Good morning and welcome to a Motown Monday on the Earl Ingram show.
As always you can join us at 855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
Texas is that same number.
Good morning to you, Cardi.
How you doing, man?
Good morning, Earl.
I'm very excited, man, for this past weekend.
I was going to give a shout-out to my high school man, Wisconsin Lutheran, for pulling that off.
They won the WIA Division I Championship, along with my brother's school, MAS.
First time in history, man, for them, when they're actually thinking about changing MAS's division to Division I, so they will have to play against the high school that I graduated from.
And that's going to be interesting.
That ain't going to lie.
It's going to be real interesting.
All right, man.
Yeah.
It's, uh, it's that time of year, man.
It's all basketball and market in Wisconsin are out of it already.
So, you know, I tried to watch a little bit of it, uh, college basketball.
I wound up, I'm kind of hooked on the, on the women's league.
Yeah.
That's always intense.
Uh, I was never, you know, prior to last year with.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
Yeah, I watched women's basketball a little bit, but I really got hooked on it last year.
And so I didn't watch the guys, the NCAA.
I just watched the women and it's watched a great game, South Carolina and Indiana.
And so that's it.
Watched a little bit of basketball, but the rest of the time I got a lot of rest.
And I haven't done that for a while, so I'm strong.
And I'm ready to go.
Listen, as we await my guest, Mr. Richard Trenton, who's the executive director of Main Street Alliance.
And for those who don't know Main Street Alliance is a national advocacy network for small business owners.
And so, you know, he's the guy now who's at the wheel of that.
And we're going to talk about small business.
In the second hour, we're going to be joined by Mr. Reggie Jackson as we will be every Monday from this point forward.
And we're going to talk about a lot of different things.
So great show lined up as we await again.
My guest Mr. Richard Trent, Executive Director of Main Street Alliance.
Let me say what I know about small business.
When I was a young man, the city where I live was permeated with small businesses.
And.
those businesses were really financially supported by many men and women who worked in industry.
And so they were able to, while they worked in industry, they were able to, you know, create their own businesses and then could financially kind of support their own businesses with working the job that they worked in addition to the fact.
that there were people who had disposable incomes.
And I can't wait to have this conversation with Mr. Trent, the executive director again, as we await his appearance on the show.
Small business is, you know, the majority of the businesses in this country always has been, always will be, but they struggle constantly.
to survive.
It's been an ongoing struggle with people and our phone lines open as always at 855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
Yeah, as they struggle to keep those small businesses afloat.
Now, one of the things Joe Biden did, you know, is offered financial support.
to small businesses.
He invested in them.
That's not going to be the case with the president that we now have.
And so when you talk about let me just put it in this perspective, I do what I can to support small businesses, small businesses and people who step out on that island.
and invest their lives savings.
You know, they're pioneers, man.
You know, God bless anybody who is involved in their own small business and try to make that work.
You know, first off, having a product that is going to be worthy of people buying in the fact that
You know, you're gonna be working from sun up to sundown you're gonna invest all of your savings in the hopes that you'll be able to You know pull this off and man, I got to tell you there's so many people Who I know who went into small businesses and lost everything Because they have to run that brisk man that they can't generally get capital
unless they put their homes up.
Or cars.
Or, well, cars aren't gonna get it, man.
If you're talking about, and Tony hits it right on the head, good luck to any small business trying to compete with all the monopolies up today.
It is more difficult today to be a small business owner than it ever was during my time.
And, and so people still try it.
They're still going to debt.
Sometimes they mortgage their homes and I'm just wondering eight, five, five, seven, five, two, 48, 42.
If there any business owners in this audience who want to chime in on the difficulties of trying to make that successful on average.
The average small business owner basically employs himself and a family member.
You're not, you know, for the most part, man, you're not going to get wealthy.
I'm not saying it's not possible because, you know, some people have been able to overcome it, but the numbers are very dismal for those who are able to succeed.
And I know in our community, the community where I live,
If there's very little disposable income with the people who live in the community and you open small businesses, I watch them struggle and come and go.
And I watch the brightness in the eyes of the people who step forward and take that risk.
And it is a big risk, man.
It's a major risk to more get your family's future and try to make this work.
And I've gone and I go to some of these places where they have these small businesses and they try to come together collectively.
And maybe this is an opportunity for them to make a couple bucks.
And man, I'm watching these people and I'm saying, wow, God bless you.
But resources have to be forthcoming.
