Transcript 0:00 [upbeat music] You're listening to the Oklahoma Memo Podcast, the fastest way to get smart on Oklahoma news, politics, business, and sports. Welcome to the Oklahoma Memo Podcast. 0:16 My name is Ryan Welton, and it's time for our weekly conversation with John Cresson, although it's been a couple of weeks. John, how are you doing? I'm doing great. 0:25 Uh, the primaries are over, and, uh, I'm ready to go for November. Hey, you're ready for soccer is what you are. Well, and- Yeah... 0:32 l- yeah, uh, we've got a big, uh, USA game against Australia at 2:00, so I'm ready to go, uh, for the red, white, and blue. Same. Same, same, same. Um, Tuesday night, uh, Tuesday I got out and voted. 0:45 Uh, not many Oklahomans did unfortunately. Um, and but, uh, let- let's talk about y- your race because, uh, it should have gone to a runoff, not your part, but the Republican part. 0:56 Tedford with, like, a seven-point win over Jackson Lohmeyer, and then Lohmeyer drops out, so it looks like your, uh, your future, immediate future is known. Yeah. Uh, it, it was definitely a surprise. 1:09 A- and again, all of this kinda stems from the, uh, Daily Mail, um, article that came out. 1:15 I guess, uh, you know, Lohmeyer's girlfriend, you know, sent the, the text messages that he'd been sending her from Mar-a-Lago and from, uh, you know, a few things that had happened, and I think the fallout from that was that, um, uh, Tedford wins pretty handily, I think, in the, uh, primary. 1:35 Although Lohmeyer still finished second, but, uh, the next day, uh, Trump pulls his endorsement, uh, gives it to Tedford, and, uh, pretty shortly afterwards, Lohmeyer dropped out of the race. Yeah. Uh, he, he sure did. 1:51 And, and, uh, of course it's a, a unique circumstance in that, uh, the Daily Mail story... 1:57 And folks should know, uh, I had a lot of people, uh, comment on my videos about this earlier this week, "What's a British newspaper, uh, have, uh, any interest in this race?" 2:06 These British newspapers are massive global papers that have- And they're tabloids. W- well, but they, but they... The Guardian is basically The New York Times, but in, in London. Yeah. 2:19 Uh, but, but they have US newsrooms just like The New York Times has bureaus a lo- all over the world, just like the Washington Post and, uh, The Wall Street Journal have bureaus all over the world. 2:29 And it's an interesting story. Um- And anything MAGA, anything, you know, a Trump-endorsed candidate, you know, is, is a big deal, especially because Lohmeyer had been in ch- uh, uh, had started Pastors for Trump. 2:44 So, uh, you know, he's had both Don Jr. and Eric at Sheridan Road Church here in Tulsa. 2:50 He'd been using the church for his campaign, which, uh, I think he was gonna be sued [laughs] um, by some, uh, different, uh, civic groups because of that. And so yeah, he, he's a controversial figure, um, 3:04 that again, I think had this not come out, um, when it did, I think we would've probably had a, a different, uh... 3:13 W- it would definitely been a different outcome, but I still thought we would've had Tedford and, and Lohmeyer. That's who I expected. 3:20 Uh, and, and from the beginning of the race, I felt Tedford was probably the better candidate, um, to be honest, of, of the two. Uh, you know, but it's like with Ryan Walters, you know. 3:33 You have an extreme candidate, and then you've got another one. Um, and you never know what can happen in an August runoff. Now there's no need. Tedford's taken the, uh, taken the nomination it looks like. 3:48 Uh, I guess, you know, a- as long as- It's on, and yeah. Uh, w- Lohmeyer I guess had to drop out before today. I think that was- Well-... the deadline, and I think that's- So there are semantics there. 3:59 Um, he's suspending his campaign. They wanted to do it in a way to make sure that Tedford didn't have to go into a runoff with whoever was below him, I think. Right. 4:09 I, I think they just wanted to make sure that Tedford made it to the- Which if I was, uh, Nathan Butterfield, I would be- Right... suing, right? Because- 100%... 4:17 I mean, he finished third in the race, spent, like, a million dollars [laughs] of his own money on a campaign. Got about 11%, and I think, you know, uh, Lohmeyer was, like, 16, something like that, or 20- 26. Sorry. 4:32 So, a- again, you know, I, I, I kinda, you know... It, it's too bad for the voters 'cause I think, you know, they probably should've had a, uh, you know, a different choice. But, uh, you know, 4:46 it, it, it was definitely Tedford with, you know, over 30% of the vote and, um, you know, has quite a bit of a lead. So I, I think the August runoff, I don't think it would've been a different outcome, so. Right. 4:57 I, I, I tend to agree with you. Um, so, um, we were talking before we got on air about soccer and about match-ups, and how, um, you, you know, y- US plays Paraguay, that's one set of match-up concerns. 5:10 You play Australia, could be a different set of match-up concerns. Let's a- ask you about your campaign. You're move- you're going into November mode now. Yeah. 5:18 How is running against Mark Tedford going to be different than if you had been running against Jackson Lohmeyer? Well, I think, um, in both cases, you know, they're endorsed by Trump. 5:29 Um, but like we've said on this podcast many times, Ryan, um, if I'm just running against Trump, I'm not gonna win in Oklahoma. Just not the case. 5:41 Now, there's definitely a differentiation on the things that I, uh, you know, stand for, uh, based o- that are different from what the Trump administration and MAGA's for. But, uh, for me it is about, number one, 5:55 what are the things that I'm for? I've gotta show voters that I'm for outcomes. All right? We've talked about that a lot as well, that I'm gonna be fighting for affordability, for education, and for stopping the chaos. 