The Rod and Greg Show: Kirks Assassination sparks Voter Registrations; Homeless Project update; Kirk Death vs Floyd Aftermath

Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with IHeart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make IHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Call 844-844-I-Hart. Again, that's 844-I-Hart. I'm Rod Arquette. I'm a citizen Greg Hughes in the southern command post here in Washington County. I like to call it Liberty Land. A bunch of patriots down here. Holding the fort, everything looks good, Rod. Ladies and gentlemen, I can proudly report that Washington County is southern part of the state, there's patriots down here. They love this country. They love the Lord. So we're all good. We're all good. And you're down with the sheriff so you feel protected. No one's going to come after you. Man, I do. Yeah, and they got a little swagger to them. They had a little bit of a, you know, a law enforcement incident with the tragedy that happened at UVU. But there's everybody that I've been talking to, it's a lot of people that worked a lot of days with very little sleep to see the right thing done. So it's been fun to talk to them, not fun, but it's been interesting to hear some of the inside story and the pace, Rod, that they took to try and find this person as fast as they could, really. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was very little sleep involved for a number of days with the kind of intel and work they were doing. It's been humbling to hear these public servants. And remember, folks, these are elected county sheriffs. You elect your sheriff. It's not someone hired by a mayor or a city council that they answer to. They answer the people. And it gives them a bit of a different perspective, I think, in the jobs that they hold in the, you know, protect and serving. And so it's been nice to reconnect with our county sheriffs. It's been a good few days. You know, I was reading over the weekend, Erika Kirk gave an interview and did a story with the New York Times. And she talked about, Greg, and this involved a friend of ours, Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith, but she wasn't in Utah when Charlie was shot and killed. She was down to Arizona, but he immediately jumped on a plane and started heading toward Utah. And while she was in the air, her husband died. uh when she arrived there uh the sheriff mike smith came up to her and said uh we've got your husband would you like to see the body i wouldn't you know i think he kind of said i probably wouldn't do it because it's pretty grotesque from the wounds but she said no she insisted in doing that and he took her in there and showed her the body of her uh of her fallen husband what a tough job that must have been for mike smith and he's such a good guy but to have to do something like that wow amazing

I'm just going to narc him out a little bit. He never tells anything. You've got to go to his wife. His wife, she's the greatest. She supports her husband so well. But if you want, if you want the inside scoop, Sheriff Smith doesn't really, he doesn't give you a whole lot. And I mean by emotion or what, how tough that would be. But if you go to his sweet wife, you hear, you hear the, I hate to, I hate to narc her out. But I just, I'm telling you, he is such a strong leader. He would never let anyone know. the weight he carries on any given day, and particularly when this happened. But it was a lot. It was an, it's, it's been, I have tried to convey to those, even those that I've, my contacts and people that I know at TPUSA and others that Utah has taken us very personally. This is something that's cut very deeply. It's just, it's something we never thought we'd see in our state. But I think the reaction, I think we'll get into this in the show, the reaction in the state nationally, but especially here in Utah, has been one of turning to the Lord, vigils, prayer, things like that, not violence as we've seen. others do. And we'll be talking about that a little bit later on in the show as well. We've got a lot to get today, including conversation with Alan Gottlieb. Alan is the founder and executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation. This is a huge gun rights organization. They've got a big convention coming up this weekend in Salt Lake City. We'll talk about that. And Joseph Grinney, the chair of the other side academy. And boy, are they doing amazing things here in Utah, Greg, as you well know. They're going to expand their village. They got some money. They're going to expand it. We'll talk about what's behind all of that. So we've got a lot to get to today. And as always, we invite you to be a part of the program, 888-57080-101 on your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod. Or leave us a message on our talkback line. Just download the Iheart radio app. Make sure you download it and sign up for that today. Now, I want to start off the show. A couple stories, Greg. How, you know, I just. I don't get it, Greg. I under, you know, we're all trying to figure out what's behind Trump derangement syndrome, right? I mean, I don't know if anyone's been able to define it other than I think these people are crazy, right? Then you have this story, okay? To take a stand against Donald Trump, liberal, pregnant women have taken to social media posting videos of themselves downing bottles of Tylenol. I thought it was a prank. I saw that story and I thought that was somebody being, someone was trying to find an exaggeration. Like, you know, these guys are so crazy. Do you know what they would do? They would literally just start downing Thailand all to prove them wrong. And I thought it was a job. I really did. I thought these were pranks. But it tragically sounds like it's true. And I think there's even been a hospitalization over this type of behavior. And I, and again, I can't. I think that it's. We are in strange times, I can tell you. I don't know if any of you, ladies and gentlemen have friends that suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. I have some and perfectly otherwise normal people whose decision trees seem sound, whose responsibilities and life seem to be pretty important and strong and, you know, father, husband, all that. But when it comes to Trump,

All bets are off. It just goes into Lolo. And I don't understand it. I really don't. I don't understand. There was an announcement by Trump on Monday where they said they will no longer recommend that pregnant women take Tylenol, as they believe it may increase the chances of child being born with autism. But that announcement drove some people crazy. And to protest against Donald Trump, you do have stories of women taking videos of themselves. taking Tylenol, almost bottles of Tylenol, and they're pregnant, and you have one case where they think she may have OD'd on Tylenol and are trying to find out what exactly happened. But that's how crazy they, Rick. I just, I can't figure it out, Greg. I don't know about you, but I can't. It's amazing. I can't either. And that woman, if that story was true, this is the one I was actually questioning. She was between 22 to 25 months pregnant. Yeah, yeah. And the prognosis was she was not going to make. She was in the emergency room, but not going to make it over that stand. And did that online. I wanted to make sure she did that taking all that time online as a protest. And it is now, it looks like it's, it's, that she's not going to make it. And she was, and she was pregnant. So I. Like I said, I didn't think that could be real, but apparently what I'm hearing today as the day goes on, that these are actually legitimate protests that are happening. One other note I wanted to bring up, Greg, as we kick off the show today, you and I are both excited about the Ryder Cup, getting under this weekend at Beth Page in New York. Now, they had a big opening ceremony yesterday in which all the dignitaries gather, and they recognize and welcome dignitaries who were there from New York and around the country. Well, apparently, the Democratic governor of the state of New York, Kathy Hochul, did not get a warm reception. As a matter of fact, each time she was introduced, guess what happened? She got booed, and I mean booed soundly. Listen to this. Keep it going for New York, your friend in mind in attendance. Governor Kathy Hochul, Governor, thank you so much for being here. And thank you to your team, too, for getting us ready for the Ryder Cup in New York.

I would like to say a few thank yous. To Governor of State New York, Kathy Hochul. As we prepare to tee it up on Friday, I want to thank the people who made this journey possible. To Governor Kathy Hochul, to the teams of New York. to the teams of the New York State Parks. Do you think that was her crowd, Greg? I mean, every time she got introduced, she got booed, and the booed's got louder and louder every time she was introduced. awkward last night i was watching i was just watching some like highlights and i was watching those introductions and i saw the the european team uh throughout what they thought would be a very warm shout out you know they're in america they thought to the new governor of new york shout out the governor hokel and then the boo birds started yep Very awkward. Yeah, very awkward. Very awkward. I would say so. All right, we've got a lot to get to today. So we invite you to be part of the Thursday edition of the Rotting Greg show right here on Utah's Talk Radio, 105.9 brought our kit in studio, Greg down in St. George at our Southern Command Pose, being down there with the county sheriffs down there today. Are you getting some award tonight at the banquet or are they just feeding you and giving you a free dinner? I've been there, done that. I've got the hardware already. You know, it's time to pass a baton to the next worthy recipients. But no, it's a, it is, there are, you have to see there are a lot of awards that are given to deputy sheriffs who've gone above and beyond over the course of the year. But there's some other people that are going to be awarded. The governor's chief of staff, whose father is in law enforcement, has paid particular attention to public safety. The governor has. But his chief of staff, this is something that when you have someone has committed. in the governor's staff and understanding the law enforcement community. They are recognizing John Pierpont, the governor's chief of staff tonight. Yeah, good for John. Good for John. It's well deserved. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line right now is Amanda Head. Of course, Amanda is a White House correspondent for just the news. She's got a story out today, which is rather interesting, indicating that registration, Republican registration, people registering for the Republican Party has surged. since the unfortunate assassination of Charlie Kirk. And she's joining us on our newsmaker line right now to talk about it. Amanda, great story today. What is going on with these Republican registrations? Well, I don't know if my story is, but it's an amazing phenomenon. And it kind of ties in with a story that I'm actually writing for tomorrow that I'll give you guys a little bit of a tease. But it is, it's just one of these situations that we are seeing bear out in politics. that is rooted in culture. And when I say rooted in culture, I mean the insanity of the left and the sanity of the right. And we have seen time and time again, I mean, even since Charlie Kirk's murder, this ABC affiliate in California that was shot up because of taking Jimmy Kimmel off the air, these other ABC affiliates that have been, that death threats have been called into threatening them for airing the Charlie Kirk.

