With California's primaries just around the corner, a seismic shift is happening — and many Californians are either clueless or in denial. The recent endorsement of Steve Hilton by Donald Trump has turned the political rumor mill into a full-blown circus, threatening to upend the state's already fragile political landscape. If the Trump endorsement was meant to sway the race, it might just be fueling a chaos that could curse or empower Californians' future.
In this episode:
- The impact of Trump endorsing Steve Hilton and how it could reshape the Republican primary race.
- Why California's usual politics are being challenged by fresh, outsider candidates like Hilton and Bianco.
- The possibility of a Democrat boycott or continued stagnation as the party struggles with internal divisions.
- Predictions on whether California is heading toward a political upheaval or a return to “business as usual.”
- Critical issues like ballot harvesting, homelessness, and voter trust—none of which are being adequately tackled by the candidates.
- How elites and billionaire tech moguls are pushing for socialist policies and what that could mean for a state long used to political dynasties.
Connect:
Timestamps:00:00 - California Primary Chaos: What's Really at Stake?02:15 - Trump's Endorsement: Blessing or Curse for California Politics?05:00 - The Fall of Gavin Newsom’s Political Dynasty07:30 - Are the Democrats Running Out of Options?09:50 - How the Republican Field Could Be Swayed by Trump’s Backing12:10 - Voter Attitudes: The Real Issues They Care About15:45 - The Threat of Socialism and Tech Billionaire Influence18:00 - Who Should California Be Putting Forward?21:30 - The Growing Power of Independent Voters and Third Parties24:45 - Future Scenarios: What If Swallow or Porter Win?28:00 - The Power of Local Elections and Why They Matter31:20 - Will California Break Its Political Mold?34:00 - The Deeper Problems: Public Safety, Homelessness, and Education37:00 - The Future of Republican and Democrat Parties in the Golden State40:30 - Wrap-up: What Can Californians Do Now?
This episode reveals the shocking realities behind California's politically shaky ground, highlighting mismanagement, voter disenfranchisement, and the looming threat of radical policies. If you think your vote doesn't matter or that California's politics are just a game, think again. The chaos we discuss could shape the state's future — perhaps even its survival.
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With less than two months ago until the California primary, we
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still don't know who's actually going to be running in the
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general election. There's fear that it might be
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two Republicans. Well, fear if you're a Democrat,
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there might be two Republicans. If you're a Republican, that's a
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great, great news for you. There's a lot of speculation as
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to who it's going to be. We're going to talk about the
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Trump endorsement that happened just yesterday.
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We're giving you a whole update of the governor's race and
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everything that's going on in the California governor's race,
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all of our thoughts. We have two special guests, so
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let's get into that right now. My name is Philip.
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I'm your host. And let me bring in the
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panelists, Kyle and Susan, who are joining us tonight as well
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on the Round Table. Thank you guys so much for being
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here. Welcome to the show.
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How are you? Thank.
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You thank you doing. Good.
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Awesome. Let's before we get begin, we'll
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start with, we'll start in like the counterclockwise or
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clockwise. Susan, why don't you introduce
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yourself, tell people who you are and why you're interested in
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California politics and what you're doing here and talking
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about the governor's race? All right, thank you.
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So I'm Susan Collins. I have a social media page.
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Susan Collins, LA. I'm a former City Council
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candidate. I ran against Lithia woman in
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her first campaign and in the Iran for State Senate.
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And I think I'm interested or I know I'm interested in politics
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because it affects our day-to-day lives.
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It shapes the quality of all of our lives.
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So there's really, in my mind, almost no bigger issue than
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politics. Great, and let me get.
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I want to make sure I get this correct.
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You are no party preference. You are a former Democrat,
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disillusioned Democrat in Los Angeles.
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Is that correct? So I am still currently a
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Democrat. I am an embarrassment and I
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refuse to quit, you know, refuse to quit the Democratic Party
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because I feel like if I do, then the socialists will have
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just complete free reign. I think some of us need to stay
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and fight and so that's why I have stayed a Democrat.
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But. Well, I'm extra psychical have
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you, because we, you were, I think our first Democrat on the
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show. And we, we are open to Democrats
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on the show and we've been trying to get Democrats on the
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show. So maybe you are going to open
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up the floodgates for us. So extra thank you to being here
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with us. Yeah, I was just going to say to
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Camille, I was like, I don't think we've ever had.
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We've always been open to having a Democrat on the show.
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We've just never had. We've never had one brave enough
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to actually show up. I didn't kind of wonder, like,
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do they know I'm a Democrat? No.
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Are they 100%? OK with that.
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No, I think I remember saying I think she is a former Democrat
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or disillusioned Democrat and that is perfect.
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Why we want to have you on. So welcome to the show, Susan.
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Kyle has been a guest on the show before.
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She has the show politically basic.
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Welcome back to the show, Kyle. Why don't you give people a
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quick intro about yourself? Really happy to be here.
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I love that Susan's here because that has a lot to do with how I
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operate my show too. So I love that you guys are
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doing that and I think it's going to be a great discussion.
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Yeah, I've had, you know, Phil on my show politically basic and
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I love what you guys are doing with California Underground.
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I'm a lifelong, you know, born and bred California girl who
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spent 20 plus years on the backside of politics doing media
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training for candidates. So now I'm forward facing with
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my show. It's almost two years old and
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the interview specialists and experts in and politicians in
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every aspect of of politics. And we break down sometimes
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complex issues down to the basics.
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So I love politics. I'm politics obsessed and
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nothing gets me more excited than a good election.
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So election season is like my favorite thing and I'm really
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excited to have this conversation today about the
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primary, our jungle primary. Doesn't that just sound like
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those two words together just get your juices flowing or so?
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I'm really excited. Sounds very dangerous I.
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Think. It might be, I mean it, it
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definitely is wild the race we're having right now.
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I just want to say to Susan, you just got your first shout out
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for old school Dems. Somebody said we all need to
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welcome old school Dems so they're not Arocs.
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So look at that. You're, you're on the show for
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like 5 minutes. You're already getting love.
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First Democrat on the show. All right, let's jump into our
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first topic. We're going to have a lot to
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talk about. It's going to be a very round
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table kind of conversation. But I did, we have to start with
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the biggest news yesterday, which is the endorsement of
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Steve Hilton by President Trump. I released the video giving my
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honest opinion about what I think this means for the race,
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what it means for Republicans, what it means for Democrats.
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I think it throws a big wrench in the race, Kyle.
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I think you might feel a little bit differently about it.
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But why don't we start, Susan with you?
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What was your thoughts when you saw President Trump endorsing
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Steve Hilton? My initial major reaction was
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that it was going to help Chad Bianca.
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You know, I, yes, I am a Democrat, but I am not there.
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And there are a lot of plot of Democrats like me, though fed
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up. We're ready for change.
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We're ready to, you know, vote for Republican.
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I mean, I, I voted for Trump in the last election.
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So there are a lot of knees out there.
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But there's, you know, a lot of moderate Democrats still view
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Trump negatively, even if they want change, even if they're
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ready to move into more common sense politics.
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And I think getting behind a candidate with the Trump
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endorsement is a little is a little tricky.
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However, when you look at his policies, he does seem to be a
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little bit more moderate than the chefs.
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So it it's a toss up to me. Kyle, I know, I think I saw you
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post something that you were happy with this endorsement.
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So what's your thoughts? Well, I've gotten to know Steve
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Hilton over this last year personally and professionally.
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And I think when you hear him and, and see him speak, a lot of
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things fall into place. I mean, he is, he's just a great
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guy at the end of the day. He's a real sweetheart actually.
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And I don't know that that always translates through some
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of these other clips that that we're seeing on a daily basis.
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But I I see this through a different lens than maybe your
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average voter. But I'm trying to understand how
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how people are approaching making this tough decision
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really, especially on the Republican side.
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It's a little bit of a tough decision this year.
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We have two front running Republican candidates who people
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really like. You know, Chad Bianco is very
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likable. And I think we want that kind of
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sheriff mentality, somebody who's pro law enforcement, who's
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going to come in and and stick up for the people of California.
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You know, I had him on my show. He's a man of faith.
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And I like Chad. But you know, California is not
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in the position it was in six or seven or eight years ago when we
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had Gavin Newsom coming in. We are at a real critical point
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here and we don't just need someone to come in and take the
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governorship and keep the status quo, keep things running, keep
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the lights on. We need someone to come in and
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and pull us back from the brink, truly in a lot of ways.
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And someone also who's going to be able to be a diplomat and
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work with the supermajority, right?
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This isn't just somebody who's going to come in and like start
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bashing heads. So there's a lot I like about
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Steve Hilton as a person, but as a candidate here.
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It's been really interesting seeing the response to this,
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this endorsement. But again, this isn't a Trump
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endorsement in 2016, and it's not a Trump endorsement in 2020,
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which I think carried a lot of, you know, pushback for people.
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Like we don't want Magga. You know, everything he touched
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was tainted in a way. And I just see this as a
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different day now. I think the endorsement does him
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a lot of good. And I'm watching Chad Bianco try
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to scramble a bit and and almost have more of a little bit of an
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emotional response to this. You know, really going after the
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endorsements and then putting out a video yesterday saying
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like, we don't care about endorsements.
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You know, it takes so much to run for this office.
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God bless anyone who enters this race and has good intentions and
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wants to serve this state. I really admire anyone who comes
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in it well-intentioned and I know how hard it is because
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everyone attacks you, right? And so I hate to see the
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attacks. I don't like the nastiness.
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I don't like the going low. But you know, this is going to
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break up. It's going to break up that neck
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and neck a little bit here and, and galvanized the GOP a little
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bit more. So we'll see.
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We're waiting for the polling. They're already putting poles
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out, and I don't trust those just right.
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You know, two days after this endorsement, I'd like to give it
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a little bit of breathing room and see where the polls pan out
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and who breaks away after this. Camille, what are your thoughts
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about the Trump endorsement? I, I feel like we were on a path
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to have both Bianco and Hilton as our winners for the primary.
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And I, I think this may hurt our chances here of, I don't know
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which way it could hurt our chances.
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Because I feel like, yes, the Trump endorsement does carry a
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lot of weight, but it carries a lot of weight both ways in the
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sense that there are the people that, that they like to hear who
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Trump is endorsing and they're going to follow it.
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They're always going to just align with Trump.
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And because they're Trump loyalists, that's fine.
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I'm, I'm not digging on that by any means.
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So it's just like, OK, if this is who Trump wants, then this is
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who I'm going for. And there's a lot of people, the
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average voter or below average voter, and I don't mean that as
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an insult, but they're not necessarily paying attention.
