WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio

Cail & Company LIVE with John Leahy & William Cooper

Monday's program featured a conversation with author, broadcaster and musician John Leahy as we discussed the New England Patriots' first pre-season game. Also joining us, attorney, author and national columnist William Cooper, author of the new book, "How America Works...and Why It Doesn't".

Duration:: 44m
Broadcast on:: 12 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Cale and Company live here on WKXL. NHChalkRadio.com, good morning. Welcome to another week. Great to have you along with us. Beautiful morning. Get out and enjoy. Take WKXL with you wherever you go. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental with individual and family plans, designed to fit your lifestyle, learn more, and find your plan. At DeltaDentalCoversMe.com. Very busy weekend in the world of sports and in the world of news, of course, as well. Where do we begin? Let's spin the wheel and find out. How about with the Red Sox? Let's get the bad news out of the way first. Tell you what, it was a lost weekend for them. They lost three in a row to the Houston Astros, who always play well at Fenway Park. Red Sox don't always play well at Fenway Park. In fact, they have a much better record on the road this year than at home. Nobody can quite figure that out, but at home, they're only 27 and 31. And Sunday has pretty much been their day this year, but not yesterday. They lost to Houston 10 to 2. Texas comes in tonight. They're defending World Series champion, Texas Rangers, although they are not playing, like World Series champions right now, anyway. But maybe Fenway Park will turn it around for the Rangers. Yesterday, there was an ugly moment in the game at Fenway Park. Well, there were many ugly moments on the field. This one was on the field as well, but it had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Red Sox outfielder Jaren Duran said he and I quote here, fell far short after directing an anti-gay slur toward a fan during Sunday's loss to the Astros. And the bottom of the sixth inning, you might have been watching on TV in between pitches with the count one and two. And Duran 0 for two on the day with a couple of strikeouts. A fan behind home plate could be heard shouting. And I quote here, tennis racket, tennis racket. You need a tennis racket. End quote, hit the ball. He said, Jaren Duran needed a tennis racket to hit the ball. All right, you've heard that a million times. I mean, come on, you're a professional athlete. So Duran looked at the fan and could be heard on the game telecast on Nesen saying, shut up you, blankety blank blank. You can fill in your own words there. We don't want to break FCC rules here. Ah, come on, Jaren, you've got to be better than that. You can't let the fans get to you like that. And I know he's had issues in the past with, you know, I don't know. He said he has had some issues, Jaren Duran, in the past. So this is nothing new. But after the game, he issued, or the Red Sox, issued an apology with quoting Duran during tonight's game, actually in the afternoon. I used a truly horrific word when responding to a fan. I feel awful knowing how many people I offended and disappointed. I apologize to the entire Red Sox organization. But more importantly, to the LGBTQ community. Our young fans are supposed to be able to look up to me as a role model. But tonight, I fell far short of that responsibility. I would use this opportunity to educate myself and my teammates and to grow as a person. And then the Red Sox addressed the incident with Jaren following the game. And they put out another statement. We echo Jaren's apology to our fans, specifically to the LGBTQ community. We strive to be an organization that welcomes all fans to Fenway Park. And we will continue to educate our employees, players, coaches, and staff on the importance of taking better care of themselves and using better judgment. Anyway, the exchange came with the fan after Duran-- this is the ironic part. The exchange came with the fan after Duran was honored during a pregame ceremony as the team's recipient of the Hart and Hustle Award, which I've never heard of before, which recognizes one player per team who demonstrates a passion for the game and best embodies its values, spirit, and traditions. There you go. But he didn't live up to that award. Yesterday, that is for sure. So Jaren, come on. Don't be a baby. I mean, if you can't take that, my goodness, that is-- I've heard a lot worse than what was quoted, anyway. At the fan said yesterday, behind home played, if you can't take that, Jaren Duran, you have no business being a professional athlete. Because you're going to hear a lot worse than that. And I don't know. I think there should be a game suspension in there from the Red Sox. I really do, at least a game. And then that was an incident last night in Richmond, Virginia. Desperate to win for the first time in nearly two years with the race suddenly slipping away, Austin Dillon sent two cars into the wall in rapid succession. The result was a season changing victory, really, an avalanche of controversy, and at least two veteran drivers who were absolutely furious. First, Dillon