How Real Patriots Fight Corruption And Build Back Local Power

What happens when the people who dig the ditches, run the lines, and raise the next generation decide they’re done with closed doors and whispered deals? We take you inside Southwestern Pennsylvania’s grassroots revolt against party gatekeeping and show how real reform starts at the county level, not on cable news. With guest leader Cheryl Keefover from Patriots of Green, we unpack how committees become bottlenecks, why pay-to-play culture pushes out young conservatives, and what it takes to replace fundraising theater with community wins.

We dig into the mechanics: open meetings under Robert’s Rules, transparent communication with precinct members, and simple norms that turn volunteers into a durable ground game. Then we connect politics to paychecks. From realistic permitting reform to smarter siting for transmission and data centers, we outline how to bring manufacturing and energy jobs back home without steamrolling landowners. Rivers, pipelines, and coal aren’t talking points here; they’re the backbone of family-wage work, and they demand planning that respects water, property, and neighbors.

Along the way, we face the cost of courage—smear campaigns, threats, and the pressure designed to make ordinary people quit. We talk about why some speak anonymously, why churches and civic leaders need moral backbone, and how a statewide network of patriot groups is locking arms to push past fear. This isn’t about starting a new party. It’s about reclaiming the GOP’s purpose with humility, integrity, and action—welcoming anyone ready to trade slogans for sweat.

If you’re ready to get off the sidelines, hit play and then join the ground game. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review telling us the one change your county needs most.

Transcript

Sponsors And Opening Monologue

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Hey everybody, this is John Marietta, and you're listening to the Hillbilly John radio show, or podcast, uh, however you're looking at it. Um, I want to thank everybody for tuning in, and I want to thank all my many sponsors today. I want to thank Burhand's Krause Funeral Home, Advanced Equipment Rentals, Solid Foundation Ministries, Thundering Hills Feed and Supply, JB's Market, Fayette Recovery Storage in U Haul, Mung's Auto Body and Repair, Mauser's Garage and Tire Center, Humbert Sanitation and Septic Service, The Ink Spot, Highline Motorsports, Southwestern PA Logging and Tree Service, Power Line Speedway, Maribeth's Towing, and Fayette Structures. Um, if you can see the logo up on the screen right now, uh we're we got room for plenty more, and we're gonna we're gonna do a little better job of getting that into some music and playing it along with some things as we go on. Uh, sponsors is what makes the world go round. So I'm gonna go ahead and go right into my opening. I'll tell you what, folks, this is the Hillbully. Obviously, you're tuning in to listen to me. And this is the Hillbilly John radio show coming to you live from the back roads of God's country in the great state of Pennsylvania. My grandma, a woman of dirt roads and strong prayers, used to say, humility leads to integrity and integrity leads to courage. By the grace of Almighty God, we'll take this party, the GOP, back, and we're gonna take our country back too. Well, grandma, I believe your words are ringing through every holler and every hilltop this evening. Because the true hearted, the true-hearted people are waking up. From the coal veins of Green County to the dotted farms of Lancaster, the sound of Liberty's hammer is echoing again. The folks are coming together, not the polished elite who talk big and do nothing, but the real patriots, the ones who still stand for God, family, and freedom. Now let me see. Now let me set the record straight. Anybody can call themselves a patriot, but that don't make it so. You don't earn that title by hashtags and headlines. You earn it by standing. When st when standing ain't easy. Speaking truth when the truth costs something, and fighting for freedom when others running hide. Patriot ain't a name, it's a badge. You have to earn in the fire. The party of Lincoln has been hijacked by the high and mighty, the smooth talkers, the weak knee career cowards who bow down to the dollar. But I say today, no more backroom deals, no more selling out. Think about this. Thomas Jefferson said, the government you elect is the government you deserve. And by heaven, it's time we elect better. Not richer, not smoother, but better. George Washington warned us not to let ambition and corruption divide a free people. Well, it's divided now. But it won't stay that way if the good folks rise up again. We watched men in suits lose the fire of faith and the courage of conscience. They've they've traded truth for titles, power for principle, and righteousness for comfort. But let me tell you something. This very day, real patriots don't compromise with corruption. They confront it, they cast it out and clean house in the name of freedom. The good book tells us in Galatians 6 9, let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Think about that. We shall reap if we faint not. Folks, I believe that season is upon us. The season of reaping. And the harvest ain't about crops, it's about courage. President Trump lit a flame. The elites tried to smother, but that fire spreading again through the people, through welders, farmers, truckers, coal miners, preachers, patriots who ain't afraid to stand tall and speak plain. We're taking this party back. Yes, we're gonna take the GOP back. We don't want another one. We don't want to form another party, we want to fix the one we got. Not with bitterness, but with backbone, not with speeches, but with action. Humility, integrity, and courage. That's the path forward. And by the grace of Almighty God, we're walking it together. So stand up, Pennsylvania. Shake off, shake off the dust, roll up your sleeves, and remember, you gotta earn that name, Patriot. Every day you draw breath in the land of the free. This is the hillbilly, John, and I come, I came to tell you the days of the lead are numbered because the people are rising by faith, by grit, and by the grace of Almighty God. We're gonna take this party back. We are not after revenge. I'll say that again. We are not after revenge, but what we are after is a reckoning, and it's time for reform in the party. And I have Cheryl Kiefer here with me today, and um, I'll let Cheryl explain to you exactly her background, maybe a little bit, give us a little bit of background so we can move forward.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Yes, so my name is Cheryl Keefover, and I'm one of the leaders and co-founders of the Patriots of Green, and that's in Green County, Pennsylvania, Southwestern PA. Um, so it I guess today what we want to talk a little bit about is um it's been brought to our attention that we from the, if I want to say politically connected, the elite, the establishment, that we want to create a new party. That is absolutely not true. What we want to do is strengthen the party and corral everybody together. We just want people who serve we the people, not self-serving individuals. We want no more corruption, we don't want any more insider, uh, for lack of better wording, bull going on. Um, we just want good, honest, hardworking people. Um, you know, this is coal mine country. This is uh we we've got um the mecca of fossil fuels under our ground, and we are just proud to be from Southwestern PA. We fight, we're strong, we're good people, we've got courage and grit. And I think, you know, it's just time. It's time that we stand up and and we speak up for what's right. Um, when you've got party leaders running Democrats, um, switching parties the day before to run against incumbents, that's a problem. And and we're seeing that happen over and over. Uh and the favoritism given to the politically connected friends and family. I mean, our our people cannot survive that way. So you've got a team of grassroots individuals across the Commonwealth that are standing arm in arm. And I mean, we are locking arms and we're ready to go. But the problem is, is you know, these elected officials that are you know the ones that are serving themselves for money, power, and control, they don't have the groundroots game anymore. We do because we're tired of it.

