Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Jonathan Rush three percent better than expected. Kelly Nash, I
would add to that that the GDP price index was
only two percent. In other words, we have an economy
growing at when you say three percent, we have inflation
at two percent. That's the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Jonathan and Kelly show.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Woc the best of both worlds, says him. Now you'll
find out Jerome Power don't agree with Indy of that. Today.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You're not going to get a break on your interest rates.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Brother, No, no, no, no, you're not. And you know
again the whole thing about the interest rates. I don't
know that Donald Trump has made it clear. He has
made it clear he wants some lower but he I
don't think he's made it clear as to really why.
And if if Jerome Powell could just do us a
flava and lower them for just a month or two,
(00:56):
and then what would happen is the United States could
financed it's thirty seven trillion dollars in debt and actually
save about a trillion dollars in finances.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
But this is how steeped he is in his nonpartisan position, and.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Of course it would it would obviously do wonders for
the automobile markets, the housing markets, all these people where
you have to charge interest rates in any large purchase item,
people are not buying houses and cars like they could
or should because of the high interest charges right now,
and as Donald Trump has pointed out, we are about
(01:37):
double what most other countries and our similar financial situations are. Yeah,
your own Powell, in a nonpartisan position as head of
the Bank, almost said he was a Treasury secretary, which
he is not. That would be Scott Messing exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So ahead of the Fed in this position, and he
is plainly demonstrated now with the way that he cut
rates twice before the election with Joe Biden. He cut
rates twice with absolutely no reason to do it. Now
in Donald Trump's administration, he refuses to vote to cut it.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Just to be annoying.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I'll point out that he is a Trump appointee.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Thank you. All Right, Now, I'll tell you what We'll
getting back to some of the national news and some
South Carolina news. Well, tell you what. We're going to
take those two like chocolate and peanut butter and put
them together.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Hey, hey, hey, great tastes.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You got federal news in my state News with one
phone call, Kelly Nash. Welcome on the phone, you asked,
Congressman now running for governor, Ralph Norman.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Good morning, sir. Good to have you here.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Well, great to be with you again.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What a busy week has been for you.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Not only you got all these places you're spending those
sticks as a congressman, now you've announced you're going to
run for governor of the great state of South Carolina.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah, you know, it was a tough decision. We're doing
a great job in Washington, but with the governorship and
with the needs of South Carolina, I just I think
that's where I can best serve our great state. We
had a thousand people, over a thousand at our announcement Sunday,
which I've never seen, and you know, it's phenomenal, but
(03:19):
it shows your need for leadership and I look forward
to getting in there.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
We're talking with Congressman Ralph Norman, who has just announced
that he's running for governor in South Carolina. And you know,
you've got a pretty safe seat. You win that seat
every two years by pretty much a wide margin, so
you could keep doing that, it would seem in perpetuity.
You could just always be the congressman. And yet you're
gonna I guess you're going to have to leave Congress
(03:43):
to run for this, right, you can't have a dual
campaign going. And is there something about the current crop
of candidates? I know you know Pamela Evitt, I've seen
you talking with her and Alan Wilson, and I don't
know if you know Josh Kimberl and possibly Nancy Mace
with it, she might be interested in running. But is
there something about that crew that you looked at them
(04:05):
and you said they're all there are, some of them
are your friends, but you said there's something missing. What
is it that Ralph Norman brings that they don't have?
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Yeah, and you're right, I mean I know them all. Kimball,
I don't know that well. But the others I know.
I've worked with them. They're good people. Look, we're just
different as far as our leadership what we do. And
I think right now more than ever we South Carolina
is going to have to have strong leadership that takes
(04:32):
issues and we'll deliver on them. And I've proven that
in Washington and I prove it in South Carolina. And
I'm talking about conservative leadership that will make this state
even greater. Florida has done it, we can do it
in South Carolina as far as leading the whole country
in a solid leadership form and taking putting priorities in place,
(04:55):
cutting government, cutting regulations, and putting business people back in
in places that they can do some good. And I
can do that and I will do that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
You know, every campaign has got to have a great
bumper sticker. You certainly have a good one, because these
are two hot buttons for most of South Carolina. Term
limits and clean up Columbia. Let's start with the term
limits for a second. What is your vision in that regard?
Speaker 5 (05:17):
We're gonna put up a bill, and by the way,
I serve until the end of twenty twenty six, the
rest of this year. In twenty twenty six, so I
would never give up my seat because we've got such
a narrow majority. So I will make the votes and
I will be there. But every weekend I'll be in
district and like I am now this month, going around
(05:38):
and meeting people and telling them my vision. No term limits.
Politicians have failed us, and what I am giving up?
And you're right, I mean I can stay there, you know,
as long as I wanted to. The people elect me,
and I think they like the job I'm doing. But
that's not the intent of public office, just to park
yourself and live off the government. It's what you can do.
(06:00):
And yes, my career will either end or begin December
of twenty of next year, and I find with that,
but I know what I can do in the state
term limits. These politicians that just go up there to
live off government know it's an eighty five percent issue.
We're going to have a bill when I get there
(06:20):
that we're going to put in front of we the
people in South Carolina, and I'm thinking it will be
pretty much what the term limit bill was that I've
put up every year that I've been in Congress, three
terms in the House, two terms in the Senate, and
come home and live under these laws that you that
you end up making. I will do that, and you
(06:41):
know it's I look forward to doing that. The other
things I will do is when you look at our infrastructure,
and by the way, the two things that are common
to all South Carolinians we breathe the same air and
we travel roads, and we've got a D rating in
all of our infrastructure except I think its ports has
(07:02):
got to be rating aviation a D, bridges a C.
But you got n plus the thousand bridges that are defective.
Dams a D, drinking water a D, transit a D,
but roads are a D and that's unacceptable. We're going
to put a focus on that and then the other things.
As I mentioned, the election of judges by politicians, uh
(07:25):
in Columbia has got to change. We've got to let
we the people vote on judges. There's no reason. Uh,
you know, trial lawyers ought to be picking who our
judges are. That's a conflict of interest and everybody knows it.
