WEBVTT - The Fall of Eric Swalwell: John Thomas Explains the Long-Awaited Takedown 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:06.120 Everything the mainstream media left out. 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:12.119 Delivered just right. It's The John Phillip Show, and we 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.079 continue at two to five in the afternoon on The 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.920 John Phillip Show, Mister Randy wags in Culver City. 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:21.280 Sometimes I click the button to turn the sound off 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.040 and it doesn't turn off. That's what happens. I am 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.000 so jealous. Listener Jason says, it's seventy eight degrees in 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.160 the Bay right now. It is so stinking hot in 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:31.760 southern California right now. 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:32.879 But hey, we're. 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:37.040 Broadcasting live in southern California and northern California, seven ninety 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.920 KABC in Southern California, eight ten KSFO in the Bay 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.559 and streaming live on video every single day at Johnny 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:46.920 don't like dot Com. That's Johnny with a Y. You 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.559 can watch us live every single day from noon to 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.880 three or on demand if you're too busy. Johnny don't 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.120 like dot Com. I don't really mind the heat. What 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.320 I can't stand is the heat with the humidity. And 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.640 I don't know what the deal is with the humidity, 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.080 but I feel like I'm in Florida and alligators are 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.600 going to be walking down the street next Apparently it 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.240 has to do with the El Nino this year. But yes, 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.959 typically we can handle the heat in southern California because 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.200 it's dry. It's not dry anymore, it's gross. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.080 Eight hundred two two two five two two two is 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.240 a telephone number one eight hundred two two two five 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.119 two two two. It is our pleasure to welcome our 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.839 next guest to the program. He is a Republican political 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.880 strategist who you can follow on Exit The Thomas Guide. 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:33.959 John Thomas. 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.440 Welcome, Hey John, good to be with you and see 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:37.119 you well. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.960 Thanks so much for stopping by. No problem. So let's start. 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:45.920 Out by talking about the politics of scandal, because Eric Swalwell, 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.480 for a moment in time, was arguably one of the 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.440 biggest celebrities in the resistance movement. He was one of 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.480 the Democrats who handled the impeachment of Donald Trump. He 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.760 was a guy who lived on cable news and lusted 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.800 for confrontation. I think he was one of the Democrats 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.520 who would go on with Tucker Carlson on his program 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.960 on the Fox News channel and they'd get into a 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:13.200 catfight on live television. Then he became a candidate for 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.919 governor here in California. I believe that is the reason 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.160 that a Landy con Locus dropped out of the race. 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.160 She thought she couldn't beat him. The polls indicated that 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.960 he would likely be the top performing Democrat and the 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:30.040 primary election, and then John when it rains, it pours, 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:34.520 the allegation started coming out about sexual assault. He was 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.440 forced to drop out of the race. He is now 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.839 lawyered up. He has a criminal defense attorney and most 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:42.400 recently his home. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:43.200 In Washington, d C. 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.320 Was raided by the FBI and he himself was confronted 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.880 by the FBI at SFO Airport and his phone and 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.680 his laptop were all taken by the federal government. And 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.960 it looks like they're investigating whether or not he is 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.080 going to be charged with sexual assault. Everything just fell 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.120 apart for him all at once. But these open secrets 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:10.720 that existed were didn't impact his career up until the 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.040 first woman came forward. What do you make of what 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.320 has happened to him? How long he was able to 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:21.520 keep these secrets hidden, and how quickly his world just 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:22.160 fell apart. 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.160 Well, you hit it on the head. I mean, I mean, 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.760 it wasn't It wasn't a well kept secret in d C. 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.560 Most most folks did know. I mean, in fact, you 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.400 know Fox News and Tucker Carlson made fun of routinely 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.800 the fact that Eric Swalwell was honeypotted by a Chinese spy. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.600 You know, these were pretty much out in the open. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.720 I think the issue, John, is Eric never really had 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:52.560 real power as just another member of Congress, and the 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.160 fact that he was about to approach real power in 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.440 in a race in which he was the front runner 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.400 for that race. The information came out out and it 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.280 was incredible to me, not so much that it was covered, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.839 because this is kind of It's why you know, when 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.480 you run for high profile races, particularly president of the 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:11.520 United States, they call it the MRI for the soul 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.840 because things that perhaps people didn't care about before, all 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.080 of a sudden people begin to care about. What was 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:21.679 stundying to me, John, is how quickly it happened, uh, 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:26.239 And the fact that his Democratic colleagues let him hold 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:30.440 the front runner status for so long. So the question 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:35.080 I'm still interested to know, John, is it that this 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.479 issue was forced by an opponent in the eleventh hour, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.960 because it honestly, a Katie Porter or somebody should have 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.560 taken Swallowell out earlier on in the race, allowing other 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:51.119 shuffling to happen. The late shuffle really was perfectly timed 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.240 for Besserah as the only one to kind of take 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:58.400 control of the race. So it's interesting to see that 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.359 at the end of the day and Democrats knew that 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.560 this he had all this baggage, they didn't care until 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.159 it actually affected them, when Eric might actually have power. 