Dr. Josh McConkie, decorated U.S. Air Force Reserve commander and author of Be the Weight Behind the Spear, joins John Rush and Andy Peth to discuss a pivotal leadership meeting at Quantico with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. McConkie shares candid reflections on standards in military leadership, calling out senior brass who fail to meet the very expectations they enforce. The conversation dives deep into leadership accountability, micromanagement, DEI policies in the military, recruiting challenges under the Biden administration, and the cultural shift toward merit and strength now underway. Later in the show, callers weigh in on constitutional education
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 07 :
And we are back. Myself, Andy Pate, Charlie Grimes. Hour number three, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Welcome back, Dr. Josh McConkie. How are you?
SPEAKER 14 :
I’m doing very good. Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Always a joy having you. You are U.S. Air Force Reserve. You are a former decorated commander, emergency physician, author of the book, Be the Weight Behind the Spear. Talk to us about what happened here recently in regards to, and we talked a little bit on air, by the way, Andy and I both did, at Quantico, the meeting they had there. Talk a little bit about that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Boy, I tell you, as a former commander, I prided myself on holding my people to the standards, and we built a fantastic team. I separated three people for not meeting those standards. And when you see senior brass, these generals and senior military leaders that don’t meet that same standard, it’s like they have their own little private standard. That just deteriorates morale.
SPEAKER 07 :
As you know, it’s not good leadership.
SPEAKER 14 :
No, it’s terrible. How could you possibly expect someone to respect you if you yourself can’t even meet those standards? So that was really Pete Hegseth, our Secretary of War, his little come-to-Jesus moment with senior leadership. And they either meet the standards or there’s the door. Thanks for your service.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, Josh, first of all, I just want to thank you for being in the right branch of the military. I’m an Air Force vet. There we go. Josh, I just want to ask you, when you’re talking about meeting the standards, I know that he was talking, Pete was talking about the physical standards. What are some other standards in leadership that you think people need to meet and maybe they’re not meeting in our military?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, so we’ve got the physical and the appearance standards. You know, when you’re 50, 60, 70 pounds overweight, you’re coming to your captain’s flight dock, strong-arming them to get a profile, you know, so you don’t have to do fitness testing because your knee hurts. Well, guess what? Your knee hurts because you’re 50 pounds overweight. You know, get out there and fit test. And just those basics in leadership, you know, holding people accountable. You know, if you can’t hold yourself accountable, you can’t hold other people accountable. You know, taking ownership of problems, not passing that buck. And for me, the really big one is not micromanaging. So, you know, taking responsibility as a leader, if you make a bad decision, if you’re having to micromanage someone, guess what? That’s on you. That’s on you. You made the bad. That’s right. You made the bad decision. So you either have a lot of mentoring to do or you got to show them the door. You can find somebody else. That’s right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, you’re probably a leader. You’re probably a lousy trainer if you have to micromanage everything they do.
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly. And that’s that’s personal ownership.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Yeah. You’re one or two. And I talk about this coaching other businesses. Josh, if you’re a micromanager, you either a won’t allow anybody to do anything, never give them the freedom, never empower them to Andy’s point, never train them how to do things correctly, meaning you’ve got to always be involved. And the reality is those are people that micromanage are just. Poor, poor leaders. As you know, Dr. Josh, at the end of the day, you can’t lead any kind of a large-scale organization being a micromanager. It just can’t happen. It’s impossible. Yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, and if you are at that level of control, your people aren’t growing. And when something happens, they have to make a decision on their own. They’re not capable of doing it. That’s correct. They’re not empowered to do it.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re right. You know, I believe, Josh, that when you have people micromanaging, when you have leaders who do that, they’re sending a very clear message. I don’t trust you. And so the question, and I’ve had to ask this of a number of managers, why don’t you trust your people? Clearly you don’t. But I want to get a step below this. Why don’t you? What is it? Are they not trained well enough? Do you not trust their character? What is it about them you don’t trust? And when they take a look in the mirror, a lot of times they’re saying, you know what, maybe I just should. Maybe they are trustworthy. I’m just maybe the problems with me. I don’t know.
