6.16.2025 -- NLS -- Trump, AOC, and the Authoritarian Mirror

On this episode with Neal and Julie, the conversation dives into whether Donald Trump is truly seeking authoritarian control—or simply expanding presidential power beyond what many conservatives would be comfortable with if a Democrat like AOC held the same authority. Neal and Julie explore how both sides perceive authoritarianism, arguing that the left often exhibits more authoritarian behavior than they're willing to acknowledge. They discuss the psychology behind political rallies, the perceived helplessness among progressives, and how Trump has become a symbol of broader national unrest. The conversation also touches on immigration, compassion, and political double standards—highlighting how emotional manipulation can shape public perception.

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Transcript

So you think Trump's trying to become a king? Well, that's the premise of this whole thing. Yeah, I know, I don't think that, but I do think he's trying to expand the power of the presidency to a point.

Good morning. It's 807. Welcome. On this Monday, a new workweek, new week here. And I didn't want to give out our stones Automotive group text line. We'll take phone calls a little bit later in the hour. And what a weekend. Holy moly, what a weekend. Of course, the Middle East fighting continues. We'll get to some of that we have here in the States and in Idaho for a red state.

The No Kings protest, if we're going to be honest with ourselves, was pretty robust. But I don't think I quite expected to see what I saw. And, well, I'll float the question out there and we'll explore the answer later on the show. Does the well attended no Kings protests, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Boise had a big one, I think up in Coeur d'Alene.

It was pretty, pretty. Okay. Is that a function of the actual support there is of those that believe Trump is a king? Or is that more a function of. They were pretty darn organized for this one, because I do believe when you have a lot of money being thrown at a nationwide orchestra, single day protest, then the local communities who want to organize something like that get a big windfall from that.

It's a lot of unearned participation that they don't organize locally. So I think that's a an interesting question here. I didn't know what to expect. I thought that, you know, you there might be 50, maybe 100. No, there were there were far more than that, at least at the Bonneville Bridge. The reports from Pocatello were that there it was pretty strong and solid there.

You may have had some people who were commuting, traveling, Driggs. Apparently we had people who, went to that when they said there were quite it, quite a good number there as well. So I would say in all of this and, and I believe, especially when we're talking about things that are really important, like the future of the country, it is very important that we are honest with ourselves and not try to not process uncomfortable truths.

They are organized. There are more of them than I thought there would be. And if we get complacent, if we get dismissive, we could end up, end up losing out here. Now, I will say this. Most people that I saw, there are not people who voted for Trump. And then they decided Trump's becoming a king, so they converted.

I think it was a pretty good galvanization of a lot of different groups that were already, opposed to Donald Trump. So we'll get to some of that. It was also Father's Day. All you dads out there. I hope you had a great Father's Day. We just had a kind of a cookout, barbecue, had kids and grandkids over, and it was nice.

It was great just to spend time and laugh and and be together. So I hope you had a good a good Father's Day that week. It's also even though, I don't know what school you kind of have to pick your protest here or pick your public rally, but the the pride festivals kind of went on. I saw some videos largely from other countries.

They were doing pride events. It was also the Juneteenth celebration. I don't know if it's the beginning of of the celebration one or the one event, I'm not really sure. But the the left kind of had to decide what was important to them this weekend LGBTQ issues, Juneteenth or their hatred of Donald Trump. And they chose the latter.

They chose their, I would say, fear. I don't think it's fear. I think if you sat down and you asked them and you drilled in and said, okay, do you really, honestly believe that Donald Trump's trying to become a king? Some of them would say yes. I think the the cursory drive by outrage types would probably say that, yeah, Donald Trump's trying to become a king because I heard it.

I heard it on a TV show, and I think he's trying to become a king. I think when you talk to more levelheaded liberals, they do exist, that they would be like, yeah, I don't I don't think he's trying to become a king. They just don't like how he's exercising his presidential power. I think that's probably the more accurate way to state it.

And, you know, I it's such an odd thing. I, I had to kind of process this because I will tell you, as a human, if I were a dog, I would be a golden retriever. I like people, I, I'm, I wouldn't call myself, not not an optimist. A, an extrovert. That's the word I'm looking for.

I'm not really an extrovert. I don't go out there and try to be the the life of the. Now, if you're not. If I know you then and I'm comfortable in an environment, then I, I loosen up quite a bit to. But to go out and get into a group of strangers, I don't try to, to make a lot of waves in a situation like that.

So when I, when I look at all of this and I think about, you know, what's happening in the country, I, I worry like you. I worry about some of our fellow citizens and where their minds are headed, because we just went through four years of a dementia ridden president, and they ignored it. No, we could probably do a line up of all the threats to democracy.

I'll use their word. Okay. Don't don't correct me on it. I'm using their their verbiage here. We could do a line up of all the threats to democracy and certainly authoritarianism could be a threat to democracy. They can't really coexist. They think Donald Trump is an authoritarian figure or increasingly authoritarian. I would ask them back, do you think having an inept president made inept by dementia and having shadowy people around him making decisions, initiating the auto pen?

Using that executive, do you think that also would be a threat to democracy, similar to Donald Trump's authoritarian ism? And I, I would make the case and I'm not agreeing that Donald Trump's an authoritarian, but let's just temporarily concede the point here. Donald Trump's trying to become a king. I would say having shadowy, unelected, largely nameless people making decisions for a dementia ridden president is at least an equivalent threat to democracy.

But yet you tolerated you. Now, you may not agree that it's an equivalent threat to democracy, but I think you could agree it is a threat. But you tolerated it. You participated in the gaslighting. You went along with the delusion that the media and the Democrat, Democrat party tried to throw over everyone and so I guess I struggle with the moral authority here.

