Gerrymandering, dark money, and Democrat patriotism (10-28-2025--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 dpeakclendershow 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. As we do on Tuesdays at noon, we chat with Andrew Dunn. He is the publisher of long Leaf Politics longleafpol dot com. I highly recommend you subscribe to that. He is also a contributing columnist at the McClatchy papers seen locally here at the Charlotte Observer and The News and Observer in Raleigh. Andrew, how are you today, sir? All? I'm doing all right good. I'm tired. I made it to the fourteenth inning of the World Series game last night and then I had to go to bed. Surely you are not a Toronto Blue Jayson fan. Oh no, No, can't root for a Canadian team. Okay? Are you a Dodger fan? No, I'm a baseball fan, though. I'll say, if you watched fourteen innings of two teams, it was exciting. Yeah, no, it sounds like it was. I actually grew up a Dodger fan in New York, just mainly because my whole mom's side of the family were Brooklyn Dodger fans from way back in the day. But yeah, they were always Los Angeles Dodgers to me, which stunk because I could never see the games unless they played the Mets or otherwise I'd have to read about it like two days later in the paper when they published the scores. You know, right, of course. Yeah, grown up in North Carolina, we're all Braves fans. You know. That was the Andrew Jones Chicker Jones, Maddox, Glavint and Smolts era. It was a good time. Yeah, no, I remember it alrighty. So let's chat about some of your work over the last few days. You had a piece that was born from a Twitter discussion. I think because I saw the Twitter discussion and I think I'm being I think I'm being charitable calling it a discussion from where it devolved into not between you, but I think I may have actually contributed somewhat to that. But you say that on these maps that the legislature passed last week, that you don't think that the precedent, and we've talked about this redistricting exercise, you don't think the precedent was a good one. But you say the map is not a quote unquote extreme gerrymander as was advanced by Democrats and particularly this left wing organization Carolina Forward. And I've encountered this argument over the last gosh what fifteen years since the GOP won control and started drawing maps. Which is, North Carolina is a fifty to fifty state, so it should have fifty percent basically of the congressional seats apportion to it. But you say that's the long way to think about representation. How so right exactly, And we've talked about this before. You know, I don't think it was a great idea to go back and redraw congressional districts in the middle of the decade. It might come back to bite Republicans down the line. But I also am just so frustrated hearing again and again from Democrats that you know, this is an extreme, extreme gerrymander. You know, there was one post from Carolina four the most extreme gerrymander in North Carolina history. And you know, I just responded with one of the maps from the nineties early two thousands. It was just a ridiculous shaped districts that were carved to give democrats an advantage. So the point I'm trying to make is a gerrymander is a specific term that has a meaning, and that meaning is not just a map that democrats don't like. You know, if you wantize these maps, then let's talk about how a district carves up distinct communities and splits them apart. I mean, that is an intellectually honest discussion that we can have. But just saying because not enough Democrats are elected, that in and of itself does not make a gerrymander. Yeah, and when you're drawing based on geography and you know, communities of interest and county lines the rules. Basically, when you're following that kind of blueprint, the Democrats are at a geographically structural disadvantage because they cluster in a few urban. Areas, right exactly, So you know, Charlotte or Raleigh overwhelmingly Democrat, but all in a very compact area. So yeah, they get a district and it's probably an eighty twenty Democrat district, and that's fine, but that leaves the whole rest of the state that gets carved up, and so it's naturally going to lean more Republican. Yeah, you say at the end of this piece, this is at long leave, politics in a state that elects people from place is lines that respect real places are the standard. I think that's exactly right. And it has been one of the frustrations over the last decade as all of the litigation and you know, then there's the oh, these are racist districts, and it's like, well, no, when you're drawing based on partisan affiliation, if you draw heavy Democrat district, chances are it's going to have a lot of African American voters in it, simply because African American voters are registered ninety percent plus for Democrats, and so when carving up by party affiliation, it could look very much like you're using race when you're not. And the legislator said they did not, right. I mean, I don't think there's really any legal challenge that has any chance of surviving here. So I probably won't even follow it all that closely. I just don't see it happening. Yeah, Well, just because there isn't a solid legal challenge, does it mean there won't be any. In fact, there already is. So this is where we are, right