Latest / ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes / Major Shakeup in the Tennessee Governor’s Race?

Transcript

Major Shakeup in the Tennessee Governor’s Race? · ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: From the principal Toyota Studios, it's Morning in Memphis with
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Todd Starnes.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And hello, everybody. Happy Monday to you. Great to be
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: back in the Mid-South. Got back in about 2 o'clock
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: this morning at Memphis International, pardon me, Fred Smith International Airport.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: We need to start calling the airport the Fred. Dylan,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I thought about that over the weekend. And, I mean,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: it's Frederick Smith International Airport is a lot to get up.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: But if we just call it the Fred... Yeah, I'm
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: down for that.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: It's a clever, fun name, and it still respects Fred Smith,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the founder of FedEx.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And you can confuse someone, too.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: You'd be like, yeah, we're going to their Fred later.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: They're like, what is that?
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Then you can explain the whole story.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Exactly. So it gives you a talking point. You can
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: be conversational about it. Anyway, great trip out to California.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk more about that on the national show.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to say this. I spoke to about
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: 1,000 conservatives in Orange County over the weekend. They are
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: fired up. And those are not, you know, I see
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of doom and gloom Republicans. Those are not
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: those people. So just a lot of excitement out in California.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: We're going to be talking about that in just a
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: few moments. Right now, though, we've got a lot happening here.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: We have a jam-packed show this morning. And I want
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: to go right away to our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: and say hello to David Hatley, the independent running for governor.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: a couple of major events happening in Shelby County that
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: he's going to tell us about, and also some brand
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: new polling data that's expected to come out today. And David,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: first of all, great to have you on the show.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like your campaign is really starting to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: gain steam.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: Hey, Todd, good morning.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: It's good. We're hoping we're finalizing and getting all the
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: waiting done on that. We'll get that out today. But,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: you know, it'll prove what I've told a lot of
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: people that's been asking. I mean, we're certainly not a
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: spoiler in this campaign. We continue to think we have
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: a path to victory, and I think this polling data
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: will back that up when we get it out to
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: the public.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: So we're hearing, and just to give us some background
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: on the poll, it wasn't like you guys didn't just
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: go out on the street and talk to 15 or
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: 20 folks. How many people were actually surveyed, and what
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: was the process of surveying these folks?
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's going to end up around 13,000.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: It's a text poll that we did to a third party.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: So it's not us internally. It's a third party that
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: we contracted it out to. But I think it's going
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: to end up around 13,000 respondents. So it's a pretty
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: good sampling size, much more than a typical poll that
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: you would get out in the field.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: And just based on the number of attack ads, the
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: new attack ads that have been coming out, it seems
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: to me that that polling data could be very good
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: for you guys.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you continue to see these attack ads.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're breaking records for the wrong reason. I
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: think they're up to over $ 5 million now they've spent
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: in attack ads against me, and I think that's the
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: most in American history for an independent to be attacked.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: So it's not a good record for either party to hold,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: but hey, welcome to politics. That's one thing I've learned
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: since I've been on this campaign trail. Expect the unexpected,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: and then... We've been prepared and focused on, as you said,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: we'll be out in Memphis today. We're super excited. We've
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: got a big crowd out at Owen Brennan's in Memphis
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: there today, and then we have another rally tomorrow night.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I don't have that location in front of me, but
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: it's in Shelby County also. So we're looking forward to
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: spreading our message and meeting more Memphians and continuing our path.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Tell us real quick about the event today, Owen Brennan's.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Give us the time and details and how many folks
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you guys are expecting.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., but unfortunately we
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: are sold out with no extra room. I mean, we expect,
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: you know, it's hard to say when you get these RSVPs,
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: but we have over 600 RSVPs. which means we'll probably
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: end up with around 300 or 400 folks out there today.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: So it's a good-sized event. We're looking forward, again, to
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: seeing people.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Those are huge numbers. And just to put that into
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: some context here, the annual Lincoln Dinner in Shelby County,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: which is the largest in the state when it comes
