Chad Adams Filling In On The Brett Winterble Show

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bargain for any other country on the planet. That's the beauty, the difference between an Obama presidency and a Trump presidency, forget the ego. They both had it. And if you think Obama doesn't have or didn't have an ego, you're just a few sandwiches short of a picnic. So tremendous egos, but Obama felt the need to constantly apologize about this country. And there isn't. I'm sorry. It has the pretense that all of these countries somehow have virtue that they don't necessarily have or didn't have. To go around apologizing is not showing pride in your country. You're the leader of the free world. Everyone looks, we are the most desirable country to be in on the planet Earth, on this little ball of carbon. We're the number one country that people want to be. Yes, other people want to go to other. They want to go to Costa Rica. They want to go to Portugal, whatever. But overall, they want to come here. And there are a thousand different reasons they want to come here. But it doesn't mean you have a right to be here. If you're born in this country, you're blessed to be a part of this country. And by the way, the decision by Skodish yesterday on birthright citizenship, that just begins, it's the opening salvo. Because no country on the planet allows that. Just because you made it to the shore, popped a kid out. By the way, for Democrats that are listening to the show, women, when women give birth, I know maybe you struggle with that concept, but women give birth, making that an automatic citizen. You know, if bin Laden could have had a kid here, if one of his... wives, I guess, had been able to have five of his wives come here, right? When they made it to shore and popped out kids, those kids would be citizens by that ruling. And that's where you start seeing the absurdity of that logic. Even though it's been the law of the land for a long time, finally getting it ratified the way it was, it missed the 14th Amendment what it was all about. So that'll be taken up now. A lot to talk about the state budget finally got approved. I don't want to spend a lot of time on Obamacare, but it's an example of when Democrats rallied, thinking they were going to solve this great problem in society, the Affordable Care Act. It's another great example of this ideal. Remember how they celebrated Democrats through their political lives into this? Oh, it's going, we're finally going to have health insurance for all of our. All of our country, it's going to be great. And it wasn't. It didn't make health care more affordable. It didn't make it cheaper. It was heavily subsidized. And because it was heavily subsidized, there was no accountability. And when there's no accountability, then insurance has just gone through the roof for all of us. Because the Affordable Care Act, and this is what the problem with most government programs is. Is that each, every single one, each and all of them have very little accountability. You look at the Medicaid, the Medicaid fraud that's going on in countless states. They're not watching who's responsible for all of this. We have this weird notion. And it's usually the left, but sometimes the right, where there's this trust in the execution of government programs. And we have this pretense that somehow people in government, somehow people in government.

are more virtuous than the people that are not in government. A really good example. And you see this manifest in many Democrat policies. Now, generally conservatives are kind of a trust but verify crowd. You find a company that gives you good service. You are going to be a customer of that, whatever it is. Service or product, whatever. You have an agreement. You have a capitalistic agreement that I'm going to give my hard-earned money to this group because I like what they provide for me. It's a good quality product or it's a good quality service. And I'll continue that relationship. In government, it's not, the people in the left want to pretend that that bargain is just automatic, that a new program brought forth from the mental gray matter of a Democrat in Washington will somehow be well run and will help all these people. And it doesn't always come out that way. So then when we're surprised, you know, people in the right are not surprised because we know you can be disappointed by any company. You can also be disappointed by your government. I think the left is caught completely off guard with that because they sell to you. They sell to you that these government programs are altruistic and good and will help many people. And when they don't, they're the ones that are the first to either be shocked or the first to ignore that there's a problem. And that's, I mean, USAID was one of those. You were finding now, it's, it is absolutely breathtaking in size and scope to see all the U.S. Agency for International Development money that was largely put forth by the political left in this country that went to countries all over the world. And it was used to help bring about leftist leadership. As soon as USAID money went away, you start seeing an, it sounds very conspiratorial to say it. But you start seeing all these countries start to become very conservative. Because the government isn't using U.S. government money to prop up. failed institutions. So much more to that. We may or may not get into that later. By the way, the listener line is open, and you're welcome to be a part of it. You want to call in and get in on the conversation at 704-570179. That happens to be the WBT text line as well, which is 704-5701079. And you're welcome to be a part of that. I love to have you be a part of that. Yesterday, that was lit up. And look, I'll go through as many of those as I can get to. I will get to, after the break, I want to get to an interview by J.B. Pritzker. He's governor of Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Illinois, Governor of Illinois. He's a billionaire, but he wants to not be that kind of billionaire, meaning not like Elon Musk or anyone else. Well, he is different. You know, he and it's largely inherited. Some of the stories are funny about him, you know, winning or losing a million dollars at a time in a casino. And he's putting himself out there.

as a potential candidate for president. But the interview he gave to Kate Susan Collins on CNN, I believe, I've got, I want to play some of it because it's worthy to be heard because he's channeling what a lot on the left are trying to say without saying something. And we'll go through that because he doesn't get pressed. Democrats don't get pressed on hard questions. Like Roy Cooper's not getting pressed on hard questions running for Senate. He should be, but he's not. He can't, he runs and ducks into a car. Whenever he's not with handlers, Roy Cooper is one of the biggest political cowards I've ever seen. He can't stand on his own feet. He can't give just random press conferences. He can't answer tough questions, but he can give great commercials. I'm not for defunding the police. I was raised on a farm in eastern North Carolina and by no family values. But he didn't present himself that way when he was governor. But anyway, I digress. I want to go through the J.B. Pritzker interview. I think it's wonderful.

Thank you very much. And welcome back. Chad Adams continuing in the role here. Hope Brett is enjoying his time heading into the 250. I hope he's having a magnificent time. Knowing him, he probably is. Now, J.B. Pritzker gave an interview in... And I want to play all of it. I absolutely do. I might play all of it. It's Kaitlan Collins. And he starts out with this trope that the, this is funny, the same Democrats who could not bring themselves to admit that the previous president had any kind of mental acuity issues that thought he was straight up ready to run for reelection and actually. said so and supported him until he disintegrated last June, or June 25. Actually, it's over a year ago now. In June of 24, thought he was fine when he wasn't, are the ones saying Donald Trump has dementia. And that's just the beginning of some of what J.B. Pritzker. And I want, this is a governor. that aspires to be president, wealthy dude. But I want to kind of go through the way he articulates things and answers questions without answering them. And this is one of the problems with the lack of a curious media. So this is J.B. Pritzker talking to Kaitlan Collins. I just want you to hear some of what he has to say. Do you really think the president has dementia? I do. I do. I think if you look at any of the videos from 2015 or 2016 and look at how he responded to questions and how he was at press conferences, and then you fast forward and look at him now, I really think that there's something genuinely run with him. I'm not a doctor. I haven't diagnosed anything. I'm just suggesting to you that just look at the way he puts words and sentences together and thoughts, and they're almost divergent in the same sentences. You mentioned... So the president has dementia, according to J.B. Pritzker. He's not a doctorating. He admits that. This is the same guy who couldn't admit Joe Biden had problems. Losing trains of thought, falling asleep in meetings, things of that nature. But that's, and now she doesn't. What is Toyota affordability? It's buying smart. Your local Toyota dealer has great deals available today on Tacoma, Tundra, and Forerunner with the space and features for any adventure. It means driving for less, with available hybrid options, delivering great MPGs without sacrificing power. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles, meaning your truck will hold its value for years to come. Shoptojota.com to find out more. Toyota, let's go places.

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oligarch big tech types have done right those are the examples that people have now of billionaires look at don't trump um and the way he has treated working class in middle again don't trump texts throws the word oligarch in with it that's Bernie Sanders that's an ode to Bernie center doesn't still doesn't ask answer the question about himself being a billionaire what he's saying is well Trump and Elon Musk and the tech oligarchs are the ones that my parties complain not me Not me, not the billionaire who inherited it. I'm a good guy. I'm the guy in government. I'm good. Trump bad. Elon Musk bad. Me, good guy. Trump dementia. Elon Musk crazy. Me, good guy billionaire. It's this strange of, no, there's more. You've got to, it's just amazing. She never asks him. She never follows up and asks him. She just lets him glide through. Here's the rest of it. class people. The fact is that I understand why people feel as they do. But I think it's much more about the values that you carry and then carry out. And as somebody who has stood up for a workers' rights amendment and got a past in the state of Illinois, who's stood up for LGBTQ and reproductive rights. What does LGBTQ rights have to do with billionaires? and how they spend their money or how they earned it. It has zero. It's not even connected to her question whatsoever. He's like, I support LGBTQ. Do you cite somewhere that Elon Musk or Trump has done something against LGBTQ? No. I mean, people say, well, the transgender movement about men and women's sports, women and men's sports. Notice it's never men in women's sports, never women in men's sports. It doesn't happen. But this is the kind of stuff he just glides over. Look what I've done. But he doesn't really tell you what he's done, other than that, but he keeps going. Somebody who's legalized cannabis, somebody who's raised the minimum wage in my state for people from $8,025 to $15. You know, I think it's about what do you stand for and what do you actually accomplish for people, not how much money you have. So you think you're a billionaire who can be different for voters? That's a funny way to say it. I mean, I'm somebody who has a bunch of views on issues and then has, I promised things when I ran and I actually accomplished those things and I continue to fight for working class and middle class families and for the most vulnerable. I think that's who we are as Democrats. So whatever your income level is, the question is, are you going to deliver for people? And I think I've proven I have. It's widely speculated that you're going to run for president in 20. So again, doesn't address. His money, or where it came from, just other ones are bad. He raised the minimum wage. And yet his money was earned from it again. He inherited a lot of this. He says he's for the working man and woman. He's more working families. That's just gobbledy gook. It is absolute surface level. It doesn't mean that you're actually elevating their life in any substantive way. In fact, people are leaving his state. I mean, the Chicago Bears are moving out of Chicago. This is just gobbled to their policies are terrible. He doesn't understand basic economics. Again, inherited, spends it, has a good time with it.

