August 5, 2026 • 35 mins
The controversy surrounding Congressman Max Miller is escalating—and it could have major consequences for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.
In this episode of It's a Numbers Game, Ryan Girdusky breaks down the latest developments in the Max Miller controversy, the political fallout surrounding his divorce and public allegations, and why Republicans are increasingly concerned about holding Ohio's 7th Congressional District.
Ryan also analyzes new polling showing Ken Paxton trailing in the Texas Senate race despite Republicans leading nearly every other statewide contest, examines fresh early voting data from Florida, and discusses troubling developments for Republicans in North Carolina.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to If It's the Numbers Game with Ryan Grodski.
Thank you guys for being here. Well, the news on
Congressman Max Miller has really come to a head, and
I need to talk about it because it may have
very big ramifications for November. At the same time, I
have information to share on early voter data coming out
of Florida and some other midterm races that have some
(00:20):
breaking news. But first let's get to Max Miller. It
is not pretty. For those of you who don't know
al a brief background. Congressman Max Miller is the representative
for Ohio's seventh congressional district, and he decided to release
a video over the weekend and a link to a
dropbox to defend his reputation. He has been in a
(00:42):
very bitter feud with his ex wife, Emily Marino, the
daughter of Senator Bernie Marino from Ohio. The couple married
in twenty twenty two and Max was a candidate for Congress.
They had a baby girl, and then they divorced in
twenty twenty four. Briefly afterwards, Emily and I'm gonna use
her first name just so you don't confuse her with
the Senator Marino. Emily has accused Max Miller of being
(01:05):
physically abusive by both against herself and her daughter. She
said that her ex husband put a gun to her head,
shoved her into walls, and through scolding hot water at her.
She said she that Max Miller had bruised her daughter's
collar bone Max's daughter's collar bone. Now, this isn't the
first time Max Miller has been accused of abuse. He
was accused by his ex girlfriend White House spoke ex
(01:28):
White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham of being physically abusive in
her memoir. Miller sued her for defamation, but it was
voluntarily dismissed with prejudice. Now, Emily has been making these
accusations as the Miller for some time. And I said
in a previous podcast that I heard a bolt about
the scalding hot water incident basically right after it half.
(01:51):
And I have a lot of connections in Ohio, a
lot of political connections in Ohio who've worked on various
campaigns and kind of is they're very intimately involved in
every one's races on life. Unfortunately, and so that incident
almost right after it happened, I heard about it. I
don't know if it happened, but I heard of this
kind of went about the I didn't hear about any
(02:14):
other case of abuse, by the way, so this is
the one that I really did hear about. Right after
it happened. Over the weekend, Miller decided to release an address,
a video address, denying any abuse against both Emily and
his daughter. He said in the video that Emily was
seen on camera in his home the day that she
accused him of, of him shoving her, walking into the house,
(02:38):
calmly getting her daughter, bringing her daughter to the car
to a birthday party. They sent texts right afterwards that
were very cordial about increasing visitation rights, inviting him to
the playground to play with his daughter, offering to cook
him dinner. In my opinion, overall, the video was a horrible,
(02:59):
horrible political idea. Whoever orchestrated it terrible political decision because
he concludes the video by saying, would she offer to
cook meat dinner if I assaulted her? Here's the problem
with saying something like that. Many many, many, many women
in this country, including ones that I have known, millions
(03:20):
that maybe you all have known, have been in abusive
relationships with men and offered to make food for them
and be nice to them. They've been in situations with
an abuser where you're like, what are you still doing?
It's just we've all not be all. Many of us
have seen situations where women are making less than smart
(03:42):
choices with a man that they shouldn't be with. And
then in the dropbox, the length that Miller shared as
if the video wasn't messy enough, he released in this
giant dropbox that he later had to take down audio
conversations between him and Emily. And in those video conversations
which by the way, he says in one of them,
I'm not recording you, which he obviously was, which makes
(04:05):
it look all the more creepier. In one of those conversations,
she says that her father has never bashed him, why
is he attacking her father? In another recorded video, he
admitted to throwing the water on her, the thing that
I had heard about, but he insist that it wasn't scalding.
He said that it was right from the foss it
was like taking a hot shower, that it wasn't actually
(04:25):
going to burn her. In another call, Emily claims to
have seen needles near Max Miller's bed, and she accused
him of being a drug addict. By the way, that
is also an accusation I've heard about Max Miller around
political circles, is that there's a situation with drugs. When
I don't know it's an alleged, it's an accusation, but
I've definitely heard it from political people in and around Ohio.
(04:50):
The fact that he released this audio recording is so creepy.
It's invasive, and it did not do what he thought
it would do. It makes things worse. She's accusing you
of being a weird creep and you're recording her behind
(05:11):
her back, and it just it's a It was a
terrible look. It was a terrible look. And then to
make things even worse, as if the video and the
attack and everything wasn't bad enough, the dropbox did include
a link to the unredacted name of their two year
(05:33):
old daughter and a photo where their daughter was nude
and where her I didn't see the photo, and I
read reports. Some said her genitals were showing, some saying
her she was shirtless. I'm not exactly sure which one
it was, but Emily's lawyer has sent a letter to
Miller's legal team accusing the Congress of releasing a photo
(05:53):
of their daughter that could be considered child sex abuse material.
Miller's lawyer, Aaron mink I think is how you and
that's the last name. It took folk responsibility saying it
was his mistake and at this point an excuse my language.
Who gives a shit? This is all bad. Who cares
who's doing I mean, this is all bad. What Max
(06:14):
Miller should have done if I was advising what Max
Miller what he should have done is he should have said,
this is the mother to my daughter. I know she
has made accusations against me. They are not true. However,
for the sake of my daughter, I will not smear
her mother's name in public. I am innocent of these charges.
The court mediator has said that I'm innocent in the charges.
(06:36):
I look forward to getting back to the business of
the people of Ohio. That's it. Be a gentleman, Max Miller,
be a gentleman in this situation, even if you feel
like she's slinging mud at you to go on the
assaults of your daughter's mother. You didn't need to do this.
You didn't need to do this, and everything you tried
(06:58):
both in this video and in the subsequent dropbox, has
completely backfired in my opinion. And this story is, you know,
it's not new, It's been going on for years. But
this pressure campaign by the media mostly and some Democrats
(07:19):
against Senator Bernie Marino to come out publicly and condemn
Max Miller saying he shouldn't come run for reelection has
been gaining steam and gaining fuel. And Max Miller, if
he wasn't who he is, which read between the lines,
could have had a more cordial relationship with Senator Bernie
(07:42):
Marino and could have had a situation where they both
agreed that under no circumstances they were either one of
them was going to bring this out in the public
saying this is a private family situation. We're not sharing
this information, We're not doing this, We're not slinging mud
like Bernie Marino was not wrong for staying silent as
(08:03):
long as he did. That's what everyone's missing. Who've been
accusing Bernie Marino of not standing up for his daughter,
of not doing something nice for his daughter. I am
speaking as the child of divorce. My parents separated when
I was about eight years old. Is probably the most
devastating and defining thing that ever happened to me as
far as making me to the person I am. It
(08:25):
was not a nasty divorced in like, especially when you're
considering what's going on here, but my it was not.
It was still divorce, right, and my parents never ever
ever bad mouthed each other in front of me. Ever,
they never put me in the middle of the thing,
and they never bad mouthed each other in front of me.
(08:45):
But during the divorce my parents divorced, which once again
was a divorce. It was not all sunshine and rainbows.
