Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
The problems we have in the country are solvable, but not solvable the way we’re approaching them today, because of partisan politics. Richard Helppie, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist seeks to find a place in the middle where common sense discussions can bridge the current great divide.
Richard Helppie's Common Bridge
Episode 48- Rich runs some Quick Takes on Today's Chaos
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Once again Rich gets the surprise call to answer off-the-cuff questions on current events. He covers CHOP, a fun turn on things that nobody has ever said, and a whack at Trump and Biden all with same swing.
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Speaker 2Welcome to the podcast. The common bridge with Richard helpy rich is a successful entrepreneur in the technology health and finance space. He and his wife, Leslie are also philanthropists with interest in civic and artistic endeavors, but with a primary focus on medically and educationally underserved children. My name is Brian Kruger and from time to time, I'll be the moderator and host of this podcast.
Speaker 3All right , everyone. Welcome back to the common bridge. And again, this is one of those where I've got to put a disclaimer on it. It's not common bridge. It isn't it isn't. This is going to be a quick takes and I love these and you guys liked them too. I'm hearing it loud and clear. So rich, great to see again today. I apologize ahead of time for putting you on the spot, but that's what I'm going to do.
Speaker 4Well, Brian, I'm beginning to rather enjoy these lightening rounds is I like to think of them. You always come up with some really good question and topical areas to get into. I've heard back from a few people that , uh, they're liking the fact that every episode that they are finding something to dislike, which is of course my brand promise and people are less concerned about hearing things that may not be their preferred ideology or talking points. And they feel like they're being heard, but also that, Hey, you know, I don't like that view and that's okay. So these quick takes are not about building the bridge, but it's more about where do we stand today? You know, what's a quick take on a various issue and you know , couldn't, we do better, but go ahead, fire away. What's up.
Speaker 3All right . So I'm going to throw you a Justin Verlander 12, six curve. And you haven't heard this one before. I want you to give me a half a dozen things that no one has ever said lately. We know what people
Speaker 4Oh , so go ahead. Okay. Things that people have not said. All right , well , um, uh, Donald Trump has really grown in office since taking office. How's that? Um, let's see , uh, Joe Biden , uh, clearly has all his marbles and I haven't heard that one said not that I know of. Um, wow. I can't wait to move to Capitol Hill occupation, protest zone in the area formerly known as Seattle. Sounds great. Summer love utopia. Can't wait to get there. All right . That's four . Okay. Let's see. Um, I've got a great new site that does actual reporting. You can find it on cable TV. How's that? Um, I sure have confidence that the next presidential election is going to help things. How many that
Speaker 3I think that was six or seven, but Hey, if you got another one fire away.
Speaker 2All right , well, here's one you don't hear. Hey, look, there's Joe Biden outside of his basement. You know what you have heard? Hey, there's Donald Trump put him back in the basement. I don't know. I mean, it's
Speaker 4Like 320 million people you think we can do better than that? I would think there's some thoughtful people that have been on this very podcast. I was there several of them in the role.
Speaker 2Uh, so yeah, I believe you've rolled off about eight of those. I'm really impressed. Uh , well done.
Speaker 4Well, I was thinking of something, Brian , I've always had this view from the old Sherlock Holmes is about the dog that didn't bark. Okay. What is it we're not hearing. And sometimes , um , that speaks volumes. I didn't even get into Elmer Fudd and pop patrol, which is a area ripe for stuff that we're not hearing
Speaker 3Well, that , that , that gets us off to a great kick. But let's move on to a few things here. Like I say , I want to , I don't want to mess you up so much that, but um , just heard this morning. This is just this morning that the general Flynn criminal cases actually being thrown out or the appellate, or just toss it out. I get that right.
Speaker 4I think that judge Solomon still has to , uh , render a final order. Um, he apparently doesn't absolutely have to , uh , there is a kind of last ditch effort to have the entire panel of judges on the appeals court, hear the case. Uh, but I, my sense of it, and again, I'm not a lawyer is that , uh , this is all over except the shouting. And there's going to be a lot of that going on. You know , we've covered that topic on this podcast, I think fairly thoroughly , uh, with Ken Chadwell and also with , uh, Barbara McQuade and you know, one good thing about our justice system is that it oftentimes it gets to the right outcome.
