Convention Eve (Hour 3)

Transcript

Convention Eve (Hour 3)

Mornings with Pat Kreitlow · Thu Jun 12, 2025

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.

Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime,

anywhere.

You're listening to Mornings with Pat Craiglow powered by Up North News.

Now, for my Lake Mesota studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Craiglow.

Pat Kreitlow

Hey, good morning.

It's 8.06.

Nice to have you back here up north on this Thursday, pointy, June 12th, but I'm so confused.

I'm so confused about the comment sections today and I'll I'll explain for Brittany Merleau and Chad Holmes who join us here in just a sec.

We'll also be talking to Sean O'Malley talking about your money and the markets.

We'll talk to Joseph Peckie as well.

We have a bittersweet weather anniversary to talk about today too.

First a reminder that tomorrow we will be visiting with Judge Chris Taylor.

a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court in April of next year.

It's quite likely she'll be taking on conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, who we expect to be running for another 10-year term.

Dr. Kristen Lierly will join us for part of that interview as well.

And of course, we'll have all of our regular week in review panelists talking about the headlines of the past week, all that and more coming up, including more from Chad Holmes at 98.9 WXCO and Brittany Merleau's updated forecast for us.

But first, gang.

What's happening in my comment section?

This is so is so left field from somebody who put on there just out of the Yoga is a religion that sprang forth from the corrupt roots of sexual depravity in the 1960s That's it.

That's the post

Confused

just

Pat Kreitlow

because you can say it doesn't mean you need to.

Sometimes it's like your indoor voice.

Sometimes you use your in head voice.

Just keep it in there because we haven't talked about yoga, religion or cultural privacy.

So not yet anyway.

But now I got some

ideas.

Oh, boy.

All right.

That great low takes a turn.

Pat Kreitlow

Brittany.

You go first.

Let's talk about the weather system here.

That's going to be a bit of a pipeline for rainy weather over the next few days.

Brittney Merlot

I'll tell you what, first I'm going to start with yoga by the

Pat Kreitlow

beach.

Gotta move along.

Brittney Merlot

Moving on.

Okay.

Well, we hit 90s yesterday.

That's some beach weather.

Now we're sitting at about 50 to 65 degrees across the state.

We've got a lot of clouds out there.

Also rain starting to push in from La Crosse to about the Madison area scraping there.

That is going to continue to lift north.

So central areas still looking at chances of rain this afternoon.

And then tonight it will be kind of heavy.

into northern parts of the state continuing into tomorrow to where we could see an inch or two in portions of northwest Wisconsin.

Otherwise, the majority of the state is looking around half an inch to maybe an inch of rain.

But this system will continue to drop south as we go through Friday afternoon.

So southern areas again, more scattered showers and storms sparking up that'll linger till Saturday morning before we finally get a dry day on Saturday.

or I'm sorry, Sunday, but it doesn't last long because Monday and Tuesday, the heat and humidity start to seep back in and more showers and storms start to fire up.

So a wet next few days ahead, it is cooler as we go through the rest of this week.

The heat and humidity hold off until next week.

But again, yes, a lot of rain rolling through starting today.

Pat Kreitlow

So we're going to get the rain, but not we're not looking at anything that has severe potential.

to it.

Brittney Merlot

No, not until next week.

Next week,

Pat Kreitlow

probably.

That's all right, because today, this is the anniversary of the new Richmond tornado.

It was on this day in 1899, when an estimated f five tornado formed on the in the early evening and tore a 45 mile

path of destruction through St.

Croix, Polk and Barron counties, causing 117 deaths.

And to this day, it remains the ninth deadliest tornado in US history, as well as the deadliest ever recorded in Wisconsin.

Now, admittedly, we don't have nearly the, you know, the forecasting and warning capabilities that we do now, but

I mean, we've certainly seen our share of F5s.

We know that tornadoes can go on for miles and miles and miles.

So even if you hear a tornado warning in a nearby county, you can't just dismiss it and go, well, you know, that's just them.

It won't get to us, Brittany.

These things still are, they're not fully predictable, as we well know.

Brittney Merlot

No.

