Live from Music Row, Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
CROM CARMICHAEL:
Michael, everybody who’s paying any attention at all has heard the story that Alvin Bragg is about to indict Former President Donald Trump. If anybody’s paying attention, it’s just ridiculous charges. But the ridiculousness of the charges is not the point. It’s the overreach of the prosecutorial state as the general matter because Biden has called for Congress to give the administrative branch more powers to punish bankers for bad judgment, not for crimes, but for simply making, for simply having bad judgment.
Now, who gets to define bad judgment? The administrative state is to define bad judgment. Biden recently, I think yesterday vetoed his first bill, which the bill said that for retirement accounts, those who are in a fiduciary capacity cannot use ESG as a measuring stick and that they have to exercise their fiduciary responsibility and get what they believe to be the best strategy to get the best returns for their customers. Biden vetoed that bill.
Biden wants financial people who have a fiduciary responsibility, he actually wants them to put ESG, therefore the administrative state, ahead of the needs of the actual customer, and the actual retiree. And so what we’re seeing here across the entire spectrum is more and more power going to the state.
Should Alvin Bragg, if he brings these charges, be investigated? Yes, he should. Should he be investigated to determine whether or not there’s collusion between his office or any other office in the state of New York and various bureaus in Washington, D.C., or the DNC or Biden’s campaign?
But there, there needs to be a thorough investigation to determine who else influenced the decision and if he chooses to make that decision. But the bigger theme here is is what is the power of the administrative state.
We recently read, literally in the last couple of days, that UBS, which is a giant bank in Europe, has taken over Credit Suisse and bought the stock for, I think it was in the story I read for $3 billion, which is not much for a bank that’s that big, but that bank has lots of trouble.
What was not well reported was that there were bondholders who held $17 billion of bonds in Credit Suissee, and they were wiped out 100 percent. Normally when you buy a bond you are in a liquidation stack, you are always ahead of the common stockholders because a bond is a debt instrument, a common stock, and has a fixed rate of return and it has a fixed upside.
And because it has a fixed rate of return and a fixed upside, which means you get your principal back, those bonds are senior to the stock. But in this case, the regulators just on their own wiped out the bonds, avoided the contracts that are inherent in the bonds and rewarded the common stockholders instead. This is what we’re seeing now.
I don’t think that was the administrative state here in the United States. I think it was probably the central banks in Europe that approved that deal and pushed it through, and really forced UBS to take over Credit Suisse. And there’s probably behind the scenes a wink, wink, nod, nod.
If it turns out that the losses that Credit Suisse has are greater than the $17 billion of bonds plus the equity that we wiped out in the process also, but not all of it, then we’ll figure out at the back end how to make you whole.
And that’s what is going on now. Those who are big and close to political power, are the ones who are benefiting from the political power, which is not in the interest of the average person. And so it goes. And so we’ll see what Alvin Bragg chooses to do.
I don’t believe Congress, I don’t believe the Republicans will give Biden power to punish bankers for just judgment, especially when you recognize that the regulators are the ones who are supposed to be regulating the banks and regulating their risk.
And so, did Biden ask for authority to punish the regulators? No, he didn’t ask for that because they’re members of the administrative state and they’re members on the power side of the equation.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this Crommentary:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Congressman David Kustoff to the newsmaker line to describe what he see’s as top priorities should Republicans take the House and Senate and how to push legislation through with a Democratic president.
Leahy: We are joined on a newsmaker line by our very good friend, Congressman David Kustoff from the 8th Congressional District. Good morning, Congressman Kustoff. How are you?
Kustoff: Good morning. Thanks for having me all day. I’m good. We’re four days away from the election, and things feel good. But look, we’ve got to continue to run through the tape right now.
Leahy: Run through the tape. That’s a good phrase. So, Congressman, in studio, the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael, I have a question for you. It’s likely that you will be re-elected.
It’s likely that the Republicans will take over the House of Representatives and Kevin McCarthy will become Speaker. If that happens, what committee do you see yourself chairing?
Kustoff: Chairing? I don’t know about chairing. (Leahy chuckles) I will say I’m honored, and I like the way you set all that up. I’m honored. I’m on the House Ways and Means Committee, obviously, it is the oldest committee in the House of Representatives.
And I think that’s good for Tennessee, it’s good for our region. And you run to win, but you win to govern. And so it’s important. You think about where we are in this nation right now, and you think about the problems that people talk to me about every day and the problems you talk about on your show.
