Asheville leftists celebrated by media for acting like jerks (03-14-2025--Hour2)

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[00:00:29] Asheville also making national news for being the jerks that they are. Give it up for Asheville. Yes, you guys. I know it's been a while since anybody really cared to hear anything you had to say about politics.

[00:00:47] And good to see you may be urinating away some of the goodwill that people had had for you after the hurricane Helene disaster. But that's the thing about Asheville. Like there may be some lulls, but eventually the moon bats do go on the march. And they were on the march. Last night, they went to a town hall.

[00:01:13] That was held by Congressman Chuck Edwards. Chuck Edwards, you may recall, he beat Madison Cawthorne in a Republican primary for this congressional seat a couple years back. Chuck Edwards was a former state senator.

[00:01:31] And so he's been in Congress now, I think, um, um, um, was it 24? No, 22, I guess is when he first won. Yeah, I guess it was 22. So he goes to AB Tech, the community college, Asheville, Buncombe Technical College. He goes to AB Tech, um, for a town hall.

[00:01:52] They got a big, you know, theater there and, uh, or an auditorium and they packed the place. The leftists turn out and pack the place completely grassroots. I am certain. And, uh, the thing, if you haven't been up to the Asheville area or you've never lived in the area, um, you probably even though are still aware of the reputation that Asheville has, the blue dot in a sea of red.

[00:02:20] It is ground zero for the most virulent leftist kind of, uh, political ideologues and, um, and nimbyism, by the way, not in my backyard.

[00:02:37] NIMBY, NIMBY, not in my backyard, nimbyism, uh, which is, um, has exacerbated their housing shortage up there because people, uh, they, they move from high tax progressive left-wing states like New York and California, and they retire to the mountains of Asheville and they buy their little slice of paradise on the side of a mountain.

[00:03:02] And then they want to ban anybody else from building anything that would, you know, enter their field of vision as they look out there, you know, million dollar balcony out over the ravine and they don't want to see anybody's house. And so they're going to do whatever they can to block anybody from, uh, building anything else. And that's, I mean, that's a huge problem in Asheville.

[00:03:27] They also hate the tourists, which is very odd because the whole economy there runs on the tourism industry because people like to go and look at the mountains like you do, right? When you bought your house in the mountains so you can look out over the mountains and enjoy that view, you are not the only person. But, uh, the other people don't want to live there or they have a good life someplace else.

[00:03:51] So they would just like to visit and a lot of the leftists do not like the tourists coming to Asheville and spending all of their money. They like the money. And so they would like you to just give them that money. There is that envy again. Um, so just give them the money, but don't actually do anything. Don't hang out here, whatever. Like they don't like the idea that they are this tourist place.

[00:04:17] So, uh, and when I worked up there, I saw this all the time. I watched their city council meetings, went to a few of them and, um, virtually, I would say probably about 80 to 90% of the people who came to speak to the city council. They would always start off by saying something to the effect of, I moved here 10 years ago. And then they would have their statement.

[00:04:45] So they were all like coming from someplace else and then lobbying against new apartment buildings, new, uh, subdivision developments. They were anti-development. They didn't want anything to happen. They didn't want anybody else coming here. It's like, I got here eight years ago, 10 years ago. And so I don't want anybody now following me. It's like, I, I got up here and now I want to pull the ladder up behind me so nobody else can follow up.

[00:05:14] So Chuck Edwards, Congressman Chuck Edwards, um, he goes to a, uh, a town hall meeting and the left mobilizes, um, to shout him down. That was the purpose to create the very story that now has gone national, which is that Chuck Edwards was shouted down by a bunch of angry leftists. Now they don't say that part.

[00:05:42] They say, Oh, you know, his constituents, or they'll say, you know, voters were mad and that sort of thing. But these are leftists. Okay. That's what Asheville produces and attracts is these hardcore militant leftists. And, uh, if you doubt me, just go down to pack square, which is sort of the, it's like the trade and try on, if you will, like right there in the heart of the downtown area, not the drum circle. It's pretty close though, but not the drum circle.

