WEBVTT - Trace Gallagher And Steve Hilton 0:00:01.070 --> 0:00:06.830 We can agree to disagree, but our views are unapologetically right. 0:00:07.970 --> 0:00:09.440 It's the John Phillips Show. 0:00:11.340 --> 0:00:15.160 And we continue on this election day at 2.05 in 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.220 the afternoon on the John Phillips Show. 0:00:17.780 --> 0:00:19.700 Mr. Randy Wiggs in Culver City. 0:00:19.970 --> 0:00:23.489 Johnny, we're broadcasting live on the radio, 790K ABC in 0:00:23.550 --> 0:00:26.790 Southern California, 810K SFO in the Bay Area. And we're 0:00:26.829 --> 0:00:31.910 also broadcasting live on video at johnnydontlike.com. And oh my goodness, 0:00:32.900 --> 0:00:35.300 I've been playing some old blotters and some old silly 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.720 stories during these long breaks at the top of the hour. 0:00:37.740 --> 0:00:44.940 I forgot how great that one was. The woman getting 0:00:45.100 --> 0:00:48.700 stuck at the BART fair gate. You gotta love it. 0:00:50.010 --> 0:00:54.150 Steve Hilton joins us later on in the hour. Right now, 0:00:54.310 --> 0:00:56.200 it is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to 0:00:56.220 --> 0:00:59.760 the program. You watch him each and every night on 0:00:59.780 --> 0:01:03.120 the Fox News channel on Fox News at night. You 0:01:03.140 --> 0:01:07.720 can also follow him on X at Trace Gallagher. Trace Gallagher, welcome. 0:01:08.620 --> 0:01:10.169 John, great to be on with you. Thank you for 0:01:10.209 --> 0:01:10.670 having me. 0:01:11.490 --> 0:01:13.550 Now, Trace, for a guy who's been in the news 0:01:13.590 --> 0:01:16.650 business for a long time, Election Day has to feel 0:01:16.690 --> 0:01:17.610 like the Super Bowl. 0:01:18.870 --> 0:01:20.780 You know, it really does. I mean, because you're just 0:01:20.830 --> 0:01:22.759 trying to follow all of this stuff, right? I mean, 0:01:22.780 --> 0:01:25.380 we're in California, so we're going on a little later 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.760 tonight because, you know, the Fox News channel has got 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:31.280 all of this national coverage and they're going to come 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.610 to us at eight o'clock when the polls close. We're 0:01:33.620 --> 0:01:35.710 going to go over what we know about the Hilton 0:01:35.750 --> 0:01:38.530 race and what we know about the L.A. 0:01:38.590 --> 0:01:39.509 Mayor's race. 0:01:39.610 --> 0:01:42.890 And is the billionaire is the billionaire tax going to pass? 0:01:42.970 --> 0:01:45.990 And so, you know, there's some fascinating things about about 0:01:46.410 --> 0:01:50.620 California that But the major focus, of course, is around 0:01:50.700 --> 0:01:54.020 who is going to take control of Congress. And so 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.410 that's kind of what the night is all about. And 0:01:56.470 --> 0:01:59.710 we're involved in that. And everybody's involved in that. Everybody 0:01:59.790 --> 0:02:03.120 is curious as to what's happening. But you already see, 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:08.300 by the way. You had the National Congressional Committee is 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:10.980 coming out and they're saying, I don't know, the Republican 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:16.139 Congressional Committee coming along, we're not really doing great in Iowa, 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.079 not really doing great in North Carolina. So they're kind 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.419 of laying the groundwork to say that this might be 0:02:22.460 --> 0:02:25.860 a bumpy ride for the Republican Party as the hours 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:26.480 go by, Jeff. 0:02:27.389 --> 0:02:31.330 Now, let's go back to the last presidential election, the 0:02:31.330 --> 0:02:35.480 2024 presidential election, when there were a handful of swing 0:02:35.540 --> 0:02:39.239 states that both parties were competing in, the states that 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.179 would decide the winner of the election. I think a 0:02:42.220 --> 0:02:44.840 lot of people thought that there might be a split decision, 0:02:44.940 --> 0:02:48.010 where the Southeast goes one way, the Middle West goes 0:02:48.070 --> 0:02:50.430 another way. Who knows what's going to happen in the 0:02:50.490 --> 0:02:54.210 Far West, in places like Arizona and Nevada. And as 0:02:54.270 --> 0:02:57.089 it turned out, all seven of those swing states ended 0:02:57.150 --> 0:03:01.200 up voting the same way, which is for President Donald Trump. 