Last Night's Debate was an airing of the grievences

And we continue at 105 in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show. Mr. Randy Wings in Culver City. It's going to be a real strange summer. The state of California apparently only has six weeks left of reliable oil supply before we get into shortage territory. Uh-oh. And I don't think this war is ending anytime soon. 800-22-2-2-2-2 is telephone number 1-800-22-2-2-5-2-2-2-2. Let's go back to the sound from last night's gubernatorial debate. We have so many different topics here, Johnny. We've got why should Dems deserve another four years? Gas prices, the billionaire tax, immigration, working with Trump, health care, housing, Chad Bianco, going after Hilton. Saying one word to describe Gavin, AI, climate, fraud, the high speed rail, and Hollywood tax credits. Where do you want to go? Let's start with immigration. All right, this is where it got real ugly for pretty much everyone on the stage. I want to turn to another critical issue, not just in California, but also in the entire nation, which is immigration, as all of you know. Mr. Hilton, right now, President Trump is enacting a policy of mass deportation. As you know, roughly half of California farm workers, which are an essential part of this state's economy, are undocumented. As governor, would you push to deport them? So I'm the only immigrant on stage. I'm a legal immigrant. And Americans support immigration when it is properly controlled. And what we saw under the Biden administration, open borders, undermined everybody's support for immigration. And as governor, I've made it very clear. Although it is the federal government's responsibility to determine and implement immigration policy. I think it's important that all the laws are peacefully enforced. And as governor, I would make sure that we work with the federal government to enforce our laws. So that is what we don't expect. Any of these debates is Tony's last debate ever. So he's got to do whatever he can. He was aggressive last night. Again, this is it for him. There is no other campaign, and I don't know if he's even invited to the debate tonight on NBC. That's right. There's another one. Well, what's strange to me is that he was trying to bill himself as the moderate Democrat. as the Democrat that Republicans could feel comfortable voting for who would govern as the same person and fix a lot of these problems. It looked like, to me, last night, that he recalibrated and he was now presenting himself as a partisan warrior. Well, I think you have to recalibrate because the product that he was selling, nobody was buying.

No. And he and Matt Mayhan are selling a very similar product and both of them are stuck in single digits. So just to clarify, Mr. Hilton, do you support deporting those undocumented farm workers? The policy on deportation is the exact same policy that we saw with President Obama. In fact, the numbers of deportations right now in our country and in California are slightly lower. But just to clarify your position. And you answer the question. I've answered the question, which is I will work. Will you deport them? The governor is not in charge of federal policy. The governor is not in charge of immigration policy. If the question is, will you work with the feds if someone's here illegally, the answer was yes. That was the question. Well, would you, Antonio, because the governor of California, as you know, doesn't make that decision. It is the president of the United States elected by the country. Will you oppose them? Six of the people here don't even know who deports anyone. They just want emotions to rule the day so you support them. Is Chad Bianco ever happy? He seems like he's pissed off all the time. Yeah. And, you know, here's the thing. When you are on one of these panels where it's a lopsided panel. And again, I used to work over at CNN. So I was the one in very many five on one panels. You can't be angry. You can't come off of someone who looks like they rather be someplace else. It's not a good look. Even though the deck is stacked against you, and even though the other side is going to get a lot more time than your side, because you're the only one who's there to make the arguments, you still have to be the happy warrior. And I felt like last night in the debate before that, in particular, he had a hard time doing that. So you support them because they don't even know what the governor can and can't do. Or if they do, they're lying to you. Congresswoman Katie Porter. I can't believe that on a stage with 30 minutes of interrupting and bickering and name calling and shouting and disrespect for everyone up here who's stepping into public service that anyone wants to talk about my temperament. You were actually interrupting. That was Alex, by the way. Boy, that was totally out of the blue, by the way. The topic was immigration, and she talks about being a hothead. Well, every single candidate had some stupid line that they wrote down that they were going to find a way to insert no matter what was the topic. That includes Steve Hilton with everything is higher with Tom Steyer. You're better than that, Steve.

