The Rod and Greg Show: Neither Party Has Voters Best Interests in Mind

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The other state legislatures are conspiring against Utah. They don't want Utah to be number one next year. No, not going to catch us. But we kind of, that's how we roll. That's our brand. Here's what U.S. News and World report today. Forget footloose and fry sauce. That was the first line. Today, Utah is defined by high growth tech startups, strong economic diversity, robust infrastructure, and an elite education system. Yeah. That's what they say about us. Yeah, I've been, I've been, I've been pretty critical of our higher ed system. And we had to interview with the UVU associate professor, what's the name, Greg, was it Jackson? Yeah, Greg Jackson yesterday. Well, I tell you what, I do want to, I would like to, what do you call it, what do you call it when you take their class, inventory, or, uh, Oh, what's it called? There's a term for it when you sit in the back. You don't take the class, but you just survey it or something. You sit in the back of the class. Yeah, you and I. You monitor it. You and I need to go and take that class. Monitoring? Yeah, we need to go sit in that class. No, we'd be okay. It'd be fun. Yeah, it would be fun. But anyway, my point there is that if that guy's teaching, I kind of liked his style, I liked that he wanted to challenge people's thoughts and, you know, some critical thinking. Who knew in higher ed? So I. I think the infrastructure part's right. I think that I think it's still the best state to start a new business. And then you get into some of the social aspects. And I'm sure that the US News and World Report didn't touch on this, but most charitable giving, most church attending, most single, you know, two parent homes. I mean, you go down the line and some of the social ills you see in America. Utah is doing very well. They exist here, but a much lower level. Yeah. U.S. News evaluated each state. They use 71 metrics across eight categories to determine this. We're number one. Number two, South Dakota. Boring. What do you do in South Dakota? Yeah. What do you do? Minnesota? That state's a disaster. Where are they ranked? Number three. Oh, then now I'm starting to question this ranking because Minnesota is a nightmare. Yeah. Number four, North Dakota. Yeah, exciting. Whoopee.

And Nebraska. You shouldn't have told me the other states because I was feeling I was riding high on our ranking. Then you tell me these other states. And it's like, well, now we're the tallest building in Toilla. Yeah. That's what we are. Great. Wonderful. No offense, Tollah, but you're not, you know, there's no skyscrapers in Tollah. I mean, you look at these other five states that I just mentioned. What do you do in these states? I mean, here we, there's a lot you can do here. Would you agree? I mean, that's what makes it such a great place to live. There's a big motorcycle convention once a year. Sturgis. Yeah. Which Dakota is that? One of them. It's one of them, yeah. By the way, the bottom five, Louisiana. Okay. Alaska. Yeah. Yeah. Mississippi, New Mexico and Michigan. Landed in the bottom five. That all resonates. Only Alaska, because it's so far away and never warm. It's always dark there. It's like either light all the time or dark all the time. I have friends who've lived in Alaska. They absolutely loved it. I have a relative that lives in Alaska. He loves it too, but, you know, he's a bit off. So, yeah. What are you back? Yeah, he's been a crazy kid, so I could see him like him. Like someone who once referred people like that as Shia Brick. Yeah. He's shy a brick. Yeah, maybe a tool missing a tool in the tool shed. Now, I love this relative. I do love this kid. So he's a, that's why I can tease him. But he lives in Alaska. He lives and loves it. Yeah. Absolutely. Sends me pictures that look like postcards. What scares you most about the fact that Utah continues to do so well? Getting the degenerates moving here. That's what I don't want. I don't need all the people in all the states they ruined to come in here because they've got to escape what they help create and then trying to foist all those bad ideas on us. My concern? Water. Well, there you go. There's one too. Let's say if we go through another winter. like we did last winter. What we don't do for water next? You know what, though? I think that when we discussed this with our audience before, one of the things that we're not utilizing that a state like Nevada does is we don't do the, we don't capture used water and then retreat it and use it for things. It doesn't all have to be culinary. We don't have to drink all the water in this state. That's true. But there are purposes that you could use if you captured water that was, you know, that's been used and then treat it and send it through for. purposes of cooling like a data center or use it for other things. There's, there's some, I think we have some arrows in our quiver we have not yet shot that would help us conserve more water in Utah. I'm not as, I, it's nothing you take for granted. You aren't worried about it. The culinary water situation, there's, there's solutions all over. Plus, if you see how much agriculture, which I'm not against agricultural use of water. There's, it's like 80% of Utah's waters in agriculture, not culinary water in the reservoirs. And they're getting smarter as to how they use water. They are. They understand they need the water as well. So I'm not sweating the water as my, not something you don't ignore, but it's the people that are, like I'm the pioneer in my family, so I'm not judging the pioneers coming here. So you're technically an isolationist. Yes. You don't want us to work with anyone around us. You want to?

I do. And I think I want Nevada, I want Colorado. I want them all to pay for it. I don't want to pay for the wall. I just want our surrounding states to pay for the wall. You want to keep everybody out of the state? Yeah, they can put in a visa. We can review their application decide. See if we allow them in. Let's see it. You look like you can, you know, be gamefully employed or you're just going to come here and just. lean on the rest of us. We don't need that anymore. We don't need that. Yeah, we don't. A couple of things we'll talk about today coming up. We'll talk about an issue that neither party is talking about. As we approach to the election. There's a lot of issues people are talking about. We'll get into that. We'll talk about this new survey done by the Manhattan Institute on American attitudes toward everything. And there are some surprises in this survey that we'll get into a little bit later. And sometime today we will talk about Anthony Fauci. We spoke about it yesterday. But I think the continuing discussions going on is worth giving it more attention because this guy. We were at, like, narcissist level yesterday. This time yesterday it was narcissist. He might be schizophrenic. Oh, I think he is. I think he passed bipolar right to schizophrenia. I mean, he's, I don't think he's. He's not using a journal or a diary for what it's supposed to be. It's not supposed to be. I'm the greatest person that's ever lived and everything about everything I do is so great. He is writing in a way that I don't think is a normal use of a diary or journal. An Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Laura Engram Show shared information that we'll let you hear a little bit later on what he went through. They'll rattle your cage as well. So a lot to get to today. As always, we invite to be a part of the program 888-570-10 on your cell phone dial pound 250. and say, hey, Rod, or reach out to us by downloading the IHeart Radio app and make sure you leave a comment on our talkback line. So a lot to come. Great to have you with us here on Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. David Harzani, he is an author, senior writer at the Washington Examiner, always puts out some great columns each and every day. David, how are you? Welcome back to the Rod and Greg Show. I'm great. Thanks for having me. David, David, before we talk about an article we saw a couple of days ago where you're talking about what voters actually care about because neither party apparently is talking about those issues. But you've got an article out today about Anthony Fauci hearing tomorrow. As we head into this, what are some of your thoughts as we learn more and more about what's inside his diary as if we wanted to know? What are your thoughts on all of this, David? Oh, well, you know, that's a big question. I guess my thought is that he is exactly the person I thought he was a number of years ago. But I think it's kind of especially infuriating to read his diary entries because, you know, reading about him, hanging out with journalists and celebrities just evokes emotion in me because I think about...

The people who couldn't go to funerals and the people who couldn't go to school who I knew and the people who couldn't go to a gardening store and get seeds and whose lives were taken off track for, and sometimes in very significant and consequential ways, didn't get to have that kind of life, you know? And it was because he lied about things and he convinced people to... to take up authoritarian policies, to close churches, to close schools. The one thing I will say that I don't hear that many people talking about is that I think that because he takes the... blunt, you know, he takes most of the shots here and he deserves the shots he gets. But we have to remember that he actually didn't have the power to do those things I just mentioned. Others did. Others just listen to him and let him lead them around without any skepticism. And they deserve some anger too. And it will be no reckoning for them either, unfortunately. But so I don't know. Those are my... You have 30,000 foot socks. You know, the question I have is I hear how he's getting to go to dinner with Jake Tapper, you know, and he's having, you know, he's all this special time he has, especially going to dinner or doing things. People have said, that's he's saying that at the same time he's telling Americans we can't have our holiday dinners together. Do those timelines match up? Is it really the case that he was going to dinner, spending time directly with members of the media at a time where he was telling Americans to not come together as families or have those same types of dinners? Or is it just the irony that he was fine with it when he didn't think others were? Do those timelines match up? Hey guys, it is Ryan. For years, Chumba's been set in the bar for online social casino fun, and it just keeps getting better. With new games released every week and daily bonuses to collect, the fun never stops. So claim your welcome bonus now at chumbacasino.com. No purchase necessary. VGW. Boy, we're prohibited by law. See terms and conditions, 21 plus. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are. Listening to me. Which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-Ehart or go to IHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or IHeartadvertising.com. I don't have it in front of me, but I think they do match up. It depends where you were because there were some differences. But I'll tell you this. I mean, I wish I had the dates in front of me. I think it was March 2020 or something like that. He's writing letters talking about how lockdowns aren't working, but he is confused and frustrated about that. To say that and then just go on television and this piece I wrote, I list I think five different times where he...