0:03:01.900 --> 0:03:03.780 There are a number of U.S. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.600 Senate contests that people are closely watching in this election 0:03:07.660 --> 0:03:12.160 today that are polling within the margin of error. Do 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.320 you think we could be looking at the same thing 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.480 where the wind just hits a certain way and all 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:19.820 of those states that are on the bubble just end 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:22.160 up going the same way, even if it's by a hair? 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.580 Yeah, I mean, there's a very strong possibility of that. 0:03:25.660 --> 0:03:27.519 I look at a couple of states that really kind 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:28.079 of jump out. 0:03:28.220 --> 0:03:29.020 One is Texas. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.570 And you think, OK, Tallarico, you look at the real 0:03:31.610 --> 0:03:34.950 clear politics average. You look at the various averages and 0:03:34.970 --> 0:03:37.530 polls that are coming out. It's very tight there, all 0:03:37.570 --> 0:03:39.970 within the margin of error. But I think when you 0:03:40.050 --> 0:03:43.100 look closer at Texas and you see the historical aspect, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:43.560 I mean, you. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:44.970 Know, Lloyd Benson was the last one. 0:03:45.140 --> 0:03:47.840 He was the last Democrat that they sent to the 0:03:47.900 --> 0:03:50.340 Senate in Texas. And so you look at the Tallarico 0:03:50.380 --> 0:03:53.080 thing and you look at Ken Paxton and you think, 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.980 you know what, is Texas really going to send Tallarico 0:03:57.020 --> 0:03:57.620 to the Senate? 0:03:57.700 --> 0:04:00.000 And I think the answer there is no. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.980 I think that Texas kind of rallies and does what 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.040 Texas always does, and they send Ken Paxton. 0:04:06.340 --> 0:04:08.470 But in other states, I mean, I think if you. 0:04:08.310 --> 0:04:12.210 Look at Michigan and this El Said race versus Mike Rogers, 0:04:12.630 --> 0:04:14.790 I think, you know, you're looking at you're looking at 0:04:14.890 --> 0:04:18.550 kind of something that may actually be right as the 0:04:18.589 --> 0:04:21.730 polling suggests. I mean, they've got they've got El Said 0:04:21.790 --> 0:04:23.680 up by about two and a half, three points. 0:04:24.250 --> 0:04:25.150 And the more you. 0:04:25.020 --> 0:04:27.460 Talk to people who are gauging these things, the more 0:04:27.500 --> 0:04:30.059 you talk to the various You know, the Republican Senate 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.820 committees and you talk to some of these inside and 0:04:33.180 --> 0:04:36.390 they really do believe that, you know, the more that 0:04:36.450 --> 0:04:39.830 they see the exit polling, the more they see information 0:04:39.890 --> 0:04:42.590 come out that some of these states could be pulled 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.480 correctly and some of these states might not. So I 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.280 don't think it's a one way or the other kind 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.620 of thing, John. I think you're seeing. I think you're 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.740 seeing good signs for the Republican Party in places like 0:04:52.779 --> 0:04:53.660 South Carolina. 