Behn goes down in Tennessee; Dem lies to get into GOP primary (12-03-2025--Hour2)

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to vpeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. So Tennessee, the congressional district that includes Nashville held themselves a special election yesterday and it stayed Republican. This was a Republican seat. This is a seat that Marsha Blackburn used to hold easily. I want to say, like plus twenty or plus thirty percentage point wins every time. Solid red district, even though Nashville is located inside the district and Nashville tends to vote more blue. But Nashville has also seen an influx of people fleeing from California and New York. A lot of Californians I've noticed have moved to Nashville, Tennessee. So it appears to be growing more and more blue, just like all of these other places like Charlotte. Did we ever determine what we were going to call this the Blue Bonnic? Is that what we're calling it? The Blue Bonnic? Play? Anyway? I had never heard of this woman who was running, this Democrat who was running before this race. And her name is Afton Ben. I think is how that's pronounced. It's a very odd name, a f t y n aften, last name b e h n. Maybe it's Baine. I think it's Ben, or maybe it's Bachen. I don't know Afton Ben. Jeff bl Layer at National Review describes her charitably as having a perpetually sneering visage, as if the world was forever batching her Starbucks latte order. That's and if you've seen her. It's true. It is true. She just has this sort of scowl on her face most of the time. And then last night during her concession speech, she wore I don't even know how to describe this jacket. It was sort of looked it looked plasticky, like a leather plastic y kind of a cowgirled coat kind of deal. And it was like aqua blue or like a light blue, and it had a bunch of like rhinestones on it, but it looked about two sizes too big, so it almost looked like she was dressed in full pads for a football game. And then she had one of those you know, one of those ponchos that they put over the football players while they're on the sideline. That's what it kind of looked like she was wearing. It was just weird. It was just a weird jacket to wear for your concession speech. Now, maybe she was trying to convey the image that she really does love Nashville. And you may be thinking, well, of course she would love Nashville. She's running for the congressional district to represent. Nashville, right. Well, actually, she she had previously talked about how much she hated Nashville and everything really about Nashville, hated the bachelorette parties, which I've actually I do know something about this, not that I know, not that I've been to a bachelorette party, but I did a story, well I covered the story years ago go that a lot of businesses in Nashville, or Nashvillians, nashvillelites, what do they called Nashville owens, they were not fond of all of the bachelorette parties. Apparently Nashville has become sort of the number one destination for bachelorette parties. So and I expect that has something to do with the you know, the prevalence of the bars, the live music, and a sense of security to be able to walk around while you're drunk out on the streets, you know, and not have to worry about being accosted, assaulted, dragged off behind a building and you know, and raped or something like. I'm assuming that that's what it has to do with. And that's probably more about the culture of Nashville, which is like, you know, more law and order than say making I don't know San Francisco your destination bachelorette party, you know, But I digress. So this woman often ben running against a fellow by the name of Matt Van Epps, and he is a former Army helicopter pilot veteran. And this is the seventh Congressional District of Tennessee. And he did win it. He won it by like nine points, like fifty four to forty five percent, So almost a landslide. A landslide is double digits at least, But this is being read as not really a win. I mean it's a win, sure, I mean it's a nine point win, to be sure, but it's not a bigger win. And it should have been a bigger win because it's a solid Republican district. Okay. And the reason why they held this election, by the way, is because the Republican representative, Mark Green retired. According to md Kitt writing at the Federalist dot Com, even in defeat, Democrats hailed the closer than expected election as a victory. So even when they lose, Democrats win, which is the standard we have all become accustomed to. Obviously, this woman aften Ben has been dubbed I don't know by whom, the AOC of Tennessee, the AOC of Tennessee. Okay, so a real moderate type of candidate. Oh did you hear there's a Democrat socialist now running for mayor of Washington, DC because Mayor Bowser is not going to run for reelection. So that's basically going to get decided in the Democrat primary. And so you got a Democrat socialist going to pull a Mam Danny, we shall see or okay, fine, mom COMI either way, here is Scott Jennings on CNN. Well, first of all, there's lessons that you learned from everything. When you win, there's lessons. When you lose, there's lessons, and so I'm sure they'll look and see who turned out and what messages were effective and which ones weren't, and that'll be something the party can move going forward. It's an off your special election. The turnout matrix is far different than a presidential then it'll be different than what comes out in November. Say, you can take nothing for granted, of course, and Republicans do have historical headwinds. I still think they are in position to make an argument that their economic theories are better than the democratics theories. And Democrats, after all, took prices to the moon, and now they want to forget the last four years and pretend like this just started ten months ago. I think most voters know that's patley ridiculous. I do have a slight disagreement with David. I do think we'll hear from her again. I think she'll run again, and I think she and her brand of politics are the median Democrat. This