A Break Down About Campaigns, Political Chaos, and Elon Musk

[00:00:12] Welcome to The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy, and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr. And I'm Michael Brodkorb. After a week off, we are back to break down all things Minnesota campaign, legislature, and Elon Musk. We are going to start by getting into a few updates of the 2026 governor and U.S. Senate races, who's declared, who is making moves, and what we think.

[00:00:35] Then we will break down some surprising developments from the House Fraud Committee, and we will get into some federal government conversations, starting with the illustrious Elon Musk. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show. Becky, you have a new sporty background. Why is that? That is because we are getting our baby's room all nice and ready, so we moved the desk into our room.

[00:01:00] And so this is the new background of where I will be recording because we're just two months out from that baby coming out. So you are with child. I am with child. As you're recording right now. Very, yes, feeling very large and in charge these days. So let's talk about that for a second because we got on this podcast and we're recording a little extra intro now because I only see you from this part.

[00:01:30] This is all I see. And so I don't see anything below that. You showed me today how you're progressing. Help me out here. Come on, I'm struggling. I'm going to say something wrong and I'm sweating. We are definitely there. We are over seven months in and feeling it. I was sharing that this weekend, like many people with kids, got out and we're building a snowman.

[00:01:55] And I was able to get a pile of snow about the size of a volleyball put together before I had to tap out because the belly just gets in a way. I can't bend over it, putting shoes on. I have to sit down now. It is definitely getting big baby in there. What's the help explained to potentially mostly our male listeners? What's the protocol on you see?

[00:02:16] So if I saw you out, didn't know you, what's the do's and don'ts about deposing and asking questions of someone who's pregnant and out? What should you do? What should you not do? Yes. I would veer more towards that. If you're in doubt, do not ask. There is possibility. You never know what happened. Somebody could have lost a baby. Or what if they just had a baby and you're sitting here saying, oh, congratulations. What are you doing? They're like, oh, yeah, that baby's actually out. I'm just retaining all of this. When in doubt, don't ask.

[00:02:46] But it is funny because so the other day, the security guard in the building that I work in downtown St. Paul did mention as I was walking out, oh, do you know if it's a boy or a girl? And I looked at him like, oh, that's a surprising question from somebody I don't normally interact with that much other than hello and goodbye. But I literally can't zip up my winter coat because my belly is so in the way. So I feel like he's pretty fair asking at that point.

[00:03:12] So, yes, we're very clearly with child over here. I'm surprised that fashion hasn't. There's not a fashion market for a jacket that expands. So there is. I'm just cheap. I only really need it for last winter. Yeah, because last time I had my son at the end of June. And so my big pregnancy months were like post-winter.

[00:03:34] So it seems silly for me to buy, spend 40, 50 bucks on a jacket that I'm going to wear for maybe a month and a half, two months, and then not need again. So we're just struggling through. Those buttons are working hard these days. Do you get people that come up and ask to touch your belly and like that type of stuff? Thankfully, I haven't had any strangers asking about touching the belly. Like I'm all about if my sisters or mom or mother-in-law, they can do that all the time. But no strangers.

[00:04:02] I will say the best thing that I do love, though, in particular, is either somebody that has recently had kids and sees me wrestling with my toddler and being pregnant. Or people of the grandparent or older age who come up with or just watch from afar and you can see the smile on their face of kind of reminiscing and looking fondly back on those times of being pregnant, chasing a toddler, just struggling through getting a case of Diet Coke in the cart or whatever it might be.

[00:04:32] And so I think that's probably my favorite is when you get some of those older folks who make comments of enjoying it and enjoying every moment and how sweet they clearly are looking back at their past. Yes. Yes. Two things. I want two interesting stories to share. Just I'd like to share just offers. I remember when my wife was pregnant, she was out and a woman asked. We were eating out and we have twins. And the woman asked, oh, all the questions. And she was being sincere and she wasn't being weird.

[00:05:02] But then she literally asked like in the restaurant, oh, can I touch your belly? I thought that was awkward. One other fun story I'll share is when my wife was pregnant, we were with my father, my late father, and my wife is going swimming. And my dad stopped my wife and said, wait a second, how can you get in the water? And I'm like, what? What about the babies? Like they can go in water. So my dad was really cute.

[00:05:29] So men, sometimes I think it was just interesting because, again, I only see you from we don't see each other every day. We only see each other right now on the podcast. So I had not seen. But boy, oh, boy, I wish you the best. And thank you for sharing this experience with our podcast listeners and giving some of the less informed people some do's and don'ts on how to approach someone who may be pregnant in public and not come across like a total weirdo.

[00:05:58] You bet. And we, like I said, we've just got about two months to go and we're planning to podcast through that and then take a couple weeks. I will take a couple weeks off before returning. And I'm sure having some fun short stories to share there. Will the Breakdown with Broderick and Becky have exclusive access to you and the new edition? I don't want to have to be fighting for some other podcasts in the Twin Cities to have access. Exclusive for the BB pod. That's fantastic.

[00:06:26] We'll just bring it right to the right to the hospital. We'll be there. Thank you for sharing that and allowing for some discussion on things. And I hope and continue to pray and wish you and your family all the best through this. And what you're doing is truly a miracle. Thank you. We're very blessed. Very grateful. And bring on chaos with two boys in the household. It's going to be absolute fraternity. Oh, yeah. Fraternity. Yeah. Speaking of chaos. You live in a fraternity. Here you go. Yep. Speaking of chaos. Yes.

