Transcript
Hegseth To Pull Flag Officers From The Field (Hour 1)
The Todd Allbaugh Show · Thu Sep 25, 2025
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Good afternoon, everybody.
Ta-da-ba along with Mr. Aaron Zommerns on the board.
It is now six minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Thursday, September 25th, 2025.
It is a great day to be Wisconsinite at the World Headquarters, Downtown Madison, intersection of state and fairchild.
It is great to be with you.
A sunny sky, perfect autumn, fall day, Mr. Zommerns went up to Wonderstake a little coffee here before the show.
Blue skies, temperatures, the mid-70s.
No humidity.
It's one of those.
It's my favorite time of year in Wisconsin.
Yeah, I'm here for it.
The no humidity is
great.
Yeah, absolutely.
Get out there and enjoy it, folks.
Meteorologist Britt Emerlowe says, nice weather can last into next week.
So get out there.
Grab ahold of it.
Because come February, you'll be saying, why didn't they get out and enjoy the nice weather back in September?
So should be a great.
afternoon, great couple of days, so enjoy the weather.
Gonna talk later on in this hour to Pacific Media's political editor and founder of the re-combobulation area, Dan Schaefer.
Been a discombobulating week in state political news.
New gubernatorial candidate on the Republican side.
Some people call him.
I think I'm gonna start using that now, Zabers.
Trump says, you know, some people are saying, many people are saying, they call him, they call him Toxic Tom Tiffany.
Many
people are saying
many people are saying
thank you for your attention to this matter
Dan Schaefer will help us recombine play and we'll talk about the Bucks a little bit and the Brewers because nobody is more Milwaukee on this show Than the Dan Schaefer.
Well, maybe our next guest is as Milwaukee and then our number two of Allergy season is upon in the summers.
Don't we know it fall allergies or spring allergies?
What's worse in at 335?
Keegan Kelly, writer for Cracked.com, national publication, back on the show, talking about the return of Jimmy Kimmel on ABC this week, what it means for not just late night television and broadcast news, but free speech in this country.
Keegan Kelly at 335, also hour two, another edition of Civic Media's Green and Gold, text to win multi-state contest, your chance to win cash and prizes.
But right now,
No bigger, why do you cash in prizes when you have our next guest live from Milwaukee?
He is a two-time chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, a Navy veteran, an attorney, and author.
Our friend Matt Flynn joins us from Milwaukee.
Matt, how are
problem.
falls
shortest season, right?
I have friends that have a nice sailboat down in Lake Michigan, and I went down to the football four and a half hours.
It was raining, so we just had to stay in the marina there on Lake Michigan.
But my gosh, I mean, the shores of Lake Michigan by Milwaukee this time of year.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah,
Well, let's get into the top story of the day, Matt.
I appreciate you coming on on short notice.
As some of the listeners of this program know, I spent a number of years working on military affairs for former U.S.
Congressman Scott Kluge.
I did not.
serve.
I did not wear the uniform, as they say.
Matt is a Navy veteran.
And so I wanted you to take your insight on this.
Let's start with this story that I believe is broken by the Washington Post today.
Headline, Hagseth orders rare urgent meeting of hundreds of generals and admirals.
Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth has ordered hundreds of U.S.
military generals and admirals together on short notice and without a stated reason.
and a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm after the Trump administration's firing of numerous senior leaders this year.
A highly unusual directive was sent to virtually all of the military's top commanders worldwide, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the matter.
It was issued earlier this week against the backdrop of a potential government shutdown.
and as Hague Seth overtly political moves have deepened a sense of distress amongst his opponents who fear he is erasing the Defense Department status as a nonpartisan institution.
In a statement today, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell affirmed that Hague Seth, quote, will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week, unquote, but he offered no additional details.
It was not immediately clear whether the White House is involved with the meeting or if President Trump also intends to be there.
Now, apparently, skipping down the story a little bit by the Washington Post, what they're reporting is around 800 generals, flag officers of the U.S.
military from all over the world are going to be brought to just outside of D.C., Aquatico, Virginia, for this meeting.
