← The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
It's a Numbers Game: The Numbers Behind Maine’s Ballot Fight, Women’s Sports & 2026 Election Shakeup
00:54:18
Loading summary
Transcript98 lines
- [00:00]
Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Take Five Oil Change Advertiser
Guaranteed Human when your schedule sounds like this.
- [00:11]
Inner Balance Hormone Cream Advertiser
Are you kidding me?
- [00:12]
Take Five Oil Change Advertiser
An oil change is the last thing you have time for. So drive into Take five and let our techs change your oil. Check your tires, top off your fluids and have you back on the road pit stop fast. All while you stay in your car. No putting your entire schedule on hold. No upsells, no problem. So you can get back to your to do list or not. Find your nearest shop@take5.com Take 5 the Stay in youn Car 10 Minute Oil
- [00:34]
Podcast Announcer
Change There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still. Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we are here to help you keep going further. Capella University what can't you do? Visit Capella. Edu to learn more.
- [00:50]
Jacob Goldstein
This is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com there's
- [01:23]
Lenovo Pro Advertiser
no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one Advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro Lenovo Lenovo
- [01:53]
Inner Balance Hormone Cream Advertiser
if you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts you yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance. The first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oester replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's inner balance.com
- [02:27]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
welcome back to a numbers Game. Thanks for being here. Happy Friday everybody. Okay, before we get into some data on the episode, I want to talk about a little backlash that I'm dealing with. I landed myself in some hot water, which, you know, so rare for me that I But I have to address so Ope of the Daily Wire. My buddy Ben Domenech is the opinion editor there. He's on Fox. You've seen him probably, you know, if you catch. If you watch the network. And he asked me to write an opinion piece. And I was. I was lucky enough to get to the airport early because of all these lines, and there was no line, So I had 45 minutes. So I wrote not bed. Regarding the number of quote, unquote, political influencers who are using their identity as Catholic converts to make a political statement regarding Zionism and Jews and Israel and the war and yada, yada, yada. And honestly, I'm like, a little sick of it. So the P centers around these. I'm not going to go by their name because they. They feed for attention. So I'm going to starve the beast. I'm not going to name them. But you guys can figure out who I'm talking about. These recent Catholic converts who have created political platforms and social media platforms really centered around, like, I'm a recent Catholic convert, therefore, X, Y, and Z. And look, a big part of the piece that I wrote, if you haven't read it, is centered on the idea that I am not here to tell anyone what to think, right? I. To quote, like Fran Lebowitz, or to paraphrase from Lebowitz, the My great lot in life is that I'm always a godfather and ever a God. I can't make anyone believe something that I believe, and I'm not going to try. I give people the, you know, the information that I have. I give people data. I let them draw their own conclusions because it's not worth it to scream into a microphone till I have a heart attack like Mark Levin did. But don't use our faired, our shared faith, our shared church as a political platform to ostracize others, namely Jews. And readers took a lot of offense, especially the two sentences I wrote in particular. So I want to go through them and then the overarching defense of the piece. So the first quote was, unlike many branches of Christianity, the Catholic Church does not demand that the faithful be committed Zionists to receive God's blessing. Many prominent members of the church have spoken out about the plight of civilians in Gaza. Totally true, right? The Catholic Church does not say that the current political state of Israel is as we know it today is the same as the biblical state of Israel. And a lot of the patriarchs and heads of the churches in the Holy Land have said that Christian Zionism is A false teaching. That's their opinion. But Second Vatican Council has also said that Israel, as you know, that we are the people of the world are the new Israel because of Jesus's fulfillment, that we are the church, that it's not the physical entity of the country anymore. Totally in line with Catholic theology. And there shouldn't be anything controversial if you believe in Catholic theology. The second part is where they took a lot of offense, certain people. It says it's. That's what I wrote. It seems that recent converts of the faith understand those teachings, but somehow forget that the Church also rejects any form of anti Semitism, condemns hostility towards Jews, and upholds the enduring covenant with the Jewish people. And as God's chosen people, they have already become cafeteria Catholics, picking and choosing which parts of the teaching they prefer. This guy, I mean, people raged against me. This comes directly from Second Vatican Council. Quote, God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their fathers. He does not repent of the gifts he makes or the calls he issues. And from the Catechism, the Old Covenant has never been revoked. I'm not saying, you know, that, that Jews are better than, or, you know, whatever. It's not. That's not the point. Right. It's just citing Catholic teaching. There's nothing I'm saying in contradiction from what the Church teaches. Pope John Paul ii, saint Pope John Paul II said the same exact thing about Jews. My bigger point is this. And this is the whole point of the whole piece. People forgot because they kind of went in on these two sentences. Don't use your platform as identifying as converts or as Catholics as identifying as this is what Catholics believe in. And then immediately rage on Israel and immediately rage on Jews. Say what you want to say, have your position, but don't use the religion as the platform. If you have a logical case to say about anything, the reason and the logic will stand on its own. You don't need to use the religion being the logic itself, because then you're saying to people, well, if you are a member of my faith, you must therefore believe this as well. That's not the case. And I think, and I. And once again, this is not a majority of converts. It's not a minority of converts. It's like a percentage who are using social media and the ability to be an influencer and make money through social media and saying, this is how I'm going to rage, bait an audience to build an audience to make money. Like, this is the platform they're using to rage, bait. And I think for some cradle Catholics who have maybe a greater understanding of this. Our long tradition in this country has been one where we have at times been ostracized, have been othered, have been made to feel a stranger, have been told we have a, you know, allegiance to a foreign entity. A lot of the same things that are being said about Jews. And I think that we should at this point just feel a sense of compassion towards American Jews. And this is really who this piece was for in the sense that like who I'm asking them to feel compassion towards. I don't really, I don't think about Israel a lot. I don't do episodes goes on it. It doesn't obsess my mind. I've never been there. I'm sure I would like it. I love hummus. Like I'm sure the street food is amazing. I want to go for eat but like I would go on a food tour, not even like a religious tour, but just like let me eat through Israel, that'd be great. This is like I'm a complete foodie. It's like nuts. But I want you to think of a sense of compassion though for people. Like, think of like the American Jewish experience over the last few years. October 7th happens. It's horrific. It is a horror. It's a true horror. And within 