Latest / The Dry Line Podcast / Why is Trump Really Coming to Oklahoma?
Transcript
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to The Dry Line Podcast,
- 0:11SPEAKER_00: where each week we discuss Oklahoma's strangely endearing culture,
- 0:16SPEAKER_00: unbelievable weather, sacred sports, nefarious politics, and damn fine people.
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: The Dry Line has apparently moved through,
- 0:24SPEAKER_00: by the way,
- 0:24SPEAKER_00: because as I'm recording this, we are finally getting some much needed rain.
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: I think this is a drought buster kind of rain.
- 0:32SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is a It is pounding on the roof.
- 0:36SPEAKER_00: So you might hear that come through today.
- 0:39SPEAKER_00: So last weekend, I got a couple of texts.
- 0:42SPEAKER_00: It was like late at night on Saturday night.
- 0:44SPEAKER_00: And they were a link.
- 0:45SPEAKER_00: And in this link,
- 0:46SPEAKER_00: it said that I could buy tickets to go to a midterm rally for Donald Trump
- 0:51SPEAKER_00: in Durant, Oklahoma.
- 0:53SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what?
- 0:54SPEAKER_00: Is this like some fake news thing that my older relatives fall prey to?
- 1:02SPEAKER_00: No, it was not.
- 1:02SPEAKER_00: This was not fake news.
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: This was real news.
- 1:06SPEAKER_00: Which made me ask myself, why is Donald Trump coming to Oklahoma now?
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: Why?
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: That was the only thing I really cared about.
- 1:15SPEAKER_00: I was like, why?
- 1:17SPEAKER_00: Okay, a little history first.
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: By Thursday, Donald Trump will have been to Oklahoma three times.
- 1:24SPEAKER_00: First, in 2015 at the Oklahoma State Fair,
- 1:27SPEAKER_00: during one of his first campaign rallies after announcing his first run
- 1:30SPEAKER_00: for president.
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: Actually, that was not his first run for president, but that run for president.
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: Fun fact,
- 1:36SPEAKER_00: I was at the fairgrounds that night,
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: by happenstance,
- 1:39SPEAKER_00: and I thought the Make America Great Again hats were hilarious and a joke.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: My friends and I tried to find a boot to buy them
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: because everybody was wearing them, and when we did, they were sold out.
- 1:50SPEAKER_00: That has to be an analogy for something.
- 1:52SPEAKER_00: Or probably, I don't know, just a testament to the enduring appeal of populism.
- 1:57SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 1:58SPEAKER_00: His second appearance was in June of 2020 during the first campaign rally by anyone
- 2:05SPEAKER_00: after slash during the pandemic.
- 2:08SPEAKER_00: It was controversial at the time and contentious.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: People labeled it as a super spreader event.
- 2:14SPEAKER_00: Former physician and presidential nominee Herman Cain Was present.
- 2:18SPEAKER_00: You guys remember him?
- 2:19SPEAKER_00: He was thought to be like a major candidate to run and get the Republican nod in
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: the years before that.
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: But he was there.
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: He was maskless in the pictures and he died like three weeks later
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: from COVID related complications.
- 2:33SPEAKER_00: And third,
- 2:35SPEAKER_00: his third appearance is going to be this Thursday at the Choctaw Casino in Durant
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: for an impromptu rally ahead of the midterms, which are now just a month out.
- 2:49SPEAKER_00: Okay, for breaking this down,
- 2:52SPEAKER_00: trying to figure out the why for why Donald Trump would come to the great state,
- 2:58SPEAKER_00: we have to look at the pattern that's involved here that dates back to 2015.
- 3:02SPEAKER_00: And that pattern is return back home to his base when he needs it most.