Corruption And Party Elites Exposed

SPEAKER_02 8:47

So we're rising up. I want to tell you a little bit of a story. When I got elected the first time to the recorder of deeds office, I can't tell you um how many people told me, but I had this one friend of mine, he came to me and he says, John, he says, You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Right. And I thought to myself, you know, it I mean, I'm I'm the recorder of I will be the recorder of deeds. And he he said, Yeah, but he says, the corruption at the county level is unbelievable. And he's and I thought, okay, somebody gets somebody gets somebody gets their driveway plowed in this wintertime or gets salt put on it, or or or maybe they get a little extra asphalt off the road or something, or a bump put in or something, or when the water line comes through, they make sure that uh that they don't tear up their i i i thought of I thought all of them things. That's what I was thinking of. But but but you know what? These people sell their souls for pennies. Absolutely. I mean, they really do. And then I thought, why would you why would you take a chance on corrupting yourself over the amount of money that we're talking about? And it it was it was pennies, and I and I just it didn't dawn on me, but it isn't about money, it's about the power, it's about the it's about going to the ribbon cuttings, and it's about yeah, and guess what, people? We pay for all that with our tax dollars. Absolutely. We're paying for that with our tax dollars. They're not I mean with when they go to these ribbon cuttings, when they go to these grand openings, and and and and I mean, let's face it, I I I think Chick-fil-A is a great place, the a great place to go eat. Uh, the Longhorn Steakhouse is uh in the in the in the in the is a great place to eat. But when you when you think about it, they're only employing a handful of people, and them jobs are not paying$25 an hour with benefits. Right. So would you be would would you be more better off in Hillbilly terms, the the work on trying to get jobs and manufacturing into your county. Whether it's I mean, and you look at Green County, Washington County, and you and Fayette County and Somerset County and Bedford, and I'm talking about the it's like a little LW form here. And and you got you got you got Beaver and Butler too. So we might as well include them. I mean, the these people there there. We could have a we could have uh what what do they call it? Uh uh the with the gas, a cracker plant. Yeah, there should be one here, right? There should be one in between Fayette and Green County, it could sit right on the river, and I mean it didn't have to be on either, it could be on both sides of the river for for as big as they are. But why didn't that happen? Right. Why didn't that happen?

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Well, what we've come to find out, and you know this as well as I do. I mean, through all of your years in the political realm, it is like we get into it and we think, oh, yeah, just like what you said, maybe there's a little bit of, oh, you know, the township supervisors haul hauling that for somebody or this person's doing that. It's not like that. It is at a massive scale of corruption right now. It is so unbelievable that the lengths that they go to to serve themselves, and that is the problem. So if when when we're looking for good elected officials, we need to find officials that do not care about that. They care about the people because there isn't nothing is going to get done if you only want to serve yourself, right? You're on that's all you care about. You're not good, you're you don't care about the people, you just want in that spotlight, you want that job title, you want the power, money, and control. And you you want to be part of the elite status. It's it's takes people like us who don't who don't give a crap about the elite status. We don't care, we want to see good things happen in our district and where we live. I mean, we have children here, our grandchildren are gonna be here, and there's nothing for them. There, there, I mean, we are we are producing nothing for our next generation.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

And you're exactly right. And you and you look back and you think about where we started at talking about the parties. We're talking about uh the GOP specifically, and uh I take a lot of heat for calling calling them out, but they've they've hid uh all these things like like like like it was like they tried to keep things covered up for years with their with the state representatives they've had and the and in in the state senator, and now we're fine, and now it's all coming to light. And with social media and with with uh the the I mean the this particular podcast we're doing right now and in the radio and things like that, it it's coming out, and and yeah, they're they're upset. They're upset because you know what, we're the the scale is is is going the other way now, and the people that dig the ditch and mine Nicole and put and work on the electric lines are saying, you know what, it's time I get in the game, it's time we get in right now, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