They also talk about how sacrosanct our democracy is. And yet when you look at how they chose their nominee, do they like is that is that really true? They of course, through their no. King's day, which was a Defcon five or wait, which one is the big this scary one, Defcon five or Defcon one? Anyway? Defcon scary.

And, they it's okay. This is a threat to democracy. But you're. You didn't even hold a primary. You coronated Joe Biden. Then it became clear he can't win. And you, Coronated Kamala Harris, speaking of royalty, you anointed her with the nomination. Not a single vote for Kamala. And then you tried to get rid of Donald Trump the first time after he was duly elected.

And you tried to even remove him from state ballots that he clearly had won the right to be, on. So when we look at it, you know how we always talk about this phenomenon of projection within the Democrat Party in and among the left, this, I believe, this mass delusion that they held on Saturday is another example of it.

The authoritarianism that they are warning us of is actually in their hearts. They're the ones that are okay with all sorts of environmental mandates that might take your business away, that might restrict your everyday function as a human being that might tax you into oblivion. They're okay with telling you you have to get a vaccine. You have to wear a mask.

You have to shut down your business when there's a pandemic. They're okay with authoritarianism. So that is the language they speak. They roll out the red carpet when Jinping visits from China. Apparently there is some kind of fondness for totalitarianism in their hearts if used in behalf of their agenda. But they know we actually do care about freedom.

So there no Kings Day. Their delusion that they held on Saturday to their cause play and and make no mistake, this is patriot cause play for them. They don't really care about the country. They care about their agenda. And then they wrap it in the flag. There was one flag that was upside down. I don't know if you saw that or not, but it's cause play, they don't actually care about it or else they care about it all the time.

We truly do care about it. And Donald Trump's not becoming a king. He's not trying to be a king. The one sound clip they might reference was an answer to a question by Sean Hannity basically throwing it to Donald Trump. Some people are saying you're trying to become a king or a dictator. Are you only on the first day?

Well, it was sort of a flip joke. He was just saying, yeah, I've got some executive powers to employ here to undo what Joe Biden was doing. And if you listen to the rest of his answer, that's exactly what he said. It's just in response to the authoritarian actions that have been taken by the handlers of the previous president.

So I hope this is my hope. And I suppose this is sort of the sad reality of our our politics today. You have people who know this. You have nefarious political players out there that know that Donald Trump's not trying to become a king, but they also know there's an overabundance of useful idiots that will take their talking points and run with it and create political advantage for them, create political leverage for them, create the optics of a of a mass political movement underway.

They know Trump. Trump could not become a king in our invited. He just cannot do that. In fact, that's the very reason why we have a constitutional republic in America is to prevent the rise of a king. It can't happen. Okay, now, the only way that it let me let me take that back, because I feel like those words could come back to haunt me when I say it can't happen.

It could happen. But the only way it could is if it came from the left. I, I there was one moment when I talked to a protester and she absolutely insisted. She's the one that told me I need to go get, civics, lessons. And she said, Congress has never, ever delegated their authority when it comes to tariffs, because she asked me, what she thinks every every thing the courts do is correct.

And that basically is what she was implying in our conversation. And, I said, okay. No, the if there's checks and balances, if we have co equal branches of government, how is it that judicial always prevails over executive? I thought they were co equal, which means a piece of paper from the judicial branch signed by a judge should never, no pun intended.

Here Trump a piece of paper from the executive branch signed by a president. How does that how does that someone explain that to me? I mean in very real terms. How is it that a judge, unelected someone you've never heard of before, that's not even on the they're a they're in some federal district somewhere that covers a handful of states.

They can actually usurp the authority of the duly elected president of the United States. How how does that happen? Do we need checks and balances? Yeah, that's that's an important part. But someone tell me, how do we referee that, especially when you have what appears to be a massive number of injunctions that are being put forward by these regional federal judges that assert jurisdiction over the entire country.

You tell me who's acting more like a king? Some judge in whatever district signing a piece of paper, and it reverberates around the country, and it ties the hand of the president of the United States, the guy who is the product of democracy in America. You tell me what looks more like a judge or, excuse me, a king, an authoritarian, an autocrat.

Who, who a who's the autocrat? The unelected signer of a piece of paper that apparently has weight and teeth around the entire country, or the president elected with a nice mandate, with massive electoral votes, winning every swing state, doing what he said he would do. The problem is, and I'm going to be honest with you, are there areas where Donald Trump may be stressing the parameters of his authority?

Probably, yeah. I'm not I'm not going to be naive about this, but how is it that we give a judge even more authority than that? That's when it's Congress's role to step in. That's when Congress needs to say, okay, we're going to push back on this. And they have in the past. So, I, I feel for these folks, I think that they actually live with emptiness in other parts of their lives.

And this is a way for them to feel purposeful. It's a way for them to feel like they belong. And they show up. They make signs, they participate in the rah rah. But what they're really doing for some of them, not all, but for some of them, they are projecting because they're the ones that have authoritarianism written on their hearts.

They're the ones that are okay with environmental mandates, with health mandates, with all sorts of the mandates that have come from lefty agencies in the federal government. I'm going to take a quick break. It's 826 on Newstalk 179 back after this Smoking Day protest, crying about tyranny and a military parade. Yeah, the same military. Don't let your kombucha sip and sign waving at cream.

President in public without getting snatched up by the secret police. You're protesting the rise of tyranny in a country where you can literally scream the president in front of a cop. Live streaming on three different platforms, and then drive home to microwave your plant based lasagna in peace. Try this North Korea and see if you don't wake up in a labor camp building a statue of a real king.

