The Rod and Greg Show: What We Learned from Primary Elections; Utah's Role as Nuclear Leader

Five in Idaho, one in Oregon and six in Kentucky, all in the wind column for our president and his preferred candidates in those respective states. I think it's a top gun moment for the president. I think he's just rolling right along and people like... picking up what he's putting down he hit all the targets he certainly did yesterday we'll be talking about that today we've got a lot to get to today we'll give you the latest on what's going on in iran we'll also talk about the elections we'll look at the outcome we'll look at what this all means for the midterms there's still primaries to come we have one here in utah what june 23rd that's right we'll have a primary here in the state of utah we'll talk about that we'll talk our good friend guy shiraki now he says we can blame pennsylvania For all this redistricting madness. Well, you know, I like guy. I met him when I was like 18 in Pittsburgh. I had a George Herbert Walker Bush race, Bush quail race. So. He might know. I mean, he's been with, he's been doing the Utah or the Pennsylvania politics for a long time. I wouldn't have gone there. I wouldn't have gone there that's all PA's fault. But if, you know. A guy saying it is. The guy says it is. We'll talk about that as well. And you'll be headed up to Park City next couple of days. That's right. And we'll be talking about Utah and its efforts for nuclear energy. That's right. Which I wholeheartedly support, by the way. It is. I don't know if everyone understands the history of it. But we were, our country was. very bullish on nuclear energy until about 1977. Yeah. Three Mile Island. Yes. And nothing disastrous happened, but then you had that China Syndrome movie and Jimmy Carter said he outlawed it basically. And we've been coal ever since. Now the Democrats hate coal, so I don't know what they want us to do. Guinea pigs on wheels. I don't know. I guess so. I think it's time for nuclear to come back. So we're talking about that. But I want to start off the show today. Memorial Day is coming up on. Monday. Yes. This is the day set aside that we honor all our fallen war dead. Correct. And there are ceremonies all around. There is one in my hometown. Cadesville always has a nice service at the big cemetery there. Many towns do. But I caught this story today, Greg. And this, I think, is what America is all about. And talk about paying tribute to a fallen soldier. It's the story about a 98-year-old veteran. His name is John Bernard Arnold. The third, okay? 98 years old. He recently passed away in Massachusetts and had no known living relatives by himself, passed away at the age of 98. Well, people apparently sent out word about his funeral services, and I love this. Hundreds of strangers showed up yesterday to pay their respects a beautiful thing when it happens. So here you have this 98-year-old vet passes away, no family whatsoever, can't find family. People get wind of this. They start saying, hey, let you up. The line wrapped around the church several times. I mean, it's just a very, very touching story. It is. And I wish we had more of those. I know there's, the American goodness is just abundant. And I think that sometimes we get wrapped around the axle of the bad news or the challenging times. But I think that there are stories like that that happen so often in this country. And it's fun to be able to highlight them and know that they happen. 1,500 people showed up for a funeral.

Yeah, I hate to say, I mean, I don't want to sound macabre here, but I don't think $1,500 are going to show up for mine. Well, I don't think it's going to be that big of a barn burner. $1,500 show up for this guy. I'm so happy for him. Yeah, and that's, folks, is how we treat and honor our war dead, and we'll have an opportunity to do that coming up on Monday. All right, let's get into something. Can we just talk about the Democrats and Khene Hakeem Jeffries? Yes, let's please. Shall we? Yeah. Because here he is. He basically was at this Center for American Progress, an event that, I guess, you know, Grusome Gavin Newsom showed up and Kamala Harris showed up. All the Dems are showing up. Well, Hakeem Jeffries showed up yesterday, and he basically laid out the Democratic plan for the country if, in fact, they win in November. Here is their primary goal. I guess part of how we as House Democrats view this moment. Either MAGA extremists are going to break the country, or we're going to break them. And our goal is to break them. We will defeat them. We have to beat them electorally, and then we have to break their spirit because of the extremism that's being unleashed in the American people. That's completely and totally unacceptable. You know, I think he just issued a challenge to mega voters. Yeah. And common sense, fair minded Americans. We're going to break you. Oh, yeah? Try. Well, I'll tell you this. If you've seen during the Biden administration the way they did weaponize, the Department of Justice, the way they did come after conservatives. whether through the IRS or through if you attended a rally, a pro-life rally, whatever you did. If you complained about the elections being rigged, you were targeted. And maybe that's what he means, is that they're going to try and imprison those that are on the right, those that want to. MAGA means make America great again. And that is still, that acronym doesn't mean anything but make America great again. If they want to go after the people that want to make America great again. I think you've got to believe him. If he tells you who he is and what he wants to do, I'd say believe Hakeem Jeffries when he says it. So I do think that that's knowing that, that makes the midterms that much more important. Well, this is how he said they're going to break MAGA, right? If they get control, stack the court. We already know that, right? Democrats win every case in perpetuity. That's not extreme. That's his plan. Apparently, it's not extreme to him, right? Nope. He's aligned himself with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The ones that are indicted currently for faking all these racist riots. Yeah, and just last month he traveled to Denmark. He wanted to take a little vacation while he was there. He trashed the president in the country. On foreign soil. On foreign soil. Yeah. That's classy. Yeah. Yeah. So honestly, I just think we're down to that. I think we're down to people that hate this country. I mean, even at that same conference, Gavin Newsom said, I can't celebrate 250 years. I'm not happy. Yeah, he said that. That's right. He did say that. And so you have people that either love this country, want to build upon it, protect it, promote it. And then you have those that genuinely hate it. And they're saying that more openly now than they ever have before.

They want to attack those foundational institutions. And that's what you're hearing from Hakeem Jeffries in that comment there. And you heard it from Gavin Newsom as well. They're being very open about how they feel about the country. And it's right in line. Did you see that Nate Bluin sat down with the Deseret News and the KSL? I mean, if one thing you have to, he's not afraid to say he's a crazy guy. Well, yeah. There's an honesty to that, isn't it? Yeah, there is an honesty to him. He basically came out. He is so far out there. He loves. Zohran Mamdani? Of course. Yeah, he just loves us. And he's running for the first district. Yes. Here in the state of Utah. Wouldn't it be something if he won. I mean, the way Judge and Diana Gibson drew that, I mean, it seems to favor. If it's plus 24 Kamala Harris, then. If he wins, he said this is how he'll work with our congressional delegation, right? Just see that line? No. I'll fight fire with fire. Okay. He doesn't get that the legislature, he never did actually. He's a state senator. He doesn't get that the legislative body is an effort of math. Yes. It's an effort of addition. That's not, that's not an effort of addition that he just described. Yeah. So now we know where Hakeem Jeffries is coming from. It's going to break us all. Yep. Don't know how he's going to do it, but he's going to do it. That's his promise. Yeah, that's his promise. All right. We've got a lot to get to today. When we come back, we'll give you an update of the war in Iran and what is going on right now. Big primaries yesterday, a lot of primaries around the country. We're going to break them all down and see where we are headed when it comes to the midterms with Henry Olson coming up at the bottom of the hour, Greg. But right now, let's talk about Iran and what's going on with Iran and comparisons between Iran and North Korea, which is real interesting. Well, I love this topic because I can remember when the Clinton administration made this big deal about, oh, we're going to help them with power. But there's not going to be any nukes. And fast forward to today and look at North Korea. It's a nuclear country with Rocket Man. A little rocket man. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line to talk more about this is Bart Marquay. He is a political analyst, a writer, a contributor at American greatness. Bart, how are you? Welcome back to the Rod and Greg Show. Thanks for joining us, Bart. I'm doing well. How are you two? We're doing well. Bart, you raised some really interesting questions in comparing what's going on with North Korea and what's going on with Iran. Could you expand on that a little bit more? Sure. Sure. The article was a book review, and it was written by a guy named Fred Flights. And Fred was the National Security Council's... Chief of Staff, Executive Secretary, he was the guy who made their trains run on time for both John Bolton and Rob O'Brien, who is now a Utah resident. And he's just doing a comprehensive survey of how we got here with North Korea, all of the missed opportunities to stop North Korean nuclear development. And when I read it, I thought, my gosh, this is exactly what happened 20 years later with Iran. The same, same stuff. Like Greg was saying, I remember I was in Kuwait.

