August 6, 2026 • 37 mins
The Rod and Greg Show Daily Rundown – Thursday, August 6, 2026
Mateo Forero, Director of Investigations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, joins the program to discuss their recent report about how anti-borders politicians and bureaucrats have “quietly turned the national commercial driver’s license program into a de-facto permission slip for foreign nationals”
Glenn Beaton, a columnist with Aspen Beat, joins the program for a conversation about his piece in which he says we should just give poor people more money by developing a negative tax rate.
Trent England, Founder of Save Our States, joins Rod and Greg for a conversation about his piece in the National Review about how Democrats are now backing off the idea of ranked choice voting.
Economist Steve Moore, co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, joins the show for his weekly conversation with Rod and Greg about politics and the nation’s economy, and today they’ll discuss how three states with Democrat governors have not opted in to the federal school choice program.
Mateo Forero, Director of Investigations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, joins the program to discuss their recent report about how anti-borders politicians and bureaucrats have “quietly turned the national commercial driver’s license program into a de-facto permission slip for foreign nationals”
Glenn Beaton, a columnist with Aspen Beat, joins the program for a conversation about his piece in which he says we should just give poor people more money by developing a negative tax rate.
Trent England, Founder of Save Our States, joins Rod and Greg for a conversation about his piece in the National Review about how Democrats are now backing off the idea of ranked choice voting.
Economist Steve Moore, co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, joins the show for his weekly conversation with Rod and Greg about politics and the nation’s economy, and today they’ll discuss how three states with Democrat governors have not opted in to the federal school choice program.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Rod and Greg Show on Utah's
Talk Radio one oh five nine canter s everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Citizen Hughes and I'm rod Ark Kent.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Okay, you're on the highway right now. You've got a
big eighteen wheeler near you, coming up behind you, you're
beside one, and you're wondering. I wonder who's driving that truck?
Is illegal or illegal? In this country today?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
There's so many of them you almost can't.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I don't know how you encounter how you could, it's
they are. They're omnipresent, the number of eighteen wheels. And
look in Utah, we have I fifteen that falls through
seventy five percent of the entire states and four contiguous counties,
and I fifteen goes through the middle of all of them.
So it is such a major route.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And so the number of trucks in Utah, it's legion
and so yeah, that that is a worry.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, we're behind the wheel.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
We are the crossroads of the West, and everything kind
of comes together in Salt Lake City. It moves on.
So and I bring that up because the Federation for
American Immergration Reform otherwise known as FAIR, and we've we've
worked closely with them over the years. Have now released
a new investigative report. Investigative report, it's called License to Kill,
uncovering the anti border takeover of the national CDL program.
(01:14):
Let's hear more about it. Joining us on our any
hour Newsmaker line is Mateo Ferrero. He is director of
Investigations at FAIR. Mateo, thank you and welcome to the
Rodd and Greg Show. Thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Rod and Greg, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
On, Matteo. What did you find out? You did a
lot of work on this, a lot of numbers out there.
What have you found out?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, absolutely, Rod, So we took a deep dive into
this issue, which you know has been highlighted in particular
over the past year. We've seen dozens upon dozens of
just fatal traffic accidents on American roadways involving trucks and
buses being driven by foreign nationals who are who are
(01:55):
a dubious qualification and can't even understand the English language.
And you know, we took a deep dive because we
were wondering, you know, why are these people on the
road and how did they obtain credentials to even be
able to drive eighty thousand pound vehicles? And what we
found was a staggering systemic non compliance among states that
(02:18):
have been overtaken by anti borders agenda, essentially turning the
CDL being a critical public safety credential into a permission
flip for a national to drive on American roads.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now, MATEO, wait a minute, you know there's just jobs
Americans won't do. I just thought, you know, for CDL licenses.
Why you know, we have these businesses have to be
able to operate. Why can't you lower the bar and
just get someone that's willing to work for whatever wage?
Because Americans don't want to work in jobs like this.
That's what I'm being told. Maybe you could maybe share
(02:53):
your insight there.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Right right, Yeah, that is that is one argument that
has been raised, you know and not position to the
crackdown on CDL non compliance. And the problem with that
argument is that it undervalues what what the entire regulatory
system is intended to do, which is to ensure that
every person who drives on American roads can do so
(03:16):
safely and not be at risk of you know, potentially
fatal consequences, So you know, the public safety angle there,
I think defeats that that.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
That argument, MATEO, Who's that fault here is? Are the
states or the trucking companies or is there shared blame?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You know, I think the primary holders of the blame
here are states that have uh, you know, shirked their
obligations under federal law. Congress and the Department of Transportation
have spoken loudly and clearly in establishing uniform baseline standards,
you know, for licensing truck and bust rips, and states
(04:01):
have to abide by those minimum federal standards in terms
of testing applicants and then actually issuing credentials that comply
with federal regulations, and you know, a number of states
have completely failed to do so. The Department of Transportation,
you know, did systemic audits over the past year and
(04:22):
found that twenty five different states programs were in substantial
non compliance. That is, you know, issuing temporary ideas, issuing
credentials with no name given stated on them, allowing people
who have no you know, ability to speak or understand
(04:43):
the English language, which is under federal law baseline requirements.
And so yeah, I think the states here are mostly
to blame for for the lapse in in in so good.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Practice Matteo, how do they get a job? Because here's
what I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
If I'm a trucking company, I would think that I
would and it's my company. Whoever sitting behind the wheel,
I think I need them to speak and read English
if they're going to navigate America's roads. I think that
basic driving skills that you have to prove is something
as a company I would want to see in that
person driving. Are they independent contractors or are trucking companies
(05:23):
taking a risk with clearly unqualified drivers?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, you know, I think the problem there is that
you have companies who are hiring individuals that are presenting
to them with issued credentials, you know, and you know,
the baseline assumption is, well, if this person was licensed
by the state, then the state clearly must have you know,
looked into the person's you know, legal status, looked into
their ability to you know, follow you know, road signs
(05:50):
and speak English. But the reality is that you know,
that assumption might might be flawed. And that's what our
what our report found. I'll just give you an example here.
You know, Pennsylvania is one of the states that administers
CDL knowledge tests in thirty four different languages. And of
those thirty four administrations, you know, more than three quarters
(06:14):
of those people who who take the knowledge tests fail
on their first time. That the levels are staggering, So,
you know, it's it's just a complete abandonment of the
requirements that that Congress and DT have handed down MITEO.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I know Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary of the President,
have called for major changes in this program. Have they
been are they in play now and are they working?
Are they starting to work or is it too early
to tell?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, you know, the Thankfully the Trump administration has taken
this issue head on, acknowledging, you know, the dire consequences
of inaction. In last year, the President signed an executive
order that required DOOT to impose new guidelines for English
proficiency requirements and that if truck drivers can't show English proficiency,
(07:11):
that's a sufficient basis to take them out of service
and not be able to be on the road. And
then earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,
which is the agency within DOOT that administers the CDL program,
issued final regulations that tighten up eligibility requirements for CDL,
limiting it to only three different visas, and requiring states
(07:36):
to use federal databases to verify a person's immigration status,
and you know, eliminating a lot of these loopholes that
had been used for years to just multiply the number
of unqualified CDL holders.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
And we can only hope they work. Butteo, great work
on that.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Thanks for joining us absolutely, Ron Greg, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
All right on our newsmaker line Mateo Ferrero. He is
from the Federation for American Immigration Reform. A detailed look
at truck drivers on our highways or being given in
some cases a license to kill, and that's very unportant.
We don't want to s they're great truckers out there,
that's right, and we see this country could not move
without truckers. Well, we've got a crack down.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
On the this on these unqualified there's a real body
count happening in this country because of this, these unqualified
drivers driving.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Or coming up on the Roding greg Show and Talk
Radio one oh five nine k n R S, here's
driving home on this Thursday afternoon with the Rodding Gregg
Show on Talk Radio one O five nine k n rs.