I mean, this unfortunately is what we have come to in this country. And unfortunately, you still have people like Kamala Harris out there giving an interview just a few days ago where she called Trump the T word again, a tyrant. And this is the type of rhetoric that is getting people literally killed. And I am so tired of the timeline. Well, it happens both ways. Really? Because it seems to me. that it's the people on the right who were getting shot and murdered time and time again, including the guy who is sitting in the Oval Office. But, you know, I asked people on social media because I wrote this article, it came out, I think yesterday or day before that. And I asked people if they thought that the voter registration booths that were set up on Sunday at this massive turning point, you know, Charlie Kirk Memorial Service if it was appropriate. Because let's, listen, I'm Southern. And I'm all about decorum and social mores and making sure that everything's appropriate. I come from, you know, I come from a certain background and I acknowledge that. So I asked people their thoughts, their thoughts. And most people, almost all of them came back and said, Republicans should capitalize on every single opportunity, including this and that Charlie Kirk would have wanted this. And I think that that is exactly true. I think that Charlie Kirk would have wanted to use this opportunity to register more voters, including young voters. And listen, here's the thing. You know, Charlie Kirk, of course, he led a political movement, but he was also someone who young people looked up to from a spiritual perspective. And I would proffer the notion that Charlie Kirk brought tens of thousands of young people to the feet of Christ. And that is something, look, politics is important. But when it comes to the kingdom with a capital K, that is what is most important to Charlie Kirk and to me as well. So I thought that this was a great opportunity. Turning point has not given me their specific numbers. I think they're still trying to tally that up. But, you know, use every opportunity you can. But this story that I'm also putting out tomorrow, it's, I'll tell you my working title, which I know is going to get changed by my editor. Because my headlines are a little on the, yeah. So my working headline is Trump haters can't stop self-destructing just to get to Trump. Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas-style games on my phone at the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at SpinQuest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table games. Be cool with this summer special. New players get $30 coin packs for 10 at SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are, listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering.

But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs, who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-I-Hart or go to iHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or iHeartadvertising.com. In the story, I'm talking about this Tylenol situation, you know. It's been... what, 43 years after the infamous Chicago Tylenol murders back in 1982. And now Tylenol is back in the headlines. And you've got all of these pregnant women who are willing to put their unborn babies lives on the line to stick it to Trump, to prove a point. And you've got these women out there who are taking videos of themselves swallowing Tylenol. and putting it out there on the internet just to stick it to Trump. And then, you know, we saw the booster rebellion as well when, when, uh, they amended the vaccine schedule. That was something that turned liberals again. They just went absolutely crazy about this. So you had people who were videoing themselves getting the booster shot to stick it to Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. And then after the election, these women who were shaving their heads, you know, this baldness movement. And then the boycott of men. I don't know if you guys remember hearing about this, but women in the United States adopted. the South Korean 4B movement, which encourages women to not engage in heterosexual marriage, childbirth dating, and sex with men. And so it's all these destructive patterns. And I kind of feel like, you know, the voter registration thing, that is something that will obviously boost Republicans. But honestly, liberals have got to stop doing crap like this because it only makes them look crazier and they are so crazy that they are now shooting and killing people. Okay, Amanda, here's my, here's the good news. I think in my, in the Hughes home, I am living so much of what you're talking about. If I missed anything about Charlie Kirk until this terrible assassination, it was even my own 20-something adult, young adult children, I did not understand that the, the positive impact he was having as broad and as powerfully as he did. This is, this is, this is, this is, I, again, I think I track things every day. It is amazing. And I see the momentum that you're talking about. Here's what I'm worried about. I think the left uses fear as a tactic. They use violence as a tactic. And when you look at the Tesla takedown, I'm going to tell you, I think that they were successful in removing Elon Musk's leadership and the things he was doing because they were attacking his dealerships and people that own Tesla's. I think that the Black Lives Matter and the Ferguson riots at 20. brought a force against law enforcement, catch and release, law enforcement were the bad guys, until the violence and fear doesn't work. I don't think they stop using it, and I'm afraid it hasn't stopped working yet. I think that the attack yesterday of the ICE facility is yet another example of where they're trying to make it so chaotic out there. People, elected officials will just say, we've got to stop because we've got to stop this.

and people won't have a stomach for the fear that's being created looking the wrong way at why it's happening. Do you see us overcoming that? Are we going to lean in on this? Are the leftists going to stop being able to use violence and fear as a successful tactic? Because so far, I think they've been successful at it. I 100% agree. And look, when I was thinking about this interview today, I don't want to come in here as a doomsday or a chicken little, the sky is falling type person, but I will be completely candid. I don't think there is another Charlie Kirk. I don't think there is another person who can replace him at turning point and maintain its momentum. I really, really hope I'm wrong. But, you know, Charlie was just, he was an enigma. He, he stood out among his peers, among his contemporaries, and he was the guy. He was the guy who could have a conversation with someone who was so far on the other side that you could hardly even make them out in the distance. And I'm with you on the fear thing. The only way that that stops is if people start being bolder about coming out. And you've got people like, I don't know if you guys know who Jeffrey Starr is. He is a world famous makeup artist. He is very flamboyant, but he has made it very clear that he is gay. He's not trans. And he has talked about the LGBT movement divorcing from the TQ plus plus plus, whatever. And she came out immediately after Charlie Kirk's murder and was like, what WTF? What are we doing in this country that we can allow people to talk? And this is a guy who has a very, very lucrative business that he put on the line to come out and say this. So if you're one of these people out there who you work at an office space that you're worried that it might be a little uncomfortable if you let people know where you stand. Think about the Jeffrey stars of the world. And there are a thousand other examples of people who have put their lives and their livelihoods, their friend groups, even their church groups. They've put that on the line to get out and be bolder. And until, frankly, until we bully these people back down themselves, I don't think it's going to stop. And that scares. You know what out of me because they were successful in getting Charlie Perk. Yeah, it scares a lot of people, Amanda. Thank you, Amanda, Head from just the news. More coming up on this Thursday edition of the Rod and Greg Show and Talk Radio 105 dying, KNRS. Mr. Hughes, where are you today again, Mr. Hughes? I am in the Rod and Greg show Southern Command Post here in Washington County, better known as Liberty Land. And all as well. This is a conservative bastion of the state of Utah. And it remains that. I've checked it out. I've asked. I've checked around. The leftists haven't taken over down here yet. So.

We look good. It looks good down here. Well, let's talk about what happened two weeks ago yesterday, of course, the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. And there was such a difference. And a lot of people are still talking about this. Here in Utah, really around the country, there wasn't any rioting, there were vigils, there were prayers compared to what happened after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Well, what about honor and chaos? Joining us on our newsmaker line to talk about that is Lauren Washburn, a contributor to the Federalist. Lauren, thank you for joining us tonight. Let's talk about what happened. Honor versus chaos, Charlie Kirk, or Charlie Kirk versus what happened with George Floyd. Yeah, great, great question. I would say, The biggest difference is that whenever we saw the reactions to George Floyd's death, that was mostly the reaction of the left. They were riding. They were burning down buildings. There was really no conversation going on, really just violence. Whereas whenever we see Charlie Kirk's murder, this reaction that we see that is peaceful and people going to church and people becoming more patriotic, this reaction is coming from conservatives. It's coming from the right. So the reason why we see such a big difference in these two things is because it's different people reacting to the situation. So here's my question. I think the left understands that violence and fear are very effective tools. They can compel behavior through fear, and they use violence to do it. And I think it works. What are these vigils? What is the peaceful reaction to Charlie Kirk, his political assassination? How is that going to work for us as effective as the left fomenting fear has worked for them? I think that the violence that is displayed by the left is only effective for so long. And I think that now people are kind of getting tired of seeing all of the violence from the left wingers. And they're ready for a change. They're being called to pursue truth. And so we see this. huge movement of people who are kind of on the moderate right or people who are kind of in between all on social media, people now associating themselves with Republicans because although violence, it can be effective, I think there is some into that. Whenever we see people going to church and praying, and you know, the Sunday after Kirk was assassinated, church pews were just filled all across America. That is something that is good and true and eternal. And I think that people recognize that. And so people, that's a more, it's a more lasting effort. And people are starting to recognize that, which is why more people are being drawn toward that.

