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And good morning.
I'm Brian Noonan.
Happy Mardi Gras.
Happy Fat Tuesday.
Happy Puchki Day.
Oh, it's Tuesday.
So much.
And it feels like Monday, but it is in fact Tuesday.
A lot of people had yesterday off.
It was a company holiday.
We had yesterday off.
My wife did not.
She felt very upset that she was forced to work.
You
this
No, I was.
Well, listen, I was shocked too.
I'm sure.
But Parker did a great job putting together the best stuff.
So I hope you enjoyed yesterday's show.
A few highlights from our our long and illustrious run on this program, which is almost almost two months.
It is six
week.
This is our 31st show
Oh,
counter.
Wow.
Thank you.
you,
right.
There's no accounting for taste.
A lot to get to today and maybe some surprises.
That doesn't blow the surprise.
That's not a spoiler.
But this was real quick because we're
going to get
into talking about Tom Holman and Minneapolis and ICE and all that craziness.
Breaking news overnight, Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights activist, presidential candidate, Chicago icon, died at the age of 84.
overnight tonight.
He was known worldwide.
He worked with Dr. Martin Luther King.
He was on the balcony when Dr. King was assassinated.
Hospitalized in mid-November, Jamie, with a rare brain condition, which is related to Parkinson's, which he was suffering from.
So this was a statement put out by his family almost immediately after he passed away.
We're going to assume the overnight hour since this is breaking just this morning.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1941, he gained a lot of national attention, as you mentioned, for his work in civil rights.
In 1966,
at the age of 25, he returned to study at the Chicago Theological Seminary.
He soon became a fixture on the religious and political scenes throughout most of Chicago, clashed with leaders, including former mayors, Richard J. Daly and Jane, is it burn?
Burn, burn, okay.
Maybe you get a little research in there.
I should, I
And he often worked with local groups on education programs and anti-viol-
Just one of those staples in the civil rights movement and probably a name that a lot of people will obviously recognize, even if you haven't seen much of his work in the past few years, is he's gotten a little bit older.
He's gotten a little bit older, ran for president in 84.
He won 11 primaries in 1988 before Michael Dukakis ran over him with a tank.
But that was, you know, and I will give, I've...
You know, being from Chicago, Jesse Jackson was always a fixture on the news here.
And when I was living in LA, I'll shout out some a radio bit, Jamie, because we know Frank loves it when we commit to the bit.
Yes.
For years, Jesse Jackson on Sunday morning would speak at Operation Push, and he would give these speeches.
And a lot of times if you've heard Jesse Jackson speak in the past, he gets rolling.
And a lot of times the words just all
come together and in like a mush that would fall out.
And these two guys, Conway and Stoeckler on a talk station in Los Angeles, used to play a game on Monday.
What did Jesse Jackson say?
And so they would play clips from his speech of the day before people would have to try to translate what Jesse Jackson said.
And it was hard sometimes to figure it was like
Don't I none of those sounded like words Jesse, but Jesse Jackson a huge political force in this country a huge fighter for civil rights had been sick for a while And yeah, I think because they said he died Tuesday.
So it was sometimes between midnight and now Absolutely, so now You know, that's that's horrible breaking news.
We had more celebrity deaths while we were gone But let's talk about let's talk about our man Tom
Oh my gosh, he says, Jimmy, they're still gonna be, you know, we're pulling out of there.
It's done here.
Yes.
Minneapolis is safe.
There are no more undocumented immigrants there.
The worst of the worst have been purged.
Those five year olds who are just horrible, they have been taken into custody.
Everything is good.
But we're going to keep a small force here.
Well, sure.
We're going to keep a small security force.
But more than 1,000 people have already been removed and hundreds more are expected before the operations are going to return to, quote, unquote, normal levels.
Now, some ICE agents will stay in Minneapolis to finish some investigations, according to Holman, including cases tied to alleged daycare fraud and anti-ICE protest incidents, as well as security team will
remain to help with public safety and work with local law enforcement, but officials hope to withdraw them very soon as well.
