No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Trump's campaign goes into panic mode ahead of election

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

Trump dissembles at the worst time as his campaign tries to pick up the slack. Brian interviews the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Missouri, Lucas Kunce, about Josh Hawley’s most recent scandal with a private jet and what it would mean for Missouri if the Democrats’ 50th vote was from a red state. And Will Rollins, the Democratic nominee for California’s 41st congressional district, joins to discuss Trump’s recent threats against California in Coachella, whether Trump promoting the Republican in the race was personal given Will’s work prosecuting the January 6 insurrectionists, and the state of his race right now. Donate to Lucas: https://lucaskunce.com/Donate to Will: https://willrollinsforcongress.com/Shop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to talk about Trump dissembling at the worst time and how his campaign is trying to pick up the slack. And I interviewed the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, Lucas Coontz, about Josh Hawley's most recent scandal with a private jet, and what it would mean for Missouri if the Democrat's 50th vote was from a red state. And I'm joined by Will Rollins, the Democratic nominee for California's 41 congressional district, one of the most flippable seats in the country, to discuss Trump's recent threats against California during his Coachella rally, whether Trump promoting the Republican in Will's

race was personal, given Will's work prosecuting the January 6th insurrectionists and the state of that race right now. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. So look, a lot of us have been beating this drum about Trump's cognitive state for a long time. Like, let's not forget that a year ago, Trump was already claiming that Obama was still the president, that World War II hadn't happened yet, that Jeb Bush got us involved in the war in the Middle East, and he was going off on tangents about toilets, flushing, and windmills killing birds. So I've been covering this for a minute now. And of course, the mainstream media was busy giving Trump a pass in order to focus on Biden. But now, even the New York Times is publishing articles

about Trump's cognitive decline. And when the Times is acknowledging Trump's mental state, then the whole world can see Trump's mental state. Like for that outlet, to begrudgingly have to acknowledge the objective reality that Trump's brain is rotting in real time is an indication that he's really jumped the shark. And so now, his campaign is realizing that the problem is that people are actually listening to Trump speak. So they've begun canceling appearances. He's, of course, bailed on a second debate with Kamala, bailed on a 60 Minutes interview, a CNBC squawc box interview,

an NBC interview, a Politico interview, an interview with the Shade Room, and even an NRA rally? What does it say when a Republican doing a rally with the NRA is too risky? And so the point here is clear. Trump's campaign obviously recognizes what a liability he is when he's able to speak extemporaneously. And now that we're in October and just two weeks out from the election, and everyone's finally tuned in, including low-information voters across the country,

the campaign is doing everything they can to just keep them out of the spotlight. Trump's campaign's biggest liability at this point is the candidate himself. I mean, honestly, think about the last few appearances he did make. This past week, he had a rally where he spent 39 minutes on stage swaying to music. Another rally where he spent 16 minutes wandering around the stage because his mic cut out and he had no ability to just improvise. just this weekend, uh, where Trump went on a 10-minute rant about the golfer Arnold Palmer culminating into this moment.

This is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refused to say it. But when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, oh, my God. That's unbelievable. I had to say it. Yep, that's Donald Trump speaking longingly about the size of Arnold Palmer's anatomy. That's the closing message Trump went with two weeks out from this election.

Let's get on stage and talk about a dead guy's weener. And look, that unto itself is pretty telling, right? Because when you are so undisciplined that you can't control yourself for the final two weeks of the campaign, imagine what it'll look like if Trump wins and gets into office and is just completely unburdened by the prospect of another election. His danger aside, this guy's brain is cooked And he's putting it on full display on a daily basis at this point Imagine what it would look like

If he was then in charge of the nuclear arsenal But here's the deal Trump's fans won't see this stuff Because it doesn't pierce the hermetically sealed bubble on the right And the few people who do see it Won't care because part of being in a cult is Slavish fealty to the cult leader I say that to caution you against thinking

That this is all some silver bullet for him We cannot expect that because we know that he is on stage swaying to music and wandering around his rallies and talking about dead golfers, genitals, and canceling any interview where he might face even one critical question, we can't just assume that everybody knows.

Meaning the onus is on us individually to just make the case to our circles of people. That's going to be the whole ballgame from here on out. I've said it before, no one is here to save us, no one is here to rescue us. It's not going to be the courts or prosecutors or politicians or the Democratic Party. it is on us individually.

