Co-host or Guest Commentator (4:58)

Use power.

Vince (4:59)

Do better. Protect our kids. Do better. You're a coward. This is your job. Protect our kids. You see the sign? So this is what the lefties were screaming and they're waving their LGBTQ flags In case you're wondering, are they there to support the people of Annunciation Catholic Church? Are they there to support. To support the Catholics who were gunned down in the most vulnerable people, children gunned down in the most vulnerable position on their knees in church, and you're there screaming at the Vice President, the Catholic Vice President of the United States, who has arrived to support those families. How dare you. You utter scumbags. And if you're gonna be out there screaming at anyone, if you're gonna take to the streets to scream at politicians and calling them cowards and saying, protect our kids and do something, you should be directing all of that energy at the Democrats who have run that state into the ground. You should be directing that energy at Tim Walz, who failed to secure these private schools when they asked for help in doing that, who has encouraged the kind of mental illness that led to that shooting last week. You should be doing it to the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Fry, who is saying that you are a fool for praying in the wake of this tragedy, and instead that you should be worshiping at the altar of transgenderism. Don't you dare bring up the fact that this person thought that they were born in the wrong body, that mental illness afflicted them, that we have a culture that inflamed that mental illness that led to this shooting. Don't you bring that up. No. In the words of the mayor, Jacob Fry, you are doing something wrong. You're attacking the, quote, transgender community if you point out the mental illness that was involved here. No. These idiots, these morons who are taking to the streets, these utter sheep. If you're gonna yell that at anybody, you should be yelling it at the politicians who are responsible for this, not at the people who are trying to fix it. J.D. vance is the do something side of this. J.D. vance and President Trump are the do something side of this. They don't want our schools to have shootings. They're the ones who want to stop mental illness. President Trump, this very week, on Friday, was saying that maybe it's time to reopen insane asylums in the United States. Perhaps it's time to once again treat the mentally ill like people who deserve help, instead of people who deserve to have their mental illness inflamed and then to harm themselves and others. It's all too much. But in case you're wondering what was going on in the streets there, you had crazy lefties attacking the vice president and his wife for being decent people. You ever see something like that? And you're like, Boy, that's a reminder. I'm on the right side of these things. I have that moment every. I don't have that as frequently anymore. But earlier in my life, I'd have some doubts. I'd be like, am I wrong about this? The left is constantly telling you that the decent thing to do is to go along with their agenda. And if you ever, in a moment of weakness, you look at it and you're like, maybe, am I wrong? Maybe I'm not being tolerant enough. Maybe I'm not being decent. Decent enough. And the thing you need to remember in all of this is they're not calling you to be decent. They're calling you to be demonic. And they're exploiting your decency to get you there. It's as simple as it gets. They're exploiting your decency to get you to do catastrophically terrible things to yourself, your family, and your country. Don't fall for it. Don't. So this is yet another reminder. The decency was on display yesterday when the Vice President arrived. The indecency was the lefties who were screaming at him as if he was the problem, just to be clear. So that was. That was happening yesterday. Good for J.D. vance for going out there. J.D. vance. Fellas, let me see if I've got the clip here. I want to make sure. J.D. vance had had some statements yesterday. I may not have included it. The guys are looking around. I may not have included it for them. I'll give it to you now. J.D. vance had some statements yesterday as he was leaving Minneapolis. He was talking about what was going on there and the experience he had. And he said that this day is gonna stay with him forever. Forever. And he wants people to pray for the young girl whose life was affected who's still trying to recover in the hospital now. And this is how that went. Here's JD Yesterday. Take a look.

J.D. Vance (9:32)

I have never had a day that will stay with me like this day did, because I really felt like these parents, in the midst of the worst grief of their entire lives, they opened up their lives and they opened up their hearts, and they made me part of it. So I'd ask a couple of things. Straight from the parents and straight from the families to my fellow Americans. First of all, while two kids lost their lives, there's still one kid that's in very serious condition. And every single family. The family of Lydia, who luckily recovered, but we visited her in the hospital. The family of the two who died, Harper and Fletcher, all three of those families said, please say A prayer. So to my fellow Americans, if you're the praying type, say a prayer for this innocent girl who's actually in surgery right now, Lydia, that the swelling will go down, that she will be okay because she's still in a fight for her life. And every single family to a person is desperate that the death toll, which currently is at 2, stays at 2. And I think if you're a praying type, you ought to say a prayer for this innocent young girl. The second thing that I'd say is, look, I'm speaking to my fellow Americans who are parents in particular. There is nothing that you can say that can take away the grief that these parents are dealing with. There is no word that can possibly describe the feeling or the emotion or the heartbreak. One of the ways that I'm going to try to honor these parents and the children that they lost is by being a better dad and hugging my kids tight tonight and making sure that they know that their dad loves them. Because there are two families who are not going to get that opportunity ever again. And if you do have kids, if you're lucky enough to have a son or a daughter, make sure that they know that they love you, make sure that you hug your kids tight because there are families in Minneapolis who won't be able to do that ever again.

