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Six Weeks to Go — and Republicans Are in Trouble · The Stan R. Mitchell Show

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[music]
0:11
SPEAKER_01: What is going on, everyone?
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to The Stan R. Mitchell Show.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: My name is Stan,
0:17
SPEAKER_01: and this week I'm taking a look at some of the biggest stories and headlines
0:22
SPEAKER_01: and giving you my take on what matters and why.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: But before we get into the news, I have to take a moment to say just a couple of things.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it's been a big week for me because I turned 49.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Turned 49.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm pretty sure the rules are that you are now obligated to do at least one
0:48
SPEAKER_01: of the following as a part of helping me celebrate my birthday.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Either buy a book,
0:54
SPEAKER_01: follow The Stan R.
0:55
SPEAKER_01: Mitchell Show,
0:56
SPEAKER_01: Or at the very least,
0:58
SPEAKER_01: and this might be the most embarrassing but also the most important,
1:01
SPEAKER_01: go like my Facebook author page because the follower count
1:06
SPEAKER_01: over there is downright embarrassing.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: And hey, I'm sorry.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't make the birthday rules.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: I just enforce them.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: Now as a part of this birthday celebration, my wife spoiled me.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: We went out to Wyoming for a much needed short little vacation.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: And Went to the Grand Teton National Park and then also to Yellowstone.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: And I think I'm going to write a longer post about this at some point,
1:33
SPEAKER_01: maybe in the next few days.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: They put a ton of photos because it is so beautiful.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: But there is something that being out in the West, which that's the furthest West I've been.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: I've been to Oklahoma.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: I've been to Texas.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: To Dallas just for like a little two-day weekend wedding.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: Quick trip down in between work weeks.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: But I've never really explored the Wild West.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: And the ruggedness, the emptiness, the harshness.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: It really did something for me just as an individual.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Obviously it was a great time with my wife and just seeing the sights was amazing.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: But it did something deeper than that.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: There's just something about when you are out there and you're reading about
2:21
SPEAKER_01: the settlers who went out there and many of whom did not make it.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: When you sense how brutal the winters and the isolation and the loneliness could be.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: It really helped me nail down both some of my personal goals,
2:41
SPEAKER_01: some of the work I hope to do for God,
2:43
SPEAKER_01: and also the reality that we're not promised tomorrow.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: And it gave me an increased urgency to go after some of the things I need to go after.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: And it also helped remind me that I feel like our society these days,
3:01
SPEAKER_01: we live in our heads so much.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: And we've all heard the saying of go outside and touch grass.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: But when you're out west and you see what some of these frontier folks had to deal
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SPEAKER_01: with,
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SPEAKER_01: you realize that just a hundred plus years ago,
3:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't think people had time to live in their head.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was plant, reap, or hunt, or catch.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: And you did that or you starved.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: There was no...
3:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm tired, I'm anxious, I'm any of that.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: No, you got up, you went out, you had to kill something or catch something and drag it back.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: You had to.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: And there's kind of a refreshing, I don't know, sort of grit or strength that that gives you.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, we did a hard 8 mile hike up to the Delta Lake.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: And like the first 3.6 miles aren't too, too bad.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: And I remember thinking, why did this say it was strenuous?
4:09
SPEAKER_01: But then the final 0.4 miles, so it's less than half a mile.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: But the elevation gain is insane and you're climbing up these rocks and you're exhausted and
4:24
SPEAKER_01: It's difficult to explain.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: We took photos, but it doesn't really give you the image of just how difficult it was.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: In fact, my wife said it was the hardest thing she's ever done in her life.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: And I would say it's probably close to mine if you take out the military stuff.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: It was definitely just a gut check.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: And it helped crystallize that with life on the frontier...
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SPEAKER_01: Life in the Wild West, so to speak.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: There was no time for overthinking, wondering what your purpose in life was.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: There was none of the stuff that we as modern people often overthink.
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SPEAKER_01: Everything from legacy to your mission,
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SPEAKER_01: your did you handle this or that situation wrong a year or so ago,
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SPEAKER_01: they're Just none of that.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: There's just a winter is coming.
