WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.559 So poor old Jerry Dyer. Gavin Newsom just seems like he's not keeping his 2 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:10.119 promises. It's good, old Jerry. He told the City of Fresno in 3 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.080 twenty twenty two, in the bumper days of twenty twenty two, we're gonna 4 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.920 give two hundred and fifty million dollars of state funding to the City of Fresno. 5 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:22.960 It's gonna help support all this downtown development and infrastructure stuff, so that 6 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.879 maybe we could have ten thousand more people living in downtown, the grand downtown 7 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:34.119 revitalization that we've been talking about here in Fresno for the last twenty plus years. 8 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.719 So in twenty twenty two, we get that first fifty million flush with 9 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:45.240 all this COVID money in the state coffers. We're feeling good making all these 10 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:49.920 grand promises. And then what happens next year. Well, the next batch 11 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:52.759 of money, one hundred million dollars that was supposed to come to fresnoe in 12 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:57.840 twenty twenty three, well we don't got it, sorry, Jerry. So 13 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.880 we're gonna bump it off. We're going to bump it back by one year, 14 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:07.719 no problem. Jerry Dyer puts a brave face on it. Politicians and 15 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:10.159 Fresno put a brave face on it. They say, that's that's fine, 16 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:14.159 that's fine, We're okay, you know, we can still do our planning. 17 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:21.159 Well, twenty twenty four comes around and we are now bumped by two 18 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:30.400 years. And here's the thing. Gavin Newsom is making a lot of people 19 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:38.840 upset with this kind of activity because he got everyone used to, a lot 20 00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:45.879 of supporters, used to a certain kind of financial picture that was actually, 21 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:51.400 I think anomalous. And now the norm, the norm that we are going 22 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:57.319 to the norm that we're going to face here in California. The guys who 23 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.799 host this Old House on PBS, one of them is named Norm and they 24 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:02.719 all have Boston accent. So Norm. Ever, every time I say the 25 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:07.479 word norm in front of my wife, we both go norm. The norm 26 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:15.400 in California politics, I think, is going to be one of scarcity. 27 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:22.439 The budget that we have built up and that we got used to through COVID 28 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:28.240 when we were getting all this federal money is not a budget we can sustain 29 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:34.120 in a post COVID world where we don't have all that federal assistance, because 30 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:38.000 the revenue we're getting from taxpayers in California just is not enough. The revenue 31 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:46.000 we're getting from the most heavily taxed population in the country is not enough. 32 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:53.319 And now Newsom's got the problem that there are people who are more of a 33 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:58.879 political threat to him getting angry at him than Jerry Dyer. So there's this 34 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:06.479 piece in The Americans Spectator written by Ellie Guardie Holmes. Gavin Newsom is not 35 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:13.000 having a good time. Progressives are turning against him. California has reached a 36 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.000 point, she writes, where it is on a fundamental level, fiscally unsound. 37 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:20.439 The budget deficit, which by one estimate amounts to seventy three billion dollars, 38 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:24.159 is not the result of an off year that happened to generate lower revenues. 39 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:29.240 No, this is a structural problem. The disparity between tax revenues and 40 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:34.680 spending is so vast that the entire system, celebrated by liberals as a model 41 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.639 of progressive governance, is a house of cards. And it was all built 42 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:44.520 by Governor Gavin Newsom, who chose extravagant progressive policies over maintaining a sustainable budget. 43 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:49.479 The insane overspending began the day Newsom took office on January seventh, twenty 44 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.479 nineteen. At the time, radicals at the state capitol were eager to create 45 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.080 the progressive utopia they had long envisioned but had been unable to achieve under former 46 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:02.240 Governor Jerry Brown, who prioritized fiss restraint. In his inaugural address, Newsom 47 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:06.240 made it clear he would depart from Brown's approach and pursue the realization of the 48 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:12.120 progressive vision. We will be prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars, pay down debts, 49 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:14.960 and meet our future obligations, he said. But let me be clear, 50 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.480 we will be bold, we will aim high, and we will work 51 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:21.519 like hell to get there. As his governorship began, Newsom revealed just how 52 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:25.439 