You're not fighting tyranny. You're throwing a hissy fit at the birthday party of the dudes who literally protect your right to throw them. This is not a revolution. It's a selfie fueled participation trophy gathered. What this is, is a straight up branded cry for attention, with matching t shirts and hashtags. And the irony we won't be silenced at the same time.

Trying to cancel a dude who misgendered your ferret. You do want a king, you just want one that agrees with you. All right, it's 831 now on Newstalk 1079. You know, I was really hoping that President Trump on Saturday morning said is why I'm not an advisor to the president. But I was hoping that he would send out on Truth Social here.

Ye hear ye, I shall allow all of you peasants to hold your little protests on this day, and then have him show up later to the military parade in a big, huge, gaudy crown and a beautiful velvet robe, like holding a staff like. I think that the theatrics and the optics of that would have been beautiful. But no, he he was just Trump held.

They held a military parade and anyway, that now I will say I probably didn't have the best motivation for wanting him to do that, because I would have loved to have watched the, the meltdown of the people if he had put on Truth Social. I shall allow you little peasants to hold your protest and then off with your heads.

Okay, maybe that would have been a little too, a little too, too much. But at any rate, they don't believe it. I'm telling you, they do not believe it. That they. Some dude like you got this handful that aren't paying attention on a really surface, cursory level, they might think, oh, yeah, Donald Trump's trying to become a king.

You do it. But put the ones who are smart, the ones who actually passed civics class. They know Donald Trump's not. They just don't like what he's doing. So they have to find this over the top, ridiculous way to frame it. So, one of the attendees who I caught up with was city councilman, John Radford.

I'm walking through there. I'm like, okay, I don't really know. These are not my friends. Like, these are not people. A barbecue with these are not. And but there was John Radford. So you think Trump's trying to become a king. Well I guess the premise to this whole thing. Yeah I know I, I don't think that but I do think he's trying to expand the power of the presidency to a point that I don't think any of any of the conservative friends that I have would be comfortable if Aoki's then got the same powers that he's fighting for now, and it's guns and not immigrants, and he declares emergency because there's been so many

deaths of guns, and she comes into your house and says he, you can't have that rifle because I decided, right, it's not good. So due process matters. And fighting this out in the course of the week in Cleveland that Trump is doing, going into people's homes and telling them what they can and can't. So going into a restaurant or a Home Depot and seeing someone that's flat and then take it and arresting everyone and finding out later whether they're citizens or not.

How do we know they're illegal when you because we've arrested veterans that are currently in the military because they look like and they don't have their papers, maybe that's right. They do. But how does that feel different to you? If you're the gun owner and you get your out and you go to jail and then you find out you didn't have a gun, and so are you saying then the Trump administration is arresting people without any evidence at all just because they're brown?

Well, I'm not saying that's happening all the time. I'm saying it has happened. We have really clear fakes can be made. Yes. And that's why you have due process. That's why the justice system is built the way it is. Yeah. And I did hear someone say, hey, there's millions of people that. So we have to take some shortcuts.

Yeah, that would be nice if that could solve the problem faster, because I agree we should have safety be our. That's our number one priority. Right. Okay. So that then you know they're talking about the the deportations. Now my understanding of the Trump deportation policy is the instant they find out they're legal, they're legal. But when they're illegal, if they deter, especially if they have a criminal record, they'll get deported as they should.

So I, I, I'm not quite sure if I look, I kind of see the point that Councilman Radford is making here, but even when you find the illegals that are criminal, they'll fly to the country to which that person's deported, sit down and have margaritas with him, and not really tell you the truth in their description of, Garcia, they won't say, well, he's a suspected human trafficker and drug dealer and Ms13 gang member.

I mean, these are all things that are. He's now being convicted for it, and they continue to insist that he's just a gentle Maryland father. He's a Maryland man. That's the problem that I can understand. Councilman Radford's point, if the other side was honest about the issue and maybe he's not wrong, that after you have years and years and years of unlawful entry, basically open borders until the last six months of the presidency, when they realized it was a political liability, they changed the policy.

But it was millions and millions of illegal, illegal border crossers coming in. There's not really a perfectly clean and surgical way to undo that. So in the in the monumental effort it requires to clean up the immigration mess created by Joe Biden, are there going to be a few mistakes made and made? Made maybe, incorrect identities, but yeah, sure, you're going to find those exceptions.

But I promise you the the rule here is that once they determine a person's here legally and lawfully, there's not a problem. They can stay. They're free. They're free to go. So a it's kind of like if you're well, I'm not even going to make that comparison. You all know the point that I'm trying to make. All right.

Town and Country Garden, let's talk about town and country gardens for just a moment. Over the weekend again, it was Father's Day weekend. I still didn't get step two put down, but that's okay because I have June and July to do it, so there's plenty of time. But you will love what the four step lawn program can do for your your lawn.

It's very easy. Like I said, it's four steps. Teammates usually put those down in the spring, but it's not too late. If you haven't started, get them. Get those down. Let them sit. Water, run on it for a week or two, and then put down step two and you will be all completely caught up and on your way to having a beautiful green, lush yard.

They also have at town and Country gardens all the things that you need for your garden plants, vegetables, fertilizer, pest control, all of the things they've got it for you. If you're landscaping, they can help you with that. If you need hanging baskets for your patio or your Eve, they can help you with that. To stop by town and country gardens.

South of Idaho Falls on the Yellowstone Highway across from the Budweiser plant. And tell them that Neil and Julie Sentia. All right, it's 839. We'll open up the phone lines now. 208542107 I'd love to hear what your experience was, what your hot take is on the big protests from over the weekend. And we'll do this on the other side right here on Newstalk 179.