6:07 For, you know, talking about the deficit that we've got, the overspending that we're seeing in the White House, and holding people accountable. 6:15 As opposed to just saying, "Well, I'm against Trump," or, "I'm against, you know, uh, Tedford." 6:22 Uh, and let's be honest, you know, uh, the way T- Tedford has set hi- himself up from the very beginning is he was a Trump guy from the beginning. 6:30 He, he, he said that unapologetically even before Loemeyer got the endorsement, and now that he has it, he's right back in that camp. Um, but you know, he's just said, "I'm a business guy. I know how to make a payroll. 6:44 You know, you know, vote for me 'cause I'm a business guy" which is basically Hern light. 6:49 You know, Hern, you know, is worth quite a bit more money, but Tedford's already spent 1.1 million on his race, so he's self-funding, uh, much like what we see with Hern winning the, uh, Senate nomination here in the state. 7:02 He got about 70% of the vote in that, uh, primary on the Republican side. Jasmine Thomas winning, you know, uh, the, the r- and she'll have a runoff in June- Nikayla Jasmine Thomas... 7:13 we can talk about that la- yeah, we'll talk about that later too. But again, we see, uh, Tedford, you know, one of the things that, that he's gonna do is say, "I'm a businessman. I'm for Trump." 7:25 And so I can say the same thing. We're both in insurance. You know, we're both Jenks guys. Uh, both went to Jenks and, and support, uh, that community, uh, Trojans for life, you know. 7:37 Although I think the differentiation is that I spent 16 years in the classroom. I've been on the school board. He's been in the State House. 7:44 But I've shown a commitment to improving outcomes, um, won elections, and been able to do that, you know, with, um, you know, a look at always putting Oklahomans first as opposed to, you know, am I looking to just increase, you know, my business, you know, uh, pocketbook? 8:04 Uh, or is it am I just going to support the party or for, uh, you know, the President? For me, it's I'm gonna go to support Oklahomans first. Right. 8:15 And all, all along in all our conversations, you've always been, uh, the outcomes candidate. You're like, "It, it doesn't matter as long as the outcomes, um, aren't right." Yeah. 8:25 What were some of your other observations, uh, from Tuesday? It was a low turnout. Um, minimum wage increase failed. Nikayla Jasmine Thomas I thought had probably the most impressive showing of any candidate. 8:38 She darn nearly won the Democratic nomination in a field, in a field, honestly, let's just call it what it is, of middle-aged white guys. Uh, and, and, and I followed her campaign from the start. 8:48 Sh- her work ethic is off the charts. And you know our state motto is "Labor conquers all." Yeah. 8:54 Uh, I, as somebody who fancies themself as having a pretty good work ethic, I was really proud to s- see that actually pounding the pavement and consistent communication online digitally every day, and she was relentless about her consistency, that it paid off. 9:11 We could, we could see that the candidates that put in the most work, you know, the Cindy Munson's, uh, uh, and, uh, Jasmine Thomas that have been in it for the longest time, had a great social media. 9:24 Uh, I feel like that- Well-... played its part... Ci- Cindy Munson, just to be fair, it was a no contest. It was, it was, it was a- Yeah... fait accompli. But, but again, Democratic voters voted for strong women. Mm-hmm. 9:37 I, th- that's, that's what I got out of it, and that if given the opportunity to, to vote for somebody, they wanna see someone that's gonna go fight, um, a- and, and maybe be different from what we've already got in, uh, in, in our state politics right now, uh, and in our federal politics. 9:54 So a- again, I, I, I think voters, you know, turned out in, in a little bit more in Oklahoma City and in Tulsa for State Question 832. Uh, in fact, CD1 had the highest, um... They actually voted yes on 832. So did CD5. 10:11 We had the higher percentage there. It was narrow but, uh, you know, Tulsa and Oklahoma City for the most part, you know, they were, uh, supportive of the, the raise in the minimum wage and in supporting, um, 10:25 you know, workers. I think it was, uh, a difficult road in, in the rural areas. Why? Uh, and, and I don't think- Why do you think that is? Uh, well, and, and I talked to some people afterwards and, and it... 10:36 I don't think there were any carve outs for farm, um, for farms and, and they're really struggling right now, especially with what's gone on with the, the war in Iran and with tariffs, um, from this current administration, is that, you know, they're struggling to barely survive, and they just couldn't, you know- So, so they're out-... 10:54 foresee trying to be able to do a higher- You're, you're telling-... higher wage... you're, you're telling me that they're out there paying people m- minimum wage, $7.25 an hour? And we're not hearing that a ton. 11:04 But again, the, the, it's kind of like, uh, people are scared, you know, of, of something that may not be a reality, uh, to be honest. 11:13 I mean, heck, uh, OCPA was paying people 20 to $25 an hour to go vote n- to go knock doors to vote no on State Question 832. Does that make a lot of sense to you, Ryan? I mean- Not at all. 11:27 They should, they should have lived... By the way, their campaign on meta, uh, you know, on Facebook, it was very good. It was very simple, but it was over and over and over. And they spent the money. 11:38 A- and, and we saw people that have wealth spent a lot of money to try to shoot down, you know, 832. Um, to me, you know, I just can't see as a business owner not paying somebody, um, um, a, a living wage. 11:53 I mean, $15,000 a year is what you would make if you were [laughs] being paid m- 7.25 an hour and working a, a full, you know, um, 40 hours a week. 12:04 So I, I just, I don't see that as being, you know, something that, that many people are doing, but we've gotta start having... A- and maybe this wasn't just... 12:14 It, it could be that 832, we just didn't do a good enough job, um, whoever was, was running that, to just make sure we got the information out... to as many people. 