24 hours as people are still bleeding out across that country or where the sites the attacks were in that country, you have blue haired they thems and a Muslim immigrants marching in the streets of some of our biggest cities rallying for Hamas. This is before Israel responded. This is before a single bomb was dropped. You can have all the criticisms you want and if they're legitimate, they are legitimate of you know, whatever was happening in the aftermath as far as like the war goes, but this, the war hadn't even started yet as far as an Israeli response. Like they marched with terrorists right afterwards. And I said this in the debate with Michael Tracy, some people really do just like dead juice. Like some people have that hatred in their heart and that hatred is a sin. Hate is a sin. And while it's okay to have a disagreement, you know, on, on politics in the political state, it is never okay to dehumanize another person to say they are less than to dehumanize Jews, which is what happened over and over and over again on the left and then happens ha has happened on the right. It is gross. It is really, really, really gross. And don't use the religion to justify dehumanization. And you know, a lot of people have been saying this, and a lot of people have been commenting. And they come from a place where they're either Jewish or whether they are, like, non religious. Like, there's a couple who are, like, nuts on the Internet who are saying things. I know they're not religious. And they just take this up as their mantra. I'm coming at this from a very, you know, middle of the road standpoint in the sense that I'm not here to. To police what you say or what you think, but don't use our shared faith to justify hatred. Right. If you have a logical conversation to make, make it in a logical way, bring facts to the table and show a sense of compassion to people who are probably going through a lot in this time. And, and it makes all, by the way, it makes it much harder for people who do have legitimate criticisms of the way we're dealing with foreign policy in the Middle east or maybe the way that Israel's doing things, because it feels at times like you are jumping on a bandwagon where there's a lot of hate and you want to be part of that. So it makes everything actually much, much worse. And if you are a recent Catholic convert or you're about to, because Easter is coming up, welcome. The church is, in my opinion, and I have. I'm very, like, very committed to this. The church is the greatest civic institution that exists in America. We have a lot of work to do, though, and you can be part of the work. Doing good work, being a role model, which is so rare in society, is very difficult. It's not easy. And there's not a lot of praise in it a lot of times. And there's certainly not a lot of money in it most of the times. So I understand why it's easy to be an influencer, why it's easy to click and rage bait. But doing the right thing is really more important at this time. And bringing together and doing more to, you know, heal people in this country who seem like they're all, you know, having schizophrenia at the time. Now, my audience, though, my audience is wonderful. Okay, so that's my little soapbox of my little. My little article. Read it, don't read it. But that was. I wanted to address the outrage. Speaking of backlash and outrage, let's talk about recent elections in Florida because there was a massive backlash against the GOP. Florida Democrats won two big state legislative elections. Democrats won a Trump plus 7 state Senate district in Tampa and a Trump plus 11 state House district in Palm Beach. The good news for Republicans which is. I know it's like a weird coat, but this is the truth. The swings against the GOP in these two elections were. Is not as severe as they. As the GOP is experiencing throughout the rest of the year. So it actually made our. Even though we lost these two seats, it made the average swing towards Democrats much smaller and slightly smaller. So I guess that's a strange, like a little caveat to, you know, put in the back of your head. And I spoke to a politico in Florida yesterday, and I said, what do you think the reason was that Republicans had this loss? And he said, no one's talking with this, but part of the problem is, is that the candidates running for office did not live in the districts. Some lived like an hour away or something, which in these Trump districts, a lot of GOP elected officials have taken it for granted. They could just run, you know, a glass of water and have them win. And that is not the case. You have. You cannot take these seats for granted, especially in this kind of election cycle. You and, and there's a notion going around online that just Republicans just didn't turn out. It's not the truth. Zachary Denini, who I mentioned a lot on the show, he's been on the show, he's brilliant. He pointed out, actually Republicans showed up in greater numbers than Democrats did. Independent, a portion of Republicans maybe voted against the Democrat, but independents voted about 2 to 1 for the Democrat. That's a blowout loss. Like, it's remarkably, Republicans have lost 12 state legislative districts so far since Trump became president in Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia and New Hampshire. All but one of those states voted for Trump in 2024. The backlash and the anger and the motivation on the part of Democrats is real. And it's about time the RNC picked up that. This narrative from all these state legislators, you know, this narrative that all these state legislators, special elections, they don't matter. Yeah, they don't matter. Point. But when it's happening in red state after red state after red state, it does matter. It does make people feel, like, discouraged or like the wave is real, the Democratic wave. It builds, you know, it builds enthusiasm more amongst Democrats. And the White House really needs to get heavily into campaign mode like it is election season, whether we like it or not. One more backlash that's happening, which is actually favorable Republicans, is the growing backlash against Abigail Spamberger and the Democrats efforts to district Virginia in a referendum. According to Chaz Nutticom of State Navigate, early turnout right now is much higher. Than it was in the 2025 gubernatorial election. this point, we're actually surpassing governor turnout. It is especially high in Republican areas like Scott County, Lee County, Buchanan County, Page county, and Tazewell County. The turnout there is over 150% to 200% higher than it was in 2025. Turnout is not being met in some Democratic hoes like Henrico, Petersburg, and Richmond. Just by pure demographics and how the state is voting, Democrats are still favored to win. It's just, it's a Democrat state. Right. But if the margin stays small in this early vote, Republicans outvote Democrats on election day, keep the election margin small in the early vote, and Republicans can swamp the polls on election day and defeat this referendum. It would be amazing, considering so much of the Republicans are not doing anything. Glenn Youngkin, who is enormously popular in Virginia, is doing virtually nothing, according to reports from Ben Dominage. He is just kind of sitting on the sidelines, letting Virginia go far to the left. I think this is a really big mistake on his part, but I think that, you know, if it's defeated, it's because of the efforts of grassroots Republicans who once again have come through. Okay, last piece of backlash. That's the theme of this episode. This seems. This is the backlash episode. Well, one piece of backlash that should be addressed is the backlash against transgender ideology. This nonprofit called the Searchlight Institute did an extensive polling data involving 34, 000 people and six rounds of polling that is very detailed, very expensive. It's very impressive. It's impressive for any kind of institution to do something like that. So kudos to them that they did it. This information about to share with you will not shock a single conservative or Republican listening to this podcast. Democrats seem to think that they just keep asking the same question over and