D’ya smell that? It’s the foul stench of authoritarianism (Hour 2)

Broadcasting across the state of Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and around the world on the Civic Media app, this is the Dom Salvia show.

And now here's your host, Dom Salvia.

And welcome to the Dom Salvia show.

Thank you so much for tuning in you could be a big part Contribute to the spine production at eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five Seven five a civic at the phone line.

It's a text line You know how that works got just PS working hard on the board on the sound on the tunes for you today and jazzed as hell It's Wednesday.

So my co-host of the day Matt Rothschild formerly of the progressive over the Wisconsin democracy campaign

and a frequent civic media contributor.

Matt, welcome back to the show, man.

Hey, Dom.

Hey, Jess.

So, it's fun to be with you, too.

Yes, it is always a blast, Matt.

Thank you so much.

Lots of local news, lots of national news to get to.

There's a... What's that?

authoritarianism in the air, man.

We got days of this, man.

Trump's going on, but let's, let's, let's start local Matt.

Let's start with the election.

We had an election already, man.

We had a primary yesterday here in the state of Wisconsin.

I actually, I, I stuck out.

I did on the way after the show, I went home and I was 181 in my ward.

I went to the wrong one first.

He had two in the same building.

I didn't know which one mine was.

And I even looked at the map and I still got it wrong.

So

But I did a cast my vote.

I was 181 Specifically for the Wisconsin superintendant of public instruction Jill underly the incumbent she

moved forward along with Brittany Kinzer.

Now she is the Republican backed Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate.

Jeff Wright came up short 128,000 votes.

Jeff got Brittany got 161,000 and underly the incumbent jail got 177.

2000 so Underly and Kinzer now go on to the final round I guess this will be what April 1st another election never stops folks.

This is the self-governance thing medic continues.

Um, I guess

I'm not first April 1st be a big election Not only for this but especially for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but yeah, this race this race for state superintendent of schools, you know

I wasn't surprised that Jill underly won.

I think she's done a good job as state superintendent of education.

I was kind of surprised at the challenge from Jeff Wright, who I like a lot, who I think is a very attractive candidate both times that he's run before.

I've been impressed with him, but it was just curious to me as to why he was running.

I always thought underly was going to win anyway, so why attack her?

And then the other thing is...

There was this split between, you know, WEAC, the Wisconsin Education folks, and the American Federation of Teachers.

Usually they're on the same page when it comes to candidates.

So I was just kind of totally confused by the challenge from Jeff Wright.

Not surprised by the outcome, however.

And I do think Brittany Kinzer is just a stalking horse, not even that.

There's nothing stalking about her.

She's right there in the open.

to prove out your candidate, to destroy the public schools candidate.

And so this is a big race.

Do you want to support our public schools or do you want to see the continual draining of our public funds going to private schools?

I don't.

Yeah, what to a second unfunded mandate for the thousands of kids that are in in the this other operation these other schools now Ken's are my understanding was also a consultant like she's in the voucher school business It's amazing how much they want to get their greedy little hands on that socialist public school money now man I mean I went to a public grade school kindergarten through eighth grade me

fine, fine town of Hortonville, Wisconsin.

I grew up in Stevensville up north there.

Hey, not, not too far out of Appleton, Wisconsin.

Uh, and then when I got into high school, my parents decided, well, they don't want me going to that high school and when you go to Appleton, Xavier private.

Catholic education, you know college prep and all that and I was I was very depressed about all that, you know My older brother and sister they both went so I knew the writing was on the wall and and I knew I'd be pulled out of my my favorite school all my friends and you know dumped into this religious education and One thing I noticed about that was my parents had to go to pocket for me and there was there was

there was money they had to pay for man there was tuition in high school my parents had to pay for me to go to this high school there were no tax credits right there was no break on your taxes there was no voucher no access to get some of that money back then or at least that my parents took advantage of if there were uh but i figured you know at the end of the day man that's up to the parents you want to send your kids to a different school and not a public school then go to pocket for you know we have

In this world, in the environment in which we've decided to live, in the governance that we've come up with, we have some basics here.

A public education to give everybody a shot.

We have police officers, for example, to try to keep people safe.

You have fire departments, try to keep the fires on, so on and so forth.

Well, if you are not happy with your...

I don't know, policing, your safety.

You can go and hire a security guard, right?

You can go do that on your own.

No one's given you a credit, you know, on your taxes to buy the security guard.

You can get, you know what I'm saying?

You can go down the lot list of public services of people that are available to everyone, but some people think are not good enough for them.

Okay, but then why should they be able to, you know, tap into the well of that public money to

pursue their own private interests, Matt.

It is, it is, it is a, it is really bothersome to me and throw up above and beyond that.

It's not just to the education.

I got a great education at Appleton Xavier.

I really did.

It stuck with me.

I had some great teachers, great friends.

I mean, I think there's good teachers everywhere, right?

So religious stuff didn't it?

See what I'm saying?

That was the other thing.

Like halfway through my freshman year because I didn't come up in those starter, you know, religious schools.

All my friends are like little feeder schools that did all the religious stuff and they all went to Xavier, St.

Mary's this and whatever that, you know, all these little schools.

And then they fed and went to the main to Xavier.

So I wasn't down with the whole tradition, let's call it.

And so when I started asking questions in school,

excuse doesn't have to go anymore you know at the at the religious school I no longer had to go to religion class which was fine but this now and that was in my parents time but this now this is religious indoctrination man you got people you got these these organizations these churches teaching what kids that the earth is six thousand years old well how does that how does that mesh with you know the math and science that they were just in man

Right and I don't want my taxpayer dollars to go to that kind of indoctrination and the problem with our voucher program our so-called school choice program in this state is that You know more and more of our tax dollars are going to fund these parochial schools in this kind of indoctrination And so I'm against the school voucher program I did a podcast in our Wisconsin forward civic media podcast series Precisely on this school choice question, but yeah

I mean, Kinzer, Brittany Kinzer, she's one of those folks who, you know, they think there should be no income ceiling at all on the people who are getting vouchers.

You know, you could be the richest family.

You could be Diane Hendricks.

You know, we could pay Diane Hendricks' grandchildren to go to a parochial school.

I mean, that's ridiculous.

Plus you're listening to The Dom Salvia Show.

That's my co-host of the day, Matt Rothschild.

You can join us as well at 855-752-48.

So underly, we'll move along into the next round with the voucher person.

Some of the reporting here from the journal Sutton knows what kind of ties into this.

Man, I want to get your thoughts on this as well.

From Molly Beck, from today, assembly lawmakers vote to reverse state report card changes.

Thinking, wait, what?

What does this mean?

The lawmakers passed a bill 54 to 44 that requires the state DPI to overhaul its state report cards to match how they measured academic achievement on the state test before the changes were made last year.

Okay.

Well, why is that?

Well, some Republicans argued those changes championed by under Lee.

Again, the incumbent who won will be on the ballot in April will help them walk your public schools evade accountability for low.

per student performance.

Um, Robert Witt kid said this, a Republican from Racine with voting.

No, you're neglecting your responsibility to help kids learn.

Now, all they did, Matt, according to the reporting here, which blows my mind, they changed the categories of achievement.

It was initially like four categories below basic, basic, proficient and advanced.

Now it's developing approaching meeting.

and advanced so three of the four have changed oh my how is that how is that problematic whatsoever

yeah i mean and also you know there's advance in advance those are identical you know meeting and proficient those are pretty close too i mean

They're just playing word games here.

And they're also using the terminology changes is a cheap way to take another swipe at the Milwaukee public schools, which they've been doing constantly as an excuse to, you know, promote their voucher school program.

That that's what this is all about.

Really.

Bill, the author, one of the author, I guess, Bill, Senator John Jagler from Watertown.

I've heard mentioned in an interview it hurts kids feelings to be and parents feelings to be told that they're quote unquote below basic.

That's the old term.

It affects their mental health.

You know what really affects their mental health?

Not being able to read when other kids can, he said at the hearing.

Well, what is that?

It's got zero to do with whether or not the kids can read.

I mean, being below basic as opposed to developing, I'd rather be developing versus below basic.

And some of these Republicans are saying, oh, it's going to be, how are we going to possibly, you know, hell, even Tony Evers, and Evers had a speech lesson.

I'm going to get to some of that as well.

Even Evers was like, wow, you know, we should have done a little more.

Now, underly pushed back on that.

So maybe Evers didn't have enough of the information, but to imply somehow some way that people can't look at what the old terminology was and determine that three of the

four have changed, but they're still kind of the same just because what it hurts people's feelings.

As Jadler said, too bad.

It just, it seems, it seems like not, not serious to me, especially when we talk about, you know, kids having very, very real problems in life.

And a big part of that, especially here in the Milwaukee school district is, is, is poverty and those kinds of issues.

Man.

I mean, you know, the rich kids, they usually do better at school, man.

Yeah, and they had the public schools are supposed to take care of all our social ills You know my wife was a school nurse for many years and she had to bring in string cheese to feed the kids because they had no breakfast and They were hungry and they couldn't study because they were so hungry and you know you had the schools taking care of all you know

trying to solve the problem of poverty and hunger in America.

I mean, why don't we give the schools more money?

And that's one of the things he was talking about last night, which was good.

And he also talked about giving free meals to kids.

You know, God forbid we do that.

But as Robin Voss said, we're not going to be Tim Walz's Minnesota.

And why

not?

Feed

hungry kids how we

possibly do that with your woke attitude folks eight five five seven five two four eight four two We're gonna come back get to some of your calls as well And what's your as we go to break your man?

I want you to ponder something what could be done on on the executive level on the governor's level To go to do away with these vouchers man.

I mean could he just line out and veto that?

You know what I'm saying?

Certainly that would cause lots of issues.

I mean, you gotta have kids that got to get enrolled into schools.

But I don't see how this is righteous or proper whatsoever.

I certainly don't want our school or our budget going to fund, you know, wealthier people whose kids are already in these private institutions.

I don't want to be subsidizing the lack of money coming in from

religious organization in tithing, so they open up a school and try to tap into that money.

And I certainly don't want religious indoctrination in the school room.

Come back with us.

855-752-4842.

Governor Evers spoke last night.

We'll get there as

well.

Come every year don't come at all You leave your pieces on that's your call and never

And welcome back to the Dom salvia show eight by five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five civic just be us working hard on the board, special co-host of the day, Matt Ross child joining me as well.

And folks we'll get to you in just a moment, eight, five, five, seven, five civic talking about the vouchers.

Matt, before I get your, your feedback, Wisconsin examiner had a write up on governor Evers speech yesterday and they, they talk about the Wisconsin voucher program and they say that.

a budget, the Evers budget proposal calls for making changes to the voucher program, including with Milwaukee's Racines and the Wisconsin parental choice program.

He wants to freeze the number of slots available to students.

A proposal that comes as a cap on enrollments are slated to come off in 2026.

No cap on enrollments.

What?

He also wants to require participating schools to license educators by July of 2028.

What licensed educators?

We don't, what?

That's a regulation.

We don't want that.

How dare they?

They don't have to be licensed?

What?

And to require schools to allow students participating in these special needs scholarship programs to opt out of religious activities at written requests.

Ooh.

He also proposes putting the cost of Wisconsin's voucher programs on people's property tax bills.

Ooh, also interesting.

Matt, your thought on the status of the voucher program and what Evers proposal here is, and could it be even more drastic if it were me?

I just canceled the whole thing out.

Yeah, well, I'm with you on that.

This budget is better than the last one.

This last budget, he actually expanded funds to the voucher program, which I thought was a terrible thing to do.

So this is an improvement.

Your question going in was, you know, what can be done?

Yeah, he could try to line item veto it.

I don't know if he'd ever get a budget agreement that way.

With Republicans in the legislature, they got to come to some budget agreement.

So I don't think that would work.

The best way, I think, is for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to revisit this issue and reverse the decision they made more than a decade ago that said that this was kosher.

I mean, I cannot believe that the Wisconsin Supreme Court approved this taxpayer money going to parochial schools.

Seems to me a blatant violation of separation in church and state.

So I know there have been some...

rumblings of court challenges that are going to go up possibly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court at some point.

I hope that's one of them.

We need to really take a look at how much of our public dollars are funding these private parochial schools.

It's just way, way too much and it's draining our public schools.

So to me, a ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court that

no

taxpayer money should go to parochial education would be a real answer to this problem.

And perhaps the half step of his, his effort here to put the voucher program funding on

People's property tax bills would be at least a sideways the way around it.

855-752-4842.

What are the Republicans will go for that?

Let's get to some of the callers.

Happy, happy Wednesday.

Brian from Milwaukee, you will be first today.

Thank you, Brian.

What do you got for us?

Hey guys, Rachel, as always.

Yeah, I was raised in a very devout Catholic household.

Went to church every Sunday, was pulled out of school for CCD.

First communion and confirmation, yada, yada.

Yeah.

If you want to, you know, raise your child in a Christian household and with Christian values, send them to a Catholic school or a Christian school or do like what my parents didn't have, you take CCD or something extra curricular.

But once you start teaching Christianity in public schools,

I pray to God that they are willing to start teaching Taoism and Hinduism and Buddhism and everything else.

Yeah,

because those exist as well

You know

and I look at my sister for example She's great Catholic.

She practices Catholicism and her husband is Hindu We invited the whole family over from India for the wedding at my parents place It was the most most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Yeah, you

know what I mean.

Yeah

And then I'm gay.

My brother is gay.

Family's accepting, you know, so there needs to be a separation of church and state.

There has to be.

It's

just, yeah, Brian, thank you so much.

for sharing man.

And you're right.

And that's, I think that's gets to the point, a part of it anyway.

Of course the funding is problematic and the quote unquote indoctrination, but if you're going to start like, like mandating, you know, an hour for Catholicism, an hour for Hinduism and an hour for atheism, an hour for, you know, the Norse gods and hour for the Roman gods.