That's right, and that's what we always say get off the sidelines and get in the game because it's gonna take you to take your country, your government back. I mean, we absolutely have to take our government back, and it's specifically talking about the GOP. There are some good people there, like we don't, like you said, we don't want to take over the party. None of us have that intention. The Patriots of Green have we have hundreds of people on our Facebook page. I think we're we're over a couple hundred right now, with multiple people that we talk to, multiple uh patriot groups that we associate with, and and we work with the GOP. We absolutely want to bring that unity together. We just don't want the bad individuals in there in leadership because they're they're taking our party in the wrong direction. Now, specifically, I'll bring up Green County because we are in Green County right now, and um, you know, that that's kind of what you brought me in here for. We've got, and I give the the people that work the credit, you know, like the worker bees within the party. They work their butts off. But we've got leaders who aren't doing the job of like, you know, even when they go to state committee, they're bringing the wrong information back to our people or the precinct committee people, like they are not speaking to the people in their township, municipality, or borough, the the precinct that they vote in. They're not talking to them about what's going on at a at a at a higher scale across the Commonwealth. Um, the Green County GOP had no clue that we had a house seat up for election. Now, I mean, it we told them, I was there the day. I said, we literally have a house seat up for election where we can win the majority. What are you doing? They had no clue.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

And then we did so you had a state house seat for election, and our local GOP had no clue.

County-Level Favoritism And Lost Industry

SPEAKER_00 15:38

So they said, Well, why do you lead this Patriots of Green group? Why don't you unite us together? I said, I would gladly do that. That's fine. Let's bring all of our followers, let's bring them into the GOP. But they don't want a king, they don't want somebody telling them what to do, how to think. We need open dialogue, follow Robert's rules of orders within the within the meetings, but have open dialogue.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Well, the biggest thing is, I mean, in Fayette County now, they shut the meetings down. Yeah, so only only executives. Well, it's it it's it's basically just they're the the people they want to be there, right? Are allowed to be there. Now they'll say, well, if you call and let me let me come, if you call, why should we have to call? We're Republicans. We're the Republicans. Yeah, I mean, they will maybe we don't like we maybe we don't like the candidate that you say that we should promote. Maybe maybe we'd like to have a choice. And that's part of that's and there should be.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

That's the problem. See, I just had so I and I'm not speaking on behalf of the state representative right now because although I am a patriot group leader, I'm also a political advisor across the Commonwealth, and I'm a campaign manager for state representative Bud Cook. Representative Cook has been berated for years, it's just been one thing after the other, coming after him. I mean, imagine somebody coming after your job every other year. You know what I mean? He's had a primary challenger every other year, and there's reasons behind that, and we won't get into it, but it's just a non-stop thing that happens. These people get into these clicks, leadership feels the power under their, you know, power under their feet, and they just can't let go of that. And I think what happens most of the time is that unfortunately, you do have these elected officials that are in these positions that are self-serving. So then as soon as you elect a new chairman or chairwoman, they're like, grab a hold of them, let's see what we can do, let's get them under our wing. Well, and that's not what we need. We need somebody who's going to stand strong and firm in their faith and it and in their beliefs and allow their committee to have an open dialogue and have an open platform, you know, to where we can actually do some good work because we could bring a lot of industry here and and and a lot of other things.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

So and I I I believe that that's I believe that that's where we have that's exactly what we have to do. We have to we have to be able uh we have to be able to they have to be able to see the other side, not just their side. And that's what they're trying to do. They want they want it to be about themselves, yeah. And and I mean it and their candidates.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

I mean, the other day I went up there to take petitions to the headquarters, and you've got and I and I I don't mean this, and I don't want this to be taken out of context. You've got a younger woman who's strong conservative, like they were looking for people my age and younger, I'm 43. They were looking for a younger age demographic to come to the committee and start helping, getting involved. And I came there, and in the amount of work that I do, you would think they would have open arms. But immediately it's like, no, no, no, your representative, which is the first ever elected Republican in Green County, state representative, he didn't kiss the ring when he when he got in in office here because when they switched the redistrict, he didn't kiss the ring. So we're gonna run people against him nonstop and we're gonna, we're just gonna, you're gonna be an outcast in our group and we're not gonna listen to anything you have to say. We don't want you involved. I was told um that I needed to pay a thousand dollars to put our state representative, who is the incumbent, in their window at the GOP headquarters. And when I refused and told him you can ask me for a donation, you cannot tell me what price you're putting on that window. He didn't like it, and it turned into a two-hour all-out attack of everything he could say, accused me of creating a patriot party and all of these things. That doesn't benefit anybody. When you've got people that are actually working, we're Republicans. You are there to represent the Republican Party of Green County, right? So when I said to him, I said, you need to be more welcoming of people because every time I talk to someone, they said, I don't want to come back to this committee because I don't like how it's being run and I don't like the person who's in charge. Well, he says, I don't owe them anything, I don't owe them anything, I don't owe them to be polite to them. Well, yes, you do, because you you were elected the chairman, so you do owe them that you owe them respect, and that's what we're losing as well. We don't have respect for the offices and people.