[00:06:56] We continue to watch everything unfold when it comes to all things 2026 governor and Senate races. So let's chat a little bit about some updates. We have gotten over the last week. Angie Craig is officially considering. What are your thoughts? Do you think if you were a betting man and you had to make a decision, do you think she gets in? Let me say this.

[00:07:19] I think that it's pretty clear that our analysis when we first discussed this, which was Walls is the 800-pound gorilla in politics. I think Flanagan is right there. I think Craig can compete with both of them. I think that what she accomplished over the last few years and since getting elected to Congress and then the electoral dominance of this last election cycle, she went by close to 14 points.

[00:07:45] The second CD is no longer competitive, I believe, for Republicans. It's no longer a swing district. And that's because of Angie Craig. This, you know this district very well. I live in the second congressional district. You've worked on here. And so what Angie Craig is able, Congresswoman Craig has been able to build is a very strong, I think, political operation and also a constituent service and elected official apparatus.

[00:08:12] She is everywhere and seems and has is, I don't hear from anyone that Angie Craig is invisible, nor am I hearing from anyone that she's not providing a service to her constituents that people need. And so I don't think there's a constituent problem with Congresswoman Craig, nor is there an electoral problem. And I think that's the type of brand that would be incredibly attractive statewide. And she's earned that.

[00:08:42] And so I think that, I think that she's, I would absolutely believe I have no inside information, but I absolutely believe based on what I've heard is that she's giving it some strong consideration. And I think she'd be a very strong candidate. Governor Walz has not announced what he's doing. And so I think there's a real possibility that whether it's for the United States Senate, potentially governor down the road, that Angie Craig's on a statewide ticket. I completely agree.

[00:09:09] I think that she seems ripe for the pick-in for this kind of job. She gives off a little bit of kind of the Klobuchar air in terms of not like in terms of throwing forks and berating staff.

[00:09:23] But in terms of being great at navigating kind of that middle, not ever really alienating groups on either side, although I'm sure there are some folks that, in particular in the Democrat Party, who believe that she's maybe not progressive enough or doesn't do enough for the far left wing of the party. But I think she does a really good job of representing her district, which is really purple.

[00:09:50] And I think that she has done a really, she's evolved a ton from her first campaign in 2016, where she was very green. Even I think that evolution from her 2016 campaign to 2018 campaign was massive. Obviously, I did work on that Jason Lewis 2018 campaign. And so I had a lot of interaction with her and her team. And she was just, she was a great campaigner.

[00:10:15] And even more so now that she has gotten into it and gotten so much more comfortable and any kind of stiffness or awkwardness in her messaging styles has been erased. I think she's really evolved into a member of Congress that can certainly sit in the second for as long as she wants to sit in that role. I think that she has earned her that seat and she has done well for that district, like you said, that she is everywhere.

[00:10:38] The constituent services part, the fundraising that we talked about with Will and John a couple weeks ago as well. So I certainly see a path for her. Obviously, to me, without knowing anything concrete, it does seem like it would be probably a battle between her and Peggy, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan. That is, who is officially in. She announced that she is officially in. She is running. She is excited.

[00:11:06] Made, hasn't done like a big announcement event yet, but is officially in. And those two, I definitely think, have very different paths forward in this. I think that we look at Flanagan and she, I think, could probably cruise through an endorsement process and primary process, having a tougher time, hopefully a tougher time in general because of her progressive accolades.

[00:11:30] Obviously, that depends on a strong Republican candidate being there, where I think that Angie Craig is a lot scarier to face in a general election. And it'll be really interesting to see what she decides and when she decides. I would say probably we would see more from her and other candidates in the coming weeks or even months. And then when it comes to rounding out the Democrat side, obviously nobody's out until they're out.

[00:11:55] But Walls is hosting a new upcoming fundraiser where he is raising funds for his governor's campaign right now. That doesn't necessarily mean he's running for a third term. But it leans that way to me that he is sticking in that lane. There are requirements of what are allowances of what can and cannot be used from fundraising dollars. And there's not a whole ton of crossover between federal or state and federal dollars when it comes to that.

[00:12:22] One thing while we stay on the Democrats before we jump to the Republican side is we saw this week that there are very smart folks out there that track who is registering what domain names.

[00:12:36] Aaron May Quaid, there's a couple campaign sites that are registered for under kind of some version of Aaron May Quaid for Congress, leading to the assumption that if Craig does jump in for Senate, Aaron May Quaid would be considering running for Congress in CD2. Aaron May Quaid, Jr.: Yes. Aaron May Quaid, Jr.: One point before we move to the, that is one candidate, Melissa Lopez, former state Senate Minority Leader, Melissa Lopez, she was working at the University of Minnesota.

[00:13:04] She has stepped away from that position and is giving indication that she's considering a higher office, potentially Senate. A couple things. I think that Flanagan, I think it's likely that the lieutenant governor will be challenged. I don't know that she'll have a clear path to the endorsement process in the primary. Aaron May Quaid, Jr.: I do think she gets challenged. It can always change. I don't know who that will be. A second of all, we still have, as we were talking about the Walls fundraiser and with the mention of Lopez Franzen, who is Walls' running mate going to be?

