Showdown
Showdown Episode 35 4-5-24
(upbeat music) Welcome to Showdown. I'm Mark Kason and this is Friday, April 5th. And I have a couple of really great people visiting us today. And one is first, Michael Neal. And Michael is in Colorado and Michael. You've got a lot of family history with me. I think you know that, right? - I definitely do have a lot of family history. - That's correct. - We go back a long way. - A long, yeah. All the way to junior high school, trust me. And I'm not talking about for you. I'm talking about for somebody else. Okay. And then I've got Randy McCallion. Randy, how are you? - I am wonderful. It's Friday. - It is Friday. That is true. And I know you've been busy with your kids today. Right? - That's right. Busy every day with kids. - Well, that's for sure. Excellent, excellent. And let's also clarify this. You are not in Colorado. You are in Missouri. Where is Missouri? - That's... - No, I don't know. - A heartland. - Oh, I see. They have something like that. Yeah, I'm actually from Los Angeles. Many decades ago. Yeah. So anyway, here we are, Colorado, Missouri, and whatever I am. And we're here on Friday, April the 5th. And you, Randy, I understand very well. And I've checked it out and looked around. And I have been told that you are running for Congress in Missouri. - As a Democrat. - I am running for a second time for U.S. Congress. - As a Democrat in Missouri. Well, we're gonna have to talk in a minute about how that works. But first of all, let's go back to Michael for a second. Michael, I know you're involved in a lot of healthcare issues. Tell me about what your work is in Colorado. - So I do a lot of things. I am one of our legislative liaisons at a wonderful nonprofit called Colorado Cross Disability Coalition. And I am one of the team that is monitoring the state legislature when it's in session. Often for healthcare bills, but also for criminal justice and mental health and behavioral health bills. I'm a sucker for a good social studies education bill. Bill, being a trained historian and then international studies graduate school person, I am, I have been also involved with a group called Colorado People's Action and Colorado People's Alliance. We are branches of a national People's Action network. And so occasionally, even though we are a bit down on our luck here in Colorado with our state branch, we do some legislation on minimum wage and on to environmental issues. That's what I was doing yesterday. But thankfully, Friday, at least in the committee stage here in Colorado is a very quiet day. So I am joining you guys. And I thought that I would bring my old friend Randy, who I've not seen in a very long time, but who used to be in Colorado Springs and then fled us for the wilds of Southern Missouri. - Yeah, I have to tell you, Michael, I'm really sorry that you couldn't be where we were at UCLA 50 years ago. I mean, the international relations program there was incredible. It was really great. And you missed the whole thing. But then again, you're not even 50. So therefore you couldn't do it. So that's the way it is. Okay, Randy, so let's talk about Missouri and the Democratic Party. You know, there was a time when Democrats were elected in Missouri. I'm sure you know that, right? - I do, I do, yes. There was a time where Democrats had a lot more power in the state of Missouri than they have for the last 20 years. - Yeah, it sure has changed. What got you into politics where you would run for Congress? I mean, that's a big run. - It is. So the first thing that got me in is I've worked in the field of maternal and child health for over 20 years, worked with families and children with autism, I've worked in Montessori and Early Head Start. I've also been a program director for multi-state maternal and child health programs. And I started to really see and understand how much people at the bottom of the ladder in my field understood all the barriers families face. And they also knew the policy that we needed to help families thrive. And yet year after year, no one in government was really making any of that a priority. And every year that we leave barriers in front of parents and children and families is another year that so many millions of people don't develop to their full potential and don't thrive. So I have a mom who taught U.S. government and history. And I quickly started learning how much I understood that the government should work for us and for the people and how much I could see that it wasn't. And so then I just started getting into political lobbying and advocacy, getting into organizations that were doing that. It's one of the ways I met Michael because maternal and child health and reproductive health are very important to me. And Michael and I met during ACA lobbying and making sure that everyone in this country has access to affordable and respectable healthcare. - Yeah, one of the problems clearly that's going on in the country is with women. And everybody might see this a little bit differently. But from my perspective, the least difficult thing to say because it's the absolute truth and it needs to be addressed is that mothers who are carrying children are dying at rates in this country that are not seen in other countries. And that's before the Dobbs decision or any of the rest of this mess that's going on out here. And plus black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. And that even includes black women who are wealthy. They still are in that statistic. So talk