As we like to say, live everywhere as well on
the iHeartRadio app. Make sure you do download it today.
I'm brought our quet.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I'm citizen Greg Hughes.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
All right, we played for you a the reception that
New York City Mayor Zulander Mandami got a got at
a police picnic yesterday. Yes, in Staten Island wasn't very
very good.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Right, the boo birds are out.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
The boo birds were out.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well, might have been a you know, yeh flock.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, Is it fair to say, Greg? One of the
one of the pillars of the socialist movement in this
country is that poor people don't have enough money and
rich people have way too much money?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yes, is that.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Fair to say?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
And they would like to redistribute, they'd like to redistribute
the wealth.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Well, what if, in fact, we just gave four people money,
so here you go.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's a novel. I know it sounds facimal and this
sounds crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Bit what if you took the socialist middleman out, if
you just said, Okay, this is all the money you
want to spend, Why don't we just hand it out straight?
And we don't want you to socially engineer it and
you give it out. Let's just dole it out.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
We'll give it out. Well, let's find out about that idea.
Join joining us on our news maker line. Our good
friend Glenn Beaton, he's a columnist on the Aspen beat Glenn,
Thanks for joining us. What about this idea of just
giving people free money poor people? Is it a solution
to the challenges in this country today?
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Well, I think it is a pretty good solution. First,
I think poor people in America are not really that poor.
Most of the poor people in the world want to
come here and be a poor American. Okay, so I
don't have a ton of sympathy. Some people are sort
of on their down and outs that they have legitimate
reasons for it. But I think the way to handle it,
(10:20):
rather than with all this free stuff, all these freebies,
you know, discounted this subsidized housing, free bus fairs, government
grocery stores, just give them money. Just give them the
freaking money and we don't have to worry about all
the overhit. But you see, the left doesn't want to
do this because they want to be the middleman. They
(10:41):
want to take their cut, they want to administer this process.
But I say, just give them the money in the
form of you can make it a negative income text.
Milton Friedman was all over this fifty years ago and
actually wrote an article about it. I think it's a
great idea.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, I like it too.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You're saying the great society if you just divide it
amongst the people you think qualify for it, and you
take all the bureaucracy out the checks you could send
you might even say the tax payer money if you
did it that way. But to your point, are the
leftists elitists? The democrats?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Are they?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Do they have any interest in improving the prospects of
the poor or do they just want to socially engineer
their lives.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Well, they don't really have an interest in improving the
prospects of the poor. What their real interest is is
being the person who doles out the money. Yes, and
they take a big putt to do this. You know,
it would clearly be a lot more efficient if we
could take them out of it and have them knock
give this cup. But they feel good about it, you know,
(11:41):
and that's natural. You feel good about giving other people
other people's money, and they take a cut on it too.
So no, I don't think they actually want to help
the poor. They want to be involved in the process.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Glenn, You and I, as you point out in your article,
are the baby boomers the richest demographic in the country world.
Right now, you kind of raise questions about senior discounts,
which I used to not think about, and now I
kind of, yeah, I enjoyed us this guy.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
This boomer, I'll tell you what. There's not a discount
he doesn't love.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
What about senior discounts? Glenn, Well, first, I am a senior.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Now, okay, so I'm what I'm saying is contrary to
my interest, but I don't think it makes any sense.
You know, people who are sixty plus seventy plus baby
boomers are the richest demographic in the history of the world,
and here we give them senior discounts for whatever, bus rides, whatever.
(12:42):
You know, it doesn't make any sense. And what the
discount is really for, I think is to buy your vote.
As I point out my article, I'm not going to
sell my vote my vote for three dollars. I'm going
to take at least five dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Okay, So here's the thing I just threw out in
my example, lbj's Great Society. Linda Maine Johnson, this is
kind of when you saw an underclass. You didn't see
the lower class build up to the working class and
move up. You start to see this churning of an
underclass after a lbj's Great Society. So this is your
article is timeless in terms of what would be the
(13:16):
most efficient way to help people, but recently, the kind
of fraud that's being discovered, the kind of fraud when
people come here, some of these people that would be
the poorest seem to live the best. They live better
than the working class. Are you shocked by the degree
of fraud and the hundreds of billions of dollars that states, Minnesota, California,
others are pulling in and really misusing and in ways
(13:40):
that I didn't personally appreciate.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Well, am I shocked. That's a loaded question. I would
be shocked, but for the identity of so many of
these people. So many of these people are immigrants who
come from a culture where that is to be expected.
I know that's not polite to say, but it's true.
(14:05):
That's for Linda Johnson. You know, Linda Johnson wasn't a
fraudulent person. Linda Johnson was a good person. He got
tied up in a terrible boondoggle for a war and
had to step away, but he was a good person.
He wasn't one of these fraudsters. Yeah, well yeah, I
think that I would be shocked if these were by
(14:29):
and large Americans like you and me that were engaging
in the fraud. But by and large they're not.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Glenn greg points this out quite often. I think he's
spot on on this with this appeal of the socialist
movement to younger people, because younger people feel, wait a minute,
this capitalism thing isn't working for us. You know, we
went to college, we got a degree, but now we
can't afford a house, we can't afford to live. So
if socialism will give us the free stuff, the stuff
we think we deserve, then I'm all in favor of it.
(14:58):
What's your thinking on that.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Well, it's kind of funny. There's a semantics issue here.
They seem not to like capitalism, if you use that
word to describe it. But you know, capitalism is actually
a narrow term. It involves the capital stock market. But
they do like the idea of free enterprise and free markets.
So if the GOP. If the Republicans just can learn
(15:23):
to express this as free markets and free enterprise, I
think they're going to do a lot better than defending this.
What's now become a word that is right from the
bottom of the deck, this word of capitalism. Forget about capitalism,
talk about free markets, free enterprise.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
What a great observation.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Real quickly, do you think crony capitalism is ruling the
day and there's been a consolidation of industry? Or is
do the free markets exist as they have in generations past.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Well, there's always some consolidation and there's always some breakup.
I think by and large, the capital markets are not
much different, although they are a lot faster moving than
they have been in the past. Technology is faster moving.
You know, when I got into my legal career, was
in patent law, and I remember my writing a memo
(16:17):
to my bosses. Gosh, this must have been forty years ago,
forty four zero, and I said, technology is moving fast,
and it's going to move faster. Well that was forty
years ago, and man, did I.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Hit the nail on the hid Glenn, Thank you, Glenn
Beaton from the Aspen Beat talking about just give people
free money the poor people, just give them free money. Yeah,
that will ruin the social lidt definitely, they won't.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Be able a social engineer, a social engineer, and then yeah,
we'll see where that money goes. You ever see one
of the people win the big Lotteri's helmet, the lives
come crashing down around him. It kind of makes that point.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
All right, More coming up, Rodd and Greg with you
right here on talk radio one oh five nine kN ters.
It is the Rod and Gregg Show right here on
Utah's Talk Radio one o five nine k n rs,
live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I'm Rod Arquette, I'm a citizen, Greg Hughes.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You know what we should do. We don't do this enough.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Greg.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Remind our great listeners and people who just may be
coming in our growing audience that we're probably the only
conservative talk show, local Utah based conservative talk show up
and down the was that's front. Can you think of
another one?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Nope, we would be it. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I think our numbers reflected we have great great We
have a not only do we have a great listening audience,
which we find when we go to the go to
the phones.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
But it's a growing audience. It's you've shown me.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I mean, I know you don't like to brag on it,
but I've seen the ratings and the streaming numbers and
our audience.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Now we're doing very, very well. And you get approach
all the time, as do I. Yes, and people come
up to stay love the show Man.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
It happens a lot, so I and look, I it
doesn't feel like work at all.