bold he would be. Leading up to his inaugural address, Newsom promised he 53 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:29.959 would provide all Californians with two free years of college and toss a couple billion 54 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:32.920 extra toward early childhood programs. Then, in his first policy move, Newsom 55 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:36.720 announced he would extend free health care coverage to illegal immigrants until they reached the 56 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:41.839 age of twenty six. In a sign of how far to the left Democrats 57 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:45.040 were on the issue of immigration at the time, Newsom pledged in his address 58 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:48.879 to make California a sanctuary to all who seek it. Later, Newsom would 59 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:57.160 extend free health care coverage to all illegal immigrants. That's medical medical coverage totally, 60 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:03.360 does not matter what your legal immigration statuses or lack thereof. Lavish spending 61 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:08.959 might have initially pleased Newsom's constituencies and endeared him to radical California Democrats, but 62 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.879 it has led him to a day of reckoning. Those who once loved him 63 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:17.879 because he rained money on them are now turning against him as he implements cuts 64 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:23.800 to their programs. The rift was made evident in May when the California Teachers 65 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:30.680 Association, a stalwart Newsom ally that has benefited handsomely from his tight relationship from 66 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.079 its tight relationship with the governor, released an advertisement that bordered on an attack 67 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:39.160 against him. Tell lawmakers and Gavin Newsom to pass a state budget that protects 68 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:43.879 public schools for our students and communities, said the ad. The union invested 69 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:48.879 an unknown amount to broadcast these ads on television in California. Additionally, the 70 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:54.920 group's president, David Goldberg, publicly opposed Newsom's plan to use an accounting maneuver 71 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:59.720 to maintain school budgets, a tactic that would nullify Newsom's guarantees on education funding 72 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:02.600 and fear years. It was a shocking turn of events as the union has 73 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:08.560 donated hundreds of thousands to Newsom. In this case, the harsh tactics proved 74 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:12.040 successful. Politico reported last week the Newsom and the Teachers Association that come to 75 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.879 an agreement that would guarantee additional billions in education spending increases in coming years. 76 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:23.920 Now, even Planned Parenthood, who has also benefited enormously under Newsom's governorship, 77 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:27.759 has turned. The president of Planned Parent Affiliates of California, Jody Hicks, 78 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:32.040 blasted Newsom in a series of posts on x last month over healthcare funding decreases. 79 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:36.839 The governor announced in his May revisal of the state budget. Planned Parenthood 80 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:43.839 in California is deeply disappointed by the proposal and the California Governors may revise that 81 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.720 will jeopardize access to not just sexual and reproductive care, but quality, affordable 82 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:53.160 healthcare across the board for the nearly fifteen million Californians who rely on medical said 83 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:59.399 Hicks. Such comments are far removed from the tight relationship the abortion group previously 84 00:06:59.399 --> 00:07:02.439 had with Newsom, who in twenty nineteen doubled the states spending on quote, 85 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:06.959 reproductive health from fifty million to one hundred million, a significant amount of which 86 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:20.319 went to Planned Parenthood. So we can go on. But basically Newsome is 87 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:28.680 starting to anger some of the key cornerstones of his existing constituency. Why because 88 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:36.040 he got them used to you know, caviare bonbonds and you know prime grade 89 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.319 steak, And now all of a sudden he realizes he can't afford anything more 90 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:50.240 than hamburger. And let's understand the two groups that they mention here, teachers' 91 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:58.759 unions and Planned Parenthood. These are representative of the two most powerful forces in 92 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:09.920 state government. Labor unions in California rule the roost. They run California politics. 