Vince (11:19)

God bless J.D. vance, God bless them for that. And please lift up a prayer for Lydia and her family as they go through this nightmare that God Almighty will wrap his arms around them and bring them comfort and healing. Just can't imagine that. And as JD Says, a stark reminder for the rest of us to hold our kids close and to appreciate the time we have with them because you never know what life will bring at all. And so thank you to the Vice President for representing the rest of us. I appreciate that. I really do. Back in Washington, D.C. what J.D. vance left behind, there was a, there's been kind of a frantic 48 hours of Jeffrey Epstein stories going on in Washington D.C. now, two days ago, that would be Tuesday, Congress held a behind closed doors briefing with Jeffrey Epstein accusers, victims of Epstein's horrors. And they had conversations with them again, I guess to gather whatever they can at this late date, these now two decades later about Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. And that's what was happening. And then the Trump administration released some 40,000 documents to Congress indicating, you know, these are all Epstein related things that were released as the Trump administration continues to release at the request of James Colmer and the Oversight Committee, document after document, tens of thousands of pages to try and as much as possible, give us some illumination on exactly Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and who else may be implicated. And so this is something that the right has been very concerned about for a very long time, and only the right. Let me just be emphasized that only the right has been interested in this particular question. The left has pretended like it didn't exist, especially once it became crystal clear that it was Bill Clinton that was primarily on that private jet over and over and over again, and people like Bill Gates and his proximity to Jeffrey Epstein that became this big issue. Of course, Bill Gates funding so many of the left's priorities. The last thing the left wanted to talk about was Jeffrey Epstein, the Epstein files, or what else we may be able to learn about the criminals who were involved there. But suddenly you've noticed in the last few months, the left has decided to dive headlong into this. And that is for a very specific, obvious and cynical reason. Their view is that they can use this to either one, impugn the President of the United States to pretend like Donald Trump is guilty of something here, or two, and perhaps both, use it as a source of division on the American right so that they can get us fighting amongst ourselves while they return to power. Do not for a moment doubt what the Democrats are attempting to do. Is the same, by any means necessary, power play that they constantly employ that has nothing to do with any underlying principle or concern for any victim anywhere. It has nothing to do with decency or empathy and everything to do with cruel, cynical political calculations. How can we create another Russia Gate? How can we stagger the Trump presidency? How can we stop his agenda? And one place to start is to get everybody fighting about Trump who supported Trump in the first place. So let me just once again, reemphasize a point that I've made over and over. Don't fall for it. They're not in charge. They're insane. And they want you to fight your fellow man, the guy you stood next to in line as. We all voted for Trump on multiple occasions. That's one. Okay. Another thing is there's a message here for Republicans. There's a message here for Republicans who may be tempted to fall for the Democrat Party line here. Well, I want transparency. I do, too. But if you find yourself voting with every single Democrat in Congress and you're one of, like, say, five or a dozen Republicans who are joining with them, you have to understand there's a reason that Jamie Raskin is all in on this. There's a reason that hakeem Jeffries, as low IQ as he is, is all in on this. There's a reason that Jasmine Crockett and AOC and Ilhan Omar and all these disgusting people are all in on this. It is not about protecting any kids. It's about trying to hurt their political opponents. They think this is the strategy for doing it. And those Republicans who perhaps come from a place of decency as they join them, you have to realize what's happening. You are useful idiots for a Democrat Party cause. If you're jumping in on the Thomas Massie brigade right now, you are playing a useful idiot to the cause of the left. Don't do it. Don't do it. You want transparency as it comes from the government. Continue to rely on President Trump to release this information. That's what he's been doing. But here's what's going on. President Trump has been referring to this as a hoax. Now, understand the word hoax here. Don't take CNN's interpretation for this. Don't take MSNBC's interpretation for this. When the President of the United States uses the word hoax to describe what's going on, he's not saying that women weren't abused. That's not what he's alleging at all. In fact, the president has been consistent about his horror at the abuse of these women. That's plain as day. The lawyers who've been involved in defending these women, in advancing their cause, have indicated that no person has been more helpful than President Trump to them in going after Jeffrey Epstein. So of course he doesn't consider that component to be a hoax. What he considers a hoax is the left's sudden realization that they can utilize this to try and hurt Trump. That's the hoax. And you see it right now. You're seeing the echoes of Russiagate. You're seeing the echoes of every cooked up piece of nonsense, the Charlottesville hoax, all of it. All designed not to enhance the public understanding, not designed to enhance our constitutional republic, to equip voters with a better understanding of who they should vote for when they go to the polls. None of that. The whole point is to stagger and tear down the Trump presidency. That's what this stunt is. So don't fall for it. That's all I'm saying. Do not fall for it. In fact, in the left's attempts to try and implicate Trump in the Epstein scandal, they keep asking the accusers to say, hey, was Trump involved? Was Trump involved? Look at this on NBC, Cut five yesterday, as they tried it again and Even the accusers keep coming out and they say, no, he's not involved.

Epstein Accuser or Advocate (18:24)

I do have to ask and I know. And it's just something that I think we're compelled to at this moment with the attention on President Trump with these questions around a pardon. Did anybody see or hear of the President himself doing anything inappropriate as it related to Jeffrey Epstein?

Raymond Lopez (18:38)

No.

