A Break Down About Fresh Starts and Big Plans: 2025 with Brodkorb and Becky

[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.

[00:00:19] And I'm Michael Brodkorb.

[00:00:20] We are back with the first episode of 2025. Today we are going to hit on our resolutions from 2024 and our goals and manifestations for the upcoming year. Then we are going to break down the two special elections underway for seats in the Minnesota legislature.

[00:00:36] We're of course going to discuss the chaos surrounding the speakers race in Washington and what that means for Trump and the Republican trifecta.

[00:00:44] And lastly, we'll get into some of the drama surrounding the MNGOP and the transition to the new leadership team. Thank you for joining us and enjoy the show. Happy New Year!

[00:00:54] Happy New Year to you!

[00:00:56] How long did you last on New Year's Eve? Do you stay up till midnight?

[00:00:59] I've tried to stay up till midnight. My kids have gotten a little older.

[00:01:02] And first of all, I'm, I think New Year's Eve night, it going out is for amateurs. I can't think of the last time I've done it.

[00:01:09] So I tried to stay home. I had, I, my kids had some people over and then a couple other kids were gone.

[00:01:15] So I did do a little shuffling around that night, but I was out. I was up past midnight because when my kids are out, I want to make sure I'm the one doing the driving and picking up and being the ones on the roads.

[00:01:27] I was out, it was, and I was up to close to one o'clock in the morning, which is a big deal for me.

[00:01:32] And I was excited to ring in the new year. And it was a, just a very kind of fun yet safe night. How about yourself?

[00:01:41] Now, did you have to take a nap the next day to make up for the late night?

[00:01:43] Of course. I better take a nap because I'm still recovering from it. How about yourself?

[00:01:47] Definitely. I was really pushing for an East Coast celebration at 11 PM. I can say we rang in the new year with Puerto Rico at 10 PM.

[00:01:56] That counts.

[00:01:57] And I was in bed probably about 10 30. We did, we watched the ball drop. We celebrated a little bit and hit the hay.

[00:02:04] That's great. Congratulations. And for celebrating with our, uh, with those in Puerto Rico, that's a big thing. I, you know, I, I'm off and on. I don't think I don't consist, but as, as I said, as my kids are getting older and they're more active, I'm going to find myself being like, I'm going to be staying up till they get home and everyone's safe. And so it was one of the later nights, but it's, I love new year. And I love the start of the new year.

[00:02:28] Well, it's always nice to start things fresh. We did a similar show last year, walking through our goals and resolutions for 2024. So I went back and re-listened to that today. And one of mine, I'll start with myself, was, was moving more, which I will come back to that.

[00:02:46] And adding to our family and I announcement breaking news on the breakdown with Rod Corp and Becky, we are pregnant with baby number two. And so we are, we're going to have a second boy. It's going to be a WWE household over here.

[00:03:02] Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. We're very excited. We're about a little over halfway through. So do this spring and.

[00:03:10] It's great news.

[00:03:11] I think, I think so. But I have to say it did put a damper on me moving more because it was listening back to it. I was talking about moving more and how I wanted to do that in preparation for getting pregnant because I was so sick the first time around. And I've got to tell you, I was pretty sick this time around. There was not only was I have bad morning sickness, but man, these fall and winter colds and different bugs going around really hits you hard when you're pregnant.

[00:03:38] The moving was just physical activity, like not moving houses.

[00:03:42] Correct. Just being more active.

[00:03:45] Yes. First of all, congratulations.

[00:03:47] Thank you.

[00:03:47] You said it's going to be a boy?

[00:03:48] It's a boy.

[00:03:49] That is wonderful.

[00:03:51] We'll have two boys over here.

[00:03:52] That's fantastic.

[00:03:54] Yeah, we're really excited. Wyatt's excited to be a big brother. He's got a little baby doll that is Joe's old cabbage patch doll that he likes to feed bottles to and bring around. So it's pretty dang cute.

[00:04:05] If I may inquire into some of your parental decisions, which everybody wants, which you have a divided household.

[00:04:12] We do.

[00:04:13] To the Vikings and the Packers. Which team will this new addition be rooting for?

[00:04:18] I might have to take him over on my side. However, during this last Vikings Packers game, I did ask Wyatt if he wanted the purple team to win or the green team to win. He did say purple.

[00:04:28] That's fantastic.

[00:04:28] So there's a lot there. Yeah. I kind of say the husband was, one, not that amused by the question in the first place, but very much not amused when I asked him a second time and took out my phone so I could record that because we need that on for posterity.

[00:04:43] Oh, precious memories.

[00:04:45] Yes. So good.

[00:04:46] So congratulations. I wish you and your entire family a healthy and prosperous 25 and your new addition. I can't wait to see them clad in Vikings purple. It's been a little frustration.

[00:05:02] Not to say that I've had, I don't want to say that I've had, I have animosity with your youngest, your first son, but he, it was nice to, it's nice to know that he was rooting for the Vikings.

[00:05:13] Yeah.

[00:05:13] But now that I'm really looking forward to this, this purple and this new purple outfit and it gives me a couple ideas.

[00:05:20] All right.

[00:05:21] So congratulations. No, in all seriousness, I wish nothing but health and happiness to every one of your family members and to the new additions because sounds going to be very exciting.

[00:05:29] Thank you. So I will take that as a successful resolution for 2024 on last year's episode, you talked about not so much just as a new year's resolution, but something you try to aspire to or hold true to throughout the years.

[00:05:43] Just working on health overall and having that at the kind of forefront. Talk to us about your mission.

[00:05:49] Yeah, it worked. I'm always, I mean, look, I'm always a work in progress and I'm still, there's always some fine tuning that could be done, but no, overall, I had a really successful,

[00:05:59] successful 2024 made a lot of new friends, probably made a few new enemies. So it's a plus and minus and no, but I feel great. And I've been very focused.

[00:06:09] I like to spend time particularly around my birthday, which was right before Christmas. And then that time between new years, just really planning and thinking I've done a lot more of that this year and really have tried to tackle 2025 with a good plan of,

[00:06:23] and I try to keep my resolutions as best I can. I mentioned I'm, I wanted to start a fight club. I'm working on that right now. Got some auditions coming up, but feel good. No, it was a great 2024 and looking forward to 2025. And I'm so excited to be doing this pot again.

[00:06:40] Yes. We also had last year, a suggestion from a listener at the beginning of the year who wanted us to debate more. And I gotta say mainly due to the presidential race. I think we accomplished that.

[00:06:53] We did. Absolutely. I think there was a lot of feisty episodes and I would also say to you, and I'm going to keep repeating this, those debates, bringing on people that we disagree with and have this not just be the Michael and Becky show where we just blab and talk our entire time.

[00:07:08] And we bring people on people that push back on us, people that disagree with us, I think is really important. And it's really, again, reframed my thinking, my approach to conversations, a lot of approaches to just work and other things and those discussions. And we had a lot of great debates.

[00:07:27] I would say to you, Becky, when we generally, we have a guest on, it's one of the guests, the guests that we have on usually disagrees with either you or me. And I'm, and I will say to you, the more that I do this podcast with you, the more I listen to other podcasts, the more I think we've carved out a special space where we're very comfortable with hearing that people disagree with us.

[00:07:54] And I think that's something special.

[00:07:57] And, but we also, that comfort level gives us the ability to process it, not take it personally and disagree without being disagreeable.

[00:08:07] And I'm proud of the fact that of all of our podcasts episode, the people we've had on are welcome to come back.

[00:08:13] And I hope people, I think 2025, continuing that model, it's a good recipe for success.

[00:08:19] And there's no reason to fix it when it's not broken.

[00:08:21] Perfect. I agree completely. It's been fun. We've learned a lot. And hey, I'm open to continuing some debates. I have to imagine we will get there.

[00:08:32] Moving towards the new year, 2025 is here.

[00:08:36] I'm still working through some of my what I want the goals and what I want to manifest for the year.

[00:08:41] Obviously, complete a healthy, safe pregnancy, have a baby boy and thrive through the chaos that is going to be my new life.

[00:08:51] But I will say one of the, in addition to that, all of that good stuff, I'm really going to work this year on having some intentional phone away time.

[00:08:58] I think it's something that is so easy to just have on your hip and scroll all the time, having it really there.

[00:09:06] And want to make sure that we're setting good boundaries of technology with the kids while they're young and just being a little bit more present.

[00:09:14] So that's something I'm really going to try to work through.

[00:09:16] We did, my husband and I, one of our goals in 2024 was to also have a night of a week that we have phones down, that we get a kind of, I think you probably are, everybody in this day and age.

[00:09:28] While you're watching a show, you're even scrolling and have some kind of shows that we even just sit on the couch, even if it's still sitting on the couch silently next to each other, invested in the same show.

[00:09:38] So it's so much more connecting, I feel, having your phone down and just even if it's for an hour or two.

[00:09:45] So yeah, so we're going to continue that.

[00:09:47] That's my big one for 2020, oh, 2025.

[00:09:51] I think that's great.

[00:09:52] I'm a big believer in limited screen time.

[00:09:55] I recommend it with my kids.

[00:09:56] I use an app called Forest, if you've never heard of it.

[00:09:59] I use it on my iPhone just to put it down and it helps me step away.

[00:10:05] It's really funny you mention that because I've also been looking at an app called Brick.

[00:10:09] It's a physical device to help give some limitations.

[00:10:13] That's really interesting you bring that up because it's one of the things that I also have thought about and just trying to find ways to be more efficient, more present in the moment.

[00:10:24] Watching movies, it's one of the things that I was talking with a relative over a family gathering a couple days ago, just about watching movies and how that's changed so much.

[00:10:35] And I love watching movies with my kids and with my family.

