April 4, 2024 • 30 mins
Jennifer introduces her new collaboration with CenterClip.com and shares five of her short audio opeds ranging in topics from politics to the economy.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Is it just me? Or havewe all lost our minds? It's a
question I've been asking myself on repeatfor the last eight years, and I
know I'm not alone in that.Is it the politics, is it the
culture? Or am I just gettingold? Hi? I'm Jennifer Horn and
I'm a former Republican strategist and partyleader turned independent sanity activist. I decided
(00:25):
to do this podcast so we couldexplore these questions. I'll bring experts to
the table from politics, and mediaand culture. We'll have raw, insightful
conversations with the clear goal of gettingto the bottom of it all. One
way or another. We've all lostour minds, and I hope you'll join
us on the journey to find themagain. Hi. This is Jennifer Horn
(00:47):
and welcome to Is It Just Me? Or Have we All Lost our Minds?
I'm very excited to bring you somenews today about the podcast. Going
forward, we will be producing inpartnership with center Clip. You can find
center Clip at centerclip dot com oron their app, which is free and
you can download it also called Centerclip. It's an exciting new platform that offers
(01:12):
five minute audio clips on everything frompolitics to culture to business, the economy,
whatever is happening in the world,we're talking about it over at Centerclip.
Now, those posts, as Isaid, are just five minute audio
clips. We're going to continue todo the more in depth interviews here at
(01:33):
Is it just me or have weall lost our minds here at the podcast?
But I'm going to start this newpartnership by sharing with you today instead
of a regular interview, a numberof my more recent clips from Center Clip,
so that we can introduce you towhat's happening there and every now and
then going forward, when we havesomething exciting going on or that I think
(01:57):
you'll be particularly interested in, I'llbring some of my posts from Center Clip
and share them with you here aswell. Maybe once a month we'll do
something like that. But I don'twant you to think that we're going to
be losing the interviews or our focuson why we exist here at the podcast.
The most important thing that we arefocusing on, whether it's the podcast
(02:20):
or the work I do over atCenter Clip, is to make sure that
ours is a voice of defense fordemocracy, that we are focused on what
matters, what will actually make adifference in this election cycle, and to
make sure that Donald Trump never seesthe inside of the Oval office ever again,
(02:42):
so be sure to come back nextweek. We'll have another one of
our interview interviews ready and waiting foryou. But in the meantime, like
I said, I'm really excited tointroduce you to this, to this new
platform, Center Clip and to beable to bring some of those posts here
to you at the podcast. Socontinue to look for us wherever you listen
to your podcasts. We are goingto continue to bring you interviews, and
(03:07):
I hope that you will also beginto look for me at Center Clip again
where some of those five minute audioop eds we post them much more frequently,
sometimes three or four times a week. So I thank you for listening
today and enjoy these. I thinkwe've got five or six of those Center
Clip posts for you to listen totoday. Hi, this is Jennifer Horne,
(03:36):
host of Is It just Me?Or Have We All Lost our Minds?
Coming to you today on Center Clips. Today, the day that we
see Ron and Romney McDaniel has losther role as a commentator at NBC News
just four days after they and aftershe got it. Her media career was
short lived, and that is forthe best for both journalism and for democracy
(04:00):
in America. Today, NBC Universal'schair made the announcement today. He took
full responsibility for the hire. AndI would say NBC very clearly showed very
poor judgment in bringing her on asa source or as some sort of a
trusted voice. But they also showa character in ending that relationship quickly and
(04:21):
succinctly and frankly. I think thebigger issue here that really deserves our attention
is Rana's role as RNC chairwoman.To begin with, I think it's incredibly
important that history must record her rolein Trump's assault on democracy accurately, that
(04:41):
it is clear. It is notenough that Donald Trump take responsibility in the
annals of history. It's very importantthat all of those individuals around him that
empowered him, protected him, liftedhim up, being named identified, that
the role they played in it isclearly defined, not just for us to
understand now, but for everyone inour country to understand tomorrow, so that
(05:06):
when history looks back on this dayand when we finally reach a point where
the majority of Americans want to understandhow this happened and how to avoid it
in the future, all of thetruth is there that the truth is recorded,
and Rona played a significant role inall of this. She was the
(05:29):
voice for the party. I know. In her interview this past Sunday on
Meet the Press, she wanted toexplain her role as chairwoman that sometimes you
have to be the voice for theparty, but now I get to be
the voice for myself, as iftrying to convince us that when she spoke
for the party, she didn't speakfor herself. That's not true, It's
not accurate. It can't be.If what you have to say and do
(05:53):
as chair of the party is somehowin conflict with your personal ethics and integrity,
then you need to leave that roleas chair of the party. Is
that she clearly defined in that answerexactly what it is that happens to people
when they get a little bit ofpower, a little bit of recognition,
they start to lose a lot ofintegrity. She was involved in the President's
(06:15):
attempts to pressure members of the canvassingboard in Wayne County in Michigan. She
was involved in their pressuring of theRepublican chairwoman Janelle Fulmer in Arkansas to bring
their state into the Texas lawsuit.Afterward, throughout his presidency. Rona Ronny
(06:38):
McDaniel was a voice of defense,of protection and really empowering, uplifting,
always in defense of Donald Trump,whether it was about policies like the literally
putting children at the border in cages, whether it was about his calls to
(07:01):
foreign leaders trying to bribe them tohelp him influence the outcome of his election,
his praise and copyfat behavior of dictatorsand tyrants around the world, His
failed policies in the environment and theeconomy, his lies and his failures throughout
(07:25):
the days of COVID, his withdrawalof support for the LGBT community and education
and housing, his rewriting of theR and C platform. I can go
on and on talking about everything thatrun Aroundney McDaniel lied about and protected the
president war during her time as chairmanof the party. The most important thing
(07:49):
out of all of this is notthat I know it or that you know
it, but that history knows it. That when people in the future look
back on these dark days where amajor American political party launched an all out
assault on democracy, that Ronna RomneyMcDaniel's name is in that report. Hi,
(08:15):
this is Jennifer Horne, host ofis it just me or have we
all lost our minds? Coming toyou today on Center Clip Friday at Center
Clip means that our topic of theday is winters, losers, and kind
of predictions. Looking ahead. Andthere's a story out, a poll out
from CNN today that has me lookingahead and thinking about what's next in this
(08:39):
presidential race. It's a poll thatTrent is trying to gauge where the folks
in Michigan and Pennsylvania are at rightnow as far as this race goes.