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.279 I think you're seeing. 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.630 Mediocre, moderate signs for the Republican Party in states like Maine. 0:04:59.970 --> 0:05:04.110 And I think you're seeing signs that really could not 0:05:04.190 --> 0:05:07.970 be beneficial to Republicans in places like like Michigan. So, 0:05:08.270 --> 0:05:09.890 I mean, you just have to wait and see because 0:05:09.950 --> 0:05:12.390 the numbers, as we've said, you know, the numbers, the 0:05:12.430 --> 0:05:15.650 polls are a great snapshot in time, but they can't 0:05:15.690 --> 0:05:18.240 predict the future. So, you know, the polling's all done 0:05:18.300 --> 0:05:21.560 last four, five, six, seven days. It's a great barometer 0:05:21.580 --> 0:05:23.880 of the last four, five, six, seven days. It's a 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.820 crappy barometer on the future because they can't tell you 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.160 what voters are actually going to do once they once 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.140 they walk in to the ballot box, to the booth. 0:05:33.690 --> 0:05:35.210 And the truth is that this. 0:05:35.070 --> 0:05:40.729 Whole mess with El-Said and Haley Stevens could sway a. 0:05:40.970 --> 0:05:42.729 Lot of voters one way or the other. 0:05:42.790 --> 0:05:47.430 So I think there's a lot of edgier seat stuff 0:05:47.470 --> 0:05:48.410 going on tonight, John. 0:05:49.300 --> 0:05:52.920 Sometimes you have these wave elections where one side really 0:05:53.100 --> 0:05:56.740 overwhelms the other. The Tea Party revolution in 2010, I 0:05:56.740 --> 0:06:02.680 think it was, is one of those elections. Yet you 0:06:02.710 --> 0:06:08.200 still had contests where candidate quality really mattered. Sharon Engel 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:11.180 in Nevada is one that comes to mind. Christine O'Donnell 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.660 in Delaware is another one that comes to mind. 0:06:14.700 --> 0:06:16.960 The no, I'm not a witch candidate. 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.850 This time around, it might be a good night for 0:06:20.870 --> 0:06:24.490 the Democrats, but there are still candidate quality issues that 0:06:24.510 --> 0:06:25.589 are causing them headaches. 0:06:25.630 --> 0:06:26.729 You mentioned Michigans. 0:06:27.529 --> 0:06:31.890 Certainly that state is experiencing their own civil war going 0:06:32.029 --> 0:06:34.599 on right now within the Democratic Party over the issue 0:06:34.630 --> 0:06:37.620 of Israel. Another one that comes to mind is the 0:06:37.660 --> 0:06:40.740 state of Maine, where you initially had Graham Plattner, the 0:06:40.779 --> 0:06:43.860 guy with the Nazi tattoos, replaced by the guy who 0:06:43.900 --> 0:06:47.840 finished fourth in the primary for governor, and he's had 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:52.159 some rocky roads along the way. On the Republican side, 0:06:52.220 --> 0:06:56.460 certainly Ken Paxton has, is experiencing some turbulence that Republicans 0:06:56.500 --> 0:06:59.659 running statewide in Texas usually don't experience. 0:07:00.350 --> 0:07:01.510 Yeah, you're exactly right. 0:07:01.589 --> 0:07:03.450 I mean, you go back to the main the main 0:07:03.529 --> 0:07:05.910 race and we thought, you know, we thought a couple 0:07:05.930 --> 0:07:09.750 of months ago that because Graham Platner just bottomed out 0:07:10.230 --> 0:07:12.820 and so badly and the whole thing was such a mess, 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.680 you had the Republican Party then saying, oh, it's a 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:16.660 walk in the park now. 0:07:16.940 --> 0:07:17.660 What are they going to do? 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.600 Shuffle some guy in here, some, you know, some fill 0:07:20.660 --> 0:07:22.900 in candidate. And how much time does he have and 0:07:22.940 --> 0:07:24.250 how does he get it? And all of a sudden 0:07:24.260 --> 0:07:26.430 you have Troy Jackson who starts to resonate. 0:07:26.470 --> 0:07:26.630 Right. 0:07:26.950 --> 0:07:29.350 You have Troy Jackson, and it starts to resonate. 