Erick Erickson HR 1 7/15/26

Welcome everybody. It's Eric Erickson here across the United States. The full number is 877-9773-7-425. I've got to begin with something we discussed yesterday because I actually have to admit, rarely do things shock me, but I actually am very shocked by the reaction from people on the right to the testimony of Amy Coney Barrett in yesterday's congressional hearings on the Supreme Court budget. The Supreme Court is asking for multi-million dollars more per year for security for the justices. It is a unanimous request supported by Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett-Barranty Bennett Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Sonio Sotomayor. Clarence Thomas. is one of those who believes that the United States Supreme Court needs more security because the threat level has changed and manifested itself in different and more violent ways from when he went on the court. But he did not speak to the House of Representatives about it. Amy Coney Barrett did, and she began by talking about the personal anecdotes of security in her life.

Well, there we go. Of course, I would start it off this way and then have a technical meltdown right as we begin the show. Let's see if I can reboot this real quick so you can hear her testimony, which was very personal and about her family experiences now as she's on the Supreme Court. Good? Yes. And those statistics sound abstract, but being on the receiving end of them is not. So I thought I would just share a little bit about how the threats have affected me and my family personally. They have required me to, my children, to think about and see things that children should not have to see or think about. One example is when threats to my life were particularly intense a few years ago around the time of the Dobbs leak. My security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest, and I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around in my 12-year-old son. was standing in the doorway of my bedroom, and he wanted to know what it was and why I had it. And I didn't know how to respond because maybe I lack imagination, but I didn't expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one. It's also been reported in the news that roughly six weeks ago I was the victim of a swatting incident. At that point, my teenage son, one of my teenage sons opened the door to go out with friends and saw in our street. It was full of police cars who had responded to a false report of gunshots and raised voices in my home. I was very, very grateful that I had Supreme Court police outside my home because they were able to stop and meet with and explain to the county police that it had been a false alarm. And so the police did not actually attempt to enter our home. Many of us, me included, have received threatening anonymous deliveries designed to intimidate and harass us. They are often sent in the name of Judge Salas' son, who I think, as you mentioned in the beginning, Mr. Chairman, was deceased because he was killed by a disgruntled lawyer who showed up at Judge Salas' home. intending to kill her, but her son, 20 years old at the time, opened the door and took the bullet instead. Her husband standing behind was seriously injured. So I think the message on these deliveries being sent in his name is clear. As Elena Kagan said, federal judges across the country throughout the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, continue to do their jobs without fear or favor, but the threat level is really high.

Now, she says the Supreme Court continues to do its work without fear or favor, and immediately some of the president's supporters came out and attacked her and said, oh, ha, ha, she went against us on the immigration decision. I think they've got her scared, and she's siding with the left. People on the left came out and immediately said, ah, that's why she's giving Donald Trump immunity for prosecution and leaving him on the ballot because she's been threatened by the right. And I have to tell you. From my vantage point, more people on the right have issued threats against Amy Coney Barrett on social media than people on the left. So if she's being threatened and intimidated based on the logic of these people the right, she would be more hardcore right. It's that she's not giving them what they want is the problem. And I need to really hit this home with all of you. It is a unanimous position of the Supreme Court, including from Clarence Thomas, that the Supreme Court needs more security because the threat level has manifested in far worse ways than in the past. And if you're attacking Amy Coney Barrett for being the face of the Supreme Court asking for this claiming, if she can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, if you are on the right and you take that position, I need you to know you're not a conservative anymore. You've become a progressive. You think of progressivism as the left. Progressivism is not of the left. it can manifest itself on the right as well. And it manifests itself in this way. You have transactional based power, and you want the outcomes based on that, and you don't care how you get it. If your first reaction is, well, you're in a war if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, or go back to the kitchen woman. You're actually becoming the left, and you don't even realize it. You have become the left because the left covets power. Left-wing secular ideology covets power. And if you on the right are upset with Amy Coney Barrett for not giving you what you want, you've interpreted her remarks as, oh, she's folded, she can't stand the heat. I would refer you to her record. She got rid of Roe versus Wade. She got rid of affirmative action. She got rid of the left's attempts to take the president off the ballot. She gave the president presidential immunity to avoid prosecution. She got rid of Haitian immigrants to this country, even though she has adopted Haitian children. She got rid of the blocks on the president's ability to fire people within the executive branch. She gave you virtually every single thing you wanted except your citizenship case. And she joined Brett Kavanaugh, and you're not firing at Brett Kavanaugh. You're firing at Amy Coney Barrett. And people are literally trying to kill her and Brett Kavanaugh. And you don't care about Brett Kavanaugh. You care about Amy Coney Barrett because you expected her, given the fight for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to get her on the court, you expected to be rewarded by her. You're no better than the progressive left. You hold yourself to a high standard. You claim to be better than the left. You claim they are intellectually and morally inferior than you. You are no different from them. You should be ashamed of yourself, but you're not, because you're beyond shame, because you think the whole political society is beyond shame, because the left is beyond shame, so you will be beyond shame, because you've become exactly the thing you hate. And you don't even recognize it. You don't see yourself in the mirror as being contemptible, but you actually are. And I addressed this to some friends of mine, and I addressed this pointedly to longtime friends of mine who have become just like the left and are as progressive...

