JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick

JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick ~ November 13, 2024 ~ Full Show

November 13, 2024 ~ JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick On this episode: Chris checks in with RNC Chair Michael Whatley about post-election happenings and what's going on in these early days of a Trump administration; talks with a Political Science Professor about the seven days following election day and then takes your calls.

Duration:: 1h 13m
Broadcast on:: 14 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

Well, happy Wednesday, it is good to have you. We have a lot to do today, and there's an alarming trend happening, and I don't know how much of a trend it is, but it is a thing, and I want to gauge your interest on it, and it involves the holidays. It involves the holiday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, big holidays around this time of year, and the tie into the election and the votes and how you voted will get into it in three o'clock hour. Also, coming up in a couple of minutes, the mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan, has made his decision on his future. We'll tell you what that future is coming up in just a couple of minutes with Marie Osborne, but he has made a decision. He announced it today. We'll get to it. But an interesting day today in Washington, D.C. As Senator John Thune will become the next Republican leader to succeed Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate. McConnell held that position as the leader of Republicans for close to 20 years, and John Thune was very much in the mix. John Cornyn was very much in the mix, and Senator Rick Scott out of the state of Florida was very much in the mix for that job. But the vote today held by Republican senators will elevate John Thune to be the next leader of Republicans and by de facto the Senate majority leader come January. So an interesting development there. Also, Donald Trump continues to fill out his cabinet. And one of the names that I think surprised a lot of people was Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary. It's a military veteran. It's also a TV personality. Pete Hegzeth out of Fox News will become the next defense secretary under Donald Trump. He's 44 years old. He is an Afghan and Iraq veteran, and of the names that were being bandied about, Hegzeth's name was not one of them. So it's an interesting pick. And again, Republicans will have control of the Senate, Donald Trump asking for a slightly unique way in elevating and confirming his cabinet that would basically remove the Senate from the, from the, the confirmation process. But either way, Pete Hegzeth will be the new secretary of defense. Also speaking of Donald Trump today, back at the White House for the very first time since January 20th of 2020 or 2021 rather, after he lost his, his reelection bid meeting with President Joe Biden today. And they met in the Oval Office in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace and some pleasantries, exchanged back and forth between the presidents. Also, the first lady Jill Biden greeting Donald Trump today and gave him a hammer written letter of congratulations for Melania who will become the, the next first lady once again. And in that letter, Jill Biden told Donald Trump that her office will also be ready to assist with her transition back to the White House. One of the things that we haven't heard much about is whether or not J.D. Vance was going to be a part of this trip today. Now I don't believe he was, as far as I know, he was not. And as a matter of fact, J.D. Vance has yet to hear from Kamala Harris about a potential visit since the election. So certainly putting Kamala Harris in a strange spot, the fact that, that she was running for for President as the Vice President lost and now having to take part in her duties as the Vice President. And J.D. Vance, of course, would be working with her team and his team. And there hasn't been any indication yet if the Vice President or her office have reached out to the Vance team on that transition process. Meanwhile, Mayor Mike Duggan looking for a change and he made a major announcement today about his plans at City Hall. W.J. our senior news analyst Marie Osborne was keeping a close eye to the ground on that one. Good afternoon, Marie. Hi, Chris. And as you know, Mayor Mike Duggan will not be seeking a reelection after 12 years of serving the city of Detroit and while making his announcement today, it was a room filled with city employees and supporters and he went through the list of his accomplishments, starting with thanking the police department, the police force, which he pointed out officers were making $15 an hour when he took office with mandatory overtime. He says it's a whole lot different now. A police department that's one of the most respected in all of America with a fewest homicides in 60 years. And he said the work is not done in the city. He says making the city a magnet for business has to continue. We are going to continue to do what we're really focused on right now, which is bringing in the companies and the jobs for the young people. We've got to be the city that keeps our tail. And he said he wanted his tenure to be measured by whether or not people were moving back to the city of Detroit. And according to the Census Bureau, for the first time since 1957, the population of the city has grown. He said he did what he said out to accomplish, so it's time to move on. But he says he's going to remain mom on his future plans and he ended with a thanks to citizens. My fellow Detroiters, that being your mayor has been the honor of a lifetime. I will forever be grateful. Thank you and God bless you. And Chris, his tenure as mayor, certainly one for the history books. He mounted a right in campaign back in 2013. A lot of people had counted him out, but no, he won. And he, of course, took office while the city was in the middle of the largest municipal bankruptcy in history. So I think a lot of people forget about the fact that he had to mount a right in campaign. Oh, yeah. Which is, I mean, I don't care what, where you're doing that big city, little city, it's very difficult. And to do it in a place like Detroit was, was unbelievable. And then when, can I, can I put you in a tough spot, can I ask you a question? How does he stack up amongst modern day, you know, over the last 50 years of mayors in this city? So just on a personal level, I mean, where do you think he ranks? I think he's near the very top. And the reason being is he was extremely charismatic. He came at a time when the city was, again, in bankruptcy. He also had a good track record before he came here as the, he took over the DMC, which was in big trouble before he got there. So he came in on that, you know, with that under his wings. Look, Mayor, Mayor Young, Mayor Coleman Young made history, of course, because he was the first black mayor. And he really brought a lot of changes to the city of Detroit. But I have to say, Duggan just really brought the city back to the next step. And don't forget he, he went, he drove around in that beat up car of his to go house to the house, literally. And he pointed out many times, he goes, I was the only white face in the room. He had to listen to people and really hear their stories. That's what he talked about today. So I would really judge him at the top, if not near the top. Yeah, I'm with you. I just, I think that he, the, even the, the job that he did over the last 15 years, I mean, you know, bringing the city along, working with the, the state government, working with business leaders, the, just, just this very symbiotic relationship that he helped foster, I think helped bring the city back in a much bigger way in a, in a much more expedited way. And many people thought. Yeah. And a lot of people, you know, it's still talk about the issues that remain with housing and in the neighborhoods. And let's not, you know, forget those problems are still there. They are still real, but at least they, people are, they're being chipped away at and