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, everybody knows. Bad leadership, right? Sometimes when you try to describe, gosh, what’s a good leader? And you think about, wow, I guess they were their great leader. When you’ve had someone really bad, that micromanager, that one who wants all the glory and just sacrifices their people, you know, it’s, oh, yeah, okay, now I know what good leadership was. Just don’t be this guy, you know?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and frankly, and this is not to pump up our president, but you talk about good leaders, and as much as he does some things that I don’t necessarily agree with and probably wouldn’t do even as a leader, at the end of the day, though, all said and done, he is a good leader in the empowering of others end of things, I should say. Dr. Josh, I know the grammar is not great with what I just said, but at the end of the day, he is an empowerer. He is not a micromanager.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I’ll tell you, I couldn’t be happier with the military. It was a very difficult four years under the Biden administration. You know, I follow civilian leadership. I uphold that constitution. I kept my mouth shut. I disagreed with about everything that was going on. And now we’re moving in the right direction. And you see how responsive the entire country is. The recruiting. I mean, people are clamoring to get back to the military because we’re finally a fighting force. And we’re stopped the laughingstock that we had turned into with crazy DEI initiatives. You know, China and Russia don’t have DEI in their military. You know why? It doesn’t work. Yeah, you know, so we’re back to where we need to be, and you’re seeing all the results.
SPEAKER 06 :
Dr. McConkie, and I’m sorry, I go back and forth between Josh and Dr. McConkie. Yeah, it’s fine. Yeah. How damaging do you think the woke policies were in the military? Because basically they were flushing merit at every turn. I mean, how damaging do you think it was and how much of a change do you think it is going forward?
SPEAKER 14 :
It was very challenging and I thought very damaging as well. And you saw that in the people that were – we didn’t have the quality of recruits. The numbers were way, way down.
SPEAKER 07 :
We were struggling to get recruits, I believe, Dr. Josh, if I’m not mistaken.
SPEAKER 14 :
It was. It was terrible. They were missing by like 100,000 numbers-wise. And when you don’t hold people accountable and you start promoting people just to fit quotas and DEI initiatives – that just destroys the team around you. because the one thing I love about the military and I prided myself in my squadron day. Number one, I don’t care where you came from. I don’t care what color you are, your creed, your sexual orientation in this squadron, your character and your merit matter. Like period. I, that’s what I love about the military. We had wonderful diversity and people met standards and exceeded standards. And, you know, we, we were kind of a model for the wing. We did very well. I was super proud of that team. They only gave you three years at command. I, You know, I was very sad to leave, but it was kind of one of those, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. So I’ve moved on to emergency management.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. When I went in the military, basically, I realized I went in because I knew I was there to kick ass, not fill a quota. All right. I was there to be great.
SPEAKER 14 :
And I grew up watching Full Metal Jacket and Platoon.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. It’s like we’re back to that. When you saw that Iran mission, we are the only country on planet Earth to execute that level of mission with B-2 bombers under total secrecy, taking out that nuclear facility. That is what people want to be a part of.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s interesting you say that, not to belabor this and go a long time, but I was reading something. My son and I were going back and forth this morning on just different things when it comes to the fight between Ukraine and Russia and so on and the fact that there’s some scuttlebutt around that we may be actually putting some Tomahawk missiles in the hands of the Ukrainians. And if that does, in fact, happen, probably will change the course of that war because of the technology we have there that, frankly – Josh, no one else, no other country has, to your point, that’s the kind of fighting force young men and women want to be a part of.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, and they take great pride in that. And when you become part of something bigger than yourself, like that level of a team doing it for your country, you know, I’ve carried body bags of heroes off the battlefield. I served in Iraq in 2007. And, you know, those are the things that I am by far the most proud of, just being part of that kind of team. Well, go ahead, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
What is the general thrust behind be the weight behind the spear? What do you mean by that?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, that’s my personal leadership ethos. You know, as someone who’s been very fortunate to work with special operations, you see the tip of the spear. And I was medical director for PJs, Combat Search and Rescue. These individuals jump out of airplanes and helicopters into the most dangerous environments on earth and do things that you only see in movies. Every single one of them has someone in their life. When you talk about the weight behind that tip of the spear, it’s teachers, coaches, volunteers, families. That is what sets America apart. The weight behind their spear, that tip of the spear, is what gives them the confidence. And this book is my call to action for Americans to just engage their communities and be a part of that because it matters.
SPEAKER 06 :
know that’s really impressive because i hear from so many people i want to be the one out front right i want to be the face one i want to be the lead singer in the band whatever i want to be the tip of the spear and nobody ever thinks about how are you making other people greater how are you the weight behind their spirit great i think it’s great yep thank you absolutely i i know i asked this last time you’re on but how do folks get the book
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, it is available on e-book, audio book, and the paperback. You can go to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, have a website, weightbehindthespear.com, W-E-I-G-H-T, weightbehindthespear.com.
SPEAKER 07 :
As I said last time, it’s a joy having you. You’re welcome anytime. We’ll keep having you on, Dr. Josh. We appreciate it. Thanks for your service, by the way. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. You’re very welcome. Appreciate that very much. And again, great book, and you guys can get that. He just mentioned where to get that, and I would highly suggest, especially if you’re looking for some good leadership material, go buy that book. Fleshlock coming up next, 303-806-8886.
