric's Well has some let's call them personal problems, and we had story after story after story, and it became such an avalanche that he had to get out of the race. And now he might go to prison if he gets charged with one of these allegations.
So then the Democrats go, okay, well, what do we do. We have Tom Steyer, we like his money, but we hate his guds, and we have Katie Porter, who you think might kick you in the crotch at any given moment. And they knew they didn't want either one of them. So your options were Mayhan, Bessarah Thurman, or via re Goosa. Viaa Goosa was too long in the tooth. Tony Thurman never got beyond one percent, and Matt Mayhan is a moderate and competent which the Democrats have no tolerance for.
So that left them with Besarah. It was a marriage of convenience. It wasn't that they fell in love with him. It wasn't that they thought that he had the answers to California's problems. That's how they ended up with him. And now that he's the guy, and he just kind of got there by being the last man standing, the same way Joe Biden did. I get the distinct impression
they're going to run him like Joe Biden. They're going to put him in the basement and you're barely going to see him the next several months, and they're going to come up with all kinds of excuses as to why he can't debate, as to why he can't sit down for interviews with reporters, because every time the guy does that, the needle goes off the record. Don't forget.
They wouldn't let him speak at the press conferences in Washington when he was Secretary of Health and Human Services because they thought he was more prone to gaffs than Biden. Scrub it. So they looked at him right the eye and they go, you're too dumb to talk. We're gonna let Joe do it. And now this is the guy that's the nominee. So in a democratic state. To get him over the finish line, what you have to do
is portray him as the generic Democrat. If you just say he's a generic Democrat and he's going to do and say whatever it is Democrats are doing and saying that's good enough for him to win. The risk for him in his campaign is if you put him out there, if he sits down in these interviews and delivers performances like his performance with KTLA, and he goes out there and makes a fool of himself, then he opens up the door for criticism. Then he starts creating liability that
otherwise wouldn't exist. So my guess is the way they're going to run him is they're gonna put him in front of small crowds, very friendly crowds. He's not going to debate, or if he does, it'll be one and it's gonna be on a Saturday when I don't know, a Sunday when the super Bowl's going on or something, and you're just not gonna see him. That's what I would do if I was running him. Do you think they're going to put him out there in a blitz Randy.
Well, it opens you up to strange statements like this.
The California Dream. It's alive tonight and you see I get to hug.
It and kiss it every night. And if you're Steve Hilton, I don't know how you drag him out of the basement and force him to sit down interviews and debates. But that's what he's going to have to figure out. He's going to have to figure out how to get Besarah out there as much and as often as possible.
And maybe you play on his ego and you're get in his head and you start putting stories out there that it's his handlers that don't trust him, so they don't want him doing interviews, and you make sure that he reads that in the paper. I don't know, but that is the sixty four thousand dollars question that the Hilton people are gonna have to wrestle with, assuming that a month later they don't find votes that knocks him in the third place. So that's what we know about
last night's election. If you went a weigh in on what you saw and heard last night, give us a call at eight hundred two two two five two two two one eight hundred two two two five two two two eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com and Randy. Earlier in the week, we spoke to
both Spencer Pratt and Steve Hilton. If you missed those interviews, you definitely want to check out the podcast and find out what you missed out on.
It'll be a time before the election happened, but you can see what they sounded like right before the votes were cast. Search for the John Phillips Show wherever you get your podcasts.
Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. What do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy? Well, let's do that right now. Seven ninety KABC Welcomes the Head and the Heart at the Pacific Amphitheater at the OC Fair August fourteenth. Tickets are on sale now at pacamp dot com. But right now caller number nine at one eight at eight seven ninety five two two two gets a pair of tickets
to the show. All concertickets include admission to the OC Fair. Tickets furnished by the Pacific Amphitheater. Good luck, Giling, Let's go to Kirk in point a Parte.
Kirk, Hello, Hello, gentlemen. Yeah, I was calling about the presumptive winners and a change, a slight change of the format for the debates. First of all, I think that they need to challenge them. They can't double dog dare them, but they can challenge them if they just invite them to do it, they can say no. But Sarah doesn't have excuse not to go. He doesn't even have a job. And I don't know if there's going to be any kind of a wedding reception in Uganda for bas to
go to. But the change would be there'd be five topic three debates and have five topics that only the moderators will know, and they get to have a half hour to concentrate on that particular topic. So that way it tests the knowledge of the candidates on each thing, so they don't stand their And but you've got to get us some strong moderators who don't let them go off. And well there's all Trump's falters this is that. No, this is what we're asking because this is what you're gonna do.
Yes, Okay, I don't see that happening. And I'll tell you why. Last time around, when Newsom ran for reelection against Brian Dolly, I think Dolly got one debate and Newsom wasn't even willing to do that until he really got pressured by the news media. And if I remember correctly, and Randy you can look this up to fact check me. I think what they did was they did a debate at a public radio station on a weekday morning.
I think it was on Yeah.
