Episode 422, The Andrew Parker Show - Minnesota at a Crossroads: Andrew and returning guest Paul Anderson on Walz Fatigue, Law & Order, and the Moral Fight

In this episode of The Andrew Parker Show, Andrew welcomes back Paul Anderson—former Minnesota State Senator and Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Tim Pawlenty—for a candid conversation about the future of Minnesota, the nation, and the values that define us.

Together, they tackle pressing issues:

• The tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk and what it reveals about spiritual warfare, free speech, and the erosion of civil society.
• The state of law and order, from local crime to international terrorism, and why Israel’s fight is tied to America’s survival.
• The breakdown of education and how propaganda and revisionist history are shaping generations.
• The coming battle in Minnesota politics, “Walz fatigue,” and what it will take for Republicans to compete statewide.

From Reagan’s warnings about freedom to today’s stark divisions, this episode lays out what’s at stake for Minnesota, America, and the Judeo-Christian values that underpin Western democracy.

 Listen, reflect, and join the conversation.

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of the Andrew Parker show. Thank you once again for joining us as we talk politics, Israel and the law. This is episode 422. Holy mackerel. And we're going to toss it around a bit with our good friend and return guest to the show. Paul Anderson, one time Minnesota state.

Senator and before that Deputy Chief of Staff for I Dare say the last great governor of the state of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty We have not won statewide as a Republican Party ever since if you can believe it if we knew then what we know now we might have taken a few different paths, but Hope Springs eternal

And we will talk about this with Paul Anderson ⁓ because the Democrats appear to be putting up one clown face, Tim Walz, ⁓ or as Jesse Waters refers to him as, tampon. Yes, indeed. Tim Walz will be the actual Democratic nominee in all likelihood for governor again.

third term of the state of Minnesota. But before we get into that subject, I first want to welcome to the show, Paul Anderson. Paul, thanks for being with us. Thanks, Andrew. It's good to be back. It's been a couple years, but love love doing this. Well, there are a few people that are better political rock on tours than Paul Anderson. He has his his ear to the rail, if you will, and he

He's got some great insights. So I did want to have you on today, Paul, because what is going on in this country? and you know, in this state surrounding areas as well, but certainly nationally and frankly internationally, ⁓ is just so disturbing to so many. And I talk about it as.

the tearing and potential burning of our moral fabric. ⁓ What is your take on what is happening and in particular ⁓ with respect to the whole Charlie Kirk tragic, horrendous murder assassination? It's just so sad.

It's troubling, it's tragic. ⁓ We are in a period of time in our country that is dire, I think. It's a time that after the events of last week and ⁓ the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I think you're seeing an uprising, ⁓ a revival of sorts on college campuses. I think you're seeing a situation where young people are seeking the truth.

seeking who they should be listening to and taking control of their destination in this country, the destiny in the country. And for those of us in our 40s, 50s, 60s, whatever, we need to be paying attention too because this has happened on our watch. think that, ⁓ again, going back to that truth situation, there is so much disinformation. There's so much propaganda.

⁓ And we can talk about this what happens in the Middle East and in Israel But we are just at a moment of time that everybody needs to be responsible We can't embrace this individual truth. We have to understand the fabric and the foundation of our country and the values it was built on and really move forward for the good of the country for the good of ⁓ Minnesota and

I'm just seeing a lack of that. I think there's just so much motivation for control and the end justifies the means. And so I'm just hopeful in praying for different direction. Well, you know, as I think about the last many years since Barack Obama, really, and his role as divider in chief, ⁓

and his treatment attitude toward law enforcement, toward the justice system, toward the rule of law, his conscious decision, along with Joe Biden's conscious decision to ignore and not enforce ⁓ the laws on the books as it relates to some of the most heinous and difficult crimes all the way down to the broken window crimes.

