Momentum swings hard in one direction—ICE funding finally pushed through, Gavin Newsom blocked in court, and even a controversial marijuana reclassification framed as a calculated midterm play. Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries cranks up “maximum warfare,” daring Republicans into an all-out redistricting fight that’s only getting uglier. Then the story that blows everything else out of the water: allegations that the Southern Poverty Law Center funneled money to extremist figures—fueling outrage and reopening questions about its attacks on conservatives like Charlie Kirk. Wins, warnings, and a scandal that could have serious fallout—all colliding at once.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
SPEAKER 07 :
From the wild world of D.C. politics to America’s culture clash, brace yourself for the reality check you’ve been waiting for. The one and only Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 03 :
You want some good news? You’ve come to the right place. Senate Republicans managed to finally do something effectively with regards to this ridiculous standoff over the funding of ICE, a law enforcement agency that is simply enforcing our nation’s immigration laws. Republicans adopted a budget blueprint under the umbrella of reconciliation. ICE and Border Patrol will be funded through the end of the Trump era. This is the first major step to get that done, and Democrats are helpless. They don’t have the votes. And finally, finally, Republicans are unified. at least enough to make this happen. I’m sure Thomas Massey will hold out. He’ll be a no vote. I don’t think he probably wants to fund ICE. He is pretty consistent on voting with Democrats across the board. Also today, the Trump administration announced it’s reclassifying state-licensed marijuana as a less dangerous drug instead of being in the same schedule or category as heroin. Medical marijuana is basically going to be downgraded to the less strict Schedule 3. I know a lot of people in this audience aren’t going to like it. I understand this. But pragmatically speaking, marijuana is not the same as heroin. There are a lot of people. who seek out marijuana for medicinal reasons. A lot of people that pretend to seek it out for medicinal reasons, but they just want to get high. I get that. I understand that. I feel very strongly about marijuana as a gateway drug. But this was a campaign promise that Trump made, and he has fulfilled that promise. And guess what? This won’t hurt us in the midterms. If indeed right now there’s a challenge with independent voters and younger voters, this decision is going to add to the Republicans’ electoral chances. Did you notice what I just did? Isn’t it funny how the left and the Democrats have so successfully turned the midterms into a referendum on Trump that I almost said the same thing? You know, Trump’s not on the ballot in November. I know that’s a newsflash to Hakeem Jeffries. Also, of course, was a bombshell story yesterday that, wow, we’ve got to spend more time on. Oh, I forgot another big example of winning. There’s a lot of winning today. Big category. Yesterday, a court blocked Greasy Gavin Newsom and the California plan to force federal immigration law enforcement officials to take their masks off and wear visible ID when on patrol. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a very liberal court, overruled Greasy Gavin. and struck down California’s effort to unmask ICE agents. We conclude that the so-called No Vigilantes Act, they said, the court said, attempts to directly regulate the United States and its performance of governmental functions. The Supremacy Clause forbids the state from enforcing such regulation. You know, there may be the same outcome for Virginia. Also yesterday, a lower court, a circuit court, declared and proclaimed Virginia’s election over the redistricting null and void. The votes don’t count. So while Hakeem Jeffries and these other screwballs are taking a victory lap and taunting Republicans and doing their F around and F out and find out thing. They lost yesterday in court. It’s going to be appealed, of course. But this circuit court declared that Virginia is not able and cannot certify the results of this special election. A lot of concerns about it even being legal in the first place. So that’s all good news. A lot of good news. Also, astounding news was the revelation that a grand jury has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, saying that they funneled millions of dollars to at least eight leaders and members of hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and his imperial wizard. And their imperial wizard. The showdown between Jessica Tarloff and Jesse Waters and Greg Gutfeld yesterday on The Five was so classic. She, of course, was complaining about this indictment. suggesting that this was just a normal thing that a hate group monitoring watchdog does. They just pay people to be the hate group. And Jesse Waters had a field day with Jessica. Couldn’t believe it. In fact, Greg at one point said to her, do you just say this crap for the sake of the show? I mean, what do you do when you’re Jessica sitting there and the so-called… hate group monitoring service is in itself a hate group. Check out the way this all played out yesterday on Fox News Channel’s
SPEAKER 05 :
The five he paid people to infiltrate the hate groups and feed us intelligence. OK, the people were already racists. OK, and no one infiltrated. They were already the heads of the hate groups. OK. And oh, yeah, this is what the FBI does. OK, the FBI does not pay crime bosses. OK, the FBI doesn’t do this. The FBI doesn’t pay people to commit crimes that blows the case up. OK, it’s called entrapment. It’s illegal. This is a charity. This is not the FBI. It’s like me. I donate to Greenpeace. Greenpeace takes the money, gives it to someone to kill a whale. And then I hold a fundraiser, save the whales, donate to save the whales. You only donate scam, Jessica. And then they said, we use the informants to protect our staff because they’re under threats. All right. We get threats. He gets a lot. You probably get a lot. OK, you’re not helping. Do you think Fox would just pay the people that are threatening our lives to protect us? It doesn’t make any sense. And then they say, oh, you know, the Trump administration targeted us. You know who flagged this first? The banks. The banks found the wire fraud and the bank fraud kicked it up to the feds. Biden’s team opened up an investigation and then they shut it down. Jessica, these aren’t small fry informants. They paid the grand wizard of the Klan. I mean, they paid a neo-Nazi to raise money for neo-Nazis. One guy they paid and he burned a cross with the money. How about this? They paid a guy like $120,000, put the guy’s picture on their website, and said, this is a bad guy. Help us fight him. Click here to donate. It’s a fundraising scam that they used to smear Trump and had Biden use to make white supremacy look like the greatest threat.
