Congressman Curtis Making Utah Great and Jon Levine's 2024 Election Predictions
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The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a yourname.votewebdomain from godaddy.com. Get yours now. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. Sam Stone is out attending his father today. Our first guest is Congressman John Curtis from Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

Congressman Curtis is also running for the U.S. Senate. The primary date there is June 25th. So for you Republican listeners in Utah, get out and vote. Vote early. And as Democrats say, vote often. Congressman Curtis, welcome.

Hey, Chuck. It's always good to be with you. So let's start with something that affects your district and will affect the state when you win, frankly, on the 25th of June. Utah's 77% rule is 12% of the population. And Biden's high-speed internet with the $42.5 billion federal modernization price tag is

No one's been connected yet because of various mandates, hiring union workers, justice impacted people to work on it. What's going on with that? I'm sure this is something that would be beneficial to rural Utah and your constituents, but what's going on with it? Right.

So it's the perfect example of government predetermining the best way to do it. So, for instance, they have said the speeds have to be X and X rather than saying deliver speeds where somebody can do their homework. Right. Or, you know, meet these requirements, because in parts of my district, you cannot if you

If you wait for a physical line to get there, it's not going to happen. But you can do things like Starlink and other things

included because of the way we wrote that law. And I, you know, anytime government does something like that, they should focus on outcomes and not tell us how to do it. And I think that has a lot to do with it. And then another stat on top of what you mentioned of how much rural we have, that rural is about 90 percent federal lands. And so you try to, you know, you try to permit across federal lands and it's going to take you forever.

nine years to permit one broadband line that was already in an existing right-of-way. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Well, it's... I was just going to say, it's dysfunction at its best. Well, it seems to be the same plight that's affecting the EV stations, which they've allocated $7 billion plus for, and they've only built seven. I mean, how does the administration justify this? What do they say? Who do they blame?

Yeah, well, I would say it's the same thing. It's fire, ready, aim. Instead of saying, okay, well, here's our end objective. Let's let industry go do this. And it's not the right outcome, by the way. And so no one should be surprised that it's failing because you started with the wrong premise. Correct. As you toured the state talking about your candidacy,

How often does immigration come up? I'll tell you, if you combine immigration with border, I think which is what you mean, every conversation, it is the number one. And we're not a border state, right? But you can see as far as ways Utah is from the border, it is still top of mind to everybody. If you survey my residents, it's not even close. They're very, very concerned about what's happening at the border.

What do you think about Biden coming out this week and providing a green cards and through your path to citizenship for spouses? I mean, you know, I can understand that. That seems like something Congress should discuss. But what are your thoughts on it? Because he just always says.

You know, everything out of his mouth is political, and he says it's not. You know, I'm not interested in playing politics. Then he does – I mean, he's always putting forward something that buys a vote, I guess is the easiest way to put it. Yeah, and I think you're right. And I think if you combine this policy with his one several weeks ago of, you know, the number of people he's going to let cross the border, both of those policies have far more to do with reelection for him.

than they do actually solving the problem. And I would agree with you, this last one, that's a worthy conversation, but that should be Congress's conversation, not the president's conversation. And, you know, he's pandering to votes. It's clear, and it's like Donald Trump

DACA a number of years ago, President Biden said he was doing the thing that was in the best interest of these people. Yet 12 years later, it is unresolved. And then they're in a worse place than they were 12 years ago. And that's what President Biden is doing with this policy. He's actually using these people for his political purpose. And they're going to be in a worse place because of this than if we let the system play out.

What do you feel, digging into this issue, that, you know, whether you're in Congress or you're elected to the Senate on June 25th, basically, what do you feel are the top two or three things that, if Congress passed it and the president signed it, would reduce the crisis at the border? What are the two or three things we just got to get done?

Yeah, so Republicans like to point to H.R. 2. That goes into the weeds a little bit. So let me just pull out of H.R. 2, remain in Mexico. So if we if we if we reimplemented remain in Mexico, which President Trump had, 90 percent of his problem goes away with that one policy. We don't spend any money.

It doesn't cost us a penny. So if I could just pick one, that's what I would pick. Then the wall, more agents, better technology, reforming the asylum law. There's a lot that follow behind that. But if you only get to do one and you want to do it fast, you do Remain in Mexico. Okay.

Has Congress just passed a single bill, just Remain in Mexico? Just voted on it, sent it to the Senate? Have they done that? So not simply that. We did it at H.R. 2, which included Remain in Mexico. But it was kind of a wish list for us. There was a lot of conversation back when we were having so much problems with the budget of why don't we attach something like Remain in Mexico to a continuing resolution?

So although we don't want to continue resolution, if we could get Remain in Mexico for it, that would have been a good deal. The reason that didn't happen is what I would call the circular firing squad among Republicans. We couldn't agree on how to move forward. And so we lost that leverage point. I think if we would have said, look, if you do Remain in Mexico, we'll give you a CR. We could probably have Remain in Mexico today.

Is that something you would want to push if you're elected to the U.S. Senate? Just say, look, let's just push remain in Mexico. Let's just get let's just make it clean. Yeah, absolutely. Because Congress, you know, we can overcomplicate things. And like I say, if we if we want to take a whack at 90 percent of this problem with one simple policy, it would be remain in Mexico. I was down at the border and that's where I learned this. This isn't my idea. This was Border Patrol. This is the sheriff's department all told me independently.

reinstate, remain in Mexico, and 90% of this goes away.