12:23 And I did feel like there were some races where people were probably not as educated as they should have been on who the candidates were. 12:29 Well, and, and I, maybe if I were, uh, just sort of dissecting the mi- minimum wage, uh, question, is that I don't see that question as being about solely about minimum wage. It's about the floor. Yeah. 12:42 It's about what the floor is because raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour would have raised the $15 an hour higher. And people will say, "Prices will go up." Well, prices are already going up. 12:55 Yeah, it- Curry has a $15 minimum wage now. Their prices aren't more when you go into Springfield or to Joplin and... Yeah. 13:02 Since the 1970s, since 1973, the one thing that has not kept up with inflation more than anything else is wages. And I'm telling you, man, um, workers are getting smart about this. Yeah. 13:16 CEOs, though, their, their salaries have, uh- Income management... have more than increased. Yeah. Yeah. They're, they're way above inflation. 13:25 So a- again, I think there's a narrative there of, you know, we, we've gotta start talking about how we help the average Oklahoman, the one that's working hard. Uh, I mean, what, the... 13:37 46% of Tulsans, you know, that are working full time can't pay their bills. And that's what we're not talking about, is, is how do we, uh, you know, improve wages? 13:47 Well, the, one of the best things, and I heard from this at, uh, at Rotary on Wednesday from someone who told me, "You know the best way to improve wa- wages? Education." Mm. Get more people certified with credentials. 13:59 Get them into tech. Get them into TCC. Get them into, um, you know, college. Increase education and wages will go up because you've gotta pay people a better wage if they've got better skills. 14:12 And so I think we've got, you know, uh, uh, whi- which is it, the chicken before the egg? Do we, do we invest in education? 14:20 Well, we should be, and, and I don't think we've done a, a good enough job on that end, which is why we're one of the lowest in wages. But on top of that, it, it's making sure 14:32 that, uh, you know, we, we, we pay people the wage that we want because what business is gonna wanna come to Oklahoma where we're 50th in education? 14:41 Yeah, they can pay people a lower wage here maybe per, compared to another state, but, um, what, 27% of Oklahomans have a bachelor's and 41% of the jobs need a bachelor's. 14:53 So they're gonna have to recruit people from out of state just to fill the jobs that they've got. 14:58 If that's the case, who's gonna wanna come here if we are not putting education first, if we're not, you know, paying people a living wage, if, if we're not investing in our own state- You got it... 15:09 in healthcare and infrastructure and the things to make sure that, uh, we have a, a good quality of life here. CEOs are wise to this. 15:18 There is a, a, the, the fallacy that many follow that say if you just lower the taxes, the businesses will come. You're assuming that they're a one-issue pony. 15:28 These CEOs, they're not only moving their companies here, they're moving their families here. That means a, a spouse, children, and if they don't wanna go, they ain't going. 15:38 Yeah, I just saw a thing in the paper today about Williams company trying to take over some public, um, areas around, uh, the BOK Center in Wi- in the Williams areas in downtown Tulsa, the, um, uh, the bridge over by the Jazz Depot, the, the plaza that's there. 15:56 And, uh, it's kind of an interesting idea of get- you know, turning over public, uh, properties over to businesses, but they want to improve them and invest in those areas because they wanna have a better quality of life. 16:08 They wanna be able to- Yeah... expand, and they wanna be able to control some of those areas to be able to, uh, make their corporate headquarters, which is here in Tulsa, uh, better. 16:18 And so it's an interesting conversation, you know, that should we, number one, be allowing businesses to be able to take over public property. 16:27 Uh, but number two, you know, how do we make sure that we invest, that we keep, uh, businesses? Well, you have to also make sure that you're investing in quality of life. 16:37 They've gotta have, you know, quality places to be able to bring employees and, and to be proud of the, um, of the places that they're, they're gonna be headquartered. Those public-private partnerships are so huge. 16:49 I, I actually love seeing companies wanting to invest in their area because they want a nicer area for themselves, for their employees. 16:56 They wanna attract, uh, uh, good candidates, and really, they wanna live in a, a city that they can be, and be in a neighborhood that they can be proud of. Yeah. That's it. 17:05 And I mean, we've just seen, you know, what, two major oil companies in Oklahoma City leave, and this is with the investment that Oklahoma City's put in, but again, the state lags behind in education and workforce development, and, um, those are problems that are at the federal level as well. 17:23 All right? Uh, one of the reasons why I'm running for Congress. So we need... You know, like I've, I've said, we're a five-legged stool. 17:29 We've got local, state, federal, we've got the tribal, and we've got the 501[c][3] in business. 