Michelle Tafoya is a veteran American sportscaster who has worked with CBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and has one of the longest tenures in NFL history. But she has now turned political and cultural commentator.
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00:00:19.580Hello, you guys. Welcome back to The Riley Gaines Show.
00:00:22.660Very excited that you're here. I hope that you're watching on YouTube.com.
00:00:25.920Uh, that's where you can like, subscribe, follow all things Riley Gaines Show.
00:00:30.160Be sure to follow us over on Instagram at Riley Gaines Show as well.
00:00:34.400Uh, today we are talking with Michelle Tafoya.
00:00:37.480Uh, she is a veteran American sportscaster.
00:00:40.160I mean, she's worked with CBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC.
00:00:44.220She has one of the longest tenures in NFL history, uh, but she has now turned political and cultural commentator.
00:00:52.620Uh, she's the host of the Michelle Tafoya podcast.
00:00:55.920Uh, but she is someone who I have looked up to long before I ever had the privilege of knowing her personally.
00:01:03.020Long before politics, long before activism.
00:01:05.560Uh, I knew her as one of the most respected voices in sports broadcasting.
00:01:10.860Uh, I come from a big football family.
00:01:13.860Uh, my dad, my uncles all played in the NFL.
00:01:16.800Uh, and so I grew up watching her as a sideline reporter.
00:01:19.680My dad still to this day says that she is the best sideline reporter.
00:01:23.160Uh, flash forward to the 2016 Olympic games, which this was the first year that I qualified for Olympic trials.
00:01:30.540Uh, I watched her report from the pool deck at the Olympic games with my cousin, Rowdy Gaines.
00:01:37.180I bet you guys did not know that Rowdy Gaines and I were cousins.
00:01:40.420All that to say, I have watched and admired her for a very long time.
00:01:45.140Uh, but that's not what makes her so compelling.
00:01:47.680Of course, what makes her compelling today is that she didn't stop using her voice when it became uncomfortable.
00:01:54.940Actually, that's really when she expanded it.
00:01:57.000She's a long time Minnesota resident and she's become one of the most clear eyed and courageous voices speaking out about what's happening in her home state.
00:02:05.380Whether that's the massive fraud scandals, whether that's the escalating protests, whether that's the collapsing public trust, uh, the political leadership that many Minnesotans feel has failed to deliver accountability and certainly transparency.
00:02:20.320Uh, and so while others have stayed silent or decided to play it safe, Michelle has chosen to speak honestly and earnestly, even when that costs her.
00:02:30.700And so today's conversation is about the current state of Minnesota, uh, where it's gone wrong, why it matters, why it matters nationally and what comes next.
00:02:39.980Uh, she's also going to be sharing an important announcement about how she plans to confront these issues head on and how she plans on being a part of the solution.
00:02:48.660But before we get into that, I want to mention a college success story spotlight presented to you by why refi, uh, today's spotlight is a touching story about the college football national championships.
00:02:59.440So congratulations first and foremost to the Indiana Hoosiers, but more specifically to their quarterback, Fernando Mendoza.
00:03:06.440Uh, I love his story because it's about more than just football.
00:03:32.780Why refi make sure you stay tuned and listen to this episode with Michelle Tafoya for a very important and exciting announcement.
00:03:41.300Well, Michelle, thank you for joining the Riley gain show.
00:03:44.080Uh, before we get into anything, Oh, please, before we get into anything, I want to get your thoughts on the college football national championship.
00:03:52.820Um, I always love to see a team like Indiana and players like Fernando Mendoza have the success that they certainly had all season.
00:04:01.460Uh, the last two undefeated football and basketball national champions reside in Bloomington, Indiana.
00:04:10.520It, what a great American sports story.
00:04:12.960I mean, this kid, Fernando Mendoza, this coach, they, they linked up and started just kind of became the base of this incredible team in this wonderful season.
00:04:24.280Uh, and to go undefeated for him to win the Heisman and to bring home the national title and watching his parents in the stands, it was all so good.