Speaker 7 (17:54):
I love.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I love hanging out here talking these issues, talking to
our listeners, having this converse, this daily conversation.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
It's been great.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah. Not that we're patting ourselves on the back, and I.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Am, I am, I'm completely patting. I'm patting you on
the back.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
Pat you.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Oh, that's very weird.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
That's a little weird.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Our anniversary is yesterday. That's when we should have done that.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, two years of yesterday. All right. I've never figured
out why Americans cannot make up their minds and why
they need ranked choice voting. Yeah, I mean, what is
it about ranked choice voting?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah? I don't like it. I I never have it.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You're just getting into formulas and it's very difficult to
account or to what ballot. You know, watch the polls
or watch the ballots be counted when you're doing rape choice,
and I just I think it's been a negative, but
the Democrats have always.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Loved it, I know it until until maybe I would
love to know what is it that's well.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Joining us on our any hour Newsmaker line right now
to talk about that is our good friend Trent England.
He's a founder of Save our States. He's been on
the show on numerous occasions talking about election issues. Trent,
how are you, and welcome back to the Rod and
Gregg Show.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
I'm very glad to be here.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Thanks so much. All right, Trent, What is going on
with the Democrats and ranked choice voting used to be
a favorite of theirs? Have things changed?
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Well, as the Democratic National Committee looks ahead to twenty
twenty eight, and you know, with one I on this
dsa radical left insurgency, they are starting to balk at
ranked choice voting and they will consider in a meeting
in a couple of weeks here banning ranked choice voting
(19:37):
from their presidential primaries. And I think what's going on
is they're afraid of two things. They're afraid of the
complexity of ranked choice voting, which you just mentioned just
the fact that it can lead to, you know, results
that don't come in on time, questions about the way
the tabulation works. But it also can create opportunities for
(19:58):
these extremist candidates to garner more support and even for
their supporters to become kingmakers. So the DNC is trying
to head this off and obviously getting a lot of
blowback from their grassroots.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
I think the irony here is that I always saw
rank choice voting as giving the worst candidate the best chance,
and I think the DNC opposed to this is as
playing out that theory perfectly. It's they're afraid of these
Democrats socialists. The worst candidate having the best chance. Sounds
like that's a consistent sentiment. It just works in their
favor in a general election, works against them in a
(20:32):
Democrat primary.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Yeah, that's right, and it's revealing I think where we've
seen our CV actually adopted because it's been in a
lot of these really extreme blue cities. Right, It's been
in places like Washington, D C. And Portland, Oregon, Singing
Francisco and Oakland. New York is using it in the
Democratic primaries there because these progressives already had a lot
(20:58):
of power to get the voting system that they want.
But that's right. I mean, when the whole DNC looks
at who their candidate is going to be for president
in twenty eight they are petrified that it's going to
be somebody like AOC, you know, somebody who's so far
out there that they that they just have no chance
of picking up the Purple States, and they recognize that
(21:20):
rank choice voting would increase that Riskren.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Let me ask you, there's been a lot of election
reforms over the years, and they've been meant to expand access,
like mail in voting, which Greig and I are not
big fans of, by the way, are they now kind
of creating some internal conflicts within the Democratic Party.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
Well, I think that's right. And Rain choice voting is
an interesting one compared to some of these others, because
you know, the idea has, as you said, generally been
expanding access, expanding participation, and the evidence on Raine choice
voting suggests that it oftentimes does the opposite, because the
ballots are so much more complicated. If you're some grad student,
(22:02):
you know, who doesn't have a real job and has
plenty of time to you know, research all the candidates
and sit there with your you know, ballot for two
hours filling in all the bubbles. Then you might think
ran choice voting is no big deal if you're you know,
if you're somebody who's been voting all your life. You're
in your eighties, right, and all of a sudden they're
changing the whole process on you. If you've got a
(22:25):
busy life, a small business, and a bunch of kids, right,
it doesn't work so well for you. And so, you know,
rain choice voting starts to push back the other way,
where I think it will decrease participation and voter involvement.
And I think that the DNC is, you know, they're
also worried about that, that it favors the very demographic
(22:46):
that tends to push these DSA folks rather than you know,
some of the more traditional Democrats who you know, maybe
union members or other folks who might opt for more
moderate candidates.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So you point out that the fifteen states have some
form of rank choice voting. These occur mostly in cities towns.
I think Sandy City is a suburb here in Salt
Lake County does rank choice voting in their municipal races.
What is the trend is are people getting tired of this?
Is this something that was a fad and now people
are getting wary of it? Or is it a growing
phenomenon to see rank choice voting arriving in cities, towns,
(23:19):
and even statewide like in Maine or in Alaska.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
It's been slowly expanding in cities, mostly in blue states,
but they've had a really hard time statewide because even
in places like California, a lot of the state level
democrats don't want it. They say, look, if you want
it in some city, knock yourself out, but we don't
want it in our elections for state legislature, statewide offices.
(23:46):
So we've seen Democrats pump the breaks even in some
blue states, but it has expanded in cities. On the
other hand, just in the last four years, we have
seen nineteen states past bans on rank choice voting. So
that is you know, you might say that banning rank
choice voting has been the most popular election reform over
the last couple of years, but you know that the
(24:09):
risk is still out there as they try to get
in you know, a foothold in cities and counties and
as you say, even in places like Utah, And we've
seen pushes for it in places like Oklahoma where I am,
although we've banned it now. There was a push for
it in Ohio, but they've just banned it this year,
So it's certainly an active fight, Trey.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
We mentioned mail in voting that Greg and I are
not big fans, But how about early mail in voting
because we had a situation, didn't we in this last
election where people in early mail in voting states voted
for Joe Biden and then he dropped out of the race.
I mean, that's got to be a concern maybe not
only of the Democrats, but also the Republicans. Right, Oh, yeah, no,
(24:49):
that's right.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
You know, I think that we have gotten so lazy
with our democratic process. And I get you know, there
are people who need to be able to vote by mail,
and I think that's that's perfectly fine, But the default
should be to vote on election day in person, the
way we all used to. I mean, I remember going
with my mom into the voting booth, right, this.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Was a big deal.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
This was our civic duty, and I just I think
it's kind of pathetic that as a society we have said, oh,
you know, just just send it to me along with
the value packed coupons and you know, you know the
Costco magazine, right. I mean, it's just that that's not
the system that our founders fought for. It's not the
(25:35):
system that conveys to our children. This is serious business
running a country. So yeah, I would love to see
us get back to the default being we're going to
vote in person on the same day, and as you say,
it avoids some of these weird situations where you've got
a candidate who drops out or potentially you could have
a candidate die or something, and then you know, some
(25:58):
of those ballots become meaningless, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Talking about just voter integery just generally was it was
said it was it was released today or announced today
that six hundred and thirty three thousand voter records in
Maricopa County, Arizona were hacked on the eve of the
twenty twenty election. Six years have passed by state statutal
limitations are gone. The Biden administration, they decline to pursue
(26:21):
those charges against hacking six hundred and thirty three thousand
voter records right before the election. Mike is Is rank
choice voting is vote by mail. Is that what we're
seeing happening to voter records and their vulnerability to being hacked.
Are we just watering down this voting system, our processes
of elections to a point where some are just appointing
(26:41):
people and we're not really having the elections many of
us assume we're having.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Well, I think that, I think that certainly happens in
some cases. I mean the ones that where it's really obvious.
Takel elections like for school board or bond issues, where
people don't even show up, they don't know there's an
election happening. And then, as you say, you've got these
other situations where there's all these weird anomalies and things
that are basically impossible for you know, for any of
(27:10):
us as individuals to verify. And then we've got people
out there I just saw today there's a continuing push that, oh,
we should just be voting on our phones, push the
whole system into a black box where nobody ever can
verify the veracity of the whole thing. I you know,
I'm I am not a you know, I'm not a luddite.
I've got lots of technology surrounding me here in my office.