17:35 We've gotta all be working together in Oklahoma to, to make sure that we have the strongest, um, economy, we have the strongest, uh, state that we possibly can. 17:45 And we're not gonna do that if everybody's pulling in a different direction. Right. I wanna ask you, speaking of education, uh, Craig McVey did not win his, uh, primary and, and... 17:57 But I don't know that many of us are familiar with the woman who beat him. What can you tell us about her? Well, Dr. Marshall was on the school board with me. 18:06 Um, you know, we, we spent, you know, about six years together and, you know, it, it's, it's not, um, that unwell known that, you know, we're, we just don't really see eye to eye educationally speaking. 18:20 And so, you know, um, we'll see how things go. I think there was a lot of people, uh, in the education circles, uh, teachers as well as, you know... 18:30 Uh, there's no one that endorsed her from the Tulsa School Board that she was on, um, mainly 'cause she was working with Halina Ashley... uh, and, and some people from the other party. 18:40 Uh, so, you know, I- we'll, we'll see how that goes. 18:43 Uh, I know that, uh, we've got an interesting runoff in the Republican side as well with James Taylor and, uh, my friend, uh, Robert Franklin, uh, who is at Sand Springs as a superintendent, and, uh, as well as he's been at Tulsa Technology, and been in, you know, every level of, of school from, you know, uh [laughs] the, the little ones down in, in, in kindergarten all the way up to high schools. 19:05 And so, uh, I think, you know, you know, I've known him for a while. He's gonna do a good job. 19:10 And I've, I've said it from the beginning, you know, in Oklahoma when you're 50th in education, you don't hire somebody who doesn't have the ability to be able to, to... That I could hire at TPS to be a superintendent. 19:22 Mm-hmm. Right? I want a superintendent that actually ha- understands how to improve outcomes, uh, that is going to go work for Oklahoma students. And so for me, you know, the... 19:33 Again, this is just my personal opinion, I wouldn't have run for superintendent, which, I mean, obviously I could've of, you know, had a chance to do that, uh, but I chose not to because I'm not... 19:45 You know, even with my teacher certification, even with 16 years in the classroom, you know, I, I didn't feel that I was qualified to be state superintendent of public instruction, to be a superintendent. 19:57 I want a superintendent in charge of our schools. 20:00 And so, you know, I, I feel like you have to sometimes vote, you know, for the best person for the job, and there's only one person left in this race, um, you know, of the three- Robert Franklin... 20:10 that are left that is a superintendent. Yeah. Yeah. I think, uh, that's the sentiment I see in a lot of education circles and in Facebook groups and whatnot, is that if this comes down to Robert Franklin and, uh, Dr. 20:22 Marshall, they're gonna be voting for Franklin. Well, and, you know, that's nothing against Dr. Marshall either. You know, I, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna throw shade. We, we have a difference of opinion. 20:32 I just, I wanna have a superintendent in charge. That is, that's just my opinion on it. And, you know, I, I'll probably catch some slack for it, but that's okay. 20:42 You know, I, I think that's the problem with politics right now, is that instead of voting for the best person in a lot of situations, uh, we just vote party instead of looking at, at someone and what they're actually standing for. 20:55 And, and I think, uh, we saw that, like, h- here in CD1. I mean, um, the, the overall voter turnout on the Republican side was higher. You know, uh, like I looked at the two governor, uh, races. 21:07 You know, there was like 72,000 I think for, um, the Republican side, like 50, uh, like 2,000 on the Democratic side. But yet in that same area, the minimum wage won. 21:22 So there was a bunch of Republicans, a bunch of people that- Interesting... identify as Republicans that voted for increasing the minimum wage. 21:31 So I think when we start looking at these numbers, I think Republicans should be... I mean, if, if I were them, I would be talking about outcomes and not about supporting Donald Trump, you know? 21:42 And what's going on in Iran, which I think we'll talk about soon. 21:45 Uh, but they need to be talking about the things that I hear every day, about inflation, about, you know, being able to afford housing, about education, about the things that Oklahomans are telling me they wanna talk about. 21:57 Not about, um, you know, building a ballroom or, or, you know, [laughs] algae in the, uh, reflecting pool. Right. Or, or- At Lincoln Square. I mean, all this stuff is just- Yeah... is just superfluous. 22:07 I mean- Or, or- And it's just a waste of taxpayer dollars. Instead of let's focus on the thing that actually helps improve outcomes for every American, especially people here in Tulsa. 22:17 And- I wanna, I wa- I wanna ask you about, uh, Mike Mazey and Ginner Drummond, because- Yeah... Mike Mazey, uh, has the president's endorsement. 22:24 The president on True Social last night went out calling Ginner Drummond a fake Republican, but Ginner Drummond won by a percentage. 22:30 It is likely, I mean, it's not, doesn't take a rocket science, uh, scientist to figure out that the McCall vote, the Keating vote, the Merrick vote is probably largely, largely going to Mazey. 22:44 Now, with that said though, Ginner Drummond has... He issued a statement, said, "I am my own man." And he's done a good job of, uh, fighting against data centers, big companies, insurance companies even. 22:57 The smelter over in Inola. The smelter. Yeah. How big, how, how much are we underplaying that as an issue statewide? 23:08 I mean, to me, I mean, one of the reasons I love being a Democrat is that I'm, I can be who I am, right? I mean, Jasmine has shown that she is strongly who she is, right? 