Now, looking ahead a little bit, Borders R. Tom Holman says the ICE could be deployed in other sanctuary cities as well.
He also went on to say this weekend that decisions will depend on how much those cities cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,
arguing
And let us do what we want.
Exactly.
Any trouble.
can I ask this, Jamie?
And you might not know this through your extensive research.
Does Tom Holman not have a map of the entire country?
I don't believe he does.
Our cities and I'm just going to throw they could go to Houston.
They could go to Tallahassee.
Yes, they could go to a lot of other cities, but they seem to pick the same places It's almost like there isn't a bigger country or that Undocumented the worst of the worst only picks certain cities to go to there's no worst of the worst anywhere else
perhaps?
I don't need to make everything political here.
Does everything have to be part of a party line?
Well, if this administration is going to
on party lines, then I think we have to point it out too, right?
So come on, everybody knows, the immigration issue is not limited to sanctuary cities.
This country needs...
Definite reform of our immigration policies.
This is not the way to get it because you are not you are not doing what you Pretend to be doing and getting the worst of the worst you are trying to get rid of anybody who doesn't look sound or have the birth certificate that says they are white Americans
when you listen.
We're gonna make it off where you can't refuse, man.
Either you bed down or you know, we're coming in.
We're coming in.
I mean, and
I don't say that lightly, but it's a tactic that we've seen from this administration over the course, well, during the first version and obviously during the first year of the second version as well.
And so I don't say that lightly, but I mean, if you're gonna threaten these,
governors and these mayors to cooperate just so that they don't bring ICE agents into your city.
That feels like a tactic that starts to border on, I don't know, maybe a little...
It's a protection racket.
It is.
It is.
It's exactly like the old school street level protection racket.
You don't want anything to happen to your store, do you?
Well, then I need 200 bucks a week.
Right.
And we'll make sure everything's fine.
You don't want us to invade your city with an army, basically.
Do what we say.
Do what we say.
and everything will be fine.
Now, wait, you don't want any problems here, do you?
You don't want to, look at what happened a minute ago, you don't want that here.
Why don't you just do what we say?
It'll be a lot easier for you.
Now, unfortunately, for a good portion of this country, we're not done with whatever ICE plans on doing because there was news that broke over the weekend that ICE actually plans to expand detention capacity to about 92,600 beds nationwide to support these.
large-scale deportations.
Now this plan includes eight mega detention centers, each able to hold up to 10,000 people, targeted to open by November 30th of 2026.
Now, funding is expected through congressional spending in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, right?
And so if you're watching what's happening at the government level thinking, oh, they can't possibly continue this because DHS
is shut
down, as we've talked on this program, that is absolutely not true because they have the funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Now, ICE also plans 16 regional processing sites for short stays.
You know, those three to seven days, they
can each hold up to 1,000 to 1,500 people, they aim right now to acquire 10 existing detention facilities already used by ICE.
Now, the goal, according
to officials- Are they putting any phones in there so people can call lawyers?
I can't even imagine what, if you're holding 10,000 people in one facility, can you imagine what these facilities are gonna be like?
The goal is to centralize and standardize detention operations nationwide.
They've hired 12,000 new law enforcement officers to support these increased arrests.
And the agency has already purchased at least seven large warehouses, some over 1 million square feet for possible detention use.
Now, if you're keeping track, there are 23 proposed detention sites already under construction, Brian.
And these projects fall into forecast.
Some leases have already been signed.
Some have
been
on.
It's going to be interesting once these projects continue to find out.
Where the money is going this sounds like the privatization of prisons where you get a couple companies that are making a lot of money and I I don't know for sure But I will I will posit a thought that perhaps some of these the money is going to friends of the administration that there will be there will be You've got to pay somebody these leases.
Yeah, got somebody's making some money here and
But that's that's separate from the fact that we are now building warehouses for people and we are not.