[00:13:34] And one gossipy thing that I heard is potentially, does Lopez Franzen run with Walls or something like that? I don't know. But the truth is, the decision by Lieutenant Governor Flanagan to run for the United States Senate has created an opening for a running mate that needs to be selected should Walls choose to run for re-election, which, based on fundraising, he's indicating that he's going to do. And so something we should be watching for and our listeners should be watching for is who is Walls going to pick for his running mate?

[00:14:04] Thank you for bringing that up. I completely spaced that, but I do think that is a really good point to make when it comes to Melissa Lopez Franzen. She was obviously a heavy hitter, majority leader at the Senate, very well known. I'm sorry? I think she was minority leader. I'm sorry, minority leader. And she has stayed very present. She frequents some news or political shows that she does.

[00:14:29] And stepping away from her current job is giving up a $200,000-some job dollar role, $250,000, I think. Wow. That's a really impressive thing to give up in order to potentially run for office here. So I do feel like that makes her a very serious contender for this.

[00:14:49] And I definitely think that, you know, when you look at these women, I think, first of all, bravo, three very strong women with also three very different upbringings. Peggy Flanagan comes from more of the activist background. Franzen has the more legislative approach, and she's been a strong leader within the party. Has a lot of folks, I think, that look at her as a very strong vocal leader as well.

[00:15:15] It would be, wow, if those three all get in, plus some others, it would be a really fascinating campaign to watch from the Democrat side alone because they all have very impressive resumes. I think you're spot on. And the one thing, it's fun and it's easy. I know it's a sport for Republicans to pick on the Democratic candidates and that type of thing. I want to just note something as we transition here to the Republicans.

[00:15:43] But before I do that, I want to give you, I want to circle back on the Aaron May Quaid website registration. Senator Aaron May Quaid potentially is Congress. Yes. If Craig leaves, that's going to provide an opportunity for an open congressional seat where I live in the second congressional district. And so there was a Twitter account that registers and logs websites.

[00:16:04] And as you noted correctly, there was a website registered maybe for potentially a potential Aaron May Quaid, Senator Aaron May Quaid campaign for Congress in the second congressional district. And we should be remiss to not say that sometimes also people just do that just to get the gossip world spinning. It could be a friendly person, a part of her world.

[00:16:28] It could be some stranger who just also wants to maybe make some money and force somebody I'd have to pay him to retain the domain name back. But an interesting thing, and I don't think outside of the realm of possibility of somebody who would be a top contender for that seat should Craig run for Senate. Oh, absolutely. There are a lot of different moving pieces. I think the lieutenant governor open position currently, not open.

[00:16:52] Flanagan, as we discussed, will likely, I think, fulfill the remainder of her term as she is running for Senate. I don't see her stepping away from that. So it will be completing her term through 2026. But somebody else would then jump on the ticket with walls if he is running for so many ifs, ands, and buts. But I do think that will be interesting to see what comes from that because we always expect to see some sort of balance there when it comes to different parts of the political spectrum.

[00:17:20] When it comes from rural or metro, potentially a woman or person of color, all sorts of different things that the walls world would be taking into consideration when looking for that running mate. Lots of stuff to pay attention to when it comes to all of this shuffling of the cards on the Democrat side. And on the Republican side, we got some candidates.

[00:17:47] We do have Adam Schwarzie is one that I think John Rouleau brought up last time. He has officially announced that he is going to run for this seat. He's a former Navy SEAL Marine, does not come from a political background, and has definitely has an interesting resume up until this point. I don't personally know a ton about him, but I do know some folks that are excited about his potential candidacy or his candidacy in this race. Royce White, he's in it.

[00:18:14] He posted a picture of himself, I believe, with the, was it with HHS commissioner? The new lovely gentleman there. RFK Jr.? Yep. Oh, there. RFK Jr., not right. Yes, yes. Search our archives. You can find that episode where I discuss it. It's worth a listen. So we do have those two.

[00:18:34] And then also when we saw this pop up about the Erin McQuade website, Coleman for Senate was also registered, leading to the illusion that Julia Coleman, Senator Julia Coleman would be running for potentially running for U.S. Senate, which she has said that she is considering. I have heard that. I've heard. Say again? Give me the deets. Here's what I've heard. First of all, right now, Royce White is running. And the Republican Party has a Royce White problem. Okay?

[00:19:03] And here's why. Republicans have a Royce White problem from this perspective is that right now he's the only candidate. Let me rephrase it. I don't know if the ink was dry on the 2024 election and he announced that he was running. I literally did. And he's been running since literally, I think, before the election was certified. He announced that he had lost against Senator Klobuchar. He announced that he was running against Tina Smith. Now that Senator Smith has decided not to run, Royce White has been occupying a lane.

[00:19:32] He's been out there raising money, talking to activists, doing things. Royce White is a lunatic. I hope we extend our editorial decision not to interview him. There's literally no value that could come from us interviewing or having a conversation with him. But the problem that exists is that you take, let's look at the Democratic side for a second. You have Flanagan as a named candidate. You have the possibility of Craig getting in and Lopez Franzen.

