Latest / Crosstabs / Senator Tim Knopp on the Border Crisis

Transcript

Senator Tim Knopp on the Border Crisis · Crosstabs

0:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to try out a little intro and see how it goes.
0:02
SPEAKER_03: All right.
0:02
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
0:03
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Crosstabs.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: We're taking you inside Oregon politics.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm here, Reagan Canope, your co-host with my co-host, Brian Iverson.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: Brian, how are you doing today?
0:38
SPEAKER_03: I'm good, Reagan.
0:39
SPEAKER_03: I'm ready.
0:39
SPEAKER_03: I am, except for I might get a cramp, you know, being that the avid indoor cycler that I am.
0:46
SPEAKER_03: I went pretty hard today.
0:48
SPEAKER_03: My fight against the bulge as I get older, that's what I'm training for.
0:53
SPEAKER_03: So if I do cramp out, I'll scream and go to the floor, but I think I'll be all right.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: Brian, I want to ask you a question about the Pelotons because I'm curious about them.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: I know they have a cool screen on there.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: Can you select a certain route somewhere else in the world that you want to do?
1:12
SPEAKER_01: You want to bike a route?
1:13
SPEAKER_01: You want to run the Tour de France?
1:15
SPEAKER_01: You want to be in Spain and race the bulls?
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Can you do something like that and have it work with you to give you what that experience might be like?
1:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they have some of those, but...
1:26
SPEAKER_03: I've tried a couple of them and they seem a little,
1:29
SPEAKER_03: because they all kind of go at the same speed,
1:32
SPEAKER_03: right?
1:32
SPEAKER_03: So if you think about it,
1:33
SPEAKER_03: if your video,
1:34
SPEAKER_03: if somebody's videoing it and showing you riding,
1:38
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:38
SPEAKER_03: they're riding at the same speed.
1:40
SPEAKER_03: And I think what makes the Peloton unique is that, you know, oh, we're hill climbing and
1:45
SPEAKER_03: You know, they kind of do some like they do Palomar Mountain.
1:48
SPEAKER_03: I just did that ride, which is three 45 minute rides.
1:54
SPEAKER_03: And it's like I think it's called Palomar Mountain in San Diego.
1:57
SPEAKER_03: And they're like they you basically do like you're going up that mountain.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: It's a two and a half hour ride and you do it in three different parts.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: And man, I tell you, I am dead after I'm done with 45 minutes of that.
2:08
SPEAKER_03: But at the end of a long week, I'm looking forward to the weekend.
2:13
SPEAKER_03: Looking forward to a few days off and excited to not have to bust my butt on my Peloton.
2:20
SPEAKER_03: What about you?
2:21
SPEAKER_03: What have you been doing?
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Been cutting the heads off of chickens, Brian.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: My brother-in-law and his family raised like 80-something meat chickens, and I was helping them.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: You've got to, obviously, you've got to kill them.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: You've got to drain the blood.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: You've got to put them in a hot water bath to kind of
2:39
SPEAKER_01: get the feathers ready to be plucked and then you drop them into this motorized
2:43
SPEAKER_01: plucking machine that has all these little not foam but like plastic fingers
2:48
SPEAKER_01: sticking out of it and it just like wipes the feathers off of them and then you
2:53
SPEAKER_01: gotta gut them and all that stuff so i started easy brian i started on the little
2:57
SPEAKER_01: feather machine worked up to hey we need someone to cut some more heads off of it i
3:03
SPEAKER_01: said i'll give it a shot and i'm honestly not too bad
3:06
SPEAKER_01: X-Acto knife, one, two, three, usually cuts as it takes to get through.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: I had a two earlier where it's just two cuts straight through.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: So it's just not something that I think it just,
3:18
SPEAKER_01: it made me think about the urban rural divide and like the differences on,
3:22
SPEAKER_01: the kind of, I mean, it's not like I'm going to do this every day.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: I could,
3:26
SPEAKER_01: I certainly could if I was running a big old chicken farm,
3:29
SPEAKER_01: but I don't really plan to,
3:30
SPEAKER_01: that's not something that gets me excited,
3:31
SPEAKER_01: but just to experience it,
3:33
SPEAKER_01: you know,
3:33
SPEAKER_01: one or two times in your life and kind of understand more about our food systems.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: And,
3:39
SPEAKER_01: you know,
3:39
SPEAKER_01: this is something that in,
3:40
SPEAKER_01: you know,
3:41
SPEAKER_01: in a rural community,
3:42
SPEAKER_01: if you want to raise your own chickens and your own meat and not be relying on a
3:46
SPEAKER_01: grocery store,
3:46
SPEAKER_01: that's an hour and a half away,
3:47
SPEAKER_01: maybe that's something that people are
3:50
SPEAKER_01: more likely to do and i think kind of understanding it and it's good for all of us
3:55
SPEAKER_03: oh man i i don't i couldn't agree more reagan and it's great to see that you know i
4:00
SPEAKER_03: lynn county's with the chicken capital of the world or at least of oregon you know
4:05
SPEAKER_03: that's for sure so it's good to see that you know we don't grow we don't grow raise
4:09
SPEAKER_03: i guess it's raised when you ranch it's raised grow if you farm uh we don't deal
4:15
SPEAKER_03: with chicken my wife calls it uh foul
4:18
SPEAKER_03: And she got that from her father-in-law, and he's like, we don't eat fowl around here.
4:22
SPEAKER_03: We're cattle ranchers.
4:23
SPEAKER_03: So as much as we like eggs, we don't eat a lot of chicken.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: But the eggs, you know, I definitely like farm-raised eggs.
4:31
SPEAKER_03: Those are the best.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we've got, that's what I have.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: I have laying hens at my house.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: I've got seven of those.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: And so we get, that gives us, you know, five to six eggs a day, which is way more than enough.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: We're usually giving them out to folks at church.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: And then I do have,
4:47
SPEAKER_01: I do have two head of cattle,
4:48
SPEAKER_01: Brian,
4:49
SPEAKER_01: that we're going to butcher here in the next couple of weeks.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: month or two, hopefully, which will be really exciting.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: Love a good stay.
4:54
SPEAKER_03: No, you're talking my level.
4:55
SPEAKER_03: I, we've, uh, I've, I've butchered a couple of myself, um, where I've shot them out on the ranch.
5:01
SPEAKER_03: We'd hang them up and I'd slice and dice them and gut them.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: And, uh, right there out in the field.
5:06
SPEAKER_03: And then we dig a hole, we throw the guts in.
5:08
SPEAKER_03: So the coyotes don't come into the field and everything.
5:11
SPEAKER_03: And off they go, you know, to get processed.
5:14
SPEAKER_03: And that's, uh, definitely a little bit more than one, two exacto knives around the neck.
5:22
SPEAKER_03: you're right though that is an urban rule divide you know I grew up in the Portland
5:25
SPEAKER_03: area and and I think that your kids you know my kids have been able to experience
5:32
SPEAKER_03: living in the country and it's really something that they'll go with them and I
5:37
SPEAKER_03: don't know where they'll end up living or you know in a big city or not but man
5:40
SPEAKER_03: just having that experience and just knowing that there's so much ahead of some of
5:45
SPEAKER_03: their other friends that are in the city and stuff
5:48
SPEAKER_03: Totally agree.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: Something else I love just as much,
5:51
SPEAKER_01: well,
5:51
SPEAKER_01: not quite just as much,
5:52
SPEAKER_01: but something that I love a lot,
5:54
SPEAKER_01: like Stakes,
5:55
SPEAKER_01: is feedback from our listeners.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Knowing that people are listening brings me a lot of joy.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: And we have former state representative Marty Wilde, who put a comment on one of our episodes.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: And I just kind of want to read it because I think
6:10
SPEAKER_01: He makes some good points here.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: So this is back from episode seven.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: And he's talking about the judicial jailbreak.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: He says, you're right.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: It's an extreme option.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: Talking about letting everybody out of prison.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand,
6:22
SPEAKER_01: the state hasn't been in a hurry to fix the problem and is still trying to do so on
6:26
SPEAKER_01: the cheap,
6:27
SPEAKER_01: having practiced criminal defense in three different jurisdictions at various times
6:31
SPEAKER_01: in my career.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Oregon is by far the one doing the worst.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: The Sixth Amendment Center wasn't wrong to call it unconstitutionally deficient.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: A sensible solution would be additional reinvestment in appointed counsel,
6:43
SPEAKER_01: investment in a career development track for a defense counsel,
6:47
SPEAKER_01: And the state taking over paying for deputy DAs as well,
6:50
SPEAKER_01: a longstanding and fair criticism by the counties.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: It will take money, but frankly, not all that much of it in the big picture of the state budget.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: If you want an easy revenue source, bump up marijuana taxes.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: They're still very low.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: What do you think about that, Brian?