[00:06:11] Um, but pack square used to have the Vance monument there, but they tore that thing down because, you know, he was the governor from Buncombe County during the civil war. And so they had to take that down, even though he did a whole bunch of stuff to, um, in support of Jewish people who were being discriminated against after the civil war. And he went around the, the world delivering a speech. I think it was called a scattered people or scattered nation was the name of the speech.

[00:06:38] And anyway, like, like Jewish people would make pilgrimages down to the Vance monument for decades and lay wreaths at his, at this monument to honor him in thanks for what he did to help raise awareness of antisemitism. But anyway, so they tore that monument to him down. Um, and, um, that's where they used to have the protests all the time is right at the, right at that monument.

[00:07:06] And they would just have protests like every single Saturday. I think they had a schedule at one point. So like, there'd be like a swapping out of the signage. It was all the same people. Usually I suggested that they replace the Vance monument with just a big whiteboard, you know, sorry. A dry erase board of a nondescriptive color. So you would have this big board there and you could just like erase it and then write whatever the thing you're protesting at that given time slot.

[00:07:34] And this way, yeah, it's environmentally friendly. You're not having to redo the posters and like, it's just very wasteful. So you just have a big, you know, dry erase board there and then you can swap out the messaging as needed. But this is what they're always doing. They're always out there saying, look at me, look at me. I care about this more than you. I'm better. Okay. That's the whole point of all of those protests. Sorry. Raise awareness. Sorry. To raise awareness. Okay.

[00:08:03] The only awareness that is raised by a bunch of people screaming at tourists as they walk past on their way to rhubarb is, is rhubarb even still open? I don't even know if it's still open anymore. But the only awareness that is raised is the awareness that there is something very wrong with Asheville. Okay. And very wrong with a lot of the people there. It is a, I have said this for years. It is a case study in long-term drug abuse.

[00:08:32] That's what Asheville is. It reminded me, when I first went to Asheville, it reminded me of, I lived off campus in college. And I had a couple different houses with different roommates and stuff. We were off campus about a block or two from the, from the campus. And, you know, these were old mill houses that had been turned over to, into rental properties and such. And there were, you know, couches on the front porch with a keg right next to it.

[00:09:00] Like, that whole vibe, that whole scene, that's Asheville. And then all the professors who, you know, live in the multimillion dollar craftsmen and stuff. Anyway, I'm not here just to, to denigrate Asheville. It is, it's just a, it's one of the, it's gravy. It's extra.

[00:09:20] So, Asheville does what it does in all of these types of situations, which is to show their tuchuses, their tushies. All right. That's what they did last night. It went viral. It went national because the media and the Democrats, but I repeat myself, were like, oh my gosh, this makes us feel so good. Look at us yelling at somebody. We're yelling. Look at me yelling. We're raising awareness. I mean, sorry, we're raising awareness.

[00:09:48] Now, what you're doing is shut uppery. That's what you're doing. And I don't think you have received the message yet. That crap doesn't work anymore. It did for a, for a little while, but nobody is listening to you. All right. Well, I got, I do have a couple of clips that are safe for air. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things to understand experiences.

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[00:11:09] And they will tell others to come who you are. Visit creativevideo.com. Got a message from Trent on Twitter. It's a Pete tweet. He says, Rhubarb just closed down, Pete. And all the Reddit locals are happy because they were a tourist spot. Every restaurant at that location is a tourist spot because it's literally right there in the heart of downtown Asheville.

[00:11:38] And Rhubarb was pretty good. It was all, you know, local sourced food and farm-to-table stuff. Like 90% of the words on the menu you didn't even understand. Like, I mean, they checked all the boxes. But this is one of the things, too, about their – There's actually an organization up there called Unchain Asheville. And they oppose any chain stores from opening. It's like – Well, except – Okay. Except for two.

[00:12:09] One was when they were – They tore down a little shopping center, a little strip mall. It had, like, five stores in it or something. All local small businesses. The kind of places that would normally get the Unchain Asheville people and all of the NIMBY folks to turn out in support of those businesses. But it was part of a rezoning for – I believe it was a Trader Joe's. And so they were like, Tear it down. Get rid of that old dress shop.

