Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / We MUST learn from our loss in GA Senate race!

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We MUST learn from our loss in GA Senate race! · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Let's deal with the reality. The Republican screwed up the
0:04
Speaker 1: midterm election big time, so bad that now the Democrats
0:08
Speaker 1: have actually increased their lead because the midterm elections in
0:12
Speaker 1: the Senate. This because now Senor Rafael Warnock has won
0:17
Speaker 1: that Georgia's Senate runoff against herschel Walker. Herschel Walker is
0:22
Speaker 1: a candidate that I supported, especially helping and doing everything
0:26
Speaker 1: I could so that to hope that he would win.
0:29
Speaker 1: When we knew it was going to a runoff, Senor
0:31
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz and I flew to Georgia to immediately work
0:33
Speaker 1: with him, help him and support him because we understood
0:37
Speaker 1: just how important it was to at least keep the
0:39
Speaker 1: Senate fifty fifty at a bare minimum. Now Warnock is
0:43
Speaker 1: going to be there for at least six years. Warnock's
0:46
Speaker 1: win gives a Democrats not only control the Senate but
0:49
Speaker 1: also Senate committees, allowing them to more easily advance bills
0:53
Speaker 1: and nominations. Now, we would be stupid, incompetent, dumb. The
0:58
Speaker 1: number of adjectives goes on and on if we didn't
1:01
Speaker 1: take a moment and deal with the reality of what
1:04
Speaker 1: just happened and the reality of what just happened is
1:07
Speaker 1: we got our brains beat in in this midterm election
1:10
Speaker 1: when all of the issues were actually on our side.
1:15
Speaker 1: The issues were clear going into election day. It was
1:18
Speaker 1: the economy, it was gas prices, it was inflation. Everyone
1:24
Speaker 1: knew what the issues were. And Democrats an amazing job
1:29
Speaker 1: of getting out the vote and doing a better job
1:32
Speaker 1: of having quality candidates run for races that would be elected. Now,
1:37
Speaker 1: let me also be very clear about what I mean
1:39
Speaker 1: by quality candidates. Okay, Democrats have lowered the bar so
1:45
Speaker 1: low with their candidates that they're willing to elect dead people.
1:50
Speaker 1: They did this in Pennsylvania, a candidate who actually died
1:53
Speaker 1: that was still on the ballot they elected to office.
1:56
Speaker 1: They also have lowered the bar so low because all
1:58
Speaker 1: they do is all they care about is power. And
2:01
Speaker 1: we know that that's all they care about is power.
2:05
Speaker 1: That they're willing to elect people that are incompetent, whether
2:08
Speaker 1: that is Joe Biden the President of the United States
2:11
Speaker 1: of America, or the Pennsylvania race, the candidate that ran
2:16
Speaker 1: against another bad choice by us and doctor Oz. You
2:22
Speaker 1: look at the Fetterman Oz race, and that tells you
2:25
Speaker 1: everything that you need to know about where we are
2:29
Speaker 1: right now. Democrats have lowered the bar to the point
2:33
Speaker 1: where power is really all that matters, and everything else
2:37
Speaker 1: outside of the issue of power doesn't matter. It doesn't
2:42
Speaker 1: matter if the candidate is alive, it doesn't matter they're dead,
2:45
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if they're incompetent. Do I believe that
2:48
Speaker 1: Republicans should go to that level? No, I do not.
2:51
Speaker 1: Do I believe that Republicans hold our candidates to a
2:54
Speaker 1: higher standard. Yes, do I believe that candidate quality matters
2:59
Speaker 1: on the Republican Concide more than the Democrat of course,
3:01
Speaker 1: because they're electing dead people, and we actually say that
3:04
Speaker 1: ours need to be alive. But we also need to
3:07
Speaker 1: understand that we need to stop making excuses. There have
3:11
Speaker 1: been a lot of excuses that I've seen explode on
3:13
Speaker 1: social media, Excuses about how voting is done and how
3:18
Speaker 1: early voting is done, and all of the other excuses
3:21
Speaker 1: of why we lost. The reality is we lost the
3:24
Speaker 1: Senate because we had some candidates that were terrible. We
3:27
Speaker 1: had candidates that could make it through a primary but
3:31
Speaker 1: could not make it through a general. And there were
3:34
Speaker 1: many people that were warning that these candidates were going
3:37
Speaker 1: to be a disaster for the Republican Party. Doctor Oz
3:41
Speaker 1: is a great example of that. Doctor Oz, no doubt
3:45
Speaker 1: about it, got through a primary for one reason. He
3:49
Speaker 1: had the endorsement of Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the
3:53
Speaker 1: one that found doctor Oz. Donald Trump's the one that
3:56
Speaker 1: advocated for doctor Oz. Doctor Oz would not have run
4:00
Speaker 1: for Senate if it wasn't for Donald Trump. Am I
4:03
Speaker 1: blaming Trump? No, but I am saying the obvious that
4:05
Speaker 1: just because you can get through a primary does not
4:08
Speaker 1: mean that you can get through a general election. You
4:11
Speaker 1: look at herschel Walker. Herschel Walker would not have run
4:14
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for him being ham picked by Donald Trump. Now,
4:20
Speaker 1: Donald Trump was right, he can get anybody through a primary.
