A break down about the Democratic National Convention and the state of the race for president

[00:00:12] Welcome to the Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics,

[00:00:16] policy and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr and I'm Michael Brodkorb.

[00:00:20] Thank you for joining us live today or listening after the fact. We are joined today by two

[00:00:25] of our favorites, Will Davis and Preah Samsadar. As a reminder, Will is a political consultant

[00:00:30] with ARC initiatives and previously served as research director for the Minnesota DFL.

[00:00:35] Preah is back again as well. She has worked for the M&GOP, RNC and various campaigns of all levels.

[00:00:42] Today we are going to break down last week's DNC convention. We will get into Minnesota's own

[00:00:46] Governor Tim Walz's speech on the big stage and the reception he received. We will discuss

[00:00:51] Vice President Kamala Harris' remarks and how her quote unquote moderate tone has played.

[00:00:56] And we will even touch on the Michael of it all which includes him infiltrating a

[00:01:00] DFL event down in Mankato to show his support for Walz. We will break down what polling looks

[00:01:05] like and whether Harris and Walz can continue their momentum post convention.

[00:01:10] Then we will briefly hit on the recent dustup surrounding the upcoming presidential debate

[00:01:14] currently scheduled for September 10th. We of course have to break down some of the

[00:01:18] recent quote unquote scandals surrounding Governor Walz and his rise to fame.

[00:01:23] Lastly, we will discuss Speaker of the House Mike Johnson's recent visit to Minnesota.

[00:01:28] But before we get into it, I want to once again invite you all to join the breakdown with

[00:01:32] Broadcorp and Becky at the 2024 MinPost Festival on September 28th. It's an exciting full day

[00:01:38] event with speakers from Minnesota as well as some of national voices. The breakdown will

[00:01:42] be hosting a live podcast in person at the event and we'd like to invite you to join us.

[00:01:47] We will put the link in the show notes as well as on our social channels

[00:01:50] and you can take advantage of a 30% discount by purchasing before September 3rd.

[00:01:54] Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show. I am going to start things by throwing it over to our

[00:02:01] Walz fan club co-chairs here. Governor Walz had his big speech last week. Will, what did you think?

[00:02:08] Were you proud of your guy? First of all, we forgot to mention I'm a columnist at

[00:02:12] townhall.com. That's right. Yes. And you were there, right? You were in Chicago.

[00:02:18] Yeah, I was in Chicago. I was in the United Center for all the speeches and specifically,

[00:02:24] I made sure to be there for Walz's speech. And yeah, I thought he was awesome. I thought

[00:02:30] he spoke like we expected him to. He's very straightforward. He's very charming. He has

[00:02:37] Midwestern dad vibes. Everything everyone else, everyone has said. I thought it was really

[00:02:41] cool. He flew in a lot of his former campaign staff, pretty much everybody. It was like a big

[00:02:46] and I thought he was electric and people loved him in Chicago. Every single state was

[00:02:53] like, we were celebrities there being Minnesota. Everyone was coming to us telling us how much

[00:02:57] they love them and how could they have never heard of them before? And so yeah, it was a good time.

[00:03:02] And I thought the governor gave a great speech. Now, Michael, there was some skepticism around

[00:03:08] Governor Walz within the Democrats, maybe just some people not knowing who he was or how he

[00:03:12] would play on a national scale. That seemed to have gone away after his speech, but you were down

[00:03:17] in Mankato. First of all, did people look at you like you had a scarlet A on your chest? What was

[00:03:23] your reception in the room and also just what was the vibe and the energy like?

[00:03:29] It was actually a wonderful, it's the first time in I've ever gone to a DFL event as a

[00:03:34] supporter. I've been to a number of DFL events before. I had an absolutely fantastic

[00:03:38] time. It was a great time down there, great to see the speeches. A little interesting side note,

[00:03:43] I went with my son. He decided to come down and not try to indoctrinate him, but we had

[00:03:47] just a fantastic time, just a political discussion going down talking about the issues.

[00:03:53] And it was a really fun, just really fun experience. It was also great to be at the

[00:03:58] high school where Walz had taught the crowd was just incredibly enthusiastic. I was in the

[00:04:04] back and just watched the event. In retrospect, I should have got a seat up front because people

[00:04:09] were standing and cheering during most of the speech, blocking my view, but it was just really

[00:04:14] a very enthusiastic crowd. Speech was incredibly well received. It was nice to see

[00:04:21] and connect with some people who had known the governor for so long, had him as a teacher,

[00:04:26] and they were just so overwhelmed by his speech and seeing him on the national stage.

[00:04:30] It was a great night. It was a great place to watch the speech.

[00:04:34] Preya, you and I, first of all, they certainly tried to portray or effectively did portray

[00:04:40] Walz as they leaned into the bio of it all, right? The teacher, the coach, Midwesterny,

[00:04:45] rural veteran, which if I was on the campaign, I certainly would too. We certainly know some

[00:04:51] different, maybe have some different views about Governor Walz than our two counterparts here

[00:04:55] today. What was your take on Walz during the speech and the energy and the content that he shared?

[00:05:02] It was very reminiscent of the 2018 governor's race, just nationalized. I don't know if many folks

[00:05:10] here watched followed that race closely. I was working for the RNC at the time,

[00:05:14] working to support Jeff Johnson, trying to get him across that finish line,

[00:05:18] but it was that last ad that they put out. It was a digital ad they put out on Facebook.

[00:05:23] It was two minutes long. It was that kind of vibe that they were really good at portraying.

[00:05:29] That's what Walz has always been very good at. It's something that in some respects,

[00:05:33] Minnesota Democrats have perfected. They don't talk a lot about issues or have a lot of substantive

[00:05:40] discussions when it comes to deep issues. They keep it very 30,000 foot overview and

[00:05:47] they focus more on the bio and the Midwest niceties of it all. I'm of a firm opinion that

[00:05:54] Walz is the embodiment of Minnesota passive aggressive. He'll be nice and kind and friendly to

[00:05:59] you right up into your face, but the moment he gets into office, he's going to stab that knife

[00:06:03] right in your back and drag it down. He's going to gut you like a fish. That's what he did

[00:06:08] during his first six years as governor. We've seen the impact of his policies,

[00:06:14] but we didn't hear any of that. We haven't heard any of that in the run up to this.

[00:06:20] Becky's point, right? We talked about a lot of people didn't know who Tim Walz was before

[00:06:28] he even got mentioned as a shortlist candidate for the VP nomination. Right now, people are in

[00:06:35] that honeymoon phase with the whole Walz Harris ticket. It's about falling in love with this

[00:06:42] candidate and trying to ensure that Democrats are falling in love with this candidate. Very shortly

[00:06:47] soon, I hope that honeymoon phase is going to end and we're going to start talking about substance.

[00:06:52] We're going to start talking about policy and we're going to start getting into the nitty-gritty

[00:06:56] of who Tim Walz is and what he's done to our state and how that's going to translate on

[00:07:01] national level. That's when the real game begins. Michael. Becky, I want to get your take first.

[00:07:08] Like I said, I agree largely with Prey. This was something that they took the opportunity

[00:07:12] for and we'll get into it a little bit more with Harris, but to really try to

[00:07:17] portray these two individuals as relatable, as likable, as confident and stable. I think

[00:07:25] they did that job, but I tend to agree that once we get down to the policies of it, I do

[00:07:31] think that there is more to Governor Walz than just being a really likable coach. I will say

[00:07:38] he knocked it out of the park with the ending. He said, I haven't given a lot of big speeches like

[00:07:42] this one in my life, but I've had given a lot of pep docs. So let me finish with this team. It's

[00:07:47] the fourth quarter. We're down a field goal, but we're on offense. We're driving down the

[00:07:51] field and boy, do we have the right team to win. Kamala Harris is tough. She's experienced

[00:07:55] and she is ready. And it is just apple pie right there, right? Who doesn't hear that and think of

[00:08:02] sitting at their high school football game, whether a parent or a teacher or a student,

[00:08:07] who doesn't get the warm infestation from that? And I think that is what Governor Walz really

[00:08:10] brings to this ticket is he brings, he's the midwestern dad, right? He is that guy that

[00:08:16] you want to give a hug or you want to give you a hug because you're really frustrated with

[00:08:21] how things are going. So I think they, while I don't necessarily agree with a lot of Governor

[00:08:26] Walz, I do think they executed it very well for introducing him on the national scale,

[00:08:32] national stage in this way. I will just say one thing. I was not surprised as we've discussed

[00:08:38] before. I was not surprised that Walz was picked because of his electoral success,

[00:08:42] because of his ability to connect. But when I went to the event at the high school,

[00:08:47] there were people that had walls years and years ago that still felt the connection that hadn't

[00:08:53] seen many years. This wasn't, and so to me, seeing going to that high school and seeing

[00:08:59] that event and seeing the number of people and the number of students that showed up

[00:09:04] that still had a connection to him, even though they hadn't spoken to him in a long time.

