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Sign up now for free at oilfacts.com to get your free report on the AI arms race before rolling blackouts wipe out our future. Oilfacts.com, powered by Prairie Operating Company, a high-growth, low-cost producer of safe and responsible American energy. From the Mighty 990 Broadcast Center, you're waking up in Starnes Country with Todd Starnes. Hello, welcome everybody. This is Stardust Country and we are broadcasting in the principal Toyota Memphis studio.
It's so great to have you along today. Looking really good out there in the midway through your morning commute. No major issues. We'll be checking in with our good buddy Commander Chuck here in just a little while. Also, may I just tell you, Laura Huckabee has outdone herself on the weather forecast.
66 degrees right now outside White Station High School. And it's going to be heading up to a high of about 77. Going to feel a little like fall out there today.
So I know a lot of folks are going to be enjoying that. Wow. Do we have a lot going on today? And we're going to be getting to some of the big stories of the day. Huge election last night in Middle Tennessee, the 7th congressional district.
Also,. Justin Pearson is going to be making a major political announcement at nine o'clock this morning. And I we don't he's going to be running for something. And I suspect he's going to be running for Steve Cohen's seat. And here's the reason why.
He shared a. He shared a photograph of Barack Hussein Obama. With the following quote from Obama: It's fair to say that 80% of the world's problems involve old men hanging on. Who are afraid of death and insignificance and they won't let go. Does that smell like Steve Cohen to you, anybody, or is it just me?
Anyway, we'll find out for sure around 9 o'clock this morning, and we will let you know as soon as Justin Pearson makes that announcement. But I want to say this: based on, and we'll talk to Steve Gill a little bit later on. about what's what's going on what happened in the seventh. But I warned you, gosh, it was four years ago, five years ago when I first bought K-WAM that the Democrats. The Democrat Party was going to be radicalized and was in the process of being radicalized.
And at the time, it was AOC. Wow, this was, well, this would have been before I bought KWAM. It was AOC. When AOC got elected, I warned people that the kinds of Democrats that would be elected are going to be far more radical than someone like AOC. And that happened in the 7th congressional district in the Democrat primary last night.
It very well could happen right here in Memphis if, in fact, Justin Pearson is going to run for Congress. Against Steve Cohen, and that is a solid blue. Democrat district. Then we're going to be in for some fireworks. We will have our own Jasmine Crockett.
No, Dylan, he's not going to have the eyelashes. I'm just saying he's like of that ilk.
So it's going to be, it's going to be a lot of, well, I don't even know, Dylan, if we've actually played the song on the morning show here in Stearns Country, but Memphis could have its very own shucking and jivin. Shuck it! Yeah. Chuck it and jumping. Ow!
Good, good! Chuck it and jump in. We're gonna have to come up with a song for Justin Pearson. Anyone have recommendations that are appropriate for the radio? You can give us a call this morning.
By the way, write down our number 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. You talk about a lot of the states that are controlled by Republicans and they are redistricting.
Now would be a good time for the Republicans here in Tennessee to rethink that, right? They've decided hands off Cohen's district. They may want to reconsider that. All right, 901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901.
2605926.
So last night on my Newsmax show, Senator Marcia Blackburn stopped by for a pretty long-form conversation. But I want to play just a small clip of a snippet, if you will. Uh something she said about an incident that happened here in here in the Mid South. And it's a pretty significant story. We talked about it a little bit yesterday.
As a matter of fact, I believe Kay Wham was the very first uh news outlet to actually report on this and of course Now everybody's jumping on board.
So we got wind that An elected official, a Shelby County trustee, had been doxing and and by the way, she's not the only one. There are others out there, but she had been doxing the location of these operations involving federal law enforcement, which is incredibly dangerous. Because it certainly not only gives the bad guys advance notice, but it also gives the bad guys an opportunity to ambush. To ambush these law enforcement officers. And we have seen this happen in.
Chicago, we've seen this happen in Portland. We saw it happen in D.C. and in Dallas, where you had a sniper open fire trying to kill ICE agents, instead took out some illegals.
So that's where Shelby County Trustee Regina Newman comes into the conversation. She actually wrote something on her Facebook page. I'm not going to share it again because, again, that would be doxing, and we don't do that on this radio station. We are a friend of law enforcement, not a foe. And so Newman was basically alerting people, hey, here's what's happening.
