April 7, 2026 • 33 mins
Leland Conway in for Lou and is joined by Steve Hilton and talks about President Trump's endorsement of him for Governor of California.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ah, is it a king maker or the kiss of
political death?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We shall find out.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's Leland Conway sitting in for Loup Penrose, who was
on vacation. Not that me sitting in is the political
kiss of death for Lupenrose.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
But it might be, I don't know. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
But Steve Hilton, the Republican who is leading the campaign
for governor in California, has gotten the endorsement of Orange
Man Bad. Now see he's going to join us at
the bottom of the hour and we'll talk this through
with them. But Politico already has a story up on this,
and this is kind of funny. The headline of the
(00:38):
story is Trump endorses Steve Hilton the govern's race, pretty straightforward,
but it says some Republicans had argued the party's best
shot at the governor's mansion depended on Trump staying out
of the contest.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Do you really think he can stay out of the contest?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Come on, So this is my question to you as
we dig into this. I want to know if you
think this is a good thing or if you think
this is a politically bad thing. Should Trump have just
stayed out of it and let this roll, or does
this help or does this hurt Steve Hilton? Right right now,
Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco are the sheriff Riverside County.
(01:12):
They're they're they're kind of neck and neck, but Hilton's
kind of pulled out. Between the two of them, there's
no Democrat if you just combine the two votes base
for percentagewise, for those two Republicans, there's nobody in the
race that even comes close to what the two of
them get together. But the question is, let's say Chad
(01:33):
Bianco were to back out, would all of his support
automatically go to Steve Hilton and vice versa?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And where do we where do we?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Where do we fall down on this Orange Man bad endorsement?
So corn to Politico, Trump endorsed former Fox News host
Steve Hilton in the California governor's race early this morning,
dealing this is the this is what they wrote, dealing
A now, this is what they say about Chad Bianco's campaign, says,
dealing a potentially fatal blow to GOP rival Chad Bianco's campaign,
(02:09):
but then to Republicans' hopes of locking Democrats out of
the run.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
A See, here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
This is why it may not have been wise for
Trump to do this, because if it does knock Chad
Bianco out of the race this early, where does that
support go? Does all of it come to Steve Hilton?
Are there people? You tell me? Are there people who
(02:37):
were voting? They were saying, you know what I'm gonna
I'm gonna go for that, cheer for Riverside County guy.
He's done a pretty good job. I'll go for that.
But I'm not necessarily a Republican, right or does this
force him on out?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And then all of that support comes on over to Steve?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And now Steve has has a steamroll effect where he's
got just way more than anybody else. And remember he
only has to come in second right for there to
be a runoff. So that's I mean, this is the
way the jungle primary works. So it's going to be
the top two. So as long as he doesn't fall
to third. Where are the Democrats gonna coal as Coalesce?
(03:14):
I mean there's still Look if you add all of
the seven hundred and eighty two billion Democrats that are
running for governor, I guess if you throw all of
that in there, it has to be a majority does
that make Steve Hilton's run pale in comparison to where
it's been right now? Or that many Californians really that undecided?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Right? This is such a weird way of doing a
governor's race. Here's what Trump said.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
He said quote, I have known and respected Steve Hilton,
who is running for governor of California, for many years.
He is a truly fine man. One who has watched
h one who has watched as this once great state
has gone to hell. That's what Trump said on Troops
Social before bemoaning the state's leadership under Gavin new Some
Steve can turn it around before it's too late, and
(04:02):
as President, I will help him do so. According to Politico,
Trump's intervention comes despite some California Republicans arguing that that
the party's best, if narrow short that the party's best,
if narrow, shot at the governor's mansion depended on him
staying out of the contest in this heavily democratic state.
(04:23):
Republicans had been hoping that a large field of Democrats
would split the vote in California's jungle primary, allowing two
Republicans to advance, but with Trump boosting Hilton, it becomes
more likely that he and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff,
will be able to evenly split the GOP vote and
keep Democrats out of the runoff increasingly unlikely. Sorry, The
(04:45):
endorsement may also spare Democrats from having to spend heavily
to boost one of the Republican candidates themselves.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That's so weird. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's so weird the Democrats were going to spend to
boost one of the candidates. This is does this let
me ask you seriousness? I do I still have to
question on I want to know do you feel like
this is the kiss of death? Or is this the
king maker?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Like?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Will this help Steve Hilton in California or will this
hurt him? Or let's let's talk about this. How stupid
is this way of voting the Jungle primary? They've the
rank choice, like, like all this the way that this
is done?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How stupid is this? Right? You have the top two
that will advance.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And then because it's weird like this, what they'll do
is if they can get Swallowell to like fifteen percent
and while while while Hilton is at fifteen percent, then
maybe we'll spend to boost Bianco so that Steve will
lose some of his support and will and and we'll
(05:52):
spend to help Bianco because we know we can be
like that, that's what they're gonna do. And does that
feel like democracy to you?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Does that feel like? Does that feel like.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
We're really kind of trying to choose the best to
run the state of California?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Does that feel right to you?
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Everybody deep down knows that it's not. But this is
how we do things right. I mean, it's the same
way with the billionaire tax. Everybody knows that's going to
run billionaires out of the state, and yet we're probably
gonna pass it anyway because there'll be a lot of
misinformation and disinformation.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And that's the whole point.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Politics has become a game of misinformation and disinformation.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's no longer about like, look, here are my ideas.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And if you listen to Steve, by the way, he's
got some pretty good ideas for the state, like some
pretty good ideas, and they're not like crazy right wing
nutjob ideas.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I mean, not that I have.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Any issue with that, because I guess, I guess, I
guess I'm kind of a crazy right ring nut job.
But whatever, I mean, they're they're they're kind of like
if you sit down and listen to them, you and
be like, well, that's pretty that's pretty measured, you know,
that's pretty common sense.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I mean, even somebody on the left. I was at
Whole Foods today.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I like to go there sometimes and I will my
favorite sweater's it says it says.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Defund gun control. I like to go just because it's
funny to get reactions.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
But anyway, I went to I went to Whole Foods
today and there was this car in the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I almost took a picture of it.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
On one side they had stickers all over it, and
they were all leftist stickers, right like all the ones
that you see, all the usual suspects.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It was a super rude too, of course, it was.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So anyway, on one side of that, they had a
bumper sticker that said back the Constitution, not the President.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And I was like, okay, yeah, that's true. I can
agree with that.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Back the Constitution over the person who's in the office.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It doesn't matter who's in office.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I backed the Constitution, and the other side it said
it said tax the rich. And then of course down
the side they had all the note kings and all
that stuff, and it just so happened I parked there,
and then I went in this store, and when I
came out, it just so happened that I came out
behind the lady that that was her car. And I'm
telling you, dude, she was straight out of Central Casting.