You were a former mayor of the city of Provo. Yep. I miss being mayor. I bet. You can make actual decisions. You can do things, right? Yeah. So Denver has been, Sanctuary City, Denver, has been sending migrants to Salt Lake City. They say they have notified them. No one believes that because Salt Lake's not going to lie about it, nor is Governor Cox. Is there a role for Congress in something like that happening?

You would think so. It's just, it's morally wrong. It's hypocritical.

It's wrong on every level. You know, I'm not sure, like, on a federal level, I'd have to really stop and think through, like, what you could pass that would prohibit that. But certainly it's wrong on a moral level. It's wrong on a human rights level. I mean, you remember how much grief Ron DeSantis took when he sent people up to New York. Right. You know, but you flip that around, and it's okay for them to do. Yeah. So if you get elected to the Senate...

One of the things that's being taken up is the Trump tax cuts of 2017 are expiring. I saw a great quote from Senator Wyden in Oregon today. He said, the American people deserve better than a Trump tax bill that drives up inflation. And it drives inflation up because it basically gives breaks to billionaires. I want to remind people, in 2018, inflation was 2.4%.

In 2019, 1.8 percent. In 2020, 1.2 percent. What is your stand on because that is going to be a battle. And, you know, we're hoping Republicans win the Senate, but you never know what can be done on that.

So I was in Congress in 2017, the fall of 2017, when we passed that. I had just arrived. It was one of the most thrilling times in seven years for me because I saw the most thoughtful debate, the most thoughtful, you know, creative work on this. And the results of that 2017 tax reform fueled the economy. And my Democratic colleagues at the time said, hey, this is tax cut for the rich, right?

But that's just an overly tried and poorly tested line for them. They don't know what else to say because it was good for everybody. It was good for the economy. And right before COVID, we were on trajectory to bring far more revenues into the government because of that tax reform than without it. And unfortunately, COVID kind of interrupted that trajectory. So now as I'm in Congress and hopefully in the Senate,

a brand new member of Senate now watching tax reform come before us, A, I'm more prepared for it, but B, I've seen it and I've seen it work. And so we have to fight for these. We also have to be cognizant of the fact that we have a $34-plus trillion deficit

So these tax cuts have to be targeted at bringing more revenue into the government, which we can do with tax cuts. We know that. And I think every tax cut that we made needs to be analyzed, make sure it accomplished the goal that we wanted to accomplish.

I think as Republicans, we shouldn't be afraid to say, hey, you know, we now have a second swing and it looks perfect what we did the first time. But it's so critical for the American people, for the economy, and in just many, many ways that we get this done. And this is a clear difference between presidents. You've got President Trump who will say he'll go bigger than he did last time. And you've got President Biden saying he'll go bigger on taxes.

Something as a mayor I'm sure you dealt with to a degree, but it seems to be exasperated now, is there seems to be a housing crisis for a lot of people. Yeah. And we have about two minutes left in this segment, but it's come out that we're about 3.8 million short in 2020, and we're probably much shorter now. How do we turn that around? And is there a role for that in the federal government, or is this just simply a state and city issue?

So having been a mayor, it is a huge city-issue, county-issue, and state-issue. But there is a federal role here, particularly in the cost of this housing, and that's primarily with inflation. You know, when you're paying $100 for a sheet of plywood, that's the federal government's fault. And when you're doing a mortgage at 7%, 8%, that is the federal government's fault.

the federal government's fault, specifically Joe Biden. So mission number one for the federal government on housing is to get interest rates back down. And you do that by less federal spending and freeing up the supply chain. And we're doing exactly opposite of those two things. So we've got to rein in spending and we've got to free up the supply chain, not to bring inflation down. That'll help home builders, first-time buyers in a significant way.

With about a minute left here on this, tell folks how they can learn more about you for your Senate campaign and reach you if they have a question for their congressional district. I love it. Thanks, Chuck. If they'll go to JohnCurtis.org, they'll see all my policies. They'll see contact information. And that would be the easiest place to go, JohnCurtis.org, O-R-G.

Fantastic. This is Breaking Battlegrounds. We're going to be back here shortly with a final segment with Congressman John Curtis. To remind everybody, the Republican primary is June 25th. For those who vote by mail, you've received your ballot, so don't let it sit on the kitchen counter and get your spouse to vote as well. This is Chuck Warner, BreakingBattlegrounds.vote, and we'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. Online with us is Utah Congressman John Curtis. He represents Utah's 3rd Congressional District. Former mayor of Provo, he is now also running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, replacing Mitt Romney. The election is June 25th. For you Utah listeners of our show, your ballot's probably on your kitchen counter. So get up, fill it out, use a pen, not a pencil, and get that mail today. Congressman Curtis, welcome back.

Thanks, Chuck. Public lands. You cover a lot of it in your current congressional district, as we discussed earlier. It's 77 percent of Utah. Tell our listeners what you want to do on public lands that will benefit Utah while also protecting the environment.

So, you know, it's interesting that you phrase it that way, because the false narrative is that somehow if Utah is put in charge of these decisions, they won't take care of it. And yet Utahns will point to generations and generations and generations of good stewardship and protecting these lands and finding that balance between recreation, between protecting, between extraction and grazing.

And so the mission number one is to bring these decisions closer to home where people actually understand the land. They are highly motivated to preserve and protect it. Imagine just from our ag community, if they're not taking care of the land, then it doesn't work for their future generations. And I hope to continue to be able to bring these decisions back to the people who are closest to the land.

Is there a danger of the Biden administration taking more pieces of public lands and putting them under, you know, protections? I mean, what is one they're really after right now that you have to fight about?

