The Big K Morning Show
A Talk With Lenny McAllister
in many ways and shocking yesterday and at first did a double take when realized just after 2 p.m. Eastern former president Donald Trump while enjoying a round of golf at his course, the Jones and West Paul Beach area, he owns a number in Florida and New Jersey too, an assassination attempt. In this case, no one was shot or injured and they have a suspect. Who they caught up with after a citizen took down the license plate of this car that seemed suspect, you know, when they say when you see something, say something, well, whoever did allow them to catch up with 58 year old Ryan Wesley Ruth of Hawaii, spent most of his life in North Carolina. We had anticipated talking to our political analyst, Lenny McAllister who joins us by our video stream at kdk radio.com. And Lenny is in California, San Diego and Eric Tory Pines, a famous golf resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Lenny, good morning. Good morning, Larry. Appreciate you doing this. For those that don't know, the West Coast, there are three hours behind us. So it's nice and very much so. Yes. Really shocking news. It would, you know, for a moment, you go, oh, no, not again. Emphasizing, of course, first and foremost, former president, not injured, he's safe and no one else hurt, but still extremely disturbing. What was your first reaction? That it was disturbing that we are in violent times that every time I talk about the analogy of 1968, incidents like these illustrate that we truly are living in those explosive times. That people are scared and scared. People do very desperate things. And if you look at all the types of incidences that we've seen over the recent past several years, it indicates that. And unfortunately, now people are more and more inclined to take shots at political figures in a way that we used to do in America's history and not so, you know, far back history. Again, you go back to Ronald Reagan in 1981, you go back to the assassinations of 1968. And it really illustrates to us that on all sides, we need to bring down the rhetoric. On all sides, we need to really think about we have a system of government that isn't, you know, a zero-sum game. They built this system of government for us to be forced to compromise and work together. But the more that Americans feel as though it's a zero-sum game in politics and public policy, the more they feel that the only way they're going to win is either win the election or take somebody out. And when you have that type of rhetoric and belief system coupled with the anxiety that you're seeing in our society, it's not a shock, unfortunately, that something like this would happen yet again. And in this case, they have a treasure trove already of information on this suspect and not exactly sure, you know, what his motivation is. And we may come to learn directly from this Ryan Ruth. But in the meantime, it puts an edge on what was already extremely volatile and edgy to begin with. Another edge in this campaign. It does. And what you have to remember, Larry, is this, that if some of the information that came out yesterday also said that he had written notes to Biden, notes to Vice President Harris, talking about what they needed to do in order to deal with the Ukrainian Russian war, what they needed to do on other political issues. And then from what, and this is the initial report, so we have to get verifications and confirmations. But part of what also came out was there was an angst of nobody's going to do anything. And if you look at assassins throughout American history, oftentimes these are people that are isolated that believe that the system has failed me. It's not fair. It's not right. And I must intercede in order to change the course of history. And usually when you have people thinking that way, it usually involves a gun and it usually involves something very tragic. In this case, we're talking about somebody who's had a long history of that. And we will find out, I feel confident that they'll once they interview this. But this brings up the greater concern about the world we live in and securing our political candidates and the Secret Service and the FBI who have been much maligned into what happened in Butler County in July 13th. So the challenges are even greater now than ever to protect the people who are in these campaigns. And it's greater because the flip side to it is we live in an era where we want our public figures, whether it's a music celebrity or a football player, excuse me, or in this instance, a political figure, we want them accessible. So you think about what happened with JFK in '63. Part of the failure of the Secret Service there and led to JFK assassination was the fact that he was in a convertible. He was on a route where people can access him because he's trying to access the people. Now take something like that and put it on the steroids of social media in 2024, where we can find out anybody's movement at almost at any given time. There's a reason why people knew that Donald Trump was golfing yesterday. It's because there was some type of leak. He's often there. He's shot on the golf course, taking shots and you see stuff on Instagram and social media and the like and people are commenting on it. You're going to see this from both sides. And I think the American people may end up suffering because that accessibility, that hey, that person knows me and is there for me, may start receding. And that, unfortunately, there's going to be a self-perpetuating cycle because some of these people believe that people are already too detached in politics. So if you start pulling them away for their own safety, it just creates a bigger scasm which leads to some of these people that say, look, they're reacting less to us. They're listening less to us. And it just feeds in to that cycle, which can make it even more dangerous. Well, when we come back, Lenny McAllister in California this morning again on our video vMix, you can watch the radio at kdkradio.com. Lenny, I want to ask and talk to you about what happens next now that this attempt, but we are 50 days from the election. We continue our conversation with political analyst, Lenny McAllister, who is with us from California this morning, Tori Pines along the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. So Lenny, how does this change? If it does, I mean, unfortunately, we've been through