It wasn't We weren't coupling, uncoupling whatever Gwyneth Palchrow once
said consciously uncoupling. It was a divorce. It wasn't always
my mother's sisters made it a point to remain friendly
(09:06):
with my father, and in an Italian family, it was
viewed as a very big betrayal, especially by my grandparents.
My aunt told me years and years and years later
that she always said it to my grandparents, to my mother,
or to everyone in the family who didn't understand why
she was being so friendly with my father. If anything
ever happened to my mother while we were minors, they
(09:28):
would not have the ability to see us and me
and my brother, and she wanted to guarantee that there
was a bridge, a connection to my father in case
anything ever happened to my mother where my grandparents and
my mom said the family would get visitation rights. It
was a very calculated thing and it was a very
responsible thing to do. I don't know what's in Senator
(09:50):
Bernie Marino's mind. I'm only speculating, but when you're talking
about a divorce that involves a child or grandchild, it
is up to the parents and the grandparent parents to
act like adults and remain cordial because anything ever did
God forbid happen to one of the parents and custody
is withdrawn to only one parent. That parent, if they
(10:13):
have a bad relationship, could make that child's life in
terms of seeing their grandparents, a living hell, like they
make the grandparents lie a living hell. Laws on the
books do not automatically give grandparents visitation rights. You have
to petition the courts. And if I've learned anything in
these thirty nine years of life is that no matter
how bad a situation is, it will only be worse
(10:34):
when lawyers get involved. So I think there was nothing
wrong with what Bernie Marino has been doing, saying silent
all this time publicly. He has since obviously come out publicly.
It's why this has been a huge political story. Miller
accused Marino after he made the claim that Miller should
(10:55):
not be in Congress. He said, you know this isn't true,
and the only reason you're speaking out is to high
from your own media circus. This is all political. That
was what Max Miller said about burning Marino. This is
all disgraceful. It's just it's disgraceful. Maybe I'm especially triggered
being the child of divorce, but I think that you
(11:15):
should not be doing this in public. Eventually, this girl
is going to turn eighteen or sixteen and get an
iPhone and google everything that everybody is saying about her,
and saying about her parents and how they are raised
and her grand It's just it's beyond I will give
Max Miller a little credit for one thing. He is
(11:38):
correct when he said the court's never found him guilty
of abusing his daughter, which is an extremely serious allegation.
It's probably the most yerious allegation of being thrown right
now between Emily and Max. A deposition from May twenty
twenty six, so only a few months ago, from a
court appointed clinical psychologist, said that she did not believe
Miller abused Emily or her child, and in twenty twenty four,
(11:59):
Emily or in a statement that Miller had never harmed
their daughter. So take that with what you will. I
know too much about these people. I think we all
know too much about these people. We better if we
knew much less from everyone I have ever met who
knows Emily and Max, and I know a lot of people.
(12:21):
They are two individuals who have a ton of issues
and rub almost everybody the wrong way and burn a
ton of bridges. I can't go into any further. I
don't want to go in any further. I don't want
to know anything more about this fight unless something really
big happens. I don't want to even address it anymore
because I feel disgusting even reading about it. And at
(12:45):
the end of the day, you have this poor two
year old girl who was caught up in mid of this,
and we'll read everything. This is none of our business,
and unfortunately everyone has decided to make it our business,
and it's going to have political gramifications from Republicans are
showing that Max Miller is losing reelection. Sources close to
(13:05):
me that said Miller is determined to run no matter what.
He said that even if President Trump publicly asked Miller
to step down, Maximller step down, he would not. Veteran
political consultant I know done a lot of work in
Ohio said Max is unhinged and not rational and wouldn't
(13:26):
drop out no matter what. According to Axios, Trump told
Miller that things aren't looking good for the re election.
It's in trouble, he said. The congressman said his polling
was fine. According to CNN, CNN, Semaphore, CBS, and The
New York Times, Trump allies are saying that Trump's internal
polling shows MAXI Miller losing reelection by six points. This
(13:48):
is a district that Trump won by almost twelve points,
that has them voted for a Democrat. I was voted
for one Democrat in the last ten years, which is
just Sharon Brown's twenty eighteen election. But aside from that,
Republicans have been clabbering everyone in this district and that
allies in the White House are are trying to find
a way to get Miller to drop out, and they
(14:08):
are deeply troubled, troubled by Miller's actions to go on
the offensive against his ex wife. Even some top House
Republicans are calling on the President to step in. I
don't think Miller's retiring or quitting this race, no matter
what it would, There's nothing that can make him quit
this race. Miller loves being a congressman. Maybe not for
(14:28):
all the right reasons, but he loves being congressman. And
there is, to his credit, there is no sign yet
that he is guilty of anything. So once again, take
that from what you will. I have not seen these internals.
They've just been what they've been publicly saying. Doubt. House
Democrats are now mulling whether they want to expel Max
Miller from Congress, something that I think is a dangerous president. Remember,
(14:51):
Emily did not go to the hospital, should not go
to the police, and the court ordered psychologists did say
that they did not believe that the baby was abused.
If you're going to expel someone over someone's exes accusations,
we're going to see a lot of people expel from
Congress like it's only the beginning. In the meantime, Stephanie
Grisham has filed the restraining order against Miller because there
(15:15):
in the middle of another lawsuit. It's just messy and
the actions by these adults has been so disgraceful. Miller
said on Tuesday that he is going to file paperwork
for an ethics investigation to clear his name. No one,
no one, not Emily, not Max, not Senator Marino is
(15:36):
going to come out of this smelling like roses. No
one has decided to act like an adult, and the
media especially is being really kind of overly gross about this.
And I just, in my opinion, and this is my opinion,
you don't bash your children's parents in public. You don't
(15:57):
air that dirty laundry in public. And it's just it's
going to backfire tremendously for everyone involved. Okay, let's talk
with some early voting data. Let's talk about some other
political stories that are breaking, and that is coming up next.
So there's a lot of news coming out of the
campaign trail. I want to go over quickly. A lot
of its pen news for Republicans, but it is what
(16:18):
it is. I will have to cover it. I'm not
gonna lie to anybody or sugarcoat things. The first new
polling coming out of Texas where Republican nomine Attorney General
Ken Paxson is trailing James Tall Rico, and yet another poll,
the fifth consecutive poll showing the Republican trailing the Democrat.
By the way, for those of you comparing what happened
in twenty eighteen, where Ted Cruz barely speak out a
victory against Beto O'Rourke during that entire election, Beto only
(16:42):
led in two poles during the entire time that they ran.
Talla Rico has led in more polls since June twenty
third than Beto did the entire campaign. Talla Rico can
win this thing. It's not a foregone conclusion. I think
everyone needs to be really aware of what's happening. The
most recent survey taken by the Texas Southern University found
(17:04):
that Governor Greg Abbott is leading by six points, Lieutenant
Governor Dan Patrick is leading by seven, Attorney General Republican
nominee Maya's Middleton is leading by five, Comptroller ad Don
hoff Eyes He's the Republican nominee, is leading by seven.
Texas Land Commissioner nominee Down Buckingham is leading by five,
and Railroad Commissioner nominee both French is leading by three.
(17:26):
The Republicans are having a clean sweep basically across all
the state wide races in Texas. The only race they
are down is Ken Paxton. So he is down by
two points in the poll forty seven to forty five,
which is still in the margin of error. Let's let's
examine why is Abbot up six but Paxson is down
(17:47):
to that. You may be wondering where is this eight
points different coming from? Paxon is trailing Latinos by nineteen points,
Blacks by sixty seven points, and leading whites by fourteen points.