really work that in a way, you know, with a lot of people buying into the mission, never turned his back on anybody. He never pooped anything. So I, I'm with you. I think he's a, I think he's near the top. Yeah. I think he's been really pretty amazing. Yeah. Marie, thanks so much. Thank you. All right. We'll take a break. Michael Watley, the chair of the RNC joins me next here on WJ. Well the transition is on and in fact, Donald Trump back in the White House today for the first time since early 2021 and meeting with President Joe Biden, talking about the transition in the Oval Office, let's bring in Michael Watley, the chair of the RNC this afternoon. Michael, it's good to have you back. Let's talk about what this lack last week has been for Republicans for the RNC. What has this week been like for you? Well we've got a couple different things going on. First and foremost is we still have elections that have yet to be decided, yet to be called and we are still counting ballots in California and we've got, you know, counts that are going on in places like Pennsylvania and Arizona and Nevada. So we're trying to make sure that we have all of these votes locked down and then we can kind of tie up this election cycle with a big red bow. Then also the president is moving very aggressively forward with the transition period and making sure that he is making announcements on cabinet secretaries and other officials at the White House that are going to be senior staff for the administration as we move forward. The beautiful thing about that is we are seeing that all of these picks are firmly in line with the campaign positions that he had staked out through the course of the campaign and really truly continuing his focus on rebuilding, you know, our economy, restoring the southern border and ensuring we're going to be strong enough to protect our interests at home and abroad around the world. So I looked about a half hour ago and I just flipped back on ABC News got it, CNN's got it, that Republicans have 218 officially members of the House. So the looks like the Republicans will keep control of the House. Yes, it's going to be a tight narrow margin and we've still got a few more races out in California that have not been called yet. So we're going to kind of wait and see what the final numbers are going to look like. But, you know, thinking we're going to be in that 219, 220, 221 range very close and very close. But, you know, look, we are in a position to move forward with the president's agenda. The president's mandate for common sense that he campaigned on is going to be very, very important to get that done through Congress. We had leadership elections in the House and the Senate today and we are ready to work with the House and the Senate to get the president's nominations through and then get the legislation done that we're going to need to really truly take America, you know, around the corner and put us on a right track. Meanwhile, today, the former president, the president-elect and President Joe Biden meeting today in the Oval Office, what can you tell us about that meeting? Well, I can tell you, the president looked absolutely great back in the White House. And really very excited for that. It was a very cordial conversation with Joe Biden. And, you know, we'll wait and see the president, current president, you know, said that he is going to work very hard with his administration to make sure that there is a smooth transition. We hope that that's going to be the case. We're excited about, you know, what's going to happen on January 20 and be able to go in there and start making the changes that need to be made to get the country back on track. You mentioned a couple of minutes ago, I want to go back to something you said about these cabinet appointments and the people that are being considered for these high-level jobs that Donald Trump has named a number of them. What do you take out of some of the people that he has named officially, publicly, and how does that kind of curb the way that he is going to govern? Well, it shows you that he is very serious about keeping the campaign promises that he made. You know, you look at the national security appointments that have been made with Michael Walt, you look at, you know, what has happened with, you know, the appointments at the Department of Homeland Security, the fact that we're going to have a very strong borders are, the fact that Mike Huckabee is going to be the ambassador to Israel, and Elise Stefanik is going to be the ambassador to the UN. It shows you that he's very serious about protecting our ally Israel, about having a very strong national, you know, security posture, and about securing our southern border. And I think as he goes through the rest of his picks, you're going to see that in every one of these selections, it is about the agenda, and it is about keeping these promises. And he said on day one, he's going, you know, two jobs, secure the southern border, unleash American energy, and I think that you will see throughout the course of all of these appointments. He's never going to waiver from the agenda that he ran on. What is the plan now for these next couple of months here, the transition process? Because I mean, you know, you look at some of the dominoes that fell from all over the globe. I mean, in the wake of the election, when you had Hamas talking about coming to a ceasefire agreement, the Houthis have talked about backing down, I mean, the prospects for Iran to continue to operate the way they have by people that I've talked to say that it just isn't going to happen that way anymore. So what does Donald Trump do? What does he focus on now that the elections behind him? He wins the transition process is already in place. What does he focus on for the next couple of months? Well, I think he's going to focus on making sure that this administration is ready to go on day one. You know, the transition team that we are putting together right now is going to make sure that every department, every agency, we are ready to take over on January 20th. The appointments that he is going to be making as soon as he's in office, both the senior-level White House staff, as well as, you know, the cabinet officials and others, really truly are going to be focused on getting that agenda done simultaneously. We're setting up an inauguration committee that is going to make sure that the inauguration festivities are going to go very smooth very well. But you know, his focus right now is on making sure that come January 20th, we are in a position to move very quickly to start implementing this agenda that we just want to. Senator John Thune has been named the new Senate majority leader. And there was a hotly contested kind of back and forth, a couple of different senators throwing their name into the hat, John Cornins, Rick Scott, a couple of guys that are well-known Republican names in the Senate in the high chamber. What do you make of John Thune becoming the next Majority Leader in the Senate? Well, we're excited to have Senator Thune take over that role and be able to start moving. I mean, obviously, the first thing he's going to have to do is run the confirmation process for all of the presidential appointments that are going to be made on the 20th and start moving forward, you know, with the various parts of the agenda that the president is going to want to move through when he talks about no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, you know, that's going to require legislative change. When we talk about what's going to happen at the Southern border, a lot of that can be done administratively. He's done it once. He'll do it again. But there are going to be some changes that he wants to see that are going to have to be done legislatively. So we're excited about the opportunity to work with Senator Thune and the rest of the leadership team and, you know, the same thing that's going to happen on the House, you know, with Speaker Johnson and the rest of the House leadership team that we met with today. And so we're excited. I mean, we really, truly are at -- we have an opportunity here to really move forward as a unified Republican Party around an agenda that was completely ratified by the American people. And that doesn't happen very often. So we're excited about the opportunity. Michael Watley, appreciate your time as always. Let's talk again soon. I got a whole bunch of other questions for you. So let's do it again soon. Perfect. Thank you, sir. Yep. You've got it. That's Michael Watley, the chair of the RNC. We'll get to your calls. Your text coming up, 800-859-0957-800-859-0WJR, it's JR afternoon. I know who is going to be tuning into those Netflix shows with shirtless men. And they work on this staff. It is the one and only Brian Moore. No, it's Danielle. I will be there. It's Danielle. I'll be watching those shirtless men. Is that just scream Christmas to you? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. How about you, Brian? Nothing says 'tis the season like a six-pack. You haven't lived until you've been outside shoveling that snow with no shirt on. Yeah. That's right. You go down to Lincoln Park. You'll catch Brian shoveling without a shirt on. It'll be great. It's great for your diet. Nobody wants to see that. I was hungry, but look at that. Oh, no. I got it. I made him cough. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of that going on. We were talking about this this morning. This Mike Tyson, Jake Paul fight. You know what we really should talk to about this? We should talk to Lloyd. Oh, yeah. Lloyd is a big boxing guy. I'll see if you call us on Friday. We're talking about it. Yeah. That's a good idea. Because here's the thing. I love like old school boxing. You have see stuff is fine. It's just not my thing. I never got into it. But like big time boxing matches were the best. The best. I mean, it was primetime viewing. You had to be there. You had to pay per view it. And it was great. It was a real true event. Now, I will tell you this, as little as I know about boxing, Mike Tyson is my favorite boxer of all time. And of course, the Muhammad Ali's and the Joe Frazier's and the George Foreman's and Joe Lewis and all, you know, Tommy, the hitman Hearns are great. They're legends. But it was something different about Mike. Mike was a killer. Mike was coming into that ring to end your life. And he was violent. He was fast. He was light. And he, it's like, I don't know how to look, I don't know how else to describe it except you get into a, it's like those people that hop into the cage at a zoo and get mauled by the gorilla. It's that everybody was trying to participate in a sport. He was getting in there to beat you up to beat the life out of you. Yeah, it wasn't a sport. It wasn't fun. He was there to beat you and win. And look, there's been a lot of documentaries on, on Mike Tyson and they're all fantastic. It's, it's a mentality. It's, it's the gladiator mentality. It's, it's getting into the Colosseum and being the last man standing. It's just, you're, you're, you're a different dude. You're cut differently. And they're saying in the articles, you and I, I think I've handed you the articles. Yeah. So I want to talk about this real quick. Okay. And we're going to do it later on. But I have been maintaining for quite some time. Jake Paul is a boxer. I don't care. That's fine. You want to be a boxer? Be a boxer. I don't care. You want to wear a Pokemon cards around your neck? God bless. Do your thing. I'll just tell you that what I'm tuning in to see on what is this Friday night, Friday night, my comp is Cirque du Soleil. My wife went and my wife and I went and saw Cirque du Soleil in Vegas one time. And I left there. First of all, I fell asleep. It was the most boring show I've ever seen. But I go to Cirque du Soleil because as they're jumping through hoops and running up and down and getting flying up in the air, I'm, I'm there to see you fall. I know you can do all of these things. That's why you're there, but I'm there to see when something bad goes down. I'm way, I'm waiting to see your shoelace get caught in the cage and all of a sudden you can't make the jump. That's what I'm there for. Let's just call it. Everybody goes to see a cold spade is made. I was always fearful from when this fight was announced that this was going to be just a made for TV event. It's a spectacle. They're not going to hit each other hard in the head. They're not. This isn't going to be a real boxing, boxing match. It's going to be like when me and the kids wrestle on the bed, it's going to be, I'm going to take it easy. Of course I can throw them across the house. I'm not going to do that. But here's the, here's the difference is Mike Tyson is in his fifties. When you have gone through the rigors of a career that Mike Tyson has and all the trials and tribulations and the headshots and the body shots that you take, it, it takes a toll. I mean, listen to Mike Tyson talk is a different guy. Muhammad Ali in his late years, I don't know how George Foreman escaped it, he relatively okay. I mean, it's anytime you see Tommy Hearns walking around town, talk to him. It's a brutal, brutal sport. Now I'm watching for the Cirque du Soleil effect. I want to see Mike Tyson flat line this dude. That's what I want to see. Does that make me a bad person? I don't know. That's what I'm here for. I think that's what most people are watching for. They want to see Mike Tyson just brutalize this guy. Mike Tyson at whatever he is, 55, whatever he is, I mean, I'm not putting money down on it because I don't think it's real, but I would take Mike Tyson against Jake Paul in a heartbeat. See until I read that article, I would have agreed with you that this was the thing. So here's, so here's in this particular story. Where is this from? By the way. I don't know. I found it. They just jumped at me online. This said the title is Mike Tyson, quote, we'll ignore the script against Jake Paul as veteran prepares for a block block buster boxing comeback. So if the script is, look, you're going to take couple shots, you're going to hit the midsection, play defensively, you're going to hop around the ring for 10 rounds, whatever it is. Nobody's coming out of this thing seriously hurt. If that's the script, all I'll tell you is all those people that have pet alligators that have pet tigers, all those people that think it's cute to have an exotic animal in their house until one day the Python swallows you whole. All I'm saying is you get Mike in the ring. You put him back in that atmosphere. You put him back in that headspace. I could see where Mike Tyson snaps and he just goes AWOL and starts wailing on Jake Paul. That's what I had. It's what I'm here to see. It might make me a little unstable. It might. It might. But it's boxing. It's what we're here to see. I want to see Mike Tyson flat line Jake Paul. Well, once he gets what Mike Tyson gets in the ring, they're saying, this is what he does. He doesn't. He's nice outside the ring. He does. But once he's in the ring, his whole goal is to knock you down, is to take you out. Yes. And that instinct is that God, just because you get older, doesn't mean your instinct goes away. I love it. I think a lot of people. Absolutely. You're going to watch. Absolutely. I'm not a boxing fan by any stretch. I want to see Mike Tyson. Danielle, it is. It is this peak. You're interested. Obviously. It does. Oh, well, the shirtless men. No. Oh, oh. We talked about this. She loves Jake Paul. So long ago. Oh, you're a Jake Paul. Oh, so you want to see Jake Paul win? No. He's not going to. Well, here's the deal. I'm on the fence about betting on this one. Don't bet. I can't. Look, I don't think I could because I don't want that. I'll give you advice on the stock market, and I'm also giving you advice on this. Okay. Don't bet on this. I want to, though. Don't do it. I want to bet on Tyson, but I don't know what's going to happen. Let's bet. We'll do a friendly bet here. We'll do something internally. Like coffee or something. Yeah. Don't bet real money. Coffee's free for us. Okay. So, yeah, let's do it. All right. We'll bet coffee. We'll bet coffee. Okay. Five eight hundred eight five nine zero nine five seven