[00:20:01] I would consider them all in varying degrees, as you articulate, to be strong candidates. Right now, we have Royce White in the race and Adam Schwarz. Now, Adam Schwarz, by all accounts, has a great resume. The problem that I have is there's not more Adam Schwarzys in the race.

[00:20:17] And I don't know everything about Adam Schwarzys, but I have a feeling he's probably not cut from the same cloth as Royce White and is someone that we would enjoy to have a conversation with and seems to be what I would consider in contrast to Royce White, more of a standard type of candidate that's running. Doesn't mean we're going to agree with him on all the issues.

[00:20:38] But the problem right now that the Republicans have is that the Democrats, on their side, they have almost an excess of top flight candidates. And let's be generous, but I don't think unrealistic and say that Adam Schwarzys is a good candidate. In order for Adam Schwarzys, in order for the Republican side of the equation to succeed, there needs to be more candidates that aren't like Royce White.

[00:21:06] Because my concern is that Royce, if the election were held today, if the endorsing convention were held today, I believe that Royce White would get endorsed. I still believe that's where it's at. And it's nice for Republicans to poke fun and lampoon and criticize and do the online rapid response to every one of these Democrats that are running.

[00:21:27] But the bottom line is, if the dynamics of the candidates that are currently running doesn't change, Republicans are very likely going to get stuck with Royce White, it's a U.S. Senate candidate. That's very far down the road. But if I was a Republican interested in winning the Senate race, potentially wanting to run a quality governor's race, I would be making sure that every conceivable, rational, reasonable candidate could win.

[00:21:55] And we're getting that the Republicans are getting candidates of the same caliber that have announced and are being discussed as candidates on the Democratic side. But I'm not saying by any stretch of the imagination that I agree with those candidates on the issues or that I'm supporting them. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that the lieutenant governor of the state of Minnesota knows how to run a statewide campaign. And she's got people around her that can run a statewide campaign.

[00:22:21] I guarantee you that Congresswoman Craig knows how to run a campaign and can run a statewide campaign. And I guarantee you that Lopez Franzen knows what it needs to run a statewide campaign and build a type of operation. Royce White don't know how to do that. And if the contrast is just Royce White and Adam Schwarzman, I'm not trying to take anything away from Adam Schwarzman. But I think there needs to be, we need to start having it not be just a binary choice.

[00:22:50] And the Republicans should want to have multiple candidates that are running and getting in this race because it really, in some ways, isolates the crazy lane, which is clearly occupied by Royce White. I completely agree. I also think it needs, we obviously, Republicans were successful on a lot of different levels in the 2024 election.

[00:23:16] But I also think we still have, and yes, Donald Trump was reelected and is our sitting president. But there is still some issues when it comes to him and his team and how they message. And so I really think that what we need, in addition to those other folks stepping in, is an elevation of the conversation, right?

[00:23:40] So while I don't think, while I think the path for state legislators is a tough path when it comes to U.S. Senate, different when it comes to governor, but when it comes to U.S. Senate in particular, I would still very much support that elevation of the conversation with some of these great leaders we have from up at the Capitol who are considering it.

[00:24:02] It might be a tough path, but there we have some great members who can help lay out Republican messaging and what we stand for and what our party is desiring to do in the future. And so I think that there is certainly a need for that. Yeah, and I always think we saw this when we talked about the presidential race and the primary on the Republican side.

[00:24:32] The more people that are involved, the better the conversation in general. And I think that is really true and stands true here. So I stand with you. I hope we have a great amount of candidates who are considering, who jump in. We obviously are going to have, regardless of whether Walls runs again or not, we have the governor's mansion is up for grabs in 2026. So we do need candidates ready for that as well.

[00:24:59] And while our bench might not be as deep or robust as the Democrats, we do have good candidates out there. We do have good members. We do have good public servants. And I'm hopeful that we get some of those in there. I know we have some good operatives, some good campaign folks who are ready to stand behind and help foster these campaigns along. Money is going to be really tough. We know Democrats really succeed when it comes to that.

[00:25:26] But again, I think that there is a desire and hopefully after seeing some progress with Republicans at the federal level and here at the state legislature, that we do have some donors coming back to the table ready to stand behind some of these positions. We've seen some developments of some different groups of folks who are looking to support that the business side of things. And so I want to I remain cautiously optimistic.

[00:25:51] It's a tough spot to be in as that hopeful Republican that still wants us to be successful here. But I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. I do think that there is potential for Republicans. And I don't think Christ might as it. No. And one last point I would make understanding all of and one final on this topic that I have is that lieutenant governor has a job. Angie Craig has a job. And Melissa Lopez Franzen, former state senator, had a job, too. All of them.

[00:26:20] And let's just talk about Lopez. She had a very high paying job. So if she's willing to set that high paying job aside in the leadership position that she had to consider a run for the Senate, Republicans need that the need to have candidates who are willing to make those same type of sacrifices. She's made it a calculated decision based on the political landscape that this is an op. This is a race and an opportunity.

[00:26:46] And she is a strong candidate and she'd be a strong candidate for the Democrats, as you articulated about all three of them potentially running and having different lanes. But the fact that she was willing to take a step away from a job, a well paying, a high paying job in a strong leadership position at the University of Minnesota, that tells me that the Democrats think that they have an opportunity and that the landscape is favorable to them to run.