when this agreed framework came out. And I was a diplomat there. And, you know, we at the embassy leaned on the Kuwaiti government to donate. I forget how much it was. It's like half a million barrels of oil a day to bribe North Korea into giving up. some of their plutonium rods, they never gave up the rods. They never gave up anything. And we had our allies giving them half a million barrels of oil a day for several years as part of the so-called agreed framework. It was really, it was awful. And every time a more hardline president would come in, All that would do would be to slow it down. The North Koreans would slow down and they would just sit and wait. And then as soon as a Democrat president came in, they would... speed up and develop as much as they could. And they just knew how to work our system, the American system. And the Iranians have done it even better. So it was news to me until this book review came out, that Jimmy Carter was involved in these negotiations. I don't recall that part of it. Did anyone look at President Carter's record? I don't know who in the world put the ball in his hands and said, hey, why don't you get this sorted out for us? Everything will be fine if you do it. But it looks like he not only did he go and negotiate his own deal, he came out public without even talking to the Clinton administration about what he was agreeing to, which kind of maybe painted them into a corner. So you see that happen. All I remember is this flowery deal that was supposed to just be for power for North Korea, which I was a college student. I scoffed at it, not knowing much, but knowing enough that that wasn't real. But when you look at Iran, to your point about there's not ways to enforce even what they agree to. How do we trust any agreement with Iran going forward? I keep every time Trump says, I'm done, we're done negotiating, we're going to do something. And then there's another effort to make a deal. Is any deal at the end of the day with Iran going to be trustworthy and honored? Not with this regime, no, not with these people in charge. Iran has 92, 93 million people, and about half a million of them, maybe 200,000, 250,000 are part of the apparatus, the security apparatus, the IRGC, and their various, you know, components, and the besiege, the sort of brutality belief. And as long as those people are there and the population of Iran has no weaponry to defend themselves, we cannot trust anything that they do. They are less trustworthy than the North Koreans because at least in North Korea, it's a single guy and he has respect for his own life. And when President Trump threatened him...

with his, I have a bigger button than mine works. Kim Jong-un got the message loud and clear, and he stopped talking about making nuclear threats. He suddenly realized he could die. The Iranian regime, they don't care if they die. And there are 31 independent commanders that all have their fingers on buttons to fire off missiles. They, it's a completely decentralized, uh, leadership. Everything has been devolved onto the, uh, into the hands of the independent commanders of the IRGC. Yeah, wow. And they, yeah, they could carry on a war. Each one of them could carry on a war like some Japanese soldier on a Pacific island after World War II. Only they have ballistic missiles. Bart, when does, uh, Donald Trump's patients wear out? Soon, I hope. Yes. Oh, my gosh. I mean, I don't want to sound bloodthirsty or anything, but... You know, you cannot save the lives of the 92 million people who are suffering without threatening and indeed taking the lives of some of those 250,000 who are oppressing them. There is no deal that they will honor. There is no deal that they will make. They laugh at us. They mock us for wanting peace. They consider that a sign of weakness. They consider it a sign of God's. favor. They believe that God is confusing President Trump and blinding him and making him, uh, delay. They, they, they, they consider it divine intervention. It's a, it is a shocking feeling when, when I was over there and talking to folks and understanding how they view the world. It is, it's nothing like reality. Wow. Bart, as always, great having you on the show. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the day. Thanks for having me on. I love you guys. Oh, we all right. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Yep, Bart, Mark Curry, Mark Hoy. He is a writer, a contributor to American greatness. So we're in words. I think he's spot on. I think they're about. who the generals over there in Iran do not want to give up. They aren't going to give up. The religious leaders say, well, we're inspired by God. We aren't going to give up. I don't know if the president has a choice. Yeah, and he put more specificity to what we've sensed, and that is a government and disarray. You've got a military, you've got clerical leadership. Nobody's talking to one another. So I don't know who you're even trying to make that deal with at this point. And I'm not bloodthirsty either, but I think that whole thing has to come to. And I don't think they're negotiating in good faith on any level. Neither do I. All right. We've got a lot more to get to. Great to be with you on this Wingman Wednesday on the Rod and Greg show and Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Slave you know what? I don't mind. You know, it was a nice day. I think I wanted to get my car wash today, but I haven't had a chance. Well, it's going to rain tomorrow, so I wouldn't do it today. Okay. I think that's what they're saying.

It saved me. It spared me then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Boy, what a day yesterday. Primary elections in six states. The president had a good night. 37 candidates endorsed. 37 wins. That's a big day. That's pretty impressive. Zero. That's 37 and 0, a donut. Not one person he got behind in a number of states. came up on the loser's side. Yeah. So anyway, let's get into it with our guests, but I do think there's more to talk about this, even about this, because I don't think it's Trump by personality. I think it's Trump by action, and there's things he's doing that I think contrast with this current Congress. Honor, any hour newsmaker line to talk more about that right now is Henry Olson, senior fellow at the FX and Public Policy Center. Henry, always great to have you on this show. All right, Henry, big question for you today. Who was the big winner in the primary races yesterday? Political polarization that what we've seen is the hardcore, don't compromise, fight till you drop sides of each party are doing very well on the primaries. On the Republican side, it's represented by MAGA Plus, the Donald Trump victory tour, which came from Louisiana, where it stomped all over Senator Bill Cassidy to Kentucky, where they stomped all over Representative Thomas Massie. And for the Democrats, it's the DSA squad wing of the party where they're back to candidate. State Representative Chris Rab won a very easy 15-point victory in an open seat primary in what is the most Democratic seat in the country in Philadelphia. So if you've got one side that wants to fight and another side that wants to fight, it sounds to me like we're going to have a fight. Henry, I don't know if you've seen any numbers on turnout. If these were low turnout. races or if they were high, if they're low turnout, they tend to point towards more of a base. If it's a broader turnout, maybe not, but maybe the sentiment's still the same. I guess my question is on the base for the Democrats, I kind of know where I think I know where they are. What does the base or the people that elected or booted Thomas Massie and all the other victories that Donald Trump's candidates of choice experienced yesterday? What's it say about that base? Are they radical? Are they... everyday people what what what what's their makeup yeah I have not looked specifically at turnout to see whether it was higher or lower. Judging from the numbers that I saw, they look to be in the range of the last few years, which is said it's probably high historically. I mean, historically, like in the last two or three decades, primary turnout was very high 60 years ago. The Republican base wants a fighter. This is literally something that you've been hearing in ads. during the Trump era because that's literally what people tell them in the polling that they do. And that's what you see is you want somebody who is uncompromising for a broad variety of conservative values. It is not somebody who cares or talks much about smaller government. That's no longer a priority of a Republican base, but it's fighting on cultural issues. It's fighting.