It’s the economy. It’s inflation. That’s really primary. Crime. The border. People are really hurting out there right now, and they know the problems, and they’re looking for solutions, and they’ve gone a little bit beyond what you asked me.
But I think about Biden a lot in these last several weeks, and he just he does not get the problems. And he’s certainly not talking about the solutions. I think that’s one reason that you’re seeing the polling and all the energy flow through to Republicans like water.
Leahy: Crom Carmichael is in studio. He has a question for you, Congress.
Carmichael: Congressman, let’s assume for purposes of discussion that Republicans do take the House by a nice margin, and they take the Senate by, let’s say, three. You still have a Democrat in the White House, and so you can’t pass meaningful legislation unless the president is willing to sign it.
I don’t see much hope of that. The opportunity that you have is to create distinctions between the two parties for the next election if, unfortunately, the Biden administration won’t do anything.
And I think my question is this. When we look at the economy, and you look at inflation, and tax cuts alone, we watch what happened over in Britain.
Tax cuts alone are not a solution, and the administrative state has gotten to be huge. What is the appetite, you think, for Republicans in the House to pass legislation that dramatically cuts the size of the administrative state?
Kustoff: It’s definitely about fiscal restraint. Let me go back a little bit because I think you set it up well. And to your point, I feel good about the House and the Senate. We’ve got a good chance to get the Senate.
If we get 51, then we get control, right? And so what I hear a lot from my colleagues is its fiscal restraint. There are a lot of reasons for inflation.
But one big reason is these big, massive bills that Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer have pushed down the throats of the American people without any Republican support.
And I think about two. One of them is last year that big, huge $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which was all brand new money. A lot of stimulus loaded in that and enhanced unemployment benefits.
And then just a few months ago, the bill that Manchin really championed, that they named the Inflation Reduction Act, which obviously, that’s not what that does.
$745 billion in brand new money for Green New Deal initiatives. So that exasperates this big inflation problem that we’ve got right now. And so to your point, it’s a lot about fiscal restraint and curbing back the size of the federal government.
Carmichael: Yes, but you can’t do that without the support of the President. So my question is, what legislation do you pass out of the House? I don’t mean that it becomes law, but what do you pass out of the House?
Because if you try to repeal the bills where the money is already out the door, I don’t know if that does any good. The administrative state is huge and it’s crushing the country with regulations and everything else.
What is the appetite, for example, of cutting the administrative state by 50 percent and then passing that bill and sending it over to the Senate? My sense of it is the Democrat Party is the party of big government.
That’s what it lives for. And if the Republican Party isn’t the party of shrinking government, then I don’t know what the ying and the yang is. How does the country oppose the bigness that exists and crushing us all?
Kustoff: There are reasons that Republicans have been doing so well. Listen, we don’t have the election yet. I look at last year when Republicans did so well in states like Virginia winning the governor, lieutenant governor, and Attorney General. So it’s about differences in ideas.
And I don’t want to get the cart before the horse on specific appropriation legislation that we’ll send up. I think you’re going to see dramatic differences between our way of thinking and Biden’s way of thinking.
And the way you asked it, I don’t know that I disagree with you about what Biden will do and won’t do. I think it’s interesting, though if we get the House and if we get the Senate. If Biden decides to come out of his far left corner and try to work with Republicans a lot as Bill Clinton did in 1995 after Republicans won the House.
Leahy: In studio, you’re getting a lot of skeptical looks from Crom, and for me, I don’t see him doing that at all. Is there any reason why you think he would be nice to you?
Kustoff: Well, you know what? You may very well be right. Here are the reasons he might. Number one, the country is in trouble and needs relief, and he can’t get things done without the support of a Republican-led House and Republican-led Senate.
Secondly, to some point, he’s got to be looking at legacy type stuff, and he will be 80 years old later this month, which means if he ran for re-election, which I’m very cynical about, he would be 82.
And at some point, he’s got to be looking at legacy-type stuff. He will have a choice. If we win the House in the Senate, he can work with Republicans and get things done, or he’s looking at two years of gridlock.
Leahy: Congressman, here is my sense of what he thinks about his legacy. His legacy, in his mind today is what’s for lunch? (Laughter) You know what I mean? (Laughter) You could use that line, by the way.
Kustoff: You might hear that somewhere. (Laughs)
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “David Kustoff” by Congressman David Kustoff.
Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss Big Tech censorship as it relates to being a private company versus common carrier and what that means for federal regulations.
Leahy: Crom, you know, one of our guests here, you kind of liked his last name. Professor of law at Columbia Law School, Philip Hamburger.
