Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Latest: DHS Shutdown | USC Cancels Gubernatorial Debate
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
- 0:04Speaker 1: six forty shut down.
- 0:08Speaker 2: I am six forty Bill Handle here on a Tuesday morning,
- 0:13Speaker 2: March twenty four. A little bit of politics, and I'm
- 0:17Speaker 2: doing a lot of this, but it's getting pretty scary,
- 0:20Speaker 2: especially if you're in Well I'm trying to get some
- 0:25Speaker 2: examples where I don't sound too strident and well, if
- 0:29Speaker 2: you're in line at an airport, like not sounding strident enough.
- 0:33Speaker 2: So we start with the fact that the lines at
- 0:36Speaker 2: some airports are now almost five hours in length. It's
- 0:41Speaker 2: just crazy. Anybody's flying these days is nuts. I mean,
- 0:44Speaker 2: you just can't do it. So the issue is the
- 0:48Speaker 2: funding of TSA, not Homeland Security, mind you, just the
- 0:52Speaker 2: funding of TSA. Because Homeland Security, for example, ICE is
- 0:56Speaker 2: fully funded. You know that the ICE folks that are
- 1:00Speaker 2: out there are getting paid. The TSA folks are out
- 1:03Speaker 2: there working and they're not getting paid. And what ends
- 1:06Speaker 2: up happening when you have people that earn that little
- 1:09Speaker 2: money and TSA workers don't get a lot. Generally, missing
- 1:14Speaker 2: a paycheck is a very very big deal, and they're
- 1:17Speaker 2: now on their second paycheck missed, and a lot of
- 1:20Speaker 2: them are simply not going to work even though they're
- 1:23Speaker 2: supposed to under the law. So you've got Airport's Houston JFK,
- 1:29Speaker 2: wh're thirty percent of the TSA agents are not showing up.
- 1:33Speaker 2: They called in sick. A small percentage have already quit,
- 1:36Speaker 2: and that's going to grow. And so until this thing
- 1:39Speaker 2: comes to somehow, it comes to ahead, it's really bad.
- 1:44Speaker 2: So here is where the President, I think, is blowing
- 1:47Speaker 2: it again on the pr front.
- 1:50Speaker 1: Forget about which side of the.
- 1:51Speaker 2: Coin you're on, is just the perception one of the things,
- 1:55Speaker 2: for example, of moving ICE agents to those airports to
- 1:59Speaker 2: somehow help help alleviate the problem with the lines. Whether
- 2:03Speaker 2: or not that helps or doesn't help, no one knows
- 2:05Speaker 2: at this point. But here was a situation where the
- 2:10Speaker 2: President is sending ICE agents to help out. And that's
- 2:15Speaker 2: a positive. You know, that's a positive. All we're doing
- 2:18Speaker 2: here is helping with the lines. We're helping the processing
- 2:22Speaker 2: of people through. We're not here to arrest anybody, We're
- 2:26Speaker 2: not here to create any kind of altercation.
- 2:31Speaker 1: We're just here to help Number one.
- 2:33Speaker 2: All of a sudden, ICE has a chance at a
- 2:35Speaker 2: much better reputation instead of being basically all negative. The
- 2:39Speaker 2: President has a chance of saying I'm going to help
- 2:44Speaker 2: this situation, and instead what the President does is go
- 2:48Speaker 2: out and says, oh, I believe that I'm doing a
- 2:50Speaker 2: good job and sending them out.
- 2:51Speaker 1: They're going to help, and they'll be able to catch a.
- 2:54Speaker 2: Whole lot more illegal aliens and deport them and detain
- 2:57Speaker 2: them right there at the airport. WHOA okay, good move, right,
- 3:04Speaker 2: defeat out of the jaws of victory. Well, another one
- 3:07Speaker 2: is coming down, and this has to do with the
- 3:10Speaker 2: Department of Homeland Security shutdown with ICE still being funded.
- 3:16Speaker 2: And so the President, this was Sunday, was presented with
- 3:20Speaker 2: a potential off ramp to this Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
- 3:26Speaker 2: The Democrats are saying, we will fund every part of
- 3:30Speaker 2: the department except for ICE, which is already funded.
- 3:37Speaker 1: Cent a majority of.