Yeah, there was a debate over whether or not they'd even let cameras in there. He did not want it on television. He only wanted it on public radio. And that was it. And I believe he did the same thing against John Cox. And when you have a Democratic incumbent, either in the Senate or in the House of Representatives here in California, where it is a heavy the Democrat is a heavy favorite most of the time, they just refuse to debate altogether.
Well, to get to that point is a sense it's going back to grade school. But what Pratt and Hilton have to do Basically, if they say they don't want to debate, just say, what are you chicken? What are you afraid of? You? You don't want your inadequacies exposed. You're here to serve the people. The people have to know what you think needs to be done, not just your platitudes and your canned answers.
Yeah, I mean that is the pickle that they're in. How do you get in their head to get them to debate in front of the people California so you can expose their flaws? My guess would be to appeal to their narcissism and hope that that works out. Thank you for the call, sir. All right, let's dip into Steve Hilton's speech last night before a very warm audience in Huntington Beach.
This was Steve Hilton after it looked like he was definitely making the top two. It's not one hundred percent sure, but it sure is looking that way.
Thank you. We're not quite there. He's got a hat saying Governor Hilton, that's November. Right. So, so about a week ago, when we were planning this event, I wanted to put a message on the stage here and I wrote these words, and I thought Is that a little premature to write the words change is coming. I don't think so, because change is coming.
Change except for pennies. We're in a shortage.
Signs all over the bank.
Change is coming to California. Changes coming to California, and it's long over due.
I want to just say, did this rally have a two drink minimum?
Listen? When you go to these parties, you never know when your candidate's gonna get on stage, and you have to kill a lot of time. And I don't kill time at hotels without hanging out at the bar. I can promise you that.
I want to just say something from my heart to every single person who's voted for me.
We're not.
We're not they yet, but it's looking good.
It looks bad.
Everyone who wanted to speak to the crowds that went to their watch party is are like, well, we're not going to really know for like a week, but this is what we think.
Okay, let's address that here for a second. Because when Shirley Weber went on TV yesterday our obstinate California's Secretary of State, and she had the surly look on her face and she essentially said, I am not going to rush myself counting these ballots, and it's going to take as long as it's going to take. And that's the way it's going to be. And that's the attitude that they have in California. Don't rush me, I'm going to do it my way. Okay, they're doing that in the
name of democracy. We love democracy so much, we're going to take forever to count all the votes. Well, how is it democratic? How is it saving democracy to wait a month to tell people who won the election? Because what you're doing is you're undermining the democracy. If they could do it in third world countries in one night, why can't they do it in the home of Silicon Valley. The answer is they choose not to. And what happens when you do that is you undermine confidence in the system.
You think that people respect the fact that you're taking this long account the votes, and that that will make people believe more in the democratic institution. Know what happens is you make people think that you're up to no good, you're up to funny business and you're trying to pull a fast one. I would also add that if you're a candidate like Steve Hilton or Spencer Pratt or any other underdog that put their name on the ballot yesterday.
Having immediate results, having reasonable results come out hurts you a lot. Why because if Steve Hilton had the front page of the La Times Today and the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento b with his picture on it saying Bessarah and Hilton move on in November, guess what happens to his fundraising. It shoots through the roof. People get excited, people write checks, people check him out on his website. People are feeling very generous because they're caught
up in the emotions. They're caught up in the mood. They feel optimistic, and when you say we're not going to know for sure for a month, that makes people think, well, I'll check in later on and if he gets there, maybe I'll write him a check. But thirty days from now, you're worried about something else and the election was forever ago. So you deny them that moment in the sun that candidates, particularly underdog candidates, rely on to make things work, and
they never get that back. They never get that back. You can't recreate this. This is something that happens organically where everyone just gets excited all at once. But just think about the election on Friday. On Friday, it's going to feel like forever ago. Well, imagine what it's going to feel like thirty days from now, or thirty seven days from now, or however long it is they have to count all the votes. I would also add this, if you have a purple district for state assembly or
Congress or whatever. I live in a purple district. My assemblyman barely gets by by the skin of his teeth every single time. And the first time he got elected, it took the full thirty seven days to figure out that he won. So what happened So he didn't get to go to orientation, so when they all picked which office they want, he got the broom closet. When they were all picking what committees they got to go on, he wasn't in the room to say I want that
one because he wasn't elected yet. When it comes time to hire staff, he doesn't get first pick because he doesn't have the authority to start giving people jobs. So then what happens. Everything gets started and he's trying to figure out where the bathroom is because he didn't get all the time in the world to do that like everyone else. How is that democracy. What you're doing is you're disenfranchising everyone who lives in that district because you
can't do your job in a timely manner. This has to get fixed. And I know the Democrats benefit from this, but it has to be driving them crazy too, because you can't plan on anything. There's a district in northern California. You were following that last night, Randy, the Kevin Kylie district where right now the Democrats are locked out of that.
This is very interesting if you look at District five, the race in Congress, the one where Kevin Kylie was set to be Prop fifty although he has reregistered as a no party preference. The thought was, well, there's two Democrats running, there's a couple of Republicans running. Kevin Kylie right now looks like he's in the top two, and then a Democrats in the second place, although Richard Pan could catch up, but no.
