Rufo: abandoning moralism for realism (08-20-2024--Hour3)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 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 thepeatcalendershow.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.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I have some messages. We're going over some of the stuff from last night, the first night of the Democrat National Convention. I will passack you back on that stuff. But this kind of dovetails into what we've been discussing. Christopher Rufo had a piece at his website, although I think it was originally published, yeah, at the City Journal. The name of the piece is called Beyond Scandal.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Every presidential campaign opens with a controversy and closes with a scandal, he says. I had never heard this axiom before. Every presidential campaign opens with a controversy and closes with a scandal. I don't know if that's true, but this is his assertion. Okay. He goes on to say later,

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Vice President Harris began her political career through a high profile affair with the powerful San Francisco Politico Willie Brown. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, cheated on his first wife with their children's nanny, whom he subsequently impregnated.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Harris's running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has embellished his military service to the point that some critics have accused him of stolen valor. And since becoming the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, Harris has changed her positions on multiple issues.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_00]: These scandal archetypes were once enough to torpedo or at least damage presidential campaigns of men like Gary Hart or John Kerry. Not anymore.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Sure. It's exactly right. John Kerry, this, you know, swift boat veterans for truth. And I know Democrats think that, oh, they're swift boating him as if that's some sort of like underhanded lying strategy.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: When in fact, it is a bunch of people that know you're lying about what you did and your service coming forward and saying you're a liar.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what swift boating would be. Because that's what happened. They didn't lie about John Kerry. They told the truth about John Kerry. So in that case, they are whistleblowers, right?

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Gary Hart.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: He's not lying his affairs or whatever. Ruined. Ruined. Ruined their campaigns. By the way, you can look at Joe Biden, too. Joe Biden had to leave the presidential race in, what, 1980 or 84?

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Over plagiarism. Didn't stop him from becoming president four years ago. Right?

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: The things that used to derail campaigns no longer do. This is why I said same thing with hypocrisy. Right? The charge of hypocrisy carries no purchase. Doesn't matter anymore.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you're guys a hypocrite. Mm-hmm. So is yours. Now what? You want to argue about something else? Because hypocrisy used to be enough. Just like, oh my gosh, they're hypocrites. Oh my God. All right. I resign my seat. Okay. I'll drop out of the race. Not anymore. Right?

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: You might say the GOP is unburdened by what has been. Right?

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: You so want them still to be the party of family values. Because then your charge of hypocrisy has purchase. Right? With Donald Trump as the head of the party.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And the voters in the Republican Party don't care. They don't care about your charges anymore. Because they see you. In fact, hang on. I think I saw. Yes. Allen. It's a Pete tweet. Quote, your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: That's it. Boo me. Like, oh, Donald Trump's a felon. Okay. So what?

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen what makes you cheer. So your charge of hypocrisy designed to make me feel a certain way to abandon my candidate or to surrender my position. Right?

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't care that he's a felon. You care that I care. And you want me to surrender. So you win. So you have power. That's all.

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say, former President Trump, too, has survived a protracted sequence of personal scandals. His romantic life has splashed through the tabloids for decades with multiple marriages, accusations of infidelity and womanizing.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, to be fair, he wrote about them in his own book. So an alleged tryst with a pornographic actress. His political scandals as president included impeachment. After leaving the White House, they have included indictment, arrest, conviction, incidents with no historical precedent.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And yet Trump endures. He has refashioned his criminal conviction, even his scowling mugshot, as the inciting incident for a comeback narrative.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, Kamala Harris has trampled the negative stories beneath her feet and presented herself as a defender of democracy.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Trump surpassed his scandals through strength of personality. Harris, through the power of the national media.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: What is the significance of this shift in political life, Ruffo asks?

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, a moralist might argue that we have entered a period of ethical collapse.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: The old Christian standard no longer holds. Right?

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: There is another possibility, though.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, maybe we have abandoned moralistic pretense and instead have entered a period of greater realism.

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We've all known, right, that politicians aren't always considered to be the best of us. Right?

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: All sorts of jokes about them.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And this has been the case for a very, very, very long time.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So maybe at this point, people are in turn.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: They've internalized it. They've adopted it.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And now it's just part of their decision making.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Or I should say it's not right.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not looking at these candidates any longer for anything other than a transaction.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: He says, maybe we've just stopped pretending.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this campaign points to an alternative method of evaluation in which political candidates are judged according to a calculation of public interests rather than personal ethics.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That might be the case.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: This is me saying this now.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That might be the case.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not so confident, though.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not so sure that the voting public is actually making a calculation of public interests.