[00:09:08] Governor Walz is the type of person who I think is legitimately nice. And I think he comes

[00:09:16] in his heart authentically who he is. I think is being shown on the national stage. And that's

[00:09:22] part of the reason why I think he's been so successful electorally, because I think he

[00:09:27] is authentically who he is. We can disagree about policy, but he is the type of person

[00:09:33] who can connect with people and a number of levels. And having attended that event and saw

[00:09:38] the auditorium filled and having spoken with some people just to get a sense as to

[00:09:43] what their connection was, I was really impressed. I'll say this. I was at his gubernatorial launch

[00:09:49] when he first announced and he really has not changed a whole lot between then and now.

[00:09:54] Obviously, he's got a lot more experience, a lot more knowledge of, say, how St. Paul works

[00:09:58] at the Capitol, but he's pretty much the exact same person he was back in whatever it was,

[00:10:05] late 17 or early 18 when he announced his run for governor. So I'll just jump in here for

[00:10:09] a quick second and say, when you look at Tim Wolds holistically as a politician, as a candidate,

[00:10:17] he has changed. But the reality is, I like to call him a chameleon in a sense that he's learned to

[00:10:24] adapt to his environment. So when he was a congressman for the first congressional district,

[00:10:29] he had no problem touting the fact that he was NRA endorsed, that he was a gun-toting

[00:10:35] proud Second Amendment supporter who was pro-life, right? But the moment that he needed to win statewide

[00:10:42] in Minnesota where he knew that he needed to be able to pull in voters in Minneapolis and St. Paul

[00:10:49] and compete with folks who were further to the left than him, his policies changed. We saw Amy have

[00:10:56] to compete with that on a national level when she ran for president in 2020 as well,

[00:11:00] is that they've done such a good job of maintaining the image that they need to portray in order to

[00:11:08] get the seats that they're looking, they're looking to fill, that they are good at portraying what they

[00:11:14] need to do in order to get the voters that they need to do, which is why especially in a state

[00:11:19] like Minnesota where there is a lot of cross voting between Republicans and Democrats and vice

[00:11:24] versa, they are able to pull in Republicans that they are able to grab folks in because

[00:11:29] they are able to portray to Michael's point a very nice positive happy-go-lucky posture. And when they

[00:11:37] are placed on a national stage, when they are forced to compete at a federal level, that's when

[00:11:43] changes are start or you start to see those changes, right? We saw it with Amy having to go

[00:11:49] further to the left on issues that frankly we never heard her talk about in the years that she

[00:11:55] had been a United States Senator, things she would never talk about when she's running on

[00:11:59] the campaign trail here in the Senate. We saw the same thing with Walt, issues that he would never

[00:12:03] would have discussed, topics that he probably would have been further to the right, a little bit

[00:12:08] more moderate and finding consensus on. He was now moving further to the left. Why? Because the

[00:12:13] DFO endorsed Erin Murphy to be their candidate because she was far left enough. And now we're

[00:12:18] seeing it again. Walt had to do whatever he needed to do to make himself appear more available,

[00:12:24] more likeable to help provide a softer contrast to the harsh realities of what Kamala Harris is.

[00:12:30] And so I think coupled that with the fact that Josh Shapiro wasn't the right kind of Democrat at

[00:12:35] the right time for the Democrat Party on a national level, Walt was the candidate that they

[00:12:40] have that we have that they have to accept. There really isn't a lot of other candidates

[00:12:46] that are going to fit the mold that is going to provide the level of balance that they

[00:12:50] the Democrats need on a national level to compete with the Trump J.D. Vance ticket.

[00:12:55] But more importantly, that is going to still stay in line with the policies that Kamala Harris

[00:13:01] is going to need to portray to keep the folks on the Democrat side very happy.

[00:13:08] I would just say, Priya, surely your beliefs have changed and political stances on certain

[00:13:13] things have changed since 2018. As you meet more people and you hear more voices and you

[00:13:19] collect more information and you hear that maybe as a congressman in CD1, 90% of the people down

[00:13:27] there are pro-gun whatever it may be. You come to the St. Paul Capitol and you're surrounded by

[00:13:31] folks in the cities and progressives and people in the suburbs. And there's a lot more concern

[00:13:37] maybe something you haven't heard. I'm glad that politicians changed their mind on things

[00:13:42] and get better and improve themselves. Obviously sometimes it's very cynical,

[00:13:45] but I think in the case of Tim Walz, I think he came to St. Paul and heard a lot more different

[00:13:52] voices than he'd ever heard. It's why conservatives don't like sending their kids to college. You

[00:13:56] know what I mean? They don't like going to the U of M because they won't be conservative kids

[00:13:59] anymore. They're going to be except for Priya, but a lot of times kids go there and they become

[00:14:03] progressive liberal and that's a thing that's a concern. That's another argument we can have

[00:14:09] on the other day. Thank you. But to Priya's point, this is one that I have that I think I even used

[00:14:16] the same phrase that I think that he is a chameleon and we'll chat about Harris again here in a second,

[00:14:21] but one thing that Senator Cotton said over the weekend and actually him and Bernie Sanders agreed

[00:14:25] is that it's not that they're changing their positions, it's that they're hiding their

[00:14:29] positions. And that's where Governor Walz, what the issues that I have with him.

[00:14:33] Because I agree. I think there are things especially with some of the cultural,

[00:14:37] issues of abortion and gun control and different things. I do believe there's an evolution of

[00:14:42] politicians and I do tend to agree that there are certain times you talk about things in that.

[00:14:47] It's where it's the things that were enacted into law. If he would have said on the campaign

[00:14:53] trail, I'm going to go and piss away an $18 billion surplus and raise your taxes. If he

[00:14:59] were to say on the campaign trail, I'm going to give health care and driver's license to

[00:15:04] illegal immigrants. If these are things that were not necessarily a change, but things that he just

[00:15:09] didn't talk about or hid or pivoted or spun and that's something where I do applaud them because

[00:15:16] I think they were really successful. I think that at some point there is potential in the next

[00:15:21] 70 some days that it is going to wear away a little bit that the warm and fuzzies are not

[00:15:27] going to be enough and they're going to have to talk about the policies and that is a part

[00:15:31] where time will only tell if that changes the minds. Michael, I don't doubt for a second that a lot of

[00:15:38] his students and former teammates were there, but if you asked him about the policies that he's

[00:15:43] enacted as governor, I don't necessarily know that those are things that they know about

[00:15:47] or would agree or 100% support. That's something I think they knocked it out of the park both

[00:15:53] with Walls and Harris at this convention, keeping them to be relatable and confident

[00:15:59] and that steady hand and really contrasting that with what we're getting from the Trump

[00:16:03] Vance ticket. But I tend to agree on the policy stance that I do think Walls has changed and I

[00:16:08] think if we see more from them in interviews and press conferences, we might hear a little bit

[00:16:14] more. I've read a piece today that there's some folks saying that Walls might not be doing too

[00:16:21] many interviews right now because they don't know that he'll necessarily back the same policies

[00:16:24] that Harris does. This is a really tight schedule, right? He's got to study up and get

[00:16:30] backed of what Harris stands behind and what they're going to stand behind and move forward on

[00:16:36] as a ticket. But when we're looking at the convention, I do think it was overall successful.

[00:16:42] Yes, no question about it. And then I was someone who had said that after the Republican

[00:16:47] convention that the Republicans, that I thought that the Democrats were in chaos and

[00:16:51] I liked, I thought Trump should have ended his speech around 30 minutes in.

[00:16:56] They were leaving unified and the Democrats were in chaos. That's not the case anymore.

[00:17:01] And so I think it's an entirely different foot race.

[00:17:04] I will add this and I don't mean to dwell on this too long, but I know we got a lot of

[00:17:07] stuff to get to. When Walls is on the campaign trail and Democrats are on the campaign trail,

[00:17:12] they say we want paid family leave. We're going to bring you paid family leave.

[00:17:16] They say we want to have more funding in our schools. They say free school lunches, those

[00:17:22] kind of things. Those policy things, it's those are what people want. People elected them knowing

[00:17:27] that was happening. Mark Dayton got elected at one time talking about raising taxes on the rich.

[00:17:33] I think people are okay spending money and doing those things if it makes their lives better.

[00:17:39] Here's like the thing is like we can talk about paid family leave here for a second. And

[00:17:43] to a certain extent it was fine until there was the slide of hand that we see with

[00:17:46] a lot of Democrat policies, right? The second shoe always dropped. We're having deed having,

[00:17:52] I think it's deed, having to increase the payroll tax that was initially set by the

[00:17:58] legislature for paid family leave because guess what? It wasn't enough. What do you expect

[00:18:03] when they have to create a whole new department with 400 people? That's not necessary for

[00:18:07] paid family leave. There were a million other options they could have gotten

[00:18:10] that were more cost effective and beneficial to Minnesotans and they didn't go that route.

[00:18:15] We can talk about that for a second, but we can also talk about the fact that Tim Walls in 2022

[00:18:20] said, hey, we have a $19 billion surplus. He got up on his as member of B show on Sunday morning

[00:18:25] and said, hey, I'm going to give every single family $2,000. It doesn't matter what your

[00:18:29] income is because this is your money and we're going to give it back. And what happened?

