And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show, Mister Randy wangs in Culver City.
John, coming up, we have one of the strangest crime blodder stories of all time. A man crashes his Chevy Tahoe into a Semi Valley donut shop because it wasn't open.
That is a man that likes his maple bars. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. He is the telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. He is a former speech writer for Presidents Nixon and Ford and Reagan. He's also author of Behind Closed Doors in the Room with Reagan and Nixon. You can get him online at Reagan and Nixon dot com and follow him on x at ken Kachigian Ken Kachigian.
Welcome, Hey, John, thank you. It's great to be here.
All right. Let's start out with the governor's race here in the state of California, where it looks like in first place, there's a statistical tie between former California Attorney General Javier Bessera and former Fox News host Steve Hilton. With Tom Steyer, Chad Bianco and Katie Porter behind them. Does that surprise.
You, No, not necessarily, it's I mean, it's such a weak filled all around. It's like, you know, it's pick and choose. You know, Porter had some name recognition she's writing on her name recognition from having run for the Senate and being in the Congress, so she's got a lot of support in southern California. And Bessarah's like, you know, who do you choose after the dregs from the Democratic Party are left? And and then of course uh uh
the poor uh the Thurman. Tony Thurman is sitting in at one present because nobody knows who he is or what he does or where he's been. And and then Tony uvier rigosas.
Had his best.
Days gone behind him. Although he's he's certainly one of the most qualified candidates running for governor on the Democratic side. He's much more qualified than Sarva here. Uh be Sarah, by the way, would be much more qualified than Sarah running the state.
Uh.
And and then of course, uh, Matt Mayhan is just there's a saying we have in in my ethnic community called the cold cold oatmeal and that's that's what Matt Mayhon is. And uh, he just he's nobody. He couldn't break through it because nobody knew who he was or and he's uh, he's just blann.
So but s here is all that's left.
And and you have a very high Hispanic voting block as well, and and the Democrats have sort of coalesced behind him because there's no one left to go with. So I'm not surprised. I guess that that's where it all is. And stire stires ads. He's put over two hundred million dollars into this race, and and uh, there
are probably some of the worst political ads I've ever seen. Uh, he's he's not a very attractive person, and he's probably insisted that he appear in most of his ads, and he's he's unattractive, he's he's an unpleasant to look at. And his ads are they don't have any polish to them. Their message, their message is awkward and and and they go in all kinds of different directions. So you don't know what is what single message he has other than
their shooting off in all kinds of different directions. And so but Sarah's left with, you know, the other guys are all I'm just better than the other guys, and I'm all that's left.
What do you make of the fact that before Bessara became the front runner, it was clear to me that Swallwell was supposed to be the guy in that position, that he was the one that they were all going to get behind. Adam Schiff, the senior US senator here in California, was one of the first ones to endorse him. Certainly he was supported by the California Teachers Association in the SEIU, two of the most influential unions here in the state of California. Members of the state legislature were
falling in line. It looked like he was going to be the guy, and then the allegation started coming out of the woodwork, where now it appears the guy might be a rapist and a certainly unethical on a variety of levels. We can say that with great certainty the rape allegations, they'll be litigated. I guess another day, however, he had a million in one red flags, and they should have been able to tell at an absolute minimum, he didn't know anything about state government. He didn't know
anything about state politics. According to one report, he showed up to Sacramento where the Capital NX project is going on. He looked at it and he said, oh, are they building condos? He didn't even know that there was an ANX project that was in the works. He was that
ignorant of what was going on. And you look at Javier Bessera and many of those same red flags are now popping up with Basera where you have any number of members of the Biden administration, some of whom are going out by name, like Susan Rice who was a former top advisor in that administration, Lo Rosa, who was Jill Biden's top EID, saying that Javier Besserra was an embarrassment in that administration, that he would show up to
these meetings totally unprepared, that Biden would ask him questions he had answers to nothing, that they were embarrassed to be in the same room as him, and under no circumstances should this guy become governor of California. Nancy Pelosi, the longtime Speaker of the House, has a bad relationship with him because he threw her under the bus in a Democratic Caucus meeting when they were trying to pass Obamacare.
