Capital Insights

think he can. And when you consider the, and I don't mean this in a derogatory way, but the tribal instinct, right, in Michigan, there's a deep base of people who are of that Egyptian heritage. Like we have here in Maine, there's a Somali community that's pretty intense in the Lewiston area. And that's fine, but. Once you get outside of those tribal territories, can you appeal to the person who doesn't get up every morning and listen to Phil Harriman and Josh Miller talk about the topics of the day, but care enough to tune in a few days before the election and decide who they're going to vote for? That's the person who's going to determine the direction of our state and our country, in my opinion. Yeah, and I mean, I look at this as really a... preface to what's going to happen in 2028. If the DSA, which is clearly ascendant within the primaries, if they can actually win in statewide races, you got a gubernatorial candidate, I think in Wisconsin, you got Abdul El-Sayed. He hasn't won the primary yet, but assuming he does win, if these people are successful, then it would seem logical. that a DSA or a DSA type candidate would be the nominee to be president of the United States. That's, I'm sorry, but that scares the hell out of me. Yeah. I mean, that really scares me. Look at the momentum that Zohran Mamdani has accumulated in New York City. The guy opens up a government-run grocery store. Right, where the government is going to provide food at a discount. But the problem is you have to have identification to go into the grocery store. But you don't have to have an identification. Well, you don't have to have identification to vote, but you have to have identification to go into the state-run grocery store. And if that is the mentality that's taking shape in this generation. that's coming of age, yeah, you're right. We're in trouble. Yeah, I mean, basically these city-run grocery stores are basically, it's a taxpayer subsidy is what they're doing. Absolutely. They're just taking the taxpayer money and subsidizing against the cost of the grocery store. If they actually try to run a grocery store, as someone who's actually worked with the grocery industry in emergency management and preparedness, it's incredibly complicated. Here's what we're going to do, Josh. You and I are going to buy an island out on Casco Bay, and we're going to declare ourselves a sovereign nation. There you go. And create America all over again. We may have to do that. So last week, I think it was... Anthony Fauci was either getting ready to testify or he had testified. I can't remember which. Yes, yes. We were predicting whether or not he would take the fifth. Right. And I think it was pretty clear. He took it 100 and a lot of people on the right are very upset that all that happened at this point is he was humiliated, which I don't think is a small thing. I think humiliating him is actually quite useful.

And discrediting him is quite useful. Well, humiliated himself. Yeah. Well, the facts humiliated. Yeah. Right. He basically couldn't deal with the facts. But a lot of people wanted to see him carried out in handcuffs. That obviously didn't happen. There's talk about trying to prosecute him for either obstruction for what he did at the hearing, maybe even prosecuting him for what he said before by going after the pardons. And there's now talk of the states. going after him for lying under oath in some of the depositions that were administered when he was sued during COVID for some of the lockdowns and other things. What's your take? Do you think there's a real chance that Anthony Fauci will be held legally accountable? And if he is, what avenue do you think it might come down to? As your political mentor once said, what difference does it make at this point? Come on, my political mentor, Phil, what are you talking about? That's Hillary Clinton at the Benghazi hearings, right? People are dead already. What difference does it make? I think back to people that I know personally who didn't have their prom, didn't have their high school or college graduation that postponed their wedding. I think of one of my clients' son was studying abroad in South Korea, and his mother was dying of brain cancer and comes back to Mass General Hospital. you know, bids farewell to his mother through a glass window. How do you get all of that back in the name of taking him out in handcuffs? I just don't see the value of it. I don't know if there's the political or legal momentum to do that, but I think it does serve, again, for us to be more questioning of our all-knowing, all-caring, all-feeling, government that says, yeah, you've got to be six feet apart and you've got to take this needle. Josh, remember, in the height of this, we were celebrating doctors and nurses and firefighters and police officers who were working under this, you know, potential death moment. And then all of a sudden the government says, you're going to take a shot or you're going to get fired. Yep. So the same people we were calling a hero months later were somehow part of the problem. I just feel that we learned our lesson. But have we? See, that's the thing. Well, I have. I think most of the people listening to us. I hope so. But there's a lot of people out there, Phil, that... celebrate still, not just Anthony Fauci, but the governors and the mayors who lock them down, they are convinced that these people save their lives. And I don't know if what happened to Anthony Fauci broke through that bubble. I don't know. I don't think you did.

