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Speaker 1: Well, we got a fun a little different type of

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Speaker 1: interview today. Instead of one person, I have two candidates

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Speaker 1: for the United States Senate running in super red states,

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Speaker 1: running as independents, not as major party candidates. We have

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Speaker 1: Brian Bangs from South Dakota Todd Achilles from Idaho. They've

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Speaker 1: agreed to appear together. In some ways, their campaigns are

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Speaker 1: trying to be helpful to each other, share best practices,

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Speaker 1: try to figure out what's the easiest way to raise

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Speaker 1: money without getting sucked into one of the partisan vortexas

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Speaker 1: which seem to can blow up independent candidacies in some cases.

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Speaker 1: It's the model is a bit of what we saw

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Speaker 1: in Nebraska with Dan Osborne. But that also But I

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Speaker 1: hesitate to throw the Dan Osborne example out there because

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Speaker 1: I don't think I think well, Brian and Todd probably

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Speaker 1: share some issues where they agree with them. They may

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Speaker 1: not agree with Dan on all issues, and everybody wants

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Speaker 1: to be seen when you're running as an independent. You're

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Speaker 1: an independent for a reason, as I like to say.

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Speaker 1: And both Brian and Todd joined me. Now, thanks for

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Speaker 1: agreeing to do this, and obviously you guys are familiar

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Speaker 1: with each other, so you're in fact, you guys pitch

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Speaker 1: this so I appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely, thanks you, Yeah, thank.

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Speaker 2: You for having us.

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Speaker 1: Look, I'm going to try to ping pong like my

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Speaker 1: job as moderator, right, my job is to make sure

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Speaker 1: so I will do my best to do this. So, Brian,

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Speaker 1: let me just start simple questions. It's going to be

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Speaker 1: the same question for both of you. But why are

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Speaker 1: you running? And why as an independent you have? And

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Speaker 1: you know, why did you reject the major party?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think South Dakota's one of multiple states where

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Speaker 3: the national party politics don't serve regular folks, so the

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Speaker 3: regular voters being left behind. Republicans take us for granted

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Speaker 3: and Democrats forget we exist. And I've been a registered

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Speaker 3: independent for ninety seven percent of my life, which is

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Speaker 3: similar to a quarter of South Dakota's registered voters and

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Speaker 3: nearly half of national voters. If you're paying attention to everybody,

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Speaker 3: regular people like me, And obviously the independents are angry

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Speaker 3: at the DC establishment and the party system that doesn't

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Speaker 3: work for them, and I think justifiably so, So that's

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Speaker 3: why I'm running because the system hasn't worked for regular

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Speaker 3: folks for quite a while.

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Speaker 1: Now, you ran as a Democrat once. Talk about that.

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Speaker 1: Obviously that experience soured you.

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Speaker 3: Why Yeah, As I said, I was a registered independent.

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Speaker 3: I registered an independent when I was eighteen years old,

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Speaker 3: so ninety seven percent of my life except for that experience.

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Speaker 3: I was infuriated watching Americans beating law enforcement officers with

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Speaker 3: polls and chanting for the murder the Vice president. On

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Speaker 3: January sixth, when the South Dakota Democratic Party was poised

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Speaker 3: to give now Senate Majority leader John Thune an unchallenged

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Speaker 3: free pass for reelection, I felt somebody needed to do something,

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Speaker 3: so I stepped up to run. And of course I

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Speaker 3: am not a multimillionaire by any step of the words,

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Speaker 3: and I am a political novice. That was my first

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Speaker 3: time doing anything, so I thought I could only be

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Speaker 3: a legitimate candidate with one of the two parties, and

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Speaker 3: I set aside, had to set aside my independent affiliation

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Speaker 3: for what I thought was the pragmatic alternative to John Thune.

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Speaker 3: What I learned, and which is why I shaped why

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Speaker 3: I'm doing this now, is that my approach in that

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Speaker 3: race was I would go up to people introduce myself

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Speaker 3: as a candidate. I would up to people wearing Trump hats,

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Speaker 3: introduce myself and literally say I'm going to guarantee with

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Speaker 3: one hundred percent certainty that you and I will agree

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Speaker 3: on at least two, but probably three things. And then

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Speaker 3: I'd run down my list and they're not in along

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Speaker 3: and typically was all three and we get to the

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Speaker 3: end and I'd say, so can I count on your

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Speaker 3: vote November?

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Speaker 1: And what do you think? The first words out of

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Speaker 1: the mouthware which party do you belove to?

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Speaker 2: What do you? What are you?

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Speaker 1: So?

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Speaker 2: What are you?

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Speaker 3: And then you say, well, I was a lifelong independent,

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Speaker 3: but I'm running as a Democrat. And far, far too

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Speaker 3: many times I heard the oh, I'll never vote for

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Speaker 3: a Democrat and that was it. You know, we'd agreed

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Speaker 3: on these things, and then they just said, no.

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Speaker 1: What happened to the Tom Dashel voter? What happened to

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Speaker 1: the Tim Johnson voter?

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Speaker 2: They have gone away? I would say the.

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Speaker 1: I mean, no, I don't. I mean, that's my curiosity.

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Speaker 1: Do those same voters exist and they've just left the party,

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Speaker 1: or do they leave the state.

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Speaker 3: I will say that the current head of the South

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Speaker 3: Dakota GOP was a thirty year Democrat, so he was

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Speaker 3: a registered Democrat for thirty times longer than I was,

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Speaker 3: and he is now a hardcore mega individual. So the

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Speaker 3: voters there, I think it's summed up in the I

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Speaker 3: vote for the person, not the party. People still say

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Speaker 3: that I heard it in twenty two, but they don't

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Speaker 3: actually mean it, because as I said, yeah, I'll never

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Speaker 3: vote for a Democrat. That is where those voters went.

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Speaker 1: All right, Todd, your turn, Why independent? Why not either

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Speaker 1: a Republican primary or the Democrats.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think the core thing for me, I'm

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Speaker 2: just I'm profoundly worried about what's happening in Congress and

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Speaker 2: what's happening to the country. And it doesn't matter who's

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Speaker 2: in power, we have the same get division and dysfunction.

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Speaker 2: You know, I actually served as a Democrat in the

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Speaker 2: Idaho Legislature for two sessions. You know, my district is

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Speaker 2: twenty five percent registered Dems and I won with sixty

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Speaker 2: percent of the vote. And I'll tell you the number

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Speaker 2: one thing I heard when I was knocking on doors is, wow, Town,

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Speaker 2: you're a better Republican than that crazy on the ballot.

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Speaker 2: And when you look at Idaho, there's you know, there's

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Speaker 2: multiple factions of the Republican party. There's no good definition

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Speaker 2: of what it means to be Republican, and so now

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Speaker 2: you know, the question is what does it mean to

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Speaker 2: be conservative and how do you meet the needs of

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Speaker 2: the state. But you know, when you look at Idaho,

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Speaker 2: we have this really strong tradition of being independent. So

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Speaker 2: when we close the primaries in twenty twelve, seventy percent

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Speaker 2: of Idahoans were unaffiliated with the party, seventy percent. That

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Speaker 2: was the highest in the country. Boise State University does

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Speaker 2: an annual public policy survey, sixty five percent of Idahoans

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Speaker 2: said they were they were independent or they self identified

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Speaker 2: as independent, where I'm a Republican, but I leaned independent.

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Speaker 2: And importantly, a couple of years ago, when we passed

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Speaker 2: Medicaid expansion, we did it with sixty one percent of

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Speaker 2: the vote. That was by far the highest of any

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Speaker 2: red state in that country. Eighty percent of counties voted

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Speaker 2: for medicaid expansion. And so there's this, you know, on

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Speaker 2: these consensus issues, Idahoans can come together, and that's what

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Speaker 2: we're you know, we're trying to get back to those

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Speaker 2: core values by being an independent and not being part

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Speaker 2: of the Dems. The Republicans.

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Speaker 1: Is it Is it, specifically the DEM brand on cultural

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Speaker 1: issues that made it impossible for you to talk to

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Speaker 1: that voter that agreed with medicaid expansion.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. I mean, you know, you've had a

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Speaker 2: decade of under investment in the DEM Party. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's the same thing at South Dakota as Idaho. Where

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Speaker 2: the brand is is you know, there's there's been no pushback,

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Speaker 2: there's no been no countervailing force. And listen to DEM Party.