The big thing over the weekend was Hillary Clinton coming out and saying, listen, we know, yes, President Obama, President Biden, they deported more people.
And that's the big argument now for people who are still fans of what is happening with ICE.
They deported more people.
They did deport more people.
they did it in a more civilized humane way as humane as you can be when you're deporting people.
Let's let's be honest.
So yes, that should be when you as a MAGA person or a Republican supporter of these these tactics, you should then realize that okay, Democrats are not against
No.
Fixing the immigration system.
Democratic administrations deport people.
They just don't do it in a random, cruel, arbitrary way where it's, you know, anybody who's standing outside of a Home Depot waiting to get work, they're not a criminal.
the Obama administration, the Biden administration weren't going and waiting in courthouses for people who were going to their hearings.
These were people that you're not the worst of the worst if you're going to your immigration hearings.
the process
Now, with these facilities that they're building across the country, it is interesting because in a lot of cases, federal officials have are working to secure these sites kind of
under wraps, and it's catching local leaders by surprise as well in many of the communities.
They have no idea that this is happening.
There's shell companies involved.
There's different names.
So
And I'm Brian and we'll talk a little punchy and maybe we'll have Jamie.
the Civic Media Network.
It sounded nefarious.
And I'm Brian Noonan.
Yeah, if you have a favorite punchy because today is Fat Tuesday.
It is Mardi Gras.
It is punchy day.
It is Fat Tuesday, like I said, I can't
believe it.
Today is the day where you can gorge yourself.
Fat Tuesday started.
because it's the day before Lent, if you are a Catholic.
It has big Catholic roots, Fat Tuesday.
So today was the last day to enjoy yourself and eat all kinds of rich foods and things that you were giving up for Lent.
And it would then, the Pungski became a big thing in Poland.
Polish cities transformed Warsaw, Kraków.
All these bakeries would make these Pungski's.
They'd have big celebrations.
And then it came to America and Milwaukee, New York, Detroit, Chicago.
are huge Polish hubs, so of course the Polish tradition of Pączki Day carried over and people line up there.
I pre-ordered and picked mine up the other day, which I realized was too early because, now, one, they were gone, and two, you know, you gotta eat them when you get them.
And if you're looking for some punchkeys in Madison, the place to be if you can get in there this morning is the Ugly Apple Cafe, 215 South Hamilton Street, UglyAppleCafe.com.
Laurel Burlinson is the owner of the cafe.
She is here to talk to us about Madison's punchkey day.
Laurel, thanks for being here.
Hi, thank you so much for having me
so What's how crazy is it going to be at the ugly apple cafe this morning because I know you guys have been taking orders people people in Madison want their punch keys How is it going to be for you?
I mean it will be pretty crazy We're also we're located in a municipal building downtown or in the Dane County Courthouse and so
this is our third year doing it here and so everybody is kind of aware we take over the whole downstairs and people come in with their pre-orders and then we also have more for sale and like breakfast and coffee and lunch and all that stuff too and so it gets pretty wild but I think we can handle it.
We got it.
Yeah, yeah, like we start kind of previewing them in the cafe in a couple weeks beforehand.
So we've been kind of like previewing some flavors for people, like some of our regulars who can stop by.
Um, we started taking pre-orders, um, I think like the end of January.
But people, people were emailing me before that like, Hey, are you doing pre-orders this year?
Are you doing them?
We need them.
Yeah.
Starting like January 15th or 16th.
So Laurel, for, for people who are like, well, isn't a punch key just like a jelly donut?
What sets those apart and what, what kind of unique flavors?
Because you mentioned taste testing some flavors.
Um,
What kind of unique flavors are you guys offering at the ugly apple cafe?
Yeah, well first of all it's more like it's a it's a very rich dough so kind of going along with that tradition like you were saying in Poland
having something rich and delicious the day before.
It's really trying to use up all the stuff that's in your house that you don't want hanging around over let.