So if you're looking for one thing that you can do, it is to find somebody in your life, in your circle, friends, family, co-workers, who wasn't going to vote and to make that person your responsibility. Next up are my interviews with Lucas Coons and Will Rollins. Now we've got the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Missouri. Lucas Coons, thanks for coming back on.

Yeah, man. Thanks for having me. I always love being here. So, Lucas, we've got some big news here regarding Josh Hawley. So I want to draw your attention first to a tweet that he posted in 2018. Claire McCaskill's definition of being the hardest working Democrat in the party, skipping out of her luxury RV to fly in her luxury jet, it must be good to be rich and liberal. Which brings us to today. So what did his latest FEC filing show?

Yeah, I mean, I guess that he's rich and an a hole, right? Like a complete hypocrite. I mean, the guys, you know, he doesn't have a campaign event here for 55 days. He comes into the state and zips around on a Gulfstream 4, fancy luxury jet with Harrison Buckker on a bromance tour about how wouldn't it just be a beautiful thing if women step aside? Like, it's absolutely unreal. I want to throw your attention to that clip right here. How beautiful it is for women to maybe just step aside. So, Lucas, what was your reaction to seeing Josh Hawley alongside Harrison Vodker as he made those comments?

about women? I mean, this is a confirmation of everything we know about Josh Holly. I'm glad he's out there campaigning and letting people know what he really stands for. I mean, this is probably the worst U.S. Senator on women's reproductive rights, which I mean, it's kind of an accomplishment, right, when you consider some of folks. Saying something, yes. It's insane. It's impressive, though. I mean, you know, when the IVF was banned in Alabama for a little bit, Josh Holly, very cutting edge on that issue. He'd written an article in 2013 where he said that in vitro fertilization, the morning after pill and any type of contraception that prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg is abortion he's voted against for protections for pregnant workers uh gosh i mean the list is so long he recently came out

and said that we need to reconsider the wisdom of no fault divorces because i guess that he's tired of women getting out of unsafe and abusive marriages it's just unreal and so for them to be you know plotting their little bromance step aside to her like no surprise to me i'm glad he's doing it you know We got abortion on the ballot here in the fall, and this is what Missourians need to know. So let's talk about the direct impact of Josh Hawley being in the U.S. Senate versus another Missouri Republican, Roy Blunt. So a senator's job, ostensibly, is to bring back money to their state. How has Holly performed on that front? Well, it's a big fat zero.

You know, he has Roy Blunt, our previous Republican, did the baseline job, which is bring home about $300 million to Missouri every single year in directed spending. And so Josh Holly has just said that he's not going to do that. Like he thinks he's the national senator from Missouri, and it's just not his problem. But the, you know, the impact on Missouri is absolutely tangible. You know, I grew up in a great working class neighborhood when I was a kid. My family went bankrupt for medical bills, and we made it because the people in our neighborhood, you know, who had no more money than we did, they passed the plate for us. They brought more food by the house than we could eat and really took care of us. And if you go back there today, like Josh Holly's neglect of our state, it just shows everywhere.

I mean, like, the first house I lived in is an empty lot. The one I joined the Marine Corps out of that everybody brought food by is boarded up to keep the squatters out and the store on the corner was shut down because it was robbed so much it couldn't get insurance. Like, that's Josh Holly's Missouri. All he cares about is making half a million dollars writing self-help books about other people's manhood and, you know, trying to be president. And he doesn't care about our state.

He doesn't bring money back here. I mean, I guess this is good news, but the people in Missouri realize that and we're ready to kick him out. So what is Holly doing with his time if he's not bringing back money to the state? Well, he's writing self-help books. He's plotting how he's going to take over and control women's lives, decide how all of us get to live, and, you know, getting his staff to write Project 2025. I mean, you know, Josh Holly is deep into this. He was actually an intern at Heritage Foundation back in the day.