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Speaker 2: The longest serving governor in the history of Idaho was

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Speaker 2: Cecil Andres.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he was all right time he served in the

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Speaker 1: Carter administration, right as Interior Secretary. If i'm that's exactly right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, yeah, you're exactly right for four terms and

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Speaker 2: the DEM but it was those you know, they were

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Speaker 2: kind of these core Idaho values where everybody could get

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Speaker 2: behind ces and And I think the you know, the

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Speaker 2: Republican Party it's for i'll call the GOP leadership has

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Speaker 2: really been taken over by John Bircher's and some Christian nationalists,

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Speaker 2: So they don't represent Idahoans. You know, the DEM Party's

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Speaker 2: got all of its own issues in the state. They're

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Speaker 2: not really representing out of Hoans. So if you think

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Speaker 2: about both parties have kind of got into the corners

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Speaker 2: and you look at this big distribution of people in

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Speaker 2: the middle who feel unders underrepresented, and that those are

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Speaker 2: the folks are trying to we're trying to meet.

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Speaker 1: What's interesting is both and that might address this to

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Speaker 1: both of you because both of your states, the delegation

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Speaker 1: out of South Dakota is not really Look, John Thune

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Speaker 1: and Mike Rounds are are not mega guys. They are

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Speaker 1: sort of mega adjacent and have had to figure out

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Speaker 1: they're trying to stay you can. I watch it and

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Speaker 1: I've interviewed Mike Rowtz John Thron a million times. I

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Speaker 1: know them pretty well. I think I do at least

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Speaker 1: so I know Jim Rish and Mike Simpson and Idaho

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Speaker 1: are very much what i'd call Bush Republicans, Okay, whatever,

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Speaker 1: that that what the definition of conventional conservative Republican from

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Speaker 1: the first decade of the century. You know that's Mike Simpson, right,

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Speaker 1: That's that's Jim Reish. And yet so I guess let

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Speaker 1: me ask you. I'll start with you, Brian. You know

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Speaker 1: why because in Kansas when it was one party, the

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Speaker 1: basically the split and basically the Chamber of Commerce, Republicans said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, we are going to go support a

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Speaker 1: Democrat for governor to create some balance. Now we're not

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Speaker 1: going to support Democrats for federal offices, but we're going

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Speaker 1: to do that. Do you sense that the Republican Party

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Speaker 1: is going to split in two? I mean where the

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Speaker 1: mainstream sort of Mike Simpson Republicans going to go if

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Speaker 1: the state party keeps moving further and further to the right.

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Speaker 3: Well, there is a fight going on right now in

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Speaker 3: the state party state GP. We have I think last

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Speaker 3: count was four candidates for governor right now.

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Speaker 1: And you've got, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, a super hardcore Mega, and then you've got hardcore Mega,

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Speaker 3: and then you've got Dusty Johnson is currently our representative

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Speaker 3: in the House, who's running. And he's tried. He's a

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Speaker 3: former Truman scholar, he's a smart.

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Speaker 1: Guy, he's not a maga guy, and he's trying to

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Speaker 1: fit in. He's tried just enough. Like I say, look,

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Speaker 1: I watched Mike Grounds, I watched Thune, Right, I get

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Speaker 1: I understand strategically what they're trying to do. The question

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Speaker 1: is to vull voters by it, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So that'll be the challenge for them coming up in

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Speaker 3: the primary for the governor's race, of what's going to happen.

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Speaker 3: And then our current Attorney General, Marty Jacklee is going

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Speaker 3: to run for the House, and as far as I know,

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Speaker 3: he's the only one who's announced for that, so he's

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Speaker 3: got a pretty easy glide path. And he I don't

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Speaker 3: know that he's a mega guy, hardcore mega guy. He

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Speaker 3: may be like softcore, but yeah, so what how that's

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Speaker 3: going to shake out? I don't know, because they're going

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Speaker 3: to fight, and they're going to fight hard about this.

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Speaker 3: And I agree with you that John Thune and Mike

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Speaker 3: Rounds they're not hardcore mega and Mike Browns has gotten

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Speaker 3: criticized for that before.

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Speaker 1: He's been labeled to rhino. Trump in fact.

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Speaker 3: Labeled him a rhino himself before changing his mind later

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Speaker 3: when he fell in line.

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Speaker 1: So what's going to happen? I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I can't predict what the voters, the GOP voters are

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Speaker 3: going to do. But we've heard from several multiple GPO

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Speaker 3: voters that are unhappy with the situation because this is

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Speaker 3: obviously farm country, so the tariff situation and John Thune

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Speaker 3: and Mike Round's going like, oh, no, do what you

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Speaker 3: want with the tariffs, even though that is the legislative

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Speaker 3: branch's power explicitly in the Constitution.

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Speaker 2: It's all you.

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Speaker 3: So is that hands off position going to help them?

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 2: This is a wild card.

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Speaker 1: Well that's what your candidacy is going to test. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I look, I there is to me the farm belts loosely, right,

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Speaker 1: and it's the states that in particular have have got

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Speaker 1: a lot of people that make a living exporting excess

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Speaker 1: egg product. Right. We already feed ourselves, so we're exporting it.

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Speaker 1: That's Kansas, That's Nebraska, That's Iowa, that's South Dakota, that's Frankly,

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Speaker 1: you can you could say it's everybody grows soybeans, right,

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Speaker 1: it's almost every state, and we're going to have soybeans

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Speaker 1: literally just rotting. I have a feeling and not being

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Speaker 1: able to get rid of it. Todd same in Idaho

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Speaker 1: in some ways. How how have the Mike Simpsons and

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Speaker 1: Jim Reish's serve and even the look the governor got

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Speaker 1: pushed from the right, you know kind of I'm still

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Speaker 1: I think it was Governor Little who you know, was

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Speaker 1: was sort of so distraught over the mask wars that

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Speaker 1: he that he got emotional about it, like what are

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Speaker 1: we doing? Like, you know, I'm not making anybody do this,

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Speaker 1: but don't criticize somebody who does. And that was like,

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Speaker 1: how is that controversial? Right? And here was a very

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Speaker 1: conservative guy being seen as not maga enough.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that's just an indicative of where

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Speaker 2: the Republican Party is is being pulled in Idaho, be

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Speaker 2: pulled from mainstream conservative values and Governor Little, who I

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Speaker 2: spent a lot of time with Governor Little when I

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Speaker 2: was in legislator. I have a ton of respect for him,

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Speaker 2: but it's he's in a really, really hard place. And

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Speaker 2: I would push back on this idea of Rich being

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Speaker 2: a Bush Republican. Frankly, I'm a better Bush Republican than

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Speaker 2: Senator rish Is.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: You know, he goes wherever he needs to go. He

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Speaker 2: played games with public lands over the last couple of months,

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Speaker 2: you know, when Senator Mike Lee was trying to trying

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Speaker 2: to push that through, and you know, and public lands

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Speaker 2: are sacred in Idaho, right, I mean this is hunters, herders, tree.

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Speaker 1: Huggers around the West and Midwest on that stuff, Like

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Speaker 1: it's one of the reasons you live out there. It's

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Speaker 1: for the lands, not to develop it.

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Speaker 2: Frankly, that's exactly it. And he played games with this

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Speaker 2: thing and finally finally came around at the last minute.

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Speaker 2: And for the egg industry, right, there's only one strategic

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Speaker 2: industry in the state of Idaho and that's egg. Right,

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Speaker 2: It's about seventeen percent of the economy. And these tariffs

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Speaker 2: are really scary for ag not only the terriffs, but

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Speaker 2: but also all the market concentration going on. It's fertilizer

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Speaker 2: and seed and chemicals and everything else. I mean, that's

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Speaker 2: you know, farmers and growers are getting squeezed and it's

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Speaker 2: not getting better. And I think the fundamental problem with

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Speaker 2: Rish is that he's a career politician. And listen, the

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Speaker 2: far right in Idaho don't like him. The modern Republicans

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Speaker 2: don't like him. He hasn't done town halls. I've done

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Speaker 2: more town halls than two weeks. And you know, we

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Speaker 2: think he's done in ten years is bestify account. And

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Speaker 2: he's just lost touch with the challenges of I do

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Speaker 2: owns and it's you know, it's it's tough to live

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Speaker 2: in our state. Wages are low costs or high and

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Speaker 2: everybody's getting squeezed, and you know, Jim Rish just seems

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Speaker 2: to be a loop of all these these challenges.