[00:18:33] Families who make less than $75,000 got $500. That's the kind of slide of hand that

[00:18:39] we are constantly dealing with a Tim Walls led Democrat party here in the state of Minnesota.

[00:18:46] How can Minnesotans trust and how can a nation trust that Tim Walls isn't going to pull the

[00:18:51] same slide of hand that he did with Minnesotans to get reelected the last time?

[00:18:56] I mean, first of all, I would say regarding paid family leave, it's popular. It's just like

[00:19:02] it's just like you can call me it's popular all day long, but if it's going to cost

[00:19:05] Minnesotans more money than it's supposed to, then like you need to be upfront and honest with them

[00:19:10] and let them make a decision. Republicans had multiple times talked about bringing.

[00:19:15] Yes, they did. They talked about bringing. They talked about it and Democrats blocked it.

[00:19:21] That's a reality. They offered solutions that would have made it business led.

[00:19:25] And now again, Democrats are pushing for government led initiatives that cut businesses

[00:19:32] out of the process altogether unless they reach a higher standard than what the government is already

[00:19:38] saying. That's not their place. And that's the problem that many Minnesotans, that many Republicans

[00:19:42] have a problem. It was tax breaks is what they offered as always. And it was 2023 until we got

[00:19:50] it. It took a trifecta to get actual real paid family leave and guess what? It cost money.

[00:19:55] And you squandered a $19 billion surplus. And don't tell me that it's not $19 billion

[00:20:00] because you guys made a rule in order to not count inflation. That's again, it's the slide of hand

[00:20:06] that we can talk about all day long. But reality is that this trifecta has hurt the state of

[00:20:10] Minnesota and has driven businesses out of state. It has made Minneapolis an absolute ghost town.

[00:20:16] And Democrats and Tim Walls need to be held accountable for it. That is the bottom line.

[00:20:21] And my dad, a Democrat will tell you that he would never ever vote for Tim Walls again.

[00:20:26] And he has been a lifelock to Democrats since he moved to the state 40 years ago.

[00:20:30] He loves his daughter too. Let's be fair. My dad tells me I should go work for Amy Klobuchar

[00:20:35] every single day, even after seeing her first day porters at people. So he loves me too.

[00:20:41] I'll be able to say that point blank. Now, Pran, well, I want you guys to both understand

[00:20:45] something. I don't know if the two of you have met before, but this is a podcast and we like

[00:20:50] to create a safe space. I don't want you guys to hold back. Michael. So feel really,

[00:20:55] yeah. You guys are being too nice. You guys are being way, yes. Just understand that this is a

[00:21:01] safe space. And so you two should feel the free to just really ratchet it up. Okay. You haven't

[00:21:06] thrown the heat yet, but just remember that. Okay. No, you guys are doing great. We go back

[00:21:09] to 2018. We've been doing this since 2018. And I will say this too. I once held a fantasy

[00:21:14] football league that was half Dems, half Republicans. And I'm pretty sure pray

[00:21:18] upon the championship of that league that you're sorry. Oh, really? I had to get rid

[00:21:22] of the league. By the way, the breakdown is going to have a league and we're going to send

[00:21:27] out an invite like soon. I would love if you could participate or pick up. Pick up league.

[00:21:32] It would be good if you did because I won last season. I need some competition. So it'll be

[00:21:36] great. All right. I'm going to keep us on track here. But I think you guys are proving

[00:21:40] exactly why we wanted you on. And I think we need to maybe pre session,

[00:21:44] come back and have a more policy conversation. But I do want to keep us a little bit on

[00:21:48] track with the DNC convention before we move on from governor walls. I do want to hit

[00:21:52] on on his son, Gus walls. Obviously one of the big things about governor walls that he

[00:21:59] is and what they're promoting is that he is a father and he's got two kids and his son is 17

[00:22:04] years old and tearfully exclaimed that's my dad when he had during his speech and was really

[00:22:11] terrible and horrifying to see some of the backlash and response from Republicans and

[00:22:16] Coulter who unfortunately we have to claim as our as one of the Republicans on our side

[00:22:21] and tweeted something and then took it down. But there was a lot of really inexcusable inappropriate

[00:22:27] reactions to that. This is a kid, regardless of his background. This is a kid who how can

[00:22:33] you not like it literally makes me want to cry just thinking about how can you not want to cry

[00:22:37] when you see your dad potentially being the second most powerful person in the country,

[00:22:43] giving a speech and having tens of thousands of people in the room cheering him on and

[00:22:48] supporting him and backing him. How can you not be sobbing and tearful and excited and joyful and

[00:22:54] proud and to see anybody say anything to the contrary is just pitiful, inexcusable. Kids are

[00:23:02] off limits. They should always be off limits. He did not choose this. Their daughter did not

[00:23:07] choose this. This is obviously governor walls something he chose and had conversations with

[00:23:12] his family but completely a step too far in and before we move on if anybody else has

[00:23:17] anything you'd like to say, I open the floor. I would say this when I saw it. I had two feelings

[00:23:23] on it. One like my heart jumped into my throat because it was just genuine and real and very

[00:23:29] sweet moment. A kid loves his dad. That's great. But I also knew that what was coming

[00:23:34] just because of the just the optics of it. And I knew it was going to get ugly. But I will

[00:23:38] say and huge pops props to Priya and many other Republicans who tweeted said, don't do

[00:23:44] this. Stop doing this. Why are we making fun of this kid who loves his dad? And I appreciate the

[00:23:49] voices that came out on the other side and did not join in that chorus.

[00:23:54] Yeah, as the former Trump staffer here, I will say that it was a darn shame.

[00:24:00] To Becky's point, it was a beautiful moment. I would hope that anyone who has the ability

[00:24:07] to have a great achievement whether you agree with the policy or not,

[00:24:11] this is a huge moment for Tim Walls, regardless of whether you like him or not. And I, as you guys

[00:24:17] can clearly see, I'm not a fan. But I also think that it's a huge moment for him. It's a huge

[00:24:22] moment for our state and for that family and for his son to be able to show and express his

[00:24:30] emotions in the only way that he knows how it is something that should be celebrated.

[00:24:35] And it's a darn shame that we as Republicans, and I think it's a larger point on messaging from

[00:24:43] our side of the party that I think Michael and Becky both you would agree with us me on this,

[00:24:48] that we have to have a serious conversation going forward on how we message as a party

[00:24:55] because we are clearly losing on that front. But it is a shame that is where the messaging

[00:25:03] of our party has now gone where we're no longer talking about the policy issues and trust me,

[00:25:08] there are plenty of them. We're no longer talking about the policy issues. We are now making fun

[00:25:13] of a child who is 17 years old who is celebrating a moment regardless of whether we, regardless of

[00:25:24] whether we agree with him or not, that we cannot allow that family to have that moment

[00:25:33] of celebration.

[00:25:35] I pray I saw your tweet. I know Becky and I had DM'd about it and talked about it a bit.

[00:25:42] It was horrible. It was horrible to see what I would say is that you guys summarize it well,

[00:25:47] but I just want to compliment everyone on this chat, the three of you and then

[00:25:52] so many other people were just wonderful about policing that rhetoric.

[00:25:57] I don't want to belabor the point, but it was a sincere authentic moment that gets to a larger

[00:26:03] topic about how I think politics has become so dehumanized, which I'm going to talk about

[00:26:07] a little bit later in the show. But I think you guys covered it kudos to Gus Walls,

[00:26:13] the Walls family for how they handled it and for being enthusiastic and showing

[00:26:18] the support and love that family has for each other.

[00:26:22] I do want to move on here. So we broke down Governor Walls' speech. Now let's break down Vice

[00:26:28] President Harris' speech. Similar to what we talked about already, there was a political

[00:26:32] article that I read that said if you were looking for a litany of policies, you'll have

[00:26:36] to look elsewhere. But as a speech whose goal was to connect with the broad impulses of the

[00:26:40] electorate with repeated avowals of the American greatness and to present the nominee as a

[00:26:45] no-nonsense tough-minded leader who holds the same values as most Americans, it accomplished its purpose.

[00:26:52] Michael, I want to start with you. You were also an MSNBC over the weekend to talk about this.

[00:26:56] And one of the lines you talked about was that this wasn't not a speech from a Democrat but

[00:27:00] an American. Can you chat a little bit about that and your reaction to this

[00:27:05] as a Republican who resonated with Harris' speech?

[00:27:09] I thought it was a great speech. I don't agree with the Vice President on all of her

[00:27:14] policy, but the connection that I was made was her talking about being a president for

[00:27:19] all American independent of whether they voted, her support for the rule of law, her support for

[00:27:24] the Constitution, her dedication to democracy. Those are big issues and I would encourage,

[00:27:31] I know that there's disagreement with Republicans on issues, but that resonated with me so much

[00:27:39] and the approach that she gave her speech, there's going to be disagreements on policy.