And if you think about this, I mean, this is what.

over a hundred years ago and the population wasn't nearly where we are now and you know rolling through that town um New Richmond took a direct hit and they had a circus going on and everybody was in town but they're really

amazing part about it is a lot of people decided to stay and rebuild, which really shows a lot about Wisconsin and the communities and how much we love our areas.

So that's really cool.

And even, you know, so long ago, it was considered an F5.

Those winds were over 200 miles per hour.

So that is still today considered in our enhanced foetus scale.

at an EF5, so a very strong, massive, deadly tornado.

They usually don't stay on the ground for that many miles, 45 miles.

They're usually on the ground for a couple or so.

So yes, while we may see a lot of weaker tornadoes more often, these stronger ones are possible.

They do happen in our state.

And not to mention, we're seeing that tornado alley, the classic tornado alley, shift further north and further east.

That means into Wisconsin.

Pat Kreitlow

Yeah, all the more reason to be paying attention to your local forecast throughout the day here on your favorite civic media stations.

Brittany, thank you so much.

Have a great day.

Brittney Merlot

You too.

Thank you.

Pat Kreitlow

All right.

Let's turn to Chad Holmes now from 989 WXCO who's been busy covering some postseason sports for us.

You've been on the road already this week.

Chad Holmes

Yeah, went off to Augusta on Tuesday.

Nice.

Nice drive, you know, about 90 minutes or so.

See the Pat Crite low part of the world.

But no, it was fun.

And actually now the high school aspect of my season is over.

So a little sad.

I got to count up the game.

I'm actually going to do that here the next day or two to count up how many I did for the 2024-2025 season.

Because I really don't know.

Some people keep counts of that.

I've never done that, but I'm going to try to figure it out.

Pat Kreitlow

See, I have to do that because otherwise, if I, because I'll get curious, I want to go back and wonder about it.

So no, I do.

So let me scroll up to the top of my notes here.

Today is morning show number 580.

I

Chad Holmes

do I admire you that you've been able to keep track of that because actually I thought about this because the other night I was watching the Stanley Cup and one of the broadcasters Eddie Olcek and they said congratulations Eddie.

This is your 1000th national TV broadcast.

I thought man

Pat Kreitlow

But you know, they weren't keeping track.

You know, some poor intern had to go back through all the records.

There you go.

That's what I need.

I need an intern.

That's exactly what you need.

Parker?

Kathryn Lake

I am full

Pat Kreitlow

time, dang it.

Oh, OK.

OK.

Sorry about that.

Here's an interesting story that I saw in both of the Wausau news outlets, the Herald and the Pilot and Review.

The remains of an unknown World War I soldier.

have been exhumed in Wasaw for DNA identification.

Did not realize that in that area there is a grave that's marked an unknown soldier and you think well what's how in Wasaw this doesn't make sense what it was was the backstory was this was a soldier who died by suicide in I think the 1930s it was left and and nobody knew who he was and he didn't leave any

any word.

And so the rest of his family could never be notified.

He just said that he was a World War One veteran.

And so now through DNA technology, they maybe will be able to find relatives and understand who that is, which I have to say, Chad, I kind of go both ways on the whole notion of the unknown soldier that there are simply people who never come home and that that person is symbolic of that.

On the other hand, you get that sense of closure.

So I'm sure a lot of folks in Warsaw noticed that and we're kind of chatting about it.

Chad Holmes

Well, yeah, it's been noticed.

And also kind of a big picture thought when I came across that is that during this era where technology is just moving at just the speed of light, speed of sound, whatever you want to say.

that there are still aspects that are good because I hate AI.

I hate where it's going.

I hate a lot of the technology.

I hate the fact that everybody is so into this technology that is not making humanity better.

It's taking away, I think, creativity and opportunities.

But in this case, yes, that would be something that, hey, it's wonderful to have the idea of being able to have that sense of closure.

you think back, you know, sometimes you think back, back to World War I, back to the 19-20s and 30s where this person committed suicide and how the world has just changed in ways that are beyond fathom.

And I think a lot of the issues are that we're seeing nowadays is because it's almost impossible, I think, for us as

human beings to put our arms around the way that things are changing so very quickly and it's sometimes I lie in bed and I think way too much about this kind of

Pat Kreitlow

stuff.

