Latest / Palafox Media Network / Political Matrix News: Iran's nuclear threat Trump's approach to regulating corporations
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- Greg Fink: Welcome guys, welcome back to the political matrix news. Hello, Mike and Scott, how are y'all doing tonight? Mike Bates: You in okay? Scott Miller: Road weary, but none the worse for wear. Greg Fink: that's a good one too. Scott Miller: Hahaha! Greg Fink: it is another wonderful day in this wonderful 250th anniversary here of America. the Olympics are over and I guess was all fun. And anybody talk about it? Scott Miller: The baseball game is over. Greg Fink: Exactly, the baseball game's over, Final Four's starting up. Scott Miller: Now, I will say, yeah, but before we get too far away from this baseball game though, you know, ⁓ not making any kind of a comment on the Venezuelan team, but boy, doesn't it make you wonder just how legit this game is when America to get into it, we somehow get into it, and then Venezuela, who's like the underdog that everyone's sympathetic for because of everything that's gone on over last few years. and now they're on an upward trend and they're going to beat the Americans. This sounds a little soap operatic to me. Almost like the baseball version of wrestling. Mike Bates: Yeah. I do think it's legitimate though, but I absolutely understand what you're saying. Scott Miller: Son of a- Yeah, I think it's legitimate. I watched the game and be hard. I mean, it might impossible to fake something like that, but you know, I guess that's the Chicago eight, but they, they, they definitely, it was emotional ride for sure. ⁓ and I'm like, okay, well good. ⁓ And I two, ⁓ two friends slash workers that, that are from there. And I watched the game with them and they were just ecstatic as they could be and God bless them. But I'm like, man, Greg Fink: Right. Scott Miller: I could've written this script. Greg Fink: Yeah, well, it's sports. Scott Miller: But you know, congratulations to them. I'm truly not trying to take anything away from them. It's just funny how that lined up. Greg Fink: Right. Yeah, I mean, what's the day today? Today's March, what, 19th? 18th? 18th? And so the Final Four is, I guess, getting into gear here. And I'm a University of Florida fan, and hopefully the Florida Gators will do something here to do something a little bit better and match what they did last year. Scott Miller: 18. Well they got to step it up. been kind of error prone this for few weeks anyway. Greg Fink: Yeah, I'm little disappointed at that, but hopefully they'll turn it around. Scott Miller: And I'm not even a basketball fan, you know, I gotta watch this stuff sometimes, especially when it gets to the championship games. Greg Fink: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, now Mike, he's wearing a Florida State shirt, so how are they doing this year in basketball? Mike Bates: Can you see the Florida State logo on the screen? Greg Fink: I saw it whenever you sat down. Mike Bates: Okay, well can raise up and you can see it there, but I didn't think it showed up on the screen. Scott Miller: Hahaha! Greg Fink: No it doesn't, I just got through it because I knew you were wearing it whenever, before the camera came on. Mike Bates: Okay, yeah that's all right. Now hey Florida State's, well Florida State's having a rough time with their sports. Although we are national champions in women's soccer, there is that. That's right. Greg Fink: But how are they doing though? Scott Miller: Hey, that's something, I guess, yeah. Greg Fink: Good job. Go Gnolls Mike Bates: That's right. Scott Miller: and the Florida women's hockey team. Greg Fink: Anyway. Scott Miller: I don't know if there is one. Greg Fink: I don't know if there is one, that's about as good as Jerome Power here saying today that he has one in cut interest rates. once again, the Fed. Scott Miller: He want to leave office with just complete pettiness on his record. Greg Fink: Right, mean, I think we're talking before the show. mean, Michael is mentioning the price of oil and how it's fluctuating with different barrels, know, different types of oil and everything. I'm waiting for it to start dropping at the gas pump here a little bit. I mean, it was, I guess, 119, 120, 125 a gallon a barrel, I guess, last week. And now it's, what ⁓ is 98 a barrel or 108 a barrel, 110? Mike Bates: Well, West Texas Intermediate is 98, but Brent is 109. And as of this exact moment when we're doing this podcast, the world would be the Brent, Brent crude. So 109. West Texas Intermediate is more what we use in the US. And there are different grades of oil. oil is not oil is not oil. There are different grades of it, depending on the sulfur content and other things that make it easier, difficult to refine. And also where it's geographically located. So Greg Fink: Okay Scott Miller: Brent LightSweep. Greg Fink: Right. Mike Bates: A lot of the US, we get it West Texas Intermediate because, it's right here in the US. Asia and much of Europe gets it from the Middle East. And Brent crude is actually derived from North Sea oil. mean, if you look at historically what that is, it's North Sea oil. It doesn't necessarily mean North Sea oil anymore, but that is the global standard is Brent crude. And as of this moment, it's $109 a barrel with predictions that it may go to 200, depending on how long the Strait of Hormuz stays closed. Greg Fink: Yeah, we were talking about that in the last show about the Strait of Four moves and about how America is going to try to keep it secured and open. And so going on with that right now? I guess Iran closed it because they're in charge. And why are they in charge to close it? Scott Miller: Well, they closed it to all, and their allies, which is basically everyone. Because they get to determine who the allies are. So if you've ever had an opportunity to say something bad about the United States and you didn't do it, you are an ally. Greg Fink: ⁓ okay. We are, we'll be, everybody. Exactly. And that's who they're attacking right now. They're bombing at the allies. Mike Bates: Yeah, so I don't want to be pedantic here and argue, I don't want to be pedantic in argumentative with Scott, even though he thinks I argue with him about everything he says. But technically Iran claims they haven't closed the Strait of Hormuz. They're saying we didn't close it. Now what they are doing though is they're shooting at ships like Scott said that are allied with the U.S. So Iranian ships have gone through it, but no other ships have been allowed passage. But they claim it, they're not actually closing it. Even though it is de facto closed because ships that try to traverse it are getting attacked by drones or I'm not sure any mines have actually hit anything yet, but they're certainly being attacked by anti-ship missiles and by drones. And so the shippers can't get insurance to transit the strait. And without insurance, they're not willing to do it. And don't blame them. I mean, we're talking about hundreds of million dollars worth of ships, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crude oil. Greg Fink: Whatever. Mike Bates: You can't put that at risk. got to have insurance on it. And I know Donald Trump announced two weeks ago that the US was going to provide that insurance for about 100 miles stretch. And once it makes the open sea, go back to the typically the London shipping insurance companies. That has yet to materialize, though, and I'm not quite sure why. Greg Fink: Yeah. Scott Miller: Well, I'll you the interesting thing about that. And this may be a point of negotiation because you know, Lloyd's of London is the one that has traditionally provided that type of insurance for for dang a century or more. Mike Bates: right, more than a century, yeah, centuries, ⁓ Scott Miller: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And, uh, and now with this, with, with Trump offering this out of, uh, you know, out of the United States and using the United States, full faith and credit of the United States to, ensure these things, it, takes a big club out of, uh, out of the British in fact, uh, you know, arsenal for, for negotiating with people for international trade. It puts it, takes that power from the British and gives it to us. And so it's, it may simply be that Trump is that as a lever against the British to say, look, you know, either do something for me or we're taking that power away from you. Greg Fink: I guess my question... Mike Bates: Well, I see it though as of London is making a business, not a political decision. And I don't disagree with it as a business decision. I mean, if I was asked, if I was advising Lloyd's and like, Hey Mike, should we ensure ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz right now? I'd say hell no. What are you crazy? So the business decision is the right one. I don't think it's a political decision at all on the part of the British. Now, obviously Donald Trump has political considerations to include. And it may or may not be in the calculus to try to dethrone London, Lloyds of London specifically, although they're not the only insurer, but dethrone them as the primary insurance market for global shipping. But does the US government really want to get in the business of insuring private cargo? The US Navy, that's what we do. mean, part of the Navy's legitimate role is defending international trade. I know the lefties don't like that. I know the peaceniks don't like that. But the reality is that the United States military, does it protect our shores? Does it protect our freedom? Well, sure it does. But it also protects our