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: to Republican events, for example— I'm not sure they hit
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: 600 people this past year for their big gala. So
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: what does that tell you? And because you're getting, my
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: understanding is you guys are getting hundreds of people coming
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: out to your events across the state.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. You can see on our social media, we're
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: sharing that info. our events thought have, have slowly gotten
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: larger every single week, similar to the polls. You know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: we watched ourself move up in the polls. So I
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: think it just tells us what we all know. The
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: political climate is, uh, is ripe right now. I mean,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: there are a lot of people that are unhappy with
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: the way things are going out there. And I think they're,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: they're interested in looking for change and, uh, you know,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: they've been voting the same way for a long time
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: and we're in this position, you know, we're because we
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: voted the same way for a long time. So I think, uh,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: the more people can believe that we have this path
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: of victory, the better for us also. Because, you know, again,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: you know, our opponents are trying to say we're a spoiler.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be putting my own money in this thing, Todd,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: continuing the last two weeks as hard as I am
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: with 41 stops in three weeks and $ 4 million each
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: weekend of this campaign. If I didn't think there was
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: a path to victory, I can promise you that.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: David Hatley on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line today, the
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: independent running for governor. David, we had Jerry Green on
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: The Democrat last week, and she actually agrees with Marsha
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Blackburn that you are fair game. What you did 30,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: 35 years ago is fair game and is relevant to
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: the conversation today when it comes to your past, which
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: you've been very open about. Your reaction to Jerry Green
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: and Marsha Blackburn?
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: I think Jerry's fair game, too. I mean, Jerry's on
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: TV talking about how she's going to embarrass people at
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: debates and how she's never lost a case. I mean,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: she's a public defender, so she's never lost a case.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Does that mean that she's never represented a guilty client?
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: What does that mean? I mean, everyone's fair game in
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: the election world. I mean, again, Todd, this was something
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: when I was 21 years old. I'm not going to
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: minimize it because, you know, it was $ 38, 000 in checks
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: that I paid back. But at the end of the day, uh,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: I think no one in life should be judged by
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: their weakest moment. I mean, this is something when I
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: was a kid, I've had no business been there and
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: look what I've done since. Um, I've got a lot
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: more on my resume, in my opinion, than either of
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: my opponents. I've been in the real world for 37 years,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: you know, learning lessons and fixing problems. I haven't, uh,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I haven't been in law school and, uh, And as
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: a public defender.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I'm wondering, though, you you could have, you know, over
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: those years, you you could have run for a city
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: council or school board or maybe even the mayor. I mean,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you're very popular in East Tennessee. Why didn't you get
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: involved in the pop? Why now? Why just jump in
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: and say, you know what, I'm just going to run
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: for the biggest prize of them all?
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because, you know, I've been buried in my work.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's not easy to build what I've built
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: up here in East Tennessee. It takes a lot of work.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: I've worked 60, 70 hours a week my entire life.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: I haven't had time to turn around and run for
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: office and do anything until, you know, the systems that
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: I've got in place that finally gave me the ability
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: to step away and look at where else I can
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: have an impact. And I want to, you know, I
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: had a pretty good life. up here that I built
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: with my employees right by my side. And if I'm
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: going to step away and put my family through this, Todd,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: it's going to be for a big cause. And this
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: is seven and a half million people. This is a
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: lot bigger cause than the 759 employee. And that's why
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: I wanted this seat for governor's office. This is a
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: big commitment. But I can have the most impact on
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: my Tennesseans from this seat right here than anywhere else.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: So two more questions. I know you're super slammed today. And, again, folks,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: David will be at Owen Brennan's 11 to 12 o'clock today,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: but they're sold out. So maybe you can be in
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the parking lot and say hello. look, the ballot itself,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: you are one of many independents, so you're sort of
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: like right in the middle. You're in the H. It's
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: all alphabetical. What are you doing to make sure that people,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: they're going to have to select you. What are you
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: guys doing to encourage people when they are going in and,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: of course, early voting underway?