all right, So real quick, there's not a lot of info on this, but I saw this the other day too, that there's a bunch of ads being pushed digital ads being pushed out against Senate President pro Tem Phil Berger. He has a primary challenge from the Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. This was rumored to be the case also like two years ago, and then Paige did not jump in, but he did this time. And there's a whole bunch of money now being pumped into this district. You took a look to try to find who North Carolina Families for Prosperity is and no, luck. Not exactly. I've got a couple hunches, but yeah, I keep really close tabs on who's spending money on digital advertising, and when I saw this name pop up, North Carolina Families for Prosperity, I wanted to figure out who it was. I can confirm it is not affiliated at all with Americans for Prosperity, which it seems pretty clear that this group is trying to make it sound like they're a conservative group in that vein, but based on the messaging, it really seems like it's a democratic group that is trying to make itself look conservative and try to attack Philberger here. So it's like it doesn't quite know the language of the right. It's like a it's like a third grader trying to use the cuss word that they heard their older sibling use, but doesn't quite know how to say the cuss word correctly exactly. And you know, my first thought when I saw that the spending was, oh, maybe it's a Sam Page as a group helping him out, but that does not seem to be the case. Interesting, Well, if anybody knows anything about him, reach out to Andrew dunnet long Leave Politics, because I'm sure you would want to know. And finally, op ed over at the Charlotte Observer, the No King's protests are a win for conservatism. Explain yourself, Andrew. Yeah, so, I'm sure you have talked on your show about the No King's rallies around North Carolina. Over well, I guess it's been almost two weeks now, and my editor over at the Observer asked me to what my take on it all was and to put it simply, you know, if they mean what they say, and you know, everyone out there was waving flags and quoting the founding fathers, and if they really mean that, then I think that's a great thing. It means that maybe normal people are actually going to retake the left away from the far left crazies and actually believe in patriotism again, which I would be all for. I'm a little skeptical because, yeah, not so much in North Carolina. Around the country, you had plenty of folks who were passing out Communist manifestos and stuff like that. So my guess is that probably just your same old far left groups trying to dress up as patriots. But you know, I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Yeah, you do say. The more cynical view is that No Kings protests were simply interest groups united against President Donald Trump, and that is Maybe it is cynical, but that's my view on it. I don't I think it's costplaying as you know, patriots, particularly when you see the Gallop polling on this, you know, and people are asked by are they proud to be American? And Republicans are around ninety two percent, Independents are at around fifty three percent, and Democrats are down around thirty six percent. So I mean, that's pretty disturbing if two thirds of Democrats aren't even proud to be American. So I don't know why you would be waving American flags if you're not proud to be American. But a lot of that is probably also connected to Donald Trump. But that decline has been going on for quite a while. Exactly. Yeah, and it's extremely disturbing, but I honestly think it would be a much better thing for our country, even if it makes it harder for Republicans to win, if we had an opposition party that loved America and shared some of our fundamental ideals. Yeah, and if they would apply this standard, which I know that maybe asking a bit much to apply a consistent standard in politics generally, but specifically with a lot of these leftists, you know, to apply a consistent standard that if you don't want any kings, then you can't allow any kings, and that means if they are of your own political persuasion as well. And I thought you were completely right to bring up former Governor Roy Cooper during the COVID nineteen experience, that everybody is just sort of memory hold for some reason. And you know, the behavior that he engaged in had people sounding a whole lot like No King's protesters, But back then they were on the right. So do you think that people will apply a consistent standard here, No. Of course not. You know, I still call him King Cooper around the house and people. I don't know how people have forgotten that we had more than two years of emergency powers and you know, all sorts of edicts from on high. I mean, that's a king right there. You say, you don't know why people forgot? Do you have any guesses? I mean I have to go back to the cynical view. I mean people, especially people who are now waving the flag and saying no Kings. I mean that was their guy, that was on their side. So it's just partisan. Yeah. I think also maybe terror fear high rates of neuroticism that is prevalent mainly on the political left. You know, this this bent towards catastrophism, you know, I think there was a lot of that, and you know, people get you know, when you