Big Primary Day Across The Nation
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300 segmentsYour education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top ringed program from over 150 areas of study, on campus or online, and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. News, politics, entertainment. This is O'Connor and Company. All eyes on Washington, D.C. this morning. Fifth day of August. Why are all eyes on Washington, D.C.? Well, because it's the most influential, important, powerful city on the planet, of course. And as we look at the primaries all across the country, including huge ones yesterday, they all have one thing in common. These people from all around the nation and all these states and districts, they're dying to come here. They're dying to listen to this program on our flagship station, WMAL, in Washington, D.C. But, you know, the jokes on them. They could listen anywhere in the country on our O'Connor and Company network. with the power of the Salem radio network behind it or on the internet. They can watch us on Salem News channel streaming video. But you know what? I think maybe they also want to come here to be a lawmaker, working Congress, work in Senate. And we have huge results from yesterday's primaries all across the nation. We're going to break them all down for you coming up well right now. Good morning. I'm Larry O'Connor. It's O'Connor and Company. And coming up in 30 minutes, we'll get Cal Thomas to reflect on. the direction of these elections. And as we crystallize what the general is going to look like in November, we definitely have a narrative that Michigan, excuse me, that Republicans can run on. Michigan's on my mind right now, of course, that Republicans can run on in the general election in November if, in fact, they choose to do so, or if they're capable of doing so. Also coming up in the 7 o'clock hour, we're going to check in on that gerrymandering plan, the special session in Maryland. You know, it's not getting as much attention, but it should. where Maryland Democrats are trying to disenfranchise the last remaining Republican representative, the last remaining Republican district with a special session, unprecedented special session. Will's talk to Maryland delegate, Matt Morgan, about that. Our 8 o'clock hour brings us Byron York, one of the most astute political reporters across the spectrum. He'll be joining us in the 8 o'clock hour to give us his summation of last night's proceedings. And then we'll also speak with the SBA administrator, Kelly Loeffler, former senator from Georgia. That's all coming up. And I just want to say real fast, we are setting aside time today at any given time if he wants to call in and sort of do a victory lap with his old listeners on his program on this Salem Radio network. Yes, we are holding out hope that Chris DeGaul will not sleep in because he was out celebrating so late last night if you haven't heard.
Our friend, our colleague, our brother, Christigal, the man who across the network here was the morning show host right here at this time hosting the Christagall show right up until he made that stunning announcement in late March that he would be resigning from that position so that he could run for Congress last night. Chris DeGall won the Republican primary in the 6th Congressional District of Missouri. He is now, for the most part, assured victory in November. It's one of the many districts that are pretty solid Republican across the spectrum. It's one of the reasons why Mike Johnson still has a chance to win this very difficult midterm election and still stay the Speaker of the House because there are so many districts that have been. districted in such a way that they are locked in for the Republican Party. Chris is now the Republican nominee, our friend Chris DeGall, in that very district, the 6th of Missouri. So for all intents and purposes, Chris DeGal will become a member of the United States Congress and will be sworn in the first week of January, 27. I couldn't be more excited for our friend and for my colleague. It's just great. I'm actually utterly speechless about it. It's thrilling. I knew it would happen. I was confident it would happen. But when you actually saw the results coming in last night, it just it just wallops. So congratulations, Chris. We're all applauding you here on the team. Everyone, we worked with all the people that are putting the show together right now. Anyway, let's move on to the big race in Michigan. That would be for the United States Senate. And all of the polls and all of the press and all of the analysis leading up to last night when the polls closed assured everyone that Abdul El-Sayed, the former Wayne County, Michigan, that's the biggest county in the states. It's where Detroit is. The Wayne County, Michigan Public Health Director would win by double digits against Representative Haley Stevens, who was the establishment choice and had a lot of Super PAC money. including money from APAC, which is a political action committee of Americans who, for the most part, are of Jewish descent or support the state of Israel in one way or another. And it became very much a race against APAC. The rhetoric was, oh, borderline anti-Semitic, frankly, with the way Abdul El-Sayed and the people who empower him. and support him were scoring off against Haley Stevens. And yes, those super PACs definitely came in and outspent Abdul El-Sayed. Abdul El-Sayed, for his part, was running on a keep money out of politics. By the way, most of the candidates who run for keeping money out of politics are the same candidates where well-funded political action committees would never dream of supporting them in the first place. So it's pretty easy to run to keep money out of politics when you're not getting any of that money anyway. But yeah, he was definitely outspent in a big way by the traditional political consultants based in D.C. who thinks that you win races like this with television ads. And that's all they know how to do. So they pour a ton of money into television ads and it makes it look like, oh, look at it's David versus Goliath. Look at all that money. Meanwhile, Abdel El-Sayyad had a lot of great organizing on the ground.
That's what communists do. Communists are really good at organizing. They're really good at staging marches. They're really good at getting people who don't have, you know, gainful employment to get out and volunteer for you because, well, they're zealots and they believe in the cause. And Abdul El-Sayed definitely had a lot of zealots on his side. He also had a podcaster named Hasan Piker on his side. Hasan Piker. is a Muslim radical socialist who said that America deserves 9-11, who said that he would vote for Hamas over the state of Israel any day of the week. Hamas, that would be the terrorists who slaughter innocent people and hold them hostage for years on end. He has said that it was a sad thing that the Soviet Union lost the Cold War. Hasan Piker. was campaigning with Abdul El-Sayed right up until the last day of the election. And, well, the people of Michigan has spoken. And although it was very close, like razor thin, in fact, there are some media outlets who still have not made an official call. It appears as though Abdul El-Sayed has, in fact, won that nomination by about one and a half, maybe two percentage points, not nearly the double-digit romp. that they were hoping for or that they predicted. Dare I say, this may be the best result Republicans could ever have dreamed of. This could be the best result that Mike Rogers could have anticipated. The polls already showed him beating Abdul El-Sayed in the general election, and I have no doubt that that's the case. Let's face it, you've got people who were voting for. Haley Stevens because they believed in her policies. They believe that the state of Israel has a right to exist. They believe that the state of Israel deserves to have a tight, close relationship with the United States of America. But even more so, they believe that although Haley Stevens is a progressive, left-wing, liberal, pick your label, Democrat, a Barack Obama-style Democrat. In fact, she worked in the Obama administration. She's not a lunatic. She wouldn't campaign with people who think that we deserved 9-11. Haley Stevens, for all of her political flaws, and I disagree with her on a ton of things, she doesn't terrify people at the thought of being in the United States Senate. She doesn't surround herself with the Hasan Piker and Zohran Mamdani and Bernie Sanders and EOC. Hassan, excuse me, Abdul El-Sayed, still tries to pretend that he's not. a socialist, that he's not a Democratic socialist of America because he isn't a card-carrying member of the party, but he goes to their offices, they supported him, they campaigned for him, they door-knocked for him, and he supports every position that the DSA, the top-line positions at least, have been promoting. So he's trying to have it both ways. He did not get the double-digit victory. He does not go into the general election, at least waking up this morning, with any kind of overwhelming momentum. In fact, political professionals and even those on the ground in Michigan right now are looking at the results saying, oh, so he's not that strong a candidate. So he's not going to be that great. Well, don't underestimate him. He is a very strong candidate, and he's the most dangerous kind of political animal because he will lie to you to your face with a smile.
And you know he's lying to you, but he'll be very convincing. We Republicans aren't very good at that. So he's going to be strong. He's going to be formidable. And Mike Rogers, a strong candidate in his own right, who barely lost a Senate race two years ago against Elissa Slotkin, he is poised to steal this seat back for Republicans, a seat that's been held by Democrats for decades. And if Democrats are hoping to take control of the United States Senate, that would be a huge setback for them. So all eyes will be on Michigan for the next 90 days as this thing shapes up. Abdul El-Sayed, a wounded yet victorious, radical, the most radical candidates that I think has ever made it to the general election for a position this prominent, this high up. Until next week when Francesca Hong does the same thing in Wisconsin to be governor of the Badger State. We shall see, but the stage is definitely set for Mike Rogers, for Republicans, and yeah, for a lot more super PAC spending. It'll be one of the most expensive Senate races in Michigan. Well, it will definitely be the most expensive Senate race in Michigan history. Quite possibly one of the most expensive races we've ever seen. and a pretty critically important one. All right. Coming up, we've got more results of the governor's race out of Michigan. We've got some interesting house races in Missouri that go beyond Krista Golsey. We've got some results in Virginia, some big results in Virginia, including a very attractive candidate for the Republicans to run against Mark Warner, an uphill fight, but they've got a good man to fight that fight. In fact, a retired general. We'll get into all of that. Coming up next, keep it here. It's Results Central. For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's The Odyssey has shaped Western imagination. It tells the story of Odysseus as he faces monsters, shipwrecks, false comforts, and impossible choices on his long journey home. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, Homer's epic is more than a mythology, it explores permanent questions about courage, duty, loyalty, family, leadership, temptation, and the search for home. In one of the epic's defining moments, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso, choosing instead the long and difficult journey home. His decision reveals one of the central themes of the Odyssey that a life of duty, family, and home is greater than a life devoted to comfort or glory. Achilles chose glory. Odysseus chose home. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, The Odyssey, taught by Professor Benedict Wayland. The course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western literature. Find this free course at Charlie for Hillsdale.com. That's Charlie for Hillsdale.com. Read the classics, study the West. The Odyssey from Hillsdale College. Go to Charlie for Hillsdale.com. It's more results from Michigan. setting aside the bizarre nature of Abdul El-Sayed's Instagram algorithm feed, which apparently is nothing but pornography. We're going to get into that challenging topic a little bit later in the program, but Abdul El-Sayed has defeated Representative Haley Stevens, who by the way, also I just want to point out because nobody will say it out loud. Haley Stevens is a really flawed...
