WEBVTT 00:00:07.030 --> 00:00:10.269 Welcome back to the Left of Old North. I'm your 00:00:10.269 --> 00:00:13.609 host, Adrian. And I'm CJ. This week, we're getting 00:00:13.609 --> 00:00:15.929 into the cracks forming inside of the North Carolina 00:00:15.929 --> 00:00:19.010 Democratic Party. But first, we want to announce 00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:20.910 that, well, he's already announced, but Wiley 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:22.870 Nickel is officially challenging Tom Tillis for 00:00:22.870 --> 00:00:25.589 the Senate. But with Roy Cooper hovering in the 00:00:25.589 --> 00:00:27.269 background, and there's been a little bit of 00:00:27.269 --> 00:00:29.620 buzz about that this week. things could get a 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:31.399 little complicated pretty fast. Plus, we're going 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:33.420 to cover David Hogg's progressive push to primary 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:36.600 establishment Democrats, or as Donald Trump loves 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:39.899 to put them. do nothing Democrats. And that push 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:42.000 is gaining momentum. There is a clear divide, 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:45.060 I think, between the obvious recipients of this 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:47.880 push and also the younger generation, especially 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:49.939 the ones that are more vocal on like TikTok and 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:51.460 Instagram. And there's some real warning signs 00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:54.299 for state figures that we'll cover later. And 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:55.920 then finally, we'll talk a little bit about party 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:59.240 leadership and what that means for 2026 and how 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:00.859 we're going to move forward from this. But of 00:01:00.859 --> 00:01:03.479 course, something big happened this week. So 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:05.849 there was a major court decision. A huge W for 00:01:05.849 --> 00:01:08.569 Democrats and especially for Alison Riggs to 00:01:08.569 --> 00:01:10.829 thwart the Republican efforts to take control 00:01:10.829 --> 00:01:12.790 of the North Carolina, both the state board of 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:17.250 elections and also their attempt to try and just 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:19.450 throw out a bunch of ballots out of hand and 00:01:19.450 --> 00:01:22.069 basically win this thing without actually winning 00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:25.840 it. So we got two dubs in the middle of a whirlwind, 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:28.180 in the middle of a hurricane. It seems like a 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:31.680 never -ending slurry of political fallout from 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:34.340 both the 2024 election and also just North Carolina 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:37.480 being North Carolina. But CJ, as our resident 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:40.799 policy guy, can you explain a little bit? to 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.099 me and everybody else, really what went down 00:01:43.099 --> 00:01:45.799 this week with these court decisions. Yeah. So 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:49.379 here in, again, North Carolina, the Federal Appeals 00:01:49.379 --> 00:01:52.040 Court halted the ballot curing process from beginning 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.180 in this case of Riggs Griffin. So essentially, 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:57.500 there's a three -judge panel on the Fourth Circuit 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:00.180 Court of Appeals. And this past Tuesday, so that 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:02.680 would have been, what, the 22nd, I think? Yeah. 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:05.959 22nd, ordered the state to not mail any notices 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.960 to the about 1 ,400 voters whose ballots are 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:11.849 being included. in the cure process while all 00:02:11.849 --> 00:02:14.110 this litigation continues, right? And so I want 00:02:14.110 --> 00:02:16.009 to point this out really quick. So just Toby 00:02:16.009 --> 00:02:19.930 Heaton's Paul Niemeyer, who were both appointed 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:23.389 by Joe Biden and George H .W. Bush, respectively, 00:02:23.629 --> 00:02:25.830 proved the halt while Trump appointee judge Marvin 00:02:25.830 --> 00:02:27.789 Quattlebaum. That's a fun name. That is a fun 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:32.669 name. So, I mean, I think one thing that is really 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:36.270 interesting is this is a bipartisan. panel, this 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:38.370 is a bipartisan decision right here. We've got 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:40.030 Republicans and we've got Democrats saying, hey, 00:02:40.210 --> 00:02:42.770 maybe let's stop this stuff right now and, you 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:44.849 know, slow things down so that, you know, Reagan's 00:02:44.849 --> 00:02:46.430 team can kind of figure out their next move. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:50.139 Right. And that that was an interesting dynamic 00:02:50.139 --> 00:02:52.259 that kind of happened. Like in that one, it was 00:02:52.259 --> 00:02:54.740 unanimous. Right. And then in this other court 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:56.800 decision that I was talking about, kind of alluding 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.319 to earlier, specifically about the state auditor 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:03.219 shift of election control. But in this one, it 00:03:03.219 --> 00:03:05.400 was a two to one decision. There was there were 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:08.080 two Republicans on the panel and then there was 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.419 one Democrat. And remember, here in North Carolina, 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:12.599 as I'm sure some of you listening probably know, 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.080 we were referring to them that way because our 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.439 judicial races are. So, I mean, it's not a secret. 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:22.060 But both the Democrat and the Republican sided 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:25.139 with the side that was saying that this is unconstitutional 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:28.740 because you cannot just place the electoral process 00:03:28.740 --> 00:03:30.860 in the hands of the state auditor. Which, keep 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:34.000 in mind, Dave Boliak, who didn't even change 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.599 his affiliation from Democrat to Republican until 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.979 2023, a guy who has said publicly that he is 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:44.340 only in politics for Donald Trump. And has absolutely 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:48.580 no electoral experience. working with an elections 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:50.340 body or anything, this was the guy that they 00:03:50.340 --> 00:03:52.379 were going to hand the reins over to take control 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.439 of our state elections, specifically because 00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:56.360 it would deny our incoming Democratic Governor 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:58.539 Josh Stein the ability to do so. And what do 00:03:58.539 --> 00:04:01.560 I mean by that? I mean that they would be in 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:03.599 charge of all of our election boards, all 100 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:05.439 election boards, that they would be in charge 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:08.000 of a lot more than just overseeing the election. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.939 And for that to be a partisan position in the 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:13.000 hands of a state auditor, which doesn't even 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.479 make sense, huge, a bunch of red flags here. 00:04:15.789 --> 00:04:17.509 right the question you have to ask yourself is 00:04:17.509 --> 00:04:19.790 this if democrat jessica holmes had won this 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:21.569 state auditor race do you think that this would 00:04:21.569 --> 00:04:23.509 have been in the bill that they pushed through 00:04:23.509 --> 00:04:25.930 in december this senate bill 382 do you think 00:04:25.930 --> 00:04:27.209 that that provision would have been in there 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:30.389 oh god absolutely not absolutely not yeah definitely 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:33.870 not no i mean this is as it has been said before 00:04:33.870 --> 00:04:36.949 just a partisan power grab plain and simple that's 00:04:36.949 --> 00:04:40.810 it partisan hackery it 100 like the fact that 00:04:40.810 --> 00:04:44.329 this The fact that one of the Republican judges 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:48.990 basically said that because the General Assembly 00:04:48.990 --> 00:04:51.850 still kept the power of the election boards within 00:04:51.850 --> 00:04:54.170 the Council of State, which technically the governor 00:04:54.170 --> 00:04:56.410 is a part of, it was constitutional. The other 00:04:56.410 --> 00:04:59.269 two said, nah, our state constitution specifically 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:01.889 says that it's within the power of the governor 00:05:01.889 --> 00:05:05.050 to do this. That makes what the General Assembly 00:05:05.050 --> 00:05:08.149 did unconstitutional. So again, a big dub for 00:05:08.149 --> 00:05:11.120 people on the left this month, this week. We 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:15.220 got two, and my soul has been sustained on that 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:18.560 for the last few days. Amongst all the other 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:20.420 bullshit that we've had to deal with, I have 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:23.139 been flying high because I know that at least 00:05:23.139 --> 00:05:25.709 some of it has been stopped. I mean... You know, 00:05:25.730 --> 00:05:28.870 whenever you're in a desert of shitty news, a 00:05:28.870 --> 00:05:31.069 drop of water feels like an oasis. Exactly. But 00:05:31.069 --> 00:05:32.730 at the same time, that's not to undermine, because 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:34.750 this is absolutely huge. And we should say that 00:05:34.750 --> 00:05:37.389 Bullock has said that he will appeal this ruling. 