Senator's stunt and a stupid call (06-13-2025--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 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. I am thinking about buying a whole bunch of the Iranian flags and going down to the protests and selling them so people can use those instead of the Mexican They all kind of look the same. They got the red, the white, and the green, you know, the Palestinian flag, the Mexican flag, the Iranian flag. They're all very similar with the colors and such. So I figure I can go down there and sell the Iranian flags, tell people they're the Mexican flags, and they'll buy them, and then we can have, you know, a true coalition of the oppressed. You know, that's my idea. Pete, Well, okay, you can do it too, that's fine. Meanwhile, people now know who one of the US senators are from California. Padilla, not the terrorist guy that was Jose Padilla. This is Alex Padilla or Padilla, Padilla, Padilla whatever. Yeah, I now know that this guy exists. So I guess mission accomplished because he went into a press conference being held by Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome and while she is delivering her remarks. And I don't know if you're aware of this, you probably are. You've heard enough press conferences over the years where you know the official will come out and they will make a statement or something, and then sometimes they don't take questions, they just leave. They they read their statement and then they leave. But most times they come out and after they do their remarks, they then open the floor up for questions from the assembled media. That's how it normally goes. But when you are looking for your viral TikTok moment, you just crash that sucker and you just start, you know, screaming questions and raising your voice and walking towards the stage where the official is standing right in a totally not threatening way. And that's what Senator Alex Padilla did. He crashed this news conference. No where to believe he was coincidentally, at the very same building where Christy Noman was doing the press conference. He was there on some unrelated matter in street clothes and then not wearing his official congressional pin. That's a security pin that they wear so the you know, only members of Congress get this little lapel pin, and so when you're wearing that, it allows secret Service, for example, or Capitol police to recognize that you are a member of Congress, because you know, there are a lot of members of Congress, and frankly, there are a lot of them that you would have no idea what they look like, Alex Padilla being one of them. Nobody knew who this guy was. The media did not know who he was. The people that were in the room, the media people in the room said when they were filing their reports about what transpired, after he barged in and started screaming at Christy Noman and advancing towards the stage, the media reporters were like, Yeah, this guy came in and he just started yelling and advancing towards Christy nom and then security ushered him out whatever. It was only afterwards that people figured out, oh, that's a US senator because he wasn't very articulate in the way he was venting himself. He like he didn't get up there and say, excuse me, I'm Senator Alex Padilla from California, Like he did identify himself at some point later. But when she's up there talking and everybody is looking at her, and she is running through her remarks, and all of a sudden, some guy comes in through the side door and starts advancing towards her. He's all agitated and h and the security just goes right to action. They do not care what you are saying. You're advancing towards the Secretary of Homeland Security, and you're gonna get blocked, and you're gonna get walked out of there. And by the way, show some freaking decorum, show some respect, right, it's a press conference, she's gonna open it up for Q and A. You could have sat there and just waited a couple seconds for her to finish her remarks and then raise your hand and ask the question. You would have got way more publicity out of that than this, because this just makes you, I should say, good publicity, because this just makes you look like a petulant theater kid without any training I have questioned for the secretary. And then of course he resists, I don't want to say arrest, although they did cuff him because he tries to muscle his way through. These are not the actions of a non hostile actor. When you see the video, right, the security cuts him off, They swarm around him, and they start trying to escort him out of the room, and he refuses to be escorted out of the room because I'm a senator. I'm above the law, which is kind of a one eighty from when he was saying nobody is above the law, like dozens of times when it was regarding Donald Trump. But with him, See, he's a king in a land of no kings, right lefties, See, he gets special dispance. He's allowed to act like a jackass. He's allowed to storm a podium where a government official is making remarks, and he shouldn't suffer any So how'd you think that was gonna end. You're gonna get all the way up there, You're gonna grab her microphone? Like, what exactly was the play here? Well, I suspect the play was simply this. This is what he wanted. He has seen other martyrs for the revolution, like David Horta from the SEIU. I went over you know this guy yesterday or day before, the Service Employees International Union boss out of California, David Werta, who got himself arrested protesting the ICE law enforcement, law enforcement, protesting the enforcement of law. Oh and by the way, read a focus group today. Axios actually reported it focus