[00:10:38] And it's obviously because of the expansion of streaming.

[00:10:42] Some movies are just available on streaming.

[00:10:45] They're not in the movie theater.

[00:10:47] Sometimes it's easier just with schedules just to get them and you can't go to the movie theater.

[00:10:51] But going to a movie theater and sitting there and watching a movie together and just having no distractions is a much, I think, better viewing experience than anything that you can replicate at home.

[00:11:06] But as I said, I love watching movies with my kids.

[00:11:10] And I always try to get them just to let's turn the lights down, let's put the phones down, let's try to pay attention.

[00:11:16] And it's always a struggle.

[00:11:18] Phones are a struggle.

[00:11:19] They're a necessary evil.

[00:11:20] But, man, I applaud you for your approach to your thoughtfulness, to how you approach it.

[00:11:27] And my compliments to you and your husband for incorporating that into kind of your household.

[00:11:31] It's really remarkable.

[00:11:32] It's really admirable.

[00:11:33] I think it's going to I think it's your one of the reasons why I think you have just a great marriage and a great family dynamic is because you've done that.

[00:11:41] And it's something you should be really proud of.

[00:11:42] Well, thank you.

[00:11:43] Also, it's a practice fan.

[00:11:45] I don't know how you I mean, that's.

[00:11:46] Yeah, you shared misery.

[00:11:49] No, I just that thoughtfulness is that the ability to like be introspective and to think about how that self-improvement is, I think, something that is missing a lot.

[00:12:01] And I don't want to point out other people's problems, but I just want to acknowledge that it's remarkable and impressive to see how that's incorporated into your lifestyle.

[00:12:07] And it's also so funny when you do start doing that, the things that you pick up on shows of little glances or little side comment jokes or different things that you would have totally missed had you not been fully into it.

[00:12:21] So, yeah.

[00:12:22] So that's a goal.

[00:12:23] We'll see how it goes.

[00:12:24] But we'll touch base again this time next year.

[00:12:27] What about one thing?

[00:12:28] Yeah.

[00:12:29] About a movie shows.

[00:12:30] I'm not telling you the name of the show, but my wife and I started, for example, my wife has a great track record of finding shows long before and watching them.

[00:12:41] And then me eventually coming along when we first met, she introduced me to a TV show called Seinfeld.

[00:12:48] And then she's a big fan of Arrested Development.

[00:12:52] We watched The Sopranos a couple years ago, which was fantastic.

[00:12:57] But we started a new series.

[00:12:58] I'm not going to say what it is until I'm done with it, but it is absolutely fantastic.

[00:13:05] And I can't wait to recommend it more.

[00:13:07] Can't wait to hear more.

[00:13:09] I'm so intrigued.

[00:13:11] And what about for you?

[00:13:12] What's on the agenda for 2025s?

[00:13:15] I'm going to still work on trying to be healthier.

[00:13:17] I want to be more, obviously, just more conversations.

[00:13:21] Try to obviously make more money, be happier, spend more time with the kids.

[00:13:25] More just moments.

[00:13:26] I turned 51 and someone a few weeks earlier this last month, late last month.

[00:13:33] And someone said to me that 40 is an old young.

[00:13:37] 50 is a young old.

[00:13:40] And I agree with that.

[00:13:41] I have.

[00:13:42] It's interesting to see things and understand my prom date is a grandmother.

[00:13:48] Like that sentence is, wow.

[00:13:50] My prom date is a grandmother.

[00:13:52] And things like that are just, it's weird to know and how you feel old.

[00:13:56] I will also tell you something that surprises people when I say this.

[00:14:00] But I, of course, have no hair.

[00:14:03] I'm bald.

[00:14:04] Now, I shave my head.

[00:14:05] But one of the things that is very interesting is the fact that I don't have hair on the top of my head means that I haven't had, I've been shaving my head for over 10 years now.

[00:14:20] Close to 11 years.

[00:14:21] That I miss the physical signs of my aging because I don't have hair.

[00:14:30] I occasionally have the occasional stubble, but I try to be generally clean shaven on my head and my face and stuff.

[00:14:35] So I don't have a beard.

[00:14:36] I don't see the gray hair.

[00:14:37] And so it's interesting.

[00:14:39] I noticed that how in just in pictures, you look at me over the last decade, I look relatively the same.

[00:14:46] There might be the weight loss, maybe a little bit more, a little mess in any particular picture.

[00:14:50] But I try to take care of myself.

[00:14:52] But and being now 51 and not having that hair, it's something that you just miss out on.

[00:14:59] You miss out on.

[00:15:00] And so it's always a struggle.

[00:15:01] Like I'm 51 and I'm with other people that are 51 and they have gray hair and I don't.

[00:15:07] And so we'll see.

[00:15:09] It's just an interesting little thing that I always, I try to explain to people because I just don't see it.

[00:15:14] And so again, looking at pictures of myself again, aside from maybe weighing a little bit more, a little bit less,

[00:15:21] I look relatively the same that I did 10 plus years ago and hair lengths grow, styles change.

[00:15:28] And the secret is that people at my age get gray hair, but just because of the way my hair is,

[00:15:35] I ain't seen it unless I grew it out.

[00:15:37] And that's a look that nobody wants to see.

[00:15:39] By the way, I should say.

[00:15:41] We should probably put out a poll.

[00:15:42] I think there would be some people that want to see it.

[00:15:44] Now I'm going to also tell a story.

[00:15:47] I think this, but I'll say it on air.

[00:15:49] So at one point I thought about getting hair plugs and my kids were insistent that I do not do it.

[00:16:00] Anytime I bring it up, they are just horrified by the concept of me getting any type of cosmetic reconstructive work done on my hair.

[00:16:10] By the way, I would love to have hair.

[00:16:12] If I had hair, I would sit and braid it all day long.

[00:16:14] I would just laugh.

[00:16:15] Oh God, I would sit and braid it and I would mousse it and I would gel it and I would style it.

[00:16:19] And I would just sit and braid it all day long.

[00:16:22] I understand your kids' hesitation on that.

[00:16:24] But they are horrified by the concept.

[00:16:27] And even though they know that I would like it and I could do it,

[00:16:32] they have consistently put their foot down and say,

[00:16:36] we absolutely do not want you to do that.

[00:16:38] That would be the worst thing in the world.

[00:16:39] And I'm sad by that.

[00:16:41] But hey, as long as they're happy, that's all that matters.

[00:16:43] The question I would wonder is, if I got hair implants, I assume it would grow gray.

[00:16:51] Right?

[00:16:52] I have no idea.

[00:16:54] That's a great question.

[00:16:56] Do you have any access to Elton John or someone who's had hair implants?

[00:16:59] No, I do not.

[00:17:00] We'll have to find someone.

[00:17:03] Wrapping up our 2025 combo, we've chatted a little bit about some goals for the podcast.

[00:17:08] Anything you want to share of the upcoming year of what we'd like to do?

[00:17:13] I think that we, as I said before, I was in the AD Club.

[00:17:17] I want to grow this podcast.

[00:17:18] More clips, more content.

[00:17:19] We're going to do a live show here soon.

[00:17:22] Just engaging and bringing out stuff.

[00:17:23] I really want to find ways to connect more with our audience and bring people in and grow this.

[00:17:28] We've had consistent, steady growth in this podcast.

[00:17:31] There's more that we can do.

[00:17:33] And this is a labor of love, I think, for us.

[00:17:35] Something that we really come to enjoy doing.

[00:17:37] And just finding ways to engage more, have more viral content.

[00:17:42] Let me rephrase that.

[00:17:44] Having more content that is shareable and bite-sized so we can introduce more listeners.

[00:17:47] I'm not interested in changing the tone and being more bombastic or changing our approach.

[00:17:53] We're just doing more to help grow the podcast.

[00:17:55] And as I said, I'd like to do a live show here soon because I think it'd be really fun.

[00:18:00] Be a fun experience.

[00:18:01] We did the MinPost a few months ago.

[00:18:03] That was a great experience.

[00:18:04] Yeah.

[00:18:05] There's some technical issues we need to resolve, but I'd love to do it.

[00:18:08] And stay tuned for an announcement.

[00:18:09] How about you?

[00:18:10] Yeah, I am the same.

[00:18:11] I think one thing that I am excited about this year is getting back to some new guests

[00:18:17] that we haven't talked about or talked with before of 2024.

[00:18:22] We have done a lot of more panel conversations and interviews with folks in the partisan realm

[00:18:29] of folks who have worked for the DFL or GOP, RNC, that sort.

[00:18:33] And so I'm really excited, too, for the opportunities we have coming up of talking to some new individuals

[00:18:40] that we haven't had the pleasure of talking to before, some elected officials or members

[00:18:45] of Congress, maybe some different experts in their fields, and just continuing to give

[00:18:51] our listeners some access to some information that they might not have access to otherwise

[00:18:56] in some conversations that we would not have access to without this platform.

[00:19:00] So I'm excited for what's to come with some guests.

[00:19:04] Absolutely.

[00:19:05] To that point, I want to acknowledge the passing of someone.

[00:19:07] So State Senator Kerry Dietzig passed away, and she was the former Senate majority leader,

[00:19:13] and she was the former also minority leader, I believe.

[00:19:16] But she was a member of the State Senate.

[00:19:19] She had been battling cancer for a number of years.

[00:19:22] The reason why I bring that up is I was a stranger.

[00:19:25] And when I received just a wonderful note from her after I was hit by a car in April of 2023,

[00:19:31] just a simple, random act of kindness from a complete stranger wishing me well, hoping that

[00:19:37] I'd be able to return to the podcast at some point.

[00:19:40] And then she followed that up with a phone call.

