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The Scott Jennings Podcast - TRUMP HAS TAMED FOOD INFLATION. WHAT ARE THE POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS? · Salem Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello, Americans. It's Monday and the Supreme Court is back.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: A new term begins today in Washington, D.C. The justices
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: convened at 10 o'clock this morning and SCOTUS blogs Sarah Isger,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: big expert. She joins us today to preview the term
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and tell us about the cases to come. We're now
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: just 29 days from the midterm elections. New York Congressman
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Mike Lawler joins me at the bottom of the hour.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: He's in one of the most watched congressional races in America.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And did someone really go on national television yesterday and
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: blame the Cornell case on Donald Trump? Oh, yeah, they did.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: And we have the tape. Your dummy of the weekend
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: is straight ahead. Before we begin today, I want to
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: welcome C-SPAN viewers across the country and around the world
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to Common Sense for the American People, the Scott Jennings Show.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Our program is being simulcast this week on C-SPAN, and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: we're grateful for the collaboration. and to our friend Sam
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Feist over at C-SPAN for his interest in our news
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and comment. So whether you're listening to us on Salem Radio,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: watching us on the Salem News Channel, or joining us
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: this week on C-SPAN, welcome. We're glad you're here. It's Monday,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: October the 5th, and I'm Scott Jennings, reporting for Salem,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: live from Louisville, Kentucky. A beautiful day here in Middle America. Now,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: our custom each day is to begin our broadcast with
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: a little history lesson. And on this day in 1947,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: an American president sat down in the White House to
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: speak directly to the American people. Nothing unusual about that today.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: But back in those days, well, no one had ever
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: actually done it before. Now, World War II had been
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: over for a little over two years. America was booming.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: But across the Atlantic, much of Europe remained devastated. Drought, floods,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: cold weather, failed crops. and millions of people were facing
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a hungry and desolate winter. So the American president went
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to the American people for help. But this time, he
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: did it using a relatively new piece of technology, television.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: The president delivered, on this day, October 5, 1947, the
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: first televised presidential address from the White House. And what
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: was the subject of this historic address?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Food.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Food.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Truman wanted Americans to conserve food so that more could
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: be sent to a hungry Europe. But he also turned
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: to something else, something that sounds remarkably familiar, inflation and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the cost of living. Take a listen.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Another reason for conserving food is to aid in controlling
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: inflationary spirals and in preventing undue price burdens for our
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: people at home. Already, many of our families with moderate
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: or low incomes are being forced by high prices to
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: lower their standard of living. Most of the upward pressure
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: on prices is a result of competition among Americans for
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: scarce goods.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: 79 years ago today, the first televised presidential address ever
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: delivered from the White House. It hit about 44,000 TV sets,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: mostly on the East Coast. And President Harry S. Truman
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: is talking about food and inflation and prices and the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: cost of living, all of it on this day. October
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the 5th, 1947. Reminds us that some things don't really change.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Here we are all these decades later and Americans are
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: still angry about what it costs to live in this country,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to buy groceries, and to raise a family. Yesterday on
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: CNN's State of the Union program, we were talking about
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: exactly that. Here's what I said to Jake Tapper about
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the midterm argument to come. Cut to. I think it's
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: pretty simple. If I were running a campaign right now,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I'd say the people who dug a very deep hole
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: are making you one promise. Go back to the shovels.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: And I wouldn't let them do it. I think the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Republicans have great points to make. I think they passed legislation.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I've not heard a single Democrat campaign argue what bill
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: or policy. They would change. They want to go back
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to the way they were doing it. And most of
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the cost of living in this country that people are
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: mad about came under Democrats. And that's the affordability argument
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: that deserves a lot more attention. Because let's start with
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: something that already everybody knows. Prices are still high. You
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: know it. You feel it in your everyday life. You
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: don't need a politician or an economist or a radio
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: host to explain your grocery receipt to you. But there
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: is a distinction that's been lost in this conversation. The
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: price level versus the rate of inflation. They are not
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the same thing. And here's something that may surprise you, actually.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: The rate of grocery inflation has basically returned to normal.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: In fact, it's running below historical average. The latest U.S.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Department of Agriculture numbers are out. They say groceries were
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: up 2.2% over the previous year.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: 2.2%.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: What's the 20-year average? 2.6%. And from July to August,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the overall grocery price index didn't go up at all. Zero. Flat.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Our agriculture department now expects grocery prices for all of
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: this year to rise about 2.4%, again, below the 20-year
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: historical average. So let's be clear today about what the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: numbers say. The rate of grocery inflation has been tamed
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: under President Trump. Now, the price level... has not gone
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: back down, and that's why people are still angry. Here's
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the simplest way I know to explain it. If your
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: grocery bill starts at $ 100 and a huge inflationary surge
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: takes it to $ 120, and then inflation gets back under control,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: your bill doesn't magically revert to $ 100. You're still standing
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: at $ 120 plus a little bit. And who put the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: cookie jar on such a high shelf? Virtually all of
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: the prices that you're mad about today were jacked up
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: under the Democrats, who now have the audacity to ask
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: you to trust them with inflation. They drove it up.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Trump has controlled it. And now they want you to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: go back to the shovels that dug this hole in
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the first place. The rate of increase has been tamed,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: but the damage from the Democratic increases remains. Some prices
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: are actually coming down, by the way. Remember eggs? Remember
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: the great egg freakout? Eggs were the poster child for
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: the entire cost-of-living crisis. Well, egg prices in August were 23%
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: lower than they were a year ago. Dairy prices down
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: slightly year over year. Pork and poultry essentially flat, both
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: up less than 1% over the last year. And get this,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: in the most recent month, Seven of the 15 major
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: grocery categories tracked by the USDA actually went down, and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: an eighth category was flat. Fresh vegetables, down. Fresh fruit, down.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Even beef came down in that particular month. Sugar and sweets, down. Now,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: beef is still expensive. Coffee is still expensive. And your
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: total grocery bill has not returned to 2017 prices. but
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: we are actually starting to see some prices fall. Some
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: are down, some are flat. And for those that are
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: still rising, well, they're rising more slowly than history would expect.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: That is what a return to normal actually looks like.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: And here's a dose of reality that politicians ought to
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: give you, the people. If you're looking for somebody to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: wave a magic wand and take everything back in America
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to where it was in 2017, that's not going to happen.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: That's not how inflation works. The question isn't, though, are
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: you mad about prices? Of course you're mad about prices.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: You should be. The questions are, when did the big
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: increases happen? What is happening to inflation now? And what
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: do you want your government to do next? Here's the
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: affordability paradox we're dealing with. Normal inflation sitting on top
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: of abnormal price level still feels pretty terrible. And voters, you,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the American people, have every right to be angry about it.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: But anger cannot be the end of your decision. You
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: have to decide, what are we as a nation going
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: to do about it? That brings me to another conversation
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: we had yesterday. Jake Tapper asked me about the Senate
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: race going on down in Texas and about the Republican
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: candidate Ken Paxton, who's running against a Democrat named James Tallarico.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: And what I said gets to the larger point about
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: how people actually vote. Cut three. I mean, two things
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: can be true. You could think Ken Paxton has made,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: you know, bad personal decisions. But at the same time,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to put my face in
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: a wood chipper and elect Democrats to run the country.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, they've gone plum crazy right now with all
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the socialism and the abolished ICE and the abolished prisons
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and the abolished borders, etc. So just because I have
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: some quibble with Ken Paxton's personal life doesn't mean I
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: have to turn the country over to people who hate it.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: And that is really the larger point. Elections aren't canonizations.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: You're making a comparative choice between actual candidates with records
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and policy ideas and two very different ideas about what
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: ought to happen next. So if you're angry about affordability,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and plenty of Americans are, don't stop with I'm mad.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Ask the next question. What happened? When did these prices
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: go up? Who was in charge when they went up?
