Latest / Brian Thomas / Eric Conroy for Congress
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The Talk Station.
- 0:04Speaker 2: 828-55-KRC. The Talk Station. Happy Monday. Brian Thomas in studio.
- 0:09Speaker 2: Eric Conroy. You can find him online.
- 0:11Speaker 3: You need to vote Eric Conroy. It's ericconroy.com. That's his
- 0:15Speaker 3: election site. You can donate. You can get a yard sign.
- 0:18Speaker 3: Apparently some people don't have yard signs out there, Eric.
- 0:20Speaker 3: We need to get one in their front yard. But
- 0:21Speaker 3: we are fast, fast approaching. And, of course, with early
- 0:25Speaker 3: voting going on. Welcome back to the morning show, my friend.
- 0:28Speaker 3: How do you feel right now? You've been out in
- 0:31Speaker 3: the open. You've been talking to people, going door to door.
- 0:33Speaker 3: You've been at town halls. You've been at the visits
- 0:35Speaker 3: by J.D. Vance and Donald Trump. You get a sense
- 0:38Speaker 3: of things because it's all gloom and doom. Republicans don't
- 0:41Speaker 3: even bother showing up this year.
- 0:44Speaker 4: Well, Brian, thanks again for having me on. And we
- 0:46Speaker 4: are very optimistic. And as I talk to folks around
- 0:49Speaker 4: the district and the region, people want that change here.
- 0:52Speaker 4: in the Ohio district one congressional seat. And I was
- 0:55Speaker 4: very excited to open for president Trump in Northern Kentucky, uh, on, uh,
- 1:00Speaker 4: on Saturday. And I showed you his coin that he
- 1:02Speaker 4: gave me about the size of a hockey puck.
- 1:04Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 1:05Speaker 1: It's a huge one.
- 1:05Speaker 3: You know, you would expect with Donald Trump, his coin
- 1:07Speaker 3: would be bigger than any other prior presidents just because,
- 1:10Speaker 3: and of course it's adorned with gold.
- 1:13Speaker 4: I think it probably gets direct TV with how big
- 1:15Speaker 4: it is as well.
- 1:16Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
- 1:16Speaker 3: It's certainly a wonderful paperweight things that comes in North
- 1:19Speaker 3: of a quarter pound.
- 1:20Speaker 4: Right.
- 1:21Speaker 1: Uh, But I'll also be opening for J.D.
- 1:24Speaker 4: Vance this Wednesday as well, which we're very excited about.
- 1:26Speaker 4: And we also released our latest polling last week as well,
- 1:29Speaker 4: which shows us tied at 45-45 in the polls. So
- 1:32Speaker 4: this race is alive and well, and we're looking forward
- 1:35Speaker 4: to bringing back some common sense conservatism to District 1.
- 1:39Speaker 3: Well, and anybody can see it, and I recommend they
- 1:40Speaker 3: check it out, erikconroy.com. Let us roll through the issues
- 1:44Speaker 3: that you are concerned about. One of the things we know.
- 1:47Speaker 3: that a simple change of administration can have a profound impact.
- 1:51Speaker 3: Open borders, wide open. Oh my God, there's nothing we
- 1:54Speaker 3: can do about it. We need to change the law.
- 1:56Speaker 3: Change the law in order to address this problem, said
- 1:58Speaker 3: Joe Biden eight gazillion times along with all of his
- 2:00Speaker 3: Democrat pals. One moment in time, Donald Trump getting sworn
- 2:03Speaker 3: in immediately. And that may be an overstatement, I acknowledge,
- 2:06Speaker 3: but we are at like zero border crossings now.
- 2:09Speaker 4: None.
- 2:10Speaker 3: And then if you want to look at it, agree
- 2:11Speaker 3: or disagree with the deportations, I think it's a wonderful
- 2:14Speaker 3: thing for the American people of any political stripe that
- 2:16Speaker 3: we get people who are not lawfully in our country out,
- 2:19Speaker 3: who have committed heinous crimes like raping children. You know,
- 2:22Speaker 3: I mean, can't we all agree on that? But apparently not, Eric.