(08:04):
I mean, no, no, no, exactly what you're imagining right
now would be driving that car is exactly what was
driving that car.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I'm not kidding you.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And I almost I wanted to say something because I
wanted to be like, do you see the contradiction in
what you've posted there?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Back the Constitution, not the person.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And then on the other side, yeah, and she had
the Nazi sticker too, She's like, I don't support Nazis
and all that kind of stuff, and the note kings
and everything was on there. Yeah, back the Constitution, not
the person, which again we agree with.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But then tax the rich And where.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
In the Constitution does it say to tax the rich
and nobody else. We didn't even have an income tax
until like nineteen thirteen, and then it was supposed to
be just one half of a percent. There's nothing in
the Constitution about taxing the rich. I mean, it's ridiculous anyway.
Side note, So I guess I guess my questions for
you are, do you think this helps or hurts Steve Hilton?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Because I've heard a lot of debates both ways.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I hear Republicans, here's what I hear. I feel like
people with conservative values are afraid to vehemently speak those
conservative values because they're afraid of what the media will
do to them, and then they're afraid that that will
(09:27):
cause them to lose. And to me, I feel like
that's the wrong way to approach politics. I want somebody
who has strong opinions. I don't have to agree with
every single one of them, as long as most of
them make common sense. And I don't necessarily care who
does or doesn't endorse a candidate when I make a decision.
(09:49):
So I'm not sitting around waiting to see, oh, well,
maybe I'll support him if if maybe Trump jumps in
right like that to me is I'm not interested in that.
I want to know what are the ideas of the person.
So I'm curious what you think. But I've heard arguments
that you know, it's not good, it's it's gonna they're
gonna capitalize on it. They just or you could just
(10:11):
campaign on great ideas, right, So that's one argument. The
other argument is that what I just said, you need
to just call it like you see it, and then
Americans in Californians are done with politicians who don't call
it like they say.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I mean, We've had to listen.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
To Gavin word Salad, you know, Kamala Harris Junior speak
for like eight years.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I mean, this guy can't he can't get through a
sentence without contradicting himself. And it's funny because the sentence
always sounds good. But then you go back and you
listen to you're like, wait a minute, he contradicted himself
four times in like eight words, like it's it's wild.
So I kind of feel like the people are hungry
for somebody that will actually say exactly how they feel.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So where do you Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Go to the live feed for COG on the iHeartRadio app,
click that red microphone and you can jump into conversation,
or you can go live one eight hundred and six
hundred Cogo. Steve Hilton will join us at the bottom
of the hour and we will determine what he feels
about this, whether or not he thinks it's a good
thing or a bad thing, and we'll talk about some
of those great ideas that he has for the state.
(11:18):
That's all coming up Leland Conway and for lou Penrose
News Radio six hundred COGO Live.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Trump should have stayed out of the governor's race of California.
With the jungle primary, Steve Hilton and the Chad Bianco
being the one and two would beat the Democrats easily,
So Trump should have stayed out of it.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, So here's the problem with like that from the
standpoint of like understanding Trump, there's a thing going on
over here in California where you have two Republicans leading
the way.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
He can't not weigh in. That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Like he can't not say something, no, no, I'm not
I understand the caller's point of view.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And he may be right right, Like I mean, believe me.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Tom Steyer, who's got billions of dollars, is going to
like play Trump's endorsement.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Over and over and over and over and over again.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Of Steve Hilton, and they're gonna do everything they can
to try to tear him down and get themselves up
to where they can jump and leapfrog and get into
that one and two position. And Trump may have given
him the necessity. But then there's the other side of it,
where also I think people are also tired of politicians
who don't speak their mind. And if you agree with
(12:42):
Trump on stuff like, what's wrong with that?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Right? I get it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What you're saying is we have a system here that
sucks and we have to play the system, right, Like,
that's the point.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Hit the talkback.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Go to the live feed for Coco on the IRA
radio app, click the red microphone and jump in.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You have thirty second.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Do you think that Trump weighing in on the governor's
race in California may have just hurt Steve Hilton's chances
or or Chad Bianco for that matter, right, because both
of them had they had the two of them, had
we if we continued on status quo.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Here's the thing that was interesting.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
There was about twenty weeks of polls that showed Steve
Hilton and Chad Bianco in the lead, like the two
of them one and two, and they kind of flipped
looped for a little while and then Steve kind of
got out in the front, and then Steve has maintained
that position of being in the front for several weeks
in the polls right now. So what that tells me
(13:39):
is that this is sustainable, meaning that the support between
between the two of them, the support is around thirty percent,
thirty five percent, somewhere between thirty and thirty five percent, okay,
And it's been that way consistently for about twenty weeks.
And the Democrats have been plotting how can we upset
this apple card? And if you remb remember a few
(14:00):
weeks ago there was a lot of talk about the
Democrats trying to force the Democratic charge. Party chairman came
out the big stories in the media. The media was
doing their part. They're always chuckle lugging for the left
and so so so there was this wave of stories
in the California media and then we're saying, hey, you know, uh,
if you're if you're in a Democrat and you're pulling
(14:20):
at two, three, four, five, six percent, why don't you
go ahead and get out and let some of these
other guys consolidate? Uh, some of the some of the
of the polls, right. They were trying to get Styre
and and.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Katie Porter and Swallwell.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Those are the three quote unquote elitists, if you will,
the old guard, the establishment Democrats, uh, And they were
trying to get them a little bit more support so
they could get up there and compete with Bianco and
Steve Hilton. I, for one, kind of think Steve has
has lasting power. I don't know if this helps or
(14:55):
hurts him with Trump jumping in, but I do think
he has lasting power because here's here's the way I
would look at it. At some point, if maybe this
will comfort you, Okay, I'm just gonna I'm gonna put
my political prognosticator hat on for just a minute. At
some point, the Democrats were going to do a dirty trick. Okay,
(15:15):
they were always going to do a dirty trick. And
the dirty trick that they were going to do, they
already telegraphed to us, Hey, if you're not Katie Porter,
Eric Swalwell or Tom Steyer, get out of the race
because we need to consolidate and really compete against these two.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That that was coming and maybe is still coming.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It probably is still coming because of the way the
system works.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So that's for real.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
So whether Trump comes in and does this or not,
but here's here's all he has to do, is he Look,
Katie Porter has no resonating support. Eric Swalwell has no
resonating support, and he's got his own problems legally right now.
I mean, the FBI is breathing down his neck over
the fang fang issue. And I know Lou went through
the whole thing with you guys a couple weeks ago,
(16:02):
kind of going back on the whole fang fang sleeping
with this Chinese spy and all that stuff. Like he's
got a bunch of stuff that's going to come pouring out.
And then Steyer has spent like millions of dollars and
he can't seem to get above that like nine percent
ten percent mark.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
So all three of the quote unquote.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Main candidates from the Democratic Party, they all have sustainability
problems as candidates. They all have likability problems. Ah Stier's
a likable guy. I shouldn't say that he's a likable dude.
I don't agree with him, but he's a likable dude.
