Good Morning

I want to get to the headlines, but first I need to ask for your attention as I pull back the curtain a bit. This is a bit long, but please, please read it.

This year will be a crazy political year, but also crazy here with me, this email, and my radio show. I’m hoping I can enlist your help.

First, my new book is coming out later this year. There will be an audio version. There will be a digital version for electronic readers. Right now, if you would order a printed copy, that would help me tremendously. It helps because it builds, for lack of a better phrase, “brand awareness” as I’m growing this email and my radio show.

You can order my book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble right now. It comes out later this year, and I’ll figure out how to do signed copies, etc., later.

The book traces the secular left’s new pagan religion to its very ancient Gnostic roots. It also provides people of faith with strategies to navigate the insanity of our times.

Second, if you use YouTube, I’d very much appreciate it if you subscribe to my channel. If you’ve seen videos lately, we’ve built a new set and will be doing more videos for the channel. We have a project under development that I cannot discuss, but I think you will like it.

Third, I need to grow my podcast. Like the book, you’d be stunned by how many radio stations want to know my podcast numbers. It can be a frustrating experience because I want people to listen to the radio, not the podcast. But it is necessary to get subscribers. You can subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or Google.

Fourth, if you are in an area of the country with a talk radio station that does not air me, I’d appreciate it if you might call your local station. I can get you the information if you reach out to me. Texas, Virginia, Colorado, and Tennessee are key markets for me to grow in. I still have markets like Augusta and Valdosta, GA, that I want to enter in my state. It is crazy I don’t have any stations in Texas even though I get thousands of listeners a day on my livestream from Texas.

I hope to enlist you all as my grassroots army to call stations in your area. That actually has way more impact than me calling them. It builds awareness and tells them listeners are listening. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can attest to your willingness in the comments below. Otherwise, go here for the contact email. I can get you the appropriate information.

If you just want to be an encouragement on that front, I would value your prayers that more stations pick up my show this year.

Relatedly, I’ll begin more regular travel to affiliate markets to meet listeners in those areas this year. I’ll be in Orlando doing a “Pints and Politics” event with my affiliate WDBO and listeners in April.

Fifth, please place a hold on your calendar for August 8-11, 2024. The Gathering will return with a focus on fighting for the House and Senate. Please let me know if you are part of a conservative organization and would like to sponsor. We need sponsors to make this happen. Ticket prices are going up this year. Paid subscribers to this newsletter will get first dibs on a limited number of discounted tickets.

Sixth, and most importantly:

I am the subject of a harassment effort against several of my advertisers. I find it very funny, but it has serious consequences. A group of progressive, pro-transgender activists have been harassing my advertisers to get them to drop me. Concurrently, some very aggressive pro-Trump activists are doing the same thing because of my “disloyalty.” It’s rare to get a cancel campaign from the left and the right at the same time, but as I am often the proverbial turd in the punchbowl for both sides, I get it from the far left and far right — this time at the same time.

All that is to say, you play a vital and important part in keeping me online and on the air. Your subscription to this newsletter enables me to worry less about advertisers for my radio show. Likewise, we have avoided putting ads in this newsletter as an additional form of monetization thanks to your subscriptions.

For those of you who are not paid subscribers, I sure hope you will consider becoming one. You get discounts to the conference, an ad-free podcast feed, and plenty of exclusive content here.

There’s also a punchline on that. Below is a chart of my paid subscribers falling off over the last 30 days. People are upset with me for not cheerleading Trump, DeSantis, or whoever their favorite person is. People are upset by my posts on faith, reminding them they have to love their neighbors and can’t just operate like the left. Good grief. Look, if you want to cancel your subscription for me reminding self-identified Christians that they can’t operate like the left, it is your choice. If you want to cancel because I criticized your tribe, sure. But wow. See for yourself:

Subscribe or not, I’m not going to avoid faith issues or telling you what I think. But your paid subscription does make it easier to keep on keeping on or, as the Governor of Georgia is prone to say — keep on chopping.