over. They'll get a different answer when it comes to the transgender issue. And turns out, nope, they got the same result as every other poll. When it comes to the transgenderism, Americans are the same. They say no to discrimination. They don't like discrimination against transgender people. They don't like bullying of people who identify as transgender, either as children or as adults. But they want sex assigned bathrooms. They want sex assigned locker rooms. They want sex aside sports in K through 12. They do not support children getting hormone blockers. They do not support children getting sexual reassignment surgery. They do not support women, teenage girls, healthy breasts being chopped off. They. It's. It's unanimous. It's. I mean, they. This is so conclusive that we could take a Break. I'm polling on this issue for a very long time. And the funny thing was I was reading some Democrats online who were like, well, they answered the question. They asked the question wrong. No, no, they didn't, Stacy. They didn't ask the question wrong. Put down the Twinkie and just accept the fact that, you know, no one is buying this anymore. We don't have to do this. I don't have to call you a they them. You could shave your armpits. Life goes on. It's okay. Like this is fine because this is how people feel. And the crazy thing is is that the left in Maine has actually put this as a ballot referendum for November. So not only will voters be voting for the governor and the Sen. Maine, the very important Senate race in Maine, but they will be voting for a referendum asking if they, if minors. This is not for adults. This is for minors. Minors should be allowed to access bathrooms, sports teams and, and public changing rooms for, for their gender identity, not their sex assigned at birth, the sex they were born in. Which is crazy because I mean, listen, who knows what the turnout is going to be? Who knows how crazy Bill May might be. I'm interested when polling finally comes out. But this is officially made the ballot. My guess is it's probably going to get voted down. Remember, Maine was one of the, one of the states that voted by popular vote against gay marriage. Yeah, it was a while ago, but it wasn't that that long ago. And transgender issues is way less popular than gay marriage was at the time it was voted down. So with me to discuss this is Steve Robinson from the Main Wire. He is coming up, the investigative reporter, very smart guy. Talk all things Maine, including this referendum. That's coming up next. Life's non stop work, Family workouts, True Nature meats New York strip steak.
- [19:20]
Lenovo Pro Advertiser
Richly seasoned pre cooked perfection that melts in your mouth.
- [19:23]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
30 years supplying the finest steakhouses. Heat in four minutes.
- [19:28]
Lenovo Pro Advertiser
No stress, just nourishing joy. Head to TrueNatureMeats.com code free meat for 20% off plus free New York strip Texas smoked brisket and Mediterranean chicken with
- [19:40]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
code free meat@truenaturemeats.com this is Jacob Goldstein
- [19:45]
Jacob Goldstein
from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can Save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com there's
- [20:17]
Lenovo Pro Advertiser
no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro.
- [20:47]
Inner Balance Hormone Cream Advertiser
If you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance, the first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oester replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com when your schedule sounds like this. Are you kidding me?
- [21:27]
Take Five Oil Change Advertiser
An oil changes the light. Last thing you have time for. So drive into take five and let our techs change your oil. Check your tires, top off your fluids and have you back on the road pit stop fast. All while you stay in your car. No putting your entire schedule on hold. No upsells, no problem. So you can get back to your to do list or not. Find your nearest shop@take5.com take five the stay in your car 10 minute oil change.
- [21:50]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Steve Robinson is an award winning filmmaker and investigative journalist. You can read his stuff as on the website, as main goes and for the main wire. Steve, thanks for coming on this podcast.
- [21:59]
Steve Robinson
Hey, thanks for having me, Ryan.
- [22:01]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
So okay, first let's talk about the ballad referendum because this just kind of became breaking news. Maine will have a referendum on transgender students, ability to access bathrooms and sports teams on like the gender they prefer rather than their biological sex. How, I mean, was it like, was it like a left wing group that attempts propose this?
- [22:22]
Steve Robinson
No, actually this is, it's kind of working in the opposite direction. This is a, a referendum to protect sex based rights. This is conservative. Parents have gotten together to effectively stop the state from compelling female athletes to compete against male athletes who think that they're women. That's the law of the land. That's the policy right now. It's kind of convoluted, but it's a, it's a mixture of school districts, the state, the Maine Principals association, which is a de facto arm of government that is enforcing this policy where any high school boy who decides that he wants to play against the girls can do so. The. We really triggered a national discussion when Representative Laurel Libby posted a very telling picture which showed a young man who competed in pole vaulting in the men's competition in one year and was on the fifth place podium. And then it was less than a year later after he decided to compete against women, he was on the first place podium. And she posted a picture showing those two images side by side. And a number of female athletes have come forward who were victims of this, who had a chance to, to either medal or to finish in first place, but had that taken away from them by male athletes who. I don't know if you know much about pole vaulting, but upper body.
- [23:48]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
I don't. I can't. I can't say I do.
- [23:52]
Steve Robinson
Neither do I, to be honest. But I've learned that upper body strength is a big deal. And if you know anything about human biology, upper body strength is where males have a serious advantage. So this guy comes out and shatters the, the state records for women's pole vaulting, even though he was a middling pole vaulter as a male. But that was just one case. There were four or five other cases of males who were competing in female sports. There was a cross country athlete who was just dominating statewide cross country races and breaking records. So that kind of pushed it to the forefront. There were legislative attempts to try to protect women's sports. Those were all shot down. President Trump came out with his executive order very early on establishing that Title 9, which was created to protect sex based rights for women, in fact protected sex based rights for women. But the state so far has resisted implementing Title 9. Some of the school districts have rebelled. Some of the school districts have decided that they're going to side with Trumpet on this. The Attorney General of the state of Maine has issued his very astute legal reasoning, which is that these boys who think they're girls are in fact girls. So they're entitled to Title IX protections because they're girls. That's the argument that the state is advancing now. And so it's going to be a ballot referendum in November. Voters will decide whether or not female athletes should be forced to compete against male athletes. It looks like it's headed for a pretty certain passage here.
- [25:34]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
You think that it'll pass?
- [25:36]
Steve Robinson
I do, yeah. I mean, Maine is. We're different than the other states. We're a little crazier.
- [25:42]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
We had that is an understatement. If there was an understatement.
