Phil Harriman- Hour 3

For more than 20 years Inside Maine has connected you with the state's top voices, diving deep into the political stories shaping our lives on 985 FM, AM 560, and wgian.com. Good afternoon. You're listening to Inside Maine on WGAN.N. I'm your host today, Phil Harriman. Thanks for taking me along. about your Saturday rituals. If you'd like to join the conversation, 879-9-4-26 is the number, 879 W-G-A-N. We've welcomed a lot of spirited callers today. There's been a lot of calls. They've been great. It's always helpful to have people who are actually listening. influence the show. I try to create an environment where whether you see it our way, my way or not, we will welcome you and listen to your opinion and hopefully you feel heard and understood. 879-946 is the number. We're going to go out to Falmouth now and welcome John to the program. Hi, John. The floor is yours. Good afternoon. Phil. How are you? Good thank you. You know, you are a true talk show where people can literally talk in and have a conversation, and that's rare for talk shows now. Thank you. It really is. It's like, you know, you call in, you make a statement. Thanks a lot for your call, and you're gone. But, yeah, here's a couple things on Iran that I think is, okay, there's a quote on a famous statue down in Washington, and this is it. War's legitimate object is more perfect peace. What's legitimate object is more perfect piece. And that's what we're doing. And that, by the way, William Tecumseh Sherman, who should know what he's talking about. And we've got a perfect piece out of it. So now we've got a case with, you know, they hung their champion wrestler this week. I heard that. It's shocking to me. Yeah, well, it shouldn't be. And then the Old Dominion College professor got gunned down on March 12th. Remember that one? It's a flurry of activity, I'll tell you. The jihad world, just this week, well, the 7th to the 13th of March, 26 attacks, 76 killed, 191 injured, one suicide blast in 11 countries. That's one week. 49,118 jihad attacks on the world since 9-11. Now, do we want a country that thinks like that to have 15 bombs the size of Nagasaki? Because they were just about ready to get 15 bombs the size of Nagasaki. That's 21 kilotons. Do we want that? Is that okay with the world? And missiles to throw them with. Now, what are we going to do? Got to do something. And I'm glad this president sees that something had to be done. Yeah. And war is hell. War is all hell. And there's no refining it is another Sherman phrase. But he's right on that one, too. So if we don't want that kind of destruction in our country, and you know what's a prime target, you know, we just wiped out a Navy. And China's building a Navy much fixed faster than we are, right?

What would be a prime target for someone to nuke? How about Bath Ironworks? Yep. Yeah, that's going to go. And then how do we communicate with our submarines with giant antennas up in Maine? They're going to hit those antennas up in Maine, too, in Cutler. You ever been up to Cutler and seen those giant antennas up there? That's how they communicate with submarines. The other ones in Hawaii. So with those two, they can communicate, but they're both going to get hit by somebody. And if we sit here and do nothing like we have for 47 years, we're going to have to continue to endure that threat. And these people aren't afraid of mutually assured destruction. You know, Russia, China, we are too big to want to risk total disaster. But Iran, they don't think like that. They'll risk total disaster. So that's what we're looking at. And war sucks, but what are you going to do? How do you stop those people? I don't know. I'm assuming this is the solution. And as you point out, over the last 47 years, in little and large ways, they have demonstrated their passion for, you know, kill the infidels, death to America, wipe Israel off the map. And you're right, John, that has been their sort of constitution, if you will, for almost 50 years. Well, Trump talked about stopping them from hanging in public thousands. They were going to hang thousands of people in public, right? And then he's trumped top. So what did they do? Instead, they went into hospitals and shot them in their beds. I mean, it wasn't like they were going to stop abusing these people just because they didn't hang. They promised not to hang them. But see, these people, these are the kind of people. They'll make a promise, but then they get their fingers crossed behind their back. And that's just the way it is. They think like they're still in the 7th century. We've got to pull them into the modern world. We have to. How did Japan think during the war? Like they were in a thousand years ago. We pulled them into the modern world. You know, we didn't give back Japan until the 50s. I didn't know that. We didn't hand it back to them. We made sure they had a constitution that essentially mimics ours. Same with Germany. We didn't just hand Germany back the day they surrendered. These things have been done before. It's very messy. It's very horrible. We do not. We cannot afford it. It's bad enough that North Korea has nukes. That's bad enough, isn't it? Absolutely. But he's not completely insane either. But when you've got a culture that governs on religion versus any kind of a constitution that's fair, what can you do about it? I remember the days. You may remember the days, and Iran was an open and free country. Yes, they do. Yep. Girls wearing miniskirts and everything else. Nope, going to school, on and on and on. So this is, it's got to be stopped somehow.