SPEAKER 04 :
If this was any other race that this was done to, could you imagine? This is crazy. Okay. I’m going to volunteer. We need reparations for this.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, how about that? The group supposedly monitoring hate groups is a hate group. They gave money to the imperial grand poobah wizard dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. And how about what they did to Charlie Kirk? To me, that’s the big aspect of this story that we need to wrap our brains around. Andrew Colvett from Turning Point pointed that out last night on Fox. And I want to share what he had to say because for those of us here at Salem Media who watched our colleague assassinated on a college campus… This is very personal for us. And seeing the Southern Poverty Law Center shamelessly condemn Turning Point USA and Charlie and Ben Carson and others as hate group purveyors. Wow. There’s a real reckoning coming, it appears, for the SPLC. Lining their pockets… making money off pretending to stop the hate groups that they were funding. Wow. 800-655-MIKE, 16 past the hour. Welcome aboard. It’s a Thursday episode of the Mike Gallagher Show. A lot of winning, a lot of challenges, a lot to absorb. But you and me together, fighting the good fight, we’re going to get through it. 800-655-MIKE. I hope you join us. Everybody’s trying to tell me what is right. Burnt chicken, soggy veggies. We’ve all been there out on the grill, right? Trying to grill healthy. Weeknight dinners shouldn’t be a hassle. This thing basically turned my grill into a giant air fryer. My Grilly. I’m not kidding. Matt, the My Grilly guy, created this genius way of cooking outside. I used to only grill meat. Now, I’m grilling shrimp, chicken, steak, veggies, all crispy, smoky, full of flavor. The magic is in this 100% stainless steel basket that lets you cook anything that would normally fall through the grates. The MyGrilly is genius. Last weekend, I grilled all kinds of veggies and corn on the cob. It was perfect. Food is juicy inside, perfectly done outside. Cleanup, super easy. Quick rinse or just toss it in the dishwasher. The Grilly handles heat of over 1,000 degrees. It’s become the grill gadget that actually earned a spot next to my tongs. Right now, you’ll get an exclusive discount, 33% off, free shipping, and a money-back guarantee. MyGrilly.com slash Mike. Try it risk-free. I love it. You’ll love it. MyGrilly.com slash Mike.
SPEAKER 07 :
Take the Mike Gallagher Show with you wherever you go. Text the keyword podcast to 800-655-6453. And we’ll send you the link for all of Mike’s podcasts.