Way Republicans in the second place. It would be a Democratic lockout. Use me, that's what That's what I meant.
Michael Stansfield is in second place as a Republican, Richard Pan's right behind him right now. It could be a lockout in a district that was supposed to be one of the Prop fifty targets, which by the way, the Sacramento district attorney that ran Tinhoe ten percent, and.
The Democrats have to be having heart attacks up there, and they are trying to figure out, okay, well, when is the next batch of ballot's going to be counted? And in those particular areas they only do it like once or twice a week.
It's gonna be a while. Even for LA We're getting like one update at four thirty pm every day for the next week or so.
This is so stupid. And again, we choose to live like this. We don't have to live like this. We choose to live like this. Why I don't know, but we just do. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two to two five two two two the fixed California hour coming up after the news and one. All right, let's go back to Steve Hilton speech last night in Orange County.
It looks very much, it looks very much as if Californias really will have the chance to vote for change in November.
Un take.
On, Take our state and take our state in a new direction, a fresh a fresh talk for US state, which is long overdue. But I just want to say something to every single person who voted for me, and every single person who voted in this election, whether.
You which was not that many Californians. I think we're at like twenty three percent right now. Maybe that gets up to at best thirty maybe thirty five if there are really a lot of last minute votes. But think about that. Even if we're at thirty five, that means sixty five percent of eligible voters said nah, Love Island is on.
And it also just goes to show you because in California, we're we're a blue state where Democrats outnumber Republicans and nothing Republicans can do about that. They're just they're outnumbered. However, if every single registered Republican voter just filled out their ballot and sent it in, they'd win elections.
Currently, as the numbers stand out, you've got about almost thirty percent of Republicans at this point sent in their ballots, So seventy percent of registered Republicans would be if that was added right now, that would be double what the Democrats have turned in double. But no, they vote a little higher than the Democrats, but not that much higher. There is still a massive wave of apathy throughout the state. And don't get me started on my people. Those no party preferencers.
Well, what's wild to me? No party preference people, some of them just have no politics. I mean, if you're not if you don't have an ideology as to how the world runs, you're not paying attention to politics.
Some people register that way because they think they'll get less mail, and it turns out they get more.
Yeah, because both sides want you, and most of the time it's a soft Democrat or a self Republican, but they break from the party on one or two things and because of that they don't feel comfortable associating with them. But they know how they vote, and they vote that
way more often than not. But what's wild to me is that you will have people who will wear the make America Great Again hat or put the sticker on their car or whatever, do those sorts of things, and then not fill out the ballot and send it in when it counts. I don't understand that behavior at all. It's like they understand that if they wear the hat, they send the message that's fine, but you also have
to fill out your ballot and send it in. And there's a lot of people out there, seventy percent that just can't make that connection.
Politics is not a spectator sport. It is a team sport, and you're all expected to play in the game, and the vast majority of people in this state from all the parties don't.
But you think about it, though, how often do you open up your Facebook feed or one of your social media feeds and you see people putting provocative political things on there, And then you go back and you look at these numbers and you go, oh, seventy percent of those idiots didn't even fill out a ballot.
Well, we've said it before and we'll say it again. Social media is not representative of real life, no, but.
People think it is that. I think that's part of the reason. I think that is part of the reason that participation is so low in this state, because people think, Okay, I put the sign up in the yard, or I wore the hat, or I put the post up on Facebook, that's good enough. And maybe you're influencing what your friends and family think, or maybe you're pissing them off, and that's the point. I don't know, but the only way to have your voice heard officially is to fill out
your ballot. I guess you can write a check and that counts too, But filling out your ballot is something that every citizen can do. Every time we have an election, and seventy percent choose not to, and we.
Said we were going to make it easier. It has never been easier to vote in the state of California. Everyone gets their ballot, whether they're requested or not, and they have a month to fill it out. And that has not increased turnout.
Nope.
Whether you voted for me or not, I am here for you, for every single one of you.
Because.
I have to tell you, it's the greatest owner of mine.
Even the Bianco bros.
Oh, they're going to be best friends real soon. You watch.
I have to tell you, it's the greatest owner of my life. To stand before you now, well over one million Californians have put their faith in me. The number is rising. But here's what I want to say, as someone who is a new American citizen, so proud, so proud to be an American, so proud to be a Californian. What an incredible honor the first time I've run for office, over a million people and rising voting for me to take this incredible state in a new direction.
Well, and we heard it last night from our friend Phil Teresi over at KMJ. Like, Hilton campaigned up and down the state and went everywhere, and even Bianco didn't do that in places where he would have been very popular, like the Central Valley.
No, Steve Hilton worked this race and worked it very hard for a very long time. And we asked Phil specifically about the Central Valley because that's where he broadcasts. But he was in San Francisco, he was in the East Bay, he was in the Coachella Valley, he was in the Inland Empire. He was all over this state and clearly that paid off well.
And every single time he was booked on this show, he showed up.
That's true. All Right, We've got two more hours coming up on the John Phillips Show, the Fixed California Hours Next, Don't you Go Anywhere