The Dan Bongino Show - Ep. 752 Expect the Democrats to Double Down on Crazy

Episode Date: June 28, 2018

Summary: In this episode I address the liberal meltdown over the Supreme Court vacancy announced yesterday with Anthony Kennedy's retirement. I also address the role of President Trump in elections and how it’s causing a media meltdown.    News Picks: How does Mexico treat its illegal immigration population?   President Trump can drain the swamp in the Republican primaries.    This Supreme Court opening is devastating for the Democrats.   Here are 6 rulings that could be overturned by a constitutionalist Supreme Court.    Here are the political implications of the Anthony Kennedy retirement.   These filibuster tweets by Democrats look pretty silly now.    Mike Lee should be the Supreme Court pick.    Copyright CRTV. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

get ready to hear the truth about america on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host dan bongino all right welcome to the dan bongino show producer joe how are you today still alive and well yes yes you know as the audience has expanded on the show folks it uh oh yeah when i start the show and i start recording and Joe gives me the countdown, I'm always honored. I'm kind of astonished in a way that so many people have chosen this show as their podcast of choice, and I deeply appreciate it.

I have been reading all your incredible emails, trying to respond to as many as I can. It's really a great honor. Thank you very much. A big news day yesterday. I was going to do a special episode, but I do my NRA TV show at night at 5.30 p.m. Eastern time

live at NRATV.com which is free. So whenever there's breaking news during the day, I've been covering at night on the NRA TV show. Feel free to tune in, folks. It's free. We're doing incredible ratings over there. You know, I was wondering why I didn't hear from you. Yeah, that's why.

I've been covering this stuff at night now. And then on the next day, by the way, it gives me an opportunity on the podcast to digest all of what happened and give you a more thorough, kind of some conclusive findings based on what I believe to be the real narrative that's out there, not the fake narrative

the media puts out. Of course, what am I talking about? The just incredible news that Anthony Kennedy in the Supreme Court, the swing vote in many cases is stepping down and retiring and retiring in July. This is huge. Now, it goes to prove my point in the Trump era that there's no better time, Joseph, for you and I to be in the conservative content production arena. This is the best time ever. But having said that, you cannot step away from the news for two minutes. You better be on top of it.

I was actually in the gym, sweating it out a little bit, having a really tough workout, when I saw the breaking news come over on a notification on my phone screen that he was stepping down. This is a cataclysmic shift in the ability of conservatives to take back the country and limit government. Cataclysmic. Cataclysmic in a good way. Boom. This is going to be huge. All right. Before I get to that, the ramifications and some, I'm going to give you my choice. I know some of you are going to disagree. It's okay. My choice for who should take the spot. And I'm going to give you my choice. I know some of you are going to disagree. It's okay. My choice for who should take the spot.

And I'm going to give you a reason. By the way, cataclysmic for Democrats. Apocalyptic for Democrats. Good for us. Just so you understand where I'm going with that. Because I always get a lot of emails from people, which is cool. But I'm trying to save myself some effort there. All right. Today's show brought to you by our buddies at Hel helix sleep there's nobody on the planet like you so why would you buy a

mattress built for everyone else and by the way i can't stand a lot of these mattress stores you go in there you're in there forever and you can never make a decision helix sleep makes it super easy for you there's nobody on the planet like you right you need you need some kind of customization here for you personally right working with the world's leading sleep experts, Helix Sleep developed the mattress that's customized to your specific height, weight, and sleep preferences. You're a side sleeper, a back sleeper. All this stuff matters. You can have the best sleep of your life. They're not kidding.

At an unbeatable price. Here's how it works. Go to helixsleep.com. Fill out their two-minute sleep quiz. Where else are you going to get that? And they'll design your custom mattress. They can even customize each side for you and a partner. Come on, that's not happening anywhere else. Helix Sleep is the place to go. In 2018, Helix Sleep is taking customized sleep to the next level with the Helix Pillow. I have that.

It's pretty amazing. The all new pillows are fully adjustable so you can adjust perfect comfort regardless of your sleep position or your body type. Helix Sleep has thousands of five-star reviews, plus you get 100 nights to try them out. Go to helixsleep.com slash dan right now and you'll get up to $125 towards your mattress order. That's Helix, H-E-L-I-X, helixsleep.com slash Dan. HelixSleep.com slash Dan for up to $125 off your mattress order. You won't regret it. HelixSleep.com slash Dan. This is a terrific mattress. Thanks again to HelixSleep

for supporting the show. Okay. A couple of points on this. I'm going to give you the ammunition you need to combat your liberal friends in a debate because they're going to make a couple of arguments here about the opening. They're going to say, well, well, well, the Republicans refused to accept the advice and consent role of the Senate during an election year. Barack Obama, when Obama nominated Merrick Garland.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's get rid of that right away. Okay? Number one, that was the Biden rule. In other words, in a presidential election year, which we are not in in case the liberal media failed to figure that out. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times seems a little confused about this. This is a midterm election. It's not a presidential year. What is that?

I just got like a, that's weird. I have a new computer for the podcast, and I guess it's accepting text messages. I'm like, Joe, did you do that? When the Republicans, I know I have total ADHD folks. I know it drives you could drive me crazy too sometimes, but that's the show. It's real, right?

When the Republicans said Mitch McConnell to his credit, I got to give McConnell some credit on this. When McConnell said in the last year of the Obama presidency, when Antonin Scalia tragically died, when he said, we are not going to take up the Merrick Garland nomination, it's an election year, they were following the advice of Joe Biden. It is Joe Biden, former vice president and Democrat,

who in 1992 suggested the very same thing. I say this because this isn't about whataboutism, folks. Again, this is about the Democrats setting a precedent. Joe Biden and the Democrats early on saying, listen, during a presidential election year, this is Biden and the Democrats. It's probably not a good idea to put up a nominee for the Supreme Court right before a presidential election. Let the public choose a new president. And after that, we will take up as the Senate, the advice and consent role on the, on the new president's nomination. Now, in case you don't believe me that this is a Democrat idea, what McConnell did, you may disagree with the idea folks. That's fine. That's fine. I get it. You may say even as a Republican, well, McConnell should have done the advice and consent role, taken up the Merrick Garland nomination. Fine. But I'm just saying, let's not pretend that this is a uniquely Republican thing, refusing to take up the president's nominee for confirmation during an election year. Here is the audio of Joe Biden in 1992 during a presidential election suggesting the Joe Biden rule,

which is that the Senate should not take up a new nominee. It is my view that if a Supreme Court justice resigns tomorrow or within the next several weeks or resigns at the end of the summer, President Bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not and not name a nominee until after the November election is completed. There you go. The Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until ever until after the political campaign season is over. There you go again. There's Joe Biden himself, former vice president of the United States,

standard bearer for the Democrat Party now. And dummies everywhere. And by the standards, I'm not talking about high standards either. You feel stupid. Yeah, exactly. He's Joe Biden. It's a three-letter word. J-O-B-S. Jobs.