trade. And armies have done that through centuries. I mean, even when you look at the Silk Road, you want to go back to then. But what do you have? You had legions of armies protecting who? The merchants on the Silk Road, the trade routes. And so to say, oh, US Navy, they're going to be protecting oil. Yeah, well. Greg Fink: Exactly, who cares? Mike Bates: Oil is the blood that has to circulate around the globe or the planet dies. So I understand what people are complaining about. It's a legitimate role of the military. Greg Fink: Yeah, whenever it's too... Exactly, when somebody tells me this is worse about oil, I'm like, yeah, damn well that is about oil, and that's not a bad thing. Mike Bates: Well, I don't think oil is the primary reason. It's a factor, but it is not at the top. Nuclear weapons are at the top. Scott Miller: Well, I won't tell you this. No, this is. Greg Fink: No, it's not. Scott Miller: No, and, yeah, and this is long, long overdue. We've been letting countries like them get away with murder for decades, you know, in this, you know, effort to protect us against, you know, World War III, a World War III that was never going to come. You know, Russia was never going to start that, start that. China definitely was never going to start it. So, so we've been kind of sitting on our hands for a long time, letting this fester. Greg Fink: Exactly. Scott Miller: for decades and it's time for it to stop. So I get that there's some economic pain going on right now and it's not fun. I'm not trivializing it at all, but it's the price we've paid for being so reluctant to put our foot down for things that we knew were gonna be a problem for a long time. Greg Fink: Exactly. ⁓ yeah. Exactly, mean... Mike Bates: But actually, Scott, the price that we are paying now, if the price of oil and gasoline doubles from what it is right now, the price we are paying now is low compared to the price we will pay if the mad mullahs who rule Iran get a nuclear ⁓ So ⁓ why I still support this war. If Donald Trump ends these hostilities with the Islamic Greg Fink: Mm-hmm. Scott Miller: Exactly. Greg Fink: Exactly. ⁓ yeah. Mike Bates: theocrats still in charge of Iran, then it would have been a huge mistake and we never should have gone in the first place. If we, however, can replace the theocracy with a secular pro-Western government, then it will absolutely be worth doing and it'll be the greatest foreign policy success of the millennium. because we don't know the outcome yet, it's too soon to really say whether the war is worthwhile. At the moment, I it. But if Donald Trump chickens out, it for any reason and settles for anything short of regime change, then it will have all been a colossal waste of blood and treasure. Greg Fink: I agree. Scott Miller: Well, I'm only going to qualify this. ⁓ agree with you. I'm only going to qualify it to this extent. What Trump did over in Venezuela he left enough of the secular, admittedly secular government there in place, even the he knew were going to be criminals, had a history of being criminals and told them basically, you're in charge for now. You're going to have elections and you're to follow the elections. and how that works, that's gonna work out. He will probably try to do something like this with the secular elements of the Iranian government, because keeping those people in place his way of creating an easy transition. Unless you what the mullahs got, you guys need to tow the line this way. And then when your people ⁓ want an have the election, need to follow the results. And I think that's, I think that's the extent of which we're going to go. And I hope it is because it's, it's the thing that Trump does. It's different than everyone. He lets, he lets there be, and he helps build value in these countries that are decimated in a way, virtue of deals with the United States and deals with other people that Trump negotiates. And I guarantee he has in his hand right now, a stack of billions of dollars worth of deals start issuing out ⁓ things are stabilized in Iran. Mike Bates: except that there isn't a secular government in Iran. There's not even elements of a secular government in Iran. Iran is an Islamic theocracy. It is run by the mullahs, by the supreme leader by the IRGC. The IRGC is not just the military group that defends the regime, although that is a stated purpose. They are integrated into every aspect of Iranian society from banking to agriculture to education to healthcare. The IRGC runs Iran. And until we can replace those leaders and, we're picking them off one by one, and I applaud that, but until they are replaced with the secular leaders, the plan that you just laid out, won't because the theocrats, they will never subject themselves to the will of Donald Trump. They will only subject themselves to the will of Allah. And Donald despite what he may think, is not God. Greg Fink: So they have to be gone too. Scott Miller: Well, if their government was actually set up like that, you would be right, but that's not how it's set up. The IRGC does have power over literally everything, and they do have representatives at every level of government, but they have regular garden-variety bureaucrats actually doing the day-to-day work there. And those are the people I'm talking about. And they have little councils that get to make the small decisions that the IRGC doesn't overrule them on. the IRGC doesn't actually do the work. They're too big. It's literally, and this is gonna sound funny, I'm not joking, that it is literally too much work oppressing the people for them to be bothered with making sure that the water keeps flowing. Mike Bates: Yes, but the IRGC does run the country. The supreme leader is the supreme leader, but the IRGC runs it. And you don't get to be in the IRGC, Scott, unless you're a true believer. Now, you could be in the Iranian army and be secular. That's different. You got the Iranian army, which is a completely different thing than the IRGC. And what we really need to somehow convince them to do, and I would have assumed we'd have arranged it already, but apparently we haven't, is to get elements of the Iranian army to mount the coup. Greg Fink: Yeah, I think you're saying that. Mike Bates: against the IRGC and have them fight it out. But you don't get to be in a position of leadership in the IRGC unless you are a true believer. Greg Fink: Well, then you go too. Scott Miller: You are right, but what I'm saying is, see you're just talking past what I'm saying. There are actual people that do day-to-day works, even the Army, even the actual Army, that are not members of the IRGC because you can't find enough people with the qualifications to be in the IRGC who are also qualified to run things. So instead what you do is you make sure, you put them on boards or next to boards where you do these things. to give them the authority to overrule things or to give guidance for things. if a comma out of place, they can just say, no, redo the commas, redo the whole thing. But they don't make the day-to-day decisions because it's just trivial to them. Those are not the things. They're too busy regulating the morality and the ⁓ of the to be bothered with, you know, You know, why garbage isn't being picked up? Mike Bates: Yes, but the that you're referring to who aren't the radicals, they're not the ones that are going to take over. The guy who's changing out the transformer on the electrical pole or checking the water meter or picking up the trash or sending out the natural gas bill or whatever they're doing, those people aren't going to run the government. You've got to get people in leadership to take over and nobody in the leadership of the IRGC is going to do it, which means we've got to have others that do it and they either need to be Greg Fink: We have no idea who's going to take over. Well, yeah. Yeah. Scott Miller: They are not, those boards have people, Mike. Those people have leadership people. The IRGC does not do that. The IRGC doesn't sit on the board to determine the budget for much water we're going to ride, which road we're going to pave. They don't do any of that. ⁓ they do is sure that the people that are making those mundane decisions are following the celestial directives. Greg Fink: I-I-I-I- Mike Bates: Right, and the people making those mundane decisions are not going to take over the government. We're talking about two completely different elements here. You're focusing on the rank and file bureaucrats, and I'm not disputing what you're saying about them. But you seem to be missing the point that I'm trying to make, that these rank and file bureaucrats aren't going be the ones to take over the country. The leaders in the IRGC are, and they are the hardcore believers, and they're not going to give up. Scott Miller: That's all they do. Greg Fink: I I was saying this. Well, yeah. Let me go ahead and say... We don't know that. say we don't know that. Well, actually, OK, go ahead. Exactly. Scott Miller: worth. The IRGC are the ones that have to go. they're gone... Mike Bates: Right! So what are we disagreeing about? Greg Fink: You don't disagree at all. Scott Miller: because you are being pedantic again because you won't listen to what I'm saying. No one is disputing that the IRGC is bad. No one's disputing that the mullets are bad. They're the ones that are getting whittled down. The ones that do the rank and file work are the ones that are gonna be taken over when you get rid of the IRGC and the mullets. Those are going to be the, that is going to be the government. in fact, when all of this started, Greg Fink: Y'all gotta go. Mike Bates: Okay. Scott