And I don't know of a better way than, you know, boots on the ground. I'm not into that. But, you know, we've done worse things. We've made bigger mistakes in the past. You know, we have some, you know, we created a war that now gave us the Philippines and Puerto Rico and a bunch of other places. Remember the Maine? Yeah, yep. The Maine was not sunk by our enemies. No. But we use that to go to war. And if Trump can free Cuba, I know a lot of Cubans, I'm happy to have them call in, they're exiles. A lot of them live in Puerto Rico. They're plotting. They want Trump. They want Trump to get the communists out of Cuba. They'll take it. They'll take the strain. They're used to it. They are used to it down there. And we have an enemy 90 miles from Miami, of Key West. And if Trump can do something there to shake that out and get some kind of a democracy in there, then why shouldn't he? Why shouldn't he try? Well, I think it's very clear between Venezuela and Cuba and the Middle East, the Gaza, etc. He is trying to change the world for the better. Yeah, he is not a destructive man. He's a preserver. And, you know, his own father told him not to go into Manhattan, but he went in anyway. He's got the impetus. You know, I don't think – I took business administration. I did pretty well. I'm not sure I could have graduated from a Wharton School of Business like he did. He's not a fool. He talks like he's a fool. Yes, he does. But, you know, it's anyone who spend any time in Manhattan. They all talk like that. You know, all kinds of people out here that I used to, I know people who, you know, who lived there, grew up there, and he said, he's just a normal New Yorker to them. Yep. So let me ask you this as a sort of an aside. As this unfolds to hopefully a conclusion that we all want, he's going to have to go back to the Congress. particularly if there is a deployment of people on the ground. How do you see this unfolding with all that we're hoping is the outcome where Congress is now saying, you know, this is illegal and you should have come to us beforehand. He's going to need additional funding. That's going to turn into a, you know, a circus. How do you see this unfolding, John? Well, I think he's reaching out to all the NATO countries and saying, hey, you're going to stand back and let us do this alone? You're all just going to sit there and watch us fall on our face or not? You're not really. I mean, come on. Those missiles are pointed right at Europe. Absolutely. And this, I'm in the tribe of Washington.

And Iran is making decisions. And same here. You know, we don't have any control over what Trump's doing is if we don't agree with, you know, what's going on. So it's stressing that if I look back at Vietnam, there seem to be a much more consciousness about... Hey, there's Vietnamese being killed, and we've got thousands of our soldiers being killed, and why are we doing this? And that seemed to be more of the ethos. But now it seems that, well, it's costing too much money. We shouldn't be doing this. We've got, we've lost our moral grounds here. You know, I mean, the argument as well, Iran, they're a regime. They're a regime. kill all their people that were protesting. Like, well, there's other regimes that we, you know, have their buddies, you know, that do awful things. I mean, Benjamin Netanyahu's government wiped out 72,000, at least Palestinians, and most of them children. You know? What do you think? Well, I agree with you that the focus should be on the humanity, not on the dollars. And as we've discussed often today, it is how much longer can our country, our world, live in an environment where the terrorism impact? is genuine. And how many places could you point to, Leonard, around the world, and in particular on 9-11, where the terrorists didn't care how much it cost. They were more driven by their ideology to wipe us off the face of the earth. And the question becomes, where does this end up? If after all the dollars are, you know, debated and we end up with the Middle East in a place that is welcoming and attractive, which could you have imagined, Leonard, having this conversation a couple of years ago, where the Saudis and the Israelis are collaborating on the military mission? Who would have thought of that? Right. So where does this end up? That, to me, is the ultimate historical marker in humanity. And as I said earlier, and if you listen to me enough, you know, I don't particularly care for the style in which the president conducts himself, but I believe that he is truly trying to implement.

