FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Alabama Republican Party's ALGOP Chairman John Wahl - Jeff Poor Show - Tuesday 7-23-24
(upbeat music) ♪ Living on the road my friend ♪ ♪ Was gonna keep you free ♪ - You go back to the Jeff Porsche Showed. If I'm talking about 065, they just stick it around on this Tuesday morning. 2513430106, the time permitting will get to your text if there are any remaining. Join us now. He is the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. John Wall is on the line with us. Chairman, good morning. How you been? - You know, I am doing well, good to be on the show. - Hey, tell me, have you recovered? It was a big week last week. - You know, I am partially recovered. I literally still have some things to unpack because as soon as a guy's home, got flooded with a whole new round of both work and political things. So getting the job done, we'll talk about a historic, historic and whirlwind a few weeks within the political process, both here in Alabama and especially nationally. - I mean, I watched on television, but I detected, I mean, Alabama has done, I guess the last couple of conventions, I would say, but it seems like a little bit bigger presence, a noticeable presence at this convention. Is that fair? - I think it's definitely fair. You know, a couple of things playing a role there. One, the percentage of the total delegations of Alabama has increased with us growing more and more red, other states growing less red. We're in the top one third of the largest delegations in the entire country. And that gives you just a bigger footprint. But also, I think we definitely seen a shift here in Alabama, where Alabama is being more recognized for our political efforts. And just the party in general, the things we see happening, whether it's for presidential debate being held here in Alabama. First time in Alabama history, you know, the presidential candidate to visit the United States. I think this has been years of work, but we're seeing Alabama getting more and more credit. And I think that is appropriate. I'm obviously biased. I think Alabama is the best people in the country, and it's about time we started getting recognized more. - Yeah, I just, like you said, I think it's the, in some ways, maybe not completely, but you look around the country and the sort of the, it's kind of the pulse of the Republican party, maybe a little bit, is set forth here. Let me ask you this, some presidential races back underway. And I've seen some of our very mediocre liberal commentators talk about this. They think that with Kamala Harris, assuming the role as the Democratic presidential nominee, really bolster Shamari figures, chances, and AL2, I am, I don't know the death's the case. I don't know that it impacts it a whole lot. I still think you're gonna see AL2. And this is where it matters. I think you see AL2 still kind of go probably for Trump. Just, I don't know that this really does much to get out the vote. - Yeah, you know, I've been putting it this way. The people of America and the people of Alabama, and we'll add CD2 in here. The people of CD2 are not stupid. And I think this is what the Democratic elites, you know, these establishment Democrats across the country do not understand about the situation. People, Joe Biden was not losing popularity with the people because of his age or because of his debate performance. He was losing popularity with the people because of the values he put forth, because of the failed policies that are dragging America down and making life harder for Americans to live. And whether that's the economy, the open borders, the whole policy, the woke agenda in our classrooms. And I think with that in mind, Kamala Harris as his vice president was expressly involved at every single one of these bad policies that have led the American public down. And so I'm not sure that the American public is gonna react any better to Kamala Harris than they were to Joe Biden. Like this is about values, it's about issues, it's about the American people and how, what we can do, what they stand for, what we can do to help them have a better life. And I think Kamala Harris is directly involved with these policies and I don't expect her to pull that much better than Joe Biden did. - Sarah, well, I don't understand, and this is more of a national question, like she's always underwhelmed. She's just kind of me entered about and wound up where she is. I'm sure she's not a completely novice by any stretch of imagination, but she's like, she underwhelmed in the national spotlight as the front runner in Democratic Party for five minutes. And she certainly, and think about the presidential politics inside the West Wing, inside the executive branch. You have a weak president, Joe Biden. I think that's like a pretty much well-known at this point. Now, she never like moved into fill in that vacuum. She never like, and I'm not saying that she should have assumed and played president or anything, but there was a lot, she left a lot on the table there to set herself up for a future political run. She didn't really take a leadership role on any of the Biden policies. I don't, I think the media are kind of trying to force them. Kamala Harris, honeymoon, upon us right now, but I think the Democrats, especially are gonna be very, very let down. - No, I