Dixie Dems-Repubs At it Again

Show Transcript

The Dixie Dems: The Republicans Are At it Again

[00:00:00]

[00:00:00] Bob Gatty: Hey, we're back with another episode of Dixie Dems. It's the podcast from Lean to the Left that takes an irreverent look at politics in the South as, as well as nationwide. So stay with us. 

[00:00:13] Hey guys. Welcome to the Lean to the Left Podcast in the May, 2023 episode of the Dixie Dems with my partners Arthur Hill from North Carolina and Robert Thompson from Georgia.

[00:00:26] Arthur is first vice chair of the Brunswick County, North Carolina Democratic Party, and Robert is based in Atlanta and he founded Peach News. Now and its opinion podcast. Got Damn Liberals, that's G O T Damn Liberals. Me. I'm based in South Carolina, the state with the distinction of having two Republican candidates willing to take on Donald Trump in the Republican presidential sweepstakes.

[00:00:55] They, of course, are former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who was UN ambassador for Trump. And Senator Tim Scott, the only African American g O P US Senator. So today we'll take a look at what's going on politically in our three states as well as around the country. Hey guys.

[00:01:16] Welcome. 

[00:01:17] Arthur, tell us what's going on in North Carolina. Tell us about your big promotion that you got. 

[00:01:24] Arthur Hill: Yeah we just had our county convention and I was promoted from communications chair to first vice chair. And as far as I can tell there's really not much difference.

[00:01:37] And, there's definitely no increase in salary.

[00:01:41] Bob Gatty: Alrighty. 

[00:01:43] Arthur Hill: I'm I'm just trying to help out and and try to get some, blue office holders in this very red county. We'll we're, gonna keep struggling until we get there. 

[00:01:54] Bob Gatty: Okay. How about you, Robert? What's happening? 

[00:01:57] Robert Thompson: So between jobs and got a new one here, but I'm hanging in.

[00:02:03] I was not out of work very long, which was a good thing. But I'm still able to join you guys and and talk about this. So the, one that I do want to talk about here in Georgia, there is a a case of a. Mother, and I'll use the term lightly, that apparently she drowned her child. Oh my.

[00:02:26] In a, and this is a, if you know where Sandy Springs, Georgia is, it's north of Metro Atlanta. This is a pretty populated area, I would say It's a pretty decent part of town. And you've got some footage of everything that I've read that she led the child into this pond and now the child is dead.

[00:02:47] You know it's so unfortunate. It's, really sad. I cannot help but think all of we've talked about it on our episodes over and over again, these abortion laws. This was clearly and, of course, innocent until proven guilty, but this is a lot of damning evidence.

[00:03:04] Yeah. Did this mother even have access to an abortion? Was she swayed to not abort her child at some point? There's so many different angles and, I'm not trying to put words in anybody's mouth. We don't know the full story yet, but. It's not good that you've got a party that is ruling from a minority making these decisions about women's healthcare.

[00:03:32] And then you see the potential of these really bad outcomes from that. So follow that. It's not gonna be resolved anytime soon, but it's something that really has been talked about here in metro Atlanta for sure. 

[00:03:47] Bob Gatty: In other words, are you saying that. This woman killed her child because she was unable to get an abortion.

[00:03:56] Robert Thompson: I'm making that as a possibility. We don't know for sure. I see. The, child was not born recently from everything that I've read. The child was able to walk, so it's at least a couple years old. But it's just a, horrible story all the way around. And, you wonder and, if you really go out and do news searches about unfit mothers, Like this.

[00:04:21] And, there's certainly in any other stories like this across our nation. Number one, were they fit to be a mother, were they even ever given an option? Were they adoption. There's just so many different angles and it's so complicated for some white Republican person to pass these laws against women's healthcare like that.

[00:04:45] We'll see. Stay tuned on, what's gonna happen there. 

[00:04:47] Bob Gatty: Yeah. This, whole business of abortion, restrictive abortion laws across the country is really bad. And, that's what's going on here in South Carolina too, which I'll get to it a little bit. It's terrible. 

[00:05:04] Arthur Hill: It's, top of the news up here.

[00:05:06] We've got a situation in North Carolina where one woman switched parties from Democrat to Republican. And now the republican woman legislator and now the Republican party and the state legislator has a veto proof majority. So they almost immediately passed a, new abortion bill that reduces from 20 to 12 weeks the time it takes to get an abortion and puts in a, bunch of extremely restrictive provisions about, how and when and under what conditions a woman can receive an abortion in North Carolina. And one woman who, is started the, session of the, of this year's legislature as a Democrat, switched and whereas she had introduced legislation which would basically make the original Roe decision the law on North Carolina.