In addition to all of that, this is a guy who can't answer any questions at all with any specifics. When he's talking about California politics or California policy, it's we're going to get it done. We're going to roll up our sleeves, we're going to do the hard work. We're going to make things better. He can only talk
about subjects in those terms. And I say to myself, there's no introspection that's going on within this party as to what mistakes you made getting behind Eric Swallwell, and you're about ready to repeat the same thing with this guy, Javier Basseerra, who's about ready to sell you out, and he's about ready to cause all kinds of problems for that party. But it seems like they're ready to get on board with him despite what just happened with Smallwell.
Well.
The other thing about Bessas is that that his own.
Chief of staff.
Was there were stealing money from Bassara's campaign fund, and it wasn't even it didn't even seem to be aware of it. He didn't even know they were stealing money from him. He was blind of them stealing money from him. I mean, he was asleep with the switch. It's he didn't even know what was going on in his own campaign. So that was add that to the list. And then
I saw him. He talked about the bullet train. He said, well, you know, we're going to get that going again, but he didn't explain how he was going to do it. He was going to stop the way it was being done, the way it is done. Now we're going to quit wasting money. But we're going to quit wasting money, but we're going.
To get it done.
And then he's gonna and then he said he was going to help the farmers and get water to him. But he said, we're going to find a middle way to do it. But I don't quite know how we're going to do it quite yet. He's just playing vanilla. He's running the campaign in the precise way Joe Biden lan his presidential campaign in twenty twenty. He's hiding a way as best as he can. But that may work on the primer, but you know, I don't think it'll work in the general when he's when he has to
answer in a partisan way. We worked for swallwell was he was anti Trump and he was conspicuously the anti Trump, and he had all the Dems going for him, and they thought that they could ride him even though he had.
All these red flags.
And they didn't.
Maybe they didn't think they would it would all come out. But with but Sarah, I think they may be a little shocked if he The problem is John is that they just don't have any.
Other horse to ride. They all have baggage. Styre has baggage, Porter.
Has baggage, and Matt Mayhon doesn't have his bland and doesn't have anything to show for himself, and poor Via Rugosa doesn't have much of a public image anymore.
So they're left with BASERA.
You wrote about this election recently in the American Spectator and in Silicon Valley. The titans of the tech industry got behind Matt Mayhon in a big way, and they thought he was going to be the Democrat who would keep the train on the tracks. He was the sanest one in the room. He was electable because he had a D next to his name and not an R. He had a good track record in San Jose. He was an attractive guy with an attractive family. That was the horse they decided to run with. And then it
just never worked out. He was pulling in single digits. I think there were maybe one or two polls where he pulled in double digits, but it was the low double digits. At no point in this race was see in the first or second place slot. Why didn't they cut bait with him sooner and try for a Democratic lockout on the November ballot so they would end up with a candidate who would make sure the state didn't go off the cliff right as AI is exploding at a critical time for that industry.
You know, it's it's just bizarre. The problem with Silicon Valley billionaires and is that they just are politically amateurs. They're politically inept. I don't know where they get their advice, their political advice.
Maybe they get.
It from the same class of political consultants that keep doing losing campaigns throughout California over the last twenty twenty five years. But they're just politically juvenile. And as I argued in my column in The American Spectator, is that if the billionaire class really wants to make a difference and instead of getting trod upon and beaten upon as they do all the time, and they want to put
their money into use, like George Soros does. That they should have gotten behind the two Republican candidates in.
This race and.
