Alba.
and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Todd Albault joined today by the fantastic Mr. Sam Davidson on the board, our producer and engineer.
It is six past the hour of 12 noon on this Friday, TGIF Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2025.
It is a great day.
to be a Wisconsinite.
Welcome in.
We appreciate you.
A little overcast skies here in downtown Madison from the World Headquarters.
And as we said, Zombers, who gave him a day off?
No one's a well-deserved day off, taking care of a little personal business.
And we are so happy.
Really, this is indicative of my sad dating life over the years.
Every man I've ever dated left me.
And so, you know, Zombers left me.
Today, Luke Mathers left me.
He's on vacation.
But God love, Sam Davidson.
Thanks for sticking around, my friend.
I'm glad to be here.
What are you going to do if I leave now?
I'm
SOL.
I'm absolutely SOL.
For those that don't know, Sam is our great producer on the John and Gordy morning show here on WMDX in Madison.
And I was filling in for Pat Critell on Up North News Radio this morning.
And at the same time, and I crashed into your show.
Yeah,
I just heard this noise coming from outside and all of a sudden in walk you with like a 40 foot long mic cable from the other room.
Yeah.
Trying to do two shows at the same time.
We did what was the radio equivalent of the Triple Indy in Back to School.
It's old reference.
You ever see Back to School Rodney Dangerfield?
I think I've seen
parts of it,
yeah.
It was filmed here at UW Madison.
Right, yeah.
Sam is a proud alum of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
I am, yes.
Badger.
And the move, the made-up swimming move in that movie was called the Triple Indy.
So we used my cell phone as the camera, and yes, we strung a great big long cord over to the main studio.
And so I was on the John and Gordy show, and they were on our show this morning.
It was a lot of fun.
It was.
And the food around here today has been fantastic.
Yeah, we had a listener just drop off some sweets for us, which was completely surprising.
I don't know if we've had that happen before.
They see people love you, Sam.
That's what it is.
Now, you have a significant other.
Do you have a Valentine's plans for today?
Well, I had Valentine's plans.
I'm going to be out of town this weekend.
I got to work up north, actually.
So we did Valentine's Day last weekend
instead.
Oh, look at you.
I bet she's very happy.
Yeah, she we went out to dinner.
It was romantic.
See, that's that's what I'm talking about.
You know how to you know how to treat your person.
So that's great.
Well, we're glad you're all along as our Valentine's dates today.
It's going to be a big show coming up here around 20 after this hour.
We are joined by our friend, Reed Galen, one of the co-founders of the Lincoln Project and now president of the spin-off called The Union.
Differences.
Lincoln Project is a little bit more political in nature with ads.
that kind of thing.
And then the union focuses more on voter registration across the board and voter turnout and democracy issues.
So while Reed's going to be in, he has a great podcast as well called The Home Front, which is also a sub-stack.
This is very interesting.
Reed Galen is taking our friend Trigley Olsen's seven rules of how to deal with authoritarianism and authoritarianism.
and going through it in his sub-stack and podcast, he's gonna be on talking about that today, as well as tariffs.
What that means to Wisconsinites.
This is great because we try to do it on this show, which is take this fire hose of information and put it down there where the chickens can get at it, so to speak.
And this is great, Reed's gonna talk about what tariffs mean to us here in Wisconsin, and also just why it's important to.
be a voter as Luke Mathers likes to say, especially in this spring election.
The primary, of course, coming up on this coming Tuesday, February 18th, big primary for the Department of Public Instruction here in Wisconsin, local elections as well.
Check your local listings.
And then the general election coming up on April 1st.
So Reed's gonna talk about that.
And then in hour number two are what's worse for today, yes, a Valentine's Day edition.
Now, Sam, you're a romantic.
You do a little something special.
But I think a lot of people get a little annoyed because, you know, there seems to be a lot of pressure if you have a significant other to make a show of affection.
And it seems contrived and made up to some people that gets people very salty.
Yeah, this morning on the John and Gordy show, which I normally produce, John apparently
hates Valentine's Day with a burning passion.
