In this episode of Rush to Reason, guest host Andy Pate sits down with Jersey Joe to dissect the latest political developments in New Jersey and beyond. The discussion kicks off with the surprising closeness of political races in traditionally deep blue states. With Republicans making gains, what does it mean for upcoming elections? Jersey Joe shares his insight into the political tides that are slowly shifting, giving listeners a glimpse into the complex layers of state and local politics.
SPEAKER 10 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 20 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 08 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 14 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did! Get a job, Turk! You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 16 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 07 :
Filling in is Andy Pate, party of choice. And welcome to hour number two here on Rush to Reason. I’m Andy Pate filling in for John Rush. And on the line right now, we’ve got Jersey Joe. Joe, how you doing? I’m doing just fine. How’s my Goomba doing? Doing all right. Doing all right. Hey, does Jack Cittarelli, is it Jack? Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jack.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Jack Chitorelli. Does he have a chance in New Jersey today?
SPEAKER 03 :
If the conservative counties come out strong? Yes. It’s all going to, it’s going to come right down to turnout.
SPEAKER 07 :
Let me ask you this. I mean, because it’s going to be very close, but it shouldn’t be. This is an off year with a Republican in office in a deep blue state. Okay. Voter registration is a huge Democrat advantage there. What does that say that these races are even close?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, interesting, because in the presidential election, I think five districts flipped from blue to red. Now, Trump didn’t win New Jersey, but they flipped five districts, congressional districts, from blue to red. Well, I’m sorry. No, I said that wrong. We didn’t win five seats in New Jersey, but there were five districts where
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, you’re saying for Trump, he took the majority in five districts that he flipped. And what did he lose by, six points in New Jersey?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, which is astounding because New Jersey has been solid, solid blue for the past 15 years. And he came within three points of Murphy, Governor Murphy, the last time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Cittarelli.
SPEAKER 03 :
Cittarelli did. So that was a shocker. They had Cittarelli down by 10 against Murphy, and he came within three points. So that was a shocker. And again, and it’s gotten even better with Trump winning those, taking those five districts in the presidential election.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, the polling average that I’ve seen has Cittarelli coming into today down about four points would be the average that I’ve seen. Do you I mean, what do you think? What’s your prediction? Because let me let me just say this really quick here. I think that Democrats will largely sweep tonight. OK, but it’s only because these are deep blue territories in an off year with the with a Republican in the White House. Usually you just get slaughtered. These should be 12 to 15 point wins. But I think they’re going to be close.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m afraid you’re right, Andy. You know, there’s been a tremendous movement to get out, get out the blue blue vote. And and I’m afraid you’re right. It shouldn’t. But again, the fact that it’s going to be this close doesn’t bode well for the Democrats nationally. But I’m afraid you’re right. You know, I give Cittarelli a 35% to 40% chance of winning. I’ll be stunned but thrilled if he wins it. But, you know, I wouldn’t place any bets on it.
SPEAKER 07 :
What if he comes within, say, two points? What does that mean for 26?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, obviously, it would be huge if he comes within two points. And, by the way, not only is she a Democrat, she’s a woman. His opponent is a woman. First time we’ve had a female candidate. uh, democratic candidate or female candidate for governor in the state. And obviously wouldn’t, and let’s just quick recap, neither Democrats nor Republicans decide the winner of an election. It’s the, it’s the independent unaffiliated independence. And if you can get the majority of the women out of that, again, against 25% Republican, 25% Democrat, I’m not talking nationally 25, 25, and then 50% are unaffiliated. And if you can get the majority of the women out of that 50%, you won the election. And the fact that she’s a woman and there’s women, I think, in every state have been longing to see women in power.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, yeah, and women usually vote more than men. I don’t know if you know that. Like here in Colorado, I think it’s about 52 to 48 for turnout on Election Day. Women simply outvote men just by a bit, but it’s a bit that matters.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it’s a bit that matters. And I think, you know, because she’s a woman, that’s going to give her an edge. among those unaffiliated women, female voters.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, if she wins, what happens to your state? I mean, it gets worse, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
It gets worse. The only thing that saved New Jersey for the past four years has been the mass exodus from New York City into New Jersey. And I’m very, very serious. New Jersey had this tremendous outflow of people getting the hell out. But then you had, it was like, you know, people getting… out of the fire into the frying pan and they left New York City and they still had jobs in New York City. But while some of them even left their jobs, but people moved out of New Jersey backfilling for the tremendous number of people.
SPEAKER 07 :
So you’re saying that that’s the only thing that really propped up New Jersey’s economy because it would have lost so many people because your taxes are so high, which, by the way, they’re way too high. But you’re saying, yeah, but we had a complete flow of people in from New York that kept it propped up, that kept housing moving and so forth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. When I moved here in 2020, and obviously I moved here from Colorado, I had occasion to try to rent a U-Haul truck you couldn’t rent a U-Haul truck one way out of New Jersey. They didn’t exist. Now, they would actually pay you to drive a truck back into New Jersey. That’s how many people were leaving New Jersey. Wow. Yeah. So, you know, that was the situation. That’s the only thing that saved us. Now, the good news is if the female candidate, Mickey Sherrill, wins, and by the way, she’s a Former prosecutor, Navy helicopter pilot. You know, that’s what she’s pushing. I’m a former prosecutor.