7:05
SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, he makes some good points.
7:08
SPEAKER_03: It sure does.
7:09
SPEAKER_03: I think that,
7:11
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if I'm,
7:12
SPEAKER_03: you know,
7:12
SPEAKER_03: I'm just so against raising taxes because I feel like it,
7:16
SPEAKER_03: even though it's marijuana taxes and I don't do anything with marijuana and I don't
7:20
SPEAKER_03: really care,
7:22
SPEAKER_03: but I just feel like it leads to
7:25
SPEAKER_03: just other taxes getting raised.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know, I don't know if that's really the answer, but you know, Marty's smart guy.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: I think, uh, he knows what he's talking about when it comes to this stuff.
7:35
SPEAKER_03: So I just think it's great that he reached out and told us what he thinks we like hearing from people.
7:41
SPEAKER_03: We've gotten a few comments.
7:42
SPEAKER_03: I think I got another one that lady was trying to,
7:45
SPEAKER_03: uh,
7:46
SPEAKER_03: get us to help them find bend school board members and stuff.
7:50
SPEAKER_03: So I, I,
7:52
SPEAKER_03: As much as I would love to help, I don't know if Bend might be a lost cause at this point, Reagan.
7:59
SPEAKER_03: I fought that battle many, many, many times in Bend.
8:02
SPEAKER_03: And so keep the comments coming.
8:04
SPEAKER_03: We love to see them.
8:05
SPEAKER_03: Crosstabs.studio is the place to go and comment on our stuff.
8:11
SPEAKER_03: tell us what we should be talking about.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: I like to hear that as well.
8:14
SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, what, what stuff do you guys want to hear about?
8:17
SPEAKER_03: What policy stuff?
8:18
SPEAKER_03: I think between you and me,
8:20
SPEAKER_03: well,
8:20
SPEAKER_03: you're way,
8:21
SPEAKER_03: way smarter on the policy than me,
8:22
SPEAKER_03: but you know,
8:24
SPEAKER_03: I think we can find people that want to come in and talk about certain policy stuff
8:29
SPEAKER_03: as we kind of get,
8:30
SPEAKER_03: we're going to dive into that.
8:31
SPEAKER_03: Cause that's what we are, right?
8:32
SPEAKER_03: We're crosstabs.
8:33
SPEAKER_03: We're going to dive in behind just the headlines and really kind of dive in.
8:37
SPEAKER_03: So yeah,
8:39
SPEAKER_03: I wanted to touch on Trump while we're doing follow-ups.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: I think what we had in the notes here,
8:47
SPEAKER_03: which I thought was really interesting,
8:50
SPEAKER_03: and you put in there,
8:50
SPEAKER_03: which I thought was really cool,
8:52
SPEAKER_03: is he's only seven points down in New York City.
8:57
SPEAKER_03: The place where they convicted him, seven points down, Reagan.
9:01
SPEAKER_03: He's even in Virginia, minus one in Maine.
9:03
SPEAKER_03: These states are all off the table, by the way.
9:06
SPEAKER_03: They were considered off the table.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: not even in contention, but now they're in contention.
9:12
SPEAKER_03: And I think it does beg the question, I wonder where he's at in Oregon.
9:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
9:19
SPEAKER_01: and I think that was sort of my point in putting this out here,
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Brian,
9:23
SPEAKER_01: is I'm hoping and I'm talking to some people and see if I can get somebody to do
9:30
SPEAKER_01: just a quick statewide poll just to try Trump versus Biden and Trump versus Biden
9:35
SPEAKER_01: versus RFK.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: Because RFK, I think if you look on his website, I need to go double check it.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: He has this tracker of where he thinks he's going to be on the ballot based on their signature gathering.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: And in Oregon,
9:46
SPEAKER_01: he would need to gather a decent number of signatures,
9:50
SPEAKER_01: just like Betsy Johnson did to get on the governor ballot as essentially a
9:53
SPEAKER_01: non-affiliated candidate,
9:55
SPEAKER_01: not with a party.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: That's a little harder access, but it can still be done.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: There's still a way to do it through signatures.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: So if he's on the ballot, that could affect how things go.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Oregon is a state, you know,
10:06
SPEAKER_01: RFK Jr.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: is known for being strong on anti-vaccines.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Oregon's a pretty anti-vax state,
10:12
SPEAKER_01: especially Ashland and Bend,
10:13
SPEAKER_01: and those are two places where Biden really wouldn't be able to afford to lose
10:16
SPEAKER_01: votes if Oregon got competitive.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: And don't forget that Oregon has been competitive as recently as 2000 and 2004.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: both times Bush really competed for the state.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: And so I think that I was also seeing a tweet earlier from Trey Rosser kind of
10:36
SPEAKER_01: noting that Oregon's statewide registration gap is narrowing and the registration
10:42
SPEAKER_01: in the major congressional districts,
10:43
SPEAKER_01: five,
10:44
SPEAKER_01: six,
10:44
SPEAKER_01: and four,
10:45
SPEAKER_01: all trending slightly more Republican than they have two years ago.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: And those are all things that I think should make Democrats pay attention.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And I think,
10:55
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of these states where Trump's starting to compete where it's not a given anymore.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: They're going to have to battle it out.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: And if Oregon becomes one of those states, that could ripple down the ballot.
11:06
SPEAKER_03: I think, well, you're pretty smart on, spot on with a lot of those things.
11:11
SPEAKER_03: I think just to layer onto it, it's not this love of Trump.
11:17
SPEAKER_03: that's driving this.
11:19
SPEAKER_03: Cause I was looking at those statewide numbers that, that you said Trey was referencing.
11:23
SPEAKER_03: And I think we even had a little back and forth with John Harvick about some of the numbers, right.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: Of people leaving parties and stuff,
11:34
SPEAKER_03: but they're leaving the Democrat party way faster than they're leaving the
11:38
SPEAKER_03: Republican party way faster than they're leaving,
11:41
SPEAKER_03: you know,
11:41
SPEAKER_03: the who gives a shit independent party.
11:44
SPEAKER_03: in Oregon.
11:45
SPEAKER_03: And I think that in the fastest growing party,
11:48
SPEAKER_03: to your point,
11:49
SPEAKER_03: or actually there was one that was growing,
11:50
SPEAKER_03: which is like the no labels party,
11:52
SPEAKER_03: right?
11:52
SPEAKER_03: They're actually gaining people at a huge clip right now.
11:56
SPEAKER_03: And that's your RFK thing that you talked about, which is interesting.
12:00
SPEAKER_03: I just think that the Democrat policies that they're embracing are so extreme that people are just like,
12:08
SPEAKER_03: dude,
12:08
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
12:08
SPEAKER_03: you know,
12:09
SPEAKER_03: they'll go,
12:09
SPEAKER_03: I talk to people,
12:10
SPEAKER_03: they're like,
12:11
SPEAKER_03: Brian,
12:12
SPEAKER_03: I can't get on board with your Trump guy,
12:14
SPEAKER_03: but dang,
12:15
SPEAKER_03: Biden is horrible.
12:17
SPEAKER_03: Or they'll be like, dang, what are these guys thinking?
12:20
SPEAKER_03: This is so nuts, you know?
12:21
SPEAKER_03: And I'm just like, welcome.
12:25
SPEAKER_03: We're the big tent party for a reason.
12:27
SPEAKER_03: And so I think that's what we're seeing is a little bit of like that double effect of
12:33
SPEAKER_03: you know,
12:34
SPEAKER_03: Trump coming up with,
12:35
SPEAKER_03: I think some pretty good ideas and you and I have always talked about where,
12:40
SPEAKER_03: where Trump has always been smart is,
12:43
SPEAKER_03: is kind of skating like, uh, Wayne Gretzky used to always say, right.
12:47
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you, you skate to where the puck's gonna be, not where the puck is going.
12:51
SPEAKER_03: So I think Trump has always kind of had a little better pulse on voters than I
12:57
SPEAKER_03: think we've ever really given him credit for.
12:59
SPEAKER_03: And he kind of leans into that.
13:00
SPEAKER_03: And I think he's been doing, and he's probably got a bunch of smart people around him, right.
13:05
SPEAKER_03: Telling him what to do.
13:05
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there gotta be, but, uh,
13:07
SPEAKER_03: But he also just has that intuitive nature that I find very interesting that a lot
13:13
SPEAKER_03: of people don't have politically.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, the real challenge with that, Brian, is breaking outside of the box and thinking creatively.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: And I think because he doesn't have a long background in politics,
13:27
SPEAKER_01: there are these things that a lot of us,
13:29
SPEAKER_01: you say,
13:29
SPEAKER_01: oh,
13:29
SPEAKER_01: you can't touch that.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we can't do this.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this will never happen.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: We get stuck.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: And really, it's the people who come in and say, why can't we flip this table over?