[00:06:14] Soon as she became a Republican, she voted for the Republican bill. So it's hard to imagine where she's coming down on this. But there's a huge struggle going on now between the governor and the legislature. It comes down to four Republicans that they're focusing on to, to try to get 'em to, switch votes or, in one case there's a Republican legislature from the Wilmington area, one of the house districts in the Wilmington area who actually took a walk during the original vote did not vote on the bill originally. And and as a matter of fact said during his campaign that he wanted to keep the bill as is. I don't think he's gonna be able to take a walk again. It'll be. Amazing. If he does he might.

[00:07:04] But all the Democrats need to, sustain the veto is, one Republican to defect. So that could very easily be the guy. Governor vetoed the Bill last. Saturday. And so the, bill should come up in the house or the Senate for an, for sustain or override sometime later this week or early next.

[00:07:26] So that's at the top. Everybody's headlines this week in North Carolina. 

[00:07:31] Bob Gatty: We're fighting abortions here too in South Carolina. The Republicans continue to try to virtually outlaw abortions in the state. Last week, governor Henry McMaster called the state legislature, which had just adjourned.

[00:07:50] He called him back into a special session to work on a bill that would ban most abortions as early as six weeks, as well as to deal with some other legislation that was still hanging around. It hadn't been passed the least of, which was the budget, the least of which anyway, lawmakers had barely gotten home after the general assembly adjourned, on May 11th, they had to jump back in their cars, five days later, go back to Columbia to consider this abortion bill. 

[00:08:24] Robert Thompson: So why didn't they do this while they were there? What 

[00:08:28] Bob Gatty: I'm getting with that let me tell you the story. Thank you, Bob. I appreciate it.

[00:08:33] Okay. Just hang in there. Be patient. I will tell you. What happened was that the state has, the state senate has five female senators. Three of 'em are Republicans and two of them are Democrats. And combined, they got together and led the opposition against this bill, and it was a Republican senator by the name of Sandy Sin who likened the implications of the bill to the dystopian novel, the Handmades Tale in which women are treated as property of the state. Sin said, the effort was simply a power grab by men. She said, quote, in the Senate, the males have all the control. Close quote. It's really true because it's the men who also controlled the State Supreme Court. And the reason they controlled the State Supreme Court is because the state legislature picks the judges, the justices, and the only female Justice Kay Hearn has just recently retired. So what did they do? The state legislature. They got another guy in there to replace him. So the, South Carolina Supreme Court is the only state Supreme Court that does not have a woman on its bench. So the impact of that on any potential abortion issue that comes before it remains to be seen, but 

[00:10:14] Robert Thompson: I'm surprised they didn't call it that guy in jail.

[00:10:16] What's the attorney over there? Murdaugh? Why didn't they call him? Yeah, Merdaugh he's not doing anything. 

[00:10:21] Bob Gatty: No, he's not doing anything. He's got a lot time in his hands. Yeah.

[00:10:24] Time is about all he is got in his hands these days. I don't know. I haven't been up to the prison to see him, to see what he's doing. 

[00:10:35] Robert Thompson: You, have Zoom calls these days. He can be a Supreme Court justice from jail. Why not? 

[00:10:40] Bob Gatty: Oh, sure he could. There's no reason why he couldn't.

[00:10:43] Absolutely. Trump wants to be president from jail, right? If, you can be president from jail, why can't you be a Supreme Court Justice from jail? I don't see what the problem is, do you?. 

[00:10:56] Arthur Hill: Murdaugh ought have to get his license to practice back. But probably the Supreme Court would give it to him.

[00:11:00] Bob Gatty: They probably would. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, sure. He is a great guy. I'm sure. Yeah. He only killed his wife and kid. No, that's all. That's all. Yeah, that's all. At least he was convicted of killing his wife and kid, so I guess we can say that he killed his wife and kid without worrying about being sued. What else you got going on there robert. 

[00:11:21] Robert Thompson: So the other case or story here in Georgia Mr. Steven Owens. So I came across his Twitter feed while the Georgia Assembly was in session, and I forget the exact name of the organization, but he basically works for an organization that they lobby the elected officials here in Georgia to be better stewards of our tax funds.

[00:11:46] And to take a look at, for example, school voucher bills. Take a look at, for example Atlanta and Georgia has become the new Hollywood, but that's because of all these tax credits. And so when I met him at the time, again, he was really focusing on these school vouchers and he enlightened me.

[00:12:09] And there's a whole episode if anybody wants to check it out, that he, we did about a month or two ago. And his name is Steven Owens. And 

[00:12:16] Bob Gatty: he did that on, your podcast? 

