In the first hour of today's edition of Ryan Schuiling Live, Ryan shares his reaction to the left's panic of a second term of Donald Trump as president, and discusses his hope for what Trump can do for America.
Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential Election and what it means for the Republican party moving forward. Then, Lopez discusses handing the baton over to Lauren Boebert in Colorado's 4th congressional district.
https://www.greglopez.co/
Dr. Brian Erkkila, the Director of Regulatory Science for Swedish Match, joins the show to talk about his article in Westword about Denver's proposed ban on all flavored tobacco products and the potential unintended consequences that could result from such a ban.
Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential Election and what it means for the Republican party moving forward. Then, Lopez discusses handing the baton over to Lauren Boebert in Colorado's 4th congressional district.
https://www.greglopez.co/
Dr. Brian Erkkila, the Director of Regulatory Science for Swedish Match, joins the show to talk about his article in Westword about Denver's proposed ban on all flavored tobacco products and the potential unintended consequences that could result from such a ban.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
See we pass a law that requires anyone who voted
for that orange piece of shiet to wear their Trump
hat twenty four to seven. Because Conservatives are dangerous for
anyone who is it white, Christian, or male, completely dangerous,
(00:31):
like dynamite waiting to go off in your hand. So
I think we should all get a public service warning,
don't you die, don't mine To.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Quote the great Jimmy Walker JJ good times, and you're
gonna have some good times here on Ryan Schuling Live,
not just today, not just here. We are two days
out after the emphatic victory by Donald Trump and the
Republicans taking back the Senate and looking like they're going
to hold the House again. My calculates right now are
that Speaker Mike Johnson will hold on to the House
(01:05):
and presumably his own post, by that same margin that
was elected back in twenty twenty two. Now, there were
some that fell off, including Ken Buck for a time.
Representative Greg Lopez, the interim Congressman, will be joining us
coming up at two thirty three. And then one of
the newest members just announced today, called by the AP
(01:27):
and all the major news outlets, Congressmen Elect Jeff Heard
in the third congressional district. He'll be joining us at
the top of our number two at three oh six.
So we spoke with Congresswoman Lauren Bobert yesterday and she
is moving from the third where Jeff Heard will be
(01:49):
sworn in, to the fourth, where Lauren will take the
baton from Greg Lopez.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So it's all coming together.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
But I opened the show with that TikTok poster, and
there's so many of the I'm not on TikTok, don't worry.
I pull this stuff from the interwebs, from libs of TikTok,
from Grabian. I don't have a TikTok account. I don't
want one. I don't want the Chinese spying on me
and taking my data. Zach Segers, are you on TikTok?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I am bad news, Ryan.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I'm sorry it doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm just saying generationally, it makes sense that you would be,
but I would not be. Why are you on TikTok
and what is the upside of it for you?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So for me, I think it's a pretty solid social
media platform, and I get the concerns about data.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Are just data thieving.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I think my data has already been stolen by China
and Facebook and Instagram and the whole lump of the group,
the whole likes.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I like that part, good job, well described. But the
people on tiko, the libs on TikTok, it's a whole account.
They are losing their minds and I'm sorry. It's kind
of entertaining and funny. And this makes my point for me,
especially this part.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
For anyone who is it white, Christian, or male?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
What have I been telling you?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm a bad guy because I'm those three things no
other reason but those three I would call two of
those three immutable characteristics. Yes, I chose to be a Christian,
I was raised Christian. But I'm white yep, fact check true.
I am male, looked down the fact check true. Another
one she left out there. But it's a reason why
(03:41):
I'm a bad guy. I am heterosexual, and I didn't
choose that. That's an immutable characteristic. So the white part,
the male part, the heterosexual part. I'm just the reason
for the patriarchy and the foundation of this nation by
our founders. I'm white Supremacy Project sixteen nineteen. I don't
(04:05):
accept the premise and I'm not going to align myself
nor vote in a way where I am made to
feel like I am the cause, the root of all
of these problems in our nation. It's me, don't you know?
I did this, and I have got to atone for
my sins. I've got to confess. I've got to beg
(04:27):
for forgiveness and genuflect to all those libs out there
who hate me for three reasons that I can't control.
And they think they can't connect the dots here people
as to why they lost. They're blaming everybody else but themselves.
They cannot come to terms with why we liked the
(04:47):
Orange Man, or, at least for those that may be
on the fence, held their nose voted for Donald Trump.
They could tolerate the Orange Man. He wasn't all that bad.
When you oversell it, when you cry wolfs so many
times about a guy, then by comparison to this cartoonish
sketch that you've made of him, this caricature of pure evil,
(05:08):
a fascist authoritarian dictator, he's Orange Hitler, and anybody who.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Follows him or votes for him, or goes to a.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Rally, we're all Nazis in his spell that he's cast
on all of us. If that's how you truly feel
about your fellow Americans.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Then you know that's on you.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
That's a you problem, that's not a me problem, and
AOC she Again, they don't get it.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I hope they never get it.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
I believe in.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
A time.
Speaker 7 (05:37):
Where there are.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Let's say, peers in history of mass movements of people
that mobilize to protect one another in times of fascism
and authoritarianism, and this is the era that we are
poised to enter.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh, they've got to consolidate, they've got a lot arms.
Then they've got to show solidarity against this new fascist
regime that was voted in freely and fairly by the
American public by a fifty one percent margin.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Do you really think I don't think.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
She believes this, by the way, I don't think she's
the brightest bulb in the lamp. But I think she's
smart enough to realize that what she's saying is a
complete and utter bs. She knows we're not entering an
era of fascism and authoritarianism. If she did, she would GTFO.
She would be on the first vote out of here,
first plane out of here, despite the carbon emissions in
(06:35):
the greenhouse gases. But they need to maintain this facade,
this narrative, this myth this mythology about Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
But it hasn't worked.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Why would you continue to go to die on that
hill when over half Americans say you're totally full of crap.
I'm voting for the guy. Life was better under him.
We already had him as president of four years. He's
not a fastiest dictator. That's ridiculous. Let's go to one
of Donald Trump's former best friends. She's having a normal one,
(07:11):
the greats Rosie o'donald, call.
Speaker 8 (07:14):
Your friends, check on him. Ah, and get ready because
we're in for one hell of a ride with him
at the helm and no immunity guard rails.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Okay, okay, okay, all right, God bless America people.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, so I can say we're gonna need it, we
got it.
Speaker 8 (07:41):
And how about we get rid of the electoral college?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
M okay, get into that. Anybody like that, I don't know,
we'll find out anyone.
Speaker 8 (07:52):
I'm not so sure anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Well, you shouldn't be.
Speaker 8 (07:56):
It's a popular vote, that's.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
What we need to do. Okay, Well, who gets.
Speaker 8 (07:59):
The most votes wins one vote?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
One person?
Speaker 8 (08:03):
Oh, no racist math in the equation.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
No racist math. No, we don't want that, eh.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Okay, let's go to the scoreboard, shall we, Rosie, the
national popular vote currently stands. I've got a working tally
from the New York Times. Donald J. Trump seventy two million,
eight hundred nine thousand, six hundred and eighty four for
Vice President Kamala Harris sixty eight million, one hundred sixty
(08:31):
five thousand, five hundred three. Oh, Donald Trump is going
to win the popular vote. So you're your idea would
yield the same result, Rosie, I'm sorry to report, not
really sorry, fifty one percent of the vote just under
that fifty point nine. Well, round up fifty one percent
(08:51):
of the vote for Donald Trump to forty seven point
six for Kamala Harris. And for all the clowns in
Colorado out there that voted for this asinine, ridiculous, stupid
National Popular Vote Compact, guess what, libs, if that were
enacted and in place right now, all of the states
(09:14):
that signed on for that, including Colorado, would be handing
their electoral votes to Donald J.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Trump.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
In a state Colorado where Kamala Harris currently has a
fifty four to forty three lead by over three hundred
thousand votes out of just over two point five million cast.
And I'm going to be an honest broker here, as
I always try to be objective, I'm against the National
Popular Vote Pact. I think it's stupid. For the reason
I just out laid out. I hate that Kamala Harris
(09:46):
won here. I didn't vote for her here, obviously, but
the more local you make government and the selection of
that government, the more representative it is. And in Colorado,
I'm sad to say Kamala Harris one earned and deserves
our ten electoral votes she won here.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
But no, you.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Morons want to say no, We'll just hand it over
to whoever else, and our electoral votes are our voice
won't matter anymore. Boy, talk about your all time backfires.
It's like Happy Gilmour when he's on the ice trying
to impress his lady friend and she sinks the long shot.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
This would if I'm not mistaken, which.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
States are a part of the elect the National Popular
Vote Pact.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
It's California.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Guess what, oh, fifty four electoral votes California, which voted
for Kamala Harris by a fifty seven to forty margin,
would be going to Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So be careful what you wish for.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
This is what democrats, many of them, they don't understand
these sort of things, always have a habit of breaking
back the other way, breaking bad the other way.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
For you.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The ending of the filibuster for judicial nominees.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Dusty Harry Reid, didn't you Harry.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Senator Reid from Nevada back in the day they now
have named the Las Vegas International Airport after him?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Was mccaron Now it's Harry Reid. Of god, well, he.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Thought he was being cute and it turned out he
was too cute by half. In eliminating the filibuster for
judicial nominees under President Obama and then the turtle cocaine
Mitch Senator Mitch McConnell warned him, you do this now
and you will come to rue the day you'll regret it.
(11:39):
And what did that turn into? Justice Neil Gorsicic, Justice
Amy Coney, Barrett, Justice Britt Kavanaugh. With the filibuster. Two
of those three might not have made it through, but
they'd always cut off their nose to spite their face.
They're always looking at just what's right in front of them,
rather than the long view and thinking about the long
(12:01):
term implications. A national popular vote pact is ridiculous and idiotic.
Our founders were geniuses, and they constructed this constitutional republic
with a lot of forethought and planning and references to history.
And why did the ancient Greek democracies fail? Why did
the democracy of Rome fail? Julius Caesar takes power, never
(12:24):
resends it, and the senators all collaborate and Brutus stabs them.
I mean, they took all of that into account, and
they recognized that a direct democracy was not going to work,
not going to be stable, not going to endure long term.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So they set up these guardrails.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
They set up these guardrails by forming a Senate in
which every one of the states gets equal representation. That
was an argument for the smaller states, the southern states
at the founding of the thirteen original colonies, and then
there would be a House of Representatives on the other
side where the more populated areas wanted proportional representation, and
we got that. The Electoral College made sure that we
(13:04):
would not be governed by our urban centers who had
specific needs and interests that did not necessarily coincide with
those of the agrarian farmers. In our rural areas. That
is why the electoral college was designed. It is genius.
We are a different country with a lot of different
(13:24):
states and needs and priorities. Then say these other countries
where you're like, well what about France, Like, okay, there
are different regions of France, But think about how big
our country is, how diverse our country is and its
interests are. And again I go back to the tenant
that the more local you make government, the more representative
it is. So you take away the electoral votes of Montana,
(13:47):
North Dakota, South Dakota. Ah, we're just going to go
in the national popular vote. Now you'll see campaigns just
going to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, maybe Houston
and Dallas, all the big cities, and they'll totally ignore
the needs of those who live in rural areas off
the grid. They won't even need those votes anymore, they
won't campaign for them. The Democrats have already tried that
and look where it got them. Take a look at
(14:09):
the ruby red counties in every one of these states,
including the blue ones, and you'll know you'll recognize, if
you're being honest with yourselves on the left, that you
no longer have any kind of poll or appeal to
voters that live outside of urban centers. Maybe in the
suburbs to a degree, those are competitive, sure, but you
(14:30):
have written off rural America. You no longer have a
chance to win in Iowa. That was a state that
Barack Obama won twice, and despite an absolutely insane poll
that came out from the demun Register, guess what, Donald
Trump's winning Iowa by thirteen points. He's winning Texas by
fourteen points, He's winning Florida by thirteen points, and he's
(14:54):
winning Ohio by eleven. Ohio was once considered a bellwether
swing state, and it no longer is. The late night
comedians are having a time of it too. Jimmy Kimmel
was brought to tears.
Speaker 9 (15:10):
Let's be honest, it was a terrible night last night.
It was a terrible night for women, for children, for
the hundreds of thousands of hard working immigrants who make
this country.
Speaker 10 (15:20):
Go for health care, for our climate, for cliants, for journalism,
for justice.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
For free speech.
Speaker 9 (15:32):
It was a terrible night for poor people, for the
middle class, for seniors to reliance social security, for our
allies in Ukraine, for NATO for your truth and democracy
and decency. And it was a terrible knight for everyone
who voted against him. And guess what, it was a
bad knight for everyone who voted for him too.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You just don't realize it yet.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
No, I realized it's a great thing that I voted
for him and that Donald Trump won.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I don't know what you're talking, Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Maybe in your inculcated bubble, in your gated community with
all your ritzy ditsy friends on the Liberal League coast,
maybe it's bad for you. And I hope that it is.
Quite frankly, I hope that this is some kind of
sobering moment. But they're not getting it. It's not locking in,
they're not sobering up. They're blaming everybody else, and they're
not willing to take accountability and look in the mirror.
(16:22):
How about Sunny Houston. You know, we're just going to
turn to her and look for some reason, and maybe
she'll give that to us.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I'm profoundly disturbed.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
I think if you look at the New York Times
this morning, the headline was America makes a perilous choice.
I think that in twenty sixteen, we didn't know what
we would get from a Trump administration, but we know now,
and we know now that he will have almost unfettered power,
and so I worry.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Not about myself.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
Actually, I don't worry about my station in life. I
worry about the working class. I worry about my mother,
a retired teacher. I worry about our elderly and their
social security.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
And their medical care.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
I worry about my children's future, especially my daughter, who
now has less rights.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Than I have.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
And I remember my father telling me many many years
ago that I was the first person in his family
to enjoy full civil rights. And now I have less
civil rights than I had when he told me that.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh wow, yeah, I guess we couldn't count on sunny
for a rational take.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Let's try Stephen Colbert. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert.
Speaker 11 (17:33):
Well, well it happened again.
Speaker 12 (17:45):
After a bizarre and vicious campaign fueled by a desperate
need not to go to jail, Donald Trump has won
the twenty twenty four election.
Speaker 11 (17:57):
It's almost like you rehearsed that.
Speaker 12 (18:00):
The deep shock and sense of loss is enormous. Okay,
but let's look at the bright side. This way, at
least there'll be a peaceful transfer of power. Mike Pence,
Ali Ali Oxen free. All day yesterday I was walking
around proudly wearing my eye voted sticker. Today I wore
my I am questioning my fundamental belief in the.
Speaker 11 (18:19):
Goodness of humanity sticker. They give those out, They give
those out.
Speaker 13 (18:24):
Yeah, the Bakesdale, Yeah.
Speaker 11 (18:27):
The outside.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Wow.
Speaker 11 (18:30):
I wish you wish.
Speaker 12 (18:32):
So many of us wish this hadn't happened, But that
is not for us to decide.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
This is a.
Speaker 12 (18:36):
Democracy, that's democracy with a capital D. And in this democracy,
the majority has spoken and they said they don't care
that much about democracy.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Let them keep believing this, let them keep spouting this,
let them keep condescending to talk to us, and let
them continue to underestimate what just happened on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
It works in our favor.
Speaker 14 (19:16):
It's incredible that the kind of coalition that Trump has
put together and taking it away from Democrats, particularly working
class Americans, And that's what.
Speaker 13 (19:26):
Democrats have to figure out over the next four years.
Speaker 14 (19:28):
But I'll tell you the one thing in politics I
have learned is that if you spend enough time in
the desert, you figure out where the water is right
and the Democrats are now in the desert, and you know,
you ask me, what's going to happen.
Speaker 13 (19:38):
They tack left, tack, and they just got to tack
and tack hard. They got to tax somewhere.
Speaker 14 (19:43):
And the way to do that is a process over
the next four years of putting candidates through the primary process,
which is not what Harris got to do. She didn't
get those reps, she didn't earn the the you know,
earn it through you know a lot of spring training.
Speaker 13 (19:57):
And that's what Democrats will do this time. And and
you ask me, you know, how are they going to
get out of the desert. How are they gonna find?
It's going to be leadership, And it's gonna be somebody.
Speaker 14 (20:05):
Who fights their way through the next four years, emerges
through a tough primary process, battled and Bruce, but tucker
and smarter to lead the way for Democrats out of
the wilders.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
The wilderness of the desert. How do you want to
define it?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Mark McKinnon, He's a Bolder Native and a former Republican
now a Democrat getting down to brass tax there about
where the Democrats have gone wrong and in order to
recognize you're in the desert. You got to admit that
you have a problem, and it doesn't seem like they're
doing that. After Tuesday Night, Well, a big force for
good in the Congress joining us right now. He was
holding down the fort in former Congressman Ken Buck's seat,
(20:41):
and he will be handing off the baton, coming up
to Representative Lauren Bobert, who is victorious on Tuesday Night
over Tricia Calvarese and Representative Greg Lopez joins us now. Congressman,
thank you for your time and we'll try to reconnect
(21:06):
there with Congressman Greg Lopez in just a moment. Going
back to this fascinating, though meltdown on the left, and
it's not just the meltdown. They're upset that they lost.
I get that, but they're not recognizing the reasons why
they lost. And Stephanie Rule MSNBC, she says, America is
getting what it deserves and.
Speaker 15 (21:27):
The person we are now betting on to change all
of it is Donald Trump, a man who did two
almost impossible things. He won the American presidency twice and
he drove a casino into the ground. What will the
future hold now that America has just decided that we're
(21:50):
going to f around and find out.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Well, we already did that, and we found out in
his first four years as president that Donald Trump ran
a pretty tight ship, but for the Russia collusion hoax,
the impeachments coming his way, the Democrats doing everything they
could to throw land mines in front of him, so
we couldn't get his agenda done, got the tax cuts
across the finish line in those first two years. But imagine,
(22:15):
if you will, now a president elect who has won
the national popular vote has the will of the people
behind him. No matter how you define this electoral college
landslide's gonna be a lot tougher for the Democrats to
try to be stooges and get in the way of
this second Trump term. Let's go to Congressman Greg Lopez
(22:37):
joining us right now. Representative Lopez, thank you for joining.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Us, Hey, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Now, as it stands right now, with the balance of
power in the House still up for grabs, it looks
like that there might be the same exact margin that
we saw the last time around in twenty twenty two,
the elected margin of two twenty two to two thirteen.
And it projects out if everything holds the way it
is right now now that way, we know that Jeff
Hurd was just declared the winner. He'll be joining us
(23:04):
in about half an hour for right now, and that
Representative Lauren Bolbert.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Won the race for the seat you currently occupied.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Greg, what was the kind of result on Tuesday night
as you saw it and why it happened the way
that it did.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Well, you know, talking about the presidential election, I mean,
it's clear that you know, the working class has been
ignored and President Trump has always been very good at
connecting with the voters, you know, And I think one
of the things that really stood out for me was
how the Hispanic vote came out and supported a Republican candidate.
(23:39):
And I've been saying it for years that you know,
the Hispanic vote is a Republican vote because they believe
in faith, family, and freedom, and we just have to
go out there and talk to them. We have to
go out there and share our narrative and what we
stand for. And if we can do that, you will
see the results that we just saw in the presidential election.
So you know, clearly it's the man. When you win
(24:01):
the popular vote, you won. You know a lot of
those states that a lot of people were saying, were
the Blue Wall time?
Speaker 14 (24:10):
Was there changeing?
Speaker 6 (24:11):
You know, and people are starting to truly recognize what
our founding fathers envision, that is government by the people
and for the people. And the people stood up and
had their voices.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Heard, representing Lopez joining us here on Ryan Schuling Live
and Greg. When I'm looking at the aftermath, it still
seems to be utter shock from the left. They can't
quite embrace the fact that they lost or why they lost.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And some of the.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Analysis I think is purely laughable, pointing to the fact,
like you just pointed out that President Trump drew a
Hispanic voter is almost in record numbers for Republican nominee
for president, and some of the analysis saying, well, these
are Hispanics that think of themselves as being more white
than Hispanic. They're trying to kind of thread this needle
with this racist narrative and that fifty one percent of
(24:57):
America just turned out to be racist to support a
racist Is.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
This really a hill they're going to die on? Politically?
Speaker 6 (25:05):
It definitely sounds like it, doesn't it. I Mean, these
are the same individuals that believe that the term LATINX,
what's going to be embraced by the Hispanic community. You know,
when you use LATINX, that's the best insults that you
can do to the Hispanic community because of our culture,
because of our language, you know. And so they're definitely
have positive illusions about what the American people are wanting,
(25:28):
what they're dealing with every single day in their kitchen tables,
you know, with the economy, the inflation, and most importantly,
I'm here to tell you Hispanic Americans do not like
the border being open the way it is. And I
know that because I'm one of them, and I've spoken
to a lot of my Democrat friends, and I've spoken
to a lot of Republicans, and even the Hispanic Democrats
(25:49):
have told me we're not voting for Democrats anymore because
of the border and because of what they're doing to
our small businesses and what they're doing in our nation
and specifically our children.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Come and Greg Lopez joining us, and I got to
tell you, Greg, you could not be leaving Congress in
better hands or better shape than what we're going to
be getting when President Donald Trump is sworn in on
January twenty, twenty twenty five. And we know Congresswoman Lauren
Bobert will be taking the baton from you. Where do
you envision it goes from here for the United States
(26:20):
under a Trump presidency. We hope with Republican control of
both the House and the Senate, and what can be
achieved maybe in those first hundred.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Days, Well, look, I can tell you what I'd like
to see happen, and I think with my colleagues, I've
been up there at least ninety days now and we'll
be up there for the rest of the year. But
you know, one of the things that we got to
do is make sure that we control our budget, in
our spending. We have a thirty five trillion dollar national debt.
It's growing by a trillion dollars every hundred days. And
(26:48):
I think the next one hundred and nineteenth Congress is
going to look at that and they're going to close
the borders. And why they close the borders is because
there's too many people that are right now looking at
you know, getting handouts from the government, and so we
got to stop the spending. I think you're going to
see the first hundred days are going to be historical
(27:08):
because I can assure you that my colleagues and I
have been planning for this day. We've been planning ahead
about what we were going to do if, in fact,
then when President Trump got reelected, and we're looking forward
to when we get back next week, we're going to
start having more discussions and come the one hundred and
nineteen Congress, I know they're going to springboard everything we've
(27:30):
been putting the foundation on and America is going to
be another once again. There's going to be morning in America.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Looking forward to that, and a big part of that
holding down the fort in the fourth Congressional District and
the interim between Ken Buck and Lauren Bolbert has been
Congressman Greg Lopez. Thanks, thank you for your time today, Greg,
and for all the great work that you're doing. And
we're looking forward to this next term.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
Like you said, all right, take care, have a good one.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Congressman Greg Lopez, your text five seven seven three nine,
much more when we get back. Wrapping up our number
one of Ryan Schuling live after this, rolling back with
you rounding on our number one here and tackling a
local issue that you may have read about in Westward
entitled hands off my vape Flavored tobacco Fans smoke shop
(28:20):
owners tell Denver lawmakers and joining us now. He was
formerly the lead toxicologist at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products,
where he was responsible for determining which products made their
way to market, and he is now the director of
Regulatory Science at Swedish Match North America. He is doctor
Brian Erkla and he joins us on Ryan Schuling Live. Doctor,
(28:41):
thank you for your time.
Speaker 16 (28:43):
Hey, thanks, Ryan, Thanks so much for having me on.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Now, this seems to be an issue that always has
unintended consequences. So well, we want to keep the flavored
vapes out of the hands of kids because it's more
attracted than have like bubblegum flavor, et cetera, without recognizing
what those those short and long term consequences are for
say smoking cessation and other things along those lines. Can
(29:06):
you take us through kind of the origin of this
movement in Denver to outlaw these flavored vapes and nicotine products.
Speaker 16 (29:15):
Yeah, of course, I mean, you know someone that's faith
Bill is very good intention. Nope, you know, to ban
all the flavored tobacco products and then you know everybody's
going to be healthy and great. But where it goes
wrong really and why I'm against this bill is that
it treats all tobacco and nicotine products if they carry
the same risk, right, And it's simply not true. If
(29:39):
you talk to any public health researchers or even the
Food and Drug Administration, they'll tell you that tobacco exists
on a continuum of risk. The combusteds like cigarettes are
most harmful, but smoke free products you mentioned E cigarette,
but also smoke with tobacco, nicotine, bouchet heated tobacco much
less risk. They aren't completely safe products, but they're a
much better option for people who smoke.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And so when you give people alternatives like that doctor
Brian Erkla a guest, you would say, you know, there's
the worst option, which you had mentioned cigarettes, et cetera,
but that these are not only less bad options, but
could be kind of a pathway and a gateway to
recovery for a lot of people that are trying to
wean their way off of cigarettes. So is it simply
(30:21):
that the city of Denver just doesn't want kids to
be attracted to these products at all, and they're willing
to do whatever it is to stop that.
Speaker 16 (30:29):
Yeah, I mean, I that's a part of it right,
But you know, I think we need to recognize that
the way this proposal is constructed, it would ban all
flavored tobacco products. Right now, a majority of those flavored
tobacco products are you know, a lot of the smokery
products are flavored. So what you're leaving is the combusted cigarette, right,
(30:50):
So that's going to be what people's options are. So
if you know, I used to be a smoker, I
no longer am, but if I still was, you know
this this ordinance would really the only cigarettes as an option, right,
so I'm much less likely to make that better choice
and move to a smoke free product.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Doctor, how much of it is money driving this as
a motivating factor? It seems like Kevin Flynn on the
City Council says that not only will flavor bans not
root out the issue entirely, but any question then why
not ban all tobacco outright, including cigarettes just regular flavor
without the flavoring added. What would be your response to that?
(31:29):
And where is the money coming from?
Speaker 5 (31:33):
So?
Speaker 16 (31:33):
I mean, I mean, I think you know, you could
say about whether or not we want to, you know,
kind of have a society where we ban everything that
might be bad for us. Right, you could ban all tobacco,
you can ban alcohol, you could ban a lot of things.
But I think, you know, people in the United States,
and people in Denver in particularly, you know, like to
make their own choices. And I think you know what
have is an opportunity to educate people who smoke about
(31:54):
tobacco harm reduction and making better option, being better choices
rather than right. It's better to go with at than
a stick.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Doctor Brian Erklad joining us.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
He's the director of regulatory science at Swedish Match North
America talking about this proposed ban on flavored products, nicotine
products like zen nicotine pouches, et cetera, a menthol cigarettes,
flavored hookah flavored chew. Some people say that this might
even be targeted toward ethnic minorities within Denver. But the
broader problem here also from a business standpoint, doctor, and
(32:27):
you kind of touched on it there, from the libertarian
aspect of we need to make our own decisions in
the marketplace. That people will simply go outside of Denver
to buy these and it will affect the stores that
are selling these products in the city of Denver and
they will suffer.
Speaker 16 (32:40):
Yeah, and you know, This is something we've seen many times.
You know, these sorts of proposals come up from time
to time around the country, you know, and there could
be real, real repercussions there, right. You know, we've seen
a large increase in illicit sales, you know right now,
you know, our company in many United States bring these
smoke free products. We go through the FDA. Right, We
like a regulated process. But you know who doesn't necessarily
(33:02):
go through a regulated process is illicit market. Right, And
you could definitely have an illicit market from this also.
You know, if you take a place like Massachusetts, right,
they an active flavor ban and saw huge increases in
cross border sales.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Right.
Speaker 16 (33:14):
People just would buy the products, sometimes in bulk from
other states and bring it in and so illicitly. That
does nothing for a tax base.
Speaker 15 (33:22):
Right.
Speaker 16 (33:23):
And then another one that's not exactly economic. But when
this has been done is like San Francisco, they banned
flavored vaps, youth rates of smoking actually increased. So you know,
there's a lot of ways that this can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Final minute that we have here, doctor, and where does
it go from here? With the proposal before the Denver
City Council, et cetera. And how do you plan to
fight it?
Speaker 16 (33:45):
Well, you know, I think what the council really needs
to do is take a moment and really look at
the environment we're in right now. Right, you have about
sney thousand people who smoke it Denver and this would
take away you know, a majority of their smoke free options.
And I understand that there's a big concern about youth, right,
but if you look at the Denver data on youth
youth or products from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three,
(34:08):
you have about a seventy percent drop in youth youth
of tobacco products. That's great, you know we're talking about
you know, think about smoking among youth used to be
up around four percent in Denver. Now it's at about
one point six percent. You know, all of these levels
are lower than the rates with the youth are you know,
binge drinking, than cannabis. Right, So what alway has the
Council to do is really look at the sign of here, right,
(34:30):
you know, do you really want to take away options
from adults who smoke and and normally leave them? The
most harmful is do you do you really want to
you know, take away the livelihood of independent stores right now,
you know. And let me just take a moment to
think about what could happen if this so goes through.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Doctor Brian Erkla, the director of Regulatory Science at Swedish
Match North America. You can read more about it at
Westward Hands Off my vate doctor.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 16 (34:57):
Thank you so much. I have a great day, Ben.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Ryan, Schuling Life ten. Use our number two straight ahead
after this
See we pass a law that requires anyone who voted
for that orange piece of shiet to wear their Trump
hat twenty four to seven. Because Conservatives are dangerous for
anyone who is it white, Christian, or male, completely dangerous,
(00:31):
like dynamite waiting to go off in your hand. So
I think we should all get a public service warning,
don't you die, don't mine To.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Quote the great Jimmy Walker JJ good times, and you're
gonna have some good times here on Ryan Schuling Live,
not just today, not just here. We are two days
out after the emphatic victory by Donald Trump and the
Republicans taking back the Senate and looking like they're going
to hold the House again. My calculates right now are
that Speaker Mike Johnson will hold on to the House
(01:05):
and presumably his own post, by that same margin that
was elected back in twenty twenty two. Now, there were
some that fell off, including Ken Buck for a time.
Representative Greg Lopez, the interim Congressman, will be joining us
coming up at two thirty three. And then one of
the newest members just announced today, called by the AP
(01:27):
and all the major news outlets, Congressmen Elect Jeff Heard
in the third congressional district. He'll be joining us at
the top of our number two at three oh six.
So we spoke with Congresswoman Lauren Bobert yesterday and she
is moving from the third where Jeff Heard will be
(01:49):
sworn in, to the fourth, where Lauren will take the
baton from Greg Lopez.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So it's all coming together.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
But I opened the show with that TikTok poster, and
there's so many of the I'm not on TikTok, don't worry.
I pull this stuff from the interwebs, from libs of TikTok,
from Grabian. I don't have a TikTok account. I don't
want one. I don't want the Chinese spying on me
and taking my data. Zach Segers, are you on TikTok?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I am bad news, Ryan.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I'm sorry it doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I'm just saying generationally, it makes sense that you would be,
but I would not be. Why are you on TikTok
and what is the upside of it for you?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
So for me, I think it's a pretty solid social
media platform, and I get the concerns about data.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Are just data thieving.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I think my data has already been stolen by China
and Facebook and Instagram and the whole lump of the group,
the whole likes.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I like that part, good job, well described. But the
people on tiko, the libs on TikTok, it's a whole account.
They are losing their minds and I'm sorry. It's kind
of entertaining and funny. And this makes my point for me,
especially this part.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
For anyone who is it white, Christian, or male?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
What have I been telling you?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm a bad guy because I'm those three things no
other reason but those three I would call two of
those three immutable characteristics. Yes, I chose to be a Christian,
I was raised Christian. But I'm white yep, fact check true.
I am male, looked down the fact check true. Another
one she left out there. But it's a reason why
(03:41):
I'm a bad guy. I am heterosexual, and I didn't
choose that. That's an immutable characteristic. So the white part,
the male part, the heterosexual part. I'm just the reason
for the patriarchy and the foundation of this nation by
our founders. I'm white Supremacy Project sixteen nineteen. I don't
(04:05):
accept the premise and I'm not going to align myself
nor vote in a way where I am made to
feel like I am the cause, the root of all
of these problems in our nation. It's me, don't you know?
I did this, and I have got to atone for
my sins. I've got to confess. I've got to beg
(04:27):
for forgiveness and genuflect to all those libs out there
who hate me for three reasons that I can't control.
And they think they can't connect the dots here people
as to why they lost. They're blaming everybody else but themselves.
They cannot come to terms with why we liked the
(04:47):
Orange Man, or, at least for those that may be
on the fence, held their nose voted for Donald Trump.
They could tolerate the Orange Man. He wasn't all that bad.
When you oversell it, when you cry wolfs so many
times about a guy, then by comparison to this cartoonish
sketch that you've made of him, this caricature of pure evil,
(05:08):
a fascist authoritarian dictator, he's Orange Hitler, and anybody who.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Follows him or votes for him, or goes to a.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Rally, we're all Nazis in his spell that he's cast
on all of us. If that's how you truly feel
about your fellow Americans.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Then you know that's on you.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
That's a you problem, that's not a me problem, and
AOC she Again, they don't get it.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I hope they never get it.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
I believe in.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
A time.
Speaker 7 (05:37):
Where there are.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Let's say, peers in history of mass movements of people
that mobilize to protect one another in times of fascism
and authoritarianism, and this is the era that we are
poised to enter.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh, they've got to consolidate, they've got a lot arms.
Then they've got to show solidarity against this new fascist
regime that was voted in freely and fairly by the
American public by a fifty one percent margin.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Do you really think I don't think.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
She believes this, by the way, I don't think she's
the brightest bulb in the lamp. But I think she's
smart enough to realize that what she's saying is a
complete and utter bs. She knows we're not entering an
era of fascism and authoritarianism. If she did, she would GTFO.
She would be on the first vote out of here,
first plane out of here, despite the carbon emissions in
(06:35):
the greenhouse gases. But they need to maintain this facade,
this narrative, this myth this mythology about Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
But it hasn't worked.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Why would you continue to go to die on that
hill when over half Americans say you're totally full of crap.
I'm voting for the guy. Life was better under him.
We already had him as president of four years. He's
not a fastiest dictator. That's ridiculous. Let's go to one
of Donald Trump's former best friends. She's having a normal one,
(07:11):
the greats Rosie o'donald, call.
Speaker 8 (07:14):
Your friends, check on him. Ah, and get ready because
we're in for one hell of a ride with him
at the helm and no immunity guard rails.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Okay, okay, okay, all right, God bless America people.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, so I can say we're gonna need it, we
got it.
Speaker 8 (07:41):
And how about we get rid of the electoral college?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
M okay, get into that. Anybody like that, I don't know,
we'll find out anyone.
Speaker 8 (07:52):
I'm not so sure anymore.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Well, you shouldn't be.
Speaker 8 (07:56):
It's a popular vote, that's.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
What we need to do. Okay, Well, who gets.
Speaker 8 (07:59):
The most votes wins one vote?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
One person?
Speaker 8 (08:03):
Oh, no racist math in the equation.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
No racist math. No, we don't want that, eh.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Okay, let's go to the scoreboard, shall we, Rosie, the
national popular vote currently stands. I've got a working tally
from the New York Times. Donald J. Trump seventy two million,
eight hundred nine thousand, six hundred and eighty four for
Vice President Kamala Harris sixty eight million, one hundred sixty
(08:31):
five thousand, five hundred three. Oh, Donald Trump is going
to win the popular vote. So you're your idea would
yield the same result, Rosie, I'm sorry to report, not
really sorry, fifty one percent of the vote just under
that fifty point nine. Well, round up fifty one percent
(08:51):
of the vote for Donald Trump to forty seven point
six for Kamala Harris. And for all the clowns in
Colorado out there that voted for this asinine, ridiculous, stupid
National Popular Vote Compact, guess what, libs, if that were
enacted and in place right now, all of the states
(09:14):
that signed on for that, including Colorado, would be handing
their electoral votes to Donald J.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Trump.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
In a state Colorado where Kamala Harris currently has a
fifty four to forty three lead by over three hundred
thousand votes out of just over two point five million cast.
And I'm going to be an honest broker here, as
I always try to be objective, I'm against the National
Popular Vote Pact. I think it's stupid. For the reason
I just out laid out. I hate that Kamala Harris
(09:46):
won here. I didn't vote for her here, obviously, but
the more local you make government and the selection of
that government, the more representative it is. And in Colorado,
I'm sad to say Kamala Harris one earned and deserves
our ten electoral votes she won here.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
But no, you.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Morons want to say no, We'll just hand it over
to whoever else, and our electoral votes are our voice
won't matter anymore. Boy, talk about your all time backfires.
It's like Happy Gilmour when he's on the ice trying
to impress his lady friend and she sinks the long shot.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
This would if I'm not mistaken, which.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
States are a part of the elect the National Popular
Vote Pact.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
It's California.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Guess what, oh, fifty four electoral votes California, which voted
for Kamala Harris by a fifty seven to forty margin,
would be going to Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So be careful what you wish for.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
This is what democrats, many of them, they don't understand
these sort of things, always have a habit of breaking
back the other way, breaking bad the other way.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
For you.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The ending of the filibuster for judicial nominees.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Dusty Harry Reid, didn't you Harry.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Senator Reid from Nevada back in the day they now
have named the Las Vegas International Airport after him?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Was mccaron Now it's Harry Reid. Of god, well, he.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Thought he was being cute and it turned out he
was too cute by half. In eliminating the filibuster for
judicial nominees under President Obama and then the turtle cocaine
Mitch Senator Mitch McConnell warned him, you do this now
and you will come to rue the day you'll regret it.
(11:39):
And what did that turn into? Justice Neil Gorsicic, Justice
Amy Coney, Barrett, Justice Britt Kavanaugh. With the filibuster. Two
of those three might not have made it through, but
they'd always cut off their nose to spite their face.
They're always looking at just what's right in front of them,
rather than the long view and thinking about the long
(12:01):
term implications. A national popular vote pact is ridiculous and idiotic.
Our founders were geniuses, and they constructed this constitutional republic
with a lot of forethought and planning and references to history.
And why did the ancient Greek democracies fail? Why did
the democracy of Rome fail? Julius Caesar takes power, never
(12:24):
resends it, and the senators all collaborate and Brutus stabs them.
I mean, they took all of that into account, and
they recognized that a direct democracy was not going to work,
not going to be stable, not going to endure long term.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So they set up these guardrails.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
They set up these guardrails by forming a Senate in
which every one of the states gets equal representation. That
was an argument for the smaller states, the southern states
at the founding of the thirteen original colonies, and then
there would be a House of Representatives on the other
side where the more populated areas wanted proportional representation, and
we got that. The Electoral College made sure that we
(13:04):
would not be governed by our urban centers who had
specific needs and interests that did not necessarily coincide with
those of the agrarian farmers. In our rural areas. That
is why the electoral college was designed. It is genius.
We are a different country with a lot of different
(13:24):
states and needs and priorities. Then say these other countries
where you're like, well what about France, Like, okay, there
are different regions of France, But think about how big
our country is, how diverse our country is and its
interests are. And again I go back to the tenant
that the more local you make government, the more representative
it is. So you take away the electoral votes of Montana,
(13:47):
North Dakota, South Dakota. Ah, we're just going to go
in the national popular vote. Now you'll see campaigns just
going to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, maybe Houston
and Dallas, all the big cities, and they'll totally ignore
the needs of those who live in rural areas off
the grid. They won't even need those votes anymore, they
won't campaign for them. The Democrats have already tried that
and look where it got them. Take a look at
(14:09):
the ruby red counties in every one of these states,
including the blue ones, and you'll know you'll recognize, if
you're being honest with yourselves on the left, that you
no longer have any kind of poll or appeal to
voters that live outside of urban centers. Maybe in the
suburbs to a degree, those are competitive, sure, but you
(14:30):
have written off rural America. You no longer have a
chance to win in Iowa. That was a state that
Barack Obama won twice, and despite an absolutely insane poll
that came out from the demun Register, guess what, Donald
Trump's winning Iowa by thirteen points. He's winning Texas by
fourteen points, He's winning Florida by thirteen points, and he's
(14:54):
winning Ohio by eleven. Ohio was once considered a bellwether
swing state, and it no longer is. The late night
comedians are having a time of it too. Jimmy Kimmel
was brought to tears.
Speaker 9 (15:10):
Let's be honest, it was a terrible night last night.
It was a terrible night for women, for children, for
the hundreds of thousands of hard working immigrants who make
this country.
Speaker 10 (15:20):
Go for health care, for our climate, for cliants, for journalism,
for justice.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
For free speech.
Speaker 9 (15:32):
It was a terrible night for poor people, for the
middle class, for seniors to reliance social security, for our
allies in Ukraine, for NATO for your truth and democracy
and decency. And it was a terrible knight for everyone
who voted against him. And guess what, it was a
bad knight for everyone who voted for him too.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You just don't realize it yet.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
No, I realized it's a great thing that I voted
for him and that Donald Trump won.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I don't know what you're talking, Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Maybe in your inculcated bubble, in your gated community with
all your ritzy ditsy friends on the Liberal League coast,
maybe it's bad for you. And I hope that it is.
Quite frankly, I hope that this is some kind of
sobering moment. But they're not getting it. It's not locking in,
they're not sobering up. They're blaming everybody else, and they're
not willing to take accountability and look in the mirror.
(16:22):
How about Sunny Houston. You know, we're just going to
turn to her and look for some reason, and maybe
she'll give that to us.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I'm profoundly disturbed.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
I think if you look at the New York Times
this morning, the headline was America makes a perilous choice.
I think that in twenty sixteen, we didn't know what
we would get from a Trump administration, but we know now,
and we know now that he will have almost unfettered power,
and so I worry.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Not about myself.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
Actually, I don't worry about my station in life. I
worry about the working class. I worry about my mother,
a retired teacher. I worry about our elderly and their
social security.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
And their medical care.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
I worry about my children's future, especially my daughter, who
now has less rights.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Than I have.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
And I remember my father telling me many many years
ago that I was the first person in his family
to enjoy full civil rights. And now I have less
civil rights than I had when he told me that.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh wow, yeah, I guess we couldn't count on sunny
for a rational take.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Let's try Stephen Colbert. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert.
Speaker 11 (17:33):
Well, well it happened again.
Speaker 12 (17:45):
After a bizarre and vicious campaign fueled by a desperate
need not to go to jail, Donald Trump has won
the twenty twenty four election.
Speaker 11 (17:57):
It's almost like you rehearsed that.
Speaker 12 (18:00):
The deep shock and sense of loss is enormous. Okay,
but let's look at the bright side. This way, at
least there'll be a peaceful transfer of power. Mike Pence,
Ali Ali Oxen free. All day yesterday I was walking
around proudly wearing my eye voted sticker. Today I wore
my I am questioning my fundamental belief in the.
Speaker 11 (18:19):
Goodness of humanity sticker. They give those out, They give
those out.
Speaker 13 (18:24):
Yeah, the Bakesdale, Yeah.
Speaker 11 (18:27):
The outside.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Wow.
Speaker 11 (18:30):
I wish you wish.
Speaker 12 (18:32):
So many of us wish this hadn't happened, But that
is not for us to decide.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
This is a.
Speaker 12 (18:36):
Democracy, that's democracy with a capital D. And in this democracy,
the majority has spoken and they said they don't care
that much about democracy.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Let them keep believing this, let them keep spouting this,
let them keep condescending to talk to us, and let
them continue to underestimate what just happened on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
It works in our favor.
Speaker 14 (19:16):
It's incredible that the kind of coalition that Trump has
put together and taking it away from Democrats, particularly working
class Americans, And that's what.
Speaker 13 (19:26):
Democrats have to figure out over the next four years.
Speaker 14 (19:28):
But I'll tell you the one thing in politics I
have learned is that if you spend enough time in
the desert, you figure out where the water is right
and the Democrats are now in the desert, and you know,
you ask me, what's going to happen.
Speaker 13 (19:38):
They tack left, tack, and they just got to tack
and tack hard. They got to tax somewhere.
Speaker 14 (19:43):
And the way to do that is a process over
the next four years of putting candidates through the primary process,
which is not what Harris got to do. She didn't
get those reps, she didn't earn the the you know,
earn it through you know a lot of spring training.
Speaker 13 (19:57):
And that's what Democrats will do this time. And and
you ask me, you know, how are they going to
get out of the desert. How are they gonna find?
It's going to be leadership, And it's gonna be somebody.
Speaker 14 (20:05):
Who fights their way through the next four years, emerges
through a tough primary process, battled and Bruce, but tucker
and smarter to lead the way for Democrats out of
the wilders.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
The wilderness of the desert. How do you want to
define it?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Mark McKinnon, He's a Bolder Native and a former Republican
now a Democrat getting down to brass tax there about
where the Democrats have gone wrong and in order to
recognize you're in the desert. You got to admit that
you have a problem, and it doesn't seem like they're
doing that. After Tuesday Night, Well, a big force for
good in the Congress joining us right now. He was
holding down the fort in former Congressman Ken Buck's seat,
(20:41):
and he will be handing off the baton, coming up
to Representative Lauren Bobert, who is victorious on Tuesday Night
over Tricia Calvarese and Representative Greg Lopez joins us now. Congressman,
thank you for your time and we'll try to reconnect
(21:06):
there with Congressman Greg Lopez in just a moment. Going
back to this fascinating, though meltdown on the left, and
it's not just the meltdown. They're upset that they lost.
I get that, but they're not recognizing the reasons why
they lost. And Stephanie Rule MSNBC, she says, America is
getting what it deserves and.
Speaker 15 (21:27):
The person we are now betting on to change all
of it is Donald Trump, a man who did two
almost impossible things. He won the American presidency twice and
he drove a casino into the ground. What will the
future hold now that America has just decided that we're
(21:50):
going to f around and find out.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Well, we already did that, and we found out in
his first four years as president that Donald Trump ran
a pretty tight ship, but for the Russia collusion hoax,
the impeachments coming his way, the Democrats doing everything they
could to throw land mines in front of him, so
we couldn't get his agenda done, got the tax cuts
across the finish line in those first two years. But imagine,
(22:15):
if you will, now a president elect who has won
the national popular vote has the will of the people
behind him. No matter how you define this electoral college
landslide's gonna be a lot tougher for the Democrats to
try to be stooges and get in the way of
this second Trump term. Let's go to Congressman Greg Lopez
(22:37):
joining us right now. Representative Lopez, thank you for joining.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Us, Hey, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Now, as it stands right now, with the balance of
power in the House still up for grabs, it looks
like that there might be the same exact margin that
we saw the last time around in twenty twenty two,
the elected margin of two twenty two to two thirteen.
And it projects out if everything holds the way it
is right now now that way, we know that Jeff
Hurd was just declared the winner. He'll be joining us
(23:04):
in about half an hour for right now, and that
Representative Lauren Bolbert.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Won the race for the seat you currently occupied.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Greg, what was the kind of result on Tuesday night
as you saw it and why it happened the way
that it did.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Well, you know, talking about the presidential election, I mean,
it's clear that you know, the working class has been
ignored and President Trump has always been very good at
connecting with the voters, you know, And I think one
of the things that really stood out for me was
how the Hispanic vote came out and supported a Republican candidate.
(23:39):
And I've been saying it for years that you know,
the Hispanic vote is a Republican vote because they believe
in faith, family, and freedom, and we just have to
go out there and talk to them. We have to
go out there and share our narrative and what we
stand for. And if we can do that, you will
see the results that we just saw in the presidential election.
So you know, clearly it's the man. When you win
(24:01):
the popular vote, you won. You know a lot of
those states that a lot of people were saying, were
the Blue Wall time?
Speaker 14 (24:10):
Was there changeing?
Speaker 6 (24:11):
You know, and people are starting to truly recognize what
our founding fathers envision, that is government by the people
and for the people. And the people stood up and
had their voices.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Heard, representing Lopez joining us here on Ryan Schuling Live
and Greg. When I'm looking at the aftermath, it still
seems to be utter shock from the left. They can't
quite embrace the fact that they lost or why they lost.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And some of the.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Analysis I think is purely laughable, pointing to the fact,
like you just pointed out that President Trump drew a
Hispanic voter is almost in record numbers for Republican nominee
for president, and some of the analysis saying, well, these
are Hispanics that think of themselves as being more white
than Hispanic. They're trying to kind of thread this needle
with this racist narrative and that fifty one percent of
(24:57):
America just turned out to be racist to support a
racist Is.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
This really a hill they're going to die on? Politically?
Speaker 6 (25:05):
It definitely sounds like it, doesn't it. I Mean, these
are the same individuals that believe that the term LATINX,
what's going to be embraced by the Hispanic community. You know,
when you use LATINX, that's the best insults that you
can do to the Hispanic community because of our culture,
because of our language, you know. And so they're definitely
have positive illusions about what the American people are wanting,
(25:28):
what they're dealing with every single day in their kitchen tables,
you know, with the economy, the inflation, and most importantly,
I'm here to tell you Hispanic Americans do not like
the border being open the way it is. And I
know that because I'm one of them, and I've spoken
to a lot of my Democrat friends, and I've spoken
to a lot of Republicans, and even the Hispanic Democrats
(25:49):
have told me we're not voting for Democrats anymore because
of the border and because of what they're doing to
our small businesses and what they're doing in our nation
and specifically our children.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Come and Greg Lopez joining us, and I got to
tell you, Greg, you could not be leaving Congress in
better hands or better shape than what we're going to
be getting when President Donald Trump is sworn in on
January twenty, twenty twenty five. And we know Congresswoman Lauren
Bobert will be taking the baton from you. Where do
you envision it goes from here for the United States
(26:20):
under a Trump presidency. We hope with Republican control of
both the House and the Senate, and what can be
achieved maybe in those first hundred.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Days, Well, look, I can tell you what I'd like
to see happen, and I think with my colleagues, I've
been up there at least ninety days now and we'll
be up there for the rest of the year. But
you know, one of the things that we got to
do is make sure that we control our budget, in
our spending. We have a thirty five trillion dollar national debt.
It's growing by a trillion dollars every hundred days. And
(26:48):
I think the next one hundred and nineteenth Congress is
going to look at that and they're going to close
the borders. And why they close the borders is because
there's too many people that are right now looking at
you know, getting handouts from the government, and so we
got to stop the spending. I think you're going to
see the first hundred days are going to be historical
(27:08):
because I can assure you that my colleagues and I
have been planning for this day. We've been planning ahead
about what we were going to do if, in fact,
then when President Trump got reelected, and we're looking forward
to when we get back next week, we're going to
start having more discussions and come the one hundred and
nineteen Congress, I know they're going to springboard everything we've
(27:30):
been putting the foundation on and America is going to
be another once again. There's going to be morning in America.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Looking forward to that, and a big part of that
holding down the fort in the fourth Congressional District and
the interim between Ken Buck and Lauren Bolbert has been
Congressman Greg Lopez. Thanks, thank you for your time today, Greg,
and for all the great work that you're doing. And
we're looking forward to this next term.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
Like you said, all right, take care, have a good one.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Congressman Greg Lopez, your text five seven seven three nine,
much more when we get back. Wrapping up our number
one of Ryan Schuling live after this, rolling back with
you rounding on our number one here and tackling a
local issue that you may have read about in Westward
entitled hands off my vape Flavored tobacco Fans smoke shop
(28:20):
owners tell Denver lawmakers and joining us now. He was
formerly the lead toxicologist at the FDA Center for Tobacco Products,
where he was responsible for determining which products made their
way to market, and he is now the director of
Regulatory Science at Swedish Match North America. He is doctor
Brian Erkla and he joins us on Ryan Schuling Live. Doctor,
(28:41):
thank you for your time.
Speaker 16 (28:43):
Hey, thanks, Ryan, Thanks so much for having me on.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Now, this seems to be an issue that always has
unintended consequences. So well, we want to keep the flavored
vapes out of the hands of kids because it's more
attracted than have like bubblegum flavor, et cetera, without recognizing
what those those short and long term consequences are for
say smoking cessation and other things along those lines. Can
(29:06):
you take us through kind of the origin of this
movement in Denver to outlaw these flavored vapes and nicotine products.
Speaker 16 (29:15):
Yeah, of course, I mean, you know someone that's faith
Bill is very good intention. Nope, you know, to ban
all the flavored tobacco products and then you know everybody's
going to be healthy and great. But where it goes
wrong really and why I'm against this bill is that
it treats all tobacco and nicotine products if they carry
the same risk, right, And it's simply not true. If
(29:39):
you talk to any public health researchers or even the
Food and Drug Administration, they'll tell you that tobacco exists
on a continuum of risk. The combusteds like cigarettes are
most harmful, but smoke free products you mentioned E cigarette,
but also smoke with tobacco, nicotine, bouchet heated tobacco much
less risk. They aren't completely safe products, but they're a
much better option for people who smoke.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
And so when you give people alternatives like that doctor
Brian Erkla a guest, you would say, you know, there's
the worst option, which you had mentioned cigarettes, et cetera,
but that these are not only less bad options, but
could be kind of a pathway and a gateway to
recovery for a lot of people that are trying to
wean their way off of cigarettes. So is it simply
(30:21):
that the city of Denver just doesn't want kids to
be attracted to these products at all, and they're willing
to do whatever it is to stop that.
Speaker 16 (30:29):
Yeah, I mean, I that's a part of it right,
But you know, I think we need to recognize that
the way this proposal is constructed, it would ban all
flavored tobacco products. Right now, a majority of those flavored
tobacco products are you know, a lot of the smokery
products are flavored. So what you're leaving is the combusted cigarette, right,
(30:50):
So that's going to be what people's options are. So
if you know, I used to be a smoker, I
no longer am, but if I still was, you know
this this ordinance would really the only cigarettes as an option, right,
so I'm much less likely to make that better choice
and move to a smoke free product.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Doctor, how much of it is money driving this as
a motivating factor? It seems like Kevin Flynn on the
City Council says that not only will flavor bans not
root out the issue entirely, but any question then why
not ban all tobacco outright, including cigarettes just regular flavor
without the flavoring added. What would be your response to that?
(31:29):
And where is the money coming from?
Speaker 5 (31:33):
So?
Speaker 16 (31:33):
I mean, I mean, I think you know, you could
say about whether or not we want to, you know,
kind of have a society where we ban everything that
might be bad for us. Right, you could ban all tobacco,
you can ban alcohol, you could ban a lot of things.
But I think, you know, people in the United States,
and people in Denver in particularly, you know, like to
make their own choices. And I think you know what
have is an opportunity to educate people who smoke about
(31:54):
tobacco harm reduction and making better option, being better choices
rather than right. It's better to go with at than
a stick.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Doctor Brian Erklad joining us.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
He's the director of regulatory science at Swedish Match North
America talking about this proposed ban on flavored products, nicotine
products like zen nicotine pouches, et cetera, a menthol cigarettes,
flavored hookah flavored chew. Some people say that this might
even be targeted toward ethnic minorities within Denver. But the
broader problem here also from a business standpoint, doctor, and
(32:27):
you kind of touched on it there, from the libertarian
aspect of we need to make our own decisions in
the marketplace. That people will simply go outside of Denver
to buy these and it will affect the stores that
are selling these products in the city of Denver and
they will suffer.
Speaker 16 (32:40):
Yeah, and you know, This is something we've seen many times.
You know, these sorts of proposals come up from time
to time around the country, you know, and there could
be real, real repercussions there, right. You know, we've seen
a large increase in illicit sales, you know right now,
you know, our company in many United States bring these
smoke free products. We go through the FDA. Right, We
like a regulated process. But you know who doesn't necessarily
(33:02):
go through a regulated process is illicit market. Right, And
you could definitely have an illicit market from this also.
You know, if you take a place like Massachusetts, right,
they an active flavor ban and saw huge increases in
cross border sales.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Right.
Speaker 16 (33:14):
People just would buy the products, sometimes in bulk from
other states and bring it in and so illicitly. That
does nothing for a tax base.
Speaker 15 (33:22):
Right.
Speaker 16 (33:23):
And then another one that's not exactly economic. But when
this has been done is like San Francisco, they banned
flavored vaps, youth rates of smoking actually increased. So you know,
there's a lot of ways that this can go wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Final minute that we have here, doctor, and where does
it go from here? With the proposal before the Denver
City Council, et cetera. And how do you plan to
fight it?
Speaker 16 (33:45):
Well, you know, I think what the council really needs
to do is take a moment and really look at
the environment we're in right now. Right, you have about
sney thousand people who smoke it Denver and this would
take away you know, a majority of their smoke free options.
And I understand that there's a big concern about youth, right,
but if you look at the Denver data on youth
youth or products from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three,
(34:08):
you have about a seventy percent drop in youth youth
of tobacco products. That's great, you know we're talking about
you know, think about smoking among youth used to be
up around four percent in Denver. Now it's at about
one point six percent. You know, all of these levels
are lower than the rates with the youth are you know,
binge drinking, than cannabis. Right, So what alway has the
Council to do is really look at the sign of here, right,
(34:30):
you know, do you really want to take away options
from adults who smoke and and normally leave them? The
most harmful is do you do you really want to
you know, take away the livelihood of independent stores right now,
you know. And let me just take a moment to
think about what could happen if this so goes through.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Doctor Brian Erkla, the director of Regulatory Science at Swedish
Match North America. You can read more about it at
Westward Hands Off my vate doctor.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 16 (34:57):
Thank you so much. I have a great day, Ben.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Ryan, Schuling Life ten. Use our number two straight ahead
after this
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