agree 100%. I'm like, look, look at Kamala Harris over the last few years, you were correct. She had what an opportunity for her to stand by the president, but he's a strong leader within that administration. And the bottom line to Kamala Harris is not a strong leader, period. She wasn't in California. She wasn't from the presidential campaign trail. She wasn't in the White House. And she's not going to be at the Democrat nominee. So, I'm sitting here and I'm looking at this. I'm like, what are the Democrats thinking? But let's get the heck a few steps and then look at this from a critical angle. Who do the Democrats have? We are actually seeing why, what happens when you choose your leaders based on a DEI process instead of who actually has risen to the top as a true leader? Look at the Republican base. You got a stacked base behind Donald Trump. You got Ron, that's Dennis, you got Glenn Young. And you got all these guys across the country who are strong leaders, recognizable, who take a take on the job in a heartbeat. But on the Democrat side, most of their people be rooted age, small hair. These are people who were chosen because of their demographic, not because of their actual skill set. And I think we're seeing play out why DEI fails in real life. We're literally seeing a play out in the presidential race. And this is nothing negative toward these people. It's just the fact that we should not look at people based on their demographic. We should not look at them based on the color of their skin. We should not look at them based on their sexual identity. We should look at every individual as an individual. And they should be promoted or demoted based on their skill set. And I think that is what we are watching play out right now. And we're watching why this is a failed system and why we should respect people. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, we should look at people, and I'm paraphrating this. I've had an intro recently for not getting clues exactly right or for the right people. But I'm going to paraphrase this. We should look at people based on their character and their content of their hearts and not their outward appearance. And I think this is the lesson from this election cycle. Let's get back to do that idea. The Dr. Martin Luther King idea and our county father's idea that we should look at people as individuals and not in groups or people because of some other demographic. - Yeah, I mean, I would say that this, we've abandoned meritocracy for these like virtue signaling exercises that are not going to produce any kind of like, I mean, maybe they produce results, but not the tangible results that a lot of us would prefer. Speaking about this and kind of look at this tactically as a political tactician, I was kind of wondering about this chairman, I still think the Democratic Party, while all of this has been going on is still incredibly divided. They're divided on different things in foreign policy and whatnot. - Now, Kamala Harris has got to invent herself to fit whatever narrative that will get her the most votes. I think it's too late in the game to do that, but also I don't think that she is going to be much of a unifier to kind of galvanize to shore up her base enough to win some of these swingstaces she needs to win. - Oh, look, absolutely. And it's like I said, a good fact of policy, right? That the American people have seen the consequences of the Democrat Party's radical agenda. And it really is radical. This is out of touch with not just Republican voters, the Democrat Party has become out of touch with Democrats. Some of the transgender athlete stuff, bathroom, no one wants a drag queen going to the bathroom with their little girls. Maybe moving on, maybe it's the economy. The polling chose the vast majority of Americans to recognize the fact that fiscal conservative policies and the Republican Party would be the best party to solve the political crisis, economic crisis, where? Or in policy, securing the border, like the things that actually affect the people's everyday lives, the Democrat Party have completely left them down. And the American people know it. Like the media can talk all they want. They can try to say that Biden inherited this from the past, that's what Biden tried to do in the debate and tried to take it back four years ago. The problem is every single one of these issues has gotten worse over the last four years. And the American people know it. And they're ready to hold the Democrat Party accountable for it. - Yeah, and the polling sort of shows this, these people, especially on the left and the media, I just, do they really want to win? Does this really move the needle to tell us how great she is? Is she was so great? Why wasn't she the nominee in the first place? - Well, look, when the mainstream media has to tell you that someone is great and you don't already know it, you know there's a problem. Look, the Democrats could win this rate and I'll tell you how they could win it. They could actually move back from their horrendously disastrous horrible policies. And they could nominate Robert Kennedy Jr. And that would make it very, very hard for us Republicans, but they'll never do it because they are so committed to their radical woke agenda that they would never put some, you know, more moderate, more common sense