You do, you think about this technology a lot.

I have alluded to this story before and I'm going to do it again because I can't give particulars for obvious reasons here but

We all know that there are all these stories about how these ancestry kits, you know, 23andMe and all these other DNA kits are leading to some interesting revelations, you know, people who weren't really their father and things like that.

And I've got a friend who realized, you know, again, he was in his 60s by the time this happened.

He, as a baby, was actually switched in the hospital.

and was raised by the people who weren't his biological parents, as was the other person as well.

And again, would never have known that if it were not for today's technology and DNA tests, which again, cut both ways.

It was very shocking, but he also enjoyed meeting new family in this case.

So again, you have to be very mindful of the impact of all of these things that you're doing out there.

But it's nice to know that I'm not

the only curmudgeon out there when it comes to these things like like AI and I mean, I'm seeing things on my social media feed that again, they'd look like very realistic videos and they're not real.

And you know, they do, they do have the potential to inflame.

I mean,

somebody else said it, not me, but if ever there's a war between like India and Pakistan, it's probably going to be over some kind of an AI video that people took, you know, the wrong way and thought, oh, there's an attack going on and we have to attack back or something like that.

So I can't agree with you enough about the precautions that need to go into this stuff.

Chad Holmes

And I just think generally, I mean, as we go through our journeys of life, that there are so many different ways that we are able to

show creativity and show, you know, even our work lives.

I mean, are we all going to be just, you know, screwing in for those iPhones?

I mean, I just, I fear for that.

I fear because, I mean, you know, you could set it up real fast.

One thing that in this business, starting in the fall, NBC is returning with the NBA.

They have a new contract, a

Pat Kreitlow

new

Chad Holmes

TV contract.

What they're going to do is

They had this iconic voice that would say, this is the NBA on NBC.

Well, that gentleman has died.

But through the miracle of AI, that guy's going to be the voice of the NBA on NBC again.

And I just think that's wrong on every level.

You're not

Pat Kreitlow

talking about Marv Albert.

Chad Holmes

No, no, but

Pat Kreitlow

the guy

Chad Holmes

who did the voiceover.

Pat Kreitlow

Oh, the guy did the voice art, because it's gonna say, Marv Albert is very much live.

It says 84, 84th birthday today.

So I want to make sure we weren't offing poor Marv.

Chad Holmes

Remember last Olympics.

NBC did this highlight package every single day of

Pat Kreitlow

the of the

Chad Holmes

Olympics and use the voice of Al Michaels

Pat Kreitlow

through AI, but it wasn't now Michaels

Chad Holmes

Michael

Pat Kreitlow

No, but

Chad Holmes

are we all gonna be just basically service folks?

Pat Kreitlow

Well, they're there there are people who think and and others are

kind of embracing that and saying well it's going to happen anyway so let's let's you know do this here's the thing well ended on the the the trump big bloated boondoggle budget bill is that when some republicans found out that contained in that bill is a restriction that states would not be allowed to regulate ai for 10 years i mean

Honest, Marjorie Taylor Greene and I agree on something.

She was the first one out of the gate saying I'd never voted for this bill if that was in.

It's definitely coming out.

Who put that

Chad Holmes

in though?

That's the question.

Pat Kreitlow

Who put that in?

Yep.

And you know, what were they getting out of it?

So thanks again for joining us for a couple of old men afraid of technology.

And now we're going to be calm and move on.

Chad Holmes here.

I'm on 98.9 WXCO and we will talk to you a little later.

Thank you, sir.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Still ahead, Sean O'Malley about your money in the markets and Joseph Pecky from the heart of America's Up North, live from Lake Wissota.

Thanks for making this the place to spend part of your mornings.

I'm Pat Kratlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

Pat Kreitlow

From the text line, we had a story earlier about how President Trump and Defense Secretary Hexeth are

Changing names, they're dropping names off of ships, they're taking books out of libraries like at the Naval Academy.

Stephen Milwaukee writes, so disgusted that people don't know, or worse, dismiss news like how Hexeth and Trump are renaming seven bases back to their loser Confederate generals, to literal losers.