came out of nowhere to spin Joey Logano into kingdom cum. I'm telling you, he just whacked, rammed Joey Logano from behind, spun him around. Logano went from first place to 19th on that vicious attack. By Austin Dillon, and then, to make matters worse, after he spun Hamlin around, after he spun Logano around, he then put Danny Hamlin into the wall. Now, we have some sound here, some communications between the team of Austin Dillon and Dillon himself. Dillon has not heard on this. But his team in the pit was heard. So this is the audio we have. Coming down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down. Down, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down. Down, down, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down, down. Second, down, down. Second, down, down. That's what they're saying, wreck him. And they were meaning Hamlin. Because he already had hit Lagano at that point. And they said, wreck Hamlin, too, because he might finish in front of you. So he took care of Lagano and Hamlin. And now Austin Dillon, far and away, is the most unpopular driver among drivers, and probably fans alike, in NASCAR. I have not seen a maneuver like that ever, ever, by a NASCAR driver. You know, it's not against the rules. It's not against the rules. You can do that. But I'll tell you, I think Austin Dillon, when they show up in Michigan next week, is going to be a marked man. I mean, that's just not the way to do it. Not the way to do it. And of course, if you don't know, Austin Dillon races for Richard Childress Racing. Richard Childress is the grandfather of Austin Dillon. Richard Childress, who owned Dale Earnhardt's cars, back in the day, still has the number three, and that's the number Dylan races with. Certainly not to the level that Dale Earnhardt did. And Austin Dillon was the winner yesterday in Richmond. And afterwards, I wish I had a clip of this. I've heard it a couple of times, but I couldn't find one. Where Richard Childress on the communications said, "Pop, pop is proud of you." There you go. All right. Speaking of driving about vanity and sanity, we have a new plate to announce today. The new vanity and sanity plate of the week is bad dogs. Bad dogs, B-A-D, D-O-G-S, bad dogs. I was spotted and conquered recently. And if that is your plate, or you know whose plate it is, get in touch with them. And you could win. Oh, we'll win if you call in. The conventional oil change with a synthetic blend from Weeds Family Automotive, 124 store streets in Concord. So give our esteemed executive producer, Andrew Gibson, a call right now. 603-224-1450. If your plate is bad dogs, B-A-D, D-O-G-S, our vanity and sanity plate of the week, John Leahy coming up next. Right here, WKXL and hchockradio.com, presented by Northeast Delta Dental. [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome back, Cale and Company Live here on WKXL and hchockradio.com. Great to have you along with us on this Monday. Hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather was just ideal. Friday night had a chance to see our general manager here, WKXL, Kat Martinez. In the fiddler on the roof in Laconia, she was terrific. The whole cast was a terrific great show and had a blast there on Friday night in beautiful downtown Laconia. And we'll talk more about that later on this week. But right now, we welcome in our good friend, John Leahy, who brought the house down on Wednesday night at the Bank of New Hampshire stage in downtown Concord. And John, welcome back. Ken, it's always great being here, and you're right. Wednesday night was a tremendous, tremendous show. And I did go on very late, which I wasn't expecting to be the last act of the night, but it was a tremendous night. And I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to be with you all. You know what they say, John? They always save the best for last, right? And you got a chance to do four songs. Maybe if you'd been on earlier, you wouldn't have. So there you go. Yeah, when you're the last act of the night, they don't feel pressured to cut your shorts. So there is a silver lining when you get up on stage, finally, 11 o'clock at night. There is. There is. And we saw some great acts before you. But it's always a lot of fun, and thanks to Andrew North and the Rangers for doing that once a month, because it does really give the community an opportunity to hear the great talent that is out there. And it's a lot of fun. You can walk in absolutely free and be entertained for three plus hours. It's really great. Yeah, I'm a big fan of open mics Ken. I try to do them as often as possible. And it's a great opportunity for musicians to kind of showcase their talent where they wouldn't be able to otherwise. You see all kinds of fans out there that have their own routine and whatnot. You know, musicians being able to have that opportunity to play is important. And I encourage people to go check out open mics because there are some really great musicians out there that wouldn't get the opportunity otherwise. Very true. And then you have told me in the past, and I would know because I've never performed musically on stage anyway, that you feel like when you're performing at the Bank of New Hampshire stage in downtown