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SPEAKER_01: You need to prepare for it.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: You're not thinking about, you know, will I live another 40 years or any of that.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: There's this, it's hard to grow stuff out here.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: You better handle your business today.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, it was just really, for me it was very clarifying.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: And it helped me a lot.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: It's very hard to explain how much it helped me.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: But again,
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SPEAKER_01: I'm going to try to compose my thoughts and make an awesome post with tons
5:57
SPEAKER_01: of pictures because we saw all types of animals.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: And I think if I can get my words pulled together correctly and put in
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SPEAKER_01: the right photos,
6:06
SPEAKER_01: I think it'll be a pretty awesome post and it might help you as well.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: So I'll just pivot from that into the reminder that if you haven't signed up
6:16
SPEAKER_01: on Substack and just put your email in, Don't pay anything.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to unless you want to support the show.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: But just put your email on the list.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: You'll get a notification when I write that post.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll try to write that later this week.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: And I know I said last episode that I would put out a post about
6:31
SPEAKER_01: a big story I was working on that was half written.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: It was more than half written.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: I did not get it out.
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SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure I'm that sorry.
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SPEAKER_01: Life got busy and we headed out west and I focused on my wife.
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SPEAKER_01: So apologies for not getting that out.
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SPEAKER_01: I'm going to mention it later in the show though.
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SPEAKER_01: Alright, so let's get into the news.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure you guys have picked up on this as well,
6:57
SPEAKER_01: but the news is terrible for President Trump.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: And the Republicans are trying everything possible to throw out plenty
7:04
SPEAKER_01: of distractions to change the subject.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: But the news is just, like,
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SPEAKER_01: none of that will push away the fact that there are just some economic realities
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SPEAKER_01: that are just brutal for Republicans.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, it could get much, much worse on a number of fronts.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Let me just throw out one quick, for example, that has not even made the news.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: You'll only find this, in fact, on X or social media.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: But did you know that China has quadrupled the number of militia
7:43
SPEAKER_01: and Coast Guard ships that are operating around a contested set of islands in
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SPEAKER_01: the South China Sea?
7:52
SPEAKER_01: So while we are heavily involved with the mission in Iran right now,
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SPEAKER_01: imagine if in a few weeks,
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SPEAKER_01: with everything President Trump has going on,
8:04
SPEAKER_01: if China decides to get more aggressive on some of those island chains...
8:10
SPEAKER_01: And as I've said in previous podcast episodes a year or so back,
8:14
SPEAKER_01: in fact there was a water cannon incident
8:17
SPEAKER_01: where some Philippine sailors were injured.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: But we have a defense treaty with the Philippines.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: And so if you're President Xi of China,
8:31
SPEAKER_01: it'd be a pretty good time to really push the The United States at a time
8:36
SPEAKER_01: when we're low on interceptors,
8:39
SPEAKER_01: a time when our military is overstretched, and especially just before an election.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not putting that out there to scare anyone,
8:48
SPEAKER_01: anything like that, but I'm just saying that it's very hard right now.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: For the Republicans that are running for re-election,
8:56
SPEAKER_01: just based on gas prices, price of diesel especially.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: And even though there have been attempts to change the subject the past week,
9:06
SPEAKER_01: most notably the kicking out of three news organizations from the White House,
9:11
SPEAKER_01: there's been all kinds of stories about that,
9:15
SPEAKER_01: but those don't really change the topic.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: The White House has said that it's a privilege for CNN,
9:23
SPEAKER_01: MSNOW and Politico to be involved in inside the White House and for the briefings.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: And now that's in court.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: But even on that, Fox News has sided with the media.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: The media has kind of banded together and said that, you know, it shouldn't be banned.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: But these aren't big stories.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: Now, another way it could get worse,
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SPEAKER_01: Saudi Arabia is asking for our help inside Yemen to stop the Houthis
9:57
SPEAKER_01: from expanding territory.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Now, Donald Trump has been very close to the Saudis.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: We know there were and are some financial ties with Jared Kushner, the $2 billion fund.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: We know that they've wined and dined the president with a big visit first term.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, he's always been a fan of the Saudis.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: But he has told them no, that he is not willing to involve U.S. troops at the moment.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: But even on that,
10:31
SPEAKER_01: you could see the president being pulled into that escalation that's happening
10:37
SPEAKER_01: over there.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: In fact, there is reporting out there that the prince had called Trump himself.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: And here's how that went down, according to the New York Times.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: So Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he's the kingdom's de facto leader.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: He's been an ally in the war against Iran,