Dan in White House writes in on the text line, what happened to drill baby drill gases up 70 cents since Joe over by my house?

I don't know, excellent question.

We talked a bit in our climate check segment with Melissa Baldoff about, you know, which way the Trump administration is going on things there, but you gotta understand they're very distracted.

They're trying to do 90 trade deals in 90 days.

That's what the president promised us, 90 trade deals in 90 days.

So let's get an update on that and other things that affect your money and the markets.

with Finance and Economics expert, Sean O'Malley.

Sean, how are you?

I'm doing well, Pat.

Good morning.

Pat Kreitlow

Good morning.

Good to see you here.

So let's see, where are we at on the 90 deals in 90 days?

Are we at two yet?

One.

One

is the loneliest number as the song goes.

So we have one deal done with the United Kingdom.

And as we know, the next target for the Trump administration is

Pat Kreitlow

China.

Here's the thing with China.

Here's the headline from the New York Times yesterday.

And Sean, I will have you hit that stop camera button and we'll save your bandwidth for the audio here.

The New York Times headline says a new China trade deal, and they put deal in quotation marks, takes the US back to where it started.

The subhead says, if a handshake agreement holds, it will merely undo some of the damage from the trade war that President Trump started.

Is it really that?

simple that Trump is going to do what some of us thought he was going to do and make things worse, then bring things back to where they were and call that a deal.

Well, he's going to try.

One of the reasons we saw the markets go down substantially yesterday is due to this Wall Street Journal article that came out announcing that China has the edge in these negotiations.

particularly due to the limitations that they're putting on the export of rare earths.

They have put a six month limitation on that.

And that is having a very chilling effect on the market in general, the US markets.

And it's also indicating that for a lot of the technologically important elements,

that the US needs, China is really in the driver's seat.

And they are the major player in this space due to the use of what's known as the China Development Bank, which was founded 31 years ago and has been securing resources necessary for the long-term economic growth of China.

And that is why they are the dominant market player in the rare earth space.

Pat Kreitlow

Now the the rare earths uh there's some kind of metals and minerals uh I mean what what is it about them that's so important?

Okay sorry.

Kathryn Lake

That's okay.

I know we we might have

Pat Kreitlow

had a glitch there and I just wanted you to tell me more about rare earth metals and materials.

Jesus

Pat Kreitlow

I'm going to say that is connections a little glitchy here.

Let me try one more time.

Yeah,

it looks like my connection here in Bayfield is not what it normally is.

Pat Kreitlow

Bayfield, I mean, come on.

So let me ask one more time if you can tell us more about rare earths, what those metals and minerals are all about.

Sure.

Yeah, so rare earths are very instrumental for things like smartphones, computer screens.

They're also essential for

wind turbines.

So there are a lot of technologies that are very dependent upon rare earths in order to be used.

And the lack of them will have an economic impact on us.

Pat Kreitlow

Yeah.

So China has been focusing on these rare earths for some three decades now.

So what is it that China wants to do in terms of easing any export limits on those?

Well, they're offering us a brief respite of six months.

It's not much of a window, which is why the markets did go down.

And the simple fact is that since they're the dominant player in this space, it's really their game.

It's not for the US to basically, we can't go in with any bluster and hope to be successful.

Pat Kreitlow

Is this essentially the poster child for what we've been talking about, that President Trump is always acting like he's in the driver's seat because of the American consumer marketplace, and so do more stuff here.

But those rare earths aren't here, and if rare earth minerals aren't the poster child,

I guess the other one would be bananas because of that Congresswoman who pointed out to a Trump official when he said, we just need to grow more things.

We had to make more things here.

And she's like, we can't make bananas in the US.

They're just some things where you need good trade agreements.

Yeah, you're referencing the quote by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutkin.

To spill a little tea on Commerce Secretary Lutkin, I

know very well, one of the people that worked very closely with Howard for a lot of years.

And he, he has been called probably the dumbest man to ever become our secretary.

And that opinion has been affirmed by a former close, very close associate.

Pat Kreitlow

Well, if you don't know that you can't make bananas in the US, I would imagine that that's that's the case.

I mean, we we've certainly seen in

in his testimony and the Q&A that, again, there's a lot of bluster involved in this and not the realities to, again, the point where you're making things worse.

