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Good afternoon, everybody.
Todd Alba along with Mr. Aaron Zommers on the board.
It's six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025.
It's a great day to be a Wisconsinite.
And it is pop day.
Very good.
Welcome everybody.
Glad to have you along on hump day.
Aaron Zommer's right off the bat here.
Zommer's for those watching on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Twix, what have you.
We streamed the show.
You get to see us for better or worse.
And they have changed the format now.
And now Zommer's going to do this in real time.
What has popped up on my screen here.
It says Insta360 link firmware
update.
Do I hit remind me later or download?
I'm afraid if I touch something, it's all going
to go to hell.
anything.
Don't, Kraitlo, since don't touch anything.
Oh, look at that.
Thomas is in the studio now.
Yes, I'm a young person.
The pilot's been incapacitated.
The co-pilot is taking over
now.
Just like airplane.
That is the voice, the mellow tones, the baritones coming across Lake Wissota on a beautiful fall day.
He is the host of Mornings of Pat Kraitlo, Mr. Pat Kraitlo, how are you?
Oh, it is me, isn't it?
Yes.
Hello.
It's it's nice to be here.
It's great to have you here and joining us as he does every Wednesday of former Republican like myself from the Tony suburbs of our nation's capital.
But originally a River Falls boy, the senior advisors, the Lincoln Project, Trig Vils and Trig Vihar.
It doesn't take much, that's for sure.
side.
I don't think you're in danger of doing the things Derek Van Orden has been doing for the past week.
Before we get into that, I am wearing a lovely gift from my sister.
We went out last year to see the Broadway show Kimberley a Kimbo and and one of the themes of the show is life is short.
Enjoy the ride the roller coaster.
So here you go.
There's the
Short
ride.
Yeah.
That's what you see, but it says life is short.
Enjoy the ride.
It's a
good, it's a good motto to seize the day.
We had Kira Saban, our positivity life psychologist on yesterday, talking about the fact that, look, even though bad things are happening every day, there are also great things happening every day.
And I think it's important just to remember some of the good things.
I'm going to start us off this week.
I want both of you to answer the question.
Pat Kratlow, what's good?
You could you could have just as easily asked if I would sprout another head out of the side of my neck here.
I was so unprepared for that one.
Tell you something good over the past.
Tell you what's good is having producers who are quick on the button and can bring up Rufus and Chaka Khan on a moment's notice.
That's there.
All right.
Fantastic.
That's something.
Trig V. The other good thing.
I'm sorry, Trig V. If there's something that's good, it's that we collectively, civic media, we have become a destination for people who are seeking public office.
We had not one but two candidates early this morning, you know, making their announcements.
One of them for the very first time on our show.
Yes.
And I feel like we're doing a good thing for
The, uh, the listeners all around Wisconsin is bringing them points of view.
They may not otherwise get
state representative Francesca Hong, Longster, the Democratic editorial bid this morning on Pat Shell.
We'll get back to that in a minute.
Trigby Olson, tell us something good.
It's pretty good.
things.
Mine's just going to be the fall weather.
I mean, things are, this is really my favorite time of year from now until about the end of November.
I love this time of year in Wisconsin.
So I am very happy to have the fall season upon us.
By the way, Trigby, let's start with a gubernatorial race here and we'll get to Pat in a second.
But Trigby, I have received a text from a listener that says, when is Trigby going to start walking back to Wisconsin?
There are doors to be knocked for Keldor Royce.
No.
Because Trigby is- Did she officially
Yeah, she came on our show.
On Monday,
he's busy.
I've been in a little bit of DC.
I know you
yeah, but no, you
Well,
and I I know a little bit of what it is and it's legit and you're not going to miss it when it happens.
All right, Pat, let's go to the governor's race on your show this morning.
Exclusively a great get Francesca Hans state on state representative here in Madison represents most of the Isthmus of the east northeast side of Madison announced her gubernatorial race this morning on your show.
She calls herself a wild card.