And he's a different kind of billionaire. Notice that he doesn't address his own. It's like, I have values. So Donald Trump doesn't do anything for families. Largest tax increase in history. It doesn't do anything. Only Democrats do. But here's the rest of what he says. And she's asking him now directly about, well, actually, no, I'm going to go to a break. I'm going to play the rest of this. Because to me, it's the great example of media not holding someone to account or asking tough questions. We'll definitely probably talk health care later. By the way, the listener line, Kevin, you're right. Health care is, he's absolutely right. Obamacare, I was saying Obamacare, it's not. It's socialized medicine because of the subsidies, really not. It's subsidized, which is a cost to government. And by the way, your company's got to write that off, too. When they spend money on your health care plans, they usually write that off. That's if their tax bill, you know. It's high enough, which you hope it is in a profitable world. Nonetheless, you know, that's a whole different subject matter. We could do an entire show just on health care. We probably will. I want to get back to the J.B. Pritzker interview first. Because J.B. Pritzker is, to me, is a good example. And whether it's Gavin Newsom or Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, where they don't really get held to task, they're allowed to just wonder off and do what politicians. Hey, people in the right do it as well. But usually the media is a little bit rougher. And. more difficult and more combative with a Republican. They just are. It's just the nature of the game. We're used to it. I've seen it for decades. And so, like, Roy Cooper has never really been held to account or had to do a tough, difficult interview. You just don't see it. I mean, Pat McCory was regularly assailed, especially when Alspill 2, HB2 came along. Anyway, but this is J.B. Pritzker. She then shifts from, hey, you're a billionaire, but your party hates billionaires, but I'm different. I actually, well, for the working man, I did all these things. She shifts to, oh, you want to run for president. You're widely considered a presidential candidate, because that's what this is really about, is the consideration for him being a president. So here's what that, what he has to say on this subject. widely speculated that you're going to run for president in 28. Obviously, I don't expect you to announce that tonight. But I do have a question, if you were to run and to win, the president has made a lot of changes to the White House and to Washington. Would you reverse those changes? Would you? take back what Trump has done to the Oval Office, to the East Room, the arch that he's building in Washington? Absolutely. It's disgraceful what he has done, literally tearing down traditions of Washington, D.C., of the White House, you know, the arch that he's building, all of those things. The reality is that we need to restore not only the traditions. By the way, he's cleaned up D.C. and the mind, this is the kind of he didn't, this is what's sad to me about this interview.

It's Pritz critic saying, you know what? A lot of the stuff in D.C. looks better. And you know what? We need that. We should have been doing that all along. Instead, it's a reflexive, whatever he has done, I will undo. Now, he doesn't specifically talk about the ballroom, which is largely, you know, donation driven. Doesn't talk about it. What he's done, the arch is just disgraceful. doesn't talk about the reflecting pool, nor that activists from his side of the political aisle tore a 300-foot gash in it, doesn't talk about the cleanup of the buildings. He just reflexively, oh, yeah, I would undo everything. That's, again, let's see if he says anything else positive. I mean, I've heard the interview, so I'm kind of teasing a little bit. Let's see what else he has to say about. He's widely considered to be a presidential candidate. What would you do? Washington, but most importantly, the values that belong in the Oval Office itself. And I think that's why we need a new president, whoever that is, we're going to need somebody who actually carries with them, honesty, integrity, and importantly, kindness and empathy into the job. Kindness and empathy. as if the Democrats have a monopoly on that or that Trump's not liked by rank and file people and workers and people in general, that somehow, again, they embody, this is the same, this is just the kind of insanity. He doesn't give examples of this. He could, but he doesn't. He just, as if it's this very high and mighty, look, I restore everything. Everything's going to be good when I'm there. Everything he's doing is bad. And that's not discourse. That's not debate. That's just he's wrong. I'm right. That's it. But I'm playing it. I mean, letting you hear what he had to say. Governor Putzgerb. Thank you for your time. And that's it. He is never held to account for any of his decisions about taxation. It's governor of Illinois. Illinois is not the greatest state out there. I don't know why he's never going to be present. I don't say that with any kind of schadenfreude. I don't say that because I have some kind of prescient crystal ball. He just doesn't have. He's not he's going to be the. Chris Christie of Democrat politics. And if you've seen him, I'm not trying to be mean there. It's just that he just isn't going to be it. The Democrats are never, you can't sit there and run against billionaires and then elect a billionaire. You know, you can't, it's kind of like Democrats saying, hey, we're the Democrats. We're for the working man. And then when you had, you didn't even have a primary after you dumped Obama. You picked Kamala Harris, who didn't get a single vote from anyone to be chosen as your nominee. And you want to preach the rest of us about democracy or saving it? You lost the high ground when you did that. The reason you picked her was because she checked certain boxes for your team. You couldn't pass her over. You couldn't even go to Pete Buttigieg who checks a couple boxes for you.

You had to go to her. You couldn't bypass her because then the black vote would be hurt. You couldn't bypass her because women would be upset. You couldn't look at the best candidate to win. What is Toyota affordability? It all starts with buying smart. And your Toyota dealer has great deals available to qualified customers on reliable cars and SUVs, including the redesigned RAV-4, spacious Grand Highlander, sporty Camrys and Corolla's. It means driving for less. with efficient hybrid and plug-in hybrid options available throughout the lineup, extending your overall driving range and delivering great MPGs, saving you money at the pump. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles. And as the best resale value brand, according to Kelly Blue Book, your Toyota can be worth thousands more than average when it's time to trade in. That's Toyota affordability. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. Shop Toyota.com or your local dealer for deals and details. Vehicles projected resale value is specific to the 2026 model year. For more information, visit Kelly BlueBookskb.com. Toyota brand average resale value is 53% versus the average vehicle at 45%. Toyota, let's go places. Have you ever thought about the difference between paying rent and owning a home? When you rent, your monthly payment helps cover the cost of living there. But it usually doesn't build anything for your future. Home ownership is different. Each payment you make on a home may help build equity, which is the value you own in the property over time. As that equity grows, it can become a financial asset that may support your long-term goals. Owning a home can also provide stability. You have a place that's yours where you can build memories, establish routes, and truly make the space your own. And the good news is that many people are surprised to learn there are programs designed to help first-time home buyers get started, including grants and assistance programs that may help with down payments or closing costs. Learning about your options is the first step toward making an informed decision about your future. Visit Toolsforhomeownership.com.

You had to look at the candidate that checked boxes. That was no way that was a responsible way to look at who the future of the free world should have been. It's insane. But that's what kind of passes for. So anyway, J.B. Pritzker believes Donald Trump is a dementia. And by the way, he's not alone. And I don't, again, I know for a fact that that's not necessarily what they believe. It is what they project. If you say it, enough. often enough, repeat it over and over, then you can say it's true. We'll see, if enough people like J.B. Pritzker say Trump has dementia, then people in the media can say, yes, it is true. It is true. Look, because everyone said it. It must be true. But when everyone said it about Biden, he's the sharpest guy in the room. He's running circles around all of us. in his sleep maybe, but not the waking, walking Biden, who still gets lost to the state. It's worse now, obviously. It's bad enough now that can you imagine if Biden had stayed in the race and won? How bad this is. At what point would even, I mean, Democrats are now saying, yeah, we probably should have covered that story more. And that's why people don't trust the media. Because you lied to us through a bunch of COVID. You lied to us about the efficacy of vaccines. You lied to us about Joe Biden. And so the public has lost a lot of trust. I mean, even Democrats have lost trust in media. And it makes it very difficult to have kind of an honest debate about where we should go next and what the media's role should be. It's pretty easy to me. Report the facts, regardless of what they take. I do appreciate, by the way, the reporting on Trump's money. I mean, I think that's a very fair report. The Trump organization made a ton of money like $2 billion. I think it's very fair to ask questions about that. Another group runs it. He didn't run it directly. But that's very fair. I think absolutely. But you get enough money to start realizing that making, once you have, the more money you have, the easier it is to typically make money. Unless you just, it's like Brewster's millions. If you ever saw that movie, he had to spend $30 million in 30 days or he got none of it, but he couldn't tell anybody what he was doing. Not to beat a dead horse. That's what it's going to seem like. There was more of the J.B. Pritzker interview. I knew there was. I had to find it and I had to go back and find it. And it's another, it's the same kind of narrative. that I threw at you earlier, which is Kaitlan Collins asked him. And it's a great, it's a legit question, but they never follow it up. They'll ask a question, and then it's like, I'll give you, you know, what do you think? You know, the color purple is, is an offensive color of somebody. Don't you think, and you answer the question by saying, you know, yellow is a fantastic color. It's a wonderful color, yellow, and there's so many different shades of yellow. And you never address the purple issue in the room. And she confronts him, I want to say to be fair,