I want to bring you in now because you can feel and you've seen the article as well.
Give us just, I think this is important.
People who haven't worn the uniform don't understand the purpose for chain of command.
They don't always understand the purpose of why the military works as it does as a veteran.
As somebody knows military history, explain your first reaction to this story by the Washington Post.
The military has always been non-partisan, ever since George Washington.
Something like this has never happened.
It didn't happen.
Abraham Lincoln didn't do it.
Dwight Eisenhower in the Second World War didn't do it.
And all of the service academies who prepare officers, drilling into everybody's head, were non-partisan, were non-political.
Donald Trump is a malignant tumor.
And this is coming from Trump.
And when Trump speaks, Vladimir Putin is the ventriloquist.
By bringing these people in like this, they are showing dominance.
They're showing you have to be loyal to Trump.
Trump has already, Trump already now interviews personally every flag officer to make sure they're loyal to him.
This is contrary to American tradition.
The second thing is what's going on.
is that with the government shutdown, Trump is now threatening to lay off a lot of people.
What he may try to do, and this will also please Putin, Trump has betrayed us, to the Russians, by the way.
What he's going to do is he will lay off, fire some flag officers.
And if he doesn't think they're loyal to him, to try to inflict pain.
Everybody listening to this show must understand something.
Donald Trump is an enemy of the United States.
He's serving Russian interests.
And by doing this, by trying to demoralize the chain of command, make believe you're an admiral or a general.
You have a wife and kids.
You have, this is your career.
You don't make a lot of money, but there's a lot of prestige in it.
And you have a choice.
You knuckle under to this guy, or you lose your entire career.
That's what's going on.
And to me, I have to be fair, our statewide listening audience.
I know Matt very well.
I'm going to say that.
We spent a lot of time together on and off the air, read his books, by the way, we'll talk about that later.
I know where this is coming from, but to be fair, Matt, I think there might be people say, well, geez, Flynn, that's some pretty strong language there.
But to back you up, there was reporting, new reporting as recently as this morning that even Republicans in Washington, D.C., even on Fox News last night this morning,
Fox News is calling Trump's relationship with Putin, quote, weird, unquote, and peculiar, unquote.
I think even people in his own party are saying, what's up with this guy?
I want to read one more thing here than back to Matt Flynn after this.
The Washington Post says, top commanders in conflict zones and senior military leaders stationed throughout Europe, the Middle East.
Asia-Pacific region are among those expected to attend Hexas meetings of people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition and anonymity because they weren't supposed to talk about it.
The order does not apply to top military officers who hold staff positions.
Unquote.
That's from the Washington Post story in this exclusive today.
Mafflin, again, talk about the danger to the rank and file.
When you're pulling out people, the
the CEOs, the commanding officers from some of the most dangerous and volatile military station places around the world.
When you take all those people out and put them in one spot, that's, that's, I believe, unprecedented and not what military teachings of the academies would tell you, right?
And it's potentially dangerous, but let me tell you the two layers of danger.
One might be that they have all these guys together and somebody drones them or
Yemen and some of these places when the top guy leaves they they take the chance of attack I am less concerned about that even though it's very real because every flag officer has a deputy or a chief of staff who really is very good what's much worse is that the what message this sends to the rank and file to sergeants to enlisted men to junior officers I served I was lieutenant chagy and if my admiral
was summoned and then came back and it's sort of like he'd gone through a North Korean experience and suddenly loved Trump and all this.
That sends a terribly demoralizing message to the rank and file.
This is being done to show dominance.
Trump himself is a draft dodger, bone spurs.
He was too yellow to serve himself.
So you have the yellow bone spurs calling all of our flag officers into demoralize the military.
Is there any Republican out there who thinks this is a good idea?
If you do, you're more for Putin than you are for America.
Back to the Washington Post story.
It says, uh, none of the people who spoke with the Washington Post could recall a defense secretary ever ordering so many of the military's generals and admirals to assemble like this.
