Will Cain Country - The Rise Of The Neocon

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

Story #1: The Rise Of The Neocon. Explaining former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's polling surge. Story #2: Should you care more about your family or all living things in the Universe? Story #3: A deep dive on the Michigan Football cheating scandal. Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail] Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, the rise of the neocon, the rise of Nikki Haley. Two, should you care more about your family or all living things, including plants and animals? Three, the case of cheating against the Michigan Wolverines. It's the Will Cain podcast on Fox News Podcast. What's up and welcome to Monday. As always, I hope you will download, Ray, and review this podcast wherever you get your audio entertainment at Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News podcast. You can watch the Will Cain podcast on YouTube and follow me on X at Will Cain. a dilemma a question for you the viewer you the listener i got a call from a buddy a few days ago

he lives in florida he lives along a river a body of water and over the last couple of weeks he's been infested by raccoons now he said to me that down the street he's got a crazy lady who's been feeding the wild raccoons and that's led to an infest to an infest to an infest to in the neighborhood, which is spilled over into his yard and around his house. He estimated somewhere between 12 and 20 raccoons. He's called animal control. He has received no real help. He's called a trapper, an exterminator. But at this level, I guess you have to call it a trapper who wants to charge $700. So he finally decided, I'm going to be able to deal with these pests. I'm dealing with these raccoons like a man. I'm dealing with these raccoons myself. But he called me.

because he had arrived at both a practical and a moral dilemma. He said, hey, Will, listen, I know you've haunted throughout your life. I know you just went on a squirrel hunt. He said, do you ever feel remorse when you make a kill? And I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not somebody that pretends through some heightened sense of masculinity that, no, I have no problem killing animals. My answer to him was yes, yes. in fact, I don't often love. I don't love, love. I have no bloodlust to kill a deer. And the relationship between empathy, sadly, this is the truth, but the relationship between empathy and cuteness is somewhat correlated. It's somewhat tied. You kill a duck and it doesn't quite connect with you, a human in the same way, say, when you kill Bambi. And when you kill something like a raccoon that has some level of cuteness, I'm not going to indict you.

I'm not going to question your manhood if you feel bad. In fact, I told him there was a story when I was in law school, a buddy of mine, and I had a house in Austin, Texas, and we had a mice infestation. This has happened to me twice in my life, where when I lived in New York City, my first apartment also had an infestation of mice. And I remember in law school, and I'm sorry for the gory details, but this is the way it went down. When I had an infestation in law school, we set traps out everywhere. And my buddy who'd set the traps out everywhere about one of these newfangled traps that looks more like a hair clip than the old school, you know, Tom and Jerry mouse trap. So what that meant is one night when I was sitting in my bed and all of a sudden I heard the squealing, I knew we'd caught a mouse. But I knew that we hadn't killed a mouse.

So I went in there and they're stuck, you know, trapped by the foot or trapped by the tail was a mouse. And I didn't know what to do. What do I do? How do I have to kill this mouse? And, you know, with that kind of trap, I think it leaves a good question. What do you do? Because if you open the hair clip, the mouse is going to run out. So being young and stupid, what I went is to the only available thing that I had, which was an archery set.

And I was like, well, I'm going to have to drive this era. into the mouse, which I did not want to do. I'm not telling you this story proudly. And I'll never forget driving that arrow and that little mouse looking at me, it felt like in the eyes and grabbing it with his little paws. And yes, yes, I felt terrible. When I had a mouse infestation in New York, I would catch them with glue traps. In the beginning, I didn't know what to do. And in fact, I'm going to be honest with you. I caught some and I took them to the park and set them free. Central Park. These weren't on glue traps this was caught i can't remember how i caught these mice i think it was like in a shoebox somehow i ended up just trapping it and i let it go in central park but as that infestation got worse

trust me i lost all connection to the mice and i i without again i'm not going to go into the gory details i had no problem disposing of the mouse alive trapped on a glue trap so i i i felt for my buddy and his problem with the raccoons but he caught one in a trap And he had a horrible experience of trying to terminate the raccoon. He had a pellet gun. It wasn't the appropriate hardware. It was a prolonged experience. And he fell awful.

