Are you a Californian who feels like your views on politics in California are not popular? Do you feel like no one will agree with you? Feels like when you meet someone who does agree you are part of a secret underground club of people who think like you? Then join us on the California Underground Podcast to hear others who share your views and solutions to save our beautiful state.
On this episode, we discuss last week's Republican Presidential Debate as well as Trump's interview with Tucker on X. We go in depth on each candidates performance, who came out the winner, and whether Trump impressed or not with his interview.
This episode was recorded on 8.29.23
*The California Underground Podcast is dedicated to discussing California politics from a place of sanity and rationality.*
Support California Underground on Patreon at www.patreon.com/CaliforniaUnderground
Follow California Underground on Social Media Instagram: www.instagram.com/californiaunderground
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj8SabIcF4AKqEVFsLmo1jA
Substack: https://substack.com/profile/72986149-ca_underground
Shop California Underground Merchandise: https://california-underground.creator-spring.com
00:00:06
If you're a California conservative, A libertarian, A
00:00:09
moderate Democrat, believe in common sense or just the same
00:00:12
person, this is the political podcast for you.
00:00:15
It's the California Underground Podcast.
00:00:27
What's going on? Everybody, thanks for tuning
00:00:28
into another episode of the California Underground Podcast.
00:00:31
I'm your host, Phil, along with me as always, as my trusty
00:00:34
cohost, the best and fastest researcher in the West Camille.
00:00:37
How are you doing tonight? Good.
00:00:39
How are you? Good.
00:00:42
We took last week off, sort of not really planning to, but you
00:00:47
know things come up and stuff and family stuff and that, you
00:00:51
know, things like that. But it's not a big deal.
00:00:53
Like I was saying in the podcast preshow on Instagram, if you
00:00:56
don't TuneIn, I do a little podcast preshow to tell
00:00:59
everybody what's going on. We're going to be doing 2 shows
00:01:02
this week just to make up for it because that's how much we care
00:01:05
about our listeners is we don't want to deprive anybody of
00:01:07
content or our podcast. So we're going to be doing 2
00:01:10
shows. This is a show that we were
00:01:12
planning on doing last week on Thursday after the presidential
00:01:17
debate. We wanted to comment on it.
00:01:20
We don't usually do a lot of national stuff, but I mean,
00:01:25
presidential stuff is pretty important.
00:01:27
And whoever's going to be president will be president of
00:01:30
these United States. And as of right now, California
00:01:34
is still part of the United States, even though it doesn't
00:01:36
feel like it sometimes. So here we are.
00:01:40
We're going to talk about the presidential debate.
00:01:41
We're also going to talk about Trump on Tucker.
00:01:44
Those were both events that sort of happened at the same time,
00:01:49
and that was everything that was exciting happening in politics
00:01:52
last week. I'm sure somebody in the
00:01:54
comments will be like, there was a lot of other stuff that was
00:01:56
really exciting last week, but this is the show we're doing
00:01:59
tonight. Are you excited to talk about
00:02:02
the presidential debate? Do you have any, like, first
00:02:04
thoughts or initial thoughts about the debate before we
00:02:08
really dive in? Always Could I just say it.
00:02:12
I watched it for entertainment purposes only.
00:02:15
I. I didn't go into it thinking,
00:02:18
wow, I can't wait to hear from these people and I'm going to
00:02:20
learn something new and change my mind or be inspired or.
00:02:25
And and it was, it was entertaining.
00:02:28
It was I mean you and I and obviously we were on a group
00:02:31
text just sending, you know text back and forth with our
00:02:35
sarcastic comments which was fun.
00:02:39
What about you? Yeah, like you, I I I didn't
00:02:44
expect much out of it. A lot of these debates are a lot
00:02:47
of rehearsed talking points, and we saw a lot of that.
00:02:50
It was a lot of rehearsed talking points.
00:02:52
You could see a lot of people, they went into it.
00:02:55
They knew their debate prep. They said I'm going to Zing this
00:02:58
person with this line. I'm going to Zing that person
00:03:00
with that line, you know, and I was thinking about it today on
00:03:05
the way home from work as I was kind of like running through the
00:03:07
debate. I watched some highlights to to
00:03:10
jar my memory and we're going to watch a highlight in a little
00:03:12
bit to jar everyone else's memory.
00:03:16
But I was saying I was like, I can't really think of any
00:03:20
specific topic they went in depth on.
00:03:22
And I was thinking did they even talk about like the economy?
00:03:26
Like, I I don't really remember them talking about the economy.
00:03:31
And maybe that's why it's interesting.
00:03:33
We're doing this a week later to see how memorable the debate
00:03:37
really was or how much really stuck out.
00:03:40
And I think there was a couple things that stuck out to me.
00:03:43
But out of two hours, not much really stuck out to me where I'm
00:03:47
like, oh, you got a you remember this, you remember this back and
00:03:50
forth. There were a couple, but it
00:03:52
wasn't a majority of it. The rest of it was kind of
00:03:54
fluff. So I rewatched it today because
00:03:57
it wasn't that memorable. And then I think I sent you the
00:04:00
transcript. And I actually just like
00:04:03
searched a few keywords from the transcript because I was curious
00:04:06
just about random things or whatever.
00:04:08
But I so I did rewatch the whole thing today.
00:04:11
And you're right, it's not that memorable.
00:04:13
They did touch on the economy a bit.
00:04:19
I felt like the questions were again soft, like you didn't
00:04:25
think the you didn't think the UFO question was a hard hitting
00:04:29
question for Chris Christie. It was almost insulting to Chris
00:04:35
Christie. I mean, I'm not, I'm not his
00:04:37
fan. But like at the end, like, all
00:04:41
right, Chris, we're going to, we're going to throw you this
00:04:43
question. Like, it was almost like joke
00:04:45
question for a joke candidate. Yeah, because, I mean, he's sort
00:04:50
of a joke candidate anyway. He's not in it.
00:04:52
Seriously. We can talk about that more in a
00:04:55
little bit, but there's some up there who are not running
00:04:58
seriously. I mean, I guess you could make
00:05:00
the argument this was really sort of the debate to see who
00:05:04
gets to be Donald Trump's VPI mean at this point that that's
00:05:08
kind of what it feels like outside of DeSantis, because
00:05:10
he's not going to be a VP. Maybe he will be, I don't know,
00:05:14
maybe he changes his mind. But it does.
00:05:16
It did really feel like it was kind of the runner up
00:05:19
competition, not really who's going to be president without
00:05:23
Donald Trump there. It didn't have the same
00:05:26
gravitas. I feel like.
00:05:27
I feel like the entertainment value we watched for the
00:05:31
entertainment value and there was definitely good
00:05:33
entertainment. But I feel like if Trump was
00:05:36
there, it would have been off the charts.
00:05:38
There would have been so many clips, There would have been so
00:05:40
many memes. It just would have been like so
00:05:43
many people would have been talking about Trump being there.
00:05:47
But I don't know based on his Tucker.
00:05:49
For you, I was curious if you would have preferred him there
00:05:52
or not. I mean, I loved 2015 Trump, and
00:05:57
that's the ironic thing about what he's doing now is that if
00:06:04
it wasn't for the debates in 2015, Trump would have never won
00:06:07
the nomination because that's where he really gained a lot of
00:06:09
ground was. He really blew away his
00:06:11
competition in those debates. He just kind of slaughtered
00:06:14
everybody. There is a series on YouTube
00:06:16
called Can't Stump the Trump. And it was like a rehash of
00:06:19
every presidential debate. And it was just hilarious, his
00:06:23
zingers and stuff. And now he's kind of been like,
00:06:26
now he's like, oh, I'm over debates.
00:06:28
I don't need to do it. I'm so far ahead.
00:06:32
I mean, I guess you could see both sides of the argument that
00:06:35
he is so far ahead. So why does he need to debate
00:06:37
people who are just going to try and attack him?
00:06:41
But also at the same time, like, I think there was a lot of
00:06:44
frustration. And I put a poll up on Instagram
00:06:47
and I feel like a lot of people, the general consensus was they
00:06:52
didn't really feel like it was how do I phrase this?
00:06:58
It didn't seem like it was a good idea because there's stuff
00:07:00
that the American people, whether you support him or not
00:07:03
or whether you still support him, there's still a lot of
00:07:05
stuff that he still needs to answer for.
00:07:07
Even if you are a Trump supporter.
00:07:09
I think there's a lot of questions that he has to kind of
00:07:11
face the public on, especially in regards to a lot of COVID
00:07:15
stuff and Fauci and locking down the country and warp speed and
00:07:19
all. That's a lot of stuff that like
00:07:21
Trump supporters are trying to grapple with and they need to
00:07:24
kind of hear that from Trump and they're not really getting a
00:07:26
straight answer from him. But to answer your question,
00:07:30
would I have loved him to be there?
00:07:32
Absolutely. I would have loved to see him
00:07:34
throw zingers at Chris Christie and Mike Pence and ASA
00:07:41
Hutchinson or whoever and the the guy who was on crutches.