[00:27:12] And what Republicans need is those type of comparable candidates with those type of leadership skills, being willing to set aside their jobs and the paths that they have and a steady paycheck and stable income to risk it all to run for the United States Senate. I think that's a real I'm going to be very interested to see which candidates are willing to do that.

[00:27:37] I think some of the names that we've discussed, I think representative Kristen Robbins, state Senator Julia Coleman others. If you're going to do it, get in the race because every day that it's a race with just Royce White and then Adam Swarzy, I've never met Adam Swarzy. But what I know is that I guarantee you he's not coming from the Royce White line.

[00:28:00] And so it would be great if Adam Swarzy putting on my partisan Republican hat, if Adam Swarzy could sit across the table and have a debate with a Republican who's not cut from the same crazy cloth that Royce White is. What I'm saying is that if Adam Swarzy had some potential competition that's coming from somewhat of the normal side, it would elevate the race because if that guy's stuck going up against Royce White, it's going to be a mess for him.

[00:28:28] And again, not saying where I am in this race, but one thing that I will just say in closing there, the Democrats that we've discussed, the three Democrats that are considering running or the one that's in, those are strong candidates. And if the Republicans want to compete, they have to put strong candidates up there. And there's a net benefit that the Democratic Party will have by having three strong candidates that can win statewide running.

[00:28:53] And right now, Republicans only potentially having one that can win statewide. It would benefit the Republicans if there were more candidates that could actually win statewide that were engaging and rather having that one candidate up against someone who I consider to be a lunatic. Completely agree. I think this is obviously going to be we have a good almost just shy of two years, year and a half until the election.

[00:29:21] And so over the coming months, we'll certainly have a big evolution of what this campaign pool looks like and excited to continue to discuss it. We'll obviously get into the different candidates' backgrounds, their policy positions. And I think we can see a wide spectrum here of folks from both sides of the aisle. And so we'll wait and see. But it's not the first time you've heard us talk about it, and it's not going to be the last. So buckle up.

[00:29:49] Just so I can put a finer point on this, are we continuing our editorial decision on interviewing Rice White? Yes, correct. I stand by it. I don't like to do production talk on air, but... Yes. Glad that we did. Moving on to conversation also Minnesota-related, we're continuing our conversation surrounding the fraud committee, some of the different ongoings of what the House is digging into within the administration and the different offices that we are looking at.

[00:30:19] So talking first, there was, we spoke a couple weeks ago with Representative Kristen Robbins, who is the chair of the fraud committee. We talked a little bit about the House File 3, which is a Representative Jim Nash's bill that is the forward-looking instead of backwards-looking issue when it comes to all things surrounding fraud. It's giving legislators more tools in their toolkit to figure out and determine what happened in the past and how to rectify it to make sure it does not happen in the future.

[00:30:47] It did pass out of the Ways and Means Committee this week, but every Democrat voted no. And this is where I think we're going to see a lot about this. We talked a lot, and Representative Robbins even was a huge advocate of how the fraud and rampant fraud issues in our state government is not a right or left issue. It's not a Republican or Democrat issue. It is a bipartisan issue. But it isn't.

[00:31:10] Because we did talk a little bit about how it had been six years with no hearings on these kind of things, that there had not been a lot of movement for a committee of this sort, that this was part of the power-sharing agreement for Republicans, that the Democrats kind of were conceding in allowing Republicans to have this committee and have power of this committee.

[00:31:28] And then we have a bill that seems like a bill that everybody should be able to get on board with, that gives we get more frequent OLA reports and recommendations and how to make better decisions on the funding of some of these groups. And every Democrat votes no, and it just, I don't love it. No, and look, I think, first of all, what a great conversation we had with Representative Kristen Robbins.

[00:31:57] And whether it's governor or U.S. Senate, I hope she's considering something because I think she's, and this, we, you and I have varying degrees of partisanship. Some people think I'm a Republican in name only, but independent of labels and titles, one thing I do believe very strongly is in good government and good government functioning well. And it's why I think there needs to be a strong, vibrant, two vibrant, strong political parties in the state.

[00:32:23] I'm really puzzled because I hear a lot of talk from Democrats and Republicans about working together. And I'm really hopeful and looking forward to the issue that this, that they're going to work for in a bipartisan way. I, I've been following the activity of the Waste Front and the Abuse Committee, which has another different name, but I'm just going to call it that. And I think to see that, that, that there can't be an agreement on this stuff is just interesting to me.

[00:32:50] I know there's different proposals and I think we should wait. There's a proposal with an inspector general in the Senate that I think has a lot of merit. And I hope that we can maybe ask some of those folks that are pushing that legislation to come on and talk, but to not see, I'm wondering if the lack of bipartisan support in the aftermath of the house coming back together is more towards sore feelings about what occurred rather than a lack.

[00:33:19] I hope it's that rather than a lack of interest in making government run more effectively and more efficiently. Because I think that's really something that I think, I don't think there's aside from the people that are committing fraud and waste and abusing things, no one should be opposed to this type of work being done.

[00:33:39] Sure. Sure. It's political that happens, but the bottom line is Democrats and Republicans have a clear opportunity this session to take a stand against Minnesota state government functioning in a more efficient way.

