Showdown
Showdown Episode 14 3-7-24
- Welcome to Showdown. I'm Mark Casein and Stephanie Harmon alongside. How are you, Steph? - I'm good, Mark. How are you? - I am great and it's always great to have people back from assignment. - Right. - You know, yeah. Stephanie was on assignment yesterday. And of course this today is March 7th and that's 2024. And of course it is the 59 year anniversary of the March across the Edmond Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama. We talked about that earlier in the week and we are here. So this is the day. And of course it is a major thing to commemorate since it did lead to the voting rights act of 1965, which has since been gutted back in 2011, amazingly enough, that's 13 years ago. By the Supreme Court. And it wasn't even the Donald Supreme Court that did it. It was just Supreme Court justices that are, I don't know, on another planet somewhere. I guess that was the sort of the introduction to where we were headed and here we are. And we can only guess where that will end up and we hope it's not where some people think. And I truly think that we're safe and I really think that you know, are you a back to the future person? Do you like that movie? - I like that movie. I'm just hoping that we can get there like you said. - Yeah, because you know that the key to the movie was finding that little book that had the scores in it from the last 50 years, which Michael J. Fox inadvertently handed over to Biff and changed the entire landscape and they ended up in this alternate universe. Well, here we are in the alternate universe. So we've got to get out of it. So somebody needs to find that book, put it in the trash can and burn it. And then we'll be, then we'll be okay. Okay, so hey, here's one and you know, we're gonna have Bill Monroe here who is pretty famous in town for starting a charter school back, must be 20 some years ago now. And it was the Harriet Tubman charter school. And anyway, it ended up in a horrible mess not because of Bill Monroe. And then came many steps that followed involving the St. Louis public schools. And that's partly what Bill Monroe will be talking about when he comes on the air. But did you hear, did you read in the post-Dispatch today that teachers in the St. Louis public schools got the biggest increase in pay in just some enormous period of time? Did you catch that? - I saw that briefly, yes. - Yeah, and I think the increase was maybe 20%. But over three years. And I think the first year is 7%. I believe that's the number. But I have to tell you this, Stephanie, and you know, I was at the St. Louis public schools for 17 years. And I loved it. Absolutely loved it. It's a different thing than Cardinal Ritter for sure. You know, giganticly different. But it was great, look, I love the kids. And it was exceptional. However, if they offered me 20% in one year to go to the St. Louis public schools right now, I mean, they could have their 20%. And I'll tell you this, they couldn't even get- - I know you was gonna say that. - They couldn't even give me 100% for me to go there. Now, if people were acting right, well, then we got a different story. But no, I don't need to go around a bunch of crazy people acting crazy, all with each other. And again, Monroe is gonna talk a little bit about this because there's some things going on there that I'm not even up to date with. But Monroe is, and you know, Monroe is very good at being thrown out of board of education meetings at St. Louis public schools. They love to get rid of him because he causes trouble. He tells things that they don't want told. So that's all right. Anyway, Bill Monroe will be here. He's a former St. Louis police person. And by the way, I mean, given your family's background, what do you call a police officer? - What do you mean with that cop? - Well, I mean, do you call him a cop? - A cop, a policeman, you know, whatever. - Well, the reason I ask is 'cause I always-- - You're an officer of the law, I mean, you can call him. - I always thought that saying that somebody was a cop was a bad thing to say. Am I wrong? - I mean, they answer to it, no. No, I think they even say it themselves. - Yeah. - Yeah, not at all concerned. I think that it's considered today to be okay. Maybe at one time it wasn't. I'll ask Monroe, only because I wanna know. Maybe no one else cares. I'm just sort of interested. - Yeah, I mean, it started with a peace officer. - Yeah. - And then it changed over to police officer and, you know, on and on and on. - Yeah, something like that. Hey, you know, I talked about a lot of things yesterday having to do with the primary and the fact that Hailey has finally gotten out of the race. - I know, that just disturbed me. - Well, yeah, it's terrible. It really is. - I wasn't expecting it. - No, I thought she would. I thought she'd get out even earlier, but I thought she would get out after Super Tuesday. But it's what she said when she got out that makes me crazy because there are a lot of people running around right now saying, well, she's a good lady because she didn't endorse Trump. But to say what she did actually didn't seem like it was a lot different because if you