⁓ simply not enforcing them and then undermining police ⁓ across the country, sheriff's departments, the others who are enforcing our laws. And then putting in the other parts of the justice system, judicial branch, judges who also will freely

let criminals go, let them out, leniency, cashless bail, all of it has deteriorated and undermined our ability to have law and order. And so is it a wonder that we have the criminal issues ⁓ that we do today? And this is along with everything that goes on on social media and...

the lone wolf issue that we appear to face. And then when you tie that to international terrorism and our unwillingness in the West to fight the fight that has to be fought, Israel is doing it for us. And we're condemning them while they do it. And we're trying to tie one arm behind their back as they do it because we're unwilling to do it.

And I'm talking here about Western Europe. I'm talking about the Democratic Party in the US unwilling to do it in the same way that the left across the world as well as in the United States have failed and are continuing to fail to confront crime. And in fact are unwilling to do it and are

⁓ washing away or sweeping under the rug the victims while the criminal element exponentially grows. While terrorism internationally exponentially grows. This is in certain respects a war for the moral foundation of Judeo-Christian values.

thoughts.

I just believe we are in a spiritual warfare. I think, ⁓ and this is not to say I'm good, you're evil, vice versa. I think we are in a moment in time in our world and certainly in our country to understand that what is happening externally, the threat to the United States, the threat to Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, that

the destruction and the complete annihilation of Jews in Israel is the first step to coming and doing it to our country. As I've been looking at this, big Satan, the little Satan. Yep. Heard it many times. just going to say that Israel is the little Satan. The US is the big Satan and we are the evil ones. And it is something that again, I think that

real courage, that understanding we need to understand what is accurate, what is propaganda. It's hard in this day and age of social media. It's really hard in days ⁓ like this following the assassination of Charlie Kirk to hear things that are said and then are exponentially shared that are just wrong, just inaccurate. And that's just one example. But when we're talking about terrorism and the threats to our country,

And just those little things. mean, I think of the change in New York when Rudy Giuliani became mayor ⁓ in New York City was dramatic. And they started with the simple things. They cleaned things up in that city and it had a massive rebound. ⁓ What we've seen in places like New York and in Minneapolis and places around this country is just a total lack of ⁓

I mean, the rule of law, there's just a dismissive nature of no enforcement, no enforcement. And it has been a an incredible slippery slope. And it is funded by big agendas. And I think that the the herds of people that are following whatever movements this is, and it have been don't understand the absolute destruction of our country. There was there was a lot of conversations.

coming out of COVID that it was going to be the, you know, reconfiguration. We were going to reset the economy. We were going to reset a lot of just social standards in our country. We can always do better, but what has happened has been a change in dynamics in a drastic way. And I dare to say it's not for the better. We are, we are in trouble. Well, you know, I, I go back if you, if you zoom out.

to 30,000 feet or more and take a look at.

the changes that have occurred over the last few decades in not only our political discourse and interactions, but in the body politic itself.

It has been put on steroids ⁓ in the most recent years. And in particular, what was going on, it was, I didn't recognize it as it was going on, on our college campuses and our universities. We now have generations of kids who are now in their working adulthood, who have a view of this country, which is far different than you and I.

in terms of a love of country, terms of believing in the founding principles of this country, has basically effectively been rejected. And it is now a hate of this country, not all, not even a majority, but a significant number.

And when you look at the administrators and the faculty in our institutions of higher learning, ⁓ you become concerned. They're teaching a whole revisionist history about American history, certainly about Middle Eastern history, about the state of Israel, how it was founded, ⁓ why it was reestablished.

Why the Jewish people returning to their homeland ⁓ was not just ⁓ a right that they had and continue to have, but they have lived there continuously and are the indigenous people and have been for thousands of years. And that's all being rewritten. And these kids now are in the street protesting

based on facts which are false. What do we do about it? I was absolutely taken back. I think it was about 2018. I was speaking to a large high school class. This was a combined class, it's probably over 100 kids. as I was talking- Paul was in the Minnesota Senate, 2016 to 2020.

