Show Rewind 12-03-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Jesus Sely hell Y Say America and Jerry Holland for
regious for Nations.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
And this is wrong.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
You're listening to South Carolina this morning. You swe Gary
David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
And good morning. It is three minutes after six. It's Wednesday,
December third, and we're back at at South Carolina's morning
news on one of the three point five FM and
five sixty AMWVOC in Columbia on ninety four to three
WSC in Charleston and the low Country. That's good to
have you with us. Good morning. I am Gary David.
Christopher Thompson is right over there there he is.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Morning to you. Let's make it a great Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Let's do it. How will got a lot to get
into here on this Wednesday morning edition. There, I remind you,
twenty two days away from Christmas Day? How many shopping days?
Who's counting? I don't know what the amazon around you
have to really count shopping days? Well, you got to
take in the shipping. I guess any days of the
shopping day.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
But yeah, you're right, they're starting to come up on
at least the soft deadlines for what you want and
how quickly it we'll get to you.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I don't know when. I guess any day. Now,
we'll get the notices from like the Postal Service and
all of you. If you want to get it there
by Christmas, you got to get it ordered by such
and such a time. Okay, Well, let's get right into it,
my friends. A lot of big stories to talk about today,
and several of them impacting the entire state of South Carolina,
including an opinion from the Attorney General's office then it

(01:44):
won't change its opinion as to the mandatory retirement age
of justices and judges in our state. This all springs
from Jay Lucas, the former House speaker who's running to
be on our state's High Court. And well, the mandatory
retirement ages seventy two. But Lucas had another idea. He said, well, yeah,

(02:06):
but I don't want to get paid after seventy two.
I'll work for free after that. But he wanted to
go to like like eighty right, Well, he's closed to it. Yeah,
he's sixty eight right now, So if he were to
get selected to be on the court, he'd only have
four years to serve, probably actually three by the time
he actually got his position. So but the AG's officers. Yeah, no,

(02:30):
so we'll see where that one goes. New chair named
to head the Election Commission things the news. Hopefully the
controversy is dying down over there. After the prior chief
off or, the prior director, Howard Nap and his chief
of staff, we're both arrested and dismissed from their positions.
You know what happened there, It was ugly.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
The last thing we want heading into an election year
next year is to be concerned about any wrongdoing within
that Election Commission, whether it's you know, whether it's the
validity of the election itself, or whether it's just you know,
misappropriation of funds whatever whatever wrong relate, or you know,
mistaken relationships behind the scenes.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, well, Jinny Wooten will fill that role of elections director.
After months and months of turmoil, Okay, here comes to
the headline you've been waiting for. Right, experts say, South
Carolina isn't generating enough revenue to fix our roads. Here's
what lawmakers want to do. Wait a minute, wasn't that
what the uh what the increase in our gas tax

(03:34):
was all about? Yeah, that's exactly what it was all about.
But we've grown a lot, and well, inflation pandemic, and well,
whatever the excuse is, we haven't generated enough. What are
some of the ideas that are floating around over the
state House on how to raise more money to fix

(03:54):
our roads.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
I can guess they want to put another hand in
my pocket.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
In some way, shape or form. Yeah, but how will
they do that? We'll look at it. Meantime. Lawmakers voting
unanimously to approve nearly seven hundred million dollars in new
bonds for san Te Cooper, the state owned electricity generator
or company. Now, obviously this is a big topic around here.
We need that electricity generated. This bomb package is going

(04:20):
to go a long way towards helping that new natural
gas plant in cold In County get off the ground.
That one there, We mentioned this yesterday and actually in
real time as it came across my phone as we
were talking about it. We'll get a little more in
depth this morning on that new pole, the first one
since the Nancy Mace meltdown at the airport in Charleston,

(04:41):
the one that has Alan Wilson this pole on top
and Ralph Norman surging, but Nancy Mace dropping precipitously, So
we'll have a little more insight into that to talk
about this morning. Up in Tennessee, Republicans win Matt Van
Epps picks up the seventh condesc Congressional district seat. This
is the race against the self proclaimed AOC of Tennessee

(05:04):
who actually, in my opinion, he's got a lot more
votes than she should have. What does this tell us?
We'll talk about that in the Fox News radios. Ryan
Smells will join us at seven oh three this morning
to break down what that means for the well, the
split in the House of Representatives and big big well.
What the ninth cabinet meeting of the year and the

(05:27):
second term of President Donald Trump took place yesterday? Yeah,
it was their long. It was long, He's had longer. Well,
the media fixation, for example, the ap doodling, drowsiness, and
conspicuous misspelling highlight Trump's last cabinet meeting of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Okay, I'm younger than he is, and I would have
been dozing off too by the time that thing.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Are you kidding me? I have a hard time staying
awake for sermons these days, man. But anyway, one of
the things. He said afterwards, though the press gaggle got
a lot of folks attention when he said we might
not have to pay income tax in the near future.
How might that work? We'll get to that. More coming
up on this. It is the Wednesday morning edition of
South Carolina's Morning News, and it's good to have you with.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Us covering this state from the capital city. More of
South Carolina's Morning News coming up on twe on three
point five FMN five sixty AM, Double VOC and ninety
four to three double USC.

Speaker 5 (06:24):
Meet Bob. He's sixty three years old. He spent forty
years as a bodyman and car painter. Bob heard me
talk about Relief Factor and decided give it a shot.
Bob wrote it in. He said, Glenn, I could barely walk.
I couldn't make it up the stairs. Day four or five,
I began to feel the change. But after just eight
days on Relief Factor, I'm seventy five percent better. I'm comfortable,

(06:47):
and I'm thoroughly impressed. These are the kinds of transformations
that are common with Relief Factory.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, the first one, and this is important, the first
one since the Nancy Mace meltdown at Charleston International Airport,
and it shows a big change. Again it's what I say,
an here polls or polls or polls. Can you believe
what you hear or not, Well, that's up to you decide.
But this one showed a market change, particularly in Mace's numbers.