Carmichael: Yes.
Leahy: He’s an expert on the rise of the deep state, the administrative state. And he’s a champion of pushing back against that and basing our actions on the Constitution. I note that he’s written an article with Claire Morel for The Wall Street Journal on Big Tech and censorship.
Carmichael: And that was July 31st. And when we interviewed him, which would have been a month – or a month ago, we also interviewed Naomi Wolf. Now Naomi Wolf has – since we interviewed her – has actually even been canceled even more.
And so this is going to be a very interesting lawsuit. The article that Philip Hamburger and Claire Morel have written in The Wall Street Journal argues that Facebook and Twitter and all these giant tech companies are really more like common carriers. Because the common carrier, by the way, can be a private company.
In fact, they all are private companies, but they still are regulated by the federal government. For example, Verizon cannot cancel your phone service if they disagree with what they think you’re going to say on the phone. They can’t do that. That’s not allowed.
Leahy: That’s good because they would have canceled me a long time ago. (Chuckles)
Carmichael: So my point is they can’t.
Leahy: They’re not my carrier.
Carmichael: They can’t. I’m not sure. So you have these big tech companies that are essentially canceling their service to people based on their political opinions. And it isn’t based on whether or not they’re right or wrong. It is truly based on their political opinions. And that’s why when you heard Jen Psaki say that the administration is working with Facebook.
Leahy: Working with Facebook.
Carmichael: Yeah. On misinformation. Naomi Wolf has said that she has tried to put out the word on the facts about COVID and immigration, and they cancel that. Now, those are facts. That it isn’t incorrect or misinformation. The disinformation is incorrect. It’s false information. Misinformation is whatever I don’t like.
Leahy: Right.
Carmichael: And I think that Trump’s lawsuit and the other thing that he’s writing about, the Hamburger and Claire Morel are writing about, is the state laws.
This article is focused on the state laws that say that if you operate in our states, you cannot discriminate based on what people’s opinions are. It’ll be very interesting to see how those lawsuits work because Florida has already passed that law.
Leahy: But the courts have struck it down.
Carmichael: They hadn’t gotten to the Supreme Court yet. A court has struck it down.
Leahy: Let me follow up on that. Here’s what they said about that particular.
Carmichael: Sure.
Leahy: A district court struck it down. Here’s what Philip Hamburger has said about that. ‘The recent court dependent questioning the Florida anti-censorship statute noted that in censoring some speech the tech companies are choosing what speech they will convey. From this, the court concluded that the company’s platforms and services were more akin to newspapers than common carriers.
Unlike a newspaper, these platforms and services are offered to the public for the conveyance of their speech. Unlike a newspaper, they serve the function of a common carrier. What is more, they enjoy market dominance.
Carmichael: This is what Hamburger told us when he was on our call. That was before …
Leahy: Trump’s lawsuit.
Carmichael: And before Florida’s decision. And so this will work its way up in the courts, and we’ll find out. And I think ultimately it will end up in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court obviously takes very few cases.
Leahy: It’ll be the Supreme Court probably in the 2022 to 2023 session.
Carmichael: I think it’ll be sooner than that.
Leahy: Before the next 2021 or 2022.
Carmichael: Yes. I think it will be before the ’22 election.
Leahy: Okay. So here’s the problem. I’ll give you two words that are a problem. The first word is John. And the second word is Roberts.
Carmichael: No. This will be a very interesting court case. This will be an entire court case.
Leahy: Do you think Roberts will surprise us?
Carmichael: I think the whole Supreme Court might surprise us. But here’s the difference. A newspaper has its own opinions, and it controls everything in the newspaper, and everybody knows that. But in the case of Facebook, Facebook allows some people to express their opinions and disallows other people to express their opinions just because they don’t like the opinions.
Well, that’s not the same thing as a newspaper. I think the question will come down to, are these entities more like common carriers or more like newspapers? And if they are judged to be more like common carriers, then they will lose their ability to censor. And they are censoring.
Let’s be very clear about what they’re doing. They are censoring. If they were censoring all Black people from conveying their opinions, they would be guilty under the Civil Rights Act violation. There would be a violation of the Civil Rights Act.
So now the question is, can they discriminate against people based on their opinion? Can they discriminate against a Black person based on that person’s opinion? Like, could they cancel Ben Carson if he wrote an article about COVID?
He is an eminent physician and what he would – it would likely be entirely accurate, but it would be different from what the Biden administration would want. Would Facebook have the right to cancel him?