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.320 If he were to go to a consultant and say, Okay, 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.040 I want to run for governor. I want to hire 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.560 you to run my race. I would assume that most strategists, 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.840 most consultants would then hire a firm to see what's 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.800 out there on this candidate so they know what's coming. 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.760 I would also assume that his opponents in the race 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.040 would hire firms to figure out what was going on 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.800 in his past that may or may not be relevant 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.160 in this campaign. How did this not come up in 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.560 his own internal organization or in the other campaigns, because 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.400 it seems like it was it was the news media 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:44.880 that brought these women out. 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.680 Yeah, it was. Well, let me tell you, first of all, 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:51.440 you're right, I can say confidently I've done this hundreds 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.599 and hundreds of times. It's called a self vulnerability study. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.320 It even has a term a package that we start 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.680 when consultants start with with a candidate that you typically 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:07.520 top level consultants would mandate that as part of their engagement, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.880 even before they're getting engaged, saying I need I need 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.920 that full self vulnerability package. And that's not just because 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.919 we want to decide, hey, is this candidate safe to 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.239 work with? Are they going to implode? But also John 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:22.000 because when we do an extensive benchmark survey and we 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.279 test all the messages both against our opponents but also 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.280 for our guy, we also test the hits on ourselves 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.119 to understand are there any are there any fatal hits? 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:34.880 If there are really hard hits, what are the right 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:36.919 responses do we get out ahead of it? Do we 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.000 ignore it? It's you can't ignore those. It looks like 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:44.920 his campaign consultants committed malpractice because they didn't they didn't 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.520 conduct that study. Now maybe it's because Eric didn't want 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.560 that information to be held by his team. I'm not sure, 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.440 but there's no excuse for a Katie Porter or others 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.960 to have not conducted that same level of opposition recent 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:01.719 that's campaign malpractice. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.360 How reckless was it of Nancy Pelosi, who was then 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.880 the Speaker of the House and Democratic leader when Swallwell 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:13.840 served in the House of Representatives, and Adam Schiff, who 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:17.200 was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to leave 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.840 him on that sensitive committee, knowing there was all of 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.040 this compromat out against him, and knowing that he was 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.880 sleeping with the Chinese spy, because that which he had 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.640 denied publicly has since been verified. She acknowledged that she 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.720 had an affair with him on more than one occasion. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.880 I believe he was left on that committee and exposed 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.880 to some of the nation's biggest secrets, and they were 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.320 asked to remove him from that committee, and they all 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.400 stood by him, and they all defended him, and they 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.880 said that these attacks on him we were part of 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.760 a partisan witch hunt. We now know that's not true. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.320 Well, that actually was the thing that was most shocking 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.800 to me when it was going down, was that the 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.760 Democrats are so in such a partisan like tribal cocoon 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:11.400 that they can't do the obvious right thing because it 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.440 would be perceived perhaps as agreeing with the President Trump 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.680 or agreeing with the Republicans. But I also john think 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.600 the mainstream media are to blame The fact is the Democrats, 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:27.160 like Adam Schiff, weren't under sufficient external pressure from the 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:32.240 media to remove and take action against Swalwell. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:36.200 The race to replace Swalwell has been decided, at least 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.480 in the short term, and a DSA candidate who the 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.320 Democratic Party did not want to win ended up winning 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.760 that election. They wanted just a standard rank and file 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.439 Democrat who would vote the party line. They didn't get that. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.480 They ended up with another DSA problem child. What do 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.120 you make of the fact that the DSA is still 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:02.760 is still not just a New New York state, but Colorado, California, 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.720 all over the place. They are still rolling up the 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.600 wins in these Democratic primaries. 