Does the GOP Deserve Our Support in the Midterms?

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:11] Welcome to Crisis Point. I'm Eric Sammons. Before we get started, you know I'm going to do, I'm going to ask you to subscribe the channel. And I have noticed since I started asking people to subscribe to the channel, more people have been subscribing to the channel. So I'm going to keep doing it. Sorry, people, but go ahead and click that subscribe button. It does help the algorithm, the almighty algorithm, let other people know about the show. So I do appreciate when you do that and also hit the like button that does the same thing. [00:00:36] Okay, so I want to talk about the midterms. They are coming up in just a little over a month are the midterm elections of 2026. And that means we're in the standard thick of campaigns of the promises, the attacks, the, the, the debates about who did what wrong or right is going on. [00:00:57] I don't know about you, but living in Ohio, at least every YouTube video I watch has at least two political videos. I mean, there are almost no other advertisements other than just political ones right now in Ohio. And I got a buddy who's got YouTube Premium. And man, I'm jealous. I have almost considered paying for it because just the ads are just crazy. So we're right there in that time. [00:01:21] I would say. The big story though, about the midterm elections this year, I think is the fact that there are many disaffected Trump voters who are considering sitting this election out. Perhaps they're considering voting for Democrats, but I think more than anything else, they're just simply not going to vote. I've heard this from many people. I myself am considering doing this. [00:01:45] I've just heard from many people online, in person that are just saying this. And so will that affect the elections? Now? One thing to note is that the Republicans have done a very good job of gerrymandering for this election. So they do have some built in advantages to help them potentially win in, in November. But there are a lot of people though who are just saying, I, I voted for Trump, I'm not voting for the gop. I'm just tired of it now. I just want to be clear, I'm not predicting what will happen. I just think that's a fool's errand. I think often the polls are wrong, the predictions are wrong. The online world, it exacerbates certain things that aren't that big outside the world. Like for example, here's just one example. Here in Ohio, the governor, the race for governor is between Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton. Those who don't know. Amy Acton is. She was our Dr. Fauci during COVID She was our Dr. Fauci. She's just, just as bad, worse in some ways. And Vivek, of course, everybody knows who Vivek Ramaswamy is. And Vivek had a huge lead in the polls, but the prediction markets lately are saying that he's going to lose. In fact, it's saying like 60% chance Amy action is going to win, 40% chance Vivek. Now, whatever you think about Vake, I have a hard time believing that's true. I have a hard time believing that he is going to lose, especially not by that much. [00:03:09] I still think he is going to win, but I don't know and you don't either. So we'll see. So this isn't a prediction, but I do think many things do not look good for the Republicans this year. I think there's no question about that, that things are not looking that good for Republicans and of course they never look great for the dominant party during a off your election, you know, during midterms. But I just think they look particularly bad for Republicans this year. I think there's reason for that. I think we need to start, though, by just saying, how did Donald Trump get elected in 2024? Not in 2016 or in 2020, whatever you want to call that, but in 2024. The reality is he won. And he won convincingly. Not by some, not like losing the popular vote, but barely winning the electorate like in 2016, but actually winning the popular vote and winning the Electoral College pretty handily over Kamala Harris. Part of it, of course, is that Kamala was a weak candidate. I don't think that's all it was, though. I think it was because Donald Trump built a coalition beyond his most hardcore MAGA followers. [00:04:17] The reality is, if you just take MAGA people, you will not win a general election in the nation. You will win certain states, but you will not win the presidential election with just maga. That's not enough, people. [00:04:32] What Trump did, he did brilliantly. Let's be honest, he was brilliant in doing this. He built a coalition. [00:04:38] He brought together the Maha people, rfk. That was one of the best moves he made, was he brought RFK into the fold. So he got all the Maha people, he got the libertarians, he made a number of promises to libertarians and he said a lot of things that libertarians want, were interested in. So he, he got a lot of them. Most of them probably he got a lot of the people who were anti woke, the people who just got sick of wokeness. [00:05:05] You know, I think a lot of the podcasters, the Theo Vons, people like that just got tired of that. They, that was just so in your face. During the Biden years. He got a lot of them. He also got, this is a little bit ironic, he got a lot of the common sense anti Covid folks, people like Joe Rogan, those types. Although I mean we all know that Trump was the one who pushed the vaccine. He was the one who had Fauci in place, kept him in place at the beginning of the pandemic. But yet Trump did a good job of bringing them in too. So he had a lot of these people, a coalition broader than just maga, just the kind of die hard Trumpsters. He brought a lot of people in and he. And that's how he was able to win. And he did it by promising a number of things. He obviously made promises about immigration, stopping immigration, deporting millions of people, no new wars constantly. That was part of the campaign that there will be no new wars. He always was insulting of past presidents who went to war in the Middle east for no reason. [00:06:02] Also the Epstein files, but which was part of a broader anti swamp, anti corruption movement. He very much was talked about that some cutting spending, the Doge cuts, the idea of really slashing a lot of the wasteful spending in the government. That was another thing affordability. Affordability is another big one that prices, the inflation that were really in part his own fault because of policies he put that happen under his watch under Covid, but really were Biden's a lot too. But I don't think either of