[00:12:18] Robert Thompson: Yeah. On Got Damn Liberals? Yeah. He he was another I guess on that, episode. Alright. And so he was really focusing and honing in and he let me know and I wasn't, I didn't know about this here in Georgia, there were existing laws on the books that you could take public school funding and divert it over to private schools.

[00:12:42] And then, they weren't, they were not calling it a voucher, but there were other ways. There were also tax incentives to parents that chose to take their children out of public schools. His efforts and others were successful. There was a more extreme school voucher bill that died in the legislative process here in Georgia.

[00:13:00] But you better believe it's gonna come him up again. But I have to give Mr. Owen's credit, he did a really good job of breaking this down. Now you've got allegedly Texas is looking at the types of tax credits that Georgia gives away to the movie industry to do filming projects here in Georgia.

[00:13:21] That whole unit made in Georgia, all that with the peach on the on the the reel and all the tax credits behind that. And Stephen pretty much just fact check some. Over and over again of it's hugely expensive. It's not efficient. There was one study that said for every job that the movie production industry and television production industry does here in Georgia, it costs Georgia about $40,000.

[00:13:49] Now, $40,000 is actually a little more than minimum wage, but is that a good investment for the a state like Georgia to be giving away all these tax breaks and literally every job created cost about $40,000. I'll ask you guys that should new jobs cost $40,000 in tax credits? 

[00:14:10] Arthur Hill: Most, of the business that Georgia got came after the legislature in North Carolina stopped underwriting movie productions in, our state.

[00:14:22] And as soon as the legislature did that the movie industry Pretty much dried up. Much of which came, out of Wilmington in New Hanover County, just north of us, and they all moved to Georgia. And then the, legislature thought better about it and they reinstalled some of the credits that they had taken away.

[00:14:45] But that's an interesting. I've never heard anybody say that North Carolina actually loses money anytime a show is produced. So I don't know if there's any difference between what we do up here and what, you all do down there in terms of tax credits and other kinds of incentives.

[00:15:03] But I know that the, production business is more or less coming back in this state. It's not up to the level it was before, but mostly because a lot of folks are staying in Georgia. A lot of people actually physically moved down to Georgia after, the incentives ended here, and they don't seem to be, all of 'em at least don't seem to be coming back.

[00:15:27] I guess they like it down there in the peach state. 

[00:15:30] Robert Thompson: Possibly. And, I should have actually wore I have you ever heard the term "Clutch My Pearls?" Yeah, sure. Yeah. So I actually I play a good bit of poker with a, number of friends of mine. I actually have a pearl necklace downstairs I should have wore for this episode.

[00:15:45] But there is a show that I discovered recently, it's on Stars. It's called P Valley, and I'll let you decide on what P Valley stands for. But it is a it's set in Mississippi in a a black strip club in a small rural town in Mississippi. And again, the show is called P Valley. The show is very NC 17 rated, but that whole show was produced pretty much here in Georgia.

[00:16:11] And you have Republican alleged conservative Christian, value Republican legislators that allow these huge tax incentives for such. Again, I'll try to clutch my pearls here, that you know that there are some very racy scenes in this TV show. They're up to season three now, and they're, and guess what's blocking them right now is the writer strike.

[00:16:38] Yeah, so P Valley season three is one of the shows right now that is on hiatus and tulle. And I, wrote my, state legislators and they're both blue. I, live in blue DeKalb County. But I said honestly, y'all need to take another look at this. Do you really want, again, those good southern conservative Christian tax breaks going to fund a pretty racy TV show.

[00:17:05] Bob Gatty: So when you send your letter like that to your state legislators, do you hear back from 'em? Do they pay any attention to you? 

[00:17:14] Robert Thompson: Sometimes I, I do need to reach back out. I, would assume in this case they would probably agree. But in all the big lobbyists, there's this one dude in this blue county and he is making this one point.

[00:17:28] It's, also complicated. So I know that a lot of people I, it took me a couple of minutes here to describe what's going on, and people were still probably looking at me like, what are you talking about? So it's complicated. I get it, but versus what Arthur was saying in North Carolina, a lot of these states have capped these tax cuts and tax breaks because they saw how expensive they were for the state.

[00:17:52] Georgia has not done that, and that's why it's just floodgates wide open of whatever they choose to produce here. Okay. 

[00:17:58] Bob Gatty: Go ahead. Arthur. 

[00:18:00] Arthur Hill: I was also say that's a really interesting development. As I said before, I've never heard anybody up here make that claim.