Several Senate raised a security concerns to Matt's point that, quote, people are very concerned.
They have no idea what it means, unquote, when person said.
Others expressed frustration that even many commanders stationed overseas will be required to attend Hexas impromptu, uh, uh, summit, unquote.
Uh, let's go into it and a couple of minutes before the break, Matt, we'll come back after this, but you, you touched on this earlier that this is on the heels of several people either being forced to retire
or outright firing, and there is a disproportionate, and the Washington Post story points this out, disproportionate number of women, in particular in command positions, who have been forced out.
And it would seem to me, Matt, as the military, who has former Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, himself a black American, said that the military historically has been a place of equalization for Americans.
And now this appears to be a step back.
I agree with you.
One is, he called people suckers and losers.
He did.
People who had given their lives.
He called them suckers and losers.
Number two, through Tommy Tuberville, he stopped all flag promotions for 10 months and demoralized the military.
Everything he does benefits Putin.
And number three, to your point, to my knowledge, virtually every senior flag officer who is female or black, like the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CNO,
He simply fired them.
He fired them.
Said it was woke to put a black man or a woman in charge.
Are you kidding me?
And this is what's going on.
And the Republican Party has knuckled under Trump.
They're knuckling under Vladimir Putin.
Washington Post says the firings were the latest in a wider purge of national security agencies top ranks.
Since entering office, the Trump administration has also fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Chief Naval Operations Officer, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff.
Amongst others, the list includes a disproportionate number of women.
according to the Washington Post.
We'll come back, talk with Matt, a little bit more about this.
Also, in an underreported story, the government is shut to, is set to shut down.
Next week, who is at fault?
And what's Matt Flynn gonna do in October?
He'll give us his calendar update as well.
Don't go anywhere, it's Todd, it's Matt and Zabers, across Wisconsin on the Civic Media.
Ready to go.
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started.
You know, our friend Matt Flynn can't be far behind it.
That is the case today.
Two-time chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
U.S.
Navy veteran attorney and author Matt Flynn joins us from his from his library in beautiful Milwaukee.
Now, well, I mean, they name a library after him, but he has a very nice library there in his home.
How many?
We'll get to this in a minute, Matt, but how many of the books behind you have you actually written?
We'll repeat that one more time before we leave and Dazama is gonna put it in the show notes as well.
Talk with Matt Flynn and he's a renaissance man you understand Matt Flynn he can come on this show and talk about a number of things but we in particular
I think it's important, Matt, on this story in the Washington Post today that Secretary of Defense, and I'm still calling it Secretary of Defense.
I'm not going to call it Department of War.
Hague Seth is ordering a rare, I think the term unprecedented is in line here, as Gilligan would say on Gilligan's Island.
Not only that, it's never happened before, but Hague Seth is bringing all these generals and flying officers to Quantico, Virginia.
even ones who are stationed overseas, and they're not telling anyone, according to the Washington Post, including those in the military, why they're coming.
And we're on verge of a government shutdown.
Matt, before we get to the government shutdown, give us a minute or so, just as a veteran, on the importance of doing things in a system, and how that serves you, if and when, God forbid, the military is called upon.
to take defensive action.
To give you an example, you take the Marine Corps, you take the army guys that landed it on D-Day, they're told go on that beach.
They don't want to go on that beach, it's dangerous as hell, but they're told it by their lieutenants and captains because their lieutenants and captains are going with them and the flag officer that orders it
knows that a lot of them will be killed, but we need it to take the island.
In the Navy, you're told during the Battle of Midway, the Battle of Leytea Gulf, I had a friend whose father was a gunnery officer in Leytea Gulf, a destroyer, a cruiser, go that direction, take on that Japanese aircraft carrier.
They may get blown out of the water, many of them did.
They do it because they obey the chain of command.
When you have a guy like Trump who's a draft dodger, flat out, said he had bone spurs, as called, the military suckers, losers, and for 10 months, barred the promotions of flag officers, you have somebody who is trying to demoralize the flag officers who are the top.