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And they're usually just going to show up to the general and
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vote for the R. But now they're going to hear,
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oh, Trump endorsed this guy. I wasn't paying attention.
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I don't know who this guy is, but Trump endorsed him.
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So I'm going to vote for him. And that could, you know, knock
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Chad obviously down a few rings and that then opens up for
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possibly, probably Eric Swalwell to then come in second or tied
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with Hilton. And then those two end up going
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to the general as opposed to where it looked like we were on
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the possible path to having Bianco in Hilton and then
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therefore, you know, guaranteeing that we would
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actually have a Republican governor come November.
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And so I obviously don't know. I am by no means a political
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expert or analyst. I just have opinions.
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I, you know, wait and see. Watch.
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But that's where I'm at. Now Camille just shows up to a
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podcast and and does all this research every week.
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She's not an expert or an analyst at all.
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I'm not, I'm not. She's under.
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Selling herself completely. She's like, I don't know, I.
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Also don't have like a crystal ball, you know, I wouldn't.
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That be nice. My thoughts are my big concern
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why this could break up the two Republicans possibly moving
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forward is to me, Democrats in California have figured out if
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they attach Trump to anything, they will run with that like a
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dog with a bone. They will just be like they made
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Prop 50 all about Trump. They made every referendum about
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Trump. Everything they could do to make
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it about Trump, they make it about Trump and that like it, it
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distorts the voters view because they're not paying attention to
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the issues that we have. A ton of issues here in
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California that are so pressing and so dire that Trump had
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nothing to do with. Trump is not responsible for why
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we have bad homelessness. He's not responsible for a lot
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of the issues with affordability and housing and stuff like that.
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But they're going to definitely run campaign ads now about
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Hilton being the MAGA candidate. And I think that that's kind of
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a disservice because there are people who are probably looking
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for solutions that maybe Steve Helen is putting out there in a
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nonpartisan way to say these are common sense solutions, you
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should get behind me. But once he gets that MAGA
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label, I'm concerned that that that hurts his brand.
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And especially as someone who ran and said he's running as
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someone is not supposed to be partisan for every Californian,
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that does kind of concern me. I think it does throw a wrench
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in it a little bit because it's almost like Democrats were
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probably waiting for Trump to endorse somebody and put his
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finger on the scale, which also kind of concerns me.
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It's not about the governor's race.
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But another thing that concerned me is will Trump get involved or
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have an opinion about the voter ID, which I think could be a big
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issue if you are in support of voter ID.
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I think Trump comes out and says he's in favor of it.
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They're going to make the whole voter ID thing about Trump.
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They're going to say it's Trump trying to put his finger and
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erode democracy. I mean, just you can say all the
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buzzwords. It's about eroding democracy,
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It's about taking away our voice, yadda, yadda, yadda.
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We have to fight Trump, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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That's my concern. To Kyle's point, it's super,
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super early. Maybe it doesn't change a lot of
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things at all. Maybe the people who were
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supporting Steve Hillen were already going to take Trump's
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advice. I know a lot of people.
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My unscientific poll on my Instagram was overwhelmingly
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Bianco supporters were like, no, I'm sticking with Bianco.
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Comments yesterday were I'm going to stick with Bianco and
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more right to him. And this, I think, is a good
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question for Susan, seeing it from your angle, does it
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frustrate you as a Democrat that the Democratic Party continually
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doesn't make anything about the issues when Trump is involved?
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They kind of they just latch on to, well, it's Trump and we're
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just going to yell at Trump and we're going to yell at the sky
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about Trump. Does that frustrate you saying
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like where are solutions not there?
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Are many things that frustrate me about the Democratic Party
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right now. You know, the the fact that they
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latch on to to Trump is probably one of the smallest ones.
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I mean, there is a litany of bad decisions and I could name off,
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you know, 20 reasons why people are leaving the Democratic
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Party. But to your point, you know, one
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of the things that you said a minute ago is that you're
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concerned that people will label this as, you know, a Trump issue
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with with Steve Hilton. And I thought about that earlier
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today and I thought, you know, considering we hear from so many
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politicians like the mayor, the governor, you know, we're going
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to Trump group Los Angeles, we're going to Trump Group
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Texas, we're going to Trump proof.
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And again, like you said, they made .50 all about Trump group
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in California. And so it does concern me that
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they will use that in this situation to, you know, say a
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vote for Steve Hilton is a vote in the wrong direction.
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You could be it's been all the swim and energy Trump group in
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California and now you're going to deal with the the Trump
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endorsed candidate. Now, with that said, I, you
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know, I will say that most Democrats that I know and I and
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I know that I'm in a little bit of a bubble, but most Democrats
00:15:42
that I know feel the way I do. And we're ready for change.
00:15:45
And I don't think it will matter that much to them whether he's
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endorsed by Trump or not. We just want, you know, we want
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our streets clean. We want our lights back on.
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We want homelessness addressed in a meaningful way.
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We want, you know, we want law enforcement should be increased
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again. We want all of these.
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We want more taxes. We want more gas prices.
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We want all of these things that, you know, there's only two
00:16:16
candidates that are giving reasonable actual items to
00:16:21
create those those changes. And those two candidates are the
00:16:25
two Republican candidates. And I will tell you, it's
00:16:28
horrifying to me when I look at who is, you know, still the top
00:16:33
holding candidates in the Democratic Party are Eric
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Swalwell, which honestly, I, I, I, I don't think he, I don't,
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he's not the sharpest 2 point Michette.
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I mean, he's not very bright. It's amazing to me that he's
00:16:48
even had a career in politics. And you know, Katie Porter, who
00:16:52
just shot herself in the foot, it's, it's shocking to me that
00:16:56
these are still the top three Democrat candidates.
00:17:01
I can't I it's beyond comprehension.
00:17:05
I would like to add something. Sorry.
00:17:08
Go ahead, Camille. OK, real quick, it's just based
00:17:10
on what you said, Phil, I totally agree with you.
00:17:13
Like when they made Prop 50 all about Trump and then Prop 50,
00:17:16
obviously, you know, we we all saw how that went.
00:17:19
But Katie Porter, while she is pulling in the top 2 generally,
00:17:23
sometimes she drops to three. She's usually not pulling high.
00:17:28
She's there's usually kind of a several point difference between
00:17:31
her and Swalwell. And she has made her campaign
00:17:35
100% about Trump. Like she is unable to make an X
00:17:38
post without somehow even Steve Hilton got the endorsement that
00:17:43
even further. So I'm totally paraphrasing her,
00:17:45
but that even furthers that this race, we have to fight MAGA.
00:17:48
We can't let MAGA win and like so down Katie, this is not about
00:17:52
MAGA. But she's not doing that well in
00:17:56
polls and she has made her entire thing about I'm the anti
00:17:59
Trump candidate here and she's not doing well.
00:18:02
And I don't know if that's just a Katie problem.
00:18:04
I mean we saw her drop to 3rd place when she ran for US
00:18:07
senator. And so maybe people are just
00:18:10
over Katie. I don't know.
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But again heard the anti Trump isn't working in her favor as
00:18:16
far as this election going so far.
00:18:19
I mean it might be also yelling at her one of her staffers to
00:18:22
get out. Of her.
00:18:24
It could just be that video came out and people were like, I, I
00:18:27
don't like mean bosses. I have a mean boss and I don't
00:18:31
want to elect the mean boss. Kyle, my question is going to be
00:18:34
to you because somebody said in the chat, and I think this, this
00:18:38
does put a wrinkle on this whole topic of Trump's endorsement
00:18:43
given his actions regarding Iran, which whether you support
00:18:47
it or not, seems to be kind of unpopular with his MAGA base.
00:18:53
It could with the news of a potential ceasefire tonight,
00:18:59
maybe the war is over quickly, Maybe things turn around, maybe
00:19:03
the market stabilizes, maybe gas gets cheap again.
00:19:06
And that endorsement rings more positively for Steve Hilton
00:19:11
three months from now. Or things could go very, very
00:19:15
wrong in the other direction. Do you see that sort of the
00:19:20
national politics of what's going on with Trump and his
00:19:24
approval on these issues filtering down into Steve
00:19:29
Hilton's race and having an effect?
00:19:31
Because then people are saying, well, if Trump endorsed him and
00:19:34
I'm not a fan of what Trump's doing, then I'm not going to
00:19:37
back him or vote for him. Yeah, it's a really good
00:19:40
question. I mean, that's, that's the way
00:19:42
we need to be thinking forward thinking.
00:19:44
I actually don't think it has a lot of trickle down effect
00:19:48
what's happening at the federal level coming to California.
00:19:51
California, you guys know this so well.
00:19:53
We're our own ecosystem, right? And and Republicans in
00:19:57
California versus Republicans nationwide.
00:20:01
It's just a different culture. So I think the people who would
00:20:05
be turned off in California by what Trump is doing and have
00:20:09
that translate to someone like a Steve Hilton, I just think
00:20:13
that's too far to travel, honestly.
00:20:17
You know, and we've seen that with this sort of growing
00:20:21
disturbance and upset over gas prices and, and making that
00:20:24
delineation like this isn't just because there is conflict in the
00:20:28
Middle East or there is this brewing war with Iran.
00:20:31
You know, we can look at gas prices nationwide versus what's
00:20:34
happening in California specifically.
00:20:36
And people know where to place that blame, right?
00:20:39
So I don't actually think, you know, Trump is, listen, Trump is
00:20:44
in his, you know, end of term 2, meaning he knows he has limited
00:20:51
time to accomplish his goals. If, if things flip in the House
00:20:55
this fall, he he's kind of got gotten stuck in the mud again,
00:20:59
essentially. He knows those impeachment
00:21:01
efforts are coming for him. He he knows that he's going to
00:21:04
be slowed down tremendously. So I think right now we're just
00:21:08
caught in this time where he's trying to get done everything he
00:21:11
wants to do. If it if it's not Iran, you
00:21:13
know, if that wraps up, he's on to Cuba, right?
00:21:16
Like this isn't going to he's not going to slow down and say
00:21:18
like, well, I accomplished it and and we're going to, you
00:21:21
know, take a little rest on our laurels here.
00:21:23
Trump is going to Trump as long as he can through this term.
00:21:27
But at the end of the day, he is the president of the United
00:21:29
States who was overwhelmingly re elected.
00:21:32
I mean, people wanted him back. And and so when we look at
00:21:36
California specific, I just think, you know, to Susan's
00:21:40
point, to people just generally are, are smart enough to
00:21:44
understand that things are just going in a horrible direction,
00:21:47
right. When you take that polling, it's
00:21:49
like nobody's happy. We understand and can recognize
00:21:52
no matter what allegiance we have to our our political party.