(07:18):
The poll showed a g Allen Wilson on top with
a twenty two point two percent for the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Pamela Abbott, who had really raised her stock when she
ran that ad campaign a couple of months ago to
you know, this is South Carolina lieutenant governor. You have

(07:38):
to introduce yourself to the state because lots of folks
don't know who the lieutenant governor is. She came in
at fifteen point seven percent for the second slot. Big
mover in this one Ralph Norman, who had been admired
in single digits and prior polls up to twelve percent.
The big loser Nancy Mace, who had been in several

(08:01):
polls of the top dog, you know, pulling in the
twenty percent range ten point five percent. For the record
that Josh Kimberl is still sub two percent. That hasn't changed. Uh, Well,
the big winner undecided thirty seven point seven percent. Hey listen,
it's December. Yeah, you know, the the primaries not until June,

(08:22):
were seven months away from it, and the serious you
know campaigning is is is still a ways off, so
that number will change. Interestingly enough, the polster made it
a point to say that that that controversy at the
airport in Charleston for Mace had a big uh. It

(08:46):
had fundamentally reshaped the governor's race. Her support has declined
by about fifty percent month over month, according to the
release from Wick. Yeah, that's that's about right.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
And all I was just gonna say it. It also shows
the approval ratings are still through the roof. Oh yes,
which is going to make the news we had earlier
this week even more damaging to Mace, right.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
With her state director withdrawing from the campaigns quitting that job,
and I'm telling voters not to vote for her, and
also suggesting to the president that he does that he
shouldn't endorse her because she is anti Trump. This all
back to the you know that that that pack that's
running the ads right now for her, that is aligned
with ram Paul and Mace's unfavorable ratings among GOP primary

(09:35):
voters now above forty eight percent thirty three almost thirty
four percent of respondents in the care they had a
very unfavorable view of Mace. Strongest favorability rating goes to
Alan Wilson at forty eight point seven percent. So this race,

(09:56):
which has been very contentious, between those two, you've got
one candidate in Wilson with a forty eight point seven
percent favorable rating and Mace with a forty eight percent
unfavorable rating. So things aren't looking good for the low
Country congresswoman. But there's still a lot of time to
go and things could certainly change.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
Candidate's seven't even filed yet.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
They won't for a couple of months yet, so there's
still plenty to do here in this race. It is
seventeen after six. Thanks for joining us for South Carolina's
morning news.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
This is South Carolina's morning news on one o three
point five FM and five sixty AM WVOC, Columbia and
ninety four to three WSC Charleston. Now Gary David and
Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Twenty three after six o'clock. So a long rambling cabinet
meeting yesterday up in Washington, D C. That Trump that
the ninth of his second term. Nine of these he's held,
Joe Biden held. I think he held maybe nine to
four years. They certainly didn't last this long. A matter
of fact, the last one of Joe Biden had I

(11:02):
heard the clip yesterday. He actually he opened the meeting.
He spoke for maybe thirty seconds, and then he introduced
his wife, Joe Biden, the de facto president, and and
then they assured the media out, Yeah, goodbye, thanks for thanks,
thanks for shopping. Yeah this time well, as I mentioned earlier,

(11:25):
I couldn't help but pay attention and note one of
the AP the Associated Press headline, Okay, the President the
United States holds a cabinet meeting, and you choose this
as your headline, Doodling, drowsiness and the conspicuous misspelling highlight
Trump's last cabinet meeting of twenty twenty five. I mean,

(11:47):
the biases is so obvious that they don't even try
to hide it anymore. Obviously, and if you've noticed, this
has been the media spin here recently. They're trying their
best to tell us that dom Well Trump is losing
it after four years of carrying the water for Joe Biden,

(12:07):
of covering up his health and mental erosion. They are,
I mean, like gangbusters, trying to convince people that that
that Trump is losing it here.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
I don't see it. I mean, I don't agree with
everything Trump has done, certainly not in the second term.
But I don't notice any difference in the way he's
governing now compared to four years ago when he in
his first term.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
The only the difference I can see right now is
he's a lame duck, right, Okay, he doesn't have to
worry about running for reelection again. True, so he's he's
doing some things that certainly have evaggravated the base, have
ticked off the MAGA crowd a couple of things, but
but by and large, yeah, he feels like he's he's
you know, he's he's pretty do what he wants to

(12:55):
do right now. He doesn't have to worry about, you know,
brunning for reelection. Yeah. I know, they'll try to tell you
he's gonna he's going for a third term.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
Well, but physically, I mean, he's up all the time.
He's on social media at all hours of the day
and night. Yeah, he's holding press conferences everywhere. I mean,
his his air force one press conferences have become almost
as popular as what he does at the White House.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Sure, yeah, but here's the ap Trump's eyes flirted and closed.
It was his budget director they were referring to. That
was doodling. Uh okay, So what was the misspelling about? Well,
Pete Hegsath, who a lot of focus on Hegsath right now?
Oh yeah, his name plate said Secretary of War, but

(13:43):
there were two s's in secretary. It was ss airy secretary. Well, anyway,
so this is what the Associated Press chooses to focus on,
at least in their headline. Yeah, the bias is obvious. Now.
Something Trump said afterwards at the press q at A
got a lot of people's attention, had to do with

(14:04):
income tax. Well, we're going to get into this here
in just a couple of minutes. The suggestion that we
might not have to pay income tax anymore. What's that
all about?

Speaker 1 (14:15):
That?

Speaker 2 (14:15):
Next? Here on South Carolina's Morning.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
News from the Midlands to the low Country. This is
South Carolina's Morning News on one O three point five
FM and five sixty AM WVOC and ninety four to
three WSC Now Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
It's six point thirty four. Good morning, and thanks for
joining us this morning for South Carolina's morning News.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Since laus January, we've stopped inflation in its tracks, and
there is still more to do. There's always more to do,
but we have it down to a very good level.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
President yesterday is ninth cabin meeting of his second term
in office, which is not even not even a year
old yet. It's a punch of cabinet meetings and a
big focus. Yesterday we heard well several Cabinet members talk
about the economy. I don't know about the Republican Party
at large, I don't know about Congress, but it looks
like the White House has figured out Okay, we need

(15:21):
to start talking about the economy. About affordability. This is
the major topic.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
That's what people are concerned about, especially going into the
holiday season.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Absolute affordability of everything. Well, though it sounds like we're
spending like nobody's business. What was that number of Dobie
analytics just throughout. Yeah, we've spent a ton of money
so far this Christmas shopping season.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
That's consumer confidence.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
So there was a lot of mentions of this yesterday
from a number of cabinet members. You had the Agricultural
Secretary talking about it. You had the Scott Bessen, Treasury
Secretary talking about it. You had the Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development hud talking about it. So one of
the things after the meeting, in the press gaggle and

(16:07):
the Q and A, the President said was that Americans
may not even have to have income tax to pay
in the near future.

Speaker 4 (16:18):
Well, do tell Yeah, how does that work?