Yeah, because you know underdog is She's I guess Jesse Oh point must have asked her that from the journal Sentinel and she said wild card is better than underdog and Look what we've got in this race right now is in Francesca Hong is we've got shall we say candor?
You know somebody who's who's going to call it as she sees it It has been during her relatively short time in the state assembly, but she has made herself very well known
because she does not play the, you know, go along to get along kind of thing.
If she thinks that something's wrong, she's going to say it's wrong.
If she thinks something is baloney, she's going to call it a word other than baloney.
And what she said on the show today was, you know, this is a time for
bold ideas.
And look, all all all the candidates who are in right now, the top four Democratic candidates are solid progressives and Democrats.
But you know, in terms of the tone that they're going to take and the strategy that they're going to take to try to win over votes, they will not be cookie cutter going
forward.
As a former Democratic state legislator, Pat, give me your view on this.
My opinion as a former Republican is
Politically speaking probably makes it the toughest on Sarah Rodriguez with this announcement because in Milwaukee the two biggest Democratic counties biggest boat getters are Dane or Madison is at and Milwaukee County and state are
County Executive David Crowley Milwaukee has announced the mayor there Kevlar Johnson has endorsed him that kind of solidifies Milwaukee County in a certain way in my opinion now in Dane now you have it split between State Senator Keller Royce state representatives state representative Francesca Hong it was seen that Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez now her big place to get votes is gonna be all the out-state Democrats I which is
which is harder
harder and more expensive to get
I know, but allow me to put my fingers together like a super villain and say, just as I planned it, because the only way to win now, if you're splitting the Dane County vote, and if you're splitting the Milwaukee area vote is get in the car and come talk to the rest of us up here.
And that's exactly what these candidates have been doing.
And what they have to do now, they can no longer put something in their back pocket.
You know, David Crawley can't put Milwaukee in his back pocket with Sarah Rodriguez there.
Kelder Rice can't
put Madison in her back pocket with Fran there.
And so they've got to get out and about like crazy for the next 11 months.
I thoroughly believe that they will.
They're going to run into crowds, some of whom are, you know, as dyed in the wool Democrats as you would find in Dane or Milwaukee County.
And it's going to be tempting to think, okay, well, a far left message is what's going to help me win the primary.
And then they're going to go talk someplace else.
Then they're going to be reminded that there's a whole lot of other Wisconsin that
does not want things to go too far to the left or too far to the right.
And so some of these candidates are going to specialize in taking a more moderate path, seeing that as the ultimate, you know, key to success.
Others are going to say, Nope, you got to go big and bold.
And I am here for all of it.
I think it's going to be a great primary.
And Trivio
also,
I'll let you speak for yourself.
But you sit on this program before the, you know, the two Democrats, you said that you'd be going when we willing to go knock on doors for where Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez and State Senator, Kelder Royce.
because they've done exactly what Pat has said, which has gotten to places outside of Madison, Milwaukee.
I'd
I bet they'd let you do that.
maybe
But politically, Travie, although former Republican, you know this state well politically.
And what's your opinion on the early, early, we're over a while, I guess, under a year from the primary next fall.
But what do you think of the makeup so far on the Democratic side?
As I said to somebody who asked me one time about Democratic primaries, I don't know a lot about winning Democratic primaries.
If you're a Republican primary, I could probably tell you a thing or two, but not a Democrat one.
But what I would say is they have a bunch of diverse voices that are gonna be, and they're getting more candidates all the time.
That actually is not a bad thing.
Yes.
It's less consolidation and whatever.
But Democrats need to have a lot of voices traveling around the state, showing who they are, showing that they're not just a bunch of, they're not the stereotype that Republicans and MAGA try and make them into, that they're not out.
crossing the state saying we need, you know, trans athletes playing at every level or whatever.
You know, I mean, a million different things like that, that they're going to be talking about issues like the University of Wisconsin system, the Wisconsin idea, how that's the heart and soul of communities, like the, you know, the Fox River Valley with Green Bay or my hometown of River Falls or.
Pat in the Chippewa Valley or the Kuli region, right?