But he's like, what do I do now? I don't want to spend the $700. I got to get rid of the raccoons. What do I do? And so we debated, what do you do? We debated, you know, what do you do once you have one in a trap? You can't let him go. he just comes right back.

How do you exterminate the raccoons? And I gave him some advice. I don't know that, you know, everyone wants to hear about how you get rid of a pest, but it involved, you know, the river and the trap in 10 minutes, and then a trash can. And he understood that. He's like, yeah, I think that's probably best I said you can't embark on this 10-minute pellet gun experience again. That's awful. You can't let him go.

You're not supposed to just live with the raccoons. I don't think you should be expected to spend $700 on an exterminator. And if animal control won't do anything, what do you do? And that's where I come to you with this dilemma. What do you do? Do you trap and drown? Do you shoot? In a neighborhood, by the way, do you shoot?

You know, do you sit on the back porch and try to pick them off? I don't think you can do that. You're not in a rural setting. You can't fire a 22 off into the distance. what do you do you can't poison he said i can't poison them because there's cats and they tell you not to do that with other pets around so what do you do how do you get rid of the raccoons i do think my solution of trapping and drowning was simultaneously the most humane and effective but i don't know and i come to you with that dilemma will cane podcast at fox dot com there are some of you out

there i understand and i don't think it's many of you there are listeners to this program anymore who have some problem with the idea that, you know, life and death and hunting and pest are just part of this experience of humanity. Nothing that arrives on your plate nor any sense of sanity or any sense of sanitary conditions in your living environment would accept you living or cohabitating with raccoons or mice. So if you're a carnivore or an omnivore or you like having a pest-free home, what do you do Wilcane podcast at fox.com? Got a big show for you today. We're going to talk about the rise of Nikki Haley. I'm going to present to you what I think is also a fascinating moral revelation about the differences

between Republicans and Democrats, the left and the right, and whether or not you should care more about your family or all living things, including space rocks. And we're going to dive deep on the cheating scandal at the University of Michigan. Michigan. Story number one, the rise of the neocon, the rise of Nikki Haley. Real clear politics averages show polling in states like New Hampshire and South Carolina have Nikki Haley taking a lead over Ron DeSantis in a battle for second behind Donald Trump and the Republican presidential primary. The Iowa-Demoyne Register has a survey where Haley has drawn even for second with DeSantis. And there are headlines out there like this from The Guardian. Nikki Haley's unexpected rise from scrappy underdog to Trump's closest rival.

There are many people out there who think this discussion of second place. Whether or not you're talking about Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis is a waste of time. and in masks the real story of the Republican electorate, the voice of the voter in the Republican Party, which is overwhelmingly still in support of Donald Trump, still by a 30-point margin, polling somewhere north of 50 percent, just shy of 60 percent in the real clear politics averages. Trump commands a lead well over Haley and well over DeSantis. But why? Why the rise of Nikki Haley to rival Ron DeSantis?

Before we go into the answer to that, why? Let's talk about Ron DeSantis for just a moment. There are many, many, many people, apparently online who did not like my analysis of whether or not there are lifts in the cowboy boots of Ron DeSantis. Here's what I would say to you about that bit of fun that we had here. on the Will Cain podcast. As you know, I love sports. I root hard and irrationally.

I'm tribalistic about the Texas Longhorns who just survived against the Kansas State Wildcats. For the Dallas Mavericks, who are off to a hot start to this season. For the Texas Rangers, I'm sorry, for the World Series champion, Texas Rangers. And of course, for the Dallas Cowboys. reserve that irrationality, that tribalism, that fandom for sports.

I find it a fun and healthy outlet for putting blinders on, accepting propaganda, and never thinking critically about my fandom. I don't extend that same level of fandom to politics. It's too important. I don't have that level of fandom for. any candidate for any one man. I have that level of devotion to principles, to values, to ideas. And even that, I always want to remain open-minded about where I have been wrong. But I will never extend that same level of irrationality to Ron DeSantis, nor to Nikki Haley, nor to Donald Trump.

There are some out there that thought it was gratuitous, that it was. wasn't worthwhile, that it was beneath me to have a bit of fun about whether or not there are lifts in the cowboy boots of Ron DeSantis. Here's what I would say. First of all, I don't care if it hurt your feelings. I don't even care that I like Ron DeSantis, which I do like Ron DeSantis. I like more the truth. It won't impact the way I vote in a presidential election. It doesn't impact what I think of the leadership potential of Ron DeSantis. I think it's true.