[00:19:43] Just an absolute random act of kindness.

[00:19:46] And she passed away.

[00:19:48] And I always wanted to have her on the podcast.

[00:19:51] And time just slipped away.

[00:19:53] But I just wanted to extend, once again, I put a little note out on social media.

[00:19:58] I'm not, I was a stranger to her.

[00:20:00] And we never met in person.

[00:20:01] But she just, she passed away.

[00:20:03] And I wanted to acknowledge just how thoughtful it was of her just to check in and be comfortable.

[00:20:09] And I would encourage others to follow that step.

[00:20:12] If you know someone who's going through something and you have a loose connection,

[00:20:16] we shared the field of politics in some way, but she was very considerate, very kind.

[00:20:22] And was, as I noted, she found time to make time for someone else when she was also battling

[00:20:27] some health issues herself.

[00:20:30] But she passed away.

[00:20:31] And my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family during this difficult time.

[00:20:35] And I hope her memory is a blessing to those that knew her the best.

[00:20:38] I love that.

[00:20:39] And we'll chat a little bit more about the political side of that.

[00:20:43] But I do also, I want to share that I was working at the legislature when she was elected.

[00:20:47] And she, I was only there for about six-ish months of her first term.

[00:20:53] But she did join the Environment Committee.

[00:20:55] And I was working for Senator Bill Ingerwitz, and he was the chair of the committee at the time.

[00:20:59] And so had just some passing conversations with her, some niceties.

[00:21:04] And she was always very nice.

[00:21:06] And, you know, you'd think that it would go without saying that a member of an opposite

[00:21:10] party would be nice to a, you know, tiny little 23-year-old working up at the Capitol.

[00:21:16] But it's not always the case.

[00:21:17] And so we always appreciated that.

[00:21:19] And she was very young.

[00:21:21] And she worked so hard and tirelessly for her district and her party.

[00:21:25] And so I know that it was, it's a big loss for the DFL and for the legislature.

[00:21:29] We'll get into a little bit more of that here shortly.

[00:21:32] But thank you for bringing that up.

[00:21:33] I think it's a good reminder.

[00:21:35] And as we're heading into 2025, maybe that can be a goal and a resolution for us all is

[00:21:39] who doesn't like to have, to receive a handwritten note or an out-of-the-blue text message of

[00:21:45] someone in their life that they know, whether how well or vaguely, just checking in and wishing them well.

[00:21:51] There's no better feeling than somebody is thinking of you.

[00:21:55] And I like it.

[00:21:56] Let's start 2025 off that way.

[00:22:00] So let's move on.

[00:22:02] We do now have two special elections coming up in the Minnesota legislature.

[00:22:07] Let's start with House District 40B.

[00:22:10] Now, this is a reminder is the Roseville seat that Curtis Johnson had been declared the winner

[00:22:15] on election night.

[00:22:16] A court has since overturned and said that he did not meet the residency standards and was

[00:22:21] not able to accept that seat.

[00:22:24] So there is going to be a special election.

[00:22:27] This is in Roseville, Roseville, Little Canada era.

[00:22:30] It's no, it's just Roseville.

[00:22:32] Yeah.

[00:22:33] She actually lived in Little Canada.

[00:22:36] Yes.

[00:22:36] Yeah.

[00:22:37] So we had a former speaker, Kurt Dowd on before Christmas and chatted through some of the laws

[00:22:42] and statutes surrounding what this looks like and what to expect.

[00:22:46] In our conversation there and how I would say a lot of folks were understanding the statute

[00:22:53] to be written was that 22 days after the start of session.

[00:22:57] So after that vacancy would be official in the Minnesota House District 40B seat.

[00:23:03] So 22 days after January 14th is when we anticipated that the writ would be put forward by Governor

[00:23:10] Walz and announcing that special election.

[00:23:12] So there was, we were chatting through how February was, what that was looking like.

[00:23:17] I think something that may be surprised a good amount of people is that Governor Walz and

[00:23:21] the Secretary of State, Steve Simon, have taken a, so Curtis Johnson, the candidate in question

[00:23:28] here, a week before Christmas put out a letter saying that he was not going to accept the seat.

[00:23:34] He was disappointed with the ruling.

[00:23:36] He's not moving forward.

[00:23:37] And Walz and a Secretary of State's office took that to mean that was immediate vacancy.

[00:23:41] Vacancy.

[00:23:42] So they issued the writ.

[00:23:44] They scheduled the primary in this race for January 14th.

[00:23:47] The general or the special election itself for January 20th with filing to be conducted

[00:23:51] ending December 31st.

[00:23:55] From my reading of folks on Twitter that are far smarter than me, there's a controversy of

[00:24:00] whether this was a vacancy because he hadn't technically been sworn in.

[00:24:05] So can you vacate a seat that you have not taken control of when Jamie Becker Flynn was

[00:24:10] still technically serving her term until that January swearing in date?

[00:24:15] What's your read on it?

[00:24:17] So I'm going to put on multiple hats and answer this.

[00:24:21] And putting on multiple hats is, I think, the most honest way in which to answer the question.

[00:24:25] First of all, I think this is a very unique situation.

[00:24:30] And the law is not, I think, unfortunately, the law is open to interpretation.

[00:24:36] But there's also some common sense things, I think, that we should play into here.

[00:24:40] And I'm not a lawyer.

[00:24:42] And you're the legal analyst for the breakdown with Bart Krombecki.

[00:24:45] And I think it's fair to say that not that common sense isn't always the part of the

[00:24:50] basis of every law that's passed.

[00:24:52] And so I can understand.

[00:24:54] First of all, yes, it makes no sense to me that he resigned the seat that he wasn't elected

[00:25:01] to.

[00:25:02] That doesn't make any sense to me because he was deemed to be unqualified from serving in that

[00:25:09] office.

[00:25:10] And so logically, to me, it makes sense that the vacancy occurs when the vacancy occurs.

[00:25:18] You can't vacate a seat that you don't have.

[00:25:21] And so I understand from a, it doesn't make any sense to me.

[00:25:27] I would, the logic is, at that point, it's like it was, my brain is buffering as I'm trying

[00:25:33] to come up with the answer.

[00:25:34] I'm like, yeah, it doesn't make any sense.

[00:25:36] It's you, you were disqualified from serving in office.

[00:25:41] Therefore, you don't hold the seat.

[00:25:43] Therefore, you can't resign the seat, which you don't hold.

[00:25:46] And in response to that point, I put out a tweet that said, we're apparently resigning

[00:25:51] from offices that we've never held before.

[00:25:53] Therefore, I'm resigning the presidency effective at New tomorrow.

[00:25:56] Just to point out, because it makes no logical sense.

[00:26:00] Now, let me put on a legislative hat.

[00:26:03] This is a real sticky wicket because who loses in this situation are the residents of that district

[00:26:11] because they are then not having a representative in there during the legislative session.

[00:26:20] And so, you could make the point that it hurts the residents of 40B by not having their elected

[00:26:30] official in that seat.

[00:26:31] You could also make the argument that the people who should be held accountable for that mistake

[00:26:38] are the people who were instrumental in making that mistake happen.

[00:26:44] And so, I can see it from a variety of ways.

[00:26:47] This guy should not have run.

[00:26:49] He was not qualified to run.

[00:26:51] I don't know who was involved in the decision to get him selected to be that candidate.

[00:26:55] Former Speaker Kurt Dowd made some very clear statements about who was responsible for that.

[00:27:03] Ultimately, here's the rub.

[00:27:05] And I think this is the fight.

[00:27:06] If you punish the people, if you punish the residents of 40B, there is a partisan benefit

[00:27:14] that comes from that, which is that gives the Democrats less time to fill that seat.

[00:27:20] I get that.

[00:27:21] I can see that point.

[00:27:22] I'm not trying to say, but I'm just calling the kind of naked partisanship of it out.

[00:27:28] You can make that case.

[00:27:30] And in the balls and strikes of politics, that is an absolutely strike fair pitch over

[00:27:37] the plate.

[00:27:38] That's a reasonable criticism to make.

[00:27:40] I can absolutely see, I can see it from both sides and I can see everyone's sides.

[00:27:44] The good government advocate in me says, or the person who wants there to be a functioning

[00:27:50] state government and things that are working out well.

[00:27:52] Yes, it makes complete sense that that special election is called as quickly as possible.

[00:27:57] So the residents of 40B have an elected representative in there.

[00:28:02] Now, but the partisan in me says, I don't, it's ridiculous.

[00:28:07] You can't resign a seat you don't have.

[00:28:09] The vacancy will occur on the first day of the session when that seat is not filled and

[00:28:15] that the writ was called too early.

[00:28:17] And so that's my take on it from the multiple hats that I wear.

[00:28:22] What's your perspective, legal scholar, partisan hack?

[00:28:25] I agree with part and disagree with part.

[00:28:28] I certainly agree.

[00:28:29] Start off 2025 like every other episode.

[00:28:32] I certainly agree.

[00:28:33] It is to the detriment of the folks at 40B that they are going to be without a representation

[00:28:38] or representative for some period of time.

[00:28:41] That said, I think that from my perspective, this statute seems pretty clear other than needing

[00:28:53] to determine what vacancy means.

[00:28:56] I think that vacancy is pretty clear.

[00:28:59] If you go to a hotel room that you're going to be at in a week and you're not there yet

[00:29:03] and then you cancel, you didn't vacate that hotel room.

[00:29:06] You just never were there, right?

[00:29:08] It's sorry.

[00:29:10] Maybe it does work.

[00:29:11] I was following that a lot.

[00:29:12] That was actually a really good example.

[00:29:14] The current representative is serving that district until swearing in occurs when session

[00:29:20] starts in January.