Miller: There was an attempt at negotiation with people the army and those people would be granted amnesty for the things that happened to the protesters. Those are the people that have done bad things, but are going to be allowed to stay in place because they're not part of the IRGC. Mike Bates: Okay, so if what you're saying, and look, I'm not putting words in your mouth, I'm clarifying. If what you're saying is that once the top 20 levels of IRGC leadership are dead, can somebody take over? I will go along with that. And I'm all in favor of killing the top 20 levels, Scott, but the IRGC does rule the entire country with an iron fist. Their tentacles are in every aspect of the culture and the economy. And I just don't see these secular. I'm not equivocating at all. I am being very consistent. Greg Fink: No. Okay. Okay. Scott Miller: You're equivocating. You're equivocating. You are equivocating. Yes, you are. Greg Fink: Okay. Mike Bates: about who runs Iran and it is not the secular bureaucrats. Greg Fink: Well yeah, okay. Okay, well... Scott Miller: You're equivocating because the design, because what is the definition of running things is where the equivocation is. Greg Fink: say anything. Okay, well, just a break in here. Mike Bates: I'm talking to you, when you set policy and you enforce that at the end of a gun, which is what they do, then you run the place. The people... Greg Fink: Right, okay. Scott Miller: You think the IRGC determines water quality levels? Mike Bates: No, the guy that's doing the testing of the water is not going to suddenly be the president of Iran. Scott Miller: No, but his bosses bought, that's what I'm saying, the bosses of those people. see, to an American equivalent, there is board like the ECUA board here in Iran that does that sort of thing. They're probably appointed, but they are still things ⁓ on that thing. delegated authority, there are delegated authorities for all sorts of mundane things. And the only of the delegation is that they can be overridden because they're water to Mohammed ⁓ who toeing line like they want him to. And so they may do individual like that, but at the end of the day, the people that physically make the decisions to run the infrastructure for the country are not the IRGC. The IRGC just people that ⁓ look at those people say, hey, you know, I don't think you gave enough... Praise to Allah, step it up. That's all they do. Greg Fink: I want to in here real quick. I want to step in. Yeah, kill them all. Well, yeah, actually, go ahead. Mike Bates: Right, so kill the top 20 layers, we'll get down to the people you're talking about. Scott Miller: It's not built the way you think it is, Mike. It's just not. Mike Bates: It absolutely is. clearly, Scott, have not studied enough about the IRGC and how deeply they are in Iran. They control the country. The IRGC ⁓ is power in Iran. Greg Fink: Okay... ⁓ Okay. Okay. I get it. Yes. Scott Miller: You don't have to be on top of the board, you don't have to be on the board to control the country. You can just be the guy that walks up to the board member and says, hey, do what the Mueller said. The Mueller doesn't say you do that, don't do that. So you can still be nominally in charge of the board, but still not, but not an IRGC member. Greg Fink: Okay, I'm gonna step in real quick. Okay. No, I don't think we're, okay. Mike Bates: So what part of the rank and file bureaucrats aren't going to take over are we disagreeing about? Scott Miller: I'm I'm over. I'm because you keep talking about talking like there's these 30 layers of people on top of the regular bureaucracy and that's not that's not how it is and those Mike Bates: ⁓ there absolutely are. They absolutely are. Greg Fink: Okay, I'm going to step in real quick. first of all, I think the whole concept here of this war is to destroy all of them, first of all, and to go ahead and take out the entire government, which is all 30 or 20 or 50 or 100 or however freaking three layers there are, whatever, to get rid of the IRGC and to make sure they're not relevant anymore, to eliminate them, and then to have free elections from the people. here's a little wonderful thing about free elections. They might... vote for a theocrat or a non-theocrat or a secular person but it's a free election, a free, you know, it's a free election. We have no freaking idea how it's gonna end up being but that's reason why we're at war to go ahead and get all this here stuff here fixed and to go ahead and get rid of the Islamic State and the theocratic government and everything. are, you know, I really don't care and I don't think really people in battle or in the military give a damn how many levels it is. The whole concept here is to get rid of all of them. And yes, mean, Scott is right. I Elijah's bureaucrats and Mike's right. I mean, you have to get rid of the layers. And we're going to do both. I mean, that's a whole reason for a war. That's a whole reason that defines success. That's a whole reason that defines it working. Now, the whole concept here is that if you go to war, you're killing people and blowing things up and you leave that power to be, then we never should have been at war in the first place. The whole idea here is to replace those mothers and get them the hell out of there. and to basically have a secular government set up which would be replacing the IRGC, which would be replacing anybody in Iran who is in control now, who would be replacing and eliminating and annihilating all of them together, like, you know, basically how we ended the caliphate with ISIS. I mean, you know, we're to have at the end of the day, it's going to be hard, but some people are going to die. There's going be a lot of deaths. And that's good. That's fine because they're the ones who are killing everybody and paying for the terrorism. I don't really get a bit of pain about that. Yeah, who gives a The whole point here is to annihilate them. And yeah, in all 30 levels, as you put it, Mike, we'll have to go. And if there's more levels, then they got to go. If there's fewer levels, they got to go too. In order to have ⁓ a secular ⁓ government, we to be able to do that. Mike Bates: Okay, so. All right, so my screen just locked up. So I'm going to jump in. I don't know if I'm being recorded as part of this podcast or not. You guys are locked up. But I'm going to jump in and say this. OK, actually, apparently that was my end that just disconnected. You guys froze up, but I now have you back. I think. Am I back? OK. OK, well, I was frozen on my end. You guys froze up. So anyway, I'm going to jump in because it sounds like you have finished. So I'm going to say this. That is your stated goal, Greg. Greg Fink: Okay. Well, yeah, you never frozen us. Yeah, mine. It should be the only goal. Mike Bates: And that is my stated goal. No, hold on. And that is my stated goal. And I believe that's also Scott's goal. But my question for you is what is Donald Trump's goal? well, exactly. He has not articulated what defines success. So while the three of us are all day long saying we have to replace the theocrats, he has not committed to regime change at all. Greg Fink: And it should be Trump's goal. Who knows? Wuh. Well he did say regime change. He said regime change. Well, nobody commits to anything. Mike Bates: He moves those goal posts back and forth at a whim, sometimes in the same press conference, sometimes in the same paragraph he'll change the goal. So Donald Trump has not articulated Greg Fink: with it. Well, regardless of what I say or you say or anybody says, the only way to success, well, okay, let me go ahead say it this way. It doesn't matter what Trump says or what any of us say, the only way of success is to annihilate and to eliminate theocrat. So ⁓ it. I don't care, okay? And so I don't care what he said, okay? mean, ⁓ what he is irrelevant to what's... Mike Bates: Well, have you heard Donald Trump say that? Well, wait a minute, he's the guy in charge, what do you you don't care? Scott Miller: Why would Donald Trump say that? Why would Donald Trump say that? Mike Bates: Because Donald Trump has an obligation to no one else, the American people, to explain why we're there. And understand, I support this so far. I'm not anti-Trump. I'm not anti-war. I recognize the need to do this. But if he's going to half-ass it, he shouldn't have done it. And he has yet to... Can I finish the sentence, please? He has yet to articulate his goal to the American people. And that is disgraceful. Greg Fink: But he also doesn't have to show his cards out. He doesn't have to show his cards. Well, it is and it isn't because a lot of times whenever you start articulating things that this wonderful media of ours likes to take parts of sentences and parts of other sentences and screw them all together. mean, you know, there's ⁓ a to be said for not showing your cards and because... ⁓ Scott Miller: You mean like when the BBC him saying, telling to go to the Capitol and take over? You mean like that? Greg Fink: I mean... Mike Bates: It just the BBC. But ⁓ without the filter of the fake news, Donald Trump contradicts himself constantly. And I have yet to hear him explain why we are at this war. And he owes that explanation to the American people. Greg Fink: Yeah, CNN too. Well, that has nothing to do with this. Well, I'm okay. Scott Miller: I don't care if we're at war because they offended him. We need to be at war with them. Greg Fink: Yeah, this is overdue. I'm okay with it. Mike Bates: That would be the worst possible reason is because somebody offended Donald Trump. We've still got to have a legitimate national security interest. And