them were great on that. But he campaigned on affordability and just the whole anti woke that he's not going to be, you know, wanting to trans your kids. And he doesn't use pronouns and he's, you know, he, he talks back to people. And so all this silliness that we've had for years, he doesn't do all this kind of came together and really built a coalition that was willing to vote for him and really campaigned for him. Were excited about voting for him. I think that was the big key. And so he won. He won easily in 2024. It's important to remember that there's so much gaslighting that goes on in politics where people just rewrite history from just a few years ago. But that's what happened in 2024. [00:07:14] Now the reality in 2026, two years later, is that coalition is in tatters. Other than the die hard Trumpsters, everybody else has left or at least is disillusioned. I mean, you don't see Joe Rogan out there anymore promoting him. You don't see the libertarians promoting Trump, supporting Trump. The Maha people, they're getting pretty upset. I personally think the RFK has probably been the best thing about the Trump presidency. [00:07:42] As far as I know, he's not done everything they promised or anything like that. And there's some things they've done they shouldn't have. [00:07:47] But a lot of the Maha people are not happy, so they're kind of out as well. [00:07:51] So a lot of the people who were very much came on board, who weren't Republicans or weren't diehard Republicans, weren't even Trump supporters in the past, maybe who support him, are now out. [00:08:03] And I think there's a number of reasons for that. [00:08:06] I think that this has happened for a number of reasons, which I'll get into in a moment. [00:08:11] But I also think that the, what I've seen is the, the Republicans, the establishment Republicans, Trump himself, the Trump campaign, I mean, the Trump administration, they seem to be simply refusing to admit this reality. They simply seem to be refusing to admit this reality. All they are doing is basically now, their campaign is simply, I guess they are acknowledging the reality because their campaign is now, yeah, we've been terrible, but the Democrats are worse. I mean, it's essentially what J.D. vance said recently. [00:08:42] He recently was basically like, yeah, you might not be happy with everything we've done, but the Democrats, they'd be so bad. And you see this all the time. [00:08:48] We're also seeing a lot of attacks on members of the coalition. There's a whole thing on X right now of going after libertarians, conservative Republicans, going after libertarians, as if they're the ones to blame for everything. [00:09:00] I mean, they're not the ones who said let's go to war in Iran. They're not the ones who said let's inflate the currency more, anything like that. And let's, they have prices jack up, but let's blame them because they're the easy ones to blame because it's like, oh, they're not supportive of us enough anymore, let's blame them. [00:09:16] And so like you just see this like, I mean, it's amazing how on social media particularly the hive mind kicks in. I'm convinced there's a coordinated campaign in some cases when all of a sudden all the kind of paid influencers connected to the Republican Party connected to Trump, they start giving the exact same message, like, oh, yeah, gas prices are high, but it's the price to pay for keeping a nuke from Iran. Or if you don't vote for Republicans, the, the Democrats are going to trans your kids. Or they're all communists. Yeah, we might not be that great, but the communists are going to be in charge if, if we don't win. And it always is done in the same way. Every single election cycle. [00:09:59] It's always in the same way of that this is the most consequential election of our lifetime. I just saw Ted Cruz say this recently. [00:10:07] I have heard that in literally every election, every midterm, every major election, every even year election since the 1990s. So for 30 years, I have been hearing that this is the most consequential election ever. And here's the thing. [00:10:22] Oftentimes the person saying it, their team lost, and yet we're still here. But they made it sound like if their team loses, then the whole country's gone, Everything is just done. [00:10:39] And so I just think that I just don't believe that anymore. I just, I tune that out when people say it's the most consequential relationship. Because here's the reality of what actually happens. [00:10:48] If, for example, the Democrats win, let's say they win both the House and the Senate. I think the Senate is a stretch, but let's just say they win the House and the Senate here in November. [00:11:00] What's going to happen is we're going to have total gridlock in Washington, D.C. which, personally, I think is a good thing, because that means they don't pass any stupid laws because Trump could just veto them. But the Republicans can't pass their stupid laws because the Democrats will keep them from passing them. I actually think gridlock's a good thing. Probably one of the best things that can happen. And they will also spend, the Democrats will spend most of the next two years probably trying to impeach Donald Trump. [00:11:26] To be honest, the problem isn't trying to impeach Donald Trump because he deserves it, frankly, for the Iran war alone. The problem is they will try to impeach him for stupid stuff. They'll be like, oh, he, I don't know, he had a donor give some money for the presidential library or the, the pal, the. The ballroom or something like stupid like that. [00:11:47] It'll just be a big show. But honestly, if it keeps everybody from doing anything else, I'm okay with that. [00:11:53] I'm not one of these people who thinks we have to have government active and working in order to help our country. I think the less they work, the better we are off. [00:12:02] But the point is then if they, if the Democrats go too far over the next couple of years, you know, it'll be, there'll be a reaction and then the Republican will win 2028. [00:12:12] So, I mean, and it's not like it's going to be the end of the world as we know it if the Democrats take over the House and the Senate. I mean, remember, Donald Trump would still be president. I mean, that's the crazy thing. It's like the world, I literally have seen people like Benny Johnson and these other people who have been like, the country's over. [00:12:29] If Democrats win in 2026, are you saying that the Trump would lose all his power or something? He couldn't stop them at all. I thought Trump was the great, you know, guy who could do everything. [00:12:41] So it just, it. I'm sorry, it's just not as important as they make it. I'm not saying there won't be consequences, but there's consequences either way, no matter who wins. I'm not saying there won't be consequences. I'm just simply saying it's not the most consequential election of your lifetime. If I look back at my voting lifetime, the first time I voted in election was 1988. [00:12:58] If I had to say what was the most consequential election, I think I'd probably say 2008. 