So first of all, there's the Antiquities Act, and there's no safe place in Utah. You mentioned the state's 77% public lands, but the rural part of the state in many places is over 90%, and it's all in danger. And then most recently, BLM came out with what they call the conservation rule,

which gives the BLM the authority to designate large swaths of land for conservation, which would keep off recreation, would keep off grazing, and keep off extraction. And that is perhaps more damaging than Tithon and Tychus Act because it's less transparent.

And every day, like you say, ranchers and people who use this land, they wake up worried about what the federal government's going to do in taking away their livelihood or taking away where they like to recreate. And it's a 24-7 watch, if that makes sense, for people here in Utah and I suspect in Arizona as well. You know, we hear a lot of times elected officials and people running for office exaggerate statements such as they worry 24-7.

But my feeling is because you've toured the state so much and you're so good at constituent service. Tell people some of the concerns that are brought to your attention when you go visit your local, your rural counties and you go to those town hall meetings. And the mayors. I mean, what is what is their concern that causes them such aggravation? Yeah. And, you know, let me address this kind of this 24-7. And the reality of it is, if you look at antiquities act designations in Utah.

Grand Staircase, Bears Ears, they came out of nowhere. And they'll say, oh, we did some hearings and things, but I'm very familiar with Bears Ears. And the reality of it is you had a president who didn't know where Bears Ears even was. And to reward his political base, made a decision that locked out many uses of this land.

And, you know, I think if it's a place you like to recreate, that's problematic. But imagine if it's a place where you make your livelihood, like grazing, and you wake up and it's different. And this new BLM rule that I mentioned, they really fear, whether it's realistic or not. I can tell you they wake up and they worry about that every day, that that's...

that that'll be taken away from them. Let's switch course here. Let's talk about China a little bit. What is your biggest concern about China? Now, you're the only member of Congress that speaks Mandarin. You have experience over there. But what is your primary concern about the China threat? Is it military or you think they're just going to go keep trying to

buy up these small third world countries and take resources? What concerns you the most? At 30,000 feet, my greatest fear is that their goal as a country is to subjugate the United States to them. And they are well on track to do that. It's an advantage to be a tyrannical government that doesn't have a democracy. They can manipulate to stay in office for many decades without

We don't have that advantage with a democracy. We get a new president every four or eight years and we change directions and they're on a hundred year trajectory. And that trajectory puts them on top of us economically, militarily and everything. And so that's manifest in things like Taiwan and moving on Taiwan. It's manifest and you look around the world, they're taking over ports and critical minerals and

and things like that. And for instance, we talked about EVs in the first segment. Well, that's kind of a joke because on our current trajectory, we don't even have the critical minerals to produce those batteries. And it's because China controls all of those. And we've fallen asleep at the switch. We've let them take advantage of us. And it's time to right the relationship with China.

A lot of people talk about, well, we need to decouple. And the reality of it is I don't think that's an option in today's economy. We're very interdependent, both countries on each other. And the world, quite frankly, the world is dependent on these two economies. So what we need to do is start demanding a fair relationship. And by fair, that means that if we put restrictions on a U.S. business for admissions or for OSHA requirements or for human rights,

then they have to have the same requirements. It means they can't steal our IP. Does that make sense? It just means that we cannot continue in a relationship where they take advantage of us at every turn. And that's what's happened for the last three or four decades. And part of that was purposeful on our part because they were third world country. And we thought if we helped them, we'd move them closer to our values. That's worked in a lot of cases. But in this case, they're further away than our values than they were in the 70s when we started this.

And it's time to demand a better relationship. Congressman Curtis, what would it mean for everyday Americans if America was under the thumb of China? If we allow them to continue the trajectory, what does this mean for their everyday life? Well, let's look at what it means for an everyday life of somebody in China. It means that you're tracked with facial recognition. It means that you're given a score by the government, and that score determines where you go to school. It determines where you work. It determines if you travel.

It means you have no privacy. And if you look what happened in Hong Kong, you'll see what China's intent is that it

It means that a place that was free is no longer free. It means you're arrested if you speak out against your government. I mean, it's really, you know, like, I don't mean to be alarmist, but it is pretty clear where that path leads. And it's not the path of freedom and it's not the path of democracy and it's not the path of capitalism. It's the exact opposite and against all of our values here in the United States.

Would it help our relationship, our strength of negotiation if America started building up its manufacturing base again, including, you know, more ship building for our Navy? You know, it seems like, you know, we've explained, look, I'm a free trader. But it seems like, you know, you also have to focus on making sure you have your own base. So I would say two things. One is like I'll compete all day long with U.S. business in China if it's even remotely close to a level playing field.

But let me go back to this. If we put emission requirements on U.S. business, if we put OSHA requirements on a U.S. business, if we put human rights requirements on a U.S. business, and they're trying to compete in that environment, it becomes very difficult. The second thing, and to go to your free trade comment, is like we can have a

everything here that we want. What we need to do is develop trading partners around the world that share our values, and that's where we emphasize free trade. Does that make sense? Yes, it does.

So we're not doing enough to improve those trade relationships with people who do share our values. And if we could do that, we become less dependent on China and the free market takes care of itself. Thank you. Congressman Curtis, thank you for joining us today. Folks, remember, the Republican primary is June 25th. Congressman Curtis, thank you so much for joining us today. And good luck on June 25th. Thanks. Let's do it again. Thanks, Chuck. Thanks, buddy. Breaking Battlegrounds. You can find us at BreakingBattlegrounds.vote. And we'll be right back.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. Sam's out tending to his father today. Our guest is the famous John Levine. He's with the New York Post. You need to follow him on Twitter. If you're not doing that, you can follow him at LevineJonathan on X. John, welcome to the show.