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And what is happening to inflation now? And what would
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the competing visions of the two parties actually look like
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: in the years ahead? Any fair review of how we
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: got these abnormally high prices and who has actually returned
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: us to normal price activity would lead you to a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: very obvious answer. This is Scott Jennings reporting for Salem.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I'd like to talk to you about supplements for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: telling us your relief factor story. More news after this.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: It's Scott Jennings on Salem. Who answers America's call for
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  Speaker 1: more energy? People do. Chevron is helping fuel national energy security.
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  Speaker 2: When he's not in the Oval Office or owning the
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  Speaker 2: libs on CNN, he's here with us. It's the Scott
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Jennings Show.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: All right, Monday, October the 5th. We tease this at
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the top of the show. And before we get to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: the dummy of the weekend, let's start with the actual news.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: A former Cornell student has filed a civil lawsuit alleging
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: she was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven current or
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: former members of the Chi Phi fraternity. Incident happened in
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: October of 2024. Put a pin in that. That'll be
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: important in a moment. The men have denied wrongdoing, some
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: saying sexual activity was consensual, others denying participation. None has
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: been criminally charged. The original local investigation did not result...
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: in criminal charges. But the case has now been reopened,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed New York
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor. Of course, there's
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: a problem with that. Before she was even appointed special prosecutor,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Letitia James went on social media and said what this
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: young woman had, quote, been forced to endure was, quote,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: horrific and unacceptable. She said, quote, we stand with you.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: In fact, a lawyer for one of the accused men
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: is now calling on James to recuse herself personally from
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the case. His point is pretty simple. How can the
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: public be confident? This investigation begins without a predetermined view
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of the facts. Now, when James was asked about her
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: post on Friday, she said, quote, I will not comment
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: on a Facebook post. Well, it was your Facebook post.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: So why can't you comment on it? Of course, she's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: now the prosecutor. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: about if you ask me. James says the investigation will
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: be guided by the facts and the law. That's good.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: It should be. But can anyone have confidence in James
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: to do that? She tends to put vibes and politics
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: ahead of the law in some cases. I think the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: public deserves the facts. Which brings us to the dummy
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: of the weekend, Michelle Cottle. Apparently to Cottle, none of
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: this is complicated at all. She's already identified the real culprit.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: You guessed it. Donald Trump. Yesterday on ABC's This Week program,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Cottle was talking about the culture surrounding the case. And
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: then her brain took a sadly familiar detour. Cut one.
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: It's a fundamental disrespect for women. You can't send those messages,
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: no matter how drunk you are as a frat boy,
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: without having some kind of misunderstanding about what women are
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: there for and whether this is a real person you're
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: dealing with. And that, I think, starts, you know, we
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: can go to the president for this one. I mean,
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: we are in a moment in this culture where the
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: glorification of being thuggish and swaggering and mistreating women is
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: kind of making you a cool kid.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course it was Donald Trump. Of course
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: it was. Now, there is a problem with this theory.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: This incident alleged in the lawsuit, as I mentioned, occurred
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: in October of 2024. Donald Trump wasn't even the president.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden was. Never mind that silly detail. Apparently Trump's
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: powers are so great that he can corrupt America's college
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: students retroactively. Why do supposedly smart people keep doing this?
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Michelle Cottle is a columnist for the New York Times.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: She's supposed to be a smart person to tell you
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the truth and insights about your world. But she can't
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: do anything but blame Trump. Why does every bad thing
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: that happens in American culture and American life have to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: be fed through the same political woodchipper? At some point,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: this isn't actually analysis. It's just a broken-brained reflex. Makes
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: me wonder, what are they going to do when this
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: guy is gone? I'll tell you one other thing that
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: amazes me. As someone who frequently sits on news panels,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: nobody sitting there asked her to defend the assertion. Nobody said,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: wait a minute. When did this happen? Nobody stopped to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: ask the obvious question. Kind of bothers me, actually. This
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: story actually deserves serious thought. It is the height of unseriousness, though,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: to look at it and just say, Trump did it!
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: He's like the intellectual easy button. You don't have to
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: examine the people or the institutions or the evidence. You
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: just say, Trump! And apparently... Nobody sitting there asks you
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to explain yourself. Now, I don't know what happened exactly
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: in that frat house. I have seen the girl's initial statements,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: which paints a far different picture than the narrative being
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: formulated and fed to you by politicians like AOC and
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Letitia James right now. But this is why we have investigations.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I do know this. If your explanation for every social
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: ill in America begins and ends with one politician, you're
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: probably not explaining very much at all. Michelle Cottle for
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: taking an extraordinarily unserious position on a very serious story.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: You are our dummy of the weekend. Coming up, somebody
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: involved in one of the most watched congressional races in America.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Mike Lawler is here on the Scott Shitting Show. Stay
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Only on Salem Now, featuring one of Charlie Kirk's final interviews.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: The new documentary, Can You Hear Me Now, investigates modern
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: prophets and divine messages influencing us today.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Some people absolutely have the gift of prophecy.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: If God exists, how would he inject his information into
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: our world?
• 17:28
  Speaker 7: More than likely, he would use humans.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: Satan would love Christians to just be a spectator, not engage,
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: not participate.
• 17:34
  Speaker 8: Is there something else?
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Now, watch it today at SalemNow.com. SalemNow.com. Now, for America's
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: favorite pundit, it's Scott Jennings.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to the Scott Jennings Show here on Monday,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: October the 5th. We're just 29 days from the midterm elections.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: And if you want to understand the battle for control
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: of Congress... you have to look at New York's 17th
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: congressional district. Republicans are defending one of the narrowest House
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: majorities in modern times. Democrats need a net gain of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: just a handful of seats to take control. Right now,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: many of the most important races in America are being
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: fought in suburban districts, just like this one in New York.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: New York 17 runs through the suburbs north of New
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: York City. Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: are Now, Kamala Harris carried this district in 2024, but
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Republican Mike Lawler won reelection at the same time, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: he's trying to do it again, this time against a
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Democrat named Kate Conley, who is an Army veteran and
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: former national security official. Cook Political Report calls this race
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: a toss-up. The latest polls have it a dead heat.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: And this is the midterm battle in miniature. The debate
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: is over affordability, taxes, the Trump presidency, and more recently, immigration.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: The question that gets decided in New York may answer
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the question for the nation. Who will control the U.S.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: House of Representatives? Joining me now to discuss is the
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: incumbent Congressman Mike Lawler of New York. Mike, welcome to
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the Scott Jennings Show.
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me, Scott.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: I know you're out driving around your district today doing
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: some campaigning. We appreciate your time. I want to start here.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Your campaign has just launched a new advertisement regarding sanctuary
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: policies in New York, taking aim at your opponent and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: the Democrats. Let's take a listen. He just shot her.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Just shot her. Hunted her down. I thought I knew
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: what sanctuary city policies are.
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: I didn't.
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: Was it death sentence for our governor? The sanctuary policies
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: being pushed by Kathy Hochul and Democrats killed our daughter.
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: This has to stop.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: And this is why we need to choose leaders who
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: choose us. And that's why we're choosing Mike Lawler. I
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: couldn't protect her from these policies. But Mike Lawler can.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I'm Mike Lawler and I approve this message. All right.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Talk to us about that message. Is that going to resonate,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: you think, with the people of New York 17th?
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: Well, no question.