- 3:38Speaker 2: Leader John Thune spoke with Trump right after the staff
- 3:41Speaker 2: presented the idea to the President, but the President rejected
- 3:44Speaker 2: the idea. He went to He went on truth Social
- 3:48Speaker 2: to attack the Democrats. How unusual for not backing the
- 3:51Speaker 2: Save America Act. What he has done is connected the
- 3:54Speaker 2: Save America Act to the shutdown and the funding of
- 4:00Speaker 2: the Department of Home Land Security. What does one have
- 4:02Speaker 2: to do with the other, Not much so. A federal
- 4:06Speaker 2: elections overhaul bill is with the Save America Act, and
- 4:11Speaker 2: by the way, it's impossible for to go through the Senate.
- 4:15Speaker 2: This is simply an exercise in futility, and all it
- 4:19Speaker 2: is is a disaster in terms of the public relations
- 4:24Speaker 2: for the Republican Party and especially the president. President doesn't care.
- 4:28Speaker 2: President is there for three more years. He is not
- 4:31Speaker 2: going to be re elected. There is nothing stopping this
- 4:35Speaker 2: president from doing exactly what he wants, except for Congress
- 4:40Speaker 2: or the court stopping him. And as we've discussed many
- 4:44Speaker 2: times before, this particular president is truly testing the boundaries
- 4:49Speaker 2: of presidential power. We've never had a president who has
- 4:52Speaker 2: stretched the boundaries to redefine how powerful the president's he is.
- 4:57Speaker 2: I think people that say this is well beyond just
- 4:59Speaker 2: a presidency of Donald Trump, I think that's a legitimate claim.
- 5:04Speaker 2: It is I it is people talk about a kingdom,
- 5:08Speaker 2: and I think President Trump views the United States as
- 5:10Speaker 2: a kingdom, or views the United States as a constitutional republic.
- 5:16Speaker 2: But the Constitution being as he defines it, I am
- 5:20Speaker 2: the Constitution. I will tell you who is the constitution.
- 5:23Speaker 2: And if you disagree with me, you are a traitor
- 5:26Speaker 2: to the Constitution. As the basic premise. Okay, so now
- 5:32Speaker 2: no deal is being cut because the President says, you
- 5:34Speaker 2: don't say you don't pass the Save America Act, there's
- 5:38Speaker 2: not going to be an even funding of homeland security.
- 5:41Speaker 1: We're fine. And so what he.
- 5:43Speaker 2: Does is he goes and posts to truth social I'm
- 5:49Speaker 2: going to quote now, I don't think we should make
- 5:51Speaker 2: any deal with the crazy country destroying radical left Democrats
- 5:55Speaker 2: unless and until they vote with Republicans to pass the
- 5:59Speaker 2: Save America Act.
- 6:02Speaker 1: It is far more.
- 6:03Speaker 2: Important than anything else we're doing in the Senate, and
- 6:06Speaker 2: that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems, who
- 6:10Speaker 2: are to blame for this mess, a five billion dollar
- 6:13Speaker 2: cut in ice funding, a deal which, even when disguised
- 6:16Speaker 2: as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people.
- 6:22Speaker 2: If it's unacceptable to me, according to the world of
- 6:25Speaker 2: Donald Trump, it is then unacceptable to.
- 6:27Speaker 1: The American people.
- 6:28Speaker 2: There is no daylight between those two statements. Again, I
- 6:35Speaker 2: am the Constitution, and if therefore, if you are not
- 6:40Speaker 2: in favor of me and my policies, you are against
- 6:43Speaker 2: the Constitution.
- 6:45Speaker 3: All right.
- 6:45Speaker 2: I want to come back and keep ongoing with this
- 6:47Speaker 2: one because there is a real interesting factor. I don't
- 6:50Speaker 2: and I just don't get it. I truly don't get it.
- 6:52Speaker 2: I mean, it's at some point this is just you.
- 6:56Speaker 1: Know, the delusional. Is that fair to say?
- 6:59Speaker 2: I'll explain my position and what's going actually going on?