to be fair, would be that she followed up. But Kaitlan Collins asked J.B. Pritzker, Governor of Illinois, presidential hopeful, about his party in New York, three candidates who identified as Democrat Socialists won their primary campaign. Do you think that's good? Now, she should have said, what does that mean? How do you interpret that? But she's, do you think that's good? Very simple. He could have said, yes or no, but he went on to answer it in a very... And a very interesting, well, I don't think it's interesting. It, to me, is emblematic of where we find ourselves where we can't have discussions about issues. And here's an example. Three Democrats were elected as their party's standard bear into the fall elections. Also in Colorado, she doesn't include that, but it may have been at the time that election was going on. So here's what he had to say, and here's how she posed the question. Your party is in a bit of a moment right now following some elections here in New York. Three candidates who identify as Democratic Socialists won their primary campaigns, several of them to oust the more moderate establishment members of Congress in their races. Do you think that's good? Are their victories good for your party? I think what's good is that there are Democrats who are standing up and fighting, that there are Democrats who are standing up and talking about and doing something about addressing the high cost of things. Affordability is an issue that everybody is feeling all across the country. And any Democrat that is standing up and speaking out about that, coming up with solutions for that, and... importantly doing it in a manner that is focused on fighting what Donald Trump is trying to do to raise prices on people. I think those are the people who are winning. So I'm not suggesting that I had one candidate or another in any of these races. I'm just suggesting that that is the recipe for winning. That's the recipe for winning. that's the recipe for winning. He says several things in there. He talks about affordability and what Donald Trump has done to affordability. So gas prices are coming down. They're cheaper than they were during Biden. Because grocery prices are cheaper than during Biden. Not beef. Not beef. That's a different story. But this is the kind of where he doesn't have to provide any facts. The entirety of that he doesn't cite a single fact. other than, well, it's not even a fact. He just says, they're fighting, they're fighting for, they're fighting for ideas. And to bring affordability, he doesn't say what any of those ideas are. He doesn't tell you what, what are the ideas of this Democrat socialist movement? I mean, we see some of this with Zohran Mamdani rent, you know, we're going to freeze rents. We're going to, you know, we're going to have these, these grocery stores that are subsidized by government. And we're going to do all these things that have to be paid for, by the way. We're going to do all of these things to go after the rich. So you're declaring class warfare. And you've got to tell you can say that's good, but there are ramifications for doing that.

You're going to have massive urban flight. You're going to have New York's having people leave California. There's a mass exodus from these Democrat states. Why? Because you're making affordability an issue by taking, confiscating money from them. We'll talk about that. And then the other side of the break, we get the other side of the break. I want to talk about one of these. Another one is a net wealth tax. these kind of ways, these confiscatory, if you can get people to hate the rich enough, which is Elizabeth Warren's been fighting for that. Bernie Sanders has been fighting this. Zohran Mamdani's fighting for this. There is a rise. And if you're young, I was having a discussion with my wife. And she was pretty astute on this. in which we were talking about younger folks, our kids, and how sometimes it's just interesting, because I've been conservative since I had to register for selective service. But she says, hey, if you're coming out of college and you're not making a lot of money or making very little or having trouble finding a job, when you see other people that have three yachts or two jets or something like this, you can think they don't need all of that. And I said, okay, agree. They don't need it. Maybe they want it. But at what point do, why do they feel entitled to take it from someone else? And her point was they are going that far. But that's what the policies of the political left are asserting. that somehow, and there's a great injustice that's transpiring, that somehow people who have created things, built things, that somehow they have ripped off society, that Elon Musk or previously Stephen Jobs or any of the billionaires, any of the tech people, they now call them oligarchs, which is very interesting because that would be a political outsized. you know, corrupt corruption side of things. But that somehow we can declare war on wealth. And then if you, that's step one. And then you determine legislatively or from a policy standpoint that you're entitled to what they earned. That somehow taking money away from them will address some ill in society that needs to be fixed. The welfare state proved that that doesn't. It hasn't worked. They've had over half a century to try to say that worked. It has not worked. Clearly, we've got more fraud, waste, and abuse than we've ever had. Democrats don't want to address that. But they just say, oh, if we only took it away from these people who earned it or who have it. And then you have to create in people's minds the belief that not only do they not earn it, they stole it from someone else, that it's theft rather than taxes are theft. But we'll talk about that on the other side of break. I want to go through one of those policies that's on the ballot in California. Much more to go.

Here I thought we had a break. But the text line was lit up. I was trying to be fair and respond to people. But anyway, Chad, I'm your guest host, Hour 2 underway here at WBT. It's always a pleasure and an honor to be a part of things here and hoping that Brett Winterbull is having a great, great, great time out and about. And if you want to get into the conversation, it's 704-5701079-1079-WBT Text Line, 704-5701079 as well. So you're always welcome to be a part of things, and we do encourage that. Having said all that, you know, it's interesting. One of the, one of the listeners, and I think that texting has become, it's easier than calling and having conversations, because look, you're on air and lots of people are listening to you, was essentially, you know, that health care, health insurance is subsidized even at the corporate level. It's a true statement. The one here, Obamacare is subsidizes these plans. And my point wasn't about the subsidies so much as it, it never reduced the cost of health care. The goal of the Affordable Care Act was to reduce the cost of health care. It didn't make it more affordable. It did not make it more accessible. It didn't do those two things. So anyone who tries to think it did, it didn't. All that happened is insurance continued to go up because the subsidies were pouring in. There was no reason for insurance companies to kind of rein in spending in any way because they had infinite money coming in. Also, insurance, and I don't want to get into a long discussion about insurance. The short version is after we came back from World War II, the government had controls over salaries and stuff like that. So companies were looking to be competitive, and so that's where health insurance makes it into companies as a benefit. If they had offered food insurance, can you imagine what it would be like shopping and grocery stores when you had your food insurance card and that was subsidized? Those, all of the expenditures that companies make are tax deductible. So in a way, the listener correctly is saying that, well, you're kind of subsidizing it through tax deductions for companies, though not directly subsidizing it. Still, it's reducing revenue that would have otherwise gone to the government with profitable companies, I guess, or in profitable if they get it back. So there is an encouragement to spend money there that otherwise could have gone to the productivity. innovation, research development, any number of things in a company in a productive way. Then they went on to say, well, why don't just be honest with people and talk about Social Security and these other things? You get people addicted to things. It's hard. And that's one of the problems Republicans have. The goal should not be to.

make everyone live a subsistence living via government largesse. And not only that, but not only make a subsistence living out of it, but make it where people feel entitled to more from government. And a quote often attributed to Alexander Tittler is, and there's no way to. absolutely say that he did. There's a debate about who said it. But it's a great quote. It's one that I often reflect on in our own country about where we are and where we should be. And it says a democracy. You know, we're a republic, but a lot of people still assert we're largely a democracy. But essentially, because he was a Scottish guy. A democracy is always temporary in nature. And this as we approach our 250, I think this quote, whoever wrote it. is genuinely something we should reflect on, regardless of your political persuasion. It simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. Ah, why not? A democracy will continue to exist up and until the time that the voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. So in other words, the candidate that promises you more stuff, we're seeing that evolution now. You know, 25 years ago, you never would have seen a Zohran Mamdani or an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rise in political prominence. These are people that want to promise everything to you via taking it from someone else. Because the government only has money it takes from the industrious nature of the nation to redistribute that wealth into whatever, defense or whatever programs. From that moment, from the time voters realize they can vote themselves things, from that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. But the result that every democracy will eventually collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. Socialism always, always, always, always ends up in dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years, during those 200 years. And this is the question to you as I read this quote to you. I want you to think about where you think the country is right now. So as I read this quote, I think it's a great, it's the evolution of how a democracy becomes a dictatorship. And I want you to think about where, because he gives you the outline. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance. From abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, and from dependence back into bondage. And that resonated with me years ago. Back in the 90s, I think it did. When I read this, I read it, and I read it, and I thought, you know, where do I think our country is in this back in the 90s? And I would go, courage to liberty. Yeah, okay. Fault for created a country. Liberty to abundance. We really became out of bondage and spiritual faith. All of these things were part of our country. And then from abundance to selfishness, somehow from the great generation to the 90s is where I felt we were. But different parts of the country, I think it evolved more quickly or devolved more quickly, I should say.

