FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Alabama Republican Party's ALGOP Chairman John Wahl - Jeff Poor Show - Tuesday 10-01-24
(upbeat music) ♪ Live and all ♪ - One bite to the Jet Porchola to talk, one of those six, five. Thanks for sticking around to what's left of this Tuesday morning, 34 minutes after the hour. Quick, real quick update here. What's going on in Tel Aviv? It sounds like a couple of gunmen have opened up fire. The busy train station is what Fox News is reporting. Israel looks like they are about to pounce here. So a lot of moving parts and pieces in the middle of the night over there in Israel that looks like we could see a escalation of hostilities, but we're keeping an eye on it here. Joining us now on the line, he is the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. John Wallace with us. Chairman, good morning, how are you? - Oh, I'm doing well, good to be on the show. - Hey, thanks for coming on. We always appreciate your time. Well, an interesting really mutual friend, our mutual friend spent his entire segment talking about sort of where we are with regards to the national election. But I really can be asking you this. One big piece of this, these battleground states and North Carolina in particular, but I think this disaster relief and sort of this perception, maybe it's not the reality, but it's a perception that the federal government response has been very, very underwhelming. I think this matters. - I mean, look, it absolutely does, and it is absolutely underwhelming. I was talking to someone just the other day who was from Florida. I was actually at the Alabama Georgia game. And they showed me a picture of an airport in North Florida where Ron DeSannis had over 1,000 utility trucks. It worked out, you know, something before the storm even hit, he had worked out and he had, before the storm hit, he had a staging area with over 1,000 utility trucks ready to go to, so Florida was back online as soon as possible. That's called proactive leadership. That's Republican leadership. That's this mentality of actually serving the people of government, putting people first. The Biden administration? And by the way, the Biden-Harris administration. We're days later and they still don't have a clue. They still don't aren't mobilized. And so I think there's a very clear cut. There's a very clear decision here. If you want a government that actually cares about the people, if you want a government that actually can be organized and they can actually get the job done, it is not the Democratic Party. They fail in every area that they try to accomplish. - So the else, I think this matters. The national media aren't really handling this as I think as well, or aren't really covering this as if it were Katrina or even Puerto Rico during Trump or whatever. But where I think it really matters and this is where it's got a backfire on them. Sure, the national media can run cover for this administration if it must. But those people in North Carolina are where it matters. The local media, I think this is way more of a profound, more important thing that's happened to this election cycle. And then I look, I'm not trying to be insensitive. There's a real human suffering here, but that this is gonna have a far bigger impact and the governor controversy there. - Absolutely, you know, look, the people, and it's not just North Carolina. You know, let's add North Georgia into this. You know, that's kind of going under the radar, but the mountains in North Georgia also had terrible, terrible footing. And I think you're right, you see firsthand the impact that the lack of government organization has. And the bottom line is, the Democrat Party are more interested in climate change and they're more interested in blaming this on climate change and getting their political narrative out than they are actually talking to people in need. And that to me is the status part. We're seeing that the country, we're seeing what happens when you have leadership that is so socially driven and they're so self-absorbed that they forget the role and the purpose of government. Because government was not designed to learn our lives, government was designed to protect the rights and the freedom of the people and to help them in times of disaster where inter-state cooperation was needed. And I think this is actually highlighting, and I certainly hope that our Republican leaders, President Donald Trump, you know, elected officials and certainly I as Chairman of Alabama pointing this out, this is exactly the problem with politics today, especially on the side of the left. They care more about their agenda than they do actually serving the people that they will want you to represent. - Yeah, I think you're absolutely right here, Chairman. I think this is a golden opportunity for conservatives, not just Republicans, but like, what role do you want government to play in your life? And even if you think all this diversity is our strength and all this work stuff is a net benefit to society as a whole, we can agree or disagree on that. But that should not be a priority over just like simple blocking and tackling functions of government, delivering the mail, ensuring the public safety during a natural disaster, you know, these things that are like assumed to be duties of government. And at least conservatives could say, hey, what kind of all-encompassing government role do you want in your life? Do you want transgender bathrooms? Or do you want that six-year-old to be rescued off the roof at Burnsville, North Carolina? And you need to choose