And if you remember, looking backto twenty twenty, Biden won both of
those states when he defeated Trump.These are two states that flipped to Democrat
(09:01):
when Biden won them. And theseare two states that it's really hard to
imagine winning the White House this yearwithout winning Michigan and Pennsylvania. So what
are we seeing in this poll.We're seeing that Biden's twenty twenty coalition is
not holding as strong as he needsit to in order to win these seats.
(09:22):
Now, I'm not saying the raceis overlook Biden's losing, not even
close. In fact, kind ofthe opposite. I'm saying there's plenty of
time for him to make inroads wherehe needs to, and I hope that
he and his people are taking thispolls seriously. What it showed, among
other things in Pennsylvania that Biden andTrump are neck and neck, and their
neck and neck, by the way, at forty six percent, which I
(09:43):
think is interesting, Women, minorities, college grads, independents, those voters
that really made up that coalition forBiden in twenty twenty are holding the you
know, holding wall for him rightnow. But again, it's neck and
neck. It's forty six forty six. He has got to make greater strides
(10:07):
in Pennsylvania if he's going to winthat state. Michigan it's worse even his
coalition is sort of falling apart there. Trump is ahead of him in Michigan
by eight points. Women are split, Biden trails with independents and young voters.
His coalition is it's kind of hardto say that he has a really
strong coalition there at all right nowbecause of those numbers, and so it
(10:31):
kind of becomes what does that mean, you know, how will that impact
the race going forward? Well,a quarter of those people say they could
change their mind between now and electionday, and more than half of them
are not happy with their choices.So Biden's got his work to do.
But that quarter of those people,that's his gait, right, that is
(10:54):
his entry to being able to winover these two states. And the other
thing that I think is really important, and I didn't see any reference to
the piece that I read about thispoll to Hispanic voters. Hispanic voters account
for five point seven percent of votersof the population in Michigan, and so
(11:15):
that is a state and frankly,I probably should have looked at Pennsylvania as
well. That is a state whereI believe that Biden can genuinely make strides
with Hispanic voters. And if youlook at the numbers regarding the Hispanic voters
across the country, there is agreat opportunity for Biden to increase his numbers
(11:37):
amongst Hispanic voters. If you're notfollowing Mike Madrid at Madrid Underscore Mike on
Twitter, you should be. Heis an expert in this and it's fascinating
to listen to what he has tosay about it. But this poll,
I think should shows real concern forthe Biden campaign. And I think over
the next month and two or threemonths, you will start to see the
(12:00):
obvious signs of how Biden will bekind of shifting his strategy in these two
states. He needs to be talkingabout jobs, he needs to be talking
about housing policy. He needs tobe talking in general about his economic accomplishments
over the past three years. Andhe has many. He hasn't plenty to
(12:22):
reference, but these are two stateswhere he really needs to hone in on
that message if he wants to beable to win them. So and again,
with the Hispanic vote, particularly inMichigan, I think there's an opportunity
for him there. So that's asI'm looking ahead. I will be looking
to see how Joe Biden adjusts hiscampaign strategy and his message as these numbers
(12:48):
and others similar to them start tocome out in the polls. Hi,
this is Jennifer Horne, host ofIs it just Me? Or Have we
all lost our minds? Coming toyou today on Center Clip. As the
House of Representatives has passed the omnibusbill that was necessary in order to keep
(13:09):
government up and running. As anindependent voter who generally leans right of center,
the fact that it enjoyed broad bipartisansupport would suggest to me that there
were probably a lot of compromises inthis bill, and there are things in
it that I appreciate things that Idon't appreciate, And to me, that's
(13:33):
a sign that it was probably nota terrible bill. Those days of compromising
and getting a little of this andgiving up a little of that seemed to
be far behind us, and Ithink we have forgotten the value of that.
But what I want, the partof this that i'd really like to
bring your attention to today are theremarks made by Marjorie Taylor Green during this
process when she took to the microphoneto fight very aggressively against the passage of
(13:58):
this bill. Amongst the most extrememembers of the Republican majority, they would
rather see government shut down. Thatis their preference in these cases, without
any consideration for the impact that thathas on millions of Americans, the economic
impact, the jobs impact, thehealthcare impact, all the things that you
(14:20):
know, what happens at the VA, what happens at you know in a
number of ways where Americans are directlyimpacted by it when the government shuts down.