Here's where people are here's where the law enforcement officers are. And then she wrote this, People harassed, beat up, apartment complex raided in Midtown, family dog shot in front of kids. No, that's simply not true. None of this is true. A lot of stuff taken out of context.
So, anyway, Regina Newman is out there and she's leading the charge. Marsha Blackburn was enraged, and I asked her about this last night on Newsmax. Take a listen. We're hearing reports that some local officials are actually doxxing locations of these Federal assets that are already here. I want to get your reaction to that and the word that the National Guard is expected to arrive this week.
Yes, indeed. And of course, you will have the full complement of 13 state and federal agencies in Memphis. As you've seen, the Memphis Safe Task Force, they have made 321 arrests of gang members since last week. That brings us to a total of over 800.
Now, there was a Memphis, a Shelby County elected official who on her Twitter account put out the location of where there was federal law enforcement doxed their location. I printed off that and I held it up at the committee meeting today. She has since deleted that posting, but how dare An elected official for Shelby County tried to dox federal elected officials. This is why I have the bill that would make that doxing a federal crime. At this point, it is not a federal crime to dox a law enforcement officer in the line of duty.
It only is a crime if they are working undercover. My bill extends it to all law enforcement officers. And how dare a local elected official dox federal officials who are there enforcing the rule of law? and are stopping criminals, you look at the murder rate. That has happened in Shelby County.
You look at the carjackings, and you've got an elected official who is trying to. Protect criminals? And hurt. the police, the law enforcement officers, it is disgusting. Yeah, it is disgusting.
I have never heard Marcia Blackburn that upset about something, and she was raging. As a matter of fact, she actually had a copy. Of the Regina Newman Post. Gee, I wonder how she got a copy of that post. Hm.
And uh she held it up during the hearing, waving it around. Saying this is unacceptable. Good for you, Senator Blackburn. Good for you.
So, anyway, we'll be playing a little bit more of that interview with Marsha Blackburn. It was a long-form interview. Of course, Blackburn was one of the senators targeted. By Jack Smith and the FBI going in and tapping her phones without her knowledge. Can you imagine that?
Here you have Bill Haggerty and Marshall Blackburn, our two senators, that were targeted, their phones tapped. Can you imagine the FBI listening in on the private personal phone calls of U.S. senators? And if they can do that to U.S. senators, imagine what they can do.
To the rest of us, ladies and gentlemen, that is not Good. All right, when we come back, there's been a lot of conversation. I was getting text messages. overnight about this, Dylan. Is Dolly okay?
Todd, have you heard anything? Have you heard any reports from Dolly Wood? Is Dolly okay? We're gonna give you an update. Dolly Parton, there were some reports that Dolly was not doing too well.
We have some brand new information coming out. We'll share that with you. But right now, need to check in with Commander Chuck standing by with a look at your morning commute. Yeah. Jolene.
Jodie. Jodine Jolene, I'm begging of you, please don't take. My man Come on, sing it, Memphis. Darling, darling. Please don't take Just because you care.
You know what we ought to do? Tell him one day we oughta just do play all music. We oughta just do an all music gatewham. Third into a music conversation. I love that.
All right. By the way, 67 degrees right now at Evangelical Christian School. Welcome back to Stern's Country. All right, Dolly Parton is trending on X. And you know, that always worries me, Della.
When I check up and I see what's trending, I'm like, oh, no, not Dolly. Not Dolly. We have to protect her. We do, she said. She's a national institution.
So, anyway, her sister put out this urgent prayer request yesterday. Dylan, it's always the urgent prayer request. And it made it sound like she was on her deathbed, and people really started to freak out. And so now the Dolly sister has posted an update. saying that she did not mean to terrify the world.
I'm not sure I accept that apology. Anyway, Dolly was, she had to pull out of an event at Dollywood because she had been diagnosed with a kidney stone. That's the issue. And it was causing a lot of problems. And then she had, you know, she's doing a residency in Vegas.
I think Elvis, someone correct me on this, but I believe Elvis did a residency back in the day. I may be mistaken there. But anyway, she wasn't able to do that because she hasn't been feeling well. And so now, Frida Parton, that's Dolly's sister, says, I want to clear something up. Didn't mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly.
She's just been a little under the weather. You know, that one sentence there might have been helpful, Frida. I'm just saying, I know you love your sister, but that one sentence would have just helped cause everybody. A little bit less grief and anxiety this morning. All right, 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.