00:21:56
It's not great right now. And I wanted to make one more
00:21:59
point about this sort of jungle primary, because there is this,
00:22:01
this is way of thinking that strategically, you know, the
00:22:05
way, the way the real entrenched Democrat higher ups tend to
00:22:09
operate here is that there's a lot going on that they would
00:22:14
really not love a Republican governor to get into Sacramento
00:22:18
and start digging into. Can you imagine the number of
00:22:21
burn bags, right? We have all this fraud being
00:22:23
uncovered and all these kind of backdoor dealings and this
00:22:26
nastiness. They have a lot more to lose
00:22:30
than Republicans do. And you've got to follow the
00:22:33
money here. And we know that those union
00:22:35
relationships that Newsom has had and developed, they're just
00:22:38
going to transfer onto 1 candidate.
00:22:41
And we've seen Swalwell start to get that union money in.
00:22:44
And I really think he's going to be the chosen 1.
00:22:46
And that people who just have that really deep strong party
00:22:52
allegiance are going to overlook a lot.
00:22:56
They're not going to be excited about Eric Swalwell.
00:22:58
Good Lord, nobody is excited. And and it will be more of the
00:23:01
same. But I do think they're going to
00:23:03
push him really, really hard. I don't imagine even though
00:23:06
they're calling for these other candidates to drop out, I don't
00:23:10
see that happening. They'll probably make some deals
00:23:12
and some people will will Slough off.
00:23:15
But for anyone and I, I made this video earlier today and I
00:23:18
just said, if, if you think that at any point in time, we have
00:23:24
the opportunity to have two Republican gubernatorial
00:23:26
candidates cross that jungle primary finish line, it's just
00:23:31
not going to happen. It's just not the Democrat Party
00:23:34
is too vibrant still in California.
00:23:38
There's too much money. There's too much of a machine.
00:23:40
They're just not going to let it happen.
00:23:42
I agree with that way of thinking.
00:23:44
And, and I think we have to be really smart here.
00:23:47
If, if we don't want to see that be the outcome.
00:23:49
If you do, you know, you're, you're good to go.
00:23:52
But, but I think people who are excited about, you know, 2
00:23:55
Republicans, that's great. Be excited.
00:23:58
That is energizing, right, that we want this change we're
00:24:01
backing. We have these two really great
00:24:03
viable candidates on, on the right side.
00:24:06
I just don't think it's wise to think that there are enough
00:24:10
votes in this state on that side of things.
00:24:12
Even with the independents who will crossover, even maybe a few
00:24:15
of the Democrats will crossover. It's not enough to push both
00:24:18
over that finish line. Oh, I agree.
00:24:23
Yeah, yeah, I I was going to connect the the dots between
00:24:28
what Kyle said, what Camille said about the federal
00:24:32
implications, and how Camille brought up that Katie Porter's
00:24:36
running on a anti Trump message, which doesn't seem to be
00:24:39
resonating. So to Kyle's point, I don't
00:24:41
think it filters down as much as people.
00:24:43
Maybe, maybe we can only hope that in California, people are
00:24:48
starting to realize that Trump is not the reason we have all
00:24:53
these issues that we do. And maybe we need to have a
00:24:55
politician who has actual solutions and not just, you
00:24:59
know, giving the middle finger to Trump all the time.
00:25:03
You brought up Eric Swalwell and I, I think this is a good pivot
00:25:07
point. Now I'm I'm going to push back
00:25:10
on this idea that the Democratic machine is behind Eric Swalwell
00:25:15
and I there's, there's just some evidence putting on my tinfoil
00:25:19
hat. I think the Democratic
00:25:22
establishment is trying to push Eric Swalwell out.
00:25:26
The other day I posted how there was an interview with Rob Bonta
00:25:31
and Eric Swalwell is saying that the FBI releasing files on him
00:25:36
is election interference. And Rob Bonta seems like he
00:25:38
doesn't care and can't be bothered by it.
00:25:41
Mr. I'll sue Trump at the drop of a hat.
00:25:44
He doesn't seem to care about that.
00:25:46
Now, there's more of the this information coming out, which I
00:25:50
was just reading today about these allegations of impropriety
00:25:55
with his staffers, with his employees.
00:25:58
There's the issue of how much money he was spending of
00:26:01
campaign funds to, I guess, to pay his wife for child care.
00:26:04
That's kind of a sticky legal issue, while technically legal,
00:26:09
but kind of like, why are you spending that much money to your
00:26:12
wife? It seems like there's kind of
00:26:14
like this concerted backroom effort to knock Swalwell out and
00:26:21
also this news that came out today that that seems to be
00:26:23
building. I was just going to come out and
00:26:25
say it. I mean, it sounds like Eric
00:26:27
Swalwell is sort of a creep. Like, I, I don't know, he
00:26:30
doesn't seem like the greatest guy.
00:26:32
Susan, you don't seem to be a fan of Eric Swalwell.
00:26:35
Have you been following any of this news about him?
00:26:37
And like, what's your thoughts on, do you think they're going
00:26:40
to get behind Swalwell or do you think they're trying to push him
00:26:42
out? You know, I had not really
00:26:46
thought about that. You know, I have not been
00:26:48
following him closely after I listened to him in a few
00:26:53
interviews. And he's just, like I said, it's
00:26:57
just astonishing to me that someone that dense has actually
00:27:01
made it as far as he has. And to think that he's being
00:27:05
pushed forward as a even a viable candidate by the
00:27:09
Democratic Party is mortifying. I mean, as a Democrat, that
00:27:13
should that should embarrass people.
00:27:15
That should embarrass everyone. You know, I will say that I do
00:27:19
like Matt Mahane as a, as a Democratic candidate.
00:27:22
I think he is genuinely moderate.
00:27:25
I met him. I can't remember like a year or
00:27:28
so ago at a pop 36 or pro POP36 rally.
00:27:33
And I do like him. And I wish that, you know,
00:27:34
Democrats would start to focus a little bit on candidates with
00:27:40
common sense. And if you look, if you talk to
00:27:43
the average voter, what do they want?
00:27:45
They want that your public safety is probably #1 if we
00:27:49
don't have public safety, we don't have profitable
00:27:52
businesses. We don't have a quality of life
00:27:56
in every area. Your schools aren't safe.
00:27:59
Nothing, nobody feels good. They don't feel safe in their
00:28:01
homes. So none of the other candidates
00:28:06
have really focused on that, on the Democratic side have focused
00:28:09
on that. And I don't understand why the
00:28:10
Democratic Party isn't really getting behind him.
00:28:13
I will tell you one of the things though, that worries me
00:28:15
about any of the candidates that the Democratic machine isn't
00:28:19
really behind is, you know, I call it the like, like the legal
00:28:22
cheating. And I'm so glad that all of this
00:28:24
ballot harvesting stuff is finally getting some traction
00:28:28
because I have been screaming about ballot harvesting for 10
00:28:32
years. And finally now people are
00:28:35
starting to listen to it and they don't realize that these
00:28:37
people have been, they have it down to an R.
00:28:40
They also ballot harvest in jails.
00:28:43
You know, some of these candidates who have, you know,
00:28:46
very progressive candidates who are, you know, who are
00:28:49
releasing, you know, emptying the prisons, closing the
00:28:52
prisons, abolishing the police. They show people collecting
00:28:55
ballots and in jail. So until, you know, they've got
00:28:59
outreach workers, you know who can ballot harvest in
00:29:03
encampments, these are that's a voting population that only one
00:29:08
type of candidate has access to, and it's the far left Democrats.
00:29:14
Yeah, that the ballot harvesting is right for.
00:29:18
I would for being strategically played in the sense of they they
00:29:23
legalize ballot harvesting so that they could go in.
00:29:26
And I think if you can't get off your butt and go vote, you
00:29:30
shouldn't vote. But maybe, maybe I'm old school
00:29:32
like that. Maybe you know.
00:29:34
Everyone should vote. Everyone should vote.
00:29:37
Whether you want to or not, we're going to walk around and
00:29:40
get your vote. Camille, what are your thoughts?
00:29:45
Eric Swalwell creep or not a creep?
00:29:48
He's he's sounding like a creep, he and Susan to kind of allude
00:29:54
to the fact that he's not that bright.
00:29:56
And how has he gotten this far? And, and I agree with that.
00:30:00
He's he hasn't come across as upright.
00:30:02
And wasn't he the one that made the comment when someone asked
00:30:04
him like how Nuisance's been doing?
00:30:06
And he was like, I don't, I don't know.
00:30:08
I haven't paid. Attention.
00:30:11
Oh, that was. Oh, OK.
00:30:13
Sorry. My apologies.
00:30:15
So I actually, though, had a question for you, Phil, because
00:30:19
you feel like. Yeah, because you said that you
00:30:22
feel like the Democrats are actually trying to kind of
00:30:24
squeeze him out. Who do you think then they want
00:30:28
to put in? Yeah, and.
00:30:31
That's the right question. That is the I I hate.
00:30:35
I, you know, I think they, they probably want someone who'd
00:30:41
probably go even farther left than Gavin Newsom.
00:30:44
And it's got to be Katie Porter. I think she would just rubber
00:30:47
stamp any far left legislation that comes across her desk.
00:30:51
I I've said, Camille, you've heard me on this show say plenty
00:30:54
of times we've kind of been saved by the fact as and I know
00:30:59
people in the chair are probably going to be like saved.
00:31:01
How have we been saved? We've been saved because Gavin
00:31:04
Newsom is trying to run for president.
00:31:06
His whole life has just been running for president.
00:31:09
So his eight years as governor, every time he has a bill in
00:31:13
front of him, his signature only goes down if he thinks it makes
00:31:17
a difference in 2028, that's it. Like he's thinking every time he
00:31:21
signs a bill, he goes, he's thinking, OK, how does this play
00:31:24
out with Iowa voters in 2028? Like that's all he ever thinks
00:31:27
about. And to his credit, that means
00:31:29
he, like, he did veto a lot of far, far left stuff.
00:31:34
He let some stuff get through, but a lot of far left crazy
00:31:37
stuff. I think it's got to be Katie
00:31:39
Porter. Unless.
00:31:41
But. Yeah, I I think that's go ahead.
00:31:47
Well, you're definitely entitled to your opinions and I asked
00:31:49
you, but we did just discuss Katie Porter's not very likable
00:31:54
and she hasn't been pulling. While she seems to pull second
00:31:58
or third amongst the Democrats. She hasn't.
00:32:02
She's never pulling in first and she doesn't look good.
00:32:07
And it doesn't seem like they're doing anything to make her look
00:32:10
better. Like I don't.
00:32:12
I don't see the Democrats helping her, but it.
00:32:16
Does look like she she got a little help from Ozempic
00:32:18
potentially. I mean they are trying to and I
00:32:21
don't, I don't say that in a. You know.