- 3:11SPEAKER_00: Oklahoma,
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: particularly southeastern Oklahoma,
- 3:14SPEAKER_00: is It's one of the deepest and staunchest regions of widespread unanimous support
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: for Trump.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: For example,
- 3:21SPEAKER_00: Mike Mazzey received Trump's endorsement ahead of his runoff election six weeks ago
- 3:26SPEAKER_00: with Gender Drummond.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: Mazzey won that election statewide by 2,000 votes.
- 3:33SPEAKER_00: But 750 of that 2,000 vote margin came from one county.
- 3:39SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't Tulsa County, not Cleveland County.
- 3:42SPEAKER_00: No, McCurtain County.
- 3:45SPEAKER_00: You know, like Idabel, Broken Bow, Turnpike Troubadours, etc.
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: The most southeastern corner of the state bleeds MAGA.
- 3:55SPEAKER_00: And that is why he's going to be back,
- 3:57SPEAKER_00: or at least this is part of the reason why he's going to be back in Durant at
- 4:01SPEAKER_00: the Choctaw Casino on Thursday.
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: You might be asking yourself, why would he go to a place that's already going to vote for him?
- 4:10SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't Trump go to the swing states?
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: My thoughts too.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: Good thought.
- 4:14SPEAKER_00: But the Republicans,
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: because of Trump's current unpopularity,
- 4:18SPEAKER_00: his approval rating is redlining currently in the low to mid 30s.
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: The Republicans are worried.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: And this was reported in the Oklahoman yesterday.
- 4:27SPEAKER_00: Through Oklahoma Voice,
- 4:28SPEAKER_00: that even in their reddest districts, Republicans aren't going to turn out.
- 4:32SPEAKER_00: At least that's the fear.
- 4:33SPEAKER_00: Because they're, well,
- 4:35SPEAKER_00: like essentially pissed off that Trump hasn't done what he said he was going to do.
- 4:38SPEAKER_00: And they're upset about inflation, the war, et cetera, et cetera.
- 4:42SPEAKER_00: All the stuff that he said he wasn't going to do.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: What this amounts to is like a swing statification of sorts
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: in typically red districts and states like Oklahoma.
- 4:53SPEAKER_00: These aren't my words here.
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: This is reported from Oklahoma Voice this week where they're basically saying that
- 4:59SPEAKER_00: a weaker and unpopular MAGA candidate like Mike Mazie now needs even
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: an Oklahoma Trump around to bolster his campaign in a race
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: that he should win easily.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: Again, this was reported.
- 5:11SPEAKER_00: This analysis was given out this week.
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: In a couple of places.
- 5:16SPEAKER_00: And I'm not sure I'm buying that.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: I think Mike Mazie is going to cruise to an easy victory.
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: Sidney Munson has such a steep mountain of registered Republicans to climb in Oklahoma.
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: I mean, we talked about it during the Mike Mazie victory episode,
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: but I think Republicans hold 54% of registered voters in Oklahoma
- 5:37SPEAKER_00: and Democrats only possess 28.
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: 23% are independents.
- 5:43SPEAKER_00: So how, you know,
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: she's just going to have to pull so many Republicans and all the independents
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: and all of the Democrats going to show up.
- 5:49SPEAKER_00: It's a tough hill to climb.
- 5:50SPEAKER_00: I mean, we'll see what happens.
- 5:51SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a lot of support, not in southeastern Oklahoma, I wouldn't bet.
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: So I don't think Trump is truly here to bolster candidates or Mike Mazie
- 6:04SPEAKER_00: or Stephanie Bice or whomever in Oklahoma.
- 6:08SPEAKER_00: But that's what a representative for Trump told the New York Times this week.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: And that's that's why he was here is to bolster local candidates.
- 6:15SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't I don't think that's happening.
- 6:18SPEAKER_00: It seems like all those candidates have solid leads, including vice.
- 6:21SPEAKER_00: So, again, why is Donald Trump actually here?
- 6:26SPEAKER_00: It tracks back to that same pattern across all the stops.