- 2:25Speaker 4: Well, I think the president in this administration has done
- 2:27Speaker 4: a terrific job in securing the border. And you can
- 2:30Speaker 4: just look at some of the stats and numbers down
- 2:31Speaker 4: there on the border. And what I find ironic about
- 2:34Speaker 4: the whole situation is then-President Barack Obama also tried to
- 2:38Speaker 4: secure the border in a very similar way. And there
- 2:41Speaker 4: was really no controversy around it. But when a Republican
- 2:44Speaker 4: president does it, for some reason, it's a bad thing.
- 2:47Speaker 1: But.
- 2:48Speaker 4: I think he's doing a great job securing the border,
- 2:50Speaker 4: and we're going to continue to do that because we
- 2:52Speaker 4: can't let drug traffickers and sex traffickers and criminals into
- 2:56Speaker 4: this country. And we need people to immigrate in the lawful,
- 3:01Speaker 4: legal way. And I've got a lot of friends. I
- 3:03Speaker 4: have some friends who I served in the military with
- 3:05Speaker 4: who were maybe citizens of other countries, like maybe Caribbean islands,
- 3:09Speaker 4: places like that. And they waited 10 years to get
- 3:11Speaker 4: their citizenship while they were serving in the military.
- 3:15Speaker 1: So really, I think this is.
- 3:18Speaker 1: More about fairness more than anything else.
- 3:20Speaker 2: No question about it.
- 3:21Speaker 3: Yeah, one of the things that I am such a
- 3:23Speaker 3: huge proponent of is giving families the ability to send
- 3:26Speaker 3: their children to a school of their choice as opposed
- 3:29Speaker 3: to one-size-fits-all, which it certainly does in the public education system.
- 3:33Speaker 3: I know Greg Lansman, as a former teacher and has
- 3:36Speaker 3: two school-age children himself, he was fighting for increased public
- 3:40Speaker 3: school spending, better teacher pay. He's also not interested in
- 3:43Speaker 3: providing us with any measure of school choice. Denying people
- 3:47Speaker 3: the The opportunity for choice when we're talking about the
- 3:50Speaker 3: most important thing in any family's life, which is the
- 3:52Speaker 3: lives and future of their children. I find that an
- 3:55Speaker 3: affront to all things American. And it really irks me
- 3:58Speaker 3: to no end that people will run around like the
- 4:00Speaker 3: teachers union president and just tell you that they are
- 4:04Speaker 3: the only one.
- 4:05Speaker 2: And really, they're only.
- 4:05Speaker 3: Advocating and fighting for the teachers, not the children. The
- 4:08Speaker 3: education scores bear witness to this.
- 4:12Speaker 4: Well, look, if you believe America is a meritocracy, and
- 4:15Speaker 4: I still believe that, then you should believe in choice, right?
- 4:18Speaker 4: Because it creates a lot of competition and fairness across
- 4:21Speaker 4: the board. And I think also we need to take
- 4:23Speaker 4: a look at the Department of Education, right? I think
- 4:25Speaker 4: it's a sad day when you have Department of Education
- 4:28Speaker 4: bureaucrats in D.C.
- 4:30Speaker 1: Making $ 160, 000 a year.
- 4:32Speaker 4: And then we have our teachers here in the tri-state
- 4:34Speaker 4: making $ 35, 000 a year. So I think that needs to
- 4:37Speaker 4: be rectified in some way. But also I think we
- 4:39Speaker 4: need to consider great trajectories for our youth and what
- 4:42Speaker 4: their career paths look like. And I'm a huge advocate
- 4:45Speaker 4: of trade schools here in the region, right? Trade jobs,
- 4:48Speaker 4: whether it's electricians, plumbers, HVAC specialists, these are not going
- 4:52Speaker 4: to be automated by AI anytime soon. And oftentimes those
- 4:55Speaker 4: career paths are a lot more productive than the typical
- 4:59Speaker 4: four-year degree. So- I think we need to do a
- 5:01Speaker 4: better job of advertising those career paths, like trade schools
- 5:04Speaker 4: as well, which is great for everyone across the board, black, white, Hispanic.
- 5:07Speaker 4: These are great career paths for people to have.
- 5:10Speaker 1: They really are.