is the basic Democrat you're going to get in most races around the country. This person running on defund the police, radical progressive positions. Whether you're in Nashville or Manhattan, or Florida or account wherever you happen to be, this is what the Democratic base wants the most cuckoo for Coco puffs, and they can find and they're gonna They're gonna look at you, say, hey, this is how we got so close. So let's replicate it around the country. I think we'll hear from her in her kind for the next year. I don't think it'll be good for Democrats. We can ask you on that because you said that she she ran on defund the police. There were her past comments on that, but she said that that was basically when she was a private citizen, before she was representing the state legislature. I mean, that wasn't like a core tenant of her campaign. She talked about affordability. So I think my question is is do you really think every that's what every Democrat looks like. I mean, I don't think that was the main That was something that a criticism of verse obviously past comments, but that wasn't the you know, tenant of her campaign or anything. She got asked about it. Repeatedly and refused to back away from it. And look, I'm just telling you, this is what Democrats believe, and this is what their base wants. It's why she wouldn't go back on it. I was just a private citizen. Oh my gosh, we've never held what you said as a private citizen against you in a political campaign, for goodness sakes, What a ridiculous way to just maintain a position that nobody likes. I'm old enough to remember there was a guy who ran for North Carolina governor I think it was governor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was governor. And remember like a whole bunch of stuff had come out, stuff that he had said when he was a private citizen. And then like Democrats were like, this guy is so radical, you can't elect him. And oh he also visited a bunch of like these uh, these porn websites and stuff. Remember what was that guy's name? I know it was a while ago, Mark Robertson Robinson, Mark Robinson, that was his name. Yeah, so now democrats want the space. See, Okay, when I said defund the police or globalize the into father, when I said this stuff, I was just a private citizen. I didn't make it a tenant of my campaign. It's just it's so it's so expected and annoying. You know. Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experience. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. 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She actually tried to keep the focus on pocketbook issues, audaciously claiming that she would quote stand up to both parties to make life more affordable. That's how that works, you see, you stand up to the parties and then everybody has more money. This is what I told the Queen City Republicans when I spoke to them. Hammer away at affordability. Just because Zoron Mamdanni used that word as like the totality of his campaign doesn't mean you can't use it either, right, you can use it. Everybody can use it. Talk about affordability, talk about bringing prices down, talk about letting people keep more of their own money, and then tying it back to the policies of Democrats that have raised the price on everything. Why does it cost so much money to live in Democrat areas? Why they're policies. It's a very simple argument. To make right, you got to hammer away. So this is what she thought she would do, is just affordability, affordability, affordability. I hate Nashville, affordability, affordability, I hate country music. Affordability, affordability. It did not work. She has supported taxpayer funded Medicaid for illegal aliens. She has supported government run healthcare as well. She labeled Tennessee racist and god forsaken, which is I guess that is one way to try to win an election in Tennessee. Talked about how she loathed entry music, her anti police passed, and her harassment of ice agents most likely did not sit too well either. Neither did her systemic racism stick and her science confounding position that men can give birth. But but Democrats and media, but I repeat myself, they think this is actually a very good sign for Democrats losing by nine points in this district. Here's Harry Inten at CNN. Let's talk about the numbers. Republicans should be running for the hells this morning, because the blue wave is building. My dear friend mister Berman, what are we talking about here? Well, Matt Vanipps the Republican candidate, he won it by nine. But this is a district that Donald Trump won by twenty two points, fifteen points, seventeen points. This is a thirteen point gain for the Democrats in terms. Of the margin. And excuse time for Republicans is ova because I hear all about these special elections, all the turnout so low, it's not representative of what happened in the midterm election. The turnout last night in Tennessee seventh District was equal so the turnout in the twenty twenty two midterm election. So the blue wave it seems to be building right out of center of Tennessee. Interesting, So in turn of the numbers, the turnout looked like a regular midterm election, not a special election. Exactly right, exactly right, And of course we have a midterm what about eleven months? All right? What have we seen in terms of trends in all the special elections the last year? Okay, you know, I wouldn't necessarily give a hooona hollering about one special election in Tennessee. I love the people in Central Tennessee, but central Tennessee is nothing special compared to the rest of the country. But what we see happening. You make a look here, okay, twenty twenty five US House special elections. DEM's out running Kamala Harris. A lot of blue here, a lot of blue, which is all right, I'm gonna start. He's now got a graphic up on the screen. Also, his accent is pretty annoying. I think he's going his accent is becoming more pronounced anyway, So what he's what he's gotten now is a chart of the various US House special elections Arizona, Florida two and Florida actually won in Tennessee from