SPEAKER 07 :
Look, the Democrats picked a good candidate.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great candidate. Great candidate. Great but bona fide. So, you know, if she wins, and I’m afraid she’s going to win, I think you’ll see more people. Well, again, New Jersey has been on the downhill. Let’s talk about property taxes, by the way. In Colorado, I had a horse ranch. down in larkspur i had a 7 000 square foot home on 36 acres with a 12 stall horse barn indoor riding arena my taxes on my four bedroom house here in new jersey are more than double what i was paying on that property in colorado my goodness i’m paying almost twenty thousand dollars a year in property taxes on a four bedroom home
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, but what about the fact, I mean, looking forward, because I agree, I think you’re going to lose tonight. I think it’ll be close. I don’t think it’s going to be double digits like it originally was going to be. I mean, Cittarelli was down 15 points for quite a while. I think it’s going to be much closer than that. However, I think you’ll lose. But looking forward, Republican registration versus Democrat in New Jersey has been surging now for the last two, three years.
SPEAKER 03 :
And by the way, and it’s been even more dramatic in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania actually lost registered Democrats and registered Republicans surged ahead in Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re telling me that Pennsylvania has a majority of Republicans now?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, again, we’re talking the 25%. Yeah, yeah, I know.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’re not counting unaffiliated. I’m just talking D versus R.
SPEAKER 03 :
They caught up? Yes. Well, let me put it this way. I don’t know if they now have a majority, but Republicans gained over 100,000 registered voters while Democrats lost 50,000 registered voters. So that was kind of the swing in Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I know they’ve been gaining dramatically over the last several years. And a lot of that is the Trump effect, because Trump really, really, really sells to those regions.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep. And by even blue collar, for instance, and I work with a couple of companies that have a union workforce. And even though the union, the head of the national unions endorsed Biden, all the blue collar technicians all had Trump stickers on their on their private vehicles.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what do you see for the future of New Jersey? I mean, do you see this continuing, this gravitating toward the right? Because let’s be honest, in 2028, and I’ve been saying this now since before Trump won this last time around, I’ve been saying 2028 is going to be Vance and Rubio. Okay. I’m very confident of that. I think that’s going to be the ticket. Do you think those two could win New Jersey flat out in 28?
SPEAKER 03 :
I think they could, particularly if New Jersey keeps going the way it’s going. By the way, the electric rates here have more than doubled. There’s been billions spent on failed wind farms. New Jersey went from being a net electricity exporter to a net electricity purchaser. When I got here, I was paying about 11 cents a kilowatt hour for my electricity. I’m now paying 19 cents. In five years, I went from 11 to 19 cents a kilowatt hour.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s horrible. You see, in blue states, electricity is just skyrocketing in blue states. Now, it’s up everywhere, obviously, because blue states affect us all, unfortunately. The green policies are killing us.
SPEAKER 03 :
And the reason is that not that we’re using more than we’re making, they continue to shut down power plants. Right. You know, you’re a coal plant, shut down. You’re nuclear, shut it down. Well, of course, so when you decrease your own production capacity and you don’t allow any new capacity to be built, you go from being a net energy exporter to a net energy importer. You’re at the mercy of the spot market for electricity.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m so sorry. I thought you were done. Along those lines, take a look at California. And I’m not talking about this year. I’m talking in 26 and 28. In 2026… And we’re talking about the House seats in California because in 2024, Democrats did very well in California. That was one of the few areas where they picked up seats while Trump was winning nationwide. And these were seats in the House, but they won these things like by a half a percent, one percent, one and a half percent. They barely won several seats in California in the U.S. House. Now, looking to 2026. with them shutting down these power stations, you know, shutting down, uh, oil refineries. Okay. And jacking up the price of gas, which I think it’s going to skyrocket in California. Do you see Republican surging in 2026?
SPEAKER 03 :
Uh, yes, but here’s the, but right now on the ballot prop 50, which is a, in response to Texas redistricting, they’re attempting to redistrict the state of California. that would, if it follows traditional lines, we would lose five congressional seats in California. They would cut up and they would dilute the Republican… California is a huge agricultural community. I forget what percentage of the nation’s vegetables and fruits come from California. But there’s dairy farms, and so there’s a huge… On the central… And eastern half of California.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, the corridor.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s rural. It’s, you know, it’s rural. It’s agricultural. And they’re attempting to carve that up in a fashion that would dilute the power of the conservative votes there. And if they succeed and if the reaction to, you know, rising gas and energy prices isn’t strong enough – It’s going to mitigate the loss. You know, the redistricting is going to mitigate any whiplash, I think, from rising energy prices in California.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I mean, Prop 50, if that goes through, and that’s tonight, right? Tech Tonight. Yeah, okay, if that goes through, that hurts us big time. However, if that goes through, I think we’re going to see a lot more done by the Republican states to counter that. So I still think we’re going to gain. Okay, let’s take a break. We’ll be right back with Jersey Joe. Up next is Paul Leuenberger. Paul represents nine great companies, so he can match your insurance needs with the best coverage. Call Paul at 303-662-0789.
