JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick

JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick ~ November 19, 2024 ~ Full Show

November 19, 2024 ~ JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick On this episode: Chris learns more about his upcoming trip to the Amalfi Coast and let's you know how you can join him; learns why Gov. Whitmer's claims of transparency aren't what they seem and takes your calls!

Duration:: 1h 11m
Broadcast on:: 21 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

Well, come in. Good to have you. We have a lot to do today. And I, I, because now Ukraine has fired U.S. long-range missiles into Russia. And the ramifications of that, I think, are significant. To what degree is Joe Biden escalating this thing is up for debate? And it's something we're going to talk about coming up at two 18. But this notion of Russia becoming more emboldened via allies like Iran, like China, like North Korea, that is sent troops to fight on the Russians behalf is an escalation and in and of itself. And you have European allies dismissing the saber rattling of Vladimir Putin and the and the Kremlin that that they're not going to use nuclear weapons, that they're not going to escalate it to that. It's, it's a lot of talk, a lot of bark, no bite. And as a result, whether or not the that messaging from European allies of the United States made any sort of difference in Joe Biden's decision to allow us long-range missiles used in Russia, we don't know yet. But that was essentially a year and a half ago when European leaders came together and said, look, we, we believe that Vladimir Putin is bluffing that he won't use nuclear weapons. Well, now Russia has lowered the bar of what it actually takes for them to use nuclear weapons. We'll get to it. We'll get to it. Jack Keane, General Jack Keane spoke with the morning show. I've got audio. I'll play it for you. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell among democratic leadership in the house has been reelected to the House Democrats, Democrats messaging arms. She overcame Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas to continue to serve as the democratic policy and communications committee. She told reporters today that the job of the DPC is to ensure that how stems are unified in their messaging and to ensure it reaches every corner, every demographic, every place in this country. And we've got to do a better job. And I think that Congresswoman Debbie Dingell is probably chief among Democrats to look at what happened in this election. What happened with the Harris campaign? And why was Donald Trump able to resonate with middle America, lower America? Why was Donald Trump able to gain more votes among important voting blocks, whether it's Latinos, whether it's a black men? Why was he able to do that? And my guess is that that's something that House Democrats certainly are going to look at and how they deliver their messaging over the next four years. So Congresswoman Debbie Dingell is back at it in the house. Meanwhile, the Vaykrama Swami has started to talk about the plan for Doge, the department that he and Elon Musk will advise on for government efficiency. And one of the things that he's talking about is basically slicing and dicing a lot of the fat, a lot of the bloated bureaucracy that goes along with the federal government. And this could be a wide ranging. It could be a very large umbrella that they look at. And they really have got 18 months until their deadline is up. But they told Tucker Carlson after Donald Trump was declared the winner that he wanted to take a jackhammer and chainsaw approach to the federal government, particularly looking at civil servants and their return to the workplace. He said they don't go to work. You don't even have to talk about you're in a mass firing, a mass exodus. Just tell them they have to come back five days a week from eight to six p.m. And he said that that would lead to about a 25% thinning out of the federal bureaucracy in that alone that maybe people don't want to come back to the office to work. And this is something that Elon Musk has talked about for quite some time, that in his many endeavors, in his many businesses, that being at work is important. Being at work makes people more productive. They're there. They're in the environment. And it makes people more productive. So they're they are they are in lockstep in in that perspective as well. Also, as we continue to to look at what is going on in this transition and what is going on with this incoming administration. One of the things that we're seeing is now some of these lawmakers that were able to retain their seats or win their seats are coming in and proposing new bills for this next legislative session and House Republicans courtesy of Nancy Mase says that this new bill that Nancy Mase rolled out would prohibit transgender people on Capitol Hill from using the the bathroom of their selected gender. Nancy Mase specifically focusing on a newly elected Democratic representative Sarah McBride who happens to be a trans woman. Nancy may says that McBride does not belong in women's spaces, women's bathrooms, women's locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop. Meanwhile, later on, McBride shared a response on X calling for kindness and respect. But this has now thrown Washington into a tizzy again. And whether or not this actually goes through whether or not this is something that that actually ends up happening. It is it is something that's that's there. Also, Brian, I know that that you know, we don't shy away from any serious subject or any anything that's happening. One of the things that people are pointing to and saying, well, why is it? How is California still counting ballots? How is that possible? How in Pennsylvania, where you know, you've got David McCormick as the the winner of that Senate race over Bob Casey, who is a three time Senator, how have we not finished counting ballots? And Pennsylvania has been in the spotlight again in this in this area. Now, one of the the issues is the ballots came in. Some of them were spoiled. Some of them were improperly dated. Well, this the state Supreme Court in Pennsylvania ruled that those ballots cannot be counted. But you have particularly in Bucks County, the collar counties there in Philadelphia, you had a county commissioner saying last week that people violate laws anytime they want. So for me, if I violate this law, it's because I want a court to pay attention. There's nothing more important than counting votes, which she was breaking the law by allowing these votes to continue to be counted. Josh Shapiro, who is the governor of Pennsylvania has been relatively mum on this. Although he has come out and said that any institution that our laws can be ignored or excuse me, any insinuation that our laws can be ignored or do not matter is irresponsible and does damage to the faith in our electoral process. The rule of law matters in Pennsylvania. It is critical for counties in both parties to respect it with both the rhetoric and their actions saying that he does agree with the state's high court that ruled that faulty mail and ballots cannot be counted now amid a recount. So it's a win for the Republican party. It's a win that that they they took this to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. And they ruled four to three yesterday that counties cannot incorrectly it cannot count incorrectly dated or undated ballots and that and that hopefully this will come to an end sooner and later. And then they're able to just count the ballots that they have in the recount and we move forward. But once again, this is very much in the spotlight. Very much in the spotlight. All right, we'll