PODCAST 460

Travel Madness. When is a presidential campaign like traveling? When things don’t go as planned. Which is pretty much what travel is. Live coverage of the ‘Primary’ season in Election 2016 starts with a late trip to Iowa, arriving in Des Moines at midnight, on the eve of the presidential debate that was supposed to happen, except for Donald J. Trump throwing a wrench into the plans. At the same time, this wayfaring podcaster struggles to pull all the nifty new elements added to podcast command together. At the time I did this podcast — 1 in the morning — I had just learned by unlimited data plan did not allow for a hot spot, a system I plan to use to upload podcasts from wherever, whenever. Having purchased a brand new iPhone 6, and as excited as a kid playing with a new video game, I was very disappointed to say the least. Not being one of those people who throw company names around, and complain, I decided to wait until morning and call my friend at the store, which at the time of this writing I have done. Some adjustments later, and guess what? Houston, we have remote upload capability! The election, and all those working to bring this debate to Iowans tonight seems to be going through the same kind of process. You can plan forever, but when things start going wrong you have to just work through the problems. A theme in these podcasts is the fact that the media has gone off the rails covering this election. It seems like the Media has become the story, which may be one of the reasons Trump is pulling the plug. Or at least he says he is pulling the plug. Fox News said this morning they expect only about 1-2 million viewers for the debates here tonight if Trump doesn’t show up, and that’s what’s important right? Not the voters of Iowa, who tend to throw the established ‘prognosticators’ for a loop in every cycle, right? Not the issues, which is what the vaunted Fourth Estate is supposed to be reporting on, right? So, word to the wise. Plan, but prepare to change and adapt. Sponsored by Hydrus Performance, Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

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Podcast 458

Not George Washington. With the Iowa Caucuses less than a week away, political prognosticators have finally gone off the rails. This week’s poster child for idiocy goes to the talk show host who claims Texas Senator Ted Cruz is ‘The New George Washington’. How is the ‘endorsement’ of candidates from personalities, talk show hosts and commentators different from endorsements that come from governors, senators and candidates who are exiting the race? How has the endorsing of candidates by talk show hosts hurt talk radio? Ted Cruz is Not George Washington, but that fact doesn’t stop charlatans from saying so. Why do they do it? It’s a desperate quest for something called ‘relevance’, which is yet another example of the talk radio cesspool. This podcast has been steadfast in not supporting any candidate for president in 2016. The penchant commentators have this year, to influence voters to support candidates based only on polling data, is shameful. Moreover, participation in primaries and caucuses is very low. The result of primaries and caucuses this spring and summer have more to do with the nominating conventions for both mainline parties than the general election. Despite this fact, talk radio and the media are already making predictions and issuing endorsements for the presidency? The victors in the first few primaries or caucuses, at least on the republican side, are usually not the nominee. The only reasonable conclusion is that commentators are manipulating their listeners and voters for their own gain; a sad feature of a presidential cycle already off the rails. You can imagine how the real election will be reported. This podcaster is not going to endorse anyone for president, since all of them are more like Nucky Thompson than anything approaching George Washington. Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate and Hydrus.

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PODCAST 457

Donald J. Trump Authoritarian. If you are a Trump supporter you probably want to know, the left has decided you have ‘authoritarian tendencies’. What is an authoritarian? We can now name the New Yorker with confidence; Donald J Trump Authoritarian. What does it make you if you support Donald J. Trump Authoritarian? What does it mean to have Authoritarian ‘tendencies’. Is it a new fangled way to call you a fascist? Since it’s well known that the first person who brings up Hitler in an argument has lost the argument, and since the left has already tagged the New York business man as another Hitler, they have to come up with something new. While you’re guzzling white wine and picking at the brie at the local university cocktail party, and someone asks what you think of Trump you can simply say, “Well you know his supporters are a bit authoritarian, don’t you think?” Where is this coming from? A self described ‘Phd candidate’ and Massachusetts political consultant Matthew MacWilliams has done a study. His study and ‘simple’ statistical analysis shows Trump supporters to have these authoritarian tendencies. It’s not enough that Trump supporters supposedly have lower education levels (and therefore must be stupid), or hail from the Blue Collar side of the tracks (which used to be democrat territory, back in the day), now it appears the kind of government they like is a little more on the authoritarian side. Hey! There’s a study, so it must be true, right? The bottom line is, if Republicans vote the way the polls show, and it’s a big if, Donald J Trump is going to be the Republican nominee. It’s been pretty clear from the get go that Trump not only terrifies the republican establishment, apparently he also terrifies the socialist left, which if it isn’t busy trying to put you in the photo with Hitler and Eva, is busy coming up with clever new ways to say you’re a fascist. What are the origins of fascism? What are the conditions that have to be met before you can have fascism? Which part of the political spectrum is meeting those conditions? What kind of political system is susceptible to fascism? The answers might surprise you. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and X Government Trucks.

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