Joe, that's four. You go out with a double-barreled shotgun and you fire two rounds into the air to scare them off. Yes, that's a great idea because if he sees the double-barreled shotgun, he'll now know you have no ammunition left. Joe Biden. They'll put you all back in chains still this is joe joe biden that did you notice what he said joe that this has

been the standard practice for a long time and he's and he's right yeah during a presidential election year if a supreme court vacancy comes open it was pretty standard practice that the uh they wait till the election season is open and let the new president, if he's reelected, if his party's reelected, pick that nominee, okay? Right. So what Mitch McConnell did under the Merrick Garland nomination for the Scalia seat was nothing new. Nothing new, ladies and gentlemen, please.

You can disagree with it, but let's not pretend what Mitch McConnell did was some unprecedented act of senatorial obstruction. You're just making it up and you're lying. Save that Joe Biden clip. Commit it to memory. Because again, argue with your liberal friends. I get it. I understand you have a problem with the principle. Maybe you believe that Barack Obama was the president, even as a Republican. I don't agree with this, but maybe you think Barack Obama was the president. He had the right to have his nominee heard for a confirmation hearing. Fine, that's fine.

But let's not, again, pretend that this is some kind of unique Mitch McConnell thing. Number one. Number two, this is not a presidential election year, ladies and gentlemen. Please, I don't know what the New York Times and these other knuckleheads are putting out in their tweets. But this is a completely different set of circumstances. The House of Representatives and the Senate does not nominate a candidate for the Supreme Court. They confirm not the House of Representatives. The Senate confirms that person, man or woman. They don't nominate them.

This is in other words, this is not a presidential election year. You get that right. This is a midterm. Joe Biden and the Joe Biden rule from 1992 refers to a presidential election year. This is a midterm. Now, let me go. So point number one, the obstruction in the final year of a presidency in a presidential election year on a nomination is a rule that has been

put forth by Republicans and Democrats and advocated for publicly by Joe Biden. Number two, this is a midterm. There isn't a recent precedent for obstructing a presidential nominee in a midterm election. None. Matter of fact, Joe. Yeah. Elena Kagan, Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, now a Supreme Court Associate Justice on the Supreme Court, was nominated, Joe, in May of 2010 and confirmed in August of 2010, right

before a midterm. Oh! How does that work out for you? You have no argument here, folks. There's no Oh, how does that work out for you? You have no argument here, folks. There's no precedent for this. And McConnell obstructed during election year.

Presidential election year. The midterms, they confirmed your nominee. Elena Kagan, she's sitting on the Supreme Court now. Confirmed in August of 2010. There was a midterm there. Did you forget that? Finally, another argument here. Now getting into the obstruction during presidential years.

They'll say, well, you know, Kennedy, Kennedy was confirmed during an election year. The Kennedy, folks, listen. Kennedy's, the opening was, the opening happened in June of 1987. It wasn't during an election year. That opening was filled by Robert Bork. Bork, who was borked by the Democrats in the Senate, was then stopped. And then eventually

we wound up with Kennedy a year later. The opening didn't happen during the presidential election year. Do you understand what I'm saying? None of the Democrats' arguments, this is what infuriates me, Joe, arguing with liberals, is they constantly, constantly make stuff up. They do this all the time. They lie, they exaggerate, they engage in hyperbole, they can never ever tell you the truth.

Well, Kennedy was confirmed in an election year the opening didn't happen then the opening happened in 1987 the reason they got to kennedy was because the democrats shredded the reputation of robert bork that's why the opening was the supreme court with the seat was open for almost two years this is it's just ridiculous what they're up. I mean, they get away with so much. Now, before I get to who my choice is on this, and I hope you'll hear me out. Ladies and gentlemen, voter intensity right now is critical. I hope you understand this. The Democrats are going to be paying attention to the polls. This was a catastrophe for the Democrats. And there is a great, great piece in the Washington Examiner I'll have in the show notes today at

Bongino.com. Again, if you subscribe to my email list, I will send you these articles. I try to find the best ones. But there's a great piece about how devastating this is to Democrats right now. Why? Because there are a number of red state Senate Democrats running for reelection who are in a world of electoral hurt right now, folks. Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly. I'm down here in Florida. Bill Nelson, I'm convinced, is going to lose this race to Rick Scott for the U.S. Senate. Bill Nelson's an incumbent. That would be a flip in a swing state.

Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota is in big trouble. What did I say? Donnelly in Indiana. Claire McCaskill in Missouri. There is a darn good chance, Joseph, that not only are the Republicans not going to lose the Senate,

there's a really good chance that the Republicans are going to significantly gain seats. Well, what does that mean? Now that Harry Reid, former Democrat Senate Majority Leader, now now that harry reed former dennis does excuse me democrat senate majority leader now that he has uh left the senate and nuked the filibuster rule before he left that required 60 votes in the senate harry yep harry reed was the one who nuked that he's like yeah we're gonna go

nuclear option thanks harry harry harry shift Thanks, Harry. Hey, you get it. Wink at a nut. Shifty! Yo, shifty! Thanks to Harry Reid, they nuked the filibuster on lower court judges, which was then doubled down on by McConnell for Supreme Court picks. Now they only need 51. They have 51 right now, the Republicans.

The problem is you can never, ever count on Republican senators like Susan Collins, Joe, because they're not really Republicans. Susan Collins is effectively a Democrat. She's pretty useless on most things. So there's a good chance you'll lose Susan Collins. Now, also that the Doug Jones Alabama seat's big trouble too. They have a Democrat in a seat that was Republican. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. Polls about voter intensity, you've seen them, Joe. Like, how excited are you to vote?

