April 21, 2025 • 33 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 3 (04/21) - Fox 11 anchor Elex Michaelson fills in for John. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin comes on the show to talk about the border and immigration. A new candidate has joined the race to become Governor of California. Melanie Mason comes on the show to talk about Mayor Karen Bass's State of the City address.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Caf I am six forty. You're listening to the John
Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am definitely not John Covelt. Alex Michaelson from Fox
eleven Los Angeles. Usually you can see me weeknights at five,
six and ten pm and hosting the statewide political show
The Issue is but grateful to be here and to
move into our three. This show is flying by Deborah Mark.
It is one of the most fun things I've done
in broadcasting. So it's so great to be along with
(00:28):
you guys. Yeah, I'm glad that you're enjoying it. You're
doing a great job there, just hanging out with and
talk with a lot of my friends, including one of
my best friends now who we want to bring the
end of the conversation, which is Bill Malusian, who has
become Fox News Channels sort of pre eminent reporter on
the issue of immigration after spending years at the border
(00:49):
seeing what was happening firsthand, often as the only national
reporter at the border. We've seen a huge dramatic change
in the Trump administration and Bill has seen that firsthand
as well. Bill Mlusian, Welcome, heyl.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's glad you Johnny Man. Been fun listening to you.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
You're killing it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you so much. So obviously you were right in
the middle of it during the Biden administration when we
just saw people, you know, overrunning the border. Talk about
the dramatic change that we've seen. I mean, because they're
of all the things that Donald Trump has changed, this
is the greatest change. It's on this issue of immigration.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, this bigot has been turned off and it's probably
his number one campaign promise that he's delivered on the
border literally is closed right now. And just to give
you a little perspective on how closed it is. When
things were at their worst December twenty twenty three, border
patrol was getting ten to eleven thousand illegal crossings every
single day. For the entire month of March, there were
(01:50):
seven thousand. That's it. So we're seeing decreases of more
than ninety percent across the board. They're getting maybe two
to three hundred illegal daily across the entire border, and
that is obviously down enormously from those record highs we
were sitting under the Biden administration. And the godaways have
(02:10):
also fallen off a cliff. When it was the worst
under Biden in twenty twenty three, or an average of
one eight hundred and thirty gotaways slipping into the country
every single day. That number has now dropped down to
about fifty or sixty a day.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Wow. What do you think is the biggest, most important
change that's made the difference.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I think it's the messaging and the policies. If we
remember during the Biden years, they were kind of it
seemed gun shy to show any images of deportations or
removals or arrests or anything. Right, there was a section
of the Democratic Party that seemed to have the White
House's ear, that that had more of that progressive wing
(02:53):
of the party that was more pro migrant, more pro
open borders, and all the images during the Biden administration were,
you know, a lot of our live shots down there
just lines of people hundreds people long, literally just walking
and walking in like they're in line at Disneyland, waving
your cameras. And then they get released and they end
up in Chicago or New York City staying at a hotel.
(03:15):
It was just a very friendly, open welcoming vibe under
the Biden administration, and obviously the migrants were going to
think that because they reversed every single Trump policy upon
coming into office and then bragged about it. Right yet,
my orcs on TV saying, oh my goodness, we've reversed
so many Trump policies I can't even count them in
my head. Then Trump comes in and he campaigned on
(03:37):
closing the border and mass deportations. And what does he do.
He cancels every Biden policy, every Biden program. He sends
the military down to the border. We've got strikers sitting
down on the border right now. Catch and release is over.
If anybody gets caught now, they're not being released into
the country. They're being arrested and put on flights for deportations.
(03:58):
And what are they doing now? They're showing their work, right.
They love showing images of people shackled, people then handcuffs,
people being sent to El Salvador, to the mega prison
Seacot with their heads being shoved down by these prison guards.
That's terrifying if you're a man from somewhere around the
world crossing the border illegally, right, the idea that you
could end up in a super prison somewhere. So the
(04:20):
messaging and the policies have come together, and right now,
the word of mouth is the border is closed and
it is not welcoming under Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
But those images are also terrifying for a lot of
people who are here illegally already, or people that may
be here legally but are concerned that they will be
taken and not given due process to plead their case.
And that brings us to this case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia,
which has gotten so much attention. This guy who appears
(04:50):
to have not been a very good dude, even though
the Democrats have kind of, you know, staked their claim
on him. Now they seem to be saying it's not
about the man, it's about the pellasy of due process.
We just heard today that Robert Garcia, the Democratic congressman
from Long Beach, traveled to l Salvador on this issue.
But this is a real issue bill, this concept of
(05:12):
due process. So what do you think should happen to him,
and what do you think should happen to make sure
that people aren't just quote unquote disappeared into a gulag
in another country.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah, no, I agree, and I am very sympathetic to
the idea of due process. And I think if I
were the Trump administration, I think there's a way for
them to get due process, which is what they're being
criticized for, while also getting what they want, which is
getting them out of the country. So a lot of
people are hearing all the headlines on this and hearing
all these different immigration terms, and it starts probably getting
(05:46):
confusing and mudding the waters. The fifteen second Clush notes
is this guy's a Salvador and illegal immigrant. He has
an active deportation order, but he also has something called
a withholding of removal. And all that withholding of removal
means is in twenty nineteen, an immigration judge said he
can be deported. He just cannot be deported to El
Salvador because there's fears of gang retaliation against him there.
(06:09):
And that's where the Trump administration screwed up, where they
admitted it in court. They sent him to the one
country they weren't supposed to and they said that was
a paperworker. Great. So here we are now, right all
the headlines about the Maryland Father, the Democrats and the
Trump administration fighting. So how can the Trump administration win here?
In my opinion, since the Supreme Court has ordered them
(06:30):
that they have to facilitate his return to the US.
Here's what I would do. I would bring him back
to the US. I would keep him in federal custody,
and I would do one of two things. Number One,
I would bring him into court and bring him before
an integration judge and try to terminate his withholding of
removal on the grounds that was granted in twenty nineteen.
(06:51):
The situation on the ground in El Salvador has changed
significantly since then. The gangs have been virtually wiped out,
and he's been living in El Salvador in these last
few weeks and has suffered no physical harm whatsoever. If
that termination is granted, then they just deport them right
back to Old Salvador, right. They've then followed the Supreme Court.
They gave him his due process in court, and they
(07:12):
did it legally, incorrectly, and center back. If that doesn't happen,
the easiest option is just report him to another country.
He has an active deportation where that says he can
be deported anywhere except El Salvador. They could bring him
back to the US and they can send them to
any other country. It would be legal, and they would
still be following the Supreme Court. The argument about due
(07:34):
process would be over. They'd be following the Supreme Court,
and they still get what they want at the end
of the road, which is him out of the country.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
What country would would take him because he's not He's
an l Salvador citizen, right he is.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
But there's things called safe third countries, countries that we
have agreements with where other countries will take nationals from
other countries as long as there's you know, I bet
Mexico would take them. Other countries we have relationships with.
There are a handful of countries that would be willing
to take him, and his active deportation order would allow that. Now, Elex.