I believe we have national security interests. So he should articulate what those are, but he hasn't done it yet. If the threat, let me just, if I may, if the threat, and look, according to the Steve Witkoff, he said, Steve Witkoff just a few days ago said that in the negotiations, Scott Miller: It certainly would. Greg Fink: We do. Well, his inability... Mike Bates: The other side of the table, the Iranians told him they have enough uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs. Well, hey, Donald Trump, how about you tell that to the American people and say they could have done that in weeks? And that's why we went in. Now, there's a whole bunch of talking heads who are saying that's why we went in, but I'm yet to hear that from the man in charge of these operations. And he won't talk about regime change, huh? He's talking about an imminent threat, but he hasn't defined what an imminent threat is. Greg Fink: Well, I think we had that during, I think we had that issue with Colin Powell. Okay, do you remember Colin Powell and what he was told and all the intel with 9-11 and how that all bit George W in the butt and everything? know, here's one interesting thing about the Iranians telling about enough uranium, they might be lying. Mike Bates: Of course. Greg Fink: They might be wrong and whenever they go there to go look for it, to justify it, to justify it, to justify it, to justify it, it might not be there. Then they're going to say, oh, well, this is another made up thing that Trump did. They're going to forget the whole conversation part that they were told that they're going to say that basically, Wyckoff is lying about being told that. And basically, you know, he was misleading people about being told that, or maybe they were wrong about being told that. Because the reality here is until they have the intel, Mike Bates: Alright. Greg Fink: And until the intelligence departments are honest and clear with everything, which I think we've had an issue with the Intel and the deep state being totally abstract and against almost everything Trump was doing in the first term and actually trying to help get him impeached in the first term and help get him arrested and whenever he wasn't president. they've been a little bit slow to the start here, but they're doing pretty good so far in this partial second But that being said, the Intel and the deep state don't have the credibility by anybody in the media because Wittkopf is saying all that and they're going to hinge everything on that the same way they did with 9-11 in the first war in Iraq, which everybody says now that we never should have done with Shalif Saddam Hussein alone and he's wonderful man and blah blah blah. I mean ⁓ the point here is it doesn't matter what he says. Okay, they're gonna go after him and split the words and do everything they can to attack him and make this war not justifiable. Well, it really is. Mike Bates: All right, so let me address that. know, Scott, you're chomping at the bit to jump into, and I promise I won't filibuster this, but I want to address something that Greg just said. You talked about the 2003 invasion of Iraq being on faulty intelligence because we believe they had weapons of mass destruction. It turns out they didn't. OK. Greg Fink: I don't know. didn't know. I ain't correct. I did not say that. I say that's what the media said. Actually, the intelligence I think was was correct, actually. Mike Bates: Fine, okay, fine, okay. Okay, modification taken, I won't argue that. But here's the thing, Saddam Hussein he had weapons of mass destruction. If he was lying, that's on him. If somebody comes up to you with ⁓ finger inside their sweatshirt and they say, I've got a gun, hand over your wallet, and you take out a gun and shoot them dead, you can't then say, or they can't rather say to you, ⁓ it was just his finger under his sweatshirt. Greg Fink: He did. But they did. Mike Bates: If he told you it was a gun and you believed it was a gun, you were in fear for your life, you were justified taking the shot. Same thing in international law as well. If Saddam Hussein said he had weapons of mass destruction, if he was lying, well, that's on him. It cost him his life. He's an idiot. OK? And if the Iranians are lying, well, that's on them. But if they say they got it, we have to take them at their word and we have to defend based on what we know to be true based on their words. Greg Fink: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And that's what we're doing now. Saddam said he had it, he killed him, we took him out. Iranians said they have it, we're killing them and taking them out. We're doing the same damn thing in both places. Whenever people say they want to kill millions of people with all these nuclear and uranium and blah blah blah, natural weapons of mass destruction, we annihilate them, we assassinate them, we eliminate them, we take them out. And so we're doing the same thing with Iran. So basically the justification, and so I think that's where the whole faulty correlation here is that people are wanting Trump to go ahead and say that they're baiting him to say that this is a reason why. So then they could just spin it around, say, because we've got all these Republicans who are now saying we never should have gone to Iraq, which they're foolish as hell. We should have. And that war was justified in my opinion, because I know a lot of intel that not a lot of people know. But being said, you know, they're trying to bait Trump here into another impeachable offense of doing a false war without any kind of proper things so that way whenever the Democrats take over in 10 or 11 months in their theory that they can have another reason to impeach him. Instead of trying to get him to go ahead and put his cards out there and his verbal cards out there on the table and he did, you know, you're right. It would be wonderful for a president ⁓ to tell the American people truth. It'd be wonderful to tell them that they can keep their health care whenever they're about to lose their health care. It's wonderful to tell people all the stuff that Biden said and everything else that was all completely lies. It'd be wonderful. But the reality here is that some things just need to be done, period. Right now, this needs to be done. All 30 levels of the Iranian IRGC their leadership all need to go, period. A secular state needs to be set up. The entire religious state needs to be removed and gone, period. Out of all levels of government, all. Mike Bates: Now, please get the President of the United States to say that. Greg Fink: I don't need to. I think the military's doing it with their missiles and their bombs. Scott Miller: What would the media have said before Trump went in someone had told them the talking point that the Iranians currently have ⁓ feasible material to make 11 nuclear bombs? What would they have said? Mike Bates: They would have run stories about George W. Bush and the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it being faulty intelligence and lies and Donald Trump wanting to go to war based on faulty intelligence and lies. That's the story they would take. But we are already in war. The reason we didn't announce anything in advance is because the media and the Democrats, not that there's any difference, I apologize for repeating myself there, but the media and the Democrats would have warned the Iranians we were coming and that deep capitation strike against the Supreme Leader would not have been successful. In fact, not just him, there were 40 under the room. Greg Fink: Bullshit. Yeah, another little work. Mike Bates: wouldn't have been there. So the secrecy was necessary. But now is that the cat's out of the bag, everybody knows we're fighting. So let's explain why. And the president hasn't done so. Greg Fink: Well, I don't need it. Scott Miller: Well, his goal is regime change. He's just not saying that because if he says it's regime change, then all they're going to do is trot out the long string of regime change wars we've had for decades that have just been just criminal failures. Greg Fink: Hitler. Yeah, they'll call him a Hitler, they'll call him Stalin, they'll call him names, they'll call him this, they'll call him that, they'll call him this. mean, they'll do every single frigging thing. Yeah, exactly. I mean, for what he wants to do, which is actually a good thing, it would be against the world court. They'll be a little pissy about it because they seem to get like, know, leaders of Swiss respect leaders, no how many, you know, genocidal people they are. You can't kill a genocidal leader. They're wonderful. Scott Miller: because that's a war crime! Mike Bates: So name for me please, please name for me leader of ⁓ of the 194 countries on the planet. Name for me one leader, not counting the Supreme Leader of Iran, so I guess with that one exception, name for me one head of state who is on the record saying they're perfectly okay with Iran having nuclear weapons. Just one, name one. Greg Fink: I'm not getting any of this. I'll need that one later. I haven't asked for any, none. Mike Bates: Exactly! Scott Miller: But I with you about one other thing and that's that the criticism wouldn't be equating it to Iraq. It would be they don't ⁓ have for a bomb, they have a bomb and they're going to blow it up because now we've done this. That would have been the narrative going in. That would have been the narrative for not doing it. It wouldn't have been because they don't have it. It would be because they do have it. Mike Bates: Yeah, the problem is once they do have it, they're untouchable. It's the