Tried to manipulate the process as best they could and raise up the two Republican candidates and suppress the Democrat vote and work it to get Bianco and and Steve Hilton to be one and two in this race and end up with a Republican candidates being one two in the general and then convince themselves guarantee themselves to have
Republican governor. Instead, they put their money behind a man, and there would have made some sense to that if they also spread their money around to let's say, elevate Chad Bianco along with Steve Hilton, and elevate Antonio Rigoso and along with Mayhan, and maybe put some money behind Katie Porter and put money against Vaserah. So you get my point. You split that Democratic vote and elevate the
vote for Hilton and Chad Bianco. You might have had two Republicans running one and two and had the worst worst nightmare of the Democrats. But again, I just think they're politically naive and and Appton, you could have had the billionaires really putting their money in a good place. But maybe next time, John, Not this time.
We're speaking with Ken Kachigian, author of Behind Closed Doors. In the Room with Regagae and Nixon available online at Reagan and Nixon dot com. Let's shift gears here and talk about the LA Mayor's race for a second. Earlier in the week, I posed the question to the audience, which candidate, out of all the candidates on your ballot is exciting you the most? And almost to a person, the answer was Spencer Pratt. What do you make of him as a candidate in that LA Mayor's race.
Oh, I'm really I've been watching this. I watched him again this morning on CNBC. He's exciting, he's articulate. Yet the main thing about Spencer Pratt is that all the other candidates and that don't have He has a message, and he has a singular message, and that's cleaning up, making l a sparkle again, cleaning the streets, making them safe, taking the homeless off, making it a LA business friendly.
Uh.
Cleaning uh it up in a way that the young people going to school and don't have to see the homeless naked. And as he pointed out, pooping in the streets. I mean, he makes he makes the he creates visual pictures of what's going on in l A. I mean that's as he has such a great message in that respect, and he's he's so counterintuitive to the to the political pap you get from normal candidates of of.
You know, we're going to have vision and hope and we're gonna.
Help, uh help, We're going to help people, and we're going to help the poor. We're going to make things great for the working class.
That's that's political path.
What he does is he's going to the heart of the sickness in Los Angeles. And I don't live there, but I anytime I drive through that and I see what a miserable place downtown Los Angeles is, and I I just I'm I don't know. I just don't understand how people can vote for.
Karen bass or.
Or I can't pronounce their first name, miss Rahman, and and understand how they see all the all the graffiti and the homeless and and the dirty streets and and of course it's driven away the Hollywood, the production there, and you see restaurants and he points out restaurants are closing it down. People are afraid to walk the streets. And that's so Pratt has this great message and that's
what I think. It's sparkling about his and he has such high energy, and that's what you don't That's the other thing you don't get from a bass or Raman is they don't have energy. And if if he can project that energy as mayor, which they don't have, then he'll be a great mayor. Regardless of the so called lack of experience. He doesn't need to have experiences in mayor because he can bring in dozens and dozens of people that know how to run things. That's not the issue.
What he has is sparkal and drive and energy that's gonna say, hey, we're gonna make a La wonderful place to live again.
Ken Kachigian author of Behind Closed Doors in the Room with Reagan and Nixon, available online at Reagan and Nixon dot com. You can follow him on x at ken Kachigian. Ken Kachigian, thanks so much for stopping by you Bet John, thank.
You very much.
Eight hundred two two two five two two two. Easy telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two And Randy Now that we've passed the halfway point of today's show, if you want to continue listening to us after we sign off at three, that's easy to do.
All you gotta do is search for the John Phillips Show wherever you get your podcast. That could be the Apple podcast app, iHeart Spotify, search for the John Phillips Show, hit subscribe you could download all the episodes. Oh no, we went from tenth to twelfth place in the Apple Podcast Government podcast probably because we were off on Monday. So hit that download button. Subscribe. Let's get that number up back up to ten or even higher. Come on, we could beat law Fair daily.
And on election night, we're coming back at seven.
We're gonna be here on Tuesday night from seven to nine pm, live and statewide, seven ninety KABC in Los Angeles, eight ten KSFO in the Bay Area, and five eighty the Big KMJ covering the entire Central Valley. We joined by our friend Frank Motek on seven ninety and filled Teresi on five eighty, and we'll be covering all the results as they come in when the polls close at eight.