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah? Well, Trump saying that the revenue that we're deriving
off tariffs could didn't say it would, they would, but
could allow for an elimination of the federal income tax.
Under his tenure that at some point, the President says,
in the not too distant future, you won't even have

(16:41):
to pay income tax. I would love for this to
be the case. But you know, color color me spectacle. Yes,
skeptical too. Yeah, so we would just pay sales tax.
That's that's how the government would get its money. Well,
it almost sounds as though Trump's afraid to we we
just let other countries pay it for us through through

(17:03):
the generation. We know, Yeah, we have generated a ton
of revenue through these tariffs, we know that.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Right, but enough to completely do away with income tax.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
It doesn't sound feasible to me. It's a great populous theme, absolutely,
and nobody could disagree with it if you could show
it would work, and if it did work. But it's
kind of well again, it's it's the argument that we're
having here in South Carolina right now, and every gubernatorial
Republican candidate is talking to the same thing, you know,

(17:35):
eliminating the state income tax, which sounds great. Everybody's in
favor of it, but you got to get that money
from somewhere now, pulling that off in South Carolina or
any other state in the country. Heck, Mississippi's getting ready
to do it. Yeah there what now? Upwards? Up about
twelve or thirteen states that have eliminated income tax, It's
not just Florida. So they show that can be done.

(18:00):
But now, the economic behemoth that is the federal government,
can it raise enough money through just tariffs to to
run the country. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm skeptical. I would
love for that to be the case.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
Well, if we do have a lot of extra money
floating around right now, let's suck some of it away
towards the national debt.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
No, that's not gonna get you any more. That's the problem.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
It's unpopular, but you know before we use credit rating.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, I don't disagree, but it's it's that is that
is not if you ran on, Hey, we're going to
bring down the national debt. Guess what you know when.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
We'll pair that with and we're going to reduce your
income tax. I'd certainly vote for that, but.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
I don't know how you do both. But then again,
if you're already for office, you can say aything you
want to say, right, it doesn't matter, it doesn't have
to be true. You just just say it often enough,
allowed enough, and yeah, us suckers will believe it.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Live from the State Capitol, this is South Carolina's Morning
News with Carrie David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
It is six forty four. Good morning. We appreciate you
joining us for South Carolina's Morning News. Just talking about
the economy, don't forget it's the economy, stupid. Well, there's
an example of you know how things are a bit rocky,
even though again it looks like the Christmas season spinning
is off to a tremendous start. By all accounts, Mom

(19:38):
and Pop's businesses are still struggling. You know, first you
had the pandemic. The ones that survive that are still
trying to survive. There's a a federal program that's been
around for about six years now. It's designed to help
the smallest American business, the mom and pop stores, cut

(20:01):
their debt and get a fresh start. Well, that program
has now set a record for the number of cases filed.
More than twenty two hundred do small business folks and
small firms filed bankruptcy this year under what they call
sub Chapter five rules. These rules make it cheaper and
faster to get relief from creditors. So we've hit a

(20:23):
record here as the debts continue to rise, and it's
still it's difficult for the backbone of this nation, you know,
mom and pop businesses to make it. And some people
actually are using this for consumer debts too, that this program,

(20:44):
but it is possible. I don't know a lot about it,
but fall told consumer bankruptcy rates who are those are
typically filed under Chapter thirteen rules are also up in
recent years about five percent more than the first months
of last year, So year over year that's rising as well. No,
it's you know, it's I made this analogy before. You

(21:09):
don't turn the Titanic around on a dime. History told
us that right it hit the iceberg, and under the
Bide administration, that thing was barreling headlong toward that iceberg.
This was my concern that people, Wow, Trump's gonna turn
this thing around. Well, Trump said he would turn it
around on a dime.

Speaker 4 (21:30):
But it doesn't happen that quickly.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
But it doesn't happen that way. But way too many
people believe that, and now they're blaming Trump for it.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
And I'd love to know how many of these mom
and pop businesses that we're talking about are just is
it progress? I mean, how many times have you used
the word Amazon today already?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (21:47):
Right, Amazon is between that and the big box stores.
You've put a herding on the local mom and pops
as we get into Christmas season.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
We just had small Business Saturday. Yeah, there's a reason
why we have a small Business Saturday. We should have
it more often, Actually we should.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
You're listening to South Carolina's Morning News with Gary David
at Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
We appreciate that South guns Morning News on one of
three point five FM and five sixty AMWVOC and ninety
four to three WSC Charleston. Good morning to you. Big
stories this morning. Shake up at the top of the
gubernatorial of sweepstakes for Republicans seeking that nomination next June.
Big winners Alan Wilson, big movers, Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace.

(22:41):
But they're moving in opposite directions. We're talking about that
a little bit more this morning. Jay Lucas's well, well,
Jay Lucas wants to serve ten years on the State
Supreme Court. But speaking of Alan Wilson, the AG's office
issuing a ruling that says, now, I can't do that
twenty two year mandatory retirement age sticks, whether you get

(23:03):
paid for your last eight years on the bench or not.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
I wonder Phil soon now and try and sholder that.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Probably the backstory again was he said yeah, yeah, yeah, No, no,
that doesn't infect He just flat out told him no,
I can stay on the bench until I'm eighty because
I won't take a paycheck, so that would exclude me
from that rule. AG's offices no got a new director
over the Elections Commission after months of turmoil at that agency.

(23:30):
And in Tennessee, Republicans prevail over the AOC of Tennessee
in a special election last night. Fox News Radios. Ryan
Smells joining us in less than ten minutes. Tell us
what that means for the makeup of the House of Representatives.
That coming up here on South Carolina's Morning News. Great
to have you with.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
Us, your news, traffic, they're at information stations. This is
South Carolina's Morning News on one O three point five FM,
five sixty AM WVOC, and ninety four to three WSC.

(24:12):
Now Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
It is seven oh three coming up in the hour. Well,
plenty to talk about in here on the on the
state level as well, Rhads. Well, we had the gas
tax that went up what five cents over a number
of years, whatever it was, that's the long ago. Now
we've forgotten about it, haven't we. Well, apparently it wasn't enough,

(24:35):
and now they're trying to figure out other ways to
get blood out of that turnip to get our roads
up to date. We'll be talking about that here in
just a short while here on this the Wednesday morning,
December third edition of South Carolina's Morning News. It is
great to have you with us. I'm Gary David, that's
me Christopher Thompson over They're busy behind the scenes at
the moment working on stuff we're expecting. We expected to

(24:56):
hear from Ryan Smells from Fox News because he's got
some insight. We can hook up with them here as
to well the makeup in Congress. Now, for what happened
in Tennessee last night, and that was the Republican Matt
Van Epps winning the seventh Congressional district got odd time
to have an election special election. The prior seat holder

(25:17):
resigned that seat, a Republican in a solid Republican district
in Tennessee. But there was a lot of concern heading
into this one because the challenger, the self proclaimed AOC
of Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
She got her share of attention.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Well didn't she and her share of money. You see
this time and time again. Progressives get all, you know, hey,
man zooid one, we can pull this off in Tennessee,
and they dumped tons of money. She raised more money
than did Van Epps in that race. A ton of
money coming in from well, of course, outside of Tennessee. Oh,

(25:55):
she says, no, we did it with the small mam. Yeah, right,
okay whatever. Regardless, this race, the polling going into this
thing was was tight. This is a district the seventh
Congressional District in Tennessee, Nashville, other areas that that Trump
won by twenty two points last November. It looks like

(26:19):
when all the votes are counted that Van Epps is
going to probably win by about nine points or so.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
I still contend these special elections that take place during
holiday season, I mean between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Who is
concerned about voting?