He's been very close with them. Several members of his staff contributed to that. I mean, he is an architect of Project 2025, which we all know, is about tracking women's pregnancies, taking money away from working people and destroying the way of life that we've all come to know here in Missouri and all across the country. And it's just, I mean, like, if he wants to do that, like, great, go write your books, go write your, you know, crazy manifestos about how you want to take over the world. But leave the position that you're in so that someone there can actually do the work for Missouri. To that point, Lucas, what would it mean to be a red state Democrat in the

U.S. Senate, a Democrat from the state of Missouri as the 50th vote in terms of what you can deliver for your voters, like versus Holly being just another Republican from a red state? I mean, it'd be huge for us. I have a Marshall plan from the Midwest that would be great for all of America that builds out the next generation of energy and manufacturing right here in the heart of America. We've lost so many jobs. And it's just like it would be a good for all of us. It'd be great for the union workers who work here, everyday workers who need a job. Like it's just there's so much potential and so much opportunity for us here in this state across the Midwest and even nationally. And we just, like, when we have someone who's not a serious senator who doesn't care about doing the job, just likes to yell a lot.

You know, he's a real showhorse, but he's not a workhorse. All of us suffer because of that. And it's just, it's going to be transformational when I win this thing and start delivering from Missouri. How to seeing what Joe Manchin, for example, was able to leverage in his role as a Red State Democrat, how does that kind of inform what you would be able to do? I mean, that's what I want to do, right? I want to use my leverage, the fact that we've won this seat and the fact that we won the seat like on a message of delivering for Missouri, right? If we want to keep this, we have to deliver from Missouri. That's just the only way that it's going to work.

And the people here need it. I mean, we've been neglected for so long that like I said, our neighborhoods are falling apart, our infrastructure is falling apart. We've been decimated by big ag and monopolists because politicians like Josh Hawley, you know, they take money from the wrong people and they let those folks just strip our communities for parts. How has that kind of presented itself or manifested on the campaign trail? Are you hearing from people who have been lifelong Republicans who recognize A, the inaction of Josh Hawley, but B, what you would be able to do being a red state Democrat, being the 50th vote basically in the U.S. Senate once you got there? Absolutely, man. I mean, I just got an email yesterday morning from a guy who said he's a Republican.

He's 60 years old. He has voted for Republicans every single one of the 40 years that he's been voting. He says he's going to vote for Donald Trump, but he's going to vote for me because, to quote him, because I'm better for Missouri than Josh Hawley. And it's just, that's what we need right now. And I hear that over and over again out on the campaign trail. You know, we have groups like the International Association of Firefighters here who endorsed Roy Blunt, you know, our current Republican for governor, our past, Roy Blunt was our former Republican senator,

you know, many Republican members of Congress. But they're not voting, they're not supporting Josh Holly. They're supporting me instead because they love my record of service being in the Marine Corps forever. They love the way that I grew up. And they know that if they want someone to deliver for this state, I'm the only guy who's going to do it for him. So it just, it gives us a real opportunity here. And the other real big strong thing that we got going for me is I take no money from corporate PACs, no money from federal lobbyists, no money from big farm executives. You know, none of these people who've been buying off weak-minded, you know, ambitious, hungry

people like Josh Hawley and using them to just gut our state. And so, you know, that's what people want. They just want to be invested in. They want someone who will take care of them, give them opportunities. And what they don't want is creeps like Josh Holly deciding how they get to live, controlling their lives, and taking away their decision making. Lucas, how has this idea of this longstanding idea of Republicans branding as the party of freedom versus what it is now, which is obviously the complete antithesis of that? I mean, Republicans are looking to monitor pregnancies, to monitor periods, to monitor where you can travel in this country, to monitor what you can read. How is that manifested itself among people who have for a long time for their

entire lives identified as Republicans, which is, again, purportedly the party that values freedom and limited government? Here, we've been trying to take power back from these creepy controlling politicians like Josh Holly for a little while. You know, we overturned his anti-union right to work legislation, 68% to 32% on ballot initiative. We made it legal to smoke weed on ballot initiative. We expanded Medicaid over their objections on ballot initiative. You know, we've just done thing after thing after thing. We have, you know, a constitutional amendment to basically codify Roe v. Wade.

