Dixie Dems-Cutting Through the Republican BS

Show Transcript

The Dixie Dems: Cutting Through the Republicans’ BS

[00:00:00] Bob Gatty: Things are heating up, and I don't mean the record breaking temperatures that we're all dealing with these days. The presidential sweepstakes, Donald Trump's legal troubles, DeathSantis' failure to catch on and much more. So we're back with another episode of Dixie Dems, the podcast from Lean to the Left that takes an irreverent look at politics in our region and nationwide, including the drive by the fledgling no labels party to fill the presidential ticket and throw the election into one hot mess. So stay with us. 

[00:00:39] Hey guys. Welcome to the Lean to the Left Podcast and the July 2023 episode of the Dixie Dems with my podcast partners Arthur Hill from North Carolina and Robert Thompson from Georgia. Arthur's first vice chair of the Brunswick County, North Carolina Democratic Party.

[00:00:58] And Robert is based in Atlanta. He founded Peach News Now and its Opinion podcast, Got Damn Liberals. Me, I'm based in South Carolina, the state where two Republican candidates are taking on Donald Trump in the presidential sweepstakes. They of course, are former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is former UN Ambassador for Trump, and Senator Tim Scott, the only African-American G O P US Senator. Oh, it's also the state where Senator Lindsey Graham appears to be in some legal jeopardy for trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 elections results in Georgia. So welcome guys. 

[00:01:46] Hey Arthur. Tell us about what's going on in North Carolina. You got a big Supreme Court decision on election laws for one thing. 

[00:01:55] Arthur Hill: Yeah, that we did and it was really a victory for democracy. The Republicans that dominate the state legislature had thought that they had the authority to, they had the exclusive authority to govern elections in the state.

[00:02:09] And they were borrowing on a theory called the Independent state Legislative Theory which which proposes that the courts have no say in in how the legislature handles elections or gerrymandering. So they went to the Supreme Court with that case. And lo and behold, the Supreme Court did not agree with the Republicans in Raleigh and rejected the suit.

[00:02:30] If the Supreme Court had gone along with it, then then it would've meant basically that state legislatures all over the country had the power to had the exclusive power to govern gerrymandering and setting district boundaries, in federal elections. This was a major victory for democracy in North Carolina.

[00:02:47] So that was we're still basking in the glory of that. And as a matter of fact, we went to in Brunswick County, we went yesterday to the swearing in of three new democratic folks to sit on the board of elections. And the conversations were still rampant about about the, that case and about the consequences of that case.

[00:03:06] It's been a rare and joyful two or three weeks here in, in in the old North State. But in other quarters things aren't as well. The legislature was supposed to have a budget completed by July the first, that's the traditional time for them to have completed their biannual budgets.

[00:03:24] And they've failed to do and nobody is quite sure why, because the whole budget process is taking place behind doors closed by the Republicans. No, Democrats are involved. Nobody outside the Republican party knows what's going on, what's gonna come out, how it's gonna work.

[00:03:39] And of course they have veto proof majority whatever they approve can be in theory overridden. They can override a governor veto. So there's that going on. There's also legislation to sharply diminish the power of the individual county boards of elections in future statewide races because they're gonna take away the three to two makeup of each county board and they're gonna replace it with a two to two, two Republicans, two Democrats. And in the event there's a tie, then the legislature gets to cast deciding vote. Up until now, it's been two democrats, two Republicans, and a chair appointed by the governor.

[00:04:18] So if the governors are Republicans, three to two, Republican and vice versa. But the legislature's not happy with that and particularly with the Democratic governor. They're trying to take that authority away. And legislation has passed in both the house and Senate to do just that.

[00:04:33] We'll be watching out for that. And that, that's the current events summary. One of the things I'm looking at in the state and actually through the country is the impact of young votes on on the electoral process in North Carolina. And maybe we can talk a little bit about that later.

[00:04:49] Not just in North Carolina, but the whole state as well, because, the whole country as well, because there's a lot going on in that area and it looks young voters are starting to take more interest in electoral politics. 