[00:27:44] And I welcome there to be disagreements on policy. But her speech was, I thought, an absolute hormone

[00:27:49] in terms of inviting people into the discussion. I think the Democratic National Convention did a

[00:27:55] lot by inviting Republicans into the discussion. It's something that the Republican National

[00:28:01] Committee used to do a lot of. Gene Patrick, Ambassador of the United Nations, under Reagan,

[00:28:07] she spoke at the, I think she spoke at the 84 convention as a Democrat. And it was that coalition

[00:28:14] of Reagan Democrats that helped propel Reagan to a victory in 80 and a massive victory in 84.

[00:28:21] That's what the Harris campaign, Harris Wall's campaign is building right now.

[00:28:25] And so I thought the speech allowed, there was enough for people that wanted to hear a

[00:28:30] speech and see her take the stage. I thought it was an absolute home run.

[00:28:34] You were in the room, therefore, the vice president's speech. Again, tell us a little bit

[00:28:40] about, obviously it was all received, but hearing it there, was it what you expected? Did it exceed

[00:28:46] expectations? What are your thoughts? I got to say, I couldn't see because there was a

[00:28:50] thousand people in front of me holding up signs. So I couldn't see her from where it was. But

[00:28:54] yeah, I was, you couldn't hear yourself think the screams and the crying. Quite frankly,

[00:29:00] people were just so happy. And I think there's been a lot of criticism, the lack of policies

[00:29:04] there. But I think people don't understand where we were before the transition was made,

[00:29:11] how in the dumps everybody was volunteer, enthusiasm was zero staff, enthusiasm was real

[00:29:19] low. There was just this odious cloud hanging over odious everything we were doing. And,

[00:29:25] and we threw me off there, Michael. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I apologize. It was such a good word.

[00:29:33] Thank you. But that's exactly what it was. And people were just like,

[00:29:37] we need something to inspire us. So we needed something to get us out of those doldrums. And

[00:29:43] honestly, I always say when Democrats are enthusiastic in Minnesota specifically,

[00:29:48] we win elections. And that's just the way it's always played out. And they were not

[00:29:52] enthusiastic. Let me tell you, I heard so much talk about RFK Junior and all this stuff. And

[00:29:58] I was terrified, honestly. And I, and that speech really brought it back. She touched

[00:30:04] on the emotions of people. And I think in that time, that's what was needed.

[00:30:10] Pray, I want to get to you because I know you have some thoughts on the matter.

[00:30:14] In particular, I'm curious about your thoughts. We get a lot of from Harris and during the

[00:30:19] speech of campaigning what she will do when she's in office, but she's in office. She's not

[00:30:24] running against the sitting Republican. What's your thoughts with how she, again, I think,

[00:30:29] portrayed herself as relatable as a middle class as a, and the like, what was your take?

[00:30:35] I think that speech did exactly what it was designed to do. It was a reintroduction

[00:30:40] of Kamala Harris 2.0. Or technically it's not 2.0. It's 27.0 at this point because

[00:30:49] during the last four years, we've seen over and over again stories about the White House and the

[00:30:55] vice president's office trying their best to rehab her image and trying to brand her as something new

[00:31:01] because her polling numbers were in her approval rating were worse than Joe Biden's. And so I

[00:31:07] think that whatever iteration of a relaunch reboot of who Kamala Harris is, we want to call

[00:31:15] this, this was not designed to talk about policy because when you put policy and Kamala Harris together

[00:31:22] it's a losing battle for them. It's a losing battle for Democrats. But when you reintroduce her as

[00:31:31] a mother, a prosecutor, a stepmother, a prosecutor, the daughter of an immigrant

[00:31:36] who wants to have a hope change Obama-esque message, that's exactly what they were trying

[00:31:42] to do. They were trying to bring essentially resuscitate the Democrat party to Will's point

[00:31:47] following a very disastrous presidential campaign under Joe Biden, whether you like him or not,

[00:31:55] like that campaign was a disaster. And so this was their kind of moment. This was a make or

[00:32:01] break moment for the Democrats nationally. Could they relaunch Kamala Harris into something that

[00:32:07] was acceptable and somewhat palatable for Democrats? Because let's be honest, she wasn't palatable to

[00:32:14] them in 2020. She didn't even make it to the Iowa caucuses. With no votes behind her now, they

[00:32:20] essentially crowned her as the next candidate and they had to make her a likable candidate.

[00:32:26] And so I think they succeeded in doing just that. To Michael's point when you talk about

[00:32:31] her speech where she says she loves the Constitution, law and order, all,

[00:32:36] that's great. You want to look at policy like the words don't match up with the policy.

[00:32:40] And to your point, Becky, we're exactly in that same place. And I think once we get over this

[00:32:46] honeymoon period of every Democrat and some independence dropping into their knees and

[00:32:51] thanking God and saying Hail Mary is because they're not having to run with Joe Biden at the

[00:32:56] top of the ticket, once we get past that period, it's going to be okay, what did you do as

[00:33:02] borders are? What did you do to, you know, in Institute one or there are going to be Democrats

[00:33:08] who are going to say she was awful as a prosecutor laughed in my face as she sent me away for life

[00:33:13] with prison. There were Republicans are going to say, yeah, you supported and encouraged people

[00:33:17] to donate money to the Minnesota freedom fund, which let rapist killers and robbers

[00:33:22] out onto our streets to terrorize their community after like whole city blocks got

[00:33:27] burned out. Right? It's going to be a no win situation when we get to the policy,

[00:33:32] but this was not about policy. This was about a make or break moment of resuscitating the Democrat

[00:33:38] Party with less than 100 days to go saying, okay, we have a candidate. We need to make her

[00:33:45] viable. We need to make her likable because nobody liked her before. We need to make her

[00:33:50] likable and now we need to take on Donald Trump. And I think that's exactly what their

[00:33:54] convention did. That was the purpose of the speech they accomplished it.

[00:33:59] I do think that one of the things I said in an article that Wall Street Journal columnist and

[00:34:05] former GOP speechwriter Peggy Newton was complaining that they're stealing our Republican

[00:34:10] themes, right? The faith and the patriotism, which is something that I do think they did

[00:34:15] successfully and was a little surprising to me because I don't necessarily think that their

[00:34:18] audience, that's really the audience at the DNC convention, but I do think it played well.

[00:34:24] I mean that in the way of a lot of, I don't think a-

[00:34:27] I think we hate America.

[00:34:29] No, I'm saying, I don't think that aside from, I don't necessarily think that a lot of,

[00:34:34] maybe I could be 100% wrong, but I don't think a lot of like true blood Republicans

[00:34:40] watched the breath of the DNC convention. And so I think that they were successful

[00:34:45] in doing that. And I think it does speak to some of the undecided voters in the middle.

[00:34:50] But one thing that I was surprised about pleasantly, I will say, I think it was impressive. And again,

[00:34:56] I think the folks, the speechwriters and the strategists around this earned their money and then

[00:35:02] some was a little focus on national security. I think that's something that is some- a lot of

[00:35:10] Americans are concerned about and rightly so in the last night of Harris' speech they had Leon

[00:35:15] Panetta, former secretary of defense and CIA director. They had Mark Kelly, former Navy combat.

[00:35:20] They had veterans on. And Harris very strongly said as commander-in-chief, I will ensure America

[00:35:26] has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. And I will fulfill our sacred

[00:35:30] obligation to care for our troops and their families. And I will honor and never

[00:35:34] disparage their service and their sacrifice. And I think that's something that we don't-

[00:35:39] it's not something that's in my top list of five things that I expect to hear from a

[00:35:43] Democratic nominee on stage at an event like this. I think it is important to hear and I

[00:35:49] think they did a really good job in trying to pull at some of these folks, some of the

[00:35:54] topics that are important to folks. Again, not in deep policy dives here, but it was

[00:36:00] something that was just a little surprising to me and something that I wanted to note here.

[00:36:04] Any other general thoughts of what she said, how she said it? And overall, again, while I

[00:36:11] don't support her or her statements or her policy stances on a lot of things, I do think again,

[00:36:17] like Prey said, she did exactly what she needed to do and she did it well.

[00:36:23] Agreed. We also last week talked a little bit about any celebrities that we would see.

[00:36:28] We certainly saw Mindy Kaling. We had different ones come out. Oprah, I think was the biggest

[00:36:33] one, the biggest surprise. I read an article that said even when they brought her out to

[00:36:38] she was wearing masks and sunglasses and hoodie to go up and practice a little bit

[00:36:43] and cast by Speaker Pelosi. And Pelosi didn't realize who it was at first. And so I thought

[00:36:48] it was a funny little story, but good on Oprah. You said she's a Chicago gal. And

[00:36:53] so that was exciting to see for sure. I'm sure very fiery there.

[00:36:58] I got to meet Sean Austin, the guy who Rudy, the guy who played Rudy.

[00:37:02] Rudy, Rudy.

[00:37:03] Oh wow. Yeah, he was there. And the DFL party we had boys to men played.

[00:37:08] Which was quite, yeah, it was a big time at the House of Blues. There was a lot of that.

[00:37:13] Lil Wayne was there obviously. He had DJed some shows or the night before and then he came out

[00:37:19] for Georgia. Yeah, they were all over the place. I saw some like Instagram celebrity who I didn't

[00:37:24] know who he was and all kinds of stuff. All kinds of big celebrities.