as the left who want transactions and you say what does conservatism conserve it's preserved the rule of law it's conserved your right to say the stupid things you're saying on social media that if you were a better person and spent more time in church you would have a guilty conscience about thinking it preserved it has conserved your right to raise your children as you see fit and guess what Amy Coney Barrett has been complicit in giving you those things and yet you hate her because she has not given you every single transactional thing you want. Why? Because that's the way the left responds. And the fact that you are responding exactly the way the left responds to these things is the big red flag that you have lost your moral compass. and have decided that you will allow the left to guide you. The left will hold you captive. The left will hold your fears hostage, and you will shape your worldview based on the left. Your initial reaction should not be Amy Coney Barrett if you can't stand the heat and get back to the kitchen. Your initial reaction should be to hell with the left taking shots at federal judges. We should hold these people accountable for doing that. We should hold the Democrats accountable for their rhetoric. And you should note that all of the, oh, this is so terrible reaction from Democrats, it's the Democrats who provoked the reaction. It's the Democrats who said they would reap the whirlwind. It's the Democrats who fed the leak of the Roe v. Wade reversal. It's the Democrats who heightened the tension. It's the Democrats who undermine the legitimacy of the court. And you're more upset with Amy Coney Barrett. You know exactly what this is like? And again. I say this to friends of mine, who I am deeply disappointed in, and I need you to hear me as you've walked off the progressive ledge with the left. You know exactly what you're doing. Those of you who are mad at Amy Coney Barrett, instead of being angry with the left, you are behaving like Candace Owens, who, when a transgender supporter assassinated Charlie Kirk, she decided to blame the Jews instead of looking at the transgender movement and the increasing violence there. You're doing the same damn thing with Amy Coney Barrett. She's pointing out how the left has targeted Supreme Court justices. Clarence Thomas supports her position. Clarence Thomas supports her position. You're not mad at Clarence Thomas. Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett are on the same side of this issue, and yet you're mad at Amy Coney Barrett, and you're blaming her. You're no different from Candace Owens, seeing a transgender advocate killed Charlie Kirk, say it must be the Jews. Except your reaction is when you see the left targeting conservative members of the Supreme Court, including Amy Coney Barrett. Your position is, oh my gosh, we got to attack Amy Coney Barrett, not the left for targeting conservatives on the Supreme Court.