He's the only one that's may be quasi likable, but
it's that there's a problem that they have there, right,
Like are the Democrats really going to elect a billionaire
(16:39):
after they try to tax billionaires?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Like, are they really going to do that?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Like that doesn't make any sense. So all three of
them have systemic problems in their campaign. Katie Porter the blowout,
you're in my shot, being mean to people, throwing stuff
at her husband, all that kind of stuff. And then
Swallwell's just Swallwell, He's an idiot. So they all have
sustainability problems. And through all of this, Steve Hilton and
Chad Bianco have been where they are and I feel
(17:04):
like if either one of them were to remove themselves
from this race, that thirty percent is gonna consolidate. So
tell me where Swalwell gets thirty percent. Tell me where
Katie Porter gets to thirty percent. From where they are
right now, I feel like Swallwell's kind of topped out
at about seventeen percent.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Now, if you ask.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The average Democrat Californian, Steve Hilton or Eric Swalwell, I
think there's a few Democrats that would be like, I'm
gonna go with Steve.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
He's common sense, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So I don't know we'll see if this ends up
helping her hurty, but we'll get his thoughts on that
next because I want to see what what does the
man Steve Hilton himself think about this?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's coming up Leland Kyway and for Loup Penrose is.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Wow in that news report, did you did I hear correctly?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Did she say that that pilot that was.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Rescued in Iran when he ejected from his plane thirty
six g's of force?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Like I look that up. I was like, can we
even survive that much? Apparently?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Like the max is around forty and it's very rare
that humans go through that. And somehow he then manages
to climb like seven thousand feet into the mountains and
hide in a freaking cave. We'll talk more about that later,
but that story is fascinating. It is Leland Conway sitting
in for Lou Penrose. I'm with you till seven tonight.
It's the all new lineup on news Radio six hundred
(18:27):
Coco Lou from three to three to five, then me
from five to seven. My buddy Mark Larson takes over
at seven till eight. Right now on the line is
Steve Hilton, the leading candidate for governor of California and
a Republican who got a big endorsement early this morning.
Not sure whether he was asking for it. Steve, welcome back.
(18:47):
How are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I'm very well, very happy. There was a lovely Easter present.
Got it just before midnight on Easter Sunday. So beautiful
day to have this news, and fantastic to be endorsed
by our president. It's a great honor, and I think
it's going to be great for all of us in
California because it means that I think it's now going
to be easier to unite our party on our side
(19:11):
to make sure that we get the Republican in the
top two, and then we can take the fight to
the Democrats and make the case for change and end
sixteen years of one party rule. So all in all,
it's fantastic news and I'm very proud in honor to
have this endorsement.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So from your perspective, it sounds like you don't agree
with the detractors who say that this is the political
kiss of death in a state like California, that Trump
should have stayed out of it altogether.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
No, No, it's ridiculous. I mean he's the president of our country,
right and he's the leader of the Republican Party. So
that's a ridiculous thing to say. And remember that there's
a very simple math here. If you look at the
number of people who voted for President Trump in California
(19:58):
in twenty twenty four, if every single one of those
people voted votes for me for governor in twenty twenty six,
I'll be elected governor. We did the math with two
hundred thousand votes to spare, because if you take the
estimate for turnout this year in the general action, it's
a midterm year, so it tends to be lower. It's
around eleven point seven million. To win, you need half
(20:20):
of that. Let's call it five point nine million. President
Trump got six point one million votes in California, and
so of course doesn't mean you're not going to get
one hundred percent of the turn up. But the point
I'm making that there are this is a much more
Republican state than people think. Trump support is much higher
than people think, and it can only help to energize
(20:42):
our party and make sure we get a very big
turnout for the election in November.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Well, your opponents on the Democratic side have struggled to
find any footing at all. I mean, Swallwell's got his
own trouble. We've mentioned that. There's another story that came
out today. I'll get into that a little bit later,
but that ain't going to be good. I read that headline,
I was like, well he got but you know, Katie
Porter can't seem to get supports. He's had some bad
moments in the media and styre the poor guy. He's
(21:07):
a nice fellow, but he just can't no matter how
many millions he's spending. Nobody seems to want to entertain
a billionaire for governor. So I failed to see how
how Trump jumping into this advances their cause.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Well, i'll tell you what. I'll tell you the argument,
and then i'll make the case against it. Okay, So
the argument is that in most of the polling this year,
this is correct. It's been two Republicans in the top two.
Usually I've been leading and Chad Bianco, the other Republican
in the race, slightly behind. Sometimes the gap is one
or two percent. Once or twice it's been hiss e
(21:41):
as four or five percent. I've been number one, he's
been number two, and most most often the Democrats have
been below that, and so a lot of Republicans have
been saying, oh, fantastic, we'll have two Republicans the top two.
That's never going to happen. That was always a fantasy,
the idea that the Democrat machine would just basically hand
over afford to the Republican baby set.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
This system up for a reason. They're not going to
let it work against them.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
And they know how to. More importantly, they know how
to manipulate it, as we saw, as we've seen before. Now,
the much more likely scenario, one that would have been
a complete disaster for us, is if we continue to
split the Republican vote roughly equally, then you could actually
see two Democrats in the top two. Because what's happening
(22:28):
is a bit of consolidation on their side. The machine
is getting behind Eric Swirlwell, you can see that he
got the FDIU, he got the teacher unions and Tom Steyer,
you're right to call out how ridiculous it is, but
actually he's you know, he's spent one hundred million dollars.
That money is actually delivering some results for him. He's
gone from two or three percent to eleven or twelve percent. Now,
(22:50):
there's plenty more money where that came from, so I
wouldn't be at all surprise if he spends another million
or another one hundred million just in the next month
to boost himself up. In words, you've got the machine
getting behind Swolwell Die with the money, and you could
imagine them both moving up and locking out the Republicans
(23:10):
if we continue to split the vote. That's why very important.
I've been saying this for months. We've got to get
behind one Republican candidate. It should be the leading candidate.
I was the leading candidate going into this endorsement last night,
and even more so coming out of it.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, and that makes a lot of sense when you
put it that way. Let's talk about some of your ideas.
We're talking with leading Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton here.
Let's talk about some of your ideas. A lot of
them sound like common sense to me. You propose something
that and I think you in the interview that you
proposed this. You said, Hey, I'm not necessarily talking about
(23:48):
purely Republican ideas. I'm talking about common sense ideas that
both sides could get behind. You proposed eliminating the income tax,
the state income tax for anyone may making less than
one hundred thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Well, it's not quite that it's eliminated. It's the first
hundred thousand tax free for everyone, including people who I
like it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Even more now exactly.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
It particularly helped. There's raising the threshold at which you
start paying the state income tax. Let's put it that way,
because everyone is paying too much. But it's disproportionately helps
the lower income Californians who are really being squeezed. But
it is a tax cut for everyone, So it's not
it's I just wanted to be accurate about the policy.