And you'll say, well, Democrats have a 10-point voter intensity lead on Republicans. The Democrats are going to pay attention to this. Now that the Supreme Court has opened up, you have a twofold effect. You have a twofer here. now that the Supreme Court has opened up, you have a twofold effect. You have a twofer here. This is going to be, and David French has a really good piece in National Review about this, and it's in the show notes today. Please read it, about how a large swath, Joe, of the Republican Party that may have sat on the sidelines in the midterms is motivated by the issue, the issue to them, which is the Supreme Court, that will now get off the sidelines in the midterms is motivated by the issue, the issue to them, which is

the Supreme Court that will now get off the sidelines and vote. If that closes that voter intensity gap and Democrats start seeing polls, Republican voter intensity is equal to Democrats, if not higher at some point, what happens? Democrats now who were previously not on board, Joe, walk through the tactics here. They're going to say to themselves, you know what? We better vote on this now. We better vote on this now

because if we lose the election, we have absolutely no chance. Let's say we vote this person down, right? And then Trump doubles down and nominates an even more conservative person after the election. We're going to have no leeway at all. This is important. The politics matter. you get what i'm saying i did not think of that yeah right now they're like okay mitch mcconnell has already gone out publicly and said we are going

to schedule a vote this is important before the election the democrats know they have a little bit of sway here because if they can get one Republican to fold and the Democrats hold together, they have a chance of scuttling the nomination. The problem, Joe, the problem. If they scuttle the nomination and they see voter intensity polls, those voter intensity polls, Republicans are fired up, they're going to show up. And those voter intensity polls start to flip on blue state, excuse me, red state Senate Democrats. And they think they're going to lose those seats. You don't think the Democrats are going to be like, boy, are we in a lot of trouble? We scuttled this nomination.

Look who we're going to get next time. I say they'll flip you. Flip you for real. They'll flip you. They'll flip you for real. It's true. It'll be the dipsy-do flip-a-rooski, as I say all the time. Yeah.

The dipsy-do flip-a-roo have you will have won the battle and lost the war wow we scuttled that guy yeah after november you're gonna get a nominee twice as conservative if it's even possible and by the way you're gonna have no leeway because the republicans could have 56 senators at that point. Yeah. And not only that, Joe, scuttling the nominee will absolutely decimate the electoral chances of Manchin, Donnelly, Nelson, and everyone else because Republicans will show up en masse now

realizing that these red state Senate Democrats are nothing but Democrats. In other words, they're not blue dogs. They're just Dems. Do you understand where I'm going with this, folks? This is big, big trouble for them. The Democrats are in a panic. Read the David French piece.

It's very good. It talks about the tactics I'm talking about right now. How voters right now, everything's Manichaean right now. Everything's good versus evil. And this is it people see in in voters eyes they see the supreme court as basically this is this fight between good and evil these are this isn't marginal politics anymore folks this is the ability to hold on to your religion to hold on to your money to practice your faith to keep your land to keep your gun rights you know these fights that's why

the supreme court is the issue for so many Republican voters. This is going to activate many of them to get out there and go do what they need to do. Okay. Having said that, let me get to my pick. I know some of you may disagree and that's fine. Ladies and gentlemen, I think Senator Mike Lee from Utah is the perfect choice here. Gentlemen, I think Senator Mike Lee from Utah is the perfect choice here. Listen, I get it. Some of you, because I get your emails and I see your tweets. I read them.

I pride myself on audience feedback. I get it. Some of you, he was not a big supporter of President Trump, and I understand that. But I'm telling you, if you can just hear out as as a friend uh and i mean it i i've always considered this show the reason it's so conversational and not structured in a way you hear traditional talk radio is because we wanted to do something different and i've always wanted to be open about my personal life and everything else to you all and i feel it's important you're gonna invest your time in me i'm gonna invest my time in. I don't know a lot of people personally up on Capitol Hill, senators or congressmen. That's for a reason. I do know a lot of staff folks, but

it's for a reason. I try to stay out of it because I feel like it taints the show. And it's another reason I choose to do the show from Florida and I don't have a studio in DC or anything like that. I want to stay out of the political bubble because when you let personal relationships impact your decision-making, you start to do things, I believe, that corrupt your voice with the audience. Having said that, though,

Mike Lee is one of the few guys I know, that I know personally. And I'm telling you with absolute certainty, he is one of the only people I trust up on Capitol Hill. He has been there for me when there was absolutely nothing in it for him. Now this is, listen to me, make no mistake, this is not some kind of bizarre quid pro quo at all.

Oh, what, so he did something for you? No, no, that's not it. He did something for me precisely because he didn't know me, but he understood my principles. That's what I'm trying to tell you. When I ran for office, went in there and espoused

the constitutional view of government in a blue state, when I ran for office for Congress and the Senate in a blue state and ran on the Second Amendment and a pro-life agenda, Mike Lee, with nothing in it for him at all, what do I need to do

to help you? Nothing. He didn't know me. I've heard him. I sat in his office. They have these really nice offices in the Senate, by the way. They're small, but they're nice. And I sat there and it was one of the most difficult interviews I've ever engaged in in my life. Keep in mind,

I never met the man before. He'd sit in there with a staffer. He was pretty intimidating. This is when I was running for Senate. And he hit me with questions I had never heard, but thankfully understood where he was going. Issues about the Commerce Clause. Questions

nobody else was bright enough to ask me. Folks, I know things about this guy. Good things. Incredible things he's done that he doesn't really advertise himself he is a constitutionalist um a full-time constitutionalist that's the term i've been using lately not a part-timer he is solid on things like overreach with nsa spying he's incredible on second amendment self-protection rights, the right to life. I can't say enough about him. I understand some of you may have reservations during the

primary, what happened to the presidency. I understand that. I'm just telling you that, Joe, you've been involved in politics a long time at the radio station. You've probably seen a thousand candidates come in and out of there. Can you not agree with me, especially based on what's going on with Redmer and McDonough? There's like crazy things happen in primaries.