It's 844 now on Newstalk 117. If you'd like to reach the program. The Stones Automotive Group calling text line is (208) 542-1079. That's 285421279. And we're going to go right to the phones. Caller go ahead. How are you today? Morning, Neil. First of all, very nice meeting you and Julie on Friday. You guys have a beautiful studio, and I found you both very welcoming and friendly.

Not that I expected anything less, but with these people screaming on the sidewalk, I'd be curious if you stopped 100, 100 of them and said, hey, you live in Idaho Falls? Can you name your city council people? Or even the mayor, maybe a state representative or state senator? I mean, what did Dan Bond generally used to say if he was on the air?

Politics was local. These people, while I appreciate every right to go out there and scream on the sidewalk, do you do they really think that Donald Trump is going to go, oh my gosh, the people in Idaho Falls are screaming, I better change course than what I'm going to do. No, in fact, now he's stepping up the Ice raids.

He's going to flood the big cities. But I think these people, most of them couldn't tell you who any of their local elected officials are. I would I would agree with that. I think they identify largely with these sort of global, larger macro issues that the Democrat Party has bestowed on them. And, and they probably don't engage on the local level like you're describing.

Rush Limbaugh used to talk about these people, and he would describe them as the people that want to belong. These are the people that were left out of mainstream society because they chose to not participate. And now they can go and be a part of something. And here it is. Yeah. No. Agreed. And thank you, Anthony. It was good to meet you on Friday as well.

And we appreciate you stopping by. Have a great day. All right. Take care. All right. (208) 542-1079. Little reprieve from the heavy politics Friday was spectacle killer. Julian. I had a great time. And we had it scheduled from 11 to 1. So a two hour open house. It was a steady stream, even for about a half an hour past the open house time.

And there I don't think we had any moments at all where we didn't have listeners coming in, and sometimes they were stacked four and five deep outside the studio, and we met some of our listeners who have been only callers up to this point, and that's always fun to meet them in person and to hear from them. One of them even said, not not the last caller, but one of the callers.

And open House attendees said, yeah, you hung up on me holding holding me to task. I'm like, well, don't take it personally because it's it's never meant that, like, but all right, it's 847 2085421079I received a picture a few minutes ago, and it was a great picture. And it's a picture of a barbecue grill couple at nice, thick, delicious steaks.

And it looks like they were roasting some corn on the cob as well. They said Grand Peak's meats for the Father's Day dinner win. And then they put. Admittedly, I did add my secret blend of spices on the tri tip and gargantuan T-Bone, which is totally fine. Grand peaks is great. They're selling you delicious meat. If you want to add your own blend of spices to it because you like that, that's perfectly fine too.

But Grand Peaks primates like this family has what you want. If it is a thick, delicious, juicy steak, you'll find it. Whether it's a T-Bone, maybe it's a tri tip. What? Whatever it is, you're going to find it at GG Prime meats.com. They don't have just steak or beef. They also have pork. They have chicken. They have other cuts as well.

They have pre served pre-cooked crockpot meals that all you really have to do is heat them up. And in fact they may be crockpot meals. But one thing you can do if you don't have the 4 to 6 or seven hours to slow cook your meal. I've done this before. Did this with the French dip slice, open the bag, dump it into a, sauce pan frying pan, and in about 15 20 minutes it is totally ready to go.

So it's a quick meal if you don't want it to be a a crock pot meal. G.P. primates.com and check out what you'd like to have in your freezer. Very competitive pricing and also they do free delivery in the Idaho Falls area. If you live farther out than that, they can deliver for a nominal fee. You can ask them about that when you get Ahold of them.

That's GG primates.com. It's 850 a quick break. We'll be back after this.

It's 854 on Newstalk 179 and the November 5th, 2024 presidential election in Idaho, Donald Trump received 605,000 votes. So this was the preemptive counter rally to Saturday. I mean, if we're going to make a comparison here, some news reports had the, the numbers in Idaho Falls. I heard, local news eight saying 1300. I don't know if anybody actually anybody unbiased actually counted.

Okay, I'll tell you, I've been to a number of different events walking through. I usually okay at estimating I would say there's 4 to 500 people there. I don't think there was 13 or 1400 people, at, at that rally. Now, did you see the wide shot of the Boise rally? They had a lot. There had to be probably maybe 5000 people there and maybe more.

I don't know, it's a lot of people, they they did get a lot out, but they got a lot of people out in, in Nampa when Bernie and AOC showed up. No, I promise you, if you did a Venn diagram of the attendees of the Bernie AOC rally, a month or two ago with the attendees at this rally on Saturday in Boise.

It's almost a complete overlap. Like there it is just the the same people, they feel like they live in exile. These are not just average, ordinary, good, decent people that vote Republican, and their eyes are waking up to the coming authoritarianism that is Donald Trump. Okay. This is a galvanization of Idaho's counterculture. And they they've done a pretty good job of galvanizing.

And, I know the Democrat Party announced that they've got some new initiative to try and cultivate. Candidates get on the ballot. And, Julian, I were laughing about it last week because those are all the things that a political party ought to be doing. They've just slapped a name on it, something action in Idaho, something like that. And I, I think that the stronger you the this is sort of this equal opposite reaction phenomenon where Donald Trump has done such a good job of galvanizing conservatives and Republicans that if you're not in that group, you're feeling desperate, you're feeling like you're being smothered, you feel like you're being totally left out.

So you're a little more eager now to seek out other people like you and to show up at things like the oligarchy rally and the No Kings rally. It's a fascinating, fascinating thing to watch because I, I think I could objectively and demonstrably sit down and show you over time how it's actually the left, the progressives and the Democrats that function more authoritarian than it is anything that Republicans are Donald Trump is doing.