With all that being said, I think Democrats are insane
(08:12):
for wanting to take this fight. Immigration is a losing
topic for them. It was a loser for them during
the election, it's a loser for them now. Donald Trump
enjoys his highest poll numbers on the topic of immigration,
and for whatever reason, the Democrats have latched themselves to
this guy they're calling a quote unquote Maryland father who
(08:33):
is let's go down the checklist, a Salvador and illegal alien,
a guy who's alleged to be an MS thirteen gang member,
which was confirmed by an immigration judge in multiple there's
multiple people saying that his own wife got two protective
orders against him because she claims he's a repeat wife beater.
He's also suspected of human trafficking in Tennessee and there's
(08:55):
bodycam video of that. For whatever reason, this is the
hero that Democrats have lapsed them to so much so
that they're not doubling down or tripling down. They're quadrupling down,
and they're flying down to All Salvador to visit him
and demand due process. Fine, but there's so many other
topics they could be going after the President for, namely
all this confusion on tariffs, Sure, the stock market taking
(09:18):
a hit, Gavin knew some things. Democrats are taking the
bait on this with this whole due process illegal immigration argument,
and in my opinion, I think he's right because this
is a topic that the White House is happy to
have a fight on every day. You don't think they
love these images of Democrats flying down to All Salvador
to meet with the LEDs MS thirteen gang member when
(09:38):
they ignored the border crisis and wouldn't even meet with
the families of you know, it's just terrible optics. And
I think the White House loves to have this fight
because guess what, they're not talking about the stock market today,
which was down another thousand points in the Dow Right, right.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
But all politics is local, so nationally, I think you're right.
But then there are districts that have hugely Latino percentages,
in places like California, a state where seventeen percent of
people here are undocumented, And in a lot of these districts,
this may be a winning issue, this concept not of
(10:12):
getting behind this guy, but real fears among their constituents
of essentially being disappeared without due process. So that's some
of it. But I agree with you the Democrats need
to find a better way of communicating this issue because
they are losing nationally. All right, we could make that
an entire show. Maybe they'll hire us to do that
one day, but right now I got to go to
break Bill Mlusian. Thanks for your perspective. That was an
(10:36):
interesting idea of what the Trump administration could do if
only there was a platform that you had that the
President watched consistently where he may be able to listen
to you. That whole audience have won. So maybe we'll
see you make that point on Fox News Channel, or
maybe he's listening today. Who knows. Bill, Thank you so much,
appreciate your support, Love you, brother.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
All right, let me do Alex, thanks man, keep it up.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
All right, we have met. We have some breaking news
on the governor's race. A conservative just got into the race,
and I'm going to talk about it and whether he's
got a chance to win.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Deborah Mark, We've got some breaking news when it comes
to the governor's race. I think this happened today, earlier
than I thought it was going to happen, although everybody
kind of knew that this was going to happen. Steve
Hilton is running for governor as a Republican. He put
out a video on x saying it's time to make
California golden again. We need some balance here after fifteen
(11:36):
years of Democrat one party rule. Positive practical policies that
could help people, not ideological crusades. It's why I am
running for governor of California. He's going to do a
big event tomorrow in Huntington Beach. That's going to be
a rally. I'm going to do media interviews after that,
including with me on our political show The Issue Is
This Week. But Steve Hilton, if you haven't heard of him,
(11:58):
he is originally British. He worked for the British Prime
Minister David Cameron in their government there, then moved to California,
lived in the Bay Area, got involved in California politics.
Is on Fox News Channel, hosted a show for years
on the weekend called The Revolution with Steve Hilton. For
the last few years has been a Fox News contributor
(12:19):
on the air a lot working on California issues. With
this Golden Together, he started this organization working on those issues.
But Deborah, as we know, it is challenging for a
Republican to win statewide in this state.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
That seems almost impossible, almost impossible, And we're still waiting
to hear if former Vice President Kamala Harris, if she
puts her hat in the ring, I mean, that's my
bet would be in California. If I had to say
who was going to win, it would be Kamala Harris, that.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Would I mean, if you're betting money, that would certainly
be the easiest thing, right, And I'm not indors, no, no,
because of the fundamentals of the race. Right our state
is fundamentally a democratic state, twenty five percent more Democrats
than there are Republicans in the state, which is why
no Republican has won statewide since two thousand and six.
(13:15):
And that Republican was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the biggest
movie star in the world and married to a Democrat,
and a lot of people listening to this show probably
think he governed like a Democrat. So you know, it's
a challenge in that environment for a Republican to win.
What I could see happening though, because we have a
top two system, is that if Kamala Harris gets into
(13:36):
the race, she's going to want to be in the finals,
if you will, the general election against a Republican because
she thinks that she could win. So I could see
her campaign spending a lot of money to lift up
whether it be Steve Hilton or Chad Bianco, the Riverside
County sheriff, to try to get Trump supporters to back
(13:57):
them so she could essentially win the election on primary night.
This is the same strategy that Adam Schiff did against
Katie Porter when he got Steve Garvey into the general election,
spending twelve million dollars on the Garvey campaign. It's the
same strategy that Gavin Newsom used when he elevated John
(14:18):
Cox instead of running against Antonio Viragosa in the general election,
and he was able to win. So Steve Hilton could
raise a lot of money from Trump supporters, but I
could see Steve Hilton raising a lot of money from
Kamala Harris if she gets into it. Now, the question is,
are we at a breaking point where people are so frustrated, Deborah,
(14:39):
with the way things are governed in this state that
they're ready for a change and ready to try something different.
We have seen in other democratic states that they have
sometimes been willing to elect a Republican governor because a
governor kind of operates as his or her own thing.
It's different than you know in terms of a legislative race,
(15:00):
but we'll find out.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
We have seen examples in San Francisco and here in
Los Angeles where people are sick and tired of crime,
so they've done something about it.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
People have gotten rid of George Gascone and the mayor
was at Oakland. Also in San Francisco, people are tired
of crime, and so I don't.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Know, but all of them were replaced by Democrats or independents,
not by Republicans. Nathan Hockman had been a Republicans. It
didn't run as an independent as a Republican there, and
so you know that's part of the interesting thing that's
at play here. Is there an opening for somebody like
a Rick Caruso who used to be a Republican to
(15:43):
run as a more moderate Democrat. We'll see. Well, we're
going to talk about that with Melanie Mason from Politico,
who knows as much of this stuff as anybody. She
was just with Mayor Bass, who announced the state of
the city and more importantly, the state of the city's finances,
a billion dollars shortfall. They figured out how they want
to close that. Who's going to get fired or laid
(16:04):
off because of it? Who is going to keep their jobs.
We'll get into all of that with Melanie Mason when
we come back here on kfive.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I'm Alex Michaelson filling in for John. Usually you can
see me on Fox eleven weeknights at five, six and
ten and hosting the statewide political show The Issue is
every Friday night at ten thirty on Fox eleven, and
one of my favorite guests on that show is joining
us now. Melanie Mason is a senior political writer for Politico.
(16:39):
She's one of the smartest, most dialed in political reporters
in the state of California. She's got the pulse of
what's going on. Everybody comes to her to give them
all the gossip. If only she could report all of that.