Grassroots Versus Establishment Tactics

SPEAKER_02 20:25

It it it it it's it's obvious. Uh uh at the at the fair this year, one of the candidates uh was running for judge. Well, I'll I'll tell her Maria Patista. Uh she came to she came to and you you know the story. Yeah, she came to the fairgrounds, and and I've had the same spot at the fairgrounds for years, five years, six years. I don't know how many years I've been there before I was recorder of dates. I've had the same spot. And uh they asked before before I mean we did the radio show. We I mean it was there, it wasn't like uh we were hidden anywhere. And uh they asked the Republican Party where she didn't know, she she wasn't from, and they asked the Republican Party, uh, some of the people that was leaders in the Republican Party, she wanted to come see me. Well, what happened was they told her they did they didn't know where I was, they couldn't, they couldn't really. Yeah, so so what it did was now all these people, all these patriot groups are watching that watch John Marietta, what's going on, they know she's at the Fayette County Fairgrounds, right? So Maria had to Maria didn't didn't know what I don't know whether she didn't think correctly, but she should have just said, Okay, don't worry about it, I'm going, I'll see you. And then she should have looked for me. That's what she should have done. But you know, I know I get it. When you're running for office, sometimes you're in a hurry, you're getting here or there, and everything. I'm uh but uh, anyways, she um she she all these Patriot people were seeing these posts from Fayette County and they're saying, Well, where's John? Why why didn't she go see John Marietta? And and it caused her some grief. And uh I so I had a fundraiser a couple weeks. Well, actually, it wasn't a fundraiser, actually, uh I I helped the fire department out with spaghetti dinner. That's that's how I ended up doing, and she came and uh she was there, and it was she kind of we kind of fixed that, and because I mean there was people from all over the state.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

She was a great candidate, and uh, I actually had to in one of our meetings, it actually might have been the one that I was telling them that we had a house seat up for reelection, and that like I would have had boots on the ground in Allegheny County, I would have taken a dozen people from our committee and said, Go spend the weekends with. The committee people from Allegheny County, let's get our member elected, right? Let's get let's win the majority here. It's a huge deal. But um that night, um, we were actually told at the committee meeting, everybody was told not to support her from the Green County um GOP after she won the primary. Well, no, this was prior to um, but still, in the same token, the the previous year um before that, we were all gung-ho. Everybody wanted, you know, let's push Maria, let's push Maria. But then all of a sudden, after the establishment said no, then the local GOPs just follow suit. I get that to an extent, right? I get it to an extent because we don't want to disrupt the party, but we want to disrupt the party. Like we want we want to fill the party with strong-willed, good advocates of the Republican Party, strong conservatives. Like I feel this fence riding, it just can't happen anymore.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Well, and I have a good friend of mine, he all he always says if you're gonna if you're standing in the middle of the road, sooner or later you're gonna get run over. Right, and that's what's happened with these people. Uh we um the state GOP is decided it's better to lose an election but raise money, right? Now that and you gotta scratch your head and think about what I just said, but it's the truth. They would they they're more uh they'd rather lose and raise money than win. Yeah, because it's it's it's happened over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

And what they did to what happened to Josh Prince, I mean, I mean Oh, yeah, we fought hard for Josh, and I I think that you know that's a lot of people's opinion that they care more about the money than they do about the candidate. I mean, even right now, and and I probably shouldn't get into this because I well, maybe we'll leave the governor's race alone. Maybe I shouldn't get into that right now. But I do want to talk a little bit about this this bothers me because I think a lot of our just our viewers, our voters who aren't in the mix, maybe don't quite understand how things go about, like even with what happened to you, and you can talk about that. But what I don't like is the techniques they use, the backdoor, you know, the the whisper campaigns. And obviously, we we utilize some of that to our benefit, but we put facts out. We don't get in the mud, we don't mudsling for any reason, we tell the truth, and um you have these people that do not want to be unseated because they have so much to lose, whether it's money, power, or control, just like I said. So they'll go to any lengths. There's no boundaries there. Like with us, we have, I feel like the the grassroots, the more of the MAGA conservatives, like you, you know, you're MAGA people, we have more morals and um we have boundaries. Where what like I look at myself in the mirror every day. I'm not gonna break my moral compass for anybody. And that's why, like, even when we we did bud signs, never bought, never broken. That's the truth of it. You're never gonna break us. And there's a lot of us, like you and I, that you're never gonna break us. You can come after us all you want, you can do all of you all you want. We are secure in who we are, we know what we're fighting for, and we're fighting for our future and for our children.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

I believe that um what what happened with my election, and I don't I don't want uh we don't need to reiterate it, but what happened was it was actually part of the there was a branch of the Republican Party in Fayette County and two of the state GOP uh uh representatives to the state, they they made it ugly. Yeah, they made it ugly. And it's a shame I wouldn't go along, I wouldn't get along with them. I mean, it would have been real easy for me just to be recorded of deeds and show up and not say nothing to nobody. Absolutely. But when I started calling out things and I started seeing them, and and I and and it and it happens, you it's a you you just see the tip of what happens, and then the next thing you know, you're you're you're looking under the water and you see this giant iceberg that that that they've created that they're trying to keep hid.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Well, and I think that people don't understand what like they're willing to do to stay in office, like you may see these mailers go out or different things, um, but you don't understand all of the backdoor crap that's going on when we're running for office, right? So the fact that they came after you, uh, you know, with both guns blazing, you know, it's just like they're and they're doing the same thing with us. And I feel like across the commonwealth, and I was just thinking about this this morning, um, there is so much of this going on across the commonwealth where you have these politically connected people, the the elite, the insiders that are that have so much to lose that there's no lengths that they won't go to. I I believe that during, I mean, we're getting to the point where people are going to start getting hurt, and that's unfortunate because there have been threats made. You there were there were threats made towards you. Yeah, and it's a shame living in Southwestern PA. I feel like this is the grit of the Commonwealth.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

And what what they do is instead of it once they realize that they're not gaining any ground with the candidate, then they start attacking the supporters, yes, and the fans, and their workers.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