That was part of the tradition.
So like there's butter in them.
There's eggs and egg yolks.
There's milk.
There's sugar.
They're like so rich.
It's more like a deep fry brioche bun almost than just like a regular plain old doughnut.
And then I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.
My mom is Polish.
And so when we moved up here, like we had kind of a classic bakery that we would go to.
And moving up here is like there's not as much around for punch ski in Madison.
So I took it on myself when I opened my cafe about 10 years ago now.
And some of the flavors we do, I try to do like things that are a little interesting and creative.
We do probably the most popular is our bourbon vanilla bean
It's really good.
We also do a dark chocolate custard and then the traditional ones are prune and our little
twist on
that is I call them brandied dry plum.
So I take the prunes and kind of stew them with apple cider and brandy and then make the filling from that.
So it's like kind of like still a nod towards the traditional ones but like a little bit different.
And then the new flavor this year was lemon chamomile.
delicious.
She is the owner at Ugly Apple Cafe.
It is Poonchki Day as we get ready for Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras.
Now, you just listed a bunch of your favorite flavors, Laurel.
You are a bunch of flavors.
Do you have a favorite and why is it your favorite?
And why should people try that one in particular?
Oh my
goodness.
It's really, it's really hard to see.
Loaded questions.
So yeah, it's like picking your favorite kid.
Right.
Yeah.
So you can't, they're all good in different ways and it depends on what you like.
One that I didn't mention yet, we do a caramel apple butter and I get all the apples from seconds for apples from local farmers.
That's like
how we got the name of the
business.
Yeah, it's like you can take the ugly apples and then make them into delicious things and in this case we took those and Cooked them down into apple butter and then made caramel sauce mixed that with it and then put it inside a punch key.
Oh my goodness
Wow today's the day where diets go out the window.
I'm just listening to you describe all those and I'm eyeing one that I have sitting next to me That I've been waiting to eat and it's just like tomorrow's tomorrow's length and you just move on so
Obviously, today the focus is punch keys, but for those who haven't been to the courthouse because they're law abiding citizens or not state employees, what else can people find at the Ugly Apple Cafe?
Well, so we're open Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch.
So breakfast sandwiches, sandwiches, soup, salads for lunch.
We do daily specials too because a lot of our clientele are people who work in the building or nearby.
So we switch it up all the time, use seasonal ingredients.
We have a full espresso bar.
So you can get your lattes or mochas also.
And we also have a satellite location in the city county building, which is also where city hall is downtown.
And they have punchy there today too.
Perfect.
And you can find out all you need to know at uglyapplecafe.com.
That's the website.
Good luck today, Laurel.
Thanks for taking time.
I know you were busy this morning.
you so
much.
I appreciate it.
And I'm Brian Noon and some Milwaukee Council members are having a little tiffy-tiff.
Coming up on Civic
Media...
We hope that you are having a great start to your morning if you're listening in Appleton and Oshkosh on WISS or in Richland Center on WRCE or even in Wisconsin Rapids on WFHR.
Thank you so much for joining us on Civic Media Mornings on the Civic Media Network.
I am Jamie Martenson.
I'm Brian Noonan.
Good morning.
It seems like a lot of adults never went to kindergarten because in kindergarten, Jamie, you learn to cooperate.
You learn to share.
You learn to play together.
You learn to you learn different techniques for maybe overcoming differences or you hope to.
And then then we those of us who went to kindergarten and tried to learn those things a lot of times is
become adults they fall away because you know adults are jerks.
And that does not exclude members of the Common Council in Milwaukee.
Two members of the Common Council have been removed from committees after a verbal confrontation in the lead-up to a news conference about potential ICE enforcement operations in the city.
Oh boy.
If you can't play together, you can't be on committees.
Apparently not.
Everybody go
You lose your positions.
Council President Jose Perez had to reshuffle assignments, so Alder's Mark Chambers Jr.
and Joe Costa's Zama Repo will no longer serve on the same committees.