Since the majority of the businesses in the country are small, you would think that that would be a place where the government could best utilize its finances in trying to make sure that those small businesses survive.
Tony, again, I can only imagine the HR complaints from that family member.
Yeah, man, cause, you know, and I know a few people and they've gone out of business and they started again.
And they go out of business again.
But sometimes I guess that's what is going to take in order for people to be able to overcome what they're what they're really attempting to do.
But if that's your dream, I've never had that dream, you know, I've never.
in my life ever wanted to be an entrepreneur.
I know people who have been, I know a few who've made it through, but the majority, and you don't wanna dash people's dreams.
But this is the difference, man.
Again, as we await my guests, between what Joe Biden, former president Joe Biden did and what Donald Trump is doing.
Donald Trump is not offering any support.
at all for small businesses.
And Joe Biden did.
He put money into small communities, into small businesses.
That's what the government should be for, not to help the wealthiest amongst us.
And so I've talked with a few small business owners since the transition from Joe Biden to now President Donald Trump.
And many of them thinking they're going to wind up having to pack up shop anyway, because they don't see any forthcoming support from the government.
Do you feel like terrorists play a role in that too?
That's the reason why small businesses are failing?
No, terrorists, I don't think have anything to do with it.
It is just a matter of where you are.
Now, if you live in a suburban community, a well-heeled suburban community, and you start a small business,
where there are people who have disposable income, you stand a better chance of surviving, but if you live in rural areas in urban centers, much more difficult to make a goal of it because there aren't, you know, the money's just not there.
Right.
I
was saying that because mostly like the stuff is imported from out of the country, and then the high tariffs are costing us a lot more to pay.
you know in regards to that so like say for example if they're buying something from China or India in regards to that they're not paying the you know cents to the dollars they're paying more of the dollars to the cents in a sense and it's just it becomes a little bit more as to what they have to sell to consumers and then it makes the price go up
so people don't want to buy.
But if you look at what small business is so so here's the difference when you tell them about the tariffs and the products that come from China and the products that come from Mexico and
products that come from other places.
Those people aren't competing with small business because that's big business.
The stuff that comes from those places winds up in Wal-Martin and all those other places.
The average, you know, small business person in the community where I live, they sell t-shirts, they sell, you know, whatnot.
which is what we used to call them when I was a kid, knick-knacks.
And, you know, maybe some paintings and things that they've done themselves.
But not a whole lot of, you know, things.
Got the DVD, man,
the CD.
8-5-5-7-5-2-48-42 is the number as we still await my guest, Mr. Richard Trent.
Executive Director of Main Street Alliance, you're tuned in to a Motown Monday on the Earl Ingram Show.
you
show.
As always, you can join us at 855-752-4842.
That's 855-752-4842.
Text us at that same number.
Military veterans are becoming the face of Trump's government cuts and Democrats' resistance.
We're going to get into that after, you know, Cardi, I get you to play that cut that we had right before.
Focus he speaks really soft But listen to the power in the words Cardiff you please
Oh America the time has come The moment is upon us shackled by false hope bound by the illusions we wove The reveal is clear now
The project is made manifest.
The warriors have taken to their corners.
Swords drawn, truth abandoned.
Lies crawling through cracks like ivy on a dying house.
Trust no leader who stands in solidarity with the big lie.
They do not lead.
They devour.
Abducation of power so the powerless can be erased.
Changing your vote is not an option.
Taking responsibility for what you ushered in.
That will be your life's work.
I hear the train coming.
A relentless engine screaming through the dark.
It is an alarm.
It is a warning.
The attack is from within.
O Constitution, the enemy is within.
The hinges are broken, the sycophants are in charge, and the foreign hand that hates our progress, it does not move alone.
We set our eyes on the great white hope believing salvation could come from deception, believing that lies, if dressed well enough, could replace truth.
Deceiving self has replaced dreams.
Hypocrisy is only a word.
Lies are only untruths, but democracy.
Democracy is a dying breath.
The line is drawn.
The people fear the unprecedented time, but hear me.
No one is coming.
It is you who must stand up.
It is you who must make a pact with your neighbor.
It is you who must say enough.
Doors locked, secret spills like blood.
The fox is in the hen house, and he is sanguinary.
You gave him the keys, Speaker of the House.
Now the soldiers must mount up.
You know, Cardi.
Powerful, right?
Talk to me, man.
Amen.
Very, very powerful.
Powerfully said, but absolutely accurate 100%.
I'd say a thousand
percent.
