Podcast appearances and mentions of Mitch McConnell

Flooding between Russian invaders and Ukrainian defenders might complicate any counteroffensive, to say nothing of the humanitarian disaster. Plus, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy spar over whether supplemental military funds must fit under the debt-ceiling deal's spending caps. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker McCarthy "and House Republicans secured a crucial first step toward bringing Washington Democrats' reckless spending to heel," Sen. Mitch McConnell added in his letter. Their solidarity made President Biden perform his duties. It will soon be the Senate's chance to approve this crucial accord.  

On Thursday's Mark Levin show, where is the conservative wing of the Republican Party in the Senate? There's no pressure being placed on Mitch McConnell or Senate Republicans to do anything about the debt limit bill, slow it down, or inform the American people. Also, more black people were killed in Chicago during Memorial Day weekend, and it isn't even being talked about in the media because the police aren't involved. Democrats still refuse to do anything about crime in the cities they run but instead cut back on police when they need them more than ever. Stephen A. Smith has the guts to take this issue on. Later, companies like Macy's and Costco are issuing warnings about our economy, seeing changes in consumer habits that can be disastrous for the economy. This is a trend commonly seen in previous recessions, with people spending less and choosing cheaper options. Finally, Mark is joined by Josh Hammer, senior editor at large of Newsweek, to discuss principles in the Conservative movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Tuesday's Mark Levin show, Republicans in Congress should fight and get the best budget we can, but in the end it will take a Convention of States. Even Ronald Reagan, the most popular president in American history, could not significantly cut the Federal budget because that is how the Washington machine is built – how can we expect Kevin McCarthy to be able to do what Reagan couldn't? Mitch McConnell is escaping all criticism for this budget disaster while the House breaks their backs trying to fix the mess he allowed to happen. Nothing will stop Democrats from spending us into oblivion unless they are fundamentally stopped by the Constitution; even then they may not adhere to it, but at that point it's all over anyway. Also, Mark speaks with Fox News host and author Gregg Jarrett about his new book, The Trial of the Century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fred Davis only ended up in politics due to a family tragedy and then a family connection, and yet has become one of the most creative and controversial ad makers in America. His clients include a who's who of Republican elected officials...from Bush to Dole to McCain to Schwarzenegger among dozens of others. And despite electing Presidents and numerous Republicans up and down the ballot, he's most famous for his unique perspective on advertising that has led to some of the most memorable and controversials spots of the last few decades...the McCain '08 ad comparing Senator Barack Obama to Paris Hilton, introducing soon-to-be Michigan Governor Rick Synder as "one tough nerd", "Demon Sheep" in California, and introducing the phrase "I'm Not a Witch" into popular culture. Fred is a natural story teller with a great story of an accidental path and unconventional approach to politics.(To donate to support The Pro Politics Podcast, you may use this venmo link or inquire by email at mccrary.zachary@gmail.com)IN THIS EPISODEHow family tragedy propels Fred into the PR at 19 years old & ultimately the ad business…The Senate race that put Fred on the national political map…Fred's connection the rise of Napa Valley wines…The stories behind some of Fred's most famous ads…- The “celebrity” ad against Barack Obama in 2008…- A colorful device for Governor Schwarznegger's 2006 re-election…- Branding Michigan Governor Rick Synder as “One Tough Nerd”…- The story behind the infamous Demon Sheep spot for Carly Fiorina's 2010 Senate race…- Fred's concept behind the Christine O'Donnell “I'm Not a Witch” ad from the 2010 Delaware Senate race…- The Jon Huntsman “motorcycle” announcement video…- Fred talks one of his favorite current clients, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy…- The story behind Fred's first viral video for Sonny Perdue against Georgia Governor Roy Barnes…How a high-profile conservative ad-maker is received living in liberal Hollywood…AND Jason Alexander, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, bell bottoms, the Beverly Hills Hotel, Bon Van Inc, David Boren, Bottle Rocket, Barbara Boxer, Tom Campbell, Chateau Montelena, cheese boards, Bill Clinton, Robert Davi, Gray Davis, Dan Duckhorn, family disagreements, the Freitas Brothers, Gateway computers, good luck charms, gotcha ads, Kelsey Grammer, half-way houses, Mark Halperin, Jim Inhofe, large-format cameras, Rush Limbaugh, Lippincott, Mitch McConnell, Dave McCurdy, Dan McLagan, mirrored pedestals, Robert Mondavi, Sam Nunn, the NRSC, Ogilvy & Mather, Sarah Palin, pink tutus, Steve Schmidt, selling fishing bait, K. Wortham Smith, Steven Spielberg, J. Walter Thompson, Chuck Todd, Trinity University, True Lies, weathermen, the West End Grill, Meg Whitman, Wine Spectator & more!Links to ads cited in this episode: Prison dancing (Inhofe '94)Big Spender (Inhofe '94)Bug Zapper (Inhofe '98)Celebrity (McCain '08)Schwarzenegger Re-election ('06)One Tough Nerd (Rick Synder '10)Demon Sheep (Fiorina '10)I'm Not a Witch (Christine O'Donnell '10)Huntsman Motorcycle Presidential Announcement ('12)King Roy (Sonny Perdue '02)