That's going to win this year. It's like people here are stoked to take power back for themselves. Like Missouri is a freedom-loving place. I don't know my other states that well, but I'm going to tell you what, man, it's top-notge here. That's what we want. We want the government out of our lives. We want to be able to make our own decisions. Again, we just want our senators and our representatives to invest in us, right?

like so that we can make our own decisions. And I learned Missourians are good at making their own decisions when I was a kid. I mentioned it, but like when my family went bankrupt, you know, it was really, really hard. I mean, my mom and dad just struggling not only because they didn't know if my little sister was going to make it, but because they didn't know how our family was going to make it. And we didn't make it because the country club politicians like Josh Holly on the other side of town were there for us. Again, we made it because the working class people in that neighborhood who had no more money than we did took care of us. the spirit we got here. I'm going to support that spirit every day. And I can tell everybody

when I go out on the campaign trail, like, I'm going to stand beside working people every single day because that's who took care of me and my family when we didn't know how we're going to make it. And that's a winning message, man. Lucas, what's your message to people out there who may not be that involved in politics, but do know that they're going to show up to vote for the abortion rights measure that's going to be on the ballot, but otherwise don't really have much of an incentive they feel like to vote for the politicians down the ballot, down and up the ballot. Yeah. If you're tired of these guys taking money from the wrong people and stripping our country, stripping our state, stripping our communities for parts, if you want to fundamentally change

who has power in this country, like, I'm the guy who's going to do that. I'm the only guy who's going to do that. Again, no money from corporate PACs, no money from federal lobbyists, no money from big farm executives. I don't take any of that. You know, we do things the right way. Our average donations, like $30. And I do that for a reason, because the only people I'm ever going and O are everyday Missourians, like those in my old neighborhood, who took care of me and my family. And so, like, if you want to make your own decisions, if you want to bring money back home, you're going to have to vote for me.

And I'm going to do that. I'm going to do both those things. Lucas, you've got a debate coming up at the end of the month here with Josh Hawley. What's your goal at that debate? He's just to let everybody know who I am, right? I'm a normal guy who grew up in mid-Missouri. I, you know, obviously we went through some stuff when I was a kid, but I made something in my life.

I joined the Marine Corps to honor and serve everybody who took care of me. I did 13 years on active duty. You know, I led a police training team in Iraq, deployed to Afghanistan twice. Like, my life is about service. And I want to contrast that with Josh Hawley, right? A guy who, when he's in school, works at the Heritage Foundation, figuring out how they can control everybody's lives. His first job out of school was literally at Washington, D.C.,'s biggest corporate lobbying law firm.

Like, that is who this guy is at his core. He doesn't care about anybody else. He just cares about himself. And we've just got to contrast those two things, how I'm going to invest in Missourians. I'm going to take care of everybody. I'm going to make it so we can make our own decisions and about how he only cares about himself,

whatever his personal ambitions are, getting rich, and he just leaves us behind and neglects us. And that is the contrast that we have. And that's my goal to get out to debate. And I just know it's going to come across because it's the truth. And we got the truth standing behind us. Lucas, how can we help your campaign?

So we are hand to mouth right now with advertising. We have found that our message works. give the contrast out against Josh Holly, we win this. Republicans come over, everyday people in the state who don't pay a lot of attention come over. We just got to remind them why they hate Josh Holly, because honestly they all do. He's a very unlikable person. You can tell that he's kind of smarmy and only cares about himself. And so we need help getting that message out. If you can go to Lucascoons.com and donate, it would be absolutely huge for us. If you're in Missouri, don't forget to vote. Tell your friends and family to vote. Get them out. If you know people in

Missouri, do the same thing. We're running phone banks every night. We're doing text messages, sign up to volunteer on the website if you don't have the financial means. Like, this is all hands on deck. But I'm going to tell you right now, if we build an army that marches all the way through November 5th, we will win this. We will take it. The polling has been so close, four points, five points in some of the latest polls. We're closing the gap rapidly. We just need your help to push us over the finish line. And I would just echo that. We did have a Democrat just a few years back in the U.S. Senate from Missouri. And again, And that was before, really, the people of Missouri got to know exactly who Josh Hawley is

and what a hypocrite he's presented himself as. And I would just echo, too, look, you know, for those watching right now, this is exactly the kind of person that we need in the U.S. Senate. This is somebody who's there for the right reasons, who's there to help people in his state, not just to build his brand or to use his constituents or the U.S. Senate as a ladder for his own personal ambition. So this guy is the real deal here. And I do think that everybody would be well served by having him in office.

So, again, if you haven't yet had the opportunity, please visit his website. Link is right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. Lucas, thank you for taking the time. Best luck on this campaign show on the last few weeks here. Thanks for having, brother. Always love coming on. Really appreciate it. And we'll force it down his throat.