93 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:13.800 How thoroughly do they run California politics, you may ask. The labor 94 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:20.759 unions don't even bother anymore with the normal thing of just giving campaign donations to 95 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.680 a politician and then that politician votes the way they want. They've gone to 96 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:31.240 the level of just run labor union executives for seats in the state Assembly in 97 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:37.480 the state Senate. Just cut out the middleman, get the seat yourself, 98 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.519 all right. Some of you might remember Lorena Gonzalez she was a State Assembly 99 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:48.679 member from the San Diego area for many many years. She was the chair 100 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.159 basically of the She was chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. So that's one 101 00:08:56.200 --> 00:09:01.120 of the most powerful positions in the whole in the entire of California government, 102 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:05.919 the chairs of the Senate and the Assembly appropriations committees. Why because basically they 103 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.600 give the up or down vote. They give the thumbs up or the thumbs 104 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:16.159 down for any bill that's gonna spend money in California. So it's an incredibly 105 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:22.279 powerful position. She's the gal who authored AB five that reclassified all kinds of 106 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:30.440 different workers from independent contractors to part time employees, which was a massive boon 107 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:35.360 for the labor unions. She was a labor union official before she ran for 108 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:41.240 the Assembly, and she's right back as a labor union executive now now that 109 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:46.639 she's term limited out of the Assembly. So that's the kind of people who 110 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:52.519 are running the legislature. And there are several other members of the state legislature 111 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:58.879 who that was their former job being labor union officials. So the teachers you 112 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:05.240 unions, which is the most powerful group of unions, public sector unions, 113 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.840 they have tons of members, they have tons of money. They give tons 114 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:15.480 of money. They have given tons of money to Newsom. You've got the 115 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:20.799 teachers' unions, and then you've got Planned Parenthood. Now it's not that Planned 116 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:26.360 Parenthood itself is so big, or so wealthy or so powerful, but they're 117 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:37.200 the leading edge for social liberalism in California. And if they're upset at Gavin 118 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:48.240 Newsom, and they are. And it's also this, Sometimes groups are angry, 119 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:54.759 and what Gavin Newsom is fearful of is not the group itself, it's 120 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:00.159 the donors who fund that group. Nobody's really afraid. I think of the 121 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:05.360 Sierra Club. They're afraid of the gazillionaire donors who fund the Sierra Club. 122 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:13.720 Nobody's afraid of Planned Parenthood, making planned parenthood mad. They're afraid of the 123 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:22.000 big time donors who politically support planned parenthood. That's what they're afraid of. 124 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:35.799 So is Gavin Newsom nervous about about all of this? I think we're gonna 125 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:39.639 find out a lot in the next few months, well probably post November, 126 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:43.600 we're gonna know. I think Gavin Newsom doesn't really have a ton to worry 127 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:50.519 about from ticking off all of these people. Why Well, because the audience 128 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:56.799 he's playing for is still pretty small, and it's also a little different. 129 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:05.080 Gavin Newsom's eye is on the presidency now, it's not really on California. 130 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:11.000 I'll talk about this more when we return. This is the John Girardi Show 131 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:18.360 on Power Talk. Big story in the American Spectator about how Gavin Newsom is 132 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:26.879 ticking off some of the most important allies and backers he has in California, 133 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:31.320 namely Planned Parenthood representing all the social liberals who back him, and the California 134 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:37.320 Teachers Association representing organized labor. They're both mad at him, and that's not 135 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:41.840 usually. That's not a great place to be in if you're a California politician, 136 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:45.000 if you're a Democrat and you want to win in California, what do 137 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:48.679 you need. Well, you need to have your social liberal bona fidez proved, 138 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:54.519 and you need the backing of organized labor because organized labor runs California. 139 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:07.200 But is that really what Gavin Newsom cares about? First of all, from 140 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:13.559 Newsom's perspective, like what do these people want from him? The state is 141 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.399 facing the deficit that it faces, and this is a problem the Democrat governors 142 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.720 of California have always sort of had to deal with, is that the buck 143 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:28.919 really does stop with them when it comes to spending, Like you have to 144 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:33.559 balance the budget or come close. You cannot just spend in the red forever. 145 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.159 If you're a state government, you just can't spend in the red forever. 