against Iran. It's fighting against illegal immigration. That's what the Republican base wants to talk about. And if you're aligned with that, then you're going to do very well on the primary. And even if you vote the right way, if you're not making that your number one, number two, number three issue and just doing everything you can, then that's going to give you trouble. And that's the sort of thing that tripped up Bill Cassidy. It's a sort of thing that's Could trip up John Cornyn in his lineup. It's not enough anymore to be a good enough vote. You have to be somebody who just wants to be the leader and will fight other Republicans to be the person who's most aggressive at pushing these. agenda priorities. Greg just mentioned the Republican base, but you write about the Democratic base and something that I don't think gets a lot of attention, Henry, and that's the disarray within the Democratic base, because there's a real struggle going on, isn't there? Oh, yeah. I mean, the question is, for the Democrats, is who's the base? I mean, you kind of know now with the Republicans that, yes, it's going to be the old guard, what I call the old guard, the synthesis between smaller government conservatives and business conservatives, who tend to back non-Trump back, non-Magic candidates. But we know now that they're a minority. They'll vote Republican in general election, but they just aren't large enough to really win very many primaries. What we're figuring out is in the Democratic base is it. The progressives who are clearly ahead, the put the pedal to the medal on everything from socialism to green politics to wokeism. They're very strong, but it's not clear that they're the super majority. And then you've got the just liberal people who, any conservative would say, well, gosh, they're way out there. Well, in a Democratic primary, they're actually not. And they win their share. There's a battle between the just liberal and the super liberal. that is going on. And that's something that Democratic strategists are very worried about because they're pretty sure that super liberal doesn't play well with the national electorate. And if that's the battle that they have to keep fighting, it means that all of their candidates get pulled to the left. So what does a November matchup look like? You've got a strong base. You've got what you've just described coming out of the Democrat primaries. We also, what we've seen with Republicans and their alignment with Trump, you know, out of the Republican Party. So what does November look like? Where do the unaffiliates go? Yeah, and that's the problem is that unaffiliates right now are kind of disgusted with both sides.

If unaffiliates could have a third choice, they would probably like it, but that's not the way American politics work. So right now, they're telling pollsters that they're going with Democrats, but it's not because they love Democrats. It's because they're upset at rising gas prices. They wish Trump would spend more time focusing on getting the economy going for them as opposed to foreign policy or the ballroom or whatever. base controversy, priority agenda, DeJure is that Trump won because he married the concerns of the base with those of swing voters, and he's largely governed. to effectuate the concerns of the basin. Not so much with the swing voters. They see it and they're moving against him. But it doesn't mean that they want the DSA left either. If they did, they would have reelected, they would have elected Kamala Harris. And so what you've got is an electorate that if the election were held today, Republicans would do poorly. But the election's not held today. Joe Biden made a similar recovery in 2022 and it looked like there was going to be a big red wave and there wasn't. So there's time for Republicans and Trump to get their house back in order. Henry, final question for you. The power of Donald Trump, you point out that you feel no American president has ever shown such an ability to demolish his enemies and elevate his friends. How powerful is Donald Trump, in your opinion, when it comes to the Republican Party? Yeah, that's what I said in my free newsletter margin of victory, which you can sign up for on the Washington Post website. There's nobody in my lifetime who's like that. Donald Trump will not win every battle he fights. He did not beat all seven of the Indiana state senators that he targeted. One of them that he targeted was just certified as the winner by three votes. But the fact is no incumbent wants to go through a battle of their lives where they've got a 70% chance of losing and a 30% chance of getting through by the scrape of their teeth. They'd rather avoid that battle. And so what that means is. Donald Trump isn't the 800-pound gorilla. He's the 15,000-pound gorilla of the Republican Party. Henry Olson, Henry, thank you very much for joining us talking about the primary elections yesterday. More to come on the Rodding Greg Show and Talk Radio, 1059, K&RS. I like being in the wingman. So Dave Owen last week, he was wingman. Was Dave comfortable with that? Yes. He said, I'm the wingman to the wingman. That's how he called him. That's what he called him. The wing man to the wing. All right. I have never been here. I don't know. I get to Vegas kind of fairly often, I get. Not, you know, maybe once or twice a year. Yeah. Grandkids playing soccer tournaments down there. All kinds of things went down last year to see the Cowboys play. But I've never been to this place. Have you ever been to the heart attack grill? No. Down there? Sounds awesome. Well, it will be for a while, but they're about to close the grill, which does the over-the-top hamburgers known for his calorie-loaded bypass burgers. Nice. Don't you love it? Hospital-themed servers. Okay? They're going to close. Why? The restaurant founded back in 2005, relocated to Vegas in 2011.

But apparently, things are slowing down in Vegas. Well, they made it so unreasonably expensive. Yeah, they have. They have. But the place is known for, it includes massive French fries, fries cooked in pure lard. Excuse me again, sign me up. Sounds good to me. They even, they even offer unfiltered cigarettes. Are you kidding? That is so funny. I guess, you know, look, I guess that's the polar opposite of maha, okay, make America healthy again. I guess they're not real maha friendly. Some of their gimmicks have included public spankings for customers who failed to finish their meals, okay, plus free food for patrons weighing more than 350 pounds. That is great. I can't believe a place that cool would go out of business. I think that would be fun. Yeah, it basically is blaming casinos and their corporate greed running them out of business. Well, you know what? They used to have free parking. Not anymore. Because they wanted to get you in there. Your parking is what a hotel room would cost in some areas in this country. Anymore. Kind of crazy. All right, we've got a lot more to get to as you work your way home on this Wednesday. Here on Utah's Talk Radio, 105.9 K&RS. More coming up. Hour number two is on this way.

If you like that, I'm using my radio voice, live. Very good. Not bad, not bad. Not bad. It's a pro move. Thank you. I'm Rod Arquette. I'm Citizen Greg Hughes. All right, we thought that we'd have a little fun this hour. It's Wednesday, hump day. A lot of people heading into a weekend. A lot of people heading into a three or four-day weekend, in our case, a four-day weekend. Because we're going to take Friday off to. Yes. Friday and Monday. Because we revere the men and women in the military from Memorial Day. Is that why we're taking it off? We're just preparing. Oh, I see. I see. I see. So we thought, and I heard this discussion the other day when I was on vacation last week. And I brought this home to Greg and I said it was hilarious. It was a discussion with the question, things that you are done with. Meaning you're over it. You've had it. You're just done with things. Okay? Just give me enough time. I already have a list, but I can make this, I could triple the size of this list if you just give me enough time because I am done with a lot of things. Well, you can blow off a little steam and we invite our listeners to call in and blow off a little steam, but we thought it'd be kind of fun to let us hear from our great audience out there things that they are done with. Yes. Talk back live as well. Now, if they say they're done with the Rod and Greg show, you're getting on. No. No, that's just rude. Don't say that. Keep that to yourself. Don't say that. But one of the points that was brought up that I thought hilarious was a person said that she is done with Christmas cards. Yeah. Okay? I can see that. You know, every year people gather around, they sign them. You know, the little, here's what we've been doing in the past year kind of notes with inside the Christmas cards that you read. She said, I'm done with it. I'm done with writing Christmas cards, and I'm not doing it. So if someone comes up to her and says, hey, we didn't see your card this year, she can come back and say, Good, because I didn't send you one. So she, you know, and she was very animated with this. She was just done with Christmas cards. Yeah, we reached that. Did you relate to that? Yeah, we got Christmas started a lot. The Christmas card list was getting massive, you know, and then we finally just, we just tapped out. Yeah. All right. Can I give you my, I've got a couple, but I want to share one. Then I want to hear your list, and you can't take the whole hour, by the way, because we do want to hear from our list. I really could. I am done with seeing guys dressed up in suits wearing... tennis shoes, casual shoes, 90s, whatever you go. Especially the white tennis shoes. The white tennis. I'm just doing it. If you're putting on a suit, put on a good pair of shoes. Correct. I like that. I mean, you see it all the time. ESPN, these guys are, I don't get it. The white tennis shoes are the worst. Now, I do like the cold tops, but they got that Nike Air sole Scott Bottoms. I like those still. I'm still, I like those kind of shoes. But the white. But the suits with workout shoes? Yeah, man. I think that it looks.