And she's spent the day with LA Mayor Karen Bass,
who just delivered the state of the state of the
(17:01):
City address. She hasn't been elected governor yet. Melanie joins
us now. Melanie, welcome, Thanks Alex.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
I would say, keep going. I love all these compliments,
but I have to compliment you because I have been
listening and I don't know, man, I feel like radio
is giving TV a run for its money. You're doing
it awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Thank you. It's so much fun. First time ever trying this,
and I wanted you to be on board with this
because I love talking politics with you, and I felt like,
maybe let's just make a show of that, right, But
let's start with the state of the city. The big
headline is that Mayor Bass has a billion dollar shortfall
that she needed to make up. So how is she
(17:39):
going to do that? Well, now we have some real numbers.
Some of the top lines. She's not getting rid of
any LAPD sworn officers, not getting rid of any LAFD firefighters.
She actually wants to increase when it comes to firefighters.
But there are going to be about sixteen hundred other layoffs.
Theres are going to be other positions that are not
(17:59):
going to be filled. What did you see as sort
of the big most important headlines from what she's talking about.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
I think you're right. I mean, to me, the biggest
headline was that we could be looking at up to
sixteen hundred or so layoffs in the city workforce. Now
she is still calling that kind of an absolute last resort.
I think that she's holding out some hope that maybe
either in the course of these budget negotiations they find
other savings or they go and look to Sacramento to
(18:30):
bail them out, maybe give them some help. But sixteen
hundred positions is not insignificant. That's about five percent of
the current employee you know, city workforce right now of
all the positions that are filled. And so I think
in a city where we have constantly been hearing from
residents that they feel like city services are being impacted
(18:52):
when it comes to things like, you know, tree trimming
or getting your sidewalks repaired or things like that, this
is only going to make that crunch feel even more
real to people. But I think that this is sort
of again the reality that she was staring down. When
you're looking at almost a billion dollars of a shortfall.
None of the options are good, and layoffs are certainly
(19:12):
not a great option, but it's the one that she's
had to propose.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I mean, do we have a sense of how specifically
this will impact the average person listening? Because I know
there's plenty of people that are fans of John Cobalt
who are not big fans of the way the city
is run anyways, don't necessarily think they do a great
job with their money. What will this mean for the
average person if that all happens.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
I think that we're still waiting to find out from
the Mayor's office what departments we should expect to really
be affected by this. In fact, I was just on
the phone with David Green who represents SCIU seven twenty one,
which has a lot of city employees, and he said
that he hasn't yet been alerted about what departments. What
we do know is that they're not proposing, as you
had mentioned earlier, to lay off any sworn officers from
(19:59):
LAPD LAFD. But I still think that civilian positions are
going to be a key question. That was a big
sticking point when the mayor was under fire no no
pun intended during the fires earlier this year about LAFD
staffing was that there had been these cuts to the
fire department's budget when it came to civilian positions, and
(20:19):
that affects the operations of these departments overall. So I
think even if they can tell people rest assured, you know,
your cops on the beat or your firefighters on the beat,
that those positions are safe, I think that if we
see effects on the sort of civilian side in these departments,
that could absolutely affect these departments overall. And then I
think when it comes to again the sort of like
(20:40):
nuts and bolts that the city is supposed to do
in terms of you know, picking up your trash and
repairing your sidewalks and trimming your trees. I think that
those are we already see a major delay and getting
those things done, and this could just make it worse.
We also know that they are proposing doing things like
consolidating a couple of city departments, and it's possible that
maybe there were resundencies out there, and so maybe streamlining
(21:03):
a couple of departments that are meant for workforce development,
to help with youth development with seniors. You know, if
you put that all in one house and maybe you're
able to streamline a bit, maybe that makes things more efficient.
But I think that you're going to have to sell
that to a pretty skeptical.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Public, right and then we'll also see how this impacts,
you know, rebuilding at a time when people need permits
from the city and all the rest of that as well.
And speaking of the fires, obviously that had a huge
impact on La Mayor Bass's political reality. It seems like
her team's kind of framing this speech not only as
La is coming back. You know, we can get through
(21:41):
the tough times. We're going to rebuild better. But that
metaphor could go to Karen Bass's political career. Her team
wants it to be like not only is La coming back,
but mayor bass is coming back. Here we go. Do
you think that there that's effective? How do you think
that's playing.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
I think that's the thing that is difficult for her
is even if she's giving this speech that has all
of these kind of upbeat notes emphasizing where there has
been progress. For example, you know she's talking about a
reduction in violent crime and homicides. It's like a double
digit percentage drop. That's not nothing. There was a ten
percent reduction in street famlessness last year. That's not nothing,
(22:19):
particularly when the rest of the country saw this increase.
But at the set, you just keep getting crisis after
crisis after crisis, whether it's the fires or now this
budget crisis. And so I think that even though she
wants to be able to take this moment to say, Okay,
we have this reset, we have now the wind at
our back, in terms of addressing these problems, it's very,
(22:39):
very hard to do with a straight face when it's
just all of these bad headlines. But the lead of
the story that I wrote that just published is that
she was presenting a shot of optimism followed by a
bitter budget chaser. I mean, that was this kind of
split screen that she had to deal with is even
if she's trying to project this optimistic message, the reality
is just is tough. I think that that's hard for
(23:01):
a comeback narrative.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
What kind of bar do you go to? The bitter
budget chaser the.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Beer, you know, but politic style, there's got to be
like a pickleback or something metaphor for that one.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, So let's talk for a moment now about the
governor's race. We saw Kamala Harris went to church yesterday
and it went too close to her house in Brentwood.
She went to Inglewood to Faithful Central for an Easter
service there, and then there was video afterwards of her
leaving and just you know, the crowd going crazy for her,
(23:35):
especially among black women in the neighborhood who view her
as a hero. And it is a reminder that if
she were to get into the governor's race, she's at
a different level than everybody else. You don't see Antonio
Vira Gosa or Steven Klubak, or Tony Atkins or Tony
Thurman getting mobbed when they leave an event. It's just
(23:55):
a very different thing. I know. There's a lot of
people listening who don't love Kamala Harris, But what do
you make of her political reality? And what are you
hearing in terms of her thinking right now?
Speaker 6 (24:06):
Look, she has something that none of these other candidates
that are currently in the race has, which is political celebrity,
right yeah, And she also has you know, basically one
hundred percent name I dat Yeah, the people that that
that love her, the folks that showed up to her
on Easter Sunday to greet her. I mean that is
that is a loyalty and a basis support that quite frankly,
(24:31):
like you know, very few politicians, particularly on a state level,
can count on. And so I think it is a
good reminder, you know that we in the political kind
of obsessive class are going to be picking apart. You know,
what's her viability? How strong is she a candidate? Really?
Are people really excited about her run? And I think
that there's a lot of nuance there about what the
strength of her cannicy is. But I think that we
(24:52):
always have to remember that she's she would start out
so like so many leaps and bounds ahead of anybody
else in that race, sisely because she does have this
degree of celebrity that is very very rare among elected officials.
