Latest / Brian Thomas / The Big Picture with Jack Atherton 10/7/2026

Transcript

The Big Picture with Jack Atherton 10/7/2026 · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's 7 0 6 epic about KRC talk station. It
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  Speaker 1: being a Wednesday extra special Wednesday, because it's listening to
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  Speaker 1: lunch Wednesday, Jim Jackson on the river, but this is
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  Speaker 1: the time of week. We get the brilliance of Jack
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  Speaker 1: added in awesome, awesome segment every week, Jack. And I
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  Speaker 1: love having you on the 55 KRC morning show and welcome.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess every vote really does matter. Doesn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Jack. It does, buddy. And, uh, and I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: try to persuade people of exactly that you and I
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  Speaker 2: try to learn from history every week. What's worked, uh,
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  Speaker 2: For example, free market capitalism. What's failed? Miserably. For instance,
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  Speaker 2: top-down government socialism. But history can lull us into a
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  Speaker 2: dangerous state of complacency. We assume that what's happened before
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  Speaker 2: was bound to happen. That history was inevitable. Yet that's
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  Speaker 2: far from the case. So this morning, to motivate folks
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  Speaker 2: on the fence to, as you say, hold your nose
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  Speaker 2: and vote Republican... Let's look at some turning points in
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  Speaker 2: history that could have gone very differently. Take one earth-shaking figure,
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  Speaker 2: the little corporal Napoleon Bonaparte. He wasn't really that little.
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  Speaker 2: Napoleon's 5'5, or still being debated by people with not
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  Speaker 2: much else to do, 5'7'' frame was average for the day.
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  Speaker 2: But British cartoonists love to belittle him. What may have
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  Speaker 2: been stretched was Napoleon's courage. Yes, as a Corsican outsider,
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  Speaker 2: it took guts to rise through the ranks in France
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  Speaker 2: and then win stunning victories in Italy, Egypt, and throughout Europe.
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  Speaker 2: But at the critical moment in his rise to power,
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  Speaker 2: the would-be world conqueror panicked and was literally paralyzed. Napoleon
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  Speaker 2: was back in Paris leading a coup against the French
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  Speaker 2: revolutionary government. He had faced fire on the battlefield, but
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  Speaker 2: this was different. When he entered the council chamber, deputies
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  Speaker 2: swarmed the trembling general, pushing, shoving, and yelling, Kill him!
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  Speaker 2: Napoleon came this close, Brian, to going the way of
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  Speaker 2: Julius Caesar and becoming Swiss chief, until his younger brother, Lucien,
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  Speaker 2: rallied troops outside the chamber and saved the day. Napoleon
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  Speaker 2: then made himself first consul, and then Emperor of France. Still,
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  Speaker 2: as so often happens with ungrateful strongmen, Napoleon quarreled with Lucien,
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  Speaker 2: forcing him to seek refuge with so many millions have
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  Speaker 2: since in the United States of America. If Napoleon's career
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  Speaker 2: depended on one man, his little brother, George W. Bush's
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  Speaker 2: success depended on four men and one woman who all
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  Speaker 2: dressed alike in black robes. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia,
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  Speaker 2: Clarence Thomas, and then Chief Justice William Rehnquist, all constitutional conservatives,
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  Speaker 2: were joined by moderate Sandra Day O'Connor. And this was
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  Speaker 2: the big surprise. Liberal Anthony Kennedy, in ruling that Florida's
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  Speaker 2: method of recounting ballots in the 2000 presidential election violated
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  Speaker 2: the equal protection of voters. That's because several Democrat counties
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  Speaker 2: in Florida kept changing their rules after ballots were cast.
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  Speaker 2: During the recount, they accepted paper ballots with only partial perforations,
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  Speaker 2: so-called dimples or hanging sheds. What most people don't know
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  Speaker 2: is that the New York Times, the New York Times, Brian,
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  Speaker 2: did its own recount in Florida, which showed that even
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  Speaker 2: if the disputed ballots had been counted for Al Gore,
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  Speaker 2: W still would have won. Look it up. And George W.
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  Speaker 2: Bush did win. And this is key by just 537
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  Speaker 2: votes statewide. Bush never would have won were it not
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  Speaker 2: for those five courageous justices from the right, middle, and
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  Speaker 2: left constitutionally standing up for the constitutional rights of voters
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  Speaker 2: in Florida and across the country. But focus now, please.
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  Speaker 2: on something else in that election, almost 6 million votes
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  Speaker 2: were cast in Florida's 2000 presidential race. Six million, and
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  Speaker 2: it was a 537 vote margin, which might just as
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  Speaker 2: well have been one vote. That was the premise of
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  Speaker 2: a 1939 movie starring John Barrymore, The Great Man Votes.