Whoa, the famous John Levine. I have given you that moniker. You are going to go by that from this point forward. So I was told after the Trump trial that justice is blind. Right.

And now no one, not a soul that you and I know is above the law at all. And then we get this news that the Manhattan D.A. has dropped charges against most of the Columbia protesters due to a lack of evidence. And 14 were told and 14 were told their cases would be dropped if they avoided being arrested the next six months.

Yes, lack of evidence except all the video and social media. You know, they kept a black security guard hostage in the building because they really like to imitate who they love. They were holding a hostage in the building and no charges. Now, this may come as a shock to some.

to someone that doesn't live in New York, but it's not a shock to anyone here. Alvin Bragg doesn't prosecute anybody ever for any crimes. You could walk into a drugstore and just take stuff and nothing will happen to you. It's a very old story. Go look back in 2020. All the Black Lives Matter rioters, all of their charges were dropped to hundreds. No one's ever prosecuted. And

I love that Politico famously described Alvin Bragg as a reluctant prosecutor. A reluctant prosecutor steps up. And actually, that is usually the case. He is an extremely reluctant prosecutor for most people in most crimes.

But unfortunately, for one person and one crime, he was an extremely vigorous and aggressive prosecutor. And it's certainly not the Alvin Bragg anyone here is used to. This is more like what people in New York are used to with Bragg. So it's very sad. You've

You've got like basically, I mean, it's cliche to say the two tiered standard of justice, but it's really something I think much darker. It's that you have on the left basically a kind of semi accepted paramilitary, whether it's Antifa, whether it's Black Lives Matter, whether it's these protesters who are openly chanting how they support Hamas and Hezbollah.

And they are a de facto democratic paramilitary that exists to enforce discipline on their own side and to basically say, look, if you don't give us what we want, if you don't support the progressive agenda that we're here demanding, we're going to burn and loot and destroy things. And it's a wink, wink, nod, nod that they are not going to face any consequences. Will there be any – will there be any –

punishment for this come election time. No. Oh, election time. Yeah. Well, I mean, well, the voters will there be any punishment? Well, the vote. Yeah. Well, the vote. I mean, so there's a poll out today with Trump. You know, he's down. He's not going to New York. I don't care what Republicans say. But with Jewish supporters, he's at 52. He's at Biden's at 52 percent. Trump's at 46 percent, which I don't think it's ever been that close forever.

Do you see... I'll say... Go ahead. Yeah, I'll say something you're never supposed to say. I have no idea. Right. I don't know. Because there's so many crazy, unknown... We've never had an election where large parts of the electorate support Hamas. You've got tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Muslim voters in America who

who openly will say to you they believe what Hamas did in Israel was justified. That was a poll that was conducted by Signal. I urge everyone to Google it. 57% of American Muslims believe Hamas's actions are justified. These are not pro-Palestine protesters. They are pro-Hamas protesters. The idea that they're just pro-Palestine protesters and they're for peace, they are not for peace. That's a media creation. They are for Hamas. They are actually for violence. We've

We've never had an electorate like that before, and we've never—Jewish voters, how are they going to react? They've always been solidly Democrat. Does the fact that their allies are now in the streets chanting for their death and destruction change that at all? You'd think yes, but who knows? We've never had a candidate who was a convicted felon before. I have no idea how that's going to play into stuff. While you are probably correct that Biden will win New York,

It could be a single-digit victory. Correct. And it could even be a victory where even if they win it, they're forced to spend money here. If Biden is forced to spend money in New York, that's money that's not going into the swing states.

And it's a state he shouldn't be spending money in. So, I mean, I would keep an eye on that. If you see ads for Biden in New York, if you see like campaign mailers for Biden in New York, that's a sign of major trouble because it means he feels the need to spend here. And I don't know that I believe these polls. You see these polls. Trump's going to win Hispanics, 30 percent of black voters. This is like crazy.

Crazy stuff, but maybe it'll happen. I don't. I will tell you where my my my my firm is doing voter registration in Nevada and Arizona. And we are getting people were registering who are Hispanic. They're 10 points in favor of Trump over Biden. We're with John Levine of The New York Post. You can find him at X at Levine. Jonathan, this is Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll be right back after this commercial break.

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Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. On the line is John Levine. He is a political reporter for the Sunday New York Post. You can find him on X at Levine Jonathan. Let's talk about Trump's vice presidential pick. I have a theory that he could really calm a lot of fears by just appointing a competent, experienced person. Why?

What are your thoughts on that? And that's probably not how they're going to pick it, but what are your thoughts on this vice presidential chase? I mean, there's many thoughts here.

Like the people that think he should pick another MAGA warrior, young guy to lead the revolution in the next in twenty eight, thirty two. And that people who think that are more inclined towards someone like J.D. Vance. But J.D. Vance is like really young and he's been in the Senate for a second, you know, same number, same amount of time as Obama was famously.

two years. And he really doesn't have a lot of experience and no sort of executive government experience. And the people who are more inclined toward what you just said, and it's the school of thought that I have heard is sort of prevailing in Trump world, but that changes by the second, is North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Here's a guy, he's an independent business guy. He's not a D.C. creature. He's

He's not even a political creature. He got into government late in life, mostly as a tech guy, made a lot of money. And he's just running a good state. It's a well-run state. And government

Governors have to balance budgets. Senators obviously do nothing but spend money into infinity. So, you know, you hope that that could be a moderating force. And look, the point of a vice president is to serve as a guy or a woman who's there if something happened to the principal. And we have we're in a situation where we're talking about the oldest person ever to be president is running against the second oldest person to ever be president.