In terms of what we're hearing, I think it's the
same that we've been hearing for weeks, which is that
she has set this deadline of sort of late summer
(25:13):
for a decision. And I know that the other candidates
in that race would love to see her make a
decision one way or another, because I think there really
has been a freeze in terms of the dynamic of
the governor's race as we all wait to know what's
going on. But I think she feels like she's she's
really in no rush. But to your point, I mean
choosing a church to go to one Easter in Inglewood,
which is, you know, all the way across town from
(25:35):
from where she lives. I think that if you were
if you were thinking that you were going to take
a break from the public eye, that is not the
choice that you would be making. So I noted her
choice with great interest that that was where she chose
to be at Easter.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
She has made a lot of choices that allow her
the option to run for governor, you know, like showing
up to a Lakers Warriors game very publicly, showing up
to alta Dina and Pacific Palisades other things. That doesn't
necessarily mean she's going to run, but she's certainly leaving
that option open, and increasingly, as far as I can tell,
(26:08):
and maybe you disagree, it increasingly looks likely that she
is going to run.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
If I were a betting person, which I am very
much not, it feels like that's a better bet. But
I also kind of feel like it depends on the moment,
and I just think that, you know, we're in such
a volatile political environment right now that I don't think
that anything is a sure bet. But I agree with you,
it certainly feels like the winds are certainly blowing in
(26:37):
that direction of her getting into the race.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
But on the other hand, the other argument is when
you run for president and you're used to Air Force
one and Air Force two and all the rest of that,
you know, being in Sacramento or farms in the Central
Valley or some of this other stuff may not be
as appealing as running for president again. So we'll see
Melanie A lots to talk about upcoming, but you can
(26:59):
follow Melanie's work at politico dot com. Also, I suggest
to everybody to check out the California Politico Playbook. Sign
up for it. It's free every day. It's the best
look at what's happening in our state every single day.
Melanie and the Politico team does a great job on that.
Thanks so much for calling in.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
Thanks Alex, so great up next.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Ding Dong with You, the Man, the Myth, the Legend,
Tim Conway Junior is going to be joining us. I
am so excited. This is what I've been waiting the
entire show for.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM six.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Ding Dog with You, Tim Conway Junior. Thank you man.
Speaker 7 (27:40):
You know, I was talking to Bellio, our producer, outside
in the hallway and she said, you know, I'm Alex
Michaelson's here.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Because of you. Yeah, I am here, And I said Bellio,
I said, please stop blaming me for this. Yeah, well,
technically I'm here because of John Cobelt, because you've never
invited me to fill in on your show. So it's
so the main credit should go to John and his team.
But I would not be as involved with the station
without you calling in every Friday at four thirty and
(28:08):
five five and all the rest of it and getting
into it and getting to show a different side of
my personality and learning the ropes. I came here and
shadowed you. That's right, you are, you are responsible for
so many people's success.
Speaker 7 (28:20):
Please, yes, let's not talk, you know, get that out there.
What what's shorter? The commercial breaks at Fox are here
way shorter at Fox?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Is that right? But that's a good sign for you
because you're so popular and you've got to pay that
giant salary that everybody's got to listen through all these
commercial breaks. That's right. The pope died today. Did that
mean anything to you or? Of course?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, what you're saying, because I'm a Jew, I don't
care about the pope. I don't know how you just
celebrate or you know, or or passed. We don't celebrate
the death of the pope. What do you think this is?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
No?
Speaker 7 (28:52):
I don't know what what what? What you you honor
is celebrate? I mean there's different million people in this
in the city.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, I think that is sort of lifting up the
most vulnerable among us is something that should be celebrated.
You know, in that position, most people wouldn't have done that.
And to go into a position that's that powerful and
to really not lose sight of the least among us
is amazing, and it's a big deal. Clearly was not
like the Benedict agenda, right, it was a big deal.
(29:21):
I grew up Catholic.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
My mom got us thrown out of two parishes, really,
Saint Mels and our Lady of Grace.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Would you do well.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
She was a real strict absolutist when life began, and
it began at conception period.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
The period is the size of the sun.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
And if there was any wiggle room during any of
the sermons in church, she got into the priest's face
after the sermon and they didn't like outside, right, and
she blasted off, okay, and so they kicked us out
of Saint Mel's.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Look, my dad had six kids, three of us.
Speaker 7 (29:55):
Three of us went to school there, and my dad
was tithing ten percent of the carab that's salary, and
they still kicked us out.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
He could come up with some bid or something to
make them, do you know, apologize for this.
Speaker 7 (30:07):
I think he just moved with the with the you know,
with the river. You know, he just got in the
boat and we just moved down to our Lady Grace.
Same thing out of Lady or Grace and then ended
up at Saint Ceah.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It's Moses, just move with the river. It was our
version of Moses. That's exactly right, buddy. I'm glad to
hear you on the station though. It's great. I mean, honestly,
it's so fun and and an opportunity to talk to
so many people and and all the rest of it.
So thank you. What what do you think? I know
you listened to every minute, you know what.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
It was your favorite I meant, I meant to tune
into because I knew you're going to fill in, and
then I got I got really busy, you know, because
I'm look, I'm friends with you know, with the Bishop
of Orange County Diaces. I know you know, Bishop Van
and so I'm we're consoling each other all morning over
the death of the the poet.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
What does it mean to you, the death of the pope.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
It's a bigger deal than you think, because I all,
my family is Catholic, my mom's side, my dad's side,
everybody's Catholic.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
And I remember when my mom was alive and the
pope had passed. It was very devastating for her.
Speaker 7 (31:16):
It was a very moving time, very sad around the
house and she really got into it.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
We think about it. LA has the largest Catholic archdiocese
in the whole country. Wow. So, I mean there's a
lot of people, there's a lot of Catholic are really
impacted by this.
Speaker 7 (31:30):
And I hate to say this, and I hope you
know that you understand that our friendships may be a
little deeper in this. But you know, the only way
to heaven is through Catholicism, Right, That's correct, That's it,
that's it. You know, I've told that to friends of
mine who are like Christian or Muslim or Jewish, and
(31:51):
they all laugh, but they all sort of are angry
at that.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I don't know which religion, which religion you think does
guilt trips better. It's got to be Catholicism or Judius.
Oh no, no, no, I mean, buddy Jewish mothers. That's that's
another level. It's not even close, it's not even closed.
The Catholics wipe you out.
Speaker 7 (32:09):
Yeah, every Look, that's all that is on Sunday is
on hour of guilt, you know, an hour of shaming.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
You. You know, my my mom.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Would go to church on a Sunday and you know,
for an hour in a Catholic Mass. I'm sure you've
been to some. They tell you how to behave, they
tell you how to treat one another. The whole Mass
is either directly or indirectly, ways to treat each other
as we go through life.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
That's all it is.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
And then she would get out there and smack us
on the way to the car, not even in the car,
like you know, people would see that.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Bless me father, because I remember.
Speaker 7 (32:43):
On Palm Sunday my my dad would take a palm
and make a cross out of him.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
My mom would yell down, what the effort you're doing
in church? Time away because I've taken it from the
next show. Thank you so much to everybody a champ.