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old beautiful young girl, was brutally murdered
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: by an illegal immigrant earlier this year in Chicago. who
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: was allowed into this country under Joe Biden's disastrous open
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: border policies. He was arrested for shoplifting in Chicago only
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: to be released back out onto the streets and then
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: brutally executed Sheridan from behind while she was looking at
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: the Northern Lights with her friends on a pier on
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: Lake Michigan. And the Gorman family has really taken up
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: this cause of ending sanctuary policies, which is really directly
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: responsible for their daughter's death. And Kathy Hochul just signed
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: a new law making New York a sanctuary state. And
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: my opponent, Kate Conley, supports it. And the Gormans spoke
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: at our most recent debate. They asked us both directly
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: where we stand on this issue. And Kate Conley gave
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: a word salad answer in which she couldn't answer the
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: question directly to them. So I answered it for her
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: and told them exactly where she stands. She supports sanctuary policy.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: She believes. Criminal illegal aliens should be allowed to stay
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: in this country. Kathy Hochul has released over 7,000 convicted
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: illegal immigrants who have committed crimes such as murder, rape,
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: gun trafficking, gang banging, drug dealing. Doesn't matter. Kathy Hochul
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: believes they should stay in this country and that local
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: law enforcement should be prohibited from cooperating.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: It seems to me, Congressman, that there is a progression
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: of issues here. that Republicans can exploit in this election
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: because Democrats are not really hiding the ball at all
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: about where they stand. They believe in open borders. They
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: believe that once illegal immigrants get here, they should be
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: put on welfare because Democrats in New York and other
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: places are suing the Trump administration to keep illegal aliens.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: On welfare, they believe if illegal aliens commit violent crimes
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and go to jail, they should be released from jail
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: and not deported from the country. It really is a
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: troubling progression. And there's really not a single Democrat in
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the country, including the one you're running against, that would dispute.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: That's how they see it. It's one of the clearest
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: contrasts in the midterms, I think. No question.
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: And Scott, when you talk about affordability, think about the
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: fact that it has cost us tens of billions of
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: dollars to provide free housing, clothing, food, education and health
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: care to illegal immigrants who have come into our country
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: under Joe Biden. Democrats want to shield them from deportation.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: and want to use taxpayer money to provide all of
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: these benefits. So when they talk about affordability, they fail
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: to mention the fact that, you know, when you're housing
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: illegal immigrants and Americans can't find a home, that drives
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: up the cost. When you are using taxpayer money to
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: provide free health benefits to illegal immigrants, it makes it
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: harder for Americans to access health care and be able
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: to afford it.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: And so they don't want to.
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Actually address the issue of affordability. This is a buzzword
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: they've been using. to go after Republicans. They don't actually care.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: You look at issues like energy, for instance. They're very
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: hyper-focused on gas prices, yet these are the same people
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: that want to end oil and gas in America. They
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: don't want us to drill for oil. They don't want
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: us to increase domestic production of oil and gas. These
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: are the same people that have shut down nuclear power
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: ban natural gas extraction, blocked pipelines, and then they're shocked
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: that utility rates have gone up 58% in New York.
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: So these are the real issues. The Democrats want to
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: increase taxes. They want to increase spending. They want open borders.
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: They want to abolish ICE. They don't want enforcement. They
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: want sanctuary policies. You have people like Zoran Mamdani that
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: want to defund the police, that want to seize private property,
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: that want to seize the means of production, that want
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: to freeze the rent. These are the policy positions that
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: they're advocating for. And I don't care whether Kate Conley
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: calls herself a moderate or a socialist. The fact is
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: she agrees with them on the vast majority of these issues.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Talking to Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, running in
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: one of the closest and most hotly contested congressional campaigns
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: in this coming midterm. On the affordability argument, you've got
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: an issue that's unique to your race because you've been
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: so directly involved in it, and it's the expansion of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the SALT deduction. This has been a major part of
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: your argument back home. Talk to us about what you
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: did on that issue and what it means in dollars
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and cents for a family in Westchester or Rockland.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: Well, We live in one of the highest taxed areas
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: in the country, in Westchester and Rockland counties. Huge property
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: tax bills. New York State, of course, leads the nation
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: in tax burden.
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: So we delivered on one.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: Of my biggest promises, which was to ensure that any
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: tax bill would increase the cap on SALT, the state
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: and local tax deduction.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: And it provided real tax relief.
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: We were able to provide over $ 4, 000 tax cut to
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: the average Hudson Valley family, putting money back in their pockets,
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: in addition to no tax on tips, no tax on overtime,
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: no tax on social security, the creation of the Trump accounts,
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: the expansion of the child tax credit, the doubling of
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: the standard deduction, the 20% business tax credit, the 100%
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: expensing of plant property and equipment for small businesses. All
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: of these tax provisions were critical to spurring economic growth,
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: spurring job creation. We've created over a million private sector
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: jobs in over the last year. Inflation is still a challenge.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: It's holding at about 3.4 percent. Of course, we want
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: to bring gas prices down. That is a big focus.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: It's also why we should never be reliant on foreign
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: sources of energy. We need to increase domestic production. It's
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: why we're focused on permitting reform, and we're going to
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: get that done before the end of the year. Housing costs.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: I was proud to lead on the housing bill that
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: increases supply, that cuts red tape, that increases access to capital,
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: and ultimately brings down prices. Under Kathy Hochul and Democrats,
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: the average home price in Westchester County went from $ 700, 000
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: to $ 1. 2 million in five years because we're not building
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: enough housing. So there are real challenges we got to tackle.
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: But when you look at where we are, the stock
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: market continues to hit record highs. We are seeing economic growth.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: We are seeing job creation. Is it exactly where we
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: want it? No, but we we have been clawing our
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: way out from under the 21 percent cumulative inflation that
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: Joe Biden gave us. which drove up the price of
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: everything from housing to health care to energy. And we
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: are working tirelessly to bend the curve.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Congressman Mike Lawler of New York is our special guest
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: conversation here on the Scott Jennings Show. Congressman, things in
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Iran are developing quickly. The economy in Iran appears to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: be collapsing. There are reports today that the regime can
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: no longer pay people like teachers and nurses and other folks.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: They haven't exported a drop of oil since mid-July. Their
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: currency is now functionally worthless on the world stage as
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: compared to the U.S.
• 27:43
  Speaker 8: Dollar.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: You do have Democrats out there right now who appear
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to be calling for us to surrender to Iran after
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: we've apparently defeated them economically and militarily. What's your message
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: to people in New York about how the president should
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: act in Iran from this point forward?
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: Look, the president made a very difficult but necessary decision
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: to take on this regime and stop their nuclear ambitions
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: once and for all. The military operation that was conducted
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: in March and April severely diminished their capabilities in terms
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: of ballistic missile production, drone capacity. Their naval fleet is
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: sitting at the bottom of the sea. Their air defenses
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: have largely been obliterated. Their leadership obviously eliminated. We knew
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: it was going to be difficult. We knew they would,
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: you know, respond to the degree that they could. They
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: caused a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. But the
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: president was wise to put a secondary blockade in while
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: seizing control off the coast of Oman to allow for
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: the flow of oil. Oil is flowing at 94 percent
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: of what it was prior to the beginning of the
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: war along the coast of Oman, which is critical. Our
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: Navy dredged up a clearer path. to avoid Iranian interference.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: We have stopped the flow of oil out of Iran
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: to China. Iran's economy, as you pointed out, is just imploding.
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: Over 300 percent inflation. Their currency is worth spit. And
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: it is creating serious pressure from within. And, you know,
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: that's the type of circumstance that you need if you're
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: going to see any type of uprising from within. And ultimately,
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: the Iranians tried to put as much political pressure on
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: the president domestically as we head into the future. midterms. Obviously,
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: gas prices are a concern. We want to get them
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: down quickly. It's also, by the way, why the president's
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: decision to remove Maduro was so critical. Venezuelan crude is
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: flowing to the United States. over a million barrels a day,
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: the highest since 2017 when Venezuela effectively cut off the
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: United States from its oil industry, an industry that we built.