11:00
SPEAKER_01: although he did not at least publicly want the war to happen,
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SPEAKER_01: probably because he feared that the revenue from oil that Saudi Arabia depends
11:10
SPEAKER_01: on would be at least hurt, if not diminished.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: And of course, it has been absolutely crushed with the Iran war.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: But publicly, Saudi Arabia did not want the war.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: But with all the Houthi advances the past week to two weeks,
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SPEAKER_01: the Crown Prince himself,
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SPEAKER_01: Mohammed bin Salman, calls the White House and asks to speak to Trump.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Now, the day before,
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SPEAKER_01: President Trump had met with his advisors,
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SPEAKER_01: military folks,
11:41
SPEAKER_01: Pete Hegseth, etc., and he told them he did not favor military strikes.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: But after the Saudi Crown Prince called, He reversed himself.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: He tells the Pentagon to prepare for airstrikes against the Houthis.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: So they're literally loading bombs on planes, according to several media outlets.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: But by midday Sunday, as the planes are getting loaded, targets have been selected.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, strikes are about to launch.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: The president reverses himself again, calls the Department of Defense, says cancel it.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: And so, for the moment, it's not happening.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: But we came very close to expanding the war.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: And that would have certainly been negative news for the White House and
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SPEAKER_01: for those GOP members who are running for re-election in some tight races across
12:43
SPEAKER_01: the country.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: There's also some big news stories that could continue to unravel and get bigger and uglier.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: There was a story last week that broke about Don Trump Jr.,
12:59
SPEAKER_01: The wedding was secretly bankrolled by a Russian oligarch who is close to Putin.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: I'll put the link in the episode notes so you can read about it.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: But it's pretty crazy to believe that Don Jr. put himself in that situation.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Now he has since then, because of so much heat, refunded the cost of the wedding reception.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: But it was not a pretty story.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: And it's one of those stories that the media is digging on even harder now.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: There was also the Susan Collins story that broke this week about an investigation
13:40
SPEAKER_01: into her from a few years that was quietly put away.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: You've probably seen a little bit about that.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: But any of these stories could blow up at any time and be much worse for
13:51
SPEAKER_01: the president and for those running for re-election.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: But no matter how you spin it, The Iran war is, we're in a challenging part of that.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: But there's no bigger story than the fact that diesel prices one year ago were $3.68.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: That's according to AAA.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And they're now currently at $6.52 a gallon.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: And my heart breaks for the farmers who,
14:22
SPEAKER_01: you know,
14:22
SPEAKER_01: there have been interviews where farmers say almost all the equipment on farms runs
14:26
SPEAKER_01: on diesel fuel.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: But also for the truck drivers out there,
14:30
SPEAKER_01: especially the owner operators,
14:33
SPEAKER_01: I have seen so many interviews that are just almost heartbreaking.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: Just to put it in perspective,
14:40
SPEAKER_01: last year,
14:41
SPEAKER_01: at this time, to fill the typical size big rig, 300 gallons, was about $1,100.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: This year, it's now up to almost $2,000.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's
14:58
SPEAKER_01: More than $800 extra for a single fill-up.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: And everyone knows that eventually this is going to start showing up
15:05
SPEAKER_01: in grocery prices and everything else
15:07
SPEAKER_01: because we know truck drivers are what move everything in America these days.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: Train still does some,
15:14
SPEAKER_01: but It's going to hit the road on a big truck at some point and this is going
15:19
SPEAKER_01: to hit all of us and it's going to hit all of us in the coming weeks
15:24
SPEAKER_01: which will be right before the election.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: That's terrible news for Republicans.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Republicans do have one advantage that I do need to note and that is on the money front.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: If you include all of the committees, Plus,
15:40
SPEAKER_01: you know,
15:40
SPEAKER_01: and I'm talking Trump's MAGA, Inc.,
15:43
SPEAKER_01: the House and the Republican committees and all of that money put together,
15:47
SPEAKER_01: they've got about $650 million on hand.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Democrats have about $130 million.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: You've probably seen articles that mention these numbers,
15:58
SPEAKER_01: but it is complicated by the fact that Trump has made a move in Texas
16:05
SPEAKER_01: that he's already put $50 million toward on a race
16:09
SPEAKER_01: that wouldn't have been necessary had he had just not made,
16:13
SPEAKER_01: in my opinion, a rash decision on who to endorse.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: Now, in my opinion,
16:19
SPEAKER_01: there's no one better to discuss this than a few hosts from the podcast Hacks
16:25
SPEAKER_01: on Tap, one of my favorite podcasts.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Listen to them as they describe that race in Texas and the money situation,
16:31
SPEAKER_01: because it's definitely complicated for Republicans.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: And again, this was all brought on by Trump's decision.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: I'm obsessed with how much of the Trump money pile he'll actually spend.