Big shout out to Deborah Mark and producer Ray and
the entire team here for making this happen up next
the Tim Conway Junior Show. Ding Dong with you now
(33:08):
to Deborah Mark in the KFI twenty four hour Newsroom.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app,
Caf I am six forty. You're listening to the John
Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am definitely not John Covelt. Alex Michaelson from Fox
eleven Los Angeles. Usually you can see me weeknights at five,
six and ten pm and hosting the statewide political show
The Issue is but grateful to be here and to
move into our three. This show is flying by Deborah Mark.
It is one of the most fun things I've done
in broadcasting. So it's so great to be along with
(00:28):
you guys. Yeah, I'm glad that you're enjoying it. You're
doing a great job there, just hanging out with and
talk with a lot of my friends, including one of
my best friends now who we want to bring the
end of the conversation, which is Bill Malusian, who has
become Fox News Channels sort of pre eminent reporter on
the issue of immigration after spending years at the border
(00:49):
seeing what was happening firsthand, often as the only national
reporter at the border. We've seen a huge dramatic change
in the Trump administration and Bill has seen that firsthand
as well. Bill Mlusian, Welcome, heyl.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's glad you Johnny Man. Been fun listening to you.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
You're killing it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you so much. So obviously you were right in
the middle of it during the Biden administration when we
just saw people, you know, overrunning the border. Talk about
the dramatic change that we've seen. I mean, because they're
of all the things that Donald Trump has changed, this
is the greatest change. It's on this issue of immigration.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, this bigot has been turned off and it's probably
his number one campaign promise that he's delivered on the
border literally is closed right now. And just to give
you a little perspective on how closed it is. When
things were at their worst December twenty twenty three, border
patrol was getting ten to eleven thousand illegal crossings every
single day. For the entire month of March, there were
(01:50):
seven thousand. That's it. So we're seeing decreases of more
than ninety percent across the board. They're getting maybe two
to three hundred illegal daily across the entire border, and
that is obviously down enormously from those record highs we
were sitting under the Biden administration. And the godaways have
(02:10):
also fallen off a cliff. When it was the worst
under Biden in twenty twenty three, or an average of
one eight hundred and thirty gotaways slipping into the country
every single day. That number has now dropped down to
about fifty or sixty a day.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Wow. What do you think is the biggest, most important
change that's made the difference.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I think it's the messaging and the policies. If we
remember during the Biden years, they were kind of it
seemed gun shy to show any images of deportations or
removals or arrests or anything. Right, there was a section
of the Democratic Party that seemed to have the White
House's ear, that that had more of that progressive wing
(02:53):
of the party that was more pro migrant, more pro
open borders, and all the images during the Biden administration were,
you know, a lot of our live shots down there
just lines of people hundreds people long, literally just walking
and walking in like they're in line at Disneyland, waving
your cameras. And then they get released and they end
up in Chicago or New York City staying at a hotel.
(03:15):
It was just a very friendly, open welcoming vibe under
the Biden administration, and obviously the migrants were going to
think that because they reversed every single Trump policy upon
coming into office and then bragged about it. Right yet,
my orcs on TV saying, oh my goodness, we've reversed
so many Trump policies I can't even count them in
my head. Then Trump comes in and he campaigned on
(03:37):
closing the border and mass deportations. And what does he do.
He cancels every Biden policy, every Biden program. He sends
the military down to the border. We've got strikers sitting
down on the border right now. Catch and release is over.
If anybody gets caught now, they're not being released into
the country. They're being arrested and put on flights for deportations.
(03:58):
And what are they doing now? They're showing their work, right.
They love showing images of people shackled, people then handcuffs,
people being sent to El Salvador, to the mega prison
Seacot with their heads being shoved down by these prison guards.
That's terrifying if you're a man from somewhere around the
world crossing the border illegally, right, the idea that you
could end up in a super prison somewhere. So the
(04:20):
messaging and the policies have come together, and right now,
the word of mouth is the border is closed and
it is not welcoming under Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
But those images are also terrifying for a lot of
people who are here illegally already, or people that may
be here legally but are concerned that they will be
taken and not given due process to plead their case.
And that brings us to this case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia,
which has gotten so much attention. This guy who appears
(04:50):
to have not been a very good dude, even though
the Democrats have kind of, you know, staked their claim
on him. Now they seem to be saying it's not
about the man, it's about the pellasy of due process.
We just heard today that Robert Garcia, the Democratic congressman
from Long Beach, traveled to l Salvador on this issue.
But this is a real issue bill, this concept of
(05:12):
due process. So what do you think should happen to him,
and what do you think should happen to make sure
that people aren't just quote unquote disappeared into a gulag
in another country.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah, no, I agree, and I am very sympathetic to
the idea of due process. And I think if I
were the Trump administration, I think there's a way for
them to get due process, which is what they're being
criticized for, while also getting what they want, which is
getting them out of the country. So a lot of
people are hearing all the headlines on this and hearing
all these different immigration terms, and it starts probably getting
(05:46):
confusing and mudding the waters. The fifteen second Clush notes
is this guy's a Salvador and illegal immigrant. He has
an active deportation order, but he also has something called
a withholding of removal. And all that withholding of removal
means is in twenty nineteen, an immigration judge said he
can be deported. He just cannot be deported to El
Salvador because there's fears of gang retaliation against him there.
(06:09):
And that's where the Trump administration screwed up, where they
admitted it in court. They sent him to the one
country they weren't supposed to and they said that was
a paperworker. Great. So here we are now, right all
the headlines about the Maryland Father, the Democrats and the
Trump administration fighting. So how can the Trump administration win here?
In my opinion, since the Supreme Court has ordered them
(06:30):
that they have to facilitate his return to the US.
Here's what I would do. I would bring him back
to the US. I would keep him in federal custody,
and I would do one of two things. Number One,
I would bring him into court and bring him before
an integration judge and try to terminate his withholding of
removal on the grounds that was granted in twenty nineteen.
(06:51):
The situation on the ground in El Salvador has changed
significantly since then. The gangs have been virtually wiped out,
and he's been living in El Salvador in these last
few weeks and has suffered no physical harm whatsoever. If
that termination is granted, then they just deport them right
back to Old Salvador, right. They've then followed the Supreme Court.
They gave him his due process in court, and they
(07:12):
did it legally, incorrectly, and center back. If that doesn't happen,
the easiest option is just report him to another country.
He has an active deportation where that says he can
be deported anywhere except El Salvador. They could bring him
back to the US and they can send them to
any other country. It would be legal, and they would
still be following the Supreme Court. The argument about due
(07:34):
process would be over. They'd be following the Supreme Court,
and they still get what they want at the end
of the road, which is him out of the country.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
What country would would take him because he's not He's
an l Salvador citizen, right he is.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
But there's things called safe third countries, countries that we
have agreements with where other countries will take nationals from
other countries as long as there's you know, I bet
Mexico would take them. Other countries we have relationships with.
There are a handful of countries that would be willing
to take him, and his active deportation order would allow that. Now, Elex.