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Speaker 1: One of the tougher questions you're going to have to

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Speaker 1: answer for that swing voter that may is probably a

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Speaker 1: Republican but doesn't necessarily like the direction of the Republican Party,

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Speaker 1: but isn't ready to be a Democrat, Okay, isn't ready

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Speaker 1: to support the Democrats. The toughest question you're both going

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Speaker 1: to be answered if you win, which party do you

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Speaker 1: caucus with? That you still are going to have to

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Speaker 1: make a choice. Right, are you voting for Schumer? Are

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Speaker 1: you voting for thun Right? Are you going to who

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Speaker 1: do you organize with? And I'm going to preface this

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Speaker 1: with a what a poster friend of mine described if

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Speaker 1: it was the campaign, the McMullen campaign against Mike Lee,

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Speaker 1: where this poster is convinced that Evan McMullan said, definitively,

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Speaker 1: if he wins, he'll vote he is going to vote

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Speaker 1: with the Republicans to organize the Senate. That doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: he'll vote with Republicans from all these issues, but he

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Speaker 1: will vote that. Had he said it, it would have

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Speaker 1: been the difference between winning or losing. Utah's a pretty

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Speaker 1: conservative state. So's Idaho. So I'll start with you. There's

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Speaker 1: a populism to South Dakota that might might be slightly

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Speaker 1: different to me than I think Idaho's electorate. But I'm

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Speaker 1: willing to be persuaded. Well, where are you on this question?

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Speaker 2: Uh? Uh? Brian and I and Dan and Nebraska and

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Speaker 2: Tye in Mississippi. We've spent a lot of time talking

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Speaker 2: about this. We listen to the root problem in Congress

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Speaker 2: right now is the money is the corruption. And you

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Speaker 2: know we've decided we're going to we're going to caucus

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Speaker 2: on our own, right, and if you just if you

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Speaker 2: just look through the numbers and how do Yeah, look, I.

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Speaker 1: Get it right, But those of us that cover that,

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Speaker 1: you know, what does that mean? I think there's power

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Speaker 1: in that personal right. I think if you guys, you know,

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Speaker 1: one person can't do this, but four of you could, right,

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Speaker 1: four or five of you could sort of say, hey,

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Speaker 1: you got to work for our support, you know, and

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Speaker 1: maybe if you give me a committee chairmanship, I'll think

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Speaker 1: about it.

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Speaker 2: Right, And I think the fundamental strategies you deny a

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Speaker 2: majority to either party, right, so right now, it's fifty

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Speaker 2: three Republicans, forty five Gems, and two independents. You know,

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Speaker 2: Dems may pick up two best case, you know, that's

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Speaker 2: probably you in a stretch. But you know, if two

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Speaker 2: out of four of us win, you know, now you're

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Speaker 2: you're forty nine Republicans, forty seven Dems, and four independents, right,

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Speaker 2: so there's no majority. If all four of us win,

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Speaker 2: it's forty seven, forty seven and six, yeah, right, counting

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Speaker 2: counting Sanders and King.

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Speaker 1: I might count Markowski in that. I don't think. You know,

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Speaker 1: she's sort of in some ways arguably just like Bernie

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Speaker 1: and King, which is she's one as an independent but

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Speaker 1: caucuses with one side, right, yeah, yeah, And you.

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Speaker 2: Know, I think from a policy standpoint, I'm incredibly aligned

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Speaker 2: with Josh Holland what he's doing around big tech, what

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Speaker 2: he's doing on you know, minimum wage and other things.

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Speaker 2: You know, I think there's another person where you can

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Speaker 2: find some alignment on this thing. But the fundamental strategies

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Speaker 2: you deny the majority to either party, you know, the

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Speaker 2: independents become the folk room. We're not beholden to these

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Speaker 2: just massive money machines that both parties have built up,

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Speaker 2: and then that's how you dry this reform on campaign finance,

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Speaker 2: on stock trading, on ending these revolving doors, all of

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Speaker 2: this stuff to get the you know, all of these

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Speaker 2: misincentives out of the out of the institution.

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Speaker 1: Brian, I think your challenge is slightly greater because one

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Speaker 1: thing about small states, they're aware that you need congressional

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Speaker 1: leaders to make sure you don't get run over, right,

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Speaker 1: And I'm curious if you think Thune's leadership is actually

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Speaker 1: an impediment to your candidacy.

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Speaker 3: No, Actually, I would view it more as a benefit

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Speaker 3: because when you contrast Senator Thune, who defeated majority leader

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Speaker 3: back in the day to get his seat in the Senate,

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Speaker 3: Dashel delivered for South Dakota. So we have roads that

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Speaker 3: were funded only because Dashel was there, and a variety

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Speaker 3: of other infrastructure projects. So if that's how you judge things,

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Speaker 3: then Dashell brought money in. If you look at Thune

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Speaker 3: and rounds now, they are literally taking money out. So

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Speaker 3: we're losing Medicaid funds, Medicare funds, and this and that

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Speaker 3: and the other thing. Infrastructure funding goes away. So the

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Speaker 3: point too, if that's the point then the existence of

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Speaker 3: Thune and the silence of as not advocating for things

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Speaker 3: that South Dakotins want because hey, the party says we

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Speaker 3: don't want to do this. That's not advocating for South

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Speaker 3: to Cotons. So I am all on board with the

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Speaker 3: discussion that Tie Todd and Dan and we are having

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Speaker 3: about we need to change the status quo. The status

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Speaker 3: quo is a product of both parties the dysfunction. So

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Speaker 3: if we have people that say I reject both parties

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Speaker 3: and here's what we stand for, the good government reforms

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Speaker 3: and a variety of other things that we commonly agree on,

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Speaker 3: and say, you are not going to be able to

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Speaker 3: have a majority, and you are not going to be

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Speaker 3: able to have a majority, but if you want our votes,

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Speaker 3: you have to earn it. And we're looking out for

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Speaker 3: the regular folks that work for a living. So that

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Speaker 3: is the power. That's what we're selling here. I think

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Speaker 3: fundamentally is the disruption, entire disruption of how the system

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Speaker 3: is dysfunctional right now in the Senate. If you get

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Speaker 3: three four of us in there, things have to change

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Speaker 3: because there's no majority to do whatever you want to do.

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Speaker 1: There's a reason results matter more than promises, just like.

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Speaker 1: There's a reason Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury

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Speaker 1: law firm. For the last thirty five years, they've recovered

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Speaker 1: twenty five billion dollars for more than half a million clients.

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Speaker 1: It includes cases where insurance companies offered next to nothing,

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Speaker 1: just hoping to get away with paying as little as possible.

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Speaker 1: Morgan and Morgan fought back ended up winning millions. In fact,

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Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, one client was awarded twenty six million dollars,

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Speaker 1: which was a staggering forty times the amount that the

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Speaker 1: insurance company originally offered. That original offer six hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars twenty six million, six hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars. So with more than one thousand lawyers across

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Speaker 1: the country, they know how to deliver for everyday people.

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Speaker 1: If you're injured, you need a lawyer. You need somebody

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Speaker 1: to get your back. Check out for Thepeople dot com,

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Speaker 1: Slash podcast or Dow Pound Law Pound five to two

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Speaker 1: nine law on your cell phone. And remember all law

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Speaker 1: firms are not the same, So check out Morgan and Morgan.

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Speaker 1: Their fee is free unless they win. I like to

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Speaker 1: think there is an appetite for disruption or else, Barack

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Speaker 1: Obama and Donald Trump would have been president right in

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Speaker 1: some ways. Both of their candidacies were preface on the Hey,

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Speaker 1: are you tired of the way the system has worked,

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Speaker 1: Let's try something different? And I do think it explains

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Speaker 1: each of their initial successes. So I buy the disruptive aspect.

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Speaker 1: But it is here's another thing that aligns against you. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: it aligns against what I'm trying to build here. It's

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Speaker 1: that the information ecosystem really punishes the middle and nuance

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Speaker 1: in independence. Right, it's very hard for you to get

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Speaker 1: your message out. So Brian, let me start with you.

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Speaker 1: You know, right, the way algorithms work, right, you either

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Speaker 1: get push to the left or push to the right.