Because we're kind of seeing that selfishness. The New York election, the election of socialist is typically a selfish election. From selfishness, then we get complacent. And we saw, we're kind of surprised during COVID, in my opinion, at the level of complacency so many people experienced. From complacency to apathy where you really don't care. How many people can tune out and not care? And then once you're at apathy. Then you start becoming more dependent. And once you're dependent, you're back into bondage and your democracy republic is lost and you're back in a dictatorship. And that is, and I think different parts of our country because of the vast complexity of our nation and because of the nature of states that we are comprised of. Many of those states are a different place. I think Florida is in a very different place than California. I think the Illinois is in a very different place than North Carolina. I think, and so is... What is Toyota affordability? It all starts with buying smart. And your Toyota dealer has great deals available to qualified customers on reliable cars and SUVs, including the redesigned RAV-4, spacious Grand Highlander, sporty Camrys and Corolla's. It means driving for less. with efficient hybrid and plug-in hybrid options available throughout the lineup, extending your overall driving range and delivering great MPGs, saving you money at the pump. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles. And as the best resale value brand, according to Kelly Blue Book, your Toyota can be worth thousands more than average when it's time to trade in. That's Toyota affordability. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. Shop Toyota.com or your local dealer for deals and details. Vehicles projected resale value is specific to the 2026 model year. For more information, visit Kelly BlueBookskb.com. Toyota brand average resale value is 53% versus the average vehicle at 45%. Toyota, let's go places. Have you ever thought about the difference between paying rent and owning a home? When you rent, your monthly payment helps cover the cost of living there. But it usually doesn't build anything for your future. Home ownership is different. Each payment you make on a home may help build equity, which is the value you own in the property over time. As that equity grows, it can become a financial asset that may support your long-term goals. Owning a home can also provide stability. You have a place that's yours where you can build memories, establish routes, and truly make the space your own. And the good news is that many people are surprised to learn there are programs designed to help first-time home buyers get started, including grants and assistance programs that may help with down payments or closing costs. Learning about your options is the first step toward making an informed decision about your future. Visit Tools for Homeownership.com.

You look at that. I think you can apply it to different aspects. You could even look at Charlotte, Mecklenburg and say, where's Charlotte? Where's Charlotte in that? Because I think it's, you know, you look at where crime is. You look at where it's a welcoming city. It's not a sanctuary city because that's illegal, but it's a welcoming city. And it's this belief that government can do all these great things. That it's never done, by the way. It never has solved these great ills in society where we see the great solutions is when private enterprise and ingenuity and innovation comes along and does some amazing things. So that was a question. And that lit up the, of course, the text lit up completely. I don't even have time to look through them yet, but I will. I promise you well. And the next break, I will. I won't leave the studio. I will read all this and focus on that. I love, love, love talk radio. I always have, from the time I started doing it in the 90s and even bought a radio station for a while, it's a blast. And so. Here's what I love. I love the feedback because it's got an amazing audience that provides feedback. It'll catch you when you say things. It'll add to conversations. It'll often provoke and promote debates. And I do. One of the listeners out there said, you know, hey, June 6, 2009, if you like your plan you have, if you like the plan you have, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you have, you can keep your doctor too. The only change you'll see your falling costs is our reforms take hold. President Barack Obama with the Affordable Health Care, the Affordable Care Plan. Affordable Care Act, I'm sorry. None of that was true. Then they knew it. You go back and you read through kind of the debate of how that transpired. It was never going to be true. They knew it wasn't going to be true. And it wasn't, make no mistake, it wasn't, that is not. Affordable Care Act is not socialized medicine. It's a way to break what's left of the free market in our health care system to usher in single payer system so the government is the ultimate arbiter of all health care. When you say Medicare for all, That's what that is. Medicare for all is completely taking over the health care system in this country. You'll have rationed care like Canada does. It's insane. And you stifle innovation. Whatever you have that, you will not see the kind of breakthroughs because the motivation for breaking through certain things kind of goes away. It goes, doesn't kind of, it goes away. There's no need to be innovative. You kind of freeze where things are. It's not innovative or good. It's not healthy. It's none of those things. I actually did want to get to another bad idea that the Democrats have, and it's not the only one. I mean, you see what's happening in California. You see what's happening in New York. Do not think for a minute. I like, let me rephrase this. I appreciate how people are pushing the alarm button about all. I appreciate how people are pushing the alarm.

about socialism. I appreciate that. It's killed. It is one of the greatest, one of the greatest means by which governments eradicate tens of millions of people. I mean, we don't have that discussion in society much. The Russians were probably at the time of World War II, far worse than the Germans in many ways. It killed 20 million of their own people versus, you know, six, seven million Jews, both horrible things. But we don't talk about that much. And socialism always. I mean, it wasn't that long ago in Venezuela where they were telling people to eat rabbits. Go catch yourself a rabbit and feed yourself. It was that bad. Cuba is horrific. We don't talk about it because it sounds like fear mongering. And so when Zohran Mamdani says, hey, we're just going to do socialism differently, and they're proud to say they're socialist because they're not connected to the evil of it. And they're projecting this very smiley, happy, shiny, but the national socialists of Free War Germany were the national na socialists, Nazis. Nazis. But it never ends well. It just doesn't. But let's go to one of the policies because I love policy. And seeing how you go through this. So Mother Jay Jones has an article. How do you tax a billionaire? The article is Mother's How to Tax a Billionaire, America's oligarchs. See, they use that phrase oligarch. So if you're rich, you're an oligarch. Then that's not the definition of an oligarch. It is. I don't know how they got away with it. I don't know how to press it. An oligarchy is a form of government. I'm just reading it straight from the definition. Or power structure in which control rests with a small elite group of individuals. They're saying that the oligarchs, and they were in Ukraine by and large, but here you weren't. You're not. You're not held. Elon Musk doesn't tell you what to do. It doesn't, it's not the ruling class. It's just not. Saying it is doesn't mean it is. But let's go to this. So what the left is trying to do is convince you that you were being held hostage that but for people like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, your life would be so much better. If it, that they, that is a zero-sum game because they have something, that means you have nothing. That they are somehow doing something. It's they. They are bad. Our team is good because we want to take what they have and give it to you. Which does that really make you better if I give it to you? Versus teaching someone out of fish versus giving them fish. But that doesn't mean that doesn't make those citizens, productive citizens. It doesn't make them better citizens. It doesn't solve the poverty problem. And all you're doing is redistributing wealth that was created or in an innovative way. It doesn't, it's not a zero-sum game. In fact, I don't have time to go through the article in this. I will through the break. But this redistributive policy, I mean, California is looking at it. So don't think when they tell you, only all these three people in New York, that's, those are the only side. The party's not really going that way. But you saw in Colorado last night, they had another victory for someone that was the same mold as Zohran Mamdani. You see in California where they're proposing confiscatory net worth taxes. By the way, that's what this idea is, is a net worth tax.

And to me, it's one of the most insidious evil taxes you can get because it's telling us that it is okay to just confiscate something. And don't think that that ends because if you look at the past 50 years, the Great Society, it didn't fix all of the trillions of dollars that were spent on it that were supposed to solve poverty when to have three generations often. It didn't lift people up. It didn't lift society up. Homelessness is increased. Drug use is increased. Dependency is increased. It's not lifting our society up. It's creating a dependency class. And now we're telling them, oh, it's not your fault. Well, no, I would say a lot of it's the government's fault. It's failure in education. It's failure of values. And when I mean values, I mean kind of family-centric values. We've said it's okay to not have a family. It's this allowance to just... Hey, whatever makes you feel good. And we'll reward that with government money. We'll take money and put it towards you to make you feel better. And what we should be doing is valuing what it means to be a citizen. We should be. And communities can deal with a lot of the problems in their communities. You don't need this overarching big brother that isn't solving problems. Because ultimately when you start taking wealth, confiscating to solve it, and you realize then that doesn't solve the problem, then the government just gets bigger and bigger trying to solve problems. And then ultimately it doesn't solve them. It just controls you. Because it never does solve that problem. Government's not. Rome didn't do it. No empire has been able to do it, and it's not going to. Much more to go. Well, we do have much more to go. We're kind of a halfway point here in the day.

And we are back. Glad to have you with us. And appreciate the text line. You folks are magnificent and wonderful. And I appreciate all of you. Agree or not. So. Keep it up out there. The text line, by the way, 704-570-1079. That's 5701079. That happens to be the exact same as the call-in. So if you're interested in with that. Chad, Adam, sitting in for Brett Winterball today and through until the America 250. So hopefully he's out having a great time and we'll be a part of celebrating that as we move toward the weekend. By the way, beaches are... crowded roads are crowded it's going to be a great time for all so hey think about a way to why it is a magnificent country for you people on the left that may not like this country please find a way to like there's a lot to like a lot to be appreciative of it's not all about who's in office now i wanted to get to this piece in mother Jay Jones mother Jay Jones a leftist lefty leaning publication been around for a while it's it's your But it's worth knowing because I love how people say, oh, the left won't do these socialist ideas. They won't do them. They won't erode property rights. They won't do that. That's just rhetoric from three or four people. Don't buy in. You know, our party, the Democrats are not like that. You don't, you know, J.B. Pritzker, when they ask them about things, like, hey, at least these Democrats are out there fighting. In other words, he doesn't repudiate that. And I think what some of the Democrats are going to learn, and they're in the process of learning, is you can't ignore them. Your party's being taken over by it. It may seem like a small group, but it didn't start that way. And almost everywhere this has happened, it didn't start, you know, with a failed Austrian artist. It started with a failed Austrian artist starting to get attention. And for those of you were thinking about 1929, 1928 in Germany, yeah, it didn't study. It was not, and you know, the German was like, I ignore him. That guy's just a windbag. This November, California voters will weigh what could become America's first ever tax on net worth. Now, remember what I said earlier about when the public realizes they can vote themselves stuff. The Billionaire Tax Act, billionaires, as Bernie Sanders would say, billionaires, we've got to step the billionaires. A ballot initiative put forth by health workers after President Donald Trump blew holes in the state Medicaid budget would impose a one-time tax of 5% on personal wealth exceeding $1 billion. Now, let's stop there. Well, let's give you one more line, then we'll come back to it. With polls indicating majority support tech oligarchs, again, oligarchs, they use that word as if it's not.

