Episode 131 — America Last: How The DC Establishment Sold Idaho Out & how Denny Lavé is Gonna Fix It

[0:00:00] The Backlash podcast hosted by Dave Reilly. [0:00:30] Thank you. [0:01:00] Thank you. [0:01:30] Thank you. [0:02:00] Thank you. [0:02:30] Hello and welcome to a very special edition of The Backlash. [0:02:56] I'm your host, David J. Reilly. [0:02:58] You know, there's been a lot going on in the world. [0:03:02] Obviously, we're coming up on about a month with this new war in Iran. [0:03:07] The United States seems to have been dragged into war, and now 15 service members are dead. [0:03:16] As this is happening, of course, the federal debt has exploded. [0:03:20] We've just breached $39 trillion in debt with basically no way to pay it back. [0:03:28] The dollar is devaluing. Inflation is looming, especially with the cost of energy rising because of the closure of the Straits of Hormuz and issues that are going to be flowing from that supply chain disruption and a lot of other craziness. [0:03:43] and of course as all of this is happening on the other side of the globe we've got some troubling [0:03:50] things happening here at home obviously the rise of AI and what looks like a new jobs crisis [0:03:58] looming on the horizon as AI threatens to cut out a lot of American jobs and you know even if the AI [0:04:06] thing wasn't an issue. Americans are being replaced in the workplace by H-1B migrants [0:04:12] in an effort to keep down wages and to keep the fat cats happy and raking in profits [0:04:21] to the detriment of the American people. And increasingly, it seems like there are less and [0:04:27] less people in Congress that care. You know, this make America great again thing just it doesn't [0:04:34] seem like it's panned out and the forgotten man and woman appear to be forgotten again, even though [0:04:40] that's why we put Donald Trump into office to work for us, for our families, for our kids. [0:04:47] It doesn't seem like anything is going. And a lot of that, I think, has to do with the Congress. [0:04:53] Congress is occupied by a bunch of people that are beholden to lobbyists and corporations and [0:05:00] special interests, not to you and me. And this is a huge problem. And of course, we've got a big [0:05:06] election coming up. You know, 2026 is looking like we're going to see potentially a giant blue wave [0:05:13] because the Republicans have been unresponsive to the will of the people, to the demands of the [0:05:17] people that, you know, we need help here at home. And everybody seems to be obsessed with [0:05:23] funding these wars in Ukraine, in the Middle East, etc. And so something needs to be done [0:05:30] And today we're going to be having a conversation with somebody who wants to do something about all of these issues. [0:05:36] The primary is coming up in May 19th. [0:05:38] And one of the worst people, in my opinion, in Idaho, as far as government and representation is concerned, is a guy by the name of Jim Risch. [0:05:49] Jim has been in office basically his entire life. [0:05:52] He served as governor of the state of Idaho. [0:05:54] He served in, I think, the House of Representatives up here and then went on to Congress after the big scandal with Larry jingling his keys in the bathroom. [0:06:08] It's unbelievable. [0:06:09] But we've got this career politician, Jim Risch, that has been totally unresponsive to the people here in Idaho. [0:06:17] And something needs to be done. [0:06:18] And today we've got somebody who wants to do something about it. [0:06:21] I'd like to introduce you to Denny LeVay. [0:06:24] Denny is running for Congress against Jim Risch. And man, that's courageous, courageous of you to [0:06:34] do this, to put yourself on the line like this. How did we get here? How did how did Denny LaVey [0:06:39] begin? Well, I guess and even before we get into that, Denny wrote a book that you can get a copy [0:06:45] of to find out more about him. It's called Blue Collar Blast, A Humble Life in Idaho by Denny. [0:06:50] But Denny, tell me a little bit about yourself. [0:06:53] How did you get here? [0:06:56] Why are you running for Congress? [0:06:59] You know, the big reason that I'm running for the Senate is we need somebody to fight [0:07:05] for Americans, for Idahoans, for our kids, for our grandkids. [0:07:10] And really, you know, I believe that this is something that God's called me to do, [0:07:14] which, you know, we don't. [0:07:17] I've gone into the story in the book. [0:07:19] I've gone into the how we got here. But the short version is that it came up about 18, 19 years ago. [0:07:26] And, you know, my mentors at the time said, wait, God will let you know when it's time. [0:07:31] And fast forward to 2024. And, you know, he said it's time. [0:07:35] And I said, God, please have one of my mentors tell me if this is really you. [0:07:39] And a few days later, one of them came up and said, yeah, it's time for you to do this. [0:07:44] So over the past year, you know, we've really dug in. [0:07:47] We've worked with putting together a top-level team, with looking at what are the issues. [0:07:52] I wrote the book so that folks here in Idaho could get to know me because I'm a political outsider. [0:07:58] And over the course of my working career, and then especially this last year, [0:08:03] one of the things I've come to deeply believe is that someone working their way up through the system [0:08:07] is not going to affect change. [0:08:11] By the time they've played all the games and danced to everybody else's drums, [0:08:15] they're not going to make the change right i mean we see that with senator rish he's been there 18 [0:08:21] years if he was going to make radical change if he was going to shake things up and really [0:08:25] work for everyday americans and everyday idahoans he would have done that by now yeah so sending [0:08:30] him back for another six years is just an exercise in insanity yeah uh and we can do better i think [0:08:37] so yeah you know there's something else about this too where it's like he isn't he like 82 [0:08:43] 83 years old? [0:08:45] Yeah, he's going to be 83 this year, which incidentally, that's the same age as Joe Biden. [0:08:49] Oh, my gosh. [0:08:50] Right? [0:08:51] And, you know. [0:08:55] He would be 90. [0:08:57] He would be 90 years old at the conclusion of the next election. [0:09:02] Yeah, that's right. [0:09:04] That's right. [0:09:05] I mean, there's a variety of ways this could play out, right? [0:09:08] None of which work well for Idaho and for Idahoans. [0:09:10] Right. [0:09:11] Right. [0:09:11] There's been rumors for years now that Rish is running and will run and using taxpayer dollars, attempt to win, and then serve another maybe year, year and a half, and then resign, allowing Idaho's liberal governor, Brad Little, to appoint his replacement, which is anti-democratic. [0:09:34] It has nothing to do with the will of the people or what people want. [0:09:39] And that's, I think, you know, besides all of the policy issues that he's just flat out wrong on, [0:09:45] I think that this kind of a play to just get some sort of political insider in to replace him, [0:09:52] I think that's dangerous for our democracy to borrow a page from the left, I guess. [0:09:58] Well, the sad, sad irony is that Idaho had a key role in amending the Constitution of the United States so that the citizens could vote on who their senators were going to be. [0:10:12] Because the corruption in the state legislatures in the late 19th century, early 20th century was so great and so obvious that we knew something had to change. [0:10:24] We needed to get people who were going to go work for the citizens and who were beholden to the vote of the citizens. [0:10:33] And so Idaho and Senator William Borah from Idaho had a huge role in getting that 17th Amendment pushed through. [0:10:40] right so the irony of the situation is that now we have a senator who's working presumably with [0:10:47] the political elites of the state trying to bypass that whole process that we put in place [0:10:54] to protect ourselves from that very problem and it's really it's it's a sad state and then you [0:11:01] mentioned you know using taxpayer dollars to get re-elected um you know the senator's using [0:11:07] loopholes to send out what in theory is a legislative update right at taxpayer expense [0:11:13] which has nothing to do with legislature that's being worked on or being passed [0:11:17] and for all practical intents it's a campaign card it just doesn't say vote for Jim Risch [0:11:23] right right it says Jim Risch and it looks like it's kind of one of those if it looks like a dog [0:11:28] and barks like a dog and smells like a dog it's probably a dog yeah yeah it's it's it's you know [0:11:32] it looks like a campaign card. It barks like a campaign card. It's probably a campaign card, [0:11:38] all except for the part at the bottom that says paid for by the taxpayer. [0:11:42] Right. Right. And that's just wrong. Right. I mean, to abuse the system like this [0:11:46] and abuse the taxpayers who are already stretched to the limit. [0:11:51] You know, some estimates say that a lot of middle class, middle income taxpayers, [0:11:55] you know, they're working until June or July just