บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ The Senate Race Gets Personal

00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:05.280 It's called Back to the Basics: A Guide to Biblical Living. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.759 It was part of a school project, but I decided to self-publish it on Amazon. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.639 So available at Amazon.com right now. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.319 It is available right now. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:15.039 Little plug. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:15.439 Excellent. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:16.000 Chamber. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:17.520 I'm gonna have to go buy it then. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:18.800 Where'd you go to college again? 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:20.400 Liberty University in Virginia. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:22.159 Liberty, Liberty, Liberty Liberty. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.000 No, no. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:27.680 I was just thinking this morning about how much I hate those ads, dude. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:29.120 You don't like Liberty Biberty? 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:31.680 Oh my gosh, please make it stop, dude. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:32.800 Stop. 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:34.879 They're tarnishing the word liberty for me. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:35.680 Indeed. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:36.879 Uh well, Emily, welcome. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:38.800 That's uh gonna be a heck of a project. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:53.280 And I think you're gonna, uh you, the audience who's listening, is gonna see a lot of really interesting and uh very compelling content, as will the youths out there who will be uh participating in it, being content creators of their own, and also consuming all of this wonderful content at the same time. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:54.240 So it's gonna be a lot of fun. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:55.360 Yeah, I'm excited to be here. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:59.759 Well, we're excited to have you, and uh, you'll probably also be a regular voice on this podcast as well, which is cool. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:03.439 So anytime we can add uh more folks to this, I think it's a great thing. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:08.240 Now let's use these voices to talk about all the wacky wild stuff happening this week. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.479 And since we are self-promotional to begin with, let's go ahead and do it. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:17.199 If you haven't visited Mainepoliticaldata.com, it launched on Monday. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.199 It's a passion project of the fine folks here at the Maine Policy Institute. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:31.039 And uh for anybody who isn't too familiar with the project, uh just to introduce it really quickly, if you've ever been curious about looking literally anything up about Maine's politics ever. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:43.680 So election results, uh how people have been registered over the years, campaign finance uh money data stuff, polls, uh who won offices, who was in the 117th legislature. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:04:03.439 I don't care what your your question is, you can answer it at Mainepoliticaldata.com now because we've taken together all of these massive, just horrible data sets

that have existed for years in the bowels of archives and offices all across the state, and it's been just basically inaccessible, and we have made them accessible. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.879 And now you can go to that website and you can pick your poison on what you want to look up and what you want to find. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:15.840 But we're already getting, I just got an email from like an old professor of mine uh from the University of Maine who's like, This is fantastic. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:16.639 I I love it. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:17.920 And that's exactly what I'm hoping for. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:19.600 Like it is a public service. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:26.800 We could have charged an arm and a leg for access to this if you wanted like journalists to sign up for it and academics to use it for research and all that stuff. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:27.680 But you know what? 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:28.720 We're awesome. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.120 So we're doing you the public a favor and just giving it to you for free. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:41.759 I feel like you're also doing we're also doing the state of Maine a favor, and you know, like it's like we're doing the work for them because it's all you mean like the state. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:43.519 Yeah, yeah, because the state itself. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:47.680 Yeah, because it's like all super easily accessible, it's very visual. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:53.920 And instead of um, I guess like relying on the state to to do it in this fashion, we have taken it upon ourselves. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:55.279 Well, that was why it happened. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:18.480 I mean, not to not to I don't want to talk about this too long, but like I have for years been very annoyed by the fact that I'm like sitting there someday and whether I'm writing a column in the in the Bangor Daily News or I'm gonna go on the radio to give an interview, or literally I'm curious about something and I want to know, you know, something, whether it's like I, you know, I wonder how the registrations have changed over the years. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:20.879 And you know, I've heard the state used to be pretty Republican. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.639 I wonder if that's true, you know. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:31.519 Like to find out, you have to like find an old government record which might be handwritten, maybe scanned as a PDF, not accessible online. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.160 You have to ask the law librarian for it. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:38.959 And you know, even when you do, you just have this big sheet of paper that has a bunch of scribbles on it. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:40.160 And like, what does that mean? 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:40.959 I don't I don't know. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:45.600 It's just too much time, it's exhausting, it's hard to go find all that stuff. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:48.160 And so I just would go with questions unanswered. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:50.319 And that was very annoying to me. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:52.000 And now you can answer them. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:52.720 You can go find it. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:06:08.000 It's funny that you use the word exhausting because I would describe this project as exhaustive in terms of the depth of the information because it's so comprehensive and yeah, exhaustive with how much information is on there. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:17.759 It really is fascinating that the hardest part about this project was the data gathering component that, like, for all the people that are like, oh, how did you put it together? 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.879 It was actually relatively easy to build out the site. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:23.600 The hardest thing was getting the information from the state. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:25.920 So to Garrick's point about like excruciating. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:26.560 Right. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:27.920 We're doing their job for them. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:34.879 It's like not only are we doing their job for them, it should be easier for them to do it than us, because they already can just, oh, let me just go into the database. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:40.560 You know, Matt and I teased on the radio earlier that I'm working on a similar site having to do with education. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:46.720 And I have like five requests out to DOE for information right now, and I'm putting in a new one almost every day. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:55.759 And that's what I have to go through just to get information that is supposed to be public and supposed to be easily in our hands as the voting citizenry. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:03.519 So it's really frustrating that it's more challenging for us than the state because we don't easily have that information, and yet we have to do their job for them. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:14.000 I know this is the thing that bugs me is that there's just no fire under their rear ends to like make any of this accessible to us because a government agencies it doesn't have any, they're not responsive to the public. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:15.759 Like if they're not, we're not customers, right? 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:17.600 Like they're not trying to deliver a service to us. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:25.279 They they are required by law to put some of this stuff in an accessible place, and so they put it wherever they can to just check the box that the law makes them do. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:30.399 It doesn't matter if it's convenient to us or useful or helpful, and they're never gonna be pushed to do it. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:32.240 So we will do it instead of them. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:33.759 We will do it then around them. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:38.879 And uh, I must ad I must say, too, by the way, this was launched on your first day. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:47.439 You you walked in the door and it was like, surprise, we're doing a major product launch, uh, which I don't think I even told you about when we were going through the uh the

interview process that this is actually. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:48.480 Oh, I don't think so. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:50.399 Well, welcome to Bike Club, I guess. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:51.279 We were all running around. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.560 I feel like it is worth noting too that this has been an idea of yours for 10 years. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:57.680 At least yeah. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:07:58.160 Yeah. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:00.959 And so you've finally we've finally brought it to life. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.160 Well, what it used to be was I used to collect this stuff whenever I could find it. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:09.600 So I had a I had a spreadsheet, it was like a Google sheet that had like registration data in it. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.720 And it started with all the stuff I could find online, which is like back 10 years, it's like nothing. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:24.720 And then I kind of assembled, I like I went to the Wayback Machine and tried to find like old websites that had some of the files on it, and I got it back to like, you know, the late 90s or something like that. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:29.920 And then I just got really, really, really angry that I couldn't find it like three years ago. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.399 And I called up uh the Secretary of State's office and I'm like, give me everything you have. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:39.360 Like, I don't care if it's an old book, a scanned sheet somewhere, like just give me what you have. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:44.159 And I ended up getting stuff back to I think 1954, but there was tons of holes in it. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:52.559 There's just tons and tons and tons of holes in it, and so it still was insufficient, but at least I had a spreadsheet or something that I could make a chart out of. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:03.840 But uh when we went and did this project, I mean to Montana's point, like there's other places you can get a lot of this stuff, and it just became an mini obsession, I would say, to try to fill every gap and find every hole. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:04.639 And we did. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:12.559 I mean, it's there's only one, I think 1972 is the only major election cycle that doesn't have a registration data data point. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:20.559 And many of them have like eight because they for some reason in the 80s just kept updating and updating and like over and over again in in the course of a election cycle. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:21.200 But whatever. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.879 We have stuff that's very, very useful, I would just say. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:25.440 Yeah. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:34.799 So if people went to mainpoliticaldata.com, they would find election results for every town back to statehood in 1820 when Maine was formed as a state. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:40.960 Uh, more than 60 years of party registration, campaign money from the FEC and the Maine Ethics Commission. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:43.519 Which is, by the way, all updated in real time. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:45.039 It just updated today. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:48.559 Like uh Troy Jackson now has raised$25 million. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:52.480 Uh, because I guess they just had a 15-day disclosure update or something that came in. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:53.039 Oh, that's right. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:57.919 And it yanked it on its own uh on autopilot, which sweet makes me happy. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:16.879 Yeah, and there's also uh nearly 700 historical polls and a page for every one of the 20,000 plus people who have held or sought office here, and every town, county, and district has its own page with how it voted, how its registration is shifted, who represents it, and how it compares with the rest of Maine. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:20.240 So very uh critical research, I would say. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:21.279 Comprehensive. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:21.600 Yep. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:24.000 So go use it today at Mainepoliticaldata.com. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.879 Okay, now we're done with the self-promotion. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:28.559 Uh, although I do enjoy doing that. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:30.960 Let's get into the actual news of the week. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.039 Uh, check check here for me. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:38.080 Um, so obviously we're now a week and four days away from election day. 00:10:38.159 --> 00:10:42.399 So we're getting to the the uh zero hour for sure, for real. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:45.279 And next week's podcast will be our last one before the election. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:51.519 So we have maybe next week we'll do predictions, like formal numbers or something like that to predict how everything's gonna go. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:56.000 Um, but certainly a busy week in the Senate race, that's for sure. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.519 Um, you had crazy new ads being run. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:05.600 Uh, you had uh, you know, more sort of campaign stuff happening, more ads on your TV. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:09.279 Um quite an amusing new ad, I would say, too, for one. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:11.120 Well, actually, funny you say that. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:12.080 It's actually two. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:19.039 It's two ads because the first one, so if you don't you don't know what we're talking about, there's this country music ad. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:20.799 Uh I heard it on Wednesday on my show. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.960 I was like just minding my own business. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:31.440 And uh I was like trying to read an article or something like that, and all of a sudden this twangy country song comes on, and I had no idea what the heck I was listening to. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.039 And it starts off by going, Troy Jackson is weird. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:38.000 He's had sex with his cousin or something. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.799 And I'm like, oh my god, was that over the air? 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:41.759 Is that a thing? 00:11:41.840 -->

00:11:42.480 Is that real? 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:43.679 And uh indeed it is. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.919 It was uh the Senate Leadership Fund, I believe, is the pack that actually ran it or whatever. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.360 It's I think it's Thun's pack. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:54.720 Yeah, it goes, if uh if he'll screw if he'll screw his own family, he'll screw yours too. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:02.240 Obviously made with an AI uh music creator, which I think now is inspiring me to go make a bunch of songs. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:10.559 Uh but they I guess they got some objections from some uh news stations that or or radio stations or whatever that they were running it from. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:16.240 So they made a second version, which I just heard for the first time this morning, which is a little tamer, but it's still ridiculing him. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.720 Uh I think it's it's going more into the corruption stuff. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:23.360 It's like he gives money to his son, he's a lobbyist. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:24.639 It doesn't even rise. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:30.799 Even the Collins campaign was um they called for an important express their objections to it, yeah. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:34.960 Yeah, well, I that that's my first question to the panel. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:37.279 So weigh in on this, if you please. 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:39.519 Is any is any of that out of bounds? 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:50.159 So the whole at least the first one was pretty much 90% about him uh getting together with his cousin and having a couple kids that way, right? 00:12:50.240 --> 00:13:00.480 So it's it's it's it is weird and it's not exactly a flattering thing for Troy Jackson, and I guess it's like you know, it's a news story or something like that, but it is family stuff, you know. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:03.519 It's because it yeah, it cut it seems like a low blow. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:10.799 Yeah, it's it's like making a jokey ad out of like a person's family, like like is is it a low blow or is it fair game? 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:11.600 I d I don't know. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:13.679 Open open table here. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:15.600 Who wants to tackle it first? 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:16.559 Who's brave enough? 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:17.600 I don't love it. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:19.279 I I I don't you don't love it. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:21.440 No, like but did you laugh? 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:22.080 I did. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:22.559 Okay. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:24.240 To be clear about it. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:26.879 To be clear, it was funny. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:33.120 Also, probably was a low blow, and it you know, it doesn't really help anything. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.600 It like, is that really gonna change anybody's mind? 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:37.039 Probably to any of these? 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:40.080 Well, I mean, don't get me started. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:46.240 I think that political