0:07:29.410 --> 0:07:33.050 And you wonder, is that because these polls that they've 0:07:33.070 --> 0:07:35.810 been doing in Maine are giving him a boost, or 0:07:35.870 --> 0:07:39.050 is he actually gaining traction? That's what I want to know. 0:07:39.090 --> 0:07:42.130 I mean, it's Susan Collins who's been there forever and ever. 0:07:42.830 --> 0:07:44.510 I mean, is she really going to lose to this 0:07:44.550 --> 0:07:46.960 guy who's just coming on the scene? Are they are 0:07:46.980 --> 0:07:49.360 they really going to go that way? And I think 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.860 the answer is a big maybe. I mean, I don't 0:07:51.900 --> 0:07:52.820 think there's any. 0:07:52.740 --> 0:07:55.200 Clear direction in Maine whatsoever. 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.700 I think in Texas, you know, you see signs of 0:07:59.020 --> 0:08:01.810 on like Ted Cruz was saying yesterday, if if we 0:08:01.870 --> 0:08:04.830 counted all the ballots right now, Tallarica would walk away 0:08:04.870 --> 0:08:07.430 with this thing. But the Republicans, I think you've seen 0:08:07.890 --> 0:08:09.450 evidence that Republicans are. 0:08:09.470 --> 0:08:10.850 Actually out in force in Texas. 0:08:10.930 --> 0:08:13.180 I think Republicans are going to the polls because they 0:08:13.210 --> 0:08:16.740 realize it's important. You realize that in a lot of 0:08:16.820 --> 0:08:21.170 these states, these swing states, there is going to be 0:08:21.410 --> 0:08:25.130 or has been record turnout. And so when people hear 0:08:25.170 --> 0:08:28.490 record turnout, they think, oh, blue wave. So, you know, 0:08:28.550 --> 0:08:30.670 the people in the in the red seats are also 0:08:30.730 --> 0:08:32.990 thinking we need to get involved in this. And I 0:08:33.050 --> 0:08:35.690 think you're seeing a little bit of evidence in places 0:08:35.730 --> 0:08:39.090 like Texas that, you know, people are actually getting in 0:08:39.110 --> 0:08:41.740 the game and they're going out and they're voting because 0:08:41.770 --> 0:08:43.900 they know if they don't, that, you know, it's going 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:49.600 to be somewhat embarrassing. to have someone like Tallarico beat 0:08:49.620 --> 0:08:54.080 Ken Paxton, even though the numbers have been kind of 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.400 against Paxton going now for the past four and a half, 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:58.000 five weeks. 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:03.099 Going back to the 2000 election, Florida, the state of Florida, 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.260 was seen as being the swingiest of all of the 0:09:05.300 --> 0:09:09.620 swing states. That election was, of course, razor thin. Florida 0:09:09.700 --> 0:09:12.920 ended up going for George W. Bush, giving him the election. 0:09:13.630 --> 0:09:17.950 Since then, Florida has drifted to the right. And in 0:09:17.990 --> 0:09:21.690 the last midterm election, when the numbers started coming in 0:09:21.910 --> 0:09:25.540 in Florida and Ron DeSantis ended up crushing his Democratic 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.360 opponent by 20 points, people thought, okay, there is a 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.280 massive red wave coming. Just look at what's going on 0:09:33.620 --> 0:09:37.260 in Florida. The numbers today, the turnout numbers, appear to 0:09:37.300 --> 0:09:40.470 be strong for the Republicans in the state of Florida. 0:09:40.910 --> 0:09:43.580 Do you think that that is something that is indicative 0:09:43.630 --> 0:09:45.780 of what we could see in other states? Or do 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.679 you think that the state of Florida, whether it be 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:53.730 because of DeSantis or remaining open during COVID-19, just became 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:58.530 this magnet for conservative-minded people where Florida is now, I guess, 0:09:58.570 --> 0:09:59.929 an island in and of itself? 0:10:00.700 --> 0:10:02.059 In terms of the big states. 