And then you make a deal to bring things back to zero.

Those, those aren't, those aren't real deals.

Sean O'Malley is with us from Bayfield.

We're going to pause for a break here and then we'll come back.

And at that point, the opening bell will have sounded on Wall Street and we'll talk a bit more about the state of the economy and employment and corporate earnings and things like that.

Joseph Pecky is still on the way as well.

If you missed it last night, the Brewers.

Lost to Atlanta, six to two.

Atlanta took two out of three games.

And so now St.

Louis comes to town.

Pregame for the Cardinals, Brewers starts at 6 0 5 on the Civic Media Radio Network.

I'm Pat Crightlow, live from Lake Wissota, back in a bit.

Hey, don't forget Up North News is part of Courier Newsroom, a pro-democracy news network.

You can find what we do over at couriernewsroom.com.

And if you head over there, you'll see all kinds of newsletters and podcasts.

One of the newsletters by Melissa Ryan is called Control Alt-Right Delete.

It's a weekly newsletter devoted to covering the rise of far-right extremism, white nationalism, disinformation, and online toxicity.

And then there's also How Is This Better, a new career production podcast video from Akilah Hughes covering everything from politics to entertainment to tech and late stage capitalism.

There is a new episode now on Mark Zuckerberg.

and how he once wanted to talk about making the world more open and connected, but is now doing all kinds of things that do anything.

But how is this better?

A courier podcast from Akilah Hughes, you can find over at couriernewsroom.com.

Let's continue our conversation now with Sean O'Malley.

Now that the markets have opened for the day, Sean, we know we've talked earlier about some of the

market volatility, shall we say.

You had a consumer price index reading that came out recently.

So, Sean, what can you tell us about the latest on the CPI and also on non-farm payroll, the jobs picture?

Yeah, that's a good introduction, Pat.

Thanks.

So, we had the non-farm payroll number announced last Friday.

It's always announced the first Friday of every month.

So, for May,

The jobs number came out at 138,000 jobs.

Typically between 100 and 150,000 is considered sort of treading water.

So no big changes.

It's not great.

It's okay.

Unemployment remains steady at 4.2% according to those numbers.

And then yesterday,

we had the announcement of the CPI, the Consumer Price Index, and the expectations were for it to go up about three tenths of a percent.

However, it only went up one tenth of a percent.

And ironically, one of the things they mentioned specifically is that due to lower fuel costs,

That was one of the dampening effects of that relatively moderate CPI number.

Now you've got inflation tracking at about 2.4%.

So fairly modest numbers across the board, nothing that's worth shattering.

The low inflation number did help yesterday's 10-year Treasury note auction.

go fairly well.

So we're seeing bond yields start to level off and kind of stop with as much volatility as we have seen in the recent past.

Pat Kreitlow

Alright, always appreciate the update on how our money is affected by the markets and the news that comes out of Washington DC and elsewhere.

Sean O'Malley, good to catch up as always.

We'll talk to you next week.

All right, thanks,

Pat Kreitlow

Pat.

All right, thank you.

Let's see, it's 838 right now.

Again, a reminder, Brewer baseball against the Cardinals.

605 is the pregame on several civic media radio stations, and that would include tonight the Major League debut for the Brewers of Minor League pitching phenom right-hander Jacob Mizorowski.

A lot has been said about that, so let's bring in Brewer's pitching phenom expert, Joseph Pecky, with more about that.

Joe, is this Ms.

Kid?

Is this the beginning of a World Series run for the Brewer's?

The way people, they're talking about him the way they talked about Garrett Mitchell, who played like half a game before he was injured for a

year.

Hey, you be nice to Garrett Mitchell.

Pat Kreitlow

I would buy a

ticket to the stadium just to watch that kid run.

Pat Kreitlow

He's like a deer in a field.

I said the same thing with his first couple of games.

He had some home runs.

He had some great defensive work.

I said, this is the future boys and girls.

And then he was out.

So I'm trying to cushion against getting my optimism too high on Jacob Mizorovsky.

I want to hear you say Mizorowski five times fast.