Speaker 2So you and I have talked a lot in the past about John Bolton. How, when John Bolton first came on the scene for Donald Trump, nobody liked him or the left. Didn't like, and they ridiculed on it . I made fun of them . They just didn't take him seriously. Well, now the tables have turned and they really liked John Bolton. Can you explain that what's the turn of events that happened ? Sure.
Speaker 4Again, this was quick take . So it's just my opinion. It's worth hopefully as much as anyone else's , uh , John Bolton is the latest in a number of saviors that is going to save the Democrat party and the left wing of the United States political spectrum from their own failings as a party and their own inability to put forward a cohesive platform, America likes and to articulate why the future would be better under them. And that they've got a good candidate and a good ticket. So let's look, John, Bolton's just in a long list of people. If you think about Robert Mueller was going to be the guy to take down Trump. And then we had stormy Daniels and we had Michael avid Nettie and we had Michael Cohen and there's kind of folks get lathered up. And this is the guy. And then it, you don't hear about it and bones , the latest in a long line of people there. And look, he's going to be yesterday's news in, I dunno , three to eight days, you can Mark it down in your calendar. And if you watched the very good interview that was done, I personally didn't learn anything new. I've said since 2016 that , uh , president Trump is not qualified for the job of the presidency of the United States. He does not appear to have an interest in learning the job. And he has massive personal problems. All of which center around how he is being perceived and or rated. If you watch what he did, even during the pandemic briefings his malfunctioning on all three of those Frank's was on full display. It was terrible crisis management. And he thought people tuning into get the update on a deadly virus or a widespread virus or the virus. However you choose to look at it was about people tuning in to hear him as a related topic. I know you didn't ask this, but I will , uh, as an observer, it really frustrates the opponents of president Trump that, Hey, here he is. He did it again. And, Oh my goodness, he still could be reelected in the fall. How did this happen again? In my humble opinion, it's this? And I actually wrote an essay that's on the website, Richard healthy.com . Donald Trump was not elected for his competence or his character. I don't believe anybody thought that when he walked down those stairs, that this was going to be the next president of the United States. There were at least a dozen better candidates from the GOP side. And then when he made it into the general election against Hillary Clinton, nobody thought he was going to win. I didn't think he was going to win, or I should say very, very few people thought that he was going to prevail and rich. Remember he was getting killed in the polls, just like now he's getting killed in the polls. Indeed. And throughout that entire arc, from the time he announced his in 2016, until today, he's the same guy acting the same way. Petulant, vindictive, uninformed, trying to run a country, you know, oftentimes in a chaotic manner. So you have to examine, well, how did he get there in the first place? And I think this goes back to the theme that inspired me to start the common bridge is that the political system is such under the control of two entrenched parties who are very good at attacking each other and terrible at addressing the issues of the day that Trump's election was a big middle finger to the established parties.
Speaker 2So rich, how does this play out in the fall? Is this going to look a lot like Nixon's second term where he , uh, is facing a lot of demonstrations, a lot of protests , but there's a silent majority out there that's had enough and they go through and they elect them to a landslide.
Speaker 4Uh , that's a , that , that is a great question and something, I think that remains to be seen. Now here's some things that I think you could take to the bank. President Trump will continue to say mind, boggling, stupid things. He's going to do it. And generally he will do it right after he has done something reasonable or said something reasonable and people nod and go, okay, well maybe he's going to behave. And then he , he does it again, but understand the landscape he's in with four years to prepare and to act like adults and show how they would wield the levers and powers of government. What has the opposition party the Democrats done? Did they get the memo that, Hey, partisan party politics and establishment candidate is the way to go? Did they go to new ideas? Did they go to any of the capable governors? Did they build a ticket that would let people take a deep breath and go, okay, we can step off this journey of having Donald Trump as the president.