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:04.780 And it is in no way similar to what you 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.360 should expect to see in other parts of the nation. 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.360 Yeah, I don't think I really don't think to your 0:10:10.380 --> 0:10:12.880 point that Florida is the same bellwether today that it 0:10:12.940 --> 0:10:17.130 was back in 2000. I think in 2000, you know, 0:10:17.470 --> 0:10:20.830 we used to say in 2000, 2004, 2008, you go 0:10:20.850 --> 0:10:23.880 to the villages in Florida and whatever you come away 0:10:23.940 --> 0:10:25.960 with in the villages is the way Florida is going 0:10:25.980 --> 0:10:28.439 to go. So as the villages go is the way 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.420 that Florida is going to go. And by and large, 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.490 within a couple of percentage points, they were always pretty accurate. 0:10:35.429 --> 0:10:38.110 So now Florida is no longer a bellwether. 0:10:38.150 --> 0:10:40.490 Florida's a red state. I mean, Angie Nixon is not 0:10:40.510 --> 0:10:42.550 going to do well in Florida. I mean, it's just 0:10:42.730 --> 0:10:45.370 that Byron Donalds is going to do well in Florida. 0:10:45.650 --> 0:10:47.630 That's the layout of the case. I think now you 0:10:47.650 --> 0:10:48.870 have to move up a little bit. 0:10:49.170 --> 0:10:51.010 And I think what we're looking at tonight, and this 0:10:51.090 --> 0:10:52.870 is going to be very telling in how the whole 0:10:52.950 --> 0:10:56.780 night goes for Republicans, I think if Lindsey Graham's sister, 0:10:56.860 --> 0:11:00.580 Darlene Graham, wins that race, that is going to be 0:11:00.620 --> 0:11:03.439 an indicator that the Republicans are not going to do 0:11:03.540 --> 0:11:05.780 as badly as people are saying they're going to do. 0:11:06.220 --> 0:11:10.740 If Darlene Graham loses that race in South Carolina, then 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.220 it might get ugly. I mean, you might see exactly 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:18.000 what the polls are predicting But I think that becomes 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:19.400 one of the new bellwethers. 0:11:19.420 --> 0:11:20.530 When you talk about time. 0:11:20.570 --> 0:11:23.970 The polls close 7.30, whatever time they close down there. 0:11:24.230 --> 0:11:27.610 I think that is the big indicator now of which 0:11:27.770 --> 0:11:30.270 way you're going to see this night go. Because if 0:11:30.350 --> 0:11:34.559 Darlene Graham starts getting behind fast. And I'm not just 0:11:34.580 --> 0:11:36.840 talking about the early votes, but I mean the day 0:11:36.900 --> 0:11:41.059 of voting. If she starts getting behind fast, then things 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.079 could go south very quickly. But if she holds her own, 0:11:44.940 --> 0:11:49.230 then you could see some big differences in a lot 0:11:49.270 --> 0:11:52.710 of these other states like Michigan and Minnesota and California. 0:11:52.790 --> 0:11:55.790 You know, you'll see some maybe it's not to say 0:11:55.830 --> 0:11:58.630 that El Said won't win, not to say that Peggy 0:11:58.670 --> 0:12:02.510 Flanagan won't win in Minnesota, but you see Michelle Tafoya 0:12:02.580 --> 0:12:04.960 gaining a little bit of traction. You know, you see 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.200 Ken Rogers gaining some traction in Michigan. 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.220 And I think that's what happens. 0:12:11.900 --> 0:12:16.939 In these cases where you get a South Carolina where 0:12:16.980 --> 0:12:19.300 it goes well for Republicans and people start kind of 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.110 redoing the math. You see them taking out the pencils like, 0:12:22.150 --> 0:12:24.410 let's redo the math here to see if we've got 0:12:24.450 --> 0:12:26.530 this right. So that's the first state that I would 0:12:26.550 --> 0:12:26.850 look at. 0:12:27.870 --> 0:12:29.809 This weekend, I was on the road. 0:12:29.870 --> 0:12:32.050 So I spent a lot of time watching the news 0:12:32.130 --> 0:12:35.110 and hotel lobbies and airport lounges. 