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Speaker 1: And it's is that the biggest impediment you face, almost

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Speaker 1: more than it is money or anything else, is the

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Speaker 1: way the information stream works against the independent candidacies or

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Speaker 1: independent media.

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Speaker 3: I would say it doesn't work necessarily against independence only

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Speaker 3: it works against all all candidates without the money to

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Speaker 3: just force their way in. Like on my I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: call it Twitter because that's what was born.

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Speaker 2: I know.

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Speaker 3: I get these ads from the super hardcore mega candidate

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Speaker 3: for governor, and I've canceled them before, but he's forcing

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Speaker 3: his ads in front of my eyes geolocation.

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Speaker 1: I assume right, you're a South Dakota.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So.

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Speaker 3: It's the way to force yourself in. So if you

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Speaker 3: have the money, you can get yourself in there. The

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Speaker 3: problem is that it takes money to buy getting in

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Speaker 3: the information stream. So is it a problem for you

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Speaker 3: if you don't have enough money? In twenty yeah, I

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Speaker 3: was outspent fourteen to one, and I'm told that we

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Speaker 3: had ads on TV, you know, right at the end

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Speaker 3: when I could afford some, But I never actually saw

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Speaker 3: any myself. So can't you know voters didn't They fundamentally

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Speaker 3: just did not have any idea who I was or

432
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 3: what I stood for. But when they heard who I

433
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,160
Speaker 3: was and what I stood for, they liked it. They

434
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 3: just didn't know. So that is the big problem, I

435
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 3: would say, And that's why the elections are now so expensive,

436
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,480
Speaker 3: because you have to spend so much to get the

437
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:28,439
Speaker 3: attention of people.

438
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:30,439
Speaker 1: What are you trying to do differently this time that

439
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 1: you did in twenty twenty two.

440
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 3: Well, I'm trying to have more money, So that's the

441
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,040
Speaker 3: making But now we've got a different game that we've organized.

442
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 3: I learned a lot so and your point about the

443
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,800
Speaker 3: fact that nuance is lost. I'm a former professor and

444
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 3: I'm an attorney by training, so I'm very much you.

445
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 1: Live in the gray area. You know how to work gray.

446
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 3: Area details where you make your money. So I want

447
00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 3: to dive into that stuff. But that's my biggest difficulty

448
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 3: as a candidate is I have to be able to

449
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 3: shorten it down to a slogan. That is a problem

450
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 3: for me because I need to talk about the details.

451
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,639
Speaker 3: And so we're using substack to explain policy positions that

452
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 3: I'm putting out of like, hey, here's this background and

453
00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,680
Speaker 3: here's why I think this. So when I put it

454
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,639
Speaker 3: up on my website, when I have like a sentence

455
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 3: or something ideal, I can have a link to the

456
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 3: substack that says here's a whole bunch of backstory to this.

457
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 3: But yeah, fundamentally, we need to be able to afford

458
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 3: to put it out and force it in front of

459
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 3: people's eyes because they're going to like what they see.

460
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 3: I know that already from the twenty two race.

461
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 1: Todd, how would you describe that challenge right, which is

462
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,439
Speaker 1: just the way the algorithms are aligned against the middle.

463
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 1: I mean, they're just Look, I think this is our problem, right,

464
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: we're all of the incentive I'm I have been channeling

465
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,119
Speaker 1: the Milton Friedman quote, a great Milton Friedman quote that said,

466
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 1: you can elect all the good people in the world.

467
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: If you don't have a good incent of structures, they're

468
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,920
Speaker 1: not going to do the right thing. Bad people will

469
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 1: do the right thing if you have really good incentives.

470
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,119
Speaker 1: So we there's some truth to that, right, we have

471
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,360
Speaker 1: terrible lists in centa structure, and the incentives work against

472
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: moderation and work against sort of if you don't fit

473
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 1: into left right paradigm. How how are you trying to be?

474
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:21,920
Speaker 1: Back at this?

475
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:27,439
Speaker 2: I guess I pushed back that you're being being moderate

476
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 2: or being in the middle? Is it? Is it necessarily boring? Uh?

477
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 2: You know? I I was inspired by John Hay and.

478
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,400
Speaker 1: I think it's quite interesting because you end up having

479
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: interesting debates in the middle when you're when you're a

480
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: bunch of people you agree with. It's boring, you know,

481
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:46,440
Speaker 1: But just.

482
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 2: An example of this. So so in the last session

483
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 2: of the Audahole legislature, you know, I was I was

484
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 2: thinking about how to highlight just some of these really

485
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 2: dumb bills that come across. And I was sort of

486
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 2: inspired by you remember, John McCaine used to have those

487
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 2: pork awards. So there was a dumpster outside the Idaho

488
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 2: Capital and I would do my dumpster bill of the

489
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,159
Speaker 2: week and people love that. And you know, it was

490
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 2: just thirty seconds, and you know, here are the three

491
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 2: reasons why this bill is just ridiculous. And uh and

492
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 2: I got a ton of traffic people coming up to

493
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 2: me in coffee shops and in restaurants.

494
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, we just you know, continued that thing.

495
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,840
Speaker 2: And you know, and these these platforms are are difficult,

496
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 2: but with the right message targeted in the right way,

497
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 2: they can actually be used. Uh. But honestly, Chuck, I

498
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 2: think the fundamental thing in the state, like I know,

499
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 2: I mean we're only two million people, uh, is you

500
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 2: got to get out and have the conversations and meet

501
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 2: with people. And I you know, I've been doing a

502
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 2: state wide tour. We just wrapped up the third leg

503
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,439
Speaker 2: of this thing. I've done twenty more than twenty town halls,

504
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 2: traveled all over the state, I mean, and just reinforcing

505
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,920
Speaker 2: what an incredible place Idaho is But this is it.

506
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 2: It's these face to face conversations. It's talking with the

507
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 2: local reporters and the local weekly paper, and this is

508
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 2: you know, we're building a huge volunteer organization. This is

509
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 2: how we're going to win in November twenty six It's

510
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,120
Speaker 2: it's face to phase, it's conversations.

511
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the national climate. Brian, Uh, what's your

512
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:26,160
Speaker 1: what's what's your diagnosis at how we got here where

513
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:31,959
Speaker 1: political violence is now no longer shocking that it just happens.

514
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 1: I mean, we may have been surprised that Charlie Kirk

515
00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:41,640
Speaker 1: was killed, but I wasn't shocked that political violence erupted again.

516
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: We've had it all year long. We've had it for

517
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 1: the last I would argue that we've had a decade

518
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,160
Speaker 1: of escalating violent episodes. January sixth We can, we can,

519
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,880
Speaker 1: we can rattle them off and you can, and they're

520
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,040
Speaker 1: sadly pretty bipartisan. How do you think we got here?

521
00:27:58,960 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 2: Well?

522
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,479
Speaker 3: What you we're just talking information? So we live in

523
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:07,919
Speaker 3: information silos where the logarithm pushes you to, Hey, you

524
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 3: like that one, so you like this one. Oh, here's

525
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 3: another one that you'll like, and you didn't like these

526
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,879
Speaker 3: other things, so you're not going to hear anything from

527
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 3: the other side. So it by design functions that way

528
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 3: and we get the anger and fear motivates people. So

529
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,240
Speaker 3: that's where we are. And not to dismiss the fact

530
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:29,119
Speaker 3: that we've had increasing not political violence, but increasing violence

531
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 3: with guns over the last you know, several decades, but fundamentally,

532
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 3: democracy is supposed to be a pressure relief valve for

533
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,960
Speaker 3: these conflicts, for these arguments that we're having. And if

534
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 3: we think that democracy isn't working, which is one of

535
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,480
Speaker 3: the things that I believe that it's the system is

536
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 3: corrupted by money, principally to serve some aspect of society

537
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,040
Speaker 3: and leave the rest of us down here fighting for scraps.

538
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 3: When we're fighting for scraps, you know, if you think

539
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 3: about a pack of dogs that are they fight each

540
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,160
Speaker 3: other for things, and that's what we're seeing. If we

541
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 3: can fix democracy, I think we can fix the prospect

542
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 3: of political violence and minimize it. If you can just

543
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 3: vote and say, hey, I disagree with you, here's my vote,

544
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 3: and it actually matters.