00:05:37.490 --> 00:05:39.490 Because, of course, he will. Because that is 00:05:39.490 --> 00:05:40.990 just the Republican playbook. You know, if you 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.009 don't like the result, they say, fuck that. We're 00:05:43.009 --> 00:05:45.310 going to sue our way to try and win. Yeah. And 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:47.879 here's the issue. Right? Are y 'all ready for 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.019 this? The issue is that if they appeal it, there 00:05:50.019 --> 00:05:54.379 are 15 judges on the Court of Appeals. Three 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:57.139 of them are Democrats. The rest are Republicans. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.259 And when a case goes up to the appellate courts, 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:03.259 they pluck three people to sit on that panel 00:06:03.259 --> 00:06:06.120 and judge. Now, if they happen to get a couple 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:08.920 of judges who are willing to just kind of let 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:11.860 this partisan hackery take its course, again, 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:14.240 we're setting really, really bad precedent here 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.920 in this state if that happens. not not a lot 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:18.800 i can say beyond that because it's just kind 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.259 of like shit i hope it doesn't come to that yeah 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:25.680 i guess say um there's something kind of funny 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.639 or ironic about um a statement that destin hall 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.920 destin hall for all we don't know is the speaker 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:33.279 of the house here in carolina he said that he 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.279 is going to appeal this as well and expressed 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:37.899 confidence in the law and also said that the 00:06:37.899 --> 00:06:41.680 board of elections God. Operates elections, quote, 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.560 much like in a banana republic. What the hell 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.180 does he even mean by that? I'm not sure he knows 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:48.740 what it means, but... I mean, he did use the 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:51.160 buzzword banana republic, which scares conservatives 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:53.629 like no other, apparently. Which... It's funny 00:06:53.629 --> 00:06:55.269 because if you know the history of what a banana 00:06:55.269 --> 00:06:57.509 republic is, it is pretty much the most capitalist 00:06:57.509 --> 00:06:59.649 thing you could possibly think of. You said, 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:02.069 from failing to properly clean up our voter rolls, 00:07:02.149 --> 00:07:04.170 to determining third -party ballot access based 00:07:04.170 --> 00:07:06.129 on the political winds, to completely bungling 00:07:06.129 --> 00:07:08.389 simple voter registration requirements, the partisan 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:10.370 Democrat board is a national embarrassment. Well, 00:07:10.470 --> 00:07:13.750 you know what? All sorry you, but anyway. Well, 00:07:13.810 --> 00:07:18.050 and the other side of that coin too is like, 00:07:18.110 --> 00:07:20.959 but who pushed them to be partisan? Who pushed 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.740 election boards to be partisan, if I remember 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:24.720 correctly, and I probably should have double 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.360 checked this research before recording, but I 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.759 think it was under Tillis's reign as Speaker 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.180 of the House that they changed. the rules so 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:37.740 that it was partisan to appoint election board 00:07:37.740 --> 00:07:39.420 members the problem was that they thought they 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:41.899 were going to get a lot more uh time with governor 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:46.060 pat mcrory and unfortunately well fortunately 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:48.000 for us unfortunately for them governor roy cooper 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.139 put a very quick end to that yeah he kind of 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:52.939 you know put him in his place but i mean i guess 00:07:52.939 --> 00:07:54.740 that's that's what happens whenever you pass 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:56.720 the law that cost the state billions of dollars 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:00.230 in lost revenue Yeah, well, Republicans are extremely 00:08:00.230 --> 00:08:03.050 good at that. And pretending like money is just 00:08:03.050 --> 00:08:05.069 there, even though it's not going to get funneled 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:07.670 to where it was supposed to go. Colleen. Anyway, 00:08:07.810 --> 00:08:11.170 so what does this mean for the midterms? Like, 00:08:11.230 --> 00:08:13.430 because we're speaking really, really, really 00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:16.250 micro level right now. This just happened in 00:08:16.250 --> 00:08:18.879 the last couple. days really this we don't know 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:20.300 what's going to happen within the next few weeks 00:08:20.300 --> 00:08:21.560 we don't know what's going to happen within the 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:24.439 next few months when it comes to 2026 uh where 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:27.779 do you see this going i mean i see and i would 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:29.660 love for what i'm about to say to be me just 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:31.420 being cynical but i think it's more me being 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:33.340 realistic i do see them trying to take this as 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:35.419 far as they can republicans that is trying to 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.919 sue their way to you know taking control of it 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.379 because that's their playbook at this point sure 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:42.080 you know we've said this before i've said this 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:44.409 before they know their policies suck They know 00:08:44.409 --> 00:08:47.389 that them as a party is not perceived very well. 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:49.789 And their perception is being dragged down even 00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:52.509 more by Trump and his policies. And so what are 00:08:52.509 --> 00:08:53.750 they going to do? They're going to try everything 00:08:53.750 --> 00:08:56.370 they can to consolidate power so that whenever 00:08:56.370 --> 00:08:58.289 they have to deal with fallout of whatever the 00:08:58.289 --> 00:09:01.389 hell Trump does, that they are affected as little 00:09:01.389 --> 00:09:04.559 as possible. Yeah. So they are going to try to 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:07.259 steal a state Supreme Court seat, and they're 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:10.480 going to try to steal all the State Board of 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.500 Elections stuff. They're going to continue to 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:15.679 draw insanely shitty gerrymandered maps. Because, 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:17.940 as we said before, they don't care about your 00:09:17.940 --> 00:09:19.720 voice. They don't care about your vote, dear 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:21.820 listener. They care about empowering themselves, 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:24.039 not empowering the people who they're supposed 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:27.460 to be representing. I wish that was me just being 00:09:27.460 --> 00:09:30.419 cynical, but we see the evidence. Well, I mean, 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:33.480 it's not cynical when it's very clear, again, 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:36.559 very clear partisan hackery. Like this isn't 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:39.039 for the betterment of the North Carolina citizen. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:41.360 This is for the betterment of the North Carolina 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.399 GOP. Yes. So that they can retain power in a 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:47.679 state that is far more purple than they are willing 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:51.700 to admit. We are being just suffocated by the 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:54.539 amount of... force that they have put into the 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:56.980 way that they govern it has been relentless so 00:09:56.980 --> 00:09:59.519 and and i take from a meme here no you don't 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:02.620 in fact gotta hand it to them but at some point 00:10:02.620 --> 00:10:04.519 you gotta be like god damn all right they really 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:07.460 they really put forward their best foot and one 00:10:07.460 --> 00:10:09.440 of the people that you kind of have to give it 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:11.519 a hand give a hand to is the guy who's sitting 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:13.600 in our senate seat right now one of them is tom 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.629 tillis dude was instrumental in creating the 00:10:16.629 --> 00:10:18.750 North Carolina GOP that we see today. He was 00:10:18.750 --> 00:10:20.350 the Speaker of the House during the Tea Party 00:10:20.350 --> 00:10:22.549 movement when they flipped it from blue to red 00:10:22.549 --> 00:10:27.029 back in 2010. He was the guy that managed to 00:10:27.029 --> 00:10:30.750 coordinate a sustaining campaign here for Trump 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:35.350 in 2016. He was the guy that managed to get millions 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:39.090 and millions of dollars in funds and donations 00:10:39.090 --> 00:10:42.590 directly into the vein of NCGOP politics here. 00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:44.710 And not to mention, the guy who is currently 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:47.419 the... RNC chair was basically handpicked by 00:10:47.419 --> 00:10:50.500 Tom Tillis. So I'm not handing it to him, but 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:53.279 Tillis operates as if he is kind of a moderate 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:54.919 Republican, like, oh, well, I'm going to use 00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:56.980 my best judgment and go that way. Make no mistake, 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.240 he is not and never has been. So dear listener, 00:11:00.379 --> 00:11:03.299 if you are on the cusp. And or, you know, somebody 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:05.220 who is like unaffiliated is like, yeah, but Tom 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:06.659 Tillis isn't that bad. He's not as bad as other 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:09.460 Republicans. No, he is as bad, if not worse, 00:11:09.620 --> 00:11:12.039 because he is able to make you think he is not 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:14.080 as bad as other Republicans. And we're going 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.360 to get into that here in a little bit. But for 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:19.399 the 2026 midterms, what this means is that if 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:21.700 we care about democracy and we care about not 00:11:21.700 --> 00:11:23.679 just the rule of law, but trying to maintain 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.629 some balance in this state again in this. very 00:11:26.629 --> 00:11:29.669 purple state, more purple than most. We have 00:11:29.669 --> 00:11:33.190 to make sure that we are organizing. for 2026. 00:11:33.409 --> 00:11:35.330 We have to make sure that we keep the seats that 00:11:35.330 --> 00:11:37.009 we already have, and I'm talking specifically 00:11:37.009 --> 00:11:39.289 the Democratic Party, and we have to ensure that 00:11:39.289 --> 00:11:44.669 we expand the minority in the House, expand the 00:11:44.669 --> 00:11:47.610 minority in the Senate, keep Justice Anita Earls' 00:11:47.710 --> 00:11:50.070 seat in the North Carolina Supreme Court, and 00:11:50.070 --> 00:11:53.370 flip some seats in both 2026 and 2028 for the 00:11:53.370 --> 00:11:54.870 Court of Appeals. Because like I said before, 00:11:54.950 --> 00:11:57.350 the Court of Appeals is stacked with Republicans. 00:11:57.649 --> 00:12:00.549 They have no shortage of people in there, one 00:12:00.549 --> 00:12:03.779 of whom is the very guy who is trying to overturn 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:06.100 the election that allison riggs just won jefferson 00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:07.679 griffin he's on the court of appeals he's one 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.639 of those guys and he has refused to recuse himself 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.600 from anything right scruples be damned yeah integrity 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:18.080 be damned really soul be damned but anyway so 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.429 that that is on On that front, the message is 00:12:21.429 --> 00:12:24.809 clear. The viewpoint should be clear for now. 00:12:24.889 --> 00:12:28.190 That the focus for 2026 is making sure that we 00:12:28.190 --> 00:12:31.009 hold on to the footholds and the handholds. I'm 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:34.509 using a bad rock climbing analogy here, but we've 00:12:34.509 --> 00:12:36.509 got to hold on to what we've got right now. And 00:12:36.509 --> 00:12:38.169 I know it doesn't seem like a win, but trust 00:12:38.169 --> 00:12:40.830 me, if you don't, it's going to get way worse 00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:43.590 than it already is. Because now there's no recourse. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.200 We're stuck with people who are not willing to 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.379 fight for us. Which, if you've been paying attention 00:12:47.379 --> 00:12:48.980 to the news, and we've talked about this a little 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:51.120 bit on the last episode, there's been some interesting 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:53.740 developments in the DNC with David Hogg, as we, 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:56.899 again, we say last week, with his push to... 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:00.879 it rid of kind of what's the word useless well 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:02.659 i don't want to say useless how would you phrase 00:13:02.659 --> 00:13:07.519 it feckless probably um okay yeah yeah spineless 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.320 works too yeah democrats okay ones who aren't 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.600 willing to take a stand or who have just been 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.899 complacent and are just kind of showing they're 00:13:14.899 --> 00:13:17.639 willing to kind of let whatever happened happen 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:20.639 and you know over the past week i thought this 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.279 was kind of interesting but uh the new barely 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:25.809 new chair this was he just got I like to share 00:13:25.809 --> 00:13:27.909 what February or something. I think Ken Martin, 00:13:27.929 --> 00:13:31.570 but yeah, Ken Martin. Yeah. David Hogg ultimatum, 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:33.950 essentially saying, Hey, you can back off of 00:13:33.950 --> 00:13:36.289 this or you can, you know, leave essentially. 00:13:36.509 --> 00:13:39.110 Yeah. So, you know, you start a job, you say, 00:13:39.169 --> 00:13:42.029 Hey, I'm going to come in and change some things. 00:13:42.129 --> 00:13:44.389 And everybody's like, cool. We can't wait to 00:13:44.389 --> 00:13:45.730 see what you do. And then you start doing it. 00:13:45.750 --> 00:13:47.990 And they're like, no, not like that. I mean, 00:13:48.009 --> 00:13:50.090 I think, I think it's very interesting to see 00:13:50.090 --> 00:13:53.190 this response. Oh, it's interesting. And it's. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:55.340 Also just disappointing, but not surprising. 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:57.960 Like, I mean, you said before, you know, the 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.019 definition of insanity is doing the same thing 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:01.779 over and over and expecting different results. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:04.759 Yeah. Again, maybe this plan was the most well 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:07.200 rolled out, but the idea behind it is at least 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.700 a good one. Yeah. There are people who need to 00:14:09.700 --> 00:14:11.899 be primaried. There are people who need to lose 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:14.320 their seats and be replaced with someone who's 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.440 actually willing to do the work. Yeah. Because 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.379 he didn't say like, oh, we need more progressive 00:14:18.379 --> 00:14:20.820 people. I mean, he may have said that specifically, 00:14:21.059 --> 00:14:24.549 maybe. But I in my own head, when I think about 00:14:24.549 --> 00:14:26.370 getting new people in, I don't necessarily picture 00:14:26.370 --> 00:14:29.789 just more progressives or more leftists or whatever. 00:14:30.110 --> 00:14:32.649 I'm picturing people who are like going to represent 00:14:32.649 --> 00:14:35.490 the district that they live in better and that 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:38.809 are willing to win when the time comes that you 00:14:38.809 --> 00:14:41.070 actually need to step up for your both your party 00:14:41.070 --> 00:14:43.409 and also your constituents that you can you can 00:14:43.409 --> 00:14:45.809 balance those things. Right. It's kind of like 00:14:45.809 --> 00:14:47.710 what we talked about with Cecil Brockman is is 00:14:47.710 --> 00:14:50.730 vanishing. When a vote comes across the floor 00:14:50.730 --> 00:14:52.909 and you actually have a chance to, like, you're 00:14:52.909 --> 00:14:55.950 in the room. You are down there and you are able 00:14:55.950 --> 00:14:59.009 to cast a vote. You're one of 100 and, what is 00:14:59.009 --> 00:15:01.509 it, 115 people? 110? Something like that, yeah. 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:03.889 Yeah. You're one of a small number of people 00:15:03.889 --> 00:15:05.649 in North Carolina that actually has a direct 00:15:05.649 --> 00:15:08.409 line to be able to say exactly what you want 00:15:08.409 --> 00:15:10.909 to do in our government. And you skip a vote? 00:15:11.210 --> 00:15:12.970 That's not what people elected you to do, man. 00:15:13.210 --> 00:15:16.009 It's just not. that's what i'm talking about 00:15:16.009 --> 00:15:19.269 maybe cecil brockman reflects his constituency 00:15:19.269 --> 00:15:21.830 better than most would like with his politics 00:15:21.830 --> 00:15:24.110 fine but if you're not showing up for a vote 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:26.649 at all it doesn't matter it doesn't and like 00:15:26.649 --> 00:15:29.970 one it's also 120 members by the way 120 okay 00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:32.149 but then you know there's there's the other there's 00:15:32.149 --> 00:15:34.269 the other side of that where people are just 00:15:34.269 --> 00:15:36.649 completely disconnected from how they're supposed 00:15:36.649 --> 00:15:39.750 to be representing us um one great example that 00:15:39.750 --> 00:15:42.669 has only he's only continued to make it worse 00:15:42.669 --> 00:15:45.110 for himself is minority leader senator chuck 00:15:45.110 --> 00:15:48.230 schumer um the man seems allergic to good press 00:15:48.230 --> 00:15:50.950 right now i ever told him all presses get oppressed 00:15:50.950 --> 00:15:52.870 lied to him and should be fired i'm gonna send 00:15:52.870 --> 00:15:55.350 him a strongly worded letter oh good god you 00:15:55.350 --> 00:15:58.690 know I'm going to send so many strongly worded 00:15:58.690 --> 00:16:01.129 letters and he's going to have to respond. Because 00:16:01.129 --> 00:16:03.289 this is the mindset they have right now, CJ. 00:16:03.509 --> 00:16:07.110 This is the top guy in the Senate for the Democratic 00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:10.330 Party. He thinks that we are back in 1980 where 00:16:10.330 --> 00:16:12.070 you can send somebody a strongly worded letter 00:16:12.070 --> 00:16:14.889 and they may choose to do something about it. 00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:18.389 Does he forget that Trump cannot read? Okay, 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:20.009 I don't know. Have you ever watched the show 00:16:20.009 --> 00:16:22.299 The Good Place? No, I have not. And I'm sorry 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:24.399 if I lose hands for that. Uh, it's a good show. 00:16:24.460 --> 00:16:25.980 You really should watch it. Okay. It's the same 00:16:25.980 --> 00:16:27.620 guy who did like some wreck in the office. Anyway. 