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Right? Very few people? Well tell you who is. And
I think that this may be why the race wind
up being a lot closer than it really should have been.
Is that who would be more motivated? Okay, you're you're
you're a conservative. You're thinking, hey, conservatives run this place, right?
I mean the the other person in this race. She

(26:58):
is on record saying she hates Nashville, she hates cops,
she hates Christianity. No way she wins. Why bother? Meanwhile,
the progressives are seeing this as a real opportunity. They're
more motivated to pay attention and get out and cast

(27:19):
a vote in this thing. And I make a statement, yeah,
and make a statement. So I think this race wound
up being closer than it should have been just really
based on that. So you major statement, But I'm not
sure that it really can hold up as we move ahead.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
Of course, the national pundits are going to take this election,
how close it was, and they'll take what happened in
the November races and say, oh, you know, Trump's popularities
are eroding. There are certain districts where Trump was a
big winner, and now you can clearly see that his
popularity is just not where it was.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
That's what it's going to be the political headline this morning,
geop fret's dangerous result in Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
It wasn't even really that close.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
Not really, I mean, I guess just again based on
the fact that Trump carried it by twenty two points. Okay,
they see this as a sign that Republicans are in trouble. Now,
I can promise you this, if the shoe were on
the other foot, and this was a solid blue district
and a Republican came closer than than he or she

(28:30):
should have in a race like this, we wouldn't be
seeing these headlines. But of course, the you know she overperformed, well, yeah,
she got millions of dollars in spending on the national level,
She's spent a ton, and yeah, the progressives were all

(28:50):
inspired to get out and if nothing else, make a statement.
So they feel like they've done that. Right now, I
beg to differ a nine point wins, a nine point win.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
Sorry, trying to elect a whack job to make a
statement and doing it, you know, electing somebody who doesn't
like you or your people or your area, just to
make a statement.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Imagine if it were South Carolina and you had somebody
running who said, yeah, I hate this place.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah, you know, I hate red next, I hate.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
What you name it, whatever, and there's a special election
held on the Tuesday between Thanksgiving and right after Thanksgiving.
You think, why, no way this person wins? Why? Why? Why?
Why should I bother?

Speaker 4 (29:38):
In the meantime, the Chuck Schumer's at the world dump
a bunch of national money in yeah, and make that
person a legitimate factor.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah. So that's that's that's that's our take on this thing.
Was it closer that there should have been? Yeah? Probably
so yeah, But why was it? And is it a
statement for the looney left or not?

Speaker 3 (30:03):
This is South Carolina's Morning News on one on three
point five FM and five sixty am WVOC Columbia and
ninety four to three WSC Charleston, Now, Gary David and
Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
It's seven fourteen, going to have you long this morning.
So lawmaker's got a doom and gloom forecast yesterday from
Frank Rainwater over the Department of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs.
It ain't enough. We need more our roads. Yeah, we're
not generating enough revenue. That was the message, to fix
our roads. Okay, you may be asking you No, wait

(30:41):
a minute. We raised the gas tax over period of
what about six years, wasn't it. We're at twenty eight
cents a gallon now, we had one of the lowest
in the nation. That was then, this is now, and
that was on the promise. It never fails, right, every
time government comes to you and says, hey, pity here,
penny there, this will fix all of our problems, it

(31:02):
never does.

Speaker 4 (31:04):
And then that penny will go away, or that tax
will go away. Once we get what we need, once
we fix everything we promised you we'll fix, we'll take
that away.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Right. Yeah, okay, you know we didn't fall off the
truck just yesterday. Okay, So the problems Rainwater says is
our population expected to grow by more than a million
people of the next twenty years. But that the revenue
that pays for the roads, and that's really gas tax

(31:34):
and sales fees when you buy a vehicle. It's not
keeping pace. According to Rainwater's projections. And I don't know
how this works. Vehicle use is increasing even faster than
the population. What vehicle use is increasing faster than the population.

(31:55):
We either what, I don't know, we're driving more or
we're driving two cars at the same time. I don't
know what that equation looks like. There, He says that
revenue that was generated from the gas tax increase that
was passed back in twenty seventeen has become stagnant, not

(32:17):
increasing as fast as the population is. Now. Okay, again,
I'm no economist, but maybe i'm well, I am a simpleton,
and maybe I'm simplifying this way too much here, But
if your vehicle or if your population is rapidly increasing,
then you've got more people buying more gas. So we're

(32:38):
raising more money from the gas tax. You would think
we've got more people coming in buying more cars. That's,
you know, again, raising more revenue through the tax. And
by the way, yeah, you're right. Every time you turn
around there's a new tax on something, right, Why is

(33:01):
that not keeping pace?

Speaker 4 (33:02):
And this was It's not like this we came up
with this twenty years ago. This was less than ten
years ago.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
Well yeah, when he said if you had one hundred
bucks in nineteen eighty six, Rainwater says, once you discounted
for inflation, forth about forty bucks today. Well that's true.
But we didn't pass the gas tax in nineteen eighty six.
We passed it in twenty seventeen. Okay, I know.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
It was controversial. I mean we remember we were on
the air back in twenty seventeen. Are they saying that?
Are they telling us they intentionally undershot to try and
get it passed and now they want more and that
was the plan all along?