00:07:45
So it's just it would have been much more interesting.
00:07:50
It'll be interesting to see if he he does it in the future.
00:07:53
What do you do you think he there's a good chance he does it
00:07:55
in the future in the next couple coming debates I.
00:08:00
Don't know. I really don't know.
00:08:03
That's hard to say because obviously he feels like he
00:08:06
doesn't need to. So are we going to get to a
00:08:08
point where DeSantis does start to outshine Trump with
00:08:12
everything that all Trump's personal stuff that he's got
00:08:15
going on? Are people going to start to ban
00:08:17
on Trump? I feel like they're never going
00:08:18
to ban on Trump. I feel like Trump could go
00:08:21
commit horrible crimes and they still justify it and be like,
00:08:26
This is why he's going to be the best president.
00:08:28
This is Trump 2024. Well, that's like his famously
00:08:33
where he goes like I could shoot them on it in 5th Ave. and no
00:08:36
one would care. Like that's how popular he
00:08:40
thought he was. He still is very popular.
00:08:43
What do you think about Larry Elder not being there?
00:08:47
I thought that was odd. I I I don't know why they
00:08:51
stopped him from going. I would have loved to see Larry
00:08:53
Elder up on that stage. He's he's got a lot of great
00:08:57
things to say, very smart guy. Yeah, I think he would have.
00:09:04
He would have added a different element to it and I think he
00:09:07
would have had a lot of zingers. And he's someone who I think is
00:09:09
very like he can think on his feet.
00:09:13
That's probably because he's he's a lawyer and he has that
00:09:15
background of like he's able to banter back and forth and come
00:09:18
up with stuff on on his feet. That was weird.
00:09:21
I I thought that was weird that they completely banned him and
00:09:24
his whole campaign from even going to this debate, like, I
00:09:28
guess they thought he was just he's like a Trump surrogate
00:09:32
somehow. But at the same vein people are
00:09:35
calling Vivek a Trump surrogate. So but like Vivek was allowed
00:09:39
in, Larry Elder wasn't allowed in.
00:09:43
That was weird. But I'd like to see him on the
00:09:45
debate stage in the future. Hopefully they changed their
00:09:48
mind. It does bother me how fast like
00:09:55
the RNC has really kind of done it about face with Trump.
00:10:01
Like they very much were like they were happy to make money
00:10:04
off Trump and you know, elevate Trump.
00:10:07
He won. You know, they love Trump.
00:10:09
He raised so much money for the RNC.
00:10:11
And now because of all the stuff that's going on with him and
00:10:14
because he skipped the debate, like RNC is like a, you know,
00:10:18
they're just, they're over Trump.
00:10:20
They just don't want anything to do with them.
00:10:21
No Trump surrogates, no nobody in his campaign can show up.
00:10:25
Like, if Trump's not going to be there, nobody can show up from
00:10:27
his campaign. It's almost petty.
00:10:30
It's like very high schoolish, like, well, you can't sit with
00:10:33
us anymore. Like you, you don't want to be
00:10:36
with us on debate stage. Too bad you can't sit with us
00:10:39
anymore. So the the tenor is weird with
00:10:44
Fox News and the RNC right now, how they're not really crazy
00:10:48
about Trump, but he was useful when he made them a lot of money
00:10:53
and now not so much. So I guess that's the moral of
00:10:57
the story. All right, do we want to watch
00:11:01
this three minute highlight video?
00:11:04
Because I think they only allowed three minutes on most
00:11:07
YouTube. But it's a good way to kind of
00:11:10
jar our memory of what happened. So let's watch this three minute
00:11:15
clip, if I can remember. OK, share.
00:11:20
Almost along the way. Or we can sit and stare at it
00:11:22
for 3 minutes. If you have a comment, feel free
00:11:26
to stop it. Just just, yeah, I'll pause.
00:11:34
Our country is in decline. This decline is not inevitable.
00:11:38
It's a choice. We need to send Joe Biden back
00:11:42
to his basement and reverse American decline.
00:11:46
You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican
00:11:49
nominee if. Former President Trump is
00:11:53
convicted in a court of law. Would you still support him as
00:11:57
your party's choice? Please raise your hand if you
00:12:00
would We Look, Joe Biden has weakened this country at home
00:12:12
and abroad. Now is not the time for on the
00:12:15
job training. We don't need to bring in a
00:12:17
rookie. We don't need to bring in people
00:12:19
without experience. Do you believe in human behavior
00:12:26
is causing climate change? Raise your hand if you do.
00:12:29
Look, we're not school children. Let's have the debate.
00:12:32
I mean, I'm happy to take it. To start Alexander, as somebody
00:12:35
that's handled disasters in Florida, you got to be
00:12:38
activated. You got to be there.
00:12:39
You got to be present. I've had enough already tonight.
00:12:43
Of a guy who sounds like Chachi BT standing up here.
00:12:51
I'm going to pause, like, right there, because I don't want to
00:12:53
sound like a lefty, but I don't know why that came off to me as
00:13:01
slightly racist to tell an Indian guy he sounds like a
00:13:06
computer program. Yeah, I I was like, that comes
00:13:12
off kind of it. It just sat with me the wrong
00:13:16
way. Or I was like, you're gonna say
00:13:17
an Indian guy sounds like a computer program.
00:13:21
I mean, I know you're not really running for president and you're
00:13:23
just trying to attack Vivek because he's buddy buddy with
00:13:27
Trump. He's like Chris Christie is like
00:13:30
the the John Cox of California. Chris Christie is like that with
00:13:34
the presidential like, it's just like, I'm gonna run again, I'm
00:13:37
gonna run again. Like John Cox is like, oh.
00:13:40
The new governor election I'm going to run.
00:13:43
It's totally what Chris Christie reminds me of for America.
00:13:46
Yeah, he runs. Maybe it's only second when he
00:13:54
ran in 2016. This is only a second time
00:13:49
running. Is it?
00:13:50
Or has he run before Chris Christie?
00:13:52
This is his first time. Oh yeah, he ran in 2016.
00:14:00
He ended Marco Rubio's campaign, if you remember that clip.
00:14:06
I don't remember that clip. If we have time, I'll pull that
00:14:08
clip up. That's that's sort of like Chris
00:14:10
Christie's calling card. And that's probably why he's in
00:14:13
this race, is he's, he's good in debates at having these, like,
00:14:18
moments where it like, can completely end your campaign.
00:14:22
And he tried to do that a couple times with Vivek.
00:14:25
I don't think it worked because Vivek just kind of let it roll
00:14:28
off his back and you can't really insult someone when it
00:14:31
doesn't really affect them. Like he had that thing about
00:14:35
chat GT, ChatGPT and then. Which question about that why do
00:14:44
you think that they make it that they're all they're attacking
00:14:46
each other, but they they all seem to go hard after Vivek.
00:14:51
Are they threatened by him? I think he's a little bit of a
00:14:54
threat. He's an unknown.
00:14:56
I think he's an outsider. I think the the rumors are that
00:15:02
he's positioning himself to just be in Trump's VP or just being
00:15:07
Trump's cabinet like he knows he has no shot of winning to be
00:15:10
president. But if he can be a strong make a
00:15:16
strong push for him to be in the cabinet or VP of Trump when he's
00:15:19
president, I think that's basically what he's going for.
00:15:21
And I think everybody knows that.
00:15:23
So that's why he was kind of like the Trump.
00:15:27
He was like the Trumpian candidate.
00:15:28
It felt like in this this. So like 2015 Trump very much
00:15:33
went after everybody on stage, called everybody out, had no
00:15:36
problem saying like the the third rail stuff that you're not
00:15:40
supposed to say. Vivek did sort of the same thing
00:15:43
and he kind of went after people called him like everyone was
00:15:46
bought and paid for. They're all super PAC's.
00:15:48
Like it's like what your super PAC told you to to say.
00:15:52
So I think that's why everyone was going after him.
00:15:56
But he, I think. Yeah, he's probably going to win
00:15:58
2028 right now. Yeah, probably.
00:16:01
What's happening? This is exactly why Margaret
00:16:06
Thatcher said if you want something said, ask a man.
00:16:09
If you want something done, ask a woman.
00:16:12
Can't we have a minute? What's up?
00:16:15
Nikki Haley. She was elected governor,
00:16:19
elected a second term, and then resigned during her second term.
00:16:24
And then she because she went to be the UN ambassador for Trump.
00:16:29
Because something about when Trump calls, you know, you
00:16:31
answer the call, then she resigned from that.
00:16:34
So if she's gonna bring up this whole if you want something
00:16:39
done, a woman has to do it. Well then, apparently if you
00:16:44
want it finished, it's not gonna be a woman.
00:16:48
I forgot about the fact that she resigned as governor.
00:16:51
I'm just saying like. There's no like we we can't
00:16:57
trust that she's not gonna quit halfway through her presidency.
00:17:01
Right. So no Nikki Haley.
00:17:03
She had made some excellent points during the night, but no.
00:17:08
My opinion? No.