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:30.740 Um, so the whole concept is it's the afterlife 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:33.519 and you find out that souls aren't getting into 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:35.950 heaven because there's this whole like. messed 00:16:35.950 --> 00:16:38.289 up system and so our main character goes like 00:16:38.289 --> 00:16:39.929 this group of angels they're like like oh you 00:16:39.929 --> 00:16:41.629 gotta like fix this system you know people are 00:16:41.629 --> 00:16:43.690 like going to the bad place like you know every 00:16:43.690 --> 00:16:45.230 day in droves like no one's been to the good 00:16:45.230 --> 00:16:47.509 place in years and this like council of angels 00:16:47.509 --> 00:16:49.529 are like oh yeah no you know what that is a very 00:16:49.529 --> 00:16:51.269 serious problem you know what this is something 00:16:51.269 --> 00:16:52.889 we should talk about uh you know what we're gonna 00:16:52.889 --> 00:16:55.389 do we are going to form a committee to discuss 00:16:55.389 --> 00:16:58.029 taking action and we will give ourselves no uh 00:16:58.029 --> 00:17:01.190 longer than 1 000 years to discuss whether or 00:17:01.190 --> 00:17:02.330 not we want to actually form this committee to 00:17:02.330 --> 00:17:05.519 take action or not right that's the mentality 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:08.000 just to form the committee not even to not even 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.660 to like do the thing not even to like make a 00:17:10.660 --> 00:17:12.140 decision just to form the committee it's going 00:17:12.140 --> 00:17:15.079 to take like a thousand years yeah well and yeah 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:18.039 like that that is the sheer mentality like like 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:19.559 we said before he's actually like we're still 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:22.180 playing baseball but like they've gone and created 00:17:22.180 --> 00:17:24.599 a whole new sport yeah meanwhile they're going 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:27.220 around kneecapping people with the bats and he's 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:30.420 like guys get on base You can't red tape your 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:33.839 way or, you know, write your way out of authoritarianism. 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:35.940 You know, like this guy, like Schumer, I think 00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:38.000 for Schumer at this point, getting Trump on the 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.480 back of the hand with a ruler would be considered 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:44.099 too extreme. You know? Yeah. My mind all day 00:17:44.099 --> 00:17:47.000 since this story dropped has been going to that 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:48.839 moment when Chamberlain lifts up that piece of 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:51.460 paper on the flight line, says peace in our time. 00:17:51.539 --> 00:17:54.039 But we didn't even get to that point. Like, he's 00:17:54.039 --> 00:17:56.259 not going to read that letter, dude. Like I already 00:17:56.259 --> 00:17:58.240 discussed, I don't think that Trump is actually 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:01.240 literate. I think that he I mean, it's been pretty 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:03.960 clear when you watch him say speeches. He's like 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.019 squinting real hard. He messes up on a bunch 00:18:06.019 --> 00:18:08.500 of words. Sometimes he'll just make shit up as 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:11.140 he goes along. He'll just riff like maybe he's 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:12.759 dyslexic. I don't know. I'm not trying to be 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:14.859 ableist here. The point I'm trying to make is 00:18:14.859 --> 00:18:16.940 that kind of what you were saying. This is a 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:19.140 different ballgame. And when Chuck Schumer's 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:22.599 just dragging the Democratic Party into the depths 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:24.880 with him like an anchor in terms of popularity, 00:18:25.140 --> 00:18:27.599 in terms of people's belief in their ability 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:30.200 to actually be the opposition party. No, he's 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:35.400 just saddling us. And then, as if it wasn't bad 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.539 enough. When all this is happening, he thinks, 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:41.579 you know what? I'm going to go onto a major network 00:18:41.579 --> 00:18:45.079 television and tell them I wrote a strongly worded 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:47.779 letter to the president. That'll show him CJ's 00:18:47.779 --> 00:18:51.039 got his head in his hands. As do we all. I'm 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:52.880 looking at my liquor shelf right now debating 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:57.480 if I'm going to drink. When I heard that little 00:18:57.480 --> 00:18:59.759 snippet of that interview, I just kind of paused 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:02.900 the video. And just kind of sat there for a second, 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:08.299 just in sheer awe, I guess, of just how out of 00:19:08.299 --> 00:19:11.559 touch and how unable, I should say, there we 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:14.839 go, how enable, whatever, that Schumer is to 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:17.660 rise to meet this moment. Like, he does not have, 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:20.240 he either does not have the ability, the willingness, 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:22.960 or the just knowledge, or the balls, I guess, 00:19:23.099 --> 00:19:26.680 to meet the moment, to rise up and be like, hey, 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:30.279 let's cut the shit. You know, Trump is just really... 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.400 kind of speed run authoritarianism yes maybe 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:35.339 we should throw some fucking balls and do something 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:37.460 about it i mean it's not even just balls it's 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:40.480 just like what you said before we've tried the 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:43.099 same thing and nothing's working so maybe you 00:19:43.099 --> 00:19:46.640 should change tactics man we've tried nothing 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:48.839 and we're all out of ideas that was how we started 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:52.559 this year yeah and and so far you know we we've 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.759 had a few little glimmers of hope from the democratic 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.039 party with chris murphy going on his speaking 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:00.839 tours um with senator chris van hollen going 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:03.480 to el salvador and meeting with kilmar rego garcia 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:05.599 like that was a huge boost for him and people 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:06.759 were like he should run for president i'm like 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:09.559 why because he did like the bare minimum yeah 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:11.359 and i'm not saying that i'm not saying that to 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.640 discount what he did but like that should be 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:16.660 what we expect out of the leaders of our country 00:20:16.660 --> 00:20:19.460 that shouldn't be the the the that should not 00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:21.819 be the exclusion to the rule yeah exception to 00:20:21.819 --> 00:20:23.549 the rule thank you That should not be the exception 00:20:23.549 --> 00:20:26.329 to the rule. So why is it? Why is our confidence 00:20:26.329 --> 00:20:28.769 so low? Because we got people like Chuck Schumer 00:20:28.769 --> 00:20:31.170 sending letters instead of going down to El Salvador. 00:20:31.430 --> 00:20:34.170 We have people saying in closed door meetings 00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:35.829 that they're really not approving of what they're 00:20:35.829 --> 00:20:37.589 doing right now. What we need is a senator who's 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:39.569 going to barge into the Oval Office and say, 00:20:39.730 --> 00:20:42.589 you, sir, are a rat fucker or something. I don't 00:20:42.589 --> 00:20:45.089 know. Anything. Get it on camera. Just the last 00:20:45.089 --> 00:20:47.849 few weeks, we had Gretchen Whitmer get sidelined 00:20:47.849 --> 00:20:50.769 or get sideswiped by the press when she thought 00:20:50.769 --> 00:20:53.140 she was going to meet. president drum for for 00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:55.660 just a meeting for her state and then she had 00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:57.279 that embarrassing moment where she put a folder 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:58.940 in front of her face but when you think about 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:01.569 it it's like okay this is how you do it This 00:21:01.569 --> 00:21:04.069 is how you embarrass the other side, by getting 00:21:04.069 --> 00:21:06.750 them off kilter. And we're not doing that. We've 00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:08.990 become the reactionary side of the political 00:21:08.990 --> 00:21:11.630 aisle. And we shouldn't be. Like, this is not 00:21:11.630 --> 00:21:13.170 the time for defense. It's the time for offense. 