heard it, and everybody doesn't listen to the words, I understand, but she said that she'll be happy if Trump does the things necessary to earn people's votes. That if he changes his ways and he becomes palatable to the public, that she would like that. I wouldn't like that. I always fear that he's going to try to do that. Now, the good thing about Donald is, is he never does. - No, he does not. - No, he will not change his story. Not even-- - Not his ways. - Yeah, not at all. No, no, he just keeps acting insane and reminding people every day that he is impossible in a potential disaster waiting to happen. But when you-- - Well, today they put out there that he's supposed to have dementia. He has been totally diagnosed with dementia. So I'm gonna like, okay, so they saying that Biden has dementia. So why would you wanna put another one in there with dementia? (laughs) - Well, let me say that-- - We can't wear a loser right now. - Let me say that I'm no psychologist, for sure, although my doctorate work is in educational psychology, but I'm no psychologist, okay? So forget that. But now, having told you that, I wanna say that Donald Trump is, I don't think he has dementia. That isn't what I think he's got. - What do you think? - I think that. - I think the man is a psychotic. And I think that he's probably some kind of a sociopath, but I wouldn't say dementia. Now, I mentioned yesterday, and I did hear this, where he was talking about, I don't know if it was either Venezuela or something like that, maybe Australia, but some name like that, and he was going through it, and at the end, he started doing this. (speaks in foreign language) Well, no, he did, that is what he did. Now, everybody wanted to jump all over him. I don't know. I mean, I'm not hoping for anything horrible to happen. Some people sort of thought maybe he was having a stroke or something, but no. - Everything you mentioned, the psychotic and everything else, all of that falls in the dementia, falls in the mental health. So at the end of the day, he just has mental health issues. - Well, I think it's fair to say as mental health issues, and his niece, who is a psychologist, clearly explains some of the problems that he does have, and I think what she's saying is it sounds pretty accurate, and I know people say, well, she hasn't examined him thoroughly. Look, you don't have to examine him too much. I mean, for 40 years, he has been ripping people off. He's been charged lots of money for fraudulent behavior. We know he's got to pay $88 million for what he did to Eugene Carroll, and I'll tell you something, I had a conversation last night about the situation with Eugene Carroll, and the person I was talking to said, absolutely not, he does not believe that Eugene Carroll was raped. Now, first of all, my point was, is that for women, they consider it rape. What do you think? How do you feel? - He was convicted of rape. - Well, they said-- - He was convicted with, wasn't that a jury trial? - Yeah, yeah, but they said, first of all, they said sexual assault. So would you consider sexual assault rape? - Yes, it is. - Yeah, the judge said it was-- - If you are doing something to my body, and I said no, or I didn't, I don't want you to do that, that is rape, here he is. - Yeah. - There's no if, no answer, no buts about it. That's rather you a man or a woman. - Well, that's what the judge said. And I think that that's, you know, a fair way to describe it. But let's say for a minute that you didn't think that the man was raping women. Because you know, there are 18 women behind her that all say that they've been raped by him. Including, by the way, I read today where Stormy Daniels is now saying that Donald cornered her. Now she says that Donald cornered her and forced her into whatever happened, but she also says that she blames herself for it. And I don't know whether, you know how they always say, women should not blame themselves. But hey, I wasn't there, I didn't see it, I don't know, and I don't want to have been there, you know. But my point is, she says that he cornered her and really forced her. But putting even that aside, I'm going to put that aside. The man was true. Didn't he admit? Yeah, I was going to say, didn't he admit at some point in time of inappropriately touching women? Well, he said that he can do it and that they love it. He did say. Okay, so to me right there, that's saying that he has done it. That's what they admit that they love it. Yeah, I said that too, Stephanie. But even that was denied. But here's one that you can't deny. He was charged $5 million and he was told, stop saying this. Right. He couldn't stop saying it, Stephanie. He still kept going until he was charged another $85 million. Yep. So clearly there's something wrong with the man and we can say, oh no, he never raped anybody. He's above, he thinks he's above the law. Well, at the end of the day, he thinks that he is above the law. He has enough people in office and in higher places that could save his little, you know what, but at the end of the day, obviously not. He needs to up the money, up the ante, just come on. Well, he says he doesn't have it. Yeah, okay. You