your warrior here. - Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, in disasters like this, it also highlights the fundamental truth. And that fundamental truth, it doesn't matter what, quote-unquote, diversity, equity, thinking you are, it doesn't matter if you're a different race or what gender or whatever, we're all human beings who face the same problems, who face the same crisis. And we're all just people, whatever our backside is. We're just people made the image of God with the same rights, the same privileges, the same, the same basic needs. And it is in these disasters that we can recognize the humanity and every single one of us and that we should concentrate looking at people as individuals, not on any other qualifications. So that's another thing that I always like to highlight here. This is the human need, forget anything else. And I think if we can, the more we can draw together, the better it is because when communities get together, when individuals get together, we have strength. And it's once again, it's a Democrat party that tries to create these divisions and these lines where we separate people because divided we fall, we stand together. - Yeah, now we'll Republicans, are they able to articulate this? Are they able to talk about these things in a big picture since? And I don't know if they do or not, but I don't know, you know, especially with those slanted media, but that's the winning formula, right? - Yeah, it really is. I mean, I certainly hope and if I was actually speaking with Republican elected officials and governors across the southern region, which is my region within the RNC, talking to them about how Republican states around these states could help in the absence and the failure from the Biden-Harris administration. So I hope to see that over the coming days, we'll see, you know, our neighbors in these areas take care of help with this disaster and maybe even take the lead as we're actually trying to be proactive in literally helping those in need, which is one of the greatest things you can do as both as an individual and then also as a government. - I enjoyed my Alabama Republican party, Chairman John Wall here on the program. Chairman, how do you feel about, I think these debates are, I mean, obviously we had like one big debate this year that changed the entire presidential election. But I find them to be a little, I don't see it significant, but maybe not quite as important to the overall direction of the election. They're very marginal, but how do you feel about tonight? - You know, I'm actually very optimistic about tonight. I think, I think J.V. Vance is more and more prepared to take on the issues, to talk about those issues and to really highlight the difference between the values of the Republican party and the Democratic Party. Wall, we'll see how prepared he is and we'll see whether he'd able to articulate, articulate their message. I think the battle for him is the fact that in J.D. Vance you have someone who eats, sleeps and breathes politics. He knows the issues, he's a policy guy. He's been there, he's also a younger Democratic, very energetic, he's got a great style. I think this is going to be a good debate for Republicans. However, I'm also in formation with what you just said. At this point, the American people kind of know what to think and they kind of know where the candidates stand. And I think they're fighting, you know, tonight's debate can be fought over one or two percent of people that might actually change their vote. So very little margins for gain or for loss. But I think, I'm looking forward to this debate. I think we will see a positive debate for Republicans in my opinion. - Now, I know we got like a, I don't know how serious the situation unfolding in the Middle East is. And I don't know if there's any, I don't know if there's even a ceiling for like a October surprise or at least for Trump. Because I mean, he's been running, he's been running for almost 10 years now for president and they've thrown everything at him. What do they have left in the tank? We'll say this though, Chairman Kamala Harris, maybe there is the possibility of an October surprise there. However, that being said, put that aside, I don't think that stuff is, if these kind of stay status quo, I think voter behavior is going to be based on what their little corner of the world looks like. And if that is the case, I mean, that out of favor of the Republican candidate because the Democratic candidate represents the status quo. - Now that bill is a press right. And we know from polling, when you talk about candidates on a personality basis, things can be different. But if you go directly to the issues and you ask the American people, which party do you think would do a better job of rebuilding our economy? It's overwhelmingly Republican. If you ask people which party do you believe has a stronger foreign policy that would better protect America? The vast majority of Americans say it's a Republican party. We are the party that has a policy on our side. The American people know it. They know that this reckless spending from the Democrats is gonna bankrupt our country. They know Republicans are better at the economy. They know we're better with foreign policy. They know we're better at destroying the border. We just have to go and make sure that between now and November 5th, we're talking about those issues and not allowing the press to draw off the personality. We understand the issues and talk about this and how it affects the American people. Because when we do, we win. The American