But those just a few of the things that I
think separate me from the others. You don't hear them
talking about this. It's I mean, roads aren't sexy. I
(07:47):
get that, but it's a priority. And we've got to
put parties on front of the in front of the
South Carolinas. And I think they were respond.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Ralph Norman, who's announced he's running for governor. I got
a campaign slogan, make road sex again. Think about it,
don't don't yes or know it yet. In the meantime,
you mentioned the idea of term limits, and obviously that's
a problem because you're going to need some people to
go along with that. When you look at the weakest
gubernatorial powers in the country, they, according to this search
(08:17):
I just did, the three weakest states are Mississippi, Rhode Island,
and South Carolina as far as the amount of power
that the governor has. So you're going to need people
in the House and the Senate here to go along
with you. Do you I mean, is that part of
your calculations is that we need to change the way
government's done, and I need these people to help me.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Yeah, I mean, obviously I can't cast the first vote,
but what I need is is the people in South
Carolina to be with me. And they're with me on
this now. Do I expect some probably some healthy debate
with my legislative friends. Yes. When I was there initially,
we got into a lot of things that I thought
were just wrong, sweetheart deals. I'm sick of that, putting
(09:00):
politicians on in boards and commissions, I'm sick of that.
You need what Trump has done, which has put competent
people in place, but but term limits, I mean, it's
it's again runs against everything this country was founded on,
and and I see it in Washington. You just go
up there and live and you just get affected by it.
(09:23):
And you know, let's let's let the people decide on
this one issue, whether they agree or disagree. And I
will tell you it's an eighty five percent issue. Have
set time limits you do with pilots. What's the difference
in politicians? So? And I think South Carolina deserves, we
(09:45):
deserve so far better than we have been getting from
my politicians. You know, when is the last time you
heard anybody talking about a Doze commission that identifies where
your tax dollars go. We're going to do that when
I get there. They people don't know where the money's
being spent. And I tell you another problem we've got.
There's Santie Cooper's got a nine billion dollar debt and
(10:10):
we're going to have to deal with that at some point.
And it's not going to be the two point four
million rate payers. And it's just these type issues that
I will address head on and we'll have an honest debate.
I don't call them fights, I just mean less debated,
and ultimately, I think the state will, the citizens will
(10:31):
respond because they know on the one issue that I'm
real passionate about the roads. I mean, why should we
lead the nation and fatalities on our secondary roads. That's
a fact. That's not Ralph Norman's opinion. So I'm just
different than the others, namely what they the things that
you'll hear from all of them, it doesn't include what
(10:52):
I'm talking about this morning.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
You know, I'm encouraged by the way you're talking because
a lot of politicians seemingly run all their campaigns based
on tell the voters what they want want to hear.
When I think South Carolina really wants to hear a
little more of what you're outlining or portraying.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Here, stand up and give me the ugly.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Truth about our infrastructure and our power needs and the
problems you've already explained, and now give me the answer,
because I think South Carolina is hungry for someone who's
gonna outline with them. Yes, you're not painting an ugly picture.
You're just telling us the God's honest truth, unvarnished and
as as inconvenient as it is, if and only if
(11:34):
you can give us the answers.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Yeah, I mean, and we're sent up there. Yeah, the
people of South Carolina, as they do all over the
country send us up there to make sound decisions, and
I'm sorry, we just made some decisions that are not good.
And I just pointed out one with Santie Cooper nine
billion dollars. I'm gonna ask questions, as I've already done
long before this Guther race came up. I've got we
(11:59):
got questions that we put in writing, and they're good
people that run it. But I'm sorry, you've got to
get you've got to make changes. And yeah, I'll point
out the truth and put the facts out there. And
the South Carolinas is smart enough to know U and
they know when when you're trying to feed them alive.
I'm not gonna say, you know here, I'm gonna cut
(12:21):
your taxes. That's a politician's talk. You have got to
put priorities in place. And i can say that all
day long, and I'm in favor of that, but you've
got to you have to back it up with facts.
And I'll do that with really dissecting this budget. And uh,
(12:42):
you know where the cut's coming from. Like in Washington,
I fought for that. It's easy to spend other people's money. Uh,
but you know the fact that we are just off
track on a lot of the things we're spending our
dollars on, and I'm gonna highlight that that's what I
run on.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
We're speaking with Ralph Norman, and obviously we're talking a
lot about the idea that you're running for our governor
here in South Carolina, but you're still serving as a
House member up in d C. And yesterday you tweeted
out today marks the largest deregulatory action in US history.
Can you talk to us a little bit about that
big announcement?
Speaker 5 (13:18):
What Donald Trump has done, and it started with who
he has put at the head of Transportation, who he's
put the head of the FBI, who he's put in
every agency of government. When we met with him about
two weeks ago, his main goal was and one thing
he mentioned was, we're gonna keep the precisions coming. We're
(13:39):
gonna keep identifying things that have to be cut. Regulations,
lead the pack and some of the lands that have
natural resources that the Biden administration were stupid on to
take off the list that you couldn't drill, you couldn't
mind the uranium, the all in the different parts of
the country, mainly Texas and Alaska. He's taking those regulations off,
(14:02):
he asked us, by us, meaning the Republicans, where are
you being held up on regulations? I will do that
in South Carolina. The regulations that make no sense, we
will highlight it and we'll put the people in place
to change it. But he's as far as what Trump
has done in Washington. He's looking at every agency and
(14:23):
the regulations, mainly the regulations as it relates to mining
and keeping this country safe from mining our own all,
getting our own all in natural gas, in all which
he's making it easier, and he will continue to do that.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I know it can be a complicated conversation because as
steeped in parliamentary procedure and the like, and let's talk
about some of the things those pointed out that Congress
wants to be able to go in and codify by
law so that we don't continue in the next administration
throwing money out the window. Tell us about what you're
working on this week with your House members.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Well, let me give you just an example of some
of the things identified three million to show as sesame street.