know, he may have some money and I'll sure count somewhere, but he got it somewhere. Stephanie, I have said for years, the man is broke. The man's broke, he's a liar about everything. Why wouldn't he lie about this? No, he's lying, he doesn't have any money. People with money don't act like this. Well, they really don't. They take it all to his property, take it all. Well, if any of it is unencumbered, let's see, we don't know that. You know, in other words, there's all this property he's got. We don't know what loans he's got on those things. True that. You know, he may have zero. In fact, I've all often said to Jamie Almond, my friend, I've said to him, I think we're in better financial shape than Donald. I mean, just regular people. This man doesn't have anything. He's just a big bunch of noise and he certainly has created a situation with banks where they lent him lots of money. Now they did that. You know, so true, he walks around with money in his pocket, but I'm telling you, I don't think it's his. I think it's all borrowed money. But I think we're gonna find out because Leticia James is gonna come and get that property. You know, the time is ticking and she's gonna get the property and that's gonna be the end of the story. Yeah, never let us know exactly if he's got it or not. Exactly. And you know, the banks don't wanna lend him any money because first they know something about his financial condition. And they also know that under these circumstances he could end up owing so much money that the banks could end up on the hook for it. So they don't wanna get in the way of any of this. I think they've lent him the last money he's going to see unless one, he gets it from Vladimir Putin, that's possible because you know, he's on the hook for something with Putin. Putin could easily go to him and say, "Look, I want you to be president. "Here's a billion, go pay off all your stuff." Now, so far I don't think that's happened but that could happen because, I mean, the two of them are identical except that Donald is Putin's useful idiot. I mean, Putin, you know, there's a guy, I mean, he's stolen a lot of money and that we know. I mean, that's a fact. He's one of the wealthiest people, maybe the wealthiest person in the world. And he's stolen it all from Russia which who's gonna stop him? He kills you if you stop him so no, no one's stopping him. Now, as far as Donald, Donald does his bidding. Why? We don't know. But I do think there's a day coming when we're going to find out. I'm looking forward to that. I am too. I'll be glad when it happens. Yeah. But anyway, when I heard Hailey say that she hoped that Trump would earn those votes, no, not at all. She has said he's not fit to be president. All of us, many of us have said he's a dangerous man. Why would you want him to earn any votes? See, so when she said that, I thought, no, this is her way of endorsing him without endorsing him. So that's a pretty bad thing. I really, I was pretty upset about it. Now- - I think a lot of people are doing that. A lot of people in government are endorsing him. - Oh, all those people are doing that. Look, McConnell has endorsed him, we know that. And listen, this has been said all day and all day, part of the day yesterday. And I was saying other things and I just didn't get to it, but look, Trump has said things about McConnell's wife that are so horrible that, I mean, I can't even repeat them because the same kind of way that somebody would talk about a black person or a Jew or any other group that they hate. And Trump's out here saying that about somebody who's Asian. You know, first thing is you want to ask what's his problem, but then you'd be stupid to ask that question because we've had enough time to know what his problem is. I mean, I don't- - But he does it all the time. - Yeah, exactly. - I mean, yeah. - So I don't know how to describe- - You don't have a matter of what race you were. - Yeah. - I don't know if he considers pure white, which I don't know what that is either, then he's going to talk about you regardless. - Well, and let's not forget that poor, that guy years ago, he had some kind of a disability, whatever it was, and Trump was mocking him. Yeah, he'll mock anybody. You know, and some people say, well, that I'm proud of him for that because he'll mock anybody, he's not afraid. Well, wait a second, the weakest people on the planet, you want to mock them? You know, people- - He doesn't care. He doesn't care. Michael just can't. - He doesn't care. - Michael just- - What's that? - I was just telling you, Michael just kicked in. He says, he has said such horrible things about all his rivals and their families, and yet they still all kiss his ass. - Well, and that's right. Now I just pulled up the Michael thing. Yeah, exactly. Why mock anybody, Michael, of course. - Right. - But the thing is, is that he has said these crazy things. You know, talked about Ted Cruz's wife being ugly and talked about Ted Cruz's father, being involved in the Kennedy assassination. And listen, Cruz was outraged over the whole thing, and then all of a sudden, he like flipped the switch and went right back into supporting Trump. So, you