Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / MidTerm Elections, Florida's Governor's Race, and Special Sessions

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MidTerm Elections, Florida's Governor's Race, and Special Sessions · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Can we go five minutes past and it's the third
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: hour of the morning show, Good Morning Show, fifty five
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: seventy eight. He is Jose. I am Preston, and this
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: is the president of the James Madison Institute. He is
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: doctor Bob McClure. Hello, doctor Bob. How are you, sir?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I'm doing fantastic, sir? How are you?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I'm doing great. Tell me what your thoughts are as
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: we look ahead to the midterms. What do you think
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: is positioned as being difference makers looking ahead? Or do
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you think anyone is in a place of even worrying
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: about that right now?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that the American people are I
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: think if we can get through this Iranian situation and
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: return to kind of I don't know if normal sees
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the right word, Preston. I think, you know, the American
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: people are very concerned about affordability, right, the ability to
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: you know, make money and live the life that they choose.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: And I think that you know, the Republicans, I mean,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: you know this as well as I do. And off
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: your elections, anger uh motivates people to go to the polls,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: and typically when your guy or gal is in office,
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  Speaker 2: you're not as angry right, and so the Democratic Party
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: may be more motivated to go to the polls. But uh,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the craziness of the left and the the the prisoner,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: you know that, you know how how the Democratic leadership
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: is kind of held prisoner by the crazy left. I
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: think it's going to be hand to hand combat. I
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: think we still have to watch also redistricting across the country.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Themes like themes like it's gonnat the Republicans three to
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: five different opportunities, and I think the House is going
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: to be hand to hand combat. I you know, today
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: I don't think the Democrats would take back the Senate,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: but you know, those things could change over the next
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: few months. It's gonna come down to peace, opportunity, and prosperity,
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  Speaker 2: and where the American people are on that.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna make a statement, give me a truer or
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  Speaker 1: false and a why or why not you think your
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: your thought or why you believe your thought. The Republican Party,
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  Speaker 1: the elected Republicans are their own worst enemy.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: That is truer than true. And it is because too
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: often they run and then they get into office and
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  Speaker 2: they actually either are afraid of their own shadow. They
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: run a certain way they're afraid of their own shadow,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: or in this case, this Congress unfortunately really hasn't done
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: much except for the one big beautiful bill. But the
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  Speaker 2: American people are looking for so much more. And the
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Republicans are traditionally very poor at messaging, and they are
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: often afraid of their own shadows. So when they run
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: for office, they're bold and courageous. When they get into office,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: oftentimes they don't govern the way they run. It's true
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: also of the Democrats, but in a very different way.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: But yes, the Republicans are absolutely their own worsted.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: To me, how big of a shadow will this conflict
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in Iran cast on the midterms?
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I think that remains to be seen. I think I
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: think if the straight or four moves is reopened, if
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: gas drops back down to do fifty to seventy gallon,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: at least in Florida, I think, you know, those are
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: those are tangible. You know, you can drive down any
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: road and gas prices are an immediate reminder of affordability
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: and how things are coming down. So I see, I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: think it remains to be seen. We'll be you know,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: this next couple of weeks will be interesting, but I
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: think it's an open question, to answer your To answer
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: your question.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Doctor Bob McClure, serving as president of the James Madison Institute,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to think tank based in Florida's capital City. Let's transition
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to Florida, doctor McClure and talk about the governor's race.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I saw a recent pull that suggested that Florida Governor
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Ron de Santus carries more heft than the President of
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  Speaker 1: the United States does in terms of what people think
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  Speaker 1: and the favorability that he has versus Congress versus the President.
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  Speaker 1: Your thoughts on where he is right now and kind
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  Speaker 1: of laying low on the GOP side of the governor's race, Well, I.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Think the I think the governor has done a tremendous
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: job over the last seven plus years, and Freudians are
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: rewarding him with with those polling numbers. I mean, you
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: look at what he has accomplished, whether it's continuing to
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: reduce taxes, continuing to reduce you know, to improve the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: regulatory environment, universal school choice, tort reform, I mean, the
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: list goes on and on and on, you know, getting
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: DEI out of Higher Ed. This governor has run full
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: bore since he took office and he's done it. I
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: mean you asked me earlier about Republicans being their own
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  Speaker 2: worst enemy. In this case, the governor is one of
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  Speaker 2: his best assets because he ran a certain way twice
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  Speaker 2: and he governs that way, and he governs in a
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  Speaker 2: courageous way. Whether you like his style or not, whether
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  Speaker 2: you agree with him one hundred percent of the time
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  Speaker 2: or not, you respect and admire that he governs the
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  Speaker 2: way he runs, and that, Preston is the contrast that
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  Speaker 2: you referred to earlier. I think also, you know, as
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  Speaker 2: it relates to the current governor's race, you know this governor,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: you know, may or may not have a preference, but
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: he is focused on finishing the job. He's got redistricting
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: coming up with a special session, he's got a budget
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: to get through, he's got his property tax issues, those
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: issues that he's focused on. And so he's, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as they say, running through the tape, and he's not
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: coasting and he's got more to do. I think at
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: some point he will certainly weigh in on the governor's race,
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  Speaker 2: but it's so early for most Floridians that he's he's
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: got work to do before he gets to that part
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  Speaker 2: of the equation.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a big fan of incumbents that are running
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: out of time in office, laying out until the primary
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  Speaker 1: season is over, and then throwing whatever hef they have
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: behind whoever the nominee is that closely aligns with their beliefs.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Do you suspect that's what de Santis will do?