I forgot the country that it's in, but it is
one of the countries that showing a sesame street film,
building walls in other countries, just crazy things that it's
on borrowed money. What we're working on right now is
(15:19):
in the first package was nine point four B and
we narrowly got that passed, which that should have been
a given. That is a tear drop in the ocean
to the debt this nation has. But another decision pack
is that I hope will identify double that amount and
not just that reconciliation. We can have another one. Why
(15:39):
we control all three branches of government and basically cut
even more. The big beautiful bill was great. We had
to do it. The tax cuts affected every American, every
South Carolina, and we'll just magnify that as we as
we go back to Congress, and Mike Johnson's on board
with it. But mc donald Trump is leading the way
(15:59):
on and that's true leadership. He's not a scared attack it.
Every dollar in Washington has an advocate for it, and
you have to say no to a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You're not concerned with the cutting back of Sesame Street
and Iran that that might radicalize Iranians against us.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
You know it took me, let's say, two seconds to
say no, I'm not concerned about it and along with
the other ninev and that went along with it. And
you know a lot of the excuses that I heard
from some of my fellow Republicans, to be honest with you,
you know, like some of the taking away the stations,
the funding for PBS that's a woke station that is
(16:39):
getting money that they shouldn't get. Stacy Abrams got money
to promote her woke policies. How has that a function
of government? It's not your station competes with others in
my development world. I compete. That's the bottom line with
what's made this country great, and so many of these things.
To be honest with you, if you track the money back,
(17:02):
it comes back to politicians, and that's what's got to stop.
And I'm all stopping in South Carolina as well.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Congressman Ralph Norman, thank you so much for your time.
I know you're a busy man now both in DC
and in and around the state of South Carolina, and
I'm sure we'll see more of you as the week's
progress in your campaign continues.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I'm sure we'll be hearing more from US Congressman now
gubernatorial candidate Ralph Norman. As we get closer to the
big election cycle. They had a big interview with Alan
Wilson with a posting career over the weekend, and Nancy
Mace is planning something that none of us can be
ready for.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
You can't be ready, all right?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
The Mother of All town Halls? Now, I don't know
if that's the name of the event or if she
in fact is claiming to be the Mother of all
town halls? Is she gonna breastfeed us?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Will they sell me a seat? But I only need
the edge.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
It sounds like the Mother of all town Halls. It
says state wide, it's gonna be like an own thing.
But it says she's going to tour the state, so
maybe every stop is going to be online as well.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's the Mother of all town Halls? How do you
expect me to even I can't even comprehend what that means.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
If I was a young cub reporter trying to make
a name for myself, I would embed myself with the
Nancy Mays campaign because that is going to be a
complete circus.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Especially if you can get backstage. Yeah, all right, so
now let's talk about some of the other stuff going on.
The big news of the day obviously is the GDP
number at three percent, inflation at two percent. All the
economic indicators are going the right way. And on top
of that, Donald Trump keeps bringing home the bacon brother.
He's flying all over the country.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
He's flying all over the Country's flying all over the world.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Excuse me, all over the globe.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I mean he's spent all this money, all of our
tax dollars, to go to visit his homeland of Scotland.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Just to play golf and just a golf course.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah, look at all the taxpayer money we're wasting so
Donald Trump can get a tea time.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I saw somebody say he wasted ten million dollars and
security costs, right, And you know, even if that was off,
even if it was true that Donald Trump somehow it
cost ten million dollars for him to go to because
it doesn't cost that because those people have to work
no matter where he goes. If Donald Trump was walking
(19:22):
out of the White House for any reason, it's gonna
cost millions of dollars because you're gonna have security no
matter where he goes.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
So don't we have a reduction in the hourly wage
or the yearly wage, or the way it's pro rated
when he's sleeping, because yeah, I mean that would stand.
The reason of what you're saying is true.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
One of my friends who used to work in the
Secret Service used to complain about Bill Clinton because Bill
Clinton would not make up his mind. And he would
say on Saturday night, Hey, tomorrow, I think I'm gonna
go to church first thing in the morning. And they'd
say okay, So they would have to go and send
the Secret Service out Saturday night into Sunday morning to
clear the church to make sure there was no thing
in the church. Yeah, And then he'd wake up and say, yeah,
(20:02):
you know what, though, I think, actually I'm gonna go
golfing today. So now we've got to scramble everybody from
the church to the golf course to set that up,
and what time he can arrive, because you can't arrive
till we have people in position. And then he'd say halfway,
you know down there, you know what, I'm actually just hungry.
I think we're just gonna go to lunch.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I'm just gonna go to McDonald's.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah, So okay, everybody, guy goes shut down the McDonald's
or whatever he says, whatever it was, but it's not
costing extra. It's just a budget. That's what it cost
every day for the Secret Service to operate so that
the president can be safe no matter where he or
she goes. But even if it was ten million dollars,
(20:42):
Donald Trump came back with what was it, one and
a half billion, yeah, or something. That is quite a
return on the investment. He's killing it all over the
globe right now. And we just saw, you know, I
were just joking about the fact that when you look
at the tariff, I don't think that MSNBC understands how
tariff's work.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
They understand it as well as as well as how
AOC understands tax breaks for businesses.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Or how well AOC understands coyotes. She was very upset
that Donald Trump said in his first term, the coyotes
are bringing the illegals across the border. How it's in
a wild animal, How could it even understand where a
border is? But anyway, Yeah, so the White House tweeted
(21:30):
out that the first six months of this year, or
the first six months of the Trump administration, has brought
in like one hundred and fifty billion dollars in tariff revenues,
which is the most we've ever seen. And Chris Hayes
at MSNBC retweets it and says, I've never seen a
politician bragging about how much they're taxing the Americans. That
is not what a tariff is. And again, all Americans,
(21:56):
I don't know how many times you can reiterate this.