Lauren, what I was, what really kind of rattled me a little bit is the violence that took place after the George Floyd death. And really it took place, even before all the facts came out, before we knew what was really behind this and what happened. Yet it almost seemed like they were just looking for us an excuse to ride and a burned down building. Is my assessment wrong in that regard? No, I would agree. I think a lot of the violence we saw, especially in Minneapolis, whenever buildings were being burned and places were being looted, not all the facts had even been released about what happened. And so I think, you know, it kind of fit this narrative that was easy to follow, like, oh, police brutality. And people kind of jumped on that. But we really weren't even certain of all the facts of that time. So I think what you're saying is people were kind of looking for an excuse. It's definitely right. And it was a way for a lot of people to feel good about themselves or to virtue signal. There was that huge social media movement where. People were posting black squares and people were saying like, oh, we're noticing your silence if you're not participating in this. And so I definitely see where you're coming from and I agree. So, yeah, I say the leftists, the elitists, and their regime media, they're just a PR machine. They're a propagandist machine. So they've actually framed those riots and that violence as something noble. But then as we have seen the violence against, whether it was Charlie Kirk's political assassination, you look at the Catholic school, the kids at the Catholic school that were murdered and shot. And even this ice attack that happened yesterday. Just noticing it and taking inventory saying this is the left and their violence, those leftist, elitists and regime media, they're saying, would you tone it down? You need to tone it down, telling us that by noticing we have somehow overreacted, you mentioned that you think that their tactics only go so far. is how they're dealing how they're reacting to us in our peaceful observation but not happy about it how we're reacting and they say you got to tone that down and stop talking about it does that get noticed by the general public do they see how much of a double standard there is Happy birthday, America. It's time to celebrate and play your favorite Las Vegas casino games by American-owned SpinQuest.com. What's better than fireworks than American Pie? Hitting a black check in the palm of your hand, and you won't lose your fingers. Over a thousand games, including slots and live dealers. And $30 point packs are on sale for 10. SpinQuest.com. Buy American players for American players.

SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more to tell. These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with Iheart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make iHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Call 844-844-I-Hart. Again, that's 844-844-I-Hart. You know, I think nowadays more people are starting to notice. It's difficult in some ways because the left definitely runs the mainstream media. And so you look at all these headlines that point toward, you know, kind of the illusion that most people agree with the left or like would agree with these statements that Democrats are making that are just bizarre, by the way. They're so bizarre. I think it's a misrepresentation of what is actually happening just because the left has control of the mainstream media. And so that's all that we see. Yeah. Lauren Washmer joining us from the federalist, Greg. It's right. What a difference happened between what we saw here in Utah, really around the country following the Kirk assassination and even going back to George Floyd. What a different, different scenarios for sure. And I think we're on the clock. It has to produce something positive. It's already been positive. But we need to see that momentum continue if we want to see the left and there and they're leaning towards violence and fear be defeated. We've got to counter it with something good. that's contagious. So I think it's really important what happens going forward from now. I would agree. I'm citizen Greg Hughes. And I'm Roder Kent. This story has been circulating for about the, what, past 24 hours, I think, Greg, but now we've got a report coming out. Two sources, ABC News and Fox News. It's a former FBI director, James Comey, is being indicted on federal charges. The Justice Department. is accusing James Comey of lying to Congress about the investigation into the 2016 presidential election. More details apparently are coming out, but apparently the Fox News reporting that FBI director has been indicted charged with obstruction and false statements. You know, the only question I have is I think it's also, it is against the law and people have been charged and convicted for taking classified information and leaking it to the press. You have a Pennsylvania attorney general who was removed from office and actually served time for leaking grand jury testimony to the media. What James Comey is director of the FBI leaked to the New York Times, I don't even think it's in question. I think his subordinates actually.

created paper trails to cover themselves saying we were directed by director comie to leak this to the new york times and others and so i'm i would be surprised if that's not in the indictment too because i don't even think it's a question of if he did it it's just i mean it was always just a question of him lying to congress leaking classified information was he ever going to be held accountable for what we already knew he had he had clearly done i think it's not even i mean the facts are very clear so so We'll see. I mean, I don't know if the left gets mad about this, are they mad that he should be? Are they saying he should be able to commit these crimes? Or they think that the evidence isn't real? I would be interested to know. Yeah, well, I'm not sure yet. Like I said, this news is just coming across, Greg, as we're talking right now. Fox News Digital reported back in July that James Comey was involved in this investigation. We're just getting a little bit of news on that right now. So breaking, developing, we'll have more throughout the show today, Brig, but a new development. And like we said, this has been reported for what? About the last 24 to 48 hours, rumors of this were starting. to circulate. Yeah, the first to break was MSNBC. So I think James Comey already started his defense, at least in the court of public opinion, by doing what he did before. And that is leaking. He's a private citizen now, but he's leaking it out there trying to get, so it's not taken so harshly when it's announced. But when MSNBC is breaking the story, which is who did it a couple days ago. No, it's coming from James Comey that he knew he was going to be indicted. Yeah, he is. Well, we'll have a lot more on that and a lot more to come in our number two of the Rodden Gregg Show right here on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Stay with us. And I, Citizen Hughes, I'm in the Southern Command Post of the Rodding Greg Show. assessing the landscape in the territory and can proudly confirm that yes, Washington County is, in fact, Utah's Liberty Land, Land of Liberty. They're all conservatives here. Even if people that moved here from out of, you've got like political refugees from Nevada, from California, from Oregon, from Washington, they didn't move here and try to make the place liberal. They came here to escape and they're hardcore conservatives down here. It's a. Anyway, it's a great county. I always like it when I'm here. Well, like we've been saying anymore, Greg, on this show, the news, like Utah's weather, give it five minutes and it's going to change, right? And boy, just moments ago, as we reported, Jason had it in his newscast a moment ago. Federal prosecutors have now charged James Comey, the former FBI director with obstruction. Following apparently, according to some, from pressure from Donald Trump to act against James Comey, now it was... Five years ago on Tuesday that he testified before Congress about the 2016 election and the Russian hopes and all of that. So the statute of limitations was going to run out on Tuesday. So they hurried to get these charges, this indictment filed today against James Comey. It's just kind of, isn't right? Now, I don't know, you know.

I've been thinking about this, Craig. I don't want to get your thoughts on this right now. We don't know what the allegations are as of yet. We have a pretty good idea what they're going to be. And I think there are a couple of things that it's about his testimony before Congress that he lied to Congress. And the other one, of course, is going to be about this leak and what exactly was leaked and what's going to happen there. And, you know, James Comey has, James Comey's an interesting guy in. You know, everybody's saying it's going to be hard to make these charges stick. And one of the reasons, and most people recognize this, you know, James Comey is a very cany character. And he knows how to twist words, when to say things, when to not say things. And you've got to believe, Greg, that this guy isn't stupid. And it's going to be very difficult to, you know, prosecute this case because he's so good at CYA. And that's what I'm hearing a lot of people say already today, Greg. Forget whatever plans you have this weekend because you're staying at home and playing on SpinQuest. And there's never been a better time to sign up than right now. New users get $30 coin packs for just $10. All the table games you love with hundreds of slot games and real cash prizes. That's at SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Voidware prohibited. Visit spenquest.com for more details. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are, listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-I-Hart or go to iHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or iHeartadvertising.com. Well, I'll tell you this. I think that I don't... I think in the position he was in, and when he testified in front of Congress, I don't think he could conceivable way that he would be caught perjuring himself and lying to Congress. So I don't know how he can try to explain it away now. But I think that I think the evidence that's going to be brought forward, at least even as layman as we've seen the contradictions and what he said and as he testified to Congress versus what really happened. I think the evidence is going to be very strong. I think the bigger battle is going on inside the DOJ with rank and file members of the Department of Justice that feel a loyalty to the former director and don't want to indict their own. I think you've got a media that is going to ignore any of the merits of this case and try to say this is just simple political retribution. I'm telling you, if you look at all the mugshots, the president. Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, who was, I think, is the president's chief of staff at the time, all of the people, including Trump, who were indicted by that Biden, DOJ. I don't want to hear a word about political retribution because.