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's just about the feels.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's just about the vibes.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Kamala smiles a lot.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Donald Trump has mean tweets.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: He fights.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: She fights.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: They all fight.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that might be the extent of the analysis.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Because we are an unserious people.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: As a culture, we are unserious.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: See my previous call with Brian.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Christopher Ruffo goes on to say,

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: In this election, no one should expect innocence.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Partisans will stir outrage against the opposition and gently absolve their own.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the essence of political theater.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: But once the actors have taken their bows and the spotlights have cooled,

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: the public will have to make a judgment based on issues of enormous magnitude.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Economics.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Migration.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Crime.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Trade.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: War.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Viewed in this light, a payment to a smut star or an affair in San Francisco seems less significant.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, this is the Democrat standard.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Circa 1996.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: No?

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Bill Clinton.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what he does in his personal life.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: As long as he delivers the policies I like.

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_00]: He won two terms.

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't tell anyone the precise.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, the Bill Clinton standard is why the accusations against Donald Trump and his infidelity didn't carry any purchase now.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Or seven years ago.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Republicans have seen what you cheer for.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And they don't care anymore about your charge of infidelity and, oh, we can't trust him if he's cheating on his wife kind of thing.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't care anymore because we know you don't care.

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: That's how that happened.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And some of us told you that was going to happen.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: But you didn't listen.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't tell anybody the precise formula for making the choice.

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_00]: When Americans cast their ballots, they will find themselves alone with their consciences.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: But I might suggest that the scandals of this campaign do not indicate a clear moral choice.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Partisans might rationalize it as such, but dispassionate voters will see the election as one that invites a sense of realism.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: That's ChristopherRuffo.com.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also read his work at the City Journal.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Donna Rice was the mistress for Gary Hart.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: A couple other clips here from the speech last night.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Here is Joe Biden last night on the Israel-Hamas war.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_03]: And we'll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: He's going to do it in five months, everybody, on his way out the door here.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_03]: As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_03]: A few days ago, I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we've done since October 7th.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_03]: We're working around the clock, my secretary of state, to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_03]: and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: That gets the applause line, not the hostages freed part.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_03]: The civilian suffering of the Palestinian people.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_03]: And finally, finally, finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Why is he yelling at me?

[00:11:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Those protesters out in the street, they have a point.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_03]: A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Would you say that there may be fine people on both sides?

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Is that what you're saying?

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: They have a point?

[00:12:14] [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, six Israeli hostages were recovered by IDF forces.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: They were all dead and had been dead for a while.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I suspect that all of the hostages are, in fact, dead.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why Hamas can't negotiate.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_00]: They've got nothing to offer at this point.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Gabby Deutsch is a correspondent for Jewish Insider.

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_00]: She was at the DNC.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: She said security is tight around Chicago as tens of thousands of Democrats gather.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_00]: It's worth noting, as far as I can tell, all of the Jewish side events are so concerned about security

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that they are keeping their locations secret, sharing it with only confirmed attendees right before the events.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: They're in hiding.

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Jews are in hiding at the DNC.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Hilariously, though, they had a prayer space set up, you know, like just some curtains, like a little cube set up.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was a gender-neutral prayer cube.

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me you don't know anything about Islam.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And then, Mark Penn, former Clinton advisor.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Biden's midnight speech so caved to the anti-Israel lobby that he did not even use the word Israel.

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Spoke only of ceasefires and hostages, adding there are good people on both sides.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_00]: No talk of the 1,200 raped or murdered on October 7th.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: No condemnation of Hamas or Iran.

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: No mention of the right of Israel to defend itself from attacks on three fronts.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: This is how far this almost former president will go to bow down, even in disgrace, to the anti-Israel left rather than be a true leader.

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: That's Mark Penn.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, speaking of the gender neutrality, they turned the women's bathrooms into all-gender bathrooms.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The men's room, those all stayed men's rooms.

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But the women's room, sorry, ladies.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're going to have to give up your space there for the all-gender restrooms at the DNC.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's go to the phones and speak with William.

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, William.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they should not be hiding.

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I think they should be out in the open, out and about, letting themselves be seen.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Because, I mean, if they go out and be seen, and if they get beaten up for being out and about where they should be free, then let the world see it.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Let everyone know what the Democratic Party is about, in my opinion.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think they should be hiding at all.

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I...

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I...

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Because they were Jewish.

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Millions of them.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_02]: And now they're hiding?

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: What's that all about?

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, no, I...

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I understand what you're saying, but that's also easy for us to say, because we're not actually, you know, going to walk through a mob of 2,000, 3,000 raging anti-Semites, you know?

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, I agree with you, and it's insane.

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_02]: But that's actually the only thing that lets people see what it's all about, or else they're just people just walking around with these weird-looking clothes on.