A horrifically negative word. Tech oligarchs don't run the country. You guys, on the left, you keep acting like they do. They don't. They don't pass legislation. They're right legislation. They've got their own corporate interest. Yes, but that doesn't rule you. You don't have to buy their stuff. And every time you text from a phone about it, you show how ignorant you are. So tech oligarchs have threatened in Exodus. Wait, if they're oligarchs, they mean they're ruling your country. They're not oligarchs, meaning they can leave. Tech oligarchs, with polls indicating majority support, tech oligarchs have threatened an exodus and crafted competing measures, bankrolling them to the tune of at least 118 million, of which 82 million came from Google's Sergei Bryn, according to the Associated Press. But let's go back to that line. Would impose a one-time tax of 5% on personal wealth exceeding a billion? Who determines what your wealth is? It's not cash in the bank. I loved it when these ignorant people left. Oh, Elon Musk has a trillion dollars in the bank. No, he didn't. They were trying to say his net worth based on stock price of that given day. He's lost $300 billion in net worth since that peak, by the way, of the trillion dollars. But be that as it may, who's going to determine your net worth? They're going to go. How much government is going to go into your life and calculate up, okay, your house is worth this? Okay, your house, minus your mortgage. Okay, there's that. We're going to look at all your portfolio, everything you own. How much money do you have in the bank? How much is your car worth? And you come up with this magic number. Now, if you're at $999,999, you're okay. But if you hit a billion, if you're a billionaire, we're going to take. Not forget taxes on the rest of it and taxes and property taxes and sales tax, all this stuff. We're going to take 5% of it. We're going to take $50 million away from you just because you're you. We're going to take $50 million. Now, imagine it's all in stock. Okay, you've got to sell that stock, which will create another taxable event, to get the $50 million. But the fact that you feel, not you, the listener, but you, Democrats on the left that like this stuff, feel entitled to take theft, steal from someone who earned it is unbelievable. It's one of the most un-American positions. I mean, we had a revolution over this kind of stuff. You can just take it. So why would you blame people for wanting to leave California if you wanted to impose this tax? On the other side is University of California Berkeley Law Professor Brian Ruben Gallego, who helped write the initiative. Imagine that. You see Berkeley professor? Angry much? Along with several other federal efforts to tax the obscenely rich, these bills seldom go anywhere, even though ordinary Americans would very much like their government to do just that. That doesn't make it right. It doesn't make it right that you, even though Americans would like to see that, it doesn't make stealing right.

A 2024 report from the amusingly named Excessive Wealth of Disorder Institute made clear that Americans are okay with this. The nonprofit examined 56 national and state polls on specific redistributive proposals and found majority support for most. Again, if people can vote themselves, crap, if I can vote in a way that doesn't affect me in any way but affects you and there's only 20 of you and I can go after you, that doesn't make it right. People favored surtaxes on incomes over a million bucks or and for the rich to pay at least the rate of their investment gains as workers pay on their wages. They also wanted Congress to kill intergenerational dynasty trust. I could say dynastic, but they said dynasty, trust that grow untaxed in perpetuity and they favored the truth. I love the way they just act like that money's there. If you create taxable events when you sell stuff and you use stuff. They favored a dramatic reduction in the gift and estate tax exemption, now $30 million, which is the amount of money, a super wealthy couple can pass along to their heirs without paying a dime. So if you did that, if you did that, you said, okay, we're going to, that $30 million, oh man, you want to pass that along to your kids. Maybe you worked hard and you want to pass that long to your kids. Do you have a right to do it? Should you have a right to do it? Well, they would say no. No, no, no. We were allowed to take some of that. So imagine the $30 million was taxed in the process of earning it. It was taxed in the process of saving it. It was taxed at every level. And then when they die, it's okay to take some of it. Now, the super wealthy would just find other ways to move it. They would, you know, you create trust. There's a million different ways you can move wealth. There are, and they're completely legit and legal. But what would happen in California is people would just leave. They would vote with their feet. Direct wealth taxes were the most popular. Roughly two-thirds of respondents, including 51% of Republicans, sadly, favored the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, first introduced in 2021 by Senator Elizabeth Warren, and again this year by Pramila Jeopal. both Democrats, that bill places a 2% annual tax on net household assets succeeding 50 million. So if you're worth 50 million, again, I ask if you're net, this is a net worth, and I don't believe that 51% of Republicans feel this way, that this is a poll I would call into question, that if they knew what it meant, that if you're net worth, not what you have in the bank, your net worth, because that's what we're talking about. If your net worth is X number of dollars, 50 million in this case, determined by the government, because it's got to look at your land value, whatever they determine is, I can take a million of it. You owe me a million dollars. In addition to income taxes, in addition to state taxes, in addition, all the other taxes you pay, we get an extra million. And we just get to take it from you. If you don't give it to us, we'll come and take your property.

Other proposals, Ron Wyden from Oregon and Steve Cohen from Tennessee, both Democrats, have proposed a tax on unrealized gains on billionaires, unsold assets, paper profits, that you can't really touch. It's an unrealized game because I didn't, if I made $100 million on a given stock because of the price on that day, then you're saying I had a gain, even though I can't touch it. If I touch it, then I create capital gains taxes on it. If the next day the stock falls through the bottom and it's worth nothing, it doesn't matter. On that given day, it was worth what we said, what the price was. So even though you may have lost it. What is Toyota affordability? It's buying smart. Your local Toyota dealer has great deals available today on Tacoma, Tundra, and Forerunner with the space and features for any adventure. It means driving for less, with available hybrid options, delivering great MPGs without sacrificing power. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles, meaning your truck will hold its value for years to come. Shoptoyota.com to find out more. Toyota, let's go places. Many people believe buying a home requires a large down payment and years of saving, but that's not always the case. Across the country, there are programs designed to help first-time home buyers take the next step toward home ownership. Some of these programs offer down payment assistance or grant funding that may help cover part of the upfront cost of purchasing a home. Grants are especially helpful because they generally do not have to be repaid. There are also organizations that provide homebuyer education, financial counseling, and guidance to help individuals understand the home buying process before they begin. The goal is simple to help more families become informed and prepared for home ownership. If owning a home is something you've been thinking about, start by visiting tools for home ownership.com. This message is brought to you by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling's Paving the Way Forward Initiative.

The next day, boom. It's like taxing a gambler at the table with the money he has before he walks away from the table. Oh, you're up right now. So we're going to pass the tax at this minute. That's how much money you have. Now the next bet you may lose it all. But this is the kind of lunacy that passes for common policy on the left right now. I was just going to listen to music. Sounds good. Sometimes music elevates us, right? And makes it fun. Now, when we went to the break, I was talking about the silliness of these wealth taxes. It's a net wealth tax where a group of individuals says, you're worth X. And because of this, I feel entitled to take a percentage of X to give to someone else. It's just confiscatory. And so it is interesting that this is being proposed in California. It's going to be on the ballot. And it may well pass because a lot of people are not billionaires. So it's okay to go after them. It's okay to go after people who have more money. It's okay. But it is alarming to me that in the country that is the most incredibly innovative. second to none on the planet Earth. It's where people from all over the planet come to. I mean, even Elon Musk is South African. So. It is a country of unbelievable entrepreneurship, capitalism, innovation, and nothing has, and nothing in the history of mankind has elevated your fellow citizens like capitalism. Nothing has created more jobs, more wealth, more opportunity, more success. Nothing has elevated mankind like capitalism. All the great inventions, I mean, as you watch the Europeans suffer because they can't have air conditioning, we take it for granted, don't we? In fact, I got a call on a break from a tenant. Buy thermostat's not working. I'm like trying to make a call in a break, trying to help them out. But it is astounding the innovative ways in which we address things from a capitalistic standpoint. Here's the scary part. And it's not just that the political left in our nation is peddling a way to punish success. But it's not just that they feel the right to take stuff. It's that they want to punish. They want to punish that they're creating a reason to dislike entrepreneurs and success stories. But they're trying to say, well, it's just certain people. It's just, you know, there's only X number of billionaires, X number of people that are worth 100 million. But again, it's what you determine it's worth. And that they're presumed. And once you go down that path, you don't stop. They never stop. They never just go, okay, we got these 10, we're good. It doesn't stop there. In fact, when you continue the article, you know, these bills have not come close to passing, hasn't stopped new proposals like the Olegarch Act, introduced in 2025 by Representative Summer Lee, again, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, which puts a 2% tax on wealth exceeding a thousand times the national household median, rising to 8% on assets over a million times the median, only five families qualify. But it's kind of like Obamacare. You just have to start the fire.