to me about that. What do we need to do here? Because first, we need to do a lot, I'm sure. And secondly, it's going to be a huge issue in the coming election. - You are absolutely right. The United States has the worst maternal and infant mortality of all the industrialized and developed nations in the world. And that was before the abortion bans. And in my state, Missouri, we were near the bottom in maternal and infant mortality. And then we now have the strictest abortion ban in the country. And we did next to nothing to make maternity care safer for all of the people that will be having even more babies now. You mentioned black maternal and infant mortality. And we also see issues like higher infant and maternal mortality rates in our Native American citizens as well. That's institutionalized racism. And that goes back from the beginning of our country, from the start of the medical industry and medical experimentation. So solutions to that that we already know about, that we could absolutely be supporting in policy very easily is more access to midwifery care and to doulas, for example, especially in this case, doulas of color and midwives of color. We also need to be expanding postpartum coverage and care. So some states like Colorado have expanded their coverage for postpartum care for insurance to one year, whereas many mothers were getting kicked off insurance at six weeks. Well, a lot of our post-birth deaths occur between the six weeks and the one year. We need to be making sure that for physical health reasons as well as postpartum depression and anxiety that women continue to be seen and have insurance access all the way out, I think forever, right? I think we should have universal healthcare in this country. But more than that, we have healthcare deserts and I live in an area, my eighth congressional district that I'm running for, that is a healthcare desert. We are one of the most rural areas of Missouri. And now that we have the abortion ban, we are also seeing an exodus of obstetricians. So people to help you deliver a baby, they're leaving our state. So we already had less healthcare access in a rural space like mine, especially because Missouri didn't expand Medicaid. Well, the voters did. Then the legislators, the Republican super majority, went and overturned the will of the voters. So the voters know what to do in Missouri. It's our legislature that is a problem. - Yeah, and I think-- - So, I think-- - Solutions exist. - Oh, go ahead. - We need people to move out of the way. - Yeah, I think it's interesting that around the country in areas that are largely pro-life, the votes have gone substantially on the other side, that is on the Democratic Party side. And the reason is not because people wanna see a lot of abortions. No one's out here saying we need more abortions. What's clearly happening is, is that these doctors that you've described who are leaving, they're afraid that somebody's going to accuse them of being involved in abortions. So it's not a question of whether they do it or not. It's a question of what they get accused of, because for example, they might be involved in somebody having a miscarriage, trying to provide healthcare for that woman. And then somebody turns around and says, "Wait a second, that's not a miscarriage. "You are performing an abortion." What, tell me about this, 'cause this is going on, we all know it. - Absolutely. One thing I've noticed out here is that the messaging has been purposefully turned into disinformation. So for a long time, I rolled in more progressive and democratic circles, as I still do, of course, but now I'm running in the reddest congressional district in the state of Missouri. - Right. - What I come to learn is that the phrase pro-choice, that's a left democratic phrase. A lot of people on the right don't even know what that refers to. So the democratic party and people who are progressive and believe in freedom and rights and not having your government encroach on your bodily autonomy, those people actually stopped using the term abortion. And people on the right who believe more in government interference and dictating what you do with your life and your body, they used the term abortion and they were able to define it then in what it meant to them. So I've talked to a lot of people in my rural red district and when I'm out there, apathy is the biggest issue that I face. It isn't so much that this is such a red district, it's that a lot of people have disengaged from government and the voting system. But as I'm out here, a lot of people will argue with me, someone who has a master's degree in maternal and child health, that abortion refers only to killing a healthy baby, right, instead of a fetus. They've been led to believe that this is a healthy near-term newborn that is being aborted and they don't really grasp because the messaging hasn't been there, that abortion is a medical term that refers to what you do when there's a miscarriage. It refers to if you need a DNC because the fetus has died. That's just abortion. And so it's gotten so confused that now in the state of Missouri, for example, we have so many state legislators who have no idea what abortion actually is, they don't understand how women's bodies and reproductive care and being pregnant or giving birth works. And they're making laws, which ends up like you said, making obstetricians and people who practice medicine really nervous because if your legislators don't understand anything but they're