He says something to himself or in an email. And then the next day, the next week, a year later, he's still contradicting what he knows to be true because he wanted to scare us. He wanted obedience. And I'm not saying that it was all on purpose or anything like that, but he had a very high responsibility to be truthful. He is a public health official. He is not a propagandist. He's not a policeman. You know what I mean? Anyway, I'm not sure that really has to do. It does. It does. David, let's move on and talk about the midterm elections that you write about. Of course, a couple of days ago where I think today we're 98 days away from the midterms. You talk about the fact that neither party, Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, whatever one you want to talk about, is talking about what voters actually are caring about in this country. What are they not saying? What are they not talking about in your opinion, David? I would say that when you look at polling, and I don't treat polls as scientific data, but it does give us trend lines, and it does give us some idea sometimes about what people care about most. If you think about Democrats and socials, and really, let's be honest, it's basically no difference anymore. What are they constantly talking about? APEC, Israel, foreign policy. No one cares about that. Maybe they care to some extent, but it's never one of their tough concerns. It barely shows up on any list. There are people who are pro-Israel and people against Israel, and that's changed lately, I think, because of propaganda and algorithms and things like that. But it's still not the most important thing that people talked about. The most important thing is inflation. Can I afford the house? Can I, you know, it's economics. I think it's like seven of the top nine. most important issues to people are economics. And this is a very unpopular thing I'm about to say. But I support the SAVE Act. I think we need election integrity. I don't think it's going to pass. I wouldn't break the filibuster over it, but I think it's important. But election integrity doesn't really come up as the most important issue for people. So. I get that everyone's talking about that, but I think putting too much emphasis on one bill, getting mad at your party because they can't pass it or won or they're feckless or whatever you think, when there are a lot of other problems, people I think are much more concerned with that you could be focusing on helping with. So, David, this is why I struggle with. What's, what is, how do you discern between, I think it's a trap, but how do you just, how do you discern between? perceived importance and really important so in other words on september 10th no one in america would have told you that al qaeda was on 2001 was worth any consideration whatsoever on september 11th we all found out why we should be looking at that do we have any scenarios do you do you think with iran where We might not know how important it is or it might not be on the top 10 of our most critical issues, but it's a critical issue more so than what we might appreciate. Are there issues like that that this president's grappling with that really run into a midterm and make it messy? I completely agree with that what you just said, that sentiment. I do actually think Iran is far more important than people think. And I'm not even saying that the things that most voters think are important.

are the most important things. I mean, I do think, and they're personalized, they are, but obviously there are issues that have long-term consequences like Iran. They're more difficult to explain or even economic issues. Abstract theory is about, you know, free markets or whatever. They're difficult to explain. My point only is that I think there's a this. Well, first of all, I think the administration needs to do a better job with Iran of explaining what they're doing, you know, and all of that, especially when it comes to gas prices. But more than that, I just, you know, I just think that there are real world these to call them kitchen table issues, I think, you know, that if you're trying to win a midterm. You either have to explain to people why things are more expensive than they want them to be or have some kind of vision for them about how you're going to deal with that problem. I think the vision should be we're going to cut regulations and spending and taxes and want to roll back this or that. But whatever you're doing, I think that that is the issue they want to hear most about, especially independence and people who are getable. There are a lot of people you're not going to change their mind. They're not going to vote for Democrats or Republicans. But you do want them to come out. That's one. And secondly, you want to get getable independent voters. And I just don't feel like either party is, I think they're, the real point of this column is that I think they're captured by social media. They see, you're constantly on there. They're scanning all, you know, all the people on there. And they're just very sensitive to what goes on on social media, which, as many people have pointed out, is not real life. David, great insight. Always great having you on the show. Thanks for a few minutes of your time today, David. Always a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. All right. David Harzani is with the Washington Examiner talking about issues that the politicians, neither party is talking about. And I think he's kind of spot on on that. I mean, talk about those everyday issues. New York Post this afternoon has an article headline. Food prices up 33% of Americans battle highest grocery price spike in 50 years. You think that's not an issue? It is an issue. It is. All right. More coming up. We're out and Greg with you right here on Talk Radio 105.9. KnerS. Rod and Greg back with you on this Tuesday afternoon. You're on Utah's Talk Radio 105.9 KNRS. I'm Rod Arquette. I'm citizen Greg Hughes. Turn your microphone on. Probably help. Yeah, I may help a little bit. I may help a little bit. I'm used to it. We were just before the break, we had a conversation with David Harsani. He was a senior writer at the Washington Examiner about, you know, the issues that neither party is really talking about during this upcoming midterm election, which I believe as of today is 98 days away, and affordability is an issue. Now, I want to take you back, Greg, to when Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich decided that... something needed to be done about the welfare system in this country. And they did do something. They did. It was landmark. It was based on then Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson and the Wisconsin legislature's state welfare reform, proved the model, proved it to work. And it was adopted by New Kingrich's Republican Congress and President Clinton.

And there's a new survey out taking a look at welfare 30 years later. And where do we stand? Joining us on our newsmaker line is Carl Abramson. Tyler Reddick here from 2311 racing. Game nights fun until someone spends five minutes lining up one shot. Chalk, breathe, rechalk, still aiming. While they figure it out, I fire up Chumpa Casino. I can spin anywhere, anytime, and there's always a new social casino game every week. Spins happen way faster than that shot. Play now at chumba casino.com. Let's Chumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group, voidware prohibited by law, 21 plus, terms and conditions apply. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are. Listening to me. Which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-Ehart or go to IHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or IHeartadvertising.com. He's the External Affairs Manager of the Manhattan Institute. They've done this survey on American Attitudes. Carl, thank for joining us. This is a big survey. A lot of questions in this survey. What stood out to you most, Carl? Absolutely. So just for a little bit of context for your listeners, we ran this national survey examining American attitudes towards the welfare state. And so as some of you may note, 2026 is the 30th anniversary of President Bill Clinton's landmark welfare reform from 1996. And so we wanted to see kind of how is the American public thinking about these reforms 30 years later? And so we asked about some of the specifics from that bill in 1996. But we also asked about a number of what we consider kind of first principles questions about the American welfare system, including the design of the safety net. And so we were really looking to answer a fundamental question confronting American social policy. And that question is, do voters still support the principles that kind of reshaped the nation's welfare system in the 1990s? Or has public opinion shifted towards a more universal, a more unconditional vision? of government assistance. And what we found really kind of the key takeaway here is that there's a really durable public consensus supporting those reforms, but also supporting the principles that underpins them. Americans are vastly more supportive of targeted benefits than universal benefits, which I think is the crux of the issue here. So to get a little bit more specific, 67% of Americans per our survey, including 54% of Democrats and 63% of independents, believe that assistance should be targeted. It should be focused on those who were really unable to provide for themselves rather than kind of universal benefits available to everyone. And just to call out one more kind of key takeaway, we found a really resounding rejection of the idea that government welfare should be designed to reduce income inequality. And so we asked this, we asked.