SPEAKER 03 :
Some great text messages coming in on the MyPillow text line from Kentucky. This is actually Washington State. The Southern Poverty Law Center creating its own hate? What does that sound like? Sounds a lot like today’s Democrats. Kentucky writes, so far the courts are saying that Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia referendum on gerrymandering was unconstitutional and illegal. That’s why we haven’t forgotten what happened in 2020 with the mail-in voting scheme. It’s a great point. Great point. Huge decision yesterday in a lower court. This was inevitable. Of course, it’s going to go through the court system. Hopefully the Supreme Court of Virginia is going to do the right thing. Wouldn’t that be wild? See, that’s the problem with trash talkers like Gavin Newsom and Hakeem Jeffries. When you trash talk, you better be able to know that it’s going to go your way long term. Here’s Hakeem Jeffries spiking the football, taking a little victory lap. Warning Governor DeSantis and Florida Republicans, you better not try to redistrict or we’re going to come crush you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Find out. The Republicans are dummy mandering their way into the minority. Well, let’s start it again from the beginning. Here’s Hakeem Jeffries. Our message to Florida Republicans is F around and find out. The Republicans are dummy mandering their way into the minority before a single vote is cast because they started this war and we’re going to finish it. Go ahead and make our day. We are all in in Florida. We are in an era of maximum warfare. Everywhere, all the time.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I believe Florida Republicans are saying, okay, challenge accepted. Axios today writes, look, this is a battle that Trump started with Texas. You could argue that point, but let’s stipulate. Okay, fine. I don’t love gerrymandering. I don’t like the redistricting that’s being done. But now that it’s been brought to DEFCON 1 levels by the Virginia Democrats… Now Republicans have got to finish the job. If you’ve started a war, if you’ve started a battle, you’ve got to finish it. Because if we lose this battle, we’re going to lose the country. If Democrats take control of the House, Senate, and Presidency, you’re going to want to pack your bags. This country will be literally destroyed. I’m also so confused about this goofy, dummy Mandarin phrase. I heard Guy Benson repeat that yesterday, like it’s become a popular, or like an acceptable, well, isn’t that what Virginia did? Make it make sense to me. If it’s dummy Mandarin… I mean, what is the origin of that expression? If it’s dummy Mandarin, well, that’s exactly what you just did in Virginia. So are you a bunch of dummies, Abigail Spanberger and Hakeem Jeffries and Greasy Gavin? Are you dummies? Isn’t that what you did? Text from South Carolina, Hakeem Jeffries is literally the definition of a joke. Couldn’t agree with you more. Speaking of South Carolina, that’s where I met Dr. Ashley Lucas, the founder. CEO of PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition. There’s not a medication, a crash diet, or an app that’s going to fix that unwanted belly fat that you can’t get rid of. Ready to lose the weight and keep it off for good? I was. I just didn’t know how until I met Dr. Ashley Lucas in the upstate of South Carolina a few years ago. I lost over 50 pounds on the PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition journey that I was on. They’re not going to just help you lose weight. They’re going to increase your quality of life. I mean, there’s nothing that tastes better than losing a bunch of weight feels. Take it from me. Right now, make the call to PHD Weight Loss. Mention Mike G. You’ll get two free weeks in the program, and they’ll pay for the cost of your food, too. That’s a $1,500 value. What I love the most about PHD… is that as I was losing the weight, and I was dropping 3, 4, 5, sometimes 6 pounds a week, I was never hungry. You can use your food, you can use their food, or use a combination of both, which is what I did. Again, they’ll pay for your food and give you two extra weeks when you call PHD Weight Loss. Change your life the way I did. Call 864-644-1900. Mention Mike G. 864-644-1900. Mention Mike G. One of the great things I love about South Carolina is how I started the Ph.D. weight loss journey there. MyPhDWeightLoss.com. And speaking of South Carolina, when I’m there, I always stay at the Hotel Hartness. I’m due for a return visit quickly. The travel and leisure is world best. Rach, Hotel Heartness, the third best resort in the state of South Carolina. You can stay there, too. It’s right there in the upstate. HotelHeartness.com. HotelHeartness.com. Do you love Molly Hemingway’s work over at The Federalist? See her pop up on TV? How about her new book about Samuel Alito? She’s one of my go-to sources. Molly Hemingway joins us on The Mike Gallagher Show coming up. You don’t have a weight problem. You’ve got a body that’s in survival mode. No medication, crash diet, or app is going to fix that. Hey, look, the GLP-1 drugs are exploding in popularity, and for some they’re a useful tool, but they don’t address why your body started storing fat in the first place. At Ph.D. Weight Loss, they treat unwanted weight as a symptom, a signal that your metabolism, hormones, and stress response need attention. When those get corrected, the weight comes off naturally and it stays off. They’re not just helping you lose weight. They’re helping you increase healthspan and extend longevity. I lost 53 pounds on the program and I kept it off. Right now, call PHD Weight Loss. Mention my G. We’ll get you two free weeks in the program and they’ll pay for your food. That’s a $1,500 value completely free. Call 864-644-1900 and mention my G. 864-644-1900. Mention my G. Or go to MyPhDWeightLoss.com. MyPhDWeightLoss.com. No more guessing, no more short-term fixes, just a smarter way forward.