ads in general are stupid because I think 90% of people are already have their opinion baked in. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:58.879 But uh yeah, like to that point, it just it just seems to be you know needless character assassination when the people that that already know that and like are care about it, they already knew it. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:13:59.360 You know what I mean? 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:07.360 Like the people that care about that type of thing and are deeply involved in like the personal hits, they they know all of it, and it just I don't know, it just seemed a little far. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:08.639 So it gave you the icks? 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:12.080 It did, like, like, like like to your point though, I did laugh. 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:13.919 My first thought was wow, that's hilarious. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:16.480 Also, that's pretty bad, you know. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:36.320 Like, and you know, obviously we aren't in an ideal world, but in an ideal world, I really wouldn't like to see the ads like that just because I well I'm sure you saw that Lena Pelletier, who is Troy Jackson's baby mama, um, penned an article in the Bangor dealer or a column in the BDN basically saying, like, how dare you! Like this is the most horrible thing ever. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:50.240 And uh I actually, you know, I think I'm kind of in the same zone you are a little bit, so I have a little bit of sympathy, but I also don't from these people at all because this is the same group of people, the Troy Jackson Democratic Party apparatus that ran those Epstein ads on on Collins. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:15:03.759 Like, if you're gonna sit here and object to nasty, below the belt, you know, ridiculous kind of ads or whatever, then accusing Susan Collins of being like BFFs with Jeffrey Epstein and like totally high-fiving him all the time because he's so cool. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:05.919 I don't really want to listen to you. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:07.120 I I don't want to hear it from you. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:09.360 You know, let someone else make that case for you. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:10.000 I don't know. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.080 Does anybody else does anybody think it was fine? 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.759 Like it's totally inbounds. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:15.360 Oh, I'm seeing head shakes. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:17.519 I think there's a possible yes here somewhere. 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:22.159 Well, I I I mean, it's I I think it's objectively funny, first of all. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:26.480 It absolutely is funny, it's amusing, uh, it's entertaining. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:33.200 Um in terms of content itself, probably a little bit You know, they sent out this big long packet like justifying everything in it. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:34.720 It's like actually this is cited here. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:36.960 It's like, yes, we know, dude. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.840 Yeah, but it's it is it classless and tacky? 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:41.600

Also, probably, yes. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:43.200 Um is it out of boundary? 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:47.759 Do do I wish uh more of these kinds of ads would come out? 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:49.440 Honestly, yes. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:16:02.799 I do, but it doesn't necessarily in terms of format anyway, it doesn't necessarily have to, you know, have similar content where you're like, yeah, attacking people's spouses or families or whatever. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:13.120 Um but but I I it's a it's a welcome deviation, shall we say, from the typical, you know, almost like nefarious sounding attacking. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:16.080 Maybe the black and white video with Troy Jack. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.240 Yeah, I'm so over it, dude. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:20.480 And I feel like most people probably are over it. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:25.679 So to have something that's a little cheeky and fun is actually a welcome change. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:33.120 But at the same time, the content itself, is that really you know effective in terms of changing hearts and minds? 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:34.000 Yeah, I can agree with that. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:40.960 Like, no, like if they did one, like I didn't hear the second version, but if they did one that was like, yeah, more on his corruption with just making it a funny twang song. 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:41.679 I have no problem with that. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:43.039 Like, you know, the my the content. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:44.799 So it's the family thing that bugs you. 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:51.679 Yeah, and just like like how you right, how personal and yeah you know, like dropping the f-bomb, like like and you guys know I don't even swear. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:55.679 So like like like it just seems kind of like uh just kind of gross in general. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:01.120 Yeah, they did actually have to edit that so that it they they replaced the F-bomb beep with more screw. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:02.480 They just left it at screw. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:04.079 Oh, I didn't even hear the F-bomb one. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:04.640 I only heard the screen. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:05.440 Oh, that was the original one. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:06.000 That was the OG. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:07.200 I only heard the screw. 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:10.640 Well, the OG one was like he well, most of it was still screw. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.799 It was like if he screws his family, he'll screw you too. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:22.240 That was the first refrain, but then the last refrain as they closed the commercial, was uh a little bit uh a little bit more spicy, and it said, well, they've just beeped it out. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.319 So yeah, I assume it's just F U Yes two, you know, instead of whatever. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:28.319 But same point, generally speaking. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:31.680 Yeah, but they had to edit it to say screw because I think they had too many complaints. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:33.440 So I don't know, Emily. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:36.640 Do you think that it was in bounds or do you think that it was out of bounds? 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:37.440 What would you do? 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:43.599 I think it was a low blow, but I also did watch it multiple times and laughed every time. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:45.599 And I was showing it to friends and family. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:49.039 Were you doing a hoe down to the song? 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.720 That's that's my favorite thing of the cycle, by the way, too. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:18:03.599 They've turned him into I don't even know how or why the most northeastern state in the in the world is turning into like country music bumpkin redneck stuff, but like they've you know, the tr the tax and Troy Jackson stuff. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:04.720 I don't know if you've heard those things. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:05.680 Yeah, I welcome that. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:11.279 I like that well, those are fun, but like, but like the whole thing has got this like western theme to it. 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:13.599 It's like it's like it sounds like Big John. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:17.039 It's like dare do Troy Jackson's Tax and Jackson. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:18.400 Yeah, it's like that kind of thing. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:22.000 And now they're doing country songs about him and his family, and it feels like Alabama. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:29.039 No disrespect to our friends from Alabama, it's like Americana themed political ads, I guess. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:29.440 I don't know. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:30.079 I guess. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:31.359 So you think so? 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:38.880 Is this like a universal reaction from everybody that it was it was funny and whatever, but meh, maybe a little bit not? 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:40.000 You're shaking your head, yes. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:45.200 Yeah, maybe adjust the content a little bit and then maybe we'll be on board here. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:45.680 Okay. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:47.839 Devil's advocate Matt here. 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:51.119 Uh let me ask all three of you, person to person. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:56.160 Would you rather see this or hear this as an ad? 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:05.200 Or would you rather hear or see the same content in the traditional um format of the black and white picture and the scary booming voice narrator? 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:06.319 Because they have done that. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:12.000 There are ads that reference him having kids with his cousin and stuff like that that are just traditional attack ads. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:20.720 And it's like, and he also is very odd and has kids with his cousin, and his kids are lobbyists that take too much money, and he's really evil. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:25.839 And it's just the same kind of stuff you're used to, but it didn't make any noise because it was so normal and traditional, right? 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.599 Like this

one was intentionally different and it was funny. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.200 So which one would you rather see? 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.640 Do you rather see like the scheming evil bastard version? 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:37.200 At least it's making you laugh version. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:40.640 If it's gonna have the same content, then yeah, I want to hear the twang, dude. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.839 I want to hear I want to hear the uh the bluegrass version. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:44.960 Uh you know what I mean? 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:50.880 But but if the because the it sounds like the content's the same, either way, it's just different format or different delivery mechanism. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:51.680 I mean, it is. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:53.200 I've I've seen stuff that's like it. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:54.480 It's just this is more amusing, right? 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:59.200 I still don't really totally understand that whole angle, I guess, of attacking him based on that. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:05.920 It's to me, it's it's not necessarily it doesn't like lend to, I guess, uh a corrupt side of him. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.880 It's just more like uh it's dude, it's the outset of the song. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:10.000 Troy Jackson is weird. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:15.359 No, I know, but uh you said that even the attack ads are talking about like him with his cousin and everything. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:17.759 And I think it's just needling him in general. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:19.359 Yeah, it's like this guy sucks. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:20.240 Yeah, yeah. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:35.279 Well, I mean, I guess it's here I am thinking too, it's like it's wild that we have, and I I'm probably deviating a little bit, but it's wild that we have Troy Jackson here with his cousin, and then in Minnesota there's Ilhan Omar who uh is obstensibly married to her brother. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:36.880 Oh no, no, sir, sir. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:40.480 She doesn't recall whether or not she was married to her brother. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:41.119 Yeah, right. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:42.079 I don't recall. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:43.039 I don't think so. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:44.720 I don't think so. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.119 Maybe question mark. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:48.000 I don't know. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:48.960 Yeah, fam. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:21:00.400 This is a very odd year for this kind of did you any did any of the three of you see the other scandalous ad of the week uh or or hear it, which was not here in Maine, but it was in Ohio. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:04.480 It's that it's that one uh the governor's race there is Vivek Ramaswamy. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.119 You might remember him from his presidential campaign. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:07.599 Yeah. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:12.640 And being in doge for like a minute and a half before he quit, and then he went to go run for uh governor of Ohio. 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:21.680 But he's the Republican candidate in Ohio, and the Democratic candidate is uh Amy Acton, and Amy Acton's mother ran an ad against her. 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:26.240 And it's really, I mean, you want to talk about below the bell, like it's like it's pretty dirty. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:29.839 Like it references uh apparently she had a horrific upbringing. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:47.920 Like there was like sexual assault, and her father-in-law or or uh stepfather or something like that was accused of doing some pretty awful things, and I guess it's led to an estrangement because the mother says that she doesn't think it happened and that she's lying about it, and so they just they haven't talked in like 50 years or something like that. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:56.640 But she goes on this commercial and she's like, My daughter is just really messed up, and she's a super liar, and you shouldn't vote for her. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.359 And I'm like, I mean, like I saw that and I was like, whoa. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:02.799 I saw it on social media. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.400 But then I could talk about low blow, but like it's now causing a backlash. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:20.000 Like even some Republicans, including the Republican Senate nominee in Ohio, who's running against Jared Brown and the other like race that's really, really, really, really close this year, or one of them, uh, he was like, Yeah, I wouldn't. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.720 I think he said I wouldn't have run that ad, is what he said, or whatever. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:30.160 So it's I guess we're we're now in a nationwide conversation about below the belt ads and just how far is too far, right? 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:38.559 Yeah, and I was telling Montana and I think you uh about how it reminded me of the whole episode with Bobby Charles and his sister. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:42.960 Granted, she was she didn't appear in an ad, she just wrote an op-ed in the Press Herald. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:46.079 And um, but it's it's like she did kind of personally go after him, though. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:46.960 She did, yeah. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:48.000 She absolutely did. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.000 It's just that it wasn't it wasn't in the same form. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:52.559 He didn't inspire bipartisan backlash. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.079 No, and it's funny too, and it's funny too, because it was kind of a different angle. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:02.079 It was just like she was just saying that her and her brother have just never agreed on politics, so she doesn't think that he should be governor. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:11.599 I agree to disagree there, Garrick, because she also said that like uh she experienced like sexual assault and he didn't there for something like that. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:12.400 Yeah, that's right. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:15.599 You know, if it was just like I like abortion and you don't, like that's right, exactly. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.079

That's one thing, but yeah, she was lobbing some accusations at him. 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:22.720 She was kind of nobody had a problem with it on the democratic side of the aisle. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:24.640 They're like, well, she's got a point. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.680 It's like, okay, but it's kind of a low blow. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:31.599 I mean, if if are we gonna have the universal reaction to all this stuff, is my real question. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:32.480 I know the answer's no. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:38.240 I know the answer's no, but uh you know, I'd like it if we did, maybe possibly. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:51.839 Yeah, and I just remember when that story came out, uh I thought that it spoke more about her character than Bobby's, because it that seemed like it was, I don't know, kind of um unbecoming, I guess, or or or beneath dignity. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:52.880 It looks like yes, right. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:57.680 And in the same vein, like for like for her own mother, like who is already estranged from her to do that. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:00.480 It really makes you think like what is the motive there, you know. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:04.160 Like, like it seems like there were she did look like kind of a cantankerous. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.480 Right, was she just like, oh, I'm gonna get back at her because she won't talk to me. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:13.359 Yeah, you know, what she paid a lot, you know, like I wonder, I wonder what the incentive was there. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:23.839 Because uh, like you would just think naturally that would be a hard thing to do, even if you think it to just go on, you know, major TV and be like, Yep, she's a liar. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:25.440 It sucks. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:28.880 And and you know it's Ramaswamy's ad, too. 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:32.640 It's not just that she like did this in some pack, some shadowy pack or something did it. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.759 It was literally his campaign was like, Yeah, let's put it in. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:36.799 Throw her in there. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.400 Yeah, let's get the mom on and uh say how terrible she is. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:41.599 And it's by the way, not working. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:45.519 Like, he's now down by like five points on on average, like in Ohio. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:46.960 In Ohio. 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:49.039 How do you do that? 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:57.519 I mean, I know it's maybe gonna be this great democratic year or whatever, but that's pretty embarrassing if Vivek Ramaswamy somehow coughs up the ball and can't win that one. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:03.920 And if Sherid Brown wins too, I mean, that's not gonna be a good night for us overall, generally speaking, the right side of the political spectrum. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.000 If uh Sherid Brown wins and Amy Acton wins in Ohio. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:08.720 Yeah. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:09.759 Yeah. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:11.359