23:19 Cyndi Munson, myself, you know, we can run on, you know, the outcomes, we can run on what we stand for. With Republican party, it's all about who's loyal to Trump. That's the Republican party right now. And for me, 23:36 you know, I could, I could never do that. 23:39 I didn't do it in 2016 when I ran as a Republican [laughs] and I, and I'm not doing it now, uh, definitely as a Democrat because I don't agree with what, um, the majority of what they're doing. Uh, but again, what we see 23:51 with Ginner and with Mazey is that you've got somebody who is, with Ginner Drummond, who is, who's pretty strong on his values. You bet. Right? 24:01 He, he really, you know, f- is his time with attorney general, is this is who I am and this is who I'm gonna be. [laughs] I'm a rancher, I'm an, you know, an Air Force pilot. 24:11 You know, he, he is a straight shooter, right? And a lot of people in rural areas really like that. Uh, Mazey is kind of squirrely. 24:21 I mean, the guy, I mean, what he did to that reporter, um, he had some really strange interviews. Uh, I've, I've had, you know, some people that knew him while he was in the legislature. 24:32 I mean, I think he said something like he's, he was one of the weirdest guys in the legislature. I mean- And, and by the, by the way- Yeah... 24:39 I, John, I've heard reports about, uh, chronic absenteeism while he was a legislator. Nothing's- Yeah... been, nothing has been dug up about his time in the legislature. 24:47 And, and I don't, I don't know what kind of a guy he is. I, I don't know him personally. Uh, you know, he seems nice enough, but, you know, again, h- He just doesn't give me any confidence, number one, as a leader. 25:00 Number two, he's pushing things against education, that we're 50th in education. He's calling every superintendent a liberal indoctrinator. I mean, come on. You know, Stacy Butterfield at Jenks. Come on. 25:13 Like, you're, you're calling people that, you know, uh, Durkie over at Sand Springs. These, these people are amazing. Dr. Johnson, I mean, has been working closely with Governor Stitt since, since starting, and it... 25:26 And they're not political. It's not that they're not indoctrinators. They're working for what's best for students across our state. And, and I think he's just politicized things. He's... 25:37 Again, being the governor of Oklahoma, what does that have to do with being endorsed by Donald Trump? You should be doing what's best for the state of Oklahoma. We've got enough problems. 25:45 Uh, and, and let's be honest, Donald Trump has made the state of Oklahoma's problems a lot worse, because we've cut, in his big bill, Medicaid, which has got... 25:54 We've got, like, a $6 billion deficit on, on SoonerCare over the next, like, decade, that we don't know how to fill that, that, that gap i- in healthcare. 26:04 So they're cutting off our nose to spite our face by, you know, "I'm gonna go endorse this guy for Trump," and then I've gotta turn around and try to help turn Oklahoma around in education, infrastructure, healthcare, improve outcomes. 26:18 And yet the things that he's standing for have been proven over the last 20 years in Republican politics in Oklahoma to fail. The vouchers, all of it, has failed. 26:28 Just giving tax credits to the big companies without improving the workforce, without, you know, investing in the things that help support everyday Oklahomans, that's not working. 26:39 And so I, at least, at least, you know, when I look at these two candidates, I look, Gitner is at least somebody who has said he's gonna support public education. He's not, you know, using the term indoctrinator. 26:51 He's, you know, he, he's strongly for Trump. I mean, that's what he says on his, on his stuff, right, as a Republican. 26:59 I, I don't know if he is or not, but in the end, you know, I want somebody that runs our state to be somebody who's gonna be true to who they are. I feel that's, that's Cindy Munson. 27:11 You know, coming just from my perspective, I don't think she has to bend the knee to anybody, uh, and she's gonna go fight for Oklahomans. 27:19 But in this Republican primary, I hope Republicans look at it and say, "Hey, which guy's actually gonna help improve this state?" Or, "And which guy is just trying to, to bend the knee to Donald Trump? 27:29 And which one is gonna actually... 27:31 Which outcomes, which one has an actual, you know, vision that's gonna actually improve this state versus just giving us, like, 'Hey, we're gonna get rid of all, uh, you know, ad valorem taxes, property taxes,'" which predominantly go to local schools and communities. 27:49 Most of it is not state-funded, so how are you going to get rid of it, and number two, how are you gonna replace all of that? You're not, unless you have a, an increase in taxes somewhere else. 27:58 So again, we, we've got promises from Maisy for stuff that doesn't make any sense, that most people, you know, on... 28:04 It's like somebody running for, uh, class president as a senior and promising that we're gonna have no homework and that we're gonna eat pizza every day. Right, right. I mean, that's what- He does... 28:14 that's what Maisy- He does. That's what-... you know, uh, election he's completely been. 28:18 Whereas, you know, I look at, at, at least at Gitner, I don't a- agree with a lot of the stuff that he's put out there, uh, but at least I can see, you know, there's some substance at least to what he's wanting to do. 28:29 Uh, again, you know, I feel like Cindy's the best choice, but, you know, I, I think Oklahomans have to definitely take a look at these guys and vote for the person who's gonna do the best job, not who's gonna bend the knee the most to Donald Trump. 28:43 Couple of questions, tough questions perhaps. Um, how much of a disadvantage is it for you and for Cindy Munson, you didn't have an opponent. Cindy, Constance Johnson is an opponent, but it was an 80/20 win. 28:58 It was, it was an easy win. Um, is, is there a disadvantage to not having tougher primary competition? Because you- Hey- You have to scrap and fight, like Jasmine. 