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  Speaker 2: remade in 2008 with Kevin Costner and called Swing Vote,
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  Speaker 2: Kevin was the one vote that mattered. I'm asking all
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  Speaker 2: of you now to think of your vote as the
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  Speaker 2: swing vote in every race on this year's ballot, because
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  Speaker 2: it could very well be. President Trump claims he won landslides,
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  Speaker 2: but in 2016, tiny vote swings in Michigan, Wisconsin, and
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  Speaker 2: Pennsylvania were would have made Hillary Clinton president. We now
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  Speaker 2: have open borders, amnesty for illegals, windmills instead of fossil fuels,
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  Speaker 2: sky-high taxes, and a long commute to communist China if
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  Speaker 2: you wanted a job in manufacturing. Not to mention that
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  Speaker 2: Iran would now have nuclear bombs. So friends, don't wait
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  Speaker 2: like Napoleon did. for your brother or sister to save
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  Speaker 2: your bacon, you can vote right now in many states,
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  Speaker 2: including Ohio. Ainsley and I did yesterday. Vote as soon
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  Speaker 2: as you can. And then be another Lucian Bonaparte persuading
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  Speaker 2: conservative family, friends, and neighbors to discharge their civic duty.
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  Speaker 2: And since they are not Bonapartes, hopefully that does not
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  Speaker 2: involve trying to conquer Europe. What do you say, General Thomas?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, a lot to unpackage there. You mentioned France, of course,
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  Speaker 1: in the context of Napoleon, but I'm watching the entire
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  Speaker 1: country collapse on itself. It seems you have what started
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  Speaker 1: out as some alleged claim over, you know, school, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the schools were inadequate. They don't have air conditioning. There's
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  Speaker 1: rats or whatever. So an alleged uprising relating to school
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  Speaker 1: conditions has turned into this mass uprising. hundreds of thousands
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  Speaker 1: of people but what it is it's communist it's socialist
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  Speaker 1: it's the far left it's climate change activists it's people
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  Speaker 1: who want open borders and and continuing obviously the open
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  Speaker 1: border struggle they're dealing with in europe you know cautionary
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  Speaker 1: tale for the united states thank god trump got elected
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  Speaker 1: the last time and of course this time as well
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  Speaker 1: um It is so much more than that going on
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  Speaker 1: in France, and this is what we're staring down the
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  Speaker 1: barrel of here in the United States. We seem to
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  Speaker 1: be just one step behind Europe. Do you have any
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  Speaker 1: comment about what's going on in France, Jack?
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  Speaker 2: Paris is on fire. Ainsley and I, the summer before
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  Speaker 2: this last one, were able to visit Paris. When you
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  Speaker 2: leave the airport and approach the central part of Paris,
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  Speaker 2: you pass through all of the unassimilated immigrant neighborhoods. They're
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  Speaker 2: twice the size of Paris, and they're seething. They're now
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  Speaker 2: lighting their torches, and we're just a few years away
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  Speaker 2: from that. There's something else I wanted to tell you about.
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  Speaker 2: I've been corresponding with a fellow who listens to us
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  Speaker 2: in Palm Beach County, Florida. His neighbors are almost all liberal.
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  Speaker 2: You remember the Palm Beach Director of Elections, Theresa Lepore
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  Speaker 2: counted all of those illegal ballots for Al Gore in
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  Speaker 2: 2000 until the U.S. Supreme Court threw them out. Now,
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  Speaker 2: at a current events club in this fellow's community, my
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  Speaker 2: friend debates every week with people who think Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: is the devil. They're all Flip Wilson down there. Trump
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  Speaker 2: is many things, but he's not the devil. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know if my friend's lone voice is changing any minds.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably lost him some friends, but That's what we
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  Speaker 2: have to do. Engage in civil debates. Stand up for
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  Speaker 2: our convictions. And when we finally get the chance, vote
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  Speaker 2: and hope others will see things our way. Paris is,
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  Speaker 2: I frankly think it's gone.
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  Speaker 1: That's the sad reality, Jack. And the European Union did
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  Speaker 1: it to itself with this unchecked open borders reality. It
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  Speaker 1: seems like every man, woman, and child who lived in
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  Speaker 1: a And Africa or the Middle East has picked up
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  Speaker 1: bags and moved into Europe. They have no connection with
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  Speaker 1: the culture there. Obviously, the culture has been eroded. I
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  Speaker 1: think I read just yesterday that 20% of the population
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  Speaker 1: is now foreign-born. They entered the country with open borders policy.
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  Speaker 1: If that's not sort of an existential threat to the
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  Speaker 1: reality of what it is to be French, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know what is. But that the elected officials, the people
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  Speaker 1: who run this show in Europe, have welcomed this. That,
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  Speaker 1: to me, is the most frightening thing. You know, if
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  Speaker 1: you believe Donald Trump is the embodiment of the devil,
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  Speaker 1: there he is, Beelzebub, and you're going to vote against
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  Speaker 1: Republicans because you do not like Donald Trump, this is
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  Speaker 1: what you are inviting into this country. We saw it
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  Speaker 1: under Biden, Jack. Open borders, 10 to 20 million people
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  Speaker 1: flowed in, unaccounted for. Many of them have been identified
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  Speaker 1: as terrorists. There's always a subset of people that want
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  Speaker 1: to do us harm. If you don't have check borders
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  Speaker 1: and strict border control, That is what you're welcoming to
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  Speaker 1: our country, and I just don't understand Trump derangement syndrome
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  Speaker 1: can have such a profound effect on someone that because
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  Speaker 1: evil orange man is president that they will vote against
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  Speaker 1: any Republican on the ticket. Jack, that just doesn't make sense.