If you make the product in America, there are no tariffs, right, none,
So the prices are not going up on anything that's
made in America. Nope, it will go up for stuff
not made in America, again, further encouraging you to buy America.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yeah, but Kelly is going to stand the greed of
the American corporations. Even if they make it here, they
raise the price because they can, because it's camouflaged by
the tariffs which the Chinese and they whoever else happens
to produce the same thing has to pay. So they
just inflate their prices.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
So that not a lot though, because uh inflation rate's low.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Now get AOC to explain that my favorite AOC photoshop
or meme or whatever you want to describe it, that
I've seen no social media with her in front of
the convenience store.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Okay, and she's crying.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Like she was outside of the detention center at the border.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Well, she was at the wall crying all white outfits.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Right, yes, and they got that one in front of
the ice the ice.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Oh, the ice machine outside.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
AUC's response when they found out that ice is story
children in small containers.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Ice is Now they're hanging out of the seven to eleven.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
They're nearly like a drop off, Like for goodwill, you
drop off of your old shoes.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
If you're a citizen, you pick up. You pick up
a kid that shouldn't be here, he's.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Unaccompanied, You take him by the convenience store and shove
him in the box and close the door.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
A she'd believe it.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
That was funny. Okay, what else is going on in
the world. I'm very excited about this economic news. There's
no way. I can't wait to see how Stephanie Rule
justifies the fact that Jerome Powell is not going to
lower the interest rates given the last report now of
the GDP compared to the inflation rate.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, I mean, look, if you want to be a
Powell apologist, I mean he would tell you. And it
has said that the economic factors are indicators indicate that
there is still a great threat of inflation, and the
only line of defense that he would have is to
(24:11):
lower the interest rates once inflation kicks in. So if
inflation seems possible, he has to keep that, you know,
whether they say keep your gunpowder dry, he has to
wait to use that. And I'm not here to do
favors for the president to make his life easier.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Okay, only have one question, sir, Is that the same
set of economic factors and equations that you use when
you lower the interest rates twice during the Biden administration
for reelection?
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Well, he would say, we had plenty of inflation during
Joe Biden. We actually created a new word, Biden inflation.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Great. Oh my, okay.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Now there was one other thing that I saw locally
here I wanted to talk about. Oh, given that we
saw the bridge in the Upstate, they collapsed.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, and now we know who to blame that on.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It wasn't the state's fault that the bridge, which the
bridge needed to repair. It was the concrete truck's fault
for being there. Yeah, you can't drive over that bridge
with a truck full of concrete.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Should have known better.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Well he should have. I mean it was posted. I
guess the weight restrictions, the weight restrictions if you're doing
business in the state. I saw a map of weight
restrictions on bridges. There are a lot in Greenville County,
in the upper part of the state. Ironically, there's also
the most new bridges or the newest bridges or in
the upper part of the state. That wouldn't be hard
(25:36):
to believe, because the upper part of the state has
grown so much even before the influx of persons that
we see moving out of blue states, and that propelled
us to a location more desirable than Texas for God's sake.
But now we are getting a more heightened awareness, and
I hope that becomes, as Ralph Norman mentioned, more of
(26:00):
an issue for this upcoming gubernatorial election, because our state
has got to do something about the roads, not to
say that we can get You got to chew gum
and walk at the same time. Hell, you got a
jog and eat off a s Morgasborg at the same time.
If you win this job, if you think you're going
to be able to use the bully pullpit to push
(26:20):
the General Assembly, because we've got infrastructure problems. We got
power problems. I mean, we got a lot of state wide,
we got water problems. Nobody wants to talk about. They
don't want to talk about it. You can be very thirsty.
We got a lot of problems. And I'm glad to
see that the roads are starting to make its way
back into the news cycle a little more.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Well, yeah, you had a bridge collapse. I'll tend to
get somebody's attention, but not as many people's attention as
I would have thought. I mean, if you don't know
which bridge we're talking about, this was up at the
Taxaway State Park and Pitkin County and this is one
of those many, many many bridges. I forget how many
hundreds of bridges we have now. But this bridge was
(27:01):
identified as quote structurally deficient in need of immediate replacement.
Deficient in need of immediate replace. Yet now that happened
seven years ago. Yes, has it been even repaired. No,
we haven't touched it. It's just rotting away, waiting for
a tragedy. And now we've got our tragedy. So will
(27:22):
we do anything with it? Because Jonathan always says, politicians
here don't give a rats ass. I wasn't going to
say that whether you live or die, and the only
care after some people die. And we already had a
person die and the upstate was it like four years ago?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Four years ago, the Howi patrolman said in court. It
is a public record. He said, the deterioration of the
road led to this person's death. Now, it was an accident,
but it was the deterioration of the road contributed to
led to it. I can't remember the exact word, but
it's in the public record. And nobody said, boo, we've
(27:57):
already lost a teenager, according to the Hiwa patrol.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Well, according to the posting Courier, I'm just reading from
their paper, the dramatic collapse of the bridge. Now this
is the one that we're just talking about up at
Tasway State Park. The dramatic collapse raised questions about the
health of the rest of the state's ninety five hundred bridges,
and according to Kelly Moore, dot Deputy chief of Staff,
they believe that the bridge collapse is just an isolated incidents.
(28:24):
There's nothing really to be worried about. However, more than
twenty six hundred of South Carolina's bridges received a rating
of five or lower, So you know ten is the best,
five or lower, and that's twenty six hundred bridges. Roughly
one thousand of the states bridges have posted weight restrictions,
(28:49):
meaning basically trucks are not allowed to use them. One
thousand bridges you can't use. Almost two thousand bridges, roughly
eighty nine percent of which are owned by the state,
are in dire need of repairs. The number of poorly
rated bridges in South Carolina continues to increase at a
rapid pace, according to federal data. So again, the South
(29:10):
Carolina don't even talk about the highways, just the bridges
are a disaster. The highways we already know are a disaster.
The bridges are even worse. And nobody, you know, we
keep talking about And this is one of those things
where I'll just you know, whether you want to talk
about the state retirement fund, which is dramatically underfunded, or
(29:33):
the bridges. Whenever they talk about we've got a surplus,
we have no surpluses. The state legislature needs to wake up.