know, you do wonder what is up with these people. For example, I mean, I hate to sound too crazy, and at least I know it's crazy, but first I've always believed that, and this I don't think is crazy, that Putin threatens to kill Trump, and that's why Trump has to behave. There's some connection there that we don't understand. Now, is it possible that Trump talks to some of these people, like Cruz, any of them, and scares them, and that that's why they turn around and do this. Because I have to say that when I saw McConnell, and you know, he keeps talking about on February 21st, I said such and such about supporting the nominee of the party, and I'm just following that. And I'm thinking to myself, that doesn't sound right. This guy almost sounds scared, and he has nothing to be afraid about politically, because he's already quit. I mean, he's quit as the leader of the party. See, well, that's right, Michael. Maybe they have something on all of them, maybe, or maybe they just have something on Trump, and maybe Trump is telling them, look, I'll make sure that when they kill me, they'll kill you. I don't know, I mean, it sounds like a movie, but all of this sounds like a movie. I mean, it doesn't sound real, it sounds ridiculous. So, you know, I just don't understand why people cave into him when it appears that they even have no reason to cave in. And also-- - I would be able to sit in the room with that man, let alone stand in the room. - Oh, no. - Oh, no. - There's no way. - Absolutely not. And I'll tell you this, you know, when I was at, maybe it was Beaumont. In fact, it was. When I was at Beaumont, I got a phone call that George W. Bush was here in St. Charles, and he wanted to meet some black children from the school. And I thought to myself, you know, that's really kind of a cynical way of approaching all of this, that, you know, he wants some black kids so he can get a picture. But-- - He can walk down Martin Luther King. - No, I understand, he could, he'd probably scared. But, you know, here's the thing. - I miss his bed. - Yeah, but here's the deal. I thought, what an opportunity for these four kids to meet a president, and I didn't care if it was somebody that I didn't like. But I just thought, he's a president. It's worth it, it's okay. And the kids went, and they were very happy, and subsequently, in later years, they remembered that they had had that chance to go meet a president, and they were happy. And I thought they would be. But now, to your point, I wouldn't say yes to Trump. I would not. That's over the line. This guy is not somebody they need to meet. I mean, I certainly wouldn't say, in 1938, that I'd like to take some kids to meet Hitler, you know? - But you know, there'd be somebody at a school to say black school or not. They'd be like, oh yeah, we gotta have Trump come in, 'cause we lost the crowd. - Yeah, there's no question. I would not do it. I wouldn't do it. Anyway, enough of Trump for a minute. I'm sure I'll wind my way back to him again in a second, but yeah, 'cause I can't help it. I'm just sort of, it's sort of like a magnet for me. I can't, I can't escape it because, not because, you know, some people think, well, you're letting that man, you know, wrench your mind, you know, no, no, no, he's not bothering me that way. But I think he's such a great example of everything that we should stay away from and despise throughout history. And I think it's a great history lesson. And so, you know, I'm not upset that way. And I don't think there's a chance he'll be president. I'm sorry, I am gonna go with him for one more second before I go to the next thing. Here's one. You know, if you look at the polls, the polls are running, let's say, depending on which one, you know, about two points between the two people, either side, some say it's like 47 to 45, some say it's 46, 44, again, either way. And that leaves 10% of the vote that has not been decided. And here is what they said yesterday after the exit polls. And this is what I've thought all along. If you've got 90% of the vote committed to Biden and/or Trump, however, you've got 10% left. And one of these guys is ahead by two. In my opinion, the rest of those votes are all going to break in favor of Joe Biden. And the reason I say that is not just hoping it. It's just that if you're not already voting for Trump, you're probably never gonna vote for Trump because it's not like you don't know how horrible he is. These people know what they're getting and they want it. And I'm saying that that remaining 10% that the hesitation is that they don't wanna vote for Joe Biden, probably because they think he's too old, but they just, there may be other issues, but the big one seems to be the age. So I think that what we're gonna find out is that in the end, I think Joe Biden's gonna win this by somewhere between eight and 10 points. So we'll see on that, but I'm not saying that just out of nowhere, it's not just a made up number. I think that this group of uncommitted voters is going to break toward Biden, period. Not toward Trump, that's not gonna happen. There's no way there's 8% out there to switch over to him. That's out. No, they might stay