An assassin showed up not at your house, but at Brett Kavanaugh's house. Amy Coney Barrett was swatted. You were not swatted. Amy Coney Barrett had to go to work with a bulletproof vest on, not you, and it was because of the left. And she stood up to the left on abortion, and she stood up to the left on affirmative action, and she stood up to the left on presidential immunity, and she stood up to the left on the presidential ballot access, and she stood up to the left on the temporary immigration program, and she stood up to the left again and again and again, but you're mad about her because... of that one thing, you are no better than the progressives. You are no better. You are no morally intellectually or socially capable to the left. You are as bad as the left. And I say that to friends of mine. Shame on you. for your first reaction being to criticize this woman whose family is under threat because she chose to serve in this country. It's a very Soviet reaction. That's why it's very progressive. You know, in the Soviet era, if things got hot, they would just tell people, oh, take a nice vacation, and then they disappear the person. Friends, we should not live in a country where the judges and justices of the United States of America live under threat for their decisions. We went through this in the Civil Rights Movement, a block away from me. The William Augustus Boodle Courthouse. It is named for a judge during the civil rights era who lived in a white segregated country club and supported desegregation. And he stood up to his neighbors and members of his church congregation to do the right thing. It wasn't about power. It was about an affair interpretation of the law. And he has a courthouse named after him now for that service to the country where he nearly took a bullet to advance civil rights in this country. We used to recognize on the right that when people stood up for the rule of law, they should be heralded as a hero. And what are you upset about? And this is the mental degradation and 30 foot over the runway of the conservative movement right now. That's become a progressive movement in all but name. There are real conservatives, and I'm one of them. Many of my friends who are upset with Amy Coney Barrett, they've written themselves out of the conservative movement. They wear it as a skin suit because they don't have the testicular fortitude to admit they've abandoned conservatism. They still get in the door and get credentials in Washington, D.C. by claiming to be conservative while they act like progressives. They think like progressives. They behave like progressives, and they advance policies like progressives, including progressive policies, just like the progressives. But, oh, they're too chicken to actually say they're no longer. conservative they want to be conservative and try to redefine it from the inside like the democratic socialists are doing to the democratic party shame on all of you for reacting that way to this woman she and Clarence Thomas are on the exact same side on this issue

on this and they want us to be set back. So Kathy Huckle went on TV. She said some really, really, even for Kathy Huckle dumb things. And I want to play you that audio when we get back out. Thank your phone calls as well. 877-97-973-7-4-25. However, I've got to talk to you about American financing because there was a story today that more and more Americans are using their credit card points to buy gas and groceries. People are putting so much on their credit cards with 25% interest rates in some cases. You might want to talk to American finance. If you're underwater and you have a mortgage and you've got a lot of equity in it, you might consider talking to American financing. They're saving customers an average of $800 a month using equity to break free from credit card debt. Give them a call. There are no upfront fees. There's no pressure. They're salary-based. They're not commission-based, so they're not pushy. And you might be able to delay two mortgage payments and take care of your credit card debt. Call American financing today. If you're underwater with credit cards, give them a call. 866-866-9262.866-9262 or Americanfinancing.net slash Eric. Give them a call today. NMLS number 18234. NMLS consumer access.org. APR for rates and a 5 start at 6.327 for well-qualified borrowers. Pell 866-886 92-62 for details about credit costs and terms. Visit Americanfinancing.net slash Eric. Average savings based on borrowers save over $199. And the dumb things Kathy Hookel says when we come back.

8779773-745 is the phone number if you want to be on the program. Before I move on to other stuff, this weekend I am going to take my son to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. There has been an organized campaign, particularly among the culture warrior right, to drag the film and criticize the film. One for the interpretation of the Odyssey used by Christopher Nolan, another for having Ellen turned Elliott Page in the movie in a bit role. It's not a significant role, contrary to rumors. And people online getting very worked up about The Odyssey. Those of you don't know, Christopher Nolan is a small conservative C. Burkean, and he believes in family and believes in hard work. One of the greatest dissertations against socialism came from The Dark Night Rises with Baines takeover of Gotham. It was a very anti-progressive populist. In fact, people in the left hated the movie because of it. Christopher Nolan's, the bulk of his work, not all of it, but the bulk of it, has been themed fairly conservative. And this is a story of a man trying to return home to his wife, who is in turn staying faithful to him as he is lost in the world with the gods mad at him. and people on the right online, it's an online phenomenon, are trying to convince you that this is going to be some sort of woke movie. You should know that growing up, the Iliad and the Odyssey are two of my favorite books. I have read them in poetry, and I have read them in prose. I have read multiple translations of the Iliad in the Odyssey. I loved them as a kid. I was introduced to the Iliad in the Odyssey when I was in third grade by a teacher of mine overseas, Mr. Middlebrooks, who became my sixth grade teacher and had lived in Greece, studied ancient Greece and mythology. I have this, I mean, every guy obsesses about the Roman Empire. But it's hard for me to sit here and explain to you guys how my entire world was shaped in elementary and middle school by a teacher who loved Greece and Rome so much. We studied it. And then in ninth grade, because of just the nature of how I grew up, my senior class trip, we went to Turkey and Greece. I have been to Troy. I have been to Mycenae. I have seen Agamemnon's mask. I have been to Thessalonica. I have been to Mount Olympus. I have been to Corinth. I have been to Sparta. I have been to Athens. I have been to Marathon. I have been to the Greek islands.