take a break. Come back on the other side. We'll talk about this decision from Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to use U.S. long range missiles and the ramifications of it because we have we have audio from our morning show Jaira morning with Jack Keene who says, pump the brakes on this that Joe Biden may have done the appropriate thing. I'll play it for you. Come out here on Jaira afternoon. Trump's picks I think at times will be a little bit unconventional because 76 million people voted and kind of gave us a mandate that they're tired with the status quo. So I trust that he will make the right decisions. And I think at the end of the day, everyone needs a fair shot. You know, we'll look at all the options. I'm sure different people have different opinions. But at the end of the day, what's important is that we are able to get the intended nominees through it. We're now planning for the policies that we would put in place as a Republican majority with a Republican Senate and the White House and President under President Trump to get our country back on track to focus on lowering costs for family at the grocery store at the gas pump. President Trump has promised that public safety threats and national security threats are their priority right out of the gate. So we're going to be looking at Trendaro their days of horror are coming to an end. January 20th can't get here fast enough. I mean, what Biden is doing is totally reckless, Laura. It is absolutely reckless. And let's not forget this is a guy who the Democrats decided couldn't be trusted, didn't have the capability to run a presidential campaign. And now here he is, potentially leading us down the path to World War three. All right. So that is Missouri Senator Josh Holly. And one of the things that has been talked about over the last couple of days after it came out that the president authorized Ukraine to use US supplied, US built long range missiles inside Russian territory, inside Russia. Well, is this guy fanning the flames? Is this only going to bring us closer to World War three? Well, the morning show talked with four star retired general, Jackie with the Institute of the study of war. And not only was the general bullish on the fact that Josh Holly is wrong, but said that this is an appropriate course of action to authorize the use of these weapons. No, I think it's a mild limited response. I think he's not doing any. He's not doing what he should be doing. Complete opposite from the senator. Look at the senators missing the whole strategic significance is what has taken place here. And that is what I just said. North Korea is now sifting Russia to overthrow Ukraine. That is the strategic significance of what is taking place. And I'm amazed that people can't see it. You know, you know, for what it is. You know, unfortunately, you know, we have been we live in an era when the opposition will ever the opposition does good, bad, whatever, they just get criticized. Yeah, I just doing the right thing and opening up the attack. He's doing the wrong thing and living to the cursed area. It should be all of within range of those weapons. And obviously it's so long overdue. So that's an interesting perspective that it shouldn't just be used in the area closest to Ukraine that that part of Russia closest to Ukraine, the Kurds region, that it should be wherever these missiles can reach. And as a result, you've got Vladimir Putin today approving changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine, which now says an attack from a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear power, i.e., Ukraine, and the United States will be treated as a joint assault on Russia. It also rubber stamps this idea that potentially Putin would would really entertain the use of nuclear weapons. Here's something else that General Jack Keane says that it's not necessarily Joe Biden escalating this. This is now Russia calling on their buddies in Iran, calling on their buddies in China and calling on their buddies in North Korea, which has sent troops to Russia to fight in Ukraine. That is the real escalation here. And it's the saber the the the saber rattling narrative of Vladimir Putin that has basically sent European countries to go. So what Russia takes a systems financially from China and also capabilities from China, Iran, and North Korea. Ukraine does the same from the United States and European countries and some other countries throughout the world. And now Russia has introduced another country to help them overthrow Ukraine, pretty similar to what Nazi Germany did with Italy in World War II. That is the escalation. We have another country now trying to overthrow Ukraine. And he's trying to distract us from that. But the real escalation is and trying to make certain that the United States minimizes the use of the weapons that they're providing to the Ukraine. All right, I want to hear from you. 800-859-0957-800-859-0WJR. How do you view this? Because I'll be honest, it feels a little bit like a serious game of chicken. Like you've got NATO allies backing Ukraine, although they are not welcoming Ukraine under the NATO umbrella. But you've got you've got our allies saying Putin is bluffing, that Putin is not going to use nuclear weapons. And they're just this is a really scary game of chicken or are you of the belief of general Jack King, which is not only should Joe Biden be authorizing this and other countries have to other countries like France and the UK and Germany have said, this guy's not real. This guy's not serious about using nuclear weapons. And to be totally honest, if there is anybody that should be worried about nuclear activity, it's probably people in Europe. And so now, what is it? What is it to you? Do you believe Joe Biden is escalating this because Jack King does it? Do you believe that Joe Biden is acting properly? Do you believe that this is a pretty scary game of chicken? 800-859-0957. And it's something that he talked with Jay our morning about that that European countries are on board with Ukraine using their supplied munitions inside Russian territory as a way to keep Russia back as a way to push them back as a way to potentially deter their activities pushing further into Ukraine. The Biden administration should be out front in the support of the Europeans who by the way, last summer, not this summer, last summer, made up their minds that the whole threat of nuclear weapons by Putin is a law for as you described it as saber atlin. And that's when they told the Biden administration, we should be all in on everything. Don't let this threat diminish our capability support to Ukrainians. But this is forced to Biden administration to take a knee for over two years because they bought in the fear of this escalation. And here's the answer that we don't know yet. The answer to the question that we don't have yet. Does this make Donald Trump's job harder when he takes office? Does it make his job harder in negotiating an end of this thing? I don't I don't know. I don't have we don't have that answer yet. Because if Vladimir Putin looks and just says, you know, as a blanket approach, while the United States now is hitting is hitting us via Ukraine, if that's the case, then it probably will make the job harder a little bit. But I want to hear from you 808590957 will get to your calls, your text coming up on the other side of the break. It's share afternoon. So Ukraine has fired at least six us made long range missiles at a weapons depot in the forensic region today. Now, Russian officials say that they were shot down. Five of them were shot down. One of them was was was broken up. But the realities are the these weapons weapons now have been fired. And you've got Vladimir Putin approving changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine, which very much lowers the bar on where Russia would start to use nuclear weapons. I think just the this this notion of getting to the point where we're using nuclear weapons is scary enough. I think it gives people pause right off the right off the bat. But is Joe Biden pushing us closer to a global war? Or is he responding to the escalations of Russia of not only now Russia and and and their set of circumstances for why they've invaded Ukraine. You know, wanting to take over the country and and expand to what the Soviet Union used to be in all of these kind of piped dreams of Vladimir Putin. And then of course, you've got this idea that that NATO was pushing further into Russian territory, which is something that Russia doesn't want. But but the fact that it's not just Russia now because you've got North Korean troops coming in. So by proxy, you've got North Korea trying to push Ukraine out of the way. So you've got another country involved, which is where Jack Keene says is the escalation. And Joe Biden removing that red line that that that is a response to what Russia is doing. So there's certainly a game of of chess back and forth here. But I want to hear from you eight hundred eight five nine zero nine five seven. Let's go to Northwest Ohio. Catch up with Steve. What's up, Stevie? Hey, Chris. Thank you. Folks, you can hear me. Okay. Got you on the COVID this week. Oh, no. I hope you're all right. Yeah. Hey, thank you. Anyway, retired social studies teacher high school. I've been teaching about comrade Putin forever. I don't care if you're Russia, Soviet Union, Cold War, peace with strength. That's a great move. I love listening to General King. He's not being political here and everybody can't get political with a lot of hyperbole. But it's about time. It's taking a long time, but we need to do damage and Russia. I just don't buy it. I don't buy Putin using nuclear weapons. He won't. They're survivalist. They need to survive. It doesn't know good. His regime will be gone as people will be gone. Take one country that worries me more with nuclear weapons would definitely be Iran. The people from Iran are wonderful. We've seen in 19, they want to change. They got put down. We've seen with the women in the streets protesting, they want change. They just can't get it done. Their people are fundamentalists. They're leaders. They're willing to die for their cause. They will use nuclear weapons, prove them or not. We need to do what we got to do. You know, Steve, I want to just take that a step further because I think that when you look at when Russia decided to invade Ukraine, when they actually started their ground operation, I mean, it felt very much like a crackerjack operation. It never seemed well organized. It didn't seem like there was any real substance behind it. Hundreds of miles along procession of war machines that ran out of gas. I mean, it didn't feel like a well-planned or well-executed military operation. And I think for those people out there that believe, Russia's talked a big game for a long time, but have they been able to back that up? And I don't know that people have seen them able to back it up? No, they haven't. And like I said, two years ago, I felt if you're going to win a war, you need to get offensive. You need to get aggressive. So hands have been tied. Maybe we're going to throw some harder punches. Right now, subbing out at my high school in a government class, I just met a nice young man. He's from Adova as a foreign exchange student right next to Ukraine in the Black Sea. And one thing, you know, being a world history teacher, not that I know everything, but I read a lot. And when you have foreign exchange students come in, it's amazing to get their viewpoint, what their parents are thinking. And this kid is really concerned. And that's one thing a lot of Americans kind of don't look at. Yeah, fair enough. Hey, Steve, feel better, my friend. Hey, thanks and great show. Thank you. Appreciate it. Let's go to Greg and Alan Park. What's up, Greg? Hey, I know, Chris. Good. Hey, I think Biden is probably one of the worst commander in chiefs we've had in my lifetime. He's fumbled this whole invasion into Ukraine ever since it happened. I think he should have given Ukraine what they needed when they needed it sooner than they needed it. Tanks, personnel carriers, F-15s, fighter jets that he should have gained long range missiles right off the get go. So they could, you know, done as much damage to Russia as they can, as early as they could. And that's how you win wars. So you you think by by waiting, by him hawing that that that what he's he's drug this out that that they haven't provided enough support to Ukraine? Yes. Okay. Okay. But I do say it all that I think he was wrong for making this decision when he made it because with the incoming with the new administration with Trump, he should have been at least coordinating with Trump because this is about America. This isn't about Biden. This is about Democrats. It's about America. So they should have been talking in, in, you know, discussing what their next move should be together. Yeah. Fair enough. All right, Greg, appreciate you. Let's go to Mark and Waterford. What's up, Mark? Yeah, I've got three thoughts that I'd like to share with you. First of all, this move that that that Ukraine has fired six US made missiles into Russia is one either a political move to deliberately damage the Trump administration coming in for the next four years or two, total incompetence by a guy who apparently has no cognitive abilities. And three, when does a country that's 36 trillion dollars in debt borrow borrow money to send other countries to help them? Would you do that with your friend? Would you borrow money to give your friend help? I mean, give me a break. You know, Mark, the timing of this is interesting. And I appreciate the call. I think that, you know, when Jack Keene says you go back, you know, a year and a half ago, when you've got your opinion country saying, well, wait a second, we don't believe Putin's going to use nuclear weapons. We think he's bluffing. We don't think he's serious. And as a result, those countries have been more bullish on their weapons being used for Ukraine. Well, now the United States, after kind of sitting on their hands for for a year and a half, that now you make that decision. I, you know, maybe the the influx of North Korean fighters made a difference. I don't think that that can be discounted. But but the president has removed that red line. And now Ukraine has used those rockets inside Russian territory. I appreciate the call mark 880590957. Take a break. Come back more here on Jay afternoon. You know, I've been telling you about this, uh, this once in a lifetime trip that I and hopefully you are taking with me next fall. Um, and it's chock full of look, it's the best of the best. It's the Amalfi coast in, in Italy. And I want you to be there with me because there's been a lot of hard work done behind the scenes to make sure that these trips are crafted in a way that, that it truly is once in a lifetime that, that you have to experience it in this way to get the full effect. And my friends over conservative tours have done a wonderful job of putting this together. And the, the host of conservative tours and who will be our gracious host when we make this trek over to Italy is Ken Chase and he joins with this afternoon. Kenny, it's, it's great to have you. Man, I am so excited for this trip. Yeah. Well, you sound excited, Chris. It's a good thing. And, yeah, it everybody should be excited, who has an interest or who intends to join us. It's just special. And you just, as I like to say, you cannot go