Candidate, okay. I'm sorry. I said, she's weird. I said it on the show before, and I'll go even further. She, she, oh, God, I'm going to get in trouble for saying it. She looks weird. She does. She looks weird. She's a, well, what is she, like, 41 years old? And she, like, walks around hunched over. And she's got dark circles under her eyes. And she's got, like, really odd mannerisms. And she does. As Michigan as her voice is, it's still weird Michigan, okay? I'm from Michigan, too. And I don't talk like that. Only, well, weird people from Michigan talk like that. She was an incredibly flawed candidate. And she still came within a whisker of defeating Abdul El-Sayed. He's a paper tiger. He's supported by the white liberal, overeducated, and underemployed college grads. And it doesn't go much further than that. For the man who claims that he's the voter and the candidate in the voice of the workers, the blue collar working class. Well, the blue collar working class gave him a big middle finger last night. And they went the other direction. Mike Rogers has a huge window, a huge opportunity. I hope he is skilled enough to take advantage of it and make the case, not just that Abdul El-Sayed should absolutely be feared because of his radical ideas and his radical affiliations, but he should also understand that people are frustrated. People do want better solutions. And it's the Republicans who have those solutions. And he needs to present those solutions. Not just the platitudes. actual solutions. We'll see. I have high hopes. Meanwhile, in Virginia, retired Army Major General Bert Misasawa won the Republican nomination. He will go after Mark Warner's fourth, fifth term I think he's running for, after he promised only run to two terms, of course. That will be a fascinating race to watch. Of course, Mark Warner is the favorite going in, but that is a very strong, very attractive candidate. We will introduce him to you on these airwaves, certainly in the next several days. Also, Virginia 1 has suddenly become a huge toss-up. race in Virginia. Prosecutor Shannon Taylor will face off against Representative Rob Whitman. Rob Whitman is a long-serving Republican congressman from the Hampton Roads area. I shouldn't have called it a toss-up, but it's definitely a battleground. And Democrats think they have a chance there. I'm not so sure. Meanwhile, ditto in Virginia, too, which is much closer. Former Congresswoman Elaine Luria won as expected and will go up against the woman who just defeated her Jen Kiggins. And meanwhile, in Virginia 5, Tom Periello won the Democratic nomination and will challenge Representative John McGuire. Now, of course, these challenges are all much more different than the Democrats had hoped when they tried to redistrict the Commonwealth.
Meanwhile, some other races to watch and that were very hotly contested, really Virginia 7 and Virginia 10, which are always hotly contested Northern Virginia districts. Seven is currently represented by Eugene Vindman. Yes, one of those twin brother Vindman's. State Senator Tara Durant won a very, very crowded primary and will be going up against Eugene Finman and also, ditto, a very crowded primary in Virginia 10. It was Mike Van Meter, who ended up winning that nomination and will be running against the incumbent Suhas Subramanyam. Did I pronounce that right? Let's say I did. Missouri, some pretty highly contested races beyond radio host, Krista Gull's triumph in Missouri 6. Cori Bush was trying to win back her district, and we were told that she had a fight and chance to do it. She's, of course, one of the original radical squad members who rose to fame on the lie of the Ferguson race riots. She got defeated in the primaries by Wesley Bell. By the way, She claimed that it was because of A-PAC in the state of Israel. Oh, yeah, she was a trailblazer a couple of years ago when she lost that. She was coming back, and we were told that she was going to have a chance, but she doesn't. She got pounded, and Wesley Bell will continue to be the Democrat nominee there in Missouri 1. What else is of note yesterday? Just doing a quick overview. Oh, a fascinating race in Michigan. a house race where a candidate who had just dropped out in July and put his campaign on hold because he was sure he was going to lose to a Trump endorsed Republican challenger, he ended up winning, handling by about 20 points. That's an odd one. We're going to give it, excuse me, more details throughout the morning of some of these races. Keep it here. More coming up. And Cal Thomas coming up. You know, I love talking about my supplements that I take every day. Meredith, you know, sort of screens all the supplements and the family. She wants to keep me happy and healthy for many, many decades because, well, we're in love and we love spending time together. So relief factor is one of the ones she gave the green light to because, well, you can trust it. And it works. It's worked for me, and it's worked for Mark. Mark was in tears from his daily hand joint discomfort. After a week on relief factor, he felt 50% better. And now he barely notices any pain. Same with me. I had crippling sciatica in May. I barely able to get out of bed and walk across the room, and now I'm back training for the Marine Corps Marathon this fall. We want you to be one of these success stories. So why don't you try Relief Factor's quick start? It's three weeks for only $17.76. Go to Relieffactor.com or call 800 for Relief, and you're going to connect with a friendly local team. They'll do everything they can to help. That's relieffactor.com, relieffactor.com.
Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top ringed program from over 150 areas of study, on campus or online, and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. Congratulations again to my brother and our radio brother, Christigal, now the Republican nominee for Congress, Missouri 6, winning a hard-fought primary. That's good. Iron sharpens iron. You know what I'm saying? He went through it and he came out on top and now he'll be facing off against a Democrat for a pretty heavy red district there in Missouri. So say hello to presumptive Congressman Christigal. Very exciting. And no, let's not start this as a trend. for talk radio hosts to go into politics. All right. Chris is a one-off. He's a gifted, wonderful, God-loving patriot, and the rest of us will stay right where we belong behind the microphone. I would hate for this to catch on. Good Lord. Jordanis right now is a man who should have run for office, but he couldn't take the pay cut over his long-story career as a columnist and political analyst. He is the one, the only America's sweetheart, Cal Thomas. Good morning, Cal. Good morning to you, Larry. Yes, I would run from office, not for office. Somebody asked me once, have I ever thought of running for office? I said, yes, I did. I took two aspirin lay down for a while. The feeling went away. Yes, exactly. I wish that would happen to more people, actually, but it doesn't. Well, I'd vote for you if you were running. I'll tell you, you're the best. Well, I appreciate that. It's not going to happen. So, Cal, I don't know if you stayed up late or if you've seen the news. It looks like Abdul, I'll say, yeah, most media outlets are now calling it for him. But boy, was it tight. He actually didn't clear 50%. Does this tell you that the radical sort of socialist-leaning left is really just a paper tiger? I mean, a win is a win, and he will be on. the ticket for the Democrats in a very important influential swing state, but not nearly the triumph they were hoping for. Well, yes, that's right, Larry. And I think that it's important to note that the two candidates who were running against him combined got far more votes than he did. That's a good sign. That happened in another race as well in Michigan. I was particularly delighted that Wesley Bell, who was from... St. Louis's most Democratic district, beat the annoying Cori Bush. I mean, that's just one less of the squad that we have to deal with, although we have the rest of them anyway. Yeah. We have the Wisconsin thing coming up where the candidate for governor was to cancel Thanksgiving, proving that she's the turkey that everybody thinks she is. Boom. I think that people are angry at the politicians, and they're right to be so. To vote for these Democrats socialists is like swatting a fly with a cannon. It's over the top. I mean, if you want people who will cut the debt and who will do what they're supposed to do and stop doing what they're not supposed to do, then do your research, pay attention between elections, and turn out. I mean, this is how Zohran Mamdani got in with something like 4% of the eligible voters in New York.
who voted him in and now many of them are sorry they did you got to pay attention you do get the leadership you deserve Cal, well said Cal. And Republican, listen, Republicans should not overlook the anger and the frustration that people are feeling. I remember when Donald Trump continued to win primary after primary after primary, you know, the smart, astute political observers should have noticed that, you know, people really are angry and they really don't want business as usual. They want some new ideas. Now, these new ideas that these radicals are bringing forward, they're not really new. They've been tried in foreign countries all across the planet, and it's ended in death and misery. But Republicans do need to present their ideas. I don't think it's enough anymore. It's like Obamacare. It's like, yeah, we hate Obamacare. Okay, but what's your alternative? You need to spell it out and communicate it to voters. Well, the big problem is the national debt. It's nearly $40 trillion. Most of it is interest now on the debt. Nobody wants to cut anything or even attempt to slow the rate of increase for fear that the Democrats will say that they're trying to starve grandma, keep kids from having lunch in school, and all these other things that they've run up the fly pole for years. The Republicans need to get back to their base ideas. They did have ideas. They won with ideas. Limited government, self-control, turning to government as a last resort instead of a first resource. This envy-greed and entitlement now that is driving the Democrat Socialists of America is dangerous for the country. You've got people who want to do away with the Senate, want to do away with the electoral college, want to pack the Supreme Court. I hope that Republicans come out with us in the general election and slam the Democrats, all of them, for not denouncing this kind of stuff. Fox News has done a tremendous series last week, interviewing people who used to live under socialism and communism in the old Soviet Union, China, Venezuela, and Cuba. Those testimonies are fantastic. Basically, they're saying, you Americans don't know what you're asking for. Let me tell you, empty food shells. No air conditioning. Blackouts like going on in Cuba right now. No freedom of religion or freedom of the press. None of that stuff. This is what you're heading for. And people need to listen to this and act accordingly. Well said, Cal Thomas. Let's turn our sights to the Middle East. We had Sebastian Gorka, sort of the terrorism czar for the Trump White House, our old friend and radio. All these radio hosts getting jobs in government freaks me out. Seb was on yesterday. He assured our listeners and our viewers that the president is still honed in and focused on our enemy in Iran. He is in it to win it. He is not turning tail and running.
He's going to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and it's going to be toll-free. It's non-negotiable. Does it look to you like the president is fighting this war to win, or is he fighting this war right now to sort of have a stalemate to just get through the election or none of the above? What do you think? Well, uncertainty is the last thing you need in warfare. You remember World War II, Winston Churchill. Franklin Roosevelt, victory is the only objective surrender by the Nazis and Japan is the only outcome, the goal. This is what it's going to be. I think a lot of people now, you know, the president started out absolutely correct. Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Okay, that was a goal. Now it seems to have gone down to just, we've got to get the straight of Hormuz open so we can lower gas prices. We need more help from our Middle East friends, supposedly. Saudi Arabia seems to be playing both sides of the street here. But this is more important than just getting the Strait of Hormuz open. And a lot of people are thinking that the president they voted for, who was going to stop these forever wars, has gotten this deep into one again, not like Afghanistan yet, and certainly not like Vietnam, but certainly some of those principles are in play. Well, I mean, the comparison to World War II, though, the president has said openly, and I don't disagree with them, that the American people don't have the stomach. for a long protracted war that would involve an invasion force and maybe even occupation force to topple the regime and get Iran back on. So I don't think he's wrong about that. So it's hard to compare the two because the American people don't have that buy-in. What's the solution? Should he be selling that idea to the American people that to really win this war and defeat this regime once and for all, it's going to take an occupying force? Well, I don't know about that, Larry. I mean, this is why I'm not president, but we're knee deep in the big money, as Pete Sigur is saying many years ago. And there doesn't seem to be any way out. Rand is playing this game until the November election. They think they can hold out. We're, according to reports, running out of munitions, running out of drones, running out of other things. Meanwhile, it appears China. and maybe even Russia, but certainly China and North Korea maybe are helping to supply at least some basic drones and other weapons to Iran. So this is bleeding us dry and no war has really been won without ground troops. I would hate to see that happen. And, you know, the Middle East is a mess. It always has been. I don't know the way out of this, but I do know that a lot of voters are frustrated and they don't like it. They are, and I'm still trying to get a handle on whether they're actually frustrated with the fact that we're engaged in this conflict, or are they engaged with the ramifications and domino effect of the conflict, you know, the increasing gas prices. Oh, don't bring that up. Oh, domino effect, that's really bad. I know. This makes me hungry for pizza, Cal. Yeah, well, all we are asking is give pizza a chance, right?