You were actually interrupting them too. I don't know why you want to act like you weren't. Oh, Cowboy up the cake. I don't call anybody names. Shut up, Cowboy. Here's the thing, and this is what I don't know. Because as a Republican, I am certainly not the type of person that she is tailoring her message for. But on stage last night, she was an angry bossy scold. And maybe Democrats like that. I don't know. I mean, she certainly was able to get elected in her district in Orange County several times, presenting herself as that way. I think... Her message essentially appeals to angry Democratic women. I can't imagine besides the Pod Save America guy. I can't imagine even Democratic men responding well to this. Well, and what was his biggest criticism of the last debate was that she wasn't being the real Katie Porter that we all know and fear. She was being nice, Katie Porter, because she wanted to be able to say, look, I could take Julie Watts's hard questions. So I think she needed to pivot as well. The polling has come out in that Democratic Party, you should all drop out poll. She in the last three weeks has gone down. two points in that poll. So the product that she was selling, people are not buying. So she had to pivot. So I guess maybe she could rebrand his mommy dearest and just run with it. Steve and I sat here smiling at each other because we're just watching you all prove to everyone why they can't vote for a Democrat. Exactly. I'll answer the question. Congresswoman Katie Porter, first off, do you want to respond to that from Sheriff Chad Bianco? Yes, I did not interrupt. I did not go back and forth. There were a couple of times you interrupted beforehand. I love that her answer is, I am ladylike. Mr. Chad Bianco, you've been very well behaved tonight, especially compared to CBS. And I actually appreciate it that you've been waiting your turn and following the rules. And I would appreciate it if everybody could do that. Because I think Californians are actually owed some answers to questions. We were told we can. Oh, nobody's getting any real answers here. This is a scrum and you all know it. So even last night, she was kind of schizophrenic. She was the get out of my effing shot lady, but she was also, I'm the adult in the room and I'm above all of this. Get out of my shot. That's the real Katie. But because that blew up on her, she doesn't really know who to be. It's very complicated. No, and she changes from question to question.

Questions? We were told we can interject. Congresswoman Katie Porter, on the question itself on these farm workers, which are a big part of California's economy. Screw the farm workers. We're having a fight. California's economy. What's your answer to that? As Mr. Hilton is saying, it's the decision of the federal government. It's the job of the governor to protect every single Californian, period. They're not citizens. Period. There are no qualifications on that. Are you doing that? Are you doing that by having a sanctuary state policy? Absolutely not. And I was on the stage telling everyone what was going to result from sanctuary state. And it's forcing, forcing us. These guys are talking back at each other like they're in a lay miss song. Forcing us to be less safe. May I give an answer? So she's also trying to play the victim. You got to do whatever you can. I'm telling you, these people are being twisted into every kind of position possible because the time is running out. People can vote now. There's only a few more of these debates. And the product that they've been selling has not been working out. And by the way. This is also an argument as to why we should just go back to close primaries. Because if you had a stage that had Hilton and Chad Bianco on it and you had a different stage on a different night that had Katie Porter and Mahan and Tom Steyer and Javier Milei and Villegosa and Thurman on it, it would be very different. And I think you would probably get more out of it. But you have various factions going after different factions at all points of time during these debates. And it's just kind of hard to follow because you have Democrat on Democrat. You have Republican on Democrat. You have Republican on Republican. And it just makes it hard to follow. And I think it would just be a lot cleaner if we went back to closed primaries where the discussions were easier to keep track of. I think you're going to see a lot of support in the legislature to do away with this top two system. It's the job of the California governor to protect every single Californian. The sanctuary state policy is designed to make sure that our state resources, the taxpayer dollars, the public servants that we have, are focusing on doing their jobs, which is not cooperating with the federal immigration authorities. These are Californians. They contribute to our economy. They pay taxes. And they're one of the only ways that our state has been growing in recent years. What about it? AI. That's the way the state's been growing. And by the way, wasn't there just a story that came out that we lost population? Yes. Mayor Villegorosa. Ragoza? Close enough. It's not even a real name. You know, you say you're a sheriff. Hey, when you get divorced, shouldn't you have to give the half of the name back? You'd think so, along with the lawn furniture? You know...