respondents, what should the main goal of government welfare programs be? Should it be to make sure that everyone has a basic minimum, this basic standard of living, or should it be to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor? And what we found is that 65% of voters believe it should be for a basic standard of living, and this included overwhelming majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independence. And I think you see a lot of focus in the media, especially among elite voices, among pundits, among academics. There's this laser focus on income inequality. And what we found is that Americans are just a lot more interested in helping the vulnerable than creating an equitable economic system where wealth is more evenly distributed. Americans are worried about single mothers, people who are struggling to put food on the table. They're worried about disabled folks who are unable to work. They're worried about the elderly. They want these people to get the help rather than seizing the wealth of billionaires and redistributing it. You know, the cross tabs that you provide are just absolutely fascinating, just how people self-identify themselves as voters, whether they lean right or lean left and what that means. Let me ask you this. With all those different cross tabs and really saying different things and how divided these two parties are, there's something about the consensus that this welfare should be for those that are in need and it should be related to work where appropriate. And all the things that the 96 reforms implemented. What good news? Were you surprised at what I would consider a strong? I mean, we talk about these socialists and Democrat Socialist Party all the time, but there seems to be universal acceptance and expectation that welfare be for those that are in need as a help up, not just some new way to live and some quality of life to be provided. Absolutely. We definitely found that on the welfare side, but to call attention to what is honestly a smaller part of the poll, which was our questions about abolitionist proposals. So things like abolishing the police, abolishing U.S. borders, abolishing prisons. These are topics that, like, as I'm sure you know, they've gained some salience in recent months. DFA candidates, Democratic Socialists of America, these candidates have racked up. some electoral wins, particularly in New York City, where the Manhattan Institute is based and where I and where many of my colleagues live. So we were asking in this poll about these abolitionist proposals. And so we asked about abolishing the police. 82% opposed abolishing the police, including 61% of, as you said in the cross tabs, these very left-leaning voters. you think about kind of the constituencies that you would associate with these ideas, the far left, the DSA. These are extremely unpopular proposals. We looked at prisons, 79% of post, 59% of those being very left-leaning voters who oppose abolishing prisons. We found the exact same thing on abolishing U.S. borders. And what we found is that these are incredibly politically toxic ideas. So it should be clear to Republicans who are probably doing this already that Attacking Democrats on these lines is likely advantageous, but I would actually say that maybe more importantly, especially for the health of the Democratic Party, it should be clear to more mainstream Democrats that they have the edge here over their leftist opponents on this issue. They can be more vocal about their support for police.

for incarceration, for border security, the vast, vast majority of Americans feel the same way. Carl, a thing I found interesting in this as well is the generational divide that exists between younger voters and older voters. Eventually those older voters are going to go away. So as this younger generation kind of starts taking control, what does the survey say could possibly happen when they do? Absolutely. I think one of the interesting pieces there is on universal basic income. So this was something that to kind of. talk a little bit about the past year. Andrew Yang, who ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat, this was like the first time a lot of people heard about universal basic income. He was on the scene with this idea that the government should be replacing welfare with a single system, a system that gives every American a check every month. And our survey found that it's pretty unpopular. But as you said, Democrats supported it a little bit, and young voters supported it a little bit as well by slight margin. So I do think it's an open question, kind of. If we revisited this in 10, 20, or as we did here in 30 years after some reforms, what these voters would be thinking. So, you know, when you talk about that, though, here's what I would, another going to the cross tabs a little bit, 49% of those that would self-identify that were respondents to your poll as leaning left. 49% of those identified as Democrat Socialist. I mean, that is a giant number. You look at the Republican side, you had 58% as traditional conservatives, 42% as Make America Great Again movement, you know, the MAGA, but that's smaller than a traditional conservative. When you get to the left of center side, I think the number that's the strongest is that Democrat socialist. Does that mean that that party is just stuck as far left as they can be because that base has such a strong representation? It's a good question. I think so yes, that number of the 49% is definitely concerning. But I think when you look at the attitudes across this survey, and as we've talked about. Despite them identifying as Democratic Socialists when presented with the option of are you a Democratic Socialist or a traditional liberal, they still support government assistance that is tied to work. They still support government assistance that generally is trying to keep people from being dependent on the government. And whether those are... or traditional, like traditional liberal perspectives or traditional conservative perspectives, they're not necessarily democratic socialist perspectives. So I do think that there's a bit of a bright thought there. And I want to correct myself, actually, the traditional liberal was actually 51%, but right behind it at 49% was Democrat socialist, whereas you saw a bigger gap between traditional conservatives at 58% and MAGA at 42. So.

Traditional Republicans are still, liberals are still hanging on by a thread, but there seems to be a big push behind them with the socialists. Absolutely. Carl Abramson, he's with the Manhattan Institute, joining us on our newsmaker line. More coming up on The Rodden Greg Show. The Rod and Greg show continues. on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, K&RS, and everywhere on the IHeart Radio app. I'm Citizen Hughes. And I'm Roder Katt. You know, I'm reading this story, Greg, and it's sad when you have a lawmaker, especially right now in Washington, and the feeling that the American people have toward Congress. So you have a lawmaker there who's trying to get something done that the American people support. And we're talking about the Safe Act, right? Yep. But being attacked for it. I mean, here's the story in this afternoon's trip. Let me read you the headline. Mike Leeds threats to Nick's August recess are infuriating his colleagues. Good. Yes. Good. They read more of it. Senate Republican leaders are used to headaches caused by Utah Senator Mike Lee. Create more if you would, Mike. But the battle is reaching an apex as Lee attempts to derail the August recess and force another vote on President Donald Trump's priority voting bill, which is the Save Act. So we don't expect personally, I'll just speak for myself. I don't expect the Salt Fake Tribune to say anything that would be foreign on behalf of the people. But in a country where we have a lot of division where there's a lot of polarization, you know, partisanship going on, to see polls that show 80% of America without regard to party want to see secure elections, support the SAVE Act. This is the easiest bill that the Senate could ever take up and pass collectively. if their priority was the people. Yeah. Because the people, this is not a partisan issue. This is a bipartisan. We want, and to those that would say, well, you don't need it because it's already against the law for people that aren't allowed to vote to not vote. Well, I'd say two things. One, out of an abundance of caution, do it anyway. Or two, why are you fighting it so hard if it's already done? Yeah. All right. We've got more to come. Hour number two of the Rod and Greg show is coming your way. Stay with us. Drew McIntyre here from WWE. Wheeling the Claymore can be a life of chaos. When I'm not dominating in the ring, Chumba Casino is how this warrior takes a wee break. With hundreds of online social games and new weekly releases, there's always something fresh to try. In those daily boosts, next level. Even my free time feels like Valhalla. So when life feels like a battle, kick up your feet, have some fun, and let's chumba. No purchase necessary. VGW Group, voidware prohibited by law, CTs and Cs, 21 Plus, sponsored by Chumba Casino. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are. Listening to me, which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-Ehart or go to IHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or IHeartadvertising.com.

It is our number two at the Rod and Greg show with you here on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS, live everywhere on the I Heart Radio app. Hope you're having a great Tuesday, everybody. I'm Red Arquette. I'm a citizen Greg Hughes. You know, I wonder if Mike Lee is saying to himself, Greg, I never thought I had to work this hard. I mean, he is working his tail off on this. Folks, we have another senator that's just recently, I think an hour ago, said that this senator, I think from Indiana is. is willing to not recess for August and has joined Senator Lee. Now you have 10 Republican senators saying that this, that motion to recess has always been like we assume there's no opposition and they do it with no one in the chamber. Once you have stated opposition this way, that has to actually have a vote in the Senate with 10 members voting against it. You got yourself a debate coming at least. And now these senators are going to have to tell their constituents. I know it's 70, 80% of you support it, and I represent you as your senator, but I want to go home anyway. Yeah. I don't want to have to. I've been working three and a half days for how long. I'm exhausted. Yeah. I don't want to secure our elections. I don't want to take this vote that you, the people have shown by a clear majority, by a super majority, really, that you'd like us to do. I don't want to do. I want those senators, Republican especially. to have to make that argument to constituents, because I don't think that the people are the priority right now. And there's nothing more important to a U.S. Senator than they're recessed. Yeah, yeah. They love recess. More than a fourth grader. They love recess. They got to have it. And here they are, Greg. I mean, you could, what is it, a five-week recess, I think, is usually what it takes, right? They leave down, they don't come back until after Labor Day. Is that correct? That's about the timeline, right? That's right. A couple of days, would it kill them? to stay in town for a couple of days. It's the lowest hanging fruit. It's the biggest political win. Yeah. I mean, there's no one's going to tell them why in the world would you require an ID to vote? I can't believe you'd expect our elections to be that secure. I mean, there's no pushback they're going to get from constituents. This is, again, a by-part. You look at the polls, Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike support. showing ID to vote. People don't want their votes canceled out by people that shouldn't be legally allowed to vote. This, it is, there is something seriously wrong and something going on. There's good reasons and real reasons. Don't tell me that you're just worried about married women losing the right to vote. This is a contrived, actually insulting argument. The fact that they are holding out so strong, I think there's something else going on here that's not. foreign on behalf of the people that they represent. Yeah, well, I'll give you an example. I think even if they get it to a vote, let's say, you know, things start opening up, they do get a vote to it, and they lose. A loss is a win for people who favor checking IDs before you vote because now you can say that senator there, that senator there wants to have people who shouldn't be voting voting in this country today.