They're the generals and the admirals.
And that seeps down.
So if you're a sergeant, you're a seaman apprentice, you're a Lieutenant JJ,
What's going on?
It demoralizes and the only purpose of this, there's no military purpose.
The only purpose of this is to show dominance by Trump over them and to weed out people who he thinks aren't loyal to him.
And with the government shutdown coming up, it's an important part of it.
He's going to fire some of them to teach him a lesson and teach America a lesson.
One more question,
Matt Flynn.
When we look at what's happening in here domestically,
And Donald Trump deployed National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
Both active duty and National Guard members in Los Angeles threatened to do so in Chicago, although the mayor and the governor there stood up to him when he backed down.
He claimed he was going to go into Memphis next.
With seemingly, I'll call it, and you tell me if I'm overstating it, the militarization of U.S.
government in some of these domestic cities for, I believe, political reasons.
Now we have a situation where we don't have an adjutant or a Joint Chiefs of Staff like General Milley who just said, I'm not doing this.
Now we're putting yes, and I'm going to say men because they're all men, yes men in these positions.
Aren't we reaching a very dangerous time?
I don't want to get people afraid, but I think our antennae should be up on this map.
What we're doing is he is single-handedly trying to break the nonpartisan tradition of our military.
And he's trying to look like a tough guy.
He shoots a couple of speedboats with drugs in the Caribbean, that kind of thing.
But he's not doing anything to help Poland, Romania, and Estonia, who are being threatened by Russia.
Nothing to help Ukraine.
What he is is he's deliberately insulting our allies, Canada, humiliating them, NATO, and at the same time trying to look like a tough guy.
Well, it's not just a draft dodger thing.
It's not that he's a draft dodger because he had deep-seated convictions against war.
What he was was he was chicken to go.
That's what it was.
And now this clown is bringing in all of our people to try to demoralize them and to change the nonpartisan nature of the military.
and pretend to look tough on military matters when he's betraying NATO and betraying Ukraine, betraying our allies.
Time always goes too quickly, Matt Flynn, and we'll talk with Dan Schaefer next about this government shutdown.
But I wanted, we have about a minute left, I want to ask you, you have a new book out, you're gonna be at a book signing at Boswell Books in Milwaukee, October 14th at 6.30, Zomers has the details there.
One question, Republican gubernatorial candidate of Wisconsin, Bill Berrien, was he the basis for any of the characters in your new book?
I will say that given the proclivities of Barry, and Epstein, and Trump, and Hegseth, and the list as long as you're armed, the core message of this book, American Dawn, is hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
The Republicans that do this to this woman pay the ultimate price.
You will like this book a lot.
American Dawn,
October 14, Boswell Books in Milwaukee and Downer Avenue, 6.30 p.m.
Books on it.
Bill Berrien, bringing back Bill Clinton's triangulation in more ways than one, but Matt Flynn always giving us great information.
Matt, I always appreciate you.
Have a great day, my friends.
Stay tuned.
Dan Schaefer is next to recapobulate across
a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man.
Milwaukee's best.
It's a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.
Hey man, what about Milwaukee, man?
It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.
I think God would want us to go to Milwaukee.
And it lies between the pit of a man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.
We all need a Recombobulation Area.
35 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock.
Welcome back to the Tunnel Ball Show across the Civic Media Radio Network, Aaron Zombers, on the board.
And with that introduction...
It can only mean that one person is on the other side.
He is the political editor for Civic Media and the founder of the Reconbibulation Area.
You can find all of his work, include that of all the folks at the Reconbibulation Area at TheReconbibulationArea.News.
TheReconbibulationArea.News.
Dan Schaefer, live from Milwaukee, Cream City, USA.
How are you?
I'm doing well Todd.
Always wonderful to join you here on the Todd Alba show and you're right.
There can be no one else who that introduction could possibly apply to other than yours truly here at the Reconbibulation Area.