00:32:24
Offensive way. I just, it does look like they
00:32:26
are trying to help her just a little bit that Julie, what's
00:32:30
her face? You know, what was that?
00:32:32
The ABC interview that that tanked her was actually an
00:32:36
interview with all of the candidates.
00:32:38
But we saw the one with her with the bad lighting in the
00:32:41
sideways, the sideways shot. I don't know, Phil, I don't
00:32:45
know. We might have to make a bet on
00:32:46
this one. I'm feeling pretty good chances.
00:32:48
But I will tell you guys when that filing date and what was it
00:32:52
like March 6th or something when that was approaching?
00:32:54
I was almost holding my breath because I couldn't quite believe
00:32:58
that they hadn't brought Kamala back in for California.
00:33:02
I I think, you know, she, she really didn't land with people
00:33:06
during the presidential, you know, there, there was a lot of
00:33:09
talk about how she was anointed and selected and, and she just,
00:33:12
she really struggled during that very, very short, however many
00:33:16
days. I can't even remember.
00:33:17
And she wrote the book on it. She, she just struggled.
00:33:21
But I think there was some corner that turned where people
00:33:24
were like, Oh, well, maybe maybe she wasn't that bad, you know,
00:33:28
And they weren't happy with what Trump has been doing.
00:33:31
I was sure. I was just sure.
00:33:33
They trot her out for this gubernatorial.
00:33:36
And when that deadline passed and they didn't bring her out, I
00:33:38
was, I almost was like looking around like, did I?
00:33:41
Did I get that right? Did they not bring her out?
00:33:44
This is who they have. Eric Swalwell and Katie Porter
00:33:47
are the best that they have and likability.
00:33:51
I know, Camille, you keep saying that.
00:33:53
And it is so critical and even more so than it's ever been
00:33:56
because we look at two things when we look at the candidate,
00:33:58
we look at your credibility score and your likability.
00:34:01
And over the years, when when you decode that for every
00:34:04
candidate and you match those scores up, you can tell every
00:34:07
time who's going to win. Katie Porter is not likable.
00:34:12
Her likability score is going to be like a -1 and it's just not
00:34:16
going to happen for her. And maybe she is a credible
00:34:18
person. Maybe you believe that she has
00:34:20
the policies and the ability and the, you know, expertise and the
00:34:23
experience to, to lead this state.
00:34:26
I don't. I don't necessarily think that
00:34:28
she does, but let's look at an Eric Swalwell, right?
00:34:31
Like again, he's not likable because there is the ick factor
00:34:35
and he has this history of really questionable judgement,
00:34:39
right? Especially when it comes to
00:34:41
romantic partners. And, and we want somebody with
00:34:44
with good judgement, but this is who they have.
00:34:46
This is who they're going to put forward.
00:34:48
Matt Mahan was an interesting 1, Susan, that you brought up
00:34:50
because I'm fascinated by the fact that he has not done better
00:34:54
than he has, right? Because he has a lot of those
00:34:56
ingredients, right? Good looking guy, well spoken.
00:35:00
He's sort of tracking along the Newsom path, but I think that
00:35:04
might be hurting him because people are so turned off by how
00:35:07
Newsom has governed that they're like, Oh no, not this guy again.
00:35:10
And he's coming out trying to be moderate.
00:35:14
And I all, all I heard about Mahan was like, Oh no, he's a,
00:35:17
he's a Democrat in moderates clothing and, and people really
00:35:20
saw through that. So I've been fascinated by this
00:35:23
election cycle already and how motivated and energized people
00:35:28
are for authenticity, for true change.
00:35:31
And that debate where they went down the line and and I'll just,
00:35:34
this is so burned in my brain. Right when the moderator asked
00:35:38
each candidate, that was the one where Steve was like the only
00:35:41
Republican that showed up, one of their initial ones.
00:35:44
Will you continue building the high speed train?
00:35:46
And they went one by one by one saying build it, build it,
00:35:52
finish it. And everyone's like, what are
00:35:53
you saying? This has been like the greatest
00:35:56
financial disaster money pit of all time.
00:35:59
And then they get to Steve and he's like, no, what are you
00:36:01
saying? But but I think that that really
00:36:04
hit people right smack between the eyes, like we're just going
00:36:08
to get the same thing we have that we don't want any longer.
00:36:13
And Mahan was right in line there and just was like, yeah,
00:36:15
it's fine, Keep going. Same stuff, same same playbook.
00:36:19
Yeah, I will like. Both of you, I am surprised.
00:36:22
I'm sorry I keep interrupting. I'm so rude.
00:36:24
This is your. Show No, I I was just going to
00:36:28
This is why it's called a round table, because we all get to
00:36:30
talk. Yeah, I was going to say, if gun
00:36:34
to my head, if you say I don't think Katie Porter and Eric
00:36:39
Schwaler are the best the Democrats have, I think gun to
00:36:43
my head, I think Matt Mahan was probably the best option.
00:36:46
Meaning if you were like, OK, your family's going to die, you
00:36:48
have to vote for one of these Democrats, be like, OK, it's
00:36:51
Matt Mahan. I'll I'll take Matt Mahan.
00:36:53
Mostly because he pushed back on Newsome with Prop 36.
00:36:56
He took a hard stance on homelessness that seemed to
00:36:58
clean up San Jose. Those two things alone made him
00:37:02
different than Newsome. But I Kyle, I can see where
00:37:06
you're going with it. Like he's this kind of fence
00:37:08
straddler, good looking young guy, kind of like, you know, Bay
00:37:13
Area guy. And then people are like, oh,
00:37:15
we're getting another like, you know, 40 something white guy
00:37:18
who's supported by billionaires. Like great.
00:37:22
We don't want that again. So but the fact that the two top
00:37:26
polling is Eric Swallow and Katie Porter, not that great.
00:37:31
And I think if if I'm in the mind of the Democratic machine,
00:37:36
they're going to throw their support behind someone who is
00:37:39
easily, I guess, controlled in the sense of they can funnel
00:37:44
more money to the unions. They'll do all the projects that
00:37:47
they want, all the green projects, whether it costs
00:37:50
billions of dollars. Like they just want the money
00:37:52
trained to keep rolling. And I guess they think maybe
00:37:56
Katie Porter or Eric Swalwell do that because Eric Swalwell is
00:37:59
not smart enough to think on his own.
00:38:01
And Katie Porter just wants power.
00:38:04
That's all she cares about anyway.
00:38:05
So she'll get it one way or another, which I guess kind of
00:38:09
brings it to this next issue. Why the hell is no one dropping
00:38:14
out on the Democrats? Like, what's your theory as to
00:38:17
why nobody wants to drop out and and why people like Tony Thurman
00:38:22
and Betty Yee are just they just won't get out and let people
00:38:25
consolidate their support. Like, I guess, Susan, we'll
00:38:29
start with you get your Why do you think none of the Democrats
00:38:32
are dropping out? Well, that's very easy.
00:38:35
Ego. It's ego.
00:38:38
I mean, that's all it is. Yeah.
00:38:40
They they truly believe that in some mythical world that they
00:38:44
are going to magically pull out a win and they're going to stay
00:38:51
in it. Kyle, what's your thought of why
00:38:53
none of the Democrats are dropping?
00:38:55
I also believe that it's because they don't have to right now.
00:38:59
I guarantee you if, if either Chad Bianco or Steve Hilton
00:39:04
stepped back tomorrow and said I'm supporting the other one,
00:39:08
I'm removing my name, you would see the entire Democrat field
00:39:12
except for their front runner drop.
00:39:15
They don't have to right now. They they see the vote split on
00:39:18
the other side so profoundly that they're going to keep going
00:39:22
and keep going. It's going to get real hairy
00:39:24
those last couple weeks in May. We're going to, we're going to
00:39:27
see some some movement, I think. Maybe it's coming.
00:39:32
What's your thoughts? We're making our way.
00:39:34
We're making our way. I agree ego.
00:39:38
I I think that they, you know, have their, they're, they're
00:39:43
almost like celebrities in the sense that they surround
00:39:45
themselves with yes people. And so I think that they're
00:39:48
being fed like they have yes people around them who are like,
00:39:50
Oh no, the polls, the polls may be saying that, but that's that
00:39:53
poll was fake because of this or it was whatever.
00:39:56
It wasn't real because of this. Your polls, these internal
00:39:58
polls, people are they're voting for you.
00:40:01
I'm I'm not going to be surprised if we end up seeing
00:40:04
Betty EE all of a sudden become the front runner.
00:40:06
Like. Quiet little Betty EE did she
00:40:09
suddenly get a like, I don't know.
00:40:12
I mean, I was surprised when she became wasn't she the most
00:40:15
popular at the the DNC convention, even though they
00:40:18
didn't actually endorse anybody? Wasn't she like she became the
00:40:23
she got the most votes or something like that.
00:40:27
I, I think that they all, I really truly believe that they
00:40:30
are sent here to save us, save California, and that their own
00:40:34
ideas, their own policies, their experience, their
00:40:38
qualifications, that they're going to beat Bianco and Hilton.
00:40:45
And so I, you know, why drop out?
00:40:48
And to Kyle's point, yeah, if, if one of the candidates on the
00:40:53
Republican side did clear, I think that we would see a huge
00:40:58
drop. But they want to make sure that
00:41:00
we get, you know, 2 Democrats to November.
00:41:04
And I, I don't think that's likely.
00:41:06
I, I don't think we're going to Republicans, But I, you know,
00:41:10
they want to guarantee, of course, that they get 2
00:41:12
Democrats to the end. Is it also, in your guys's
00:41:16
opinion, the fact that this race is so wide open?
00:41:23
Think about for the past 20 years and I haven't even
00:41:28
collectively lived here 20 years yet.
00:41:31
I'm getting close. I'm I consider myself I think
00:41:34
I've lived in California more than I've lived in Jersey at
00:41:36
this point. That makes me a real
00:41:39
Californian, right? You're in except.
00:41:41
You, yeah. We'll allow.
00:41:44
I'm like most people, yes, I'm like most people in San Diego.
00:41:48
I'm a transplant like 90% of the people here.
00:41:51
I, I, I'm wondering if it also has to do with the fact that,
00:41:56
OK, Schwarzenegger was a big name, so you weren't really
00:41:59
going up against him. Then you had Governor Brown come
00:42:03
back, Governor Moonbeam. He came back for another eight
00:42:06
years, huge political family, political dynasty.
00:42:10
And then he handed over the reins to Gavin Newsom, his
00:42:13
Lieutenant governor. That was eight years.