SPEAKER 15 :
Even in the age of AI, looking for the right insurance can be a huge hassle. Paul Leuenberger has you covered without the hassle. He works with the best in the business. Hartford, Travelers, Safeco, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Allstate, AIG, Chubb, Pure, Berkeley, Grundy, Hagerty, and more. He’s local, independent, and licensed in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. and he’s expanding into more states soon. Paul’s mission is simple, to find the right coverage at the best value and to treat every client like family. So whether you’re shopping for home, auto, or something more unique, don’t shop online. Call Paul at 303-662-0789 today. That’s 303-662-0789. Paul Leuenberger, insurance made easy.
SPEAKER 05 :
When you invest in new windows and doors for your home, choose the company that educates you and gives you honest, fair pricing. Veteran windows and doors. At Veteran, the goal isn’t to close the sale. It’s to make sure you’re fully educated on what you’re buying. Windows and doors that meet and exceed rating and code requirements, along with their installation that is better than what the state of Colorado requires. Owner Dave Bancroft believes it’s doing business the right way. No pushy tactics, no emotional pressure, and no fake extra discount if you sign right now. Veteran Windows and Doors proudly stands behind their work with a five-year labor warranty with over 20 years of partnership with Provia. There is no middleman, meaning more savings for you. And when you invest in your home, start with the right company so you’ll never have regrets. Choose Veteran Windows and Doors, where integrity, quality, and service come standard. Find them on our advertisers page at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 13 :
Life gets busy, but Cub Creek Heating and AC makes staying comfortable in your home easy. Whether you need a tune-up, inspection, or even a full HVAC replacement, just hop online and choose the date and time that works best for you. Cub Creek’s automatic scheduler is quick and easy, and their online assistant is always standing by to answer your HVAC questions. In most cases, there’s no need to call. The smart sign-up system asks all the right questions, so you can book with confidence. Still have a question? No problem. Someone from the Cub Creek team will call you back as soon as possible. And if you’d rather schedule over the phone, you can find our certified Ream Pro Partner Cub Creek’s contact info on the KLZ Advertisers page. For a limited time only, mention you heard this ad on KLZ Radio to save $56 on your tune-up. Make your life a little easier with Cub Creek Heating and AC. Schedule your furnace or AC service today at klzradio.com slash HVAC.
SPEAKER 04 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive, this is John Rush.
SPEAKER 07 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush. On the line right now, we’ve got Jersey Joe. Joe, what do you got for us? Oh, hey, before you even get into it, I’d like you to let people know how to reach you.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. You can find me on my weekly podcast. It’s a 30-minute weekly podcast. And you can find on JerseyJoe.com. And Jersey spelled J-E-R as in Robert, Z as in zebra, E-E, JerseyJoe.com. And you’ll find my 30-minute weekly podcast. If you’d like me to put you on a distribution list so you get it into your inbox, just email me at joe at jerseyjoe.com. And as soon as it’s ready and getting posted, I will send a copy to your inbox. And you can either listen to it. It’s a 30-minute podcast once a week. Or you can go to jerseyjoe.com if you want to listen to back episodes.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right. Sounds good. Now, what do you got for us?
SPEAKER 03 :
As long as I talk about state races, I want to go to Virginia, and I want to talk about some of the hypocrisy going on. Now, we’ve got two women, first time ever, we’ve got two women in Virginia. One is the former lieutenant, or the current lieutenant governor, a black woman named Winsome Earl Sears, and she’s running against a blonde white woman, a former CIA intelligence analyst named Abigail Spangler. Now, let’s go back to last year when Kamala Harris was running for president. Who came out and stumped Kamala Harris, none other than Barack Obama? Well, he was addressing a group of black people at the NAACP convention. And he’s talking to the men particularly. And he says now, and this is a quote from Barack Obama 12 months ago. And here’s a quote. We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all corners of our neighborhoods and community as we saw when I was running. Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers. So if you don’t mind, just for a second, I’ve got to speak to y’all and say that when you have a choice that is this clean, when on one hand you have somebody who grew up like you, went to college with you, understand the struggles and the pain and the joy that comes from those experiences, Part of it makes me think, and I’m speaking to men directly, that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives for reasons other than that. So he’s chastising the black men for not throwing their full support behind the black woman.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, he was calling them chauvinists. And by the way, this helped Trump.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Now, how things have changed in 12 months. Charlie has a clip, but this is a black man summarizing what’s happening today with regard to the black woman versus the white woman and the support of Obama and the NAACP. Can we play this clip?
SPEAKER 10 :
Wait, wait, wait. This can’t be right. I’m seeing here that the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, just endorsed Abigail Spanberger for governor of Virginia, who’s… let’s just say more white than colored over the colored woman and winsome Sears, who would be the first colored governor, female governor of Virginia. They even got Barack Obama to come out. You know how he said recently, oh, you know, black men need to support black female candidates, I guess, except not now. It’s almost as if it’s not about skin color, but About party loyalty.
SPEAKER 07 :
I like the laugh.