Vince (18:40)

No, no. Not a single person spoke up to say, yes, I saw that. In fact, again, as always, the President's acquitted himself rather well in this story. I've got more. So yesterday in Washington, a number of Epstein accusers stepped up to a microphone to do a press conference. And it was a scene that I've never witnessed in the Epstein saga. It was the first time we see all these women together. They all wanna make allegations about what happened and they all have demands for what they'd like to see happen next. I thought that this event was useful in a number of ways. It definitely, it created more mystery, I think than it needed to. For one, I'm looking for way more answers here and I didn't get all of them. I'm gonna take you through some of the footage yesterday cuz I do think maybe perhaps you saw it and I saw this. My spidey senses are tingling. This is. And you can't help but feel that there's much more than meets the eye from what we saw yesterday. I'll get into it in just a moment. We'll take you through and see what you think. But first I want to thank the great sponsors of this program. When inflation jumps. When you hear the national debt is over $37 trillion. Crazy. You ever think to yourself maybe now would be a good time to buy some gold? Well, whether as a hedge against inflation or just for sensible diversification, Birch Gold Group believes every American should own physical gold and they want to make it very easy for you. Until September 30th, if you're a first time gold buyer, Birchgold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, request your information kit now. Just text Vince to 989-898 plus Birchgold can help you roll an existing IRA or 401 into an IRA in gold and you're still eligible for a rebate in free metals of up to $10,000. Make right now your first time to buy gold. Take advantage of a Rebate up to $10,000 when you buy by September 30th. Text my name Vince to 989898 claim your eligibility today. Again, text Vince to 989898. Message and data rates apply. Thank you, Birch Gold, for being a great sponsor of the program. Okay, so then we get. Then we get the Epstein accusers holding this press conference yesterday. And right up front, one of the big items is just in case people keep talking about a list. Where's the list? Where's the black book? Where's the list of names of all of these people who abused girls? Even the Epstein accusers say there is no such thing. There's no list, they say, take a look. Here's one of their attorneys laying this out yesterday. Cut three. What do you guys think? I know you're working on your own, but do you believe that Jeffrey Epstein had a list?

Epstein Attorney or Expert (21:26)

So there's not a list. So here's what it was. Just like you heard everybody today. Jeffrey Epstein created through an organization that of enablers of people that were on his payroll. It was a complicated scheme where others should still be investigated because they helped to enable him and operate this scheme. Without those people, he could not have done this. But the purpose was for him to personally abuse people. With that being said, certain of his friends he farmed out, certain of the. The women that he was exploiting too. But that wasn't the primary purpose of that scheme. And I don't think he wrote the names of those people down. There's not a list of, hey, here's all of the people that I sent females to. That's just not how that organization works.

Vince (22:12)

Yeah, I mean, this goes back to the point that I made earlier this year when we got all that back and forth from the Attorney General about we're gonna release all this information. Oh, there's nothing else to release. Nobody else is gonna be prosecuted. That whole sequence of events which drove me so crazy, again, it goes back to, well, wait a second. The orbit of people around Epstein that facilitated this abuse of women. You're saying nobody in that conspiracy can be prosecuted? All of the people who were involved and operating at the various properties, like, set aside the powerful, influential people that are the subject of most of the theories here. What about just the simple mechanism of the people who are enabling that criminality? Don't you think they should be held to account? And it can't just be Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. It seems too big and too unwieldy for just the two of them. So that is an important point. But there's no list. He says, look, there's just no list here except one of the Women yesterday stepped up to the microphone and said, we know the names and we will compile a list and we're going to keep it private. Take a look here. Cut four.

Epstein Accuser or Advocate (23:24)

Transparency is justice. Release the files and the secrecy and stand with us in declaring that no one, no billionaires, no politicians, politicians not world leaders, is above the law. And let me announce now, several of us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list of names. We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names. We all know we're regularly in the Epstein world, and it will be done by survivors and for survivors, no one else is involved. Stay tuned for more details on that because history is washing and so are the women. He will come after us. Thank you.

Vince (24:33)