Concord, like you're performing at the Grand Old Opry. Yeah, you know, there's a balcony up above. Yeah. And whenever I go up on that stage, I always visualize a full balcony of people, a full crowd, like they have at the Grand Old Opry. You know, a guy can dream, right? I mean, the Grand Old Opry is a situation where you have to be invited there to play. You can't just show up. And it's great, you know? So it's kind of a way of fulfilling a dream, if you will. Yeah, absolutely. So not fulfilling a dream over the weekend where the Boston Red Sox, who lost three in a row to the Houston Astros. And today, by the way, John, Monday, August 12th, 2024, has been designated, and I don't know why this particular date, but designated as Baseball Fans Day. So there you go. Today is Baseball Fans Day. And for whatever reason, but hey, I think every day during the spring and summer and early fall is Baseball Fans Day. Well, there's certainly no more loyal group of people, right? I mean, they pay their hard-earned money to the Baseball. And of course, with baseball being a daily sport, there's plenty of opportunities for fans to get out there and support their team. And I'm really happy to see that fans are recognized on this day. And the majority of them are good, Ken. I mean, the majority of them, you know, behave and support their team appropriately. So it's great to have that acknowledgement for fans out there. Yep. And yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, sometimes fans get a bad rep, but the vast majority behave very, very well. You know, there was an incident yesterday at Fenway, where somebody yelled at Jared Durand, that he needed a tennis racket to hit the ball. And unfortunately, Jared responded to that fan. I don't know, John. It seemed like pretty thin skinned on the part of Jared Durand. But at any rate, it aired on television. What he said to that fan was heard on Nessen yesterday. And the Red Sox and Durand have apologized for it. But, you know, he's got to have a little bit more thick skin than that, because I've heard a lot worse from fans than what that fan said yesterday to Jared Durand. Yeah, it's a learning moment. It's unfortunate that it happened. You know, Jared Durand, I'm sure, will learn from this and move forward. That type of thing should never happen. And, you know, he did own up to it. He did apologize. And hopefully, he will learn from this. And it will not be repeated. And, you know, the Red Sox were right to quickly condemn that. There's no place for that. And, you know, hopefully, again, it's a learning moment. And hopefully, we'll move on. And we won't have to deal with that again. Absolutely. Well, I understand, John, you had a good Saturday in Rhode Island. Yes, it was a terrific book signing. I want to thank the folks on Midfield, Rhode Island, for their great hospitality. Amy, the film manager, was terrific. We've got a record for sales. You know, it's ironic that I only make one trip to Rhode Island on this entire tour cannon. You're right next door. Yeah, we cleaned up that. We had one visit to Rhode Island on this tour, and we made it count. So it was a tremendous afternoon. And I thank all the good folks down at the Barnes and Noble if they're still Rhode Island. That's right. Where the Patriots used to train in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And now I understand next stop, New Hampshire. Yes. And I want to just let your listeners know that we will be in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Sunday for the next book signing. It is the first of two book signings, Ken. We're going to be at the Barnes and Noble-- first of two book signings in New Hampshire, I would say. We're going to be at the Barnes and Noble in Portsmouth right up the street from New York H. And that's going to happen on Sunday. We'll be there from 12 to 2 o'clock. And of course, I mentioned it's the first of two. The second of two, you'll be joining me in Manchester, New Hampshire on the 14th of September. And that's going to be the final stop on the 2024 Summer Book Tour. Well, I'm happy to be joining you on the 14th of September. We'll have a lot of fun. I know we will. And it'll always great to see you, John. And you did an outstanding job on the last Wednesday night at the Bank of New Hampshire stage. Anything else going on in your young life? Ah, you know, just plodding along, trying to fill time with the book signings. And I have an open mic coming up again down in my hometown so that's going to be happening this Thursday. It's a matter of fact. So any opportunity that I get to get out there with the music, I relish it. But I wanted to also mention one other note on that September 14th book signing in Manchester, Ken. You are going to be with me. We're going to be having a live internet radio broadcast on that day. And I'm sure we'll talk more about that in the weeks to come. Oh, you know it. And of course, the Patriots open their preseason last Thursday night. They beat Carolina, but Drake May only took six snaps. What did you make of that, John? Yeah, really a small sample size. But of course, I think it's impossible to draw any conclusions from that. I'm happy he got into the game a little bit. But Joe Milton was impressed. Oh, man. Was