So why was she so worried aboutthis and why did she embrace the
idea of shutting down the government?Well, according to her remarks, was
it was primarily an issue with theborder, and as so often happens when
(14:43):
the extreme right talks about the border, she was incapable of hiding the racist
undertones that come with this argument fromthis particular group of Republicans, and frankly
a larger group of Republicans. Unfortunately, every time they discussed the or exact
words, among other things, wasthat by her concern about the illegal immigrants
(15:07):
coming into the country from various countriesaround the world, and the result of
that being that they, as shesays, rape our women and murder our
people, and they use that specificlanguage over and over and over again,
thousands of times talking about raping ourwomen. And there have been cases of
(15:28):
rape and crimes committed by illegal immigrants. If you listen to and believed Marjorie
Taylor Greens, it's happening millions oftimes in our country, and we all
know that that is false. Theyuse this language and they paint this picture
for the specific purpose of engaging racistAmericans, of engaging the worst fears that
(15:52):
many Americans have. They want votersto be frightened, They want voters to
blow their fear on them. Theyothers, people who look different, who
sound different. They want voters tolook at every possible issue that they can
(16:14):
as being a division between those ofus who care about people and love our
country and those of us who thinkit's okay to have illegal immigrants rape their
women. It is a racist trope. It is extremely destructive. And what
we saw the follow up from MarjorieTaylor Green on this today, as we
(16:36):
saw, was that she's also filedemotion to vacate the chair. She's decided
that this omnibus bill that again enjoyedwide bipartisan support, is worth sending the
House of Representatives and as a result, the country back into another chaotic episode
(16:56):
of dismissing the chair and have tovote again and refill that position with yet
another probably extremely conservative, extreme policyoriented Republican individual. This is so destructive
on so many levels. She filedthis in a manner where it will not
(17:18):
be voted on immediately. They itcould be weeks, it could be months,
it could you know, fester incommittee. But sooner or later,
as she made very clear, theyare going to call for the vote and
she's going to put us through itall all over again, all for the
sake of racism. Hi, thisis Jennifer Horn, host DUB Is it
(17:44):
just me or have we all lostour minds? Coming to you today on
Center Cliff. The catastrophic collapse ofthe Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has
cost six families, a loss thatwe cannot calculate, that we cannot understand.
There were eight men working on thebridge that night, and tragically,
six of them are presumed dead.That's the kind of heartbreak from which most
(18:07):
people would never recover. As thosefamilies in the community continue to process that
truly heartbreaking loss, across America,we are learning what the economic impact of
this awful event could be as well. While there's a debate about whether or
not the twentieth century bridge could havesurvived if built with twenty first century technology
(18:30):
and knowledge, there's no question thatthe disruption of traffic flow, both on
the bridge and in the port willcarry a significant economic loss. The Key
Bridge is a part of the Isixty nine I six ninety five Spur,
which is a link in the Ininety five corridor, largely considered one of
the busiest interstates in the country.A loss of access to the Key Bridge
(18:52):
will have a significant impact on transportationindustries. It will create logistical challenges,
create breight delays, and increase thecost of shipping overall across industries, which
will ultimately be passed on as acost to consumers. The direct impact on
commerce is already being felt. TheBaltimore Port is the ninth largest by trade
(19:15):
volume in the country. When thecontainer ships struck the bridge, there are
already other ships waiting to enter theport. Coal is exported out of the
Baltimore Port, Cars and heavy equipmentare imported in through the port, and
of the Amazon and Home Depot havemajor distribution centers set up right beside the
(19:36):
port. Ships loaded with cars andheavy equipment will have to find other ports
to unload and will likely be absorbedby ports up and down the East Coast,
which will cause of course disruptions andmore delays, and the operations of
the port will likely be affected bythis four months. This isn't just a
Marriland issue or just a North Southshipping problem among them. Fifty two point
(20:00):
three million tons of foreign cargo processedthrough the port last year was one point
three million tons of agricultural equipment andconstruction machinery. Baltimore is the closest mid
Atlantic port to key Midwest markets,which include the majority of our nation's farms.
Transportation Secretary Pete Boudhajiev said it wastoo early to tell how long it
(20:26):
would take to clear the bridge recorge, and you know, of course that's
the case. Too early to tellhow long it will take to reopen the
Baltimore Port. The bottom line isthat supply chains in those industries served by
the port will be impacted severely,and while of course it won't compare to
what we saw with the pandemic,it will have an impact and an economic
(20:48):
cost to millions of Americans across thiscountry in so many ways. It will
impact the travel, the transportation,the cost of shipping, the access to
the the items shift. Again,you can look at the pandemic shipping delays
and disruption of supply chains to understandwhat happens. It doesn't begin to compare
(21:12):
in size, but that's the typeof impact this is going to have,
and the most difficult will be forthose American families and individuals who are already
living and economically tight life and willbe impacted by the way this increases costs
(21:32):
and delays access to important goods acrossthe spectrum. Hi, this is Jennifer
Horne, host of Is it justMe or Have we all lost our minds?
Coming to you today on Center clipas No Labels is once again kind
of front and center, at leastfor the moment in this presidential cycle.
(21:55):
They announced today that they will beputting together a panel of folks from the
organization and a panel that includes kindof represents the full spectrum of their organization
to choose who will run on theirunity ticket. As they've been telling us
for over a year now, theyplan on putting a unity ticket together or
(22:15):
we have one Republican, one Democrat. They are committed to it. They're
going forward, and as of todaythey have let us know now what the
process is going to be. Andof course there are still all these folks
very up in arms about the wholething. The concern with the No Labels
and the idea of an independent ticketof any sort that might have any kind
of credibility or financing behind it isthat it will act as a spoiler and
(22:38):
open the gate for Trump to moveforward and become the next president of the
United States, which I think allclear thinking, rational democracy loving people in
this country want to make sure thatwe avoid no labels. Has assured us
repeatedly that their numbers show that thiskind of a ticket could actually win.