We were able to make sure we protected the DACA program for our dreamers all the way to the Supreme Court and we beat Donald Trump. What we have to do is make sure that Trump cannot invade California. And you can't stop him if you've got a governor like Steve Hilton, who is his dad. Donald Trump's his daddy. That does not work, dude. No. He even screwed up his own delivery of the line that he thinks is so funny. Like Steve Hilton, who is his dad. Donald Trump's his daddy. Okay. There are professional actors and professional comedians and people who do this for a living. And they know how to memorize lines and they know how to deliver lines. I think part of the reason that they have so many scripted lines was because of that debate between Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan, where Ronald Reagan talked about his age, where he said he's not going to use his opponent's youth and inexperience against him. And it turned into a huge moment in that debate. Well, Ronald Reagan, in addition to being a politician, was an accomplished actor himself. He knew how to deliver the line. These people have lines written for them by people who are not Hollywood writers. And they're being given to people who are not Hollywood actors. And you have people who aren't particularly good at writing snippy lines. And you have people who are really bad at delivering them. And then instead of having them come out in some kind of organic way or made to look organic at least, They're all so forced and it comes off so bad. If you've got a governor like Steve Hilton, who is his dad, Donald Trump's his daddy. You know, if there are just one thing I could ask for the rest of this campaign as we've got less than 30 days to go, I hope I never, ever, ever have to hear Xavier Becerra say the word daddy. Because I'm just imagining leather cuffs. Maybe that's what Katie Porter was watching. And he would protect them all the way through. Thank you, Secretary Xavier Becerra. Mr. Hilton, I'll let you respond to that and I have a question for you, Mr. Shire, after that. I don't want to respond to silly name-calling, but I'd like to actually respond to something Katie said. And I think it's probably a sincere policy difference between us. She said something very revealing, which is the only way really that California's economy has been growing in the last few years is through illegal immigration. And I just don't think that's the right way for us to be growing. I think we need to help small businesses create jobs and opportunity and for Californians to be... able to earn more and live the California dream and for entrepreneurs to want to start businesses in California. See, Hilton's strategy in this debate was, okay, Chad Bianco's going to do all red meat all the time. I'm going to be like pork, the other white meat.

That's how we should be growing our economy, not by illegal immigration. Congresswoman Katie Porter? I mean, given that you're an immigrant and you added to our population and we're all having to live with the consequences of that decision. Okay, who wrote that? They think it makes her sound funny. It doesn't make her sound funny. It makes her sound like an ex-wife. You can smell it right here. This, of all the awkward, weird lines that their staffers wrote for them, making fun of Hilton because he's an immigrant is strange. Congresswoman Katie Porter. I mean, given that you're an immigrant and you added to our population and we're all having to live with the consequences of that decision. No laughs. Nope. I mean, I don't think there was a studio audience, but still, no laughs. Jim Rome takes on sports. Part of what makes this show, the show, is the show within the show. The biggest topic on the show always seems to be the show itself. This is a way to give you clones a way to interact with one another. Yes, we will be going through the chat. Yes, it'll be a part of the program. The only thing that could ruin the show are the old school clones spitting up the same bull crap that they always have. The jungle is out taking names and ready to dominate. Let's get it. The Jim Rome Show podcast. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. form. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail.com. That's Johnny Don't Like Show at Gmail.com. And Randy, now that we've crossed the halfway point of today's show, if you would continue listening to us after we sign off at three, that's easy to do. All you got to do is search for the John Phillips Show. Wherever you get your podcast. That could be the Apple Podcast app. Iheart, Spotify. Search for the John Phillips Show. Hit subscribe. You could download all the episodes. You could do a Google on the YouTube. You could get the free KABC app, the free KSFO app. Get the KMJ Now app because we're on that station Saturdays at noon. So many different ways to listen live to what we're doing here every single day from noon to three wherever you are. Thanks to our streaming, our website, our apps. And you can download all the podcasts. listen to us whenever you want on your time. You can even hit the rewind button. Now, you can listen to these podcasts no matter what you're doing. You can listen to us while you're doing your meal prep. I do that on Sundays. You can listen to us while you're exercising. If you've got one of those smart speakers even and listen to us in the shower, but just make sure you scrub it. All right. Let's go back to last night's debate and hear what the candidates had to say about high-speed rail. All righty. I think Antonio Virigosa starts off this round. Or Mayor Viragoza, this next question is for you. In 2008, California voters voted for a high-speed rail system from L.A. to San Francisco that was supposed to be done. I was 23.