(24:38):
It's raising the threshold.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So and that actually makes more sense the way I
put that exactly.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
The way I put it is your first This applies
to everyone in California who pays tax, right, your first
one hundred grand tax free.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And I would like to see the Democrats argue against that,
because supposedly their constituency, you know, as the working man,
a lot of whom make less than that, which would
mean they would be tax free at a state level
from the get go for all of them. That would
be interesting to watch them try to campaign against that.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Do you think you can actually pull that off?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I mean, it sounds seems to me like that's something
you could take to a Democrat run legislature and go, hey,
why don't we do this, and they'd be kind of
dumb not to do it, exactly, And.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
It's you're totally right about that, And that will be
my approach when I'm elected in November and take office
in January, is to go to the legislature, because you know,
there are many many things as governor that you can
do directly without reference to the legislature. And you know,
for example, opening up California oil and gas productions and
dealing with some of these extortionate PAGA lawsuits, Private Attorney
(25:41):
General Act lawsuits that are driving businesses crazy, and there's
a long list, and it's getting I'm doing the work
to establish exactly what I can get done through executive orders,
replacing people in agencies and so on, and there's a
lot the government has a lot of power to make
things happen directly, but some things you have to do
with the legislature. Tax is one of them, and so
(26:05):
it is a negotiation. And so I think you're right,
are they really going to be against that. I mean
this for this is to help working people. And I'll
just give you one example what working people have been
screwed the most by these Democrat policies, And just to
give you an indication that policy has already been in
her words, stolen by one of my one of the
(26:26):
other governor candidates. That's Katie Porter, the Democrat. She we're
on the debate stage the other week last week, and
she very openly in you know, somewhat charming ways that
I just you know, it's a good idea, and I'll
take ideas wherever they are. And so the fact that
you've got a Democrat candidate for governor also now making
that case, I think shows you that actually we truly
(26:47):
have a good shot that implementing it, even with the
Democrat legislature. But of course remember that I'm working, I'll
be working to change that anyway, because we've got to
elect more Republicans to the legislature so that we end
the super.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Majority well and hopefully you'd have some coattails as well.
But all right, one more question before I let you go,
and I'm going to be talking about this later on
in the program, But the debacle of high speed rail
in California has now gone national. Sixty Minutes did a
devastating piece, devastating to Gavin Newsom, devastating to those that
have tried to put on this charade that this is
(27:20):
somehow going as planned. What will you do with it
as governor? And what do you make of the admission
in the sixty minutes piece of officials that a lot
of mistakes were made and we didn't quite understand how
this was going to roll out.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Well, we have to stop spending the money on it
because it's just throwing good money after bad and that
money needs to be spent on real transportation infrastructure improvements
that you help people. For example, the roads that we
we have the worst roads in the country officially fifties
out of fifty and you've got congestion. You know, we
(27:56):
need to be doing things that help our families, you know,
whether it's parents picking up their kids from school, local traffic,
or farmers trying to get their product out to market
along the highway. You know, there's just so much that
needs to be done through to improve the regular transportation infrastructure.
That's where we should be spending the money non on
this thing, but never made sense in the first place.
(28:16):
No one was asking for it. It's not going to
help It's an elitist idea. It's not going to help
people on a day to day basis across much of
the state. So we cannot be throwing good money after bad.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Well, Steve Hilton, congrats on the endorsement from the President
of the United States. Love the way you're thinking about
that and embracing it, and love that you're continuing to
put out those great ideas on how to make California better.
You know, I was driving through and I'll just say
this real quick, but I was driving through Tory Pines
the other day and I was looking at all the businesses,
and you know, driving around different areas of San Diego
(28:52):
and you see these amazing businesses that are headquartered here,
and you think about Silicon Valley and you think about it,
and I thought to myself, can you imagine what an
economic engine this state would be if its own government
would just get out of the way.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Exactly, that's exactly right. Well, when I'm there, that's exactly
what will happen.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I love it all right, Steve Hilton, thanks for your time.
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Thank you you as well. That's Steve Hilton.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
He is the leading Republican candidate for governor and of
course got a big endorsement from President Trump this morning,
saying that he's.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
A fine guy.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
He's known him for a long time, and he'll do
anything he can to help him try to turn California around.
That's what the President said this morning, paraphrasing just a
little bit, but good stuff. All right, when we continue,
my buddy Lou. If you're just tuning in, I'm sitting
in for Lou Penrose today. He's out on vacation through Thursday,
so he'll be back with you on Friday. I'm here
with you today and Thursday. But he's texting me and
(29:47):
he's got a problem in the Bahamas. Okay, we'll lay
this out for you. I think we're all gonna need
to collectively send up a prayer for my buddy Lou Penrose.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I'll explain why next you asked. All right, big, big,
big thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
To Steve Hilton for coming on the program after getting
his endorsement from President Trump first thing this morning.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
In the gubernatorial race, he of course is leading candidate
and a Republican and I think he's got a pretty
good shot. Pretty cool stuff. Leland Conways sitting in for
Luke Penrose. All right, Penrose Nation, We got a problem.
Uh So Lu's been texting me and I think we're
gonna need to get a prayer chain started here for him.
He is having a bad time in the Bahamas. Now,
finnerty he you note that on Friday he texted me
(30:33):
and said that there apparently was no legal alcohol served
in the Bahamas on Good Friday. Yes, he didn't know
that when he went, and he was questioning the whole
trip over that.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, And we we found him to be engaging in
some level of an illegal consumption of alcohol activity over
the weekend by finding some local speakeasies that would ben
the rules just for lou Now the problem has exacerbated itself.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
So we're gonna need to start a prayer chain.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Here's what I'm gonna suggest you do is send your
prayers via the talkback. Go to the live feed for
Coco on the iHeart radio app. Click that red microphone.
Here's the problem he's having today. Are you ready for this?
This is the text I got from lou about twenty
minutes ago. He says, So in the Bahamas, liquor stores
are also closed on Easter Monday too, whatever the hell
(31:22):
Easter Monday is.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Bro hasn't been able to buy alcohol legally for five days.
He's drying out. He's in the Mohammas thinking.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
He's like, he's already told you, guys, I'm out, I'm
gonna go have vacation. You're stuck with Leland for the
next few days, see ya when it want to be ya.
And then he gets there and they don't even sell
him alcohol and he's freaking out. So this is what
this is my ask of you, because we want our
buddy lou Pinrose to feel better about this situation.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
We need him to get the imvibations. Is that a
word doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
California State Constitution says talk show hosts can make up words.
It's Amendment five, Section two dot three seven four dash eight.
I think you mean libations. Libations, yes, okay, whatever, Well,
there can be a real word and then there could
be a made up word.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It's all good.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
But he needs the libations that he needs and so
we're praying. So please send your prayers via the talkback
for Lou Penrose.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
We're going to send them to him to make him
feel better, so that maybe.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
By Tuesday the liquor stores will be open and he
can get it. Damn Margarita, right, So send your send
your prayers. Go to the live feed for Coke on
the iHeartRadio app, click the red microphone and send your
prayer in for Lou Penrose as he vacations in the
beautiful Bahamas Sands. Alcohol apparently it is illegal. I love
(32:48):
that he said. Whatever the hell Easter Monday, Finnerdy and
I were trying to figure out what are you recovering from?
After Easter? Jesus already did the recovering, Like the ultimate recovery.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Was on Sunday he came alive again.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Right, What could you possibly be trying to recover from
on Monday?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I mean happiness?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I guess he has risen, right, Oh my gosh. All right,
so send your prayers to the talkback machine. Go to
the live feed for Coco on the iHeart radio app,
click that red microphone, and we will let Lou know
that we are standing in his corner. So much more
to get to today, we got problems with the railway system,
(33:34):
the high speed rail and coming up next, This story
about the rescued Air Force pilot is stunning and cool.