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Well, if it was that, Shinge will tell us that, right. No, okay,
So what are the ideas what could we possibly do
to help stave off disaster here when it comes to
our roads. Well, some of the things are considering. We're
talking about it next here on South Carolina's Morning.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
News from the Midlands to the low Country. This is
South Carolina's Morning US on one O three point five
FM and five sixty AM WVOC and ninety four to
three WSC now Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
It's seven twenty three, all right, so is established a
few minutes ago. Lawmakers have been worn now that we
don't have enough money to fix our crumbling rogue. Here
here's the kicker with the raising the gas tax. Over
all those years why our roads are so crumbling? And
we were sold on the idea, you know, we fix
our roads. We didn't prove them. We'd make them better,

(34:43):
we'd have more of them. And our bridges and oh
they're the bridges because we just said that story yesterday
about the bridge that collapsed, yeah, the upstate. Yeah. Well
so none of that seemed to have happened. Yes, some
thing's got done, granted, but nowhere near what we thought
what would happen? All right, So if we need more money,

(35:04):
how do you go about getting it? Shannon Erickson, the
Republican from Beauford who co chairs the committee who heard
this doom and gloom forecast yesterday, said that raising the
gas tax is probably the only proposal that is off
the table. So ericson not a fan, no appetite really

(35:31):
for raising the gas tax, or at least that's what
they started they're saying now they have a whole different
tune next year. Who knows. So if you don't do that,
how do you raise more money? Well, one proposal that's considered,
of course, is adjusting the fee that EV owners are paying. Well,

(35:56):
there's there aren't an enough of them, right, you wouldn't
think so, yeah, more than you know five years ago, certainly,
but EV sales seem to have cooled a bet. I
don't see any way that just just doing that in

(36:19):
and of itself would raise a kind of money that
we need. Maybe so maybe not. And one of the
complaints was is that vehicles, even you know, gas powered
vehicles are getting better gas pilots these days. We're using
less gas, we're heading to the pump less often. So
that's a problem for raising money. Well, another proposal, and

(36:41):
I can tell you this is what I could live with,
and that's toll roads or even toll lanes. We've got
that stretch up in the Upstate. I can't remember which
one it is right now. That's a toll road in

(37:02):
congested areas. The proposal of you know, you see this
a lot of you. If you travel up north, for example,
you're all the time you know the toll roads. Florida
has toll roads. Florida's got toll roads. This wouldn't be
a complete It's not like you're gonna have to pay
a toll to get all the way from you know,
Charleston to Columbia. But in congested areas that there could

(37:22):
be a toll that is imposed. I'm much more amenable
to that than I am probably any of certainly much
more amenable to that than raising the gas tax. I
don't know toll roads.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
The I guess the benefit is you're taxing everybody, including
people who are just moving through the state temporaria.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Exactly, and they're putting that and a lot of people
move through the state. When you've got a ninety five
sitting right there, that's a lot of folks that are,
you know, coming out of the and a lot of
truckers coming up and down that thoroughfare every day, tearing
up our roads.

Speaker 4 (38:00):
But sometimes it's not enough. There was one area in
the upstate that went bankrupt. The toll was that the
what I was thinking about probably oh yeah, yeah, okay,
well didn't generate enough revenue.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
I remember that vaguely, remember that road. I don't remember
it being that I don't know, I don't know how
how heavily traveled it was. But like folks, not another
way to get around it. Right, But this is this
is a this is a fact of life and a
lot of a lot of places. Maybe it's time to
consider that here. I'd rather we hadn't do any of this,
but if you've got to do something, that'd be my vote.
I suppose. Well, well, this may become a hot topic

(38:35):
here in the upcoming session. Here we'll see.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
This South Carolina This Morning News with Gary David and
Christopher Thompson seven.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
This is one of my favorite nights of the year
right here, this is this isn't I where we light
the family Christmas tree. Kids are coming over. I got
We're incredibly blessed our boys. The oldest is thirty now,
the youngest is twenty seven, and they still come over

(39:12):
once a year. They help us put the well. The
tree is lit as a backstory there, but they help
us put the decorations on. It's kind of our tradition.
Several years back, bought a pre lit artificial tree. I
know this is the bane for people like Christopher Thomas,
an artifical and I used to be that way too.
I get man, real tree, real tree, real tree, And

(39:34):
then that became such a hassle, like you know what
the heck with it?

Speaker 4 (39:37):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Problem was over the years, the uh strand by Strand,
the bulbs started to go out, right, we got it
and I put it up over the weekend and I
think about eighty percent of the bulbs were burned out.
I don't know what poor soul is in charge of

(40:00):
drinking Christmas tree lights on trees, but that must have
taken them a month to do, because it took us
nearly all day to get them out of there. And
that was, you know, just cutting wires and trying to
go win in. I don't know how many balls we
pulled out, but man, it was a ton. I think
we got them all. Probably not, you know, there's always

(40:21):
a couple hidden somewhere in there.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
But you'll notice.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
I think, well, we started on Sunday and we just
and did most of us where we just wrapped up
decorating the house yesterday. Now I realize you may be
someone your your house may have been decorated for a
month now because more and more people have done that.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
Or you may be like me and we just took
down our Thanksgiving decorations.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
I saw this again yesterday walking the dog in the neighborhood.
Somebody who had a Christmas banner up outside the house
but still had the Halloween pumpkin on their front door.

Speaker 4 (40:54):
Yeah, okay, the season is just kind of just blow.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
It's all blending together in a boord. Right now, it's
December third, and it seems like we're late this year
in our house. But I guess not. I mean the
word we're just twenty two days away. Right.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Well, there's some people that had stuff out for months,
and there are those the traditionalists who you know, Thanksgiving
night they're lighting everything up. Yeah, that's when the Christmas
season starts.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
Now, when do you take it down?

Speaker 4 (41:29):
Take it down? Well, it's somewhere in that usually that
week around New Year's.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Okay, because I know some people keep it up all
the way to endo January. Yeah, but they have good
they have reasons they say for that, certain customs and
beliefs and such. I don't know, No, I think by
New Year's, you know, by the time New Year's rolls around,
I'm ready for it to all be gone. But to
NIC's big night for us and the boys have no

(41:56):
idea how much work we had to put in that
trick to get all those priest run lights at there.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
There's a reason they moved out.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Yeah, it is seven forty seven, and we will be
ready back.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
You're listening to South Carolina this morning, yous with Gary
David at Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Well, its official game is on now. Kelly Loffler, the
Secretary of the Small Business Administration, yesterday announcing the investigation
into the Somalian community and into the former vice presidential
wannabe Tim Walls in Minnesota. This after Oh, there have
been several indictments already, the one billion dollars social services

(42:42):
fraud scandal.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
Christy Noan brought this up at the cabinet meeting yesterday,
I mean just blasted Governor Wolves. Yeah, it's for someone
of his stature, for someone who apparently thinks he's got
a future in Democrat leadership. Okay, this this is the
worst possible news, and he keeps deflecting, but it's not working.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
No, it's not. Yeah, this is as much about Tim
Walls as is about anything else.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
Really sounds like it is.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
We're saying, despite Governor Walls's best efforts to obstruct SBA
continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable.
Full stop. Again, We've already had a number of people
and nonprofits indeted in this. This is one of these
COVID fraud scandals, and that includes an outfit called Feeding
Our Future, which received these pandemic loans from the SBA