He's also railing tellerqu among Independence by forty points. Abbot,
on the other hand, is winning whites by twenty four points,
losing Latinos by fourteen, losing Blacks by fifty nine, and
(18:11):
trailing my Independence by only twenty three points. So Latinos
are definitely hurting Paxton, but it's the white vote that
is killing him in these campaigns. Now, I need you
to remember back in twenty twenty five, when I was
doing this podcast, if you were listening on, everyone was
talking about the Latino vote and how it was working
its way in Virginia and New Jersey, and it was
(18:31):
you know, that was a telltale sign for the election.
And what I pointed out was that the white working
class vote was moving as far left nearly as the
Latino vote, and the white working class vote is the
base of the Republican Party, of the economy. That the
overall prices, the gas prices, now they were crippling working
class people, regardless if they were Latino or white. Everyone
(18:56):
wanted to make an immigration story. I said, is not
an immigration story. Is a cost of living story. That's
the story behind a big part of the twenty twenty
five election. When Paxton was on this podcast, I told him,
you know, both on and off the air. We talked
off the air afterwards. I said, you have an incredible
record against fighting against major corporations who were screwing over consumers,
(19:21):
and you fought for consumer protection. People need to know
that you care about the little guy. You need to
make that case to the voters that you have a
record for the little guy. And Democrats are running on
affordability and data centers and an unpopular president. There has
to be a path for you, and you have it
because you have not only walked the walk. But you've
(19:43):
talked to talk. You're not all show and no go.
You have done the work, and I don't know why
Paxton hasn't made that case. The one silver lining for
Paxton in this poll, and it is a big silver lining.
Only eighty five percent of Republicans say that are going
to support Paxton right now. There's a lot of Republicans
(20:04):
who are undecided. If those Republicans come home, including those
who are supporting the libertarian Paxson should have enough support
to win. So that is really the silver lining behind
the entire pole. If Trump's MAGA impact dumps one hundred
million dollars, which they very well might, I think Paxton
will pull it out ahead of time. But he needs
(20:25):
to not only attack Tellerrigo. He needs to make the
case that he is the working man's fighter, because he
actually has. He sued Lululemon, he sued big Tech. He's
done it all. He's run the gamut on big corporations,
screen of the little guy. Make that the point of
your campaign. That's I mean, that's all I have to
say about that. The other two races that have gotten
(20:47):
Republicans in hot trouble. One is in North Carolina where
Republican Chuck Edwards. He represents the state's eleventh district. That's
the western most part of the state, is the district
in the Smoky Mountains. The House Republican leaders are privately
encouraging Representive Chuck Edwards after a House Ethics committee called
for the Speaker to censor Representive Edwards, the first Republican
(21:09):
to be censored in twenty twenty one. They're calling on
him to step down. Edwards is being censored for violating
the House rules related to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces.
According to the report, he was being unprofessional with female employees,
offering them more than one thousand dollars in gifts including
designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop, a cell phone,
(21:31):
a kitchen aid mixer, a robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to
a performances, and a one on one dinner. Hold on
for a second. He offered a kitchen aid mixer, Like
that's his way to romance. Somebody, what in the Betty
Crocker's going on, ladies, is the way to your heart
(21:53):
a kitchen aid mixer? I mean, when Janet Jackson asked,
what have you done? For me lately represented. Chuck Edwards
answer with a kitchen aid mixer. I don't understand what
is happening that that is your idea of romance, mister Edwards.
And what is going on with Congress? These people are
all over sixty. How many little blue pills are in
(22:14):
circulation in the House of Representatives. This is maddening. How
do their penises still work at this age? What is
happening now? Remember this is the only part of the
state of North Carolina in twenty twenty four that move
to the left at voted for Kamala Harris in bigger numbers.
This is a seat that needs a responsible congressman who
(22:36):
does constituent services and answers calls and really represents the people.
It's also a name that was hit by a horrible
disaster last year or the year prior. Edwards puts this
in play, and he was the congressman to aus Madison
Cawthorne because they said he was too unhinged. Little did
they know, you know, Chuck Everwards is running around with
(22:57):
his kitchen date mixer is hidden on every hote that
walks past them. I mean, what is there to say?
And the heartburn doesn't just end with Chuck Edwards, who
should step down? This is completely unprofessional and really weird.
I will be thinking I will never not think about
Kitchen A mixers in a different light. Now, the heartburn
(23:19):
doesn't end because North Carolina Republican Senate nominee Michael Wattlee
ended up on a secret recording audio tape advocating for
abolishing FEMA in exchange for doing block grants to state
disaster relief. I don't know if this is a terrible idea.
I don't know enough about the program. I'm not here
to say whether it's right, wrong, or indifferent. I know
(23:40):
that Western North Carolina was hit by this horrible disaster.
People die, they needed relief, and I know the way
the Democrats will cut the ad. They will cut the
ad saying Michael Wattlee wants to end relief to Western
North Carolina and abolish FEMA. See it completely. I just
see the ad perfectly. And yeah, I don't even know
(24:03):
what to say. It's not all terribleness for Republicans, though,
because Democrats are on their way to nominating the a
truly insane person for the Wisconsin governor's race. Our episode
on Friday is going to be a full deep dive
into that race and how it is. It is possibly
the most crucial pickup for Republicans in November. What it
(24:24):
can mean for twenty twenty eight having the Republican Governor's
office and the work Republicans are doing right now in
Wisconsin to try to build a real grassroots effort. I'm
going to have a Republican state organizer on for that
episode to talk about what's going on and the importance
of that race. Lastly, I want to touch on Florida.
Early voting has begun in Florida and we have some
(24:47):
mail in numbers for you. First of all, Florida just
continues to register Republicans like they're growing them, like on
orange trees. It's unbelievable. In July, Republicans added nearly forty
thousand people to the registrations. Democrats were just just twenty
six thous Republicans have one million, five hundred and forty
one thousand more voters than Democrats do. It is wild
(25:07):
considering where that state was a couple of years ago.
So far, we have more than five hundred thousand MAILI
in ballots in returned. Now, remember mail in ballots is
overwhelmingly skewed for Democrats. Democrats should be dominating in this area.
Eight hundred and twelve thousand Democrats requested a mail in
ballot compared to six hundred and fifty four thousand Republicans.
(25:28):
And Democrats have a lead in the mail in ballid
return those who have received their mail in ballot and
returned them of just twenty four thousand. That means Republicans
are returning mail in ballots at a higher rate than
Democrats thirty percent to twenty seven percent returns. That is
a good sign for Republicans as far as momentum goes,
as far as energy goes. It is the first good
(25:49):
sign of life we've seen for Republicans in quite a while.
It's coming out of Florida. We'll see as more early
votes turn out what that shows for Republican enthusiasm going
into this election. I know Flora is his own beast,
but maybe there's a sign, Maybe there's a sign for
something else in the country. When we get those data,
(26:09):
like next week, I'm going to break down what's going
on in Florida. Okay, ask me anything is coming up next?
Stay tuned now with sein for they Ask Me Anything segment.