through his leadership, a more perfect union and a more peaceful earth? And he better be right because he has put it all on the line right now. Right. But what he's not doing is following our basic rules of engagement. Like, I mean, we don't even have any evidence that those boats that are being blown up off Venezuela and coasts were carrying anything. Don't you need to have evidence and go through some due process? But that seems to be, I mean, it was just as bad when Obama was sending drones and so many civilians were dying in these, quote, signature strikes. So. And I see that, I see net Israeli government driving this thing in Iran. I mean, I suspect that there was a deal made. Hey, stop wiping out people in Gaza and children. And we'll go on this Iran thing. Israel's wanted to go up to Iran for a long time, and it's not been successful in previous administration. So that's a theory I have, but I don't think it's way out the mark. It's very plausible, and if the end result is that the terrorist organization, whether it's Hamas or others are no longer an influence, that's good for everybody. If this just turns into sleeper cells emerging here in the U.S. and we're facing the uncertainty of what's going to happen next. this will turn really ugly, really fast. Well, what they don't ask is what is terrorism is a tactic and what is inspiring that is, I mean, we only draw to look back at 1979 and the hostages. We don't look at early 1953 and us, U.S. and the British friends overthrowing. the Mogadishu government, which is democratically elected, and that led to the Shah, which is a who was a dictator, but like I said before, he was, quote, our dictator, so that was okay, you know, and that led to the unrest 25 years later that led to the hostages, and then you had this alter religious government in place. You know, 46 years later, here we are. So we just don't look at this in a holistic way and our involvement and meddling and leading to what happened decades later. Yeah, good point. Leonard, always enjoy your call. Thank you. You're listening to Inside Maine with Bill Harriman. For over two decades, Inside Maine has delivered sharp political insight and in-depth discussion with Maine's top decision makers on 985 FM, AM 560, and WGAN.com.

Good afternoon, everyone. It is 1235. You're listening to Inside Maine. I'm your host today, Phil Harriman. We are broadcasting live from the WGAN studios in South Portland, Maine. We'd love to get your opinion and analysis on the topics we've been covering today. We've got one more segment, so suit up. Get on the field at 879-9-4-26. 879 W-G-A-N. I think this is the first segment where we haven't had anybody actually waiting on the line when we started it. It's been on fire today. Yes, it has been on fire. Absolutely. Oh, now we have a call coming in right now, so I'm going to go answer that. We'd love to have you join us, 879-9-4-26. Couldn't help but think, share with you. I'm not sure this name is familiar to you. His name is Victor Davis Hanson. He is a military historian, a conservative political commentator. He's been on, in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National Review, the Washington Times appears frequently on Fox News. He's got a rich, rich history of understanding how. military history has shaped where we are today. And he posted something on X that I want to share with you. His argument isn't based on what the Pentagon is saying. It's based on how everyone else is behaving. He says the Europeans never agreed to go anywhere near a conflict unless they think the winning side has already been determined. They didn't help in the early days. Now they're starting to move. That movement is not idealism. It's a calculation. They looked at the battlefield and decided which way this ends. Then he points to the Gulf Petro Nations. The Saudis, the Emirates, the Qatari's, these governments have survived for generations by reading the regional climate with precision. When they expel Iranian military attachés, when they intercept Iranian missiles over their own capitals and say nothing about American strikes. When the UAE reaffirms 1.4 trillion investment commitment to the United States mid-war, they are not making ideological statements. They are placing bets, and they are betting on the United States. He goes on to write Al Jazeera. This is the one that should stop you cold.

