Charlotte GOP's future and immigration ops continue (11-18-2025--Hour1)

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 thepeakclendershow 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. Pete Calendar here, but you probably already knew that. If you didn't, I'm Pete and this is Andrew Dunn. Andrew Dunn is the publisher of long Leaf Politics. You can read his work at longleafpol dot com. He's also a contributing columnist at The Charlotte Observer. Andrew, how are you you survive the great but temporary cloud flare outage of twenty twenty five? I see, well barely. I wasn't able to see your tweets as quickly as I'd. Like here, Yeah, I know, there was a sense of panic, and then I realized, wow, I really do rely on this app for a lot and that's probably not so good. But yes, a cloud flare just like was it. Amazon Web Services went down a couple months ago. Cloud Flair went down this morning and broke a bunch of websites. But it's back. We are all. We have survived so. Well. Yeah. So last week we chatted about the results of the of the local election here in Charlotte. You did another write up on this, and I was particularly interested to read this. I was invited to speak last week to the Queen City Republicans and you know, they're asking and I understand why, but they were, you know, people when we were doing the Q and A, and they were asking me, you know, what do we do? Where do we go from here? And like I don't. I did not have any real good answers for them because I don't see a path forward for them. And you wrote about this sort of saying the same sort of dynamic, and you say at the very end, you could view this as surrender, but I don't see it that way. It's simply practical politics. Okay, So what is not surrender? What is the way forward? Yeah? I mean, it's easy to overreact to a single election, but I do actually feel like we're at a tipping point here in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. I don't see the road getting any easier for Republicans to actually win any of these local offices. But it doesn't mean that Republicans have no role to play or that their votes don't matter here. It's just that the focus has to shift. The focus has to shift to statewide races. I don't see it worth our time and money to run for city council and the foreseeable future. But if you look at the numbers, Mecklenburg County actually has the second most Republicans in terms of sheer volume of voters out of any county in the state, second behind only Wait County. And in some of our state wide races when come down to extremely narrow margins, that means that Republicans here in Charlotte have to turn out, have to donate money to our statewide candidates. And I think you know, Mecklinberg County is going to continue to punch above its way. I mean, it's one of the most important counties for any Republican candidate if they want to win statewide. I said the same thing to the Queen City Republicans as well, that they have to still have a turnout operation particularly in the even year elections. Yep. But also it's like, you know, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. And I was like, you guys don't really have the same turnout infrastructure that the Democrats enjoy. And they built that over a long time. And you know, Charlotte Republicans are based in the spot they are in now because of decisions I feel like we're made twenty five thirty years ago, which prompted a lot of Conservatives to not want to be in Charlotte any longer. After their Republican elected leaders did things that they disagreed with and taxes got too high. You know, they built all of these projects and stuff. And I'm not going to litigate every single one of those projects, but people because I would talk to them for twenty five years here in Charlotte at WBT and we would talk and I kept hearing the same sort of refrain from people, and they were like, we're moving out, you know, we don't, we don't want to participate in this kind of city and with these priorities. And so now this is the result right where you've got a lot of GOP voters that moved to the surrounding counties. They got read. They flipped from Democrat to Republican in every county around US basically, but Charlotte got Bluer and Bluer, Mechler got Bluer and Bluer. And I mean that's a long term trend. So do I give them bad advice? No, I think that's good advice. And I see that trend continuing at least over the next ten years or so. You know, there there will be another major Republican political figure post Trump, and you know who knows. I mean, there's still a chance for the suburbs to go back red like they were for so many years before, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. But I think you're right in that, you know, the mech GOP has to absolutely invest in the turnout game. You know, I was actually pretty shocked looking at some of the statewide results for twenty twenty four. I mean, even Steve Troxler is only getting thirty five percent of the vote in Mecklenburg County, the most the most popular Republican in the state, and I feel like a lot of that has to come down to just a poor turnout operation. I know that there's more than three percent who would be willing to vote for a Republican in Mecklenburg County. We just have to do a better job of turning him out. Yeah, I also told him I and I quoted you from our discussion previously. I said, you got to get to early voting. You guys got to drop the early voting opposition and the absentee ballots and stuff. It's you're killing yourself by not banking all of those votes. Now. My one criticism is that you use the word vote getters, not voteinger. I know, I know vote Did you catching on? I saw? What was it? Chris Cooper? I think was he. Was one of my first converts. Chris Cooper, that's big. I know. Well, and that's why I was kind of disappointed. Well, did you at least like consider throwing the word in there while you were writing it up? It was a really tough to city. Okay, all right, that's