I don't think it did. I don't think it did either. I think there is a mindset in our culture that the government is here to provide and to take care of. And if someone else has got to pay for it, that's okay. I don't have to take responsibility for providing my own welfare. It's the government's job. Yeah. And I don't think you're going to change that. Yeah, I mean, the thing that really struck me looking at the diary is the fact that in the summer of 2021, the CDC had come to the conclusion that was pretty obvious by then that the vaccines had failed, that they were not going to prevent you from getting infection. They didn't stop transmission. And Anthony Fauci was... actively blocking the CDC from telling the American people. And he was pushing for vaccine mandates. And he said, you know, don't have family over. Even Thanksgiving in 2021. You can't buy a turkey over 12 pounds. You can't make this up. Yeah. It's just. But it's okay for Gavin Newsom to go have dinner at the French laundry. Yes, at the French laundry. With the elites. Yep. Yeah, I mean, the people that lock me down, Daddy, you know, one more time. It's just, yeah, I don't know if you can ever reach those people. And there's going to be another pandemic. That's the thing. There's going to be another pandemic. And are we going to have to go through this again? And, yeah, that's the part that really bothers me. Can I ask you from your legal background? Sure. Getting a pardon, is that something that's offered or do you request it? It could be either. It could be either. Anthony Fauci allegedly wanted a pardon. He sought. That's what the news reporting shows, that he went to the Biden White House and asked to get a pardon. So why would you do that? And he claims it's because Rand Paul has such a thirst for his, you know. head. He wants his head on a Graham Platner. Right. That warrants a pardon? Well, yeah. I mean, it's up to the president to decide if you're, you know, going to get it or not. But yeah, Anthony Fauci, I mean, Anthony Fauci... Anthony Fauci knew he had that diary, right? He knew he had the diary, and he knew he knows that he didn't tell the truth. And he probably knew that, you know, they were going to come after him. I mean, I think it was obvious that Rand Paul had made criminal referrals to DOJ under Biden. They were summarily ignored. Sure. But the statute of limitations hadn't run. Justice is blind, right? Yes, of course. Yeah. So, yeah, Anthony Fauci apparently went and said, I need a pardon, and he got it. And his argument was, well, they're out to get me. Well, they're out to get you because you're a known liar. Well, in his own words, it's not like there was some forensic, you know, make one plus one equal two. It was in his own words, using a government computer to celebrate himself. Yeah.

While he was president of the Senate. That's some chutzpah there. I mean, and it was apparently quite easy to trace it back to him because of his email address. So, you know, look, I don't, I mean, it's one thing to go online with a pseudonym to maybe just observe and surveil. But he was posting. Yeah, he was advocating. He was advocating. Right. I think that's a little, I think that's color and outside the lines. Yeah. But again, will he be asked about it? No. No. And people on Main Street are going to go, what? So he posted something on the Internet? No, I don't think that is newsworthy. Wow. But I think it does show you that there is this energy, this passion to discredit, in this case, Governor LaPage. by putting a facade out there to protect who you want. If you really felt this way, why didn't you call a press conference with, you know, your title as president of the Senate? I think the news people would show up and discuss these things head to head. Yeah. Yeah, it is a strange way to deal with the issue. Looking at other races in the state, Phil, you got CD2. You've got the governor's race. Lots been said about the fundraising. Hannah Pingree has raised a lot of money, a lot of it from out of state. Bobby Charles, mostly in-state small donations. Is this a long-term issue, you think, or is, you know, Pingree basically fired her shot and things are going to even out? What's your take on that? Well, I, I, it's fascinating to me that the party that talks about getting money out of politics are the ones that are raising the most amount of money from away. But put that aside, I think Hannah Pingree. On the surface is, you know, she's well-educated. She's easily and comfortable mingling with people, as I see her on social media, doing all of the parades and festivals, and what's not to like about her on the surface? But when you dig into the issues and... You say to yourself, gee, we really need to improve our education system in Maine. We've got to do something about these escalating electricity costs. We've got to do something about the cost of housing in our state. You could go on and on. Well, she was either in the legislature or at the governor's right hand for the last seven years, six years. The policies that have brought us to where we are today, she's had a hand in creating... And now she's going to fix them. Yeah. And I think that's what Bobby Charles has got to find a way to point out. Yeah. If you want things to change, you can't have the same people who got us here in charge. No, absolutely. All right, we'll have to leave it there.