00:21:13.349 --> 00:21:16.369 It's the time for balls to the wall, pedals to 00:21:16.369 --> 00:21:20.410 the metal, full, just full on offense. Like, 00:21:20.410 --> 00:21:23.190 we don't need to be waiting for whatever insane 00:21:23.190 --> 00:21:25.430 bullshit executive order Trump signs to drop. 00:21:25.670 --> 00:21:28.769 We need to actively be anticipating it. The DNC, 00:21:28.930 --> 00:21:30.589 I don't know off the top of my head, the DNC. 00:21:30.670 --> 00:21:32.910 gets how much fucking money per year right um 00:21:32.910 --> 00:21:35.589 yeah multi i don't actually pay their advisors 00:21:35.589 --> 00:21:38.250 their consultants whatever but they need to either 00:21:38.250 --> 00:21:41.349 pay them less or fucking fire them and hire people 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:44.130 who can consult on this shit who can again rise 00:21:44.130 --> 00:21:46.529 to meet the moment yeah you know here's something 00:21:46.529 --> 00:21:50.539 you and i We have at least some idea of maybe 00:21:50.539 --> 00:21:52.480 the justifications internally. Like we can at 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.619 least kind of figure it out. Sure. I'm not sitting 00:21:54.619 --> 00:21:56.359 here saying like these people are, he's just 00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:59.619 stupid or whatever. Yeah. But like to the just 00:21:59.619 --> 00:22:01.920 average everyday person who could not give less 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:04.440 of a shit about this in everyday life. If they 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:06.319 look at the TV and they're like, they see Schumer 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:09.759 and they're like, a letter? Well, they're going 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:11.660 to just think, well, that guy's fucking stupid 00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:14.480 or that guy is a coward or what party is it? 00:22:14.750 --> 00:22:17.289 is he democrat oh yeah i guess they're right 00:22:17.289 --> 00:22:20.190 and that's what i was gonna say is the the latter 00:22:20.190 --> 00:22:23.210 half it's like at this point they republicans 00:22:23.210 --> 00:22:24.589 would not be doing that they would not be sending 00:22:24.589 --> 00:22:26.390 a strongly worded letter they would be they would 00:22:26.390 --> 00:22:30.009 be rallying people to if not riot get right up 00:22:30.009 --> 00:22:32.940 to the point where they might and yeah To an 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:35.359 extent, we have seen that, right? We were seeing 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.400 like 50 -51. We're seeing all of these groups 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.220 putting together like town halls. Just as an 00:22:41.220 --> 00:22:43.880 aside, maybe I can use this later, but I went 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.019 to a town hall where our representative did not 00:22:46.019 --> 00:22:48.640 show up. And like, that is a good through line 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.119 to say, see, they just do not care. They don't 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:54.940 want to meet with constituents. The RNC has specific, 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:57.759 well, not the RNC, but the House Caucus, the 00:22:57.759 --> 00:22:59.680 Republican House Caucus has instructed people 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:02.359 not to hold town halls anymore. And then some 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:04.539 of them still did. You know, I'm not going to 00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:06.880 give them props. But at the same time, it's like, 00:23:06.980 --> 00:23:09.890 OK, you make the bed. That you want to sleep 00:23:09.890 --> 00:23:12.089 in, right? Town halls are doing nothing except 00:23:12.089 --> 00:23:15.210 providing a through line for us to show that 00:23:15.210 --> 00:23:17.609 they are incredulous. They do not care. They 00:23:17.609 --> 00:23:19.230 don't care what you actually have to say. They 00:23:19.230 --> 00:23:21.950 will say anything to get reelected. Unless you're 00:23:21.950 --> 00:23:23.769 in somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene's district 00:23:23.769 --> 00:23:27.190 where she can just be as brazen as she wants. 00:23:27.329 --> 00:23:30.349 People can get tased in her audience. And it 00:23:30.349 --> 00:23:32.190 doesn't matter. She doesn't care. She laughs, 00:23:32.210 --> 00:23:34.230 actually. And something I want to say really 00:23:34.230 --> 00:23:37.240 quick. Before we get too far away from it. Yeah. 00:23:37.420 --> 00:23:41.279 Talking about the 51 stuff and like these national 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:44.299 movements, these protests. These groups shouldn't 00:23:44.299 --> 00:23:46.440 have to be doing the work that the Democratic 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:49.720 Party should be doing. I agree and disagree a 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:51.640 little bit because I don't think that it's incumbent 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:54.799 upon the political party to do these things. 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.579 I think it's good in a way that these movements 00:23:57.579 --> 00:23:59.960 are happening independent of the Democratic Party, 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.119 right? Yeah, I agree with that. They should be 00:24:04.119 --> 00:24:06.599 independent. But at the same time, if you're 00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:09.549 comparing the two, I'm looking at 50 -51. I'm 00:24:09.549 --> 00:24:11.230 going to say them just as count catch -all for 00:24:11.230 --> 00:24:13.430 these groups. If you're looking at 50 -51 compared 00:24:13.430 --> 00:24:15.630 to the DNC, compared to the Democratic Party, 00:24:15.769 --> 00:24:17.650 you're like, oh, well, obviously the Democratic 00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:20.009 Party isn't doing anything, and these guys are. 00:24:21.049 --> 00:24:22.710 But I think that lets them off the hook a little 00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:24.950 too easily. They should at least be somewhat 00:24:24.950 --> 00:24:27.910 on a similar level. Maybe. But I think that's 00:24:27.910 --> 00:24:29.410 also letting them off the hook a little too easily, 00:24:29.470 --> 00:24:31.930 you know? Yeah. You want to see action taken 00:24:31.930 --> 00:24:35.190 by the Dems. I agree. I think that they do want 00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:37.309 to see action, but I also think that when we 00:24:37.309 --> 00:24:39.849 see action, it's not the kind of action that 00:24:39.849 --> 00:24:42.549 people want. Because unfortunately, there is 00:24:42.549 --> 00:24:45.470 a set of rules in Congress, and those aren't 00:24:45.470 --> 00:24:47.230 always clear. This is where the base fall metaphor 00:24:47.230 --> 00:24:50.910 comes back into play. It's like... They'll pull 00:24:50.910 --> 00:24:53.130 out some rule from like 200 years ago and people 00:24:53.130 --> 00:24:54.529 are like, what the hell are you talking about? 00:24:54.750 --> 00:24:56.390 It's like, actually, it's already, it's always 00:24:56.390 --> 00:24:57.769 been in the rule book. We've just never used 00:24:57.769 --> 00:25:00.369 it. When we talk about political maneuvering, 00:25:00.369 --> 00:25:02.509 right? These people aren't experts, but they're 00:25:02.509 --> 00:25:04.390 just going to like come across something and 00:25:04.390 --> 00:25:06.490 use the tools they have and see if it works for 00:25:06.490 --> 00:25:08.990 the most part. With independent organizing, you 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:11.170 don't necessarily have to abide by that. With 00:25:11.170 --> 00:25:14.230 like 50 -51, they don't have to worry about the 00:25:14.230 --> 00:25:16.869 image tied to a political party because there 00:25:16.869 --> 00:25:19.289 was everybody out there, right? At this town 00:25:19.289 --> 00:25:21.470 hall, there were Republicans there, too, that 00:25:21.470 --> 00:25:23.210 were there specifically to voice their concerns 00:25:23.210 --> 00:25:26.109 about veterans issues, about Medicare and all 00:25:26.109 --> 00:25:28.470 these other things to our representative. And 00:25:28.470 --> 00:25:30.769 he was not there. And my district representative 00:25:30.769 --> 00:25:33.049 is a Republican. So I get what you're saying. 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:35.349 And I tend to agree that, like, yes, the Democratic 00:25:35.349 --> 00:25:37.960 Party should be stronger. But at the same time, 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:39.680 don't you think it's a little bit cringe if they 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:42.539 try to do too much? I think it turns some people 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:45.559 off, to be honest. I mean, maybe. But the question 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:49.440 then is the number of people it turns off versus 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:51.799 the number of people that gets engaged worth 00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:55.900 it. That's a good point. What is your return 00:25:55.900 --> 00:25:58.480 on investment, so to speak? Yeah, exactly. What 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:02.380 is the ROI? Yeah. No, that's a good point. And 00:26:02.380 --> 00:26:04.599 I think with like, when we talk about recruiting 00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:06.579 and stuff, it's like, what is the, we always 00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:09.339 have to look at what the purpose of an organization 00:26:09.339 --> 00:26:11.359 is, right? And I was talking about this with 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:13.440 somebody the other day. What is the actual purpose 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.640 of a political campaign? Is it to start a movement? 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:19.819 Is it to headline a candidate and make them like 00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:22.299 the center of a conversation? Or is it to raise 00:26:22.299 --> 00:26:24.539 money? And in some cases, it can be all three. 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:29.859 It can be one or none of them. But I think ultimately 00:26:29.859 --> 00:26:32.500 what a campaign serves to do is to raise money 00:26:32.500 --> 00:26:34.940 for a campaign so that it can be self -sustaining. 