Tres Watson

It's kind of like a class reunion. You see people from all of this. Start your day with the morning jolt of Drake Toll. Anywhere in the country. Your home for talking sports. The United States hockey team has four teeth left. What is LeBron James Legacy? Leonel Mess. 906 career goals is stupid. All of it. The Knicks. The Los Angeles Lakers. Aaron Rogers. Georgia football players. The Dolphins. The Mets. As it happened, when it happened. We'll talk all of it. Westwood One Sports Talk. You're home for. Drake Toll follow and listen on your favorite platform. You haven't seen it for a while. Yeah. And don't lose sight on the fact it is it is a fundraiser for a, for the Catholic, uh, the Catholic, uh, the Catholic school there at St. Jay Jones Parish and Fancy Farm. So, so, I mean, looking back at all the years, you've been going to Fancy Farm, um, who's the best at it? Who's the best at roasting somebody else? Um, Trying to think who would be the best. I mean, the person who loves it the most is Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell loves it. He loves the – because I think he also loves – he loves the people cheering and yelling at him. I think he kind of savors that part of it. James Comer also loves it. You know, I think Comer loves it because it's that old, old-timey stump style politics that Comer kind of plays into. You know, I've always liked Mitch McConnell's speeches. Mike Harmon always had a good, a good bucket of dad jokes to draw from. Yeah. You know, and honestly, the years I've been out there, some of the best and funniest speeches have been the MCs just because they're able to go after everybody and encourage to go after everybody. You know, Ashley Watts last year. I thought she'd pull some punches because she was in the state chamber. She was fantastic. You know, and he got buzz this year, and Lord knows what Michael today. And he basically told me, I don't have a speech. I'm just going to go where the mood takes me. Is it better to go out there and wing it, or do you think you need to have some stuff written? Oh, no, you've got to have it written because it's going to throw you off. Especially it's like you don't know what to expect. In 2016, they allowed presidential surrogates to get up and speak. So, Ralph Alvarado was the surrogate for the Trump campaign. And the Democrats sent Kay Hagan, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina. She had no idea. I'm sure that no one really prepped her. It's a church picnic. They do speak and people are kind of funny. Yeah, I'm sure they didn't properly prepare her for what it was. And of note, they didn't announce it would be Kay Hagan until like 4 o'clock on Friday night. Well, we were able to call somebody at the North Carolina GOP. And they overnight FedExed a box of Thom Tillis yard signs who had just beaten Kay Hagan for the U.S. Senate. They fedxed them to my grandma's house in Paducah. And we picked up the signs and brought them, got them over there. So they announced Kay Hagan was speaking at 4 o'clock on Friday. When she got up to speak at about 3 o'clock on Saturday, she was greeted by a sea of like 100 Thom Tillis yard signs.

And people chasing Thom Tillis at her. And I think she mispronounced. She misfed Hillary Clinton at one point. Like, she was, it was all. She was rattled. She didn't know what she did. She's coming into. Yeah. You know, I go and talk about Mitch McConnell loving fancy for me. I mean, you know. Mitch better than I do. But, but I mean, and people talking about, you know, Andy Beshear, and we'll get to this in a second, Andy Beshear applying pressure, trying to apply pressure to Mitch McConnell. If you think that you can apply pressure to Mitch McConnell to get him, do something he doesn't want to do, then you don't know him very well. I mean, you know, I just don't, I mean, Andy Beshear keeps urging Scott Jennings to call Mitch McConnell live on the air and CNN, you know, like, and he has to understand that none of this stuff he's trying is going to actually work. I mean, here's a guy with Stewart enormous amounts of pressure to give Merrick Garland a hearing and he didn't do it. You know. Andy Beshear trying to apply some pressure from afar in strongly worded letters or a social media post. I mean, that's nothing. That's like a fly buzzing around your head. If there is anyone in this country, Ms. Mitch McConnell is going to listen to less than Andy Beshear. I don't know who that person is. And honestly, right now, you know, Andy Beshear has made a critical error. Andy Beshear has fed. a feral beast online. And the problem with feeding feral animals, Larry, is if you stop feeding the feral animal, they will eat your face off because they're hungry and they're feral and you fed them. And Andy Beshear has run out of food. And now they are feasting on his political corpse. And Mitch McConnell, even if Mitch McConnell was physically capable of standing up and dancing a jig right now, he would not show faith in public until every last piece of political need has been picked off the political bones of Andy Beshear. Yeah, I agree. It's not going to happen. He's dug a hole, and Mitch McConnell ain't going to throw him a shovel. Yeah, I totally agree. I absolutely totally agree with that. I mean, I just, he's not going to help Andy Beshear out. I mean, by, you know, coming out and making a public statement that Andy Beshear is asking for helps Andy Beshear. I guess, I mean, I guess it helps him to a degree. I don't know that any of it really helps Andy. I think it's the difference is what hurts him less. Because if he comes down and speaks, then then I guess Andy got him to do it, but then what to what benefit? So I think it's not so much that it helps Andy, but sheers that, you know, which of the possible outcomes to his request hurts him less? Well, and I think Andy has dug himself a holder where he's a man with no constituency because he's built this whole brand.