SPEAKER 07 :
From the wild world of D.C. politics to America’s culture clash, brace yourself for the reality check you’ve been waiting for. The one and only Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 03 :
Boy, there’s a bunch of breaking news, and it’s all pretty good news for our side. Yesterday, a circuit court in Virginia ruled that the election passed by voters is unconstitutional because it was, well, corrupt as all get-out. The Southern Poverty Law Center is being accused of funneling millions to at least eight leaders and members of hate groups, including an imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. There are many who say it’s going to be real difficult for them to survive this. We’ll see. They got a lot of money. They got a lot of clout. They have a lot of oomph because nothing… sells like accusing conservatives of being bigots and hate mongers. It’s what they did to Charlie Kirk. You know, I had a conversation with Charlie in a green room once where Charlie shared with me how seriously he and his family had to take issues of security because he was always under threat. And when the Southern Poverty Law Center called Turning Point USA a hate group, and of course, Charlie, the chief purveyor of that kind of alleged hate, could that have motivated that troubled, broken man to climb up on a roof and assassinate this young husband and father? Named Charlie Kirk? I was thinking a lot. I had an argument the other day with somebody who didn’t like Charlie. They completely mischaracterized how Charlie felt about the Civil Rights Act. A lot of conservatives know that Democrats have taken the Civil Rights Act and twisted it and manipulated it in order to gain advantages in ways that were never intended by the Civil Rights Act. That was Charlie’s pretty reasonable position. But this particular person seemed to hate Charlie because of how he felt about the Civil Rights Act. And this person, a friend of mine, known for a long time, She happens to be a very spiritual person. And it fascinates me. It intrigues me that somebody of deep Christian faith would fail to acknowledge the role that Charlie Kirk played in bringing people to the gospel. Charlie never went anywhere without trying to to evangelize, quoting from the Bible regularly. He was a deeply faithful, religious, spiritual man. And yet, because of one political issue, this Christian friend of mine didn’t think too highly of Charlie Kirk. That’s astounding to me. One would think that as a Christian you’d have a deep appreciation for for how many thousands of people Charlie brought to God. There are all kinds of studies showing that young people are going back to church. There is, in many ways, a spiritual revival coming from young people. And when I hear somebody bag on Charlie’s legacy, one would think you’d be deeply and profoundly grateful for what Charlie did on behalf of our Lord and Savior. It shows you how politics can just eat away at somebody’s soul, at their heart, at their brain. And one would think that when the Southern Poverty Law Center, which now has been accused of funneling millions to hate groups and then fundraising off of those hate groups, a criminal enterprise, if there ever was one, It’s hard not to harken back to the despicable decision that the Southern Poverty Law Center had when they declared Charlie to be the head of a hate group. Andrew Colvett, who of course was very close to Charlie, appeared on Fox News Channel last night to talk about what was revealed about the Southern Poverty Law Center and what they did to his friend and colleague, Charlie Kirk.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, this is something that’s deeply personal to me. And it’s by the way, it’s deeply personal pro-life groups as well, that the Biden DOJ was working with pro-abortion groups to weaponize the FACE Act. It’s the same playbook all over again, but with the SPLC in this instance. And, you know, they cornered the market on monetizing hate. But guess what? There is a supply and demand issue when it comes to hate. So they had to gin up more. They had to manufacture more hate. And when they run out of actual racist and KKK and Aryan Nation groups, guess what? They turn to Turning Point USA. And Jesse, I hope your audience realizes this and really internalizes this. They put Turning Point USA on the hate map at the SPLC, the quote unquote hate map, in May of 2025. Less than four months later, Charlie would be killed by an assassin who said, quote, some hate can’t be negotiated out. They put a hit on Charlie. They put us on a target list. And I will never forget, Jesse, that. When this happened, I remember talking with Charlie, and he said, you know, in typical Charlie fashion, he wasn’t worried about himself. He was worried about our students. This wasn’t just about Charlie, although this obviously tragically impacted all of us and Charlie directly. But he was worried about our students all over across the country. And honestly, this is blood money. You mentioned that their donations skyrocketed, almost tripled in one year after Charlottesville, which they helped fund. This is blood money, Jesse. And if MGM and J.P. Morgan and Tim Apple… and the Cloonies have any self-respect, they would demand their money back.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s stunning. I mean, that just takes your breath away when you consider that four months before Charlie was assassinated by a man who claimed that he was stopping hate, this despicable organization accused Charlie of being a hate monger. Wow. 13 past the hour. Our number is 800-655-MIKE. Very important development this week with the Southern Poverty Law Center. And that’s the way Democrats play ball, though. The only way you can shut down speech that you disagree with is to accuse the other side of being bigoted or hateful. You know, there was also a big decision this week by a lower court saying that the Virginia election was unconstitutional. You know, I love how Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries are running around using the term dummy mandarin. We had to look that up. I mean, dummy mandarin is defined by Grok as basically attempting redistricting, but it backfires and you wind up giving an advantage to the other side. Check out Hakeem Jeffries yesterday spiking the old proverbial football.