16:44
SPEAKER_02: He's spending some of it, but,
16:45
SPEAKER_02: you know,
16:46
SPEAKER_02: that may go into the Trump Museum Fund to buy the plane the Qataris gave him
16:51
SPEAKER_02: or something.
16:52
SPEAKER_02: Seriously.
16:52
SPEAKER_02: I know a lot of Republican incumbents are thinking,
16:54
SPEAKER_02: like, feels like about two weeks late on the spend, sir.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: But they're going to have more money.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: That's totally right, and that is a factor.
17:02
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it is.
17:02
SPEAKER_03: The great irony of that, Mike,
17:04
SPEAKER_03: is that there are going to be people who,
17:06
SPEAKER_03: like Mike Rogers, who went down to that midterm convention.
17:11
SPEAKER_03: A lot of those candidates who the last thing in the world they want
17:14
SPEAKER_03: to do right now is be tied to Trump,
17:16
SPEAKER_03: especially a state like Michigan, they went down there to try to get the money.
17:20
SPEAKER_03: And there's no guarantee they're going to get the money.
17:22
SPEAKER_03: They may have just basically made the political sacrifice.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: They paid a political price for a check that may not show up.
17:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
17:29
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I wouldn't count on Donald Trump to put money into any of those races.
17:33
SPEAKER_03: I think the Paxton race,
17:35
SPEAKER_03: which you're just about to throw to you,
17:37
SPEAKER_03: The biggest check they've written out of MAGA Inc.,
17:41
SPEAKER_03: everybody else is getting pretty frustrated about the fact that
17:43
SPEAKER_03: the money's not flowing out of those accounts.
17:45
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
17:45
SPEAKER_03: It could be one of the big stories of the cycle that Trump ends up sitting on a lot
17:49
SPEAKER_03: of that cash rather than spending it.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: Speaking of Paxton,
17:52
SPEAKER_02: another interesting news item is that former President George W.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Bush defeated in the primary,
18:00
SPEAKER_02: more regular Republican Senator John Cornyn,
18:03
SPEAKER_02: defeated by Paxton in the Republican primary when Trump kind of Didn't help.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Didn't help.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Had been doing fundraisers, including for Mike Rogers while he's down there.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Who was omitted?
18:13
SPEAKER_02: The home state candidate, Paxton.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: Incredible.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: Took a big, noisy pass
18:18
SPEAKER_03: on him.
18:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's an incredible thing.
18:21
SPEAKER_03: And, you know,
18:21
SPEAKER_03: you wondered,
18:22
SPEAKER_03: you knew John Cornyn,
18:24
SPEAKER_03: who abased himself and debased himself and tried to get Donald Trump's endorsement
18:29
SPEAKER_03: in that primary, and then Trump screwed him.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: You knew he'd have his revenge,
18:34
SPEAKER_03: whether it was on a vote on the Senate floor,
18:36
SPEAKER_03: We're in this race,
18:38
SPEAKER_03: and this is a pretty gratuitous flipping of the bird, wouldn't you say?
18:42
SPEAKER_03: Like where the two most senior Republicans in Texas,
18:47
SPEAKER_03: Bush and Cornyn,
18:48
SPEAKER_03: turn around and basically say,
18:50
SPEAKER_03: we're going to raise a ton of money for a ton of Republican Senate candidates,
18:53
SPEAKER_03: but not for the one in Texas.
18:55
SPEAKER_03: I was just going to say,
18:56
SPEAKER_03: there are a lot of Republicans that are just
18:57
SPEAKER_02: pulling their hair out about
18:59
SPEAKER_02: the Texas Senate race.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: If John Cornyn had won that race, We wouldn't even be talking about it.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: It would be done.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: It would be over.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: And instead,
19:08
SPEAKER_02: at the last minute,
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Trump comes in and endorses Ken Paxton,
19:13
SPEAKER_02: a man so corrupt his own Republican legislature impeached him.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: And now we've got a toss-up race in Texas, of all places.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of the donors and the Cornyn supporters are looking at Trump and saying,
19:30
SPEAKER_02: Buddy, you bought it, you own it.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: You figure out how to get him across the finish line.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: That's one race that should not be a race right now, and it is.
19:38
SPEAKER_02: Totally created by the fearless leader.
19:41
SPEAKER_02: My gut is it's a close race, and it's Texas.