[00:12:39] Yeah, just level it. We want our Trader Joe's. So they looked the other way for that one. And then – Oh, the other one was FUD Ruckers. You always got to make sure you pay attention when you're pronouncing that one on the radio. Because they wanted to build apartments. And you know what the branding effort to oppose that rezoning was? They were tearing down a chain restaurant and putting up housing.

[00:13:07] And it got all this backlash because it was on the way to the Grove Park Inn on that road. And so they were all upset about it because they said the branding effort was, Don't Charlotte our Asheville. That's what they said. I kind of took offense to that. I was a little offended by that. But, like, oh, no, you're getting apartment buildings built?

[00:13:36] That's what you consider to be Charlotte? A mixed use, right? Apartment buildings on top, retail on the ground level. But because it's going to be a new building with apartments, that's Charlotte? I mean, I would understand if it's like, hey, we're tearing down this historical building. Because that – I mean, to be fair, that is Charlotte, right? But, like, you're going to tear down this building. It's a Fuddruckers, right?

[00:14:04] For the love of me, it's just a Fuddruckers. That's all it is. This isn't some sort of architectural masterpiece. No offense to the architect that designed every single Fuddrucker restaurant. I feel like I'm doing a very good job of pronouncing that name correctly during all of this rant. I feel like – okay, I'm not asking for praise. I just feel like I'm doing a decent job of it. I'm going to move on before I mess it up. So, Chuck Edwards goes in front of this crowd, okay?

[00:14:32] And they come from all over his district. All of these transplanted leftists from other states that became too burdensome to live in because of leftism. They come and retire to the mountains around Asheville. And they hate Donald Trump. Oh, boy, do they hate Donald Trump.

[00:14:50] And so they went there and they spent 90 minutes cursing and screaming and chanting and pounding on doors and blocking a motorcade all to tell everybody that they are stupid. I think here's a quote from last night, one of the more intelligible. Boo! Boo! Yeah, there you go. That was last night's highlight.

[00:15:20] I think that was the least – oh, wait. Now, hang on a second. I have another one here. This is the – okay. Okay, that makes sense. That's a good argument there. Boo! You suck! Oh, okay. Well, there you go. So, yeah, that was essentially what they did last night to Chuck Edwards. And they feel like this is a win. And the media coverage of it – here's the AP headline.

[00:15:49] North Carolina GOP town hall gets rowdy as attendees hurl scathing questions on Trump. They hurl scathing questions. No, they were cursing. They were screaming. They were unintelligible. They were not making arguments. They were asking, like, almost as if in a Socratic fashion, like, why do you hate Zelensky so much?

[00:16:17] Why do you love fascism? This is intellectually flabby. You guys don't even know how to make arguments anymore. You are not going to win hearts and minds. All of this is theater kid performance art. And most Americans, I dare say, are quite sick of it and you. See last November's election. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina,

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[00:17:41] And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Here is an email from Tim. Asheville leftist transplants, this is so common in the South, northerners move here. Look, it's not just northerners. You got Californians as well, right?

[00:18:09] You got West Coasties that come down or come over. Anyway, northerners move here to escape high taxes, then they start to demand more GovCo services while telling us how great it was up north. I told one from Philly, if he didn't like it, he knew where I-95 is. Unfortunately, he never left. Yeah, this is, I've talked about this for years because you may not be aware of this because I have worked very hard to eliminate the accent from my mouth.

[00:18:39] But I grew up on Long Island. Now, I left when I was 17. I came down south. I went to college at Winthrop University. And I never went back. I mean, up to New York. I mean, well, I would go visit. I visit. But that was enough. Like, I came down here. I liked it. I liked the pace of life. I liked the people. I liked the region. And so I stayed.

[00:19:07] But I did not attempt to make it into a Long Island south. Why would I do that? I just left there. I did not want to be there anymore. So I'm not knocking anybody that does go back or that does stay up there and live up there. My parents are still up there. So a lot of my family is still up there. It's fine. They, they're happy to be there. I think. Well, some of them, not so much. But you're free to go wherever you want.

[00:19:39] But I never thought it was, it didn't make any logical sense to me. To come here and then tell everybody that this is the way you need to do it because this is the way it was done up north. It doesn't matter. It doesn't make any sense. I came here and I, I liked the way things were done here. So I stayed. And, you know, it's just, it's a lot to move again. So, yeah, I don't understand that either. I don't understand that mentality. Maybe it's the same kind of vibe.