00:17:09
I have my own thoughts about me. I've never really been a fan of
00:17:12
Nikki Haley. She comes off to me as that neo
00:17:15
con warhawk. She's sort of out of that Bush
00:17:21
neo con cut. Like, that's who she is.
00:17:25
And I think in this clip they have the the, the, the little
00:17:29
spat between her and Vivek. But I think him calling her out
00:17:36
and saying like, she'll make a great board member of Raytheon
00:17:39
or Lockheed Martin, I was like, damn, I was like, that's a good.
00:17:44
That was a good line because Nikki Haley does a very good job
00:17:49
and she's very eloquent and she's very good at explaining
00:17:53
why she would send American troops to war and Iran.
00:17:58
Like, that's basically how I see her is she's very eloquent and
00:18:02
she knows how to speak and she'll do a very good job
00:18:05
explaining why we need to go to war with everybody.
00:18:09
It's just like it's she's, she's up there with other candidates
00:18:12
like Chris Christie of all people, Chris Christie, who is
00:18:19
super, super pro Ukraine. We have to do whatever it takes
00:18:23
to go to Ukraine and fight in Ukraine, send as much aid if we
00:18:28
have to send troops. You know, Chris Christie's the
00:18:31
tough guy. He's the tough guy who will get
00:18:33
it done and he'll he'll be, if he was commanderinchief, he'd
00:18:37
have no hesitation to send your son and daughter to go die in a
00:18:42
war in Ukraine for a war that really has nothing to do with
00:18:45
us. But that's very, that's how
00:18:48
noble and wonderful Chris Christie is, is that he'll he
00:18:52
has the guts to do that. Not his kids.
00:18:54
His kids aren't going to go fight in Ukraine, but he has the
00:18:57
guts to send your kids to go fight in Ukraine.
00:19:00
And that's sort of how this debate felt.
00:19:03
For most part, it felt like outside of, I would say De
00:19:06
Santis and Vivek, a lot of people were just kind of
00:19:09
posturing to see who could send more American troops to go die
00:19:13
in foreign wars and that stuff. I'm sorry, I I'm never apologize
00:19:18
for the fact that that's one stance I've always had my whole
00:19:21
life. I'm adamantly antiwar unless
00:19:24
it's absolutely necessary or for like defense of the country or
00:19:27
something. But all these people up there
00:19:31
who basically are just trying to see who can send more people
00:19:35
overseas to die always irks me. And Nikki Haley's one of them.
00:19:39
Nikki Haley's always been a Warhawk and that's always been a
00:19:42
huge red flag for me, so I went off on a tirade about Nikki
00:19:48
Haley and War Hawks, but. More on that later.
00:19:52
More on that later. Minimum standard in every state
00:19:58
in the nation that says when a baby is capable of feeling pain
00:20:03
and abortion cannot. Be allowed.
00:20:06
Don't make women feel like they have to decide on this issue
00:20:09
when you know we don't have 60 Senate votes in the House. 70%
00:20:14
of the American people support legislation but to ban abortion
00:20:18
after a baby capable. Experience.
00:20:20
That was actually a pretty good line.
00:20:22
After I just bashed Nikki Haley, that was actually a pretty good
00:20:25
line how she broke that down. Her rent?
00:20:28
She made very valid points on the pro-life print.
00:20:32
Yeah. I think she, I think the best
00:20:35
thing she said about it was it's a complicated issue, which I
00:20:38
think a lot of people, not that this is going to turn into a
00:20:42
whole podcast about abortion, but it's more complicated.
00:20:45
And I think she touched upon that.
00:20:47
And I think it's the first time I've ever heard a Republican
00:20:49
really kind of say it's a complicated issue and approach
00:20:52
it a little bit more gingerly and let's say like Mike Pence
00:20:55
is. I wish you well in your future
00:21:01
career on. The board, there it is.
00:21:04
But the fact of the matter, you know.
00:21:06
You following came off of it, but you've been pushing this
00:21:08
lie. You've been pushing this lie all
00:21:10
week in your game to go and defund Israel.
00:21:12
You want to. OK, let me address that.
00:21:13
I'm glad you brought that up. I'm going to address.
00:21:16
Each of those, right? Now.
00:21:22
So we make America less than you have no foreign policy
00:21:25
experience, and it's shown. And you know what?
00:21:29
The most pressing need of the American people from a national
00:21:32
security standpoint is our southern border.
00:21:35
It has led to the death of 70 Americans because of
00:21:40
fentanyl. When after 911, we had the
00:21:44
Global War on Terror. And guess what?
00:21:46
We protected the border at the same time.
00:21:49
You can do both. But the American?
00:21:50
People deserved. OK, I like Tim Scott, but until
00:21:55
he just appeared in that clip, I completely forgot he was even
00:21:57
there. Like I was in my head at the
00:22:00
beginning. I'm like, OK, who all was there?
00:22:01
And I'm like going from like left to right on the stage.
00:22:03
And I completely forgot he was there until just now.
00:22:09
Yeah, he was very quiet this whole time, which is a shame.
00:22:14
Yeah, and he's very smart and I really do like him a lot.
00:22:17
I like Tim Scott a lot and it's it's a shame he didn't really
00:22:19
get a chance to shine. I just don't think he's he's
00:22:23
kind of cut out for this debate style where you kind of have to
00:22:28
shout over each other and yell at each other like I it feels
00:22:31
like Tim Scott to me. I don't know him personally.
00:22:34
He seems like such a nice guy. I feel like he's just kind of
00:22:36
waiting his turn to talk about something, and he's not like
00:22:40
Mike Pence, who was. You know old man yelling at
00:22:43
clouds most of the debate because he was always
00:22:46
interrupting everybody and my fit.
00:22:50
Yeah you call him Grumpy Grams. He was like the old man yelling
00:22:53
at clouds where like he somehow because he was vice president,
00:22:59
he even if you didn't really mention Mike Pence, if you
00:23:03
mentioned something in the past like the past administration.
00:23:06
He's like I I that you brought me up, you brought me up, I get
00:23:09
to reply. It's like nobody brought you up.
00:23:11
Nobody. We were just talking about the
00:23:13
past administration where nobody brought you up.
00:23:15
Mike Pence. You can sit down.
00:23:17
All right, let's finish it out. To know that the president asked
00:23:26
me in his request that I reject or return votes unilaterally
00:23:31
Power that no vice president of American history had ever
00:23:34
exercised or taken. He asked me to put him over the
00:23:38
Constitution and I chose the Constitution and I always will.
00:23:43
OK. So that was the three minute
00:23:46
highlight. I have a question for you.
00:23:49
OK, this might get you in trouble if you answer So we
00:23:54
talked about this before and this is what Mike Pence did on
00:23:57
January 6th. Has been so controversial, like
00:24:00
divisive, within the Republic Party.
00:24:06
Did he follow the Constitution? I mean, that's a big legal
00:24:13
question that a lot of constitutional scholars are
00:24:15
trying to figure out. And you are a constitutional
00:24:19
attorney. I mean, there hasn't really been
00:24:25
a precedent of what he could have done.
00:24:30
He could have, sure. I mean, I guess he could have
00:24:32
rejected him. He could have said reject him.
00:24:35
And then send them back to the state legislatures to figure it
00:24:38
out and fix their elections. But I I think there's just never
00:24:45
been anything like that in American history.
00:24:46
There's been no president to do so.
00:24:52
Did he follow the Constitution? I can't think of any.
00:24:55
You know, Yeah, the Senate has to ratify the electors.
00:25:00
Can the Vice President, as the President of the Senate, not
00:25:03
ratify the electors? I guess he could.
00:25:07
I guess he could say I'm not going to ratify this and without
00:25:10
his signature, but I don't think there's anything in the
00:25:13
constitution that would then say like what happens if the vice
00:25:17
president doesn't do that and says I'm not going to ratify the
00:25:19
votes. Is there a fail safe to how you
00:25:26
overrule the vice president who decided not to ratify the votes
00:25:29
so? Could he?
00:25:34
It would be a It'd be an interesting if he actually did
00:25:37
not ratify the votes, it would have been an interesting legal
00:25:41
debate as to what could have happened and whether it went
00:25:44
back to the state legislatures. So did he follow the
00:25:47
Constitution? I'm sure his lawyers in the VP's
00:25:53
office probably told him he was following the Constitution.
00:25:57
When you watch Trump's interview with Tucker, he said his people
00:26:01
were telling him. That he was following the
00:26:02
Constitution, that Mike Pence could have not ratified it.
00:26:06
I mean, it's like anything with the Constitution, there's two
00:26:09
sides. So both people are going to
00:26:11
argue about it. So I don't know if that doesn't
00:26:14
really answer your question, though do I have a solid answer
00:26:20
of whether he did follow the Constitution?
00:26:24
That depends. Depends on and and anything
00:26:27
depends on law, so. There's a couple comments.
00:26:32
People are blowing up the chat right now on YouTube.