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SPEAKER 16 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush. All right, we are back.
SPEAKER 07 :
Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush. Eric, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, John. Good to hear.
SPEAKER 07 :
How are you, Eric?
SPEAKER 13 :
Beyond the air as usual. You know, that bet flip sounds very good. And as you know, I am prior service. I really believe in upholding standards, setting standards. Something that I feel we as a nation have fallen short of is when our service members swear an oath, it’s to uphold and defend the Constitution, uphold and defend all of our founding documents. And we have failed to teach the significance of these documents, the contents of these documents, and how they set our nation apart to all of our leaders. We don’t teach it enough in the NCO academies. We don’t teach it enough in the officers’ academies. And this is something where I feel we as a nation, our troops, would have more honor, integrity, and pride in doing their duties if they actually knew what they are sworn to uphold and defend.
SPEAKER 06 :
Eric, that’s a really good point. And another reason it’s such a good point is we get deployed all around the world, right? We get deployed at Inzerleck. We get deployed at all these places. And I think it would really help people to understand the special nature of what they are representing, right? when they are overseas. When you’re at a base overseas, you’re generally not at war. You’re generally not fighting, but you’re always representing your country when you’re in that area. And I think that would be very important for them, maybe all of them, to go through some classes or courses that say, hey, here’s what you’re representing. Here’s why America is so special.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think I want to add one thing to what you two guys are saying, which I don’t know how we would institute this, but this needs to happen at all levels. at your local municipalities, all the way up to folks that serve as President of the United States. Every single politician, as a part of them getting sworn into the oath of office, should be required to take some course, Eric, along the lines of what you’re talking about. As a part of their office, you’re going to take this, I don’t care how many hours it is, but you’re going to take X amount of hours on the Constitution, what it means, our founding documents, and so on. These are the things that you’re taking an oath to uphold. Absolutely. And before you take that oath, you’re going to do X, Y, Z before you take it.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. No, I’ve felt that a lot of times where, you know, these people, they’re clearly in office and they do not know.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, they don’t. They don’t know what the documents even mean.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. Yeah. They have no idea. And, you know, if I may. Yeah. So what was it a week and a half ago when I called in and I was talking about, you know, we’re talking about physical standards. I didn’t want to imply at that time that our, our people there on Schriever and stuff are out of shape. They are not. I see them after crew that, you know, their alternative PT is go do the incline or do some very physically challenging stuff, you know, but you do, you’d see that, that one or two, uh, airmen or, or a person that, You wonder why they’re still in, you know, if they got injured on duty and they’re not going to be able to meet the standards, we need to respectfully give them their. their compensation for their on-duty injury.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, thank you. We need to be doing that. By the way, I think, Eric, on the front side versus letting them wait years through the VA to get that handled, that should be something I agree with you. We should be doing that on the front side. Give them their DD-214. Hey, thanks for your service. You did a great job. Here’s some disability. Off you go.
SPEAKER 1 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep. Correct. Agree with you 100% on that. And for those listening, by the way, if you’re a vet, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Eric, you do as well. But those that are not vets, you have no idea the amount of red tape and nonsense a true injured vet goes through to get to that point. Eric, you know what I’m talking about, and it’s ridiculous.
SPEAKER 13 :
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I’m technically underdone, and I’m going to be going back and getting an advocate to challenge, especially with the new – legislation that did go through, um, just to see if I can get mine up. Uh, thankfully I’ve been lucky. They have, uh, you know, I’m, I’m actually tomorrow going in for a consultation on a surgery. Uh, and then I’ve got another consultation on, I don’t know if it’s the same surgery or a different one on the eight. That’ll be a phone one. Yeah. And this is all VA done.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 13 :
Uh, so, uh, Thankfully, I’m not having to do that on my employee insurance because, honestly, I couldn’t afford to get the surgery done.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I do hope the new leadership, and I do believe it is, is making the VA much better because there really are a lot of great people who work at the VA. They’re as frustrated with the paperwork. They’re as frustrated with the system as you are.
SPEAKER 13 :
You know, the thing is I really count my blessings because I haven’t had it that hard. And I’ll go in and, you know, they remind me, hey, you’ve got to get your physical. You’ve got to do this. You’ve got to do that. They’ve been Johnny on the spot with lining stuff up. You know, but I’ll be honest. I walk in there. I go to Fitzsimmons. I see these people that are missing limbs or they’ve got permanent nerve pain from an IED or something, and I’m like, I’m nothing. I gave, but I didn’t give that much. And some of them, they are having to fight tooth and nail for what they’re getting.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, and those are the guys that, well, it’s across the board. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your level, their level. Bottom line, Eric, and I know some of this from, again, being a military vet’s dad, it ain’t easy, and it should be easy. There’s no reason why it’s not easier.