(43:45):
and other state and federal funding as well. We're talking
about a billion dollar COVID fraud scandal here right in
the nose of Tim Walls, who's by the way, been
accused of well by DH's employees and the Minnesota House
Speaker of not only failing the oversight of oversight failure
but also retaliated against whistleblowers. So he's the center of

(44:08):
all this. Now we're talking about a billion dollar fraud scandal.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
And this isn't just about Republicans using a political scandal
to starve your children, those evil Republicans.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Oh yeah, the egle Republicans. Yes, this is.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
About people who are legitimately hungry and can't get food
because they can't get access to the system, because people
are gaining the system.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
You would think this is a big story, right, It
is a big story. But if you relied on your
news by watching ABC, NBC or CBS, you know nothing
about it. Not a single second has been spent on

(44:52):
a three letter News Networks nightly newscast about a billion
dollar scandal. I guess he don't have time to work
it in. I gotta all those fuff stories in there.
I suppose It's seven fifty four and this is the
Wednesday morning edition of South Carolina's Morning News.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
Good to have you with us your news, traffic, weather
and information stations. This is South Carolina's Morning News on
one O three point five FM, five sixty AM WVOC

(45:33):
and ninety four to three WSC. Now Gary David and
Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Hey appreciate you joining us. It's three minutes half eight o'clock, Wednesday,
December the third. I am Gary David. He is the
aforementioned Christopher Thompson. Good morning, marn and again morning to
our new friends in the Low Country of ninety four
to three WSC and Charleston. It's good to be with you.
If nobody has told you yet, we may be an
acquired taste.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Okay, you know everything is right, yeah, diffything any times
something changes you got to get used to things.

Speaker 4 (46:10):
It might take a couple of weeks, it might, but
we'll grow on you. Oh yeah, we had for a while.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
We've over twenty five years on people here and in
the Midlands where we're located, we're based. But even then
at the time, we keep up with things all over
the state as it impacts everybody. Sure, and we got
more to talk about on that today, including in a
few minutes a little more detail on that poll we
first mentioned yesterday, the new poll, the first went out

(46:35):
since Nancy Mace had her run in at the airport
in Charleston.

Speaker 4 (46:40):
I was going to use the term meltdown, but meltdown
is probably more accurate running Okay.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Okay, results of that poll. Did that help her, hurt her?
Did it do anything? We'll check it out. Jay Lucas,
former House speaker, very popular over at the State House
for a number of years, and a guy who actually
did at least for a short time before he started
his legislative run of nearly a quarter of a century,

(47:07):
serve as a judge in a small town in South Carolina.
Wants to be on the High Court. They just I
guess it was about two weeks ago I guess it
was the Judicial Merit Selection Committee ramped up their interviews
and they're questioning now and.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
He's running against an incumbent.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yes again, Lucas short time as a small town judge
doesn't think that's a problem though. Matter of fact, according
to Lucas, that should even be a qualification to be
a judge on the High Court.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
He's got a number of interesting viewports when it comes
to the Supreme Court.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Including the fact that he's now sixty eight years old.
By next August, if he were to be appoint of
the Court, he'd be sixty nine. And there's that pesky
little state requirement that says you got to retire at
seventy two.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
Remember a few years ago, we had a justice who
had just ascended to chief and immediately had to retire
because it's the mandatory age. That's the way it works.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
That's for not just judges on Supreme Court, but for
any judges in our state retire at seventy two. But
Lucas had a different idea. He said, well, that doesn't
apply to me. I also have a full ten year
term because I won't take a paycheck after I turned
seventy two. He won't take his judicial pension, right, he's

(48:49):
still taking a paycheck from taxpayers.

Speaker 4 (48:50):
I'm guessing his legislative pension will remain.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
It'll cover things. He's not worried about being below that
one hundred and forty thousand dollars year poverty level talking
about well, people, they looked at him. Do what.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Yeah, everyone was stunned. No one had ever heard that before.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
No, so well, the Attorney General's Office has just weighed
in and said, uh, yeah, no, the opinion from the
AG's office it remains our opinion that state law requires
judges to retire at the age of seventy two.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
Well, it's a unique idea. He may challenge it in
a courtroom. I suspect that he will.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office, we do not plan
to revise our opinion because our stance has not changed,
and again pointing out that the aging opinions are advisory
only and only a court can definitively rule on this.
So yeah, expect a court to take a look at this.

(50:01):
I fully expect that that Lucas will will find a
lawsuit and if he's successful, this is a game changer
on a topic, on a job that's well been talked
about a lot around here. How we appoint our judges,
how we select him who's in charge of all this.

(50:23):
And we've made some minor changes, but for a lot
of people, we're nowhere near making the kind of changes
we need to make. And again, yeah, if you've missed
the the other kicker here is this. This is a
guy who is twenty four years in the State House
and spent a good deal of time as a as
the Speaker of the House. And this is what rubs

(50:44):
a lot of people the wrong way. So is not
to speak derogatory of his service over the state House,
but the idea that you know, when judges had that
close to ties to legislators and vice versa and back
and forth, it did just it's right for inflict of interest. Yeah,
I think we get a lawsuit coming here, don't you.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
I would think so.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Yeah, Well, we'll see how it plays out. It's nine
minutes after eight o'clock. Results of that new Republican goobernatorial
poll straight ahead on South Carolina's morning News.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
This is South Carolina's Morning News on one on three
point five FM and five sixty AM w VOC Columbia
and ninety four to three WSC Charleston, now Gary David
and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
It's thirteen a halfter eight o'clock. Thanks for joining us
for the Wednesday Morning, December the third edition of South
Carolina's Morning News. Well, we wondered here on the program
back when this happened, Nancy Mace's meltdown. I'll go with
your your phrasing of that, mister Thompson, and it's more
accurate than whatever I said. And even melt that may

(51:58):
not be strong enough, but I think you said run in,
run in. Yeah, okay, I did say run in. For
the record, well, we wondered, woout have an effect on
the race? You know at the time, again this is
this is a candidate, Nancy Mace, and a politician who
we were pretty used to her having meltdowns.