And you know, don't forget about all the gods that have come and gone.

I mean, we'll never get to reading, writing and arithmetic, Matt.

Yeah.

You know, our textiles right now are funding religious indoctrination for, you know, tens of thousands of kids in Wisconsin.

And to me, you know, I'm an atheist Jew.

I mean,

what the hell?

What's the money going to that?

And it is troublesome.

And I think what... I'm kind of going off a memory here, Matt, so forgive me.

But I think the way they get around it is, well, they give the money to the parents, and the parents decide what to do with the money.

You know what I mean?

It's that kind

of...

That's a shell game though, and I can't believe the Wisconsin Supreme Court, you know, fell for that or blessed that.

And, you know, it's another reason the Supreme Court race coming up April 1st is a really important race.

You know, are we going to have a liberal majority in that Wisconsin Supreme Court or not?

That's one of the issues that is likely to come before it.

And I hope they'll take a real good look at this ruling that they made a while ago that

needs to be reversed.

That's a great point.

We'd have to have someone with standing to, you know, go and challenge these things and get it in front of, hopefully, a liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court and at least put the money back on, put the funding for this back on the folks who want it.

If you want to do that, pay for it yourself like my parents did.

If

the churches want to give folks who don't have enough income, if they want to give them scholarships, let the churches give them money.

Absolutely.

That's a very valid option.

We actually just got a caller who called in Helen from Wanaki.

Didn't want to come directly onto the air, but asked that we bring her message.

She's a Christian.

She's a practicing Christian woman.

She goes to church.

She loves her religion.

But absolutely that should not be in the public schools, right?

This is not something that she wants her money going to because she understands it drains away from the public schools 8

5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 so there are ways we could do this Maybe because the front of the Supreme Court, you know, maybe maybe Eva's line is get rid of it

Nope.

Um, or maybe, you know, these organizations, the churches and these schools that are religious base can give out the scholarships.

And for those who have trouble paying for it, uh, or another, another option and call me crazy here, but maybe they could all start paying property taxes.

Hey,

call me crazy,

call me crazy, but they don't pay any property taxes also.

Not only are we giving up revenue to them, they don't kick in.

Come back with us.

855-752-4842.

Governor Evers spoke last night.

We're going to break down that speech as well.

Stick around.

And welcome back to the Dom Salvia Show, 855-752-484-285-757 Bob Bould, man, he's coming to Tom to go see him at the Papst.

Ooh, he sounds like he

puts on a good show.

Yeah, man, good stuff.

Good stuff.

You ever

seen him live?

I did.

He was a summer fresco a few years ago.

All right, all right.

It was rocking.

I mean, love it.

Yeah, good stuff.

I got Jess Pierce working hard on the board.

I got a Matt Ross trial joining me today.

You can do so as well.

We're going to dive into the speechifying from last night, Governor Tony Evers in the great state of Wisconsin, putting out his budget proposals.

But I think what assembly speaker Robin Boss already said, dead on arrival.

Yeah, you're sitting behind him during

the delivery,

giving him the stink

face.

Right.

We did have a couple of callers on the voucher.

We're going to move on, but let's at least address their points.

Matt from Madison called in and said that his big problem, there's no accountability with the voucher schools.

And that's absolutely correct.

They're not held to the same level of scrutiny.

or accountability as public schools.

Public schools constantly have a microscope on every single thing that they do.

The voucher schools just don't.

Then we heard from Jim from Appleton who said the easiest way to get rid of all these voucher schools, hold them to the same standards as public schools specifically around enrollment.

You

gotta take everyone that comes to you and you gotta keep them.

You can't just hold them for 60 days and then kick them out.

Oh, hold them for the money.

And then I'm sorry.

Can't do it.

Don't have the resources.

Right.

Yeah.

Good.

Yeah.

It's it's it's not equitable by any means and problematic in many, many ways.

So thank you to our fine audience for sharing your thoughts.

Matt, last night, Governor Evers putting out his proposals, a lot of ideas.

What was some of your favorite takeaways before we get to some of the sound?

Well, I thought it was a good progressive speech.

I was generally happy with what the governor was proposing.

It was a progressive speech in a whole mess of ways, one of which we talked about already, giving free meals to kids in school like you do in Minnesota, God forbid.

Our kids don't go hungry.

He also was going to raise the top marginal rate on income so that people who are making million dollars or more are paying now would be paying 9.8 percent instead of 7.65 percent.

We have a pretty flat income tax here in Wisconsin from 3.5 to

7.65.

Not a lot of difference between the people who are making the least and the people who are making the most.

And so I think that's an important thing.

You know, I was surprised because in a way, Governor Evers was responding to two events.

The first event was the shellacking Democrats got at the hands of Donald Trump, especially with working clack.

class folks on cost of living issues.

So we spent a lot of time, more than usual, talking about how to improve people's cost of living, you know, saying there'd be no tax on home heating, there'd be a better mortgage and rent amount that you could deduct, you know, no tax on tips, like Trump had said, no tax on diapers, things that would really help people on the day to day.

The other thing that surprised me was he

You know, Luigi must have made an impression on Grievers.

I hate to say it because he really went after the health insurance companies in this speech in a way I hadn't heard him go after them before.

Just, you know, on delaying, on, you know, requiring more paperwork, on their pricing, on their slow admission to let people get the care that they need.

So paragraph after paragraph after paragraph going after the insurance companies.

It was really something to see.

Evers, unveiling his budget proposal, $55.5 billion in state funds across the biennium, an increase of 18%.

Damn, it's a lot of money, Matt!

It's a lot of money

going out the door.

It's going out the door.

It's a wish list.

All of it is not going to get most of

it.

Well, you guys have to inspire.

You got to at least lay out a vision, if nothing else, before the Republicans crap all over it.

Right.

I mean, you got to at least

shoot big and lay out where the priorities are and address the actual needs of the people and say, this is where the needs are.

How much are you actually going to meet that Voss?

Yeah, and some of it, you know, you're not going to give kids free lunches and free breakfast.

You're not going to pay for lead abatement that's poisoning our kids.

I mean, it's going to be hard for Republicans to oppose some of that stuff.

I know they will.

I know they've done in the past.

Well, they'll dig deep and

find out how.

Well, it'll just be a big fat no.

And, you know, that's really botting up.

There are.

Come on.

There's a lot of kids that go hungry.

And regardless of what their parents' political affiliation may be, regardless of where they live in the rural areas, their suburban areas, or in the urban areas, you know, the kids, if the kids hungry, they don't give a damn what the political affiliation of anybody is, man.

They want to eat.

How do you focus, man?

You can't.

You can't.

You can't.

I mean, as a, as a grown adult, if I get hungry, I get hungry.

You know what I mean?

And I'm, and I'm good, man.

You know, if you're, if you're, you know, you're growing up and you're going through all the changes and all the pressures of the school and who knows what the home life is like and all those things, a little stability, you know, you talk about the other Republicans are all down with the, you know, a stable marketplace.

You gotta have stability.