SPEAKER 13 :
But, you know, there are other things that we need to look at as, you know, or, you know, Mr. Hegsip needs to look at. Because, like, when I was talking about Air Force and, you know, I’m talking to these people, well, I know I’ll never have to deploy. I’ll never have to go to war. And yet Air Force has one of the highest suicide rates out there. And talking to some of these officers, they’re like, why do we have such a high suicide rate mindset? I had to look at them and I said, cause you don’t weed them out in basic training. Right. You have a, this, this tamper them attitude, not, Hey, you’re, you are coming into one of the highest technology fields or, you know, career, uh, militaries. But the truth is, is you are here to fight a war. You are here, you know, to defend this country. And if it comes down to we put a rifle in your hands and you go stand on the line, that’s what you’re here for. We don’t wait those people out. And so you end up with people in service that are not mentally prepared for the event of the worst case scenario.
SPEAKER 07 :
Can’t argue that.
SPEAKER 13 :
So we still have a lot of things to work on. Nonetheless, I would still say I am so proud to have served, and I think we’ve got one of the best militaries out there, but we’ve got to clean up the wokeism and start teaching moral and quote-unquote constitutional standards so that they know what they’re swearing to uphold and defend, and that they’re there to Oh, we lost you. Oh, there you go.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now you’re back. I agree.
SPEAKER 13 :
to protect the people that can’t be here and stand on the line and say, no, I’m my dude.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, you’re 100% correct. Eric, got to run to break. Man, I appreciate it as always. Keep up the great work and best of luck on all you’re going through there. Appreciate you, sir, very much. I mean that sincerely. Thank you for all you do for us and for listening on a regular basis. Roof Savers of Colorado coming up next. And Dave wants to help you with all your roofing needs, commercial, residential, all under one roof. And don’t forget, he can extend the life of your roof, rejuvenate it, is what I should say. 303-710-6916.
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SPEAKER 06 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, John Rush, together with Andy Pate. John, really quick here, we’re going to talk some more Colorado politics because I think we’ve got another problem beyond. the issues I mentioned earlier, and we’ll talk about that in a moment. But first, you and I made a little prediction. What was it, a couple weeks ago? Yeah. When Jimmy Kimmel was coming back on air, what did we say? We said a week or two, his numbers will absolutely crater.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Right? There’ll be a spike, and then it’ll go down.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, there was a spike. Now it’s gone down. As of Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel, he lost 71%. Of his peak viewership that he had when he came back, his I’m so sorry, where he totally lied and said he was sorry when he wasn’t. Okay, he lost 71%, but it got worse than that. In the age group that really produces the money, the demographic you really want, that’s adults age 25 to 54, he has lost 85% of the 1.7 million who tuned in on September 23rd when he came back. So basically, he’s almost crashed down to where he was before. His average was 1.6 million viewers in 2025 before he got sidelined. He’s now down to 1.7. So he’s almost right down to there. So just so people know, we knew this was going to be very temporary. Jimmy Kinnell is still a big loser for his network. He’s losing the money. It’s going to continue. Okay, back to Colorado politics. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 07 :
One of the other issues that I feel that we’ve got in Colorado, and this goes back to, again, the continuing conversation, we really started at 3 o’clock and had a couple of ladies that called in, very sharp, by the way, and I agreed a lot with what they – actually agreed with everything they said, everything we disagreed upon at all. And the reality is we’re talking about just the gubernatorial race especially. But, you know, we can break this down and even go to other local races. And I’ll just tell you right now, the biggest issue we have in Colorado – in winning is we have got a faction of the party, the Rhino Watchers, I guess I’m going to call them, the Davidians, whatever you want to call them, the Rhino Watchers, the Davidians, whatever. Again, all in one, all the same. They literally have got their finger in so many places and so many races that they are the sole reason that we don’t win more elections. And I’ll be straight up honest, and I am on a mission right now. I want them gone. And what I mean by that is move. I’ll give you a one-way ticket out of the state if that’s what it takes. Whatever we need to do, you need to go away, far, far away. Go find some other state you can grift into and screw their politics up. Hopefully it’s a blue state, not a red state. But at the end of the day, you all need to leave because you’re doing nothing but making Colorado worse, not better.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. All Rhino Watch does is attack any Republican who they don’t think is a purist. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s got to be their kind of purist. Their purity test, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Not anybody else’s, but their own.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, their own purity test.
SPEAKER 07 :
Which let me remind everybody of. Rhino Watch, by its own definition, Donald Trump couldn’t pass their purity test. No, he couldn’t. The last time they did this, and they came out with their own quote-unquote purity test, Donald Trump couldn’t pass it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Donald Trump is a moderate, John.