- [25:46]
Steve Robinson
Yeah, I mean, we got a guy up here with a Nazi tattoo running around and the Democrats are in love with him for some reason. So they're a different breed up here. They're a little crazier. But we also during COVID had, you know, 25 000, you know, of the craziest libs from Massachusetts and New York and Connecticut. They all bugged out to Maine and brought their politics with them. So that's really warped the politics up here as well. But you know, nationwide polling has shown that it's an 8020 issue. Most people just understand intuitively that it's a matter of fairness. Female athletes shouldn't be competing against male athletes. You can be tolerant and kind and have, you know, respect for people if they have, you know, know, weird sexual identities or whatever, but forcing them to compete, forcing women to compete against boys is a whole different conversation.
- [26:41]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Yeah, I just broke down more like
- [26:42]
Steve Robinson
a 70, 30 issue.
- [26:44]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
I broke down the data for this study that just came out, a very, very detailed study from the Searchlight Institute about, about this. And you know, it's the same as we always see. Americans are against, you know, open discrimination and bullying, but they are against boys competing in girls sports and for shared lockers and bathrooms and all the rest of it. And, and hormone drugs is for children. It's the same data over and over again. And I think Democrats just keep hoping that one day they'll ask it in a certain way. Well, it will change everything. Speaking of Graham Platner, let's talk about it. So Janet Mills actually had a negative ad which Janet Mills does not typically go negative. Historically in her career she's been more of a politician that doesn't do a lot of negative advertising, especially in Democratic primary. It's unusual. She got a lot of backlash to. It is part of the reason the governor is. Jenna Mills is not doing well is partly because of her age. She would be an 80 year old freshman.
- [27:43]
Steve Robinson
I don't think that it's part of her age. I think that she wore out her welcome in the state. I think that Democrats really held their nose in 2022 to vote for her because, you know, she was the incumbent. There wasn't going to be a primary. Governor LePage was running for what would have been his non consecutive third term and they weren't totally thrilled with her performance. There's really no measure of social science, economic science, you know, whatever, whatever indicator you want to pick to measure the changes that have occurred in Maine since she came into office in 2019. Nothing has gotten better. Our budgets have gone from 8 to 9 billion dollars for a biennium to 12 billion dollars. There's a couple billion dollars in Covid stimulus sprinkled in there. No one knows where that money went. The roads still suck. The school still sucks. Student performance has plummeted. Crime is rampant. Our cities are like scenes from the Walking Dead. Nothing has gotten better under, under governor Janet Mills. And no one can even. No one's even making the argument really, that things have gotten better. All they're saying is that we need Democrats to protect us from the, you know, the evil orange man in the White House. That's the most compelling argument that the, that statewide Democrats have right now. So I think that she didn't have a built in base of loyalty and fandom going into this primary. And when Graham Platner showed up, you've got all these, like, beta male pajama boys in Portland who see this guy and they're like, oh, my God, maybe some of his testosterone will rub off on us. Like, here's a. Here's like a masculine Democrat. He can be our hero. He can save us. And they're, they're willing to look past the Nazi tattoo and all the lies that he's told about this thing, by the way. You know, I, I don't know. You've probably followed some of the national.
- [29:30]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
I did a whole profile on Graham Platner.
- [29:32]
Steve Robinson
Yeah, I mean, you may. You probably saw he's got a friend who runs a brewery out in Hancock county who thought he was defending Graham. And he comes out and does this video and admits in the video that he's talked with Graham like three or four years ago about the tattoo. So totally he thinks he's defending the guy, but totally undermines this entire lie he's fabricated about it. So nothing about the guy's backstory makes sense. He's, you know, just a wealthy.
- [30:01]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
He's a. He's a rich kid. Like, he's.
- [30:02]
Steve Robinson
Yeah, that's exactly what he is.
- [30:04]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
That's. I mean, it's very. When. When you run a business and you don't make profit year after year and you don't go bankrupt, it's because you're getting money to fund that full.
- [30:15]
Steve Robinson
Full disability. Full disability plus, you know.
- [30:18]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Yeah, but that's not that much money, the full disability. It's. But that wouldn't explain his business. I mean, the full disability is not that much money in the grand scheme things. But the, his school he went to for grammar school, $60,000 a year. A grandfather was very wealthy. His father was. No, no small potatoes either. There's a lot of money in that family. I think an average like, like table and chairs that his grandfather made is like $12,000. It's not like, yeah, he's from a wealthy family and he's pretending to be. He's doing like, like the working man's black face where he pretends to be
- [30:54]
Steve Robinson
much exactly what it is. That's exactly what, it's kind of local knowledge. But there's no such thing as an oyster man. This thing that he came out with when he started calling himself an oyster man, all the people who actually work on the coast, like commercial fishermen and lobstermen, they were like, what the hell is an oyster man? That, that's not a thing. It's not a word that's in common use. No one in Maine describes themselves as an oyster man. He just invented that term because it sounded cool. By the, you know, the California and New York York consultants who recruited him to run and that, by the way, I don't know if this has been reported on nationally, but that's how he ended up in this race was through an amateur acting gig. He appeared in an aquaculture commercial. It was like a four minute long video about salmon farming or something. And some consultants out in New York saw that video and flew out to Maine and convinced him to run for office. So he's, he's literally an actor.
- [31:50]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Well, his dad ran for state, his dad ran for state senate and either was very good friends or like was on the state committee or he was friends with the chairman of the state committee, something like that. He was friends with the former attorney general and he's ridden over $50,000 in checks to Democratic candidates federally, statewide is probably much, much more. So there's some politics in his background, but it's certainly not, he's not, this is not Jimmy, Jimmy Stewart Goes to Washington. Whatever that movie was, Mr. Smith goes to, was so like, it's not like completely.
- [32:24]
Steve Robinson
I think you're right though. It's dead on to say that this is, you know, the, the working down Easter blackface version. Yeah, that's, that's what he's doing. He's, he's cosplaying. You know, the guy who's actually got calluses on his hands. But he's, he's super soft and you can tell that he's volatile. You know, he's like one, one question he doesn't like away from Decking a reporter, that's what my money's on, is he's, he's going to end up just tweaking out on some reporter, punching him in the face.
- [32:54]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Like Katie Porter.