to pay their tax bill. [0:11:58] Right. Across all their different taxes. Right. Property tax and income tax and sales tax. [0:12:04] Like tax, tax, tax. Right. At some point, there's a limit. Yeah. I agree. There's only so much that [0:12:12] the American people can bear. And with everything that's been going on in the world, Jim has not [0:12:17] been doing things to make it easier for us. For those of you unaware, I've got some stuff here [0:12:23] that we can pull up. Jim Risch was one of these people that was deeply, intimately involved [0:12:32] in stoking the Ukrainian conflict. Here's a picture of him with Zelensky. This was back in 2022, [0:12:40] I believe, yeah, June of 2022. We've got a little video, I think, of his meeting. [0:12:46] Thank you. You're welcome. [0:12:48] Well, for seeing me, I appreciate it. [0:12:50] Thank you so much. [0:12:51] Yeah. [0:12:51] Thank you for coming. [0:12:51] You've got good health in D.C. [0:12:55] Oxnard is everywhere. [0:12:57] I'm keen here because I want to hear what you have to say. [0:12:59] I haven't... [0:12:59] Anyway, it's not... [0:13:02] They don't actually, like, give any, like, good sound clips here. [0:13:06] It's all just kind of, like, edited mumbo-jumbo. [0:13:08] But Jim Risch has voted consistently to be giving money to the Ukrainians. [0:13:13] He's been sharing all of these tweets. [0:13:16] It's an honor to meet with Zelensky. [0:13:20] Here he is touring some of the destruction in Ukraine. [0:13:25] And of course, this is all happening as the debt here in the United States is just exploding [0:13:32] to levels that we've never seen before. [0:13:36] There's some new math coming out here. [0:13:39] This is from the Kobayese letter that we have added, what, $2 trillion over the last eight [0:13:45] months. They keep voting to increase the debt ceiling. This, of course, has been something that [0:13:51] Republicans have been promising for decades to cut back on. We're going to stop spending. [0:13:57] And here he is sending money, equipment to Ukraine. Everybody's killing each other. [0:14:06] This is not America first. This is not putting Idaho first. [0:14:10] It's not Idaho values. It's not conservative values. And, you know, that's a big part of [0:14:14] his pitch, right, is, oh, I'm, you know, you sent me there to have a conservative vote [0:14:18] in conservative values. [0:14:19] Well, when he was first elected to office, we were $11 trillion in debt. [0:14:26] And now by the time his next term is done, this term is done, we're going to be over [0:14:31] $40 trillion in debt, right? [0:14:33] And, you know, oh, they're cutting spending. [0:14:36] Great. [0:14:36] You know, they cut $9 billion in a rescission package, right? [0:14:40] That paid for about 30 minutes of the federal government. [0:14:42] oh my god right it's so it sounds good right it's a nice soundbite oh i cut spending [0:14:49] but it's laughable when you look at the whole picture and you know the reality is i mean in [0:14:57] his own speeches he said well there's you know the mandatory spending package that we we just [0:15:02] don't even look at anymore which is six trillion dollars unreal okay well we take in six to seven [0:15:08] trillion in any given year right now in taxes. And then we have the discretionary spending, [0:15:15] which is two to three trillion dollars on top of that, which means that de facto they know we're [0:15:20] going through three trillion dollars in debt every year. And instead of really reassessing what we're [0:15:26] doing and really making the hard calls, and it doesn't have to be hard for the citizens, [0:15:32] but it might be hard for some of the big pharma companies and big tech companies that are [0:15:36] getting the great windfalls from the expansion of all these programs and the milking of all these [0:15:42] programs where you know where's the pushback on them right i mean i just i had an incident a few [0:15:49] months ago and just to keep it brief like i got prescribed a pill at a standalone urgent care [0:15:56] slash er room the pill they charged 244 for an antibiotic tablet whoa um the active ingredients [0:16:04] I looked this up the active ingredients cost six cents it cost four cents to put it into a tablet [0:16:12] it cost another dollar ninety to put it on a shelf at the hospital right but somehow they're [0:16:18] charging two hundred and forty four dollars right and that's the negotiated rate between the hospitals [0:16:25] that industry and the federal government right and then the insurance companies you know do their [0:16:29] thing from there supposedly right but the only people winning there is big pharma and in the big [0:16:39] private equity owned hospitals right that are putting screws to the american people right right [0:16:44] and most people don't know what their rights are they don't know how to get an itemized bill [0:16:48] because they don't provide an itemized bill unless you specifically request it [0:16:52] they just expect you to pay and trust them that they've got it right [0:16:55] and then if you contest it, they might just ignore you anyways. [0:17:01] Right. [0:17:02] And try to send you to collections. [0:17:05] In my case, it was a fraudulent bill. [0:17:07] It was a 30-minute visit with a tiny visit with one antibiotic tablet and a prescription, [0:17:14] and I walked out the door 30 minutes later. [0:17:15] They tried to bill $125,000. [0:17:18] Holy cow. [0:17:19] Are you serious? [0:17:20] I'm dead serious. [0:17:22] That's incredible. [0:17:23] And what it turned out was there was a billing error of, oh, it was a 500 milligram tablet. [0:17:28] And so they had billed for 500 tablets at $244 a tablet. [0:17:34] And when I tried to tell them there was an error, they ignored me. [0:17:38] And they were going to send it to collections. [0:17:39] And I finally got an itemized bill. [0:17:41] And I pointed out where the error was. [0:17:43] And they ignored that. [0:17:44] And until I threatened to turn them in for fraud to the state health insurance board, I got no response. [0:17:51] and then it went from, you know, my share after it was all said and negotiated initially had been [0:17:56] over $2,000. You know, the final copay portion was $35. Yeah. Well, most people don't know how [0:18:05] to navigate those waters. They don't have the time to navigate those waters. Right. And they're [0:18:11] just sucking money out of the American people. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a racket. It's a racket. [0:18:16] And especially with, you know, in the wake of Obamacare and all of this stuff, you know, these these tech and pharma companies, they know that they can siphon money out of the system in a way that, you know, you pay your copay or whatever it is, you know, 50 bucks, 100 bucks. [0:18:34] But then they can go after these insurance companies and just start hoovering cash up, propping up their stock prices. [0:18:40] I know Eli Lilly is about to break a thousand dollars a share. [0:18:43] I think it is. And it's just unbelievable. And in Idaho, too, you know, St. Luke's Hospital, [0:18:52] I believe, is one of the largest employers in the state. They also do transgender surgeries. [0:18:58] They have a children's essence clinic down there in Boise, where at least up until recently, [0:19:04] they had been prescribing drugs, you know, all kinds of what are they called? Puberty blockers [0:19:12] and providing surgeries for children to mutilate their bodies. [0:19:18] A lot of these issues come down to this thing, I believe, [0:19:21] is that in our hubris, we believe we can play God. [0:19:26] And we're remarkably bad at playing God. [0:19:30] We are just not good at it. [0:19:35] And it reminds me of this old movies from the 80s, [0:19:39] which I think they've tried to remake, [0:19:40] but it's time bandits. [0:19:43] There's these little people [0:19:45] flying through time [0:19:46] trying to pull the levers and trying to fix things [0:19:49] and change things and they completely muck it up [0:19:51] until God comes in [0:19:53] and saves the day. [0:19:56] What the reality is [0:19:57] is that we're not God. [0:19:58] We don't see all of the unintended consequences [0:20:01] and the real consequences [0:20:02] and [0:20:03] when we start to [0:20:07] decide that things [0:20:09] that are clearly real [0:20:10] are not real and that we can change them, you know, the consequences are just disastrous. [0:20:15] They are just disastrous. You know, I think certain plaintiffs have actually won some key [0:20:20] lawsuits recently, basically saying that these doctors did commit malpractice by committing a [0:20:27] lot of these gender surgeries and by providing these puberty blockers. Like they were not [0:20:31] adequately informing the patients and the parents of what were the long-term ramifications of this. [0:20:38] Right. Right. And that the the expected benefits weren't there. So anyhow, it's, you know, back to the topic of the debt, the deficit. [0:20:49] You know, there's a lot of stuff that we're doing that that isn't providing the benefit that we think it does. [0:20:55] And there's a lot of things that we're paying for that we're dramatically overpaying for. [0:21:00] Yeah. Right. You know, whether