I mean, I've been I I'm like, who would not take a position representing our first ever elected Republican? Of course I'm going to help you. I believe in everything you're doing, you're a good person, and I get attacked for it. It's just non-stop. And you know, people that have helped you have been have been berated, and and it's it's just it's a shame. I mean, we really we really have to. I know we are locking arms and we are a strong united force right now across the Commonwealth, but we really, really have to take our government back. We we cannot stop, we have to keep going. We just can't.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Well, I think now has to be the time in the time of Trump. Yeah. I think I think because of what what he's doing, uh, and you can see that that he doesn't let anything bother him. I mean, it's just like I mean, I mean, I mean, he he stood up in front of he stood up in front of the Congress and said, obviously, he, I mean, he he he was bold about it. He said, he said, if you're not for the for the US citizens, then you don't belong here.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Right. And the man, I mean, I was 20 feet from him, roughly. I mean, obviously, I didn't get a ta you know, uh measure out or roller out. Um, I was roughly 20 feet from him when he was shot, and with my niece and my daughter, um 12 and 10 years old at the time. And the fact that that man, I I don't know if you were there or not. I don't know if we ever got to talk about, but the the emotion that took over when I saw him get shot, and I'm thinking, oh my god, this is the man that's going to save our country. Like, and he just went down. But the fact that he had that that will, that grit, that strength inside of him, stand up and say, fight, fight, fight, that is something I still I got chills right now just thinking about it because what kind of person I mean to to to have a bullet graze you in the face and stand up and say that what that took.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

I it was it Teddy Roosevelt that got shot and and finished the speech? I think it was Teddy Roosevelt. I don't know I don't know. You're probably that marker right there. I might have that wrong, but but it but anyways, you you think about and and I I consider him the Teddy Roosevelt of our time. I do, I mean he he's a combination. He has he he he speaks with uh the the intelligence of uh you know uh Jefferson and Washington, but I mean he he has the grid of Roosevelt and you think about all the different things that he's uh done. Absolutely. I mean, let's face it, the people in Iran right now are cheering President Trump. I know.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

My my brother is there. My brother is in the military, so we just got word yesterday that he's fine and and the soldiers are are safe and they're doing their job. And they sent out the message to the chaos family. Our soldiers are doing fine. So we've been on edge all weekend, but yeah, I mean that that's something they were making, they were wearing make America great again hats. I mean, he is he is the epitome of what we all need to be right now. Like we we all as Americans, as patriots, and and somebody said that to me the other day. You're the patriot group leader in Green. You're you're you're the Patriot Party. I said, first of all, we're not trying to change parties, we're just protecting the longevity of the party right now, right? Because we can see that our some of our leaders, I'm not gonna say all of them, some of our leaders are not doing the right thing, but um he just isn't a great example of who we need to be right now to keep this ball rolling. I mean, our country is in the best shape it's ever been in, even even at war.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

While all this was going on, a lot of people don't realize this, they negotiated a deal with Colombia, right? I mean, I mean, yeah, but that Ramp Paul was involved in that. And and and and uh I am a fan of Rand Paul's, but anyway, but he was involved in that. And and like he says, he says, we don't agree all the time, but he says, I kept the dialogue open. He said we so we would speak, he said, I made the phone call because the president of Columbia called me and he said, Wonder if we can work this out because he says we don't want you bombing us next, right? Because he realized what was coming. Absolutely, so the next I guess was a couple days later, the president of Columbia came to the White House and they they they're they're negotiating some things to try to try to get things taken care of down there. Um and we'll end up we'll end up uh it'll probably be it'll be one of our territories before long, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:38

The the strength that we portray right now as a nation, and it's not portraying it, we are. We are it although we are divided internally politically, we are strong, and and every other country sees that. They they see that the United States is thriving and we we have a great leader, and I'm very proud to be an American.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Well, if you think about it, and I and I will tell I will tell you, but but you think about it how how much is the country really divided, or is it just two or five percent that actually is causing the chamber yeah, yeah, it's causing the problems.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

I do love to see that they they cannot use, and I know this is going to be controversial that I'm even saying it, but I love that they cannot use the black and white card so much anymore. I love that our country is coming together with that because that is how they try they well, you know that that's how they they were planning to divide us between Democrats and Republicans, black and white, and you know, and um I'm just very happy to see that the whole country is waking up.

Candidate Support, Loyalty, And Pressure

SPEAKER_02 34:49

Do you do do you see in in the near future, do you see uh I I I don't want to say unity, but uh uh because there's never going to be unity. Or do you think that the elitists in the Republican Party are gonna walk away eventually?

SPEAKER_00 35:06

I honestly, if you would have asked me this last week, um, I would have said I feel a lot of darkness still. Um, but today and and and it doesn't matter what changes throughout the day, it's just I feel like we are going to come together in God, like in our religion and God we trust. I feel like God's gonna be the unifier, right? And the fact that we love America, I think that if we focus on that and we focus on loving our neighbors and and we make sure that we get you know the illegals, we get we get that handled, um, and everybody, you know, as safely as possible. I think that we can unite. I think we can unite under this president.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Well, I I don't think there's gonna be a compromise. I think it's gonna have to be, it's gonna have to be, they're gonna have to come towards the we the people group. Yeah, I agree with you. I don't think absolutely a great compromise because of what they've done, especially in the in the state of Pennsylvania. And uh let me finish this thought before I before I get off the rail. One of the things that I see, and I get messages on my phone from Tyoga County and and and Bucks County and uh Delaware County and uh all across the top, Warren County. I get people for the in these patriot groups, Indiana County. Right. Uh and um I I think about I think Cambria County is another one too. I I I think about all these people in the in these different patriots groups that are uh that are trying to put together and do the right thing. Yeah. So this this isn't this isn't specific to southwestern Pennsylvania. No, absolutely. This is a statewide issue, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