They're going to regret that someday. They're going to regret those. Like leisure suits? Yeah, they're going to look at it. It's not going to age well. I promise you, it's not going to age well. So that's one of the things that I'm done with. Two things. Yeah, well, the Christmas cards thing, but I'm still kind of okay with that. But I'm done with seeing, especially guys on ESPN, nice suits on, but then they're wearing, you know, like workout shoes. Yeah, you're justified in that. Am I justified in that? It's distracted. You like sartorial splendor. I do. You dress up. You always look very, very nice. I like to find a good habadashery. Yes, yes. And find nice suits. So, okay, I know your list is long. I'll just say one or two because I do want to hear from our listeners. Because I got plenty, but I'll just, I'll do one right now, and ERA will totally disagree with this one, but he's absolutely wrong on this one. I am done with people driving in the express lane slash HOV lane slow. So I pay, I got that stupid thing on my windshield where I pay to be on that lane. If the car is to your right, which is the. the free fast lane. If they are passing you by and you're in that express lane, you are in the wrong lane. When that thing goes to a dot... You are not a smart person. The dotted line, you get out of the way so that those of us who pay, I'm getting charged. I go right underneath that thing and it charges me and the light goes green because it says, yep, you're getting charged. And I'm going... I'm going slower than the free lane to my right because I got some gram on front of me or E-ray driving so slow in that express lane. I can't get anywhere. I'm done with slow drivers in the express lane. Do not test the metal of the chair. We had a date on this. Does an express lane mean it's the fast lane? It's an express lane for those who pay, and it's an HOV lane for those that have more than one. But if you are going faster than the lane to your right, why do you need to be in it? Just stay in the lane. Because they paid for it. No, they don't pay for. I'm saying if you pay for it, it's an express lane, you've got to go faster than the lane to the right. If you're going slower because you're in the HOV, you got more than one person there. You got two people in. So you're done with this. So I'm done with people going slow in the HOV slash express lane. People pay to be in that lane to go faster. If you're, if the cars to your right are going faster than you, you are in the wrong lane, get out of that lane. I'm done with you. I'm done with you. I'm getting robbed. I'm getting robbed for paying to be in a lane that I'm going slower than the free lane. And do you run into? this often. Yes, too much. Really? Especially weekends, man. And weekends, you can just forget it. I don't even, I've given up trying to go on express lane on a weekend. If it's being used as an HOV lane. And do you get mad of them if they're not going as fast as you want to? The high occupancy vehicle, the whole point there is that you're being rewarded for having more than one person so you get to go faster. If you don't have any desire to go faster on that freeway.

Get in the other lane, even if you have more than one person. There's no state law that requires you to be in that lane if you have more than one person. It's supposed to be an express lane for those that pay or those that have more than one driver. That's it. I don't really care, Margaret. That's how it works. And if you're going slower than the cars to your right that's free, then get out. I'm completely done with slow drivers in the HOV slash. express line okay we're we're here this get my backup this kind of a therapy session you know what i'm tired of rod Guys who complain about the express lane. When we scheduled interviews for 2 o'clock and a certain host shows up at 207. Oh, that's such an exaggeration. It's like 201. It's one minute, 60 seconds late. So ERA's frustrated with people who are never on time. You know why? Because I had these slow people in the express lane holding me up. I'd have been here on time if they weren't driving so slow in the express lane that I pay for. Yeah. It charges you. You get each section costs money. And I can't get anywhere fast because, and that's why you raise bad, because they're just, they're going slow in the express lane. Are you starting to feel better? It's not going to change. Well, it was your topic. You said, what are we done with? And man, that one came up quick. I still got a list. Yeah. I got more. Well, we want to hear from our listeners as well. Things in life that you are now done with. 888-570-80-0 is the number to call. If you have the app, hit that red microphone button. It'll count down, give you a 30-second take. What are you done with? finished finished you don't care anymore finished you want to hear it you want to see it again you're done with it all right we'll look for your phone calls and your talk bad comments you go it's lunchtime it's busy right yes you go to a restaurant to get a sandwich whatever the case may be long line right two or three people in front you may be the person in front he orders for 15 people Yeah. Or how about they can't decide? Or they can't decide. Now, they've been looking at the menu while they're working up to order, right? But they can't decide. But, you know, you go to a fast food restaurant. You're in a hurry. A lot of people are. It's lunchtime. I've got a lot of time. It's called fast food. Called fast food. And the car in front of you is ordering for the entire world. You want to know it's worse? What? When it has two lanes. And you were behind this person who's like, I don't know. Do I want this? Do I want that? I don't really know. Does it come with this? Does it come with that? And like eight cars to your right have just gone through. And you're like debating. Do I reverse and try to get in or do I wait? She's got to be done sooner. But no, they just sit and they do it. I'm with you on. I'm done with that. You like that? All right. Let's go to the phones. Have a little fun with you today. 888-5708010 on your cell phone. Dow Pound 250 or leave us a... Talk back comment on our, just go to IHeart Media. Download the IHeart Radio app and put in K&RS. You can put a little question mark there, right? Make a comment. Let's go to the phones. All right. Let's go to James and West Point. James, thank you for holding. Welcome to the Running Greg Show. What do you have done with? Hey, guys, love the show. I'm here to represent as a wingman for you to this end because that HOV lane just.

It needs to go. And we just need to have two express fast lines. And if you can't go a little over the speed limit, get over to the far right lane and stay out of that HOV lane. King James, I'm calling you. You're right. The state's most guilty. Who? What state? Our great state of neighboring Idaho. It's called the Idaho roadblock. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. In that HOV lane. Oh, yeah. I'm with you on that one, man. I think about the roadblock. Yeah, James, you're right. You're 100% right. Yeah. They need to get it. They defeat the whole purpose. The express lane, the lane to the left, especially if you're paying for it, you're supposed to go faster. If the cars are going faster to the right, you're in the wrong lane. Yeah, I've got another one I just thought of. Channel 2 did this last night. We were talking about this earlier. We're being told to save water. Yes. Okay. But I leave this building. This is on my list. Yes. And there are a couple big office complex, right? They're running water like crazy. Channel 2 had, I think it was outside the county prosecutor's office. They're sprinklers running in the middle of the day. That's the one that bugs me the most. So, you know, I actually have mission accomplished. We didn't want, we were told to not water wait until May 16th. We waited. We did it. We waited. Our grass didn't get destroyed, but we waited. I can now say I did it. So now I don't want to hear one word about saving water. I waited just like I was asked before I started watering my lawn till the 16th of May. And then I turn around and all these government buildings are watering at noon. You know? And it could be raining. It could be cold. It could be hot. It doesn't matter. They're just watering at noon. It's the biggest waste. It's the wrong time to water A. B, they're not waiting until the 16th of May. They just started watering any time they want. Yeah. Yeah, it's a bit hypocritical. I'm with you on that because, you know, we're told we're trying. I'm with you. I haven't even turned on my water yet. You haven't. Good for you. I'm going to tonight. Yep. It was time. It's time, right? Yep. You wait. I don't know how much difference it is made. But, you know, my whole neighborhood is afraid to turn on their water. They're waiting for someone to turn it on. So I guess I'm the guinea pig, but I'm going to do it tonight. That's a conscientious neighborhood. I think that's great because. They say 60% of the culinary water, water that's treated that goes to businesses and homes, 60% of that is used to water lawns, which is a big percentage. So if you can just hold off and if that's the case, if we all collectively didn't water as much or waited until the 16th, the theory was that we're supposed to save a lot of water, but not if our own government, cities and counties are just water in the middle of the day. government property yeah i'm done with that we're done with that all right let's see what our listeners have to say we go to our talkback lines and see what they have to say here's one comment from one of our listeners the one thing i can say i am for sure done with is chrome books in schools i am so sick and tired of my kids saying they can't do assignments because it needs to be on a chrome book i just wish sometimes