[00:29:22] So in a couple of weeks here.

[00:29:23] So they do currently at this time have a member of the state house that represents them.

[00:29:29] Until swearing in, until this person has raised their hand and says, takes the oath of office

[00:29:35] to serve and represent this district that they were duly elected to do.

[00:29:40] It's not theirs.

[00:29:41] Just as you said, we vacated the seat of the presidency.

[00:29:44] It's just as much mine and yours as it is Curtis Johnson's.

[00:29:48] And so for me, the way the law is written with the 22 days after the start, after a vacancy

[00:29:56] has actually occurred, seems pretty clear cut.

[00:30:00] Now, I do understand as well the thought and sentiment around wanting to get representation

[00:30:06] for 40B as soon as possible.

[00:30:08] I don't buy it.

[00:30:09] It's a partisan situation going on here.

[00:30:11] It is not about the people of 40B for the Democrats.

[00:30:13] It's about trying to do what they can do to give the Republicans as little time as possible

[00:30:18] having any sort of power.

[00:30:19] If they could do it so it would be moved earlier so that there is no, not even a single day

[00:30:25] that there is a speaker election with Republicans having won more vote than Democrats, they would

[00:30:30] do.

[00:30:31] Maybe there is going to be some new laws rewritten or some new definitions added to state statute

[00:30:37] to clarify this going forward.

[00:30:39] But I would assume there's also potentially some legal challenges in the works.

[00:30:45] It's really fast.

[00:30:46] It's coming up around the corner.

[00:30:48] The primary is scheduled for the 14th.

[00:30:50] Now, it does look originally so filing ended at 5 p.m. on December 31st.

[00:30:56] Paul Wilkstrom is the only Republican who filed.

[00:30:59] He is the Republican who challenged Curtis Johnson in 2024, who was the springboard for this

[00:31:05] residency challenge.

[00:31:06] He is running as a Republican again in this seat.

[00:31:08] Five Democrats originally filed.

[00:31:11] Four have then withdrawn.

[00:31:12] So it is a gentleman by the name of David Gottfried, who ran against Curtis Johnson last

[00:31:17] year, who is the DFL nominee.

[00:31:18] So it's 1v1 moving to the special election on January 28th.

[00:31:23] Time will tell.

[00:31:24] Can a lawsuit, can anything really happen to change this in the next 25-ish days that we

[00:31:30] have before then?

[00:31:32] Things have happened, but it seems like this is pretty much on a track to completion at

[00:31:37] that point.

[00:31:38] But what exactly did you disagree with me on?

[00:31:41] You were, I feel like trying to get the Democrats a little bit benefit of the doubt that they

[00:31:44] want representation in 40 B.

[00:31:46] I think that's I think that's a little about this.

[00:31:50] I'm, I just was, I think one of the things that we do is I think we're excited.

[00:31:55] No, I'm no, I was just simply trying to offer all of the scenarios.

[00:31:59] We'll leave it.

[00:31:59] This is a, this, I view this.

[00:32:01] I view sometimes what we have the ability to do here is break stuff down and we can,

[00:32:06] we're giving people the choose your own adventure option.

[00:32:08] Which option, which option do you want to pursue?

[00:32:11] You could make the case that this is, you could make the case that this is good for

[00:32:15] democracy to have the seat filled as early as possible.

[00:32:18] But I think the narrative point that I made, particularly on social media was which where

[00:32:24] the, Mike, the creative point I was making was it's preposterous to think that you can

[00:32:29] resign a seat that you just got taken away from.

[00:32:31] Agreed.

[00:32:32] And so that's the larger issue to me is that I think that's where I think the challenge

[00:32:37] is.

[00:32:38] And I don't know, and please correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:32:41] Did we even discuss the possibility of this scenario?

[00:32:45] No.

[00:32:45] With speak with speaker.

[00:32:46] And the reason I say that is because he is a master of legislative craft and you of course

[00:32:54] know the legislature and I do too.

[00:32:57] And also none of us had conceived of this potential scenario of them declaring the seat

[00:33:03] vacated.

[00:33:04] And it just goes to my point that possession is nine tenths of the law.

[00:33:07] And so if you just declare things, it also reminds me of you assert the right to publish

[00:33:12] by publishing.

[00:33:13] You always assert your right.

[00:33:14] Right.

[00:33:14] And so they did that.

[00:33:16] And here's the thing I got to say that this is the one thing of many things I should say,

[00:33:22] but the one thing I'll bring up on this show that the Democrats are very good at they're

[00:33:25] very good at being confident.

[00:33:28] And I wish the Republicans would learn more how the game is played because look at it.

[00:33:33] You can argue it from multiple sides.

[00:33:35] And we, I think we've successfully broken down all of the various sides that you can look

[00:33:41] at it from because not everything is black and white.

[00:33:42] I, it's always, I completely agree.

[00:33:45] The confidence is outstanding.

[00:33:47] I, this is one of the things we've talked a lot about how I do love, especially in elections,

[00:33:53] the gamemanship of it and the chess match and how you can navigate through things to benefit

[00:34:01] your candidate or your member or your party or whatever that looks like.

[00:34:05] And then there's times where I feel like, man, is it hard to be an elect official and have

[00:34:10] to stand behind something that's so truly wild on its face.

[00:34:15] Like it is hard for me to believe that Governor Walz or Steve Simon or the Democrats in charge,

[00:34:21] whoever it might be, has to stand up and stand behind this proudly and confidently and say,

[00:34:26] I know the law says that this is just 22 days after a vacancy, but he said he was not taking

[00:34:32] office.

[00:34:32] So that means it's vacant.

[00:34:34] Like they have to just stand up and stand behind this.

[00:34:37] Like how hard that is at times for members to be like, I know what I'm saying is absolute BS.

[00:34:44] And I know there's a million different holes that can be bulked through this, but I'm going

[00:34:49] to do it because I've told, been told by my party, by everybody, by whoever that we need

[00:34:55] to do this and we're pushing forward and let's mile fake it till you make it, baby.

[00:35:00] One of the things, and I thought of an example of what sometimes I thought about this a couple

[00:35:05] of days ago, I saw a clip online of Penn and Teller doing a magic trick.

[00:35:09] And one of the things I think that you and I have tried to do is what we're trying to

[00:35:13] explain to our listeners is we're not revealing magic tricks, but in some ways we are.

[00:35:17] We're trying to explain to you what we think is going on and you can use, this is how the

[00:35:22] craft is done.

[00:35:23] And so, yeah, it's done on both sides.

[00:35:25] But yes, there does become some times where you have to tow the company line and you can

[00:35:31] look at the situation and say, oh, they're, I mean, no, why should the residents of 4DB

[00:35:37] suffer because of the poor decision of one individual?

[00:35:41] It's not really that simple.

[00:35:43] And that's the advantage of this podcast is we make the, what appears to be simple,

[00:35:48] how complicated and we try to un- and make things simpler for others.

[00:35:52] I can't imagine how many times in your career, as I've had, I could probably point to dozens

[00:35:57] in mind, having conversations with reporters and pushing whatever the narrative of the

[00:36:02] day.

[00:36:03] And they're like, come on, Becky, really?

[00:36:05] You're going with that?

[00:36:06] That's what the angle is your candidates pushing today and having to really be like,

[00:36:11] yeah, we're outraged.

[00:36:12] It at times is absolutely laughable of what you do, but it's the game.

[00:36:17] And like you said, both sides play it.

[00:36:19] Yes, I will say to you that it is a challenge.

[00:36:22] Consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind.

[00:36:24] And it's difficult sometimes to be consistent, particularly in the world of politics.

[00:36:30] One of the things, though, as someone who watches it and we watch it from the cheap seats

[00:36:34] and analyzing it, my frustration is, again, I keep saying this, I'm someone who wants there

[00:36:40] to be a vibrant two-party system in the state.

[00:36:43] What frustrates me is that the Democrats do this with such confidence and the Republicans

[00:36:51] don't take notes and learn how to act in a similar way, or they, in some ways, try to

[00:36:58] bastardize the tactic.

[00:36:59] No, I honestly will say this to you.

[00:37:02] I think, as I've said before, the greatest political education I've received was not when

[00:37:08] I was in, when I was doing more partisan activity, when I was deputy chair, was doing more things

[00:37:12] with political parties and campaigns.

[00:37:14] It was spending time in the suburbs.

[00:37:16] It's being a dad.

[00:37:17] It's being a husband.

[00:37:18] It's going to school board meetings.

[00:37:19] It's going to parent-teacher conferences.

[00:37:21] It's going to my kids' sporting events and talking with people and understanding how

[00:37:24] little gets back to them.

[00:37:26] And we are hyper-focusing on this race and breaking it down and the dynamics of the special

[00:37:32] election.

[00:37:32] But, man, I wish the Republicans would watch sometimes what the Democrats do in the manner

[00:37:38] in which they operate with such confidence and try to model it and buy some of that swagger

[00:37:44] themselves.

[00:37:44] And the unity aspect, right?

[00:37:46] Can you imagine if this was on the Republican side?

[00:37:49] And obviously, this is just a hypothetical scenario.

[00:37:53] But if this was on the Republican side and Republican House leadership was backing a candidate who

[00:37:59] then came out, was filed, was not legally a resident there, but there was a primary battle

[00:38:04] and there was an action for liberty or some other MAGA Republican against them, the in-party

[00:38:11] fighting at this point of what this looks like would just be Republican and Republican.

[00:38:16] Like, I told you, that's why the establishment is BS.

[00:38:20] And it's just so funny because not only do the Democrats have the confidence, but they

[00:38:25] also have, we've talked about this time and time again, the unity and what they keep behind

[00:38:28] closed doors and that in-party fighting that they're able to, not always, but largely way

[00:38:34] better than the Republicans, which we'll get to in a moment, keep a muscle on it.