We'll dig into that as well. Leland Conway and for
Loupenrose
Ah, is it a king maker or the kiss of
political death?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We shall find out.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's Leland Conway sitting in for Loup Penrose, who was
on vacation. Not that me sitting in is the political
kiss of death for Lupenrose.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
But it might be, I don't know. We'll see.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
But Steve Hilton, the Republican who is leading the campaign
for governor in California, has gotten the endorsement of Orange
Man Bad. Now see he's going to join us at
the bottom of the hour and we'll talk this through
with them. But Politico already has a story up on this,
and this is kind of funny. The headline of the
(00:38):
story is Trump endorses Steve Hilton the govern's race, pretty straightforward,
but it says some Republicans had argued the party's best
shot at the governor's mansion depended on Trump staying out
of the contest.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Do you really think he can stay out of the contest?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Come on, So this is my question to you as
we dig into this. I want to know if you
think this is a good thing or if you think
this is a politically bad thing. Should Trump have just
stayed out of it and let this roll, or does
this help or does this hurt Steve Hilton? Right right now,
Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco are the sheriff Riverside County.
(01:12):
They're they're they're kind of neck and neck, but Hilton's
kind of pulled out. Between the two of them, there's
no Democrat if you just combine the two votes base
for percentagewise, for those two Republicans, there's nobody in the
race that even comes close to what the two of
them get together. But the question is, let's say Chad
(01:33):
Bianco were to back out, would all of his support
automatically go to Steve Hilton and vice versa?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And where do we where do we?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Where do we fall down on this Orange Man bad endorsement?
So corn to Politico, Trump endorsed former Fox News host
Steve Hilton in the California governor's race early this morning,
dealing this is the this is what they wrote, dealing
A now, this is what they say about Chad Bianco's campaign, says,
dealing a potentially fatal blow to GOP rival Chad Bianco's campaign,
(02:09):
but then to Republicans' hopes of locking Democrats out of
the run.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
A See, here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
This is why it may not have been wise for
Trump to do this, because if it does knock Chad
Bianco out of the race this early, where does that
support go? Does all of it come to Steve Hilton?
Are there people? You tell me? Are there people who
(02:37):
were voting? They were saying, you know what I'm gonna
I'm gonna go for that, cheer for Riverside County guy.
He's done a pretty good job. I'll go for that.
But I'm not necessarily a Republican, right or does this
force him on out?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And then all of that support comes on over to Steve?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
And now Steve has has a steamroll effect where he's
got just way more than anybody else. And remember he
only has to come in second right for there to
be a runoff. So that's I mean, this is the
way the jungle primary works. So it's going to be
the top two. So as long as he doesn't fall
to third. Where are the Democrats gonna coal as Coalesce?
(03:14):
I mean there's still Look if you add all of
the seven hundred and eighty two billion Democrats that are
running for governor, I guess if you throw all of
that in there, it has to be a majority does
that make Steve Hilton's run pale in comparison to where
it's been right now? Or that many Californians really that undecided?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Right? This is such a weird way of doing a
governor's race. Here's what Trump said.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
He said quote, I have known and respected Steve Hilton,
who is running for governor of California, for many years.
He is a truly fine man. One who has watched
h one who has watched as this once great state
has gone to hell. That's what Trump said on Troops
Social before bemoaning the state's leadership under Gavin new Some
Steve can turn it around before it's too late, and
(04:02):
as President, I will help him do so. According to Politico,
Trump's intervention comes despite some California Republicans arguing that that
the party's best, if narrow short that the party's best,
if narrow, shot at the governor's mansion depended on him
staying out of the contest in this heavily democratic state.
(04:23):
Republicans had been hoping that a large field of Democrats
would split the vote in California's jungle primary, allowing two
Republicans to advance, but with Trump boosting Hilton, it becomes
more likely that he and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff,
will be able to evenly split the GOP vote and
keep Democrats out of the runoff increasingly unlikely. Sorry, The
(04:45):
endorsement may also spare Democrats from having to spend heavily
to boost one of the Republican candidates themselves.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
That's so weird. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
That's so weird the Democrats were going to spend to
boost one of the candidates. This is does this let
me ask you seriousness? I do I still have to
question on I want to know do you feel like
this is the kiss of death? Or is this the
king maker?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Like?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Will this help Steve Hilton in California or will this
hurt him? Or let's let's talk about this. How stupid
is this way of voting the Jungle primary? They've the
rank choice, like, like all this the way that this
is done?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How stupid is this? Right? You have the top two
that will advance.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
And then because it's weird like this, what they'll do
is if they can get Swallowell to like fifteen percent
and while while while Hilton is at fifteen percent, then
maybe we'll spend to boost Bianco so that Steve will
lose some of his support and will and and we'll
(05:52):
spend to help Bianco because we know we can be
like that, that's what they're gonna do. And does that
feel like democracy to you?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Does that feel like? Does that feel like.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
We're really kind of trying to choose the best to
run the state of California?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Does that feel right to you?
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Everybody deep down knows that it's not. But this is
how we do things right. I mean, it's the same
way with the billionaire tax. Everybody knows that's going to
run billionaires out of the state, and yet we're probably
gonna pass it anyway because there'll be a lot of
misinformation and disinformation.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
And that's the whole point.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Politics has become a game of misinformation and disinformation.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's no longer about like, look, here are my ideas.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And if you listen to Steve, by the way, he's
got some pretty good ideas for the state, like some
pretty good ideas, and they're not like crazy right wing
nutjob ideas.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I mean, not that I have.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Any issue with that, because I guess, I guess, I
guess I'm kind of a crazy right ring nut job.
But whatever, I mean, they're they're they're kind of like
if you sit down and listen to them, you and
be like, well, that's pretty that's pretty measured, you know,
that's pretty common sense.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I mean, even somebody on the left. I was at
Whole Foods today.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I like to go there sometimes and I will my
favorite sweater's it says it says.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Defund gun control. I like to go just because it's
funny to get reactions.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
But anyway, I went to I went to Whole Foods
today and there was this car in the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I almost took a picture of it.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
On one side they had stickers all over it, and
they were all leftist stickers, right like all the ones
that you see, all the usual suspects.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It was a super rude too, of course, it was.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So anyway, on one side of that, they had a
bumper sticker that said back the Constitution, not the President.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And I was like, okay, yeah, that's true. I can
agree with that.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Back the Constitution over the person who's in the office.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It doesn't matter who's in office.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I backed the Constitution, and the other side it said
it said tax the rich. And then of course down
the side they had all the note kings and all
that stuff, and it just so happened I parked there,
and then I went in this store, and when I
came out, it just so happened that I came out
behind the lady that that was her car. And I'm
telling you, dude, she was straight out of Central Casting.
(08:04):
I mean, no, no, no, exactly what you're imagining right
now would be driving that car is exactly what was
driving that car.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I'm not kidding you.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And I almost I wanted to say something because I
wanted to be like, do you see the contradiction in
what you've posted there?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Back the Constitution, not the person.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And then on the other side, yeah, and she had
the Nazi sticker too, She's like, I don't support Nazis
and all that kind of stuff, and the note kings
and everything was on there. Yeah, back the Constitution, not
the person, which again we agree with.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But then tax the rich And where.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
In the Constitution does it say to tax the rich
and nobody else. We didn't even have an income tax
until like nineteen thirteen, and then it was supposed to
be just one half of a percent. There's nothing in
the Constitution about taxing the rich. I mean, it's ridiculous anyway.