group out of North Carolina. Believe it was eight out of twelve something like that. Eight out of the twelve focus group respondents said they totally support the immigration efforts underway. These are yeah, swing voters in North Carolina. So keep doing what you're doing, Democrats. It's working out really well for you. I am sure it's gonna lead to midterm victories for you. And so he comes in there, they escort him out. He's scuffling with them, resisting them, trying to get around them, right, so there's pushing and shoving. They get him out into the hallway and then they do what they normally would do with anybody else, which is they have him, you know, get down on your knees on the floor and then belly onto the floor and they're gonna cuff you because they don't know who you are. I'm a senator. Yeah, you could also be claiming to be a female. And I know Democrats like you guys are like all about what you identify as, so we don't know if you're a senator. You're not wearing the pin, buddy. You went to some federal building to engage in some sort of official business in street clothes, not wearing your pin, and then just coincidentally, there's a press conference that you barge into and get yourself almost arrested. It's a stunt. This was the intended outcome by Padilla. Why well, Over the last few weeks, there have been a series of polls that have come out that have shown Democrat voters, the rank and file voters disapprove of their party. Of their own party seventy percent, they have a seventy percent disapproval rating among the Democrat party has a seventy percent disapproval rating. Among their own voters, only thirty percent approve. And when they dig down into the seventy percent, you know, why do you disapprove of your own party? They say they're not fighting Trump hard enough. This is Padilla responding to incentives, right, They're seeing this. This is why Democrats are now cursing all the time, really weirdly, and you know, like you've never heard these people use cuss words before, but now all of a sudden, they're dropping f bombs in really odd places in their sentence structure. That that's why they're trying to present this tough guy facade like I'm fighting Trump the best I can. Look at me, I'm getting arrested like David Huerta or what was the other one's name, Lamonica mc iver, Right, that was the congresswoman or sorry, yeah, New Jersey representative Lamonica mc iver, who you know, assaulted law enforcement when she was trying to inspect a detention facility. Right. They obviously believe that this is a way that they can show they are fighting Trump as best they can, because the the polling says that their own voters want them to. 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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If ever you want like a perfectly distilled left wing journalisming view of a news story, mother Jones dot com is highly recommended to get your dose of it. So here is a story over at Mother Jones by Inniah. I think it's how she or he pronounced it her last name oh in inn aia oh As Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome talked about the need to apply constitutional rights to all citizens in a Thursday press conference Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat California that nobody knows of Ostensibly an unannounced guest approached the podium. See he merely approached it. I'm Senator Alex Padilla, he has seen stating I have questions for the secretary, despite the disclosure that he was a sitting US senator. At least four security members were seen forcibly pushing and dragging Padilla out of the room as he condemned the false narrative that the immigrants targeted in President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda are criminals. I gotta say kudos to the reporter here because I could not make out what the hell the guy was saying, it was just pandemonium. Gnome did not appear to acknowledge his presence or his forced removal. Yes, she just kept reading her remarks, just kept going. She did not even stop. She continued with her speech defending the president's deployment of the military in Los Angeles. Another video showed officers handcuffing Padilla. In a statement, DHS falsely accused Padilla of failing to identify himself. He can be heard in videos that have circulated on social media doing just that. Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate Security pin on as he lunged towards Secretary Nome. That's according to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Mister Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers repeated commands because he's above the law, don't you see us Secret Service thought he was an attacker, and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Nome met with Senator Padilla after and held a fifteen minute meeting with him. See but that wasn't in front of the cameras, and so hmm. See that didn't show him as a martyr for the cause for the so hmm, yeah, that's not what I'm in it for. Sorry, the altercation, so now here comes the framing. The altercation comes amid a chilling use of law enforcement to arrest Democrats and delected officials peacefully protesting the administration's immigration crackdown. Now, the only people that have been arrested have been ones that have laid hands on officers. You don't get to assault law enforcement. I don't understand. Why do Democrats have such a problem understanding this, Like, you don't get to assault anybody. Okay, that's it's illegal, no matter who the person is. Assault is illegal. Okay. It's even way more worse though, when it's a law enforcement officer. They have guns. Okay. I don't know if you're