00:04:32.700Uh, and look, Miami put up a great defense and they had a shot there at the end, but it just seemed like the moment Mendoza scored that touchdown on fourth and five, this game turned and it was just, it was just magic.
00:04:46.200Yeah, it was, it's one of those feel good stories.
00:04:51.900Uh, I think one of the super cool things that I've noticed about college football in general, not just the playoffs or the national championship, especially this past year is just how many teams centered Jesus and their personal relationship with Christ and everything that they did win or loss.
00:05:08.940Indiana, of course, was a leader in that.
00:05:10.760I mean, we mentioned Mendoza, their quarterback.
00:05:41.160Uh, I can remember seeing, uh, prayer groups after a game where both teams, you know, who had just fought it out on the gridiron for a win or a loss, uh, they'd get together in a prayer circle at the middle of the field.
00:05:54.100Very often as the sideline reporter, you're waiting for that post-game interview and they're like, hang on, he's in the prayer circle.
00:05:59.220Uh, and I, I saw more and more of those as the years went on.
00:06:02.700So it seems like, yes, a number of players and even coaches, you look at the Harbaugh's, for example, uh, they're very vocal about their faith.
00:06:10.580And, and I think it's a great example to young athletes across America.
00:06:43.000We've seen Don Lemon in the state of Minnesota, which I want to ask you about in a second.
00:06:47.280Some people say that the state, I think oftentimes this is coming from people who don't live in the state of Minnesota.
00:06:52.780Uh, they say that the state is just simply too far gone, but you're a longtime Minnesotan.
00:06:58.540From your perspective, what is the solution here?
00:07:02.660If I felt that the state was too far gone, I wouldn't be running for Senate.
00:07:06.340Um, so we do have a crisis of leadership because we have had just this constant flow of career politicians like Tim Walls, our governor, running things.
00:07:15.240And frankly, running them into the ground.
00:07:17.000And it is not going to be these career politicians who clean things up.
00:07:21.240So some of us have to step up and clean up this mess.
00:07:24.500You know, I've lived in Minnesota, as you mentioned, for a long time, over 30 years, raised my family here.
00:07:30.360And I can remember the Minnesota that had safe streets and clean cities and tight-knit communities and excellent public schools.
00:08:57.860They know something is amiss in Minnesota.
00:09:00.900I mean, as you mentioned, we've turned into somewhat of a war zone here over the last several weeks with all of these protests and, you know, Don Lemon showing up and the rest.
00:09:28.100So anyone that wants to help, please do join us because we're going to need you.
00:09:33.460Yeah, you have to imagine that the people protesting, specifically in Minneapolis, it just can't be the majority of how Minnesotans feel, whether it's illegal immigration, whatever the topic is.
00:09:46.900I've got a clip I want to show you from Target in Minneapolis.
00:10:28.860They're not at all participating in challenging this ethnic cleansing we're seeing in this country.
00:10:37.060So ICE agents are using their parking lot and you have people inside Target protesting.
00:10:42.460I think what I got from this is, look, a few years back, Target went just about as woke as you can possibly go with all of the different tucking bathing suit options for kids, nonetheless.
00:10:54.800And even still, that is not good enough for these left wing protesters.
00:11:14.260And the reason he called it an invasion was because Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry gave him permission to call it an invasion because that's what they've been calling it.
00:11:24.680Let's let's talk about why we're here.
00:11:27.280Under Joe Biden, the border was thrown wide open.
00:11:30.020We could not possibly vet everyone that came into our country.
00:11:34.140And so we had terrorists come through and we had criminals come through and we've arrested lots of them nationwide and lots of them here in Minnesota.
00:11:42.740So why are we leaning into to federal law enforcement to get this done?
00:11:47.240Because local law enforcement isn't and local law enforcement isn't helping out.
00:11:52.120So to pick a political fight with the White House, Tim Walz, Jacob Fry, they've decided to say, oh, look, this is fascist.