SPEAKER 07 :
To them. No, I mean, he is a moderate. He is, but to them, he’s their hero, but he can’t pass their purity test.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. No, he couldn’t. And, of course, they’ve taken him on as their hero, which is ludicrous. Look, I’m telling you what… Rhino Watch, which right now has a majority, a functioning majority on the state central committee for the Republican Party here in Colorado. OK, a majority of the state central committee believes we absolutely must opt out of the open primary. Otherwise, we’re doomed. And you go to them and you say, okay, well, let’s reason on this. Let’s look at all the consequences of opting out. Yeah, I like closed primaries too, but let’s look at all the consequences. I won’t go into those right now, but you look at that. None of them can answer it. None. All they do is say you’re a rhino for saying that. If you don’t want to opt out, you’re a rhino and we oppose you. They have literally come out and said that. okay, and I don’t know if it’s right to watch, but many of their adherents, okay, have literally come out and said, if you don’t support opting out of the Colorado Open primary, we will oppose you in primary year. That’s right. They are destructive.
SPEAKER 07 :
They are, Andy. Absolutely. Thoroughly. I… I’ve been watching this for well over a decade now, and a decade ago it wasn’t called Rhino Watch or anything along those lines. There were other names that they called themselves. And here’s the reality. Their initial intentions, I do believe, were pure, Andy. I will say a lot of these people came out of the quote-unquote Tea Party movement, and I really feel like initially a lot of their intentions were very good. What happened is, though, that particular group was hijacked. I don’t know any other way to say it, Andy. They were hijacked by a bunch of loons that are after power, power that they want only for themselves and no one else, and literally power and money. Let me make sure I throw the money side of that into this as well, because it’s not just a power thing. It’s a power and a money thing that they want. And they’ve achieved, by the way. In some cases, they’ve achieved this, and they’ve gotten that on their side. And I said this earlier to one of the ladies that called in. I’ll say it again. They don’t care win, lose, or draw. As long as they stay in power and have the money that they want, they don’t care what happens to Colorado.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, John. I mean, this is the entire reason they want the primary gone, because they want candidates chosen.
SPEAKER 03 :
They didn’t capture all of it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. They want candidates chosen through the caucus and assembly for those who can just catch people up. Rhino Watch and their supporters want candidates chosen not through the primary, but through caucus and assembly. Right. Okay. They also, by the way, a big reason they hate Victor Marx is because he’s using petition to get on the ballot.
SPEAKER 07 :
He’s buying his way on is what they say.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, he’s not going through caucus and assembly. Why do they want candidates to only go through caucus and assembly?
SPEAKER 07 :
Because they can control it better, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Because caucus and assembly is attended by less than 1% of Colorado Republicans. Their activists can overrun that 1%. They can’t overrun the 99% who would prefer to vote in a primary. Right. Okay. Here’s the big crazy part. They claim to be the grassroots.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’re not.
SPEAKER 06 :
They call themselves grassroots versus the rhinos. And I look at them and I say, but you want our candidates chosen by the 1%. How can the 1% be the grassroots? The grassroots, obviously, by very definition, has to be the 99%. They’re lying.
SPEAKER 07 :
They are.
SPEAKER 06 :
They’re a bunch of insiders and activists. That’s right. Who have a lot of power because of the caucus and assembly system.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, Andy, you are a thousand percent correct. Dana Blackhawk, go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
Are you there?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, go ahead, Dan.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, Dan. Okay, so wasn’t the open primaries, I don’t remember, but I think I do, wasn’t that voted on as a, wasn’t that a ballot initiative? Yeah, it’s a ballot initiative, absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, that’s exactly what it was.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, so why, and the question we need to ask, why are you going against the will of the people if you’re for the people?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, because what they will tell you, Dan, is those people are stupid.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it doesn’t matter if they’re stupid or not. I know, but that’s what they’ll tell you. That’s the will of the people in the state of Colorado when they voted on it. They wanted open primaries. So, and I don’t think that’s true.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and let’s back up for a moment, too. And the reason why, if you were to go back in time and actually interview some of these folks that voted for the open primary, I wasn’t one of those, but overwhelmingly, folks did. That ballot initiative won hugely. I think it was 70% roughly.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, it was 58%.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, yeah, one second. Two different groups. In the general election, that only won by under 7%. Here’s the problem. The unaffiliated voters who we need to win, they overwhelmingly voted for it.