19:45
SPEAKER_02: But in this midterm,
19:46
SPEAKER_02: and Tellurico's got some charm,
19:47
SPEAKER_02: we're about to hear some ads, my gut is that Tellurico is going to prevail.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: And I think if he does,
19:53
SPEAKER_02: it'll be Republican underperformance for Paxton after that primary, which was close.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: But I think this does,
19:59
SPEAKER_02: because this will be all over the media for a couple days,
20:02
SPEAKER_02: this does send a bit of a permission slip to suburban Republicans who want to join
20:07
SPEAKER_02: the president taking a pass on Paxton.
20:09
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: An uncomfortable thing.
20:12
SPEAKER_02: Not many will, but, you know, they chip a few points there.
20:16
SPEAKER_02: It could be the margin.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: So I don't think this was a small thing.
20:19
SPEAKER_03: Paxton hasn't been ahead in a poll there in, I think, at least a month.
20:24
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I...
20:27
SPEAKER_03: And with everybody about the notion of you're never going to be in a thing
20:31
SPEAKER_03: where Democrats should be comfortable about Tallarico winning this race.
20:34
SPEAKER_03: But after a month,
20:36
SPEAKER_03: it might be two months where he's basically had like a two or three point lead.
20:39
SPEAKER_03: That's starting to look like it's a toss up race,
20:42
SPEAKER_03: but starting to look like a race where these are not outlier polls.
20:45
SPEAKER_03: I mean, Tallarico is it does seem to have a small but durable lead right now.
20:50
SPEAKER_03: That could change.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: But on the basis of what Ken Paxton's charisma is.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: On the basis of his speech-makeability,
20:56
SPEAKER_03: on his ability, he's not debating, he's ducking debates with Tallarico.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: Like, what's going to happen in that race other than money getting spent
21:02
SPEAKER_03: on ads that's going to turn that around?
21:06
SPEAKER_03: I mean, a Tallarico scandal of some kind, maybe, but you know what I'm saying?
21:09
SPEAKER_03: It's like there's a reason to start thinking that Tallarico has a reasonable shot
21:14
SPEAKER_03: of winning that race,
21:14
SPEAKER_03: which is, again, something no one would have said six months ago.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: So again, I think that was pretty well said.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: And no matter how you look at it, how you spin it, time is running out on the election calendar.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: We are down to six weeks.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure that, as I said, there's a lot of news that could get worse.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: But it's very challenging to see.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: How news could get much better.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: Now maybe Iran surrenders tomorrow.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: The Trump administration claims they're under great pressure and that there's
21:51
SPEAKER_01: a chance that could happen.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: But unless something that big happens, this November is going to be horrendous for Republicans.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to share one other clip for this episode.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Because honestly, the guy lays it out better than I could have.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: This is just a guy who's on TikTok, although he does have more than a million followers.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: He does not have his name listed.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: And he's just a, he obviously leans left.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: But he's a retired trial attorney.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is, it's like a lot of Donald Trump supporters are getting hit
22:49
SPEAKER_00: Harder by these things than a lot of other people in this country.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: And that is happening in red states.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing they can do about it.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've made this point multiple times before.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like, I think the midterms are six weeks from today.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: And there is nothing between now and election day that Donald Trump or Republicans
23:13
SPEAKER_00: or any individual Republican can do to bring down gas prices.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that Donald Trump or any Republican can do
23:21
SPEAKER_00: to bring down diesel prices or to bring down utility costs or
23:25
SPEAKER_00: to bring down grocery prices.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that Trump or any Republican can do
23:32
SPEAKER_00: to radically increase people's wages between now and then,
23:37
SPEAKER_00: to make life in the United States of America affordable for Americans.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: That ship has sailed.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: And Donald Trump gave a speech at the UN today saying that That he may
23:50
SPEAKER_00: or may not use nuclear weapons against Iran,
23:53
SPEAKER_00: but he'll wait until after the midterms.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: As if Iran is just going to hang out and do nothing for the next six weeks.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: They have control of the Strait of Hormuz.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Their proxies, the Houthis, have control of the Strait at the bottom of the Red Sea.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: And the Houthis blew up Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Those three things...