- [32:55]
Steve Robinson
Yeah, exactly. You know, I would, I would not underestimate Janet Mills in this race though. She's tough, She's a survivor. She's got a lot of friends in Maine. She's been around forever. She was a da, she was the Attorney general, she was a state lawmaker. A lot of people owe her favors. She's Chuck Schumer's favorite. And you know, she might have been hesitate hesitant to go negative in some gubernatorial primaries, but she is a nasty, nasty person and she will go cutthroat in this and so will the people around her who are fighting for their jobs. You know, they all want to move to Washington D.C. and you know, be Senate staffer bigwigs. And those ads that she's running right now, I mean, she's blanketing every streaming service. You know, they are very effective from the people.
- [33:45]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Yeah, Maine's electorate is very female. So she's, she knows what she's doing. It's so obviously well tested. Like I don't care what, what activist Democrats say is a very well tested ad by the fact that he did say, I mean this is also like a, a problem with like a certain type of person. If you're a man and you're in your mid-30s, which is what he was on, on, you know, on platforms all and giving like, you know, hot takes about rape, which is what the comments that she's bringing on or about how white people are stupid or about like all policemen are bastards. Something else that he said there. If you're doing that in your mid-30s, like this is not a 15 year old, which is what he's trying to, he's trying to be like, oh, I was so much younger. No, he, when he said he was a full blown communist, he was like 36 when he said that. It wasn't, this wasn't a man who was like 12 and like trying to be edgy. And in his high school photos. Right. Mentioned in my, my episode and high school photo, he was holding up sign saying Free Palestine. Free, Free Palestine, Free. Set to bat free cashmere some other random places. Like he was a champagne socialist from the jump. It was never like this weird transformation. Yes.
- [35:01]
Steve Robinson
And you know, he also, within very recent history, like within the last five years was the shooting instructor for the Socialist Rifle association in Maine. Pain. And you know, they've Tried to blur out the faces in those pictures of their shooting practices, but you can't blur out that ginger beard. And I don't know anyone else who brings an umbrella out to the shooting range on a hot day to protect their pale ginger skin. But it's definitely Graham Platner in those pictures.
- [35:32]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
He, and he's never denied it.
- [35:33]
Steve Robinson
He's never denied it. And they tried to, they tried to send us a cease and desist letter for referring to the Socialist Rifle association as a paramilitary group because the state of Maine recently passed a law criminalizing the kind of training that Graham was providing to that, you know, antifa super soldier group. But I think it's a pretty accurate description if you've got people with AR15s in the prone position taking 100 yard shots at human shaped targets and doing, you know, wound trauma, wound care. Like that's paramilitary training. Okay. That's not like defensive pistol courses. But that's, that's, that's his, you know, the milieu that he has been swimming in is radical far left progressivism. And so they've plucked him out of that. And I think that his base is not in Maine. His base is the progressive diaspora spread out across the country. Right. His, his base is in Brooklyn and California. And so he's got all this online enthusiasm and GQ columnists will write these homoerotic profiles about how, what a man he is and how he's hauling a bag of oyster over the side of the boat. It's all nonsense. There's, there's just a lot of, a lot of puffery and I think fake support and hype around him. And I think that these, the ads that the governor is running are really going to even this out. I still have it at a coin flip. I mean, anything, anything could happen. The governor's got her own problems, the very serious corruption problems that she's turned a blind eye to. Lots of Medicaid fraud, lots of corruption in the Somali community around Lewiston. We've reported exclusively on the Chinese organized crime growing cannabis throughout the state of Maine. Her brother has actually been a real estate attorney for some of the Chinese drug traffickers helping them buy property in central Maine. She's never commented on that, never acknowledged that, but it's just a matter of fact. It's in, it's, there's, you could see his signature on the documents. Yeah, so she's got, she's got problems as well. But I, I do think that you're going to see this race even out. And I don't think that they're done with all of the opposition research on Graham.
- [37:50]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Oh, there's so much.
- [37:50]
Steve Robinson
I think there's probably some more that's going to come and some more local stuff as well.
- [37:55]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
So before. Sorry, no, I, I have one, I have one other thing because we're kind of on time. I follow a quick question. I actually want to point one thing though. You can tell when someone is using working class black faces. We're saying it because working class people tend to dress up more for important things that they'll own one good suit or one suit and they'll wear it very prideful because that's their one suit for a wedding or whatever. And people who are faking it because they're actually wealthy will always dress down. And that's why Platner dresses down. The Senator from Pennsylvania, Fetterman dresses down. He's actually a wealthy guy too. Like that's a very key indicator working hospital do not actually want people to perceive them as being poor or on the lower income side. Okay, really quickly, there's three important races in Maine. The governor, Maine 2nd congressional district, one of the two districts in the, in the Congress from Maine and then Susan Collins. Just give me a brief rundown of how it looks on the Republican side on the governor's race on the, on the House District 2 and on the Senate district for Susan Collins is, I think sixth term.
- [38:59]
Steve Robinson
So I'll take the second Congressional District where I grew up first. That's a district that has no business being Democrat. It's been held for, I think three consecutive terms by Congressman Jared Golden. He was a military guy, he had tattoos. Everybody oohed and odd over, you know, him being a working class guy. And he was great on the campaign trail, but he was tried to do this blue dog thing and walk a line. That really wasn't successful for him. I think he's bowed out for personal reasons. So that becomes an open seat that was, you know, a Democrat. Incumbent Governor Paul LePage is running for that no primary. He still has tremendous support in the 2nd Congressional District. He's never lost a race in that district. You know, even the gubernatorial race that, that he lost to Janet Mills In 2022, he won the 2nd district vote total. So I would expect him to win that handily. And that's important because, you know, that's a, from a, from a D plus one to an R plus one. That's a nice flip for a presidential mid year. There's a Democratic primary on that side, but not really worth talking about any of those candidates, with the exception, by the way, of Jordan Wood, former staffer to Katie Porter, who has raised like $4 million. He was running for Senate, has a 3 million dollar home on the coast. But then when Graham Platner got in, he got scared out of the Senate race, jumped into the CD2 race and like, bought a home in Auburn, Maine. I just, just bought a $800,000 home in one of the ports congressional districts. Yeah, just, just, just to run, just to run there. So I don't think there's, there's not going to be any competition to LePage. He's going to win that. The gubernatorial election is going to be pretty chaotic. We have eight candidates on the Republican side. I moderated a debate, by the way, last night with the gubernatorial candidates. I think that herd is going to thin down to probably four, maybe five candidates pretty soon here.