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, just taking a picture of that, as you said,
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: where we're at on there and making sure that everybody
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: understands how to vote and do like that. I mean,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: we did that in our text and email campaign for
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: the people that are on our list, and we're posting
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: that on our social media. I mean, all we can
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: do is try to educate people, but the good news
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: is we are on the left side of the ballot, Todd,
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: so we're lucky with that H that we didn't get
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: buried over there on the right side at the very bottom.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think we're the sixth or seventh name
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: on the list. Yeah. We're in pretty good shape compared
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: to some of the other independents on there.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: David, I don't know about this. It's never good for
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: a conservative to be on the left side of anything,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: but we'll take your word for it on that. Hey, look, David,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: real quick here, when you're looking at the folks that
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: you guys are out there trying to bring onto your team,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: what are your internals telling you? Are you guys attracting
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: the independents, the Republicans? What does that look like?
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: You know, I think everybody knows I'm a conservative, so
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: it's definitely the majority Republicans that are upset with the party.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: There are a lot of people that are on our
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: side also, Todd, that are not responding to these polls
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: because they're too scared of getting kicked out of the
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Republican Party. So, as you know, we got endorsed by
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: a state senator who they now threatened to caucus her out,
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: and she's went through the wringer from endorsing an independent. So,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: you know, we're getting a good mixture, but the majority conservatives,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: but a decent amount of Democrats. I mean, I had
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: a Democrat in Knoxville Saturday that came through the line.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: I stay and meet every single one of these people afterwards.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: It takes me hours to take more questions. And we
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: had a Democrat come through that said, he said, I'm
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: a gay Democrat. I've been a gay Democrat my entire life,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: and I'm voting for you. I like your message. So
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: I think it's majority conservatives voting. a decent amount of
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Democrats and a lot of independents. So it's a really
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: good name.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Have you had any conversations with Monty Fritz?
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Of course. Yeah, of course. I've had conversations with Monty Fritz.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Have you asked him for his endorsement?
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: I have not. I have not because he told me
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: the first time I talked to him that he won't
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: endorse anybody. He said, I'll never endorse anybody. I won't
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: endorse you. I won't endorse Marsha. So I have not
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: asked Lonnie for his endorsement. And to be honest with you,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: a lot of his supporters are out there working hard
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: for us anyway, regardless of whether he endorses anybody or not.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Good stuff. David, appreciate you hopping on this morning. I
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: know you've got a very tight schedule. And, again, let
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: us know about the information on Tuesday's big event in Memphis. But, again, today,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Owen Brennan's, and that's from 11 o'clock until 12 o'clock. David,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: good luck to you.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Thank you, and I'll be in Memphis most of the week,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: so check out hatleyforgovernor.com and see where I'm at down there.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Doc.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Hatleyforgovernor.com, ladies and gentlemen, is the website address. We've got
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to take a quick break, and curious to hear your thoughts.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Who are you voting for? You've heard David Hatley. We've
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: had all of the major candidates voted. on this radio station.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Who do you like? 901-260-5926, our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Got to take a quick break. Commander Chuck standing by
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: with a look at your morning commute. All right. Welcome back, everybody.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: It is Monday in the Mid-South and a lot of
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: celebrating going on at Olive Branch. The Olive Branch High
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: School Marching Band named Grand Champions. The Conquistador Band named
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Grand Champion of the Mississippi Invitational Marching Classic. Well done.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: The kids getting that news on Sunday. Band also earned
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: superior ratings in every category of the Mississippi Marching High
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: School Activities Association marching evaluations. Well done, young people there
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: in Olive Branch. Also today, early voting underway in Arkansas now.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: We have a lot of listeners across the river and
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: you folks heading to the polls today. to start voting.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I want to bring into the conversation our good buddy,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: John Covington. You hear him just about every Saturday on
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Behind the Badge right here on The Body, Die, Donnie. John,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: good to have you with us. Did you play in
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: the marching band when you were in school? Were you
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: a marching band guy?
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I was not in the marching band. Yeah, a lot
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: of kids were, but I never was.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Dylan was like, he's like the musical genius of the family.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: And you were like, you were the marching band from
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: University of Memphis. That is true, indeed. Oh, you were.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: You were almost pro. Do you still have your eligibility?