(27:32):
But on the other hand, there's lots of things that
that I recognize are still better done with pen and paper, right,
And uh, yeah, I think that the idea that we
just have to be on this tech tech train, uh
and we've got to push all of our elections into
a black box. It's not inevitable. I don't think it's
the right way. And I think ultimately if we do that,
(27:54):
nobody's going to trust our elections and that that is
the ultimate disaster. Right, You get to that point and
you don't have a republic anymore.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah, I worry about that. I think we both do
each and every day. Trent as always talking waiting. Thanks
for joining us, My pleasure, Thanks, thank you all right
on our newsmaker line Trent England. He is founder of
Save our States More coming up on the Rod and
Greg Show on this Thursday evening with Utah's Talk Radio
one oh five nine Can Rus heading into the final
(28:21):
half hour the Rod and Greg Show with you on
this Thursday right here on Utah's Talk Radio one O
five nine. Kate n Rs.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I'm Rod Arquette, I'm citizen Greg Hughes.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
All right, don't forget We've had Jesse Kelly coming your
way following news at the top of the hour. Jesse
will be here until ten o'clock tonight. It's fun guy too.
We met him two years ago, so.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
You know, my phone will always do like this this
time two years ago. So around this time two years
ago we were it was close to this time when
we were at the National Convention in twenty twenty four.
We were talking to Jesse Kelly and he's like eight
feet tall. You should see the picture of him speaking
to us. And we're our are just just just stretched
completely upwards, like we're watching a plane fly over our heads.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
That's how talk he is. But a good guy, very
good Yeah, very very.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Very very nice guy. He's coming your way following this
show at seven o'clock here on Talk Radio one oh
five Don Canners. And now look who's joining us, Our
good friend Steve Moore. He's a top economist, former economic
advisor to President Trump during his first term, and he's
now joining us on our Newsmaker line.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yes, welcome Steve Moore.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
Steve.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Look in your newsletter Unleash Prosperity today, you highlight the
incredible opportunity that states have to opt into a federal
tax credit scholarship program. And by the way, Utah is
all in on this. But you point out that Democrat
governors are not opting in. What would you say to
these Democrat governors and states that are not opting in
to this federal tax credit scholarship program.
Speaker 7 (29:53):
Well, you're hurting your children if you're not doing you know,
Democrats talk about how much I love education and love kids,
and this is money to the states from contributions off
of people's federal income taxes. And there's no reason why
any state would want to not participate. For it's almost
all for low income kids. It allows them a scholarship
(30:16):
to go to a Catholic school or religious school or
a private school, and that means that there'll be less
kids in the public schools. That means there's more money
per student in the public schools. When some of these
kids go to the other schools, it will dramatically improve
the test scores for kids. So, you know, thankfully all
(30:37):
the Republican states like Utah have opted into the program.
But it just shows that the Democratic Party, unfortunately today
is completely an wholly owned subsidiary of the teachers' unions.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, what's going to ask you, Steve, is that a
combination of the teachers union and also just another indication
of the Trump derangement syndrome that exists in this country today.
It's a Trump idea, a Trump back effort. Is it
because of that? Do you think as well?
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, yep, you you nailed it, my friend. It's a
little bit of both. It's it's it shows the power
of the teachers unions that don't want any kids to
go to private that if they have their ways, there
wouldn't even be private schools in this country. But also
anything that has a Trump's name on it they are
reflexively against. And so I think both of those are explanations.
But it's it's sad because the kids in these states
(31:25):
like Massachusetts and Illinois, in New York, New Jersey would
really benefit from the program.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
So there was an idea. I love this.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
This was brought up on Glenn Beck's show as well
as in your newsletter. You've got is Argentina. They're they're say,
if you're going to run a deficit, uh and are,
then you're not getting paid you know, you know you're
not getting I don't know what we're paying for. This
is just not a good return on investment. Any of
you that can't balance this budget, you're just gonna go
with nothing. You're gonna go no pay until you get
it right. I would love, love, love to see that
(31:55):
happen here. Is there merit to that or is that
a gimmick?
Speaker 7 (32:00):
Well? Ours the Laugher's talk a lot about that. You know,
no violence, budget, no pay. Well, in Argentina, they have
done this, by the way, when Malay came in, he
remember it was very controversial. He's a libertarian, free market guy.
He took over a catastrophe in Argentina, and now Argentina's
economy is boomed. The poverty rates fell in half, and
(32:22):
believe it or not, they have two years in a
row balanced budgets. When he took over, they had massive deficits.
It's you know, it's been almost twenty years since we've
had a balanced budget in Washington. So you know, why
can't we do it? If Argentina can do.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
It, Steve, I heard you on with Sean Handy the
other day talking about the economy. There are so many
good things going on with the economy, yet the American
people don't believe it. I don't think they do as
of yet, maybe they do. How do we how do
we get the message out that there are good things? Yes,
there is you know, prices are higher gas. I paid
four forty nine a gallon for my gas today. How
(32:59):
do we get the message out that, yes, the economy
is doing well because they don't believe it.
Speaker 7 (33:05):
Yeah, there's a divergence between what you know, the official
statistics are showing us, you know, about what's happening in
the economy, and then how people feel. And you know,
if you look at the I mean, obviously, the stock
market's been an incredible terry, the highest ever. And then
we've seen big investment numbers by our businesses. Great news.
We're seeing really good numbers with respect to manufacturing and
(33:27):
construction in this country. We actually have more basically more
jobs than workers right now. So that's a good problem
to how they have. But you know, you nail them,
my friend, and people are still angry about food prices,
and that includes my wife and my sister.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
And my wife.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
But right so, but overall, you know, there are a
lot of opportunities out there US economy. The one point
I would make that I made on any show is
but every other country in the world would love to
have the American economy. They'd love to have. The average
income in the United States for a family is now
eighty six thousand dollars in almost every other country that's
considered rich.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, so I think things were going.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I thought we had gas in a two dollars range,
a gallon range two seventy two eighty prior to the
engagement with Iran?
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Is there I have I made?
Speaker 7 (34:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I think that if we could find stability, and I
don't know what stability has to mean, but I think
a straight of horror moves and a supply chain that
has uninterrupted something that is that has put down this
Iranian regime to some extent. Uh, if you can do
that by more by labor day, I think that that
things look really good, uniquely good for Republicans in the midterms,
because I think the Democrats have such bad candidates. But
(34:38):
our economy is there an economy can that in the
market seem to move quick if you get some stabilization
there in that situation? By labor day? Are you optimistic
that the economy can rebound quickly?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
What's it? What's it look like to you?
Speaker 7 (34:52):
Well, you you know, Prophest what you said with that
big if, and that is if we can get the
situation resulved in the Middle East. I don't know an
expert on that. I'm an economist but not a foreign
policy expert. But it's clearly a quagmire and it's just
been very difficult to deal with the Iranians. But even so,
(35:12):
even with that handicap of having these high prices of oil,
that's my point. The economy is really strong. I mean,
you talk to businesses, their profits are very good, and
you can't have jobs if you don't have businesses making money.
They're hiring. Now, we have a big report that comes
out tomorrow. I'll be on Fox Business News with Maria
bar Roma when that report comes out at eight thirty
(35:34):
Eastern and we'll see what the latest jobs report looks
like the month of the month of July. But I
just think we've got an economy. Look, you've got a
pro business president who wants American businesses to succeed. And
I don't agree with every decision he makes, but I
think most of them have been very strong for the economy.
(35:55):
I'm not a big tariff guy, but other than that,
I mean, the tax cuts have had a huge event.
Look at the millions of people who have taken advantage
of the no tax on tips and the no tax
on overtime. Really impressive.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
What has got to happen, Steve, is a lower gas prices,
lower grocery prices. What's the one thing that has to
happen that people say, Okay, I think we're getting better now.
Speaker 7 (36:17):
Well, I think, you know, typically people use the gas
prices the kind of cage for how the economy is doing,
because you know, you notice every you know, every few
blocks you come to the street corner and the what
do you see the big sign with you know, gas
a three forty nine a gallar or whatever it might be.
So I think, you know, Republicans would like to see
that price come down. But the main thing I think
(36:37):
people have to realize you don't really have this problem
in Utah because you don't let socialists in your state.