Oh, big time, yeah. Crazy things. People, I've been through them. I've lived through them. The nuttiest things happen in primaries. People say things and do things based on principle and sometimes it's taken the wrong folks, please, I'm asking

you to discount that. This is a good man. You will have a 40-year justice on the Supreme Court who is with us on everything. He is a full-time constitutionalist. That's my pitch. I can't say enough about him personally, about him professionally, about his loyalty and fidelity to the Constitution, to limited government. I cannot say enough. If my endorsement means anything to anybody out there in my listening audience, I give a full-throated 100% endorsement, Mike Lee, for the Supreme Court. I don't know if it's going to make a difference. And I get it. The Democrats are going to play a

lot of, oh, what, another white guy? Listen, we don't play that game. This is about the Constitution. The Constitution does not have a color. That's for the Democrats. I know the Republicans, we do character stuff. They do identity politics. But I'm saying, I know the Democrats, and there's going to be some Republicans who sadly play that game too. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. He is the best choice right now. All right. Moving on.

We got a busy day today. I got a lot of other stuff to get to. Today's show, you see how quick I did that? Right to the end. Today's show brought to you by our buddies at We The People Holsters. Best holsters out there. I love We The People Holsters.

Democrats are up in arms over the NRA's rating of gubernatorial candidates, and I couldn't be in more agreement with the grading system. The Republican candidates in Nevada have a proven track record of supporting the Second Amendment, which is no doubt why they received an A+. Don't just choose a candidate who supports your rights, but a company who supports them as well. We the People Holsters was founded in the state of Nevada, and let me tell you, they nailed down their holster designs. They did. These holsters are pretty terrific.

We The People holsters are custom-made holsters made in the USA. They don't use any kind of garbage third-party molds. They use their own molds for a precision fit, folks. When you get your firearm and you click it, you can hear that little click sound, it is the absolute perfect fit. And a perfect fit is essential. Too tight, you won't be able to get the firearm out. Too loose, what's the problem? Too loose, it'll fall out. That's why you need a precision fit. None of these crappy third-party molds. They do their own in-house stuff. They have some of the best designs. They update them constantly, and they have their own 3D design team. You get this holster, you are going to love it. It has an adjustable can, adjustable ride.

Four holes on the clip that match up with the four on the holster. So you can not only adjust the can't, but adjust the ride too. It has adjustable tension. A little tightening of a screw, you get a little more tension, a little less tension. Super easy. Clicks right and place your firearm. They have custom printed designs in-house. Thin blue line, the thin red line, constitution, camo, an American flag. And they have designs for women too.

Their holster starts at just $34. Every holster comes with a lifetime guarantee. Every holster ships free. If it's not perfect, send it back. You won't need to. It doesn't matter. You won't need to. wethepeopleholsters.com slash Dan.

Go to wethepeopleholsters.com slash Dan. Use promo code Dan, my first name, and you'll get $10 off your first holster. That's $24 with free shipping. Ladies and gentlemen, $24 for one of the best holsters out there. You know, true story. I never spin your wheels about this stuff. So when they wanted to come on board, they're like, ah, let's send Dan a sample. I'm like, I'm good.

I've got holsters. I appreciate it. You know, save the money. No, no, we want to send you one. They sent me actually two. They sent me a standard black and M1 with a custom printed dan bongino show it is the coolest holster it is one of the few times in may at westwood who i deal with with this stuff i sent her an email you tell them that we the people this thing is awesome i put in cash it's

so good go check it out we the people holsters.com slash dan um okay uh let's see a big day today at the uh up on the hill rod rosenstein and Christopher Wray are up there, FBI director and the deputy attorney general up on the Hill testifying. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a talk up on the Hill of issuing a, basically a motion against Rosenstein for noncompliance, which is... What's that mean? for noncompliance, which is... What's that mean? Nothing. This is why I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, but it's important I get you the news. It's nothing, Joe.

You're right. I can see you in the camera, your frustration here. You're like, who cares? Is something going to be done? Are we going to impeach this guy or what? Folks, you know my operating theory on this entire Mueller probe and everything that's been going on.

The Mueller probe is a cover-up for the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton misdeeds. That's it. Whether you look at the investigation into Victor Pinchuk by the Mueller team and their ties to Trump, which are loose, but their ties to the Clintons, which are heavy. You look at the Eric Prince audio

we played the other day. This is obviously, in my opinion, the Mueller probe, a cover-up for DOJ FBI misdeeds with regards to the Clintons and Clinton misdeeds too. Who's the perfect guy to cover all this up? Rod Rosenstein and Rob Mueller. Why? Ladies and gentlemen, Rosenstein is going to be a witness in this case. He signed one of the FISA warrants. Do you understand? I mean, are you getting what I'm telling you here? Rod Rosenstein himself signed one of the FISA warrants. Do you understand? I mean, are you getting what I'm telling you here? Rod Rosenstein himself signed one of the Pfizer warrants to spy

on the Trump team. Rod Rosenstein fired Jim Comey, wrote the letter. Rod Rosenstein, Joe, was the United States Attorney in Maryland. I worked for him in the Secret Service Office in Baltimore. On the predicate to the Uranium One case,

the 10X case, where the informant to the uranium one case, the 10 X case where the informant talked about the Russians giving money to the Iranians to support an Iranian nuclear program. Ladies and gentlemen, Rod Rosenstein is knee deep in all of this. He is, again, the perfect guy to be running the DOJ right now to cover all this nonsense up. Why do you think he's not? Why do you think that?

Why do you think he's not complying with the documents he's not complying with the documents as we saw yesterday too with peter stroke's testimony up on the hill where he said basically nothing because they don't want to tell you that there was a political spying operation against donald trump the muller probe is an effort to cover up misdeeds by the department of justice and the central intelligence agency into that operation while simultaneously scrapping anything that looks into the Clintons and anything that looks into the DOJ and FBI's misconduct. Rosenstein's the perfect guy. Again, he's implicated in Spygate.

He signed the FISA warrant to spy on the Trump team. One of them. The Jim Comey firing, which the Democrats are claiming is obstruction of justice and went Donald Trump impeached over. The Jim Comey firing. Rod Rosenstein signed that. The Uranium One case.