[00:05:00] Bob Gatty: That is good news. And I'm seeing that here in South Carolina as well.

[00:05:05] Arthur Hill: Robert, what's up with you in Georgia? 

[00:05:08] Robert Thompson: I was gonna go back to what you were talking about, these Republican friends, as I say in air quotes on the the right side there. We had the Supreme Court's decision that Arthur was just talking about. So let's fast forward, a year or two from now is, the other things that Arthur just talked about. Are those going to be the areas that those Republicans are gonna start attacking because we know they have to cheat to win. And if they cannot use those goalposts and, gerrymandering and moving all these districts around anymore, is it now going to be that they control all these local boards of elections now?

[00:05:49] Is that what we're thinking going forward?

[00:05:52] Arthur Hill: I think it certainly, it's a threat in this case. We just went through a huge fight here locally about the ability of the staff on our board of Elections to be able to solicit the help of outside groups to provide extra money for staffing and and that sort of thing.

[00:06:08] And the Republicans are yelling and screaming about that. And they're probably gonna prohibit that kind of activity at the state level. There's legislation to do that, and they could adopt it. So yeah, I think you're right, Robert. I think Republicans are starting to attack not only the process, but the infrastructure of the electoral process at least in this state and probably in a lot of other states as well.

[00:06:30] Robert Thompson: Okay, but what does that certain MS N B C anchor say? Watch this space as she says. We'll have to watch this space and see what happens. But one thing you cannot discount Republicans on, they are gonna find a way. And again, as I said, watch this space. But going back to Georgia I wanna thank the congresswoman from Northwest Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene. She continues to do an amazing job of writing political commercials for President Biden. She was on stage somewhere, I think in Florida speaking to a bunch of folks. She had her glasses on. Even I have not seen Marjorie in glasses lately. And so I watched a video that just before this morning here, and she was actually touting all of the great things that Dark Brandon has been doing for the economy and 

[00:07:26] Bob Gatty: Wait a minute. 

[00:07:27] Robert Thompson: Dark brandon, you don't know who dark Brandon is, do you? 

[00:07:29] Bob Gatty: I do, but maybe some people don't. 

[00:07:32] Robert Thompson: So let, let's back up a little bit. What is that whole thing, let's go Brandon. Go Brandon, if you ever heard this from the the Republican, right? It's some kind of started at a NASCAR race or something.

[00:07:44] I don't, you have to go look that up. Actually it's more dark Brandon if you really look at the superheroes and really what's going on behind the scenes, it's really dark brandon, and he's been working a lot behind the scenes. 

[00:07:59] Bob Gatty: And you'll see 

[00:08:00] Robert Thompson: that if you go out and look and actually President Biden, he went out and he actually used the, again, Marjorie had her glasses on.

[00:08:09] She cannot claim that this is was a mistake. She had her glasses on and she was literally reading all of these great things that Dark Brandon is doing for our country. Congresswoman a little bitch, Marjorie Taylor Green from Northwest Georgia for doing a great job of actually producing the, it's gonna save dark Brandon a lot of money because he doesn't have to produce that commercial himself.

[00:08:36] Speaking of if you compare the fundraising dark, Brandon is doing a heck of a job in fundraising compared to all of, Trump and all of the other people. And speaking of DeSantis did some firing. He's actually taking some pointers from his buddy Trump and fired a bunch of people on his campaign because he doesn't have a chance.

[00:08:57] Bob Gatty: It cracks me up. All these politicians, when they run into trouble because of stuff they do, stupid things that they do, they always go to their staff and say, get the fuck outta here. We're gonna get new people in here who can do this job. Well, it's the politician's fault. It's not the staff's problem or fault.