A move that's a bit unusual, as you can imagine, because committee changes typically happen after elections, and council seats aren't up again until 2028.
We can't have fighting in every meeting.
We can't have these two going at each other like rabid raccoons Yeah So they were they were They were yelling throughout the council offices.
They're just running up and down the hall screaming at each other.
That's not I mean even in a even in a business like radio where we're all very opinionated and we're all very Outgoing for the most part or curmudgeon Lee and don't like to be bothered, right?
You can't be running up and down the halls.
Parker tried it the other day.
It didn't go well.
I did.
Yeah, no, it just didn't go well.
No,
have to clean Brian's car
after
the show.
And I went four-wheeling this weekend because everything was melting and muddy.
So the shakeup of Milwaukee actually strips chambers of his seat on the very powerful licenses committee, which Zamaripa also chairs and also removes him as vice chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee.
Now Zamaripa also lost her role as vice chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee where Chamber serves.
So obviously these two could not just be together in any way, shape, or form.
No.
No.
There are sources inside
the
It was on February 11th inside the council offices.
Witnesses say chambers could be heard yelling shortly before that news conference that you alluded to where council members were preparing to talk about, you know, how the city could be most beneficial against potential.
ICE agents and ICE raids throughout Milwaukee.
Now, the proposals include banning masks for law enforcement officers preventing federal agents from staging operations on city property, ideas that surface after some of the recent immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota.
Now, it's unclear, though, whether this confrontation was directly related to that particular proposal.
Sources say the tensions between the two council members have been ongoing.
Neither Chambers nor Zamaripa have publicly
minute on the situation.
Now, I find this fascinating though, because Amaripa is currently running for Wisconsin Secretary of State.
Oh,
yeah.
So
Yeah, if you can't get along with.
Right.
Listen, we all have co-workers that we don't like.
If you're in the car driving to work this morning, you're like, I know.
is barb.
That Bob down the hall.
Oh my god, I can't stand him.
But you're not going to you as an adult, you realize you can't just be screaming and yelling.
Now, I understand sometimes disagreements get heated.
And of but this this must have been this can't be a one time deal.
This severe of repercussions because
One time you can, voices get raised, you're
in an
argument, okay, go, hey, guys, we can't, we gotta simmer down a little bit.
But yeah, this had to be going, just to be running up and down, screaming at each other.
Oh man, yeah, if you're running for state office, voters could very well look at that and go, maybe that person is,
Doesn't have their emotions under control.
in this as well country is the whole country is moving around like this It truly
hurt public confidence, especially if you're running for some higher level office.
You know, situations like this raise questions about professionalism.
To me, it raises questions about leadership, but I don't know anything about either of these people.
They might be fine people, they might not just get along.
Obviously, in the day and age where we're constantly talking about ice raids and potential invasions into cities, tempers are a little flared right now.
Yeah, and one community
Is affected differently than another community and the representatives from those community who knows right who knows but let's you know try to don't don't model your behavior after the Right big administration model your behavior after your children who you tell to try to get along with everybody Yes, or at least hey if you don't like them
Don't go near them.
That was always my thing with mom.
If you don't like them, stay away from them.
Right.
But people don't.
They love to go and they... Yeah.
They want the conflict.
Just say hi and move on with your life.
But I think this is, it's interesting because whether you're talking about a very, a large city like Milwaukee, very urban area, or you're talking about even a smaller town like Hayward,
Really, don't we just want our elected officials to put aside their differences and work together?
I mean, maybe that sounds a little idealistic
at a time
we are right now.
Wow, Pollyanna, very nice to meet you.
That's not possible.
I would imagine it's worse in a smaller town.
Probably.
Because you're small town politics.
Yes.
And you see each other all the time.
And you wander by culvers.
And there's your arched enemy, your political nemesis.
you know, some custard.
just so you have
We saw Bob didn't tip.
Why does Bob get all the shade here?