wrong on a luxury tour to Italy. And this is a case in point. We've been doing this itinerary. We did it actually seven times this year for different cities around the country, servicing other conservative groups. And it's just magical. And in fact, we get a whole lot of returning guests and that'll give you some idea. Of course, you say the Amalfi Coast, for folks who've never been, they have a pretty good idea. It's absolutely one of the most breathtaking locales on the planet Earth. But the other side of the tour, it's sort of a 50/50 split is what we call the beautiful region of Puglia, which of course is almost unheard of for most Americans and frankly, for a whole lot of Europeans. But we'll tell you a little secret about Puglia. There are two places in Italy where Italians light to vacation. One is the island of Sardinia, Sardinia, I think we call it in English. And the other place is the region of Puglia, which is not too far from the Amalfi Coast. So it's very convenient. It's just across the peninsula. And it's, we would call it the heel of the boot of Italy. And it's an absolutely splendid region. So it's 11 days on our beautiful Mercedes coach. I guess we're really only staying in two hotels, which of course is something that pleases the guests and they have beautiful luxury properties as usual. And it's all the sites we're going to see in both the Amalfi Coast and Puglia that make this like all events in Italy on a luxury caliber. So enjoyable. So when you go into planning this trip and you talked about you've done this a number of times now, but when you go into planning this trip, what goes into that? Because when you're talking about this type of trip, you spare no expense in terms of the luxury that you provide your guests. So talk to me about how you craft the trip like this. Well, I'll be very honest. I can't take much of the credit because I've partnered 22 years or so ago, I talked to my, when I wanted to develop Italy, I talked to some colleagues at Air France. I said, this is what I want to do in Italy. Can you give me some contacts? I met my partner Lorenzo and he and his brother, Giuseppe, we've been together ever since. And now there's Sisto Orbinas in it. And the fourth in our, in our room, group there, our tour leaders would be Marco. He's the he's the funny one. But the credit goes to my team of tour leaders, my partners in Italy, my colleagues in Italy, and Lorenzo is sort of the king. He's well known in America by virtue of all the guests we've brought to Italy over the years. And I say that because it so enhances the tour. This is an escorted tour and which means basically you don't have to do any planning. It's all done for you. But to answer your question a little more directly, I want if I'm going to Italy, I want Italians to run my tour. And that's the point. They know all the secrets. They know where to go. I mean, Lorenzo Giuseppe, Marco, Romina, either one of them could run this tour as my buddy Rush would say with half his brain tied behind his back. They're that good at what they do. And I, and I don't just say that. I'm not just bragging. It's because people will talk to me. They'll come right up to me during a tour after a tour. If I'm not on the tour, they'll write me and they'll say things like like we're doing right now. Many of the people, for example, on our Philadelphia tour to your destination, the Amalfi Coast last April, they're calling to sign up for next April. We're going up north to the Italian Riviera with them. And you know what they say, Chris? They say, we were with Romina. We'd want to be with Romina again. Or we were with Lorenzo. We only want to come on the tour if we can have Lorenzo as our tour leader again. I've heard this for 22 years. It makes a great difference. But that's why they don't just craft a great tour. They just know everything, all the ins and outs, and they put their heart and soul into it. And it shows. And people love that. People appreciate that. As I like to say, in all honesty, because I'm very frank, you're going a great distance. You're investing a lot of money. You want to do it right. And there is nobody better in Italy than my four tour leads. They are the best. And that's why that's how so much goes into this. It sounds like it sounds like WJR folks are calling right now. Good. Good. Well, look, here's the thing is, is yes, it's a lot of money. But if you were to do this trip by yourself, if you were to, if you were to plan this trip and plan it out by yourself, you're talking about a whole heck of a lot more money. So it's a deal when you're talking about going to, in my opinion, there's no place in the world like the Amalfi Coast. And you've got Poolea and you've got Alberabello, you've got the Isle of Capri, you've got Sassy, you've got all of these wonderful places that you're going to expose people to. Right. And of course, you go to, you go to the Amalfi Coast for the stunning, unrivaled beauty for the, not the old girl, for the lemon groves, for the Isle of Capri, looking out from your beautiful hotel balcony at the Bay of Naples, for the sunsets. And then, of course, the dining. It just never ends on the Amalfi Coast. But yeah, it's all about the beautiful, the azure, the blue azure sea that you're looking out on, or taking the boat ride to and from, to Positano, for example. It's all about that. But then when you do the other side, Poolea, yeah, it's the, it's the olive groves. Before I ever went into Poolea, I was kind of expecting a little more of the terrain of Sicily, a little drier, a little more arid. And it's actually not that. It's actually very verdant and it's rolling hills of olive groves everywhere you go. And then you get into these famous villages, many of the UNESCO heritage sites like Alberabello, where the famous Poolea, the Poolea, those white conical houses. Then you get into Matata, which is often compared to Jerusalem because it looks a lot like Jerusalem. That has the famous Sazi district in the ravines. The Sazi district was simply, essentially, they were cave dwellings for many centuries. And they've got one preserved and we can actually visit it when it's there. But these are famous locales and they're wonderful because they're never crowded. And then my favorite, one of my favorites in all of Poolea's of Stoonie, you're on this wind swept hill. It's always sunny. It's always beautiful. And four miles away, you're looking out at the Adriatic Sea, which of course is the other side of the peninsula. And it's another great reason, of course, we incorporated Poolea. It's not just for all the special sites, but also because it's wonderful to discover something new when you travel. And that's what you get when you're doing Poolea. And then, and then let me tell you, Chris, when we do wineries at conservative tours, but particularly when we do wineries in Italy, we don't just go to sip some delicious wines. We go and we incorporate a dining event into the winery visit. And let's be honest, as Americans, it's wonderful to go to a winery and learn a little bit and taste some great wines that maybe buy a few bottles. But when you wrap that around, a banquet dining event, it's a, it's an episode in those 11 days that you will not soon forget. Kenny, I am salivating currently. I cannot wait for this. I know that people are excited. It's 888-733-9494, 888-733-9494. You can call now to book toll free. You can go to conservative tours.com. You can check out the itinerary and get all your information there. Can I can't wait? I'm so excited. We'll talk again down the road, but I know people are going to be excited for this. So thank you for your time. You bet. Thank you, Chris. Yep. You got it. That is Ken Chase, the host of conservative tours. And again, I want you to be there with me. 888-733-9494, or head on over to conservative tours.com. It's the Amalfi Coast. Like you just can't experience it anywhere else. The food, the views, the wine. I want you to be there with me. All right. We'll take a break. Come back for more right here on J.R. afternoon. All right. 