SPEAKER 09 :
Our message to Florida Republicans is F around and find out. The Republicans are dummy mandering their way into the minority before a single vote is cast because they started this war and we’re going to finish it. Go ahead and make our day. We are all in in Florida. We are in an era of maximum warfare. Everywhere, all the time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, as you might imagine, Governor DeSantis here in Florida had a response to Hakeem Jeffries’ threats against Florida Republicans.
SPEAKER 10 :
This guy Jeffrey’s popping off in Washington about Florida. He wants to be Speaker of the House, and he’s kind of like more liberal than Pelosi and all this other stuff from New York City. I just want to know. I just say, oh, Florida. We’re going to go after Florida. Please be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We’ll take you fishing. We’ll do all this stuff. There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries, everywhere around this state.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love DeSantis responding to the challenge. Like I said, when Hakeem Jeffries, the would-be Speaker of the House, declaring war on half the country? Real good look, huh? F around and find out, and this is warfare all the time? Well, I think DeSantis likes a good street fight. He is not afraid to brawl. And Hakeem Jeffries, with his dopey trash-talking, might have just given some Florida Republicans an extra incentive to get it done and to offset what Virginia did this week. We looked up dummy mandarin. This is what amazes me. Look, treat me like a dummy, as you may think I am anyway. Treat me like I’m a stupid person. Hakeem Jeffries likes this term dummy mandarin. Here’s what Grok says dummy Mandarin is. It’s a political term that describes a gerrymander that backfires. Gerrymandering is, of course, when the party in power redraws electoral district boundaries or maps to give themselves an unfair advantage. Dummy mandering is described or defined this way. When that clever map drawing fails and actually helps the opposing party instead, it’s basically a dummy, stupid gerrymander that ends up hurting the people who created it. So riddle me this, Batman. What did Virginia do? Isn’t that dummy mandering? If we wind up seeing a whole bunch of Republican pickups… As a response to what Virginia did, hey, Hakeem, I’m not going to say you’re not the brightest bulb in the box, but isn’t that literally what Virginia is guilty of? Dummy mandarin? I have a hunch that Hakeem Jeffries is pretty familiar with the term dummy. Dummy. Quite comfortable with dummy. We’re in the Relief Factor studios. Busy Thursday. We’ve got a lot to do. An interesting hour coming up. I want you to hear all about this fascinating movie. We’re going to take a little break away from politics and talk about the meaning of life and the creation. And as it applies to science, the movie is called The Story of Everything. We’ll talk to one of the participants coming up. In the meantime, I hope you join us. 800-655-MIKE. 800-655-6453.
SPEAKER 06 :
Here’s something most people don’t know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn’t put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little known investment. Today, that $114 would be worth over $15 million. And it wasn’t a risky trade. It It was an account that’s been around since 1888. And over the last 25 years, it’s averaged 29% a year. That’s what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today’s savings accounts paying less than half a percent while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early. Banks are great businesses, just not for savers. If you’d like to see what some investors call the 29% account, go now to SecretAccount29.com. That’s SecretAccount29.com. SecretAccount29.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 03 :
Man, oh man, the Democrats are so broken. They are so broken. I just saw a clip from the California gubernatorial debate. Katie Porter was asked a simple question on whether knowing how to speak English should be a requirement for a commercial driver’s license. You know what her answer was? I’m not kidding. Trump is a racist. That was her response. I like the way Molly Hemingway’s book was described by John Malcolm. As we celebrate Justice Samuel Alito’s 20th anniversary as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, and with rumors swirling of his possible retirement at the end of his term, now’s the perfect time for an engaging biography of Justice Alito. And Molly Hemingway, highly respected conservative columnist and commentator, author of best-selling books, delivers the goods in this easy-to-read and thoroughly engaging book about Alito’s life and its considerable impact on the law. She’s the editor-in-chief of The Federalist. Here she is, a highly, look at you, a highly respected writer, commentator, and source of all kinds of material on The Mike Gallagher Show. So it’s good to have a chance to thank you in person. How are you, Molly?