SPEAKER 03 :
Don’t you, Joe? And that was a black man. I mean, pointing out the hypocrisy of Obama in particular in the NAACP, both supporting the white woman over the black woman.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, yeah, I guess they just they feel people aren’t feeling it for winsome. I mean, this is ridiculous. Look, let’s just get right down to brass tacks here. Joe, the left does not care about anything but Marxism. They do not care. If right now, if they can find the most aggrieved group and say, oh, gee, right now that’s black people, then they will tout that. If it’s white people, they will tout that. If it’s a white woman against a black woman in Virginia, they will tout that. If it’s gay versus straight or straight versus gay, they do not care. They do not care. They only want to advance Marxism, and they will use any dividing up of Americans over demographics they can to do it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, you’re 100%. Andy, I can’t disagree with anything you just said. 100% correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s disgusting, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 03 :
It is. It is. I want to jump around here. I got three or four things I want to get to. I know you’re going to talk about this in the next hour, but I want to give you my take on the ending of the shutdown. I believe that the Democrats, after the elections are over tonight, That they will then, they’re going to say, yes, let’s end this. But they can’t, they can’t, without having egg in their face, just accept the current resolution with no concessions. Yes, they’re going to end it, and they’re already indicating they’re going to back off some of their hardline positions. which I’ve got a great clip, by the way, of what those current demands are.
SPEAKER 07 :
So wait a minute. So you think that the Republicans will let them go with it and give them just a very small concession? Face saving.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So they can say, yeah, we got this. We got that. They’re going to be little minor things. But because it’ll be a different bill than the one in front of them or a modified version, they won’t be able to pass it and have Trump sign it. It’ll have to go back to the House. So I think tomorrow… You’ll see some announcement that we’ve reached agreement. They might even have a vote tomorrow afternoon or maybe it’ll be Thursday morning. But then that modified bill will have to go back to the House, and I think Johnson would call the House back on Friday. House would vote on that modified bill on Friday, and then it would go to Trump over the weekend. So if I had to bet money, that’s how it’s going to go, that this shutdown will effectively end this week or it’ll be done by Monday morning. And that’s the timetable. But again, they’re not going to – I don’t see how they can just cave and sign and agree to support or allow a vote on the existing –
SPEAKER 07 :
continuing resolution because look how embarrassing would that be we shut the government down for 36 days right and walked and walked away empty-handed well especially since we shut it down until after these elections so we can wind up our base for turnout and then we decide okay now we’re going to buckle because what does that mean that means that they were taking all these poor americans who are waiting for food stamps waiting for snap waiting for all their subsidies and their help and basically they’re looking at them and saying you were our leverage you were you were you were the pawns yes we held you hostage yep until after these elections we use you as our leverage until after these elections i mean what a message to send it is and and i think we have a clip of some of the things that the democrats have been demanding up until today can we charlie have that clip we can play of what they this is speaker of the house mike johnson
SPEAKER 17 :
summarizing what they’ve been demanding uh to end the shutdown good morning everybody welcome to day 28 of the democrat shutdown we’re almost a month into this and we wanted to highlight a couple of things and a few members this morning there are some very developments but before we get to all that one of the things that we wanted to note is that really it’s painfully obvious to everyone the true motivation of the democrats historic obstruction has now become very clear for everyone I want to use a little simple graph. Lily, if you show me this real quick, just real quick, simple facts, because these things get obscured too much. But there are simple facts about the Democrat shutdown that everybody needs to recognize. Here’s four of them. First of all, we have to have Democrats to reopen the government. you know that in the Senate it requires 60 votes to break an impasse. We’re gonna make it simple. I had my 15-year-old son and some of his friends were together over the weekend and they wanted me to explain it to them as simply as possible. It’s the little formulation, okay? Hey, fellas, remember from civics, you’ve got to have 60 votes in the Senate. We only have 53 Republicans, so we must have Democrats to do it. The Democrats are out trying to claim that this is all on Republicans because we control the government. We don’t control the Senate without 60 votes, so you have to have them. Now they voted 13 times, those Senate Democrats, counting the House and the Senate together, they voted 13 times to keep the government closed. And what they’re demanding as a ransom to reopen the government are some really crazy things. They want to restore $200 billion in health benefits paid for by U.S. taxpayers to illegal aliens and non-citizens. We can’t do that. They want billions of dollars in wasteful programs to be returned to foreign countries for things that none of you would agree with. We are not going to do that. They want a half a billion dollars to go back to left-leaning news organizations paid for by taxpayers. We can’t do that. And then they want to cut $50 billion from the rural hospital fund that Republicans got signed into law July 4th to prop up health care in red states and rural areas around the country. It’s too important, but they want to take that away. They know that we can’t do it. And now that they’ve begun to admit what this is all about, they’re admitting what they’re up to. Chuck Schumer said, every day of the shutdown gets better for us, meaning the Democrat Party. And you know, we had the top-ranked, the second-ranked Democrat in the House, the minority whip, who just said a few days ago, at the end of last week, We know that this is causing great pain for the American people, but we have to use this leverage. We don’t have many times where we have leverage like this. And so they’ve shown you what the real motivation is. But ultimately, why are they doing all that? Let me summarize this really quickly, as simply as I can, for the civic students back home. Republicans are not demanding anything, literally nothing. All we want is to reopen the government.
SPEAKER 07 :
That is very well put.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is. And I’d like to add, here’s some of the other, you know, he quoted a couple of senators, but these are some other direct quotes from senators and one congresswoman, Democrat senator, in the past three weeks. Chuck Schumer, every day gets better for us. He said that. Here’s Bernie Sanders. You reopen the government and we lose our leverage. Senator Ruben Gallego. Then I just go back and shut it down again. This is if it were to pass. Here’s Senator Chris Coons. Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage, and although a very unpleasant tool, we have to use. Senator Martin Heinrich, paying our troops gives the president more leverage. That’s why he was opposed. He tried to block the president from using some other funds. Paying our troops gives the president more leverage.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so he tried to stop Trump from helping the troops just so Trump wouldn’t have more leverage.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. So Trump wouldn’t have more leverage. And finally, Congresswoman Catherine Clark, there will be families that are going to suffer. But it’s one of the few leverage leverage items that we have. How sick is that? They are sick. That is the state of the Democrat Party today.