You gotta have consistency.

Yeah.

So do kids.

So do kids and spending a few bucks to put some food in their belly Isn't gonna bust the budget.

Let's let's be real about this and at the end of the day as Matt mentioned, you know raising the taxes on some of the wealthiest folks Yeah, good.

So maybe we can use that money to feed the kids unless that's too woke for you

Yeah, really taking food are the mouths of

hungry kids that can't get much more cows than that.

I mean, we do have some of the sound that will get to some of the calls, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, the PFAS.

I just got a proposal for that.

Here's Governor Evers, his rousing speech from last night.

I was just kidding, Tony, love your man.

Let's hear cut number one, please.

As part of my comprehensive plan to improve water quality statewide, we're working to strengthen Wisconsin's groundwater standards for PFAS.

And I'm asking the legislature to support an investment of over $145 million to fight PFAS contamination statewide and provide emergency resources like bottled water to families and communities affected by water contamination.

Feeding the kids, clean drinking water, what is this world coming to?

So radical.

I mean, he's not exactly Patrick Henry, but you know, that is an important thing to do.

I mean, if you're in Coana County and your, your wells are contaminated by PFAS, aren't you going to want that cleaned up?

Aren't you going to want, you know, bottled water, free bottled water so you can, you know, make coffee in the morning and drink in the afternoon?

I mean, it seems logical and practical and literally, you know, for the benefit and the welfare of the American citizen.

I mean, this is why we have governance and I get, you know, it's ebbs and flows and some people want, you know, greater expanded.

Some people want it contracted and, you know, small enough you could drown it in a bathtub.

But there, there is a happy medium.

And I think, you know, the basics of, I don't know, call it clean drinking water and, you know,

feeding the hungry kids in school.

I don't think that's those are radical ideas.

Governor Evers last night swears he will not raise property taxes, but what about, you know, at least putting the voucher schools on it?

Let's see what he says about the property taxes.

Cut to please,

Jess.

Wisconsinites wouldn't have to raise their own property taxes to keep school lights on and doors open if this legislature invested in K through 12 education from the get go.

And the budget I'm announcing tonight.

proves we can both make the investments in our kids that we need to hold the line and prevent property taxes from going up.

Our pro-kid budget will do its best for our kids by providing more than $3.15 billion.

All of it is spendable revenue for schools across Wisconsin.

And we're going to make those investments while holding the line on property taxes to ensure the average homeowner will not see a property tax increase.

My budget would create a new incentive for local governments to freeze their local property taxes.

If local governments agree not to raise local property taxes, they'll get a direct payment from the state.

This will ensure local partners can still afford to pay for basic and unique local needs alike without property taxes going up.

You know, I think it's it's it is shameful that they're the legislature has abandoned their obligation to make the tough calls on raising taxes.

I mean

That's what you're supposed to do, and then you get the inequities between these different communities.

Civic Media's own Jimmy Koska has this one out there, several school districts' referendums.

Maustin, Tomahawk, Northland Pines, Waterford Union, they all had their referendums pass.

Kenosha had a $115 million referendum that failed.

Maustin, the district said their additional referendum will not be able to operate past the 26-27 school year.

This is operational money, Matt.

It passed.

They got $7 million over four years for operating expenses.

Operating expenses.

I mean, this isn't like capital expenditures.

They need to build a new building.

This is just, you know, the daily overhead to keep the lights on.

This is basic stuff that the Wisconsin legislature is leaving these communities on their own.

Yeah.

I mean, the Republican legislature has been strangling our public schools here since Walker came in.

And as a result, people are left in school district for school district to go to referendum to increase their taxes to get enough money to keep the lights on in the schools.

It should be the state's responsibility and not the local communities to make sure that our schools are able to function.

And it's just been a total abdication by Republicans and a siphoning off again of public money into the private school vouchers that have helped to starve the public schools and require these local communities to go to

referendum.

All these things ultimately end up subsidizing the religious indoctrination of students with public money.

That's what it boils down to.

I mean, I know I keep harping on it, but I'm telling you, if this were for Muslim schools and teaching Sharia law, these Republicans would freak the F out.

But since it's their religion, no problem.

Let's move along.

Governor Evers, last night, no tax on electric and gas.

Cut number three, please.

Let's save Wisconsinites money on their monthly utility bills, and proposing to eliminate the sales tax on electricity and gas for Wisconsin homes, which will save Wisconsinites about $100 million out-of-pocket costs each year.

Yeah,

okay.

I'm on board.

I'm down with that.

Hey, Republicans, you want to pay a little less for your electric and your gas?

Only if those rich people play just a little bit more who we got some more the tax on tips as Matt mentioned Let's hear cut number four.

Please just

let's also make sure Wisconsinites and keep more money in their pockets I'm proposing to nearly double Wisconsin's personal income tax exemption that means Wisconsinites will pay no income taxes on the first $1,200 they earn period

And I want us to work together to pass my proposal to support students and workers in our service industries by letting them keep the tips they earn tax-free.

Let's eliminate taxes on cash tips.

I will only work for tips.

No, just tips,

please.

Now, does this

feed

into the terrible tipping monstrosity that we have in America?

Yes.

Yes.

Man, any thoughts

on the tipping?

Well, you know, I think that's a really good idea.

The fact that Donald Trump brought it up in the first place shouldn't, you know, say we can't do it.

It was a good idea.

That's why Kamala Harris came behind it as well, and Evers is behind it too.

The no tax on your first $1,200, that's not going to be a huge saving for folks.

I mean, everything helps, but, you know, that's, you know.

$45 or something.

You're the accountant, not me, Don.

But, you know, I don't think that's going to be a huge, huge help to folks.

Yeah, every, every little bit helps.

Folks, you are listening to the Dom Salvy Show.

Got Matt Ross child joining me today.

You folks are lining up on the board and on the lines 855-752-4842.

I know we have some more sound to get to, but I want to give us plenty of time to get the last couple of bites here from the governor.

Before we do that, Matt, as we go to this break, expanding

Badger care now I don't know you know as as we see what's going on right now with with the federal government and the efforts with Doge and trying to pull back and trying to get into some of these these payment processes and perhaps putting Medicare Medicaid on the the chopping block and of course here in the state of Wisconsin we did not expand Governor Walker hit within his in his infinite wisdom came up with a Wisconsin way that what made it really really difficult for people that are in you know 130% of the power of your level to actually

uh, get healthcare here, uh, because they didn't want to do that.

And they're all very concerned about, well, we can't trust the federal government.

Hmm.

Well, it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When you put in a guy like Donald Trump, we threatened to cut off your funding.

Yeah.

When your own guy's saying, maybe we're not going to pay it.

Maybe they were right, but just the wrong way.

Folks, come back with us.

We're going to finish up the Evers sound from last night, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two.

to the Dom Salvia show eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five.

So we got just BS working hard on the board co-host today, Matt Ross child from formerly of the progressive, the Wisconsin democracy campaign and author and a contributor here at the civic media radio network and a good friend of ours.

Thank you, Matt for joining us.