29:10 A- and I just had a conversation, um, with someone as well, uh, that, uh, you know, we ha- we, we're still seeing lower voter turnout. Uh, but there are some positive signs from this. 29:22 Uh, you know, when we see CD1 and CD5 on State Question 832, we see the type of candidates that won on, on Tuesday, I think that's a positive result for Democrats. 29:31 And then I also see that we have outperformed Republicans in registering Democrats to vote. I saw. Every single month this year, Democrats are outpacing Republicans. I think there is definitely a movement. 29:46 We've gotta educate voters. We've gotta get them motivated and get them out. 29:50 We've gotta work with the Indivisibles, the Good Troubles, the, the, the League of Women Voters, the, the different, you know, organizations outside of just the parties themselves and the candidates to get people motivated to wanna come out to vote. 30:04 And again, we're not gonna do that by just being against stuff. We've gotta do it by having hope. I think, uh, I was, I was watching, uh, Barack Obama yesterday. Yeah. 30:14 Uh, so at a, at a, had a dis- a, a beautiful speech, and, uh, just saying, you know, "We can't lose hope. 30:22 We've gotta get back to a point where we're actually for something in, uh, Oklahoma, that we're actually for something in America." That's what people are waiting for, and you wanna know what they're not for, Ryan? 30:34 They are not for all of these ads that are negative and disgusting. All I hear from people is that they've just been turning it off, right? And until we start voting for people that are moving away from that, 30:50 you know, moving away from using those tactics- That's the key. That's the key, because people- Yeah. The negative ads run because they work. Yeah. A- and, you know, the, the... 31:00 I guess we had a June surprise in, in, in the CD1 race with Rob- Oh, and I'm, I'm already aware of what some of the August surprises could be, and I'm- Yeah... not saying anything. 31:10 But, but again, it, it is absolutely just imperative that people, number one, educate themselves before they go out and vote, and vote. Because not voting is a vote. 31:20 Not voting is voting for the status quo that we've had, and doing the same thing and expecting a different result in Oklahoma is only gonna get us where we are, which is at the bottom of the pile in every major [laughs] 31:32 statistical category. And so if we wanna change it, and we know we're good enough to do it, it starts at the ballot box. Percent. All right. This is a, a good wrap-up of all things Oklahoma politics. 31:44 I'm sure your life is getting busier by the day, uh, now that you're headed toward November. But I wanted to ask you about, um... 31:51 And it's the story this week nationally, the memorandum of understanding that the president, uh, has agreed to with Iran. It's going to cost, uh, an immense amount of money compared to- 300 billion... 32:03 yeah, compared to the Obama deal. Uh- Plus we're giving them $100 billion of dollars that have been frozen, I guess. 32:10 Well, a- and, and giving them the Strait of Hormuz, giving them control over it, which means that Iran is going to basically have, um... I mean, they didn't have control. 32:18 It was public water before, or public domain, and now they're gonna have it. It's, it's essentially the wrapping up... It's the 40th time we've come into an agreement, so. 32:28 Plus we've spent hundreds of billions on the war itself. Well, right. Thousands of people died. American servicemen died. For what? Yeah. So that we could give them more- Yeah... 32:38 than what we would've had from a negotiation to... And, and we don't even have a nuclear deal. Like, we, we have, we've literally gotten nothing. They can still have missiles. They can still help Hezbollah. 32:50 I mean, literally they are, we are just getting out of the war, which, hey, I am for getting out of this war, but not capitulating. Right. Right, not capitulating- Uh-... not surrender. I mean- I, I-... 33:03 uh, the, uh- Yeah... the, the, the, the- This is one of the... 33:05 probably will go down as one of the worst deals ever, um, where you started with a negotiation, you bomb somebody, and then you end up with a worse negotiation after you supposedly won- Yeah... [laughs] the battle. 33:19 Sign, signed at the Treaty of Versailles, you know, the- Yes... the site of World War I's surrender. So, okay. Yeah. Look, uh, y- you know, what are you hearing from Oklahomans about their feelings? 33:29 There are a lot of Republicans who are big mad about this. Yeah. I, I think they're upset. I mean, when we, when you've got Trump going on TV and saying, "We can't pay for childcare. 33:41 When we can't spend money on things to help Americans. We're cutting healthcare. We're cutting all these things." And this is from Democrats, obviously. 33:49 Um, but yet we're gonna give billions of dollars, uh, to Iran because, let's be honest, he wasn't strong enough to stand up to Bibi Netanyahu in the first place and tell, "No, we don't need to go to war." 34:03 Every other president, including Barack Obama, you know, told him to [laughs]... like, "No, we're not gonna go do this," because by entering into this war, there's no good that's gonna come out of it. 34:16 It's gonna shut off the Strait of Hormuz. We know exactly what's gonna happen. Every CIA analyst that, that has spoken kn- has said this was the first thing that was gonna happen. 34:26 They've, they've used the assets they have to negotiate because honestly, the world economically and, and the elections coming up in November, um, inflation's a big deal, right? 34:38 And when you drive up the gas prices, drive up fertilizer prices, that hurts Republicans. And the Iranians knew they could just sit and do nothing. Okay, you wanna keep bombing us? 34:49 You spend billions of dollars a day, you're... Americans are gonna get pissed off at you. If you don't make a deal, we're gonna keep the strait closed, 34:58 gas prices are gonna be expensive, your voters are gonna get pissed off at you. They knew that they could wait him out. He, this is probably one of the worst blunders. 