And see we're speaking to him as a legislator as a legislator ⁓ and As I was speaking and I was I was talking about my experience I had worked for former congressman Ramstad and I worked for him when 9-eleven happened and it had a profound effect on me and obviously so many and we I dare say that was the last real sense of patriotism we've I Felt in this country the unity

⁓ All of us coming together to respond to the horrific attacks of 9-11 which by the way, I would argue We only half baked our response. Yeah, we still have not fought terror the way it needs to be fought

I agree. think, and we can talk about October 7th and what's happened and the atrocities in Israel ⁓ to the Jewish people and others impacted from the attacks of Hamas. But what happened on 9-11 as days, weeks, months, years went by, if you weren't in New York or you weren't in Washington or Pennsylvania where these attacks happened or you weren't impacted,

⁓ with family friends like the Amos and for me personally and in Wayzata and them losing Gordie Jr. You just kind of went about your life and things went by. It's not like people didn't have patriotic feelings, but it just went away. And what I realized when I was talking to these students and really smart, great questions was almost all of them, this is 2018, Andrew, this is seven years ago, almost all of them,

were born after 9-11. And so their perspective, their understanding of what happened, it was news clips, it was videos, it was maybe what their parents talked about. And a lot of parents don't wanna talk about things like that. And so you think of the times in our country, World War II, different times when people banded together to defend our freedoms, to fight for what we believe in. ⁓

I know you're a fan of Reagan and it's one of my favorite quotes and I don't want to screw it up. So I'm going to read it. Freedom is never want never more than one generation away from extinction extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same. Or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. Yeah.

We're here. We are are crossroads. are on. We are at the crossroads. We are at the edge. And these are quotes. But Reagan was amazing. He was the great communicator. He had an ability and a foresight to understand what is coming. And I think about that. And again, I think of my responsibility. I can't you know, I can vote for people for office.

I can hold people accountable, but ultimately it comes down to me and what I'm gonna do. And what I've chosen personally in our family is to fight for Minnesota, for fight for this country. And that's all we can do. Speaking of Reagan and the protests in the streets regarding George Floyd, ⁓ the murders, the enormous billion plus dollars of

property destruction, the arson, ⁓ and all that occurred. And since then, the unruly riotous protests claim to be protected by the First Amendment, but it certainly is not because it has crossed the line repeatedly on college campuses. Reagan might say something like this.

Yeah. You know, you can choose the laws you want to obey. You can shoot the United Health Care guy, CEO in the back.

And you're to be able to raise $1.3 million online for doing that.

You can shoot from distance on a roof and murder the father of two. Husband. Great communicator himself to a whole generation of kids. In cold blood you can murder him and you will get sympathy from the left. And don't say it isn't because that's what it is.

They don't like his views. His views were not Nazi views.

Even if they were, the Nazis were allowed to march in Skokie, Illinois, home of the largest community of Jewish Holocaust survivors anywhere in the country. That's where they were allowed to march, as horrific as that was, peacefully. And they did.

Charlie Kirk wasn't espousing any values like that. In fact, the opposite. And he was entirely peaceful and open-armed, embracing of those who opposed him or his views. And he gets murdered.

Yeah, it's it's it is absolutely horrific. ⁓ I think I think for me, ⁓ Andrew, you know, I've over the years listened, seen ⁓ Charlie Kirk's statements or conversations either in social media or different venues. I have watched a lot in the last week and.

the way that young people have been impacted. I find myself compelled to keep listening to some of the words he shared. And they weren't hateful. ⁓ They weren't racist. People are twisting his words, which were based on what I believe is truth. And he lived his testimony of his life. He wanted to live out his faith. He wanted to be bold and courageous as

Joshua 1.9 calls us to be as people of faith. He embodied that, he shared truth, and he was killed for it. ⁓ The hatred, and again, I go back to that spiritual warfare. mean, the evil that wants to attack good. Was Charlie Kirk perfect? No, he was not perfect. ⁓ But his words, his living testimony of his life should not have been taken.

because what he was doing on college campuses. Yeah, and it's also an issue of most of those on the left who opposed Kirk and who hated Kirk did so because of his religious beliefs, because he was espousing Christian values and tenets. And they hated him for that. ⁓ They hated him.

for ⁓ not following the ⁓ line of thought that men can be women and women can be men and transgender rights and ⁓ gay marriage rights and these were contrary to Charlie Kirk's Christian faith beliefs. He did not, however, require everyone

to believe as he does. And he believed strenuously in freedom of thought, freedom of expression, whether you agree or disagree with him, which is why he went into locations of disagreement as often or more often than he did of agreement. And ⁓ he gets murdered for exercising

his freedom of religion, his freedom of expressing his religious faith. And that, it doesn't get any worse than that. It's horrific. And the left has to recognize that. If they believe in the freedom of expression, if they believe in the freedom of thought, freedom of religion, it's the reason that this country was created, was because of the loss of freedom of religion and expression across the pond.