- 6:31SPEAKER_00: He, right now,
- 6:33SPEAKER_00: ahead of midterms,
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: his party needs him to land back in an area of safety,
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: an area of unquestioned good vibes and good optics for the party,
- 6:44SPEAKER_00: and to reset the message in a more favorable location.
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: And of course, because Durant is an hour closer to Dallas than it is to Oklahoma City.
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: The Oklahoma Voice published an interesting thought this week about why he chose Durant.
- 7:00SPEAKER_00: First, as we discussed, he's got a home field advantage there.
- 7:03SPEAKER_00: Second,
- 7:03SPEAKER_00: an appearance in Durant will get picked up in the Dallas-Fort Worth media markets,
- 7:08SPEAKER_00: where the real battle is being waged for a Senate seat.
- 7:13SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in Texas.
- 7:15SPEAKER_00: Democrat James Tallarico is holding a five-point lead over Ken Paxton.
- 7:20SPEAKER_00: Again, let me repeat that, in Texas, a five-point lead.
- 7:24SPEAKER_00: Despite the estimates that Republican super PACs are spending on ads and billboards,
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: something close to $200 million in Texas.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: $200 million just to keep Texas.
- 7:38SPEAKER_00: He's still trailing, Tallarico Paxton is, by 5 percentage points.
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: So yes, that's...
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: That is why Trump is in Durant,
- 7:45SPEAKER_00: is that they're trying to nail this Senate seat and do whatever they can
- 7:49SPEAKER_00: to drive voters in North Texas to hammer the ballot box.
- 7:54SPEAKER_00: So that's what they're trying to do.
- 7:57SPEAKER_00: Another good question you might be asking yourself is,
- 7:59SPEAKER_00: why wouldn't he just rally in Dallas then,
- 8:03SPEAKER_00: or Austin,
- 8:04SPEAKER_00: or Houston,
- 8:05SPEAKER_00: where there are more people that are going to be voting in the elections?
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: Remember the reports of the empty seats at that midterm convention thing
- 8:15SPEAKER_00: that they did in Dallas last month?
- 8:17SPEAKER_00: And the reports of the vibes were kind of weird and sad?
- 8:20SPEAKER_00: That is why they're doing this event in Durant.
- 8:24SPEAKER_00: To avoid that.
- 8:25SPEAKER_00: And because Trump isn't very popular currently in the metropolises of North America.
- 8:30SPEAKER_00: And as the Oklahoma Voice reported earlier this week,
- 8:33SPEAKER_00: there's some thought that the National Republican Party seems
- 8:36SPEAKER_00: to think Trump's presence near
- 8:38SPEAKER_00: the toss-up election areas may actually be causing more harm than good for
- 8:43SPEAKER_00: the Republican candidates.
- 8:45SPEAKER_00: Especially if those appearances of Trump's are near a big city.
- 8:50SPEAKER_00: You know where he's going after this appearance in Durant on Friday?
- 8:54SPEAKER_00: It's not a big city.
- 8:55SPEAKER_00: He's going to Mobile,
- 8:57SPEAKER_00: Alabama,
- 8:57SPEAKER_00: which is not a small city, but he's definitely not hammering some swing state area.
- 9:01SPEAKER_00: He's not in Ohio or Michigan.
- 9:03SPEAKER_00: So, yeah,
- 9:04SPEAKER_00: and those candidates in the swing states are actively trying to distance themselves
- 9:07SPEAKER_00: from Trump and the Iran disaster,
- 9:09SPEAKER_00: which we will talk about an Oklahoma candidate who was caught on tape trying
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: to actively distance herself From Trump whenever we get to
- 9:16SPEAKER_00: the Oklahoma News Roundup.
- 9:18SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Trump is going to be in Durant because it's one of the safest, most strategic places.
- 9:24SPEAKER_00: And I've been saying Durant the whole time.
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: It's Durant.
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: What am I doing?
- 9:28SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's because it's one of the most strategic places to campaign currently.