Okay, so they're going to compile a confidential list. I thought the whole point of this was public disclosure. We have to reveal the perpetrators here. Now we are seeing Thomas Massie is claiming that he wants to get the list from the women and then read it directly into the congressional record so that there is immunity covered by the speech and debate clause so that nobody can be sued for these names being put out there. Whatever system needs to be done in order to make those allegations, go for it. But we're talking about now, two decades later, that we'll finally get something like this. What I'm disturbed by is how long it's taken. How long it's taken for us to just get this core thing. This is really the centerpiece of what people have been looking for for so long. So all I'm saying is if your spidey senses are tingling like mine, I don't think that's a mistake. I think there's much more than meets the eye going on here. I can't say exactly which agendas everything is serving. I do know that the Democrats that are involved here are trying to implicate Trump and they would like you to hate the President of the United States and to turn against him. And of course, you just ask the accusers, like, is Trump implicated here? No. Also one other thing. At least one other thing here. The press conference yesterday that included Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene and the victims. Our friend Sean Farish points this out. He screen grabbed this last night and he says, look, these are Republican lawmakers and they're standing in front of signs that say, release the Epstein files. Pedo 47. Can we pull this up, fellas? And then behind them, they have another one of Trump holding a little child's Hand that says help in balloons. You see this? Yeah. So these Republican lawmakers, you have to be conscious of where you're standing. You're standing in front of signs that declare that Trump is a pedophile. Also, further in the back on the right there, you can see GOP guardians of pedophiles. This. You know, I don't have a low regard for everyone involved here. I don't have a low regard for Marjorie Taylor Greene at all. I just. I think that they're being sucked into something very stupid. They're being used in a way that's designed to hurt the cause that they say they believe in, which is the cause of our country. That's idiotic. That shouldn't be happening. So, no, you shouldn't end up in front of a sign that says Donald Trump is a pedophile. What the hell is going on here? So there you go. That's just worth contemplating. These are the kinds of things that you're worth thinking about as this moves along. Don't let them do this to you. Okay? I've got so much more to get to today. We'll see what we can get to, because I want to talk a little bit about those terrorists who are trying to bring drugs into the United States that the Trump administration just blew off the map, which is, I think, well deserved. You're gonna defend American interests. Stop the people who are killing us. That's center stage. We've got the Secretary of State weighing in on that, the Vice President of the United States weighing in on that. So much more to get to. Also, I'm gonna talk in a moment with my guest about crime in Chicago and how we can address it, because that really matters. Speaking of things that are killing Americans, we'll get to it. You already know the name Blackout Coffee. Blackout Coffee, absolutely excellent stuff. Proudly the official coffee of all of us here at Silverlock. There's a reason for that. This is bold, unapologetic America first coffee, roasted fresh right here in the United States. It's not grocery store junk. 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And if you're new to this, don't worry. They've got a free Get Jacked up video program. You just press play, you follow along. No more excuses. Let's do it together. Go to getjackedup.com use the promo code, Vince, and you'll save 10%. That's getjackedup.com thank you. Jacked Up Fitness, Great sponsor of this program. Okay, let's talk about what's going on in the Windy City. Too many murders as usual in Chicago. But is it possible to improve that city's quality of life the way the president has done it in Washington, D.C. for more on that, Al, I want to bring in a Democrat alderman, a city council member. Raymond Lopez joins us here. You can find him on X. Raymond A. Lopez, sir, good to have you with us on the program today. Thanks for joining us. Okay, so let's get into kind of just what's going on in Chicago. Let's start there. What is the state of affairs in that city right now? A lot of us were served the horrific Labor Day weekend headlines of nearly 50 people shot, about 10 or so killed. And that, unfortunately, seems to be a typical weekend in Chicago. What's going on in your city?

Raymond Lopez (31:20)

You know, despite what the mayor and the governor say about all statistics trending downward, Chicago still has some very violent challenges that it's facing in the neighborhoods. My own ward, my own communities, we had a gentleman just Saturday night who was shot in the head walking down the alley. The Thursday before, two children were gunned down by a Venezuelan migrant. One of them killed. You know, so it really rings hollow to me when I hear people say that all things are well here in the city of Chicago. Chicago is a city made up of 77 neighborhoods. And every one of those 77 neighborhoods, everyone, the residents feel the same way, that they are worried that every time that they go to drop their kids off at school, go to work, sit on their porch, go grocery shopping, or even go to church, they have to keep their heads on a swivel. And that is no way for anyone, let alone Chicagoan, to have to live. So when Donald Trump said he was going to send in the National Guard and other members of the federal government to come support police to come make Chicago safer, though our Democratic leaders may not want to admit it, everyone in Chicago was happy to hear the news.

Vince (32:30)

So when you talk to people who actually live on the streets in Chicago and they know not on the streets, but they live in Chicago and they deal with all of this crime, is the message that you hear ever that we don't want law enforcement?

Raymond Lopez (32:46)

There are some individuals who absolutely take that view, who would love to defund the police, whether it's directly or through attrition, who aspire to continue to have that revolving door of justice swinging so that criminals that are arrested are immediately released into the communities again. And what we know is this, is that that's a very small minority of individuals, while at the same time, there are plenty of Chicagoans who want to feel safe, who love law enforcement, and who think that people should be held accountable for their actions. Sadly, those individuals do not make up the majority of the Democratic elite who are running the city, county, and state.

Vince (33:26)

I've noticed that the people who have the most contempt for law enforcement typically live in the safest areas. They're the ones that need law enforcement the least. Whereas the people who live in very violent communities are desperate for a change. One of the problems with violent and especially poor communities is if law enforcement is sporadic, if it doesn't serve the people well, if it's hard to get cops there, or if People are released by prosecutors or judges too quickly. It disincentivizes calling the cops because then you run into the problem of, oh, now you're a snitch. Now you're calling the cops on guys who are gonna be back in my community to hurt me within no time. I mean, it does seem like kind of a hellscape, and it exists in Chicago.