- 5:11Speaker 3: And the idea that you can earn while you learn,
- 5:13Speaker 3: and so many have that apprenticeship journeyman, apprenticeship relationship thing,
- 5:18Speaker 3: make decent money as a young person. Even someone right
- 5:20Speaker 3: out of high school can make a living wage. Don't
- 5:23Speaker 3: go work at McDonald's expecting to make a living wage.
- 5:26Speaker 3: That's not what that is for. That's a stepping stone job.
- 5:29Speaker 3: Get you a resume built. Show people you can show
- 5:32Speaker 3: up on time and then off to the next better gig.
- 5:34Speaker 4: But trades, hey, I've got Westside friends who were millionaires
- 5:40Speaker 4: by the time they were 30 because they went into
- 5:41Speaker 4: the trades. Meanwhile, their peers who decide to do a
- 5:45Speaker 4: four-year degree and maybe a master's after that are still
- 5:47Speaker 4: in college debt. So I think it's time to bring
- 5:50Speaker 4: back the trades and really emphasize that.
- 5:52Speaker 2: I agree.
- 5:53Speaker 3: And, you know, my son-in-law is in the trades. He
- 5:54Speaker 3: works for Fast and Pro Roofing. Does really well. As
- 5:58Speaker 3: a young man, and he's got his future. I asked
- 5:59Speaker 3: him the other day, I said, do you think you'll
- 6:01Speaker 3: open your own business someday? He's like, I don't know
- 6:03Speaker 3: if I want to take on the role of being
- 6:04Speaker 3: a small business owner. But, you know, it's certainly a possibility.
- 6:09Speaker 3: That's the great thing about it.
- 6:10Speaker 1: Well, I think small businesses.
- 6:13Speaker 2: I've always been a W-2. I point that out all
- 6:14Speaker 2: the time.
- 6:15Speaker 3: I am thankful for the companies and businesses who have
- 6:19Speaker 3: the wherewithal to start one and employ people. These are
- 6:22Speaker 3: people that need to be rewarded, not penalized because they're
- 6:24Speaker 3: evil or something.
- 6:26Speaker 4: Well, I'm also very excited, Brian, to report that I've
- 6:28Speaker 4: been endorsed by NFIB, the Small Business Association. I really
- 6:32Speaker 4: do believe that small businesses are the backbone to really
- 6:35Speaker 4: all Midwest economies, but especially here in Cincinnati. And whether
- 6:38Speaker 4: you go to the West Side or Warren County or
- 6:41Speaker 4: Clinton County, small businesses are really what makes our community thrive.
- 6:45Speaker 4: And having very favorable tax policies and growth policies for
- 6:49Speaker 4: those small businesses to continue to operate and thrive, I think,
- 6:53Speaker 4: is a great thing as well.
- 6:54Speaker 2: It is.
- 6:54Speaker 3: We'll talk Social Security, Medicare. We'll talk jobs, the economy,
- 6:57Speaker 3: maybe national defense. We've got all kinds of issues to
- 7:00Speaker 3: talk about with Eric Conroy. EricConroy.com. He could use your help,
- 7:05Speaker 3: and we could... Station. It's 838 at 55KRCD Talk Station. EricConroy.com.
- 7:13Speaker 3: Eric Conroy in the studio. He's running for Congress against,
- 7:15Speaker 3: of course, Greg Gang of Five Landsmen. I reminded Christopher
- 7:18Speaker 3: Smitheman this morning when he was talking about Greg Landsman
- 7:20Speaker 3: and how you are a superior vote, and I said, ah,
- 7:23Speaker 3: And I knew he was a Gang of Five guy,
- 7:25Speaker 3: so I just typed in Greg Lansman, Gang of Five. And,
- 7:27Speaker 3: of course, the first article that popped up was going back,
- 7:30Speaker 3: I guess it was 2000, whenever this happened, 2001, I think.
- 7:34Speaker 3: Greg had to, well, he apologized to Christopher Smithman on
- 7:39Speaker 3: the floor of council there for his involvement in the
- 7:42Speaker 3: Gang of Five, which we all know was corruption on
- 7:46Speaker 3: full display, making the city of Cincinnati look like some
- 7:48Speaker 3: sort of backwoods corrupt. administration, which people drew a conclusion
- 7:52Speaker 3: that it was. Anyway, Eric Conroy, not to delve too
- 7:55Speaker 3: much time on that. Talking about the race, generally speaking,
- 7:57Speaker 3: there was recently, and I know you know the article
- 7:59Speaker 3: I'm talking about, a newspaper article from a major national newspaper,
- 8:02Speaker 3: left-leaning it was or is, suggesting that everybody's pulling the
- 8:06Speaker 3: plug on your money. How's the money holding out, Eric,
- 8:08Speaker 3: and does that have any resemblance to the truth?