The precursor. The 10X case, where the informant actually said that the same people involved in this Russia deal were financing the Iranian nuclear operation and helping them. The informant who was silenced and given a gag order.

Who was the U.S. attorney in that? Rod Rosenstein. He's the perfect guy. It's clear as day what they're hiding and why they won't fess up. We'll see what happens in this testimony today. I'm expecting more garbage, more obstruction. It's really, I got it on split screen right now, but this noncompliance thing, I get it.

I understand a lot of this is process-oriented, folks, but I can sense Joe's frustration of mine. Just impeach this guy. Please, just impeach the guy. Here's the thing. Forget the deadlines are over. The deadlines are over. Just say we're taking up the impeachment by Monday.

That's it. You turn over the documents right now. You have the documents or the impeachment happens next week. Yeah. Period. Full stop. Thank you. All right. So I read an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning by Dan Henninger. Very, very good piece. He talks about, I keep telling you this, how the gift of Donald Trump, ladies and gentlemen, and I say this with a pure heart, the gift of Trump in his presidency has been, Joe, the guy genuinely does not care about the media response like past Republicans did. I don't want to say he doesn't care in a universal term. I mean it, and he doesn't care relative to the way prior Republicans have. Folks, as a congressman, Joe and

I, you know, both know, and someone told me once he said something during the Cromnibus bill, the disastrous Cromnibus budget bill years ago, and he made the point that, you know, Republicans in the Congress are basically terrified of the media. The media dictates the Republican response by saying, oh, these Republicans are going to be accused of what, throwing grandma off the cliff or starving government or starving kids. And all of a sudden, what do the Republicans do? They fold. Donald Trump rarely cares about this kind of stuff. He not only that, he doubles down. He goes after the media. He you know, it was it was goes after the media he you know it was it was said in the past you know never attack people who buy ink by the barrel trump doesn't care about any

of that trump does his own thing he has reset the narrative and it has it's driving the media wild so dan henninger is a quote from a piece today talking about how republicans actually let me set it up before I read it because this will make more sense if I do it kind of in reverse. You know, I like talking about psychological principles. I was a grad student in psychology. I know nobody cares who cares.

I don't care either. I'm just trying to, I don't know. I don't even know why I'm telling you that, but because that's where I read this, I guess, is, you know, trust me, I'm not trying to impress you. A lot of you are a lot smarter than I am, all right? But I did enjoy psychology in school and that's why I stayed around and did a master's degree in it because I really was fascinated by the topic. And one of the things you learn about in behavioral learning,

behavioral psychology is this concept of learned helplessness, Seligman. You can look it up. Learned helplessness is a fascinating kind of psychological area of study. And the core of it is this. If you were to, say, chain a dog, and I know this sounds sick, but this was kind of the basis of the research. Chain a dog to a pad that gives them an electric shock, right? And you shock the dog. They try to get away. They try to get away.

They try to get away. But if they're chained and they can't get off, say, a shock pad, this is really – there was some really bizarre research in the dog. They try to get away. They try to get away. They try to get away. But if they're chained and they can't get off, say, a shock pad, this is really, there was some really bizarre research in the past, but it speaks to something larger. Joe, after a while, what happens when you can't get away is the dog learns to be helpless. It's called learn helplessness. You shock them and they don't even move after a while. It takes a while. Sick, disturbing, but you learn to be helped. It's like sometimes

I've read stories about, I've always been fascinated with adoption for a number of reasons, personal and moral. And I'll read about adoption and Russian adoption and how it works. And I'll get into that another day. But one of the things you read about a lot of these overseas orphanages that don't have a lot of money and facilities is the kids just learn to stop crying. It's sad. I mean, I'm not trying to depress you on a Thursday, folks. Is it Thursday? It is, right?

Yeah. I'm not trying to depress you at all. But you go into these orphanages and one of the eeriest sounds in the world is the complete utter silence. You have infants and they don't cry. They just stop crying because nobody responds to them. It's really awful. That's learned helpless. They just learn to be helpless after a while. The dog doesn't even try to move after 30, 40, 50 shocks and they can't get away because of the chain. This is real. I think Republicans and conservatives have almost, and I don't mean this as an insult to us. I'm roping myself in with this group as well.

We've almost learned to be helpless. And there's a reason with the media that is, and the media attacks, and the racist calls, and the xenophobic calls, and the you don't like women call, and all this other stuff, all the other nonsense they call. We've learned to be helpless because what's happened? We've tried to get away from the electric shock. And what happened, Joe? We've tried to get away from the electric shock. And what happened, Joe? We have been sold out by leaders, Republican leaders in our party who have advocacy platforms, who have media time.

They're talking heads on cable. They're elected leaders. And we're like, we're ready to charge. We're like, yes, liberty, freedom. Let's go. Let's go to the polls. And all of a sudden, the media turns around and attacks them and goes, that's racist. And the Republicans and we're charging the battlefield. And what happens? The Republicans with the biggest platforms of voice go, hey, we really apologize for that. It may have sounded a little racist. This is our fault. We're going to dial that back. We're going to take that money and we're going to spend not only what we're going to spend, we're going to spend now 10 times more everybody's charging about a field goes oh you try to get off the electric pad the shock pad and you're you're chained to it and that chain has been republican leadership refusing to take the fight to the media while we're charging the field we're charging off the shock pad and what holds us back

republicans with a platform who have no spine, who have taught us to be helpless. Why have we been taught to be helpless? Because they're the ones that are not leading the charge and we don't have the platforms to fight back. That's changed now. I thought about this this morning with Donald Trump. It has changed incredibly now. For those of you who are behavior learning folks, Seligman's concept of learned helplessness was accepted as fact for eons that if you rip you know if you if you don't allow them to escape they will eventually learn to be helpless until someone came along later on and showed that there is a way to overcome this when you later even after multiple rounds of this, where the dog tries to stop trying to get

away, if you show them a path out and they see it and they can get loose from the chain and you show them the path, eventually they will take it. If you give them some kind of example on how to escape and how to get out of there, they will escape again. This has been the gift of Trump. He doesn't play into the learned. We're going to learn to be helpless. We're going to learn to fail. We're going to respond. We're going to wait for the media to respond. He doesn't do that. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. He constantly beats them at their own game every time. It doesn't matter what it is. The tax cuts. The tax cuts are a perfect example of this. Every Republican in the past, anytime they've proposed a tax cut bill,

that puts money in your pockets, right? It's your money. The media has gone on a full-bore attack about how this was for the rich and income inequality. And Republicans, you'll hear them almost apologize. No, this isn't for the rich. Trump's like, I don't care if rich people get it too. It's their money. And the media doesn't know what to do.