reason we can't attack North Korea because North Korea has a bomb, has a nuclear bomb and bunch of them. They're untouchable. Scott Miller: That is absolutely not the reason we can't touch North Korea. The reason we can't touch North Korea is because China would throw a fit and we don't want to throw... China who actually has real very good nuclear bombs to throw a fit. Greg Fink: No they're not. South Korea. Mike Bates: Yeah, there are multiple reasons that we can't attack North Korea. The nukes are number one. The number two reason is because there's a whole bunch of mortars and artillery aimed at Seoul. And so there would be a conventional destruction of Seoul. But yes, China obviously doesn't want us to do that, too. So there's multiple reasons. But once you become a nuclear state, you largely become untouchable. The problem is the Iranian see so far, everybody else who's a nuclear state is run by somewhat sane leaders who don't want to die and don't want their people to die. The problem with the mullahs that Greg Fink: Right, it's... Yeah, that's a total simplification, yeah. Like Russia. Mike Bates: run Iran is that they are all of this 12th Imam sect of Shia Islam. They have this apocalyptic prophecy that if they can bring out about enough death and destruction, this 12th Imam who went into hiding 900 years ago but is still alive in a hole somewhere will be released and will come and rule the world, convert everybody who doesn't already to Islam. And then this global caliphate will run for all of eternity with the Muslims in charge, because everybody on the planet will be Muslim. So they have this apocalyptic prophecy that will only come true if they can bring about death and destruction. supreme leader is on the record, well, he's dead now, but the previous supreme leader said that the price of 60 million Muslim deaths would be worth it against six million Jews being killed. Because he was asked, you find you attack Tel Aviv, you know, they're going to just flatten Iran. And he shrugged, said, 60 million Muslims, small price to pay if it means the deaths of 6 million Jews. These people aren't sane. They're not rational. Greg Fink: Well, yeah. Well, I agree with that. They're not seeing or they're irrational. That's not debatable. Mike Bates: And if everybody agrees that Iran can't have nuclear weapons, then how come only the United States and Israel are willing to lift a finger to make sure that Iran doesn't get nuclear weapons? Greg Fink: Hey, we've got a lot of pathetic countries out there, okay? Mike Bates: Exactly. We got the whole world sucking on our tit once again and refusing to lift a finger to defend their own interests. Scott Miller: Well because they spent the last... Greg Fink: That's pretty wild, give a damn. Scott Miller: And they spent the last 10 years, you know, this liberal, this thing they can't with Donald Trump for anything. This is TDS on a world stage because they can't agree with Donald. Greg Fink: That's the why I don't really care about... I don't need Donald Trump to explain why this is happening. I don't require that from me at all. Mike Bates: Also true. Yes, you're right. You're absolutely right. Scott Miller: I know why it's happening. Mike Bates: If, if Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election, she would probably not be doing this, but let's just say she did. Okay. Let's say that her Intel said, oh, Kamala, got to do this or they're going to have a new can a month. And she goes in. Okay. The very people complaining about Donald Trump doing it would be applauding Kamala Harris for doing it. And you'd have a lot of people on the right, not all of them, but you'd have a lot of people on the right supporting that action. Greg Fink: Well that's different. Yeah. She'd give it to him. Give her more money. Mike Bates: because they know rationally and objectively that Iran must be denied nuclear weapons regardless of the cost. Greg Fink: that's a false narrative because... Scott Miller: But you remember the last four years the left submitted a love letter to Palestine. Greg Fink: Exactly, I mean, that's not even a reality. Kamala Harris were to be president, she'd probably actually give them another $10 billion to finish up the bomb and it's a very peaceful area. Yeah, I mean, that's not even a realistic narrative. Mike Bates: Well, I did say it was unrealistic. I did say it was unrealistic. Did you all see the Bill Maher clip? I forget whether we mentioned this last week, but did you all see the Bill Maher clip when he had Adam on? Did you all see that? Did we talk about it? Okay. Yeah. But for those that weren't listening last week, let me just quickly mention. Bill Maher says, so Schiff, he had him on a show. What do you think of this comment about the president having war powers? And he read this statement and Schiff says, ⁓ yeah, I can't do that. President of another authority. Greg Fink: ⁓ yeah, we talked about it last week, yeah. Mike Bates: And then Bill Maher says, yeah, well, Adam, those were your words when Barack Obama Libya. So ⁓ all right, right, right. Greg Fink: Yeah. Scott Miller: Well, Abby is different. Lydia's different. Greg Fink: course, yeah, Gaddafi is like, was a wonderful man. He's a wonderful, peaceful guy. He wasn't like a Tatarist bad person. well, yeah, he's an Olivia guy, wasn't he? Yeah, Gaddafi was an Olivia guy. Mike Bates: Yeah. Scott Miller: Yeah, ⁓ yes. Mike Bates: Right. And all of this, my team good, your team bad, ⁓ is the baseline, the default for everybody. not interested in my team good, your team bad. I'm interested in what's going to benefit the United States. And if the Democrats have a good idea, it's rare that they do, let's admit, but if they have a good idea, I'll support it. If the Republicans have bad ideas, which they have all the time, I denounce it. Okay. I want what's good for the country. And I frankly don't care who gets credit for it. The problem is that the media, Scott Miller: Yeah. Greg Fink: It's ridiculous. Ha! I was! Exactly. Mike Bates: and social media is included in that, is so bitterly partisan that the American people aren't even receiving the same facts anymore. If you have a conversation with your average semi-informed lefty, they won't even have a clue what the side ⁓ arguing because they don't hear it. Because all they get is reinforcement after reinforcement after reinforcement of what they already believe. Greg Fink: No. Mike Bates: They're just getting more and more of the same. And so everything is propaganda. And let me be clear, Fox News is propaganda also. Both sides are nothing but propaganda. Now there's elements of truth in propaganda. not saying they're making it up out of a whole cloth, but the problem is the American people aren't even being given the same facts upon which to make informed decisions. Greg Fink: Well, we have one party that's totally negated any type of reality of an issue whatsoever to just basically go into full force fundraising mode, political click bait as Scott and I call it. that's basically what the is doing at a very good rate. mean, they're raising money very well, but the average voter has no idea what they're saying on the left side or the Democrat side because... They have zero policies. not monolithic lockstep and policies are lockstep and basically it's all against Trump. And basically doesn't really matter if Trump became a liberal and Democrat tomorrow. think Democrats become Republican-like. think if Donald became big government liberal and he became a very you know, transsexuals, leading their kids, mutilate bodies and the government funding everything and... pro-choice, think Democrats will literally become pro-life and become anti that. I think it's opposite day in this political landscape period. Scott Miller: Well, the reason they oppose him is not ideological, regardless of what they say. The reason they oppose him is because he went in there and started firing all of the bureaucrats that used to be friendly to their decisions and reversing rules that they used to make billions of dollars on. Greg Fink: No, it's not. He off the mini-terrain. Mike Bates: Well, that's true when he came in in second term, but he wasn't doing that in his first term. They hated him just as much then. Scott Miller: He was trying to- he was on his way to do it. He was trying to do it in his first- He was already- he was already repealing rules right left. Greg Fink: Yeah, you got it. You got hijacked by two Impiccins? Yeah, well, he fired... No. Mike Bates: The regulations were being repealed, but he wasn't doing the firings in the first term. Scott Miller: No, no, because he thought was trying to run it like a business, right? Greg Fink: Yeah, he got impeached twice and he got hijacked with COVID. Scott Miller: He thought as a businessman, it important to keep these people in place because they know the bodies are buried. They know all the history of the stuff and it's important to have a smooth transition. He didn't understand just how predatory they were. Greg Fink: Exactly in the first one we had dr. Fauci become the president pro tem basically and he basically organized all 50 states here to close down and shut down and basically what happens when the state shuts down guys? Where are they gonna get their money? You got to get it from I don't know the only person left that has a purse open which is a federal government and so the the inflation and stimulus checks and all that give me is and give me is and give me is and give me is because all the wonderful Republican and Democrat governors decided to buy into the hoopla of the scare tactics of the Chinese medical