[00:09:17] Robert Thompson: They just have to spin it another way. Clearly, they're just doing a horrible job of spinning the bullshit. Another premonition. So here we are, July, 2023, you're seeing some notes and some news stories come out that CEOs, they're already placing their bets. So these very well-paid millionaire, billionaire CEOs that run these huge corporations in our country, they have to place bets that, you know, one of the things that they do with these very high paid, well-paid salaries, they have to make strategic decisions.

[00:09:51] Guess what? They're thinking the Democrats are gonna keep the White House. If you look at some of these strategic decisions, you have these mega donors that are pulling money from the Republican party because guess what? If the Republican party is not in power, why are you going to dinner with 'em?

[00:10:10] Cause they don't have any power. They're gonna go start talking to the people that are in power. And, making sure that they are on their side. But speaking of it, there is a little strike going on. Georgia is the mini Hollywood now and we've talked about this and mostly California, but you also have, stuff affecting here in Georgia.

[00:10:31] But in the middle of all this, there was an interesting little graphic that got shared out, but these CEOs that I was just talking about in the entertainment business, many of them making hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Now, Arthur and Bob I don't think you guys along the way were able to make, hundreds of millions of dollars.

[00:10:51] I, I know I have not made my first million yet. No. I would make that, I would make that assumption.

[00:10:58] Arthur Hill: I'm hoping to cash in on the jackpot with this podcast. 

[00:11:01] Bob Gatty: Yeah, that, that reminds me. The other night I went to the grocery store and the little lady who was helping bag my groceries.

[00:11:12] She said, have you bought your lottery tickets yet? I said, no. Why would I do that? She said 800 million. That's why I said, oh, okay. So I went and bought 20 bucks worth of lottery tickets at the counter. And I came home and dutifully watched the report of the lottery and what the numbers were.

[00:11:34] And out of all those numbers I had one number that was included, and I think it was number 54.

[00:11:42] Arthur Hill: Hang onto that number. It's a good. 

[00:11:44] Robert Thompson: Yeah, so it sounds a lot like being a American. 

[00:11:47] Bob Gatty: And I told her, I told the young lady that if I win the 800 million, I will give you $1 million. She said, oh, that's really great. I'll hold you to that. Have to hold me to it cuz I didn't win.

[00:12:00] All right. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, Robert. What else you got? 

[00:12:06] Robert Thompson: The point is with these millionaire CEOs, a friend of mine messaged me and he's just really mad, he works these 40, 50 hour work weeks. He, they have a kid and it's just, it's so draining to see, these corporations making all this money.

[00:12:20] It's going to the top, so the shareholders and everything, and. You're just in this cog in this American thing. And I've talked about it in numerous angles on my podcast before, capitalism killing the middle class and everything. Kudos we'll see what comes out of this.

[00:12:35] These strikers that are on numerous angles. You've got 'em at the airlines, you've got the entertainment business. You've got also UPS maybe striking again. So we'll see what happens there. 

[00:12:47] Also and I didn't put this in my notes, I was just remembering here, but there is a specific political ad in Ohio, I believe. It is so I'll set the stage here. It's in a bedroom, so it's spicy. So you have a couple that is doing their thing in the bed and all of a sudden they go to reach for a certain bit of protection in the drawer.

[00:13:10] And all of a sudden there is this old white man sitting in the corner who snatches the condom out of the drawer and the couple just stops and says who are you? And he says I'm your Republican congressman. And they went what are you doing in here? He goes we're in power and you can't have contraception anymore. Is actually, if I'm not mistaken, yeah. This is actually, I believe in ad running in Ohio right now, but it does not just apply in Ohio folks. This applies in pretty much every state in the union right now. Oh yeah. And is multipurpose, just, simply scratch out Ohio and put pretty much any state, especially in the south right now Yeah.

[00:13:49] Of what is going on in this country. So keep that in mind and consider resharing that among your friends there. 

[00:13:56] Bob Gatty: In my opinion, the reason why these Republicans are doing that is cuz most of them are old geezers who probably can't even get it up. So they don't want anybody else to have any fun.

[00:14:07] Robert Thompson: Yeah. How about that? From two old white geezers to many more, right?