They need people talking about high school, about public school funding.
They need people talking about environmentalism and protecting our environment so that we have places to go deer hunting.
And they're going to have people that are doing that.
And hopefully, they can stay away from the attacks on each other.
and really not get dragged into and this is funny because i'm a consultant and i have a plane to catch when you have a problem pat but um or dot but the the truth is hopefully instead of.
attacking each other, they can stay really, really focused on talking about the issues that matter and let the cards fall where they may in terms of who is the ultimate nominee.
And just to clean up your
comments, I know what you meant, Trigby, but just in case people are listening, you're not saying on the trans athlete issue, you're not saying that's what the Democratic platform is.
You're saying that's what Republicans in MAGA are going to try to brand them as correct.
Well, I mean, those
They're running them again.
They're running them.
Abigail Spanberger.
I mean, I do have some ins.
into what their playbook's gonna be for governor's raises, because I'm sitting here watching one in Virginia.
You know, they got Winston Earl Sears, who she could give Tom Tiffany or Derek Van Orton a run for their money.
You know, Abby Spanberger literally was a decorated CIA agent.
And I didn't know her, but I know of her from people that I know that were in that line of work.
She had a sterling reputation and literally all they've got is saying that she's going to be letting trans athletes be playing in Virginia sports cross
country.
I
across state.
The most valuable words.
The most valuable words any Democratic candidate can have for the next year plus is there you go again.
And then steer say, you know, we're not here to talk about here to talk about the fact that, you know, health insurance costs are being jacked up, grocery prices haven't come down, and so forth and so on.
You stick to that and don't get knocked off your game by that same divisive ridiculousness, then they're going to be
okay.
We're talking with Pat Critello of Mornings of Pat Critello every morning from six until nine across the network.
And Trig V. Olson, senior advisor at the Lincoln Project.
When we come back, Matt is on the line.
He has a question.
He says he gets hot burnin' for Trig V. Olson.
We'll listen to that.
Uh-oh.
And also, could a lot of today's issues be summed up in a musical?
We'll have the answer to that as well.
The other side, don't go anywhere.
It's Pat, Trig V., and Todd, with the Civic TV.
From the musical wicked, something
bad is happening in us.
Maybe it's not from this show, it's the origin story of Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of West, and Glenda the Good Witch.
In this, before she becomes the Wicked Witch, Elphabaugh meeting with this professor who happens to be a goat, I think.
And in this show, it's normal that animals can speak.
And they say, wait, something terrible is happening.
So these are the lyrics quickly.
The things you hear these days, dreadful things.
I've heard of an ox, a professor from Quax, who is no longer permitted to teach, who has lost all powers of speech.
An owl and munchkin rock a vicar with a thriving flock, forbidden to preach.
Now he can only screech.
He's only rumors, but enough to give pause with anybody with pause.
Pat Kratlow.
A little goofy I know, but unfortunately has a lot of pertinence in today with what is going to fall out.
I don't want to get too far down into the Charlie Kirk story.
But now we have people that has come to Wisconsin through all matters of vocations who are being suspended and fired from their jobs because they dare speak out.
And let me start off by saying I completely renounce all forms of violence, full stop.
I renounce all forms of political violence, full stop.
But many of these things people are putting on their social media are direct quotes from Charlie Kirk that are the truth and has nothing to do with an opinion on whether he should have died or not
and they're being fired Pat.
We're at the point where we frankly don't even have to give those disclaimers anymore because as heinous as the Charlie
God, it's been a long week, hasn't it?
As heinous as that assassination has been.
We are rapidly rising in the terms of seriousness given the way and forgive the, I don't know other way to use this, that people like Derek Van Orden are starting to use the First Amendment like toilet paper.
It is shocking.
It is it is alarming to see somebody start with a few angry social media posts.
But the anger has not subsided.
The taste for blood and vengeance has not subsided.
The obscenities and the emotional lack of maturity turn on and on celebrating that people are being
fired, they're being singled out, they're being threatened, they're being defunded within his own congressional district.
