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Dem Senate Candidate’s Plot to Confuse Voters Exposed · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch. Grab a stool next
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to Greg Karambas of Radio America and Jim Garrity of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: National Review. Three Martini's coming up.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: So glad you're with us for the Thursday edition of
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: the Three Martini Lunch. As you know, Jim Garrity is away.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Here in his place is Scott Bertram, General Manager, WRFH,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM on the campus of Hillsdale College,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: where he also lectures in journalism. He runs the Hillsdale
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: College Podcast Network and hosts podcasts. A bunch of those podcasts,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: including the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Scott, welcome back.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Good to have you. Greg, good to be here. Sorry
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to say we won't see any more baseball for, you know,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: 18 months, two years. Don't quite know yet, but doesn't
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: look good.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: It's not looking good.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: And even though two small market teams made it to
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: the World Series, I don't think that's going to stop
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the freight train.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Coming here with the labor issues.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: But let's get to the midterm elections. Jim and I
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: have talked a lot about the stupidity of ranked choice
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: voting in Alaska. We've talked about the insanity of the
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: other Dan Sullivan on the ballot and how this was
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: obviously a play to siphon off votes from the Senator
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Dan Sullivan. But Scott, It's now officially a problem because
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: the New York Times has reported on this. They ran
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: a story a few months ago about how Mary Peltola,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: the Democratic nominee, was horrible to her staff. And it's
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: possible that that being horrible has now caught up with
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: her because they've now run a second story in the
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: New York Times talking about how the Democrats and the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Peltola campaign were actively involved, allegedly, in recruiting the other
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Dan Sullivan. The New York Times says in the summer
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola said, received unusual
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: instructions from top campaign aides. Find as many people named
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can. The staff are complied,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: coming through voter records to produce a list of Dan
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Sullivans from across the state.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: This was no random request. Dan S.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Sullivan is the name of the state's Republican senator. And
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: if the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state's
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: unusual four-person ballot.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: The plan worked.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: This spring, a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: along the Alaska panhandle, reachable only by air and sea,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: announced his candidacy for Senate. His name was Dan J.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Sullivan.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: And by all accounts, he's not a Republican, even though
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: he's running as one. His politics, to the extent that
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: he has any, are to the left. He seems to
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: be a willing participant in this charade, however. Lisa Murkowski,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: who basically created the rank choice atrocity in Alaska yesterday,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: is now attacking Peltola, saying, while some may try to
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: write this off as just how politics works now, ballot
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: stacking should have no place in our electoral process. Run
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and win on your merits, your views, your policy ideas,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and your accomplishments. By contrast, recruiting candidates to manipulate the
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: field and influence voting outcomes is simply wrong. Alaskans deserve
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the honest truth from Mary and her campaign. What has
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: been revealed is a pattern of lies and cover-ups and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: or among our elected officials. Well, Senator, if you had
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: just left the normal system alone, we wouldn't be having
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: this problem. But, Scott, what do you make of the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: fact that, A, the New York Times actually run a
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: story that's negative towards a Democrat with less than a
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: week to go before Election Day? And even though the
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: rest of us are saying, yeah, we figured this out
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: a long time ago, it's now part of the national conversation.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I feel real bad for the phone staff at the
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: New York Times today, although I guess most people will
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: cancel via the website or via their app or something
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: along those lines. But, you know, Cancellations are coming in
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: fast and furious because if it's not fan service, that's
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: not what New York Times readers necessarily want. So, yeah,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: seeing a story that paints someone who ostensibly would help
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: a Democrat win in Alaska and give Democrats a majority
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: in the Senate is not going to sit well with
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: New York Times readers. That's for sure. I'm sure there
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: are efforts underway now across social media to cancel your
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: New York Times subscription. How dare they do journalism in Alaska?