The nation is in serious trouble.
Trouble like we have, I've never seen in my life and in many of your lives.
And the future.
of this nation is at stake.
And yet there are still people who blindly think that this is good for this country.
It's not.
It is not good for this country.
There's no way possible what is taking place a blind man could see.
than what is taking place.
You heard the man say, we've been taken over from within.
I don't know how long I've been saying on these airwaves that we're gonna be taken over from within.
And we're there.
A group of people who call themselves Americans.
Who could care less what any of that means and what any of that stands for?
Who could care less about what the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, what any of those things stand for?
You know how I know?
Again, today's AP military veterans are becoming the face of Trump's government cuts.
The men and women who fought, bled and died for those values, for supposedly what this nation stood for, and all that's been sailed down the river for a madman and greedy, greedy people who could care less about the American people.
Let's go through the phone lines.
CJ, you're up.
Good morning, Earl.
Thanks for taking my call on Motown Monday.
You know, that melodramatic music behind that beautiful dicturation of success coming America's way.
Success?
Because... Hey, wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Your party... Did you hear?
Did you hear anything of what that man said, man?
Did you hear any of it?
So how can you say?
So how can you say?
How can you say?
Oh, oh, oh, how could.
Oh, so
we're watching success.
We're watching leadership.
We're watching America be respected again.
A leader because what we had in the Oval Office was selling out our
country.
CJ.
Listen to this.
Listen to this.
Listen to this.
Bring him down.
Bring him down.
He's going to take off the Supreme Court.
Former Governor Chris Christie warns Trump against clash with Robert's here.
GOP Senate.
I'm not talking about CJ.
CJ doesn't have a clue.
These are Republicans, GOP senators warn Trump agenda will be slowed by internal divisions.
CJ, these are conservatives who don't see what you see.
They're not running around talking about success.
They're warning about the inherent dangers that Donald Trump is bringing to this nation.
Bring him back up.
You didn't care when Biden went to the Let me take a CJ a CJ.
I don't I just said to you respond to what Republicans are saying about Donald Trump No, don't tell me what I said Respond to what Republicans are saying about Donald Trump respond to that
I'm showing you what a hypocrite you are and your party
is
You
didn't have a problem when the president went
to the Supreme Court
three times.
So let me let me do this, CJ, because because I'm cut him off.
The hypocrite is the man who won't respond to his own party, who says they headed down the wrong path, not Earl and not Democrats.
These are Republicans who have said that the nation is in trouble.
and that Donald Trump is taking the nation down the wrong path.
So if CJ, who is clearly clueless, he has no idea whatsoever he's blind.
He's a maga, which means he can't think independently.
He has no independent thought.
He can't even respond to what his own party is saying.
Let's go to Tom from LA.
Good morning to you, Tom.
You say what?
Good morning, Earl.
Ladies and gentlemen, there's exhibit A of someone that is a cult follower by a cult leader.
Just remember that.
Earl, is it too late to talk about the small business thing?
No, go ahead.
Because I am a small business owner and I have been for 20 years.
But I am a mom and pop, pop, or a mom and pop business.
Someone out there in the people needed to distinguish the difference between a mom and pop small business because Republicans who are very good at twisting words and making words new definitions.
They're very very good at saying We're for the small business.
We're for the small business Yeah, you're for the small business like the widow Hendricks and the you lines and the John Menard You're not for the air conditioning and heating guy like a dairy or a small business like mine You're not for that.
So what they try to do though is they try to put them all into a big
basket together.
So therefore, the true mom and pop small businesses vote against their own best interest.
And they don't, they think they're part of the, the bigger business somehow.
So Tom, so Tom, so Tom hang on one second.
Despite their name, small businesses loom large in the United States.
These businesses defined here as those with 500 employees or fewer.
So that supports what you were talking about.
500 employees is not a small business.
No, it isn't.
And in fact, I've always said to all of my mom and pop small business cohorts out there, one, when you have a business where you don't know everybody by their first and last name, then it's time for a union because at that point you're too big.
to be a small mom and pop business.
Also, when it comes to these people that, like you said, it's almost like these mom and pop businesses want to call the small business like the 500 employee business.
I wish we could find a way to distinguish the difference because Democrats work very, very hard.
Kamala Harris had a first time small business tax credit for over $50,000.
for new mom and pop businesses.
And that was something that really would have helped the mom and pop small business, not hurt.
And I just hope everybody really, really distinguishes the difference between the person that has an idea and doesn't look at it like, you know, I have a lot of freedom.