Side note, So I guess I guess my questions for
you are, do you think this helps or hurts Steve Hilton?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Because I've heard a lot of debates both ways.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
I hear Republicans, here's what I hear. I feel like
people with conservative values are afraid to vehemently speak those
conservative values because they're afraid of what the media will
do to them, and then they're afraid that that will
(09:27):
cause them to lose. And to me, I feel like
that's the wrong way to approach politics. I want somebody
who has strong opinions. I don't have to agree with
every single one of them, as long as most of
them make common sense. And I don't necessarily care who
does or doesn't endorse a candidate when I make a decision.
(09:49):
So I'm not sitting around waiting to see, oh, well,
maybe I'll support him if if maybe Trump jumps in
right like that to me is I'm not interested in that.
I want to know what are the ideas of the person.
So I'm curious what you think. But I've heard arguments
that you know, it's not good, it's it's gonna they're
gonna capitalize on it. They just or you could just
(10:11):
campaign on great ideas, right, So that's one argument. The
other argument is that what I just said, you need
to just call it like you see it, and then
Americans in Californians are done with politicians who don't call
it like they say.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I mean, We've had to listen.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
To Gavin word Salad, you know, Kamala Harris Junior speak
for like eight years.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I mean, this guy can't he can't get through a
sentence without contradicting himself. And it's funny because the sentence
always sounds good. But then you go back and you
listen to you're like, wait a minute, he contradicted himself
four times in like eight words, like it's it's wild.
So I kind of feel like the people are hungry
for somebody that will actually say exactly how they feel.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So where do you Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Go to the live feed for COG on the iHeartRadio app,
click that red microphone and you can jump into conversation,
or you can go live one eight hundred and six
hundred Cogo. Steve Hilton will join us at the bottom
of the hour and we will determine what he feels
about this, whether or not he thinks it's a good
thing or a bad thing, and we'll talk about some
of those great ideas that he has for the state.
(11:18):
That's all coming up Leland Conway and for lou Penrose
News Radio six hundred COGO Live.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Trump should have stayed out of the governor's race of California.
With the jungle primary, Steve Hilton and the Chad Bianco
being the one and two would beat the Democrats easily,
So Trump should have stayed out of it.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, So here's the problem with like that from the
standpoint of like understanding Trump, there's a thing going on
over here in California where you have two Republicans leading
the way.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
He can't not weigh in. That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Like he can't not say something, no, no, I'm not
I understand the caller's point of view.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And he may be right right, Like I mean, believe me.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Tom Steyer, who's got billions of dollars, is going to
like play Trump's endorsement.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Over and over and over and over and over again.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Of Steve Hilton, and they're gonna do everything they can
to try to tear him down and get themselves up
to where they can jump and leapfrog and get into
that one and two position. And Trump may have given
him the necessity. But then there's the other side of it,
where also I think people are also tired of politicians
who don't speak their mind. And if you agree with
(12:42):
Trump on stuff like, what's wrong with that?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Right? I get it.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
What you're saying is we have a system here that
sucks and we have to play the system, right, Like,
that's the point.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Hit the talkback.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Go to the live feed for Coco on the IRA
radio app, click the red microphone and jump in.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You have thirty second.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Do you think that Trump weighing in on the governor's
race in California may have just hurt Steve Hilton's chances
or or Chad Bianco for that matter, right, because both
of them had they had the two of them, had
we if we continued on status quo.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Here's the thing that was interesting.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
There was about twenty weeks of polls that showed Steve
Hilton and Chad Bianco in the lead, like the two
of them one and two, and they kind of flipped
looped for a little while and then Steve kind of
got out in the front, and then Steve has maintained
that position of being in the front for several weeks
in the polls right now. So what that tells me
(13:39):
is that this is sustainable, meaning that the support between
between the two of them, the support is around thirty percent,
thirty five percent, somewhere between thirty and thirty five percent, okay,
And it's been that way consistently for about twenty weeks.
And the Democrats have been plotting how can we upset
this apple card? And if you remb remember a few
(14:00):
weeks ago there was a lot of talk about the
Democrats trying to force the Democratic charge. Party chairman came
out the big stories in the media. The media was
doing their part. They're always chuckle lugging for the left
and so so so there was this wave of stories
in the California media and then we're saying, hey, you know, uh,
if you're if you're in a Democrat and you're pulling
(14:20):
at two, three, four, five, six percent, why don't you
go ahead and get out and let some of these
other guys consolidate? Uh, some of the some of the
of the polls, right. They were trying to get Styre
and and.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Katie Porter and Swallwell.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Those are the three quote unquote elitists, if you will,
the old guard, the establishment Democrats, uh, And they were
trying to get them a little bit more support so
they could get up there and compete with Bianco and
Steve Hilton. I, for one, kind of think Steve has
has lasting power. I don't know if this helps or
(14:55):
hurts him with Trump jumping in, but I do think
he has lasting power because here's here's the way I
would look at it. At some point, if maybe this
will comfort you, Okay, I'm just gonna I'm gonna put
my political prognosticator hat on for just a minute. At
some point, the Democrats were going to do a dirty trick. Okay,
(15:15):
they were always going to do a dirty trick. And
the dirty trick that they were going to do, they
already telegraphed to us, Hey, if you're not Katie Porter,
Eric Swalwell or Tom Steyer, get out of the race
because we need to consolidate and really compete against these two.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That that was coming and maybe is still coming.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
It probably is still coming because of the way the
system works.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So that's for real.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
So whether Trump comes in and does this or not,
but here's here's all he has to do, is he Look,
Katie Porter has no resonating support. Eric Swalwell has no
resonating support, and he's got his own problems legally right now.
I mean, the FBI is breathing down his neck over
the fang fang issue. And I know Lou went through
the whole thing with you guys a couple weeks ago,
(16:02):
kind of going back on the whole fang fang sleeping
with this Chinese spy and all that stuff. Like he's
got a bunch of stuff that's going to come pouring out.
And then Steyer has spent like millions of dollars and
he can't seem to get above that like nine percent
ten percent mark.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
So all three of the quote unquote.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Main candidates from the Democratic Party, they all have sustainability
problems as candidates. They all have likability problems. Ah Stier's
a likable guy. I shouldn't say that he's a likable dude.
I don't agree with him, but he's a likable dude.