It also speaks to something I've been warning about, really since probably a year before Donald Trump was reelected, which is as he restores integrity to the Republic, meaning he he'll uphold the rule of law that he swore to uphold, including our immigration laws. That and unwinds some of the executive orders that, Biden. Well, Biden's people with an auto pen put in place, who knows that is going to feel like authoritarianism.

And I believe this is a manifestation of that. Lawfulness feels like authoritarianism after a season of lawlessness. We'll break. It's 859 on Newstalk 170 an hour or two coming up. Okay, I'm now getting pictures of, the grill with people's Ribeyes and T-Bones. I love it. We had burgers yesterday. Welcome back. It's our two. If you'd like to reach me on the program, I want to open up the phone lines wide open.

We can make this a caller driven hour and no doubt you've got a hot take on the No Kings protest. You can feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. I think the best explanation for this, and I'm going to get to a text or two about this. The best explanation for this is that this was a mass delusion on Saturday, and it was a projection of what was written on their hearts, largely that they know their approach as, let's just say it for simplicity's sake, the Democrat Party has progressives.

They like authoritarianism. They like to utilize government power that usurps the individual. That's their language, that's their familiar landscape. But they know for Trump supporters, that's how they can reach us by warning us about a king and about authoritarian it. So I, you know, it's it's against my general nature to assume the worst of other people. I don't I try to find the benefit of the doubt.

And as I've watched all of this unfold, this, this kind of Trump Derangement syndrome and I, I think that TDs is in a fewer number of people this time around, but it appears to be more intense and it manifests in different ways. Someone texted in and said, great idea, Neil. Wish you and Julie would create a series highlighting how it is their side.

That already is what they accuse the other side of doing. They complain of what they already are, but their accusations are not for themselves. Keep in mind, these are not people that held protests when the government was telling you to to mask up and vax up and to stay home. And I could do a really quick flash poll, right?

Let's do it via text. I'd love to get your hot take on this. When did you feel the authoritarian ism the most? Was it during the pandemic or right now under Donald Trump? When did you feel the weight of authoritarianism? And, I think I know what's going to come in. I think you can all see the point that that, that is being made here.

Tom Homan, a quote as sent by a listener just seconds ago, they don't want to admit that we're fixing what they broke. This, in a way, is boot camp. This is Donald Trump, and there's really nothing, like I look at boot camps. A bad analogy, because that really is kind of authoritarianism that you willingly subject to, by the way.

But with Donald Trump, this is him coming in and saying, we can't continue to operate the way we have you. We can't continue to just let people come across. We can't continue to ignore the law. We just can't sustain it. And it's a major problem. It is an existential threat to our country and to our country's identity, and we're going to put a stop to it.

So for those people who fondly had hoped that this influx of illegal immigration would bolster their party's ranks in perpetuity, these are the these are the wailing pains of of them losing that. They know that it didn't work and it's not going to work, and that enforcing the law is depriving them of their fever dream that Democrats were going to be elected in perpetuity from now on.

Now they, they come up with all sorts of shenanigans to win electorally. The one shenanigan they can't figure out is win over the hearts and minds of the American people. So they have to go two different ways to. That's why they love the judiciary so much, because it's not the judiciary is not a direct extension of the will of the American people.

That's why they don't want voter ID, they don't. I, I could go on and on and on about all of the anti-democratic ideas that the Democrats have. By the way, I love all the texts coming in. I asked just a few seconds ago, when did you feel authoritarianism the most from your government? No doubt it happened during Covid.

Well, Neil, that's an unfair comparison because there was a pandemic going on and we had to keep the country safe and or okay, I don't think authoritarianism is the answer any time, Covid during the pandemic, no question. During the pandemic, we got authoritarian authoritarianism from all levels of government. That is very true. That's true. We got it from state agencies and governments, and we got it from the federal government.

The plandemic, someone said, someone said when I had some 21 year old purple haired nursing school student scream at me to put a mask on. Yeah, that might have been, feeling pretty authoritarian. Democrats have been playing loosey goosey for years. And, as soon as Brad Little shut down our state when he deemed some businesses essential and others not, right, they might as well be protesting against the American people, because this is what we voted for.

True. I would agree with you, but I would also argue not. And not that you're saying this, but I want to give clarification here. I don't believe that we voted for authoritarianism. I don't believe that we voted ourselves into bondage. I challenged the premise of the assertion that we are living under increased authoritarianism, under Donald Trump, or a king or monarchy, whatever word you want, they don't even know what words to use.

But they they, they don't. What they're feeling is we've gotten away with not having to uphold the law for so long now, when somebody upholds it, it's uncomfortable. Any parameter being restored is going to feel like authoritarianism. Let's go to the phones. Hey, caller, how are you today? It's good. Right? Is that me? Yes, yes. Go ahead.

Okay. Well, one thing that I think that sometimes people forget to realize about when you're doing illegal immigration, you're not. You're not. Those people are not coming in wanting to assimilate to their new country. They're going to they're not wanting to learn their civic laws. They're not wanting to learn their culture, their language. So there's a huge difference.

And that's why you see such a push back of illegal, immigration against the Eagle, because they get all the work. They want to join that country. They want to support it. Yes, I find it at it's asinine to think that someone depriving them of something, you know, depriving them of anything. It's a choice. Yeah. You do. I get the same rights if I go to any of those countries.

Absolutely not. I get nothing. So, you know, you bring up a great point. I want to read this to you, because I've seen this making the rounds around social media. So I apologize to our listeners if they've seen this before, but I want those who haven't to maybe absorb this analogy. So I went to Costco without a membership.