he ever? Yeah. Yeah, he showed a lot of skills out there. Mobile quarterback. I saw him avoid a fact and then turn it into a 13-yard game. So I hope the Patriots consider keeping him on the roster. I know they'll be pretty steep. At the depth chart, percent, of course, has the NFL experience. And May is the quarterback of the future. But I like what I saw a lot in Joe Milton. And there was a lot to like about that win on Thursday night. There was. And Joe Milton, I think, was the highlight for sure. And a sixth round draft pick out of Tennessee. He did play a couple of years at Michigan, but not very much played more at Tennessee. But that sixth round was rather fortunate in the past for the Patriots. Maybe it will be again. Yeah, where have we seen that before, right? Right, right. That would be Mr. Tom Brady. Yeah, it was drafted in the sixth round. Who indeed, by the way, Ken, will be making his broadcasting debut for Fox on opening a day when the Dallas Cowboys take on the Cleveland Brown. So curious to see how Tom will do. I'm sure he'll crush it. I have no doubt. I think he's going to be a great analyst for Fox. He better be, he's being paid enough for it. But at any rate, we shall see what plays out with the Patriots quarterback situation. And look for John next Sunday, right? Sunday in Portsmouth. Yes, next Sunday, 12-2 at the Barnes & Noble in Portsmouth over by UNH. If you're in the area, please stop in. I'd love to see you. All right, John, thanks as always. We appreciate it. Again, it's my pleasure. Have a great week. You, too, and enjoy baseball fans' day. I love it. Go red for it. All right, there's John Leahy. It's also National Middle Child Day, if you're a middle child. Hey, coming up, we're going to have a great guest. At least we hope he will be. We're going to be joined by William Cooper. And he has written a new book called How America Works and Why It Doesn't, a brief guide to the US political system. Coming up right here, WKXL, nhtalkradio.com. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental, and we shall be right back. Kaling Company Live here on WKXL, nhtalkradio.com. Great to have you with us on this Monday morning. The brand new book just recently out is How America Works and Why It Doesn't, a brief guide to the US political system. What a time for it to come out. Now, we welcome William Cooper and not bad timing, William. Yeah, thanks, Ken. Great to be here, and I agree. Timing has been good. Timing is everything. Mr. Cooper, by the way, is an attorney, author, a national columnist, and what are people around the world and around the country? You're in Boise, Idaho today, wondering about America. What are some of the misconceptions and why it's not working? Well, I think what happens, Ken, is most people, not everybody, but most people, tend to blame the other side of the political aisle, right? If you ask a lot of Republicans, we'll say Democrats are the reasons why. The Democrats will say Republicans are the reasons why, and they'll have their own particular argument. My view is that it's actually much broader than that, and it's the American people themselves, and the fact that majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle neither know nor care how the country's supposed to work, and that's the underlying problem. And in your view, how is it supposed to work? Well, there's essential principles that have really helped America succeed over the centuries. Some of them are in the Constitution, and some of them aren't. But some of the basics include federalism, separation of powers, free speech, things of that nature. A really good example of how the country's supposed to work, but how it hasn't been working well recently is the peaceful transfer of power. Our last election, in my view, Donald Trump, did a lot to undermine that, and that might be the most important essential principle of all, and yet he's still, despite that, the Republicans' champion. That's just one example, though. So what, in your opinion, are the worst provisions in the Constitution, and trace their impact throughout history? What are those provisions? Yeah, so the Constitution, in my view, is not just something that should be championed or criticized. It should be both. It's an irony of history that the same document that contains several abominations that you allude to also did a lot for helping human flourishing over the years. On the worst side, I think the three fifths and slave trade clause, we can all agree, were huge mistakes and really, unfortunately, a part of our history that lasted up through the Civil War, and the reverberations continued well past that. And we still feel them. And in some way, today, even though the 13, 14, and 15th amendments all abolished savory, I also think the Second Amendment, while it's a valid constitutional provision that deserves to be respected as a valid provision of the Constitution, I do think it was a mistake. And we see the breadth of the clause was a mistake. And we see that in our culture of guns and violence. We have the worst gun death data in the world for advanced democracies in the West. And I think that's a real shame. In Chapter 5 of your book, you analyze three essential traditions that are not