- 8:11Speaker 1: So, money is holding out pretty well.
- 8:13Speaker 4: We still have seven figures to work with, and I
- 8:14Speaker 4: did see the New York Times article, and it's a
- 8:18Speaker 4: tough cycle across the country, and There has been some
- 8:21Speaker 4: incumbents who have needed a little bit more support than expected,
- 8:25Speaker 4: which is where that New York Times article was coming from.
- 8:27Speaker 4: But overall, that article was very overblown, right? We still
- 8:30Speaker 4: have our new lines here, a 53% Republican district. As
- 8:34Speaker 4: I mentioned, we're dead tied in the polls at 45-45,
- 8:38Speaker 4: and we still have plenty of resources to get this
- 8:40Speaker 4: thing done. So we're very excited. And also, with the
- 8:43Speaker 4: Vivek and Husted races on the ballot this year, we're
- 8:45Speaker 4: confident we're going to have the turnout that we need
- 8:48Speaker 4: to pull this thing off. And I even had a
- 8:50Speaker 4: nice brief chat with Speaker Mike Johnson on the phone
- 8:52Speaker 4: last night, just catching up on the race and what's
- 8:54Speaker 4: going on around the country. And he said, look, Eric,
- 8:57Speaker 4: I've seen your polling. We're chalking your race up as
- 8:59Speaker 4: a win. You've got it. The numbers are there. So
- 9:02Speaker 4: everyone here is very excited and we're going to pull
- 9:03Speaker 4: this thing off.
- 9:04Speaker 3: So, I mean, boil down since the polls show what
- 9:07Speaker 3: the polls show. And I know you have your own
- 9:08Speaker 3: internal polling, but poll after poll after poll is showing
- 9:11Speaker 3: Democrats way ahead. And, you know, There's a lot of
- 9:14Speaker 3: reasons why I and I would think most every one
- 9:17Speaker 3: of the listening audience doesn't believe polls anymore. How do
- 9:21Speaker 3: you statistically sample? How do you get the right mix
- 9:23Speaker 3: of Republicans and Democrats? You don't even really know truly
- 9:26Speaker 3: who's going to vote or not going to vote. And
- 9:28Speaker 3: how do you deal with the ever-growing legions of people
- 9:31Speaker 3: who really will not even pick up a telephone call
- 9:34Speaker 3: if they don't recognize who it's coming from? Or the
- 9:36Speaker 3: legions of growing members of the Republican Party who don't
- 9:39Speaker 3: want to out loud be affiliated with Trump for fear
- 9:41Speaker 3: that the Justice Department is going to launch an investigation
- 9:44Speaker 3: into him. Broad brush statement, I know, but there is
- 9:47Speaker 3: that sort of, I'm not going to say anything out loud,
- 9:49Speaker 3: screw you guy factor going out there because I personally
- 9:51Speaker 3: hold it. I have never participated in.
- 9:53Speaker 2: A poll ever.
- 9:55Speaker 4: And that's exactly right, Brian. And polling these days is
- 9:58Speaker 4: some kind of hocus pocus. witchcraft science, right? It's not
- 10:02Speaker 4: a science. It's not an art. It's somewhere in between.
- 10:05Speaker 4: And a lot of Republican voters, frankly, don't participate in polls.
- 10:08Speaker 4: And especially nowadays. I mean, how many spam calls do
- 10:11Speaker 4: you get a day? It's very hard to get Republicans
- 10:14Speaker 4: to not only participate in polls, but to understand that
- 10:16Speaker 4: they're even being approached for a poll sometimes as well.