146 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:43.159 And individual assembly members introducing and voting on bills for spending or voting on 147 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.960 a budget, they don't care. It's not you know, it's not their 148 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:50.039 rear end on the line. They're not the final decision maker. They're just 149 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:54.440 one of a group of eighty or for the state Senate, a group of 150 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.960 forty, so they don't care. The governor has to come up with something 151 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:07.840 thing, He has to come up with something that gets somewhere close to being 152 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:15.399 a balanced budget. So the you know, so what do these people want 153 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.879 from him? Like he has to cut something. He has to cut something 154 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:22.639 to get from a seventy three billion dollar deficit or whatever the number is. 155 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.320 And different people give you different numbers based on how they you know, how 156 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:28.240 much they squint. And Newsom's number doesn't sound as disastrous as that seventy three 157 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:37.600 billion, But he's got to cut something. There's no other way. So 158 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:45.159 on the one hand, I think Newsom can come back to these groups and 159 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:48.279 say, hey, listen, I gotta do something here. I gave you 160 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:50.399 so much more money, like you're and you're coming at me like this, 161 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.519 like come on, let's work together. And and Newsom has enough of a 162 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.320 relationship in history with these groups that he can sit down and work with them, 163 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:58.480 and maybe he just gives away the store at the end of the day. 164 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:05.080 Maybe maybe he doesn't feel the same kind of responsibility for physical responsibility you 165 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:11.159 know that Jerry Brown felt back in the day. But here's the thing, 166 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:18.240 I just don't know that Gavin Newsom really is afraid anymore of what the Teachers' 167 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:24.639 Union necessarily thinks about him, or what even like California Planned Parenthood thinks about 168 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:35.840 him. Gavin Newsom is playing for a very small select audience of about I 169 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:41.840 don't know, three hundred people, give or take literally about three hundred give 170 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:46.440 or take ultra wealthy people, and probably the number smaller than that. Even 171 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:58.080 California is the home to a lot of the United States big money political donor 172 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:03.120 class on the right end on the left, Okay, you go to Orange 173 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:07.200 County for some of these political things conservative political things that happen down there. 174 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:15.159 There's a ton of big time national GOP fundraising that happens down in Orange County. 175 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.720 There are even one or two people up here in Fresno. Okay, 176 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.399 the California GOP can't do jack squat, and I think a lot of those 177 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.759 big time donors are tired of you know, they're they're not funding a bunch 178 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:37.440 of people in California too much, but they are funding national Republican causes anyway. 179 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:45.559 Similarly with Democrats, Okay, the big time national Democrat money, a 180 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:49.519 lot of it is based here. It's in Silicon Valley, and it's with 181 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:56.799 these old money types in San Francisco. Like it's no surprise that Nancy Pelosi 182 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:00.399 was the Speaker of the House for so long, or the Democrat leader slash 183 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.200 Democrat Speaker of the House for so long. Why because a lot of them 184 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:10.680 lived right in her district and she could bump over to Marin County. Anyway, 185 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:17.519 Look at all the major Look look at the swathe of major Democrat powerbrokers 186 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:22.759 in California. They're all San Francisco people, Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, 187 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:33.880 Kamala Harris. This is where all the big money in Democrat politics is and 188 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:38.960 it's that money that Newsom has relied on for his whole career, his entire 189 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:45.839 his pre political career. Even so, all the wine shops and the businesses 190 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:52.240 that Newsom had before he entered politics, you know who was a big investor 191 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:56.119 in almost all of them was Gordon Getty. The Getty family, like the 192 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:02.480 Getty Museum, Getty's, the Getty Oil Company, Getty's. Okay. Newsom's 193 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:07.440 dad was an attorney for the Getty family. Gavin Newsom grew up with Gordon 194 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:11.839 Getty. They're lifelong friends. Gordon invested in all of Newsom's businesses. Gordon 195 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:19.079 was part of the Willie Brown magic circle of elite San Francisco political donors. 196 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:25.519 And that's how Gavin Newsom got into politics via Gordon Getty, via Willy Brown. 