00:26:35
Somebody said Nikki Haley staunchly Israel first, they
00:26:39
said crazy how she's a war hawk but her husband is active in the
00:26:41
military. Depends on what her husband does
00:26:44
in the military. If her husband benefits from her
00:26:47
being a war hawk, then why not if he's a military contractor or
00:26:52
something like that? Christie looked out of place up
00:26:57
there. He did look out of place.
00:26:59
He definitely looked out of place.
00:27:01
I saw a comment. It's really mean to say someone
00:27:04
said it's it's amazing. He stood up for two hours and
00:27:07
then somebody said the real hero of that debate was the podium
00:27:09
holding him up. That's really mean.
00:27:14
But let's talk about Chris Christie.
00:27:16
We'll start off with him. I guess we can kind of go down
00:27:18
the line about each presidential can and we can say a little bit
00:27:21
about each one of them. What were your thoughts on Chris
00:27:23
Christie during this whole debate?
00:27:29
I thoughts were I did kind of laugh at some of his lines, but
00:27:34
at the same time I did feel like, why are you there?
00:27:37
What are you doing? Go home.
00:27:40
And of course he has a right to be there.
00:27:42
Anyone has the right to run for president and he apparently had
00:27:45
enough backing to get there. He his Ukraine thing.
00:27:52
Like, it almost worked on me. Like, he starts talking about,
00:27:55
you know, the kids and everything, and like, I'm
00:27:58
getting all emotional, but I I feel like there's no
00:28:01
justification for what we're doing in our involvement with
00:28:05
Ukraine right now. And of course that's what he was
00:28:07
doing. He's like, This is why we're
00:28:08
there and the children and the. You know, the kids that are
00:28:11
being taken away and the the fathers that are being murdered
00:28:15
and then the daughters and wives are being raped by these men.
00:28:18
And like, I'm sure there's there's truth to that and it's
00:28:21
horrific, but we should have never been involved in Ukraine
00:28:25
and I'm sick of people justifying it.
00:28:28
Yeah, it's interesting. A guy who's only been the
00:28:31
governor of New Jersey, who really hasn't done anything
00:28:34
else. Not a lot of people up on that
00:28:37
stage really had a lot of foreign policy experience.
00:28:40
But he seems to be an expert on Ukraine all of a sudden, and I
00:28:43
don't know you. Mentioned Mike, you obviously
00:28:46
you just didn't. You know Mike Pence has a right
00:28:49
now to respond to that. Yeah, I did mention, Yep, Mike
00:28:52
Pence now wants to respond to the fact that I said nobody has
00:28:55
foreign policy experience. Yeah, and I think his he's only
00:29:00
got one, he's only got one goal. And Trump brought that up in his
00:29:05
interview with Tucker. Where he says something about
00:29:08
like Christie's only there for one horrible reason, which is to
00:29:11
attack me. And that's all he's there for.
00:29:13
Like he's he's not a great person.
00:29:15
I think he called him a nasty person.
00:29:18
And he's right. I think that's all that they
00:29:21
say. You know, Chris Christie, you're
00:29:23
never going to be president. But you know what?
00:29:25
You're good in these debates. You're good at zingers, you're
00:29:27
good at being that, you know, that tough guy from Jersey
00:29:30
persona. So why don't we We'll throw you
00:29:33
out there. You'll just be the attack dog on
00:29:35
Trump and all that stuff. And see if that works.
00:29:39
I mean, I don't. I don't think Christie's really
00:29:41
based on poll numbers. I don't think Christie's doing
00:29:43
anything to Trump, but I don't really think he, you brought up
00:29:48
a Fact Check that was interesting about Christine,
00:29:51
about him balancing the budget in New Jersey that you sent to
00:29:54
me. Didn't he brag?
00:29:56
He, like, balanced the budget in New Jersey.
00:29:59
He was talking about how he there was like $11 billion that
00:30:03
he was able to save them or they had a deficit of and.
00:30:06
And then the fact checkers were like, you saved $500, which
00:30:12
was apparently an improvement. I don't know, were you there at
00:30:14
the time? I don't know when you came to
00:30:15
California, and I don't know if you were paying attention, what
00:30:17
was going on, like from New Jersey?
00:30:20
I was. I actually was living in New
00:30:23
Jersey when Chris Christie was governor.
00:30:27
The only thing I really remember from He fought with the teachers
00:30:31
unions a lot because he wanted to get rid of their pension.
00:30:35
And teachers unions in New Jersey are just as bad as they
00:30:39
are here in California. I'm sure they're bad all over
00:30:42
the country. But the teachers union is just
00:30:44
as powerful in New Jersey as it is here in California.
00:30:47
So he was always fighting with them.
00:30:51
There was that time he sat on the beach after he told everyone
00:30:55
to go home for Hurricane Sandy. That did not rub people the
00:30:59
right way. There was the time he shut down.
00:31:03
There was a bird story. Yeah, he was trying to screw
00:31:07
over some political enemy he didn't like.
00:31:09
So he shut down the Jersey side of the bridge, of the George
00:31:14
Washington Bridge so people couldn't get across the George
00:31:16
Washington Bridge. People were stuck for like 3-4
00:31:20
five hours. It was like forever.
00:31:22
And it was like all politically motivated.
00:31:24
And somehow he got cleared of it.
00:31:26
They didn't find any wrongdoing of it.
00:31:29
That was an issue. So if any, I don't really
00:31:32
remember anything. Christie did.
00:31:33
That was good for New Jersey. He's had those couple of
00:31:37
scandals, oh, the time. And then he hugged Barack Obama
00:31:40
after Hurricane Sandy, which I think Vivek made a nice line
00:31:43
about. Like if you're going to compare
00:31:45
me to Obama, then, you know, why don't you come over here and hug
00:31:49
me and get me elected just like you did Obama.
00:31:51
And I was like, ooh, that was a good one, so.
00:31:58
Yeah, Christie's there just as an attack dog, and it got old
00:32:02
really quickly. I think once he ran out of his,
00:32:04
like, attack dog lines, he didn't really have anything else
00:32:07
to say. And he was just like, OK, when's
00:32:09
this debate over? And now you're going to ask me a
00:32:11
dumb question about Ufo's or whatever?
00:32:13
And he completely didn't even answer the question about Ufo's.
00:32:17
So, OK, Mike Pence, you called him Grumpy Grandpa Grumpy.
00:32:25
Gramps. Grumpy Gramps, yeah?
00:32:27
What did you think of Mike Pence?
00:32:29
Well, he was grumpy cramps. He seemed slightly angry that
00:32:34
anyone would even bring up anything he's ever done or the
00:32:37
Trump administration and then wanted to obviously jump in and
00:32:40
defend himself. Of course, I get that.
00:32:41
I get wanting to defend yourself and you're there to make
00:32:43
yourself look the best you can. But it was his, his remarks to
00:32:51
me that got old real fast. I mean, right off the bat, he
00:32:55
was just putting. Back down for his age as
00:32:58
inexperiences anything. And that's why I called him
00:33:01
Grumpy Gramps, because it was like the old man trying to
00:33:05
discipline the young man and it it was kind of silly.
00:33:10
And I understand that all all of them, he has the most
00:33:13
presidential experience. But I don't know the the attacks
00:33:20
are entertaining. They are.
00:33:22
But at the same time, it's like just present your best self.
00:33:24
Don't worry about making silly insults, which of course, they
00:33:27
all did that. The interesting thing about Mike
00:33:30
Pence is that his whole resume was basically he propped himself
00:33:36
up on all the good things he did with the Trump administration,
00:33:40
while not giving Trump any credit for doing those things.
00:33:44
So, like he bragged about, like when I was vice president, we
00:33:47
passed one of the largest tax cuts in history's first.
00:33:50
Individuals and small businesses.
00:33:53
And it spurred an economic boom. But he didn't give credit to the
00:33:58
fact that it was Trump's tax cuts.
00:34:00
So he but he took credit for it. And if that's all his whole
00:34:05
resume is like, he's going to brag about what happened during
00:34:08
the Trump administration, but also not support Trump and hate
00:34:13
Trump. I don't think that's going to
00:34:15
get him very far. And I mean, it shows in the
00:34:17
polls he's what, like 2%? He talked a little bit about
00:34:21
like he would when he was governor of Indiana.
00:34:24
But other than that, I think, yeah, he did go after Vivek a
00:34:26
lot. I think Vivek got under his skin
00:34:28
a lot. I think because Vivek kept
00:34:30
hounding him on the idea of like, where we need.
00:34:34
Your solution to the fact that career politicians have gotten
00:34:37
us into all of this is for you a career politician to get us out
00:34:42
of it. And I think that was a a smart
00:34:44
line by Vivek to be like. You guys, all you guys up on
00:34:48
stage here are all career politicians.
00:34:49
You've got us here and now your your whole argument is elect us
00:34:54
and we'll we'll get us out of it even though we haven't gotten us
00:34:57
out of it in 20-30 forty years. But yeah, he was definitely
00:35:03
grumpy. I thought I remember Mike Pence
00:35:05
to be a lot more jovial. What's that?