[00:18:07] And it's probably because of the, might be be, because of the caps on the benefits, but on the incentives. But I'll have to look into that and see because that's, a big deal in in, our part of the world and our part of the state. Wilmington is the headquarters for all the video production that takes place in the state.

[00:18:27] And even, the Republican legislators that represent this part of the state have supported that industry in southeastern North Carolina. There must be some real differences between what we're doing here and, what's going on down there and and what they're doing.

[00:18:47] Robert Thompson: It's, unlimited. Is that what I understand? Someone explained it to me about a year or two ago when the accountants have a movie or TV production. There is I assume because it cannot assume that once for example, Stars you pay for Stars as a tv network monthly.

[00:19:05] So there's gonna be some projected 10, 15 year income for that particular project. What the Georgia tax credit allows them to do is they can take, I assume that estimated amount of Georgia tax that's gonna be paid over five to 10 years, and they, can immediately turn it around for a percentage so they can sell that tax credit for say, 80 to 85% of what that value is to another person that has to pay Georgia taxes.

[00:19:36] The cash immediately. And there's no limit on this. I understand that this similar type of structure in other states has been capped because again, guess what? It's expensive and if you just let it just run amok obviously there's gonna be room for losses. I. Hey, I I, don't want to stand on my soapbox and say that stop them all.

[00:19:59] But I think there are ways to limit this because it's truly expensive. And you have in Georgia as of later this year, they are now gonna start taxing TV and media downloads. So if you go to iTunes, if you go to do an ebook and things like this, those traditionally have not been subject to Georgia sales tax.

[00:20:18] But now Republicans, the party of lower taxation, they're, oh, we need to tax that. So you're gonna start paying sales tax on your eBooks. But again, the movie industry and all them, they continue to get those tax breaks. 

[00:20:31] Arthur Hill: Yes, they got good lobbyists. Did you say Arthur? I guess they have good lobbyists,

[00:20:37] Bob Gatty: I guess so.

[00:20:38] Oh, alright. Have you got anything else you wanna talk about Robert? 

[00:20:45] Robert Thompson: Stay tuned this summer we are gonna look for what Ms. Fannie Willis is doing in Fulton County. You have folks that are cooperating with her office. We've seen this before, right? This is typically how prosecutors and the FBI do things.

[00:20:59] They, no, this Bonnie Willis is who? She's the Fulton County District Attorney. Okay. That has been investigating that stupid phone call that former president made to find thousands of votes. Okay. And we'll see what happens this summer. She has also prepared local law enforcement saying be be aware this summer there's going to be some indictments.

[00:21:21] I'm not gonna tell you when, but you need to have you need to be ready. That's already in the works. 

[00:21:27] Bob Gatty: So why would they need to be ready? What would they need to be ready for? 

[00:21:31] Robert Thompson: Hopefully a lot of those followers of that former president are still in jail, so hopefully it's gonna diminish a lot of but there's gonna be some public discourse and a lot of unhappy Republicans about this 

[00:21:41] Bob Gatty: public discourse. You mean there might be some violence? 

[00:21:44] Robert Thompson: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Again, thankfully a lot of the Trump followers there are in jail and not able to participate. 

[00:21:53] Arthur Hill: Explain some, explain something to me. Am I correct? In my understanding of the justice system in, in Georgia. Everything, she's already been through one grand jury, right?

[00:22:07] And, is she on her second one now? And if so, how come? 

[00:22:11] Robert Thompson: There have been, there was a special grand jury, then there was another grand jury. There's been a lot of stuff going on, and I'm not a legal expert, but there have been several. 

[00:22:20] Arthur Hill: Why can't they, why can't they do it all on one grand jury? Do it all at once.

[00:22:25] Robert Thompson: Unfortunately, I'm not a lawyer. Sorry. 

[00:22:27] Bob Gatty: Okay, maybe we need to get a lawyer on our show. I got a buddy that would be a good one, but I don't know. He's in Michigan. That's hardly the south, 

[00:22:38] Arthur Hill: is it Southern? Maybe he's southern Michigan. 

[00:22:40] Robert Thompson: But what they did in Michigan is they tried to abduct the, governor up there before.

[00:22:44] Bob Gatty: So Yeah, I know. No, I'm talking about Mark Bellow, who is He's a attorney legal thriller author and he contributes to my lean to the left blog site, which by the way, you guys, if you haven't seen it, it's Lean to the Left.net. Anyway mark contributes articles to that and he also is co-host of the Justice Counts podcast, which I also co-host with him. He's, really sharp and a good guy, but like I said, he's hardly A member of the Dixie crowd. Of course, we're not either truth be told. 