[00:33:53] And I want to put a pin in for, again, not to discuss production on air, but there's someone that I want to bring on at some point to talk about who I think has really taken a very interesting perspective on how you can do both waste, fraud and abuse, focus on that and still not have it impact Minnesota's most vulnerable communities.

[00:34:16] I think it'd be a great conversation. We'll talk about it off air, but this is the type of stuff where the, to me, this is not an 80, 20 issue. This is a 90, 10 issue. And I just wonder not to give them an excuse because I still not, I don't like that, but I wonder if it's some of the residuals and because if nothing gets done in a bipartisan way, this session, that's going to be frustrating to me.

[00:34:37] And I think it's a valid point, right? The politics of politics is always in the air. And so I think it is a valid thing to consider. And hopefully we will see some wins out of this committee in the near future.

[00:34:50] But one troubling thing we also had heard coming out of the fraud committee this week, they had a hearing with DHS and there was some interesting, I saw some clips that I didn't watch the entirety of the committee hearing, but Representative Marian Rarick was doing some questioning with DHS commissioners after they did a presentation talking explicitly about kickbacks.

[00:35:13] And she said, you say that kickbacks are federally illegal, but then say you can't stop it in Minnesota because it's not illegal in the state of Minnesota and trying to figure out and even out how that can be the case. We know that she also goes into that billions of federal dollars come through DHS, meaning that you think that the federal law should apply even though it is a state committee. Yet the DHS commissioner said that they are not able to prosecute it effectively and that's why they don't, haven't been doing anything about it.

[00:35:42] I think that one of the best things about this committee is while we know that no, we know it's possible that no big movements are going to be happening immediately, it is bringing to light and letting, shutting some sunshine on some of these types of issues.

[00:35:58] And whether that is an issue that DHS is not using all of their power or authority, or they don't believe they have that power or authority, but having these conversations and laying it all out there so we can figure out how to rectify that situation, how to make it that they can move forward and prevent these kickbacks that are happening and the fraud that is happening in that way. Because it is federally illegal. If we need to obviously have a state law, that's one thing.

[00:36:26] But just figuring out how the different agencies are able to use their power and authority effectively to prevent fraud and to claw back some of that millions of dollars of money that we know is being misspent. But it was very interesting hearing and very troubling. Yes, I will say to you, and we could talk about it more off air for the potential guests I have in mind.

[00:36:49] But one of the things that I've said to some people is the comments that are coming out of DHS when they're answering some of these questions are really bad. And this, I don't think this is an 80-20 issue. I think it's probably a 90-10, if not a 95-5 issue. It's not hard to answer some of these questions. And boy, oh boy, that's why I think there is a real disconnect between some of the people that represent.

[00:37:18] First of all, I know there's good people in the bureaucracy. I know there's good people trying to do good things. But there is a real need for people in government to understand that when they come to a committee and they answer some of these questions in this way, it's going to have problems. And I think that, and it's going to, I think, carry over to other discussions we're going to have in the episode.

[00:37:41] But I've been surprised by the lack of, I think, preparation of answers and not realizing that these committees are televised and people are recording and taking notes. I believe that they're taking it seriously. But the tide has turned. This is, there is a problem in Minnesota.

[00:38:01] And if there's someone who I think has a really good, someone who I legitimately think is a good, was a good public servant, and maybe again was the former U.S. attorney, Andy Lugar, who served in multiple capacities, multiple times as U.S. attorney. But when his office goes out there and says that Minnesota has a fraud problem, sure, Andy Lugar is a Democrat. But that doesn't mean that his perspective is wrong.

[00:38:26] And Minnesota, we have this belief that Minnesota is good on ethics, good on government. We have this great perception of, we have this great belief that we have this great reputation in state government. And there is clearly a need. And there's a, I think there's a bipartisan need. You see the governor's office doing things, Democrats in the Senate doing things, Republicans in the Senate doing things. And now you see Democrats and Republicans in the House doing things.

[00:38:52] My hope is that rather than each of those five entities doing things separately, that there's one agreed upon path. Because ultimately how this gets solved is if Democrats and Republicans can work on a package that the governor can sign off on. And then you and I as taxpayers can rest assured that the people who are tasked with dealing with some of this stuff are actually addressing it rather than just having this turn into political theater.

[00:39:22] Completely agree. I think this is going to be something for the next two years in particular. We're going to be talking a lot of and hearing a lot more of some of those issues and uncovering some of the problematic situations that have been rampant in our state government. But real quick, putting my communications hat on leading to one of the or following up with one of the questions or comments you just made of the answers that we're hearing from some of these public officials and what they're saying. And I get it.

[00:39:52] These are not people that are always out in doing press conferences or in committees or in situations where they are being televised with their comments. But in my job, working in PR and public affairs, we do media training and it doesn't have to be. It just boggles my mind that sometimes you can tell when those steps have not been taken by individuals who should be going in and going into a committee like this.

[00:40:20] How are you assuming that they're not doing practice Q&A sessions? They should be. But some of these questions are not rocket science. So what you are going to be asked, especially by the opposing party and that they don't have little bullets of two sentences that they must get in and one sentence that they must avoid. It is a little questionable there. Hey, if anybody needs some media training, call us up. But it's not hard to get in and it pays off.