- [40:58]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Can I just, can I ask you as, as a complete political nerd? I've never moderated a debate. You have to be respectful, obviously, because you're the moderator in your head. Do you ever hear somebody give an answer? What on earth are you talking about? Like, and your head goes to. Keep a straight face. Keep a straight face. Keep a straight face. Does that ever happen?
- [41:18]
Steve Robinson
Yes, it happened last night. I mean, there were, there were a few flubs that I wanted to make, I wanted to joke and make fun of them, but I tried to keep decorum. And we actually had a, we, we had a boxing bell that we used to keep the timer. So when people started going over the time limit, I gave them a ding, ding, ding. And that moved things along pretty well. But, but you know, we had 400 people there watching and for the most part, you know, they, they understood when somebody was screwing up. I didn't need to put an exclamation point.
- [41:47]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Okay, so you think that her.
- [41:49]
Steve Robinson
Candy, I promise, no Candy Crowley stuff.
- [41:55]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Yeah.
- [41:55]
Steve Robinson
Yes.
- [41:55]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
When, who, who is the front runner on the Republican side?
- [42:01]
Steve Robinson
The front runner by polls would be Bobby Charles. Bobby Charles grew up from, grew up in Maine and had a career in Washington, D.C. he Naval Intelligence officer, worked in the Reagan administration, was Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, and then had a consulting firm and a lobbying firm for a while.
- [42:22]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
How old is he?
- [42:24]
Steve Robinson
He's got to be in his 60s. I think he's probably 65, 66. But you know, you would, you wouldn't tell it. He's, he's, he's pretty fit and energetic.
- [42:32]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Okay.
- [42:33]
Steve Robinson
Very knowledgeable guy. Very.
- [42:34]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Well, when you say Reagan, I'm like oh my Gosh, is he in 80s now?
- [42:37]
Steve Robinson
Okay, well, yeah, we have him and we also have Jonathan Bush, one of the cous of Jeb and W. He's a healthcare executive who has built a business in Maine. He's running. And then there's a few state level politicians who are running. And Ben Midgley, the former CEO of Crunch Fitness, is also running. So it's a, it's a very big field, but I expect it to thin a little bit and, and hopefully I did a good job of, you know, throwing fastballs right at their heads last night and the herd's going to thin. On the Democratic side, we have Senate President Troy Jackson, the corrupt former Senate president has been in the legislature for 25 years. Secretary of State Shena Bello, also corrupt, tried to kick Trump off the ballot in 2024 year, remember that? And was rebuked by the Supreme Court, or at least Colorado was. Hannah Pingree, the daughter of the first district congresswoman. She's running for governor. She was the tall top policy person for Janet Mills for six years and now is running, I guess, to continue the wonderful Janet Mills legacy. And then Nirav Shah is running. He was the director of the main CDC throughout all of COVID so he's the one helped mandate vaccinations, close schools, and then was tapped to go be on Biden's vaccine committee. He was the deputy CDC director for a little while, so. Quite the panel. Oh, I forgot, by the way, also, so Angus King iii, you didn't realize this, but there are, there are three of them. So the, the, the Senator King's son, Angus King III is going to be running as well. So. Yeah, we've got a. I'm surprised he's
- [44:20]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
not running as an independent.
- [44:23]
Steve Robinson
Yeah, I don't know how much, how long that shtick goes for. I mean, Angus King, Angus King as an independent is, you know, the biggest, flimsiest piece of crap ever. I mean, the guy, the guy's just a total leftist. This, that he has no business winning elections in any state. I, I blame it all on the mustache. It's like a win.
- [44:44]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Very deceiving.
- [44:46]
Steve Robinson
Yeah, yeah, it is. It's just a winsome, magical mustache that like he twitches it and people are like, oh, he must be, you know, normal and reasonable, but he's just a far left, you know, pawn for the defense.
- [44:57]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Okay, how, how is Susan Collins doing? Polls have it very tight. She was down all the polls last time and one in a clean sweep, a clean victory outright, no runoff. How is Susan Collins doing for this time?
- [45:10]
Steve Robinson
I, I would caution anybody against doubting Susan Collins ability to win elections in Maine. She, I mean, I think she beat Shannon bellows by 30 points. Sarah Gideon, they had her losing to Sarah Gideon and she ended up winning by what, six, seven, nine points? Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I, I would, I would caution against trusting the polls, but I do think that she's going to be in for one of the tougher races that she's, she's ever had. I think that she's, her team is accustomed to running, you know, good old fashioned races where you get out, you press the flesh, you do very strong, efficient absentee ballot programs, voter registration programs, that kind of thing. They're very effective at that stuff. They have a very professional, well funded organization. On the digital side. I think she could probably use some improvements. I think she needs to, to modernize her campaign a little bit. But I do think she'll probably win. You know, if I, if I had to, you know, pick a, pick a winner today, it would definitely be Senator Collins. Because one of the things that she's really excelled at in this state that doesn't always show up in the polls is constituent services. She understands that the job and you know, for six years you're not just down there doing CNN hits and, and, and you know, mugging for the Cameras in Washington D.C. she has very good constituent services. And I would say 99.9% of the people who go to a Collins Senate office looking for help with whatever it is, you know, your mail's not getting delivered. You know, you've got a Chinese organized crime setting up in your background like
- [46:45]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
your Social Security check, your spousal disability. Yeah.
- [46:49]
Steve Robinson
Whatever it is that matters to people, it's top priority. She takes care of that and he helps somebody out like that, they're, they're going to remember that. And the, the thing, you know, the, the attacks that the Democrats are, are pushing on her are like, you know, oh, she, she voted on a procedural motion to advance to consideration of the SAVE act or something. It's, you know, they have very, very flimsy attacks against her and I don't think they're going to work. I think if Graham Platner is the nominee, you're gonna see the, you know, versions of these ads that Mills has been running, except for on steroids. You know, you're gonna have people down east, people saying Graham Platner runs an oyster business.
- [47:30]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
What? Never heard of the guy.
- [47:32]
Steve Robinson
You'll have people who worked on the docks for 25 years being like, I've never seen that. I have no idea who he is.
- [47:38]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Right.