- 10:19Speaker 4: And I did see some interesting stats out there that
- 10:21Speaker 4: a lot of polls underestimate Republicans by as much as
- 10:24Speaker 4: three to five points because of that. So if you
- 10:27Speaker 4: are seeing polls that are close, know that that's probably
- 10:31Speaker 4: underestimating Republican voters by at least three to five points,
- 10:34Speaker 4: especially in these federal in these federal races. So polls
- 10:38Speaker 4: are the polls, right? They're typically wrong. And the only
- 10:41Speaker 4: poll that matters is the one on Election Day. That's
- 10:43Speaker 4: when the votes are counted.
- 10:44Speaker 2: And it's so important to get out and vote. You
- 10:45Speaker 2: could do it today. You can.
- 10:48Speaker 3: You can't wait until election. They keep reminding people. It's like,
- 10:50Speaker 3: come on. And the Republicans are voting early in much
- 10:56Speaker 3: greater numbers than they were, although I saw the statistics
- 10:58Speaker 3: the Ohio Press Network released.
- 11:00Speaker 2: I think it was the Ohio Press Network. It doesn't matter.
- 11:01Speaker 3: But tracking the number of people who've early voted, Democrats
- 11:05Speaker 3: are ahead, but not by as much as in prior years.
- 11:08Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we're going to see a high turnout
- 11:10Speaker 4: midterm this year on both sides, right?
- 11:12Speaker 1: And hopefully.
- 11:13Speaker 4: On the Republican side, it's higher than the Democratic side,
- 11:16Speaker 4: which is ideal. But I think people are really starting
- 11:18Speaker 4: to get the message that this is a very important
- 11:21Speaker 4: midterm and quite possibly the most important midterm of our lifetime.
- 11:24Speaker 4: We now have a Democratic Party where 60% of people
- 11:28Speaker 4: believe socialism is a good thing. And this is not
- 11:32Speaker 4: just another election. This is a fight for the heart
- 11:34Speaker 4: and soul of this country. And if you believe in
- 11:36Speaker 4: America and what we stand for, freedom, capitalism, and not socialism—
- 11:41Speaker 4: You really need to get out and vote because my
- 11:42Speaker 4: message is that America is on the ballot this year.
- 11:46Speaker 2: Without question.
- 11:47Speaker 3: And if you haven't gotten a memo on that fact
- 11:50Speaker 3: right there, my listening audience, then you really need to
- 11:52Speaker 3: start paying more attention because we are on the brink
- 11:55Speaker 3: of something very serious here if we don't right the ship.
- 11:58Speaker 3: And I was commenting earlier this morning, you don't need
- 12:00Speaker 3: to embrace my perception on this, Eric Conroy, but my
- 12:04Speaker 3: perception is if you see what's going on in France,
- 12:06Speaker 3: they're like a baby step, maybe one full step ahead
- 12:09Speaker 3: of us. swirling out of control. The populace has no
- 12:13Speaker 3: ability to deal with the fires, the burning of buildings,
- 12:16Speaker 3: the riots in the streets. It's like the BLM anti-fog
- 12:19Speaker 3: got together and it's on steroids in France. But the
- 12:23Speaker 3: one thing I did note, and one way you can
- 12:25Speaker 3: contrast yourself, I presume, Eric Conroy, is on the issue
- 12:29Speaker 3: of the Second Amendment. I was recalling the shop owners,
- 12:32Speaker 3: the Korean shop owners during the LA riots. What were
- 12:34Speaker 3: they able to do? Protect themselves and their property because
- 12:37Speaker 3: they were sitting up on top of the buildings.
- 12:38Speaker 1: The Koreans on the rooftops.
- 12:39Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 12:39Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 12:40Speaker 2: With AR-15s.
- 12:43Speaker 1: You got it.
- 12:44Speaker 3: Among other firearms. Greg Lansman, however, to contrast, is interested
- 12:47Speaker 3: in background checks, red flag laws, age restrictions, and a
- 12:50Speaker 3: ban on what he calls assault weapons, the modern sport rifle,
- 12:53Speaker 3: widely popular it is. So he's an anti-gun guy, so
- 12:56Speaker 3: you can count on that. He wants to take away
- 12:58Speaker 3: your ability to defend yourself.