So, you know, if we've got founding principles that still exist, let me shift gears a little bit, and I wanna go back to what we were talking about. ⁓

We are in the midst of ⁓ a, I hate to use the word war, but a war and you say, well, it's not literal, I'm not talking about bullets, but I mean, nowadays we are talking about bullets and it's horrific that we are. But this is a ⁓ war for our moral fabric. Are we going to be run by

a mafia type criminal element. Are we gonna be run by revolutionaries? Are we going to have at the foundation of our interactions anger and hate, ⁓ anarchy and chaos, which George Soros would, he would love that. I mean, that's what he supports because he wants

fundamental, foundational, institutional change, revolution. And that's the way to get it, is to have a society in which the criminal element rises and people walk in fear.

That seems to me to be the turning point that we're at. I think the creation of discord and just absolute separation. I I think we've been seeing this for a while where we're heading to blue states and red states and in the division. And I would even say the economy is being split blue and red. sure. You blue people go to blue companies.

Red people buy from the red companies. You get employed by the red team or by the blue team, depending on who you are. I'm not going to apply to that job. Those people are a bunch of Christian crazies. More and more. we here in Minnesota, I think we are at a at the edge. I'm 52 years old.

I don't know. And this is, it used to be, people are leaving, people are leaving. And a lot of people on the other side of the aisle would say, you're full of crap. And then the stats started showing that high income ⁓ families were leaving the state. And as population kept increasing, the argument was, no, we're okay, we're okay. Well, when you don't have the tax revenue, you don't have the job creators, when you don't have the creative minds,

leading the economy in our communities. in trouble. And what has happened is it's set up a situation. I don't know almost any of my friends that are of the same age, give and take a few years, that haven't at least, Andrew had conversations with their accountants, their attorneys, their financial advisors to at least set in motion. What do I need to do if I need to leave in five years?

That is businesses, small businesses, medium sized businesses. The corporations are probably going to stay here. They're probably not going to keep their headquarters here. We are at a moment that the watershed is happening. It's not, it might happen. It is happening. People are leaving and it's interesting to see where they're going. And so your point on the red States and blue States, it's real and it's happening.

and it's going to continue to happen if we don't change things. is separating the country. And I would say that, you know, and I have this just based on my own experience with my family who views things through a far different lens than I do. I always try to be respectful as I am with guests who are much more of a liberal ⁓ prescription.

⁓ bent than I am and who view the liberal idea of resolution being much better than the conservative idea on economic issues, cetera. ⁓ But the problem with having a discussion is the facts are diametrically different one to the other. If the facts could be set,

and you sit down with someone and have a discussion about those facts, the facts are the same for each. I bet we would find much more agreement than we see today. The reason there's huge disagreement is the facts are true or false, depending on what your view is. And they're being manipulated. The crime rates are being manipulated, the numbers on the crime rates. The numbers of those in poverty are being

manipulated depending on who's in power and which study you analyze the vaccine numbers that RFK is talking about are different depending on who you're talking about. And this leads me back to education. What is being taught is being made up. Well, if I'm not mistaken, it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan that said you're entitled to your own opinion. You're not entitled to your own facts. Yeah.