On this midweek show, Crystal chats with former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and his former Senior Communications Advisor Robert Cruickshank about the missed opportunity for generational impact through how decisions were made about Seattle's waterfront and the SR99 tunnel. Mike and Robert review how the vision of the scrappy People's Waterfront Coalition, centered around making a prized public space accessible for all while taking the climate crisis on by transforming our transportation system, nearly won the fight against those who prioritized maintaining highway capacity and those who prioritized increasing Downtown property values.  The conversation then highlights how those with power and money used their outsized influence to make backroom decisions - despite flawed arguments and little public enthusiasm for their proposal - leaving Seattle with an underutilized deep bore tunnel and a car-centric waterfront. Some of the decision makers are still active in local politics - including current Mayor Bruce Harrell and his current advisor Tim Burgess. With important elections ahead, Crystal, Mike and Robert discuss how political decisions tend to conflict with campaign promises rather than donor rolls, how proven action is a better indicator than value statements, and how today's dense ecosystem of progressive leaders and organizations can take inspiration and win the next fight. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii, Mike McGinn at @mayormcginn, and Robert Cruickshank at @cruickshank.   Mike McGinn Mike is the Executive Director of national nonprofit America Walks.  He got his start in local politics as a neighborhood activist pushing for walkability. From there he founded a non-profit focused on sustainable and equitable growth, and then became mayor of Seattle. Just before joining America Walks, Mike worked to help Feet First, Washington State's walking advocacy organization, expand their sphere of influence across Washington state. He has worked on numerous public education, legislative, ballot measure and election campaigns – which has given him an abiding faith in the power of organizing and volunteers to create change.   Robert Cruickshank Robert is the Director of Digital Strategy at California YIMBY and Chair of Sierra Club Seattle. A long time communications and political strategist, he was Senior Communications Advisor to Mike McGinn from 2011-2013.   Resources “Seattle Waterfront History Interviews: Cary Moon, Waterfront Coalition” by Dominic Black from HistoryLink   “State Route 99 tunnel - Options and political debate" from Wikipedia   “Remembering broken promises about Bertha” by Josh Cohen from Curbed Seattle   “Fewer drivers in Seattle's Highway 99 tunnel could create need for bailout” by Mike Lindblom from The Seattle Times   “Surface Highway Undermines Seattle's Waterfront Park” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist   “Seattle Prepares to Open Brand New Elliott Way Highway Connector” by Ryan Packer from The Urbanist   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, I am very excited to be welcoming Robert Cruickshank and former Mayor Mike McGinn to the show to talk about something that a lot of people have been thinking about, talking about recently - and that is Seattle's new waterfront. We feel like we've spent a decade under construction - from a deep bore tunnel to the tunnel machine getting stuck - that's not even covering all the debate before that, but all of the kind of follies and foibles and challenges that have beset the process of arriving at the waterfront that we have now. And now that we are getting the big reveal, a lot of people have feelings about it. So I thought we would talk about it with one of the people who was at the forefront of criticisms of the tunnel and calling out some red flags that turned out to be a very wise warning - several wise warnings that have come to pass, unfortunately - for not listening to them. But I want to start early on in the beginning, both of you - and I had a short stint in the mayor's office - worked on this, talked about this on the campaign, really got it. But when did you first hear that we needed to replace the viaduct and there were some different opinions about how to make that happen? [00:02:06] Mike McGinn: Okay, so I'm sure I can't pin down a date, but the really important date was, of course, the Nisqually earthquake in 2001. And so it gave the Alaska Way Viaduct a good shake - the decks weren't tied into the columns, the columns were on fill, which could liquefy - and everybody understood that if that quake had been a little stronger and harder, the elevated would come down. Now you might think that that would call for immediately closing the roadway for safety reasons, but what it did call for was for reconstructing it. And you have to remember that highway was really one of the very first limited access highways - it was built long ago and it was just at the end of its useful life anyway. Certainly not built to modern seismic standards or modern engineering standards. So the conversation immediately started and I don't know when everything started to settle into different roles, but the Mayor of Seattle Greg Nickels, was immediately a proponent for a tunnel - and a much larger and more expensive tunnel than what was ultimately built. And it would have been a cut-and-cover tunnel along the waterfront that included a new seawall. So they thought they were solving two things at one time - because the seawall too was rotting away, very old, very unstable. But it would have gone all the way under South Lake Union and emerged onto Aurora Avenue further north, it would have had entrances and exits to Western and Elliott. And I seem to remember the quoted price was like $11 billion. And the state - governor at the time was Christine Gregoire - they were - No, we're replacing the highway. We don't have $11 billion for Seattle. And of course had the support of a lot of lawmakers for obvious reasons - we're not going to give Seattle all that money, we want all that highway money for our districts. And those were immediately presented as the alternatives. And so much of the credit has to go to Cary Moon, who lived on the waterfront and started something called the People's Waterfront Coalition. I think Grant Cogswell, a former City Council candidate - now runs a bookstore down in Mexico City, but wrote a book about the Monorail, worked on the different Monorail campaigns before that - they launched something called the People's Waterfront Coalition. And the basic proposition was - We don't need a highway. This is a great opportunity to get rid of the highway and have a surface street, but if you amp up the transit service - if we invest in transit instead - we can accommodate everyone. And so that was really - as it started - and actually I remember being outside City Hall one day, going to some stakeholder meeting - I went to so many different stakeholder meetings. And I remember Tim Ceis saying to me - he was the Deputy Mayor at the time - You're not supporting that Cary Moon idea - I mean, that's just crazy. I was - Well, actually, Tim. So the Sierra Club was - I was a volunteer leader in the Sierra Club - and the Sierra Club was one of the first organizations - I'm sure there were others, I shouldn't overstate it - but the Sierra Club was persuaded by the wisdom of Cary's idea and supported it in that day. And so that was really how the three different options got launched - no public process, no analysis, no description of what our needs were. The mayor went to a solution, the governor went to a solution - and it was up to members of the public to try to ask them to slow down, stop, and look at something different. [00:05:42] Crystal Fincher: And Robert, how did you first engage with this issue? [00:05:47] Robert Cruickshank: For me, I had just moved to Seattle the first time in the fall of 2001 - so it was about six months after the Nisqually quake - and I came from the Bay Area. And that was where another earthquake had damaged another waterfront highway, the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco. And that was where San Francisco had voted - after that quake had damaged their viaduct beyond repair - they voted to tear it down and replace it with the Embarcadero Waterfront, which is a six-lane arterial but they built a lot more transit there. So they did the - what we might call the surface transit option - and it worked really well. It was beautiful. It still is. And so when I came up here and started to learn a little bit about the place I was living and the legacy of the Nisqually quake, I thought - Oh, why don't you just do the same thing here? It worked so well in San Francisco. Let's just tear down this unsightly monstrosity on the waterfront and replace it with a surface boulevard and put in a bunch of transit - San Francisco's made it work successfully. And the more I learned about Seattle, I realized there's a legacy of that here, too. This is a city where we had a freeway revolt, where activists came together and killed the RH Thomson freeway, which would have destroyed the Arboretum. They killed the Bay Freeway, which would have destroyed Pike Place Market. And so I naturally assumed - as being a relatively new resident - that Seattle would stay in that tradition and welcome the opportunity to tear this down and build a great waterfront for people, not cars. But as we'll talk about in a moment, we have a lot of business interests and freight interests and others who had a different vision - who didn't share that community-rooted vision. And I think at numerous points along the way, though, you see people of Seattle saying - No, this is not what we want for our waterfront. We have an opportunity now with the fact that this viaduct nearly collapsed, as Mike mentioned, in the Nisqually quake - we have an opportunity for something really wonderful here. And so I think Cary Moon and then Mike McGinn and others tapped into that - tapped into a really strong community desire to have a better waterfront. I wasn't that politically engaged at the time in the 2000s - I was just a grad student at UW - but just talking to folks who I knew, anytime this came up - God, wouldn't it be wonderful down there if this was oriented towards people and not cars, and we took that thing down? So I think one of the things you're going to see is this contest between the vision that many of us in Seattle had and still have - this beautiful location, beautiful vista on Elliott Bay, that should be for the people of the city - and those in power who have a very different vision and don't really want to share power or ultimately the right-of-way with We the People. [00:08:05] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, definitely. And I was involved in some things at the time - some curious coalitions - but definitely I was around a lot of people who favored either rebuilding the viaduct or the tunnel. Definitely not this roads and transit option - there's no way that's workable. That's pie-in-the-sky talk from those loony greenies over there. What are you talking about? But as this went on - I think no matter what camp people were in - there was always a clear vision articulated and people really focused on the opportunity that this represented, and I think correctly characterized it as - this is one of these generational decisions that we get to make that is going to impact the next generation or two and beyond. And there's an opportunity - the waterfront felt very disconnected with the way things were constructed - it was not easy just to go from downtown to the waterfront. It wasn't friendly for pedestrians. It wasn't friendly for tourists. It just did not feel like a world-class waterfront in a world-class city, and how we see that in so many other cities. You talk about the decision with the Embarcadero, Robert, and looking at - that definitely seemed like a definitive step forward. This was sold as - yeah, we can absolutely take a step forward and finally fix this waterfront and make it what it should have been the whole time. As you thought about the opportunity that this represented, what was the opportunity to you and what did you hear other people saying that they wanted this to be? [00:09:38] Mike McGinn: Yeah, so I think there are - I think that's really important, because I don't think there was a real discussion of what the vision was. People will say there was, but there really wasn't. Because what was baked in and what you're referring to is - well, of course you have to build automobile capacity to replace the existing automobile capacity, right? In fact, this state is still building more highways across the state in the misguided belief that more highway capacity will somehow or another do some good. So this idea that you have to replace and expand highway capacity is extremely powerful in Washington state and across the country. And there were very few examples of highway removal, so that was just a real challenge in the first place - that somehow or other the first priority has to be moving automobiles. For me, at that time I had become - the issue of climate had really penetrated me at that point. And in fact, when Greg Nickels took office and the Sierra Club endorsed him over Paul Schell - I was a local leader in the Sierra Club and a state leader in the Sierra Club - and my goal was that Mayor Nickels would do more than Paul Schell. And Paul Schell, the prior mayor, had done some good things. He had made Seattle City Light climate neutral - we'd gotten out of coal plants and we didn't purchase power from coal plants. He was really progressive on a number of environmental issues and we wanted Mayor Nickels to do more - and Mayor Nickels had stepped up. So we put on a campaign to urge him to do more. And he had stepped up to start something called the Mayors' Climate Protection Initiative - which was the City of Seattle was going to meet the standards of the Kyoto Protocol, which was like the Paris Agreement of its day. And that was - it set an emissions reduction target by a date in the future. And that was really great - in fact, over a thousand cities around the country signed up to the Mayors' Climate Protection Initiative. And I was appointed to a stakeholder group with other leaders - Denis Hayes from the Bullitt Foundation and others - to develop the first climate action plan for a city. Al Gore showed up at the press conference for it - it was a big - it was a BFD and a lot of excitement. And one of the things that was abundantly clear through that process of cataloging the emissions in the City of Seattle and coming up with a plan to reduce them was that our single largest source of emissions at that time was the transportation sector. We'd already gotten off of coal power under Mayor Schell - we received almost all of our electricity from hydroelectric dams. We had good conservation programs. Unlike other parts of the country, transportation was the biggest. Now what's fascinating is now - I don't know if I want to do the math - almost 20 years later, now what we see is that the whole country is in the same place. We're replacing coal and natural gas power plants. And now nationally, the single largest source of emissions is transportation. So how do you fix that? If we're serious about climate - and I thought we should be - because the scientists were telling us about heat waves. They were telling us about forest fires that would blanket the region in smoke. They were telling us about storms that would be bigger than we'd ever seen before. And flooding like we'd never seen and declining snowpack. And it was all going to happen in our futures. Honestly, I remember those predictions from the scientists because they're in the headlines today, every day. So what do we do to stop that? So I was - I had little kids, man - I had little kids, I had three kids. How are we going to stop this? Well, it's Seattle needs to lead - that's what has to happen. We're the progressive city. We're the first one out with a plan. We're going to show how we're going to do it. And if our biggest source is transportation, we should fix that. Well, it should seem obvious that the first thing you should do is stop building and expanding highways, and maybe even change some of the real estate used for cars and make it real estate for walking, biking, and transit. That's pretty straightforward. You also have to work on more housing. And this all led me to starting a nonprofit around all of these things and led to the Sierra Club - I think at a national level - our chapter was much further forward than any other chapter on upzones and backyard cottages and making the transition. So to me, this was the big - that was the vision. That was the opportunity. We're going to tear this down. We're going to make a massive investment in changing the system, and this in fact could be a really transformative piece. That's what motivated me. That climate argument wasn't landing with a whole bunch of other interests. There was certainly a vision from the Downtown and Downtown property owners and residents that - boy, wouldn't it be great to get rid of that elevated highway because that's terrible. There was also a vision from the people who still believed in highway capacity and that includes some of our major employers at the time and today - Boeing and Microsoft, they have facilities in the suburbs around Seattle - they think we need highway capacity. As well as all of the Port businesses, as well as all the maritime unions - thought that this highway connection here was somehow critical to their survival, the industrial areas. And then they wanted the capacity. So there were very strong competing visions. And I think it's fair to say that highway capacity is a vision - we've seen that one is now fulfilled. The second priority was an enhanced physical environment to enhance the property values of Downtown property owners. And they cut the deal with the highway capacity people - okay, we're here for your highway capacity, but we have to get some amenities. And the climate folks, I'm not seeing it - never a priority of any of the leaders - just wasn't a priority. [00:15:44] Crystal Fincher: How did you see those factions come into play and break down, Robert? [00:15:48] Robert Cruickshank: It was interesting. This all comes to a head in the late 2000s. And remembering back to that time, this is where Seattle is leading the fight to take on the climate and the fight against George W. Bush, who was seen as this avatar of and deeply connected to the oil industry. Someone who - one of his first things when he took office - he did was withdraw the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol, which is the earlier version of what's now known as the Paris Agreement - global agreement to try to lower emissions. And so Seattle, in resisting Bush - that's where Greg Nickels became a national figure by leading the Mayors' Climate Action Group - not just say we're going to take on climate, we're going to do something about really de facto fighting back against Bush. And then Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Al Gore comes out with An Inconvenient Truth. And by 2007, people in Seattle are talking a lot about climate and how we need to do something about climate. But then what you see happening is the limits of that - what are people really actually willing to do and willing to support? The other piece that comes together, I think - in the 2000s - is a revival of the City itself. Seattle spends the late 20th century after the Boeing bust - since the 70s "Will the last person out of Seattle turn out the lights," recovering in the 80s somewhat, recovering in the 90s, and then the tech boom. And by the 2000s, Seattle is a destination city for young people coming to live here and living in apartments and working in the tech industry. I think that unsettles a lot of people. One thing that really stood out to me about the discussion about what to do on the waterfront was this vision from old school folks - like Joel Connelly and others - we've got to preserve that working waterfront. And it's very much the sense that blue collar working class labor is under threat - not from corporate power, but from a 20-something millennial with a laptop working at Amazon who comes to Seattle and thinks - Gosh, why is this ugly viaduct here? It's unsafe. Why don't we just tear it down and have a wonderful waterfront view? And those who are offended by this idea - who are so wedded to the 20th century model that we're going to drive everywhere, cars, freedom - this is where you see the limits of willingness to actually do something on climate. People don't actually want to give up their cars. They're afraid they're going to sacrifice their way of life. And you start to see this weird but powerful constellation come together where rather than having a discussion about transportation planning or even a discussion about climate action, we're having this weird discussion about culture. And it becomes a culture war. And the thing about a culture war is people pushing change are never actually trying to fight a war. They're just - This is a good idea. Why don't we do this? We all say these - we care about these values. And the people who don't want it just dig in and get really nasty and fight back. And so you start to see Cary Moon, People's Waterfront Coalition, Mike McGinn, and others get attacked as not wanting working class jobs, not wanting a working waterfront, not caring about how people are going to get to work, not caring about how the freight trucks are going to get around even though you're proposing a tunnel from the Port to Wallingford where - it's not exactly an industrial hub - there are some businesses there. But dumping all these cars out or in South Lake Union, it's like, what is going on here? It doesn't add up. But it became this powerful moment where a competing vision of the City - which those of us who saw a better future for Seattle didn't see any competition as necessary at all - those who are wedded to that model where we're going to drive everywhere, we're going to have trucks everywhere, really saw that under threat for other reasons. And they decided this is where they're going to make their stand. This is where they're going to make that fight. And that turned out to be pretty useful for the Port, the freight groups, the establishment democratic leaders who had already decided for their own reasons this is what they wanted too. [00:19:11] Mike McGinn: It's important to recognize too, in this, is to follow the money. And I think that this is true for highway construction generally. You have a big section of the economy - there's a section of the economy that believes in it, as Robert was saying, right? And I do think the culture war stuff is fully there - that somehow or another a bike lane in an industrial area will cause the failure of business. Although if you went to the bike - outside the industrial building - you'll find a bunch of the workers' bike there, right? Because it's affordable and efficient. So there's this weird belief that just isn't true - that you can't accommodate industry and transit and walking and biking. Of course you can. And in fact, adding all the cars is bad for freight movement because of all the traffic jams. So there's that belief, but there's also a whole bunch of people - I mentioned Downtown property owners - that gets you to your Downtown Seattle Association. The value of their property is going to be dramatically enhanced by burying, by eliminating the waterfront highway. But then you also have all of the people who build highways and all of the people who support the people who build highways. Who's going to float $4 billion in bonds? It's going to be a Downtown law firm. And by the way, the person who worked for that Downtown law firm and did the bond work was the head of the greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce at that time. So you have the engineering firms, you have the material providers, and then you have the union jobs that go with it. So really at this point - and this isn't just about the waterfront highway, this could be any highway expansion - you've captured the business community because a big chunk of the business community will get direct dollars from the government to them. And you've actually captured a significant chunk of the labor community as well, because labor fights for labor jobs. In the big picture, service workers are taking transit, service workers need housing in town, and you can start to see a split - like in my ultimate run for mayor, I won some service worker unions, never won any construction trades. In fact, they held a rally my first year in office to denounce me, right? Because I was standing in the way of jobs. So that's a really powerful coalition. And I think what you see today in the country as a whole - as you know, I'm the ED of America Walks, so I get to see a lot more - this is a pattern. Highways aren't really supported by the public. They don't go to the public for public votes on highways anymore - the public wouldn't support it. And in fact, the data suggests the public gets that building more highway lanes won't solve everything. But you've got a big, big chunk of the economy that's gotten extremely used to billions and billions of dollars flowing into their pockets. And they need to protect that in every year. So you get that level of intensity around - Look, we're talking about $4 billion on the waterfront and a bunch of that money's coming to us. Better believe it's a good idea, and what are you talking about, climate? [00:22:03] Robert Cruickshank: You talk about public votes, and I think there are three crucial public votes we got to talk about. One is 2007, when these advisory votes are on the ballot - and they're not binding, but they're advisory. Do you want to rebuild the viaduct or build a tunnel? They both get rejected. And then the next big vote is 2009, the mayoral election, where Mike McGinn becomes mayor - in part by channeling public frustration at this giant boondoggle. And then ultimately, the last public vote on this, 2011 - in June, I believe it was, it was in August - about whether we go forward or not and the public by this point, fatigued and beaten down by The Seattle Times, decides let's just move on from this. [00:22:43] Mike McGinn: There's no other alternative. And it is worth returning to that early vote, because it was such a fascinating moment, because - I think the mayor's office didn't want to put his expansive tunnel option in a direct vote against the new elevated, fearing it would lose. So they engineered an agreement with the governor that each one would get a separate up or down vote. And by the way, Tim Ceis, the Deputy Mayor at the time, called in the Sierra Club, briefed us on it, and one of our members said - What would happen if they both got voted down? And Deputy Mayor Ceis said - by the way, Tim Ceis has got a big contract right now from Mayor Harrell, longtime tunnel supporter. Tim Ceis is the consultant for most of the business side candidates. Tim Burgess, another big supporter of the tunnel, now works for Mayor Harrell. Oh, and Christine Gregoire has been hired by the biggest corporations in the region to do their work for them as well. So there's a pretty good payoff if you stick around and support the right side of this stuff. But anyway, Mayor Ceis, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis, when said, What happens if they're both voted down? He goes - Well, that would be chaos. You don't want that, do you? And I remember all of us just kind of looked at each other - and we all went out on the sidewalk, there were like six of us. And we went - We want that, right? And so we joined in and supported the No and No campaign. And The Stranger came in really hard. And I think Erica Barnett wrote the articles. And Cary Moon was in on it. And the defeat of that, for the first time, opened up the possibility - Well, let's think about something else. And so a stakeholder group was formed. Cary Moon was appointed. Mike O'Brien was appointed. The waterfront guys were appointed. And the Downtown folks were appointed. And the labor folks were appointed. And I think a really important part of the story here is that it was advisory - they weren't making the decisions, it was advisory. But they got to a point at which the head of the State DOT, the head of the Seattle DOT, and the head of the King County DOT all expressed to their respective executives that surface transit worked and was worth it. And this was extremely distressing to the business community. So they mounted a big lobbying push and went straight to Gregoire. And Gregoire, for the first time, became a tunnel supporter. And they were promised that this new tunneling technology - the deep bore tunnel - would solve the cost issues of the deep bore tunnel. And not only that, the state's commitment, which to date was $2.4 billion - they had committed $2.4 billion to a rebuild - the state wouldn't have to pay anymore, because the Port would put in $300 million and they would raise $400 million from tolling. And coincidentally, the amount they thought they could raise from tolling was the exact amount needed to meet the projected cost of using the deep bore tunnel boring machine. So the deal was cut and announced. And the whole stakeholder group and the recommendations from the DOT heads were abandoned. And that occurred, basically, late 2008, early 2009 - the deal was made. And that was about the time that I was contemplating - well, I think I'd already decided to run, but I had not yet announced. [00:26:14] Crystal Fincher: And this was an interesting time, especially during that vote. Because at that time, I had an eye into what the business community was doing and thinking, and it was clear that their numbers didn't add up. [00:26:26] Mike McGinn: Oh my God - no. [00:26:28] Crystal Fincher: But they just did not want to face that. And what they knew is they had enough money and resources to throw at this issue and to throw at a marketing effort to obfuscate that, that they wouldn't have to worry about it. And there was this sense of offense, of indignation that - Who are these people trying to come up and tell us that we don't need freight capacity, that we don't need - that this extra highway capacity, don't they understand how important these freeways are? Who are these people who just don't understand how our economy works? [00:27:02] Mike McGinn: They were the grownups who really understood how things worked. And we were the upstarts who didn't understand anything. But there's a great line from Willie Brown talking about - I think the Transbay Bridge, and Robert can correct the name, in California, which was way over budget. And people were lamenting that the early estimates had been made up. And he goes - Look, this is how it works. You just need to dig a hole in the ground so deep that the only way to fill it up is with money. I think that's pretty much the quote. So that's the strategy. You get it started. Of course you have rosy estimates. And then you just have that commitment, and it's the job of legislators to come up with the cost overruns, dollars later. [00:27:43] Robert Cruickshank: And I think it's so key to understand this moment here in the late 2000s, where the public had already weighed in. I remember voting - it was the last thing I voted on before I moved to California for four years. I'm like no - I was No and No. And that's where the Seattle voters were. They rejected both options. And then you start to hear, coming out of the stakeholder group - Okay, we can make the surface transit option work. And I left town thinking - Alright, that's what's going to happen, just like the Embarcadero in San Francisco and done. And the next thing I hear in late 2008, early 2009, there's this deal that's been cut and all of a sudden a deep bore tunnel is on the table. And this is Seattle politics in a nutshell. I think people look back and think that because we are this smart, progressive technocratic city - those people who live here are - we think that our government works the same way. And it doesn't. This is - time and time again, the public will make its expression felt. They'll weigh in with opinion poll or protest or vote. And the powers that be will say - Well, actually, we want to do this thing instead. We'll cook it up in a backroom. We're going to jam it on all of you, and you're going to like it. And if you don't like it, then we're going to start marshaling resources. We're gonna throw a bunch of money at it. We'll get The Seattle Times to weigh in and pound away at the enemy. And that's how politics works here - that's how so much of our transportation system is built and managed. And so people today, in 2023, looking at this monstrosity on the waterfront that we have now think - How did we get here? Who planned this? It was planned in a backroom without public involvement. And I think that's a thing that has to be understood because that, as we just heard, was baked in from the very start. [00:29:11] Mike McGinn: Well, Robert, the idea of a deep bore tunnel was brought forward by a representative of the Discovery Institute, who you may know as the folks that believe in creationism. [00:29:21] Robert Cruickshank: Well, and not only that, the Discovery Institute is responsible for turning Christopher Rufo from a failed Seattle City Council candidate in 2019 into a national figure. [00:29:31] Mike McGinn: The Discovery Institute, with money from local donors - major, very wealthy local folks - they actually had a long-term plan to turn all of 99 into a limited access freeway. It's like - we need to get rid of that First Avenue South and Highway 99 and Aurora Avenue stuff - all of that should be a freeway. So they were the architects of the idea of - Hey, this deep bore tunnel is the solution. But Robert's point is just right on - transportation policy was driven by power and money, not by transportation needs, or climate needs, or equity needs, or even local economy needs really. When you get right down to it, our city runs on transit - that's what really matters. Our city runs on the fact that it's a city where people can walk from place to place. The idea that our economic future was tied to a highway that would skip Downtown - the most valuable place in the Pacific Northwest, Downtown Seattle. No, that's not really what powers our economy. But it certainly worked for the people that were going to get the dollars that flowed from folks and for the people who own Downtown property. [00:30:42] Crystal Fincher: And I want to talk about money and power with this. Who were the people in power? What was the Council at that time? Who made these decisions? [00:30:50] Mike McGinn: The Council at the time was elected citywide. And I think some people have concerns about district representation, but one of the things that citywide elections meant at the time was that you had to run a citywide campaign, and that's expensive. There's no way to knock on enough doors citywide. I did not have a lot of money when I ran for mayor, but at least I had the media attention that would go to a mayoral candidate. A City Council candidate would kind of flow under the radar. So you had people come from different places, right? They might come from the business side, they might come from the labor side. But ultimately, they would tend to make peace with the other major players - because only business and only labor could finance a campaign. They were the only ones with the resources to do that. So the other interests - the environmentalists, the social service folks, neighborhood advocates of whatever stripe - we chose from amongst the candidates that were elevated by, they would unify - in some cases, the business and labor folks would unify around a candidate. In fact, that's what we saw in the last two mayoral elections as well, where they pick a candidate. And so this doesn't leave much room. So when I was mayor, almost the entire council was aligned with the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce at that time, either endorsed by them or had made their peace with them so the challenger was not being financed. So Robert said something about those outsiders - I went under the radar screen as a candidate at the beginning of my campaign. When I entered the race, nobody was running because everybody thought that Greg Nickels had the institutional support locked down. [00:32:33] Crystal Fincher: But then a snowstorm happened. [00:32:35] Mike McGinn: Well, it was even before that - honestly, everybody thought that he could win. And long before the snowstorm, I was like - We're getting a new mayor. And I was actually looking around to try to figure out who it was going to be - because I wanted a mayor who actually believed in climate, who had my values. But nobody - I was looking through who the people were that might run, and it dawned on me - Well, nobody's going to run. But we're going to get a new mayor and I have my values - and I've actually run ballot measure campaigns and had a very modest base of support. So I was really the first one in the race that got any attention. So I got some great media attention off that. Then my opponent in the general, Joe Mallahan - whatever else you may think about Joe Mallahan - he actually saw it too. He saw that there was an opening. And then we were joined by a long-time City Councilmember, Jan Drago. And I remember the headline from The Seattle Times or the comments at the time was - Okay, now it's a real race. But it just really wasn't. So I was really under the radar screen in that race because they were disregarding me. But there was in fact a lot of anger about the tunnel. There was a lot of just - Greg, for whatever his positives or negatives that history will deal with - and by the way, I actually think Greg did a lot of good. I just was disappointed in his highway policies and his climate policies at the end of the day - I have a lot of respect for Greg Nickels, but he wasn't going to win that race. And I came out of the primary against Joe Mallahan. And all of a sudden we had these two outsiders and the business community's freaking out. All of it - I remember watching it - all of the support, the business support shifted to Joe. It took about a month, it took a few weeks. But all of a sudden - there was actually one week where I think I raised more money than he did, that was pretty unusual - and then all of a sudden all the money was pouring in. And boy, did Joe believe in that tunnel. And did Joe believe in what the Chamber of Commerce wanted to do. In fact, he believed in it so much that he believed that Seattle should pay cost overruns if there were cost overruns on the tunnel - an admission I got from him during the televised debate, I was shocked he admitted to it. [00:34:41] Crystal Fincher: I remember that debate. [00:34:43] Mike McGinn: Yeah. So you were kind of asking about how politics worked. It was really something. Yeah - here's another memory. About two weeks before the election, the City Council took - three weeks before the, two, three weeks, four weeks - they took a vote to say that the tunnel was their choice. Even though there's a mayoral election in which the tunnel is on the ballot, so to speak - in terms of the issues of the candidates - they took a vote for no reason to say it was a done deal. And then WSDOT released a video of the elevated collapsing in a highway, which is the first time a public disclosure request from a third party was ever given straight to a TV station, I think, in my experience in Seattle. I had Gregoire and the DOT folks down there working on that campaign too - their tunnel was threatened. So it really was something how - I indeed was kind of shocked at - it was such a learning experience for me - how much the ranks closed around this. I didn't appreciate it. I had my own nonprofit, I had been on stakeholder committees, I'd worked with a lot of people that weren't just Sierra Club members and neighborhood types. I'd worked with a lot of business people, many of whom had supported my nonprofit because they liked its vision. But they were very clear with me that as long as I supported the surface transit option, there was no way they could be associated with my run for mayor in any way, shape, or form - even if they liked me. It was a complete lockdown - right after the primary where Greg lost the primary and it was me and Joe, I was - Okay, open field running. I can now reach out to these people. There's no incumbent - maybe some of them can support me now. And they were abundantly clear on all of those phone calls that - Nope, can't do it. Until you change your position on the tunnel, we just can't do it. We have business in this town, Mike. We have relationships in this town. We cannot do that. So it was a real lockdown - politically. [00:36:38] Crystal Fincher: That was also a big learning experience for me - watching that consolidation, watching how not only were they fighting for the tunnel against you and making the fight against you a fight about the tunnel, but the enforcement to those third parties that you were talking about that - Hey, if you play ball with him, you're cut off. And those kinds of threats and that kind of dealing - watching that happen was very formative for me. I'm like - Okay, I see how this works, and this is kind of insidious. And if you are branded as an outsider, if you don't play ball, if you don't kiss the ring of the adults in the room - which is definitely what they considered themselves - then you're on the outs and they're at war. And it was really a war footing against you and the campaign. Who was on the Council at that time? [00:37:30] Mike McGinn: Oh my God. Let me see if I can go through the list. No, and it really, it was - your point about it was a war footing was not something that I fully, that I did not appreciate until actually going through that experience - how unified that would be. Excuse me. The City Council chair was Tim Burgess at the time. Bruce Harrell was on the Council. Sally Clark, Richard Conlin, Nick Licata. Mike O'Brien was running on the same platform as me with regard to the tunnel and he'd just been elected. Jean Godden, Sally Bagshaw. I hope I'm not leaving anything out - because - [00:38:04] Robert Cruickshank: Tom Rasmussen will forgive you. [00:38:06] Mike McGinn: Tom Rasmussen. Yeah - because City Councilmembers would get really offended if you didn't thank them publicly - that was another thing I had to learn. You have to publicly thank any other politician on stage with you or they held a grudge. Yeah. So I had - I didn't know all the politicians' rules when I started. [00:38:25] Crystal Fincher: There are so many rules. [00:38:27] Mike McGinn: There are so many, there's so many rules. But really what you saw then was that the Council tended to move in lockstep on many issues - because if they all voted together and they all worked citywide, there was protection. None of them could be singled out. So it was very - and it's not to say that some of them didn't take principled votes and would find themselves on an 8-1 position sometimes, but for the most part, it was much, much safer to be - it was much, much safer to vote as a group. And they tended to do that. And they had coalesced around the tunnel, except for O'Brien. And that could not be shaken by anything we brought to bear. [00:39:04] Robert Cruickshank: And this is wrapped up in not just the electoral politics, but the power politics. Because Mike McGinn comes in - mayor leading the 7th floor of City Hall, the head of City government - and smart guy, nice guy, willing to talk to anybody. But is not from their crew, is not from that group. And as Crystal and Mike said, the ranks were closed from the start. This is - again, 2009, 2010 - when nationally Mitch McConnell is quoted as saying, It's his ambition to make Obama a one-term president. I don't know if he's ever caught on record, but I would be quite certain that Tim Burgess would have said the exact same thing - that his ambition was to make Mike McGinn a one-term mayor. As it turned out in 2013, Tim Burgess wanted his job - one of the candidates running for it. So these are all people who have a reason to close ranks against Mike McGinn and to use a tunnel as a bludgeon against him to do so. [00:39:58] Mike McGinn: There were other bludgeons. After I won the general election and before I took office, they passed their annual budget - they cut the mayor's office budget by a third before I even took office. Just boom - I know - they were determined, they were determined. And so that was when the planning - that council then and with WSDOT - that was when basically the contours of the waterfront were locked into place, including what we now see as that very wide surface road. That was that Council. So if you're wondering, if you're looking at that going - Okay, wow, who decided that and where did it come from? Again, our current mayor and his current advisor and others - they've always been for that. Building that big surface road has always been the plan to go along with the tunnel, because highway capacity was their highest priority. And the park on the waterfront, along with a lot of money into the aquarium and into these new structures - that's their signature thing for so many other people. But the idea that you should, that there was an opportunity to transform our transportation system and transform our city to make it more equitable and climate friendly was never a priority in this process. Just wasn't. [00:41:20] Crystal Fincher: It was never a priority. It was never seriously considered. And to me, through this process - lots of people know, have talked about it on the show before - I actually didn't start off Team McGinn. I wound up Team McGinn - didn't start off that way. But through that - and you won me over with logic - it was you being proven right on several things. You pointed out that their projections, their traffic projections were just so far out of left field that there was no way that they were going to come close. And they even had to come down on their projections before we even saw the traffic - the actual traffic turned out to be lower. You were right on that one - the laughable - [00:41:59] Mike McGinn: They're under 40,000 cars a day - for a highway that was carrying 110,000 cars a day beforehand. So even as a traffic solution - to put that into context, 40,000 cars a day is like the Ballard Bridge. And I can guarantee you the replacement costs of the Ballard Bridge is not $4 billion or $3.1 billion. The E Line, I think, carries 15,000 people a day. Metro carries 220,000 people a day. What you could do with that $3.1 billion or $4 billion in terms of bus lanes, bike lanes, rolling stock for Metro, maybe pay raises for bus drivers so that we could actually have service - you could do so much with those billions of dollars. And we put it all into moving 40,000 cars a day? It's just pathetic. That's three Rapid Ride lines we could have had for a 10th of the cost, or even less. I think the investments in Rapid Ride lines are about $50-100 million a line to make the capital investments to make it work. So the waste - even if you don't care about climate, the waste of dollars - and who's paying those taxes? To a great degree, we have the most regressive state and local tax system in the nation. And we'll have a ballot measure soon, and I know a lot of environmentalists will be out there if the package spends for the right thing saying - Hey, we need money for local streets. Imagine if we'd taken that gas tax money and the Legislature had allowed cities and towns to use it to improve their streets - which they can do. I know that the constitution says highway purposes, but when you read highway purposes, it says roads and bridges. It includes everything. You can use gas taxes for anything that improves the road. And they do. WSDOT has used gas taxes to pay for bike lanes and sidewalks. It's legal. That's a choice. So we're driving around potholed streets. We have - we're putting up little plastic dividers because we care more about the car getting hurt than the bicyclist on the other side of that plastic divider. We're watching our transit service melt away because we can't pay bus drivers enough. But hey, man, somebody's got a really rapid - 3,000 people a day get to skip Downtown in their private vehicles. Where are our priorities for equity? Where are the priorities for economy, or even just plain old-fashioned fiscal prudence? None of that was there - because all of those dollars were going to fund the needs of the most powerful people in the City. And they captured those dollars - and all of us will pay the taxes, all of us will breathe the smoky air, and all of us will watch our streets deteriorate and our transit service evaporate. [00:44:52] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And to me, it was such a foundational lesson that the people that we have making decisions really matter - and that we have to really explore their records, their donors, their histories - because over and over again, we look at the decisions that wind up being made that frequently conflict with campaign promises, but that very, very rarely conflict with their donor rolls. [00:45:16] Mike McGinn: And yes - and every one of them knows how to make the value statements. So if I had any advice for people in this year's election - everyone is going to say they care about housing, everyone's going to say they think biking safe. I don't - one of the things that I came away with - I don't care about the goals you put into some policy anymore. Show me the hard physical action you will take that might piss somebody off, but you're willing to do it because it's right. And if you can't do that, then your value statements are meaningless. So take a look - who actually, and that's the question I always ask candidates for office - Tell me about a time you did something hard that might've caused you criticism, but you did it because it was right. Or that you made somebody who was an ally or friend upset, but you did it because it was right. Tell me about that time. [00:46:04] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, it's a challenge. And to your point and learning through just watching how people operated through that and some other processes - but that certainly was a big learning for me - is the role of coalitions, the role of accountability, and understanding. You have always had your finger on the pulse of Seattle, really - you're extraordinarily good at that. You're actually - both of you - are great strategists. But our political class is so detached from that sometimes - certainly I'm feeling frustration at some recent actions by our Legislature - we just had our special session day where they increased criminalization of substances, personal possession of substances - just reflecting on legislation to provide school, kids with free meals at school, things that seem like really basic and foundational that we should be able to land this. If we can call a special session to hand Boeing billions of dollars, we should be able to feed kids, right? [00:47:00] Mike McGinn: At the time we were cutting school budgets - when we found money for that. But I don't want to be too gloomy. And then I want to turn it over to Robert to get a last word in here, 'cause I just loved - his analysis is so awesome. I don't want to be too gloomy because - I look at what happened in the Legislature this year on housing, that we're finally going to allow housing, people to build more housing in places so people can actually live closer to their jobs and live more affordably. 10 years ago, we would have thought that was impossible. There's a lot of hard organizing that did it. At America Walks, we're the host of the Freeway Fighters Networks - there are people in 40 cities or more around the country that are organizing to remove highways. And while it's just a small amount of money compared to the amount going to highway expansion, there's actually federal funds to study and remove highways. So it's a long, hard slog. What felt for us - for Robert and me and Cary Moon and others fighting this - which felt like an impossible fight at the time is a fight that is now winning in places. Not winning enough - we're not winning fast enough - but it can change. And so that's - I don't want to be too negative. They got money, but organizing and people - and we actually have the public with us on this, just like we have the public with us on housing. So we just have to do more. We just got to keep at it, folks - got to keep at it. We can win this one. Don't allow this story of how hard it was to deal with the unified political class in the City of Seattle for their climate arson - should not deter you. It should inspire you, 'cause I actually won the mayor's office and we actually did do a lot of good. And the next fight is right in front of us again today, so get in it people. We need you. [00:48:46] Robert Cruickshank: I think that's spot on. And I remember coming to work in your office at the very beginning of 2011, when it seemed like the tunnel was just dominating discussion, but not in the mayor's office, right? When I joined, I fully expected to be like - roll my sleeves up to take on that tunnel. Instead, I'm working on the mayor's jobs plan, the Families and Education Levy, on transit. That's the stuff that was really getting done, and I think McGinn left a really great legacy on that. But we didn't win the tunnel fight. And I think we've diagnosed many of the reasons why, but one thing that really stands out to me as I look back from 12, 13 years distance is we didn't have the same density of genuinely progressive and social democratic organizations and people and leaders in Seattle that we have now. I think that matters because Mike's been talking about what's the next fight. I think one of the big fights coming up next year - when it comes time to renew that Move Seattle Levy - that's nearly a billion dollars that's going to be on the table. And we keep getting promised - when we are asked to approve these massive levies - that a lot of that money is going to go to safe streets, it's going to go to protect vulnerable users, we're going to do something to finally get towards Vision Zero. And instead it all gets taken away to build more car infrastructure. At what point do we finally stand - literally in the road - and say, No more. Do we look at the broken promises on the waterfront where we were promised a beautiful pedestrian-friendly waterfront and got another car sewer? We're going to have to organize and come together. We have many more groups now and many more leaders who are willing to stand up and say - We're not passing this levy unless it actually focuses on safe streets, unless it focuses on pedestrians and cyclists and transit users, and gives iron-clad promises to make sure stuff gets built so that some future mayor can't just walk in and start canceling projects left and right that we were promised. That's the lesson I take from this is - we're better organized now, we have more resources now, but it's still going to be a slog, and we're going to have to stand our ground - otherwise we get rolled. [00:50:34] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. I thank you both for this conversation today - reflections on the tunnel fight, how it came to be, what it was like in the middle of it, and the lessons that we take moving forward in these elections that we have coming up this year, next year, and beyond. Thanks so much for the conversation. [00:50:50] Mike McGinn: Thank you, Crystal. [00:50:51] Robert Cruickshank: Thank you - it's been wonderful. [00:50:52] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is co-produced by Shannon Cheng and Bryce Cannatelli. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