[00:20:08] Like when you, you hear like the, the American tourist that goes over to Europe and people, you know, some people don't like American tourists over there. Maybe it's that same sort of thing going on. I don't know. But the AP covering this story out of Asheville on the town hall that got rowdy, quote unquote, Chuck Edwards, Congressman Edwards.

[00:20:37] Here's how the story goes. Before answering an attendee's question about President Donald Trump's, quote, destructive and disastrous trade war, U.S. Representative Chuck Edwards made a plea to the rowdy crowd at his Thursday town hall in Asheville, North Carolina. Quote, let me answer. And then if you don't like it, you can boo or hiss or, you know, whatever you want to do. Boo! Yeah. There you go. Boo! Boo! Boo! Right. Boo? Yeah.

[00:21:06] Look, here's the other thing, too, about all of their jeering and their sneering and their booing and catcalling and such. I've seen what you cheer for, leftists. Your boos do not matter to me. He says, so let me answer if you don't like it. You can boo or hiss or whatever you'd like to do. Edwards said, visibly exhausted. As he expanded on Trump's use of tariffs as a negotiating tactic, it took less than a minute for the crowd to break out in outrage.

[00:21:36] Now, to be fair, leftists are just in a perpetual state of outrage, so I don't know if they broke out into outrage there, AP. He continued to plow ahead in his response and eventually punctuated it by telling attendees that he would stop there and you can yell. And the crowd gladly took him up on the offer.

[00:21:54] For about an hour and a half, Edwards endured a constant barrage of jeers, expletives, and searing questions on Trump administration policies. About 300 people crammed inside a college auditorium for the town hall while the boos from more than 1,000 people outside the building rumbled through the event. These are people, by the way, in that audience that did not vote for Chuck Edwards.

[00:22:24] Right? The vast majority of people at that event were not Edwards supporters. They already hate Edwards. They hate Donald Trump. They hate Republicans. They hate a lot of things. That is the vibe you get among leftist Democrats in Asheville. It is a constant. They hate a lot of stuff. And then, they demand that you, quote, listen to them while they tell you to shut up.

[00:22:54] Because that's what they did last night to Chuck Edwards. Think about this. What is the purpose of holding a town hall meeting with constituents? It's to go there and hear from constituents, right? Ostensibly, that's the purpose. You're the congressman. You show up. Hey, we're working on some things. I want to give you some information. And now, I'll open it up for Q&A. And what do you think the message that he got from last night is? Except that you are a bunch of immature children.

[00:23:24] That you do not know how to conduct yourself in a public venue like this. But he needs to know I'm angry. Already knows it, guys. We already know that the left is angry. The left has been angry my entire life. You're not breaking any new ground here. So, we know you're mad. We know you're angry. We know you're a little unhinged. We know you like to curse in front of mixed company. You do it all the time. We get it.

[00:23:54] But you need to hear us. You need to listen to us. I've said this before. I shall say it again. When the left talks in this way about, you need to listen to what I'm saying. They don't mean it as in, you need to hear the words. They mean it as you need to obey my command. Much like a parent tells a child, listen to what I'm telling you. They're telling the child to do something. Listen to me. Right?

[00:24:24] And that means obey me. That means I'm telling you what to do. You need to hear what I'm saying. Listen to what I'm saying. And then obey what I'm saying. That's what the left means. They don't mean hear it. We've heard it. We have heard you. My gosh. Everybody has heard you for the last 20 years. You guys have been screaming in every public venue you can find. It's not a lack of us hearing it.

[00:24:53] We just don't agree with you. And no amount of further screaming and screeching and cussing is going to make me agree with you. You're not winning hearts and minds here, lefties. It's just not happening for you. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News.

[00:25:23] It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom.

[00:25:49] The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check.ground.news slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. From the Associated Press article.