Wrapping up the speech defying last night, Governor Evers presenting his budget to the world.

55.5 billion dollars.

Just a couple more here as mentioned before the break, the expansion of badger care just with play number five please.

Health care should not be a privilege afforded.

only to the healthy and wealthy.

It's why I am again proposing to expand Badger Care which would save Wisconsin taxpayers nearly two billion dollars over the next two years as billion of the bee folks and expand quality affordable health care coverage for about 100,000 Wisconsinites.

And I'm also

I'm also providing new hospital investments to improve access to healthcare across Wisconsin, including our rural communities.

I mean, how much money have we left on the table on this state by not expanding badger care with the ACA?

I mean, $2 billion over the next, what do you say, over the next two years?

So billions

and billions

of

dollars.

Yeah.

There's a real sin.

And he did mention the rural hospitals that have been shutting down.

I mean, it's been a real crisis in western Wisconsin, in the lacrosse and Eau Claire area with the shutting down of hospitals.

So that's an important investment to make too.

And it's just, it's so short-sighted, I think, from these Republicans.

Because, you know, we'd have done this years ago.

We'd have had an extra I mean two two billion a year.

I mean 10 20 years ago 15 years ago 15 billion do the math I can do I can do one times one year You know and it just to leave that out there for no other apparent reason other than well We don't we don't want that money.

We'll take all the other money We'll take the road money the federal government spends all sorts of monies to the states We are one of the states of all the states that are out there one of what was the number?

I think maybe out of 20

Uh, who, who received more from the federal government than we kick in the state of Wisconsin is Minnesota, not so much Illinois, not so much.

Um, Governor Evers, the postpartum coverage, uh, his final statement from less, let's play cut number six, please.

And the year of the kid, let's finally do what's best for our moms and babies.

Let's extend, let's extend postpartum coverage for pregnant women on badger care up to one year after giving birth, Wisconsin.

And Arkansas are the only two states in America that haven't done this.

I mean, nothing against Arkansas.

But come on, folks.

I propose this in every budget.

I've been introduced as governor.

There's also a bipartisan bill to get it done that almost 90 legislators support.

One legislator should not be able to single-handedly obstruct a bill that's supported by a superma...

Who

you think that

one legislator is, Mr. Rothschild?

It's got to be Robin Voss.

So there was, you know, he threw two elbows there, one against Robin Voss and one against the state of Arkansas.

But I kind of like both of them.

And also let's be clear here, this is a proposal to expand badger care so that low income new moms can get health care beyond 60 days.

All they offer right now here in the state of Wisconsin is 60 days.

Evers wants to expand that to a year.

I mean, my wife is a pediatric nurse.

She told me all about postpartum psychosis that

some moms

have.

I mean, there's some serious illnesses that women have after they give birth.

Not to mention just...

Well,

not to mention just... Pull women this coverage.

Come on now.

The trauma of carrying a child...

and delivering them into the world, it doesn't get resolved in 60 days for the vast majority of people.

This is something that, best case scenario, within that year, you will be healing from this.

But 60 days.

60 days, come on.

It's

brutal.

It's just brutal.

It's terrible.

That is, I mean, that is just absolutely unacceptable, and there's zero reason why the Republicans, I am assuming, based on that speech of fine, Robin Voss calling you out if I'm wrong, please correct me, 855-752-4842.

All these other states are doing it.

Why can't we do it?

And it's not just about following what other states do.

This is literally about helping new moms out beyond, what, a couple months.

Are you kidding me?

I mean, my daughter

was

was in the Nick unit for like six, seven weeks when she was born.

I mean, come on.

This is

all

you pro-life Republicans out

there.

Give Robin boss a

dollar.

We can do better, folks.

We can.

Governor Evers at least laying out his priorities because that's what the budgets are, folks.

They are priorities.

We will see.

What the other side comes back with a boss has already said dead on arrival.

So there you go eight five five seven five two four eight four two Let's get back to the lines Matt from Middleton.

You are next.

Welcome at what he got for us

Hey guys, thanks again for what you do.

I wanted to talk about the social contracts for a second because it feels like That's just completely being rewritten and flipped on its head by these like crazy capitalist, you know, narco

fascist libertarian on steroid types.

Like, uh, that guy that may lay in Argentina, like he's still cutting his government apart and it's getting real bad there.

And that's what they want to do here.

Just keep cutting stuff.

And they literally don't think that they think it's okay.

If one person gets all the wealth, suddenly has all the drinking water in the world and they would think that that person is just really great for doing all that.

Yeah, Matt.

Thank you

so much.

Sorry, man.

I'm going to cut you short there.

We got a heartbreak coming up here.

Appreciate your contribution.

The social contract.

What social contract, man?

You better get it in writing.

You better get it in triplicate.

You better get it notarized and you better put it in a safe because these cats, they got nothing to do with the social contract.

Hell no.

It's their way or the highway.

Come back with us.

You got a lot more to get to on the national stage as well.

God, that authoritarianism is really burning my nose.

Let's get back to it.

855-752-4842.

Broadcasting across the state of Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and around the world on the Civic Media app.

This is the Dom Salvia Show.

And now, here's your host, Dom Salvia.

And welcome to the Dom Salvia show.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

You can also be a part hit us up 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 civic.

It's a phone line.

It's a text line.

Got just ps work on the board got Matt Rothschild as a co-host today and don't forget at the end of the show we wrap up

Tell us something good.

We like to end the day with a cherry on top of the smile on our face and we walk out the door.

Let's end on a positive note.

Tell us something good in the five 50 segment.

Um, Matt, in this segment, a couple of things I want to get to a reference the.

that smell of authoritarianism in the air.

And it's, you know, my dad used to burn the toast all the time in the morning.

And I would wake up if I didn't hear the fire alarm going off, you know, it was like piercing like beeping sound.

I just smelled the toast and I knew, I knew it was happening.

Dad was up getting this coffee, burning the toast.

I swear to God, I don't know how he continued to always burn the toast, but it was a thing.

Maybe like this toast burnt.

it's that kind of smell and why why why do I mean what do I mean by that as I look back over the last several days of the things that Donald Trump has said no he listened to what he says and watch what he does right and it's striking to me it's almost it's like three days in a row

And, and this is what I mean.

If we go back to, I guess it was on Saturday when he truthied out that he who saves his country does not violate any law.

We didn't get to it till Monday, but you know, that's like a reference to what Napoleon or some dictators has been a lot of talk in the course of history like that, right, Matt?

Right.

Yeah, that just shows his love for, for, you know, the strong man, the authoritarian figure, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Then, Tuesday, as Donald Trump was moving to, you know, tighten his grip on the executive branch, put out an executive order.

And in that executive order, he said this, quote,

on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation.

When I think about that, I'm like, well, what about when the court says something?

Can they listen to the court, Matt?

Yeah, it was acting like the U.S.

Supreme Court doesn't exist.

And then what is he telling, you know, the general counsel of the CIA or the general counsel of the EPA or the general counsel of any agency?