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s great to be here with you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great to have you back again. Of course, we want to get into all kinds of aspects of your book. I finished it two days ago. It is very easy to read. It’s fascinating. It’s important because the Supreme Court is playing such a crucial role in our country. Let’s talk, though, if we can, before we get to that, a bunch of breaking news. Virginia this week. All kinds of headlines. Do you have any confidence that the Virginia Supreme Court might get it right and recognize how illegal and unconstitutional this gerrymandering thing was?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I live in Virginia, so the Virginia Supreme Court is different, I think, from other state Supreme Courts in that it’s subservient to the Democrats who run the state. They are appointed and continue their term. So I actually don’t have a lot of confidence that that court will have the independence necessary. fight back against this radical gerrymander. There still will be constitutional questions in play. On the merits of the law, the people who say this was obviously not done properly, it wasn’t done in a constitutional way, the language of the ballot proposal was dystopian. I mean, it was It was crazy how much propaganda was in there. There are a lot of different avenues they can choose, but it would have been better, in my view, if people who opposed the gerrymandering would have invested even one-tenth as much as George Soros and other left-wing billionaires invested in the gerrymandering.
SPEAKER 03 :
Maybe if the RNC took a little bit of those millions they were spending to prop up John Cornyn in Texas, perhaps we would have had a victory this week. It’s very frustrating. I’ve got to believe the president is enormously frustrating. I actually find it laughable. Hakeem Jeffries likes to throw around dummy mandarin. And I’m trying to figure out, what’s the origins of dummy mandarin? And the way it’s described over on Grok, dummy mandarin is when the clever map drawing fails and actually helps the opposing party instead. Well, isn’t that what the Democrats in Virginia did? Didn’t they dummy mander?
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s such an extreme effort to disenfranchise many Republican and independent voters in the state of Virginia. But I do think there needs to be something. As we’re seeing this fight develop, I do think one of the problems is that our congressional districts are just way too big. And the size of the country, relative to the size it was when we created the 435-member Congress, I mean— There needs to be something so that people will have better representation. It’s almost impossible to have good representation when you have so many people per congressman and something needs to be done.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and, you know, it’s been pointed out that here in Florida, where there’s going to be a special session of the legislature next week and an opportunity to do the same thing that Virginia did. And I think DeSantis is going to do all he can to make that happen. Many have pointed out millions have flooded into Florida. The census numbers have changed. It’s not the same congressional district representation map-wise that it was, say, five or ten years ago. So it’s time. Having said that, I kind of hate the whole idea of it. I hate the whole idea of not having true representation of Democrats and Republicans. But look, if we’re going to do it, they’re going to do it. You got to bring it to completion. And if it’s a battle we started, as is suggested, I don’t think that’s true. It goes way back to New York and New England and Illinois and all of that. This gerrymandering has been done by Democrats for years. But hey, if that’s the game, play the game and make it last and make it win.