And if you want to see how I filled out my ballot It's available online at KABC dot com and KSFO dot com as well. And right now it's time to open up the California Crime Blodder. It's up and yet again, nye see time for the California Crime Blodder and Randy. This edition involves the donut shop and not the.
Donut shop from Sacramento. If you're thinking that this involves our donut guy, it does not involve this lovely individual.
Please go on your chain now. Okay, you got, Okay, you got leave onlin. I'm just still head donut hole.
Different donut shop owner. This time it was a donut shop owner in Siemi Valley who pissed off an irate customer by not being open yet.
Uh oh, and that.
Irate customer decided to ram his Chevy Tahoe into the donut shop.
That's going to leave a mark. For more on this, we got ABC seven Eyewitness News.
A man in seem Valley is in custody accused of crashing his.
Car Ventura County arrested. I'm noticing a pattern here.
A man in Seemi Valley is in custody, accused of crashing his car into a donut shop and then into patrol cars. Police say it's all because he was mad the donut shop was closed.
I wonder if alcohol was involved. Guy had quite the jones for a bear cloth.
We can call him angry. Eyewitness news reporter Leo Stalworth is live at the scene where the man is now facing felony charges, including attempted murder.
Leo and know, Philip, just when I thought I had covered every story on the planet that could shock me, here we go again.
Leo's been around for a really long time, So if he's in shock, that'll tell you this is the crime, Madlibs that you just never expected.
Here we go again, and you're right that suspect indeed facing a mountain of charges. The damage to the donut shop, as you can see significant. The owner of the donut shop keeping the business open and dozens of donut eating customers have flocked in.
The donuts must be really good at this place, because even though the shop has a giant hole in it, people are still showing up.
Now, you're going to have an entire population of people who are going to show up to the donut shop and they're going to see a car right in the middle of it, and they're going to be forced to eat healthy.
Of the donut chop keeping the business open, and dozens of donut eating customers have flocked in. The business owner telling us he did not know the suspect, Police saying the investigation determining the suspect had allegedly intensatively driven his vehicle into the donut shop after becoming upset that it was closed.
You could tell just by the tone in his voice that he thinks this guy is a complete and total idiot.
Surveillance video from the donut shop captures the chaos unfolding around three thirty this morning. The suspectives first scene walking toward the front entrance.
You know the phrase, time to make the donuts. That's why they don't open til four.
When we work morning drive, we learn the hours of the donut shop like the back of our hand. You learn two things when you work morning drive at this radio station. You learned that the donut shops when they open, and you also knew that if you brought a box of donuts into the radio station, you better pick the one you want quick because less Siegel was going to touch every single one. God bless them.
Surveillance video from the donut shop captures the chaos unfolding around three thirty this morning. The suspectives first scene walking toward the front entrance, picking up an object from a nearby and violently slamming it onto the ground before walking away. Moments later, he returns.
If someone was made so this guy had a full on meltdown. Yes, and the only thing that was going to cause that meltdown to go down was some sweet, sweet sugar.
He returns, appearing agitated, yanking repeatedly underlocked front door of the business. But it doesn't stop there. Video shows the man.
Gets so he hasn't figured it out yet. I can't get in there. The donuts are there, this door is blocking my way. What should I do about this?
Okay? I don't even think this is alcohol. This guy had to be on drugs.
Video shows the man getting into an suv parked outside, then suddenly flooring it, smashing straight into the front entrance of the donut shop. The driver then backs up, accelerates again, and repeatedly rams the business over and over.
Well that'll tell you this was no accidentase. Okay, But here here's the problem. Let's think this through here for a minute.
If the donut shop isn't open yet because the baker hasn't made the donuts. Just because you ran your car through doesn't mean you're going to get any donuts if they haven't been made yet. Maybe there's some dyeld's in there he can scavenge.
Apparently trying to force the suv completely inside.