I snuck around the card readers. I didn't want to wait in line to get an actual membership or or a one day pass. They caught me in the store and asked me to leave, or go to the service desk and get a membership instead of leaving, I demanded free products and food, and waved a Sam's Club flag in the middle of their store to show them just how much I love Costco and want to stay when they still.

When they still asked me to leave, I began stealing whatever I could and through frozen hamburger patties at security, they should have just let me shop there without a membership because I'm special. I think it's a good analogy. It's 100% a good one. It's spot on the reality to think that we owe somebody from another country anything. I don't owe you a damn thing.

Nobody in this country owes you anything. We are blessed to be here. It's a privilege to be here, and we support our country. Now, if you want to come in and you want to join, thanks a lot. Learn all the civics rules. Learn, learn our language, learn our culture. Embrace it. Enjoy it. We're happy to do. We're happy to welcome you back.

I think we owe you something. You're out of your ever love and mine. And I'm so tired of it. And I don't care what country you're coming from. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's not a racial thing whatsoever at all. It's a it's about the entitlement. That's the problem. Yes it is, it is. And you know what? Because when you go to other people who have never left their little bubble of this country or their little state or whatever little thing they're living in, you are you're a denial.

If you think they're going to give you any support or anything for free. They don't care if you can't speak the language. They don't care about any of it. Yeah. Your problem. You came here well, and in that case, nobody calls that racist either. That's just a country defending its its own identity and borders 100%. They don't owe me a thing.

If you don't like it, then don't go visit. Yeah, agreed. Doesn't owe me a thing. Yeah. You don't like it? They don't come. And the thing is, is. Yeah. And I think we have like the younger generation, they're on board. You can see these young kids saying we're tired of this. We're tired of being indoctrinated that America is bad.

You have this middle 30, 40 idiot. This age group where they were always pampered and given everything and think somebody owes them something and they are just college idiots. They went to college, become dummies. It's like, oh yeah, we owe you because you're dumber and a box of rocks and you bought everything some stupid professors told you it's our fault.

Oh, okay. Yeah. No, it's not our fault. I mean, I think I. Where the heck did the Patriots go? Oh, you know what? They're coming back. There's a big gap. But they're coming back because you thought rest of America stood up and said we're done. It has nothing to do with race. And if you want to use that card, it's a weak argument.

Worse, I don't care if somebody calls you racism. Are you serious? You actually both. You just say it. Just to say it. Yeah. You got no. You have no solid argument to stand up and say this country is not obligated to give you anything. We're not obligated to give you something. Well, you know, well, Donald Trump was the I'm mad as hell and not going to take it any more president like that.

That was the point that the country reached. They were tired of the nonsense and the garbage and and this, this idea, these the accusations of racism being flung everywhere and cancel culture. Everyone got sick and tired of it. And I think that Donald Trump is emblematic of that entire mood for the whole country, 100%. And, you know what?

The mass majority of Americans are sick and tired of it, and people who came here legally are sick and tired of it. Yeah. Caller well, I love your call. Thank you very much, I appreciate it. Love your passion as well. (208) 542-1079 let's go back to the phones. Hi, caller, how are you today? Well, good. I totally agree with what your former caller was advocating.

I don't believe anybody who comes to this country, especially illegally, as those who want to become citizens legally should not enjoy the rights of our laws until they're citizens. Yeah. And you know, another thing that makes me mad is like Winfrey and Oprah, Roseanne Barr, if they left the country yet. Yeah. You know. Well, no, but there but there's I mean, the point is, they're citizens.

I mean, I, I it to me, that's a moot point regardless of race or background or whatever, that that doesn't matter. It's lawfulness. It's people who said, I'm going to do it the right way. And I embrace everyone who says, I want to do it the right way, regardless of where they came from. Well, and I agree with you 100%, but the problem is and has been we've had the open borders under the Democrats for so long that people feel like they're entitled to come here.

Yeah. And get everything the citizens have. Yeah, yeah. It's true. Yeah. Well, by this point, real quick. Yeah, I've given the thing up. I'm going out to my barbecue or I'm. I'm going to melt my Sam's membership Club card. Don't do that. Like you've got it now. Don't don't you work so hard to get it. So thank you.

All right. You have a great day. Bye bye. You too. 28542107. So here, one of the thing I'm not going to play because I don't have it all cued up. But in my conversation that I thought was spirited but civil with Councilman Radford, who was at the No Kings protest on Saturday, is that he brought up separating parents from children.

And, it's sad. I don't don't misunderstand. But it was their choice that got them in that situation. If I decide I'm going to drink and drive and I go to jail, are there going to be people out there that will weep and wail? Because a father's being separated from his daughter and his wife and family? No, because I, I was the idiot that chose to make decisions that separated me from my family.

So if you're choosing to come here, you're actually putting your relationships with your family at risk. But then if you do that and you do get caught, then you play on the sympathies of the American people who I think are prone to being compassionate and to being kind. And I think that probably is going to be, a problem, that, that we have moving forward.

I want families to stay together. That's super important to me. And I think that if you have illegals who are here, but they are obeying the laws, otherwise they're not committing other crimes out there, they should be low on the priority list, but they're still on the list. It that's what the law is, that that's the very nature of law.

And people don't understand that. They think the law. Let's go back to Joe Biden for a moment. They think the law is something is a suggestion that you can choose, if you'd like, whether or not to enforce the border. Now, I haven't read it at length our entire immigration law. Maybe Congress did give the president the authority or the Constitution gave the authority to let the president ignore the border.