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Are directly impacting our ability to access,
24:21
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, 30% of the world's daily requirement of oil and petroleum products.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: That is impacting every single aspect of our economy and every single aspect of
24:38
SPEAKER_00: the global economy,
24:40
SPEAKER_00: let alone with Donald Trump's tariffs against Canada
24:44
SPEAKER_00: in this Dipshit trade war is doing with trade with Canada,
24:52
SPEAKER_00: which is affecting Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Washington.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: It's affecting so many states that have these relationships,
25:08
SPEAKER_00: New Hampshire, Vermont, that have these economic relationships with Canada.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Tourism from Canada is off by 30%.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: They go to those border states.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and Donald Trump just keeps saying that we're the hottest country on the planet.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: We're the most toxic country on the planet apart from Israel.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing he can do to fix this.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing any Republican can do to fix this.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: And even if they wanted to,
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Mike Johnson sent them home on recess last week for seven weeks until after
25:43
SPEAKER_00: the midterms.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: Mike Johnson sent the House of Representatives home for seven weeks.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like even if they wanted to do something, they can't because they're in recess.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And why are they in recess?
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Because Thomas Massey's Epstein Files Transparency Act 2.0 discharge petition was
26:06
SPEAKER_00: one signature away.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: From being brought to the floor for a full vote.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: That bill would go a step further than the last bill.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: This bill would criminalize what Todd Blanche has been doing in covering up
26:19
SPEAKER_00: the Epstein files and refusing to comply with
26:22
SPEAKER_00: the first Epstein Transparency Files Act.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Plus, again, Thomas Massey introduced articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And there are enough Republicans who...
26:37
SPEAKER_00: are very clear at this point about Pete Hegseth's incompetence
26:44
SPEAKER_00: and cartoonish
26:47
SPEAKER_00: evilness and racism and bigotry that those articles
26:52
SPEAKER_00: of impeachment probably would have passed.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: And for those two reasons,
26:58
SPEAKER_00: seven weeks before the midterms,
27:00
SPEAKER_00: when the Republicans desperately need to pull a rabbit out of their hat to try
27:04
SPEAKER_00: to save their house majority,
27:06
SPEAKER_00: Mike Johnson resets them for seven weeks so that there's no vote on
27:10
SPEAKER_00: the second Epstein Act and there's no vote on Pete Hegseth's impeachment.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing they can do to fix this.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And because all of these conditions are going to keep getting worse,
27:23
SPEAKER_00: gas prices are going to keep going up.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Diesel prices are going to keep going up.
27:27
SPEAKER_00: Utilities, groceries are going to keep going up.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: The Iran war is going to keep slogging on.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Iran is going to go on the offensive during the next six weeks.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: And it's going to be brutal.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And Mike Johnson sent them all home.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: And Donald Trump is just making happy talk at the UN.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: At least we kept Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: There was not a single intelligence agency for any country on the entire planet
27:55
SPEAKER_00: who believed that Iran was within two to five years of having a nuclear weapon
28:02
SPEAKER_00: because they had not started to rebuild what we bombed a year ago in June.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: That was all still buried under mountain rubble.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: And J.D.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Vance is just trying to thread this needle to find his way to the nomination in 2028.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to be against the war, but he's trying to support Trump on the war.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what Marco Rubio is doing?
28:27
SPEAKER_00: He's been radio silent.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: So again, that was brutal, but...
28:36
SPEAKER_01: I would say it's pretty hard to disagree with some of that.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: I think one thing I can't get out of my head is that much
28:45
SPEAKER_01: of this has been self-inflicted by President Trump.
28:49
SPEAKER_01: The Iran war after he campaigned on saying no new wars, that was his decision.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: The tariffs.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: I mean, had there been a big manufacturing boom in a short amount of time,
29:04
SPEAKER_01: had he done it correctly and pushed it through Congress,
29:07
SPEAKER_01: as I said,
29:08
SPEAKER_01: versus trying to use basically executive orders that the Supreme Court overturned,
29:14
SPEAKER_01: and now he's trying to use others.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: But the tariffs have led to unbelievably high prices.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: Even the promising to release the Epstein files,
29:26
SPEAKER_01: campaigning on it, Implying it was being hidden.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: And then turning around and doing everything he could to deter that.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: To call it a hoax.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: To say it was fake news.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: I mean, almost all of this, Trump has brought on himself.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think the voters are going to let him forget it in about six weeks.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: We'll see if something changes, but I just don't see that happening at this point.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: For this week's story of courage, I wanted to stay in Wyoming.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: As I said earlier in the show,
30:16
SPEAKER_01: I just got back from a few days out there,
30:18
SPEAKER_01: and if you've ever been to Wyoming,
30:20
SPEAKER_01: you know how big and empty that country can feel,
30:24
SPEAKER_01: even today with highways and airports.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: Now imagine crossing it on foot in November.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: Back in 1856,
30:34
SPEAKER_01: so we're talking almost nearly 200 years ago,
30:39
SPEAKER_01: There was a group of 600 pioneers, men, women,
30:43
SPEAKER_01: and children,
30:45
SPEAKER_01: making their way west toward Utah,
30:48
SPEAKER_01: and many of them were pulling their belongings in small hand carts.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately for them,
30:54
SPEAKER_01: they had left too late in the year, and an early winter storm hit them in Wyoming.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: Temperatures dropped below zero,
31:05
SPEAKER_01: food was running out,
31:07
SPEAKER_01: People were suffering from frostbite and exposure and people were dying.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Rescue parties were sent from Salt Lake City and that's where a man by the name
31:19
SPEAKER_01: of Ephraim Hanks comes into the story.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: Hanks was 29 years old, a frontiersman who knew this country extremely well.