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.080 Okay, this is the story to me. You could have 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.760 written it off as a one off if Mendami won, 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.480 but you weren't seeing a pattern in politics particular as 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:20.480 we're going into a big cycle like this, a midterm 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.800 cycle where I'm always trying to identify larger trends and patterns, 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.560 and we can't ignore it any longer. That this is 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:32.319 a serious tailwind and movement within the Democratic Party. It's 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:37.160 where the intensity lives is with Democratic Socialists. This should 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:41.839 be a serious red flag for Democrats because they're nominating 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:46.520 these candidates, quite frankly, in a wobbler of a swing district, 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.840 are not electable to defeat a Republican candidate. Now maybe 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.040 there's a one off exception where they do win, but 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.160 it creates viability challenges for the Democrats. But then, of course, 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.960 if these Democrats, these Democrats social start winning, then of 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.520 course good luck to a Hakeem Jeffries to govern with 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:08.839 these socialists because it used to be just wing wing 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:11.800 nuts like AOC and others that didn't have much power. 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.400 But you could have a critical mass of these and 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.440 then let's fast forward to the presidential cycle. It's possible 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.160 that the Democrats, instead of nominating kind of a milk 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:26.360 toast Midwestern Democrat, it's very possible that the intensity continues 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.559 to nominate an AOC type candidate, which both is scary 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.479 for the country but also a gift for the Republicans 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.560 because arguably you could defeat an extreme leftist. 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.760 What does the party do? Because you look at this map, 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.800 the calendar is now out. We know that South Carolina 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:48.160 is going first. We know that Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia, Michigan. 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.160 They'll also be voting early on in the Democratic primary, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.400 if you have a bunch of establishment candidates who are 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:59.040 essentially all working the same corner where you have Kamala, 0:10:59.200 --> 0:10:59.520 you have. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.959 New Sin, you have JB. Pritzker, you have I guess 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:04.880 Gretchen person. 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.160 She's not going to run, but yeah, you have all 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.720 of those just standard partisan Democrats who are in the race, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.080 and you have either an AOC or a Bernie or 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.360 someone from that part of the DSA who is going 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.439 to run and have that lane all to themself. If 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:26.959 you split that vote among the standard partisan Democrats enough ways, 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.880 you can almost create a lane for the DSA candidate 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.920 to grab the ball and run right into the end zone. Yeah. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.720 It's actually obviously completely different on the issues, John, but 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.040 it's actually the similar dynamic to what President Trump enjoyed 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.960 in twenty sixteen, when the establishment lane was split many 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.600 different ways. President Trump held on to his lane in 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.200 the mid twenties, and everybody said that he couldn't win. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.160 It's like, actually he did because he was able to 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.640 hang onto a large enough portion of his base, of 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.200 the base of the Republican Party uninterrupted. I could see 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:08.400 the same thing going on here. And here's the other truth. John, Yes, 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.880 the intensity right now is with socialism, which is crazy 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.400 in the Democratic Party. But let's also look at mainstream Democrats. 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.319 I mean, what have they done. What solutions are they 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:24.040 offering to Democratic voters? Nothing? Really, nothing really innovative, no 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:28.240 new policy proposals, Whereas at least on the far left, 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:33.200 there is a although they're crazy, I believe AOC believes 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.560 what she's saying. I'm not so sure that there's a 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.319 conviction and intensity from other Democrats on the kind of 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:39.680 the more middle of the road lane. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.880 Is there anyone within the Democratic Party, the chairman of 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:49.160 the party, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, whomever, who has the 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.760 power in the stature to go to these candidates and go, Okay, 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.080 if we split the vote too many ways, the DSA 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.240 is going to win the nomination, and we can not 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.080 have that because the likelihood that we will lose the 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:08.360 November election becomes very high. So Pritzker, it's not your time, 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:12.760 get out. Paulus, it's not your time, get out. Mowsome, 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:17.240 it's not your time get out. Does anyone have that power? Not? 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:17.720 Really? 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.240 You look at the state of the Democratic Party, it's 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.960 in complete disarray. The Democratic National Committee's leadership is feckless 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.640 and broke. I think John, that might work in the 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.679 eleventh hour as the field begins to narrow, But the 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.600 politics of self interest in a presidential cycle is just 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.720 why not, you know, why not run? You know, stranger 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.360 things have happened if you're if you're a Democrat, to 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:45.360 perhaps be the last They all believe that the last 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.040 man could be the last man standing. 