Speaker 2Okay. Rich to lemme ask you this , uh , Biden is a presumed nominee, but he's also going to be older on the day he's inaugurated than Ronald Reagan was the day he left. And so it's understood that Joe Biden isn't really going to be the president. It's going to be as vice president who comes in sort of like an FDR Truman thing. And the people surrounding him are going to be making the decisions. So who do you like is this vice-president pick ,
Speaker 4I'm going to answer that question in just a minute, because there is one I would jump on, but first you have to look at why might the election pivot on the selection of Joe Biden's vice president? And it's because the Democrats went down the same dark hole. They went down in 2016, they picked an establishment candidate. They picked a guy to run against the crazy stuff that our president says. Now they picked a guy who's got decades of saying crazy stuff. And Joe Biden. I mean, you could put a montage together that will rival Donald Trump. Oh yeah. Joe Biden was saying crazy stuff during Trump's studio, 54 days, indeed. And, and Joe Biden's history of racist and racially tinge remarks would also fill easily another national ad Joe Biden's track record or lack there of is also going to be a problem. Joe Biden's issues with women are not over despite the lack of coverage around her read . And in fact, you know, Joe Biden said, if you believe her read don't vote for me. And simultaneously we're told to believe all women or something. So I don't know how that reconciles it. Joe Biden, assigning race to people based on his beliefs about whether they are black enough and presumably they can, he can do that with other races as well. And then you have the unresolved corruption issues that have yet to be addressed or vetted. And I guess some who could say, well, look, at least Trump's been investigating it either. He's so clever. We can't find it or there's nothing there. So this would it surprise you here's. And I don't believe this will ever happen. But if he went to Condoleezza rice and said, look, forget party lines, we want to unify the country and find me a better resume than Condoleezza rice. Now, remember she was a young black girl in Birmingham, Alabama, whose girlfriend was killed in a church firebombing. She became very accomplished academically. She has served the country with dignity and competence. She continues to hold her head high and not get dragged down into petty fights. Um, I had the privilege of seeing her speak , uh, more than a couple of winters ago, but it's during the Obama administration. And they asked her something about the performance of then secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza rice said, look, I'm not going to comment on that. The job is difficult enough without them worrying about what I have to say about it. And she said, I still get consulted because the Obama administration call her and say, did you really say this too ? You know, whichever world leader they were referring to. So, I mean, I think comedy's rice would make a great president. I don't know how well she'd hold up in the current crazy selection process we have today. But gosh, if Joe Biden picked Condi rice, that would probably cause me to say, we got a chance to get out of this. And you know, I might pull it, pull the lever there.
Speaker 2So rich, you and I were talking earlier, before we went on the air that a , there's now been four homicides in Seattle in the city and what they call the chop zone. Um, and the mayor, Jenny Durkin's , uh, has been calling that a summer of love a festival. Uh, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4It is mind boggling and I've been following this story on a K O M O news out of Seattle. And I don't know if they're owned by the same people or not, but I had tried to follow the story through the Seattle post intelligence or the largest newspaper and they weren't covering the story. And then they started picking up the story from a K O M O the , uh , mayor has now taken to saying in effect, would you pretty please leave this area and , um, kind of quit killing other people. And so it is a abdication to the group, and I frankly don't understand it. I think that there's more to be said about this. I have not yet looked up what the mirror's oath of office requires her to do, but you're getting more and more reports of people that live in that area saying, Hey, enough is enough. It's been 13 days of a terror and disruption. This thing needs to come down and get out of there.
Speaker 2So how does she go back down there and take over that space? I mean, the business owners who were there are probably screaming for her to come back, but how does she go through and reclaim that space?
Speaker 4That's a great , I don't think she's got an easy exit. If she goes in and says, I've got this stack of concessions. If you leave, I'll give you these concessions. She's going to enrage the people who have been victimized by this, including the families of the deceased. If she goes to a more aggressive posture and clears the area, she's going to face the wrath of those people, that sympathize with folks in chop, because she'll be seen as caving into a heavy duty police action. So, you know, it is Seattle. Maybe she hopes there'll be a rain out, but I don't know, she's, she's kinda trapped right now. You know, it's a, a very difficult position for her to be in it's of her own making. She is the mirror. And we are hoping by the way, to get access to a senior law enforcement people, to ask them about this, the question is going to be whether this plays into the national election or not. I don't think the card of Trump's crazy and we're all tired of him. Let's vote for Joe Biden has got broad enough appeal. You have to be for something at some point. Now I also, by the way, on a national level, I have a , um , okay, but all right , but let me ask you this. What would be the best outcome of the election this fall? The best outcome would be this Donald Trump stands down for reelection. His ego might be fragile enough for him to declare victory and say, I don't know , I've got bone spurs or something, and I'm not going to run. And then the Republicans bring in Tim Scott and a former governor and said, this is our ticket. And if you've seen South Carolina, Senator Tim Scott, who is a black man who is a unifier, I think people would breathe a sigh of relief. Now the extra part of this would be that Biden would also stand down for nomination and that the Democrats would take a deep breath and maybe look to their core of governors or younger leadership and try to pass a Baton that way. I mean, wouldn't it be great to have an election where you said, gosh, I've got two competent tickets here and you know, we're going to get a little different flavor of government versus we have crazy. And, you know, not all there. Wouldn't, wouldn't that be like an awesome outcome?