- 9:31SPEAKER_00: He'll probably throw up some patriotic posters in the background of the videos,
- 9:35SPEAKER_00: rock one of those red hats,
- 9:36SPEAKER_00: and say some words,
- 9:37SPEAKER_00: then cut up those clips,
- 9:38SPEAKER_00: recycle them out on social media to whoever the big data companies,
- 9:42SPEAKER_00: they're paying them Whoever the big data companies are telling them are
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: the Republican voters who are likely to not turn out to vote.
- 9:51SPEAKER_00: They're going to be just pumping money into those videos to go after those people.
- 9:56SPEAKER_00: His appearance will also show up on TV in the Dallas media and also show up here
- 9:59SPEAKER_00: in Oklahoma City and it will possibly help him and some of those candidates who need
- 10:04SPEAKER_00: the Republican base to turn out.
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: It could possibly help them out while not riling up all the independents
- 10:10SPEAKER_00: and pissed off Republicans if they were to show up in one of the big cities.
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: You remember that whole checks and balances thing we learned about in fifth grade
- 10:21SPEAKER_00: in government?
- 10:23SPEAKER_00: All of this is about making sure that that does not happen.
- 10:26SPEAKER_00: Because if the blue wave ushers in a Democratic-led Senate and House,
- 10:31SPEAKER_00: then Trump will be a lame duck president for his last two years.
- 10:36SPEAKER_00: And we know he does not want that.
- 10:41SPEAKER_00: Shall we get into a curious, an eventful, Oklahoma News Roundup.
- 10:48SPEAKER_00: To begin, we must start with the talk of the town.
- 10:54SPEAKER_00: Buc-ee's is coming, y'all.
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: Okay, official info first.
- 10:58SPEAKER_00: Location.
- 10:59SPEAKER_00: At the northwest corner of Cimarron and I-40.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: I will save you having to Google Maps that.
- 11:06SPEAKER_00: It is located,
- 11:07SPEAKER_00: Cimarron,
- 11:08SPEAKER_00: is one mile west of the only exit that you know at Mustang and Yukon,
- 11:12SPEAKER_00: Garth Brooks Boulevard, So it's basically way the hell out there.
- 11:17SPEAKER_00: There's no official opening date yet.
- 11:20SPEAKER_00: Probably going to be like two years out.
- 11:22SPEAKER_00: Buc-ee's is paying $8 million for construction
- 11:25SPEAKER_00: and they're getting no tax incentives unlike what Amazon
- 11:28SPEAKER_00: and others have gotten previously.
- 11:30SPEAKER_00: OKC is using $10 million in federal funding that oddly enough was procured
- 11:37SPEAKER_00: by Mark Wayne Mullen when he was a senator for Oklahoma.
- 11:40SPEAKER_00: So no local tax dollars will be funding Buc-ee's.
- 11:43SPEAKER_00: Apparently,
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: the Oklahoma Department of Transportation is kicking in up to $15 million more,
- 11:47SPEAKER_00: though.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: So there is some of our tax dollars at work to build this Buc-ee's.
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: And apparently, all of the debate about this has centered around a couple of core ideas.
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: This is going to invariably make this not a rural place anymore.
- 12:04SPEAKER_00: The Cimarron exit is a rural exit.
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: It's got farmland everywhere.
- 12:08SPEAKER_00: This will probably lead to other developments, other strip centers, apartments, housing.
- 12:13SPEAKER_00: This is probably just the beginning of the development of Cimarron.
- 12:16SPEAKER_00: So that's the first way to think about it.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: And second,
- 12:20SPEAKER_00: the other conversation has been how much money or the Cimarron exit is going to cost
- 12:25SPEAKER_00: a lot of money just to revamp.
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: Because it's a two lane road right now.
- 12:30SPEAKER_00: So all of the time that it's going to take to get this done is going to be the city
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: and the state working to completely revitalize the ramps on both sides.
- 12:39SPEAKER_00: Apparently it's going to be like five lanes now.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: The Cimarron road that goes over the top of I-40, it's going to have Texas turnarounds.