It's not gonna be good. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:12.240 Kind of bleak. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:12.880 Yep. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:16.319 Um, all right, speak uh staying with the Senate theme, though. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:19.119 Also, new polling just came out yesterday. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.359 Uh Fox News poll uh had it tied 4949. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:28.640 Uh all the recent polls have been like Jackson up, but Jackson up by like two. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:32.880 So it's been basically within the margin of error for a month or so like that. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:37.920 And uh this one has it as tied uh reactions, thoughts. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:39.200 Where is this race? 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.880 Tell me, read it for me, read the tea leaves. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.240 Anyone brave enough to do it? 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:50.480 I think that like Collins, like like like I know line is all his time, Collins underperforms in polls, yada yada. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:26:04.480 Um, you know, but that's true again, and I I think that just as it gets closer, those gaps continue to shrink, and a lot of people, to the song's point, look at Jackson and think Troy Jackson is weird, and they don't want to vote for it. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:14.799 You know, like and that's another reason like why you know they the message was effective, like whether you like we liked it or not, it was effective, and that it did hit a nerve, I think, for a lot of people. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:17.599 But that poll did show a pretty significant enthusiasm gap. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:20.000 It was like 18 points for the Democrats. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:22.960 So they might not like him, but they do like voting against Trump. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:27.839 And I think that was the other thing is that like Trump's numbers were abysmal in that poll. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:41.680 And I think the only like huge like saving grace for Collins in that poll is that she was up like 13 points, I think it was, with independence, and that really were you telling me that she's up with young people? 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:48.640 The youths or no no no it's Lagerquist told me that it was like the under under 40 or under 35 contingent she was winning. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:49.359 Interesting. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:54.000 There, um, on one of the I noticed that in one of like so the youths are with us, just want to be clear about that. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:27:05.039 On one of the old Sienna polls, I did notice that that like like like the 18 to 25 bracket she was winning in, and like we didn't I didn't note it at the time like on the pod or anything, but I did like read it and I was like, oh, that's weird. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:08.480 Like, and I just thought it was kind of an anomaly of that poll or something. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:12.000 But if that's coming up again, that is quite interesting. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:19.119 Uh but like I I think that independence breaking heavily for Collins is exactly what she would need in order to have a good victory. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.359 And I mean 13 points is pretty brutal. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:30.160 If they if they broke by that amount for her, then I I really don't see Jackson being able to have any path to victory with that amount of independence breaking for Collins. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:40.160 I'm just trying to find out like what exactly changed from 2020 to 2026 that she could win by nine points then and suddenly now be in danger. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.519 It's as if she didn't something about that isn't computing for me. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:49.599 Especially because, like we've talked about, the biggest line of attack on her has just has been her Kavanaugh vote. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.680 Right, which was a bigger deal that year. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:57.920 Yeah, I was gonna say it was like it was before the vote, and uh or before, yeah, like you know, the election for her. 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:04.640 So it's like what's happened since then that that suddenly makes her the argument would be Dobbs happened, right? 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:06.720 But I mean, I don't know. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:10.559 Like they they viewed Dobbs as inevitable when she voted for Kavanaugh. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:12.799 It was like this, you know, you've betrayed us all. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:17.200 That was what their line was in 2020, was like you've betrayed us and now the conservative Supreme Court's gonna overturn Roe v. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.240 Wade, and then they did, so you know, it happened. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:23.440 So is that really all that different than what you assumed in 2020? 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:24.319 I don't right. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:31.599 I mean, that that that was like I know jumping the gun on topics debate, but that was basically AOC's point when she was here campaigning. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:40.960 I mean, that she said like basically exactly that, that because of Collins, you know, now she opened a salvo on women, or it was some stupid line like that. 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:50.720 And like that is, I think effectively their argument is that this was allowed to happen in you know, before it was oh it's open to the door for us to happen. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:57.279 Yeah, and now it is actually that was allowed to happen because of her, and maybe they're hoping that resonates more. 00:28:57.440 --> 00:28:59.519 I I would assume that that's their logic. 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:03.839 It's is it me or is this entire entire election season about abortion? 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:12.640 Like, I mean, every single ad I see for everything that's on the left side of the aisle has something to do with that in some way, and it's really tiresome. 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:18.000 Like, if you have anything else to say about anything at all, like hey, how about the price of gas? 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:19.279 Like, you got anything to

say? 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:20.799 Oh no, it's Trump, I ran, right? 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:22.240 Like it's just that's the two things. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:24.640 It's like Trump sucks and abortion. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:26.400 That's what you were leaning on. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:35.839 And it's I think if there is a weakness and a vulnerability for them that might make this supposedly blue wavy year less blue wavy, it would be just how much they suck. 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:44.480 I mean, you look at the polling on any generic ballot thing, and the Democratic Party is by a lot less popular than the Republican Party. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.240 They're neither one are popular. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:54.960 Don't get me wrong, like nobody likes the Republicans either, but like their approval ratings are like 28 or 30 percent, and the Democrats are like 18 or something like wild like that. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:30:03.440 So they are I think perceived as not terribly credible, and I don't like them, and maybe they're weird. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:21.359 And the only thing that would allow them to win anything is the fact that maybe the more powerful impulse is I don't like Donald Trump, specifically him, and like I've gotta say something or do something against him, you know, I've gotta I gotta vote his people out of office because I don't I can't take him. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:24.160 It's the only thing that's gonna allow them to win anything this year. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:39.680 Which is wild because yeah, it's it's it almost seems like it's this binary where they it's like you hate Donald Trump so much you have to vote against him, but then but by doing that you're voting for someone who is psychopathic in their ideology, you know what I mean? 00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:43.680 In in turn in terms of just I like how he doesn't ever pull punches. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:44.480 He does not. 00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:46.480 They're not just wrong, they're psychopaths. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:31:02.960 Yeah, just well, yeah, it's like, well, I mean um I'm not calling them psychopaths, but their ideology has become uh obviously so lunatic to me that it I'm like, how is that even remotely palatable to anyone? 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:24.160 And and as it turns out, it is not increasingly it is not m palatable to people, and that's why they're people so many people are getting turned off, and um and they're like, yo, I've been a liberal for my whole life, but I want nothing to do with this anymore because this is just this is a this is a brand of like liberalism that I just can't get on board with, you know what I mean? 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:34.079 And so they get turned off by that, so and yeah, I drive around this town that we're sitting in right now, and I see an awful lot of Troy exclamation points, right? 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:34.400 Exactly. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:35.039 That's a thing. 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:40.079 Yeah, well, there's a lot of like there's a lot of vote blue no matter who out there for sure. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.680 You brought up AOC. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:43.519 Does that matter? 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:46.559 Like, is AOC is that an exciting thing for anybody? 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:48.000 Does it change anybody's vote? 00:31:48.240 --> 00:32:01.359 I know, and it's so funny too because Troy, Troy's like badge of honor, if you wanted to call it that, um, during the gubernatorial uh race was that Bernie endorsed him and he had that on signs and everything. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:08.880 And he probably thought that that was his path to victory, and then he was like practically tied with Shenna for fourth place. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:09.920 You know what I mean? 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:21.519 He was he was third, but yeah, you know, it's like he he was ranked sufficiently low enough that even a Bernie endorsement couldn't buoy him to to one or two, you know. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:24.559 So now and now he thinks that AOC, yeah. 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:25.920 Now he thinks AOC is really good. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:27.279 Well, that's that's why I'm asking it. 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:28.799 It's like, do any of these things matter to anybody? 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:29.680 No, that's the thing. 00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:33.279 It's just does the Democratic Party need any more enthusiasm? 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:44.799 Like I I my only play here in my head was that AOC was something to try to get because he's so boring and he's so lame that you gotta get those people excited to vote for you. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:48.880 So take the people that they're excited about, bring them to Maine, do an event. 00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:51.359 Maybe I'll get excited by proxy or something. 00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:53.279 Like they'll they'll like me because they like her too. 00:32:53.359 --> 00:32:54.160 And I'm on the same stage. 00:32:54.400 --> 00:33:00.079 It's funny you say that because I didn't watch obviously the rally, I don't hate myself that much, but I watched a like five-minute like. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:01.839 Main wire guys had a lot of fun with it. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:02.799 They like live streamed it. 00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:03.599 That's pretty funny. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:08.720 I watched like a five-minute like commentary on it, and like like they like interviewed a couple like people coming out. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:11.359 Not a single one of the people were talking about Troy Jackson. 00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:15.359 You know, they they were all like, wow, AOC can really command a room. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:22.799 You know, and and like like multiple people at what's supposed to be a Jackson event didn't have a word to say about him. 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:26.160 And I I don't know if that helps them or not. 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:32.240 I mean, to Garrick's point, like maybe it just me makes them more enthusiastic for the blue and vote blue no matter who.

00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:35.039 I don't know if it just promotes party solidarity or something. 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:35.839 I I would have to do that. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:37.440 Yeah, but do they need anything to do that? 00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:38.000 Right. 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:44.240 That's why they've already got, I mean, Trump is going to no no pun intended, Trump everything else for them. 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:52.240 It's like, are you going to be more excited about going to the polls and voting against Trump and sticking your finger in his eye, or more excited about AOC visiting? 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:53.759 I think it's the first one. 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:54.799 So they're already there. 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:08.159 I just don't I don't know what it right like was somebody on the fence about voting, and now they're like, well, I mean, if ARC is gonna endorse him then especially where she said the all she said was the exact same lines that everybody's been saying about Jackson this whole time. 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:09.920 I I found the line that I thought of earlier. 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:15.280 One of the only women's senders declared open season on women by voting for Kavanaugh. 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:15.840 Ooh. 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:17.199 It's like open season. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:19.360 And it's just like, oh yes. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:21.920 Another statement on her voting for Kavanaugh. 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:26.000 Well, the 57th time I've heard it, that's the one that's gonna make me vote for K. 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:27.679 That's probably a low number too at that point. 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:28.079 Right. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:32.880 You know, and like she also brought up the, you know, we've got a logger and we're gonna get him elected. 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:34.000 And it's like, oh my word. 00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:38.239 It's so funny because it's like exactly the Platiner with the Oysterman thing. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:39.760 It's like logger. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:42.400 Or air quote, logger. 00:34:42.559 --> 00:34:48.239 Like, I don't know, like their obsession with like trying to pretend to be working class is so funny to me. 00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:51.440 It's because they're not and they're trying to convince people who are to vote for them. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:35:05.440 And so they need it's uh I hate to say this, um, but it's very, very reminiscent to me of the Republican Party for years and years and years trying to do better with black voters, and they would do that by like, I mean, I hate to say it, but like getting a token black candidate or something like that. 00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:10.960 It's like, we got one too, you should vote for him, and it never works because it's not viewed as authentic. 00:35:11.039 --> 00:35:16.960 It's it's like you trying to put one over on the voters, and I think the same thing's happening to the Democratic Party right now with this working class thing. 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:27.519 It's like you go, you go find somebody that you can like market as working class when they're not, and everybody smells a fake and they're just not interested at all in it. 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:30.400 And I don't think Troy Jackson's gonna lose the second district. 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:34.480 Like he's he's gonna, even if he wins the race somehow, he is gonna lose the second district. 00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:35.920 He's gonna lose his home county, probably. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:45.360 He's gonna lose, you know, down east, he's gonna lose central Maine, he's gonna lose every one of these voters that supposedly should be going for the lager, the guy who's the working class stiff. 00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:51.519 And uh it's just that it's because it does he's he's a lobbyist, and he's been one for like 30 years. 00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:57.039 He's a professional politician and a lobbyist, which is exactly what they criticize Bobby Charles for, which is interesting. 00:35:57.199 --> 00:35:58.159 I know, isn't that funny? 00:35:58.320 --> 00:35:58.880 The irony. 00:35:59.039 --> 00:35:59.440 That's wild. 00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:05.519 Emily, do you think that AOC is going to inspire a generation to generation main? 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:06.800 Are they gonna love this? 00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:09.920 I don't think they are, no, unfortunately. 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:12.800 Do you take your cues from uh from AOC? 00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:14.000 Does anybody take the cues? 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:15.360 No, not often. 00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:16.719 Actually, have never. 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:20.960 You don't find her eloquent and inspiring and stunning and brave? 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:22.880 No, I can't say I do. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:24.960 The bartender from New York. 00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:28.480 Well, I mean, it's interesting though, because I mean, she is what is she now? 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:29.679 Is she 30 something? 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:31.679 She's she's yeah, she's still very young. 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:36.639 I mean, she when she got elected to Congress in 2018, she was like 26 or 8 or something like that. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:41.519 So she is she's viewed as the voice of the younger generation, for at least for some. 00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:43.039 They she's 37. 00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:44.480 She's 37. 00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:46.880 I was gonna say, I think she's my age. 00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:52.400 All right, so I'm just gonna go ahead and say that's still young in my opinion because it's younger than me. 00:36:54.480 --> 00:36:55.519 Okay, so she's been around. 00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:57.760 I mean, I guess 2018 is now eight years ago. 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:00.800 So she was like 29 or something like that when she was first emerging or whatever. 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:06.639 But I mean, she still does have she has a social media presence which is extraordinarily youthful. 00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:13.039 I