home, but they're definitely not gonna vote for him, that if they vote for Joe Biden, then Joe Biden wins by eight to 10%. And I think that's a very, very good possibility. Now, last night and the night before, we had some conversations about crime. And everybody's got a story on crime, and I went around today asking everybody I could, what do you think is happening right now with crime? Is it going up or down? So what would you say, Steph? I mean, I realize you know more than some people would know, but does it feel like it's going up or down? Well, they're saying statistically it's going down. And it is. But it depends on what area of crime are we talking about? Well, it depends on if they're getting you. No, really, yeah. Really? Are they talking about, you know, the car thefts? Are we talking about, I mean, everything is sectioned out when it comes to statistics. So we talking about, you know, homicides. Are we talking about suicides? Are we talking about, you know, what are we assaults? You know, what are we talking about, you know? Sure. Well, we're talking about violent crime, and we're talking about murder. Okay. Okay. And it's down. It is down at the lowest level in the last, some people say 50 years, but I've seen for sure 34. So you just started that? Yeah, well. We know where the new year is springing some. Yeah. It's down. And that's when it elevates. No, no, but it's been in a steady downward progression for 34 years. I mean, if it spikes this year, it spikes. But I'm just saying that as it stands right now, we are in a 34 year decline in crime. But here's the interesting point. Are you talking about globally United States? United States, United States. United States. Okay. 'Cause I know you're not talking about St. Louis. St. Louis in this survey was number 29 in all the cities around the world. And it was right with-- It's current. Yeah, currently. Okay. And it was right with San Francisco. I can tell you that. And San Francisco is not a horrible place. I mean, forget that. San Francisco is not a dangerous place. And neither is St. Louis. Now, if you're on the wrong corner and the wrong thing is happening, I understand for you, it's over. But I'm just saying in general, you know, you don't walk out the door and get hit by bullets and you don't walk out the door and have people carjacking you. Now, I understand that in some places it can happen. It could happen at Bush Stadium. But I'm, listen, I'm in North St. Louis every day and I have been for 35 years. Nothing's happening, you know? I understand there are places where it does happen. But I'm telling you that the perception that it's everywhere is a little off the map, but I'll take it one step further. And here's what's interesting. If you've got this downward progression for 34 years, then they go and take a poll of people and they ask them, "How's crime?" 77% say it is surging upward. - Wow. - So now my question is, what do you do about that? I mean, really, what do you do? I mean, it's just like Joe Biden has to worry about all these people who say the economy is no good and yet the economy is very strong. There are people making more money, just like that raise that we talked about at the beginning in the St. Louis public schools. People are getting higher pay, inflation. - I think it ever paid those teachers enough. I don't care if they're feeding the county, I don't care where they are. The teachers are never paid enough. You're not paid enough. - I'm paid enough. - I don't think so. - I'm paid enough. I'm really very happy with what I'm paid. I really, in fact, if they came in and said, you know, "Kason, we have to cut everybody 10%." I'd say, "Okay." Now what? Let's go back to class. - You're just a humble teacher, though. That's who you are. - No, but it's a lot of teachers out here. - Not all my life. - No, you can't pay them enough. - Not all my life. I wasn't, you know, I started teaching 23 years ago, but, you know, I did the stock market. I was a stockbroker and did all kinds of things having to do with investment-related things. Worked with a law firm and we sued brokers who did bad things to their clients. And, you know, I've done all kinds of things. There are lots of ways to make a lot of money. I'm just saying that I am not teaching for the check. Okay, so that's me, but I understand everybody, you know, is however they are, so I'm putting me aside, but all I'm saying really is that you got Joe Biden out here with jobs in this country increasing. I mean, every month they go up. Last month everybody thought it was gonna be, you know, a little moderate. Didn't matter. Numbers came pouring in hundreds of thousands of new jobs. So, at the same time, how do you convince people who say, number one, the economy is terrible. It's a disaster, we need Donald Trump to save us. And then secondly, they say the economy was so much better under Trump, not true. It's just not true, objectively. You take the numbers, it's not true. If you take the stock market, it's not true. These are objective numbers, it's not true. Now, don't get me wrong. Tomorrow, if Nividia, which is going up $30 a day and was $500 a share a couple of weeks ago, it's