Mizorowski,

Pat Kreitlow

Mizorowski, Mizorowski, Mizorowski.

A good Polish boy knows his names.

I can do this all day long.

And that reminds me, by the way, we're going to talk about this weekend, but I got to talk about something I'm not going to be able to do this weekend because I'm going to miss it and I'm sad about it.

It's Polish Fest weekend.

So if you are anywhere near the Summerfest grounds in the Milwaukee area, please go.

to Polish Fest.

Please enjoy some Polish culture.

Please enjoy some Polish cuisine.

Please stop and visit my dear old dad and my family who will be volunteering in the official merchandise tent.

It's that hard structure that's now by the Miller Oasis.

And if you don't want to go to look at souvenirs, you can go in there to do the vodka tasting.

At least you have the last couple of years.

So yeah, split family.

Some of us will be in Wisconsin Dells.

Some of us will be in Milwaukee

Pat Kreitlow

at Polish Fest.

Polish Fest.

That is outstanding.

I would.

I wish I were down there for that.

I've got other commitments that won't let me go to the convention either.

That'll be going on this weekend.

As you know, your lovely bride got to go first yesterday.

You get to go second in reacting to the column from our friend Dan Schaefer saying, love you, Governor Evers, but you shouldn't run for a third term and he spelled out all the reasons why.

And you might not know this about Melissa Baldoff.

But she did not hold back yesterday.

Maybe you've noticed that trait in her.

I'm not sure.

Boy, you are walking me into a minefield between the hottest take we've heard on the race for governor and the personality of my darling wife, who I love very much.

Pat Kreitlow

You can jump right into the box with me that simply points around my arm gestures widely and says,

Look at all this.

How's this for conversation?

Because, I mean, it is.

It's going to come up a lot this weekend, I'm sure.

Like it or not.

I actually disagree.

I don't think it's going to come up much.

I think this is a conversation largely happening inside Dan's head.

And if Dan had a candidate in mind or if Dan wanted to run for governor, I would take every other word of that column much more seriously.

The reality is that Tony Evers is a really good governor who has earned the space to make his own decision.

And there is no call for him to step aside.

There is a lot of support for Tony Evers.

He is the most popular politician in Wisconsin with good reason.

And I just think this is all.

kind of silly.

I love Dan.

He does a really nice job.

I don't think this was necessary.

I don't think this was called for.

I noted with interest.

It's not like he quoted anybody in that story or in that column.

It's not like he, it's not like he doesn't have the ability as a working journalist to get people to even say stuff, you know, without attribution, but nobody was willing to do that.

He wasn't able to find that when he went and did, you know, had his conversations about that.

So I just

I genuinely think this is much to do about nothing.

Pat Kreitlow

So we'll see what all chatter comes up over the weekend in which you are running for state party chair along with two other candidates.

Can I ask you about the process of this?

It's going to be an instant runoff type of election that a lot of political reform advocates are saying would be the way to ensure that

in every election the winner at least eventually gets majority support because in this case you're going to have three candidates whoever comes in third will be eliminated and then they'll take all of those ballots for that person and whoever was their second choice

they'll get the votes, and that means one of the candidates will end up getting a majority.

We've talked about that a lot for, you know, typical elections, but not for an internal state party election.

Let me put it up to you as vaguely as humanly possible.

It sounds very intriguing.

I think so too.

I mean, so one of the things that party apparatuses can do is model stuff within their organizations that could work in public policy.

One of the biggest problems in our politics is that so many elected representatives can only lose in primaries.

I think we need to look seriously over the course of the next generation, I don't think this is coming anytime soon, at how to reform our elections to make them more little d-democratic.

And one reform that we are seeing begin to grow in states like Alaska, in Maine,

is a move towards this type of instant runoff or ranked choice voting.

We also see other states like California and Louisiana, where they do what's called the jungle primary and everybody runs together in the top two candidates, regardless of party, face off in a general election.

Given the threats to our democracy, it is okay to take a step back and look at how

our democracy functions and whether there are ways to improve it.

It may well turn out that ranked choice voting is one of the ways in which we can do that.

The New York City elections is another place where they do this type of ranked choice voting.

So I'm open to it.

I'm intrigued by it as well.