- 7:02Speaker 2: You know, and by the way, take it with a
- 7:03Speaker 2: grain of saltwood, I say, you know I'm biased. You know,
- 7:07Speaker 2: I am completely biased on these issues. Had a talk
- 7:10Speaker 2: with a friend of mine last night and we talked
- 7:11Speaker 2: about my bias and his bias, and we both started
- 7:14Speaker 2: laughing at how on opposite side of the coin we are.
- 7:18Speaker 2: Did you notice if you're watching news and I watched
- 7:20Speaker 2: the National News, not much Fox and a little bit
- 7:23Speaker 2: of CNN, and a whole lot of the other news outlets,
- 7:27Speaker 2: the lead story is no longer what's happening in Iran
- 7:32Speaker 2: in the war in the mid East. It now starts
- 7:35Speaker 2: with the TSA lines on these broadcasts, and it was
- 7:40Speaker 2: two hours, three hours, and now is reported last night
- 7:44Speaker 2: that it can be up to a five hour wait
- 7:48Speaker 2: to go through those TSA lines.
- 7:49Speaker 1: So what's going on with that?
- 7:52Speaker 2: As I explained in the previous segment, there is no
- 7:57Speaker 2: budget at this point where Department Homeland Security is not
- 8:02Speaker 2: being funded, I say is because that's under a separate bill.
- 8:06Speaker 2: But TSA is not, which means TSA agents are not
- 8:09Speaker 2: being paid second month out they have to work, and
- 8:12Speaker 2: so what they're doing is calling in sick. And now, yes,
- 8:14Speaker 2: some airports that are thirty percent and today or tomorrow
- 8:17Speaker 2: be forty percent the call in rate in terms of
- 8:21Speaker 2: the sick call ins. So deals on the table. Democrats
- 8:26Speaker 2: are saying, tell you what, let's just vote for TSA,
- 8:31Speaker 2: a standalone bill. Let's just vote for it and get
- 8:34Speaker 2: TSA working, and then we'll figure out the rest. The
- 8:37Speaker 2: President and Republicans who followed the President, which is all
- 8:40Speaker 2: the Republicans, are saying no. The President says, I want
- 8:45Speaker 2: the Save America Act bill passed as part of this,
- 8:51Speaker 2: and the argument is, wait a minute, Save America Act
- 8:54Speaker 2: has nothing to do with the TSA, and the President
- 8:58Speaker 2: said that it is the most important thing we can do.
- 9:03Speaker 1: That we will not let A.
- 9:05Speaker 2: I will not let A vote through until the crazy,
- 9:09Speaker 2: country destroying radical left Democrats vote with the Republicans to
- 9:14Speaker 2: pass the Save America Act bill.
- 9:16Speaker 1: And then he said it's far more important than anything else.
- 9:19Speaker 2: We're doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these
- 9:22Speaker 2: same terrible people, the Dems who are to blame for
- 9:25Speaker 2: this mess, a five billion dollar cut in ICE funding
- 9:29Speaker 2: and even disguised something else unacceptable to me and the
- 9:32Speaker 2: American people.
- 9:33Speaker 1: I talked about that before.
- 9:36Speaker 2: Now this is a big reversal for a lot of
- 9:38Speaker 2: Republicans have blocked similar proposals for the Democrats for weeks,
- 9:42Speaker 2: and now they're going even though they're still following the
- 9:46Speaker 2: president's orders, and they literally it is the president's orders
- 9:49Speaker 2: when it comes to Republican legislators, and now they're saying,
- 9:53Speaker 2: you know what this is, there's a shifting political dynamic here.
- 9:57Speaker 2: Longer these lines grow, the more pissed off the people
- 10:01Speaker 2: are at us for not doing something about TSA, and
- 10:04Speaker 2: the Democrats are saying, hey, just just fund TSA, and
- 10:10Speaker 2: the President is saying nope, And what is the Save
- 10:13Speaker 2: America Act? Well, this has to do with mail in ballots,
- 10:19Speaker 2: an ID to be shown when voting, and what does
- 10:23Speaker 2: it have to do with the TSA lines and funding TSA?
- 10:28Speaker 1: Basically absolutely nothing.