it's whether it's a 10 cent pill that the government has agreed to pay two hundred and forty four dollars for, whether it's a an x-ray, you know, that. [0:21:15] They're charging two thousand dollars for. Right. Right. There's a lot of hospice programs that have been prescribing skin grafts for patients that are terminal, that are days away from death. [0:21:27] we're going to subject them to a massive skin graft because you know they have a lesion which [0:21:32] admittedly they would have a lesion right i mean those things happen in end-of-life care [0:21:37] but the skin graft is not going to materially improve their life it's not going to change [0:21:43] the final outcome uh and it's a it's all at taxpayer expense right so who's really benefiting [0:21:52] from that. You know, and there was something else that I'm reminded of. So it's like, as, [0:21:58] you know, as all of us here in Idaho that were involved in politics, involved in [0:22:02] the Republican Party, we were fighting this culture war against transgenderism, against the, [0:22:09] you know, the bathroom issues and all of this stuff. Boise Pride, for example, on 9-11, [0:22:15] getting a bunch of, you know, children to twerk on stage for money. You know, as we were fighting [0:22:21] this at the grassroots, at the ground level, Jim Risch was silent. And not only was he silent, [0:22:27] but he was on X sharing propaganda from anti-fascist Twitter accounts. There's an article [0:22:34] here from the Idaho Tribune from back a couple of years ago. Idaho's Jim Risch joins the Democrats [0:22:42] and shares anti-fascist journalist propaganda in Boise, vowing to send lethal aid to the neo-Nazis [0:22:49] in Ukraine. This is up on Idaho Tribune. You can see he was sharing this Carolyn Kometstotzilis' [0:22:58] protests outside of in Boise. And it's just incredible. You know, here's, you know, [0:23:06] the same person saying resist deportations, tweeting about this back in 2017. And so, [0:23:12] you know, Rish has been notably silent. He's also, you know, on the take from Lockheed Martin, [0:23:19] getting donations to his PAC, etc. And so it's just really incredible to me [0:23:27] just how out of touch people like Jim Rish have been up here. And not only that, there's something [0:23:36] else that I wanted to talk about that not a lot of people are aware of, and that is [0:23:41] his involvement in Somalia. So for those of you, you may have seen all of these clips about Somalian [0:23:49] refugees in Minnesota defrauding the government, getting all of these tax dollars. Well, that [0:23:54] conflict was funded by Jim Risch. Jim is, you know, he's the head of this [0:24:03] Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's the ranking member on it. He's the oldest person. [0:24:08] He's been in Congress the longest. So he has the chairmanship there and has a lot of sway. [0:24:14] And instead of doing things that would benefit Idaho or America, he is destabilizing these foreign countries. [0:24:20] It's not just Ukraine. It's also Somalia. [0:24:22] There's this civil war going on between Somaliland and Somalia. [0:24:27] And we struck up a security partnership over there. [0:24:31] And recently, this was back in 2022, these U.S.-backed rebels were going around slaughtering people, murdering people. [0:24:46] There was, in this article, over 20 dead killed in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland. [0:24:53] They were unarmed Somalian civilians that were killed by U.S.-backed Somaliland secessionists. [0:25:00] Now, this this is why we have the Somalians in this country to begin with. [0:25:06] So what would Danny LaVey do in Jim Riss's shoes? [0:25:11] And what are your thoughts on the refugee thing and immigration? [0:25:17] You know, one of the things I've seen happen around the world is a lot of other companies or countries have been dealing with the refugee crisis. [0:25:23] what some of them have started doing is going you know what you might need refugee status that's [0:25:30] fine but while we're examining that and processing that we're actually going to send you to a third [0:25:35] country that's relatively stable that doesn't have the social safety nets that we do that doesn't [0:25:39] have the the free handouts that we do or if they do that can be handled at a dramatically lower [0:25:45] expense than what we would spend here in America or they would spend in Europe and you know they [0:25:51] did that and their number of asylum seekers dropped from, you know, near six figures to like 600. [0:26:01] Wow. Right. So, you know, one of the things I think that seems to define the modern immigration [0:26:10] era compared to past immigration era is when people were immigrating, you know, 100 years ago, [0:26:16] 200 years ago it was a chance for opportunity it wasn't a guarantee it wasn't a you're going to get [0:26:23] a house and you're going to get a check and you're going to get three squares a day it was [0:26:27] if I go to America it's the land of opportunity I'll figure something out and and you know I'm [0:26:36] not naive I know that the plight of immigrants coming over was was definitely hard and there [0:26:41] were a lot of abuses and a lot of discrimination. [0:26:45] But their reason for coming over was because even with that, it was going to be better [0:26:50] than where they were coming from. [0:26:52] And they wanted to be Americans. [0:26:55] And they wanted to come over here and create a new life and contribute to the country. [0:27:02] And I sometimes, you know, again, this could be a media distortion. [0:27:06] but it often seems that the people coming today that want to immigrate [0:27:11] today especially the last five years that it's much more about [0:27:15] I can go get free things I can go get support I can go get health care [0:27:20] and it's not so much about you know again this could be media distortion [0:27:27] right but it seems like is there that spirit of I'm willing to sacrifice [0:27:33] everything to become an American and to contribute to American society and to make America [0:27:38] the best country on the planet. Right. Right. And I think, you know, I think it's fair to ask that. [0:27:46] I think it's fair to question that and say, are the policies that we have in place around [0:27:51] immigration, are they really the best policies for making America the best country in the world? [0:27:56] Right. It doesn't seem it doesn't seem to be that way. I don't think it's a media distortion. I've [0:28:00] spent a lot of time traveling around this country and, you know, all over, even in Idaho, places like [0:28:05] Nampa, Idaho, there are enclaves of these immigrants that have come over, whether legally, [0:28:12] illegal, I mean, mostly illegally, let's be honest. And they come over, they don't want to learn the [0:28:16] language. They don't want to contribute. They don't pay taxes. They're on welfare. We've got, [0:28:22] you know, senators and people involved that are trying to give these people driver's licenses. [0:28:26] And, you know, even though they're not legal, they they skipped over the border and they're they make no effort whatsoever to learn the language or to contribute. [0:28:38] So we have something, you know, the estimates, they're all over the place, but somewhere between 30 and 40 million illegal aliens in this country. [0:28:49] And we voted for we thought we voted for Donald Trump to deport these people because that would relieve some of the strain on the education system. [0:29:02] Right. We're spending trillions of dollars every year educating illegal immigrants. [0:29:06] We are spending money subsidizing housing illegal immigrants, which is also, you know, adding to the housing crisis, the bubble in the housing sector. [0:29:17] would you support mass deportations would you vote in favor of sending not just the criminal [0:29:25] illegals not just the violent ones but would you vote to send all of the illegal aliens back to the [0:29:31] countries that they belong yeah i think there's a very i think there's some very humane approaches [0:29:35] to do it i mean right now right now we're offering them cash to go home right uh i don't know that [0:29:43] it's that effective because let's face it I mean if they go home with a pocket full of cash that [0:29:48] makes them a big target back home but I think there there's definitely a path to can we help [0:29:55] them go back home and be better off than they were before right and is that you know we've seen [0:30:01] I personally have seen a lot of different charity organizations that work on helping people get [0:30:08] stable farms, work on helping them get water, access to water, work on getting them the livestock [0:30:15] they need to be able to support their families and feed their families, right? All at dramatically [0:30:20] less cost than what we spend here in America to help them, you know, stay here and have basic [0:30:28] services and work menial jobs. Right. And I would like to think that that would be a lot better path [0:30:36] towards helping them get back home and have a decent, dignified life, as opposed to having [0:30:43] them come here and be in slums and watch their children really be led astray by gangs and by [0:30:48] violence