The things that the congressman from the third district is doing right now have crossed a line, they are anti-American.
And now Charlie Kirk has is now
rapidly becoming a separate entity to this.
I am sorry for his loss.
I am sorry that he feels that this is the path he has to go down, but he has chosen a wrong path.
Somewhere past 500 tweets and he's closing in on a thousand.
He has turned his social media feed into something out of Big Brother, one of the telescreens that is monitoring people.
And if you dare stray from what the party wants, you will be disappeared.
That's the kind of thing he wants.
He doesn't want to be a Congressman anymore.
He wants to be Chief of Police, Chief of the Thought Police for the Third District.
And it is past time that other Republicans told him, you're starting to make all of us look bad, pal.
Trivio Olsen, you've talked
about something called cognitive dissonance.
I know that's a big term for a lot of people, including me.
I just say it's about looking yourself in the mirror.
But to Pat's point, one of the things that Derek Van Orden did, Congressman this week, was call on
the complete defunding of federal dollars to go into the second largest municipality in his congressional district, the city of Eau Claire, because two council members put something on their socials that were, by the way, simply quotes of what Charlie Kirk had said with no commentary and politically trippy.
Don't you think most people in Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, if you said, look, even if you disagree with someone, why cut off all the funding to the entire city because you're got.
a bone to pick with two people.
It doesn't make political sense, Trigby.
And I don't know.
He's a little unhinged.
You know, I think there is some irony in the fact that you have people who wrap themselves in their service who are
Currently and I'm not just citing any one individual but who wrap themselves in their service to the country, which is a incredibly noble thing who are now
advocating for things that are directly antithetical to what has made america great and what has made america exceptional and the values that they stood and fought for and quite frankly that our grandparents stood or a great grandparents stood and fought for in places like you would jima and point to hawk and the beaches of normandy and the baton in baton it's.
I don't know what to say.
They would all be ashamed of what they should be.
They would be
I just get very concerned when I hear that people are being fired and laid off from their private sector jobs for something they put on social media alone, let alone the fact that it wasn't calling for harm to anybody.
It wasn't celebrating anybody's death.
It was just putting the truth out there.
And I just think Pat were
We're getting to a very dangerous
place here.
We are to the point where I have to say, so what?
So what if somebody celebrates it?
The fact that the Attorney General of the United States says that if somebody celebrates somebody else's murder as stupid and heinous as that is, that's not hate speech that is worthy of the United States government coming down on somebody, either through investigations or defunding.
It's ridiculous.
Again, it's un-American and these folks are not doing themselves any favors the longer this drags on.
I'll just leave it at that.
History is not going to look back kindly on them.
They are not going
be seen
And they already
Tune in to Pat every morning.
He's not always this, you know, intended.
There's music today in history and other things as well.
I'm a nice guy, I promise.
I know.
I like
Mornings are packed quite a lot.
Morning from six until nine.
The phone lines are lit up as Matt Flynn.
We see you on the lines.
Do not hang up.
We'll get to your phone calls after this with Triggy Olsen as the all-ball jail across Wisconsin.
Civic Media Ready Network, Barbuz.
Welcome back to the Taliban show on the civic media radio network.
And it's 35 now past the hour of two o'clock on a Wednesday, September 17, 2025, Zabra spin of the tunes, fastest DJ hands in the West here.
I'm joined by the senior advisors, the Lincoln project, Mr. Trigby Olson, who joins us from his home in rural Washington, DC.
I like that one.
Yeah.
I'm
going to be here with your lovely and talented daughter.
You've been doing a number of tours around the country as your daughter gets ready to go to college, and you have saved your pitch, your official visit to University of Wisconsin-Madison as your last stop.
So we got to put on the dog.
No,
the last stop.
Really?
I thought it
today.
My mic was hot when I was singing along about Pat.
Pat was a little wound up and rightfully.
So I want to know if Jack is going to get Tommy out there.
So come to Wisconsin.
We got to have you
right.
The woke walkers.
That's great.
By the way, I might
Trigby, phone lines are lit up for you.