William and River Rouge. What's up, Bill? Hey, what's happening? Chris. What's up, man? I'm doing it. I'm good. I just wanted to say something. I am not against immigration, and I heard this morning on the program where they were talking about Trump's going to come in, and he's going to deport all these immigrants, and it's going to hurt our agricultural, but the people that come to this country to do that work, those people have been coming here for a hundred years of doing that work, and I know they are hardworking people. But they came through with an agricultural visa, and they don't overstay their visas. They go back home when their time is to go home, and we know they're here. And I deeply appreciate the hard work that they do. Trump is going to go after these people that cross our border illegally. And like I said, I'm not against immigration, don't do it the right way, come through the front door, don't sneak through the back door, and these people need to see that. Like I said, with immigration, we have men and women living on the streets, and we can't hire any help because we don't know how our support is. William, I think one of the things that gets lost in this discussion, and I appreciate the call, is I think that there is this thing that gets lost, which is everybody comes across the border illegally. They must be bad people. I just refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that everybody coming across has an nefarious intent that they're all bad people. I think a lot of people probably just are looking for a better life. And are they coming across points of entry? If they're truly seeking asylum, in some cases, sure, not in all cases. And unfortunately, they all get lumped into the same group of people who have come across the border illegally. I talked about a story a couple of months ago about a kid who came across the border and was taken by a family, his family, extended family in the Indianapolis area, and was working on a roof up in the Traverse City area, working construction. Kid fell off the roof, is not a documented citizen, doesn't have any sort of visa papers, but has never missed an appointment, a court case, a hearing, anything, and fell off a roof and permanently paralyzed for the rest of his life. I've sympathy for people like that. I do. You can't, you can't not. But unfortunately, the discussion centered around people who come across the border illegally and the impacts are legitimate, both positive and negative. And when you have people here that come across and break the law, when they have, when people come across and hurt people, when people come across and kill people, I think that's where Donald Trump's plan really focuses on. Now, it's a much easier job in practicality than it is in use, I think. I think it's going to be very difficult to track down a lot of these people and in this mass deportation fashion, but it's something that we're going to watch and see how this unfolds. William, I appreciate the call, my friend. Take a break. Warrior calls your texts coming up, 800-859-0957. Also, we're a week out of the election. What do we make of it? We'll talk about that too, here on JR afternoon. All right, quickly, let's go to Greg and his car and we'll talk about an event that Wayne State held yesterday afternoon. Greg, what's going on, man? What's happening? Just cruising around here. I've got a funny story about you were talking about Tyson being a nice guy and an animal in the ring. Yeah. Years ago, I used to fly shoe around in a jet out of the lions. And I wasn't a big football fan, so I didn't know much about him. One trip we had, and we were down in Florida in Miami, and the hotel, I was watching him on YouTube. It was just stomping on guys and everything else. Yeah. It's not the same guy I know, because he was a gentle guy, super nice guy. And the next day, we were waiting for someone to show up with a plane, and I was standing there talking to him. I said, "Hey, Sue." I said, "I was watching you on the YouTube us," and I said, "That doesn't seem like you." And I said, "What are you doing?" He goes, "Well, you know, I get on that field and I flip the switch." Yeah. That's kind of what I think Tyson does when he hits in the ring, you know? Yeah. Because they turn into a machine. Yes. They do it on a mission, you know. Yes. That's what it is. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that you have to be a, you know, that's a totally different mentality than most people have. You know, you get into work and you're in a work mode, but boy, when you get in between whatever the parameters are, whether it's a football field or a boxing ring or the octagon, whatever it is, once you get in there, it's a, you're a different person. Yeah. You know, it just blew me away watching these videos, and I thought, because he's the nicest guy you ever meet in your life, just a general bearer, just a sweetheart, and he was like, "What's wrong with him?" And then he explained that real quick, he just flipped the switch. That's it. That's the worst. Yep. Good stuff. Thank you. All right. So yesterday, the Wayne State Department of Political Science had an event. It was called Seven Days Later, and it was the professor's talking about the election and what is to come. One of the panelists that was there yesterday is Marjorie Sabah Thompson. She's a professor of political science at Wayne State University and joins me this afternoon. Professor, it's good to have you. Thank you. So tell me a little bit about what the discussion centered on yesterday. Well, there were five of us on the panel, and we each had sort of different themes, things that we tend to specialize in. For example, I study Michigan politics, so I focused on sort of more statewide things like the victory, even though the Democrats did poorly on November 5th, the state Supreme Court was a big win for Democrats, so I talked a little bit about that and how difficult it is for people to figure out how to vote for the state Supreme Court. One of my colleagues who does religion and politics focused on some of the sort of themes for different categories of voters who attend different kinds of churches. One colleague focuses on gender and ethnicity, and its effect on our voting behavior. One of our former graduate students who is now a professor down at Bowling Green studies the effect of popular culture and how celebrity endorsements influence elections. And then last but not least, we had a panelist from the School of Medicine who studies anxiety and stress in all sorts of things and the tendency for us to kind of fear, to motivate us to become tribal almost. Sure. Yeah, and I think that's been the state of our politics for quite some time. It's become very tribal. So what happens next? What did the panel settle on? Where do we go from here? Well, we talked less about where we go from here, but more about who won and who lost. I think where we go will depend on the policies that we see coming out of Washington. But also at the state level, there are going to be some differences because the House will be in Republican hands, the Senate will remain in Democratic hands, and obviously we still have 2 more years of Governor Gwentmer's term in office before we have a midterm election. Yeah, it's certainly uncharted waters for the state here as Republicans take back control of the House. There will need to be more bipartisanship happening in the state of Michigan if laws are indeed to be passed in Lansing. And at the federal level, I think that's true. I think when you hear a lot of the talking heads talk about the mandate that the American people gave to Donald Trump to carry out a lot of what he talked about on the campaign trail. It's a wait and see. And I think that's a good way to go about it. Professor Marjorie Sabra Thompson, thank you for your time. Really appreciate it. We'll take a break. More next. All right, three o'clock hour. Good to have you. Yeah, I got some stuff for you coming up at three 18 because it feels like a flashback to 2016 in the holiday season. I'll explain. I'll explain because I think it's, I think it's wild and it's