4:24
Speaker 1: It's also very clear he cannot get people to the
4:26
Speaker 1: finish line. Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, all very different states
4:30
Speaker 1: and very different parts of the country, all proved that
4:33
Speaker 1: candidate quality matters. Now forget Donald Trump for a moment,
4:38
Speaker 1: and let's look at these candidates on their own merit.
4:41
Speaker 1: Herschel Walker had problems from the beginning. He had problems
4:44
Speaker 1: with his own family. We knew about that, and people
4:47
Speaker 1: overlooked it. He had problems with women. We knew that,
4:51
Speaker 1: and we knew that the abortion issue was going to
4:53
Speaker 1: come up herschel Walker when he said that there would be.
4:56
Speaker 1: He was in favor of banning abortions with no exceptions.
5:00
Speaker 1: And then women came out and said, well, you told
5:02
Speaker 1: me to get an abortion. That was going to be
5:04
Speaker 1: hard for voters to swallow in Georgia. To overlook it again,
5:10
Speaker 1: because Republican candidates are held to a higher standard than
5:14
Speaker 1: Democratic candidates, and the Democratic Party will clearly do anything
5:21
Speaker 1: to get somebody elected. They will elect a dead person
5:24
Speaker 1: and those that are mentally incompetent. All right, real quick,
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7:03
Speaker 1: So you put all this into perspective, and the question
7:05
Speaker 1: we need to ask ourselves is what do we need
7:07
Speaker 1: to do differently? I think the Republican National Committee chairwoman,
7:11
Speaker 1: for example, it should be challenged. There's a bunch of
7:15
Speaker 1: people that are going to challenge her, we're hearing, and
7:17
Speaker 1: I think there should be a grand debate over that,
7:19
Speaker 1: because I do believe the Republican Party screwed up and
7:23
Speaker 1: there should be a options at least right after a
7:26
Speaker 1: big mistake like this, and it was a big mistake.
7:29
Speaker 1: We had everything we needed to win the midterms, and
7:32
Speaker 1: not only do we just barely win back the House,
7:34
Speaker 1: but we actually gave away and we lost ground in
7:38
Speaker 1: the Senate in a year when every issue with voters
7:43
Speaker 1: was on our side. There's also a second part of this,
7:47
Speaker 1: and I want to be careful how I say it,
7:50
Speaker 1: because we need to learn from this and not turn
7:52
Speaker 1: this into a civil war. Okay, we need to understand
7:56
Speaker 1: that we have to look beyond primaries and beyond just kingmaker.
8:01
Speaker 1: That kingmaker right now is and we all know it,
8:04
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. But Donald Trump got some candidates wrong. Here.
8:08
Speaker 1: Doctor Oz is a great example. Herschel Walker, I think,
8:11
Speaker 1: is another one. The fact that you had a Republican
8:13
Speaker 1: elected in Georgia as a governor, and people deliberately voted
8:17
Speaker 1: for the Republican for governor there who they liked in
8:19
Speaker 1: Kemp and then deliberately didn't vote for herschel Walker tells
8:23
Speaker 1: you that this was a candidate that there should have
8:26
Speaker 1: been more questions that are asked of the candidate. I
8:31
Speaker 1: like Donald Trump. I'm not blaming him for this, but
8:35
Speaker 1: we do need to understand that there is not a
8:37
Speaker 1: kingmaker in the Republican Party when it comes to the
8:40
Speaker 1: general election. You can't just pick people just out of
8:43
Speaker 1: because you're friends with them, like doctor Oz and expect
8:46
Speaker 1: everybody to go running to the polls, because we now
8:49
Speaker 1: know that doesn't happen. You know, you look at Kari Lake.
8:52
Speaker 1: She was a hardcourt MAGA candidate. She never backed down
8:56
Speaker 1: from being a MAGA candidate, and she unfortunately lost that
9:03
Speaker 1: race in Arizona. And part of that is because people said,
9:06
Speaker 1: I want an independent candidate of one ideology. That happens
9:11
Speaker 1: to be Donald Trump. Now, whether that's fair or not
9:17
Speaker 1: is not what we're talking about. I'm talking now about reality.
9:20
Speaker 1: We lost an election, and we lost several elections, and
9:23
Speaker 1: we have to take a retrospective look backwards. Now. I
9:27
Speaker 1: believe that we need new leadership in the Republican Party.
9:30
Speaker 1: I know, I like Ranna, I know her, but when
9:32
Speaker 1: you have this type of defeat, you have to shake
9:35
Speaker 1: things up and bring in fresh ideas. That's just my opinion.
9:39
Speaker 1: There are coaches in sports that I've loved who've lost
9:42
Speaker 1: their mojo and it's time to move on from them.
9:49
Speaker 1: You know, when I was growing up, I was a
9:50
Speaker 1: big fan of Larry Finch. But when Larry Finch was
9:52
Speaker 1: losing his mojo', that's a great example right there. I
9:56
Speaker 1: liked Josh Pastor as a person, still still talk to him.