2008, when Obama won. That was a big deal. [00:13:10] And Obama won. Why? Because Bush got us into a stupid war in the Middle east and didn't do anything to control the government. And look what happened. The country decided to go with Obama. I think Obama did make a big change. [00:13:24] You could say 2016 was a consequential election because it broke so many people when Trump won. [00:13:31] But I'd probably say 2008 was probably the most consequential. But let me tell you, 1988-1990-1992-1994, just going, we're not the most consequential. Even though every single one was called that, they actually weren't. And this one isn't either. The 2026 one isn't either. [00:13:47] So again, just don't, don't get caught up in this. This is propaganda, pure and simple. And the Democrats do it just as much. Just to be clear, Democrats are evil. They're terrible. They're socialists, they're communists, they're awful. [00:14:01] But these Republican influencers, these paid influencers who are acting like, oh my God, they're just paid to drum up and try to get people to vote a certain way by just making things up in gaslighting. It's nowhere near as important as people say it is. And in fact, I would personally think I'll just say it, clip it, use it, I don't care. [00:14:24] I think in some ways if Democrats win in 2026, it could be better than if Republicans win. I'm not saying it guaranteed is better, but it could be better. [00:14:35] There are ways in which that path is better for our country than a path where Republicans went. Not because the Democrats, like I said, are good or anything like that, they're evil, but because they could stop some of the worst impulses of Trump potentially. I'm just saying that's a possibility. [00:14:52] But I do think we need to be honest. And look, I remember I voted for Donald Trump in 2024. I supported him on the podcast. I wore a MAGA hat. I think it's still sitting over here somewhere. [00:15:04] I think I see it over. I still have a map. [00:15:07] I mean, I would never right now. But the point is, word on the podcast for Trump, this is not a derangement person talking. I think she, if we do things truly the Republican in 2020, and we should. Let's also give credit where credit is due. One thing that Trump has done very well is he has closed the border. And that's very important. I don't want to act like that's not important. That's very important. He has not done the deportations he said he'd do. He has not been willing to spend political capital. He spent more political capital trying to get rid of the Epstein files and get rid of Thomas Massie than he has trying to deport illegals. [00:15:48] He spent more time trying to deport Thomas Massie from Congress than he has trying to deport illegals out of the country. [00:15:54] That's just a reality. But he has closed the border. So, so let's give him credit for that. And that's very good. Also, I would say he has allowed us to keep the kind of anti woke sentiment alive because Trump is in power. I think it has socially and culturally allowed us to continue not to put up with the nonsense that was going on and endorsed and supported by government during Biden administration. That's a good thing as well. So I want to give him credit for both of those things. And they are good things. [00:16:25] But there's so much bad. There's so much bad. [00:16:30] And it starts, of course, you know where it starts. It starts with the Iran war. [00:16:34] I mean, I don't care how people will try to gaslight you and try to rewrite history and act like all of a sudden, you know, Trump has been saying he's going to go to war with Ran all this time. We've been at war for 47 years. Where the stupid talking point is, it's all gaslighting. We all know it's gaslighting, too. The reality is Donald Trump did not have to go to war with Iran, period. In a story. We all know it. He did not have to go. It was a war of choice. It was a war of choice. [00:17:02] And because of this, and, and secondarily. So that's the first thing, secondarily, the whole thing, I almost wanted to say something. It's not kid friendly, but I try and make this kid friendly. The whole thing has been a crap show. Let's say it like that. The whole thing has been just poor. I mean, how many times has Donald Trump declared victory? How many times has he made threats that he never followed through with? How many times has he said, we've won when. And then we just continue going. How many times he say it's a war, then it's not a war. The whole thing has been one big, you know what? [00:17:37] And that. That's. There's just no other way, you can put it than that. It's been a complete and utter disaster. [00:17:43] Things are worse now than they were then when we started. The stray hormoose, for those who forget, was open before Donald Trump went to war with Iran. [00:17:52] It was open. Now it's closed. Or like, it's kind of closed, kind of not. It was closed for a long time, and it's still, you know, debated debatable whether or not it's open now, how much it's open now. [00:18:04] The fact is, Donald Trump clearly thought this was going to be like another Venezuela go in, take out the leader, you get out, everything's good. And that's just not what happened. That's just an obvious. And so many people were saying, that's not what's going to happen. That's why you don't go to war in the Middle east, because it's not Venezuela. Iran is not Venezuela. It's very different. [00:18:23] None of this is like praising Iran and thinking like it's. It's some great country. I'm just saying the reality is it has harmed our country more than it's harmed theirs. And we see that very much in, obviously, the gas prices. That's the number One way we see it, and that is a huge deal when it comes to elections. You literally everybody sees gas prices every single day because you, everybody drives by a gas station even if they're not getting gas. And when they're getting gas and all of a sudden they see a seventy dollar bill when they, when they fill up rather than a fifty dollar or forty