And we should have been writing on this thing for how many years by now? Six. From L.A. to San Francisco that was supposed to be done by 2020 and cost around $30 billion. It's now 2026. It's not even close to being done. And the estimated cost has ballooned to $230 billion. Mayor, your opponent, Steve Hilton, says that on his first day in office, he would kill this project, quote, stone dead. Would you? No. Do you notice that? And we know Alex likes to do this. He set up all of his debate questions in a stir-the-pot fashion. Oh, yeah, because you're not only answering the question, you're telling someone else on stage that they're an idiot. Alex did a great job last night. No. And let me just first speak about waste and fraud. I can acknowledge that there has been waste. You know what I wish? As soon as you get asked the question, if you go off topic, we turn off your mic. This is yet another example as to how Antonio Virugosa, who was trying to sell himself as a moderate, is falling flat. Any moderate Democrat would look at high-speed rail and say, this is a boondoggle, this is a failure, time to cut bait. But for whatever reason, he likes to frame himself as a moderate, but then take the position that everyone else is taking. Let me just first speak about waste and fraud. I can acknowledge that there has been waste and fraud in the state. There was 250 million in just one hospice facility. We spent $24 billion in Van Nuys. In one building? We spent $24 billion on homelessness and homelessness went up. Why would I support, continue to support high speed rail? Because when the subway to the sea was dead and I became mayor, I said I was going to bring in the best and the brightest from around the world. We did. And then I got the federal government to approve it. And that subway is going to get built. We've got to. He was mayor how many years ago? He stopped being mayor in 2013. And he's talking about a project that is still not completed in 2026. And he's taking credit for it because he said it's going to be completed someday. We did build the light rail to the sea, but that just imported all the bums from downtown L.A. to downtown Santa Monica. We've had incompetence, maybe fraud, but for sure, we've made mistakes with respect to this. As governor, I will do what I did as mayor build more transportation than anybody in the United States of America. Mr. Hilton. So the high-speed rail is an example of the fraud. They spent billions of dollars. I don't know where the money's gone. It certainly hasn't gone into building anything that actually works. And I just want to make one broader point about fraud. I'm actually running this race in a different way than we've seen before. I've put together a team to run with me for there are other statewide offices. And along with my running mate for state controller, Herb Morgan, and Michael Bill Gates for Attorney General and Gloria Romero for Lieutenant Governor. Hey, Gloria got a shout out.

I'm going to see her tonight. We've actually been investigating the fraud. Our surveys so far suggest that in the last five years in California, we've had $425 billion of fraud. That's around $80 billion a year, around 20% of the budget. Thank you, sir. And our team is going to stop it and prosecute it and give money back to- Alex. If I could just chime in on this. Hey, Matt Mahan's here. I forgot all about him. How can anyone at this point defend that project? Unless you're employed by the agency or you have property that you sold to the state of California for a king's ransom. Who has benefited from this project? Do you remember early on in the campaign? Katie Porter went out and said, yeah, this project doesn't make any sense. And the unions came after her heart. And she changed course. She flip-flopped, which is what all the Democrats are doing because the unions love the project. If this project goes on forever, they're happy because those are jobs and those are union dues that are going to those particular unions. But if there's no public benefit, why should we continue with the project? We could hire these people to dig ditches and then fill them back up again, fill up the holes. Real quickly, Mayor. Yeah, well, first of all, election denial certainly is running the campaign in a different way. But look, on high-speed rail, it shouldn't cost us more to get to Modesto than it's cost us to get to the moon. And it's, who wrote that one for you, Matt? Boy, this is just like open mic night at the local pizzeria. They didn't do this at the debate last week. But every single candidate, I don't think Chad Bianco did, but every single candidate besides him had some zinger in their pocket and they were all terrible. And they pay these strategists a fortune to come up with this sort of thing for them. It shouldn't cost us more to get to Modesto than it's cost us to get to the moon. And it's not either or. The answer is accountability. We are spending. It's our favorite word. Accountability, accountability, accountability. Accountability, accountability, accountability. It's like it's calling a racehorse. We are spending billions of dollars before we ever put a shovel in the ground, paying consultants and lawyers for endless bureaucracy. As governor, I will demand fundamental reform of CEQA of all of the rules. Wait, Gavin's already reformed CEQA 50 times and it really hasn't moved the needle. So at what point do we say, got to kill this thing?