- [47:39]
Steve Robinson
It's offensive that he actually claims to be, you know, a working fisherman than when there's people who are actually busting their ass not to have this kind of lifestyle that he has. And I know lobstermen who work a lot harder than Graham and they can't afford to fly out to Norway just to, you know, ivf.
- [47:56]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Yeah.
- [47:57]
Steve Robinson
But against Mills probably she does even better. They're, they're actually have had a pretty professional relationship for, you know, 15, 20 years. Main politics is small, but Governor Mills has really nothing whatsoever positive she can say about herself. All she can do is point to, well, this one time I made an ass of myself at the White House picking a fight with Trump and told him, you know, I'll see you in court. It's literally all she's doing besides attack ads is saying I stood up to Trump, Trump to, you know, to keep, to keep boys and girls sports, by the way. And also we probably don't have time to get into this, but males in female prisons. We have a, a 6 foot 3, he was 240 pounds when he went into prison. He murdered his parents in cold blood. Names Andrew Balser killed his parents and his dog called the police and said, hey, I did something bad, you should come get me. They grab him, he decides he's a woman. So now he's in the woman's prison, he's ballooned up to 310 pounds and the woman's prison is overcrowded. And we published two weeks ago a letter that we got from an inmate who has been forced into the same cell as Andrew Balser, who has been harassed, sexually harassed and sexually assaulted by him. And that's the official policy of the state.
- [49:21]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Is that 300 pounds.
- [49:22]
Steve Robinson
Now you said 310 pounds.
- [49:26]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
He probably has bigger breasts than she does. Stephen, where go to read more of your stuff? You have a lot of great information. I love your website where people go to get your information.
- [49:37]
Steve Robinson
People can find us at the main wire.com or at the main wire on X Facebook. And we'll be covering the, the Senate race all, all, all the way to November and hopefully pretty soon here we'll have an interview with Senator Collins and we'll be able to get into some of the issues, maybe some of the stuff that she hasn't, hasn't talked about before in public, you know, talk about some of the stuff outside of the beltway.
- [50:01]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Thank you for coming this podcast.
- [50:02]
Steve Robinson
I really appreciate it anytime. Ryan thank you very much.
- [50:07]
True Nature Meats Advertiser
Craving bold, authentic taste without kitchen chaos. True nature meets Hawaiian Kahlua Pork delivers slow roasted tenderness with smoky tropical notes. Pre cooked perfection. 30 years supplying the finest restaurants. Chances are you've already had their pork heat in 2 minutes. Shredder for plates or bowls. Complaints turn to second helpings and laughter. Real meat, real flavor. Go to trunaturemeats.com code free meat for 20% off plus free New York strip Texas Smoked Brisket and Mediterranean Chicken with Code free meat@trunaturemeats.com this is Jacob Goldstein
- [50:39]
Jacob Goldstein
from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com there's
- [51:11]
Lenovo Pro Advertiser
no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one Advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro Lenovo Lenovo
- [51:41]
Inner Balance Hormone Cream Advertiser
if you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shift, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance, the first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oester replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again. That's innerbalance.com when your schedule sounds like this. Are you kidding me?
- [52:20]
Take Five Oil Change Advertiser
An oil change is the last thing you have time for, so drive into Take five and let our techs change your oil. Check your tires, top off your fluids and have you back on the road pit stop fast, all while you stay in your car. No putting your entire schedule on hold. No upsells, no problem. So you can get back to your to do list or not. Find your nearest shop@take5.com take five the stay in your car 10 minute oil change.
- [52:44]
Ryan (Podcast Host)
Now it's time for the Ask Me Anything segment if you want to be part of the Ask Me Anything segment, let me ryan@NumbersGame podcast.com that's Ryan plural numbers gamepodcast.com love these questions. First one comes to me, it says hey Ryan Missouri. I didn't write the person's name down. Sorry about that, whoever this is. Hey Ryan, Missouri passed a new 71 map to add a new Republican seat by eliminating the Kansas seat of Representative Emmanuel Cleaver. Recent accordion rule that the new map is good and we can proceed into 2026. A few said may Missouri Republicans should have gone for 80 but St. Louis and suburbs are still blue enough that in a good Democratic year could it have could have given Dems a shot at winning a 6:2 delegation from St. Louis. What are your thoughts? So they really couldn't have drawn an 80 map without triggering a bra section 2 lawsuit which would have demanded they draw a black majority district in one of their congressional districts. And you don't want that because they could throw the whole map out. Also I've done this, I've played around with this map several times. It is extremely difficult given how blue St. Louis is, how blue East St. Louis is and how blue the suburbs are and kind of like it's not like a district in the, it's not a city in the middle of the state, it's in the corner of the state. And it's very difficult because I don't draw lines without having to zigzag throughout multiple areas. And it's just, it's very, very very hard. I think a 7 to 1 map is 7 to 1 Republican is much more doable, much feasible, and doesn't give the possibility of having a swing district in case there's a bad Democratic year out of St. Louis. So I think it was a good, a good map. That was a great question though. Next question comes from Sarah. Sarah writes, love your podcast. I have a few more questions on J.D. vance and Marco Rubio. Do you think J.D. is the only one who could trusted to continue deporting illegals and keeping the border secure? As a Jew, I have planned to vote for Rubio based on his support for Israel. But then I looked up Facebook groups about Marco Rubio and found out all of his posts were in Spanish. That and the amount of donors that support him are alarming to and point that he's not sincere and changing his stances on immigration. Do you think JD Mas is the only one who can continue Trump's immigration agenda? I don't know if he's the only one. But I will tell you guys a story that I've never told on air before. Right when J.D. was about to announce his run for Senate, he come to New York and I picked, I was driving him to the airport and we stopped to get coffee right beforehand. And you know, I didn't have a lot of one on one time with jd, where it was just the two of us and he was undistracted and there was no like, you know, other people calling or trying to get his attention. So I said to myself, like, you have to really monopolize this time and really try to push something forward that is important for him to like, retain. And, and you have to understand from my position, someone who like, studies data all the time and reads up on, on, on bills all the time. I know a lot of politicians are not, not necessarily as well versed, not because they are against something, just because, you know, there's only so much time in the day to memorize and get information and you have a lot of people pulling you every which way. So I say, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk to my immigration, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pass this along. I'm gonna fill his head up with different things about the H1B visa, H2B visa, H2A