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: So we are working tirelessly to address these challenges, but
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: I think the president needs to finish the job so
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: far as ensuring that that we get the spent nuclear material,
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: the highly enriched uranium, that we end their financing of terrorism,
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: which is why Secretary Besson has been aggressively pursuing sanctions,
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: and that we get the Strait of Hormuz fully reopened
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: without Iranian interference. And the pressure is mounting on Iran
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: to make a deal.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Congressman Mike Lawler represents New York and the U.S. House
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: of Representatives. Thanks for your time today. More news after
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: this here on the Scott Judd Show. Don't miss one
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: of the most powerful documentaries of the year, Can You
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Hear Me Now? featuring Charlie Kirk. Stream it now exclusively
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: on salemnow.com. And we are live here on the Scott
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Jennings Show, Common Sense for the American People. It's Monday,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: October the 5th, broadcasting to you from a beautiful, beautiful Louisville,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Kentucky today. And I want to welcome all of our
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: viewers on C-SPAN, our show this week, normally heard on
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Salem Radio and on the Salem News Channel and all
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: the places you can find that. Our show is being
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: simulcast by our friends over at C-SPAN 2, I believe,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and we're really grateful for you all joining us today
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: as we are just 29 days before the midterm election,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: and so I'm sure there's a lot of interest out
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: there and... What's going on in the world of politics
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: and news? And we'll be getting into all that here
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: for the remainder of the show. In fact, I've got
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: a couple of other stories I want to bring to
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: you before we wrap up our number one. We have
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: breaking developments today in the attempted takeover of that fly
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Dubai flight to Israel. The new details point directly to
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: a pre-planned terrorist attack. Reuters is reporting that the co-pilot,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: who tried to bring down the aircraft, had planned the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: attack even before he joined the airline. This is according
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: to two Israeli officials familiar with the investigation. And according
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: to a source briefed on the investigation, he wanted to
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: crash the plane into Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: This terrorist intended to use this airliner as a weapon
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: against Israel's main international airport. He was planning a 9-11-style
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: terrorist attack against Israel. The United Arab Emirates has now
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: described what happened as an attempted terrorist attack. The suspect
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: has been identified in news reports as Hammam al-Hammami. He
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: is an Omani national, and authorities say he attacked the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: captain with the cockpit's emergency axe. as he attempted to
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: seize control of the aircraft. He used the tool they
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: put on board to help people survive an emergency as
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: a weapon against the pilot who was responsible for their safety.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Netanyahu says information gathered during questioning indicates the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: suspect underwent Islamist radical indoctrination. ABC News reports that officials
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: say his previous employer, Oman Air, had grounded him after
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: extremist materials were discovered in his possession. But he was
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: allowed to continue in an administrative job. How does someone
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: flagged as a security risk wind up in another airline's
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: cockpit on a flight to Israel? That question demands an answer.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Think about the implications this has for air travel all
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: over the world. How did this guy wind up in
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: that cockpit. Now, the wounded captain managed to unlock the
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: cockpit door, as I'm sure you now know, which let
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: in the hero passengers who fought back and drugged the
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: terrorist out of the cockpit. They leveled off the plane.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: They tied the guy up with a headphone cord. They
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: had another crew on board that was able to successfully
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: land the plane in Saudi Arabia. A lot of heroes
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: on that plane. Saved a lot of lives. Further breaking news,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: by the way, from I-24 News in Israel. They're now
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: saying the pilot had a plan B. If he failed
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: to crash in Israel, he was going to try to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: crash the plane into Muwaffik Salty Air Base, U.S. military
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: air base in Jordan. He had a plan B. Come
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: after us. We got to get to the bottom of this.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: One other story. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has died
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: at the age of 84. Kendall County, Illinois, coroner says
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: he died Saturday at home of natural causes while receiving
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: hospice care. He led the House from 99 to 07.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: He was the longest serving Republican speaker in American history.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: He was a former teacher and high school wrestling coach.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: He became speaker after Newt Gingrich stepped aside. His legacy,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: as you know, was later overtaken by revelations of sexual
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: abuse involving teenage boys that he had coached. In 2015,
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Hastert pleaded guilty to illegally structuring bank withdrawals to evade
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: reporting requirements and a hush money scheme to conceal that abuse.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: He was sentenced the following year to 15 months, becoming
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: the highest ranking elected official in American history to serve
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: time in prison. As speaker, of course, he'd been second
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: in the presidential line of succession. Statute of limitations prevented
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: prosecution for the abuse itself. The federal judge in his
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: sentencing called Hastert a serial child molester. He is survived
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: by his wife, Jean, and two sons. We'll take a
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: break for top of the hour news. A lot more
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: to get to here. Common sense for the American people.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: It's Scott Jennings on Salem and C-SPAN. Stay with us.
• 36:25
  Speaker 10: The voice of free speech. The truth delivered. Common sense
• 36:32
  Speaker 10: for the American people. Welcome to the Scott Jennings Show.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Quick check of the headlines here. On Monday, October the 5th,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: a Russian lab worker's death in Siberia has prompted quarantines
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: amid reports of possible outbreak of pneumonic plague. Should we
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: be worried? Well, here's U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Cut seven.
• 36:58
  Speaker 11: It seems that there was a worker at the lab
• 37:01
  Speaker 11: that was infected, and there's concern that that could have spread,
• 37:06
  Speaker 11: at least internally. So you've seen them do quarantines of
• 37:08
  Speaker 11: that nature. There's very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously.
• 37:14
  Speaker 11: But like anything else, something like that gets out, it
• 37:16
  Speaker 11: could quickly spread. So we're watching and monitoring it closely.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Russian officials say the woman died of pneumonia, and no
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: additional infections have been reported. We'll keep an eye on it. Rubio.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Doesn't seem too bent out of shape just yet, which
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: I guess is a good thing. Tennessee's top prison official
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: is stepping down after the failed execution of Krista Pike.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Governor Bill Lee says Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: will leave this month. Now, Pike remains unconscious and on
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: a ventilator, according to her attorney. Her botched execution last
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: week shocked the nation, and it remains unclear what is
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: going to happen to her. And one month until Election Day,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Republicans are fighting to keep control of Congress. President Trump
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: is barnstorming the country on his way to Nebraska today,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I believe. At a rally over the weekend, here was
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: the president's pitch. Cut six.
• 38:07
  Speaker 9: It's the most important midterm election ever. we've ever had,
• 38:12
  Speaker 9: because we have a lot of communists running and they're
• 38:14
  Speaker 9: going to be controlling the Democrat Party. The Democrats. Their
• 38:25
  Speaker 9: policy is so bad I came up. I can't believe
• 38:27
  Speaker 9: it took me Nine years to come up with that one.
• 38:30
  Speaker 9: That one, I don't know why, but it's very descriptive
• 38:33
  Speaker 9: because their policy is so bad, the Democrats. You take
• 38:36
  Speaker 9: the E out, replace it with a U, and the
• 38:39
  Speaker 9: word dumb doesn't, most people don't know, dumb. They all
• 38:44
  Speaker 9: think that dumb doesn't have a B.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: So it's two letters.
• 38:48
  Speaker 9: Just a little switch. They're Democrats because their policy is
• 38:51
  Speaker 9: so bad.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Joining us now to discuss, Chairman of the Republican National Committee,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Joe Gruters, who, by the way, is traveling with the
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: president a couple of days a week for these rallies
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the month. Mr. Chairman, welcome in here.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Republicans are currently looking at a lot of discouraging or
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: close polls out there in some red states. What's your
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: message to Republicans today about the midterms?
• 39:17
  Speaker 12: Listen, it's all about turnout. We could do it. We
• 39:19
  Speaker 12: just have to bring everybody together. You have to get
• 39:22
  Speaker 12: all your friends to get out there and get out
• 39:25
  Speaker 12: there and vote. I mean, that's what the party does.
• 39:27
  Speaker 12: You know, we register voters and then turn those voters out.