9:59
Speaker 1: For example, Memphis Tiger basketball coach. He's been fine, right
10:04
Speaker 1: he went to Georgia Tech afterwards, but it was time
10:06
Speaker 1: to move on from him. And that's because winning does matter. Winning,
10:11
Speaker 1: in my opinion, matters more in politics than it does
10:15
Speaker 1: in sports. Yet in sports there's instant accountability. What happens
10:19
Speaker 1: at the end of every regular season in the NFL
10:22
Speaker 1: you get email after email or business alert, whatever you
10:25
Speaker 1: want to call it, ESPN alerts of all the coaches
10:28
Speaker 1: that did not have good seasons, many of them amazing coaches,
10:31
Speaker 1: some of them former coaches had taken teams with Super
10:33
Speaker 1: Bowls and one Super bowls who get fired? And I
10:37
Speaker 1: believe that politically, that's how this should work. In my opinion,
10:41
Speaker 1: when you have an opportunity to win like this, and
10:43
Speaker 1: everything set up for you to win, and the issues
10:45
Speaker 1: are set up for you to win, and you have
10:47
Speaker 1: a present whose approval rating as low as his approval
10:49
Speaker 1: rating is, and you still manage to screw it up,
10:53
Speaker 1: you need to have a big, big conversation about all
10:58
Speaker 1: of it. Now. Republicans also need to be smart and
11:02
Speaker 1: not get into a civil war. Is their room and
11:05
Speaker 1: the Republican Party for multiple kingmakers, I believe there should be.
11:11
Speaker 1: I think that there should not be a civil war
11:14
Speaker 1: between for example, de Santis and Trump. I don't want
11:17
Speaker 1: to divide the party more because that just helps the Democrats.
11:20
Speaker 1: I don't want to see either of them taking shots
11:23
Speaker 1: at one another. I don't want to see Donald Trump
11:27
Speaker 1: going after sanctimonious, you know, as he does with his nicknames,
11:33
Speaker 1: going after DeSantis. I want us to be on the
11:37
Speaker 1: same page. Now, that's one thing that Democrats do better
11:40
Speaker 1: than Republicans. They don't kill their own like we do.
11:44
Speaker 1: But we need to be smart and go back and
11:46
Speaker 1: talk the issues ahead of the presidential election. And we
11:48
Speaker 1: need to go back with new leadership in the Republican
11:51
Speaker 1: National Committee. We need to go back and learn from
11:54
Speaker 1: our mistakes, and we don't need to make up excuses
11:56
Speaker 1: which I've seen every excuse under the sun. For republic Wilkins, Oh,
12:00
Speaker 1: it's voter fraud, voter suppression, voted this vote that no.
12:03
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona
12:07
Speaker 1: are very different places, in very different states, and we
12:10
Speaker 1: lost in all three and we need to look at
12:11
Speaker 1: the reasons why. We also need to make sure that
12:14
Speaker 1: we talk about the issues. I'll give you an example
12:16
Speaker 1: of an issue where I think we can win. Kevin
12:19
Speaker 1: McCarthy has come out saying the VACS mandate is over.
12:22
Speaker 1: He says it's time for us to rehire our service
12:24
Speaker 1: members that were released. The statement put out from Kevin
12:27
Speaker 1: McCarthy comes as House Democrats are reportedly set to defive
12:31
Speaker 1: President Joe Biden by joining Republicans to jettis in the
12:35
Speaker 1: requirement for military service members to get vaccinated. The COVID
12:39
Speaker 1: VACS mandate on our military is ending. McCarthy tweeted last week,
12:43
Speaker 1: I told Biden directly, it's time to end your COVID
12:45
Speaker 1: vaccine mandate on our military and rehire our service members.
12:49
Speaker 1: The end of the mandate is a victory for our
12:51
Speaker 1: military and for common sense. McCarthy also shared this statement, saying,
12:55
Speaker 1: the end of the President Biden's military COVID vaccine mandate
12:58
Speaker 1: is a victory for our military. Last week I told him,
13:01
Speaker 1: while I applaud the end of this erroneous mandate, the
13:05
Speaker 1: Biden administration must go further. Unfortunately, the mandate has already
13:09
Speaker 1: had negative consequences for our military. The Army in the
13:12
Speaker 1: Navy missed their twenty twenty two recruitment goals by thousands
13:16
Speaker 1: of service members, and at the direction of the Biden administration,
13:19
Speaker 1: the Defense Department discharged three thousand, three hundred Marines, one thousand,
13:23
Speaker 1: eight hundred soldiers, and one thousand, eight hundred sailors and
13:27
Speaker 1: nine hundred airmens supply simply based on their personal decision
13:30
Speaker 1: not to take the COVID vaccine. These are the issues
13:34
Speaker 1: we need to talk about even more. There's also a
13:37
Speaker 1: second point from these losses that we need to learn from,
13:41
Speaker 1: and that is elections and how they're running this country.
