This open forum. If you want to participate, to a 27488000 four democrats, free democratststext us at 202. Democrats line starts us off in minnesota. This is darrell. Caller yes, thanks for taking my call, pedro. I would like for programs like yourself and other Media Outlets to start articulating the primary votes of the democratic side. You keep showing, for example, trump is up by so many points on his other opponents, but joe biden is up by more points on the other of the ledger pertaining to his lead. I think what happens in that case, you show trump is a winner. You are not showing biden as a winner and has it more substantially compared to the primary of the republicans. Host hen you say primaries, at do you mean by that . Caller for a simple in one poll is up 62 to 68 points over his closest opponent, which would be kennedy at 14 and seven in some cases. It is a higher number than trump is showing over desantis, for example, but the notion is that trump is this winter over his opponent, and you do not show the democratic side of the ledger where biden is up a larger margin. Host so essentially you are saying biden is winning over his opponents challenging him . Caller yes, but by a substantial amount as well. You never show the part where biden is leading by a substantial amount so you happy perceptions out there that trump is blowing this guy out, blowing him out in the war with the opponents where biden is blowing his opponents out by more or a larger margin. Host sure, ok. General, that is in minnesota. When it comes to one of those opponents, that is robert kennedy. The New York Times reported discussions about mr. Kennedy perhaps running as a libertarian. This is the story saying that if mr. Kennedy decides to leave the party of his famous father and uncle on the one potential landing spot may be the Libertarian Party, which at the moment lacks a widely known candidate but has excelled at securing ballot access. In july, mr. Kennedy met with the chair of the Libertarian Party in a conference they were both attending in memphis, a meeting that had previously not been reported. He emphasized he committed running as a democrat but he said he considered himself very libertarian, he said in an interview, adding that they agreed on several decisions, including the effect of the deep state and the need for populace messaging. This goes on to quote saying, my perspective is we will stay in touch in case he decides to run and he can contact me at any if that is the case. That is from the New York Times. Lets go to floyd on the independent line, the louisiana. Caller yes, yes. I am 89 years old. I am wanting somebody that owned the franchise for Kentucky Fried Chicken to get somebody that is able to put that original recipe back together. The recipe they are running now is not the original recipe. The ones that took the product off the recipes need to get with the company or whoever handles that and put the recipes back together. I assure you they will have the sales of about 30 . It does not have the original recipe that was formulated by Colonel Sanders. Host got your point. This is a show about politics. Why are you calling about Kentucky Fried Chicken . Caller because i worked for them for nine years and the original recipe is not in the product now. They have taken a lot of the spices out of there. Host ok, that is floyd. It is open forum, so lets go to maryland, independent line. Hello. Caller hi, pedro. I enjoyed your program about the unemployment disparities, and i am wondering if gao will ever get around to doing a Forensic Audit on the ppp program, whereby many in congress benefited. Host you can go to their website and look good it has a searchable database if you go to gao. Gov to search that if you want to check out for yourself. I would not know offhand but i am sure you can search there. Why are you interested particularly . Elaborate on that. Caller the reason it concerns me, somebody mentioned earlier the focus on the little guy. Big money went out the door under that program that was administered by jared kushner. Big money. And it went to corporate interests. And a lot of it went to members of congress for their various side hustles, whatever they do. I was very curious as to whether or not they are paying as much scrutiny to that money as they are the unemployment checks. Host so just buy a quick search, there was a report out in march of last year just to show you the headline. The Program Changes increased lending to smaller and underserved businesses read this could be one of many reports on the topic if you want to check that out for yourself. Gao. Gov is the website where you find that. In ohio, republican line, this is from jonathan. Hello. Caller yes, this is jonathan. I am a republican. I am a registered republican. The next election, i will vote for biden. I think donald trump is a failure for our country. Host what convinced you to change your mind ultimately . Oh, he hung up. Lets hear from richard. Richard in arizona, independent line. Hi. Caller good morning. Host morning. Caller yes. About this budget, i figured it out quite a while ago. Let me point this out. It is very hard for congress it seems to pass a budget every year on time, correct . Host yeah. Keep going. Yeah. Caller in may, they just finalized the budget from 2022 that was supposed to have been done by september or october 1 of 2021. Who was in charge of congress then . We all know who that was. We had an election in 2022. So that budget never got done. Mike ross suspected they would not hold the house after the election of 2022, so they said, let the republicans deal with it because they will have a real hard time, ok . So that is what happened. Now they finally got that out of the way