Raymond Lopez (34:07)

It is a death spiral, to be perfectly honest with you. Because as that scenario continues to unfold that you just described, which is 100% accurate, you also have the fact that at some point people stop calling 911 overall. And that makes it very easy for leaders like the governor, J.B. pritzker, and the mayor, Brandon Johnson, to say, well, everything's fine because we're seeing fewer crimes in our city. Well, you're not seeing fewer crimes. You're just seeing fewer crimes reported by the citizens because they don't believe that you're going to protect them, as you pointed out. Additionally, when you divert all of our police resources to things beyond the scope of the 911 calls that they're supposed to respond to, like protecting tourist attractions, you know, no one calls 911 because they know their calls are going to go unanswered. Every single day, thousands of 911 calls are going unanswered, which is why so many in law enforcement are excited to have the national card come and play babysitting duty for those city assets so that they can in turn be reassigned back into the neighborhoods to go after those gang bangers, drug dealers, and human traffickers that we know are very much prevalent in our city.

Vince (35:14)

You're admitting something that I don't hear other Democrats admit about the role the National Guard plays here. The National Guard would play kind of an administrative and logistical support role in these situations. Also, just the presence of the National Guard is a visual deterrent to crime. If you see military vehicles, you see guys who do have firearms for use in very extreme cases to protect themselves. And if they see imminent death. But beyond that, you're pointing out that there's a way to use the National Guard that's entirely appropriate to bring a peace to a city.

Raymond Lopez (35:47)

Well, I'm not trying to gaslight my residents. I'm not trying to score political points against Donald Trump, and I'm not pinning my reelection or my future presidential ambitions on standing up against this moment. All I'm concerned about is how do I keep people safe and how do I. If I think that the numbers are trending in the right direction, how Do I push them even further, lower so that we have fewer victims of violence on the streets of the city of Chicago? Yeah, one would think that is the goal of all of our elected officials, to keep people safe, the first order of government, to keep people safe. But yet everyone is using this as a time for performative politics, which quite frankly is absolutely disgusting to me.

Vince (36:28)

So let me talk about your governor and your mayor, because who you keep bringing up, because they are the two chief spokesmen here in opposition to President Trump doing anything to rescue Chicago. And so J.B. pritzker came out this week and he said, you know what, crime happens all the time in big cities. The real thing we should be focused on is Donald Trump is a problem. That's the thing that he wants everybody to focus on. The mayor of the city, Chicago, Brandon Johnson, who last I checked had a single digit approval rating, he's come out and said that the shootings are gonna continue and the violence is gonna rage until Donald Trump stops trying to send the National Guard in. These are not people who, I'm be frank with you, who should not be in any position of leadership. They're not demonstrating any level of care for the people of a great American city. They're just selling them out because they hate Trump.

Raymond Lopez (37:20)

Absolutely. Chicago is the most American of American cities. And to hear, we'll start with our governor say, go off on this what about ism tangent is really irrelevant to me. I don't really care what's going on in Memphis, which has higher statistics than we do. I don't care what's going on in New Orleans and other cities, because I was elected to care about the city of Chicago. That was where I took my oath of office. Those are the people that I'm supposed to protect. And Same applies to J.B. pritzker and a grander scale in the state of Illinois. Now, when you look at Brandon Johnson, who basically all but admitted that, you know, there's some connection between the shootings that happen on the streets and the political leaders that are speaking, you know, that's, that's the quiet part being said out loud right there in that moment. And I don't think that was accidental because what we do know is this, is that those same not for profits that they're trying to restore their funding that deal with quote, unquote, anti violence, those same government, quasi, those non government organizations that we rely on so heavily that get over $400 million a year if they have the on and off switch when it comes to the violence and shootings and murders in the city of Chicago, then why are we not looking as to why they don't permanently turn off the spigot? And the answer is simple. Because if there's less crime, there's less money that's needed for those organizations. Because if you achieve victory, then you don't have to keep paying for the medication.

Vince (38:45)

Well, you're totally right. And also, you know, when you. When you. So, Brandon Johnson, the mayor, was on MSNBC about a week ago, and he was confronted by the morning host Joe Scarborough, who says to him, wait a second. Okay, if we gave you money for everything you want for Chicago, if we gave you, let's just stipulate, we gave you all the money in the world that you need for all these programs you say are so great. What if we gave you more law enforcement? Would that help bring the crime down? And not at a single moment did Brandon Johnson acknowledge that more law enforcement would be good. Instead, the whole time, he just kept saying, we just need more money. We need more investment. We need more money. And the kinds of places this money goes to are things like what they call violence interrupters. And so people understand what violence interrupters are. These are ex cons. These are people who've already been through the criminal justice system. They go back into their community, they're paid by the taxpayer, and then they go in. And the goal is that they need to convince other people not to commit crimes. The reality is, over time, we've done studies on this, it really doesn't show any meaningful sign of improving communities. It just becomes another way to dole out federal resources or local taxpayer resources, and crime continues with a reckless abandon. So these are insane ways to rob the taxpayer blind and use crime as a predicate to do it.

Raymond Lopez (40:00)

Let me just take that one step further, Vince. You know, when violence interruption programs first began, there was an amount of achievement that was made by those organizations because not only did they help break the cycle for ex offenders returning, but they also helped held them to a standard that you're not going to go back to this lifestyle of gang banging, selling drugs, and shooting people. Well, that was 15 years ago. Flash forward to where we are now. All of those metrics have been removed. All of those organizations are now covering up when their members are engaging in criminal behavior because they don't want the money train to stop. So we are, in essence, using our tax dollars, whether it's federally, state, or local, to help subsidize gang culture and violence in our neighborhoods, all under the guise that we're trying to actually break it apart.