- 12:46SPEAKER_00: I'm not even sure what a Texas turnaround is.
- 12:48SPEAKER_00: Just sounds cool.
- 12:48SPEAKER_00: Guess it's one of those things.
- 12:50SPEAKER_00: Drive underneath and it loops you around.
- 12:52SPEAKER_00: But yeah, very interesting.
- 12:55SPEAKER_00: You know,
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: I've been thinking about how I really feel about this overall,
- 13:00SPEAKER_00: you know, because I'm not a Buc-ee's guy.
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: Not typically someone who goes out of my way to an institution
- 13:07SPEAKER_00: for something called Beaver Nuggets.
- 13:09SPEAKER_00: I'm good with normal gas stations that sell me normal gas and normal Diet Mountain Dew.
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: Not typically let's build this monstrous gas station thing that looks like what
- 13:17SPEAKER_00: a gas station would look like if it was to visit a sign by Walmart and branded by
- 13:21SPEAKER_00: an 8-year-old.
- 13:22SPEAKER_00: Those billboards too, the dot, like every few miles in Texas are obnoxious.
- 13:28SPEAKER_00: They are not funny.
- 13:30SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are excited about Buc-ee's and I don't envision a whole lot
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: of bad coming down the pipe from this.
- 13:37SPEAKER_00: Tulsa got Ikea, we got Buc-ee's, I will take that trade.
- 13:42SPEAKER_00: I know it sets up the Cimarron exit to become more developed now and less rural
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: and I imagine that will change and impact many people's lives over in that area.
- 13:51SPEAKER_00: But it's economic development for the Metro,
- 13:53SPEAKER_00: brings jobs,
- 13:53SPEAKER_00: brings taxes,
- 13:54SPEAKER_00: and brings people whatever it is that they love about Buc-ee's
- 13:58SPEAKER_00: into their lives more often.
- 14:01SPEAKER_00: It's also one less thing that Texans can flout on us Oklahomans that they have that we don't.
- 14:07SPEAKER_00: So, I say we all just let the people have what they want in peace
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: and concede this battle but not the war for Oklahoma's culture to the beaver.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: It's okay, really, to have a Buc-ee's out in Mustang, Yukon.
- 14:21SPEAKER_00: I actually think it kind of works, you know.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: It's on brand with the colors and everything.
- 14:25SPEAKER_00: The white, the red.
- 14:27SPEAKER_00: Seems like a good spot for a Buc-ee's.
- 14:29SPEAKER_00: Next, in the Oklahoma News Roundup,
- 14:32SPEAKER_00: our boy,
- 14:33SPEAKER_00: Mark Wayne Mullen,
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: head of the department,
- 14:37SPEAKER_00: of Homeland Security and subsequently ICE was an admin last week
- 14:42SPEAKER_00: or this week answering questions at the Edmond Chamber of Commerce after he gave
- 14:46SPEAKER_00: a speech to that group.
- 14:47SPEAKER_00: The first question he was asked about after he got done was if he agreed that
- 14:53SPEAKER_00: the way the Department of Homeland Security was executing the law was in accordance
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: with the teachings of Jesus.
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: Now, the question was asked completely.
- 15:05SPEAKER_00: With the intention to provoke Mark Wayne Mullen.
- 15:08SPEAKER_00: Let's not get this twisted,
- 15:09SPEAKER_00: but what ensued was essentially like a scripture quoting contest that was yelled
- 15:15SPEAKER_00: across the room.
- 15:16SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite lines from the two minute back and forth was Mullen
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: when he shouted, there is nothing unloving about executing a nation's laws.
- 15:26SPEAKER_00: I thought for sure that whoever did this was like some liberal provocateur
- 15:30SPEAKER_00: that just like asked the question just to get a rise out of Mullen, make the news.
- 15:35SPEAKER_00: But actually, it was Edmonds' former mayor from 1991 to 1994.