He hates the obligations that it brings, and apparently his wife hates it as well, so I guess it works out
for the both of them.
Why did that take by John to not surprise me?
I don't know.
I can see how a lot of people feel this way.
There's pressure.
So we'll get into that and do what's worse in hour number two.
Right now don't want to make people aware gonna be a perhaps in some parts of the state
Little dicey of a commute this afternoon.
We have winter weather advisories for a partner.
As my granddad used to say, the entire state except the far northern counties say superior over to Ashland Bayfield.
But every place else south of that area is under a winter weather advisory of some type.
Brittany Merleau, one of our meteorologists here at Civic Media says the snow will move in sometime between two and three o'clock this afternoon, depending upon which part of the state you are in.
then it's gonna ramp up and later this afternoon all evening long into tomorrow at some point some of the snows could be heavy at times some places from the southwest and kind of curve up into the right say take into Wisconsin Rapids our listeners WF HR over to some of our listen listeners perhaps in the southern portion of the WXCO was all listening area over towards Green Bay roughly that part of the state maybe six eight inches plus
in some locally nine inches in some places, slightly lower amounts north and south of that area.
But it sounds like everybody's going to get something out of this storm.
And then, wow, bundle up, starting Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, temperatures are going to drop.
We'll struggle to have highs above zero a couple of those days as well.
So have you got your park already, Sam?
I'm not looking forward to the cold.
My house doesn't have an actual heater.
I just have electric heaters around the
base of the room.
Base heaters?
Yeah, yeah.
Those are not great.
No, it makes
my electric bill crazy high too, so not looking forward to the cold, but we'll put up with it.
Well, yeah, a lot of people feel that way, so just be prepared for that.
When you get in that situation, I've lived in places like that as well.
You have to open up like the, the counter doors below your sink to make sure the pipes don't freeze and all that kind of stuff.
Cause that, and of course that just gets messy if that happens.
So yeah, some seriously cold temperatures starting on Sunday into early next week.
So, so be aware of that.
Again, most of Wisconsin except the far, far north under winter weather advisories for today.
A couple of headlines for you before we bring on Reed Galen here.
According to a whist politics this morning, Susan Crawford.
who is the the people, the the what we're going to call her the rule of law and common sense candidate who is taking on the radical extremist Brad Schimmel.
But Susan Crawford, the more reasonable candidate in the state Supreme Court race, their campaign has launched two new ads today, hitting Supreme Court rival Brad Schimmel on abortion.
So those ads are up and going today.
Also, Congressman Mark Pockein here in Madison of the Second District, putting out statements on Elon Musk and federal contracts there against, of course, that's been kind of more than, more than a little to deal with.
If I get into some of that with Reed Galen here coming up, we talked a little bit about this yesterday.
It turns out that one of the contracts that was uncovered called for, I believe, was Department of State
or defense to spend $400 million in electric vehicles from Tesla, specifically from Tesla.
And when MSNBC kind of broadcast this, I mean, in real time, night before last, they went in and took out the word Tesla.
And after it was taken out, Elon Musk asked Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, why the lie?
Why the lie after they'd already edited their own the only on their own government contracts what the government put out so we might talk a little bit about that with greed Galen as well if you're looking for a debate between the two Supreme Court candidates by the way Crawford and Brad Schimmel the two have agreed on a debate ahead of the April 1st election gonna be on March 12th March 12th prime time 60 minute debate
going to be before an invite only audience at the lube our center at marquette university law schools a hall i'm assuming that civic media will most likely cover that as well that is coming up on march 12th a debate between the stews the two state supreme court candidates that should be very interesting and glad that they both agreed and uh uh to go along with that of course as well speaking of electric vehicles quick trips electric vehicles charging stations project
is now in limbo after a federal funding cut by the Trump administration.
Now, this is exactly what Reed Galen's been talking about at the union and on his podcast and substack.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, they said, quote, the current NEVI formula program guidelines dated June 11th, 2024, and all prior versions of this guidance are rescinded.