13:45
Speaker 1: There are many different, many different ways that elections are
13:49
Speaker 1: run in other states. Right the elections the way they're
13:53
Speaker 1: run in Georgia are different, the Pennsylvania are different than Arizona,
13:56
Speaker 1: are different than Florida, for example. And Democrats are really
14:01
Speaker 1: able to use early voting and other things like that
14:04
Speaker 1: to their advantage. It gives them an advantage. If there's
14:07
Speaker 1: anything we've learned, it's like every single time there is
14:10
Speaker 1: an election, there's one thing that keeps happening over and
14:13
Speaker 1: over again. Democrats come out of early voting with a
14:16
Speaker 1: big lead and Republicans are having to play catch up
14:19
Speaker 1: every night. So, if we have the legislature in many states,
14:24
Speaker 1: what do we need to do and what do we
14:26
Speaker 1: need to change to make sure these elections don't give
14:30
Speaker 1: an unfair advantage or bias towards Democratic candidates? Right? How
14:34
Speaker 1: do we fix that? Because I think it's certainly a
14:37
Speaker 1: point that we should be talking about. Marco Rubio actually
14:40
Speaker 1: understands it's probably better than anybody. Marco Rubio was on
14:45
Speaker 1: Hannity last night talking about the elections in Florida and
14:48
Speaker 1: how they do things there. I want you to hear
14:51
Speaker 1: what he had to say about what Republicans need to
14:53
Speaker 1: learn from election night in Georgia. You know, Senator, there
14:56
Speaker 1: is the reluctance and resistance that I've been talking about
14:59
Speaker 1: all night among Republicans in many states to vote earlier,
15:03
Speaker 1: to vote by mail. That is not the case in
15:06
Speaker 1: your state of Florida. Republicans do vote early, they do
15:10
Speaker 1: vote by mail, and they are confident in the integrity
15:14
Speaker 1: of the process and they have confidence in the results.
15:17
Speaker 1: What are Republicans in Florida doing different what is systematically
15:22
Speaker 1: what are you doing differently down there that would give
15:25
Speaker 1: people more confidence so they wouldn't have this catch up
15:28
Speaker 1: of a couple one hundred thousand votes every election day. Yeah. Well,
15:32
Speaker 1: first of all, Sean, you want to have a system
15:33
Speaker 1: that people know where is going to have results within
15:35
Speaker 1: a reasonable period of time. I mean, these elections that
15:37
Speaker 1: go on for a week and you know, it seems
15:39
Speaker 1: like every time and these elections Republicans are up and
15:41
Speaker 1: then five days later, you know you're gonna lose. I mean,
15:43
Speaker 1: it always ends that way. So I think that undermines confidence.
15:45
Speaker 1: But I think it really ultimately begins from the campaigns
15:48
Speaker 1: with the approach, and that is a voters a voter,
15:50
Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter the vote voted by mail or
15:52
Speaker 1: voted early, or voted on election day. A vote is
15:55
Speaker 1: a vote, and what you want to do is make
15:56
Speaker 1: sure that you're making it as easy as possible for
15:58
Speaker 1: people to vote and as candidate, for your supporters to vote.
16:02
Speaker 1: So look, some people in Florida have to vote by mail.
16:04
Speaker 1: It is a seasonal state. As you well know. There
16:06
Speaker 1: a lot of people that don't live in Florida and
16:08
Speaker 1: don't come down to Florida until December. They're full time resident,
16:11
Speaker 1: but they're not there that time of year. They have
16:13
Speaker 1: to vote by mail. There are others that you would
16:15
Speaker 1: like to see them vote early. Why do I want
16:16
Speaker 1: to see someone vote early? Because you don't want election
16:18
Speaker 1: data to be the day they got the flu, the
16:20
Speaker 1: day the car breaks down, the day that there's a storm,
16:22
Speaker 1: the day someone their family gets sick and suddenly you know,
16:24
Speaker 1: or they just forget to go, So you want to
16:26
Speaker 1: get that vote in as quickly as possible. They're actually,
16:29
Speaker 1: mechanically speaking, there is no difference in Florida voting on
16:32
Speaker 1: election day or voting early. You're using the same paper
16:35
Speaker 1: ballot in the same process. The only difference is you
16:38
Speaker 1: don't have to go vote in your neighborhood precinct. You
16:40
Speaker 1: can vote at any of the early voting sites and
16:42
Speaker 1: different counties have different numbers and day. You have to
16:44
Speaker 1: provide a online you have to provide a voter ID.
16:47
Speaker 1: What about signature verification. Yeah, so on the apps and
16:50
Speaker 1: tea ballots, So the ballots that are mailed to people,
16:52
Speaker 1: there isn't a signature verification and you know, if those
16:55
Speaker 1: get in early and the signatures don't match, then they
16:57
Speaker 1: have time to correct that because sometimes people get our
16:59
Speaker 1: thrive or whatever and their signature changes. If you're going
17:02
Speaker 1: to vote in person, your IDs provided at that site,
17:05
Speaker 1: you have to sign there too, and it has to
17:06
Speaker 1: match the signature they have on follow or the signature
17:09
Speaker 1: that's on your ID. But look, I voted it early.
17:12
Speaker 1: I voted early about ten days before. It took me
17:14
Speaker 1: all of about seven minutes to go in and get
17:16
Speaker 1: it done. There was no line, no long wait, and
17:19
Speaker 1: it worked. And so for us, the key is always
17:22
Speaker 1: to identify your supporters and get them in the box
17:25
Speaker 1: as early and as quickly as possible. You don't want
17:27
Speaker 1: to leave too many for election day, but there's still
17:29
Speaker 1: a lot of people that want to vote on election
17:31
Speaker 1: that they liked the whole process of going to vote
17:33
Speaker 1: on election day, you don't walk away from those people either.
17:36
Speaker 1: Senator you said it was pretty amazing to me, and
17:39
Speaker 1: I thought it was very poignant your point. You said,
17:42
Speaker 1: we were able to count seven million, five hundred thousand
17:45
Speaker 1: votes in less than five hours, and it took a
17:48
Speaker 1: week and a half to count far less votes in
17:50
Speaker 1: the state of Arizona. There really is no excuse for that,
17:53
Speaker 1: is there no? And it gives off the perception, whether
17:56
Speaker 1: it's real or not. It gives off the perception that
17:57
Speaker 1: they want to see what the vote is and then
17:59
Speaker 1: they we're going to keep counting votes until we get
18:02
Speaker 1: enough votes to overtake you and win the election. That's
18:04
Speaker 1: how it seems to have played out in these other states.