this before, but now the campaign and the rhetoric, where do you suspect that the candidates will go from here? As saying that both Jill Biden and Kamala Harris obviously have put out statements condemning violence of any kind, especially against political candidates and President Biden promising to give whatever resources to keep former President Donald Trump safe. That said, what's next? The Trump base is going to be ginned up even more. They I'm already hearing it. They already believe that this is the deep state. This is the folks of the swamp of which to be drained. They don't want Trump back in there. They're saying that the establishment feels threatened. That's the only way that they feel like they're going to beat Trump in an election is to kill Trump. So those folks are not only ginned up, but they're more protective. They're more excited about this election. And the energy is going to go up even more. Unfortunately, you know, and I'm not equating the two, but when you have Donald Trump that is said, I hate Taylor Swift, which came out over the weekend. When you have the all the rhetoric about eating cats and dogs and the JD Vance interview over the last 24 hours, where he's trying to defend the rumors coming out of Springfield, Ohio, not Illinois, all these other things coming up. It's just feeding into this, this anger, this hatred, this animosity, these tensions at a time where it's still a close election. You still have people that have economic angst. You still have these hot spots around the world. And you still have this divided America, people that that support Donald Trump are even more fired up and believe that that they have to make sure he gets elected. And then you have people that look at this and say, Donald Trump is feeding into all this hatred. And this is where this is coming from. We absolutely, positively can't go through another four years of him having the bully pulpit of the Oval Office and leading to this type of tone. Unfortunately, it's not bringing down the tensions. It's probably going to ratchet them up for another 50 days. And I have to say, Larry, it's going to be more than 50 days because half of the country is going to be hurt and angry and scared, regardless of who wins this election. We really need leaders that are really good at showing America that they love all of America and bring people back into the fold. And we just haven't seen that over the last couple of decades from anybody on a long term basis from a position of leadership. And we definitely need it in 2024. This whole Springfield, Ohio situation was blown out of proportion in the sense that even the Republican governor of Ohio said, now we investigate it. That's not happening. But people just look the other, they keep talking about it. Rather, it's a huge distraction. And frankly, it's been dangerous in Springfield, Ohio for the residents there. Instead of really talking about the important facts, it's a major distraction that went on almost all last week since it came out. Up until now, this will be the next thing. So they'll move off of that narrative, I would imagine. But it's still not talking about the real details of platforms and what you're actually going to do. Well, let's go back to the debate. I mean, what ended up happening with that was Donald Trump gave no details, which gave Kamala Harris an opportunity to not give any details. I mean, people forget that one of the big critiques about the vice president is in fact at number one, she's not been giving a whole lot of really good details as to how she's going to implement the plans that she's proposing. And number two, she has yet to explain why she's had some major 180 degree shifts from some of the policies that she put out there not that long ago when she actually ran for president, including how she switched so drastically on fracking. There's several different things that she needs to explain that she has yet to do. And we're talking about dogs in Springfield, Ohio, and we're buying into and feeding into some of the most basic hatreds in stereotypes that we can have in our nation. Again, part of the reason why this is resonating with a small sliver of America, and I won't I won't say it's a majority of America, but a resonating portion of America is because you're talking about immigrants. In this instant, you're talking about dark skinned immigrants, and you're talking about some of the most basal biases about people that are other. They're eating cats and dogs. They're your rapist and murderers. They're they're robbing and killing people. These are the things that we've continued to hear. And it's the politics of fear that's been playing out for the last several years. I mean, this goes back to not that long ago again. And this is why what John McCain did in 2008 was so important. This was trying to fester in 2008. And he grabbed the microphone and had very incidents famous incidents that no, no, no. He's a good man. He's just like us. We just disagree on policy. 16 years later, nobody's doing that. They're actually feeding into it. And in some instances, on both sides of the aisle, which of course only makes the bases more tense and only brings about more of the paranoia. And you start to see more of these type of actions and hopefully this will be the last incident involving a gun and a major political candidate in 2024. And dare I say for America's future overall as well. Hard to believe it's been less than a week since the presidential debate and look what's transpired since. And by the way, at the end of last week, Donald Trump said this. So because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate. So we know there's no third debate, at least, as of now, don't anticipate that changing. But the vice presidential debate, JD Vance, and Tim Walz will be October 1st. So that'll be the next and that's just a couple of weeks away. But in the meantime, who knows what can happen in between here and there, right, Lenny? The crazy thing about these political cycles is the fact that we get so much information over a short period of time. And Larry, this is part of the problem too. You keep saying it and you're right. Nobody's talking about issues because we're getting bombarded with the pop politics of America where people, there are some voters that are just like, I'm sick of it, I'm done with it. Neither party cares and they're not really speaking to me. And they walk