get sent home and your business closed by the government, and I think that it lends support to the idea that we are all in imminent you know, life threatening danger, and so if you are already prone to neuroticism, you probably saw that as proof that your neuroses were justified. Yeah. I think that's right. And there was a time, you know, especially at the very beginning when they're of COVID, that there were so many unanswered questions, and I think everybody kind of bought into what was it, two weeks to slow the curve? Yeah, yeah, whatever, But. Then two weeks turned into eight and eighty eight days. Well, you know, give or take all. Right. Andrew Dune you can read his work at long Leaf Politics. That's long leafpol dot com. Uh. He's also a contributing uh what is it a contribute columnist there, you though, contributing columnists at Charlotte Observe Andrew. Always a pleasure, Thank you, sir, Thank you, Take care. All right, that's a Andrew Dunn. Say, Andrew, did did I call them Andrew Bates? Okay, good, because I just was looking at something Andrew Bates was in another news story. Oh my goodness, that would have been embarrassing. I mean, for Andrew Bates. 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 Mint Hill, 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. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family's stories, all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come who you are. Visit creative video dot com. Alrighty, so this piece that Andrew wrote on the No Kings, it's at the Charlotte Observer. And by the way, if you follow him on Twitter, he gifted access to this column so you can read it there. He says, the overwhelming tenor in North Carolina at these No Kings protests was sober and patriotic, and I will engage it that way. So, like he said there, he tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. And you know, they're talking about things that we've talked about. I've talked about for years, which was this concept of the imperial presidency in twenty fifteen. This is why during the primary I was a supporter of Rand Paul because when he was running for president, he was the only candidate that was talking about reigning in the power of the chief executive. And he and his father basically are the only candidates that ever talk about that, because I believe the executive branch has grown far too powerful. And now that there's somebody in there that the left hates, now all of a sudden they're like, oh, you know what, this isn't so great. We don't want a king, we don't want the imperial presidency. But as Andrew points out in his Peace, it did not appear overnight. It wasn't invented by the Orange Hitler. He didn't say that. I say that, No, it grew in fits and arts across a century, right, and so it's going to take it's going to take some effort and time to unwind that. But it's also going to take a unified electorate and a unified legislature to claw back those powers and give them back to the legislative branch, but more importantly to the people and to the states. He says, if No Kings just becomes shorthand for no Trump, then we'll have learned nothing. And I think that's what actually No Kings was. It doesn't I don't think it will become no Trump. I think that's exactly what it was. It's what it was from the beginning. It's just a brand, you know, it's marketing. But if it were too mature into some renewed respect for process and restraint, then he says, something important will have shifted. If the No King's crowd is serious about putting the Constitution back in the driver's seat, that's an overdue course correction, and I, along with Andrew, I would welcome that. But again, when I look at the polling and Gallup tells me that every time Trump is in office, Democrats are not proud of America by a two to one margin, whereas Republicans consistently are always above eighty five percent. Going back to two thousand and one, they've been above that. So like, so you can cosplay as a patriot for your no king's protests, but call me when you know a Democrat is in the office, and then you want to reign in the imperial presidency. 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 Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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Mitch on the text line says, none of the no kings folks complained when Joe Biden decided to just not enforce our immigration laws, laws made by our elected officials. Indeed, our representatives made those laws. That sounds a lot like something a king would do, just ignore laws that he doesn't like. Now they're all bent out of shape when the next president enforces those laws. So in regards to immigration, who's acting more like a king? Trump or Biden. Very good point, Mitch, fantastic point, and then got a message from John with a screenshot of a piece that was written by Dean Oberad Ah. Wow, I think that is how he pronounces that it was a piece that he had published at CNN dot com back on June eighth, twenty twelve, headline, liberals want Obama to be a king, not a president. And by the way, Dean obadallah he is. He's of the left, he says, some liberals want a ruler who would be unrestrained by Congress. Indeed, he had a phone and a pend famously, right did Obama a phone and a pen? And he would use them. That's why I have him. That's my