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:36.940 Would you agree with that? I'd say so, yeah. 00:26:37.059 --> 00:26:38.720 And I think that a candidate is just kind of 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:40.859 an addendum to that in a certain sense, right? 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:44.119 It's like a circus act. If not to be too on the 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:46.019 nose, maybe not a circus act. It's like a magic 00:26:46.019 --> 00:26:48.500 act, right? For the magician to keep doing his 00:26:48.500 --> 00:26:50.819 trade. I mean, yeah, he could do magic on the 00:26:50.819 --> 00:26:52.640 streets. He could probably be the best magician 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:54.799 ever. But if he doesn't have a good PR team behind 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:56.640 him, if he doesn't have people behind him that 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:59.019 he's going to be able to tour with. And, you 00:26:59.019 --> 00:27:00.779 know, he doesn't have people to help out with 00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:03.680 his tricks. He doesn't have an assistant, a sexy 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:05.720 assistant, right? The lovely assistant. If he 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:08.529 doesn't have. All of that as part of his act, 00:27:08.630 --> 00:27:10.650 it doesn't matter what his tricks are. He's still 00:27:10.650 --> 00:27:11.890 just a guy on the side of the street begging 00:27:11.890 --> 00:27:15.970 for change with magic tricks. It is a movement, 00:27:16.029 --> 00:27:18.769 but it is also a business in some sense. But 00:27:18.769 --> 00:27:22.210 that's my take on that, I guess. We're kind of 00:27:22.210 --> 00:27:23.849 getting off track, I think, a little bit here. 00:27:24.029 --> 00:27:26.549 But I think that I can bring it back around to 00:27:26.549 --> 00:27:28.730 the whole David Hawk thing and why we run candidates 00:27:28.730 --> 00:27:31.789 in the first place, right? Because, yes. Very 00:27:31.789 --> 00:27:34.089 true that campaigns are better to raise money. 00:27:34.190 --> 00:27:35.789 But if the candidate is no good, it doesn't matter 00:27:35.789 --> 00:27:38.930 how much money you raise, right? Now, here comes 00:27:38.930 --> 00:27:42.289 a conversation we have to have about Representative 00:27:42.289 --> 00:27:45.089 Cecil Brockman and potentially somebody else 00:27:45.089 --> 00:27:48.309 on the Senate side. Now, this is a new development, 00:27:48.470 --> 00:27:50.349 right? I'm just going to read something I wrote 00:27:50.349 --> 00:27:52.650 down here. So State Senator Dan Blue, he's a 00:27:52.650 --> 00:27:54.849 longtime state senator who recently stepped down 00:27:54.849 --> 00:27:57.269 as minority leader. And there's a bit of conversation 00:27:57.269 --> 00:27:58.829 there about whether he actually stepped down 00:27:58.829 --> 00:28:01.160 or if he was going to. get beat out for reelection 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:03.980 by sydney batch i don't know the the behind the 00:28:03.980 --> 00:28:06.200 scenes of that all i know is that he was that 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:08.480 she took the mantle right he's still in the senate 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:11.180 but she's the minority leader and while senator 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:14.039 dan blue remains a respected figure the change 00:28:14.039 --> 00:28:16.299 is kind of opening the door for new voices and 00:28:16.299 --> 00:28:18.680 perspectives within the party like Not unlike 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:21.500 Sidney Batch's voice. But the problem is that 00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:24.099 now he is actively, at least according to the 00:28:24.099 --> 00:28:25.440 News and Observer, and this was something that 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:26.900 just happened in the last couple days that they 00:28:26.900 --> 00:28:29.380 reported on, that he's, quote, going his own 00:28:29.380 --> 00:28:31.559 way, end quote, and voting with Republicans on 00:28:31.559 --> 00:28:34.619 four key bills, including the state budget. Do 00:28:34.619 --> 00:28:36.519 you think he's in the crosshairs now for something 00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:39.519 like this? I mean, I wouldn't be surprised. I 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:43.799 think that right now where we're at as a party, 00:28:43.880 --> 00:28:47.019 as a country, as a state, whatever, people want 00:28:47.019 --> 00:28:49.279 two things. They want loyalty. Well, they want 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:50.279 a lot of stuff, but two of the things they really 00:28:50.279 --> 00:28:53.240 want are loyalty. In the moment, you mean? Like 00:28:53.240 --> 00:28:55.589 right now? Yeah. Yeah, they want loyalty and 00:28:55.589 --> 00:28:57.450 they want to know that they can trust you as 00:28:57.450 --> 00:29:00.329 a representative of the party, as a member of 00:29:00.329 --> 00:29:03.569 the party. And, you know, we have seen, you know, 00:29:03.569 --> 00:29:06.750 Dems be primary before and lose their seat because 00:29:06.750 --> 00:29:08.950 they can be trusted. Just look at Michael Ray 00:29:08.950 --> 00:29:12.349 last year up in C -27 when he got beaten by Rodney 00:29:12.349 --> 00:29:14.170 Pierce. And I'm just saying that not just because 00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:16.349 I managed Rodney's campaign, but because it's 00:29:16.349 --> 00:29:19.529 true. Nice little pat on the back there for yourself. 00:29:19.730 --> 00:29:22.990 Hey, I'm not going to knock you for it. But yeah, 00:29:23.029 --> 00:29:25.410 that's a good example. Yeah. But I mean, I think 00:29:25.410 --> 00:29:27.950 that this definitely puts Dan Blue on some on 00:29:27.950 --> 00:29:30.049 people's radars because they're like, well, they'll 00:29:30.049 --> 00:29:32.029 look at a couple different perspectives. One 00:29:32.029 --> 00:29:35.529 is, you know, is he doing this because he no 00:29:35.529 --> 00:29:37.529 longer has to be a minority leader so he can 00:29:37.529 --> 00:29:39.450 be free to vote however he actually wanted to 00:29:39.450 --> 00:29:41.990 the whole time, whatever. Right. Or is he doing 00:29:41.990 --> 00:29:45.009 this because he lost his position and now he's 00:29:45.009 --> 00:29:47.349 pissed and now he's being spiteful and vengeful? 00:29:47.450 --> 00:29:50.089 I don't think it's the spite part necessarily. 00:29:50.470 --> 00:29:53.200 Oh, yeah. But, you know. People might start asking 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:55.299 themselves that. And whenever they start asking 00:29:55.299 --> 00:29:57.279 themselves that, that does put him in the crosshairs 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.420 potentially to bring it back to your world. And 00:29:59.420 --> 00:30:02.599 I think you're right about the initial reaction 00:30:02.599 --> 00:30:05.349 from a lot of people is going to be on. Some 00:30:05.349 --> 00:30:08.150 kind of sliding scale of loyalty and trust, because 00:30:08.150 --> 00:30:11.029 the initial reaction from this story where they 00:30:11.029 --> 00:30:13.190 mentioned that he was going to be working with 00:30:13.190 --> 00:30:15.109 Republicans more on like the budget and some 00:30:15.109 --> 00:30:16.869 of these other key bills that they want to pass 00:30:16.869 --> 00:30:19.750 was not vitriol, but just kind of like a resigned 00:30:19.750 --> 00:30:22.730 indignation. Maybe this this kind of like, well, 00:30:22.849 --> 00:30:25.349 primaries are coming up, Dan. And that was a 00:30:25.349 --> 00:30:27.470 lot of the comments that I saw online. Now, granted, 00:30:27.609 --> 00:30:30.210 these do not represent the vast majority of voters 00:30:30.210 --> 00:30:32.740 here in North Carolina. But I think when. That 00:30:32.740 --> 00:30:34.660 is the initial reaction from people who are active 00:30:34.660 --> 00:30:37.019 online that are engaged with politics, and they 00:30:37.019 --> 00:30:39.819 see that. That's a bad sign. Not bad for them. 00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:42.500 It's bad for the Democratic Party. It's bad for 00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:44.480 the North Carolina Democratic Party. And, you 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:46.299 know, we've said it before, but people like Cecil 00:30:46.299 --> 00:30:48.920 Brockman need to be primaried. Senator Dan Blue, 00:30:49.059 --> 00:30:51.400 that remains to be seen, right? He hasn't actually 00:30:51.400 --> 00:30:54.599 done anything yet. But the mere fact that he 00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:57.339 says that he wants to try and work with Republicans, 00:30:57.619 --> 00:31:00.960 and we can understand why, right? Because, like... 00:31:01.180 --> 00:31:03.299 we're in the minority here in the state the we 00:31:03.299 --> 00:31:05.980 have the governorship we have four other members 00:31:05.980 --> 00:31:08.059 of the council of state but we do not have power 00:31:08.059 --> 00:31:10.140 within the general assembly we don't have power 00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:12.200 within the courts so if you can maneuver your 00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:14.779 way into the good graces of the majority party 00:31:14.779 --> 00:31:17.660 sure i can understand politicking like that but 00:31:17.660 --> 00:31:20.079 when we are at a current junction that requires 00:31:20.920 --> 00:31:23.539 some gumption that requires some willingness 00:31:23.539 --> 00:31:25.980 to stand up to pretty much anything that Republicans 00:31:25.980 --> 00:31:28.039 want to do right now, especially if they are 00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:31.019 even adjacent to the Trump agenda. That's important 00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:34.599 for your, not just your donor base, that's important 00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:38.200 for your base of support. These people want you 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:41.039 to do something substantial. They need action. 