• 39:30
  Speaker 12: President Trump is still our secret weapon, not so secret anymore.
• 39:33
  Speaker 7: He's on the road.
• 39:34
  Speaker 12: He's an absolute machine. He's fighting hard every single day.
• 39:38
  Speaker 12: He's delivered these low propensity voters three times and we
• 39:40
  Speaker 12: just need to do it one more time.
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: I mean, the choice is clear.
• 39:43
  Speaker 12: It's crazy craziness and radical leftists versus common sense candidates
• 39:49
  Speaker 12: that we've recruited over the last couple of years. I
• 39:51
  Speaker 12: think we have a path to victory. We just need
• 39:54
  Speaker 12: our voters to turn out.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: Chairman, you raised an issue just now that I think
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: has been on the minds of a lot of Republican
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: strategists for the last couple of years, and that's low
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: propensity voters. They have turned out for President Trump before
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: when he's been on the ballot. But they have not
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: necessarily turned out when he's not on the ballot or
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: not involved in a race. Over the last couple of years,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: what can you tell us about what's been going on
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: at the Republican National Committee to try to motivate these people,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: identify them, and actually convince them that turning out when
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Trump isn't running is a good idea?
• 40:28
  Speaker 12: Well, first and foremost, you've got to make sure you
• 40:30
  Speaker 12: have the right candidates in place. And so what we do,
• 40:32
  Speaker 12: we don't get involved with primaries, but we do go
• 40:34
  Speaker 12: out there and find candidates that we think we could win,
• 40:37
  Speaker 12: solid conservatives. And we bring them over to the White House,
• 40:41
  Speaker 12: let the president vet them. And then if the president
• 40:43
  Speaker 12: likes him, they get the endorsement. I say it's like
• 40:45
  Speaker 12: a golden pass. And this is probably the biggest difference
• 40:48
  Speaker 12: between our side versus the left. We have candidates that
• 40:52
  Speaker 12: we personally recruited, candidates we think they have a great
• 40:54
  Speaker 12: background that could win. And on the left, they have
• 40:57
  Speaker 12: these crazy leftist radical mini Mondamis who are going to
• 41:01
  Speaker 12: be puppets of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. I mean,
• 41:05
  Speaker 12: they've let the process completely play out because they have
• 41:07
  Speaker 12: no agenda other than the fact that they hate the president.
• 41:10
  Speaker 12: It's not just Trump derangement syndrome. it's American arrangement syndrome.
• 41:14
  Speaker 12: So first and foremost, we have much better candidates. Secondly,
• 41:18
  Speaker 12: is we've raised a lot more money. We've saved a
• 41:20
  Speaker 12: lot more of that money. And we've been firing the
• 41:23
  Speaker 12: missiles since Labor Day. And I think that we're going
• 41:25
  Speaker 12: to probably outspend the Democrats for the first time in
• 41:28
  Speaker 12: modern history as a collective on the right. And so
• 41:32
  Speaker 12: I think can better candidates and more money. And then,
• 41:35
  Speaker 12: of course, having the president go out there and barnstorm
• 41:38
  Speaker 12: the country, talking about the messaging that allows people to
• 41:42
  Speaker 12: continue on the path of going out there and achieving
• 41:45
  Speaker 12: the American dream? Or do people want these leftists? And
• 41:49
  Speaker 12: I think when we can make that case, and that's
• 41:51
  Speaker 12: why the president's, like I said, he's a machine, 35
• 41:54
  Speaker 12: rallies in as many days. And I think as a result,
• 41:58
  Speaker 12: we win. We deliver the voters. We just need people
• 42:01
  Speaker 12: to go to GOP.com.
• 42:04
  Speaker 7: Losing is not an option. We have to win. We
• 42:08
  Speaker 7: need everybody to unite.
• 42:09
  Speaker 12: You may not like everything that candidates are doing or
• 42:12
  Speaker 12: the president or anybody else, but what we have to
• 42:15
  Speaker 12: do is we have to save this country.
• 42:18
  Speaker 7: The president's getting the job done. We need you to
• 42:20
  Speaker 7: get the job done at home.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Joe Gruters is chairman of the Republican National Committee. Mr. Chairman,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: talk to us about election mechanics. Obviously, in a lot
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: of states, there's vote by mail, there's early voting, there's
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: robust or substantial absentee voting. What is the RNC doing
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: to encourage Republicans, particularly those low-propensity voters, to take advantage
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: of whatever mechanism they can to even bank those votes
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: before Election Day.
• 42:46
  Speaker 7: Well, yeah, every state is different. They have their own laws.
• 42:49
  Speaker 12: I wish people– I'm from Florida where we have probably
• 42:52
  Speaker 12: the most– the safest elections in the country. We have
• 42:55
  Speaker 12: 67 counties run by Democrats and Republican supervisor of elections,
• 43:00
  Speaker 12: and everybody has full faith and confidence in the system.
• 43:03
  Speaker 7: Why can't the rest of the country do the same?
• 43:06
  Speaker 7: They should. But listen, we have over.
• 43:08
  Speaker 12: 170 lawsuits that are active right now from coast to coast.
• 43:13
  Speaker 7: So we have– people in place.
• 43:15
  Speaker 12: And the great thing about the 2024 cycle is we had,
• 43:19
  Speaker 12: because Laura Trump and Michael Watley, they did such a
• 43:22
  Speaker 12: great job building the infrastructure to make sure we're protecting
• 43:27
  Speaker 12: the votes. We've continued that. We have more poll watchers
• 43:30
  Speaker 12: today and poll workers. than we did in the 2024 cycle.
• 43:33
  Speaker 12: We are ready to take on any challenges as they
• 43:36
  Speaker 12: come up. We're going to continue to bring the hammer
• 43:38
  Speaker 12: wherever we can. We're going to be proactive. But we
• 43:41
  Speaker 12: also have staff in over 30 states. And we've been
• 43:44
  Speaker 12: invested there for a while doing the grassroots. We obviously
• 43:47
  Speaker 12: are the largest grassroots conservative organization with our local parties.
• 43:51
  Speaker 12: And that's where you can really make a difference at home.
• 43:54
  Speaker 12: Go join the local party. Get involved with the local campaign.
• 43:58
  Speaker 12: And listen, this race, it all comes down to turnout.
• 44:02
  Speaker 12: That's why the president's on the road. If we could
• 44:05
  Speaker 12: turn our voters out, we win. If we can't turn
• 44:08
  Speaker 12: the voters out, the Democrats are going to impeach. They're
• 44:13
  Speaker 12: going to obstruct. They're going to investigate.
• 44:15
  Speaker 7: It's going to be total chaos. They're going to allow.
• 44:18
  Speaker 12: Tens of millions of illegals more into the country. They're
• 44:20
  Speaker 12: going to put boys' and girls' bathrooms down. They're going
• 44:22
  Speaker 12: to defund the police, including ICE. They're going to give
• 44:26
  Speaker 12: amnesty to murderers and rapists that were allowed under the
• 44:30
  Speaker 12: Biden administration. There's so much that we, you know, that
• 44:35
  Speaker 12: Democrats are looking forward to doing with these crazy radical
• 44:38
  Speaker 12: DSA policies.
• 44:39
  Speaker 7: That's why.
• 44:40
  Speaker 12: We got to go out there with these low propensity voters.
• 44:43
  Speaker 12: And like I said, every state's different. But we have
• 44:46
  Speaker 12: the most competent and best political operatives in the country.
• 44:50
  Speaker 12: And now that the coordinated campaign limits was struck down,
• 44:53
  Speaker 12: we're working with all of our candidates on a daily basis.