Al Jazeera, the Qatari State Media Network, historically critical of American military action. The network, Tucker Carlson and the anti-war right love to cite against Israel, is now calling the U.S. bombing campaign brilliant and effective and saying it has been underestimated. When the media outlet of a nation that hosts both the largest American air base and in the Middle East and a Hamas political office starts praising American military effectiveness, the message is unmistakable. They think we are going to win. And then finally, he points out the military signal. A-10 warthogs, Apache helicopter gunships, and now flying strike missions in Iranian airspace at will. He points out, you only deploy those aircraft when there is effectively no air defense left to threaten them. They are slow, low-flying, close support platforms. Their presence confirms what the Pentagon has been claiming. Iran has no meaningful air defense remaining. Iran's strategy now is ropedo. Run out the clock. Wait for the American public opinion to shift. Hope the midterms create political pressure on Trump to stop. It is the only play they have left. Victor Hansen's conclusion is that if Trump sees it through, And he believes he will. The regime fails, not in years, pretty soon. What do you think? 879-94-26-879-W-G-A-N. Chris is joining us from South Portland. Good afternoon, Chris. The floor is yours. After him, Mr. Herman. I think the politics of all this is played out time and time again. And what I'm finding is that, so I grew up in, when 9-11 happened, I was in sixth grade. So my entire life has been, I remember before the times and then after. And for me, like, kind of, when that attack happened, you saw an American flag on every door, every car, everywhere. And as a people, we were united as a tribe. as an American tribe. And, like, when you start getting into, like, two weedy stuff of, like, Qatar has special interest, like, this is where we're getting ourselves in trouble because Qatar has, like, university money over here and stuff like that, as well as, like, a safe haven't for Algeria. But the huge misstep I think we're making with all the ability to transfer information so quickly is that stupid people say stupid stuff and have, like, bad opinions. And then... Are you referring to me? No, obviously, yeah. Sure. But we've reached a point where stupid people are arguing with stupid people, and then the people that want to step back and actually have a discussion about any of what our tribe's core interests are, which are the American people, because, you know, in reality, we necessarily don't care what the Canadians do because they're their own people.

But we're getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty politics of whose religion is what. And instead of just focused on like, hey, what's the best for the American people? We're starting to worry about people's feelings and where money gets spent. And asking for the $200 million because of the last administration is a perfect example of... all what's wrong with. Remember how everyone had their Ukrainian flags on there? Yep. You would ask people like, oh, so you were following this when the Dumbos airport attack happened, and that lasted several years, right? And what's that? So it's a bunch of stupid people eating stupid people, in my opinion. Yeah, and, you know, it's frustrating to me to hear the politicians today criticizing the decisions that are unfolding literally by the hour who said nothing. while millions of people crossed over our border undetected. They said nothing when Obama authorized military strikes in Libya. And you could go on with each administration, the Bush administration is we've got to go into Iraq because. And now he's loved now, though. Right. Now he's loved by the side that hated him because stupid people were just chanting stupid stuff. It's incredible. Yeah. Just a deep frustration. So. Everyone should keep their head up about it because just remember what's best for the American people is best for everybody. Exactly. Whatever we got to do to make us better. Yeah, you know, and it's not like we do this to conquer. We have people who are buried in Europe, American soldiers buried in Europe. When the Nazis were defeated, what did we do? We turned it back over to them. Help them rebuild through the Marshall Plan to restore their countries and their democracies. The only empire in the world to conquer somebody gives their own back and say, hey, can we buy that island? So. We're doing it pretty good comparatively in history-wise. That's all I had to say. Chris, thanks for the call. Good to hear from you. We've got a few more moments left if you'd like to join us. It's 879-9-4-26, 879 W-G-A-N. Turning our attention to more stateside issues, one of the callers said, hey, did you know there is an election coming?