war against America, which you still have not retorted back to China for or thanking them in a proper manner of killing several Americans. And thank you guys for all that up. But hey, you I mean, the entire world here, the reality here is that, I mean, Trump's first term was hijacked. He was second election, most likely was stolen in this third election here. where, you know, a miracle he hasn't been impeached yet, but thank God we have a Republican Congress. That's not gonna last for too long if they ⁓ get their act together with their media messaging and everything. Or these states don't get all their ballot harvesting things here fixed and get the Save Act passed. And actually the next part of getting the Save Act passed is actually enforcing the damn thing in all 50 states, making sure the sanctuary states don't ignore it, which is gonna be a miracle because... It's wonderful thing to have a safe back, but if you got sanctuary state that allows all these illegals and criminals to vote, then what the hell's the act going to be good there for anyway? Because the courts are going to do a damn thing about it. And so I mean, you know, a mess. so we're at right now, Trump going war like this and everything happening this ⁓ think, you know, going the right direction. Scott Miller: as always hoped so. Greg Fink: Am I up for him? Mike, you got quieter. You froze out there. Mike, you froze out there or I silenced you or I stunned you. Scott Miller: Alright, well that was fun. ⁓ Mike Bates: Well, no, no, I'm just trying not to dominate because it seems like I argue with you guys nonstop. So I'll respond to what. Greg Fink: ⁓ you're fine. Scott Miller: No, that's fine. I want to say one thing. Tim Poole had a comment, I think he was talking to Bill Maher about this on Bill Maher's little podcast, whatever. But he said that the difference between us a liberal show is that we can sit here ⁓ and strenuously about our opinions and then walk out with beers and smiles. Greg Fink: This is a debate show. We're good. Club Random, that's a show. Mike Bates: Exactly. Yes, I know that. Look, we're all friends and we go to the bar all by the first round. Right. I mean, that's cool. We're free to disagree. But my biggest problem with Donald Trump, and it has been my problem with him since he came down the elevator 2015, ⁓ that he is He says a lot. He can speak extemporaneously for hours without a script, but he is inarticulate. He contradicts himself. Greg Fink: I don't drink anymore. articulation. Yeah, I agree. Mike Bates: He is a carnival barker. will say whatever he thinks he needs to say to get you to pay that dollar to enter his tent. And as soon as you're in his tent, he'll say something entirely different to get the next guy to pay the dollar. And I'm sorry, but that is no way to run a railroad and that is no way to run a country. He is his own worst enemy. His mouth is his own worst enemy. Greg Fink: Yes, that's true. I agree, I agree, but his actions. And that's one thing I tell a lot of people. I mean, I don't like the behavior. I don't like all the antics of Donald Trump. However, his policies I'm in love with. I think that his policies are strike, pitch perfect for what this country needs. We need smaller government. We need responsible government. We need people. We need government to get out of our ways and get out of our lives. We need more freedom. We need more, you know, I mean, the whole concept here of all these Mike Bates: Agreed. Greg Fink: corporations and people keep saying that Trump is controlling corporations. No, what he's doing is he's stopping corporations from controlling us. Okay. I mean, that's the whole thing is that, you know, he's kind of like regulating by deregulating by regulating. But what he's basically doing is getting everybody back on the playing field of playing the consumer and the Americans first and not the corporate greed and out of the corporate hijinks and everything else. And that's that's the direction he's going. He's doing it in a very in an artful way, in a very chaotic, break every dish in a room way. But that's the way he is. That's the way he always has been. I mean, I think everybody elected a 78 year old who they already knew his record. That's why they elected him. And we didn't elect a fixer. We have elected a breaker who's going to break it in a way that can be fixed. Not like Obama, who broke with Obamacare and healthcare a system that is not fixable. He destroyed the healthcare system or Biden who broke the border in such a manner that we had to literally close it in such a draconian manner of how we're doing it now to keep America safe. We never should have had to have ICE agents all over this country. We shouldn't have to be playing national guard all over the country. We should have states who actually give a damn about their own people and who give a damn about their own people's safety to do that first, but we don't. So that's where Trump is sticking the federal government in an authoritarian manner to keep everybody safe. It's not authoritarian. It's doing the job that the states aren't doing. I mean, if states want to have states' rights, they should do it. Scott Miller: All the stuff that could- all the stuff that could- All the stuff they're calling authoritarianism actually just examples of them exercising his constitutional authority. Greg Fink: Yeah, they're being lazy. want to talk about states' rights. They should use their states' rights and do mean, states' doesn't you just ignore your citizens. States' rights does not mean you just let illegals come in. States' rights does not mean you just let all these criminals vote and illegal people vote and let the citizens of your state be ran over and be run roughshod and basically have all their infrastructure deteriorated because you don't have any stomach or any intestinal fortitude to stand up to them. No, states rights means that you actually put the citizens of your state first. It's America first and the states first, but they don't Mike Bates: And when it does come to policy, And when it comes to policy, Greg, I give the president B minus, me, B plus, maybe an A minus. I don't know, I give him good grades on policy. But in a representative democracy, in a republic like we have, the leader must articulate to the people why we're doing things. Because you have to have the support of the people. Now look, he's in there for four years no matter what, okay? But the midterms are coming up. And he does not articulate, Greg Fink: Maybe he's tired of articulating and he won't listen. Mike Bates: coherent message that the American people will get behind the people in Congress, both houses that could support his policy implementations are going to be replaced by his enemies. And I will, so why doesn't he come out and explain to the people, American people, why he's doing something and try to garner some support? Greg Fink: And you're Well, it doesn't matter what he says at this point. I actually don't think it matters what he says. They're going to attack if he says that he thinks they're all beautiful, wonderful people and gives them all a million dollars. They want to know why they didn't get two million. I mean, they're going to say, I mean, it doesn't, I'm at the point here to where Trump coming out and speaking is irrelevant to anything being sold or articulated because he could give the best speech of his life tomorrow. and people are going to tear it apart. mean, the bias is so big, hate is so huge, and the Trump derangement syndrome is on such a high level. Nobody's looking at anything at all, logically, objectively, or anything. And I agree with you. I wish you would come out and articulate, but on the flip side of that, I do wish people would to what he says. know, communication, you know, is a two-way street. We all say one thing, but people have to be able to... Digest exactly what we say in a direct manner that we're saying it and the filter that's being Given out there because nobody's gonna sit down and watch a live speech anymore they're gonna watch what the media clips apart and snips apart and puts out and we don't have an objective media to articulate or to You know basically facilitate a clear articulation of what he's saying. We have a media that is going to distort waiver slant or skew what he is saying and basically take with this wonderful AI stuff that we have nowadays a little bit of this a little bit of that a little bit of this a little bit of that it's going to fit the agenda of the advertisers of that station and that's the I mean and know I wish it wasn't like that and that's ⁓ a cop-out for him not to come out and do a speech but it's a reality here that at this point of the game it doesn't really matter to me what he says because they're gonna you know the agenda is the agenda of the media. What matters to me is what happens. The whole thing, the actions need to be America first, people first, and putting communities first. That needs to be the actions that needs to be done. anything of that is not patriotic. Anything short of that is not, you know, putting any of our common brethren first. ⁓ And yes, talking about all the citizens who are coming over here legally and people here who are illegal. They know they're here illegally. They need to go back and do it right. And there's plenty of nonprofits and charities that pay for it if they don't have anything to hide. Now, if they got something to hide, that's a different story and God be with them and have fun with ICE. you know, if you're here right and doing everything right, it shall be good. Mike Bates: Well, we have an entire political