If you want a part of the Ask Me Anything segment,
email me Ryan at Numbers Gamepodcast dot com. That's Ryan
at Numbers Plural Numbers Game Podcast dot com. First question
comes from Ricardo from Houston, speaking of Houston. I will
(26:31):
have more information about my live taping in Houston coming
up soon for October. I think October the eighth. But
I will give you all the information when I have it,
he asks. Ricardo asks, Ryan, could you please share your
ethnic background along with percentages and attribution. Okay, I know
you speak about your Italian marriage, but obviously Gradsky is
(26:52):
not exactly a common Italian last name. So yeah, I am.
My mother's side is a full Italian. She is Sicilian
and a navel don they came to this country, I
don't know, a late eighteen hundreds. The problem with being Italian,
as far as ancestry goes, is we are people that
love to exaggerate to a great extent. And I remember
(27:16):
a couple of years ago I asked my eldest living
relative why our family came to America, and no joke,
it was my great aunt, my grandfather sister, and she said, well, Ray,
your great great great grandfather or whatever. His wife died,
I guess great great great grandmother, and he married a
gypsy witch. It started with the gypsy witch in Sicily.
(27:38):
This is like Sophia from a Golden Girls kind of story.
She goes, he married a gypsy witch who poisoned him,
so they sold the donkey to get tickets. And your
great grandmother married your great grandfather, a great great grandfather
on the docks, but they were only fifteen and his
uncle had to sponsor her. I don't know what the
story is true. I don't know if there was a
(27:58):
gypsy witch. I don't know how common gypsy witches are
in the Palermo suburbs. If you live in the Palermo suburbs,
email me if you run into any gypsy witches. But
they came in like the late eighteen hundreds, and they
are also Stillian in Italian. My dad's dad is Lithuanian predominantly.
That's where Gurdusky comes from. But it wasn't originally Gradusky.
(28:20):
My grand my great grandfather made up that name and
he uh changed it. That's we It was not Growdusky,
it was out actually Gradowska's Gurdusky is a Jewish Polish
name Grodowskas is Catholic Lithuanian. That is my family's actual
name and lineage is Lithuanian, Lithuanian Russian Polish kind of thing.
(28:41):
I don't know when they came because he had been
inoned the family because he was a drunk, So we
have no knowledge of that family. That's out of the family.
And my dad's mom is English, Irish and French, and
I think she's black Irish because she's got dark hair
and dark features, but she is. She's old American. She
came out the may Flower, not her, but you know,
(29:01):
the family came on the Mayflower, where the descendants of
Ella's Battilli, like twenty million people are, but we're one
of them. So very mixed thing, mostly all European, and
it's all kind of just a smattering mud of Europe.
But I relate to the Italian side most because that's
where I was. My mom was Italian and I was
raised a lot of the Italian customs. Don't speak the
language except for a few cursed words and commands that
(29:23):
my grandparents yelled at me, although I found out later
on they mostly made up those words. Most of the
words they taught me are not even really Italian. So
that's all I got is being Catholic and pasta on Sundays.
Next question is from Frank he Goes. I continued, I
love the show, heard every episode. Thank you, Frank. I
really liked the two book related interviews, so don't listen
to the haters. Yeah, there were no haters. Everyone actually
(29:44):
really liked the especially Evan's one on being a former
Democratic consultant. Those numbers were great. I also heard your
inter Ken pax and he was not the most inspiring.
I will say this. I found this out after the
entry was taped. Attorney John Packson's Internet was not working
great and he was a little delayed. I think that's
kind of why he was having some issues. I felt
(30:06):
the same thing. I'm not a textan, but I sure
want Texas voters to respond to But Paxson is running
against a total fruitcake, and there is so much one
tier that Paxon should be having fun with. Isn't how
Trump cleared the field in the Republicans in twenty sixteen.
Do you think Paxon would benefit from some personal insults
against Talafreco? Just calling him a radical left is boring.
(30:28):
But maybe Texan voters don't like the candidates getting into
the mud. What do you think. I think the first
thing Paxson needs to do is not run from the media.
He doesn't do many interviews. It doesn't make you especially
emasculated when you're running from interviews from the media. He doesn't.
He needs to do as many interviews as possible. He
needs to be all over there. He needs as much
(30:49):
free media as possible. And he needs to talk about
his record because his record is really strong, especially fighting
for the little guy around affordability. It's such an important
part of the issue. Talk about it and talk about
what's at stake. I think for Republicans that eleven percent
of Republicans you're either voting undecided or they are voting
(31:10):
for the libertarian amnesty for illegal aliens, statehood for DC
Democrats trying to jerrymander the Supreme Court. Now Jerreman Spreme Court,
pack the Supreme Court. It's all online with tall rico
like explain in real numbers. I like canets who paint
mental pictures for people. I think they do exceptionally well.
(31:30):
Trump build a wall. We know what a wall looks like.
Bernie Sanders medicare for all. We know what that looks like.
We don't know when people speak in esoteric language what
that means. I want hard pictures of what will happen
if tallar Rico becomes the Senator. He should say we
should learn from Venezuela. You can vote your way in socialism,
(31:51):
you cannot vote your way out. Tallar Rico is the
gateway to socialism, and explain how and why he is
going to try to make it where Republicans cannot win
Nash nationwide ever again in Texas has to hold firm
and Republicans come back home and reach out to corn
and voters. They're important, They're part of an important part
of the constituency. It just is what it is. Okay.
(32:15):
Last question comes from Luanne. This is a This is
a bit of an unusual but I'm going to answer it.
Dear Ryan, my husband and I are getting older and
we are thinking about moving from our rural home to
a town closer to a mid sized city, closer to
our children. Then I see the videos online of all
the crime and increasing form population moving in, and I
wonder if I should just stay here in my little
safe bubble, our small towns have died, and our nearest
(32:36):
grocery store is the Dollar General. Just wondering if you
had any thoughts of that. Okay, leu Ane. I don't
know the specifics about your town or what state you're
and you're doing right the state. I will say this,
Let's say you're sixty or sixty five or whatever. This
is what I've always advised elder relatives of mine. What
you probably. I hope you're in fine health right now.
(32:58):
I hope you and your husband are in great health
right now, and all your mental faculties. I want you
to consider ten years down the line or fifteen years
down the line, because God willing you will get fifteen
years down the line. What does that look like? Is
there a lot of property to maintain? Do you have
care if you need to, if you need to go
to a hospital, if you sounds like your town's very
(33:19):
very rural, or see a doctor more frequently, or go
get medications more frequently. You only have certain amount of
time on this earth. Does moving close to your children
afford you the opportunity to see them more? For your
opportunity see grandchildren if you have them more? You don't say,
but I hope you do. What does that look like
as far as a possibility, and is it close enough
(33:42):
where you could still visit maybe friends in the rural
part of the town. I say, if you're planning for
the future, it's not about how I feel today. What
will life be like in fifteen years and do I
am I making the correct choices for there? So depending
on your age and your health and just the overall
strung sure of where you are well financially and physically,
(34:03):
and how much maintenance it takes in your small community
and what you will need in the future, I say,
weigh that and weigh that into moving, because I think
that that's important. But if you love your small town
and you think that you'll be fine there, I think
that there's no problem with that. But I think that
I've given the amount of time, and time is very
limited and it's very fleeting. I mean, moving with your children,
(34:26):
downsizing getting a place that maybe a fifty five older
community is not is not a terrible idea. That's just
that's my two cents. But I don't know enough of
the details. So that's what I would say, look at
before moving. But that's an interesting question. I love getting
these kinds of questions. I feel like I know you guys.