[00:23:30] Robert Thompson: I'll just transplant it down here. Yeah, 

[00:23:32] Bob Gatty: We're all transplants. Actually, Robert, you're not a transplant, are you? 

[00:23:37] Arthur Hill: From South Georgia? 

[00:23:39] Bob Gatty: From South Georgia. Okay. Alright. 

[00:23:42] Robert Thompson: I'm, one of those city slickers in Atlanta now. Oh, okay. 

[00:23:47] Bob Gatty: I'm a transplant from Maryland and before that Pennsylvania 

[00:23:54] Arthur Hill: I'm a transplant from Maryland too but, part of the time was spent in southern Maryland.

[00:23:58] Does that count? 

[00:24:00] Bob Gatty: There you go. Actually I lived in a county in Maryland where they still have a Ku Klux Klan group, whatever it's called. What do they call those? Ku Klux clan groups. 

[00:24:12] Arthur Hill: A bunch of good people. 

[00:24:13] Bob Gatty: Yeah. Okay. On the other side. Yeah. 

[00:24:20] Robert Thompson: Yeah we, need a actual that was sarcasm.

[00:24:24] Just making sure the people were aware.

[00:24:25] Bob Gatty: Alright. Okay. So you got anything else you wanna talk about or either of you guys, because I got something else to weigh in on. All right. Ahead. Yeah, go ahead. All right. You guys were Robert, you were talking a little while ago. You've been talk, you guys have been talking about the, movie industry, which is the entertainment industry.

[00:24:48] Here in, in South Carolina, especially in Myrtle Beach, there's the entertainment industry's pretty, a pretty important industry, but it's not necessarily a movie making industry. We have a lot of, really high class gentleman's clubs, strip joints. 

[00:25:12] Robert Thompson: Do they get tax credits too? 

[00:25:14] Bob Gatty: Some of 'em are less high class than others.

[00:25:17] Robert Thompson: Do they get tax credits too?

[00:25:18] Bob Gatty: I don't know if they get tax credits or not, but I will tell you that they are pretty popular among the tourists and among a lot of the local yokels, some of whom may or may not be politicians. Now. It's one thing if they're a strip club which caterers to heterosexual guys basically looking to oogle half naked women.

[00:25:57] Arthur Hill: That's what you do. 

[00:25:58] Bob Gatty: It's a different thing though when it's not a Strip joint, but rather is a bar that shows drag shows. Now here, the state legislature not having anything else that's important to do is considering legislation that regulates drag shows.

[00:26:23] Robert Thompson: I'm clutching my pearls again. 

[00:26:24] Arthur Hill: Robert was clutching his pearls again.

[00:26:26] Bob Gatty: That some guy has introduced a bill called The Defense of Children's Innocence Act. It would prevent, it would prohibit children from attending a drag show that's considered explicit. Now, I don't know. I've never been to a drag show, although I have to say that way back when my son, who came out as being gay, actually performed drag shows in Baltimore for a while.

[00:26:59] That's my only experience with the drag show. I never went to one of them, although he, used to dress up to look like Jackie, who is my wife now.

[00:27:10] Oh yeah, that's rich. So, anyway, anyway, to be serious. To be serious. Now Jackie's in the audience and she's chuckling. And by the way, you guys that are seeing this on YouTube, do you see the palm tree behind me? I'm really not sitting on the beach. You can figure that out, right? Okay.

[00:27:32] Anyhow 

[00:27:34] Robert Thompson: You're closer to the beast than I am, though. 

[00:27:36] Bob Gatty: Yeah so anyhow, this this Defense of Children's Innocence Act deems any business that holds a drag show to be a sexually oriented business. Now, I presume that sexually oriented businesses are in for various special regulatory requirements.

[00:28:00] I don't know for a fact, but the bill says that drag show is intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification. So, that's prompted 

[00:28:15] Arthur Hill: how's that any different from a strip club? 

[00:28:17] Bob Gatty: That is my point. That's the point I'm trying 

[00:28:21] Robert Thompson: And nevermind that former president that wore all that makeup and went in drag for four years or longer.

[00:28:26] Yeah. I certainly got no sexual gratification out of that bullshit. 

[00:28:30] Bob Gatty: Yeah, I agree with that. All right, so anyhow, this guy, his name is Joe Debrowski. Joe is the owner of this bar on Pawley's Island, which is just south of Myrtle Beach. It's called Local Eat, Drink, Celebrate. That's the name of his bar.

[00:28:55] He said Lawmakers are creating legislation about topics they know nothing about. And my question is what's new about that? 

[00:29:06] Robert Thompson: That they can anyway, copy and paste and submit though. 