We could get back to teaching the way it's supposed to be, and that is in person with turned-in assignments. There you go. No Chromebooks. Amen. We learned that way. We didn't need technology in the classroom. I had to buy those Chromebooks for my kids too. Oh, did you? Yeah. I did. And I agree with the talkback call. I'm done with that too. All right. I'm collecting up my done with list. All right. Back to the talkback line. Here's another listener's coming. Hey Rod and Greg, the thing I'm done with is the state allowing people to pay to drive in the HOV lane period. I can't tell you how many times I've had multiple occupants in my vehicle that have been going slower in the HOV lane than the regular lanes. I think we should kick out the paying people so those of us who have high-occupancy vehicles can actually go a little faster. Well, I will tell you this. There's an interesting comment. I'm halfway there because I pay, but I like to go faster than the lane to the right. But if you actually are dumb enough to pay to be in that lane and you're going slower than the lane to your right, you should be charged quadruple. Well, I have a question for you, Mr. Intelligent. If you know the cars are going to be slow. You don't. Why do you pay for it? Why not just use the regular lane? Because I don't use it and I get along just fine. You know what? Because where it really makes a difference is if there's been a, if it's an accident or if it's just getting really slowed down, your HOV lane still flies fast. Oh, you just cut over and use it. Or you just break the law, Rod. You just have disregard for the law of the land and do what you do. Yeah. Yeah. I don't do that. But I don't pay for the express lane, and I get along just fine in the other lanes. I do and I'll tell you what. And you're robbing. Don't do it anymore. Try it. I'll tell you this. If the Talkback Live, if there are people that are paying for that lane and they're going slower than the people with the HOV, I'm outraged by that too. They should be charged more. They should. They should. They should. There's got to be a way to time those. And if you get someone that's getting charged each one and they're just going slower than the speed limit, they get charged quadruple. Okay. Yeah. They're unworthy to be in that lane if they're going slow. Wow. And paying for it. How done do you have to be? Wow. All right. More your, I'm done with it comments coming up on the Rod and Greg show and Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Things that they are done with. What are you done with? Oh, man, I got a lot of I'm done with. And I actually concur with a lot of our listeners as well. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I should we go back to it? Let's go to the talkback line. Got a lot of comments. I'm not going to hog it all with my done with. I want to hear from our listeners. All right. Here's one of our listeners on the talkback line. I went to the Hard Tech Grill a couple years ago and got the four patty burger. I believe it was like 8,000 calories. Nice. It was pretty good, pretty fun. My friend had me finish his food because he didn't want to get spanked. I do remember the onion ring is really good. I don't know if he's done with that. We just have a listener who's actually been to that heart attack grill. That's beautiful. Sounds like a little fun. All right. Now, here's a coming. That's a pure American experience. Things that you're done with. Rod and Greg, I am done wearing long-sleeved shirts under short-sleeve shirts.

Now, that's a look. Is that a look? It is a look. You look like your three when you wear one of those. I actually still like that look. I've seen you wear it a few times. Yeah, because you know what? Sometimes it's cool, so you have to have a long shirt shirt on, but you like your t-shirt, so you want to wear that too. It's just kind of, it's like a, you know, it's like a Reese's peanut butter, a little chocolate little peanut butter. You get a little long-sleeve shirt, then you get to wear your t-shirt. That's your fashion statement of the day. Yeah, I'm either in a suit or I'm looking like a bum. It's one or the other. Yeah, that's true. That's it. Yeah. But you're a fashionable bum. Yeah. Yeah. I like to think so. Talk back. So in a sense, what Greg is saying is school buses carrying children in the HOV lane should be driving faster than those cars that are in the fast lane and putting their kids at risk. Uh-huh. No, you know what I'm saying? Very good point. I'm saying, Mr. Bus driver, if they're going faster in a fast lane, you have nowhere to be any faster than where they're driving for free. Get out of the lane. Go driving the next lane. It's going faster than you anyway. So just get in that lane. Or get in the middle lane, heaven forbid. It's an HOV lane. And a school bus would be HOV? But they're thinking that they have somewhere to be at a certain time. If they're going slower than the flow of traffic, get out, get over into the middle lane and drive that speed. So you want to endanger the lives of our children. It is not dangerous to commute in the middle lane for a bus. You sure? All right. Another comment on our talkback line. I'll tell you what, Rod and Greg. I have had it with people around here. and all over the road who won't use their blinkers. People, that is the prime safety feature of your vehicle. And I don't know why people stopped using them, but it is all over the place. And it's so dumb. It puts us all in danger. I do. I put my turn single on all the time. Well, now with the newer cars, you can tap it and it's two or three blinks, and you can move over. I use that quite a bit now. I do too. Yeah, that's, I'm with him on that. I concur. Well, I'm glad you're happy with him. Yeah, I'm done with that too. Let's add that to my list. I'm totally done with people not using their blinkers. All right, here's another comment.

Makes me wonder how fast you're driving because what I'm tired of is everybody that goes a heck a lot faster than 70 miles an hour on the freeway. I'm in a semi-truck. I'm locked at 70 miles an hour. I usually drive the middle lane and everybody in that HOB lane and the other lane plus the lanes on the right are flying by doing 75, 80, 90, 100 miles an hour. Almost every single car. Well, first off, I think that he's in the right place in that middle lane. And if there's people passing him on the right, that's dangerous. And those people on the right of him shouldn't do that. If he's in the middle lane, that's a slow lane they're passing in. That's terrible. Utah County has a lot of that. But they really do. Oh, no, they pass on that inside lane all the time in Utah County. I don't know why, but that seems to be a thing. But stay in that middle lane. I appreciate it. You know what I love about truckers is that they like to have a good distance between them so you can get in front of them if you got to merge. Because there's always, they always allow for a lot of distance. Yeah, they do. So then you do. Yeah. Do you know what I don't like what I'm done with? What? When I, when I let someone in, like, let's say you're going in, a lane is merging and you just like one over the after the other. Or if you're, um. Or if you have a road, if you get near the Capitol, those roads get narrow and sometimes you've got to pull over, let the car pass. You know? Yeah. And so I pull over. If they don't wave and say hi or they don't thank you. That bothers you? It bugs me when you don't thank someone for accommodating you. I think it's very selfish. I think you should wave and say, I always wave. Do you wait? You always wave. If someone's let me in, my hand goes right up and I say thank you. 100% of the time. Yeah, that's good. I'd feel like a heel if I didn't. Yeah. But when I let someone in or I move over so they can get past. And they don't. And they don't. Even with a gesture. And they don't think with a gesture like thank you. It makes me regret having pulled over. Good truckers. You know what truckers do? What? If they, if you let them in, they'll quickly flash their lights. As a way of saying things. Yeah, that's true. You've seen that before, right? When you got off the West Edge Front, you see that more like when you're driving on the freeway. But yeah, yeah. I love this one, because I can relate. You're too young to relate to this. But I had a listener, his name is Mark, just sent this in one of the things he's done with. I'm done with nose and ear hair sprouting in strange places as I get older. Yeah. Amen to that. I have that too. You do? I'm living that in real time right now. You're looking at me. Yes. Yes. This is happening to me. I'm in the event of that I'm done. And then you buy these things to cut your ear hair and they don't work. Funny, I mind you. Now you're having to pluck them up and they hurt. Yeah, they make your eyes water. Out of your nose. That's like too much information. Yeah, it is. All right. Things that you are done with. More your calls and comments and talkback comments coming up on the Rod at Greg Show in Utah's Talk Radio 105-9, KNRS. We've heard from a lot of our great listeners on the talkback line, but let's go to the phones. We go to Bob in Clinton tonight here on the Rod and Greg show. Bob, what are you done with? Hey, guys, I am so done with door-to-door solicitors coming to your home.