And then it'll take care of itself. Oh, you'd hit five families. There's no big deal until it hits five million families. And then it's too late. In March, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna, by the way, someone, we got a great story on Ro Khanna, introduced, again, Democrats and ultra-lefty socialist Democrat, introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, another silly act, a 5% annual tax on net household assets exceeding a billion. So if you're worth a billion, I'm entitled to take 50 million from you in one fell swoop just because I say you're worth it if I'm the government appoint. I don't know if you get a bunch of higher bunch of accounts to go dig into people and find it what they're worth. If they own property in other countries, does that become subject because you're an American citizen? Are you subject if you have a villa in friends? Or maybe you have a solar farm. Okay, billion dollars got to take 5%. Here's the problem. It forces sales. People don't just... typically have that kind of cash laying around. Typically, a smart person's got to invest. They don't have stacks of cash sitting in a suitcase because they're losing money on that. The challenge with any federal wealth tax, back to the article from Mother Jay Jones, And I love the way he says this. The challenge with any federal wealth tax, as Ruben Gallego, explains to me over chocolate-infused green tea at an Oakland cafe is not just overcoming well-heeled opposition, but passing constitutional muster. Even the income tax, as we know it wasn't allowed until 1913, when it was ratified in the 16th Amendment. Before then, it was, as any federal tax on wealth would almost certainly be deemed by the Supreme Court, a direct tax, which the Constitution says is subject to apportionment. To impose a direct tax, in other words, lawmakers would first have to decide how much money they want to collect and then direct each state to raise its share of the total according to its share of the nation's population. Not a billionaire tax. It was unworkable even in the 1800s. A direct tax at the national level has to ride in on a unicorn. But this is the silliness of these. It's just unbelievable that they feel entitled to take it. That we're having a reasonable, that they're acting like we're having a reasonable discussion about confiscating people's wealth. By the way, there was one group that confiscated everybody's wealth. And again, I hate to go back to that because I'm comparing. They often yell at Trump calling Republicans Nazis, but the Nazis actually did that. You know, you identified them, had the neighbors turn them in. Then you confiscated all their stuff, all of their everything. You took everything they owned. You put them on trains and you shipped them off to camps. And the irony is the party that wants to confiscate money now is the party with the most significant anti-Semitic rage going on in it. Is the most likely to want to do the same things. Again, confiscate, label people, cause harm to people.

Welcome Welcome Welcome Welcome Glad to have your hour three underway here, the Brutnerable Show, Chad Adams. You're a guest, guest, guest host, thrilled and proud to be here. It's a joy to follow Pete Callan, another friend and someone I have a great deal of respect for having, we've been around the circles for many, many years in this great state of ours. I will, I love phone calls. You guys are always welcome to be a part of the conversation, 704-570-1079. I will get to the text line, but Ray's on hold. So, Ray, welcome to the show, and thank you for holding. Yeah, thanks for taking my call. First, let me say I was a very proud Republican coming from a working class family up in New York. And I'm tired of both sides complaining about the direction of our country and the way things are going. I'm more upset about my former party because they're really quick to complain about the socialist Democrats and coming up with these ideas and plans when they have presented no ideas of their own to help with our country and moving our country forward for eight years. Donald Trump has been talking about replacing Obamacare with his great, beautiful health care plan. Meanwhile, we have had nothing from him. All the Republicans, all the Republicans themselves. We talk about how education in this country has not been turning out brilliant minds. Well, how much have we put into education in this country? How much have we done to our economy to help people afford to put food on their table and only work one job so that they can spend quality time with their children and help them with their schoolwork when they're at such a young age? My parents were able to do it. We were blessed at the time to do it. I'm a 61-year-old man. So I had that opportunity, but today that's gone away. So who will we to blame? Well, right, right, wait, wait. We're behaving the same way and expecting a different result. It's not happening, folks. So when you have democratic socialists coming out with ideas, I'm not in favor of their ideas, but they're putting ideas on the table. And people are up in arms. Well, then come up with something better. But they haven't and they won't because they really like the status quo and they really want to boogeyman for everyone else to be afraid of. And that's what they're doing. Ray, Ray, Ray, thank you. Don't go away. Please stay. Please stay. I appreciate you sharing. And what I love, I love your passion. It's coming through loud and clear. On the Republican health care plan, it, look.

Trump hasn't been in power for eight years, okay? He was four, and then there were four of Biden and there's two Trump now. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The Republican plan doesn't get a lot of press, but the one for health care is they want high deductible plans and HSAs. They want to shift federal subsidies to fund tax advantaged accounts met to pair with high deductible insurance. They want to expand the ability of small businesses and self-employed individuals to pool together to purchase cheaper, less comprehensive coverage across state lines. So they can compete. So you compete across state lines. They want drug pricing controls like the most favored nation model to link U.S. prescription drug prices to those paid in other countries because it's a lot cheaper in other countries. Why they want to get the bottom of that and make it price competitive. They want Medicaid reforms to reduce their federal Medicaid spending and introduce stricter work and administrative requirements. So there are ideas. You just don't hear about them because the media's not telling you. Now, I'm not saying the Republicans shouldn't be doing more. They should. And I'll give them plenty of grief. But also don't pretend. that when they're trying to message that it gets out because it doesn't. Even Politico, even Politico covers this medical stuff. Americans are tired of the message. Americans are tired of hearing messages. They have control of the White House, they have control of the House, and they have control of the Senate. We're tied of messages. Wait, wait, Ray, you can't get, wait, Republicans can't get through the Senate because they have too many people that disagree. You have Lisa Murkowski, you have Susan Collins, even Thom Tillis, you can't get to 51 votes. There's a problem with the plan. If they can't get it through, there's a problem with the plan, my friend. That's all I'm saying. That's all... Okay. Now, in education, wait, Ray, I want to get... Ray, I want to get to education because you talked about spending more time with kids. I agree with you. I mean, I love school choice. I think our government-run school system is inexorably broken. I think it needs massive reforms. The one good thing I've seen, and a lot of this is, one, you've seen more opportunity scholarships come out. That's a uniquely... conservative idea. I think charter schools, I was on the school board of a charter school for over 12 years. I love, love, love school choice and school options so that parents can be more involved in their kids' education. And I'm very proud of those school options that have been championed by people like me and others in the conservative movement over the past 20 years. So in fact, it started in 1998, North Carolina, which is 20 years ago now. So I'm really proud of those options because we do value spending time with kids. And I am saddened. that our government-run school systems have become the subject of ridicule and controversy and getting away from those substantive things like you said. So I agree with you. And I do agree with another point you made, which is I'm tired of everyone making the other guy the boogeyman. I like policy and I like discussions. And I think we need to be doing more. And sometimes I want government the hell out of things. I wish government would get the hell out of health care in many regards. I think it would be better because every time government is involved, it gets more expensive and less access. But that's me. And sometimes Congress doing nothing is maybe good. But it's a mess out there. You know, we agree on more things than we disagree. You'll find most Americans have the same opinion. And I think what it is is that, again, going back to the point is there always has to be a boogeyman, you know, in politics. You know, one side or the other has to paint the other side as the boogeyman or the bad, you know, the one behaving badly. One thing I'll share with you, this is just my opinion. We're putting an awful lot of trust.

in our pharmaceutical companies and the medical industry to behave well, right? If we don't have any safeguards or any kind of accountability for any of this, believe you me, profitable, you know, they're going to look at profits more than anything else, and they're going to find a way to make sure that they get around whatever legislation or whatever. regulatory requirements that we that are implemented to make sure that they behave well and good and do the right thing i don't trust i'm sorry i just don't trust a lot of the industry right let me ask you let me ask you because let me ask you this uh do you trust government more where you don't have as many choices if they make decisions for you, or do you trust the free market more where you can choose where you spend your money and can reward companies you want to reward? I don't trust any of them, and I'll tell you why. I know it's kind of, you think I'm backing out of giving an answer, but this is the reason why. The only time we have a choice is when we hear a politician and a politician through their behavior demonstrates what we believe would work and has worked and has a proven track record. So we vote those folks in. But at some point when they're in office, things go sideways. So in response to trusting government, that's my answer there, is that they talk a good game, and once they're in there, unfortunately, things go sideways. As far as free markets, I love free markets, but the only thing the government can do is create the conditions that free markets will thrive. And giving us those choices is great. But there's always the element of greed that comes into play. And, you know, Ray, Ray, what if what, why is greed? Why do you say greed is bad if it makes a better thing for you? If it makes a better product for you, is that always bad? Okay. Fair enough. I'm talking about monetary greed. I want a company to be successful and do well, but at the same time when the greed of money takes over and the good that it may be doing the community and providing a product that we need is overshadowed. That's a problem. Okay. Ray, I appreciate you sharing your viewpoint, and we've got to take a break now, but thank you for calling and listening. Okay? Thank you. So funny. I love our listeners. They pick up on everything. It's channeling my inner Gordon Gecko a while ago. I wasn't saying greed was good. I'm saying that...