Yeah, I think it's, well, look, let me read you what Jerry Baker said in his wonderful column yesterday in the New York Times. He says, that thing you, meaning the president, that thing you insisted would be a great success. Not only has caused great harm, it's been an indictment of your own judgment and a vindication of everyone who told you not to do it. That's pretty strong. But what if Iran got a nuclear weapon? This is the bottom line. They would use it against Israel. They would put it on ICBMs and send it to New York or Washington. They have said as much over and over again. So we just can't allow them to do it. But what we have now, I don't know if it's working or if it can be said to work at the end of the day. Well, and my fear is that Iran is they're not stupid. And they know what our political schedule is. And I am afraid that they could time some sort of counter objective just before the midterm elections. So the president thinks that he sort of got this sort of stalemate going on here. And they can just, you know, sort of snip at each other across the straight until after the election. And then he can go back to the full-scale military strikes. He should be aware that Iran knows the schedule too, and they could actually upend the political environment here domestically with terror attacks or something bigger on their own. That's a grave concern, I think. That's exactly what happened in Vietnam. You'll recall that Lyndon Johnson said, if I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost the war. After Cronkite and other reporters were showing that some of the things... being said about by american generals about how well we were doing there were in fact not true that's what the uh mullahs in afghanistan thought they used vietnam as an example america doesn't have the staying power the strength of the will for protected protracted long wars and uh they were right about that so part of it is our own impatience and our enemies use that against us Cal, you have now in this interview segment that I treasure every week at this time, Wednesdays at 6.30, you have now suggested that I not only remember the Vietnam War, but also World War II. And I just, you always preface it with what you'll remember in World War II. Cal, I don't remember either of those things. Well, Larry, this is what history books are for. And unfortunately, in our once great universities, nobody's studying those things anymore or capitalism. It's all left-wing socialism and be greeted entitlement. Don't get me wrong. I have read about them. I have studied them. I have learned about them. I do not remember them. Well, I don't remember World War II either. I mean, what I remember about is what my parents told me. So Vietnam was another issue. I was in the Army during Vietnam. I was fighting communists at Broadway and 57th in New York with Armed Forces Radio.
There you go. A patriot to the end. Cal Thomas, always great to talk with you. We will touch base again next week. There's Cal. There is only one, Cal Thomas, and we are lucky to have him. By the way, you should check out Cal's columns. He continues to crank out great, great analysis on a regular basis. I think he does two a week syndicated, and you can pick them up anywhere. You like your best conservative syndicated columns. I would suggest townhall.com where we syndicate them as well as. the Washington Times, which I think is the paper of origin for his syndicated columns. All right. Coming up. We have some incredible footage, Nick Shirley, the independent journalist, who utilizes YouTube and social media, various platforms to go and expose stories that mainstream journalists don't cover, like the Medicare and child care fraud in Minnesota and California and other states. Well, when he saw that migrant invasion of Muslim Arabs from North Africa coming into Spain, he hopped on a plane, grabbed his camera in a microphone. And he covered it on the ground. And the footage he got back, it's breathtaking. You'll see it next. Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top ringed program from over 150 areas of study, on campus or online, and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu.
Hi, I'm Larry O'Connor. It's O'Connor and Company, waking you up every morning the right way on the Salem Radio Network. And yes, we are in the Relief Factor's studio. By the way, I just want to quickly correct the record here. And I hate doing this to my buddy, Cal Thomas. But I'm sorry, Francesca Hong, the presumptive Democrat nominee for governor in Wisconsin. He said that she hates Thanksgiving, wants to end Thanksgiving. I just need a full disclosure and give you a fact check here. It's not just Thanksgiving. She also said on social media, I don't enjoy fireworks. That was on the 4th of July. She said, I miss working in a restaurant every day except on Valentine's Day. So she hates Valentine's Day as well. She also said... A bro who was working on our computer remotely changed the background theme to snow in Christmas trees. I feel attacked. She hates Christmas as well. And, of course, the famous cancel Thanksgiving. So it's not just Thanksgiving. She hates every American holiday and Christian holiday for that better. Good for her. Good for Wisconsin. When many of us saw the images of the migrants invading. the Spanish enclave of Cuito coming through the Bill Gates of Morocco, 40, 50,000 of them. We saw it for what it was, which was an unarmed invasion. But most of our friends on the left saw it as beautiful as the fulfillment of American immigration policy as it should be, you know, because they think that the beginning, middle, and end of American immigration policy is that poem contest winner who got a plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty. You know, but if you look at those images, give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. Those weren't tired, poor huddled masses yearning to be free. Those were fighting age men. who left their huddled masses yearning to be free, their wives and their children, back home as they charged through the barricades to do Lord knows what. Nick Shirley, independent journalist, grabbed his camera, his microphone, got on the first plane to Spain, and he reported on the ground. Then he came back to Laura Ingram yesterday and delivered a summary of his report to the Fox News audience. Here, we'll start with clip five as we begin this summary. What happened after you were chased? Where exactly were you, were there police or anyone there to help you? Yeah, we ran down to the bottom of the hill because we were kind of on the top of the hill at that point when we were getting chased. And then we saw the guy reach for his knife and he said he was going to stab both of us. So we obviously ran as far as we could. And then we got to a spot. And it was funny. Our car was parked like right next to where the guy was where he threatened to stab us. So we had to get in a police car and then had them drop us off. didn't get stabbed really like I didn't come after us again well there goes your camera that's okay were you uh was that a Moroccan I mean who was that guy were these migrants that were still hanging around or who were these people yeah it was a group of people that were still hanging around some of the Moroccans that haven't gone back yet there's still thousands of people on this it's almost it's basically like a little island because it's just this part of Spain that's just all by itself on the African continent so
Oh, they think it's there. That's what happened. Yeah, they think it's there. Yeah, but it's... And there's a lot... They think it says, but it's never been theirs. Yeah, it's never been there, and they know well that it's Spain. That's the point. They want to go into Spain, and then they want to make it to the mainland and they want to go into the rest of Europe. And yes, Nick Shirley, independent journalist was chased down by one of these people with a knife, but that coverage hasn't seen other places. And he won't win a Pulitzer. He won't win down. No, the Pulitzer's will go to the D.C. journalists who are hunting down something to do with a reflecting pool here in an air-condition studio in D.C. And they call themselves the defenders of the First Amendment and getting information to the people. All right, Nick Shirley a little bit more. He noticed what we noticed, that these are all military-aged men, no wives, no children, no women to speak of, hardly huddled masses yearning to be free. They're not looking for a better life. They're looking for something else. Here's clip six, Nick Shirley. Once again, not a single woman inside. This is all just a group of men right here, all being escorted down the mountain from the Spanish military. And how old are you guys? Elmond, 28. He's 28. He's 28. 51. 21. Why women not came in the class?
Explain that. The point about Islam, women stay at home like Islam says, this is conquest. This is not just looking for a better life. This is clear they got a goal. Yeah, and it's like if you had no job, no money inside of your country, why would you leave your wife there? And it's very interesting. I think that all these men, they're all 21 to 28 years old, and they're all coming here, like literally in the truckloads. Like truckloads of men just got dropped off at the border. The Moroccan government let them through. And then the Spain government literally opened up the gate for them. That's right. And this is the policy that the left would love here in America. We've seen it because when they're in power, this is what they do here in America. He then was on with Benny Johnson, a little bit of this one here about, again, the demographic of these men exclusively coming across. What's this really about? Go ahead. How are they different? How are the modern migrants different than, let's say, an immigrant from Europe in the 1800s? Well, I mean, if you just look at it, they don't go and they don't assimilate with the people who are already there. They don't go and learn their language. It's interesting when you go to these countries, they're all in like groups. It's not like the British are assimilating and speaking with the Muslims. It's... the Muslims in their own part of town and the British are on the other side. There's no assimilation in any means. I feel like there's a reason why these countries became so great, and that's because everyone worked together. And now there's, like, different teams working against each other inside of these countries. And that's where you see the conflict take place. I would also add to that that a big difference here with 19th century immigration from Europe and America is that we were a country founded on a Judeo-Christian heritage and tradition. And the immigrants who were coming in were coming from Italy and Ireland and Germany and France and countries who shared that tradition. This is not the same. When you're preparing for exams or juggling family and career or you're looking to stay sharp as you age, Think Factor is here to help you. Created by the same company that makes Relief Factor. Think Factor supports sharper, focus, stronger, recall, clearer thinking. It's a natural way to give your brain the daily nutrients it needs for memory, attention, and even vibrant vision. I'm going to give you the rattle because... I keep the Think Factor bottle right here on my desk because I begin every show with my daily dose of Think Factor. I feel like it keeps my brain functioning perfectly during the show. If you want to stay focused during demanding tasks, keep your memory strong, maintain mental energy for whatever's ahead. Think Factor is what you need. Call 804 Relief or visit ReliefFactor.com. Your first bottle, just 1995. That's Relieffactor.com. Think Factor.
think clearer, perform better daily. A very good Wednesday morning from this, the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., the city where all these primaries are sort of... spending all this time, energy, money, and effort to decide who gets the privilege of coming here to work. And here I get to do it every single day right here in the Relief Factor Studios on our flagship station, WMAL. But all across the O'Connor and Company network, bolstered by the Salem Radio Network. And this network, of course, for several years, was the home to one Chris de Gaul, my best friend, best man at my wedding. I've known him for almost two decades now, Chris DeGall, who hung up the microphone. Can you hang up a microphone? Steps away from this microphone to run for Congress, and last night emerged victorious in a hotly contested primary for the Republican Party in the 6th Congressional District of Missouri. He is now your man, Missouri 6, going into the general election in a district that's heavily favored for Republicans. We're excited for our buddy, our brother, Chris de Gaulle. Congratulations, Chris, for winning that primary. And now onward to the general, and we look forward to you being sworn in. And I'm just excited that I'm going to have a congressman in my back pocket. That's what this is really all about. I want to be able to pick up the phone. And hey, Congressman, you know, to do something for me. I mean, he won't. Never has. That's just the kind of friend he's been, actually. Anyway, moving on, coming up in the next hour, Byron York will give us his analysis of yesterday's primaries and how the general is shaping up 90 days from now. And then, of course, we'll speak with the administrator of the Small Business Administration, Kelly Loeffler, big fan of hers here on the program. That's coming up. Right now, we've been tracking this special session in Annapolis, Maryland. It is an oddity. It's very rare. for the General Assembly in the state of Maryland to come in for a special session outside of their regular 90-day window, first three months of the year. Here it is the height of tourist season. It's Plebe Parents Weekend for the Naval Academy this weekend. It's insanity. But Governor Wes Moore demanded that lawmakers come back in for one purpose and on one purpose only, and that is to gerrymander the state and remove the last single remaining congressional district represented by Republicans in this state that borders the nation's capital. You would think that you would want at least one person from the opposing party to be able to win some things and have some influence for the state of Maryland, but nope. Wes Moore has bigger plans for himself, not for the people of Maryland, for himself. To give us an update on where this conversation's going, because it affects the rest of this nation as well, it's Maryland delegate Matt Morgan. Thanks for joining us, Delegate Morgan, out of St. Mary's County.