545
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: Brian, what do you do with the following voter? Because

546
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 1: I ran into this in twenty four. You know, which

547
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 1: is the voter that says, yeah, I'm concerned about the democracy,

548
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: but I got to make ends meet first. What do

549
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 1: you say to that voter who says, I will get Yeah,

550
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 1: I agree with you on democracy, but that feels like

551
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: a that's something I'm gonna worry about down the road.

552
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I got to figure out healthcare, I.

553
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 3: Would say those that's the same question. You've just highlighted

554
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 3: the same thing. Why do you have that? Why is

555
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 3: our healthcare so expensive? Why do we pay the highest

556
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 3: per capital colls in the world. Because the system rewards that.

557
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:57,280
Speaker 3: If you look at who the donors are for the

558
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 3: Blue Cross, Blue Shield, who they given money to, it's

559
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 3: kind of split down the middle between the Democrats and Republicans.

560
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, when if I tell you right, yeah, just want

561
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: to keep the money.

562
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 3: The money has corrupted the system. And if you have

563
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 3: the politicians that are beholden to who wrote me the

564
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,680
Speaker 3: biggest check? And I felt this pressure in twenty two

565
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 3: of if I got a large check, if somebody maxed

566
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 3: out to me, then the next time they call, I'm

567
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 3: taking the call. Just because that's how the system works.

568
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 3: I'm doing a different approach this time. So the bolt

569
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 3: my average contribution for the first quarter that I was

570
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,040
Speaker 3: in was twenty one dollars. And if you contrast that

571
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 3: with Mike Rounds, he had two hundred large dollar contributors

572
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 3: and he had eighty seven percent of his funds came

573
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 3: from two hundred packs and the big money individuals. So

574
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 3: the way we do politics and the fact that this

575
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 3: is allowed and the Supreme Court says, oh no, there's

576
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 3: no problem with you know, given money, you should have

577
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,959
Speaker 3: more money in politics. This is the problem. Why are

578
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 3: things bad for you? Why is healthcare so expensive because

579
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 3: of politics? Why is there inflation that's not being addressed

580
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 3: because of politics? This, this is the issue. It's the

581
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 3: same thing. We need to fix democracy to make it work.

582
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: Look, I don't disagree with your with your rest The

583
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 1: problem is voters. I mean, I want to get to

584
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,080
Speaker 1: the campaign finance thing a little bit, but in a minute,

585
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,239
Speaker 1: because it is one of the great conundrums when you

586
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 1: when when you present voters with the data that you

587
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 1: just presented, they agree You're right, this system is messed up.

588
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 1: But it has been really hard to make campaign finance

589
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,080
Speaker 1: a voting issue right. The way people will vote on

590
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: gun rights. They don't seem to vote on this on

591
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 1: this issue with that same fervor. But I'm going to

592
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: put a pin in that because Todd, I'm curious where

593
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 1: you are in the climate issue. Yeah, I mean from

594
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 1: the Charlie Kirk situation and this. Look, there's a race

595
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 1: to blame, right, and I can already feel it right

596
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 1: each side. It's yeah, budding, Yeah, we have our crazies,

597
00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 1: but they're worse. And you're like, that's not how we

598
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: get out of this.

599
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean it was. It's it's it's wrong

600
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 2: because political and violence is wrong. Charlie was exercising against

601
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,880
Speaker 2: first and thement and not hiden, you know, or or

602
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 2: pounding away on a keyboard. He was there in these

603
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,719
Speaker 2: groups having these conversations. Uh, he was doing exactly what

604
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:18,760
Speaker 2: we what we need.

605
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:20,760
Speaker 1: Said that we said, this is how you're supposed to

606
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 1: conduct politics, which as you go out there and make

607
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: your case. You know, whether you may not like the

608
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 1: case he's making, but that's how you're supposed to do it,

609
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: not you know, not rig the system. And he wasn't,

610
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 1: you know, trying to do that.

611
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 2: That's that's exactly it. And and you know, so much

612
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,680
Speaker 2: of this is where we're spending you know, where Americans

613
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 2: are spending their hours during the day on these platforms

614
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 2: with these you know, algorithms that are driving outrage because

615
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 2: that's where the profit is, right, uh. And I think

616
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 2: just connecting connecting these these economic issues, these reform issues.

617
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 2: I mean one of the things I've I've really been

618
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 2: highlighting on. And you know, I spent twenty years on

619
00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 2: the tech sector, working for you know, T Mobile and

620
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 2: Hewl Atpacker, through the biggest companies in the US, and

621
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 2: you just see these these outrageously bad corporate practices going on.

622
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 2: And you know, I was driving back from me Sron,

623
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:13,440
Speaker 2: Idaho a couple of weeks ago, stopped off at a

624
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 2: Sinclair station to gas up. You know, one woman about

625
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 2: my age running the convenience store late at night. She

626
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 2: was working until midnight. You know, she makes eighteen bucks

627
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 2: an hour in a part of Idaho where you need

628
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 2: twenty three just to live, no healthcare. And Sinclair, if

629
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 2: you look at their twenty twenty four financials, twenty nine

630
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 2: billion dollars of revenue, a billion dollars of operating income,

631
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 2: and what do they do with that operating income? It

632
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,840
Speaker 2: didn't go back to their employees and went to their

633
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 2: freaking and institutional investors in the form of dividends and

634
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,360
Speaker 2: shared buybacks. Right, that's the kind of stuff that makes

635
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 2: a difference in these lives. Walmart's the same thing. Walmart's

636
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 2: the largest private employer in the state. And guess when

637
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:57,959
Speaker 2: you talk to Idaho and Throo are in the Medicaid

638
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 2: expansion program, right, they have jobs, but not enough to

639
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 2: qualify for the health Exchange. The number one employer of

640
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 2: the eighty thousand Idahos in the Health Exchange or sorry,

641
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:13,319
Speaker 2: Medicaid expansion is Walmart, followed by McDonald's, followed by Amazon. Right,

642
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 2: I mean it's these and Walmart did close to three

643
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,440
Speaker 2: billion dollars to share BYBEX last year. That's about two

644
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,359
Speaker 2: thousand dollars for every one of their US employees. I mean,

645
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,120
Speaker 2: this kind of stuff is just fundamentally unacceptable that we

646
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:30,719
Speaker 2: allow corporations to push their costs onto taxpayers and the

647
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,200
Speaker 2: particularly in the you know, in a small state like Idaho,

648
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 2: where Walmart does three billion dollars of revenue in the state.

649
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 2: You know, this is the kind of stuff that guys

650
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 2: like Jim Risch, they just chipped away at these guardrails

651
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,839
Speaker 2: we've had on what's acceptable in the private sector over

652
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,839
Speaker 2: the last decade or two. And now we just got

653
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,279
Speaker 2: this where folks are running amok. And you've got you know,

654
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:59,520
Speaker 2: basically sixty percent of Idahoes aren't earning a livable wage

655
00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:03,359
Speaker 2: of the state chuck. And that's just flat freaking wrong, right,

656
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 2: we cannot tolerate that.

657
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 1: And how many of those folks just and and look,

658
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:15,800
Speaker 1: this gets at to where the issues that the economic

659
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 1: populist issues are popular. But the this is where the

660
00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,520
Speaker 1: culture sort of gets in the way of the conversation, doesn't.

661
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,799
Speaker 2: And this is why as an independent I can have

662
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 2: a conversation with these folks in a way I never

663
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,319
Speaker 2: could as a depth And and you know all the

664
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,840
Speaker 2: corruption the dem Party, what happened with you know, Biden

665
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 2: running again and handing it over Harris. I mean that

666
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,439
Speaker 2: was all. That was all just that was all unacceptable.

667
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:42,840
Speaker 2: But you know, I tell you, I was in a

668
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,680
Speaker 2: rural community up in the mountains in the Idaho Panhandle

669
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:48,759
Speaker 2: hanging out with the vets for coffee, and one of

670
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,200
Speaker 2: them came up to me afterwards, he said, you know what,

671
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,760
Speaker 2: I'm an extreme conservative like, all right, cool man.

672
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: What does that mean?

673
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 2: He had a great conversation, you know, and he's he's

674
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,319
Speaker 2: deeply concerned about out the national debt. I'm like, man,

675
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 2: I'm right there with you. That has to be a

676
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 2: bright red lot. We can't grow this thing.