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  Speaker 2: You know? I mean I can't you know, he you know,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: he holds his cards close, and I think, you know,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: obviously he knows what he will do primarily, but I
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: think that the you know, I think I don't know.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he's you know, if he's going
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  Speaker 2: to weigh in in the primary or not. I mean,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: all polls show that Byron Donalds is well ahead, and
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: when Floridians, at least primary Republican voters know that he's
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: been endorsed by Donald Trump, Byron Donalds is up, you know,
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  Speaker 2: twenty five points, and is you know, the leader in
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse. And so what the governor chooses to do,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I think, you know, if the question
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: is will he fall in line with whoever the Republican
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: primary voters nominate, I think I feel very very confident
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: of that. And right now, Byron Donalds is the leader
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: by a significant margin.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: We've got about a minute left in this segment. What
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts about the Democrat side of the ticket.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I think they are going to struggle with the same
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: thing that any Democratic US senator is Canada is going
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: to struggle with in any congressitional member who's in a
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: purple or reasonably red district is going to struggle with,
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  Speaker 2: and that is, how do you not anger the hard
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  Speaker 2: left so that they will come out and vote and
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  Speaker 2: yet reach the moderate voter in the independent in a
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: state like Florida, where you know, n p A is
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: a huge, huge number in the state. I also think
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: that the Democratic Party in Florida has become kind of
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: the whether you agree with this or not kind of
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: the weed party in the in the you know, pro
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: abortion party, and they really haven't yet offered any other
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: alternatives to you know, you compare Governor de Santus having
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: an idea a day with whatever the Democrats are offering,
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  Speaker 2: and there's no comparison. So I think they have a
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: big problem on their hands.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Doctor Bobnclore with us from jm I the jam that's
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Madison Institute. You touched on special sessions. In our first segment,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: are you surprised they didn't get the budget done before
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the finish line of the session before having to come back?
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Not really, given what we've we've seen these last couple
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  Speaker 2: of years, competing priorities in the House, in the Senate,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: political putting politics, let's put it this way over kind
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: of what Floridians really need. So No, I wasn't surprised.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: They've got to do it. It's mandated, so they're gonna
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: have to do it. But you know, there's gonna be
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: some sausage making in the process.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: So they're going to come back sometime soon and they've
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: got to hammer out the budget. That's first. What special
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: sessions do we know are coming?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we know they're going to do from redistricting, which
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: is going to be if I'm not mistaken first to
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: get that in place. Who you know how that plays out.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: There are others who, uh, live and die by that
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: and know those maps better than I do. But it
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: will be redrawn favorably, I'm sure, for more congressional seats
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: for Republicans. Uh. And then the you know, the governor
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: has called for a special session on the property tax discussion.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: We've got to You know, this has been wherever you
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: stand on the issue of property taxes, and you know
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: we at the James Madison is to believe that local
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: governments spend way too much money, waste too much money,
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  Speaker 2: and that there is tons of room to reduce and
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: cut property taxes. We believe in a levy cap which
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: is essentially cap local spending. Uh, don't tell them how
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: to spend it, but roll it back to I don't know,
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, twenty three cap it and then allow
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: it to grow with population index to inflation. That helps
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: rural counties, that helps large counties. Levy cap and then
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: just don't get into the weeds of telling them how
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  Speaker 2: to spend their money. We'll see what happens. But they're
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: going to have to do something because the build up
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: on property taxes, both in the legislature and with the
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  Speaker 2: governor has been significant and I can't imagine them walking
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: away with no initiative to reduce property taxes in some.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Way, Doctor McClure. When we visited with Blazon Goolia, the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: state CFO, we learned that he was auditing basically all
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: city county government. Red blue Democrat Republican didn't matter. He's
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: and he's found the problem. You just diagnosed that that
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: there's just been ridiculous spending across the board. But now
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: he's also opened the door to checking on school districts.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: You like that idea because I do.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I like any idea that shines the light. Light is
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  Speaker 2: the best disinfected preston and any light that are any
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: opportunity to shine the light on government spending is critically important.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, look at it at the federal level and
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: the fraud we have seen in Minnesota in California, whether
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: it's medicaid or you know, the daycare centers in Minnesota.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: So Blaze has been fabulous on this issue as he
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: highlights around the state to your point, red and blue
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: local governments overspending and they're spending your money in mind.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, places that are faster growing than
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Leon County. You're seeing revenues up thirty or forty percent.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: They're just riding the wave of proper values and then saying, oh,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: but we're not you know, we're not raising your taxes yet,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: but you're not reducing the militarate and so where is
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: that money going? School districts? Absolutely any anything that you
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: look at. The central office, for example, has grown at
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: a higher rate than the hiring of teachers for most
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: school districts around the state, and I would venture around
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: the country. We don't need bureaucrats and administrators in public education.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: We need teachers and we need quality education at that
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: local level. So I am all four blays doing this,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and I think he's doing a fabulous job both with
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: the municipalities and let's get to the school districts now.