(23:00):
And here's what's been my issue withthat all along, and this is the
question that they are now going tohave to answer. They have been avoiding
it. They've shown a lot oftheir research and a lot of their numbers,
and they swear that they are committedto not doing anything that would allow
Donald Trump back in the White House. They claim, and I don't personally
(23:22):
have any reason to question disclaim thatthey are truly looking for an independent ticket
that will satisfy the desires of themajority of the American people who don't want
it, who say they really don'twant to see another rematch between Biden and
Trump, and to believe that thetwo parties are both broken and essentially need
a political kick in the butt,and they think that this can do it
(23:45):
strategically data wise. What they've nevertold us is they say that they have
these numbers, and again I dobelieve it that over sixty some percent of
the American people, maybe more overseventy percent, say that they would consider
an independent ticket with one Republican andone Democrat. The problem is what they
(24:07):
haven't told us, whether they haven'tasked or they just haven't shared. It
is what happens when you say tosomebody who is a Republican voter, would
you consider an independent ticket with oneRepublican and one Democrat and the Democrat is
at the top of the ticket andthe Republican is there vice president or vice
versa. We don't know what thosenumbers are on my experience would suggest that
(24:30):
that seventy percent drops dramatically because Ijust think that we are so in we
have our political biases so ingrained inus in this country that you might say,
boy, it's broken. Both partiesare broken. This is terrible.
But I always vote Republican. Icould never vote for a Democrat or president
(24:52):
and again vice versa. And weknow this is true all the polling.
We've seen it over and over andover for decades. We know this is
true. I think that if they'regoing to put together this unity ticket,
and they've made it clear that theyare, then the next step is they
need to start sharing more of thedata that they have gathered with the American
people, because it's an honest concernthat an independent ticket would open the gate
(25:18):
again for Trump to end up backin the White House. Nobody rational,
nobody, clear thinking, nobody,democracy loving and democracy valuing wants that to
happen. So I am, intheory, very much supportive of the idea
of an independent ticket, because Ithink that anybody who has something to contribute
(25:38):
and wants to run a credible andis able to run a credible race,
they belong there. That's part ofwhat our democracy is about, if they
have enough support from the voters,from the American people. But I'm also
amongst those who believe very strongly thatthe most important thing this year, above
everything else, beyond partisanship, beyondpolitics, beyond worrying about if you're an
(26:02):
independent orut whatever, beyond policy,beyond legislation, is to make sure that
Donald Trump, who I would suggestis the strongest threat to democracy our country
has ever seen, just about doesnot end up back in the White House.
So I'm looking forward to learning alot more now from no Labels,
(26:23):
now that they are putting candidates onthe ballot. Hi, this is Jennifer
Horn, host of Is it justme? Or have we all lost our
minds? Coming to you today onCenter Clip. In just a couple of
days, California will be raising theirminimum wage for fast food workers that work
(26:45):
for companies of who have more thansixty locations across the country from fifteen dollars
an hour to twenty dollars an hour. The federal minimum wage is still in
the seven dollars range seven dollars inchange. You know that across the country
a number of states are moving inthe direction of increasing state minimum wages to
(27:06):
the fifteen dollars an hour range.In this particular case, it is targeting
a specific group of fast food workers, but it is a law and it's
a change that I think is goingto have a positive impact on fast food
workers across the spectrum. And I'llexplain why. I mean, there's,
first of all, it's always apositive to have a raise and pay.
(27:29):
And even though this seems this targetsa defined group of fast food workers,
it has the ability and I havethe high likelihood to raise the pay again
across the spectrum of fast food workersbecause those owners, those restaurant owners are
now going to have to compete forthe better workers, the better staff.
(27:51):
And we know this is true inany industry, when one outlet is willing
to pay more the others you findthemselves having to increase the pay as well,
or they'll find other ways to compete. Perhaps more will now start offering
benefits, healthcare benefits, things likethat. You know, fast food jobs.
There was a time when I wasyoung, fast food jobs were sort
(28:14):
of assumed to be for the teens, you know. The adults were the
managers, and the teens came afterwork, you know, to flip some
burgers and kind of their first job, you know, and after a little
bit of after school at work.But that's really no longer the case.
Twenty percent of fast food workers aresingle parents. Forty percent are over the
age of twenty five. The averageave of somebody who works in fast food
(28:38):
is twenty six. Families who relyon fast food jobs as their primary source
of income, in particular working fortyhours or more a week, are also
families that rely on public families orindividuals that rely on public assistance in order
to meet their needs as well.I think fewer than forty percent of people
(29:00):
who work in the fast food industry, or around forty percent, have any
sort of benefits that come along withthat much less comprehensive benefits it doesn't really
exist in the industry, but thecons of course are significant as well.
Jobs will be lost to this increasedto automation, mostly for one, but
(29:22):
also just lost period where you're goingto start seeing a lot of these fast
food restaurants being essentially understaffed, andif you're the customer, you really feel
that lack of staffing. We've seenit in other industries. We especially felt
it during the pandemic, and it'sgoing to kind of feel like that for
a lot of these fast food restaurantsas well. Staff numbers will be reduced,
(29:45):
staff hours will be reduced, andof course prices to consumers will increase.