[00:37:27] My boys to men throwback group. Oh go ahead, Preya.

[00:37:31] I was just going to say my boys to men throwback is 2010 when I was on an

[00:37:35] Emmer campaign and spending every day of the state fair at the state fair. Boys to men came

[00:37:39] and played at the line of Google stage. Like they were just getting back. And I was like

[00:37:43] second row at that. And it was one of my favorite memories here. Michael, though,

[00:37:48] I know you had a comment you wanted to share about the second gentleman's speech.

[00:37:53] I thought the speech that I wasn't prepared for but really left a good mark with me because

[00:37:58] Harrison Walz did a great job. But I want to give a shout out to Doug Amoff who I

[00:38:02] thought gave just an absolute homerun speech and it reinforced that kind of geeky kind of likeable

[00:38:11] likeable dad. And that's a really powerful message. And I think it was incredibly impactful.

[00:38:18] I can't think of the last time to be honest with you that I paid a lot of attention to

[00:38:23] what the second who the spouse was of the vice president, but his speech was really endearing.

[00:38:30] And there was a couple of message points that I just thought were really good.

[00:38:34] And I put out a tweet about it and I was surprised of all the comments that I put out during the

[00:38:39] Democratic National Convention. It was my comments about Doug Amoff's speech that triggered the most

[00:38:45] DMs with people, what the hell is wrong with you? And I just thought it was a great speech.

[00:38:50] And I thought it would be a great job and I thought it was a really just a good approach.

[00:38:54] And you could tell and answer. I think the Democrats and all their speeches and again

[00:38:59] to be bipartisan, Becky, we had a lot of discussions on the Republicans doing a great job

[00:39:04] on some speeches. But I really just think I wanted to give a shout out to Doug Amoff because I know

[00:39:09] he's listening to the podcast. I did a great job. He did a great job.

[00:39:12] Doug Amoff joined the DFL on the GOTV tour in 22 with our big Goddy bus and made a bunch

[00:39:19] of speeches across the state. And I swear behind the scenes, he is such a dad and

[00:39:25] he talks football with you. He talks trash about college football and he slaps you on the back

[00:39:30] and he's like trying all this like junkie pizza and all this. It was like, he's like a really cool

[00:39:34] guy. You forget that he's, he was like the second first gentleman or whatever it was,

[00:39:39] whatever he is at the moment. He's just a regular down to earth guy for a tech startup

[00:39:44] billionaire finance guy. And Mr. Amoff, I just want you to know, Prey is a really nice person.

[00:39:49] And so if you're watching right now, he's one of the best. We even if we disagree on politics,

[00:39:55] he's a really good person. So don't hold it against your personal. Okay.

[00:39:58] Real quick, thank you to one of our listeners. Correct me. It wasn't a little weighing. It was

[00:40:02] Lil John. There's too many Lils for me to keep on. Yes, I was going to make that correction.

[00:40:08] I just needed to know who the special guest

[00:40:14] on Kamala's like speech night was supposed to be because they tease that for hours.

[00:40:22] And everyone thought it was going to be Taylor Swift or Beyonce and then it was no one.

[00:40:27] So I need to know, did you start that rumor? No, I believe it was supposed to be Beyonce.

[00:40:33] I mean, mind you, this is really breaking news right now, Becky.

[00:40:37] Pure speculation with a little bit of inside rumors. This is not, but I believe that's

[00:40:42] someone had said there was a sound check for her at one point, but I don't know. And I don't know

[00:40:47] what happened. Everyone was bummed out. Maybe it was Leon Panetta was the surprise guest,

[00:40:51] but I believe it was supposed to be Beyonce. I tend to agree that I think there was certainly

[00:40:55] somebody they dropped the curtain, they made a big thing, all this lead up. And if there was

[00:41:00] not, I feel like they would have had Oprah on Thursday versus Wednesday. Right? That seemed

[00:41:06] just a little weird that we had Oprah who's who else other than Taylor Swift and Beyonce

[00:41:10] can top Oprah really. So one of the things that is somewhat credible is they had made a

[00:41:17] last minute decision to not do it because they didn't want people walking away from the last

[00:41:21] night of the DNC talking about Beyonce. They wanted fair people talking about Kamala Harris.

[00:41:27] It is the fair point and I would have liked Wayne Newton. That would have been good for me.

[00:41:31] Wayne Newton. Moving on, because I know we have a hard end here. So I want to keep the train

[00:41:36] running here just talking about state of the race. So obviously more polls are going to be done now

[00:41:41] that we're going to be a little bit further beyond the DNC convention. Recent polls right now have,

[00:41:47] as of the art, the real clear politics average from end of July to end of August so far. Harris

[00:41:53] is up 1.5. There was a recent morning consult poll from the 23rd to the 25th has here about

[00:41:59] four battlegrounds. States are really neck and neck tied in Pennsylvania and Arizona, Georgia,

[00:42:05] Trump is up four, Michigan and Wisconsin. Harris is up two. The only thing I think right now that was

[00:42:10] really notable to me is just the spread that we saw in 2016 and 2020 and 2016 at this point.

[00:42:17] Trump was he trailed Clinton by six points and in 2020 he was trailing Biden by seven

[00:42:22] points at this point. So 1.5 largely within the margin of error. Anything can happen.

[00:42:28] We know that there has been right now the last four weeks have largely been

[00:42:33] all Kamala all the time. It has been everything in her favor with that bump.

[00:42:37] So I want to throw this to you, Preah first. Do you think this momentum is sustainable or do

[00:42:43] you think at some point there is going to be at some point worth 38 days beyond Kamala Harris being

[00:42:49] essentially anointed as the nominee? We haven't gotten a press conference. We have not gotten

[00:42:56] live sit down interview. At some point that has to change. I hope.

[00:43:03] Where is your press conference, Becky? Where's your live interview, Becky?

[00:43:07] Right here, baby. Preah, do you think that momentum is sustainable or do you think we're

[00:43:11] going to see things settle down? I do think that we are going to see things settle down.

[00:43:18] To your point about the interview that has been 38 days, she has not sat down and done

[00:43:22] a single interview or press conference. There are reports out today that her team is literally

[00:43:28] asking reporters who she should talk to and not making that decision in of itself.

[00:43:34] Yes, she should sit down with you, Michael. I would love to hear Becky's questions towards

[00:43:39] her more. It would just be me. Open door policy.

[00:43:44] I do have to imagine things are going to settle down, but I would say that

[00:43:49] the Trump campaign cannot be complacent. They cannot treat this like they have treated Joe Biden.

[00:43:56] I do think that they're coming out of DNC. There is a feeling of momentum on the Democrat side that

[00:44:03] I don't necessarily feel on our side. We're seeing it in the fundraising numbers, the fact that Kamala

[00:44:08] Harris was able to raise $540 million in the last 38 days. The Trump campaign has it

[00:44:14] in the month of July raised less than $300 million, I think is like $287 million.

[00:44:20] That includes him getting shot at. The last president that we had that was shot at was,

[00:44:25] I think, Ronald Reagan. There should be a significant fundraising bump that comes with that,

[00:44:32] especially amongst more MAGA conservatives who feel like their liberties and freedoms are

[00:44:38] being taken away. I hate to sound cynical, but what I'm hearing from folks in and around DNC is that

[00:44:44] the fact that fundraising is not what it should be considering the shooting and everything else,

[00:44:50] and Kamala being the candidate, which again, with her position as being less than favorable

[00:44:56] to Joe Biden for the first three and a half years of this presidency, there should have been

[00:45:00] more of a comparable matchup on that front and that there wasn't. I do think that the Trump

[00:45:05] campaign does need to take that seriously. I think they need to look at this and understand that

[00:45:10] there is a level of enthusiasm on that side right now, and they can't be complacent.

[00:45:15] I think that they need to take that seriously. But to your point, I do think it's going to

[00:45:19] have to settle down. I think it'll probably settle down right around the debates that

[00:45:23] usually where Trump shines his best. He can take even the most seasoned public speakers and

[00:45:28] turn them into stuttering messes. We saw how that affected Hillary Clinton in 2016, and we

[00:45:34] saw what Trump did to his own folks here by not showing up on the debate stage during the

[00:45:40] presidential primary on the GOP side, and how that his presence just looms even when he wasn't

[00:45:46] anywhere in the other debate stage. I think that's when you're going to start to see that

[00:45:50] settle down period is right around that September 10th, that first debate, just because that's

[00:45:54] where we're really going to see those two really have to contend for the first time.