I doubt it. I just think the system doesn't enforce the president enforcing the border, if that makes sense. I could ask it like this. What's worse, authoritarianism or anarchy over lawfulness or under law or lawlessness? I don't know if you can argue which one is worse, but what I know is that for most of his term as president, we saw this to some degree under Obama as well.

But most of Joe Biden's presidency was a complete ignoring of our immigration laws and allowing people to just flood across the border and get into the interior of the country. Is that any better than what they think they were protesting on Saturday? In either case, you have a, and I don't agree with their premise, but for the temporary discussion, we'll just give them the point here.

If Donald Trump indeed was becoming a king, is that worse than a president who refused to uphold the law? I don't think so. The law is the law, and it's important in any context. All right. 925 (208) 542-1079 and I will say, I've, I've seen this Costco, Sam's Club, analogy several times over the last 48 hours. And I, I would love it if somebody has a counter view to this and tell me how it's not like that, or give me the reason why.

It's a flawed analogy. I'm all ears. Look, I, I'm, I'm open to having a wider view on this, but right now I look at this and that's exactly what it is. You want to be here so badly. Well, if you want to be here so badly, then our laws should matter to you. We'll be back after this. 931 on Newstalk 1079.

If you'd like to reach us on the program. (208) 542-1079 let's go right back to the phones. Jim is in Idaho Falls standing by. Hi, Jim. Hi, Neal. I didn't make it over to the, no keys because I was waving a flag in Amman. But I was wondering, were there any American flags burnt there at Broadway Bridge?

Not while I was there. I did see an American flag waving upside down. But I didn't see anyone burning the flag. UK did you have a chance to talk to many recent immigrants? No, I, I, I not really. I talked to a handful of people, but, but but no. Why? How come? Well, I don't know any recent immigrants.

I know some that immigrating in like 20, 30 years ago. But I guess I'm trying to understand, since I don't know any. And I've got three questions that I can't get anybody to answer, and they are. If their country was so bad, why did they leave? The second is, why did they choose to come to the United States?

And the third is if their country was so bad and the United States is so good, why are they trying to turn the United States into their country? They left. Yeah. Yeah. It it's a well, it's a very it's a great question. And it's similar to the question or the concerns we all have when you see a lot of people moving to a place like Idaho, from places like California and Washington come here and live here, but leave the bad ideas at the border because we, we, we want to keep Idaho attractive.

The things that made you want to come here in the first place? I think the same could be true among different countries as well. That's probably very true. Yeah, well, have a good day. Thank you, Jim, I appreciate that. So I you know, it's a good question, but here's the problem. I think the premise of the question may be a bit flawed.

Not not to Jim's problem here or fault. But I their, their claim is that our country is so racist. Have you ever wondered about that? Here you have the far left. Who says America's a racist country? Look at look at the whole basis of Dei that we have racism here. We have, and it's a terrible country.

Okay, then, if it's so racist, then why? Why are people risking their lives to cross deserts and dangerous oceans to get here and to risk staying here illegally? If it's so bad, why do people come here at such great risk? It it. And then you have the very same people saying that America's bad defend keeping everyone here. You really can't have both.

You have to recognize the greatness that is America. The freedom, the abundance, the the, majesty that is the United States of America. Not to use a term akin to a king here. Sorry to use the word majesty. Don't mean to trigger all, you know, kings people out there, but when you look at our nation, people are coming here because it's a great place despite our problems.

It's a it's a great place. But you can't the people the what was it? The what projects? The 1619 project. You listen to those people. They hate this country. They absolutely hate this country. But yet they work so hard to stay here. Because it's. Why? Because, well, there's freedom here and there's opportunity and there's abundance and there's the prospect of prosperity at this country they hate.

This is part of the contradiction of the far left. And I could find so many examples of this over and over and over again, but I digress. (208) 542-1007 17 it's 936. Let's take another quick break here and keep on somewhat of a schedule. If you'd like to join me on the Stones Automotive Group call and text line that numbers 208542 179.

941 on Newstalk 1079. Neil Arsenal on Julie Mason. So I saw this headline on Idaho Capital Sun this morning. I think it might be a retread of a national story because they're using, a Getty image. And, it's co-written. Planned Parenthood at risk of closing hundreds of clinics, drastically limiting abortion access. Republicans include in their budget package a provision prohibiting Medicaid funding from going to any sexual and reproductive health clinics that provide abortions.

So that's part of a big, beautiful bill. If the budget reconciliation package before the US Senate becomes law in the coming weeks, reproductive health advocates say the provision that would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood clinics could serve as a back door nationwide abortion ban, eliminating access to 1 in 4 abortion providers. The Republican led bill, which already passed the House by a slim margin, is more than a thousand pages and includes sweeping tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy, coupled with steep spending cuts to social services, including Medicaid.

I mean, already you're feeling the tenor of this particular story. But listen, on page 339 of the bill, Republicans included a provision prohibiting Medicaid funding from going to any sexual and reproductive health clinics that provide abortions and received more than $1 million in federal and state Medicaid funding in fiscal year 2024. While there may be a few independent clinics with operating budgets that high, it effectively singles out Planned Parenthood clinics.

This next paragraph is very important. Planned Parenthood clinics rely heavily on Medicaid funding not to provide abortions, which is not permitted by federal law except in cases of rape, incest or life, but to provide standard reproductive health care at little to no cost, including treatment for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings, as well as contraception. Planned Parenthood provides services for about 2 million patients every year, and 64% of its clinics are in rural areas or places with health care providers.

Shortages. So, I guess my question would be, they rely heavily on Medicaid funding, but not to provide abortions. Then why don't you just stop providing abortions and continue to give all this care you say you're giving? Why would they choose to close their doors rather than just stop offering the service that is going to keep you from getting Medicaid funding?