Always fun to hear that one.
It is.
It is.
It's a great intro.
We appreciate you taking the time.
You're a busy guy, Dan.
I don't know where to begin.
We've got new people jumping into the gubernatorial race on both sides of the aisle.
One of the guys is looking up throuples and attacking people's sex lives at the same time.
We've got a government that's on the verge of shutdown in Washington, DC.
I wish there was a term for how I felt right now.
Are you feeling a little discombobulated here, Mr. Alba?
Could that possibly be it?
Is that how you're feeling today?
You nailed it.
I am feeling very discombobulated.
Well, it's a good thing I'm here to help piece things back together, you know, help you get your bag together, you head to your gate, get your shoes back on, all of those things that we need to do at the Recombobulation Area.
It's great to have you here because there is so much going on.
Where should we start with the gubernatorial race, Dan, because I know you've been working on a new piece at the Recombobulation Area.News on that.
Sure.
Let's start there.
Yeah, wrote a piece published today about Tom Tiffany throwing his hat into the ring for the race for governor.
He's, you know, it seems like he has kind of sort of been campaigning for the past few months, but he made it official with an announcement on the Dan O'Donnell show Tuesday afternoon.
Had an event in Wausau yesterday.
We had some coverage there at Civic Media from our news team as well.
But, you know, just really taking a look at
Tom Tiffany and his candidacy and I think he is very likely to be the Republican nominee for governor in Wisconsin for the 2026 election and I think part of that is because you know he's a he's a thrice elected congressman been raising his profile in the media over the past in recent years and months and whatever but I also think it's a
kind of a lackluster field.
And so I think Tom Tiffany comes into this race.
I think he is perhaps a Trump endorsement and a strong fundraising quarter away from clearing the field for the Republican primary.
But I also think when you look ahead to his prospects for the general election, I think it gets a little bit complicated for him, gets a little bit tricky.
But I do think Tiffany's announcement is the most significant one that we have seen on the Republican side of this first open
race for governor since 2010.
Tom
Tiffany, former state senator here, and, you know, did a lot of, in my opinion, bad things legislatively to change environmental laws to allow mining in northern Wisconsin as part of former Republican governor Scott Walker's, again, my words, sham piece of light.
He claimed he was going to create thousands of jobs, mining jobs in northern Wisconsin.
And to my knowledge, there have been
Zero but the laws did get changed the environmental laws and Tom Tiffany was a large part of changing those in his state Senate district at the time and That's why he gets this name toxic Tom Tiffany, which I think is is deserved But to your point, I think it's also fair as a former Republican myself.
I think you're right because of
You know, we've already seen, I believe, Tony Weed, Congressman Tony Weed of the Eighth Congressional District has endorsed him today.
My
it's going to be, you know, not an avalanche, but a drip of the X will be fits and then growth men or whoever.
I think he's got the, if there is an establishment Republican party anymore, he probably has that.
But you're also also to your point.
Yeah, I don't think he plays well statewide in general.
But do you think that.
Trump's just gonna hold on.
I mean, I think Trump looks at this like the apprentice, the old TV show.
And I'm not sure that he doesn't want to see a little chaos in Wisconsin and have him fight it out a little bit.
I don't think he wants to just crown somebody right away.
What do you think?
Well, what do you think he wants a little bit of a reality TV drama to unfold here in the primary?
Yeah, you could be right about that But you know and I guess there's a little bit of a kind of version of that happening with Bill Barion and the news about him this week You
mentioned thrice elect and speaking of throuples and here's the deal.
Here's the deal.
I
As long as people are of age and it's consensual, whatever people want to do consensually in their own bedrooms, hey, have at it, have fun, who am I to judge?
But it's the fact that Bill Barion has made it part of his campaign to attack marginalized people, particularly on sexual spectrums, and also, you know,
Taking morality from his faith and put it into power that he's he's basically being a hypocrite because Dan Bison the state or the journal Sentinel did some research and kind of exposed mr. Barion for being a hypocrite
Yeah, all those issues aside and that's perhaps a separate conversation that we could have some time.