18:06
Speaker 1: I'm not claiming that's what happened. I'm just telling you
18:08
Speaker 1: that's what it looks like, and it creates a lot
18:09
Speaker 1: of negativity around it. In Florida, all of those early
18:12
Speaker 1: votes and all those mail votes are tabulated on election day,
18:15
Speaker 1: they're run through the machine. They're not announced, they're not released,
18:19
Speaker 1: but they've got them counted. At seven oh one pm
18:21
Speaker 1: seven oh one pm Eastern Time and then seven oh
18:23
Speaker 1: one pm Central Time in those counties in the Northwest
18:26
Speaker 1: Florida area, they hit send, and the computer immediately pops
18:30
Speaker 1: up and you can see almost within the first ten
18:32
Speaker 1: minutes after polls closed, what the early vote and what
18:35
Speaker 1: the mail vote is. And then the rest of the
18:37
Speaker 1: counting is the election day tabulation that's going on, and
18:40
Speaker 1: it's being fed in real time from the voting sites
18:43
Speaker 1: as they're run through the machine. Every time someone votes,
18:45
Speaker 1: the machine counts it and stores it but doesn't release it.
18:49
Speaker 1: And the result is you're getting outcomes very quickly. By
18:51
Speaker 1: eleven PM, you pretty much know the outcome of every
18:53
Speaker 1: race in Florida unless it's like really really close. I
18:56
Speaker 1: hope this is what we have to take away from
18:59
Speaker 1: this and state legislatures where their Republicans desperately need to
19:04
Speaker 1: get their heads out of their ear end and understand
19:08
Speaker 1: that how they're doing their elections in Florida is what
19:10
Speaker 1: we need to be mimicking and company copying all over
19:13
Speaker 1: the country. Now. Democrats love the chaos that plays to
19:17
Speaker 1: their advantage, right. They don't want to fix voting and
19:20
Speaker 1: we and we just need to know that and recognize
19:22
Speaker 1: it and understand it. But I go back to there's
19:25
Speaker 1: two issues here. We have to understand and we have
19:30
Speaker 1: to identify. We have to understand and we have to
19:33
Speaker 1: identify that candidate quality is the most important thing. Candidate
19:41
Speaker 1: quality is everything, folks. If we don't have candidate quality,
19:46
Speaker 1: we are screwed. If we don't choose candidates that are viable,
19:50
Speaker 1: candidates that can win in a general election, we are screwed.
19:56
Speaker 1: And when people sit there and they act like we
19:59
Speaker 1: can just pick some random guy like doctor Oz and
20:02
Speaker 1: the voters in the Republican Party are going to act
20:06
Speaker 1: like Democrats and vote for anybody you put up just
20:08
Speaker 1: because there's an art extra name. We need to understand
20:12
Speaker 1: that is not how this works. It's not going to
20:15
Speaker 1: work that way. It's not going to happen that way.
20:18
Speaker 1: There's also another takeaway, and that is we have to
20:21
Speaker 1: be honest about how the media is going to cover
20:24
Speaker 1: candidates that come out and go to war. Right. We
20:28
Speaker 1: know it's going to be bad, especially if you're a
20:29
Speaker 1: Trump cant. They're going to try to destroy you. Great
20:32
Speaker 1: example of this is Van Jones. Last night, he had
20:36
Speaker 1: this to say about picking herschel Walker. This tonight is
20:42
Speaker 1: about Georgia, and tonight is about Trump picking somebody who
20:45
Speaker 1: frankly used to be a hero. His name herschel Walker
20:50
Speaker 1: used to mean inspiration. Now it means insult. He's an
20:54
Speaker 1: insult to the black community. And what you may see
20:57
Speaker 1: to night is people coming out not just to vote
21:00
Speaker 1: favor of a senator that they love, but just to
21:02
Speaker 1: vote against Donald Trump picking somebody like this and throwing
21:05
Speaker 1: this person at the voters in Georgia like, well, you'll
21:07
Speaker 1: just pick anybody who's black. His judgment, Trump's judgment, Uh,
21:13
Speaker 1: tonight is going to be I think called into question
21:15
Speaker 1: by a lot of people. And I think that when
21:18
Speaker 1: you have when you have a situation where, uh, it's
21:20
Speaker 1: obvious that Trump, when he was a little bit too
21:24
Speaker 1: clever by half, I know, I'm gonna put a black
21:27
Speaker 1: guy against a black guy, but the guy that he
21:28
Speaker 1: picked was around black. It's absolutely and it's and it's
21:32
Speaker 1: the it's the judgment around the kinds of people you
21:35
Speaker 1: want to run for office. This addiction to celebrity culture, yea, honestly,
21:39
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I mean this is one of the
21:41
Speaker 1: things about Republicans over the years. You know, we don't
21:43
Speaker 1: have any celebrities much. You know, a handful of folks
21:46
Speaker 1: we have Duncan and uh, but when somebody pops up
21:50
Speaker 1: and if they're famous, and all of a sudden, it's like,
21:53
Speaker 1: is this personal Republican? And people start to elevate them
21:56
Speaker 1: beyond potentially what they're capable of. Look what's happened with
21:59
Speaker 1: kind West and herschel Walker. I think, you know, obviously
22:05
Speaker 1: got the nomination because because not just because Trump picked him,
22:08
Speaker 1: but he legitimately a legend. But that doesn't necessarily make
22:12