and by drugs. Because I know that's not what they want either, right? But I think we have [0:30:57] to find that balance, you know? And I think if we're being honest with ourselves, again, it goes [0:31:02] back to that playing God role, right? We have played God in many of these countries or attempted [0:31:08] to play God in many of these countries where these people are fleeing from. And I think there is a [0:31:15] part of saying, hey, we have to take some responsibility for helping fix this situation. [0:31:20] Yes. Yeah. I mean, there's just no doubt that it is people like Jim Risch and his policies in [0:31:28] these foreign areas, the Middle East, in Somalia, South America as well, Venezuela. [0:31:35] It is our intervention in these third world countries that are destabilizing them and [0:31:41] making them uninhabitable, which is leading to the refugee crisis on the other side. [0:31:47] And, you know, there's been time and time again, the grassroots here in America have [0:31:54] voted, and it's a part of the Idaho Republican Party platform, that the United States should not [0:32:01] be the policemen of the world, that we should not be in places like Syria and Yemen, Somalia, [0:32:09] and elsewhere, destabilizing, overthrowing their leaders, which is leading to these massive [0:32:16] crises. I mean, in 2014, the beginning of that big surge of immigration to Europe, [0:32:23] That happened because of Operation Timber Sycamore over in Syria. And we've had here even in Idaho, the Idaho GOP unanimously calling for an America first foreign policy, urging Senators Rish and Crapo to withdraw troops from Syria and Yemen. [0:32:41] But it seems like no matter how many times we ask, no matter how many times we try to get our elected representatives to do what we want them to do, they resist. [0:32:55] They throw us under the bus. [0:32:56] They ignore our pleas for help and continue doubling down on policies that have been harming Americans everywhere. [0:33:05] Well, and that's the really sad part is that a state like Idaho, the Senate matters so much, right? [0:33:14] Because the Senate is the kind of equalizer between states with large populations and states with large land masses, right? [0:33:23] Idaho has a particularly large land mass, right? [0:33:25] We're the 13th largest state in square miles. [0:33:28] If we were to take a steamroller to the state, we're bigger than Texas. [0:33:31] Wow. [0:33:31] Now, please don't take a steamroller to the state because I like my mountains, okay? [0:33:36] I don't think I could live without mountains. [0:33:40] But it's a really big state. [0:33:43] And, you know, the Senate, like the reason for the six-year term is so that senators can take courageous stands without the risk of being sent home a year later. [0:33:56] Right. [0:33:57] Right. [0:33:57] You know, that the representatives are there really to represent the people, I mean, to deeply represent the people and to be held immediately accountable when they don't. [0:34:06] The Senate is supposed to be this deliberative body that that is the wisdom of the country. [0:34:12] Right. And that is willing to take hard stands. [0:34:17] And I question whether it's doing that today. [0:34:19] Yeah. Right. [0:34:20] One of my favorite books in the political sphere is John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. [0:34:28] And he covers 15 senators from the 1950s back to the origin of the country who took a courageous stand. [0:34:37] In some cases, it cost them their entire career. [0:34:40] In some cases, it was the right stand in their view for the country. [0:34:44] And they were so reviled by other people at home that they couldn't go home. [0:34:48] Right. But it's like they were taking stands against slavery. They were taking stands against things that would have ended, you know, the carpet bagging and, you know, the military enforced reconstructionism and domination, you know, after the civil war. [0:35:01] They were really trying to make the country better and really putting their life on the line for their people, for their state, for their country. [0:35:15] And who today would we put that mantra on? [0:35:19] Who today would we say is taking a courageous stand and really putting it out there for the country to radically change the country or improve the country? [0:35:28] Yeah. [0:35:29] You know, I mean, we just we have the Save Act right now. [0:35:32] Right. It seems to me fairly common sense. [0:35:35] Right. The law already says that only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections. [0:35:42] The law already says that. Right. And it was kind of an honor system. [0:35:46] And we've seen how that's worked. It hasn't worked real well. [0:35:49] No, no, it hasn't. You know, to the a friend of mine described it this way. [0:35:54] He said, if you have ever if you've been in he's from from California. [0:35:57] He said, if you've ever been in jury duty, one of the first things they say to the room full of people is you can only serve on jury duty if you're a U.S. citizen. [0:36:06] And over a third of the room gets up and walks out. [0:36:09] Wow. [0:36:10] Now, that list of jury duty service, that's the same list of people that are on the voting rolls. [0:36:19] Hello. [0:36:20] Hello. [0:36:20] We've got a problem. [0:36:21] Why would we willingly allow those non-citizens to vote in our federal elections? [0:36:27] Right. [0:36:27] Right. I mean, there's no there's no real strong moral reason for it. [0:36:33] You know, if they want to be part of the body politic, they need to go through the process of becoming American citizens. [0:36:41] And I've talked with people who have done that, who have immigrated legally, who have gone through the process of getting their green card, who are going through the process of becoming citizens. [0:36:52] and it's a lot of work and yes it's expensive and maybe that needs to be looked at but even [0:36:58] those people are really offended by the fact that these non-citizens who are legal immigrants [0:37:03] are coming in and voting in our elections and having a say in who runs the country and who [0:37:08] makes the laws for our country right and and why is it that we don't have the courage to get that [0:37:14] onto the floor and debate it and make every one of those people who says no we don't need to have [0:37:19] people prove that they're citizens. Why don't we make them make the case for that? Right. [0:37:27] Right. And to me, it's also appalling that, okay, 95% of Republicans agree this is a good thing. [0:37:34] 85% of the country as a whole says this is a good thing. [0:37:40] You know, maybe we're not wrong. Maybe we, the people, aren't wrong on this one. [0:37:44] Right. No, there's something there. So the SAVE Act is stalled in the Senate right now. [0:37:52] That's correct. That's correct. And Jim, I've seen text messages from Jim saying, oh, we're fighting for this. [0:37:59] But has he actually done anything to progress this? [0:38:02] You know, not that I'm aware of. Again, I have talked. [0:38:06] I've talked to Ryan at his office about this particular bill [0:38:10] and of the why they're not willing to take it to a filibuster, [0:38:17] to a talking filibuster. [0:38:20] They don't think they can get the extra Democratic votes, [0:38:25] Democratic Party votes, which, okay, fair enough. [0:38:29] But there is, I think, a win of getting it out in front of people going, [0:38:32] hey, we're willing to go to the mat for this. [0:38:34] we are willing to go to the mat for this because this matters to america right if if people and it [0:38:42] could be again one of my mentors is very clear on you know never attribute to to malice what you can [0:38:50] attribute to ignorance or stupidity right and you know let's face it maybe maybe there's a whole lot [0:38:55] of people that are ignorant of the fact that they're not supposed to be voting in federal [0:38:58] elections, right? But I have to think that most of the elected officials that are standing in the [0:39:05] way of this know that that's a fact. Why not do the right thing? Yeah. Why not do the right thing? [0:39:15] You would think. You would think. And, you know, there are signs. There are all kinds of signs [0:39:20] that what the people in Congress are doing right now is incredibly unpopular. One of them being, [0:39:27] I don't know if you've been following this, but CPAC this year has just been empty, empty. [0:39:34] The people are not there. I mean, this is one of the main halls for the presentations at CPAC, [0:39:39] and it looks like it's about 80 percent empty. Yeah. And it's because we, the people, have had [0:39:47] enough. You know, we sent what we thought was a political outsider to D.C., Donald Trump. [0:39:52] we were promised truth about the Epstein files we were promised no new foreign wars an end to [0:39:59] the forever wars we were promised uh that there would be I mean the the rallies at the RNC [0:40:07] people holding up signs that say mass deportations now and here we are you know over a year since [0:40:14] he's taken office and not only is none of that happening but the exact opposite of all of this [0:40:20] seems to be happening, talking about a pathway to citizenship for