You got to kill SICWA and you got to kill the Coastal Commission. Those two entities right there are two of the biggest roadblocks to any kind of sane policy regarding housing in the state of California. Both of them have to go. All of the rules, the environmental laws, the litigation around these projects so that we get to building faster. It goes back to your climate point as well. We can't modernize our grid if we can't build. Thank you, sir. Alex is like, we're moving on, buddy. I'm going to ask the question about what actor would you like to play you in the movie. All right, let's move on to fraud because fraud was referenced by Steve Hilton. It was referenced by others in that last clip. Let's hear what they have to say about that. Congresswoman Katie Porter, I want to ask you about something that is a huge conversation in Washington. You've mentioned your whiteboard use that you were famous for when you served in Congress. A recent poll found that 56% of likely California primary voters think the next governor should make investigating fraud in government programs a high priority. The president has named Vice President JD Vance as the nation's fraud czar. As you know, he brings up California a lot and has made clear that he has set his sights on California. Do you believe that's a good thing? So we should all care where our tax dollars go, whether we're paying, you know, a low rate like Tom compared to the rest of us or any chance they can get to go after Tom Steyer. I love how passive aggressive she is. Well. We all saw her in that Instagram video where she started talking about Tom Steyer and his money, and we saw what she did to those poor, innocent little carrots. Sorry for the noise. I'm cutting carrots. She looked like a moyle. or a rate that's higher. We all should want our tax dollars to go to work. I think Tom wants even his 13% compared to our 20% to go to work. So fraud is real. It happens. Government waste, mismanagement, failure to have audits, failure to implement government recommendations. That's why I chose to serve on the Oversight Committee and hold Democratic leadership and Republican leadership. Trump and Biden to account for those programs. But there's nothing special about Californians. That is political theater coming from JD Vance. Fraud occurs because government leaders don't take... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. How about EDD, where that was the biggest theft of funds in the history of the United States? And California was the victim. Fraud occurs because government leaders don't think hard and design programs clearly to guard against fraud. It happens on both sides of the aisle, and it's going to take somebody who has a track record of protecting consumers and doing government oversight in order to change that. Thank you, Congresswoman. Sheriff Chad Bianco.

On the program itself and investigating fraud, and she's saying that it's political theater that is coming from the federal government. Did he not know what the question was? Was she mixing it up? Sometimes when they go to a different candidate, they change it up a bed. It's only political theater if the fraud is happening and it happened on our watch. And so the Democrats in California don't want anybody to believe that there's fraud in California. But yet our own state government has said that we are one of the most wasteful state governments in the entire country. The waste fraud and the abuse in California government is the worst in the entire country. That comes from our own state government. If we are not going to root out the waste fraud and abuse. All of their pie in the sky policies, they certainly are not going to pay for them unless they tax you more, which is that's all we're hearing from them, is what you started in the very beginning about how bad California is, and we aren't talking about the policies that are going to fix it because it's their policies that broke it. We've talked about them arguing about Mr. Xavier Becerra and about Trump ruining everything, but the reality is it is Democrat policies in California that have failed us in every question you've asked that we haven't answered. And that's an excellent answer because the state auditor does an excellent job in California. The state auditor puts out a list every single year of suspected waste fraud and abuse. And the problem that we have here is that the legislature and the electeds don't do anything with it. It's not like this information is hidden. This information is there if you want to do something with it. The problem is the lack of will to do anything about it because then you have to take on some sacred cows. Because you have to ask yourself, who's doing the stealing? And if the people doing the stealing are the wrong people, well, you don't want any friendly fire now, do you?