Why has the conservative industry failed to deliver on almost any issue in decades? Why do things get worse even in red states? Why do we continue to nominate more Mitch McConnell-style Republicans in primaries? Today's show is not for the faint of heart, but I serve up the truth 100 proof. We have an industry that is incentivized to focus on brand-building rather than on policy and political outcomes, even in states where Democrats have little influence. The conservative industry has no interest in doing the hard work it takes to win on issues because it is too profitable to simply virtue-signal on social media with no policy direction.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank Gaffney does a deeper dive into the troubles facing America and the world with his book, "The Indictment: Prosecuting the Chinese Communist Party & Friends for Crimes against America, China, and the World."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the road for college kid's graduation, so it's into the Hot Tub Podcast Time Machine! We go so far back, May 12 was a Thursday! That's a full year back! If you don't remember it exactly as it happened, here's a reminder: Not to underestimate you, but David Waldman and Greg Dworkin probably deliver as much KITM as you can handle today. Russia continues to not win in Ukraine.  Some would say they are losing. Some, like the Institute for the Study of War. Some, like Ukrainian soldier on the ground in charge of blowing up stuff, Максим. Sanctions are turning Russia into a place Borat would be ashamed to work for. Russia is pulling electronics out of their washing machines in order to keep their military running. Russian soldiers will wish they had pulled the SIM cards from their phones when the Switchblades lock on them. Remember when Republicans openly loved Russia? If only public opinion mattered to abortion rights. Mitch McConnell is unlikely to dump the filibuster to ban abortion until the very second he can. Joe Manchin might be a Republican, but that doesn't mean he always votes on a party line… unless it's against abortion rights. Well, that Supreme Court leak investigation deescalated quickly. Susan Collins and Stephen King live in the same neighborhood, of course. One of their neighbors used chalk on the sidewalk, not for hopscotch or Valentine's hearts, but in order to deeply concern Susan Collins. Elon Musk is bored with Tesla. Soon, he will be bored with Twitter. A popular GQP wacko might out-Trump all Republicans in Pennsylvania. She might even win her Senate nomination before conceding her 2020 House loss. That is Trumpy. The important elections however are for secretaries of state, as they are the ones who will install future Trumps. The math wasn't going Donald Trump's way in 2020, so John Eastman had a plan to install his own math. Baked Alaska came up with the novel idea of pleading guilty with a side-plea of innocence for his involvement on the insurrection January 6. Too novel for the judge, apparently. The January 6 Committee subpoenaed Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs and Scott Perry, which is a good start.