[00:45:59] To be determined if that debate happens, we'll chat a little bit more about that now,

[00:46:03] but we'll go for it. Yeah, I think the momentum is huge. There is a little bit of a feeling of a

[00:46:09] sugar rush right now, especially after what was going on with Biden. But I do think it's sustainable,

[00:46:14] and I do think it will sustain because I think this first of all, I'll say this,

[00:46:20] people like Kamala Harris, people like Tim Walls. People are excited to vote for the

[00:46:24] first woman president, the first black woman president, the first Southeast Asian president,

[00:46:29] all these lot of different exciting things on this ticket. But they're also facing Donald Trump,

[00:46:35] and this is an opportunity to beat Donald Trump. And that is a hugely motivating factor amongst our

[00:46:41] party. People don't want him to be president again. And on some level, it could have been

[00:46:47] almost anyone that took over with a huge momentum boost. I think there's a lot of

[00:46:53] things about Kamala Harris, which she was on that ticket for a reason that people do,

[00:46:57] and that's why it was her and not somebody else. But a big piece of this is Donald Trump,

[00:47:02] and people can't stand Donald Trump. People have left the Republican Party. We may know some here

[00:47:07] because of Donald Trump. And I just think that is going to light a fire under people's butts until

[00:47:12] election day. Was that breaking news? Michael, have you left the Republican Party?

[00:47:17] No, he's a Republican Party. No, I'm still here. I'm just giving you a hard time.

[00:47:21] Your thoughts, Michael. Do you think that this is the sugar rush? Do you expect it to even out?

[00:47:27] And let's get into that debate and conversation. I would say a couple things. We had that episode

[00:47:32] with John Rillow and Mark Draken. Mark was the first one to use that, at least on our show,

[00:47:36] the phrase sugar high. The honeymoon, I think is still going on. The sugar high is still

[00:47:40] lasting. And I don't, I think it ends at some point. The sugar high always does end.

[00:47:45] And there will, the honeymoon phase, when the question is when, but there,

[00:47:49] this prolonged effort is continuing. And I do, and I will say, we'll lean a little bit to that

[00:47:54] conversation and note something that I think part of the reason that's happening is because

[00:48:00] the contrast is Donald Trump elections aren't held in a vacuum. I think one of the biggest

[00:48:04] things that the Trump campaign and Republicans have going against them is their candidate is

[00:48:09] Trump. This would be an entirely different race if Republicans, I think had taken the

[00:48:14] advice of Nikki Haley or other people and someone else, there'd be another person

[00:48:18] we'd be talking about an entirely different race. And so ultimately, I think part of the reason

[00:48:23] that the sugar high is still going and the honeymoon phase is going is because the alternative to

[00:48:29] Harris and walls is Trump and JD Vance. And I think that's what's prolonging that a bit.

[00:48:36] I will just say real quick is that it's the other shoe too, right? There are Democrats who

[00:48:43] are voting or independents that are voting for Donald Trump because of common Harris. There are

[00:48:49] people that look at the last three and a half years of this Biden Harris administration and are

[00:48:56] are firmly in the team Trump camp. There are Democrats, there are folks that I,

[00:49:01] that don't pay attention to politics or aren't voting that I know within my own

[00:49:05] surface who don't normally care one way or another. And they're like, yeah, we're voting

[00:49:11] for Trump this time or I didn't vote for him last time around, but we're voting for him this time.

[00:49:15] And I think as much as that can probably be said and true for Kamala Harris that Trump is a driving

[00:49:21] factor, I think for Republicans, the Kamala Harris factor is just as as prevalent.

[00:49:27] I'd be willing to stack the two up. I don't know anyone at all. Yeah, even inside my liberal

[00:49:33] elite is bubble. I don't know anyone who would have even consider voting for Donald Trump

[00:49:38] because Kamala Harris is at the top of the ticket, but I'm sure there's a couple people out there.

[00:49:42] I do want to chat hit on that debate a little bit. We are seeing, we chatted a couple weeks ago, they

[00:49:48] Harris and Trump re-agreed obviously because Biden and Trump had previously agreed. They agreed

[00:49:54] Timur Tenth was going to be the ABC debate. It was agreed to the same rules as the previous

[00:49:58] one, no studio audience, two commercial breaks microphones that would be turned off when the

[00:50:03] candidate is not speaking. The Harris campaign is now saying that they believe the candidates

[00:50:07] Mike should be live. Senior advisor with the Harris camp said, our understanding is that Trump's

[00:50:12] handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential

[00:50:16] for 90 minutes on his own. We talked a little bit about this prior to the first campaign and I do

[00:50:21] think that largely the muted mics was beneficial to Trump. Now Trump disagrees with his team,

[00:50:28] maybe a little off the cuff said, well, I think they could be live, but Jason Miller,

[00:50:32] senior advisor with the Trump campaign said that the again it was agreed to the same

[00:50:35] terms and should be upheld. Anybody feel strongly about this? It seems a little silly,

[00:50:42] right? Like if you agree to it, let's agree to it. Why are we changing the rules in the middle of the

[00:50:46] game? I think it should just be your time to argue the facts in my mind are over.

[00:50:53] Anybody disagree? Do we think that they're going to change or do we think it's just

[00:50:56] going to be canceled? And one of them is not going to show up.

[00:50:59] I would just say this very quickly as the one person on this podcast right now who wore

[00:51:04] chicken suit about skipping debates. I feel that I'm the resident expert on whether someone is

[00:51:10] technically skipping a debate or not, but I'll defer to others wisdom. I think the challenge here is that

[00:51:15] that the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign had to agreed on this.

[00:51:19] Harris gets out and now there's some changes. I fundamentally think there's going to be a debate.

[00:51:24] I don't think that I don't think that Trump, I there's going to be a debate.

[00:51:29] I don't know how many there will be, but they'll be a date. Yes, they agree.

[00:51:31] My understanding is it was Biden and Trump had agreed when Harris became the nominee,

[00:51:38] debates were up in the air. Then they were announced like 10 days ago that yes,

[00:51:43] September 10th is confirmed. They're both there. You don't confirm that if you're

[00:51:48] still working out the details, then you're not confirmed. So confirming and both sides saying

[00:51:52] we are confirmed September 10th is the debate. That to my mind is wrapped up in a tiny little

[00:51:58] ball. You've lost your opportunity to figure out the specifics.

[00:52:03] I would say two things. One, I hate the mute button just generally because I think you're

[00:52:08] letting the muter decide the tone and tenor of the debate. A debate is supposed to be

[00:52:13] between two people, not two people and a guy with a mute button. I would also say,

[00:52:19] care for what you wish for because Kamala is a very excellent debater. I watched every

[00:52:25] second of the DNC primary back in 2020 and nerd. Yeah. She was cut throughout in that she went after

[00:52:36] Joe Biden very hard, which I was stunned when he picked her as VP because of how tough she was on him.

[00:52:42] That was the one takeaway after 2020 that I would have told you I said is how

[00:52:47] tough of a debater she is. I would argue though, she had a significant more time to prepare.

[00:52:54] This is something that is a downfall of the Harris camp. It is the shortened time schedule

[00:52:59] and we have seen a lot of stumbles from Harris when she has given the opportunity to not speak

[00:53:05] from a teleprompter or written script. I tend to agree. I like the back and forth.

[00:53:10] I think the mute button obviously is beneficial to Trump and his team for a variety of reasons.

[00:53:17] My biggest thing is just now going back in the debate on debates and over it.

[00:53:23] I think there's going to be a debate. I think they'll stick to it. We'll see what happens.

[00:53:28] And maybe we have you guys back on to analyze that because it's going to be fiery either way.

[00:53:33] She may be a tough debater, but Priya is tougher, I think, to be honest with you.

[00:53:37] You guys are throwing heat today. That's why I'm just staying out of the way.

[00:53:41] I don't understand why she is so objected to the mute mic because

[00:53:47] and I know folks on this podcast will disagree with me on this, but I would say that I think

[00:53:54] it actually benefits Kamala because if you look at 16 and 20, what were the biggest takeaways of

[00:54:01] the night when Trump was on a debate stage with an opponent? What were the most memorable

[00:54:05] lines? It was usually when his opponent was having, was in the middle of his speech

[00:54:10] and he was reacting in real time to them. Those were the most memorable moments.

[00:54:15] Those were the biggest takeaways where people were like, oh yeah, that was awesome. Or, oh yeah,

[00:54:20] that's the one we're going to remember for the night or for this debate. And those were usually

[00:54:25] the little moments that ended up swaying those debates in his favor. So I actually think it's

[00:54:30] a poor choice for the Harris team to be saying that they don't support the muted mic situation

[00:54:36] because I think in the long run, it's going to impact them negatively because that's where

[00:54:42] Trump will shine his light brightest. I like the take. Yeah, that's a fair point.

[00:54:49] I want to hit briefly on and we don't need to spend a ton of time on there. There's a lot out there

[00:54:53] about all of this, but these kind of quote unquote wall scandals, a lot of misspeaking maybe on

[00:54:59] the walls stage or stances on things. We, there's questions about his service, where,

[00:55:06] when, all of that, we're not going to get into that one. There's one claiming that he

[00:55:10] said that in 1993 he got the Outstanding Young Nebraska Award by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.

[00:55:17] They're now saying that's not true. They're the, head on two more. One of, if he has a fake dog or

[00:55:25] two dogs or which dog named Scout, which hashtag where Scout hashtag, where Scout, this one is

[00:55:32] just what drives me insane about Republicans is there's so many valid things to stand on.