- 15:41SPEAKER_00: His name is Randall Shadden.
- 15:42SPEAKER_00: Apparently he's an attorney, practiced law for like 50 years.
- 15:45SPEAKER_00: And afterward,
- 15:46SPEAKER_00: in an interview with the Oklahoman,
- 15:47SPEAKER_00: he said, quote, Mark Wayne is nothing but a bully.
- 15:50SPEAKER_00: I practiced law for 50 plus years.
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: I know how to pull someone's chain and with him,
- 15:54SPEAKER_00: it's so easy you don't even have to think about it, end quote.
- 15:58SPEAKER_00: Shadden ended up getting escorted out.
- 16:00SPEAKER_00: No charges were filed because he didn't do anything.
- 16:03SPEAKER_00: And Mullen ended up just looking pretty insecure and unprofessional.
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: There's probably a way to handle that that didn't devolve into a shouting match at
- 16:12SPEAKER_00: an Edmond Chamber of Commerce event where you ask an audience member to leave,
- 16:18SPEAKER_00: but that wouldn't have made the news.
- 16:21SPEAKER_00: The way that some of these politicians speak,
- 16:23SPEAKER_00: I swear,
- 16:24SPEAKER_00: just the tone of superiority and entitlement in which they greet anyone
- 16:30SPEAKER_00: That questions anything that they do is astounding.
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I find it just like disrespectful.
- 16:37SPEAKER_00: It's almost like when they got elected,
- 16:39SPEAKER_00: nobody watched how these people acted or read anything that these people said
- 16:43SPEAKER_00: before voting for them.
- 16:47SPEAKER_00: Okay, back in the news.
- 16:50SPEAKER_00: Stephanie Bice,
- 16:51SPEAKER_00: whom we talked about last week,
- 16:53SPEAKER_00: in her bid as the incumbent Republican running against Democrat Jenna Nelson.
- 16:58SPEAKER_00: We talked last week about how the Democrats,
- 17:00SPEAKER_00: National Democrats,
- 17:01SPEAKER_00: are throwing money behind Nelson because they think there's a chance,
- 17:05SPEAKER_00: a small chance, because Bice is fairly well liked around here.
- 17:08SPEAKER_00: And I think latest polls have shown that she has a 13 to 15 point lead in that race.
- 17:14SPEAKER_00: I think there's a very low, again, chance that Nelson's going to win this race.
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: But what happened earlier,
- 17:22SPEAKER_00: but basically,
- 17:25SPEAKER_00: this week,
- 17:26SPEAKER_00: Bice was at OSU in Stillwater talking with students,
- 17:31SPEAKER_00: and unbeknownst to her, she was being recorded.
- 17:34SPEAKER_00: And that hot mic got sent to a website called Boar Work,
- 17:38SPEAKER_00: where her comments were published and eventually were acquired in full through
- 17:41SPEAKER_00: the Oklahoman.
- 17:43SPEAKER_00: Here's a sampling of some of her comments.
- 17:45SPEAKER_00: Quote, We're not helping ourselves today when we decide to rename Lake Ontario Lake America.
- 17:51SPEAKER_00: Unquote.
- 17:52SPEAKER_00: Quote, And what happens is that it'll impact me because two things will either happen.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: They're going to vote for the Democrat and they may split the ticket and vote for me
- 18:02SPEAKER_00: and a few others or, this is my bigger fear right now, people don't go vote.
- 18:07SPEAKER_00: Also, quote, She indicated that voters have Trump fatigue.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: She also said,
- 18:11SPEAKER_00: What I worry about is that we're falling behind and we don't have
- 18:14SPEAKER_00: the right strategy.
- 18:16SPEAKER_00: Obviously, optically, not good right now for her or for Trump.