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:47.480 You know. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.200 I think a name that I still think it might 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.280 be one of the top contenders if it isn't an 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:59.480 AOC is John Ossif. I'm really impressed by him. Obviously 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.960 he's Jewish, which is a problem for the anti Semitic 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.079 wing of the Democratic Party. But I think Osif might 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.680 be able to straddle both kind of a fresher new 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:15.040 generational face, but kind of that centrist centrist lane. So 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.360 I wouldn't count Osif out, but I think they might 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.840 end up just running too many standard Democrats, leaving an 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:24.320 AOC open. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.280 What do you make of his philosophy. He's running for 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.640 reelection in the state of Georgia, which is a state 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.920 that voted for Donald Trump last time around. It's a 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:37.280 state that has historically voted Republican, they have a Republican governor, 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:43.560 they have Republican state wide elected officials. He's almost bypassing 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:47.640 his reelection. He's not running as a red state Democrat. 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.400 He's almost running as a national candidate. And he's not 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:56.000 running to the right of the Democratic Party. He's running 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.360 as a hard partisan who is out to get Donald 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:06.640 Trump at every opportunity. Is he looking beyond his reelection 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.280 too soon with that strategy or do you think that 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.080 he believes correctly that he has this in the bag. 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.400 Well, I know his team fairly well, so I can 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.320 speak with pretty good certainty about this. There's a couple 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:26.360 of things motivating his national profile. One is he's trying 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.280 to raise small dollars. So the best way to raise 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.680 small dollars right now is to run against Donald Trump. 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.600 So you can send email and text solicitations to you know, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:41.760 the unmarried white woman in Orange County, California that maybe 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.600 voted for Katie Porter and is angry. So it's a 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.880 lot about small dollars, but it's also John It is 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.960 a little bit of arrogance because I think in part 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:56.760 the Assoff team sees such an incredibly weak field going 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.960 into the next presidential cycle that they want to begin 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.840 into position themselves. But I've cautioned ASA's team as I 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.760 would kash If Kasha Newsom's team. You know, you run 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.440 the risk here of just peaking too soon. At least 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:13.160 Newsom doesn't have a re election to contend with. But 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:17.400 Austin has to pay close attention. Anything can happen in Georgia, 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.480 and if he nationalizes this too quickly, it could backfire. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.280 Let's come back to California for a moment, because Xavier 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:29.840 Besserra is running really a shell of a campaign. After 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.560 he won the primary, he disappeared and we haven't seen 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.520 much of him. Steve Hilton has challenged him to a 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:40.320 series of debates. Bessara says, at some point in the 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.280 future we will debate, but he really won't give details 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.600 beyond that he's not sitting down for many interviews. He's 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:50.040 not having many press availabilities. What do you make of 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.280 this strategy? We know that he doesn't think he has 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:58.360 to campaign that hard as a shifted not but it's 0:16:58.400 --> 0:16:59.360 becoming an issue. 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:00.760 It's becoming something. 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.239 That's talked about in ways that it hasn't been in 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.760 previous campaigns. Do you think that this is going to 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:12.159 give Hilton an opening to go after Besara. 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:19.400 On It's an interesting dynamic. First, Sarah is taking his 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.119 lead and hoping that it just becomes a race of 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.160 rs versus d's, and the math is you can't get 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.280 around the math, and conventional wisdom would say that's right. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.679 The other thing is, I think but Sarah knows that 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:34.919 he's not an incredibly strong candidate head to head with 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.720 other candidates like a polished Steve Hilton. So for him, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.119 he has to make no mistakes. That's kind of a 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.520 rule number one. So he's laying low. Now, the question 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.639 is is he laying too low? I'm not sure. I 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.800 think Steve has to disrupt this race somehow, and the 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.480 best way he can do it is by engaging with Javier, 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.440 And if Avier doesn't engage with him, it limits Steve's 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.959 opportunities to to shuffle this race up. My hunches, Javier 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.920 is basically saying, look, I'm going to raise just enough 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:07.920 money from I'm kind of a call it the I'm 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.760 sorry establishment money that didn't come to me. I'm gonna 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.879 let my TV ads role in the home stretch and 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:18.280 that should be sufficient and that should work. But if 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.560 something were to break out that's bad in the state. 