So in that scenario, there's never been a greater likelihood that we're going to need to call upon one of these vice presidents in the next four years to serve in the highest office. So people

People look at Berger and they say, look, he's been around. He's run a state. He's competent. He's a steady pair of hands. It's no drama. And then you've got other candidates like Marco Rubio. But he's got problems with the 12th Amendment because he's from Florida. He would need to resign his Senate seat and relocate. And there's already a plan in place to do this if Trump wants him. But I'm told that that's seen as a pain and a negative in terms of his chances.

Well, it seems the North Dakota governor has two other important qualifications that I don't think you talk about. First of all, I think he did well in the Republican primary debates. He seemed very steady. He seemed very competent, which would be a wonderful contrast to Vice President Harris, who I think would seem very scattered. So I think people are looking really... Look, I got to have one of the four who seems level-headed, right? I mean, I think there's a thought of that out there. Second thing is...

Does the North Dakota governor put money? Does he put $100 million into this? I mean, he certainly could. He's got about a billion dollars. Yeah, and that seems like something that would be interesting to Trump. So, you know, we'll see where it goes from there. I think Marco, we talked a little bit the last segment about the Hispanic vote. I think Marco really helps with that. So you got to weigh that balance there a lot. I mean, Marco coming out doing Spanish talk radio and doing Spanish rallies in Nevada, Arizona.

I think I think Trump wins those. And so that would be interesting. And Florida is going to be closer than people think. I've seen polling in Florida. Yeah, it's not going to be a runaway. Yeah, I have, too. I think the one thing, though, is that the voter registration advantage is so large for Republicans now. It's just it's not the same state it was even, you know, four years ago. It's just different. So we'll wait and see. It'll be interesting to see what he does on that. I wish he wouldn't wait till the convention. But what do I know? OK, Hunter Biden.

why did he just not plead on both these cases? Because I can't imagine a tax fraud trial in September of a general election does good things for Joe Biden. No, no one's above the law, Chuck. I believe that president said that. And I know it's a theme we've come back to a few times. I mean,

I mean, there was two trials. So we didn't talk about the first trial. It was the most we're talking about the most obviously guilty person on earth. You could you could make a case, maybe a compelling case that if he was anyone other than Hunter, it wouldn't have been brought to trial. But the fact of the matter is he is definitely guilty. I mean, this was about whether when he purchased a gun, it was a legal gun purchase. And when you buy a gun, you got to sign a form.

We fill out some information about yourself as a federal form. And on that form, it says, are you currently addicted to drugs and alcohol? And or it's like you swear you're not addicted to drugs and alcohol. And you have to it's a sworn statement. And you cannot lie on that form. That's rarely prosecuted because it's a pretty high bar. How do you prove someone is addicted to drugs and alcohol? Right.

But in Hunter's case, he wrote a whole book about how he was addicted to drugs and alcohol at exactly the same time he purchased the gun. And there's a laptop that most people don't have. And you literally can see the crack pipe and the gun in the same photo. Do you think he ran the book? By the way, do you think he ran the book idea by an attorney? Oh.

Um, probably. And I'm sure that I'm sure Hunter never thought he would be prosecuted for this crime, which which the second thing here is there's hubris and there's arrogance. Yes, they're smug. I mean, he thought he was above this charge. Well, they're Bidens. Why would you think anything else? I mean, they tell me all the time. Get away with it with a cheap little misdemeanor. He was going to plead guilty to. And the whole thing was wrapped up in a nice package with the Justice Department. And thank God.

The judge in the case, Norelka, she wouldn't do it. She said, no, this is a stink deal. And then, of course, you had the IRS whistleblowers, the DOJ whistleblowers come forward.

So many whistleblowers can't keep track. And they were saying, look, David Weiss, the prosecutor, tried to become a special counsel and they wouldn't let him. And the DOJ interfered in this case in many improper ways. And I'm convinced it's only because of the whistleblowers and that courageous judge that

that finally Weiss becomes a special counsel and they can really prosecute this case. And as you see, Hunter, in his continued hubris and arrogance, thought he could take this to a jury. And they came back with a decision, I think, only in like a few hours, not even.

So it was and now this is a little case. This is a this is not really a case that ties in the broader family as the tax fraud case. He is charged now with more felonies for not paying one point five million dollars taxes on one point five million dollars in income. Now, the true number is millions. But I guess they're going with one point five million. I guess that's probably the safest thing they can do. And

The idea is, again, overwhelming. And I don't see what he has to gain by doing a trial in the middle of a presidential race. You're talking about, you know, there's a universe where someone like Joe Biden could be called as a witness. Correct. This ties in the whole family. So I think there'll be enormous pressure on him to plead to something to avoid this trial. You know,

Just the smugness of Biden. I mean, why he ever even decided to run with the much as the family is is a fiasco. It's just the ultimate smugness of doing this and putting them all under this microscope, which, you know, they had to know was going to happen. I mean, it's not we're not in the old days where you just have three broadcast networks.

I mean, there's just people on this all the time. You have to imagine when Obama said to him, Joe, don't run. Let Hillary run. He knew all this. Correct. He knew all this baggage. He knew about Hunter. He knew about all. I mean, it wasn't a secret. And he knew about Burisma. And he you know, there was and probably even Joe Biden's being compromised in a lot of this stuff.

And or maybe he knew enough to know he didn't want to know anymore, but he knew there were weaknesses here. And he told Joe, don't do it. And he didn't do it. And Hillary ran and, you know, history, history. But now.