Seems like, I don't know, maybe you guys have had this happen. It seems like right when you're having dinner after a long day at work, some kid with a nose ring wants to sell you window well. And it's like, okay, last thing I want to do. I'm done with it. Well, I don't blame me. I would be done with that. We just don't answer the door. Yeah, well, you actually get the doorbell that has a little camera on it. So it comes on your phone, shows you. And then you're free because I was done with that too. I'm done with people. I get a lot of people that come in. They want to do the air rating of your yard. They want to clean your garbage can. They want to do the windows. They want to do something. I just, if I want the things, I'll go get it, but I, but the door knocking, it does get. You know, I will answer the door if it's not during dinner. Because here's why. They're out just trying to make a living. Yeah, you're nicer than me. I'm not interested. And look, I used to, you know, I went on a mission. I was, I knocked doors for, you know, a couple of years. I had a few slammed in your face. I would imagine. A bunch of them, actually. I went to Australia, man. They are, they are, they are heathens in that country. They don't even, they weren't even on the U.N. list of God-fearing countries. No. That was back. Well, look at the history of that. Yeah. A bunch of criminals. They started. That's how the whole place started. All right. Let's go back to the talkback line. Hi, Ryan, Greg. To Greg, the ultimate whiner about everything. The question of the day is, what will Greg wind about next? Shall we start taking bets as to when he will whine, what he will whine, hell he will whine? Oh, my gosh. I feel so sorry for you guys. And for Queen Bee. Oh, thank you for remember Queen Bee. We're like, stop whining. You know, can I say, I kind of agree with the guy. First off, this was your topic. What are you done with it? You baited me into this because I have a lot of I'm done with. But you baited me by bringing it up. Yeah, but you didn't have to take the bait. Well, yeah, but I'm just doing the, we're on a topic here. So I have, it just so happens. I have some things I'm done with. But. I would, I'd like to, in defense of myself, I actually understand what he's saying. I call it a rant. It's not whining. It's a rant. No, it's whining. It's a rant. It's whining. And I think Queenby will appreciate the, the empathy that was expressed for her and hearing my rants. Okay. Here's another talkback comment. Hi, this is Glenn and Provo. I'm done with plant food. I've been eating a carnivore diet for three months now, and I've never felt better, and it's not nearly as wacky as you might think. Doctors approve of it. Wow. No greens, just meat. No greens, just carnivore stuff. I love that. Meat. I swear I'd get the cravings for carbs if I were to take all the carbs out.

But I respect that. I like meat. You know, sometimes when there's vegetables, they say, would you like some vegetables? I say, my mother is not at this table. No, I do not. I don't want any of those greens. I don't want broccoli. The worst vegetable. Is there a vegetable you simply do not like? I can't eat cauliflower. Really? Oh, I can't eat cauliflower. Can you eat cauliflower? Can you eat broccoli, but not cauliflower. That's kind of strange. You got to put a lot of cheese on it, that broccoli. What? something on it make it edible but yeah i can eat broccoli but i can't eat cauliflower i want i want my veggies well-cooked i don't like them when they're kind of hard to yeah i like them a little mushy yeah not mushy but well-cooked i like mush yeah yeah But I'm trying to think of veggie. I don't know if there's one out there. Do you know what I don't like on pizzas or sandwiches is all. Olives are just too powerful. Like I... Oh, come on. You put olives. All I taste is olives. I don't even know what else is on the sandwich. The only thing I can... Gotta have olives. It's too powerful. Gotta have olives. It overrides all other tastes. Do you like anchovies on pizza? I don't get them. I don't think I hate it, but I don't get them very often. So... All right, more to come. Hour number three of the Rod and Greg Show on Utah's Talk Radio 105.9, K&RS. Stay with us. I call them rants. They're not actually whining. It's rants. I have rants. Can you define the difference? Yeah. Whining sounds like whining. It has a tone to it. I don't have a tone. You ever watch Star Wars like the original? Oh, Luke Skywalker does in that entire movie is wine. Oh, he does. He really does. He just winds through the whole movie. No, he doesn't. I was going to Tashi Station to get power converters. Yeah. I'll never get off this rock. It's all whining. Luke Skywalker winds through the whole first. Are you excited about the new Star Wars this weekend? No. No, you don't care. No, I think Disney ruined Star Wars. Okay. That's another thing I'm done with. Disney Star Wars. That's another one. Chalk that up. Put that on the list. All right. Let's talk about some more election news. Of course, a lot of primaries yesterday. The president, 37 and O on those. Now, the issue is going to be, as we get to November, how all this redistricting is going to affect things. Now, some people point to Donald Trump said you started this because of what you tried to do in Texas. But our next guest says, that may not be the case. This is an eye opener for me because this went right over my head. And this is, you know, my home state, you know, my origin story, Pennsylvania, joining us, Guy Sharaki. Yeah. Yep, this man knows. He's been, he's been in the arena in Pennsylvania politics for a long time. Guy, welcome to the Rod and Greg show. Good evening. Nice to be back. I hear there's a pensive tone to your voice, sir. I don't know why. Well, I, because I'm afraid that when we hang up, Greg, is going to say he's done with having me as a guest. No, never, never. Oh, he may say that because, you know, he is the number one whiner. We've got a real. No, I am not whining. I'm ranting, but not, never a guy. This is my favorite guest. All right, guy, we had, you know, the Democrats are all pointing to Trump saying you started this, you began in Texas, but you say it actually started in Pennsylvania.

Please explain. Sure. It started almost a decade ago in Pennsylvania. Long story short is in Pennsylvania, we draw our congressional lines by passing legislation. The legislature does it. So a bill is introduced. It's debated. We have hearings. Amendments are offered. Ultimately, it passes the House, passes the Senate. The governor signs it. We did that after the 2010 census. Had that process in 2011. 2012, the lines went to place. They were passed overwhelmingly bipartisan by both parties. In fact, the Democratic chair of the city of Philadelphia, who himself was a member of Congress, campaigned and lobbied in favor of the map. So we used it in 12. We used it in 14. We used it in 16. And then in late 2017. Eric Holder, who had been Barack Obama's Attorney General, had created a national organization whose goal was to create a permanent majority in the U.S. House. And he decided to sue in Pennsylvania in the middle of the decade after we'd used the lines in three elections, saying that our lines were illegal and unconstitutional. And he made a very persuasive argument, guys. He said to the court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, too many Republicans win. Our registration is much closer. There's parity in Pennsylvania, and one party shouldn't have. At that point, Pennsylvania, the Republicans had the majority of seats. So the Supreme Court said, you're right. For your listeners, you should know we elect our Supreme Court in partisan elections and a five to two Democratic Supreme Court agreed with Barack Obama's former Attorney General and said, you know what? There are too many Republicans. And the legislature, since you failed. We're going to draw the lines. So the long story short is all of this fighting about partisan gains and changing the rules in the middle of the game really began in Pennsylvania a decade ago. We had lines that we used in 2012, 2014, and 2016, and in January of 2018, weeks before candidates filed, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court taking super legislative powers, ignoring the legislative branch, ignoring the governor as the executive branch. drew lines and what was a 13 to 5 state became a 9 to 9 and all the goody-goody Democrats said see justice prevailed ignoring the fact that they had just kicked out four Republican members of Congress for no reason other they had the temerity to win So when we get to now and the idea that we're going to redraw lines in 2026, and everybody says, no, no, no, you only do that after the census. You only do that after, you don't sue. Well, and I know the problems you're having in Utah. It began here a decade ago. It began here a decade ago because they couldn't leave well enough alone. And that's why we're going to, we are now in a new era brought to us by the Democrats.