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: Or can you go pro marching band?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: My 10th year, yeah.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Your 10th year. My NIL money hasn't come in yet.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: That's right. That's right.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: We got to work on that NIL money. I know.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: We do, yeah. Let's talk about politics, John. The early
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: voting starting today in Arkansas. What do you make of
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: these numbers? I mean, massive numbers over what, 33,000 people
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: have already voted.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, you're happy about it. What do we
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: always complain about? People aren't involved and aren't voting. You know,
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: you got to imagine here in Shelby County, there's, you know,
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: that residual anger about redistricting. We thought that would probably
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: fire up the Democrats. But, you know, seeing the Republicans
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: seem to be out there voting strong, too. So this
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: is a good sign. You know, this is not a
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: presidential election. The midterms are very important. Obviously, we're voting
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: for governor. But I am pleased to see the numbers
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: jumping up.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I wonder if President Trump's rallies are having something to
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: do with that because there did seem to be a
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: bit of a malaise going into early voting across the country.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I think so. It brought back some of– he's got
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: that magic. He's got that ability, and it brought back
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: some of the pizzazz, I guess is the word, to
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: this election because he put himself back out there and
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: in many ways put himself on the ballot. And, of course,
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: that fired up the base, I think.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: We just had David Hatley on Independent. First of all,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, the guy's dumped, what, $ 12 million of his
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: own money into the campaign, right? That's a lot of
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: hot tubs.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: So he's doing well, and there does seem to be
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: a lot of frustration internally with the Tennessee Republican Party
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: from the state level all the way down to the local.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Do you really think this guy may have a shot
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: at being a spoiler here?
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Well— I was on record saying, you know, they're going
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: to have the upcoming debate between Hatley Green and Pinkston.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: Is that her name?
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Lauren Pinkston.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: And what I said when I think I still stand
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: by whoever comes out and makes a big splash in
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: that debate has gone a long way for whatever they're
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: going to run for next. But I think Hatley has
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: shown himself to have a lot of skills. Now, of course,
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: he's got some baggage and you brought up in your
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: interview that He really jumped to the head of the
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: line to run for something right out the gate, and
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: I don't know if that's always the best move. But
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: clearly he's got some skills. He's got some interesting ideas.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: So we'll see what the future holds for David Hatley.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I mean we see that sort of in the candidacy
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: of Rick Jackson over in Georgia, a self-made guy, but
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: he is the Republican nominee. And he's running a very
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: effective campaign, never done politics, but he's been a very
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: successful businessman. And of course, there's also a guy at
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: Well, I was going to say, who gave the blueprint, right?
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: It is Donald Trump. But one thing, and I think
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: in the next presidential rotation, we're coming up, people will, well,
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: they learned when they tried to run in primaries against him,
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: there's only one Donald Trump. The mold was broken. And
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: people can follow the blueprint, but Boy, he's he's one
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: of a kind.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Here's where I'm torn. And this is the Baptist side
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: of me coming out. You know, we do believe in forgiveness.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: And yet he made so horrible life choices. What, 30,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: 40 years ago. But since then, you know, he's become,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: at least by all indications, a good and productive member
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: of society. Does that what he did 40 years? Does
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: that disqualify him from being the governor of the state
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: of Tennessee?