Everyone that asks me the question, like, why did you devote your time to it? Because it's true. Why do you care? Because it's true. Why did you spend time on this? Because it's true. If you are offended by the truth, you might have devolved. and allowed politics to become your sports fandom.

I don't think you're attached to any particular idea. I think you've become attached to a man. And trust me, trust me, I believe that has happened long ago with many when it comes to the support of Donald Trump. I would like to think that I look at Trump or Haley or DeSantis or Tim Scott or Doug Bergam and judge them based upon their ideas. I don't care if Ron DeSantis is 5-11, which, by the way, is no defense to as to whether or not he wears lifts in his cowboy boots. I don't care how tall he is. It doesn't impact the fact that I think it's true there are lifts in his cowboy boots.

Why do I care? Oh, because it's objectively interesting and most probably true. It's like when somebody says, oh, did you know so-and-so is gay? Why do you care? Well, I don't care in any positive or negative way, but I'm not going to pretend like you're pretending right now that it's not of note or interesting or potentially true. The idea that I shouldn't care is absurd on its face.

I don't care to the extent it's going to impact my vote, but I care if it's true. There are some people who think that it matters. And I actually think they have a legitimate point to make. it would matter in that are you insecure i don't care if even if he is insecure about his height because many people out there are insecure about their height did you know that only 14% of men in this country are over six feet tall there are many many people that are insecure about their hair loss i'm insecure about many of my physical features but i don't care it's not that

big of a deal on the list of rankings of things that i should think about when i vote for president whether or not someone is a little bit height challenged and insecure about that has no bearing I don't even care, as some might, that you're hiding that insecurity, that you might be lying to yourself. I don't care. I think Ron DeSantis is an incredible, incredible governor and would make a very, very good president. I don't think Lauren DeSantis has proven to be a very good candidate. But if you look at every piece of negativity that comes the way of your candidate, you don't

truthfully care about the ideas, the values, the principles, or the truth. You've turned it into sport. You've turned your fandom into Ron DeSantis. Now, as to Nikki Haley, this for me is a very clear question of ideas. Why has there been a rise to second place and don't let that offend those who are fans of Donald Trump? that we shouldn't even been talking about somebody who has arrived at second place. It's simultaneously interesting and it's true. Why the rise of Nikki Haley?

This I find very interesting and I want to arrive at the truth. I think there are two potential reasons that Nikki Haley has come to challenge Ron DeSantis for second place, behind Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary. number one it shows a latent or burgeoning or rising strain of neocon within the Republican Party Nikki Haley has been incredibly strong she has been incredibly full-throated on both of the potential war fronts for the United States of America and I choose those words very carefully. I didn't mention simply Israel. I mentioned the United States of America. Nikki Haley is all in on war in Ukraine. Now, she will outsource that war to Ukraine, but she will

divert American resources. And I would love to hear her press on the red line for American troops in the war against Russia in Ukraine. I can't also help but notice that the at least correlation between Nikki Haley's full-throated embrace of not just Israel, but potential American involvement in the Middle East is almost simultaneous with her rise in the polls. I think there is still, I think there always has been. I don't think it so much is burgeoning. I don't think it's rising.

I think it shows a latency. I think it shows that there was always a strain that simply grew quiet. under the years of Donald Trump, of neocon within the Republican Party. It was there with Lindsey Graham. Before him, it was there with John McCain. Before that, it was there consistently from George W. Bush to decades prior in the fight against the Soviet Union.

But we no longer have that existential threat in the Soviet Union. And we have tired, I think, as a people towards perpetual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that made us believe that perhaps. the days of forever wars, or using the military as the world's police. In short, the strain of neocon had faded within the Republican Party. But I think that Nikki Haley's embrace shows it was never far away. It was simply quiet during the rise in populism of the Republican Party. Now, there are others who say, I don't know that it's neocon as much it is a guttural,

desire for toughness from leadership in America. And I think there is something to that. You remember a couple of weeks ago we had a debate here on the Will Came podcast between Dave Smith and Ben Dominic on the proper role of the United States of America when it comes to the war between Israel and Hamas. And Ben Dominic, who has a podcast here at Fox News podcast, I think put something very well. He said that we always characterize the debate in political thought. and specifically conservative political thought in America as Jeffersonian versus Hamilton.