I have seen that part of the world, and I love that history. I have stood in Delphi, and I have stood inside one of the greatest amphitheaters ever made. I've been to the amphitheater of Tesla Nike. I have been to the Acropolis. I love that history. I love those stories. I will go see this movie. I will not be dissuaded by an online mob of people who haven't seen it, who know nothing about it, who have probably never read the books. And neither should you have your opinion shaped by the malcontents of social media. Much as we've seen with the Amy Coney Barrett stuff, there are just a bunch of angry malcontented people online and want to mouth off about stuff through ignorance. You should know that the reviews of the Odyssey have all been embargoed until noon today when they were all released. Rotten Tomatoes is the movie review tracker website. It has now compiled all of the reviews that have now flooded online earlier today when the embargo was broken. The Odyssey has a 99% favorable review rating from the aggregate of all of its reviews. I intend to go see it this weekend. I would go see it tomorrow night, but it's sold out, even in my local theater in Macon, Georgia. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I just, you know, more and more, the angry people online trying to shape your view of stuff, whether it's Amy Coney Barrett or The Odyssey, it's, I find it more and more problematic, and I find myself less and less online in these fever swamps, just because it's where the malcontented go to spread conspiracy and to be angry and derage bait, and I just, I don't want any part of it anymore. I'm getting too old for it. I was always too old for it. And if my job were not somewhat dependent on being online, I would probably delete my account. I can't because you'd be amazed at when I pick up a radio station, sometimes I want to know how many Twitter followers do you have, how many Facebook followers, how many YouTube viewers? So I'm stuck, but you're not. You can make the choice to not be there, though. Now, I got to talk a little more about the data centers. And I do want to say this because I said yesterday and I wrote this morning about the closed loop water systems and I've had several engineers reach out to me and say that's not quite accurate, that they're not foolproof. There is evaporative loss. Yes, it is true. They consume less than a golf course and people aren't upset about golf courses. One of the concerns about data centers that I did not raise that they said I do need to point out to you is this, that in particularly more. arid states including Texas it is the draw from groundwater that is the concern

A state like Georgia that has plenty of rain and water and lakes and reservoirs, it's not a big issue, but in a state like Texas, there are real issues about the underground aquifers that are being drained to do the initial uptake because those aquifers do not refill so easily as a lake or a reservoir that that is a concern. However, that there are efficiencies being put in place and new technologies being developed to mitigate those things. We should not be scared of them. Kathy Huckel, however, is leading. New York down a dangerous path of technical elimination. They have in New York already banned fracking, and now New York pays massively more for natural gas than most other states. They banned and shut down nuclear power plants. Power in New York City, consider this Virginia. The state of Virginia has six times the power, six times the AI data centers that New York has. And the power rate in Virginia is half the rate of New York. Virginia has six times as many AI data centers as New York. and pays half as much in power as New York does, because in New York, it's not about data centers. It's about the supply of power, and New York has restricted fracking and nuclear power to cut off their nose to spite their face to satisfy the global warming alarmists who, despite being global warming alarmists, are opposed to nuclear power, which is a readily renewable baseline power system. This is Kathy Hoogle, selling her AI data center moratorium on MS now. And I have limited resources here in the state that I'm trying to preserve. for the real innovation economy, the jobs like the microns. They also affect the water supply. They also affect, you know, the noise in the communities can be incredible. And so if you're one of these small communities in upstate New York where they're looking to build because there's so much more space, they're not coming to Manhattan. They're going to our upstate communities. Those communities don't have the negotiating power either. So these large companies, I want them to have to bring your own power source. I said this in my state of state. Bring your own power source or pay a premium to tap into our grid. I don't want our local ratepayers who are already dealing with sky high utility bills that the burdened with the cost of basically subsidizing these huge massive centers. Now, some of you are nodding along with here on this, but I want you to know something. And I've got the data to back this up. If you saw my morning piece, if you text Eric to 3377 and you get my morning piece, I've actually got the data for you. A lot of the states building data centers, the fastest are watching their energy costs come down. The states where prices are exploding are the ones that restricted supply and chaste climate mandates. Virginia, Texas, and Georgia have hundreds of projects in the pipeline. New York has six plans. Virginia alone hosts more than a third of the world's hyperscale data centers. New York has power rates more than double what Virginia pays. Residential rates have jumped 27 percent from 2019 to 2024 because of the Biden inflation more than data centers.