SPEAKER 07 :
They voted for it by about 70%. So bottom line, what this crowd, this Rhino Watch crowd forgets is the reason why those unaffiliated were so overwhelmingly in support of it is because in most cases, They didn’t like either party, but yet they still wanted to participate in the party they came from, Democrat or Republican. Now, what they’re going to tell you is, oh, no, no, this is just a way for them to hijack the primaries. The reality is very, very, very few Democrats jump over and vote on the Republican ticket primary because true Democrats want to vote in the Democrat primary and get their candidates elected. Yeah. Yes, there are a few that will jump over and frankly vote for that that hardcore, hardcore rhino watch candidate because they know that’s the worst candidate out there. So why not have them win? It’s actually opposite of what these rhino watchers will tell you is actually happening because they’re bass ackwards in their thought process, because frankly, Dan, they’re in denial and they’re the ones that are dumb. They’re going to tell you everybody else is. But frankly, they’re the ones that are morons.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah. The liberals who cross over and vote in the Republican primary, they always will want to help the Rhino Watch candidates.
SPEAKER 07 :
And it’s a very small number that even do that, Dan.
SPEAKER 06 :
Very small.
SPEAKER 04 :
But if we get moderates who want to vote in the Republican primary, now, if I remember correctly, you can only vote either in the Democrat or the Republican.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, if you’re an unaffiliated, you get two ballots and you get to pick which one you’re going to vote. You can’t vote both.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, so… Wouldn’t we want more moderates to vote in the Republican primary?
SPEAKER 07 :
In fact, we should actually be advertising and catering to them during the primary. That’s been my point all along. If you can’t beat them, join them. We should be catering to those particular individuals, getting them to vote in our primary, and actually inviting them in to our fold is what we should be doing.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because then we’re going to have a candidate who’s going to be more appealing to the state. well the state or in their district correct or you know but if we keep wanting to put these quote-unquote purists on the ballot we’re never going to win because the independent or the non-affiliated voter isn’t going to vote for purists because that isn’t what they stand for that’s right right now many will how and i’m not i’m not a political guy but it doesn’t take
SPEAKER 07 :
No, no. Again, Dan, as I said, you’re talking about individuals that, frankly, they’re the ones that are – and by the way, I don’t think they’re ignorant. I think they know full well exactly what we’re talking about. The reality is, at the end of the day, they want exactly what Andy said. They’re not dumb. These are people that actually are intelligent. They have some smarts. They’re gaming the system. They’re getting all of their followers that, by the way, I believe aren’t real bright at times. And they know that. And this is where they’re basically empowering all of their followers to do something that they know at the end of the day will cause them to stay in power. That’s what they’re doing. And they’re not dumb. By the way, they’re very keen and evil in what they’re doing. They’ll tell you that, oh, I’m a purist and we’re hardcore Christians and we’re this and we’re that. No, Dan, really, they’re very evil individuals that are doing something that will screw up the state from this point forward.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and by the way, one last thing. This whole thing where a lot of them claim to be Christians.
SPEAKER 07 :
I say that loosely.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, very loosely. Jesus said, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And yet the Rhino Watch group absolutely, totally, knowingly. lies about people everywhere they can, and they do it for power.
SPEAKER 07 :
And they do it blatantly, Dan. I mean, these are people that will literally lie to your face. In fact, now this is one thing I do believe. I do believe that, you know, that old saying is, if you lie enough, you start to believe yourself. I do believe that is them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep. True. Yep, yep. And they’re also the original sin, which is pride.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct, correct. You’re right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well stated. They’re prideful… They’re prideful and they will not admit that they’re prideful because when you’re prideful, You don’t know you’re prideful.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, well, and one more thing I’ll throw into all of this, by the way. You’re dead on, Dan, but I want to throw one thing into this. How often do you ever hear any of them call or text or even email to defend their position? And the answer, Dan, is none. Zero. Nada. Zilch. We’ve almost begged them. Yeah, the reason is because they can’t, Dan. I’m convinced that they will never come on air And they’ve done it with only one other host in town, and she was way too kind to them. And if you’re listening, I’m sorry, but you were too kind to them. Not near us. You were far more kind than I would be. And the reality, Dan, is they know that. That’s why we’ll never come on air here. Nope. Did we lose you, Dan? Are you back? Oh, I think we lost you. That’s all right. We’re up against a break anyways. Dan, if you’re still there, keep listening. We appreciate it very much. We’ll take a quick break. And I’m sorry, we lost Dan. He’s probably up in the canyon coming down the mountain or something. We know where Dan works. So probably coming down the canyon. Be safe, Dan. We’ll be back in a moment. Ridgeland Auto Brokers coming up next. Remember, they can help you with any used car purchase. They offer extended contracts as far as the service end of it goes, warranty-wise, I should say. So you can be assured you’re getting a great car at Ridgeland. RidgelandAutoBrokers.com.