absolutely insane that people are taking this approach to the holiday season. Talk about it coming up at three 18. But hey, Transubarian orchestra, they are out and about on their lost Christmas Eve winter tour and you could see them at the tour stop of your choice score two premium tickets to the Transubarian Orchestra concert of your choice with flights, a three night hotel stay and a thousand dollar gift card for holiday shopping prize provided by wild child touring. Here for your chance to win Texas hours national keyword, chime, chime to 95819 full details and official contest rules, visit wjr.com. So we're getting a little bit of information about the meeting that Donald Trump and Joe Biden shared today at the White House in the Oval Office. Now I want to play a little bit of the audio of the initial press scrum in the Oval Office as Donald Trump and Joe Biden sat right in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office as they were going to get their conversation underway sounded a little something like this. Thank you very much and politics is tough and it's many cases not a very nice world but it is a nice world today. And I appreciate very much a transition that's so smooth it'll be as smooth as you can get and I very much appreciate that you're welcome. Yeah and look the realities are it is a stark contrast to what we saw in 2020 where the transition wasn't as smooth and and Joe and Donald Trump did not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden Joe Biden saying that he will attend the swearing in of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States on January 20th and it is it is a stark contrast there's no doubt about it but but there does seem to be an appreciation from both sides during this transition Donald Trump spoke exclusively to the New York Post about some of the conversations that were had between the men. He said both really enjoyed seeing each other you know it's been a long it's been a long slog Donald Trump said it's been a lot of work on both sides and he did a very good job with respect to campaigning and everything else. We had a really good meeting he said we got to know each other again speaking on the transition Donald Trump said that it's going very smoothly and he said that both the Republican transition team in the Biden White House enjoy quote a very very good relationship one of the things that they did talk about was the ongoing wars in both Europe and the Middle East. Donald Trump said I wanted I asked for his views and he gave them to me. We also talked very much about the Middle East likewise I wanted to know his views on where we are and what he thinks and he gave them to me he was very gracious also saying that the Oval Office is so beautiful and I do certainly look forward to coming back. So a little a little peek in to what Donald Trump and Joe Biden talked about this afternoon. Meanwhile we are getting a clearer picture of what the political landscape in Washington is going to look like because as of this afternoon over the last hour and a half or so Republicans have reached the 218 member threshold in the low chamber in the House of Representatives. So Republicans will retain control of the House. They have one control of the Senate and Donald Trump is president elect and it is it is it harkens back to 2016 when Donald Trump had full control when he took over the presidency lost that control in in the midterms in 2018 and he will be going back to a fully read Congress when he returns and how that impacts what he plans to do remains to be seen but we are getting a clearer picture of some of the people that will be in charge that will that will hold high ranking positions particularly in the the Senate as John Thune has been elected by Republicans to be the new majority leader and I think that that is something that a bit of a left field vote and appointment of John Thune because there have been times when John Thune was not a one of the strong supporters of of Donald Trump. There were times when he was calling for Mike Pompeii or excuse me for Mike Pence to be the the the flag bearer for the Republican Party and there were times when he was critical of Donald Trump and his and his leadership and and so it's an interesting pick as Republicans pick John Thune over John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida to have been a pretty staunch supporters of of Donald Trump and and how that impacts the relationship in in the Senate and the White House also Mike Huckabee the former governor of Arkansas has been tapped to be Donald Trump's ambassador to Israel and it I think that goes to show you the type of relationship that Donald Trump and and his administration will have with Israel. My cut could be a staunch supporter of of Israel the state of Israel of the Israeli people of the Israeli government and and and and that goes with some of the other appointments that we've seen over the last couple of days. You know will be the head of Homeland Security you'll have Marco Rubio as secretary of state. So the the picture is starting to come together also I ought to get your thoughts on this Brian and we can talk about this a little bit later too. The fake drama swami and Elon Musk will lead doge. They will lead this this new kind of private arm of of government to to look at government efficiency the Department of government efficiency doge. What do you what do you make of that of Elon Musk could being thrust in that is great to put to people with clearly mental issues in charge of anything in the government. That's what do you mean come on what do you mean they're both they're both white jobs. Why is Elon Musk wack job because I think we differ here he he he says he's a genius but we know he's on the spectrum he said that he's just that's not who you put in charge of the government of anywhere well you don't hear hear hear hear here's what I would say about any put up he made a pretty logo there's no you don't put a cartoon logo that's not a government thing no no no here's what I would say about Elon Musk is Elon Musk lives in a world of facts of statistics of of like they're like I say it all the time we don't live in a world of black and white we live in a world of gray sure right it's the nuance it's the it's the minutia it's it's nothing is but wonder the other his genius stuff is all done by other people he's Thomas Edison he's not a great invention he's a guy who surrounds me is absolutely a visionary there is no doubt about that there's no doubt no he has visionaries at work for him and he finances them that's what it is he's Thomas Edison I I I kind of like the idea of Elon in that kind of role because look I mean I think we can all agree that there's redundancies in the budget that there's money that is bloated that bloats the federal government and and in an era where our national debt continues to skyrocket where we're spending more money than we were taking in or that we have if we can start if we can start getting some of these dollars back but it's a good thing is it now again now here's where is the smart way to have those cuts to create a new department where we have to pay more people to do this it's fair it's a fair question because you know they do not do it for free but here's the other part in this where in practice like it's easy to say well let's find those redundancies let's take all that away but in practicality what does that mean right how does that actually work and that's what's kind of it's intriguing to me it's why I think it's interesting I don't know if it's effective I don't know if it's going to be good I don't know if it's going to be fruitful idea but I like the idea in practicality or or this in in in kind of the idea is a good one I'm not sure these are the two guys to throw in debt and that's that's fair that's fair the first thing they wanted to do is make a pretty funny cartoon logo for their department is like no that should I think that's just Elon be in silly I don't I don't think I don't think anybody's working on that I think silly's what you're gonna get out of that department mostly it's gonna be interesting all