And all of a sudden, Republicans, who had learned to be helpless in the past, would start apologizing. Oh, rich people, they shouldn't get it either. Because that's what I'm supposed to say. Because the media said so. I'm like, no, no. So what?

They're job creators. They're going to get money back too. Yeah, so what? What's your problem? All of a sudden, you're charging the battlefield with a guy who is in the lead and taking the charge. I noticed it last night when I was watching his speech in North Dakota for Kevin Cramer running against Heidi Heitkamp, who I think is finished.

I don't think she has any chance of reelection. Cramer gave a great speech, by the way. But you see Trump out there, he just takes it to the media over and over and over again. He's given people who had learned to be helpless in the past, he'd showed them that path,

that button, that trap door, whatever it is, that way out of the chain where now they can get off this media shock pad all the time. Here's the quote from Henninger. The quote from Henninger, I had to set it up that way because it's about the response. This is important.

I know some of you hate when I say that. I'm sorry. It's just, I really, you know, again, I really, this matters to me and I want to make sure the bullet points of the show hit home. this matters to me and I want to make sure the bullet points of the show hit home the Henninger quote is about the response this has generated to the media and the left

because they're the same thing Joe that is used to shocking the Republican dog and not allowing them to get away the fact that the Republican dog can get off the shock pad now is driving them crazy because they're not used to this what do they do when the dogs lose now is driving them crazy because they're not used to this.

What do they do when the dogs lose? What is he going to bite us? They don't know what to do because they've never done it. So from the Henninger piece, psychologists will study for years how a candidate, now a president, whose substantive threat to quote our democracy consists of mainly unprecedented boorishness drove normally temperate people into a frenzy. This is an important quote. Let me just sum up for you what he's saying there. That you may not like Donald Trump's style. You may not like his tweets. You may not like his off the cuff remarks.

You may not like his his particularly confront-cuff remarks you may not like his his particularly confrontational speeches which i i enjoy i think we needed that yeah me too but heading headinger's point in the journal piece is that there's nothing particularly new about his platform joe deregulation you know eliminating government red tape tax cuts there's really been i mean there's no the contrary to the left's hysterical fascist nazi nonsense which is utterly absurd trump's done nothing but limit the power of government intervene in your life that's not exactly how fascism works joe not how it works pro folks. Fascism doesn't work by eliminating government power. I don't know if you know that,

liberals or college kids. That's not exactly the way fascism works. Trump has taken less money from your pockets to give to him and his government. That's what the tax cuts were. He has eliminated a lot of regulations

where the government can come to your door and tell you what to do with your business and land. Not exactly fascist, folks, by any reasonable metric. I don't know what you're talking about. And therefore, the media has lost their minds with this over the top response based on nothing but, as Henninger said, Trump's basically boorishness. That they're responding to a guy who finally has come back and gone on the counterattack and they don't know what to do. So what is their avenue when the dog is off the shock pad? Their avenue is, the dogs are fascists! They don't have anything else.

They don't know what to do. The dog has figured out how to get off the chain. We're not helpless anymore. This has been the gift of Trump. He has exposed the media game. He has exposed the Republican weak response to the media game. Backtrack, stay on the shock pad. Just take your shocks and they'll give us food once in a while.

Don't you? I know we can't get off. The shock hurts a little your shocks and they'll give us food once in a while. Don't you? I know we can't get off. The shock hurts a little bit, but they'll give us food so it's all okay. Trump's like, nah, I'm going to try to get out of here. Thanks. And I'm going to show everybody else the way out too. This is not insignificant, folks. This is a major sea change in politics.

And if we can get this guy elected for four more years after this term, folks, we have the chance to nominate four Supreme Court justices. Forget about two. Remember, Breyer and Ginsburg are in their 80s. Donald Trump could appoint four conservatives to the court. Four conservatives, full-time constitutionalists to the court. A generational shift in politics that would be. All right, I got a couple more things I want to the court. A generational shift in politics, that would be. All right, I've got a couple more things I want to get to. It's an important news day. Today's show also brought to you by buddies at Filter Buy.

I don't want to assume too much, but I suspect you have enough bills already to pay. You don't need more. I know I don't, but that might be what you're headed for if you don't trust me on this one. According to the Department of Energy, the most utility for most americans is their electricity bill making up roughly nine percent of their annual housing expenditure ouch this number is aggravated depending on where you live if you're down south like me in the florida and uh the in florida the florida like the ohio state university it's super hot down here and your summer electric bills go through the roof. And I have two new units too. Adding insult to injury, this allergy season has been one of the worst, further straining your system. You can help lower this bill by making sure your system is

running smoothly with a new set of filters from my friends at FilterBuy, America's leading provider of HVAC filters for homes and small businesses. They carry over 600 sizes. And if you're one of those difficult people with a difficult system, they can make custom filters just for you. Plus they ship free within 24 hours. And if that isn't enough, they're manufactured right here in America. So there's no excuse. Set up auto delivery. It just makes life easier. Plus you save 5%. Additionally, you extend the life of your HVAC system. It's getting hotter outside, folks. The last thing you need is a busted HVAC system on top of allergies. Yeah, that really stinks.

Save time, save money, breathe better with FilterBuy.com. That's FilterBuy.com. FilterBuy.com. Tell them Dan sent you. Really appreciate it. Thanks, FilterBuy. You guys are great. Okay.