now $1,000 a share and it's just moved above $2 billion, I'm sorry, $2 trillion in worth for the company. I mean, if you go by that, sure, that's going through the roof. If it starts to go down and it starts to pull the rest of the market with it, well, that's another story. That has nothing to do with Joe Biden. But Donald took all the credit every day for everything that went up. Now, Joe Biden won't do that, he just won't do it. He just, I guess he just doesn't think it's fair because he knows he didn't do it. - Right. - But he does try to take credit for things that he's done and he's having a great deal of trouble getting credit for some of those things. So anyway, what I'm going to do right now, and then we'll come back to all this, is-- - Yeah, 'cause I'm getting hungry. - Yeah, yep, yep, and poor Bill Monroe, I'm not sure where he's hiding, but it's funny 'cause I talked to him this morning and he said, Mark, he says, don't worry. He says, I promise, and he said, I promise I'll be there. Anyway, okay, so it's not the end of the world. I wanted to give him some time on the air and I've pushed other people aside, keep putting Bill back in, but hey, I love Bill, I love him. So we'll get Bill on here. So the first thing I want to do is I want to tell you that last night I went after we got off the air, I said I was going to do it, and I did it. I went with Vic Faust to Winties, and I have to tell you-- - You went with Vic. - Yep. - You were supposed to take me and you went with Vic. - Well, you got-- - Okay, well-- - You were on assignment yesterday, if you had forgotten. Yeah, so-- - I didn't forget-- - Okay. - But don't worry, they're always open, don't worry. They're not going away. And listen, I found out more about the food that they have at Winties. And I'll tell you something, it was really good. They've got great food. Now, we've talked about some of the things that they've got. We've talked about the baby back ribs, we've talked about the onion rings. - The pizza. - The pizza seems to be a really big thing there. You know, a bumble-- - Where did you have? - Nothing. Do you know how crazy I am about how I eat? No, I really didn't eat 'cause I had already had my calories for the day. But no, I'm going back to have food. And in fact, I was looking, it was so good. And I'm really not kidding. It was so good that I really didn't know what to eat. I can tell you right now, they've got great sandwiches. Now, when I look here and tell you BLT and grilled cheese, you're going to say, "Kason, can't you find something "better than that?" But, you know, I'm weird, you know? I like BLTs and grilled cheese. And patty melts, they got patty melts, looks great. So, anyway, that's some of what I saw. Now, how about the coleslaw? Steam broccoli, green beans. - And I can talk to my kind of food. - Hey, I mean, this is healthy stuff, you know? So, this is like James Ingram likes to come in and make fun of me 'cause I eat spinach. But, you know-- - I love spinach. - Yeah, yeah, and listen, they got great food at Wendy's. And cheeseburgers? Now, you might say, "Well, everybody's got a cheeseburger." Well, not everybody, but I'll tell you this, really great cheeseburgers. Now, you know I haven't eaten it yet, but I took a look at it and it looked fabulous. All kinds of bacon and pickles and onions and everything. It looked great. I'm, you know, there's a day that will come shortly. I'll eat one of those hamburgers. Anyway, I had a great time last night with Vic and with my new friend, Ben Cahn, who is the owner of Wendy's. - Okay. - He and his wife own it and run it. And I'll tell you, I really had a great time. Ben was just a really great guy. And I'll say this about restaurants that seem to be very successful. They often have an owner who hangs around the restaurant and talks with the people, hangs out with them. - I like those kind of restaurants. - Absolutely. You know, when I saw that, I thought well-- - Very personable. - I thought, well, this is why the guy's doing so well because people do like that. Anyway, Wendy's is outstanding, 18,000. Chesterfield Airport Road. And that's Wendy's and it's right in the valley. Chesterfield Valley and the food is great. And everybody was having a great time there last night. And now you know, if you go by, you say hi to Ben. He'll love saying hi to you. Okay. Then there's Al. And Al, of course, is our jeweler at Jules on Hampton. And that's 4506 Hampton in St. Louis. And Al's a great guy who really knows jewelry. He buys and sells good prices. He creates very outstanding jewelry that he sells. The people come from all around to buy. I mean, it's really, it's a special place for jewelry. And people love it and they love Al. And I guess that just really takes you one step further that if people know the owners, it's not just the restaurants everywhere. You know, people just like to deal with people. So, you know, it's not like going into Macy's and you're looking for Macy. You know, you can find him in that movie. One of my favorites, Miracle on 34th Street. But hey, that's long gone. So good luck. That's 80 years ago. No, when you know the people, that's unique. And it's a good way to do business. Yeah, it brings you back. It does, it does. It brings you back. So that's Al at Jules on Hampton. 