right people have lost their darn minds over the holidays and we'll talk about an excellent air afternoon man some of you have lost your minds he lost your minds I don't know what's going on I don't know what's going on look the the I guess my world is I have family members on all sides of the political spectrum and nobody ever ever would think think about canceling a holiday because of pull of a political election now you go back to two thousand sixty remember two thousand sixteen remember every way when Donald Trump got elected people oh wait what a I'm not we can't go to Thanksgiving I'm not going to say I'm not going to Thanksgiving no way I'm not going to see those people those heathens those animals that elected Donald Trump I'm not going oh if they voted for Hillary I'm not going I don't want to share mashed potatoes with those fools well deja vu we're all back here again because people are talking about canceling Thanksgiving canceling Christmas canceling holidays because they don't want to be in the same room with people who voted somebody else I look I don't know to me this is foreign I don't know how you do it I don't know how you do it I read this story this was on Huffington Post the title my husband and his family voted for Trump so I'm canceling Thanksgiving and Christmas I read you just a couple of excerpts here because well it's shocking I knew he voted red he knew I voted blue I'd hoped that the most capable and most inclusive candidate would win he hoped his idea of a better America would win he won and from where I stand America lost in the aftermath of Tuesday nights results still under the bed covers Wednesday morning I scrolled social media looking for hope and I came across my husband's post God bless America God bless number 45 and 47 it had a few likes a few commenters joined him in celebration he was downstairs in the kitchen making coffee and I was upstairs avoiding him I couldn't talk to him or even look at him I immediately texted I love you but out of respect for me and all my liberal writer friends can you please take down that post also tell your family I love them but I will not be coming for Thanksgiving and I won't be hosting Christmas I need space he said I'm sorry I understand he went to work I assume energized by Trump's victory the next day I finally emerge and listen to Kamala's concession speech she reminded us only when it's dark enough can you see the stars so I wrote my friends I told them to keep shining their lights later that night I briefly glanced at my husband and found myself not wanting to look into the eyes I love I hated this divide I wanted to touch his forearms and feel our connection but I also felt an urge to punish him and deny him my touch I'm sorry about the holidays but I cannot bite my tongue like I did with Hillary I told him I don't want to disrespect your parents or your brother and his family in their home or our home so it's best this way no scenes you can go see them seriously I will not be in a room of fifteen people who voted for Trump this is next world ridiculousness this is off the charts insanity oh and by the way it's not just this lady writing for the Huffington Post it's the good folks on the view it's more of a moral issue for me and I think it's more of a moral issue for other people we're just you know I would say it was different when let's say Bush got elected you know you may not have agreed with his policies but you didn't feel like he was a deeply flawed person deeply flawed by character deeply flawed in morality and so I think when people feel that someone voted not only against their families but against them and against people that they loved I think it's okay to take a beat I have to question it I don't want to put my kid in that position exactly I don't want to put my gay child in a position where she has to sit with someone who doesn't understand her and feels like it's okay to just blurt all that out that's just me but I feel like that with mixed with mixed families with mixed families I feel the same way yeah you know there are certain things where you don't have to put your family in the middle of it you can have dinner at another point but it might not be the time to gather because you know there's going to be some tension hey Danielle was that moon water laced with ayahuasca what are we doing here I'm not sure these people are out of their minds these people are out of their minds you agree I do agree all right you're not when you're when you're at a gathering there are things you're not supposed to talk about we just discussed it in here money politics and religion that's it you don't talk about those things when you're at a dinner table or when when you're with a large group of people because it will start a fight why can't everyone just love what why what what what did Thanksgiving have to do with this what why why are you depriving people of a nice time you know in a time of division oh and by the way all of these people are talking like they're in the majority all of these people are talking like like all like like they are the majority of the country a news flash or not news flash these views that you hold are not with the majority of the people spoke to last Tuesday they're not now you may not agree you may not like what people do with their vote in the voting booth or with their absentee ballot but this is family this is different Brian you got people all across the political spectrum in your family too are you going to avoid these meetings are you going to avoid not having a nice time with your family well you know you know you know me I avoid those meetings anyway has nothing fair enough that's a probably a good point but no I wouldn't avoid it I mean I could if I if I was uncomfortable if I knew and I don't care how anybody votes I vote the way I want you vote you want oh but if I was uncomfortable the person you are Brian everybody there was like that and I was uncomfortable I wouldn't make an announcement I just wouldn't go you don't have to make this grand statement of just because of who you voted just just don't go just stay home I can't I can't open presence from people who voted for Donald Trump guys this this is what I told you last week it's what I told you last week this election was not even about Donald Trump in my view this was a pushback on the democratic platform it's a pushback on what they represent it's a it's a pushback on them not listening to the American people that's my that's my purview it's my view on it you may have a different view but for whatever reason the Republican Party is the party of of diversity the Republican Party is the party of common sense the Republican Party is the one of middle America and blue collar workers it's not the Democrats anymore it's not that was their calling card it's not anymore now if you'd offer if you'd like to offer a different perspective I'd love to hear it and and I if you are not going to uh to Christmas so you're not going to Hanukkah you're not having Thanksgiving dinner with people based on what what who they voted for I'd love to hear from you because I feel like we have taken the wacky pills to a new new new level this is insanity oh I can't touch my husband's arm because he voted for Donald Trump I can't even look him in the ice we love each other but I don't know if we're gonna make this get over it get over yourself this is this is insanity and I'll tell you look I'll be honest with you I think that this is probably a very small group of people this is probably not a huge chunk of America the view certainly doesn't represent a large portion of American views and and positions just like this uh kook on huffington post us I I just I don't think a lot of people are doing this I don't think a lot of people would even consider it but in a time of division well can't you come together for a little levity can't you come together for a nice time hey but past the green bean casserole I need a I need a biscuit pass it over eight hundred eight five nine zero nine five seven your calls next all right couple of things breaking and then we're getting to your calls eight