all right. It'll catch on though, it will. It's it's it's it's like that, it's the preference cascade slowly at first and then very quickly. You know, that's what where we're still on the slope. Well, you know, Chris Cooper, I mean, he's a true influencer in North Carolina political circles. Right, so that I mean, he was my biggest get. I think it helped that I went to college with him and we were fraternity brothers, so I think that may have given me the inside track there. Plus, it's a nice word. It's a good word, all right. So let's talk about Charlotte's web. And you've got a piece that's at the Charlotte Observer. This was on the thirteenth, so about so last week, and the headline is North Carolina shouldn't have to choose between open borders and unmarked vans. And you say, somehow, let's deport criminals has has somehow now become the moderate position. And you say, the result is that the sane middle, enforced the law in a steady, transparent way, has been neglected so long it almost feels radical when someone rediscovers it, which is yeah, like, and. I understand what Democrats are trying to do. They got to walk this line of like, we're fighting, but let's not have violence. We stand with you our base, and that's calling for you know, customs and Border patrol to leave right meanwhile calling them all racist, but also don't get violent against the racist fascists that are, you know, sweeping up people off of the streets. So I understand that the game, they're the line they have to walk the game that they are playing. But I also yeah, but I also think that we are seeing this. I do agree with Destin Hall, the Speaker of the House, and you quote them in your piece. But we are where we are because there has been this complete abdication of enforcing immigration law from you know, the sheriff, not my fault macfadden, you know, not not honoring the detainer request, and just this general acceptance which I think is at the heart of what I'm hearing from the Democrats, which is they want amnesty. That's I think that's what's motivating this. They don't want to say it, but I think that's what they believe, is that everybody that is here illegally but hasn't committed any other crime besides being here illegally, then they should be allowed to stay and they should be given citizenship. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I actually I just finished up another column on this issue that's going to be publishing any time now on the Charlotte Observer. Site. You know, I think that Operation Charlotte's Web was probably messier than it needed to be. And I definitely still don't love the masks and the unmarked vans and all that, but I will say that the operation did get some folks off the streets who were accused of really serious crimes. I'm sure you've been following the Board of Patrol head on X who's been, you know, sending out some of those mugshots. And it's very important to note that a lot of these folks have been arrested numerous times here in Meckenburg County and then just released back out into the public by the Sheriff's office. You know, if we had a shaff who had worked with I and did what Josh Stein said that we all want to do, and you know, get dangerous folks off the streets, then I don't think we'd be having this conversation at all. Right, this is the result of the again, just like with the Republicans losing elections, now, this is the result of year's worth of decisions that were made leading up to this moment. And yeah, I don't My understanding is that these operations, they work off of lists of targeted individuals, but if they come across somebody else who's here illegally and can't provide any kind of documentation or whatever, then they get picked up too. That's been my understanding. But it doesn't seem like any elected official understands that. How is it that I know this but they don't. Yeah, I'm not sure, And that would be my understanding as well. And I tend to give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt in most cases. I think one of the issues we're running in here is that, you know, the Trump administration seems to enjoy the spectacle of it. Yeah, and I think they kind of go out of their way to play it up. You know, there's some very dramatic videos that get published on social media and whatnot, and I think that turns people off in areas like Charlotte. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. I also would note that the groups that are protesting and are you know, created and they're swarming the CBP operators and stuff. Indivisible Charlotte has been named as one of those groups, and they were behind the no Kings protest marches. Like that's not a coincidence. And I think that you've got Democrat officials that are that are worried about that particular element of their voting base, and so they're going to their incentive is to do what the indivisible crowd wants, much like we just saw last night where the city council is now going to throw a bunch of taxpayer money at these you know, services or nonprofits or whatever that are going to help people who are impacted by these raids. I mean, that's our tax money. Now that's gonna go to pay for illegal immigrants services or something like. I'm just I see like, I just I look for the incentives. Yeah, yeah, I mean as far as incentives go. I mean, it certainly seemed to me that some folks in the media actively wanted a riot or something terrible to happen in Charlotte, and thankfully that doesn't seem to have happened, though there were some nasty things that happened. I mean, somebody tried to run over a border patrol agent with their car. I saw two. There have been two. They just got another one somebody who rammed. I don't know if it's a woman or a man, like I saw the interview, but I don't know it looked like a woman, but it sounded like a man. And they claim they were with some group, but they wouldn't identify what group they were with. And yeah, they they tried to rammed an ice vehicle at a parking lot. So like that's what's yeah, So all right. Well we'll leave it there, having not solved any of the world's problems. Andrew Dunn. Next week, Yeah, maybe next week. There's always next week. Andrew Dunn, thanks for your time, sir. I appreciate you. Thank you, all right, take care. That's Andrew Dunn. He is a contributing columnist at The Charlotte Observer. Also go check out his website, his newsletter and subscribe over there. It's long leafpol dot com Longleafpolitics. 