Lastly, I want to introduce you to my two most recent advertisers. The first is one we are all fans of: Hillsdale College. The second is actually my bank — started by some friends as a truly conservative bank that will take care of conservatives. If you need a bank, consider OldGloryBank.com. The other day, a credit union changed the terms for its members and will no longer approve purchases at gun stores. A national bank now refuses to do business with gun manufacturers and sellers. Old Glory will never discriminate against conservatives and Second Amendment supporters.

And a big thank you to them, First Liberty Building and Loan, Omaha Steaks, Americans for Prosperity, Swiss America, and Vision Computers for both standing by me and standing up to the bullies.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Now, on to the news.

The Enthusiasm Gap

I was on air with Leland Vittert last night. His show is a must watch and is the fairest show on TV. He doesn’t take BS from either side and challenges both sides fairly and honestly.

He was pushing me on my analysis of the caucuses and my blaming the weather for low turnout. He pointed out the massive falloff in attendance from past years and, of those who turned out, about half wanted someone other than Trump. All are fair points.

My response is this.

First, there was an inevitability factor that probably kept some people home. Most people are not dismissive of the polls, and Trump was so far ahead, why bother going? Second, add to that negative fourteen degrees, and a good number of people just simply could not or would not venture out. Third, it should be a red flag to the Trump campaign that DeSantis and Haley both did well in suburban areas. DeSantis won no counties but did win a number of precincts, which all had one thing in common — college-educated evangelicals. Haley won the college towns and urban areas.

But, again, I think negative fourteen has more to do with Trump’s fifty-one percent than anything else. Couple that with an inevitability factor that comes from Trump being perceived as an incumbent, and many people would not turn out. Concurrently, I do have to concede Leland is right that there is some general lack of enthusiasm about the candidates overall. And, with Trump and Biden, the parties are foisting on the public the most unpopular pairing of candidates since, well, Trump v. Clinton.

This all actually gets to a bigger issue — the DeSantis ground game and enthusiasm. DeSantis is the only candidate who defied the polling average — outperforming by five points. But damn. The DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down collapsed.

Speaking of DeSantis

I have thoughts. I will save those for later. The man is still a candidate for the presidency and a fine and decent man. I do not think he has a viable path to victory at this point. But he has not conceded.

That said, the postmortems are already being written. Marc Caputo is a very good reporter who was, frankly, treated crappily by NBC. At the Messenger, he has a good piece encapsulating a lot of the problems.

I want to make one point here.

I don’t know Ryan Girdusky, who was apparently a consultant for DeSantis. Yesterday, on Twitter and a Substack piece, Girdusky outted himself as the source of some unflattering remarks about the DeSantis campaign during that campaign. Girdusky wrote, “Over the last few weeks, about half a dozen reporters told me they were getting ready to write the obituary on DeSantis’ campaign and wanted to include comments I made to them in off-the-record meetings.”

Girdusky admits he was talking to reporters in off-the-record meetings, and we know from the comments attributed to him that his take on the DeSantis campaign was not flattering. Here’s a relevant passage from Caputo’s piece:

As doubts about DeSantis’s campaign grew, Peck held a conference call June 21 with social media influencers, consultants and top backers to put their minds at ease. She discussed how DeSantis was doing well in a head-to-head matchup against Trump and how, even after all the attacks on him, Republicans still viewed him favorably.

But consultant Ryan Girdusky was steamed.

“The Twitter launch was a disaster. Stop talking about Florida. People don’t want to hear about Florida,” he said, before turning to a recent interview DeSantis did on the Christian Broadcast Network where he talked about being with Jesus’ disciples. 

“Whoever advised him to go on Christian TV and say he wanted to have dinner with Jesus should be fired,” Girdusky said on the call. “Trump has evangelicals. Do you think they’re going to break with Trump over abortion? They’re not. This campaign is like Ted Cruz 2.0.”

First, I agree with him about Florida, which I publicly wrote about. But DeSantis talking about having dinner with Jesus as some sort of outrage is nonsensical. DeSantis got the backing of the largest evangelical group in Iowa and also did well with college-educated evangelicals. This sort of rage (Girdusky was “steamed”) over something like that suggests biases on Girdusky’s part, not operational or strategic shortcomings on DeSantis’s part.