"Three Things You Need to Know"...Chicago leaders moving out of the city...homeless in Portland legal?...Mitch McConnell not big on GOP retaking SenateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Waldman and Joan McCarter bring us up-to-date, and up-to-Tuesday morning news and opinion. While we bide our time waiting for the next mass shooting, the media informs us that several very nice people have been killed by a very bad person. However, Greg Abbott and the Right want you to believe that both sides are to blame. You know what? So does the media.  Both sides (all of them women) join to block South Carolina's near-total abortion ban. Ron DeSantis has picked Disney as the hill to die on and will pave the road there in radioactive waste. In Florida, butt crack = pornography, thus all Floridians are criminals. A Wisconsin judge is ordering that the state elections commission reconsider a complaint against its fake electors. Stewart Rhodes wants the court to consider his years of running an "all-volunteer" organization, AKA the “bin Laden” defense. Enrico Tarrio wonders how his boss got away with it. Donald Trump wonders why everyone's always picking on him. Harlan Crow sure isn't paying for your kid's school, because that would be a lousy investment. Anita Hill did raise a few red flags over Clarence Thomas, as you may recall. Those red flags have only multiplied over the decades. Dick Durbin has “everything is on the table”, where he plans to pretty much just leave it. Gerald Ford showed that Supreme Court justices could be impeached... or not impeached as the case may be. Trump and McConnell already packed the Supreme Court, and they, and you, and I probably won't live to see that changed. Meanwhile, Republicans threaten the world economy unless they are allowed to destroy the US economy. President Joe Biden will keep trying to fix things, but the hero might just end up being… Mitch McConnell?