illegals, basically Amnesty 2.0. [0:40:26] We're spending trillions and trillions of dollars on these foreign wars. I think there was a request [0:40:32] a couple of weeks ago, especially in regards to the Middle Eastern war. Pete Hegseth asked [0:40:38] Congress for another $200 billion. Of course, as Americans are suffering, homeless, dying of [0:40:45] fentanyl overdoses on the streets. How would Denny LaVey vote, for example, on an appropriation [0:40:50] bill, $200 billion for the foreign war? Would you? I would say no. No. Because, you know, here's, [0:40:58] here's what I think, unfortunately, has been allowed to happen is that, you know, the, the, [0:41:01] the altar of tech has said, hey, we're going to be able to change how we do war and just spend [0:41:07] more money and get smarter bombs and smarter missiles. And, you know, if we've seen anything [0:41:12] from the conflict in Iran, right, because we haven't declared it a war yet, right, if we're [0:41:18] going to be the semantic people. But in that conflict, one of the things we've seen is the [0:41:22] Straits of Hormuz has been controlled by a swarm of fast gunboats until we deployed Old Tech, [0:41:29] right? Something that is not popular in the Pentagon, that the Pentagon has been trying to [0:41:33] relegate, you know, to the ready reserve fleet, for example. Like they recently deployed A-10 [0:41:41] warthogs over there, which they're trying to retire out of the Air Force. [0:41:47] But they have strategic advantages against a low-tech enemy, right? And again, not that Iran [0:41:53] is low-tech, but they're strategically using low-tech and low-cost to offset our technological [0:41:59] advantage. Because for every $50,000 gunboat we sink with a $5 million missile, that's a net loss [0:42:06] for America. Sure. Yeah. These drones, the drones that they're using, the Shaheed drones, [0:42:12] they cost something like 10, maybe $20,000 at the high end, but it costs $5 million for us to take [0:42:20] those down. The war is just so asymmetrical. The only way that we can win is if we continue to [0:42:28] mortgage the future of our children through debt. I wouldn't agree that that's the only way we can [0:42:34] win right i would say we have to re-evaluate how we're looking at these things right we have to [0:42:41] recognize that yes there there is this high-tech capital ship and large-scale warfare possibility [0:42:47] against potential enemies like china or potential foes like russia right if that were ever come to [0:42:53] pass but the much more likely threat is these you know smaller countries that are going to try to [0:42:59] use asymmetrical warfare against us and you know from the outside again and i admit i'm an outsider [0:43:06] but from the outside it looks like we're not approaching those threats from this perspective [0:43:14] of okay we can't we can't spend five million missiles five million dollar missiles to take [0:43:19] down a ten thousand dollar drone right like that's not i mean from a stockpile standpoint [0:43:24] the number of drones they can flood into an area outstrips the number of those expensive missiles [0:43:31] that we can put in the area. And so I think Congress needs to challenge the Pentagon [0:43:38] and the Department of War to really think about how are we offsetting the advantage that they're [0:43:44] getting from this asymmetrical warfare. And I don't think, if your answer is to always throw [0:43:50] more money at a problem, you're going to come up with a lot of expensive crappy solutions. [0:43:54] And that's in government, that's in business, that's at your house. [0:43:59] If your first answer is throw money at a problem, you can solve a problem, but you're going to get an expensive crappy solution. [0:44:08] And so I think it takes a little bit more leadership, or a lot more leadership, and it takes a lot more critical thinking of what's the problem we're really doing. [0:44:18] And it's not that this is new, right? [0:44:19] um iran's gunboat fleet is actually the result of an own of our own war games right um i think the [0:44:27] if i have it correctly i think i heard it was a war game that we ran internally [0:44:31] in 2002 and one of our own marine generals was in charge of the red forces and said hey [0:44:38] we're going to run an asymmetrical war with fast gunboats against the u.s navy [0:44:41] and like in the opening minutes of the war game sank 16 u.s ships wow and the u.s navy was like [0:44:48] time out let's reset this we got to do we got to we got to fix this and and to be fair they have [0:44:56] done a lot right some of the the tech that they've come up with to deal with these fleet you know the [0:45:01] drone warfare and the the fast gunboats is pretty impressive it's just the scale that iran is [0:45:07] deploying it at is is also impressive and so for us to take and dust off old tech and use old tech [0:45:13] has been real cost effective for us. [0:45:16] Like the A-10, I want to say the cost per gunboat sunk [0:45:20] is something in the neighborhood of $10,000. [0:45:23] So now that flips in our favor. [0:45:25] They're spending $50,000 to $100,000 on a gunboat [0:45:28] that we can sink for $10,000. [0:45:31] That's where we want to be. [0:45:33] We don't want to have to appropriate $200 billion [0:45:37] to buy more missiles to be spending $5 million [0:45:40] to sink a $50,000 gunboat. [0:45:43] Right. That's not that's not good economics. Right. Well, I mean, I think ideally I think ideally where we want to be is not at war. [0:45:51] Oh, absolutely. So what are your thoughts? [0:45:55] You know, there is something, you know, I know that this stuff is controversial and we'll get into it a little bit here. [0:46:00] But, you know, in one of the opening salvos of our new war on Iran, the United States deployed a Tomahawk missile in the city of Manab. [0:46:13] where they bombed and murdered 168 girls, little girls from the ages of 7 to 12 years old and 24 teachers. [0:46:23] And this was done with a Tomahawk missile. [0:46:26] It's been investigated, admitted. [0:46:29] Do you think that this is a just war? [0:46:32] Or do you think, you know, that we've been lied to? [0:46:35] This is a wag the dog scenario. [0:46:36] Do you remember how hard they pushed in 2003 to persuade the American people that there were weapons of mass destruction? [0:46:47] Yeah. [0:46:48] And the images, and they brought up satellite images, and they circled the things, and Colin Powell was, this is legit. [0:46:56] And the American people believed them. [0:46:58] Yeah. [0:46:59] And then we were at war for 20 years. [0:47:02] Right. [0:47:03] And at the end of the day, they didn't find any of the things they thought they were going to find or they told us we were going to find. [0:47:11] And so in this case, you know, the justification was given that, well, they're really close to having nuclear weapons. [0:47:18] They're really close to having nuclear weapons. [0:47:20] Two weeks away. [0:47:21] Two weeks away. [0:47:21] Whereas, you know, just a year ago, they said we've completely decimated their ability to enrich, you know, nuclear material and to have nuclear weapons. [0:47:28] And so I think most Americans are kind of scratching their head going, can we even believe anything they're saying? [0:47:36] Right. [0:47:37] Right. [0:47:37] You know, there's the old joke of how do you know a lawyer's lying? [0:47:39] His lips are moving. [0:47:41] Right. [0:47:43] You know, unfortunately, and this is really sad, but I think a lot of people are approaching that when it comes to government officials. [0:47:49] Yeah. [0:47:50] You know, how do you know if they're lying? [0:47:51] Oh, their lips are moving. [0:47:52] Right. [0:47:52] And I think it's important that we come back to a place where we're not lying to the people and we're not feeding them a line of crap. [0:48:05] Yeah. [0:48:06] Yeah. [0:48:07] I mean, I think democracy really, it can only work with a well-informed population. [0:48:12] And we've been seeing, and of course, you know, for those of us that are on the Internet, we're on X, TikTok. [0:48:18] You know, it's been coming out in waves, Operation Mockingbird, the use of propaganda, CIA propaganda against American citizens. [0:48:27] And, you know, we've been deliberately misled by our leaders for decades now. [0:48:33] I think that's a nice segue into really one of the things that I find most disturbing. [0:48:37] And that's the turning of the American surveillance complex on our own people. [0:48:44] Yes. Yes. [0:48:45] you know that's up for that's up for debate and renewal in the next month and [0:48:52] you know i'm pretty sure the people of idaho don't think the american government should spy [0:48:59] on americans right and if there is a reason to i think we would think well they at least should [0:49:06] get a warrant right they at least should have to prove probable cause to some judge somewhere who's [0:49:11] a legitimate judge who can be held accountable if he's handing out warrants like candy on Halloween [0:49:16] so that our government isn't abusing the people. And we've heard of them pulling records and spying [0:49:26] on senators, spying on the president multiple times in multiple campaigns, abusing the