dollar, they think, okay, why is this? And the first person they blame is Donald Trump. [00:19:04] And I ain't gonna help come November. That's not going to help, that's for sure. [00:19:09] So the war was, was dumb to start. And many people says can be dumb to start. It's been incompetently run, but to be truthful, it would, it's almost impossible to win, to run that war where you truly win it. [00:19:23] And also remember, when I say win, remember it's asymmetrical. All Iran has to do is just survive. [00:19:30] America has to win to win. [00:19:34] Iran just has to survive to win. That's it. And they're surviving. That's just the reality. [00:19:41] And so this thing has been just a disaster. It's killing Republicans, killing Republicans at the polls. And it makes sense why it is. And then of course you have to bring up, when you talk about the Iran war, the influence of Israel, this isn't 2016 anymore, this isn't 2008 where you're not allowed to criticize Israel and or else you'll get just removed from all outlet media outlets and people just call you anti Semite and then all of a sudden your, your, your whole career is done. [00:20:08] Those days are over, which is good. And the funny thing is Trump's part of the reason it's over because he stopped the anti woke stuff, which includes on some way not being able to criticize Israel. [00:20:20] The reality is everybody knows Israel has a huge influence on our government and they have a huge influence, a huge influence in Trump's decision to go to war against Iran. I mean, that's unquestionable. It's unquestionably true that that's the case. How much of that is, you know, we can debate how much of that is, you know, was due, you know, due to Israel and how much of it is own personal ideas. I mean, but the point is, obviously it was influential. [00:20:46] The Aram War by far is the issue that's most hurting MAGA and gop. It's the one that's causing especially young people, especially young men to be disillusioned and to stop supporting Trump is the Iran war. And it's all a Own goal. Sorry. And all an own goal. There's just no reason. He did not have to do it. There was no strategic American interest for him going to war with Iran. If you say, oh, my gosh, they're, you know, they would have a nuke or whatever. I mean, please, I, I hope you're smarter than that. They were not going to have a nuke. They were not going to have a nuke. I mean, he literally had said the previous summer, he, he, he obliterated their ability to have a nuke. And then a few months later, he's like, we have to go war, else we'll have a nuke. I mean, what, you know, what are you even saying here? It just doesn't make any sense. So the Iran war, the other big issue I would say, beyond the Iran war that's killing the gop, is the Epstein files. [00:21:42] Now, I've said this before in this podcast. I'll say it again. I was never a guy who was super into, let's follow the Epstein files. And there's all this corruption. I just assume all these powerful people and government officials are corrupt. I just assume it. And I thought the Epstein files, it'd be nice if a few of them were exposed. It'd be nice. A few of them were exposed. I wasn't like, oh my gosh, I can't believe there's pedophiles in the government. Of course there are. [00:22:07] I was more like, hey, it'd be great somewhere exposed. [00:22:10] But I don't think the, the MAGA people, the, the true, like, huge fans of maga, realize what a big deal it was when Trump basically said, it's a Democrat coach, you're stupid if you believe it. And I don't want your support. [00:22:27] If you think the Epstein files or anything, I don't want your support. He literally posted that out last June. [00:22:32] He said, I don't want your support. [00:22:35] So if somebody says today, I'm not supporting Trump and his, and his, his party, because I thought the, I thought the Epstein files was a big deal. [00:22:44] Well, that's what he's doing, what Trump wants him to do. He's doing what Trump wants. Don't get mad at him. If you're a MAGA guy, don't get mad at this guy for saying, I'm not going to support Trump anymore. Trump told him not to. [00:22:56] He's actually following Trump better than you are, Mr. Maga. [00:23:00] The reality is the Epstein files, it was a clear Trump's switch on it going to all of a sudden being completely against releasing it, attacking people who said, maybe there's something there. [00:23:11] That was the microcosm of, okay, he's not going to drain the swamp. He said he would in 2016. He didn't. But it's like, okay. Then things happened. He got, you know, he lost, he came back, he got shot at, he got the lawfare against him. And I really thought those things. And by 2024, he had said, okay, I don't. I'm going to be a one term president, you know, final term in 2024-2028. I can't get reelected. I'm going to now really try to drain the swamp. I actually believe that. I mean, call me naive, call me stupid, that's fine. [00:23:45] I actually believed he was different than he was in 2016. But when he did attacked people who were talking about the Epstein files, that's when I was like, okay, he's as bought and paid for as everybody else there. He is not any different than everybody else there. And so he's not going to drain the swamp. I just think in a way, what I would say is it broke his magic spell. It broke his magic spell. He had his magic spell as being the outsider, that nobody could tell him what to do, that he was in complete control and he could just go in and clean house. And yet now we know that's just simply not true. He's not going to clean house, he's not going to drain the swamp there. It's just as bad now as it ever was. He's, it's no, on that aspect, the deep state controlling things and the corruption within the government, there's no difference between him and Biden. I mean, we talk about corruption. Let me just skip to that for a second. [00:24:37] Okay. I follow the bitcoin world a lot, and I follow cryptocurrency world a lot. I'm sorry, but Trump, his family, and they are just really corrupt when it comes to the cryptocurrency stuff. I mean, I'm a big bitcoin guy and like, if you don't know, read my book Moral Money. There's a big difference between bitcoin and cryptocurrency, just so you know. [00:24:57] But it's clear he's just using it to, to, to enrich his family. I mean, his fan. He's letting his family use it to enrich themselves with their meme coins and all this other junk and their investments and all that. It's, it's, it's terrible corruption. I mean, these guys are living high off the Hog. I mean, the Trump family is living off. They're sending out Instagram pictures of them at these expensive balls of the expensive outfits where people are literally paying 70 bucks at the gas, at the gas pump and they don't know if they can afford it. [00:25:24] I mean, it is really like late stage empire type of imaging going on right now. Whether fair or not, that's simply what's going on. And again, he was supposed to drain the swamp and all he did was just replace the swamp with new swamp creatures. I mean, really, that, that, that's what I would say. [00:25:40] And then one other thing I see. Do I have. Yeah, one other thing I want to mention that he's harmed his coalition is he hasn't done really anything to truly cut the size and scope of government. [00:25:51] Now I think all of us, and this is a libertarian cause particularly, but I think all of us knew it's not like he was all of a sudden going to make a radical change in the spending of the government, okay? [00:26:03] But when Doge failed, when he just basically caved on Doge after a couple months because of a little bit of pushback, that's when we knew, okay, it's the same old, same old business as usual. The government's not going to change its size and scope. We literally just recently hit $40 trillion in debt. I mean, the debt, we're in a sovereign debt crisis right now. The. I just saw, what was it this morning, the interest rate on a 10 year treasury bond is I think 5.2% or 5.5%. It's the highest it's been since 2002. I think it was. [00:26:36] We can't, you know, the second largest payments we make, the second largest category of government payments are for interest just to service our debt. Social Security is the top one. It's more than defense spending. It's more than anything else. And it's just so the higher interest rates you have, the more you have to pay. And what that means is the more money you have to print, which causes more price inflation. I mean, this is just basic economics and I know most Americans don't understand it, but hopefully everybody in my audience does. If you don't, you can buy my book more money here, I'll plug it again. [00:27:09] Got to keep the grift alive, as they say. But the point is, is that the government spending, I mean the big beautiful bill was, was a complete mess. Yes, it did cut some government spending. I'm not going to claim it didn't. It also increased government spending and it didn't Basically, the point is when it was all said and done, government debt was going to grow from big, beautiful bill. That's just the reality. It was going to, and it did. It has grown. And that's just, that's just what happened. So we're just in the same mess. We always are. And so really, a lot of this, I think people started to say, oh, it doesn't really matter who's in charge. I think that's what a lot of people's attitude is. [00:27:46] I do want to make one kind of side point about libertarians. Now. As most people know, I identify at least somewhat as a libertarian. I'm not as hardcore libertarian as some are. I mean, if you ask me, like, true political beliefs, it would probably be something like a monarchist minarchist idea. Like a minarchist monarchist, you know, monarchy that's very limited in government and what it, what it does. [00:28:11] But I, I live in the real world, like when Catholics are talking about, oh, what we really need is like, you know, a Catholic social state and stuff like that, okay, fine, in your fantasy land, go ahead and do that. If you want to play like Dungeons and Dragons and have it where we have a Catholic, you know, monarchy and all that, fine, go ahead and do that. In, however, In America in 2026, that's nowhere near happening. And so for me, I just think that a lot of the libertarian view, views of limited government of, you know, no, no entanglements and foreign entanglements and intervention in foreign affairs, limited spending, all that stuff, that is the best thing for us right now. [00:28:49] And so a lot of libertarians ended up supporting Donald Trump in 2024 because of. He seemed to be one that was serious about doing that. But then what has he done since? I mean, he went to. Remember, he went to the Libertarian Party convention to try to get their nomination. Although that wasn't even allowed, he still tried to get it. But to get their support. He went to the bitcoin conference last year to try getting. That's a big libertarian event as well, to try to get their support. He made promises to libertarians to try to get libertarians for. And he got libertarian support. [00:29:22] Yet what did he do after. He's been. After the first couple months. First couple months, he governed like a libertarian, frankly. But since then, it's been a complete opposite of that, whatever the opposite that is. And you see it, the number one way you see it in practice was how he went after Thomas Massie. Thomas Massey is the most libertarian member of Congress. He's One guy, one guy in Congress, in the, in the House of Representatives, and Trump went at him, both barrels. They spent $30 million to primary Thomas Massey. One guy who didn't go completely along with the program. [00:29:57] And why didn't he go long from. Because he didn't support hiding the Epstein files. He didn't support foreign wars, he didn't support our connection to Israel. [00:30:05] Because of that, they had to go after him like they went after nobody else. Spent $30 million to try to, to prime. And he did. And they didn't primary him. They got rid of them. [00:30:16] And so, like, you can't get mad at libertarians today who don't want to support Trump because you literally spent the last year and a half attacking and going after libertarian saying, I want nothing to do with you. Well, if they're just going to return and say, I don't want anything to do with you either, can you really blame them? It just makes no sense. Like, I see these conservative influencers who are like attacking libertarians, like it's their fault for this. [00:30:42] And I just don't get it. [00:30:45] I mean, you clearly, you know, MAGA has gone after libertarians and wants nothing to do with them. So why are they upset when libertarians, okay, I guess we'll have nothing to do with you. [00:30:54] They're just kind of following your lead. [00:30:58] I think all this, you know, that, that those are the major reasons why the coalition, the MAGA coalition, the 2024 coalition, the Trump coalition, what you want to call it, has fallen apart. It just has fallen apart. People who are enthusiastic about Trump, like me, are no longer enthusiastic, enthusiastic about Trump