13:38
SPEAKER_01: Why can't we move this over here?
13:40
SPEAKER_01: And Trump's going to do that.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't care.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: There's there are a lot of things where he just doesn't care about the 20, 30, 40 year history of it.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: He's like, well, I'm supporting changing this.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lead on this.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: And.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people go, well, you can't do that.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: And he'll just say, why can't I?
13:55
SPEAKER_01: You know,
13:56
SPEAKER_01: and he and it doesn't necessarily always mean that it happens,
14:00
SPEAKER_01: but it means voters are seeing in him a difference between him and Biden where he's
14:05
SPEAKER_01: thinking creatively.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where,
14:08
SPEAKER_01: you know,
14:08
SPEAKER_01: you and me as politicos with all of this baggage,
14:11
SPEAKER_01: we need to be able to think outside the box.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: Just so what that this thing failed 10 years ago.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: Maybe now is the time to bring it back and it's going to pass this time, you know.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of issues, we just, we think the pendulum swings a lot slower than it actually does.
14:26
SPEAKER_03: Well,
14:27
SPEAKER_03: we're in that,
14:28
SPEAKER_03: you know,
14:28
SPEAKER_03: in that discussion,
14:30
SPEAKER_03: even now,
14:31
SPEAKER_03: like I see that reading some of the articles talking about,
14:34
SPEAKER_03: you know,
14:34
SPEAKER_03: traffic planning and stuff.
14:36
SPEAKER_03: And I don't want to get, this is just an example of what you're saying.
14:39
SPEAKER_03: So we have,
14:40
SPEAKER_03: there's an issue with infrastructure funding and we're going to dive into this deeper,
14:45
SPEAKER_03: but there's,
14:46
SPEAKER_03: there's an issue with it.
14:47
SPEAKER_03: And I, and I don't,
14:48
SPEAKER_03: It seems like all they're talking about is the same old solutions that haven't worked.
14:55
SPEAKER_03: And we got to get creative.
14:57
SPEAKER_03: We got to figure out a way to move people from point A to point B.
15:01
SPEAKER_03: in a, in a collective strategy that makes sense.
15:04
SPEAKER_03: And it's not like, Oh, just go raise more taxes.
15:06
SPEAKER_03: Like that's not, obviously that's not the answer.
15:09
SPEAKER_03: So,
15:10
SPEAKER_03: and I think like to your point,
15:11
SPEAKER_03: Trump has been able to do that stuff,
15:14
SPEAKER_03: you know,
15:14
SPEAKER_03: with,
15:14
SPEAKER_03: with his innovative,
15:16
SPEAKER_03: innovative ideas.
15:17
SPEAKER_03: And just like we put in the notes here,
15:19
SPEAKER_03: like when he was down in Las Vegas and he just said,
15:22
SPEAKER_03: Hey,
15:22
SPEAKER_03: how about this?
15:23
SPEAKER_03: Like, why should, why are we taxing tips?
15:27
SPEAKER_03: you know,
15:27
SPEAKER_03: from these people on the bottom ring of the economic ladder that are bartending and
15:32
SPEAKER_03: serving tables.
15:34
SPEAKER_03: And they're the ones going to school,
15:36
SPEAKER_03: you know,
15:36
SPEAKER_03: working the bars at night,
15:38
SPEAKER_03: working the restaurants during the day or whatever the coffee shops trying to get by.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: And yet we're going to tax their tips.
15:44
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, half of them probably cheat on their tips anyway.
15:47
SPEAKER_03: So it's almost built into the number of hours you work and stuff.
15:49
SPEAKER_03: So like he's innovative,
15:51
SPEAKER_03: like nobody really thought about that,
15:52
SPEAKER_03: but I bet it's galvanizing that base of voters.
15:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, and you think about tips, a lot of them happen in cash and all that stuff.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: So it's already hard to trace.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: And the political government version of let's figure out how we can crack down and
16:06
SPEAKER_01: figure out exactly how many tips are going out so that way we can get the right
16:10
SPEAKER_01: amount of tax revenue from that.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: It's like, or how about this?
16:13
SPEAKER_01: Let's let people live their lives.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's sort of more the direction that he's trying to go is,
16:18
SPEAKER_01: hey,
16:19
SPEAKER_01: you worked hard for those tips.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you just keep all of them?
16:21
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: And,
16:23
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:23
SPEAKER_01: all that kind of thinking is not the political,
16:27
SPEAKER_01: traditional thinking that a lot of people have.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's just that's what allows them to, you know, remain a player on the stage.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: And you're totally right, too.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: It's not like Oregon's turned around and become a red MAGA state.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: But Biden has been bad for Oregon in terms of the economy, in terms of gas prices.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about,
16:45
SPEAKER_01: we have our first ever interviews here on this episode as well about the border.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: And Biden is addressing it because it's a political problem for him and his party.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: And Trump is capitalizing on it because he's been consistent on it.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: And he fixed the border issue while he was president, and then it got bad as soon as Biden.
17:05
SPEAKER_03: stepped back in yep no i hear you i think and speaking of that interview make sure
17:11
SPEAKER_03: you stay tuned because we got the one and only for our first interview senator tim
17:17
SPEAKER_03: cano of course so uh we're going to talk border mostly and i kind of uh pushed him
17:23
SPEAKER_03: in the beginning on what's he doing and and that was kind of fun but it was great
17:26
SPEAKER_03: to have him on so we'll we'll play that interview at the end of end of this podcast
17:33
SPEAKER_01: And Brian,
17:33
SPEAKER_01: many people are asking how Senator Tim Canope and hopefully Representative Vicki
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Breeze Iverson are the first guests on our podcast.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to put to rest the rumors.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: Yes, nepotism was a factor here.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: Brian,
17:48
SPEAKER_01: finally,
17:49
SPEAKER_01: after so many years of being on the receiving end of nepotism,
17:52
SPEAKER_01: we were finally able to give a benefit to
17:55
SPEAKER_01: your wife and my dad and the nepotism is on its way back.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: So yes, I do want to address those concerns.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: We know we had a lot of people very interested in being our first guests and the
18:07
SPEAKER_01: nepotism did win out here.
18:09
SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, yes, Reagan.
18:12
SPEAKER_03: That's the short answer to that.
18:14
SPEAKER_03: And if you don't like it, well, too bad.
18:17
SPEAKER_03: Get your own podcast.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: They're very easy to schedule, Brian, because we're close to them.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: That's the main benefit.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: Hey, can you be on the podcast today at 3.30?
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
18:27
SPEAKER_03: Well,
18:28
SPEAKER_03: my wife is,
18:28
SPEAKER_03: I got to tell you,
18:29
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
18:29
SPEAKER_03: getting some time on her schedule sometimes can be pretty difficult,
18:32
SPEAKER_03: even if you're me,
18:33
SPEAKER_03: especially when it comes to doing media.
18:36
SPEAKER_03: She doesn't tend to want to do a ton of media, so she tends not to do too much.
18:42
SPEAKER_03: But she does like to talk policy.
18:45
SPEAKER_03: That's always been kind of her thing.
18:46
SPEAKER_03: I think she was thrown into campaigns before.
18:49
SPEAKER_03: you know, because she really needed to step up in a time when they needed to step up.
18:54
SPEAKER_03: And when she does something, man, she goes all the way.
18:56
SPEAKER_03: So even I can't stop her.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Brian,
19:01
SPEAKER_01: we have this ongoing theme here where we're talking about the Hamas food bank being
19:07
SPEAKER_01: the Oregon food bank,
19:08
SPEAKER_01: the Portland teachers union,
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Hamas union,
19:11
SPEAKER_01: and these guys just can't stop.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: And so we're, we've got, we're doing a third straight week in this Brian, because of,
19:19
SPEAKER_01: this Willamette Week article that I saw here.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: Some city council candidates bristle at the line of questioning in the endorsement
19:25
SPEAKER_01: interviews by the teachers' union.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: So the Portland Teachers' Union is interviewing candidates for Portland City
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Council and not on the written questionnaire where they do kind of more of the
19:33
SPEAKER_01: normal city government type questions.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: they're asking them if they think the city of Portland should do more about the
19:42
SPEAKER_01: ongoing genocide against Palestinians.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to make this clear.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: I already tweeted this out.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: There is no genocide happening and Palestine doesn't exist.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: So this really is a question about insane things happening in liberals' heads.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: And I just kind of wanted to get
20:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh, your quick take on, on this one, Brian.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is the best Reagan.