• 44:56
  Speaker 12: So we know what everybody's doing. We know where we
• 44:58
  Speaker 12: have to fill the gaps out. And I would put
• 45:00
  Speaker 12: our operatives against their operatives and we're crushing them.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Mr. Chairman, final question to you. The president's headed to
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Nebraska today. The vice president is heading to Fairbanks, Alaska.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: You have two incumbent Republican senators, Ricketts in Nebraska and
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Sullivan in Alaska. These are reliably red states, but the
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: polls are close. How are you feeling about those campaigns?
• 45:23
  Speaker 12: Listen, I feel great, and I'm glad the president and
• 45:25
  Speaker 12: the vice president are both making visits to those states.
• 45:27
  Speaker 12: And listen, we have to, you know, as the chairman,
• 45:29
  Speaker 12: you have to, you know, cobble together the states and
• 45:32
  Speaker 12: the districts you need to make sure you have the majority.
• 45:35
  Speaker 12: And sometimes, listen, This is the midterms. We're facing headwinds.
• 45:40
  Speaker 12: This is a competitive environment. So we're not taking anything
• 45:43
  Speaker 12: for granted. And we're going to go out there and
• 45:44
  Speaker 12: work in all these states. And we can't lit up
• 45:47
  Speaker 12: until we cast every vote from our voters and we
• 45:51
  Speaker 12: get the base out. That's why we're out there pounding away.
• 45:54
  Speaker 12: That's why the president's being an absolute machine going.
• 45:57
  Speaker 7: State by state. And so, yes, tough states this cycle.
• 46:01
  Speaker 12: But I'm very confident in our ability to capture both
• 46:04
  Speaker 12: those states at the end of the day.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: Joe Gruters of Florida is chairman of the Republican National Committee. Mr. Chairman,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: thanks for your time today. Thank you, Scott. All right,
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: let's talk supplements for a moment. When you think about supplements,
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: what are your questions? Does this work and can I
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: trust it? Legitimate questions. And I could tell you the
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: answer to those questions about relief factor, but I think
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to let one of our customers do the talking,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: and that customer today... is Pastor Bill. He sends a note.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: He says, I strained my back around Christmas of 2025,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: and he also tells us he was in tremendous pain.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: But he starts Relief Factor, and within a few days,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: his pain is gone, and Pastor Bill has regained full flexibility.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Pastor Bill calls it a miracle. He recommends Relief Factor
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: to anyone dealing with pain. If you're ready to believe
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: in miracles, I would recommend you go to relieffactor.com or
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: call 1-800-4-RELIEF. You can get lined up with a three-week
• 46:59
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• 47:04
  Speaker 1: Maybe you'll be sending us your relief factor story pretty soon.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: More news after this. It's common sense for the American people.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Scott Jennings on Salem. Stay with us. Portions of The.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: Scott Jennings Show are sponsored in part by Americans for Prosperity.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Well, here we are on Monday, October the 5th. Here's
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: a little breaking news. Looks like Iran's oil minister has resigned.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: The economy in Iran is in freefall, by the way.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Their currency is worthless. They haven't exported a drop of
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: oil since mid-July. They can't sell any oil on the
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: world market. Freefall. Now the oil minister has resigned. I
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: can't blame him, I guess. It's probably a pretty boring job.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: Since about July. They haven't exported a drop of oil
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: since July. What are you doing as oil minister?
• 48:03
  Speaker 10: Nothing.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: So he's out of a job. Reporting today is that
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: the Iranians are having trouble paying. A lot of people
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: like teachers and nurses and so on and so forth.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Scott Besson has been telling us all along. that Iran
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: is going to collapse economically, it seems to be happening,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: before our very eyes, which, you know, might come as
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: a surprise to you if all you have been doing
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: is listening to Democrats, Senate Democrats, Democrat pundits. They've been
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: telling us that Iran is emboldened. They've won. America lost.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: We should surrender. Doesn't look like that to me. By
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: the way, a message from our friends at Americans for
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: Prosperity On September the 17th, 1787, 39 delegates gathered in
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia to sign a document that would change the course
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: of history. Of course, it's the United States Constitution. It
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: did more than establish a government. It created a framework
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: for self-government under law, dividing political power, limiting its exercise
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: in protecting the liberty of the American people. We, the people,
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: reminds us that government doesn't grant our rights. Its authority
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: comes from the people it serves. This month, my friends
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: at Americans for Persia, are asking all of us to
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: take a few minutes to return to the document itself,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: no matter if it's your first time or your 100th.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Read the preamble. Explore the principles behind it and reflect
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: on the role each of us plays in preserving our
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: American experiment. The Constitution can endure only if we understand
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: the principles it was written to preserve. This timely project
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: from Americans for Prosperity, given that one of our major
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: political parties is running to destroy the Constitution and rip
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: the American experiment out root and branch, might be a
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: good time for us to all re-familiarize ourselves with the
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: document that sets up the way we've governed ourselves for
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: the last 250 years. Here's another story. Los Angeles sold
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: its mansion tax as a way to make the wealthy
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: solve the housing crisis. But research suggests it has discouraged
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: thousands of new homes. Voters approved the measure in 2022.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: It took effect in April of 23, taxing high-value property
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: sales to fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention. Here's the catch.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: The tax doesn't just apply to mansions. It also hits
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: apartment buildings and commercial properties. RUTRO, a new RAND analysis,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: estimates the measure reduced production of large apartment developments by
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: about 30%. That means that through early this year, researchers
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: estimate more than 9,100 fewer housing units, including about 1,000
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: privately produced affordable homes. Those are estimates of homes that
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: otherwise would have been built, not existing homes that were lost.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: Developers say the tax makes some projects financially unworkable. When
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: they sell a completed building, the tax can take a
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: significant share of the money they expected to recover. Wall
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: Street Journal described one developer who abandoned plans for nearly
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: 100 apartments after concluding the tax would consume too much
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: of the project's value. They literally taxed housing out of
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: existence in Los Angeles, California. This research raises a fundamental question.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: How much housing can a city afford to discourage while
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: raising money to build housing? The promise was to make L.A.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: more affordable, but it sounds like all they've done is
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: make it harder to build apartments. What a strange way
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: to get to affordability. You know what's incredible about this story,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: this mansion tax? This is effectively what Democrat mayors and
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: local officials and members of Congress and candidates for all
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: offices are proposing around the country. They're proposing tax policies
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: like what you've gotten in California as a prescription for
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: to what ails the American economy wherever they happen to
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: be running. They're trying to export California's ideas to everywhere else.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom even wants to run for president on this.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Does it sound like you want to put California systems
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: in place wherever you live? I don't think so. These
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Democrats who've elected all these liberals in California are getting
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: a lesson. The lesson is they should elect somebody else.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: Don't know that they're going to do that, but that's
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: what it ought to be. Sarah Isger from SCOTUSblog is next.
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: Stay with us.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: Ready for some common sense and a little Kentucky windage?
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: Here's Scott Jennings.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Monday, October the 5th. Common sense for the American people.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: Scott Jennings on Salem. And if you're watching us this
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: week on C-SPAN, welcome to the show. You can always
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: catch it on Salem radio around the country and on
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the Salem news channel as well. On the various streaming
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: devices you can find this show. But if you're on
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: C-SPAN and you're catching us for the first time, welcome.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: We're glad you're here. Coming up in 60 seconds, we're
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: going to talk about the Supreme Court. The new term
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: of the court started today, and our friend Sarah Isger
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: From SCOTUSblog is here to break it down. First, a
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: word from our friends at AARP. If you are like me,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: you've been paying into Social Security your whole working life.
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: And it's your money. You earned it. But special interest
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: groups in Washington, D.C. are pushing cuts to Social Security.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: And Americans are depending on it now more than ever.
