7-16-24 *INTERVIEW* Mandy Joins Me From Milwaukee

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Mandy is broadcasting Monday through Thursday thisweek, so today and two more days
from the Republican National Convention out therein Milwaukee, and she does her whole
show from there with lots of interestingguests. And she's also posting on our
social media pages constantly at Koa,Colorado on all the major platforms, and
she joined us. Now, Hi, Mandy, Hello, Ross, how

(00:23):
are you today? Good? Iwant to ask you a behind the scenes
question. So okay, I mean, obviously you get a lot of great
guests and you're sitting there and doingall that. What I'm super curious about
is what you did in the evening. I mean, obviously it ended kind
of a little bit late at yourtime zone. But did you go party?
Did you go hang out with famouspeople? What did you do?

(00:43):
Ross? We left Denver left Denverat five twenty am on yesterday, so
to say that, Aaron and Iwere exhausted and literally went back to our
accommodations last night and both died.We were just so tired partying at all.
We talked to Rob dawsin this morningand he went and had to drink
with some friends. We're like,dude, tomorrow night, the night so

(01:06):
we're ready to go out tonight andexperience the night life. But let me
tell you, this is such afestive atmosphere just across the board. This
is I use the phrase tent polerevival, but that's kind of what it
feels like at a political convention whereyou have the people that are the most
ardent supporters and they're here to partyand have fun, party with each other,
you know, get to know peoplefrom across the country. It is

(01:29):
a very light and festive mood,and I mean just really fantastic. Everyone's
smiling, everyone's having a great time. It's not nearly as hot today as
it was yesterday, so that's arelief because it was miserable yesterday. And
everybody's fired up and ready to havefun. So yeah, it's it's quite
the party here. That's fantastic.And I have to say, I don't

(01:52):
think it's actually a matter of muchdebate that in general, conservatives are are
happier than live rules are, andI'm not surprised that people out there are
making a great party of it,especially because even though Donald Trump was shot,
it just hit his ear and heshowed up and you know, did
his thing. Yeah, and sothey don't really have reason not to be

(02:15):
happy, right, Trump is okayand they feel like they're winning. So
I'm not surprised at all. Whatwas the moment for like, for you
being in the room when Trump wasintroduced, you know, was it was
interesting? Ross, because of coursethe crowd weren't crazy, but Trump seems

(02:35):
different. And I wanted to askyou about that because I've talked to several
of the delegates this morning about it, and he just seemed humble. He
seemed like he sort of was soakingit all in in almost a first time
way, and it was noticeable tothe attendees the sort of different tone and
tenor of the man as he cameout last night. And you know,

(02:58):
I was wondering if you noticed thatwhen he walked out last night. I
started my show today by using twoadjectives describing President Trump last night that I
have never used about him before,and those were pensive and reflective. That
was how he seemed. Yes,Yes, I mean like, obviously this
is what happened on Saturday has hada huge impact on him. And we'll

(03:19):
see if that translates to a kinder, gentler Trump or if this is a
temporary situation, but it was noticeable. People were commenting about that and talking
about that, about how he justseemed to be grateful for the cheering and
adoration, whereas before he kind ofcame across like he expected it, right,
it was like, oh, ofcourse you're cheering for me. But

(03:40):
now it was almost like Wow,all of these people are here and they're
cheering for me, and they loveme, and it was just a really
powerful kind of moment that I wasnot expecting. I thought, you know,
he's going to come out this raisedefiant trump. I caught me off
guard. I'm not gonna lie.He used to come out like the way
Mike Tyson would walk out of atunnel, walk into the ring, right

(04:04):
in the in the robe and lookingangry or at least serious and pumping his
fists. And it wasn't like thatat all. And the other thing.
The other thing I mentioned this already, but now since your hair, I'll
say it again. Uh. Atsome point people are talking about him and
and thanking him and saying he's courageousand all this stuff, and he got

(04:25):
a smile on his face that wasa different kind of smile than I've ever
seen on his face before in thatit was a melancholy smile, wasn't it.
It was almost melancholy, yes,and it was also genuine. Yes.
Yes, it was definitely a differentexperience. I got to tell you,
it just hopped everybody up for hisspeech on Thursday night. I mean,

(04:46):
everybody is like, I cannot waitto see what happens on Thursday night.
So this has been it was.It was a big deal last night.
First of all, that he showedup, you know that he wanted
to and we got the word thathe really just wanted to physically assure all
of the delegates that not only didhe survive, he was perfectly fine.
You know, he was okay.And I think he did that last night,
and it just sent everybody into overdrive. I want to share a little

(05:09):
bit of audio with you and listeners. Well you were there and you heard
it already, but I want toshare a twenty second clip and then I
want to get your take of whatit was like to be in the room
when this guy was talking corporateness.Hey, we're working people join together to
form unions, but first century majoremployers have waived a war against labor by