you know, the O2. Now we have them constantly, and I think, sadly, it is another American tradition. It is another American custom that the left has thrown into the shredder. And now every time one party happens to get universal control, there will be an attempt to redraw the lines, but for the provisions of their own state constitution that may limit it, as was the case in Virginia. Bear in mind, again, for your listeners, Virginia has 11 members of Congress. It was 6 to 5. They went to court to try to make it 10 to 1. I mean, these aren't mild changes. Virginia just had a Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin. I mean, it's not unheard of to have Republicans there. So this isn't just a line here or there. But again, the third lesson is the outrage they show to the court. Look what happened when the U.S. Supreme Court said you can't draw. district lines, compelling them to be of one race or another. They yelled and scream about it. Look, gentlemen, I listened to the senator from Georgia, explained that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruined the opportunity for blacks to hold office in Georgia. I would remind your listeners, the gentleman who said that is an African-American Democrat from Georgia. He's a United States senator complaining that Democratic black men or women can't get elected in Georgia. And he got elected to office by running against Herschel Walker. A Republican is an African-American cult figure, you know, sports star. Look, it's not about race. It's not about fairness. It's not about any kind of equality. It's about democratic power politics. Look, Republicans are not sinless. Republicans are not without blame. But this one is so naked. They've thrown an American tradition once again in the shredder. And I suspect, General, we're going to see lines drawn all through 2026. Yep. Because some states don't have their primary. New York doesn't have its primary until September. I mean, buckle up. New York is going to try and eliminate every Republican, and we're in this constant process. And unfortunately, a custom that used to work has been thrown aside, and it's really up to the voters to stand up and say that they're not going to accept it anymore, and they would like some civility. And they like occasionally our elected officials focus on governing and not just acquiring power. That would be nice. Guy, as always, love your insight. Thank you. Here in Utah, we're just going to blame Pennsylvania anymore. That's all we're going to do. What we're going to do, Guy. Guy again, thank you for appreciate it. Fair enough. Take care. Guy Sharaki, joining us on our any hour newsmaker line. Hi. Eric Holder, you need to understand, folks. Eric Holder, with the help of his old good buddy, Baraki, Barry, is doing this. That's what it's all about. And I know we've got to go to a break, but the thing that blows my mind is that their Pennsylvania Supreme Court drew their maps. I always thought that the courts threw it back to the legislative branch as most, I think all state constitutions give that power to their legislative branch. I've been on tilt that we had to judge draw our maps instead of giving it back to the legislature due to violating our state constitution. Back it looks like in 2017, they did the same thing in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania. Their state Supreme Court drew the maps themselves. You got to be kidding me. Yeah.

Crazy. All right. More coming up, Rod and Greg with you here on Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Welcome back. It's the Rod and Greg show on Wingman Wednesday on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS, and everywhere on the IHeart Radio app. I'm Citizen Hughes. And I'm Rod Arquette. The owner of Amazon and The Washington Post and about everything else. If Elon Musk doesn't own it, this guy does. We're talking about Jeff Bezos. Didn't interview sat down with CNBC and Squackbox today and talked about a lot of things. One thing that's getting a lot of attention, he just basically blew this whole tax the rich mantra from the Democrats out of the water. He said, look, you can tax me all you want. But it is not going to benefit that teacher in Queens. Yeah. And he's right. He is right. Yeah. The waste and the inefficiencies and what they spend money on and the money they give to NGOs to get outside of the government system, there is so much scam. Doge just opened a little bit. Just open the curtains a little bit to shine some light. And what we saw. I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. Yeah, well, here's what he said today. He said, I could pay billions of dollars in taxes, and it's a perfect again. If people want me to pay more billions, then let's have that debate. But don't pretend that you know that this is going to solve problems in this country by taxing the rich more. It's just going to be wasted tax money. It will. Like all the other, it's the Learing Center. It's all the money they're spending on programs that they let just go through the door unaccounted for. Yeah, yeah. And he also talked about the fact that his company, his for-profit companies, actually do more for a community than his charitable organizations, too. That was an interesting thing. Listen to what he had to say here. If I do my job right, right. So the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving. And I think this is an important point to make because people forget or they sometimes don't see that when you create something like Amazon and you're saving, I get letters from new mothers all the time that say, like, I have no idea what I would be doing right now if I didn't have Amazon, thank you. Or what we did in the pandemic when people could really see what an essential service we provided to them. And so, you know, this is, Amazon creates tremendous value. And by the way, all companies are creating value of some kind. Yeah, but see, the Democrats ignore the value of companies and what they do for communities. They ignore them. Well, because they build nothing. Yeah. They subscribe to deconstruction. Everything is about tearing down your foundational institutions, people, political enemies.

Whatever it may be, they are tearing down. You show me something that where they are in the build mode. They want to build, protect, promote, uplift. They don't. They want to tear down everything. You think there's a gender? Well, that's just a social construct of which you have deceived yourself into believing. It doesn't matter what chromosomes. They don't matter. It's not real. They tear down every premise, every fact that we know. They don't want you to think there's truth. or lies. They want you to think it's all subjective, all of it. And so that's just, I think we're down to people that love this country, want to protect and promote it, and want to see it continue, want to enjoy individual liberties, want to have equal opportunity, not equal outcome. And then you have the leftists, the Democrats, who hate it all. I wonder how many times a journalist has asked a Democrat who's out there saying we need to tax the rich and then ask them, okay, what are you going to do with the money? Yeah. Oh, we're going to help people. Yeah. When Zohran Mamdani went and balanced that budget, someone went through the numbers. He told the actuaries for their pension in New York City employee pension and push it back three years or more back to 37, like 35 to 37, something like that. There is a day where Zohran Mamdani's 2027 budget that he just is working on right now, and they do it mid-year, fiscal year. There will be retirees who don't have a pension and we'll have that pushed off because he used it to balance this year's budget. And he continues to talk about the people that are poor that can't make a living, can't do that. He's going to, he's taking, to balance this budget, he's taking pensions away from future retirees. Simply not fair. And he doesn't have to account for it. He doesn't. All right. More coming up. Final half hour of the Rod and Greg Show on Talk Radio 105.9 KNRS. Spring is the season of renewal. And you know, one of the smart ways to invest in your home this time of year is with brand new windows from advanced window products. Right now, AWP is offering $2,500 off when you buy 10 windows or more. And because they manufacture every window in their Salt Lake City factory, you get premium quality without premium pricing. Now, most window companies are just resellers. AWP builds your windows themselves, engineered in Utah. just for a climate designed to handle the hot summers, cold winters, and you know everything in between. That means a quieter home, a more comfortable home, really, and lower energy bills month after month. And their installation, well, let me tell you what, it is top-notch. AWP uses full-time in-house crews who were trained, vetted, and lead safe certified. No subcontractors, no surprises, just clean, professional installation, often in just one day. This spring, invest in comfort, beauty, and long-term savings. Call 801-8509100 or visit Advanced Windows. mental health matters learned big meeting up in park city tomorrow and friday i believe it is called the operation gigawatt summit and a number of nuclear energy folks uh federal leader federal leaders state leaders investors you name it are going to be there great to talk about how we meet the growing demand of a i manufacturing using nuclear power

I love this. It is. It's an exciting time. I think 77's when Jimmy Carter said no more, and I think we're well overdue. And this is a direction we should have been moving a long time ago. There's efficient ways to do it. And so I think this conference here in Utah, I think we're on the right track. I think this is something that was always safe, something good. The power's affordable. It's very cheap. Anyway, we've lost some time between 77 and now, but I think we've picked up some really important momentum. Is Utah... Becoming a leader in this area? Do you think? It is. I think our state regulatory climate is positive to streamlining and getting this. The Democrats have set up so many roadblocks for any kind of progress on any front. I think the state of Utah, I think what the Trump administration has done is pointed to state saying, look, you create some of the framework and work with our Department of Energy and let's work together. And Utah is frankly very bullish on that process. Well, let's talk right now about where Utah is headed and where the country is headed as well. Joining us on our Any Hour Newsmaker line is John Kotech, he's senior vice president of policy development and public affairs with the Nuclear Energy Institute. John, how are you and welcome to the Rod and Greg show? Well, Rod, Greg, it's a pleasure to be with you. Thanks. John, give us an assessment as to where you think the nation is, first of all, and where Utah is when it comes to developing nuclear energy right now. So to your earlier comments, there really is a long overdue re-evaluation of nuclear that's led to an increased appreciation for what it delivers. It's the largest source of firm, clean, reliable power we've got. These plants run 24-7, 365. You've got fuel supplies, diversity, and security as they run from between 18 to 24 months between refuelings. So as a result of those and other benefits, policymakers, frankly on both sides of the aisle, have come to, I'd say a newfound and overdue appreciation for what nuclear can deliver. President Biden, frankly, had pledged the U.S. to triple nuclear power over the next 25 years, and President Trump is trying to make that Forex, what we currently have. So a lot of support. In terms of Utah, It starts with your governor's leadership. And I had the opportunity to meet him at an event held up at the Idaho National Laboratory where I've lived and worked for a decade or so in an event co-hosted by Idaho's Governor Brad Little. And I can tell you, your governor's done his homework and really understands the value of nuclear and is creating this pathway that I think is going to lead to a wide range of involvement by the state of Utah across the nuclear energy value chain. So SMR, small modular nuclear reactors seem to be the future. Everyone's very excited about it. I know that's going to be a big topic at this event. What is the time horizon for this? Because you have a country like France that's never gotten out of the nuclear game in terms of power. But the people that were run it in 77, I don't know that they're doing so well. I don't think they're around. I don't think they're with us necessarily. So who builds them, runs them, cleans them, whatever it takes to maintain. How do we introduce a workforce around something that we can see could be a big answer, an important answer for our energy needs here in America?