00:42:15
So we've kind of had this like political dynasty for the past
00:42:18
20 years. This is like the first election
00:42:21
in probably 20 years where there's not a air incumbent for
00:42:28
the governorship, right? Like maybe that's why a lot of
00:42:30
these people are sticking around 'cause they're like, nobody's
00:42:33
really that strong or that impressive.
00:42:37
Maybe if I just hang around, maybe I'll end up in the general
00:42:40
election. So I don't know.
00:42:43
What are your guys's thoughts? Whoever wants to go first.
00:42:46
That kind of goes back to what Kyle said where she was shocked
00:42:48
that they didn't bring in Kamala at the last minute because that
00:42:51
would have yeah. It made sense.
00:42:54
Well. I'm just saying.
00:42:55
Thinking while you're saying like, I mean, they could have
00:42:58
had the heir apparent, right? And if the state has been run
00:43:01
better than it had been, I mean they could have had their
00:43:04
pipeline under Newsome move forward.
00:43:07
I mean, as you made such a good point here, Phil, it's like
00:43:10
we're just at this weird time where, where we everybody shows
00:43:16
up and it's like we don't know. And look at the numbers of, of
00:43:18
undecideds in these, these polling.
00:43:21
It's like our top person polling hasn't even broken 20%.
00:43:25
I mean, we, we really have not been in this position for so
00:43:29
long and it's exciting. And it's also a little
00:43:31
terrifying to be to be honest. So anything can happen I
00:43:35
suppose. Yeah, so I'm I was doing some.
00:43:41
Rob Bonta was sort of being groomed to be the heir out of
00:43:46
the throne, you know, because Newsom appointed him.
00:43:49
And for a little while there, they kept sticking him in front
00:43:53
of the podium to sort of look gubernatorial.
00:43:57
And I'm definitely not a fan of his.
00:44:00
And it was just terrifying me that I thought, oh, my God,
00:44:03
they're going to shove him. And I felt like they were sort
00:44:06
of grooming him to be the heir out of the throne.
00:44:11
I think the fraud really tanked him the.
00:44:13
All the fraud being. Exposed just pulled the rug
00:44:16
right out from under him. Yeah, he.
00:44:18
Had. That weird charge on his
00:44:20
campaign, I think that they wanted to like, wait for that to
00:44:23
kind of clear, you know, let the news cycle go.
00:44:27
And he's keeps suing Trump. And I think that they like that
00:44:30
so. Yeah, and also let.
00:44:34
Him squeeze what he can out of Trump.
00:44:37
Well, it's the fraud and we're talking about the Duong
00:44:40
conspiracy, like the issue in Oakland where he's connected to
00:44:44
that. And like that's a whole that's
00:44:47
that's a whole bad story as well.
00:44:48
Like if you run for governor, forget it.
00:44:50
That's all coming to the limelight.
00:44:51
So, yeah, it's it's kind of interesting that I remember
00:44:57
reading or researching and it came to this factoid that the
00:45:01
Brown family has been in statewide office for more than a
00:45:07
cent half a century. Oh.
00:45:09
My gosh. If you think about between Pat
00:45:11
Brown and Jerry Brown, they've both served in statewide office,
00:45:15
whether it was governor or Secretary of State or attorney
00:45:18
general, They've served for more than 50 years.
00:45:21
The both of them. That's pretty terrifying to
00:45:23
think like, when I'm talking about political families, like
00:45:26
that's what I'm talking about. You've had these political
00:45:29
families running California for so long.
00:45:31
Now Newsom is leaving. I don't know who who's the next
00:45:36
political. There's no like younger Brown
00:45:38
who's coming up through the ranks.
00:45:39
So there really is nobody who's taking over and nobody's
00:45:44
coalescing and and making the star power.
00:45:46
And in a state like California, I feel like you sort of do need
00:45:49
that star power. This isn't like another state
00:45:51
new. Stars, right you know what we're
00:45:54
seeing a lot of is the tech billionaires coming out the tech
00:45:58
billionaire. This just makes no sense
00:46:01
whatsoever. It's a total oxymoron.
00:46:03
But they're the billionaires who really like the idea of
00:46:06
socialism and and we're seeing them come out of Silicon Valley
00:46:11
and they're running for political office.
00:46:13
It's, it's been a really fascinating turn of events here
00:46:17
that, you know, we were talking about this at the very
00:46:19
beginning. And, and Susan, when you're
00:46:21
introducing yourself and just saying, like, you know, we don't
00:46:24
want to go that direction. But there is this crop that of,
00:46:28
of people in this country and some with a lot of funding and a
00:46:32
lot of influence who think that maybe socialism is sounding
00:46:36
pretty darn good right now. And maybe we've never just given
00:46:39
it, it's true opportunity to to shine and thrive here in the
00:46:45
United States. And, and maybe we'll give it a
00:46:47
go. And that is what I see more and
00:46:51
more this kind of ball rolling and, and, and gaining momentum
00:46:56
is more and more of these, these people who, who really ascribe
00:46:59
to that political ideology and, and think that it's, it's going
00:47:04
to work. And, you know, at the end of the
00:47:05
day, too, money in any campaign gets you pretty darn far.
00:47:10
It doesn't get you all the way all the time.
00:47:12
You can look at the Bloomberg, you know, presidential campaign
00:47:15
is always the example I, I use. He spent more money than
00:47:18
anybody, like self funded and and it just was a total flop.
00:47:22
But it gets you pretty darn far. And so those are the ones I'm
00:47:25
really keeping my my eye on is the is the billionaires.
00:47:29
But you know, they're all going to leave California here in a
00:47:31
minute anyway. That's OK if they haven't left
00:47:33
already. Where socialism kicks in.
00:47:36
They'll leave once socialism actually kicks in.
00:47:39
Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:47:41
I have two questions for the group, if I may.
00:47:46
Who would you guys have liked to see run regardless of political
00:47:48
party? Somebody that's not that's
00:47:50
didn't throw their name in. That's a really good question.
00:47:53
Another question. I have my little favorites
00:47:56
across the state. They're a little green still,
00:47:59
they're a little young. They're up and coming.
00:48:01
I love Shannon Grove, she's one of my all time favorites, but
00:48:04
she's just steady and she just is in there chipping away.
00:48:08
God bless her. You know she and people like
00:48:10
her. She works well with the
00:48:11
Democrats. I am a huge Kevin Kiley fan.
00:48:14
I think he's gotten the rawest of raw deals.
00:48:17
Talk about a fighter. And there's some other ones in
00:48:20
the Assembly that that I think are up and coming.
00:48:22
But I think maybe I'd like, gosh, I'm hopeful for Kevin
00:48:26
Kiley. I think when his district got
00:48:28
split into 6 after Prop 50, he just had the the toughest of all
00:48:35
dilemmas in figuring out where he was going to run.
00:48:37
And and I was unhappy with people in the GOP who turned
00:48:42
against him at that point said you're abandoning the GOP.
00:48:45
You know, it's like, what, what's the guy supposed to do,
00:48:47
right? You know, you.
00:48:48
And so he's running as NPP and, and he's just doing what he,
00:48:52
he's giving himself the best chance to stay in office.
00:48:55
But I, I know him and I, I just think he's a tremendous fighter
00:48:59
for the state and, and for all people.
00:49:01
And I'd love to see him continue to, to seek office and, and
00:49:06
serve the state. So maybe, maybe Kevin would be
00:49:08
my pick. Yeah, Kevin was the first name
00:49:13
that came to mind for me. Someone who would be probably
00:49:16
big enough to run for governor. I mean, he did run for governor
00:49:19
in the recall. Yeah, he did.
00:49:22
So people forget that he did actually run for governor at one
00:49:25
point. Yeah.
00:49:27
Kevin probably is the biggest star power.
00:49:30
Yeah. There's a lot of up and comers
00:49:32
in the assembly who are doing a really great job.
00:49:35
Like David Tony Baugh is doing a great job.
00:49:37
I love. David Tankenpaugh.
00:49:39
Yeah, fantastic, great. When we had him on, it was a
00:49:42
great, great guest. I think he's doing a lot, but
00:49:46
still very green. And it's tough to make that jump
00:49:48
from assembly to governor. Yeah, probably Kylie.
00:49:53
I can't think of really anybody else who would have the star
00:49:55
power to run in California. I don't know, Susan, what about
00:49:59
your thoughts? Anybody you wish was running?
00:50:04
Kevin Kylie, you know, Billa Saley has really kicked out and
00:50:08
making a day for himself, which is so wonderful to see because
00:50:12
he was getting such a just a raw end of the stick when he was,
00:50:17
you know, in the assembly. He was just getting just kicked
00:50:20
around. And it was just talk about like
00:50:23
the ultimate, like, you know, good, good over evil.
00:50:28
It was like these people just were just railroading him.
00:50:32
And nothing has made me happier than to see his success when
00:50:37
Trump just sort of plucked him out and was like, no, this isn't
00:50:40
it. We're not going to keep doing
00:50:41
this. You plucked him out and look at
00:50:42
what he's done. And you know, he's he's very
00:50:46
popular. People love him.
00:50:47
You know, people, whether you're whatever side of the aisle
00:50:50
you're on. I think we're all sick of the
00:50:52
corruption, waste and fraud. And he has really been a shining
00:50:56
star in in bringing that to light and not just bringing it
00:51:00
to life, but actually finally starting to take action on these
00:51:04
things. And so I think he would be a
00:51:06
good one as well. But I don't think he's ready
00:51:08
quite yet. But I think he'd be great.
00:51:12
Yeah, I have three names which are that you already mentioned
00:51:17
Kevin Kiley and yes, he did run in the recall.
00:51:20
And I feel like he, I mean, obviously we we just lost that
00:51:23
recall anyway, but I feel like he was Kevin Kiley was maybe
00:51:27
just not ripe yet for that time and I I would have loved to see
00:51:31
him run this time. Unfortunately he didn't.
00:51:34
I think he would be great. I think Bill Saley, same thing
00:51:37
as maybe he was also too young this time around and but he's
00:51:40
still young enough that perhaps, you know, depending on what
00:51:44
happens with this election, perhaps we'll see him in four
00:51:47
years or in eight years. I, I hope so.
00:51:49
I hope because I think he is doing such great things.
00:51:51
I hope to see that continue. And then the third who really
00:51:55
had the opportunity, James Gallagher.
00:51:57
Now, of course, he is running for Congress now, but I think he
00:52:02
would have been a great candidate to run for governor.
00:52:06
I'm looking at the chat right now.
00:52:08
People in the chat, if you're live watching, let us know in
00:52:12
the chat who you would have liked to see outside of who is
00:52:14
running right now. Some people say Kevin McCarthy
00:52:19
possibly. I mean, that's an interesting
00:52:22
choice he had. He knows how to fundraise,
00:52:23
that's for sure. He's got, I guess he's got the
00:52:28
somebody said Count Chocula. Sure, why not?