in the Constitution but are central to the American story. What are they, and do you feel those transitions are holding-- those traditions, I should say, are holding firm or being threatened? Yeah, so just because something not in the Constitution, of course, doesn't mean it's not a really important part of our history and our functioning of our government. So I talk about capitalism, for example. That's a real important part of our history and how we arrived where we are today. It's not in the Constitution. It's just something we, as a country, decided to do. I think it's worked very well over time on balance. While capitalism has negatives, I think it's been a real positive. And some of the excesses we see today in capitalism with extreme inequality, things like that are things that I think we could remedy without tossing out the whole system itself. So that's an example. Another example is the rule of law. You can write things down on paper, whether it's in a Constitution, a piece of legislative law, or a court case. You can put it on paper. Doesn't mean people are going to actually follow it. But our country's had a tradition, an ethos, of following the rule of law in a way that compared to other countries historically and even today, has been very successful and important. And I do worry that that is fraying in some respects. And if people don't respect the rule of law, it doesn't matter what the Constitution says, it doesn't matter what the law say. You actually need people to follow and respect those laws. You know, the Democrats have been saying for a long time now, or at least since Donald Trump came on the political scene, that Donald Trump is going to ultimately destroy our democracy. They use that term often. What do they mean by that? It's an interesting phrase. And to be critical of the Democrats on this, I think they often overstate the case against Trump or get it wrong, or our sloppy in how they criticize him, that particular term is often undefined. So it's not a very helpful part of our discourse to just say something so severe without really explaining or defining it. To those that actually do define it, it's often a assertion that Trump's going to be a dictator or an authoritarian. And I think that's very misguided. I think that's a real mistake. I mean, Donald Trump is not capable of actually becoming a real dictator, real dictator dictates all of government. So they control the whole of government. And as we saw in Trump's first term, there was enormous pushback at the federal level in Congress, the courts, even his own administrative state. And then at the state and local level, you saw enormous pushback. And the idea that Trump is going to actually take over all of government, all the layers, all the different aspects, and sort of start this MAGA authoritarianism, I think is very far-fetched. I think what you'd see instead is much more of a chaotic type of governing from the White House, where he'd be able to achieve certain things, other things he would not be able to achieve. And there'd be lots of dysfunction. But it wouldn't be an end of our democracy, and it wouldn't be a dictatorship. But there's really, when Democrats do say that, there's very rarely any pushback on it. Nobody asked them to define that. But I think you did it pretty clearly. Yeah, I've written about that quite a bit, including in the book and my column at Newsweek. I've written about that as well. But I think you're right, it often goes unaddressed. And that's not helpful. I think when you're dealing with a real challenge, like Donald Trump, it's much better to be accurate, to be measured, and to be sober. That way you maintain credibility with everybody. When you start saying he's gonna be a dictator, half the country swaps away what you're saying without paying attention, because on its face, it's absurd. But if you stay focused and actually criticize Trump accurately, you can change hearts and minds at least on the margins, 'cause people know you're being serious and trying to make sense of things. I guess this is William Cooper, author of How America Works, and why it doesn't a brief guide to the US political system. What do you see, William, is the root cause of Americans' irrationality? Well, in my view, there's three elements working together that create a flywheel of the rationality that have led the American people to become, to meet this state of real irrationality across both sides. The first element is just age-old human bias. Humans are biased. We all have it to vary in degrees. A cognitive bias, like confirmation bias is a good example, where you interpret new information to fit a pre-existing worldview instead of accurately. So that's the first element. We all have it, to some degree. The second element is deficiencies in the political system. Those have been around for quite a while as well. You've got a two-party system where you have juggernauts on both sides, the Democrats, the Republicans, and this bitter rivalry, and that inflames tribalism. The fewer the tribes, the worse the tribalism. So there's this big rivalry, and it's compounded by close primaries, gerrymandering, and some other things. So that's the second element, the political structure. And then you