[00:14:12] Bob Gatty: What else you got there, Rob?

[00:14:13] Robert Thompson: Lastly, just, yeah, just last two things. Killing on these MAGA traitor Republicans, these January 6th traitors, they keep flip-flopping. I, and it's right in line with flip flop Lindsey. It depends on the day of the week and what flip flop Lindsey Graham was gonna do, but, The red, white and blue horn guy.

[00:14:31] He spent, reduced sentence was about a year in prison for his January 6th thing. He apparently he is having a change of heart about his guilty plea, bless his heart, and maybe he'll have another trial if he feels like he just is not guilty all of a sudden of being traitorous to the US.

[00:14:49] If he doesn't like it here, why is he still here, number one. But there you go. And apparently it doesn't take much. Again, I'll put air quotes there. To be a popular music artist to the radical Republican MAGA people. You have people like Kid Rock and then there's this other rapper that is actually putting, he's really bad.

[00:15:10] I'm not even gonna repeat his name cause I don't want to give him any notoriety. Again, you might have remembered that I can do some karaoke. I actually challenge him. I can do karaoke better than the bad rap job is doing..

[00:15:21] Bob Gatty: All right.

[00:15:23] Arthur Hill: That UPS strike is is gonna be interesting. There are something like 350,000 employees at U P s, and I think more than half of them belong to the teamsters, which is probably the one union that's gonna strike. So be interesting to see what happens to shipping in the US.

[00:15:39] Folks better hurry up and buy their stuff online because there's definitely gonna start to be some delays in that process very shortly. 

[00:15:48] Bob Gatty: That's gonna play how with the stock market, isn't it? 

[00:15:51] Arthur Hill: And that too. Yeah. 

[00:15:53] Bob Gatty: Yeah. Absolutely. Every damn time that I get up to anywhere near the goal that I set for myself, something happens, putin attacks Ukraine and the market tanks and the market hasn't come back from that. And all my retirement money practically is in some form from the stock market. And I know I've lost a bunch of money as a result of that. Now, this isn't gonna help what you're saying. 

[00:16:22] Arthur Hill: No. Nope. Uhuh. 

[00:16:24] Bob Gatty: All right. 

[00:16:25] Arthur Hill: But, you ought to make up for your losses in the stock market by buying defense stocks because they seem to be doing real well with Ukraine. 

[00:16:31] Bob Gatty: Yeah, That's true.

[00:16:33] Here's a thought. Listen here in South Carolina, Trump came to this little town called Pickens, which is like 3,300 people. It's up in the hills in the western part of the state. And he took over Main Street with this rally. And according to some estimates, as many as 50,000 people showed up for that thing.

[00:17:00] They're all standing out there in the heat. Some people got sick and they stood there and waited to hear what this idiot has to say. I just cannot believe that people still are doing that. But here in South Carolina they are. Now we gotta remember, this is the home state turf of Haley and Scott, two of the long shot candidates who are trying to get the G O P nomination and according to Trump at this rally, he said, 2024 is our final battle. Under our leadership, the forgotten men and women will be forgotten no longer. Really? Do you guys believe that? 

[00:17:44] Arthur Hill: He sure forgot about 'em while he was in the White House, 

[00:17:47] Bob Gatty: didn't he?

[00:17:47] It was the same old message that he's reprised from his previous campaigns. Same old song. People still lap it up. Incredible to me. Yep. Meanwhile, both Scott and Haley surpassed the Republicans requirement to be on the first debate. That's, they have to have so many donors. So many donors have to be independent people, I don't know how it all works, but it's, they have to have so many contributions in order to qualify to be on the debate. So both Scott and Haley have made it. Scott reported raising 5.8 million in the last quarter, followed by Haley at 5.3 million. Even though the senator spent more than he raised over the quarter, he still had 21 million in cash on hand.

[00:18:41] So he's pretty well financed. Now, what I've read here locally is that a large percentage of his contributions are coming from big business and corporations. And I looked a little bit before this interview today, before this session today at his report, his finance report, and yeah, it's all big business and that's where it's coming from.