I guess those guys, maybe Elon Musk should fire all those guys because they're not going to listen to them anyway.

And then finally today Oh really burning today as the Hill reports Trump said New York is saved after his administration announced it would rescind the Biden era approval of a congestion pricing plan Here's the actual quote from his truthy social Congestion pricing is dead Manhattan and all of New York is saved

Long live the king in Cap's exclamation point.

Long

live the king.

Well, it's a weird thing to say for a number of reasons, because usually you say, the king is dead, long live the king.

So, you know, no king died yesterday that I know of.

But the fact of the matter is, when you read this, you realize just how enamored this man is of all the power that he's accumulated.

This is a guy who loves power.

He's a megalomaniac.

It's scary and it's in keeping with who Donald Trump has told us he is for a long time Of course, he said he was gonna be dictator on day one and what day are we on now and also he said About President Xi of China.

He's president for life.

Isn't that a neat thing?

Maybe we should consider that here in America He's talked about not stopping at two terms like the Constitution required, you know always, you know flirting a lot of times with the idea that maybe he's gonna want a third time so

It's not surprising.

It's a snapshot of who this guy is, what his psyche looks like.

He wants to rule like a king.

855-752-4842-855-757.

What is the, in your opinion, Matt, what is these proper response for citizens who hear this language and these terms

you know, espoused by the president of the United States and you added to it and more context of things that he said over time.

Wouldn't that be nice if I would be king for life?

That kind of thing.

In a democracy like this, what am I supposed to say to that?

You know, and all these, all these Megas that are backing them up, always doing all these great things.

What about that?

Does anybody on the Republican side, do you take offense to that?

Yeah, I'd like to hear from you know Republican leaders Either in this state or in the capital saying guess what?

We don't have a monarchy here in the United States.

We have a democracy We're supposed to be a democracy But you know everyone is running so scared.

I mean it's just it's just

scared.

I mean scared of what man?

I mean, for real, I'm like physical scared, scared for their physical safety.

Right.

Scared that they're going to lose a vote.

I mean, what are they fricking scared of?

And this is ridiculous.

You have a president and he's out there now.

We're going to talk about some of the, uh, the national stage stuff, right?

The international stage, if I may, we're talking about Ukraine.

He's out there accusing Zelinsky, the president of Ukraine of starting the war, accusing Zelinsky of being a dictator.

He's out there.

saying basically Russian talking points and Vance is saying is defending Trump after Trump calls Zelensky a dictator.

Vance is admonishing Zelensky for his light criticism of Donald Trump being in the misinformation arena or something along those lines.

You know, this is-

I mean, I saw the Vance quote.

I'm just going to read it to you and to our listeners because I think it's really illustrative.

J.D.

Vance has the idea that Zelensky is going to change the president's mind by bad-mouthing him in public media.

Everyone who knows the president will tell you that's an atrocious way to deal with his administration.

Well, what J.D.

Vance is telling Zelensky there is shut up, just kiss Trump's behind.

That's the only way you get ahead with this administration is by bowing down to him and kissing up to him.

And Zelensky, you know, he's head of his country.

His country is being...

you know, ignored totally in the negotiations to end the war that his country's, you know, one of two major parties to said that Trump is in what, a disinformation bubble, which is absolutely true.

And for saying that, God forbid, you know, JD Vance tells him to, you know, shut up and send flowers to Trump, bow down to Trump.

It's disgusting.

It is disgusting.

And, and.

I mean, I didn't get it.

If you're in that situation, like Zelensky and the Ukrainians right now, you know, war with Russia who invaded them.

I mean, the facts, you know, if you have a guy like this talking about long live the king, want to be king, you know, if you, if you, if you break the laws by he who saves this country does not violate any law, these authoritarian statements and followed up by action by, by, by literally trying to rewrite the facts of history of how and when and who was responsible for the invasion of Ukraine.

How?

Those are the actions.

It's one thing to say it, man, but these are the actions.

And it's on the world stage, certainly, and certainly here at home as well.

And where are the Republicans?

We're the conservative standing up against it.

I mean, going off the rails about this.

If this was Barack Obama speaking like this, saying, oh, you know, if I save the country, I don't violate any law.

If I long live the king.

I want to be a dictator for a day.

The guy wore a tanche suit and the Republicans lost their frickin' mind.

And then this guy's up there, out there right now.

What about defending democracy and fulfilling and living up to our obligations, not only with Ukraine, but also with some of these aid, the soft power that Donald, that Doge and Donald Trump are slowly whittling away at?

that is the action those are the actions of not someone trying to save any money on the deficit or the national debt because that ain't happening because the budget they're important for they're gonna add four and a half trillion dollars to pay for the tax cuts for the rich i mean when are you people got you people megas republicans when are you gonna see this and if i'm if i'm blurry in my vision if i don't understand maybe i'm just seeing at the surface i can't read between the lines tell me

Tell me how this is any different than the man actually wants to be a king.

And the last time we had that, man, it didn't work out very well for King George, and don't even get me going on the French Revolution.

You know, the amazing thing, though, is he's so hungry for power.

that he's not satisfied to be president of the United States.

He needs to run the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and he needs to decide on traffic patterns in New York City.

I mean, it's just absurd when you look at it.

It's almost laughable, but it's not laughable because he's destroying our democracy.

And when we saw it with the pardoning of the January 6th folks, that was a real telltale sign right there.

And I think he, you know, he's going to go down in history as a traitor.

to the U.S.

Constitution and to our democracy.

And, you know, we're going to have to rally here to defeat Trump and Trumpism over these next four years.

And it's going to be one crazy day after another, like you're saying, Don, with him acting totally inappropriately for a president of the United States, to say the least, if not traitorously.

eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, civic just PS on the board.

Matt Ross trial joining me today.

Some of the textures bill.

Damn straight down.

Thank you, Bill.

Appreciate that.

Dale from Oshkosh.

Remember Louis the 14th.

Yeah, man.

That was a vague reference.

And, you know, remember when it was like cool to want to, want to have a democracy?

Remember those days, Matt, when

the French Revolution

and the American Revolution kind of modeled after the French Revolution?

Before that, and certainly around the world and other places, it's a really strange experiment that those with all the power and the money don't just run roughshod over the masses of the people.

And this is what we're fighting for, and this is what I get so upset about it, Matt, because the antithesis of everything that I was taught that this country was about.

Yeah, and the Louis 14th reference is let us are one of the state is me the state is I I mean, that's basically what Trump is saying You know, he wants to be the king.

He thinks everything he does that goes back to the Napoleon quote, too

And Louis the 14th his head ended up in a bucket if I recall correctly, right?

My history is that or did that get rewritten by Donald Trump as well 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 mark from the sack you're up.

Welcome.

What do you

got?

Okay, my bad

That but I mean, it's just ridiculous.

I mean that I try to call Ron Johnson's office and I got through and they I was trying to get an answer from his his desk desk person sir answer and You wouldn't answer the question of whether Ron Johnson would condemn, you know Trump's remark about it But you would answer who who actually started the war in Ukraine?