making policy, then you don't know where the lines are and you don't even understand the policy because it's not based in science and fact. - Yeah, you know, there's a recent poll like in the last week that shows that in the case of Joe Biden's election against Donald Trump, that women are supporting Joe Biden by 60 to 35%. Now, given that, which is an enormous number and the fact that there are an awful lot of women in this country, do you feel like this is a way that you can actually get elected in a red district because by supporting women's healthcare, which is what's gotten this to 60, 35 in the first place, it's not abortion, it's women's healthcare. Is that what you're doing out here? - In part, I stepped up in 2022 to run for this district at the very last minute of filing because there was no one else running against Jason Smith. So our Congressman Jason Smith is just awful. He's reversed things in this state that voters passed, for example, we passed laws to improve the status of puppy mills and animals in a puppy mill and Smith's mother runs a puppy mill in his home county and he watered down that wall. And then he went into Congress and now he's holding our district back. So, you know, I believe this year with the mobilization of Democrats in Missouri, we have excellent news coming out of areas like mine, which was the reddest congressional district in the state. For example, in 2022, we only had five of 23 state house districts in the eighth congressional with a Democratic candidate. So all those others were uncontested. This year, we have 16 out of 23. So we've tripled the number of Democrats running down ballot from me, that's how you flip a seat. That's how you fire a Congressman. We could never flip the seat if we just keep leaving it with no Democrats on the ballot. Like I said, it's apathy out here. There aren't choices on the ballot for nearly a decade in most of these counties. And so a lot of people who don't want to vote Republican have just left the voting system in these redder areas. So when I stepped up to run in 2022, it was with the knowledge that this is the reddest congressional district in the state and that they needed an organizer like me to bring people together and to start inspiring and getting people to see that this is their government and they can run it. And I committed to two cycles because you don't do a lot of long-term connecting and organizing for a 10-year strategic plan in just one cycle. So I'm running again to continue that effort to support the down ballot candidates because I know that we can kick Josh Holly out of his Senate seat. That lying trader can go this year. We can elect Crystal Quaid to the governor's mansion and we're going to end the Republican Supermajority. Hello Kitty. We're gonna end the Republican Supermajority in this state because we have so many Democratic candidates running down ballot. - Yeah, very interesting. I think you're right. And Michael, let me ask you, in Colorado, how about this women's issue business? Is it resonating phenomenally in your state as well? So it's deeply, deeply resonant. Certainly in the circles that I run in, it is particularly deeply resonant. But I do feel almost a little guilty listening to you two and in particular you Randy because we are, I feel like Missouri and in particular southern Missouri is legislating 20 years back of where Colorado was. I remember going, I think they tried four different times to put fetal personhood on the ballot here in Colorado. And we have been able to smack it back between 65 and 70% of the vote each single time to do it. So it's resonant. The women out here, our women and allies out here are powerful. I will have you know that even though that state senate seat that you ran for Randy is still in bad hands, the southern half of it is now House District 16 that is now represented by one of the most bad ass democratic organizers that I have ever seen come out of a district that was at least once that read. So cheers to you. - Is that our friend Stephanie Vihill? - Cheers to representative Stephanie Vihill, yes. - I love her. I was so happy to run with her before. I was very happy when she won her seat. So even though Paso County is changing Denver where I am needs to keep it up. I don't know that we need to change but we need to keep being on the cutting edge and keep not falling asleep when it comes to especially our younger voters and especially our our female voters as well because that is the tip of the sphere. Really sort of I think no matter where you are but what I am proud I think about Colorado the most is that even in some of our tougher districts we're starting to plot wins. And so yeah, I think women's health and maternal health is huge going to be huge here and has been huge. Family medical leave took a very long time to pass up here but we got it. And so yeah, it's absolutely animating. I think probably everywhere but again, I hesitate to even engage in this sort of thing because I feel so guilty about how far Colorado and in particular Denver is ahead of the game. - Yeah, well one thing we know that in both Kansas and in Ohio which are two states that would be extremely difficult for the Democrats although Sherrod Brown has done a great job in Ohio but the truth is these are tough states for Democrats and they are way at the front of the line in terms of voting in favor of women's rights in recent elections that have come up in those states. So we know this is happening everywhere and