00:52:30
Andrew Dice Clay, you know people are getting silly and you
00:52:33
can start. Hide in, you know, Darrell.
00:52:35
Darrell Issa was a great. Yeah, Rep.
00:52:39
Too. I really always had a Darrell
00:52:40
Issa fan. Someone said Carl Delaio, no
00:52:44
comment on that. So somebody said, give me a
00:52:50
Dana. I had another question, but I
00:52:51
don't want to jump too far ahead, so still feel free to be
00:52:54
like, no, we're not there yet. Yeah, I'm.
00:52:56
Just reading more of these comments, I was like, give me a
00:52:58
Dana White type person, someone outside of politics who can run
00:53:02
off their personality and get to the low information voters to
00:53:06
our side. OK.
00:53:08
I mean, sometimes that's what it requires is you do need that
00:53:10
star power. So look at what Spencer.
00:53:14
Pratt is accomplishing, I mean, talk about a talk about an All
00:53:18
Star who's really making a lot of a lot of waves.
00:53:21
I'm really enjoying watching his campaign and him just be
00:53:25
absolutely exactly who he is and and get a lot of traction.
00:53:28
Yeah. I'm hopeful for him.
00:53:30
Yeah, it is so funny. I think for people our age who
00:53:34
we're like, I hate that guy. Who hated his butts when he was
00:53:38
on that show? That what?
00:53:42
I had a friend say something like she had posted something on
00:53:45
that on social media, which she was like 2 things that I never
00:53:48
thought I would ever say. She mentioned one and she's like
00:53:50
Spencer Pratt. I'm I'm really liking him.
00:53:52
You guys would be paying attention and she's like that,
00:53:55
yes, that Spencer Pratt. It's true.
00:53:58
So funny. So my next question again, Phil,
00:54:00
just be like we're not there yet or whatever.
00:54:04
We're not. There, let's say, come November,
00:54:07
Eric Swalwell wins. Oh gosh, why would you put that
00:54:10
out? Where does California go from
00:54:12
here? What do you guys think?
00:54:14
I mean, that's a very broad question because I, I mean, I'm
00:54:18
personally not like a doomsday or where it's like, oh, well,
00:54:20
there goes California. We're all just, we need to leave
00:54:22
now. I'm not like that.
00:54:23
But you know, I think we are very optimistic.
00:54:27
We're very hopeful that we can get a Hilton or Bianco in this
00:54:30
year. And we're also realistic people.
00:54:34
We know we live here. We know what California is and
00:54:37
who the majority is. So let's just say Eric Swalwell
00:54:41
wins. Then what?
00:54:44
I don't know who wants to tackle that first, that nightmare.
00:54:47
I can go, I can go. I have a lot to say about that.
00:54:50
I think that's actually a brilliant question and something
00:54:52
we should put our minds on is, is think through the different
00:54:56
scenarios and how what the reaction should be because that
00:55:00
is a very realistic possibility in my mind and my understanding
00:55:03
of how this could go. I think that that that there is
00:55:06
a decent chance that could happen.
00:55:08
The good thing I'll say, let's talk Silver Linings and maybe
00:55:11
some, some positive aspects of this is that he tends to be one
00:55:15
of those candidates who just has no filter and he's actually
00:55:18
telling us how he would govern. I mean, he's being pretty,
00:55:21
pretty blatantly candid about he wants to vote via phone and he
00:55:28
wants to, you know, potentially go after people on the other
00:55:32
side of things. And he is telling us how he
00:55:36
thinks about some of these things.
00:55:38
And there are ways to insulate against that, right?
00:55:41
Do you think the taxes would just be out of control?
00:55:43
You know Prop 13's back on the ballot, man, they.
00:55:46
Really, really really. Want to get prop 13?
00:55:49
They have tried seven ways from Sunday, my friends, to get at
00:55:53
Prop 13. And I, and I know it's because
00:55:55
our our state is, is functionally bankrupt.
00:55:59
And I love the argument. It's always like, well, we're
00:56:01
the 4th largest economy in the world.
00:56:02
Yeah, we're bankrupt. We have, we are writing checks
00:56:06
that this state cannot cash ever.
00:56:08
The pensions are out of control. They can't backtrack on those.
00:56:13
You know, the fraud being found, more money for the train.
00:56:16
I mean, goes on and on and on. And they will have to fill that
00:56:21
hole with taxpayer money. That's probably my biggest
00:56:25
concern, is that the taxes are just going to ratchet up.
00:56:28
And, and the one thing I think that would make me very, very
00:56:31
seriously consider living, moving out of the state that I,
00:56:34
I love with my whole heart and I would never want to abandon is
00:56:38
if they finally got Prop 13 in their clutches, I think I'd have
00:56:43
to seriously consider going. But, but I think you just, you
00:56:46
prepare. You prepare for all the
00:56:48
scenarios and know what your breaking point is.
00:56:52
I think that's a smart way to approach it.
00:56:55
Susan, what would what are your thoughts about a possible Eric
00:56:59
Swalwell governorship? I try not to think about it.
00:57:01
I got to be really honest, I think it that's rather
00:57:06
terrifying to me. You know, just when you think
00:57:09
California couldn't possibly have bigger problems, I think I
00:57:15
swallow in would be horrendous for this state.
00:57:20
And you know, like I have, I have thought about I'm
00:57:23
originally from Texas. I was just, you know, there last
00:57:26
year working at houses and because I wanted to leave, I
00:57:29
wanted to leave the state. But you know, for many of us,
00:57:33
that's not as easy as we dream it up to be.
00:57:36
You know, we have family here, my sons here, my sister lives
00:57:40
across the street. You know, it's, it's great to
00:57:44
fantasize about these things, but the reality is that most of
00:57:47
us or many of us are entrenched. We are vested in our
00:57:51
communities. And so to lead is brutal, but so
00:57:56
is being overtaxed. And to a point that is crippling
00:58:03
and at the same time losing all of our services that those taxes
00:58:06
are supposed to be paying for, you know, potholes, no law
00:58:09
enforcement, no streetlights, homeless people everywhere, you
00:58:14
know, open drug use. We've got children walking to
00:58:16
school watching open acts of prostitution and drug use.
00:58:20
This is, you know, I mean, I've seen interviews with people
00:58:24
from, you know, third world countries that say we don't, we
00:58:26
don't want to let this in the country that I came from.
00:58:29
And so I, I think it's almost, it is too painful for me to
00:58:35
think about what if he wins to really think about, you know,
00:58:39
what am I willing to do? I, I I don't know.
00:58:42
Yeah, I, I, I'm having some like conceptual thoughts and I may
00:58:51
get a little too wonky over here about what happens if Eric
00:58:54
Swallow becomes governor. And this may be sort of a good
00:58:58
ending question to to throw it back to you guys.
00:59:03
Someone had asked in the chat about how come Eric Swalwell can
00:59:07
run for governor even though he does, he doesn't technically
00:59:11
live here. I want to give you guys the
00:59:12
answer because I have to look this up.
00:59:14
I've been following a little bit of what it is.
00:59:16
According to the California Constitution says the governor
00:59:18
must be AUS citizen at least five years and a resident of
00:59:21
California. However, the Secretary of State
00:59:24
has long taken the position that the five year state residency
00:59:26
risk requirement is unconstitutional and therefore
00:59:29
unenforceable. They argue that Swalwell's
00:59:33
registered to vote an address in Livermore, holds a California's
00:59:36
driver's license, active member of the State Bar, all of which
00:59:39
he and his landlord point to as proof that he's a California
00:59:42
resident. His landlord filed A sworn
00:59:45
declaration stating he has rented and lived at Livermore
00:59:47
since 2017. So they.
00:59:52
Knew the California State Supreme Court was not going to
00:59:55
do a darn thing about that. Wishful thinking.
00:59:59
They're going to. They're going to push it
01:00:00
through. Yeah.
01:00:03
So I guess it's a bigger question about the residency.
01:00:05
I mean, if that's how they want to play it, fine.
01:00:07
Then, you know, I guess any conservative who wants to in the
01:00:11
future run for governor, just rent out a property here, right?
01:00:14
And just eventually run for governor because I guess if
01:00:17
we're not going to enforce it for Swalwell, I think Swalwell
01:00:23
is not as as savvy and charismatic as Newsom to get the
01:00:28
things done that Newsom was able to get past us.
01:00:32
And I think his leadership will further erode sort of the view
01:00:41
of the two parties here in California and maybe not the
01:00:45
Republican. What I'm saying is it, it's very
01:00:48
obvious based on this very fractured gubernatorial
01:00:51
election, maybe people are just not happy with either party.
01:00:57
I mean, if we're looking at who's in the lead in the
01:00:59
governor's race right now, it's undecided, 25% is undecided.
01:01:03
There's a lot of people who have no idea.
01:01:05
So the undecided candidate's winning right now.
01:01:09
So I don't know. I think if we keep going down
01:01:13
this route of like business as usual, Newsome, like kind of
01:01:19
Democrats, it's going to disenfranchise more people.
01:01:23
Maybe they look for different options.
01:01:26
Do we see an emergence of a third party here in California
01:01:30
that addresses both issues and kind of can bring in voters from
01:01:34
both sides? I don't know.
01:01:37
I'm, I'm thinking big picture conceptually.
01:01:40
I mean, practically, we'll have plenty of content to talk about
01:01:42
because like we said, he's not very bright and he's kind of a
01:01:46
creep. So it'll give us plenty of
01:01:48
content to talk about for the next 4 years.
01:01:51
So I, I don't know, prepare for the worst with Eric Swalwell.
01:01:57
I just don't think he's savvy enough to convince people to go
01:02:01
along with a radical agenda like Newsome was.
01:02:04
I don't know, that's my feeling. So does that answer your
01:02:08
question, Camille, what would you do in case of of Eric
01:02:11
Swalwell governorship? Well, I can't do anything.
01:02:15
But as we have so focused on the show, all I mean how we
01:02:20
basically became friends. Local elections matter.
01:02:25
Vote, vote better Assembly and Senate, State Senate members,
01:02:30
you guys like this is so, so important because while the
01:02:34
governor has, you know, they have their powers, they have
01:02:38
signatures and vetoes. Certainly if we are not getting
01:02:42
crazy bills to their desk, they cannot sign crazy bills.
01:02:46
Crazy bills come from crazy people.
01:02:48
We have got to vote better assembly members and state
01:02:52
senator members so that we're not seeing these really crazy
01:02:57
things get authored. And yes, again, the governor
01:03:01
does have a lot of power to do a lot of things, but we can tone
01:03:03
it down if we really make sure that we show up and vote for our
01:03:08
local elections and not just for the governor.