hundred eight five nine zero nine five seven eight hundred eight five nine zero doubly jr uh couple new appointments uh are coming out including former democratic congresswoman uh veteran and now a republican Tulsi gabbard will be the director of national intelligence uh I like that appointment it's a good one the one I don't like is just coming down now which is donald trump has tapped matt gates floor to congressman to be the attorney general uh I don't know if I'm for you on that um I I uh I uh I just don't like that I mean matt gates is a flamethrower matt gates is somebody who I thought brought a tremendous amount of of of unstability uh a destabilizing force to the house when he ousted kevin mccarthy um and and and really through a monkey wrench into the republican leadership earlier this year I just uh I don't like that but um I'm sure other people will have will have opinions on it eight hundred eight five nine zero nine five seven all right super recede what's up soup how are you my friend hey what's going on chris hey man hey let me say this um before I get to my main points um some of the stuff you you were saying now I think it's absolutely utterly ridiculous the party of inclusion the republicans stopped the madness and this is how I'm going to show you that you're wrong okay uh uh what's his name biting over did the inclusion he brought in all the illegal so you know we are the party of including everybody and people who vote Donald trump had more latino votes Donald trump had more black votes than he did before i mean that's the that's the that's the truth soup party of inclusion now let me get to my main point okay my main point is this or one of my main points is this uh just one of them people feel this way for some strange reason about this man not me I can agree to disagree with my family and friends but everybody's not like me i'm i'm above sir you're one-on-one soup uh yeah yeah i'm above certain uh pettiness pettiness i'm above certain things uh silly mess agree to disagree yeah but guess guess what but guess what though chris they're not wrong on how they feel but why does he make them feel that way reagan didn't make nobody feel that way the bushes they make nobody feel that way no other republicans it's something about yeah but but soup soup it's not it's not the hold on soup soup soup hold on i'll give you your time it's not it's not republicans that are pulling the plug on holidays it's democrats they're the ones that don't want to be around it's not republicans that are saying i don't want to be around my family members that voted for kamala Harris it ain't them it's the other way i know this but that's why i'm saying democrat or republican if you feel that way about a person it's got to be something about these guys and i think you guys are going to reap what you saw hopefully it's nothing catastrophic or detrimental but if people are selling this way about this man again we felt no other no we never felt nothing like this before with no other republican president only with this strange and the vigil now that's got to tell you something that's a way of flag right there y'all better be ready to stop this guy with with us if he gets out of control and that's what here's what i don't know so i don't know what that means i all all all all i'll say is that that there is no doubt that donald trump elicits a different response from other beer finish there's no doubt there's one last thing one last thing one last thing is this okay the dinner tables are said okay we're going to have turkey right yeah everything's on the table but guess what you better tell down on trump impeachment is still on the table no it's it's not it's not people all my people are going to preach this we're going to take this to the mountaintop and we're going to be ready so it's not better be ready to and what what is that article what is the other article the article of insanity if he if he does something insane we can get him on the article one of those articles and insanity and removal sure come on man yeah the article of insanity is there it's there the article of insanity you know what yeah i mean i don't know exactly what it is but you know what i'm saying there's there's a number of ways to remove this guy if he gets out of control if he does something so the republican led house is gonna impeach him guess what they're grown me and too because they can make up their and women they're not going to follow him like a little puppet dog if they feel like this man is out of control okay he's doing something that could get us in in serious trouble yeah okay all right super appreciate the call my friend thank you it's good abratton paniac what's up Bradley chris how you doing good bud what's going on well the article of insanity is alive and well that's for sure um off topic uh my brother refers to trump is the orange manis and i told him the other day i said you know well trump might have orange hair but you're the one whose hair is actually on fire so but uh the reason i called i was in the post office yesterday morning you know week after the election there's six of us uh in the little lobby there we're talking one of my neighbors was there we're having a conversation guy in front of me as a very nice jacket on with a custom embroidered on the upper left shoulder it says trump mmm 2024 woman walks in takes a look at his shirt or his jacket top of her voice f trump and i said did did did we hear what what we think we heard and you know everybody's yeah and on the way out she's given everybody in the room the middle finger oh nice unbelievable nice well it sounds like you and your brother are still talking so that's good oh we are yeah yeah so you'll you'll be you'll be together for thanksgiving well no he's in Rhode Island oh okay all right but you would be you would be you talk that's good oh absolutely good uh brad appreciate it let's go to kaffee and clinton township hey kaffee hi what's going on what can i do for you oh i i just want to tell you a funny thing that happened to my sister-in-law okay she was she was walking down the street and she passed the band and she said hi and he looked at her says um i'll say hi to you if you voted for paris oh and what did she say oh almost no i don't really know like that was assumed she walked away but you know so these things are happening all over the place huh oh yeah yeah are you gonna have dinner with your family if they voted for somebody else that you didn't vote for oh no oh sure oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yes i would yeah all right kaffee i appreciate it it's their it's their choice you know sure yeah no doubt kaffee thank you it's gonna gary and Plymouth what's up gary hey gris thanks for taking my call you got it um i wanted a comment about the people who don't want to have holiday meals with people that they disagree with and i think we can look back and we can figure out exactly where the term snowflake came from and i think it describes them pretty well um in in this is exactly one of the reasons why the trump supporters remain quiet up until the election and they say quietly buy in the tall grass and waited for the election and both for trump because they're getting sick and tired of this behavior and being called these names who wants to be called these names sure yeah no i think that's a huge part of it um i just don't i i don't understand the mentality of families not getting together for a holiday which is supposed to be a celebration or something you know this is these are nice events that you get to have with your family and to throw that away at a at a at a at a time when things are so divisive when it's not supposed to be things can be nice and things can be cheerful and you can be thankful for health and and and your and the loved ones in your life and instead you make it about a person that you've never met of somebody that that uh that was elected or not elected during a during a presidential race it's it's just not something i i understand just isn't people are they want to talk about their feelings all the time and i don't know that really that matters