[00:55:41] And this is what we take our time and how it just distracts and discredits. It is just one of my

[00:55:47] biggest frustrations with a lot of the Trump team and activists who are in this world. Can we not,

[00:55:54] we talked about this very in depth with Senator Benson and Rulo about the facts that if we stick

[00:55:59] on policy, if we stick on the issues that really matter to families and business owners,

[00:56:05] we could win. We know that's not really what we get with the Trump campaign and President Donald

[00:56:10] Trump. The one that really bothered me though is the IVF IUI. I don't believe that this is a

[00:56:14] misspoke. I believe this was taking advantage of an opportunity with the issues going on

[00:56:19] surrounding IVF down in Alabama that Governor Walz then came out and talked about that as his family

[00:56:25] used IVF to conceive hope. And then now as misspoke and Gwen came out this week saying they

[00:56:31] actually used IUI and him saying that that's just how people talk about fertility treatments.

[00:56:35] No, it's simply put not how people talk about fertility treatments. And I have a lot of

[00:56:41] relatives and friends who have gone through these. It's completely different. One is very invasive,

[00:56:46] very cost tens of thousands of dollars, requires all of these things, and one and

[00:56:50] all and is very is less work, less money, less stress. And that one bothers me because I

[00:56:56] felt as though it was a taking advantage of a political situation, which let me tell you

[00:57:01] here and now I completely oppose what the courts are trying to do surrounding IVF and making

[00:57:07] families have to choose about their frozen embryos. And it literally makes me cry that some families

[00:57:14] already have all of these different issues of if they have frozen embryos that they don't use

[00:57:20] or trying to get pregnant. This goes along well with the abortion issue that it's such a

[00:57:26] emotional stressful time for families and couples. And that one bothered me. And the last thing I'll

[00:57:34] say on this before I'll turn it over for anybody else who wants to chime in on these quote unquote

[00:57:37] scandals is the thing that really bothers me about this is I would say the media covering

[00:57:44] for walls on a lot of this. I don't believe that if this was Donald Trump or JD Vance or

[00:57:49] any Republican that the media would say, Oh, he misspoke. He misspoke again. He misspoke this.

[00:57:56] It is now like the fourth or fifth situation that we've misspoke. We've said things wrong.

[00:58:02] If that was a Republican, I don't believe that the media would be giving them the past

[00:58:06] that I believe that Governor walls has gotten whether or not intentional, whether or not what

[00:58:11] it means. It just seems a little one sided and I believe the media is totally fine saying

[00:58:18] and believing that is a simple misstatement. And let's move on before we move over to get folks

[00:58:24] who disagree with me on this. Preah, back me up here. I could not have said it better than

[00:58:30] better myself back. You understand the pain of being a GOP Congressman. So I know you

[00:58:36] understand what this feels like. I lived in Iowa when Steve King was having his downfall

[00:58:43] right before Republicans down there elected the new beam straw to be their nominee. And I can tell

[00:58:49] you every single day, I got a phone call from national and local reporters asking me, Steve

[00:58:54] King said this today, what does Johnny think of this? Or what does Chuck Grassley think of this?

[00:58:58] Or Kim Reynolds or does Iowa GOP have a comment or does the RNC have a comment?

[00:59:03] What about Mary Nut Miller me? And they would go down the line because every time

[00:59:08] quote unquote said something or misspoke, everybody else had to answer for it.

[00:59:14] And that's just not the level of the same level of treatment that Democrats

[00:59:18] face. And I know you'll disagree with me on this, but that's just the reality of what this is.

[00:59:23] And there are so many examples that we can show over the years of how this has changed.

[00:59:29] And I think Becky, you're spot on in saying that Tim Walls gets the benefit of the doubt for

[00:59:34] saying he missed out, but the reality is if you did it like these and you can even talk about

[00:59:40] what the questions around stolen valor and whether or not he inflated his resume as, you know,

[00:59:45] as a member of the National Guard. There were conversations about this. We've been having

[00:59:49] conversations as Republicans in this state since going back to 2018 about his service.

[00:59:55] And so I think that there's just a lot that you can have a conversation about with Tim Walls.

[01:00:01] I think some of it, like the where scout situation is absolutely ridiculous. The fact that we are

[01:00:07] even having a multi-day like conversation in New Cycle about that is asinine. And the ridicule

[01:00:14] we're getting up for that is rightly deserved. I think some of these other smaller scandals

[01:00:18] paint a larger picture. And it goes back to our initial point at the beginning of this

[01:00:23] is that Tim Walls is a chameleon and he'll say or do whatever he needs to

[01:00:27] in order to fit into the environment and the moment that we're experiencing locally

[01:00:33] at a state level or nationally. And I personally have had this issue for a couple of months now

[01:00:41] with some of our local media. One of the glaring factors that we saw was the Star Tribune and how

[01:00:49] they changed that IVF story, the initial IVF story without the editors now changing it to

[01:00:55] reflect what Tim Walls was saying now. Obviously, we know Steven Groves is a public,

[01:00:59] the publisher now for the Star Tribune, which was hinky enough as is. We know that there were

[01:01:06] a lot of questions from Republicans, including myself about how his handling at the top of the

[01:01:12] being head of the Star Tribune would affect coverage downwards. And I think we're starting

[01:01:16] to see the realities of that. And at a moment where they had an ability to show

[01:01:21] that they were objective and were actually willing to work, to be fair with both sides of the aisle,

[01:01:28] I think that does a lot of credibility and damage to the Star Tribune and their brand.

[01:01:32] But more importantly, it does a lot of damage to their reporters who

[01:01:35] have well-meaning relationships. Becky, I know you do as well.

[01:01:39] Meaning relationships with these folks who are genuinely trying to do their job.

[01:01:44] And when we see changes like that happening, and it's definitely coming from the top up

[01:01:49] because these reporters don't have that level of access to change things.

[01:01:52] It does long-term damage to their credibility. And our ability as Republicans to trust

[01:02:00] that the process will work for us as well going forward is this kind of face saving effort

[01:02:06] from the local media to try to protect Tim Walls and in some sense, protect themselves from the

[01:02:14] years of positive friendly coverage of Tim Walls and his administration.

[01:02:19] Now that they're being called out by national media, now that things are being more looked into,

[01:02:26] I think that's what we're seeing here is it's partially let's protect Tim Walls,

[01:02:30] but also let's cover our own behinds because the national media is finally calling us out

[01:02:34] on the things that we never did. Tim Walls is an unchallenged very green candidate,

[01:02:40] in part because our press corps doesn't do its job in challenging Democrat candidates.

[01:02:47] They'll challenge us all day long. They don't do the same to the other side.

[01:02:51] And so I think we're seeing the consequences of that.

[01:02:54] I love the smirks from you both because I know you have so much to say, Michael and Will,

[01:02:58] you both have spent time in communications working with the press.

[01:03:02] So first off, before you give your thoughts on the scandals, if you can just give me a

[01:03:06] do you think that this would be the same and they'd give a misspoke line repeatedly to a Republican

[01:03:14] candidate? And then what do you think about any of these issues? Are they issues? Are they quote

[01:03:18] unquote scandals? Will. Yeah, they would get the same treatment. Donald Trump misspeaks every

[01:03:23] time he opens his mouth and reporters are just like, oh, let's Donald be in Donald.

[01:03:30] We get that so much. And I will say this first of all,

[01:03:33] the Star Tribune. Come on, Steve Grove, since I have been an adult, Republicans have called it

[01:03:38] the Star and Sickle. And that's when Glenn Taylor, a Republican state representative or

[01:03:44] state senator, I don't even remember before my time state senator state senator owned it.

[01:03:48] So come on, everyone's all Republicans are always gripe about the Star Tribune.

[01:03:52] The red star. I don't hear sometimes. I don't really buy that one too much. And they

[01:03:57] I've gone rounds with the Star Tribune about stuff that I thought they should have

[01:04:01] printed and didn't do. And I will also say, as someone who spent eight years doing opposition

[01:04:06] research and self research on our own people, there's no comparison when it comes to statements

[01:04:13] that should be covered. I can't speak to some of the IVF stuff. For example, I don't know

[01:04:18] because I was not I don't know the difference, but I have never gone through the process.

[01:04:22] So I really I truly know that's not a cop out. I don't know like how to respond to that

[01:04:27] because I don't know enough about the top issue. But I will say on so many of these things,

[01:04:32] for one, as part of the charm of Tim Walls is that he is a regular guy and he does speak off the cuff.

[01:04:39] We all know it. He gets prepped a lot and he doesn't like reading a teleprompter. And sometimes

[01:04:44] the wrong thing comes out of his mouth. And I think reporters and people can see the difference

[01:04:48] between misspeaking on a topic and Steve King saying, I don't know why white supremacy

[01:04:54] is a bad thing. And it's hard to balance those two things and you can't just have both sides do it

[01:05:01] when we're talking about situations like that. And obviously, that's such a very cherry picked

[01:05:05] example. But in my opinion, the statements, the bad statements, there's not even a competition

[01:05:10] between who says the most coverage worthy things. There's a difference between being off the

[01:05:15] cuff and just straight up lying though, like I'm just going to just throw that out there.