SPEAKER 07 :
Look, I’m just going to say when then we’re going to take a quick break here, Joe. The Democrat Party is the enemy of the American people. And what’s really sad is that so many people do support them. I think it says a lot about the education of our country. I do. I think it says a lot about the education system. I think it says a lot about entertainment. I think it says a lot about big tech in the past. I think it says a lot that we have so many powerful influencers who have gotten so many people in America to honestly hate America enough to put them in power. It just blows my mind. They shouldn’t get a single solitary vote with the things they’re doing. They are anti-American to the core, and when they look at Americans, they see leverage. That’s it.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s it. That’s it. Okay. Unfortunately, the low-information voters, 80% of the voters out there have no clue of the things that we’ve just discussed.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, they don’t. Let’s take a little break. We’ll come back. Up next is Dr. Scott Faulkner. Hey, get a doctor who listens only to you, not big pharma, not big insurance, just you. For a total approach to your total health, call Dr. Scott at 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 01 :
Tired of rushed appointments and cookie-cutter care? At Castle Rock Regenerative Health, Dr. Scott Faulkner offers true concierge medicine, personalized, unrushed, and on your schedule. Not the schedule of big health care, no crowded waiting rooms, no waiting weeks to be seen. Dr. Faulkner isn’t tied to the limitations of traditional practices, so he can focus on what matters most, you. He takes the time to really listen, understand your goals and customize care to fit your body and lifestyle. From regenerative therapies and IV nutrition to integrative whole body health solutions, you’ll get advanced options designed to help you truly heal and stay healthy. If weight loss is part of your journey, they offer medically guided plans tailored to you, helping you lose weight safely and sustainably with real support every step of the way. And for those experiencing changes in energy, Mood or vitality? Ask about our personalized hormone therapy. We’ll help you restore balance and feel your best at every stage of life. Ready for a different kind of health care? Visit CastleRockRegenerativeHealth.com or call 303-663-6990 and start your journey with Dr. Scott today. You can also find Dr. Scott at RushToReason.com.
SPEAKER 09 :
August heat and those September storms can really take a toll on your roof here in Colorado. But before you shell out thousands for a full replacement, call Roof Savers of Colorado. Roof Savers offers Roof Max, a quick, affordable, eco-friendly treatment that restores flexibility and extends the life of your asphalt shingles, all for a fraction of the cost of a new roof. As the seasons start to change, now is the perfect time to get ahead of winter damage. In just one treatment, RoofMax rejuvenates your roof, improves protection, and gives you peace of mind before the snow hits. Call Roof Savers of Colorado today for a free roof assessment at 303-710-6916 or visit us at roofsaversco.com and ask about our seasonal specials. Roof Savers of Colorado, we add years to your roof and protection to your home.
SPEAKER 08 :
Call in to the KLZ studio line, 303-477-5600. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 07 :
And we’re back here on Rush to Reason, KLZ 560. Okay, Jersey Joe, what do you got next?
SPEAKER 03 :
I want to talk about… SNAP food stamp benefits and a little history where we are and what the Republicans are uncovering. So if we go back to 2019, just before the pandemic, the United States government was spending about $60 billion a year on food stamp benefits. And then the pandemic came and we suddenly had tens of millions of people suddenly found themselves unemployed because of business closures.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right, but that was a temporary situation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. But do you know that SNAP benefit costs And the number of enrolled literally doubled, more than doubled. We went from $60 billion a year to more than $140 billion a year in food stamp costs, which is more than $10 billion a month in food stamps. Now, you would expect, now that the pandemic is over and unemployment is back around, what, 4.3%, that we should have returned to that $60 billion, you know, $60, $65 billion a year. But no, it’s only gone from $140 down to $120, so we’re still doubling. Double where we were the year prior to the pandemic.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, and why is that before we run on?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we got a clip from the Secretary of Agriculture, and that snap is administered by the USDA.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, I tell you what, it’s going to be a couple minutes. He’s having a, Charlie is booting that clip up, having some technical difficulties. So first, just in your opinion, why is that? Okay, because a lot of people, there are a lot of people out there right now who are listening and they’re thinking that can’t be true. Yes, it is. It is true. We’re spending twice as much as we did before COVID. And right now we have no COVID and people are back at their jobs.
SPEAKER 03 :
We got 42 million people are still on SNAP benefits, 42 million people. That’s, it’s just incredible. We got 42 million people receiving, and I believe what’s happened is once the people got on, even though they should have opted out, nobody opted out. And in fact, one of the things you’re gonna hear is that if we get this clip booted up. It’s ready now. Okay, let’s play the clip and you’ll hear, let’s play the clip.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay. What this conversation has allowed is a national spotlight on a broken and corrupt program. We found one guy in six different states getting a benefit. We found about 5,000 people that are dead who are still getting benefits. It is time to drastically reform this program so that we can make sure that those who are truly needy truly vulnerable are getting what they need and the rest of the corruption goes away and we can serve the American taxpayer. So we want to number one, most important, get the government open, make sure the people that really need this money are going to get it. But guess what? There’s a new sheriff in town. His name is Donald Trump and this program will be reformed. We will hold people accountable and we will be able to help those who really need it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Take advantage of Gino’s auto service.