Clearly, the Biden, DOJ, established that if you're not above the law and if you broke the law, we don't care that you used to be the president. We don't care that you were the chief of staff. We don't care that you're Rudy Giuliani. We're going to try you if we think he did something wrong. If you take them at their word, then that same voices should be able to take this Department of Justice and this president at his word that crimes were committed. No one's above the law. And we are going to pursue justice. You know they won't. But it is, again, selective logic, selective outrage and a complete double standard for them to have any complaint about this indictment of James Comey when they went to the mat on the president himself, President Trump, as well as members of his administration. So, you know, I think. I think that this will be more of a political challenge than it is factual. I think the evidence is so, so strong. It's just whether you can get a fair jury. You know, we're seeing that that's a challenge in D.C. Let's find out in Virginia if you can get actually a fair jury. I'd like someone on a jury pool that didn't donate directly to the Democrats for president. I would, can we get, can we get someone that's just not a donor or an employee? of the Democrat Party? Can we get a juror that's not one of those things? Because in D.C., apparently you can't. I don't know what's going to happen in Virginia. Well, I wonder, Greg, about this. Pam Bondi and Kash Patel faced a huge challenge coming into their leadership of the Department of Justice. You know, and there are a lot of people who are left over not only from James Comey's administration, but also Christopher Ray's administration. Now, how many of them... will step in and either obstruct or try to slow things down and what this is going to do because I'm not aware, in my history of the FBI, I'm not on top of it. But how many FBI directors have ever been indicted? He may be the first one. I'm wondering if there was one during Nixon's time. There may have been. But, you know, how many the workings within the Department of Justice, as Pam Bondi and Kash Patel have arrived with Trump's people. you know, what's going to happen within the Department of Justice to move forward with this investigation. Obviously, they've got the indictments. He's been indicted on two counts today. It's going to be interesting to see, I think, Greg, how this proceeds. Well, here's the challenge, and that is that the American people are seeing, when you explain to the American people that you can't lie to Congress, that it's actually a crime. When you see Steve Bannon, who refused to appear before Congress on a subpoena, go to jail, when you see the president of the United States himself, after his president, indicted himself, that was a first. But when you explain what those laws are and that you're not allowed to break him and then you see what James Comey said to Congress testified under oath and what was the truth.

So many Americans have been saying, is there going to be justice? We can talk about it all day. We can complain about it all day. But is anything ever going to be done. It is harder to go after the former director of the FBI, I would argue, than it was to go after the former president. Because that DOJ and that FBI, that department, it has all these holdovers that worked with James Comey, that you've got to somehow get around politically to prosecute him. James Comey, but when Trump left, his whole administration left and a brand new one came in and they, and they went and went after him on charges that, that are so flimsy and not even close to the merit that the, that the charges that are coming against James Comey. And I, people say, Hughes, how do you know that? You haven't even seen the charges. All I know is this. It better be in there that he's lied to Congress because we've seen the testimony and we've seen the receipts that show what he said was not true. He misrepresented. We've seen actually the paper trails that the attorneys at the FBI, as well as McCabe himself wrote to say, look, I was instructed by the director to give this information, leak this information to the New York Times. And so that's, that is illegal. Those are the things that I know that we've seen through transparency, through reporting. He's done that's wrong. The American people have wanted to see justice served. I think they're giving it a good shot. Can they get a jury to do it? Can you overcome the internal politics of it? I don't know, but I don't think the American people are going to hold it against this president or his administration for trying to pursue justice where the law has been broken. We'll just have to see what happens. Well, remember, Greg, over time, we've had a lot of people call into the show and say, you know, who's going to pay the price for all of this, this political retribution. Now, the media, the legacy media, is going to jump all over this, and that's exactly what they're going to call it, is Trump is using his authority to go after people who fought against him. But there are a lot of people out there, especially our listeners, our great listeners, who've said, When is somebody going to pay the price for all the shenanigans that went on during the first Trump term? And I think people are asking that question. It's going to be interesting, I think, as to how the public responds? Don't pay any attention to the legacy media, because you know where they're going on this. The question is, how is the Republic and people out there going to respond to what Donald Trump, Kash Patel, and Pam Bondi are doing against James Comey. It's going to be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Yeah, the Democrats are going to have a very difficult time explaining why they had every right and every reason to indict. I think there's at least 19 people that they indicted inside, including the President Trump, Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and 16 more that of his administration they indicted. I think Peter Navarro went to jail. My goodness, for, you know, and for things he never did. And so. They kind of, they made the case that you can, no one's above the law. We can, we can go after people we think have broken the law, take their exact words and all of this. I think what's happened is when we had the big aha moments, when you, when there was a report that showed, James Comey lied when he said this to Congress, because look what we found. What, what a lot of Americans and certainly our callers, Rod have said in response to the aha moment is, okay, now what?

promises matter. So I think that is their response to any critics that would question whether James Comey should have been indicted today. They think that they're holding those in power accountable for acting above the law, breaking the law, abusing their positions of trust. And I think it's been a collective question from all of us as the information was revealed as they took office and they found in the bowels of the FBI in their offices and in burn bags and all over the place. The truth came out of how much, you know, skullduggery there really was. But then we all asked, okay, you found it. Now is anything going to be done about it? Well. I think that has begun today. Well, and I'm wondering today, Greg, that's why we want to open up the phones to you. People who supported Donald Trump have felt for a long, long time, Greg, and it goes back to his first term in office, that there is certainly a double standard, that those on the left can basically get away with almost murder. And any, I mean, you can break a pencil if you're on the right, and you may be indicted for, you know, for destroying federal property for crying out loud. So I think people on the, you know, I'm wondering what, you know, are Trump listeners feel about this? today, is this what they want? I think it is because you and I have sat in these chairs, list of people call into the show over the years saying, when is somebody going to pay the price for doing what they did? And obviously, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino felt they had a case today. They took it to a grand jury, and the grand jury came down with those two counts against James Comey. And he's a big fish in this pond, but, you know, he's a very canny character. And it's going to be interesting how they proceed with this. And you know the left is going to be all over this tonight saying, well, there's Donald Trump abusing his own power again and going after his political enemies. There's much more to it than just that in my opinion. But I'm wondering what our listeners feel tonight. 888-5708010 on your cell phone dial pound 250 or you can leave a message on our talkback line as well, Greg. So it'll be interesting to hear what people have to say tonight. Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are, listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-Ehart or go to IHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or IHeart Advertising.com.

I would be interested to. I honestly thought my answer back to those that were frustrated about whether there would be indictments or not is that I think knowing that what we know, getting the curtain pulled back would empower us whether they were indicted or not. Look, Hillary Clinton was caught dead to rights, destroying, receiving classified information from the State Department on a private server which was hacked. They know that enemies of the state were able to hack her private server and obtain that information. All of that is as illegal and people have served time in jail for the conduct that Hillary Clinton was able to get away with. We all know it. We know what happened. It's not even a question, but she doesn't get indicted. And that's what the left is used to. They're used to having a very different set of rules to account and really not to be accountable. But boy, if you're a Republican. You can put Trump and his administration and everybody else through everything they've done. And it's been so contrived the impeachments, the indictments. They've been they've been hard arguments to make. What we have found, whether it's Hillary Clinton back then or it's James Comey today. It's not hard to understand where the laws that they have broke what they are. And so, you know, we'll see. We'll see if politically speaking it can happen. But I love seeing that they are pursuing justice and looking to see justice served. Well, the question I have, though, Greg, is this. After he won election back in 2016. As I recall, and you can correct me on this, I know you will if I'm wrong. You know, Trump was asked, why didn't he go after Hillary Clinton? I can't remember what his answer was he, but he decided not to. So the question is on this second time around now, why go after people like James Comey? You know, why not just, you know, set it aside. That's not Donald Trump. Yeah. But that question I think is going to come up. Don't you think? It's a very, yes, it's a very easy answer. And that is. His answer of why he didn't is he felt that it would divide this country and harm the country in terms of going after Hillary Clinton, former first lady, former senator, former secretary of state, and charge her. He thought that that was going to be a very divisive moment. And then the man had to get his mugshot. And then the man went through the perp walk himself. Okay. Then the man found out that these. I better not do this because it could divide this country. She's clearly guilty, but we're going to not go to that level. Once the man is standing in front of a camera in Fulton County, getting his mugshot, once he's walking into a courtroom and being indicted in New York, I think his worry. It changed. In hindsight, what he thought was going to be divisive versus what they were willing to do, breaking all the rules to do it. I think that he thought, well, I actually think that just real justice and really breaking the law since they're saying this is why they were doing it to me. And it's not a tit for tat. It's a you change the rules of the game. You did something that I didn't think necessarily at that time in this first term should be done. But once they went to the extent that they did, clearly.