honestly anybody that's fighting against this in 2024 is probably fighting a losing battle but let me also ask you this Michael because I know that there's a lot of talk in Colorado about the Hispanic vote. So tell me a little about how you see it developing there because there's a lot of fear just nationally that Hispanics are going towards Donald Trump. I know Donald Trump tells that story and of course Donald Trump is a liar. So who knows what the truth is but I'll believe you Michael, you tell me. - So the truth is is that the areas that I live in are not particularly Hispanic but I will tell you from the state legislature level that we have gotten some of the most progressive, most amazing candidates out of Hispanic majority areas. I think that the lesson is that Hispanic vote is not monolithic. I think that South Texas with its oil fields and it's very strong religious sentiment does not look like West Denver and does not look like Southeastern Colorado Springs Hispanic territory. And so I think that the hold that I think we're struggling to break in places like South Texas is not really true in Colorado. Part of that I think it might be a religious difference part of it is certainly an oil extraction economics difference and part of it is that I think in some ways the parts of the party structure have given up on going into poverty-stricken areas of places like South Texas, Southern Arizona and have seeded the ground. - Yeah and by the way, Michael, another Michael, okay, just wrote up on Facebook that in Arizona they just got enough signatures to get the abortion access act on the ballot there and to modify the state constitution, which again, these are the votes that are going well in favor of women's rights. It's just that simple. - And we're gonna be doing it and we're gonna be doing it in November two up in Colorado. It's already statute law but it needs to be constitutional law and I have been because of our COVID period and because care workers are in short supply, really everywhere. I have been a little bit difficult to find, not typically up in my typical Denver neighborhood. So someone is gonna come down I think and get my mom and I to sign petitions. I think we're probably well over what we need but it would kill me if I didn't squeeze out every signature that I can so that we can get our own constitutional law in Colorado for abortion and reproductive rights healthcare. - And by the way, speaking of Colorado's general situation and constitutional law, which you mentioned, we know that you all were in the forefront of this effort to keep Donald Trump off the ballot and by nine to zero, amazingly enough, even the three liberal justices on the Supreme Court voted that Donald could be on the ballot and I'm just sort of wondering how significant was the reaction to that decision in Colorado, the decision which essentially attempted to erase section three of the 14th Amendment to our Constitution. Tell me. - I think that there was a lot of teeth napping. I think that there was an expectation that did not, I think, come to fruition, that if we lost on the ballot access case, we would win on the immunity case that coming down the pike and I think that there was an assumption of sort of a grand bargain, if you will. Now, I don't know that I believe that anything should be subject to a grand bargain at the Supreme Court, but I suspect that that's why there was howling but not as loudly as one might expect when that was overturned. - Yeah. Okay, and then back to you, Randy, as we wrap this up, talk to me about what do you think the real chances are here, that not only you, I know that you're seriously going after this seat, do you think that other things in Missouri could flip this year? - Absolutely, I do. We have more Democrats running up and down the ballot. And like I stated earlier, I was so deeply excited to run for this seat in this area because at heart, I'm an organizer. And I saw that as the least organized congressional district in the state, there was the most to gain here. And if you lift from the very bottom, you change things all the way up. So I am absolutely certain we will be kicking Josh Hawley out of his seat and electing Crystal Quaid, a Democrat to Governor. And, you know, my race is a long haul. Jason Smith is deeply entrenched in the GOP apparatus. And he has $3 million and I'm not sure what he just put up for this past quarter that is due in the next week. It's difficult to beat big money like that. 95% of the time the candidate with the most money wins and the incumbent wins. So we really need to dig deep down and do some serious organizing in these red spaces to pull those progressives and independents and Democrats out of the woodwork who haven't felt listened to or connected to in so long. And on that note, Michael, I am so touched that you feel a level of, you know, maybe guilt. I'm not sure that that's the right word, but guilt about where you're at in your advocacy in Colorado, compared to where the Democrats in Missouri are at. And I've really noticed that recently and it touches me that you acknowledge it. That helps me because seeing a lot of my blue state dems or blue city dems, having the ability to protest for the rights of people around the world, that's so important. And I've felt left out and I hadn't felt that feeling until I moved to a really red rural area. And I've started actually feeling a little left behind and left out by Democrats in areas and states where they have their rights