[00:26:17] House Speaker Mike Johnson had told GOP representatives last week to skip out on town halls, saying demonstrations outside of them were the work of professional protesters. Oh. You know, that would actually be a really good story to track down. If like, all right, I'm just spitballing here, but let's just say there was some sort of an entity

[00:26:45] that existed like an organization or a business or something and like the model or the service is that you hire some people and they would go out and find out stuff and then put them down in some sort of a report maybe for public consumption. And then people could know. More things about what's going on around them. It's OK. It's kind of bare bones, but I'll maybe flesh it out later.

[00:27:15] But Edwards, but that would it seems like that would be a good thing to maybe track down. Find out. Hey. Is this or is this not the work of professional protesters? And this used to be something that the left would scoff at as if it's like a fever dream of the right wingers. But we've actually now found thanks to all of the the A.I.

[00:27:41] and the publication of the various FEC documents and the reporting and all of this. We now trace we can trace where the money is going to. And it's just a matter of, you know, running these things through the algorithms to find the connections. And yes, as a matter of fact, I do have a story. Not about the Asheville protests, but about some other organizations. I'll get to that in the next hour.

[00:28:08] So Edwards addressed the Republican leaders advice. Saying he didn't want to shy away from conversations with the people of Western North Carolina, even if they disagreed. But less than 30 minutes into the town hall, Edwards started to change his tune as a majority of attendees interrupted him with vitriolic disruptions. Again, what are you there for? To yell at a congressman?

[00:28:38] What do you think that accomplishes? You know you're not changing that guy's mind by screaming and yelling at him, right? That never works. So as a tactic, I don't understand if you're trying to actually affect change, why you would engage in this behavior. So if you don't understand the results, reexamine your assumptions. Reassess the assumption. So my assumption is they're trying to affect change. Ha ha, they are not.

[00:29:05] But they're actually just doing it for themselves, for their own pleasure. In that sense, it's sort of masturbatory. So like you have this need, this itch, and you just need to scratch it. And oh, I feel so much better now that I got to yell and scream and throw cuss words around an auditorium. And I feel so much better. And I'm morally superior to that guy and everybody that agrees with him. It's so performative. It's so performative. And we don't believe you.

[00:29:36] That's the thing. We don't believe you're not morally superior. You're not. You're just acting like a jerk. That's all. Asheville is a deep blue dot amid a sea of red in North Carolina's mountains. North Carolina went for Trump in the 2024 election. Edwards said, quote, And you wonder why folks don't want to do these town halls. Right. Well, see, then they would claim he's scared of us. No, it's not productive.

[00:30:06] And he did say that last night. Edwards pointed out like this is not productive. It's a waste of time. And what the the the shouters are doing is they are engaging in what is called the hecklers veto. Right. They're going to scream at you and prevent you from doing the thing that you came here to do. To tell people about Western North Carolina recovery. Right. The funding and where that stuff stands and how that's going at the federal level.

[00:30:34] People showed up there maybe wanting some information on that. And they're not going to be able to hear it because the hecklers are shouting down this congressman because they hate the orange man so much. As Edwards touted the work he and the Trump administration has been doing for the region's recovery, which could include the president's proposal to dissolve FEMA. And that's how the AP leaves it to dissolve FEMA. Yeah. And give the money directly to states, AP.

[00:31:04] Why'd you leave that part out? Anyway, attendees shouted him down and demanded he address questions immediately. We don't want to hear what you have to say. We've got questions. I got questions. Why did you think so much? That's what they were doing last night. And the media is like, oh, my gosh, this is so democracy. One person was escorted out of the venue after hurling expletives at the congressman.

[00:31:30] Several people screamed from various parts of the room, quote, listen to us now, which, again, listen to us. In other words, obey. Obey. When you're just screaming, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. That's actually not productive. You're not because once you once somebody hears you say that, OK, I heard you say that. And you just keep saying, listen to me. And I hate you. And I hate Trump. That's OK.

[00:32:00] Noted. Let's move on. No, I need to keep saying it. Which is actually one of the rules of public hearings, which is everything has been said, but not everybody has said it. Edwards said Trump and Musk were over the target in a news conference after his event. He said, I take away from what I heard today is that we're doing exactly what the American people sent us to D.C. to do. Right. So the screeching performances did not change a thing. Congratulations, Asheville leftists. All right.

[00:32:30] That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalendorshow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening. And don't break anything while I'm gone.