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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Asked about reports of potential border patrol operations in Charlotte, he said, of agents come here to find violent, dangerous drug traffickers and criminals, then the city would quote welcome them with open arms. Spoiler alert, They have not. The city has not done that. If they show up masked and on an unidentified wreaking havoc and causing chaos and fear, North Carolina will be very concerned, very concerned. So the mask thing drives a lot of the people on the left nuts over this, and no matter how many times you explain it, they don't care. They were perfectly fine with the rioters wearing masks while burning and looting cities, but when law enforcement agents are getting their names put out onto the internet, and hit lists circulated among cartel members with their addresses and families, names and such. For some reason, this is Oh my gosh. I can't understand why these agents now would would want to protect some anonymity. Now that being said, I have seen, you know, all the videos I've seen, they're all they've all got Border Patrol marking. Some of them have their names on their chests and stuff. So but that's what they're hanging their hat on this. Oh my gosh. They're anonymous. We don't even know. If they're Border Patrol, but they identify themselves as Border Patrol. But anybody could do that. See all right, if you're listening to this show, oh 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. All right, So Governor Josh Stein posted a video onto the social media. He did this Sunday night. So this was two days into the Customs and Border Patrol operation Immigration Enforcement Operation Charlotte's Web as they dubbed it, and so he posted this video. It's very short. He criticizes Border patrols actions in Charlotte. Obviously it's Josh Stein. Yes, I wanted to provide an update as Customs and Border Patrol agents have been in Charlotte over the weekend. My team and I have been in regular contact with state and local law enforcement to ensure that they have the resources that they need to keep you safe. Public safety is our top priority, and our well trained local officers know their communities and are here for the long haul. On Friday, before Customs and Border Protection came to Charlotte, I encourage North Kilinnianes to follow the law, remain peaceful, and bear witness to what you're seeing. Thank you Charlotte for answering that call to the CBP. If you know that we have violent criminals in Charlotte who are undocumented, we want them out too. Everyone wants to be safe in their communities. See. Here's the thing. CBP may not believe you because of the position that your party has taken on immigration enforcement. Right, we don't believe you. I don't believe you. I would CBP believe you. I do not believe that Democrats actually want to get these criminal illegal aliens out of the state, out of America. I don't and I say that because of who I have seen Democrats hold up as the poster children for the enforcement actions and due process and rule of law. Are arguments like the Maryland man. Right, the guy with the gang tattoos had a restraining order taken against him by his wife and it was human trafficking from Texas. That guy. Yeah, they held him up and they were like, yo, bring him back, bring him back. Yeah, Like this is the issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution. That's why you've got people that are at these protests in Charlotte wearing cafeas. Cafia's got nothing to do with this enforcement action. The Palestinian issue has nothing to do with this. But it's meant to virtue signal. This is performative, it's theater. It's why you had all of those assuming. Yeah, like I got to believe that the Dilworth Methodist Church over there that held the training session for you know, how to disrupt federal law enforcement operations. I gotta believe that that Methodist church, because they're still United Methodist. I gotta believe that they did not vote to disaffiliate when the institutional church took the hard left turn last year, right, or maybe that was this year. Yeah, it's not a surprise. It's like everything else. And it goes to the same topic with Andrew Dunn. We were talking about, you know, Republicans leaving unable to win races in Charlotte. Now a solidly blue town. Unguarded stores of value will be beset upon by parasites, whether it's a warehouse full of you know food, Right, if you don't protect it, it'll get looted, It'll get eaten by bugs and critters, It'll get eaten or stolen by criminals. Right if you do not protect the store of value. And you know, cities have value and institutions, but that his church had value, still does right. They got land and assets and all sorts of stuff that they want to protect, but didn't. It didn't guard them. They didn't guard the store of value well enough, and now it's getting you know, it got infiltrated and is being rotted from the inside. Sorry, I but I mean that's my assessment of the situation. And that's why I don't believe Democrats when they say that, oh yeah, we would totally work with you. No, you wouldn't you had opportunities to do so. Where was the pressure campaign on Gary McFadden from Democrats? What elected Democrats leaned on sheriff. Not my fault McFadden, who leaned on him to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, You need to stay with the two eighty seven G program. You need to keep doing this, because