party who knows they need to import voters. And so that's what they're doing. And if it needs to be illegally imported, so be it. Greg Fink: Exactly, it's all importing voters. Identity theft. ID Theft 101. Scott Miller: Well, there's one party wants to have open and honest discussions and bring facts and And there's another one that wants people to shut up and follow and just believe what saying and that my feelings are the only thing that are important. Greg Fink: You mean like brown shirts? Scott Miller: Well, I'm not the one that said that, but... Mike Bates: No, it's true. you look at the, you know, the left is real big on calling Republicans the fascists. But if you actually look at what fascists are, it's the Democrats who are operating fascists. Greg Fink: I am. Ha ha ha ha ha Exactly. But why let definitions mean anything? Mike Bates: You know, the Democrats have this no Kings day, right? ⁓ we're a democracy, no Kings. And yet which party was it who didn't have a primary for their, for their nominee? It wasn't the Republican party. Donald Trump won it, won the nominee fair and square, ⁓ don't read the nomination fair and square, but I don't remember Kamala Harris ever winning any primaries. you? That she was just anointed by the Politburo. Greg Fink: Wish party. No, never, not when. Exactly. Scott Miller: She didn't win any primaries in the first election. Greg Fink: And which party is it that requires an ID in order to get a vaccine for COVID? But you don't have to have an ID to vote. Mike Bates: Yeah. Well, and you also need an ID to enter. That's the other funny thing in this, hypocrisy. You need an ID, obviously, to enter all these Democrat national conventions. And even these congressmen, they go home to their districts and they have these town hall meetings and they require you to show an ID to get into the town hall meeting. To have a conversation with your congressmen, they require an ID. But to vote for your congressman, no for that. That's racist. Greg Fink: It's a whole false corollary of everything. That's the definition of a king. An oligarch. Scott Miller: You know, that's funny. I have a couple of guys that work for me that naturalized citizens. was there, I watched them be naturalized. I would love to take them to a Democrat thing like that and ask for entry without ID. Greg Fink: Awesome. Mike Bates: Yeah. I've seen a handful of videos of people doing just that, and it is pretty funny. Scott Miller: Yeah Greg Fink: That'd be awesome. It is. So I think we got a poll today in California, we heard, Republicans are actually getting some, Republicans getting strength over there in California, which, I think Mike and I talked last week about, you know, the ⁓ redistricting different states and how, you know, a lot of states who are really by population, not that big, are very different and electorally. Scott Miller: ⁓ my god! Greg Fink: And Florida's won, Georgia's won. mean, a lot of states are like that because, whenever you draw the districts, you draw the district, the winning party does. However, that being said, the Democrat Party in California might be doing it to such a huge extreme because I think there are a lot more Republicans that are coming out who already have come out in California than statistically than the electoral map of anything currently. reflects and now the map that Governor Newsom wants to take it 30 steps further, it's just sick. And then you have a governor's race where Republicans are actually doing good in the polling compared comparatively to where they look like on the electoral map. I I think the reality here is that everybody's tired of the woke-ness. I mean, even in the Democrat primaries, you're seeing the woke guys lose and you're seeing common sense Democrats coming back. I I've had a lot of people ask me about Federman in Pennsylvania. I mean, you know, granted he's a liberal Democrat, but he at least makes some sort of sense for a Democrat. And how come the Democrat party in California is nothing like that? And the fact that they're not, I think it'd be awesome if Republican went over there. Mike Bates: Well, I hear what you're saying, but I you're missing an important element of why what's happening in California is happening. ⁓ don't think the Democrat voters in California are becoming any less woke. The reason that there's a chance the Republicans are going to prevail in the governor's race in California is because California has the jungle primary. And so the top two vote getters end up ⁓ Greg Fink: ⁓ I know, man. Go ahead. Scott Miller: That's racist! Greg Fink: Yeah, you can't say jungle primary. Mike Bates: competing against each other in the end. And what you normally have two right? But in this primary, there's so many Democrats running that it's diluting the Democrat vote that it's quite possible, I'm not gonna use the word likely, but it's possible that the two top vote getters will be both Republicans. And you'll have a Republican versus a Republican in the general election in California for governor. But that's not because more Californians Greg Fink: ⁓ yeah. Mike Bates: support the Republicans is because the Californians would be diluting their vote against so many Democrats that they don't end up to end up in the top two or no one ends up in the top two. Greg Fink: Well, I'm going to take the water off my blanket here real quick. so maybe, ⁓ you know, possibly, hopefully there are going to be a shift in California's thinking with the fires and all the, you know, basically right now, I think that has a lot to do with a lot of the populace in California is the lack of the government response for the inadequate government response, rather the government extortion of the citizens that lost their... property and lost their lives and everything throughout the fires of California last year, which were only a year ago. People don't realize that was just one, you know, right around a year ago when all those fires happened and people are not rebuilding. People are, you know, not having the funds that they had. so chances of that happening again this year are very good. I mean, they have fires ⁓ year in California. So, I mean, you know, you're right. Maybe they're not becoming anti-woke, but maybe they are waking their head. heads up and the Democrats if they want to screw up their electoral process by watering down their votes so much that they eat their own then that's just a Democrats hubris on crack and can have fun with that and the Republicans are gonna be smart enough not to not to do the same thing and that's just the way politics works as a it's a it's a thing and if the Republicans are out gaming the Democrats in California that's great. Scott Miller: Well, the Democrats, well, California, off, you really don't know how many Democrats are like committed Democrats because in that have strong one party there's a lot of people that align themselves with party simply so they can't have a voice at all. But one of the things I think is hilarious is the guy that is currently leading the polls and he did pretty good in the last election Steve Hilton. Greg Fink: Yeah. So they can vote. Exactly as they can vote in the primary. Scott Miller: who's not even from America. He's like a British national became it would just like ⁓ California to him because, he doesn't seem like a traditional American. Greg Fink: Yeah. Here's an- Like the Austrian guy, know, who's a bodybuilder and an actor, you know. Yeah, another European who became a governor of... Scott Miller: Yeah, you're not the Austrian guy. Yeah. He's not a real Republican. He's just saying that. Greg Fink: It's just another... Mike Bates: or the naturalized American in New York City. Greg Fink: Exactly. That's my that's my whole point is that you know, it's I mean it's Steve Hilton is a good good candidate I mean, he's an interesting person. He's a talk show guy media personality from Fox I think business or Fox News or so so one of the Fox Sky News one of the Fox affiliates and so it says media personality so Anyway, but but but he but he has a charismatic opinion and he's a charismatic guy and so I mean his articulation of the issues and I think his love Scott Miller: Sky News. I don't think that works, but okay. Greg Fink: California is genuine so I think he'd be actually a pretty good governor. I have no idea how he is a policy or directing policy or running a country or running a state because I mean California is larger than most countries and so it'll be interesting to see how he could adapt to that but ⁓ it's a it's gonna be interesting campaign over there. Scott Miller: Hey, man, we got Steve Garvey in, too. Oh yeah, he did okay in that Senate race till the end. Of course, that's the most important part. Greg Fink: Yeah. Yeah, finishing, the crossing the finish line is the big deal here. Scott Miller: But I'll tell you the thing that's going to really hold this whole thing up and tell the tale. I don't think it's the fact that there were fires there. I think it's the fact that that primary is probably in, let's see, it's March now. So they'll have to do it by August. March, April, May, June, July, August. So they've got six months to rebuild a ton of homes that were destroyed in order to not say that. Greg Fink: I think I know a fire season. Scott Miller: We have, that fire was almost two years ago, we still haven't rebuilt a single home. They don't even have time to get them under construction under their current format. Greg Fink: Exactly. mean right now the permitting process is two or three years it's ⁓ expensive. Extremely. Just get the permitting alone is more than the value of the damn