You know, you could break downthe pros and cons into a list
of dozens of points, but thenew law in California is going to be
a test of to what degree theminimum wage increase helps to decrease the cost
of public assistance. And there's nogood example to come up with a suggestion
(30:08):
of how that might work out.There's no good data yet that reliably suggests
that fast food jobs will ever beable to support an American family, and
in a free market economy, that'snot generally considered necessarily a legitimate expectation,
all of which means that as wesee this change in California unfold and we
(30:32):
see you start to see what theimpact is going to be. I think
businesses across the country, not justfast food businesses, are going to be
keeping a close eye on California
Is it just me? Or havewe all lost our minds? It's a
question I've been asking myself on repeatfor the last eight years, and I
know I'm not alone in that.Is it the politics, is it the
culture? Or am I just gettingold? Hi? I'm Jennifer Horn and
I'm a former Republican strategist and partyleader turned independent sanity activist. I decided
(00:25):
to do this podcast so we couldexplore these questions. I'll bring experts to
the table from politics, and mediaand culture. We'll have raw, insightful
conversations with the clear goal of gettingto the bottom of it all. One
way or another. We've all lostour minds, and I hope you'll join
us on the journey to find themagain. Hi. This is Jennifer Horn
(00:47):
and welcome to Is It Just Me? Or Have we All Lost our Minds?
I'm very excited to bring you somenews today about the podcast. Going
forward, we will be producing inpartnership with center Clip. You can find
center Clip at centerclip dot com oron their app, which is free and
you can download it also called Centerclip. It's an exciting new platform that offers
(01:12):
five minute audio clips on everything frompolitics to culture to business, the economy,
whatever is happening in the world,we're talking about it over at Centerclip.
Now, those posts, as Isaid, are just five minute audio
clips. We're going to continue todo the more in depth interviews here at
(01:33):
Is it just me or have weall lost our minds here at the podcast?
But I'm going to start this newpartnership by sharing with you today instead
of a regular interview, a numberof my more recent clips from Center Clip,
so that we can introduce you towhat's happening there and every now and
then going forward, when we havesomething exciting going on or that I think
(01:57):
you'll be particularly interested in, I'llbring some of my posts from Center Clip
and share them with you here aswell. Maybe once a month we'll do
something like that. But I don'twant you to think that we're going to
be losing the interviews or our focuson why we exist here at the podcast.
The most important thing that we arefocusing on, whether it's the podcast
(02:20):
or the work I do over atCenter Clip, is to make sure that
ours is a voice of defense fordemocracy, that we are focused on what
matters, what will actually make adifference in this election cycle, and to
make sure that Donald Trump never seesthe inside of the Oval office ever again,
(02:42):
so be sure to come back nextweek. We'll have another one of
our interview interviews ready and waiting foryou. But in the meantime, like
I said, I'm really excited tointroduce you to this, to this new
platform, Center Clip and to beable to bring some of those posts here
to you at the podcast. Socontinue to look for us wherever you listen
to your podcasts. We are goingto continue to bring you interviews, and
(03:07):
I hope that you will also beginto look for me at Center Clip again
where some of those five minute audioop eds we post them much more frequently,
sometimes three or four times a week. So I thank you for listening
today and enjoy these. I thinkwe've got five or six of those Center
Clip posts for you to listen totoday. Hi, this is Jennifer Horne,
(03:36):
host of Is It just Me?Or Have We All Lost our Minds?
Coming to you today on Center Clips. Today, the day that we
see Ron and Romney McDaniel has losther role as a commentator at NBC News
just four days after they and aftershe got it. Her media career was
short lived, and that is forthe best for both journalism and for democracy
(04:00):
in America. Today, NBC Universal'schair made the announcement today. He took
full responsibility for the hire. AndI would say NBC very clearly showed very
poor judgment in bringing her on asa source or as some sort of a
trusted voice. But they also showa character in ending that relationship quickly and
(04:21):
succinctly and frankly. I think thebigger issue here that really deserves our attention
is Rana's role as RNC chairwoman.To begin with, I think it's incredibly
important that history must record her rolein Trump's assault on democracy accurately, that
(04:41):
it is clear. It is notenough that Donald Trump take responsibility in the
annals of history. It's very importantthat all of those individuals around him that
empowered him, protected him, liftedhim up, being named identified, that
the role they played in it isclearly defined, not just for us to
understand now, but for everyone inour country to understand tomorrow, so that
(05:06):
when history looks back on this dayand when we finally reach a point where
the majority of Americans want to understandhow this happened and how to avoid it
in the future, all of thetruth is there that the truth is recorded,
and Rona played a significant role inall of this. She was the
(05:29):
voice for the party. I know. In her interview this past Sunday on
Meet the Press, she wanted toexplain her role as chairwoman that sometimes you
have to be the voice for theparty, but now I get to be
the voice for myself, as iftrying to convince us that when she spoke
for the party, she didn't speakfor herself. That's not true, It's
not accurate. It can't be.If what you have to say and do
(05:53):
as chair of the party is somehowin conflict with your personal ethics and integrity,
then you need to leave that roleas chair of the party. Is
that she clearly defined in that answerexactly what it is that happens to people
when they get a little bit ofpower, a little bit of recognition,
they start to lose a lot ofintegrity. She was involved in the President's
(06:15):
attempts to pressure members of the canvassingboard in Wayne County in Michigan. She
was involved in their pressuring of theRepublican chairwoman Janelle Fulmer in Arkansas to bring
their state into the Texas lawsuit.Afterward, throughout his presidency. Rona Ronny
(06:38):
McDaniel was a voice of defense,of protection and really empowering, uplifting,
always in defense of Donald Trump,whether it was about policies like the literally
putting children at the border in cages, whether it was about his calls to
(07:01):
foreign leaders trying to bribe them tohelp him influence the outcome of his election,
his praise and copyfat behavior of dictatorsand tyrants around the world, His
failed policies in the environment and theeconomy, his lies and his failures throughout
(07:25):
the days of COVID, his withdrawalof support for the LGBT community and education
and housing, his rewriting of theR and C platform. I can go
on and on talking about everything thatrun Aroundney McDaniel lied about and protected the
president war during her time as chairmanof the party. The most important thing
(07:49):
out of all of this is notthat I know it or that you know
it, but that history knows it. That when people in the future look
back on these dark days where amajor American political party launched an all out
assault on democracy, that Ronna RomneyMcDaniel's name is in that report. Hi,
(08:15):
this is Jennifer Horne, host ofis it just me or have we
all lost our minds? Coming toyou today on Center Clip Friday at Center
Clip means that our topic of theday is winters, losers, and kind
of predictions. Looking ahead. Andthere's a story out, a poll out
from CNN today that has me lookingahead and thinking about what's next in this
(08:39):
presidential race. It's a poll thatTrent is trying to gauge where the folks
in Michigan and Pennsylvania are at rightnow as far as this race goes.