Another thing about Trump. A great article by Dan Horowitz, who I'm going to try to get on NRA TV today, my show. We'll see what happens with that. It's still early. But he has a really, really solid piece at Conservative Review today about the Trump effect elsewhere. Now, what I was talking about before is this learned helplessness and the psychology of Donald Trump, and especially his impact on Republican voters, and how he can change things and has changed things by his impact and taking it taking the fight taking the fight to the media while the media is taking the fight to them whereas the response in the past has been the media speaks up the media accuses of something

you back down immediately the democrats win but this is. Horowitz has a piece up about the primaries and it's not all, you know, pro-Trump, rosy stuff, but it's a good piece and it's worth reading. And it talks about how Trump is a game changer, a game changer in primaries. Now, having run myself, I think this is one of the benefits of doing conservative commentary. I've got to tell you, this is not a knock on any other host out there. Please don't take it the wrong way. But it's certainly not me toot my own horn. But when you run for office, Joe, especially a legitimate run in competitive races, and you've raised money, and you've knocked on doors, and you've seen how the political process, the lobbying process works. It's pretty disturbing in many respects, but it gives you a pretty unique insight

into how politics works. By the way, congrats to Nino Mangione, too, who won his primary for a House delegate spot in Baltimore, WCBM guy. He just ran. My friend Brian Chisholm ran one, too. But it gives you a very unique insight into a very disgusting process in many respects.

There's a problem with primaries on the Republican side. Ladies and gentlemen, we don't think or act collectively as Republicans. We don't. The very essence of individualism and liberty is the idea that I am my own sovereign. My body and my mind is my temple, and all I ask is that you leave me and my family alone, and I will leave you alone. It is the very essence of liberty. God has granted me and my family rights. My right to help or not help others is my right. But that's ultimately going to be judged by a higher power, not by the government. That my liberty is mine and mine alone. But there's a downside to that when it comes to tactics. Listen, I'm obviously a liberty advocate, but please understand where I'm going with this.

I've seen this. I've seen this over and over, especially being a member of a lot of conservative groups. It is like herding cats. It's the worst. They're all individuals. They all have very powerful, strong personalities. They're not snowflakes. They all have an idea of how to get a problem solved.

And given that they all have disparate ideas on how to solve that problem, it's very rare to get some kind of collective agenda. I've seen it a million times. Here's what we should do. No, here's what we should do. Democrats largely don't think like that. The whole idea of socialism and collectivism is operating as a collective unit. Democrats are very, very good, whether it's moveon.org, these crazy anti-gun groups or whatever they are, Media Matters. They are. I don't like what they do, but they're very good

at acting collectively. We are not. What's the problem with that? The problem with that is in primaries. Getting conservatives elected over establishment swamp rats in primaries is very, very difficult on the Republican side because it's hard for people to act collectively in numbers high enough to get them to the polls to get conservatives in there when they don't have the money or funding. Horowitz compares and contrasts this, Joe. I can see you're interested in this, Armacost, but it contrasts this, which is an excellent point, with the Democrats' relative success recently, especially the race up in New York, New York 14, where a 28-year-old upstart with no experience in running for office at all, Ocasio-Cortez, beat one of the most powerful members of the Democrat House of Representatives in Joe Crowley. And his point is that Democrats can do this because this new socialist atmosphere

and the Bernie effect, it's a lurch towards collectivism all they need to do is get a little bernie tweet and a little bernie energy and all of a sudden the collectivist socialists win because that's how they think it's a hive mind mentality republicans really don't think like that they they're not that's not and i mean that as a compliment i'm telling you i've been in these groups folks now the democrats are having an easier time overcoming the name ID disadvantage. Now, let me give you my experience. Here's the problem with primaries if we're not collective when we're thinking individually. When you think individually like Republicans do and you're running in a primary like I did,

what problem does that create for me as a candidate if I'm a conservative trying to overcome an establishment guy? I have to reach each one of you individually. How the heck am I going to do that? Oh, money. Yeah, you're darn right. Money. Money's hard to, it's a, it's a unvirtuous circle. You can't get money without name ID, but you can't get name ID without money.

I used to have a, my friend of mine this guy Brian, ran for governor once in Maryland. And I said to him once, he was running against a wealth, Joe, you know Bob Ehrlich. Remember the Brian Murphy Ehrlich thing? That was like a big thing in Maryland at the time. Bob Ehrlich was a former governor. And I said to Brian once,

I said, Brian, you know, you'll arrive when you arrive and then you'll know you arrived. And he was looking at me like, what the heck does that mean? And I was like, I don't know. That's the point. That's how it happens.

You just don't know. Like one day a media company gives you an interview and it goes viral. And I don't know. But you'll know it when it happens. And then you'll be able to raise money. This is the problem on the Republican side. They're all individual thinkers. You have to reach them individually.

You can't knock on enough doors to win an election with no money on the republican side and the democrat side people think collectively they're collectivists they hear from their collectivist socialist friends and bernie vote for this vote for ocasio-cortez okay great republicans don't do they want to do their own homework they all have to be reached individually, and that is super expensive. If you can go to a stadium for free, which essentially a Bernie Sanders endorsement or someone like that is,

go to a stadium and scream out to 100,000 people at the same time, I'm your candidate and here's why. You just saved yourself a lot of energy. But if you had to go in the parking lot and talk to 100,000 people individually like Republicans have to do, that costs a whole lot of time and energy. I did it, folks.

I ran my last race, my last race ever, down here in Florida when I ran for Congress. I ran against Francis Rooney, who's in Congress now, who is, I can't even describe how wealthy he is. He's got more money than, I think he's wealthier than Trump. It was a quick three-month primary because Kurt Clausen, who was the incumbent, said he wasn't going to run again. And he said it like right before the election, the primary. So we only had three months. I thought, you know, I'm always self-deprecating when I feel like it'll help you. I thought, all right, with'm always self-deprecating when I feel like it'll help you. I thought, all right, with the exposure I've had in talk radio and Fox and elsewhere and a relatively popular show at the time, I thought, I can pull this off. I did not understand the mechanics of the Republican primary like I thought I did.