How's it going so far? So we're wrapped up a special session yesterday. We signed he died Tuesday night about 6.30, 7 o'clock. And they moved the bill through the Senate, and then now bring on the lawsuit. What that bill does is set up a double standard. We've had compact, continuous, and respected natural boundaries as a requirement for legislative districts, both the state and congressional, for over a century in the state of Maryland. And they're setting it up with some ballot language that says, hey, you know what? It only applies to the state legislative districts. Therefore, the congressional districts, we can gerrymander the hell out of them, even more than they already are. I said earlier that Maryland is faced on a constitutional crisis. The Constitution is not allowing Democrats to rig the game, and therefore they're going to rewrite the Constitution. Yeah, and this specifically will affect Andy Harris, the first congressional district, because the way to gerrymandered in such a way to make it a Democrat district, you have to basically hop across the Chesapeake Bay, which ain't so easy, by the way, even for people who choose to do that for their commute. They generally work from home. But when you say bring on the lawsuits, I mean, this is a referendum for the people to decide whether they amend the Constitution. If the people do decide, what kind of lawsuit can step in the way of that? So we think there's a big lawsuit to have, and we're going to probably file one today, tomorrow at the latest. Democrats, much like in Virginia, just didn't follow the rules because they don't believe the law. They don't believe that they have to follow the law. Matter of fact, it made the comment on the floor that we write the rules. We don't have to follow the law, which is absurd. Any constitutional amendment... in Maryland by state law has to be submitted by July 1st. We're a month, over a month and a few days past that deadline. There's considerable due process concerns with what they did. There's no, there's no language, the language that's in the bill, it's not certified by the Secretary of State, people having given their public opinion on it. at all because no one's seen it. And the slimyest thing that they did during this, Larry, was they submitted that bill. That bill came out last Wednesday. They allowed 24 hours for people to testify on it. There was 100, I think, 123 people against the bill, 21 for the bill, and that included the bill sponsors. So it was a lot more people against it than for it. And the slimyest thing that happened was about 30 minutes before the hearing, they put a major amendment on that bill that says notwithstanding any other, it was a notwithstanding clause in there, any other law.
And what that did was they're hoping that exempts them from all these other requirements that they had to put for due process for people to be able to read this referendum. Wow. And it's like, well... It really is a redux of Virginia. It's very similar. There's a right way to put out a referendum. that the people can choose to approve through their representatives and then vote on statewide. And there's a wrong way to do it. And once they've done the wrong way because they just want to jam this through. Well, and then look, referendum is a little bit hard to understand. It's a little bit of a parliamentary procedures. But follow me on this logic, Larry. The General Assembly passed us, went through the House and the Senate. A referendum's not signed by the governor. So it's not law. So it doesn't get enacted until after the election results are counted, which would be incertified, which would be about mid-November of this year. How's that Trump a law that's currently in place? Doesn't? It's not a law. Right. Right. This is why constitutional amendments have to stand on their own. It's violated our single subject rule, point blank, is trying to trump our law that has constitutional protections right now. And look, the only reason they're doing this is a response of the Louisiana versus Calais decision. This is completely... motivated by that. There's this bizarre perversion that exists in the Democratic Party where they keep saying that the Calais decision dismantled the Voting Rights Act, which is not true. The Calais decision upheld the Voting Rights Act and says that you cannot draw districts predominantly on race. Right. Yeah. It restored the original meaning of the Voting Rights Act where you couldn't actually employ racist motivations when drawing congressional districts. It got heated, by the way. I want people to hear exactly what happened. Here's clip 12, just a small portion of the debate there in Annapolis, which is usually a rather civil atmosphere considering Democrats dominate you. Here, take a listen. Clip 12, please. Bobby, Sergeant in our arms, will you please raise your hand? And I'm going to call on him, and he's going to go to you, and you're going to leave the chamber, okay? Plain and simple, we're going to be respectful, okay? That's what we're going to do. And I give you my word that we will have the debate. And like I did before, I'm going to allow the debate because that's just how I am. It's how I run HCO. It's just how I am, period. Thank you. I appreciate lecturing us on respect. The very fact that we're here, Madam Speaker, is a real sign of disrespect for an entire region of our state. So I can't guarantee that we may or may not have respect over the next three days. And this is deeply personal. You know, we're putting national politics ahead of Marylanders.
By the way, they also limited your debate to only two hours on something that's pretty critical disenfranchising and removing congressional representation for an entire region of the state, the entire eastern Delmarva Peninsula portion of Maryland. And did anybody get escorted out? Did they really threaten you with police activity and the sergeant-in-arms if you dared to object the way the debate was going? They did threaten us. Um, no one did get injected. We didn't have a situation where it was unruly, like you saw Democrats in Tennessee that actually lit a fire in their statehouse chamber and came through with bullhorns. There was none of that. And really, that's just not our style. But to that token, the whole session was limited, originally from the scope that dealt with race in Wes Moore's executive order that he put out for public consumption, and was limiting the session to only topics that dealt with congressional redistricting. Well, the first bill that comes up that they allow in has to view with state employees and collective bargaining, which has nothing to do with congressional redistricting. So they violate their rules. We try to put an amendment on there to limit data centers, and they shot it down under the single subject rule. The next bill that comes up is the redistricting bill that we're talking about here. And they said, well, with that late filed amendment, this clearly violates the single subject rule. And then there was another excuse. So you haven't out of control. The single subject rule only applies to their single subject, Matt Morgan. All right, we got to leave it there. Maryland delegate Matt Morgan, he promises a lawsuit might be filed today. We'll see where that goes. Wes Moore wants to be on a national ticket, and the only way he can do it is to rob Republicans from representation in his own state. Amazing. Hey, coming up, let's have a conversation. 855784 4255. How confident are you that Republicans are going to be able to pull out these midterm elections and keep the majority in the Senate in the House, especially in light of yesterday's results in Michigan. Now Democrats have to spend a lot of money defending one of their seats in the Senate. Say what you will, it's going to be very close. Mike Rogers has a very real chance to steal that one and make it a Republican seat. That makes it that much harder. for Democrats to make the majority in the Senate. And then, of course, there's the House where redistricting has made it so that it's very challenging, not impossible. It's certainly very challenging for Democrats to steal the gavel. Are they going to be able to eke it out? And if they do, they're going to have to make the case to all of these voters who were so frustrated and so disaffected that they think the only solution is socialism and Marxism? Republicans should not look past this. They shouldn't just run and say, oh, they're Marxists. Vote for me. No, they need to show that they've got better ideas. And I'd love to hear you give them some advice and tell them what they should be saying. What should they be talking about? And how should they be saying it? 855-784-4255. What's your confidence level now for the midterm elections, a midterm that should be the Democrats to lose?
And they're doing all the right things for Republicans right now. All they had to do is nominate, you know, non-lunitics. And yet, here we are. 855-784-4255. Your voice will be heard next year on O'Connor and Company. Yesterday, the president was in Los Angeles, Southern California, to be exact. They just sort of say Los Angeles when they mean Southern California because he went to the Trump National Golf Course, which I believe is in Ranchos Pellas Verdes. on the peninsula there just off of san pedro he had some fundraisers he had some meetings uh while he was at the golf course the secret service apprehended a suspect a uh well we're told it's a man but their name is jeanin john tail 38-year-old, that probably deserves some more investigation. Do we think that there's some maybe pharmaceutical enhancements going on there that may have affected their brain? Anyway, Janine John Taylor, pronouns unknown, was arrested at Trump National Golf Course after allegedly monitoring security preparations ahead of President Trump's visit. The Secret Service has a good eye for this. They can tell when people are sort of casing the joint. and watching meticulously the way the Secret Service and other security personnel that integrate either local law enforcement or private security integrate with Secret Service and their procedures. And so when they were monitoring this guy and they dragged him over and cuffed him, not only did they find that he was acting suspiciously, but they also noticed that he had an AR-style rifle. He had body armor. He had high capacity magazines. He had ammo and notebooks containing what they're calling concerning statements that were located at his home. Can I just tell you? that although in some parts of the country, a dude hanging out near a golf course or just sort of going through everyday life with body armor, high capacity magazines, and an air-style rifle might be, you know, not necessarily suspicious. You never know. You could be just out doing target practice or exercising a Second Amendment rights. I can tell you as a Californian, and most specifically as someone who is pretty familiar with the Rancho Pellas Verde South Bay Area, that ain't normal. That ain't your typical California dude. This ain't 29 Palms. This isn't down near Vista, California, outside of Camp Pendleton. This is yet another individual who was looking for a window and opportunity, a possibility to assassinate Donald Trump. And it got nary a mention on cable news last night. It's barely mentioned in America's major newspapers because either they've just grown accustomed to it and they think it's not newsworthy.
or worse. They just sort of shrug and wait for the next opportunity. But if you look at it, you had Butler, you had Palm Beach golf course, you had the off-duty cop in September of 25. You had Mar-a-Lago. This happened down at Mar-Aloyalo. You had the White House Correspondent Association dinner. You had an incident at the White House a couple of months ago. You had the incidents and the planned attack on Freedom 250 UFC match, and now you've got this. When will the left's assassination prep unhinged rhetoric against Donald Trump and Republican voters end? The person was charged with manufacturing, importing, keeping for sale, giving or receiving a large capacity magazine. That's a California violation. Carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, possession of a short-barreled rifle or shotgun, second-degree robbery in connection with the 2025 robbery. He entered a non-guilty plea and bill was set at $250,000. We'll keep you updated as that story develops, obviously. believable. I'm going to tell you about our friends at Relief Factor. I can't tell you enough how in debt I am to Relief Factor for giving me my life back. I was freaked out in May when I woke up with sciatica. You know that shooting, throbbing, constant pain from the base of my lower back all the way down to my toes. It was crippling. Literally, I could not walk more than, you know, 300 feet. Then I started upping my doses of relief factor. And boy, oh boy, am I not only free of pain, but I'm back to normal and I'm training for the Marine Corps marathon right now. I hope I can catch up my miles because I was set back by about two months because of the sciatica. Thank you, relief factor. I want you to have that kind of relief. I want you to get back on your feet. Relief Factor, the quick start three-week trial is just $17.76, but you've got to call them 800, the number four relief. Or, of course, ReliefFactor.com. This is O'Connor Company. It's the Relief Factor Studios. I know that a lot of our listeners on our flagship, WMAL, are waking up to the news of the Republican primaries yesterday in Virginia and your nominees in the Commonwealth. And listen, we've had high hopes in the past in Virginia. But oftentimes, sadly, lately, they've been dashed. I'm hoping that we've got some great candidates. I'm hoping. that we can make a difference, especially in Virginia 7, which is Prince William County and a part of Fairfax County. Virginia 10, which is Loudoun County, which always seems hotly contested, always seems close, both 10 and 7, and then always ends up, at least in recent years, going the Democrats way. And then, of course, against Mark Warner, the incumbent Democrat senator, you've got a retired Army Major General Bert Misasawa.