But the more important thing is actually a basic lesson in Campaigns 101.

If you admit you’ve been bad-mouthing the campaign to reporters as an outside consultant, you are not only burning bridges with today’s campaign, but you are also burning bridges with future campaigns.

Some prominent Republican consultants out there are writing down Girdusky’s name and placing it in the “Avoid” file. Consultants all talk. They even criticize their candidates to reporters. They rarely take credit for it while the campaign is still a going concern.

Also, that’s very Swamp Creature to do that like that. If you’re going to work against Washington, don’t act like Washington.

Nikki Haley

I think she could do very well in New Hampshire, but I doubt she comes in first. I’d love to see it. I think the GOP hurts itself by having Trump as the nominee, even if he can win, because of how resource-intensive it will be.

Likewise, despite present impressions of Haley by the Trump and DeSantis fans, she was a great pro-life, free market, small government conservative governor of South Carolina willing to fight the good old boy establishment on her own side. Haley has a very good and successful track record of fighting establishment conservatives to advance conservative causes.

Right now, Nikki Haley has what Donald Trump needs — major donor support. The Republican National Committee has just $9.1 million cash on hand. The Democrats have double that. In the last three months, Joe Biden and the Democrats have combined raised almost $100 million and have raised $235 million total.

Trump’s money is going to lawyers. DeSantis is running low on money. Haley has it. It gives her an advantage for ads even as Trump’s voters will show up just for him.

God bless her if she can win New Hampshire. I just think with DeSantis fading, his support either sticks with him or goes to Trump.

I am reminded of 1980 and I say, going into this, I know I am in the minority.

In 1980, the GOP Establishment did everything possible to stop Ronald Reagan. John Anderson, Howard Baker, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, and more all ran to stop Reagan. None of them could. Reagan picked Bush as his running mate to put the party back together and heal it after a nasty primary. It brought the GOP coalition together.

Now, Trump is the establishment, even though his backers see him as an outsider. More importantly and outside those dynamics, Trump has the grassroots, and Haley has the grass tops with money. Put them together, and you have a formidable team.

Yes, in the rawness of the here and now, there are a lot of DeSantis and Trump supporters who will groan, moan, and denounce the idea. But Haley has a more impressive resumé than someone like Noem, is less alienating than many would-be contenders, and is not insufferable like Elise Stefanik. She’d be a great running mate who would eat Kamala Harris alive in a debate. She’d also bring stakes to the Biden failed foreign policy — her husband is active duty military. She knows firsthand the problems Biden has caused in the military and in foreign policy.

She’d make the abstract very real. If she does not pull off New Hampshire, the Trump team should not dismiss her as the running mate. She brings credibility and trust with those Trump needs — the big check writers — and she brings credibility on military issues and also racial reconciliation at a time when Democrats seek to exploit race.

Biden Reverts to Trump Policy

This news is actually far more important than the campaign news of the day. Joe Biden is putting the Houthi back on the terror list. I’ll probably start my show with this today.

Trump, wisely, put the Houthi on the list. Biden, braqgidociously, took them off it. It was one of the very first things Biden did upon taking office. It made no sense at the time. The Houthi are not just terrorists — they are Iranian funded terrorists and literal slave traders who attack our allies.

You read that last part accurately. The Houthi are slave owners and slave traders and practice slavery — something you’d think the woke intersectionalists would be upset about. Biden tried to rethink policy towards the Houthi and it has gotten us an escalated crisis.

Jake Sullivan will go down as a lionized National Security Advisor by the media because they all run in the same circle of jerks. But the truth is that Jake Sullivan and Biden’s NatSec team have destabilized the world, provoked invasions and crises, and funded the very terrorist regimes they’re now trying to contain. Undoubtedly, Jake Sullivan squats to pee and our national security policy reflects it.

Okay, I’ve kept y’all too long. Please let me know if you’re willing to make some calls to radio stations in your area. I really want to get over 100 stations this year.

Thank you all so very much.