I appreciate you all for listening. Thank you so much
for listening this episode. If you like this podcast, please
like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio Network, Apple Podcasts, wherever
(34:50):
you get your podcasts and give me a like course,
subscribe on YouTube, and if you have time and you
want to make my day, give me a five star
review on Apple Podcasts. While on Spotify, it makes a
big difference to share this podcast. Talk to you guys
on Friday. Thank you all,
Welcome back to If It's the Numbers Game with Ryan Grodski.
Thank you guys for being here. Well, the news on
Congressman Max Miller has really come to a head, and
I need to talk about it because it may have
very big ramifications for November. At the same time, I
have information to share on early voter data coming out
of Florida and some other midterm races that have some
(00:20):
breaking news. But first let's get to Max Miller. It
is not pretty. For those of you who don't know
al a brief background. Congressman Max Miller is the representative
for Ohio's seventh congressional district, and he decided to release
a video over the weekend and a link to a
dropbox to defend his reputation. He has been in a
(00:42):
very bitter feud with his ex wife, Emily Marino, the
daughter of Senator Bernie Marino from Ohio. The couple married
in twenty twenty two and Max was a candidate for Congress.
They had a baby girl, and then they divorced in
twenty twenty four. Briefly afterwards, Emily and I'm gonna use
her first name just so you don't confuse her with
the Senator Marino. Emily has accused Max Miller of being
(01:05):
physically abusive by both against herself and her daughter. She
said that her ex husband put a gun to her head,
shoved her into walls, and through scolding hot water at her.
She said she that Max Miller had bruised her daughter's
collar bone Max's daughter's collar bone. Now, this isn't the
first time Max Miller has been accused of abuse. He
was accused by his ex girlfriend White House spoke ex
(01:28):
White House spokesperson Stephanie Grisham of being physically abusive in
her memoir. Miller sued her for defamation, but it was
voluntarily dismissed with prejudice. Now, Emily has been making these
accusations as the Miller for some time. And I said
in a previous podcast that I heard a bolt about
the scalding hot water incident basically right after it half.
(01:51):
And I have a lot of connections in Ohio, a
lot of political connections in Ohio who've worked on various
campaigns and kind of is they're very intimately involved in
every one's races on life. Unfortunately, and so that incident
almost right after it happened, I heard about it. I
don't know if it happened, but I heard of this
kind of went about the I didn't hear about any
(02:14):
other case of abuse, by the way, so this is
the one that I really did hear about. Right after
it happened. Over the weekend, Miller decided to release an address,
a video address, denying any abuse against both Emily and
his daughter. He said in the video that Emily was
seen on camera in his home the day that she
accused him of, of him shoving her, walking into the house,
(02:38):
calmly getting her daughter, bringing her daughter to the car
to a birthday party. They sent texts right afterwards that
were very cordial about increasing visitation rights, inviting him to
the playground to play with his daughter, offering to cook
him dinner. In my opinion, overall, the video was a horrible,
(02:59):
horrible political idea. Whoever orchestrated it terrible political decision because
he concludes the video by saying, would she offer to
cook meat dinner if I assaulted her? Here's the problem
with saying something like that. Many many, many, many women
in this country, including ones that I have known, millions
(03:20):
that maybe you all have known, have been in abusive
relationships with men and offered to make food for them
and be nice to them. They've been in situations with
an abuser where you're like, what are you still doing?
It's just we've all not be all. Many of us
have seen situations where women are making less than smart
(03:42):
choices with a man that they shouldn't be with. And
then in the dropbox, the length that Miller shared as
if the video wasn't messy enough, he released in this
giant dropbox that he later had to take down audio
conversations between him and Emily. And in those video conversations
which by the way, he says in one of them,
I'm not recording you, which he obviously was, which makes
(04:05):
it look all the more creepier. In one of those conversations,
she says that her father has never bashed him, why
is he attacking her father? In another recorded video, he
admitted to throwing the water on her, the thing that
I had heard about, but he insist that it wasn't scalding.
He said that it was right from the foss it
was like taking a hot shower, that it wasn't actually
(04:25):
going to burn her. In another call, Emily claims to
have seen needles near Max Miller's bed, and she accused
him of being a drug addict. By the way, that
is also an accusation I've heard about Max Miller around
political circles, is that there's a situation with drugs. When
I don't know it's an alleged, it's an accusation, but
I've definitely heard it from political people in and around Ohio.
(04:50):
The fact that he released this audio recording is so creepy.
It's invasive, and it did not do what he thought
it would do. It makes things worse. She's accusing you
of being a weird creep and you're recording her behind
(05:11):
her back, and it just it's a It was a
terrible look. It was a terrible look. And then to
make things even worse, as if the video and the
attack and everything wasn't bad enough, the dropbox did include
a link to the unredacted name of their two year
(05:33):
old daughter and a photo where their daughter was nude
and where her I didn't see the photo, and I
read reports. Some said her genitals were showing, some saying
her she was shirtless. I'm not exactly sure which one
it was, but Emily's lawyer has sent a letter to
Miller's legal team accusing the Congress of releasing a photo
(05:53):
of their daughter that could be considered child sex abuse material.
Miller's lawyer, Aaron mink I think is how you and
that's the last name. It took folk responsibility saying it
was his mistake and at this point an excuse my language.
Who gives a shit? This is all bad. Who cares
who's doing I mean, this is all bad. What Max
(06:14):
Miller should have done if I was advising what Max
Miller what he should have done is he should have said,
this is the mother to my daughter. I know she
has made accusations against me. They are not true. However,
for the sake of my daughter, I will not smear
her mother's name in public. I am innocent of these charges.
The court mediator has said that I'm innocent in the charges.
(06:36):
I look forward to getting back to the business of
the people of Ohio. That's it. Be a gentleman, Max Miller,
be a gentleman in this situation, even if you feel
like she's slinging mud at you to go on the
assaults of your daughter's mother. You didn't need to do this.
You didn't need to do this, and everything you tried
(06:58):
both in this video and in the subsequent dropbox, has
completely backfired in my opinion. And this story is, you know,
it's not new, It's been going on for years. But
this pressure campaign by the media mostly and some Democrats
(07:19):
against Senator Bernie Marino to come out publicly and condemn
Max Miller saying he shouldn't come run for reelection has
been gaining steam and gaining fuel. And Max Miller, if
he wasn't who he is, which read between the lines,
could have had a more cordial relationship with Senator Bernie
(07:42):
Marino and could have had a situation where they both
agreed that under no circumstances they were either one of
them was going to bring this out in the public
saying this is a private family situation. We're not sharing
this information, We're not doing this, We're not slinging mud
like Bernie Marino was not wrong for staying silent as
(08:03):
long as he did. That's what everyone's missing. Who've been
accusing Bernie Marino of not standing up for his daughter,
of not doing something nice for his daughter. I am
speaking as the child of divorce. My parents separated when
I was about eight years old. Is probably the most
devastating and defining thing that ever happened to me as
far as making me to the person I am. It
(08:25):
was not a nasty divorced in like, especially when you're
considering what's going on here, but my it was not.
It was still divorce, right, and my parents never ever
ever bad mouthed each other in front of me. Ever,
they never put me in the middle of the thing,
and they never bad mouthed each other in front of me.
(08:45):
But during the divorce my parents divorced, which once again
was a divorce. It was not all sunshine and rainbows.
It wasn't We weren't coupling, uncoupling whatever Gwyneth Palchrow once
said consciously uncoupling. It was a divorce. It wasn't always
my mother's sisters made it a point to remain friendly
(09:06):
with my father, and in an Italian family, it was
viewed as a very big betrayal, especially by my grandparents.