mean, she live streams everything, she's all over all the socials, she's she's talking to young people. 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:16.239 It's like it's it is part of her vibe, we would agree, right? 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:16.639 Yeah. 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:20.159 Does it is it viewed as as like with authenti authenticity, though? 00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:21.519 Like, I don't know, I don't know. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:24.719 Now that I'm old, I'm no longer able to speak for the young. 00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:28.639 So I don't know exactly what the youths think about anything anymore. 00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:32.079 I know my son doesn't, but he's 20 and male, so I don't know. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:33.519 I don't know. 00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:49.039 Is there any sort of credibility in that community, you think, with her or um, I think for people leaning on that side of the aisle, they'll view more credibility because they can relate more, but for me, I mean, just because she's young doesn't make me want to listen to what she says. 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:50.079 Well, that's it. 00:37:50.239 --> 00:37:54.880 But definitely other young people who have like morals I agree with, I'll definitely look up to. 00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:56.559 That's a good point. 00:37:56.639 --> 00:37:59.760 I mean, she is so empty in every way. 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:11.760 I it I did actually watch a little bit of it, a little bit of it, and I I had to turn it off when she started saying things like, and if you don't like Iran, it's the reason why you don't have healthcare, or something like that. 00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:12.960 I can't remember. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:16.480 I that's a poor way of putting whatever she put, but it was about that stupid. 00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:18.880 I was gonna say that does not sound very far off. 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:23.039 No, she was basically making the point that like we can't afford healthcare because of Iran. 00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:27.840 And I mean, like, there are so many different ways of criticizing Iran. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:30.400 There's so many different ways of saying you should have universal health care. 00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:37.840 Like, if you want to have those opinions, I don't share them, I don't agree with them, but there are intelligent people that can make a good case on those things. 00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:42.960 And I could at least nod and be like, all right, well, no, but I see what you're saying, right? 00:38:43.199 --> 00:38:51.360 That kind of vapid, empty stupidity is very frustrating to me because it's now like how we talk about this stuff. 00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:54.639 Like people were clapping to that and nodding a lot. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:57.199 Yes, we can't afford healthcare because of Iran. 00:38:57.599 --> 00:39:02.159 The Iran bill so far today is like it's like basically me buying a Subway sandwich. 00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:02.639 It's nothing. 00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:09.519 It's it's it has nothing

to do with anybody's federal spending in the budget for anything, let alone healthcare. 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:17.519 Um, you know, we do what we do in uh in Medicare and Medicaid and everything else for reasons that have nothing to do with Iran at all. 00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:22.639 Um so it's not at all connected, but it is a great applause line for the dumb. 00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:23.039 Yep. 00:39:23.199 --> 00:39:26.400 You know, clapping seals out there that just love that kind of thing. 00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:29.679 Every time I hear her talk, I feel my IQ dropping, dude. 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.079 And it's funny because I earlier today, I actually um I was talking to Montana about this. 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:59.599 I've I've been thinking about this more recently, is um there must be so many legislators out there now, especially people who are well, I mean, there's not a lot of legislators who are AOC's age, but but still there must be a lot of legislators out there who all around the country, whether it's in their state or the actual United States, um, who are basically legislating on vibes by social media. 00:39:59.840 --> 00:40:00.480 You know what I mean? 00:40:00.639 --> 00:40:05.599 Social media is like is like dictating how they legislate. 00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:18.559 And it's based off of sloganeering and bumper stickers and just the same parroting of the same um, you know, I guess like one-line policies, like one-sentence policies, you know what I mean? 00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:23.440 Like free healthcare for all, for example, and so or tax the rich, you know what I mean? 00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:35.039 And it's like those are just those have become kind of vacuous, uh repeated, you know, uh just slogans over the years that yeah, but you know what, you know what though, Garrick? 00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:38.000 Um that's true, but why? 00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:38.880 Why? 00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:40.239 Tell me why. 00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:41.599 And the answer is because of us. 00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:43.760 Like it's like that's the stuff we consume. 00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:45.039 So they give us what we want. 00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:51.280 I mean, behind uh Montana's head, and since we're doing an audio podcast, you can't see it, but there's a poster of uh William F. 00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:51.840 Buckley, right? 00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:52.400 So William F. 00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:59.760 Buckley is sitting there staring back at you and your soul right now, and he hosted Firing Line for uh, or yeah, it's Firing Line, right? 00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:02.559 Uh no, Firing Line was the CNN show, wasn't it? 00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:03.840 Oh, good lord. 00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:05.039 Whatever his show was. 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:06.800 I am so burned out this week. 00:41:06.960 --> 00:41:08.239 I have lost all my intelligence. 00:41:08.320 --> 00:41:12.719 But uh anyway, he showed he hosts that show for like 30 years or something like that. 00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:19.679 And if you ever saw it, it was people sitting down for an hour talking really thoughtfully about stuff. 00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:25.199 And he used to host people on that show that were just totally opposite of every worldview who he ever had. 00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:27.599 And he also had plenty of people he agreed with too that were on it. 00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:39.599 And it didn't matter which one it was, it was always like a really reasonable, thoughtful, intelligent, nice to hear you know, uh examination of an issue, you know, foreign policy stuff and taxes. 00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:47.599 He used to have like Christopher Hitchens on and you know, him and Hitch going back and forth on stuff was fun because Hitchens was a socialist, so that was a lot of fun to listen to. 00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:54.480 But uh today we have like TikToks and and you know, like Instagram reels and stuff like that. 00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:55.440 And that's what I mean. 00:41:55.519 --> 00:42:00.000 Yeah, while they're engaging and entertaining, and hey, we're about to go do a whole bunch of stuff like that, isn't that cool? 00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:04.719 But like it can't be the bread and butter of our voting decisions, yeah. 00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:16.559 And it is and it is that's the thing that it is like it could be it could be like the appetizer to your dinner, but it cannot be the meal, it just can't be, and yet it is right. 00:42:16.719 --> 00:42:31.440 I mean, because as it turns out, you can't get really um comprehensive policy prescriptions in or or like get into the meat and potatoes, I guess, of of policy in like whatever 20 seconds, 30 seconds. 00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:36.079 Um and it's something we encounter a lot where like you know, like I write a blog like every week. 00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:38.079 Garrick always posts them on the social. 00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:46.000 The amount of times that somebody like comments like, well, you should have included this, and it's in the blog, right? 00:42:46.239 --> 00:42:51.840 But it's just not in the one paragraph descriptor that Garrick puts on social media. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:54.320 I mean, it it happens at least once a month. 00:42:54.400 --> 00:43:02.719 Yeah, and it's like they just they aren't willing to take the two seconds that it would take to go into the piece and be like, oh, you know, I'm about to comment on something. 00:43:02.800 --> 00:43:04.079 Let me see if it actually has it. 00:43:04.320 --> 00:43:09.599 Yeah, you know, instead they are they only want to engage with like the bite-sized, tiny social media piece. 00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:17.280 And you know, that's a problem because you don't actually get the real policy prescriptions, you aren't able to get the neat real nitty-gritty that you actually need. 00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:22.719 Right, the nuance, the the you know, like the in-depth substance of the issue. 00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:28.880 It's all everything on

social media, like you said, is bite-sized, and so and it's consumable and fast. 00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:29.119 Right. 00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:32.400 That's the thing that's the and like that might be a good entry point. 00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:32.880 Sure. 00:43:33.039 --> 00:43:35.280 Like, I don't mind it being that, like that's that's fine. 00:43:35.360 --> 00:43:59.679 But if you are gonna go to the polls this November in a week and a half, and you start making choices on people, and you didn't like I mean, not only did you do your research on the people or their policy positions or like the depth of it all or whatever, but if you don't even have a basic understanding of stuff you need to understand before you can even do the research on them, like you know, uh basic economics, like just basic. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:07.920 Like 100 level economics as a base with which to then ask yourself questions about what we want to do on taxes and spending and everything else. 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:15.039 Like if you don't do the requisite work to actually have that understanding, then stay away from a voting booth. 00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:16.400 I'm begging you. 00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:22.800 I would rather have 10% voter turnout with people that actually cared about that stuff. 00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:26.159 And frankly, I would say that even if they voted for left-wing politicians. 00:44:26.320 --> 00:44:29.840 Like, I don't love that either, but like at least it would be based in something. 00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:30.320 Yeah. 00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:30.719 Yeah. 00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:33.840 Based in the same way, some some modicum of information. 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:34.159 Yeah. 00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:43.760 Like if I'm gonna lose an election and my people that I want to win and want to do the things that I want to do are gonna lose, I would rather them lose it on the the ground of ideas. 00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:44.239 Yes. 00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:50.800 And having just made a bad case or something like that, than on the vapidity of this stupid society today. 00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:52.000 I'm so in a bad way. 00:44:52.239 --> 00:44:54.480 Instead of being I really am. 00:44:54.960 --> 00:44:55.440 I don't know. 00:44:55.519 --> 00:45:00.000 I guess maybe just every day that goes by in this election is making me more cynical and misanthropic, I guess. 00:45:00.400 --> 00:45:01.119 It's easy to be. 00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:03.679 It's easy to be led to there, uh, I guess in this era. 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:06.719 You know, I almost rage quit this job like every two years. 00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:10.880 I feel like Mike Quatrano is probably the same one. 00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:12.800 Oh, that guy is in a bad shape right now. 00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:14.800 He'll be fine. 00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:18.079 But uh no, my wife, my wife makes makes note of it. 00:45:18.159 --> 00:45:26.079 She like every once in a while will uh if I'm being kind of a snide bastard because I'm in a bad mood or something like that, she'll look at the calendar and she'll be like, oh, it's October. 00:45:26.320 --> 00:45:27.039 Oh, that makes sense. 00:45:27.519 --> 00:45:28.159 That makes sense. 00:45:28.239 --> 00:45:28.880 Yeah, all right. 00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:29.679 I'll wait it out. 00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:32.000 You'll be fine in about a about three weeks or so. 00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:34.400 But it is true, it like just sucks your soul out of you. 00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:43.840 It's it's you know, you just uh it's hard not to get a little bit despondent when the outcomes go against you and the public debate was so stupid. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:46.880 I mean, right now the governor's race, we haven't talked about that at all, right? 00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:49.440 Um, I gotta give some major props to Bobby Charles. 00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:50.639 Can I do that for a minute? 00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:58.960 He's hosting some sort of an event like in a couple days, like maybe like I don't know if it's like early next week or something, maybe next Wednesday or something. 00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:00.079 It's in a few days. 00:46:00.159 --> 00:46:03.440 Um, but it's literally a Reddit Ask Me Anything, basically. 00:46:03.519 --> 00:46:05.199 It's like a it's like a show up. 00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:06.559 I will be sitting in a chair. 00:46:06.719 --> 00:46:10.159 You may sit in the chair that Montana's in, and you can ask me anything. 00:46:10.239 --> 00:46:13.280 And if you he literally invited people who disagree with him. 00:46:13.360 --> 00:46:15.840 He's like, if you don't like anything I think, come on down. 00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:17.599 Like, I'll answer your questions, we'll talk about it. 00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:20.000 He's doing the uh Steven Crowder Changed My Mind. 00:46:20.239 --> 00:46:20.800 Yeah, basically. 00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:26.320 Yeah, he basically or or one of those uh Charlie Kirk, one of those ones that the kids these days do where they have the two chairs. 00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:33.119 Like I saw Shapiro did it a little while ago where like they have with just a bunch of people on a clock and it's like three minutes and I'm just pitching in them for whatever. 00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:38.320 I think it's the Jubilee thing, like 20, 20 liberals and and one conservative talk. 00:46:38.639 --> 00:46:44.079 Yeah, but like say whatever you want to about his opinions, him, uh left, right? 00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:45.519 Just set that aside for a minute. 00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:55.119 Like, wow, that's nice to see that that like you're inviting someone, many people who don't agree with you to challenge you, and then you'll just respond to them. 00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:55.360 Right. 00:46:55.519 --> 00:46:59.440 And whether your responses are great or terrible or whatever, like is Hannah Pingry doing that? 00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:26.880 Well, I was gonna say, I mean, that that is why so many people found Charlie Kirk to be a