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: This is a strategy that is not necessarily new or unique,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: certainly not in Chicago, where it is just randomly and strangely,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: you know, when you have a good Irish guy running
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: against someone with a Latino name, a second Latino name
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: will pop up on the ballot. Goodness, it's strange how
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: those things happen sometimes. That's, of course, Democrats fighting among
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Democrats in Chicago on the South Side and elsewhere. So
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: that's not all that unprecedented. To do so in a
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: situation like this, with ranked choice voting, where there's a
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: real strategy behind it, it seems, is something new and different.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: And in Alaska, it could make a difference. Now, if
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: this isn't, if she's going to win by 10 points,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of course, it doesn't matter. But in a tight race,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: when you're a candidate, a Democrat in a state that's
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: been deeply red for a long time, you position yourself
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: as being something different, something above the fray, something that's
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: going to be honest and true. And then it turns out,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of course, you're completely not in any way, shape or form,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: as the story sort of indicates. That could be a
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: real problem. Now, how many people have already voted? I
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: meant to look and I didn't look when early voting
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: started in Alaska. I think it has, I'm pretty sure
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: at least has been underway for a little bit. This,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: of course, is another issue where voters don't have a
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: complete picture of things when they actually cast ballots. That
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: can be another discussion for another day. It is somewhat
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: crazy how credulous reporters were on this issue. There was
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: a really glowing profile of Dan Sullivan, the non-senator, in
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the Chicago Tribune a couple of weeks ago. And I
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: read it. I read the Tribune every day. And I said,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: why are they doing this? And like the 60th paragraph in,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: they bury the fact that this Dan Sullivan... is the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: brother of Paul Sullivan, who's a longtime baseball writer for
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the Chicago Tribune. So they had the access. They write
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: this profile. Really, like there's two sentences where, well, the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Democrats say they didn't recruit him, and he says that
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: he didn't talk to them. And that's it. And the
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: rest is a very, very nice profile puff piece of
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: this Dan Sullivan. Looks really bad today in the wake
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: of the report by the New York Times. My favorite
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: part of the Times report, by the way, is where
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the Peltola campaign reporter person tries to take back retracting
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: all statements made regarding the 2026 Alaska Senate race in
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: connection with any article you may or may not be writing.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I am not willing to be a source for any
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: story in any capacity. Well, that's just delicious, isn't it?
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: They did not. And again, they did not heed that call.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: They did not agree to retract her statement. So like
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: a double dose of interesting journalism happening in The New
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: York Times.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely right.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Hopefully this is a strike against rank choice voting, which
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I absolutely abhor. Uh, and also it's just another example
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: of the media. Uh, like I said, in the very beginning,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: it's kind of like the Biden incompetency. It's all a
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: conspiracy theory until the mainstream media reports on it. Then
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden it's this breaking news and, oh
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: my gosh, I can't believe this is happening. And everybody's like, yeah, we,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: we knew about that like months or a year ago,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: or in Biden's case, four years ago or more.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Uh, but tens of thousands of people have voted.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I don't remember the exact number, but I saw that, uh,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: in a piece yesterday, uh, at least 35, 40 maybe,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: maybe even more than that. And in Alaska, that's quite
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: a bit of the electorate, unfortunately. But Mary Peltola has
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: been fighting against the Trump administration, which has already launched
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: a federal lawsuit on this issue. But for the most part,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: it's been smacked down by judges up there until now.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: We'll see what happens as a result of this New
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: York Times story. But back in August, while campaigning, Mary Peltola,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: while talking about other political issues, was very, very harsh
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: against political deception. In fact, she wanted jail time for it.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the electorate.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: Let's work for that.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Criminal offense to mislead the electorate. She's got a lot
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: of dirt on her hands here, Scott.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: But I don't know.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: In this polarized climate, will that make a huge difference?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Will there be a lot of people in Alaska, even
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: if they haven't voted, to say, you know what, I
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: was going to vote for her, but now I'm not.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I just don't know.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: We'll find out.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Maybe they'll knock her down one spot in the ranked choice.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I was going to have her three. Now I've got
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: to put her at four. Her response to this is interesting, too,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: because she's trying to destroy our democracy, as we've been told.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Her response yesterday was to attack the New York Times
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: for writing the story. An attack on our vaunted and
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: respected free press, I have been told reliably, is an
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: attack on our democracy. So, If you don't vote for
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: her because she recruited a second Dan Sullivan, don't vote
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: for her because she's trying to destroy our democracy.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: She absolutely is.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, she and the Democratic Party say they did none
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: of that. All those allegations are scurrilous and false. Forget
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: the text messages and the emails that were provided to
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the New York Times. I, of course, joke about that
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: a little bit.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: But when you're talking about destroying a democracy, recruiting someone
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: with the same name to confuse voters who are casting
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: ballots– is probably farther down the line of destroying a
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: democracy than 99.4% of things Democrats actually have accused Republicans
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: of doing to destroy democracy. So let's be clear about that. Oh, yes.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And of course, it's a well-worn analogy. But if the
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Republicans had done this, this would have been a massive
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: story throughout the year. But of course, only now, only
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: now do we hear about this on a large scale.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 9:34
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• 10:26
  Speaker 3: All right, Scott, on.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: To Michigan, where you live. And boy, has there been
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: a lot of tension on the Senate race there. And
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: that's exactly where we're going again. Of course, Abdul El-Sayed
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: narrowly defeated Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the August primary. Poll
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: said it'd be about 10 points or more. It turned
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: out to be one point. Well, Haley Stevens, we just
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: talked about her on Monday because over the weekend, she's like, yeah,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: I'm on Team Democrat. I'm for Jocelyn Benson for governor.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: I'm for all these different people running for the House.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: They're like, well, what about Abdul El-Sayed?