Vince (40:52)

Okay, so there's a question that's looming in the chat and certainly in my mind, and I think I know the answer to this, but why is it that you're a Democrat?

Raymond Lopez (41:02)

I am where the gold post, the goal post used to be. I am the. The painful reminders, so many in the Democratic Party that we didn't always used to be crazy, that we always didn't used to be socialist lunatics, that we used to be a party that believed in helping people, the government had a role to play when someone was in trouble. But also that you could believe in law enforcement, you could believe in the Constitution, you could believe in the United States of America, that you could be patriotic and still be proud of your heritage. That might be a flashback to the late 1990s, but that's what I believe in. And I think there's still value to that. And unless we're all going to up and abandon the Democratic Party to the socialist AOC wing of that universe, we have to be able to be a counter to it.

Vince (41:52)

Well, you sound almost, I'm not trying to insult you, but you do sound delusionally optimistic about the path of the Democrat Party. But one other element here that I'll bring.

Raymond Lopez (42:02)

I'm a Chicagoan. I hold out hope no matter what.

Vince (42:06)

Often, oftentimes in these Democrat controlled cities, you don't have any other option. When you put your name on the ballot, you've got to run as a Democrat. I mean, that is true for instance, in Washington D.C. with 93% Democrat voters. It doesn't matter how much your instincts might be Republican. If people determine that you're in the Republican Party, there's no chance that you're gonna win. You've gotta run as a Democrat. Is that true in Chicago?

Raymond Lopez (42:30)

I would say that would have some value here in the city of Chicago. And let's remember that for 20 plus years, the Republican Party wasn't exactly the most welcoming of political organizations itself either. Before the Democrats went off the deep end and went full socialist communist mode, the Republican Party was no better on the far right extreme. When you had the Tea Parties and when you had some of those constitutional purists that were on that side of the political spectrum, they always had a way of shooting themselves in the foot when it came to their issues because they didn't know how to make a point and then stop. They would always somehow alienate people that were in agreement but not fully. And I think that there's some of the reticence that people have nowadays still with the Republican Party, since you brought.

Vince (43:16)

It up, and obviously we could go probably for a long time on the subject, but what views do you think were excluded from that era of the Republican Party? Who was being left out?

Raymond Lopez (43:25)

Well, I think when you look at issues of LGBT issues, when you look at women's bodily autonomy issues and when you look at immigration, I mean, you just look at the top three and not necessarily the difference in belief, because I understand that, but when you look at how it was vocalized, when you look how people who didn't, who didn't agree with the extreme of the Republican Party were often demonized, that is not a way to help build a winning coalition. Where Donald Trump has succeeded, especially in this last election, I will say that is he avoided all of those hot button social issues and just said, hey, I'm just the guy in the McDonald's window or in the back of a garbage truck trying to help you achieve your American dream. Let's do something different. And by not harping on those other hardline Republican issues, it made it easier for many Democrats and independents to go his way. I mean, the fact that he railed against illegal immigration and still managed to get 40% of the Latino vote, in some cases 52% of Latino males, speaks volumes to that. When you tone down the rhetoric, even though you have a principle belief on an issue, people will still come to your direction based on how welcoming you are despite what you believe in.

Vince (44:46)

Well, I will submit to you that the country has moved much more in the Republican Party's direction thanks to President Trump. And I think you're right on the issue of abortion, that's tilted in a way that I don't like. I happen to be very pro life and I'd like to see more victories on that front. Although the President can be credited with immense victories in overturning Roe versus Wade, clearly. And on LGBT issues, the whole country's moving away from the trans delusion. Thank God. It's been been running on for far too long and it's hurt a lot.

Raymond Lopez (45:15)

Of people when it comes to that. I will say that I think you also have to recognize that 10 years ago the issue was about marriage equality for gay and lesbians. Trans wasn't even an issue. And I think that what we've seen is, and oftentimes the gay and lesbian movement has almost been co opted by this trans movement. And I could say personally, where individuals who are part of the trans activist universe have told individuals like myself, who's Openly gay and married to the same person for 20, been with the same person for 20 years. That someone like me is the enemy to trans.

Vince (45:48)

I've seen it. I've seen it. It's too crazy. And then on the immigration front, I think there were a lot of really shallow understandings of what people believed in based on their skin color that were going on in Washington. So people would look at Latino voters and think to themselves, oh, they're all for illegal immigration. That's insane. That's completely insane. I think that this last election has proven that. And that didn't involve, you know, that didn't involve becoming squishy on the issues around immigration. It became, it involved just telling the truth and being forceful and saying, get the illegals out of the country. We have to have a sensible immigration system. Anyway, like I said, that's a.

Raymond Lopez (46:26)

And understanding the difference between the long term undocumented that have been here for decades, like dreamers, who. Donald Trump himself has said he deserve a path forward, and the 11 million Venezuelans that were given asylum and basically amnesty to be here by the Biden Harris administration by manipulating our border laws.