(05:30):
forming corporate unions of their own.We need to call the Chamber of Commerce
and the business roundtables what they are. They are unions for big business.
And I'll have more sound from SeanO'Brien later. I'm not going to take
Mandy's time up with it. Buthe's the head of the team Stirs,
a hardcore, lifelong Democrat speaking atthe Republican National Convention. Must have been

(05:54):
interesting, not just to hear him, but to see the crowd react because
it's not a very Republican message.I would love to tell you that I
was there to watch that, butafter Trump came out, we left,
Okay, I was so exhausted andwe watched it on the car on the
way home. Because obviously ross toyour point, And this is something I've
got on the blog and I'm goingto talk about today. What happened last
night with Sean O'Brien's speech was likea political earthquake. You know that that

(06:19):
cannot be overstated, and we don'tknow. I can't, I honestly I
would. I would be shocked ifthe Teamsters came out and endorsnal Trump,
like I would be absolutely shocked.But the fact that he even appeared and
did not hold back at all aboutthe pro union, anti corporate message.

(06:40):
Was pretty shocking, but you heardthe crowd. They ate some of it
up. When you're talking about theworkers being shafted by corporations, that part
resonated with a lot of people inthis audience, which for Republican Convention,
I was absolutely I don't even knowwhat to make of it, to be
perfectly honest, and it's it's somewhatof a fit at least with the new

(07:01):
Republican Party with Trump, and evenmore of a fit with JD. Vance,
who, in many of his economicpositions are more like Democrats. It's
part of the reason I don't likehim very much, but just as a
as a political thing. I meanSean O'Brien, I saw him interviewed somewhere
and he said that he reached outto the Republican Convention and the Democratic Convention.

(07:25):
He reached out to them at thesame time, maybe a month ago,
and he's only heard back from theRepublicans. He hasn't heard back from
the Democrats, and so and sohe showed up, and it really would
be something. And I think it'squite possible that the teamsters don't endorse anybody
in this race. That's kind ofwhat I'm leaning towards right now. And
I think that Sean O'Brien has coverbecause he ran as a reformer for the

(07:46):
Union and said to the union menand women, you know, we know
that you're tired of leadership making decisionsthat you don't agree with. And we
also know that a lot of Unionmembers have become very pro Trump, and
so he's got to deal with thepolitical split in his organization. And if
he said, look, we're notgoing to come out of endorse anybody,
but we went and spoke to theRepublicans, I think that does a lot

(08:09):
to tamp down any kind of youknow, uprising from the pro Trump wing
of the team stirs. But Ijust I don't see them coming out and
giving a full throated endorsement. Ijust it seems like it's a bridge too
far for me right to happen thatquickly. You know. Yeah, I
agree, And I think a lotof folks who are paying close attention also
note that a lot of the stuffPresident Biden is trying to do to force

(08:31):
people to drive electrical car electric carsand having them away from internal combustion engine
cars is bad for labor unions,and so he's micro managing their industry.
You know, he's trying to micromanage the auto industry instead of letting them
sell cars to people who want carsright. And also many of the jobs
making the electrical vehicles are not unionjobs, so they'd be killing union jobs

(08:54):
to create non union jobs, andit pisses off some of those guys.
Tell me, Mandy, what wasfor you your most interesting interview yesterday?
Oh God, We're walking down thestreet and all of a sudden, I
see a bunch of secret service guyshandle around someone and it's the vak Ramaswami.
So I got to do my firstwalk and talk ross because we just

(09:16):
basically fell in step, and Isaid, can I ask you some questions
while we walk? And he wasreally open to it, really nice,
And I asked him if you wouldever consider running for Congress. He said
he would if asked me more thanyou know, more than consider the JD.
Vance seat that is going to bevacated if Trump and and Dvance win
in Ohio. And I asked himif what role he saw for himself and
the Trump administration and we got thatall on camera and it was super cool.

(09:39):
So that's on all of our socialsites and we're going to be airing
that audio today on my show.But it's just been a whirlwind, and
today we are hopefully having like alittle more calm on the show because if
you guys could have seen them behindthe scenes yesterday of Media Row, I
mean, it's just it's it's insanedown here, and so we're trying to

(10:00):
to be a little a little moreopen. Yesterday we were just back to
back yes because there were so manypeople that I wanted to get on the
show. We'll see who we runin today at the Media Center and see
what that looks like. But thisis just like I can't describe me.
It as like a political met galais the best thing that I could possibly

(10:22):
imagine, because you're standing there,like Charlie Kirk just walked by me on
the street. So Charlie Kirk,I'm sorry, Hey, Rod's waving me
back somewhere. Charlie Kirk just walkedby me. So you just see people.
And tomorrow we're going to an economicforum hosted by Steve Moore and Art
Laffer, where Doug Burgham is goingto be and Tulca Gabbard and Larry Cudlow,