They created a precedent. And their precedent is you're not above the law. It doesn't matter. In fact, if you're in positions of power, you especially. should be scrutinized. And if it's found that you broke the law, you should be tried. This is the argument the left made. Yeah. The only way you can be offended now is if you somehow got four years of amnesia during the Biden administration, I mean, they had private meetings with Letitia James and that guy that was working, you know, her side hustle, that guy or her boyfriend that was working on this case. How many times does the White House registry show that he was meeting with White House attorneys? And the, uh, the, the New York prosecutor as well as the one in Atlanta and in Fulton County. So they were doing things under the radar. They were coordinating. The White House was coordinating these prosecutions of Trump nonstop. And this indictment is not untoward like that was. This is actually real testimony and real evidence found that contradicts what that testimony was. And he should be held accountable. And many people. And I might be included. I had hoped that justice would be served. But I didn't know if they would, if they would do it or not. I'm glad to see. I'm happy to be wrong. I'm happy to see that they're doing it. All right. Your calls and comments coming up. 888-57080-10 on your cell phone. Dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, or leave us a message on our talkback line. Got it already. We've got some callers lined up. And we'll get to those comments coming up on the Rod and Greg show. And perjury, of course, lying to Congress during a hearing five years ago on Tuesday. Charges being filed against it today, and we're tracking that, Greg, and getting people's reaction to it. Interesting story developing tonight. That's right. We want to go to you, our great listeners, the smartest listening audience in all the land. Let's start with Kerry from North Ogden. Carrie, thank you for holding. Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. Oh. Thank you for having me. I'm just curious. I don't remember what the cost were of the Robert Mueller stuff, like over $30 million and all the investigations and everything. I'd like to see something done along with that besides indictments of lying to Congress and leaking. I'd like to see some restitution on all the money that it costs the American taxpayer for all this stuff based on lies. Well, I love the idea, but I don't know if it's ever going to happen to you. No, I'll tell you what, though, the one, the American taxpayer needs a refund for sure. But what about all the people that they financially destroyed General Flynn? His finances were absolutely decimated for the way, you know, they try, what they did to him. You know, I, there's a lot of people whose personal finances, when you indict 19 people, and when I say that, I'm looking at 19 mugshots from the Trump administration, including the president himself, when I, when I count to 19.

The cost that they had to go through to defend themselves over, I would argue, nothing even remotely close to what we're seeing former director James Comey being indicted for today. Actually, I just don't think it raises to the bar. I think it's contrived. It was political. They wanted to take him out. They did not want him to run for office again or run for a president again. And to compare the two, I mean, the taxpayers have been robbed, these people's lives that were destroyed that they went after. And there ought to be accountability for that. And it's not a tip for tat. It's what they did was wrong and they should account. Let's go to the phones. Let's go to Rob and Sandy tonight here on the Rod and Greg show. Hi, Rob. How are you? Thanks so much for joining us. What are your thoughts? Hello, Rob. There you are. Hello, Rob. We may have lost. We lost Rob. Apparently, Rob, if you want to call back and be a part of that. Interesting case, Greg. You know, the question I have, does James Comey get a mugshot? Are we going to see a mugshot of James Comey? I mean, we did one of the president. Well, yeah. You know, Trump got one. I was going to say, you made the President of the United States march up there and take his picture. There should be. Absolutely there should be. Yeah. If you're going to do it, I think there should be. Yep. All right, more of your calls and comments coming up here on the Rod and Greg show in Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. You can dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, the number to call 888-5708-0-10, or you can leave us a talkback comment as well. I'm Citizen Greg Hughes. Oh, and I'm Rod Arquette. Great to be with you tonight, of course, the big news tonight. Federal prosecutors charging... Former FBI director James Comey with obstruction and with lying to Congress. And oh, Greg, you can just hear it now. The last vestiges of the swamp are coming together to rally and to defend James Comey. You can just see it now. The guy's a crook. He's a criminal. But the swamp will come to defend him. Well, I'll tell you what, I think that the discussion, if people are upset with this indictment, I think if they were serious, we would talk about what he's being indicted for, not they skip over it. They just say Trump bad. Trump is, it's all retribution. He's a dictator. Now, let's talk about the evidence. Let's see what it is. Because I'm going to tell you that what we saw as just members of the public, what they uncovered is the administration changed. We saw enough information that we knew that what. former director James Comey had testified to Congress was not true. But if I'm wrong, talk about if you think he got indicted wrongly, then let's talk about the evidence. Let's get to understand it better. Let's read the indictment. I'm certainly going to do it. I want to have a conversation about what he's being indicted on, not the personality of Donald Trump. That's what the left is going to do. That's what the regime media is going to do. They're going to make this a personality contest about Trump. not on the merits of this of this indictment. Well, and doesn't it come down to, Greg, as I recall, there was a hearing before a Senate committee, and I think it was back in, in September of 2000, 2020, okay, in which James Comey was being questioned by Ted Cruz, I believe is what this was, and Cruz asked him some questions, and he denied authoring somebody in the FBI to act as an anonymous source to feed information to the New York Times.

I think that's what this case is going to rest on. I have got all the details, but I think that is what happened, that he denied authorizing somebody in the FBI to release this information about Russian hoax and everything that's going on to the New York Times. He denied that, but I think there's clear evidence now that he did, in fact, do that. And I think that's what this case is going to hang on. Yes, and here's why I think the evidence is so strong and why if anyone complains about this, we should be talking about this evidence, not about the personality of Trump that we already know they don't like. When he was asked directly under oath in a Senate committee, did you authorize leaking of classified information to the media? His answer was not qualified. It was no, I did not. When you have. Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just $10.00. SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with iHeart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make iHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Visit iHeartadvertising.com. Again, that's iHeartadvertising.com. People that worked for him who have testified under oath and have said he directed me. And it's, it's McCabe. It's the attorney. I think his name was James Baker. They have testified under oath that they were, in fact, instructed directly by James Comey to provide that information to media outlets. So if you really think that what Trump did is wrong or you think that DOJ is wrong, really what you're seeing is James Comey's own people under oath, under penalty of perjury, telling the truth, which all points back to him. You know, and what he did versus what he testified to the Senate and responded to that question from the senator, what he did. it's not the same. It's a lie. He lied. And that's against the law. So, again, I just don't know what they're going to. I don't know how they argue all this. Well, and there are a lot of people out there, especially those of us on the conservative side, point to James Comey, I think, Greg. You may agree or disagree with me on this one. But he is the point man of weaponizing the Department of Justice against anything dealing with Donald Trump.

