After the show ended at 4:00 pm Wednesday afternoon, Ian hit the intercom button from the control studio and said with a bit of sarcasm, “Welcome back!” Wednesday was my first day back on the show after taking a few days off to spend on Pensacola Beach with my family in town from Portland. Ian’s words were inspired by the relatively rough show we had with topics and a few complaints from callers.
The topics covered on the show today ranged from the city of New Orleans having difficulty finding contractors to do work because of the Cantrell administration’s willingness to pay for work done or delay payments to the presidential campaign of 2024 and the latest from the candidates.
Typical of every presidential campaign season is the question: “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?” And so, without exception, this year, many supporters of former President Donald Trump are pushing the idea that Americans were better off 4 years ago when he was president. One of the common points made is that inflation has hurt people and voting for Trump is the only way to restore the economy and inflation to a level where Americans prosper.
So I posed the question: “How was your life better under President Trump?” and I asked listeners to be specific. I also asked what would Trump do to cut inflation and restore the economy if he is elected in November?
One caller named Joe who has become a regular caller to our show brought up the border and all the people coming across the border and the problems they pose. For the record, I am constantly talking about the crisis at the border and that the border was a crisis when Trump was president. The situation at the border had gotten worse under Biden, but the border was a crisis when Trump was in office and I don’t believe that the crisis will suddenly be solved if he should win.
Since my question was specifically about how lives were better under Trump, I asked Joe if he had ever come in contact with an illegal immigrant, to which he answered “no.” Joe brought up the Americans who have been killed by illegals and I told him how horrible that was, but reminded him about all the Americans killing American citizens and that the chances are much greater that an American citizen might be killed by another American citizen than an illegal. Maybe we can argue that some Americans don’t belong in America? In the end, Joe was frustrated with me and really didn’t have anything specific about how his life was better under Trump - but he believes it was. Joe made the comment that he hoped that after a few days off I would have returned with my brain thinking in the right direction.
Another caller Julie, who has also become a very antagonistic regular caller, answered the question about how her life was better when Trump was president and was quite specifics. Julie said she was able to build a retirement home at 2.9% interest and she was able to buy groceries - but with inflation under Biden she is having to use her credit cards to buy groceries, she is worried that America is no longer #1 in the world, and she was concerned that her daughter cannot buy a house right now.
I told Julie that it was great that she had her retirement home built, but thought it was a bad idea to buy groceries with credit cards. I asked her what she has stopped buying because of inflation and she answered, “nothing” - she is just charging the groceries. If consumers continue to pay higher prices then what incentive do producers have for lowering prices? Zero! If bacon, for example, goes up and people continue to buy it then the producers of bacon will keep the price high. If consumers start cutting back then prices drop. It’s simple “supply and demand.”
When it comes to her daughter not being able to buy a house, I made the personal point that if my son didn’t have a house and I had a retirement house - I would give him the retirement house. The housing market has not been good for numerous reasons and if the feds lower interest rates next month as an expected response to an improving economy will her daughter be able to buy a house? Also, Harris is offering a $25,000 bonus for a downpayment for first-time home buyers, but I’m sure that caller is more interested in berating Biden than accepting any positive impact a Harris victory might present for her daughter.
And then there are the callers and the defenders of callers who feel like they don’t get a fair opportunity on our show. I am amazed that some callers complain about not being able to make their points. I have just given two examples where chronic, hostile callers have been allowed on the air to make their points, but they get PO’ed if I challenge them to be specific. Furthermore, if I am asking a specific question, like the one about how was your life better under Trump and you don’t answer the question and default into a pro-Trump rant, then don’t be surprised if I try to get you back to the original question we are discussing.
Why are some of these pro-Trump callers so hyper-sensitive? Why are they playing the “victim card” when their point is challenged? Why are the people who invented the use of “snowflake” to describe anyone who is easily offended by an opposing opinion becoming “snowflakes?”
My show is an alternative to the strictly conservative-based shows that totally dominate conservative talk radio. As a registered Independent and a Radical Moderate, my show offers an alternative to the right-wing rhetoric that dominates talk radio in America. I believe I am fair and give opposing views plenty of time to make their points, but often the rambling takes over and the call becomes a mean-spirited rant. We could easily end the controversy by not allowing any opposing views on the show, but I think opposing views offer good entertainment value. I guarantee many of the right-wing shows across America do not allow as much liberal dissent as I allow right-wing dissent.
In this divided political world we live in there will always be the “poor victims” who say they didn’t get a fair shot, but there are commercial breaks and there is the flow of the show that I have to consider and the truth is that not everyone will get exactly the amount of time they think they deserve. No show - our show included - is bound by any specific guidelines of “equal time.” I am very confident that our show offers enough equal time on a volunteer basis. Many callers are belligerent and want to make a speech and cut me off from directing the conversation.
And there are countless comments about how I never criticize Democrats, Biden, or Harris and that is factually a lie. I do, but many of the most biased listeners are guilty of selective listening and only hear what they think I said and ignore what I actually said.
Our show from is open to ALL opinions. Call in and make your point, and if you start off with an abrasive attitude you will probably be treated with a responding abrasive attitude. I will try to be above it - but I’m human.
My goal is not to convince people not to vote for Trump, that’s up to each individual - but I will talk about the negative things that Trump says and does because you won’t hear some of those things on the shows that dedicate all of their time bashing the other side. And I will point out the negatives about Harris, too.
Our show offers a hearing of both sides, but if you don’t want to hear the truth about Trump, then be forewarned - you may not always get what you want.