00:31:41.140 --> 00:31:44.099 And what you're offering them is complacent or 00:31:44.099 --> 00:31:47.700 is complicit. Sorry. And what you're offering 00:31:47.700 --> 00:31:49.940 them is that you're going to be complicit with 00:31:49.940 --> 00:31:52.099 the majority party, the people that you are in 00:31:52.099 --> 00:31:55.200 opposition to. So I'm not holding out hope. I'm 00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:59.240 not necessarily like tied to it, both, you know, 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:01.759 politically or I don't have strong feelings about 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:04.019 Senator Dan Blue one way or another. Love to 00:32:04.019 --> 00:32:06.480 get him on the podcast. Dan, you up for it? We 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:08.039 can talk about this a little bit more in depth, 00:32:08.059 --> 00:32:10.460 but, you know, share your share your feelings 00:32:10.460 --> 00:32:12.700 about this. But, you know, just understand where 00:32:12.700 --> 00:32:14.559 we're at. in this moment, I think is what we're 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:16.980 really saying. Yeah. And I, um, I said, I think 00:32:16.980 --> 00:32:18.920 maybe this is, I don't think there's going to 00:32:18.920 --> 00:32:21.319 be some sort of like, uh, Trisha Coughlin situation 00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.119 or anything like that, where you like turns red 00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:25.599 or anything. No, not at all. But I do definitely 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:27.819 think that he, a lot of people are going to be 00:32:27.819 --> 00:32:30.440 paying closer attention to what he does now. 00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:32.299 Yeah. While they try to assess that whether or 00:32:32.299 --> 00:32:34.079 not they can trust him or not. Yeah. And he, 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:36.319 he's definitely painted a target on his back. 00:32:36.539 --> 00:32:40.069 Um, Probably unintentionally, in a way. But, 00:32:40.190 --> 00:32:41.950 you know, people are saying he's the new swing 00:32:41.950 --> 00:32:45.170 vote. And that remains to be seen, in my opinion. 00:32:45.809 --> 00:32:49.769 The real swing vote is going to be in 2026 with 00:32:49.769 --> 00:32:52.150 this Senate run. And that's what we want to spend 00:32:52.150 --> 00:32:54.750 this last section on. We've avoided talking about 00:32:54.750 --> 00:32:59.230 it for a little while. Sort of as a joke. But 00:32:59.230 --> 00:33:01.390 like we said at the top of the episode, Wiley 00:33:01.390 --> 00:33:03.109 Nickel earlier this month announced that he was 00:33:03.109 --> 00:33:06.289 going to be running for Senate. We knew that 00:33:06.289 --> 00:33:07.730 he was going to run way ahead of time just because 00:33:07.730 --> 00:33:11.809 of FEC filings and that his Twitter and Instagram 00:33:11.809 --> 00:33:13.650 accounts were following a bunch of people that 00:33:13.650 --> 00:33:15.750 it was like Wiley for Senator Wiley for Wiley 00:33:15.750 --> 00:33:18.369 2026, something like that. The Republican incumbent, 00:33:18.509 --> 00:33:19.910 Tom Tillis, who we've already sort of talked 00:33:19.910 --> 00:33:23.750 about, he has served two terms as the. senator 00:33:23.750 --> 00:33:26.150 from North Carolina. And what's going to be interesting 00:33:26.150 --> 00:33:28.470 is that Wiley Nicol is kind of positioning himself 00:33:28.470 --> 00:33:31.650 as like a moderate Democrat. That was how he 00:33:31.650 --> 00:33:34.289 ran when he originally was the representative 00:33:34.289 --> 00:33:36.309 from the 13th district. That's the district I'm 00:33:36.309 --> 00:33:39.009 in right now, ironically enough, until he was 00:33:39.009 --> 00:33:41.809 gerrymandered out of his seat. So he previously 00:33:41.809 --> 00:33:43.569 represented the North Carolina 13th congressional 00:33:43.569 --> 00:33:46.700 district. And he positioned himself as a moderate 00:33:46.700 --> 00:33:48.720 Democrat then. I'm sure he's going to do it now. 00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:51.099 I don't know how well that's going to work on 00:33:51.099 --> 00:33:54.559 a statewide race like this. especially when Senate 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.200 races, as we know, are kind of national affairs. 00:33:57.460 --> 00:33:59.839 I mean, you are running to represent your state, 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:02.539 but there is a much broader reach in terms of 00:34:02.539 --> 00:34:04.980 just national appeal, in terms of how much money 00:34:04.980 --> 00:34:06.799 you're going to bring in from outside of your 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.000 state. You can look at any Senate races from 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:11.079 the last 10 years and see that to be true. So 00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:14.300 with this happening, there's also a lot of, as 00:34:14.300 --> 00:34:16.210 I'm sure that... You are probably aware, dear 00:34:16.210 --> 00:34:18.230 listener, that there's a lot of buzz about whether 00:34:18.230 --> 00:34:20.650 Roy Cooper, former Governor Roy Cooper, is going 00:34:20.650 --> 00:34:23.929 to run. He has been like the bell of the ball 00:34:23.929 --> 00:34:27.269 that the National Democrats are trying to get 00:34:27.269 --> 00:34:30.230 to run here. And it's no shocker that he's the 00:34:30.230 --> 00:34:32.550 guy that they want, right? He's won statewide, 00:34:32.829 --> 00:34:36.159 not twice, four times. twice as AG as attorney 00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:38.199 general and twice as the governor. So that's 00:34:38.199 --> 00:34:40.119 something to really consider. He, it cannot be 00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:42.199 denied that he is popular in the state, but the 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:45.340 problem is a lot of people see him as too old, 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:47.579 which compared to tell us is kind of like, come 00:34:47.579 --> 00:34:51.039 on. Wiley nickel is not as well known throughout 00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:53.519 the state. And that's a big problem. Um, I mean, 00:34:53.539 --> 00:34:56.599 if he's the guy that they're going to run, if 00:34:56.599 --> 00:34:58.139 we don't even have a primary, it's going to be 00:34:58.139 --> 00:34:59.940 a bit of an uphill battle there. But there's 00:34:59.940 --> 00:35:02.920 another factor to this. And CJ, it's time to 00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:05.000 play the game you've all been waiting for. How 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:08.329 much money? did they make in quarter one CJ are 00:35:08.329 --> 00:35:09.989 you ready to play sure I feel like we need some 00:35:09.989 --> 00:35:14.070 theme music right here please don't sue me uh 00:35:14.070 --> 00:35:15.610 price is right because that was definitely the 00:35:15.610 --> 00:35:18.710 price is right I was gonna say uh what was it 00:35:18.710 --> 00:35:21.190 10 seconds is fair use yeah something like that's 00:35:21.190 --> 00:35:25.030 like five to ten seconds or something um so what 00:35:25.030 --> 00:35:27.280 one thing that this is going to really be in 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:29.380 2026 is a money game. And we kind of know that 00:35:29.380 --> 00:35:31.559 going in with most of these Senate races now, 00:35:31.619 --> 00:35:33.960 because like Senate races are becoming multimillion 00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:36.980 dollar affairs right out the gate. But we really 00:35:36.980 --> 00:35:38.500 need to talk about how much money each of these 00:35:38.500 --> 00:35:41.400 candidates has raised in quarter one. So CJ, 00:35:41.539 --> 00:35:45.349 are you ready to play? Sure. So your first. candidate 00:35:45.349 --> 00:35:47.829 is going to be tom tillis now keep in mind tom 00:35:47.829 --> 00:35:49.610 tillis does have a good little coin purse on 00:35:49.610 --> 00:35:51.809 his belt and he has been in the senate for a 00:35:51.809 --> 00:35:53.769 long time has a lot of backers has a lot of packs 00:35:53.769 --> 00:35:57.110 on buying them so cj if you can get within a 00:35:57.110 --> 00:35:59.909 hundred thousand dollars you will get something 00:35:59.909 --> 00:36:02.570 you will get a prize i can't tell you what it 00:36:02.570 --> 00:36:07.489 is if you win i will think of it So how much 00:36:07.489 --> 00:36:10.289 money do you think Tom Tillis has raised in quarter 00:36:10.289 --> 00:36:13.269 one? Now quarter one is the 1st of January through 00:36:13.269 --> 00:36:16.929 the 31st of March. Right. Of this year. Total 00:36:16.929 --> 00:36:19.550 donations. I'm sorry. You've run out of time. 00:36:19.550 --> 00:36:24.010 I'm just kidding. Yeah. Total donations from 00:36:24.010 --> 00:36:28.329 independent small dollar donors plus PACs. Not 00:36:28.329 --> 00:36:30.489 counting cash on hand prior to, just how much 00:36:30.489 --> 00:36:33.489 he's raised in receipts this quarter. I'm going 00:36:33.489 --> 00:36:36.590 to take a wild but not so wild guess and say 00:36:36.590 --> 00:36:40.349 like 1 .9. You were pretty close. You weren't 00:36:40.349 --> 00:36:43.409 within $100 ,000, so I'm sorry. You do not win 00:36:43.409 --> 00:36:47.650 the prize. Tom Tillis raised $2 .2 million in 00:36:47.650 --> 00:36:51.269 quarter one. Counting everything that he had 00:36:51.269 --> 00:36:54.320 already, he currently has a... pretty substantial 00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:57.139 war chest so cj you have a chance of redemption 00:36:57.139 --> 00:37:00.360 okay okay you will get two of the same prize 00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:03.420 of which i have not divulged yet nor thought 00:37:03.420 --> 00:37:08.119 of but if you can get within 250 000 of what 00:37:08.119 --> 00:37:10.460 tom tillis currently has cash on hand then you 00:37:10.460 --> 00:37:12.719 will win how much money does tom tillis plus 00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:14.900 the 2 .2 million dollars that he has raised have 00:37:14.900 --> 00:37:17.519 in cash on hand right now let's say 50 million 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:22.239 oh no Way too much. How about more like $10 million? 00:37:22.579 --> 00:37:25.420 Not quite. Okay, so it's about $4 million cash 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:27.579 on hand. Somehow that's better than I thought 00:37:27.579 --> 00:37:29.119 it'd be. But here's the other part of this, and 00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:30.820 this is what people don't typically think about 00:37:30.820 --> 00:37:33.119 when these campaigns raise money. That is with 00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:35.909 zero debt. Yeah. And that's something we're going 00:37:35.909 --> 00:37:38.550 to talk about here in a second. Because it's 00:37:38.550 --> 00:37:41.250 time for round two. Wiley Nickel is your candidate. 00:37:41.329 --> 00:37:43.469 Now, how much money do you think he raised in 00:37:43.469 --> 00:37:45.030 quarter one? I don't know how much longer I'm 00:37:45.030 --> 00:37:46.449 going to be able to do this game show host voice. 00:37:48.090 --> 00:37:50.550 Quarter one, so January through end of March. 