Data for me has become key over the years, whether I was working for Governor Polanyi and we were for eight years helping lead the state, which was an incredible honor that through my 30s, I just took for granted at many days. We worked really, really hard. We did the best we could and then we handed it off. And I look back at that and I think, my goodness, like just what I believe was we...

put the state first, people can disagree on Governor Polanyi's politics, but we work really hard to lead the state the best we could. And I think of the propaganda and the BS that happens in politics and campaigns, and it can happen on both sides, but let's just focus on Minnesota right now. And you talked about education. We are touting ⁓ record graduation rates in Minnesota. We are not touting the fact that

kids, 50 % of our kids can't or do math. The ones that graduate. The ones that graduate. I spent a lot of time on higher education and in my last two years, I was a higher education chair of the Minnesota Senate. And the amount of kids that were graduating because the standards were up there. So state, you know, the state's pushing for graduation rates and those kids get to school and we're talking about college debt, right? These kids are getting to school.

And they've got to go immediately into remedial classes. So for a year, they're not ready for college. So then they're paying for an additional year of remedial classes so they can get ready to go. I mean, we are so ass backwards. It's crazy. going back to just facts, to understand the data, we are failing our kids. We're failing this generation that hopefully can help save us.

I saw the interview, ⁓ an interview of a leader of a charter school, one of the finest in the country out of based out of New York. They're going to open up in Florida. may have seen the same interview, but it was simply alarming. And this was ⁓ an educator who was, as I understand it, a lifelong liberal ⁓ who recognized that the education system was so

broken. were graduating kids that had no knowledge. They had no ability to read or do math at the level needed to graduate, but we were graduating them anyway because the incentive for the school is to graduate kids. And when that's the incentive and money follows, they do it regardless of whether they're serving the kids.

And what does that do to the United States in competition with the rest of the world? It is destructive and in the long run we lose. Well, we've had a couple of generations here going back 20, 30 years where we've defended, we've fought for the system instead of the kit. ⁓ The students have fallen off the map on how we approach policy in our state legislatures, our governors.

our administrations. And in the case of Minnesota, again, we have to put the students first, we have to figure out, there's something that I realize, ⁓ it's been a few years now, but the systems, it's been talked about, taught to a test, right? So the kids, the students have been taught what to learn, not how to learn. We have generations now that have a challenging

⁓ way of trying to figure things out just in you think of creative thinking and in ⁓ different ways on how to process because they were taught what to learn not how to learn so they can google i mean we all do this right the internet of things google wikipedia whatever you can you can instantly have access to information but the ability to actually process and think things and be creative

has been stifled or even just halted or stunted completely. And that's frightening. Puts us in a dangerous position. It causes ⁓ those kids to be manipulated to be out in the streets protesting. They don't even know what they're protesting about. They don't even know what the words are that they're ⁓ shouting and chanting. ⁓

their moral fabric gets lost amongst everything on social media that can ultimately radicalize them before they know it. Right. And I think this in many ways, and I know not everybody is as fortunate to have two parents in a strong home that teaches values, teaches things about being a parent, being a kid, growing up in the world. But ultimately,

It does come to us to really teach those values and set our kids off well in what they believe. It's not basically, I don't want to tell our two girls, this is what you will believe. I want to teach them how they can seek it out and understand and create their own belief system. But it's got to be based on factual information and real data for them to build that foundation of beliefs. And I think there is...

generation and then even you know you look at the the folks that really engage and when they're interviewed why are you here? Well don't really know or look to their neighbor. I would have meetings in my office when I was in the Senate and I would love I'd love these meetings and people would come in and they'd be with groups and it was often more activist driven and I would go around to each one of them and say why are you here?

And if they were reading off the piece of paper or telling me talking points that the executive director or whoever it was, was telling them, I'd stop them and just say, no, why is this personal to you? I want to hear from you. What is your story? Because for me, as an elected official represent my community, I want to represent those, those people, but I want to take in the information and then make the decision. ⁓ and, and time after time, and again, this is already five years plus.