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SPEAKER 16 :
It’s time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 07 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Myself, Andy Pate, Charlie Grimes. Thank you all for listening, by the way. It’s been a great show today. Not that they all aren’t, but a really fast show today. Maybe that’s a better way to say it. It really has. It’s been cram-packed with all sorts of things today. And we’ve talked about the governor’s race here in Colorado, which, again, we are a long way away from. So, please, anybody out there listening, I am not getting behind any particular candidate. There is so much to do between now and even this next summer. that a lot of things will start to really come into play by then. And when are the primaries, June or July?
SPEAKER 06 :
Late June.
SPEAKER 07 :
Late June. Okay, so late June. And, you know, it’ll start really heating up in probably the May timeframe. And there’s a lot of ground to cover between now and then. And a lot of the folks that we even mentioned today, will they even be around then, Andy? I have no idea.
SPEAKER 06 :
My big question for Victor Marks is, are you going to be able to handle the debates today?
SPEAKER 07 :
Good question.
SPEAKER 06 :
When these other candidates can take their shots at you, and they’re going to be very good at this, they’re very skilled.
SPEAKER 07 :
Great question.
SPEAKER 06 :
Are you going to be ready for that? Is Victor Marks going to surround himself with the right people to get the right policy statement out? Or, you know, frankly, look, is he going to be surrounded by the right people? I am very concerned. I’m just going to be honest. I’m very concerned about Victor Marks. And the reason I am is because I look at him as the most marketable candidate we have going into this thing. I look at him as a guy who could actually win right now on the face of it. I don’t see any of the other candidates that way. Maybe they’ll surge and surprise me. It can happen.
SPEAKER 07 :
And really quick, why do you feel that way?
SPEAKER 06 :
Why do I feel that way about them or him? Him right now. Because… Look, if you’re going to win in Colorado, you have to bring something completely different from anybody else. Right. He brings a soft-spoken power and strength to his delivery, to his approach that is unlike any candidate I have seen. A story no one else has. Any statewide Republican candidate I have seen for decades in this state.
SPEAKER 07 :
And really quick, folks, what I mean by story is not just because of what he’s done ministerially speaking with his nonprofit and rescuing enslaved girls and so on. I’m talking about where he came from himself as a child. The guy’s got a story and a testimony. He talks about at one point in time meeting – his stepfather, God, basically telling him, hey, you’re in the same town, you need to go see your stepdad, and that whole story surrounding that and what he did, and A, he was obedient, even though he didn’t want to, because this is a guy that abused him as a child, thoroughly abused him. I mean, most people would want to go cut this guy’s head off, and I mean that sincerely, but at the end of the day, this guy basically, Victor Marx, basically did what God said, was kind to him, went and saw him on his deathbed, through his testimony, leads his stepdad, who actually beat him and did things to him that you don’t even want to talk about, and the guy becomes a Christian on his deathbed because of Victor.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean, that’s the story this guy’s got.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Very exciting. Very… You know, inspiring.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right? And I believe he could be inspirational to a lot of people here in Colorado. And you don’t have to be a Christian to be inspired by the neatness of what this guy is able to do.
SPEAKER 07 :
The forgiveness that he gave his stepdad is a story everybody can benefit from.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s absolutely fantastic. But here’s the thing. He’s going to have handlers. He’s going to have consultants take over his campaign.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s what worries me the most, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, because look, because they’ll screw it up because they’re going to be the same consultants who have handled a lot of the other big campaigns. And I’m sorry, but I look at the messaging that those campaigns had and I was almost weeping. I was almost in tears. And you know me, I never cry. I was almost in tears watching these campaigns. These messages aren’t going to work. You have to understand the Colorado market is full of people who want to hear one thing. What’s in it for them?
SPEAKER 07 :
So you’ve got to go to them and say – That’s true, by the way, in every market, but more so here than probably a lot of places.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Because it’s not red.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’re not a red state. We’re a blue state. I want to remind everybody that even some high-profile guys like Ron DeSantis, for example, hired the wrong team, and it’s why his campaign imploded the last go-around. So, folks, this can happen even in a red state.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, his presidential campaign hired the wrong team.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, and imploded it.
SPEAKER 06 :
And imploded. And it made a lot of moves where I’m looking at Ron DeSantis. He is brilliant. What he did, I don’t even have time.
SPEAKER 07 :
No.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’ve talked about it in the past.