[00:38:38] And maybe someday.

[00:38:40] And I will say to you, it's something I try to be consistent.

[00:38:45] I always try to be consistent.

[00:38:47] I, as I said, consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind.

[00:38:50] And, but I try to do it.

[00:38:51] And on the podcast, we're trying to explain.

[00:38:54] I can see there's a variety of hats you can wear and you get to choose your own adventure.

[00:38:59] If you want to be outraged, if you want to recognize the partisan, the kind of the partisan

[00:39:05] gamesmanship that's going on and applaud that, it's your choice.

[00:39:09] You get to choose your own adventure in this one.

[00:39:11] And I think we've done a good job of explaining it.

[00:39:14] Let's move on to the other special election.

[00:39:16] And we hit on a little bit.

[00:39:17] Carrie Aditsch, former Senator Majority Leader, unfortunately did pass recently, which does

[00:39:23] trigger a special election in this seat.

[00:39:25] She spent over a decade representing Northeast Minneapolis.

[00:39:28] And with this, and obviously the fast timing of a lot of things, Walls conjoined it to the

[00:39:36] 40B is calling the special election to be held the same date as House District 40B.

[00:39:41] So again, that is a primary on January 14th, the special being on January 28th with filing

[00:39:48] ending at 5 p.m. on December 31st.

[00:39:51] An added complication that had a decent amount of outrage last week was that not only did the

[00:39:57] filing end on December 31st at 5 p.m., but it only opened on December 31st at 8 a.m.

[00:40:03] So it was less than 24 hours, less than 24 hours notice of the special or of this open

[00:40:08] filing.

[00:40:08] It was open for less than 12 hours.

[00:40:11] And rightfully, there was some controversy and outrage about that likelihood.

[00:40:16] I was looking at it as myself.

[00:40:19] If you can decide within 24 hours that you want to run for a state senate seat and dedicate

[00:40:24] your life to that is a mad decision and wild and crazy that you are able to make a decision

[00:40:29] that quickly.

[00:40:31] Again, understand the desire to be expedient and efficient in this.

[00:40:37] In this situation, it is a seat that was vacated.

[00:40:40] So the rules, I think, surrounding when the special can be called are different because

[00:40:47] I don't want to sound insensitive by any means, but upon her death, the seat was now

[00:40:52] vacated.

[00:40:53] It was her seat.

[00:40:54] She was holding it.

[00:40:55] It is now vacated immediately.

[00:40:58] And so I do understand that.

[00:41:00] But just that, it's just one that feels a little bit more icky that you have that quick time

[00:41:06] thing over the holidays.

[00:41:07] A lot of people are not engaged, not involved.

[00:41:09] However, 10 people did file for it.

[00:41:11] So I guess enough people were involved or informed.

[00:41:15] Help me with this one a bit because what I noticed was the speed in relation, the Minnesota

[00:41:21] Legislative Reference Library is just a wonderful resource.

[00:41:25] And if I can just geek out for a second, it's a website that people should look at.

[00:41:29] They have great statistics, great stats.

[00:41:31] It's just a tremendous resource.

[00:41:33] And they had a listing of all the special elections.

[00:41:35] I was just curious the timing of the speed of it.

[00:41:40] Here's what I, and maybe you could explain this to me and offer some perspective because

[00:41:43] what I just noticed was how close the, how short the window was for the filing period.

[00:41:49] Now, I think a couple of things are happening.

[00:41:53] There's a little bit of a perfect storm a bit and push back if you think I'm wrong.

[00:41:59] Sadly, the timing, and there's not ever a good time.

[00:42:02] We want to be respectful.

[00:42:03] But right before the 31st, right before the new year where there's a break in people's

[00:42:08] schedules, people are traveling, people are doing things.

[00:42:11] You also have the start of the legislative session.

[00:42:13] You don't want there to be a vacancy during the legislative session.

[00:42:17] And so what's, that was, so that you have all those things jumping up and coming into that

[00:42:23] time.

[00:42:27] Just like in the 40B one, I can also see the partisan advantages and the advantages that are

[00:42:32] happening here.

[00:42:33] If we want to be fair and, and, and be true to our listeners and say, okay, the speed in

[00:42:38] which these elections are happening, one could make the case is that what is being done is

[00:42:45] ensuring that during the legislative session, there is a, that every available district

[00:42:50] in the state, every legislative district that is in the state is properly filled with an

[00:42:55] elected representative during the legislative session as there should be.

[00:43:00] I get that point.

[00:43:01] But the other example or the other hat that can be put on is that these races are being timed

[00:43:09] in a way in which to give maximum opportunity for Democrats to assert their authority and ensure

[00:43:18] that their compliments are full during the legislative session.

[00:43:22] And the question I would ask to my democratic friends is if the shoe is on the other foot, would

[00:43:29] there be a rate, would they be crying foul?

[00:43:32] And would there be such speed given to making sure that a very strong Republican seat was

[00:43:39] filled in a quick manner?

[00:43:41] That's the thing that I want because both of these seats are very, are DFL seats.

[00:43:46] They will be won by the Democrats.

[00:43:48] No disrespect to the Republican candidates, but I can look at maps and read data and it's

[00:43:53] a challenge.

[00:43:54] And that's the question I think to look at.

[00:43:56] And I can see that.

[00:43:58] And I think we've laid this up, but that's the way I think you can look at that.

[00:44:00] Fair to say, push back if you think I'm wrong.

[00:44:02] No, I think it's really fair to say.

[00:44:04] And I love what you said about, it gives us all the warm and fuzzy to ensure that as soon

[00:44:09] as the start, as soon as we can, as close to the start of the session, we have all seats

[00:44:14] represented, representing, or all Minnesotans represented in it and all seats across the

[00:44:19] legislative districts throughout the state.

[00:44:22] I think it needs to be noted, and we've alluded to this, but to just say it on its face, these

[00:44:28] are both DFL seats.

[00:44:30] Yep.

[00:44:30] Now, stranger things have happened, but if I was a vetting woman, Democrats are going

[00:44:35] to be placed, elected back into these seats.

[00:44:38] So this is not, again, just about the filling of the seats.

[00:44:42] It's filling the Democrat portion of these seats.

[00:44:44] So it's ensuring that we get back to the 67-67 in the Minnesota House.

[00:44:50] And for the two weeks that the Senate seat will be vacated from the start of session January

[00:44:58] 14th to the special election on January 28th, the Senate breakdown is 33-33.

[00:45:05] And again, there's the added complication, which I'm sure we'll talk about more in the coming

[00:45:09] weeks, of the ongoing lawsuit against Senator Mitchell, who allegedly broke into-

[00:45:16] The ongoing criminal matter.

[00:45:16] Yes.

[00:45:17] Allegedly broke into, was found in the basement of her stepmother's house.

[00:45:21] So there's going to be more of that.

[00:45:22] But so again, I think your question and our question to the DFL is, I'm sure if I was,

[00:45:28] if they, I would expect the response to be very similar.

[00:45:31] And what they would say is, well, if Democrats were in the situation in the Minnesota House

[00:45:36] and had the potential to take the speakership and do all the stuff that the Republicans are

[00:45:40] currently doing with their 67-66 majority, would we say that is fair?

[00:45:45] And so it's so hard to look at these situations because there's, it is, we're just in such

[00:45:51] a unique situation with the ties, with the close votes, with this coming down to us right

[00:45:56] now, sitting one vote away in the House and now tied in the Senate going into the start

[00:46:01] of the legislative session.

[00:46:02] And this should go down in history because it is just so incredibly wild how it played

[00:46:09] out and what's happened in the weeks since the election.

[00:46:12] I don't know that there's ever been so much excitement from Election Day to the start of

[00:46:16] session.

[00:46:17] Usually this is pretty dry, just procedural stuff that's going on, but it is.

[00:46:22] So my only ickiness of this seat is that it just is a 10 people filed.

[00:46:27] I'm grateful and I love that a lot of people threw the hat in the race doing that.

[00:46:32] It just, history shows that this timing and the expediency, even under Governor Walz, has

[00:46:40] not been the case, right?

[00:46:42] I wish I would have screenshotted the dates, but former Speaker Kurt Dowd, when he resigned,

[00:46:47] I believe there was almost, so he resigned during the legislative session.

[00:46:50] I believe that there was almost six weeks before his special election was called.

[00:46:54] He was a Republican member, a strong Republican leader.

[00:46:58] It didn't seem that they were very jumping or chomping at the bit to fill that Republican

[00:47:03] seat, which is a pretty safe Republican seat.

[00:47:06] Who are we to judge intent?

[00:47:07] And we just like to talk about it and speculate.

[00:47:10] That's right.

[00:47:10] This is, it reminds me very much, this situation.

[00:47:13] I think we both want to be credible, but this reminds me of the scene in Casablanca where

[00:47:17] Captain Renault walks, goes into Rex and she's shocked to see that there's gambling going

[00:47:28] complicated.

[00:47:29] And one of the advantages of Becky and I doing this podcast is we get to break it down.

[00:47:33] And I think we've given each topic in each section of this and explained it within the

[00:47:39] most, we've tried to simplify what may seem to be, we've tried to, I think in this particular

[00:47:44] situation, we try to simplify it.

[00:47:46] And in some ways may be complicated to some, what may seem a simple decision, but there's

[00:47:50] a lot of layers to this.

[00:47:51] And I think we did a good job of breaking it all down and explaining it, but it's going

[00:47:55] to be the next few weeks and I think you're going to be very interesting.

[00:47:58] And by the way, you're spot on.