0:12:35.290 --> 0:12:36.410 Those sorts of places. 0:12:37.090 --> 0:12:40.070 And when the football game would would finish and they'd 0:12:40.110 --> 0:12:43.530 go to the NBC nightly news desk for headlines. The 0:12:43.590 --> 0:12:46.650 headline this weekend was all about the civil war going 0:12:46.809 --> 0:12:51.829 on in Michigan between Haley Stevens and Abdul Al-Sayed. I 0:12:51.870 --> 0:12:55.450 would imagine if you're Chuck Schumer, if you're the democratic 0:12:56.110 --> 0:12:59.790 campaign committee for the Senate, you want the last week, 0:12:59.950 --> 0:13:02.400 the last weekend to be all about the cost of 0:13:02.429 --> 0:13:06.750 living gas prices, the war in Iran, and certainly not, 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.760 members of your own party fighting with each other over Israel. 0:13:12.380 --> 0:13:14.530 How much do you think that's going to sting in 0:13:14.570 --> 0:13:16.390 some of these states that are going to be decided 0:13:16.450 --> 0:13:17.730 by just a handful of votes? 0:13:18.429 --> 0:13:20.540 Even if the state is not decided, I think it 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.840 really is a black mark on the whole Democratic Party, 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.920 because the question is, especially for a guy like Chuck Schumer, John, 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.370 you got Chuck Schumer, who is the highest ranking elected 0:13:29.470 --> 0:13:32.890 Jewish American, maybe in history. And so you've got Chuck 0:13:32.929 --> 0:13:35.729 Schumer that now has to come out, and he has 0:13:35.790 --> 0:13:40.500 got to stand up and endorse Abdul El-Saeed. And you 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.540 think that, I mean, that's right there. It's one of 0:13:43.580 --> 0:13:47.740 those questions where you wonder, you know, how many more years, 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.939 how much longer can Jewish Americans be Democrats? 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.820 I mean, it's a valid question because you think. 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.559 Wow, when you see that, I mean, the whole idea, 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.060 this whole civil war started because Haley Stevens was asking 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.319 Abdul El-Sayed to denounce the ad that where the couple 0:14:05.340 --> 0:14:08.300 was buying eggs and they say, oh, eggs, $ 7. 50 a carton, 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:10.439 something to that effect. Oh, we can't, we need to 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.280 kill Palestinians. So it was this whole thing. She said, 0:14:13.330 --> 0:14:15.350 you know, denounce that ad. That is a that is 0:14:15.410 --> 0:14:17.470 a he's like he criticized the ad, but he would 0:14:17.510 --> 0:14:20.410 not denounce it. And so her thing was, I can't 0:14:20.490 --> 0:14:23.520 stand with this person. I cannot stand with this person. 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:24.280 And yet you have the. 0:14:24.260 --> 0:14:27.740 Democratic Party starting to coalesce and come together because they 0:14:27.820 --> 0:14:32.470 are so entranced by the whole power movement. philosophy behind 0:14:32.530 --> 0:14:34.890 this is that Chuck Schumer's like, hey, guess who's going 0:14:34.910 --> 0:14:37.870 to be the Senate majority leader? You know, if we 0:14:37.910 --> 0:14:40.270 take the Senate, we need Al Saeed to take the Senate. 0:14:40.530 --> 0:14:43.100 And so Chuck Schumer came out. A lot of people 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.400 two weeks ago would have said, we don't think that 0:14:46.500 --> 0:14:50.440 Chuck Schumer would endorse Al Saeed. And yet there he 0:14:50.620 --> 0:14:54.170 is at the pinnacle of this controversy coming out saying, yep, 0:14:54.350 --> 0:14:57.230 that's our guy. And a lot of people are thinking, well, 0:14:57.750 --> 0:15:01.310 You know, that is that is very telling of what's 0:15:01.350 --> 0:15:02.590 happening in America right now. 0:15:03.310 --> 0:15:05.750 And I get the impression that let's say the Democrats 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.200 win the Senate tonight and they win by one or 0:15:08.260 --> 0:15:11.340 two votes. And El-Said is one of the ones that 0:15:11.380 --> 0:15:14.119 crosses the finish line. He's not going to look at 0:15:14.180 --> 0:15:17.040 himself as being a freshman that needs to pay his dues. 0:15:17.580 --> 0:15:19.400 He's going to think he's in charge of that whole 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.520 place because they will need his vote to get anything through. 