yesterday, Texas and Virginia. And these were seats that all five, one, two, three, four, five or six of these races, Democrats outran Kamala Harris. They outperformed the Democrat candidate for these seats outperformed Kamala Harris by double digits, which it's not really surprising. Have you seen Kamala Harris and did you see that campaign? She wasn't Look I say this all the time, candidates matter often. Ben is not a good candidate. She wasn't a good candidate for this seat. I agree with Scott Jennings though she'll be back. She's not going anywhere. She's going to run again for something, maybe governor or US Senate or something. She's going to run for something else. This is who Democrats want. And if the economic situation, I feel like, if the economic situation in America does not improve for the average voter, then this very well could be very, very bad for Republicans. You know, even Scott Jennings pointed out Republicans have historical headwinds against them. Every party that controls the White House loses seats in the midterm elections. And Trump voters are going to have to turn out for their congressional races like they turn out for him, and so far, I'm not so sure that we've seen evidence that they do that. They vote for Trump and then they sit home during the midterms. So if you know, if you want to see Trump impeached, then go ahead and you keep doing that. If you would like to see Trump not be a complete lame duck president for the remainder of his term, then you're gonna have to You're gonna. Have to mobilize. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion, Cabins of Ashville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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So, this is North Carolina state senate who made international news after running for an office that she knew she had no chance to win, is now throwing her hat back in the ring. This time. The Democrat is running in the GOP primary. Her name is Kate Bass. She's running against Tim Moore in the fourteenth congressional district, and she is framing it as another protest of the state's jerry mandard map, which is that's just reported as if it's true that it's a jerryman that the fourteenth is jerrymandered. It's not. The fourteenth district is not jerrymandered. So yeah, you should not be using the term jerrymandered with the with the political implications that the word carries with it. You could just say as a protest of the state's map, or you could say in protest of what she calls a jerrymandered map. Either way, she is attempting to unseat Tim Moore, who was first elected to this seat in twenty twenty four. She argued that the way that the map is currently drawn, she has a better chance running as a progressive Republican than any type of Democrat. A progressive Republican. Okay, what does that mean? What does that mean? I sure do hope that if there is ever a debate in the primary between these two, or if she does interviews, I sure hope that some people ask her. And here's an easy question, easy question for a reporter or somebody a voter at a town hall to ask, are there any planks in the Republican platform that. You do agree with? Right, You've registered as a Republican to try to beat Tim Moore, But is there anything in the Republican platform that you agree with? Or are you literally a rhino? A Republican in name only? She's lying, right, She's lying. Her first act in her run is to lie, is to say I'm not really a Republican, but I will register as one so I can get a primary, and then I'll try to beat him that way. North Carolina's GOP weighed in they put out a statement, Kate barrs Farce is insulting voters' intelligence. Across North Carolina, we have seen former Democrats realize the socialist leadership infecting the party no longer represents them, whether it's Representative Tricia Cotham and Mecklenberg County, she flipped Democrat to Republican. Numerous county commissioners in Robinson County right there, I think three of them that flipped, or a sheriff in New Hanover County. She isn't putting together a campaign about ideas and solutions in her own party because today's Democrats cannot relate to the middle class and working families. So she's not running on a platform of like the Democrat Party left me. She's running on a platform of I'm a progressive running in the Republican primary because I can't win as a Democrat. Like that's so you're lying, you're trying to deceive voters. By the way, the primary is in March, March third, twenty twenty six. And then there's this US Attorney Russ Ferguson announced a series of actions to enhance election integrity. This was prompted, I think by story at WBTV about North Carolina DMV that has been registering non citizens to vote, which I'm told doesn't happen. But I guess we are at the stage where we get told first it's not happening, and then second stage is okay, it is happening. But it's not a lot. I think that's I think that's where we are now, and in the final stage is okay, it is happening quite a bit, but it's good. That's usually the way these stories progress, right, happens with voter I d We noticed this pattern with voter I d so. WBTV investigates reported last month that Russ Ferguson, US attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, accused the state's DMV of illegally registering six non citizens to vote see it's only six, it's only six people. In interviews with WBTV, two of the people that were incorrectly registered to vote said they actually had no idea that they had been registered. Documents obtained by WBTV indicated that most of the people did not appear to be aware of the registration. None of the people the six voted actually that none of them ever voted. See so it's so it's there's only six people and they didn't even vote. It's not a big deal. The implications of an incorrect voter registration, though, can be enormous for people in the process of obtaining their US citizenship. Why well, if you've registered to vote, you are claiming essentially that you are a citizen, right because only citizens can vote in North