20:06
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I don't, can these guys get dumber?
20:10
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
20:11
SPEAKER_03: really,
20:11
SPEAKER_03: if you're,
20:11
SPEAKER_03: even if you're a Democrat,
20:13
SPEAKER_03: you gotta be sitting there scratching your head going,
20:16
SPEAKER_03: will you shut up at some point?
20:18
SPEAKER_03: Will you guys just shut up?
20:21
SPEAKER_03: You're killing us here because you look at this stuff and you just go, I can't believe
20:29
SPEAKER_03: Thank God for Willamette Week for holding people in Portland accountable.
20:33
SPEAKER_03: They seem to be some of the only ones doing it.
20:36
SPEAKER_03: I want to be on the receiving end of the leaks that Nigel and Sophie have gotten
20:43
SPEAKER_03: over the years that they've passed on.
20:45
SPEAKER_03: I'll take the stuff they've passed on, not even the stuff they've written on.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: It's just got to be amazing about the things that come in.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: This one is great.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: I was looking at
20:57
SPEAKER_03: the submitted questions that some of these people want them to answer besides the whole Hamas thing.
21:04
SPEAKER_03: Like you got burned, was it last week?
21:08
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't even a week ago on this whole idea.
21:11
SPEAKER_03: And why does it matter if the Portland Teachers Union is involved in the Hamas discussions at all?
21:19
SPEAKER_03: Like it's just dumb.
21:21
SPEAKER_03: And then yet you're gonna put this on Portland City Council candidates who have nothing to do
21:26
SPEAKER_03: with what's going to happen over in uh over in that neck of the the woods you know
21:31
SPEAKER_03: it blows me away and but it is kind of funny because we do get to talk about it so
21:36
SPEAKER_03: from that standpoint I'm I'm I'm pretty pretty happy that they did it because it
21:42
SPEAKER_03: gave us another you know five ten minutes to talk about how horrible the Portland
21:46
SPEAKER_03: public school system is and I wish these counselors
21:51
SPEAKER_03: would basically just give them the finger and not even go get their endorsement
21:55
SPEAKER_03: from them and just be like,
21:56
SPEAKER_03: I'm not,
21:57
SPEAKER_03: and some didn't,
21:57
SPEAKER_03: right.
21:58
SPEAKER_03: They had the Zimmerman, the one guy Zimmerman that works for Julie Brim Edwards.
22:04
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if Zimmerman is Jewish or not.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: I think it's, I think it's a Jewish name as far as I know, but I'd be curious to know if he is, but
22:14
SPEAKER_03: he wasn't even given the questionnaire like they didn't even like,
22:17
SPEAKER_03: but he works for Julie Brenna and she was somewhat critical when they were doing
22:21
SPEAKER_03: the walkout stuff.
22:22
SPEAKER_03: So they, they just basically threw him to the wolves, you know, which I just find amazing.
22:27
SPEAKER_03: And so the,
22:28
SPEAKER_03: the Democrat on Democrat crime is pretty intense right now in the streets of Portland,
22:34
SPEAKER_03: let alone the real crime.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: A great point, Brian.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: And I think sort of when you get, this is the problem with the one party control system.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: as you get so far deep into the democratic control,
22:45
SPEAKER_01: they just think they can do whatever they want with no consequences.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: And I kind of wanted to get your take.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: So Brian,
22:53
SPEAKER_01: I need you to take off your Republican strategist hat and I need you to,
22:57
SPEAKER_01: you know,
22:57
SPEAKER_01: look behind your desk or wherever your democratic strategist hat fell and put that
23:01
SPEAKER_01: on for a second.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Cause I want to talk about this.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh,
23:06
SPEAKER_01: Oregon Planned Parenthood CEOs were attempting to dissolve their own political arm.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: And then after massive pushback from a lot of key Democrats,
23:19
SPEAKER_01: former lawmakers,
23:20
SPEAKER_01: current lawmakers,
23:22
SPEAKER_01: they decided not to do it right away,
23:24
SPEAKER_01: but they might still do it.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: after this upcoming election.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: And I just wanted to talk with you about this.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: I was surprised to see this kind of,
23:34
SPEAKER_01: normally these kind of inter-party feuds do not spill onto the pages of,
23:40
SPEAKER_01: you know,
23:40
SPEAKER_01: public news,
23:40
SPEAKER_01: but here this one did and OPB's,
23:42
SPEAKER_01: so their original report
23:45
SPEAKER_01: basically said there's two Planned Parenthoods in Oregon.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: And one of them is the Southwest Columbia one.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: And it kind of covers like the Portland and Willamette Valley area, Southwest Washington.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: And then there's one in Southern Oregon.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: And that kind of takes in a good chunk of the rest.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: And both of them send money to Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon,
24:05
SPEAKER_01: which is their like PAC political arm that does all the candidate endorsing and the
24:10
SPEAKER_01: lobbying and stuff like that.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: And these two CEOs were like,
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Well, they send more than $700,000 to the lobbying arm annually, according to this article.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: And the Columbia Willamette,
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Portland area Planned Parenthood,
24:23
SPEAKER_01: they have $36 million in annual revenue with total expenses of $31 million.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: That's $5 million in profit, if my math is right.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: They...
24:33
SPEAKER_01: They are looking at their budgets and they're wanting to eliminate their political arm.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any insight onto why they might take this kind of a direction?
24:42
SPEAKER_03: Well, I don't, especially making it public is kind of interesting.
24:46
SPEAKER_03: I would imagine there had to been, nothing is ever leaked.
24:49
SPEAKER_03: Let's just be, let's be real there, right?
24:52
SPEAKER_03: Things are leaked because they want an outcome.
24:56
SPEAKER_03: And I think what we might find here is you have maybe some believers within the
25:02
SPEAKER_03: That Planned Parenthood group that,
25:05
SPEAKER_03: you know,
25:05
SPEAKER_03: kind of feels that they they want to take it in a different direction.
25:09
SPEAKER_03: They want to do, you know, they believe in abortion rights and all the things.
25:14
SPEAKER_03: And they just maybe want to focus on it's constitutionally legal in Oregon, all the things.
25:19
SPEAKER_03: And they're just saying, hey, listen, we got other things we want to do with the money.
25:24
SPEAKER_03: And I'm guessing the other people like,
25:25
SPEAKER_03: no,
25:26
SPEAKER_03: we got to use abortion and we're going to ride that horse until she bucks.
25:29
SPEAKER_03: Right.
25:29
SPEAKER_03: Throws me down a ditch.
25:31
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like that's kind of what's happening.
25:34
SPEAKER_03: And so these guys basically say, well, let's write a memo and leak it.
25:38
SPEAKER_03: So I think that's probably what what kind of happened on this end of it.
25:44
SPEAKER_03: I know that Jennifer Williamson is around it.
25:47
SPEAKER_03: I would would.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: It's just interesting to me.
25:53
SPEAKER_03: So I think at the end of the day,
25:57
SPEAKER_03: there was a goal that you and I and I don't have a Democrat strategy had.
26:01
SPEAKER_03: So it's because I don't know how they use abortion.
26:04
SPEAKER_03: All I know is they use it every single chance they get.
26:08
SPEAKER_03: Every single time they're stuck on, well, Portland teachers, yeah, Hamas is great.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: Jews suck.
26:18
SPEAKER_03: And we call them out on it.
26:19
SPEAKER_03: They go, what about abortion?
26:21
SPEAKER_03: You know, so it's like, it's literally the go-to for any time you're stuck in a corner.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: And I would, right?
26:27
SPEAKER_03: I would tell anybody like, oh, you're on a stage and something's wrong.
26:30
SPEAKER_03: Just go to abortion.
26:32
SPEAKER_03: Like it's the go-to for them on everything.
26:36
SPEAKER_03: And it's because it's their one issue that they get,
26:40
SPEAKER_03: you know,
26:40
SPEAKER_03: probably a 60 plus percent,
26:43
SPEAKER_03: you know,
26:44
SPEAKER_03: people want abortion rights.
26:46
SPEAKER_03: So I don't know.
26:49
SPEAKER_03: I think this is just silliness, but I love it and I want more of it.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: So let's get it out there more.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, you're talking I mean, this is definitely that dim on dim crime that you were talking about.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: I have a theory, Brian, and you can tell me what you think about this.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: I think these two CEOs, you know, as I said, they send about seven hundred thousand dollars.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: I think that's annually.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: So in a two year election cycle, that's one and a half million.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Basically, you're spending on politics and they look at the state.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: As Republicans, $1.5 million, sure.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Who cares, right?
27:23
SPEAKER_01: It's not like that's a large amount of money for our campaigns.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait, it is.