aware of this, but they have guns. It's not very smart. So the narrative, as Mother Jones reports it, the unbridled will to punish elected officials through forceful removal and criminal apprehension marks a key escalation point in the Trump administration's embrace of blatantly authoritarian tendencies as they seek to crush dissent peaceful or not. That's that's not what's happening. That's not what's happening. If you had, if this guy, if Senator Padilla had shown up and stood there and waited for the remarks to conclude, and then the floor gets open for questions because there's like, I don't know, two dozen media reps that are there. Media could then start asking questions, and during the Q and A portion of the event, he could then ask his questions. But he wants privilege. He is more special than you, right. He wants special access and a platform and the opportunity to scream and yell so he can get his viral moment. This was obviously a stunt from the outset. John Sexton at hotair dot com. Padilla's version of events is that he was nearby and decided to show up and ask a question. He says, at one point, I had a question, and so I began to ask a question. Yet while she's talking, she's in the middle of her speech, and you start walking towards her asking a question. I'm just asking questions. Yeah, that makes it sound like this was a Q and A where reporters were given a chance to ask questions and Padilla asked one and was treated roughly for it. But that's not what happened. Instead, he entered the room, he moves towards the podium, he starts talking loudly over Secretary Nome. At that point, secret Service started pushing him back toward the exit. Only then did he identify himself as a Senator. Despite the fact that Secretary Nome did her best to resolve it amicably, some Democrats are trying to blame this on her. Senator Chuck Schumer wants immediate answers. Senator Adam Shiff, for brains, has already demanded Secretary nomes resignation because of course he is. Adam Schiff is an idiot. He's an idiot. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin quickly fired back at Schiff's call for Gnome to resign, telling Fox News Digital quote, Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theater and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate Security pin on as he lunged towards Secretary Nome. Sexton concludes his peace hotair dot Com. Political theater is the whole party at this point. It's what people are doing in the streets protesting the arrests of criminal illegal aliens, and it's what Senator Padilla was doing at that press conference yesterday. He's exactly right. It's all theater. They all want to be a martyr for the revolution, like La Monica mc iver, who I hear is very difficult to keep her like lockdown in a prison because she comes up with all sorts of ways to break out, using like duct tape and safety pins and stuff. 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. Andy with a Pete tweet says, I wonder what Julius Caesar thought of senators approaching podiums. That's a very good question or a point. Rather, Jan says, Pete, you say that Alex Padilla is not allowed to act like a jackass. I submit, he wasn't acting. That's fair seven O four five seven zero eleven ten Why not? Tony? Welcome to the show. Hello Tony, Hey, how you doing today? I'm not right. How are you? I'm doing pretty well with that good? Yeah, I was calling to find out what your thoughts for the press secretary calling a reporter. They're stupid. She didn't. I'm sorry she did not do that. No, well, she said that she asked a stupid question. Yeah, she said, what a stupid question? Yeah, so so do you I mean, that is that something that you can condone? Would you cone? That is how we're doing things? Now, yeah, we've been Yeah, I've been in press conferences for twenty five years. And when you ask stupid questions, everybody in the room knows it's a stupid question. So I'm yeah, I'm all for calling out stupid questions. So let me ask you something this, So there's no decorum anymore with the press secret This is the White House we're talking about, and so and so, this is what the world sees how America conducts itself to a supposedly free press. So so wait, wait, hang on, why why do you call it suppose free press? Do you think the press is not free? Well, I mean do you think about what do you think? Do you think it's a free press? Yeah? Okay, so so therefore, but you and you don't, well, well, they're trying to shut down free press. How so, I mean, how so why would I want to go into a White House press conference speaking to a press secretary that has given information about our nation to the world and to the citizens of America and be insult right? And so all right, So, first off, do you know what the question was or is that irrelevant to you? Do you? Okay? No? Yeah, can you repeat the question. What the reporter asked? Yes? Yeah. So the reporter her name is Jasmine Wright. She's a politics reporter for an outfit called not US or Notice. I don't I've never heard of it before. But yeah, no, that's not a here or there. I have no I would usually say, okay, you know if it's a publication of the right or the left or whatever, but I have no idea. I've never heard of the publication or. The website's if she's able to be in that audience, obviously she has a convention, right, Yeah, that's no bearing. Yeah, I didn't say it was a bearing. I said I just I don't know anything about it. In case anybody thought I did and was withholding the information. I just don't know anything about not us or note US or whatever it is. That's not surprising. That's not surprising with you go ahead, see. Tony, When