Episode 136 - Gov. Cuomo's Absolute Meltdown at a COVID Presser. Toilet Paper Panic 2.0. Where the Heck is John Durham?
Summary
Mark Chatham's piece begs the question: If the 2020 election occurred in a foreign country, would it adhere to our standards? And what would we do if that country was not the United States of America? Hot takes, Hot Takes, and much more.
Transcript
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you ever watch this guy on television you all were not telling the truth and you should not
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be trusted congressman matt gates thank you for what you did for your country today be offended
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with the democratic whip not house republicans like a machine matt gates
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welcome to hot takes i'm congressman matt gates let's talk about the news our top news story
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today comes from revolver.news it's actually a piece by mark chatham and it begs the question
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if america were observing the 2020 presidential race as if it occurred in a foreign country would
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it adhere to our standards would it uphold our highest principles and there are a series of
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factors in this revolver piece that i think are interesting the first if observers were excluded
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from election review in another country how would we treat that what would we think if the same
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practices in albania or in africa or in some other developing nation precluded people from being
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able to see the votes as they were being counted as they were being transmitted and certainly from
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the affidavits we've seen in michigan that was the case in our country with people oftentimes you know
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a thousand feet away as they were being expected to speak to the validity of ballots the second the
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irregularities that we see i mean i've covered on the program how in wayne county michigan you're
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seeing more votes than you're seeing registered voters how could that possibly be certified how if
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we saw that in another country would we judge it or treat it you know another factor is the suspicious
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circumstances of counting in my state in the state of florida there are no suspicious circumstances
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we count the ballots as they come in and we report them timely but in some of these places in new
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york in fulton county georgia you're seeing these ballots counted at odd hours you're seeing the
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observers sent home and then the counting continues and then the results change dramatically overnight
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again in georgia and pennsylvania we saw these features prominently exhibited and then finally the
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deviation from practices that are the practices that ought to be applied in a standard fashion across
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the board in pennsylvania there were some counties where people were allowed to cure their ballots
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and other counties they were not in georgia there were irregularities and deviations from practice when
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it came to counting the ballots i mean heck just a few days ago they were still finding new ballots and
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they were still finding circumstances where a ballots had not been retrieved or counted and uploaded to
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the state's main system people actually had to be terminated as a consequence so if america saw all this
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happening somewhere else we would raise concerns we would demand audits we would want the most thorough
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review possible and so if that's what we would demand in other countries we should demand no less in the
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united states of america check out the revolver piece by mark chatham i found it very interesting
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our good friend congressman devin nunez the republican lead of the house intelligence committee was on
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maria bartiromo's sunday morning futures program with a hot take take a listen president obama he's not
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giving up power he investigated his opposing party he allowed it to happen if he was so high and mighty and
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above board he should have told clinton comey mccabe brennan all of them no we're not doing this you
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have no evidence that trump is some type of russian agent stop it he didn't do it uh and here we're left
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with this aftermath of four years of this nonsense and now we're sitting waiting for durham uh to complete
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this investigation i think people are getting not only very frustrated uh but also there's a growing
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concern that durham's not going to come out with anything uh and then biden and obama are going to
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be back in and they're going to shut this investigation off devin nunez has a good point
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where's durham weren't we supposed to see a report regarding the improper predication of the trump
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russia investigation weren't we supposed to get answers about the people who set up that investigation
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who maintained it beyond having the knowledge that there was never a criminal conspiracy between
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trump and russia you see the russia investigation shows us that the process is the punishment the way
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the radical left works is by trying to smear people with false accusations then hoping that that will
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frame everyone's perspective of how an operation would work and in this case the operation was the trump
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presidency and they didn't want that presidency to have legitimacy to execute america first policies
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both in our country and around the world and so they instead came up with the russia hoax i still believe
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that people ought to pay for that there ought to be consequences for the harm to our nation that came
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due to the violations of the law the illegal spying the unmasking the renewal of fisa warrants without
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evidence attorney general bill barr told us that durham would give us these answers and we're still waiting
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america did we not learn in the last go around that panic buying of toilet paper is not necessary
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i guess we didn't foxbusiness.com has the report panic buying of toilet paper hits u.s stores again with
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new pandemic restrictions and so as states are enacting curfews and shutdowns as the covet 19 pandemic
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that continues to impact our country we see the toilet paper aisles growing more empty as a friday
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afternoon 22 states have imposed restrictions aimed at decreasing the spread of the virus giving rise to a
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new round of panic buying from shoppers and purchase limits from retailers including target and kroger
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the nation's largest supermarket chain so if you're planning on going to the supermarket at least to
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the target or the kroger and hoarding toilet paper i guess they've got policies against that but
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did anyone really benefit from that last time i mean were we all just a little more satisfied knowing
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that we had 300 rolls of toilet paper stored away in the pantry you know i think we're all uh likely able to