Leahy: Here’s what I think about this, Crom. I think you’re right. I think ultimately all of these Big Tech lawsuits, ultimately, in one version or another will go to the Supreme Court.
Carmichael: Yes.
Leahy: There’s no question about that. What makes me nervous about that is the tendency of the chief justice to make political rather than legal decisions. That’s what makes me nervous.
Carmichael: I think the opinion may be a bit watered down, but I would be astounded if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of censorship because that would be what they would be ruling in favor of. They would be ruling in favor of censorship.
Leahy: I was astounded in 2012 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Obamacare.
Carmichael: But you have three different justices on there now.
Leahy: And I am disappointed in all three of them.
Carmichael: I am more optimistic, perhaps realistic, maybe. We don’t know.
(Inaudible crosstalk)
Carmichael: I think it will work its way up through the courts. Philip Hamburger’s article is a very interesting one. And poor Naomi Wolf. She was a leftist, and she’s going to be in our camp now.
Leahy: She’s a realist now. (Chuckles)
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss how the Biden agenda is not dead as it continues to push forward through the administrative state conveniently allowing the mainstream media to blame Republicans.
Leahy: We joined in studio by our good friend, the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael. Crom, good morning.
Carmichael: Michael. Good morning, Sir.
Leahy: Lots of things happening yesterday in Washington. In fact, we’re going to have today a couple of reports from Washington. Neil McCabe joins us at 7:15. The best Washington correspondent in the country. He works for The Tennessee Star and Star News Network. Senator Bill Hagerty will be here with us at 7:30.
Carmichael: Oh, okay.
Leahy: So I’m going to ask him a tough question to begin with. And then we’ll go on to talk about the border. And S1. S1, you want to talk about that. S1 is the bill last night, that the Democrats call For the People Act. Republicans call it the Corrupt Politician Act.
Carmichael: I want to put a couple of things into context. First of all, S1, all 50 Democrats voted for it.
Leahy: All 50.
Carmichael: And all 50 Republicans vote against it. And it’s very important that we understand that s one was really nothing but a head fake. That’s all it was. And then the question about the filibuster is nothing but a head fake.
Please understand that people say the Biden agenda is dead. The Biden agenda is dead. It’s not dead. They’re just not going to pass it through the legislature. And the legislature does not care.
Leahy: That’s a very important point.
Carmichael: The Biden agenda is being done through the administration. I was with a fellow yesterday, and he was telling me that in his large company that every month between four and 500 people are required to be on a two hour Zoom call for a two-hour call. And Black employees are allowed and encouraged to rail against white employees. And the white employees are required to be on the call.
Leahy: This is all part of the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Carmichael: Well, it’s called ESG.
Leahy: Environmental social governance. That’s the standard. We were talking yesterday here with Dan Grant of 2nd Vote Advisers. It’s basically a money market fund and exchange traded funds that are pushing against that.
ESG is the product of the big money manager BlackRock headed up by a very bad guy by the name of Larry Fink. He goes around to all these publicly traded companies and says, here are the ESG standards you must follow. And they include doing those kinds of trainings.
Carmichael: But the ESG standards are being promulgated by the federal government. He’s just the messenger.
Leahy: He may be the cause of those regulations.
Carmichael: No, he’s not Michael. He’s not. And I’m not trying to defend the guy.
Leahy: Let’s talk about those regulations.
Carmichael: The ESG, first it is environmental. The second is social. And the third is governance. Right now, the governance has to do with the makeup of your board and of your executive officers.
Leahy: Of a publicly-traded company.
Carmichael: Of a publicly-traded company. That’s the governance part. You have to have the right number of women and minorities and all these other groups represented on your board and in your officer group.
And I’m talking about now the executive people, not the military. Military is an entirely different issue which is ESG on an accelerated pace. But then going backward. That was the governance part.
The S part is the social part, and that gets into what I’m talking about now. The corporations across the country that are regulated by the SEC, which is all publicly traded companies, they’re doing exactly what I just described.
They’re having these enormous calls where Black employees are being encouraged to essentially humiliate the white employees. And what I’m interested in thinking about here is, does that do any good?
Leahy: It doesn’t.
Carmichael: I agree. But these companies are being forced. They’re being forced. And this is why I say this is not Fink because think can’t make people do anything Michael. That’s what I’m saying.
He may like the idea and he may be for the idea, but he doesn’t have…when we say institutional racism, there’s nothing he can do institutionally because he’s just a guy that controls a huge amount of money.