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you know, imagine what would happen if the Jews had broken out and fought the Nazis in the streets before they got on the trains.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it would have made a bit of a difference for the observers to see what was going on.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_02]: It kind of would have spoiled their plans, I think.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's an old Jewish joke.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to remember exactly how it goes, so I'll probably end up butchering it somehow.

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's something like the Nazis, they take these three Jews out, and they put them up against the wall to kill them.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, okay, you know, put your blindfolds on.

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And one of them refuses to put his blindfold on, and his buddies turn to him and say, hey, stop making trouble.

[00:16:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's the—yeah, it's like this cultural propensity that led to their own demise.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, no—

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_02]: The only thing to do is get out and be seen.

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't let the codgers tell you to go home and learn online.

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Go to class.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Go to where you gotta go.

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Do what you gotta do.

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Let the world see it.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and I think then it also requires non-Jews to stand with them and to defend—to help defend them and to, you know, protect them from the mob.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Because otherwise, you're just asking them to go out and just get beaten up.

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And if there's no—and that's the other thing, too.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_00]: There have to be consequences for people attacking others based on their religion like that.

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So—

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Do you think there would be?

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_02]: If that happened up there in Washington, do you think that the pro-Palestinians would be arrested for beating up Jews?

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Or do you think they would just be like—would they just say the Jews were antagonizing them?

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I think they would get arrested.

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they would ever face charges.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_00]: They would probably have the charges dropped a couple weeks down the line, you know?

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Because that seems to be the way things tend to go.

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: William, I do appreciate the call.

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: They did make arrests up in D.C. for some of the people that broke down the gates that had been set up.

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_00]: The walls, if you will, that had been set up all around the DNC.

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_00]: They did like two different perimeter walls, and the Hamas holes broke down some of the panels, some of the gates, and some of them got arrested.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_00]: The turnout for the protest was way low, and that's got people thinking that, you know, this is a controlled op on the left,

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and they're not going to try to actually make too much trouble for the Democrats.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: But we'll see, you know.

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_00]: The closer we get to the weekend, you know, Monday's a party in the whole weekend, probably not feeling too great on Monday.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_00]: But by Wednesday, Thursday, you'll probably be, you know, ready to go again.

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me read some emails here.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Mike says, another thing that doesn't matter to the majority of the electorate is the national debt.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't care what it is unless a debt reduction tax would get deducted from their paychecks.

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: If the dollar collapsed, they would care.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_00]: But by then, it would be too late.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Indeed.

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Stanley says, your love or disdain for whistleblowers depends on the color of the uniform of the person who's the object of the blowing whistle.

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: This is not only true in politics, but in sports and other areas of our lives as well.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Mark says, the words, very fine people on both sides was quoted.

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_00]: So much I caught a sentence fragment by cable news, satellite news corporations.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, he says, thank you for playing Trump's full exchange with the press from Charlottesville.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I was satisfied with his remarks years ago that he gave it a number of satisfactory press conferences as the 45th president.

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And then here's Gary saying, or no, sorry, Dennis saying, Gary Hart's mistress on the monkey business boat was Donna Rice, ex-cheerleader from the University of South Carolina.

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for that piece of information I did not know.

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00]: She was a cheerleader for USC.

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Kirk says, one thing that never sat well with me was that the city of Charlottesville was never found at full because one group had a permit and the rabble rousers didn't.

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_00]: What could possibly happen when groups counter to one another are allowed the same space at the same time?

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I never understood why no one had ever stated that point.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a fair question.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That's absolutely a fair question.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Tim says during Biden's speech, you mentioned that the people in the audience believed the lies he spewed.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I think most of the left have a mental illness along with many on the right.

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_00]: The center seems to be so wishy-washy that they don't know what to think.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, I'm personally unaffiliated.

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And Kirk says, I don't know if I can stand anymore.

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I may not listen to BT this week for my sanity.

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I hope we're having I hope I hope I've I've I've microdosed you, you know, with the Biden cuts.

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not too much.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just enough.

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I do have another one, though.

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Pete, what you are saying what you are really saying is that when Mark Harris won his election for Congress and was denied taking office due to voter irregularities,

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_00]: if a Democrat would have won under the same circumstances, they'd still be in office today.

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, more than likely.

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And then Joseph is not fond of Brian, Tony or Jack.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for that.

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody trying to make you feel bad or embarrassed about your political worldview.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: How could anybody that's listened to your show for more than one day think that would even be possible?

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Kim says, forgive my ignorance, but why does Brian and other callers harp on Trump's conviction?

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Am I missing what Trump did that was so egregious?

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_00]: No, Kim, you're not.

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the point.

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_00]: The use of the term convicted felon is meant to conjure up those ideas in order to make you embarrassed so you don't vote for Trump.

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the point.

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter if his conviction gets overturned on appeal.