45-06 Hampton. Michael is saying he's excited for the State of the Union speech tonight and I'm going to talk about that in a minute. But let me finish up by saying that, you know, I love my suits. And I'll tell you. I like that tie. It's a very nice tie. I mean, I've been wearing all my different new ties 'cause I got so many ties, it's crazy. Because, you know, I don't have to worry about being choked because I don't buy $50 Trump ties that when you put them on, they choke you. No, I buy the really good ties at the St. Louis suit company in Clayton on the corner of Forsyth and Central. They have great ties, $5 and they will not ever choke you. Never. Awesome. Yeah, it's always good. So, okay, let's say something, Michael, about the speech tonight. I'm excited for it too. And especially for this, all the people on the other side are waiting for Trump to come in, I'm sorry, for, say, I'm like both of them. Of course, I'm old enough to be. Anyway, Biden, when Biden comes in, they're waiting for Biden to fall, to say something wrong. You know, they're waiting for that. But as you see, anybody could make a mistake. I said, Trump, I meant Biden. He could say anything, but here's what I know. He is gonna have more adrenaline flowing tonight than anybody you could ever imagine. You know, this is the speech of his lifetime. He knows that he's giving it not just to become President of the United States again. He's giving this to defend democracy. He knows it and he's going there with that explicit purpose. And he has said it explicitly and he knows that's what he's going there for. So, is he gonna say it? Probably he has said it before and he has won with it before. And I think that if he says it now, he won't be just using a device. He will truly be telling us what he believes, which is that he is out there to defend democracy. And I think with that in mind, I think you're gonna find that he's gonna give an amazing speech. And I think people will be talking about it in a positive way tomorrow. It's going to be incredible. Now. - He definitely would be talking about it. - Oh, oh, I believe. Now, of course, the other side is going to say he's destroying America more of the same. He's just offering us destruction. Then they'll talk about how he's lying. And you know, it's so funny. I mean, Joe Biden, I can't even think about a time when he has lied. You know, they've got some story about, you know, something he did with a paper he wrote like 90 years ago. I mean, give me a break. You know, that's ridiculous. I mean, if that's where they've got to go, if that's all they can find to prove he's a liar, then I think they've got a real problem. Because this guy truly knows all the leaders all around the world. No, well, I didn't say all the dictators around the world. He knows all the leaders. Now, he obviously he's met with Putin and he's met with Xi Jinping. Yes. But I don't think he's got Victor Orban coming over his house for a barbecue tonight, like Trump, you know, what's Orban doing there? Really? What's he doing there? This is a guy-- - They're collaborating on something. - Yeah, well, they're collaborating on what they're supposed to do for their master who happens to be Vladimir Putin. And look, honestly, whoever you are, if you know that Vladimir Putin has said, and he has in the last four or five days, that there are 14 different sites in the United States that he's getting ready to attack with nuclear weapons. Now, if you knew that and you were running for president, would you be talking about the man who's trying to destroy America? Or would you be inviting one of his best pals over for a barbecue? I mean, come on. I mean, this isn't difficult. But the thing about it that really is amazing. You know, Donald was in the Oval Office way back at the beginning of his presidency. I talked about this last night. I don't mind saying these things over a few times because, you know, Trump tells his lies over and over, so it's good maybe to tell the truth over and over. So Trump goes into the White House, the Oval Office with Lazarov, that's the foreign affairs guy from Russia. And he gives Lazarov documents that are classified. How many puts him in his face? And the way we know is because the Russian media was in that office and took pictures. And then they released the pictures to the world. And at the same time, our people weren't allowed to be in that office. Well, I guess actually if you're Donald Trump and you're showing classified documents to the Russians, then maybe it's probably a good thing not to bring our press in. But the fact is that he did some horrible things, things that leaders around the world. - Don't they have pictures of him handing over? - Yeah. - Okay. - Now, you know, he says that they had to give them back. I mean, I don't even know what we're talking about. It's just so crazy. I mean, can you imagine? Can you imagine John Kennedy having a meeting with Khrushchev's advisors and turning over evidence of anything that the United States was doing? At a time when we were arguing over Sputnik, I