And we'll say, Gavin, if you don't do it, we're not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the farest fire. that you have. It's not hard to do. I'm joined now by Will Rollins, the Democratic nominee for Congress in California's 41st Congressional District. Will, that was Donald Trump in the Coachella Valley here in California, not far from where you're running for Congress again in the 41st Congressional District against Ken Calvert. What do you make of Donald Trump threatening to withhold aid to California at a rally in California to Californians who will presumably be the ones to suffer the

consequences of his decisions? I've got to tell you, I've talked to people who voted for Donald Trump twice, Republicans in this district who were planning to vote for Donald Trump, who have heard the comments that he made both at Coachella and then a few weeks ago when he was in Palace Verdes about withholding aid from our firefighters. They've said that that was a red line because a lot of Republicans in my district have family and friends who are first responders, who are firefighters, and they don't want to be in a position where their family members' lives are at risk because they've chosen to elect a president who is now threatening to withhold disaster aid from our first responders. And of course, that's not the only instance where

Trump's created some controversy regarding the disaster relief. His lies about FEMA have resulted in some actual real world consequences in North Carolina, kind of a precursor, a prelude to what would happen here in California. Can you speak on that? Yeah, I mean, this is a guy who, again, is putting people at risk, putting the lives of first responders at risk who are trying to help people who are just recovering from one of the worst hurricanes in memory in the southeastern United States. And they've got a former president whose disinformation, whose lies have now put their lives at risk. And I think, again, it's not really a partisan issue. And it reminds me a little bit, too, of what he said at the debate, right? When he talked about immigrants

eating cats, eating dogs, there were Republicans in Springfield, Ohio, who that was the red line for them. Because kids couldn't go to school because of bomb threats, right? So his words have real consequence. And look, like, as somebody who grew up in a split family, who has friends who previously voted for Donald Trump, I will tell you that these comments about first responders and emergency personnel are a red line for them because they are seeing their own family members and friends have to leave states as a result of threats. They're seeing their own firefighter friends and parents who are now worried about the ability to get resources that they need just to do their jobs in Southern California. And I think it's a big part of the reason we're going to

flip districts like California 41 because folks want leaders in government who are going to stand up to their own party and do the right thing for cops and firefighters on the front lines. And by the way, we have these militia groups that are hunting down FEMA members in North Carolina. We even have, you can look at the disaster response in Puerto Rico in 2017. I believe that was Hurricane Maria, where Donald Trump held $20 billion in aid to the island. Why? Because there's no electoral benefit for him. So he's already shown what happens in these areas where he doesn't think.

that he will derive enough of a benefit and how he treats the people because it doesn't, you know, we're down to his political benefit, basically. One of the justifications for Trump to hold a rally in Coachella is that Republicans are clearly worried about losing Ken Calvert's seat,

and that's your opponent, assuming that's why he came, which, again, you know, it may very well be that he is having a lot of trouble putting butts in seats in these swing districts, and so he wants, you know, some fresh people out in California that he's decided to do

in the middle of his campaign where really the battleground states are the whole ballgame for him. Assuming still, that's why he came, what does it say about the state of your race with Ken Calvert? I mean, they know he's going to lose. They're doing everything they can to try to save him. And it wasn't just Trump who came to Coachella on Saturday. It was also Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, who came and did a rally for him in Corona or Norco yesterday on the other side of the district. So they know Calvert is in real trouble. And it's because we're able to appeal to a lot of independence, a lot of moderate Republicans who don't want to live in a world where whether the firefighters in our district get

disaster aid depends on who's president of the United States. It's just un-American. And they're looking for reasonable, sane leadership. And Ken Calvert is just going to bend over backwards to do whatever Donald Trump tells him to do. It's why he voted to overturn the last election, voted against the January 6th committee, called for dropping charges against people who assaulted the U.S. Capitol. And it just cuts through party lines when you have a member of Congress who won't stand up to folks who assaulted cops at the U.S. Capitol. You've actually prosecuted insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6th.