property. Scott Miller: dear California viewers, if you would like someone to help you write a bunch of campaign ads, here's how mine are going to go. It's going to be basically, what are we waiting for? And a picture of the Pacific coast still in cinders and just have a date on it that says, we'll start with today's date, you know, or even have a camera like a live video feed of construction not happening. Greg Fink: Exactly. And for more information about that you can go to PowerFoxProductions.com and check us out. All three of us are script writers there so MEA. Scott Miller: Yeah, man, I those ads write themselves though. Greg Fink: They do it right themselves. mean, and right now we got the Florida elections coming up. We got the primaries here in August here in Florida, which is the other really big state primary that's coming up and nationwide, because I guess Texas already had their primary. So the only two really huge states left are Florida and California. And so if they both go red, that'd be pretty cool. Florida will stay red, of course. I don't think any chance of a Democrat wing statewide for governor here is. possible. Scott Miller: by the way, on the website that has my live feed, I'd have a loop of all of the ⁓ people and ⁓ the people that are making excuses for why that fire happened. Just have them running on a loop next to a live feed of construction not happening. Greg Fink: Yes, everybody watching the guy dig a ditch. Scott Miller: Here's why it's not my fault! Greg Fink: Exactly. But who do think the front runner is for the Republican primary here in Florida? Mike Bates: Moving it. For governor? it's definitely Reynolds. Scott Miller: Amazing. Greg Fink: You still think Donald's still? Scott Miller: Oh no, oh no, oh no. Greg Fink: I haven't heard anything about him in two or three weeks really. Scott Miller: Well, it takes longer than that to fall completely out of favor. Greg Fink: I mean, I think James Fishback is doing pretty good. We haven't done any statewide polling here yet. We're gonna probably start doing that in April. But we got James Fishback and we got Randy, shoot, Bobby Jones. We've got Paul Renner, and we have, I think, 40 people running for governor altogether. The Lieutenant Governor, Jay Collins, he's running. it's interesting because we really, mean, Byron Donald's got the Trump endorsement immediately. But he, is, but he also has a lot of baggage that he's going to have to explain to his opponent, to me, pointing out. Scott Miller: ⁓ of course we do. Mike Bates: which is gonna matter a lot. Greg Fink: And so it's going to be the biggest issue is how is it going to handle all the attacks on him because he is a front runner and how he's going to rise above it or not rise above it. And also it's going to really depend on how much traction or truth is in those attacks because having all of us been involved in campaigns and political ads, writing political ads, we've all told the truth and we've all been part of that. But most of our other compadres out there, a little s- A little sketchy on that one. know, let's just, truth be like 20%, let's make it really good story. Scott Miller: Well, you know, they, they operate under no, no, no, they operate under this, this theory that once you say something that it's, that never be not believe once it's believed one time. And there, there is an element of truth to that because it'll always stay in people's minds, but it's, it's not, it's not impossible to overcome either. Greg Fink: I'm not saying that. Right. Exactly, mean, lies are easy to overcom. Truth is not. Scott Miller: mean, Greg and I have personally shifted races 40 points in six weeks. Greg Fink: Yeah, it really just has to do with, you know, having the right messaging to tell the truth basically factual on everything. And once people start playing these wonderful card games, psychological card games that they're doing these political commercials and these memes and all this stupid crap that they're putting there that has nothing to do with benefiting anybody's lives. It's just ridiculous. That's just my little soapbox. Guys, you got anything else today to talk about? Mike Bates: Let's just hope that this war gets ended properly. Scott Miller: I don't know, we've been pretty rough and red. Greg Fink: Well, I think you're about to go to Alaska, aren't you? Mike Bates: Yes, but the war will affect Alaska as well. Scott Miller: No, no, there's a certain area that's kind of blurred out on a lot of maps and stuff like that. there's a little guard house at the top of it that has an elevator that goes straight down. And there's this giant black pyramid there that has the answers to everything. So go check that out while you're up there. Greg Fink: No there isn't. That's not true. There's no pyramid. There's no pyramid in Alaska. Mike Bates: hell is he talking about? Scott Miller: It's a... It's a... It's a... Mike Bates: No, I think I actually have read about that. Yeah, I think I've read about it and I got halfway through the article and clicked on something reasonable. Scott Miller: Yeah Greg Fink: Well, my gr- Scott Miller: ⁓ Well, you'll be there. You can do a first person check out on it. Mike Bates: There you go. All right. Greg Fink: I was gonna say, but whenever you do go to Alaska, Mike, we're gonna miss you for sure and everything, but I think we're gonna have a few more shows here with you on here bantering with us before you do leave the country or the mainland. You can see Russia from that house, right? Scott Miller: Absolutely. Mike Bates: mainland. Yeah, Alaska is still USA. Scott Miller: That's right, you can see Russia from right there. Greg Fink: Or if I go out. Mike Bates: Yeah, you do know Sarah Palin never said that, That was Tina Fey that said that in a Saturday Night Live skit. Okay. Greg Fink: Yeah. Scott Miller: I did it. Greg Fink: Yeah, I know that. Scott Miller: Yeah, I do know that she never said it, but the thing is, even if she had said it, it would, I mean, it'd be a figurative statement to begin with. mean, can, it's like, can smell corruption from across the room. Okay, well, what does it smell like? Well, a like you, dude. Greg Fink: It's still funny. It's kind of like the scene I I can see Cuba from a condo. Mike Bates: You know, I have a friend of mine, I have a friend of mine, you guys probably actually know who he is. I don't want to give his name, but he's a ultra ultra lefty, but he's very well informed. Okay. We disagree on nearly everything, but I at least respect him because he's very well informed. And we were talking at lunch some time ago. And I mean, this was some time ago, many years. he mentioned that Sarah Palin was an idiot and she'd said, ⁓ yeah, cause I can see you in Russia from my house. And I said to him, I said, Bill, I'm only giving you his first name. I said, Bill, you do know that Sarah Palin didn't say that, Yes, she did. Yes, she did. Yes. No, she didn't. was Tina Fey that said that in a Saturday Night Live sketch pretending to be Sarah Palin. No, no, no, no, no. So anyway, I said, bet you lunch. If I'm right, you buy me lunch. If you're right, I buy your lunch. Agreed? And agreed. And I had him look it up. And he was shocked. And this is a guy who pays attention. So that's the thing. You talk about the truth versus the lie. It wasn't even a lie. It was supposed to be a comedy. Greg Fink: Right. Mike Bates: But the majority of the country thought Sarah Palin actually said that and she was ridiculed and skewered for it. the ridicule and it made her out to be an airheaded even though she never said it. Greg Fink: And that comes full circle to how we started this whole conversation on the podcast. That's the reason why I don't care about what Trump says to the media or justifying this war because they're going to screw up anything he says. They're just going to stick with them. And basically what all of us think is a good war, going to be thrown out the window. Scott Miller: Well, one sec, one sec. Mike Bates: Well, you people lie about me the time. But what do I do when they lie about me? I counter with the truth. It doesn't mean everyone's going to believe that truth, but at least I'm countering because a lie unanswered becomes believed as the truth. You always have to counter the lies no matter what. And getting back to Donald Trump, and I will kind of end with this, his problem is not just that he lies, it's that he vacillates over the board. He needs to pick a coherent and consistent message Greg Fink: But that's us. Mike Bates: and stick to it get the people in administration to do the same. Greg Fink: He's 80 years old. Mike Bates: He's done this all his life. This is not dementia. Scott Miller: and Greg's point, I think that's aspirational than reality because if he hasn't changed by now, he ain't got it. Greg Fink: Yeah, March 19th of 2026. He's not going to change. And he's not a he's also not us and we're not him. And so that being said, I agree with you, Mike. I'm the same way. Scott's the same way. All of us are the same way. But we also didn't. That's not how we make a deal. That's how he makes a deal. And so he's doing that. That's what we elected. We elected him to do what he's doing. Mike Bates: Very true. Scott Miller: No. Ending. Greg Fink: better and different. Scott Miller: Alright, well that's an hour and fifteen minutes, but this may be a record for us. Greg Fink: it might be. ⁓ guys go ahead and find us on every platform. We appreciate all the views. We appreciate all the wonderful comments that you guys are making. You guys are being nice. That's cool. Find us on the platform and we'll you all next week.