I don't think it helps him in a Republican primary.
I don't think it helps him politically by any stretch of the imagination.
And I have seen some people say that he should drop out or his campaign is over or whatever it might be.
And again, what somebody does in their own personal business is none of our business.
But I think when you're looking at it from a political standpoint, it's not something that's going to help him.
And I don't think his campaign was really going anywhere before that story was happening either He spent a lot of money but I think
you know, compared to some of the other campaigns we saw, we've seen it from self funders on the Republican side in Wisconsin, be it Tim Michaels running for governor a few years ago, Eric Havde running for Senate last year.
I think, you know, Barian's announcement landed flat compared to either of them, even to begin with.
And now he's got this whole other set of
Issues that he's dealing with as well.
So I don't think he has a great chance of winning in this primary I also think don't think Josh showman's campaign Washington County executive like he's a young guy.
He's energetic.
He's working hard.
He's gonna travel in all of the state I think it's significant that he hasn't picked up any significant major endorsements since May since he launched his campaign so He may be you know continuing on this path in the primary, but if Donald Trump endorses
Tom Tiffany, which he could do, we don't know.
And Tiffany has a strong fundraising quarter because I think that is one of the knocks on Tiffany is that he has not been a particularly prolific fundraiser.
He's in a deep red district.
He doesn't have to fundraise the way that some people in more competitive districts might have to, but he still hasn't done very well.
His name came up as a possible.
candidate for Senate a couple of years ago and then he had a really bad fundraising quarter and it was like, well, that's the end of that.
He's not going to be in the mix there.
You know remains to be seen how this goes, but I do think Tiffany walks into this as the clear leader in the primary of the three candidates who have announced so far three major candidates who have announced so far and I think he is by far the most likely candidate to secure the Republican nomination for governor
and just to put a fine tip on it poor choice of words on on Bill Barion I think you're right
Whatever people do in their personal lives, normally it wouldn't be news.
So people go, oh, why does Todd bring this up?
He's just doing it to be goofy or whatever.
No, the reason I believe that it is news and should be talked about is because Barion made it news by coming out forcefully against the very issues that, by the way, he does not deny Bice's reporting on this.
And he simply said, well, they're trying to come after me.
So he clearly he clearly was looking at at these are part of the social media platform that is into different sexual exploits or whatever you want to call it.
But it's the fact that he is a hypocrite on it.
And that is why it's new, is my opinion.
I agree.
Yeah, that is.
I mean, it's, you know, he's staked out a pretty anti trans rights.
whatever.
Yeah, anti-LGBT writes however you want to characterize it in his platform in his announcement video And you know the fact that he is yeah
also
some of the some of the chatter that I've heard too It just just shows that he's kind of not ready for prime time as if he's got this kind of stuff out there That he's not taking care of his online footprint, you know, that's
your point.
Let's say that Tiffany makes it through
And by the way, we have some audio from Tom Tiffany's announcement.
He had a breakfast up on the farm.
Zommerins, this is from the announcement.
Here we go.
That was not from Tom Tiffany's announcement.
I
thought it was.
Oh, sorry.
I guess I need to do a better job at
fact-checking.
See, that's why Schaefer thinks he has a reputation.
You understand?
He has a reputation.
He doesn't need this dog-and-pony show.
Oh, you got us all there,
Chad.
You got us.
I
always set that up a little bit beforehand.
But let's say that Tiffany makes it through the Republican primary.
I think that's a fair thing to say.
Yeah.
Let's talk, I mean, already.
And we brought this up with Trig Vilsen and Pat Crite-Low yesterday.
If you look at people, whether it's Jim Doyle on the Democratic side or Tommy Thompson on the Republican side, other people as well, historically when you run for a statewide office, in particular governor, you want to think forward.
Hey, I want to be your governor because this is what we can do together.