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sustain this next round of the virus without this panic buying but we see it persisting and one has to
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wonder whether or not these very reactionary efforts by mayors and governors just to show they're doing
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something at times even in the absence of data whether or not that contributes to a sense of panic among
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our people that is not necessary especially as it relates to toilet paper
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last evening i had the chance to join the next revolution with steve hilton he asked whether or not a
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potential biden administration could bring america closer to china and whether that would be good or bad
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here's my answer in my book firebrand i write a chapter called china is not our friend where
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i walk through politicians like joe lieberman and david vitter people from both sides of the aisle
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who go and sell out to china and you know there is already a problem where too many of our products
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are made in china joe biden would have our policies made in china as well now biden's signature foreign
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policy goal would be to reinvest in nato he's all about nato and so to do that he has to create a threat
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construction around the concept of a resurgent russia this removes our focus from china focus that
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president trump really brought into great clarity and it allows these swamp monsters to get rich and
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to do their deals at the expense of the american worker you know the chimerica dream was supposed to
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be that if we drew china closer that it would make them more like us it's only allowed them to steal our
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stuff bribe our politicians and then offshore the jobs that these liberals don't lock down
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actor kurt russell has a hot take we pick up the story from the washington examiner
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kurt russell saying that actors need to play less of a role in politics that there needs to be more of a
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dividing line between the silver screen and the political arena and kurt russell's argument goes like
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this we need to be able to believe actors in a variety of different settings in a variety of
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different characters and when they become linked to politics or political candidates that becomes so
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central to their identity that they're unable to be truly believable in some other fictitious role
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i don't know if that's true i'm able to largely see a film or a television series as a piece of art that
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can be evaluated separate and distinct from the lives that the various actors play but kurt russell
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takes the position that the actors in hollywood are actually court jesters that there is actually in
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society this important role of comedy and entertainment and drama that all comes through the court jester
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experience and when you take the court jesters and place them in the more serious and non-fictitious
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role of political analysis and debate and discussion that it robs us of that ability to to escape reality
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for a moment and to be able to participate in the artwork of theater and television and movie making
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i don't know i would seem to think that anyone has a right to a political opinion and to share it it
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doesn't really impact me but maybe some of the economic realities of these decisions from people in
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hollywood to wear their politics on their sleeve has become even more poignant in the time of the
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coronavirus pandemic you're seeing a lot of these movie theaters shut down some will never reopen
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again and of course it's having an impact on the revenue models for hollywood so it might be an
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opportunity for them to re-examine to find ways to be more accommodating and more inviting to all americans
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new york governor andrew cuomo under siege over the issue of school closures there's this color
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coded system he has regarding percentages and activities that new yorkers are able to participate
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in and it has folks confused and asking questions here is the governor's hot take in response to one
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reporter's question the other day you said this is the city's decision they have an agreement of three
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percent today you said well i might have to impose an orange zone and i might have to close the
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schools which an orange zone does so what's going on does the city still have the ability to close its
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schools are you now taking control and saying that you have the power to make this decision
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and for the millions of parents who want to know are the schools going to open tomorrow in new york city
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all right first of all let's try not to be obnoxious and offensive
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in your tone if you were paying attention you would have known we closed the schools in new york city two
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weeks ago remember when we did an orange zone and a red zone in brooklyn and queens and we close the
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schools don't you remember that okay so don't you so what are you talking about
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how what are you talking about you're now going to override we did it already that's the law an
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orange zone in a red zone follow the facts well then you're confused i'm confused and then i'll tell
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you what you mean parents are still confused as well the school they're not confused you're
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confused read the law as well read the law and you won't be confused
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that's the question i think jimmy's correct in asking that question i don't think it's obnoxious
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at all well i don't really care what you think it's not good when your own people are having to ask these
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questions because of a lack of data supporting the decisions being made as we've covered on the
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podcast it is overwhelmingly in the benefit of students to have schools open we hope that the
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america's longest serving prisoner in prison for a non-violent marijuana offense may be on his way home
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nbc's alicia lozano has the story of richard delisi who's 71 years old he was given a 90 year
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prison sentence because he was busted trying to get 100 pounds of marijuana from jamaica into the united
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states and he's hoping to spend christmas with his family this year we've seen five states earlier this
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month legalize recreational marijuana it seems crazy that this guy's serving a 90 year sentence
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he's already served decades in prison now he has declining health and as a consequence of various
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federal department of corrections policies relating to the coronavirus and people who are older and
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uniquely susceptible he may obtain medical leave to go home and we certainly hope that's the case