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: I'm on the Democratic team.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: And now, yesterday, as you may know, or maybe not,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Haley Stevens is engaged to a guy named Jason Turkish.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: And Jason Turkish has now publicly come out and said,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: I can't vote for Abdul El-Sayed. I am not only
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: not voting for Abdul El-Sayed, I am voting for Mike Rogers.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: And here's some of his explanation for why.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: But she opened her heart, her arms to Abdul. And
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: I waited and I watched and I listened for Abdul
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: to moderate. But he didn't moderate, he escalated. He got
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: worse and worse and worse as this general election campaign
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: has gone on. Rather than bringing people together, he's just
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: driven them further and further apart. When police says genocide
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: over and over again, when he refuses to condemn an ad,
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: That says Jews are to blame for the price of bananas.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: He makes my community less safe. He makes a lot
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: of he makes a lot of communities less safe.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: And Haley Stevens went on CNN last night and said.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Oh, divided household here. I'm still supporting my party's nominee.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: His name is Abdul.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: But it's also important to note here, Scott, that Jason
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Turkish is not just the fiance of Haley Stevens. He's
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: a Democratic Party mega donor. And he's going out there
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: publicly saying, I cannot vote. not only not tolerate Abdul El-Sayed,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I have to vote for Mike Rogers.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Can I tell you a secret, Greg?
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: What's that?
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Haley Stevens isn't voting for Abdul El-Sayed.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I don't think she is either.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: She's not. No one will know. It's a secret ballot.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: She's not voting for Abdul El-Sayed. She's not. And there
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: are a lot of Jewish voters in Michigan who feel
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the same way. A lot of them high profile. A
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: lot of them have written op-eds for the Detroit News
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and elsewhere. A lot of them going on the record.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: There's an entire group you know, Democrats for Rogers. And
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Al-Sayed also has, as we know, a problem with black voters.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Most of these, it's not an Al-Sayed specific problem. A
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: lot of these socialist candidates have problems with black voters.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: They don't like socialism as they shouldn't. And so I
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: look at this race and I know there's a Detroit
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: News poll that came out this week, and we can
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: say polling isn't accurate. It's very hard to poll Michigan.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: All that stuff is true. But just to put the
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: data point that had El-Sayed extending his lead to, I think,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: six points on Mike Rogers. And I don't know how
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to explain it. I don't know how that happens. By that,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, it seems clear El-Sayed is going to bleed
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: some voters among the Jewish community in Michigan. It seems
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: clear LSAT is going to bleed some votes from the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: black communities in Detroit and Grand Rapids and elsewhere in Michigan.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Mike Rogers is working hard to win those votes. He's
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: going into those communities. He's going to Detroit. He's actually,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: like Donald Trump did, asking people for their support, asking
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: people for their vote. And in 2024, there was a
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: big surprise that Donald Trump actually won those votes. Some
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: of those votes increased his percentage among black voters, among
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Hispanic voters. Now, where that is now, it's a different
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: story altogether. But he went and asked for votes and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: he got votes. And Mike Rogers is doing the same thing.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: The way that Mike Rogers loses this race, I think,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: is if the Republican base simply doesn't turn out to vote.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: And look, that's a real possibility. Off years when President
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Trump is not on the ballot, there are turnout issues
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: among Republicans right now. That's why I think what the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: president's done over the past week, he was in Texas twice,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Ohio yesterday. J.D. Vance was here Tuesday. The president was
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: here on Sunday. And he's saying specifically, Vote like I
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: am on the ballot. Will people do that? We'll see.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: But I don't know what else President Trump can do
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: at this point other than make that explicitly clear. You've