protected. We're fighting just to eat here and we're fighting just to control our families. And we're fighting for keeping our books and our schools open. And I just want to make a plea to some of our blue state dems and our blue city dems to not forget us Democrats in these rural spaces. And that we are out here and we are doing a lot of work, but we need your help to reach more people in these areas that don't have good communication and good information transfer. So help us lift from the bottom and we won't have such a fascist crisis on our hands. It's states like mine, Missouri, that are going to make our presidential election more dangerous. And the elected leaders in my state right now are trying to find ways not to certify the election results, not to send the electors for Biden versus ones for Trump. They are still going to try to overturn this election. And so I plead to my blue state dems and my blue city dems, donate to your rural red candidates. Even if they don't have a chance of winning this time, we are pulling more voters into the system in the areas that are the furthest behind and that will lift all the boats. - Yeah, and you made such a great and important point, Randy. And that is, incumbency tends to win, especially when it raises dramatically more money. And I think we know that's the absolute truth about Joe Biden. He is the incumbent who has raised an enormous amount greater money than, I don't even know what to say about him, whatever he was, you know, as they say, the previous guy, and honestly, if this election turns into what it might, based on those 60 to 35 women numbers that I was giving you earlier, it could turn Missouri and a lot of other places in areas that people haven't even imagined were possible. So good luck. - I'm hopeful and I'm doing the work because I believe in it. Well, thank you very much, and Michael, thank you very much for joining us and also for introducing us to Randy and both of you. You got to come back again for sure, and we'll arrange this, and I do appreciate you coming out tonight. Really do. - Thank you both. - Sounds wonderful. - Okay. - Randy, thank you, thanks, Michael. - Thank you, Randy, and we'll go knocking at Representative Beale's door for some help for you. - Thank you, she sent me a donation. - Okay, you all. You have a great weekend ahead. - Thank you, Mark, for having us. - You bet. Okay, so we're gonna talk here a little bit about what you might wanna eat for dinner later tonight because, you know, we're moving towards that dinner hour, and Wendy's is a phenomenal restaurant in Chesterfield Valley. All you gotta do is go to 18,000, Chesterfield Airport Road, and Wendy's, I'm sure, you know, you get to the door and you're gonna smell all those great smells, all the meats, the smoked meats, the smoked wings, the pizza, the great patty melts, and hamburgers and cheeseburgers, everything they've got there, and they've got a lot. It's just a great place. The baby-back ribs and the onion rings are just terrific, and I love onion rings, but I also really love Wendy's. Ben is just a terrific guy who owns it and runs it, and he's just a fabulous person, and if you go to Wendy's, you'll enjoy the food and you'll really enjoy meeting Ben, so make sure you get out to 18,000, Chesterfield Airport Road, that is Wendy's. Now, if you're looking for jewelry, well, all you gotta do is go to 4506 Hampton, and you're gonna find Al, and you're gonna find his son, AJ, and you're gonna find a great jewelry store that does a whole lot more than just sell some jewelry. First of all, they create their own jewelry. Secondly, they will work on designs for you. Third, they repair watches, and everybody knows that I've got my 45-year-old gold Seiko watch. I mean, those things just don't run forever. They need to be touched up, and the place to go is jewels on Hampton. They'll do the work there for you, and on top of all of that, these family-run businesses are just terrific. They care about the people that come in and do business with them, and that makes them even better than they would be, otherwise, because this is a great jewelry store that will buy and sell coins in jewelry, and they just do it all. That's jewels on Hampton, and that is 45-06 Hampton, check out Al and AJ. Now, you know, here I am once again, wearing one of my nice suits, a tie that is really a brand new tie that I've never worn, but it's been sitting around for a while because I have so many ties, I don't even know what to wear, and that's because the St. Louis Suit Company in Clayton sells these ties for $5 each, and on top of that, they're beautiful silk ties, I love them. They go with the beautiful suits that you can buy there at great prices, and they have been there with Jay and Nick running the place for 29 years. Well, at least Jay's been running it for 29 years 'cause Nick isn't that old, but I will say that they are great, they know how to run a suit company, and they are the place to go, especially, if you're trying to figure out what you wanna wear for a wedding, people all over go to the St. Louis Suit Company in Clayton, and we hope you will too, ask for Jay and Nick and check out all the great bargains that they have at the St. Louis Suit Company on the corner of Forsyth and Central in Clayton, that is the St. Louis Suit Company. Okay, so let me start off the second half by saying this. It's such a nice Friday. I mean, I don't know what you all have done in the stock market today, but poor Donald lost another 12 and