away, which is why there are people that think that this election should be shifting one way or another. If you look at the economy, they think it should definitely still be Trump. And if you look at the debate performance, they think it should definitely be Harris. But it's still a close election because you have a certain tone within the American electorate that says, no one's really listening, nobody really cares and they're self-absorbed and they're not really paying attention to me. And that is problematic because that is a problem that's long-term and it will lead to our government and our public policy mechanisms not working for the everyday American moving forward regardless of who wins. And the countdown continues 50 days to the election. Lenny McCallister, our political analyst and a man who wears many hats, including the one that takes him to California. Safe travels home Lenny and thanks for making time. Thank you kind, so I got to bless you all. See you next week in person. This is the Big K Morning Show. This half hour, we'll check in with Marty Griffin. I'm sure he'll have a lot to say about what's transpired over the weekend. Meanwhile, we welcome University of Pittsburgh sophomore Colin Ferguson, who is part of our team overnight. It's next take Pittsburgh and he joins us on our video. VMAX, you can see Colin at kdkradio.com. Good morning. Good morning, Larry. How are you? I'm doing well. It was a busy weekend, a lot going on, but the important news of what transpired yesterday afternoon in West Palm Beach, Florida. Curious how college students are reacting to this second assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump. What do you guys talk about when things like this happen and this is the second time, as you well know, since July 13th? It's kind of terrifying. This is the first time in our lives we're seeing events that are transpiring. It's such like a mass degree. It's to have attempts on a life at somebody of this pedigree. It's unprecedented for us. So it's my roommate and I were kind of like, we were watching the Giants game when it happened, and we just kind of dropped everything. It was stunning. It's so unexpected. Yeah, I would agree. Stunning. I felt the same way and I looked twice curious. Excuse me, where do most college students get their news now? Social media, right? A lot of social media. Yeah, so mine came on an ex-push notification. That was the first word I had. And then what is the conversation like when we talk about this very divisive world we live in? Country split down the middle 50 days now to election day in this campaign. I would love to be a fly on the wall in what you and your fellow students talk about when it comes to these issues. Look, whether we agree or disagree with his policy, what have you, the general consensus is he doesn't deserve to die. That is absolutely like so far and beyond not okay. There's not a lot of debate about that fact. The debate is whether or not we agree with his policy, what he says, but that's not relevant, at least in my eyes, when there's a full on second attempt at his life within the last couple of months. And what about the issues? We get very little about the details of the issues, just these broad brushes that the candidates paint with. What's most important to you? For me personally, it's kind of a bit of a healthy mix. I like to focus a lot about health care specifically. That's just a me thing because I am diabetic myself, so that's just one of those things that I kind of hyper fixate on. It's the things that are in my life that happen around me that I tend to give the most precedence to do the most attention to. Do you plan on voting? I'm guessing yes. Yes, first time, I'm excited. First time, and then when you talk to fellow students, I got to tell you, when I was in college, I couldn't even imagine what percentage of the students actually voted, but it seems like this generation is a little more engaged, so do you anticipate most of the people you know voting? I do, I very much do. It helps that I live with a policy side major. I know a lot of them, but at the same time, the university community has done a fantastic job every day. If you walk out by the cathedral or by the pit union, there's at least two, not maybe three tables of people trying to make sure people are registered, people are getting their voices heard. The community is doing a phenomenal job to make sure that students are actually prepared and are able to make their voices heard, and I think that's a tremendous thing, and that's really, really critical in terms of getting people to show up to the polls. All right, politics aside, what are you guys talking about on campus? Right now, it's all about the brawl. I won't lie. That was one heck of a football game. Were you there? I was there. Yep. Let me tell you something, Colin, that's a rarefied, that's a legendary type game and performance that you'll remember for a long, long time. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, without a doubt, that was that was tremendous. I don't think I've ever been to a sports game quite like that. Yeah, that was special. All right, overnight's one until five. We have our college students. It's a great opportunity to get a window into their world. We appreciate what you're doing, Colin. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Next take Pittsburgh on the big K. Colin Ferguson, our guest in coming up. We're going to check in with Marty Griffin. Next, you want to reach out just to click away email us at instant access kdk radio.com. We all get your emails. Do you have comments, questions, suggestions, instant access at kdk radio.com. A lot of people have discovered it's just one way to stay in touch. Coming up 10 until two, Marty Griffin, and also in studio, former Secret Service agent for serving for presidents, Ron Layton, will be interested to hear his perspective on what transpired West Palm Beach, Florida, yesterday, outside of Donald Trump's golf course there, just after 2 p.m. yesterday. And in terms of keeping our candidates safe, this is shocking to a lot of people that there's a second attempt apparently on the life of former president Donald Trump. And right away indicating that he was safe, nobody else hurt the suspect in custody of 58 year old. And we'll get a lot more with Marty and Ron Layton coming up here right after the news at the top of the hour with David