And if you remember, looking backto twenty twenty, Biden won both of
those states when he defeated Trump.These are two states that flipped to Democrat
(09:01):
when Biden won them. And theseare two states that it's really hard to
imagine winning the White House this yearwithout winning Michigan and Pennsylvania. So what
are we seeing in this poll.We're seeing that Biden's twenty twenty coalition is
not holding as strong as he needsit to in order to win these seats.
(09:22):
Now, I'm not saying the raceis overlook Biden's losing, not even
close. In fact, kind ofthe opposite. I'm saying there's plenty of
time for him to make inroads wherehe needs to, and I hope that
he and his people are taking thispolls seriously. What it showed, among
other things in Pennsylvania that Biden andTrump are neck and neck, and their
neck and neck, by the way, at forty six percent, which I
(09:43):
think is interesting, Women, minorities, college grads, independents, those voters
that really made up that coalition forBiden in twenty twenty are holding the you
know, holding wall for him rightnow. But again, it's neck and
neck. It's forty six forty six. He has got to make greater strides
(10:07):
in Pennsylvania if he's going to winthat state. Michigan it's worse even his
coalition is sort of falling apart there. Trump is ahead of him in Michigan
by eight points. Women are split, Biden trails with independents and young voters.
His coalition is it's kind of hardto say that he has a really
strong coalition there at all right nowbecause of those numbers, and so it
(10:31):
kind of becomes what does that mean, you know, how will that impact
the race going forward? Well,a quarter of those people say they could
change their mind between now and electionday, and more than half of them
are not happy with their choices.So Biden's got his work to do.
But that quarter of those people,that's his gait, right, that is
(10:54):
his entry to being able to winover these two states. And the other
thing that I think is really important, and I didn't see any reference to
the piece that I read about thispoll to Hispanic voters. Hispanic voters account
for five point seven percent of votersof the population in Michigan, and so
(11:15):
that is a state and frankly,I probably should have looked at Pennsylvania as
well. That is a state whereI believe that Biden can genuinely make strides
with Hispanic voters. And if youlook at the numbers regarding the Hispanic voters
across the country, there is agreat opportunity for Biden to increase his numbers
(11:37):
amongst Hispanic voters. If you're notfollowing Mike Madrid at Madrid Underscore Mike on
Twitter, you should be. Heis an expert in this and it's fascinating
to listen to what he has tosay about it. But this poll,
I think should shows real concern forthe Biden campaign. And I think over
the next month and two or threemonths, you will start to see the
(12:00):
obvious signs of how Biden will bekind of shifting his strategy in these two
states. He needs to be talkingabout jobs, he needs to be talking
about housing policy. He needs tobe talking in general about his economic accomplishments
over the past three years. Andhe has many. He hasn't plenty to
(12:22):
reference, but these are two stateswhere he really needs to hone in on
that message if he wants to beable to win them. So and again,
with the Hispanic vote, particularly inMichigan, I think there's an opportunity
for him there. So that's asI'm looking ahead. I will be looking
to see how Joe Biden adjusts hiscampaign strategy and his message as these numbers
(12:48):
and others similar to them start tocome out in the polls. Hi,
this is Jennifer Horne, host ofIs it just Me? Or Have we
all lost our minds? Coming toyou today on Center Clip. As the
House of Representatives has passed the omnibusbill that was necessary in order to keep
(13:09):
government up and running. As anindependent voter who generally leans right of center,
the fact that it enjoyed broad bipartisansupport would suggest to me that there
were probably a lot of compromises inthis bill, and there are things in
it that I appreciate things that Idon't appreciate, And to me, that's
(13:33):
a sign that it was probably nota terrible bill. Those days of compromising
and getting a little of this andgiving up a little of that seemed to
be far behind us, and Ithink we have forgotten the value of that.
But what I want, the partof this that i'd really like to
bring your attention to today are theremarks made by Marjorie Taylor Green during this
process when she took to the microphoneto fight very aggressively against the passage of
(13:58):
this bill. Amongst the most extrememembers of the Republican majority, they would
rather see government shut down. Thatis their preference in these cases, without
any consideration for the impact that thathas on millions of Americans, the economic
impact, the jobs impact, thehealthcare impact, all the things that you
(14:20):
know, what happens at the VA, what happens at you know in a
number of ways where Americans are directlyimpacted by it when the government shuts down.