Speaker 1: you the kind of person people want to put in
22:14
Speaker 1: the Senate. Now we're still counting Boast tonight. We'll see
22:16
Speaker 1: if what happens. But one of the things coming out
22:18
Speaker 1: of the mid term for me as a Republican is
22:21
Speaker 1: I was talking to a Republican about this the other night,
22:22
Speaker 1: and he said, I think people just want normal folks
22:25
Speaker 1: who have good character. And that doesn't mean you have
22:27
Speaker 1: to pick every celebrity out there and elevate them beyond
22:30
Speaker 1: what they're capable of. But that's a part of that
22:32
Speaker 1: Trump brand. I don't think. I don't want to cut
22:34
Speaker 1: out celebrities from being able to run for office, but
22:37
Speaker 1: I think that if you are herschel Walker, you are
22:41
Speaker 1: an insult to the black voters of Georgia. And honestly,
22:46
Speaker 1: I mean I'm not a Republican, but it would be
22:48
Speaker 1: an insult to me as a Republican to think that
22:50
Speaker 1: this is the type of person that I actually want
22:53
Speaker 1: to sense the United States Senate. I also think though,
22:56
Speaker 1: for Trump, when you look at his liability, I think
22:59
Speaker 1: it's a difference between primary in general. If you can
23:02
Speaker 1: get through your primary without let's talk about twenty twenty
23:06
Speaker 1: four without Trump for some of the Senate races endorsing you,
23:11
Speaker 1: but you're in a close race. You know, I'm in
23:14
Speaker 1: the business of building coalitions. Maybe you try and pull
23:16
Speaker 1: some of those Trump voters and those independents, but not
23:19
Speaker 1: have Trump be your leading force. I think that's what
23:22
Speaker 1: Walker is trying to do tonight. I think it's too little,
23:24
Speaker 1: too late because he was selected by Trump. That's Glen
23:27
Speaker 1: Yon can maybe exactly. And you guys will remember fourteen
23:31
Speaker 1: when the Senate race was going on in Georgia, herschell
23:34
Speaker 1: Walker emerged is a great surrogate for a credible Republican candidate.
23:38
Speaker 1: It's not like there isn't a place for celebrities who
23:40
Speaker 1: want to get into politics. If you have no business
23:42
Speaker 1: being in the world's greatest deliberative body, if you can't
23:44
Speaker 1: name basic policy positions. If you are clearly unclear on
23:48
Speaker 1: where you stand on something like the abortion issue, which
23:50
Speaker 1: is one of the most important issues facing our country.
23:52
Speaker 1: What do you make of Walkers a candidate. Well, look,
23:54
Speaker 1: I've been very vocal about this, and not because I
23:56
Speaker 1: don't want Republicans to have majorities. I just have the
23:59
Speaker 1: candidate quality does matter, and I think long term this
24:02
Speaker 1: actually is a benefit for Republicans if we take this
24:05
Speaker 1: as a medicine, we pivot at this point and we
24:07
Speaker 1: go find folks that can really lead, And Gloria, I
24:10
Speaker 1: want to go back to something that you said. You know,
24:12
Speaker 1: at this point, I think Republicans want the air cover
24:14
Speaker 1: of a real leader. They want somebody to step up
24:17
Speaker 1: in twenty four that is actually somebody they can attach
24:19
Speaker 1: their brand, to distance themselves from Donald Trump and once
24:22
Speaker 1: again be a conservative. You know, Donald Trump's confused everybody,
24:25
Speaker 1: maybe even brainwashed the conservative base to think that conservatism
24:28
Speaker 1: is somehow angryism. It's not angry. It's a very articulate
24:32
Speaker 1: way to make smaller government, safer borders, foreign policy that matters.
24:37
Speaker 1: Those are things that conservatives want. Again. The good thing,
24:41
Speaker 1: let me say this, there are some things there obviously
24:43
Speaker 1: I disagree with. But if you don't learn from your losses,
24:47
Speaker 1: and you don't learn from your mistakes, we're stupid. There
24:51
Speaker 1: are some very valid points in there that should be
24:53
Speaker 1: discussed and talked about. And if we don't do a
24:59
Speaker 1: deep five into these elections, we're just hurting ourselves. I
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26:22
Speaker 1: another important issue real quick, and that is issues that
26:25
Speaker 1: Republicans need to focus on as they get back control
26:30
Speaker 1: of at least one chamber of the House. We need
26:33
Speaker 1: to focus on the issues they're going to be important
26:37
Speaker 1: to the American people. I'll give you an example, and
26:39
Speaker 1: this is something that should be talked about. This is
26:42
Speaker 1: something that should be publicized. Tom Cotton just did something
26:47
Speaker 1: that was very interesting. Tom Cotton really kind of dropped
26:51
Speaker 1: the mic on the woke Kroger CEO for running two
26:57
Speaker 1: Republicans to save his merger from Democrats, who he basically said, no,
27:04
Speaker 1: we don't like it. Now, Kroger is trying to buy Albertson's,
27:09
Speaker 1: and Kroger has run to the Republicans hoping that they
27:12
Speaker 1: would rescue them and their merger. Now, this is the
27:16
Speaker 1: woke company that's doing this. Kroger announced in October plans
27:20
Speaker 1: to acquire Albertson's for twenty four point six billion dollars. Now,
27:24
Speaker 1: this planned, just so you know, it was not celebrated.