who seems like a stellar candidate, but it's certainly an uphill fight with a very well-funded and very established Mark Warner. Are you feeling hopeful? Do you feel like the Republican Party has been able to represent you properly at the party level in Virginia? And what about my friends in Michigan, my old home state, the state of my birth? Do you feel like Mike Rogers has the chance here against a severely weakened, Abdul El-Sayed, who came out of a Very contentious, volatile. Some would say even racially or anti-Semitically tinged. primary. He barely eeked out a single digit victory there where they were saying he'd win by 10 or more and he'd become the most electable radical you've ever seen. Now he's going to be facing off in the general in a state that is very purple, that is a toss-up state. And generally speaking, a toss-up state is not going to go for a guy like Abdul El-Sayed. If you're in Michigan, I'd love to hear from you as to whether you think. The Republicans are poised right now to pull out a miracle this November, and it would be a miracle to keep the majorities in both the House and the Senate, given historical trends and given the current popularity of the president and his policies, where are you confidence-wise right now on these elections? And how would you advise these Republican candidates? If you could help write the campaign strategy for Mike Rogers, what should he emphasize? 855-784-4255. Give us a call here in the Relief Actors Studios. We'd love to hear from you. 855-7-8-8-4-2-55. Let's go to Detroit, Michigan. Like I said, city of my booth, my birth. Go blue. Go, go, go Tigers. Go Lions. Tom in Detroit. Tom, listening on AM 1400. Thank you. You tell me. I said, go blue. Do you think Michigan might go red this November? There's definitely a possibility, and we're very hopeful. As far as recommending to the Republicans what they should do, I was shocked when Abdul El-Sayed is bringing back the New Green Deal rhetoric, and he's very much wanting to get that brought back forward, probably for... all the scam that it is. So if I were Mike Rogers or any Republican campaign, I would get that sound bite, which is out there, and let people know if they're upset about $4 a gallon gas clean now, we know when the Biden administration was talking about New Green Deal, that gas would get up to between $6 and $8 a gallon, even more in California. So that's the one thing I would do because As you know, the gas prices raise the cost of everything else. And with Republicans, the gas prices are definitely coming down and are projected to. If Abdul El-Sayed and Guy Benson get in here at Michigan, you're going to see Michigan State taxes per gasoline go up along with national taxes, it looks like, on gasoline. So that's what I would recommend they look at.
Well, I think that's very astute. And also, by the way, you gave all the reasons why the Green New Deal would be crippling to our economy and most specifically with regard to gas prices and energy prices and how it affects everything. But that really resonates in a place like Michigan, where last I checked, automobiles and the internal combustion engine are kind of important, not only to the economy, but to the culture in that state. Absolutely. And I can say I work in the automotive industry, but I won't say for who. But had the Trump administration not come in, there would be no automotive jobs here in Michigan. Everything was headed below the border and overseas. And because of tariffs and everything else, that's the only reason you're seeing the investment. You've got Toyota building another plant in Texas. You've got all kinds of plants can build here, which means jobs. And for every job in an assembly plant, it's estimated 14 to 18 additional jobs in the plant and or community that that plant resides in. So that's huge. I just hope people understand we can't shut the U.S. down under this globalist thinking and new green deal. We've got to be America first, Michigan first for us here in Michigan, and really open our eyes up to socialism and its pitfalls. Well, listen, Tom, I like what you said, and I like the fact that you want Mike Rogers, and for that matter, every Republican running in this general midterm election, to be very specific about the policies in question here. You know, Abdul El-Sayed is saying, you know, money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for all. It's the little tagline, and boy, does it sound great. Now, everything he says sounds great. The problem is how he intends to do all those things. When he says money in your pocket, I'm sorry. Where's that money coming from? Who are you taking it from exactly? And who are you to decide whose money you take from whose pocket and then put in whose pocket? And exactly how do you put that money in our pocket? They're never challenged about those things. And their slogans end up, frankly, enticing people who don't really get it. People who don't recognize how dangerous these ideas are. And you brought up another good point with Medicare for all the socialism style healthcare. What people aren't thinking is they're thinking that everything they have today will just be free, but that's not the way it works. And just ask anybody from Canada with the socialistic health care. your doctors tell you where you need to go to see them. So if you're in Detroit, and they're trying to balance out doctor workloads under a government model, they could send you to Ann Arbor, they could send you to Toledo, they could send you anywhere for care because it's on you. And if you don't mind waiting eight or ten months to see a doctor, well, then socialism is okay. But if you want to be able to see your doctor and you want a doctor locally, The socialistic model for medicine just doesn't work, and that's proven over and over again. Tom, being from Detroit, Mike Rogers, should be able to make that case in Michigan better than anyone. Because right now, if you're a Canadian and you've got their beautiful Medicare for All-style socialized medicine, and you need an MRI, and they've got you scheduled out a year from now, you're heading to Detroit on the Ambassador Bridge or the Gordy Howe Bridge.
You're getting your MRI in America. People aren't heading to Windsor for their health care from Detroit. They're not going across the Detroit River over into Canada for superior health care. It's going the opposite way. And that argument needs to be made. And it needs to be made robustly. You can't just wave this away. and just say, oh, they're socialists, they're Marxists. No, no, no, no, you need to be specific. And, God, I'm in Tom in Detroit listening on AM 1400. Thank you so much for calling in here. Tell the Wolverine State, I said hi. I can't emphasize this enough. Republicans need to, they do need to take this threat seriously. They can't just think that they can, you know, drum up images of Joseph McCarthy and Alger Hiss and win the day. with anti-communist rhetoric. I agree with them. You should be worried about the communist threat. You should be worried about this rhetoric. You should be worried about what their designs are. But you should be most worried about the fact that they're winning elections. They're winning elections by putting up very, very skilled, polished, and talented candidates. Abdul Saliet is a talented guy. See, there's a definition for a talented candidate. You know who else is a talented candidate? Barack Obama. You know who else is a talented candidate? Bill Clinton. They're talented candidate because they can lie to you, looking you straight in the eyes and seem sincere. They'll even lie to you with a smile on your face and sell you a horrible idea and make you seem like you want it. Make it seem like you actually think it's a good idea, even though in your heart you know it won't work. And they're also very skilled at preying on people's fears and their concerns. They recognize the fact that people do feel ungrounded right now. They feel like the system is rigged against them. I know that people feel that way because that's why we voted for Trump in the first place. And dang it the Republicans in the House and specifically the Republicans in the Senate haven't done anything to help Trump change as much as we wanted him to change. And so the assumption is, oh, well, it's still broken and Trump's part of the problem. The Republicans are part of the problem. And it's true, there are a handful of Republicans in the Senate who are, in fact, part of the problem. A lot of them chose not to run for re-election this time around where they lost their primaries. But we cannot overlook the fact that voters actually are feeling these things. They are desperate. They do want change. We wanted change too. But that the bureaucrats and the Russian collusion hoaxers and now all of the left-wing judges who were trying to stand in the way of everything Trump's trying to do to bring the change that we asked for, the mobs in the street trying to stop ICE from bringing the change that we wanted in the form of deportations of illegal immigrant criminals, that's keeping us from getting the change we want. People want change.
Republican politicians need to understand that and address it. They just need to give them a better solution for that change than the Marxist slogans they're getting right now from these very skilled candidates. Joe in Richmond, Virginia, where you had a big primary yesterday. You're listening on WMA and I appreciate it. Joe, talk to us. You're on O'Connor & Company. Hey, Joe, Joe in Richmond, line three. Hello. Hi, Joe. You're on. Yes, sir. Hey, you just kind of made my point for me with what you were just talking about. But let me throw one other thing in there. You know, you were talking about left-wing judges and all that. I haven't seen the Republican Party going after these judges or even the Republican judges that don't have the cahunas to throw the book at these, like the Fani Willis and the Nathan Wade's and Jack Smith. I like to know how Jack Smith got access to all this information. I mean, is he just walk around D.C. going in government buildings and just saying, hey, I want this. I want that. And people just acquiesce to it. How's that happened? Well, there have been judges who signed off on a lot of warrants, and they are referring Jack Smith, I believe, for some violations. And Judge Bozeman, I think, is the one that signed off on a lot of those warrants. He should be investigated. And yesterday we did report on one judge in particular that is now being referred for impeachment or the impeachment proceedings are going in the House. This is a judge who stood in the way of the Supreme Court decision, allowing President Trump to remove temporary protective status. The president went ahead and did that after the Supreme Court decision. for Haitians and Syrian illegal immigrants who were here under that TPS. A judge tried to stand in the way, and now the House is moving for impeachment proceedings. We'll see how that goes. But Joe, you're right. It's a slow role, and it needs to be accelerated. And Chief Justice John Roberts. can and should be part of that conversation too. Joe, thanks for the call. We'd love to hear more from you, 855784-4255 as we reflect on yesterday's primary results and also the way forward for Republicans for a miraculous victory this November, 855-784-4-2. Life moves fast here on this show and probably in your life too. Staying sharp, focused, and clear-headed. isn't always easy and that's why the same company that brings your relief factor has developed something new it's called think factor think factor it's made to help you think clearer perform better daily it's a powerful blend of nutrients that unlock mental clarity and precision nurture your memory and boost your attention with think factor brain power and performance finally meet for lasting daily results i want you to supercharge your memory and mental sharpness because your brain is your most valuable asset it powers your creativity focus and daily performance and if you're feeling mentally foggy or not recalling things as quickly as you used to think factor could be just what you need to get that cognitive edge i take think factor every morning before the show and boy have i noticed the difference call 800 for relief
Or visit ReliefFactor.com to learn more and order ThinkFactor. That first bottle, just 1995. 804 ReliefFactor. ReliefFactor.com. Think Factor. Think clearer. Perform better daily. One last word from Michigan here. This one from John James. John James Congressman from Michigan just won the nomination for the Republicans to be governor. Quickly, this is the audio of him leaving the stage last night. All right, just got offstage, just won the nomination. So excited for your love, your trust, your support, and your prayers. Now the real work starts. We have 90 days to fight for this state. We have 90 days to defeat socialism. We cannot be patriots from our patio. We need to make our voice heard. We need to do the right thing. Stand up November Thursday's date. We're going to push back and we're going to save our republic and save our state. Thank you so much for your support. We're going to get it done. Let's fly. Let's fly. Former Apache helicopter pilot there for the Army John James. He's run statewide for the U.S. Senate and fallen short before. And now he's running for governor. He was endorsed by President Trump. He defeated soundly a pretty crowded field. And he's a good candidate. He's an attractive guy. He's also African American. And that could help Mike Rogers with the African American community in Michigan, who people don't talk about it. But there is definitely... some animosity between that community, a long, very influential, powerful community in Wayne County, Michigan, outside of Detroit and in Detroit, for that matter, and the Arab American community, also in Wayne County, in Dearborn Hackensack, McComb County area, Oakland County areas, that's Haddon Abdul El-Sayed's base of support. He's been preying on a lot of racial identity politics. The black leaders in Michigan actually supported Haley Stevens against him. Will they stay in the party? Will they sit it out? Or will they be attracted to John James? And will that help Mike Rogers? This is an incredible race to watch in Michigan. And we'll continue to watch it right up through Election Day. Joining us right now is another. important race for us here in the nation's capital. It's the 10th congressional district of Virginia, which had been long held by Republicans for quite some time until recent years, where Democrats, partly because of animosity against Donald Trump in the Tony suburbs of Washington, D.C., partly because of demographic shifts in Loudoun County that we have talked about through the school board fights and all of the other aspects of what's going on in Loudoun. Well, this race is always one to watch. It always is quite expensive. And now we have our Republican candidate from yesterday's primary Dave Micah Beckwith joining us. Congratulations, Mr. Micah Beckwith. I'm winning that nomination for Virginia 10. Are you ready? I am ready, Larry. Thank you very much for having me on. We were, we've been focused on November 3rd the whole way. We knew we had to win the primary, but this district has been ill-served by the current incumbent, and we have planned to retire him after just one term in office.