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: For me personally? I believe it does for me because
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: I was 20. I was dumb. I made a bunch
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: of mistakes that would never occur to me to do that,
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: you know, because I was instilled with my parents a
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: sense of right and wrong and not saying I didn't
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: make any mistakes. But to me personally and, you know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: I'm in law enforcement and I take a pretty hard
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: line about responsibility and. Yeah, it was just I would
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: never have done what he did. So that that's how
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: I feel about it personally.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are struggling with that.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: And honest, I really think that's going to be a
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: big challenge for him to overcome. And I'm not I
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: don't know, maybe he's done a good enough job of
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: explaining that to the folks. We're going to you're going
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to stick around. We've got to take a quick break here.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And we're going to also going to add Steve Gill
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: to the conversation, a publisher of TriStarDaily.com. And we want
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: to hear from you as well. Who do you like
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: in the governor's race? Who do you like in the
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: congressional races? Our telephone number, 901-260-5926.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: Again, 901-260-5926.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: 260-5926. We'll be taking your calls. Also, kwamradio.com. If you
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: haven't already done so, download our free app. You'll be
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: able to listen to KWAM wherever you are across America.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Hang tight, everybody. We'll be right back. All right. Well,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: we are anxiously awaiting a federal judge today. He is
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: expected to rule on Justin Pearson and several of several
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: others who were banned from Tuesday's Memphis City Council meeting
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: because he showed up with a megaphone and caused all
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: sorts of chaos. So federal judge going to decide that
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: a little bit later on today. Welcome back, everybody. I'm
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Todd Stearns. Also, I want to give you a heads up,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: all of you big hockey fans. The Memphis Monarchs are, well,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: returning to South Haven Friday. This is sort of exciting.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Professional hockey back in the Mid-South. They're going to be
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: playing their first home game. They'll face the Baton Rouge Kingfish.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: at Lander Center that 7 o'clock. So this is an
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: expansion team, by the way, in the Federal Prospects Hockey League.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: So all you hockey fans, give you something to do
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Friday night. Want to go right away to the Patriot
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Mobile Newsmaker line. We have Steve Gill, the publisher of TristarDaily.com.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And we have in studio John Covington, the host of
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Behind the Badge, and also with the Memphis Police Association. Steve,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: good to have you with us. And we had David
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Hatley on. Earlier in the program, touting this poll that's
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: coming out today, our sources are telling us he is
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: looking at getting about 20% to 25% of the vote
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: so far. What are you hearing, and what do you
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: think this is going to mean to the Republicans? Hello, Steve.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Hey.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Guys.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Good to be with you.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: All right, Steve, let's start that again. Let's start that
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: again now that we've got Steve with us. Steve, again,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: we had David Hanley on just a few moments ago,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: and Hanley touting this poll that's expected to come out today.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: We believe those numbers are going to be 20 to
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: 25 percent. They did a text poll of 13,000 people
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: across the volunteer state. What do you read into that?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I got to tell you, the format of the
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: poll raises some questions for me because it's people choosing
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to respond. I've talked to some people who got the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: text and didn't know who it was from and didn't respond.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So I'm not sure about the accuracy of the poll.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I think that he has definitely put himself in that
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: position where he could be at those sort of numbers.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: And from what I'm hearing in some of the other
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: polling is that Marsha Blackburn's numbers have dropped her into
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: kind of the mid-30s, that you've got Jerry Green, Democrat nominee,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: at about 31% So I'm anxious to see what the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: numbers are. And I know that the happy team believes
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: that they're going to ultimately have a fight where everyone's
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: going to be in the 30s. And it's going to
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: be a battle where a point here or a point
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: there is going to be the difference. So we're into
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: the already voting season where people are casting votes. So
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: every one of those votes that gets cast, they're not on.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: The table anymore.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And and you can kind of hone in your your
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: communications to those who are left. It's going to be a.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Wild two weeks.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: John, what's up with Marsha? Well, I mean, I am
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: shocked to hear those numbers. You know, if if they
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: hold that she's really in the in the mid 30s.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Why do people not like Marsha?