a half percent because he's getting slaughtered, because we all know that whatever Donald touches dies, just the way it is, this man is a loser, and from the day that this stock of his, this crazy idea that he thought was gonna make him a real billionaire, which he never was, from the day that that showed up on the stock exchange, it has dropped over 50% and I guarantee you, and I can say that because I'm not a principal owner in the company, I guarantee you it's going lower. Now, as far as Donald, he can't really guarantee you anything because he is very close to the company, owns, as we all know, about 60%, and as a result, there are restrictions on what he can say, and that's pretty funny because we know what happens when Donald is restricted. Doesn't work out too well. He just says, wherever it comes into his head, and then he gets sued and has to spend, well, 90 million in one case, we know Eugene Carroll, and then of course, there's the 500 million in the fraud suit in New York, so honestly, this is a bad thing for Donald, before this is done, the stock will be zero, so he won't have his billions, and then who knows how much trouble he's gonna end up with the government as a result of the things that he will say, and just to give you an idea of what he will say, this is great. This thing has been public for a week. He is suing his partners. What a surprise. Donald sues everybody. Look, one of my favorite stories is the story about the piano tuners, but believe me, there are better ones than that, and another ones that are similar. For my story, the piano tuner came to Trump Tower 'cause they have lots of pianos in there, and they all had to be tuned. So the piano tuner went up and down all through Trump Tower. He tuned all the pianos, and he came back to Donald, and he said, here's the bill. Donald said, first of all, I'm suing you, and secondly, you're not getting any money, we're not paying you, what do you think? We're not crazy, get out of here. That's how Donald does business, and the only thing that has given anybody, the slightest thought that maybe that Donald knew what he was doing, was that crazy television show he did for 10 years, where he played somebody who he was not. He played a wealthy successful businessman, sort of like Robert Young played Marcus Welby MD. You know, Robert Young couldn't take out your appendix, and Donald Trump definitely cannot run your business nor the United States government, that's for sure. So enough said on that score, but Donald was again, a giant loser today, which is really nice. So who was a winner today? Well, apparently Joe Biden was, because everybody thought that there would be an increase of about 200,000 jobs in the last month, because jobs have been increasing month after month, after month in the United States. Although I understand people say that Joe Biden is a failing president and that the economy is destroyed, and that the country is sinking into some kind of a vast abyss. But the truth is that that's not happening at all. In fact, instead of the 200,000 that everybody expected, the increase in jobs this last month was actually 300,000, and it keeps on going like this. The jobs going up, the country doing better economically, and Donald Trump claiming it as rallies, that Joe Biden is destroying the American economy. Now, we know it's not true. And obviously, and unfortunately, some people don't know it's not true. And the big question around the country is, what does it take to convince people of what they actually know, which is that they are doing better today than they did four years ago. That they are making more money as the wages continue to go up at a pace that's even greater than the inflation that everybody's screaming about. All of these good things are happening, but they're denied by those on the right who feel like that there's some kind of empowerment behind them that gives them the ability to convince people of things that are clearly not true. So here we go, it continues. But in the midst of all of this, the one thing that is breaking through, for sure is the women's vote, and that is something that really, I think, will carry the rest of this to where it needs to go, because Donald Trump is really sort of on a cliff. Remember, I mentioned a couple of days ago that this psychologist over at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, John Gardner, he's 28 years over there, and he says from his observations that he believes that Donald Trump is about to go over a cliff psychologically. Well, if you combine his psychological problems with his legal problems, and then look at his stock market problems, which are multiplying by the day, I think it's pretty clear that those people walking around thinking that Donald Trump has somehow got superpowers and he can win when he can't win. No, that is not the case. And I love hearing recently, the last couple of days, you got Hillary Clinton running around saying, look, don't believe this mess. Just because he won in 2016, doesn't mean he can keep winning. He didn't win in 2020. He hasn't won in any of these elections where he has backed candidates. Now, of course he wins in the primaries. Yes, we know that's true. But when it gets to the general election, none of his people get in. It's always the Democrats who are winning these elections, all the way down to this vote in Alabama, just a couple of weeks ago, at the Alabama legislature, where another special election went to the Democrats, in an area where