system, [0:49:34] you know the the intelligence system to put the steel dossier out [0:49:37] spying on members of the house when when [0:49:43] the spy agencies and spy departments and however you want to the intelligence community yeah [0:49:50] intelligence community um [0:49:53] when they're spying on the the highest levels of our government that would seem to be a real problem [0:50:04] and and you know i i get it like we're trying to intercept terrorists and things like that [0:50:09] that's the purpose of it allegedly allegedly uh but when that spills over into spying on on [0:50:15] americans and american leaders like that that is not something that we should be supporting [0:50:21] and renewing right let alone right now there's there's calls for it to be [0:50:25] put through with no warrants with no protections yeah and um you know this is not a new thing right [0:50:33] This was actually something that came up in the 70s when we were examining our surveillance capabilities and intelligence capabilities used overseas, internationally. [0:50:46] Yeah. [0:50:46] And it was said then, well, you know, if these powers, these capabilities are ever turned on our own citizens, that's a point of no return. [0:50:56] Yeah. [0:50:57] And, you know, we have a chance to turn that. [0:51:00] Yeah. [0:51:00] We do have a chance to turn that. [0:51:01] And unfortunately, I think Senator Risch is going to say, no, we don't need warrants. [0:51:05] Right. No. Go ahead. Spy on Americans. Yeah. Right. [0:51:08] Well, I mean, he voted for I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure he voted for the Patriot Act back in the day. [0:51:14] You know, he's clearly willing to do basically whatever it is that the security state or the deep state or, you know, the military industrial complex wants. [0:51:27] You know, like we showed earlier Lockheed Martin, a big donor to Jim Risch. [0:51:32] Now, you know, this also kind of leads to a different question. [0:51:37] A lot of these people that we're sending to Congress, you know, they go to Congress. [0:51:44] You know, maybe they've got a couple hundred thousand dollars. [0:51:47] But by the time that they're rounding out their first term in office, they're multimillionaires through insider trading, stock deals and all of this. [0:51:55] What is your opinion on ending stock trading for elected representatives? [0:52:02] Yeah, I don't think there's a place for it. I really don't. Right. Like public office should not be a means of self enrichment. [0:52:10] It's supposed to be a place of service. And we can debate. Are we are we paying our are we paying our legislators and our executives an appropriate amount? [0:52:19] okay fine we can have conversations about that [0:52:22] but to use the knowledge [0:52:24] that you're gaining through your office [0:52:26] for your own [0:52:28] personal enrichment [0:52:30] is wrong [0:52:31] and that shouldn't [0:52:34] be controversial [0:52:35] it should not be controversial [0:52:38] so I would definitely support bans [0:52:40] on stock trading [0:52:40] I'm not necessarily opposed [0:52:44] to saying hey look you need to put your assets [0:52:46] into a blind trust [0:52:47] yeah i mean i think i think anything at this point like we need to restore trust in our [0:52:55] institution right right i i would like to think that if i go to dc that that here's the wealth [0:53:02] i have now and when i come out it's substantially it's intact it's not massively huge it's not [0:53:09] it's not it's not gone diminished and gone you know but i would like to think that that would [0:53:16] help restore people's trust in what's going on. Right. You know, and I think another component [0:53:22] of that in restoring the trust is, you know, I think we need to take a really hard look at the [0:53:28] Citizens United decision. Yeah. Right. And on how we're funding elections. [0:53:34] Yeah. I don't personally think that corporations are people and I don't think that money equals [0:53:40] free speech, you know, and this is this is the key thing that Citizens United kind of overturned. [0:53:45] Yeah. Well, if they're persons, I mean, can we hold them accountable for murder? [0:53:48] Right. Like, I don't know. Can I hang one off of a gallows or put one in front of a firing squad if it murders people? [0:53:54] You know, and clearly the answer is no. Right. [0:53:56] You can't you can't take, you know, a Pfizer and say, well, you know, you killed X number of people with your covid vaccine. [0:54:04] And so we're going to put you on trial for murder like that, that we know that that's not true. [0:54:08] And so that's the logic behind Citizens United, as I understand it, is that they're a corporation as a person. [0:54:15] and therefore it has free speech rights. [0:54:17] Right. [0:54:18] Well, you know, I mean, [0:54:19] rights and responsibilities are interrelated and interconnected. [0:54:22] And if you have rights, you have responsibilities too. [0:54:25] And that means being responsible for your actions. [0:54:27] Right. [0:54:28] All your actions. [0:54:28] Right. [0:54:29] And you can't say, well, these actions are done by the corporation, [0:54:33] but these actions are done by the people, right? [0:54:35] Because the executives of companies, [0:54:39] they are held liable when the company does something criminally wrong. [0:54:43] Right. [0:54:43] and which is as it should be but why does the company get special rights to dump money into [0:54:48] political campaigns sure right i mean i look at another primary challenge that's going on right [0:54:53] now um like in texas right john cornyn i believe and ken paxton yeah um john cornyn's campaign spent [0:55:01] 70 million dollars in the primary alone and it's not done because down there they have they have [0:55:09] a runoff system. If one of the candidates doesn't get 50% plus one of the vote in the primary, [0:55:15] then the top two candidates go to a runoff. Well, by the time it's all said and done, [0:55:21] they'll probably have spent $100 million on that primary campaign. [0:55:29] Unbelievable. [0:55:30] It's unbelievable. From a person looking at the job, I'm going, this is $175,000 a year job, [0:55:38] which is good money. [0:55:42] For almost everybody in the country, that's good money. [0:55:45] But who spends $100 million to go get a $175,000 job? [0:55:54] So there's a lot more at play. [0:55:57] And you have to ask yourself, who's putting all that money in? [0:56:02] I was even going to say, [0:56:04] You know, it wouldn't even be as bad if if the the CEOs of these corporations were being held accountable. [0:56:11] But like, you know, I'm somebody that was deeply affected by the opiate crisis. [0:56:15] You know, people that have been following me for a long time, they know that, you know, I got overprescribed a bunch of drugs from, you know, Purdue Pharmaceuticals owned by the Sackler family. [0:56:26] I lost dozens of friends that I went to high school with that died of drug overdoses. [0:56:31] and we now know that the Sackler family was involved in paying off various studies, journals, [0:56:39] medical professionals to say that OxyContin was not addictive. It was like a miracle drug. [0:56:45] And, you know, here it is when all is said and done, they eventually got taken to court [0:56:49] and they basically had to pay like a small fine and that's it. There was no accountability. [0:56:54] Nobody went to jail over this. And there are hundreds and hundreds, if not millions of dead Americans that died because of the abuse that these corporations that that particular Purdue Pharmaceuticals did. [0:57:10] And there has been no accountability. And I think that is leading to record trust issues. You know, more people now distrust the government than not. And, you know, Jim is not exactly helping, not exactly helping in this regard. [0:57:28] No. And, you know, it's just not going to get better. Right. Right. I mean, it's not going to get better unless people step up and do something. [0:57:37] Well, that's right. It's not it's not going to get better because of him being there. [0:57:41] Sure. Right. Right. Well, what is it? What's the definition of insanity? Right. It's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [0:57:48] And so we've sent Jim Risch to Congress for, you know, how many decades now? [0:57:53] He's been there for three terms. So he's been there 18 years. And the debt has exploded. [0:57:57] The debts exploded. And, you know, we we did a poll a little over a month ago. And one of the things we asked people was, in your own words, you know, what has Senator Risch done as a senator? [0:58:09] Of the positive responses, and there were some, right? Most of the positive responses actually refer back to things he did as governor before he went to D.C. [0:58:19] Right. And it was one specific thing. It was a reduction in property tax. Right. Which, OK, that's fair. [0:58:27] But if that was when you were governor, what have you done? [0:58:31] What else have you done here? [0:58:32] Right. [0:58:32] What have you done here? [0:58:34] You know, again, it's I think it's telling people here in Idaho should should really, you know, read between the lines. [0:58:40] Right. You go to Lincoln Day. [0:58:42] Those