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't know when you've been in politics
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: a long time. You know, you create a big record and,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: you know, you create opposition as well as support. Now,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: I'm always like Steve. I question any every candidate comes
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: out with polls. Jerry Green came out of the poll
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: not too long ago saying she was like 41 percent
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: or something like that. And then when you do polls
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: by text, all the older folks, I don't know if
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: they text and they're the ones the ones that vote.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: And so, yeah. And this is kind of that season
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: going on. But I would be shocked if Marsha was
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: down in the 30s. I just feel like with President
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: Trump's endorsement, I think she's going to be just fine.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Steve, what say you? I mean, you've been doing politics
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: a long time here. Again, when you look at how
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: far to the left Jerry Green is, seems to me
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: she ought to be at least polling in the mid-40s, Marsha.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And again, let's go back to the primary and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the polling we were getting there. You had Marsha's team claiming, oh,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: she's got a 50-point lead. And then when the actual
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: numbers came in, election day, she was at 43 percent.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: And you had Monty Fritz, who came in in the 20s.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: You had John Rose, who was in the low 30s.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: The numbers did not reflect what her team had been
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: claiming all along of an insurmountable, unbeatable situation. And when
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: she only pulled 43% in the primary, that was not
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: reflected in the polls that various groups were putting out there.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: And then you had the A couple of independent groups
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: that were supporting her early on had her number at 45.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: And since that time, she's been the target of attacks
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: by David Hatley. Now, they've been launching plenty of attacks
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: on Hatley. But I think that the high watermark for
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: her was probably in that mid-40s to low-40s. And the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: question is, has she dropped from there as this campaign
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: has moved on? There is a lot of Trump fatigue,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: even among Republicans. The economy, the affordability issue continues to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: hit hard. I think it's ridiculous when you've got a
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: barrel of oil priced back to around $ 80, $ 85 a barrel.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Gas prices should be much lower, but they still aren't.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: And that's the defining number, I think, when you look
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: at affordability.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Steve, this is John Covington. But I would imagine when
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: people go into that booth, the Republicans– are not obviously
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: going to vote for Pinkston or Greene. And my feeling is,
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: and a lot of people I talk to, that when
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: the push comes to shove, most Republicans will come home
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: to Marsha because of those legal issues that Hatley has
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: in his background. That's a pretty big thing to surmount,
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: I think.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that as he's gotten the truth out
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: about the so-called legal issues, you know, when he was 21,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: he bounced checks, and they're making it sound like he's
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: been a serial killer for the last, you know, 30-something years.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: And I think at some point, if you overstate your case,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: you've been involved in the criminal prosecution and criminal business
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: for a long time.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: When you're a.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Prosecutor, if you overcharge, if you overstate your case as
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a litigator, The jury will lose faith in you. And
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I think that some of what Marsha Blackburn and her
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: team have done by overstating as Hattie has gotten around
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: and people have gotten to know him and know his
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: true story, I think at some point you hurt your
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: own credibility if you overstate, if you overreach. And I
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: think there's some of that going on with the Blackburn team.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: I think Covington is on to something here, Steve. I
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: love this. maybe a new campaign ad, come home to Marsha.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: Have a nice little sunrise over the East Tennessee mountains.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: What I picture is 20 years from now, Tammy Sawyer said, hey,
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: I was young. I made a few financial, I used
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: a credit card I wasn't supposed to, but you can
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: say that. But, you know, those are choices you make. And,
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: you know, certainly I would not have been writing bad
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: checks at the age of 20 or however old I was.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: So I I think that will play a big part
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: in people's decision. And my feeling is, and again, it's
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: my opinion, my feeling, they'll get that voting booth and
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: they'll probably come home to Marsha.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: People need to remember, though, John, not to just debate it,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: but when Marsha was heading up the Tennessee Entertainment Commission,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: she went out to Hollywood, to Los Angeles, ran up
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: about $ 40, 000 in taxpayer money on high-end hotels and limousines
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and expensive dinners. was called upon by the governor to
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: repay that money. She refused to provide the receipt, instead
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: burned them and sent them in in ashes in an envelope.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: And she was a lot older than 21 when $ 40, 000
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: of taxpayer money became an issue. So again, these issues
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: cut both ways. I've been surprised, frankly, that Hatley hasn't
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: played that a little bit more. It's just a comparison of, yeah,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I made a mistake when I was 21.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: I paid for it.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Marsha intentionally did this when she was in her 30s
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and was never held for account.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Steve, I've got to jump in here. By the way,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: we've got Steve Gill from TristarDaily.com, the publisher of that
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: great statewide political news organization, and also John Covington with us.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: You know, Steve, the Hatley campaign, they're doing some big
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: events this week in Memphis. He said, he told us
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: earlier today on the show, they had 600 RSVPs to
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: their to their event at Owen Brennan, which Covington, I'm
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: kind of surprised by because I'm not sure you can
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: get 600 people in that restaurant. But what do you
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: make of, Steve, what do you make of the big
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: turnout here?