00:35:09
I think even you said something about that in our text thread
00:35:14
about him and then I think. When he was bragging about all
00:35:18
their tax cuts and everything, then I believe it was Martha who
00:35:21
you reminded him that he signed off on bills for increasing this
00:35:27
the ceiling debt of like 1.4 trillion or I don't know the
00:35:31
exact numbers, but there were three that were in the
00:35:32
trillions. And then he said, yeah, but you
00:35:34
got to remember then we started dealing with COVID and it was
00:35:37
like, that was the last few months, What do you how trillion
00:35:42
in a few months? Like, no, that doesn't justify
00:35:44
it. Somebody in the comments said,
00:35:49
yeah, I hated how they bickered with each other.
00:35:51
We want to know what the candidates will do for the
00:35:53
country That did get old. I feel like nobody is behind
00:35:56
Pence and he probably should just bow out.
00:35:58
Yeah, I agree. I think he should just bow out
00:36:00
at this point. No one.
00:36:02
He's not winning the MAGA vote because he's obviously betrayed
00:36:05
the MAGA vote. And without the MAGA vote, then
00:36:09
what does he have? No one.
00:36:10
I don't think anyone cared who Mike Pence was before Trump
00:36:12
picked him so. Without Trump there.
00:36:15
Are things I'd like about him. Not for president, though.
00:36:18
Right. He does think he does model
00:36:21
himself to be the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan somehow.
00:36:29
That's why he didn't like with that, because wasn't with that
00:36:31
kind of doing the same thing. What being the reincarnation of
00:36:35
Ronald Reagan, I was. Talking about this.
00:36:40
Yeah, and I've made my thoughts. Clear about Ronald Reagan.
00:36:45
When it comes to Republican Party, Ronald Reagan was a long
00:36:48
time ago. Folks like we we got to get past
00:36:51
this. I I I'm sorry.
00:36:52
I'm just going to say it like there's a lot of good things he
00:36:56
did. There's a lot of bad things he
00:36:57
did. There's bad things he did as
00:36:58
governor of California that we're still dealing with today.
00:37:02
This isn't a whole Bash Ronald Reagan podcast, but if your
00:37:07
party's gold standard bearer. Is from 4050 years ago, you're
00:37:16
in trouble because if you haven't had a candidate or
00:37:19
someone since then who's been a standard bearer, like if you
00:37:24
look at the Democrats, and I'm sure people will probably throw
00:37:26
up in their mouth a little bit, the Democrats only have to go 2
00:37:30
administrations back to find their standard bearer.
00:37:32
Right now it's Barack Obama. Like he's the he's their
00:37:36
standard bearer. So not to get off on a Ronald
00:37:40
Reagan tire. No, that's OK because I want to
00:37:43
make a point to that because it's important point is that we
00:37:46
keep hearing in the saying we need to activate Gen.
00:37:50
Z. We've got to get their vote to
00:37:53
to Gen. Z Ronald Reagan is as ancient as
00:37:58
George Washington. Yeah, I mean, he might as well
00:38:00
be Abraham Lincoln. Yeah, So when you keep like, oh,
00:38:05
Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan, like, I mean, I have my son will
00:38:09
be old enough to vote. In the next election.
00:38:12
And yeah, just to him, it's like you could just put them all in
00:38:16
the same timeline. Like those were all great men
00:38:19
and those were all great presidents.
00:38:22
A few 100 years ago. And I know Ronald Reagan was in
00:38:24
a few, 100 years ago, but to my son, Gen.
00:38:26
Z, that's how it is, Yeah. And so when we keep using this
00:38:30
and then we're saying we need the Gen.
00:38:31
Z, but we've got to drop the Ronald Reagan talk.
00:38:34
We've got to move on. Yeah, the whole well, this is,
00:38:38
you know, this is what Ronald Reagan did and it worked out
00:38:40
pretty well. It's like, OK, that was.
00:38:43
They're like, like Ronald Reagan reading the candlelight, you
00:38:46
know? Yeah, it's just it.
00:38:50
Again, I don't want to get into a whole Ronald Reagan thing.
00:38:54
It irks me that this is the standard bearer for Republicans
00:38:57
as someone who's hasn't been around for, hasn't been
00:38:59
president for 50 years, and they put shrines of him up.
00:39:04
When you go to convention, there's just shrines of Ronald
00:39:06
Reagan everywhere. Almost like you know, you could
00:39:10
pin dollars to him if you want, or something like that anyway.
00:39:14
So yeah, Mike Pence thinks he's the reincarnate of reincarnation
00:39:17
of Ronald Reagan, that he's the most conservative person on that
00:39:21
stage. He was grumpy.
00:39:23
He didn't like Vivek. I guess the next person to talk
00:39:27
about then is Vivek. Was Vivek standing next to him?
00:39:30
Yeah, Vivek was the next person. De Santis De Santis.
00:39:39
Either way, we'll do, let's go to De Santis.
00:39:37
Then then. OK.
00:39:44
I, I, We also skipped over your favorite Assa Hutchinson, but I
00:39:47
don't think there's really much. We didn't talk about Doug at
00:39:52
all. Yeah, the guy from North Dakota,
00:39:54
I, I he they showed him on screen.
00:39:56
I was like, who the heck is this guy?
00:39:58
And then I think he even forgot who he was.
00:39:59
When they showed him on screen the first time, he looked a
00:40:01
little confused. De Santis, let's, let's talk
00:40:05
about him. I got some thoughts about one of
00:40:07
his big policies. What are your initial thoughts
00:40:11
about De Santis? All right.
00:40:15
Stances came out strong but angry.
00:40:19
My thoughts, I think I mentioned to you he seemed like when they
00:40:24
would ask him a question like he was offended that they would
00:40:27
even ask him as though as though like you're asking me what is
00:40:32
your name and and I'm like it's Camille duh.
00:40:35
Why do you keep asking me this? That's how his his responses
00:40:38
just came across of that to me and he just he made some valid
00:40:45
points but he just seemed angry and a little self-righteous.
00:40:55
He didn't seem too enthused to be there is the feeling I got
00:40:59
from DeSantis. It didn't seem like he was
00:41:00
excited to be there. Maybe that's what it was.
00:41:04
Maybe he was like the only person I should be on stage with
00:41:06
this trump, and he's not here. So what do I do with all you
00:41:08
fools? Maybe.
00:41:10
Maybe, Yeah. It did seem like, you know, if
00:41:14
there was any time and the the sort of the big criticism I
00:41:17
heard about DeSantis and I would agree with was this really was
00:41:21
his night to shine and step into the spotlight without Trump
00:41:24
being there. Like he could have really
00:41:26
stepped into the spotlight. But like, OK, without Trump, I'm
00:41:30
the candidate. I'm the guy that you're all
00:41:32
going to rally around. I'm the clear choice.
00:41:35
I don't think he came off that way.
00:41:37
Honestly, I think he came off as a guy who's there.
00:41:40
He didn't really say anything that hurt him, but at the same
00:41:44
time, he didn't say anything that made people walk away and
00:41:48
go, yeah, he killed it. That's the guy I want to
00:41:51
support, you know, like nothing stuck out.
00:41:53
Well, there's one thing that stuck out for me.
00:41:58
De Santis obviously wants to go to war with Mexican cartels,
00:42:03
which to me. Was an absolutely insane idea
00:42:08
that we would send U.S. troops down to Mexico to fight cartels.
00:42:14
It sounds cool if you're making an action movie in the 80s.
00:42:19
It does not sound cool if you acting.
00:42:24
If you live in a reality, because anyone who knows
00:42:29
anything about Mexican cartels and Mexican government.
00:42:33
Good luck trying to get the Mexican government to cooperate
00:42:36
when more than half of them are probably bought off by the
00:42:39
Mexican cartels or scared that their heads going to end up in a
00:42:43
gym bag if they go against the cartels.
00:42:47
I don't think people remember that it wasn't that long.
00:42:50
It might have been a year ago. There was a video of there was a
00:42:54
face off between the Mexican military and the Mexican cartel
00:42:59
and. The Mexican cartel basically
00:43:02
blew away the Mexican military. Like Mexican military said Nope,
00:43:08
not dying for this, not worth it.
00:43:09
So they just kind of retreated. If you think it was bad, how?
00:43:17
Let me put it this way. If you think it was rough for
00:43:21
the US military to fight terrorists in the Middle East
00:43:27
with who had ragtag. Guns, armor, Humvees, all that
00:43:33
stuff, Whatever they had, they didn't even have Humvees.
00:43:35
They just had basically like trucks with guns on the back of
00:43:38
it. If you think it was hard for us
00:43:40
to fight terrorists in in Iraq and Afghanistan with that, think
00:43:47
of it the same way in Mexico. But they have billions of
00:43:51
dollars. They're 100 times better armed
00:43:57
and better trained. Think about that and see how it
00:44:03
ended up in the Middle East fighting terrorists.
00:44:06
And I know they'll they'll they'll try and say Mexican
00:44:10
cartels are terrorist organizations, so therefore we
00:44:13
can go after those terrorist organizations.