SPEAKER 07 :
Joe, in my opinion, I believe a good majority of Americans would favor that. I think they do. I just don’t think that they are getting the message. I think because, look, you’re starving. You’re starving the poor to give tax breaks to the rich. That sells. It is so easy to say it’s so quick. It’s pithy. Right. And I think too many people fall for it. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
No. And you’re absolutely correct. And that’s what, you know, I go on these liberal websites and that’s the message. Trump is cutting your food stamps in order to give the wealthy tax more tax breaks. That is the message. You see it every day, three or four different liberal sites. There’s MoveOn. There’s Americans for Tax Fairness. There’s Change.org, the other 98%. And it’s the same message that Trump is cutting your food stamps. He’s cutting your health care. to give tax breaks to the wealthy. That is the unified message across all of those sites, several of whom are funded by George Soros, by the way.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, you know what, though? I’m going to take a little shot at our side on this. I don’t think we get the message out enough on these things, okay? Quick clips like what you just did there, you could package those into 30- and 60-second ads very easily. some very salient points and put them out. We got to keep in mind, Donald Trump himself has a one and a half trillion, trillion, sorry, billion dollar war chest. Okay. You can buy a lot of ad time, especially in key areas. And I really think we need to be doing it, but we’re holding the money back. We’re thinking about the midterms. We’re thinking about 28. And I’m thinking, man, you don’t want to lose these seats too easily right now. And by the way, the more money you spend now, the more you make the Democrats spend now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I’ve always said, Andy, and you’ve heard me say this many times earlier this year, Republicans, by and large, I believe, do a lousy job of messaging. Yeah. And even if it’s not lousy, it’s nowhere near on par with the messaging that the Democrats do. You know, the Democrats have this fantastic messaging. And by the way, it’s almost like a cancer. Even if you go on social media, you go on conservative sites and you’ll see half the comments saying, are from liberals on conservative sites they’re like a cancer they’ve metastasized and they’ve spread and they’re on there arguing saying that’s a lie you guys are stupid you know trump you know they’re they’re they’re trying to and they’re coming up with these you know bogus facts and bogus statistics uh… trying to dilute the power of the conservative message republicans uh… do almost none of that and as you said What would it take? What you just heard was a 15-second clip. How much would it cost to play that a couple of times a week during the evening national news program?
SPEAKER 07 :
Exactly. It would be very reasonable, and the points are so hard-hitting. I mean, not many people—that’s 80-20. The vast majority of Americans are going to listen to that and say, wait a minute. You want to waste money in those ways? Our money. You want to waste in those ways? That’s not cool.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, sending monthly SNAP benefits to 5,000 dead people, letting one guy register for SNAP benefits in six different states. And these are just examples. These are not one-off. You know, these are just, this is how broken the system is. I mean, if it’s possible for one guy to register for SNAP benefits in six states, the system is broken. If it’s possible for 5,000 dead people to getting monthly SNAP, and by the way, somebody’s using those cards. The cards get reloaded. And their relatives, so those dead people are using the dead relatives’ cards. Right. System is broken.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and by the way, Joe, here’s the way that you would package that. You lead in with something positive about the program. Okay. Snap, you know, feeds the poor and it does this and this for the poor. It’s so valuable. But… Many people are misusing the system. Here’s how boom, boom, boom, go 30 seconds, right? Here’s how, here’s a couple examples. Done, done, done. Those are just examples. There’s so much more. We have to reform this so that program can be used to take care of the people it was meant to take care of. Look, that is a very easy message that we’re not getting out.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And again, I shake my head. I’m frustrated and disappointed. in the quality of the Republican or conservative messaging in this country. I think it’s cost the seats. And if we don’t fix it, we could lose control of the House and or Senator both in the midterms next year.
SPEAKER 07 :
I agree. I mean, it’s very possible. I don’t think we’re going to lose the Senate. I think it’d be very, very hard for the Dems to take the Senate. I think the House right now is very much in play. The biggest problem the Democrats are going to have, and I’ll say this before we take one last break, they’re going to have a big problem in that the economy is probably going to be booming. I mean, really, all signs except for the Fed holding us back. Really, that’s it. Except for that, all signs are pointing to a total economic boom starting, oh, about the middle of next year.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. And I think driven in part by the almost $20 trillion in foreign investment that Trump has been able to get commitments for. And some of that investment will start to translate to boots on the ground, shovels in the dirt by the end of this year.
SPEAKER 07 :
Exactly. And I think it’s going to make a big difference. And also what Trump is doing with energy is having a dramatic impact on our economy. And finally, his winning in the trade deals, if he doesn’t get shut down tomorrow with the Supreme Court, I don’t think they will. If they do, that’s going to be devastating. It will. It will. If the Supreme Court takes away his ability to levy tariffs the way he’s doing. First of all, it’d be incredibly stupid because in time after time after time, the tariffs that he’s been leveling have also affected what he does as commander in chief. They’re intertwined. They work together. He’s brought peace to many reasons, regions, which means we don’t have to commit troops. OK, he has made a huge difference with these tariffs. If the Supreme Court screws that up tomorrow, the devastating effect on the American economy is going to be incredible and it’s going to be fantastic for Democrats in 26.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m afraid you’re right, Andy, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that the Supreme Court makes the right call.