Greed, it's funny that it's one of the seven deadly sins. It's unlike envy. Envy's funny. The Democrats suffer from envy. A lot of times it's envy the rich stuff. What is Toyota affordability? It all starts with buying smart. And your Toyota dealer has great deals available to qualified customers on reliable cars and SUVs, including the redesigned RAV-4, spacious Grand Highlander, sporty Camrys and Corolla's. It means driving for less. with efficient hybrid and plug-in hybrid options available throughout the lineup, extending your overall driving range and delivering great MPGs, saving you money at the pump. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles. And as the best resale value brand, according to Kelly Blue Book, your Toyota can be worth thousands more than average when it's time to trade in. That's Toyota Fordability. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. Shop Toyota.com or your local dealer for deals and details. Vehicles projected resale value is specific to the 2026 model year. For more information, visit Kelly BlueBookskb.com. Toyota brand average resale value is 53% versus the average vehicle at 45%. Toyota, let's go places. Have you ever thought about the difference between paying rent and owning a home? When you rent, your monthly payment helps cover the cost of living there. But it usually doesn't build anything for your future. Home ownership is different. Each payment you make on a home may help build equity, which is the value you own in the property over time. As that equity grows, it can become a financial asset that may support your long-term goals. Owning a home can also provide stability. You have a place that's yours where you can build memories, establish routes, and truly make the space your own. And the good news is that many people are surprised to learn there are programs designed to help first-time homebuyers get started, including grants and assistance programs that may help with down payments or closing costs. Learning about your options is the first step toward making an informed decision about your future. Visit Toolsforhomeownership.com.

of the seven deadly sins is the only one that has no no upside at all these with gluttony or the others there's there's some at least albeit bad momentary joy with envy there's none it's it's a horrible sin so but with greed it's not necessarily greedy to want to build a better mousetrap and to build a better whatever a better phone a better and and those innovations that make It makes life interesting and fascinating. We look at the tapestry of your own life and go back and look at the different times where you remember inventions, you know, the first cell phones or then, you know, the blue, the Blackberry devices, different things, home computing, video games, all of these things that change the way we look at the world, the way we view the world, even the way, you know, when you're on airplanes now, they don't even show movies anymore because everyone's got their tablets. They're watching their own stuff via the Wi-Fi on the plane. Fascinating. And I get raised frustration because I look at what I get frustrated about is the rampant inability to be responsible with our tax money at $37 trillion, whatever the current U.S. debt clock is, that both parties have contributed to that. Spending in excess of what they bring in with no sense of responsibility, both parties own it. And precious little gets done on it. And to one of the people in the text line. Earlier, they're like, go ahead, Chad. Tell them you go after Social Security. Tell them you'll go after, I'm paraphrasing. But you're right. Any politician that says, hey, we need to look at Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare, they will get thrown out of office faster than you can say thrown out of office. Those are the, you can't touch those even though the entitlement spending in this country is eating us alive. And especially with the bubble of people about to go through that and need it more. Or want it more, I guess. Because we're so deep, we've, our entire, if you're under the age of like 70. I don't care any age at this point. You feel entitled to the stuff you contributed to. You contributed to Social Security your whole life. You feel entitled to it. Even though it's a giant Ponzi scheme, the people paying into it now are where you get your benefits from. It's not your money. They didn't put it. If you had invested it done the Brownville, Texas, Brownsville, Texas didn't experiment where they let people put it in, their Social Security into the market. And they came out much better off. We haven't done that nationally. So. You know, Ray, I get the frustration that Ray's talking about. And it's unfortunate that our media doesn't do a good job of showing there are ideas out there that are just not allowed to proliferate. And the left gets a lot of attention. These socialists, Camondon, Donnie's getting more attention than any six or ten Republicans out there that may have some great ideas. They're not going to get any traction because it's not new, novel, interesting, fascinating, and they don't have that smile. They don't have the, I've been here seven years, haven't contributed to the workforce, but I'm mayor of the... you know, one of the greatest cities in the world. Kind of. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets it gets the kind of attention. Here's a Democrat's version of what capitalism is. And by the way, capitalism, and I'll say it, I'm paraphrasing what someone else said, is the best way to extract.

efforts from people. Humans are generally lazy. You can read American history and find times when we weren't capitalist that we had the socialist experiment, even in the creation of our country, the pilgrims. Anyway, I'm getting way off track here. The point is, left our own devices, people are generally lazy, but capitalism is a way that people say, hey, I want more money, so I'll go work here and do whatever. I need to get some means to acquire stuff for myself. But here's how she described capitalism. I think She studied the issue enough that this definition works in a way that Democrats believe. It puts capital, the most important. Rephrase. Capitalism isn't, to me, is it's an ideology of capital. It puts capital, the most important thing is the concentration of capital. And it means that we seek and prioritize profit and the accumulation of money above all else. And we seek it at any human and environmental cost. That is what that means. And to me, that ideology is not sustainable and cannot be. She's just moonback crazy. That all costs. Destroy the environment. Destroy the world. Destroy people. That is what capitalism is. But it sounds really pleasant when she says it. She's obviously that's the concentration of wealth, accumulation of things. She's not looking at, you know, quality of life, more products, more opportunity, more ways to have health, wealth, quality of life. Without capitalism, health, wealth, quality of life all plummet. They go to zero. Every time it's been tried, this isn't new or novel. These people acting like history won't repeat itself, what it always does. And yet it's gaining traction each and every day. It is, it is astounding. It is just astounding. So, but the idea is, and it's interesting. And they are getting a preponderance when Zohran Mamdani says something, it catches on. I was looking at one of the other candidates out there. And Democrat socialists Malat Kuros over in Colorado, won her Colorado House primary in a shocking resort. Now, she, they've started doing research. She is absolutely of the ilk of Zohran Mamdani. And so it's not just confined to the Northeast. It is pockets of Democrat. enclaves across the country. She has a law degree from Notre Dame. She was fired from her law firm for publicly calling them out for not supporting the Palestinians after October 7th, the attack on Israel, and at 29 years old, made a total of $30,000 last year while being $250,000 in debt. She has just been appointed the nominee for Congress by the Democrats in that district. Now, what kind of value system? Now, I'm not putting her down as an individual, but with that, that is your life experience. What is the value system you bring to Congress other than redistributing wealth? It's not like you ever started a company. It's not like you've ever tried to meet a payroll. It's not like you've had to compete.

for a better mousetrap or a better product. It's not like you've worked in the workforce for any length of time. And that's, so you end up having this tribal belief. in the socialism experiment. It is a bad experiment, and we know the outcome. But this isn't a movement that's going away. And Democrats acting like, ah, it's no big thing. I mean, and now what you're starting to see is people like J.B. Pritzker and Adam Schiff and others kind of embrace it. Well, look, these people out there fighting. They're putting some ideas out there. They're fighting. Democrats need to fight. We need to stop Donald Trump. Donald Trump's evil. If you think Donald Trump's evil, imagine what full-fledged socialism would do to you and everybody you know. Talk about the great equalizer. And you're worried about oligarchs. The only people that enjoy any largest in life under a socialist system are the people in power. That's it. And Democrats love that. By the way, it's interesting that a lot of these Democrats that love being in power and have been in power for 40, 50 years that haven't really changed anything, haven't really solved any problems. Like Roy Cooper, Roy Cooper's been in office since the late 80s. There's no issue I could poll you on that you would affiliate with Roy Cooper having solved a problem or done anything to improve your life. Not one thing. Not one thing. If I interviewed you on the street, could you say that former Governor Roy Cooper's done? Nothing. And yet he has a lease commercial saying, hey, I think defund the police is bad. I'm a good country boy from Eastern North Carolina. It's frustrating. So, anyway.