So you meant do I believe that the grassroots, the patriots, and the politically connected or the elitists, do you think we can come together? I do not think that that I I think I think once they they know that we have become such a force and that we are we are doing so much, because we do so much. I mean, we we are boots on the ground. I think once they realize how and I hate to use that word powerful because it's not what a strength we are united together, that they may take a back a step back and re-evaluate. Do I ever think that we're gonna be able to come together? No, I do not because I I think that once that character defect is there, and the character defect is selling your soul. Once you sold your soul, I don't uh and listen, I believe in forgiveness, but I do not think that these people have boundaries. I don't think that they will unite with us. No, I do not.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Um, the the one thing that I think about, and uh I'm I'm gonna give I say I see the Washington County Patriots Group. Um just a few years ago. Uh we were we were there for a couple different, I was invited to a couple different meetings, and and I they had a meeting up at um oh we're we're we're 19 north. Yeah, yeah, and and it in the and the place was packed.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

I mean, just packed. And and and and I remember when they had the first few meetings, you felt like you were going into in the you're going into an upstairs of a uh tavern or something in a revolutionary war. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There actually was a tavern in a revolutionary war, the name escapes me right now, but that's how it started. But then now I see, you know, there's 400, 500 people show up at some of these events.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Oh, absolutely. And then they they they actually did uh a big portion of them now are in leadership for with um for WCRP, the GOP. So I mean, and you have a couple people there that were were were you know kind of on the fence with who they aligned with. And what I don't like is that we have like, oh, you're either on that side or you're on that side, but it has to be that way right now because if you've sold your soul to the devil, then you're not gonna you're not gonna wanna do what we're doing right now, right? Because we have the motivation, we have the stamina, we have the grit, and we are fighting for a better commonwealth for our the future of our next generation. And that's that's what we're fighting for.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

We're fighting for we're fighting for our children. Our children and our grandchildren. And I mean, in my case, it's my grandchildren. Yeah, because uh I mean, um my children are are older now, and but my grandchildren, I look at them, and uh I actually I was at uh we went to the Cornersville musical, but it was just a little bit of light lateness here. Uh we went to the Cornersville musical on Saturday night, and what a what a great thing it was. I mean and and my my granddaughters, we took our granddaughters with us, and they they just had a ball, they just thought it was great. So uh we'll be going to the Laurel Holland's musical this week. So, but um, you know, I you see all these things, and I thought I was sitting there doing a musical, and that's what I was thinking. I was thinking, like, you know, all this we're doing, it's what we're doing for them because if we don't fix the taxes, if we don't fix the roads, if we don't fix the bridges, and we don't get proper and fix the healthcare system in this country, which uh you gotta give Donald Trump credit again. I mean, he he's he's worked on that from day one.

Money Over Victory And Donor Culture

SPEAKER_00 40:42

And the permitting reform. I mean, charity and represent charity Krupa, and state representative charity Krupa and uh state representative Bud Cook and several others, they have a permitting reform House bill. I think it's 1884 right now. We we really need to reform the permitting in Southwestern PA because of the fossil fuels that we have. But I want to go back a little bit to our children because this is another thing that just drives me up a wall. So when we're raising our kids, we say, stick up for stick up for this person, stick up for the next person. Don't walk away if that person needs you, if you see somebody in the in need of help. Okay. But as an adult, you carry that trait because that's the trait that was instilled in you, right? And then that's I'm I'm driving that into my daughter. I'm not raising a cookie cutter, I want an outspoken child, right? But as an adult, when you stand up and you speak out, you are patronized. Like, I mean, or I don't say patronized, so you are just at it's an all-out attack against you for standing against what they want you, they don't want you to speak out, they want you to be a cookie cutter.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

Well, I I see that I see that with Al or Butcher, I call him Butchie, but I see that with Butch, I see that with Harry Cochran, I see that they're they're trying to do things differently, and right, and we we need to we need to do that. I was at uh the meeting the charity put on, and um actually on Thursday, yeah, on Thursday night. But it was huge, bud was there and the place was packed, the place was full, it was at Smithfield, and my whole thought was and of course, this is just me being the way I am. You already got all these tires crossing Fayette County for one line. Is there some way we can engineer something? So if we want to need to move this power across the we can't use them same tires in some way, so we don't ruin anything else. Oh, yeah. I mean, that was my thought. I mean, is that is that that was one of the thoughts I didn't want to take anything away because I know she had the questions were coming, and people were people were upset because it's just like the one fellow I know he he bought a farm over there and they're gonna set two of them on his farm. He said, Now there's nothing I can do underneath underneath that lines if they do with the plant with the possibility you know they he's there's nothing he could do, and then I mean you're you're ruining somebody's ground.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

You can see both sides of it too, you know what I mean? And that and that's the issue, it's not always just one-sided. We we know what we need, and and we also can see the side of the landowner and everything that they're going to incur um during that process. And I I don't know where we find a happy medium, but it even with the data centers too, like in in Green County, we're having issues with that.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

And you know what a lot of people don't realize they brought out at that meeting, and you're gonna agree with me on this one, is it's it's just not the data center in the in the electric that they use, it's the water. Water, there's yes, they use thousands, maybe even millions of gallons of water in a year's time because they have to have cool them pooling types, and now they're they're trying to figure out a way to recirculate the water, but um, but that water's making steam, so you're you're losing you're losing, I don't know, 10 or 12, maybe even 15 percent to the atmosphere. So you've got to keep replacing it. And I'm I'm you you think about water is gonna become a big thing. Yeah, especially for Green County and Fayette. I agree. I mean, we we we have the Occagane River and uh and uh Monongahela and a cheat, and yeah, and it borders both of us, and it's not just it's just not the water you drink, you use, bathe with, it's also transportation for we get the coal in and out of here, which which I I'm getting goosebumps because I it makes me mad when I see when I when I don't see barges on a river. I think I I want to see coal moving.