Do you think that that might have been why Trump would travel to one of the bluest states in the country in the final stretch of this campaign? Do you think that it was personal to him? I do. I think he believes that folks who were loyal to him, that's how he operates, right? It's entirely about personal loyalty. And it's what we've seen time and time again with him, whether it's going back to Jim Comey and the private conversation they had at the dinner where he asked for loyalty from him or people like Ken Calvert in the House of Representatives where he demanded it and Calvert provided it. And he wants to send a signal to people in government right now that if you are loyal to, to him. If you vote to overturn the election for him, he'll have your back. And the bad news for these guys is that districts like mine, it's going to backfire because Southern Californians don't want this kind of weird, extreme bullshit in our state. And look at Calvert. It's like you've got to win the middle to hold a purple seat. And instead, he's running all the way to the right, the same guy who voted against the largest bipartisan infrastructure bill in U.S. history and instead brings

Mike Johnson, the co-sponsor of a national abortion ban to Southern California. I can tell you, there are Republican women in my district who have come up to me and said, thank you for running against this guy. I believe in small government. I don't believe the government should be in our doctor's offices, our bedrooms, and I want you to beat Ken Calvert so that you can protect our fundamental freedom to our own bodies. Yeah, it's wild how just a few years after Republicans campaigned that the ACA would usher in death panels that now Republicans are. running a campaign predicated on sticking politicians in between a woman and her doctor in the doctor's office. Will, what does it mean to you to hear Trump make pardoning insurrectionists who

you help prosecute a cornerstone of his campaign? Sickening? I mean, the guy is, I can't believe that we have a party that used to be the party of Ronald Reagan, right, that stood for law and order, supposedly, now cheerleading a convicted felon who took national security secrets with him to Mara Lago, who encouraged a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, whose running mate just gaslit the entire country with a line about a peaceful transfer of power in 2020 during that debate with Tim Walls. And it reminds me, honestly, of 1984. It's like, Orwell has written this book. He's talked about doublespeak. These guys are mastering it. And we have to make sure that we elect people who are going to be honest with their constituents.

stand up for the rule of law, have the backs of actual law enforcement officers who got the shit kicked out of them at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. That's what it means to back the blue. Backing the blue means protecting the police officers who got assaulted by people sent there by Donald Trump, who then was supported by folks like Ken Calvert, who after the attack on the U.S. Capitol did exactly what Trump told him to do and overturned the election. So that's why I really believe that we are going to get folks into our coalition in California 41 who are going to vote for common sense, sane leadership, and a member of Congress who actually wants to take America to 2050, not in 1950. You had alluded to this before, but Ken Calvert voted against

the infrastructure law in 2021. He called it reckless spending that erodes are individual liberties and freedoms. He since lobbied the Department of Transportation for at least a hundred million dollars of that reckless spending that erodes are individual liberties and freedoms for infrastructure projects for himself. What's the message that sends to his constituents that the same money he tried his hardest to prevent from being passed was clearly good enough when it meant that he could try and take credit for it? He thinks you're stupid. That's what he's telling his constituents. That's how disrespectful he is to his own constituents. He expects you to believe that he's bringing money to the district, that you

won't pay attention or that you're too stupid to know that this guy prevented, tried to prevent the largest infrastructure bill, a bill that is bringing $300 million to his own county, to Riverside County. That's money coming over his own objection. And now he wants to get out there and gaslight you because he doesn't respect you. And I think folks, again, across party lines, just want common sense honesty from leadership. But it's really not a surprise coming from a guy who has been ranked by nonpartisan ethics watchdogs, one of the most corrupt members of Congress, whose net worth has gone up by $20 million since he was first elected in 1992. He doesn't care about your wallet.

The only wallet he cares about, the only life he cares about improving is his own, and he's done a good job of it in Congress. And this is a recurring theme in the GOP, right, in terms of these leaders who show nothing but utter contempt for their constituents or their hopeful constituents. I mean, Donald Trump has done it with $2 bills, crypto, silver coins, watches, shoes, hats. I mean, the list goes on and on, right? So what do you make of this perpetual grift and showing utter disdain for, you know, the people whose votes they're trying to seek from, you know, everybody in the GOP, from Donald Trump

all the way down to Ken Calvert? Yeah, we need normal people in Congress. We need people who care about public service, who actually want to pass. anti-corruption reforms that should apply to people in both parties. That's why I'm out there talking about a ban on insider trading in real estate, a ban on self-enrichment, the kinds that folks are seen now from Donald Trump. The worst part of this, right, is he's ripping off his own supporters and preventing members of Congress from becoming lobbyists after they've served in D.C. And I think one of the things that's most appealing to people across party lines in my district is it's just