combine the newest element, which is the internet and social media where everybody can find their eco-chamber to confirm their biases. What you have is this flywheel spinning in the same direction where everybody's getting really, really revved up, really irrational, and really biased, and that feeds into our politics and produces the results we're seeing with failed policies and candidates that aren't good fit for the job and the like. I guess just as William Cooper, and he has a new book, it is just out, the timing couldn't be better. The book is called "How America Works" and why it doesn't. A brief guide to the US political system. Very interesting book, and Mr. Cooper, stay with us, and we shall return right here at WKXLNHtockRadio.com. We are presented by Northeast Delta Dental, and we'll be right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome back, Kale and Company Live here on WKXL. Great to have you with us on this Monday. And we are presented as always by Northeast Delta Dental. William Cooper is our guest, author of "How America Works" and why it doesn't. A brief guide to the US political system. Very well timed in its release. Did you have that in mind when you set a date to release the book? - Yeah, we thought that it might make good sense with the lead up to the election. Although I will say that by the time I started writing it in Donald Trump's popularity was still very high. This was about 15 months ago. I figured any book on that subject over the next couple of years was gonna be well timed. So we had it in mind, but we also knew we probably had a pretty good window for things to be on people's minds in this way. - What are some of the most egregious public policy failures that America's gridlocked government fails to address? - Yeah, well the irrationality and bias and part of the chip that I've spoken about has produced some really bad results in government. I mean, it's not just among the people, but people in the government are in a lot of ways, one in the same and the results you would expect we're seeing where we're just not addressing really big challenges. One example is immigration. I'm not saying one side of the other is doing terrible and the other side is doing great. I'm saying as a country, we could do so much better trying to have humane, rational laws, but we haven't passed major legislation there since really since Reagan was president and it's such an important, complicated issue. And what we have right now is very dysfunctional in a lot of different ways. Our healthcare system is also very uneven, very expensive, produces a lot of results that are really hard to square with the goal of giving everybody good healthcare. Our economy, while it's very vibrant and strong, the extreme wealth at the top, it's quite excessive. You've got in the same country, people worth hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of millions struggling to get food and shelter. So there's a number of issues that if the government was just thinking about things, not in a partisan way, not focused on short-term political victories, but just addressing problems, we could do so much better. - Yeah, I would have to agree, it's too bad. There isn't more harmony on both sides of the aisle, but I guess two of the most dangerous letters in our English language are D and R. So as long as we have those divisions of parties that seem to gridlock everything, we're gonna be stuck for a long time to come, I'm afraid. - I think that's what I can't think that's exactly right. - Any politicians that come to mind William, regardless of party whose words or actions give you any hope for the future? - Well, I'm a moderate, and I like, at least to try to have the facts dictate the conclusion and just follow the facts, be accurate, try to get things right. And there are not a lot of politicians that are really focused on that, they're much more into their political tribes, but Romney and Bennett in the Senate, I think are two examples on both sides where folks are often trying to just get things done, get things done the right way, remember the traditions and principles of our country that got us here. And those are two examples. Unfortunately for me, it's a little hard as more and more of these tribes have taken over the government and you just get tribal warriors on both sides. - Yeah, it is. And Mitt Romney seems to be someone that can relate to both sides of the aisle and a very polished individual, but when it came to a general election for president didn't do so well. - He didn't, now he had a very, you know, art opponent Barack Obama was a generational political talent, but you're right, he didn't do so well and it's too bad, it'd be great if he was running this time around, I think it would be a much better candidate for the Republican. I will add to that Romney is retiring, I mean, he's looking at the scene and saying, look, I just don't fit in here anymore, Republicans are not focused on following the constitution, they're not focused on the facts, and those are what have guided me. I think it's really unfortunate, and I will say this, one of the most important things to look at over the coming years, if Donald Trump does win the election in November, is the Senate, is