He's the only one that's may be quasi likable, but
it's that there's a problem that they have there, right,
Like are the Democrats really going to elect a billionaire
(16:39):
after they try to tax billionaires?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Like, are they really going to do that?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Like that doesn't make any sense. So all three of
them have systemic problems in their campaign. Katie Porter the blowout,
you're in my shot, being mean to people, throwing stuff
at her husband, all that kind of stuff. And then
Swallwell's just Swallwell, He's an idiot. So they all have
sustainability problems. And through all of this, Steve Hilton and
Chad Bianco have been where they are and I feel
(17:04):
like if either one of them were to remove themselves
from this race, that thirty percent is gonna consolidate. So
tell me where Swalwell gets thirty percent. Tell me where
Katie Porter gets to thirty percent. From where they are
right now, I feel like Swallwell's kind of topped out
at about seventeen percent.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Now, if you ask.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The average Democrat Californian, Steve Hilton or Eric Swalwell, I
think there's a few Democrats that would be like, I'm
gonna go with Steve.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
He's common sense, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So I don't know we'll see if this ends up
helping her hurty, but we'll get his thoughts on that
next because I want to see what what does the
man Steve Hilton himself think about this?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's coming up Leland Kyway and for Loup Penrose is.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Wow in that news report, did you did I hear correctly?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Did she say that that pilot that was.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Rescued in Iran when he ejected from his plane thirty
six g's of force?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Like I look that up. I was like, can we
even survive that much? Apparently?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Like the max is around forty and it's very rare
that humans go through that. And somehow he then manages
to climb like seven thousand feet into the mountains and
hide in a freaking cave. We'll talk more about that later,
but that story is fascinating. It is Leland Conway sitting
in for Lou Penrose. I'm with you till seven tonight.
It's the all new lineup on news Radio six hundred
(18:27):
Coco Lou from three to three to five, then me
from five to seven. My buddy Mark Larson takes over
at seven till eight. Right now on the line is
Steve Hilton, the leading candidate for governor of California and
a Republican who got a big endorsement early this morning.
Not sure whether he was asking for it. Steve, welcome back.
(18:47):
How are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I'm very well, very happy. There was a lovely Easter present.
Got it just before midnight on Easter Sunday. So beautiful
day to have this news, and fantastic to be endorsed
by our president. It's a great honor, and I think
it's going to be great for all of us in
California because it means that I think it's now going
to be easier to unite our party on our side
(19:11):
to make sure that we get the Republican in the
top two, and then we can take the fight to
the Democrats and make the case for change and end
sixteen years of one party rule. So all in all,
it's fantastic news and I'm very proud in honor to
have this endorsement.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So from your perspective, it sounds like you don't agree
with the detractors who say that this is the political
kiss of death in a state like California, that Trump
should have stayed out of it altogether.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
No, No, it's ridiculous. I mean he's the president of our country,
right and he's the leader of the Republican Party. So
that's a ridiculous thing to say. And remember that there's
a very simple math here. If you look at the
number of people who voted for President Trump in California
(19:58):
in twenty twenty four, if every single one of those
people voted votes for me for governor in twenty twenty six,
I'll be elected governor. We did the math with two
hundred thousand votes to spare, because if you take the
estimate for turnout this year in the general action, it's
a midterm year, so it tends to be lower. It's
around eleven point seven million. To win, you need half
(20:20):
of that. Let's call it five point nine million. President
Trump got six point one million votes in California, and
so of course doesn't mean you're not going to get
one hundred percent of the turn up. But the point
I'm making that there are this is a much more
Republican state than people think. Trump support is much higher
than people think, and it can only help to energize
(20:42):
our party and make sure we get a very big
turnout for the election in November.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Well, your opponents on the Democratic side have struggled to
find any footing at all. I mean, Swallwell's got his
own trouble. We've mentioned that. There's another story that came
out today. I'll get into that a little bit later,
but that ain't going to be good. I read that headline,
I was like, well he got but you know, Katie
Porter can't seem to get supports. He's had some bad
moments in the media and styre the poor guy. He's
(21:07):
a nice fellow, but he just can't no matter how
many millions he's spending. Nobody seems to want to entertain
a billionaire for governor. So I failed to see how
how Trump jumping into this advances their cause.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Well, i'll tell you what. I'll tell you the argument,
and then i'll make the case against it. Okay, So
the argument is that in most of the polling this year,
this is correct. It's been two Republicans in the top two.
Usually I've been leading and Chad Bianco, the other Republican
in the race, slightly behind. Sometimes the gap is one
or two percent. Once or twice it's been hiss e
(21:41):
as four or five percent. I've been number one, he's
been number two, and most most often the Democrats have
been below that, and so a lot of Republicans have
been saying, oh, fantastic, we'll have two Republicans the top two.
That's never going to happen. That was always a fantasy,
the idea that the Democrat machine would just basically hand
over afford to the Republican baby set.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
This system up for a reason. They're not going to
let it work against them.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
And they know how to. More importantly, they know how
to manipulate it, as we saw, as we've seen before. Now,
the much more likely scenario, one that would have been
a complete disaster for us, is if we continue to
split the Republican vote roughly equally, then you could actually
see two Democrats in the top two. Because what's happening
(22:28):
is a bit of consolidation on their side. The machine
is getting behind Eric Swirlwell, you can see that he
got the FDIU, he got the teacher unions and Tom Steyer,
you're right to call out how ridiculous it is, but
actually he's you know, he's spent one hundred million dollars.
That money is actually delivering some results for him. He's
gone from two or three percent to eleven or twelve percent. Now,
(22:50):
there's plenty more money where that came from, so I
wouldn't be at all surprise if he spends another million
or another one hundred million just in the next month
to boost himself up. In words, you've got the machine
getting behind Swolwell Die with the money, and you could
imagine them both moving up and locking out the Republicans
(23:10):
if we continue to split the vote. That's why very important.
I've been saying this for months. We've got to get
behind one Republican candidate. It should be the leading candidate.
I was the leading candidate going into this endorsement last night,
and even more so coming out of it.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, and that makes a lot of sense when you
put it that way. Let's talk about some of your ideas.
We're talking with leading Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton here.
Let's talk about some of your ideas. A lot of
them sound like common sense to me. You propose something
that and I think you in the interview that you
proposed this. You said, Hey, I'm not necessarily talking about
(23:48):
purely Republican ideas. I'm talking about common sense ideas that
both sides could get behind. You proposed eliminating the income tax,
the state income tax for anyone may making less than
one hundred thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Well, it's not quite that it's eliminated. It's the first
hundred thousand tax free for everyone, including people who I
like it.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Even more now exactly.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
It particularly helped. There's raising the threshold at which you
start paying the state income tax. Let's put it that way,
because everyone is paying too much. But it's disproportionately helps
the lower income Californians who are really being squeezed. But
it is a tax cut for everyone, So it's not
it's I just wanted to be accurate about the policy.
(24:38):
It's raising the threshold.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So and that actually makes more sense the way I
put that exactly.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
The way I put it is your first This applies
to everyone in California who pays tax, right, your first
one hundred grand tax free.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
And I would like to see the Democrats argue against that,
because supposedly their constituency, you know, as the working man,
a lot of whom make less than that, which would
mean they would be tax free at a state level
from the get go for all of them. That would
be interesting to watch them try to campaign against that.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Do you think you can actually pull that off?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I mean, it sounds seems to me like that's something
you could take to a Democrat run legislature and go, hey,
why don't we do this, and they'd be kind of
dumb not to do it, exactly, And.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
It's you're totally right about that, And that will be
my approach when I'm elected in November and take office
in January, is to go to the legislature, because you know,
there are many many things as governor that you can
do directly without reference to the legislature. And you know,
for example, opening up California oil and gas productions and
dealing with some of these extortionate PAGA lawsuits, Private Attorney
(25:41):
General Act lawsuits that are driving businesses crazy, and there's
a long list, and it's getting I'm doing the work
to establish exactly what I can get done through executive orders,
replacing people in agencies and so on, and there's a
lot the government has a lot of power to make
things happen directly, but some things you have to do
with the legislature. Tax is one of them, and so
(26:05):
it is a negotiation. And so I think you're right,
are they really going to be against that. I mean
this for this is to help working people. And I'll
just give you one example what working people have been
screwed the most by these Democrat policies, And just to
give you an indication that policy has already been in
her words, stolen by one of my one of the
(26:26):
other governor candidates. That's Katie Porter, the Democrat. She we're
on the debate stage the other week last week, and
she very openly in you know, somewhat charming ways that
I just you know, it's a good idea, and I'll
take ideas wherever they are. And so the fact that
you've got a Democrat candidate for governor also now making
that case, I think shows you that actually we truly
(26:47):
have a good shot that implementing it, even with the
Democrat legislature. But of course remember that I'm working, I'll
be working to change that anyway, because we've got to
elect more Republicans to the legislature so that we end
the super.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Majority well and hopefully you'd have some coattails as well.
But all right, one more question before I let you go,
and I'm going to be talking about this later on
in the program, But the debacle of high speed rail
in California has now gone national. Sixty Minutes did a
devastating piece, devastating to Gavin Newsom, devastating to those that
have tried to put on this charade that this is
(27:20):
somehow going as planned. What will you do with it
as governor? And what do you make of the admission
in the sixty minutes piece of officials that a lot
of mistakes were made and we didn't quite understand how
this was going to roll out.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Well, we have to stop spending the money on it
because it's just throwing good money after bad and that
money needs to be spent on real transportation infrastructure improvements
that you help people. For example, the roads that we
we have the worst roads in the country officially fifties
out of fifty and you've got congestion. You know, we
(27:56):
need to be doing things that help our families, you know,
whether it's parents picking up their kids from school, local traffic,
or farmers trying to get their product out to market
along the highway. You know, there's just so much that
needs to be done through to improve the regular transportation infrastructure.
That's where we should be spending the money non on
this thing, but never made sense in the first place.
(28:16):
No one was asking for it. It's not going to
help It's an elitist idea. It's not going to help
people on a day to day basis across much of
the state. So we cannot be throwing good money after bad.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Well, Steve Hilton, congrats on the endorsement from the President
of the United States. Love the way you're thinking about
that and embracing it, and love that you're continuing to
put out those great ideas on how to make California better.
You know, I was driving through and I'll just say
this real quick, but I was driving through Tory Pines
the other day and I was looking at all the businesses,
and you know, driving around different areas of San Diego
(28:52):
and you see these amazing businesses that are headquartered here,
and you think about Silicon Valley and you think about it,
and I thought to myself, can you imagine what an
economic engine this state would be if its own government
would just get out of the way.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Exactly, that's exactly right. Well, when I'm there, that's exactly
what will happen.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I love it all right, Steve Hilton, thanks for your time.
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Thank you you as well. That's Steve Hilton.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
He is the leading Republican candidate for governor and of
course got a big endorsement from President Trump this morning,
saying that he's.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
A fine guy.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
He's known him for a long time, and he'll do
anything he can to help him try to turn California around.
That's what the President said this morning, paraphrasing just a
little bit, but good stuff. All right, when we continue,
my buddy Lou. If you're just tuning in, I'm sitting
in for Lou Penrose today. He's out on vacation through Thursday,
so he'll be back with you on Friday. I'm here
with you today and Thursday. But he's texting me and
(29:47):
he's got a problem in the Bahamas. Okay, we'll lay
this out for you. I think we're all gonna need
to collectively send up a prayer for my buddy Lou Penrose.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I'll explain why next you asked. All right, big, big,
big thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
To Steve Hilton for coming on the program after getting
his endorsement from President Trump first thing this morning.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
In the gubernatorial race, he of course is leading candidate
and a Republican and I think he's got a pretty
good shot. Pretty cool stuff. Leland Conways sitting in for
Luke Penrose. All right, Penrose Nation, We got a problem.
Uh So Lu's been texting me and I think we're
gonna need to get a prayer chain started here for him.
He is having a bad time in the Bahamas. Now,
finnerty he you note that on Friday he texted me
(30:33):
and said that there apparently was no legal alcohol served
in the Bahamas on Good Friday. Yes, he didn't know
that when he went, and he was questioning the whole
trip over that.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, And we we found him to be engaging in
some level of an illegal consumption of alcohol activity over
the weekend by finding some local speakeasies that would ben
the rules just for lou Now the problem has exacerbated itself.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
So we're gonna need to start a prayer chain.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Here's what I'm gonna suggest you do is send your
prayers via the talkback. Go to the live feed for
Coco on the iHeart radio app. Click that red microphone.
Here's the problem he's having today. Are you ready for this?
This is the text I got from lou about twenty
minutes ago. He says, So in the Bahamas, liquor stores
are also closed on Easter Monday too, whatever the hell
(31:22):
Easter Monday is.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Bro hasn't been able to buy alcohol legally for five days.
He's drying out. He's in the Mohammas thinking.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
He's like, he's already told you, guys, I'm out, I'm
gonna go have vacation. You're stuck with Leland for the
next few days, see ya when it want to be ya.
And then he gets there and they don't even sell
him alcohol and he's freaking out. So this is what
this is my ask of you, because we want our
buddy lou Pinrose to feel better about this situation.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
We need him to get the imvibations. Is that a
word doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
California State Constitution says talk show hosts can make up words.
It's Amendment five, Section two dot three seven four dash eight.
I think you mean libations. Libations, yes, okay, whatever, Well,
there can be a real word and then there could
be a made up word.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
It's all good.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
But he needs the libations that he needs and so
we're praying. So please send your prayers via the talkback
for Lou Penrose.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
We're going to send them to him to make him
feel better, so that maybe.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
By Tuesday the liquor stores will be open and he
can get it. Damn Margarita, right, So send your send
your prayers. Go to the live feed for Coke on
the iHeartRadio app, click the red microphone and send your
prayer in for Lou Penrose as he vacations in the
beautiful Bahamas Sands. Alcohol apparently it is illegal. I love
(32:48):
that he said. Whatever the hell Easter Monday, Finnerdy and
I were trying to figure out what are you recovering from?
After Easter? Jesus already did the recovering, Like the ultimate recovery.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Was on Sunday he came alive again.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Right, What could you possibly be trying to recover from
on Monday?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I mean happiness?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I guess he has risen, right, Oh my gosh. All right,
so send your prayers to the talkback machine. Go to
the live feed for Coco on the iHeart radio app,
click that red microphone, and we will let Lou know
that we are standing in his corner. So much more
to get to today, we got problems with the railway system,
(33:34):
the high speed rail and coming up next, This story
about the rescued Air Force pilot is stunning and cool.
We'll dig into that as well. Leland Conway and for
Loupenrose
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