laudable person, and and people like Steven Crowder in a way, too, um, because they were actually inviting their political opponents to engage in dialogue with them in instead of trying to silence them, which is what uh generally speaking, in this modern era, the left would prefer because they think that they think that handing the microphone to their political opponent is by its very nature platforming them. 00:47:27.039 --> 00:47:27.760 That's what they say. 00:47:27.920 --> 00:47:32.320 It's platforming them, it's giving a voice to someone who shouldn't have a voice because they're dancing. 00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:33.039 Because they're Ross. 00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:34.400 Yes, right. 00:47:34.719 --> 00:47:36.559 Like I support current thing, and you don't. 00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:36.960 Right. 00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:38.800 And therefore you need to be snuffed out. 00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:40.639 Your your your voice needs to be snuffed out. 00:47:40.719 --> 00:47:42.800 And I feel like you're as cynical as I am right now. 00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:45.119 I think no, I'm feeling I'm feeling it. 00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:48.880 It's it's it's been the last yeah, the last I would say 10 years. 00:47:48.960 --> 00:47:51.760 I I've uh have we completely corrupted you? 00:47:51.840 --> 00:47:53.760 Like, did you start working here and now you're like I hate everything? 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:54.719 No, I'm I'm telling you. 00:47:54.960 --> 00:47:56.000 You know what my future looks like. 00:47:56.960 --> 00:47:57.760 It will not be that bad. 00:47:57.840 --> 00:47:59.920 I I I we are a happy bunch. 00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:02.800 We are just get us through this give us two weeks. 00:48:02.880 --> 00:48:04.559 Yeah, well, three or four. 00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:05.039 Yeah. 00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:08.320 Well, see, the Senate race might not be over right away. 00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:12.719 We might be going to rank choice voting if it's close enough because there are six write-in candidates. 00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:18.639 If anybody falls below 50%, I'm just plus the people that are platinum protesting, Red again Platinum. 00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:20.079 That's gonna be wild to see. 00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:28.480 Like, he did you see I think the wire covered this where there's like accusations that he's actively like encouraging the Platinum write-in thing. 00:48:28.639 --> 00:48:28.800 Really? 00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:29.360 I didn't see that. 00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:43.440 Yeah, because there's like Facebook groups and Reddit groups and stuff like that that he's apparently like lurking in, and people are making note of the fact that he's lurking in them, and there's like an active, you know, vote platinum as a protest kind of thing out there. 00:48:43.599 --> 00:48:47.840 What what how hilarious would that be if like Troy lost because of that? 00:48:48.079 --> 00:48:48.960 That would be so funny. 00:48:49.119 --> 00:48:53.039 Like all those people voted for Troy, he would have won, but they didn't because they wrote in Platinum. 00:48:53.119 --> 00:48:55.440 And he's not even a qualified write-in candidate, by the way. 00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:59.039 You have to like law-wise, we have to say this. 00:48:59.360 --> 00:49:04.480 If you vote for somebody that's not a declared write-in, it is a thrown away vote. 00:49:04.559 --> 00:49:09.039 It is it is lit on fire, it doesn't get counted, it's not in a it's as if you never showed up. 00:49:09.199 --> 00:49:11.679 So you're saying I should not vote for Harambe this year? 00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:13.119 You should not vote for Harambe. 00:49:13.199 --> 00:49:13.760 Not this time. 00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:14.880 Or Kanye? 00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:21.440 Unless Harambe is alive and has registered as a uh official write-in candidate, but Platinum didn't. 00:49:21.599 --> 00:49:24.079 So if you vote for Platinum, you're just erasing yourself. 00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:26.400 And the funny thing is, is this is talked about. 00:49:26.880 --> 00:49:29.199 And I encourage you to do that, by the way, if you're a Troy Jackson voter. 00:49:29.280 --> 00:49:30.000 I'm just kidding. 00:49:30.239 --> 00:49:34.639 This is talked about in our ranked choice voting report that we'll be dropping next week. 00:49:35.440 --> 00:49:36.719 Wow, nicely done. 00:49:36.800 --> 00:49:37.360 Yeah, yeah. 00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:48.639 But but um what one of the things we note in that report is that a lot of people are saying that they are going to be voting for Platinum because, oh, well, it'll just he'll just get eliminated and then it'll go right to Troy. 00:49:48.960 --> 00:49:51.840 That only happens if it goes to RCV. 00:49:52.159 --> 00:50:02.639 So if it doesn't go to RCV, people that think that they know, like, oh well, you know, I'm doing this protest vote, but it's not it's just really it's really a vote for Jackson, it might not be. 00:50:02.800 --> 00:50:03.920 And that's a really good thing. 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:06.000 And didn't we cover this in a prior podcast too? 00:50:06.159 --> 00:50:23.519 About those votes being counted in the second round if it gets to it, but they're removed from the denominator if they're in the first round, if if like so, in other words, if you counted them as actual voters in the election, the denominator would be such that Collins wouldn't get 50%, right? 00:50:23.679 --> 00:50:29.440 But since they're not legitimate votes and they're basically non-existent votes, they're not counted as having showed up. 00:50:29.519 --> 00:50:35.840 So they're removed from the denominator, making the fraction different and making her 50 plus you know, 50.1% or something like that. 00:50:36.079 --> 00:50:36.960 It could make the difference. 00:50:37.039 --> 00:50:43.440 And then they like they wouldn't go become part of the denominator until the second round, but that would never happen if she happened to eke over because of that. 00:50:43.519 --> 00:50:43.760 Yep.

00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:45.360 Oh god, it's so stupid. 00:50:45.760 --> 00:50:49.039 And there are a lot of reasons to hate RCV in the report. 00:50:49.519 --> 00:50:50.159 And you'll find out. 00:50:51.519 --> 00:50:52.559 There's one for every county. 00:50:53.119 --> 00:50:54.960 Yeah, we're planning to drop that on Monday, by the way. 00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:56.480 So keep that, uh, keep an eye out for that. 00:50:56.559 --> 00:50:58.000 It's uh pretty awesome, I gotta tell you. 00:50:58.079 --> 00:51:04.960 Like when uh Montana sort of first came to me with the idea of updating it a little bit and whatever, I got like gleefully excited. 00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:07.119 It was it was the thing that put more joy back in my heart. 00:51:07.360 --> 00:51:07.760 There you go. 00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:12.000 Yes, again, because I was feeling a little down, and then he was like, Oh, you're gonna dump on ranked choice voting. 00:51:12.159 --> 00:51:33.679 And but it's structured as an update to what we already did, plus a brand new world of questions asked, and and uh, and honestly, like the the main structure of it, not to not to preview it too much, but the main structure of it is basically like here are the many claims that people have made for why it's so awesome, and here are the very concrete reasons why that's BS and is not at all true. 00:51:34.079 --> 00:51:35.199 Myth versus reality. 00:51:35.360 --> 00:51:42.480 And like the bro, the old report that we're basing it off of came off in 2019 when there was very little data on RCV. 00:51:42.719 --> 00:51:51.039 And basically that now makes up like one out of 16 problems that we have identified with RCV, just like the one that was the basis of the previous report. 00:51:51.119 --> 00:51:55.440 So we've significantly expanded our research on it, and it'll be really fascinating. 00:51:55.920 --> 00:51:56.719 Can't wait. 00:51:56.960 --> 00:51:59.119 I have read it, it's looking really good. 00:51:59.199 --> 00:52:06.079 Um, all right, so we've covered uh the ads, AOC, new uh the new polls, uh, all that stuff. 00:52:06.159 --> 00:52:07.519 There's a couple other things that we want to touch on. 00:52:07.760 --> 00:52:15.679 Wait, before before we get continue further, uh the main wire posted photos of some stuff from the um AOC Troy event. 00:52:15.760 --> 00:52:22.800 Yeah, and there was a table there that literally said like uh revolutionary communists. 00:52:22.960 --> 00:52:28.719 It was like revolutionary communists of Maine or something like that, with a hammer and sickle on it. 00:52:28.960 --> 00:52:34.239 And I'm like, dude, people they these people truly don't comprehend. 00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:37.920 Like, I honestly think that the hammer and sickle is tantamount to the swastika. 00:52:38.079 --> 00:52:38.400 Oh, yeah. 00:52:38.480 --> 00:52:39.199 I really do think so. 00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:43.360 And like represents millions of deaths, yes, yes, hundreds of them, yeah. 00:52:43.599 --> 00:52:51.920 Um, and uh, and so for to for them to just like broadly, like unabashedly display that is just is honestly surreal to me. 00:52:52.079 --> 00:52:59.199 And not only is it surreal, but you know, the for the longest time the left has always ridiculed the right when the right calls them socialists or communists. 00:52:59.360 --> 00:53:01.360 Like it's like, how dare you say that's what we are? 00:53:01.519 --> 00:53:02.239 That's not what we are. 00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:06.000 You you're pretend you're you're trying to make us into those things because those things are unpopular. 00:53:06.320 --> 00:53:07.840 Like, don't lie about us. 00:53:07.920 --> 00:53:08.880 Like, that's always what they've said. 00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:11.840 And then you go to their convention and there's a freaking hammer sickle. 00:53:12.079 --> 00:53:15.119 And the Democratic Socialists of America is the biggest group of the Democratic Party right now. 00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:15.519 Yeah. 00:53:15.840 --> 00:53:17.920 Dude, I remember you are what we say you are. 00:53:18.159 --> 00:53:19.199 As it turns out, yes. 00:53:19.360 --> 00:53:20.880 Yeah, and you know, it's wild, dude. 00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:36.239 I remember like seven years ago, I was photographing an event at Bowdoin College, and I remember looking into like one of the frat houses there, and there was an entire wall completely draped with hammer and sickle logos, just all over it. 00:53:36.320 --> 00:53:40.079 Just comp it was like a curtain of of hammer and sickle all over the wall. 00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:42.079 I know, shocking, right? 00:53:42.159 --> 00:53:43.760 Yeah, so uh I'm shocked. 00:53:43.920 --> 00:53:52.559 It's just it's just like wild to see the the total um the the utter lack of I guess understanding of what that logo represents. 00:53:52.960 --> 00:53:54.320 Oh no, they understand it just fine. 00:53:54.559 --> 00:53:55.840 You think that they just probably don't care? 00:53:56.079 --> 00:53:57.119 They understand it just fine. 00:53:57.440 --> 00:54:02.400 They're just part of the group the crew that says that socialism's awesome, it's just never been tried right. 00:54:02.639 --> 00:54:03.360 That's just what I was gonna say. 00:54:03.440 --> 00:54:04.079 Like they're true comedy. 00:54:04.320 --> 00:54:14.400 They operate under the fantasy that somehow like real communism is totally possible and not at all antithetical to human nature, and that if we just did it right, and if you put me in charge of it, that it would be great. 00:54:14.559 --> 00:54:14.719 Yeah. 00:54:14.800 --> 00:54:17.599 I mean Which is literally how you get dictators all over the world. 00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:22.480 They're also probably the ones that uh support re-education camps, too, shall we call them? 00:54:22.639 --> 00:54:23.679 So it was just wild. 00:54:23.760 --> 00:54:30.000 And then and then the marquee on the state theater, uh the marquee, the state theater marquee read students versus