Lincoln Day dinners are very popular here in Idaho this time of year. [0:58:45] And, you know, when you listen to, say, Raul Labrador speak. [0:58:49] when you hear you listen to Raul Labrador and you know he gives a pretty salient account of [0:59:01] the cases he's been fighting and the victories he's been having and how he's really standing up [0:59:05] for things that we believe in all the way to the Supreme Court and you go wow that guy's doing [0:59:09] stuff that's great and you know you get Russ Fulcher jumps up there and he's talking about [0:59:14] the different ways that he's impacted the legislative process and how he listened to a [0:59:18] gal in Bonners Ferry and took the idea that she had and made sure it got inside the big beautiful [0:59:22] bill. Right. And, and you go, okay, he's doing something. Right. You know, and then you hear [0:59:27] Jim Risch jump up and well, jump is probably an exaggeration. I don't know if he can jump. He's [0:59:33] a little, you know, but, uh, you know, Jim Risch gets up there and he's, well, you know, Donald [0:59:38] Trump did this and you should vote for me. Donald Trump's blowing up boats in the Caribbean. You [0:59:43] should vote for me. And it's like, but what did you do? Right. What did you do? And, you know, [0:59:49] speaking of Lincoln days, I remember there was the Lincoln day up here just under a month ago. [0:59:56] It was like the day after this current war in Iran began. And I watched Jim Risch get up on stage [1:00:05] and basically promise that this is in the best interest of America. Nobody's going to die, [1:00:11] that we're going to get in, we're going to get out, look at what we did in Venezuela. [1:00:15] And now here we are one month on, 15 dead Americans and talks of boots on the ground. [1:00:20] 5,000, you know, some sort of incursion into Carg Island or something else. [1:00:27] And of course, he doesn't have kids in the military. [1:00:30] Two Marine Expeditionary Units and the 82nd Airborne are over there. [1:00:34] Yep, yep. [1:00:35] And again, all this stuff is so real for me, right? [1:00:38] Because I have six sons. [1:00:40] Yeah. [1:00:40] My sons are from 14 to 22 years old. They are living through all of the struggles that every [1:00:47] Idaho family that has kids and grandkids today is going through. Yeah. They're looking at housing [1:00:52] and going, boy, I don't know how we're going to get a house. I don't know how we're going to start [1:00:56] a family. I don't know how we're going to afford, you know, the things that are normal for people [1:01:01] here in Idaho. Yeah. I have one of my sons in the guard, you know, the instability that's in our [1:01:07] country right now is crazy and congress has allowed it to happen um to the point where you know he [1:01:16] along with a bunch of other idaho guardsmen are patrolling the streets of washington dc wow like [1:01:22] i never thought i would live in a world where our national guard would be patrolling the streets of [1:01:28] our capital yeah to keep the peace because it was so full of crime and craziness yeah right [1:01:37] And you're right. Yeah. Jim's kids are growing up. I really, truly don't believe he's in touch with what everyday Idahoans are going through and what everyday Americans are going through. [1:01:48] Right. [1:01:49] And we have an opportunity for change. [1:01:51] Yeah. Now, of course, you know, for those of us that have been out here and we've been kind of criticizing these decisions, whether it was the war in Ukraine or now the war in Iran, very frequently, of course, this is like a massive understatement. [1:02:11] But the very first thing that happens when you start to ask questions about whether or not we need to be sending troops abroad or money abroad, you know, trillions and trillions of dollars to our foreign allies. [1:02:24] As soon as you start asking questions about these things, it's very predictable. [1:02:29] But you get called an anti-Semite. [1:02:31] You get called a Jew hater. [1:02:34] Now, I'm curious, what is your position on this? [1:02:38] Are you an anti-Semite? [1:02:39] I mean, there are people out there and it's going to happen. [1:02:43] We're kind of counting on it a little bit, but that are going to attack you merely for even having a conversation with me. [1:02:50] And of course, by the way, I did. I reached out to Jim Risch to try to do a similar thing, you know, to have a conversation about these issues. [1:02:57] I highly doubt that Mr. Risch is going to get back to me and have a conversation. [1:03:04] But you're going to get called an anti-Semite for being and breathing the same air as me. [1:03:09] Of course, I don't believe, like I don't hate the Jews. [1:03:14] But what's your position on this? [1:03:15] Can you explain? [1:03:18] My position comes primarily from my faith, right? [1:03:21] Which says that I have to love my neighbor as I love myself. [1:03:25] But that's the second commandment. [1:03:28] The first is I have to love God. [1:03:30] And that informs how I love myself. [1:03:33] I have to love myself the way that God loves me. [1:03:36] right he wants me to be virtuous he wants me to love him okay i have to do that so that's what i [1:03:44] want for every human being on the planet yeah i want each and every like the experience of the [1:03:51] embrace of the divine it will radically change your life and i would deeply wish that on on [1:03:58] everyone i really would um you know it's it's for some some are blessed to have it be a permanent [1:04:04] state. That's not me. But the times where I have been in that deep communion with God, [1:04:10] it's truly, truly altered my life. So when I look at this question of, you know, are you an [1:04:19] anti-Semite? Absolutely not. I love them. I love them. I want them to know God deeply, intimately. [1:04:28] I want them to know his son, Jesus Christ. I want them to have the Holy Ghost breathing into their [1:04:34] life and inspiring them to greatness. You know, one of, uh, one of my favorite spiritual books [1:04:40] is the courage to be afraid. And it talks about how, how God wants to take us each on this amazing, [1:04:45] incredible journey and adventure. And when we're young, we're willing to participate. [1:04:53] And as we get older, we, we get scared and we go, no, no, I'm going to go the safe route. [1:05:01] I'm going to play it safe. [1:05:02] I've got to manage the risk. [1:05:04] And we step away from God, and we lead these small lives that leave a hole inside of us [1:05:13] because we're not really living up to our potential. [1:05:17] We're not following the path that God set for us. [1:05:22] And this book talks about having the courage to be afraid, right? [1:05:25] Yes, you're going to be afraid when you follow God, [1:05:27] when you walk in the steps, in the path that he lays out in front of you. [1:05:33] But have courage because he's there with you the whole time. [1:05:35] So I would want that for every person, for every Jew, for every Muslim, [1:05:41] for every Protestant, every Catholic. [1:05:44] I really would want that for them. [1:05:48] So to say, oh, are you an anti-Semite because of some geopolitical conflict [1:05:53] that you don't think we should be involved in, [1:05:55] I think that's a tragedy [1:05:58] that someone would default to that position [1:06:00] because I don't want us to be in these conflicts [1:06:07] because I don't want schools and hospitals [1:06:11] to get blown up inadvertently [1:06:12] I don't want our young men and women [1:06:15] getting killed for no good reason [1:06:17] I don't want to see our military hospitals [1:06:21] filled up with people that are maimed [1:06:23] that we're putting prosthetic limbs on when we didn't have to be in that war in the first place. [1:06:30] Yeah. [1:06:31] And not to cut you off, but I mean, there's also this element of, and nobody thinks about this, [1:06:37] and I don't think that the world has gone mad at this point, but it's just these actions that are being taken, [1:06:46] whether in Gaza or in Iran or in Somalia, the conflicts that we are backing and funding [1:06:53] are creating more terrorists. Yeah, I do believe that. And if this is an issue of blowback or [1:07:02] backlash, let's say, you know, coming against this country, we are not doing things to set [1:07:07] ourselves up for success. We're doing things that are setting up a permanent surveillance state, [1:07:13] a permanent security state. And, you know, this is stuff. I don't know if you've been following [1:07:17] this, but, you know, Tucker Carlson just put out a new documentary, The Bibi Files, [1:07:23] talking about and showing how Bibi Netanyahu actually funded Hamas. He sent them billions [1:07:30] of dollars. And this is being done to create an enemy, to create an excuse to militarize [1:07:39] and to give money to these industrial complex, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and whatnot. [1:07:47] To bring it closer to home, right? [1:07:49] Senator Risch and his foreign relations committee is sitting on a bill right now [1:07:52] that would end American funds going to the Taliban. [1:07:56] I was shocked when I heard this, that we're still sending money to the Taliban. [1:08:01] Right. [1:08:02] Why? [1:08:03] Why? [1:08:05] We