See, this is where people will tell the truth in their actions. And I've heard this before, that all abortions, just a small part of what Planned Parenthood does. Okay, then if if you can't get the overall big, big chunk of your budget because you are giving abortions, why don't you just stop doing abortions so you can remain, eligible for the Medicaid funding?

The truth is, their business model is built on committing abortion. That's what it is. Now, we got all the stories about the selling of the baby parts and all of that. I'm not going to go down that route because it's so, gruesome. But they're actually telling the truth with their actions. They're not about just giving women health care sans abortion.

They're about committing abortions. That's what Planned Parenthood does. Even though their surface, superficial talking point is about, oh, it's just about women's health care. Planned Parenthood spokesperson said people who use Medicaid make up half of the total patient volume nationwide for essential health care services provided by their clinics, even though those patients are not seeking abortion care, funding cuts would affect the financial sustainability of those clinics.

The organization already identified that 200 of its clinics in 24 states are at risk of closure with the cuts, but told state's newsroom on Thursday that further analysis revealed nearly all of those clinics, 90% are in states where abortion is legal. I tell you again, that bolsters my point here. And in 12 states, approximately 75% of abortion providing Planned Parenthood health centers could close the entire organization.

It has about 600 clinics in 48 states. The one big, beautiful bill would result in nearly 11 million people losing access to health insurance by 2034, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and add 2.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next ten years. I mean, that's what they're saying, but can I just say it would result in nearly 11 million people losing access to health insurance by 2034.

What it if it's not provided free, does that mean they lose access? They can't go out and find a policy on their own. They can't find a job that offers health insurance. They can't go ahead. I mean, why do they write this stuff? The media is so the view of human beings by people on the left is that they are helpless, that these people that are getting Medicaid right now, these women that are getting government funded health care right now, have no options.

If that gets pulled from them. Well, no, it makes it a little harder. It requires more effort, but it doesn't lose. They don't lose access to health insurance. It just means they've got to live their lives differently to get it. This disempowerment language, an ideology by the left, is so incredibly frustrating. Alexis McGill Johnson, president and by the way, this is just garbage journalism.

They don't really tell you the full story. They just sort of regurgitate the leftist talking points. Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, told state's newsroom she and other advocates have been meeting with senators to lobby against the bill's passage, emphasizing that it will have an outsized negative effect on rural clinics and hospitals. How about this why don't you function as a as a clinic that doesn't provide abortion?

You can. If you did that, then you could still get Medicaid. You could still get that funding. But the truth is, you get so much money one way or another from committing abortion that, you can't operate any other way. We'll be back. We'll have our final segment coming up on Newstalk 179. All right. 953 on Newstalk 10792085421079.

So one of our and tag agonist listeners texted in, why don't you interview someone who came here illegally and asked them why they didn't do it? The quote unquote right way? I first of all, I don't know why you need quotes around right way. Obviously, that's a revelation about where the person texting it and we've got the text history here.

They're they're very much, Trump deranged. But I legal would be the right way. Illegal would be the wrong way. I, I don't know, I mean, didn't how old were you when you learned the right way, in the wrong way of things when it came, came to, good laws. I, I was quite young. And maybe, you know what?

Maybe your mom and dad didn't teach you. Maybe your parole officer didn't teach you. Maybe. Okay, I could go down really dark path here, and I'm. I'm not going to do that, but, I don't think that's. I don't think the right way needs to have quotation marks. I don't, you know, I it's a that's a weird deal.

Speaking of the big parade in Washington over the weekend for commemorating the 250th birthday of the Army, of course, it was characterized by the no. King's crowd as a dictator. Like, you know, how China has their big military parades. But listen to this. This is MSNBC and Chris Hayes. I want to go back to you, Ali, again, when we talk about this sort of, tension in the country and sometimes, you know, you and I have both been at Trump rallies, those can be, you know, very tense, a kind of, I would say like kind of a dark, malevolent energy sometimes in them.

Not always, but it doesn't seem like that's the energy on the on the ball today, which I think is a good sign, right? Correct. That you're, you're you're really correct about that, Chris. And it's something we you know, we were we were watching for. I'm just sort of surprised by the number of people who were at the front of the parade watching, cheering and then would come and asked to take a selfie.

Yeah, but this is a very different this a very different mood here. Yeah. It's a people seem to be going out of their way to, to say that they're here to celebrate the Army's 250th birthday. Now there are people walk around with signs moment ago while you're a Gen guy just came around and said Trump 2028. And I said, how does that work exactly?

And he's like laughing and had a big flag on him. So there's some politicization here. But it is not it's not not dark. It's not tense. It's not amped up. Yeah. It's different. It's a it's it's different from from covering a Trump rally. Yep. Okay. This is MSNBC. So all of my Trump deranged no Kings friends out there listening you you probably wouldn't accept it if I told you that the parade did not have dark, malevolent energy.

Those are Chris Hayes words, by the way. But Chris Hayes of MSM, like, you're a friend, your buddy, your your your folks over at MSNBC are telling you this military parade that Trump put on on June 14th, the birthday of the army. It also happens to be Flag Day. And, just had a listener remind us of that.

But yes, it was Flag Day on Saturday. There's a lot going on on Saturday, but that there was no darkness, there was no malevolence. It was a true celebration and appreciation of the US military. I don't know why they can't believe that that isn't the that isn't the case. I mean, it's it's really weird, to me that they cannot figure that out.

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That's manufactured home offers.com. Well, that's going to do it for me today Clay and buckle up next. I'll be back tomorrow right here on Newstalk 179.