With all that being said, I think Democrats are insane
(08:12):
for wanting to take this fight. Immigration is a losing
topic for them. It was a loser for them during
the election, it's a loser for them now. Donald Trump
enjoys his highest poll numbers on the topic of immigration,
and for whatever reason, the Democrats have latched themselves to
this guy they're calling a quote unquote Maryland father who
(08:33):
is let's go down the checklist, a Salvador and illegal alien,
a guy who's alleged to be an MS thirteen gang member,
which was confirmed by an immigration judge in multiple there's
multiple people saying that his own wife got two protective
orders against him because she claims he's a repeat wife beater.
He's also suspected of human trafficking in Tennessee and there's
(08:55):
bodycam video of that. For whatever reason, this is the
hero that Democrats have lapsed them to so much so
that they're not doubling down or tripling down. They're quadrupling down,
and they're flying down to All Salvador to visit him
and demand due process. Fine, but there's so many other
topics they could be going after the President for, namely
all this confusion on tariffs, Sure, the stock market taking
(09:18):
a hit, Gavin knew some things. Democrats are taking the
bait on this with this whole due process illegal immigration argument,
and in my opinion, I think he's right because this
is a topic that the White House is happy to
have a fight on every day. You don't think they
love these images of Democrats flying down to All Salvador
to meet with the LEDs MS thirteen gang member when
(09:38):
they ignored the border crisis and wouldn't even meet with
the families of you know, it's just terrible optics. And
I think the White House loves to have this fight
because guess what, they're not talking about the stock market today,
which was down another thousand points in the Dow Right, right.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
But all politics is local, so nationally, I think you're right.
But then there are districts that have hugely Latino percentages,
in places like California, a state where seventeen percent of
people here are undocumented, And in a lot of these districts,
this may be a winning issue, this concept not of
(10:12):
getting behind this guy, but real fears among their constituents
of essentially being disappeared without due process. So that's some
of it. But I agree with you the Democrats need
to find a better way of communicating this issue because
they are losing nationally. All right, we could make that
an entire show. Maybe they'll hire us to do that
one day, but right now I got to go to
break Bill Mlusian. Thanks for your perspective. That was an
(10:36):
interesting idea of what the Trump administration could do if
only there was a platform that you had that the
President watched consistently where he may be able to listen
to you. That whole audience have won. So maybe we'll
see you make that point on Fox News Channel, or
maybe he's listening today. Who knows. Bill, Thank you so much,
appreciate your support, Love you, brother.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
All right, let me do Alex, thanks man, keep it up.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
All right, we have met. We have some breaking news
on the governor's race. A conservative just got into the race,
and I'm going to talk about it and whether he's
got a chance to win.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Deborah Mark, We've got some breaking news when it comes
to the governor's race. I think this happened today, earlier
than I thought it was going to happen, although everybody
kind of knew that this was going to happen. Steve
Hilton is running for governor as a Republican. He put
out a video on x saying it's time to make
California golden again. We need some balance here after fifteen
(11:36):
years of Democrat one party rule. Positive practical policies that
could help people, not ideological crusades. It's why I am
running for governor of California. He's going to do a
big event tomorrow in Huntington Beach. That's going to be
a rally. I'm going to do media interviews after that,
including with me on our political show The Issue Is
This Week. But Steve Hilton, if you haven't heard of him,
(11:58):
he is originally British. He worked for the British Prime
Minister David Cameron in their government there, then moved to California,
lived in the Bay Area, got involved in California politics.
Is on Fox News Channel, hosted a show for years
on the weekend called The Revolution with Steve Hilton. For
the last few years has been a Fox News contributor
(12:19):
on the air a lot working on California issues. With
this Golden Together, he started this organization working on those issues.
But Deborah, as we know, it is challenging for a
Republican to win statewide in this state.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
That seems almost impossible, almost impossible, And we're still waiting
to hear if former Vice President Kamala Harris, if she
puts her hat in the ring, I mean, that's my
bet would be in California. If I had to say
who was going to win, it would be Kamala Harris, that.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Would I mean, if you're betting money, that would certainly
be the easiest thing, right, And I'm not indors, no, no,
because of the fundamentals of the race. Right our state
is fundamentally a democratic state, twenty five percent more Democrats
than there are Republicans in the state, which is why
no Republican has won statewide since two thousand and six.
(13:15):
And that Republican was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the biggest
movie star in the world and married to a Democrat,
and a lot of people listening to this show probably
think he governed like a Democrat. So you know, it's
a challenge in that environment for a Republican to win.
What I could see happening though, because we have a
top two system, is that if Kamala Harris gets into
(13:36):
the race, she's going to want to be in the finals,
if you will, the general election against a Republican because
she thinks that she could win. So I could see
her campaign spending a lot of money to lift up
whether it be Steve Hilton or Chad Bianco, the Riverside
County sheriff, to try to get Trump supporters to back
(13:57):
them so she could essentially win the election on primary night.
This is the same strategy that Adam Schiff did against
Katie Porter when he got Steve Garvey into the general election,
spending twelve million dollars on the Garvey campaign. It's the
same strategy that Gavin Newsom used when he elevated John
(14:18):
Cox instead of running against Antonio Viragosa in the general election,
and he was able to win. So Steve Hilton could
raise a lot of money from Trump supporters, but I
could see Steve Hilton raising a lot of money from
Kamala Harris if she gets into it. Now, the question is,
are we at a breaking point where people are so frustrated, Deborah,
(14:39):
with the way things are governed in this state that
they're ready for a change and ready to try something different.
We have seen in other democratic states that they have
sometimes been willing to elect a Republican governor because a
governor kind of operates as his or her own thing.
It's different than you know in terms of a legislative race,
(15:00):
but we'll find out.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Well.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
We have seen examples in San Francisco and here in
Los Angeles where people are sick and tired of crime,
so they've done something about it.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
People have gotten rid of George Gascone and the mayor
was at Oakland. Also in San Francisco, people are tired
of crime, and so I don't.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Know, but all of them were replaced by Democrats or independents,
not by Republicans. Nathan Hockman had been a Republicans. It
didn't run as an independent as a Republican there, and
so you know that's part of the interesting thing that's
at play here. Is there an opening for somebody like
a Rick Caruso who used to be a Republican to
(15:43):
run as a more moderate Democrat. We'll see. Well, we're
going to talk about that with Melanie Mason from Politico,
who knows as much of this stuff as anybody. She
was just with Mayor Bass, who announced the state of
the city and more importantly, the state of the city's finances,
a billion dollars shortfall. They figured out how they want
to close that. Who's going to get fired or laid
(16:04):
off because of it? Who is going to keep their jobs.
We'll get into all of that with Melanie Mason when
we come back here on kfive.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I'm Alex Michaelson filling in for John. Usually you can
see me on Fox eleven weeknights at five, six and
ten and hosting the statewide political show The Issue is
every Friday night at ten thirty on Fox eleven, and
one of my favorite guests on that show is joining
us now. Melanie Mason is a senior political writer for Politico.
(16:39):
She's one of the smartest, most dialed in political reporters
in the state of California. She's got the pulse of
what's going on. Everybody comes to her to give them
all the gossip. If only she could report all of that.