SPEAKER 02 :
If Republicans were to seriously engage in a gerrymander fight, they would gain dozens of seats. So if you’re going to do it, do it. If you’re not going to fight it, That’s bad enough, but to just let Democrats seize extra seats without having a game plan for how to fight it, it’s a great example of how the Republican Party can be frustrating to its voters.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, if you’re not going to fight it, we’re going to lose the country because if they get control of the House and the Senate. We’re going to be in turmoil in a way that nobody wants. Molly Hemingway is with us. She’s got a brand-new book out, Alito, The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court, Restored the Constitution. I know you’ve been making news. I’ve been watching some of your interviews, and there’s some fascinating things about the slow walking of decisions. It’s a huge aspect. But I want to ask you something that’s bothered me. And as somebody who watches and knows the Supreme Court better than anybody, I want to ask you about Justice Amy Coney Barrett. You know, we talk a lot about surprising rulings that some of these conservative justices issue that seem to let us down, that seem to let down conservatism, that seem to go against the grain. And I know that as you write in the book, you know, the menacing mobs, the threats, the encampments outside the justices’ own homes. Amy Coney Barrett is famously kind of a soccer mom, drives her kids around in a minivan, at least prior to becoming, you know, a Supreme Court justice. Is it possible, Molly, that some of these unusual and disappointing decisions by Amy Coney Barrett stem from a pragmatic fear for her family and a reaction to the threats that she and her family have had to endure since she became a justice? And I hate to make even that question. It almost sounds sexist as I ask it, like she’s not a strong enough woman like a man would be. But let’s face it. This is a mom. This is a wife. It feels to me like there’s something else going on with some of her peculiar decisions.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, in the book, I go through every single justice who Justice Alito has worked with and talking about their different strengths and weaknesses. And I think the issue with Justice Barrett is more about how she was sold to voters or how she was sold to the country. And what people were promised is that she wouldn’t just be good. She would be the best Supreme Court justice in history. And so there were these expectations that were sky high. She actually has been pretty consistent, pretty conservative, but nowhere near what people were told she would be like. She’s much more reluctant to do some stuff that needs to be done to overturn bad precedents. She is very nice and she prides herself, I think, on success. how nice she is to her colleagues. But for Justices Thomas and Justice Alito, they know that the court won’t always have an originalist majority and that a lot of damage was done through the court for decades. And they’re thinking, while we have this court, we should do what’s necessary to correct some of these bad things. Some of the younger justices think, oh, I’ll be here forever. I’ll be here for a long time. I can take my time. But they might not always be in the majority. And I think the older justices would probably like the younger justices to know that. It’s also a reminder that there are more important traits than youth when picking a justice. Justice Barrett had only been a federal judge for a couple of years. Sometimes you need to see a little bit more time and consistency before you decide whether they should be elevated to the court.
SPEAKER 03 :
Speaking of disappointments, I don’t think it’s a secret or a mystery that Chief Justice Roberts has been a massive disappointment time and time again for conservatives. Is that the same syndrome that you’re describing, not quite as promised and that didn’t deliver as advertised?
SPEAKER 02 :
On this one, actually, I think he did tell people he didn’t have a coherent judicial philosophy. He said that in his confirmation hearing to be a D.C. Circuit judge. But people just wanted to believe he was conservative. He actually, I do want to say, Obviously, he’s the most liberal of the six Republican appointed justices. And he has been a huge disappointment when he recreates the law to save Obamacare, things like that, when he shows that he’s so easily pressured by the media. But it’s also true, and people should keep in mind, he’s been an absolute stalwart on things like getting rid of affirmative action and other racist policies of the federal government and other governments. So that’s he’s not if he’s your worst of your Republican nominees, it still does point to being a much better court than it was in years past. But people should have paid attention to him when he said he didn’t really have a judicial philosophy, much less an originalist or conservative or constitutional judicial philosophy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Your book, of course, is about Samuel Alito, and you quote from an article in which Ian Milhiser, a correspondent for Vox, said once, I’ve thought for a long time that Samuel Alito is the smartest conservative on the court. He’s strategic in a way Scalia and Thomas aren’t. Is that fair?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, it’s exactly right. So a lot of people know and love Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas for good reason. They’re so philosophically pure. And so they’ll just they were, you know, and you see this with Justice Thomas. Now, he plants his flag where he thinks the court should be. Doesn’t really care if anyone else is with him. He just cares that he’s right. Whereas Justice Alito might agree with him on where the court should be. But he thinks more strategically about how to move the court in that direction. And he’s done that over and over again on free speech and freedom of religion and other cases where other issues where it’s not sufficient to know what the court should be. You also have to think about how to slowly get your colleagues to join with you so that it can actually be the law of the land and the interpretation of the law of the land.
SPEAKER 03 :
Molly Hemingway’s new book, Alito, The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution, available right now, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, wherever you get your books. And, Molly, thanks for your continual good work. As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work here at The Mike Gallagher Show. It’s always great to catch up with you. Keep fighting the good fight. Thank you so much, Mike. Molly Hemingway on the Mike Gallagher show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 06 :
Here’s something most people don’t know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn’t put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little known investment. Today, that $114 would be worth over $15 million. And it wasn’t a risky trade. It wasn’t even insider knowledge. It was an account that’s been around since 1888. And over the last 25 years, it’s averaged 29% a year. That’s what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today’s savings accounts paying less than half a percent while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early. Banks are great businesses, just not for savers. If you’d like to see what some investors call the 29% account, go now to SecretAccount29.com. That’s SecretAccount29.com. SecretAccount29.com.