31:30
SPEAKER_01: He had spent years carrying U.S.
31:32
SPEAKER_01: mail across the plains between Fort Laramie and Salt Lake City When he learned
31:38
SPEAKER_01: that these people needed help, he headed east.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: The weather was terrible.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: The snow was deep.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: Some of the additional rescuers trying to reach the pioneers turned back, but Hanks kept going.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: At one point,
31:55
SPEAKER_01: he left his wagon behind and pushed ahead through the snow with two animals,
31:59
SPEAKER_01: one to ride and one to carry supplies.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: The snow was almost hip deep.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: And as he was traveling, he came across a herd of buffalo.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Hanks killed one, cut up the meat, loaded as much as he could onto his animals, and kept moving.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Later that day, he saw what looked like a dark streak against the snow.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: As he got closer, he realized it was moving.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: It was the pioneers, and they were starving.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: According to Hanks, the entire group was down to about one day's worth of quarter rations.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: So they were starving.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: And so Hanks started handing out the buffalo meat.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: And it was gone within minutes.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: But here's the part of the story that really gets me.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: As Hanks continued traveling with them, he kept finding buffalo.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: Remember, this was a man who knew the country.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: He had traveled that road more than 50 times carrying the mail.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: But Hanks later said he had never seen so many buffalo in that part of the country.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: The people traveling with him believed God had sent those buffalo in answer to prayer.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: And so did Hanks.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: He kept hunting.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: He kept bringing back meat.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: And because he had experience treating wounds,
33:21
SPEAKER_01: he also spent his evenings caring for people suffering from severe frostbite.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: He stayed with them as the rescue continued.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: A lot of those pioneers didn't make it.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Historians estimate that roughly 135 to 150 died during the journey, but many others did.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I wanted to tell you about Ephraim Hanks.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: Because courage isn't always some dramatic moment when someone runs toward gunfire.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes people need help.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: The weather is bad.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: The road is terrible.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: Other people are turning around.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: And yet you keep going.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Ephraim Hanks kept going.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: And on a freezing November evening in the middle of Wyoming,
34:09
SPEAKER_01: a group of starving people looked up and saw a man coming toward them through
34:13
SPEAKER_01: the snow, and he was carrying food.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: That's courage.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: And now, let's close with a little faith and encouragement.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're carrying this week,
34:27
SPEAKER_01: I hope this helps you step away from the noise for a few minutes and focus
34:30
SPEAKER_01: on something that matters.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: I want to just start by just,
34:34
SPEAKER_01: this week we're just going to share a few different quotes I came across
34:38
SPEAKER_01: that I hope help you in some way.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first one.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Do not look for the church nearest to your house.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: Look for the church closest to the Bible.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: Again, do not look for the church nearest to your house.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: Look for the church closest to the Bible.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty self-explanatory,
35:01
SPEAKER_01: but the type of church you attend,
35:03
SPEAKER_01: the type of people you surround yourself with, it's so important.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: All right, here's the next one.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: A quote from Pastor Paul Washer, which many of you may have heard of.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: He said, I want to tell you something, and I want to make it very, very clear.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: Do not listen to your heart.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: Listen to the Word of God.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Again, good advice there.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: Do not listen to your heart.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: Listen to the Word of God.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: Alright, moving along.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: Another quote.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: This is from the late pastor Charles Spurgeon.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: The quote is, The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: Rest his head at night, giving perfect peace.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: Again, the quote is,
35:57
SPEAKER_01: The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head
36:02
SPEAKER_01: at night, giving perfect peace.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: And clearly Charles Spurgeon is just talking about that
36:09
SPEAKER_01: as Christians we have this peace that surpasses understanding because we know
36:14
SPEAKER_01: that no matter how it ends,
36:16
SPEAKER_01: even if our life comes to an end, We are going to a better place.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: We are going to get an eternal reward.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: And there will be no suffering there.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: So that's something worth holding on to.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Alright, moving along.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: Another quote about the Bible.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: Quote is, God's will is found in God's word.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: Stop looking for a sign and start looking for a verse.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: Again, God's will is found in God's word.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: Stop looking for a sign and start looking for a verse.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: Now, another quote from a pastor from a couple hundred years ago.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: The quote is, Never give over striving against a bad habit.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: Begin again and again a thousand times.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: Victory will come.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: Again, never give over striving against a bad habit.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: Begin again and again a thousand times.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: Victory will come.