So it would embarrass them. They do not want to be embarrassed, Greg. And that's what this, I think, all comes down to. And I'll tell you, if you get to that moment, I think the people that would like to go home and under the dark a night and no one's watching and never have to tell their constituents, I was one of the ones that didn't want to do it, they don't want to be put on that record. They don't want to be on that roll call vote that says, I'm against. the Save America Act. They don't want to say it even if they aren't. And to the point where they would have to, they'd probably flip their vote to a yes. What are they so afraid of if they lost, Greg? I mean, a lot of people are thinking they may look. What is the story behind the Republicans say, you know what? Win or lose, we're going to put it for a vote. Why can't they say that? I have got to tell you that in campaigns and elections, I don't understand why any Republican, Senator. They know, I know, I can tell you why the Democrats don't want it. Oh, yeah, that's easy. I can tell you why the California, particularly California senators and representatives don't want it because they've got a ton of people voting that shouldn't be voting. They get, they get congressional districts drawn on raw population, including illegal, so they get more representation in Congress. There is, there is a easy reason to understand why Democrats do not want the Save America Act to pass. But why Republicans. who would be at disadvantage, inherently disadvantaged in an election from people that aren't supposed to vote, the voting, vote harvesting and all. Think about this. That one vote alone, that one bill, stops voter harvesting because you have to present an ID when you vote. You don't get to harvest votes like that anymore. Every Republican should want a fair and free election, level playing field, easy to vote, hard to cheat, and for them to oppose it. And we got the clip of John Cornyn. He doesn't know why they're even trying because they don't have the votes. The legislative body is in flux all the time. You are always, there's no, there's no patent stopped. This is where everybody's at. You can go get those votes. You can go, if there's an amendment needed, there's common ground to be found. You can, that's what it takes leaders of legislative bodies to do. These guys act like the script's already written and it's not worth even revisited. Yeah. Well, let's play that audio soundbite. This is Texas Senator John Cornyn, who by the way is a short timer. He'll be out in January. He's just bitter. But he's just bitter. Listen to what he said when about the recess and about the vote on the Save America Act. I don't understand the rationale. I think it's basically we're over-promising and we're not going to be able to deliver on that promise because we don't have the votes to pass it no matter how long we stay and we're not going to change the filibuster. But somehow the president's convinced that if he presses hard enough that we will come around. But I just don't think that's likely to happen. Is he putting John Thune in an impossible position here? Well, I think, yeah, well, I wouldn't say impossible. They'll figure it out. Yeah. So he talks like it's other people. You know, we don't have the vote. No, you don't want to vote for it. It's you. You're one of the ones that don't want to vote for this. It's not we. Okay. And to the point of the filibuster, do what they did for the Civil Rights Act in the 60s. Continue to debate it. Yeah. Continue to debate it until, and by the way, this whole, if you do an amendment, you have to start all over. These guys have had.

amendments thrown at bills all the time the senate rules absolutely contemplate and allow the they they act when harry reid was a president was the majority leader and he wanted to give o barak obama's uh you know his obamacare passed he didn't let them go home He said, you're staying. We're staying here. We'll stay here seven days. We'll stay here every day until we pass it. We're not going home until we do it. And guess what they did? They passed it. Well, didn't they pass it like the night before Christmas or something like that? I mean, so the Democrats have the courage to push and push and push. Why don't the Republicans? No, I mean, you, you, the Democrats are a lot more. They can get their votes. I mean, some of the deals they had to make with some of those senators to get their yes vote on that were, remember the Nebraska payoff or whatever they get? And then Mary Landrieu, she was a senator from Louisiana. They gave her like $200 million of runaround money she could spend federally anywhere she wanted to get her vote. We don't want to see trades like that. What it shows, if you take the 60 Civil Rights Act that LBJ as president, and he had been the Senate president, knew their rules real well. And he was an armed twister. And he was. And LBJ was a well-known arm twister. And so that guy kept them open, and they're going to talk that thing to death. And they were so far away from having the votes there until they finally got that passed. What Harry Reid did to pass the Obamacare Act or Obamacare legislation. He kept them there and they couldn't leave until they got something done. These Republicans act like, what, more than three and a half days? Well, this is just unreasonable. But Mike Lee, what's he at? What's he talking about? Go do the job. You don't have anything to talk about that. And you're going to have the lowest voter turnout amongst Republicans. If this do nothing, Senate can't do something that 80% of America without regard to party affiliation wants the Senate to do. You know, I wonder in our great audience, we want to ask them, how infuriating is this right now? The American public has said, what, 80%, 83%, I've heard as high as 90%. The American people want this, but we've got a few senators in the U.S. Senate who are blocking us from able to do that. That's infuriating. Can you find another issue with that kind of bipartisan support? No, no, but they'll vote on other things that don't have 80% of the public supporting it.

888570801010. On your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, or leave us a message on the talkback line. Infuriating, yes. We'll talk more about that and get your calls. It is the Rod and Greg Show. On Utah's Talk Radio, 105-9, K&RS, everywhere on the I-Heart Radio app. I'm Citizen Hughes. And I'm Rod Arquette. You know, we've been talking about Mike Lee, the Save America Act. Big story tomorrow, of course, Greg, is going to be Anthony Fauci. Anthony Fauci will appear before Senator Rand Paul's committee. And, you know, the frustrating thing about there will be fireworks. There's no doubt tomorrow that there'll be fireworks. But nothing, Greg. Do you believe anything is going to come out of this? No, I know. Other than Fouchy is, I mean, now that you, if you read his diaries, I don't even think he, he doesn't use it like a diary. I think his diaries are like self-reflection or journals. You may want to remember moments in your life. This guy writes, I'm so popular. I talk to Barbara Streisand. I, you know, CDC doesn't want me to talk to the media because I'm a rock star and they're not. I mean, he, the way he talks about himself and the things he finds important enough. to write down is weird. And that's saying it nicely. Well, maybe a guy that's an egomaniac or worse like he is, when he gets into that committee, we'll try to, try to salvage this reputation and this image that he is clearly loved about himself for so long. Maybe he tries to fight back and salvage it. If he does, I think he gets worse for him. He's probably smart to just shut up about it because there's so many moments in that diary that reveal his private thoughts and beliefs and... positions, they just can contradict what he forced upon the American people. And what he said publicly was the case. I've never told it. I never shut down anything in his diary. I talked to the New York school district. Convinced him to shut it down. I talked to the chief of staff of Gavin Newsom, they're going to close down the California schools. This guy talks about his direct involvement with the largest school districts in America. And then when asked, why do you feel any regret from closing down the schools, given how far behind the students are now? I never shut down anything. I never directed anyone to shut down anything. I gave information. Well, the diary says otherwise. Well, here's what you want one more piece of information from those diaries that will make your blood boil. Yeah. This is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. Okay. He was on Laura Ingram last night. And he basically said that Anthony Fauci had received the COVID vaccine. In a very public ceremony, though roughly five months later, he suffered a pulmonary infarction. Listen to this information that our Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. shared with Laura Engram last night. He lied about mass. He lied about social distancing. He lied about the transmission. He lied about natural immunity. He lied about the capacity, as you just said, of the vaccine to prevent infection, to prevent it. He got vaccinated, very, very public. press conference in January of 2020. And then five months later, he had him. This is the first time that we knew this from the diary. He had a pulmonary infarction, which is one of the adverse events that NIH, CDC and FDA said are expected from the vaccine. He never told anybody. He got treated for it.