Vince (46:45)

Yeah, yeah. No, and look, you're tapping into areas where we clearly disagree and I, so, so I can see, I believe you, you're a Democrat, I get it. But let me, let me, let me go back to violence in Chicago though, for a moment because this is where we started and I think this is the key point. Do you want to see the President? I think you've given me the answer. Send in the National Guard.

Raymond Lopez (47:05)

I think after talking with my law enforcement, yes. I want to see the National Guard to help alleviate the pressure on our police. I want to see the FBI, dea, ATF and all the rest of them that are here currently beef up so that they could go after the cartels, go after the human traffickers, go after those dangerous, high priority non citizen targets that we know exist in the city of Chicago. I think that too many elected officials are making this a partisan issue. Public safety should never be a partisan issue. It should be a universal issue that Republican, Democrats all agree on, that you have the right to exist and pursue life, liberty and happiness without having the fear of being robbed, carjacked or murdered in your own home. That should be something that we all aspire to and work together to make happen.

Vince (47:51)

Okay, and then finally, in this, in this vehicle, what's your message to the President of the United States? What would you like to convey to President Trump?

Raymond Lopez (47:59)

I would say this to the President of the United States, I think that he is on the right track, but he has to temper his remarks so that he doesn't overshoot them, overshoot the target. I think he was on point for a week when it came to Chicago needs help, Chicago needs resources. I'm here to do that if we are willing to work together. His comment the other day about Chicago being the murder capital hellhole of the world undermines his ability to do that because there are many people in Chicago who love the city who want his help but would vehemently disagree with that statement. So I would just be careful of giving too much red meat to your fan base because it will cloud your mission here in the city of Chicago.

Vince (48:40)

But if your life is surrounded by murder, I have to imagine you're encouraged to hear somebody finally taking it seriously. And I know the president definitely does take it seriously. No question about that.

Raymond Lopez (48:49)

Without question. I mean that like I said this weekend when I had two people killed throughout the holiday weekend, part of that 50 people shot, eight people killed, two of them were in my ward. To hear the President of the United States say that he's willing to help my communities, that I've taken an oath to defend and help as well is reassuring both to me and to them. And it's an insult when I hear my fellow Democratic colleagues say that everything's fine and that, you know, we've decreased enough and everything else basically is an acceptable loss. After this, it's not.

Vince (49:20)

All right. Well, thank you. Raymond Lopez, Democrat, alderman, city council member in Chicago. We appreciate you. Thank you for coming on the program today. Good conversation, sir.

Raymond Lopez (49:28)

Thank you for having me.

Vince (49:30)

Yeah, there he is. Right. Raymond Lopez in Chicago. We got a Democrat saying that, yeah, the president should step in. We could use the help. Chicago needs it, which the rest of us can see. So that's key. All right, let's get into some of the other elements I want to touch on today. The drugs that are flowing into the country are killing over 100,000Americans a year. You can thank China for that if you're interested in thanking anybody. And of course, the cartels in places like Mexico and Trende, Aragua in Venezuela this week we saw that strike on a boat. The United States military blasting to smithereens a Venezuelan drug carrying boat trying to make its way into the United States with all of these drugs. And now we have. So what ended up happening was left, people on the left started coming out and saying, this is awful. How could you blow them out of the water? How do you know they weren't tourists? How do you know this wasn't just a bunch of civilians in a boat? Well, first of all, the American military, they went out of their way to establish the intelligence that these guys were carrying drones, drugs. They chose to make this the first very theatrical target that's broadcast to the planet because they were certain of what was being carried on that boat. And they were trying to convey a message to the cartels all over the place, and the Chinese, for that matter, that this will not be allowed anymore. We will blast you to nothing if you even attempt to bring drugs into the United States. That's huge. A great message to send, an important message to send, and here is some of the reaction. The Secretary of State yesterday, Marco Rubio coming out and weighing in on this strike on that Venezuelan cartel. Take a look. Cut nine. Here we go.

Marco Rubio (51:16)

United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allow us to interdict and stop drug boats. And we did that. And it doesn't work. Interdiction doesn't work, because these drug cartels, what they do is they know they're going to lose 2% of their cargo. They bake it into their economics. What will stop them is when you blow them up. When you get rid of them. The President of the United States is going to wage war on narco terrorist organizations. This one was operating in international waters, headed towards the United States to flood our country with poison. And under President Trump, those days are over.

Vince (51:53)

What will stop them is if you blow them up. That'll stop them, it turns out. So Marco Rubio standing up for what I think is squarely in the American interest. Now, you will never hear me pretend that the kinetic option all over the planet is the best way to go about everything. And we should be striking every country and supporting every war everywhere. No, I want to know how this helps America. That's always step one. How is this in the American interest? And this one is crystal clear. I want to stop Americans from being killed. Kill the bad guys before they kill us. It's as clean as it gets out in the open water. No civilian casualties captured on video broadcast to the world. Yeah, I'll take that. That's Marco Rubio saying that. Here's J.D. vance, the vice President of the United States asked during his visit to Minneapolis, what legal authority do we have for this? What legal authority do we have to kill bad guys who are trying to kill us? Here's J.D. vance, cut 10, saying, yeah, we just killed a bunch of terrorists on the Venezuela vessel.