not a partisan issue. People are sick and tired. of folks like my opponent who go to Congress when I was eight years old, the first year he was elected, and use their own position, use your tax dollars to line their own pockets. And the only way that is going to change is if more of us get off the sidelines and run against these people in districts all over the country where they have used their seats to make themselves fat cats. To that point then, a campaign finance reform group filed an ethics complaint against Ken Calvert, alleging that he failed to disclose information about various rental properties that he owns in Riverside County. So again, another recurring theme that we're seeing on the right

where these people are not only using the government to enrich themselves, but also refusing to actually be transparent about their own efforts. What was your reaction to that ethics complaint? Yeah, I mean, this is the guy who is refusing to debate for a reason, right? And he knows that if we talked about the details of that complaint, he would have no answer to it. And I've been saying again and again, don't take my word for this. Just Google Fox News, Ken Calvert, corruption, and look at the seven-minute documentary that they did talking about his use of earmarks to benefit his own real estate. And then Google the LA Times story from over the summer. Look at the reporting done about his failure to disclose properties that were near transportation projects he used,

your tax dollars to fund, right? And he's, he's kind of shameless about this. He thinks that there's nothing wrong with it. And that's a huge part of the reason the guy won't show up to debate. And it does a disservice not only to Democrats in our district, but to the Republicans who also are owed an explanation from their member of Congress about why he is using their tax dollars to line his pockets. Now, you and I have spoken about this before, but just for posterity here, for those who are watching this, you know, an interview with you for the first time, can you speak on how Ken Calvert actually got his start in Congress, because this is, this is, you know, in my opinion, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, in 1992 during his first campaign against Mark Takano, who, uh, later became a member of

Congress. This was back when Mark first ran in the early 90s, Ken Calvert as part of a political strategy outed Mark Takano. He sent homophobic mailers across all of Riverside County, asking voters whether they would have a congressman who represented them or San Francisco. Mark was not even out to his family at that point in time. And it just tells you where this guy's values are. We'll stay and do anything to get power and to keep it. And folks are so pumped up to finally have a new generation of leadership representing them in the Inland Empire because we've got a member who doesn't believe in equality for our community,

who doesn't believe in women's reproductive freedom, who thinks that America is better back in the 1950s than a modern society where all of us can achieve whatever we want to, regardless of who we love, what we look like, and have women have the same reproductive freedom as men, right? So I think this just goes to show you how out of touch Calvert is with his own constituents, and people know that 32 years of corruption and extremism are enough,

and that's exactly why we are going to win on November 5th. To that point then, Will, how can, can we help your campaign? And especially those of us, look, this is Southern California. It is a true blue liberal bastion out here. So there are a lot of people who are looking to help who don't often have the opportunity to do so because all of our representatives here where I live in Los Angeles itself are otherwise Democrats. So how can people who are watching right now help your campaign? So they can go to will Rollins for Congress.com. They can help us with a contribution because we have people like Elon Musk spending millions of dollars to try to help Ken Calvert stay in

office. We need to keep raising resources to compete with him. But you can also come out to Corona and knock doors. If you live in Southern California and you've got a safe blue seat, help us out. Drive to our districts because your voice can really make the difference between whether we elect Akeem Jeffries or continue to have Mike Johnson as the Speaker of the House. And if you can canvas for us, You can go to our website, find the volunteer link. You can also sign up to do a phone bank because every person we reach between now and November 5th will be the difference between whether Democrats retake the House majority. And I would also, I would echo that, make sure for especially those living in Southern

California here who are looking for something to do, head over to Will's website, which we'll put in the post description of this video and on a link on this screen. Head over to Will's website, do whatever you can to help flip. This is one of the closest races in the entire country. And also for those who've already gotten your ballots, which should be most people here in California, get them filled out and sent back in early so that this campaign and other campaigns in California can instead focus their resources on true undecided voters. So help the campaigns give them something of a contribution in the sense that they don't have to spend their limited resources, their limited personnel, texting you, reaching out to you, trying to get you out to vote, and can instead focus on people who are truly on the fence. Will, best luck in the campaign trail. and thank you for taking the time today.

Thank you, Brian. Great to be with you. Thanks again to Lucas and Will. That's it for this episode. Everybody, get your ballots in as soon as you can. We are almost there. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie,

and interviews edited for YouTube by Nicholas Nicotera. If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app and leave a five-star rating and a review. And as always, you can find me at Brian Tyler Cohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to bryantaylorcoen.com to learn more.