197 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:30.720 Willy Brown appoints him to be a county supervisor, basically for City of 198 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:34.680 San Francisco, which is kind of its own county, and from there Newsom's 199 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:45.759 career took off. Newsom knows this crowd depends on this crowd, relies on 200 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:51.720 this crowd, and this is the crowd that he needs to placate between now 201 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:56.359 and twenty twenty eight. So for the next four years, his chief job 202 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:03.599 is to keep this crowd of people happy, if not sooner, if not 203 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.279 sooner than twenty twenty eight, maybe twenty twenty four, maybe a few months 204 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:11.119 from now. I think that's unlikely for a lot of reasons. But I 205 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.200 don't think it's out of the realm of the It's not out of the realm 206 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:26.119 of the possible. But that's the crowd Newsom has to please. Newsom does 207 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:32.079 not give a flying rats. You know what if he breaks a promise to 208 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:37.400 Jerry Dyer, I guarantee you that Gavin Newsom loses zero sleep over. Oh 209 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:41.279 sorry, Jerry Dyer. That two hundred million dollars the city of Fresno was 210 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:45.359 supposed to get, you know, in twenty three and twenty four, looks 211 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.960 like maybe you'll get it in twenty five and twenty six. Maybe I don't 212 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.119 think we're ever going to get it. We're not gonna get the whole thing, 213 00:19:55.079 --> 00:20:00.000 that's for darn sure. I mean, there's just some fundamental math that 214 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:08.039 does not work with letting Fresno get two hundred million more dollars. There's just 215 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:18.039 some fundamental political and math realities that I think do not add up. So 216 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:23.880 does is Newsom scared about ticking off the teachers Association? I mean, clearly 217 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:29.240 he kind of jumped when they said to because I think, you know, 218 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:32.720 he still needs to kind of keep him in his fold for the next couple 219 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:37.000 of years as he's finishing up his term as governor. But I don't think 220 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:41.319 he's as scared of them anymore. In the same way on the national stage, 221 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:45.880 the California Teachers Association, how much do they matter? How much does 222 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:52.200 organized labor really matter? On the national Democrat level. It's still significant, 223 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:56.319 It's still important. It's not I don't think he can antagonize them. But 224 00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:02.000 the main people that Newsom has to keep happy, I think he is keeping 225 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:07.559 quite happy. I think he has known these people and cultivated relationships with these 226 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:12.599 people for years, and that's the crowd that he's responsive to. I just 227 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:18.440 don't think, you know, we can point out how Planned Parenthood of California 228 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.720 is mad at him for you know, cutting some different various healthcare things. 229 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:29.279 I there's no way Planned Parenthood could be really that discontented with Gavin Newsom. 230 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:33.920 No one has been a better friend to Planned Parenthood than he has. This 231 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:37.240 is posturing on their part. They're just trying to ring every single dollar they 232 00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:44.079 can out of the state. The boons that Newsom has done for the California 233 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.720 Teachers Association. I mean, they are trying again to ring every single dollar 234 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:52.680 they can out of the state. That's all this is. I don't think 235 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.799 Newsom is afraid and again these are not. This is not the crowd. 236 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:02.319 Newsom needs to kind of play case them to keep the last years of his 237 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:08.400 governorship kind of smooth through twenty twenty six. But this is not the crowd 238 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:12.519 that he needs to keep happy. The crowd he needs to keep happy are 239 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:18.480 again, it's maybe three hundred people. It's all these people who you know 240 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:25.079 would go to fancy outdoor garden parties with Nancy Pelosi. That's the crowd. 241 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:30.440 That's the crowd he needs to keep happy, and he's doing that. When 242 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:36.799 we return, a sudden uptick in talk about Joe Biden's age and do we 243 00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:41.880 believe the polls next on the John Girardi Show. So we're all of a 244 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:51.480 sudden starting to get some rumblings about Biden's mental state and mental sharpness. I 245 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:56.359 Mean, people talk about it a lot because it's impossible to hide, and 246 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.839 especially after the release of the transcripts from his interview last year with Special Counsel 247 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:08.200 her who's investigating him for keeping documents at his house. Which the more I 248 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:11.319 think about that whole episode, the more unsatisfied I feel with it. It's 249 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:17.400 like, yes, we obviously uncovered evidence that he very deliberately did this. 250 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:21.599 He obviously knew that what he was doing was wrong. We have all this 251 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:25.519 evidence pointing to it, but we're just not going to prosecute him because a 252 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:30.519 jury would probably think that he's a sweet, nice, senile old man and 253 