[00:19:07] And that's just not surprising at all. But meanwhile, the Democrats, they're trying to figure out what the hell to do and where to attack and all that. And in this state where we only have one Democratic congressman and that's from a district that was gerrymandered to make sure that African Americans dominated that district.

[00:19:31] So they're on the attack right now doing things like touting Bidenomics and saying that it delivers tangible investment results here in South Carolina. And then they point out in a statement they put out today that every Republican House member from South Carolina opposed the infrastructure bill, the infrastructure law, which is where most of the benefits that they are touting came from and they voted against it, and yet they're trying to take credit.

[00:20:02] So that's just typical. Politico ran a story July 8th by Steven Shepherd, noting that South Carolina long has been the state most likely to predict the eventual Republican presidential nominee. And this time it will be especially crucial. One reason is that the state GOP's decision to schedule its primary election for February 24th means that the first in the south primary will take place more than a month after Iowa and New Hampshire. So there'll be plenty of time in between for both Haley and Scott. And according to the author of that article, Shepherd, it also ups the anti for DeathSantis, which I'll call DeSantis cause that's what Robert calls him, whose campaign applauded the state GOPs decision to pick a later date for their primary than was initially expected. So anyway, what do you guys think about all that stuff?

[00:21:03] Arthur Hill: The thing that's remarkable to me is on the primary side is that Pence has not raised enough money to participate in the debates. Which was extraordinary to me. I thought that he would've at least made it over that threshold, but apparently not. 

[00:21:18] Bob Gatty: That would be remarkable if the vice president wasn't able to be on the debate stage for the Republican's presidential debate.

[00:21:29] Arthur Hill: I thought that was amazing. At least so far. I don't know what the deadline is but at least so far, he is not in the mix. It's amazing. 

[00:21:35] Bob Gatty: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay 

[00:21:38] Robert Thompson: It points out their Republican party is in shambles. Yeah. Literally are sitting behind a traitorous child.

[00:21:48] Bob Gatty: Hey, you know what this is, we're the Dixie Demps and we talk about southern politics as well as politics in general. Another southern state, of course, is Alabama, and that's where Senator Tommy Tuberville, is that how you say his name? Tuber Tuberville? Or is it Tuberville?

[00:22:08] Tuberville. 

[00:22:10] Robert Thompson: I call him a racist, but go ahead. Yeah. 

[00:22:13] Bob Gatty: Anyway he's in a battle with the Biden administration over abortion policy involving veterans. A strong confirmation of more than 250 senior military officers. Cause he objects to a D O D policy that allows military personnel who live in a state that's restricting abortion access to recoup travel expenses if they travel to another state so they can get their abortion.

[00:22:41] So he's holding up confirmation of these 250 senior military officers over that. Meanwhile, this guy, Tuberville, promised when he was running for office to donate every dime he makes in DC to the veterans in his state, according to the, I think it was the associated press today, he hasn't done that.

[00:23:06] He's done nothing. It's just a f-ing hypocrite. That's my opinion. So that's all I have about South Carolina and other southern states. I wanted to talk a little bit about this No Labels initiative where there's an effort on the part of some politicians to establish a no Labels party and challenge the Democratic and Republican nominees in this upcoming presidential election. What do you guys think about all of that? 

[00:23:41] Arthur Hill: Go ahead, Bob. You first. 

[00:23:43] Robert Thompson: They don't have a chance. 

[00:23:45] Bob Gatty: What it means is that, that's gonna siphon votes away from Biden, in my opinion. I think it'd be disastrous if it really amounts to anything. 

[00:23:56] Arthur Hill: They're going through, they're going through the process to get on the ballot in a lot of different states. I don't know exactly how that works when you don't have any candidates yet, but

[00:24:05] Bob Gatty: A meeting where they're gonna come up with candidates. Is that 

[00:24:08] Arthur Hill: what yeah. Yeah. I. On, on the stands that they take. And we don't know anything about that either. But for example, where are they gonna stand on abortion? And depending on where they stand on abortion that could take votes away from the Democrats.