Obviously I didn't listen to the radio all day.
I have a lot of freedom owning a small business.
A lot of times, even the mom and pop small businesses, like Gary and CJ or whoever else it is, that's how they're called themselves mom and pop small business.
We have a lot of time out here.
We have a lot of people that are not in the corporate hierarchy and the hierarchy of people.
We can do what we want.
We can make the decision we want.
Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, but I would say, Tom, you are a successful small business.
I know many small business people who work their fingers to the bone and and struggle and struggle and struggle nonstop.
And they can't get access to financial support.
OK, a person with 500 employees can get capital.
that a person with two can't get, they shouldn't be considered the same.
All right, thank you very much for the call.
855-752-4842 is the number of Motown Monday on the Earl Ingram Show.
And in bed, no more back to thinking, time for thinking ahead.
The world's changed so very much of what it used to be.
There's so much hatred, war, and poverty.
Wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way.
Maybe then they'll listen to what you have to say.
They're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands.
When you teach the children to jump the very best they can.
Oh, yeah, no better if we're just let it be.
All right, welcome back to a Motown Monday in the early group show as always you can join us at 855-752-4842 855-752-4842 wake up CJ.
Maybe it's too late for him to wake up.
Let's go back to the phone lines.
Let's go to Susan.
Hey, good morning to you, Susan.
You say what?
Good morning.
I really like what that
gentlemen had to say about this country, and I believe in it 100%.
My relatives came here in 1879 and actually love this country.
We fought in, I have relatives who fought in almost every war this country has fought in.
We are patriots, and as far as I see, people like CJ,
and Cassandra and all the people who voted for Trump are traders to this country.
We need to go back and we need to consolidate ourselves and get together and take back our country and get our constitution back in order.
I see Trump as, I'm sorry, he is a Russian asset.
Why Putin has this much control over
over Trump, I don't know, and I really don't care.
But I believe in this country.
I am American.
I'm a patriot, and I always will believe in this country.
Hey, Susan, thank you very much for the call, as always.
Mike from Kenosha, you're up.
Hey, good morning.
Happy Motown Monday.
You know, listening to the Trump administration over the weekend,
outright defying judges rulings and much less of the subpoenas.
And they don't even try to hide it anymore.
The quote from the Trump administration was that we don't care what the judges say.
We're gonna do whatever we're gonna do.
And that's what we're seeing.
It's horrible.
that, you know, the facts seem to be ignored by a group of people.
And when we present them with empirical data in the facts, all they do is pivot to go somewhere else.
They never, ever address the issue.
Last point is the GOP reclassified small businesses of $1 billion and less and 500 employees or fewer.
I'm thinking that was 2009.
Don't hold me to that.
The reason why is they wanted access at the capital, the bailout money.
And they wanted to be able to coin the phrase, we're doing this for small business, small business.
You know what, $100 million, $200 million, $500 million in sales.
That's not small business.
Small business is 20, 25 people or less.
And that's what is the backbone of our workforce and our economy.
Again, we have to get to a point where we can at least present truth to power as fact.
And then maybe, just maybe we can fight this fight and win
it.
You know, Mike, go ahead, finish your point.
Well, I do say, I mean,
They're pulling the wool over our eyes and every day they're giving us more nonsense.
Not all of us.
And we're allowing, not all of it, you're right.
They're pulling
the wool over the CJs and others.
Well, they're trying to dupe us all.
We're all in the pool.
We can't say this or that and divide us anymore.
I mean, we're all in this thing now.
And to your point,
We don't have the luxury of years or the next election.
They're ignoring the judges now.
They are outwardly defiant on judge rulings.
They have been for years now.
Why would we think that they're going to follow any rule of law?
People, this is a real deal.
And I just hope and pray that we have the what it takes.
You know, Mike.
This is the real deal.
This is not this is not some, you know Some some nightmare Or some dream or some dream that we had This is real and and as that gentleman stated He said it in a soft beautiful way You know that I don't have but man it's
It's showtime.
It is showtime and when the rest of the world are allies, their intelligence people are saying publicly that Trump appears to be a Russian asset.
When our allies say such a thing, they don't say it lightly.
They say it really for the benefit of we the people, if we're listening.
The problem is, is not enough of a sorry.
Hey Mike, thank you very much for the call.
8-5-7-5-2-48-42.
Up next, Reggie Jackson, uh, author, public speaker, and many other things on the Earl Ingram show.