00:37:50.730 --> 00:37:53.730 And keep in mind, he... announced april 9th was 00:37:53.730 --> 00:37:56.030 the official like day that he announced that 00:37:56.030 --> 00:37:57.550 was the official day but there's no way in hell 00:37:57.550 --> 00:38:00.210 that was when he started raising money no you 00:38:00.210 --> 00:38:02.949 are correct using that logic using that logic 00:38:02.949 --> 00:38:05.050 if i'm running that i want to make sure that 00:38:05.050 --> 00:38:06.969 i feel i'm in a place where my campaign is at 00:38:06.969 --> 00:38:09.389 least somewhat viable finance wise before i actually 00:38:09.389 --> 00:38:13.190 announce yeah i have enough money to pay for 00:38:13.190 --> 00:38:14.630 whatever promotional stuff i'm going to be putting 00:38:14.630 --> 00:38:18.349 out there whatever so i'm gonna say 20 000. Dude, 00:38:18.389 --> 00:38:20.590 you were right on the money. That's crazy. Nice 00:38:20.590 --> 00:38:24.670 job. I had to redeem myself after saying 10 million 00:38:24.670 --> 00:38:28.380 for Tillis. Wow. Yeah. No, you hit it. Right 00:38:28.380 --> 00:38:30.920 on the nail. He's raised $20 ,000 in contributions 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:33.719 in about three weeks since he announced. There's 00:38:33.719 --> 00:38:36.039 been some more since then, just from little packs 00:38:36.039 --> 00:38:38.199 here and there. But yeah, that's how much he's 00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:40.860 raised. Now, here's the real question. How much 00:38:40.860 --> 00:38:42.559 money do you think he has cash on hand? That, 00:38:42.619 --> 00:38:45.440 I feel, is a lot less. That, I feel, is probably 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:47.280 going to be like, I don't know, maybe like $10 00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:49.960 ,000. $10 ,000? No, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, 00:38:49.960 --> 00:38:52.340 no. No, how much he has cash on hand? On hand, 00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.059 my bad, my bad. Y 'all, I think he might be stalling, 00:38:55.059 --> 00:38:58.500 so he can look this up on his phone. he's showing 00:38:58.500 --> 00:39:00.920 his hands now for those who can't see my hands 00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:02.699 are in front of my computer so adrian cannot 00:39:02.699 --> 00:39:05.280 accuse me of that yeah he's got his hands and 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:07.340 i can't see where his hands are right now i'm 00:39:07.340 --> 00:39:10.699 just just straight up lying this is how we're 00:39:10.699 --> 00:39:12.960 going to actually start doing the video uh yeah 00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:15.900 this is videos of this this is when cj this is 00:39:15.900 --> 00:39:17.500 this is the episode where he demanded that we 00:39:17.500 --> 00:39:19.460 do video every single time because he's like 00:39:19.460 --> 00:39:22.949 adrian i'm sick of your shit So we're like Penn 00:39:22.949 --> 00:39:24.469 and Teller. We don't we don't talk outside of 00:39:24.469 --> 00:39:28.130 this show. I'm sure he has more money or money 00:39:28.130 --> 00:39:29.929 left over from his like previous campaigns and 00:39:29.929 --> 00:39:31.789 whatnot that you can just do whatever with. So 00:39:31.789 --> 00:39:35.030 that's that. Yes. Maybe half a mil. Yeah. Yeah. 00:39:35.130 --> 00:39:36.829 Five hundred twenty thousand. That's how much 00:39:36.829 --> 00:39:39.889 cash he has on hand. Here's the here is the rub, 00:39:40.050 --> 00:39:41.889 though. And this is where I'm not going to make 00:39:41.889 --> 00:39:45.349 you guess. He owes close to a million in expenditures. 00:39:46.110 --> 00:39:48.650 Right. So that's so kind of what you were talking 00:39:48.650 --> 00:39:51.329 about before, where there's a lot. of just base 00:39:51.329 --> 00:39:53.849 level like getting your campaign off the ground 00:39:53.849 --> 00:39:56.650 i i don't i haven't poured through what all that 00:39:56.650 --> 00:39:59.769 is based in but like i mean and all of this if 00:39:59.769 --> 00:40:02.090 anybody's interested all of this is free and 00:40:02.090 --> 00:40:04.530 available on the fec website you can go and check 00:40:04.530 --> 00:40:05.989 all this stuff out for yourself right now this 00:40:05.989 --> 00:40:09.670 is not some like secret way that i was able to 00:40:09.670 --> 00:40:12.510 pull together this stuff like it's all publicly 00:40:12.510 --> 00:40:15.269 available adrian's actually uh actively hacking 00:40:15.269 --> 00:40:20.190 into wiley nichols I actually hacked into Tom 00:40:20.190 --> 00:40:23.170 Tillis' campaign committee, and they had already 00:40:23.170 --> 00:40:26.530 hacked into Wiley Nickel. So it was a secondhand 00:40:26.530 --> 00:40:30.489 hacking for legal reasons. I did neither of those 00:40:30.489 --> 00:40:34.469 things. Anyway, so yeah, that's kind of where 00:40:34.469 --> 00:40:37.309 we're at right now with those two campaigns. 00:40:37.570 --> 00:40:41.780 Tom Tillis has... a metric shit ton of PAC money 00:40:41.780 --> 00:40:44.599 just rolling in. 5 ,000 here, 5 ,000 here, 5 00:40:44.599 --> 00:40:46.360 ,000 here, 5 ,000 there. We're getting donors 00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:50.840 like UPS, Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, all sorts 00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:52.460 of big dollar donors, not just from interest 00:40:52.460 --> 00:40:55.000 groups, but also from companies, right? What'll 00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:56.500 be interesting to see over the next few months, 00:40:56.639 --> 00:40:58.820 at least until 2026 really starts to pick up, 00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:01.000 if there are any other primary challengers, is 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:04.019 how much money can Wiley Nickel actually get 00:41:04.019 --> 00:41:07.079 pulled together? let's say at the end of quarter 00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:09.219 three because that'll be a good indication of 00:41:09.219 --> 00:41:11.619 how viable this campaign actually is and again 00:41:11.619 --> 00:41:14.360 this isn't this is just the brass tacks this 00:41:14.360 --> 00:41:17.280 is not implying anything negative or positive 00:41:17.280 --> 00:41:19.860 campaigns are a marathon they are not a sprint 00:41:19.860 --> 00:41:23.679 it takes there there have been races won on way 00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:25.940 less money money is not the end all be all so 00:41:25.940 --> 00:41:28.599 i do not encourage anybody to say you know oh 00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:30.900 his campaign's dead in the water because while 00:41:30.900 --> 00:41:33.579 tom tillis raised 2 .2 mil, he only raised $20 00:41:33.579 --> 00:41:35.340 ,000. Let's keep things in perspective here. 00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:39.119 I will say it's going to be interesting if, say, 00:41:39.260 --> 00:41:41.739 Roy Cooper does up in this, which from what I've 00:41:41.739 --> 00:41:45.099 heard, right now it's a solid 50 -50 chance. 00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:48.000 At least that's what I heard last week from some, 00:41:48.059 --> 00:41:50.719 I think, article. 50 -50, huh? Let me find a 00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:53.320 coin. Keep going. no it's gonna be interesting 00:41:53.320 --> 00:41:54.800 to see which way the money kind of breaks like 00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:57.920 you know what packs throw money whose way or 00:41:57.920 --> 00:42:00.480 where the small donor donor dollars kind of end 00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:03.619 up it's gonna be for those who are like really 00:42:03.619 --> 00:42:05.760 nerdy about this so like you know you and me 00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:09.039 and you know all of our campaign friends i'm 00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:10.940 if cooper does run i'm looking forward to that 00:42:10.940 --> 00:42:13.760 quarterly report same same really want to do 00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:16.559 that yeah but that's some you're right that is 00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:19.039 something that only people who are political 00:42:19.039 --> 00:42:22.780 nerds would actually be excited for like hearing 00:42:22.780 --> 00:42:24.440 you say it out loud i'm like yeah hell yeah and 00:42:24.440 --> 00:42:26.559 then i'm like i stepped outside of myself for 00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:29.840 a second i'm just like anyway okay okay adrian's 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:33.000 holding up a coin to the camera for y 'all everyone 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:36.179 because if it is indeed 50 50 i want you to call 00:42:36.179 --> 00:42:40.199 it right now heads cooper's running tails he's 00:42:40.199 --> 00:42:43.800 not i'm gonna say heads all right unfortunately 00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:46.960 You're going to have to find out what I actually 00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:49.239 flipped. On the next episode of Left of Old North, 00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:51.460 I am so sorry. We are out of time for today. 00:42:51.619 --> 00:42:53.260 Thank you for listening all the way through. 00:42:53.360 --> 00:42:55.059 And you can follow us on social media. We are 00:42:55.059 --> 00:42:56.619 on Blue Sky's Left of Old North, where pretty 00:42:56.619 --> 00:42:58.500 much everything is Left of Old North. We are 00:42:58.500 --> 00:43:03.400 on TikTok. We are on X, still, for some reason. 00:43:05.329 --> 00:43:07.190 We also have a Patreon. You can also buy us a 00:43:07.190 --> 00:43:09.530 coffee. And if you want, you can join our Discord. 00:43:09.789 --> 00:43:11.349 We're going to have a website up and running 00:43:11.349 --> 00:43:13.650 here in a pretty short time. But until then, 00:43:13.750 --> 00:43:15.610 just make sure to follow us so you can keep up 00:43:15.610 --> 00:43:17.690 to date on North Carolina politics, as well as 00:43:17.690 --> 00:43:19.650 what we're doing with the show. We release these 00:43:19.650 --> 00:43:22.010 episodes every Monday, and we're going to do 00:43:22.010 --> 00:43:24.369 it pretty consistently now, I think. Also, follow 00:43:24.369 --> 00:43:26.969 us on our Substack. Yes, we started a Substack, 00:43:26.969 --> 00:43:28.489 and we're going to start writing some articles 00:43:28.489 --> 00:43:32.070 and also doing video content. If I have finished 00:43:32.070 --> 00:43:34.050 recording it and everything, the video will be 00:43:34.050 --> 00:43:36.630 up on our YouTube channel today while you're 00:43:36.630 --> 00:43:39.409 listening to this episode. So please make sure 00:43:39.409 --> 00:43:40.829 to check that out as well. Talk a little bit 00:43:40.829 --> 00:43:42.210 more about Cecil Brockman and all that stuff. 00:43:42.349 --> 00:43:44.630 So we hope that regardless of how you feel about 00:43:44.630 --> 00:43:46.090 today's episode, and if you're still mad at me 00:43:46.090 --> 00:43:47.989 about the coin flip, I understand. But at the 00:43:47.989 --> 00:43:50.269 same time, I sure hope that you will stay with 00:43:50.269 --> 00:43:52.429 us on the left of Old North. Have a good day.