- 10:32Speaker 2: A quote from Senate an Order Leader Chuck Schumer on
- 10:35Speaker 2: the Senate floor said Democrats are going to keep working
- 10:39Speaker 2: in good faith, Donald Trump, or in good faith. Donald Trump, meanwhile,
- 10:44Speaker 2: is trying to sabotage negotiations, demanding that the talk stop
- 10:47Speaker 2: entirely until Congress passes the same Act, a bill that
- 10:52Speaker 2: has nothing, nothing repeats it again to do with paying
- 10:55Speaker 2: TSA workers, and nothing to do with any of the shutdowns.
- 11:00Speaker 2: The President truly believes that the Save America Act, well,
- 11:03Speaker 2: every act that he passes, is the most important thing
- 11:06Speaker 2: the Senate could ever do.
- 11:07Speaker 1: If you notice that.
- 11:09Speaker 2: Absolutely everything is the most important thing we can do
- 11:12Speaker 2: to save America, America will be destroyed if you not
- 11:16Speaker 2: pass this bill. Well, at some point, the Republicans are
- 11:21Speaker 2: they have to run. The president is not going to
- 11:23Speaker 2: run again. I mean he is immune. Any president is
- 11:26Speaker 2: immune second term from anything because he's out the door
- 11:32Speaker 2: at the end of the term. Republican and Democratic Congress
- 11:37Speaker 2: people have to run.
- 11:39Speaker 1: Every two years.
- 11:43Speaker 2: And now they're going to be telling their constituents who
- 11:47Speaker 2: have stood in line for five hours at a TSA
- 11:50Speaker 2: checkpoint at an airport and a whole lot of people
- 11:53Speaker 2: fly saying the President is right, save the ID at
- 11:59Speaker 2: the polls and the mail in ballot issue is far
- 12:06Speaker 2: more important. It's the most important thing that American can
- 12:09Speaker 2: do right now. Yep, you go ahead and say that
- 12:12Speaker 2: to a constituent and see what happens on the vote. Now,
- 12:15Speaker 2: I may be wrong on this, but the way it's
- 12:19Speaker 2: going and the way the polls are swinging right now,
- 12:23Speaker 2: as if the vote, if the vote was right now
- 12:25Speaker 2: for the legislator for Congress, it would be a wipeout.
- 12:32Speaker 2: Republicans would have their clock cleaned. And I think you're
- 12:37Speaker 2: going to see more and more of them because as
- 12:39Speaker 2: this thing gets closer to the midterms, all of a sudden,
- 12:42Speaker 2: you have Republicans that are looking at some very very
- 12:45Speaker 2: angry voters and there it's going to be harder for
- 12:49Speaker 2: them to say the president is right, he knows best
- 12:51Speaker 2: for the country, no matter what he says. We're there,
- 12:55Speaker 2: they're going to be parroting Mike Johnson, speaker saying the
- 12:58Speaker 2: president knows right, no matter what you say, it's the
- 13:02Speaker 2: president who is making the right choices for the country.
- 13:06Speaker 1: I don't know how long that's going to last.
- 13:08Speaker 2: Now, for those of us that are not particularly fans
- 13:10Speaker 2: of the president, and that includes me, as you know,
- 13:14Speaker 2: I got to tell you there are fans of the
- 13:15Speaker 2: president now that are going to be looking going, well,
- 13:18Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know, Okay, I want to
- 13:23Speaker 2: get a little bit local. Another episode of the vote
- 13:27Speaker 2: was rigged. We've been robbed. Here's a little difference here.
- 13:32Speaker 2: It's the Democrats who are saying this. And it had
- 13:35Speaker 2: to do with tonight's debate that is no longer going
- 13:39Speaker 2: to be debated. It was supposed to be at USC
- 13:41Speaker 2: and it was a gubernatorial debate people running for governor,
- 13:46Speaker 2: and there was a little bit of criticism about the
- 13:49Speaker 2: way that sc was running this, and so they canceled.
- 13:54Speaker 2: The debate was co sponsored by KBC, and here's what happened.
- 14:00Speaker 2: Every gubernatorial candidate of color was excluded. Only white folks
- 14:07Speaker 2: were allowed in. Now, there was methodology used in determining
- 14:12Speaker 2: who was going to be at the dais at the debate,
- 14:17Speaker 2: and the university defended the methodology used to determine who's
- 14:23Speaker 2: going to be invited to invited to participate. But because
- 14:28Speaker 2: of the controversy, because of the attacks, they canceled no
- 14:31Speaker 2: board debate tonight. We recognize that concerns about the selection
- 14:36Speaker 2: criteria for tomorrow's this was yesterday gubernatorial's debate has created
- 14:41Speaker 2: a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters.