on whether you believe it's a real brand or not. He's built this whole brand on being a modern-day Clinton-esque, I Feel Your Pain, Help Your Neighbor type person. Great. Now he's out attacking an old man and demanding this to see his medical records. How do you think that plays to the people who bought into the, I Feel Your Pain, You know, a moderate... help your neighbor type thing so you lost those people and then these feral online liberals that you cannot they're a bottomless pit of anger you cannot feed them enough and he fed them once and now they're mad at them because he's not feeding him again and so he's he's a man without a nation here yeah Trey I think and then we'll get to some other stuff I think that um Andy Beshear has tried to portray himself as this moderate and this above the fray kind of guy. And I think he looks at the polling numbers and sees that it's not really getting him anywhere. And he's having to try to find a way to get partisan and be an attack dog. And I actually think it kind of looks like he's panicked a little bit. Yeah, I think whether or not you believe... I don't think that this presidential cycle, and I think it's going to hurt them in the general election because I don't think that whoever they nominate is going to end up being an electable individual. But I think the Democrats are looking for someone who matches the anger level among their base. And their base is leaning more and more progressive, it's leaning more and more kind of pseudo-socialist to actual socialist. And so Andy Beshear, I don't think he ever really. I've never believed he actually had a shot at winning the Salmation. I've always believed he's running for, he's running for a cabinet position to elevate his name to a point where he makes, he's a sensible pick for either vice president, but more likely a cabinet. post and the U.S. soccer podcast. I'm your host, Megan Klingeberg. And after interviewing so many dudes during this men's world cup, I'm so happy to be back with my U.S. women's national team players. I know the U.S. men's national team has changed how I think about myself, how I think about being an American, how I think about being on a team. It's one year out from that World Cup. And we're going to talk about the brightest prospects in U.S. soccer. You ready? I'm ready. Let's do it. The U.S. soccer podcast presented by Henko. Follow it. Listen on your favorite platform. You know, he is, in one foul swoop here, ruined the brand that it took him 11, 12 years to build as Mr. Rogers. Like, he has wiped it out in one foul swoop. Yeah, yeah. I think he started to do that when he was openly, you know, campaigning to be the vice president to pick of Kamala Harris, frankly. I think I think it began then because I think he got pretty, pretty nasty with some of the things that he said. Not being nasty, but nasty.