visa. So I started kind of going into it, it's like all total word vomit. And he, and this is before, obviously, I worked for his pack, so we were able to kind of see, speak freely. And he's looked at me and he said, yeah, I just, I really think we should just deport them all and reduce immigration numbers. And I was like, okay, my work here is done. Like, I don't have to do this anymore. I don't have to, I don't have to be a show monkey. And it was just very natural how he said it, and it came like within a quick instinct. And I, I do trust him on this issue. There's a lot of things I, there's some things, not a lot of things. There are some things I, I of, of issue with JD's positions on this. I do not, and I do think that he is sincere in his commitment about immigration and mass deportation. So I do, I do trust him and I think that he is sincere. I can't speak for Rubio at all. I, I've only spoken to him one time and, and Rubio, I've read his book and it was fine. But like, I think Rubio kind of always has a soft spot in his heart for people who are not in this country legally because he's, he talks about how he knows them and he's friends with them and, and he's a good man, he's a good Secretary of State. But I do have questions about him. Okay, next question comes from Dwayne. I love your podcast. I continue to listen to it even. I'm obviously multiple weeks behind. I'm just now getting to your February 2nd podcast, Dwayne, catch up. Today is March 19th and you went on a rant about how Texas and Florida are going to deal with the out of state interlopers trying to get elected in them. I'm laughing because as a resident of Washington, I watched as a pretty solid conservative purple state turned to absolute blue due to all the maggots and bean brains from California moving north, radically changing our political landscape. Yeah, we're seeing a similar effect right now in New York City where it's almost like a political sponge effect where people from across the country are, who are very left are moving to these like left wing meccas for them and they are becoming extremely progressive. So like in the 2022 governor's election in New York, Kathy Hochul's entire margin of victory came from Brooklyn, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Most of the new Democratic voter registration comes from Brooklyn and Manhattan throughout the state. This is where, you know, we're absorbing the crazy left wingers from Connecticut. Not that they don't have their own, but we're absorbing some of them or from upstate New York or from Ohio or Kentucky. And so those places are becoming redder as we become bluer. Washington State, I think it was in 2014, the Republicans actually control the state Senate there. I think it was 2014 or 2016. So, yeah, we, I mean, it's been, it's been quite a turnaround in some of these blue areas. But that's why on such policy, so many policies you're seeing, you know, California and New York raising taxes as the rest of the country tries to attract business and people and, and cut them and all this other stuff. So, yeah, I mean, I get it. People are really people. And that's what happened to Colorado. By the. Colorado was perpetual purple for a long time and now it's as blue as Illinois. It's just Californians moved there. If we didn't have mass immigration, both legal and illegal, California would see the reciprocal effects politically on, on all these people leaving. But what has happened before Trump, before this year, California just filled their population with, you know, fill their state with new residents from across the world and they get equal representation as they normally did. Had we had reduced immigration, California would have lost seats seats as other states kind of gain them and more balanced out instead of rewarding blue, blue states through mass immigration. Okay, last question for the show. Forest writes. Hey, Ryan, what do you consider the percentage odds to be a candidate who is not JD Vance or Marco Rubio at the top of the 2028 ticket? Should we have any concern that a conventional politician like Kemp becoming a contender in a reverse 2016 situation where Vance's front runner status fades, the base gets split up four or five candidates and there is no politician clogging up the moderate lane? That is a very interesting kind of idea. Here's the thing about JD Or Rubio, if it's him, but most likely JD The Trump machine is still in place, right? The Trump campaign machine is still in place. That's why you're still getting fundraising text messages and emails. That's why they're still raising money for the Trump re election campaign. Eventually a lot of that will become the JD Vance or Marco Rubio Mike Lee, JD Vance, but Marco Rubio, JD Vance machine that operates in all 50 states that has building this giant cash reserve. So if someone wants to challenge, they have to make an organization that is equal in size or compelling to the operation being built out by Trump. And that's very difficult. Even if multiple people split the ticket? I don't. I have. And who are multiple people? I mean, I guess people from Trump world, but they're not interested. Glenn Youngkin has already said he's endorsing J.D. vance. I'm trying to think of like, who Carrie Lake, I mean, Bannon maybe. I mean, like, who would honestly run against JD There will be a lot of people who are against him quietly who don't want him to run. That, that's already going on. But publicly out there, people to really build a machine to, to contend with what Trump has built. I find that hard to believe. I don't think we have to worry about it as of now, obviously. Obviously. If there's corruption scandals, if there is the impeachment trials, if there are, you know, or actual impeachment, if there is people going to jail or there's a death or whatever, you know, things we can't foresee, then I'll revisit this question. But as of right now, the chances are probably less than 1%. But anyway, that's this episode, guys. Have a great weekend. Happy Friday once again. If you like this podcast, please like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts where we get this podcast podcast YouTube too and give me a five star review. It really means a lot to help get the show seen by other people so I appreciate you all. I'll talk to you guys on Monday. Bye.
- [61:53]
Take Five Oil Change Advertiser
When your schedule sounds like this.
- [61:59]
Inner Balance Hormone Cream Advertiser
Are you kidding me?
- [62:01]
Take Five Oil Change Advertiser
An oil change is the last thing you have time for. So drive into Take five and let our text change your oil, check your tires, top off your fluids and have you back on the road pit stop fast. All while you stay in your car. No putting your entire schedule on hold. No upsells, no problem. So you can get back to your to do list or not. Find your nearest shop@take5.com take5 the stay in your car 10 minute oil change
- [62:23]
Jacob Goldstein
this is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com there's
- [62:56]
Lenovo Pro Advertiser
no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standing. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro Lenovo Lenovo
- [63:26]
Inner Balance Hormone Cream Advertiser
if you're feeling off fatigue, mood changes, skin shift shifts, yet your labs say everything's normal. You're not alone. Meet Oestra from Inner Balance. The first all in one prescription strength bioidentical hormone cream that's natural and effective and only takes one drop, 10 seconds a day. Oester replaces five to six products women typically use to treat symptoms and is third party tested to ensure the highest quality. Visit innerbalance.com today to start feeling like yourself again.
- [63:56]
Podcast Announcer
That's innerbalance.com There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still. Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we are here to help you keep going further. Capella University what can't you do? Visit Capella Edu to learn more. This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.