It's not a surplus. You need to invest that money quickly.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We finally found something worse than a pothole. That would
be the gorge where the bridge used to be that
leads your ass to the river
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Jonathan Rush three percent better than expected. Kelly Nash, I
would add to that that the GDP price index was
only two percent. In other words, we have an economy
growing at when you say three percent, we have inflation
at two percent. That's the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Jonathan and Kelly show.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Woc the best of both worlds, says him. Now you'll
find out Jerome Power don't agree with Indy of that. Today.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You're not going to get a break on your interest rates.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Brother, No, no, no, no, you're not. And you know
again the whole thing about the interest rates. I don't
know that Donald Trump has made it clear. He has
made it clear he wants some lower but he I
don't think he's made it clear as to really why.
And if if Jerome Powell could just do us a
flava and lower them for just a month or two,
(00:56):
and then what would happen is the United States could
financed it's thirty seven trillion dollars in debt and actually
save about a trillion dollars in finances.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
But this is how steeped he is in his nonpartisan position, and.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Of course it would it would obviously do wonders for
the automobile markets, the housing markets, all these people where
you have to charge interest rates in any large purchase item,
people are not buying houses and cars like they could
or should because of the high interest charges right now,
and as Donald Trump has pointed out, we are about
(01:37):
double what most other countries and our similar financial situations are. Yeah,
your own Powell, in a nonpartisan position as head of
the Bank, almost said he was a Treasury secretary, which
he is not. That would be Scott Messing exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So ahead of the Fed in this position, and he
is plainly demonstrated now with the way that he cut
rates twice before the election with Joe Biden. He cut
rates twice with absolutely no reason to do it. Now
in Donald Trump's administration, he refuses to vote to cut it.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Just to be annoying.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I'll point out that he is a Trump appointee.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Thank you. All Right, Now, I'll tell you what We'll
getting back to some of the national news and some
South Carolina news. Well, tell you what. We're going to
take those two like chocolate and peanut butter and put
them together.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Hey, hey, hey, great tastes.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
You got federal news in my state News with one
phone call, Kelly Nash. Welcome on the phone, you asked,
Congressman now running for governor, Ralph Norman.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Good morning, sir. Good to have you here.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Well, great to be with you again.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What a busy week has been for you.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Not only you got all these places you're spending those
sticks as a congressman, now you've announced you're going to
run for governor of the great state of South Carolina.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah, you know, it was a tough decision. We're doing
a great job in Washington, but with the governorship and
with the needs of South Carolina, I just I think
that's where I can best serve our great state. We
had a thousand people, over a thousand at our announcement Sunday,
which I've never seen, and you know, it's phenomenal, but
(03:19):
it shows your need for leadership and I look forward
to getting in there.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
We're talking with Congressman Ralph Norman, who has just announced
that he's running for governor in South Carolina. And you know,
you've got a pretty safe seat. You win that seat
every two years by pretty much a wide margin, so
you could keep doing that, it would seem in perpetuity.
You could just always be the congressman. And yet you're
gonna I guess you're going to have to leave Congress
(03:43):
to run for this, right, you can't have a dual
campaign going. And is there something about the current crop
of candidates? I know you know Pamela Evitt, I've seen
you talking with her and Alan Wilson, and I don't
know if you know Josh Kimberl and possibly Nancy Mace
with it, she might be interested in running. But is
there something about that crew that you looked at them
(04:05):
and you said they're all there are, some of them
are your friends, but you said there's something missing. What
is it that Ralph Norman brings that they don't have?
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Yeah, and you're right, I mean I know them all. Kimball,
I don't know that well. But the others I know.
I've worked with them. They're good people. Look, we're just
different as far as our leadership what we do. And
I think right now more than ever we South Carolina
is going to have to have strong leadership that takes
(04:32):
issues and we'll deliver on them. And I've proven that
in Washington and I prove it in South Carolina. And
I'm talking about conservative leadership that will make this state
even greater. Florida has done it, we can do it
in South Carolina as far as leading the whole country
in a solid leadership form and taking putting priorities in place,
(04:55):
cutting government, cutting regulations, and putting business people back in
in places that they can do some good. And I
can do that and I will do that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
You know, every campaign has got to have a great
bumper sticker. You certainly have a good one, because these
are two hot buttons for most of South Carolina. Term
limits and clean up Columbia. Let's start with the term
limits for a second. What is your vision in that regard?
Speaker 5 (05:17):
We're gonna put up a bill, and by the way,
I serve until the end of twenty twenty six, the
rest of this year. In twenty twenty six, so I
would never give up my seat because we've got such
a narrow majority. So I will make the votes and
I will be there. But every weekend I'll be in
district and like I am now this month, going around
(05:38):
and meeting people and telling them my vision. No term limits.
Politicians have failed us, and what I am giving up?
And you're right, I mean I can stay there, you know,
as long as I wanted to. The people elect me,
and I think they like the job I'm doing. But
that's not the intent of public office, just to park
yourself and live off the government. It's what you can do.
(06:00):
And yes, my career will either end or begin December
of twenty of next year, and I find with that,
but I know what I can do in the state
term limits. These politicians that just go up there to
live off government know it's an eighty five percent issue.
We're going to have a bill when I get there
(06:20):
that we're going to put in front of we the
people in South Carolina, and I'm thinking it will be
pretty much what the term limit bill was that I've
put up every year that I've been in Congress, three
terms in the House, two terms in the Senate, and
come home and live under these laws that you that
you end up making. I will do that, and you
(06:41):
know it's I look forward to doing that. The other
things I will do is when you look at our infrastructure,
and by the way, the two things that are common
to all South Carolinians we breathe the same air and
we travel roads, and we've got a D rating in
all of our infrastructure except I think its ports has
(07:02):
got to be rating aviation a D, bridges a C.
But you got n plus the thousand bridges that are defective.
Dams a D, drinking water a D, transit a D,
but roads are a D and that's unacceptable. We're going
to put a focus on that and then the other things.
As I mentioned, the election of judges by politicians, uh
(07:25):
in Columbia has got to change. We've got to let
we the people vote on judges. There's no reason. Uh,
you know, trial lawyers ought to be picking who our
judges are. That's a conflict of interest and everybody knows it.
