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Glenn's Show Prep

Race for governor of Kentucky might be a pickup for Republicans

October 20, 2015
Ted Tuttle

Editor

Matt Bevin, candidate for Governor of Kentucky, joined Glenn's radio program Tuesday to share what sets him apart in the race from his Democratic opponent.

"Tell me why - if anybody is listening to us and they're in Kentucky," Glenn said. Why should they vote for you?"

Bevin's response:

I'll tell you what, I'm not a career politician. I'm a guy that grew up in a humble way, in a simple way. I grew up with strong Christian values. I'm a guy who grew up having to make his own way, below the poverty level, but blessed to go to college. Joined the military. A guy who got out and spent 20-plus years in the private sector. A job creator. I'm a father of nine children. Four of my children are adopted. I'm a normal person.

I'm a guy like so many out there who simply want better opportunity for themselves, for their families, for their state and for America, for people that are weary about how the fabric of this nation is being shredded. Used to be a thread at a time. We're seeing fistfuls of it, twisted out of the fabric of who we are as Americans. And for people who want a counterpoint to that, for people who want somebody to fight for them who is one of them, who will be a representative of and by and for the people, like this government was intended to be, I'm that guy. I'm trying to step forward and truly be a public servant.

Later, Glenn asked how this election might also be important to people from other states.

"This is a bellwether for 2016," Bevin said. "This is the only race in 2015 that has the ability to move to conservative hands. It is the only one that could be a pickup for Republicans in this case. And it is the only one that will be a bellwether for Medicaid expansion. It will be a bellwether for school choice. It will be a bellwether for energy policy. And it will absolutely move the needle on discussion in 2016. This race is critical."

Listen to the full segment or read the transcript below.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

GLENN: Matt Bevin, welcome to the program. How are you, sir?

MATT: I am doing well. I was doing better prior to Biden Watch 2016, however.

GLENN: Really?

So tell me about your socialist policies for Kentucky.

MATT: I'll tell you who has them is my opponent in this race. Jack Conway is a rubber stamp for Obama. You want to talk about whether it's spending other people's money. He's a career politician. Has never created a job in his life. He's a liberal who supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. He wants to restrict people's gun rights. He's pro-abortion. He's anti-coal. He's a rubber stamp at every turn. Heaven help us.

GLENN: Okay. So you won the primary. This is the real deal now.

MATT: It is. He's the state's attorney general. He's a Democrat. And he's a very, very liberal version of that.

GLENN: Okay. So what's -- how are you doing in the polls? And what's the -- we haven't talked to you in a while. How are things going?

MATT: I've begun to feel a little bit personally slighted actually. I miss you guys.

GLENN: Oh, wow.

MATT: You guys have been truly just stellar throughout, and it is truly great to be back on with you. The polls are good. It's neck-and-neck. We have two weeks from day. Two weeks from today is the election. Tuesday, November the 3rd. And we're just trying to fire up the base. It's a sleepy, sleepy electorate. It's an off year.

GLENN: Okay. So let me ask you this. You realize that we're pretty much the kiss of death. Anybody that we like is the kiss of death.

MATT: I'm not going to accept that. We're going to break the right here.

PAT: Good. How is it possible, Matt, that the person you described to us with such socialist policies like that, with such liberal policies, how can he even be in this race in Kentucky?

MATT: It's a good question. I'll tell you what people don't realize about Kentucky. 72 percent of all elected officials in this state are Democrats. 72 percent.

PAT: Wow. Really?

GLENN: It's old-style Democrat.

MATT: It's old-school. But we're a check the box, vote straight ticket state, which I think is usually a disservice. And, unfortunately, many people do that. Only 38 percent of registered voters are Republicans. So it is an uphill slug. We've only had two in the last 75 years that have been Republican, each for one term in the governor's seat.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: Holy cow.

PAT: Surprising. Really surprising.

MATT: It is. We're different -- I'll tell you, to be in the mix is almost unprecedented. To be tied neck-and-neck --

GLENN: No, no, don't say that, Matt. No, no, no. That's what people who lose the Oscar always says. It's just an honor to be nominated.

MATT: No, no, I'm saying that this is the thing that should give people great hope. Because there are still about 10 percent that say they're undecided. And the 10 percent invariably breaks to the conservative side. This is good for us. I think we'll win this thing by 4 to 6 percent, somewhere in that range.

STU: Matt, is there a third party candidate here that there's a lot of coverage that will screw up your race here?