677
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 1: And then as we.

678
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 2: Talked about it some more, you know, the guy had

679
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 2: a heart attack six months ago in that little rural

680
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 2: hospital in this town that is just barely keeping their

681
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,360
Speaker 2: doors open right now, saved his life. And with the

682
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,759
Speaker 2: one big beautiful bill and the Medicaid cuts that are

683
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 2: going to come out of that, and I sat down

684
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,560
Speaker 2: with the hospital CEO, He's like, I don't know how

685
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 2: we're going to keep the doors open out to this.

686
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:27,960
Speaker 2: I mean, this is the kind of stuff where what

687
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 2: the hell are you know? We've got two of the

688
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 2: most powerful senators out of the hundred and Idaho. The

689
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 2: state is punching way above its weight in terms of

690
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:37,920
Speaker 2: influence in the Senate, And what the hell do we get?

691
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 1: What do you get get? What do you get in return? Interesting, Brian,

692
00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:44,000
Speaker 1: Let's go back to the issue of campaign finances, because

693
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 1: you know everything you say is true, and in fact,

694
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 1: you know I've been hawking a book that a friend

695
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 1: of mine wrote with his brother, Mullin's brothers, and it

696
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 1: was the basically the Wolf of the Wolves of K

697
00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: Street it's called, and it's sort of how how did

698
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:07,200
Speaker 1: we go from essentially, you know, the rise of lobbyists,

699
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 1: which really didn't exist in the sixties and seventies. It

700
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: just sort of began sort of, you know, the rise

701
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 1: of Ralph Nader got Corporate America to say, hey, we

702
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 1: got a response to this, and lo and behold, we

703
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,839
Speaker 1: got K Street and it's a very professionalized thing. And

704
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,360
Speaker 1: now we have it where it is no longer it

705
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,760
Speaker 1: used to be a corporate entity versus a people powered entity.

706
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,680
Speaker 1: Now it is literally one corporate entity hiring one set

707
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,359
Speaker 1: of lobbyists to fight for a certain regulation that helps

708
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:39,880
Speaker 1: their business and screws their competitor, and another setup like

709
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 1: we now have K Street is just arguing about who's

710
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 1: splitting up this piece of pie that never trickles down

711
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 1: to the rest of us. Like, you know, I used

712
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:49,440
Speaker 1: to sort of be like, well, the system's the system,

713
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. Now you're just like, we've sort of

714
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 1: it's become too efficient, where now you need lobbyists to

715
00:37:54,920 --> 00:38:01,520
Speaker 1: decide who gets to get to rig the regulatory process.

716
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 1: But it's always been a challenge to get the public

717
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:09,160
Speaker 1: fired up about money. And you know, you know, have

718
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 1: you what are different ways you've thought of trying to

719
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 1: send this message. I mean, you've been using it with

720
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 1: me here today, Brian, But what other thoughts of you

721
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,080
Speaker 1: tried to get the public to sort of be a

722
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: bit more self aware about corporate influence.

723
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 3: That was actually one of the things, one of the

724
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 3: when I mentioned, hey, I'm going to guarantee will agree

725
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 3: on the least two, but probably three things. Money in

726
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 3: politics corrupts the system. Everybody literally across the board agreement

727
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,320
Speaker 3: about it. Yes, everybody, that's true, right, yeah, bullshit? But

728
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 3: they noticed great people have the elected officials wearing NASCAR

729
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 3: jackets with patches of who they actually lease.

730
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, why not? It might help, uh.

731
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 3: Talking to people about everybody knows it from top to bottom.

732
00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:59,040
Speaker 3: But I think the what got in the way again

733
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,160
Speaker 3: I'm going to say, was the fact of I'll never

734
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 3: vote for a Democrat. We can have this discussion as

735
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 3: an independent and not deal with the i'll never vote

736
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 3: for a Democrat. And so if I walk up to

737
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:12,799
Speaker 3: people and say the same thing today and say, well,

738
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 3: I'm run as an independent, I still have them, I

739
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 3: still have their attention. So if we can tie this

740
00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:22,439
Speaker 3: all back to why is healthcare so expensive? Well, hey,

741
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,959
Speaker 3: look at the system. Let's look at who gives money

742
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 3: to who, and are they going to you know, stop

743
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,400
Speaker 3: that gravy train. No, So if we can tie it

744
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,240
Speaker 3: back directly to why is this so expensive?

745
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 2: Why is that?

746
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 3: What is the problem here? Everybody implicitly knows that already.

747
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 1: You know, my first year professionally covering politics was nineteen

748
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:55,240
Speaker 1: ninety two, and that's the rise of Ross Perot. And

749
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 1: I bring him up because Ross Perot that we used

750
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 1: to describe it as a tresset moon in that he

751
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 1: overperformed in states that kind of formed a crescent moon.

752
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 1: It was sort of Texas that was like the bottom

753
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:11,879
Speaker 1: of the crescent, and the right up through Minnesota right

754
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,560
Speaker 1: to the Great Lakes was sort of the top of

755
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:15,799
Speaker 1: the crescent, and it went all along and he was

756
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 1: over nineteen percent basically in all of those states. He

757
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 1: did really pour in the Deep South, did okay in

758
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 1: New England, in mid Atlantic not so much. But really,

759
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,520
Speaker 1: look was in the mid twenties in both Idaho and

760
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: South Dakota. I just double checked that twenty seven percent

761
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 1: in Idahoa ninety two to twenty six percent in South Dakota.

762
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 1: Do you think those voters still exist, Todd, I'll start

763
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 1: with you that five years ago.

764
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did it, but I think it's I do

765
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,840
Speaker 2: think they do, because again going back to the numbers

766
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:56,920
Speaker 2: that I was just talking about, right, seventy percent on

767
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,920
Speaker 2: affiliate with the party in twenty twelve, So that's not

768
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 2: that long ago.

769
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:02,800
Speaker 1: Oh way, par okay, within one point of being in

770
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 1: the second place of the state above above built Clinton

771
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: at the time.

772
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and uh and sixty five percent of Idahoa

773
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 2: is just you know the survey this year identifying as

774
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,839
Speaker 2: independent or leaning independent. So so so the values are there,

775
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,000
Speaker 2: and you know, I think a lot like you know

776
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 2: with Brian and our part of the world here. I mean,

777
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 2: you don't you know, you live in these states because

778
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,440
Speaker 2: you want to define yourself. Nobody's the boss of you,

779
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,480
Speaker 2: and and those values are I think those values are timeless.

780
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:36,840
Speaker 2: That's that's why folks come here.

781
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:43,160
Speaker 1: Brian the the independent mantra, what what is a way?

782
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 1: How do you make the case that you're going to

783
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:51,239
Speaker 1: at times represent you know, the Republican lean of the

784
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 1: state and at times the independent lean of the state.

785
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:56,759
Speaker 1: How do you how do you divvy that up?

786
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:01,879
Speaker 3: Okay, well, obviously one of the things that I've told

787
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 3: people is I'm running as a independent because I like

788
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:08,560
Speaker 3: to think for myself, which has always been true as

789
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,520
Speaker 3: a lifelong registering independent. The best question I think is

790
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:13,080
Speaker 3: how do I differ from both parties? How am I

791
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:15,840
Speaker 3: going to represent both parties? So if we take immigration,

792
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 3: that has been I would say probably the hottest issue

793
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,680
Speaker 3: electoral issue, at least in twenty four and for years

794
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 3: before that as well. It's one of the big ones.

795
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,960
Speaker 3: So the last comprehensive immigration reform was the same year

796
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,240
Speaker 3: that Maverick and Goose first felt the need for speed.

797
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,759
Speaker 1: Do you know what year that wasn't? Yes, We're going

798
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,680
Speaker 1: back to eighty seven, eighty eight, eighty six, eighty six, Yeah,

799
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:41,520
Speaker 1: year I get my driver's license. Yeah, So eighty six was.