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: That's why AARP is fighting to stop the cuts. and
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: protect your money. If you agree, Social Security should be protected.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Take the pledge today at aarp.org slash we earned it.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: We're grateful to our sponsors and partners at AARP for
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: bringing us this message today, and I would encourage you
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: to check out their website, aarp.org slash we earned it.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: All right, as I said, the Supreme Court back in
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: town today. With immigration enforcement, gun rights, election rules, and
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: climate stuff all on the docket. Big case today was
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: Suncor Energy v. Boulder County. The question is whether local
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: governments can sue oil companies under state law for climate
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: change damages. This case opened up the Supreme Court's new term.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Here's a little bit of Chief Justice Roberts pressing Colorado's
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: lawyer on the true intentions behind Boulder's lawsuit. Cut eight.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Isn't your suit an attempt to evade those decisions? It's
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: an attempt. It's an effort to reduce emissions. The fuel
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: production itself doesn't have the sort of universal harm that
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: we're talking about. Joining us to break down this case
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: and the big battles ahead, SCOTUS blog editor and host
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: of Advisory Opinions, Sarah Isger. Sarah, thanks for joining us here.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: from your vehicle on the Scott Jennings Show. We're grateful.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: This is a big day for you, and I know
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: you had to carve out some time, so we're very grateful.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: Talk to us about the Suncor case today, and then
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: we'll get into what to expect for the rest of
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: the term.
• 56:05
  Speaker 13: Absolutely. I mean, happy start to OT 2026, as we
• 56:09
  Speaker 13: call it. This is New Year's Day for me. First
• 56:13
  Speaker 13: day of the term, first day of arguments. And we
• 56:16
  Speaker 13: start with the biggest argument probably of this entire Supreme
• 56:20
  Speaker 13: Court term. We don't necessarily expect the decision until probably April,
• 56:25
  Speaker 13: May at this point. But this will determine whether dozens
• 56:29
  Speaker 13: of these climate change cases from around the country will
• 56:33
  Speaker 13: will proceed. It's these theories from state and local governments
• 56:37
  Speaker 13: that energy companies, by producing fossil fuels, have created climate
• 56:43
  Speaker 13: change costs for these local and state communities and that
• 56:48
  Speaker 13: therefore they should be able to be sued under state
• 56:51
  Speaker 13: law for trespass or torts, negligence, etc. The Supreme Court
• 56:56
  Speaker 13: deciding basically whether these cases can move forward. Late breaking news, though,
• 57:01
  Speaker 13: we found out was that Justice Samuel Alito has now
• 57:04
  Speaker 13: recused himself from hearing this case because his wife holds
• 57:07
  Speaker 13: stocks in some other energy companies that aren't directly involved
• 57:11
  Speaker 13: in this case. And so there's always the chance now
• 57:15
  Speaker 13: that this could split 4-4. I think after listening to
• 57:18
  Speaker 13: the oral argument, it's always a little hard to predict.
• 57:21
  Speaker 13: I don't want to promise anyone anything, but this sounds
• 57:25
  Speaker 13: more like a 5-3 decision. That will be along ideological lines.
• 57:31
  Speaker 13: But we shall see. Their argument on the energy company
• 57:35
  Speaker 13: side is that this is preempted by state law. It's
• 57:38
  Speaker 13: up to it's by federal law. It's up to Congress
• 57:41
  Speaker 13: to decide how we're going to handle climate change, Clean
• 57:44
  Speaker 13: Air Act violations, et cetera, and that the states can't
• 57:48
  Speaker 13: decide this on their own through lawsuits.
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: Sarah, this is interesting about Justice Alito. He told Bloomberg
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: that he had taken, quote, into account the particular arguments
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: that were made on both sides here and decided that
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: recusal was the prudent step. How common is it for
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: a Supreme Court justice to recuse from a case?
• 58:09
  Speaker 13: Look, it's pretty uncommon. And back in the spring, he
• 58:12
  Speaker 13: had said that he had already looked at it, had
• 58:14
  Speaker 13: gotten advice from the ethics office at the Supreme Court
• 58:17
  Speaker 13: and was told he did not need to recuse. And
• 58:19
  Speaker 13: generally at the Supreme Court, if you don't need to recuse,
• 58:23
  Speaker 13: then you, in fact, have a duty to sit that
• 58:26
  Speaker 13: you should not recuse. Obviously, something changed his mind in
• 58:29
  Speaker 13: the last week. We saw this last term with a
• 58:33
  Speaker 13: religious liberty case where Justice Barrett recused herself. The court
• 58:37
  Speaker 13: did split 4-4, and that meant that the lower court
• 58:40
  Speaker 13: decision was affirmed, which basically means we just have to
• 58:43
  Speaker 13: wait until the case comes back to the Supreme Court.
• 58:45
  Speaker 13: And guess what? One is pending now to have that
• 58:49
  Speaker 13: same question brought back to the court. But this is
• 58:52
  Speaker 13: why it's such a problem when Supreme Court justices are,
• 58:55
  Speaker 13: you know, there's sort of this gamesmanship to try to
• 58:58
  Speaker 13: get a Supreme Court justice to recuse. It's bad because
• 59:02
  Speaker 13: of this 4-4 possibility. So in this Suncor case, the
• 59:05
  Speaker 13: most important case of the term, this really did shake
• 59:08
  Speaker 13: things up here at the last minute.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: Sarah Isger is our guest. She is the editor of SCOTUSblog,
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: one of the most sought-after experts on the Supreme Court
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: in Washington, D.C. You can also catch her frequently on
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: ABC News as a political and court pundit. Sarah, another
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: case that the court is expected to hear will review
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: the detention without bond hearings and deportations to third countries,
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: third-party countries that the Trump administration has been engaged in
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: when they're picking up illegal immigrants. How do you see
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: those arguments? What's the administration's strongest argument here to keep
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: up the deportations to third-party countries?
• 59:49
  Speaker 13: Yeah, so both of these were just granted in the
• 59:51
  Speaker 13: last few days and added to the calendar for this term.
• 59:55
  Speaker 5: It's interesting.
• 59:56
  Speaker 13: On the one hand, the Supreme Court decided to take
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 13: the case. That's a good sign for the administration. On
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 13: the other hand, they didn't take the case that the
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 13: administration asked them to take. They took a different case instead.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 13: And so you always want to read a little bit
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 13: into that. The administration generally would like to pick their
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 13: facts that the outcome will turn on. That being said,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 13: their argument is a strong one. It is that the INA,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 13: the Immigration and Naturalization Act, gives a lot of discretion
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 13: to the administration. Congress handed over this power for them
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 13: to determine. And there's some really helpful language, shall detain.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 13: And so to argue that you are entitled to bond,
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 13: the immigrants in this case will need to argue also
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 13: that the statute requires the administration to allow them to
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 13: get bond or in the third party removal case requires
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 13: the administration to not send them to a country that
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 13: they have no ties to.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 5: That is a.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 13: Harder statutory case to make based on the text. But again,
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 13: these are the hard questions. That's why they get to
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 13: the Supreme Court. The lower courts have split on this
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 13: in lots and lots of these cases with smart judges
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 13: on both sides, including Trump appointed judges. So you never
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 13: take for granted when these cases make it to the
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 13: Supreme Court. But, you know, if you were a betting man,
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 13: you probably bet on the administration.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: All right, there's a case it looks like involving the
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: Second Amendment. It has to do with semi-automatic rifle bans.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: What is the constitutional test that should determine whether a
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: state can prohibit a firearm that's already owned by millions
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: of Americans? Talk to us about this one. Scott, I
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: am not able to hear you. Yeah, we're talking with
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: Sarah Isger, editor of SCOTUSblog. Sarah, I'm not sure if
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: you're still with us or not. Okay, sounds like we've
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: maybe temporarily lost Sarah. We're discussing the upcoming term of
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court, the fall term here, which began today
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: in Washington, D.C. The arguments today were in a case
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: called Suncor v.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 7: Boulder.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: It has to do with what local governments can do
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: to sue energy companies over climate change issues. And the
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: case I was just asking Sarah about is called Viramontis v.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: Cook County. And it's been consolidated with Grant v. Higgins. Basically,
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: they're challenging bans on AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles in
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: Cook County, Illinois, and in Connecticut. The central question there is,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: do the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: possess these rifles? The challengers argue that these are commonly
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: owned firearms protected by the Second Amendment. And the governments
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: defending the bans argue that the restrictions help prevent mass
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: shooting deaths. Lower courts allow both bans to remain in place.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: Why this matters is this. It's a ruling here protecting
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: these rifles could undermine similar bans across the country. So
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: that's coming up. I believe they're going to take that
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: argument on December the 2nd later in the term here,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: but they're expecting a decision by June 2027. Of course,
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: this Supreme Court term is happening now amidst a new
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: polling that puts the Supreme Court's approval rating in low
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: esteem with the American people. The latest Gallup polling putting
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court approval at 34%, with 61% disapproving. That basically
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: matches its record low. This polling was published on September 30th.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: The survey was taken September 1st through the 17th. So
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: 34 approving of the court's performance. 61 disapproving. 46% of
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: Americans said they had a great deal or fair amount
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: of trust in the federal judicial branch. 43% said the
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: court is too conservative. 35% said it's ideology-based. is about right.