Yeah, Suha Subramanyam is a freshman, and he has been a bit of a non-entity from my perspective. Where is he most vulnerable, and what message do you bring to the voters there in Virginia 10? I think where he's most vulnerable is that he has not represented the district. He's represented his party. He's been a party-line voter. He voted to shut the government down well over 10 times. I was end down at the Pentagon as a federal civilian, and I lived through his 42-day shutdown that he kept voting for and voting for as we lost two paychecks. As people who worked for me had to take loans, he has failed to represent the district. I cannot fathom a congressman who would shut down the government who represents Loudoun County, Prince William County, Fawker County. So I'll be reminding them of that and committing to them that I will be representing the district and fighting for what the district needs. That's huge. There's so many government employees and military personnel that live in Loudoun County and for this guy to ignore them and their needs and their paycheck and just do whatever Hakeem Jeffries tells him to do, that is a great line of attack. And I think it's going to resonate. Tell us a little bit more about yourself, Mr. Beck, but this won't be your only time on the program, I promise. But give us a quick overview. The other thing that's really resonated, from getting a thousand signatures to going so many events, I talked about my 30 years of Air Force service. I was so blessed to be able to serve the nation. I also was able to be a deputy assistant secretary of war down at the Pentagon. serving our people. That's all about protecting our citizens, protecting the Constitution. I think what really resonated with people is that I'm not a politician. This isn't about politics. This is about doing what's right for the people. That's what they're yearning for in Congress, especially in this district, and that's where I plan to deliver. I'm also a homeschool dad. People appreciated the fact that we took the time out to raise our own children. I know not everybody can do that. So regardless of whether your children are in public school or private school, you're homeschooling them. You ought to be able to do that in a way where they're not indoctrinated with morals you don't believe in. And that really resonated across the entire district. Well, listen, we want to make sure that the NRC is on your side and you're getting all the support that you can from the RNC and the national party because this is going to be an expensive race. So stay on the radar here. Don't be a stranger. We want to have you on again because we want Democrats to be defending districts like Virginia 10 so that it makes it that much harder for them to gain that majority. We need Republicans like you to win these races and keep them on their back heel. So congratulations on winning that primary. And we're excited to spend more time with you between now and Election Day. Thanks, Larry. I look forward to it. And November 3rd is ours for the taking, and we're going to make sure we do that. Give them the website, Dave Micah Beckwith. Close strong with the website. Beckwithfor Congress.com. That's Beckwithfor Congress.com. Thanks, Larry. You bet.
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Because the fact is this kind of socialist adjacent candidate is now won a statewide race in Michigan. And it's going to be the Democratic nominee for the Senate. You've got a chance to become a senator, I'll say it. So I think that's the big picture here. That's the big story. But it is a polling story because, I mean, look at those polls. They were really wrong. Are we going to see some Democrats who are going to be basically never Abdul? I mean, let's face it. A big part of this ended up coming down on racial identity, ethnic identity, the state of Israel, and its relationship, her relationship with Hamas terrorists, certainly appealed to a big part of the electorate. Everyone talks about Dearborn, Michigan, but Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Farmington Hills, there's a pretty strong Jewish community and conservative Democrat community. who will, it's going to take a lot for them to vote for someone like Abdul Sate. Well, the Israel part is pretty clear. His position is pretty clear. The level of importance that he assigned to Israel and Gaza for a Senate race in Michigan was, you know, pretty clear. You know, as far as the racial identity thing, you know, that's going to be more interesting. We're going to need to see more stuff. But, you know, a lot, a lot of black voters voted for Haley Stevens and did not vote for El Sayed. And, you know, when one of the big establishment Democrats with a national reputation, Jim Clyburn, South Carolina, basically the kingmaker in the 2020 election. said that he saw Hassan, excuse me, Abdul Zayat Rally, and he didn't see many people who looked like himself, meaning he did not see many black Michiganders at this rally, saw a lot of white progressives. And so I think the racial issue is going to be pretty interesting in the aftermath of this. But the Israel issue is pretty darn clear. I mean, we know where he stands. Byron York is our guest, Washington examiner. Byron, you're Chuck Schumer waking up this morning because I doubt he stayed up late. Yeah. Yeah. What are you thinking this morning as you're Chuck Schumer and everything was all set for you to be the majority leader, the historical factors, the wind is at your sales, you've got the gas prices, Iran, everything working your way, and now you see the results in Michigan. Are you a happy man this morning? No, he's not happy. I mean, he was opposed to Abdul El-Sayed, you know, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and, you know, Gary Peters, the outgoing, the retiring senator, and Jim Clyburn that I just mentioned. I mean, a lot of really established Democrats were opposed. Now, you can't just assume that Mike Rogers is going to win. It's going to be a Republican seat. I don't think you can actually assume that. The polls, now here we are talking about polls again, you know, the sort of hypothetical polls of an El Cajad Rogers matchup had Rogers ahead a little bit while they had Rogers actually behind Haley Stevens if there had been such a macup. So you can't assume that. On the other hand, you think Republicans have to think they've got a better chance now to win Michigan. And by the way, do you know the last Republican to win a Senate seat from Michigan?
I was trying to think of that. It's, I forget his name now, but he was, he was. You will remember the name when I say it. Yeah. Spencer Abraham. Spencer Abraham. Thank you. Spencer Abrams. That's great. In the big New Gingrich Revolution. That's right. 32 years ago. That's the last time a Republican won a Senate seat in Michigan. So, anyway, this is, but here again, this, this, this guy, Abdul El-Sayed, he says he's not a socialist. He's not a member of DSA. He's endorsed by DSA. He goes to DSA parties. Everybody thinks he's DSA, but he says he's not. which is what I would do. I mean, if I were a Democratic socialist running in a race in which it was kind of not a plus to be a Democratic socialist, I just deny that I was. So, you know, why not? So, you know, I think that's what's going on. But this is a big deal because we've been talking. I mean, how many hours did we talk about the victories of the DSA candidates in New York and in Colorado, one district in Colorado, and the mayor of Washington, D.C., We talked about that a lot. This is a lot bigger than that. A congressional district has about 750,000 people. So a district that straddles, you know, Brooklyn and Queens elects a DSA or nominates a DSA candidate. Fine. Michigan is a whole state. It's got more than 10 million people in it. The Democratic nominee is now, I don't know, DSA adjacent. Yeah, I mean, whenever he says I'm not DSA, I need the follow-up question. Could you talk to your friends, your journalist friends? The follow-up is, well, why aren't you? What do you differ? What are they wrong about? I'd love to hear him articulate that. Yeah, exactly. Let me get back to my Chuck Schumer question again. I'll make it real inside baseball question. I have to play. My real inside baseball question. Okay. Will Chuck Schumer? green light money into this campaign. Will he open up his coffers to protect this seat, diverting very limited resources from the DSCC that could be used in more competitive races, races where they're hoping to gain some traction? My guess is that Chuck Schumer's instinct would be to not have some big open rift civil war in the Democratic Party, but to offer a nominal amount of support. both financial and verbal, and be, you know, talk a lot about how important it is to vote for Democratic candidates around the country and just not have some sort of open civil war, which seems like a bad idea. Because if you mentioned earlier, there go the dream of capturing the Senate. Democrats needed to win four seats. The Republicans have 53, so Democrats need to win four seats, which is really hard to win control of the Senate. But if they lose a seat in Michigan, they need to win five currently Republican-held seats to pick up control, which is really, really hard. So I think it's in his interest to try to paper over these differences and get through November.
Quickly, Byron Donalds Trump, President Trump and his influence on these midterms so far. And going forward, is this becoming a referendum on the Trump presidency? Or are there other factors at play here? And how do you expect the president to be employed in some of these races between now and November? Well, you know, historically, the president's job approval rating has been one of the best predictors about how his party is going to do in a midterm election. And we've talked about this. You go back, you know, 70 years, and presidents have only picked up seats in midterms twice. And there were very unusual situations. Bill Clinton in 1998 during the Lewinsky scandal when Republicans were threatening to impeach him. And then George W. Bush in 2002 after 9-11. September 11 attacks. So those are very unusual circumstances. Otherwise, presidents lose seats. Now, we know Republicans don't have seats to lose. I mean, literally a handful of seats. That means five. They lose those, and they've lost control. So they're in a very, very precarious situation in Trump's. Job approval, here again, citing Real Clear Politics average of polls, has ticked below 40, and I believe yesterday it tick below 39. And that is really not a good sign for a midterm race. Byron, New York, there's a reason why they say he's the best because, well, he is the best. Byron, always great to talk with you, my friend. Don't you say you're going to be here a lot between now and Election Day. Good to be here. Thanks. You need to sign up for his daily newsletter, by the way, over at Washington Examiner. He is the chief political correspondent of Washington Examiner, and Byron, York is definitely one of the smartest men in this town when it comes to politics. Thanks for joining us. Byron coming up next. We've learned a little more than we need to about Abdul El-Sayed and his, well, proclivities. We'll tell you next. And I am so thrilled when I found out that this show was going national with the Salem Radio Network and all of the affiliates that have picked us up outside of the Salem Radio Network, and we value you and appreciate you as well. I was thrilled to know that I'd be heard in Detroit, Michigan, because that's the place of my birth. I still root for pretty much every team. that originates in Detroit and in Michigan, a family, much family that's still, a lot of family that still lives there. So I love that Michigan is such a major political story right now with the Senate race. And so for everyone in Michigan or for everyone on the network here on O'Connor and Company, I just want to say, because you may be hearing when, you know, when a segment ends and you hear news from your local news provider, you may be hearing that it's still too close to call. in Michigan. And I know that's confusing. What's happening here is that a lot of media outlets have made the call and said that Abdul El-Sayed is the winner. Other media outlets are still calling it too close to call. By any various count right now, it's about a percentage point lead that he holds with about 97% of the districts reporting all of the votes. Many have done the calculation that Haley Stevens just doesn't have enough votes to bring it in.