He did it. And we're seeing Obama. Obama was very wise to caution Joe from running. And we'll see. And I mean, we still I don't even think we've really even figured out how deep the rabbit hole still goes. Something I always tell people, I remind people this is a little known fact. Hunter Biden dropped off three laptops to the Delaware computer repairman. Oh, my goodness. There was three.

he was only able to salvage one of them, which is the one that has gone on to public prominence. Two others were unsalvageable. But there's two, there was like two other Hunter laptops.

That we just couldn't – they couldn't be salvaged. And I don't know what happened to them. But he maybe threw them away. Or he gave them back to Hunter. But there's so much more. And, you know, we wouldn't know any of this if we didn't have the laptop. And so how deep the rabbit hole only goes, we may not even figure it out, like during Biden's presidency. But it will all come out sooner or later, as all things do. Someday. Are you –

Are you startled by the mainstream media's pushback on these videos of Biden acting like a confused toddler? I mean, you know, it's going to get wild. I know. I mean, I just I'm stunned. I mean, it's like, you know, John, why would you believe your eyes? You've got to trust us. You're not seeing what's really there. I don't understand why they're taking this line. I understand them ignoring it, but they're coming out full.

Offensive defense of this man. I mean, it's unbelievable. Chuck, I think you do understand why they're doing this. Sure. And I think most of your listeners understand as well. Much of the press, as we get closer to November, is going to become an arm of the Democratic Party.

This is where the mask comes off and it's ball to the wall and whatever is necessary is necessary. So, yeah, they will take a video of President Biden that has not been edited and they will say –

Here is the unedited video. And then they will run an edited video. Right, right. The unedited video is a lie. This edited video is the truth. They will do this with a straight face. And if you point it out, they will just power through it. They will power through it. And if you publish the truth, they will bury you in this stupid fact check. Seven news organizations, fact check. And it's all a bunch of baloney. And the one thing that.

that they can't do is, you see, because these videos are, as you said, it's what people see. You know, if this was something happening behind the scenes in the White House, it's like, well, you know, the Post and Fox News say this, but the fact checkers say it's not true. It's something happening behind the scenes. Biden's out in the open. So if there's a disaster at one of these debates, there's going to be no cleanup that they can do because there's only so much you can convince Americans not to believe what is in front of their faces.

And it is an insurmountable task. And I think a lot of Americans have media skepticism now. Yes. That even they didn't have in 2016 or 2020. Yes. Where they have – it has been demonstrated so many times how these people lie and cheat on behalf of the Democratic Party. I think the right has more or less won that argument. That's why trust in media is so low right now. 100%.

So I think I think it's not going to work. That's a big takeaway. I'm going to try and it's going to be comical. It's going to be like Pravda, but it's not going to work. I'm I'm looking forward to some creative attorney that files an FEC complaint against people like CBS News for making an in-kind donation to the Biden reelection. I mean, I mean, I mean, you know, I mean, I mean, literally somebody should go take it. I mean, they just they need to get them a discovery.

because this is what they're doing. It is an in-kind contribution. And, you know, I know we have our radio show, you know, they have to have fair and balanced. I have to sign these idiotic forms all the time. It's crazy. I just...

I don't understand it. What do you think we should be looking for at the debate? I'm wondering if Donald Trump has taken this as serious as Joe Biden is. We have about two minutes here. What are your thoughts on that? Well, look, Biden is going to prepare. Yes, he has a lot of debating experience, much more than Trump. And he's going to be in Camp David until Thursday with his nose in the books, preparing every single possible line of attack.

you know trump in the past has kind of winged debate he's winged he's shown up and he's kind of just you know whatever and the results have been very mixed he didn't his debate performances in 2020 were poor and you know in one of them he had coronavirus but correct you know for this time around i would i i hope he's you know gonna you know study a bit more and really think about what are the best lines of attacks because look

There's a lot of stuff he did in 20 that he shouldn't necessarily repeat. One of Biden's biggest weaknesses is when you just let him talk and he'll start rambling off into a story about corn pop or his uncle eaten by cannibals or God knows what. But Trump kept interrupting him in 20. Right. Trump talked over him in 20. And so we American people didn't see that. It's going to be worse now.

So give Biden the rope to hang himself. I agree. And there's other stuff like that where this is a hard thing to Trump to talk less, but it would be in his interest to talk a little less. I agree. John Levine of the New York Post. You can follow him at Levine Jonathan. John, thanks a million. We'll hope you'll come back and join us soon.

Thank you. This is Breaking Battlegrounds, BreakingBattlegrounds.Vote. We're coming up with our podcast with Kylie's Corner and the Sunshine Moment. We want to thank our guests today. Folks, if you're listening to it on the radio, have a great weekend. We'll be right back. The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web. With a yourname.vote web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. Thank you for joining us for this bonus section, the podcast section, where we have Kylie's Corner, some chit-chat, and we close off with Sunshine Moment to leave you a little hopeful for the future. Kylie, what do we have today? Hello, hello. Hello, hello. Well, I don't have too much of an update on the Karen Reid case because I'm hopeful that next week we do...

How long does it take to die in the snow?

You know that? I don't know. Well, let's find it for next week. Let us know. I'm afraid to Google it. I'll Google it right now. Keep talking. Keep talking. OK, so supposedly that was made at that time. Defense and the prosecution both had two separate witnesses that came on discussing his wounds and if they were caused from a dog bite or from a car's taillight. Both witnesses obviously said.