and even oppose Trump and can't stand him and don't want him, doesn't, don't want his party to win in 2026. [00:31:22] That's just a reality. You might not like it. You might be a MAGA guy, you might be a Trump guy. You might, whatever your arguments are, that's just reality on the street now. What will happen is you'll inevitably get the argument, well, the Democrats are so bad. Do you really want them in charge? [00:31:35] Not voting is like voting for the Democrats. How can you not vote? [00:31:40] Here's the thing. I don't think people realize who are who, people who are totally into party politics. Like, they identify as a Republican, identify as a MAGA person. That's really important to their identity. And so they can't kind of see outside of that. I think what they don't realize is the level of frustration is so high because we just have a feeling we can't do anything. We can't do anything about what's going on in Washington. No matter who. Who we vote for. [00:32:13] It all ends up the same. People enriching themselves, being beholden to Israel, doing, you know, stupid things that, that, that harm us, you know, materially harm the culture, do all these things, these terrible things, and we can't do anything. And we just feel frustrated. And so for a lot of those people, the reaction is, well, I. I'm good. What I'm gonna do is I'm just not gonna vote for those people. Then, sure, I'm not going to vote for the Democrats because I know how terrible they are. I'm just not going to vote for the party that has basically thumbed their nose at me, what's the. Whatever that phrase is, for the past year and a half, and it completely abandoned everything they ran on in 2024. Why should I vote for them? So you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to sit at home. That's my vote. My vote is I'm simply not going to vote for these people who have screwed me over for the last year and a half and clearly don't care what I think. They've literally said they don't want my support. They have gone after the people I like, like Thomas Massie. They have gone to war for a foreign country in ways that have harmed us materially in this country. [00:33:26] So I'm just simply not going to vote for them. Okay, maybe you'll say that's emotional. Maybe, maybe you'll say that's irrational. [00:33:33] But the reality is politicians should have to earn our vote. They should have to earn our vote. If they're terrible, if they're doing something they shouldn't do, we shouldn't just be like, well, I gotta vote for them because the other guys are probably going to be even worse. [00:33:47] And so I do. I very much understand and I sympathize with the frustration people have. There has to be some line. [00:33:57] There has to be some line that if a politician crosses, he loses our support, because otherwise what's the point? [00:34:05] Sure, we might say, the Democrat, I'd never vote for him, but the Republican will. We vote for him no matter what. There's no line whatsoever that he could ever cross that we wouldn't vote for him because he has an R after his name. [00:34:18] I just don't think that makes any sense. [00:34:21] I understand the line might be in a different place for different people. [00:34:26] Some people might have the line in one place and still Vote for them. Some people might have a different place and not vote for them. I get that. I'm not saying there's a hard and fast moral line that if you cross that you've somehow committed a sin. I'm just simply saying there is a line and there should be a line. [00:34:40] And so if it for you, the line is going to war with Iran, you know, basically on Trump's fiat, he went to war. Our whole country went to war with Iran. If that's your line, I respect that. I think that makes sense. [00:34:55] You know, I think that you, you know, that's something that you can have as a line that you, that you don't want to cross. [00:35:02] And so for me, though, it's like, I know there's the hard, even the lesser two evils. And yes, you always vote for lesser two evils because everybody has, you know, everybody's fallen. I get that. Unless you're voting for the Blessed Mother, our Lord, it's a lesser of two evils. [00:35:17] But that only goes so far. If your vote is between Hitler and Stalin, do you really have to vote? I don't think that necessarily is true. [00:35:25] And so if your line is an immoral and unconstitutional war. Okay, so the question is kind of, you know, leave you with this before we get to live chat. [00:35:35] Should you vote. Should you vote this fall? [00:35:38] I think if you want to. If you're like, no, I want to vote for Republicans because the Democrats are so bad, or maybe even you think the Republicans doing a great job, whatever, fine. I'm not going to criticize you for that. [00:35:48] I'm not going to criticize you for that. [00:35:50] But I also think if your way of making your voice heard is by not voting, I think that's just as legitimate. [00:35:59] I think that's fine. Will the GOP learn the proper lesson if they lose horribly because a lot of us don't vote? I doubt it. I doubt it. They'll probably just take away the worst lessons possible because they always do. [00:36:13] But me, personally, what I'm responsible for is my vote. Who, who I check off on that ballot box or. Or don't check off anybody. That's what I'm responsible for. I'm not responsible for whether or not the GOP properly, properly reacts to it or not. [00:36:30] I just have to do what I do. I mean, for me, for example, okay, the couple elections here in Ohio, the governor, like I said, viva Vivek Ramaswamy versus Amy Acton. [00:36:40] I've never been as anti Vivek as a lot of people I know A lot of people are very anti Vivek conservatives. I mean, because he's Hindu, because he's does, you know, he's, he's basically, you know, got the whole like American culture is terrible and you should be like us Indians and work hard and things like that. I know that, you know, the, the tech bro stuff, how he made his money. I've never been as anti. But honestly, I have zero enthusiasm, zero enthusiasm for Vake Ramaswamy. Do I think he'd be better governor than Amy Acton? Sure, I think that, but I don't, I have no, no enthusiasm to get up and go vote for him. I, I doubt I will vote for him. I'm not gonna vote for Amy Acton either. And then here's the other thing. My local rep. House representatives. I used to have a great representative actually, I technically still do. But then they gerrymandered my area so now I have to be in another district. I had Warren Davidson who's has been my congressman