Bang bang bang so many tens. And just to be clear, he's not talking about gunfire.
Bang bang bang so many tens, donut shop owner Hang now.
Usually when the victims of crime describe gunfire, it's pop pop pop. If it's car slamming into you, it's bang bang.
Bang, duly noted bang bang bang. Well, I gotta save you. Congratulations, sir, you just made the board. I'm gonna call this different. Donut guy, bang bang bang so many times.
Donut chop owner Hang Chow says he was in the back of the business.
Your last name is Choo, and you make food. I love it. Sometimes your name is your destiny.
Donut chop owner Hang Chow says he was in the back of the business when he heard the terrifying sound of the suv crashing into his shop again and again.
Cooking fry the doughnut in inside the dry a truck and the run to the valley.
Seemi Valley Police say they received calls about a vehicle slamming into the donut shop just.
By the way.
The one town you don't want to do this, see Me Valley, where not only do they have a well staffed police department, but every single resident is a police officer of a different city, so they all know where the donut shop is and it's close to their hearts.
Seemi Valley Police say they received calls about a vehicle slamming into the donut shop just after three point thirty this morning in the seventeen hundred bloc of Erringer Road. Officers arriving at the scene quickly spotting a gray Chevrolet Tahoe with major front end damage driving away from the business. Police say the driver refused to stop, leading officers on a short pursuit. Investigator say the suspect rammed up a trow so.
He's running away from the cops with his crumpled hood.
Okay, you're not that hard to identify in Seemi Valley at that time of the day. If your front end is smashed in and there's a donut shop with a hole in it in the shape of the front of your car.
Investigator say the suspect rammed up a trolled vehicle before crashing into a wall at a nearby home. Officers then arrested the driver, identified as Frank Blessing. A person who asked not to be identified.
Tells, I think he's cursed. I think so too.
A person who asked not to be a tells Iwaness News Blessing is a professional MMA fighter.
Okay, so he just has anger issues, possibly a little roid rage. But if you're an MMA fighter, what are you doing going after those empty calories. Well it's a good thing he took off because if he stuck around, hang would have been hung.
A person who asked not to be identified tells Iwaness News Blessing is a professional MMA fighter.
Police, I don't think there's a lot of protein donuts, no.
Though police have not confirmed that information. Child says during the violent destruction of his business, he stayed hidden in the back, terrified for his safety and.
Don't want you scared.
Now. When police say they attempted to arrest Blessing, he was combatant on with a knife. They had to tase him to get him under compliance and arrest him and again. As for the business, despite the significant damage, it remains open and Blessing is facing a mountain of charges, including attempted murder, resisting arrest, and a host of other charges. Yeah, he's in a.
Lot of trouble, to say the least.
Live in SeeMe Valley, Leo Storworth, ABC seven Eye Witness News.
All right, that might be my favorite crime blodder of the year so far. It's pretty good. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is jellphone number one. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do sell at Johnny Don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't like show at gmail dot com. Let's go to Mitch and Camario. Mitch, Hello, Hey, hey.
Guys, how you doing good? I uh I saw the video at the donut shop. The car crushion into there.
It's funny.
I beat at that donut shop. It's not that good. I'm not sure why the guy was compelled to drive through the front window, but I'm going to be opition that Simmy Velly has bad donuts. I'm just telling you.
Which is surprising considering the makeup of the residents.
Well, I know, I have actually friends that are police officers in Sigbey Valley and I was a bit surprised too, But yeah, this place, so this was a hole in the wall and oh that's about all.
Well, maybe you should give him another try, I hear now they have a drive through.
Bang bang bang so many times.
I guess I should. You guys have a good one.
Thank you for the call, sir. Let's go to Chris in San Francisco. Chris, Hey, I just wanted to get your opinion on the Battle of the Beards between Chad Bianco and Steve.
Hilton, where Chad criticized Steve for growing a beard to try to gain an advantage in the governor's race. Do you think a beard can make a difference? And do have we ever had a mayor with faithful hair? I mean a governor?