Every, every argument Bob is getting the shade.
Bob.
Bob.
Which I don't quite understand.
Yeah.
You mentioned, you mentioned masks and I know we have something big we want to promote, but.
Yeah.
going back to Tom Hulman.
Yes.
He also doesn't take ice people should ice people.
The ice people
from the north.
That's right.
The ice agents.
He doesn't believe they should wear
No, he does not.
And it was it was another one of those fascinating conversations from Hulman over the weekend.
He actually appeared on CBS's Face the Nation.
And he said that he believes that masks are they're necessary to protect
officers from threats and violence because these agents have to be able to protect themselves.
Cut one, please,
Parker.
exactly I love it
how did law enforcement ever my my uncle was in back when it was called customs yes he was a customs agent for his entire career after the military he was a customer he never wore a mask nobody wore masks before this how how did we enforce laws up to this point
Nine bazillion.
That's high.
It's concerning.
He goes on in this interview to talk about how they already wear placards with their badge numbers and names on them.
So this is how you identify these particular agents.
And of course, he was talking about the partial government shutdown.
over Homeland Security funding because that is what in its third day now, fourth day, it's driven by the standoff between the White House and the Democrats over the basically the immigration enforcement reforms.
The debate has intensified following the shootings in Minneapolis and Democrats are pushing for change that would require body cameras and visible identification.
It would ban those masks, kind of like, you know, the argument that ensued, I guess, in Milwaukee.
in the council members.
It would prohibit racial profiling and require judicial warrants for arrests on private property.
Now, Holman's-
They do not want those judicial warrants.
They do
They do not.
Because without the warrants, it basically gives them free reign to go in and do whatever they want, wherever they want.
So, Holman called some of these proposals unreasonable, saying that ICE is operating within current federal law and rejecting claims of racial profiling.
I guess take his word for it, question
mark?
Well, he did say, you know, listen, the laws are on the books.
So if you don't like the laws, then you should demonstrate it Washington.
And it's like, well, yeah, sure, we could talk to our Congress people and demonstrate there, but we are also allowed to demonstrate on our own streets where you guys are doing all sorts of horrible things.
Well, that's Minnesota, but what is...
What are things?
What's the state of the state here in Wisconsin, Jamie?
How will we find out what's happening here?
We're going to find out tonight because Governor Evers is going to take the podium at the Capitol around 7 p.m.
And he is going to basically lay out his plans for 2026 as he enters his last nine months of governor of the spined state of Wisconsin.
We're going to have coverage right here on Civic Media tonight starting around 645.
We have University of
Wisconsin professors Michael Wagner and Howard Schwaver joining us, and our own John Scott will bring you insight, analysis, and we will talk a little bit about
if we're going to be able to accomplish what Governor Evers lays out in this particular plan tonight.
Now, I've seen a few notes.
I got to do a little bit more digging today into what the governor would like to basically tell Wisconsinites.
Now, here's the thing you have to remember, folks.
In two days, basically, Robin Voss, Speaker Voss, is going to adjourn this state legislature for the rest of the year.
So, you gotta think that we're gonna hear some actual concrete plans tonight from our governor, and then we have a legislature that's effectively going to say, nope, we're not gonna do any of that.
How does that help anybody?
Realistically, how does that help anybody in this state if the Republicans refuse to even talk about what the governor is going to lay
out tonight?
It's amazing to me that that is allowed.
There needs to be some mechanism in the state constitution that needs to be changed to say you can't be gone, you can't do everything in January and then not come back.
A lot can happen between now and the end of the year and it's irresponsible and if it's a hardship on the legislators, well that's something
That's something that don't run to think about before.
Yes, before they run, because you know the gig.
You don't take a job where you don't know when you're working.
Right.
So it just it seems it seems very irresponsible.
It seems like a dereliction of duty.
It seems like you're letting down
the people who voted for you and want to be represented.
We don't just want to be represented in January.
No.
We want to be represented all year, and we want to have a say in what's happening.