But I mean, my gosh, these states like Massachusetts and
these states like Wisconsin, Michigan, you know, three radical you
know socialists were you know nominated for the Democratic Party
and the Democratic Party. You know, the way I put
it in the newsletter today is, you know, the fire
(36:59):
lefl has taking the upper hand against the left and
the Democratic Party, and it's a sad thing to say. Look,
it's probably good for Republicans, but it's bad for the country.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Steve Moore, Top Economics, joining us on our any of
our newsmaker line talking about the state of the economy.
Steve mentioned, of course, the job list numbers come out tomorrow.
Will break those down for you on tomorrow's show. All Right,
more coming up, final segment of the Rod and Gregg
Show right here on Utah's Talk Radio one oh five
nine knrs.
Welcome back to the Rod and Greg Show on Utah's
Talk Radio one oh five nine canter s everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Citizen Hughes and I'm rod Ark Kent.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
Okay, you're on the highway right now. You've got a
big eighteen wheeler near you, coming up behind you, you're
beside one, and you're wondering. I wonder who's driving that truck?
Is illegal or illegal? In this country today?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
There's so many of them you almost can't.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I don't know how you encounter how you could, it's
they are. They're omnipresent, the number of eighteen wheels. And
look in Utah, we have I fifteen that falls through
seventy five percent of the entire states and four contiguous counties,
and I fifteen goes through the middle of all of them.
So it is such a major route.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And so the number of trucks in Utah, it's legion
and so yeah, that that is a worry.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, we're behind the wheel.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
We are the crossroads of the West, and everything kind
of comes together in Salt Lake City. It moves on.
So and I bring that up because the Federation for
American Immergration Reform otherwise known as FAIR, and we've we've
worked closely with them over the years. Have now released
a new investigative report. Investigative report, it's called License to Kill,
uncovering the anti border takeover of the national CDL program.
(01:14):
Let's hear more about it. Joining us on our any
hour Newsmaker line is Mateo Ferrero. He is director of
Investigations at FAIR. Mateo, thank you and welcome to the
Rodd and Greg Show. Thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Rod and Greg, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
On, Matteo. What did you find out? You did a
lot of work on this, a lot of numbers out there.
What have you found out?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, absolutely, Rod, So we took a deep dive into
this issue, which you know has been highlighted in particular
over the past year. We've seen dozens upon dozens of
just fatal traffic accidents on American roadways involving trucks and
buses being driven by foreign nationals who are who are
(01:55):
a dubious qualification and can't even understand the English language.
And you know, we took a deep dive because we
were wondering, you know, why are these people on the
road and how did they obtain credentials to even be
able to drive eighty thousand pound vehicles? And what we
found was a staggering systemic non compliance among states that
(02:18):
have been overtaken by anti borders agenda, essentially turning the
CDL being a critical public safety credential into a permission
flip for a national to drive on American roads.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now, MATEO, wait a minute, you know there's just jobs
Americans won't do. I just thought, you know, for CDL licenses.
Why you know, we have these businesses have to be
able to operate. Why can't you lower the bar and
just get someone that's willing to work for whatever wage?
Because Americans don't want to work in jobs like this.
That's what I'm being told. Maybe you could maybe share
(02:53):
your insight there.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Right right, Yeah, that is that is one argument that
has been raised, you know and not position to the
crackdown on CDL non compliance. And the problem with that
argument is that it undervalues what what the entire regulatory
system is intended to do, which is to ensure that
every person who drives on American roads can do so
(03:16):
safely and not be at risk of you know, potentially
fatal consequences, So you know, the public safety angle there,
I think defeats that that.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
That argument, MATEO, Who's that fault here is? Are the
states or the trucking companies or is there shared blame?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You know, I think the primary holders of the blame
here are states that have uh, you know, shirked their
obligations under federal law. Congress and the Department of Transportation
have spoken loudly and clearly in establishing uniform baseline standards,
you know, for licensing truck and bust rips, and states
(04:01):
have to abide by those minimum federal standards in terms
of testing applicants and then actually issuing credentials that comply
with federal regulations, and you know, a number of states
have completely failed to do so. The Department of Transportation,
you know, did systemic audits over the past year and
(04:22):
found that twenty five different states programs were in substantial
non compliance. That is, you know, issuing temporary ideas, issuing
credentials with no name given stated on them, allowing people
who have no you know, ability to speak or understand
(04:43):
the English language, which is under federal law baseline requirements.
And so yeah, I think the states here are mostly
to blame for for the lapse in in in so good.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Practice Matteo, how do they get a job? Because here's
what I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
If I'm a trucking company, I would think that I
would and it's my company. Whoever sitting behind the wheel,
I think I need them to speak and read English
if they're going to navigate America's roads. I think that
basic driving skills that you have to prove is something
as a company I would want to see in that
person driving. Are they independent contractors or are trucking companies
(05:23):
taking a risk with clearly unqualified drivers?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, you know, I think the problem there is that
you have companies who are hiring individuals that are presenting
to them with issued credentials, you know, and you know,
the baseline assumption is, well, if this person was licensed
by the state, then the state clearly must have you know,
looked into the person's you know, legal status, looked into
their ability to you know, follow you know, road signs
(05:50):
and speak English. But the reality is that you know,
that assumption might might be flawed. And that's what our
what our report found. I'll just give you an example here.
You know, Pennsylvania is one of the states that administers
CDL knowledge tests in thirty four different languages. And of
those thirty four administrations, you know, more than three quarters
(06:14):
of those people who who take the knowledge tests fail
on their first time. That the levels are staggering, So,
you know, it's it's just a complete abandonment of the
requirements that that Congress and DT have handed down MITEO.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I know Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary of the President,
have called for major changes in this program. Have they
been are they in play now and are they working?
Are they starting to work or is it too early
to tell?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, you know, the Thankfully the Trump administration has taken
this issue head on, acknowledging, you know, the dire consequences
of inaction. In last year, the President signed an executive
order that required DOOT to impose new guidelines for English
proficiency requirements and that if truck drivers can't show English proficiency,
(07:11):
that's a sufficient basis to take them out of service
and not be able to be on the road. And
then earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration,
which is the agency within DOOT that administers the CDL program,
issued final regulations that tighten up eligibility requirements for CDL,
limiting it to only three different visas, and requiring states
(07:36):
to use federal databases to verify a person's immigration status,
and you know, eliminating a lot of these loopholes that
had been used for years to just multiply the number
of unqualified CDL holders.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
And we can only hope they work. Butteo, great work
on that.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Thanks for joining us absolutely, Ron Greg, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
All right on our newsmaker line Mateo Ferrero. He is
from the Federation for American Immigration Reform. A detailed look
at truck drivers on our highways or being given in
some cases a license to kill, and that's very unportant.
We don't want to s they're great truckers out there,
that's right, and we see this country could not move
without truckers. Well, we've got a crack down.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
On the this on these unqualified there's a real body
count happening in this country because of this, these unqualified
drivers driving.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Or coming up on the Roding greg Show and Talk
Radio one oh five nine k n R S, here's
driving home on this Thursday afternoon with the Rodding Gregg
Show on Talk Radio one O five nine k n rs.
As we like to say, live everywhere as well on
the iHeartRadio app. Make sure you do download it today.
I'm brought our quet.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I'm citizen Greg Hughes.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
All right, we played for you a the reception that
New York City Mayor Zulander Mandami got a got at
a police picnic yesterday. Yes, in Staten Island wasn't very
very good.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Right, the boo birds are out.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
The boo birds were out.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Well, might have been a you know, yeh flock.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, Is it fair to say, Greg? One of the
one of the pillars of the socialist movement in this
country is that poor people don't have enough money and
rich people have way too much money?
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yes, is that.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Fair to say?
Speaker 2 (09:17):
And they would like to redistribute, they'd like to redistribute
the wealth.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Well, what if, in fact, we just gave four people money,
so here you go.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's a novel. I know it sounds facimal and this
sounds crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Bit what if you took the socialist middleman out, if
you just said, Okay, this is all the money you
want to spend, Why don't we just hand it out straight?