My aunt told me years and years and years later
that she always said it to my grandparents, to my mother,
or to everyone in the family who didn't understand why
she was being so friendly with my father. If anything
ever happened to my mother while we were minors, they
(09:28):
would not have the ability to see us and me
and my brother, and she wanted to guarantee that there
was a bridge, a connection to my father in case
anything ever happened to my mother where my grandparents and
my mom said the family would get visitation rights. It
was a very calculated thing and it was a very
responsible thing to do. I don't know what's in Senator
(09:50):
Bernie Marino's mind. I'm only speculating, but when you're talking
about a divorce that involves a child or grandchild, it
is up to the parents and the grandparent parents to
act like adults and remain cordial because anything ever did
God forbid happen to one of the parents and custody
is withdrawn to only one parent. That parent, if they
(10:13):
have a bad relationship, could make that child's life in
terms of seeing their grandparents, a living hell, like they
make the grandparents lie a living hell. Laws on the
books do not automatically give grandparents visitation rights. You have
to petition the courts. And if I've learned anything in
these thirty nine years of life is that no matter
how bad a situation is, it will only be worse
(10:34):
when lawyers get involved. So I think there was nothing
wrong with what Bernie Marino has been doing, saying silent
all this time publicly. He has since obviously come out publicly.
It's why this has been a huge political story. Miller
accused Marino after he made the claim that Miller should
(10:55):
not be in Congress. He said, you know this isn't true,
and the only reason you're speaking out is to high
from your own media circus. This is all political. That
was what Max Miller said about burning Marino. This is
all disgraceful. It's just it's disgraceful. Maybe I'm especially triggered
being the child of divorce, but I think that you
(11:15):
should not be doing this in public. Eventually, this girl
is going to turn eighteen or sixteen and get an
iPhone and google everything that everybody is saying about her,
and saying about her parents and how they are raised
and her grand It's just it's beyond I will give
Max Miller a little credit for one thing. He is
(11:38):
correct when he said the court's never found him guilty
of abusing his daughter, which is an extremely serious allegation.
It's probably the most yerious allegation of being thrown right
now between Emily and Max. A deposition from May twenty
twenty six, so only a few months ago, from a
court appointed clinical psychologist, said that she did not believe
Miller abused Emily or her child, and in twenty twenty four,
(11:59):
Emily or in a statement that Miller had never harmed
their daughter. So take that with what you will. I
know too much about these people. I think we all
know too much about these people. We better if we
knew much less from everyone I have ever met who
knows Emily and Max, and I know a lot of people.
(12:21):
They are two individuals who have a ton of issues
and rub almost everybody the wrong way and burn a
ton of bridges. I can't go into any further. I
don't want to go in any further. I don't want
to know anything more about this fight unless something really
big happens. I don't want to even address it anymore
because I feel disgusting even reading about it. And at
(12:45):
the end of the day, you have this poor two
year old girl who was caught up in mid of this,
and we'll read everything. This is none of our business,
and unfortunately everyone has decided to make it our business,
and it's going to have political gramifications from Republicans are
showing that Max Miller is losing reelection. Sources close to
(13:05):
me that said Miller is determined to run no matter what.
He said that even if President Trump publicly asked Miller
to step down, Maximller step down, he would not. Veteran
political consultant I know done a lot of work in
Ohio said Max is unhinged and not rational and wouldn't
(13:26):
drop out no matter what. According to Axios, Trump told
Miller that things aren't looking good for the re election.
It's in trouble, he said. The congressman said his polling
was fine. According to CNN, CNN, Semaphore, CBS, and The
New York Times, Trump allies are saying that Trump's internal
polling shows MAXI Miller losing reelection by six points. This
(13:48):
is a district that Trump won by almost twelve points,
that has them voted for a Democrat. I was voted
for one Democrat in the last ten years, which is
just Sharon Brown's twenty eighteen election. But aside from that,
Republicans have been clabbering everyone in this district and that
allies in the White House are are trying to find
a way to get Miller to drop out, and they
(14:08):
are deeply troubled, troubled by Miller's actions to go on
the offensive against his ex wife. Even some top House
Republicans are calling on the President to step in. I
don't think Miller's retiring or quitting this race, no matter
what it would, There's nothing that can make him quit
this race. Miller loves being a congressman. Maybe not for
(14:28):
all the right reasons, but he loves being congressman. And
there is, to his credit, there is no sign yet
that he is guilty of anything. So once again, take
that from what you will. I have not seen these internals.
They've just been what they've been publicly saying. Doubt. House
Democrats are now mulling whether they want to expel Max
Miller from Congress, something that I think is a dangerous president. Remember,
(14:51):
Emily did not go to the hospital, should not go
to the police, and the court ordered psychologists did say
that they did not believe that the baby was abused.
If you're going to expel someone over someone's exes accusations,
we're going to see a lot of people expel from
Congress like it's only the beginning. In the meantime, Stephanie
Grisham has filed the restraining order against Miller because there
(15:15):
in the middle of another lawsuit. It's just messy and
the actions by these adults has been so disgraceful. Miller
said on Tuesday that he is going to file paperwork
for an ethics investigation to clear his name. No one,
no one, not Emily, not Max, not Senator Marino is
(15:36):
going to come out of this smelling like roses. No
one has decided to act like an adult, and the
media especially is being really kind of overly gross about this.
And I just, in my opinion, and this is my opinion,
you don't bash your children's parents in public. You don't
(15:57):
air that dirty laundry in public. And it's just it's
going to backfire tremendously for everyone involved. Okay, let's talk
with some early voting data. Let's talk about some other
political stories that are breaking, and that is coming up next.
So there's a lot of news coming out of the
campaign trail. I want to go over quickly. A lot
of its pen news for Republicans, but it is what
(16:18):
it is. I will have to cover it. I'm not
gonna lie to anybody or sugarcoat things. The first new
polling coming out of Texas where Republican nomine Attorney General
Ken Paxson is trailing James Tall Rico, and yet another poll,
the fifth consecutive poll showing the Republican trailing the Democrat.
By the way, for those of you comparing what happened
in twenty eighteen, where Ted Cruz barely speak out a
victory against Beto O'Rourke during that entire election, Beto only
(16:42):
led in two poles during the entire time that they ran.
Talla Rico has led in more polls since June twenty
third than Beto did the entire campaign. Talla Rico can
win this thing. It's not a foregone conclusion. I think
everyone needs to be really aware of what's happening. The
most recent survey taken by the Texas Southern University found
(17:04):
that Governor Greg Abbott is leading by six points, Lieutenant
Governor Dan Patrick is leading by seven, Attorney General Republican
nominee Maya's Middleton is leading by five, Comptroller ad Don
hoff Eyes He's the Republican nominee, is leading by seven.
Texas Land Commissioner nominee Down Buckingham is leading by five,
and Railroad Commissioner nominee both French is leading by three.
(17:26):
The Republicans are having a clean sweep basically across all
the state wide races in Texas. The only race they
are down is Ken Paxton. So he is down by
two points in the poll forty seven to forty five,
which is still in the margin of error. Let's let's
examine why is Abbot up six but Paxson is down
(17:47):
to that. You may be wondering where is this eight
points different coming from? Paxon is trailing Latinos by nineteen points,
Blacks by sixty seven points, and leading whites by fourteen points.