- 14:46Speaker 1: I think that's true.
- 14:47Speaker 2: By the way, usually distraction I've been a distraction is
- 14:49Speaker 2: crappo to me. But this one is true because had
- 14:52Speaker 2: the debate happened tonight, the issue would have been why
- 14:56Speaker 2: are white people excluded? Forget about the issues. So SE
- 15:02Speaker 2: and KBC have been unable to reach an agreement on
- 15:05Speaker 2: expanding the number of candidates at the debate, and as
- 15:08Speaker 2: a result, USC has made the difficult decision to cancel
- 15:12Speaker 2: the debate and look for other opportunities to educate voters
- 15:16Speaker 2: on the candidates and issues.
- 15:19Speaker 1: And here's the bottom line.
- 15:22Speaker 2: USC has faced increasing criticism and has been growing and
- 15:26Speaker 2: growing in well from for example, from four prominent candidates
- 15:32Speaker 2: of color who were excluded, and the candidates.
- 15:37Speaker 1: And their supporters are arguing, because you are racist.
- 15:42Speaker 2: Because only white people are going to the debate, Therefore,
- 15:46Speaker 2: by definition, you are racist. Even former US Health and
- 15:51Speaker 2: Human Services Secretary Xavier Basserra, who was not invited, he
- 15:58Speaker 2: celebrated SC's dec to cancel. We fought, we won. We
- 16:03Speaker 2: stood up against an unfair candidate debate set up that
- 16:07Speaker 2: prematurely chose winners and losers. He posted that last night,
- 16:14Speaker 2: and the decision came hours after Democratic legislative leaders called
- 16:18Speaker 2: on voters to boycott the debate if the university did
- 16:22Speaker 2: not invite those candidates who were excluded from participating. That
- 16:28Speaker 2: is an interesting situation going on. And again I want
- 16:31Speaker 2: to reiterate, these are Democrats saying this was rigged, that
- 16:35Speaker 2: the selection process in this case, the debate among the
- 16:39Speaker 2: candidates was rigged because only white people were included in
- 16:45Speaker 2: this debate.
- 16:46Speaker 1: No people of color. So here's why were they excluded?
- 16:51Speaker 2: I mean, sc they just decided to exclude non whites, right,
- 16:57Speaker 2: people of color. Well, there's a methodolic that sc uses
- 17:02Speaker 2: that is used all over the country, and it combines
- 17:05Speaker 2: polling numbers and the money you have in the campaign
- 17:10Speaker 2: campaign war chest.
- 17:11Speaker 1: That's it. If you make those numbers, you're on the
- 17:14Speaker 1: debate stage.
- 17:15Speaker 2: If you don't make those numbers, you're off the debate stage.
- 17:19Speaker 2: Now does that mean people of color are included somehow
- 17:23Speaker 2: in the formula.
- 17:24Speaker 1: Absolutely not.
- 17:27Speaker 2: So you've got leading candidates who are saying, hey, what
- 17:30Speaker 2: do I look like chop liver?
- 17:32Speaker 1: Those are the Jews. By the way, You've got with.
- 17:34Speaker 2: Sarah who is saying, I mean, guy, was the Attorney
- 17:37Speaker 2: General of California, give me a break.
- 17:40Speaker 1: Well, he didn't make the cut with.
- 17:42Speaker 2: Polling numbers and with combined with the money that was
- 17:48Speaker 2: in a.
- 17:48Speaker 1: Political war chest. And so SC defended itself saying, hey, guys,
- 17:54Speaker 1: and is Bill the question to them?
- 17:56Speaker 3: Maybe Monks and Merrill will ask this, why in the
- 18:02Speaker 3: most Hispanic populist state in the Union are there polling
- 18:09Speaker 3: and coffers so low?
- 18:12Speaker 1: And I don't know the answer.
- 18:13Speaker 2: And that is a good question, but that's not up
- 18:16Speaker 2: to SC to determine why.