that's a great way to identify these criminal illegal aliens when they get into the jail, and then you work with ice to get them out. See, that's how you address the problem. But when you run on a platform of scrapping it and then scrap it and every Democrat in Mecklenberg County is silent, well then I know what you are actually all about. And again, just to tie this back to the puffing up of the numbers, right, because that's also part of this deal, which is to make sure that when the census is done, the census counts total population that includes US citizens and non citizens, it includes illegal aliens. And so if you have higher population counts, you get more congressional seats, you get more power in the House of Representatives, and those congressional districts are used in the calculation for the electoral college votes. We have fourteen seats in North Carolina. Each one of those seats represents one elector one electoral college vote. Everybody gets two for their US senators And so that's at play here too. If you end up deporting or people self deport in large numbers out of blue areas, well, now that's going to hamper your ability to win back the House of Representatives and maybe even the presidency. This is existential for Democrats. So that's why they want the amnesty, because that's underlying all of this. They want to path the citizenship. They want amnesty. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. 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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We've seen masked heavily armed agents and paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling and picking up random people and parking lots and off of our sidewalks. All right, So I would love to hear a reporter ask what is the evidence for these claims? What is the evidence? I keep hearing democrats in all their statements that they're racially profiling and they're racists and all this. What is the evidence for these claims? You guys were complaining two days ago that you didn't have any idea how the operations were being run. So how would you know this? How do you know? Let me let me tell you a story real quick. This was a story that was told to me by. By the guy who gave the class instruction for concealed carry, and he told the story of a guy who had gone to Walmart to pick up his wife. She was inside the store and he pulls up front. He's waiting in his truck, and as he's waiting in his truck, he sees two men fighting each other come tumbling out the front or rolling around on the ground, and at one point then one of the men pulls out a gun and points it at the other guy. Well, the guy sitting in the truck who sees this fight tumble out of the building, he's a concealed carry holder too, so he gets his gun. He gets out and he shoots the guy who had pulled the gun. In the fight. And killed him. And that guy that was killed was a cop. He was trying to arrest somebody. He was in plain clothes. He was trying to arrest somebody. And the lesson of that story is, you don't know what occurred before you're seeing what you're seeing, right, All you are is the person in the truck who sees these two guys fighting. You have no idea what that fight was about. You have no idea who these people are. That's what social media has been promoting. Yesterday, I gave you the news report about the fifteen year old boy who was arrested at the Super GM mart. He was just pushing in shopping carts. Right, DHS says, actually, he's not fifteen years old. Actually he was one of the targets on their list. He's either eighteen or even in his twenties. Which then the owner of the Super G Mart he had to come out and correct himself because he was the one that told the media that the kid was only fifteen or sixteen, and that was not true. But that's the lie that spreads around the world, right, that's the narrative that gets told immediately, Oh my gosh, they're picking up children and zip tying him. No, they actually were walking him to the car and when he tried to run, that's when they had to zip tie it. So what is your evidence for the claims? What I would like to know from the governor. Going after landscaper simply decorating a Christmas tree in someone's front yard and entering churches and stores to grab people. See again, he makes it sound like they're just running around looking for brown people and snatching them. Off the streets. What is your evidence for this claim? Because you're the guy in the truck watching the fight come out of the front door. This is not making us safer, It's stoking fear and dividing our community. I want to say a word about immigration. We are a nation of immigrants and our state in this country is stronger because of our immigrant communities. Unfortunately, our immigration system is broken, but rather than fix it, the federal government continues to play politics with it. Again. You are seeing this operation and others like it all over the country because of the quote broken immigration system. And the only reason it's broken is because you guys don't want to enforce the laws on the books. That's it. This is a this is These are the ramifications of your positions, of your inaction, your nullification, your attempts at nullification of federal law. It is long past time for Congress to act. We need strong borders we have. We must hold accountable and deport anyone who has committed a serious crime, and we must create a path to legal status for those who've been here a long time, ah paid their taxes and followed the law, especially our dreamers who came to this country as very young children. There you go. Gives away the game, right, yes, Enforcement, sure, but also amnesty and Republicans. Republican and conservative voters. They are not taking another swing at that football being held by Lucy. Not going to do it Enforcement first, then maybe we'll talk about amnesty. 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 thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.