Yes You would not give an answer right didn't condemn him I just condemned, you know, Senator Johnson for not being honest enough to give the direct answer that Russia did indeed invade

cause that war I mean these guys you're talking about the social contract these guys are also opposed to the idea of natural liberty and human equality

right

they don't give a rip about it and for Donald Trump to stay along with the king well damn there's the stuff in our constitution that says we don't have any kings in this country don't have any princes we don't have any nobility and we got to call down Donald Trump out on this what's next is going to declare Britain like Britain's ignore and say I get all the young virgins I want

you know

you.

Uh when you're rich, they let you do anything.

Mark A. Thanks for the call.

We'll come back more of your calls as well.

855-752-4842.

of your show eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five civic no Kings allowed here I don't bow to any man or woman or person or God or being eight five five seven five civic that's how I roll Matt go ahead

yeah I just was googling at the break here and I caught this from Yahoo news on Wednesday afternoon after ordering his administration to intervene in New York City's

recently implemented congestion pricing model.

Trump wrote on true social, uh, congestion pricing is dead, uh, and, uh, long live the king.

Shortly after, this is the new part, White House deputy chief of staff, Taylor, Taylor Budowicz posted a screenshot of Trump's post on X alongside an AI generated image of the president.

Catch this in a crown and cape.

The White House's official ex-account also shared an image of a fake cover of Time magazine depicting Trump in a golden crown with the headline, Long Live the King.

There you go.

The propaganda follows right after.

Now, if we're going to pay attention to what he does and what he says and what he does and make a distinction, is that, how am I supposed to interpret that other than,

the guy who wants to be a king and wipe out democracy, not only in this country, but around the world.

What would be the alternative thought and effort for this?

No, there's not an alternative explanation of it other than the implicit order bow down to the king.

Praise the king.

Give everything to the king.

That's where we're at with these White House flunkies on social media, putting them in a crowned cape.

I mean, it's absurd.

It's Orwellian.

It's certainly not what our democracy is supposed to be.

We're the opposite of a monarchy.

We fought

a

monarchy.

I mean, do we have to go back and listen to pain and...

Jefferson and these folks,

rightfully rebelled against a king?

I think so.

If you have any sense of liberty, of individual liberty and the right to exist, and if you believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, well, that doesn't goal.

You cannot also have a king in that equation, because a king

It's all about the king.

That's why he's king.

It's good to be king is how petty, how petty said it's good to meet girls.

It's, it's opposite land.

And yes, I think we do need, you know, pain Jefferson and some of those, so those, the historical figures that, that talked so eloquently and fought against this.

And, and of course, certainly we looked at, you know, the course of this country and we've failed in so many ways, but we also succeeded in so many ways.

And this fragile, weird experiment that we do to allow and allow to uphold and fight for the welfare of we the people.

This is something new and strange in world history.

And we can't let some doofus like Donald Trump unwind that.

I mean, Donald Trump unwinding this democratic experiment.

It would be the greatest tragedy of all tragedies.

Yeah, that a con man can take down this 250-year tradition of democratic rule.

It's just astonishing.

It's astonishing how brittle our system of checks and balances appears to be right now.

I mean, I take heart that there is resistance across the country.

There are protests all over the place.

There are lawyers at the Justice Department resigning in prison.

and people who are being fired for no reason whatsoever are not afraid to stick their neck out and say how outrageous this all is.

And we need more of that.

And I think we're going to see more of that.

I think Trump's numbers are already going down.

And he's going to ruin the economy.

He's going to have a Trump recession.

He's going to have to answer for.

And there will be consequences at the ballot boxes.

But people are going to get hurt.

financially and immigrants are getting hurt more than financially right now.

And there is, you know, kind of sadistic postings of immigrants and chains getting on, you know, ice planes that I saw this morning that really turned my stomach.

But this is what Donald Trump is delivering

now.

This administration and Trump specifically could not do this on his own.

Right.

So it's not just the people around him in his organization and in his administration, it's the voters that voted for him.

It's the other branches of government that refuse to uphold their co-equal status with the executive branch.

It's the Supreme Court that gave him essentially a blank check.

Right.

There's a lot going into it.

It's the media billionaire owners who are rolling over and playing dead.

Oh, don't let me get me going.

That's a whole nother topic.

855-752-484-2855-75, civic Brian from Milwaukee.

So Ukraine just invaded itself, like Poland invaded itself in 1939.

Question mark, when will the mega supporters wake up?

Smell the coffee.

Trump is lying to taking advantage of you.

Thank you, Brian from Milwaukee.

Let's get a couple of callers in here while we have time.

Tom from LA, you're up.

Welcome, Tom.

What do you got for us?

Yeah, I think what we're going to see speaking of authoritarianism is that there's now 56 cases of measles in Texas.

I'm sure Trump's next move is going to be to close the border and demonize and say that's all the Latinos that have come across the border that are actually giving people measles.

And not the anti-vaxxers themselves.

I mean, Mexico should close the border with the United States to keep the measles from coming to Mexico.

Exactly.

That's, that's the, uh, you watch, I'll be the next playbook.

I

think

that's what we're going to see.

But, um, yeah, I just, you know, again, I just appeal to the magas and the Republicans out there.

Do we really need to go up to the school of hard knocks to figure this all out?

I mean, go and get, pick up a history book.

It's all there.

We don't have an FDR coming.

I don't think at this point, or at least we have no Democrats.

I want to say that they're FDR Democrats, which I think is really sad.

But I think that we definitely need to read our history because we've been here before, but we haven't, Germany has.

And I think that we need to be aware.

Sorry, I've got to cut to short.

Yeah, we do need to be aware, but you got to have some general curiosity about things and you have to understand history and be able to read the tea leaves a little bit.

And oh yeah, that's right.

You got to be a little curious and know how to read 855-752-4842.

Come back more of your calls, 855-755-CIVIC.

Salvia show eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five Civic you may now refer to me as his highness or your majesty from now on if this is how we're gonna do it I'm just kidding I declare myself king I am the king

eight, five, five, seven, five civic.

Got a couple of the textures and some colors.

We're going to get to you as well.

Matt Ross trial.

Joining me today, of course, remember next segment, tell us something good.

You got to tell us something good to wrap up the day on a positive, happy, smiley note, you know, puppies with snow on their nose, kind of a ending.

Some of the textures are chiming in let me share with you a few of those Uncle Tony says Hitler also said Hitler is Deutschland and Deutschland is his Hitler Mm-hmm Scott from Madison points out.

I think you're forgetting that the Republicans think this is awesome Yeah, it's a great time

You know, Nero fiddle when Rome burn, man.

Everyone's dancing.

Larry chimes in good show history lesson Munich 1938.

Western leaders sought to appease Hitler by giving him a free pass to invade and take territory of a sovereign European country, Czechoslovakia.

The negotiations between Western parties and Nazi Germany were conducted without Czechoslovakia present.

Chamberlain promised the concessions would deliver peace in our time.

Remember that.

peace in our time.

Of course, we know how that worked out.