- 12:59Speaker 4: Well, look, I'm pro-Second Amendment, right? I'm a proud gun
- 13:02Speaker 4: owner myself. I own a Glock pistol. It's what I
- 13:05Speaker 4: carried when I was in the CIA as well, so
- 13:08Speaker 4: I'm very comfortable with it. And people need to have
- 13:11Speaker 4: the right to bear arms, right? It's right there in
- 13:12Speaker 4: the Constitution. It can't be any more clear. And I'm
- 13:15Speaker 4: a huge supporter.
- 13:17Speaker 2: I'm glad to hear that. And I did not have
- 13:19Speaker 2: any doubt in my mind.
- 13:20Speaker 3: We'll stop right now. We'll bring Eric Conroy back for
- 13:22Speaker 3: a couple more topics. He can go across contrasting himself
- 13:25Speaker 3: with the lesser candidate that is Greg.
- 13:26Speaker 2: Gang of five, Lansman. See, I keep bringing that up.
- 13:29Speaker 2: Don't go away. It's 845-55-KRC, the talk station. 55-KRC.
- 13:31Speaker 3: Click station. 848-55-KRC, the talk station, ericconroy.com. Eric running for
- 13:44Speaker 3: the first against Greg Lansman. And, you know, we were
- 13:47Speaker 3: talking off air, and I keep, and I know whether
- 13:49Speaker 3: it's people appreciate it or not, or even remember the
- 13:51Speaker 3: whole gang of five antics on Sensei City Council. You
- 13:55Speaker 3: said to me something in passing that you don't view
- 13:58Speaker 3: that whole Gang of Five thing as as bad as
- 14:00Speaker 3: this current issue involving his stock trading.
- 14:03Speaker 4: Well, don't get me wrong. The Gang of Five issue
- 14:05Speaker 4: is damning. And I think we all know it pretty
- 14:07Speaker 4: well here in the city. But his stock trading sins
- 14:10Speaker 4: the last couple of years, I would argue, are worse.
- 14:12Speaker 1: He was.
- 14:13Speaker 4: caught and punished for insider trading and breaking the Stock
- 14:16Speaker 4: Act back in 2025, which is a federal law.
- 14:19Speaker 1: And not only that, he went back and rewrote three.
- 14:21Speaker 4: Years worth of financial disclosures to hide it from the
- 14:24Speaker 4: hardworking people of this district. If you're unfamiliar, if you
- 14:27Speaker 4: are a candidate or an elected official, you're required to
- 14:30Speaker 4: fill out a financial disclosure, which describes your holdings and
- 14:33Speaker 4: your net worth. And he went back and rewrote three
- 14:36Speaker 4: of those, covering up dozens of trades worth over a
- 14:38Speaker 4: million dollars. Brian, his net worth has literally tripled. tripled
- 14:43Speaker 4: in less than four years on the Hill. Does this
- 14:45Speaker 4: sound like a guy who's there for the right reasons?
- 14:48Speaker 2: I want to know who his financial planner is.
- 14:50Speaker 4: Hell of a financial advisor, right? I think it's probably
- 14:52Speaker 4: Nancy Pelosi. Is she a CPA, Nancy Pelosi?
- 14:56Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe. Maybe he's getting advice from whoever's
- 14:59Speaker 2: giving her advice.
- 15:00Speaker 4: But look, we need people there for the right reasons
- 15:02Speaker 4: and who also represent common sense conservative values because that's
- 15:05Speaker 4: what this district reflects right now. And getting people there
- 15:09Speaker 4: for the right reasons who actually represent the values of
- 15:11Speaker 4: this district are important.
- 15:12Speaker 3: Well, you did serve your country. After graduating, I might
- 15:15Speaker 3: know from Westside Institution Elder High School. Good morning, my
- 15:17Speaker 3: elder friends out there and folks on the Westside.
- 15:20Speaker 2: You went to the U.S.
- 15:21Speaker 3: Air Force Academy and then went on and worked for
- 15:23Speaker 3: the CIA for a long time. I think that demonstrates
- 15:25Speaker 3: your commitment to our country.
- 15:26Speaker 1: Well, I think so, right?
- 15:28Speaker 4: And I served 14 years in the Air Force and
- 15:31Speaker 4: the CIA, and I'd like to say that I've dedicated
- 15:33Speaker 4: my life to service. And serving this great community and region,
- 15:37Speaker 4: I consider that next chapter in a life of service.