Maybe that's what Katie Porter's missing.
She's got four days to grow one.
Oh a little lady Stash. Thank you for the call, sir. The battle of the beards, that could mean a totally different thing in a different context. Yeah, well it's not Corey Booker versus Tim Scott, is it. Let's go to Steve in Woodland Hill. Steve, Hello, Steve, Steve, are you there? Share? Are you on mute? Did you go potty? Going? Once? Going twice? All right, let's reopen the blodder. It's happened yet again. This Wow, Wow, what's up here?
Dun dun dunk dunn dun dunk dun.
Reached the Califonia crime blodder.
With John.
All right, this one involves illegal fireworks.
The LAPD did a big bust of illegal fireworks in South LA and this time they didn't blow up the neighborhood doing it.
Now that's progress.
For more on this, we go to Fox eleven in Los Angeles.
After Fox loaded into multiple trucks LAPD seusing a massive amount of illegal fireworks in South LA.
Gavery prompting, you guys gotta pot down. The music could barely hear. Christine sounds like she's at a disco, Gavery.
Prompting evacuations as the bomb squad work to remove a danger. Welcome to the Fox eleven News at five sammilcast on Fox eleven Plus. I'm Christine Devine took five truckloads to clear all the illegal fireworks, estimated to be worth up to two hundred thousand dollars Fox eleven's Rachel Aerondred.
And knowing the makeup of the idiots that live in Los Angeles, they were going to sell every single one by July fourth.
Oh, yes, particularly in the fire zones.
Fox eleven's Rachel Aerondred is live the update there, Rachel.
Now, Christine, how's you know?
Fireworks right now? Of course, in the city of Los Angeles are in fact illegal, but they shared.
Yeah, and we can totally tell that by the explosions that rattle my neighborhood every single day in the summer.
It sounds like Falujah.
Sheered number of fireworks found as at this one residence here in South LA was deeply concerning and also concerning thinking what could have happened if LAPD did not seize them.
It would concern me.
Up well, last time the problem was laped did seize them and then put them in the bomb disposal unit and then the whole neighborhood exploded.
Yeah, but look at how much they're dealing with this time though. I mean, they could implode the Mirage in Las Vegas. It would concern me.
I'm a mother of two children.
Residents in South Los Angeles breathing a sigh of relief after police discovered over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of consumer fireworks stashed inside a home off East eighty fifth Street.
And affects this community.
If everything would have exploded, it would affected a lot of people that lived on this block.
Butthori discovered the massive count shade of fireworks at the South La home while in the process of serving a search warrant related to a domestic violence incident involving a firearm.
Okay, that's fantastic. They weren't even looking for fireworks.
They were just serving a warrant on a domestic and found out that every the single corner of his house was filled with explosives.
Okay, so this guy had a domestic dispute. They found the firearms correct, Yes, okay with all of the explosives. Yes. How much damage can you do with the pistol if you have no fingers to pull the trigger.
While in the process of serving a search warrant related to a domestic violence incident involving a firearm.
Every room was filled with boxes and boxes of fireworks. Of an abundance of caution, we evacuated the metate area and notified our bomb squad. Just to make sure that what happened last time doesn't happen again. Let's get everyone out before we start moving these highly volatile explosives.
Probably a good idea.
We evacuated the metate area and notified our bomb squad.
That bomb squad looting up at least five white box trucks of consumer fireworks. The amount even taken LPD by surprise.
This is a very dangerous situation in that if there was a house fire or something that ignited those fireworks, that could be very dangerous for the occupants and their community members.
Onpolic do you think any of the local residents in La care. No, we all know what the fire danger is, and yet every idiot in my block is going to light them up.
On July fourth and it police came and said for safety, they wanted everybody to evacuate.
Five years ago, a mass explosion.
South Laia, Oklahoma. There you go, they seized the fireworks and nothing blew up.
All right, Well, we're better off this time than we were the last time.