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: got to vote like I am on the ballot. If
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Republicans turn out close to the to the to the.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that they turned out for Donald Trump in 2024, I
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: think Mike Rogers wins. The danger here is that people
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: simply don't get out and vote. The danger is they're
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: annoyed by high gas prices, that they're annoyed by the war.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: They somewhat overlook the possibilities of what might happen if
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Democrats take control of the House and Democrats take control
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: of the Senate and simply stay home. But if Republicans
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: vote and Mike Rogers picks up a percentage, an increased
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: percentage of votes among black voters in Michigan, among Jewish
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: voters in Michigan, that's a recipe for success. And I'll
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: tell you, people talk, I was thinking about this yesterday, Greg,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you go back in our archives on this Three Martini
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Lunch podcast, way back at the beginning of this campaign
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: for Senate in Michigan, I remember where I was sitting
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: when we talked about this, and we talked about Abdul El-Sayed,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: and there's this hope he's another Obama, he's this, he's that.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: He barely speaks by the primary, and people say he's
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: a generational political talent, he's a generational communicator, he's a
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: guy that has talents, you know, the likes of which
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you haven't seen anywhere. I don't see it. He is
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: a boilerplate, you know, DSA kind of candidate, a guy
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: who does not want to reach across the aisle to
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: find new voters, a guy that won't apologize for doing
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: things that voters find distasteful, a guy that won't you know,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: explicitly and forcefully say, I don't support the Muslim Brotherhood,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: a guy who won't explain family ties to organizations like that,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: a guy who talks over media members as they ask
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: him questions about that sort of thing. I don't see
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: any kind of generational political talent. I don't see any
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: kind of generational communicator in Abdul El-Sayed. So if he wins... Again,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I think it's mostly because the Republican base in Michigan
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: doesn't turn out. The president's been doing all he can,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the vice president too, to make sure that doesn't happen.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a double-edged sword for Trump to say, vote
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: like I'm on the ballot, because for his base, that
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: could help turn them out. But for Trump, his approval ratings,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: I assume, are not that great in Michigan. Everybody else
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: is going to be like, oh, yeah, I'll vote like
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: you're on the ballot and could show up in decent
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: numbers as well. The other thing that has me concerned, Scott,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: I know there's going to be a pretty wide disparity
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: between the governor's race and the Senate race here. But
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: in this era where there's not as much ticket splitting
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: as there used to be, I'm looking over at 270
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: to win and their average of the last five polls
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: has Jocelyn Benson, the Democrat, up 51 to 43 over
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: John James. Some polls there, you know, around three or five.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Others are up around nine or 12. If it's nine
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: or 12, I don't see how you split that many tickets.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: If it's down around three, I think Rodgers has a
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: decent chance because I think El Sayed will drastically underperform Benson,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: but not to a level so drastic that it's a
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: double digit margin.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: That would be hard. And there is straight ticket voting
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: in Michigan. So you can punch, you know, I want
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: all D. That's something that sometimes is also hard to
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: show up in polling too, because as you say, maybe
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: you say, yeah, maybe I'll vote for Rodgers. When you
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: get to the ballot box, it's easier to punch or
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: fill in that one box as opposed to all the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: boxes up and down the ballot. So, yes, that's possible. Yes,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I think that certainly James is underperforming Rodgers when it
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: comes to the ballot box. I think that'll be true
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: on Election Day as well. It's not a fait accompli.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: It's not a done deal. But I think John James
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: is in trouble in his race for the gubernatorial seat.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: And yes, is it a double-digit margin that can be
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: made up by Rodgers?