0:15:22.990 --> 0:15:25.390 And that puts Chuck Schumer in a very tough spot. 0:15:25.980 --> 0:15:28.060 It puts Chuck Schumer in a tough spot. And also 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.290 on the flip side of the house, you got Hakeem Jeffries. 0:15:30.390 --> 0:15:33.390 And if the Democrats take the house, which, you know, 0:15:33.430 --> 0:15:35.630 pretty much a lot of the forecasts are saying the 0:15:35.670 --> 0:15:37.600 Democrats are going to take the house at least by 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:38.320 five or. 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.480 Six, seven seats. Some say as many as 10 seats, 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:42.540 15 seats. Who knows? 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:45.150 But you're both in kind of a pickle, right? You've 0:15:45.170 --> 0:15:47.870 got Chuck Schumer that is going to be having his 0:15:47.950 --> 0:15:50.550 feet put to the fire by people like Al Saeed. 0:15:50.910 --> 0:15:54.080 And then you've got Hakeem Jeffries, who, by the way, 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.920 you know, all these DSA people who have come in 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:58.380 and they've made it clear that. 0:15:58.300 --> 0:16:01.170 They want change in leadership in the Democratic Party. 0:16:01.210 --> 0:16:04.310 So you have the so-called block in the House now, 0:16:04.630 --> 0:16:07.850 these DSA members coming in saying they want changes right together. 0:16:07.890 --> 0:16:10.270 It's no longer just a squad. There's no longer just 0:16:10.330 --> 0:16:11.710 four or five of them. Now, all of a sudden, 0:16:11.730 --> 0:16:14.430 you've got 15 of them, and they get power, right? 0:16:14.450 --> 0:16:16.850 They get their own little voting block, and they create power, 0:16:17.170 --> 0:16:21.200 and they create headaches for people like Hakeem Jeffries and 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.300 people like Chuck Schumer. And that's something that you need 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.000 to watch in the Democratic Party. I mean, how split 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.920 are they? How much do they have to go out and, 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.200 you know, and cater to someone like El-Said to get 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.270 his vote in these key, you know, these key matters? 0:16:36.730 --> 0:16:38.210 And the same in the House. I mean, how do 0:16:38.230 --> 0:16:40.750 you get anything passed when you have people that are 0:16:40.850 --> 0:16:45.010 holding your party hostage in certain aspects of of the 0:16:45.070 --> 0:16:46.210 congressional delegation. 0:16:46.510 --> 0:16:47.810 So that's what I think. 0:16:47.890 --> 0:16:51.270 Is you watch all these different minutiae points, and one 0:16:51.290 --> 0:16:54.150 of them is Chuck Schumer, the other one is Hakeem Jeffries, 0:16:54.470 --> 0:16:57.470 because none of these people on the far left are 0:16:57.590 --> 0:17:00.650 happy with the Democratic leadership, and they are going to 0:17:00.710 --> 0:17:06.290 voice their concerns, and those concerns could outweigh a lot 0:17:06.330 --> 0:17:10.130 of the victory that the Democrats think they're getting by 0:17:10.390 --> 0:17:11.899 taking control. 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:12.390 Of at least the House. 0:17:13.369 --> 0:17:16.320 Let's shift gears here and talk about California for a 0:17:16.390 --> 0:17:20.240 second because the L.A. mayor's seat is up for grabs. 