00:12:01.160And they have really fanned the flames and basically set up a permission structure for people to go out and put their cars on the line, put their bodies on the line, throw things at these officers.
00:12:12.680And it's just been a complete abandonment of law and order.
00:12:23.940Yeah, it's it would be a scary time to be a law enforcement officer, especially in a blue state, a blue city like Minneapolis.
00:12:34.540You mentioned some of those illegal aliens that ICE is working to arrest and deport in Minneapolis.
00:12:39.800We've got a tweet from Secretary Noem right here that says that they've arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and raining terror in Minneapolis because Tim Walz and Jacob Fry refused to protect their own people and instead protect criminals.
00:12:53.420She goes on to say in the last six weeks, our brave DHS law enforcement have arrested 3000 criminal illegal aliens, including vicious murderers, rapists, child pedophiles and incredibly dangerous individuals.
00:13:05.140She then went on to post a thread of, I mean, at least 20 photos and descriptions of what these illegal aliens have been arrested for.
00:13:15.320We've got one here that says a criminal illegal alien, a known MS-13 gang member.
00:13:20.500He's been convicted of homicide, drug trafficking and selling amphetamine, arrested also for aggravated homicide in El Salvador in 2011, yet still managed to make it into this country.
00:13:30.940We've got another one here that says a criminal illegal alien from Mexico with a final order of removal dated from December of 2016.
00:13:37.620He's been convicted of sexual assault against a child, sexual assault, carnal abuse and four DUIs.
00:13:46.220And so my question for you, Michelle, is do you think the people protesting ICE realize that these are just a few of many just like them that ICE is working to deport?
00:13:58.000Or do you think they genuinely care more about these people than, let's say, the children that they're sexually assaulting?
00:14:04.820You know, it's interesting who we've decided or these groups have decided to protect in this way.
00:14:10.840And what's unfortunate is that, you know, you've had local police departments, state, county police officers put life and limb at risk to arrest these people.
00:14:22.120They put them in jail and then they're released.
00:14:30.500Those same criminals go back on the street and now you've got to have an ICE law enforcement official risk life and limb to go apprehend that criminal.
00:15:57.160Notice how he says it was MAGA coded because there was an American flag.
00:16:01.240The other side is used to flying the Somalian flag, the Ukrainian flag, the Venezuelan flag, insert name of any other country other than the United States.
00:16:11.740He later defended his presence and reporting as, you know, a heroic act of journalism that's protected by the First Amendment,
00:16:19.300saying that he did not know in advance that the group would enter the church and was simply chronicling the events.
00:16:25.980Here's a clip of him inside the church talking with the pastor.
00:16:35.480Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are your people?
00:16:38.820Why are you not at Whipple every day fighting for the humanity, standing for our people?
00:16:44.180You drink your coffee, you got your jewelry, you have your nice clothes, but what do you do?
00:16:48.520What do you do to stand for your Somali and Latino communities?
00:16:51.200All these comfortable white people who are living lavish, comfortable lives while children are dragged into concentration camps.
00:16:58.100You're living real nice lives with your lattes, doing absolutely nothing for your Latino and Somali brothers and sisters.
00:17:03.780You come here to a man wearing a suit as a preacher? Did Jesus wear a suit? Did Jesus profit off the words? No.
00:17:10.640You are a fake Christian. Why are you not standing with your Somali and Latino communities?
00:17:15.500You're sinners. You're pretending to be Christians.
00:17:17.700But we know you live an easy life, don't you? A very easy life while people are starving. Shame.
00:17:22.720I mean, this would be certifiably terrifying. I mean, this protester, he's yelling at what appears to be like teenage girls in this clip.
00:17:34.820You know, there were families in there. We've seen the picture famously posted by Nicki Minaj of the little child who was crying into the chest of an adult next to him.
00:17:44.340And this is awful. And if Don Lemon didn't know they were going into the church, but then followed them into the church, he went in.
00:17:54.520And that, to me, I'm not a lawyer, but what I do know is there's something called the FACE Act.