And she's spent the day with LA Mayor Karen Bass,
who just delivered the state of the state of the
(17:01):
City address. She hasn't been elected governor yet. Melanie joins
us now. Melanie, welcome, Thanks Alex.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
I would say, keep going. I love all these compliments,
but I have to compliment you because I have been
listening and I don't know, man, I feel like radio
is giving TV a run for its money. You're doing
it awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Thank you. It's so much fun. First time ever trying this,
and I wanted you to be on board with this
because I love talking politics with you, and I felt like,
maybe let's just make a show of that, right, But
let's start with the state of the city. The big
headline is that Mayor Bass has a billion dollar shortfall
that she needed to make up. So how is she
(17:39):
going to do that? Well, now we have some real numbers.
Some of the top lines. She's not getting rid of
any LAPD sworn officers, not getting rid of any LAFD firefighters.
She actually wants to increase when it comes to firefighters.
But there are going to be about sixteen hundred other layoffs.
Theres are going to be other positions that are not
(17:59):
going to be filled. What did you see as sort
of the big most important headlines from what she's talking about.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
I think you're right. I mean, to me, the biggest
headline was that we could be looking at up to
sixteen hundred or so layoffs in the city workforce. Now
she is still calling that kind of an absolute last resort.
I think that she's holding out some hope that maybe
either in the course of these budget negotiations they find
other savings or they go and look to Sacramento to
(18:30):
bail them out, maybe give them some help. But sixteen
hundred positions is not insignificant. That's about five percent of
the current employee you know, city workforce right now of
all the positions that are filled. And so I think
in a city where we have constantly been hearing from
residents that they feel like city services are being impacted
(18:52):
when it comes to things like, you know, tree trimming
or getting your sidewalks repaired or things like that, this
is only going to make that crunch feel even more
real to people. But I think that this is sort
of again the reality that she was staring down. When
you're looking at almost a billion dollars of a shortfall.
None of the options are good, and layoffs are certainly
(19:12):
not a great option, but it's the one that she's
had to propose.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I mean, do we have a sense of how specifically
this will impact the average person listening? Because I know
there's plenty of people that are fans of John Cobalt
who are not big fans of the way the city
is run anyways, don't necessarily think they do a great
job with their money. What will this mean for the
average person if that all happens.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
I think that we're still waiting to find out from
the Mayor's office what departments we should expect to really
be affected by this. In fact, I was just on
the phone with David Green who represents SCIU seven twenty one,
which has a lot of city employees, and he said
that he hasn't yet been alerted about what departments. What
we do know is that they're not proposing, as you
had mentioned earlier, to lay off any sworn officers from
(19:59):
LAPD LAFD. But I still think that civilian positions are
going to be a key question. That was a big
sticking point when the mayor was under fire no no
pun intended during the fires earlier this year about LAFD
staffing was that there had been these cuts to the
fire department's budget when it came to civilian positions, and
(20:19):
that affects the operations of these departments overall. So I
think even if they can tell people rest assured, you know,
your cops on the beat or your firefighters on the beat,
that those positions are safe, I think that if we
see effects on the sort of civilian side in these departments,
that could absolutely affect these departments overall. And then I
think when it comes to again the sort of like
(20:40):
nuts and bolts that the city is supposed to do
in terms of you know, picking up your trash and
repairing your sidewalks and trimming your trees. I think that
those are we already see a major delay and getting
those things done, and this could just make it worse.
We also know that they are proposing doing things like
consolidating a couple of city departments, and it's possible that
maybe there were resundencies out there, and so maybe streamlining
(21:03):
a couple of departments that are meant for workforce development,
to help with youth development with seniors. You know, if
you put that all in one house and maybe you're
able to streamline a bit, maybe that makes things more efficient.
But I think that you're going to have to sell
that to a pretty skeptical.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Public, right and then we'll also see how this impacts,
you know, rebuilding at a time when people need permits
from the city and all the rest of that as well.
And speaking of the fires, obviously that had a huge
impact on La Mayor Bass's political reality. It seems like
her team's kind of framing this speech not only as
La is coming back. You know, we can get through
(21:41):
the tough times. We're going to rebuild better. But that
metaphor could go to Karen Bass's political career. Her team
wants it to be like not only is La coming back,
but mayor bass is coming back. Here we go. Do
you think that there that's effective? How do you think
that's playing.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
I think that's the thing that is difficult for her
is even if she's giving this speech that has all
of these kind of upbeat notes emphasizing where there has
been progress. For example, you know she's talking about a
reduction in violent crime and homicides. It's like a double
digit percentage drop. That's not nothing. There was a ten
percent reduction in street famlessness last year. That's not nothing,
(22:19):
particularly when the rest of the country saw this increase.
But at the set, you just keep getting crisis after
crisis after crisis, whether it's the fires or now this
budget crisis. And so I think that even though she
wants to be able to take this moment to say, Okay,
we have this reset, we have now the wind at
our back, in terms of addressing these problems, it's very,
(22:39):
very hard to do with a straight face when it's
just all of these bad headlines. But the lead of
the story that I wrote that just published is that
she was presenting a shot of optimism followed by a
bitter budget chaser. I mean, that was this kind of
split screen that she had to deal with is even
if she's trying to project this optimistic message, the reality
is just is tough. I think that that's hard for
(23:01):
a comeback narrative.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
What kind of bar do you go to? The bitter
budget chaser the.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Beer, you know, but politic style, there's got to be
like a pickleback or something metaphor for that one.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, So let's talk for a moment now about the
governor's race. We saw Kamala Harris went to church yesterday
and it went too close to her house in Brentwood.
She went to Inglewood to Faithful Central for an Easter
service there, and then there was video afterwards of her
leaving and just you know, the crowd going crazy for her,
(23:35):
especially among black women in the neighborhood who view her
as a hero. And it is a reminder that if
she were to get into the governor's race, she's at
a different level than everybody else. You don't see Antonio
Vira Gosa or Steven Klubak, or Tony Atkins or Tony
Thurman getting mobbed when they leave an event. It's just
(23:55):
a very different thing. I know. There's a lot of
people listening who don't love Kamala Harris, But what do
you make of her political reality? And what are you
hearing in terms of her thinking right now?
Speaker 6 (24:06):
Look, she has something that none of these other candidates
that are currently in the race has, which is political celebrity,
right yeah, And she also has you know, basically one
hundred percent name I dat Yeah, the people that that
that love her, the folks that showed up to her
on Easter Sunday to greet her. I mean that is
that is a loyalty and a basis support that quite frankly,
(24:31):
like you know, very few politicians, particularly on a state level,
can count on. And so I think it is a
good reminder, you know that we in the political kind
of obsessive class are going to be picking apart. You know,
what's her viability? How strong is she a candidate? Really?
Are people really excited about her run? And I think
that there's a lot of nuance there about what the
strength of her cannicy is. But I think that we
(24:52):
always have to remember that she's she would start out
so like so many leaps and bounds ahead of anybody
else in that race, sisely because she does have this
degree of celebrity that is very very rare among elected officials.