00:44:18
Good luck. It sounds like a cool idea that
00:44:23
maybe people get behind. It would be an absolute disaster
00:44:27
to send. Men and women down to Mexico to
00:44:30
fight and die to try and beat cartels.
00:44:34
So whose money are we going to use for this new war that he
00:44:38
wants to create? Well, it'd be our money.
00:44:42
So taxpayer money. Do we have any?
00:44:45
No, we don't have any money. We we literally don't have any
00:44:48
money. Maybe Ukraine can lend us a
00:44:52
couple billion at this point. But you know the other the other
00:44:57
thing to think about when it comes to the cartels in Mexico,
00:45:02
it's very much like whack A mole.
00:45:04
Once you get rid of 1 cartel faction, another's just going to
00:45:08
pop up. Like the power vacuum will
00:45:11
create another person to step in and take over.
00:45:16
I was actually, if you've ever watched the show The Narcos
00:45:19
Mexico on Netflix. The first season they follow
00:45:26
Miguel Felix Felix Gallardo, who started basically the modern
00:45:31
Mexican cartel, and for a long time he reigned over Mexico.
00:45:39
He was the boss of all the cartels in Mexico.
00:45:42
And there's a scene at the end. I I go watch it, but there's
00:45:47
this scene at the end of the one season where they capture this
00:45:51
guy. And they're talking to the DEI
00:45:55
agent. He's talking to him in jail.
00:45:56
And he looks at him. I don't even know if this really
00:45:58
happened, but it makes for a cool scene.
00:45:59
And he looks at him and goes, you're going to miss me now that
00:46:04
I'm gone because I was the one who held everything together.
00:46:08
And after he was put in jail, he was proven right.
00:46:13
Eight families popped up. Warring factions still like that
00:46:17
today, so. Not to go off on a tangent
00:46:21
really, about Mexican cartels, but it was one of those
00:46:24
ludicrous policies that you tuned in and you were like,
00:46:28
don't think that's going to work.
00:46:29
To Santos. It sounds cool and it sounds
00:46:31
tough. It'll never happen.
00:46:35
Best thing you can do is just line up the military on the
00:46:38
southern border and make it as hard as possible to for any drug
00:46:43
dealers to get across the border.
00:46:44
That's all we can really do and that's all we really should do.
00:46:47
So I agree. But besides that, I don't think
00:46:53
De Santis really had any outstanding or memorable
00:46:58
moments. It was cringed when he looked
00:47:01
into the camera after, went off on somewhere and then said I'm
00:47:05
gonna and you're fired. And it was sort of like wait
00:47:08
wait. Hold on.
00:47:08
No, hold on. Yeah, I I guess his advisors
00:47:13
didn't tell him. Don't want to say that.
00:47:15
Oh, I think. What's it about, Fauci?
00:47:17
Yeah, he's like, I would set that little guy.
00:47:19
I would say Fauci, you're fired. And it's he.
00:47:22
And maybe he would just simply fun of the fact that Trump
00:47:25
didn't do that and use his, you know, famous line.
00:47:28
But it was just like. Yeah, it came off as cringe to
00:47:31
me. It didn't.
00:47:32
It came off and I think the audience reaction basically said
00:47:37
it Vivek. Thoughts about Vivek?
00:47:45
OKI think I told you this as well.
00:47:48
The debate was last Wednesday. The previous Wednesday.
00:47:51
I went to a luncheon in Orange County that Vivek was speaking
00:47:55
at. It was his his event.
00:47:56
I went to the luncheon, so he spoke for about 1/2 an hour and
00:47:59
I feel like everything he said in that half hour was exactly
00:48:03
everything he said on stage at the debate.
00:48:07
And so I felt like within a week's span I heard just the
00:48:09
exact same talking points. And I would even say his intro
00:48:12
was exactly what his intro was in OC.
00:48:15
Like this is exactly how he opened.
00:48:17
And so I would love to hear more from him because if all he has
00:48:22
is that half hour of talking points, then that's that's it,
00:48:25
that's all there is. And you know, I I I like him.
00:48:28
I'm. I'm curious about him.
00:48:29
I'm interested in him. But so far now I've only heard
00:48:34
about 1/2 an hour total of the same thing two times.
00:48:40
So I'm curious to see if there's more to him than that.
00:48:46
A lot of it comes off as reversed.
00:48:48
Yeah, I have more saving. He's been on a couple podcasts I
00:48:53
listened to. He was on part of the problem,
00:48:56
which was an hour long. He did a good interview there.
00:49:00
And you really went in depth about like the OMB and how he
00:49:04
would dismantle the deep state. Like he literally went through
00:49:06
like step by step talked about the specific federal regulation
00:49:10
codes that he could use to dismantle the deep state.
00:49:13
And then he was on Tim Cast, which is like 2 hours.
00:49:18
So he has a I think he he whether you agree with him or
00:49:24
not, I agree with his, his policy.
00:49:28
The way he. Says like, we got to stop
00:49:30
running away from something. We got to start running towards
00:49:32
something. And that's stuff that I've said
00:49:35
on here is if Republicans want to win, they got to stop being
00:49:40
contrarian candidates and they got to start giving Americans a
00:49:43
vision of what America should be like and the vex.
00:49:48
Message. Is very much that.
00:49:49
It's like I want to run towards what it means to be an American
00:49:53
and what America means. To the world.
00:49:57
And it seemed. Like, a lot.
00:49:58
Of people on that stage didn't have as clear a vision for the
00:50:01
future as Vivek did. I felt very much like, hi, I'm
00:50:06
so and so here's my background and you should elect me
00:50:10
president. Because I.
00:50:11
Was governor or because I was senator or because I was VPI
00:50:16
didn't see a. Vision for a lot.
00:50:17
Of people, I also like the. Fact that.
00:50:22
He. I also like the fact that he
00:50:25
just called out everybody to their face while he was up
00:50:28
there. That takes chutzpah, basically
00:50:33
calling everybody. Out for being bought.
00:50:34
And paid for super PAC money, all that stuff.
00:50:38
I liked it. I like anybody.
00:50:40
Who upsets the apple cart? So Vivek is is fun to watch.
00:50:44
I think that's why Trump was fun to watch for a lot of people and
00:50:48
this kind of maybe. Goes into this.
00:50:50
Idea of like is it? And this could be like a whole
00:50:54
another podcast. Do people love the idea of Trump
00:51:00
the person? Or do they love Trump the idea
00:51:06
like? Do they love?
00:51:08
Specifically, the guy Donald Trump.
00:51:11
Or do they love what Donald Trump stands for, which is he's
00:51:14
the outsider who's coming in and overturning the apple cart, and
00:51:18
he's ruffling feathers and he's making everyone upset?
00:51:22
And he's pointing fingers at career politicians.
00:51:26
I think that's something that Americans are really identifying
00:51:29
with now is people like that who are kind of getting in career
00:51:33
politicians faces and being like you did this to us, you screwed
00:51:37
us up and you're not fixing it. So we have to come in and just
00:51:43
start all over and like really get radical.
00:51:47
So that could be a whole another.
00:51:51
Podcast or whatever conversation.
00:51:53
But that's basically I think what Vivek did there is
00:51:58
sometimes he tripped up and I think so he got he some people
00:52:01
landed some haymakers on him. But other than that I think he
00:52:04
he did really well. I think he out shown everybody.
00:52:07
I think he handled himself in his first ever presidential
00:52:10
debate. I mean, not a small feat to do
00:52:13
so. Yeah, I don't.
00:52:16
Mind that he's younger, that doesn't bother me.
00:52:21
I certainly bothered A. Lot of the candidates on stage
00:52:25
he came across as a little arrogant to me, but I also feel
00:52:28
like if he hadn't been that people would have coined him as
00:52:31
weak, so he had to kind. Of come out strong right away.
00:52:38
And to your point about Trump, about the man or the idea, I
00:52:47
think it's both. And not that this is like the
00:52:49
official answer, but I kind of think it's both Thinking about
00:52:51
it because people love that he came in, it was calling people
00:52:55
out right off. You know, like he's like, we've
00:52:57
got to expose this, this is this.
00:52:59
And everyone was like, Oh my gosh.
00:53:00
And it was amazing. It was good.
00:53:01
But not everyone can do that and not.
00:53:04
Everyone, like people can, but not everyone's going to do it
00:53:07
the right way and it's not necessarily going to be well
00:53:09
received. And so now people are kind of
00:53:11
trying to model that, but not everyone's going to be able to
00:53:14
do that the way that Trump did. Yeah, I think.
00:53:19
It can come off as disingenuine if you try to be Trumpian and
00:53:23
you're not Trumpian, and I think.
00:53:26
That's one thing that DeSantis. Is struggling with.
00:53:28
Is that he? Like when he he was just
00:53:32
governor. Of Florida, he came off.
00:53:36
Very. Trumpian very I'm.
00:53:38
I'm doing my own thing. I'm populist.