And we don't want you to socially engineer it and
you give it out. Let's just dole it out.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
We'll give it out. Well, let's find out about that idea.
Join joining us on our news maker line. Our good
friend Glenn Beaton, he's a columnist on the Aspen beat Glenn,
Thanks for joining us. What about this idea of just
giving people free money poor people? Is it a solution
to the challenges in this country today?
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Well, I think it is a pretty good solution. First,
I think poor people in America are not really that poor.
Most of the poor people in the world want to
come here and be a poor American. Okay, so I
don't have a ton of sympathy. Some people are sort
of on their down and outs that they have legitimate
reasons for it. But I think the way to handle it,
(10:20):
rather than with all this free stuff, all these freebies,
you know, discounted this subsidized housing, free bus fairs, government
grocery stores, just give them money. Just give them the
freaking money and we don't have to worry about all
the overhit. But you see, the left doesn't want to
do this because they want to be the middleman. They
(10:41):
want to take their cut, they want to administer this process.
But I say, just give them the money in the
form of you can make it a negative income text.
Milton Friedman was all over this fifty years ago and
actually wrote an article about it. I think it's a
great idea.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Well, I like it too.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You're saying the great society if you just divide it
amongst the people you think qualify for it, and you
take all the bureaucracy out the checks you could send
you might even say the tax payer money if you
did it that way. But to your point, are the
leftists elitists? The democrats?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Are they?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Do they have any interest in improving the prospects of
the poor or do they just want to socially engineer
their lives.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Well, they don't really have an interest in improving the
prospects of the poor. What their real interest is is
being the person who doles out the money. Yes, and
they take a big putt to do this. You know,
it would clearly be a lot more efficient if we
could take them out of it and have them knock
give this cup. But they feel good about it, you know,
(11:41):
and that's natural. You feel good about giving other people
other people's money, and they take a cut on it too.
So no, I don't think they actually want to help
the poor. They want to be involved in the process.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Glenn, You and I, as you point out in your article,
are the baby boomers the richest demographic in the country world.
Right now, you kind of raise questions about senior discounts,
which I used to not think about, and now I
kind of, yeah, I enjoyed us this guy.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
This boomer, I'll tell you what. There's not a discount
he doesn't love.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
What about senior discounts? Glenn, Well, first, I am a senior.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Now, okay, so I'm what I'm saying is contrary to
my interest, but I don't think it makes any sense.
You know, people who are sixty plus seventy plus baby
boomers are the richest demographic in the history of the world,
and here we give them senior discounts for whatever, bus rides, whatever.
(12:42):
You know, it doesn't make any sense. And what the
discount is really for, I think is to buy your vote.
As I point out my article, I'm not going to
sell my vote my vote for three dollars. I'm going
to take at least five dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Okay, So here's the thing I just threw out in
my example, lbj's Great Society. Linda Maine Johnson, this is
kind of when you saw an underclass. You didn't see
the lower class build up to the working class and
move up. You start to see this churning of an
underclass after a lbj's Great Society. So this is your
article is timeless in terms of what would be the
(13:16):
most efficient way to help people, but recently, the kind
of fraud that's being discovered, the kind of fraud when
people come here, some of these people that would be
the poorest seem to live the best. They live better
than the working class. Are you shocked by the degree
of fraud and the hundreds of billions of dollars that states, Minnesota, California,
others are pulling in and really misusing and in ways
(13:40):
that I didn't personally appreciate.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Well, am I shocked. That's a loaded question. I would
be shocked, but for the identity of so many of
these people. So many of these people are immigrants who
come from a culture where that is to be expected.
I know that's not polite to say, but it's true.
(14:05):
That's for Linda Johnson. You know, Linda Johnson wasn't a
fraudulent person. Linda Johnson was a good person. He got
tied up in a terrible boondoggle for a war and
had to step away, but he was a good person.
He wasn't one of these fraudsters. Yeah, well yeah, I
think that I would be shocked if these were by
(14:29):
and large Americans like you and me that were engaging
in the fraud. But by and large they're not.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Glenn greg points this out quite often. I think he's
spot on on this with this appeal of the socialist
movement to younger people, because younger people feel, wait a minute,
this capitalism thing isn't working for us. You know, we
went to college, we got a degree, but now we
can't afford a house, we can't afford to live. So
if socialism will give us the free stuff, the stuff
we think we deserve, then I'm all in favor of it.
(14:58):
What's your thinking on that.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Well, it's kind of funny. There's a semantics issue here.
They seem not to like capitalism, if you use that
word to describe it. But you know, capitalism is actually
a narrow term. It involves the capital stock market. But
they do like the idea of free enterprise and free markets.
So if the GOP. If the Republicans just can learn
(15:23):
to express this as free markets and free enterprise, I
think they're going to do a lot better than defending this.
What's now become a word that is right from the
bottom of the deck, this word of capitalism. Forget about capitalism,
talk about free markets, free enterprise.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
What a great observation.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Real quickly, do you think crony capitalism is ruling the
day and there's been a consolidation of industry? Or is
do the free markets exist as they have in generations past.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Well, there's always some consolidation and there's always some breakup.
I think by and large, the capital markets are not
much different, although they are a lot faster moving than
they have been in the past. Technology is faster moving.
You know, when I got into my legal career, was
in patent law, and I remember my writing a memo
(16:17):
to my bosses. Gosh, this must have been forty years ago,
forty four zero, and I said, technology is moving fast,
and it's going to move faster. Well that was forty
years ago, and man, did I.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Hit the nail on the hid Glenn, Thank you, Glenn
Beaton from the Aspen Beat talking about just give people
free money the poor people, just give them free money. Yeah,
that will ruin the social lidt definitely, they won't.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Be able a social engineer, a social engineer, and then yeah,
we'll see where that money goes. You ever see one
of the people win the big Lotteri's helmet, the lives
come crashing down around him. It kind of makes that point.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
All right, More coming up, Rodd and Greg with you
right here on talk radio one oh five nine kN ters.
It is the Rod and Gregg Show right here on
Utah's Talk Radio one o five nine k n rs,
live everywhere on the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I'm Rod Arquette, I'm a citizen, Greg Hughes.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
You know what we should do. We don't do this enough.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Greg.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Remind our great listeners and people who just may be
coming in our growing audience that we're probably the only
conservative talk show, local Utah based conservative talk show up
and down the was that's front. Can you think of
another one?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Nope, we would be it. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
I think our numbers reflected we have great great We
have a not only do we have a great listening audience,
which we find when we go to the go to
the phones.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
But it's a growing audience. It's you've shown me.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
I mean, I know you don't like to brag on it,
but I've seen the ratings and the streaming numbers and
our audience.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Now we're doing very, very well. And you get approach
all the time, as do I. Yes, and people come
up to stay love the show Man.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
It happens a lot, so I and look, I it
doesn't feel like work at all.
Speaker 7 (17:54):
I love.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I love hanging out here talking these issues, talking to
our listeners, having this converse, this daily conversation.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
It's been great.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah. Not that we're patting ourselves on the back, and I.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Am, I am, I'm completely patting. I'm patting you on
the back.
Speaker 7 (18:08):
Pat you.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Oh, that's very weird.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
That's a little weird.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Our anniversary is yesterday. That's when we should have done that.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, two years of yesterday. All right. I've never figured
out why Americans cannot make up their minds and why
they need ranked choice voting. Yeah, I mean, what is
it about ranked choice voting?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah? I don't like it. I I never have it.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You're just getting into formulas and it's very difficult to
account or to what ballot. You know, watch the polls
or watch the ballots be counted when you're doing rape choice,
and I just I think it's been a negative, but
the Democrats have always.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Loved it, I know it until until maybe I would
love to know what is it that's well.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Joining us on our any hour Newsmaker line right now
to talk about that is our good friend Trent England.