CPAC released its 52nd Congressional Ratings Scorecard on Monday, and Thomas Bradbury, Director of Advocacy and Policy, joins Matt and Mercedes Schlapp on this episode of America Uncanceled to discuss the results of the ratings. The primary finding of the ratings was the divide between establishment Republicans and conservatives in Congress. The divide comes through in the voting records of Republican Congressmen that the ratings analyze. The ratings looked at issues like gun control, the Marriage Equality Bill, and the budget proposed by Nancy Pelosi in a lame duck session and found a shocking number of Republicans, led largely by Mitch McConnell, Adam Kissinger, and Liz Chaney, who voted in favor. “When you start looking at the ratings, there's, sure, a really good group of strong conservatives getting in the 90s, but there's really a lot that leave you wanting more. There's a lot in the 50s and then, as Matt said, it seems like it used to be, even five years ago, that you'd have some Democrats in the 40s and the 50s, but the people in the 40s and 50s are within our own party,” Bradbury observed. The disunity of the Republican Party is disheartening for conservative Americans as they watch the Democrats unite and vote in lockstep to advance their agenda. That's not to say that the Democrat Party does not have its differences, but when necessary they all fall in line behind the issue at hand. Republicans have yet to master this strategy, but Americans can be optimistic thanks to the growing number of steadfast conservative leaders, like Jim Jordan, in Congress. For more, visit Conservative.org or follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.