Threats, Smears, And Volunteer Fatigue

SPEAKER_00 44:54

I'm such a river rat, and my whole family's been coal mine, like all the men in my family have been, they were coal miners. And um, my dad and my grandfather, my my grandpa, his last job was at Clyde Mine. He was a boss at Clyde Mine. Um, and my dad was a plant foreman. So I grew up the barges were oh my goodness, up and down. the river like crazy and the yeah it's just uh uh clyde was over yeah i that that was over towards fredery town yes and and and uh they they they had a they there was been trapped there for uh back what was in the 70s i believe that they they had a fall but i think they all it wasn't it was just for a day or so but but that's something else i believe so yeah that's something else that people don't realize about the coal mines when if you're working in the coal mine every day there's just that chance oh absolutely and yeah i mean my father was hurt in the coal mine um and he he he broke his back when he was 33 and that was that was the end of his career i mean so anyways we won't get it we won't get into the um the history of um my my grandparents or or my grandfather my father but it is a shame that we don't see the barges moving the way that we did it was a thriving town down there challeroi all the Mon Valley towns you know um and we just talked about that I think on your last show about the docks that we could put in and different things like that and all of the docks and the locks yeah and here's something what people don't realize so much we can do my dad brings this up to me all the time there was a there was somebody and he didn't know which uh energy company it was but they were actually making they actually make electric off of the docks when the water goes in and out it it it it the it it runs a turbine it is and it produces electric and uh that was something that we we could we could aspire to do right here on this river here right absolutely we have so much i i i can't remember exactly how many miles of river uh frontage we have um but there is so much we can do to utilize that that space i mean i there there's just so much we can do in general in our area southwestern pa is is a beautiful place to live well i i i i believe it is and i believe i mean i've got to be uh a friend of mine has has has property up on the uh on the cheat up up uh a little bit in uh we go we go we've got to go up there you know in the summertime and it it's it's really nice it is i mean it's it's nice it's quiet it's but but uh he it I told him I said what do you do when uh what do you do when they're moving barges uh down because he lives he said no not up here they don't do that but he said uh he said well I guess the one time they did because he said they're uh they loaded coal just right not very far from where he was and you think about all these things that happened and the men that worked there and you know I mean they provided they provided coal to make the coke to make the steel oh yeah to fight the war yeah and the and and providing for their families as well a lot of I a portion of my family came up from the south to uh Fredericktown to work those vines you know what I mean and and um just they were such they were they were good paying jobs you know and now we've got you know the pipeliners welders I mean my husband's a pipeliner he works out local uh the Union Hall operating engineer 66 and he works for the international as well and I mean those are great paying jobs and our our guys should be here honestly it's been 10 years and my husband lives in our fifth wheel he i mean he's just traveling all over and we get to see the country for of course but I mean we could do so much more here and our permitting issue our permitting is a big issue our guys could be home and and um I had a I had a good friend of mine that he he uh he actually retired now but uh he told me he said uh and he always loved winter and and he worked in that he were he worked the pipeline for I don't know how many years 15 years maybe it was or 20 years I don't remember now but anyways he would he told me he said a lot of that time he spent in the Dakotas and in in and in uh Minnesota and um Michigan he told me he said I don't care if I ever see another flake of snow yeah they're getting ready to run a line in it through Alaska right now again so they're trying to get and um I don't know all the details with that so I won't speak on it but I will say that there's a lot of guys that are getting ready to go up there and live in the man camps for quite a while six months at a time and and um they're super excited to do it but from my understanding they have to have a list of what they're allowed to take with them and they have to have it before they get off the plane they're not allowed to they're not allowed to get on the plane without the a a list of everything they need to go yeah because you're just getting dropped off in the middle of no man's land but yeah there I mean we have so much history here there's so much good that can be done and I feel like we're being roadblocked by party and and uh party issues I really do and what I what I need to get to when we say that and we'll we'll probably close with this but what I need what I want to say for sure is it's not it it's it's not the Republican Party it's not the Democrat Party it's it's like it's it's the United Party that came to get together right it's caused when things happen I don't want to say when it winners you help me on this bill and I'll help you on that bill it's not it's not it's doing it's not doing the right thing it's it's let's compromise to get along and it becomes a snowball effect once you start that I mean I mean there is compromise and then there's backdoor compromise right so the I and I think that the the the uniparty as you say and and as a lot of people call it and uh you know they want to see the divide between Republican and Democrat you know because it it it serves them.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

It serves them does it say it's served them for how many years on the border situation.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Right absolutely long time ago and I mean we have common sense in the White House right now it's just and I mean we just hope that it trickles down and all of our grassroots movements can hold MAGA strong and and you know and I I hate when they say we need to get rid of MAGA MAGA and I'll I will repeat it just exactly like Donald Trump says it MAGA is literally make America great again. Why do you want to get rid of that movement? What is so wrong with you that you don't love your country enough to just do the right thing and and he's right he in it it all comes down to just doing the right thing.

SPEAKER_02 52:09

Yeah and I I really believe that it's gonna the only thing that fixes the country the only thing that makes us makes us great again like he like President Trump says is it's gonna be it's gonna be God and it's gonna be it's gonna be politics.