So why was she so worried aboutthis and why did she embrace the
idea of shutting down the government?Well, according to her remarks, was
it was primarily an issue with theborder, and as so often happens when
(14:43):
the extreme right talks about the border, she was incapable of hiding the racist
undertones that come with this argument fromthis particular group of Republicans, and frankly
a larger group of Republicans. Unfortunately, every time they discussed the or exact
words, among other things, wasthat by her concern about the illegal immigrants
(15:07):
coming into the country from various countriesaround the world, and the result of
that being that they, as shesays, rape our women and murder our
people, and they use that specificlanguage over and over and over again,
thousands of times talking about raping ourwomen. And there have been cases of
(15:28):
rape and crimes committed by illegal immigrants. If you listen to and believed Marjorie
Taylor Greens, it's happening millions oftimes in our country, and we all
know that that is false. Theyuse this language and they paint this picture
for the specific purpose of engaging racistAmericans, of engaging the worst fears that
(15:52):
many Americans have. They want votersto be frightened, They want voters to
blow their fear on them. Theyothers, people who look different, who
sound different. They want voters tolook at every possible issue that they can
(16:14):
as being a division between those ofus who care about people and love our
country and those of us who thinkit's okay to have illegal immigrants rape their
women. It is a racist trope. It is extremely destructive. And what
we saw the follow up from MarjorieTaylor Green on this today, as we
(16:36):
saw, was that she's also filedemotion to vacate the chair. She's decided
that this omnibus bill that again enjoyedwide bipartisan support, is worth sending the
House of Representatives and as a result, the country back into another chaotic episode
(16:56):
of dismissing the chair and have tovote again and refill that position with yet
another probably extremely conservative, extreme policyoriented Republican individual. This is so destructive
on so many levels. She filedthis in a manner where it will not
(17:18):
be voted on immediately. They itcould be weeks, it could be months,
it could you know, fester incommittee. But sooner or later,
as she made very clear, theyare going to call for the vote and
she's going to put us through itall all over again, all for the
sake of racism. Hi, thisis Jennifer Horn, host DUB Is it
(17:44):
just me or have we all lostour minds? Coming to you today on
Center Cliff. The catastrophic collapse ofthe Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has
cost six families, a loss thatwe cannot calculate, that we cannot understand.
There were eight men working on thebridge that night, and tragically,
six of them are presumed dead.That's the kind of heartbreak from which most
(18:07):
people would never recover. As thosefamilies in the community continue to process that
truly heartbreaking loss, across America,we are learning what the economic impact of
this awful event could be as well. While there's a debate about whether or
not the twentieth century bridge could havesurvived if built with twenty first century technology
(18:30):
and knowledge, there's no question thatthe disruption of traffic flow, both on
the bridge and in the port willcarry a significant economic loss. The Key
Bridge is a part of the Isixty nine I six ninety five Spur,
which is a link in the Ininety five corridor, largely considered one of
the busiest interstates in the country.A loss of access to the Key Bridge
(18:52):
will have a significant impact on transportationindustries. It will create logistical challenges,
create breight delays, and increase thecost of shipping overall across industries, which
will ultimately be passed on as acost to consumers. The direct impact on
commerce is already being felt. TheBaltimore Port is the ninth largest by trade
(19:15):
volume in the country. When thecontainer ships struck the bridge, there are
already other ships waiting to enter theport. Coal is exported out of the
Baltimore Port, Cars and heavy equipmentare imported in through the port, and
of the Amazon and Home Depot havemajor distribution centers set up right beside the
(19:36):
port. Ships loaded with cars andheavy equipment will have to find other ports
to unload and will likely be absorbedby ports up and down the East Coast,
which will cause of course disruptions andmore delays, and the operations of
the port will likely be affected bythis four months. This isn't just a
Marriland issue or just a North Southshipping problem among them. Fifty two point
(20:00):
three million tons of foreign cargo processedthrough the port last year was one point
three million tons of agricultural equipment andconstruction machinery. Baltimore is the closest mid
Atlantic port to key Midwest markets,which include the majority of our nation's farms.
Transportation Secretary Pete Boudhajiev said it wastoo early to tell how long it
(20:26):
would take to clear the bridge recorge, and you know, of course that's
the case. Too early to tellhow long it will take to reopen the
Baltimore Port. The bottom line isthat supply chains in those industries served by
the port will be impacted severely,and while of course it won't compare to
what we saw with the pandemic,it will have an impact and an economic
(20:48):
cost to millions of Americans across thiscountry in so many ways. It will
impact the travel, the transportation,the cost of shipping, the access to
the the items shift. Again,you can look at the pandemic shipping delays
and disruption of supply chains to understandwhat happens. It doesn't begin to compare
(21:12):
in size, but that's the typeof impact this is going to have,
and the most difficult will be forthose American families and individuals who are already
living and economically tight life and willbe impacted by the way this increases costs
(21:32):
and delays access to important goods acrossthe spectrum. Hi, this is Jennifer
Horne, host of Is it justMe or Have we all lost our minds?
Coming to you today on Center clipas No Labels is once again kind
of front and center, at leastfor the moment in this presidential cycle.
(21:55):
They announced today that they will beputting together a panel of folks from the
organization and a panel that includes kindof represents the full spectrum of their organization
to choose who will run on theirunity ticket. As they've been telling us
for over a year now, theyplan on putting a unity ticket together or
(22:15):
we have one Republican, one Democrat. They are committed to it. They're
going forward, and as of todaythey have let us know now what the
process is going to be. Andof course there are still all these folks
very up in arms about the wholething. The concern with the No Labels
and the idea of an independent ticketof any sort that might have any kind
of credibility or financing behind it isthat it will act as a spoiler and
(22:38):
open the gate for Trump to moveforward and become the next president of the
United States, which I think allclear thinking, rational democracy loving people in
this country want to make sure thatwe avoid no labels. Has assured us
repeatedly that their numbers show that thiskind of a ticket could actually win.
(23:00):
And here's what's been my issue withthat all along, and this is the
question that they are now going tohave to answer. They have been avoiding
it. They've shown a lot oftheir research and a lot of their numbers,
and they swear that they are committedto not doing anything that would allow
Donald Trump back in the White House. They claim, and I don't personally
(23:22):
have any reason to question disclaim thatthey are truly looking for an independent ticket
that will satisfy the desires of themajority of the American people who don't want
it, who say they really don'twant to see another rematch between Biden and
Trump, and to believe that thetwo parties are both broken and essentially need
a political kick in the butt,and they think that this can do it
(23:45):
strategically data wise. What they've nevertold us is they say that they have
these numbers, and again I dobelieve it that over sixty some percent of
the American people, maybe more overseventy percent, say that they would consider
an independent ticket with one Republican andone Democrat. The problem is what they
(24:07):
haven't told us, whether they haven'tasked or they just haven't shared. It
is what happens when you say tosomebody who is a Republican voter, would
you consider an independent ticket with oneRepublican and one Democrat and the Democrat is
at the top of the ticket andthe Republican is there vice president or vice
versa. We don't know what thosenumbers are on my experience would suggest that
(24:30):
that seventy percent drops dramatically because Ijust think that we are so in we
have our political biases so ingrained inus in this country that you might say,
boy, it's broken. Both partiesare broken. This is terrible.
But I always vote Republican. Icould never vote for a Democrat or president
(24:52):
and again vice versa. And weknow this is true all the polling.
We've seen it over and over andover for decades. We know this is
true. I think that if they'regoing to put together this unity ticket,
and they've made it clear that theyare, then the next step is they
need to start sharing more of thedata that they have gathered with the American
people, because it's an honest concernthat an independent ticket would open the gate
(25:18):
again for Trump to end up backin the White House. Nobody rational,
nobody, clear thinking, nobody,democracy loving and democracy valuing wants that to
happen. So I am, intheory, very much supportive of the idea
of an independent ticket, because Ithink that anybody who has something to contribute
(25:38):
and wants to run a credible andis able to run a credible race,
they belong there. That's part ofwhat our democracy is about, if they
have enough support from the voters,from the American people. But I'm also
amongst those who believe very strongly thatthe most important thing this year, above
everything else, beyond partisanship, beyondpolitics, beyond worrying about if you're an
(26:02):
independent orut whatever, beyond policy,beyond legislation, is to make sure that
Donald Trump, who I would suggestis the strongest threat to democracy our country
has ever seen, just about doesnot end up back in the White House.
So I'm looking forward to learning alot more now from no Labels,
(26:23):
now that they are putting candidates onthe ballot. Hi, this is Jennifer
Horn, host of Is it justme? Or have we all lost our
minds? Coming to you today onCenter Clip. In just a couple of
days, California will be raising theirminimum wage for fast food workers that work
(26:45):
for companies of who have more thansixty locations across the country from fifteen dollars
an hour to twenty dollars an hour. The federal minimum wage is still in
the seven dollars range seven dollars inchange. You know that across the country
a number of states are moving inthe direction of increasing state minimum wages to
(27:06):
the fifteen dollars an hour range.In this particular case, it is targeting
a specific group of fast food workers, but it is a law and it's
a change that I think is goingto have a positive impact on fast food
workers across the spectrum. And I'llexplain why. I mean, there's,
first of all, it's always apositive to have a raise and pay.
(27:29):
And even though this seems this targetsa defined group of fast food workers,
it has the ability and I havethe high likelihood to raise the pay again
across the spectrum of fast food workersbecause those owners, those restaurant owners are
now going to have to compete forthe better workers, the better staff.
(27:51):
And we know this is true inany industry, when one outlet is willing
to pay more the others you findthemselves having to increase the pay as well,
or they'll find other ways to compete. Perhaps more will now start offering
benefits, healthcare benefits, things likethat. You know, fast food jobs.
There was a time when I wasyoung, fast food jobs were sort
(28:14):
of assumed to be for the teens, you know. The adults were the
managers, and the teens came afterwork, you know, to flip some
burgers and kind of their first job, you know, and after a little
bit of after school at work.But that's really no longer the case.
Twenty percent of fast food workers aresingle parents. Forty percent are over the
age of twenty five. The averageave of somebody who works in fast food
(28:38):
is twenty six. Families who relyon fast food jobs as their primary source
of income, in particular working fortyhours or more a week, are also
families that rely on public families orindividuals that rely on public assistance in order
to meet their needs as well.I think fewer than forty percent of people
(29:00):
who work in the fast food industry, or around forty percent, have any
sort of benefits that come along withthat much less comprehensive benefits it doesn't really
exist in the industry, but thecons of course are significant as well.
Jobs will be lost to this increasedto automation, mostly for one, but
(29:22):
also just lost period where you're goingto start seeing a lot of these fast
food restaurants being essentially understaffed, andif you're the customer, you really feel
that lack of staffing. We've seenit in other industries. We especially felt
it during the pandemic, and it'sgoing to kind of feel like that for
a lot of these fast food restaurantsas well. Staff numbers will be reduced,
(29:45):
staff hours will be reduced, andof course prices to consumers will increase.
You know, you could break downthe pros and cons into a list
of dozens of points, but thenew law in California is going to be
a test of to what degree theminimum wage increase helps to decrease the cost
of public assistance. And there's nogood example to come up with a suggestion
(30:08):
of how that might work out.There's no good data yet that reliably suggests
that fast food jobs will ever beable to support an American family, and
in a free market economy, that'snot generally considered necessarily a legitimate expectation,
all of which means that as wesee this change in California unfold and we
(30:32):
see you start to see what theimpact is going to be. I think
businesses across the country, not justfast food businesses, are going to be
keeping a close eye on California
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