But those just a few of the things that I
think separate me from the others. You don't hear them
talking about this. It's I mean, roads aren't sexy. I
(07:47):
get that, but it's a priority. And we've got to
put parties on front of the in front of the
South Carolinas. And I think they were respond.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Ralph Norman, who's announced he's running for governor. I got
a campaign slogan, make road sex again. Think about it,
don't don't yes or know it yet. In the meantime,
you mentioned the idea of term limits, and obviously that's
a problem because you're going to need some people to
go along with that. When you look at the weakest
gubernatorial powers in the country, they, according to this search
(08:17):
I just did, the three weakest states are Mississippi, Rhode Island,
and South Carolina as far as the amount of power
that the governor has. So you're going to need people
in the House and the Senate here to go along
with you. Do you I mean, is that part of
your calculations is that we need to change the way
government's done, and I need these people to help me.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Yeah, I mean, obviously I can't cast the first vote,
but what I need is is the people in South
Carolina to be with me. And they're with me on
this now. Do I expect some probably some healthy debate
with my legislative friends. Yes. When I was there initially,
we got into a lot of things that I thought
were just wrong, sweetheart deals. I'm sick of that, putting
(09:00):
politicians on in boards and commissions, I'm sick of that.
You need what Trump has done, which has put competent
people in place, but but term limits, I mean, it's
it's again runs against everything this country was founded on,
and and I see it in Washington. You just go
up there and live and you just get affected by it.
(09:23):
And you know, let's let's let the people decide on
this one issue, whether they agree or disagree. And I
will tell you it's an eighty five percent issue. Have
set time limits you do with pilots. What's the difference
in politicians? So? And I think South Carolina deserves, we
(09:45):
deserve so far better than we have been getting from
my politicians. You know, when is the last time you
heard anybody talking about a Doze commission that identifies where
your tax dollars go. We're going to do that when
I get there. They people don't know where the money's
being spent. And I tell you another problem we've got.
There's Santie Cooper's got a nine billion dollar debt and
(10:10):
we're going to have to deal with that at some point.
And it's not going to be the two point four
million rate payers. And it's just these type issues that
I will address head on and we'll have an honest debate.
I don't call them fights, I just mean less debated,
and ultimately, I think the state will, the citizens will
(10:31):
respond because they know on the one issue that I'm
real passionate about the roads. I mean, why should we
lead the nation and fatalities on our secondary roads. That's
a fact. That's not Ralph Norman's opinion. So I'm just
different than the others, namely what they the things that
you'll hear from all of them, it doesn't include what
(10:52):
I'm talking about this morning.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
You know, I'm encouraged by the way you're talking because
a lot of politicians seemingly run all their campaigns based
on tell the voters what they want want to hear.
When I think South Carolina really wants to hear a
little more of what you're outlining or portraying.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Here, stand up and give me the ugly.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Truth about our infrastructure and our power needs and the
problems you've already explained, and now give me the answer,
because I think South Carolina is hungry for someone who's
gonna outline with them. Yes, you're not painting an ugly picture.
You're just telling us the God's honest truth, unvarnished and
as as inconvenient as it is, if and only if
(11:34):
you can give us the answers.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Yeah, I mean, and we're sent up there. Yeah, the
people of South Carolina, as they do all over the
country send us up there to make sound decisions, and
I'm sorry, we just made some decisions that are not good.
And I just pointed out one with Santie Cooper nine
billion dollars. I'm gonna ask questions, as I've already done
long before this Guther race came up. I've got we
(11:59):
got questions that we put in writing, and they're good
people that run it. But I'm sorry, you've got to
get you've got to make changes. And yeah, I'll point
out the truth and put the facts out there. And
the South Carolinas is smart enough to know U and
they know when when you're trying to feed them alive.
I'm not gonna say, you know here, I'm gonna cut
(12:21):
your taxes. That's a politician's talk. You have got to
put priorities in place. And i can say that all
day long, and I'm in favor of that, but you've
got to you have to back it up with facts.
And I'll do that with really dissecting this budget. And uh,
(12:42):
you know where the cut's coming from. Like in Washington,
I fought for that. It's easy to spend other people's money. Uh,
but you know the fact that we are just off
track on a lot of the things we're spending our
dollars on, and I'm gonna highlight that that's what I
run on.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
We're speaking with Ralph Norman, and obviously we're talking a
lot about the idea that you're running for our governor
here in South Carolina, but you're still serving as a
House member up in d C. And yesterday you tweeted
out today marks the largest deregulatory action in US history.
Can you talk to us a little bit about that
big announcement?
Speaker 5 (13:18):
What Donald Trump has done, and it started with who
he has put at the head of Transportation, who he's
put the head of the FBI, who he's put in
every agency of government. When we met with him about
two weeks ago, his main goal was and one thing
he mentioned was, we're gonna keep the precisions coming. We're
(13:39):
gonna keep identifying things that have to be cut. Regulations,
lead the pack and some of the lands that have
natural resources that the Biden administration were stupid on to
take off the list that you couldn't drill, you couldn't
mind the uranium, the all in the different parts of
the country, mainly Texas and Alaska. He's taking those regulations off,
(14:02):
he asked us, by us, meaning the Republicans, where are
you being held up on regulations? I will do that
in South Carolina. The regulations that make no sense, we
will highlight it and we'll put the people in place
to change it. But he's as far as what Trump
has done in Washington. He's looking at every agency and
(14:23):
the regulations, mainly the regulations as it relates to mining
and keeping this country safe from mining our own all,
getting our own all in natural gas, in all which
he's making it easier, and he will continue to do that.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I know it can be a complicated conversation because as
steeped in parliamentary procedure and the like, and let's talk
about some of the things those pointed out that Congress
wants to be able to go in and codify by
law so that we don't continue in the next administration
throwing money out the window. Tell us about what you're
working on this week with your House members.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Well, let me give you just an example of some
of the things identified three million to show as sesame street.