Florida, I mean, I understood the problem, but I didn't understand the damage it was going to do. Florida has very early voting. They have voting by mail. A lot of older voters who tend to show up in large numbers, they still read their mail. Young kids start writing a garbage show. You and I know that. They get the mail. I do it too. You get mail, it goes right in the recycle bin. 99% of the mail I get. Older folks don't do that. They grew up on the mail system as a means of communication. They still read the mail. So if you have the money

to send out an expensive, big, huge postcard type mail or about how great you are in the mail every single day for three months, I can't knock on enough doors or run enough Twitter promotions to overcome that. Fox and all that other stuff and all that reputation

you have from talk radio is not going to mean anything. I lost bad. We got smoked. I was stunned. I'm glad it happened. Now it's given me a bigger platform. But that is how establishment guys win on the Republican side. Whereas Democrats who think collectively,

socialists says, socialists do, vote Ocasio-Cortez. Okay, Republicans don't do that. This is where Trump is the great equalizer. An endorsement from Donald Trump has become a strategic tactical weapon. An endorsement from Trump is now a huge deal. We've seen it with Dan Donovan. We've seen it, what he did to Mark

Sanford. Sanford's now out. Katie Harrington won that race. I hope she's doing better, by the way. She's in a car accident down in South Carolina. Henry McMaster in South Carolina in the governor's race. These Trump endorsements can be a strategic weapon to hurt you or a strategic weapon to help. A Trump endorsement on Twitter right now is the gold standard in a Republican primary. As Trump feels his way through the political process, folks, remember, he's new to this. His first elected office was the presidency of the United States. As he feels his way through this, he has an opportunity in Republican primaries to start to seek out qualified conservative candidates who don't have the

money to go in the parking lot and talk to our time, to talk to 100,000 people. Trump is the guy on the field with the 100,000 people in the stadium. Yeah. And when Trump gets on that microphone in front of those 100,000 people and says, vote Joe Armacost for county council in Anne Arundel County. It's over. I'm a shoo-in. You're a shoo-in.

Trump has the power right now to do this. And I'm glad he's starting to take that on with some of these candidates and start to use that influence. I hope he doubles down on it and does this more and more and picks these conservatives, because if he does this, he has the ability to get

establishment people out over the course, hopefully, of his next six years in office, which we hope, and he gets reelected. And to not only, ladies and gentlemen, this is why I was going down this road. Read the Harwich piece. It's very good on this. Not only change the Supreme Court. Think about this. Smile today. He not only has the power to change the Supreme Court with potentially four justices by the time he's done, if he's reelected, he has the power to get actual conservatives in the House of Representatives, a force, a freedom caucus, it's the entire Republican caucus. He has the power to change the Senate.

This would be a generational change back to liberty. Your money, your healthcare, your kids' education, deregulation. Put a smile on your face today. This is all good news, but it requires him to really take that Twitter game to the next level. These rallies he's doing are powerful too because they entirely circumvent the mainstream media. It's an important piece, folks. I strongly encourage you to read it.

Alright, final story of the day. Just kind of a take on yesterday's story because it's so important. The Janus ruling. Now, I said to you yesterday, I got very few emails on this in the negative, by the way, which I was surprised because I was expecting a lot of union folks to come back.

And a couple of guys, and I appreciate your emails. Like I said, I appreciate thoughtful commentary that does not align with my thoughts. This is not one of those shows where you say something on email back to me. Unless you act like a jerk. Some people, unfortunately, decide to do that. So my kid reads that. That's why I get offended sometimes. But the Janus ruling yesterday about public unions and agency fees.

You now cannot be forced to join a public union. You cannot be forced to pay that agency fee. This is going to be devastating. Now, proving my point yesterday that this was all about filling democrat coffers and politics which it was yeah the response has been fascinating today the the democrat politicians who came out and and and were screaming and yelling about this janice ruling yesterday again you can't be forced to join a public sector union now and pay into their coffers if you don't want to. Joe, what's their argument? Their argument, they're coming straight out with

it. This is going to hurt the Democrat party forever. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. Time out. I thought you told us this wasn't about politics. This was about collective bargaining, rights of the worker. That's what you told us before the ruling did you miss that the whole democrat argument into the janice court case at the supreme court was that this had nothing to do with politics this was about union officials bargaining for working conditions for union workers this didn't have anything to do with politics and it was about the fact that they were going to get free riders. In other words, they were going to lobby on behalf of people who would then, if they were given the choice, would refuse to pay into the union. And they would, in fact, free ride on the benefits union advocates would get for them. That was their whole argument.

It had nothing to do with politics. But that's not what the Democrats said yesterday. That is not what they said the democrats came out almost in mass and made the point that this was going to hurt the democrat party this was going to hurt democrat priorities why why is union bargaining what does that have anything to do with the democrat party the answer is the nexus is the campaign donations that's the problem that's the beef that uh janice the guy who sued and republicans have had for years that this is not in fact about workers this is about workers money going into democrat covers now i get it a lot of you say well the money can't be spent on

politics money's fungible folks it's like when planned parenthood makes the case that federal money can't be used on abortion it goes into the clinic if you if you fund a planned parenthood clinic money's fungible to the tune of a million dollars a year they can give away the abortions for free it doesn't matter all they need is the money what you say it's for is almost irrelevant the problem with the unions is they were going to fund unions whose very existence in the public sector is antithetical to the conservative cause.

By the way, the lobbying, not the government work. Government work is, you know, of course, we need our military, but they're not unionized. But you get the point.

No one's saying there shouldn't be any government employees. Do you get the point I'm trying to make? The lobbying by government unions for increased salaries is a political statement in and of itself. Because it's a public sector union. Who pays the public sector, Joe? You!

It's a tax argument. Guys, ladies, there's no arguing that it is by its nature an argument on taxes if you're a public sector union and i don't want to finance it because i don't believe in arguing for higher raises because it's a tax argument and you make me do it you are taking away my right to free speech and freedom to assemble with people I choose. The Democrats proved that yesterday. Oh, the damage to the Democrat Party. I thought it wasn't about the Democrat Party.

Eh, it is. All right, folks. Thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate it. Please subscribe to my podcast, if you don't mind, on iTunes. I know a lot of you download it, but it's the subscriptions on the top charts. It's free, of course. On iTunes, iHeart, SoundCloud, Spotify. It's the subscriptions that the top charts. It's free, of course, on iTunes, iHeart, SoundCloud, Spotify.

It's the subscriptions that move us up the charts. So we really appreciate it. That's led to just a doubling and tripling of our audience just in a very short period of time. So we really appreciate it. Thanks a lot for doing that. And go check us out at the show notes at Bongino.com. I got some good pieces here today. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show. Get more of Dan online anytime at conservativereview.com. I got some good pieces here today.