The Big K Morning Show
Reaction To VP Debate, and Reagan The Movie
Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21-plus and present in Colorado, first online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issue does now withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt, restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. But to deny what happened on January 6th, the first time in American history that a president or anyone tried to overturn a fair election and the peaceful transfer of power. It's really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power on January the 20th as we have done for 250 years in this country. We are going to shake hands after this debate and after this election. And of course, I hope that we win and I think we're going to win, but if Tim Walsh is the next vice president, he'll have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes and he'll have my help whenever he wants it. The vice presidential debate on CBS last night from New York, Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. And most Americans polled overnight who were watching kind of aligned with their candidate on who they liked, but really statistically, apparently it was a tie. Well, we're honored to have with us Dr. Paul Kenghor, who is really a professor of political science at Grove City College, so much more in New York Times, best-selling author. Ken, welcome to Katie Kay. Good morning. Yeah, thanks, Larry. Good to be with you. So at Grove City, obviously, there is a strong faith-based education that goes on at a higher level there. So I'm just curious. You watched the debate. What was your take? Yeah, well, OK, so I thought J.D. Vance did exceptionally well and let me say this is a compliment to both of them. After watching debates between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, just going at each other's throats, the anger in the room and those other two previous debates, the vitriol, you're on edge the whole time. That debate last night, but you brought us back to the way I thought the debate should be. I mean, they debated like two gentlemen, and they both came off, I thought, as likable. Neither of them were you kind of spitting at them saying, "Oh, man, this guy." It was a good debate. It reminded me of Bush Carey in 2004. I go back 40 years, Reagan Mondale, right, in 1984. So I appreciated that. I thought that they both did well. I don't think that either did terribly. I mean, I actually thought, I'm surprised to hear that the overnight polls say that it was even because I really thought that Vance did better than walls. I thought the best kind of glove that walls landed was actually what you led with, Larry. The question about January 6, that puts Vance in a tough situation because he has to try to defend that in a way not to anger his boss. It's unfortunate for Vance that the moderators are going to bring that up and probably every debate. By the way, they didn't bring up Russia. They didn't bring up Afghanistan. I also thought they would even bring up how the two question one another's military records at one point. That didn't come up. I think by far the worst moment for Tim Walls, and this would be a credit to the debate moderators who, a lot of concerns are saying the debate moderators were biased. They weren't as biased as the ABC moderators, but they questioned Tim Walls on him claiming that he had been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protest in January 1989. I teach that stuff, like Grove City College, that Tiananmen Square, and I turned to my son next to me and I said, "Oh man, this is bad. I can't believe I answered this question." Because it's true, Walls was not there. His kind of stuttering and stammering to explain himself, and he didn't do it very well, and then the moderator went right back at him and said, "So, what are you saying? Were you there or not?" And then he kind of started in stammering again, and then kind of said that he misspoke. So that was his worst moment of the night, and Vance could have really stuck the knife in there at that point, but I think Vance actually felt bad for him on that. But overall, it was good to see a debate between two guys acting like gentlemen and having genuine policy debates and shaking hands afterwards and talking about shaking hands. I like that I was impressed. We're with Professor Paul Kengorp, Grove City College, and New York Times, best-selling author. I want to talk to you about Reagan because the film had been out in the theaters, obviously the timing of presidential campaign season, but we'll get to that in a moment, but I thought that Walls could have went after J.D. Vance about Springfield, and he did not. He could have brought up the eating of the pets thing, and he kind of backed off of that. So back and forth, they let each other off the hook at certain times throughout the course of the evening, and then you saw a moment of civility after where they shook hands like gentlemen, and apparently we're exchanging a conversation. Yeah, and I thought they treated each other quite gentlemanly the whole way through. And in fact, I'm the editor of the American Spectator, and I'm looking at our lead piece right now by Dan Flynn. And his take is this, the title of his piece is, and keep in mind, this is coming from a conservative, right? But he said Vance outclasses Walls in debate that validates his selection. Now, forget the outclasses Walls piece, because I thought they were both pretty classy, but there were a lot of Republicans who were starting to think that the J.D. Vance picked by Trump wasn't a good tick, that he should have picked somebody like maybe a Marco Rubio could have appealed to Latinos or whoever. But you're now hearing today from a lot of conservatives and Republicans who thought Trump maybe made a bad pick with Walls, they fell last night like, wow, Walls was great, Vance Vance was great. We're so glad Trump picked him. He was so smart. He was so polished. He was so good. So I