But that's why. And by the, it could be. You never know. Listen, she's the Democrat establishment candidate. And if there's one thing we've learned, the Democrat establishment will somehow find ballots to help their candidate win. Now, usually it's against a Republican, but in this case, who knows? You never know. Stranger things definitely have happened in my lifetime. the morning after a tightly fought election where it looks like one candidate has won. And then, oh, look, the Democrat establishment candidate just found a trunkload of ballots. And here's a bunch. Oh, look at how all the mail-in ballots are coming in. I'll tell you this, though, one thing, two things that we need to analyze here. The first is Haley Stevens absolutely cleaned up in Wayne County, Michigan. Now, Wayne County, Michigan is Detroit. Detroit and the tight suburbs right around Detroit. It's where I was born. It's where I lived. And it is a highly concentrated black vote. And they went for Haley Stevens big time. What people don't like to talk about in southeastern Michigan is the animosity that is right out in the open between the newly arrived in the last 30, 40 years Arab American community and the longstanding, very powerful and influential African American community, specifically within the Democratic Party. Both groups align themselves with the Democrats, but they do not play nicely with each other. And there's a lot of resentment between those groups. And prominent black leaders all endorsed Haley Stevens because of that animosity toward the Arab American community in Hamtramack, Dearborn, and other parts of the Detroit, Wayne County area. This will be fascinating to see. If you want to talk about how electable... Abdul El-Sayed, see what happens with the black vote in the next few days and black leadership in Detroit. And I want to remind you, the Republican nominee for governor is African-American military veteran Congressman John James. Can Mike Rogers do what President Trump did in Michigan and build up some goodwill with the black community in Wayne County? Will he be able to siphon off some of Haley Stevens support and keep it against Abdul El-Sayed or at the very least keep those votes from showing up one way or the other on Election Day? Watch that space. That's something worth watching. Also worth watching Abdul El-Sayed, who fashions himself some kind of influencer. He loves his crazy left-wing socialist pro-hamas podcasters and influencers. And he spends a whole lot of time on his social media and at the gym, by the way. I'm suspicious of any guy who wants to be in the Senate who has enough time to look as jacked as this guy does. Have you noticed his his triceps are gigantic? He spends way too much time in the gym.
I don't think he has a real job. But anyway, those two worlds merged here with a video yesterday that went viral. He was at the gym, and somebody was asking him about social media, and then he revealed something about the kind of content that is pushed to him on Instagram. Here, take a listen to this, and then we'll discuss it. Like, you think about if you're on Instagram, my team has access to my Instagram account. And, like, the things that I actually look at on Instagram, right, of course, we get served that on your 4U page. But then, like, every third video that scrolls on its own is going to be some only-fants model. And it's because it clocked me as being a 40-some-year-old man. No, that's not why. It's not because you're a 40-year-old some odd man. I assure you that there are many 40-year-old some-odd men who, when they go to Instagram, they're getting videos about golfing or barbecue. Or football, real football, not that football that foreigners like Dola will say it likes. No, the reason you're getting OnlyFans videos pushed to you is because, well, it's funny, these algorithms that the social media companies employ, they push content that you're used to clicking on and that they know you like. That's why. Rather than just tell you about Relief Factor, I want our customers to do it for us. I'm one of them, by the way, and Relief Factor helped me from my crippling sciatica. I could barely walk, let alone run. And now I'm training for the Marine Corps Marathon because Relief Factor goes to that inflammation that causes your pain, especially something like sciatica, lower back pain, inflammation around your nerves. I'm not the only one. Mark was in tears from his daily hand joint discomfort. After just one week on Relief Factor, he felt 50% better. Now he barely notices any pain in his hand joints. And he also loves our customer service. He's so happy he's spreading the word, and so am I. We want you to try Relief Factor, so we've made it easy for you. Your first three weeks. The quick start is just $17.76. Give it a try and see the results. Go to Relieffactor.com or call them 8004 ReliefRleafactor.com. It's O'Connor and Company here this morning from the Relief Factor Studios, as always. And, you know, I keep hearing that the economy, the economy is stupid. The media has not learned a new trick since the 90s when it comes to elections. It's all about the economy. And that's true, but it's a little more complicated than that, isn't it? It's not just about the economy. It's about your economy. It's about how the economy is treating you specifically. We've seen times when economic factors are looking good and looking strong and we're told the job market is great. But if you're not happy with your job, if you don't have upper mobility, if your wages have been stagnant, if you don't feel like you have the power or freedom to move from one job to another or maybe start your own career or your own small business, well, then the economy isn't that great. The job market isn't that great. It's really about how this economy is affecting you. And the fact of the matter is there are a lot of numbers, statistics, and factors within this economy that objectively are quite good and quite strong.
The only question is, can Republicans, can the Trump administration get that message out? Well, let's talk about some of the good things that are going on right now in this economy, and most specifically how it affects the most important part of the economy and the jobs market, and that would be small businesses. We're big fans here of Kelly Loeffler. She is the administrator of the SBA, and she joins us now. Ma'am, thanks for joining us. Always good to talk with you. Larry, great to be back on with you. Well, the track record is pretty good here when it comes to small businesses and being able to really build that entrepreneurial spirit, build upon small businesses that were already established or start your own business, especially since the big, beautiful bill from last year. I know you don't want to just say, look what we did last year, but we're really starting to see the fruits of it right now, aren't we? Absolutely. And look what's going on right now. We don't even have to talk about last year, which was a great year, starting to turn the ship from the disastrous binomics that drove inflation price levels up, 21% that drove interest rates up, that stagnated the jobs and wages in our economy. What's happening right now is an unprecedented economic boom. And I'm here in Virginia today. Actually, I'm going all across the state from Charlottesville to Fredericksburg, Richmond. And we're visiting small manufacturers because Maine America is coming back. And that is driving all the data that you see coming out. We just reported rising factory expansion for like the 21st month in a row. We have all-time record business formation, all-time record employment. And we have rising wages. And what's driven that? Because we have totally different policies like the working family tax cuts. Yeah, it's true. Whenever you saw any modicum of job growth in the Biden administration, first of all, a lot of it was just people returning to work after the pandemic. But otherwise, you were seeing government jobs, you were seeing minimum wage jobs, and they weren't manufacturing jobs in any way whatsoever. You talked to me about the new manufacturing jobs specifically with small manufacturing because people think, I think when they think manufacturing, they immediately think, oh, it's, you know. uh... automotive or we're talking about you know airlines or something but it's really small manufacturers that are driving us Exactly, Larry. That's why I love to talk about this because, in fact, 98% of all of America's manufacturers meet the small business definition. But our big manufacturers can't do it without them. So if you talk to the CEO of Ford, he tells me, I cannot do it without 5,000 small manufacturers spread across this heartland. These are machining operations. They're materials, fabrication shops.
like I'm going to today, some of the technologies that make the discrete technology that goes in our weapons systems. We know that without this manufacturing base, what happened to our nation over the last 50 years where it was hollowed out, we lost 90,000 factories, five, maybe more, five million jobs. And we sent it overseas and told the workers, you know what, you know, folks in China and Mexico are going to do your jobs. And that ends with President Trump saying, we're going to make things in America and we're going to make them better than ever. And we're going to be, we're going to have industrial dominance. And that's why the working family tax cuts rewards hard work. It doesn't punish it. And that's what the last administration, they didn't just punish it with high taxes and high prices. They really strangled it with massive regulation. that just kept our manufacturers from building. But thanks to President Trump, we are a nation of builders and I see it everywhere I go. Speaking with SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and I wonder if you could talk about how the tariff policy has affected one way or the other manufacturing, and specifically whether it affects small manufacturing. By the way, that's just astounding. 98% of the manufacturing in America is actually small manufacturers and fall under SBA definition. How has the tariff policy affected either positively or negatively those manufacturers? Well, tariffs have been very positive. So when you think about that 98%, these are folks that we're told that China's going to make the parts, their local machining operation where they have maybe 20, 20 factory workers, and I call them factory loosely, but these are skilled trades. These are men and women who are welding. They're operating CNC machines, presses, laser-driven, robotics, cutting. you know, all the things that it used to take thousands of workers to do, we're now able to do locally, do it better with faster turnaround time. And so tariffs have made all the difference in that because, you know, take Acusa steel or any steel plant I'm walking around today, might have 100 to 300 workers in it, which meet the small business definition. But they were all down on their last leg. It was like maybe one shift a few days a week. Now they're up to two, maybe three shifts, five days a week. because of tariffs. And so President Trump has really saved this country by putting tariffs back on. And they're reciprocal tariffs. These are tariffs that Europe had exacted on us and China. If you look at U.S. trade rep James and Greer's trade book, half of it is Europe and China putting tariffs on us. Do we need to do a better job of getting that message out? Because right now, a lot of voters, they think the tariffs are bad and they're not helping the economy. But you just painted a picture that by having these tariffs, the reciprocal tariffs, as you appropriately labeled them, it has actually increased the demand here domestically for products that people normally would have been getting from a foreign nation.