fought them for 20 years. [1:08:07] We decided to hand the country back over to them. [1:08:09] Wrong or indifferent. [1:08:10] It's what happened. [1:08:12] Why are we still sending money over there? [1:08:15] And somebody tried to tell me, oh, it was because we're trying to buy their goodwill. [1:08:20] I'm sorry, but I don't think we're buying their goodwill. [1:08:25] No. [1:08:26] I think they're looking at the money and going, what a bunch of idiots. [1:08:30] Yeah. [1:08:30] What a bunch of dupes. [1:08:32] I think so. [1:08:33] And the reality is that when Senator Risch could say, hey, it's my privilege as chair to send this to the floor, and he doesn't, what is that saying? [1:08:42] What is that saying to every service member that's served over the last 25 years and is dealing with the issues of having served our country and fought in combat and been in horrible places, seen horrible things, disgusting things, been treated like crap back here? [1:08:58] The suicide epidemic among service members is out of control as well. [1:09:02] It's terrible. [1:09:03] and to see us sitting on a bill that would stop us sending money to the Taliban I just don't [1:09:10] again it's unconscionable to me yeah right like we we should not be funding our enemies right we [1:09:17] should not be funding our enemies right and and when we have people killing themselves here at [1:09:23] home when we have tons of homeless people we have vets vets sleeping on the street we have [1:09:28] vets that are dealing with issues from their tours of combat that aren't getting the treatment that [1:09:33] they need. What are we doing? Why are we sending money over to these people that cause these [1:09:41] issues and not taking care of our own? It seems obvious. It seems obvious. And it seems like the [1:09:51] right thing to do. Shouldn't be too difficult, but here we are. Now, I guess in closing, [1:09:58] if you could tell us a little bit more about who you are. What faith are you, and how did you [1:10:06] get to where you are, I guess, in life? You're a very successful businessman, from what I understand. [1:10:12] So if you could give people a little bit of a thumbnail sketch of your background. [1:10:15] Yeah. So I was originally born in Montana, spent a few years there, then got drug all over the [1:10:20] country chasing construction and kind of a crazy, crazy, unfortunately, all too typical American [1:10:27] childhood, you know, of broken family and challenges around that. Um, tried all sorts [1:10:33] of stuff coming out of high school and, you know, went to college for a little bit that, [1:10:36] that didn't seem to fit. I, um, ended up joining a monastery in France for two years, which that [1:10:42] was incredibly transformative, right? You, you start to, when you spend time over there, uh, [1:10:47] it's, you're, especially in a monastery that's a thousand years old, you start to have a different [1:10:52] time perspective and you start to, to see the, see the world's a lot bigger place. Right. And [1:11:00] again, you know, that, that daily encounter with God really changed my life. Um, and I thought I [1:11:04] was going to stay there. I was ready to take my vows. Uh, and they said, I actually, no, we think [1:11:08] you should go home and have a family. I'm like, okay. Yeah. You know, whatever you want, God. [1:11:13] Yeah. So again, you know, I, I came to the Catholic faith as a, as a teenager and embraced it. And, you know, we lived kind of a mission lifestyle in Utah, saw some of the Eastern Rite churches, the Maronite Rite Church. So I got a lot of exposure to the different aspects of the Catholic church. And then, you know, you spend that time in the monastery. [1:11:35] Then I came here to Idaho and settled here 26 years ago. [1:11:40] Found my wife. [1:11:41] We got married. [1:11:41] Had six kids. [1:11:44] You know, just a great family, great place to raise kids. [1:11:47] And, you know, it's home. [1:11:49] And as you said, we started a business. [1:11:51] The business has been quite successful. [1:11:52] We work in, I think, all the western states except New Mexico. [1:11:57] And if the right job came along, we'd probably go there too. [1:12:01] That's awesome. [1:12:02] That's awesome. [1:12:03] Well, yeah, I mean, it's great to actually see somebody stepping up to the plate, putting it on the line, putting your money where your mouth is. [1:12:12] You know, there's just this increasing disillusion among the American people. [1:12:16] People are not they're not showing up to CPAC. [1:12:19] They're not going to show up to vote. [1:12:20] There's going to be, you know, I think a lot of apathy. [1:12:24] and it is refreshing to know that there's somebody here in Idaho that is running to challenge the [1:12:30] status quo to actually put America and Idaho first, to put the people first. [1:12:36] I want to share one more thing with you. At the beginning of this year, I did a book tour [1:12:41] and I went to all 44 counties in the state. And again, it's a big state, so it's a lot of miles, [1:12:46] a lot of time. But I specifically went to go share my book with county elected officials and county [1:12:51] staff and people in the county seats. And I, and I wanted to find out what's on their mind. [1:12:56] What's keeping them up at night? Yeah. What's, what are they hopeful about or what do they want [1:13:01] to see fixed? Right. And overwhelmingly the vast majority of people that I talked to on that book [1:13:08] tour said, we're so tired of the garbage in Washington. We're so tired of the toxic rhetoric [1:13:14] and we're so tired of things not getting done. [1:13:18] And we just want Washington to work. [1:13:21] And I think we have a chance to do that. [1:13:26] You know, what I'm seeing around the state, [1:13:28] the people I'm talking to, whether it's on central committees, [1:13:30] whether it's county courthouses, whether it's sheriffs, [1:13:35] you know, the people we're talking to are actually really excited [1:13:38] to learn that they have an option this year [1:13:40] and that it's a good option. [1:13:42] Yeah. And so I really think, you know, Idaho is a special place and we do have the option to go roar in D.C. and make change. [1:13:52] Yeah. Yeah, I really think so. I mean, and it's it's been amazing to watch. [1:13:57] You know, Idaho has been on the cutting edge of a lot of these cultural issues, the the transgender bathroom issue. [1:14:02] I think we just put up a bill that would actually criminalize men going into women's restrooms and stuff like that. [1:14:07] So we've been on the forefront of that, but been paying lip service to everything else. [1:14:12] And so it would be nice to have somebody in Washington, D.C. that actually represents the party platform, that doesn't want the world, that doesn't want the United States military to be the world's policeman, that does want to see an end to the deficit spending, that does want to see maybe a return to sound money and just sanity because the world has gone mad. [1:14:32] And I think when we have we have a tradition, Idaho has a tradition of being real leaders in D.C. [1:14:38] Yeah. Not just lip service and not just rubber stamps, not just sitting on bills and closets and in the drawer. [1:14:45] We have a tradition of senators leading real change. [1:14:49] And making a difference for our country. And we can have that again. [1:14:53] Yeah. People just have to get out on May 19th and vote. [1:14:56] Amen. And they need to help your campaign. And one of the ways that you can do that, [1:15:00] one of the ways that you can help Denny is by following his social media. He's over on X [1:15:06] at Lion of Idaho. Please follow Denny over there. We need to get some more people following him [1:15:15] there. Your website, dennyforsenate.com. You can donate there. I'm sure you can register to vote. [1:15:22] You can also get involved with the campaign, volunteering. [1:15:28] So please check out Denny for Senate dot com. [1:15:31] And of course, if you want to read his book, Blue Collar Blessed, it's on sale right now on Amazon Prime. [1:15:38] We're, of course, going to have all of the links to all of those in the show notes below. [1:15:42] So thank you so much for for taking the time to talk. [1:15:46] If you're willing to talk with me, then I think that you're going to be willing to talk with everybody in Idaho and to vote and legislate on our behalf. [1:15:52] You know, I think you bring up, that's a critical point, is that if we can't talk to each other, even with the people we don't agree with, we're never going to solve the problems facing us today. [1:16:03] And so, you know, coming on shows like this is important. [1:16:07] Yeah, I think so. [1:16:09] Jim, where are you at? [1:16:11] Where are you at, Jim? [1:16:12] You going to come? [1:16:13] You going to come be accountable to the people? [1:16:15] Probably not. [1:16:15] But anyway, thank you so much for joining us today. [1:16:18] God bless. [1:16:19] Good luck on your campaign. [1:16:20] and thank you again. [1:16:23] Thank you. [1:16:23] All right. [1:16:24] All right. [1:16:50] Thank you. [1:17:20] The End [1:17:50] Thank you. [1:18:20] We'll see you next time. [1:18:50] Thank you.