27:28
SPEAKER_03: But for them... Megan, that's two house races.
27:30
SPEAKER_03: I mean, what are we doing?
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: And I think these guys,
27:35
SPEAKER_01: they look at their budget,
27:37
SPEAKER_01: they look at Oregon being so rock solid on abortion,
27:43
SPEAKER_01: and they look at Republicans not winning statewide races,
27:46
SPEAKER_01: and they just go,
27:47
SPEAKER_01: well,
27:47
SPEAKER_01: look,
27:48
SPEAKER_01: If as long as Democrats stay in control, abortion is going to stay legal.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: And if we lose control, the Republicans, maybe they have enough votes to do it.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they don't.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Whatever.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: We're just going to say that the Democrats will protect us and we don't have to spend any money on this.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: And frankly, Brian, I think their strategy is right.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: They're correct.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: Nothing happens if you dissolve Planned Parenthood in Oregon,
28:10
SPEAKER_01: because we would have to win really solid majorities,
28:13
SPEAKER_01: I think,
28:14
SPEAKER_01: in order to overturn that.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: And we have to have the governor's office.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: And we might even still need the courts.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and that takes a long time.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: And you see this,
28:22
SPEAKER_01: and this is something that we're going to talk about,
28:23
SPEAKER_01: as you've seen,
28:24
SPEAKER_01: the mission creep,
28:25
SPEAKER_01: where Portland teachers should be focused on education.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: They're like, you know, as you know, we need to tell everybody that you suck.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: When this Planned Parenthood story broke, ACLU was out there saying how horrible it was.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: They tried to close it.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Basic Rights, Oregon.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: Next up, Oregon, you know, Emerge Oregon, Oregon Nurse Association.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: All of these groups are abortion groups now.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: They're not just in their own lane.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: So who cares if one of them falls, if all the rest of them are still there on abortion?
28:52
SPEAKER_01: Kind of makes sense.
28:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think you're onto something there with the mission creep for sure.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: And I think that these other groups want to get into the abortion business because
29:05
SPEAKER_03: Because the political business,
29:07
SPEAKER_03: the fiscal business,
29:08
SPEAKER_03: you name it,
29:09
SPEAKER_03: you know,
29:09
SPEAKER_03: abortion is big money,
29:10
SPEAKER_03: right?
29:10
SPEAKER_03: From a political standpoint, there's a lot of capital in it.
29:14
SPEAKER_03: So Basic Rights Oregon doesn't want Planned Parenthood to have all the say on what
29:20
SPEAKER_03: happens with abortion on their side of the ticket.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: And the reality is politically, just straight politically, we're at 25.
29:27
SPEAKER_03: I'll just take the House, for instance, 25 members in the House.
29:31
SPEAKER_03: And there's 35 Democrats.
29:34
SPEAKER_03: For us to get to 30, that's five seats we have to win.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: That's some quick math for you, Megan.
29:43
SPEAKER_03: On that, on those five seats, they will come from the suburbs of Portland for the most part, right?
29:54
SPEAKER_03: There might be one or two of the suburbs of Bend or the suburbs of Eugene or you name it, right?
29:59
SPEAKER_03: But they're coming from the suburbs.
30:02
SPEAKER_03: In the suburbs,
30:03
SPEAKER_03: abortion runs at a higher click rate than it does in rural Oregon,
30:08
SPEAKER_03: meaning more people want to have abortion rights.
30:11
SPEAKER_03: So you're going to get Republicans that are probably a little softer on abortion than,
30:18
SPEAKER_03: say,
30:19
SPEAKER_03: a Republican from eastern Oregon or southern Oregon.
30:21
SPEAKER_03: So even if we got to 33rd, on some miracle year,
30:28
SPEAKER_03: great candidates, all the things.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: There's no way in hell that they're going to lead day one of the long session going,
30:37
SPEAKER_03: all right,
30:37
SPEAKER_03: it's time to get rid of that abortion thing.
30:39
SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
30:39
SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just not going to happen.
30:41
SPEAKER_03: So I think you're truly on to something.
30:44
SPEAKER_03: It's like they're just saying, listen, problem solved.
30:48
SPEAKER_03: And the Democrats never claim victory on a problem.
30:53
SPEAKER_03: Have you realized that?
30:54
SPEAKER_03: Like the climate change.
30:57
SPEAKER_03: The border, homelessness, abortion.
31:01
SPEAKER_03: Like at some point, take a victory lap.
31:04
SPEAKER_03: You know, you want on abortion.
31:06
SPEAKER_03: Oh, no, it's not good enough.
31:07
SPEAKER_03: We got to go now to,
31:08
SPEAKER_03: you know,
31:09
SPEAKER_03: 12 year olds got to have free abortions and we got to have campus abortions.
31:13
SPEAKER_03: You know, all of it like they just won't take a win.
31:17
SPEAKER_03: And they also take on issues that I don't think are winnable.
31:20
SPEAKER_03: But abortion was and I think you were on to something.
31:23
SPEAKER_03: It was an achievable outcome.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: They achieve the outcome and now they don't know what to do.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Totally well said, Brian.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: I think the other thing about it,
31:30
SPEAKER_01: too,
31:30
SPEAKER_01: that is interesting to me,
31:32
SPEAKER_01: and I think this is what it gets to,
31:34
SPEAKER_01: right?
31:35
SPEAKER_01: What I'm reading in that article is it's all about the money.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what they think, too.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: They're worried that the government spigot for abortion might get turned down a little bit.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: Because the worst that's going to happen, this is next cycle.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: You get a split house or a split Senate or Republican control of one or both chambers.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: You still got Tina Kotek in the governor's office.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: But what happens if Republican budget writers turn down the spigot?
32:00
SPEAKER_01: You can veto line items.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: You can't add new ones.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: You can't be like, but I'm going to write in Planned Parenthood funding.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: So I think they're worried about losing government funding.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: And that's the interesting thing about this to me is what happens to Planned Parenthood's business?
32:17
SPEAKER_01: If they lose too much government funding, does it collapse?
32:20
SPEAKER_01: Does it, do they have to close?
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Do they have to provide less abortions?
32:26
SPEAKER_01: You know,
32:26
SPEAKER_01: do they have to,
32:27
SPEAKER_01: they claim abortion isn't the primary part of their business,
32:29
SPEAKER_01: even though it clearly is that they do all this other,
32:32
SPEAKER_01: you know,
32:32
SPEAKER_01: healthcare stuff.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: What if they don't get reimbursed for that?
32:36
SPEAKER_01: I think that is the place where they're worried the most,
32:40
SPEAKER_01: or at least some of these lawmakers are like,
32:42
SPEAKER_01: well,
32:42
SPEAKER_01: what if I can't get the Planned Parenthood line item in there,
32:44
SPEAKER_01: then what's going to happen?
32:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: So.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: All that to say,
32:48
SPEAKER_01: I think that it's a fascinating thing to kind of see a little window into what's
32:53
SPEAKER_01: happening behind closed doors with,
32:56
SPEAKER_01: you know,
32:56
SPEAKER_01: the Democrats and their coalition and going to be watching this story to see what
33:02
SPEAKER_01: happens either later this year or in 2025.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: I think there's a lot of things going on with the Democratic Party right now in Oregon,
33:13
SPEAKER_03: especially with this push poll,
33:16
SPEAKER_03: I think,
33:16
SPEAKER_03: within the party.
33:19
SPEAKER_03: And they're letting it play out in the newspapers, which normally we reserve that for Republicans to do.
33:25
SPEAKER_03: So thank you, Democrats, for leading the headlines for us.
33:29
SPEAKER_03: Can we keep it going until about November 7th or so?
33:32
SPEAKER_03: That'd be wonderful.
33:35
SPEAKER_03: On that note, Reagan, I think this is a good time for us to go to our interview with Senator Tim Knope.
33:45
SPEAKER_03: Welcome, everybody, to Crosstab's interview style in the studio.
33:50
SPEAKER_03: We're here today,
33:51
SPEAKER_03: our very first guest,
33:53
SPEAKER_03: which I'm super excited about,
33:54
SPEAKER_03: my former boss,
33:56
SPEAKER_03: my co-host's dad,
33:58
SPEAKER_03: and one of the best senators I've ever had the pleasure of working with,
34:00
SPEAKER_03: Senator Tim Knope.
34:02
SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Senator.
34:03
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
34:04
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Brian.
34:05
SPEAKER_02: It's great to be with you.
34:06
SPEAKER_03: Well, thanks for being here.
34:08
SPEAKER_03: Reagan's here as well.
34:09
SPEAKER_03: My co-host Reagan, thanks for being on.