And it seems like to me in Tom Tiffany's announcement, he's immediately
Dragon saying how horrible Wisconsin is how horrible everything is and and pick some very in my opinion hateful things to pick out specific Very small minority people in our state to pick on in order to get this nomination and I don't think that plays well
I Think you're but it's it's but what we've kind of come to expect from the Maga Republicans and I think part of it is just playing to the base as well and I you know
I think that's the type of candidate that I think we should expect Tiffany to be.
I don't think he is going to be the type of candidate that is going to be the moderate that has all kinds of crossover appeal in the state.
I think he is going to be a candidate that the goal is to turn out the base.
And I think the goal is to, you know, kind of run up margins in some of the reddest counties in the state.
And I think it also is, you know, kind of exemplifies an interesting shift that we're seeing for the Republican Party in Wisconsin too.
Because forever, the stronghold was
Wow counties.
The Republican stronghold was Waukesha, Ozaki, and Washington counties.
The three, you know...
historically deep red counties surrounding Milwaukee.
Well, those counties have continued to purple election after election.
You know, Tim Michaels was the first candidate to get under 60% in Waukesha County in forever, first Republican to get under 60 in forever.
So I think it is exemplifies the type of shift that we're seeing in the Republican Party as the base there being some of the more rural ex-urban Western Wisconsin, Northern Wisconsin areas that Tiffany is
I think the goal would be to run up bigger numbers in some of those rural areas and try to maintain in the suburbs.
But I think Tiffany's going to really have some trouble in the Milwaukee area suburbs in particular.
He does not have a strong name recognition around here.
And I think the trends there are undeniable.
And I think they could accelerate with a candidate who is not really well known, doesn't have strong ties to the region.
That is the Republican
side of the Governor's race.
getting in as well.
What's it going to take to win the Democratic primary without being seen as too far left in the general?
We'll ask Dan Schaefer after this.
Take your phone calls.
And Yannis, our signs that he really is going to stay in Wisconsin.
Dan Schaefer has the inside track on that.
We'll ask him after this on the All Bull Show.
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fall allergies or spring allergies, we'll discuss.
Keegan Kelly is here from Crack.com on the return of Jimmy Kimmel to ABC and what it means for late night and free speech and your chance to participate in Civic Media's green and gold text to win contest.
But you're already a winner if you're listening into today's show because you're here on the day with our own Dan Schaffer, Civic Media political editor and founder of the Reconbibulation area is here to help us Reconbibulate.
Dan, always a pleasure.
to have you here.
And Zamrs reminds me that, I think we alone, it's by Tiffany.
That's the only reason that I played it.
There we go.
Which are we talking
about?
We're going to get some mileage out of that over the next year.
I'm guessing some Tiffany puns.
Let's go quickly to the phone lines.
Troy in Mount Horrib, Troy, you have a comment or question quick for Dan?
Yeah, real quick.
You were getting to the Democrats.
How worried should we be?
In 2016, Trump basically, partially at least got the nomination because there were so many candidates in the field that they split each other's votes and all of a sudden this lunatic Trump wins the nomination.
How worried do we have to be that the four or five if call gets in quote unquote normal candidates split their vote?
And these two other lunatics, Halsey and the beer guy, one of them get in.
That's a great question, Troy.
I appreciate it.
Dan Schaefer will talk Democratic candidates for Governor Wisconsin.
Well, I think a big primary, you know, it's so interesting because I think there's a lot of different perspectives that we got to get out.
And I don't think, you know, I don't think the.
the beer guy as an example has a great shot of coming through that primary.
But I think there's, of course, going to be some concern that somebody who would win with not a majority of the votes might not be as representative.
But I think Wisconsin Democrats are also taking some steps to ensure that they have a
more clear passing of the torch.
They announced this initiative this week that Tony Evers is going to be involved with post.
primary next year.
So I think there's an acknowledgement there that there is going to be a competitive primary that's going to last through next August.
And they want to be in position to be able to, you know, kind of pick up that torch and get across the finish line from there.
We've had all the major Democratic candidates on this show for Governor thus far.