All right reimbursement of existing obligations quote will be allowed in order to not disrupt current financial commitments unquote Governor Evers criticized the Trump administration's move saying in a statement that Nevi essentially electric vehicle programs would have helped quote build infrastructure for the 21st century across Wisconsin unquote Quick trip and attended in installing a bunch of these
It all across Wisconsin plays like Ashland, West Salem, Menominee, Chippewa Falls, and a plan to install more in 20, 20 more in 2025.
And now all of this is up in the air.
Talk to a good friend of mine this morning.
Actually, she is a great idea.
She said, you know what the governor needs to do next week with the state or the budget address coming up on Tuesday?
I'll be angry at our coverage along with Dan Schaefer and others here on Tuesday night for both the spring primary and for the governor's budget address.
The governor should open up the budget address and say, you know what?
Speaker Voss said that this budget was dead in arrival.
I agree with him.
But not because of Speaker Voss.
It's dead on arrival because of Donald Trump and cutting the funding.
We no longer this budget I put together is based on norms Federal funding that they've already committed to to Wisconsin But we in Wisconsin can no longer You know have confidence in Donald Trump or the federal government and therefore if the government the federal government doesn't hold up their part This will be dead on arrival.
I think that'd be a great way for governor evers to open up his His budget address next Tuesday night
things like Head Start, Pell Grants, Child Care, all up in the air due to Donald Trump.
How do all these cuts affect Wisconsin?
How do you deal with authoritarians and authoritarianism?
Stay with us.
Our next guest, Reid Galen, will break it all down for us.
I'm sure he'll be open to taking your phone calls as well.
It's the Todd Allball Show along with Sam on the 14th on Civic Media's Ready
it may lead and having fun doing it.
Welcome back to the All Ball Show on the Civic Media Radio Network.
It is nine before the hour of two o'clock.
Top of the hour, ABC or CBS News, depending upon which station you were listening to, a weather update, weather advisories for most of the state.
Several inches of snow going to hit during the ride home, drive home this afternoon through tomorrow.
So be aware of that of a weather update and then hour number two, including today's what's worse, which is Valentine's or every other made a holiday.
We'll take your calls on that.
at hour number two, Regis says yes.
Joining us right now for the rest of the hour, our friend, we always appreciate when he stops by, Reed Galen, the president of The Union.
You can find the organization at jointheunion.com and on all socials as well.
He has.
.us.
Join the union.
.us.
Oh, pardon me.
Thank you.
Thank you for the clarity.
Join the union.
.us.
And he also has a great podcast called The Homefront, of which there is a sub stack as well.
He was one of the co-founders.
of the Lincoln Project and a former GOP strategist.
We are happy to have him along.
Read a few texts.
Let's just catch up on these.
This is Matt from Middleton.
Earlier in the show, I called Brad Schimel a radical, a radical extremist.
That was something that is true.
And Trigvie gave me that one.
So Trigvie says, I'm frustrated and disappointed that we haven't been calling MAGA and the extremist movement from the start.
They ran an extremist group in ideology, and that is un-American.
John listening in Milwaukee, NWA UK says, do my research on the Tesla contractor was started under the Biden administration.
Yeah, that's true, John.
But the point is that it was
it was denoted for Tesla.
And then during the Maddow show a couple nights ago, Elon went in and removed Tesla and then said, Maddow was lined at $400 million was earmarked for Tesla.
So yeah, it was started at Biden, but it doesn't negate the point that it was going to Musk and Tesla.
Mount Horab, listening here on Madison's WMDX, Troy.
Oh, asking about our friend Jay from London.
We'll check in on that later.
Steve in Milwaukee says it's a constitutional crisis, and these folks are cheering on the dismantling of the country.
They are totally bamboozled.
And finally, Kevin in McGowanago, there's a great name for your read, Wisconsin name from Milwaukee station says Trump is doing exactly what he ran on.
The Democratic Party and liberal side of the aisle has become the screaming blue haired woman of politics.