855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
Before the break, talk with Pat Critello and Trigby about.
Not specifically about the whole Charlie Kirk assassination, which is terrible and denounce it, but more so the fallout in Wisconsin.
We've seen private and semi private and public places putting people on leave and firing them for simply putting out factual or truthful information on their private social media.
And are we getting in a dangerous spot here where First Amendment rights are being trampled on?
and it's getting to the point where it's all about fear, and you gotta watch what you say, or you can be plucked off the streets, or at least lose your job.
855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.
Matt in Middleton's been waiting a long time.
We appreciate you holding, Matt.
Thanks for calling and listening.
Matt, what say you?
Hey guys, thanks again for what you do.
My thought, I had a...
family story here, personal story that I think is relevant to how we got here as a people going through all this chaos and my brother had a German shepherd that was old, its vision was getting bad and it bit me in my arm, a really bad bite, 16 stitches and there were young kids on the lawn and my brother called me that evening
Rather shook in voice, he was upset.
And what he said sticks with me now and forever and is relevant, I think.
He said that the dog biting me in that way, the savage nature of that, seeing the blood, shook him out of his comfort.
It brought him to the real savage nature of reality, of the real world.
And I think to
Trump at his rally last year when he was running, where he read the poem of the rabbit and the viper, the snake.
And I met CJ from Stoughton at the last civic media social thing at Doundren.
Perfectly nice guy.
I gave him a hug.
We talked.
We can agree on things.
I'd buy him a beer anytime.
Good guy, right?
But he fails to see Trump for the viper he really is.
There's so many people throughout my life that I talk to.
I've been like, you know, the Paul Revere over the last 10 years, trying to tell people the reality of what's happening and how bad it can be.
And as Americans, so many people like my brother were, were in this comfort zone.
It can't happen to us.
It can't happen to here, blah, blah, blah.
But then when that viper shows its fangs and it bites you like it's doing now,
people like CJ will still not admit the real situation, what's really happening.
The viper for being the viper.
What do you say to that?
What can we do to wake people up to what's really going on?
I appreciate the listenership, Matt, and I appreciate the call.
Trigmeagullet, you respond to that.
And I get it.
There are other voices on this network or whatever that try to pit personalities against personalities.
I don't do that here.
So appreciate all the calls, want you to listen, want you to call in.
But if we could please not call out specific people by name, I just don't want to make this personal to any personal listener on here.
But Trigby, address Matt's overall concern.
And that is you have to get people to find the cognitive dissonance.
the incongruence between how they live their lives and what they're advocating for politically.
And this is the thing that people sort of are missing with the state that we're in.
And politics is normal in what I call the game we know.
You know, it's about advocating your position and, Todd, you advocate yours.
we try and come to ultimately some kind of compromise, right?
And in that process, that win-win process, you might stake out a hard line and I might stake out a hard line, but we're really doing that knowing that we're working towards a compromise.
In the game that we're in, it's zero sum.
It's not about the compromise.
And for the people that you're interacting with, they're not necessarily
Zero some they they assume they're still playing the game that they know the win-win and you have to lead them to understand that and You do it by asking questions that are probing you do it by showing genuine interest In fact, can I give a plug to somebody who listens now, please you'll know up so I had the pleasure earlier this week of meeting Adolf Gundersen
Adolf Gunnerson wrote a book.
This book was written back in, I don't know, but 10, 12 years ago.
It's called Let's Talk Politics.
He's the he's the nephew of Adolf Gundersen senior from the Gundersen's in La Crosse Which it was awesome talking to him because Adolf Gundersen who was the chair of the Board of Regents Dr. Gundersen, they're both Dr. Gundersen, but He used to when he was chair at the Board of Regents and I was down in Madison He used to take me out for dinner when he was down there and just talk huge mentor to me just a great guy ran for Congress anyway
The point is made in that book, you know, out of the nephew is one of the leading experts on that.
And he makes the point in the book that it starts with listening to what the other person is saying and trying to understand them.