billionaires. 00:54:30.320 --> 00:54:32.559 So um that was colorful. 00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:33.920 Oh, well, billionaires. 00:54:34.239 --> 00:54:34.800 That was amusing. 00:54:35.039 --> 00:54:35.519 Billionaires. 00:54:35.760 --> 00:54:40.639 Uh you had brought up the California wealth tax issue, which uh is targeting said billionaires. 00:54:41.519 --> 00:54:44.320 Uh I noticed that apparently The tax the rich thing. 00:54:44.719 --> 00:54:45.280 The tax the rich thing. 00:54:45.440 --> 00:54:45.920 Yeah, that's right. 00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:46.239 Let's go. 00:54:46.880 --> 00:54:50.800 The uh the meta board has been debating a bunch of stuff recently. 00:54:50.880 --> 00:55:00.639 I guess there's a there's a whole thing about uh stocks and like giving stocks to some of the, I guess maybe just the investors, or I don't know what the hell they're doing, but like there's these big long debates. 00:55:00.719 --> 00:55:11.280 And part of this debate apparently is this potential California wealth tax of whether or not they're gonna leave California, specifically whether Zuck's gonna leave, because Zuck's still there, and that guy has a lot of money, right? 00:55:11.360 --> 00:55:16.880 And this is this not the most perfect illustration of the thing we talk about constantly about these stupid wealth tax. 00:55:17.199 --> 00:55:24.079 By the way, Maine instituted one, it's not a billionaire's tax, but we now are taxing the rich at a higher rate because we want their money, money, money. 00:55:24.159 --> 00:55:25.519 They're evil, bad people. 00:55:25.760 --> 00:55:29.280 And uh and Zuck's literally said, I'm if they do it, I'm out. 00:55:29.519 --> 00:55:30.079 I'm leaving. 00:55:30.239 --> 00:55:30.719 I am leaving. 00:55:30.880 --> 00:55:34.239 And the founders are the founders of Google have already left. 00:55:35.840 --> 00:55:51.519 So there was um part like when it this was starting to be talked about, there was like a they were there, it's going to be voted on in this coming up election, but they have already said that it's gonna be retroactive to 20 to 20, the whole 2026 year. 00:55:51.760 --> 00:55:56.960 So when the this was being talked about legal, I mean that's exactly what they did with the millionaires' tax here. 00:55:58.000 --> 00:56:01.039 So vile, poisonous, evil people. 00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:02.559 True. 00:56:02.960 --> 00:56:04.639 Sorry, like go on. 00:56:04.960 --> 00:56:08.000 My misanthropy's going. 00:56:09.199 --> 00:56:13.840 Um, and so like what you know, obviously, this is part of a referendum process, so it's being voted on. 00:56:13.920 --> 00:56:15.519 So like this was coming down the pipe. 00:56:15.679 --> 00:56:24.239 And so in like December of 2025, the founders of Google, who between the two of them had owned like$500 billion, left California. 00:56:24.400 --> 00:56:26.880 One of them went to Nevada, one of them went to Florida. 00:56:27.119 --> 00:56:37.840 And like this uh nonprofit in Massachusetts did a big

study on this, and they basically said that California is gonna lose like$40 billion by passing this. 00:56:39.039 --> 00:56:41.039 Well, they're gonna lose$40 billion if they pass it. 00:56:41.119 --> 00:56:43.840 The funny thing though is that they've already lost it. 00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:44.320 Exactly. 00:56:44.719 --> 00:56:46.639 That whether they pass it or not, they've already screwed this. 00:56:47.039 --> 00:56:50.239 The very threat of passing it has done damage to their budget. 00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:50.639 Right. 00:56:50.719 --> 00:56:57.440 And by the way, that$40 billion that loss that that study accounted for was off of seven billionaires that have already left. 00:56:57.599 --> 00:56:59.519 Since then, even more have left. 00:56:59.679 --> 00:57:01.519 So it's likely worse than that. 00:57:01.760 --> 00:57:08.480 I was gonna say the two famous examples in the last in like recent years are Elon and and um Joe Rogan moving out of California. 00:57:08.719 --> 00:57:09.599 Well, Joe's not a billionaire. 00:57:09.679 --> 00:57:10.320 Yeah, Joe doesn't know. 00:57:10.480 --> 00:57:11.199 No, no, Elon is. 00:57:11.280 --> 00:57:12.559 Well, Elon's a trillionaire. 00:57:12.639 --> 00:57:12.800 Yeah. 00:57:13.039 --> 00:57:13.920 Elon's a trillionaire. 00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:15.039 He's just flying cars now. 00:57:15.519 --> 00:57:15.760 See that? 00:57:15.840 --> 00:57:18.719 Yeah, but Joe Rogan's still an example of like wealth flight. 00:57:18.880 --> 00:57:19.119 Oh, yeah. 00:57:19.280 --> 00:57:19.840 You know what I mean? 00:57:19.920 --> 00:57:27.039 So, but either way, it's like it's you know, the left, I think they they claim that wealth flight with taxes like these. 00:57:27.519 --> 00:57:28.559 They don't they think it doesn't happen. 00:57:28.960 --> 00:57:29.440 They think it's a few. 00:57:29.679 --> 00:57:31.679 They say it doesn't happen, and it absolutely happens. 00:57:31.840 --> 00:57:35.519 Talk to a financial advisor in Maine about how many people have moved their residency to Florida. 00:57:35.840 --> 00:57:36.400 It's a lot. 00:57:36.639 --> 00:57:48.800 We were like just talking about this that how when we were doing our research for the millionaires tax, when we posted our heavy research in that saying that there would be wealth flight, there were we got so many people like wealth flight's been disproven. 00:57:48.960 --> 00:57:51.199 And it's what world are you living in? 00:57:51.519 --> 00:57:52.719 I saw it on an Instagram post. 00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:53.519 It must be true. 00:57:53.840 --> 00:57:54.719 Right, right, yeah, right. 00:57:54.880 --> 00:57:55.599 No, exactly. 00:57:55.760 --> 00:57:57.840 And I I don't I genuinely don't understand. 00:57:58.000 --> 00:58:01.119 I told Garek, like, it's uh, you know, you can't believe your lying eyes. 00:58:01.199 --> 00:58:04.239 Like, but just think about it like logically for a minute. 00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:18.480 Like if you had that level of of wealth and

you had a government that was gonna be coming after it, uh, whether it's a death tax or a higher income tax or some surcharge or whatever it is that they do, would you stay? 00:58:18.719 --> 00:58:28.400 I mean, I, you know, maybe if I loved it enough, I might, you know, like may I already am in Maine right now to my financial detriment because I love this place, right? 00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:34.000 So I, you know, if it was just about money only, I would have already left in a long time ago. 00:58:34.079 --> 00:58:35.679 I would have left a long time ago. 00:58:35.920 --> 00:58:37.840 But there are some things that pull at you, right? 00:58:37.920 --> 00:58:39.199 But there is a point of no return. 00:58:39.280 --> 00:58:44.559 I I will tell you this like if if if Maine is mean enough to me, uh, somebody else, you guys want a promotion? 00:58:44.639 --> 00:58:45.440 Because I'll be out of here. 00:58:45.519 --> 00:58:50.239 I'll be going somewhere else and doing something else, uh, because it will be that bad. 00:58:50.320 --> 00:58:55.760 And if you're in uh California and you're a billionaire or whatever like that, I mean, sure, you can survive just fine. 00:58:55.840 --> 00:58:57.440 You'll have plenty of billions still. 00:58:57.519 --> 00:59:00.719 It's not like you're gonna be destitute because California does that to you. 00:59:00.880 --> 00:59:03.280 But don't you want more money for your foundation? 00:59:03.519 --> 00:59:09.679 Don't you want more capital free to be able to invest in flying cars or whatever it is that you know you're you're doing, right? 00:59:09.840 --> 00:59:11.679 The answer is yes, and you can move. 00:59:11.760 --> 00:59:12.960 It's not illegal to move. 00:59:13.119 --> 00:59:13.920 You're gonna move. 00:59:14.159 --> 00:59:14.800 You're gonna move. 00:59:14.880 --> 00:59:15.679 Why wouldn't you? 00:59:15.920 --> 00:59:19.920 What is the point of staying and being punished like that financially? 00:59:20.480 --> 00:59:25.519 Wealth goes where it's welcome, is the old is the old sentiment, and it stays where it's appreciated. 00:59:25.760 --> 00:59:35.599 Yeah, and it's wild too, because when Montana told me about this whole thing, I'm like, oh, I wonder what they're gonna do with that money because we know that uh the government, you know, is the other angle of it, right? 00:59:35.679 --> 00:59:36.000 Yeah. 00:59:36.239 --> 00:59:52.719 And just like with Maine here, when they said that they were gonna uh you know impose the millionaires tax, quote unquote millionaires tax, because it's like, okay, then what's what's your plan once you I would say confiscate that wealth, what's your plan to uh to actually execute on with that with that wealth that you're gonna do. 00:59:52.960 --> 00:59:54.079 I'm sure they'll spend it judiciously. 00:59:54.400 --> 01:00:04.559 I was gonna say, I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure they'll be very frugal and they'll and they'll spend it uh carefully and precisely, uh as the government is wont

to do. 01:00:04.880 --> 01:00:05.199 Well, yeah. 01:00:05.440 --> 01:00:13.119 And the funny thing with that is that with the original bill that would have passed the millionaires tax, they had it specially allocated. 01:00:13.280 --> 01:00:17.039 I think it was education that they said that that money was good cause. 01:00:17.199 --> 01:00:19.519 It was originally supposed to be earmarked for it. 01:00:19.679 --> 01:00:19.760 Right. 01:00:19.840 --> 01:00:21.840 It was originally like all money from this will go to education. 01:00:21.920 --> 01:00:22.639 I think it was education. 01:00:22.880 --> 01:00:24.239 Yeah, because money's not fungible, right? 01:00:24.480 --> 01:00:24.880 Right, right. 01:00:25.039 --> 01:00:32.159 But but then when they decided, like, oh no, we're not, we're just gonna shove it into the budget at midnight in an appropriations meeting. 01:00:32.320 --> 01:00:33.280 Guess what they didn't do? 01:00:33.440 --> 01:00:37.119 They didn't keep the provision that would have made the money have to go towards education. 01:00:37.360 --> 01:00:37.840 I'm shocked. 01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:39.280 And just had it go to the general fund. 01:00:39.679 --> 01:00:44.239 So the actual law that was passed didn't even have that original provision that would have dedicated it for a specific purpose. 01:00:44.639 --> 01:00:45.360 I'm really shocked. 01:00:45.599 --> 01:00:49.599 And it's funny, Maddie, because you said, you know, it's not like money's uh not fungible or anything. 01:00:49.760 --> 01:01:09.440 Yeah, but it's because it because it's true, and it's and so if they but if they can promote it by saying that it's for the kids, right, right, it's it for benevolent purposes, then they can get away with they can get away with that kind of stuff so much more easily, even though it's they're obviously full of crap and would probably just spend it on stupid pet projects. 01:01:09.760 --> 01:01:19.039 Yeah, and you know, the other thing too, before we leave the topic, that's that's never really talked about when you when you do this kind of thing, because wealth flight is a real thing and it absolutely happens and it's not even debatable. 01:01:19.280 --> 01:01:22.079 It's not just the tax money you're losing as your state. 01:01:22.159 --> 01:01:30.639 Like you know, the the treasury obviously is is harmed when billionaires leave and you're collecting zero instead of a smaller percentage of the money they do have there. 01:01:30.880 --> 01:01:33.760 It's also the stuff that they do in their communities. 01:01:33.840 --> 01:01:44.320 I mean, like I'll even say I'll go ahead and defend them buying yachts and defend them buying uh gigantic houses and ridiculous furniture and whatever else rich people buy. 01:01:44.800 --> 01:01:53.599 Um, you know, when they do that, they're buying that yacht from a yacht salesman at a yacht company that's in whatever Santa Monica or wherever they are. 01:01:54.719 --> 01:01:57.840 In private business that supports people that work there, right? 01:01:58.079 --> 01:02:01.199 Mechanics, uh, I mean, like working class stiffs, right? 01:02:01.360 --> 01:02:09.440 I mean, you don't like to say it, but you know, people who work on boats and help them to paint the bottom of the boat when that needs to be cleaned and stuff like that. 01:02:09.679 --> 01:02:22.159 Working class guys at boatyards, like I mean, you know, people who help you to actually sail the boat, or you know, if it's a you know, different kind of larger one, I obviously it's like, you know, run the machinery and upkeep the the upkeep the engines and everything else. 01:02:22.320 --> 01:02:26.480 Like those are real jobs that are supported by that in your town and in your state. 01:02:26.719 --> 01:02:38.239 And that person taking that yacht to Texas and being in the Gulf instead of on the Pacific Ocean or whatever is going to affect uh, you know, Texas' economy positively while it affects yours negatively. 01:02:38.400 --> 01:02:40.159 Then there's the charities you donate to. 01:02:40.320 --> 01:02:43.840 There's all the time you spend with uh with people in the community. 01:02:44.000 --> 01:02:56.159 I mean, there's there's some very wealthy people that have moved to Maine over the years who have been responsible for you know rehabilitating rec centers and golf courses that regular people play at and just stuff like that, right? 01:02:56.239 --> 01:03:02.079 And like you hate them so much because they possess something that you don't think they deserve, like too much money. 01:03:02.320 --> 01:03:04.719 And have uh accrued it by exploitation. 01:03:05.039 --> 01:03:05.280 Sure. 01:03:05.360 --> 01:03:06.559 And that's your opinion, right? 01:03:06.800 --> 01:03:12.480 And you do not acknowledge the fact that that wealth is good for you to have here. 01:03:13.599 --> 01:03:18.400 Whatever it does for the tax rolls, it's all the other stuff on top of it that is good for your economy. 01:03:18.559 --> 01:03:30.480 When you chase it away, then you have you have not only the loss of the tax revenue and not only the loss of the charity revenue and all the other stuff that they do, but also like the productive potential that could come from it too. 01:03:30.559 --> 01:03:48.320 Like if I had a billion dollars, believe me when I tell you that I would start a business in in Maine that does something cool that I think it'd be neat, and I might develop a widget, or I might you know just have something that doesn't exist now exist, you know, that could employ people and that could do things that somebody needs. 01:03:48.400 --> 01:03:53.280 And you know, that's something I would choose to do because I have the resources available to start something like that. 01:03:53.440 --> 01:03:57.760 I mean, everybody crapped on Elon about the flying car, which I joked about earlier, right? 01:03:57.840 --> 01:04:15.679 I mean, they did that big Tesla reveal or whatever, and the the thing freaking drove with