- 18:17Speaker 3: That's what they should be asked, how come you're scoring
- 18:20Speaker 3: so low?
- 18:21Speaker 2: And that's a good question, That is a very very
- 18:23Speaker 2: that's a very good question in there, okay, And these
- 18:26Speaker 2: caucuses are saying, basically, we don't care if we are
- 18:30Speaker 2: leading Canades, leading in terms of we have we have
- 18:34Speaker 2: more attention than others. Well, you don't have the polls,
- 18:37Speaker 2: and you know polling numbers, and you don't have and
- 18:40Speaker 2: it's not just one poll they look at. They average
- 18:42Speaker 2: out a bunch of polls. So now I'm going to
- 18:46Speaker 2: give you what happens in England. This is I love this.
- 18:50Speaker 2: Members of Parliament congress people have four year terms and
- 18:55Speaker 2: every four years, they have to go to their districts
- 18:58Speaker 2: and they have to pitch themselves again. And there are
- 19:02Speaker 2: these town meetings that they have to go to because
- 19:06Speaker 2: the votes take place along those lines. Now you want
- 19:12Speaker 2: to YouTube this. This is hilarious. Margaret Thatcher when she
- 19:15Speaker 2: was Prime Minister of Great Britain, Well she's a member
- 19:20Speaker 2: of parliament. That's how the population, the electorate doesn't vote
- 19:27Speaker 2: the prime minister. The party votes the prime minister. All
- 19:30Speaker 2: of the people do is vote for the members of
- 19:31Speaker 2: Parliament and then they vote the Prime minister in. So
- 19:36Speaker 2: in terms of elections, it's just another member of parliament.
- 19:41Speaker 2: Like in terms of election, the Speaker of the House
- 19:43Speaker 2: is just a member of Congress. So in England, the
- 19:48Speaker 2: law is that anybody who wants to run against the
- 19:54Speaker 2: incumbent has to be included.
- 19:57Speaker 1: All you have to do is sign up and pay
- 20:00Speaker 1: the fee.
- 20:02Speaker 2: Look at one of the events that Margaret Thatcher was at.
- 20:07Speaker 2: Now keep in mind she's the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
- 20:11Speaker 2: And there you are on the stage, Margaret Thatcher, a
- 20:15Speaker 2: couple of leading candidates, a guy dressed as Abraham Lincoln,
- 20:19Speaker 2: a guy dressed as the tin Man, and.
- 20:21Speaker 1: Wizard of Oz. All of them are up there. Now.
- 20:28Speaker 2: That's what we should do is allow anybody and everybody.
- 20:33Speaker 1: Do you remember when.
- 20:34Speaker 2: We had the special election after tossing out Gray Davis
- 20:37Speaker 2: and Arnold Schwarzenegger won.
- 20:40Speaker 1: They had two hundred applicants that were running for mayor.
- 20:47Speaker 2: I interviewed Gary Coleman, who and I interviewed that porn
- 20:52Speaker 2: star what's her face, Mary Carey or Kerry Mary or
- 20:55Speaker 2: whatever the hell her name was. She was running and
- 20:59Speaker 2: Webster was running Gary Goldman, except he Coleman, but he
- 21:02Speaker 2: had to be on some phone books because he's like
- 21:04Speaker 2: two foot two and he's very short, and he had
- 21:09Speaker 2: to look up to the microphone because we just couldn't
- 21:11Speaker 2: get the microphone well enough.
- 21:13Speaker 1: And it was ridiculous. It was he just insane. So
- 21:17Speaker 1: there's the methodology.
- 21:19Speaker 2: So you know the answer is too bad, get better
- 21:23Speaker 2: pulling numbers and get more money in your war chest.
- 21:26Speaker 2: And there shoots a few other issues involved, but those
- 21:28Speaker 2: are the big wins. All right, coming up, it's Rich
- 21:33Speaker 2: the Murrow and it's our tech segment.
- 21:36Speaker 1: This is KFI AM sixty. You've been listening to the
- 21:40Speaker 1: Bill Handle show. Catch my show Monday through Friday.
- 21:43Speaker 2: Six am to nine am, and anytime on demand on
- 21:47Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app.