Trump As Catalyst And Unifier

SPEAKER_00 52:27

It really is and you know what I could I could get really gritty with you right now and say listen I grew up rough and tough and and we handled things a certain way we forgot how to handle things you know I I know that you got you guys all think that I and I and I am a bit younger than you guys but listen I was raised by strong coal miners who believed in this is you stand by your word and you and you you face people head on you don't wear multiple masks and you don't claim to be somebody you're not and you do what you say you're gonna do. And if somebody isn't if somebody is not I don't know how I want to say that is not portraying that is not being that kind of person they need to be handled.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

They need to be put in their place we need to get back to that you think about that and uh you you made me think about something we always we always would go to my grandparents for Sunday dinner. That was in I mean I was born in 1962 but that's what we did. We went you went to grandma's you went you went to your mother you went to your mother's grandma one Sunday you went yeah you went to your dad's grandma I mean that's just how that's just how things were but I can't I can tell you that there was never an after dinner conversation that didn't lead back to one of the mine coal mine strikes or the steelworkers strike right because uh that happened and and I think the big one was the steel workers was in 1959 or 60 but uh and I wasn't even born yet but I got the I got I learned that from the very beginning. Yeah I learned that from the very beginning.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

And you made me think about the Yablonski house too and you know and I live I live right by there. I remember hearing that on radio that morning yeah my cousin actually one of the Yablonsky daughters was her best friend she was actually supposed to be spending the night there that night and my aunt Claire D didn't let her go um from the family story that's how it goes. Um so you know I think about that because I live close to there. So I think about that in the and the political climate we have right now right you're right and that is where we're at we are honestly and people don't understand that the amount of lies the amount of smear campaigns and the amount of hurt that these people are unleashing on our grassroots people it is unreal. Like there's no reason to come after anybody's staff that they should not be nobody should be a target. You run on your own merit and I don't like when people say that that don't run on their own merit. I hate I that just drives me nuts. I'm gonna run on my own merit but then you're you lie or you shame others or you do this or you do that. So you don't you're not running on your own merit you're not a good person. But you know we're in a bad political climate right now that we need to get our wrap our arms around it and um like I said in the beginning let's lock arms as grassroots patriots and let's rock and roll.

SPEAKER_02 55:22

You know I often you often think about uh my grandmother was determined that I was going to be a minister but I don't have that speech. I don't I don't I not not constantly but she she was she thought that that's what I should be and uh I was gonna go to Alders and Broadis and and that that was what she thought thought I should do. But uh you think back a lot of these things but I I and I'm gonna say this and people were going to take me up on it but yeah I blame the church for a lot of this because the the ministers haven't stood their ground when the time should have when they should have taken the time when they should have done that.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

I do agree with you and normally I would not say that like on this platform so straightforward but it has become a major issue. It has it has you are absolutely right that is who people look to for guidance in a lot of situations and the fact that they didn't stand their ground you are absolutely right caused a huge rift in this country.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

It has and and and and a lot of times you think about back about it I mean obviously we're we're we're 100% pro-life from from from from conception till death and we think about these things and I think the church uh they they they you know well you know we can compromise and we can you know we don't want to make nobody mad and and and that's where we're at you have to stand by your beliefs and I had a good friend of mine just tell me this the other day and and um it's somebody that I don't talk to all the time and he's from a different state but he told me he says the time of being polite is over it's over. He said he said he said they've kicked us in the shin so much now that we can hardly stand right he said now it's time it's time we would to pick up the stones and walk out with the sling we got to take the giants down.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

Yeah and you know what we have so many of us that are willing to come out and go head to head we don't we don't care we are going to that's right take the giants down but we also I'm finding that we have a lot of issues within our county of people posting anonymously they are like on on social media they're getting so much backlash and I'm like why are you giving them backlash they don't want the political retaliation maybe some of them are business owners maybe some of them are in the middle of a divorce and they don't want you know whatever going on because I hear a lot of people say well I don't want to comment on that because I'm in the middle of a divorce and I don't want him to be able to use utilize that against me or I don't want her to be able to utilize that against me or I don't want to talk about this because my business will be targeted or you know I I we have a lot of anonymous people right now that are speaking out as well and they are getting just they're getting slams on social media in Green County. It's it's a shame I'm sure it's all over it is obviously we hear from all of our other Patriot group leaders the same thing and um I did want to bring up a point that I thought about this morning. I thought you know what I'm noticing so much of this public corruption in the swing states.

National Strength, Division, And Media

SPEAKER_02 58:36

I mean I know it's all over the nation but I believe this disrupt is being caused on purpose as well in our swing states and we could go into that another time we will we will and we got we got a lot of things coming up and and uh I'm I'm gonna have some people on uh from Fayette County and we're gonna talk about uh we're gonna talk about the the Fay Pen situation that's going on over there because uh it it it's it's turning ugly it's people were really yeah they're they're really disgusted with things hey Cheryl it was great having you on today I know I'm gonna have you on again yeah we're gonna get Al back on again absolutely I want to thank you for everything you've done uh and keep up the good work yeah and I want to tell everybody anybody who's listening please if you want to get involved get on the Patriots of Green join us join our grassroots movement get a hold of me online um and let's just let's just go with it we're not we're not against the GOP we want to strengthen our party so just come join us and and let's get moving hey thanks for coming on coming on today and I appreciate it and I close all my shows with this on this road called life you have to take the good with the bad smile with the sad love what you got and remember what you had always forgive but never forget people change things go wrong just remember the ride goes on God bless each and every one of you and God bless America I I am John Marianna and I am the hillbilly