[00:48:00] This is normally a quiet time, but this has been really spicy and it's been, it's been

[00:48:05] politically a very exciting time and it's going to be very interesting what happens in

[00:48:09] the next couple of weeks.

[00:48:10] I did want to, I was able to just pull up that, that tweet that had the dates from Kurt

[00:48:15] Dowd, just because I think it is interesting.

[00:48:17] Andrew, Senator Andrew Matthews had tweeted this, a representative of Kurt Dowd announced

[00:48:21] on January 10th that he would be leaving and in the vacancy would take effect

[00:48:25] on February 11th.

[00:48:27] Governor Walz issued the writ on February 13th.

[00:48:30] So not only after a full month after the announcement, so the immediate vacancy that

[00:48:35] they're saying from the announcement of Curtis Johnson, but after the actual vacancy here,

[00:48:40] the primary was held February 29th and the special election was held March 19th.

[00:48:46] So that was two months and almost six, two months after the announcement, by doubt, almost

[00:48:49] six weeks after the actual vacancy.

[00:48:51] Again, this is, it's just, it's not apples to apples, but it's closer than apples to oranges

[00:48:56] and it's just interesting.

[00:48:58] So we'll continue to break it down.

[00:49:00] We got some special elections coming up and who doesn't love something special?

[00:49:03] I love a good special election and good legislative nerd fest.

[00:49:06] This is going to be great.

[00:49:08] Testament usage, Robert's rules, traditions.

[00:49:12] This is our wheelhouse.

[00:49:13] So fun.

[00:49:14] Moving on, we want to hit briefly on the speaker election.

[00:49:16] What I thought was going to be a way bigger, fun conversation about the speaker election

[00:49:21] going on in Washington, D.C. has already been settled.

[00:49:24] Speaker Johnson, Mike Johnson was elected on the first ballot, but not after, not without

[00:49:29] a little maybe arm twisting.

[00:49:30] There were three members, Representative Massey, Norman and Self, who voted for others than

[00:49:36] Johnson.

[00:49:37] There was an extended delay after the vote.

[00:49:39] Norman and Self changed our vote to Johnson.

[00:49:41] Johnson was elected and is going to be the speaker going into the upcoming Congress.

[00:49:45] Congress here starting.

[00:49:49] This week, next week, I think some quotes from Representative Massey, who is, I would

[00:49:55] say, a perpetual thorn in the side of a Republican leadership in the House has been since even

[00:50:00] I was out there, a tweet and a comment that he shared that I thought were just a little

[00:50:05] interesting.

[00:50:05] So Massey tweeted this week for months.

[00:50:09] Democrats ignored the fact that Joe Biden was a potato.

[00:50:11] It convinced themselves that keeping him around was a pragmatic way to win the day.

[00:50:15] Too late did they admit that the emperor had no clothes.

[00:50:18] Republicans are doing the same thing by keeping Speaker Mike Johnson.

[00:50:21] Not one to mince words there.

[00:50:23] And then just the day before the speaker vote, he was on a newscast and said, you can pull

[00:50:29] all my fingernails out.

[00:50:30] You can shove bamboo up in them.

[00:50:33] You can start cutting off my fingers.

[00:50:34] I am not voting for Mike Johnson.

[00:50:37] So he's undecided.

[00:50:38] Yes, very able to be persuaded.

[00:50:42] It's always nice to talk to an undecided voter.

[00:50:44] Wow.

[00:50:44] Yes, that's pretty graphic and pretty significant.

[00:50:48] Yeah, this is what it's like.

[00:50:50] This is what it's like.

[00:50:51] I've said it before and I'll say it again, democracy simply doesn't work.

[00:50:54] And Republicans had, for a brief time once again, a bit of a speaker drama, which is unfortunate.

[00:51:01] It's unfortunate that this is what happens.

[00:51:03] And I think some of obviously outside of perspective, but this was really a test before the test of

[00:51:11] Trump and what the Republican trifecta can really get done in Washington.

[00:51:15] We left election night thinking Republicans had their bread and had it buttered too.

[00:51:20] And we're just going to go easy peasy into the night.

[00:51:22] It's obviously not going to be that easy peasy here going forward.

[00:51:26] President Trump or President-elect Trump, what do we call him?

[00:51:29] Former president and President-elect Trump was backing.

[00:51:33] Mike Johnson was vocal about that.

[00:51:35] However, a lot of this drama and controversy came from Elon Musk, who is a big part of the Trump

[00:51:43] consultants and leadership team cabinet.

[00:51:46] He led some Republicans to revolt over the end of the year spending package that Johnson had negotiated

[00:51:52] and nearly finalized.

[00:51:53] And there was all of that drama with the debt ceiling.

[00:51:55] And that's nothing new.

[00:51:57] That's something that happens time and time again, unfortunately, with how spending and

[00:52:02] everything goes financially and the lack of being able to get appropriations bills through and

[00:52:07] all of the chaos procedurally in Washington.

[00:52:09] But it is interesting, I think, that Musk, who is kind of Trump's right-hand man right now,

[00:52:16] was a part of this revolt that folks were saying it would not have impacted the actual vote

[00:52:25] to certify the election on January 6th.

[00:52:28] But certainly it would complicate it.

[00:52:31] Everything I've read says there's never been a time in history where there was not a speaker

[00:52:35] conducting that vote or participating in all of the procedure going on the House floor.

[00:52:40] And just starting off showing the breaks in this trifecta in Washington doesn't bode

[00:52:49] extremely well for Trump and the Republican trifecta.

[00:52:52] It doesn't.

[00:52:54] And one of the things I think the biggest problem, first of all, Democrats are great at being

[00:52:58] party bosses.

[00:52:59] They embrace it.

[00:53:01] They welcome it.

[00:53:02] They revere their party bosses.

[00:53:04] And you can say, based on the election results, that they've been penalized by the American

[00:53:09] people for it.

[00:53:10] In some ways, who knows?

[00:53:11] But right now, Republicans are showing this.

[00:53:14] And on the flip side, now, let's just remember that Republicans are going to start.

[00:53:20] There was some drama today.

[00:53:21] But Republicans are going to start come January 20th.

[00:53:25] There will be a Republican president, a Republican House, and a Republican Senate.

[00:53:29] And that is significant.

[00:53:31] It is not something that I think either of us were expecting to happen.

[00:53:36] And based on polling, it was not something that was, I think, was a surprise.

[00:53:44] I think that all three happened.

[00:53:46] I think that's the situation.

[00:53:48] I think that all three happened.

[00:53:49] And so I think the challenge for Republicans is that they have both arsonists and firefighters

[00:53:55] in their midst all the time.

[00:53:57] And that's the challenge.

[00:53:58] The Democrats find a way to better do that stuff.

[00:54:02] It happens here in Minnesota.

[00:54:03] I have to say to you that I was watching CNN as this was going on.

[00:54:07] And I stopped dead in my tracks because I saw one of the best political references,

[00:54:14] combination slash movie quote.

[00:54:15] And I want to just draw attention to it.

[00:54:17] Kristen Anderson was doing some analysis on CNN.

[00:54:20] And this is the quote.

[00:54:21] She was talking about the speaker election.

[00:54:23] And she goes, I just reminded, I was just remembering that I was, I think, October of 2023.

[00:54:29] And here I was at this desk, Jake, talking with Jake Tapper.

[00:54:32] And I said, to quote the great Hans Gruber, you asked for miracles, Democrats.

[00:54:37] I give you the GOP.

[00:54:39] That is an absolutely fantastic line from Die Hard, which is you asked for a miracle.

[00:54:43] I give you the FBI.

[00:54:45] That's true.

[00:54:46] The miracle that the Democrats asked for sometimes is the GOP.

[00:54:50] And there was a little bit of drama right now.

[00:54:52] And I will say to you that a problem that Republicans have, and we're going to talk about it a bit for a few minutes in our next section for a couple minutes, is complaining and then governing and leading are different.

[00:55:05] It's difficult to be both an arsonist who works alongside firefighters.

[00:55:10] It's difficult to be a firefighter when you're working alongside arsonists.

[00:55:14] You cannot be both.

[00:55:15] And the problem right now is that the Republican ranks are filled with both arsonist and firefighter.

[00:55:21] And both think that they're doing a good job.

[00:55:24] And it's a pretty difficult situation to at any point to label an arsonist as the one who's on the side that's doing the right thing.

[00:55:32] But in this particular situation, it was a little spill out today, a little bit of drama, not as much as that occurred in October of 23.

[00:55:41] But it lasted.

[00:55:42] It's over with.

[00:55:43] It produced an absolutely fantastic movie reference that I'm going to quote that I'm going to steal.

[00:55:47] So going forward, I'll try to give the right credit to Kristen Anderson, an analyst with CNN for the quote.

[00:55:54] But it'd be nice if Republicans would learn how to cut down on the drama.

[00:56:01] Yeah, I don't see that.

[00:56:02] I don't see that happening anytime soon, anywhere.

[00:56:05] Yes.

[00:56:06] And to kick the transfer to our next topic for our brief, for just a brief, we can touch on this first a little bit.

[00:56:11] Don't want to go too long today.

[00:56:13] That is the new year.

[00:56:14] And maybe I should filibuster a bit more on this next subject because it will limit our final topic, which is football.

[00:56:20] But no, there was a change in MNGOP leadership.

[00:56:23] Chairman David Hand was not reelected at State Central in December.

[00:56:27] And the new chairman, Alex Plekish, is there.

[00:56:30] And there has already been some drama, some unnecessary drama that has gone on.

[00:56:35] And I want to speak to this just a little bit and offer commentary, and then we can move on.

[00:56:39] Because this is a subject that I think we can go into depth more maybe next week when we do an episode.