3 o'clock hour. It's good to have you. Hey, coming up at 3-18, Craig Margaret, the Detroit News put together a really eye-opening piece about this secret backdoor web of nonprofits and secret donors that are bankrolling, essentially. Governor Gretchen Whitmer's policy agenda. It's an interesting look. We'll get to it coming up at 3-18. But hey, the Transiberian Orchestra is out on the Lost Christmas Eve winner tour, and you can see him at the tour stop of your choice. Score two premium tickets to the Transiberian concert of your choice with flights, a three-night hotel stay, and a $1,000 gift card for holiday shopping, priced provided by wild child touring. To enter for your chance to win, text this hour's national keyword, "Grand." Grand. To 95819. For full details and official contest rules, visit wjr.com. All right. NBC News has put out their final poll, their exit polling, essentially. Really what doomed Kamala Harris' campaign. Basically, Democrats won highly engaged voters and then struggled with everybody else. According to the final NBC News poll, 76% of registered voters said they follow public affairs and politics closely. The poll showed Harris winning among that group by five points over Donald Trump, 52 to 47%. But among the remaining quarter of voters who said that they don't follow politics closely, Trump won by 14 points. Now, he also won more of the Latino vote. He also won more of the Black vote, and this is somebody who just did better than he did in 2016. He did better than he did in 2020. And Kamala Harris, you know, I always point to the CNN coverage when, on election night, towards the end of the night, when Jake Tapper asked John King, "Where in the country among the counties was Kamala Harris doing 3% or more better than Joe Biden did in 2020?" And there wasn't one county. Essentially, she didn't do better than Joe Biden did. She didn't pick up more support than Joe Biden did. And Donald Trump picked up that support. So while there was a chunk of highly engaged voters that tipped the scale in her favor by 5%, Donald Trump basically cleaned house with everybody else. It's a very interesting look. And it's, it's one that I think is, is going to have to be examined by Democrats as they autopsy this election. Meanwhile, Ukraine has launched missiles inside Russia for the first time that were, that were built by the United States that were given to Ukraine as, as their defense or their offensive priorities. And six now U.S. long-range missiles have been fired into Russia from Ukraine. As a result, Vladimir Putin has approved changes to the Russian nuclear doctrine, which says, "If an attack from a non-nuclear state, Ukraine is backed by a nuclear power, the United States, it will be treated as a joint assault on Russia." The update was proposed in September, and it was, and it was signed and approved today. This is the one-thousandth day of the war with Ukraine. And there has been a lot of conversation, whether it's lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Republicans saying that Joe Biden is escalating this, pushing us towards World War Three, or you've got four-star retired General Jack Keene tell in our morning show today, that not, not only was Joe Biden's decision appropriate when you consider that North Korea has sent troops to fight on behalf of Russia, you've got now another country looking to eradicate Ukraine. And he said, he told our morning show, that Joe Biden is basically late to the party, that you've got European allies, European NATO allies, that say that all this saber rattling from Putin is a bluff. It's not real. It's smoke and mirrors. It's fictitious. There is no way that Vladimir Putin is going to launch nuclear weapons. And as a result, they have approved even earlier the decision to use their munitions that they supplied to Ukraine inside Russian territory. And Joe Biden sat on it for basically 18 months, until he decided to remove that red line and allow Ukraine to use U.S. missiles in Russian territory. It's interesting. Also, the Georgia case with Donald Trump, the Georgia Court of Appeals, has canceled oral arguments on Donald Trump's appeal of this case, which this is pushing this towards being a non-story anymore, as Donald Trump sets to take the oath of office on January 20th. Meanwhile, if you're looking for a new car, prepare yourself because sticker shock is very real. WJ, our senior news analyst, Marie Osborn, joins us with the numbers. Hi, Marie. Hi, Chris. So in October, Americans paid $47,612 on average for a new car. This is according to data collected by Edmunds. That's a jump of almost $10,000 from October of 2019. Of course, that was before the pandemic. It means new car prices have risen a lot faster than any other goods and services that we take. The reasons for the price jump are many. Of course, the pandemic. We're talking about the supply chains being snarled and limiting essential car parts, buyers increasingly preferring also to buy bigger cars with more features, more expensive SUVs and trucks. Today's car comes with them all kinds of things on them. We're talking about assist features, including automatic, automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning systems. The cheaper cars remaining are generally from the foreign brands. The average price of a Nissan sold in the US in the third quarter at about $35,362. Here's some quick facts to one each of the three automakers here in the metro area, GM, the average sales price at GM for a vehicle, $50,922, Stellantis, $54,963, and at Ford, $55,630. And all of this is good for car makers. We should tell you that. One of the reasons Americans are paying this kind of money is because the automakers decided to go all in on these expensive vehicles and they make more money on it. One last thing, Chris, the average car payment now $742. Yeah, it's expensive. It really is. And look, we should live in our cars. Yeah, right. Down about it. In some cases, it's about a mortgage payment. Is there any indication, though, that these prices are going to come down because the interest rates are going to start moving downward as we're dealing with inflation? Is there going to be any sort of price adjustment to these vehicles? So there's no indication on the work that was done by Edmunds on that particular issue. But generally speaking, prices don't come down on things like this. Maybe people will start looking at smaller vehicles or at vehicles that maybe don't have all the bells and whistles, but that remains to be seen. Yeah, it's a problem for a lot of people. And look, at the tail end of the pandemic, when use cars went up or obviously new cars were very expensive. People were putting more into the repairs of their vehicles. They were trying to make them last longer. Maybe if your transmission went out, you were just replacing it instead of scrapping it and going to get a new car. So we'll see if those trends continue. Marie, thanks so much. Thank you. All right, we're going to take a look at this secret group of donors, a web of nonprofits that are pushing the Governor Gretchen Whitmer's agenda, especially now as we get ready for Republicans to take over the house. Craig Morgan of the Detroit News joins me next year on Jay afternoon. Well, a secret web of big donors, nonprofit organizations helped promote Governor Gretchen Whitmer's policy agenda and championed the efforts all around the state through different avenues, whether it's