He's a founder of Save our States. He's been on
the show on numerous occasions talking about election issues. Trent,
how are you, and welcome back to the Rod and
Gregg Show.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
I'm very glad to be here.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Thanks so much. All right, Trent, What is going on
with the Democrats and ranked choice voting used to be
a favorite of theirs? Have things changed?
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Well, as the Democratic National Committee looks ahead to twenty
twenty eight, and you know, with one I on this
dsa radical left insurgency, they are starting to balk at
ranked choice voting and they will consider in a meeting
in a couple of weeks here banning ranked choice voting
(19:37):
from their presidential primaries. And I think what's going on
is they're afraid of two things. They're afraid of the
complexity of ranked choice voting, which you just mentioned just
the fact that it can lead to, you know, results
that don't come in on time, questions about the way
the tabulation works. But it also can create opportunities for
(19:58):
these extremist candidates to garner more support and even for
their supporters to become kingmakers. So the DNC is trying
to head this off and obviously getting a lot of
blowback from their grassroots.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
I think the irony here is that I always saw
rank choice voting as giving the worst candidate the best chance,
and I think the DNC opposed to this is as
playing out that theory perfectly. It's they're afraid of these
Democrats socialists. The worst candidate having the best chance. Sounds
like that's a consistent sentiment. It just works in their
favor in a general election, works against them in a
(20:32):
Democrat primary.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Yeah, that's right, and it's revealing I think where we've
seen our CV actually adopted because it's been in a
lot of these really extreme blue cities. Right, It's been
in places like Washington, D C. And Portland, Oregon, Singing
Francisco and Oakland. New York is using it in the
Democratic primaries there because these progressives already had a lot
(20:58):
of power to get the voting system that they want.
But that's right. I mean, when the whole DNC looks
at who their candidate is going to be for president
in twenty eight they are petrified that it's going to
be somebody like AOC, you know, somebody who's so far
out there that they that they just have no chance
of picking up the Purple States, and they recognize that
(21:20):
rank choice voting would increase that Riskren.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Let me ask you, there's been a lot of election
reforms over the years, and they've been meant to expand access,
like mail in voting, which Greig and I are not
big fans of, by the way, are they now kind
of creating some internal conflicts within the Democratic Party.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
Well, I think that's right. And Rain choice voting is
an interesting one compared to some of these others, because
you know, the idea has, as you said, generally been
expanding access, expanding participation, and the evidence on Raine choice
voting suggests that it oftentimes does the opposite, because the
ballots are so much more complicated. If you're some grad student,
(22:02):
you know, who doesn't have a real job and has
plenty of time to you know, research all the candidates
and sit there with your you know, ballot for two
hours filling in all the bubbles. Then you might think
ran choice voting is no big deal if you're you know,
if you're somebody who's been voting all your life. You're
in your eighties, right, and all of a sudden they're
changing the whole process on you. If you've got a
(22:25):
busy life, a small business, and a bunch of kids, right,
it doesn't work so well for you. And so, you know,
rain choice voting starts to push back the other way,
where I think it will decrease participation and voter involvement.
And I think that the DNC is, you know, they're
also worried about that, that it favors the very demographic
(22:46):
that tends to push these DSA folks rather than you know,
some of the more traditional Democrats who you know, maybe
union members or other folks who might opt for more
moderate candidates.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So you point out that the fifteen states have some
form of rank choice voting. These occur mostly in cities towns.
I think Sandy City is a suburb here in Salt
Lake County does rank choice voting in their municipal races.
What is the trend is are people getting tired of this?
Is this something that was a fad and now people
are getting wary of it? Or is it a growing
phenomenon to see rank choice voting arriving in cities, towns,
(23:19):
and even statewide like in Maine or in Alaska.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
It's been slowly expanding in cities, mostly in blue states,
but they've had a really hard time statewide because even
in places like California, a lot of the state level
democrats don't want it. They say, look, if you want
it in some city, knock yourself out, but we don't
want it in our elections for state legislature, statewide offices.
(23:46):
So we've seen Democrats pump the breaks even in some
blue states, but it has expanded in cities. On the
other hand, just in the last four years, we have
seen nineteen states past bans on rank choice voting. So
that is you know, you might say that banning rank
choice voting has been the most popular election reform over
the last couple of years, but you know that the
(24:09):
risk is still out there as they try to get
in you know, a foothold in cities and counties and
as you say, even in places like Utah, And we've
seen pushes for it in places like Oklahoma where I am,
although we've banned it now. There was a push for
it in Ohio, but they've just banned it this year,
So it's certainly an active fight, Trey.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
We mentioned mail in voting that Greg and I are
not big fans, But how about early mail in voting
because we had a situation, didn't we in this last
election where people in early mail in voting states voted
for Joe Biden and then he dropped out of the race.
I mean, that's got to be a concern maybe not
only of the Democrats, but also the Republicans. Right, Oh, yeah, no,
(24:49):
that's right.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
You know, I think that we have gotten so lazy
with our democratic process. And I get you know, there
are people who need to be able to vote by mail,
and I think that's that's perfectly fine, But the default
should be to vote on election day in person, the
way we all used to. I mean, I remember going
with my mom into the voting booth, right, this.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Was a big deal.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
This was our civic duty, and I just I think
it's kind of pathetic that as a society we have said, oh,
you know, just just send it to me along with
the value packed coupons and you know, you know the
Costco magazine, right. I mean, it's just that that's not
the system that our founders fought for. It's not the
(25:35):
system that conveys to our children. This is serious business
running a country. So yeah, I would love to see
us get back to the default being we're going to
vote in person on the same day, and as you say,
it avoids some of these weird situations where you've got
a candidate who drops out or potentially you could have
a candidate die or something, and then you know, some
(25:58):
of those ballots become meaningless, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Talking about just voter integery just generally was it was
said it was it was released today or announced today
that six hundred and thirty three thousand voter records in
Maricopa County, Arizona were hacked on the eve of the
twenty twenty election. Six years have passed by state statutal
limitations are gone. The Biden administration, they decline to pursue
(26:21):
those charges against hacking six hundred and thirty three thousand
voter records right before the election. Mike is Is rank
choice voting is vote by mail. Is that what we're
seeing happening to voter records and their vulnerability to being hacked.
Are we just watering down this voting system, our processes
of elections to a point where some are just appointing
(26:41):
people and we're not really having the elections many of
us assume we're having.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Well, I think that, I think that certainly happens in
some cases. I mean the ones that where it's really obvious.
Takel elections like for school board or bond issues, where
people don't even show up, they don't know there's an
election happening. And then, as you say, you've got these
other situations where there's all these weird anomalies and things
that are basically impossible for you know, for any of
(27:10):
us as individuals to verify. And then we've got people
out there I just saw today there's a continuing push that, oh,
we should just be voting on our phones, push the
whole system into a black box where nobody ever can
verify the veracity of the whole thing. I you know,
I'm I am not a you know, I'm not a luddite.
I've got lots of technology surrounding me here in my office.
(27:32):
But on the other hand, there's lots of things that
that I recognize are still better done with pen and paper, right,
And uh, yeah, I think that the idea that we
just have to be on this tech tech train, uh
and we've got to push all of our elections into
a black box. It's not inevitable. I don't think it's
the right way. And I think ultimately if we do that,
(27:54):
nobody's going to trust our elections and that that is
the ultimate disaster. Right, You get to that point and
you don't have a republic anymore.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah, I worry about that. I think we both do
each and every day. Trent as always talking waiting. Thanks
for joining us, My pleasure, Thanks, thank you all right
on our newsmaker line Trent England. He is founder of
Save our States More coming up on the Rod and
Greg Show on this Thursday evening with Utah's Talk Radio
one oh five nine Can Rus heading into the final
(28:21):
half hour the Rod and Greg Show with you on
this Thursday right here on Utah's Talk Radio one O
five nine. Kate n Rs.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I'm Rod Arquette, I'm citizen Greg Hughes.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
All right, don't forget We've had Jesse Kelly coming your
way following news at the top of the hour. Jesse
will be here until ten o'clock tonight. It's fun guy too.