Republicans always win and this time they didn't. And that is exactly what we were just talking to Randy McCallion about and Michael Neal. This is a situation here that, yes, Missouri is a red state. Yes, Missouri has got its problems. The legislature is dramatically Republican, but the election is coming in November and the vote by that time is going to be influenced by many things that we haven't even seen yet. Now, I have to admit, one thing I worry about, I worry when the stock market is as high as it is. And I know a lot about what's going on out here in terms of the potential damage that could occur in the marketplace. This recent gain in stock prices has been very what we call narrow. That is, it has been led by things like Amazon and Google and Microsoft and NVIDIA. And that is extremely dangerous because all of these other stocks that aren't going are setting the stage for somewhere down the line, a stock market decline, which I really don't wanna see, put it the doorstep of Joe Biden and it will be if he's in office. I mean, there's just no question about it because that's what they're just looking for anything. It's not Joe Biden's fault. It has nothing to do with him, has to do with a lot of things having to do with the Federal Reserve, for sure, that's true. But even they aren't at the heart of this. The heart of it is that there's a business cycle and we're in it and the stock market is part of that business cycle. And when it turns down, it turns down. And it's not a question of who caused it or like they used to say who lost China. It's not that kind of a thing. Nobody's losing anything. This is all about the cycles within the American economic system. And honestly, if we would teach our people about how these things work, we'd be a thousand times better off. There's a discussion going on right now about when the Federal Reserve may start to lower interest rates. And you've heard, I'm sure, Jay Powell, chairman of the Fed, says that they're going to lower interest rates probably twice in the next six to eight months. And unfortunately, that may be true, but they're not going to do it when we're seeing 300,000 new jobs every month because they don't want to exacerbate the inflation. That's exactly what they want to avoid. The only way those rates are going to get lowered and they will get really lowered. And I mean fast as if the stock prices start to fall. The Federal Reserve will jump in with both feet and they will start lowering interest rates. And I would say within eight months, that is very possible. You might see two lowered rates, you might see three, and they might be more than a quarter of a percent if the Fed is in a position of having to fight against a reversal in the stock market. So you just don't know, these things are very difficult. And when I say you don't know, a lot of us do know, but the public doesn't know, that's for sure. And I wish that we would be more responsible in terms of educating the public about these things who would help tremendously. But everybody's afraid to say what really they need to say because somebody might have to admit that things can't just go up forever, they can't. They can't and they won't. And one way or the other, if Joe Biden is the president and he goes on to four more years, it'll happen in his next term because the markets, especially when they get narrow the way they are right now, they will not stay up forever. They will reverse. So, you know, keep that in mind, we'll talk about it as we go through here and see how this evolves, but it's certainly worth considering. And in any event, those job numbers today, they are very good for Joe Biden and they make it clear that the Biden administration has done a great job of keeping this thing growing to new heights beyond where we were when we had COVID. And then of course, the next thing will be when we get into some kind of economic trouble down the line, what does Joe Biden do and what do the Democrats do to help to fix the situation or to help people to get through the problems? Because I can promise you this, the Republican party has no plan, no thought of what they would do in an economic downturn, no idea whatsoever. The only thing they know how to do is cut taxes for billionaires. They're very good at that. So they could get that done for you. But as far as getting the system to work for everybody, that's something that is only going to be done by Democrats. And that's a story that also has to be told, somewhere down the line is this thing gets into some problems, which again, like I say, are not there today, not today. Today, the news was great for the Democratic party and for Joe Biden, the work that has been done up until now has been exceptional and it has worked. So let's think about something else that has worked out here and that is certainly in jeopardy and needs to be addressed. And that's the situation in Ukraine. I guarantee you this weekend, you're going to hear on some of the shows some various things. For example, you're going to hear about Vladimir Putin who is threatening at the moment again to nuke the entire United States, that he's going to reign nuclear havoc on our country in a way that nobody has ever seen in history. Well, we know he's not going to because, if he did, it would be suicide and he won't do it, but certainly he's in a position to threaten it. And I'm not saying anybody's taking him seriously 'cause many people are not, but it's certainly something that has to be reported. And then