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:34.880 that he's senile now, so therefore we shouldn't prosecute him for stuff he did 254 00:23:36.039 --> 00:23:44.359 then when he probably still knew what he was doing. The fact that Biden 255 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:48.720 is not getting prosecuted, or that the Justice Department didn't recommend at the very 256 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:56.640 least, the Justice Department didn't say Biden is probably worthy of being prosecuted at 257 00:23:56.680 --> 00:24:00.599 this point, but we face the burden of he's the sitting president of the 258 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:06.400 United States and whether the sitting president of the United States is subject to prosecution 259 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:10.000 or whether he has immunity. Like, the more and more I think about 260 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:15.599 that whole thing, the more unsatisfied I feel with it. Anyway, we're 261 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:21.039 starting to have another little bit of a spike in talk about Biden's lack of 262 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:26.559 mental sharpness. So the Wall Street Journal was able to run a piece. 263 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:32.000 They got some sources to talk. Here's their description, and this drives with, 264 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:37.680 you know, the stuff that Kevin McCarthy has said, actually publicly since 265 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.079 Kevin McCarthy left a speaker, he was very openly saying, yeah, it's 266 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:47.359 ridiculous when President This from the Wall Street Journal. When President Biden met with 267 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.400 congressional leaders in the West Wing in January to negotiate a Ukraine funding deal, 268 00:24:51.960 --> 00:24:56.440 he spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him. According 269 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:03.000 to five people familiar with the meeting, he read from notes to make obvious 270 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:07.559 points, paused for extended periods, and sometimes closed his eyes for so long 271 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:12.359 that some of the room wondered whether he had tuned out. In a February 272 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:15.920 one on one chat in the Oval office with House Speaker Mike Johnson, the 273 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:22.400 President said a recent policy changed by his administration that jeopardizes some big energy projects 274 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.799 was just a study. According to six people told at the time, about 275 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:32.079 what Johnson said had happened. Johnson worried the president's memory had slipped about the 276 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:36.839 details of his own policy. Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House 277 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:41.480 Republicans to lift the death ceiling, his demeanor and command of the details seemed 278 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:45.160 to shift from one day to the next. According to then how Speaker Kevin 279 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:48.319 McCarthy and two others familiar with the talks, on some days he had loose 280 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:53.279 and spontaneous exchanges with Republicans, and on others he mumbled and appeared to rely 281 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:57.039 on notes. I used to meet with him when he was vice president. 282 00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:00.920 I'd go to his house, McCarthy said in an interview, He's not the 283 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:15.880 same person now. Why is there this uptick? And I think it ties 284 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:25.680 in a conversation with my mom about this the other day where and I think 285 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:30.359 my mom is reflective of the concerns of a lot of conservatives. Biden doesn't 286 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:37.359 seem worried about his poll numbers. Biden doesn't seem particularly concerned that the only 287 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:41.119 Democrats who seem really concerned about it are people on the outside, So chattering 288 00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:45.640 heads on the outside, like the James Carrvills of the world. Now I 289 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:49.480 think I would. You know, I don't like James Carville by any stretch, 290 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:52.319 but I feel like I would trust his political instincts. You know, 291 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:59.000 if there's one thing the guy's good at, it's having people be elected president 292 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:03.440 and or you know, a prime minister of Israel. James Carville is good 293 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:08.519 at politics. Okay with say what you will about him personally or anything else. 294 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:12.720 Do you think about him? James Carrville is really good at politics, 295 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:19.079 and if he's really concerned about Biden, it's probably a decent reason to be 296 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:22.480 concerned. But at the same time, Carville's not in it. He's not 297 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:26.039 actively working for the Biden campaign. He's not seeing all the numbers that the 298 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:34.440 Biden camp is seeing, and the Biden camp is sort of doesn't seem too 299 00:27:34.680 --> 00:27:38.400 worried, and the President doesn't seem too worried. There's reporting that the President 300 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:45.359 is actually fairly closely monitoring polls and he's trying to tell people both publicly and 301 00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:48.920 privately, that the polls are just not reflective of where the country really is 302 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:57.039 right now. And there's some sort of sense that the groups that are disaffected 303 00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:04.359 with Biden right now and who are resulting in him bleeding support