And I do think one of the impacts of it, at least from where I sit, is that it has led to a much more positive campaign.

Now, I can't speak to what my competitors and they are my competitors.

They're not my opponents.

They're my competitors.

I don't know how they're talking about it, but I have found that it's really helpful as a candidate for state chair to if somebody says like, hey, Joe, you know, love you, but I really want to go with one of the other candidates that my reaction in response then doesn't have to be to tear down those other candidates and it hasn't been.

The response has been, well, I would love to be considered for your second choice because that may well come into play.

And so I think there's lots of good here.

I think you explained it fairly well.

I think there's going to be some questions about it.

And the state party is going to do a lot of education, particularly on Saturday around how this is going to work.

But

Pat Kreitlow

I think it's really interesting.

I think so too because it will demonstrate the candidates who have the broader base of support and Alaska provided the best example and I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but essentially if there hadn't been instant runoff voting or rank choice voting Sarah Palin would have won an election for a congressional seat with something like 33% of the vote and instead by the time you got through all of the rounds of balloting with the multiple candidates

she did not take that congressional seat with 33% of the vote because she did not have broad support.

She had solid support, but only from a small amount.

Enough other people said, well, if this one isn't my if my first choice doesn't, you know, get it, then this person is going to be my second.

This one is going to be my third.

Sarah Palin might be their third or fourth choice.

And so again, I too am not saying it's perfect.

But in this particular instance, you do see who are the people that can have a broader base as their first or second choice as a

opposed to, it's my guy or nothing.

Let's look at the battle over the Trump big bloated budget boondoggle.

Only because of this.

Tom Tiffany put out a video this week and other Republicans, they keep saying they're fact checking that Medicaid isn't being cut in this budget.

Joe, could it be that they're right and everyone else is wrong or is it that folks are figuring this out and getting a little riled up about the Medicaid cuts in this budget bill?

They are not telling the truth.

More than 10 million people would lose health care in this country if this abomination passes.

You know what that would do?

Raise everyone else's health care costs.

This is madness.

It is not needed for any reason.

But the fact that the reason they are doing it is so Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos and all these betas who are groveling all over themselves for the favor of King Donald.

I don't even like those guys and I'm embarrassed for them.

But the idea that to give them a tax cut, we are going to kick 10 million people off of health care, raising costs.

and tens of millions of other Americans is insanity.

Of course this is unpopular.

Of course Donald Trump's approval rating is dropping like a stone.

That makes,

Pat Kreitlow

of course it is, and we'll continue talking about that as well.

A local update is next for some of you others.

We'll stick around here for a few final notes and some news.

Tomorrow, we'll have Chris Taylor, a judge and candidate for state Supreme Court.

Dr. Kristen Lierly, we'll have our Week in Review panel.

We'll talk to Mike Clemens with a little bit of sports as well.

Don't forget to sign up for our newsletters, upnorthnewswi.com.

I'm Pat Crightlow.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Pat Kreitlow

Here's the lineup for later today on Civic Media.

Matt Nair on air is next.

Jane Matt Nair, Greg Bach from 9 to 11.

Former U.S.

Attorney Jim Santel joins us in the 9 o'clock hour.

Sports reporter JR Radcliffe from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, around 10.30.

And of course, they wrap up with this shouldn't be a thing.

The Maggie Dawn Show includes a visit from Jeremy Janine from Urban Milwaukee at about 4.50 this afternoon.

And on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba, around 6.30, you can hear guest Jenna Watkins talking about cybersecurity, all that ahead on Civic Media.

I believe Steve in Milwaukee on the text line was probably not listening to the first hour of the show with a text that says, why are you all afraid to report about the bases that Trump's renaming after Confederate generals and things?

Can't you say that Trump is a racist on air?

It's a fact.

Well.

Steve again I know you're not expected to listen all three hours but the the title every every hour has a different show title.

The title of the first hour is Donald Jefferson Davis Trump and we get into the ways he's too cute by half trying to rename these bases but not actually renaming them after the Confederate soldiers but other people who coincidentally have the same last name.

It is garbage.

It is racist and you should listen back to it our 6 a.m.