[01:05:20] Yeah, I think ultimately the issue, first of all, let me say this as someone who's

[01:05:26] worked in the media, been a part of media stories and also pitched media stories without any

[01:05:31] hesitation, I would say that there is a bias sometimes. And where that bias comes from

[01:05:36] is in the intellectual curiosity of a situation, which is the point I'm going to discuss in

[01:05:42] a second, that bias in terms of how far they'll dig down into things.

[01:05:47] And I think it's, I would, it would be disingenuous to me to not acknowledge that I've experienced that

[01:05:54] as various forms of working in the media. And I think that it's interesting because as someone

[01:06:02] who was a part of the vibrant kind of independent blogosphere and other things that were here,

[01:06:07] there were a number of stories that were broken by liberal bloggers and conservative

[01:06:12] bloggers on a variety of subjects that eventually made their way into the mainstream media that

[01:06:17] sometimes they passed on. And so it's never been easier, I think, than it is right now at this moment

[01:06:22] for people to offer an alternative view, an alternative perspective. They can live-stream

[01:06:28] things. They can go out with, anyone who has an ex account can go out and push a narrative on some.

[01:06:34] Here's the challenge right now that I think Republicans are having, is that

[01:06:38] they're spending, there is a limited amount of oxygen every day that people are going to get

[01:06:44] attention to. And Republicans right now have done a few missteps on walls. The story with Scout

[01:06:51] yesterday was just preposterous. And I was asleep, I had an early morning and then was

[01:06:57] taking a nap a little bit yesterday morning. My wife explained to me like, what are you saying

[01:07:01] there's a fake dog? And then I had a call of someone else who had to walk me through that.

[01:07:06] How much time is being spent right now by, by Republicans going out with that type of

[01:07:13] ridiculous commentary, that type of ridiculous thing. And ultimately they're sucking the oxygen

[01:07:19] out of the room by pushing these ridiculous narratives. And the other I think more important

[01:07:25] contrast issues are getting missed. And that's something that Republicans who are not supporting

[01:07:30] Harrison Walz are going to have to address because that was a tactical mistake. It was

[01:07:36] a massive tactical mistake. But what I have faith in this is I think that all throughout

[01:07:41] this discussion, Preah and Becky and Will and I have raised issues that I think the voters

[01:07:46] are going to get an opportunity to litigate. And now is it's never been easier for someone to go

[01:07:53] and push their perspective and narrative of what they're saying. And Becky, I recognize

[01:07:58] on the matter of the IVF statement, I understand the sensitivity to that. And my encouragement

[01:08:04] to the Walls-Harris campaign is it is the big leagues now to be a little tighter with

[01:08:08] their language and let's be precise and focus on issues.

[01:08:12] I would argue the same to the Trump fan stick.

[01:08:15] Yes, and we're having a it was National Dog Day yesterday, by the way. I mean,

[01:08:21] thinking about National Dog Day was not the best way in which to create that there's a fake dog.

[01:08:26] It's not the nerve was not shout out to Chuck's asleep behind me.

[01:08:30] Can I throw one more quick thing in regarding something Michael said?

[01:08:33] I would never tell a reporter this to their face, but they are people too

[01:08:36] and they're human beings. And the thing is when everything is a scandal, nothing is a scandal.

[01:08:43] Right? And so when they're getting when they have to spend time tweeting and reporting about

[01:08:48] this stupid wear scout thing and cover it. And then it's the net. It's whatever the next thing

[01:08:53] is. And it's two and nine was a thing, right? People are always pushing all this ridiculous

[01:08:57] stuff. And I get it there's burnout on their part. And how do they at some point,

[01:09:03] what do you cover? What do you like, what are you going to spend time? You have a little bit

[01:09:07] of time every day to write a story and you're spending your time on wear scout and not on

[01:09:12] maybe something that is more important from your perspective. So I don't know. I just think

[01:09:18] it's like sucking the oxygen out of the room was a good way to put it. They have limited

[01:09:22] time. And when they got a I got a text from reporter yesterday about wear scout. That's

[01:09:28] they should not be spending their time on that stuff.

[01:09:30] I know. I had the same. I got another text from somebody and they're like, what is this about?

[01:09:36] What is happening? And I'm like, I'm sorry that I have to explain this to you. Yes.

[01:09:41] I'll write about my next town hall dot com article.

[01:09:44] Perfect. Perfect. For I throw it to Michael for our last topic of the day. Do we general

[01:09:51] thumbs up thumbs down? Yes. No, is Governor Wall is going to make it to the Minnesota

[01:09:55] State Fair? Anybody think he's gonna? Yeah, you think so well?

[01:09:59] I think he's gotta. It would be by his right. It is his broad and butter and so that will be

[01:10:06] exciting. Yeah. Great. Michael, I just wanted to say something in closing and just share

[01:10:12] something from the last week. Last week I announced that I was supporting a Harrison

[01:10:17] Walls and very interesting reaction, very interesting reaction. I've had so many

[01:10:22] wonderful conversations with people absolutely complete strangers about this stuff. I had

[01:10:28] some good conversations with some media friends. I found something curious that's

[01:10:32] happened and I would call them some of my kind of first year friends, but also some of

[01:10:36] my second year friends who have saw my announcement with an immediate sense of judgment,

[01:10:43] an immediate sense of judgment. And so I wanted just to talk about it for just a second

[01:10:47] and compliment this group and just give a little bit of a life lesson. One of my

[01:10:51] favorite shows is Ted Lassel when my father passed away. I watched Ted Lassel and man,

[01:10:57] I loved Ted Lassel. And what I liked about Ted Lassel the most was about how he talked about

[01:11:03] a one particular moment talking about people being curious, how to have curiosity and not

[01:11:09] be judgmental. And one of the things I would say to people is you have someone around you

[01:11:14] involved in this political election who's differing from you. Don't approach them with

[01:11:19] judgment. Approach them with curiosity. Ask questions. Curiosity versus judgment

[01:11:25] in politics is very important. And when we approach things from the standpoint of curiosity,

[01:11:30] we're trying to foster an understanding. It helps bring this divide in this kind of

[01:11:36] polarizing political climate. Be curious. Don't be judgmental. I've learned things in this podcast

[01:11:43] over the last couple years. I've learned things today because I'm curious about what

[01:11:47] Prey is going to say or I'm curious about what Will is going to say. I guarantee I'm

[01:11:51] curious about what Becky is going to say. I don't judge them based on that. And so

[01:11:56] the only kind of thing I just wanted to close out with is if you've ever watched Ted Lassel,

[01:12:00] be curious, not judgmental and try to approach this political cycle with an understanding of

[01:12:06] curiosity and talking to people a number of the people. And I'm surprised by it or have

[01:12:12] just been like, you've lost your mind or this year, that year, this and they don't

[01:12:15] approach it from curiosity. And I will tell you something. I have learned so much

[01:12:20] from approaching this podcast and these conversations with curiosity more than I have

[01:12:26] judgment because I disagree with Prey on a lot of things, but I don't, but I'm going to listen

[01:12:30] to her because I'm curious what she's going to say. I disagree with Will on things,

[01:12:34] but I'm going to listen because I'm curious. And I guarantee out of any way else,

[01:12:38] I disagree with Becky a lot. But it's curiosity and not judgment that drives this.

[01:12:43] And I think today's exercise was another example of that. And I just wanted to give

[01:12:48] a little shout out to people. You haven't watched Ted Lassel watch it, but particularly

[01:12:52] that one scene where he's talking about curiosity versus judgment. And if we could just be a little

[01:12:58] bit more curious with each other and a little less judgmental, I think we'd be in a better spot.

[01:13:04] Now Becky, now let me be very clear with you, Becky. Your food takes our garbage.

[01:13:09] There's no curiosity and there's all judgment in this. But I think that this show is a

[01:13:13] perfect example of this. Prey, you just threw the heat at Will and Will just threw it right back.

[01:13:19] And that's the type of thing that we need to foster. And I think today was an absolutely

[01:13:23] perfect example of what I hope other people do. And I think that's a great reminder. First of

[01:13:28] let's also hat tip to them saying that Ted Lassel is coming back for a set of fourth season.

[01:13:34] So that's exciting, but it is really great. You're right. These two through the heat

[01:13:38] at each other have done so for the last few years. And I guarantee you guys could go have a beer

[01:13:44] tonight and it wouldn't be awkward, right? Like we can have, we can respect our stances and respect

[01:13:49] our viewpoints and what we do for a living and still understand that there is room to have those

[01:13:56] separating opinions. And so Michael, I apologize that you have to go through that. I think

[01:13:59] that is unacceptable and really sad to hear. But thank you for sharing and thank you for

[01:14:04] throwing back to a great reminder from a good episode. And I want to thank everyone again for

[01:14:09] listening to the breakdown with Broadcore from Becky before we go show some love for your favorite

[01:14:14] podcast by leaving a surreal and Apple podcast or the, where the platform is where you listen,

[01:14:18] the breakdown with Broadcore and Becky will be back next week with another action packed

[01:14:23] episode. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. Bye.