800
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:44,759
Speaker 3: The last big one, and top gun was on the

801
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 3: screens today. Pragmatic reform requires two parts, the first one

802
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 3: being strong border security and the second one being overhaul

803
00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,400
Speaker 3: of the legal immigration system. I believe to allow more people,

804
00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,839
Speaker 3: more immigrants in and to streamline the path to sit

805
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,160
Speaker 3: and ship to make it easier and you know, something

806
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 3: that can be accomplished with the reasonab amount of time. Now,

807
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 3: I support both of those components, which is not the

808
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:11,880
Speaker 3: position of either the Democratic or the Republican Party for

809
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 3: different reasons. Republicans obviously support sealing the border, that's what

810
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 3: they're trying to do now, and they impose apparently improving

811
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:23,319
Speaker 3: the legal immigration process, while Democrats support improving the legal

812
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,920
Speaker 3: immigration process, but they balk at stronger border security. So

813
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 3: if we look back, President Biden's first bill when he

814
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:34,359
Speaker 3: took office was immigration reform, and the Democrats controlled both

815
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,560
Speaker 3: the Senate and the House. Yet you heard crickets for

816
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:41,319
Speaker 3: the first two years because the Democrats couldn't agree on

817
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:44,960
Speaker 3: border security until they finally had to late, you know,

818
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:48,279
Speaker 3: running up to the election. Without a united position, why

819
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 3: are they going to go talk to the Republicans about like, hey,

820
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,720
Speaker 3: here's what we're working on. Do you want to sign

821
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 3: on board to this? So they let it go. So

822
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,280
Speaker 3: that would be one of the ways. I'm a pragmatic person.

823
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,240
Speaker 3: I look at things. I'm trained this way as attorney,

824
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:04,440
Speaker 3: I'm trained this way as an Air Force officer. You

825
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:06,520
Speaker 3: look at things and say, hey, that didn't go the

826
00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 3: way we wanted or we're having this outcome. How can

827
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,040
Speaker 3: we tweak things to make it work properly? And if

828
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:14,800
Speaker 3: there's a Republican plan that does that, I'm on board.

829
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 3: If there's a Democratic plan that I think does it,

830
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:21,439
Speaker 3: I'm on board. So it's an issue by issue thing

831
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 3: of what is going to work. And I'm going to

832
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 3: stay right now after forty years, I believe the trickle

833
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 3: down economics horse and sparrow economics, if you will, doesn't work.

834
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,360
Speaker 3: So despite our efforts to keep cutting our taxes for

835
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,720
Speaker 3: the billionaires and the large corporations to make us wealthy

836
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,120
Speaker 3: and to pay down the debt, that's not working. So

837
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:44,000
Speaker 3: things need to change, Tod.

838
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,319
Speaker 1: One of the things that it's already been disappointing in

839
00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:51,080
Speaker 1: the wake of the Charlie kirk and assassination and the

840
00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 1: assassination of the Minnesota lawmakers, is that the only complaints

841
00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:01,319
Speaker 1: you here in Capitol Hill or what about security for me? Right,

842
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:05,760
Speaker 1: rather than hey, maybe we ought to do a special

843
00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:09,759
Speaker 1: committee here of of of some of our best and

844
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,640
Speaker 1: brightest minds and figure out how can we de escalate

845
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:17,560
Speaker 1: uh and and uh and and actually you know, build

846
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:20,359
Speaker 1: a better discourse that the two parties don't know how

847
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:22,560
Speaker 1: to work with each other anymore in a in a

848
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 1: horrendous way. And I think, which I guess, yeah, yeah,

849
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 1: and and and I.

850
00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,440
Speaker 2: Think, Chuck, it's it's it's baked in them system. That's

851
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 2: part of the incentive, right. You You make more money

852
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,759
Speaker 2: when you say outrageous things on the floor, outrageous things

853
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,520
Speaker 2: in committee, and you feed that outrage economy, and that

854
00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,600
Speaker 2: feeds the donor cycle. You know, when I when I'm

855
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:48,720
Speaker 2: I got a pointed two sessions ago by by Governor

856
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:51,160
Speaker 2: Little uh and I you know, I showed up halfway

857
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:54,200
Speaker 2: through the session and I talked to my Republican colleagues

858
00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:55,920
Speaker 2: and they're like, hey, don't even bother. I'm sorry, my

859
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,440
Speaker 2: Democratic colleague, don't even bother talking to that that kind

860
00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 2: of third of the room. Uh. You know, you're not

861
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:03,240
Speaker 2: going to get anywhere with them. They're they're far writers.

862
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:04,879
Speaker 2: I'm like, all right, well, you've been here six years.

863
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:08,920
Speaker 2: I've been here six days. Fine, But last session, after

864
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 2: I won my race, I made a point of just

865
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:15,680
Speaker 2: connecting with every single member of the chamber, finding those

866
00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,560
Speaker 2: points of commonality, and Chuck, I was so much more

867
00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:23,319
Speaker 2: effective in that building by having those relationships. And you

868
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,360
Speaker 2: never knew where I mean, listen, I would argue like

869
00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:29,640
Speaker 2: hell with with somebody about marriage equality. And you know,

870
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,560
Speaker 2: there was this far right effort overturn you know, a

871
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 2: letter passed by the legislature calling for us to overturn

872
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,640
Speaker 2: our Berger felt and I fought that thing tooth and nail.

873
00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:42,000
Speaker 2: And the person who was a sponsor of that, guess what,

874
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,319
Speaker 2: she dislikes monopoly power as much as I do, and

875
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 2: so she she co sponsored and some others did my

876
00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 2: build up prohibit algorithm price pix so and I caught

877
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 2: a lot of crap for from Democrats in the state

878
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:02,200
Speaker 2: for even you know, for working with this one. But like, guys,

879
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:06,000
Speaker 2: guess what, these purity tests are the reason why you're

880
00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:09,880
Speaker 2: irrelevant in the state. Right find these points of commonality.

881
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,319
Speaker 2: You don't have to agree on one hundred percent. But

882
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:16,080
Speaker 2: you know, I'm trying to save Idaho renters who are

883
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:18,759
Speaker 2: being taken advantage of. And there are other people that

884
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 2: want to work with me on that. I'll do that

885
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:23,840
Speaker 2: all day long. And we protected absentee voting, We protected

886
00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:27,920
Speaker 2: citizen initiatives. We killed a bad bill to put, you know,

887
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:30,319
Speaker 2: make it easier to carry guns in schools. I did

888
00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 2: all of these things on a bipartisan basis, and that's

889
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:36,640
Speaker 2: what you got to bring to the chamber. And it's

890
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 2: and I you know, I'll echo Brian here, it's these

891
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,880
Speaker 2: financial incentives that are just sending the chamber in the

892
00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:45,920
Speaker 2: wrong direction. And we got to break those financial incentives.

893
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:47,720
Speaker 2: I think that's the that's the root issue.

894
00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:49,359
Speaker 1: All right, let me get you guys out of here,

895
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:51,440
Speaker 1: and sort of it's a little bit of a cheap stune,

896
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:54,920
Speaker 1: but it's a it does I think. I think listeners

897
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 1: like these things because it does help them paint a

898
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:59,600
Speaker 1: picture of you guys. So, Brian, I'll start with you,

899
00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:01,920
Speaker 1: give me give me two senators you look forward to

900
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 1: working with if you get elected. And then give me Yeah,

901
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:08,839
Speaker 1: just let me start there. And then I got one

902
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:10,399
Speaker 1: more for both of you too. But go ahead, give

903
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 1: me give me a couple of senators you're looking forward

904
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:13,440
Speaker 1: to working with if you get there.

905
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:18,920
Speaker 3: Uh, Bernie Sanders comes to mind immediately. And I would

906
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 3: have said John Fetterman when he was first elected, but

907
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:23,680
Speaker 3: I would not say him now.

908
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:27,880
Speaker 2: Let's see.

909
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:31,320
Speaker 1: Ow you're stopped.

910
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:33,600
Speaker 3: Obviously I'm stuck because I'm gonna have to say a

911
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:38,359
Speaker 3: Republican to be balanced here, mar could just cheap out

912
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:39,480
Speaker 3: and go angus king.

913
00:48:41,239 --> 00:48:44,319
Speaker 1: There here, I hear you. All right, Todd, same question

914
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,760
Speaker 1: you got. What I'll do, Brian, I'll make him answer

915
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:49,440
Speaker 1: the other question I have for you first, so that

916
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,919
Speaker 1: way you get you get a second. So Todd, what's

917
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 1: your give me your two senators that you're looking.

918
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:55,320
Speaker 2: For, Elizabeth Warren and Josh Holly.