35:07 It's almost as bad as the Germans trying to invade, you know, uh, Russia in the winter, or Napoleon trying to, uh, I mean, invade Russia in the winter. There's a reason that you don't go to war with Russia in the winter. 35:19 Uh, there's- Right. Yeah... the same reason why you don't attack Iran, right? 35:22 Uh, with the Strait of Hormuz and, and all of that oil, um, production that is in the Gulf region, why you don't want to, to make that mistake. And that's, I think, a horrible mistake for Trump. 35:35 I think they're gonna pay for it, uh, in November at the midterms. And, um, again, are we better off because of it? 35:44 I mean, we've cut US aid around the world, but now we're giving hundreds of billions to, to Iran so that they can rebuild their, their- I, I think that's the part of the issue that's- And-... going to fire people up. 35:56 Just like with the Inola smelter. It's not the smelter as much as it is the Arabian potential owners. I think, I mean, there... 36:04 it's, it's playing into, uh, xenophobic fears obviously, but maybe, maybe people don't want to capitulate to Iran. A- and we're helping people that we shouldn't be trying to help, right? 36:18 Um, we've made this regime, even though we took out all these leaders, we've made them much stronger. A- and the perfect example is 9/11, right? And, and the, you know, uh, attacks on the World Trade Center. 36:32 Did it bring America together or did it split us apart? Uh, it, it brought us together around- 100 percent... you know, "Hey, we're gonna fight global terrorism." 36:41 And then we went out and we, [laughs] we invaded countries that maybe weren't a part of it in, uh, Iraq, and, uh, Afghanistan obviously, you know, had the Taliban and there was things there. 36:51 But, um, again, you know, uh, when you attack somebody and you take out the, the leaders, it doesn't create regime change. A lot of the times it creates a strengthening- Right. Right. Right, right... 37:03 uh, for, for those regimes. 37:05 And so, y- you know- Again, it, it, had Trump been a, uh, an historian, had, had he listened, had he had people around him, uh, that weren't yes people that could have told him, you know, "Hey, you don't need to do this," 37:20 right? "This isn't a good idea. This is what's gonna happen," then I don't think we'd be in this. I don't think we would've been in it had it been his first term, when he had people that were willing to tell him no. 37:30 But because he's got people like Pete k- Pete Hegseth, because he got rid of a lot of generals that didn't agree with him, because again, let's be honest, he's, he's put people into the tops of all of these different, um, uh, agencies that are just yes people, that have no, uh... 37:49 You know, like the, the guy that's gonna be in charge of intelligence, uh, as the interim has no experience whatsoever. Right, Bill You know, Kristi Noem, and now, um, uh, you've got Mark Wayne Mullen in charge of DHS. 38:01 Again, people with no experience, uh, to be able to tell him, "No, this is what you shouldn't be doing," because he is a fly by the seat of your pants kind of president. It's whatever he feels like. He's for tariffs. 38:12 Well, we're gonna put tariffs on, right? And he doesn't want anybody to speak back. That is what the loyalty with MAGA is, and we need to be better than that. 38:22 We need to have a government that is ba- that is using data, that is actually doing things that are gonna create better outcomes, and that is looking at, you know, every side. 38:32 And we may not be able to have always the best outcome we want, but we're gonna get there better by compromising and by working together with both parties to try to get there than we're going to do by just 38:44 doing one man's choice, right? You know, and, and we see it with America 250. We should have been cel- we should be celebrating going into the Fourth of July as all Americans, right? 38:56 I, that's why I'm, you know, proudly, you know, supporting, uh, the American national soccer team. I was in the Olympic development team here in Oklahoma, you know, growing up. 39:04 You know, I, I love representing my state, representing my country. Uh, I proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance and put my heart, hand over my heart for the Star Spangled Banner. 39:15 And I think it doesn't matter if I'm a Democrat or a Republican. It doesn't matter where I came from. If you live in America, we should be proud to be Americans and coming together. Instead, what do we see? 39:28 We see, you know, a UFC thing that benefits Donald Trump 'cause he owns part of UFC. You know, we see, you know, that this is about MAGA, this is about him. 39:38 It's not about all of America and celebrating, you know, our 250th anniversary. And I, and I think we've gotta get away from this divisiveness and start bringing people together. 39:50 Uh, if we don't do that, you know, I, I, I do worry, but I, I do think we're starting to see that this is starting to crumble, and, and Trump's approval ratings, I think, are proving that. 40:00 I- Oklahoma's a microcosm of it. I think there's a lot, uh, to be said about Oklahoma's current sentiment. We don't want this in our backyard. NIMBY, not in my backyard. 40:10 Whether it be data centers, whether it be the smelter, Oklahomans, it feels to me like they're tired of folks nationally telling them what to do. Yeah. 40:20 Well, and hey, we can all get behind OU Baseball playing for a national championship, right, Ryan? Oh, you bet. Oh, I've followed that closely. 40:28 You know, I will tell you, uh, one of my first and best memories of Oklahoma sports... Now, mind you, I've watched OU football since the mid-'70s. 40:36 Uh, but once the 1994 championship, it was my first reporting job in Hugo, and I'd befriended, uh, a guy who's now deceased. 