mean, you know, I mean, honestly, it's just stupid to even think that he was doing this and that Americans just weren't outraged about that. Let me forget the rapes, forget the insurrection attempt. You know, forget that this guy says repeatedly that he will not ever commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the United States of America, okay? But forget that. Forget all of it. Who in the heck gives classified documents to the Russians? Who would do that? And then- - In your day, that's espionage. And he should have been put away then when it happened. But you know, I still question all of this. I don't get it. - Well, none of us get it. You know, it's sort of like Tom Hanks in Biggs when he says, "I don't get it." Really, this is the deal. We don't get it. But the truth is that Biden is going to give a speech tonight that may be the best of his life. I think he's going to be totally psyched for it. And I think that adrenaline is going to be pumping. And I think that he's going to be totally prepared. And I think he's going to come in and show people what kind of a guy he is at 81 years old. And I think it's going to be exceptional. And one of the reasons that I say that is not just because I'm hoping it, but because he's given some speeches like that in the last year and a half. And so I think that we know he's totally capable. Now, the question is, when everybody sees it right before their eyes, will they all say, "Good job." No, we know they won't. We know they won't. Not even possible. - And let those chumps of porters. - And you know, Michael Johnson, who is a pathetic speaker of the house. I mean, blocking the aid money to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. I mean, that's what he's doing all by himself. However, today he said to that group of what, maybe 18, 20, whatever it is, Republicans who are crazy, the craziest of the crazies. Let's put it that way. He told them to be on their best behavior tonight, that they shouldn't be screaming and acting crazy at this speech. Now, the first place, why would he have to tell them to not be screaming and acting crazy? I mean, don't they know that you're not supposed to go there and act crazy? Well, apparently no. - It sounded like he was talking to some two-year-olds and some pampers. - Got me out of the- - Correct. Sit down, be quiet, don't say nothing. - That's what he did. And, you know, I don't think they committed to behaving. I didn't read anywhere they said that. So it's not like, that's okay, you know. But he's a mess. And he, Michael Johnson, knows that at any time, those crazies could pull the plug on him and his speakership could be ended in well less than a year. - Wow. - Well, anyway, tonight we know one of the big things is going to be the push for aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. And that's important business for the United States. And I understand that there are people out here, aside from Trump, people who are good people who mean well, but somehow they've gone back to 1938 and they think that by appeasing Vladimir Putin that they are somehow protecting the world. And it's just crazy because Putin, you know, Eric said he wasn't worried about Putin going to Paris. And neither am I. I don't think that Putin wants to go to Paris, but I think he wants to go to Poland and I think he wants to go to Lithuania and Estonia and Latvia. And I can tell you right now, if he tries to go to those places while Joe Biden is president, we're in a lot of trouble because, you know, we're committed to defending every inch of NATO territory. It is that simple. We're going to do it because we have to do it, because we turn over NATO territory to Vladimir Putin. There will be no end to it. And the people of those countries don't want to give up their independence that they won from the Soviet Union in 1991. They do not want to go back. Now Putin wants them to go back, but they're in NATO. And by the way, I don't care, you know, when anybody's listening to this, or if you're out there this minute or how many or whoever do this, go to Google and put in NATO conference, Lisbon, 2010, because when Eric talked about that NATO was threatening Vladimir Putin, I'm telling you that in 2010, NATO was actually trying to recruit Vladimir Putin. We wanted Russia in NATO. We did. And it's just unfortunate that that never happened because none of this would be happening. But I guess it didn't fit into Vladimir's idea of what works in the world. But at any rate, listen, tonight we're going to hear the speech and tomorrow we'll be able to say whether I was crazy or not. And for sure, there are a lot of Republicans that are sitting here right now thinking, I'm not even saying hoping, but thinking that Joe Biden's going to fall all over himself and look like some kind of a lunatic. And I'm just saying this, not tonight, guys, it's not happening. Okay, so listen, the elusive Bill Monroe has done it again, but that's okay, that's okay. I love him. - We'll catch up with him. - Nah, we will. And listen, enjoy the speech tonight and we'll be back tomorrow. I'm Mark Kason. - I'm Stephanie Harmon. - This is she. - And she's down. - Show down.