⁓ years gone by, they couldn't do it. They were spouting talking points. Yeah. And that's concerning when when when people are along for the ride. I dare say some are being paid as activists, professional activists. It's not based on a belief system. It's based on agenda and politics. And unfortunately, what can happen and I don't put this at the feet of the shooters.

parents. But the Charlie Kirk situation, ⁓ this kid Robinson, apparently, from what we know at this point, came from a well-functioning family, ⁓ middle-income family, ⁓ a good student, ⁓ no mental health issues ⁓ that could be identified or at least ⁓

being treated or diagnosed at all. And he is radicalized. That's a responsibility we have to take as a society. We're talking to Paul Anderson, one time Minnesota state senator and deputy chief of staff for Tim Pawlenty, as I say, last great governor of the state of Minnesota. ⁓ Paul, lastly, ⁓ let's talk for a minute about

⁓ politics and the direction of the two parties the Democratic Party and the Republican Party let's start with ⁓ the ⁓ state of Minnesota the Democratic Party the Republican Party where are we the legislature is almost exactly evenly split ⁓

It looks like Tim Walz now will be the Democratic nominee for governor and for a third term. What are your thoughts about the upcoming election? Well, it's going to be very interesting. I think for many years we were told Minnesota was a purple state and you look at the legislature and how evenly split it is. People say, well, it's, you know, we're right there. We're, we're, we're so bipartisan and I just, we're not.

We're a blue state that is really dark, navy blue in Hennepin County and Ramsey County. And due to that population, Republicans are going to have a very hard time winning statewide. And that's been the case since 2006. Norman Coleman, in a recount, lost to Franken in 2008. That was, you know, that 17 years ago. But Tim Plenty was the last one under

circumstances that one at 48%. So for a Republican that basically starts at the C at the floor of about 42 % needs to make up that margin. And Tim, uh, Tim walls is, I think the last approval rating was somewhere around 48, 49%. I think when you look at those that say he should run for a third term,

If I'm Tim Walls, I'm concerned because those are in the low 40s. There is going to be real fatigue. What's in the low 40s? Tim Walls. Favorable? Those who would like to see him run for a third term. I see. Even though his favorable or his approval rating is at 48, 49%. The third term drags on. Right. There's still, you know, five, six, seven percent that say, yeah, he's doing fine. mean, Minnesota governors traditionally

You're the governor people expect you to lead in and your approval rating is going to bounce between high 40s to 60 % and it's gonna bounce around in this case Walls fatigue and it would be for any governor running for a third term and I believe Tim Palenny thought about this and in heading into 2010 other governors Rudy Perpich was the last one to attempt this and failed ⁓ It is a hard

Situation and you've had you will have had 16 years of eight years of Dayton eight years of walls And to go out and say everything's fine It's all trump's fault. You know, anything that's bad all the fraud don't look at that Is going to be challenging for this governor on the republican side of things. I do believe we've got a couple really good candidates I think there's others that are looking at it ⁓ I believe tim walls now from from

the Democrat side of things, there were a lot of people that wanted to see Tim Walz run again. There are other people that were saying, okay, it's time to move on. And obviously for whatever reason, whether it's polling, whether it's the recent tragedy in Minneapolis with annunciation and the horrific, mean, it's driving a passion for him to run again. And so he's gonna use.

certain issues to push his case. Again, getting back to the Republicans, Republicans have to put up a competent, ⁓ compelling argument to say they deserve at least four years to lead the state. I think that opportunity is going to come and it just matters. It depends on who that person is and whether or not they can stay out of kind of silly discussions and raise the needed money. They can be viable. They can stay on message.

I do believe Minnesotans want strong leadership. They don't want government that is constantly dealing with fraud and waste of taxpayer dollars. I think they want strong education. want their kids to read. What kind of Republican can make inroads in the Twin Cities or in the metro even if you go to the third congressional district, which is now blue?

and frankly the second congressional district, Angie Craig's district is now a bit blue. Yeah, I mean I'm gonna get into the real operative kind of real details of how you analyze campaigns and so some people would be like what the heck is he?

Democrats have done a very good job in Minnesota of building infrastructure with a lot of money and a lot of people, a lot of resources to build over the last 20, 25 years ⁓ through many different ways, a massive infrastructure on politics on how to win campaigns. And they've done it. They've won elections from statewide all the way to locals, ⁓ school boards, city councils, and...