And most people think long ago there was a victory by Hamilton. Jefferson saw the country as city states, as rights reserved to the states, as citizen farmers. He embraced regionalism. He embraced political diversity. I would describe myself in many, many ways as Jeffersonian. Hamilton saw a strong central government, starting with banking, but he saw that role of the federal government as central to the rise in power and might of the United States of America. I think when you look at our history, the arc of the history of America, it's a clear victory for Alexander Hamilton. But Ben Dominic said, at least when it comes to foreign policy, he thinks the American people, not where I am, maybe not where you are, definitely not necessarily where we should be, but simply analyzing where we are as America is actually more Jacksonian. When we see something that's gone wrong, certainly when we're attacked, we want to go punch somebody in the mouth.

We want George W. Bush on that rubble at the World Trade Center, yelling into a bullhorn that the people who took down these towers will soon hear from all of us. All of us, including me, loved that moment. All of us, one of the Andrew Jackson mentality of punching someone in the mouth. But what we've learned about America is that's fine. We just don't want to remain fighting some five years later. We want to win and win decisively. We want every war to be the war against Saddam Hussein. We want desert storm rolling through in a number of months,

kicking someone's ass while raising the red, white, and blue and yelling, go America. We don't want to be bogged down in Afghanistan for 20 years, forgetting why we went there in the first place. that we are Jacksonian. And perhaps that is what's been tapped into by Nikki Haley. Maybe it's a desire for strength. Certainly we do not have that in the White House. I do not think when it comes to foreign policy and decisive victory,

the Democratic Party has shown great leadership when it comes to war. It's hard to reconcile because you say, well, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, for that matter, the Unip Party has embraced the war in Ukraine. but the war in Ukraine isn't one in search of a decisive victory. It seems to be a bleed amount tactic towards Russia. It's another in the long line of forever war. So when it comes back to Republicans,

we see what's in the White House with Joe Biden, and we want strength. We want toughness. And that's come to be symbolized. That's come to be voiced by Nikki Haley. I do think that has played a role. and the rise of Nikki Haley. But there's another reason as well.

And that is number two, the ever-shifting search, even within Republicans, for the alternative to Donald Trump. As I mentioned earlier, it simply has nothing to do with like or dislike. It has nothing to do

with me wanting to kneecap or raise pom-poms for on DeSantis to say his candidacy and his campaign have not been what you expected from DeSantis. He's hovered pretty consistently stuck around 11 or 12% in almost all polls in almost all states. And I think that there has been some growing realization on those who won an alternative to Trump that maybe potentially it won't be DeSantis. And because of that, there's been a fluid anti-Trump constituency, a base, floating, looking for a viable alternative to Donald Trump. And that it has flowed, perhaps from Ron DeSantis to Nikki Haley. My friend and co-host Pete Hegseth had a fascinating analysis I thought this weekend on Fox

and friends. We were talking about the growing shadow campaigns against Joe Biden. Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips has announced that he's going to launch. He's going to get his name on the ballot in New Hampshire. Several different Democrats have kind of launched international campaigns to project leadership. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Corey Booker have taken foreign policy trips to meet with foreign leaders, most notably. California governor Gavin Newsom, who visited China. And Gavin Newsom is essentially, like many of his others now are beginning to, but Gavin Newsom has been running a shadow campaign against Joe Biden.

He hasn't formally announced, but he made it clear that if something happens, Joe Biden is physically or mentally incapable, or that he's incapable of winning a general election and the DNC uses pressure to have him turn over at the Democratic Convention. his nomination to someone else to Gavin Newsom. Heg Seth said, in retrospect, this might have been the tactic that would have been best for Ron DeSantis instead of running headlong into Donald Trump.