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i hope america's becoming a lot more enlightened about marijuana policy i hope that we don't view
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long prison sentences as the best way to deal with people who are engaged in the marijuana industry and
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i think it's been good for the country to have that industry come out of the shadows and into the light
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generating tax revenue engaging in research unlocking cures and helping people live better lives so here's
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hoping richard delisi is making it home in time to hear jingle bells
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the media can't quite figure out why donald trump has had historic gains among hispanic americans as a
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republican they spent years telling us that donald trump was a racist that he had it out for people who
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who weren't far from our country that he was scapegoating problems that america had against
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immigrants and trying to turn us against one another and all donald trump and the republicans did in the
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response to those headwinds from the media was dramatically expand the universe of hispanics who
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vote republican organize with republicans who get out and campaign alongside republicans and
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it helped republican candidates up and down the ballot mark caputo from politico wrote about a
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series of factors that he believes may have contributed to this historic departure from
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the democratic party among hispanic americans he talks about the backlash to the black lives matter
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movement there are a lot of hispanics in this country that deeply resented a movement built on
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destruction and replacement and anti-americanism a lot of hispanic americans build small businesses
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they work at small businesses and the notion that the right mechanism for political activity was
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arson and rioting just didn't sit well with a lot of them you know another factor obviously is the
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democratic party's refusal to reject socialism some would even call it an embrace of socialism and
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there are so many hispanics in our country that have fled socialism who've heard their parents
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and grandparents flee socialism and they're not here for the socialist redux in the united states
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also trump's branding around success you know caputo writes that whether people are new to this
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country or whether they've been here for a few generations within a family there is a near universal
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belief that trump equates to success that he's built successful businesses that he's an american success
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story and that was appealing just from a branding standpoint to a lot of americans and it it was a
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contrast against like the democrat effort to boycott goya foods i don't think that history will judge that as a
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politically advantageous move and there were a lot of hispanics who who mocked that frankly who memed it
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and who didn't believe that it was really all that helpful for democrats to be boycotting a food
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company because the leader of that company was a trump supporter a lot of hispanics in america are
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working class they do blue collar jobs they're making things with their hands they're in the construction
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industry in the tourism industry in the retail industry and president trump's agenda generated rising
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wages for blue collar people a lot of folks called it the blue collar boom so you see that messaging
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and that policy all working together for a very positive political ecosystem for the president and it's
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not all about immigration too the democrats believe that if they continue to pound the immigration issue
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that hispanics would come home to the democratic party but for a lot of hispanics they don't face
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personally an immigration challenge or conflict or problem within their family they're here they're
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working for better lives and they view themselves as just as american as everyone else and in fact they are
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and that unifying principle i think made the divisive strategy employed by the democrats less successful
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now there's also an interesting piece by john binder in breitbart that talks about persuasive efforts by
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the republicans to get that hispanic vote coming their way and being pro-police being against this defund
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the police movement seemingly helped the republicans according to the breitbart piece and also standing
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against globalism there are not a lot of hispanic americans that believe that the way forward
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is for america to surrender her sovereignty to diminish her own agency her own self-determination
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for the benefit of these globalist institutions a lot of these globalist institutions particularly
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in central south america have failed the people they've left folks indebted they've left countries with
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bonds that they can't pay off and there's resentment that builds over that kind of globalist colonialism
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and it's still very present with the hispanic community and you know finally i would just
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say that if you look at a map of the country here in terms of what areas went more red or went more
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blue in this last election you can clearly see that along the texas mexico border in south america parts
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of arizona you are growing the republican coalition with more and more hispanic votes and i think that
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the caputo piece and the bender piece in breitbart helped to explain those phenomenon those features that
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demonstrate that the days ahead for the republican party look great look more diverse and certainly look more
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appealing to our fellow americans of hispanic descent
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bitcoin is reaching a near three-year high in valuation a little over eight thousand seven
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hundred dollars per coin and we pick up the story from reuters regarding some of the conditions that
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may be leading that to be the case and the principal proposition is that you're now seeing more
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institutional investors more family offices more funds looking at bitcoin as a way to diversify their
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portfolios the winklevoss twins famously said they view bitcoin like gold that it's an asset that
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will hold its value and continue to rise and that it's a commodity that can be preserved and that it's
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less likely to be manipulated much like gold compared to other types of currencies and commodities that
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could be manipulated so we'll see if this is the great resurgence for bitcoin and we'll follow the story
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thanks for listening to hot takes i'm congressman matt gates we're glad you're listening we hope you'll
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