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: Sarah Isger rejoins us from SCOTUSblog. Sarah, I was just
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: discussing the latest polling that Gallup has issued on the
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court. Approval of the court's performance, 34, disapproved, 61,
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: although 46% of Americans still have a great deal or
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: a fair amount of trust in the judicial branch. Do
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: you attribute the low approval rating of the court back
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: to the overturning of Roe v.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 5: Wade?
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 8: So it's really interesting because we actually do have a
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 8: lot of data on this. And the answer is no,
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 8: not really. We did see a dip in the court's
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 8: approval rating after the Dobbs decision, but it rebounded within
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 8: a year, which is what we saw with Bush v.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 8: Gore as well. What seems to be driving the court's
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 8: lower approval rating are two things.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 12: One.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 8: institutions as a whole are dropping in approval. So when
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 8: you compare the court to other institutions that they ask about,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 8: all of those are dropping. But the court generally has
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 8: maintained its place among them when they ask about the
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 8: military or private companies. Congress, of course, wins the lowest
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 8: approval rating of any of these institutions. I don't know
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 8: who the 12% are who approve of Congress, but they're
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 8: out there somewhere. So that's one thing is that there's
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 8: an overall populist moment driving lower approval ratings. The other
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 8: one is that because Congress isn't doing its job, there's
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 8: this sense from people that the court has now stepped
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 8: in to fill in this role. And so all of
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 8: these big political fights are happening at the Supreme Court.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 8: And so what we're actually seeing is Democratic approval of
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 8: the court is low and Republican approval of the court
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 8: is very low. And so that is now driving the
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 8: lower approval numbers.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they've turned into a more political body out of
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: necessity because I guess they have to. Sarah Isger, editor
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: of SCOTUSblog, host of Advisory Opinions and ABC News, legal analyst.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today. We'll have more news after this.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: The very definition of never back down.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: Here's Scott Jennings. How many of you out there are
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: frequent flyers like me? Well, if you are, then I'm
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: sure you've had your battles and wrestling matches with the
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: Wi-Fi aboard airplanes. I know I have. But it has
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: been a breath of fresh air. I flew United yesterday,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: in fact. Home from Washington, back to Kentucky. Breath of
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: fresh air when you get on there and it says,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: Wi-Fi provided by Starlink. Works great. Got on there, watched
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: some football, tracked my fantasy football team, named the Wolf Blitzers,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: by the way. I've never told Wolf that, but that's
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: what it's called. It was terrific. But not all airlines
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: are choosing to go with Starlink. In fact, Delta's choice
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: of Amazon over Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi has sparked a
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: public feud with Elon Musk. Wall Street Journal reports that
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: Delta chose Amazon, for cost and business reasons, but it
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: won't get going until 2028. Amazon, as you probably know,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: remains far behind Starlink in satellite deployment. Elon Musk is
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: accusing Delta of shortchanging passengers. While the airline says most
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: of its planes already have some kind of streaming quality internet. Look,
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: I fly a lot of airlines, okay? We run into
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: some problems out there. When you don't have Starlink, it's
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: not great. Americans isn't terrible. Delta may have made a
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: bad decision here. United, smart. Starlink, good. Other news today,
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: Energy Secretary Chris Wright did a big interview on CBS
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: on Sunday morning, and this goes to oil and gas prices.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: As you know, late last week, President Trump cajoled the
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: G7 into releasing about 100 million barrels of oil, right?
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: Talked about that on CBS. Let's hear that. Cut nine.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 7: It's a big deal. It's a big deal.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 3: Europe has very large diesel stores. They don't refine enough
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 3: diesel to supply their own economy, so naturally they store
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 3: a lot of diesel. They're very keen to see American
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 3: diesel continue to flow to Europe. They've got a lot
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 3: of diesel in stores. Why not release some of that?
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 3: This is what you store diesel for. When all the
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 3: Russian exports of diesel are shut down, when the Chinese
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 3: have said we're not going to deliver any more diesel
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 3: and you still have a reduction of diesel flows coming
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 3: out of the Gulf. But we're restoring those. But that
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 3: takes time. This is just common sense. This lowers diesel prices,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 3: not just in the United States, but it lowers them in.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 3: Europe and around the world. But it will drive diesel
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 3: prices down as those releases come. It'll drive diesel down
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 3: through the winter in the United States and around the world.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 3: And by then, we'll be in another place. We'll have
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 3: more refining capacity online. I suspect we'll continue to see
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 3: diesel decline as we go into next spring as well.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: Now, President Trump has weighed in on this today. And
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: I raised this on CNN last week, and I was
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: told I was silly and stupid. But the president himself
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: today has raised the issue that Wright just mentioned, refining capacity.
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: President Trump today telling reporters and in a social media
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: post that refineries are a major problem. We don't have
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: an oil problem. We have a refinery problem. And in fact,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: he said he's asked Zelensky in Ukraine to stop bombing
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: Russian refineries. I don't know if he can do that
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: or not. They are at war, but President acknowledging a
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: point that I brought up last week. People need to
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: understand the oil is flowing. Refining the oil has become
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: a problem on the world stage and certainly a problem
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: in the United States. Our refineries are running at like 98%
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: capacity right now. So any decrease in the international refining
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: capacity does cause prices to rise. That's what you're experiencing
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: right now in the diesel markets. One more thing on
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: election news. Important election last night, but it does not
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: involve the United States. actually involves Brazil, which is the
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: largest economy in Latin America and the 10th largest in
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: the world. 210 million people there held their first round
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: of the presidential election. It's an important test to see
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: if Latin America is truly turning away from communism. Incumbent
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: President Lula, that's what they call him. It's got a
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: long name. We're just going to call him Lula. He's
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: fighting for his political life now. He's running to serve
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: a fourth non-consecutive term. He came in second place to
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: Flavio Bolsonaro, an incumbent senator and the son of former
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: President Jair Bolsonaro. So Bolsonaro got 47% to Lula's 45%.
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: They now go to a winner-take-all runoff on October 25th
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: to decide the fate of this election. No candidate in
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: Brazilian history has lost the runoff after winning in the
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: first round. So history would suggest, and conventional wisdom there,
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: that Bolsonaro has an advantage. Major differences here. Lula is
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: an 80-year-old devout Marxist. Bolsonaro is pro-West, pro-America, pro-Israel, and
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: fighting the corrupt system that's been targeting his family. Sounds familiar,
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: doesn't it? That's all for Common Sense for the American
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: people here on Salem for the Day. We thank you
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: for watching on C-SPAN if that's where you caught us today,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: and we'll be back here tomorrow. Thanks for listening.