And again, out of no interest of raising pom-poms or knee-capping Donald Trump, what we can say very clearly is, at least in a Republican primary, For the better part of eight years, no one has figured out the riddle of Donald Trump. How to win over the fans of Donald Trump that now poll well over 50%. Instead of running into that buzzsaw, DeSantis might have been better off choosing the campaign tactic of Gavin Newsom. To remain available, to run a shadow campaign, to wait and see what happens with these criminal cases against Donald Trump. What happens? with his campaign. I think we can all agree there. A lot of potential curveballs left in the next

what, eight to nine months, ten months before we select a nominee, which is 12 months away from a general election for president. What if he had just waited in the wings? What would be the public clamoring like for Ronda Santis? He would never have received the barrage of attacks from Donald Trump. He would have exposed himself or his weaknesses on the campaign trail. He would have simply sat there with his excellent record as governor of Florida as a shadow alternative to Trump. I think that is a very fascinating analysis and perhaps one that it would have better served. Not just the short term, but the long term prospects for DeSantis.

The prospects in 2028. But for now, he chose to run into the buzzsaw. I think that he's paid some price politically, clearly. And I think that now, in part because of this fluid flaying feud of looking for alternative to Trump and because there is a need for toughness and perhaps a latent constituency of neocons within the Republican Party, we've seen the rise of Nikki Haley. We'll be right back with more of the Will Cain podcast. I'm Janice Dean. Join me every Sunday as I focus.

on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com. Listen to the all-new Brett Bear podcast featuring Common Ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Bear favorites, like his all-star panel and much more. Available now at Fox Newspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Story number two. Should you care more about your family or every living creature, including plants, and maybe space rocks? It's fascinating study published in nature, a scientific journal and magazine, with a scientific study that is done by people, including a very fascinating thinker, Jonathan Haidt, on what people most care about.

how they rank their priorities in life, what they choose to, with energy and devotion being a finite resource, where you choose to allocate most of your energy, most of your care, where are your priorities? And it's a pretty big revelation about the differences in political ideology and what people care about.

Right. There's a heat map within this study that shows concentric circles with one at the bull's eye, one in the center of the circle, and the outside circles numbering 14, 15, 16. And these concentric circles represent questions asked to the audience about what and where are your priorities. Number one is represented by all of your immediate family. the heat map specifically i'm reading now from the study indicates highest moral allocation by ideology source data as provided are source data the highest value on the heat map is 20 units for liberals and 12 units for conservatives moral circle rings from inner to outer are described as follows so

one the center of the heat map all of your immediate family if you ranked that your highest priority on your moral duty, your moral allocation, your energy, then you would receive a one. Number two, all of your extended family. Number three, all of your closest friends. Number four, all of your friends, including distant ones. Five, all of your acquaintances. Six, all the people you have ever met. Seven, all people in your country. Eight, all people on your continent. Nine, all people on all continents. Ten, all mammals.

Eleven, all amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish, and birds. Safe to say, those that rank number 11, their highest priority, probably didn't appreciate the beginning of this podcast. We talked about how to deal with pests, including mice and raccoons. Number 12, all animals on earth, including paramescence, and amoeba. I know what an amoeba is. I don't even know what a paramecia is.

Number 13. All animals in the universe, including alien life forms. Number 14, all living things in the universe, including plants and trees. Number 15, all natural things in the universe, including inert entities such as rocks. And 16, all things in existence.

Now, before I revealed to you exactly where the heap map lies according to political ideology or philosophical ideology. Let me just tell you, I love this study. This reveals so much of what I think is important, and we talk about here on the Will Cain podcast. There's an Arab proverb that says, me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousin, me, my brother and my cousin against the world. And I think that's how the world should work. I think you should have at the center of your circle, your faith, your God. I think then your immediate family, then your extended family, then your friends, then your neighbors. I think you should care more about your neighborhood, your village, your town,

then you do some town four states away. I think you should. And I think that we should probably all give much more attention to our local elections than we do to the celebrity-natured presidential elections of the USA. I think when we devote our charity and our resources, our energy,

it should all focus from the inward to the outward. I think you should raise good children, create strong families that's how you create a good society that's on the the foundation upon which you build a good foundation i think you should be there for your neighbor i don't think you should live like you do in new york which i can speak from experience of not even knowing who's in the door right next door to you i think that you shouldn't care more about what's happening in ukraine than what's happening in your children's school district i think that's a reflection of proper moral allocation and apparently i'm not alone at least when it comes to conservatives that's how