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Well, they ought to be making friends with the fire
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: marshal because that's going to exceed the capacity. Yeah, I
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: think it was interesting when President Trump was was running
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: in that first time. I was covering a lot of
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the races, was going to a lot of his rallies,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and they would have more than capacity, and they were
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: setting up big-screen TVs outside so that the overflow could
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: watch what was going on and going on inside. So
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: maybe the capacity crowds are an indication he needs to
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: have some of those video trucks. I know Pinkston's had
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: video trucks at some events, and maybe he needs to
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: do the same thing. I still think, and, you know,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: despite the poll numbers, despite, you know, the push that
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: he's making, I still see a hard road to get
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: to that 35%, 38%, 42%, even from 2025 in the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: next two weeks to get there. So it still marches
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: to lose, but she is certainly– seeing what was taken
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: as an inevitable can't-lose race, and put it into a contest.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: And you know that because you're not seeing Ward Baker,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: her consultant, push out polls. You're not seeing a campaign
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: that's only running positive. They're still on the attack at
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: this stage.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's true.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: By the way, Paul Shanklin, writing in from Fayette County,
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: listing this morning, he said, or Marcia could do a
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: commercial saying she had nothing to do with all her
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: other nasty commercials during the primary and the general election.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: So there's that.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: And that's unfortunately a pattern that we have seen where
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: it's never her. When the ice storm hit Middle Tennessee,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: she got special treatment to get her power back. When
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: they shut down the government, she was being escorted through
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: airports by guides and by aides and officials to give
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: her special treatment. I think that special treatment angle is
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: what has stuck over 30 years of her career. That
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: may be a reason, John, that some people won't come
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: home at the end of the day.
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: Well, but I also think that video, even though it
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: was fairly silly, but some of the reaction to it
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: was pretty silly, especially from the Democrats. But you know,
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: we forget sometimes we get so involved with we're so
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: up and close, but a lot of it is getting
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: the name out there. And what did that video do?
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: It got Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, the discussion of Marsha's name
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: out there, which I think for a lot of voters,
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: they go in and they say, well, I've always leaned
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: to the right or whatever. And yeah, Marsha, I know
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: that name. And so I don't really think it hurt.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: in terms, and I saw it got a lot of
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: hits and so forth. So I don't think there's anything
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: as really bad publicity.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: And the cultural appropriation claim.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: That was so– that was– yeah, that was stupid.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Everybody's Irish on St.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Patrick's Day.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: That's right. Thank you. Thank you.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Real quick, fellas, because we're going to have to wrap
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: it up. But I think overall, overall, there is an
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: overarching issue, and that is unity within the Republican Party
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: here in Tennessee. And I think we are really– I
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: think this is an issue that's happening all across the
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: country is– as there is a battle for who will
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: control the party moving forward. Will it be the establishment?
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Will it be the MAGA populist wing? Who gets to
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: run things? How do we fix that in advance of
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: the midterm? Or is it even possible? John, I'll start
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: with you. Steve, we'll let you chime in later.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm a very big history guy. And I've been
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: looking back at the battle between Gerald Ford and Ronald
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: Reagan during that convention. And Ronald Reagan came out of,
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: we got to be together. We got to be focused.
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: And we came out of Republican Party out of such
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: trauma to the great victory in 1980. And I think
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: that's what we got to do. He said it best.
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: Stop talking about each other. Stop talking together about the
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: issues because we're right and the stakes are too high.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: And we have got to stop all this infighting and
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: silliness and get organized and get our message out.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: Steve Gelb.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and the division is real. I mean, you
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: guys see it in Shelby County and split between the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: so-called moderates, the establishment, the rhinos, the conservatives. That is
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: playing out in virtually every county across Tennessee in the
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Republican Party. So there is a serious unity issue. And
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I think to me, my solution would be if the
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: state executive committee would require a runoff system like we
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: have in Georgia and South Carolina and several others. Marsha
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: won the primary with 43 percent of the votes. If
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: you can't get 50% plus one in the primary of
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: your own party, there's a divide. And to me, the
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: way you cure that is by making sure candidates have
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: to have won a majority in order to be your nominees.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: And that's more of a process side. That's going to
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: take some time. But one of the reasons you have
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: lack of unity. is you keep having candidates. Bill Lee,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I think, got the Republican nomination with about 35% of
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: the vote. It's hard to unify if there's no process
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: to get it done.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Well said. And you brought up Gerald Ford. The funny part,
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: the irony here is Ford could have been the vice president.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: They were trying to, and I got a message from
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: somebody over the weekend saying, what is an establishment Republican?