The opposite. So the defense's witness said, yeah, this is similar to a dog bite. And then the prosecution's witness said, no, this is similar to being hit by a car. So it's like,

This sounds like the Keystone cops are prosecuting this case. The whole thing sounds like I mean, it's like it's like what's the character in the office that was played by Steve Carroll? What's his name? I mean, it's like he's running the trial. It's horrible. Yeah, it sounds like that. That's why I had to play that clip last week, just so you guys understood.

you know, how this trial is going on because it's crazy. And I, so I've been watching court TV and they play other trials in between this one. And the other ones just seem so professional and it's crazy. The contract between them, like they're almost so professional that they're kind of boring, which is like what they should be. They should be. It should just be facts. Yeah. It should just be facts. This one's way too entertaining with like too many juicy things, which is so sad for John's family because they played the voicemails of Karen Reed that he was leaving.

She was leaving him the night of this all happened. And like, they were horrible. She was just calling him names saying like, F you, you're sleep. You're probably sleeping with other women, which to me, the voicemails made her seem a little bit more innocent because she was calling him, apparently called him 58 times that night. Wow. And was just being like, you know, you're, you're not home yet. You haven't come home. You're a terrible dad. You're probably sleeping with someone else, but in a lot vulgar terms. Right. Yeah. Not Sunday school talk here.

No, no, no. Not in a kind way. So like that, just that kind of information, I think coming out for his side of the family and the affair and everything that has come out is just like sad and heartbreaking. That honestly, you know, may have something to do with the case, but yeah, probably does. I have your answer on the snow. So 50 to 60 degrees can cause death in one to six hours.

40 to 50 degrees can cause death in 1 to 3 hours. 32 to 40 degrees can cause death in 30 to 90 minutes. 32 degrees or less can cause death in as little as 15 to 45 minutes. Wow. Happens fast. Yeah.

Yeah, but he didn't die until 7 in the morning. So was it warm out? They said he supposedly hit at 1245. He was intoxicated though, right, too? Yeah. I wonder if that delays the effect. Yeah, like adrenaline maybe? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's interesting. It's not a stat I thought I'd learn, but thanks to Kylie's Corner, I'm ready for it.

I know. And so is everyone else. Just in case. Okay. But I have another case I want to dive a little bit into. But as you're finishing up here, do you think she gets off? Do you think she's found not guilty? Yeah. I feel like she's found not guilty.

Do you think a different prosecutor would have found her guilty besides this cluster they have running around? I think a different prosecutor and a different investigation team would have found her guilty. So she's probably thanking her lucky stars for incompetence. Yeah, because there was one voicemail that it did sound like it was one of the first voicemails she left that it kind of sounded like, John, was that you? And people on Twitter kind of speculated like she was yelling out the way because it was a very faint voice.

And so they're trying to say that that was, you know, the moment she hit something and was like, was that you? And then just kept screaming into the phone. Amazing. And I did listen and it kind of seemed a little like maybe she did hit something, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But well, what else do you got? What else is going on in the world of justice?

All right. Yeah. Justice is being served after three years. So we have James Arthur McDonald. He's a former CNBC financial pundit and CEO of Hercules Investments. He was arrested by the FBI after being on the run for three years. So this all began back in. Well, he went on the run beginning in November of 2021 after he failed to appear before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to testify regarding accusations of defrauding investors.

So according to the DOJ, he lost tens of millions of dollars of Hercules client money after adopting a risky short position that effectively bet against the health of the United States economy in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. He projected that the COVID-19 pandemic and the election will result in major sell-offs that would cause the stock market to drop. But when that didn't happen, he lost between $30 and $40 million of client funds.

So that was back in 2020. And then in 2021. And he decided to run because of that. So he went on. Yeah. So, well, there was that. And then in 2021, he began raising capital funds because they lost all of. Right. All these investments. And so he apparently did not tell the investors about the massive losses the few years prior. Oh, my goodness.

And then also was misrepresenting how the funds were being used. So allegedly he bought $175,000 Porsche with some of those funds that he raised. He sent $100,000 to his landlord of a house he was renting in California. He was spending money online at designer stores. And so when he, you know, when he was called to testify, he went on the run. Sounds like he was doing a bit of a Ponzi scheme too.

Yeah, a little bit of a positive. Where did they find it? Was he on the move the whole time, three years? Or was he down in some shack in the Florida Keys? I mean, where was he at? He was down in a little shack in Port Orchard, Washington.

interesting not too far from california where this happened interesting so i do want to talk about the charges though so he's being charged with one count of security fraud which is 20 years in federal prison right one count of fire rock wire fraud which is 20 years three counts of investment advisor fraud which is 10 years for each count so 30 years for those and then two five years for two counts of engaging in monetary transactions that's a lot of years which i feel like it's more than like someone

murdering someone well it is but they don't the the u.s government really does lay the boom down on financial crimes i mean i mean i've seen it uh you know it's it's just years ago when i first started my business we did pr for a lot of white collar crime and there is no mercy with those they they just want because it's also easy to prove because it's numbers

Right? It's just, I can pull up your banking. I can see the money going in, the money going out. So it's a little clearer. So guys like this, generally their best bet when they've been caught dead to rights, they just need to plead guilty because the judges do give some leniency. That doesn't mean he won't get jail time, but they give some leniency on the sentencing if you're like, don't waste our time. The fact that he went on the lam for three years and they have all this banking, you

yeah he's gonna he's probably gonna die in prison but you're saying if he did not go on the run then probably 10 years he's out on parole or something yeah yeah it's just it's just a matter they just it's easier to prove financial cases because there's a bank statement yeah there's credit card statements so you can just see where it went so cut and dry yeah like the karen reed case unlike the karen reed case right so it's interesting well that's fascinating um

I want to talk to you both. If you've talked to family or friends about this, I am fascinated. We talked to John Levine about it. And as you know, Kylie, I wrote an opinion piece called Helicopter Parents. I'm really shocked how all in broadcast networks, CNN, New York Times, AP are going in trying to defend what is very clear on video. Joe Biden looking confused and wandering off like a toddler. Now,

You know, the L.A. Hollywood fundraiser, I give him some benefit of the doubt on it. I mean, people are allowed to stay out and do that. But, you know, I'm sure they're really mad at Obama for grabbing his hand. But the problem is there's such a history of it now, the last year, that you're immediately going to go to the worst case scenario with him. Right. It'd be unlike if both you were there and I come grab your hand to walk you off like, well, OK, let her finish up. But there's so much history on it now. And so many people have seen this and have the visual of it.