You know, when you're in politics, Larry, it's like this in sports. It's like this in business. You pick a lane, man. And like if your lane is closed off and you don't have anywhere to go with this particular time. It's, you know, that's not, that's not your fault. But it also doesn't mean that you have to like, you know, if I'm a, if I'm a knuckleballer and all of a sudden people figure out how to hit the heck out of a knuckleball, it doesn't mean I have to go out and start trying to throw 95 miles an hour because I can't throw 95 miles an hour. And, you know, I can't go out and try to be something I'm not. And I can't try to pivot like that. It's just you kind of got to say, well, and politics, so much of politics and success in politics is timing. And, you know, again, that's not, I'm not an Andy Beshear fan at all at any level. It's not Andy Beshear's fault that people in 2028 are going to want an angry, progressive liberal. It's just bad timing. And honestly, he's young. He could go be a cabinet secretary. You could go head up a think tank or something and buy this time for another year because politics goes through cycles. And his persona will be in vogue again in the future. But it appears like he's all in on 28. He's going to damn the torpedoes and burn it down if he has to. And it's not going to work for him. We're talking with Trey Watson from Capital Range PR and Kentucky Politics Weekly. Shifting back to Fancy Farm for just a minute, Trey. A couple of things. One, do you think we'll get any news? People are kind of speculating that maybe Mike Adams may have something to say that's noteworthy this weekend and down a Fancy Farm. Do you expect him to announce his candidacy? I don't know. Maybe. Because I mean, here's the thing about Fancy Farm. Typically, if I was going to advise someone to announce something at Fancy Farm, I actually like to do it like the week before. And then you can use... kind of the week before, Fancy Farm, to build up to a crescendo to maximize your media hits. I think Rocky Atkins has been smart the way he did it, announced a week and a half or so before, and then he can kind of tour the crescendo of your media cycle is Fancy Farm. Because, you know, if you're going to have a crescendo, the symphony, you don't start on the high note. You end there. And so, you know, I think if you're thinking about kind of a media cycle as a movement of music, You've got to start somewhere and then kind of move up. So, yeah, I like doing it that way. You know, I thought there was a chance that James Comer might announce something because he loves Fancy Farm. He announced for governor in 2015 at Fancy Farm 2014. But when I had him on your program, guest hosting a couple weeks ago, he made it fairly clear that no announcement would come until November after the general election.

So, you know, I don't know that we'll have announcements. I think that there will be language that will make it very clear who's running and very clear who's not running. Yeah. But I don't know that we'll have formal announcements of anything. If we do, the most likely would be Mike Adams. We're talking with Trey Watson from Capital Range, PR, and Kentucky Politics Weekly. Trey, when you have two candidates from the same party, it's hard to differentiate yourself when you effectively agree on almost every point. It's going to be interesting to see Jackie Coleman and Rocky Adkins at Fancy Farm. I mean, I've had Jackie Coleman on my program before. It's been a while, but... She doesn't strike me as someone that's going to be great at the snappy one liners. My sense is that the fancy form might not be the best setting for her. What do you think about that? You know, she's been there a couple times before. She's been fine, heavily scripted, heavily rehearsed. And, you know, you can't win anything at Fancy Farm. You can lose something, but you can't really win. So you just need, it's something. You just need to go up there and it's kind of like golf. You know, you've got holes in a golf course that as long as I don't bogey this hole, I'm fine. I don't need to birdie it. I just want to not bogey it, you know, if you're watching it, like, a major or something. And I think Fancy Farm, a lot of ways, is kind of like one of those holes. And, you know, she's done well enough. You know, she's put one out there in the fairway and played a safe shot and chipped it up, laid up. And, no, it's been fine. Rocky, I think this is a, I don't think Rocky, I don't remember if they were letting the governmental nominees for the next year speak in 19 or not, or 18 for 19. I don't think they did. So I don't, this may be Rocky's first. actual fancy farm speech. I'm not sure, but it's definitely a platform that Rocky should excel at. And if anything, the bar is higher for Rocky to clear because he's just got that persona that should do well there. I would put the odds that Rocky being played off and going over his time at like minus 340, minus 400. I would, I might not even take bets on that one. It's so sure to happen. You know, I think the bar is probably higher for Rocky on performance front there, just because it's more of a rocky-esque setting. Yeah, yeah, I think so as well. Do you feel like that, you know, are there stakes that are higher for one versus the other? I mean, I, and I don't know, it's kind of hard to tell. I think the perception is that maybe Jacqueline Coleman is maybe the early leader, but it's close enough that it's certainly.