37:17
SPEAKER_01: I know that in my own life,
37:20
SPEAKER_01: it was so hard to not do certain things that were sinful when I first started
37:25
SPEAKER_01: the journey.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: But as time goes on,
37:27
SPEAKER_01: as your faith grows deeper,
37:29
SPEAKER_01: as your habits become better,
37:31
SPEAKER_01: as your eyes stay fixed on what they should be fixed on,
37:34
SPEAKER_01: which is our Savior, it is easier to avoid sin.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: So if you're struggling with sin, begin again and again a thousand times.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: Victory will come.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: And one final one.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: It's a quote from Pastor J.C. Ryle.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: It was, I think, about 150, 200 years ago.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: He said, Before you sin, Satan tells you repentance is easy.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: After you sin, Satan tells you repentance is impossible.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was a great one.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: Again, before you sin, Satan tells you repentance is easy.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: After you sin, Satan tells you repentance is impossible.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: We all know that's something the devil does where he'll tell you that a sin isn't
38:22
SPEAKER_01: that big a deal.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: But then once you do it, he shames you.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: He says, how could you?
38:28
SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to be a Christian.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: How did you do that?
38:31
SPEAKER_01: God must be so mad at you.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: And he does a great job of, he's a great deceiver.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: He's great at shaming us.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: But always the father wants us to return.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: It is the story of the prodigal son.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: The father is always waiting on us.
38:48
SPEAKER_01: So do not listen to the devil.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: You can repent.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: You can and should return.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: You'll figure that out.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: But if it really is the Word of God, that changes everything.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: So don't be afraid to open the book and see for yourself.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: If it starts to speak to you,
39:35
SPEAKER_01: or if you're someone who used to go to church but no longer does,
39:38
SPEAKER_01: make sure you find a good local church.
39:42
SPEAKER_01: One that believes that the Bible is the Word of God,
39:45
SPEAKER_01: that Scripture is true, trustworthy, and without error.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: Find the people that you need to surround yourself with to get through life
39:56
SPEAKER_01: because life is hard and scripture is clear that we should go through it
40:01
SPEAKER_01: with community and that community should include people who believe in
40:06
SPEAKER_01: a higher power.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: And one last thing,
40:10
SPEAKER_01: if you're a veteran struggling with PTSD,
40:13
SPEAKER_01: depression,
40:14
SPEAKER_01: or thoughts of suicide, please use the resources I've linked in the episode notes.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: You've made it through hard things before.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: Don't try to fight this one alone.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: We need you here.
40:28
SPEAKER_01: Your life matters.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: Don't give up.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me this week.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: As you head into the coming days, try to be a little kinder, online and out in the world.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: Remember that most Americans are good people, even if they vote differently than you do.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: And keep working on yourself, mentally, physically, and spiritually.
40:54
SPEAKER_01: Try to be a little better this week than you were last week.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be perfect, just keep moving forward.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: When the news gets discouraging, and you know it will, Don't give up on this country.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm betting when you finish this podcast,
41:12
SPEAKER_01: you're going to hear a lot of angry rhetoric,
41:15
SPEAKER_01: either in your neighborhood or maybe from your news source.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: But remember these truths.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: Division weakens us.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Unity strengthens us.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: So be careful what you feed your mind and your spirit.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: If you're a person of faith,
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Spend some time in your Bible this week,
41:39
SPEAKER_01: and if you're not, maybe pick one up and give it a try.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: Finally,
41:44
SPEAKER_01: if you'd like to support what I'm doing here,
41:46
SPEAKER_01: or check out any of my books, you'll find links in the episode notes.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Until next time,
41:53
SPEAKER_01: stay hopeful,
41:55
SPEAKER_01: stay humble, and keep working to be the light in your corner of the world.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: You've been listening to The Stan R. Mitchell Show.