That, yeah, I mean, why would I believe any of your excuses? But are you surprised if you talk to friends or family, are they shocked just how the press is really trying to say, well, why would you believe your vision? You know, you're dumb.

Yeah, I think with my friends. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. I think with my friends, like, I mean, I don't talk to many people who don't think that he's confused and don't think that, you know, they aren't trying to cover something up. And so, like, I don't know what there's so many videos over the past few years. I just think it's impossible to ignore that. Yeah. I mean, why would I believe the videos? You know, they keep trying to say they're cheap fakes, but there's not. I mean, watch the whole thing. There's nothing different what's being put in. How about you, Kylie?

Well, it's my say, I think. So I did have one friend who said, oh, that video is fake. So that's all they knew about it. So they didn't actually know that, you know, this was and I think they can get away with the Biden administration can get away with that with the people who aren't seeing the full story. Right. Because there are so many fake videos out there. It's a point where like when I first heard that, I was like, oh, that's a fake. I was like, oh, maybe it is like before I even looked into it or read your article. I was like, oh, maybe it is fake.

Well, I think – and I think the press is counting on that because so many – we have a company together, Kylie, called 80% Media. And the reason we do 80% is because 80% of voters really don't know what's going on. They just vote. And obviously these news outlets know that number.

And so I think they're just hoping on people being so busy with, you know, life, eating, providing shelter, that they're not paying attention to this. And also, you know, because of X, you know, you got 85% of the people who are never on X at all, right? And that's the one really pushing this. So they have made a strategic decision that they can keep saying it. And it goes to like your friend who's heard something. And, you know, and everybody hears me now about deep fakes, right? I mean, there's books on it. So here's like, well, of course they're making up. This is politics, right?

And, you know, if I was a Republican Party, I would go by every infomercial spot in every TV station in the country and just run long clips of him wandering off. Here he was. Here he was at NATO. Here he was in Hollywood. Here he was X. And just show the full five minutes. None. You know, no cuts, no edits. Just watch him wander off. And then at the end of it, say, do you think this man's mentally capable of being president another four years? That's all I would say.

Yeah, I watched a video yesterday of him just walking to the helicopter. Yeah. To go to debate prep. Yeah. And he just kind of, you know, he walked like he needed assistance. I have an older relatives like that. And you love them. And look, we all age. I mean, this is going to happen to all of us. Right. But, you know, Jill Biden is an enabler. The blue donors are enablers and they're going to keep pushing somebody that is not mentally competent or physically able to fulfill four years.

And I really am interested to see if Trump has taken this debate real serious because Trump really could give a knockout blow on this. Yeah, John had a point. He has to let him just ramble on. Yeah, you just can't interrupt and just let him talk, you know, so.

Well, let's end on a positive note. What do we have today for the sunshine moment here, Jenna? Oh, we got a little intro music. Yeah, I have a story. It's just about a 10-year-old. His name's Hector Lara. He's a Utah middle school student, and he's part of the AAA School Safety Patrol team.

And so he just won a medal for saving a three-year-old. So was he like on duty watching this? So he's actually a AAA watch and making sure people cross the street, right? Yeah, yeah. And he said, you know, he's been very humble about, you know,

about this whole experience. He saved a third grader, a young girl. A big red Toyota truck was coming at her and he said he reached over and picked her up by the backpack and just scooped her back and pulled her out of the way. How old is he? He's 10. He's 10. Oh, wow. Yeah. So that was...

pretty strong. I don't know. Uh, but he, yeah, he put, he pulled her back and he, he said, Oh, she must've thought she was being kidnapped. She must've been really scared or something. It's startling for sure. Right. And I, I don't know if she really knew what was going on, but the, the girl's grandmother, um, afterwards, uh, reported and told the school, um, that he just saved her life. Um, and so they gave him, um, he like was told that he was awarded a, uh,

AAA School Safety Patrol Life Saving Medal for doing that. And so he said, you know, I didn't even care if I got the award. I'm like, I saved someone's life. That's what matters.

And he talks, he sounds like he really loves the job. He said he got into it like first serving. And he said, you know, he says when people are walking in, he tries to cheer people up. He says hi to every kid. He says, how's your day going? Just to make sure it's going great. And he says that if they're feeling down, I try to make them feel happy. So I think it's really cool that at 10 years old, you know, he just saved someone's life. And, you know, he said he didn't do it to get an award, you know.

Well, no, but he was on alert. And it sounds like the Biden administration needs to have him accompany the president. I think that's a great idea. Don't you think? Just yank him back on things? Maybe we can start a petition on that and get him to hire this kid, right? Because he sounds like he knows what he's doing. And apparently no one else at the White House does. Yeah.

Well, folks, this is Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll be back with you next week with another exciting guest. You can find us at BreakingBattlegrounds.vote or wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it, download it, rate us. We're growing every week, and that's all because of you. So on behalf of myself, Kylie Kipper, Jenna, thank you. Have a fantastic weekend.