That's why
And I'm Brian Noona.
We'll have a contest for you after 7 o'clock on the Civic Media Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
We hope that you are having a great start to your morning.
Another beautiful day shaping up in large portions of Wisconsin.
A great start already this morning.
Like I went outside without a coat today.
Like I was just carrying it with me because it's already nice out.
You know, we live in Wisconsin.
Our version of nice
is a lot
parts of the country.
We're getting, we're getting lulled into this fake spring.
And I think by the weekend it's supposed to be back in the thirties.
But you know what?
Okay, I'll take a
a couple days like this, even though I know the cold will feel worse next week, but I don't mind a day or two where it's like,
from like the 20s
You are
And I'm Brian Noonan.
Here's a question for you.
How did so many people,
look at Donald Trump when he was running and Didn't see anything that was morally disqualifying for him and I thought I This question came up because I saw a video from New York Times opinion columnist David Brooks who sat down for one of his final conversations.
He's leaving the New York Times and I Mean we've all wondered that right we've all saw what was
Why is there no breaking point?
What is it that why do people look at Donald Trump and not see anything wrong, the 34 felony convictions?
There's so many things and they try to brush away everything.
There's nothing, there's no bar that's too low for them to elect it.
He had a very interesting, he had an interesting take on it and I wanted to play for you, Jamie.
So, and we can talk about it.
And I want to hear from you too at 855-75 Civic.
That's 855-752-4842.
This is David Brooks from The New York Times.
Cut two, please.
Yeah, and what I liked about this is if you listen he's not talking about Donald Trump being the cause of this right Donald Trump is the result of this.
Yeah
Which I found very interesting because then it takes some of the ammunition and the Trump derangement syndrome out of the conversation and makes us look inward more to say Is he right?
Is there no shared moral fabric anymore?
I
And it helped turn faith into this really powerful political force.
And leaders were expected to model these family values and have personal character.
But somewhere along the way, those rules actually shifted.
And so
I think today for a lot of voters, especially the evangelicals, politics has become more about outcomes than personal behavior.
The focus then shifts to judges, policies, and these cultural battles.
And the thinking essentially is, we're electing a president, not a pastor.
And in fact, there was a recent survey that
Really kind of drove this home for me a little bit in in this survey nearly half of the Republicans said that they would still support Trump Even if he were proven to be connected to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and convicted of crimes, right?
So if you think about that for a second that means millions of people people walking amongst us, right?
Are okay with a scandal serious enough?
that it would land people in jail for the rest of their lives.
And when you look at the files, some of the things coming out, these
are
are
Well, it goes beyond politics, though, then, at that point, doesn't it?
It goes to not only...
individual character, but it goes to the character of the country.
And I've railed against this whole my truth and your truth and Baba and everybody's own rules.
There's no gray area in truth.
Truth is truth is truth and right is right and wrong is wrong.
And some things are not open to negotiation, but we've lost that.
We've taken
the spirit of individualism, which America was founded on, and it's great.
But we've taken that to an extreme where the right and wrong no longer exist.
It's what I think is right and what you think is right.
And those don't always match.
And they're not always correct.
Because morality and politics hasn't necessarily disappeared, but I think it's shifted and changed.
And for a lot of people, it's no longer about that personal character.
You don't need to be a good person.
Remember, you know, when Bill Clinton had all of his scandals and even John F. Kennedy, it's become literally about loyalty power and winning culture wars.
And that's what matters, I think, to a good majority of voters.
I think Donald Trump was able to bring that out and allow people to finally feel like they had a voice and a freedom in those.
That's always been how I've seen it.
But if you look at that poll that you quoted, and when you hear people say, I don't care if someone is convicted of being part of a pedophilia ring, what's happened?
We're lost.
And I don't know how we can get back.
Well, on that happy note, hey, hey, it's Fat Tuesday.
And I'm Brian Nunez.
We'll talk about the new snap benefits after the
news.
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