Hour either head up north news wi.com I'm sorry head to civic media US and head to our show page and listen back to it or subscribe to us as a podcast on Spotify or on Apple podcast depending on where you ever get you get your favorite podcast your preferred platform as it were Joseph Becky is back here with us now and oh we've we've hit the

Medicaid cuts that are actually cuts, no matter what Tom Tiffany says they are.

So let's take it to the legislature instead here, where we talked to Senate Democratic leader Diane Hesselbein earlier this morning, and the way that this apparent agreement by Republicans to fund the Knowles Nelson stewardship program, I thought it sounded too good to be true.

And I was right because I learned from a journal sentinel story that the bill now says, well, the bill doesn't take effect if this other bill doesn't pass as well, called a trailer bill.

I would call it a poison pill.

Here's the punchline.

The other bill hasn't been filed yet.

Don't even know what's in it yet.

And I should look back at how many times I've used the term poison pill over the years on our website stories to call attention to this tactic that Republicans have where they

pretend to be for something until they find a way to torpedo it.

It's a

secret trailer

Pat Kreitlow

bill.

A secret trailer bill.

They

won't tell you what it is.

That's the that's the absurdity of this is rather than allow folks to take a vote on the record representing their constituents by saying I am for this or I am against this and letting the chips fall

They're saying you have to decide if you're for or against this without even knowing what you're voting for because of the attachment of that secret trailer bill.

It's ridiculous.

Pat Kreitlow

I am looking at the the text line here and I guess I have to come back to Medicaid and Medicare because Kevin and Muck Juanigo says be honest with your few and far between listeners and viewers.

Ouch, Kevin.

And let them know exactly who the cuts affected.

They do not affect those that truly need them.

Again, we're gonna hear this talking point again and again that somehow for Medicaid alone, for Medicaid alone, 600 to 700 billion with a B dollars over the next 10 years, that you think there are so many undocumented immigrants who are signing up for Medicaid coverage, knowing that if they're found out they'd be deported, you think there's 600 billion plus.

in undocumented immigrants and other waste, fraud and abuse.

Joe, we're going to keep hearing this and I don't know how many times I can, I can keep up the old Bill Clinton thing where he goes, give me a break.

What's this gentleman's name?

Steve?

Pat Kreitlow

Kevin.

Kevin.

Okay.

Let's assume Kevin is operating in good faith and explain to him how work requirements, which is what Republicans are saying these are for, how these will be so devastating that they will have the impact

of kicking up to 10 million people off health care maybe more and making everybody's health care cost more.

Almost everyone who is a working age adult 18 to 64 who gets Medicaid is already working or active in their community.

Instead of having to certify multiple times a year that they have physical challenges, health challenges that require assistance from Medicaid,

They are now going to have to go somewhere to re-certify multiple times.

And in many, many cases, these are not people with short-term illnesses.

These are people with lifelong challenges that don't heal, they don't get better.

And so now those folks are forced to take time off work, away from work, in many cases, to travel.

with increasing likelihood further and further away from where they live and where they work to go to the increasingly small number of government offices staffed by increasingly smaller number of people thanks to the doge bags and probably waste a whole day recertifying that perhaps a physical impairment

or condition that requires them to be in a wheelchair and assistive mobility device means they are more likely to lose their job.

which then means they lose that Medicaid coverage.

This is madness.

It is not required.

And anybody who thinks that the solve to make Medicaid or Medicare more effective is to force people to go through onerous paperwork and reporting and recertification requirements does not understand just how difficult that is.

And I'm just going to point this out.

If they're so concerned about fraud, waste, and abuse, where is the outrage over Donald Trump pardoning someone who stole $50 million from Medicare?

With no explanation.

Days before that particular offender was going to have to pay back.

what he stole from Medicaid.

That is fraud, waste, and abuse.

You want to go after that?

Be my guest.

But don't give Donald Trump a pass on pardoning that clown while singing hazanas about how this is just, you know, rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.

Pat Kreitlow

Joe Zipecki gets the last word.

Thank you, Joe.

Thank you for being with us today.

Have a wonderful Thursday.

We'll see you tomorrow morning here up north.

Kathryn Lake

The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.

Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.

With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.

Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.

0:00