They point to him that he's the guy who weaponized it. Now you're going to hear the other side come back and say, well, now we have Donald Trump, who's doing his own weaponization of the Justice Department to go after his political enemies. But a lot of people point to James Comey as being the point man on all of this. And you're going to hear the left say, well, Trump is doing it now. Well, yeah, he's doing it because he should. It's the right thing to do. This guy broke the law and he should have to pay the price for. Yeah, and the fact is, is it, it should just go back to this. Is it against the law to lie to Congress? Yes or no? The answer is, yes, it's against the law. That's not a gray area. It's against the law. Is it true that he answered that he did not authorize anyone to provide classified information to the media? He said, and it's on record, you can see the videotape, I did not. Then you go to the people where they leaked it. They know they're the ones that leaked it. And you ask them what, you know, what happened? They were authorized, according to their testimony, that James Comey authorized them to give the media the classified information. So I think, and it's not just once. There's a number of occasions where he's done this. I think he's even, we say he's careful, but I want to, I recall that he at one point said. One of, he actually admitted to leaking something he wasn't supposed to, saying I wanted to, I wanted to get a special prosecutor appointed over the Russian issue. And I, and I knew that that needs. I'm Rod Arquette, broadcasting from our main headquarters here in Salt Lake City. Greg, you are on the road yet again today. You'll be back in studio tomorrow, right? Is that where we're planning? Yes, sir. Yes, I will. I'm citizen Greg Hughes at our southern mobile, southern headquarters down here in Liberty Land, Washington County. Yes, I will be back in studio tomorrow. But yeah, I'm here and all is well. I've got to play. I've checked the place out. Everything's good. Patriots are out. We're locked and loaded. Everything's good here. There's no leftists here. That's what I love about Washington County in southern Utah. No leftists. You mean you haven't run into one leftist in Washington County? No. Nope. Now, I had some technical difficulties yesterday where my connection was interrupted. So there was a leftist that attacked my connection yesterday, but they are sight unseen. I wasn't able to find them. But other than that. Yeah, no, this place is great. This is where all the, all the conservatives, there's conservatives and watch that trumpet. Boy, this place, it's packed. So it's good. It's fun. Well, let's change topics. You know, if you're as dedicated to defending, securing, and restoring your Second Amendment rights, I think a lot of people, I know I am, you don't want to miss out because the annual gun rights policy conference. hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Citizens Committee for the right to keep and bear arms gets underway this weekend. As a matter of fact, I believe it starts tomorrow, Greg, at the Salt Lake Marriott, downtown. And joining us on our newsmaker line to talk all about this is Alan Gottlieb. He is the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. Alan, how are you? Welcome to The Rod and Greg Show.

I'm doing great. It's really great to be with you guys. Thank you. Alan, first before we talk about the convention coming up this weekend, there was a big story coming out of Washington State yesterday that apparently the Attorney General there has finally come to his census. Exactly what happened, Alan. Well, he's the former Attorney General now. He's now the governor of the state, unfortunately. Oh, who? But he decided. He decided to do an investigation at the Second Amendment Foundation where they demanded everything we ever did from our inception to date, everything in our file cabinets, everything electronically, every ad we've ever run in place. About 20,000 documents we had to provide. Obviously, it cost us like a thousand man hours, a couple hundred thousand dollars. And it's basically he's a very anti-gun attorney general and now anti-gun governor. And he's trying to put us out of business. And, of course, he never found anything, any form of doing at all. We filed a federal civil rights lawsuit. that got dismissed on technical grounds. We appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals who ruled in our favor unanimously three zero and sent it back to the lower court. At that point, the AG's office, the new AG there, you know, didn't want to spend time and money going after something that wasn't there. And so we cut a deal where we dismissed our lawsuit against the AG's office and returned the end of their investigation and said we did nothing wrong. Well, that's good. That's good news. And I'll tell you, if you don't think of the cost, the time, their strategy is not even just to prevail. It's to keep you from doing the good work while you're fighting frivolous lawsuits. Tell us what you've been able to do, even under duress, as you're being attacked that way. It sounds like they weren't able to slow you down or distract you. Well, they weren't able to thank heavens, but everybody had to work overtime to be able to meet their demands and keep the train on the track, so to speak. But we currently have about 55 lawsuits in Federal Corps all across the country protecting and defending and extending gun rights all across the country right now in areas from allowing young adults to be able to, 18 to 20-year-olds to be able to purchase firearms or get permits to carry those. challenging so-called sensitive places laws in various states that don't allow you to carry your firearm in certain places that don't make any sense. Likewise, salt-called assolvent bans and magazine capacity bans. We've got a significant number of lawsuits. Gun owner privacy, where privacy gets invaded, where you've got to, before they'll give you a permit in some places, you've got to go get your neighbors and family to be interviewed. You've got to do psychiatric evaluations just because you want to own a firearm. So we've got 55 national suits going on right now. So, yeah, it didn't slow us down. But this Gun Rights Policy Conference talks about all of this. Both the legislative agenda is happening nationally, all the lawsuits that are going on. And it's actually at the city,

Marriott. Okay. There's two Marriott. Yeah, yeah. We're at the City Creek Marriott. Attendance is free. We encourage your listeners to come. The big day, of course, it's all day Saturday. Everybody's who's who in the gun rights movement from all the national organizations. And, you know, podcasters and columnists in Breitbart and other places are all going to be here speaking about the issue. And we welcome your listeners to attend. If they want to find out more about it, they can go to saf.org slash gunwriters, GRPC. Saf.org will get you in which you can find it. So you can see what the agenda is and who's going to be here. And again, it's free. And all your listeners are welcome to show up. Ellen, let me ask you this. There is a game in some amusement parks. Greg knows what I'm talking about. It's a game called whack a mole. And it's a game where these fake moles keep on popping out of the ground and people have to whack them to knock down. Do you feel you're constantly playing the game of whack a mole because every time you turn around, there is a new effort to control guns in this country? Yeah, you know, a few years back we won a major lawsuit, you know, in federal court, known it was Donald versus Chicago, the knock out the Chicago City handgun ban and incorporated the Second Amendment through the 14th Amendment, making it applicable to all 50 states. We won it the U.S. Supreme Court, and then the Bruins decision of the Supreme Court reinforced it. But we have a lot of local politicians, particularly in the blue states. that don't care, and they're on their nose to the Supreme Court, and a lot of judges, particularly in the Ninth Circuit, that don't seem to care, and they keep making up case law to try and be able to allow these anti-gun laws to stand or the new ones coming on in place to exist. So, yeah, it is like playing whack-a-mole. I remember that game with my children at amusement parks. It is a lot like that.

So let me ask you this. You have this conference happening here in Salt Lake. What's the end goal? What is it that you want to empower our listeners with in terms of how they're going to go forward, defending, enjoying their constitutional right to bear arms? What's the goal? What's the outcome supposed to be? Well, this is the 40th annual gun rights policy commerce. We move it around the country, so this is the first time it's been in Salt Lake City. People come in from all over the country. What we try to do is get the input from grassroots gun rights activists and gun owners on where they want to go. It's sort of a people's conference. And we plot out the next year for all the national gun rights groups on what our agenda should be. And we share current information and data with what's going on all across the country. If you want to really know what's going on with gun rights, this is the place to be. It's the gun rights event of the year. And again, at SAF.org, your listeners can get the information on it, and they're welcome again all day, Saturday, and half a day on Sunday. And do you have to register? Is it free? What do you need to do to be able to get in, Alan? It's free and registration, you know, because our staff moves around the country, just got shut down so you can't register online, but just show up and we will register you right here again. You just walk in the building and you're welcome. Yeah, and your list of speakers, I'm looking at the list right now. That is quite a list of speakers that people will hear from. Is that right, Alan? Oh, yeah. It's who's who in the gun rights movement and it covers everything that's going on in firearms from litigation to legislation to all kinds of research. It's an overload of information. The one complaint we get is people walk out and I'm exhausted. That's the way you want to be, isn't exhausted from all the information they can put in their pocket now. Alan, great to have you on Salt Lake City. We know you did a lot of traveling today. You'll be heading this up. Thanks for joining us. luck with the conference this weekend. Oh, I've had no luck lately. Wait, lady luck? Brett Ski, I got you. I've had so much luck on SpinQuest.com. They have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack craps, and bubble craps. You can even get a $30 coin pack for just $10 bucks. $10 for 30. I'm headed over to SpinQuest.com right now. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with iHeart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make iHeart media a part of your 2026 plan today. Call 844-844-I-Hart. Again, that's 844-844-I-Hart. Thank you very, very much. I look forward to doing your show again sometime. Thank you. All right, Alan, thank you very much. Joining us on our newsmaker line, we've been tacking with Alan Godlebe. He is, of course, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. They've got that big conference coming up this weekend. It's called the Gun Rights Policy Conference hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the right to keep in bear arms. It will take place starting tomorrow. through, let's see, I think through Sunday at the Salt Lake Marriott in downtown at City Creek. So check it out. Free to the public. All right, more coming up on the Rod and Greg show and Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. And I'm Rod Arquette. The Other Side Academy, which you and I, Greg, are big, big fans of. You know, they had a big announcement the other day. They're going to expand the other side village, which is being set up here in Salt Lake City. As a matter of fact, they've got even bigger plans. We're going to be talking about that coming up at the bottom of the hour. But that is one organization that I have a lot of admiration for. Greg, and I know you do too. Absolutely. They've done tremendous work. In fact, I'd go so far as to say if we've had any good work done on the front of chronic homelessness or homelessness at all, you can point to the other side of academy and their approach on how to get things done the right way. That's who's moved the needle in the state of Utah. So they lead by example, Rod. Yeah, they sure do. Well, you and I have talked a lot about this. You are passionate about this. I know because I've heard it about this, both sidesism, the debate over political violence and who's more violent, which side is more violent? That goes on and on. Well, apparently, I tell you what, there was an exchange on the five yesterday. And if you didn't catch it between Jessica Tarloff, who is the liberal on that thing, and that's... program and Greg Gutfeld who is very entertaining and can get very passionate about this well they got into this debate about this report which claims that there is more political violence coming from the right than the left this was a department of justice