[00:56:47] State Central was rocky.

[00:56:49] Action for Liberty played a very significant role and has taken credit for filling seats at State Central and being part of the voting body.

[00:56:58] Action for Liberty is a liberty right-wing organization who is interested, I believe, solely to create dysfunction fights amongst Republicans.

[00:57:08] They claim to be the liberty, conservative thought leaders in this state.

[00:57:13] Farthest thing from the truth, in my opinion.

[00:57:15] And they're nothing but, I think, absolutely political arsonist.

[00:57:19] I think that they are not good at playing in the sandbox with other people.

[00:57:25] And they have targeted and trashed every conceivable Republican legislative and congressional leader in this state with consistent and hyperbolic and just trashy rhetoric.

[00:57:39] Becky, you and I have had disagreements with Republicans, but we always want to keep things.

[00:57:43] And we offer commentary and analysis, but we always approach it, I think, from the standpoint of wanting to see Republicans, to the degree which we can succeed, and provide a path for there to be success.

[00:57:52] The challenge right now, what's going on in M&GOP leadership is that the incoming administration, Plekish and the people around him, have openly welcomed Action for Liberty and their henchmen into the operations of the M&GOP.

[00:58:10] That is a very dangerous dynamic.

[00:58:13] You cannot have the arsonists, the people that are constantly starting fires, working alongside the firefighters and those who are trying to build stability.

[00:58:21] I spoke to a couple sources yesterday and learned that members of Action for Liberty were on the M&GOP's VIP list for the upcoming Trump inauguration.

[00:58:32] I, of course, am not on the VIP list, as I was a Republican for Harris.

[00:58:35] And so I'm not, I am not pouting or am critical or complaining that there is a VIP list and those who were supportive to Trump's effort in Minnesota and those who are advocates of his candidacy should absolutely be invited and participate in that ceremony.

[00:58:54] I'll be watching it.

[00:58:55] And as I've consistently done, I want the presidents to succeed independent of my political disagreements with them.

[00:59:04] Because when presidents succeed, our country succeeds.

[00:59:07] But there will be a campaign and there'll be an opportunity time for disagreement.

[00:59:10] The challenge here is bringing Action for Liberty along for the ride.

[00:59:14] They have engaged in some really rough rhetoric, very rough rhetoric.

[00:59:18] And there, Eric Mortensen, a one-term member of the legislature, is their president.

[00:59:24] And that organization has taken just a very rough approach.

[00:59:27] They have their whole mission.

[00:59:30] Republican, the incoming House Speaker, Leader Damath, is coming in and they have sent out emails disparaging her in a variety of what I would consider to be very inappropriate ways.

[00:59:45] And so I think there's going to be a challenge for the MNGOP administration when you invite people, when you invite the arsonists and the people that start fires on other people into the sandbox and into the operations and think that's going to grow and build a party.

[01:00:05] If the last few days are any indication, the MNGOP is going to be taking some steps back.

[01:00:10] And that is really tragic because I have consistently said that I want there to be a vibrant two-party system in this state.

[01:00:18] And what I've seen over the last two days in an indication, it's not going to happen anytime soon.

[01:00:23] Yeah, it's really disappointing to see this chaos be so close within the party.

[01:00:31] It's the Action for Liberty or different kind of faction groups are not new.

[01:00:37] They've been around for a while.

[01:00:39] It's something that even at my time at the party, you had to work our ways through.

[01:00:43] And listen, I understand wanting to hold our legislators' feet to the fire and have some principled stances.

[01:00:50] I also think that in my time working in the legislature and in Congress, it is clear very quickly that concessions are just part of the game, right?

[01:01:01] You have to have negotiations.

[01:01:02] You have to get people on your side.

[01:01:04] You can't get all you want all the time and throw a fit if you don't and you take your ball and go home.

[01:01:09] And that's something that I think this group really struggles with.

[01:01:13] And from my experience, a lot of their MO is if you're not with them 100%, you're against them.

[01:01:20] And they would rather a Democrat win than a Republican that fights for the same things they fight for 75% of the time or 90% of the time.

[01:01:28] And it's really to the detriment.

[01:01:30] We've seen this with endorsement battles.

[01:01:31] We've seen this with lost seats.

[01:01:33] We've seen it really impact Republicans being elected at a variety of levels and single-handedly letting Democrats have the trifecta and the chaos that comes from all of that.

[01:01:45] And so it's tough that it occurs in the first place.

[01:01:48] It's really tough that there's some legitimacy potentially put behind it with their involvement or maybe backing from some folks with this new M&GOP leadership team.

[01:02:00] I'm hopeful that maybe it's a fluke, it's a blip on the radar, and things will flip around and the party leadership will get their heads on straight and realize that this is not the way to move forward.

[01:02:12] That they're going to see some of the actions that could come from being connected to a group like that.

[01:02:19] And this is something we've seen the ebbs and flows of the party and the connection with the different legislative parties and the BPOUs across the state.

[01:02:27] And I think there had been strides made.

[01:02:29] There had been steps taken to become more cohesive, to get everybody on the same data set, to work together, to have a cohesive infrastructure, regardless of how small or large that may have been over the years.

[01:02:41] And to see potentially the party now not being in lockstep with our legislative caucuses and parties and what their goals and efforts are, especially when we have some of these opportunities at the legislature this year.

[01:02:57] It's just really frustrating and tough to see and disappointing.

[01:03:01] And again, I hope it's a fluke.

[01:03:03] I hope things right size.

[01:03:05] I hope that we can figure out a way through.

[01:03:08] And this is not going to be an ongoing, regular thing.

[01:03:12] I like to try to be cautiously optimistic.

[01:03:15] But it's a tough spot to be in right now to see from afar.

[01:03:19] And man, it'll be interesting to watch it hide out here.

[01:03:23] I was surprised because I was expecting there to be more of a honeymoon period.

[01:03:28] And it just, it started back up.

[01:03:30] We had Chairman Han on the podcast.

[01:03:33] We had a debate with him and Ken Martin.

[01:03:35] We had the former executive director, Anna Matthews, on.

[01:03:39] But we also have offered criticism.

[01:03:41] And we've, but we've tried to be thoughtful critics and provide opportunities to push back.

[01:03:45] Offered some analysis in the week and a couple of days before the leadership election.

[01:03:49] And the vitriol and response was pretty rough.

[01:03:52] And I'll just say to you, I've had a number of discussions since the leadership elections

[01:03:56] about the need for the coalition that it needs to exist in order to exist for Republicans to win statewide.

[01:04:04] If you look at the election results, where we're at right now, Becky, we have right now,

[01:04:09] it's a 33-33 tie in the Senate.

[01:04:12] We have Republicans have a majority in the Minnesota House.

[01:04:17] But what's missing from that ticket, what's missing is an acknowledgement that the statewide races continue still to not be close.

[01:04:24] I think that has a large part to do to the endorsement process,

[01:04:27] who the Republican candidates that are being endorsed and going through the process.

[01:04:30] I also think it has a lot to do with the fact that I think that Republicans are not good at being team players.

[01:04:36] I don't think they're good at working in the sandbox together.

[01:04:38] And when you bring, when you elevate action for liberty, when you bring in someone who sent out a, posted an article recently that they called leader Dameth,

[01:04:49] Lisa Kamala Dameth.

[01:04:51] And they said that she was an empty suit front woman and that she was a chosen puppet to replace Ryan O'Kirk Dowd.

[01:04:58] And they called her an incompetent strategist.

[01:05:02] The speaker, incoming representative Dameth, leader Dameth will soon be the speaker of the House.

[01:05:07] And using that type of, I think, sexist, racist, misogynistic language to refer to her and then to see the party leadership

[01:05:21] give people who should be relegated to the kiddie table a seat at the front and elevated and rewarded for that type of rhetoric is not a way.

[01:05:29] I've had a number of people before this speaker debate that started today, I had a number of people when they shared this with me were saying

[01:05:36] the current M and GOP leadership is really negotiating with terrorists.

[01:05:40] And that's a rhetorical point, but you can't expect that's just, I think the issue that I would say is this,

[01:05:47] is that is I certainly understand that my view of what a Republican is does not agree is part of the puzzle,

[01:05:56] but it's not the complete puzzle.

[01:05:58] A Republican like me won't succeed maybe in Wright County or in Rozo or another part of the state,

[01:06:04] but it's part of the coalition that's needed.

[01:06:08] The problem that I see with Action for Liberty is it's their way or the highway.

[01:06:12] They act, they use really rough tactics and they bully and intimidate and they attempt to speak to people in ways

[01:06:20] in which I think this is more of this acquiescent, the bringing them in,

[01:06:25] it seems to be more of a play of trying to win over and literally negotiate with a terrorist rather than just trying to take the stand and say,

[01:06:34] this is not the type of rhetoric and leadership that is going to build the necessary coalition that Republicans need to win statewide.

[01:06:41] And it's a disappointing start.

[01:06:44] I was not expecting to talk about it this soon and I have a feeling we'll be talking about it more in future episodes,

[01:06:50] but my message to the MNGOP is do better and try to build coalitions in a way that maximizes the opportunity to win

[01:06:59] and not just bring in the loudest voices and the voices that just want to insult other people.

[01:07:06] Agreed.

[01:07:06] I think that we'll continue to chat about it and hope good things for our party as a whole in the state, in the country.

[01:07:14] And it's just, I just laugh because there's just so much chaos, so much division, so much unknown, so much surprise,

[01:07:24] so many surprises that it's so hard to even project or predict what the next week, two weeks is going to bring.

[01:07:32] I'm surprised.

[01:07:34] I've never seen anything like that.

[01:07:35] I was very surprised.