you behave like this, you lose all leverage in a hang on, hang on, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony. All right, Tony, I'm gonna put you on hold. So if you're going to be making an argument about restoring decorum, you have to exhibit it. Otherwise people might think that you're full of crap and you're arguing simply in bad faith and you're trying to hold other people to a standard that you yourself do not a b Right, so we can have a conversation. And every single time you call in, I always try to treat you with a baseline of respect, and you always kind of behave this way with me and everybody actually on the air. So I'm just laying down the ground work here to say, if you're going to be arguing for a restoration of decorum, then you should exhibit that decorum, politeness, consideration. Right. So insulting me in order to try to have a conversation actually doesn't get you to that conversation. People don't like to discuss things with people who are arguing in bad faith. A right, So I'm going to bring you back on right. You're back on the air now, so I will give you what the what the reporter Jasmine Right asked. She first said, can you clarify what kind of protest President Trump does support or find acceptable. Catherine Levitt then answered, the President absolutely supports peaceful protest. He supports the First Amendment. He supports the right of Americans to make their voices heard. He does not support violence of any kind. He does not support assaulting law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their job. It is very clear to the president that he supports and what he does not, or what he supports and what he does not. Unfortunately, for Democrats, that line has not been made clear, and they've allowed this unrest and this violence to continue, and the President has had to step in. At that point, then the reporter asks a follow up. So the question has asked, has been asked and answered, and the reporter then does a follow up and says, so, if there were peaceful protests on Saturday for the military parade, President Trump would allow that. And that's when Levitt said, of course, the president supports peace paceful protest. What a stupid question, and it is Do you want me to tell you why I think it's a stupid question? Or does is that irrelevant? Can I can I comment on that? Yeah? Go ahead, Okay, So she says that the president supports peaceful protest. She said, right, yeah, okay, but he just pardoned He just pardoned the j sixth peaceful protesters. That officer was. Murdered, wasn't That's that's not true either. Hello, injured officers were injured. And murdered as no one was murdered. Hello, the capital was overrun bout. So so for her to say that the president only what was your term? What was her term? She said, the president? The president? No, no, no, no, no no. She said, the president supports peaceful protest. The question from the journalist, this is why it's a stupid question, is because she said, if there are peaceful protests on Saturday for the military parade, president Trump would allow that. It's not up to the president to allow peaceful protest. That's what makes it a stupid question. The president has no authority to allow or disallow peaceful protests because it is a constitutional right to peaceably assemble. Okay, but let me ask you something. He allows a protest of any any banner if you put it under that umbrella. Because the j sixth protest wasn't a peaceful protest, and he pardoned all of those criminals. So so what she's talking about is a lie. And so I don't feel like that. And for her to call that reporter's question stupid. Okay, you can have your opinion about that, and that's fine, But you're the Press secretary of the United States. Of America, no of the of the White House. Same thing, and so and so and so and so. To me, it's like the people that and I and I've gone on social media and I've looked at the comments, and I cannot believe how so many comments support and you are one of them. Ougously that this lady can go up there and say things such as that. Can you tell me any other press secretary who has ever in the history of this Press Secretary office ever called a reporter's question stupid? You had had some moments. Hold you go to you have your kids that are in elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and you tell them the only question that's stupid is a question that's not asked. Yeah, I've never I've never believed. That only only thing that you're doing is gathering information. No, I know, I've never people the line that there are no stupid questions is not true. I've never believed that to be true. There are stupid questions. Okay, okay, fine, but but but but you you and and and and people of your elk? What is what are people of my elk. Those that condone that behavior? What behavior? The behavior of going into a press conference at the White House with the White House Press Secretary and she's in there using foul language, calling there's. No foul language. There was no foul language. Tony. Look, I understand, Tony, You're you're wanting to make this into something. You want to make this it's not all right? So Tony, what do you think then about what do you think about Senator Senator Padilla uh going in and interrupting Christy Nomes's speech and walking towards the podium. She's a protected cabinet member with secret Service detail. So and he's a protect sator. He's not. Actually they don't have secret service. They know they don't have secret Service protection. So he goes in there without his security pin, and he goes in there and he advances on her, and he starts getting adu and worked up. What