advertising, social media. And now we're starting to get some of the numbers that since 2020, about $30 million have come in through a Lansing based non-profit called Road to Michigan's Future. And the annual tax filing for 2023 was due to the IRS on Friday, and Craig Morgan got a hold of it and has been looking it over and wrote a really interesting piece in the Detroit News. And as a result, Craig Morgan joins us this afternoon. Craig, it's good to have you back. Tell us a little bit about what you found. Hey, thanks for having me. Thanks for highlighting the reporting. You know, we found that Governor Whitmer's team, the people around her, the people who are her allies, have been using these nonprofit organizations that have been a topic of much debate and Lansing for many years to agree even more so than some previous officials have used them. I mean, to have raised $30 million over a period of five years through her main nonprofit, Road to Michigan's Future is a huge number. And then the way that her team has been using these is also noteworthy and remarkable. They have been taking money in, directing the money to other nonprofits controlled by her supporters. And they've been running a lot of advertisements promoting Democratic lawmakers to support her agenda and kind of criticizing Republican lawmakers who oppose it. So it's been a way to really try to get more support for the policies she wants to see the lawmakers supposed to be at check and balance to pack. Well, and the laws around knowing exactly who's contributing. It leaves a little ambiguity, right? There isn't a ton of transparency here. What what laws are there in place that really prevent us from knowing who these donors are? I mean, there's essentially no transparency with these organizations. The tax filings that we are are able to get are the only documents that they have to release publicly. And all that really shows is how much money they raised, how much they spent, it provides some general details of how they spent the money. And it shows how much individuals, individual contributors gave, but not who they were. So as an example of that, we can see that there were two donors to Governor Whitmer's nonprofit in 2023 as they were passing all of this legislation through the through the Capitol. There were two donors that each gave $500,000. We don't know who those two donors were. Maybe we'll find out one day through some other means, but there's no required disclosure of those donors because these nonprofits don't follow under state campaign finance law. And there's no other transparency policy at the state level to force office holders who are being paid by the taxpayers working on behalf of the taxpayers to show who's funding these accounts for them. I mean, there's there is no policy on it. There are some lawmakers pushing for some type of measure to be enacted on this. And and they've been unsuccessful so far. You know, you've been a really steady watchdog in this in this arena for a very long time. Is there something that jumps out to you in particular? And I know you mentioned that, you know, in past administrations, we haven't seen anything quite to this degree, but is there anything that sticks out to you as as whether it's troubling or just something that you haven't seen before? Yeah, I mean, I think what sticks out to me with this particular instance is the way the money has been moved to a web of other organizations. You know, usually when Governor Snyder had a Governor Rick Snyder, the former governor had it nonprofit like this, he brought in a little bit of money a few hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe a million. And then he used it directly to try to help things around his administration. You know, maybe pay for a staffer that he don't want to hire through the government or do some other things. And those are all things that were noteworthy. This is different though. This nonprofit is bringing in millions upon millions of dollars and then directing because there's some awareness about what this nonprofit is, the Detroit News and others have written about how this nonprofit is tied to the governor. Now this nonprofit is moving the money it receives from anonymous donors to other organizations that, you know, some of them, you know, we had no idea we're tied to the governor in any way. There's a, there is one of these groups that by its name, it's an alliance of parents for school safety. That's the name of the organization. Yeah, the Michigan parent alliance for school safety, my pass. Yeah, my pass. And it was running dozens upon dozens of ads promoting democratic lawmakers. Until we got this tax filing, we had no idea that this was being funded by the governor's nonprofit. You would think it would be a parent alliance, a coalition of parents that was doing this. It was actually being funded by supporters of Governor Whitmer, allies. So when you reached out to these groups, like my pass or or or these other organizations, what did they tell you? I mean, they haven't told me much. I've asked them some questions. They've kind of said, Hey, you know, the generic response we're advocating for our supporters and our causes. One of these groups, clean jobs for Michigan received money from the governor's nonprofit. They kind of said, Hey, we want to see a green job and a green economy. And that's what we're trying to do. Again, other than the governor's nonprofit, unclear where the rest of the money for this entity is coming from, what the strategy is, what their, you know, what their ultimate goal actually is. But the governor's team is giving money to this organization, that it's raised from anonymous donors. And now this organization is also out there running ads on Facebook and through other means promoting democratic lawmakers. And I know when you reach out to the governor's office, they referred to these nonprofits, particularly the road to Michigan's future for requests for comments. So the governor's office staying mum on this. Is there anything inherently wrong with this? Obviously, the lack of transportation or the lack of the ability for us to really understand what's going on is a problem. But is there something inherently wrong with this? I mean, there's nothing in the go, the team from road to Michigan's future, the spokesperson for the organization said that the organization follows all of the laws that are on the book at the federal state level. You know, there aren't a lot of laws. I mean, this is something that does not happen in other states to the degree that it happens here with officeholders using these nonprofits to raise money. Inherently, when you ask the question, what's inherently wrong? I mean, it's a debate over what level of transparency do, you know, the residents of Mission deserve from the people they put into elected office. But it's also, you know, the history that we've had here of late is that there've been a number of criminal investigations into past state officials who have misused these accounts. When you don't have transparency, there are a few guardrails for the public to be able to identify and watch dog what the money is actually going to. Are these protected by foil laws? Or if if FOIA requests came in, would they have to disclose where this money came from? No, these are protected by FOIA. I mean, these don't fall under FOIA. There's no way to get at who's donating to them. I mean, the governor's office specifically is also exempt from in Mission as is the legislature. So even if one donor accidentally sent an email to, you know, a government email account and said, Hey, how do I donate to your nonprofit? We wouldn't be able to get accurate that because they don't fall under FOIA. I mean, that's something that possibly could happen in a mayor's office or with the city council, but it can't happen here. Do you think this also speaks to the governor's political power at this point? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the, the, the sheer amount of money that she's been able to raise, the level of getting so many donors who are able to write checks of 10,000 to 20,000 to 100,000 to $500,000 checks. She is the leading force and state government, especially over the last two years, we looked at primarily 2023 because that was what it was available. But 2023 and 2024, the Democrats control the state legislature. And she had a lot of influence over what they were doing. So she was the most powerful force and state government for that two years. Yeah. And I, and I think it's probably why she has kind of the crown jewel in the Democrats nationally in their crown. Her ability to raise money and fundraise and, and, and even flip the legislature in 2022, huge deals. Craig, great stuff. Appreciate it. As always, we'll talk again soon. Hey, thanks for having me. Yep. You got it. Take a break more next. All right. 800-859-0957-800-859-0WJR. You got a problem with, with what the, the governor has been able to do. And, and if you, if you have an opportunity, I would, I would urge you to go check out Craig Moggers story at the Detroit news because, you know, this idea of bringing in all this money, really dark money, because we don't know where it's coming from. We don't know who, we don't know who's bankrolling it. But to the tune of $30 million since 2020, man, it's a, that's a legitimate amount of money. It's a big time amount of money. And, and I think, look, what, what the governor is doing is not, I mean, that it's not transparent. It's not, it doesn't provide any sort of insight to what's happening. But when you, when you bring in this money to a nonprofit that's supported by the governor and then this money's distributed, and then that is used to whatever push any sort of advertisement, social media posts, whatever, it certainly can color the way people look at things. It certainly can influence people's decisions. It can influence people's decisions when it comes to certain issues or who you vote for, all of those things play. And, and I, to me, if you even zoom out even a little further, I think it speaks to what the governor is able to do. And I think it's why the governor is so important to the Democratic Party nationally. Why she has become such a major player is because of her ability to fundraise, her ability to bring money in. Now, whether or not that would translate to an election, I don't know. I don't, I don't, I don't know that. But, but her ability to bring money in is, is nothing to scoff at. And I, and I think that, look, if, if, if I'm, if we're gonna, if we're just gonna talk about it, feels like, you know, when Joe Biden steps out of the race 100 days from the election, that's a really tough spot to be in. Now, I don't believe that Kamala Harris would have run a campaign differently if she had a full cycle. I just, I don't believe that. I'm not entirely sure that she would have been a choice of the American people if there were an actual primary or if there were a, or, or an open convention at the, at the DNC convention. I don't know that she would have even been the, the actual candidate. But I think it was a tough spot to be in. So now, elections over, Kamala Harris loses, and, and, you know, somebody like Gretchen Whitmer has four years to get her ducks in a row. Or once her term is done, she has two years to get her ducks in a row. And I think that when you look at how much money she's been able to bring in, you know, as the top of the ticket, as the lead of the ticket in 2020, able to, to swing the majority in Lansing, nothing to scoff at. She is a major power player. And I think she would be a major power player in four years. 808590957, let's go out to Rochester, Dave, the Democrat. What's up, David? Hey, Chris. Hey, how are you? Good. Let's back to Ukraine. Yes. Fall escalation. Yes. And just, just so people know what we're talking about. Jack Keene was on jr morning today with guide loy and Jamie. And he said that, that this is not an escalation from Joe Biden, that, that he is basically at the point where, where European leaders were two years ago, 18 months ago, which was they should be able to use the munitions provided to them to strike Russia as an offensive, as opposed to being defensive and pushing back. And Jack Keene's perspective is, well, the escalation isn't Joe Biden. The escalation is North Korean troops coming to fight on behalf of Russia. So that just to catch people up. Yeah, just precisely what I told you yesterday, if you recall, about the Korean escalation being the underlying primary region, by the way, mark your collar that why are we borrowing money for this? This is the greatest use of borrowing money, borrowing money, you always borrow money when it's smart to borrow money. Like the last four years, we lowered a relative debt down to 97%. Then the Paul 320, it's by the way, it's 27.621 as of today, the relevant, phenomenal debt. And that's less than 18% of the private net wealth. So that's fully the fact that we're talking about a hundred bill, a little bit, a little meager paltry, a hundred billion dollars, which is a fraction of our GDP and everything to do. Well, and day to be fair, it's part of the reason why I've never been like a staunch, like, don't fund Ukraine, because I think it's in our interest also to help Ukraine. Right, but here's the question. What would you say, or everyone would say about this negotiation Trump's going to do, what kind of negotiation do you think Trump is going to talk about? I don't know. He's called the invasion, a brilliant invasion. He called him someone who's brilliant before. He has no problem with him going into Crimea. I mean, what kind of, I mean, I don't know. I don't know what that looks like. I have no answer for you. I don't, I don't, I don't know what that looks like. Okay, I can tell you what it is. It's a capitulation. You think he's going to tell, tell, tell, okay, we'll settle for just keeping the crumb, crummy and penance law, and we'll go back to where we were. Here's, Dave, here's what I would say, though, is it's not like you, it's not like Russia, all of a sudden one day decided to invade Ukraine. Like that was years in the planning. That was something that they had been thinking about for a long time. Absolutely. Okay. So if we agree on that, and look, they were, they were bullish on Crimea. Okay. Yeah. But, but it, that did not happen under Donald Trump. They, they did not invade the first term because he had a second term. He expected coming. Absolutely. We have occurred. Well, we don't know that. I mean, that's that we don't know that to be true. We don't know that to be true. He had NATO being divided. But, but to say that, he was going to do it regardless. We don't know that. All we do know, we, we know for certain that it didn't happen under Donald Trump for whatever reason. He wants his craft. He wants his craft back. He's talked many speeches about the recon. No doubt. I agree. Going back to the 1913. No doubt. No. And Dave, there's no doubt that that is a major driving force. But at the, at the end of the day, we, I just, I can't tell you that it would have happened under a second Trump administration. We just don't know. I appreciate the call. It's good to supersede. Hey, what's up, Sue? Hey. So just a couple of things. I want to talk about right quick. As far as the escalation. No, Donald Trump is going to be the one to escalate it. If he's not properly checked and invented, if he's not properly checked by Congressmen and senators, his cabinet can't check them because they're