SPEAKER 07 :
I agree. Here’s the problem. We’ve got to sweep because I think you’ve got four justices that are going to go against us almost no matter what, led by Roberts. Because I consider him a liberal. I consider Roberts a leftist. I really do. He only votes with us on the really easy ones. Then we get those six, three votes. But I think you’ve got three hard quarters plus Roberts that will go against us. So the problem is we’ve got to sweep the other five. I believe we will. But I’m not sure. And there you go. All right. Let’s take a break. We’ll be right back with Jersey Joe. Up next is Geno’s Auto. Hey, don’t take your place to a friend your friend to a place. Don’t take your car, sorry, to a place your friend likes. We always do that. We take our car to a place our friend likes. Hey, take it over here. No, no, no. Take your car to a place everyone likes with great reviews at Geno’s Auto. Call Geno’s at 303-794-6700.
SPEAKER 02 :
Take advantage of Geno’s Auto Service’s Fall Coolant Flush Special. Even as the weather is starting to cool, your engine runs hot. When coolant degrades, it becomes acidic and can corrode your radiator, thermostat, and water pump, sending debris into your engine. These debris, if left unchecked, can lead to major headaches and repairs. Reduce the chance of overheating, even in cooler weather, and keep corrosion at bay with a coolant flush from Geno’s. Maintaining your vehicle will give you additional years of performance and reliability. Geno’s is celebrating 42 years in business in Littleton. We are all for making your life simpler, offering loaner vehicles so you can drop your car off and pick up when ready. Give us a call or go online to schedule an appointment. Geno’s is AAA approved and located at Bowles and Platte Canyon. Don’t forget to check out all of Geno’s Google reviews. Reduce the chance of overheating with a coolant flush from Geno’s. Stop in or visit us online at genosautoservice.com. That’s Geno’s with a J.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is TJ with KLZ Radio, and once again, we have Al Smith with us from Golden Eagle Financial. And Al, we’re coming up on the end of the year, and I figure there’s probably quite a few things that a retirement planner has to do to prepare for the new year, yes?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, there are a couple of things that have a 31st deadline that we talk to some of our clients about. If people are thinking about converting part of their traditional IRA to Roth, they’re That needs to be done before December 31st. And we don’t usually wait till the last week in December because the financial companies get really busy. So it’s a good idea to address that in November. And usually by then people have a pretty good idea how much money they have earned, and we can guesstimate their tax bracket.
SPEAKER 06 :
So you’re just basically helping them reach out to figure out what sort of distribution they should get from an investment.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, not so much distribution, but if they’re younger people, they may have a longer-term strategy to convert traditional IRA to Roth. And that will add income to their income tax they pay each year. And we usually wait till near the end of the year because by then people know what tax bracket they will be in. But it has to be done before December 31st.
SPEAKER 06 :
Excellent. And that’s why we trust you, Al. How can people get in touch with you if they want to start their retirement planning adventure with you?
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s a good way to describe it as an adventure. You can reach me at 303-744-1128. And if you’re driving when you hear this, contact KLZ and they’ll put me in contact with you. All right. Thanks for joining us today, Al. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 08 :
Listen online. KLZradio.com. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 07 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush on the line right now. We’ve got Jersey Joe. Joe, what do you got next?
SPEAKER 03 :
A couple more things. Well, first a little quote by Thomas Sowell, and then I’m going to move on to a couple things. Here’s Thomas Sowell, the economist. You cannot subsidize irresponsibility and expect people to become more responsible. Beautiful. Beautiful. I love that man. Now, this I may and I may have read this on air earlier this week. but one of my favorite quotes is by Ben Franklin on the topic of poverty. And here’s his quote. Remember, this is 275 years ago. He said, I am all for doing good for the poor, but I think the best way of doing good for the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I have observed that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And on the contrary, The less was done for them, the more they did for themselves and became richer as a result. Now, let’s contrast that with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. I won’t play the quote, but she was on MSNBC, and she said, it is cruel of Trump to impose work requirements on people receiving SNAP benefits. If you are an able-bodied adult and you’re not a caregiver, why is it cruel? It’s not just work, by the way. what was in the big beautiful bill was either that if you’re able-bodied adult and you’re not a caregiver, you have three choices, and you want to continue SNAP benefits, you have three choices. Work at least 20 hours a week or participate in a free state-sponsored job training program or perform at least 80 hours per month of community service, which is roughly 20 hours a week. What is cruel about asking an able-bodied person to perform one of those three activities in exchange for their food stamps.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, absolutely nothing, especially the middle one. My gosh, you’re getting free training, free job training, and you’re complaining about it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, but Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley says it’s cruel of Trump to insist that people on food receiving SNAP benefits She calls it a work requirement.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, yeah, because, Joe, because as I always say, Republicans want you to be needed. Democrats want you to be needy.
SPEAKER 03 :
They want you to be dependent on big government.