Speaker 2I think that would be amazing. Um, I also think it's very exciting. The amount of African Americans, conservative African Americans that are running this fall , um, on the GOP side, it's, doesn't have the same energy as the women who are running , uh , against the Republican party two years ago. And I'm not entirely sure why the news coverage isn't there for it, but there are a lot of African Americans that are running on the, on the Republican side that aren't buying into what the democratic message has been for African Americans , uh , all these years.
Speaker 4I'm not sure
Speaker 2Why the media hasn't given this a lot of coverage. I have my guesses, but it would be good .
Speaker 4Great. If the media covered that a little bit better, that would be a wonderful day if they would do that. But you mentioned, you know, what is the news that's getting out earlier on ? You asked me about what aren't you hearing again, we've heard about Elmer Fudd and we've heard about paw patrol. Uh , we've heard about increasing COVID counts. We've heard about lots of statues coming down. Yeah, exactly. Lots of statues coming down. Well that, well, that all makes make
Speaker 2Sense to me, rich, I'm an old sales guy and , um , CNNs viewership numbers have been up 800% or something. So it becomes, that's an ad buy and that statue toppling the riots and stuff that makes for great TV and everybody's watching it, but it just doesn't make it right. It's it's not the right thing for the news to be doing.
Speaker 4No, it's not. And when you , uh , think about other things we haven't covered like the legal battle going around the , uh , executive orders in various States here in Michigan. Right? Right. Exactly. So we have our governor who literally at the same time, her administration's in court wanting felony charges for violating her executive orders. She's out violating her executive order personally. No , I know . I mean, a better answer would have been, just say, look, I sympathize with the protesters , but we've got to practice the distancing and , and the stay at home as an executive order, it would have been far better than rushing out there to get in the middle of it,
Speaker 2But out there. But what kind of stuff is she doing?
Speaker 4Well, she's been promoting our famous Coney Island, hot dogs down in Detroit. And this is a area that I'm very well versed in having worked washing dishes and busing tables and being a short order cook in a couple of Coney Island restaurants and , um, you know, two on one, whatever. I know how to make those Coney islands. I think Joseph's good as anybody
Speaker 2Governor Whitmer and the, and the County dog . So I need to make these quick takes quick. So one more before we go, if you had to wake up in the morning tomorrow morning and hear one piece of good news, what would that be?
Speaker 4Well, the best news would be that , uh, both of the major political parties have turned on their current nominees and made a move to much more competent and reasonable tickets. It would also be nice if , uh , we heard some of the major media outlets fess up that they've not been playing according to objective rules and that they're going to make every effort to March that direction. But as I look forward as an American citizen and as someone that has a , I think, a decent political observer and an observer of the media, if a person's issue is healthcare insurance or guns or student debt or household wages or tax policy or trade policies , particularly with China or national defense or personal privacy or mental health services or criminal justice or environmental health or police reforms, you have very little reason to be optimistic given where our political parties and our reporting sources are spending their time and their energy and their money. And we need to demand that the actual policies that will make the situations better are addressed. And until we do, we're going to keep getting the type of hyper partisan truth , slanted or outright dishonest reporting and representation.
Speaker 2And with that rich, you stuck your landing again. Thanks a lot for doing quick takes and we'll see you next time. Happy to do it. Brian, you have been listening to Richard healthy's common bridge podcast recording, and post-production provided by stunt three. Multimedia. All rights are reserved by Richard helpy for more information, visit Richard [inaudible] dot com.