privately by the best doctors in America at the same time he was telling everybody that that was not an adverse event you believe that Yeah, well, he, you know, that's, he had one of the side effects that he absolutely rejected was a side effect. Yeah. He had it himself and the best doctors in the country treating him and was encouraging Americans to still do it and don't worry about that. That's not a real side effect. That's, you know, I've seen video where he's complaining about, you know, you, like we got to get this serious. You got to put real consequences in front of people to get rid of their ideological beliefs on this. And he was asked about that. That statement was found and his answer back was, Well, I didn't mean it that way. Well, I wish the member of Congress when he was in that committee would say, well, tell me how you did mean that. Like, well, how I heard that statement. He was read and what he had said. I don't know any other way you could interpret what he said other than. threaten them with their jobs, threaten them with the ability to live or, you know, livelihoods, everything. Or else if you don't, they're going to let their beliefs that this isn't safe carry the day and we have to force them to do it. That's what he meant. Didn't he in his diary somewhere, I may be off on this, but basically said Rachel Maddow on MSNBC at the time, MSN now, was the greatest ever. I mean, he loved Rachel Maddow, right? Yep. Now the diaries point out how much he hated. I don't understand the rash. There we go. And now we understand, through the diaries, how much he hated the Fox News personalities. He called Tucker Carlson a total a-hole. He called Sean Hannity the same thing. Anybody on Fox, he went after. Because they were critical. Because they were critical of them. They were asking him difficult questions, asking him to explain things. Yet, I mean, this guy, I mean, think about the damage. Now, he's not entirely to blame, but he was the face of COVID in our efforts to deal with this. But as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just said, I mean, look what he did to the economy. Look what he did to our social interactions, Greg. Wear a mask and stand six feet apart from somebody. Look what he did to our children. The impacts on our children are still being felt today. Yet, no, the sad thing, no one's going to be held accountable. for any of this. He had that pardon. He had a pardon that's just a get out of jail free card for anything, anyone ever. Man, I bet he could speed, he doesn't get a speeding ticket anymore. You have pardon for everything because it's undefined. It's going to be anything in the world. Yeah. What a, what a scam that is. Yeah. And then you find out that Biden is just wasn't awake, wasn't there. It's an auto pen giving out all these pardons. And then even, we haven't even talked about during the show, but he admits in 2017 before he's even elected president that he broke the law. by keeping classified documents. The very thing they went after Trump for, and that he went on television to say what he did is so wrong, he admitted to the biographer that, yeah, I kept all these classified documents. Petraeus went, he got charged for doing that. You've got all kinds of examples of people that have been punished by the law severely for keeping and retaining. And John Bolton's in jail because of, or going to jail because of classified documents he kept for the same reasons that Biden did. He wanted to write a book about it, so he wanted to keep it.

going through the motions in voting on this act is really worth it because it will show the American people. And this I think what a lot of, well, the Democrats are really afraid of this, but there are some Republicans who are afraid of it as well. It will show the American people whether or not the people we send back to Washington care about voter integrity and to make sure that we do everything that we can. to stop people who shouldn't be voting in these elections because they are not citizens, we need to be able to stop that. And any lawmaker in there. Now, the Democrats, we talked about this, Greg and I did last week, have already kind of let the cat out of the bag as to why they're so opposed to the Save America Act. Now, they'll say it's because of women and people are, you know, married women. They have to go dig out all this information. Well, they don't have to do that. But what is going to happen as a matter of fact is that you want the senators to stand up there and say, yeah, or nay. And that's what I think Mike Lee says. It's important for the American people to see. And that's what he's trying to do. It's that easy. But there are some, and you heard a bite. We played a moment ago with John Cornyn. He's the outgoing senator from the state of Texas saying, why are we doing this? We don't have the votes. Why are we doing this? Do it because the American people are asking you to do it. The American people, the latest survey show I think it's 83% of Republicans, nearly 72% of Democrats. The Latino population is also heavily in favor of this, are basically saying, yes, we do not think someone who is not a member of this country should be allowed to vote in a federal election. To me, that makes a whole lot of sense. And I think it does to you people as well. But people are fighting this. And that's why people are so frustrated with the Senate and really with the House because they're saying, what on earth are you people doing up there? I mean, you can pass a simple bill. that most of the American people want passed. I mean, this is an easy one, guys, yet they refuse to do it. And that's what I think is so frustrating to people when it comes to this. Now, I want to take a minute. And share with you some information. As of today, I believe we are Sunday, Monday, too, yeah, we are 98 days away from the midterm elections. You believe that, 98 days? Well, what's it look like? Now, you've got the Democrats who feel they're upbeat, because typically in a midterm election, the sitting president and the party he represents lose anywhere from 10 to 20 seats. We've lost as many at one time, up 48 seats. I think that happened under Barack Obama at one time in a midterm election that he had to deal with. The Republicans, they've all gone through it. So what does the situation look like this time? Well, the Democrats are up ahead, you know, they're feeling kind of optimistic, but the lead they have right now is nothing compared that they have the lead that they've had in previous midterm elections.

So they're upbeat, but they've got some challenges. The issue that I don't hear them hammer enough about, maybe they do, is the cost of living. It's expensive out there, folks. I mean, gas prices are the other day I paid $4.49. I think they're down now a little bit. But gas prices are hurting the American people, as are grocery prices and just the cost of living in general. So the Democrats are going to pound on that issue. The other thing the Democrats want, I don't know about you, but have the, have you heard any plan? Now we've got 98 days, maybe it's somewhere. Have you heard any plan from the Democrats come out and say, this is how we're going to solve the problem? I haven't heard that, have you? Because they don't have a solution. That's the challenge they face. They are going to run. Their key issue in this campaign comes down to one word, Trump. They're going to run against Donald Trump. They're going to say, look what he's doing to this country. And they've already said, look, if we get control of the House, we're going to impeach him again. That's going to do a lot for the country, right? But they're going to try and do that. So that's the key. Now, on the Republican side, first of all, redistricting. A lot of redistricting has gone around the country, which will help. which will help Republicans, except here in Utah. We now have a Democratic district. That makes a lot of sense, but apparently we do. So redistricting is going to be a very big issue for them. Now, there are now 23 Democrats running for the House, okay? They're saying this race is going to come down to about 11 to 12 districts because most other districts, because of redistricting, are pretty well said. But the race, 98 days from now. is really going to come down to about anywhere from 12 to 18 House races. And in the Senate, maybe even fewer than that. Now, the Democrats are so hoping. that they can beat Susan Collins in Maine, that they'll win that seat. Well, first of all, they had to deal with Graham Platner, and the guy they've replaced him, I believe his name is Roy Jackson, is worse than Graham Platner. So no telling what could happen there. You have a vote, I believe it may be tomorrow or next week, in Michigan for a Senate race. you've got a socialist, a man who claims, you know, he denies he's a communist, but he is, who could win the Democratic nomination. That opens up the seat for Mike Rogers on the Republican side. So it's going to be real interesting to see how this all shakes out. Of course, we'll be talking about it for the next 98 days. It's going to be very, very interesting, and we invite you to stay tuned to us. All right, welcome back to the Rod and Greg Show with you on this Tuesday. Evening in Utah's Talk Radio 105-9, KNRS. Greg has stepped out a little bit early tonight, so I'll handle it until we wrap things up at 7 o'clock. Don't forget the Jesse Kelly Show coming your way at 7. Jesse will have a lot to say about Dr. Anthony Fauci as he heads before a Senate hearing tomorrow, and he'll also have some comments concerning Lindsey Graham. Wonderful ceremony at the National Cathedral for the South Carolina Senator today. The president made some remarks, as did Sean Hannity.

John, a close friend of Lindsey Graham. They didn't always agree, but had some very nice remarks that he made at that celebration of life for Lindsey Graham today. A couple of things. Before the break, we were talking about the upcoming midterm elections. There were a couple of things. I have mentioned that, you know, the one issue that the Democrats are going to run on. in November and it's already started. They aren't going to talk about affordability because they don't have a plan. They can't talk about gas prices because they don't have a plan. They can't talk about the cost of living. They can't, they don't have a plan to bring that all down. Those are important issues. But the one issue that they are going to talk about a lot and they're still doing it now is Donald Trump. Donald Trump, that is their platform. We are going to stop Donald Trump. from whatever they think he's doing and ruining America. That's what they're going, that's what, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, we, you put the house back in charge. Come November, we, our first steps will be. to impeach Donald Trump. I'm not sure if he's saying that to appease the baits, or if he's saying that because, you know, he just thinks that Donald Trump is ruining America. Well, there are a lot of Americans who don't believe that. As a matter of fact, there is a poll out, a recent poll from RMS research. Never heard of them before. You know, maybe Scott Rasmussen's old company, but had some very good news for the president. The poll conducted between January, between July 13th. until a week later, about July 21st, showed the president's net approval ratings increased to the highest level that he has seen since spring, despite the U.S. Israeli streaks on Iran and some inflationary woes. So among the Republicans out there right now, the members who voted for Donald Trump still believe in the guy. Now, do we want something done with Iran? We do. And that, you know, nutter crack, apparently, you know, send comments sending out a text message tonight that Iran fired more missiles at U.S. sites in the Mideast. You know, and we're going, wait a minute, you know, the president has, we haven't gone after you for a couple of days. And you said, please don't, you know, we've got to do this. We've got, you know, let's figure out something. Yet, in return, what do they do? They're dropping missiles again. You cannot trust these people. The only way that you're really going to hurt them, you know, militarily, I mean, we could probably do more, but we really haven't. The one way to hurt them is economically. And we're starting to hear now.