a vacuum suction thing upside down on a ramp, and then they let go of it and he drove off the edge of it, and then it you know used its jet thing to 180, did a 180 and landed on its yeah, do a barrel roll, right? 01:04:15.920 --> 01:04:18.239 Landed on its tires and then drove away, right? 01:04:18.559 --> 01:04:25.840 And everybody's like, Well, why we can afford to feed everyone, man, if we, you know, but Elon's gotta have a flying car. 01:04:26.000 --> 01:04:33.679 Yeah, that's great, except for the number of engineers, the number of production things that are that go into making that. 01:04:33.840 --> 01:04:38.320 The science, by the way, that will benefit probably medical technology and whatever. 01:04:38.480 --> 01:04:43.199 I mean, like the space program gave you your cell phone and and so much of modern computing and stuff like that. 01:04:43.280 --> 01:04:51.519 Like these things are what create your awesome life and why the United States is so frigging rich and embarrassingly so compared to places like Europe. 01:04:51.599 --> 01:04:53.679 By the way, Paris is on fire right now. 01:04:54.079 --> 01:04:57.280 Not to go into that at all, but but you hate it so much. 01:04:57.360 --> 01:05:07.760 And yet, if it was gone, I don't I don't want to get too like Ayn Rand on you here and get on get all atlas shrugged, but like if they went on strike and they disappeared and all that wealth was gone, your life would suck. 01:05:07.920 --> 01:05:11.679 It would suck hardcore, and you are trying to chase it away all the time. 01:05:11.840 --> 01:05:13.119 I'm not asking you to like them. 01:05:13.280 --> 01:05:14.639 I'm not asking you to thank them. 01:05:14.800 --> 01:05:18.880 I'm asking you to understand the economics about your life. 01:05:19.280 --> 01:05:20.960 Asking people to understand economics. 01:05:21.199 --> 01:05:22.960 That's a that's a tall order. 01:05:23.280 --> 01:05:32.320 I know, but the the number of weenies that are completely whining and crying about everything while they get on their phone and then they have total access to everything humans have ever produced ever. 01:05:32.639 --> 01:05:45.199 I know it's funny too, because if these types would still find a reason to complain, even if Elon actually visibly donated hundreds of millions of dollars to yeah, like combating hunger or something like that, it would still not be sufficient for the other thing. 01:05:45.360 --> 01:05:46.079 They do they do that. 01:05:46.239 --> 01:05:59.599 Like Bezos and Zuckerberg and most of the I mean Bill Gates, they have these foundations and they try to do amazingly uh generous uh work, you know, in the charity space, like to solve hunger. 01:06:00.159 --> 01:06:06.159 Issues and to, you know, provide healthcare to sub-Saharan Africa or whatever it is these charities do ultimately. 01:06:06.400 --> 01:06:07.920 And does anybody thank them for it? 01:06:08.079 --> 01:06:11.360 Does anybody appreciate billions of their dollars being spent

on that? 01:06:11.519 --> 01:06:12.559 No, they don't. 01:06:12.719 --> 01:06:15.519 They basically call them evil rich capitalist pigs anyway. 01:06:15.599 --> 01:06:19.119 And so like I actually sort of halfway respect Elon for not doing that. 01:06:19.360 --> 01:06:19.920 Because he doesn't. 01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:22.079 He doesn't give much money charity. 01:06:22.400 --> 01:06:22.559 No. 01:06:22.960 --> 01:06:25.039 And I'm kind of like, you know, a little part of me, a little shred. 01:06:25.199 --> 01:06:33.599 I I would like I'd have a foundation, but like if I was, you know, being honest here, I'd probably be like, you know, I kind of like respect the fact that he's like bleep you. 01:06:34.000 --> 01:06:34.960 Because you'd hate me either way. 01:06:35.039 --> 01:06:36.800 So I'm not going to do you a favor along the way. 01:06:37.039 --> 01:06:49.440 I can't tell if Elon resists that because he's, you know, a greedy, uh, avaricious billionaire or whatever, or if it's because he doesn't trust like the non-profit industrial system or something like that. 01:06:49.679 --> 01:06:49.920 Right. 01:06:50.320 --> 01:06:50.880 That's what I mean. 01:06:51.039 --> 01:06:51.280 Yeah. 01:06:51.440 --> 01:06:54.639 But it is it's wild though, because uh But if it's under your own direction, right? 01:06:54.719 --> 01:06:54.960 Right. 01:06:55.039 --> 01:07:00.880 It's like it's your foundation and you're picking the people, like probably set up a nonprofit that's not evil, right? 01:07:01.039 --> 01:07:03.679 You can yeah, you could distribute the funds in a more targeted way, probably. 01:07:04.079 --> 01:07:04.800 Well, I don't know. 01:07:04.960 --> 01:07:07.679 I think some of that stuff just loses you lose control of it. 01:07:07.760 --> 01:07:11.840 Like I think I think the the nature of the work ends up corrupting it a lot. 01:07:12.079 --> 01:07:12.639 It really does. 01:07:12.800 --> 01:07:22.239 Like, because like think about every good charity you can think of, like soup kitchens and and you know, people trying to uh minister to the homeless and you know everything, right? 01:07:22.559 --> 01:07:32.320 A lot of them end up like sort of perpetuating their problem because their whole job is to sort of like sus it rather than solve it in a lot of ways. 01:07:32.480 --> 01:07:40.800 Like if your job is to make the homeless like less destitute and like feed and clothe and whatever else, that's obviously a very altruistic and positive and good goal. 01:07:40.880 --> 01:07:41.760 Like, I like that too. 01:07:41.840 --> 01:07:43.119 Like, we should all try that, right? 01:07:43.440 --> 01:07:51.119 But they end up like keeping people in places and just making their lives slightly less miserable rather than trying to solve the problem. 01:07:51.199 --> 01:07:53.199 They become an industrial complex, right? 01:07:53.519 --> 01:07:57.039 Which is why I think one of the big criticisms of the nonprofit sector right now is that that's what they do. 01:07:57.280 --> 01:07:57.679 Yeah, yeah. 01:07:57.840 --> 01:08:05.360 Yeah, well, I mean, that's why Elon has even said that that all those programs in California or maybe specifically Los Angeles to combat homelessness. 01:08:05.840 --> 01:08:06.639 Billions of dollars. 01:08:06.880 --> 01:08:11.599 They rely on people being homeless so they can continue to exist and collect money. 01:08:11.840 --> 01:08:25.840 And that's which sounds like a cynical take, but it's actually probably well, you you would be asking a nonprofit or an organization that's devoted to something like that to basically make itself irrelevant if their job was to solve like like think of all the anti-racism stuff. 01:08:26.079 --> 01:08:28.000 I mean, yeah, you know, like the NAACP and stuff. 01:08:28.079 --> 01:08:35.359 Like, if do you think there's ever gonna come a time when the NAACP like holds a press conference and they say, We declare racism has been defeated? 01:08:36.880 --> 01:08:44.319 Or do you think that they might just sh reshape their view of things so that they can continue to do their work and raise millions of dollars and employ people? 01:08:44.960 --> 01:08:45.520 Right. 01:08:46.000 --> 01:08:54.640 Going back to a point that you made earlier, too, about about like how you know, like the the pro-big government types who don't trust wealthy people. 01:08:54.800 --> 01:09:08.319 Um, it it is funny because it's like their philosophy truly is that we should seize this person's wealth because we will do a better job at distributing that wealth to the needy people than they than they will, than they do. 01:09:08.399 --> 01:09:11.760 That's like their governing philosophy with with all that stuff. 01:09:11.920 --> 01:09:16.560 Like we will, as government, will do a better job at distributing money to people in need. 01:09:16.960 --> 01:09:21.199 But it's like really literally millennia of experience where that's not true. 01:09:21.439 --> 01:09:27.520 Do you know do you remember uh in uh do you remember uh have you ever seen I think you should I think you should leave with Tim Robinson? 01:09:27.680 --> 01:09:28.000 Yes. 01:09:28.239 --> 01:09:31.439 Do you remember when he's like, uh you sure about that? 01:09:31.600 --> 01:09:32.479 Are you sure, man? 01:09:32.880 --> 01:09:36.159 That's exactly that's a Instagram meme that's all over the place, right? 01:09:36.640 --> 01:09:37.279 Are you sure about it? 01:09:37.439 --> 01:09:38.159 It sure is, yeah. 01:09:38.239 --> 01:09:44.479 So that's like when they when like these big pro government types are saying, like, yeah, we'll we'll take the money, we'll do a better job. 01:09:44.560 --> 01:09:46.479 It's like, you sure about that? 01:09:46.800 --> 01:09:48.399 Are you sure about that? 01:09:49.119 --> 01:09:52.079 That word doesn't mean what you think it means, but that's the other one. 01:09:52.319 --> 01:09:52.560 All right. 01:09:52.640 --> 01:09:56.960 Uh the only other thing I had on my list, and we're