SPEAKER 06 :
He is brilliant in so many of his moves. His campaign was run by the wrong people, and they destroyed him.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep. When he went up against Trump. Killed his campaign. Right. And so. So our point is, folks, if it could happen to Ron DeSantis, who is politically savvy, Victor Marx is not. Right. He is not politically savvy.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, he isn’t. And he needs messaging gurus who can help him. on how to very quickly package these wonderful things that he’s going to say on topic after topic after topic. And each one has to be about this. You deserve this. You deserve that. You deserve this. Hey, let me tell you about a story about – I dealt with this young woman who was in this terrible situation. Correct. It was like yours. You don’t deserve. And then you can talk about, you know, Jared Polis. What you don’t deserve is to have a politician who takes all of his activism and makes it your laws. And makes it your laws and controls your life with it. You may disagree with my, look, I’m a Christian. You could look at my activism and say, gee, I’m not like Victor Marx. That’s fine. I don’t want all of my activism to be your laws. Okay. That’s the difference. I don’t want to control you. I want to unleash you. And that is what he could do. But I’m telling you what, it could get derailed real fast.
SPEAKER 07 :
I have the same fear, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
If he has the same people handling his campaign who have handled several of the others, he’s doomed.
SPEAKER 07 :
I have the same fear. And here’s my fear. I see some of the people that I’ve seen have really bad campaigns surrounding him now. And my hope is that those people will not be a bad influence upon him in that area or he’s doomed. Right. And then we’re doomed because I’m sorry to say I’m like Andy. We need somebody like him to come out to get that middle of the road voter reach. And I’m sorry to say there’s not too many other people on the list that can do that right now.
SPEAKER 06 :
I agree. Then here’s one last question. We have a real problem with the state party. OK, I like Britta Horn. I think Britta Horn’s doing a fine job in a terrible situation. OK, it’s awful. But when you look at that meeting I was at. A week ago Saturday. That was a complete rage mob. Right. Run by rhino watchers. Yep. Run by the rage guys. Here’s my question. Is there anything Victor Marks or any candidate can do to win this state when he’s got that running the state party?
SPEAKER 07 :
Like I said, you’ve got to focus on that middle-of-the-road voter and these sane Republicans that are still left that are out there, the folks like you and I. You’ve got to try to reach them. And I hate to say this, but you literally have to ignore the Rhino Watch crowd. And simultaneously really shoot darts at them to really get rid of them at the same time, much like you and I do on a regular basis. You’re going to have to do some of that, not openly in front, but in some of your conservative meetings and so on that you have. You’re going to have to deal with those folks because they’re going to be your biggest enemy. They’re a bigger enemy than the Democrats are. I’m sorry to say that, Andy, but they are.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, they are. They absolutely are. That’s what I’m trying to ask you.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’re your biggest enemy.
SPEAKER 06 :
I’m trying to ask you, how can you win with that on your team?
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s going to be very hard.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s going to be very hard. I mean, you can’t attack them. They’ll go ballistic.
SPEAKER 07 :
But I would look at them and just say— You don’t attack, but you sort of inadvertently shoot darts at them.
SPEAKER 06 :
Here’s what I would do. I’d look at them and say, look, I admire your principles. I share your principles. My question is, how are we going to share that and sell that to a state that doesn’t always share it?
SPEAKER 07 :
See, the problem is, I don’t know that these people are so crazed. I don’t know that they’ll ever listen to that. That’s what you’re up against. These are crazed individuals that will not listen to that.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, they won’t listen to anything but purity and hate.
SPEAKER 07 :
All you can do, this is my advice, and we’re going to go to break here in a minute, but My advice to Victor and his team would be you have to talk to the fringe Rhino Watchers that are maybe in it but aren’t sure they should be in it. You can’t talk to the Rhino Watch, you know, the Davidians themselves because they’re wackadoodles. But, and that’s the 25 to 30 that are out there really running things hardcore. It’s the folks that are around them that you might actually be able to convince to come to your side that you have to talk to, Andy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s who you have to speak to.
SPEAKER 06 :
There are dangerous people in the RhinoWatch crowd who are going to try to get involved for the money.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’re going to derail you. They’re going to try to derail you. That’s exactly right. Because they’re jealous that they’re not there with you. Right. Mile High Coin coming up next, folks. Again, if you’ve got a collection of things that you’ve been sitting on for a while, you want to turn that into cash, get a free appraisal today. 720-370-3400.
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SPEAKER 16 :
We inform you. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, in closing, if somebody can get this message to Victor, please do so. He’s going to have to avoid, as Andy and I call it, the locusts that are out there in our party that are going to suck the life out of him if they have possibility to do so.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. There are people who, there’s a mother-son duo that absolutely will try to cling on to him once they see there’s money there.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, and they will do everything they possibly can to extract that. All right, we’ll have more on this, of course, because it’s not over yet. Have a great evening. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
No Kings, No Clue: Protest Logic Falls Apart