That's the latest on that question. We got lots more of this debate coming up, Johnny. Jim Rome takes on sports. Part of what makes this show, the show within the show. The biggest topic on the show always seems to be the show itself. This is a way to give you clones a way to interact with one another. Yes, we will be going through the chat. Yes, it'll be a part of the program. The only thing that could ruin the show are the old school clones spitting up the same bull crap that they always have. The jungle is out taking names and ready to dominate. Let's get it. The Jim Rome Show podcast. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. form. All right, let's go back to the sound of last night's debate and listen to Javier Milei talk about everyone taking aim at him on the stage. I do have to go back to Secretary Xavier Becerra, since I did promise you that I would let you respond to that since Congresswoman Katie Porter invoked your name a few moments ago, she was talking about your leadership. Would you like to respond to her? Yeah, I think everyone's invoking my name. It's nice to hear my name quite a bit, and they're at least pronouncing it. It shouldn't be. Wait, is that a shot at Biden? I think it might be. The Biden people certainly took shots in him after the debate. For Secretary of Health and Education's ever, I nominated Javier Milei. Okay, my name. It's nice to hear my name quite a bit, and they're at least pronouncing it. It shouldn't be. I will tell you this, distorting the facts in your quest to be governor. is never good. But using Trump lies to try to damage your opponents is worse. And that's what we see happening. Everyone knows that Trump campaigned in 2024 talking about lost kids when there were no such thing as lost kids. To hear these candidates now talk about that, if they're so concerned, why haven't they taken any action to find these lost kids?

That's an interesting take. Yeah. Katie Porter, how come you haven't found these kids? I think it's shameful for people to use Trump lies to try to gain favor with voters when you know it's not true. Use the facts. We should have a governor who relies on the facts. I will speak the facts when I'm governor because that's what the California voters deserve. I feel compelled. Staying on the topic. It was a New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning investigation. And read the article. It's not Donald Trump. Read the article. All right. Mr. Virugosa. We're going to, we're going to move on. We're going to move on now, sir. Be accountable. I love that he's screaming off Mike. This is Antonio's last hurrah. After this month, you'll never hear from him again. Then they went on to get asked the question, can you describe Gavin Newsom in one word? All right. We're going to move on on the topic of leadership. I want to talk about California Governor Gavin Newsom, who's about to leave office after eight consequentials and at times controversial years. To all of you, what is one word you would use to describe Gavin Newsom's performance as governor? We will go down the line, starting with you, Mayor Villarigosa, one word to describe Gavin Newsom's performance as governor. Performative. Accurate. He's not wrong. That's actually a very good word to use to describe Gavin Newsom, because Gavin Newsom is all about these big, grandiose proclamations with zero follow-through. Bold. Sure about that? Why does she keep trying to kiss his ass? He is not going to endorse her. Progressive. Failed. Steve. Failure. You can't take my word. Game changing. Incomplete. You notice he's another one who is recalibrated, and he's now holding his punches. He's letting you know that he understands that the state is screwed up, but he's not as bold as he used to be in calling it out because he has minimal support among Democrats. Well, and you're talking about a primary, primary voters are partisan, and... Primary people, the California voters, they are still kind of like Gavin. I don't get it. But he is very popular right now in his own party. I guess it's because he goes after Trump on Twitter all the time. But it certainly can't be for his performance in California.

But the Democrats who live here that I know don't regard that as political. They separate state and local issues from hating on Donald Trump. And they act as if state and local issues aren't political at all. They just complain about it and they're upset about it, but it doesn't impact their vote at all. Why they're so tolerant of poor government, I don't know, but they are. And that's a big problem for Matt Mayhan and Antonio Villarigosa. Hey, I'm Chris Van Fleet. Go behind the scenes and beyond the headlines with the biggest names in pro wrestling and beyond. Mr. Sandman. All I ever wanted to be was a pro wrestler. So I got to live my life. And make people really happy. The heartbreak kid himself, Sean Michaels. Do you think there's anybody better than you were? I think I was great at what I did. And I think other people were great at what they did as well. Greatness is more of mindset, I think, than anything else. Mindset, motivation, insight with Chris Van Fleet. Follow and listen on your favorite plan. platform.