study that was put away because it was totally off base. But then Gutfeld went off against both sides of them and what the left and the right are doing right now. Let's do this exchange. The left calls Trump a hate monger. They've called me a hate monger because I ridicule the left. I ridicule protesters. I ridicule academia, Hollywood, the news media. I make fun of the view every day. I make fun of the UN. Guess what? No one acts on the things that I say because my side doesn't do that. We say people are stupid. We say people are wrong, but we don't say they're evil. That is your game. Okay? And then you come and you say, okay, ma'am, this is a mentally ill loner. Well, who do you think does this stuff? It's not Ben Affleck. It's not Tom Brady. It's not even carrot top. People who do this stuff are always that way. The question is, who points them in that direction? Why pick ICE? Why pick Kirk? Why target TV stations that put bombs under five? trucks, uh, why vandalized memorials? Why kill kids in Catholic schools? Two things can be true. A person can be mentally ill and you can be guiding him to that place in his life. That is how brainwashing works. Wow, did he ever go off on that, Greg? And I think he is spot on. I mean, the words that the left used to describe those of us on the right are much more hateful than vice versa. In my opinion, I think that's what he was talking about. Well, he has, you know, look, that's a, that's the second time Jessica Tarloff has tried to, has tried to dismiss the violence of the left is both sides ism, and that, and she's wrong. She got an earful from the first time she tried to do this when she tried to say that the Charlie Kirk thing doesn't have anything to do with the left. It's just where America is today. And Greg Gutfeld lost it then. And he made a very impassioned point, good points back then. She went back to the same wealth. She tried to drink out of that same. Well, I don't know what she thought she was going to get from Greg Gutfeld trying that same excuse again because it fundamentally is not true. Greg Gutfeld is right. These people that get radicalized are being radicalized from the left. And you know it this way. When the New Republic, they just say fascism and they've got a picture of Trump and they got it like that looks like Mussolini or something. And all they do is they never want to talk about the issue. All they want to do is talk about narrate and diagnose the person. Just like what's going on right now about James Comey. No one wants to drill down on the merits of the crimes that are being charged. They just want to talk. They want to diagnose. Trump and say it's all Trump doing being vindictive and it's Trump trying to politicize they never want to get to the the meat or the merit of the indictment itself they don't want to talk about that because they're not going to win that discussion they just want to say Trump is evil Trump is bad He's only doing this for the worst of motivations. And you can't have a conversation with someone like that. And that's, I'm with Greg Gutfeld all the way on this. And I feel as bugged by it as he does. Yeah. Well, and you're right. Those of us on the right describe people as stupid and ignorant and, you know, but we never use words like Nazi and fascist and Hitler. Those words, we don't use those words. And that's what feeds people. And I think that's what leads people to do some of the crazy things that they've done over the.

past year against those of us on the right all right we've got a lot more to get to on this thursday evening edition of the rod and gregg show and utah's talk radio 1059 kn r s think rod and gregg is friday is coming up tomorrow if you can believe that i'm rod arquette I'm a citizen Greg Hughes. Well, joining us on the program, one of the great leaders, I think, in Utah doing great, great things. Joseph Grenny, he is the chairman of the board of the Other Side Academy. They're not done. Once they master something, they find other ways to move the needle and to help people in ways that government can't. Nonprofits don't. So. Happy to have Joseph Grinney on the program. Yeah, Joseph is just a great guy. It's just part of the great team, Greg, at the Other Side Academy. And yesterday, or a couple of days ago, I believe it was, the Other Side Village, which is part of the Other Side Academy's efforts to help homelessness here in Utah, unveiled plans to expand following. $30 million in donations. Joseph, thanks for joining us tonight. That's big news, isn't it? And what does it mean for the other side academy and the other side village? Well, it's thrilling because not only are we finishing up the first phase with 60 homes so that 60 people are coming out the streets and changing their lives, but we've gotten $30 million in commitments to build phase two, which will help us build an additional 150 homes, a whole bunch of the social enterprises. and literally create space to take many, many people off the street. Joseph, here's my question, Greg Hughes here. Look, you guys came to the state of Utah, and it was a whirlwind. You work with private sector. You guys have jobs, people generate your own revenue. You're not looking at insurance, money, and state money, but you need partners. And I saw you come into the state when I was a public servant. The work you've done has been immeasurable. We've never seen something like this before. Tell us about the other side village. Is this a long-term housing situation or is this a temporary where people learn to be on their own and kind of a springboard onto life? And so what does it look like the other side village like the other side academy? Well, the other side village will ultimately have space for about 500 people who are currently chronically homeless. Our belief is that if you've been living on the streets for 10 years, which is the average of those who are participating right now, your problem is no longer housing. Your problem is learning to relive life. And so that's what the other side village does. It focuses on the real problem, which is helping people learn how to live again, get up, have a job, get along with people, manage your mental health, and lots and lots of things that's easy to lose track of. squalor and chaos of the street. And as you said, Greg, and you've known from the beginning, the entire operation ultimately will be funded by social enterprise. So we have the other side donuts. We'll be opening in the next two months, the other side in.

which will be 50 beautiful small homes people can use for nightly rentals. We have the other side event center. I'll announce here on your radio that on December 11th, 12th, and 13th we'll have a Christmas market at the other side. And so all of these operations create jobs for people who live in the village and help them change their lives, but also generate the revenue that supports the village. Joseph, you mentioned a moment ago that for a lot of the people, they've been on the street for 10 years and they're just trying to get their life back again. How difficult of a challenge is it for people like that, who've been there for 10 years, don't know any other way of life, and all of a sudden they have an opportunity to change. How big of a challenge is that for people, Joseph? It's tremendously hard. And that's why the current service system often falls short of what people need. We've got a guy living in the village now. And just as an example of the challenge people face, he was award of the state from age four. He lived in 32 foster homes before he was 11. Some of them were so violent, this guy started sleeping with a knife under his pillow when he was six years old. So he was on the course to a difficult life from day one. His biggest challenge right now, he's got a job. He's in the village. He's in a home, but he's got a mom who is now out of prison and realizes she has a son with a paycheck that wants to swoop into his life and try to take it from him. And so learning to hold boundaries and deal with difficult relationships and challenging family situations. This is what drags people back to the street again and again and gets them back into drugs again. And so what we learn in the other side prep school, which is where people go when they first come off the streets. They stay there for six to 12 months and they learn these difficult relationship skills, how to manage your finances, how to manage your mental health and medications and things like that. So this guy is doing really, really well, but life is challenging and he's got the skills to deal with it. You know, it's too often, Joseph, people with a broad brush describe homelessness, but you've just described a very unique subset of individuals who've maybe never really lived on their own. They haven't been independent that way, chronic homelessness. And those that were home maybe shelter resistant because of all of that. How long do you estimate that those that you're going to introduce this kind of stability, this kind of self-determination and living in a home and having a job? Do you see there a time where they would move on and be independent outside of the other side village? Or are these chronic homeless? Because I'm telling you, the chronic homelessness is a major issue that kind of reverberates into other issues. Helping them is good in and of itself. But do you see them moving on at any point? Yeah. Yeah, well, we'll see some of all of the above. So we'll see some. If you come into the village and you've got schizophrenia or you've got bipolar disorder, you've got really deep chronic depression and so forth. For a lot of people, this kind of supportive environment where all your neighbors know what you're dealing with and they're actively involved in helping you maintain a healthy life, for a lot of people, it's going to be the best choice for the rest of their life. But there will be many. We have some who are fairly young.