- 15:39Speaker 4: And I do believe that I have the leadership skills
- 15:42Speaker 4: and perspective to not only do this job well, but
- 15:45Speaker 4: to be a substantial upgrade over career politician Greg Lansman.
- 15:49Speaker 3: Well, I have to broach the subject, right? Artificial intelligence.
- 15:54Speaker 3: You knew this was going to come. Data centers, people
- 15:56Speaker 3: are angry at them. They're protesting them. And, you know,
- 15:58Speaker 3: I'll say it again. You can't unring the bell. Artificial
- 16:02Speaker 3: intelligence is here. It's not going anywhere. It may be devastating.
- 16:05Speaker 3: It may kill us all. It may make our lives better.
- 16:07Speaker 3: But we have no idea what lies in store. The
- 16:09Speaker 3: question is who's going to be responsible for it? Who
- 16:11Speaker 3: is going to, well, be responsible for development? Is it
- 16:15Speaker 3: going to be us or is it going to be
- 16:16Speaker 3: some foreign country like the Chinese who seem to be
- 16:18Speaker 3: our only major competitors in the field of AI? To
- 16:21Speaker 3: do AI, you've got to have data centers. So they're
- 16:24Speaker 3: going someplace. They do bring revenue and job creation. Construction
- 16:28Speaker 3: job creation is amazing. Those things employ a ton of,
- 16:32Speaker 3: might I point out, union jobs. But the risks and
- 16:36Speaker 3: the problems that people seem to be carping about are
- 16:39Speaker 3: all surmountable up front. Vivek Ramaswamy's got his plan up front.
- 16:44Speaker 3: This will be the rules in place. You must bring
- 16:46Speaker 3: your own power, noise issues, water issues, all must be
- 16:49Speaker 3: addressed and satisfy the community. And plus, don't build them
- 16:52Speaker 3: in a neighborhood.
- 16:52Speaker 2: And that seems.
- 16:54Speaker 3: To be the best possible way to move forward with
- 16:56Speaker 3: this because I think we would like those jobs here
- 16:59Speaker 3: in the state of Ohio.
- 17:01Speaker 2: And if we can address those challenges.
- 17:03Speaker 3: I think people out there protesting are victims of not
- 17:05Speaker 3: only propaganda, but also to the misguided impression that if
- 17:08Speaker 3: they don't build a data center right there, then AI
- 17:11Speaker 3: is going to go away.
- 17:12Speaker 4: Well, look, I'm a fan of small government first and foremost.
- 17:17Speaker 4: And I think that this is a local issue first
- 17:19Speaker 4: or foremost. So if a local community decides that they
- 17:22Speaker 4: would like to have a data center, I'll support them
- 17:24Speaker 4: and help them do that. If they decide that they
- 17:26Speaker 4: don't want a data center, I'll also support them and
- 17:29Speaker 4: help them do that. But At the same time, I
- 17:31Speaker 4: think big tech needs to foot the bill on the
- 17:33Speaker 4: majority of the costs that affect the community in the
- 17:36Speaker 4: surrounding region. But at the same time, like you said,
- 17:39Speaker 4: I think we need to keep an open mind to it.
- 17:40Speaker 4: We do need to win the AI race against China.
- 17:43Speaker 4: Losing it would be the equivalent of losing the internet
- 17:46Speaker 4: race 20 to 30 years ago. So I'd encourage people
- 17:49Speaker 4: to keep an open mind in terms of these data
- 17:52Speaker 4: centers because we do need them. AI is here and
- 17:54Speaker 4: it does a lot of great things. I mean, the
- 17:56Speaker 4: advances just in the medical field alone is pretty phenomenal.
- 18:01Speaker 4: But at the same time, I believe it's a local issue,
- 18:02Speaker 4: and I'll support a community's decision either way.
- 18:05Speaker 2: I'm sure you will.
- 18:07Speaker 3: And another thing you support, which I know you know
- 18:09Speaker 3: I support, and you're being a veteran, suggests you would
- 18:11Speaker 3: have big support for the American veteran. I know that's
- 18:13Speaker 3: an issue on your campaign website. It really is truly
- 18:19Speaker 3: important to support the American veteran. And in what ways
- 18:22Speaker 3: will you, well, follow up on that promise?