MATT: It won't hurt me actually. I think it will actually help me, if it ends up being a factor. He was a liberal Democrat up until a few months ago. He's voted for Obama twice. He's even more -- he's like our version of Bernie Sanders a bit. And to that end, he's now pretending to be an independent. I'm not sure exactly what his thinking is. He's a good guy. But he's not going to have any chance of winning. And he will pull votes, but probably more from the other side.

GLENN: So, Matt, tell me why -- if anybody is listening to us and they're in Kentucky. Or hell, they're dead in another state.

Why should -- why should they vote for you?

MATT: I'll tell you what, I'm not a career politician. I'm a guy that grew up in a humble way, in a simple way. I grew up with strong Christian values. I'm a guy who grew up having to make his own way, below the poverty level, but blessed to go to college. Joined the military. A guy who got out and spent 20-plus years in the private sector. A job creator. I'm a father of nine children. Four of my children are adopted. I'm a normal person. I'm a guy like so many out there who simply want better opportunity for themselves, for their families, for their state and for America, for people that are weary about how the fabric of this nation is being shredded. Used to be a thread at a time. We're seeing fistfuls of it, twisted out of the fabric of who we are as Americans. And for people who want a counterpoint to that, for people who want somebody to fight for them who is one of them, who will be a representative of and by and for the people, like this government was intended to be, I'm that guy. I'm trying to step forward and truly be a public servant.

PAT: We're believers, Matt. And obviously there's mattbevin.com, I'm guessing.

MATT: It's still there. When it ain't broke, my friend.

PAT: Yeah. Go fix it. Go fix it. So can they get involved on a volunteer basis as well and help you out with the campaign? Go door to door too? All that kind of stuff too?

MATT: We need all of the above. Yes, if people would go to Mattbevin.com. M-A-T-T-B-E-V-I-N.com. We need time, talent, and treasure. The time and talent: Door knocking, phone calling. They can come into our offices. They're all over the state. They can also do it from home. We can provide them with lists. We need people to make contributions. If they're able and willing, any amount will help us to stay on-air. Liberals are pounding the snot out of us on the airwaves because that's the only thing they have. We're excited though, just last night, the RGA put in a significant buy. They're getting back into this race in a significant way. They've been in and out. They're all in, all the way through to the end. So that bodes well for us as well. I'm excited by this.

GLENN: We'll be watching this. As you know, Matt, we're very big fans of yours. And we expect big things when you become governor. We really expect you to really hold fast to the promises that you've made and make Kentucky an example in the rest of the country on what can be done when you have good, solid principles and you live by those principles and you don't become a crony capitalist or just a dirty politician.

PAT: We also want really good tickets to the Kentucky Derby.

MATT: I can promise you the former. I can't promise you the latter. But I will tell you, in all seriousness, guys, the first and last line of defense against overreach by the federal government, overencroachment on our constitutional rights, the first and last line of defense -- and you know this -- is the governor's seat. It is what happens at the state level. The Tenth Amendment still means something. It's still truly a powerful tool, the sovereignty of a state. And I absolutely intend to make Kentucky a beacon for the rest of America.

GLENN: If somebody is listening, because we've actually had other people that have listened to governor races, et cetera, et cetera, and they've gone -- Scott Walker was one of them -- they've gone from California and they've driven across the country to help in the campaign.

Why is your election important to somebody in another state?

MATT: This is a bellwether for 2016. I mean, heaven help us if we have to listen to Biden Watch 2016 with anything other than a joke in our minds. Because whether it's Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, that is the worst thinking of American political -- of the American political scene. This bellwether for this race, what happens with even with the message on the Republican side is going to be driven by what happens in this race. This is the only race in 2015 that has the ability to move to conservative hands. It is the only one that could be a pickup for Republicans in this case. And it is the only one that will be a bellwether for Medicaid expansion. It will be a bellwether for school choice. It will be a bellwether for energy policy. And it will absolutely move the needle on discussion in 2016. This race is critical.

STU: You know, if you become governor, is there some sort of a retirement plan you could recommend to Mitch McConnell?

MATT: I will tell you what, I made a pledge myself that I will not participate in any kind of a taxpayer funded retirement plan. I will let others speak for themselves as to what they will do. I will not participate.

(laughter)

GLENN: Matt, always good to talk to you. And, by the way, I am a Kentucky colonel. So at some point, I can marshal the troops.

MATT: Please do. Rally the troops. And ride into town. We need all the reinforcements we can get. I would be great grateful. I really would, guys. Good to talk to you.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.