people know the Republican party are better on these issues. We just have to make sure they vote on actual policy and not a personality. - Yeah, and the personality is all they really got. And some people, I think this, like the personality thing with Trump is like, yeah, sure, it maybe it hurts him with some voters, but there is also an upside to the Trump personality that he has increased voter enthusiasm, brought in new voters. I mean, that's always ignored by these like never Trumper, like Republican intelligentsia types that if he just wouldn't tweet so much or he just wouldn't do this or that, he would get voters like me for him. But I think that that added dimension of a presidential candidate also has a big, big upside, maybe even a bigger upside. I don't know how you quantify it, but it has a big upside in their eyes. - No, that's absolutely right. And we know Donald Trump both in 2016 and in 2020, he over performed his polling. And I want to highlight that because look, Hillary Clinton was in the lead in the polls, headed into 2026, I mean, in 2015. She was in the lead and he won. Donald Trump was far behind in the polling, headed into 2020, and I think you can make the argument that that election was, could have even been stolen. Donald Trump may have won that election and had it stolen through unconstitutional voting practices. I would actually submit that as very, in my opinion, most likely, I think the mail out voting and the unconstitutional things that were done by Secretary of State's or the Secretary cost him that election. It's not voter fraud outright. And so you're looking at the situation where you've had two election cycles where Donald Trump over performed at that extent, why would that change? So I think you're right, we're in a neck-and-neck situation right now if Donald Trump continues that trend of over performing, we're in a very good place. And I would do want to address, though, this idea that if Donald Trump wouldn't, I wish he wouldn't tweet, whatever. I have a very different opinion. I think we as Americans have a long for a candidate, long for a president, long for elected officials to be honest with us, to communicate with us. The press call on candidates all the time to be transparent. And in Donald Trump, you have the most transparent elected official in the White House that we have probably ever seen for at least the last hundred years. Where a sitting president would unfiltered completely unfiltered communication with the American people. There was no political consultants that are checking his text at three o'clock in the morning. And that is an incredible gift. You don't get that direct communication with the leader of the free world very often. And so whether you agree with them or disagree with them, I think the press should apologize. And every single American and every single member of the press should be thankful that we had a leader who was willing to communicate directly with his citizens, with the people of America, what he was thinking, whether you agree with them or not, that was an incredible gift. I think you get to overlook just how special that was. - Well, real quick before we let you go, and I want to kind of go back to this point. Like my radio colleague Dale Jackson, I get an argument about this all the time. He'd be like, well, if you look at these battleground states and the Republican on the ticket is outperforming Donald Trump. Why don't you attribute that to? But I would argue that that Republican, statewide Republican may out poll Trump, but part of what brought him to the dance to get that key bill to number was Trump at the top of the ticket. And without Trump at the top of the ticket, that Republican sinks a lot more, probably even below a Democrat running. That is like, he has coattails, and all of these like kind of like, I don't say necessarily never Trumpers, but I wish you would tone it down type. She's doing it wrong. They never acknowledged the coattails of the top of the ticket. - Now, let's try it. Look, midterms, midterms, not this last time, but with Donald Trump as president, the midterms of 2018, traditionally a time when the leading party loses seats, Donald Trump's leadership caused the Republican party to gain seats in the house. And I think that effect you were absolutely right. Donald Trump brings people out, he creates passion. Yes, he's polarizing. I bring passion on both sides. But I think you're right, he pulls people out to vote. They don't only vote because they're so excited about having someone who's not politically correct. And as far as him underperforming, look, he has been being attacked for 10 years straight in a way that we've never seen another political figure attack by the mainstream media. Constimperizes the fact that we're even sitting here, talking about the fact that he has the lead and the presidential race is almost a miracle with what he has faced. There's nothing they have now thrown at him. Forget the kitchen sink, they literally shot at him. And I think this is highlight how much America is looking for someone who's willing to be bold, who's willing to stand strong, who's willing to be politically incorrect, and actually serve the American people again. And put America first, that's the key, put America first again. - Chairman, we've got to leave it there, but I always appreciate our discussion to listen to this again next week. - Great, thank you, sir. It's always good to be on the show. - John Wall, Chairman, the Alabama Republican Party, we'll be right back. This is FM Talk, 106.5. (upbeat music) ♪ Be one ♪