Well, okay, I'm not sure about that, but.
What do you think, Reed?
Well, my grandmother was a screaming blue-haired woman, so I guess.
No.
Yeah, I think it's important to understand you, just to go back to the text about the Tesla thing.
This has been one of the key parts of Donald Trump's strategy, and he's been very smart, and people around him have been very smart, is making the Democratic Party and Democrats as bad as he is, right?
We're all crooked.
We're all dirty.
We're all in on it together.
They're no better than I am.
They're no better.
They don't care about you any more than I do, right?
I, you know, you're getting screwed.
I'm the only one who's going to tell you, you feel like put down by these people.
I know how you feel because he does, right?
Like he won't, he always wanted to be Mr. Manhattan and he was always going to be senior queens.
Like that's always how it was going to be.
Like they never were going to accept him.
And so that has worked for him.
I think the Democrats, as I have tried to tell my friends, like, if you're going to be the white hats, Todd, you got to be the white hats, right?
Like, if you're going to earmark $400 million for Tesla, right, even though you think that Elon's a bad guy, like, you better have a damn good reason for it.
And, you know, and if you are going to say,
Um, oh here's one when I was with my team in Chicago a couple of weeks ago We wake up and there's a there's a headline Paul Pelosi sells 83 million an invidious stock before the stock market takes a nosedive like I don't know the particulars of it But the problem is the headline says exactly what Trump has been parroting right told you they're just as bad They're just as crooked.
They're just as out for themselves as I am and so that's the other part about the Democrats like if you really want
regular people to come back, like you have to, you have to show them, not tell them, right?
It's shot said, talk like a normal person, show them you care, show them that you are better.
Because right now there's just too many examples where otherwise disengaged voters can say, you're right, they're all crooked.
What do I care?
Our time always goes too fast.
About two minutes left here, Reid.
Folks can go to again, jointheunion.us.
They can find you at the Homefront podcast on your sub-stack as well.
What should people be doing?
I know the union is always involved in voter registration.
We have a very important Supreme Court race coming up here on April 1st, a primary, not for Supreme Court, but for other things on Tuesday.
This election is going to be the election in the country this spring.
I think a couple of things.
One is, if you are able to get out and, again, talk to your friends and neighbors, gather people together, I wouldn't even necessarily make it partisan in nature originally.
I think I would just get people together and say, did you know there's a Supreme Court race coming up?
Did you know this?
And start those communications now, because as you and I saw, Todd, and I saw all over the country, if you're going to show up at someone's door two, three weeks before an election,
And they've never heard of you.
They've never seen you.
They don't have any idea what it is you're doing or even really what's going on because state Supreme Court elections are probably not particularly well attended Then it's just like there's too many other things going on So you have to have a much longer runway to having those conversations and then again to your point about what shot said like what does this actually mean for your life?
Those are the kinds of things I think you have to take into account if
Person A gets elected, here's what this means for you.
If person B gets elected, here's what it means for you.
And it's not high-mindedness.
It's not anything about very narrow band issues.
It's what is this going to do to you?
What is it going to do to me?
What is it going to do to our state?
Yeah, I think that's great.
I mean, one minute left here, but the Republican state assembly speaker and some of the people in the assembly Republicans now wanting to basically put parameters on postpartum care for women.
And I've said, you know, our Democrat, I'd be going out and saying, well, look, last time I checked, Republican women have babies too.
If Republicans want to hurt women, it hurts all of women and not just not just Democratic ones.
Yeah.
And this is this.
And that's a really good point, Todd, is like, first of all, why?
Right.
Right.
Why have all the things you could choose to do?
Would this be the thing?
Especially when Republicans are like, we got to have more babies.
So you want to have more babies, but you don't want to take care of mom.
Bingo.
You always nail it.
Read Gail.
And join the union.us, president of the union.
Read.
Thanks for taking time for us.
We got to do this soon.
Thanks, Todd.
All right.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
Hour two straight ahead.
Little Valentine's What's Worse on the Civic Media.
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Network.