01:03:11
These, these elections really, really matter as as do your city
01:03:15
and county stuff. But as far as the state is
01:03:18
concerned, you've really got to get out there and tell your
01:03:21
friends to get out and vote for their state assembly member and
01:03:25
state senator. The Iceman in chat says we tend
01:03:30
to catastrophize things. It won't be the end of the
01:03:33
world. It will probably just get slowly
01:03:35
worse. The left will disengage
01:03:37
politically, which is good for us, OK.
01:03:41
I mean, yeah, if it goes so bad, it'll probably just be one term
01:03:44
and then we're almost guaranteed a Republican at that point.
01:03:48
Yeah, someone else asked why didn't Larry Elder run?
01:03:52
Probably because he's doing well with his radio show.
01:03:56
Yeah, that was a rough such a. Rough go.
01:03:58
He didn't get the support that he should have.
01:04:00
Had a lot of hate as a black man in California.
01:04:04
Got so much hate and that was sad to see.
01:04:06
Yeah, you know, I, I like that. So, you know, I, I was actually
01:04:11
really disappointed with the Republican Party because I felt
01:04:15
like in that scenario, because every Democrat I know signed
01:04:20
that petition to that we call Gavin Newsom.
01:04:25
But they weren't at that time, it was still such a, you know,
01:04:29
even with moderate Democrats who weren't writing for another
01:04:33
Trump and Larry Elder represented a black Trump and
01:04:37
there were moderate, I can't remember his name.
01:04:40
It was Kevin Faulkner from San Diego.
01:04:43
You know, I think if he had been the Republican nominee, I think
01:04:47
we would pat him as our government.
01:04:49
I think there was a lot of moderate Democrats, myself
01:04:51
included, that were really even then we were ready for change,
01:04:55
but we weren't ready for a black Trump.
01:04:59
And then when the whole when he mentioned that if Dianne
01:05:04
Feinstein or actually it was Dianne Feinstein or Barbara
01:05:07
Boxer passed away or she got stepped down, he was going to
01:05:10
replace her with a Republican. And there was a lot of, you
01:05:12
know, right to choose the shoes tied into that.
01:05:16
There was a lot of stuff going on that made him made moderates,
01:05:21
pushed back, and I was incredibly disappointed because
01:05:25
I really feel as though if a moderate Republican had been
01:05:28
pushed forward, we would not have Gavin Houston today.
01:05:32
Yeah, we did see a lot of them step up for the recall and then
01:05:35
not run again in 2022 like Kevin Wilkner.
01:05:40
I like Kevin. He's, you know, my former mayor
01:05:44
met him a couple times. To your point, Susan, I think he
01:05:47
had the most appealability widely to if he were to win,
01:05:54
like if he were to go on for the recall, I think he probably
01:05:56
would have had the most appealability to everybody as a
01:06:00
change. But you know, that's in the past
01:06:03
now. So all right, we're at nine O 9.
01:06:07
So I have a couple rapid fire questions for our guests and
01:06:10
Camille before we end tonight. What is the one issue no
01:06:17
candidate is talking about that they should be?
01:06:21
Don't all jump at first. Well, you know what I would say
01:06:24
because I'm working with Steve on an Office of anti Trafficking
01:06:28
initiatives to tackle human trafficking and child sex
01:06:32
trafficking across the state. He's the only one who's, you
01:06:34
know, even mentioned it. Nobody else will will talk about
01:06:37
it or or broach the subject. So not exactly what you're
01:06:41
asking, Phil, but I'm going to take my opportunity to talk
01:06:44
about it. And and, you know, human
01:06:46
trafficking is such a challenging issue for for
01:06:49
anybody to broach, but there's so much work to be done in this
01:06:51
state. It is the fastest growing crime.
01:06:54
We have the highest instances of it here.
01:06:56
And so, and, and I didn't bring that to Steve, you know, he
01:07:00
started delving into that issue on his own and I was just really
01:07:05
blown away by his heart for it and, and said, Hey, we need to
01:07:08
talk about this. And it's turned into something
01:07:10
really remarkable. So I'm, I'm pretty invested in
01:07:14
him making it across the finish line because then I get to go to
01:07:17
work and address this horrible crime at the, at the state level
01:07:22
work I've been at for a very long time.
01:07:25
So I, I would love to hear other candidates address it and talk
01:07:28
about it. But it's kind of one of those
01:07:29
funny things. You would, you would think
01:07:30
everyone is against child sex trafficking and nobody wants to
01:07:34
talk about it, nobody wants to touch it.
01:07:35
So I'm really proud of Steve and, and how he's approached it.
01:07:39
And, and I would, you know, tell people if that's something that
01:07:41
matters to them, take a look at the plan to address it on his
01:07:45
website and see what we're going to do.
01:07:48
Someone said addressing human trafficking.
01:07:51
So you're going to put Scott Weiner out of a job?
01:07:54
That's what I was. Thinking yes.
01:07:58
Good. Hopefully.
01:07:58
The chat chat is on fire tonight.
01:08:03
Susan, what about you? What's an issue that candidates
01:08:06
are not talking about in your opinion?
01:08:10
And, you know, so it's, it's being talked about, but I
01:08:12
haven't seen it really talked about in the yeah, in the the
01:08:16
gubernatorial race is, you know, at the ballot harvesting, it's a
01:08:20
major issue. It is changing votes.
01:08:22
It is. It's controlling.
01:08:26
It's controlling our our our city and our state.
01:08:28
And until we get that under control, we do not have fair
01:08:33
elections. It is legalized cheating and
01:08:36
it's controlling that from of our elections.
01:08:38
And it's the the will of the people is not being put into
01:08:43
office. That's not being enacted because
01:08:45
of that. Camille, what's your opinion?
01:08:48
I don't. Have an answer I don't know.
01:08:51
We gave you all the time or you didn't think of something.
01:08:54
I know. I, I must be distracted.
01:08:57
I, I mean, I can say because this now this issue has not been
01:09:00
neglected by any means education, but they always talk
01:09:05
about it in the sense of like funding it, but not talking
01:09:08
about we have absolutely failed it here.
01:09:11
I, I think the Republicans tend to talk about that more.
01:09:13
But I mean, of all the Democrats in the field and like even Tony
01:09:17
Thurmond, who is, you know, whatever his title is, elected
01:09:22
Superintendent of public education, like, OK, but our
01:09:26
public education is an absolute failure in the state and that's
01:09:30
not being addressed. And so I guess I would say that,
01:09:35
but again, they haven't neglected the education topic.
01:09:38
So that's not a good answer. Next question, my issue would
01:09:45
have to be I was reading about today veterans.
01:09:51
There is a huge issue with homelessness and veterans and
01:09:55
affordability here for veterans. Little back story about me.
01:10:00
My grandfather moved to San Francisco in the 1950s, worked
01:10:04
on an Army salary at the Presidio, had a beautiful home
01:10:07
on Lombard St. in San Francisco, lived a great life that is
01:10:12
unimaginable in today's California.
01:10:14
Like veterans have to work 3 or 4 jobs to barely make rent, and
01:10:21
I guess that's sort of affordability in general, but I
01:10:23
feel like veterans get the short end of the stick here in
01:10:25
California. For some reason, they just we,
01:10:28
we seem California just seems to neglect veterans.
01:10:31
They don't really care about them.
01:10:32
I know there's federal and VA and stuff like that, but I don't
01:10:36
know why don't why doesn't California stand up for veterans
01:10:39
and be like, we're not going to tax your income if you're a
01:10:42
veteran, you know it. I don't know.
01:10:45
We should take care of veterans more.
01:10:47
It's. Here with major basis.
01:10:49
Too. And they're not talking about
01:10:50
it, right? We have so many, so many people
01:10:53
working in that space. And I agree with you
01:10:56
wholeheartedly. I was just over at, I was in DC
01:10:58
and I went to Arlington National Cemetery for the first time
01:11:01
ever. I've been to DCA million times.
01:11:03
And it, that very fact just impressed on me so much.
01:11:07
We, we treat our veterans horrifically in this country and
01:11:12
we need to do a lot better. And you're absolutely right.
01:11:14
I'm not hearing anybody talk about that.
01:11:15
That's a good point. All right, this is the last
01:11:18
question. Here's the setup.
01:11:22
This is a APPIC public policy. It's through California poll
01:11:26
from 2026 February 2026. Here are the numbers and I'll
01:11:30
I'll end with my question. 66% of likely voters say candidate
01:11:35
positions on issues matter most. Only 6% say party affiliation.
01:11:40
61% say affordability, cost of living is very important to
01:11:43
their vote. 52% say the state is on the wrong track. 55 would
01:11:49
prefer lower taxes and fewer services.
01:11:52
The irony of this is, is that is there a 2 to 1 voter
01:11:56
registration of Democrats to Republicans?
01:11:58
And we kind of brought it up tonight.
01:12:01
Are we seeing a breakdown of the political parties here in
01:12:05
California? Is this a political shift?
01:12:07
Is this a point in time we're taking all of that into
01:12:12
consideration? What do you think that shows for
01:12:16
California? And you can say what it means
01:12:18
for the future of the Democratic Party, what it means for the
01:12:20
future of the Republican Party or for the future of both
01:12:23
parties, whether they are going to continue to exist as they
01:12:26
are. That's sort of a loaded
01:12:27
question. So I don't know who wants to go
01:12:30
first with that. Why don't we go Kyle?
01:12:32
I feel like Kyle's primed and ready for this question.
01:12:35
I'm always primed and ready for all the questions.
01:12:38
I know that's, it's great to, to look at those numbers and you
01:12:41
can certainly understand why, you know, both parties have a
01:12:44
lot of work to do. And I, I could speak to a lot of
01:12:48
what I think the Republican Party needs to do in terms of
01:12:50
messaging and almost a rebrand here.
01:12:54
But Democrats don't seem to know who they are and what they stand
01:12:58
for anymore. And I know we've talked a lot
01:12:59
about that in in the last year or so that they have made this
01:13:03
opposition to Trump their only position moving forward.
01:13:07
That though that does not constitute party planks, right?
01:13:11
And you're seeing people's honest reaction to how things
01:13:15
are going to the after effects of that.
01:13:16
And so you have to have empathy for people and, and
01:13:20
understanding that they do desire better, right?
01:13:23
At the end of the day, they've got to write those checks and
01:13:26
fill their gas tank and feed their family.
01:13:28
And it just is going to come down to where are they placing
01:13:33
the blame for those high costs, for that unaffordability, for
01:13:36
the high taxes? You know, are they going to are
01:13:38
they going to make that connection that like, hey, our
01:13:40
state is is run so completely and thoroughly by Democrats and
01:13:44
I don't like what's happening? Or are you in that rhythm and
01:13:48
that habit of pointing at Trump and pointing and blaming
01:13:52
Republicans? And, and so I think, you know,
01:13:55
I, I don't call them low information voters.