I forgot the country that it's in, but it is
one of the countries that showing a sesame street film,
building walls in other countries, just crazy things that it's
on borrowed money. What we're working on right now is
(15:19):
in the first package was nine point four B and
we narrowly got that passed, which that should have been
a given. That is a tear drop in the ocean
to the debt this nation has. But another decision pack
is that I hope will identify double that amount and
not just that reconciliation. We can have another one. Why
(15:39):
we control all three branches of government and basically cut
even more. The big beautiful bill was great. We had
to do it. The tax cuts affected every American, every
South Carolina, and we'll just magnify that as we as
we go back to Congress, and Mike Johnson's on board
with it. But mc donald Trump is leading the way
(15:59):
on and that's true leadership. He's not a scared attack it.
Every dollar in Washington has an advocate for it, and
you have to say no to a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You're not concerned with the cutting back of Sesame Street
and Iran that that might radicalize Iranians against us.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
You know it took me, let's say, two seconds to
say no, I'm not concerned about it and along with
the other ninev and that went along with it. And
you know a lot of the excuses that I heard
from some of my fellow Republicans, to be honest with you,
you know, like some of the taking away the stations,
the funding for PBS that's a woke station that is
(16:39):
getting money that they shouldn't get. Stacy Abrams got money
to promote her woke policies. How has that a function
of government? It's not your station competes with others in
my development world. I compete. That's the bottom line with
what's made this country great, and so many of these things.
To be honest with you, if you track the money back,
(17:02):
it comes back to politicians, and that's what's got to stop.
And I'm all stopping in South Carolina as well.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Congressman Ralph Norman, thank you so much for your time.
I know you're a busy man now both in DC
and in and around the state of South Carolina, and
I'm sure we'll see more of you as the week's
progress in your campaign continues.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I'm sure we'll be hearing more from US Congressman now
gubernatorial candidate Ralph Norman. As we get closer to the
big election cycle. They had a big interview with Alan
Wilson with a posting career over the weekend, and Nancy
Mace is planning something that none of us can be
ready for.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
You can't be ready, all right?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
The Mother of All town Halls? Now, I don't know
if that's the name of the event or if she
in fact is claiming to be the Mother of all
town halls? Is she gonna breastfeed us?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Will they sell me a seat? But I only need
the edge.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
It sounds like the Mother of all town Halls. It
says state wide, it's gonna be like an own thing.
But it says she's going to tour the state, so
maybe every stop is going to be online as well.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's the Mother of all town Halls? How do you
expect me to even I can't even comprehend what that means.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
If I was a young cub reporter trying to make
a name for myself, I would embed myself with the
Nancy Mays campaign because that is going to be a
complete circus.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Especially if you can get backstage. Yeah, all right, so
now let's talk about some of the other stuff going on.
The big news of the day obviously is the GDP
number at three percent, inflation at two percent. All the
economic indicators are going the right way. And on top
of that, Donald Trump keeps bringing home the bacon brother.
He's flying all over the country.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
He's flying all over the Country's flying all over the world.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Excuse me, all over the globe.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I mean he's spent all this money, all of our
tax dollars, to go to visit his homeland of Scotland.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Just to play golf and just a golf course.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah, look at all the taxpayer money we're wasting so
Donald Trump can get a tea time.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
I saw somebody say he wasted ten million dollars and
security costs, right, And you know, even if that was off,
even if it was true that Donald Trump somehow it
cost ten million dollars for him to go to because
it doesn't cost that because those people have to work
no matter where he goes. If Donald Trump was walking
(19:22):
out of the White House for any reason, it's gonna
cost millions of dollars because you're gonna have security no
matter where he goes.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
So don't we have a reduction in the hourly wage
or the yearly wage, or the way it's pro rated
when he's sleeping, because yeah, I mean that would stand.
The reason of what you're saying is true.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
One of my friends who used to work in the
Secret Service used to complain about Bill Clinton because Bill
Clinton would not make up his mind. And he would
say on Saturday night, Hey, tomorrow, I think I'm gonna
go to church first thing in the morning. And they'd
say okay, So they would have to go and send
the Secret Service out Saturday night into Sunday morning to
clear the church to make sure there was no thing
in the church. Yeah, And then he'd wake up and say, yeah,
(20:02):
you know what, though, I think, actually I'm gonna go
golfing today. So now we've got to scramble everybody from
the church to the golf course to set that up,
and what time he can arrive, because you can't arrive
till we have people in position. And then he'd say halfway,
you know down there, you know what, I'm actually just hungry.
I think we're just gonna go to lunch.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I'm just gonna go to McDonald's.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah, So okay, everybody, guy goes shut down the McDonald's
or whatever he says, whatever it was, but it's not
costing extra. It's just a budget. That's what it cost
every day for the Secret Service to operate so that
the president can be safe no matter where he or
she goes. But even if it was ten million dollars,
(20:42):
Donald Trump came back with what was it, one and
a half billion, yeah, or something. That is quite a
return on the investment. He's killing it all over the
globe right now. And we just saw, you know, I
were just joking about the fact that when you look
at the tariff, I don't think that MSNBC understands how
tariff's work.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
They understand it as well as as well as how
AOC understands tax breaks for businesses.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Or how well AOC understands coyotes. She was very upset
that Donald Trump said in his first term, the coyotes
are bringing the illegals across the border. How it's in
a wild animal, How could it even understand where a
border is? But anyway, Yeah, so the White House tweeted
(21:30):
out that the first six months of this year, or
the first six months of the Trump administration, has brought
in like one hundred and fifty billion dollars in tariff revenues,
which is the most we've ever seen. And Chris Hayes
at MSNBC retweets it and says, I've never seen a
politician bragging about how much they're taxing the Americans. That
is not what a tariff is. And again, all Americans,
(21:56):
I don't know how many times you can reiterate this.