That's 901-265. 260-5926. By the way, want to let you know, you folks in Whitehaven, and this is really for the entire Mid-South. This is going to be a lot of fun. The White Haven Christmas Parade, they are now accepting applications for their big annual Christmas festival.
It is a huge deal. And if you haven't been, it's a lot of fun. The annual White Haven Christmas Parade. It's going to be Saturday, November 22nd, and they are already taking applications.
So, if you have a club, if you have a business or an organization and you want to participate by having a float, well, you can do that. And we've actually listed the link for that application in our Facebook live stream.
So, what a great way to get out there, celebrate all the great things happening in Whitehaven. Of course, the new STEM, the new STEM building opening up, and just a lot of great stuff happening there. Thanks, in no small part, to our friends at the White Haven Republican Club. All right, let's go to the phone lines. Our good buddy Dean is weighing in.
Dean, what's happening? What's going on, sir? But I just wanted to tell y'all about the meeting we had last night out in Germantown. It was electrifying. Um We had Senator Taylor telling us all about They um everything that's going on with the Memphis Safe Task Force.
And how well it's going. We had the signed guy, Enrique, there, the guy that was out in. Democrats to Floyd Mentis signed. He was there, and Senator Taylor was so fired up that he was there that. he offered to pay for his Membership to the Shelby County GOP.
uh to become a member. You know, we're getting Seinguy on the morning show. He's the guy, if you're watching CNN, we posted this over on our KWAM Facebook page, but he's the guy that photobombed the CNN crew. telling people exactly who was responsible for the conditions in Memphis.
So it I mean, the guy is just a great fella.
So Dean, a good crowd there and just people are excited. Tell me about the vibe. Oh, it was. Everybody was excited. I mean, the Christians were telling about the Germantown Festival.
And the Barden Festival, and how well those went with just meeting people. uh Bartlett was even a bigger success than Germantown. And one of the other reports was that the Charlie Kirk vigil in Coggerville, the uh countyville police And check self. phone coverage and this, that, and the other. And there wouldn't It wouldn't, you know, a thousand or two thousand people They said there were 5,000 people there.
of that Charlie Kirk Vigil.
So I had heard those reports that there were thousands, and I was there, and I will tell you that there were people as far as the eye could see in all directions, Dean. You know, we were in the gazebo there in the middle of the square, and I could not see the end of the crowd. It was just really remarkable.
Well, people are fired up and Shilby County and the Shelby County Republicans. are doing what's necessary to take back Shelby County.
Well, I'm glad to hear that, Dean, and I get that vibe. There is something going on. And when you see that the people, and especially the number of young people that were showing up at the Shelby County Republican tent at Bartlett and also at Germantown, but really so much so at Bartlett, that tells me that a lot of young people here are getting turned on to politics. They don't like what's happened in their city, and they're ready for a change. And the reality is, and it doesn't matter if you like Democrats or not like Democrats, that's not the issue here.
The issue is they've controlled this city for what, 40, 50 years. The Democrats have controlled everything. And so now I think it's time for a change. And I think people are sensing that. And you guys are crushing it.
And I'm so happy to hear about Senator Taylor. And he ought to be happy because he's been the one lawmaker that's been leading the charge. More so than I would say Senator Taylor and Marsha Blackburn have been leading the charge. They're the ones that have been standing up and speaking out about crime here in the Mid-South and in Memphis. Dean, I got to run.
Thank you for that call. Thank you for that update. I was going to go to that meeting. Have you guys ever had one of those? You know, I was on the road for like two and a half weeks, and I am catching up on sleep.
And I went down for a nap last night at around five o'clock, woke up at like nine. And Dylan went right back to sleep. It was a good sleep. I'm just telling you. We needed it, Tom.
I think Starnes needs some pewter sleep. Yes. Yeah. No comments from the Peanut Gallery on Facebook on that one. 901-260-5926, our telephone number.
Are you sensing the vibe? Isn't there's just something happening in the city right now. And we've got some audio we'll play in just a little while from these guys that were. And Dylan, let me know if we got it, but if these guys are just so excited about what's happening here. And these are, it doesn't matter if you're black or white.
We're all sick and tired of people driving 120 miles an hour on I-240. We're sick and tired of hearing gunfire in our neighborhoods and the sirens and the police having to come and show up. It's just unacceptable.
So a lot of people are just excited, and there is a vibe.
So many people told me that they went downtown for the first time in years to enjoy a show or go to Beale Street and just wander around and have a good time. That's what we need to happen in this city.