very much um i learn more from people who i disagree with sure people that i agree with and i want to hear why do you believe the way you believe tell me about this and a lot of people are taken aback when i say that and they don't believe me um but it is true and why not learn from other people and why not open your mind or how about how about when you're asking somebody to pass you the the the cranberry sauce let's just not talk about politics agreed let's just not do it right right no doubt no doubt all right Gary appreciation my friend thank you all right we'll take a break come back for more next in the jr afternoon all right how about them pistons yeah Steven oh there look they're uh they're they're entering into the lexicon again they are slowly entering they are slowly getting it's this is like uh when everybody started coming out of their house and covet it's like oh look at this oh the air so nice like i feel like the pistons that they are starting to enter our living rooms again you know it's interesting we'll use that as a tease this conversation brought to you by the performance remodeling sweepstakes performance remodeling selected cameras acaria as the winner of their first annual one hundred thousand dollar window of opportunity sweepstakes performance remodeling says let's do it again log into windows roofingciting.com to win to win the next sweepstakes from performance remodeling so you know with the pistons and listen it's very early in the mbac sure um but there is a level of excitement and i've been saying and i've admitted and i'll admit it right here on your fine program Chris i am a born-again piston fan watching on a regular basis very excited about what we're witnessing under first-year head coach jadie bickerstaff um but is it possible that this piston team and when i say catch fire please don't overread what i'm saying but we saw those lions certainly go through it we saw the tigers at the end of their regular season experience it and now this piston team is pretty damn entertaining malik beasley made the tie-breaking free throw with 1.1 seconds left in overtime and this is crazy after miami was given a tech foul for calling a timeout which is all fine and good except they didn't have any so the pistons hold on to beat the heat 123 121 at a raucous lca then how about the inbound pass you got 1.8 seconds left Tyler heroes jumper by the way put miami up 121 119 1.8 seconds left timeout Kate Cunningham out of the timeout his jalen durin little alley-oop pass i'm me inbound and it was absolutely perfect and uh need i remind you that was an nba cup game yes and they were oh and four in those games a year ago so anyway uh the pistons now five and seven remember they won 14 games all of last year uh they will play host to the disappointing milwaukee bucks eight o'clock tonight uh once again at lca they have a pulse they have a pulse they do and it's all you can ask for for a team that came off a historically bad season and they have some young guys they have a little bit of a of a nucleus but for a team that was historically bad last year they look a little different they look a little driven they look like they've got some motivation well and it's a fun watch they're they're looking they're competing no but they're competing uh and uh sick in the plot uh they've led the mba in losses you mentioned last year's historically poor season the season before didn't set anything on fire led the mba in losses there so um look i'm happy for kade cunning ham i'm happy for jade and ivy i'm happy for jail endurance all these dudes that have paid the price and have been around through some pretty depressing times uh good to see meanwhile um uh michigan state fell to kansas last night um in the champions classic in atlanta i actually feel pretty optimistic about this uh this this team um they competed against the best team in the land yeah and it could have been a hell of a lot more by the way correct and and it felt like you know they were they weren't getting some shots to drop but i i i'm actually buying this team i i kind of like where they're at now um and there's a ton of room for for growth well they're extremely deep yeah uh first and foremost um they fall 77 69 uh hundred dickinson in his 20th college basketball season 21st all right scored 28 points um meanwhile here's where it all is uh my spartans three of 24 three of 24 from three point range yeah uh jade nakins uh considered to be the catalyst of this spartan team two points he was one for 12 from the floor which included over four from beyond the arc he's too darn good to have this last i feel like that's an anomaly i mean he's he's better than that so i i'm i'm pretty bullish on that team and i look i don't want to we don't have to talk a lot of college hoops but i like uh what michigan's doing too and and what dusty mays got going on in arbor uh again uh are you winning an adi nope but uh in the right direction or i want to bring this uh to your attention as uh ken brown enters the studio thank you for gracing us with your presence by the way this is very nice you don't have to work that's the wrong microphone too there you go there you go how long you've been in this business yeah um did you see what what uh what fandal sports network is doing yes so they are offering uh by the way this was bally's and how it's fandal sports network this is diamond sports whatever else right tomorrow be something else um they are going to offer red wing games and pistons games a la carte which means you can buy individual games for seven bucks a pop yes now just to put it in a little bit of a frame of reference if you don't have then the the the channel in your cable package you can get the app which is what 20 bucks a month yes okay so at 20 bucks a month you can get access to everything or you can buy these games one at a time at seven bucks a pop kind of like a pay-per-view what do you make this it's a no brainer if you're going to watch an individual red wing or piston game you know that's going to be technically it's six dollars ninety-nine cents sure call it seven dollars okay so you're roughly a third through that purchase to having a full-blown subscription right i don't see what the interest is going to be in these individual games now clearly the red wings and pistons you're a die heart fan you don't have the uh what they call the direct-to-consumer streaming menu okay so red wings pistons in a in a big tilt do i fork out the six ninety-nine but again if you do if you watch three games a month you might as well just get your thirteen dollars away from the whole monthly subscription where are you at kb on this i'm from the school and you know you're a little younger than i am according to you remember this well there was a time where every game wasn't on tv every night and you would listen to the radio or you wait for the paper correct so i don't have a problem with if somebody wants to watch the red socks on the friday but they don't want to watch the other game paying six dollars to watch the game let's keep it and go into the game yeah i'm so proud with it so i guess my my thought is this is a this is an absolute way to get people to subscribe to the app oh i think that's and for a company that's coming out of bankruptcy they're trying to get as much money as they can that they'll they'll entice you with the carrot well in the meeting at fan dual sports network when they were to kick in this around yeah you know what this is going to do Larry yes it's going to make people say well six ninety nine for a game 20 dollars a month for the whole darn deal yeah makes a lot of sense all right uh what are we are coming up uh we're going to talk about the uh trump appointments we're going to tell about i'm going to go on fox news and see if i can be secretary of state we're going to tell you why not why not maybe why not you get a position i get a position yes we're going to talk about a coach who loses games and won't shower afterward because they feel like he deserves to be clean all right mitch i'm in the crew coming up see tomorrow same time same place ever going [BLANK_AUDIO]