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: But, you know, what? six points, seven points, you want
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: to keep it in that realm, that's doable.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. So get out there and vote, Michigan.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Don't let one of the most radical people who've ever
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: run for Senate get in there.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Well, you want to prevent disasters from happening on election day.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: You also want to prevent disasters in your home, but
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: sometime they're just going to happen anyway. That pipe's going
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: to burst just like it did in our house a.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: Few weeks ago.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: There's also the water line out to the street. There's
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: the sewer line. There's Stuff that your home insurance doesn't
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: necessarily cover.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. So first of all,
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: get a good policy.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: But secondly, make sure everything is covered with a great
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: policy from HomeServe, especially those lines out to the street.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: A lot of times it's the HVAC. A lot of
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: times it's the hot water heater. And so when it
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: comes to making sure that you have peace of mind,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: if one of those big ticket items goes down, you're
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: not paying an arm and a leg and going through
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: a lot of stress to get it fixed. You just
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: are paying your small monthly fee as low as $ 4. 99
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: a month with HomeServe. You call them when something goes
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: wrong and they take care of the rest. Regular homeowners
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: insurance doesn't cover a lot of those.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Those major issues.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: So make sure that you are covered with nearly four
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: and a half million customers and a four point seven
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• 19:41
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• 19:56
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• 20:01
  Speaker 3: All right, Scott.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: It was, I don't know, 20 years ago. So some
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: people don't remember this, but you and I are certainly
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: old enough to remember this. The financial crisis was actually
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: in 2008, but leading up to that was a whole
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: lot of terrible decisions about lending and mortgages and giving
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: mortgages to people with terrible credit and not requiring much down.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: And well, that led to a massive collapse and.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: A lot of people's 401ks got wiped out.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: A lot of people dealing with a lot of problems,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: but yeah, Some people just never learn their lesson. Some
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: people are still saying, you know, the important thing is
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: to just give people mortgages regardless of whether they're a
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: good candidate to get one or not.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: Well, this is happening now in Philadelphia.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Mayor Sherelle Parker talking about how they're urging people with
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: lower than normal credit scores to go out and get
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: those mortgages. And if they default, well, the city's got
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: your back.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: Imagine getting a mortgage, a 30 year commitment with no PMI,
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: so no private mortgage insurance. And we have, in essence,
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: brought down the interest rates. But here is the part
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: that's extremely important for the banking industry. The city of
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: Philadelphia has created what we reference as a loan loss reserve.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: And so we need Philadelphians who have less than perfect
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: credit to be able to qualify. So if you have
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: a credit score of 620, we want you to, the
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: lending industry, banking industry, to say, hey, we'll take this risk,
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: but the city of Philadelphia proper shoulders it.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Scott, what was it, the old line, insanity is doing
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I believe it is. I think that's– it might be–
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure how it's attributed to, but yes, doing
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the same thing again and expecting different results. Giving people loans,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: large loans, who can't afford them, who can't handle them
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and have shown in the past they can't handle something
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: one-tenth the size perhaps. And expecting that to work out,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: that's dangerous. And of course, putting Philadelphia taxpayers on the
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: hook for potential consequences if those loans default. I was
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: looking at the Philly mayor's ex-account where she announced this.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: In the follow-up post, she says, I know how hard
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Philadelphians work to provide for their families, and I want
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: more of them to have a real shot at owning
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: a home. Your income or credit score shouldn't put that
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: dream out of reach. Greg, I'm going to tell you,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: your income and credit score should put that dream out
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: of reach. Those should be indicators as to whether or
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: not you can handle a home loan, whether or not
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: you can pay off a home loan. Those are important.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: You own a home. I own a home. We've gone
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: through the process of getting a loan. The kind of
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: vetting that goes on and statements and documents and bank
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: this and pay stubs and It's intense. It's crazy. And
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: to sort of wave all that off and say, ah,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you're good for it. And if not, the
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: taxpayers will pick it up. I think we're going to
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: talk about this next. So I don't want to jump
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the gun a little bit. But the idea of responsibility,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the idea that you are responsible for your actions that
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: have occurred in the past, and then also responsible for
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: things in the future, like paying off the loans, Republicans
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: value responsibility far more than Democrats do. Democrats value equality
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and fairness. They think, well, if you have a home,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: then that person should have a home. It doesn't matter
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: what their income is, their credit score is. It doesn't
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: even matter if they can afford it. If they want it,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: they should have it. That's very dangerous thinking. It's the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: kind of thinking that leads us to try programs like this,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: which have failed in the past and certainly will fail
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: again in the future.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Absolutely right. If you can't learn that lesson... from that recently,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I can't help you.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I feel bad for the citizens of Philadelphia who will