in may of 2023, and now here we are. It is hard enough for them to do a budget in one year. They pushed it on the republicans to have to do budget after budget all in, what, eight months. Host richard there in arizona on the topic of a shutdown. One of the people waiting in on that is neil bradley of the u. S. Chamber of commerce in the opinion pages of usa today. Government shutdown is a dumb choice is the headline. He likes that if government shutdowns were another failed legislator tactic, policymakers and no one would care much. But because of realworld negative consequent as that hurt American People and the american economy, during a shutdown, mortgage and loan applicants are delayed because lenders cannot access income records or Social Security verification services. These are delayed visa and passport are delayed, hurting american travelers. The ability to get government permits can slow everything from fishing and the export of American Made goods. There is more there if you want to read it. Usa today is where you will find you. Lets hear from robert in georgia on the democrats line. Caller yes, i want to give a kudos to the man from louisiana. He just made my day with the kentucky five chicken recipe. That is what we need to do with the way things are being done. Donald trump had this country captured for so long and they are never going to do anything to him. The media would go rogue with the news if they did not have this guy, so what would we do . The man with the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe made my day and i want to give him kudos. Host lets hear from democratic whip dick durbin, talking but the charges that related to senator bob menendez. He was asked if senator menendez should resign. There other comments made yesterday. [video clip] denying these charges i should say but many democratic members and officials in new jersey are saying he should resign. Do you . Let me tell you this is a very serious charge. There is no question about it. It bears reminding what i said about the indictments against donald trump get equally serious charges. These are in fact indictments that have to be proven under the rule of law up a person accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence. It is the responsibility of the government to present the case. I said that about donald trump and will say the same thing about robert menendez. There is a rule, when indicted, you lose your position in leadership or chairmanship of a committee. That is what happened with senator menendez. He lost his chairmanship of one of the most important committees which the president himself served as chairman in years gone by. In terms of resignation, that is the decision made by senator menendez and the people of new jersey. A lot of democrats i am sure you have seen share the view that he has the assumption of innocence but those in his home state of new jersey say that he told evidence of this indictment means he does not belong in the u. S. Senate. Do you agree . Well, keep in mind that these are charges and they have to be proven. There is a presumption of how far it goes will be decided by the senator and the people. Of new jersey host again, that was on the sunday show. It is on the fox news website this morning but senator robert tremendous reportedly claimed his 2024 reelection bid during a press conference monday, his first appearance since the latest indictment. He planned the press conference where he grew up and watched his political career. The 28 rolled School Board Member the 28 will School Board Member will deliver those remarks at a Community College in union city. So look out for that as that plays out during the course of the day. Clara from missouri, kansas city, republican line. Good morning. You are next. Caller good morning. Pater i am also pedro, i am also calling about the man with the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe but what youd be up was the smile on your face. I have never seen such a beautiful smile on your face. You always have a real poker face. Host i dont play poker, but thank you for the sentiment. Keep going if you wish. Caller well, that was it. I think that was the best call of the morning, the one about the Kentucky Fried Chicken. Host i have been doing this for 20 plus years and never had that happen. They queue for the call nonetheless. Lets hear from simon in darlington, south carolina. Independent line. Hi. Caller i have just happy people are finally talking but the most important political issue going on right now, and that is the original recipe chicken. After Colonel Sanders sold the restaurant, they changed the recipe. He had some harsh words to say to him, particularly regarding the gravy. It tastes like wallpaper paste, but that does not even touch the chicken. But after that, he opened the Claudia Sanders did her house in shelbyville, kentucky. That still has the original chicken. For all of the callers looking for it, that is where you go. You get your original chicken from Claudia SandersChicken House in shelbyville, kentucky. Host ok. I dont know how to react to that. Again, open forum is what we will do until 10 00. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488002 for independes. You can also text us if you wish, 202 7488003. And then post on our various sites, facebook, x, and you can follow the show on instagram. Plenty to watch out for this week as the possibility of the lack of government funding occurring before the end of the week. The house and senate back tuesday to start work on those efforts. Later on this week, the first impeachment inquiry herein. Against President Biden hearing against President Biden. You can always go to cspan. Org to keep abreast of what is going on. You can follow along on our cspan app cspan now. Lets hear from roy, republican line in georgia. Hello. Caller thank you for taking my call. I was thinking that oftentimes you guys use the New York Times for fact checking. I am calling it speaking in about radios. The host pulled out and said it was a Conspiracy Theory that hold out the New York Times was a Conspiracy Theory. I just wish that i mean, this is something us republicans have known for over two years. I just hope that more people that watch Mainstream Media will realize they have been deceived, lied to, and they have no idea what the truth is and that the truth is finally coming forth. Host what is the connection between the charge that he faced recently and the socalled Conspiracy Theory . Caller well, that he was there. He was actually there, and his truck supporters pointed him out. He was there pulling on the barrier. He was carrying the sign, past the sign over his head. He was encouraging people to go into the capitol. We saw this conservative television but you never showed it. Host how does it qualify the Conspiracy Theory . Caller my point is this, you also he was not there. Host i did not say that, just a you know. Caller dear host that was there said it was a hoax and pulled out the paper. The New York Times said it was a hoax. Till to get just a little bit that the truth has emerged just a little bit and more will come out in the future. I am really happy. I just hope the Mainstream Media will be more honest. Host ok. That is roy in georgia. To clarify, he faces a year in prison for writing at the u. S. Capitol on january 6. Republicans are clinging to a Conspiracy Theory that the arizona man as a federal agent. He pleaded guilty to a single charge of Disorderly Conduct and republicans say the charge is fishy, saying he encouraged other writers in a scheme orchestrated by the department of justice. This from Huffington Post and other reporting. Lets hear from catherine in this open forum. She is in New Hampshire, independent line. Hi. Caller hi. Good morning. After reading in the magazine the week in the september 22, 2023, issue how heat hurts schizophrenics, one suggested causing the hurt was high heat. Why . When there is not high heat but a schizophrenic is having a psychotic incident and goes to the hospital, is there temperature taken . Are they given a brain scan . Is it checks to see what is causing the illness . I say test, dont guess. Research and finding our Money Research and spend our money finding a cure for schizophrenia. Rather than spending our money on the wars. Host ok. Catherine in New Hampshire joining us for this open forum. Again, we plan to continue on until 10 00. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. An independents, 202 7488002. If you are on hold, i ask you to wait a couple minutes. If you are calling, please keep calling in. During this time, we will pause a bit to take a look at what is going on in 2024 politics. Joining us for that discussion is Julia Manchester, the National Politics reporter. Good morning. Thank you for joining us again. Guest good morning. Thank you for having me. Host i suppose the starting point might be the recent polls from the Washington Post and nbc taking a look at joe biden and donald trump both what do you think they mean for the two men as they go forward trying to win the white house . Guest for the two men, i think that this is not a given on either side. We have heard for quite some time now that bidens team has been wanting to run against donald trump and that he would be the prime candidate. We are certain to see him perform better in some polling, leading in some cases, but will be a close race. Obviously, we are a year out. Donald trump and joe biden have to get through their own respective primaries but this is something we are watching very closely. Host one of the things the two men will intersect on is visiting striking workers on tuesday. Talk about the visits and what is behind the visits when it comes to their campaigns. Guest it is so fascinating to see donald trump and joe biden both take these trips to visit these striking workers because in a way, these workers play an integral role in both of their campaigns. For joe biden, he has touted himself as the most prounion president in American History and has really emphasized the Administration Support for unions. His background supporting unions and talking about his sway and support for bluecollar voters have been really integral in a way to the democratic brand. For donald trump, we saw the same voters in 2016 towards him in states like pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan. Biden won those voters back in 2020, but donald trump is making a place for them again by going to speak to them. For donald trump, there is an added element because we know that while he is speaking to the uaw voters in michigan, the republican primary contenders and the rest of the field without him will be on stage in simi valley, california, at the reagan library. It is another opportunity for trump to Counter Program in an effort to get more visibility than his republican opponents and fox news. Host thanks for the segway. When it comes to that debate, who is expected to participate and what is the level of participation criteria here . Guest i dont know the exact level before in front of me but there was a polling threshold and a fundraising threshold. We know that some of the big names from the last debate will be there. Ron desantis ramaswamy, nikki haley, mike pence. We expect to see round two of this. What i am really looking out for is to see ron desantis, if he is able to stick out on stage. Going to the last debate in milwaukee, we were also not predicting him to be enemy or