who are in their 20s or 30s, who once they get there and they get stable and they learn to live life for three or four or five years, they may decide to move next to family in Texas or decide to move into a different neighborhood. And that'll be terrific too, but they'll have that foundation of success that they can build on. Joseph, right now, you're helped in part by ongoing fundraising. Do you hope the village someday could be self-reliant? And if so, what will that take, do you think, Joseph? Happy birthday, America. It's time to celebrate and play your favorite Las Vegas casino games by American-owned SpinQuest.com. What's better than fireworks than American pie? Hitting a black check in the palm of your hand, and you won't lose your fingers. Over a thousand games, including slots and live dealers. And $30 point packs are on sale for 10. SpinQuest.com. Buy American players for American players. SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spendquest.com for more details. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are, listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-Ehart or go to iHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or iHeartadvertising.com. Yeah, Rob, that's exactly the objective. As you know, the other side academy was self-reliant in about 15 months. It'll take us two or three years with the village to get all the social enterprises up and running. But the money we're raising now is just for capital. It's just for building homes and building the buildings and getting the village on its feet. This will not be an ongoing fundraising issue. We're not going to be going back to the state. And Greg remembers that first conversation I had with him where we weren't asking for money. We just wanted to have a path cleared. And that's exactly what the village will do. And you think, think about it, that is what's so important for these folks that are in the village because they are redefining their place in society. They're not wards of the state anymore. They're not petitioners asking for handouts. They're bringing assets. They're bringing donuts. They're bringing a beautiful hotel operation. They're bringing a Christmas market. And that's what will help them to see their place in the world the way it should be. Joseph, you have, I think you have articulated and your mission has actually, the proof is in the pudding. It's what you've already done and I've watched it with my own eyes. How much good has come brought to bear in Utah with what you're doing? You've always described your mission holistically. We're going to tell you what the outcome is. We're not going to silo it into some small little endeavor. It's not about you have a job or you have a roof over your head. We're not going to look at it incrementally. The holistic goal and the measurable is this. And you always talk about what that is. What is that holistic goal? What is the measurable with the other side village? What is it that you're accomplishing? After all said and done, what are we getting in Utah with your leadership in our state?

And I want to reinforce what you're saying there, Greg, that you have no integrity as an organization if you don't declare what you're going to achieve and then measure yourself against it and be transparent about it. So our objective is very simple. It's PSDC, PSDC, permanently housed, self-reliant, drug-free and crime-free. And so that's what we'll hold ourselves to. Are we going to be perfect? Absolutely not. We're working with people that have a lot of struggles and challenges, and some will succeed and some won't. But you'll be able to see at our website at any time you want at the other side village.com, exactly how many people have come in, how many have graduated our prep school, and how many are PSDC, permanently housed, self-reliant, drug-free and crime-free. And that's what we'll measure ourselves against and we'll admit our failures and we're going to acknowledge what we're doing right and hope others will learn from it. You know, Greg, Joseph Grinney, thank you, Joseph for joining us tonight. Joseph, of course, from the other side academy and the other side village. You know what, Greg, I love what he said at the end. We're going to set goals. We're going to come up with a way to measure those goals. And if we don't achieve them, we've been a failure. If we have, we are successful. What a great concept that is. And that's really how the other side academy works, isn't it? They are 100% invested into accountability. It's the people that go to the other side academy or that will live at the other side village. They have to be accountable. There's an accountability to them. But they turn around and say, look, we'll be accountable for what we say we're going to do, what our measurables are. They are very clear and they're very concise? And as Joseph said, are they going to be perfect? There's a lot to learn in that space. And I'll tell you, that space has a high failure rate in terms of people that it's hard for people to get on their feet. But they're going to own all of it. And they're going to describe it all. And I am just very excited to see them even move further into some areas that government hasn't been able to overcome or solve. Even some of our care providers with the best of intentions have seemed to not be able to find lasting solutions. I believe this is where the other side academy has shown progress. others haven't. So I'm excited for them. Always have been. Yeah, me too. All right, we've got a lot more to come. Final segment of the Rod and Greg Show right here on Utah's Talk Radio 105-9, KNRS. I'm citizen Greg Hughes. And I'm Rod Arquette. You know, some polls recently have shown Greg that Donald Trump is underwater when it comes to the economy. A lot of people out there feel the economy isn't working well. And then we get this report coming out today showing the U.S. economy accelerated in the second quarter as the Commerce Department released its second revision of the real gross national product. The Bureau of Economic Analysis, the BEA, released its third and final estimate. And it shows that the... The economy grew at a rate of 3.8%. And that's fantastic, Greg. This is an analyst. She was on with Maria Bartaromo on Fox News today describing what the numbers are now starting to show. Quite impressive. A gain of 3.8%. This is much higher than the second read of the second quarter for GDP of 3.3%. It's now 3.8%. And this is the final read for the second quarter. A strong economy. Consumer spending. Strong. Yes, imports.

decrease and that certainly affected the number but again a much better than expected and this is a bit of a surprise for the for the markets claims better than expected for jobless 218 thousand we were looking for 235 continuing jobless claims 1.926 million this is a good story for the employment picture durable goods get this month over month up 2.9 percent that expectation was for a loss of 5 tenth of a percent that's very strong strip out transports excuse me you got a gain of 4 tenth of a percent, Maria, but that TDP number, that just, it's very rare to see that, but it's a good number. Boy, that's an increase, Greg, and that's, don't they want the economy to hum right along, what, two to anywhere between two to four percent? Isn't that the magic number they're all looking for? Absolutely. I mean, I'll tell you this, if you can see that growth in that range you just mentioned, then your fears of inflation aren't as great. I mean, it is. And by the way, just as every time we see it, you know, the economists, the experts did not predict this. They are surprised by this. It seems to be the same story every time we get positive economic news. I've even seen where people say, well, you know, gold. It's risen 42% over, you know, year to date in terms of value, which means that that's the safe haven where people go when they're worried about inflation. Well, year to date, we've had, what, 11 months, three weeks, and five, six days of everyone's squaring up and down. We're going to have inflation. I mean, we've had a year's worth of Jerome Powell's promising everyone inflation's on its way. So, yeah, I don't think the price of gold, as people are saying, is any kind of warning signal, especially when we've had such. dreary predictions from economists for so long, people probably did react to that kind of news. But hopefully we'll start to see the markets and actually the Dow and everything NASDAQ is up and has been up. So there is positive news there too. But I just think we just got to continue to see the positive news continue to fuel this economy because I think perception, consumer confidence is a big part of a successful economy. Well, and here's some more good news to share with our audience tonight, Greg. New home sales. Blue past expectations in August hitting the fastest pace in more than three years. Wow, sales of new single-family homes rose 20.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 800,000 units last month. And if anything we can do to get the housing market back on its feet and get going, Greg, that is good news. But new home sales jumping on August, reaching a three-year high. Wow. Good news. And I think that, again, interest rates go down, affordability, how much your monthly payment means matters to everyday Americans, how much that they have to pay for that home, it matters. So as interest rates go down. continue to go down, you're going to see, I think you're going to see more economic activity and big purchases like mortgages, homes will happen as a response to that. Yeah, and emotion plays so much, in my opinion, when it comes to the economy, if you feel good about things, you're going to go out and spend money, and hopefully more and more Americans will do just that. Well, as we say, each and every night here on the Rod and Greg show.

Head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family and this great country of ours. Thanks for joining us on this Thursday. Thank Rod and Greg. It's Friday starts tomorrow at 4. We'll talk to you then. Have a good evening. What's going on, everyone? It's Bluff here, and you know what's more American than America's 250th birthday? Supporting American-owned companies like SpinQuest, America's number one social casino with over 1,000 games like Live Dealer Blackjack and Craps. They're offering new users a $30 coin package for just $10. Go to SpinQuest.com and sign up today. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spendquest.com for more details. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are, listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-Ehart or go to IHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or IHeartadvertising.com.