0:17:20.780 --> 0:17:23.980 Karen Bass wants another four years. Nithya Raman, the DSA 0:17:24.020 --> 0:17:28.340 councilwoman who once endorsed Bass, now challenging her. Most of 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.369 the polls outside of the final poll in the race 0:17:31.810 --> 0:17:35.250 had Nithya Raman ahead of Bass. Most of the polls 0:17:35.290 --> 0:17:38.410 had her outside the margin of error. The final poll, 0:17:38.450 --> 0:17:41.090 the UC Berkeley poll that appeared in the L.A. Times, 0:17:41.510 --> 0:17:45.060 had it even-stevened. What do you see happening in that race? 0:17:45.740 --> 0:17:47.200 You know, I think a lot of people have kind 0:17:47.260 --> 0:17:49.780 of because there is no good choice. I mean, the 0:17:49.820 --> 0:17:51.740 bottom line is there's no good choice. And I talked 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.350 to some key people in, you know, Los Angeles politics. 0:17:55.390 --> 0:17:57.610 And they're like, yeah, even the big even the big 0:17:57.650 --> 0:18:00.250 heavy hitters have acknowledged there's not a good choice here. 0:18:00.730 --> 0:18:03.470 But the lesser of two evils in this case, for 0:18:03.570 --> 0:18:06.969 them at least, was Karen Bass. Because, you know, you've 0:18:06.990 --> 0:18:09.600 got Nithya Raman, you've got the DSA, you've got someone 0:18:09.619 --> 0:18:12.939 who's going after the police, you know, if they didn't 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.860 want cops, and it's the whole, let's, you know, crime, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.270 who needs, come on, we don't need police protection, and 0:18:19.310 --> 0:18:21.590 that kind of thing is a problem. And so at 0:18:21.670 --> 0:18:24.830 least they know Karen Bass. And yes, they're not confident 0:18:24.869 --> 0:18:27.670 in Karen Bass, but at least they know what they're getting. 0:18:27.710 --> 0:18:30.350 And the last thing they want to do is put L.A., 0:18:30.450 --> 0:18:33.060 which is in dire straits right now as we. 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:34.320 Stand, put L.A. 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.500 In the hands of some democratic socialist who doesn't have 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.320 any experience doing anything, much less managing the. 0:18:41.300 --> 0:18:42.679 Second largest city in the country. 0:18:42.740 --> 0:18:45.480 So I think people have, you know, at least in 0:18:45.500 --> 0:18:48.900 the past four, five, six days, have started to come 0:18:48.940 --> 0:18:51.710 to their senses. And senses might be the wrong word, 0:18:51.730 --> 0:18:54.650 because you're talking about Karen Bass over Nithya Raman. But 0:18:54.670 --> 0:18:56.950 they're starting to come to their senses, saying, you know, 0:18:57.350 --> 0:18:59.910 we should probably stick with somebody who has a little 0:18:59.950 --> 0:19:03.010 bit of experience here. and somebody who is at least 0:19:03.230 --> 0:19:07.700 rational enough and reasonable enough to be able to listen 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:11.000 to various ideas and concepts. And I think that's where 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.100 people are coming down is, you know, this is not 0:19:13.140 --> 0:19:16.439 a good time for Los Angeles, which is, which is 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.420 for all intents and purposes, a city that is in, 0:19:19.619 --> 0:19:23.450 you know, is in decline that we're going to hand the, 0:19:23.470 --> 0:19:26.429 hand the range to some brand new DSA member and, 0:19:26.670 --> 0:19:28.630 and hope it all comes out good for us. So 0:19:28.690 --> 0:19:31.859 I think that, I think you're going to see Karen 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.160 Bass do much better than we thought she. 0:19:34.060 --> 0:19:34.960 Was going to do a week ago. 0:19:40.210 --> 0:19:42.330 The author of the book, turns out they were right 0:19:42.609 --> 0:19:43.290 all along. 0:19:43.650 --> 0:19:49.280 Life Lessons I Learned Eventually, available online at Amazon.com. You 0:19:49.300 --> 0:19:52.679 can also follow him on X at Trace Gallagher. Trace, 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.240 thanks so much for stopping by on this busy election day. 0:19:55.380 --> 0:19:56.580