You know, either candidate can win the primary. And we talked about this a little bit last week. Is there more at stake for Rocky than there is the lieutenant governor? Or do you feel like it's negligible, whatever difference it may be in either direction? I think Rocky certainly needs to hold serve. You know, it's in an area that should, the Democrat vote there should go for Rocky. Coleman's going to be, you know, heavily favored in more suburban and urban areas. Louisville Lexington Golden Triangle. Rocky needs, if he's going to win, he has to kind of swamp her in the rural areas. So, yeah, Graves County is a place that Rocky is going to have to perform very, very well. And if he's going to, if he's going to beat Coleman, really all of the purchase, everything west of, west of the penny rail, that's going to have to be Rocky territory if he's going to beat her. So I think he certainly needs to hold serve. You know, if Coleman just absolutely knocks out of the park, you know, could it be an issue for Rocky? I don't know that it's, you know, something of permanence, but it certainly has to raise a flare to say, well, maybe she can perform better in some of these rulers than we thought. But, yeah, I think certainly Rocky's going to have to make sure that he's holding the serve out there. Do you think that either Kenneth will really go after the other or will they take shots at Trump or James Comer or, you know, who they think that, I mean, do you think they'll avoid addressing each other head to head? And how vicious do you think it could be? I think they'll probably avoid head-to-head. I think that they'll focus on Trump, Mitch McConnell, Comer. You know, maybe Brett Guthrie because of his position on Commerce so that he won't be there. You know, really anybody in the federal delegation, Rand Paul, they're probably all fair game. I would suspect that most of the – based on people that I've talked to and the feeling I'm getting so far, I think most of the bloodletting in this primary, but from the Democrat side is going to be done behind closed doors. If it does go public, I think it'll go public late. It'll go public incredibly nasty. But, you know, I tend to think that most of that sort of the wet work, so to speak, and that Democrat primary is probably mostly going to be done behind closed doors or through surrogate. Trey, are you writing material for someone this week? You don't have to say who, but I mean, are you writing some materials? Do we need to be looking for some Trey Watson jokes out there? I sent a couple good ones, I think, to Dave for his, for his NC speech. I sent him a couple ones I think may make it in. I don't have a city of Canada I'm writing for this year. It's a be first year in a couple years. I haven't. Haven't written, you know, at least some portion of a speech or somebody. I did send Dave a few zingers. And if anybody out there wants to watch, you know, I don't know what KET's covered look like. I don't know they'll be covering it, but Renee Shaw won't be out there. She's, her last days on Friday. But you can check out the Fox 56 News app, Fox 56 News.com. I'll be out there helping, and the whole techie politics with the crew, be out there helping anchor the Fox 56.

coverage both, I think we're starting an hour before speaking starts. It'll be 2 o'clock Eastern. We'll go on the air and then we'll be on about a half hour after the speaking ends for some wrap-ups. Do you think that someone can be a credible political pundit in Kentucky and having not been to fancy far? No, absolutely not. Yeah, I've never been. Sorry, thanks. You need to tell a Larry, man. Hey, you come out. I'll show you around, man. My grandma lived 21 miles from St. Jerome's. The house I was born out, the house I lived in until I was five was even closer than that. My mom's a Mayfield High Graduate. You come out, I'll take you by, take you by, see my cousin out at the Beehive Liquors. We'll get some starting to barbecue. I'll tell you what, Ray. I'll tell you what to do. It's too late for me to come this year. I will go next year and I'll take you up on it and I will go to Fancy Farm for the first time next year. Come on out, man. You can sit in and guest toast the podcast with us after the speaking's done. I would love to do that. I would love to. Come home. Just mark it down. Mark it down. We'll do it. Trey, I appreciate it as always. Great talking to you. So much fun. Thanks, Larry. All right. Thank you. That's Trey Watson from Capitol Raines PR and also Kentucky Politics Weekly. Mike Drop, hosted by former Navy CEO, Mike Ridland. What is your take? Was it what you expected? I was the best thing ever. It was something I always wanted to do. If you show me a clear goal, I'm like, okay, I can do that. Master Chief. He's like, you realize there's about 1% chance that you're making it through. 1%. That's all I need Master Chief. My platoon went home early, and I just went up to my chief, and I was like, I'm not going home. Turns out I'm staying. That's when we go to war. Yeah. I was like, okay, I could get used to this. Mike Drop, follow and listen on your favorite platform.