for the past few years. He's great. He's actually one of the best congressmen around. [00:37:39] But I have like Greg Landsman who's a Democrat. He's the incumbent against this guy named Eric Conroy. He's the guy running. And here's what I just. The tone deafness I don't get. [00:37:51] So Eric Conroy's whole campaign has been the fact that he's a local guy. Okay. But also that he's former Air Force thing goes and former CIA. He brags about the fact that he worked for the CIA for seven years. [00:38:03] I mean, talk about tone deaf. [00:38:06] We have like the deep state. That is one of the biggest concerns we have. The deep state. And who runs the deep state? Mostly CIA. Do I really want a CIA operative in Congress? Do I really think a former CIA guy is going to challenge the deep state? I mean, give me a break. He's already receiving checks from the deep state. [00:38:23] He is going to be a puppet for the deep state. [00:38:26] So is it really going to make that big of a difference in this country if Eric Conroy gets in there a CIA operative rather than Greg Landsman? [00:38:35] No, it's not going to make any difference at all. They're both going to be working for the deep state. Yeah, they'll have a few issues. They, they change here. There. [00:38:42] Now, by the way, I do plan on going to, to vote. On voting. I just actually mailed away from my absentee ballot because I. Tuesdays are tough for us to get to the ballot box because, you know, there's like a I'm going to vote against any tax things in my area, any tax proposals. Like I think a local school district is, wants to increase taxes. I'm like, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to vote against that. But will I vote for Vivek? Will I vote for whoever's running for Senate? Will I vote for the congressman? [00:39:09] I don't think so. I don't think I will. [00:39:11] I'm not making a final decision. I might change my mind. I'll tell you in the podcast if I do at some point. But I think it's completely fine and moral and just to just not vote. I don't think that's. It's a requirement that we have to vote in that specific election. [00:39:24] And again, if you want to vote, you got us. That's fine. Do your thing. [00:39:29] Okay, let me jump into the live chat. I saw it moving quick over there, so I appreciate that. Crusader says, why did that one come up? Unfortunately, in today's political climate, neither party deserves the vote of Catholics. True. In fact, we need a third party where the moderates in the far left and far right parties can come together. [00:39:45] The problem is I used to be big third party guy. I mean, I tried. I worked with the Libertarian Party at one point, not because I supported all its platforming like that, but because I thought, okay, it could be changed in such a way that could be a true political party. That, that would really be a good one. I advocated for it. I helped volunteer for the Libertarian Party. [00:40:07] It's a completely lost cause. And the reality, it's a lost cause for a number of reasons, but the reality is third parties politics just doesn't work. It just doesn't work in this country. I'm sorry if Tucker Carlson's thinking about forming a third party. It will fail. It will. It will fail. I'll just say it now. [00:40:22] Phoenix says Pius XII said voting is a moral duty, especially when the ballot would shape the Constitution, marriage, family, education, church, and keeping the state Christian. Telling people not to vote is a sin. Well, obviously I disagree, Phoenix. I do not think it's a sin. Tell people they don't have to vote. [00:40:37] I don't think we're required to vote on every election, every situation. Like I said, if you had a ballot between Stalin and Hitler, is it a moral duty to vote? It's not an intrinsic evil. In other words, to not vote. That's important now, prudentially, there might be. In fact, there was a time, I think it was in the 19th century. Popes told Italians saying you shouldn't vote, it's immoral to vote. [00:41:00] So clearly this isn't like a intrinsic evil. Not voting is an intrinsic evil. That's simply not the case. [00:41:09] It's a prudential decision. There might be situations like for example, if abortion was on your ballot in your state and a pro abortion law or something and you didn't vote, I think that could, that, that would be considered a sin. [00:41:21] But not voting for Eric Conroy, I mean, I'm going to the ballot box, I'm going to check off a few things. I'm just not checking off on that. I mean, maybe I could write in a name, I could just write Ron Paul in on all of them or something like that. Technically then okay, fine. I just don't think it's a intrinsic evil to not vote. [00:41:38] Elizabeth says the problem is you have to vote for Republicans because otherwise we're looking at permanent open borders and they want to legalize every illegal in this country to get them to vote Democrat. [00:41:49] You know it's not true. I'm sorry, Elizabeth, that's simply not true. It is true that if Democrats took over power, that would happen. A lot of that would happen. [00:41:59] But if, let's say Democrats take over this fall, they can't pass some a bill without Trump supporting it. [00:42:07] So if they tried to do an open borders thing, Trump could just veto it. [00:42:11] So I mean, what's the problem? I mean, you know, it's not, it's like the idea is that permanent open borders would not happen either because look what happened before Trump closed the border kind of in his first term. Joe Biden opened it completely. But guess what then Trump closed it. That's not permanent open borders. [00:42:31] So it's just not the way it works in reality. [00:42:34] Sean Duffy says my biggest problem is in Ohio. Acton will take away my educational choice for my kids to go to Catholic schools and I can't afford Catholic school. Yeah, I mean, Amy Acton, a lot of bad things would happen. Now would she be able to do that if the Republicans, for example, kept the House in a Senate? I have not heard if they're in danger. Republicans have been pretty much in ensconced in power in, in Ohio for a while. So I'm not sure if they would be able to do that. I think Amy Acton is just so incompetent. I actually don't think she would get a lot done. [00:43:01] I mean, I just don't think she'd get a lot done even if she won. [00:43:05] Nathan said you don't want Impeachment hearings? No, I think I might, I think impeachment hearings might not be a bad thing. I'm sorry. But I, I personally do think Donald Trump should be impeached for the war, for the war in Iran. I think