But when the federal government and the SEC calls the CEO of a company and says you are not following federal regulations, we are coming after you. How do you think that CEO will react?
Leahy: But let me step back for a moment because you’re adding something new to the picture here. And I wonder if you could elaborate on this. You’re saying that the SEC has current regulations.
Carmichael: No, I’m not saying they have current regulations. I’m just telling you what they’re doing. You don’t have to have a regulation to be a thug. You don’t you don’t have to make it lawful. You just have to do it. (Chuckles)
Leahy: Let’s step back and see if I understand the argument here. So you’re saying that SEC executives are calling up CEOs of Fortune 500 companies?
Carmichael: No, I’m not saying that. They don’t have to. They don’t have to. Large companies are getting the message, however they’re getting it. But if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, they’ll get the call.
Leahy: Yeah, but here’s what I’m asking you, though. When you say they’re supposed to do. There’s some kind of communication that they’re receiving.
Carmichael: Yeah.
Leahy: We’re trying to understand what’s going on out there. What I’m telling you is my understanding is they’re getting that communication through ‘stewardship teams’ that Larry Fink’s BlackRock has set up, that go out and talk to the CEOs.
Carmichael: Okay, well, that’s fine.
Leahy: But you’re saying that they’re getting it through the SEC?
Carmichael: No. What I’m saying is that if Fink is doing what you’re saying he’s doing, and I’m not saying he’s not, when he does it, he says if you don’t do what I’m telling you to do the SEC will. Just like in the military. You saw where the military where Austin has now unilaterally done away with the Military Code of Justice. He’s gone away with it.
Leahy: The Secretary of Defense.
Carmichael: Yes. I don’t know if you saw that.
Leahy: When did that happen?
Carmichael: Yesterday. It might have been the day before, and it was reported yesterday.
Leahy: This is 250 years of military code.
Carmichael: I’m just telling you that the Biden agenda is being carried out in the administrative state. The Congress doesn’t matter anymore. And this is all a head fake. This is a head fake so that the media minions can simply ban the Republicans for the Biden agenda not moving forward when, in fact, it is moving forward.
Leahy: I have a couple of things to say about that. Where is Columbia Law School Professor Philip Hamburger when we need him? He’s the expert on the abuses of administrative law, judges, and the regulatory process. And number two, and this is very interesting. Have you read something about this?
Carmichael: I’m logically putting the pieces together.
Leahy: You’re putting it logically together.
Carmichael: But I also know for a fact certain things are happening. So I’m taking the certain things that actually I know are happening and I’m piecing them together. I know, for example, that Senate Bill 1 failed yesterday because they didn’t reach 60, but they did get all 50 Democrats.
Leahy: All of them. Stepped in line.
Carmichael: Everyone one of them. Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema stepped in line to claim that Republicans are trying to suppress the vote. That claim is false. But that’s the claim. By the way, 46 out of 47 European countries require voter ID. Republicans want people to prove who they are to vote. Democrats do not want that. Period.
Leahy: They want illegal aliens to be able to vote. They want dead people to vote.
Carmichael: No, dead people. So how do dead people vote, Michael?
Leahy: Somebody forges and somebody pretends to be.
Carmichael: Or just stuff the ballot box and make up names and stuff the ballot box. There are two books. One book I can remember and the other one I can almost remember. The Secrets of the Hopewell Box.
Leahy: Oh yes!
Carmichael: It’s about all the corruption that went on in Nashville where they just literally stuffed the ballot box with the correct number of ballots. It didn’t matter if there was a voter name attached to it. I’m getting ready to read that book, and I’ll report some details. The other one is Fried Chicken Fiddlesticks or whatever it is. And that’s more about Tennessee politics historically and how similar things were done.
Leahy: By James Squires. Wasn’t he a big editor at USA Today?
Carmichael: Yes. Yes. But this is back a long time ago.
Leahy: It’s about the 40s or 50s.
Carmichael: So I’ve got that book and I’m going to read it.
Leahy: I can’t wait to hear what you say about that.
Carmichael: But it’s all about pure voter cheating. Stuffing ballot boxes with fake ballots and then counting them because you can.
Leahy: History repeating itself.
Carmichael: Yes.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to discuss the power of the administrative estate through the alignment of political appointees and bureaucrats.
(Congressman Scott Perry clips plays)
Leahy: That’s Florida Republican Congressman Scott Perry talking about the Biden agenda as it goes to infrastructure. Crom, you have more insights on that agenda.