[00:29:09] Bob Gatty: That's right. So anyway, he said their drag shows are restricted to customers over 18 and are held in a room in the back of the restaurant.

[00:29:20] He said all of their queens go upstairs, change into their costumes, and then they come down and they do their thing in this room that's that's in the back of the restaurant. So he said some people complained that these drag queens would be out parading around in the little shops that are outside near this bar.

[00:29:42] But he said, no, that would never happen. They wouldn't do that. They wouldn't go out and do that and make a spectacle of themselves. So anyway the state legislature has tried to pass this bill, or at least they're considering this bill. We'll see what happens to it. But I understand that's not just that's, it's, it is not just happening here in South Carolina, there's a lot of states that are passing legislation restricting drag show performances and, I guess maybe it's that copy and paste outfit that you guys were talking about in previous episodes, 

[00:30:20] Arthur Hill: right? Yeah that's, one of 'em. Anyway. I don't know if that's the one responsible for this bill, but Yeah.

[00:30:26] Alec. Yeah. 

[00:30:29] Robert Thompson: Tennessee, you've got Dolly Parton up there and Dolly Parton is an American treasure, but she can sure look like a lot number of drag queens. She was asked to joke one time, she goes Dolly, how long does it take you to do your hair? And she goes, I don't know. I'm never there when they do it.

[00:30:43] Bob Gatty: Never what? She said, what? 

[00:30:46] Robert Thompson: Oh, so they asked Dolly, they said, how how long does it take to do your hair? And she goes, I don't know. I'm never there when they do it.

[00:30:52] Bob Gatty: It took me a beat or two to figure out why that Me too, 

[00:30:57] Robert Thompson: Dolly is an American treasurer and 

[00:31:00] Bob Gatty: Oh yeah, she is. Absolutely. 

[00:31:01] Robert Thompson: She she tries to stay out of politics, but. I think she's pretty clear where she lies with all this. And you, go against Dolly, you're going against Lord. She's, quite religious, so 

[00:31:14] Bob Gatty: you're going against the Lord if you go against Dolly Parton.

[00:31:18] That's funny. That's funny. That is funny. Okay. 

[00:31:23] Arthur Hill: But, to Bob's point I, don't know about this bill. I don't even know how this bill could stand any kind of judicial scrutiny. 

[00:31:31] Bob Gatty: Probably, couldn't. Once again, we need that lawyer on this show. 

[00:31:35] Arthur Hill: Yeah, we do. How, can you, put up that kind of restriction against a place that does one kind of show and not do it on another place that some people have moral objections to that, that does another kind of show.

[00:31:51] Bob Gatty: Exactly and, which is a lot more I would say pointed that's not the word I'm looking for. Graphic in, in, its in, its sexual orientation, right? It can be, yeah. Look at, you go to a strip club, what happens at a strip club, they take off their clothes, they strip. And they dance around.

[00:32:16] They climb up on poles, they flip their boobs at you. They'll come and, sit on your table in front of you and flip their boobs in your face and all that kind of stuff. And if you pay extra money, you can take 'em to this special room where they will do more aggressive things for you for an extra fee.

[00:32:41] Arthur Hill: And that doesn't happen at dr. It doesn't happen at drag shows. 

[00:32:44] Bob Gatty: No, it doesn't happen at drag shows. 

[00:32:45] Robert Thompson: Not the ones I've ever been to. 

[00:32:47] Bob Gatty: No, 

[00:32:47] Not the ones you've ever been to. Look at the first of all these, are guys and they're, dressed up like women. So where's this sexual aspect of that?

[00:33:00] I don't and, 

[00:33:01] Arthur Hill: a lot of times they're pretty talented. 

[00:33:03] Bob Gatty: Yeah. I know my son Mike was, he was really good. Yeah. Alright. Anyhow, 

[00:33:10] Robert Thompson: so speaking along this as well, and there was a connection with the new show. If you remember the old show, Matlock had Andy Griffith in it. Yeah. Back from the so now they're gonna reboot that and guess what?

[00:33:21] They're gonna gender bend it. And Kathy Bates is going into play. Matlock's character. 

[00:33:26] Bob Gatty: Is that right? 

[00:33:27] Robert Thompson: Yeah. Don't tell those Republicans cause you know that, they could find some issues with that I'm sure.

[00:33:32] Arthur Hill: Yeah. Are they gonna produce in Georgia? 

[00:33:35] Robert Thompson: Of quite likely. But they got that writer's strike. They got the, author. You may be a part of that art writer's strike now too, right? 

[00:33:44] Arthur Hill: Yeah. But drag shows are, centuries old. They we're, not talking about something that's just popped up here with the counterculture. We're talking about, we're talking about 16th century Shakespeare when women couldn't act and men had to perform in women's roles.