I'm very impressed.
And the latest one was Francesca Hong here from Madison.
And A was thankful she came on.
admire her convictions that she believes what she says.
She's authentic.
And also, I said, well, while she was on the interview, I said, look, I've been tough on you from time to time.
You're further left than on some things, not all, but some things.
And I said, also, the style, is that really going to play well if you're the nominee in the general?
I thought she had a great answer.
She was very kind and she.
to help me out, keep me honest on this, but to paraphrase, she basically said, look, the issues and she named off healthcare and other things.
She said, I don't think those are progressive or left or right.
I think they're Wisconsin issues and I think it plays well for all Wisconsinites.
I thought it was a great answer and she comported herself very well.
Yeah.
And I think, you know, in her announcement video from last week too, you know, she talked about issues like childcare and healthcare and paid leave.
Like a lot of issues that.
have not passed in Wisconsin, but if you look at the polling there, often ones that have
pretty significant majority support as well.
So I think, you know, her campaign is off to a pretty compelling start.
As is, you know, I think Kelda Roy's also last week announced her campaign.
You know, she's a regular here on on
well.
So your listeners know her well, especially around Madison.
So I think we're going to have a really I'm looking forward to the conversations that this primary is going to bring out because I think the Democratic Party
nationally is in such disarray and I sometimes Wisconsin can lead the way when things are at a change moment and I think we are at a change moment and I think what Wisconsin voters ultimately decide is going to have ramifications that reverberate nationally
too.
You gave us your guess on the Republican side you think Tom Tiffany is going to be the nominee I won't ask you for a decisive prediction but if the election were held today who's the Democratic
nominee?
I really don't know.
Because I think so much is going to depend on if Josh Call announces, if Mandela Barnes announces, if they jump into the race, I think that could really change the dynamic.
But I think when I did my too early preview at the Reconpopulation area, which I published about a month ago, the big four, the top four potential challengers that I had there were Sara Rodriguez.
So I think any of those four could have a real chance.
And then I think Francesca Hong's the wild card.
And she's, as I put in that column, and I think she's embraced that moniker a little bit in her campaign as well.
So we'll see.
We shall
see.
Yeah, I mean, there's the straw poll at the State Dem Party convention this year.
My gut tells me if the people that have announced.
Just out of those people, I think it's a really tight matchup between Lieutenant Governor Rodriguez and State Senator Kel-Royce.
I think they're the most well-known statewide right now for Democrats.
But like you say, now everybody is probably in.
We shall see.
About a minute or so left here a little over, Dan, your Milwaukee, our Milwaukee Bucks, but nobody loves the Bucks more than our own Dan Schaefer.
Yanis Anzacupo's brother has been re-signed for another year.
Is that a good sign that Yanis ain't gone anywhere?
I think so.
You signed Thanasis.
He's not gonna play with anybody else other than his brother, right?
So, you know, I'm glad they signed him.
He's the best 15th man in NBA history.
Helping keep his brother in Milwaukee.
providing so much energy from the sidelines and enthusiasm for the team whenever he hits the court.
I love having finasses around.
I'm looking forward to the Bucs season.
We got less than a month away.
I know where we've got Bucs basketball.
Crazy.
Have you got postseason Brewer tickets, Dan?
I don't have the tickets yet.
I haven't decided what I want to do for that.
What a season.
I
mean, the feeling living in Milwaukee, I mean, I'm getting goosebumps out here in Madison.
It has to be incredible living in Milwaukee right now.
It is incredible.
You know, I live on the side of town that's closer to the stadium, kind of on the west side of town.
And like a lot of the bars and places around here have those shuttle buses that go to and from American Family Field.
They are packed these days.
It's a busy place.
People are excited.
So a lot of energy looking forward to a fun October.
Find all of Dan's work at the ReconpopulationArea.News.
Dan Schaefer, thanks so much.
We'll see you in a couple of
weeks.
Thanks, Todd.
You're welcome.
Take care.
Dan Schaefer, everybody.
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