That's had a massive impact on a bench of quality candidates running for Republicans, because often city councils and school boards are those areas where people kind of get their feet under them and then run for other things. I would say for Republicans in Minnesota, they have to take a page out of the Republicans playbook because someone like the Democrats from the Democrats playbook, excuse me, is someone like Congresswoman Craig.

⁓ when she won her first couple of races, ⁓ and even I like Angie Craig, like my personal experiences, I may not agree with her politics, but the type of candidate she is resonates and connects with people in that district. And so you're talking, you're talking five to 10 % of the, of the population or the electorate that are going to make this decision. And she did a really great job of winning close a couple and then.

Like in Minnesota, people get comfortable as long as you're not for the most part, you know, crazy. They're going to just say, no, I'm, I'm good with that. ⁓ and now she's going to run for it for, for us Senate that race, even though it's probably a plus five plus six index, which means, you know, basically, ⁓ Harris beat Trump by five, six points in the last election. That's kind of your generic number. And then it just depends on the quality of candidates and the issues that's resonated and everything else.

So I do think there are times, and when you think about that, then you're talking about a three point swing. And again, if you get into the governor's race from a statewide perspective, Republicans cannot win by just having Republicans vote for them. That's your 42 % mark. You can't win if you don't attract independents and there a way to get the Twin Cities? I believe there is. One, you have to keep trying. If we mail it in and just say, well.

We're never going to win statewide, so we're just going to focus on the legislature. Is it drumming up more votes in the sixth congressional Tom Emmer's district, which is strong? It's everywhere. Is it everywhere? I think you're probably seeing that strategically in the Democrats are doing the same thing in kind of their ⁓ real ⁓ secure districts. You have to increase the turnout of your base and then you have to make sure in a situation like this that.

Those that have come out and supported Trump but may have not voted in past elections or in midterms that they come out as well But there's going to be issues here that should resonate with your average Minnesotans, especially when it comes to taxpayer dollars education public safety ⁓ fraud and corruption in government I mean this is we are at a situation that you just can't say everything is fine, right and

And people believe it. unfortunately, ads work, negative attacks work. know, Republicans are at, I would say, I mean, this, it varies, but you're at a minimum of 10 to one disadvantage on dollars in campaigns, I would say it's probably more like 15 to one. Wow. When you're thinking when you're thinking, you know, 1000 to 15,000, that's, that's a lot. But when you're thinking millions, you're thinking three to 45 million, that kind of ratio.

It's legitimate money. so you have to kind of, there's so much noise in politics and campaigns and we've seen it nationally. We've seen it locally. ⁓ there's going to be a very strong strategy from governor walls, ⁓ with a lot of, mean, you think of the experience as the VP candidate, you think of his roles, ⁓ with DGA and other organizations. He, ⁓ you can say whatever you want about Tim walls. He won.

Six terms in the US Congress and now he's won two terms as governor. He knows how to campaign. He knows how to be a candidate. He didn't win with Kamala Harris, the presidency and the vice presidency. The question is, in my mind, the wall's fatigue. Is it real? Do people in Minnesota really care whether or not that we have a billion going on, probably two billion of ⁓ fraud? Their taxpayer dollars are screaming out the door. We spent 18

billion dollars of surplus and we don't have the ability to even fund school resource. I don't think people vote. I understand. But I think there are percentages that people keep. understand issues like that already know which way they're going to vote. They're not that group that comes out to vote who really doesn't get into the detail, but kind of goes, yeah, I like that guy or I like that guy.

My sense of Walls is this, ⁓ that like the national elections involving Donald Trump, where they in large part were simply referendums on Donald Trump, it didn't matter what cardboard cutout you had running against him, it was a referendum on him. And I think this time around in the Minnesota gubernatorial race, it is going to be a referendum on Tim Walls.

It doesn't matter much who the Republicans put up because no matter who they are, they're going to be hopefully just a vanilla candidate because we don't have some superstar that's going to come in and blow everybody away. ⁓ This is a state, by the way, that you can, know, Al Franken, Jesse Ventura, we elect people like that. We don't have that. It's going to be a cardboard cutout, whoever it is.