It's not about just advocating to them.
You're not going to convince somebody by just saying, you know, this, this and this, you've got to make it personal to them.
You've got to make them understand that, you know,
I think about a friend back home who's one of the people who, you know, always is going to church and giving money for the immigrants that come and live in River Falls, right?
And yet they're advocating for things that are politically diametrically opposed to that.
The name of the book Trig V. Olsen is referring to is let's talk politics restoring civility through exploratory discussion by Adolf Gundersen.
I appreciate you bringing that up Trig V. Trig V. Olsen, Lincoln Project joins us.
He would be a
Todd.
Let's
thank you for the questions you're
How about that?
We always appreciate that.
He didn't
across
Trigby.
That's awesome.
Really?
That's fantastic.
I'm sure
He's being
He's our guest, 855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
Let's go to Rick in Waukesha, listening to WAUK.
Rick, thanks for holding us.
Hey, I got something I want to tell you because I heard you mention it, the greatest generation.
I just watched a program on the veterans that are still alive.
a new release thing with 90-year-old guys and a 101-year-old guy.
And the guy that took out seven pill boxes, got a medal and they asked him, what do you think of this?
You're the greatest generation.
And he said, you know what?
The media made that term and books.
He said, but really, I believe we're just a different generation.
Wow.
Wow.
Yeah, that's how he stated it.
But
that's great,
Rick.
But isn't I put that out really appreciate it.
But oftentimes Trigby and Rick, I don't know your experience, but often the people that saw and did the worst and the most in combat, say the least.
Yeah.
And downplay.
You know, he didn't talk until he was 97 years old.
Wow.
A true American hero.
Thanks, Rick, for sharing that.
Rick,
The bottom line is, you know, they did not view themselves as heroes.
I've talked about it before.
When I was growing up as a kid in River Falls, a guy named Pahachek was our mailman who substituted mailman when the regular mailman wasn't able to do it.
And I was doing some research before I wrote my sub-stack for Memorial Day.
People who had served from Murrah Falls.
I was actually looking up another guy that I knew who um had been in baton And uh, I came across pahachik.
It turns out pahachik was one of the boys of pontew hawk Never knew it never would have known that came home farmed and delivered the mail as a reserve mailman
Incredible
true heroes
But
Talk about it a lot when I was maybe 28 29 30 I went to Serbia and I it scarred me because I saw People who had lived in peace and harmony next to each other for years.
They'd gone to each other's weddings They were neighbors start killing each other because sort of a slow bed on Melosevic was stoking ethnic hatreds from years before
Yeah,
eight five five seven five two four eight four two let's go quickly to Eau Claire WCFW the tap at Eau Claire Jean about a minute and a half you can get in please go ahead Jean are you there?
Jean in Eau Claire eight five five seven five you will put her on hold go to Mark quickly in prayer to sack Mark thanks for holding are you there what say you?
Yeah I'm here you can remember that Durek van Orden the reminder there should Benedict Arnold was a hero right up to the time he betrayed the country
that he was a decorated hero until he betrayed the country.
So Derek Van Orden, you know, he doesn't seem to understand that concept that a guy can be a hero one day and betray us all the next day.
And let's remember 1984, the end of 1984, I read this back over 50 years ago.
It still sticks to me, you know, that he loved big brother.
I mean, this is what they expect us to do.
They want to break our spirit and make us love Donald Trump and love the fascism that Donald Trump is bringing to us.
And we cannot let them defeat
us.
Appreciate the call mark.
Thank you so very much.
855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
Trig V, about a minute here left.
And so I'm going to kind of put this out there, give you a couple of minutes to think on it, want to come back and pick up.
Because to your point, and I know you kind of, you're humble about this, but it's important.
You've seen some really bad things in Eastern Europe.
You're banned by Putin himself from going into Russia.
And I am more than one person.
I wouldn't
More than one person came, asked me this week and said, I want to know from Trig V about some of the things that are happening in this country.
Some we've already talked about in terms of suppression of speech, but also now they released these texts of the alleged shooter in the Charlie Kirk assassination.