(10:46):
So we're gonna have a chance totalk to some of them and get
some audio from that. But there'sjust so many heavy hitters here right when
politics. It's unbelievable. Yeah,it's fabulous. And I think that Doug
Bergham is going to be Secretary ofEnergy, and I think it'll be actually
better to have him there than asVP, even though I would like it.
I would have liked him as VP. He can do a world of

(11:07):
good as Secretary of Energy. SoI bet you we'll see him there.
What are your thoughts as you anticipateNicki Haley's speech tonight that was only announced
a couple of days ago. Youknow, I think that Nikki Haley is
going to come out and offer,you know, if not full fruited support

(11:28):
for Trump, but I do thinkshe is part of the new unity message
that is really apparent here at theRNC. All of the speeches yesterday,
even Marjorie Taylor Green was measured.You know, it was not it was
not the flame throwing stuff that Iwas kind of expecting. So the unity

(11:50):
message is really strong, and Ithink she's gonna probably pitch that and ask
her supporters to go ahead and throwtheir weight behind Trump. I think you're
right, An, I think shehas to do if she wants to run
for president again. But I alsothink she might kind of believe what she's
saying. It'll be a little interestingbecause Jade Vance was one of her most
aggressive, nastiest, harshest critics,so that probably bugs her a little bit.

(12:13):
But you know, she's a grownup and she's been playing the political
game. So I think it's goingto say, I heard you talking about
Vance and his conversion to being aTrump supporter, and we all know Ross
there's no one more zealous than aconvert. Yeah, exactly, Yes,
So he is a convert and heis going to be a great surrogate.

(12:33):
I think he's going to go outand be able to articulate the message very
clearly and passionately. And from thatrespect, I think that you know,
Trump got exactly what he wanted fromJade Vance. So I want to just
do one last little topic with you, And in a way, it's a
spin off of something you mentioned amoment ago where you were talking about how
even Marjorie Taylor Green had a sortof message about unity and she's usually a

(12:56):
big bomb thrower. And normally,in all the years that you and I
have been watching politics, almost allthe time, you would say that the
Democratic Party is more disciplined than theRepublican Party. And I think part of
that goes along with just being aliberal, you know, following orders and
so on. In Republicans. Conservativestend to be a little bit more free
thinking. But this year, thefirst of all, Donald Trump is by

(13:20):
far the most disciplined he has everbeen in politics. Oh yeah, The
people who are talking to him,who are coaching him, have him taking
the coaching, which you and Ihave never seen before. And I'm guessing
you and you and I know Iwould have been skeptical that it was even
possible to get him to take coaching, but he is. And on the

(13:41):
other side that the Democrats are verymuch in disarray. And I don't know
if you've heard this story about howthe Democrats are going to try to do
some kind of virtual online thing thismonth to officially make Biden the nominee so
they don't have to wait all theway to the to the convention to try

(14:01):
to fend them people who want toknock him off as. So they're doing
the whole boat camp. They're doingthe state role, call on law on
law, yeah, like as azoom meeting or something. And they're going
to try. They're going to try, don't you think though, Ross and
you and I doing that show onSaturday night. I think on Saturday Night
anyone who said we need to docandidate just went, let's not waste it

(14:24):
because Trump is going to be muchharder to be now after this, just
because I think that Saturday shooting firedup a lot of people who maybe were
apathetic about this election. Maybe theywere going to stay home, but now
the outrage of seeing a political candidatebe shot on live TV has has brought

(14:45):
them into awareness that that maybe theyneed to get out and do something.
So I think the Democrats have kindof decided that we're going to have four
more years of Trump, so whywaste a potential, you know, other
candidates by hanging in with an LSo I'll say right over there, I'll
say yes and no to that.Oh that's that's like your uh oh oh
good. Isn't he like the Iforget what the term is, but like

(15:09):
he's the dude that you have permissionfor from Chuck. No, no,
he's not pass and let's just sayhe's put on a little rates since last
I saw. Kay, okay,all right, so let me just address
your last thing, your last thingreal quick. I'm gonna say yes and
no to this. I will saythere are some very tactical Democrats who are
thinking, for an example, weshould we need to spend more money right
now on Senate and House candidates becauseif Biden's the nominee were he'll loose,

(15:33):
but we need to try to preventthe negative coattails. So there's some of
that. But also I think,for if you watch, say a professional
football game, and a team isdown by seventeen points, you don't see
the head coach say we're giving up. They keep trying to win, They
keep trying to win, they keeptrying to win, and the Democratic Party
must act like they can still win. And I think they're gonna keep trying.

(15:54):
And I think some of those peopleare still going to keep trying to
knock off Biden. And I'll tellyou what that makes. Potential makes,
especially if it's soon and it mightbe a jd Vance versus Kamala Harris debate,
more important, more interesting, yes, right, yes, and me,
Hey Ross, it is starting torain and I've got to do your
stuff outside for tomorrow. All right, all right, great talking to you.