that the blockage of the strait and the attacks on their country is really starting to hurt them economically. Now, how much longer can they hold on? We do not know. But that's the way that's really going to have to. get them to the table. All right, a lot more to come here in the Rod and Greg show. When we come back, we'll talk more about the Cates involving Shiloh Hendrix in Minnesota. That's coming up. All right, welcome back, everybody, to our number three of the Rod and Greg show on Utah's talk radio, 1059, KNRS. Greg had to step out a little early tonight. He'll be back. Tomorrow at 4 for Wingman Wednesday, so I'll solo it until we wrap things up tonight at 7 o'clock prior to the Jesse Kelly Show. Hey, it's Ryan Sechrest here. And if you're looking for some serious fun, head over to chumbacasino.com. At Chumba Casino, you can play all your favorite social casino style games for free anytime, anywhere. It's the most fun you can have on your phone or computer. No purchase necessary. VGW. Boy, we're prohibited by loss. See terms and conditions, 21 plus. You know what your customers are doing right this second? The exact same thing you are. Listening to me. Which, let's be honest, is kind of flattering. But my point is, ads on IHeart Radio actually get heard. In the car, at the gym, on the couch, while people are walking their dogs. Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You're a good boy, that's right, you're a good boy. So why not make the next ad about you? Get started today. Call 844-844-I-Hart or go to iHeartadvertising.com. That's 844-844-Ehart or iHeartadvertising.com. We talked about this yesterday because this is a... A story that I don't think is getting a lot of attention, and it should because it's a real challenge, in my opinion, to free speech in America. Well, this took place in Rochester, Minnesota. There was a woman who was at a playground there with her son last April. Her name is Shiloh Hendricks. You may have heard us talking about this yesterday. She watched as her, you know, she took her own child to the park. She saw an eight-year-old Somali child allegedly ran to her diaper bag and stole something. Apparently it was one of those fruit packs of juice that you see. Well, Hendricks reportedly shouted at the child and called him the N-word. Now, this is in a public space. There was a fellow Somali bystandard. His name is Sharmaki Omar. began following and recording Hendricks and asked if she called the child a racial slur. Hendrix confirmed that she did and then called Omar the same slur as well. Well, during this interaction, Hendrix is seen walking away from the Somali Nationals. But the man says, turn around and say that word to me again, and he was recording all of this. Now, Omar...

basically said that, or Hendricks, that her speech was hate speech, and that he would post the video on the world to see, which you can see it now. And the world did see it and had the opportunity to judge for itself. Whether viewers of the incident condemned her, criticized her, or defended her, it was all their pejorative, prerogative, I should say, to have their own First Amendment thoughts on this. Now, I don't like what she did. but in America, you have a right to do this. And is this going to lead to more of stories like this? Well, joining us on our any hour newsmaker to talk about that is Brianna Lyman, an elections correspondent at the Federalist. She writes about this. Brianna, thanks for joining us tonight. Let's talk about this case and why you think it may lead to more cases like this. Yeah, this case is really interesting because Hendricks said words that I think were indefensible for most people, and most people don't justify the language choice. But her words were nonetheless free speech. And yet she was criminalized and punished by the government for that free speech. And what I mean by that is Hendrix was found not guilty on disorderly conduct for the child, but she was found guilty on disorderly conduct to the Somali migrants. who was filming the incident. And when he was filming the incident, he said, I'm going to post this for the world to see. So he was already making it clear that he was following her through the park, taunting and goading her into saying those words again for camera because he wanted a viral moment. And he wanted a viral moment because he wanted her to be judged for her words. And that's fine. Let the internet judge her. But to have the government judge her and work around that they could punish her for her free speech is problematic because this is... Free speech. Hate speech is free speech. The first women was not written to protect speech that everybody agrees with or that makes everybody feel cozy. It was written to protect the rights of people to say things that may be unpopular. You know, Brianna, we're watching these striking contradictions. I mean, you have the left, the leftists that would obstruct federal law enforcement. I'm thinking of ICE under the banner of freedom of speech. They're protesting. They're getting in the way. That doesn't seem to cause the left any kind of issue at all. You look at what's happening over at the UK, and they are putting people in jail for things they post online. When we get to this case, to your point, we're not excited about what she said, but it is speech. Even the fighting words, and you bring this up in your article, that it doesn't hold muster because he invited her to repeat what he had heard her say. There's no fighting words going on here. What is the logical extension of this? I mean, how do you combat the hypocrisy of the left as well as what they're willing to go in the face of law and clear logic they're willing to go against and really find someone guilty? What happens from that point? Yeah, well, this case is the logical conclusion of the left's insistence that speech is violence, right? That hate words are dangerous speech. Because that basically creates a permission structure for censoring words that you dislike or disagree with. Because if words are violence, then it justifies someone acting in self-defense. And if someone's being violent towards you, it usually requires you to maybe, let's say, hit them back, for example, right? Or defend yourself, and if that means using...

you know, your hands, maybe even a weapon for self-defense, it's justified. So when we start saying that speech is violence, you are implicitly justifying violent and physical resistance to that speech. And I think the assassination of Charlie Kirk is the culmination of that as well, right? This case with Chilo Hendrix is the thing that Charlie Kirk is the biggest one. Because remember, remember Matthew Dow from MSNBC right after Charlie was assassinated? He said that Charlie's one of the most divisive figure. He was pushing hate speech, and hate speech leads to hateful words, which leads to hateful actions. He was justifying the murder of Charlie Kirk by saying, well, Charlie's words were hateful, and that made people angry, and that ultimately led someone to do something very violent. Tyler Robinson, Charlie's alleged assassin, said that Kirk spread too much hate and that hate can't be negotiated out. The hate he was allegedly spreading with free speech. And so the left has justified violence toward free speech, and it's going to get worse if we don't take a stand. Well, let me ask you this, Brianna, because you write about this. The words that this woman used in Minnesota, the N-word, I think 99.9% of Americans would be offended by the use of that word. Some may not, unfortunately. But, I mean, words, they're not violence, are they? Is that how the left interprets it sometime that these words are, in fact, violence and they should be dealt with? Yeah, words or not, the words are violence in a very narrow category, which the Supreme Court has consistently touched on in their decisions that hate speech, offensive speech is not violence. Anything that could cause imminent harm to someone, maybe saying, I'm about to kill you or I'm going to take this either, but those are those narrow exceptions. She didn't fit any of those categories, but the left wants to broaden that distinction, that it is basically an all-encompassing gotcha for anything that you believe in if you are a Republican or a conservative. Or someone who's just angry and says something that they probably shouldn't have said, maybe set it in the key of the moment. But at the end of the day, words can be offensive. They can be rude. But 99.9% of the time, including in this case, they are not violence. And if we want a free society to persevere and to continue to prosper, we have to preserve that distinction. Because if you don't have free speech... You don't have a free society, and that is a bedrock of free society. So, and you're so right. So I find that the judiciary has become so politicized. Some of the rulings that are made, they just seems to be partisan. The facts or the legal precedent doesn't really even play into the equation.

But these kind of rulings get up, they get appealed. And at some point along the way, you would hope that there is an appeals court that reviews the facts. It's black. I mean, freedom of speech and every point you've made, including fighting words, can be proven that not, you know, the fighting word exemption does not apply in this case. And it's easy to see why. So at some point, I imagine this gets appealed. And at some point, it gets overturned. But in the meantime, What in the world do we do? And how long does it take to get that appeal to throw this terrible ruling out? And then do we lose more of our freedom of speech while we wait for that appeal? Well, yeah. I mean, I think we always lose more of the freedom that we have while we're waiting for the courts to decide. I know here at the Federalist, when we were censored by the Biden administration, we felt the impact, even though we immediately sued in Missouri v. Biden. And we felt those impacts for a long time, the demonetization, we were getting pulled off Google, things like that. That's a real risk. I'm not particularly sure what Minnesota's legal process looks like. I would suspect that an appeal is somehow going to be shot down because it is a left-wing judiciary in Minnesota. I think the other points to make here is when we're talking about free speech. Think of that teen. Remember in 2016, he posted a meme that if you vote for Hillary Clinton, make sure to vote, you know, the day after in text. And he had been sentenced to jail time during the Biden years. And he was eventually had his conviction of return. That was free speech. But the left wanted to widen that distinction of what is permissible and what's not to say this was impermissible because they didn't like it free speech. So they are using every tool, assassination, lawfare, to silence free speech. Brianna Lyman, from the Federalist joining us on our NEO. our newsmaker line. We recorded that interview earlier when Greg was here talking about the case in Minnesota involving a woman by the name of Shiloh Hendrix. If you want to find out more, you can just Google that. You know, just following up on our conversation here, words, they may be offensive, they may be rude. I hate some words. I hate people using those words, but they are not violence. They are not. And In my opinion, free societies ought to preserve that distinction. Omar was free to call Hendrik's speech hateful. He's free to say, hey, that's hate speech. He was free to publish it and let the public judge her, and they have. But which should concern everyone is that the government thought it should punish her too. And that's wrong. And as we're moving in that direction more often, As we talk about the battle for religious liberty and free speech. on every day, and we cannot let the other side win. More coming up, Rod and Greg, with you right here on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. How would you like to put an extra $1,000 in your pocket? Well, you can do so each and every day, Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. here on Talk Radio, 105.9 KNRS. It's our inflation vacation, $1,000 cash giveaway. Now, here are how it works. Very, very simple.