getting towards actually the tail end of this podcast. 01:09:57.039 --> 01:09:58.239 I think we're a little long already. 01:09:58.319 --> 01:10:00.000 Uh, so we can do this one rather quickly. 01:10:00.079 --> 01:10:00.319 I know. 01:10:00.800 --> 01:10:03.680 I said there was a lot of stuff, and we'll finish it up now and then we'll be done. 01:10:03.760 --> 01:10:07.119 Oh, by the way, before I forget, we should plug F and O again. 01:10:07.199 --> 01:10:08.319 Uh November 13th. 01:10:08.479 --> 01:10:10.239 If you haven't bought a table yet, what's wrong with you? 01:10:10.319 --> 01:10:10.720 Go do it. 01:10:10.800 --> 01:10:12.399 Give us money, money, money, money, money, money. 01:10:12.560 --> 01:10:14.960 Table is$3,000 and half table is$1,500. 01:10:15.039 --> 01:10:16.560 You can buy a ticket too if you want to go. 01:10:16.640 --> 01:10:18.479 Uh Jonathan Turley is our keynote speaker. 01:10:18.560 --> 01:10:20.000 It's gonna be a rocking good time. 01:10:20.079 --> 01:10:20.560 You should come down. 01:10:20.720 --> 01:10:24.319 Good times will be had by Friday, November 13th at noon. 01:10:24.560 --> 01:10:25.199 Yeah, it's Friday. 01:10:25.279 --> 01:10:27.119 You can celebrate a Friday with us, it'll be fun. 01:10:27.199 --> 01:10:28.000 And it's a luncheon. 01:10:28.560 --> 01:10:29.439 So many people don't. 01:10:29.600 --> 01:10:34.239 I literally invite people some of the sometimes to these things and ask them if they want to be sponsors or buy a ticket. 01:10:34.399 --> 01:10:37.840 And I'm like, our luncheon on the 13th is going to be whatever. 01:10:37.920 --> 01:10:39.279 And they're like, I don't think I can make it. 01:10:39.359 --> 01:10:40.159 I have something that night. 01:10:40.239 --> 01:10:42.399 And I'm like, noon. 01:10:42.640 --> 01:10:44.239 It's a luncheon. 01:10:44.479 --> 01:10:44.720 Lunch. 01:10:45.039 --> 01:10:45.920 It is a lunch. 01:10:46.079 --> 01:10:47.600 Come to a lunch with us. 01:10:47.840 --> 01:10:52.479 So now that I've said that, we can move on to the last uh last thing, which we don't have to spend too much time on. 01:10:52.560 --> 01:10:56.159 But uh, Garrick, you did bring this up while we were planning out our conversation today. 01:10:56.319 --> 01:11:05.680 The Maine Wire, which you brought up just a moment ago, and some of their coverage of some of the recent things around uh around Maine, uh, has been all over this translator issue. 01:11:05.760 --> 01:11:11.680 Um, some of the reporting there, basically, long story short, Lewiston, you know, voting, you know, your early voting is happening now. 01:11:11.760 --> 01:11:15.199 People are going into polls to register their vote. 01:11:15.439 --> 01:11:23.439 And there is a suspiciously weird thing occurring whereby certain individuals are coming in there in tow uh with a translator. 01:11:23.600 --> 01:11:29.840 They don't speak English, and the translator is supposed to, I mean, they are by law, they are supposed to have that service. 01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:32.640 Like that's something that they are to be given if they request it. 01:11:32.880 --> 01:11:33.920 The city is supposed to provide it. 01:11:34.079 --> 01:11:36.000 The city is supposed to provide it, correct, or municipality. 01:11:36.399 --> 01:11:37.359 And I have no problem with that. 01:11:37.520 --> 01:11:42.000 I would, of course, prefer if you spoke English if you vote in this country, but that's a that's a completely separate conversation. 01:11:42.800 --> 01:11:42.880 Yeah. 01:11:43.039 --> 01:11:43.840 Um, but you know what? 01:11:43.920 --> 01:11:46.239 It is a law, and that's fine, and it should happen. 01:11:46.479 --> 01:11:51.039 But that is a super big amount of power to give somebody, is it not? 01:11:51.520 --> 01:12:06.000 Like you, Montana, don't speak a word of the language, and you don't even understand the ballot you're looking at, and I am the guy who's in charge of telling you what's on it and where you check the box if you want to do something, right? 01:12:06.239 --> 01:12:11.039 So all of a sudden you're handing me, the translator, an immense amount of power. 01:12:11.199 --> 01:12:12.399 And what is to stop? 01:12:12.560 --> 01:12:15.680 Seriously, answer this question if you have if you have no problem with this, Democrats. 01:12:15.760 --> 01:12:18.000 I want to know more about why you don't care about this. 01:12:18.239 --> 01:12:26.079 What is to stop me from just manipulating the hell out of you and saying, well, what you really want to do is, you know, check that box and you really want to go there and you really want to do that. 01:12:26.159 --> 01:12:36.000 And you're no longer making up your own mind, and you're just being told what to do by what is now a non paid nonprofit uh translator who has an ulterior motive and has a political agenda. 01:12:36.560 --> 01:12:36.960 Which they do. 01:12:37.039 --> 01:12:38.960 I mean, like it's not even they're not even hiding it. 01:12:39.119 --> 01:12:43.920 They have specific favored candidates, they like certain political parties and people. 01:12:44.159 --> 01:12:51.279 And I'm expected to believe that that's not somehow providing some kind of influence to the people that are actually voting in that way. 01:12:51.760 --> 01:12:52.399 I'm sorry. 01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:53.680 But I do. 01:12:54.239 --> 01:12:55.199 I think that's pretty fair. 01:12:55.439 --> 01:13:08.399 It's funny too, because I think there's there was a local person who told the wire guys that they've been witnessing this happening for years and years, but this is the first time it's ever actually been covered like this. 01:13:08.640 --> 01:13:08.880 Oh, yeah. 01:13:09.039 --> 01:13:09.600 So yeah. 01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:13.520 Oh, you're are you suggesting, sir, the Press Herald would not have a invested self in the state? 01:13:13.760 --> 01:13:15.359 Where's Steve Collins when you need him? 01:13:15.760 --> 01:13:18.239 Well, he's complimenting us on

mainpoliticoldata.com. 01:13:18.479 --> 01:13:19.359 I uh thank you, Steve. 01:13:19.520 --> 01:13:21.039 If you're listening, I appreciate the tweet. 01:13:21.279 --> 01:13:23.359 Uh doing you solid to make that site for you. 01:13:23.439 --> 01:13:25.439 Um, yeah, no, obviously not very interested in this. 01:13:25.600 --> 01:13:32.319 And indeed, he and they, you know, are already trouting out the it's racist to make this observation thing. 01:13:32.560 --> 01:13:34.720 Like you're trying to intimidate a community. 01:13:34.800 --> 01:13:37.520 And I don't know how many more times I or anyone else needs to say it. 01:13:37.680 --> 01:13:40.880 Like, if you're entitled to vote and you're a citizen of the country, like go vote. 01:13:40.960 --> 01:13:41.840 Like, I want you to. 01:13:42.000 --> 01:13:42.640 It's not that. 01:13:42.720 --> 01:13:57.680 It's that I don't want political gamesmanship involved in the voting decision of anyone, myself included, but certainly somebody who's vulnerable, somebody who is you know just starting to learn how to do this and like is being led around by political activists. 01:13:57.840 --> 01:13:59.279 Yeah, and I really hate that. 01:13:59.520 --> 01:14:02.960 I mean, it is a violation of a of election policy, too. 01:14:03.359 --> 01:14:04.720 Well, it would be electioneering if that's what they're doing. 01:14:04.880 --> 01:14:05.680 Electioneering, right? 01:14:05.760 --> 01:14:24.079 I mean, because if you're if you're bringing in your own translators who are, yeah, standing with you at the ballot box and like you said, like dictating everything to you, and you know, they're they're not going through the proper channels, they're not going through the proper avenue, which is you need to find someone at the uh in the city or the municipality. 01:14:24.640 --> 01:14:25.439 The city should be providing it. 01:14:25.520 --> 01:14:26.239 It should be a municipality. 01:14:27.760 --> 01:14:33.840 It shouldn't be the everything involved with the nonprofit sector getting in bed with government makes me deeply uncomfortable. 01:14:33.920 --> 01:14:34.159 Right. 01:14:34.319 --> 01:14:35.680 Because it's self-interested. 01:14:35.760 --> 01:14:48.159 It's not it's not like a government service that's that's provided to us, it's a self-interested, politically minded nonprofit serving a need government has for a translator. 01:14:49.359 --> 01:14:50.560 That's that's what we get dirty. 01:14:50.960 --> 01:14:51.600 That's gross. 01:14:51.840 --> 01:14:52.239 I don't like that. 01:14:52.640 --> 01:14:52.880 Yeah. 01:14:53.359 --> 01:14:53.760 Yeah. 01:14:54.000 --> 01:15:11.840 Um, and it's it's I guess like you know, more troubling too that there's there's all sorts of c connections with some of these people to Gateway Community Services, which has obviously been mired in uh controversial, uh yeah, and fraud, uh with their CEO still, I guess, somewhere on the run. 01:15:12.479 --> 01:15:13.600 Somewhere jubilant. 01:15:13.920 --> 01:15:14.159 Yeah. 01:15:14.239 --> 01:15:29.359 So like and Sophia Khalid was seen with some of uh the the people who are busting to vote and some of the translators, and she's kind of like a known activist in Lewiston, uh, who um has some I would say colorful words for Steve Robinson in the past. 01:15:29.600 --> 01:15:36.399 Um so it's it just all looks like really obviously like it it just it invites suspicion, you know what I mean? 01:15:36.479 --> 01:15:41.600 It and that's why it it it just raises red flags, which is not something you want in your voting system. 01:15:41.760 --> 01:15:44.239 You don't want people to talk about questions like that. 01:15:44.479 --> 01:15:49.199 Well, yeah, well, it's like if we're you know we talk about RCV and how that what what is it? 01:15:49.279 --> 01:15:52.239 It's like it it invites um doubt. 01:15:52.560 --> 01:15:55.359 It hinders, yeah, it can hinder trust or faith in the system. 01:15:55.680 --> 01:16:09.119 So when you see something like this happening in broad daylight in a city, then it's like, I mean, sorry, it doesn't exactly it's not it's not really the system itself that is is at fault, it's just there's but there's something obvious. 01:16:09.600 --> 01:16:09.840 Yeah, yeah. 01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:12.079 No, it is it is okay, it is the system at fault. 01:16:12.239 --> 01:16:19.279 I mean, like the the very fact that we got comfortable with doing this in the first place and that now this is an increasing need that is being served in a kind of nefarious way. 01:16:19.359 --> 01:16:41.520 I don't like I mean I would just ask anybody on the political left if it if everything was reversed about this and you saw me taking a I don't know French speaking citizen who's who's who's just uh just become a citizen and doesn't know anything about anything, and like I'm holding them by the hand and walking into the voting booth and I'm I'm pointing like no no no that one right there, I'll do that. 01:16:41.760 --> 01:16:44.079 Would you or would you not be a little bit suspicious of me? 01:16:44.319 --> 01:16:49.840 Yeah, and it and it wouldn't be just you, it's a uh the fact that it'd be like a how about MPI? 01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:50.960 A multitude of MPI. 01:16:51.199 --> 01:16:52.239 MPI is a nonprofit. 01:16:52.319 --> 01:17:00.960 Let's just say that we offer translator services, and uh you know that we're very self-interested in all this stuff because we weigh in on all these issues, we have an agenda, right? 01:17:01.119 --> 01:17:09.840 So you're telling me that if I sent Montana and Garrick and Emily into uh voting booths with people and they started pointing at the ballot and they said, You do this one, you do this one, no, no, no. 01:17:09.920 --> 01:17:10.880 No, no, no, not that one. 01:17:11.039 --> 01:17:11.760 This one, right? 01:17:11.920 --> 01:17:13.520 You'd be fine with that. 01:17:13.760 --> 01:17:14.800 You'd be fine with that. 01:17:14.880 --> 01:17:18.560 Just go ahead and say that to me with a straight face and okay, fine, we'll keep doing it. 01:17:19.279 --> 01:17:21.039 Okay, there you go. 01:17:21.359 --> 01:17:24.159 Anything else we've missed, ladies and gentlemen. 01:17:24.319 --> 01:17:26.399 And I mean that this time because Emily was with us. 01:17:26.560 --> 01:17:27.920 So I can say, ladies and gentlemen. 01:17:28.960 --> 01:17:29.359 Nothing. 01:17:29.520 --> 01:17:30.479 All right, so that's it. 01:17:30.640 --> 01:17:31.199 Thank you very much. 01:17:31.279 --> 01:17:32.880 Emily, wonderful to have you with us. 01:17:33.039 --> 01:17:34.159 Um welcome aboard. 01:17:34.479 --> 01:17:37.520 Very excited to have many more podcasts ahead. 01:17:37.680 --> 01:17:39.600 Uh, next week is the week. 01:17:39.760 --> 01:17:43.840 It is the uh calm before the storm, four days before election day. 01:17:43.920 --> 01:17:47.680 So we'll do predictions, we'll talk about the actual home stretch and so much more. 01:17:47.760 --> 01:17:48.800 So stay tuned for that. 01:17:48.960 --> 01:17:50.720 We'll see you next week on Pine Tree Balls.