Obama impression. It's a little rusty, you know, having had to bust it out frequently over the last twelve years now, but there was a time when it was quite mediocre. Yes, so yeah, it's a fair point. When you have the Biden administration that refuses to enforce law and essentially writes new law without even actually writing it. They just reinterpret it into a way that they want for their outcomes to be achieved. And in this case, I'm thinking specifically of the blanket asylum status that they granted and parole status that they granted to you know, millions of people. They were supposed to have gone through individual case assessments and they did not. They were just given blanket approvals. That's against the law, but that is what the Biden administration did, so, which is a more king like activity, you know. All right, So yesterday I mentioned the weekly updates that the Michael Wattley campaign. Michael Wattley the former Republican State Party chairman and then he went on to lead the Republican National Committee, the RNC, and now he's running for US Senate against Roy Well. He's in the GOP primary. He's got Don Brown also in that primary, and I think there's a third candidate on the Republican side. I'm not aware if Roy Cooper really has any opponents at all. If he does, it's some person that nobody's heard of. So Cooper is expected to just coast and that's why he's not really doing any campaign events. And he's recycling those old photos, as we discussed yesterday with ap Dylon in case you didn't catch that, Roy Cooper has been caught by National Review recycling old photos as if to give the impression that he is actually out campaigning around the state now. But these photos are from like over a year ago, so he's and as we talked about yesterday, he is probably in the windowless basement making phone calls to donors, because that's the Chuck Schumer playbook. That's what he told Jeff Jackson, the former member of Congress who wanted to run for the seat that was left open by Richard Burr. But he wanted to do one hundred county tour and Chuck Schumer told him, no, don't do that. We're going to stick you in a windowless basement and have you call and raise money. And Jackson said he didn't want to do that, and so he dropped out of that race. If he had ever actually even filed to run for it. So he said he wasn't going to run for it. He's now the attorney general. And that's what led to cal cunning him entering the race, and then you know he lost. Hm, oh no, I take that back, Yeah, yeah, that was yeah, that was the cal Cunningham election anyway, And that's how Ted budde no, Ted Bud won. He beat Cherry Beasley, so this would have been six years ago. Oh my gosh, I'm getting old. That's how long ago that was. Holy smokes. I guess it was. Okay, so yeah, so he yeah, cal Cunningham lost against Tillis. I guess it was, so all right, So Michael Wattley running for this nomination now, and yeah, and I think last week they started on this campaign on Twitter and on social media where they were doing a thing called mug Shot Monday, where they would highlight some of the you know, the worst offenders that are repeat repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat repeat. I mean, I think we need a seventy strike law. I mean, I know Democrats don't want to do like a three strike law, but surely we can come up with a number like maybe fifty. If you get arrested fifty times, then it's like that's it now, it's you get like double this the sentencing or something like that. Maybe that's who they highlighted today, a guy with seventy priors or sorry, yesterday was mugshot Monday. Seventy prior arrests. This guy had, yes, I can tell you who he is. Kevin Williams arrested over seventy times. For assault, robbery, indecent exposure, breaking into cars. He was repeatedly released from jail under Roy Cooper's North Carolina Courts Commission appointee Lauren Freeman. She is the DA in Wake County and Cooper apparently appointed her to the North Carolina Courts Commission. She's a Democrat, and so this was in her jurisdiction. So, yeah, this guy, he's got mugshots. I mean, I can pull up all of the I mean it's possession of drug paraphernalia, second degree trespassing, common law robbery, second degree trespassing. I mean, just his rap sheet goes back years, seventy arrests, right, I don't I think this is restorative justice. If this is restorative justice, it's definitely not working. The only thing it does, apparently is restore the criminals to the streets. 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. Chris in Charlotte on the text line says, face it, the No King's crowd are the same knee jerk folks as the Monday morons or the moral Monday Ers. Yeah, they're just less likely to be following a moron wearing a collar. Well, I mean, if somebody with a collar were to get up and speak, I'm sure they would like the left is so acutely aware of their detachment from religion and how that plays to the normies. And so anybody that stands up that claims to be of clerical background, you know, they will elevate. That person's that's Reverend Barber, you know, William Barber, leader of the Moral Monday and all that. That's why they elevate, they gravitate because it's like, oh, yes, he is our he's our representative. Like, look, we love Jesus too, you know, we're we're good