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:25.080 For instance, it could look at one of those moments, John, 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.720 where Bessarah was nowhere to be found, in a moment 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.560 where Californias were expecting his leaderships. So I think it 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:37.040 probably works. But look, if we zoomed out, he's not 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.959 a good candidate. If you ran in any other competitive state, 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.760 he would be losing. He'd be ten points behind. He's 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:48.600 lucky that registration just so heavily favors Democrats right now. 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.800 John Thomas republican political strategist. You can follow him on 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.159 x at the Thomas Guide. John, thanks so much for 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:56.800 stopping by. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:58.160 Thanks John, appreciate it. 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:00.440 If you'd like to email the show, oh, you can 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:02.800 do so at Johnny don't like show at g meil 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:06.120 dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at g meal 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.600 dot com and Randy. If you want to watch us 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.320 perform the show live and click that like button, you 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.440 can do so quite easily at Johnny don't like dot com. 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:17.960 We bought our own domain name to make it really 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.360 easy to find this show. Johnny with a why Johnny 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.600 don't like dot com takes you right to the YouTube channel. 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.560 You get subscribe to all of our content goes to 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:28.600 your homepage, play in the chat room. We're having a 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.840 lot of fun here until three o'clock. Hit the like 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.480 button that gets YouTube to recommend us to new people 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.280 every single day, which is happening constantly. Our subscriber knows 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.800 are growing faster than I ever thought they would. It's 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.080 all happening every single day from noon to three, Johnny 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.440 don't like dot Com. If you're driving and you're too 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.400 busy to check us out live from noon to three, 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.560 well check it out on demand because all the videos 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.120 are there, including the best of videos in the Accountability 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.160 Podcast at Johnny don't like dot Com. If you're looking 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:59.840 for content after we sign off at three, Randy, there's 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:03.560 a always the Accountability Podcast. Our latest episode is getting 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:06.920 a lot of attention because Senega Scott does not hold 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.280 back on his criticism of the corruption that has been 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.440 going on in Oakland for years and years and years 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.520 and how so much of it ties to Attorney General 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.720 Bob Bonta Bonta. So check it out after we sign 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.240 off at three. If you haven't watched it yet, Johnny 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:23.880 don't like dot Com. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:25.760 And if you want to watch the last half hour 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.240 live on your computer or your television or your phone. 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:32.000 Go to Johnny Don't Like dot com and click that 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.320 like button. It really helps us spread the message far 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.080 and wide. And if you want to see us in person, Randy, 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:41.760 We're going to be at Pineapple Hill in the San Fernando. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:43.520 Valley a week from Friday. 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.199 We're going to be at the legendary Pineapple Hills Saloon 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.639 and Grill, and that gorgeous patio angel is going to 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:50.439 be taking good care of you. We're there with our 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.960 friend Susan Shelley from the Howard Jarvis Taxpay Association to 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.560 support Prop forty three, the Local Taxpayer Protection Act. You 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.000 can get your free yard signs, hang out, have a beer, 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.000 have a club sandwich. You're gonna have a great day. 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.800 The John Phillips Show live in Sherman Oaks at the 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.200 Pineapple Hills Saloon and Grill from noon to three Friday, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:09.199 September fourth. 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:11.520 So I've been all. 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:15.640 Over the place recently promoting the Accountability Podcast, and one 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.560 of the places I stopped by last week, I think 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:22.160 it was the end of the end of last week, 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:26.280 was with Jesse Kelly and we talked about any number 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:32.159 of subjects involving both California and the nation, and we 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.440 decided that we would play that interview for you right now. 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.800 Here is John's latest appearance on Jesse Kelly Show on 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.040 the first So. 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:43.240 Would you be a good president? 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:44.040 We'll see. I don't know. 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:49.560 That's a that's a difficult question to answer. I mean, 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:51.600 it's it's so I have no idea. 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.080 I would like to think I would be, but that's 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:56.160 for others to determine. 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.600 By the way, I think I was a pretty good mayor. 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:00.800 I think I pretty good, but people have opinions, and 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:05.920 so I'm not naive about it. That's a terrible answer. 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:10.800 How about showing some confidence joining me now? John Phillips, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:15.480 host of the accountability podcast Available What Johnny Don't Like 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:20.160 Don't dot Com? All right, John, that answer sucked. I'm 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.560 not sure it sounded so effeminate. 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:27.679 Well, I can answer the question for him. He'd make 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:30.639 a horrible president, And how do I know he was 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:34.639 a horrible governor? And how am I judging him before 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.760 he became governor. I could buy my shampoo without it 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:41.160