Podcast 481

Ted Cruz Denies Affairs. The tabloid that has a history of breaking lurid stories about the affairs of politicians and public personalities is on the hot seat with a new story about Senator Ted Cruz. The National Enquirer story alleges the presidential hopeful has had extra marital affairs with five women. Though the women’s faces were obscured in the tabloid story, two of the women have been allegedly identified as staffers for Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and at various times Senator Cruz. Moreover there’s also evidence of a Cruz associated PAC which donated a half a million dollars to the Fiorina campaign. If that donation was ‘hush money’ as has been alleged, a far more serious allegation could be leveled against Cruz since the candidates aren’t supposed to have anything to do with PACs. Ted Cruz Denies Affairs. Senator Cruz says the story is a lie, says it was shopped to other outlets, all orchestrated by Donald Trump, since he is ‘friends’ with the publisher of the National Enquirer (based in West Palm Beach, by the way, where Trump has a residence and resort.) Trump says he had nothing to do with the story. Truth is, this ‘story’ has been floating around political and reporters circles for months, and has been talked about on twitter under #thething for at least weeks. Is it true? No one knows. Was it Trump? No one knows. It could have been Trump, but recent developments suggest former elements of the Rubio campaign shopped the story. Could have been Republican establishment types terrified of a Trump nomination, as well as a Cruz nomination, looking to clip both candidates before three critical primaries in the coming weeks in Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania. It could have been the Cruz campaign looking to get out in front of a potential scandal and turn it back on their number one rival, the Trump campaign. No one knows, and no one will know until the story is disproven, retracted, or the women in question come forward. At least one of them, Amanda Carpenter, passionately and vehemently denies it. Don’t put it past the establishment to do something like this. Politics gets ugly, and there are so many more months of campaigning to go. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing of Saint Paul, Pride of Homes and Hydrus.

Podcast 477

Stuck With Trump. The last spate of primary results are in, ushering in the inevitable implosion of Marco Rubio’s campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination. John Kasich wins Ohio but the delegate count continues to widen in favor of Donald Trump, thus republicans might just be Stuck With Trump. Kasich has already hired establishment operatives with experience in ‘brokered’ or ‘contested’ conventions, as the Republican Party Establishment Thugs desperately try to ignore the wishes of republican voters. The same voters the party encouraged to attend debate viewing parties, the same party that ballyhooed the ‘deep republican field of young candidates’, all of whom busted. What a surprise that a reality TV star saw a huge opportunity to take advantage of the RNC’s creation of the ‘Greatest Show On Earth’. Who’s to blame? It’s tough to say it, and tough to hear it, but not the Establishment, not the Paulites, not the Christian Evangelists. Nope. Who’s to blame? The rank and file republicans who wanted simple explanation and meme style politics. The Tea Partiers who handed out the ‘How to Argue with a Liberal’ pamphlets. The people who wanted easy explanations to complex problems. The people who only sometimes vote, who make excuses when it comes to doing any work, the republicans who talk a good freedom game but are nowhere to be seen when its time to organize, because ‘they’re working’. Ok. They should all be thrilled with Donald Trump, who is for most of the things they are against, who could be running on the same ticket as Hillary Clinton. Rubio talked about ‘conservative’ values and ‘Republicans’ in his campaign suspension announcement but didn’t define either. He never defined conservative values or republicans on the campaign trail either. None of the republican candidates have. Now they’re frantically meeting to discuss a third party candidacy, which will take an enormous amount of work on a short deadline. There’s also sudden talk of the return of Jeb Bush as the result of a brokered convention, something this podcast warned people about weeks ago. Anything to stop Trump. Yet, Trump is the candidate the republican voters deserve. Trump is the candidate they have been praying for. The guy who can win the argument. Republicans and Trump; They deserve each other. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Pride of Homes real estate.

Podcast 474

Gonzo Talk. No prep. No notes. No editing. These are the rules of Gonzo Talk. I’ve done it before, under different names. I kind of like ‘Gonzo Talk’. This is the way I used to do podcasts, but after nearly 500 podcasts you evolve. It seems weird now, to do Gonzo Talk since I have become comfortable with a little more planning, or what I like to call a controlled burn. I know what I want to say, and rather than pussy foot around, I am able to get right to it because I have put some thought into it beforehand. Not so with Gonzo Talk. You start talking and you keep talking until the podcast is over. What comes up, is what comes up. What is said, is what is said. No editing. We start talking about different coffee makers, progressing to Minnesota’s establishment ‘republican’ effort to get rid of the state’s caucus system, and in view of Iowa’s Pride over their caucus system it seems a little statist. What a surprise. Progressing through the primary and caucus wins this weekend for Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Isn’t it funny how the two candidates winning are most decidedly not establishment candidates. The only candidate that has more potential than Trump to freak the fuddy duddies out in the republican establishment, is Senator Ted Cruz. Just this last week Mister Loser himself suggested breaking the rules he backed to defend himself against Ron Paul at the RNC in 2012. Now Romney is pulling the aw shucks I don’t know nuthin, mister routine. After creating a process that has resulted in unmitigated disaster for establishment republicans, now they want to flush the whole primary process and contest the convention, thus nominating old Milque Toast himself, Mitt Romney. What about sealing off Washington, and forming a new government in Council Bluffs, Iowa? We don’t tell Washington they’re not in charge anymore. We just let them think they’re running things! Wait! Isn’t that kind of the way it is? Or maybe the way it will be? The people are speaking and they are not speaking establishment, on either side of the supposed political spectrum. Of course the tone deaf establishment, democrat and republican, isn’t listening. Why should we listen to them? Hey! I kind of like Gonzo Talk! Sponsored by Brush Studio and Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate.