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 national political correspondent for One America News, Neil W. McCabe to the newsmaker line to comment on the undeclared war between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line, right now, our very good friend, the great top gov tracker, the national political correspondent with One American News Network, my former colleague at Breitbart, and also formerly our national political editor here at The Star News Network. Good morning, Neil W. McCabe.
McCabe: Michael, good morning. Very good to be with you, sir.
Leahy: Your pal, the top gov, Ron DeSantis is on a quote “book tour.” (Chuckles)
McCabe: Is that what they call it now?
Leahy: He just happened to take that book tour to the first caucus state in the country, Iowa, on Friday. Our man, Matt Kittle, was there and filed the report from a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa. Huge lines to get in to see Ron DeSantis. But he and former President Trump, there’s some back and forth more, mostly Trump going after DeSantis. What do you make of that back-and-forth between those two?
McCabe: It’s this undeclared war, right? DeSantis has decided that he’s going to try to block Trump from the White House, and Trump is angry about it. And then DeSantis says, I’m not running for president. What do you mean? (Leahy laughs)
Just because I’ve raised $300 million and I’ve hired a presidential staff and I’m visiting Iowa, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m running for president. I’m focused on Florida and saving the Everglades. And I’m worried about these poles being too high on Florida highways. And this is where I’m focused.
Of course, when Tucker Carlson put out a questionnaire on Ukraine to the presidential candidates, Ron DeSantis responded. I don’t know. Is that a declaration for president? I don’t know. The real problem that DeSantis has is that there is this law in the books saying that if he runs for president, he has to resign.
There are legal scholars saying that this law doesn’t apply to him. Some are reinterpreting the law. The law was written in 2007 when everybody thought that fair-haired boy Charlie Crist was going to run who was then the Republican governor of Florida.
Everybody thought Crist was gonna run for president, so they passed a law saying, hey, if you’re gonna run for president, you’re going to have to resign from governor of Florida. So this is where we’re at. Will he stop by New Hampshire? Sure. (Leahy chuckles)
And I think the des the DeSantis candidacy offers a lot of neat things for conservatives and Republican voters because right now the national press is giving DeSantis a hall pass because they need him to take down Trump.
Leahy: Ah, that’s a very good point.
McCabe: To be a conservative and not have people make fun of you is very enchanting for many people.
Leahy: If he were to become the nominee over Trump, that would evaporate in about two seconds.
McCabe: I am old enough to remember when George H.W. Bush was called a racist, a fascist, and everything else in the book. And then I sat there and watched his funeral, and everybody said all the same. People said, what a great guy he was.
Leahy: Speaking of presidential funerals, (McCabe laughs) Joe Biden’s already said he is gonna give the eulogy for former President Carter. The only problem is that former President Carter is still alive. That was a little Biden misstep, wouldn’t you say?
McCabe: The guy is an empty vessel, and it’s really sad. They wheeled him out. Remember how they used to wheel around Merovingian kings just so the peasants could see them? They wheeled this guy out at nine o’clock in the morning on Monday to say, don’t worry, my people, because of our quick action, we have solved the bank crisis. And then he shuffled back to the door before the reporters could ask questions.
Leahy: I saw that. And literally, he couldn’t even open the door and he was shuffling. It was bad. Crom has a question for you.
McCabe: Hey Crom.
Carmichael: Hey, Neil. How are you, sir?
McCabe: Good. The one thing that I have learned about presidents when they pass away is I believe that the wives or somebody, assuming the wife is alive, that the funeral and everything that’s going to go into the funeral is down to the last detail. In other words, they don’t make it up.
Leahy: There’s a protocol.
Carmichael: There’s a protocol, and it’s not the same for every president. So my question is, has Rosalyn Carter asked Biden to give the eulogy or did Biden just say he’s going to? And unless Rosylyn Carter has asked for that, that won’t necessarily happen. It’s not his eulogy to give.
Leahy: Unless asked.
McCabe: I’m pretty sure that the Carter people and the Biden people have worked this all out. And for the status of having a current president speak at your funeral, regardless of the politics of it, this is something that you want to check that box.
Leahy: So just let me go on the record. If something unfortunate were to happen, I do not want Biden to give my eulogy. Period.
Carmichael: There is a certain irony in Biden giving Carter’s eulogy because, given Biden’s policies, it’s possible that historians will say that Biden surpassed Carter as being the worst president in the last 100 years.
Leahy: That’s exactly true.
McCabe: It’s very unfortunate. But Biden does not have the revolt that Carter had to deal with because Carter tried to straddle the fence between conservatives and liberals. But in the end, the reality of the world vis-a-vis the Soviet Union and the reality of the economy forced Carter to attack the right in the second half of his term, which basically meant that the left, led by Tip O’Neal and Ted Kennedy and the rest of them, basically stirred up a lot of trouble. And so in the end, he had that primary with Edward Kennedy and actually sided with the left.
Leahy: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he’s thinking of primarying Joe Biden.
Carmichael: Now that would be interesting. Would it not?
Leahy: No. (Laughter) Tell us why. I don’t disagree with you Neil, but tell us why.
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 “Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis” by Ron DeSantis.
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 top gov tracker for One America News, Neil W. McCabe to the newsmaker line to comment on the recent speech made by Governor Ron DeSantis at the Reagan Library and what it means for his presidential candidacy.
Leahy: On the newspaper line right now top gov tracker, our very good friend, Neil W. McCabe. Neil, welcome to The Tennessee Star Report.
McCabe: Very good to be with you guys. Good morning.
Leahy: I understand you may have been traveling a little bit with top gov Ron DeSantis. Is it true that he went out to the Reagan Center and gave a speech?
McCabe: Yes, he did. He made a boss performance at the Reagan Library. And it’s not so much what he said, he basically said he’s had this sort of ongoing, how radio DJs would have this for the morning DJ and the afternoon DJ would have this feud.
That’s what he has going on with Governor Newsom of California. (Leahy laughs) So he put some logs on the fire there. What was really important was that he got the prompter guardian of the Reagan legacy, in which the Reagan people control the Reagan Foundation and then the archives run the library itself.
Just the fact that he got invited to the Reagan Library puts a presidential stamp on him, certainly with the Air Force One that’s right there in the museum of the Reagan Library. It was very much a presidential appearance forum.
Leahy: So the Reagan library is in Simi Valley, California. It’s in Southern California. Were you there in person or did you cover this on video?
McCabe: I covered it remotely. I put in a request to fly out there, but I think where our One American News mothership that is in San Diego, I think their attitude was pretty much, we’ll send somebody up from San Diego. We might send somebody local rather than drop a few grand on your little John.
Leahy: (Chuckles) Does DeSantis have an Air Force Florida One? Does he just fly commercial?
McCabe: The governor does have a jet. He’s used it to go outside the state like when he went to visit the border and things. And of course, he jets all over the state of Florida. And to be fair, it’s a big state, right? It’s not like Delaware. It’s a big state.
Leahy: Or you can walk around Delaware.
McCabe: Exactly. Yes, you can walk, you can drive through. It just costs you $25 a toll. I think that DeSantis probably maybe got a ride with a donor. Who knows.
Leahy: So his book is out. He hasn’t announced yet. I don’t think he can announce until I think there’s a little bit of legislation that has to be passed.
McCabe: There’s a law.
Leahy: Tell us about that.
McCabe: He has to resign if he runs for president.
Carmichael: And they’re changing that law. Yes.?
McCabe: They’re gonna try to and he won’t comment. Whatever they want to do, they want to do. Obviously, he wants that law to change pretty quickly. What’s absolutely delicious is that the Republican leaders of the legislature put incredible pressure on lawmakers not to file a pro-life bill this session, which opened yesterday and goes on for the next two months.
Any bill to be considered had to be filed before the session began. It begins with the governor’s state of the state address. And so minutes before the governor gave his address, which of course is the deadline, two guys filed a six-week ban on abortion or a heartbeat bill and no one saw it coming.
And it was completely stealthy. Now the governor is on record at a press conference saying that he would sign a six-week heartbeat bill. And I’m proud to say that I’m the knucklehead who asked the governor that question. And that’s the tape that’s running all over the place when people say, hey, it’s gonna pass.
And so the question now is, does the governor push for this thing or not? If the six-week bill doesn’t pass, the governor has a difficult time explaining how it doesn’t pass. If he said he’d sign it, if he said he’s a pro-life governor, everything else he wants he gets.
Because the whole reason why we want DeSantis and not someone else is that DeSantis wins and because DeSantis gets things done. And so if he couldn’t get this done, I think it’s a chink in the ammo.
Carmichael: What’s the current law on abortion in Florida?
McCabe: It’s 15 weeks now. And that’s pretty much the limit. That’s the big-time Republican donors will go to 15 weeks.
Leahy: We look at this and he is doing his book tour with The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival. We expect probably he’ll announce in June.
Carmichael: Neil, I’m assuming that they did drop a bill that allows DeSantis to be governor and run at the same time?
McCabe: Correct.
Carmichael: So that bill has been dropped.
McCabe: Correct.
Leahy: All the talk is, Trump-DeSantis, Trump coming up with nicknames for Meatball Ron or Ron Des Sanctimonious. Apparently, he’s got a focus group deciding what nickname he should use. There are some policy differences to think about. President Trump has made it clear that the Ukraine war is a debacle with $100 billion going there.
The Secretary of Treasury going to Ukraine, the attorney general going to Ukraine and the president going to Ukraine. None of ’em going to the East Palestine environmental debacle in Ohio. I do think though that President Trump is very clear that he wants the war in Ukraine ended. He said give me 24 hours; I’ll end it.
Is there a policy difference on Ukraine between DeSantis who actually served in the military as a JAG, but still he served in the military and Trump when it comes to Ukraine?
McCabe: Yes, he served as a JAG, and he was in Iraq during the surge. And Iraq, whether you were a lawyer or a clerk or kicking down doors, Iraq, especially during that time, was a very easy place to get killed if you weren’t paying attention.
Leahy: And by the way, let us say Sergeant Neil W. McCabe received a bronze star for his service to the United States of America in the Army in Iraq. I just wanted to point that out, Sergeant McCabe.
McCabe: I was there two years later, and even then, it was a very easy place to get killed if you weren’t paying attention. And frankly when people jack things up, and people don’t have their equipment straight, sometimes in the back of my head, I’m thinking are you trying to get me killed? Which is a reaction normal civilians don’t have.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
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 “Ron DeSantis” by Ron DeSantis.
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 top gov tracker Neil W. McCabe to the newsmaker line to discuss Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee creating a woke National Guard and Ron DeSantis’s legislative agenda and presidential aspirations.
Leahy: Joining me and Crom Carmichael, top gov tracker, my very, very good friend Neil W. McCabe. Good morning.
McCabe: Hey, Michael! Very good to be with you, man. Hi Crom.
Leahy: You’re a guy who served in the military and is still in the Army Reserve. And you sent me this thing last night and I said, really? There’s this story out by William Jones from Tennessee National Guard Public Affairs Office. Nashville, Tennessee, February 27th. I can’t believe I’m saying this. “Diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity are critical elements for success in the military.” Are you kidding me? Has Bill Lee created the Wokeist National Guard in the country?
McCabe: Well, apparently, that’s the goal, right? Because why would you start, uh, a joint diversity executive council if you didn’t want it to be the best? I can’t imagine a governor of Tennessee going by half-measures. Why would he do this just for show? He’s gotta believe it.
I got, I gotta believe that Bill Lee wouldn’t do something just to, uh, you know, throw a sop to the leftists. I think he’s into it. And of course, Major General Jeff Holmes who is the adjunct general of the Tennessee National Guard as you’ll recall was all set to jab, everybody with the COVID-19 vax. We’ll see how this plays out.
Leahy: And you found this, interestingly in, uh, it’s kind of a special military news service, right? Dvidshub.net.
McCabe: I’m a connoisseur of military public affairs. That’s how I make my living in the military. And so Divids is this depository where all the videos, all the pictures that the military takes, and the stories, is a resource for public affairs offices, but also for civilian journalists if they want to know what’s going on in the military. Not everything gets the full play, but this struck my fancy.
Leahy: Yes. And Neil, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna call this fellow up, William Jones, and see if, he’ll come in and talk about why Governor Bill Lee is creating the Wokeist National Guard in the country.
Carmichael: Is there a public affairs officer?
Leahy: He’s the public affairs.
Carmichael: Then that’s his job, is to explain things to the public.
Leahy: We’ll have him come in and sit right next to you.
Carmichael: That would be wonderful.
Leahy: Neil, you’re down there in Florida for One America News Network. You’re the Florida top gov tracker. You’re the national correspondent. Ron DeSantis has announced his book tour, The Courage to Be: Florida’s Blueprint for America. I wonder where this is headed.
McCabe: Yes, well, I think the point that the governor is trying to make is, uh, I was able to have success here in Florida and I can, and I can show other states how they can do it as the governor of Florida or maybe something else. Now there’s some talk that he’s running for president.
And just because he never dismantled his campaign committee from his re-election or the fact that they’re continuing to hire new people, that’s creating speculation. Just because instead of going to CPAC, like a lot of fancy people this week, he’s gonna be going down to Palm Beach where the Club for Growth, which basically is in charge of laundering money for the Koch Brothers, they’re having their own sort of candidate conference.
Leahy: They are at The Breakers, which is like three miles away from Mar-a-Lago. By the way, remember when you and I were both at Breitbart working the rope line on an event down here in Nashville where President Trump was speaking when he was running for president and he got into a dust-up with the Club for Growth.
And I leaned into him and I said, hey, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, Michael Patrick Leahy with Breitbart here. I work with Steve Bannon. And he leans into me. He says, Breitbart, I love those guys. I love you guys. I love Bannon. What’s your question?
And I said you are in a dispute with the Club for Growth. Any comment about them? And his comment was, it was the headline of Breitbart. Club for Growth, they’re a pack of thieves. (Laughter)
McCabe: Well, it’s very simple, right? If I wanna attack somebody and I don’t want my fingerprints on it, I transfer a million dollars to the Club for Growth and then the Club for Growth runs the ads. They’re guns for hire. And God love ’em. You know, we all have to make a living.
Listen, everybody needs to buy their kids a bike for Christmas. I want people to be able to order a ham sandwich for lunch. I’m not trying to knock somebody’s job, but that’s what they do.
Leahy: Crom has a question for you.
Carmichael: Neil, I wanna switch gears just a hair here. Because I heard DeSantis being interviewed and he was asked, are you gonna run for president? And his answer was, it was non-committal. But he said we’re just starting the legislature here in Florida and I have a very strong agenda and things I want to get accomplished over the next 90 days in Florida.
So any decisions related to any possible run are not even going to be considered until after the legislature’s out. What are the big things? Because these would be the types of opportunities that DeSantis could have to make news. So what are the big issues in Florida that you think would resonate?
McCabe: He signed a peace treaty with Disney, so that issue is now over. He withdrew and declared victory. They’re keeping their district. It’s just that the governor gets to appoint people to the board who run the district. And so that’s done. A lot of people were expecting a concealed carry bill to go through the special session of the legislature that didn’t.
Florida used to be called the Gunshine State because gun laws were so far more advanced than other states. Now there are probably 30 states that have more free gun laws than the state of Florida. And so people are anticipating that the session begins Monday or Tuesday after CPAC.
I don’t know if it’s the sixth or the seventh. The state of the state is March 7th. The session itself is two months long. No bill can be considered unless it is filed before the session begins. So everyone is wondering why is there no pro-life bill being filed and what’s gonna happen with the gun bill.
And, of course, the insurance in this state is complete in the process, and so that’s gotta be addressed. They keep fixing the insurance laws but because of the hurricanes, you cannot live in this state, and you cannot invest in this state unless something is done to subsidize insurance. That’s just a fact.
Leahy: He’s got a pretty big agenda. That’s gonna take him until the end of May. Putting your predicting cap on here, what do you think is gonna happen in June?
McCabe: I think in June he’s going to say that after reflection and prayer, he has listened to the people across the country who are demanding that he bring his winning recipes to the White House.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
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 “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee.
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 top gov tracker and One America News national political correspondent, Neil W. McCabe to the newsmaker line to comment on James O’Keefe’s departure from Project Veritas and newly announced GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s chances.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line right now, is our good friend, top gov tracker, and national political correspondent with One American News Network, Neil W. McCabe. Good morning, Neil.
McCabe: Hey, guys. Good to be with you.
Leahy: Neil, Crom has a question for you.
Carmichael: Neil, on Project Veritas, what will happen with Project Veritas without James O’Keefe?
McCabe: You have to understand that James is the founder and the CEO. He created it to be a home for himself and other undercover journalists, people who wanted to expose corruption. And in the back of his head, he always wanted it to be something that would survive him.
And I’m not sure that this is how he planned it. But there are people there who are committed to the mission. You have trained undercover journalists. You have fantastic cameramen and editors. You have people who are experienced with how to use hidden cameras and everything like that.
Where do those guys go? Maybe some of them will join James and whatever venture he’s going to do. But there are people inside Project Veritas who say, we’ll just carry on the mission. Project Veritas was bigger than James. Okay.
Carmichael: My sense of it, and obviously I’m wrong, my sense of it was it was kind of a handful of people who kind of almost went around with James O’Keefe, who was kind of one of the undercover people. And I’m sure that’s how it started because I remember some very early Project Veritas, and it was James O’Keefe. Generally, it was James O’Keefe and one particular lady. What you’re saying is that in recent years, it’s gotten a lot bigger than my understanding.
McCabe: Right. So in 2009, the ACORN expose was James and Hannah Giles. But that was not Project Veritas. Project Veritas was started in 2011 because he felt exposed as a single guy, sort of basically freelancing and making the stuff himself.
He needed some organization, some stability, some structure, and that’s what he built. But there’s probably, I don’t know, 10-15 undercover journalists across the country who do various things. Many of them will probably want to continue doing what they do.
Carmichael: So there will be somebody, and they may have already named the person, James O’Keefe has been removed as CEO. Is that correct?
McCabe: I don’t know if removed is the word I would use. He was put on ice while the board did an investigation, and then he read that letter, which they took as a resignation letter. He packed up his stuff and walked out the door. The board hadn’t fired James.
In fact, the office was closed on President’s Day. There was supposed to be a board meeting Tuesday where things might be resolved and he basically used his FOB to get into the office and pack up his stuff and leave.
Carmichael: Then obviously they haven’t named a new CEO.
McCabe: Not that I know.
Leahy: We’ll see how that all plays out. Neil, you broke that story, by the way. Congratulations on that. Now let’s talk about the story that we knew about that was going to happen, that I invited you to watch Tucker last night. Our buddy Vivek Ramaswamy has announced his candidacy for president. What’s your take on Vivek in 2024 as a GOP candidate?
McCabe: I think that it is absolutely stunning that this guy has come onto the scene the way he has. And when he talks about woke capital, woke institutions, he’s talking as someone who saw it from the inside. And in a lot of ways, it sort of dovetails with what James and Project Veritas were doing.
I worked at Veritas, and so James would tell me that, in essence, what he’s trying to do is expose the private truth hidden by the public lie. And so a lot of these companies don’t really tell you what they’re up to and what Vivek is doing and others are doing, but certainly, it’s his running for president.
And I saw him on Tucker last night. The guy was phenomenal. I think Tucker was really impressed. I think Tucker told him he was really impressed. And what he’s doing is he’s saying, hey, whatever you’ve been told, put it to the side. This is what’s going on in the institutions. Financial, education, charity, and religion, everything that’s going on inside is working against you.
Leahy: Vivek is going to be out in Iowa today. Our own Matt Kittle with The Iowa Star is going to be with him and get some exclusive interviews on-site in Antonio, Iowa, and Des Moines, and a couple of the suburbs there. How do you think this will shake out in reality?
What are Ramaswamy’s chances now that former President Trump has announced, Nikki Haley has announced rumors that DeSantis may get in? How does this shake up, if at all, the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race?
McCabe: We’ll have to see if these presidential primaries follow the script that’s been sort of in place since 1972, 1976. Will Iowa and New Hampshire really be deciding what’s going on? The Trump campaign is focusing on South Carolina. It’s a winner take all state with 50 delegates, and it’s really the most important state because it’s a big conservative state with a lot of very interesting people in that state in South Carolina.
New Hampshire is kind of a wild card for Trump. And I think Iowa is a very difficult state to organize. And I’m sure Mr. Kittle learned very quickly that Iowa is, well he lives there.
Leahy: He lives in Des Moines.
McCabe: He knows that it is cold, and he knows that everything is 100 miles away, and these caucuses are held in, like, barns, and toolsheds.
Leahy: I’ve been to one, Neil, and you’re quite right. (Chuckles)
McCabe: Iowa is a tough row to hoe. And so it’ll also be interesting to see what happens in Iowa since they kneecapped Steve King, the congressman from the northeast corner of Iowa who was sort of a kingmaker in Iowa, and of course, The New York Times and Kevin McCarthy torpedoed him and he was very influential. And he’s frankly the reason why Ted Cruz won Iowa in 2016.
Leahy: Good point.
McCabe: But of course, he won Iowa but didn’t become president.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
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 “James O’Keefe” by James O’Keefe.
Live from Music Row, Tuesday 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 official guest host of The Tennessee Star Report, Aaron Gulbransen in studio to comment on James O’Keefe’s recent departure from successful Project Veritas.
Leahy: In studio, the official guest host of The Tennessee Star Report, Aaron Gulbransen. Aaron, our good friend Neil W. McCabe, who’s now at One American News Network but was for a couple of years our national political editor at The Tennessee Star broke a story yesterday about the resignation of James O’Keefe as the head of Project Veritas, the organization that he, in essence, kind of created 13 years ago. What do you make of that messy situation?
Gulbransen: First of all, congratulations to Neil for breaking the story. It was a fun period of time to work with him last year, but I think Project Veritas now has sunk. Clearly, the board of directors, or at least a faction of them, had issues with James O’Keefe, who’s a rock star in the conservative movement.
I would ascribe some of those issues to jealousy. I think if you look at some of the claims they’ve been making, you could go to that and go, oh, you mean, so you put on one heck of a show at a previous CPAC event or a few different events. It’s one of those things.
I think Project Veritas as an organization without James O’Keefe is kind of like, I don’t know, I can’t even think of it. It would be like Donald Trump’s organization without Donald Trump. It’s not going anywhere. So there you go.
Leahy: He’s an interesting fellow. And one of the things that I think was very difficult for James O’Keefe, you may recall back in 2010 when he was starting doing these investigations, there was how can we describe this other than a hair-brained scheme by some enthusiastic young folks that were trying to get an undercover video. And they were in New Orleans, and I can’t remember what it was, but they posed as, like, telephone repair people. Remember that?
Gulbransen: I do.
Leahy: And then they were arrested, and everything about it was stupid. And he got involved in that. He was part of those guys. And anyways, an overenthusiastic person kind of talked him into it and it got out of control. Anyways, he ended up pleading no contest to some kind of trespassing thing, and that has haunted him, I think, ever since.
But he’s done some great work. I think the challenge have been, and there are reports that he’s a difficult person to work with. Now in the media world, if you run a media organization, Aaron, as you know, (Laughter) sometimes people who run media organizations who are conservatives have got to be scrappy.
Sometimes they’re difficult to work with. I know that’s hard for you to imagine, having worked previously as a Tennessee Star political reporter here at The Star News Network. I know you can’t imagine that being the case.
Gulbransen: I can’t imagine it whatsoever. (Leahy laughs) In all fairness, whenever you’re working in an enterprise that requires extremely little sleep, which certainly running a media organization is one of those, and political campaigns are the same way. It is taxing.
And I think you could find situations where everybody is fairly difficult. If you were to compare it to a nine to five where you get to leave, and you don’t get to start working until nine, and you’re not thinking of work until nine, and then you leave everything on the table at five.
Leahy: Where does this go now? To me, I think he’s raised like $25 million a year for that. But without him raising money, there is no Project Veritas, in my view. Your thoughts?
Gulbransen: I think they are sunk, and I think he’s going to take the opportunity to reinvent himself again after this. We’ll see what he does. He might hook up with a much larger enterprise. We’ll see.
Leahy: I don’t think so. I think he’s going to do James O’Keefe 2.0. That would be my guess. We’ll see how it all plays out. But he was born to do this kind of thing. But it is difficult to build a conservative media organization in this landscape. That I can tell you from personal experience. You have to be dogged in your effort.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
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 “James O’Keefe” by James O’Keefe.