[00:40:53] So transitioning to a federal government, something we haven't talked as much about because man oh man has a state been chaotic lately. But federal government is chugging along. We've had a lot of confirmations of most of presidential or President Trump's cabinet position. A lot of the ones even that we were some skeptical about. But attention right now is on, has been on over the weekend in particular, Elon Musk.

[00:41:20] Attention has been on him since he endorsed President Trump last year. But this was a little funny, a little, it was entertaining to me. So Elon Musk sent an email on Friday to the entire federal government workforce, it appears, asking federal employees to reply within 48 hours with five bullets of what they accomplished the previous week. And man, were people triggered. It was, people were really taken aback by that.

[00:41:49] So before we get into what has happened since then, what was your thought when you heard about this email that he sent out outside of the realm of his role? Was it too far reaching? Was it inappropriate to ask folks? What do you think? First of all, let me say this. Just to remind our listeners that I was a Republican for Harris and I did not vote for Trump. I've never voted for Donald Trump. I voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary in Minnesota. But I've not voted for Trump.

[00:42:18] But when I saw what was done, now let me just say a couple of things. There is, and we, and I think we got our first mention of Elon Musk on our podcast since the election when we had Representative Stevenson on and he made a point to talk about Musk. Look, I think the Democrats are great at coming up with boogeymen and focusing things that, on that stuff. Let me just say this to you. Let me put on my civics hat for a second.

[00:42:48] The president won the election. And to the victor go the spoils. And elections have consequences. I don't believe that anyone should be surprised that the president of the United States has deputized Elon Musk to do what he's going to do in state government, in the federal government. Number one. Number two, there is a little bit, again, of political theater in this.

[00:43:15] I will say to you that I think that absent someone working for the bureaucracy, working and having a job, I think most Americans, I think this is a substantive issue to them. I think efficiency. I think people want there to be efficiency in government. I think it is a very simple issue to understand. Do you want government to be more efficient? Do you want government to work better? Do you want it to be more responsible with your tax dollars?

[00:43:43] That's a very simple message to understand. I think it's absolute political theater for Elon Musk to send this email out because it is so triggering. And if I was a government worker and received this message, I would have taken around 30 seconds, replied to the things that I've been working on and not accepted the premise and not engaged in the fight.

[00:44:09] Sometimes people need to understand that taking the bait is better than taking the fight on. And what happened here is when he sent this out, there was outrage. Let me say something. Let me just say to people who potentially people who don't support Elon Musk and don't support Donald Trump. I didn't vote for Donald Trump. I've never voted for Donald Trump. Okay.

[00:44:38] But if you're a worker in the state, in the federal government or in anywhere, and you can't produce an email that lists the five things that you accomplished this week, that's a pretty small task. And the outrage and the arguments and the consternation and the frustration. I believe it. I think it was sincere, but it was also even it's not. It's a trap. And don't take the bait.

[00:45:07] Just reply and move on. Because when you're protesting and you're pleading and you're screaming and you're getting upset to a task and responsibility and an email that's being sent, they have already won then. The bottom line is the president. Let's just understand something. We have the House. We have the Senate. We have the judicial branch and we have the executive branch. The only person in federal government who is elected nationwide is who? President.

[00:45:37] United States senators are elected by their states. Members of Congress are elected based on reapportionment, 435. Okay. The judiciary, the Supreme Court is appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate. The only person in the federal bureaucracy who answers directly to the American people is the president. And when you win an election, you get to do things.

[00:46:03] And the president has the full and complete authority to appoint someone like Musk to do this and engage in this type of way. And I think sometimes people need a civics lesson. That's not, I'm not saying that I agree with everything that Donald Trump is doing. By no stretch of the imagination, am I saying this? Would I have handled this different? Of course I would. But the bottom line is, Musk has the authority from the president to do this.

[00:46:31] And I think Democrats and people who are opposed to Donald Trump need to be better about accepting the bait and not just moving on and making an issue about this type of stuff. I completely agree. You laid it out so well. Don't take the bait. If you are doing your job, if you are a good steward of the taxpayer dollars that pay your salary, it shouldn't be that big of an issue.

[00:47:01] I understand that getting an email from Elon Musk is probably just shooketh. They're just shooketh to the core and didn't know. And to be perfectly fair, they were threatened with losing their jobs. They did not reply. Over one-third of the federal workforce, so over a million of the three million federal employees have replied to date, which is pretty impressive.

[00:47:23] Even I think, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe U.S. Senator Tina Smith called Elon Musk a dick for this email. Again, it goes back to our fraud issue. If you are not one of the troublemakers, what's the big deal? If you are doing your job effectively and efficiently, what's the big deal? Now, nobody likes a micromanager. We get that. He's not looking at your job description and matching it up to make sure you're doing it.

[00:47:51] It's simply just like a process of are you reading your emails? Are you replying and being a part of the federal government who all is run, like you said, by the president of the United States who Elon Musk is the messenger for right now? So it just like the riled up folks over the weekend could not have been more entertaining to me.

[00:48:12] And it just continues to perpetuate and allow Republicans through Musk and Trump and whoever else to set out this narrative that these are troublemakers. They're having roadblocks. They're not going to work with the president there. It just allows that narrative to continue when it simply is like the easiest thing in the world. Yes. And again, I'm saying this. I'm saying this as someone who didn't vote for Donald Trump and did not want him to get elected president.