So I'm feeling pretty good about it. And let me say, we owe all of the thanks to our great president, Donald J. Trump. Because without President Trump, it would be business as usual. By the way, over 300 arrests now, and let me say something about that.
Over 300 arrests, and yet you've got City Hall saying there was no need for federal law enforcement here. They had everything under control at City Hall. Clearly they did not because well over 300 people, including a Trende Arawagua terrorist, have been arrested. We've had children rescued, victims of human trafficking.
So you can't tell me that they had everything under control. That's just insane. By the way, I want to give you an update real quick here. A lot of people asking about Memphis International. I know it's fall break, so people are heading out.
Yet, there have been some impacts because of the Schumer shutdown, air travel impacting the FAA because of sick outs. And there was a ground stop in Nashville. They went dark for five hours last night. And so the pilots had to coordinate with controllers in Memphis.
So anyway, just hang tight, pack your patience. And again, if your flight is delayed, don't blame Donald J. Trump. This is all on Chuck Schumer. All right, hang tight, guys.
Our good buddies from Strategic Financial Partners are dropping by. And a little bit later, Steve Dill. This is Stardust Country. All right, 68 degrees at Lakeland Middle School. Hope you guys are doing well out there today.
Going to be a nice day. Highs in the mid-70s. Laura Huckabee coming up with your forecast. By the way, speaking of Whitehaven, we have a little trivia we're going to throw out there. Of course, the White Haven Christmas Parade.
If you want to apply to put a float in the parade, you can do so over on our Facebook Live feed on the Mighty 990 Facebook page. There's a very important distinction, a very important thing in Whitehaven. It happened to be the very first enclosed mall in the Mid-South. The very first enclosed mall in the Mid-South.
Now, if you've won something in the past you cannot win, we have a brand new copy of Jonathan Kahn's latest book. And if you were listening to the national show yesterday, Dinesh D'Souza on talking about Jonathan Khan.
So we've got a Jonathan Kahn book on the winning list today. All you have to do is tell us what is the name of that mall in Whitehaven that was the very first enclosed mall in the Mid-South. 901-260-5926. Our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926. All right.
Well, very excited. Every Wednesday, we have a great conversation about your finances and protecting your finances with our friends at Strategic Financial Partners. We have Adam Martin, a financial advisor, Chris Loftus, a financial services rep. By the way, Strategic FinancialPartners.com is the website. Guys, first of all, good to see you again, and welcome back.
Good morning. Good morning. It's good to be here.
So, last week, we sort of did more of an introduction into who you guys are and what you do. And, of course, both of you have very, very deep roots here in the Memphis area. You know, one of the things that a lot of folks And we've had this conversation here at KWAM with our Gen Z employees, and they really, I think, didn't quite understand the importance of employee benefits and how important those benefits are.
So I think that's probably going to be our starting off point. When most people hear about employee benefits, they immediately think about health insurance. And if you're 22, what do I need health insurance for? Or a 401k. But there's usually a lot more going on behind the scenes.
Yeah, that's absolutely correct.
So the open enrollment season typically happens around this time of year.
So this is a great time for us to get in front of these people and look at what benefits are available to them and then just point out things that they may not be taking advantage of. You know, the health insurance 401k is a big component, but there may be things like the HSA, the FSAs, there's even things like disability insurance, which we like to change that verbiage to income protection. And that's, you know, we want to make sure that they're taking advantage of those things so that They can get it through their employer instead of us having to shop it through the marketplace and spend. more money to get the same coverage. And I'd I'd just add to that, I think the temptation with anybody, young or old, is uh to go, okay, I'm just gonna hit autopilot and just renew, right?
Well what people don't understand is guess what, there's stuff in there that specifically can affect your long-term financial planning. And what we want to make sure, again, especially for Gen Zers, these young people who are, you know, they're just getting out of their parents' house. They're getting their first long-term career job. They might be getting married, buying houses, having kids. These things affect your family.
We get plenty of people coming in every week that are like, okay, where do I start? What do I start with?
Well, we're not about to just throw you into one size fits all program. We're going to say, okay, hey, what are your benefits looking like? And just start there. And people may end up picking the same options. Every year you come up and you may have to do some revisions here.
And a lot of times they just pick the same things over and over and over again. What advice do you guys give folks? Mm. We want them to review it every year because there's things that may change from the employer side. They may be adding or subtracting certain things.
So it's a good process to just sit in front of your advisor, look at what's available and make sure it still fits your situation. People's situations change, so we want to make sure that the benefits that you're taking advantage of still reflect your situation. Chris, I'm curious, when we talk a lot about benefits and it's the basic stuff, the 401k, the health insurance, you're going to get some vacation days, sick days. Are there benefits that some people might overlook or maybe not quite understand? Absolutely.
Well, what I'd go into say on that is To Adam's point, the income protection.
So many people, you know, you have your house insurance for your home. You have your car insurance for your car.
Well, what about that income where guess what, a lot of your plans, financial and otherwise, is contingent on what money you're bringing in each month. Why aren't you protecting that? And there's a lot of questions around that that people just, you know, they're not trained to answer in school, in college, or through their workplace. And we want to make sure whether it's that or, you know, knowing the difference between an HSA and an FSA account, knowing exactly what benefits, you know, hey, do I have, you know, you know, legal or counseling services? Great.
Is that attached to it? Is there what do my paid days off look like? A lot of people really can't say that with absolute certainty, and you need to know that. I think I give way too many days off here at K-Wham. Dylan, you're on vacation like every other week.
What's going on over there, Dylan? It's nice. Thank you. Yeah, no problem. Maybe I need to rework.
Maybe I need to have a consultation with you guys. Great. By the way, joining us here in studio every Wednesday are good friends at Strategic Financial Partners, Chris Loftus and Adam Martin. And the website address, guys, give that website address out. It's strategicfinancialpartners.com.
All right, because I have the wrong glasses.
So, I can't remember those small prints.
So, thank you for that. Benefits can provide that too, by the way. Wow. Okay, there we go. Yes.
Dental and vision. Be sure to ask about those. Let's talk about. You mentioned something earlier, Adam, and I missed it. HSAs and FSAs.
Tell us about those and how do those fit into somebody's overall financial strategy?
So, not everybody has an HSA account. Those are usually tied to a high-deductible health care plan.
So, if your employee offers you a low-deductible, obviously that's better for you because it's less money out of your pocket. But They offer that HSA account as a way for you to save for those health-related costs that could be pricey. And what I want people to realize is that that is a triple-tax advantaged account where not only can you use it for qualified health care expenses, you can also save money for retirement that has a market component as well.
So that money goes in pre-taxed, it grows tax-deferred, and it comes out tax-free if it's for health care-related expenses, but it could help you also grow retirement dollars. Last week, I spoke to a group of about 60 high school kids, all conservatives. We have all that to say we have a lot of young people that are listening to the show and to the radio station. And when you hear terms like long-term, I'm not sure that really hits home with a lot of younger people, people in their late teens, early 20s. But should employees, if you're on the job, how should you be thinking about?
Long term, when you're looking at benefits?
Well, that's a great question, Todd. I'd say that you need to be looking at it with, you know, it's an adult decision. You need to look and see: hey, what are your priorities? What do you want your quality of life to look like? What is important to you?
Do you want to be able to afford medical services for your kids? Do you want to be able to retire by a certain time? What does that look like? There's a lot of people under the age of 20 and under the age of 30 even that are going, okay, why want now? We unfortunately don't live in a delayed gravification world.
We have these tools specifically through our employers that allow us to start taking that first step into the long-term financial planning. And maybe it might be baby steps. That's great. Rome wasn't built in a day. But if the bare minimum plan that you have is just taking advantage of your employee benefits, there's a quote by General Patton I love to think about: he said, I'd rather take a good plan today than a great plan tomorrow.
It starts today. Don't wait. It's a great point, and I know that you guys have come up with a a checklist. And this is one of the things I really like about strategic financial partners. You guys are all about helping folks, coming up with those checklists, and just making sure people are prepared.
It's not a matter of a scare factor or anything. This is just Common sense things you need to be doing to prepare.
So, Adam, what are some of those things if we're putting together a quick checklist? You know, the quick checklist is: hey, bring me your benefits package from work. We'll go through it. You don't have to spend the time looking at it, and we'll point out what's important, what you should be taking advantage of. What we do really well is we listen to your situation and then we identify what's available to you and say you should be taking advantage of this.
So the checklist, we want to see for a young person, hey, let's take advantage of the 401k, at least the match. If there's an FSA, let's set aside money for those health care related needs and shop it on the FSA store at the end of the year so we're not giving away money. But also let's look at the other things like legal services, set up a will, set up a power of attorney. Those are important things because tomorrow is not promised. You see, and for me, though, guys, I don't know.