He's also railing tellerqu among Independence by forty points. Abbot,
on the other hand, is winning whites by twenty four points,
losing Latinos by fourteen, losing Blacks by fifty nine, and
(18:11):
trailing my Independence by only twenty three points. So Latinos
are definitely hurting Paxton, but it's the white vote that
is killing him in these campaigns. Now, I need you
to remember back in twenty twenty five, when I was
doing this podcast, if you were listening on, everyone was
talking about the Latino vote and how it was working
its way in Virginia and New Jersey, and it was
(18:31):
you know, that was a telltale sign for the election.
And what I pointed out was that the white working
class vote was moving as far left nearly as the
Latino vote, and the white working class vote is the
base of the Republican Party, of the economy. That the
overall prices, the gas prices, now they were crippling working
class people, regardless if they were Latino or white. Everyone
(18:56):
wanted to make an immigration story. I said, is not
an immigration story. Is a cost of living story. That's
the story behind a big part of the twenty twenty
five election. When Paxton was on this podcast, I told him,
you know, both on and off the air. We talked
off the air afterwards. I said, you have an incredible
record against fighting against major corporations who were screwing over consumers,
(19:21):
and you fought for consumer protection. People need to know
that you care about the little guy. You need to
make that case to the voters that you have a
record for the little guy. And Democrats are running on
affordability and data centers and an unpopular president. There has
to be a path for you, and you have it
because you have not only walked the walk. But you've
(19:43):
talked to talk. You're not all show and no go.
You have done the work, and I don't know why
Paxton hasn't made that case. The one silver lining for
Paxton in this poll, and it is a big silver lining.
Only eighty five percent of Republicans say that are going
to support Paxton right now. There's a lot of Republicans
(20:04):
who are undecided. If those Republicans come home, including those
who are supporting the libertarian Paxson should have enough support
to win. So that is really the silver lining behind
the entire pole. If Trump's MAGA impact dumps one hundred
million dollars, which they very well might, I think Paxton
will pull it out ahead of time. But he needs
(20:25):
to not only attack Tellerrigo. He needs to make the
case that he is the working man's fighter, because he
actually has. He sued Lululemon, he sued big Tech. He's
done it all. He's run the gamut on big corporations,
screen of the little guy. Make that the point of
your campaign. That's I mean, that's all I have to
say about that. The other two races that have gotten
(20:47):
Republicans in hot trouble. One is in North Carolina where
Republican Chuck Edwards. He represents the state's eleventh district. That's
the western most part of the state, is the district
in the Smoky Mountains. The House Republican leaders are privately
encouraging Representive Chuck Edwards after a House Ethics committee called
for the Speaker to censor Representive Edwards, the first Republican
(21:09):
to be censored in twenty twenty one. They're calling on
him to step down. Edwards is being censored for violating
the House rules related to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces.
According to the report, he was being unprofessional with female employees,
offering them more than one thousand dollars in gifts including
designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop, a cell phone,
(21:31):
a kitchen aid mixer, a robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to
a performances, and a one on one dinner. Hold on
for a second. He offered a kitchen aid mixer, Like
that's his way to romance. Somebody, what in the Betty
Crocker's going on, ladies, is the way to your heart
(21:53):
a kitchen aid mixer? I mean, when Janet Jackson asked,
what have you done? For me lately represented. Chuck Edwards
answer with a kitchen aid mixer. I don't understand what
is happening that that is your idea of romance, mister Edwards.
And what is going on with Congress? These people are
all over sixty. How many little blue pills are in
(22:14):
circulation in the House of Representatives. This is maddening. How
do their penises still work at this age? What is
happening now? Remember this is the only part of the
state of North Carolina in twenty twenty four that move
to the left at voted for Kamala Harris in bigger numbers.
This is a seat that needs a responsible congressman who
(22:36):
does constituent services and answers calls and really represents the people.
It's also a name that was hit by a horrible
disaster last year or the year prior. Edwards puts this
in play, and he was the congressman to aus Madison
Cawthorne because they said he was too unhinged. Little did
they know, you know, Chuck Everwards is running around with
(22:57):
his kitchen date mixer is hidden on every hote that
walks past them. I mean, what is there to say?
And the heartburn doesn't just end with Chuck Edwards, who
should step down? This is completely unprofessional and really weird.
I will be thinking I will never not think about
Kitchen A mixers in a different light. Now, the heartburn
(23:19):
doesn't end because North Carolina Republican Senate nominee Michael Wattlee
ended up on a secret recording audio tape advocating for
abolishing FEMA in exchange for doing block grants to state
disaster relief. I don't know if this is a terrible idea.
I don't know enough about the program. I'm not here
to say whether it's right, wrong, or indifferent. I know
(23:40):
that Western North Carolina was hit by this horrible disaster.
People die, they needed relief, and I know the way
the Democrats will cut the ad. They will cut the
ad saying Michael Wattlee wants to end relief to Western
North Carolina and abolish FEMA. See it completely. I just
see the ad perfectly. And yeah, I don't even know
(24:03):
what to say. It's not all terribleness for Republicans, though,
because Democrats are on their way to nominating the a
truly insane person for the Wisconsin governor's race. Our episode
on Friday is going to be a full deep dive
into that race and how it is. It is possibly
the most crucial pickup for Republicans in November. What it
(24:24):
can mean for twenty twenty eight having the Republican Governor's
office and the work Republicans are doing right now in
Wisconsin to try to build a real grassroots effort. I'm
going to have a Republican state organizer on for that
episode to talk about what's going on and the importance
of that race. Lastly, I want to touch on Florida.
Early voting has begun in Florida and we have some
(24:47):
mail in numbers for you. First of all, Florida just
continues to register Republicans like they're growing them, like on
orange trees. It's unbelievable. In July, Republicans added nearly forty
thousand people to the registrations. Democrats were just just twenty
six thous Republicans have one million, five hundred and forty
one thousand more voters than Democrats do. It is wild
(25:07):
considering where that state was a couple of years ago.
So far, we have more than five hundred thousand MAILI
in ballots in returned. Now, remember mail in ballots is
overwhelmingly skewed for Democrats. Democrats should be dominating in this area.
Eight hundred and twelve thousand Democrats requested a mail in
ballot compared to six hundred and fifty four thousand Republicans.
(25:28):
And Democrats have a lead in the mail in ballid
return those who have received their mail in ballot and
returned them of just twenty four thousand. That means Republicans
are returning mail in ballots at a higher rate than
Democrats thirty percent to twenty seven percent returns. That is
a good sign for Republicans as far as momentum goes,
as far as energy goes. It is the first good
(25:49):
sign of life we've seen for Republicans in quite a while.
It's coming out of Florida. We'll see as more early
votes turn out what that shows for Republican enthusiasm going
into this election. I know Flora is his own beast,
but maybe there's a sign, Maybe there's a sign for
something else in the country. When we get those data,
(26:09):
like next week, I'm going to break down what's going
on in Florida. Okay, ask me anything is coming up next?
Stay tuned now with sein for they Ask Me Anything segment.
If you want a part of the Ask Me Anything segment,
email me Ryan at Numbers Gamepodcast dot com. That's Ryan
at Numbers Plural Numbers Game Podcast dot com. First question
comes from Ricardo from Houston, speaking of Houston. I will
(26:31):
have more information about my live taping in Houston coming
up soon for October. I think October the eighth. But
I will give you all the information when I have it,
he asks. Ricardo asks, Ryan, could you please share your
ethnic background along with percentages and attribution. Okay, I know
you speak about your Italian marriage, but obviously Gradsky is
(26:52):
not exactly a common Italian last name. So yeah, I am.