beyond that, there is the fight in Ukraine, which is real and in that situation, the Ukrainians are struggling to hold the Russians at bay because they need the weaponry that we've promised them. Now, we've promised them this weaponry recently, Congress, that is the Senate, passed a $60 billion bill that was suggested by the president as a continuation of our support for Ukraine. And that's all good. But let me just take you back to two steps, just far enough so you understand. And I wish somebody would really tell the story and make it clear that back in 2014, I'm sorry, 94, you know, get these years messed up, 1994, so that's not, yeah, it's 20 years beyond what I just gave you. 1994, we promised Ukraine, promise them that we would give them support forever after in the future because we were gonna come in and take their nuclear weapons. Now, how did they get nuclear weapons? So they got it from the Communist Soviet Union, which blew up in '91. And in '94, they were sitting there in Ukraine with nuclear weapons and they didn't know what to do with them. They didn't know how to service them. They didn't know how to dismantle them. They didn't know how to do anything. So the United States said, look, we'll come in and do this for you, we'll get these out of here. You don't need them, it's gonna cause you nothing but trouble. And we will support you. We will make sure that you don't need those nuclear weapons because forever after, we will protect you. If anyone bothers you, and of course, the understanding was always that it would be Vladimir Putin or at least the Russians. And of course, it became Vladimir Putin. You know, in 2010, not many people know that there was a conference in Lisbon, look it up on Google if you don't believe it, where we talked about bringing the Russians in tornado, such a shame that it didn't happen, but it didn't. And in the meantime, Vladimir Putin's fearful because he thinks that we're coming to get him or he doesn't think that. He thinks he says we're coming to get him. Well, he knows that's not true, but it's a good story for the people of Russia. They spread that story around Russia. In case you don't know, in Russia today, the most popular figure, believe it or not, is Joe Stalin. He is the most popular person in all of Russia. They love him. Of course, they hated him in 1956 when he died, or '53 when he died, they hated him. But today he's been resurrected in Russia. They love him. And certainly Putin fits into that Stalinist mold. And so yeah, that's the story of what's going on in that country, but there's one way that we can handle this. I also hope you'll do something else if you go to Google over the weekend. Go look at the map of NATO. It is incredible. I mentioned yesterday that it was the commemoration, 75 years of the creation of NATO under Harry Truman, 1949, and this is just an incredible success story for the United States. We just did a great job. We figured it out at the end of World War II. At the end of World War I, we did everything wrong. At the end of World War II, we did so much right. Not with China. No, we messed that one up because we're too worried about China becoming communists, which was no threat to us. Of course, it became a threat to us because we insisted on being their enemy after we had been their long time friend. Well, it's another story. But the fact is this, NATO has worked. And without NATO, the world would be a far more dangerous place. And so instead of going to war over everything because certainly we know that Russia does not want to either fight a war against us or against the enormous forces. In NATO, they are sizable, bigger by far than Russia. They are part of an economic system. If you put all the NATO countries together, all of Europe with the United States, I mean, you're looking at half of the GDP in the entire world. Very successful. What does Russia have? They've got $1.3 trillion. As John McCain always said, they are a gas station with an army. And what we need to do is use our heads and be sure to not let Russia do things like they're trying to do in Ukraine. And that's why we have put that money together for them over the last two years. And that's why that money is coming again. Next week, we're going to see Congress fighting this out. And I believe that Congress is going to turn the money over finally, $60 billion that they need to fight the Russians and not only hold them back, but actually to push them back as was already taking place in Ukraine before we stop giving them the money. Well, all of this is coming next week. And we'll look forward to that. I would say it's probably good to know over the weekend, you might be looking for what RFK Jr. has to say. Nothing sensible. I can promise you that, but worth hearing because we are coming up against an election where yes, the no labels people have given up, but not not RFK Jr. He's in it all the way and it's got some dangers for Joe Biden, probably not as much as anybody thinks. Again, like I say, women are voting 60 or gonna vote, 60 to 35% as it stands today against Donald Trump. With those numbers, I am telling you, Donald Trump will not win, and in fact, he could lose by a big margin, and it could spread out to races like the one we just talked about today with Randy McCallion in Southern Missouri. So time for the weekend. Remember Wenties? Remember Jules on Hampton? Remember the St. Louis Suit Company in Clayton? They are great places, great family businesses. I'm Mark Casean. This is Showdown.