I get, I feel like you're jinxing yourself if you get if you're going in to do the will, you know, that's you know, and a lot of people think like I do. You know, it's like you don't want a will, but you know, I had to come to the realization, yeah, I need to get all that sorted out, otherwise, your family could be hoed, you know, when you uh, you know, you're pushing up daisies, so to speak. Absolutely.
Well, and here's the thing that goes into that. You'd rather take control of what happens than leave it all to chance. That's what it all comes down to: is that, hey, these are your assets. This is your livelihood. This is your lifestyle.
Whether you're a business owner, you know, especially when it comes to benefits, is like you want to make sure your company is going in the right direction for your employees. Thankfully, we as a firm offer those benefits. We work with something called SFP Benefits. That's a conglomerate of our firm. They do great work, but especially when it comes to the everyday citizen, people who, you know, they're just working the nine-to-five.
That is an easy way how you become your boss. That's how you take control of your financial future for not just yourself, but your family and your grandkids.
So, here's the deal, folks. Before you hit submit during open enrollment, you need to reach out to either Adam or Chris over at strategicfinancialpartners.com. They're going to help you out. They're going to make sure that you're getting what you need and making sure you don't get what you don't need.
So, again, strategicfinancialpartners.com. Guys, Good seeing you again. Good to see you. All right, thank you.
So, we're doing this again next week. Is that true? Right on time. Same place. I love that.
All right. Hey, can you hang tight, though? Because we've got a, all right, we've got to, we've got Pat.
Well, we had Pat on the line from Nesbit. We'll get Pat back on the line. But again, folks, Adam Martin Chrislofta, Strategic FinancialPartners.com is the website. Go check them out. Guys, appreciate you.
We'll see you next Wednesday. Yes, sir. Thank you. All right, we'll be right back, everybody. Adam Martin is a registered representative of and offers securities and investment advisory services to ML Investors Services, LLC, member SIPC, Supervisory Office, 949, South Shady Grove Road, Sweet 300, Minifest, Tennessee, 38120-901-767-5951.
All right, we've got a trivia question on the table. The first indoor mall in the Mid-South was open in Whitehaven. You've got to name that mall, and you're going to win a copy of Jonathan Codd's brand new book, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. You have to call in to win.
All right, this just in from our good buddy, Justin Johnson. I've got to give him a shout-out. That's what we do on this program, and Justin's a great friend of the Mighty 990. We told you we We told you about About Justin Pearson announcing something today.
Well, this is what Steve Cohen just wrote: Tomorrow morning, an ambitious young candidate said he plans to announce he is running for the House in Tennessee's ninth congressional district. With your continued support, we will turn back this challenge in the Democratic primary. And then he goes on to say: blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's bring in our good buddy, the publisher of TriStar Daily. Steve Gill, Steve, we're going to get our own Jasmine Crockett here in the Mid-South.
Yeah, is he going to use his Bowden College accent or is he going to use his Melpheth. inner city accent. That's not even a Memphis inner city accent he's got. That is like That's like a shucking and jivin kind of a. Kind of an accident.
It's insane, but again, it goes to the heart of this issue that the Democrat Party is becoming radicalized at every single election cycle.
Well in South A we've seen time and time again in Memphis when Cohen is challenged. By a young Upstart Africa. American, three other Jump into the race, divide the African-American vote, and Yeah. Once again. To me, the big question Right out of the box is Will it be a one-on-one race?
He does appear. versus Steve Cohen. Or will three other ambitions? African Americans. also jump in and go, well, wait.
I've done my time. I have done the work to actually lead here in Memphis, and I'm going to run too. And that's what's going to re-elect Cohen like it's always happened before. Yeah, the breaking news, by the way, folks, is Justin Pearson announcing at 9 o'clock, expected to announce he is running against Steve Cohen. He will primary Steve Cohen.
That is going to be ugly, Steve, and it will be ugly on a couple of different levels, but I will say race and religion will play a dominant role in the attacks coming from the Pearson camp. Absolutely.
And they will target everything that Steve Cohen has said that they can either exaggerate or exploit, and he's given them. plenty of ammunition. But it is a seat. Again, that's a thing that we've seen time and time again: that Congress and the federal courts require minority-drawn districts, and yet you've got this. district it is drawn to give uh An African American a spot in Congress, and yet you got a white liberal guy that's been filling that.
slot.