In Georgia, where I live, our rates are coming down. In fact, around the country, the states with the most data centers are actually seeing their rates come down. Why? Because the data centers need power so badly, they are... paying to add capacity to the grid that you and I do not have to pay for. It's minimizing your cost, my cost, and the power company's cost. And in many cases, they're doing their own power generation, running natural gas pipelines to these places where they run their own turbines and they're not even on the power grid. Again, this is very, very important. And this is a true fact. In the states with the most data centers, the power rate for customers is coming down. It's not going up. The thing that every state has in common where their rates are going up is they're restricting the power supply. Take Oklahoma. I've got a lot of listeners in Oklahoma, and y'all are all concerned about the data centers coming in there. One of the reasons your rates are going up is because of how your state commission on power has handled your power grid. It's not the data centers. Your power grid has been pushed towards more renewables, and that is actually causing you to lose base load power that these centers need, and that's affecting your rate. It has everything to do with supply with an increased demand, and that's because of your state regulators. It's not because of the data centers. But this is one more clip from Kathy Huckel on this. X-N. Big driver of people leaving. You could draw a through line from when the... Donald Trump administration and Congress got rid of the state local tax deduction. All of a sudden, everybody in New York paid higher taxes because we used to, since Abraham Lincoln was president, they started the tax code, you never were double taxed. They changed that. So states like New York, you lost that deduction. So it got more expensive to be here just with the signing of that law. 2017, 2019. Those are the years when people started the outmigration of businesses and individuals. Now, you know, she says, among other things, well, when they're chasing people away, she's blaming Trump and COVID and everything else. It's actually a tax rate in New York that's a problem. And also, additionally, I need you to know something else. Kathy Huckel, and this has becoming a talking point against the data centers. Kathy Huckel claims that building data centers doesn't create new jobs. Meta is out there saying they're going to create all sorts of new jobs with these data centers. And Kathy Huckel says, well, when the data center is done, there are no new jobs created. Friends, they're building an interstate outside my window right now. There's a bridge over the interstate that they have had to expand. They're building new lanes for the interstate.

Are there jobs created there? Yes. What happens when the interstate is built? Well, those jobs go away. But where do they go? They don't go to the unemployment line. They go to the next project. When you build a house or people suddenly unemployed when your house is finished being built? No, they go build a new house. When you build a building and the building is done, where do the jobs go? They go to the next job site to build a new building. That's how construction works. Are we so dumb that we don't understand this? That when you've built the building and the building is done, the people who built the building go build a new building. And by the way, you can build more buildings more quickly when you expand the pool of people qualified to build the buildings. Listen. Again, this is what kills me. There are some legitimate concerns. Those concerns are fixable. But these concerns like idiots like Kathy Huckel are saying that, oh, well, they don't create new jobs because when the building is built, all those jobs going, no, they go to the next job site and they build the new building. When the road is finished being built, they go build the new road. When the school is finished being built, they go build the new school. When the building is built, they go build another building. When the house is built, they go. build another house. They don't just stop saying, I'm unemployed now. Oh my gosh. You know what would happen if that happened? The data center would never get built. It would be like the California high speed rail system that never gets built because they know if they build it. They're all losing their golden egg. So they drag it out $127 billion to build this high-speed rail to nowhere because they in that situation know there's not going to be another high-speed rail system built in this country. And so they are dragging it out in perpetuity, never finishing it so they can stay getting the taxpayer gravy. But with data centers, there's always a new data center to be built. So they'll never finish the high-speed rail system. You know, if there was only one data center to be built in this country and then no more, that data center would never get finished being built because the people who were building it would drag their feet knowing they would be unemployed after it was built. Instead, they're rushing to get it built because there are 20 more that want to be built. I was in the, so I have to fly through this private terminal for security reasons in Atlanta. I was there a couple weeks ago. There's a guy who lives up in Fayetteville, Georgia, owns a steel company. was flying out, I think he said to Arkansas, because he has started specializing his steel company now builds and frames out these data centers, and his business has exploded. And he is now employing many more people than he did 10 years ago because they're such a demand for it. These are people who have good jobs, people who didn't go to college, and they've got really great jobs, and they fly around the country, and they build these centers. And Kathy Hook was like, well, when they're done building, they're going to be unemployed. No, you idiots, that's not how any of this stuff works. And again, there are legitimate concerns, and I try to bring those up. Inflation, do the demand of microchips as one. There are water concerns.