But now, because you can get them domestically tariff-free, it means that American businesses and American companies can make these items and manufacture them with American employees and ship them domestic. By the way, that also helps mid-size and larger manufacturers because they don't have to keep this stuff on their shelves for six months, waiting for the next freight to come in across the Pacific. They can get products manufactured in a much shorter time frame, so it helps them with their inventory control. That's exactly right. And that's what everyone says. They don't realize. They said, I did not realize what I was giving up by relying on China. Maybe consumer taste changed while that shipment was on the water and then they still had to pay for. You know, the list goes on and on. But the bottom line is jobs and wages. We have record all-time employment in America right now. We have rising rages because people are coming to America to build and buy things. Foreign manufacturers are saying, I want to make it in America. Monday morning, I was in Macon, Georgia doing a ribbon cutting, getting to put the shovel in the dirt for the first part of a new factory that is small business, a small manufacturer that started with an SBA loan, he's going to hire 500 more employees because of fair trade. That's happening community after community. So you can't tell me that tariffs are destroying this country when under the first term of President Trump, we had 1.9%. inflation. Joe Biden kept the tariffs on and then added some in China. And so this is a policy that is working for this country. All right. Kelly Loeffler is our guest. She's the administrator of the SBA. You mentioned Georgia. So I'm going to have to ask you about the political scene down there. You know it well. I'll get to that in a moment, though. But before I do, I did want to ask you one other thing about your role at SBA because it struck me when it was announced that you would be part of Vice President JD Vance's Anti-Fraud Task Force. That is such an important issue. And the more we learn about the rampant fraud in our federal government and these government programs that keep siphoning more tax dollars and increasing our debt, we find out that people are robbing us blind. What is your role there on anti-fraud and what can you tell us about the efforts so far? Well, I think, and thank you for asking that the SBA has an outsized role in this because we touched so much of the money that came out during COVID. Now, that was $1.2 trillion that went to small businesses because the SBA has the biggest network of banks, 5,000 banks around the country that was able to get that money out. But unfortunately, $200 billion of that was marked as fraudulent. by the Office of Inspector General. So as we go back through that, we're able to apply lessons learned, bring that to the task force. We're working with Palantir to apply AI flags and algorithms to detect it quicker because there is so much fraud that if we don't use AI and at least setting parameters, of course, all of this will be determined by humans, but at least flagging. It will take us 900 years to get through all of it. And taxpayers deserve accountability today. We've already sent $22 billion of fraudulent loans back to Treasury for collection. That encompasses about a half million borrowers that we've sent to the DOJ for prosecution.
All right, let's get to this Georgia political scene because you know it well as a former senator from Georgia. Jon Ossoff running for re-election. He's just a one-term senator here. He recently said, and this went viral. They love him on the left there. They think he's going to be president. I'm going to quote him. Donald Trump's rise is a symptom of a deeper disease. I suspect many of you are here because you recognize that our task is not just to contain his wickedness, but to cure the rot. that gave rise to it. Does he know that Georgia just voted pretty significantly for Donald Trump? When he says the rot and the wickedness of Donald Trump, he's talking about Georgia voters. Yeah, well, that's 100% his platform is running on hatred of our great president to distract from the fact that he has taken abhorrent votes in the Senate. He voted against the working family tax cut. He wanted to have families pay more to the government and take less home. He wanted to put boys in girls' locker room. He voted for that. He voted in lockstep for Joe Biden's open borders. He has to keep the focus on his hatred for President Trump in this administration because he has nothing to show Georgia's voters. And those are just facts. That's not even political. His policy is completely out of step with Georgia. Georgia is a red state. Everywhere I go across Georgia, people say thank you for the work you guys are doing. This thing's turning around because we were going in a pretty bad direction. You look at, they had high energy prices as a policy. We had national average five bucks. As a policy, there weren't even any wars going on. So that's just the tip of the iceberg. And real fast, when you last ran, it was before Georgia instituted some voter integrity provisions that Joe Biden and Jon Ossoff called Jim Crow. Jon Ossoff opposes those same sort of measures at the federal level. How big of an impact do you think that's going to be in this reelection attempt for Jon Ossoff and for Canada, Representative Susan Collins? Well, it's absolutely critical, and it's why we need to Save America Act, because what we did in Georgia was we made sure that you have election integrity brought back in a myriad of ways. I mean, we had to pass hundreds of pages of election laws after 2020. But having something like voter ID and citizenship, that's pretty common sense. You require an ID to get into Jon Ossoff's political rallies. You have to have an ID to shop in Zohran Mamdani's socialist grocery store. So these are common sense. It tells the whole story about why they don't want to have ID. SVA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. Thanks for joining us today. Always great to talk with you. Keep up the great work. Thank you, Larry. Whether you're Clivey, the corporate ladder launching a new project, are you just looking for that extra edge? You know that your brain is your absolute most valuable asset. And right now, there's a way to support it every day. It's think factor. It's from the makers of relief factor. Think Factor is built to help you stay sharp, nurture your memory, boost your attention. It unlocks the mental clarity and precision. You need to stay ahead of the game, no matter the challenge. I keep my think factor right here on the desk. I like to rattle it in the mic so you all can hear it.
Because I've been taking it two months now. I noticed the difference. I was up really late into the wee hours of the morning watching election results. But, you know, you got to hit your mark when you're on the air at 6 a.m. Eastern. And Think Factor keeps me alert, focused. It helps me push through those tough times. Why don't you try Relief Factor? Just give them a call. It's 8004 relief or go to ReliefFactor.com. Your first bottle of ThinkFactor is just 1995. That's ReliefFactor.com. Think Factor, think clearer, perform better. Daily. I was really up late last night waiting for the results of one race in particular. Yes, I'm originally from Michigan. Yes, all eyes are on the race between Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, which by the way, decision desk is now officially called for Abdul El-Sayed as well. But other outlets are holding their fire. We'll see what happens. It is very close. But I was watching one race in particular, the Republican primary in the 6th Congressional District of Missouri. Why? You know why? Everyone listening knows why, because Chris DeGall stepped away from this very microphone to decide to run for his district, his home, Missouri 6th. He was caught in a very hotly contested Republican primary, one of the tightest Republican primaries this cycle. And the victor, the nominee for Congress for Missouri 6, joins us right now, the one and only Chris DeGall. My brother, congratulations. Larry, first of all, thank you. And I want to thank Relief Factor for helping me be pain-free throughout. Oh, I don't have to do that anymore. Good morning, Larry. You don't have to worry about it, but you're still great at it. Thank you, buddy, so much. I love you. And may I just say to you and your entire audience, I hope some of whom maybe enjoyed the show that we did it for a while before you took over the microphone, how blessed. uh... i feel to have received such warm well wishes and prayers throughout the entirety of this campaign uh... this you know i know how much you love this audience and so do i and uh... it sustained me throughout the ups and downs of all of it so thank you And it was, listen, I remember when you were going through this decision, I'm sorry for revealing insight information from our conversations, but you know how the gig is. You just talk about your life a lot. And you were having some conversation about, well, you know, listen, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be handed to me. There's going to be a fight in this primary. And I remember your attitude was, you know what? Let's go. I mean, that's what this is about. If it's worth fighting for, then you better get out there and fight for it. And you did have a fight on your hands. Yeah, that was the thing that some assumed. Listen, I had the endorsement of the guy that currently occupies this seat, Congressman Sam Graves. He's an old friend of mine from a long time, and I worked for him in his third term for a while. So that's true. I did have that endorsement. But make no mistake, endorsements don't matter unless the voters endorse you. That's right. You know, President Trump can endorse you, and we've seen that maybe not all the time does that turn out. You have to earn the voters' trust. And that's what we did. We marched through 33 counties. 14,000 miles on my truck, tens of thousands of handshakes, over 250 events, and one voter at a time. We tried to convince folks that we were the best to go forward and represent the 6th Congressional District of Missouri. And as my wife said, it's worth fighting for, and it should be a challenge. Nobody should just stroll into an office. You should have to work for it. And really good men challenged me to get there. And I'm happy to have been fighting alongside them.
We're speaking with Chris de Gaul. He is a Republican nominee for Congress in Missouri 6, and it's already sort of being assumed that it's a safe district, but they're going to throw money at you. The Democrats want that gavel in Hakeem Jeffries hands, so you're going to continue to put up a good fight. I know between now an election day, and it's not going to be easy. Just more or the same? You're going to keep canvassing the district and continue to listen to voters? Yeah, there's a lot to learn. You know, it's a huge district, as I said, 33 counties, folks. I don't know if everyone can appreciate it, but it's, I think it's got to be one of the larger districts in the country. It's bigger than three states of the union. It's just an massive amount of land. And so I've got a lot of folks to meet. I mean, you know, there are parts of this district where you go and you say, hi, I'm Chris Stigall, and they say, you're who now? Yeah. You know, so it's got to be humbling. Yeah. I'm a radio host. Really where? I'm not familiar with you. Get out of here. Yeah. No, so there's, there is work to be done, and the next three months are going to be. North Missouri is a conservative place. We're a traditional place, and we're confident in victory in November, but the Democrats, as you say, they want it bad, and they're going to pull out all the stops. So we're in this for the long haul. Was there an issue that kept popping up that surprised you, Chris, that you weren't expecting? Because you've been on top of the news, and I think you've had a pretty good finger on the pulse of what voters, especially Republican voters, care about. But did anything surprise you? I had no idea how... passionate people felt about the subject of data centers, Larry. It is all anybody wanted to talk about in this part of the country. Data centers and whether they wanted them or whether they didn't, and I can tell you most people do not. Farmers and people who live in and around rural areas are not excited about it. There's a lot of mistrust. Now, I'm not uniformly anti-Data Center, but I'm very, very pro-conversation. And what I can tell you is there's just not been a lot of open forum conversations. And so what you have are, county governments and big corporations building these things and residents in counties very skeptical. So that conversation happened to happen a lot. I love it. But for all of our listeners, Chris and I did not talk about this. We talk about a lot, but we didn't know, Chris, you need to know that for the last two months, we have been talking about data centers on an ongoing regular basis. And there is no easy answer because I know you're not, you know, carte Todd Blanche, bring your data centers wherever you want them, but you're also very against the idea of China getting a lead or dominating AI. It's something we do need this. But boy, oh boy, do our leaders have to get smarter about how to make this work. Yeah, we're talking about it. I mean, data set, literally everybody listening to us, watching us, you know, hearing this conversation, you and I able to talk because of data centers. It shouldn't be lost on anyone. The only way we're communicating in 2026 is courtesy of data centers. It's just a matter where they're going to be built.
Chris DeGall, it's Stagallforcongress.com, by the way. Stagallforcongress.com. Max out your contribution now so that you can help our friend get to Congress and make a huge difference. And I have no doubt he will make a great difference and a great impact on day one. So proud of you, my friend. God bless you. Thank you. I love you and Meredith and that whole team on that show. I miss you guys. Love you all. Thank you so much. We miss you, too. Well, don't be a stranger. We'll have you on a lot now, Mr. Congressman. Life can be messy, but you don't have to figure it out alone. Hey, it's the Lusco. Join pastors and bestselling authors Levi and Jenny Lusco on Hey, it's the Lusco's for honest conversations about faith, marriage, family, grief, ministry, and all the unexpected moments in between. You'll laugh, you'll be encouraged, and you'll be reminded that God is faithful through every season. It will always come back to Jesus in the end. That's right. Tune into Hey, it's the Lusco's with Levi and Jenny Lusco. Available now wherever you get your... podcasts.