Carolina. In some jurisdictions they let non citizens vote in their local races because they have suicidal empathy in those jurisdictions. So in North Carolina, if you're registered to vote, that's sort of a de facto admission that you are a citizen, which lying about being an American citizen when you are not is actually a felony, and that may jeopardize your ability to become a US citizen. And by the way, there's no distinction made as to whether or not these people are legal or illegal aliens. So if assuming that all six of these people are in the country legally and maybe they're trying to become citizens, this could actually really screw up their chances. See, this is why this stuff matters as well. It's not you're not being empathetic, you're not being helpful. You do not occupy the morally superior position by saying this stuff isn't worthy of our time, because for those six people that now could potentially lose their path to citizenship because of some mistake that DMV made, if it was a mistake, that's not an ethical position to take lefties. 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. 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 dot ground, dot 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. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot ground dot news slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent 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. Stan says, the. Six people who were registered to vote and not aware of it, that's the goal. The individuals responsible for it wanted to vote in your place, as they know how you'll vote doing it that way, right. So there's no indication though by the voter records that anybody voted in their names. Okay, so they got registered to vote, but there's no record of them voting. That would be in the Board of Elections database, which WBTV went and looked at and said that there's no evidence that anybody ever voted under their names. But this is a problem obviously, because these are just the six that they caught that were identified under federal laws. DMVs across the country are able to help fill out voter registration forms for people getting identification documents. In North Carolina, a person can fill out a voter registration form at the DMV and the agency will then forward that form to the appropriate county board to complete registration. So this is the problem, is that you've got DMVs across the country. So they found six in North Carolina that they were looking for, and that means also that this is probably occurring in other states, either by accident, by technical glitching, or intentionally. Right. But the other thing, though, is that this was supposed to have been caught. One would think at the Board of Elections. And then also remember that your jury pool is pulled from the Board of Elections registrations. Right, So if you're registered to vote in Mecklenburg County and you are not a citizen and you get called in for jury duty, you can say I'm not a citizen and then you get out of jury duty, which, like, that's a problem, that should be a flag. But it's not being caught there either. See. I see these stories. And I think, wow, well, there are a lot of opportunities to clean up the voter rolls that are ignored or missed for whatever reason. And so it's hard to know. It's hard to have confidence when you get examples like this of how a system is supposed to function but is not functioning. It's not catching these people, it's not catching the errors, and any attempt to catch the errors or to prevent them in the first place, get you branded as a racist or something that you're trying to, you know, thwart the democracy or something now from the press release here from the US Attorney's Office. In July, the US. Attorney initiated an inquiry to the commissioner of the DMV following a report by Homeland Security Investigations that the DMV permitted ineligible individuals like illegal aliens, to register to vote at the DMV, sometimes without that individual's knowledge. The investigation found individuals were erroneously given citizen ID cards for years, and some were registered to vote even after informing the DMV they were not citizens. The involved DMV examiners initially blamed the error on a system glitch, but the DMV later admitted quote the online system doesn't verify citizenship status. The US Attorney asked the DMV commissioner to review these the registration processes to ensure non eligible voters were not being registered to vote. The DMV agreed to investigate and found that individuals had been registered to vote due to errors by DMV examiners. So what is the press really saying that the examiners blamed a system glitch, but it was in fact their mistake. That's another problem. No, why are they lying or were they just mistaken? Did they make a mistake? DMV found aos. Let me back up a sentence. These errors included mistakenly marking individuals as US citizens, which then bypassed the necessary legal presence questions and allowed voter registration. So it was the examiner who said they were a citizen, and then that jumped ahead in the questionnaire, and so those controls didn't work. The DMV also found a system error that lasted for three months and permitted ineligible individuals to register to vote. Now the DMV has agreed to make some changes. They're going to issue a statewide reminder to all of their examiners on the protocols and the safeguards to ensure proper registration. They're going to do some new training for examiners. They're going to modernize DMV technology to streamline processes and reduce examiner errors, hiring additional personnel to increase accurate input of sensitive data, actively pursuing a technical solution to effectively integrate citizenship checks into dmb's online and Kiosk voter registration application systems. So all of that is good. So if we're going to get some new controls and checks on this stuff, good job. US attorney Rus Ferguson. All right, 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 dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.