00:53:41
I'm thumbing my nose at career politicians.
00:53:45
I'm doing what what's best for the people?
00:53:47
And it worked. And it seemed like he was so in
00:53:50
touch with that. And then all of a sudden he ran
00:53:52
for president and he seemed to become like a, I don't know, he
00:53:57
he. Seemed to become like a.
00:53:59
Robotic version of himself. It's almost like they it's
00:54:02
almost like they kidnapped the real Ron De Santos and they
00:54:06
replaced him with this like drone of Ron De Santis.
00:54:09
Like it's not the real Ron De Santis.
00:54:11
And it just he comes off very robotic.
00:54:14
Now. He doesn't come off as natural
00:54:15
or anything. Maybe he's trying too hard.
00:54:18
Maybe he's maybe it's not genuine.
00:54:22
But yeah. One quick note.
00:54:24
On Santa's Cuz, I know we're almost done and we haven't even
00:54:27
gotten to Tucker. He did.
00:54:30
I think it was right before his year fired comment when he kind
00:54:33
of started accusing everyone of the lockdowns and I wanted to
00:54:36
remind him that he gave into pressure and locked down Florida
00:54:40
for a time. Yeah, he.
00:54:43
So he conveniently always over glosses over.
00:54:45
That the fact that he like, like, yeah, he he.
00:54:48
Caved to pressure in the. Beginning, although there is one
00:54:53
politician who never caved. The lovely Christie.
00:54:58
Gnome of South. We all saw a commercial with her
00:55:02
trying to fix. Where are we talking about her?
00:55:06
She should be on that stage. Darn it, she should be on that
00:55:09
stage. She She'd have the best line.
00:55:13
I never locked down. She'd be like, she could just go
00:55:16
after DeSantis and be like I never locked down because I
00:55:19
didn't really see the point of She pretty much just used that
00:55:22
forever response. Just be like only can you be
00:55:24
talking about anything. Just be like I never locked
00:55:26
down, never locked down. But I.
00:55:29
Think she's. She's in the VP sweepstakes as
00:55:32
well. On Tim Scott and Nikki Haley and
00:55:42
Isa. All right.
00:55:34
Real quick final. Well, like I said, Tim Scott
00:55:47
wasn't that memorable. I do like him.
00:55:49
He took forever to get to a point.
00:55:51
It was kind of funny where they're like make it quick and
00:55:54
then he's still so could make it quick.
00:55:57
And so I feel like he didn't get to make his points because he
00:56:00
wouldn't go past this time because he was all respectful
00:56:03
about it, but couldn't get out more than two sentences.
00:56:05
And then he, like you said, he wouldn't jump in and argue
00:56:07
because he's like so polite and just quiet and nice and would
00:56:10
stand there, wait for his turn, then his turn would come.
00:56:13
So I don't have. Anything memorable about about
00:56:16
him? Did he?
00:56:18
Do you have anything just the line about?
00:56:23
Like I'm from the. South and it takes me a long
00:56:25
time to get my. Answers out before he got
00:56:28
buzzed, but that doesn't that doesn't change.
00:56:31
Yeah, there's nothing that stood out for him, for me.
00:56:35
But again, he didn't do. Anything that hurt him?
00:56:37
It didn't do anything that helped him step out again into
00:56:40
the spotlight. This was really, really quick.
00:56:44
This was the chance for a lot of candidates without Trump there
00:56:48
to suck the air out of the room, for them to just step out and
00:56:51
maybe nudge themselves up in polling.
00:56:56
But I don't think it really changed a lot of things, I.
00:56:57
Think if the only person probably saw a bump was probably
00:56:59
Vivek, but none of the other. Candidates I can.
00:57:04
Imagine saw a bump. Even your favorite, ASA
00:57:06
Hutchinson. I don't think he saw a bump.
00:57:08
I like him. He seems like a nice guy.
00:57:12
Seems like a nice guy, but I think I also made the comment to
00:57:15
you guys on the text that if he's not a Baptist preacher then
00:57:19
he has just missed his calling in life.
00:57:22
Like, I just feel like that it's an area where he could shine.
00:57:27
And Nikki Haley, as I already mentioned, she's a quitter.
00:57:32
I liked what she said about the abortion issue.
00:57:34
She raised great points. I agree.
00:57:39
With her, but that's it ends there with her.
00:57:42
For me, I think I already. Made my opinion known about
00:57:48
Nikki. So I think she's a Warhawk
00:57:51
neocon. She's well spoken and she.
00:57:55
Knows how to eloquently state her position.
00:58:00
And if she was president, she'd be able to eloquently state and
00:58:03
explain to the American people why we're going to war with
00:58:06
Iran. And then she yeah, And then she
00:58:10
probably stepped down. She'd sent us to.
00:58:13
War with Iran? And then stepped down.
00:58:15
Somebody said. Remember when Matt Walsh, out of
00:58:18
the blue, just decided to dis Christy Nome?
00:58:20
How dare you Matt Walsh. This and Christy Gnome she's.
00:58:26
An American? All right, so we.
00:58:30
Got through all the presidential.
00:58:31
Candidates, any last thoughts about that before we talked
00:58:34
briefly about Trump on Tucker? You cut out for a second.
00:58:43
Did I cut out for a second? Did I come back OK?
00:58:58
I was going to say any. Last comments about the
00:59:01
presidential debate before No. OK, I think we've said
00:59:06
everything to say about Tucker. So you take it away, it's not
00:59:11
going to be very. I know I texted you when.
00:59:15
We were getting. Ready for the show?
00:59:17
I was like I watched that whole debate.
00:59:20
Or at least I listened to it while I was at work.
00:59:24
I, you know, it was 45 minutes. It felt like it was like 15
00:59:30
minutes. I I just felt like nothing was
00:59:33
really sad in the entire debate or in the entire interview.
00:59:38
He didn't seem like. He had that much.
00:59:41
He seemed bored. He seemed like resigned to just
00:59:46
giving these answers. Maybe that was.
00:59:49
Sort of his thing. Maybe he was.
00:59:50
Like, I'm going to downplay it and just be chill in this
00:59:55
interview, but other than that, I don't.
00:59:57
Nothing stood out to me like you.
00:59:59
You'd think if. You think if you had a whole.
01:00:04
Segment with Tucker to say whatever the heck you want.
01:00:08
You could be as fiery as possible, and really.
01:00:12
Kind of be like. Look, you have all these clowns
01:00:16
over here debating. But check me out.
01:00:20
Because I'm over. Here and I'm really spitting
01:00:22
fire and I'm I'm just, I'm so passionate and I'm the candidate
01:00:26
and there's no reason you should even be paying attention to
01:00:28
them. But to be honest, I.
01:00:30
I you know. The debate was more
01:00:32
entertaining. The interview was not that
01:00:35
exciting. Some of his answers, you're just
01:00:38
like, really? That's some of your answers.
01:00:40
Like when they said he pressed them about like Jeffrey Epstein,
01:00:44
for example, and he said, do you think Jeffrey Epstein killed
01:00:46
himself? And then?
01:00:49
He kind of went back and forth. He was like, maybe.
01:00:51
He I think they killed him. But I also think he probably
01:00:54
committed suicide. And it's like, wait, So what is?
01:00:58
It Do you believe he committed suicide or do you think they
01:01:01
they killed him He he. Was he was kind of wishy washy?
01:01:06
On a lot of these controversial things.
01:01:10
And then they asked if he was going to he.
01:01:12
Was worried that they were going to kill him like Ala JFK.
01:01:17
And he didn't. Seem really bothered by any of
01:01:19
it he's. Just like, OK, like if they,
01:01:21
they come after me, these nasty people.
01:01:24
Also, let's talk about water pressure because that's a big
01:01:27
thing I want to talk about is water pressure and regulations.
01:01:31
When you tested me that, what are you talking about?
01:01:33
There's a whole. Part where he talked about like.
01:01:35
Water pressure and like because he was talking about like fuel
01:01:38
sources and gas and like fossil fuels.
01:01:43
And then he was, because he was talking about, like, how you
01:01:45
have all these regulations and and especially in places like
01:01:47
California where they restrict, like, how much water can come
01:01:50
out of your shower. And like the water pressure
01:01:53
isn't great and it's like, it's really horrible that we can't
01:01:56
get good water pressure here in the United States.
01:01:58
And you went on this? Tirade about.
01:02:01
Electric cars and how the you're happiest California resident
01:02:07
ever. Yeah, we have an issue with
01:02:10
that. I mean I have water pressure
01:02:12
then. He had a whole thing about.
01:02:14
Electric cars and he's. Like if you're the the they're
01:02:18
they're the happiest the 1st 10 minutes when they charge up and
01:02:21
then after that they're freaking out because they don't know
01:02:23
where another charger is. I don't know but.
01:02:26
Yeah, I I feel like there. Wasn't a lot that I went.
01:02:29
Away with where he concretely said, like these are my
01:02:33
positions. This is why I'm the candidate.