Speaker 4 (52:14):
You know what you're getting with her. Yeah, and it
probably didn't fase her supporters.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Probably not. And you'll recall it either either A didn't
phase her or B she realized at the time, well
maybe I stepped into it this time, but she came
out the next I think the next day, wasn't it
held a presser on on on Daniel Allen and was

(52:40):
was not showing any regret. No, she here that news broke.
It wasn't the day after it happened, but it was
several days after. But after the news.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
Broke, she kept up the attack on Charleston's airport officials,
on TSA official lawsuits.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Even so, this one just smelled different because of who
was in I'm not referring to Mace, but the other side,
transportation security, Charleston, airport workers, airline workers, many of those

(53:13):
people that were at the other end of a Mace
berating where people remember at the time the government was
shut down. These were people who were showing up to
work without getting paid, and it just seemed at the
time like this one might hit a little differently. Well,

(53:39):
this new Pole is out. We mentioned it briefly yesterday
because I got a texted to me and I need
a bigger phone.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
Man.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
I can't see that that small print. But what it
showed was that the Mace's meltdown, There was a meltdown
of the Poles. Mace, who was well a front and
runner and in several polls was the top dog in
this race not that long ago, has gone from twenty

(54:09):
or twenty plus points down to ten. This is the
first poll taken since that incident at Charleston International Airport.
Okay will have the rest of these numbers, and maybe
more important than the numbers would another recent development paired

(54:32):
with this and some of the other data in this
poll could spell disaster for congress Woman Nancy Mace and
her designs to be governor of South Carolina. We'll bring
more of it down coming up in just minutes here
on South Carolina. It's Morning News.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
From the Midlands to the law Country. This is South
Carolina's Morning US on one O three point five FM
and five sixty AM WVOC and ninety four to three WSC.
Now Gary David and Christopher Thompson twenty two.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
A little deeper into this a new Wigpole and Atlanta
based polling firm that dropped yesterday. We're talking about Nancy
Mason are running at the airport and how she was
a big loser here. Big winner, by the way, is undecided.
We're nearly four out of ten primary voters not sure yet. Well, yeah,
I guess not. It's December. We have a long way

(55:36):
to go, and we really aside from the Pamela Evatt
ad campaign and now the U. I guess it's still running.
I haven't seen one in a couple of days. But
the Nancy Mace ad that's been d I mean we
haven't had debates, we haven't had people, you know, really
seriously out of the campaign trail. I mean they're making

(55:56):
their you know, small you know, visits here and there, of.

Speaker 4 (55:59):
Course, racking up endorsements and yeah, a lot of social
media work.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Oh yeah, but the campaign in full swing. Nobody's gonna
really think about it for a couple of months. Yeah,
it was these voters are concerned, So yeah, undecided. The
big winner here, but of those that were running, the
big winners Alan Wilson at twenty two point two percent.
So Wilson is at the top. Number two is Pamela Evitt.

(56:25):
Remember before Pamela Evitt ran her AD campaign, she was
mired down to the single digits because she had a
name recognition problem. If you were wondering why Evatt ran
that campaign, that again, those spots were really more about
Trump than Eviden seemed like at times though, of course
was a reason for that. And then she ran an

(56:48):
AD that implied that government Maaster was endorsing her. Remember
that one that was actually taken from video, a video
piece that was done when he first named her as
his running mate for Lieutenant governor. Well, that got a
lot of blowback and that got yanked pretty quickly. But
that ad campaign worked for Eviott. She went from basically

(57:10):
nothing to you know, top of the heap. But Nancy Mace,
who has been one of the top dogs and several
poles had her in the lead, has lost about half
of her support in this poll, first one taken since
the airport incident. Ralph Norman has seen his numbers rise
from single dites to twelve percent. He's third, So it's

(57:32):
Wilson twenty two to Evid fifteen seven, Norman twelve. Mace
is down at ten point five in this pole, and
Josh Kimberl continues to be an afterthought at less than
two percent. Okay, now wondering if maybe some of the
internal polling done by the Mace campaign realized that this

(57:53):
was going to be a problem. So let's get a
rehab campaign running here, let's paint our candidate at a
more positive light. But to do that, they relied on
well Rand Paul's pack. That leading to, as we talked
about at some length yesterday, Nancy Mayce's campaign chief departing

(58:18):
and not just leaving, but telling voters in South Carolina
that she's anti Trump, don't vote for and apparently having
a conversation with Trump himself and urging the President not
to endorse Nancy Mace because she's an anti Trumper aligned
with Rand Paul, Thomas Massey and the like. Mccoven going

(58:41):
as far as saying that Mace had personally told him
that she directed some people she knows to put a
bunch of money into this pack. Okay, here's the problem.
This poll pointing out that more than eighty scent of
respondents would describe themselves as maga Republicans. Now you put

(59:07):
all this together. Uh, if the image sticks that Nancy
Mace is again siding with people who aren't big fans
of Trump and eighty percent of response to this pole

(59:28):
say they are maga Republicans, this is going to be
a problem. Give her credit, she's you know, I mean,
she's she's not shied from disagreeing with Trump on certain things,
you know, the Epstein files, most recently. But let's face it,
this is a race for the Trump endorsement, whether or
not anybody ever gets or not it's another story. But

(59:50):
that that's the big that's the that's that's the big
prize right now.

Speaker 4 (59:54):
I don't yeah, I don't see where he wins by
endorsing anyone in this, but we'll see, we'll say. But
she's definitely running on the wrong side of a majority
of South Carolinians.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
Right, and the polls were indicating that again. This is
the first one since that incident, and it has taken
its toll at the poll.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Live from the State Capitol, this is South Carolina's Morning
News with Kerry David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
And it's a thirty five Good to have you here,
the Wednesday, December third edition of South Carolina's Morning News. Well,
it was a big story around here when it happened
up at Clemson University in the wake of the assassination
of Charlie Kirk back in September. You had three staffers
that were let go because of social media comments. We

(01:00:51):
had a rash of that. Of course, they showed their
real true selves, Joshua Breggy, who was an assistant professor, posting, Yeah,
let me preface this by saying violence is never okay, okay,
that makes it all right? Then but it sounds to

(01:01:16):
me like karma. I'm jumping ahead here, sounds to me
like karma is sometimes swift and ironic. As Kirk said,
play certain games, win certain prizes. He was terminated for
what the school called well cause, defined as actions that
could reasonably be construed as having extremely adverse effects upon

(01:01:38):
Clemson University and for blatant unprofessional conduct.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
They're protecting the brand exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
You had Melvin Villaver, Junior Assistant Professor of Music, who
shared a repost saying that Charlie Kirk recently said to
a Palestinian there's no such thing as Palestinians. Well, now, look,
there's no such thing as Charlie Kirk. He replied to
that post, adding, I think it's awesome how the earth

(01:02:11):
heals itself and one day we will all be free.
Not among other posts. This dismissal based on blatantly unprofessional conduct,
according to the termination letter. And then he had really
the most vile, disdainful post made by Robin Newberry, who
was not an instructor there, but the program manager of

(01:02:32):
their asbestos program manager who may have been exposed to
a little too much as best as over the years.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
This was the individual who posted in a world full
of Charlie Kirk's and Brian Thompson's, be a Tyler Robinson
or a Luigi Mangione.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
Man, don't be the victim, be the assassin.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Yeah, it was again, let go for conduct unbecoming a
state employee according to the termination letter.