SPEAKER 07 :
Exactly. Why? Because who do you need? Them. Right. Republicans want you to be needed every day at a job. And so if you’re doing one of those things, let’s say you’re going to the 80 hours of work per month, you’re needed. You are getting back in the game again. You’re getting your feet out the door. You’re going somewhere. You’re doing work. You are donating your time and you’re doing something to get these wonderful benefits that you’re getting from the taxpayers. And by the way, the taxpayers made none of your choices in life for you. Okay. Whatever your choices are. And by the way, maybe, maybe you got to a bad place, not because of your choices, but because of hard times. Guess what? Those hard times were not done to you by the taxpayers.
SPEAKER 03 :
Nope. And you’re building your resume. You’re building references. I mean, if you come to me and I say, well, you know, you come to me for full-time job. And I say, what do you say? Well, I’ve been working part-time with this, or I’ve been doing community service that elevate in my eyes as a potential employer, you know, well, how long have I been at this, you know, for, for 14 months, whatever, you know, haven’t missed a day of work, that elevates you in my eyes as a potential employer.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, but Democrats don’t want you to have a resume. They want you to need them. Once again, Republicans want you needed. Democrats want you needy. They want you to wake up every day needing that check from them, needing them to come through for you, why it empowers them. So they’re using other people’s money to buy your vote. Yep. That’s disgusting. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is. So we probably got time for just one of the two. You want to hear about the California proposition to start taxing billionaires’ wealth, or you want to talk about climate change?
SPEAKER 07 :
Let’s do the wealth one.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. California, there’s a message, there’s a ballot measure being, they’re trying to get on the ballot next year, and it’s being pushed by the SIEU, Service Employees International Union. These are the people that work in restaurants and hotel chambermaids and whatnot. They want to impose not an income tax, but a wealth tax on billionaires that would be 5% of their wealth retroactive to December 31st of this year. So let me put some numbers. So say you’re Larry Ellison, the retired founder of Oracle Computers. Larry Ellison is worth $320 billion today. And if that doesn’t change and this goes through, 5% of $320 billion is $16 billion that he would have to pay to the state of California.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so this is not money he earned in that time. This is his net worth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, his net worth. Wow. Most of it is in the form of stock that he owns. It’s not income. Right. Now, in order to pay that $16 billion, if he was still there to pay it, and we’ll talk why he wouldn’t be, he would have to sell more than $16 billion in stock. Why would he have to sell more? Well, when you sell stock that has a very low cost basis, you have a huge taxable profit. So in order to net $16 billion to pay the wealth tax, he’d have to sell $20 billion of stock because he’d have to pay another $4 billion in income taxes to the federal government and the state of California on top of the $16 billion in wealth tax. Oh, but Joe, he has more than he needs. more than needs, but he’s not stupid. So if you’re Larry Ellison and you say, well, you know, would I change my primary resident? I don’t have to sell my house in California, but would I change my primary resident to maybe some nice place in Texas to save $20 billion? Yes. Obviously. Obviously. So, and, you know, because he’d be stupid not to. So I don’t think anybody in California has ever read the fable of the goose that laid the golden egg. By the way, two years ago, there were 6,600 millionaires and billionaires in this country that renounced their U.S. citizenship and moved out of this country. And that was in 2023. Really? Yes, $6,600. Because you just can’t, even if you just move, you’re still subject to U.S. income taxes. So you have to renounce your citizenship and move. And we had $6,600 million. If things like this go through, I mean, he’s not going to leave the country, but he’s certainly not going to stay in California. Same thing with Mark Zuckerberg. Now, Mark Zuckerberg may still continue to work in California and pay income taxes on whatever income he earns. But in terms of his primary residence, if I was Mark Zuckerberg, I would no longer be a resident of California. And California has over 100 billionaires. I think there’s about 900 billionaires in this country. A hundred of them reside in California.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, Joe, in the next hour, I’m going to be talking to Eli Bremer. One thing we’re going to talk about is the rich leaving New York City. Let me ask you something. How are they going to do it?
SPEAKER 03 :
By the way, well, on that note, I’ve been following the realtors. The reports are coming in from places like Palm Beach and Jupiter Beach. Realtors are being flooded with calls from rich people in New York City, and they’re actually flying down to look at property. They’re getting on their private jets. They’re already getting ready to do it. And if Mondami wins, which he probably will, I think you’re going to see these people start changing their primary residence to Florida. Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and I mean, Mamdani’s going to squeeze them all he can on the way out, but then guess what? The golden goose is gone, baby.
SPEAKER 03 :
Who’s going to pay for all this stuff? You know what percentage of New York City income taxes are paid by the top 1% in that city? What percent? 49% of the taxes in that city are paid by 1%. 1% of the people in New York City pay 49% of the taxes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, Eli and I are going to be talking about that. Jersey Joe, one last time, how do people reach you? Go.
SPEAKER 03 :
JerseyJoe.com, J-E-R-Z-E-E, JerseyJoe.com to find the website. And if you want to send me an email, a question, or you want me to send you any of the clips you heard me talk about tonight, or if you want to get on my distribution list, just send me an email to Joe at JerseyJoe.com. Just remember R-Z-E-E. All right?
SPEAKER 07 :
Fantastic, Joe. Thanks for joining us. Folks, that’s it for our number two. In our three, we’ve got Eli Bremer. Until then, keep it right here on Rush to Reason, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
The Rich Guy.