this group is described in this study again by nature if i'm looking at the heat map the highest level of heat map for conservatives the red of the red puts that right around number three or four and that includes all of your immediate family which was one all of your extended family which is two all of your closest friends three and four all of your friends including distant ones just outside where that heat map begins to shade into orange all of your acquaintances by the time you get to all the people you've ever met it's shading into an orangish yellow the yellow peters out around number 11 all amphibians reptiles mammals fish and birds by the time you arrive at 15 all natural things in the universe, including inert entities such as rocks,

you've faded well out into green and I don't care at all blue. But that's very different than the heat map for liberals. The reddest of the red, the highest of priorities for liberals, again, that's how this survey identifies this political ideology, this political philosophy, shows the reddest of the red arriving around number 14 or 15. The bullseye of that is on all living things in the universe including plants and trees. 15, all natural things in the universe,

including inert entities such as rocks. That's redder. Then, by the way, your family, your immediate family, your extended family, all your closest friends. Those are green. the heat map goes red orange yellow green so the liberal ideology cares more has more moral allocation more energy devoted to things off of this planet out of this literally out of this

world than the people in your home now i'm i'm sure that someone listening who is a liberal was going to call nonsense on this but i'm just telling you what the scientific study reveals on this particular heat map on the allocation of priorities. What the rebuttal would probably be is, well, I have enough energy to give to all of those things. I care about my family. I care about the universe. I care about my friends.

I care about plants. But it's a finite resource. You can't care equally. You can't devote the same level of energy to all of those things. And I actually think this is revealed in voting patterns. There's another staff.

okay here's another step conservatives incredibly more charitable this is this is quantifiable this is objective truth dollar figure contributed incredibly more charitable giving away their money than liberals why well i think in part because liberals see their vote as an act of charity their vote as a virtue conservatives see it as a civic duty but you have to give to your your community through your sacrifice through your charity and most of the time not all the time most of the time that is focused closer to home look when we raised all of that money and i'm so humbled by it but we raised all that money from maui look part of what drove my priorities and drove my passion for it was it was well not geographically where i grew up it was geographically a place that i

spent much of my life and i cared and i'm not going to apologize for that i cared greatly because i'd spent so much of my time if you listening didn't care as much i would totally understand that it's far away it's not your place but you know what it was is the united states of america which again came in somewhere within the realm of carrying on conservatives all the people in your country number seven number seven on this map orange just outside of the red and you stepped up you reflected that you gave you cave incredibly two and a half million as I would I think this is admirable to help your countrymen I think this is the proper moral allocation you can't care you can't fly a Ukrainian flag outside of your house as your moral duty

you can't devote those assets those those energies those that that moral priority to what's happening and I'm not saying you shouldn't care about what's happening Ukraine I'm not saying you shouldn't care what's happening in Israel. Of course you should. But should you care as much of what's happening under your roof? I think the answer is clear, at least for half of Americans. We're going to step aside here for a moment. Stay tuned. Following Fox's initial donation to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund, our generous viewers have answered the call to action across all Fox platforms

and have helped raise $7 million. Visit go.com. forward slash TX flood relief to support relief and rebuild effort. Story number three. The evidence, the timeline, the details of the cheating scandal against the University of Michigan. I don't know if you've kept up with this. We did speak about it last week in Friday's episode of the Wilcane podcast with Chris Felica, the host of Bear Betts at Fox Sports Podcasts. The University of Michigan has been accused of cheating, and it is now under investigation by the NCAA is the University of Michigan men's football team headed up by coach Jim Harbaugh. The allegations are that an assistant on the football staff, a man named Connor Stallions, making $55,000 a year, was scouting and recording opponents' signs so that it could be relayed to the sideline at the University of Michigan and they would know the play that is coming.

It'd be like playing poker against someone or blackjack against someone with a stacked deck. Now, the sign stealing has been a part of sports and every sport for quite some time. And my initial reaction to this story, as you'll remember, was, come on, it's not that big of a deal. Everyone's doing it. You still have to execute in the game. But the specific allegation of NCAA violations is reminiscent, at least in some ways, of the allegation of cheating against the Houston Astros. It's using technology when stealing signs. using technology to relay what's coming up on the field to help your team.