Christians. You don't have a monopoly on on faith. Right wingers, you loathe some deplorables. We are christ like, right, So look, the right has their own, you know, their own avatars, just for different things as well. But yeah, that's who the that's who the no no King's crowd. And by the way, if you doubt me on this, go look up Zoron Mamdani as I just saw a song somebody cut Mamdani the Kami. I love it. But they put out some ridiculous rabbis for Zoron and this these four okay, hang on, three female rabbis and a dude dressed as a woman who seems he seemed on the spectrum. Let me just say it that way, and he's he's trans and has makeup that looks like it was applied by a four year old, and it's just it's unsettling anyway, these four people, Hello rabbi, Hello rabbi, Hello rabbi, Hello rabbi, and these these four rabbis, and like where for zorim? I'm donnie, you know that's what I mean, Like they will elevate clergy on the left like this. Meanwhile, you know, clamoring about separation of church and state and all that. Sorry, So that was Chris on the text line. Uh, Steve said, hey, we can't forget when Biden ignored the Supreme Court about student loans as well. Yep, he did that. Remember also the the rent forgiveness. Remember that during COVID got sued over that had to stop doing that, that he was going to ignore the US Supreme Court on that as well. Very king like behavior. Indeed, Doug says Pete Trump should keep up with the cost of securing the border and the deportations and then send a bill to the Democrat National Committee that would wipe them out financially. Yeah, I mean it would make for a good pr move. Bill wants to know why would New Yorkers vote for a communist? Is the end near? Well, the end of New York City might be near. This is like New York has a history of doing this, right. It's why they've got what I forget what it's called. It's like the Finance Commission or something like that. They had to, like the federal government had to bail out New York in like the seventies because they had bankrupted the city. So they just they do this. And honestly, I think it's because when you put man and women, but when you put humans, you pack them into a city. I think it's very easy for people to lose connection to God and you start thinking in terms of materialism and and just you become a very human kind of focused person. Right, Like all of my uh, all of my needs are being met by humans, and I just interact at a very human level. This is why it's important. You know, the kids say, go out and touch grass, right, getting out into nature, go and see you know, the sweeping vistas, Go to the mountains, go to the beach, whatever, and kind of reset, recharge. It puts you back in touch with something bigger than yourself and bigger than just people you know and anyway, so I think that that there is something to that. You get a lot of people packed into a city and they just start losing touch with what I would submit is reality. And there's also the crime. When you pack that many people, you get a lot of crime, which is as I was going over before the break Michael Wattley's campaign with their mugshot Mondays and as I expected, Roy Cooper getting a lot of coverage now from outside the state of North Carolina because he is running for US Senate in a pivotal swing state. The Republicans and Democrats both need this Senate seat, and so now Cooper is being subjected to investigative stories about his record, about what he has done in a way that he has never had to grapple with. Yeah, okay, and in a way he's never had to grapple with because he has had sort of kid glove treatment in the North Carolina political press corps his entire career. He is a career politician. He has been in office like almost my entire life, and he's pitching himself to voters as a tough on crime governor who kept thousands of island criminals behind bars and signed stricter bail laws when he led North Carolina from twenty seventeen through twenty twenty five. But a Washington Freebagon review has found that several of Cooper's judicial appointees granted leniency to violent repeat criminals, some of whom went on to kill North Carolinians after their release from jail. And then they list a few. Octavius Wilson, repeat repeat, repeat offender caught on surveillance footage in November of twenty two repeatedly punching a twenty nine year old Charlotte woman who had just got off a city bus. He then forced her into a porta John against her will and sexually assaulted her. Smears of blood and a blood soaked tissue later discovered at the scene of the crime. One month prior, he had been arrested for missing court on a separate charge of attempted rape in which he threatened another Charlotte woman with a pocket knife. Both of his crimes occurred in the same area of the city. He admitted to having sex with the woman in the porta John. He was charged with second degree rape, first degree kidnapping. A magistrate set the bond to two million dollars, but that was reduced by Mecklenburg County Judge Tracy Hewitt, a Cooper appointee who got involved in the case and said, quote, we're gonna help you out, according to a court hearing, and took his bond from two million down to fifty thousand dollars. 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 thepetecallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.