young people, 304 00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:10.160 Latino voters, African American voters, that those voters are going to come back 305 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:18.599 home, or as some conservative suspective, this is the suspicion of other conservatives, 306 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:22.799 and frankly, after the Trump trial, I guess I don't know why 307 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:26.119 we shouldn't exclude it from the realm of possibility. After all, through the 308 00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:30.480 Trump trial you see Democrats willing to do any kind of dirty Shenanigan possible to 309 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:37.400 get Trump. Is the fix in? Somehow do they think that, you 310 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:41.839 know, the kinds of networks of whether flat out illegal things or just legal 311 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:48.000 ways in which they can shift the vote on election day? Do they have 312 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:52.200 enough of a fix in that they're just not afraid of Biden really losing? 313 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:06.400 Well, I guess I'm just I'm not sure if it's a thing of Democrats 314 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:14.960 are really not that concerned, or the Democrats who are running this are delusional. 315 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:23.160 Clearly Biden is and the fact that this man is still being allowed by 316 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:34.200 his family to run for president is revolting. Makes you really kind of raise 317 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:37.400 your eyebrows about Jill Biden and her involvement in all of this, Like, 318 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:45.960 how is it that I just cannot fathom being the spouse of someone who is 319 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.920 obviously in this kind of a condition and saying, yes, continue to be 320 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:51.880 president of the United States for another four years. This is definitely good for 321 00:29:51.960 --> 00:30:00.519 you and for everybody else. No, it like he's he's so obviously not 322 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:10.880 well. So maybe it's just a thing of So you've got two problems. 323 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:17.640 Biden is not well. On the one hand, the alternative to Biden is 324 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:25.559 also terrible. The alternative to Biden is Kamala Harris, and I think that 325 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:32.559 people she is such a terrible alternative that that's why nobody is pulling the trigger 326 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:34.359 on getting rid of Biden or saying that Biden should be got rid of. 327 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:44.160 She's a disaster. If it's her versus Trump, Trump will clean her clock 328 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:52.599 seven days a week and twice on Sundays. So I so you've got Biden 329 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:59.400 is already there, and he's not so far gone mentally that I think the 330 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:03.359 cabinet does and feel like they could trigger a twenty fifth Amendment thing against him. 331 00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:08.880 In fairness, I think that would be a really destabilizing thing for any 332 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:15.359 cabinet to trigger a twenty fifth Amendment removal of a president. Ever, so 333 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:21.680 they can't force Biden out. They let him in. They let him stay 334 00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:26.079 in for the primaries. He's already won all these seats. If you get 335 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:30.039 rid of him at the convention, you have to put in Harris. Why 336 00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:36.960 do I say that just given the racial politics and the youth politics within the 337 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:45.799 Democratic Party, they're bleeding African American and Latino and young people's support as it 338 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:48.519 is. Do you really think that those African American voters are going to come 339 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:52.680 back into the fold, which is what they need to win? Do you 340 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:56.440 really think those African American voters are going to come back in if you pass 341 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:04.279 over a black woman in fame, you pass over a black woman to pick 342 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:10.240 Gavit Newsom or Pete Boodagic, because those are the options pretty much well, 343 00:32:10.319 --> 00:32:15.599 once you get past Harris, those two guys are probably your best bets. 344 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:22.640 How do you think if you've already got African American voters disaffected with Joe Biden, 345 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:25.240 how do you think they're going to feel about a Democrat ticket that passes 346 00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:30.480 over Kamala Harris? How do you think they're going to feel about a Democratic 347 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:35.920 ticket? And not just African American voters, but also these young voters who 348 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:43.160 are so angry at Biden over Palestine. These people are all super into intersectional 349 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:47.400 politics, and they are the people for whom you were, the people you 350 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:51.359 were placating by saying, I will only pick an African American woman to be 351 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.599 my vice president, I will only pick an African American woman to be my 352 00:32:53.680 --> 00:33:00.119 Supreme Court justice. You pass over an African American woman for a white guy, 353 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:07.759 good luck, good luck getting those people back, especially for someone like 354 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.519 Gavin Newsom, who is hardly a Bernie sanderste Okay. He is not some 355 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:17.960 kind of socialist. He is a squarely in the Bidens sort of camp as 356 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:23.720 far as how he views corporate America and Texas and stuff. He's not gonna 357 00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:32.119 appeal to the AOC types. So I think Biden in his camp knows one 358 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:37.839 that the Democrats are stuck with him. They don't have any other options. 