[00:24:23] If they're pro-choice, that'll take votes away from the Democrats. But if they're if they're pro-life then it'll be, then it'll be a loss to the Republicans and they'll siphon votes away from the Republicans. So I think a lot of it's gonna depend on and it isn't gonna depend as much on who they nominate as what that person believes. Because I think in this election, most people are gonna vote on the issues: abortion, voter rights. They're gonna vote on the issues of where they want to go. And that's largely due to the input of Gen Z voters and millennium voters who are probably gonna vote in greater numbers this year than they ever had. So I think it depends. It depends on, number one, whether they can get on the ballot and number two where they come down on the issues. And I don't have that, they don't have any issues of their own, do they?

[00:25:11] Or any positions of their own 

[00:25:13] Bob Gatty: as far as I, they put out some kinda a document the other day that was a general working document that's set forth, you can't even say positions on the issues because in most cases like abortion, they just totally ducked taking a position. So where that all shakes out, it will be important of course, but what if Joe Manchin ended up becoming the nominee of this group?

[00:25:43] What if he did? And then they're talking about having a Democratic candidate and a Republican candidate on the ticket. So Manchin presumably would be the Democratic presidential candidate on that ticket. And some other Republican that he would get along with would be the vice presidential nominee or candidate for that ticket.

[00:26:09] That would really throw a huge wrench into the election I think, if Manchin did that. To me it's just this guy has done everything he can to scuttle the Biden presidency. And this would just be, to me the frosting on the cake.

[00:26:27] Robert Thompson: You know, I'll, Outta the US for a second. I wish this were Canada. I wish this were the UK where we had more than two parties. Until you do any major changes in this country with campaign finance, that's not gonna be the case. And I agree with what you guys are saying, that it's gonna, take votes from one or the other.

[00:26:47] And this country is so divided on one side of the fence or the other, that it's gonna continue to be that way until these changes happen. There was also a recent interview you might know the guy that founded Home Depot. And he actually said recently that some, a lot of the fights that we're doing on the football field, they're being played between the 20 yard lines and the goalpost.

[00:27:11] They're not being played between the 20 we. The middle of the field somehow. And I don't know what it takes to get us there, but the Republicans taking these stances and trying to get these wedge issues that they're not helping at all. 

[00:27:26] Bob Gatty: I had another thought too, and that is that you were talking a minute ago about some of the key issues that will be in play and that a very important voting block will be young voters.

[00:27:40] I've been doing a lot of work on my podcast recently about climate change and the environment and with these incredible heat waves that are taking place out west. And in which will probably result in a lot of fires and et cetera. But with all of that happening Climate change in the environment had better be on the list of issues that people care about when they go vote.

[00:28:08] We are in a really serious, deep shit situation, I think. And I think all of these environmental incidents that are taking place today are a good indication of that. I think it's gonna get worse. I think times are wasting, man. 

[00:28:24] Robert Thompson: And the talking point, for liberals, democrats that are out there on the campaign trail asking Republican parents having newborns 23 and 2024, expect that child to potentially live to the year 21 23.

[00:28:42] Is it gonna look like in the year 21 23? The three of us are not gonna be here, but that child potentially could still be here. What's gonna kill them before that? Is it gonna be a gun? Is it gonna be, it's too damn hot? Are they gonna have any water to drink? Food to eat ? Can they really answer that?

[00:29:02] Bob Gatty: Those are good questions. Robert. Absolutely. And I think people better have that in mind when they go vote. 

[00:29:11] Arthur Hill: That's harping once again on the young vote. That's gotta be among the top three issues that's on their mind. And again, I don't think they care about which party supports what.

[00:29:21] They just know what they want and they know what their issues are, and they're gonna vote for the candidate that best agrees with the their positions on the issues. And climate change is definitely one of them. Abortion is definitely one of them. Voting rights is clearly one.