Speaker 4 (01:03:07):
All right, let's not forget Charlie Kirk was assassinated on
a college campus. Yeah, and now you have three people
associated with Clemson who are seemingly encouraging or at least
acknowledging and approving of that kind of violence.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
But is there a problem here, Houston? Do we have
a problem? State paper writing that legal experts are telling
the outlet that the school could face litigation. Well, we
knew that was coming. Yes, absolutely, that most Clemson employee
speech is protected under the First Amendment because it's a

(01:03:44):
public institution. The only exception fighting words or statements that
incite immediate violence, and if the speech had disrupted the
classroom setting, that could also be considered. But that's it.
They say, Well, is this going to hinge on whether
or not these were fighting words that could have incited

(01:04:07):
immediate violence. That's probably gonna be what this when these
cases get brought, and they will get brought, I'm guessing
that's what it's going to hinge on everywhind, the fact
that these are very distasteful individuals, and in two cases,
these are individuals who are being paid to educate our kids.

(01:04:32):
One's just removing his bestess. Yeah, those lawsuits are coming.
That's gonna be a home danger.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
This is South Carolina's Morning News with Gary David and
Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
Tate forty four. Yesterday, Trump holding his ninth cabinet meeting
and what eleven months?

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
And how long did it go? I tuned out It went.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
For a long time, Yeah it did. Did you happen
to notice that as you were looking at Trump sitting
right there on his left side, our right side as
we saw it was Pete Hegseath.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
Oh yeah, he was front and center most of the
cabinet here.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Yeah, now again the front and center here is this
you know, this second strike on that Narco boat. And
some are saying, yeah Hegsath is throwing this admiral of
the bus on this thing. He says it was the admiral's.

Speaker 4 (01:05:38):
Call, said he had left the room by then.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Yeah, yeah, he was there for the initial strike and
then left the room, the admiral saying the idea for
a second strike was well twofold number one, to be
sure that the vessel was destroyed and not going to
be some sort of you know, an obstruction or harmed
to other boating traffic in the area, or be to
make sure that these guys didn't didn't call in some

(01:06:04):
kind of back up here. Okay, well, so we know
the uproar this has caused. But now we've got some
leading Republicans who are questioning this as well. The Republican
chairs of the Senate and the House Armed Services committees
are both demanding that they see video and here audio

(01:06:26):
of the incident. Senator Roger Wicker saying, we're going to
conduct oversight, We're going to try to get the facts.
Tom till Us telling CNN he was still trying to
understand whether or not haggs Eth had ordered that second
strike that day. Again, Haigs says he did not. It

(01:06:48):
was the admiralst call, till Us saying, obviously, if it
can't be substantiated by facts, it's a violation of both
ethical and possibly legal requirements. If it is substantiated. Whoever
made that order needs to get the hell out of Washington.

(01:07:09):
Lindsey Graham also weigh again, saying he was, in his words,
still working out the facts, but making a suggestion that
the Yeah they attack could have run a foul of
the law, saying it's a long held rule that survivors
of the ship attack are no longer combatants, and that

(01:07:34):
an air crew member in the parachute is no longer
a combatant. You're out of the fight. You'll see, he said, Well,
we'll see what the facts are. You get the feeling
that the tide may be turning on hesat here when
you've got to let me say what you want about
Lindsay Graham, but you know, you've got some conservative Republicans

(01:07:57):
in leadership positions are starting to question this whole thing.
This happened back in what September? Right, Yeah, I think so. Yeah,
It just just recently, of course, in the last number
of days, it has says, come out here.

Speaker 4 (01:08:11):
Trump may want to make some mid term changes. Oh,
you know he's going he always does. Yeah, you know,
he did the first term. It got to be a
revolving door there for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
I wouldn't be at all shocked, but at least as
of yesterday, there he was is well right hand man,
it appeared who Well was certainly getting a lot of
because of this story, a lot of attention at that
cabinet meeting. And hey again, give Trump the credit here.

(01:08:43):
I mean nine cabinet meetings in less than a year.
I think Biden did nine in four years. And I
know I mentioned the headline the AP wrote earlier about
him being drowsy. Yeah, well you probably would too if
you watch the whole thing, you probably not aed oftentimes
or two tell you the truth. It did go on
and on and not his longest, but still.

Speaker 4 (01:09:08):
And much different than the Biden cabinet meetings. The media
was sent out of the room soon after Biden walked in.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
You got a quick intro and then all right, see
you get out of here, get out all So yeah, transparency.
Nobody can fall Trump for that, even the most diehard liberal.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
You're listening to South Carolina this morning, yous with Gary
David at Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
Just enough time to get into a couple of quick
final thoughts here where we scoot on out up the
road in North Carolina. The DMV and the TAR Hill states,
it's gonna have to make changes to their voter registration
assistance processes. This after it was found out that non
citizens were incorrectly registered to vote by DMV examiners.

Speaker 4 (01:09:58):
Gary, that's impossible. We were just told for an entire
election year that that's impossible.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
It didn't happen. Yeah, I guess what it does.

Speaker 4 (01:10:06):
They can't vote, they don't have access to benefits.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Yeah. Wow, yeah, none of that true. BTV TV station
as Charlotte interviewing two people who were incorrectly registered to vote,
who said they had no idea they even been registered. Wow.
This at the same time, the DOJ has filed lawsuits

(01:10:31):
that just yesterday against six blue states Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico,
Rhode Island, for mountin Washington, accusing them of violating federal law.

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
Just simply trying to verify their voterals.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Yes, I mean, come on, what the country would allow
this to happen? What other country, I tell you. And
the kickers of that now blaming cold weather and the
ball moving for oh yeah, trying to kick the field goal,
the New York Giants kicker and he wasn't even close
to striking the ball. He was a good six inches right.

(01:11:03):
It was like one of my golf shots. Easy.

Speaker 4 (01:11:06):
And now he's bearing his holder.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Yeah, he's still on the holder of the bus. The
ball moved. And you've probably seen the video of the
heavily intoxicated raccoon. That was funny. The raccoon breaks into
a liquor store, gets struck, passed out in the bathroom,
just I guess, imitating a human. Lucky he didn't kill himself.
Very lucky. It's gonna do it for us. Thanks so

(01:11:28):
much for joining us. We appreciate it. As always, we
hope you choose to make it a great day back
in the morning. We'll see you then for South Carolina.
This Morning News