My mother's side is a full Italian. She is Sicilian
and a navel don they came to this country, I
don't know, a late eighteen hundreds. The problem with being Italian,
as far as ancestry goes, is we are people that
love to exaggerate to a great extent. And I remember
(27:16):
a couple of years ago I asked my eldest living
relative why our family came to America, and no joke,
it was my great aunt, my grandfather sister, and she said, well, Ray,
your great great great grandfather or whatever. His wife died,
I guess great great great grandmother, and he married a
gypsy witch. It started with the gypsy witch in Sicily.
(27:38):
This is like Sophia from a Golden Girls kind of story.
She goes, he married a gypsy witch who poisoned him,
so they sold the donkey to get tickets. And your
great grandmother married your great grandfather, a great great grandfather
on the docks, but they were only fifteen and his
uncle had to sponsor her. I don't know what the
story is true. I don't know if there was a
(27:58):
gypsy witch. I don't know how common gypsy witches are
in the Palermo suburbs. If you live in the Palermo suburbs,
email me if you run into any gypsy witches. But
they came in like the late eighteen hundreds, and they
are also Stillian in Italian. My dad's dad is Lithuanian predominantly.
That's where Gurdusky comes from. But it wasn't originally Gradusky.
(28:20):
My grand my great grandfather made up that name and
he uh changed it. That's we It was not Growdusky,
it was out actually Gradowska's Gurdusky is a Jewish Polish
name Grodowskas is Catholic Lithuanian. That is my family's actual
name and lineage is Lithuanian, Lithuanian Russian Polish kind of thing.
(28:41):
I don't know when they came because he had been
inoned the family because he was a drunk, So we
have no knowledge of that family. That's out of the family.
And my dad's mom is English, Irish and French, and
I think she's black Irish because she's got dark hair
and dark features, but she is. She's old American. She
came out the may Flower, not her, but you know,
(29:01):
the family came on the Mayflower, where the descendants of
Ella's Battilli, like twenty million people are, but we're one
of them. So very mixed thing, mostly all European, and
it's all kind of just a smattering mud of Europe.
But I relate to the Italian side most because that's
where I was. My mom was Italian and I was
raised a lot of the Italian customs. Don't speak the
language except for a few cursed words and commands that
(29:23):
my grandparents yelled at me, although I found out later
on they mostly made up those words. Most of the
words they taught me are not even really Italian. So
that's all I got is being Catholic and pasta on Sundays.
Next question is from Frank he Goes. I continued, I
love the show, heard every episode. Thank you, Frank. I
really liked the two book related interviews, so don't listen
to the haters. Yeah, there were no haters. Everyone actually
(29:44):
really liked the especially Evan's one on being a former
Democratic consultant. Those numbers were great. I also heard your
inter Ken pax and he was not the most inspiring.
I will say this. I found this out after the
entry was taped. Attorney John Packson's Internet was not working
great and he was a little delayed. I think that's
kind of why he was having some issues. I felt
(30:06):
the same thing. I'm not a textan, but I sure
want Texas voters to respond to But Paxson is running
against a total fruitcake, and there is so much one
tier that Paxon should be having fun with. Isn't how
Trump cleared the field in the Republicans in twenty sixteen.
Do you think Paxon would benefit from some personal insults
against Talafreco? Just calling him a radical left is boring.
(30:28):
But maybe Texan voters don't like the candidates getting into
the mud. What do you think. I think the first
thing Paxson needs to do is not run from the media.
He doesn't do many interviews. It doesn't make you especially
emasculated when you're running from interviews from the media. He doesn't.
He needs to do as many interviews as possible. He
needs to be all over there. He needs as much
(30:49):
free media as possible. And he needs to talk about
his record because his record is really strong, especially fighting
for the little guy around affordability. It's such an important
part of the issue. Talk about it and talk about
what's at stake. I think for Republicans that eleven percent
of Republicans you're either voting undecided or they are voting
(31:10):
for the libertarian amnesty for illegal aliens, statehood for DC
Democrats trying to jerrymander the Supreme Court. Now Jerreman Spreme Court,
pack the Supreme Court. It's all online with tall rico
like explain in real numbers. I like canets who paint
mental pictures for people. I think they do exceptionally well.
(31:30):
Trump build a wall. We know what a wall looks like.
Bernie Sanders medicare for all. We know what that looks like.
We don't know when people speak in esoteric language what
that means. I want hard pictures of what will happen
if tallar Rico becomes the Senator. He should say we
should learn from Venezuela. You can vote your way in socialism,
(31:51):
you cannot vote your way out. Tallar Rico is the
gateway to socialism, and explain how and why he is
going to try to make it where Republicans cannot win
Nash nationwide ever again in Texas has to hold firm
and Republicans come back home and reach out to corn
and voters. They're important, They're part of an important part
of the constituency. It just is what it is. Okay.
(32:15):
Last question comes from Luanne. This is a This is
a bit of an unusual but I'm going to answer it.
Dear Ryan, my husband and I are getting older and
we are thinking about moving from our rural home to
a town closer to a mid sized city, closer to
our children. Then I see the videos online of all
the crime and increasing form population moving in, and I
wonder if I should just stay here in my little
safe bubble, our small towns have died, and our nearest
(32:36):
grocery store is the Dollar General. Just wondering if you
had any thoughts of that. Okay, leu Ane. I don't
know the specifics about your town or what state you're
and you're doing right the state. I will say this,
Let's say you're sixty or sixty five or whatever. This
is what I've always advised elder relatives of mine. What
you probably. I hope you're in fine health right now.
(32:58):
I hope you and your husband are in great health
right now, and all your mental faculties. I want you
to consider ten years down the line or fifteen years
down the line, because God willing you will get fifteen
years down the line. What does that look like? Is
there a lot of property to maintain? Do you have
care if you need to, if you need to go
to a hospital, if you sounds like your town's very
(33:19):
very rural, or see a doctor more frequently, or go
get medications more frequently. You only have certain amount of
time on this earth. Does moving close to your children
afford you the opportunity to see them more? For your
opportunity see grandchildren if you have them more? You don't say,
but I hope you do. What does that look like
as far as a possibility, and is it close enough
(33:42):
where you could still visit maybe friends in the rural
part of the town. I say, if you're planning for
the future, it's not about how I feel today. What
will life be like in fifteen years and do I
am I making the correct choices for there? So depending
on your age and your health and just the overall
strung sure of where you are well financially and physically,
(34:03):
and how much maintenance it takes in your small community
and what you will need in the future, I say,
weigh that and weigh that into moving, because I think
that that's important. But if you love your small town
and you think that you'll be fine there, I think
that there's no problem with that. But I think that
I've given the amount of time, and time is very
limited and it's very fleeting. I mean, moving with your children,
(34:26):
downsizing getting a place that maybe a fifty five older
community is not is not a terrible idea. That's just
that's my two cents. But I don't know enough of
the details. So that's what I would say, look at
before moving. But that's an interesting question. I love getting
these kinds of questions. I feel like I know you guys.
I appreciate you all for listening. Thank you so much
for listening this episode. If you like this podcast, please
like and subscribe on the iHeartRadio Network, Apple Podcasts, wherever
(34:50):
you get your podcasts and give me a like course,
subscribe on YouTube, and if you have time and you
want to make my day, give me a five star
review on Apple Podcasts. While on Spotify, it makes a
big difference to share this podcast. Talk to you guys
on Friday. Thank you all,
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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