In terms of what we're hearing, I think it's the
same that we've been hearing for weeks, which is that
she has set this deadline of sort of late summer
(25:13):
for a decision. And I know that the other candidates
in that race would love to see her make a
decision one way or another, because I think there really
has been a freeze in terms of the dynamic of
the governor's race as we all wait to know what's
going on. But I think she feels like she's she's
really in no rush. But to your point, I mean
choosing a church to go to one Easter in Inglewood,
which is, you know, all the way across town from
(25:35):
from where she lives. I think that if you were
if you were thinking that you were going to take
a break from the public eye, that is not the
choice that you would be making. So I noted her
choice with great interest that that was where she chose
to be at Easter.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
She has made a lot of choices that allow her
the option to run for governor, you know, like showing
up to a Lakers Warriors game very publicly, showing up
to alta Dina and Pacific Palisades other things. That doesn't
necessarily mean she's going to run, but she's certainly leaving
that option open, and increasingly, as far as I can tell,
(26:08):
and maybe you disagree, it increasingly looks likely that she
is going to run.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
If I were a betting person, which I am very
much not, it feels like that's a better bet. But
I also kind of feel like it depends on the moment,
and I just think that, you know, we're in such
a volatile political environment right now that I don't think
that anything is a sure bet. But I agree with you,
it certainly feels like the winds are certainly blowing in
(26:37):
that direction of her getting into the race.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
But on the other hand, the other argument is when
you run for president and you're used to Air Force
one and Air Force two and all the rest of that,
you know, being in Sacramento or farms in the Central
Valley or some of this other stuff may not be
as appealing as running for president again. So we'll see
Melanie A lots to talk about upcoming, but you can
(26:59):
follow Melanie's work at politico dot com. Also, I suggest
to everybody to check out the California Politico Playbook. Sign
up for it. It's free every day. It's the best
look at what's happening in our state every single day.
Melanie and the Politico team does a great job on that.
Thanks so much for calling in.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
Thanks Alex, so great up next.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Ding Dong with You, the Man, the Myth, the Legend,
Tim Conway Junior is going to be joining us. I
am so excited. This is what I've been waiting the
entire show for.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM six.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Ding Dog with You, Tim Conway Junior. Thank you man.
Speaker 7 (27:40):
You know, I was talking to Bellio, our producer, outside
in the hallway and she said, you know, I'm Alex
Michaelson's here.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Because of you. Yeah, I am here, And I said Bellio,
I said, please stop blaming me for this. Yeah, well,
technically I'm here because of John Cobelt, because you've never
invited me to fill in on your show. So it's
so the main credit should go to John and his team.
But I would not be as involved with the station
without you calling in every Friday at four thirty and
(28:08):
five five and all the rest of it and getting
into it and getting to show a different side of
my personality and learning the ropes. I came here and
shadowed you. That's right, you are, you are responsible for
so many people's success.
Speaker 7 (28:20):
Please, yes, let's not talk, you know, get that out there.
What what's shorter? The commercial breaks at Fox are here
way shorter at Fox?
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Is that right? But that's a good sign for you
because you're so popular and you've got to pay that
giant salary that everybody's got to listen through all these
commercial breaks. That's right. The pope died today. Did that
mean anything to you or? Of course?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, what you're saying, because I'm a Jew, I don't
care about the pope. I don't know how you just
celebrate or you know, or or passed. We don't celebrate
the death of the pope. What do you think this is?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
No?
Speaker 7 (28:52):
I don't know what what what? What you you honor
is celebrate? I mean there's different million people in this
in the city.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, I think that is sort of lifting up the
most vulnerable among us is something that should be celebrated.
You know, in that position, most people wouldn't have done that.
And to go into a position that's that powerful and
to really not lose sight of the least among us
is amazing, and it's a big deal. Clearly was not
like the Benedict agenda, right, it was a big deal.
(29:21):
I grew up Catholic.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
My mom got us thrown out of two parishes, really,
Saint Mels and our Lady of Grace.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Would you do well.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
She was a real strict absolutist when life began, and
it began at conception period.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
The period is the size of the sun.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
And if there was any wiggle room during any of
the sermons in church, she got into the priest's face
after the sermon and they didn't like outside, right, and
she blasted off, okay, and so they kicked us out
of Saint Mel's.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Look, my dad had six kids, three of us.
Speaker 7 (29:55):
Three of us went to school there, and my dad
was tithing ten percent of the carab that's salary, and
they still kicked us out.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
He could come up with some bid or something to
make them, do you know, apologize for this.
Speaker 7 (30:07):
I think he just moved with the with the you know,
with the river. You know, he just got in the
boat and we just moved down to our Lady Grace.
Same thing out of Lady or Grace and then ended
up at Saint Ceah.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It's Moses, just move with the river. It was our
version of Moses. That's exactly right, buddy. I'm glad to
hear you on the station though. It's great. I mean, honestly,
it's so fun and and an opportunity to talk to
so many people and and all the rest of it.
So thank you. What what do you think? I know
you listened to every minute, you know what.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
It was your favorite I meant, I meant to tune
into because I knew you're going to fill in, and
then I got I got really busy, you know, because
I'm look, I'm friends with you know, with the Bishop
of Orange County Diaces. I know you know, Bishop Van
and so I'm we're consoling each other all morning over
the death of the the poet.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
What does it mean to you, the death of the pope.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
It's a bigger deal than you think, because I all,
my family is Catholic, my mom's side, my dad's side,
everybody's Catholic.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
And I remember when my mom was alive and the
pope had passed. It was very devastating for her.
Speaker 7 (31:16):
It was a very moving time, very sad around the
house and she really got into it.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
We think about it. LA has the largest Catholic archdiocese
in the whole country. Wow. So, I mean there's a
lot of people, there's a lot of Catholic are really
impacted by this.
Speaker 7 (31:30):
And I hate to say this, and I hope you
know that you understand that our friendships may be a
little deeper in this. But you know, the only way
to heaven is through Catholicism, Right, That's correct, That's it,
that's it. You know, I've told that to friends of
mine who are like Christian or Muslim or Jewish, and
(31:51):
they all laugh, but they all sort of are angry
at that.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I don't know which religion, which religion you think does
guilt trips better. It's got to be Catholicism or Judius.
Oh no, no, no, I mean, buddy Jewish mothers. That's that's
another level. It's not even close, it's not even closed.
The Catholics wipe you out.
Speaker 7 (32:09):
Yeah, every Look, that's all that is on Sunday is
on hour of guilt, you know, an hour of shaming.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
You. You know, my my mom.
Speaker 7 (32:18):
Would go to church on a Sunday and you know,
for an hour in a Catholic Mass. I'm sure you've
been to some. They tell you how to behave, they
tell you how to treat one another. The whole Mass
is either directly or indirectly, ways to treat each other
as we go through life.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
That's all it is.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
And then she would get out there and smack us
on the way to the car, not even in the car,
like you know, people would see that.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Bless me father, because I remember.
Speaker 7 (32:43):
On Palm Sunday my my dad would take a palm
and make a cross out of him.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
My mom would yell down, what the effort you're doing
in church? Time away because I've taken it from the
next show. Thank you so much to everybody a champ.
Big shout out to Deborah Mark and producer Ray and
the entire team here for making this happen up next
the Tim Conway Junior Show. Ding Dong with you now
(33:08):
to Deborah Mark in the KFI twenty four hour Newsroom.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app,
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
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