If you make the product in America, there are no tariffs, right, none,
So the prices are not going up on anything that's
made in America. Nope, it will go up for stuff
not made in America, again, further encouraging you to buy America.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Yeah, but Kelly is going to stand the greed of
the American corporations. Even if they make it here, they
raise the price because they can, because it's camouflaged by
the tariffs which the Chinese and they whoever else happens
to produce the same thing has to pay. So they
just inflate their prices.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
So that not a lot though, because uh inflation rate's low.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Now get AOC to explain that my favorite AOC photoshop
or meme or whatever you want to describe it, that
I've seen no social media with her in front of
the convenience store.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Okay, and she's crying.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Like she was outside of the detention center at the border.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Well, she was at the wall crying all white outfits.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Right, yes, and they got that one in front of
the ice the ice.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Oh, the ice machine outside.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
AUC's response when they found out that ice is story
children in small containers.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Ice is Now they're hanging out of the seven to eleven.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
They're nearly like a drop off, Like for goodwill, you
drop off of your old shoes.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
If you're a citizen, you pick up. You pick up
a kid that shouldn't be here, he's.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Unaccompanied, You take him by the convenience store and shove
him in the box and close the door.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
A she'd believe it.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
That was funny. Okay, what else is going on in
the world. I'm very excited about this economic news. There's
no way. I can't wait to see how Stephanie Rule
justifies the fact that Jerome Powell is not going to
lower the interest rates given the last report now of
the GDP compared to the inflation rate.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, I mean, look, if you want to be a
Powell apologist, I mean he would tell you. And it
has said that the economic factors are indicators indicate that
there is still a great threat of inflation, and the
only line of defense that he would have is to
(24:11):
lower the interest rates once inflation kicks in. So if
inflation seems possible, he has to keep that, you know,
whether they say keep your gunpowder dry, he has to
wait to use that. And I'm not here to do
favors for the president to make his life easier.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Okay, only have one question, sir, Is that the same
set of economic factors and equations that you use when
you lower the interest rates twice during the Biden administration
for reelection?
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Well, he would say, we had plenty of inflation during
Joe Biden. We actually created a new word, Biden inflation.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Great. Oh my, okay.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Now there was one other thing that I saw locally
here I wanted to talk about. Oh, given that we
saw the bridge in the Upstate, they collapsed.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, and now we know who to blame that on.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It wasn't the state's fault that the bridge, which the
bridge needed to repair. It was the concrete truck's fault
for being there. Yeah, you can't drive over that bridge
with a truck full of concrete.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Should have known better.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Well he should have. I mean it was posted. I
guess the weight restrictions, the weight restrictions if you're doing
business in the state. I saw a map of weight
restrictions on bridges. There are a lot in Greenville County,
in the upper part of the state. Ironically, there's also
the most new bridges or the newest bridges or in
the upper part of the state. That wouldn't be hard
(25:36):
to believe, because the upper part of the state has
grown so much even before the influx of persons that
we see moving out of blue states, and that propelled
us to a location more desirable than Texas for God's sake.
But now we are getting a more heightened awareness, and
I hope that becomes, as Ralph Norman mentioned, more of
(26:00):
an issue for this upcoming gubernatorial election, because our state
has got to do something about the roads, not to
say that we can get You got to chew gum
and walk at the same time. Hell, you got a
jog and eat off a s Morgasborg at the same time.
If you win this job, if you think you're going
to be able to use the bully pullpit to push
(26:20):
the General Assembly, because we've got infrastructure problems. We got
power problems. I mean, we got a lot of state wide,
we got water problems. Nobody wants to talk about. They
don't want to talk about it. You can be very thirsty.
We got a lot of problems. And I'm glad to
see that the roads are starting to make its way
back into the news cycle a little more.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Well, yeah, you had a bridge collapse. I'll tend to
get somebody's attention, but not as many people's attention as
I would have thought. I mean, if you don't know
which bridge we're talking about, this was up at the
Taxaway State Park and Pitkin County and this is one
of those many, many many bridges. I forget how many
hundreds of bridges we have now. But this bridge was
(27:01):
identified as quote structurally deficient in need of immediate replacement.
Deficient in need of immediate replace. Yet now that happened
seven years ago. Yes, has it been even repaired. No,
we haven't touched it. It's just rotting away, waiting for
a tragedy. And now we've got our tragedy. So will
(27:22):
we do anything with it? Because Jonathan always says, politicians
here don't give a rats ass. I wasn't going to
say that whether you live or die, and the only
care after some people die. And we already had a
person die and the upstate was it like four years ago?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Four years ago, the Howi patrolman said in court. It
is a public record. He said, the deterioration of the
road led to this person's death. Now, it was an accident,
but it was the deterioration of the road contributed to
led to it. I can't remember the exact word, but
it's in the public record. And nobody said, boo, we've
(27:57):
already lost a teenager, according to the Hiwa patrol.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Well, according to the posting Courier, I'm just reading from
their paper, the dramatic collapse of the bridge. Now this
is the one that we're just talking about up at
Tasway State Park. The dramatic collapse raised questions about the
health of the rest of the state's ninety five hundred bridges,
and according to Kelly Moore, dot Deputy chief of Staff,
they believe that the bridge collapse is just an isolated incidents.
(28:24):
There's nothing really to be worried about. However, more than
twenty six hundred of South Carolina's bridges received a rating
of five or lower, So you know ten is the best,
five or lower, and that's twenty six hundred bridges. Roughly
one thousand of the states bridges have posted weight restrictions,
(28:49):
meaning basically trucks are not allowed to use them. One
thousand bridges you can't use. Almost two thousand bridges, roughly
eighty nine percent of which are owned by the state,
are in dire need of repairs. The number of poorly
rated bridges in South Carolina continues to increase at a
rapid pace, according to federal data. So again, the South
(29:10):
Carolina don't even talk about the highways, just the bridges
are a disaster. The highways we already know are a disaster.
The bridges are even worse. And nobody, you know, we
keep talking about And this is one of those things
where I'll just you know, whether you want to talk
about the state retirement fund, which is dramatically underfunded, or
(29:33):
the bridges. Whenever they talk about we've got a surplus,
we have no surpluses. The state legislature needs to wake up.
It's not a surplus. You need to invest that money quickly.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We finally found something worse than a pothole. That would
be the gorge where the bridge used to be that
leads your ass to the river
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