think in that sense, your question, Larry, in these debates is how does this move the needle, right? So I think that that debate last night helped Trump and Vance with their base and Republicans. I think it probably helped them with independence. I know Democrats were pleased with points the Walls brought up, including January 6 and so forth. So I doubt this debate really moved the needle much, but I'm looking at real clear politics this morning, and you're looking at a 1 to 2% difference between Harrison and Trump and the polls. And I think if this moved it at all, I think maybe a half a point toward Trump. And that's not much, but it's really clear, really inches difference election where Pennsylvania is less than 1%. It could have made a difference. By the way, I should add here, I think our Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, would have done a much better job last night than Tim Walls did. Well, I guarantee it would have been much more aggressive than it was. So all right, Paul, do you have time to talk about Reagan, the movie? I do. All right, we're with Paul Ken Gore, professor at Grove City College on the Big K Morin Show. Paul co-wrote the movie Reagan, and this movie was just out. So I know, and you'd say, well, politics aside, how do you say that when you're talking about a movie about a president? We continue our conversation with professor Paul Ken Gore, Grove City College, New York Times best-selling author who's written many, many books, and seeing a big screen movie like Reagan starring Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan, Penelope Ann Miller. Professor, congratulations. That's quite an accomplishment to be part of a big film like this. Yeah, thanks, Larry. You know, we began it back in 2004. Wow. Yeah, 20 years ago, right? That tells you how long it takes to do something like this. Mark Joseph, the producer of the movie, he had read my first book on Ronald Reagan. It was called God and Ronald Reagan, and he called me from the Rock River in Dixon, Illinois, which is where Ronald Reagan life-guarded for seven summers, saved the lives of 77 people. And I was driving up to PA Turnpike. I remember this very well. And he said, I love this book. I'd like to make a movie about it. And I started telling him at that moment, about the next book, I was already working on a sequel to it called The Crusader, Ronald Reagan in the Fall of Communism. And I said, you know, that book begins with the Rock River, Reagan life-guarding, talks about his defeat of Soviet communism. And I said, I think that's the one you want to turn into a movie. And so we ultimately did, and the man, that took a long time. And I'll tell you that the key was getting Dennis Quaid. And we got Quaid to play Reagan probably about 2020. And then, of course, COVID hit, and then we were filming in Guthrie, Oklahoma, of all places, which turned out to be a great location, except COVID hit the set again, 2021, that delayed us again. But by basically 2022, we had a film put together and, you know, tinkered with it and made adjustments to its sense. And it was released August 30th, 2024, and about 4,000 theaters. And it's doing very, very well. Yeah, and the new world of distribution used to rely on theatrical release. Certainly, that's a big component. However, with so many different streaming options, it does create, and will for this, I'm sure, a great audience. Ronald Reagan, what did you like most about Reagan as president? Well, I'd say it's the same thing that we have in the movie. And this is one of the things that were kind of mystified by some of the harsh criticisms of the film, especially people coming at it ideologically from the left. And usually by people who are younger and were born after the 1980s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I mean, I lived through the 1980s. I graduated from Butler High School in 1984, graduated from Pitt in 1990. So I remember this period. And in 1984, we can we convey this in the film. Ronald Reagan won 49 out of 50 states. I mean, could you imagine that? No. He won almost 60% of the vote. He won the Electoral College 525 to 13. OK, twice won Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, California, and even Massachusetts. And so we're trying to, and we show in the film, we show him and Tip O'Neill talking about having a beer together, holding hands praying after Reagan was shot, right? Tip O'Neill was a Democrat Speaker of the House. You weren't going to see that among Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi, right? You know, Walter Cronkite said, I've never seen a president this well like. Nobody hates Reagan. It's amazing. Everybody likes him. And then 1987, you have the Berlin Wall speech. Reagan reaches across the aisle. We have works with people like Mikhail Gorbachev, now the head of what Reagan had called the Evil Empire. 1989, Berlin Wall comes down. And it's funny, Larry, we're being accused in this film of, like, hagiography, right? This, like, saintly portrayal of Reagan of this, like, overly positive film. But the whole idea was to share with people, especially younger people, this time of a great accomplishment when Americans were unified around their president, their Republican president in this case, even Democrats who didn't vote for them liked them as a person. And it's kind of odd that, you know, in this time when today, 20, 24 people say they want unity, you give them a movie about unity, and some of them seem to hate it. Wow. They want division instead of the unity that they claim. But it's a very positive film about the positive things that happened in the late 1980s. I think the takeaway from living through those times for Reagan was he had a sense of reaching out across the aisle for bipartisan. But he also, his sense of humor saved him many times, even after he was shot. Right, right, it did. And, you know, he says the Nancy, and he says it in the film. And by the way, Nancy is played by Penelope Ann Miller, who's amazing in this film. I mean, I think she kind of steals the show. But he said, you know, honey, I forgot to duck. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandal. America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's Fandal.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandal, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado, first online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandal.com, gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. And then when he's there with the surgical team, he says to them, "I hope you're all Republicans." Right? And the doctor says, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans." And we also included a line where when Tip O'Neill is there at his bedside, when Reagan comes out of surgery and comes out of it. And they're holding hands together, reciting them a psalm. And Reagan says, "You know, Tip, I gave strict orders for no Democrats within 500 yards." Right? But yeah, he had a sense of humor. And bipartisanship, the Reagan tax cut in August 1981, the Washington Post called it the greatest example of bipartisanship in recent congressional history. It was overwhelmingly approved by a Democratic Congress. Democrats like Joe Biden voted for it. So it was a time of unity when the country came together. Dr. Paul Kenghor, professor, senior director and chief academic fellow for the Institute of Faith and Freedom, political science, your thing. Congratulations on the movie. That's a tremendous accomplishment. And thanks for the time today. We appreciate it. Well, sure thing, Larry, thanks. And folks, go see the movie, Reagan the movie. I remember. Yeah, I want to see it. I haven't. Our producer, Aaron Faragonia, has seen it. She enjoyed it. I love that they hit the way he talked. Well, yes. Mr. President, what are you going to do about red China? Well, never serve it on a purple tablecloth. That's a good imitation. Thanks, professor. All right. Take care. All right. We unfortunately have a mental health crisis in this country that sometimes it just is the guns. It's just the guns. Did he lose the 2020 election? Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? That is a damning, that is a damning non answer. That's about as contentious as it got last night, an hour and 40 plus minutes live from New York on CBS. Larry Richard, the big came morning show. And we welcome a professor, presidential rhetoric, University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Jerry Schuster. Doc, good morning. Good morning. A little more civility, a lot more actually than what we have seen in the previous two debates. One with Trump and Harris, the other with Trump and Biden. Right. And actually, I would characterize last evening as less of a debate in most key areas and more of a healthy in-depth discussion, even though there were obvious differences of opinion as expected. But, you know, neither one of them went after the other one in the way that we experienced previous debates. That's for sure. Yeah, and the clip I just played was probably the most contentious it got. Correct. And it was civil, they shook hands prior and they shook hands and apparently were chit chatting after. You could see them by the podium doing that. But that said, does this really change anybody's mind, Doc? No, I think not. I think that people were looking to this. Well, let's put it this way. If anyone thought that a vote would be changed as a result of anything that occurred during the vice presidential debate, I think they were very naive about politics. And I think that both of those persons, the contenders were well prepared. I disagree with some of those persons who said last night, whenever they were characterizing how the debate went for both of them. I don't know that I perceived walls to be nervous and upset. Maybe in the first question or two. But after that, he was as competent and as articulate as fans. And he was just being walls. And for both of them, that first question came right off the heels of Iran sending almost 200 ballistic missiles into Israel. So they were hit with a question that they might not have necessarily been really well prepared to answer on behalf of their presidential running mates. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And in fact, what were they doing at the time? This was ongoing. They were preparing for last night. Right. And that story just broke. And then once they settled in- It was ongoing. Yeah, once they settled in, I agree with you both seem pretty comfortable in their own shoes. Pretty comfortable with their conversation. And both at some point, multiple times said, "Well, I agree with some of what you're saying." And I think a lot of us were sitting back going, "What?" I think that's probably one of the major benefits of that debate. Being that it was less a debate and more of a discussion about key areas. And there were no real surprises on either side. I will say, though, that I was offended by Vance's remark when we came to economics. And when he was challenging the Wharton's conclusions about some of the experiences and suggestions of Biden and Harrison, he said, "You know, those PhDs apparently are very intelligent, but no real common sense." And I thought, "Oh, okay." Thank you, Mr. PhD. Dually noted. Yeah. But you know what? I think it's important to understand that especially when they came to issues like gun control immigration and Roe versus Wade, they, I think, exercised good common sense by indicating what their side represented in all of those key areas. But they didn't get into any name calling or major arguments that could not be won and could not be resolved. But the other thing that I think Vance did that was very intellectually focused when they were talking about gun control. One of the conclusions he reached was that such healthy discussions as we've just had, and I think I'm coming close to his actual quote, was the fact that, you know, we can discuss this in great detail and it should be done on a bipartisan basis, which is something we seldom do and exercise effectively. And I thought, you know, most of us have been saying that about the House and Senate and how they achieve their goals. A bipartisan discussion is healthy, but, you know, not the way they approach it. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, there's no reasonable person watching that doesn't want to protect our children in any way, shape, or form that we can. So figuring out a way to do that for the benefit of all is something I think a lot of Americans certainly agree with what is the solution. How can we do that to protect our kids? I mean, that's really our duty and charge is to protect children, right? Right, and I think that one of the things in terms of politics that both achieved and cooperatively, especially, is that they did this hour and 40 minutes and it was no rancor, very, very little of it initially, but then it got to be they looked at each other, they discussed these and, you know, you knew what their opinions were in the first place. And when they discussed those in even greater detail, the other person looked at them and even their nonverbal suggested, well, I see your opinion, but, you know, that kind of approach. Nothing's wrong with that. We know what your opinions are. You don't have to name call. You don't have to denigrate the opponent in any way, shape, or form nonverbally or verbally in order to achieve the goal that they're attempting to achieve. That said, the vice presidential debate is history. We're moving on and Donald Trump comes to Butler on Saturday back to the same place. The Butler farms show expected to speak around 5 p.m. There'll be a lot of people interested in just the fact that he's coming back to that spot. And Kamala Harris did a one-on-one with KDK TV's John Delano. He'll share more of that conversation today on KDK TV. That said, Southwestern Pennsylvania and PA still very important, obviously, to both parties and candidates, so we're going to see more of the same. They're looking at those 19 votes. Yeah, the electoral votes, as though they were a pot of gold, and in reality, they are. And that's really important in Kamala, Pennsylvania. You're not off the hook yet, DACA as a PhD. Thank you. Well, can you anticipate any October surprise? No, and they were talking about that last night. No, I can't. And the only thing that might interfere with a lot of this in the way that everything is going politically is something that, untoward, that even on a greater scale would occur in the Middle East. You know, if somebody gets involved in nuclear warfare, that certainly would make changes all the way around. On that note, thanks for your input, Doc. Always appreciate it. And don't worry. We'll be calling again. Thank you. Either that or worry, we'll be calling again. Right. Dr. Jerry Schuster, an expert in presidential rhetoric at the University of Pittsburgh, appreciate his input, and everybody that's contributed this morning. Coming to PPG Paints Arena next Tuesday night, the first of a 10 stop tour, Stevie Wonder. It's going to be a big show, and we happen to have tickets for you. 4 1 2 9 2 2 10 20. We'll take caller number seven. 4 1 2 9 2 2 10 20. Aaron, do you ever see Stevie Wonder in concert? No, I haven't. He's an extraordinary talent, obviously. It would be quite the treat. Yeah, so we're going to do this all week on the Big K Morning Show and give you a chance to see Stevie Wonder. Tonight, gold over America, Simone Biles and the male and female gymnast team will be performing at PPG Paints. And also the AEW at the Peterson Events Center. If you like that wrestling, very popular here back in the day, of course, in Pittsburgh, we have a great tradition. So you have an opportunity to check that out. Meanwhile, back to the vice presidential debate. Who won? Most people agree that it was more or less a tie. If you're aligned with Donald Trump, you thought JD Vance won. If you're aligned with Kamala Harris, you thought Tim Walsh won. From CBS, Jared Hill. Vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walls in their first meeting sparred over top issues like Iran and abortion. We trust women, we trust doctors. Let the individual states make their abortion policy and gun violence. We unfortunately have a mental health crisis in this country. Sometimes it just is the guns. It's just the guns. At times, the discussion more tense like this exchange over the 2020 election. How did he lose the 2020 election? Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? That is a damning non-answer. While talking immigration, Walls challenged Vance over his past comments about Haitian migrants living in Ohio. That vilified a large number of people who were here legally. He's very worried about the things that I've said in Springfield. The people that I'm most worried about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris' open border. In a new CBS News poll, debate watchers said the tone last night was generally positive. 42% said Vance won versus 41% for Walls. The rest said it was a tie. Though Moore said they think Walls is more prepared to be president, Walls also ranked higher on abortion and health care. While Vance got the edge on the economy and immigration. I've been impressed by the civility and the addressing of the issues. After the debate, Vance sat for a cable news interview while Walls and his wife Gwen grabbed pizza. These VP debates typically move the needle for presidential election. But again, the big difference with this one is these two undercard members. So their tickets might be the ones who have the last word, at least in this type of back and forth because as of now, there is not another debate scheduled between the presidential nominees. Jared Hill in New York. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fanduel.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real moneyweights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bet set expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700.