919
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:57,880
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, you dropped the Holly name, so I

920
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:00,920
Speaker 1: figured figure to get there. Look, Holly and Shats are

921
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:05,200
Speaker 1: working together on quite a few of the kids first issues.

922
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:08,479
Speaker 1: When it comes to tech algorithms, you know, there's there's

923
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: no doubt. All right, So you get to answer this

924
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:13,000
Speaker 1: next question, Tod. Give me your favorite Democratic president and

925
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:14,280
Speaker 1: your favorite Republican president.

926
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:24,160
Speaker 2: Favorite Republican President Eisenhower, m favorite Democratic president FDR.

927
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:31,040
Speaker 1: All right, uh, mister Banks, same question to you. Favor Yeah,

928
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:32,440
Speaker 1: the Eisenhower for sure.

929
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:33,200
Speaker 2: Yeah.

930
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:38,400
Speaker 3: And I'm torn between the Roosevelts, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR.

931
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,920
Speaker 3: I'm going to go with tr for a personal reason

932
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,440
Speaker 3: that I'll debut here and just because you know, he's

933
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:50,080
Speaker 3: so connected to this area of South Dakota and what

934
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:51,000
Speaker 3: he stands for with.

935
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:53,640
Speaker 1: Is that North Dakota wanting his library. They're fighting it

936
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,799
Speaker 1: at the battle between the Dakotas. Who gets TR right,

937
00:49:56,880 --> 00:49:57,080
Speaker 1: you know.

938
00:49:58,480 --> 00:49:59,359
Speaker 2: But but on a.

939
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 3: Fun fact, I learned last year that TR is a distant,

940
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:04,920
Speaker 3: distant cousin on my mother's side.

941
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,640
Speaker 1: So that's just a cool thing to So you're related

942
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 1: to TR, but not FDR. Yeah, rober lye e different

943
00:50:11,560 --> 00:50:14,160
Speaker 1: brand of the Eleanor side, right, Eleanor was closer to

944
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:15,640
Speaker 1: TR than Yeah, yeah, exactly.

945
00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:20,200
Speaker 3: So that's what the genealogy things that you're in go like, hey,

946
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:22,399
Speaker 3: you might be related to these individuals, And they said

947
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:24,319
Speaker 3: you must be love FDR and then I looked. I

948
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,480
Speaker 3: was like, no, it's it's Eleanor Roosevelt. Then it occurred

949
00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:29,160
Speaker 3: to me, well, if I'm related to Eleanor Roosevelt, I'm

950
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,280
Speaker 3: not ready to r. So, yeah, that's the wind.

951
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,920
Speaker 1: Well, you guys should also know this. Later this week

952
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:40,600
Speaker 1: is the anniversary of a farewell address by our truly

953
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:45,440
Speaker 1: only independent president we've ever had, and it's George Washington,

954
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:51,480
Speaker 1: who absolutely eviscerates partisan politics, yep in his farewell address.

955
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,359
Speaker 1: And I will say, I'm I'm not surprised you both

956
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,960
Speaker 1: picked Eisenhower. I look at Eisenhower. He's the closest thing

957
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:03,919
Speaker 1: we've ever had to independent being elected president, especially since

958
00:51:03,960 --> 00:51:07,200
Speaker 1: both parties were recruiting them. And to me, Washington and

959
00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:10,360
Speaker 1: Eisenhower sort of the are the are the north stars

960
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:14,799
Speaker 1: for me in that sense too. And it's because when

961
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:18,719
Speaker 1: you've had to lead Americans in battle, then you see

962
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:21,719
Speaker 1: everybody as an American before you see them as a

963
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 1: as a Republican or Democrat. So anyway, well you guys

964
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:27,920
Speaker 1: are praying go ahead.

965
00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,360
Speaker 2: Sorry, sorry, Chuck, I was just gonna say one comedy,

966
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:34,040
Speaker 2: you know again, the with the four of us, with Brian, Tye,

967
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 2: Dan and me. I mean, we we all served, right,

968
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 2: We were all probably eighteen or nineteen when we when

969
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:40,200
Speaker 2: we took the oath.

970
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:43,359
Speaker 1: You guys are all veterans, right, you guys have all that,

971
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:46,279
Speaker 1: doesn't you know, to mean that somebody coming from the

972
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:48,440
Speaker 1: military being an independent makes a lot more sense to

973
00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:49,440
Speaker 1: me than being a partisan.

974
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:54,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think what I when we get on

975
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:58,040
Speaker 2: the phone together, it's great. I mean, I we're completing

976
00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:00,719
Speaker 2: each other's sentences in terms of what I were doing

977
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:03,319
Speaker 2: this and what we're trying to accomplish. Although we've got

978
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:07,080
Speaker 2: totally different backgrounds, right. You know, Brian's an attorney, he

979
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:09,040
Speaker 2: taught at the Air Force Academy. You know, I spent

980
00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:11,000
Speaker 2: twenty years on a tech sector and I teach public

981
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:11,640
Speaker 2: policy now.

982
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:15,640
Speaker 1: But it's it's those.

983
00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:20,040
Speaker 2: Core values, right that that I think we're all driving towards.

984
00:52:21,080 --> 00:52:23,080
Speaker 2: And you know I was a tank commander, right, There's

985
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:25,279
Speaker 2: four guys inside of a tank, and if we can't

986
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:29,480
Speaker 2: get along, we're dead, right. I mean, it's very simple and.

987
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:34,479
Speaker 1: Get fighting over who's right about about you know, gun

988
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:37,480
Speaker 1: ownership when you're in the middle of a battle exactly.

989
00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 2: I mean, like we all learned in the military, you've

990
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 2: got a random bunch of people all throwing together, uh,

991
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:45,359
Speaker 2: and you've got a mission to do and you just

992
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:47,880
Speaker 2: you figure out how to do it. And those are

993
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:49,920
Speaker 2: the values I think we're trying to bring bring back

994
00:52:49,920 --> 00:52:51,360
Speaker 2: to this bring back to Congress.

995
00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 1: Brian. Are you a Jack Rabbits fan South Dakota side.

996
00:52:56,080 --> 00:52:58,840
Speaker 1: I love Tucker Krabbit Packer fans, a Tucker craft man.

997
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:01,920
Speaker 1: We just love the guy. We love this guy.

998
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:04,440
Speaker 3: I can't really comment on that because that would not

999
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:06,880
Speaker 3: be good for me. I'll just say that I originally

1000
00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:09,399
Speaker 3: I'm from Iowa originally, so I went to Iowa State

1001
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:12,560
Speaker 3: in Iowa, Ah and then on those things.

1002
00:53:12,719 --> 00:53:15,840
Speaker 1: No, you can't, I got you there at Todd. But

1003
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 1: Boise State, man, you know, how did the University of

1004
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:23,760
Speaker 1: Idaho allow Boise State to become the power in football

1005
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:24,320
Speaker 1: in that state?

1006
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:28,600
Speaker 2: This is the this is the difference between North Idaho

1007
00:53:28,760 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 2: and sunn Iadaho. But oh interesting, it's too bad, Genty,

1008
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:35,120
Speaker 2: we don't have gent anymore. And Boiss stay and he

1009
00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:37,279
Speaker 2: was incredible, buddy. It looks like he's going to have

1010
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:38,400
Speaker 2: a good career with the Raiders.

1011
00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:41,440
Speaker 1: It's a he's he is fun to watch. That is

1012
00:53:41,520 --> 00:53:45,319
Speaker 1: old school football. Look, Brian and Todd. I hope to

1013
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:46,960
Speaker 1: talk to you guys again. I mean, look, there's not

1014
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:52,440
Speaker 1: you know, we need to disrupt The duopoly is what

1015
00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 1: got us to this place.

1016
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:54,239
Speaker 2: I am.

1017
00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:56,239
Speaker 1: You know, Look, we've got a lot of problems. The

1018
00:53:56,320 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 1: duopoly is pretty much number I think the tech companies

1019
00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:02,680
Speaker 1: are number one in the duopolies number two. But if

1020
00:54:02,760 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 1: you want to argue the other way, I wouldn't dissuade you,

1021
00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 1: so good luck out there. I'll be watching, paying attention,

1022
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:14,000
Speaker 1: and hopefully more more independent voices show up as well.

1023
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:15,160
Speaker 1: So thank you guys, it'd be good.

1024
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:16,920
Speaker 2: Thank you, J appreciate it.