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Kim goes on to say, I'm more of a patriot than a Republican.

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I think Trump is an arrogant ass, but we were one hell of a lot.

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_00]: We were a hell of a lot better off with him.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Just spouting and wondering why some focus solely on his conviction rather than the Democrats platform.

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why I say it's.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It's gaslighting.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's meant to make you submit to surrender.

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, real quick.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_00]: If you would like to get your product or service in front of about 10,000 people multiple times a day,

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: send me an email at Pete at the Pete calendar show dot com and ask me about advertising.

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[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Run the numbers with you again.

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: That's Pete at the Pete calendar show dot com.

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Russ says, Pete felon and formerly incarcerated are both so out of fashion.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe the correct term is now justice impacted.

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it really?

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a I'm a justice impacted person.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_00]: What you said about the media allowing the lies is true.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_00]: The main difference between Biden's exit from the campaign in 1988 for lying and plagiarism versus him being elected in 2020 was the media covering his lying one time, but ignoring it the other.

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_00]: It sure wasn't his lying that changed.

[00:23:25] [SPEAKER_00]: That's true.

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, I knew there had to be a deeper reason.

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The small libertarianism conservative values that I agree with you on so much.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_00]: It's Bloom County.

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Bill, the cat says thank you.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate that.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I had all the books and.

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_00]: A wish for wings that work.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_00]: The Christmas book.

[00:23:49] Oh, yeah.

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me go there to Robert.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Robert.

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Hello.

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_01]: How you doing, Pete?

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Good.

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: What's up?

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just going to tell you a story about you talking about Donna Rice.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I had a group called Gator Kicks back in 1984.

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I was a lead singer.

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_01]: We had a record on the radio.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, good.

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought you were going to say, like, I wasn't sure what kind of group you were talking about named Gator Ticks.

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So that makes a lot more sense.

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, the song was called Long Neck Saloon.

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And Donna Rice was on the cover of our single.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_01]: She posed for the bar.

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01]: The bar was called Gator Kicks also.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And J.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Brian King was a professional photographer.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And he hired her to pose for the poster.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And she also posed for the cover of our record.

[00:24:43] [SPEAKER_01]: On the poster, one of her breasts was exposed.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, my goodness.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And he sold the negatives to New York City for a quarter of a million dollars when Gary Hart and her got into it.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So I just heard you talking about it.

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I thought I'd share that story with you.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, wow.

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate it.

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I should get into photography.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, Robert, I appreciate the call.

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[00:25:07] [SPEAKER_00]: That's crazy.

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Last night, let me play this last clip here.

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_00]: One other clip.

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I have more, but I'm going to play this one.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Joe Biden came as close as I have heard him to explain why he quit, which, by the way, I thought it was kind of awkward in that Kamala Harris comes out last night for like a two minute chat or whatever appearance on stage.

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And she comes out to a song that's talking about how she's going to keep running because winners never quit.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And then she comes out and thanks Joe Biden who just quit.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, here's the closest I've heard him explain it.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_03]: I've got five months left in my presidency.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_03]: I've got a lot to do.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_03]: I intend to get it done.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, OK.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, then there's going to be nothing left for Kamala to do.

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So why?

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: If you fix everything like you've been fixing all of this stuff so far, Joe, then what?

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, never.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_03]: It's been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_03]: I love the job, but I love my country more.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I love my country more.

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_03]: And all this talk about how I'm angry, all those people said I should step down.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_03]: That's not true.

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_00]: So he's saying, I'm not mad at all those people that told me to step down.

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what he just said.

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You heard these stories that I'm mad at people for telling me to step down.

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That's not true.

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_00]: That's not true.

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And now they're chanting, we love Joe.

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_00]: We love Joe.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm wondering, are you just trying not like trying to make him not talk anymore?

[00:26:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, just stop talking.

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_03]: My country more.

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_03]: We need to preserve our democracy.

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_03]: In 2024, we need you to vote.

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_03]: We need you to keep the Senate.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_03]: We need you to win back the House of Representatives.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_03]: And above all, we need you to beat Donald Trump.

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, I didn't say he explained it.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I said he came the closest to an explanation, as I've heard.

[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_00]: He still didn't explain it, though.

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_00]: He's just saying that he loves his country more.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_00]: He loves the job and, you know, go out there and beat Donald Trump.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So he's not mad and he's not mad.

[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why he sounded so peaceful at peace with the decision last night in the speech, as you could hear.

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_00]: He sounds so very calm, not at all agitated or angry about being forced out in a coup by his own party leadership because he could not beat Donald Trump.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Because he's incognitive decline.

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, that'll do it for this episode.

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast.

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you'd like, please support them, too.

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And tell them you heard it here.

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Calendar show dot com.

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.