27:27
Speaker 1: Just want that to be very clear. It immediately triggered
27:32
Speaker 1: monopoly concerns. It triggered in a trust concerns. It especially
27:37
Speaker 1: among Democrats who are suspicious of massive corporations, brought them
27:42
Speaker 1: concerns as they claim that Kroger is not doing enough
27:45
Speaker 1: good enough job having stores in high poverty, high crime areas,
27:49
Speaker 1: minority communities. Now, Kroger is the nation's second largest grocery
27:54
Speaker 1: store chain and Albertson's is the fourth largest. So this
27:56
Speaker 1: is going to kill a lot of competition. Now, if
27:59
Speaker 1: this acquisition where approved, Kroger could potentially then rival Walmart.
28:05
Speaker 1: So there was a hearing this week before the Senate
28:07
Speaker 1: Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, and
28:14
Speaker 1: Cenator Cotton blasted the Kroger CEO for running to Republicans
28:19
Speaker 1: for support while at the same time in acting woke
28:22
Speaker 1: corporate policies. Now, specifically, Centator Cotton grilled the Kroger CEO
28:29
Speaker 1: McMullan over a religious discrimination lawsuit the federal government brought
28:35
Speaker 1: against his company for forcing two Arkansas employees to wear
28:39
Speaker 1: a uniform with a rainbow heart on it. That's the
28:44
Speaker 1: LGBTQ symbol. The employees were eventually fired because they refused
28:51
Speaker 1: to wear a uniform with the LGBTQ symbol on it.
28:56
Speaker 1: Now in October, Kroger settled a religious discrimination lawsuit filed
29:01
Speaker 1: by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of
29:04
Speaker 1: the fired employees. I want you to hear this back
29:08
Speaker 1: and forth because this is where you can actually get
29:11
Speaker 1: conservatives on your side. And we need to understand that
29:14
Speaker 1: we need to talk issues more, and we need to
29:17
Speaker 1: have more issues debates just like this one. If we're
29:21
Speaker 1: going to actually get people to want to vote for
29:23
Speaker 1: Republican candidates, listen to this well. I want to address
29:27
Speaker 1: Kroger's workforce practices and specifically how you accommodate or how
29:32
Speaker 1: you treat requests for accommodation. Let's suppose hypothetically that Kroger
29:36
Speaker 1: had a vegan worker with strong ethical beliefs about animal welfare.
29:42
Speaker 1: If you requested to work outside, say the butcher department
29:45
Speaker 1: and instead in the produced department. Would Kroger accommodate that request?
29:50
Speaker 1: Thank you, Senator for the question, And it's one of
29:52
Speaker 1: the nice things about one of our retail stores. There's
29:55
Speaker 1: many different areas, and we routinely have people transferring between apartments.
30:01
Speaker 1: Some of that is just personal interest, some of that
30:03
Speaker 1: is to grow in their own personal career. And if
30:06
Speaker 1: you look at our store directors, seventy percent of our
30:08
Speaker 1: store directors started out as an hourly associate. So it's
30:12
Speaker 1: easy to accommodate somebody in that accommodation is really based
30:17
Speaker 1: on their own desires and their own interests. Would you
30:20
Speaker 1: make such accommodations based on their Christian beliefs as well?
30:25
Speaker 1: We would not get involved in terms of religious beliefs. Okay.
30:29
Speaker 1: The reason I ask is that you recently agreed to
30:31
Speaker 1: pay one hundred and eighty thousand dollars to settle a
30:35
Speaker 1: religious discrimination case in Conway, Arkansas. In that case, two
30:40
Speaker 1: Kroger employees, Brenda Lawson, age seventy two and Trudy Rickard,
30:45
Speaker 1: age fifty seven, declined the directive to begin wearing a
30:51
Speaker 1: new store apron with a multicolored heart symbol on it. They,
30:55
Speaker 1: like many other of your employees, felt uncomfortable with the
30:58
Speaker 1: new aprons because they thought the heart resembled a gay
31:01
Speaker 1: pride symbol. Rather than make accommodations, Kroger fired these two employees.
31:08
Speaker 1: One employee simply asked to cover the symbol with a nametag,
31:12
Speaker 1: but Kroger refused even that reasonable accommodation. Are you aware
31:16
Speaker 1: of these terminations, mister McMullan, Senator, I am, I am not.
31:21
Speaker 1: This was not a private lawsuit either by two disgruntled employees,
31:24
Speaker 1: mister mullen, this was brought by the EOC. So are
31:29
Speaker 1: you not aware when your company is sued for religious
31:32
Speaker 1: discrimination by the United States government? No, sir, I am
31:36
Speaker 1: not not always well, I'm disappointed by that. Are you
31:42
Speaker 1: aware that, mister mister McMullan. Are you aware that Kroger
31:45
Speaker 1: has something called an Allyship Guide for its employees? Yes,
31:49
Speaker 1: Senator okay. In the Allyship Guide you direct employees to
31:55
Speaker 1: stop using sir and ma'am because they're inclusive. Do you
32:03
Speaker 1: expect seventy two year old employees in rural areas of
32:07
Speaker 1: Arkansas to really stop using words like sir and ma'am?