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  Speaker 1: It seems to be a DSM-5 diagnosable condition.
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  Speaker 2: The United States, very different from Europe in this regard,
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  Speaker 2: or at least it should be. The European situation with
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  Speaker 2: immigration started right after World War II. The British and
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  Speaker 2: the French, had liberated their colonies where people had been
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  Speaker 2: mistreated for centuries, and they took the attitude, we've treated
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  Speaker 2: these people so badly, they should be allowed to come
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  Speaker 2: back to the motherland. It's kind of like when slaves
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  Speaker 2: finally won their freedom, received equal rights, which they always
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  Speaker 2: should have had from the beginning, and we said, well,
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  Speaker 2: these people are just Americans. The French said, these people
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  Speaker 2: are just Frenchmen. But the difference is we're now allowing
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  Speaker 2: people to come in from every part of the globe.
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  Speaker 2: And who knows, maybe even aliens from space. And we're
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  Speaker 2: a welfare state. We cannot afford to pay for everybody
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  Speaker 2: to decide they want to come to America, which is
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  Speaker 2: prosperous only because we didn't allow that for a long time.
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  Speaker 2: We insisted that people come here and not receive welfare.
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  Speaker 2: They had to make their own way, and they did.
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  Speaker 1: And we also wouldn't allow people in to have a
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  Speaker 1: seat at the table if they had any form of
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  Speaker 1: medical malady. People wax poetic about the Ellis Island days.
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  Speaker 1: You know, give me your tired and your poor. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that was just a phrase that some poet wrote up.
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  Speaker 1: It's not part of the Constitution. We have our own
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  Speaker 1: vested interests. And yes, while we did welcome people from
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  Speaker 1: all over the world during the days with limited immigration,
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  Speaker 1: We did check. Can this person survive on their own?
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  Speaker 1: Can they defend themselves? And, oh, look, if they're diseased,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to send them back from whence they came.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't all, you know, rainbows and unicorns back then.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I told you about a great uncle of mine
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  Speaker 2: who went through Ellis Island and went right back to
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  Speaker 2: Europe because he had an eye infection. That's what they did.
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  Speaker 1: It is. And I don't see any problem with that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, not necessarily that rigid black, you know, red
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  Speaker 1: line in the sand type of attitude, but You should
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  Speaker 1: at least be able to feed and clothe and shelter yourself.
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  Speaker 1: You need to have some sort of education. You need
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  Speaker 1: to bring something to the table in this country. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: as you pointed out, unlike the old days of Ellis Island,
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  Speaker 1: they are welcome at the table of the social welfare
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  Speaker 1: safety net. Last time I checked, Jack, are we having
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  Speaker 1: a spending problem? Is the social welfare safety programs that
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  Speaker 1: are designed for Americans, are they under stress, Jack, he
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  Speaker 1: asked rhetorically?
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  Speaker 2: I can't count all those zeros, but I think they
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  Speaker 2: add up to $ 40 trillion, on which we pay real interest.
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  Speaker 2: That's money that could go elsewhere, like, say, defense or education,
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  Speaker 2: or just stay in the pockets of taxpayers. Can I
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  Speaker 2: mention one other thing? Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Go ahead.
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  Speaker 2: Don't just stay home, folks, because you're sick of the
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  Speaker 2: moronic campaign ads on both sides that simply attack the
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  Speaker 2: character of their opponents instead of telling us what the
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  Speaker 2: candidates will do. to bring down inflation and gas prices
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  Speaker 2: and interest rates, anything we actually care about. Negative ads
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  Speaker 2: are meant to make us so disgusted with our own
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  Speaker 2: party's candidate that we'll stay home. Remember what's at stake.
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  Speaker 2: And if you can't vote for the candidates, vote on
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  Speaker 2: the issues.
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  Speaker 1: Jack Hetherton, always brilliant. I am so blessed to have you.
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  Speaker 1: And my listeners are too. I know they know that
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  Speaker 1: I hear from folks all the time. Love your commentary
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  Speaker 1: each and every week here. It's 7.05 on a Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: Jack Atherton with The Big Picture. Jack will do it
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  Speaker 1: again next Wednesday. And look forward to doing that. And
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  Speaker 1: as always, we always end the conversation with well wishes
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  Speaker 1: to you and your better half. God bless you, sir.
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  Speaker 2: You too. Thanks so much. Thank you, Jack.
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  Speaker 1: It's 7.19 right now, 55KRC, The Talk Station.