Yeah, so one thing that's real exciting is that there really are a range of technologies. And to your point about small modular reactors, there are several designs that have come to market. Actually furthest along in deploying those of the U.S. designs right now are our friends up in Canada. A company called Ontario Power Generation is building the first of the general electric small modular reactor designs. But there's several utilities in the U.S. that are planning on building those as well. These are a few hundred megawatts, say 300 megawatts in size, just to give folks a sense, comparison. By comparison, the big plants are north of 1,000 megawatts, and that's enough power for, say, 500,000, 750,000 people. So a big, big source of generation. We are seeing interest in the big plants, too. So, for example, the two most recently built, reactors in the United States are something called the AP 1000 design, which is a Westinghouse design. Those were built in the state of Georgia over the last couple of years are running really well. And there are other versions of that same plant being built in places like Poland. The place, frankly, that's leading the world right now in nuclear deployment, I'm sorry to say, is China. They've added two dozen new reactors to their... power grid over the last decade. They've gotten so good building them. They're building somewhere between 30 to 5 and 40 more. And frankly, a lot of them are just knockoffs of the U.S. design. They've just figured out how to get the regulation right, the financing right, the workforce right, supply chain, all that to the point where they're knocking them out. a few a year and we've got to get to that same place. Boy, we sure do. Let me ask you this, John, where are we on Three Mile Island? I know there were efforts underway to bring it back to life. Where does it stand at this point? So interesting question. So Microsoft, right? Yeah, Bill Gates. Yeah, exactly. Very interested in powering their operations with the type of firm-clean power that nuclear provides. They entered into a contract with the owner of what used to be called the Three Mile Reactor, and now called the Crane Clean Energy Center. They are paying above market rates in that region. to provide the capital to restart that plan. And the company constellation is far enough down the road. They think they can have that thing back in operation by next year. So just to make the distinction, there was a unit in 1979, of course, that was part of the accident. That's been shut down and that can't be brought back. But the other reactor that was on that site kept running until about five, six years ago where it shut down because it wasn't receiving sufficient revenue in the marketplace. to justify continuing operating. Just over the last five or six years, big tech firms and a lot of other companies have come to realize how important nuclear is. They're willing to pay more for it and value it as a premium product. And Microsoft has done that to the extent that it makes sense to the company to bring the plan back. And that's exactly what they're doing.

So, again, I just want to know between the federal government permitting and states that you have willing states at least in their regulatory climate to accommodate this. Is this a five-year online project? Is it a decade from now? When do you see this kind of, if the currents were right and you had administration and states that wanted to get this going, what kind of, when can you turn a switch on? Yeah, so the best example, I mentioned the Canadian project. They broke around last year and they expect to have that plant running in 2030. So it's like a six-year adventure for the small modular reactors. The big plants are going to be a little longer. I think that's probably more like an eight, maybe even a 10-year project, depending on some factors like... Do you have a site that's already been investigated? You know, in some parts of the country, you've got places where they've got two nuclear plants running, but the site was originally planned for four. So it's pretty straightforward for them to get approval to add more. In a place like Utah, where you haven't had commercial nuclear power, that might take a little bit longer. John, where a final question for you. How much of this depends on the politics of everything? I mean, you've got a president in the White House right now, who I think is very supportive of this, wants to get this stuff rolling, but things could change. And you may run into a new leader that says, no, opposition is against this, and I agree with them. It really does vary, doesn't it, with the politics of the day? Well, so it has historically, and I was working for our U.S. Department of Energy back in the 90s when the Clinton administration killed a lot of the nuclear R&D that we had going up in Idaho and other places. More recently, support for nuclear really has become bipartisan. And so we've seen, you know, bills passing through the Senate, you know, one vote was 88 to 3 in favor of supportive nuclear legislation. Yeah. So we really have turned a corner. Because Democrats have come to recognize nuclear is the largest source of carbon-free generation we've got. It employs lots and lots of union workers, right? And it's something that the tech companies have really embraced. So these days, we actually see quite a broad base of bipartisan support for nuclear. And so I'm less worried now than I used to be about, you know, changes in electoral outcomes really having a big impact on the future nuclear power. John, great conversation. Good luck at the summit, and we hope both Greg and I are big supporters of nuclear energy. So hopefully we can continue keeping the ball rolling. I really appreciate the opportunity. Thanks very much. All right. John Kotech is a senior VP, a policy with the Nuclear Energy Organization. Nuclear Energy Institute is what it's called, talking about nuclear energy. And Greg, I keep it going, folks. I mean, like you pointed out, there are two things you pointed out. First of all, Europe. France has been, you know, years ago when we're in France, we drove by two or three nuclear power plants. That's right. They're just running fine. People don't be concerned about them. My question, you raised this. And this was years ago when I was talking about this on the show before you came along. I asked somebody who's a big supporter of this.

Do we have enough? How's the labor force? That's exactly right. And do we have enough? Do we have people who are trained to handle it? You have to train them. You're going to have to get these schools to start educating and getting a ready, emerging workforce ready to go. That to me, I mean, you can ask people from France to come over and we get all these H1B1 visas, I guess, whatever you want to do. But I think you've got to get American, you've got to get young people. these engineers, whatever it may be educated. So there's an emerging workforce that can really get this going. Because once you get, it's one thing to get permits, but you do have to build it. You do have to maintain it. You do, there's times you have to shut it down and clean it, do whatever you have to do to maintain it. Make sure it's, it's in good working order. That takes people. And good. That's jobs. We want those, right? But you've got to have a trained workforce to do it. That's not a. That's not just digging a ditch. You've got to know a little something. You can't eat paste and go work at a nuclear power plant. What's this button to? Oops. There's no Clark Griswold's in there. More coming up on the Rod and Greg show and talk radio 1059, KNRS. On Steve Mord's Unleashed Prosperity Hotline today, Greg, this great article about how fracking has saved the U.S. consumer anywhere from $3 to $4 trillion. That's with a T dollars. Wow. According to this report from the University of California at Berkeley, which is not a right-wing source usually, it said it may seem like a distant memory now, but as of the mid-2000s, U.S. natural gas production had been flat for a decade. The U.S. was importing liquefied natural gas with plans to import much more than shale happened. Shale gas happened. Advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling caused U.S. natural gas production to increase significantly. The U.S. went from being a net importer of natural gas to being the world's largest exporter. Natural gas production has tripled. Thanks to fracking. Yeah. It's a big deal. And I've heard it said over and over that once we got fracking and once that became something that's sustainable and the trajectory was that you could produce a lot more, we have. We've been a net exporter if we're allowed. I mean, under the Biden administration, they clamped it down, especially on federal lands and leases. But we are in strong, we are in a strong position. Speaking of energy, all 50 states, top $4 a gallon for gas. Boo. Wow. All right, head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family. This great country is ours. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 4.