[00:34:01] And that. None of this, is new. And and it's just it's, as though the, it's as though the Republicans have all of a sudden have discovered that this is going on and this is horrible and we've gotta stop it. How can you stop something that's been going on a locomotive for 500 years?

[00:34:19] Bob Gatty: It's a good thing that we have somebody who is so well educated and, and, up to date on their history. That's really good. Thanks for adding this little bit of insight to our, 

[00:34:33] Robert Thompson: we just had a we, need to go back and look up these names and addresses of these folks that have submitted these bills.

[00:34:39] Maybe they need to get some pearl necklaces in the mail.. 

[00:34:41] Arthur Hill: Yeah, sure. That's a great idea. That's a great start ,sending fake pearl necklaces around. 

[00:34:49] Bob Gatty: Okay. I wanna ask you guys I wanna get, I wanna move on from from, drag shows and strip shows to something a little bit more serious. Do you guys think that Trump is going to be indicted or convicted?

[00:35:15] He's already been found guilty of abusing this writer E. Jean Carroll in an apartment store dressing room back in the nineties. And, he's gonna have to cough up several million dollars, 5 million bucks. Yeah. For his trouble which he says he didn't do. But anyway do you think that his legal issues that and, all of these other legal issues, what's going on in Georgia and, with the, and in New York and, with the Jack Smith investigation, do you think that that's gonna cost him the nomination in the end? 

[00:35:54] Robert Thompson: Yes. And I think I set it on the episode or two back. I think Trump is not gonna make it to jail. Now you he may get a jail time. 

[00:36:03] Bob Gatty: Yeah. You think he's gonna end, he'll be dead before that.

[00:36:07] Robert Thompson: He's ancient. Yeah, he's I, don't see him making it there. But Republicans go right ahead. Because he did not win the popular vote the first time. He lost the second time, and he's gonna lose even worse this time. You've got people jumping ship everywhere and Republicans, they cannot say it because it'll be held against him, but they know this and he is literally the biggest boat anchor on the Republican ship they've ever seen.

[00:36:38] Bob Gatty: I wanna talk about a C B S News, u gov poll. That was just published shows that Trump has a 30 point margin over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. And, there are some pretty revealing additional findings. For one, even though election deniers cost the G O P dearly in the 2022 election, this poll shows that a large majority of Republican leaning voters continue to believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

[00:37:20] And they want to vote for candidates who agree with that position. And that's a big percentage. That's a big margin, and that's pretty troubling, don't you think? 

[00:37:32] Arthur Hill: Yeah I if, what Robert is saying is is that Trump isn't gonna be the next president of the United States because he's gonna die before he reaches his office, that's one thing.

[00:37:43] But if he doesn't I think he is I, don't think he's gonna be the next president of the United States, but I think he is gonna be the Republican nominee. And I only because he has such still to this day and and, has a, has powerful sway and there's nothing on the horizon including indictments from fulton County and and from the Justice Department that that are gonna stand in the way of that. I it's it's, quite possible that, he could be under indictment and and get the nomination from the Republican party next year. I, think that's entirely possible.

[00:38:20] Bob Gatty: I do too. And another thing this poll showed was that 75% of Republican leaners say Trump's supposed 2020 victory is sufficient reason for them to vote for him again. And 84% predicted Trump would beat Biden. Only 38% said Trump would lose to Biden. And that's a reason to vote against him.

[00:38:53] That's pretty remarkable too, I think. 

[00:38:57] Robert Thompson: It is. But I say game on. Yeah. He, it, he's got a horrible chance. You've, this red wave that was supposed to happen in midterms, it didn't happen. It only gave the, Republicans in the house a slim, majority then, and they've got people bailing off of that majority.

[00:39:18] Game on. 

[00:39:21] Bob Gatty: 60% said that they prefer a candidate who does not comment about the January 6th insurrection, but 24% said they support a candidate who supports those who entered the capitol illegally that day. 

[00:39:38] Robert Thompson: Oh, those people in jail, right? 

[00:39:39] Bob Gatty: Yeah. Yeah. Trump's message of retribution against his enemies is supported by 32% of Republican leaners, even if it's at the expense of getting things done.

[00:39:52] So there's a third of the people out there, a third of the Republicans out there who like the idea of Trump going after anybody who disagreed with him about anything. 

[00:40:06] Robert Thompson: Can you imagine living in that echo chamber? 

[00:40:10] Bob Gatty: It's hard to imagine living in a country where this kind of thing is possible. And it is just it's, disgusting to me.