Larry goes on lots more, but I'm not going to read that.

Thank you, Larry, for your contribution.

Andrew from Maine.

He points out for the Trump supporters who think we should allow him to be king.

Will they be a supportive of Barack Obama doing the exact same actions?

Yes, of course, Andrew.

That is the hypocrisy of those folks.

Tim from Wales points out they could have been joking around.

I mean, I'm on the X site right now.

This is, as Matt mentioned, the White House site at White House.

And there is the fake trick picture of Donald Trump with New York skyline behind him with a crown on his head.

And it says long live the king.

It's a, you know, take off of the Time magazine with a red border around it and Trump where it says would have been time.

It'd be a joke.

Larry, I'm sorry, Tim from Wales.

If it were you.

You know, if you put it out there and you put it on your site, you say, okay, King, King, King Trump, you know, but this is the official White House site, man.

This is the White House at White House.

It's, it's, it's not funny.

It's not a joke.

And what if, what if other people start jumping on the bandwigs?

Hey, what, what about this?

Okay, here, what happened to, what do we say?

Louis the 16th, right?

Not the 14th, Louis the 16th, the guillotine, man, the French Revolution, guys had ended up in a bucket.

Right he was murdered murder.

He was killed.

He was he was announced He was convicted a traitor and they chopped his head off now if the memes start going out there right now of King Trump with showing King Trump's head in a bucket and memes like that would that be appropriate?

I don't think so But what are you inviting and what is a king and how how offensive is this?

How does an absolute monarchy?

jive with democracy and individual rights

Explain that one to me.

Where do where do where does that blend in it doesn't?

The fact that this picture is out there from the White House is as offensive as is somebody else on the Democratic side putting a Trump's head in a bucket in front of a guillotine Same thing.

That's not acceptable an absolute monarchy is is everything against what this country is about and they're putting it out there like it's funny like it's a joke

In worse than the Republicans who think this is awesome

Are the Republicans who know this is disgraceful and are saying absolutely nothing about it?

Nothing, right?

We're the silence.

We do have a cricket strap Lindsey Graham Mitch McConnell Ron, Ron Johnson.

I mean, you know pick your Republicans anybody anybody check check one two one two.

Is this okay?

Is this okay?

Do you want you want?

It's it's a downward spiral from here because of course you cannot have a democracy and an absolute monarchy those things do not go together and You know the our American revolution was fought over such things as was the French Revolution,

you know Chief Justice Roberts

Anything what was it Liberty right Liberty fraternity, right?

How does that go along with the at White House picture of Donald Trump in a crown?

It doesn't, folks.

And you should be offended if you see this.

855-752-4842.

Tim, they could be joking, but it ain't funny.

What else we got here?

Let's get to the lines.

855-752-4842-855-757.

Ross Crawford County, you're up.

Welcome, Ross.

What do you got for us?

Matt, Jeff, and your highness.

Okay, just three points, hopefully they're quick.

The other day, Don, you had Harvey K. on and he brought up this idea of a road show of getting some Democrats that are out there.

He almost made it sound like it's already too late.

We as Democrats and others need to hear this alternative voice and a road show would be really good.

Just a bus with four, five,

people that are willing to sort of speak their minds at the time and go from city to city and can start to talk about these alternatives because the news is there isn't really any focus for the for the office opposition in terms of you guys like talking about like this came Trump I mean it shows

who these magas are.

It's really kind of embarrassing.

It shows who, as America, kind of shows this part of America.

It's like, oh goodness, this is kind of embarrassing.

But it's a cult.

It's a cult of personality.

I mean, we call it a king, but it's just a cult.

And these guys that used to be Republicans that are now just, their mouths are shut.

They're just like little vassals.

They're little, you know, they're just followers.

If we can get a good voice, if we can get a good opposition, if we could put in the next election, obviously we're talking four years, but it takes a while to build up momentum, we could have a strike, and what I mean by a strike is embolling.

If we can knock Trump out, then we can knock the whole party out, because there isn't really any alternative voices within the Republican Party.

So the only way that happens is if the Trump administration

You know, people are just going to kind of go along with this until it doesn't work, until the economy falters, until he mishandles a crisis, until people just kind of look at him and realize he's insane.

But I guess the last thing I'd like to say is we need, I think we're, as Democrats, we might need to be prepared to have a

a primary, a conversation in which we all try to get along, in which we're not all trying to be friendly.

We're going to have to hear different voices.

The voice of Democrats that speaks maybe for union workers is not necessarily going to be the same voice as people who are like maybe like...

you know, like maybe like what do you want to call the university or the academic jet set?

We're going to really need a vigorous debate and we may not all be on the same sheet of music so that the person who prevails has an authentic voice and people will look to him and say, this person's for real.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And Ross, I'm very eager to find out who that may be.

I thank you for your call, your thoughts and your contribution, Ross.

you know, Harvey K, and we talked about a little bit, you know, talk about Thomas Paine and those folks.

And I think it is important to, you know, kind of rekindle some of those, those thoughts because, you know, we're spoiled, man.

You know, we're spoiled.

We haven't had to go through this kind of thing.

You never, if you've never been under the thumb of an authoritarian person, being a king of old, I mean, hell, there's some, some countries that I forget which ones, but if you, if you insult the king, they throw you in jail.

If you insult the royal family, I'm like, what?

You got to be kidding me.

Because this attitude does not go along.

It cannot exist at the same time with individual liberties, Matt.

Absolutely not.

I was just glancing at the Declaration of Independence.

Here's the line that popped out of me.

A prince whose character is marked by every act that defines a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

There it is in the declaration.

But, you know, I agree with Ross.

We need to get out there.

We need our leaders in the Democratic Party elected officials to get out there and lead.

If I may, who would you listen to?

Who do you think has the voice?

Who is it?

Who are the leaders of the Democratic Party?

Only two people who have been talking loud enough for me to hear who are elected are Bernie Sanders and AOC.

And I think they've been great.

But there's been a silence from Kamala Harris, Gretchen Whitmer, Pete Buttigieg.

Newsome in California, you know the want to be next candidates for president And if ever there was a time for you guys to find your voice, you know get over your laryngitis We need to hear

from you right now is the time I mean King Trump I mean I get it.

You're trying to troll this is coming from the White House.

I mean listen, it's working

If your example of trolling the Libs is being and doing and saying all the things that we accuse you and suggest that you actually are, and you come up and show that you are, I'm not sure you're actually owning the Libs.

You're just admitting your faults.

And those faults do not jive with what this country is about in any way, shape, or form.

You cannot have an absolute monarchy and a constitutional republic at the same time.

I mean,

maybe they're being infantile adolescents there and trying to own the libs with this goofy picture of Trump

as a

king, but he said long live the king

and now they're going to make him a king.

I mean, you know, what is their excuse?

They're just, you know, they're just spoofing us.

Like when Elon Musk said, I bet you did not see this coming, NAZI.

Those are things not to joke about too.

eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five Civic up they lower the bar and that's something you know So they lower the bar than we engage and lower the bar even more.