00:18:00.240And you cannot take over a place of worship like this in the middle of what they're doing and do this.
00:18:08.440It's intimidating. It's terrifying, particularly when you consider some of the attacks on churches and synagogues across America, and particularly here, Annunciation here in Minneapolis.
00:18:18.940So I feel for those people who were involved. And that rant, that's just not how most Minnesotans feel.
00:18:28.260And so, yeah, again, this is a crisis of leadership. There was no law enforcement there to help.
00:18:33.480This was disgusting, despicable, and unacceptable.
00:18:38.440Yeah, we've now seen where Harmeet Dillon and the Department of Justice is launching an investigation into what federal charges, if any, can be pressed here.
00:18:49.200President Trump has responded. He said that he's seen the footage. He says these people are professionals, the protesters.
00:18:56.120He said that no person acts the way that they act. He says that they're highly trained to scream, to rant, to rave like lunatics in a certain manner, just like they are doing.
00:19:07.540Like I said, Don Lemon was inside the church. He followed the protesters. He spoke to the pastor.
00:19:13.440After the fact, when he kind of became the face of this, he ran to Jennifer Welch's podcast to justify his actions. Let's listen to that interaction here.
00:19:23.000There's a certain degree of entitlement. I think people who are, you know, in religious groups like that, it's not the type of Christianity that I practice, but I think that they're entitled.
00:19:31.940And that entitlement comes from a supremacy, a white supremacy. And they think that this country was built for them, that it is a Christian country, when actually we left England because we wanted religious freedom.
00:19:42.720It's religious freedom, but only if you're a Christian and only if you're a white male, pretty much.
00:19:46.860And so, yeah, absolutely, 100%. But it's an intimidation tactic. And, you know, I said, I don't understand how I've become the face of it when I was a journalist.
00:19:55.520I do understand that. I'm the biggest name there. And I'm also, as I was on with my producers this morning, you know, you and Kylie talk all the time.
00:20:02.520My producers were saying, I said, how did I become the face of this? And my producer said, Don, you're a gay black man in America.
00:20:07.300Like, I'm honestly confused at what he's trying to get at there. Like, is he saying that because he is a gay black man that he's oppressed in America?
00:20:16.280Like, if he can't recognize the fortune that he has in front of him, not just in terms of wealth and money, but the opportunities for success that he has had, like, I think he's too far gone.
00:20:27.800Like, how is he? What is he trying to say here?
00:20:30.800I have no idea. To me, that was a massive word salad. But the bottom line is, this has been fomented by the radical left.
00:20:40.640This has been fomented by career politicians who have wanted to fan these flames. And now they're getting this as a result.
00:20:48.800This is a lack of leadership, not just in Minnesota, but across the country, but particularly here.
00:20:54.900And we need to get people in place who are sane and who want to enforce the law and keep people safe.
00:21:03.040And by the way, the First Amendment protects freedom to worship as well. That was infringed upon there.
00:21:09.180So this was chaotic. It was, I think, cruel and despicable.
00:21:16.500And again, I think we need just sanity and normalcy back here in Minnesota.
00:21:21.360None of this performative stuff is helping, right?
00:21:23.680These are performances. They're not creating any results. They're just getting people clicks.
00:21:29.080So let's get some leaders to step up, to calm everything down, and to say, could we please follow the law?
00:21:37.660Could we please keep our law enforcement safe? Could we please keep our citizens safe?
00:21:41.720Those are the things that are driving me, Riley.
00:21:45.520You talk about performance and doing things for clicks.
00:21:50.580Let's play this video of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry.
00:24:01.600The Affordable Care Act isn't affordable.
00:24:04.060So we need to work on those things and give power and transparency back to the citizens instead of having all these layers and layers of bureaucracy that fatten up the education system, that fatten up the health care system, and keep, you know, just sort of widening this divide between the people and the actual product.
00:24:22.820So those are things we can certainly work on when I'm in the Senate.
00:24:27.980Last thing, will you tell us your website again and what we can do to support you and your candidacy?