that's. It was an impeachable offense. [00:43:21] I, you know, like I said, I don't think the Democrats would impeach him for that, but I think it is. [00:43:27] Tim says scary times. Democrats are clearly anti everything traditional. Yes, DSA is powerful. They are also very pro abortion. Bad consequences staring us in the face. Can't disagree with you. I mean, I'm not any fan of the Democrats. Let me tell you, they are evil. [00:43:42] DevP9880 says if you don't like rhinos and you vote in GOP primaries, you don't vote for Democrats. I don't, I've never voted for a Democrat. At least I can think of. So I, I agree with you. And in the primaries they'll just spend, they'll have Israel spend $30 million to get rid of the one. You know, the guy who's not a rhino. If there's anybody's not a rhino, it's Thomas Massie. Yet he got primaried. So this whole idea that, oh, you should do it in the primaries. We tried in the primaries and guess what they had the powerful forces, the deep state made it so the good candidates lost. [00:44:18] I can't. We're in forever, I think is the username. It's short sighted about gas prices. People forget when gas was over $5. I don't think it's short sighted. I just don't want it to be over $5. It doesn't need to be over $5. That's the crazy thing. [00:44:32] Why should gas be over $5 right now? It doesn't need to be. It wasn't. And the only reason is because the Iran war now it could be even lower and lower if we actually tackled inflation. I just don't expect the government to do that because, you know, the money printer has to keep going. But the reason it's over $5 is because of the war in Iran, which was not necessary. [00:44:52] Deathpost says Ukraine caused a diesel shortage by bombing Russian refineries blame Zelensky for diesel prices. I appreciate. I see you have a robot as your avatar and that's very fitting because you're just simply repeating the talking points of the Trump administration. I mean, that's propaganda. I'm not saying it had no impact. [00:45:09] That was just simply when, by the way, I'm no fan of Zelensky. I, I don't support our involvement in Ukraine either. I'm not a fan of Putin either, but I'm not fan of any of them. But it's not, it's simply not true that the reason diesel is high is simply because Ukraine bombs some places in Russia. No, that might be part of it, but it's the war in Iran. It's the war in Iran. Among some other stuff, too. [00:45:34] Rob says gas is north of $8 and 50 cents a gallon here in Lithuania. Whoa. I had no idea that it was so much. That is. I'm very sorry to hear that. I'm. I'm sorry for our people in Lithuania. [00:45:48] Your Euronin forever says so. It's Congress. You vote in the primary to change. Like I already said, I already mentioned that before. [00:45:56] We tried. And they primaried Thomas Massie and don't act like that was some organic thing that all of a sudden the people in north. I mean, I live right outside on bordering to Thomas Massey's district. People in my parish live in his district. I know the district pretty well. They were, they were totally supportive of Thomas Massey. If Trump and the Israel lobby had not gone all out against him, he would have easily won the primary. Easily won. We would have had a good congressman in Congress. One guy. I mean, literally all we're asking for one guy. And we couldn't. And they wouldn't allow that. [00:46:29] So primaries, this idea that you just, you say it in the primaries but not the election, that's just a canard, people say. And the reality is much different. [00:46:38] Phoenix says, okay, March 10, 1948, Pisa says, quote, is a strict duty for all who have the right, men or women, to take part in the elections. Whoever abstains, especially out of cowardice or insolence, commits a grave sin. I'm sorry, but you're applying Phoenix, you're applying a specific papal statement that was made in a time and place, and you're making it like it's intrinsic evil. It's simply not true. And Pope Pius XII wasn't saying it was true because literally, popes in the past have said not to vote in certain situations. Popes in the past have said that. So it's not a grave sin simply that you cannot vote, that you have to vote, or it's a grave sin. It just, you are taking that quote out of context. And it's not. We're not fundamentalist. This is how a fundamentalist would read the Bible. The way you're reading that papal document, you just See, a little. A little quote, a passage you say, okay, boom. You make that the all in, be all rule. It's simply not true. [00:47:35] Okay. The gringo salad, though, says lesser of two evils leads to a bad place. We are now in that bad place, folks. Yeah, you're right. That's exactly right. [00:47:43] Elizabeth says, did you see what the governor of Massachusetts wants to do? She wants to investigate the mothers and fathers of newborns in Massachusetts. That sounds like something around Nazi Germany. Yeah, I did hear about that. [00:47:53] That is just dark, that. I mean, she's the one who's. And remember, she's Catholic. She. She was the one who signed that, you know, the. The bill to make abortion legal throughout the whole nine months of pregnancy. But if you do happen to have a baby, she wants control over that as well. That's dark stuff. I. I'm. I'm with you. That's dark. [00:48:11] The Green Ghost. Salado says they're politicians, not statesmen. And this is the problem. Yeah, I mean, there isn't a single statesman. I mean, Ron Paul, I felt, was a statesman, but there's not a single statesman in government right now. So. So, okay, I'm going to leave it there. Again, I'm not telling you not to vote. I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just simply saying that I think it's a legitimate moral thing to do. It's a legitimate Catholic to do, just simply not to vote in certain elections or write in somebody who's not going to win. Like, I do think you should vote for ballot measures because those actually have a direct impact and can make a difference. [00:48:47] But I'm sorry, but voting for the Republican or Democrat in my local congressional district isn't going to make any difference. And. And frankly, it's just supporting stuff that I don't support. Stuff that I've. That I. That I do not support. And that's just the way it is. So. Okay, well, I'll leave it there. I appreciate, by the way, everybody in the live chat, especially in particular, those who might have challenged what I was saying a little bit like Phoenix and others. I really do like the lively debate there. Okay, until next time, everybody. God love you. And remember, the poor.