Meanwhile, there are seats all over the place. the country where you have 90% White districts. Who elect African-American Republicans? publicans. To go to Congress.
So the whole word. going to DEI Congress by drawing district lines Has really not worked. the way that they would have expected. It anyway. Steve, I'm going to put you on hold for just one second to work out this.
We're getting some phone issues here, so hang tight just one second as we get that worked out. That'll give us time to go to East Memphis. And Chuck is on the line. Chuck, first, good morning. And I understand that you've got the answer to our trivia question.
I do, Todd. How are you this morning? Chuck, I'm doing great, and I'm excited to hear the answer because our family used to shop at this mall all the time. Absolutely.
That mall would be the Southland Mall. Yes, sir. The Southland Mall, Chuck. It was It's where all the kids went to hang out back in the day, uh whether it be uh at the uh the Sears, Piccadilly or Goldsmiths, you know, but uh the uh the family always went there for Sunday after church dinner. We were the Starrings family had a reserved table at the Piccadilly.
That's great. Chuck, hang tight, my friend. We're going to get you hooked up with a copy of Jonathan Kahn's brand new book, and Dylan will get that info for you. I think we've got Steve back with us. Steve, you got to help me out here.
So, what happened last night in the seventh? That was an insane race.
Well everybody in early voting about 18,000 people voted early. The Democrats. in that district voted about 17,000 in early voting. Everybody expected That tomorrow with 9 out of the 14. counties in the district having fallen.
break with rain that early voting would have been repeated with a election day voting and it would be low. Instead, It exploded in the final day, and you have to give President Trump credit his endorsement of Matt Van Epp on Friday afternoon. Early voting ended. And then did a teletown hall for Matt Van Epps, the former commissioner for Bill Lee, who was endorsed by Tim Jordan, who was endorsed by Governor Bill Lee, who was then endorsed. Yeah.
Um Mark Green was the the former congressman who didn't write him. But it was the Trump endorsement late that gave him, instead of about a 2,500 vote lead over his Nearest competitor, conservative Jody Barrett, a 10,000-vote resounding win over 51% in an 11-candidate race. Uh and it was the Trump endorsement that uh fueled the difference. What's the lesson here for conservatives?
Well, you you gotta have money. I mean Jodi Barrett had a great conservative record. Matt Van Epps is not as conservative as Jodi Barrett, but $2 million in out-of-state. hack money. including a bunch of Anti-Trump.
Pact that just If the House Freedom Caucus supports somebody, they come in and oppose. them, you gotta have money to win. And Jodi Barrett really didn't have the money. to develop his reach beyond What the House Freedom Caucus did on his behalf for the $2 million in anti-Jodi Barrett money that was spent. to help promote Matt Van F.
Money doesn't exist. Talk in politics. It screams loudly.
Well, it does. And I hear some of these, you know, Kustoff always gets a challenge every now and again, and yet they get crushed. crushed in the in the primaries And the reality is you've got to play smart politics. And you got to have money, to your point. My concern is most of Van Epp's money came from out of state, and that's where all of his support came from.
So we're going to have to get that figured out. And I hope that he is going to actually be a vote as a conservative. Yeah. I think the good thing is that the Democrats have picked Afton Ben, who has been dubbed the AOC. and she has embraced that.
So a very liberal progressive Democrat won there uh primary with 28%. in a fork. candidate race narrowly won He only wanted One county of the 14th century. And that was narrowly winning in Williamson County, just south of Nashville. but finished second or third throughout the disc.
She will not have appeal in the mostly rural. counties in the district. Uh she will not bring kind of that moderate rhino vote to her side and I think that if If Matt Van Epp will reach out to the conservative base and heal the party, he should win handily. It's about a plus 11 requirement districts. Trump carried it by 20.
point.
So Republicans should keep it, particularly since Yeah. Mm-hmm. One, the Democrats. Primary. All right, Steve, that music means we've got to scoot out of here, but appreciate the great intel.
Again, TriStarDaily.com. Steve Gill, the publisher of that great statewide publication. Go check it out, TriStarDaily.com. Steve, thank you. And again, our breaking news: Justin Pearson expected to announce he is going to primary Steve Cohen for that congressional seat.
We'll tell you all about it. Get out there. Have a great day. We'll see you back here at 11.