I'm really intrigued by the public policy positions that candidates for Maine's governor more specifically about how politicians running for election in the state house here in Maine are talking about property tax relief and more efficient government. people's supposed empathy for the taxpayer. Yet I don't see any specifics yet. I think of Jonathan Bush, who's got ads running now, he's going to cut a billion dollars on day one of property tax and income tax. Okay, that sounds very appealing. How are you going to do that? What is the plan? The elections in the fall are not only going to choose our next governor. Whoever he or she might be is going to have to work with the legislature where all 186 seats, there's 151 members of the House of Representatives and there's 35 members of the main Senate. They ultimately decide what the next governor is authorized to implement and execute. And off to the side, I want to share with you the Republicans in the Senate have left nine state Senate open with no Republican candidate. So what that means is there is 26 seats that are competitive, and out of those 26, if they're going to be in the majority, they're going to have to win 18 out of 26 races, which statistically I would say is not likely to happen. So... We're hearing from these candidates who want you to vote for them that they've got plans to ease your pain, so to speak, with property tax and income tax and audit government and make it more efficient and more effective, yet very, very slim on the details. In the meantime, though, I read where in the state of Massachusetts, They have lost billions in income after their millionaire tax was voted on. I think it was in 2022 they voted on it, and it's being implemented now. And that additional revenue, of course, was supposed to fund the schools. And what they're finding is the outmigration of people.

Out of Massachusetts is resulting in billions of income leaving the state. And based on whatever tax bracket you're in, of course, that affects the state checkbook. And then, of course, there's another source of revenue that you may be aware of. And these online... sports betting and other opportunities to wager is generating tax revenue for the states that is, I guess you could call it a voluntary tax that you would pay if you decide to go online and do sports gambling. So there's plenty of money. out there in the system, but it seems as though the people on the conservative side are saying, look, let's keep more money in people's checkbook. And let's go in and make government more accountable and let's deal with these alleged sources of fraud in the main care system. Let's audit government services and make sure they're not duplicative or ineffective, et cetera. And then you have the progressive side, the liberal side of the political aisle, which says, Look at all these people who aren't paying enough in taxes. We need to tax them more to help fund essential government services. And I want to play you a clip of this is the governor of New York. The first part of this clip is her, how shall I say, her political agenda in 2022. And then she follows up with her political agenda in 2026. Jeremy, can you let that rip?

So in 2022, the governor was essentially saying, you don't like what we're doing, leave. And what did they do? They left. And now in 2026, what is she saying? Oh, oh, please, come back, come back. And what it reminds me of, and this is perhaps a stretch, but the analogy I think is fair, is I remember in my time in the Maine Senate, there were. many referendums out there dealing with the forest products profession. There were many pieces of legislation dealing with how to cut trees and where to cut trees and how to process the paper making industry. And these... from my perspective, the heart and soul of Maine, particularly in the north and west of Maine, where if you wanted a lifestyle that was a rural lifestyle, you could go out and find a job working in the woods or working in the paper processing and make a good living. And as a result of these referendums and ongoing pieces of legislation, The owners of these forest lands and the paper processing said, yeah, we get it. You don't want us here. So the first thing they did was they sold off their land that they own and retained rights to harvest the trees. And then they ran their paper making facilities until they were worn out. And then they closed them down and they left. And as a result, the heart and soul of particularly Northern Maine, we saw towns literally, you know, almost closing down. I think of Millenocket, for example, one of the more robust paper-making operations in the state. they basically have shut down, and now they're trying to become a tourist destination. And the point I'm trying to make is that people in a position of political influence are sending a very clear message, whether it's on taxes, as I just shared with you about Governor Hokel in New York and what's going on with Governor Healy and Massachusetts, where people are saying, you don't want us here, okay.

will leave. And where are they going? They're going to places like Florida, like Texas, where they're appreciated and welcomed. And those states are doing exceptionally well. So my point is this. Elections are coming. And it's really important that you tune in enough to pay attention to what are these folks trying to do and who is going to take the state in the direction that you feel is going to create an affordable place to live with a high quality of... of life here in the grand old state of Maine. You've been listening to Inside Maine. I'm your host today, Phil Harriman. It's been my pleasure to share this program with you. Thanks for the people who've called in and offered their opinions and analysis. We really enjoyed hearing from you. And we'll be back next Saturday at 10 a.m. Inside Maine. Thanks for listening.