01:02:35
I felt like he was kind of very wishy washy and low energy, and
01:02:38
it was. And you're right, there was his
01:02:42
chance. Especially because they decided
01:02:44
to air it during, you know, at the same time as the debate.
01:02:47
Like that was his chance to shine.
01:02:51
Yeah. And it was.
01:02:51
It was with Tucker. And it was on X and basically he
01:02:57
had the blessing of Elon Musk of like, go ahead, say whatever you
01:03:01
guys want to say, free speech. And they didn't really get that,
01:03:05
that spicy. So I was kind of disappointed.
01:03:11
I know a lot of people watched. Trump instead of the debate, but
01:03:15
I don't know if anyone. In the comments have a.
01:03:17
Thought on it. That's really it.
01:03:19
I know that we said we talk about it, but there's not really
01:03:22
much to talk about. I think it's been said.
01:03:25
To you, like I did watch it. It sounds like I didn't watch
01:03:28
it, but I did. And then I was pretty much like,
01:03:30
yeah, that was boring and I don't really remember any of it,
01:03:33
so yeah. So that's.
01:03:36
Why I watched? The debate live.
01:03:40
Maybe he's. Maybe he's tired.
01:03:41
I don't know. You know, he's running around,
01:03:44
he's getting indicted all the time, right?
01:03:48
That's. I mean that's, I wouldn't know
01:03:50
from experience, but that would be a lot of pressure.
01:03:52
Like he knew he was you know turning himself in within a few
01:03:55
days and but I also wonder if someone, is he finally listening
01:04:00
to someone like is someone telling him you got to tone it
01:04:02
down and now he's listening maybe.
01:04:06
I know that's. Always been a big.
01:04:08
It's like a doubleedged sword with Trump.
01:04:10
Like some people love him because he's that firebrand who
01:04:12
goes after people. But.
01:04:15
Then like when they look at like.
01:04:17
Suburban voters, which he lost a lot of in the 2020 election,
01:04:23
they say. Like, hey, you know.
01:04:25
Tone it down a little bit. Be a little bit quieter or not
01:04:28
so inflammatory. He did talk about Crooked
01:04:32
Hillary. Oh, my fear was he talked about.
01:04:35
How bad Biden looked on the beach.
01:04:38
That was pretty funny. And he's like, this isn't what?
01:04:41
Presidents do. Presidents, it's just the
01:04:44
beaches is not what? It doesn't look very
01:04:46
presidential. You should be leading a country,
01:04:48
not sitting on the beach with your skinny legs, very skinny
01:04:51
legs, Very awful. He can't lift the chair.
01:04:56
You talked about there's chairs. Tucker, those chairs are made to
01:05:00
be light, and they're not. And and Biden he can't pick.
01:05:05
Up a chair. That's how weak he is.
01:05:06
He's a weak man. He can't pick up beach chairs,
01:05:10
so. But yeah, other than that I.
01:05:13
I don't think I walked away from it going, damn, he's the
01:05:17
candidate. So I don't.
01:05:17
He's the. Know how much pushback we're
01:05:22
going to get for that comment? But I'm sure people will
01:05:25
disagree. Hey, but that's the point of
01:05:27
this. You can disagree with us if you
01:05:29
want. That's.
01:05:33
All I have to really say. About the Tucker.
01:05:35
Trump interview There's not really much else to say.
01:05:37
It sounds like kind of a deflating thing to end the whole
01:05:39
podcast on, but there really wasn't much to say for you.
01:05:43
OK, yeah, be scared, and you probably won't answer if you
01:05:51
were voting today president based on only the people on the
01:05:57
stage of the debate. Who do you?
01:06:00
Think you would be voting for if I based.
01:06:04
Only on the yes, if you had to one person on stage like I can't
01:06:09
abstain from voting. No, I can't be like none of
01:06:13
these choices are good. Yeah, you don't even get to
01:06:16
write in someone. Probably Vivek.
01:06:22
OK, I think Vivek is the Molotov.
01:06:23
Cocktail that we could throw into DC and kind.
01:06:28
Of rattle, rattle some. Cages, yeah.
01:06:33
If I had, if I had to vote for one.
01:06:35
Of them on that. Stage OK, same question you if
01:06:38
you had to vote for one of them on stage and you can't say ASA
01:06:42
Hutchinson. I wouldn't.
01:06:52
Do I give say Doug. No, I'm just kidding.
01:06:53
Just kidding. So I think I'd be torn between
01:06:56
DeSantis and and Vivek. OK, I am.
01:07:03
Never going to cheerlead for candidate again, I have learned.
01:07:08
My lesson from 21 to 2022 although but I am I am never
01:07:16
going to cheerlead for them again.
01:07:17
Too many, too many have burned me.
01:07:22
They both. I do.
01:07:24
Worry about the Vex inexperience.
01:07:27
But I I know he has business experience, but that's not
01:07:32
political experience. And this is this is not a local
01:07:35
office. But at the same time, I didn't
01:07:39
like Angry DeSantis. I did.
01:07:43
I don't. Want I don't want.
01:07:46
More wars? Who knows at what point they're
01:07:48
going to, like, impose a draft again, and as a mom of
01:07:51
teenagers, you. Know almost 1816, like coming up
01:07:55
here and I'm not that's I know that's like an extreme road to
01:07:57
go down. But you hear them talk about it
01:07:59
every so often and I just think those are my babies.
01:08:02
No more wars. Yeah, so.
01:08:06
So if I could take pieces of eating, no you can't, but you
01:08:09
have to pick. One on.
01:08:10
That now with DeSantis and Vivek, I love you.
01:08:12
Come on the show. Open.
01:08:15
Invitation if you guys want to come on.
01:08:18
I was gonna say. This is the right podcast if you
01:08:20
don't want to endorse any candidate.
01:08:22
Because my policy is I never endorse any candidate because
01:08:26
it's not. It's not my job to tell you who
01:08:29
to vote for. It's my job to.
01:08:31
I asked based purely on who was on stage that night because
01:08:34
obviously there were several not on stage, right.
01:08:38
Well, I guess the question. Could have been who want to
01:08:39
debate. I don't know.
01:08:41
I mean, President I. Don't think any.
01:08:44
Presidential candidate is looking at me going, boy, I hope
01:08:46
I get his endorsement. That's what's going to put me
01:08:49
over the top. But any.
01:08:52
Any fan of the show? Knows that I don't endorse
01:08:54
anybody, but yeah, Vivek would probably be it.
01:08:56
I think he's the most interesting.
01:08:57
He's the one I've I've heard the most of because he's just ended
01:09:00
up on podcasts that I listen to. Not because I've sought him out.
01:09:05
Just because the. Podcast that I have in rotation.
01:09:08
He's ended up on these podcasts and I like what he's had to say.
01:09:13
One more comment. From the chat.
01:09:14
Section says businessman needs to run the country.
01:09:16
Look at Trump. It's refreshing.
01:09:18
People want that. Yeah, I think that's what people
01:09:20
are looking for. They.
01:09:21
I think the VEC nailed it when he said career politicians have
01:09:25
got us where we are and career politicians aren't going to get
01:09:29
us out of it. So I think he nails it.
01:09:34
But with that said, yeah, entertaining debate.
01:09:37
I look forward to the next one. Probably won't be able to do a
01:09:41
live stream watch party because Fox News hates people.
01:10:01
Podcaster, So if you guys don't know who he is anyway.
01:09:46
Yeah, somebody comments. And I'm just sad about Dave
01:09:49
Smith not running. I'm sad about Dave Smith not
01:09:51
running either. I heard that through the
01:09:54
Grapevine. So I think I actually heard that
01:09:57
from you, Kara. So Dave Smith is my.
01:10:05
Dave Smith, if you ever want to come on the show, I would be
01:10:08
honored to have you on my show. Or if I can go on your show,
01:10:12
that'd be cool too. Anyway, like I said, we're
01:10:16
doubling up this week, so if you're tuning in, we'll be back
01:10:19
on Thursday at 8:00 PM for a very spicy episode.
01:10:23
We're going to be talking about lockdowns and whether 2020 style
01:10:28
lockdowns are coming back. Is it all just fear porn?
01:10:32
Is it clickbait? We're going to discuss, so I'll
01:10:37
save my opinions for that episode.
01:10:39
Anything else you want to say to finish out the episode, Camille?
01:10:44
I'm good. That's a good way to end it.
01:10:47
So thanks for tuning in everybody as I end every
01:10:50
episode. If you want to support the show,
01:10:52
make sure you like, share, hit the notification bell, comment
01:10:56
on the video afterwards. It helps with the algorithm and
01:10:59
most importantly, share with a friend, share with the family,
01:11:02
show with the coworker, colleague, all that stuff and
01:11:06
yeah. We'll see you on the.
01:11:08
Next one. Have a good night, everybody.
01:11:09
Later. Thank you for listening to
01:11:24
another episode of. California Underground If you
01:11:26
like what you heard, remember to subscribe Alike and review it,
01:11:30
and follow California Underground on social media for
01:11:32
updates as to when new episodes are available.