And I don't want to go too far down the hole, but.
A lot of things don't add up, and people are losing faith in institutions.
And what does that mean for America moving forward?
To ask that to trigger
me after this, don't go anywhere.
It's the title of our show on the Civic Media.
We're ready
to go.
and having fun doing it.
Welcome back to the title ball show on the Civic Media Ready Network.
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Civic Media.
In a world where
And check out Treg Vy Olsen at his sub-stack as well for all of his great writing.
I know.
I haven't been writing as much recently.
Look, I want to get to this.
Not a lot of time left, but.
I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole.
I'll be careful about this trig V But I've heard it from a lot of other people that I respect and I know you haven't in fairness you've been tied up with a project and and Actually, I'm glad to hear you haven't been in the minutiae of the Charlie Kirk assassination, but in the charging documents yesterday The authorities the local authorities of Utah and the FBI released what they alleged to be texts
after the assassination between the accused shooter and his romantic partner and They use phrase and it's a 22 year old kid using phrases like quote.
I'm still okay my love and And the whole thing just doesn't do a lot of people it's like an insommer said he's 26 and after the show he's like I read it and that doesn't seem like anything in 22 year old the vernacular isn't right and so people are saying
The FBI, the same FBI that told us they met privately with Jolaine Maxwell and she said she cleared Donald Trump of all the Epstein stuff and then got a deal for a cushy prison is the same FBI who's telling us this is what happened in the Charlie Kirk assassination.
And a lot of people are saying, how can I now trust my institutions?
And Trigvie has used travel to the world.
I think that's a dangerous spot to be in now.
And I'm not defending those institutions, by the way.
I'm just saying we've reached this point that I think is very detrimental and dangerous to American democracy.
Incredibly
I mean, trust and faith in institutions is massive.
I mean, you know, there is Richard Nixon got a lot of things wrong.
He did get right.
Americans have to know if their president is a crook.
Right?
So, yeah, I mean, the erosion of trust in institutions, the idea that, you know, basically the US Congress, state legislators, slatures across the country have just become two partisan camps.
And, you know, it kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, Todd, in a way, because the people that want to go and try and do things rather than be someone, they don't want to be in the process anymore because there's no opportunity to do things across party lines and work with the other side.
And so what you end up with, and I...
I have to give him credit.
Tommy Thompson used to always say, two kinds of politicians, those who want to be and those who want to do and you want the kinds who want to do, whether you agree with them or not, we're getting less and less of them.
I
I don't know what Derek Van Odd won.
I don't know what he exactly wants to do.
It's clear he likes to be, but
I'm wondering what it is that he wants to do and who is he reaching out to work across the aisle to do things with.
I think in Wisconsin and all across the country, really, that's going to be a central point of conversation between now and the next elections.
And we're seeing it all over.
The the redistricting mid-cycle to improve your party's chances, right?
Like The US Congress is supposed to be about all of us whether you voted for the person or not the person who's Representing people in Congress isn't representing a political party.
They're supposed to be representing or or even the country as a whole They're supposed to be representing the people of the congressional district or the legislative district that they were sent to represent
And if we can't figure that out and we don't seem to be able to, then we're a lost cause.
And quite frankly, to take it full circle, I don't think people realize how dangerous it is.
You know, my wife is back over in Lithuania because her mother isn't doing well.
There's Russian drones flying into NATO airspace all the time now.
It isn't...
People who think that they're scared to see what it's like to have America without democracy, they're asking the wrong question.
What they should really be afraid of is seeing what a world looks like when America's light of freedom and democracy has been extinguished, what that looks like.
Because the past before World War II was one filled with not a lot of prosperity, far less prosperity, and a lot of dead people.
Always a pleasure
to drink the Olsen to have you on.
That was a really very pleasant one.
It was because you gave great insight.
What are you doing at 235 on Friday?
235 on Friday?
Billy Mack is going to be on.
President and founder of the Janesville Jets.
Hold on.
They're opening.
They're kicking it off.
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