- 18:24Speaker 1: Yeah, of course.
- 18:25Speaker 4: Well, I'll fight for their benefits and what they need
- 18:28Speaker 4: to live a happy and successful life after their service.
- 18:31Speaker 4: And as a veteran myself, someone who served seven years
- 18:33Speaker 4: in the Air Force, I understand the challenges of being
- 18:37Speaker 4: a veteran, whether it's a career transition or making bills
- 18:40Speaker 4: meet after you leave the service. And I think by
- 18:43Speaker 4: doing our veterans right throughout their life is important, and
- 18:48Speaker 4: we need to make sure we take care of them.
- 18:50Speaker 3: Any other topics you want to dive on into before
- 18:52Speaker 3: we part company today, Eric?
- 18:53Speaker 4: Well, I think one last thing I just want to
- 18:56Speaker 4: ping is trade schools, right? We talk a lot about
- 18:58Speaker 4: the economy and affordability. And I think finding our youth
- 19:01Speaker 4: great career paths is very important. And I'm going to
- 19:04Speaker 4: be a huge advocate for trade schools in this region
- 19:06Speaker 4: because I think it works for just about everyone, right?
- 19:10Speaker 4: And as I mentioned, the trades are not going to
- 19:12Speaker 4: be automated by AI anytime soon. These are great and
- 19:15Speaker 4: successful paths. And I'm really looking forward to finding some
- 19:19Speaker 4: great common sense solutions and legislation for paths like trade
- 19:24Speaker 4: schools to make sure our youth have a great opportunity
- 19:26Speaker 4: moving forward.
- 19:27Speaker 3: Well, you know, with the work requirement, I think logically
- 19:30Speaker 3: and reasonably included in any– if you're an able-bodied adult,
- 19:34Speaker 3: don't have any disabilities, you should at least try to
- 19:37Speaker 3: get a job. And I just think of so many
- 19:40Speaker 3: people out there who aren't even bothering looking for a job,
- 19:42Speaker 3: who are on public assistance, receiving SNAP benefits or something else.
- 19:46Speaker 3: You know, maybe a little nudge in the right direction,
- 19:48Speaker 3: they will, too, find that these trade opportunities are out there,
- 19:51Speaker 3: that they can get paid while they learn, or even
- 19:54Speaker 3: for a small six-month commitment of time, they can find
- 19:57Speaker 3: a great position of employment. And what's more, there are
- 20:00Speaker 3: thousands and thousands of these jobs that right now are
- 20:03Speaker 3: currently unfilled.
- 20:05Speaker 4: Well, look, I think part of the battle is just
- 20:07Speaker 4: getting the word out, right, and teaching young people about
- 20:10Speaker 4: these great career paths and these great options so that
- 20:14Speaker 4: they know that they're out there. And if we do that,
- 20:15Speaker 4: hopefully it falls in line.
- 20:17Speaker 2: EricConroy.com. Check out the website.
- 20:19Speaker 3: Check out where he is on the issues and consider
- 20:21Speaker 3: donating or at least getting a yard sign, maybe even
- 20:24Speaker 3: doing a door knock for Eric. Eric, I truly wish
- 20:26Speaker 3: you the best of luck. I think you are indeed
- 20:28Speaker 3: a far superior candidate and just hope that folks out
- 20:31Speaker 3: in the listening audience will encourage, will not only be
- 20:33Speaker 3: enthused enough to get up and vote, but also bring
- 20:35Speaker 3: their friends with them or tell their friends to vote
- 20:37Speaker 3: as well.
- 20:38Speaker 4: Hey, Brian, thanks for having me again. And as a
- 20:40Speaker 4: quick reminder, this is a top 10 race for control
- 20:43Speaker 4: of the House. So not only do local voters have
- 20:46Speaker 4: a chance to have a new Republican representative, but they
- 20:48Speaker 4: have a hand nationally in deciding who has control of
- 20:51Speaker 4: the House. So get out there and vote. Vote Eric
- 20:52Speaker 4: Conrad for Congress. And let's bring some common sense conservative
- 20:56Speaker 4: values back to Southwest Ohio.
- 20:57Speaker 2: Amen to that. Eric, I hope to talk to you
- 20:59Speaker 2: again