[00:40:17] It's just disgusting that we even have to talk about this guy anymore. 

[00:40:22] Arthur Hill: Yeah. That's inevitable. We'll, be talking, we'll be talking about 'em for the rest of The rest of history. There there's there's, never been anybody like this in American politics that reached this level of prominence.

[00:40:37] And he'll always be, he'll always be the subject of some conversation. 

[00:40:42] Bob Gatty: I have a, yeah, I agree with that. I have a great picture that I took off the TV of a fly on Pence's head.

[00:40:54] It's clear as a bell that big old fly just sitting there on his gray hair .Anyway, what do you think of Pence's chances? 

[00:41:04] Robert Thompson: He's, not popular enough. He's, just, okay, put him in a lineup with how many other middle-aged to older white Republican men. They're all the same. And, nobody stands out.

[00:41:17] The only one that has been able to be more extreme than the rest of 'em. And, is that stupid rain name recognition that the former president has? 

[00:41:28] Arthur Hill: I think it might, you might do better than Asa Hutchinson as a nominee. but don't think he'd do better than Nikki Haley.

[00:41:37] I, I continue to say that of all the Republicans out there who are running if, she gets a chance, if she gets a chance to win the nomination I think she's dangerous. 

[00:41:46] Bob Gatty: I think she's dangerous too. I really do. And she's not lacking for resources either. I saw piece morning that she's plenty of money rolling in 

[00:41:59] Robert Thompson: Game on.

[00:42:01] Arthur Hill: Yeah. Yeah, but I don't think Pence, apparently is his strategy is is, not to use the strategy that Trump used to get to the White House, which is not surprising. He wants to, follow a, reaganite path. Yeah. He wants to he wants to come across as a reasonable and good communicator.

[00:42:21] And of course he is got, he's got experience. He had his radio show before he became governor and of Indiana. He understands the media and maybe he can make, maybe he can do something with that and, follow in Reagan's footsteps.

[00:42:37] But I, honestly I, just don't, I don't see where he gets his support. I don't know what, part of the party supports him. 

[00:42:45] Bob Gatty: We don't either. I think he's, a big zero. That's just my opinion.

[00:42:51] Robert Thompson: He would've the Bush Republicans coming back to him, but that'd be it. And you've got Kemp here in Georgia catering back to the Bush Republicans.

[00:42:59] He's not gonna denounce anything for these crazy right-wingers, but he's also not gonna he, actually is not going to the state Republican Convention. Kemp said, I'm out, not going. 

[00:43:10] Arthur Hill: That's right. Yeah. 

[00:43:12] Bob Gatty: We haven't talked at all about, the Democrats and, Biden. You guys think there's any chance Biden won't run. 

[00:43:21] Robert Thompson: No. He, already said he is. 

[00:43:24] Bob Gatty: I know he said he is. 

[00:43:24] Arthur Hill: If he had some catastrophic health, Issue. Yeah. That would that, would prevent him from running only because the minute he got sworn in, somebody would invoke the 25th Amendment.

[00:43:39] And I, think that that could keep him outta the White House for a second term, but I don't think that's gonna happen. I think he, continues to, march on. When he get, when he first got elected to the Senate, he wasn't old enough to be a senator yet. He was only 29 years old.

[00:43:57] And and he, turned 30 when between the time he got elected and, when he got sworn in. So he, made the age limit. But he's been around for a long time. He knows what he is doing. He knows what he is talking about. He knows how to, he knows how to appeal to the common American.

[00:44:12] And I think one of the, one of the things that's gonna come out of this campaign is that he's gonna cement his relationships with middle America. I might be a total optimist, But I really believe that because I think he has the ability to do that, and I think he can reach out and he can by virtue of his background and his upbringing and and his record in the Senate I think he can reach out to the middle class and, make great progress and, getting Democrats back into the back into the good graces of of the American middle class.

[00:44:43] That's what I'm hoping for out of this, election. Hoping that's what he does. Okay. 

[00:44:49] Bob Gatty: All right. Anybody else got anything? 

[00:44:52] Arthur Hill: There's plenty for this month. 

[00:44:54] Bob Gatty: Okay. All right guys. Listen, thanks so much for being with us on the Lean to the left. 

[00:45:00] Arthur Hill: By the way, I'm supporting Biden.

[00:45:01] Can you tell? 

[00:45:02] Bob Gatty: Yeah I am too. 

[00:45:04] Arthur Hill: He's got his pearls again. 

[00:45:06] Bob Gatty: Okay, guys. So thanks for, being with us and and we'll be back at you next month with the Dixie Dems. I'll lean to the left. Thanks, Bob. 

[00:45:18]