[00:29:35] And actually I think taking away the no names equation for a minute, I think that actually helps Democrats because most thinking democrats are with young voters on those issues and they understand what's going on. Meanwhile if you're a middle-aged guy living in, in a rural area and you voted for Democrats in the past but you stopped because you either stopped voting or you stopped voting Democrat because they feel like they've been ignored and abused and and abandoned.

[00:30:04] I think this time next year you're gonna be seeing a lot of worthwhile projects going on in those areas that are direct benefit to the voters and that were approved under the Biden administration, and I think that's a lot of what Biden economics is about. And even in West Virginia, which is one of the reddest, if not the reddest state in the country, Joe Manchin is running as a Democrat, but this time next year, he may still be running as a Democrat.

[00:30:29] He's not facing a challenge in the primary. And there is a contested Republican primary. The Republican governor is running, and he's a pretty popular guy. And and he's running in the primary against a MAGA Republican congressman.

[00:30:42] And so depending on who wins that primary, that's gonna be a checkpoint for Manchin. He's gonna say if I'm running against the MAGA Republican maybe I got a chance. If I'm running against the Republican governor, who's a popular guy and who's not nearly as conservative as the MAGA guy, he might have a problem and he might decide if he's offered to run for president on a ticket to the no names party, he might decide just to go out in a blaze of glory and go ahead and run for it.

[00:31:06] And what the hell. In which case that'll probably hurt the Democrats. Yeah. 

[00:31:12] Bob Gatty: So by the way if I called it the no name party, it's the no labels party

[00:31:18] Robert Thompson: party. Yeah. 

[00:31:19] Bob Gatty: Reason why I said I just have to say the reason why I said no name was cuz it was in my head. Cuz my wife's, when she was a little girl, had a dog and they didn't know what to name it. So they called it no name. And she still talks about that dog. So that was in my head. I just, so it's, it is the no labels party.

[00:31:38] Not the no name party. Okay. 

[00:31:39] Arthur Hill: But that, I think it's too early to really tell at this point, I think. But time will tell. We'll see what happens. And Robert's exactly right, the history of third parties in this country is pretty bleak. 

[00:31:50] Bob Gatty: Oh, very bleak. Yeah.

[00:31:52] And it's just every time, and again, all it does is screw up the the election. Yeah. And, results in people getting elected that shouldn't be, in my opinion. Anyway. You guys got anything else? I'm cooked. 

[00:32:09] Arthur Hill: Is warm enough here? Yeah, it's hot outside. We've got a a voter id issue going on in North Carolina? I don't know what's going on in Georgia about voter id. I don't know how the laws work outside of North Carolina, but part of the issue there is the efforts of a Republican lawyer who was actually on that famous phone call when Trump was trying to find the 11,000 votes in in Georgia to see if he could figure out how to turn that election around. But Cleta Mitchell is her name, and she is not only pro voter ID and in the stringent form possible, but she also wants to prohibit students from voting, and she also wants to get rid of mail-in balloting. And she's been running around the country. She's a North Carolina lady, but she's been running around the country trying to get state legislatures to do exactly that. And I think here's another example of how Republicans have to see what the writing is on the wall.

[00:33:04] They have to know that unless they have voter id, unless they get rid of students voting in the elections, in the districts where they happen to be in school. And and also eliminate mail-in balloting mail-in voting. They're extinct. They're an extinct political party.

[00:33:20] And I'm optimistically hoping that that this will be their last hurrah. 2024. 

[00:33:26] Bob Gatty: Let's hope so. Okay, guys. Listen, thanks for doing this again on Lean to the Left. We're over a year now. We've been doing this, which is amazing to me. One a month, then we'll keep it going.

[00:33:38] So thanks for being with us Robert and Arthur. 

[00:33:42] Arthur Hill: Thanks Robert. Appreciate it. Enjoyed it as always. You guys are great.