the confirmation process, that has been an unbelievably important check on Trump because he needs his cabinet to get approved by the Senate, he needs his judges to be approved by the Senate. As long as there's several moderate Republicans in the Senate, I think that'll be okay, you can count on the entire Democratic side to go against Trump. We need moderate senators in there to make sure responsible people get into these really important positions, so I was disappointed to see Romney retire. - Yeah, and what do you see is some of the bigger threats to democracy today? We touched on that earlier, but what are the threats that you see to democracy? - So there's two primary threats that I talked about in the book. The first is the criminalization of politics, and this is where in the criminal justice realm, people start going after, prosecutors start going after the political opponents more and more. In American politics, the most fundamental role of all is that whatever the other side does to me, I have to do back to them twice as hard. And we started seeing that in the criminal justice realm. It's gonna be a huge problem. We saw Trump convicted in New York. I think even though I am not a fan of Donald Trump, I think those charges would not have been brought against an ordinary person, and I think it was a mistake. I think if Republicans return the favor with Biden, if we see, for example, Joe Biden leave office and then shortly thereafter, an indictment comes down from some Republican prosecutor in Delaware, for example. If you see that race to the bottom, actually really accelerate. It could be a huge, huge problem, 'cause for example, nobody is gonna run for office if they think there's a heightened probability they go to jail afterwards. So we would have a real personnel problem, and it would be taking the political realm and injecting it in the criminal justice realm. And if that takes off in a big way, it could be an enormous problem for the functioning of our government, for our country. The other threat that I see, which I think is more far along, is the election system itself. I mean, what Trump did after the 2020 presidential election where he tried not just on January 6, but for months in a variety of ways, to overturn the results. I mean, he was telling people in the Justice Department to say there was fraud and leave it up to him to do the rest. He was pressuring local officials on the phone to get fake slates of electors. If that sort of activity is allowed to continue and does, we're gonna be in a lot of trouble, 'cause like I said, the first principle of our government is you respect the vote, and after an election, the government is re-engineered to fit the will of the voters. If we lose that, it's really the premise of everything else. Everything else flows from that. So we really have to stay focused on protecting it. So I think those are the two threats that are most cognizant in my mind. - Is your book, William, a love letter or a wake-up call? - I think it's both, Ken, it's a good question. I definitely do love the country. And I think over the course of the last several hundred years, the system has really worked well. I mean, if you look at the way people live now compared to the way they lived in, you know, 1800, in this country, there's been tremendous improvements. If you look at the long arc of human history, our government's been very, very successful. And I think some of the core principles and traditions of the country have gotten us here. So it concerns me that right now, this wake-up call I'm trying to make is, look, look at the success we've had. Hasn't been perfect, hasn't been linear. We've had civil wars and all sorts of, we had a civil war and all sorts of problems. But the principles work, the key principles work. And so we need to wake up and start learning them again, following them again, having civics be something that we respect, appreciate, learn in school and continue to learn and appreciate, you know, after school. So it's both a love letter and a wake-up call, I think. - And what would you say to someone who's not planning to vote in the 2024 presidential election? - I would urge them to vote. I would urge them to look past the local party and ask themselves as a practical matter. Which candidates do you trust to run the country in an honest, competent way? Which group of people that are presented to you to run the country both the president and the likely cabinet? And which one do you think would do a better job dealing with what really is a dangerous world and a big country with lots of problems? - Well, great advice, outstanding book. And William Cooper, thank you for being with us today. We truly appreciate it. - Thank you Ken, really appreciate you having me. You've got a great job, but privilege to be honest. - Well, thank you. And William is the author of How America Works and why it doesn't a brief guide to the US political system. Thanks so much again, William Cooper. And thank you very much for listening as well here today on WKXL, nhchonkradio.com presented by Northeast Delta Dental. And remember to always look on the bright side of life. Have a great Monday everybody. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)