about that? Or do you have any thoughts on Do you have any thoughts on that? Tony? Is that is that lack of decorum? I do? I do? And you and you said without his security pin, right, So obviously have some security. Now that's so, that's so they know he doesn't have a detail, is what I said. The pen identifies him as a member of Congress to security, that's why it's a security pin. Well, well, I think he told them that he was a sinis. So what is your what is your opinion of how he behaved? Do you have any do you have any beef with him about his behavior? Well? What on the video? And to be and to be and to be fair with you on the video, all I've seen on the video was him being manhandled out of the out of the room. I didn't I didn't see or I don't think did you. Hear did you hear my rundown of what occurred? Reading from the mother Jones piece, which is a left wing publication as well as hottier dot com. Did you hear any of that description? Well, you said that he walked in and walked towards the podium and was yelling questions. Right, that's what you said, right now? Have you that? Yes? There there are there are different videos. I know the one you're yeah. Where did you see that from? Then? So I can look at them? Well, there are several There are several different videos because the room, is what I'm telling you. There were several different videos that show different angles from the very beginning. There is one from the side where that's that's the that's what Tony, Tony, Tony, that's what I'm describing for you. Is the first video that is from the side where he's walking towards the podium. That's the first video. There's a second video then that shows him it's sort of from the back, and that's him getting where he's like scuffling and getting tugged on and pushing back and all of that, and he's getting pushed out the back. And then there's a third video where he's out in the hallway. So there are three different videos that were shot that I've shih. Where is the video with the audio? Where's that? I just told you, Tony. Look, I can only give you the answer. See that's a stupid question, Tony, What a stupid question. The video has the audio? Go find the videos yourself. They are out there. There are three different shots, three different camera views. You can find them. And you still couldn't bring yourself to condemn his behavior. But I'm supposed to believe that you are so outraged and offended by the White House Press Secretary saying that a question was stupid. I don't believe you, Tony. You are a bad faith actor, all right. So spring is here a time of renewal and celebrations. 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Located in mint Hill, just off four eighty five mail orders are accepted to get all the details that create a video dot com. Indeed, I just went back and confirmed Carin. Jean Pierre called our own Mark Garrison's question a very offensive question. I guess Tony was fine with that because Garrison asked if the president had dementia, if Joe Biden had dementia, and KJP say, it's a very offensive question. I'm not even going to dignify that, and so she, I guess didn't meet Tony's exacting standards or is it such just a standard for the Republicans. Yeah, Randy, welcome to the program. Hey Randy at nice talk with you, sir. First off, I listen to WBT on iHeart because I live kind of Carolina adjacent, but I do enjoy listen to you shows as I travel. Well, thank you to be a. Democrat and listen to Democrats shows. But they always or agreement with each other in fashions of Republicans. I since got red pealed and moved over, and now I'm astonished of people like Tony that you can You're never going to convince them. You're never going to convince him that wander is with He's just not gonna believe it. You can show all you want to, and he's gonna follow the group right off the edge of the cliff and there's nothing you can do to change your mind. They will argue at every point that you put out. They're gonna kind of prove it wrong even though they have no evidence, and they will allow you to show yours because they don't want to see it. So, yeah, I appreciate you being in the trenches fighting with them, but man, I want to waste of your time. Well, it might be, but on the other hand, it might not be because us as an old joke, you know, never argue with the political science major because at some point you realize they enjoy it so. Well, you know this is true. That's the reason I like list As you battle with them, and maybe, just maybe there may be someone else with a spark in their brain that might be on the other side, and then maybe you fire that spark and get that neuron. Yeah, some of them are just morons. They don't have neurons. Well, it's also it's Trump derangement syndrome as well, which is everything gets viewed through the prism of Trump. And again this is for like pro hardcore Trump supporters as well as his opponents, and they allow their their thoughts and their reasoning to be dictated by whatever position Trump takes. And I think that's what we hear with Tony oftentimes. Well, I'm a risk manager and I was trained to get to the root of the problem, and I know the root of the problem. But they're on their side. They have issues constantly. We would be departing people if they hadn't been led into the country. They don't want to know why they're here. They just want to They just don't wantus to take them out. And I know while they're here, there was he here to replace Tony Randy. I appreciate it. Yeah, anyway, I appreciate the call, but it yeah, have a great weekend. Thanks for the call. I appreciate it. 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.