Epstein Accuser or Advocate (52:56)

You know, vessel strike.

Raymond Lopez (52:58)

What legal authority were you Guys working under. And will there be an after report on the strike?

J.D. Vance (53:03)

Well, I'm sure there could be an after report. I mean, the legal authority and I want to talk about these kids is that there are people who are bringing literal terrorists who are bringing deadly drugs into our country. And the President, United States ran on a promise of stopping this poison from coming into our country.

Vince (53:17)

Country.

J.D. Vance (53:18)

Another question.

Vince (53:20)

Next question. They're literal terrorists. We killed them. Next question. Answered like a United States Marine who became the Vice President of the United States. Good answer. Good answer. As they say on Family Feud. Good answer. Good answer. Very good. So there's J.D. vance standing up for America here. I love that. Not standing up for America this week. Are you ready for this craziness? Senator Tim Kaine, he's a Democrat from Virginia. He said out loud this week, he said it out loud that our rights in America do not come from God. Our rights as humans do not come from God, said Tim Kaine. They come from government. Cut 11 Tim Kaine being absolutely insane.

J.D. Vance (54:08)

The notion that rights don't come from laws and don't come from the government, but come from the Creator, that's what the Iranian government believes. So the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.

Co-host or Guest Commentator (54:26)

So Senator Kaine said in this hearing that he found it a radical and dangerous notion that you would say our rights came from God and not from government. I just walked into the hearing as he was saying that and I almost fell out of my chair. Because that radical and dangerous notion, in his words, is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created.

Vince (54:57)

Yes.

Co-host or Guest Commentator (54:58)

And if you do not believe me and you made reference to the start with the Declaration, then you can believe perhaps the most prominent Virginian to ever serve, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in the Declaration of Independence, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator.

Vince (55:28)

Yeah.

Co-host or Guest Commentator (55:28)

Not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God.

Vince (55:34)

Yup, yup, yup, yup. You are endowed by your Creator with certain inalienable rights. That's why it's so valuable that the Bill of Rights was included with the United States Constitution protecting those rights, those rights to speech, to religion, to free expression, to assembly, to petition your government to the right to bear arms. The list, of course, is detailed in the Constitution. You can read the whole thing. But yes, you have God given rights, God given rights, widely held in God We Trust, not by a modern day Democrat, Tim Kaine, who says that your rights, insofar as you have any, are given to you by him. Oh, I give you rights. That's Tim Kaine's position on this. It's me. I'm a United States Senator. I choose what your rights are. I don't know, is there anything more revealing than something like that? Just a flat declaration of God plays no role here. God plays no role here. I am God. That's the message that Tim Kaine was sending. Good for Ted Cruz. Well, it's always good to have a constitutional lawyer like Ted Cruz present for an insane moment like that. And he goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. Good for Cruz for calling him out. Just wild. Yes. Yeah. And that's right. Somebody's like, wasn't he Hillary's pick for vp? Yes, he was one of the awful Tims that we keep putting forward, we Democrats keep putting forward to be the Vice President of the United States. One of the awful Tim's. In fact, here's another awful Tim for you, Tim walls. This week, cut 12 is calling for taking your second amendment right away. Take a look at this. When they had a school shooting in Scotland or they had an incident in Australia, they simply made changes. They are just as free as we are. They still have gun ownership requirements, but they have made sure that they don't have these. And since they did those things, they don't have them. We are an outlier amongst nations in terms of what happens to our children. And I refuse to think that that's okay. It's simply not. He's a disgrace. First of all, there should have been a good guy with a gun to stop the assailant. No question. Last week, two what he's referencing, he says Australia, you know what they did in Australia, you know the way that they did gun control in Australia, it was forced confiscation of guns. They disarmed the populace in Australia. And that's what Tim Kaine, excuse me, not Tim Kaine in this case, that's what Tim Walls, tampon Tim Walls is calling for. He's calling for the forced confiscation of weapons in, in the United States of America. And once again, you have a right to that gun. You have a right to defend yourself and your family. You're a law abiding citizen. When seconds count, the police are minutes away. You have just as much of a right as tampon Tim Walls to have good protection for yourself and for your family. He's not entitled to a better situation than you are at all. And yet that's what he wants. He wants to confiscate the guns from you. And you understand what that is? That's a recipe for civil war. You want to attack the people who are really in charge. You want to disarm them of their inalienable rights. That's not going to work, actually. That way lies chaos, disaster and bloodshed. So, no, the answer is you're not doing that. And our founders knew that you're not doing that, and they enshrined it in the Constitution to prevent you from doing that. So once again, I am grateful that that man is nowhere near the Naval Observatory. He is not the vice president of the United States. And the voters rightfully put him in his place in the last election. Holy cow, the stuff that comes out of their mouths. All right. More ahead on the next episode of vince. We got another big show for you tomorrow. I've got a big national radio show today, the Vince Show. You can check out your local listings, thevinceshow.com, 12 to 3 Eastern Time nationwide, nationally syndicated. Also, you can watch@rumble.com Vince, always appreciate you being there. We got the chat going. It's a party, really. It's a great time. Great as always to have you with us. I'm back with you tomorrow.