On Wednesday's Mark Levin Show, the illegal prosecution of Donald Trump in Manhattan and Georgia and the investigation by Jack Smith is being done to immunize President Biden if he were ever to be investigated. We have a massive coverup of Biden and his family going on while prosecutors use Trump as a shiny object to distract. Also, Democrats are trying to terrorize the Supreme Court Justices they disagree with and are creating a dangerous situation for them and even targets of assassination threats. The left sees their opportunity to take control of society with Biden in the White House, allowing the radicals in the Democrat party to run loose and become the party of American Marxism just as is it was the party of Jim Crow, segregation, and the Confederacy. Later, Biden is pushing the debt limit so much that he is now questioning the constitutionality of having a debt limit at all. Biden is causing as much pain as he can to force Republicans to go along with his massive budget, all while Mitch McConnell does nothing but help Biden get his way when we need a real leader in the Senate. The 14th Amendment has nothing to do with this and was related to the Civil War. The fact Biden is considering doing this with the budget is exactly how a totalitarian regime would act. Finally, the Atlanta shooter has been apprehended by Atlanta police after shooting up a hospital, killing one and injuring four more. Meanwhile, the Nashville police department is delaying the release of the Nashville shooter's manifesto, citing pending litigation as the reason. Withholding this from the American people is horrible, and we have a right to know what the motivation of the shooter even if it goes against the Democrat narrative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In honor of Tucker Carlson: some questions FOX News hosts are probably not allowed to askIn honor of Tucker Calrson, let's ask some questions that may no longer be allowed on FOX News Glenn Beck says Rupert Murdoch banned him from speaking about God. What else is banned? An article in Semafor indicates that, about two weeks before FOX News ended Tucker Carlson's show, Rupert Murdoch and his son both talked with the Dictator of Ukraine; he was very upset about Tucker's questioning of our endless commitment to Ukraine and about Zalensky outlawing opposition parties, seizing media properties and General Austin lying about Russia's state of troop readiness. Did the Dictator of Ukraine help get Tucker's Show canceled? Is mention of George Soros okay, again? Can FOX hosts criticize Mitch McConnell? Will FOX News be airing more of the January 6th evidence? That's a few questions, I have many more . . . What does God say? Matthew 10:21-3321 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.Episode 807 Links: Tucker Carlson says if you question what happened to Building 7 live on television you'll lose your job.Edited for TikTok length . . . do we owe General Wesley Clark an apology? Here's what he said about the days immediately following 9/11.Why did the head of the CIA meet with Epstein AFTER he was a convicted sex offender? You know why.DNI Ratcliffe says the CCP interfered in our last election & will do it again in 2024 because they benefit if the Biden admin stays in the White House. He also called for Blinken to resign or face impeachment because he is compromised. Not looking good for Blinken! Rep. Ron Johnson: Blinken Lied Under Oath About Hunter Biden Emails: “He said he did not Email Hunter Biden… we have those emails. We also know that his wife, using her private email address when she was an employee of the State Department, was basically a conduit between her husband and Hunter Biden as well.”Donald Trump got raided by the FBI over classified documents securely stored at Mar-a-Lago while Joe Biden gets to have a laugh with our “media” about his decades of carelessly mishandling them.Alan's Soapshttps://alanssoaps.com/TODDUse coupon code ‘TODD' to save an additional 10% off the bundle price.BiOptimizershttps://magbreakthrough.com/toddUse promo code TODD for 10% off your order.Bonefroghttps://bonefrog.usEnter promo code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your subscription. Bulwark Capitalbulwarkcapitalmgmt.comAct now and get Bulwark Capital's “Common Cents Investing” guide FREE. My Pillowhttps://mypillow.comUse code TODD for Closeout pricing on all All Season Slippers.Patriot Mobilehttps://patriotmobile.com/hermanGet free activation today with offer code HERMAN. Visit or call 878-PATRIOT. GreenHaven Interactivehttps://greenhaveninteractive.comGet seen on Google more with your worldclass website! RuffGreenshttps://ruffgreens.com/toddGet your FREE Jumpstart Trial Bag of Ruff Greens, simply cover shipping. Visit or call 877-MYDOG-64. SOTA Weight Losshttps://sotaweightloss.comSOTA Weight Loss is, say it with me now, STATE OF THE ART!Texas SuperFoodhttps://texassuperfood.comTexas SuperFood is whole food nutrition at its best.

May returns for a second May-filled day, on KITM, featuring David Waldman, plus Joan McCarter! Some lefty “Kagrohead” recently penetrated the MSM, appearing on CBS's Face the Nation as a parent weighing in on how gun violence is impacting their children. (And I got my bird into the background!) This National Teacher Day, show your appreciation and support by keeping guns away from them and schools and challenging gun nuts whenever possible. The US debt ceiling needs to be raised by June. That's June 1st, by the way. And, with the way things are organized in DC, June 1st is sooner than you'd think or at least sooner than they think. In fact, Mitch McConnell says he doesn't even plan to get involved until Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden work things out. Joe needs to leave Kevin and Mitch out of this and go it alone. So much for that Gop promise to “save” Social Security and Medicare. The Senate will hold hearings on the real pain being delivered in the Republican plan.   Ethics reforms? John Roberts says his gang don't need no stinking ethics reforms, as they move to grab even more power for themselves and fellow judges. They've been corrupted for years, and now people want to talk about it?  Fox News is going to leak a new Tucker Carlson story every day until Rupert Murdoch gets a new fiancée who likes him better. I think we can all agree that this is a good idea. Discord attracts US Armed Forces recruiters, foreign spy recruiters, and gamers. When it's everybody vs. everyone, anything is possible, and everything is up for grabs.

Kati Card is coming off two stints as Chief Digital Officer for the DSCC and is now a Senior VP at the digital firm MissionWired. Kati talks her initial path to politics, a key internship with Senator Hillary Clinton, spending time around Senators Reid, Schumer, and Cortez Masto, working on big campaigns and in Senate offices, and spending two cycles as Chief Digital Officer at the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. In addition to talking through her own trajectory, Kati provides a smart tutorial on all things digital fundraising.(To donate to support The Pro Politics Podcast, you may use this venmo link or inquire by email at mccrary.zachary@gmail.com) IN THIS EPISODEKati's roots in upstate New York and how an internship set her on a path to work in politics…Kati's memories as a 21-year old working with iconic US Senators…How early work in research and press prepped Kati to work in digital politics…How Kati pivoted to work in digital and what digital politics looked like in 2015…How running a digital operation differs on a campaign versus as part of an official Senate office…The most digital-savvy Senators Kati has been around…Kati shares memories and stories of what makes Senators Reid, Cortez Masto, and Schumer unique…The 90s jam band about whom Chuck Schumer is surprisingly conversant…Kati speaks to the strength of leading Democratic operatives Scott Fairchild and Christie Roberts…How Kati synced up with her current firm, MissionWired…Kati breaks down who low-dollar Democratic donors are, what they look like, where they get their information, and how they like to give…Why Twitter is indeed real life for digital fundraising staffers…The best time of day and best day of the week to make digital fundraising appeals…Kati's best practices and myth-busting about digital fundraising…Will digital fundraising continue to spike on campaigns?The Trump factor among Democratic low-dollar donors…The Dobbs impact on 2022 (and beyond) digital fundraising…Kati's “biggest takeaway” on GOP digital fundraising appeals…Kati's thoughts on the types of operatives who are best-suited for digital politics…Kati's crystal ball on trends in digital fundraising…Kati's strangest work habit…AND Cory Booker, CNN, James Carville, cash crops, Hillary Clinton, dark money, the Dobbs' Decision, Tammy Duckworth, faxing tweets, John Fetterman, the Finger Lakes, following the floor, Lindsay Graham, Jamie Harrison, Maggie Hassan, Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin, Ann Lewis, Anne Lewis, MSNBC, Dave Matthews, Mitch McConnell, Amy McGrath, Chris Murphy, the New York Times, Mehmet Oz, response rates, SMS, Bernie Sanders, the Senate Democratic Policy and Communication Center, silly TV, teams of one, technical complexities, total goofballs, turning 30, Raphael Warnock, Elizabeth Warren, the Washington Post…& more!

This week, Major's guests include Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Ron Desantis and Bernie Sanders. Okay, not exactly. Comedian Matt Friend joins Major for a buffet of hilarious impressions at Unconventional Diner in Washington, DC. Don't attempt to eat or drink while listening. You might choke from laughing too hard.You can find @TheMattFriend on Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram or go to his website, mattfriend.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sir Goodwin Live and the actual and factual Kim Smith break down current event and the latest in entertainment from a Black Culture Perspective. Covering events from April 19-26 from the death of living legend Harry belafonte 3:00, Toni Braxton and Patti LaBelle 4:30, Tyrese 8:00, Don Lemon fired from CNN 28:00, Kawhi Leonard's injury and sister going to jail for life 40:00, Phil Jackson 33:00, Frank Ocean 13:30, Johnathan Majors accusers surface 50:00, Martin Lawrence 102:00 gets a star on the Hollywood walk of fame and more........

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy kept Republicans together in the House as the bill raising the debt ceiling was passed and now heads to the Senate. But how will Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer handle getting it to the President's desk, despite Joe Biden stating he will not negotiate with the Speaker? Plus, a disappointing report on first-quarter GDP growth points to an economic slowdown and a possible recession.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we have fairer, more representative elections in the U.S.? Absolutely, says Deb Otis on this week's episode of "The Downballot." Otis, the director of research at FairVote, tells us about her organization's efforts to advocate for two major reforms—ranked-choice voting and proportional representation—and the prospects for both. RCV, which is growing in popularity, not only helps ensure candidates win with majorities but can lower the temperature by encouraging cross-endorsements. PR, meanwhile, would give voters a stronger voice, especially when they're a minority in a dark red or dark blue area.Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also discuss the entrance of a truly miserable GOP candidate into the North Carolina governor's race: the unrepentant homophobic bigot Mark Robinson, currently the state's lieutenant governor. Then they dive into a new report that conservative megadonor Peter Thiel, who was responsible for two of the very worst Republican Senate hopefuls in 2022, plans to keep his wallet shut for 2024—very probably to Mitch McConnell's relief.Transcript to come.

In this week's episode of the National Crawford Roundtable, after a brief discussion about Biden's bid for re-election and the latest on the abortion pill issue, we look into Fox News' firing of Tucker Carlson.   Why was Carlson fired?  Was it part of an off-the-record Dominion settlement deal?  Is he just too high maintenance and uncontrollable with management? Is Fox News going more and more establishment?  Are they looking for more of a Mitch McConnell brand?  How should conservative Christians view Fox News now?  They've been getting more Woke with "gender pronouns" and anti-Trumpism--is this the last straw?  Or is that unfair?