- 18:22SPEAKER_00: But it does indicate everything that the New York Times
- 18:26SPEAKER_00: and Oklahoma Voice was talking about this week,
- 18:28SPEAKER_00: which is that Republicans in tight races are trying to distance themselves
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: from Trump and Trump's stance on the Iran war.
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: But my first reaction to all of this was that it is not cool to record somebody
- 18:40SPEAKER_00: when they don't know it.
- 18:42SPEAKER_00: Especially when they're being honest with you.
- 18:44SPEAKER_00: That is just really not cool.
- 18:47SPEAKER_00: Second was damn for a candidate who in the polls is showing a 13 point lead over Nelson.
- 18:54SPEAKER_00: She seems kind of stressed.
- 18:55SPEAKER_00: Seems like she couldn't have been thrilled when Trump decided to come to Durant.
- 19:02SPEAKER_00: Alright.
- 19:04SPEAKER_00: Last bit of news.
- 19:05SPEAKER_00: Most important news of the week is a traffic and construction related bit of news.
- 19:13SPEAKER_00: If you live in Edmond or have been to Edmond any time in the past,
- 19:17SPEAKER_00: I don't even know, decade,
- 19:19SPEAKER_00: like me, because that's where I go to see my in-laws, you usually take Kelly.
- 19:25SPEAKER_00: And when you're going northbound on Kelly, up into Edmond, it's a pretty smooth ride.
- 19:31SPEAKER_00: Oh, and shout out,
- 19:31SPEAKER_00: the city of Edmond completed all that construction on Kelly,
- 19:34SPEAKER_00: so everything looks great now.
- 19:36SPEAKER_00: But northbound, pretty smooth.
- 19:37SPEAKER_00: Southbound, though,
- 19:39SPEAKER_00: All you're thinking about is how to get through all those lights and how to get
- 19:42SPEAKER_00: on like southbound I-235 Broadway extension and get home.
- 19:46SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm thinking about.
- 19:47SPEAKER_00: I'm never thinking about where to position my vehicle in relation to the railroad tracks.
- 19:53SPEAKER_00: And because I'm not thinking about that, I smash.
- 19:57SPEAKER_00: Into the railroad tracks.
- 19:59SPEAKER_00: At Kelly.
- 20:00SPEAKER_00: Right before you get on the Broadway extension.
- 20:03SPEAKER_00: Every single time I drive through there.
- 20:05SPEAKER_00: There is no way to avoid this pothole.
- 20:07SPEAKER_00: It's got to be like four feet wide and like multiple feet deep.
- 20:12SPEAKER_00: And this has literally wrecked my car so many times.
- 20:17SPEAKER_00: And I never realized it until like right in the moment.
- 20:19SPEAKER_00: I'm like, shit.
- 20:22SPEAKER_00: Every single time.
- 20:23SPEAKER_00: I can't dodge this thing.
- 20:24SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 20:25SPEAKER_00: But this week.
- 20:27SPEAKER_00: They fixed it.
- 20:29SPEAKER_00: It is a smooth ride over those railroad tracks because this week, again,
- 20:33SPEAKER_00: I forgot to get into the other lane and dodge the hole,
- 20:36SPEAKER_00: but this week I was not punished.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: And that is the best news of the week right there for anybody that has to drive
- 20:42SPEAKER_00: on Kelly and Edmond.
- 20:44SPEAKER_00: Very excited about that.
- 20:49SPEAKER_00: All right.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, y'all.
- 20:53SPEAKER_00: Thanks for also dealing with me this week.
- 20:54SPEAKER_00: I've got a bit of a head cold.
- 20:55SPEAKER_00: So if I sound a little different, that is why.
- 20:59SPEAKER_00: But if you're enjoying these episodes and you want to listen to more,
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- 21:18SPEAKER_00: All right.
- 21:19SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you all listening.
- 21:21SPEAKER_00: Until the next time, you'll know where to find us.
- 21:24SPEAKER_00: Powerhouse.
- 21:26SPEAKER_00: Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.
- 21:31SPEAKER_00: Oh, God.