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: be on the hook for this. My guess is this
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: will get shut down relatively soon when reality bites. But
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: until then, it's going to be ugly. And there's going
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: to be a lot of people who think they have
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: a good chance to go ahead and get a home
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: and it's not going to work out well for them.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Maybe some do.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: But in the end, this is going to be a
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: terrible idea because, again, it's been proven to be a
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: terrible idea in the past. There are standards for getting
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: loans to buy a home for a reason. And politicians
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: just like to run right through all those warning signs,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: but can't help themselves.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Somehow this will be George W. Bush's fault again. Of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: course it will. I don't know how, but he's going
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: to get blamed for this thing in Philly too.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Or Trump, one or the other.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about privacy, not only in your home,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: but also just privacy online. And let's face it, we
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: spend a lot of time protecting our homes and our families,
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: but what about our digital lives? You can Google your
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: name and you might find out your home address. You
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: see your phone number there and family details listed online.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: And data brokers collect and sell all that information, potentially
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: exposing you to scammers and identity theft. And that's why
• 25:12
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• 25:47
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• 25:50
  Speaker 2: by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Well, Scott, good foreshadowing there
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: when it comes to different values that the different parties have.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Hat tip to Tom Bevin over at RealClearPolitics. Looking at
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: this survey from Honor and Gallup. This is from May
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: of this year. Most needed values in the country by
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: political party. Number one for the Republicans, patriotism. Dead last
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: for Democrats, patriotism. Number one for the Democrats, equality. dead
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: last for Republicans' service, it looks like.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: And another one pretty.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Close there is equality. So equality is very polarized, as
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: is patriotism. And I think, Scott, like you said, it's
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: because they see equality as equity, where all the outcomes
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: are the same, not equal opportunity.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: To pursue success, which is the way it should be.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: So both sides like honesty and responsibility and integrity to
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: a large extent. But seeing those polar opposites is quite telling.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But if you look down, I think Republicans value responsibility more.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: It's the third highest patriotism, something and then responsibility, I think,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: is the third highest value that Republicans say that we need.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: And it's not quite as high among Democrats. And I
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: think about this. You know, the fairness equality being one,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: two among Democrats, all these schemes to redistribute wealth and
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: tax the wealthy and tax the billionaires and the millionaires
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and the upper middle class. And essentially you get everyone right.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: But the idea, oh, we'll make things fair. We'll sort
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: of redistribute things and make things fair. What's going to
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: happen the next day? I mean, this would never actually
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: happen in our minds. Let's play this out. What would
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: happen the next day, the day after the people who
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: were millionaires and billionaires? are very likely to take what
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: they have and create more, create wealth, start a business,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: make money. The people who didn't have a lot before
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: perhaps could continue their lifestyle and squander some of that money.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: So all of a sudden, we're unfair once again. And
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: the people who take more responsibility of that money are
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: going to create more wealth and and more money for themselves.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: So what do you do? Even in a world of
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: equality and fairness, what, you shake the snow globe once
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: a month? All right, give us all the money back again.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: We're going to send it back out again. Everybody's equal again.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: We'll start from scratch. And the same thing will happen
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: over and over again. This idea that we can somehow
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: create a system of fairness where some people are going
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: to be more responsible than others. It's human nature. And
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: those people who are more responsible... perhaps are the ones
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: who are able to buy a home, have a better
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: credit rating. They can handle loans. People who are more responsible,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: create wealth, start a business, make money. You can't get
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to fairness and equality in any real way.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Well, you set the opportunity. You make sure people have
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: the relatively same opportunity to achieve that success. But what
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: they do with that opportunity could be very different depending
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: on their approach and so forth. So Yeah, very, very telling.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: And I'm sure we'll see these views reflected in the
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: results we see next week.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: So, Scott, this was a lot of fun. Let's rewind
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: and do it again tomorrow.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, that sounds good.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: All right, Scott Bertram.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: He is the general manager of WRFH, Radio Free Hillsdale,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: on the campus of Hillsdale College, 101.7 FM. On your
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: dial there, lectures and journalism. He's the director of the
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Hillsdale College Podcast Network, and he's the host of many
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: of their podcasts, including the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Make
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: sure that you subscribe to the Three Martini Lunch podcast.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: If you don't already, tell your friends to join us
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: as well. Thanks also for your five-star ratings and your
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: kind reviews. Please keep those coming. Get us on your
• 29:33
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• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Martini Lunch podcast. Follow us all on X. Scott is
• 29:39
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• 29:41
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• 29:44
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• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Join Scott and me on Friday for the next 3
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Martini Lunch.