32:11
Speaker 1: If you look at our Alleyship Guide. Overall, it's trying
32:14
Speaker 1: to support our associates and going forward and trying to
32:20
Speaker 1: be inclusive for everybody with all different beliefs. And when
32:25
Speaker 1: you look at our associate resource group, our associate resource
32:29
Speaker 1: groups were created several years ago for people with different
32:32
Speaker 1: types of interests, and we think it's incredibly important to
32:37
Speaker 1: be an inclusive, opening culture to welcome all associates. If
32:42
Speaker 1: employees in your stores in rural Arkansas refer to other
32:46
Speaker 1: employees or customers or ma'am, do they face disciplinary action?
32:52
Speaker 1: Not that I'm aware of, Sir, I would have to ask,
32:55
Speaker 1: are you still requiring employees to where the apron with
32:59
Speaker 1: the bow heart symbol on it? Yeah, if you If
33:03
Speaker 1: you look at this, we put in place an apron
33:06
Speaker 1: several years ago because our associates wanted to have a
33:09
Speaker 1: common dress code. The heart is the symbol of art.
33:14
Speaker 1: The Kroger's fundamental purpose is to feed the human spirit,
33:17
Speaker 1: and part of feeding the human spirit is the heart,
33:20
Speaker 1: and that heart is our fundamental strategy to support our purpose.
33:25
Speaker 1: The colors were not tied to any specific thing. Well,
33:28
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I believe that. Because it was introduced
33:30
Speaker 1: during Pride Month, as a supposed sign of inclusivity, and
33:33
Speaker 1: a federal judge didn't agree with it either. That's why
33:36
Speaker 1: he rejected your company's motion for summary judgment. And you
33:39
Speaker 1: just paid one hundred and eighty thousand dollars to two
33:41
Speaker 1: employees that you wrongly terminated. By the way, would you
33:44
Speaker 1: like to offer an apology here to bring the laws
33:46
Speaker 1: and drudy record for the ordeal they went through. I
33:49
Speaker 1: would need to understand more of the detail, Senator, thank you, okay.
33:53
Speaker 1: So is it the case that you are still requiring
33:55
Speaker 1: all employees without accommodation to wear this apron with the
33:58
Speaker 1: rainbow heart? If you look at our apron would be
34:03
Speaker 1: required for all associates to wear consistently across the company,
34:06
Speaker 1: does it or does it not still include the symbol
34:10
Speaker 1: for which you just paid one hundred and eighty thousand
34:11
Speaker 1: dollars to settle an EFC lawsuit against your company. It
34:15
Speaker 1: would include a heart on it, Senator. And at having
34:18
Speaker 1: settled that lawsuit, are you now going to grant accommodations
34:21
Speaker 1: to employees who don't wish to display a symbol that
34:25
Speaker 1: they may perceive as not aligned with their moral and
34:29
Speaker 1: Christian views? A Senator I will think for the question,
34:33
Speaker 1: I will need to follow back up with our team
34:36
Speaker 1: with more of the details. If this merger goes through,
34:39
Speaker 1: who's going to be making decisions about uniforms in the
34:42
Speaker 1: combined company and whether to grant reasonable accommodations. If you
34:47
Speaker 1: look in terms of our fundamental uniform that was put
34:51
Speaker 1: in place, our associate resource groups work together in terms
34:56
Speaker 1: of designing the uniform, and we would use the same
35:00
Speaker 1: type of approach on a combined company basis. This is
35:04
Speaker 1: exactly what we're missing in the Republican party right now.
35:08
Speaker 1: You listen to those thoughtful questions from Tom Cotton grilling
35:12
Speaker 1: the Kroger CEO over firing employees who refused to wear
35:17
Speaker 1: a gay pride symbol. They lose, they have to pay
35:21
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty something thousand dollars right and still
35:25
Speaker 1: Kroger is saying we're gonna keep doing this. You have
35:29
Speaker 1: a CEO that is obviously, I think, not being truthful
35:33
Speaker 1: to Senator Tom Cotton. And the reason why Kroger is
35:36
Speaker 1: running to Republicans right now is because Democrats are saying
35:39
Speaker 1: no to this merger. So now after they treat people
35:41
Speaker 1: the way they've been treating people, they come immediately running
35:43
Speaker 1: over and they're like, oh, please, Republicans help us. These
35:47
Speaker 1: are the types of issues that Republicans want thoughtful, honest
35:52
Speaker 1: conversations about. Right, These are the issues that Republicans say, yes,
35:58
Speaker 1: go defend me and my traditional values, and defend these
36:03
Speaker 1: workers who are being persecuted and fired for not wearing propaganda,
36:07
Speaker 1: political propaganda that goes against their religious beliefs. Literally, if
36:13
Speaker 1: Republicans want to win in the future, we gotta look
36:17
Speaker 1: at candidate quality. We got to learn from our losses,
36:21
Speaker 1: and we have to make sure that we fight on
36:24
Speaker 1: real issues, just like the one I talked to you about.
36:28
Speaker 1: Make sure you share a podcast to your family and friends.
36:30
Speaker 1: Please write us a five star review wherever you're listening
36:34
Speaker 1: to this podcast, and I'll see you back here tomorrow