I'm rounding down some steps just to get a few steps in. You know, I appreciated Ray's call, and it stimulated the chat room quite a bit, or I'll call it, for lack of a better phrase. And I appreciate it as frustration. Here's the one thing that's fascinating me. I think what I love, love, well, one of like a thousand things I love about this country. is the 50 state viewpoint. Now, he talked about education. I wish they would abolish, and I hope Trump does abolish, and they're trying to the Department of Education. I think we don't need it. I think there's a lot of things that we don't need at the federal level. And that is certainly one of them, because we have 50 states that deal with education in 50 different ways, and we can do it better and more competitively. And then look at the states that do well. Charter schools, the entire reason charter schools were created. was to show, by the way, charter schools in North Carolina get zero money for capital. They only get money like for the kid, the money that follows the kid, the $9,000 per student, but they don't get any capital to build school bills. So they run all of their schools just on the money that's given per kid. They don't get to build building. They have to build buildings and finance them and all that. But they do that with the money comes in for the students. So they're teaching them, they're teaching them with less money per student when you add in capital faucets and fixtures and all that stuff, furniture and fixtures. So that's the way you see states. Charter schools were originally set up so that, hey, we see what works. And maybe, just maybe our state education departments would look and go, hey, that works. Let's try it. But instead it became a political war where Democrats kept screaming, no, school choice is bad. We need to keep everyone in a government-run system. It's going to take money away from schools. It was just horrible, stupid argument. It was this pedantic. incessant chatter that led to nothing. It was just, it was not productive. It didn't help the kids. And in what we really should have done, I mean, right now we know of many, many, many, many successful charter schools whose ideas or curriculum could be integrated into public schools and make them better. And luckily, there are a few public schools around North Carolina and other places that look and go, hey, that's a good idea. Not many. But sometimes it just takes a spark to light a fire. And that's the kind of the opposite of what the socialists and the Democrats are doing. They're lighting the fire with sparks of anti-Americanism and are stoking the fires. So if you look at where the Democrats are, they're trying to turn their own party into kind of. It's anti-America via anti-Trump, and thus any ideas that look very anti-American, thus anti-Trump, seem to be embracable as decent ideas. Wealth confiscation, lack of competition, socialized medicine, just the litany of the anti-capitalism, these ideas that because they're against Trump, they're not necessarily anti-American in their eyes, but they really are. They've, anything that.

Trump looks to embody with respect to the American spirit and entrepreneurship or any of that stuff. If you're against that, it's good. And so the acceptance of people like Zohran Mamdani is becoming much more, much more press. It's just one of those things. Now, the birthright citizenship is not going to go away anytime soon. It is, I... It is amazing to me when I read a lot of the dissent. Clarence Thomas, by the way, that should be taught in schools. His dissent on that one was a warning about what's coming next in our country. It was never met. The 14th Amendment was never intended to be utilized the way it is now. He's right. The court can get stuff wrong. I wish the court had remanded things back for clarity. They didn't. They just said, if you pop a baby out here, it's a citizen. So you can be the most. significant near-do wells and pop babies out here, and those are entitled to stay here and be citizens and get all sorts of stuff. And I was going to spend a lot of time on that one today, but I'm not because I want to go back to the issue that kind of Ray mentioned about health. I don't want to go into health care too long. But the 50 state experiment, here's the ultimate beauty of it. When states like New York, and I don't understand why it continues, when states like New York, who've become... high tax, high regulatory, not just the city of New York, but the state of New York, when those policies starting leading to a mass exodus of people with means, that was bad. New York had the opportunity. I remember Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York said, fine, leave. And then eight, nine months later, when it really started accelerating, say, oh, no, no, please come back. Because what's happening is the people that can afford to leave are. It's so weird as I look at my childhood home in Puerto Rico and the massive brain drain that took place there when about a quarter million people of means were able to leave that small island semi-nation that's a territory of the U.S. And what's been left behind is an inability to solve problems and deal with things. It doesn't mean that Puerto Rican doesn't have any of those. the people who were most able to assist and help left because they didn't see a future there and they left. And Puerto Rico is suffering from that lack of intellectual prowess, that lack of... entrepreneurship, ingenuity, lack of all of those things has really jeopardized Puerto Rico's future. And now there was something to be learned there that we didn't learn. It's kind of like we know what socialism does, but we see people that are embracing it. When you look at New York and California, people are voting with their wallets and they're leaving for places like North Carolina, Florida, Texas. These are the... massive beneficiaries of bad policy. But rather than look at themselves in the mirror and say, why am I losing hundreds of thousands of people to these states? They say they just double down on bad policies. So the city of New York is starting to double down on these. And then they're going to wonder why the people of means will leave. But what they'll try to do is they'll try to bash them on the way out the door instead of figuring out a way for them to stay.

And North Carolina is one of the beneficiaries of that. But the Democrats in North Carolina are walking a very tight wire right now. And many Democrats across the South are walking a very tight wire right now. They cannot afford to embrace what the rest of their party is embracing at this time. So you won't see Roy Cooper doing a fundraiser with Graham Platner. You won't see him bringing Zohran Mamdani down because what they're trying to do is separate themselves and say, well, I'm, look at me. I'm a moderate when he's not. Because ultimately, they're going to be voting for the same people to lead them. They're going to be voting on the same, they're going to be voting along the same party lines like they do now. They vote in lockstep now. except for maybe John Fetterman who's coming out of the woodwork against them. Just like the Republicans have four or five, they can't get things like the Save Act because of people like Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. They can't get things across the finish line. But again, people are leaving states, high tax, high regulatory states, going to more free states. I was driving out of Florida a couple weeks ago and it said, you're leaving the free state of Florida. What a great sign. It's just a great sign. Wouldn't it be great if the state of North Carolina said you're leaving the free state of North Carolina because we didn't have an income tax? We dither with it because Republicans say, if we just lower it a little bit each year, then eventually they'll keep sending us back to office to keep lowering it instead of just getting rid of it because it was the right thing to do.

As we move ever closer to the 250th anniversary of this experiment, we call America. And by the way, I can appreciate how so many people we go about our daily lives in this miraculous place. And we tend to... take it for granted. You know, we tend to think, you know what? My neighborhood will be here 10 years from now, or my kids are going to go to a great school. It's going to remain a great school. We become comfortable. And one thing about this nation is we should never, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. There's a thousand quotes I could throw at you. It is how we protect our nation and how we constantly fight back against ever, growing government that defines us we have the right to press back against it for now as long as we hold that sacred we hold the belief that we can opposed tyranny. It always cracks me up. Whenever I see these leftist protests, the no kings rally and stuff like that, there are always projections of who they really are. The no kings protest, their parties most likely, they are the ones that areoint. I mean, it was so funny to see a no king's protest when they, when they anointed Kamala Harris to be the leader. They literally protested Donald Trump being a king. while asserting that Kamala Harris wasn't, you know, a crown was not placed upon her head. You know, she didn't earn any votes. So it's always comical when I see these no kings protest because they're projecting what they ultimately will become. Only the Democrats want more power concentrated in government. The only party in, I mean, not the only party in America, but it is of the two main parties. That's, by the way, Tucker Carlson has announced he's going to create a party to rival the Republicans. Good luck with that. I don't know what happened to Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens and a couple other that went. just off the rails and Tucker Carlson became, I don't know. If it's narcissism, I don't know what happened to Tucker Carlson, but something bad. I've known him for many years and he's not the same person, or maybe he is and we just didn't know it. But nonetheless, we have to be on guard. I mean, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America. It's got some wonderful things that he's said about this that are aging like fine wine. And one of the things he said, You know, true friends of liberty ought constantly to be on the alert to prevent the power of government from lightly sacrificing the private rights of individuals to the general execution of its designs. We see this with Zohran Mamdani saying, hey, we're going to do rent freezing. We're going to suspend these kind of things, or we're going to redistribute private property to other people. Again, you're lightly sacrificing.

At such times, no citizen is so obscure that it's not very dangerous to allow him to be oppressed. No private rights are so unimportant that they can be surrendered with impunity to the caprices of a government because men accustomed themselves to sacrifice private interest without scruple and to trample on the rights of individuals in order more speedily to accomplish any public purpose. public purpose meaning when democrats say we're going we want to do this they do so by taking rights and privileges away from others and they act as if it's okay but it's one of the most anti-American things you can do if you feel you have the right to take stuff from other people that's not an american ideal compete for it build something better Be a better business. Be better at whatever. But where on earth do you get off thinking, oh, well, they earn something. And that somehow takes things away from me. Thus, I want to use the power of government to take it away from them. And somehow that makes, and when America ceases to be good and taking things away from other people is not good, don't fool yourselves. There's an evil to taking things from people. It's theft. You can call it policy, but it's theft. Another one, he wrote, Democratic tendency leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the state and to circumscribe the rights of private persons. You see this with the attacks on Elon Musk. We've made these people be evil, but somehow when they are billionaires, J.B. Pritzker, or multimillionaires, Al Gore, Bernie Sanders, the rest of them, Nancy Pelosi. It's different for them. Somehow it's different. They're not bad because they have wealth. Only people that are conservative in how wealth are bad. The democratic tendency leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the state and to circumscribe the rights of private persons, often sacrificed without regret and almost always violated without remorse. Men become less and less attached to private rights just when it is most necessary to retain and defend what little remains of them. And at a certain point, it's too late. It's gone. It's the Kaiser-Sose thing. You didn't see it coming, and then you don't have it anymore. You don't surrender those rights without a fight. Private property is the foundation. I mean, if you ever read John Locke, you see that. It's a distinguishing characteristic. The right to private property. You know what? Private property is an extension. as Locke would say, kind of from your creator, you, by virtue of who you are, own yourself. You own you. It's the ultimate emancipation. God created, you own you. And the things that you do through the industry of your mind, your hands, and your ability of things you create are also yours. That's kind of the birth of property rights. You own, you have the right to own things. And when someone else says, no, I have the right to take it from you. That's the erosion of property rights, no matter how small it is. And we need to be vigorous in our defense of that. Always. America's 250 coming. Chad, Adams, your guest host. I'll be here tomorrow afternoon. You folks have a great day.

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