It's against the NCAA rules to film an opponent's signs, to use videography, to use technology, to record an opponent's signs, and analyze them and use them, to weaponize them in a game. Connor Stallions is accused of running, a ring of guys, including numerous coaches. I believe there's an NCAA Division III coach who is suggesting he was offered to participate in this scheme where he hired people and he did himself as well, buy tickets to games of upcoming Michigan opponents and record them, sometimes with his cell phone, and record

those signs, take them back to the University of Michigan, analyze them so that you'd be prepared for your upcoming opponent, but that's not all. There's video allegations out there of Conor Stuyens on the sideline of central Michigan who would be playing the University of Michigan, wearing central Michigan gear. He's wearing a hat. He's wearing a shirt. He's on the central Michigan sidelines. It's a night game.

He's wearing sunglasses, and there's some angles of this where there's pictures of him where on the sunglasses, it looks like there's a blue light on in the corner of his sunglasses, as though the allegation is there's a recording device. In the sunglasses, he's recording the signs of whoever is playing against Central Michigan. He's getting the signs from the other side, it's presumed. It's not just that. The allegations are that they were recording signs of people who would be potential playoff opponents like TCU last year in the college football playoff. Not just that.

They were sharing some of these signs with other teams in CAA. who could help clear the path for Michigan on their way to the playoffs. I'm telling you, again, these aren't just allegations now. There are, there's an NCAA investigation. They went to the University of Michigan, did investigators, and began this investigation. A poll of Big Ten coaches, overwhelming majority of them, want Michigan punished and are saying, this is not, as my initial reaction was, this is in the normal course of business, that's not what, you can say, oh, they're rivals and they're mad that University of Michigan is rising. that they're doing well. Whatever is their motivation?

Big Ten coaches want Michigan punished. By the way, who is Connor Stallions? He's 28 years old. He graduated from the Naval Academy. He was a Marine. He was also a massive fan of the University of Michigan. He wrote a 600-page manifesto on how to revive the program.

Again, there's allegations they used ball boys to communicate the signs during games somehow with the balls, how they relayed the balls onto the field. Connor Stuyens was first suspended. He has now been fired from the University of Michigan. Here is the timeline. It's up at outkick.com.

Outkick has done a great job of laying this out. Check them out. Check them out. Outkick.com. 2022. Teams find out as late as 2022 that Michigan is running an elaborate cheating scheme. Early 2023, TCU is informed by multiple teams. that the Wolverines are cheating ahead of the playoff game last year. Hornfrogs respond by turning real signals into dummy signals and creating new ones. We all know how that game turned out. Win by TCU.

September 2nd, 20203, a man resembling Connor Stallions appears on central Michigan sidelines against Michigan State. There's that detail from just a moment ago. Of course, there would be a game against Michigan and Michigan State. early October this year word starts circulating the NCAA is investigating Michigan for stealing signs October 19th the Big Ten publicly confirms an investigation is underway Jim Harbaugh denies any knowledge October 20th caller stallions is suspended with pay October 27th NCAA officials visit Michigan to conduct investigation operations

unnamed former division three coach claims he was paid as part of the scheme this is not good this is mounting up for michigan october 30th photos emerge appearing to show connor stallions on the cm u sideline this is when he's wearing the cm u gear and the alleged glasses with a camera in them november 1st big 10 coaches urged the conference to punish michigan for the alleged scheme and then as of just the last couple of days it was friday Connor Stallions fired from the University of Michigan. This is fascinating.

This is juicy and this is a big deal. Michigan most likely will not be punished in this football season. They're very good. Michigan could very well find themselves in the college football playoff. Michigan could very well find themselves in the national championship game.

Michigan could very well find themselves the national champion. While this accusation, this investigation, and a potential punishment that would include the vacation you would assume of games, including a national championship, is underway. Oh, boy, Michigan Wolverines. All right, that's going to do it from a day here on the Wilcane podcast. You can give me your feedback on the moral dilemma of how do you deal with the infestation of raccoons at willcane podcast at fox.com.

I'll see you next time. Listen to ad free with a Fox News Podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast. and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free, on the Amazon Newscast. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gatti podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com.