And it's a referendum on Tim Walls. Listen, that's coming from a guy who thought the U.S. electorate was not savvy enough to actually vote for Donald Trump. I didn't think he could win after the drumbeat of hate that had gone on year in, year out between 2016 and 2024. But he did. So, you know, what do I know?

But I think I think I'm right about it. It's a referendum on Tim Walls. Let's turn to the well, there's just just really quick. You're you're you're you're right. It will absolutely be a referendum on Tim Walls. And I do think that Walls fatigue is going to be that might allow the Republicans to win because he's got real problems. He's got real problems. And you can't put lipstick on something that is this glaring of

problem. so well, the national campaign brought out things that Minnesotans never the Republican Party in Minnesota never brought out these things that were brought out when he was running those aren't going away. They're not going away. He has to have the ability to see that and understand that's all coming back. And then some I mean, it's it's the governing is, is something that I am hopeful people can have an objective view of this race. And it's not just based on emotion and a gut.

And that Republicans can put up a candidate that can be viable and is ready for this because ultimately, yes, it's a referendum on, on Tim walls, but a Republican candidate has to be viable and competent and be able to withstand the hell that they can't be a negative. can't be a negative. So it can't be an average. I do believe we have a couple people. ⁓ Who are you thinking? Well, there's a couple that are looking at this. ⁓ Kristen Robinson has been a friend for long time.

Kendall Qualls and Scott Jensen are both friends. Kristen has a very unique background and she has a very unique presence in how she goes about things. ⁓ I have in my whole life, business, politics, government, nonprofit, every walk of what life, I haven't seen many people work as hard as Kristen Robbins.

I have not seen many people as diligent on understanding the issues. You may not agree with her. I want somebody that is going to understand the issues that's going to be able to make an executive decision and lead and help our state and help the economy and make us prosperous again and make it so people aren't looking for a five year exit plan. So there are others that are looking at getting into the race, but again, we just, we simply need

somebody who's going to fight, going to be able to raise the money, going to be able to ⁓ stay on message and, and give people a hope. Because ultimately Donald Trump won the presidency. He still hasn't won Minnesota. So you can't run the Trump playbook in Minnesota and think that that's ultimately going to win. Maybe some, you know, miracle happens, but ultimately you have to get after those independents and lean Democrats. So

We have about a minute left. Paul, what are your thoughts about in national election about the midterms? Is it going to ⁓ stay slightly red? the Democrats going to take one or both of the chambers? Well, think right now, mean, anybody that says they know what's going to happen is crazy. In 22, I would have fully expected that.

Republicans would have had a tsunami and it didn't happen. You had the abortion issue, you had other things. And ultimately you go back to 2018 and Trump's midterm. You see or you go back and you look at all the massive change in the suburbs, the anti-... In Minnesota for sure, it was like a watershed. It just cleaned out a bunch of really, for the most part, really good, strong, independent Republicans. And they haven't won back.

So for the most part, these seats there, it's down to a really razor thin margin of how many seats are gonna determine this. I don't know where the country is gonna be with regards to Donald Trump and what impact he's not gonna be on the ballot, but one, you Trump supporters and people that voted for him to vote in these Republican elections ⁓ for Congress, for Senate in our races here. But ultimately it is gonna be close.

I do believe from the economy to different things, public safety, things are moving in the right way. He won't get credit for it, but you can't deny the facts and the data. And if that's the case in another six months, I think Republicans are going to be in good shape. I tend to agree. I do think that ⁓ the data is manipulated and it will be put out there ⁓ strongly by both sides. It'll be complete opposite.

messaging based upon complete different facts between the two of them, two parties. ⁓ But I tend to agree that it's going to be very, very close razor thin margins. Thank you very much for joining us on the Andrew Parker show. Again, thank you to our special guest, Paul Anderson. ⁓ A scintillating discussion and one.

in which I always enjoy off to the hockey rink for the two of us and ⁓ off to Lashonah Tovah. Happy New Year to all of my Jewish friends and to all of you out there as we come into the high holidays until our next episode on the Andrew Parker. You should go to the Andrew Parker show dot com. Subscribe.

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