But my gosh, why do these people pick the dumbest arguments? These are not bright people. They're scared and they're being pressured by Chinese communist propaganda because China intends to beat us on this. Honest. Putting your trust in me to tell you what's going on. Transparent. I need you to know this from the bottom of my heart. Giving you the information without the noise. My job is to tell you what you want to hear. It's to tell you the freak. It's the Eric Erickson Show. Hello, America. Welcome back. Glad to have you with me. This hour of the program is brought to you by Van Allen Golf, maker of fine golf equipment. If you go to Van Allen Golf.com and use my name, Eric E R-I-C-K at checkout, you get 15% off. Their putters are unbelievable. You get shafts, grips, the putters, they really are remarkable. I have one. I didn't believe in high-end putters until I played with this. I love it. I putter like 40 feet. Oh, my gosh. I love my putter. from Van Island Golf, you will to, Van Island Golf.com or text golf to 33777. I have to update something. I just posted the correction to my morning piece, but I want to tell you guys about it as well. And you need to know about this. So you really do. A young woman has gone viral in the state of Georgia and now nationally. Her video has been on multiple news outlets claiming that the power company in Georgia, Georgia Power, has taken her family property to tear down the home to build a transmission line for a power plant related to a data center. You've probably seen the video that Georgia Power was taking her family property by force to build a data center. And the data center opponents have been up in arms about it. I have received a note from Georgia Power that I shall read to you now. We have not used eminent domain to acquire the property in question. The family signed a deal with us for the property. Imminent domain is always a last resort for us and accounts for less than 1% of our land acquisitions. Last year, it was only used five times and it was not used for residential properties. We work very hard to be fair and transparent with landowners and to treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve. Again. Contrary to the claims circulating on national newscasts and online on TikTok videos, Georgia Power did not use eminent domain to take a private family's property for a data center. I mentioned that in my piece this morning that it had happened and was imminent domain and explained how imminent domain worked and how it is sometimes necessary and just took for base value the reports. But Georgia Power says absolutely not true. I would say again as well, for those of you who are listening to me in Georgia, you should know that your power rates are coming down despite the acquisition and major influx of data centers in the state because our power company in Georgia, while they built solar and wind, they have prioritized base load power, including a nuclear power plant. So we have sufficient supply for all of the demand in the state of Georgia. Now we just need to build more power plants in the state. Let's do more nuclear power plants all over the country, please.

All right. Now, we have to move on because I have other stuff to talk about, including daylight saving time, which we will get to. But first, let me tell you about incogni because your data is out there online circulating and you probably do not even know it. Your cell number, your email address, your medical conditions, your age, how you vote, your kids' names, your kids' social media profiles. That's happened to mine. People tied my kids' social media profiles to my account. They were spamming all of us. And you can't read that file, but you can buy it if you have a credit card. It's part of the multi-billion dollar industry related to data brokers, and it's where a lot of fraud and scammers and telemarketing phone calls come from. I use Incogni to protect me and my data. Incogni goes broker by broker and forces everyone to delete your data. Incogni spelled INC-C-O-G-N-I. If you go to Incogni.com slash Eric, you can save 60% off their annual fee. Incogni.com slash Eric. Take your private life off the market like I did with Incogni. And you'll reduce the spam calls you get incogni.com slash Eric.