We met him two years ago, so.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
You know, my phone will always do like this this
time two years ago. So around this time two years
ago we were it was close to this time when
we were at the National Convention in twenty twenty four.
We were talking to Jesse Kelly and he's like eight
feet tall. You should see the picture of him speaking
to us. And we're our are just just just stretched
completely upwards, like we're watching a plane fly over our heads.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
That's how talk he is. But a good guy, very
good Yeah, very very.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Very very nice guy. He's coming your way following this
show at seven o'clock here on Talk Radio one oh
five Don Canners. And now look who's joining us, Our
good friend Steve Moore. He's a top economist, former economic
advisor to President Trump during his first term, and he's
now joining us on our Newsmaker line.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yes, welcome Steve Moore.
Speaker 7 (29:29):
Steve.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Look in your newsletter Unleash Prosperity today, you highlight the
incredible opportunity that states have to opt into a federal
tax credit scholarship program. And by the way, Utah is
all in on this. But you point out that Democrat
governors are not opting in. What would you say to
these Democrat governors and states that are not opting in
to this federal tax credit scholarship program.
Speaker 7 (29:53):
Well, you're hurting your children if you're not doing you know,
Democrats talk about how much I love education and love kids,
and this is money to the states from contributions off
of people's federal income taxes. And there's no reason why
any state would want to not participate. For it's almost
all for low income kids. It allows them a scholarship
(30:16):
to go to a Catholic school or religious school or
a private school, and that means that there'll be less
kids in the public schools. That means there's more money
per student in the public schools. When some of these
kids go to the other schools, it will dramatically improve
the test scores for kids. So, you know, thankfully all
(30:37):
the Republican states like Utah have opted into the program.
But it just shows that the Democratic Party, unfortunately today
is completely an wholly owned subsidiary of the teachers' unions.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, what's going to ask you, Steve, is that a
combination of the teachers union and also just another indication
of the Trump derangement syndrome that exists in this country today.
It's a Trump idea, a Trump back effort. Is it
because of that? Do you think as well?
Speaker 7 (31:04):
Yeah, yep, you you nailed it, my friend. It's a
little bit of both. It's it's it shows the power
of the teachers unions that don't want any kids to
go to private that if they have their ways, there
wouldn't even be private schools in this country. But also
anything that has a Trump's name on it they are
reflexively against. And so I think both of those are explanations.
But it's it's sad because the kids in these states
(31:25):
like Massachusetts and Illinois, in New York, New Jersey would
really benefit from the program.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
So there was an idea. I love this.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
This was brought up on Glenn Beck's show as well
as in your newsletter. You've got is Argentina. They're they're say,
if you're going to run a deficit, uh and are,
then you're not getting paid you know, you know you're
not getting I don't know what we're paying for. This
is just not a good return on investment. Any of
you that can't balance this budget, you're just gonna go
with nothing. You're gonna go no pay until you get
it right. I would love, love, love to see that
(31:55):
happen here. Is there merit to that or is that
a gimmick?
Speaker 7 (32:00):
Well? Ours the Laugher's talk a lot about that. You know,
no violence, budget, no pay. Well, in Argentina, they have
done this, by the way, when Malay came in, he
remember it was very controversial. He's a libertarian, free market guy.
He took over a catastrophe in Argentina, and now Argentina's
economy is boomed. The poverty rates fell in half, and
(32:22):
believe it or not, they have two years in a
row balanced budgets. When he took over, they had massive deficits.
It's you know, it's been almost twenty years since we've
had a balanced budget in Washington. So you know, why
can't we do it? If Argentina can do.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
It, Steve, I heard you on with Sean Handy the
other day talking about the economy. There are so many
good things going on with the economy, yet the American
people don't believe it. I don't think they do as
of yet, maybe they do. How do we how do
we get the message out that there are good things? Yes,
there is you know, prices are higher gas. I paid
four forty nine a gallon for my gas today. How
(32:59):
do we get the message out that, yes, the economy
is doing well because they don't believe it.
Speaker 7 (33:05):
Yeah, there's a divergence between what you know, the official
statistics are showing us, you know, about what's happening in
the economy, and then how people feel. And you know,
if you look at the I mean, obviously, the stock
market's been an incredible terry, the highest ever. And then
we've seen big investment numbers by our businesses. Great news.
We're seeing really good numbers with respect to manufacturing and
(33:27):
construction in this country. We actually have more basically more
jobs than workers right now. So that's a good problem
to how they have. But you know, you nail them,
my friend, and people are still angry about food prices,
and that includes my wife and my sister.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
And my wife.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
But right so, but overall, you know, there are a
lot of opportunities out there US economy. The one point
I would make that I made on any show is
but every other country in the world would love to
have the American economy. They'd love to have. The average
income in the United States for a family is now
eighty six thousand dollars in almost every other country that's
considered rich.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, so I think things were going.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I thought we had gas in a two dollars range,
a gallon range two seventy two eighty prior to the
engagement with Iran?
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Is there I have I made?
Speaker 7 (34:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I think that if we could find stability, and I
don't know what stability has to mean, but I think
a straight of horror moves and a supply chain that
has uninterrupted something that is that has put down this
Iranian regime to some extent. Uh, if you can do
that by more by labor day, I think that that
things look really good, uniquely good for Republicans in the midterms,
because I think the Democrats have such bad candidates. But
(34:38):
our economy is there an economy can that in the
market seem to move quick if you get some stabilization
there in that situation? By labor day? Are you optimistic
that the economy can rebound quickly?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
What's it? What's it look like to you?
Speaker 7 (34:52):
Well, you you know, Prophest what you said with that
big if, and that is if we can get the
situation resulved in the Middle East. I don't know an
expert on that. I'm an economist but not a foreign
policy expert. But it's clearly a quagmire and it's just
been very difficult to deal with the Iranians. But even so,
(35:12):
even with that handicap of having these high prices of oil,
that's my point. The economy is really strong. I mean,
you talk to businesses, their profits are very good, and
you can't have jobs if you don't have businesses making money.
They're hiring. Now, we have a big report that comes
out tomorrow. I'll be on Fox Business News with Maria
bar Roma when that report comes out at eight thirty
(35:34):
Eastern and we'll see what the latest jobs report looks
like the month of the month of July. But I
just think we've got an economy. Look, you've got a
pro business president who wants American businesses to succeed. And
I don't agree with every decision he makes, but I
think most of them have been very strong for the economy.
(35:55):
I'm not a big tariff guy, but other than that,
I mean, the tax cuts have had a huge event.
Look at the millions of people who have taken advantage
of the no tax on tips and the no tax
on overtime. Really impressive.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
What has got to happen, Steve, is a lower gas prices,
lower grocery prices. What's the one thing that has to
happen that people say, Okay, I think we're getting better now.
Speaker 7 (36:17):
Well, I think, you know, typically people use the gas
prices the kind of cage for how the economy is doing,
because you know, you notice every you know, every few
blocks you come to the street corner and the what
do you see the big sign with you know, gas
a three forty nine a gallar or whatever it might be.
So I think, you know, Republicans would like to see
that price come down. But the main thing I think
(36:37):
people have to realize you don't really have this problem
in Utah because you don't let socialists in your state.
But I mean, my gosh, these states like Massachusetts and
these states like Wisconsin, Michigan, you know, three radical you
know socialists were you know nominated for the Democratic Party
and the Democratic Party. You know, the way I put
it in the newsletter today is, you know, the fire
(36:59):
lefl has taking the upper hand against the left and
the Democratic Party, and it's a sad thing to say. Look,
it's probably good for Republicans, but it's bad for the country.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Steve Moore, Top Economics, joining us on our any of
our newsmaker line talking about the state of the economy.
Steve mentioned, of course, the job list numbers come out tomorrow.
Will break those down for you on tomorrow's show. All Right,
more coming up, final segment of the Rod and Gregg
Show right here on Utah's Talk Radio one oh five
nine knrs.
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