Carmichael: The agenda and infrastructure. The hardest part for the Republicans, if they vote in favor of a scaled-down infrastructure bill, is knowing what’s actually in the final bill. Because the way that Washington works sometimes is, like Pelosi, said about Obamacare. We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.
And she literally meant that. She didn’t care what was in it. She knew some of the things that were in it, but she wasn’t going to extol the virtue of some of those things because they were terrible. And Obamacare was an abject failure.
But I want to get back, Michael, to what we were talking about earlier. Let me just say this. ESG equals CCP. ESG equals CCP. Communist Party of China equals ESG. Here’s how this works. You’ve got this guy from BlackRock who goes around with all this money that he has under management, telling these CEOs what they have to do.
But behind him, he has the giant stick of the federal government, the SEC. And in the case of banks, the FDIC. He is telling banks what they must do or the FDIC comes down on the banks.
Leahy: Well Dan Grant in here yesterday, he’s with 2nd Vote Advisers to push back on Larry Fink’s BlackRock told us all the major banks, all the big banks, are really leftists promoting this agenda.
Carmichael: And my response to that is that might be true, but they have no choice under this administration. They have no choice. If you are the head of a major bank and you defy the authorities in Washington, what happens to you?
Leahy: You are no longer the head of that major bank.
Carmichael: And then the person who takes that position as head of the bank will then do will then bend the knee. Whoever is in that position will bend the knee.
Leahy: I might quibble with you a little bit on this. The Biden administration went into office on January 20, 2021. The left-leaning nature of big banks has been around for years before that.
Carmichael: I’m not questioning whether or not the administrative state was doing under Trump things that Trump didn’t want. I’m not questioning that at all. In fact, in Washington, as we’ve said, 94 percent voted Democrat. 94 percent. Do you think that those people care who is the President United States when they’re protected by civil service laws?
Leahy: So the argument is that even though the previous President would not have supported these things, the administrative state was able to influence these large banks in ways that they kept doing what they were doing under Obama.
Carmichael: Yeah. They kept doing exactly the same thing. And so the question becomes when a person becomes President, he or she as a matter of law, require that the people who work for the administration or carry out the policies of the administration or lose their job if they don’t?
And what I’m saying is that’s an open question. Political appointees can be fired, but that represents less than one-tenth of one percent of the people in Washington, D.C. For every political appointee, there are 1,000 bureaucrats.
Leahy: There’s one little twist on that, which is it seems to me under the Biden Mal-administration, my words, not yours, that the political appointees and the deep state bureaucrats are aligned in the ways that they weren’t aligned under Trump.
Carmichael: Yes. What I’m saying is that under Trump, the bureaucrats simply ignored what the political appointee said. Now, on the other hand, the political appointees are in line with the bureaucrat.
Leahy: And aren’t they a little more brazen and aggressive?
Carmichael: Of course. So that’s what I’m saying. That’s why publicly traded companies are holding these shaming sessions. They’re holding them. They are actually happening. And then the military, Austin.
You didn’t hear there weren’t any congressional hearings. There wasn’t anything. He just sent out a dictate that says that the code of Military Justice, when it comes to cases of sexual harassment will no longer be in the military.
They’re being put in the civilian arena. So, people who won’t be judged by their military higher-ups, they’ll be judged by the Justice Department.
Leahy: When we hear all this Crom, you know, our listeners are going to say, how can we survive the next three and a half years as a constitutional Republic?
Carmichael: Well, for me, the question is not how do we survive the next three and a half years? It really isn’t. The question is, can this ship be turned around, even if you control the presidency, the House, and the Senate? Can you do that? Because I do think in the midterms I do think that we’ll retake at least the House.
Leahy: Yeah, I agree with that.
Carmichael: And I think there’s a good chance that we will win the Senate. But a lot of what’s going on right now in Washington is trying to position Democrats for the next election. Krysten Sinema has written an article or a column in The Washington Post about how strongly she feels about the filibuster.
She’s up for reelection in 2024. She knows that’s going to be a very tough election because she’ll be running as a Democrat against when the Republican for the presidency could be Trump or could be a Trumpian.
Leahy: Like a DeSantis would be the betting odds right now.
Carmichael: And she also recognizes that the voting rules in Maricopa County will be different in 2020.
Leahy: The Arizona state legislature has done a fine job in improving the election.
Carmichael: It has eliminated much of the cheating. So she recognizes that. So she is trying to position herself, even though she doesn’t believe anything she’s writing.
Leahy: By the way. We’re launching tomorrow, The Arizona Sun Times.
Carmichael: Oh good.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