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Because I supported Reagan, and I believe Reagan was an
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: establishment No, Reagan was the conservative guy. Reagan was the
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Trump guy. And you had Gerald Ford, you had George H.W. Bush,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: and they basically declared war on Ronald Reagan. Ford would
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: have been the vice president until he gave an interview
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: where he said that basically he had been offered the
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: gig as VP, but he would be actually a co-president.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: I remember that. And that's when Reagan said, okay, we're
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: going with H.W.
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: Bush. Well, and what's going to be next? Reagan emerged
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: as the leader that unified the party. Trump emerged as
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: the leader that unified the party. Who will be next?
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: That's the big question. All right, guys, great stuff. And, Steve,
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: we're going to have a lot more to talk about.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: No doubt about it. TristarDaily.com. Go and check out all
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: of his great stuff. John, do you have a website?
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: Where do we drive people to?
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: John Covington, Shelby County. Come check that out. And, hey,
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: if we got a second on these city referendums. Five, nine, seven,
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: seven and five, nine, seven, eight. The police and fire
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: associations are against those.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: So again, so you're saying vote no.
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: Vote no on those because it just makes it harder
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: for us to advocate for these these heroes.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: We'll get you back on to talk more about that. Absolutely.
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Steve Gill, always great to have you on. Appreciate your
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: wise words. Steve is gone already.
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: He wisely got out of town.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: All right. We got to take a break, everybody. We'll
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: be right back. All right, some major interstate construction to
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: tell you about. I-55, this is over near South 3rd Street. I-55,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: it's going to be shut down. So a lot of
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: closures this week near that intersection there and that exit ramp,
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Interstate 55 and South 3rd Street. TDOT doing a lot
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: of work, so just be careful. On Tuesday, the entrance
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: ramp from State Route 14 closed. on to I-55 southbound
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: is scheduled to close from 9 in the morning until
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: 3 in the afternoon. Commander Chuck will keep you updated
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: on all that, but expect a little bit of a backup.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: Also.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: National Weather Service asking us to pass along this information
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: to you. Fire danger increasing across the Mid-South. All this
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: beautiful weather, low humidity. Yeah, that creates a perfect recipe
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: for wildfires. So be very, very careful. Dry grass, leaves, brush.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: can ignite so you guys know what to do play
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: it smart there also it got a message wanted to
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: get this in from our friends over at the Salvation
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: Army they're hosting a free fall festival this coming weekend
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: the Salvation Army Kroc Center it's called the Fall Fun
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: Bash begins at 11 o'clock and winds up at about
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: two o'clock in the afternoon and this year's theme is
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: a rodeo by the way Dylan ran into some somebody
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: came up to me at the gala and it was
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: like a kid Like a 15, 16-year-old kid. And said, Mr. Stearns,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: I'm a big fan. And I said, well, thank you.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: What do you do? He says, I'm a rodeo guy.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: He rides the bulls.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: At 15? A champion in his age. Yeah. And I'm like,
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: get out of here. So he's got this belt buckle
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: the size of like a grill on a car.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: And I'm like, okay, that makes sense. But then he
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: showed us the pictures. And we're like, holy cow. I mean,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: this kid was really good.
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: I've never seen them that young.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: I thought they were only adults. Right, exactly. So anyway,
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: he would, who knows, this guy might be at the
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: Salvation Army Rodeo. So anyway, be sure to check that out.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: And the best part about it, admission is free and
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: the event is open to the public. All right, what
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: a great start to the week. We've got Frank Colvette
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: filling in for me tomorrow. I'm off to Houston for
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: a big book signing with our radio affiliate there. We'll
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: see you back here 11 o'clock on the Mind