[01:07:36] And I, and again, I was legitimately surprised.

[01:07:40] And I got to tell you, the consistency of it, just the volume of the frustration is just really surprising.

[01:07:45] And it's disappointing.

[01:07:46] It's really disappointing.

[01:07:49] So we'll continue.

[01:07:50] Speaking of disappointing.

[01:07:52] Ooh, yes.

[01:07:53] Ending out the show.

[01:07:54] It is the final week of the regular season.

[01:07:58] First, before we even get to our pick-ems, big week for Vikings.

[01:08:03] Breakdown.

[01:08:03] For my Vikings.

[01:08:05] Tell us why.

[01:08:06] The Vikings play.

[01:08:07] First of all, I want to acknowledge that I was at the Vikings-Packers game.

[01:08:10] Yeah.

[01:08:11] And your Packers did not succeed.

[01:08:13] Come on.

[01:08:14] You're a Packer apologist.

[01:08:16] I take a firm stance against the Packers.

[01:08:19] No, I went to the Packer-Vikings game with my wife.

[01:08:21] She is a diehard Packer fan.

[01:08:23] It was a great game.

[01:08:25] Vikings won.

[01:08:26] It got close at the end.

[01:08:27] I shared a message with you during the game because it got closer near the end.

[01:08:31] Vikings had it pretty consistently, but they did get the W.

[01:08:33] And the W is all that matters.

[01:08:35] But now we're coming into this.

[01:08:38] With that win, the Vikings have won nine games in a row.

[01:08:41] And on Sunday night, 7.20 p.m., they face off against the Lions of Detroit at Ford Field for the possibility of they're playing for the number one seed in the NFC home field advantage during the playoffs.

[01:08:56] And winning the NFC North.

[01:09:00] If they lose, they will be a number five seed on the road, likely going to probably Tampa Bay or Atlanta, depending on how that matches up.

[01:09:10] But it's for all the marbles on Sunday.

[01:09:13] It's also all the marbles for us.

[01:09:15] Why is that, Becky?

[01:09:16] Because it is the final week.

[01:09:20] Last week, we tied.

[01:09:22] Again, all thanks to Michael reminding me of my Christmas picks.

[01:09:29] But as we head into the week 18, I am up by one point.

[01:09:34] It is.

[01:09:35] Woo!

[01:09:36] And here's the concern.

[01:09:38] What was...

[01:09:39] So again, my approach to this season was...

[01:09:42] Just to beat me.

[01:09:42] Just to beat you.

[01:09:43] And if I can't beat you, then someone else would.

[01:09:46] But what's the problem with that?

[01:09:48] I'm the closest one.

[01:09:50] Yeah.

[01:09:51] And it's really coming down to it.

[01:09:53] So it's going to be a battle for first.

[01:09:55] And my picks are in.

[01:09:57] I am ready, locked, and loaded.

[01:09:59] I'm a little nervous.

[01:10:01] I'm not a tinkerer.

[01:10:02] I like to set it and forget it.

[01:10:05] I was...

[01:10:06] I will say...

[01:10:07] It's a copyright phrase.

[01:10:07] I was a little tempted to ask my husband for his advice.

[01:10:10] But I've gone the entire season by making all of my picks by myself without any advice.

[01:10:15] Please.

[01:10:15] And so I didn't want to start now.

[01:10:17] So I'm keeping my thoughts.

[01:10:18] I mean, it's the most complimentary way.

[01:10:19] This is the most...

[01:10:20] I really want you to succeed.

[01:10:21] You should ask your husband how to pick the games for this week.

[01:10:24] Because look at where your husband is in the stadiums.

[01:10:26] I know.

[01:10:26] I shouldn't pull that up.

[01:10:26] Where is he on the list in early?

[01:10:28] Who is number three?

[01:10:31] Oh, now you caught me off guard.

[01:10:32] Give me a second.

[01:10:33] Mike Zipko.

[01:10:34] So Mike Zipko, my colleague, is four points behind you, five points behind me.

[01:10:38] He is sitting solo in third.

[01:10:40] My husband is sitting tied for sixth.

[01:10:44] He has eight points behind you, nine points behind me.

[01:10:46] So you're right.

[01:10:47] I shouldn't take his advice.

[01:10:48] You should take his advice.

[01:10:49] I think that would really...

[01:10:50] I'm excited to rub this in.

[01:10:51] I haven't been looking at that.

[01:10:53] I've been so set on beating you.

[01:10:55] I haven't even...

[01:10:56] I gotta tell you something.

[01:10:56] I'm going to have some family over at the house on Sunday night.

[01:11:00] And so I don't know.

[01:11:03] I'm going to be paying...

[01:11:04] Boy, I'm...

[01:11:05] And so there is no Monday night.

[01:11:06] Okay, so this is...

[01:11:07] That's the final...

[01:11:09] Yeah.

[01:11:09] I could be...

[01:11:11] And here's the thing.

[01:11:12] I know...

[01:11:14] I have a feeling what you're doing in the Vikings game.

[01:11:17] And it just makes me angry.

[01:11:18] I'm going to say that.

[01:11:19] I'm going to be...

[01:11:20] I'm just going to tell you.

[01:11:21] I'm not making any judgments.

[01:11:23] But I have a feeling what you've done in the Vikings game.

[01:11:27] Because one of the challenges that I have in this league is what?

[01:11:31] I always pick the Vikings to win.

[01:11:33] And so that's a...

[01:11:34] So 14 times I was right.

[01:11:37] Yeah.

[01:11:37] And I bet you we go back and look at your picks.

[01:11:40] I bet you the two...

[01:11:41] I bet you...

[01:11:42] Well, I'm actually going to do that.

[01:11:44] I'm going to see where you were on some of those games.

[01:11:46] But I'm always going for the Vikings.

[01:11:47] I know I was wrong in at least one that they won that I thought they were going to lose.

[01:11:51] Oh.

[01:11:52] You deserve that.

[01:11:53] And so we'll know on Sunday night.

[01:11:55] We're going to know.

[01:11:56] Here's what we'll know on Sunday night.

[01:11:57] Who will win?

[01:11:59] Who will be victorious in our league?

[01:12:02] And if the Vikings will be in a...

[01:12:04] We'll have a first round bye.

[01:12:06] They'll be the number one seed in the NFC and win in the NFC North.

[01:12:10] And be home during the entire playoffs.

[01:12:12] More opportunities for me to go to a home game.

[01:12:14] Or will I not reclaim the victor's stance again and be the victor in our league?

[01:12:24] And will the Vikings be fifth place?

[01:12:26] I still think the Vikings are going to...

[01:12:27] Whether they're first in the division or whether they're fifth, I think this team is going places.

[01:12:31] I have a lot of hope for them.

[01:12:33] I'm going to be...

[01:12:34] I'm really...

[01:12:35] I'm going to tell you something.

[01:12:37] I'm more agitated about what could happen in this league on Sunday.

[01:12:41] So I really hope you blow it.

[01:12:43] But that's why I'm hoping you take advice from as many people as possible.

[01:12:47] I think you should not follow what got you to this point.

[01:12:50] And you should now complicate the process and invite as many people into the decision tree, okay?

[01:12:55] Well, I...

[01:12:56] Like I said, I don't like to tinker.

[01:12:58] So I'm probably pretty well set for now.

[01:13:01] But who knows?

[01:13:02] You don't have a home phone, do you?

[01:13:04] No.

[01:13:04] Okay.

[01:13:05] I was just looking at how I was going to make contact.

[01:13:08] Because that happened later in the night.

[01:13:09] I can't do a drive-by.

[01:13:10] No.

[01:13:11] I can't show up.

[01:13:12] And you have...

[01:13:13] You've got a baby coming.

[01:13:15] You've got a young kid there.

[01:13:16] I can't just show up at the house late just with a marching band.

[01:13:20] No.

[01:13:21] If you're excited, you're probably going to be asleep.

[01:13:23] I probably...

[01:13:24] If I make it through the end of that game, it will be a true thing to celebrate.

[01:13:27] So I'll keep you posted on my bedtime.

[01:13:29] Because when I was leaving the Vikings game, it's something that I've said consistently.

[01:13:34] I'm a very good loser.

[01:13:36] I'm a horrible winner.

[01:13:38] And I really like to rub it in.

[01:13:39] And prior to this, I had a bunch of things planned out.

[01:13:42] If I won, marching band, trumpet in the front yard, just really going into it, no matter what time of the day it was.

[01:13:48] Now I can't do that stuff.

[01:13:50] So I have to figure out something else.

[01:13:51] Yes.

[01:13:52] We'll find out.

[01:13:53] It's been great chatting with you today.

[01:13:55] And I cannot wait to hopefully celebrate in your face next week.

[01:14:00] Yes.

[01:14:00] Yes.

[01:14:01] We'll decide how we plan that next episode.

[01:14:03] But we will be.

[01:14:04] I will know either the victory of...

[01:14:06] I will know the feeling of defeat or the agony...

[01:14:09] Whatever that phrase is.

[01:14:10] Agony of defeat or the feeling of victory or agony defeat.

[01:14:13] Whatever it is.

[01:14:13] I'm going to be looking forward to that.

[01:14:14] Becky, thank you for doing this.

[01:14:15] Okay?

[01:14:16] You bet.

[01:14:16] We want to thank all of our listeners for joining for this first episode of 2025 of The Breakdown with Brocko and Becky.

[01:14:23] Before you go, show us some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on the platform where you listen.

[01:14:29] You can also follow us across all social media platforms and at our website at BBBreakdown.

[01:14:36] The Breakdown with Brocko and Becky will return next week.

[01:14:39] Thank you for being here today.

[01:14:40] Bye.