[00:48:39] And so I'm trying to be as fair here and just say, don't take the bait. Just reply with the things that you're doing and move along. Because the president gets to pick. And I'm being consistent. I'm being consistent on that stuff. Did I agree with every one of Biden's picks? No, I don't. I simply. But the reality is that elections have consequences.

[00:49:02] And in our system of government, the one person who is elected by the entire country to be the head of the executive branch and to lead this country is the president. And you can have disagreements with him on policy. But and there's an advice and consent that the United States Senate has. And they can. But some of these appointments, he gets to do this. And I think that it would be better. And I understand it's obnoxious.

[00:49:29] And I understand that he inflames and enrages people. But the best thing to do, I don't want to sound like I'm being. A weenie, but I'm just saying, just reply, say what you're doing and just move along, because the bottom line is these are not unreasonable questions to have answered. There was an election that was held. And I believe I don't believe in term limits for when the Senate and the House. I don't believe in it. But the president is term limit.

[00:49:58] Donald Trump, contrary to popularly cannot run again unless there are some massive structural changes to our founding documents. I believe this is the end. I don't believe that we're going to be seeing Donald Trump on a ballot again. Conversation for another day. Yes. But the truth is we had an election where these issues were mandated, where these issues were discussed. And we can disagree as to whether there's an electoral mandate. But here's this. Republicans control the House. They control the Senate and they control the presidency.

[00:50:24] They all they have a governing majority. They can move things through in the way that they need. And it's pretty hard pressed for me to believe that that anyone can say that Elon Musk didn't make his intentions known during and Donald Trump didn't make his intentions known during the election. Because something, Becky, you and I have called out is when candidates run a certain way, then they govern in a different way.

[00:50:51] And as someone who closely watched the race, didn't want Donald Trump to win. I'm hard pressed to see in this particular matter, just on the subject of Musk, that Trump is not following through on what he said he was going to do. Is that fair? Very fair. A couple other items of note here. Musk did tweet on Monday saying he's going to give folks a second chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.

[00:51:16] The Office of Personnel Management sent out a memo on Monday through that basically about the deadline and allowing agency heads to exclude personnel from this expectation at their discretion. And the White House press secretary came out and doubled down and said all federal workers should be working at the same pace as President Trump is working and moving. This is to ensure federal workers are not ripping off American taxpayers that they are showing up to the office and doing their job. It's a very simple task to complete.

[00:51:46] It's not unlike, I think, I understand some folks having issues with the fact that it's not their boss. It's not their boss's boss. It's not their boss's boss, right? It's like somebody so outside of the realm of their agency, of their purview, that doesn't know what they do and how they do it, which is fair.

[00:52:07] But if you get a new CEO and an email goes out staff-wide and an intern of marketing has to reply what they did, they still want to make sure you're working. And if you are, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Obviously, I think this comes hand in hand also with some of the other changes coming down from the administration.

[00:52:56] Trump are the best people for the job and are going to follow through on his policies. Not unsimilar in my look of when Biden made some moves in energy policy, for example, and moving away from oil and towards green energy. And there were mass layoffs when it came to all things fossil fuel and coal and oil. Were people unhappy? Yeah. But is it under the direction of the president of the United States and his policy positions and what he promised the American people he was going to do? Yes.

[00:53:26] So there are going to be layoffs. And that's a fact of the matter. That is not something new under President Trump. And folks trying to imply that is, are just being part of the circus. Yes. Yes. And I wanted to send out and I didn't, which was, it's like from office space. What would you say you do here? What would you say you do here?

[00:53:48] And if you can't, there's a difference between the person who screams and says that he's a people person versus others who are a bit more casual about it. But it's a very simple, I think it's a very simple answer. And I know what I'm working on. I have, I work for myself, but I have clients and I guarantee you those clients want to know what I'm doing occasionally. And I have a responsibility to have a check-in list. And I think it's important that people have that same level of expectation of government workers and their jobs.

[00:54:17] Not to say that they don't, but I, as someone who wants to see government function well and have there be good services and good use of taxpayer resources. I think that this is, again, I'll just say one thing that I think that president Trump now is good at is creating political theater. Whether it's working at McDonald's or tasking Elon Musk to ask government workers to just to respond to an email.

[00:54:46] There is a simplicity to these things that I think Democrats would be better served or the opposition to Trump would be better served not fighting on these kind of ridiculous hills. Completely agree. But in the meantime, the triggering side of things and seeing the faux outrage, especially when it comes to Elon Musk, he certainly is a boogeyman to the left for sure.

[00:55:14] So it is going to be entertaining to continue to watch. We'll see how this all plays out. But it's been some good theater for sure. It has been good theater. And Becky, we'll probably have more to discuss soon, but I want to thank you for doing this today. It was great to reconnect. I hope everything continues to go well with your pregnancy. Thank you for explaining and dumbing down Pregnancy Interaction 101 for Men. Anytime. And how they should approach pregnant women when they're out in public.

[00:55:41] And we want to thank all of our listeners for listening to this episode of The Breakdown with Broadcom and Becky. Before you go, show us some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us review on Apple Podcasts or on the platform where you listen. You can also follow us on our website and across all social media platforms at BB Breakpod. The Breakdown with Broadcom and Becky will return soon. Thank you so much for joining us. Bye.