At about five past each hour, we'll give you a nationwide keyword. All you do is have to listen to that keyword, write it down, go to our website at knRS.com, and enter that word, and you could win $1,000. We call it an inflation vacation. We do it Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. right here on talk radio, 1059, KNRS. Again, it begins again tomorrow morning at 905 here on KNRS. All right, I've mentioned this numerous times here on the show. And I think, you know, the Republicans, as we move into the midterm elections, need to talk more and more about two things. First of all, the success they've had. Now, there is no doubt. The president, he said he would do it, and he has secured the border. Hey guys, it's Ryan. I want to tell you about my new pastime, Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has been around for over a decade delivering the most fun you can have online, play social casino-style games for free, anytime, anywhere. So sign up at chumbac casino.com. No purchase necessary. VGW. We're prohibited by law. See terms of conditions, 21 plus. These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with Iheart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make iHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Visit iHeartadvertising.com. Again, that's iHeartadvertising.com. Now, one of the programs that he has come up with, and apparently is turning out to be quite a success, is his controversial self-deportation program. Remember this? What it does, it pays unauthorized immigrants to leave the U.S., and apparently it is on pace right now for more than 200,000 departures according to information that was gathered by Axios. Now, 200,000 versus the 10.5 million. that were allowed into the country during Biden's years is nothing, but still it does show that some of these programs are working. Now, it was launched last year, as you recall, with a multi-million dollar ad campaign. I think this was when Kristi Noem was head of Homeland Security. The initiative is a carrot stick.

That has long sticks. Through July 16th, the nearly $600 million program dubbed Project Homecoming by the Department of Homeland Security has helped out about 132,000 people exit the United States. Roughly 70,000 more have signed up, and apparently from the numbers I've been able to see, are on track to leave. So that'd be about 200,000 people under this program. About half the self-deportation that have taken place, deportations, have involved immigrants held in detention under an effort to accelerate the departures and began when Doge Staffer brought Project Homecoming into ICE facilities. If you look at the big picture of this when it comes to immigration and the border, It is a key part of the administration's push to remove one million, huge number, one million unauthorized immigrants into the United States. The idea was that unauthorized immigrants would be so fearful of being arrested and detained by ICE agents and border protection that they'd voluntarily leave and go home. They were given a promise of free travel. We, the taxpayer, would foot the bill, and a stipend of $1,000 paid to them once they leave the United States. It was called the self-deportation plan. Now, the stipend, by the way, originally was that $1,000 is now has increased to $2,600, I'm sorry. and was briefly $3,000 last Christmas. It started slowly. Okay, it only attracted about, what's the number that I've seen, about 24,000 immigrants in the first six months. But the White House, realizing that this could be a real positive for the president and his border issues. Urged DHS officials to move quickly, quickly, and faster, and they have. So each self-deportation is now costing, you and I, the American taxpayer, about $2,500 plus stipend paid to the deportee. Removing the immigrant who doesn't volunteer for deportation costs about $18,000. So it's a lot cheaper. So, again, this is a program. that I said, I think the administration should be talking about all the time, along with inflation, along with gas prices, explaining to the American people what they're trying to do in Iran. These are the key elements that the Republicans need to talk about to the American people all the time. That's what they need to do. All right, more coming up. Rod and Greg with you, Rod, here alone today or this afternoon. Final hour of the show, Greg has stepped out. He'll be back tomorrow right here on Utah's Talk Radio 105.9, KNRS. All right, welcome back, final half hour, the Rod and Greg show with you on this Tuesday evening. Greg has stepped away early tonight. He'll be back with us tomorrow. Don't forget, the Jesse Kelly show coming your way at the top of the hour. Now, I want to take you back over the years when...

The food police were at it. Remember there was a while ago. I can't remember how long ago. That word went out that eggs are bad for you. And we shouldn't eat eggs anymore. And over the years, we've had other suggestions about don't eat this, don't eat that, it's bad for you. Matter of fact, Michelle Obama one time tried to convince schools around the country not to allow kids to drink chocolate milk. Remember that? The food police, they're always out there. And it's funny over time, all of a sudden people go, well, and maybe it's okay to eat an egg. Welcome to find out. Eggs are, you know, one of the best protein providers that we have out there. And, you know, but they're a story after story about don't eat this, don't eat that, as I mentioned. Well, what happens when the food police get out of hand and really start annoying you just a little bit? Well, let's talk about that now. Earlier, Greg and I had a chance to talk with Stacey Matthews. She is a columnist and contributor at Red State. She talked about when food police get out of hand. And we asked Stacey to begin with why she's so mad at the food police. kind of an ongoing thing, right? And that's just kind of different from the Maha stuff. Because I really enjoyed, you know, the conversations people have had about Maha and learning new things about, you know, food additives and things that a lot of people don't really think about, but they need to know more information on. But the issue that I've persistently dealt with probably for the last 10 years or so, and, you know, seeing it and experiencing it personally is people who... take an innocent picture that you post on social media, like, you know, a milkshake or a sweet tea, and they all of a sudden have to tell you how bad the ingredients are for you and how you should choose other things. I just think that's a little bit... A little bit too much. You know, I read your column, and it's just a bunch of busybodies. People getting into a grown adult's business. I mean, if you want to get, and I see Trump handle this, President Trump handled this really well with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. I mean, he'll say he hates that I eat these burgers. And then Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will say, it's a miracle of the president's alive and as well because of all that he consumes. They make a joke of it. Is there a way to approach the food police or just these? these busy buddies, these judgy people with humor, or are we just going to be, are we all plagued with them? Well, I think it depends on who you're talking to. I know in my situation, the people I was dealing with, I just got to the point where it shut me down pretty much from posting photos because. And it wasn't the same people every time. It was different people. But even when I would, you know, try to engage with the people, they would still try to argue with me about ingredients, you know, and then they'd get in arguments amongst each other. And, you know, keep in mind that the reason that most people post pictures of their food, you know, online is not because, you know, their foodies or anything like that. They're just trying to start a conversation with people. You know, it's a way to kind of connect with people and talk about different things.

And it just takes kind of the joy out of doing it when you have the food police, you know, telling you what you should and shouldn't be eating. That sweet tea is not good for you. It's got too much sugar and that sort of thing. And let me be the judge of what I can have and what I can. Now, you know, and let me say this too, you know, when you put things out there on social media. you invite comments. And it's not always going to be a comment that you like or are going to want to see. I just feel like there should be a line drawn with people in terms of getting a little bit too, I don't know. nosy or too preachy about, you know, what foods are good for you and what foods are not good for you. You know, Stacey, I've always wondered, who made the food police the experts on food? I mean, who made, who crowned them? You're an expert on food. So go ahead and police what people are eating. Well, you know, Rod, we have experts online on everything. Oh, yeah. I'm getting my, you know, we've had a lot of house projects here at my house over the last two years, and I've joked with people that I'm working on getting my YouTube degree in Cross Space Engineering, you know, because I'm researching. So a lot of people do research online, and that's good. I mean, a lot of people, you know, look for information, but then they think it makes them an expert. And, you know, when you talk to them, you realize they're not really an expert. They're just trying to be a little bit preachy, you know, and suggest that, you know, maybe you should be making better choices when you're probably doing okay. You know, I find that beyond food, everybody's a critic. As you said, everybody seems to be a self-appointed expert. Is the risk really when you invite people into your private life or if your food choices or where you live or what car you like, is there any decision? or anything that you do in your life, that if you let the social media and all the chirpers out there see a decision you've made in your life, there's not just an avalanche of, you know, petty opinions about what they're looking at. I can honestly say the one thing on social media that's even more consistent than the food police are the people who, when they see somebody requesting prayer. It's almost, it's like universal. And that's the one good thing, you know, about social media is when you get online and you've got, you know, some problems going on. You've got a loved one who is sick. And, you know, you're having an issue with your job or what have you. Those things when you, you know, go online and post about it. Generally, people will immediately offer a prayer. So that's a positive. Okay. I thought maybe you're saying. That's one of the few good things. You get out of social media. Hey, it's Ryan Sechrest here. And if you're looking for some serious fun, head over to chumbacasino.com. At Chumba Casino, you can play all your favorite social casino style games for free anytime, anywhere. It's the most fun you can have on your phone or computer. No purchase necessary. VGW. Boy, we're prohibited by loss. See terms and conditions, 21 plus. These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with Iheart, everything you hear is guaranteed human.