voice as their nominee. And I think that's what we have here. Democrats are true believers in this new socialist agenda they have. They're so committed, they're so sure that this is the better thing for America, that they know how to live our lives better than we do. And they're so committed to that concept that they would rather lose than actually put a candidate in a different way. - Yeah, and then the other thing they got, and I know this point's been made a million times, but it's like just bugs me to be, guys like you and I lectured about democracy for the last five years and democracy this, democracy that, and we had a whole discussion and I think Cal Whitbar, who's slowly losing this fast ball here, made a big deal about it. - They made it all the way to MSNBC. I already want to MSNBC attacking me for not understanding that, you know, for saying that we're a constitutional republic. Well, I consider that a badge of honor. We are a constitutional republic. - But they don't like it when you challenge them on the democracy narrative, but that being said, well, they say the hell with democracy with their primary process, and they have decided to anoint a nominee with Harris. I mean, how, they're gonna have to explain this, right? Look, we were all about democracy this, democracy that, and 14 million people go to the polls. They vote for Joe Biden to be their standard bear, to be their guy on the ballot, and only to because he's not pulling will and a few Democrats, down ballot Democrats, are worried about their own incumbency, decide that he needs to buy an ass to go, and they're successful with it. - Look, that's exactly right. We are not talking about a party that actually believes in democracy. We're talking about a party that believes in a leader, and that the elite know better how to live our lives than we do, and they know better what candidates should run their party than their voters do. - Oh, look, this idea that they actually believe in democracy, this is a good example, but this is not the only example. Look back just a few months ago, when they were the ones leading the charge trying to keep Donald Trump off the ballot in Maine, in Brooklyn, Colorado, in so many states, they didn't want democracy for the American people to close it aside. They wanted to step in and force their elitist mentality on the public, and not even give them the option to vote for the leading candidate on the conservative side. So yeah, their argument that they actually believe in the will of the people, and they actually believe in democracy is a complete fraud. They are one ever since sold out to their agenda, and whatever it takes to keep themselves in power. And that's the bottom line. It's not about the will of the people, it's about their will, and the fact that they think they know how to run this country better than anyone else. One more jab at the Kyle Whitmire media establishment here. I just think it bounces off of you. Whitmire said that he's comparing JD Vance to Doug Jones, and I believe his words were that Doug Jones is actually what JD Vance pretends to be. I don't know how familiar you are with, either one of those and they're up-bringing, but that is like one of the silliest comparisons I've ever heard him other. And he's said some really dumb things in his illustrative career. - No, I look, I think that's absolutely ridiculous, right? And number one, because of what we've been talking about. What's more important than the way someone was brought up or their background or their values in the principles they stand for? - And you have to admire, JD Vance took his or his situation. And he came out of it saying, look, how do we, what's the best way to move forward for people in the situation I was in? It's the American Greek, it's liberty, it's freedom, it's the pre-market, and the ability for people to actually go out and beat and climb up out of poverty or out of struggles. And government was created to help them have the tools they need, have a free society, have the opportunities to be successful. That Jones is the complete opposite. He wants government to be the nanny state, to keep people under the control of the government. And sure, look, we talked about, we want to help people in need, but we have to be honest, our current welfare system, most of the time, it doesn't help people in need, it keeps people in poverty. And I think we have to understand that the message and the opportunity to those who are struggling is not more government, it's a less government, and the ability for less government to help them be successful and grow to the point where they don't need to be government. And that's our goal, and I think this is something that people completely lose sight of on a daily basis. - Jerry, we got to leave it there, folks. We want to find out more about the Republican Party, how can they do so? - Well, we always like to get involved with folks, so we're on social media at Alabama Republican Party, and then, of course, our website is AODOP.org, and they can sign up for newsletters or to sign up to volunteer to help as we get ready to take back America. - Chairman, appreciate your time, we'll talk to you again next week. - Good to be on the show. - All right, Alabama Republican Party, Chairman John Wall will be right back. This is our fifth talk, 106.5. Have a good one.