34:11
SPEAKER_03: I think this is going to be fun.
34:13
SPEAKER_03: We're going to try to keep the conversation focused on Arizona and the border trip
34:18
SPEAKER_03: that we did earlier this spring.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: But, Senator, thanks for coming.
34:24
SPEAKER_03: Truly was a pleasure doing this trip with you,
34:26
SPEAKER_03: and it was a real pleasure working with you on campaigns in the last couple of
34:30
SPEAKER_03: years together.
34:31
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to fire off just a real quick one.
34:35
SPEAKER_03: What's next for Senator Cano?
34:37
SPEAKER_03: Before we get into the Arizona thing, what are we doing now?
34:41
SPEAKER_03: What's the plan?
34:43
SPEAKER_02: Well, right now I'm doing what I...
34:46
SPEAKER_02: think is going to serve our state best which is to try to elect more republicans at
34:55
SPEAKER_02: the oregon senate and house level and even in congress i think it would be
35:01
SPEAKER_02: incredibly damaging to the country if democrats were able to take congress back and
35:08
SPEAKER_02: right now the number is so close that uh
35:14
SPEAKER_02: if the Ds just win a few seats,
35:16
SPEAKER_02: a handful of seats,
35:18
SPEAKER_02: they could take Congress back,
35:19
SPEAKER_02: and that would cause a lot of problems for the country.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm doing what I can to get more good Republicans elected.
35:28
SPEAKER_02: I think an 80% friend is better than a 100% enemy because the adversaries that the Ds are,
35:41
SPEAKER_02: And the issues that they want to espouse do not line up well to,
35:50
SPEAKER_02: number one,
35:51
SPEAKER_02: protect this country,
35:52
SPEAKER_02: and number two,
35:53
SPEAKER_02: to economically make it so that families can actually survive.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: And we've seen this inflation.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: We've seen all these things that are overtaking our families.
36:05
SPEAKER_02: And
36:07
SPEAKER_02: all this stuff is solvable.
36:08
SPEAKER_02: It's literally bad policy choices by Democrats that are causing these problems.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: And we just need to educate the public that there is a significant difference.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: And so when we elect Dick Anderson again to Senate District 5,
36:24
SPEAKER_02: or we elect Michael Summers to Senate District 27,
36:28
SPEAKER_02: that makes a huge difference.
36:30
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what I'm focused on right now to the end of the year.
36:34
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Senator.
36:34
SPEAKER_03: Speaking of congressional policy and presidential policy, I mean, a lot of people...
36:41
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
36:41
SPEAKER_03: I don't know,
36:41
SPEAKER_03: there's a lot of people that maybe the negative pushback when you and myself and
36:47
SPEAKER_03: Reagan got to go.
36:48
SPEAKER_03: And then I think we had Reagan 15,
36:50
SPEAKER_03: 14,
36:50
SPEAKER_03: 15,
36:50
SPEAKER_03: 16 other,
36:52
SPEAKER_03: you know,
36:53
SPEAKER_03: Republican representatives that went down and candidates that went down to the border.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: You know,
36:57
SPEAKER_03: that border policy is,
36:59
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
36:59
SPEAKER_03: it's the number one issue in Republicans and non-affiliated voters.
37:03
SPEAKER_03: It's right there with inflation.
37:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they're like hand in hand as well.
37:07
SPEAKER_03: Just horrible policy.
37:08
SPEAKER_03: But Democrats just it seems like they just want to keep it open.
37:11
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know really the answer there,
37:15
SPEAKER_03: but it sure feels like whatever we're doing isn't the right answer,
37:19
SPEAKER_03: the right policy.
37:20
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if Reagan, maybe real quick, like set us up, like, why did we go?
37:25
SPEAKER_03: What did we do?
37:26
SPEAKER_03: And then we can kind of get into our thoughts about it.
37:30
SPEAKER_01: Brian, I think that's a good way to set a baseline here for the audience.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And I think I just thought it would be easy enough to sort of pull up.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: There was a little bit of news coverage because we let people know in advance that
37:42
SPEAKER_01: we were going to do this trip.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: And so they published that.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to read a quote from Senator Canope.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: We know that there are drugs coming over the border and those end up in probably
37:55
SPEAKER_01: all states,
37:56
SPEAKER_01: but certainly in Western states,
37:58
SPEAKER_01: we've obviously seen some crime impact.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: So he's talking about,
38:03
SPEAKER_01: And I just saw another tweet today.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: Colorado is sending some of their illegals to Utah.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: And the governor of Utah was like, this is not cool.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: And they didn't communicate with us about it.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: And he said, you know, what we heard down there, every state is a border state.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's the kind of baseline that this is impacting everybody.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: You mentioned the polling.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: It's the number one issue in Gallup polling when you talk about non-economic issues.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: And so it seems pretty salient to people.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: And so I think we just needed to go down and gather more data.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: And then we had this response from the Democrats because they always get a quote from the Democrats.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: The Senate Democratic Leadership Fund, Oliver Mugley,
38:44
SPEAKER_01: Oregonians expect their elected officials to be focused on people in our state,
38:48
SPEAKER_01: not playing MAGA politics a thousand miles away.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: This is a cheap election year stunt that does nothing except show people how deeply
38:55
SPEAKER_01: out of touch Republican politicians are with Oregon priorities.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: And I certainly thought that was interesting.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: They were focused on the issues here in Oregon.
39:05
SPEAKER_01: We got back.
39:05
SPEAKER_01: Those weren't fixed, so I don't know what they are waiting for exactly.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: But that sort of sets...
39:12
SPEAKER_01: One side calling it a stunt.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about it as an information-gathering trip.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: And,
39:16
SPEAKER_01: Senator,
39:17
SPEAKER_01: I'd be interested in your feedback on what you feel like you learned going on the
39:22
SPEAKER_01: trip that wasn't so clear just from news coverage and reading data that you may get
39:28
SPEAKER_01: in the legislature.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks, Reagan.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: So when you watch the news or you see news in social media, they talk about the border issue.
39:41
SPEAKER_02: but what most Americans and what most Oregonians don't see is the destruction of
39:52
SPEAKER_02: these communities along the border and the destruction in terms of lives.
39:57
SPEAKER_02: And the media fails to report so many assaults, rapes,
40:08
SPEAKER_02: murders, kidnappings.
40:11
SPEAKER_02: And every once in a while, you'll hear about a big drug bust that they'll promote.
40:16
SPEAKER_02: But this happens on a daily basis.
40:21
SPEAKER_02: Every night, people are coming over the border.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: We don't know who they are.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: We know that the people that have been caught, there have been terrorists in that group.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: There have been drug cartel members in that group of people.
40:38
SPEAKER_02: And the biggest segment of that group coming over the border are males that are 18 to 35.
40:50
SPEAKER_02: And they aren't all coming here just to help out with agriculture or jobs that, you know,
41:02
SPEAKER_02: you know, allegedly Americans won't do.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: And so what we really need to focus on is legal immigration.
41:11
SPEAKER_02: We still are a country that welcomes people legally.
41:17
SPEAKER_02: We want to know who you are.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: We want to know what you're about.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: We want to know that you're going to be loyal to the United States of America.
41:23
SPEAKER_02: We want you to become a US citizen.
41:26
SPEAKER_02: And there's a process to do that.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: And that needs to be cleaned up.
41:30
SPEAKER_02: It needs to be streamlined.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: by Congress,
41:34
SPEAKER_02: and we need to get away from this open border where somebody says they want to seek asylum,
41:42
SPEAKER_02: they turn themselves in,
41:44
SPEAKER_02: quote,
41:44
SPEAKER_02: get caught,
41:46
SPEAKER_02: and end up being released into the country,
41:50
SPEAKER_02: and they don't have a hearing for seven to 10 years.
41:53
SPEAKER_02: And so they just disappear into the country and become part of the fabric, but yet are here illegally.
41:59
SPEAKER_02: And so we need to focus on allowing our law enforcement to work with federal law
42:08
SPEAKER_02: enforcement to make sure that if people are committing crimes that are here illegally,
42:16
SPEAKER_02: that they're either in prison or they're deported.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: And nobody's worried about somebody who gets a speeding ticket.
42:26
SPEAKER_02: But we are concerned if you're selling drugs,
42:28
SPEAKER_02: molesting children,
42:31
SPEAKER_02: you know,
42:31
SPEAKER_02: driving while intoxicated and injuring and killing people and,
42:37
SPEAKER_02: you know,
42:37
SPEAKER_02: committing crimes.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: kidnapping, rape, and murder.
42:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
42:40
SPEAKER_02: we are not interested in that happening in our cities and counties across Oregon or
42:48
SPEAKER_02: across America.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: And so we need to come up with a strategy that helps law enforcement,
42:55
SPEAKER_02: the local level,
42:56
SPEAKER_02: engage and improve safety for all Oregonians.
43:02
SPEAKER_03: Wasn't that like,
43:03
SPEAKER_03: like measure one 10,
43:04
SPEAKER_03: when we were doing all that in a short session and one of the proposals or the
43:09
SPEAKER_03: amendments that were kind of out there was this basically,
43:11
SPEAKER_03: if you're a drug dealer and we catch you and you're an illegal alien,
43:15
SPEAKER_03: we're going to turn you over to ice,
43:17
SPEAKER_03: right?
43:17
SPEAKER_03: Like we were going to make that part of,
43:19
SPEAKER_03: you know,
43:21
SPEAKER_03: the law basically that you had to,
43:23
SPEAKER_03: and the Democrats didn't want that in there.
43:26
SPEAKER_03: And I, I don't know, I guess I, I struggle with the why, right?
43:30
SPEAKER_03: Why do Democrats not want to have a controlled border?
43:35
SPEAKER_03: Like that's it baffles me to the point,
43:39
SPEAKER_03: especially being down there and seeing like the rape tree and all the things that
43:43
SPEAKER_03: you see.
43:44
SPEAKER_03: Like, why not control that border?
43:46
SPEAKER_03: Why not let the people in that truly need asylum that we want to welcome in?
43:51
SPEAKER_03: Obama talked about, you know, the dreamers.
43:55
SPEAKER_03: You know,
43:55
SPEAKER_03: these these kids that wanted that came in and then like to your point,
43:59
SPEAKER_03: like all of a sudden that shifted where I think maybe all those people that wanted
44:03
SPEAKER_03: in kind of came in and now we're down to the 18 to 34 year olds.
44:09
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you have any thoughts on either of you two,
44:11
SPEAKER_03: but I just I don't know why that it just baffles me why they don't want to come.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
44:17
SPEAKER_02: Brian,
44:17
SPEAKER_02: Brian,
44:18
SPEAKER_02: I think I mean,
44:19
SPEAKER_02: part of it is is Democrats are are looking for people who are going to be reliant
44:25
SPEAKER_02: on them when election time comes around.
44:28
SPEAKER_02: and will ultimately vote Democrat.
44:30
SPEAKER_02: And someone who is reliant on the government is more likely to vote Democrat.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if that's what most politicians are after,
44:42
SPEAKER_02: but it sure feels like it,
44:44
SPEAKER_02: to be honest with you.
44:46
SPEAKER_02: And it is disconcerting because one of the things we learned was just that at just the border crossing,
44:56
SPEAKER_02: that I think we went to.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: So that was the Yuma, Mexico, California border.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: So Arizona, California, Mexico, and the Yuma sector.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: 155 countries were represented annually of people who came over the border.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: So they're not just coming from Mexico, Central America,
45:18
SPEAKER_02: They are coming from all over the world.
45:20
SPEAKER_02: And one of the places most recently that's had a significant increase,
45:25
SPEAKER_02: a spike as it were,
45:27
SPEAKER_02: is males 18 to 35 from China.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: And you have to ask yourself why and how are Chinese men
45:41
SPEAKER_02: citizens getting to the Mexico, California, Arizona border and crossing there.
45:51
SPEAKER_02: And why?
45:52
SPEAKER_02: And I can't think of a good reason.
45:56
SPEAKER_02: So you've got, you know, I asked the question why Democrats say they care about labor trafficking.
46:02
SPEAKER_02: Labor trafficking is a function of the illegal trafficking.
46:07
SPEAKER_02: entry across our border.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: They say they care about sex trafficking.
46:13
SPEAKER_02: Again, also a function of people illegally coming across the border.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: we saw some just horrific and heard horrific stories about kids and women being
46:35
SPEAKER_02: sexually assaulted and raped just to get in to the country.
46:41
SPEAKER_02: Almost somehow as you have to have this happen in order for you to come across.
46:49
SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure that
46:52
SPEAKER_02: They must care.
46:54
SPEAKER_02: But if they truly care, they want to shut that down.
46:58
SPEAKER_02: They want to protect these women and kids from these things that are happening to them.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: And then the same thing that's happening in these border communities.
47:08
SPEAKER_02: And the thing, I guess, that bothered me the most is Democrats say they care about people of color.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: And almost every single person whose rights are being violated,
47:21
SPEAKER_02: whose bodies are being violated,
47:23
SPEAKER_02: or having crimes committed against them,
47:27
SPEAKER_02: are people of color.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: Almost all of them.
47:31
SPEAKER_02: And so where's the outrage?
47:35
SPEAKER_02: And to say that somehow going to the border is political?
47:41
SPEAKER_02: No.
47:43
SPEAKER_02: It's responding to what Oregonians say that they care about,
47:48
SPEAKER_02: and it's doing something about it through legislation.
47:52
SPEAKER_02: in the coming sessions that is going to be necessary because we need to join the
47:57
SPEAKER_02: border states and we need to support them,
48:00
SPEAKER_02: their sovereignty.
48:02
SPEAKER_02: And the other thing we learned was is that 50% of the fentanyl coming in to the
48:10
SPEAKER_02: United States is coming from China into Mexico and over
48:16
SPEAKER_02: the border in Arizona in several sectors, 50% of all the fentanyl.
48:24
SPEAKER_02: And as we know, dangerous and deadly.
48:26
SPEAKER_03: Is that the good fentanyl or the bad fentanyl?
48:29
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
48:31
SPEAKER_02: It is all dangerous and deadly.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: And so the idea that somehow that the border is not an issue,
48:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, it is the issue is the defining issue.
48:43
SPEAKER_02: If you can't control the borders of your country, you have no country, just the bottom line.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: You, this is the bottom line.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: You can't keep, you can't keep people safe.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: You don't know who's here and all you're doing is setting up the next, uh,
49:00
SPEAKER_02: cartel in the US, the next terrorist attack in the US, if you don't control your border.
49:06
SPEAKER_02: And right now,
49:06
SPEAKER_02: it does not seem like there is much control of the border because illegal crossings
49:12
SPEAKER_02: are up substantially over the last few years.
49:17
SPEAKER_03: And that's kind of what we heard.
49:18
SPEAKER_03: Fixing Measure 110 was, you know, took a monumental task, right?
49:23
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was getting
49:24
SPEAKER_03: Everybody on board, it was convincing everybody that this week didn't convince everybody.
49:29
SPEAKER_03: There were still some some far left wing groups that didn't want drugs.
49:33
SPEAKER_03: But I mean,
49:34
SPEAKER_03: even if we could have we keep measure 10,
49:37
SPEAKER_03: measure 110 or whatever,
49:38
SPEAKER_03: we get penalties that could have been,
49:40
SPEAKER_03: you know,
49:41
SPEAKER_03: 20 years in prison.
49:42
SPEAKER_03: And it wouldn't it doesn't matter if we don't stop the flow of drugs.
49:46
SPEAKER_03: And so in Oregon, it doesn't make a difference if we don't stop the flow of drugs.
49:50
SPEAKER_03: I even,
49:50
SPEAKER_03: you know,
49:51
SPEAKER_03: saw you on Dr.
49:52
SPEAKER_03: Phil,
49:52
SPEAKER_03: you know,
49:53
SPEAKER_03: and we got to talk about the flow of drugs in the same conjunction of fixing it on
49:58
SPEAKER_03: the streets.
49:59
SPEAKER_03: Like it just can't, and the flow of drugs is coming from Mexico.
50:03
SPEAKER_03: So that's why it's a local issue to Oregon.
50:06
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
50:07
SPEAKER_03: just that one alone,
50:08
SPEAKER_03: the human trafficking,
50:09
SPEAKER_03: all the other things that are also responsible for that.
50:13
SPEAKER_03: And that to me was,
50:16
SPEAKER_03: the huge takeaway of why it is an issue for us to Reagan's point of Oliver Mugley
50:22
SPEAKER_03: or whatever his name is on the Democrat side,
50:24
SPEAKER_03: like,
50:24
SPEAKER_03: oh,
50:24
SPEAKER_03: they're going to stay here and care about issues Oregonians want them to fix.
50:28
SPEAKER_03: I kind of thought Measure 110 was a big issue they wanted us to fix.
50:33
SPEAKER_02: So it is.
50:35
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, we made a lot of progress by the fixes that we did to measure 110.
50:41
SPEAKER_02: But we asked the question, what's next?
50:45
SPEAKER_02: What can we do to help improve beyond what we just did?
50:48
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we dealt with recriminalizing our drugs.