Today, David Waldman and the KITM staff celebrate not being fired or hired by Rupert Mudoch. Hey, remember Tucker Carlson? Tuck was sort of a prep school Lou Dobbs or that villain in a teen movie who wears a Brooks Brothers sweater like a cape over his Lacrosse polo. Anyhow, Fox News fired Tucker on a Monday morning, in front of his crew, for maximum disrespect, like a mob hit that can't go open casket. Not that his crew had that much respect for him, or vice versa. In fact, they've already forgotten him. Whatever reason Rupert chose to take out Carlson, it wasn't the right one. As Ace KITM Correspondent Rosalyn MacGregor has been telling us, (paraphrased) Ottawa County, Michigan has been cluster-FUBARed through a wingnut insurgency. Wait until they find out their new jobs require working. Southern fried wingnuts in Florida are turning off both voters and bigots. Coming this Summer: The Fulton County Indictments! Why not now? Why is Fani Willis making us wait sooooo long? Powerful judges seem to always be trying to strike a balance between lower ethics and larger paydays. About a week after his confirmation, Neil Gorsuch finally sold a couple million dollars' worth of future goodwill and friendship with a guy destined to bring dozens of cases before him. Gorsuch didn't think to mention this transaction, nor did fellow Trump judge Matthew Kacsmaryk think to disclose between 5 to 25 million bucks worth of his camaraderie. Senator Ed Markey is calling on Clarence Thomas to resign, all because of his billionaire sugar buddy Harlan Crow. Joan McCarter tells us that it's time for Senator Dianne Feinstein to retire, primarily because Senator Joe Manchin won't. No one knows what the hell Dick Durbin is doing, but everyone can see what Mitch McConnell has planned.

Facts & Spin for April 20, 2023 top stories: India is about to become the world's most populous country, a bipartisan group in the US House proposes a debt ceiling plan, Kim Jong Un orders the launch of a North Korean spy satellite, the US charges four Americans and three Russians in a “malign influence” campaign, Mitch McConnell says the GOP won't help replace Dianne Feinstein on a key committee, British police arrest a French publisher,  Chinese-Australians report a drop in racist incidents, 64M Americans face daily spikes in harmful pollution, Netflix limits password sharing in the US, and a cat-killing contest for kids is axed in New Zealand.  Sources: https://www.improvethenews.org/ Brief Listener Survey: https://www.improvethenews.org/pod

The vast majority of politically-inspired violence and murders in America over the past two decades have been committed by rightwing extremists. How many are watching Fox News? Investigative journalist Greg Palast is now going after the Dominion story. Plus TN Republicans are shielding gun firms- not children- from school shootings while obsessing over "divisiveness" in class. Also as Mitch McConnell returns to governmental obstruction, Senator Bernie Sanders discusses his new bill to tax the rich.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Eclipse season in Spring 2023 is particularly potent. First is a hybrid eclipse, Nodes of Fate finishing up in Scorpio and Taurus while the Solar Eclipse New Moon is at the last degrees of Aries/Libra where the Nodes arrive in July. (Lunar Nodes move backwards through the zodiac.). Only 4.8% of eclipses are total hybrid ~ only 7 take place in the 21st century ~ and this is one of them. The eclipse is the first New Moon since Pluto entered Aquarius for the first time in 248 years. The eclipse is applying to and square Pluto in Aquarius. The United States recently finished our Capricorn Pluto return. We are waiting for our Progressed Pluto Return in Aquarius ~ this eclipse straddles the midpoint of the natal and progressed Pluto returns. Suffice to say, it's a whopper. The eclipse chart cast for Washington, DC finds the Sun and Moon on the Arabic Part of Fatality and Ceres in Virgo opposite the Arabic Part of Death. Washington has quite a few older leaders whose charts are being very affected by the planets in the eclipses. Included in the presentation are how the eclipse aspects the charts of Joseph Biden, Kamala Harris, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Clarence Thomas, Donald Trump and Prince Charles ~ soon to be coronated King of the Commonwealth during eclipse season. Planetary returns bring the energy forward to end a cycle and begin a new one. Pluto is ending a 248 year cycle that began with the Declaration of Independence. The eclipse chart share angles and significant points with the Sibley USA chart for July 4 1776, 5:10 pm, Philadelphia. Washington, DC is full of older people, holding on to power. Pluto in Capricorn asks us to understand our personal, collective and country's relationship to power given to leaders, government and corporations. Expect a wild ride the next year as totality is 63 seconds which translates to a year in Human time. Buckle up butter cup! Anne

EPISODE 181: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Just like American democracy I too am available for sale for $787,500,000. Since the SCOTUS Citizens United decision in 2010, it's been the corporations' world and we just live in it, unless they kill us. And corporations gonna corpo-RATE. Five years ago a company bought three-quarters of Dominion for 38 million. It just got a return of 1567%. "Money is accountability," said its lawyers. True - if YOU got the money. If you aren't, what you got was Tucker Carlson last night predicting a race war with impunity.  Spare me the nonsense about Fox knowing it did wrong. Dominion didn't even get a retraction, let alone an apology. "We acknowledge the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false." That's the 21st Century equivalent of "The White Star Line acknowledges that RMS Titanic missed its estimated time of arrival at Pier 54 in New York." (10:15) IN CASE THAT ISN'T BAD ENOUGH: The Democrats are using the incapacitation of Dianne Feinstein as the excuse for not subpoenaing Clarence Thomas. Because the Democrats are adhering to the rules of Flag Football while the Republicans are all armed and if they needed a vote to subpoena Sonia Sotomayor they would push THEIR Dianne Feinstein down a flight of stairs to get it. B-Block (17:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: McConnell makes a fascist funny; Greene insists Chump never said anything racist about Covid, then repeats all the racist things he said. A guy tries to destroy all the Anheuser-Busch beer in a Wal-mart. And Chump's new NFTs have pissed off...Tomi Lahren and Baked Alaska? (21:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: An elected Florida state official says Bud Light should be trying to kiss Kid Rock's ass. Jim Jordan tried to paint Manhattan as a crime hellscape by trotting out a woman whose boyfriend was murdered...in New Jersey. And Kara Swisher has the utter gall to ask Jen Psaki why there haven't been more Republicans on her MSNBC show. "What's the problem? Four shows and no Republicans." This is one of the questions that has led American media, politics, and society, into the sinkhole it's in. C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Four puppies in the Bahamas trying to survive Parvo (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's not just Fox. Cable News corrupts completely. In fact, NEWS News corrupts completely. Let me tell you stories of what it did to Radio's Paul Harvey, and Rachel Maddow.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Monologue: Shocker alert....Auto thefts are on the rise around the area. The Interview: Gianno Caldwell (FOX News) stops by to discuss violence in Chicago and other major cities.The Monologue: Mitch McConnell trolls the democrats for wanting Feinstein out.The Interview: Rachel Anderson (TPUSA Evergreen Regional College Field Rep Rachel Anderson) was attacked by a trans activist at the UW and local media won't cover it.LongForm: State Rep Drew Stokesbary (R-Auburn) slams Democrats' last minute push to triple property taxes and wonders where the media is on covering these issues honestly.Quick Hit: AOC says mayor Adams is 'defunding safety'. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tuesday, April 18, 2023 Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free 1/ Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans won't allow Democrats to temporarily replace Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee, who was hospitalized for shingles in March and has been recovering at home. Feinstein's absence has stalled confirm... Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Chairman Jim Jordan took the House Judiciary Committee on the road to New York City to look at Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg's record on crime. What did we learn from the feisty hearing? Plus, Mitch McConnell and John Fetterman returned to the Senate chamber as Republicans gear up to block a temporary replacement for Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on his way out of Congress? Join Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway and Senior Editor David Harsanyi as they discuss the return of several previously absent federal legislators to the upper chamber, analyze how the abortion issue affects elections, and scrutinize the deep state's reaction to the recent Ukraine documents leak. Mollie and David also discuss the corruption that plagues corporate media outlets and share their culture picks for the week.

John Fetterman and Mitch McConnell return to Congress, Diane Feinstein is still out.

The FBI makes an arrest for the Ukraine document leaks, Senator Mitch McConnell may be considering retirement, a Florida abortion ban, and the Tampa Bay Rays are about to beat a long-standing record. Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, Joe Biden's weakness is inviting trouble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Live from the Heart of America—I'm Steve Gruber—ready to deliver an inclusive and diverse discussion on the most important topics of the day—giving you better analysis and insight that anyone else—shining a spotlight on the cockroaches of the swamp—and delivering truth and justice just when hope was starting to fade—   Here are the 3 Big Things you need to know to start today—   Number One— A former staffer for President Barack Obama is blowing the whistle on Joe Bidens illegal kickbacks on foreign money—starting with his crackhead kid, Hunter—   Number Two— In Michigan, firearms groups are fighting back after not being allowed to testify during hearings that lead to massive gun control laws getting signed by the Governor—   Number Three— Its Free for all Friday—we are going to dig deep into everything that happened this week—and figure out why we are still in such a massive skid—   First of all the man the government says leaked more than 100 classified documents has been arrested—I will be getting into that in a few minutes—   Mitch McConnell may never return to the United States Senate—I will get to that—and Diane Feinstein may not be back either—I will have an update—   But I am going to start with the latest horrible mass murder—this one in Louisville Kentucky—where a 25 year old guy with a masters degree unloaded on his fellow bank employees—killing 5 before getting gunned down by brave police officers on the scene—sadly one of those officers remains in critical condition—  

Storm and Matt discuss the rumors that Senator Mitch McConnell might be retiring and what this means for Republican leadership going forward. They also discuss Elon Musk smacking down a BBC "journalist," President Biden's latest gaffes, and more.

TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: theflyoverapp.comStephen KnipperWEBSITE: kyverify.comSPONSORS FOR TODAY'S VIDEO► ReAwaken America- text the word EVENTS to 40509(Message and data rates may apply. Terms/privacy: 40509-info.com)► Kirk Elliott PHD - http://FlyoverGold.com ► My Pillow - https://MyPillow.com/Flyover► Z-Stack - https://flyoverhealth.com ► Dr. Jason Dean (BraveTV) - https://parakiller.com Want to help spread the Wake Up • Speak Up • Show Up -https://shop.flyoverconservatives.com/-------------------------------------------Follow our Social Media so we can be best friends

Tonight at 8:30 pm CST, on the Flyover Conservatives show we are tackling the most important things going on RIGHT NOW from a Conservative Christian perspective! TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONSERVATIVES SHOWS -https://banned.video/playlist/61e636f26959067dbbfa11bfTO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: theflyoverapp.comDr. Jason DeanWEBSITE: parakiller.com**Promo Code: FLYOVERFor Tickets to a ReAwaken America Event - text the word FLYOVER to 918-851-0102Christina BobbWEBSITE: ChristinaBobb.comBOOK: https://a.co/d/96f3zuYStephen KnipperWEBSITE: kyverify.comSPONSORS FOR TODAY'S VIDEO► ReAwaken America- text the word EVENTS to 40509(Message and data rates may apply. Terms/privacy: 40509-info.com)► Kirk Elliott PHD - http://FlyoverGold.com ► My Pillow - https://MyPillow.com/Flyover► Z-Stack - https://flyoverhealth.com ► Dr. Jason Dean (BraveTV) - https://parakiller.com Want to help spread the Wake Up • Speak Up • Show Up -https://shop.flyoverconservatives.com/-------------------------------------------Follow our Social Media so we can be best friends

The US is slowly losing its world power status as China preps military drills and the rest of the world plans to dump the dollar. Mitch McConnell and all the other GOP RINOs hate you so much more than Pelosi or Schumer. Red states need to start growing fangs and fight back. Update on Jesse's new griddle.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These are the days through which God has decided we will live. So, we will run with endurance the race marked-out for us. In the same week a corrupt, pro-street-crime D.A. of America's most populated city waved a magic pen to turn a misdemeanor into a felony in order to https://www.theepochtimes.com/court-officially-confirms-details-for-first-hearing-in-trump-criminal-case_5163521.html, former American states like Washington are banning guns and legalizing kidnapping. At least we have brave Mitch McConnell standing against this abuse of government. The indictment: https://twitter.com/clayandbuck/status/1641864690262237200 way back on January 8, 2021. On our show, we have been predicting it for the past two years. https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1641594971462541315 with her tweet explaining President Trump can now “prove innocence” at trial; the drunken, inside-trading, J6-conspiring Pelosi added the government “grants” President Trump that right. Give credit to Politico's coverage of the indictment. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/30/trump-political-witch-hunt-indictment-00089011e; https://www.ipl.org/essay/Joseph-Stalin-The-End-Justifies-The-Means-PKZMQX74SJFR. With all of that happening, it's tempting to believe we are watching the emergence of a junta. But, the https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2023/03/31/newsbusters-podcast-hundreds-minutes-trump-obsession-zero-seconds.” Guns: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/mar/28/washington-assault-weapons-ban-one-step-closer-to-/”, which include common pistols. In the Country of Washington, rapes are at record highs so they keep releasing rapists; murders are at record highs, so they keep releasing murderers; overdose deaths are at record highs, so they refuse to prosecute drug crimes and instead allow groups to help people shoot-up. The problem, in the eyes of the dictatorship, are the guns in your gun safe. It's almost enough to make one feel like we are watching the emergence of a junta, but https://twitter.com/piper4missouri/status/1642220693898051584t. Kidnappings: https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/a-time-sensitive-warning-for-california?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=484195&post_id=110553427&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email. When this passes, any “therapist”, ”doctor”, “teacher” or other “authority” will be able to secret a child into a residential “treatment" facility without a court order and without informing the people we used to call parents. The kidnapping law applies to kids who are residents of other states who may want their penises and testicles cut-up and an 18” gash carved between their legs, and their bodies flooded with wrong-sex hormones. If you are what we used to call a “parent” of such a child, California cops will not help you find your kid, but rest assured your insurance company will likely send you a bill. It's almost like we are witnessing a junta. What does God say? https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2020%3A7&version=NIV7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2022%3A24-38&version=NIV24 A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”“Nothing,” they answered.36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors'[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”“That's enough!” he replied.- MOCKINGBIRDS LOVE IT: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-34-counts-indictment-arraigned-b2311583.html- NY Times loves it: https://archive.fo/mNrG4#selection-421.0-472.0https://archive.fo/mNrG4#selection-421.0-472.0.- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11916957/Arizona-governors-press-secretary-resigns-tweet-shooting-transphobes.html- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11917893/Gun-toting-transgender-woman-backing-day-vengeance-Nashville-massacre-former-SOLDIER.html (it has since been canceled)- “'https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1641780770300739585

The January 6th videos Liz Cheney demanded we never see explain why Liz Cheney and her dear, DEAR friends, Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi wanted to keep our property hidden from us. We now know undercover D.C. cops called for people to help them use scaffolding for people to climb to break into the Capitol. The videos reveal undercover cops urging people to climb up and into the Capitol . . . even pushing some people and, later, pulling people into the Capitol. This call comes out in the same week we learn the Department of Justice Malice, who openly admit cops did all that, also embedded spies into the defense teams of January 6th defendants. What does God say? Proverbs 29 covers so much of what The Party is aboutNew footage from January 6th shows a DC metro cop encouraging people to go towards the Capitol and helps people climb the scaffolding. "Go, Go, Go." "Help them up. "Push them up".Btw DOJ admits these undercovers were indeed in the crowd acting like Trump supporters and pushing people toward the building:Undercovers talk to numerous other undercovers on the walk toward CapitolSo it looks like the FBI informant cozying up to Proud Boys and their family members while repeatedly attempting to contact at least one defense attorney claims she was hired as a snitch...to "mostly" report on Antifa.Wray told the Senate in March 2021 Antifa was not involved in the events of January 6. Awfully quick to make that announcement less than 2 months into the investigation…@julie_kelly2 Joins @IngrahamAngle To Discuss The Bombshell News That A Proud Boys Defense Witness Was Actually An FBI Informant --- Julie: "What this is starting to look like is almost like the Whitmer Fednapping Hoax. Where you have this ratio of more FBI assets than there are actual criminal defendants."Meadows, other top Trump aides ordered to testify in Jan. 6 probe as judge rejects claims of executive privilege4Patriotshttps://4patriots.comNever be in the dark with the Patriot Power Solar Generator. Use code TODD to save 10% on your first order.Alan's Soapshttps://alanssoaps.com/TODDUse coupon code ‘TODD' to save an additional 10% off the bundle price. Bonefroghttps://bonefrog.usEnter promo code TODD at checkout to receive 5% off your subscription. Bulwark Capitalhttps://knowyourriskradio.comGet your free copy of “Common Cents Investing” Call 866-779-RISK or visit the website. Healthycellhttps://healthycell.com/toddCome and see Todd and Zach speak in North Idaho, Thursday March 30Best Seller; The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserveby G. Edward GriffinJourney to better health and save 20% off your first order with promo code TODD.My Pillowhttps://mypillow.comUse code TODD for BOGO free on the new MyPillow 2.0RuffGreenshttps://ruffgreens/toddGet your FREE Jumpstart Trial Bag of Ruff Greens, simply cover shipping. SOTA Weight Losshttps://sotaweightloss.comSOTA Weight Loss is, say it with me now, STATE OF THE ART!GreenHaven Interactivehttps://greenhaveninteractive.comGet more business from Google and your website!Texas Superfoodshttps://texassuperfoods.comTexas Super Foods is whole food nutrition at its best.

Gun Owners of America President Erich Pratt discusses President Biden signing an executive order this week to address gun violence in America and why Senate Republicans aren't blameless here. Pratt comments that, “Biden is the villain here because he's slashing our second amendments. But so our senators John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell, because they pushed the legislation last year that Biden is now using to implement the executive order. So yeah, certain Republicans share part of the blame, as well.” Pratt also says that the order faces many legal challenges as “Biden is circumventing Congress in going beyond, even though he is basing it on what Congress has done. And this is the thing where we need to hold these legislators accountable. And I'm talking about people like Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Mitt Romney, of Utah. We warned them that what they were supporting could result in backdoor universal background checks. They ignored us and guess what, we were right. Because now what Biden is trying to do is try to get as close as possible to making every transfer of a gun require a background check.” Pratt says that's the ugly face of gun control. It punishes the law abiding, while failing to keep bad guys from getting guns.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Shaq's hiding from process servers, Michael Irvin v. Marriott video released, Lindsay Lohan's knocked up, Vince Young's an MVP spender, Ja Morant in a-hole rehab, Donald Trump's #1 song, Bill Hader: orgasm giver, Razzie winners, Playboy Murders, and Diplo's same sex BJ "wasn't gay". Brandon is finally out of the hospital and regaining strength in his hands. All the kids are abandoning TikTok to subscribe to our YouTube page. You should too. A song made by Jan. 6 prisoners featuring Donald Trump has hit No. 1 on iTunes. We still prefer when he covered Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads. Mitch McConnell is out of the hospital and heading to rehab for his concussion. Silicon Valley Bank's failure was due to a lot of bad mismanagement, but at least those bosses cashed out right before the end. Their UK Risk Management head seemed to be interested in things other than risky investments. Diplo once received oral sex from a guy, so he "might be gay". He was Emily Ratajkowski's first "white cisgender male" guest on her podcast. Everything but EmRata is toxic. iHeart morning show host Josh Innes just up and quit without warning... to take a new job in St. Louis at KSHE. That market has had some crazy activity lately. Including a host who mysteriously left... because he was texting listeners for nudes. 7'1" Shaquille O'Neal has been hiding from process servers to avoid a lawsuit from failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Former NFL QB Vince Young is an All-Star at spending money. Ja Morant is entering some kind of counseling program. His family is so tight-knit that they all responded when the youngest sister was in a beef in high school. Michael Irvin's lawyers released the video of his encounter with the Marriott employee that got him booted from the hotel. Lyla is looking for an alpha male, but it's because she is a "covid dog". TJ Holmes is planning to propose to Amy Robach. Rachel Bilson finally had her first orgasm at age 38 thanks to Bill Hader. Lindsay Lohan is pregnant. Some people are worried about the path that the fetus is going to travel. Paris Hilton's memoir has been released and some stories are getting questions. Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster on ID was a tough watch, but with great production. The Playboy Murders featured a victim that once dated Gene Simmons. The Rolling Stones are being sued for stealing a song again. Gary Glitter made it a whole month before getting sent back to jail. Blade Runner and murderer, Oscar Pistorius, will be paroled soon. List of the biggest Oscar sore losers. The Razzie award winners have been announced. Hugh Grant gave an honest interview to Ashley Graham on the red carpet before the Oscars and Twitter got mad. Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/dams to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + a Bonus Gift! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee!Billy Squire actually released a new song. Cliff Notes Theater: What's Love Got to Do with it starring Angela Bassett. Check out our YouTube page. Visit Our Presenting Sponsor Hall Financial – Michigan's highest rated mortgage company Social media is dumb, but we're on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew and Mike Show, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels and BranDon).