That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make iHeart media a part of your 2026 plan today. Call 844-844-I-Hart. Again, that's 844-Ehart. States, let me ask you, are the food police just an irritant or do people pay any attention to them at all? Well, I think people do pay attention, and people like me paid attention, and it basically led me to stop posting pictures of food, you know, except in rare instances. And again, it's not because I'm a foodie or anything. It was just, you know, in the early days of my time on social media, which started, you know, maybe around 2012 or 2013, it used to be fun. It was a conversation starter. It was the way people could kind of connect with each other and everything. And, you know, a lot of people, a lot of times when I would post something like Christmas cookies or something like, If that people would, you know, oh, man, I need to bake me some cookies. Those look so good. You know, but then it became, oh, well, there's too much sugar in those cookies or you're using the wrong ingredients or, you know, those aren't good for you. You know, and I think because, as you guys have noted, everybody's an expert on social media, I think it's only going to get worse. And we can do a couple of things with it. You know, you can do like me and just kind of let it shut you down from it, which I just found out that is more beneficial for me. But, you know, some people have a good way of responding to the people. They either, you know, cut them off. They unfriend them or they banter back and forth with them and hopefully can get them to see their viewpoint, you know, and let them know that you don't take everything so seriously. It's just a picture of an ice cream cone. You know, let's not, you know, have a forlorn fire of it. It's just ice cream. It's just a hamburger. Let's not get too crazy. You know, do the food police or nebby people, people that get into a grown person's business, do they actually hurt the discussion about healthy food? Because in my mind, in the world, according to Greg, I'm eating my fruit loops. Now, I'd like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. to get the red dye out of my fruit loops. But I'm eating them, so I'm really hoping that you get something past that gets the dangerous die out of my fruit loops. When we talk about some of the things that... I'm absolutely with you on that, Greg. I'm with you. I try not to eat red M&Ms anymore. Right. They tell us this red dye's bad. Well, you better do something about the diet because I'm still eating, so I'm not going to stop. So you've got to go get that out. But so doesn't the attack on our diet actually harm a real constructive... conversation about why is it that in the United States we may allow certain ingredients or types of dyes and things in our food that other countries have banned that I think that conversation could continue but don't go after me I'm not the culprit here right and I think ultimately I mean I think I feel like for the most part the conversations that are had about food

online, especially in the Maha era. I think they are constructive. I mean, they may start out destructive, but I think ultimately they'll be instructive. You know, it's just gotten more people like me, you know, like aware. I never knew this about the red dye. I had no idea. And now, like, every time I buy something, like the vitamins I take, for instance, there's, so that, you know, that's being, you know, instructive. And that didn't come just from, you know, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. You know, I read about, you know, that from other people. talking about it online and how they're saying, well, you know, there's a lot of different options available to you if you don't want to take, you know, vitamins with red dye. Here are your options. So I think ultimately the conversations that we're having are, are. being productive and instructive, but you're always going to have that element out there, Rod and Greg, who are going to try to spoil it for everybody. And I think we need to try to mute them, negate their comments as much as we can. What we really want to know, Stacey's, we wrap up this interview. Have you really stopped eating red M&Ms? You don't have to answer that. So you don't have to answer that. I'm still eating red stuff. Actually, I have. I have stopped eating red emin. And it's funny, and I'll try to be really quick. There's a movie, I think it's called The Wedding Planner. And I don't know if you guys have seen it, but J-Lo is in it, Matthew McCona. And one of the things in the movie, he plays a doctor. And one of the things in the movie he does is he only eats the brown M&M. And when she asked him why he did, he said, I figure those are the closest to actual chocolate because they're brown. Because they're brown. Stacey, thank you. It was always an enjoyable moment with Stacey Matthews. She is the columnist and contributor at Red State talking about the food police and how they've kind of gone wild on social media. More coming up on the Rod and Greg show with Utah's Talk Radio 105.9, KNS. Final segment of the Rod and Greg show with you on this. Tuesday afternoon in Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. live everywhere on the iHeart radio app make sure you download it it offers you two opportunities one that you can list to us wherever you go maybe you're out of town on vacation want to find out what the utons are talking about you can do that you can list to us anywhere by downloading it you can also be involved in the show maybe i'm got time to call but you do want to make a comment on an issue that we're talking about and all you do is download the iHeart radio app look for knors.com. And in doing so, you'll see a little red microphone button in the upper right hand corner of our web page and a website and click on that and leave us a talkback message. And you can do that in 30 seconds. Very, very easy to do. As a matter of fact, you just count down and counts it down for you. And if you need to do it again, you can do that. So there are benefits if you download the IHeart Radio up. Now, the count is up to 10. Well, actually 11.

Ten senators have joined Utah Senator Mike Lee in calling for John Thune to hold off on the recess for senators until the Senate gets a chance to vote on the Save America Act. Here's a refresher. This from Harry Enton. The CNN data guru talking about the percentage of Americans who support what Mike Lee and Donald Trump are trying to do. ...shift it all that much, and you can just see it right here. Okay, so we're talking about voters favoring photo ID to vote. Among all voters are talking 77%. And this is uniform, basically, or universal, I should say. Universal. Democrats, 62%. Independent, 77%. Republicans, 95%. This is something that is popular across the political spectrum. It is a rare thing that is popular across the political spectrum. When it comes to voter ID, the voters are with President Trump on this, whether they're Democrats, independents or Republicans. Overall, very clear. We're talking about three and four overall who support the idea of photo ID in order to vote. Even 62% of Democrats show an ID when you show up to vote. showing a very specific ID when you register to vote, proof of citizenship, like a passport, birth certificate, or real ID, which not every state has. How do voters feel about that? Yeah, okay. So I think this might be a little bit more in the eye of the beholder. Johnny and I were talking about this. So document proving citizenship to vote. What you can see here is, again, It's clear the majority are for it. The majority are with President Trump here. We're talking about 54% of Americans. We've seen this in poll after poll after poll. It is lower than the voter ID, but it is clear. You get that 54% who support it. You get 37% opposed, which is a sizable minority, but definitely lower than the majority. And among independents, which is a group that President Trump has really struggled with, you still see it here, right? You see the majority of the plurality of independence, 49% supporting the idea of needing document proving citizenship. to vote 49% versus 38% who are opposed. So whether it's overall or independence, yes, the support is lower than it is for photo ID, but it is very clear that the majority of people are in fact for it. That's right. Majority of Americans are in fact in favor of what Mike Lee and Donald Trump are trying to do. Very simple. Just show ID that you are an American citizen and then you can go ahead and vote in a federal election. And there are some within the U.S. Senate. on the Republican side, John Thune, John Cornyn, or saying, look, it's a wasteful vote. Why sit here for a couple of days and debate an issue and vote on an issue that you know is going to lose? That's their argument. Mike Lee is saying, let's have a vote on it. So the American people can see which lawmaker that they've elected is for or against voter ID. And that's what they're trying to do. So, so far as I mentioned, Senator Lee, working his tail off, now has 11 senators, including himself, who are encouraging John Thune to hold off on the August recess, five-week recess. That begins, I think, the end of this week, and goes through Labor Day.

That's all he's asking for is a chance to vote. We'll see over the next few days what happens. By the way, Anthony Fauci appears before a Senate committee tomorrow talking about revelations in his diary. Should be interesting. And we'll have the latest on that for you tomorrow afternoon. Head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family, this great country of ours. We'll talk to you tomorrow and four. Have a good evening. Hey, it is Ryan Seacrest here. If you love great games and a little extra excitement to your day, I got something fun for you. Chumba Casino and I have teamed up to create an exclusive online social casino game. It's called Ryan Seacrest 10K ways. It's fun and free to play. Just like all your favorites from Chumba Casino. And every spin brings 10,000 ways to keep the good times going. Check it out and play for free today at chumbac casino.com. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Voidware prohibited by law. CTs and Cs. These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with iHeart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio hosts product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your future customers. Make iHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Visit iHeartadvertising.com. Again, that's iHeartadvertising.com.