50:55
SPEAKER_02: Now we need to deal with the supply.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: of those drugs and make it incredibly difficult for those drugs to get out on the street.
51:06
SPEAKER_02: We have to fight this fight because Oregonians are dying from early ages to the elderly.
51:15
SPEAKER_02: Oregonians are dying before our eyes.
51:18
SPEAKER_02: 1,600 people on an annual basis was I think the last stat that I saw.
51:24
SPEAKER_02: And almost the vast, vast majority of those are fentanyl deaths.
51:30
SPEAKER_02: And again, 50% of the fentanyl coming through the Arizona border.
51:34
SPEAKER_02: And we've talked to several Arizona legislators.
51:37
SPEAKER_02: They said, we need your help.
51:39
SPEAKER_02: We need you to talk about this.
51:40
SPEAKER_02: We need good policies.
51:42
SPEAKER_02: We need to have people talk to Congress about it.
51:46
SPEAKER_02: president.
51:47
SPEAKER_02: Now,
51:47
SPEAKER_02: the president acted a little bit,
51:48
SPEAKER_02: but it kind of looks like he's just doing some election year stuff that he really
51:54
SPEAKER_02: doesn't mean.
51:55
SPEAKER_02: And the Democrats need to get serious about this.
51:59
SPEAKER_02: And it is going to be an issue because Oregonians already believe it's an issue.
52:04
SPEAKER_02: The only people in Oregon that this isn't in the top one or two issues are the liberal Democrat base.
52:13
SPEAKER_02: Everybody else
52:14
SPEAKER_02: Non-affiliated, it's independent, Republican, so on.
52:18
SPEAKER_02: It's either a number one or a number two issue or tied for number one for border security.
52:25
SPEAKER_02: And it needs to be addressed.
52:27
SPEAKER_02: And at the state level,
52:28
SPEAKER_02: we need to do what we can to address and support and help those who are fighting
52:33
SPEAKER_02: this fight for us on the border.
52:34
SPEAKER_02: And man,
52:35
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
52:35
SPEAKER_02: law enforcement was doing everything they could do,
52:37
SPEAKER_02: but it's clear they're overwhelmed,
52:39
SPEAKER_02: outgunned,
52:41
SPEAKER_02: and the cartels have way more resources than our border agents do.
52:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, you look at this and also in 2021, Democrats are passing pro-sanctuary legislation.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: And now we're just, you know, three years removed from that.
52:56
SPEAKER_01: And Biden is doing an executive action to sort of supposedly tamp down.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: And I think you're right.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously it doesn't go very far.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: it looks more like a signaling thing to try to muddy the waters or neutralize the
53:10
SPEAKER_01: issue for democrats so they don't have to face it but even then still the far
53:15
SPEAKER_01: left-wing groups are suing the biden administration for putting these even you know
53:19
SPEAKER_01: minor limits on border crossings right and
53:23
SPEAKER_01: It's just so funny to me.
53:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the ACLU was the first one there.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: And it's like they're the American Civil Liberties Union.
53:30
SPEAKER_01: If you're not an American, you don't have a lot of these protections.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: And it's like,
53:35
SPEAKER_01: what happened with the ACLU and these other groups that they're now all engaged for
53:39
SPEAKER_01: some reason on immigration,
53:41
SPEAKER_01: on this immigration fight?
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Well, and at the border, again, if Democrats care about people of color, people of color are dying on
53:52
SPEAKER_02: the border, near the border.
53:54
SPEAKER_02: They're being raped at and near the border.
53:59
SPEAKER_02: Where's the outrage?
54:00
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you care?
54:02
SPEAKER_02: And I want to see everyone protected.
54:05
SPEAKER_02: And if people need jobs, I want to see legal immigration and jobs found for people.
54:13
SPEAKER_02: But what we can't have is this almost open border policy that pretty much lets
54:20
SPEAKER_02: anyone into the country,
54:21
SPEAKER_02: we have no idea,
54:23
SPEAKER_02: Not all of them surrender or get caught.
54:26
SPEAKER_02: There's a decent percentage that get into the country.
54:29
SPEAKER_02: We have no idea who they are, where they went, and what they're up to.
54:33
SPEAKER_02: And that is a serious problem because we know there are people who have ill intent toward America.
54:40
SPEAKER_02: And you have to look no further than the violence on our college campuses and the
54:46
SPEAKER_02: anti-Semitic stuff that's going on.
54:48
SPEAKER_02: People are willing to commit violence against Americans and
54:53
SPEAKER_02: and against anybody they disagree with.
54:55
SPEAKER_02: And if we don't know who they are and they're coming across our southern border,
54:59
SPEAKER_02: and now we're having trouble at the northern border too.
55:01
SPEAKER_02: Nobody's talking about that.
55:04
SPEAKER_02: But I think that deserves some attention as well.
55:07
SPEAKER_03: That's crazy.
55:08
SPEAKER_03: Well, I think the Portland Teachers Union wants to join everybody else in the Hamas caucus with those.
55:15
SPEAKER_03: Maybe they're just upset they're not getting attention anymore,
55:18
SPEAKER_03: so they have to throw a firebomb or something.
55:21
SPEAKER_03: I think you're so right with the southern border being just a lightning rod for so much negative.
55:30
SPEAKER_03: And America has a history.
55:31
SPEAKER_03: And we're not talking about political refugees coming in from Africa or coming in
55:36
SPEAKER_03: from these war-torn countries.
55:38
SPEAKER_03: We have a history of welcoming those refugees.
55:41
SPEAKER_03: War torn areas into America, you know, in large tranches.
55:46
SPEAKER_03: Right.
55:46
SPEAKER_03: When we've seen wars in Afghanistan,
55:49
SPEAKER_03: other stuff where we say,
55:50
SPEAKER_03: hey,
55:50
SPEAKER_03: these we these people got nowhere to go.
55:53
SPEAKER_03: We got to let them into America.
55:54
SPEAKER_03: We've done that.
55:55
SPEAKER_03: So it's not like America and especially Republicans.
55:58
SPEAKER_03: We're not some cold hearted.
56:00
SPEAKER_03: country that isn't going to welcome in people that are political refugees, but not through this process.
56:06
SPEAKER_03: It has to be legitimate.
56:08
SPEAKER_03: And what did Biden's law say?
56:09
SPEAKER_03: All you got to do is say you fear for your life and they'll let you in and then it
56:14
SPEAKER_03: doesn't count against the number.
56:15
SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's not a policy.
56:17
SPEAKER_02: No, it's not.
56:18
SPEAKER_02: And again, I want to be very clear.
56:21
SPEAKER_02: We are for legal immigration.
56:25
SPEAKER_02: Everybody's family, almost everybody's family came from somewhere else.
56:31
SPEAKER_02: the earliest members of my ancestors that came,
56:35
SPEAKER_02: came in 1630,
56:37
SPEAKER_02: before the United States of America,
56:38
SPEAKER_02: long before,
56:40
SPEAKER_02: came to America.
56:41
SPEAKER_02: And then the last came in the late 1880s,
56:45
SPEAKER_02: and they were from the Ukraine,
56:50
SPEAKER_02: and they call them Russian Germans,
56:52
SPEAKER_02: and they had a couple of choices.
56:57
SPEAKER_02: They could either be inscripted into the army,
57:01
SPEAKER_02: choose to deny that and be shot, or they could try to immigrate to the United States of America.
57:07
SPEAKER_02: Our family chose to immigrate to the United States of America and ended up making
57:13
SPEAKER_02: their way west,
57:16
SPEAKER_02: as did the early settlers in 1630 that came to America.
57:20
SPEAKER_02: So you...
57:24
SPEAKER_02: You have a long history in America of embracing people from other countries and
57:32
SPEAKER_02: weaving a fabric that makes us stronger.
57:35
SPEAKER_02: We just need to do that in a legal way.
57:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't think anyone else could have said it any better.
57:40
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Senator Knope.
57:41
SPEAKER_01: I know we're running up against your time.
57:44
SPEAKER_01: You've been very generous with us.
57:45
SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate having you on.
57:48
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure we plan to have you back.
57:50
SPEAKER_01: You're welcome back anytime, of course.
57:53
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you, gentlemen.
57:54
SPEAKER_03: We'd like you to be our policy correspondent now that you have a little bit more free time.
57:59
SPEAKER_03: So when we need some sage advice on some policy stuff,
58:04
SPEAKER_03: we know which 30-year representative in Salem that really knows what's happened in history.
58:10
SPEAKER_03: So I look forward to it.
58:11
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Senator.
58:13
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's it for this episode of Crosstabs.
58:17
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, everyone, for listening.
58:20
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58:27
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58:30
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58:33
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58:39
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58:42
SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening.