Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My buddy Leland hosts On Balance, which is on News
Nation weeknights at seven pm Our Time and ten pm replay.
His book Born Lucky has been just an incredible success,
and I have something to say about that in a second.
And also make sure you go to warnotes dot com
(00:20):
and subscribe to his daily email.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
All right, Hi there, Leland? How you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Always find ross good to see it?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I have many questions for you.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I want to start with the question I just asked
my listeners, because you know, we only cover the most
important topics on this show. In the world of jams
and jelly's and marmalades, which one is the best?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And what do you have it on?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
So, my mother makes homemade raspberry jam in northern Michigan,
and having spent time in Colorado, I understand people in
Colorado don't know this, but Michigan is the fruit basket
of much of America, the northern part of Michigan. The
raspberries from northern Michigan are extraordinary. So she makes fresh
(01:08):
raspberry jam and I enjoy it on normally like you know,
white toast or are like toasted baguette with a little butter.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay, very good. Switching gears.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
I want to share with you a text that I
got from a good friend of mine here, former state senator,
just an interesting guy, and I quote Leland's book has
been very encouraging to I won't use his wife's name
on the air, to my wife and I as parents
of a child who is on the spectrum and who
(01:43):
want him to develop by being challenged rather than by
being coddled. And then he added what his dad, your
dad Leland did for Leland reminds me so much of
what my wife is doing for our on.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So I wanted to share that with you that just
came in a few minutes ago.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well, thank you, the book is born. Lucky, we're back
in the stock now. I think the message of hope
for every parent of a kid having a hard time,
not just on the autism spectrum as I was or
I am, and as your friend is dealing with, but
kids who are going through bullying or ADHD or anxiety,
(02:25):
any of these issues that kids are having, any kid
having a hard time growing up, This is hope for
their parents.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
But it's also proved.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
I think this is what your friend is figuring out
and his wife is figuring out proof of how much
good and difference parenting can make.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, so answer this next question with absolutely zero false modesty,
not that that's ever really your thing. Are you surprised
by how successful this book has been?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I am very surprised because I didn't understand how many
parents feel so alone.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And that message that.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Your friend wrote is basically what my dad talked to
me about for so many years, which is number one,
we're going to adapt you to the world, not the
world to you.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
But number two self esteem is earned, it is not given.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
And number three, anyway, the message of born Lucky that
parents can make such an enormous difference. And I didn't
realize how many parents feel so alone with a diagnosis
for their kid.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I believe that. I believe that makes it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
If I weren't already traveling with my kid to go
look at colleges a week or so ago, I was
going to down to Florida to go to go to
an event with you and another one of my friends,
Jack Carr, and I was and to me, I'm asking
you this because it's a very interesting pairing you two guys.
(04:13):
Can you since I didn't get to go, can you
tell me.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
A little about what that event was. Like.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Jack has been on my show probably a dozen times,
so my listeners know him well.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well and they're better for it.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
This came to be because both Jack Carr and I
were doing events back to back at the same place
with the same bookstore in Orlando, and for this event,
they wanted someone to interview Jack and somebody to interview me,
so they had both of us interview each other and
it was so much fun.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I never met Jack before I had him on my
show at your.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Suggestion, what a really great human being and your point,
somebody who does not have any false modesty after having
I think seven New York Times bestsellers, a number number
of number one best sellers, his books turned into movies.
Just the most thoughtful, real human being I've ever met.
(05:11):
I just spent a lot of time backstage with him
just talking, and you could just see the way he
related to everyone and the way he internalized information and
reacted to things. None of it is false modesty and
just really a spectacular human being.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I mean, obviously I had nothing to do with putting
that event together, but when I when I heard that,
it was happening. I was just very much encouraging both
of you because I thought you'd get along real well.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
All right, let's do some other things last night.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You have a guest on your show quite frequently lately
named Mike Nellis.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
A very interesting, very very interesting guy.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
He's trying to compete with you in terms of best hair,
but very interesting guy as a very much insider in
the Democratic Party, and I liked him a lot as
a guest.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I think he's a great guest.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
He's frustrated me and you in the last couple of
days when you've asked him about this attorney general candidate
in Virginia and about what it takes to disqualify someone
from being in office or even being important politically, and
maybe what you could start at the macro of that question,
and then maybe if you want to talk about, you know,
(06:28):
how you think about Mike Nellis's dodge there, because I
really like the guy.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, I think we're in an environment where neither side
And to be fair to Mike, we had another partisan
on the other side, Steve Cortes, who's a very smart conservative,
talking about this current problem of people with really questionable
or awful, whatever you want to call it, text messages
(06:57):
or tattoos or whatever it be in their past.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Right, and you have the prime example of.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
The Trump nominee who's still working for the Trump administration,
who talked about you know that he's has a Nazi streak,
and you know he's a little Hitler and all these
kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And then you have on the Democratic.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Side the guy in Maine who has a Nazi tattoo
that he claims he got while he was drunk, but
has had for twenty years.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And then you have the.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Guy running for attorney general in Virginia with the elections
in a couple of weeks, who has text messages where
he's talking about.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Killing his political opponents. These are the two Democrats.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
And what is interesting to me always is is that
when you ask a partisan about this on their side,
they will say, well, it's bad, but let the voters decide.
And what we really need to deal with is the
other sides problem.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
That doesn't work for me.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I see the world right verse wrong, not right verse left.
I think it's why you and I get along. I
think it's news nation is growing so fast. Is if
you fantasize about being a little hitler, you should not
have a place in government period. I don't think you
have a place in the private sector either. I think
that is wholly disqualifying to have anyone associate with you,
(08:19):
and noteworthy that the guy in the Trump administration did
not apologize. And I think at the same time that
if you want to talk about political violence in America,
you should be able to say if someone has fantasized
about killing their political opponents, they shouldn't be the attorney general.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
They should drop out. And as you noted, Mike did
not say that.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
To be fair, Steve Cortez didn't say that Paul Agrassia
should resign or Trump should fire him. So I think
that is the problem that we exist in right now,
is that supporting your own side is more important, and.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I think this is a terrible situation.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Then simply acknowledging that someone with really terrible feelings and
thoughts shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Have a job.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
You studied a lot of economics, and so have I,
and so we both understand that the world is all
about incentives, which is really what economics is about. And
it seems to me that the behavior you're talking about
is not going to change soon, because the incentives aren't
going to change soon, because the bases on both sides
(09:30):
are perfectly fine with the behavior that you and I
and the defense of the behavior that you and I
think is wrong. And I don't see how it changes
until the public in large numbers say we're just not
going to tolerate this, right, Like, maybe maybe if J.
Jones loses in Virginia, a race that a Democrat should
(09:50):
definitely win. But I mean, you got any thoughts on
what's going to change this?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
I think what changes it is the center rising up.
And by that I mean that the fringes of both
political parties, the extremes, whatever you want to call them,
mistake the center for being apathetic and take them for granted.
And they say, well, it doesn't matter if we're crazy,
(10:18):
because in the end, elections are binary choices, and people,
even who are in the middle, are going to be
forced to choose one side or the other. So so
long as we're not just a little less bad than
the other side, we're going to be okay. And to me,
the people in this center, who is the majority of Americans,
because the American political spectrum is a bell shaped curve.
(10:40):
The extremes are the smallest percentage of people. The extremes
in America have not been required by the middle to moderate.
In the Middle of America, much like Congress has completely
given up all of their power because they're more interested
in other parts of and intel, the middle of America
(11:03):
demands and puts forth the need for change. Nothing's gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
A listener wants to know if you've ever spoken with
Elon Musk about autism, or if you know if Elon
Musk has read your book A note above. You put
something in War Notes yesterday. I think it was where
you linked to a New York Times interview of Democratic
(11:33):
Senator Reuben Diego when you talked about Democrats and prosperity.
And here's what I want to ask you about this. So,
on the one hand, I think that that way of
thinking would be very much a positive change for the Democrats.
I don't think most of the country wants to elect
somebody like Mom Donnie, who would be the extreme case,
(11:54):
but even AOC and folks like that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
But here's what I wonder about Leland.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
One of my mac some in politics is that Americans
like vote for whatever's the closest thing they can get
to authenticity.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Part of the reason that the Coca Cola, the Coca
Cola tagline, it's the real thing, was so effective for
so long and so back in the day, like when
George H. W. Bush was president and raised taxes after
saying he wouldn't in the in the voter's mindsets, they're like,
all right, if we're going to raise taxes and spend money,
we're going to vote for the people or the experts
on that, and we're just going to vote for Democrats.
(12:29):
And they made George H. W. Bush a one term president,
and the other way around. If Democrats start talking about
things that sound like fiscal conservatism, whether or not you
think they believe it, I think that voters are going
to say, all right, if that's what we're doing, is
fiscal conservatism, we'll go with the people who we think
are maybe at least a little better and go with
the Republicans.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
So what I wonder when I'm asking you in this very.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Long winded way, is do you think Democrats and prosperity
or abundance in other words they're using a lot recently,
is a brand change that they can achieve.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Well, it's a great question.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
That word abundance, right, It comes from the Ezra Kline
book that came out a few months ago, and it
was the abundance theory that Democrats should start talking about.
You know, we're going to eliminate regulations on housing and
on and on and on this. I think what you
said at the beginning is the most important thing. Ross
is that Americans come to people who they believe to
(13:34):
be authentic. And I've had the privilege of covering a
number of presidents and they are the two transformational.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Ones both by both Obama and.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Trump have been exactly the same person in private as
they are in public.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
George W.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Bush the same way, Bill Clinton the same way that
they were HW.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Bush not not as much.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
But they all won the test of who would you
rather have a beer with in all of their elections.
That idea, I think speaks to what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
And the problem for Republic for.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Democrats right now is they don't have anybody who you'd
want to have a beer with.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Mom. Dommi is that guy.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
He is a generational talent of politician. People are drawn
to that magneticism, to that charisma.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
The rihiz Is.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
I've heard kids now call it Ross and I Aron Zoom.
I'm trying to see if I can get him to
smile when I said the riz is the kids call it.
But I can't figure out, you know, is Democrats are
now jockeying for position for the twenty twenty eight presidential race.
I've been to a lot of rallies. I've been to
(14:50):
a lot of speeches. I can't figure out a Democrat
who has right now that it component right. You saw
it when Donald Trump came down the escalator. You saw
it with George W.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Bush. Certainly, I saw it with Barack Obama in two
thousand and four at the convention.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Is there a Bill Clinton like figure who we're not
thinking about right now?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Well, in nineteen ninety that was possible because we didn't
have cable news. Now everybody's on cable news.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
We know who all these candidates are, and you don't
see anyone.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I'll go one point further.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
All of those people Mom Dommy included have been willing
to stand up to their own party.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
None of the Democrats are interesting folks.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
We're talking with Leland Vindard.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
His show is on Balance, It's on news Nation weeknights
at seven pm. Mountain Time plays again at ten pm. Okay,
last question for you, Leland. What is something interesting you're
covering on your show tonight that we have not already
talked about just now, Oh, that we've.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Not already talked about. Yeah. Well, the thing that I
keep going over.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
And over and over and over and have a real
prime problem with is the incredible silence by all the
people who were so concerned about the Palestinians. So you've
got Hamas now torturing and killing and imprisoning and killing
(16:18):
or executing Palestinians by the dozens, if not hundreds in
the Gaza strip.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
And all of the people who were marching.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
With kafias and banging pots and pans and talking about
pushing the Jews into the sea because they were so
worried about the poor Palestinians are now utterly silent about
the Palestinians. And I think it is extraordinarily telling about
what their motivations were. And I've used this before. I'll
bring this all the way full circle for you, Ross
(16:46):
that yes, there's a problem with anti Semitism, jew hatred
on the left and on the right. On the left
it's a little bit like an avalanche, and on the right,
it's a little bit about like being worried about getting
sunburn And let me tell you, when you're in an avalanche,
which is what we'rery in about anti semitism on the left,
you don't really sit around and worry about getting sunburned.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
And that's what I feel like the left is is saying.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Right now, they're like, oh, well, you know, maybe we
shouldn't dig ourselves out of this avalanche because we might
get sunburned after we do. Well, let's be clear what
the real risk is right now.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Leland Vender's show on Balance NewsNation seven pm. Go to
warnoes dot com sign up for his daily email. It
arrives well time five oh five pm mountain time.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Is that right? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So long as I make So long as I make
my deadline every day?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, there you go, And it's it's basically Leland's show preps,
so you'll know what he's going to talk about, kind
of what's in his brain, and you'll be smarter and
then born luckybook dot com. If you haven't read Leland's book,
it is it.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Does you want me to make an announcement for you. Wow.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Oh sure, so we can do one better, Born Lucky
book or burn Lucky dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
WHOA, how'd you do that?
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Well, you know things are happening born lucky dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
My gosh, yeah, my producer said that's because you were
born lucky, so you got it done. Born Lucky dot
Com fantastic. Thanks as always for your time, Leland. I'll
catch you on TV tonight. Talk to you Ross, all
right
My buddy Leland hosts On Balance, which is on News
Nation weeknights at seven pm Our Time and ten pm replay.
His book Born Lucky has been just an incredible success,
and I have something to say about that in a second.
And also make sure you go to warnotes dot com
(00:20):
and subscribe to his daily email.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
All right, Hi there, Leland? How you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Always find ross good to see it?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I have many questions for you.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I want to start with the question I just asked
my listeners, because you know, we only cover the most
important topics on this show. In the world of jams
and jelly's and marmalades, which one is the best?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And what do you have it on?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
So, my mother makes homemade raspberry jam in northern Michigan,
and having spent time in Colorado, I understand people in
Colorado don't know this, but Michigan is the fruit basket
of much of America, the northern part of Michigan. The
raspberries from northern Michigan are extraordinary. So she makes fresh
(01:08):
raspberry jam and I enjoy it on normally like you know,
white toast or are like toasted baguette with a little butter.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay, very good. Switching gears.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
I want to share with you a text that I
got from a good friend of mine here, former state senator,
just an interesting guy, and I quote Leland's book has
been very encouraging to I won't use his wife's name
on the air, to my wife and I as parents
of a child who is on the spectrum and who
(01:43):
want him to develop by being challenged rather than by
being coddled. And then he added what his dad, your
dad Leland did for Leland reminds me so much of
what my wife is doing for our on.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So I wanted to share that with you that just
came in a few minutes ago.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well, thank you, the book is born. Lucky, we're back
in the stock now. I think the message of hope
for every parent of a kid having a hard time,
not just on the autism spectrum as I was or
I am, and as your friend is dealing with, but
kids who are going through bullying or ADHD or anxiety,
(02:25):
any of these issues that kids are having, any kid
having a hard time growing up, This is hope for
their parents.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
But it's also proved.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
I think this is what your friend is figuring out
and his wife is figuring out proof of how much
good and difference parenting can make.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Okay, so answer this next question with absolutely zero false modesty,
not that that's ever really your thing. Are you surprised
by how successful this book has been?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
I am very surprised because I didn't understand how many
parents feel so alone.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
And that message that.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Your friend wrote is basically what my dad talked to
me about for so many years, which is number one,
we're going to adapt you to the world, not the
world to you.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
But number two self esteem is earned, it is not given.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
And number three, anyway, the message of born Lucky that
parents can make such an enormous difference. And I didn't
realize how many parents feel so alone with a diagnosis
for their kid.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I believe that. I believe that makes it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
If I weren't already traveling with my kid to go
look at colleges a week or so ago, I was
going to down to Florida to go to go to
an event with you and another one of my friends,
Jack Carr, and I was and to me, I'm asking
you this because it's a very interesting pairing you two guys.
(04:13):
Can you since I didn't get to go, can you
tell me.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
A little about what that event was. Like.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Jack has been on my show probably a dozen times,
so my listeners know him well.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well and they're better for it.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
This came to be because both Jack Carr and I
were doing events back to back at the same place
with the same bookstore in Orlando, and for this event,
they wanted someone to interview Jack and somebody to interview me,
so they had both of us interview each other and
it was so much fun.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I never met Jack before I had him on my
show at your.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Suggestion, what a really great human being and your point,
somebody who does not have any false modesty after having
I think seven New York Times bestsellers, a number number
of number one best sellers, his books turned into movies.
Just the most thoughtful, real human being I've ever met.
(05:11):
I just spent a lot of time backstage with him
just talking, and you could just see the way he
related to everyone and the way he internalized information and
reacted to things. None of it is false modesty and
just really a spectacular human being.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I mean, obviously I had nothing to do with putting
that event together, but when I when I heard that,
it was happening. I was just very much encouraging both
of you because I thought you'd get along real well.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
All right, let's do some other things last night.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
You have a guest on your show quite frequently lately
named Mike Nellis.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
A very interesting, very very interesting guy.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
He's trying to compete with you in terms of best hair,
but very interesting guy as a very much insider in
the Democratic Party, and I liked him a lot as
a guest.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I think he's a great guest.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
He's frustrated me and you in the last couple of
days when you've asked him about this attorney general candidate
in Virginia and about what it takes to disqualify someone
from being in office or even being important politically, and
maybe what you could start at the macro of that question,
and then maybe if you want to talk about, you know,
(06:28):
how you think about Mike Nellis's dodge there, because I
really like the guy.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, I think we're in an environment where neither side
And to be fair to Mike, we had another partisan
on the other side, Steve Cortes, who's a very smart conservative,
talking about this current problem of people with really questionable
or awful, whatever you want to call it, text messages
(06:57):
or tattoos or whatever it be in their past.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Right, and you have the prime example of.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
The Trump nominee who's still working for the Trump administration,
who talked about you know that he's has a Nazi streak,
and you know he's a little Hitler and all these
kinds of things.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
And then you have on the Democratic.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Side the guy in Maine who has a Nazi tattoo
that he claims he got while he was drunk, but
has had for twenty years.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And then you have the.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Guy running for attorney general in Virginia with the elections
in a couple of weeks, who has text messages where
he's talking about.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Killing his political opponents. These are the two Democrats.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
And what is interesting to me always is is that
when you ask a partisan about this on their side,
they will say, well, it's bad, but let the voters decide.
And what we really need to deal with is the
other sides problem.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
That doesn't work for me.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I see the world right verse wrong, not right verse left.
I think it's why you and I get along. I
think it's news nation is growing so fast. Is if
you fantasize about being a little hitler, you should not
have a place in government period. I don't think you
have a place in the private sector either. I think
that is wholly disqualifying to have anyone associate with you,
(08:19):
and noteworthy that the guy in the Trump administration did
not apologize. And I think at the same time that
if you want to talk about political violence in America,
you should be able to say if someone has fantasized
about killing their political opponents, they shouldn't be the attorney general.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
They should drop out. And as you noted, Mike did
not say that.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
To be fair, Steve Cortez didn't say that Paul Agrassia
should resign or Trump should fire him. So I think
that is the problem that we exist in right now,
is that supporting your own side is more important, and.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
I think this is a terrible situation.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Then simply acknowledging that someone with really terrible feelings and
thoughts shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Have a job.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
You studied a lot of economics, and so have I,
and so we both understand that the world is all
about incentives, which is really what economics is about. And
it seems to me that the behavior you're talking about
is not going to change soon, because the incentives aren't
going to change soon, because the bases on both sides
(09:30):
are perfectly fine with the behavior that you and I
and the defense of the behavior that you and I
think is wrong. And I don't see how it changes
until the public in large numbers say we're just not
going to tolerate this, right, Like, maybe maybe if J.
Jones loses in Virginia, a race that a Democrat should
(09:50):
definitely win. But I mean, you got any thoughts on
what's going to change this?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
I think what changes it is the center rising up.
And by that I mean that the fringes of both
political parties, the extremes, whatever you want to call them,
mistake the center for being apathetic and take them for granted.
And they say, well, it doesn't matter if we're crazy,
(10:18):
because in the end, elections are binary choices, and people,
even who are in the middle, are going to be
forced to choose one side or the other. So so
long as we're not just a little less bad than
the other side, we're going to be okay. And to me,
the people in this center, who is the majority of Americans,
because the American political spectrum is a bell shaped curve.
(10:40):
The extremes are the smallest percentage of people. The extremes
in America have not been required by the middle to moderate.
In the Middle of America, much like Congress has completely
given up all of their power because they're more interested
in other parts of and intel, the middle of America
(11:03):
demands and puts forth the need for change. Nothing's gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
A listener wants to know if you've ever spoken with
Elon Musk about autism, or if you know if Elon
Musk has read your book A note above. You put
something in War Notes yesterday. I think it was where
you linked to a New York Times interview of Democratic
(11:33):
Senator Reuben Diego when you talked about Democrats and prosperity.
And here's what I want to ask you about this. So,
on the one hand, I think that that way of
thinking would be very much a positive change for the Democrats.
I don't think most of the country wants to elect
somebody like Mom Donnie, who would be the extreme case,
(11:54):
but even AOC and folks like that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
But here's what I wonder about Leland.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
One of my mac some in politics is that Americans
like vote for whatever's the closest thing they can get
to authenticity.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Part of the reason that the Coca Cola, the Coca
Cola tagline, it's the real thing, was so effective for
so long and so back in the day, like when
George H. W. Bush was president and raised taxes after
saying he wouldn't in the in the voter's mindsets, they're like,
all right, if we're going to raise taxes and spend money,
we're going to vote for the people or the experts
on that, and we're just going to vote for Democrats.
(12:29):
And they made George H. W. Bush a one term president,
and the other way around. If Democrats start talking about
things that sound like fiscal conservatism, whether or not you
think they believe it, I think that voters are going
to say, all right, if that's what we're doing, is
fiscal conservatism, we'll go with the people who we think
are maybe at least a little better and go with
the Republicans.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
So what I wonder when I'm asking you in this very.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Long winded way, is do you think Democrats and prosperity
or abundance in other words they're using a lot recently,
is a brand change that they can achieve.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Well, it's a great question.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
That word abundance, right, It comes from the Ezra Kline
book that came out a few months ago, and it
was the abundance theory that Democrats should start talking about.
You know, we're going to eliminate regulations on housing and
on and on and on this. I think what you
said at the beginning is the most important thing. Ross
is that Americans come to people who they believe to
(13:34):
be authentic. And I've had the privilege of covering a
number of presidents and they are the two transformational.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Ones both by both Obama and.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Trump have been exactly the same person in private as
they are in public.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
George W.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
Bush the same way, Bill Clinton the same way that
they were HW.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Bush not not as much.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
But they all won the test of who would you
rather have a beer with in all of their elections.
That idea, I think speaks to what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
And the problem for Republic for.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Democrats right now is they don't have anybody who you'd
want to have a beer with.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Mom. Dommi is that guy.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
He is a generational talent of politician. People are drawn
to that magneticism, to that charisma.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
The rihiz Is.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
I've heard kids now call it Ross and I Aron Zoom.
I'm trying to see if I can get him to
smile when I said the riz is the kids call it.
But I can't figure out, you know, is Democrats are
now jockeying for position for the twenty twenty eight presidential race.
I've been to a lot of rallies. I've been to
(14:50):
a lot of speeches. I can't figure out a Democrat
who has right now that it component right. You saw
it when Donald Trump came down the escalator. You saw
it with George W.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Bush. Certainly, I saw it with Barack Obama in two
thousand and four at the convention.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Is there a Bill Clinton like figure who we're not
thinking about right now?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Well, in nineteen ninety that was possible because we didn't
have cable news. Now everybody's on cable news.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
We know who all these candidates are, and you don't
see anyone.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I'll go one point further.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
All of those people Mom Dommy included have been willing
to stand up to their own party.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
None of the Democrats are interesting folks.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
We're talking with Leland Vindard.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
His show is on Balance, It's on news Nation weeknights
at seven pm. Mountain Time plays again at ten pm. Okay,
last question for you, Leland. What is something interesting you're
covering on your show tonight that we have not already
talked about just now, Oh, that we've.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Not already talked about. Yeah. Well, the thing that I
keep going over.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
And over and over and over and have a real
prime problem with is the incredible silence by all the
people who were so concerned about the Palestinians. So you've
got Hamas now torturing and killing and imprisoning and killing
(16:18):
or executing Palestinians by the dozens, if not hundreds in
the Gaza strip.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
And all of the people who were marching.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
With kafias and banging pots and pans and talking about
pushing the Jews into the sea because they were so
worried about the poor Palestinians are now utterly silent about
the Palestinians. And I think it is extraordinarily telling about
what their motivations were. And I've used this before. I'll
bring this all the way full circle for you, Ross
(16:46):
that yes, there's a problem with anti Semitism, jew hatred
on the left and on the right. On the left
it's a little bit like an avalanche, and on the right,
it's a little bit about like being worried about getting
sunburn And let me tell you, when you're in an avalanche,
which is what we'rery in about anti semitism on the left,
you don't really sit around and worry about getting sunburned.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
And that's what I feel like the left is is saying.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Right now, they're like, oh, well, you know, maybe we
shouldn't dig ourselves out of this avalanche because we might
get sunburned after we do. Well, let's be clear what
the real risk is right now.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Leland Vender's show on Balance NewsNation seven pm. Go to
warnoes dot com sign up for his daily email. It
arrives well time five oh five pm mountain time.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Is that right? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So long as I make So long as I make
my deadline every day?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, there you go, And it's it's basically Leland's show preps,
so you'll know what he's going to talk about, kind
of what's in his brain, and you'll be smarter and
then born luckybook dot com. If you haven't read Leland's book,
it is it.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Does you want me to make an announcement for you. Wow.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Oh sure, so we can do one better, Born Lucky
book or burn Lucky dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
WHOA, how'd you do that?
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Well, you know things are happening born lucky dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
My gosh, yeah, my producer said that's because you were
born lucky, so you got it done. Born Lucky dot
Com fantastic. Thanks as always for your time, Leland. I'll
catch you on TV tonight. Talk to you Ross, all
right
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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