359 00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:40.759 If you go to Harris, it's a disaster. If you pass over Harris, 360 00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:49.759 it's also a disaster. And I think what they're waiting on, and 361 00:33:49.799 --> 00:33:53.559 I think the reason why they're not scared is the Trump conviction only happened like 362 00:33:53.599 --> 00:34:02.240 six days ago. Trump's conviction and the distinct possibility that he could go to 363 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:09.039 jail. Are the wild cards that we have no idea how they're going to 364 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:12.360 play out, And I think a lot of people in the Biden camp are 365 00:34:12.360 --> 00:34:17.119 probably just thinking there's no point agitating over these polls. Right now. Trump 366 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:21.320 has been convicted of a felony. I think it was a bogus felony. 367 00:34:21.719 --> 00:34:27.880 And the Democrats, I think their whole campaign was premised around that, around 368 00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:34.239 successfully getting home a conviction against Donald Trump before the election. When we return 369 00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:37.679 how that plan was supposed to happen and where it's going next on the John 370 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:45.280 Girardi Show. So the whole Democrat strategy for this election was fairly transparent. 371 00:34:47.559 --> 00:34:54.559 Trump did stuff at various points that Democrats thought could be grounds for criminal prosecution. 372 00:34:58.599 --> 00:35:05.719 He had his Stormy dan Ks thing that various prosecutors in New York were 373 00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:08.519 looking at. Both. You had the Southern District of New York, the 374 00:35:08.519 --> 00:35:12.960 federal prosecutors looked at it. You had the Manhattan DA's office looking at it. 375 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:17.599 You had his conduct surrounding January sixth. Was there something there that they 376 00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:22.760 could cook up that they could turn into a crime that you have his conduct 377 00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:28.840 in Georgia surrounding the events after the election. Was he unduly trying to pressure 378 00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:31.760 the governor or the attorney general or the Secretary of State of Georgia in ways 379 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:38.519 that were inappropriate? Was the way he was setting up a possible alternate slate 380 00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:42.719 of electors? Was there something fraudulent there that they could cook up? And 381 00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:47.000 then the mar A Lago documents thing. What a gift to Democrats that was 382 00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:51.559 perfectly just dropped into their lap that he's got all these classified documents that he's 383 00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:54.199 probably not supposed to have in his house just sitting in boxes. Okay, 384 00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:02.199 So the Democrats strategy was, we bring these indictments around the start of the 385 00:36:02.199 --> 00:36:07.960 Republican primary process because we know how the Republican base will react to it. 386 00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:13.119 The Republican base will get mad and they will get defensive towards their guy because 387 00:36:13.159 --> 00:36:19.360 they will think this is wildly inappropriate, which it was for pretty much all 388 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:22.719 those cases, I think, other than the other than the mar A Lago 389 00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:28.159 documents case, which is only an appropriate insofar as they didn't also charge Biden 390 00:36:28.199 --> 00:36:31.719 with the exact same thing anyway, So they knew the Republican base would get 391 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:38.800 angry at it. And note how these indictments against Trump. They dropped like 392 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:45.360 very shortly after Ron De Santis entered the race, completely took the wins out 393 00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:47.079 of ron De Santis, the sales. No one else even had a shot. 394 00:36:47.159 --> 00:36:52.360 Nikki Haley never had a shot. Trump wins the Republican primary easily. 395 00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:01.880 So the plan is they bring an indictment when the primary starts, and maybe 396 00:37:01.880 --> 00:37:09.360 they get a conviction in twenty twenty four. So basically from now until election 397 00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:14.239 day, Joe Biden will be able to talk about Donald Trump as convicted fellon 398 00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:19.440 Donald Trump, convicted fellon Donald Trump, and not only talk about him as 399 00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:22.480 convicted fellon Donald Trump. There's the distinct possibility that Trump could go to jail, 400 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:30.320 that he could be incarcerated for much of the remainder of the campaign, 401 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:43.400 if not for a long span of time to come. So I think that's 402 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.480 why Biden isn't very scared right now, or he's talking a very big game. 403 00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:53.320 There's so what do you do with a presidential nominee? Are people still 404 00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:58.880 going to vote for a presidential nominee who's in jail? Are they going to 405 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:05.480 vote for whoever his vice presidential pick is while he's sitting in jail. I 406 00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:07.920 don't know. I don't think they will, and I think that's the source 407 00:38:07.960 --> 00:38:09.480 of Biden's confidence. That'll do it. John Jarroady Show, See you next 408 00:38:09.480 --> 00:38:10.199 time on Power Talk