going to be a bunch of yes, man, and puppets. That's what a dictator likes. So like every cabinet member in every administration ever. I said like every cabinet member in any administration ever. Puppets? No, no, no, no, no, no. He wants real puppets and, but like, chop, what are we talking about? No puppets and, yeah, uh, followers and nobody to question his, his, his might and his dictatorship. We'll see how that goes though. Okay. And in the meantime, he needs to be checked by, by, by the Congressman and senators, Democrat and Republican. He is going to be the one that's going to escalate things because here's the thing. How? You have to, you have to let NATO take the lead and you have to join with NATO because whose problem is it first? It's Europe's problem first, bars, Russia and Ukraine. Now, as far as the Middle East, that's something they've been going on with that for like decades. I think only, maybe only God can, can, can, can, can, can really defuse that. But that's another situation. So you got two situations going on. So let me ask you this. How does Donald Trump escalate it? What, how, what is it? I'm asking you, what does that look like? You said it. So what does it look like? I can't give you the total scenario. But if he goes up in there like, he's John Wayne. I'm Donald Trump. He's going to do what I tell you to do instead of being more diplomatic. It's plenty of ways you can escalate things by being a Donald Trump. Ask ego maniac type of person if he's not properly checked. You listen, if you want to be more, if you have to be more, like I said, with NATO, he's always talking about NATO ain't good for this. NATO ain't good for that. Yes, they are. They're good. They are the United Nations. Now, again, it's not a problem. It's not a problem. NATO is not the United Nations. That's the UN. Okay. Well, NATO is a part of that group somehow, some way. I mean, so it's a coalition. Yes. So what I'm saying is this, you can't turn his back on unity and trying to, you know, put a stop to this, but you can't go up in there like, hey, you're going to do what I say, or else, and the rest is going to be like, or else what? That's how you escalate it with a Donald Trump type of individual, bro, instead of being more diplomatic, want to go up in there like he's John Wayne or something and get it into something we don't need to be necessarily even need to be into soup. I think I think there's your problem first. Let's come, let's come, let's come to an agreeance here. I don't think John Wayne could solve this. I don't, I don't think John Wayne could solve this. Exactly. So if he goes to attitude like he's John Wayne, then it could, it could escalate things for us, put us more in the middle of it, which we don't need to be. No, no, I agree. No, we don't. No, we don't. I agree with that. All right. Take a break. Come back for more, Jay afternoon. Well, the lions just roll people. It's what they do. And as a result, odds makers are looking very favorably on your Detroit lion, Steve Courtney. Boy, oh boy, it's a fun position to be in. No doubt about it, Chris. Good afternoon to you. Hello again, everyone. This conversation brought to you by the performance remodeling sweepstakes, performance remodeling selected Cameron Zakaria as the winner of their first annual $100,000 window of opportunity sweepstakes performance remodeling says, let's do it again. Log into Windows roofing siding.com to enter to win the next sweepstakes from performance remodeling. How about that? There were so many first Chris for the lions as a franchise as they completely shall lack the Jaguar Sunday. And now this for the first time in the history of the franchise, your Detroit lions are the official favorites to win the Super Bowl. Now all of this a little more than two years ago, the lions were off to a one and six start coming off that three and 13 and one season. Now they are nine and one. The lions for the record, one of four franchises along with the Browns, Jaguars and Texans to never even make a Super Bowl appearance. Keep in mind, the Chiefs lost. So they are now in a tie with the hot little blue and silver for the best record in the league. Here's how it works. As of yesterday morning, the lions are the favorites to win the Super Bowl at plus 420 Chris. This means that if you bet $100 on the lions to win it all, you'd win $420 if that were to happen. Rounding out to top five, the chiefs at plus 500, the Ravens of Baltimore, they are third at plus 650 and fourth, the Buffalo Bills at plus 700, and the Eagles are fifth at plus 900. Just where the lions have been, honestly, Chris in recent history, this is pretty darn exciting. But I'm sure there's a lot of superstitious folks that are saying, Oh no, don't make us the favorites. Only bad things are going to happen. Well, as a, as my friend, Kenneth Reginald Brown once said, it's a game by game deal, game by game, should take a game by game. You don't need to smell your own aroma. No, just just play these games. Seven left, seven left. Look, and, and, and the realities are, do you want to be the best team in the con in the division? Yeah, you do. You want to get that, that first round by, you want to make yourself, make life a little easier on yourself, give some of these guys time to come back. Look, it's nice. I feel really good about where this team's at. I'm really bullish on where they're, where they can go. But yeah, I'm just, it's game by game approach for me. Well, with Anseloni out six to eight weeks, pretty much the remainder of the regular season, Dan Campbell saying that Jack Campbell and Malcolm Rodriguez, Rodriguez, will play the bulk of the linebacker snaps. There was also a roster edition. They signed the veteran linebacker David Long to the practice squad. This all going down yesterday, long had 38 tackles and six starts with the dolphins this year, but lost his starting job earlier this month and then was weighed last week. Yeah, no, I think those guys are going to have to take a bigger step up. All right. Let me, let me ask you guys this. Yes. I'm a big fan of inside the NBA. I just, it's a, it's a great show. And when the league stinks, I think it's, they, they're a provide a bright light. So we get news that because of the new NBA media rights, that ESPN will take over the broadcast. What are your thoughts on this? How does, does ESPN screw this up or KB? Do you think that they continue on being the show that they are? It's going to be still done in Atlanta. Evidently, it'll just be on an ESPN. I don't care where it's done, but you got to do cares with them because it's, you got to have the same flavor. It's got to be in the videos in Atlanta. Nothing changes. You don't want it to be in Bristol. I'm sorry. I just feel like he's P.N. is going to screw it up. I just do. Hopefully they, they're going to put Stephen A Smith in there or something. It's going to be done. Hopefully the participants say we have creative control. I hope so. Why wouldn't they just leave it alone? Just leave it alone. They don't have to be any more. That's why. Who? TNT. Right. But ESPN does. Yeah. So it's a TNT show. That's why I was in Atlanta. Correct. So hopefully Ernie of them say, look, we'll do it, but we get creative. I agree. I, I, I'm with you. All right, Stevie. Thank you. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Yeah, see you tomorrow, fellas. All right, see you. What do we got coming up, KV? Uh, the mayor will be here today and we're also going to talk to, um, Mike Barnacle from MSNBC about the controversy over there. Oh, we're going to talk to you in Atlanta, Elric. Oh, very good. All right. Tell him, I said hi. I will. All right, Mitchell, I'm in the crew coming up. See you tomorrow. Same time, same place. Have a good one.