01:13:58
I just think that they've been caught up in this fog of where
01:14:03
they want to put the blame of what's going wrong in our state
01:14:07
and in our country. And I hope, I really hope this
01:14:09
is the turning point. You know, I want to hold on to
01:14:12
that 6%, if that's what you said, if I'm getting that right,
01:14:15
that 6% that says that party preference makes a difference.
01:14:19
Because I wouldn't say that I would say that that number here
01:14:22
in the state of California would be much higher.
01:14:26
My hope for the voters of California is that number one,
01:14:29
they are all actual like legal voters.
01:14:32
And, and two, that we can just truly hear the voice of the
01:14:36
people in this state in this election and the primary and
01:14:40
election in November. And, and that the people can be
01:14:44
served, not the unions, not the special interests, not the party
01:14:47
heads. And, and we'll see if, if that
01:14:50
happens, if they can think clearly, cut through it, vote
01:14:55
for the person they truly believe is going to get our
01:14:57
state back on track. So I think that's an answer and
01:15:01
a hope and a wish and a prayer all in one.
01:15:03
Susan. I think that's a really complex
01:15:07
question. I, I, I hope that Californians
01:15:15
are able to finally set a side party and really start looking
01:15:20
at policy versus the letter after someone's name.
01:15:26
I see people having an allegiance to party on both
01:15:30
sides of the aisle a lot more than I'm comfortable with.
01:15:35
And so I don't know, I mean, I think that this, I think this
01:15:38
next coming election is going to be, excuse me, it's going to be
01:15:42
a, it's going to be a real telltale sign of where we're
01:15:46
going to go. If we're able to get the
01:15:48
Republican governor. I think it will be an indicator
01:15:51
that finally voters in this state are ready for change and
01:15:55
they're ready to go outside of their comfort zone.
01:15:58
They're ready to stop voting blue no matter who.
01:16:00
And they're ready to say, let's just give the other side a
01:16:03
chance. I do see that there's a lot of
01:16:06
low information voters and a lot of it really isn't their fault
01:16:09
per SE, because I, I feel like politicians sort of speak a
01:16:13
different language. And we always almost have to
01:16:15
give people like, you know, learn to speak politician, you
01:16:19
know, follow them from debate to debate to debate.
01:16:21
Do they say the same thing when they are campaigning in
01:16:25
Sacramento as they do when they're campaigning in Los
01:16:28
Angeles? So now Los Angeles, so they say
01:16:30
same thing in Compton as they do in Sherman Oaks.
01:16:34
And, you know, you have to know the nuances and people don't
01:16:39
follow politics that closely. They take what they say in a
01:16:41
campaign ad and they go, oh, that looks cool.
01:16:44
And that's what they that you know, and they or they look at
01:16:46
who's endorsing them. So I think, like I said, I think
01:16:49
if we're able to in this predominantly blue state, if
01:16:53
we're able to finally kick out of that mold and get a
01:16:55
Republican governor, I think it'll be a huge, huge step in
01:17:00
the right direction or getting a more a more balanced approach to
01:17:08
governance. I'm hopeful for that.
01:17:11
Camille. I think both parties need help.
01:17:15
I think right now we have obviously seen that leftist,
01:17:19
extreme leftist policies have gotten us where we are.
01:17:21
And that's why there's people like Susan who are ready for
01:17:25
change and she's not ready to leave her party.
01:17:27
And that's great. I am a Republican.
01:17:30
I'm not ready to leave the Republican Party.
01:17:32
I'm not giving up on them yet, but I do feel like if we were
01:17:38
doing so well, well, especially here in California, then there
01:17:41
wouldn't even be this question of whether we're going to send,
01:17:45
you know, to Republicans to the general.
01:17:49
And, and I do know that we have the extreme leftist who don't
01:17:53
want to vote based on the letter.
01:17:55
And like Susan said, she wishes people would focus on policy.
01:17:58
And I, I'm with her on that. When we had Bill Asaley on here
01:18:02
back a couple years ago when he was still in the Assembly, I did
01:18:05
actually make that comment that I wish we could remove the
01:18:08
letters from people's names and everything, which is based on
01:18:10
policy. And people had to go look up
01:18:11
their policy and you know, like, OK, this I agree more with these
01:18:16
persons, 7 policies versus, you know, so this, this person and
01:18:21
just voted on that. I would love to see that.
01:18:23
I would obviously love to see us work more across the aisles.
01:18:26
I think we do have more in common than we like to admit.
01:18:30
I think a lot of us, as Kyle said, at the end of the day,
01:18:33
we're all having to write those checks, fill up our gas tanks,
01:18:37
you know, buy the groceries, pay the rent or mortgage.
01:18:39
And we're seeing, we're all seeing those effects regardless
01:18:42
of what party we're registered as.
01:18:45
And, and so I know we all do want these changes.
01:18:49
I think we just, the problem is we often disagree with the path
01:18:52
to get there. And that's where we start to
01:18:54
argue. And so yes, I would just love to
01:18:57
see us all work together more. But I do feel like the Democrat
01:19:00
Party has gone so far left that they need to rein it in a
01:19:03
little. And then the Republican Party,
01:19:06
I, I feel like they've just given up.
01:19:08
I don't even know where they went, if they went.
01:19:11
I I think they kind of, you know, they're trying to
01:19:13
conserve, they're trying to stay conservative, but they keep
01:19:17
giving an inch to be a little more moderate because they're
01:19:20
always trying to win the elections.
01:19:22
And they're so they're like, well, I know that in California
01:19:25
I can't win if we had do this. And so we got to give this.
01:19:28
But then they've become more moderate, which is disenchanting
01:19:31
to the conservatives. I'm actually very conservative.
01:19:35
So I yeah, both parties, I think need help regardless of who wins
01:19:39
what this election. I think both parties, it just
01:19:43
just needs some major reform and we've all got to learn to get
01:19:46
along. We're all living in communities
01:19:48
together. We're all neighbors.
01:19:49
We're all, we all care about the state.
01:19:51
We Susan said her son is here. I have 4 kids.
01:19:55
Three or two are technically adults, 1 is almost an adult,
01:19:59
the 4th as a a teenager. I don't want them to move out of
01:20:02
state. And they always talk about it
01:20:04
and, and now of course they want to spread their wings and do
01:20:06
their things and that's fine. But I want them to live nearby.
01:20:10
I've been very fortunate that I live 5 minutes from my parents
01:20:13
and like 5 minutes from my older sister and then her, most of her
01:20:17
kids live in the area. And then there's of course,
01:20:19
those are my kids cousins and they've all got to grow up like
01:20:22
that. And so like Susan said, you
01:20:23
know, leaving is not as easy as just.
01:20:27
Taxes are so high. I'm going to pack up and go.
01:20:29
We're, we're in our communities. We're a part of our communities.
01:20:33
We've got our jobs and our lives and our, our churches and our
01:20:36
kids and our friends and you know, whatever.
01:20:37
Like, so I don't want to pack them and leave.
01:20:41
I don't want anyone else to have to pack them and leave.
01:20:43
And I just think everyone can we just get it together and get
01:20:46
along and work together for the better of all of us.
01:20:51
Was that, is that your question or did I just started doing
01:20:53
something? I'm sorry.
01:20:56
Yeah, sure. It answers the question.
01:20:58
All right. This has been an amazing round
01:21:01
table we've gone almost 1/2 an hour over, so that's how much
01:21:05
fun we're having just sitting here chatting.
01:21:08
Final, final, final question to our two guests of the night.
01:21:12
First, I want you to tell everybody where they can find
01:21:14
you and follow you because you're both great follows on
01:21:18
social media, both very informative.
01:21:19
So I want our listeners to know where they can go find you.
01:21:23
So first tell them where they can find you.
01:21:24
And also real quick, your prediction, your honest
01:21:28
prediction for the result of the primary in two months.
01:21:32
So whoever wants to go first, Susan, we'll start with you.
01:21:35
Thank you. So I am on Instagram primarily
01:21:38
at Susan Collins LA. That's my account name, my
01:21:43
prediction for the primary government choice.
01:21:46
I think, I think it will be. I think of the two.
01:21:51
I think Steve Hilton will come through.
01:21:55
And on the Democratic side, I'd really, I, I don't know, I don't
01:22:00
think he was going to cool through that.
01:22:01
Oh yeah. Would it be either Swalwell or
01:22:05
Porter? You know, maybe I just have an
01:22:08
aversion to thinking of this. No, I'm going to say that you
01:22:13
know. I'm going to say what I want.
01:22:17
Ideally, I'm going to say, you know, Matt Mahane and and Steve
01:22:21
Hilton, that's, that's my, that's my dream.
01:22:24
That's what I'm going with. I so appreciate Susan's candor.
01:22:30
She doesn't want to speak it into being.
01:22:32
I hear that I. Hear that?
01:22:35
This has been so wonderful and I just want to say thank you to
01:22:38
all of you. Thanks for having me on again.
01:22:40
And I just I just love talking about all of it.
01:22:43
If anybody wants to follow along, I'd sure appreciate it.
01:22:45
I'm at being Kyle Campbell and at politically basic is the show
01:22:51
account. We are dropping new episodes
01:22:54
every week just like you guys. And so many good, so many good
01:22:59
interviews coming up. Yeah, I think, I think if I had
01:23:03
to put money on it, I think it'd be Hilton Swalwell after the
01:23:07
after the primary. And man, that's going to be a, a
01:23:11
battle to the death. I will tell you that's going to
01:23:14
be 1 heck of an election, really hard campaigning, a lot of money
01:23:20
thrown at it. And I, I'll tell you, I'm here
01:23:24
for every second of it, every delicious, wild and crazy circus
01:23:29
style second of it. But you know, we'll see.
01:23:33
The, the most important thing is that every single person just
01:23:36
votes. Don't wait for November.
01:23:38
Don't wait to see what's going to happen in the primary and
01:23:40
then and then pick someone to vote for, vote in the primary.
01:23:45
It's an absolute must. Please, please, I beg of you
01:23:47
one. 100% yes. All right.
01:23:52
Well, with that, we want to thank everyone for tuning in,
01:23:55
thank our guests for being here at this amazing roundtable.
01:23:58
Make sure you like, share, subscribe, review, all that
01:24:00
stuff helps with the algorithm, helps more people find us.
01:24:02
And the best thing you can do to support the show that is 100%
01:24:06
free is share it with someone who you think will find it
01:24:09
interesting and we will see you on the next one later.