40:44 His name is Chuck Curly in Hugo, Oklahoma, and there was a little, little tavern there called Jeff's Party Palace. The guy who owned it, Jeff Pir- Pierce, very nice, he's in prison. It's, it's southeastern Oklahoma, man. 40:56 So, but, uh, but it, I would go there, and we would, all we would do is talk about, and/or, uh, a lot of the games were played the day, the College World Series. Mm-hmm. But we bonded over OU baseball. 41:07 Not only am I a baseball fan, but I'm a Boomer Sooner, and each one of the teams that has gone to the championship game or now the championship series, that squad in 2022 with Jimmy Crooks, uh, and, and all those guys, I can't even remember half their names anymore, but many of them are it- in the Major League systems now. 41:25 Uh, Peyton, uh, he's a, a shortstop in the Tigers system. Jimmy Crooks is actually playing for the Cardinals. But this team is, I think, the most special Sooners baseball team, uh, that we, we've had. 41:37 Uh, just the, the great story of Colby Branch and Kyle Branch, that home run, it's just a movie moment, and the Sooners are living it. It's absolutely something that should bring us together. 41:48 Even if you're an OSU fan, I would, I would probably, probably like to say that I would feel this way if it were OSU baseball with the- their storied history, but we need moments like that to bring us together. 41:59 And, you know, sports can do that. I think the World Cup, you're seeing people, you know, celebrating- Yeah... you know, people coming from all over the world. How about this tale Whereas we, you know, the, the- Yeah... 42:11 in politics, we're trying to divide us, you know, between people born in America and not born in America. A- and even, you know, uh, Trump's wife's from Slovenia, Melania is. 42:21 So I mean, why can't we celebrate people from all over the world- We should... our differences? You know, uh, when, when it's USA versus Australia, you know, we don't hate Australians. Yeah. 42:32 We're celebrating the United States. 42:34 We're celebrating this global spectacle that we have an opportunity to host for the first time in over 30 years, and to be able to see just how amazing and, and different people are from all over the world, and how, you know, the food, the culture, the language, the music, the sports, how we can all kinda come together and enjoy something together as human beings, [laughs] 42:56 that we're all really in the global humanity, u- us- You know, instead of us versus them. 43:03 And so- So, uh, and we're, we're s- we're seeing that, uh, with the, uh, the Algerian team camping in Lawrence, Kansas, and how they've embraced them. 43:10 The four clubs that are in the Dallas area, you had Netherlands and Japan. Netherlands having that parade- We had a few, uh, Dutch people on the flight from Philly to Dallas. Right, right. You, you had- Uh, and yeah... 43:20 you had the- Orange Army... you had, you had Three Lions, the British team that was there. 43:24 Croatia, and I wanna mention shout out Croatia, because they stopped by my favorite barbecue place in the States, the Rus- it's Rustler's Barbecue in Henrietta. Steve Sanford, the owner. I'm from Henrietta. 43:36 Uh, you know, we've, we always make it a point to stop by Rustler's. We'll go to Henrietta just to go to Rustler's. And you know who else did? Part of the Croatian national team. 43:45 And I say the national team, I d- I, it was people in Cro- Croatia outfits. I, I imagine it may just be fans, but whatever. 43:52 They were making their way from Dallas on up to Boston, I think, and the different places they're gonna play. And, and to see... I, I think there is a lot of purpose in these camps, many of them being in smaller towns. 44:05 Many of them traveling Route 66. I mean, it's the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road. I mean, again, I, I think we just need to, to kind of look at, you know, what's going on right now and, uh, come together. I mean, 44:20 it, I, I, as, as I look at the politics and I look at all the things that are going on, I hope Oklahomans in November decide, you know, that, "You know what? 44:29 Let, let's, let's come together and let's vote for the best people that are gonna go improve things for us, that are gonna work for us, uh, but also that aren't gonna, you know, try to push divisiveness and push this kind of narrative of, of kind of hatred and, and, and, you know, just, you know, us versus them mentality that we're seeing right now. 44:51 And, and maybe we can go do something." And maybe that's just the optimist in me. 44:54 Maybe it's the teacher, you know, the, the, the soccer coach that, you know, has played and, and won some state 4A championships- Yeah, you, you are very Ted Lasso-... won a couple playoff games, so. 45:03 You are, you are very Ted Lasso-like, I think. [laughs] Yeah. A- and we need a little Ted Lasso right now. I think there's a new season coming out. 45:10 So, uh, so your campaign from here forward is going to be about hope and positivity. I mean, I, uh, f- uh, let's put on a political strategist cap. Do you get any pushback about that? 45:21 Because politics, they're a tough sport. Yeah. Well, and I, I... What I tell people is, uh, "Go teach middle school and then, and then you'll figure it out," right? 45:32 So, you know- A lot of things can be figured out by teaching middle school. Yeah. It... 45:36 Listen, you know, I, I've got pretty thick skin and, and yeah, I'm a nice guy, I'm a good guy, and I think that's what people kind of see. 45:44 Um, but, uh, in the end, you, you gotta fight for what you believe in, and you gotta fight for your values. 45:50 And if that's not coming across, then, uh, i- if you're, if you're just about, you know, tearing down somebody else, that's not gonna get you anywhere. So we've gotta be about improving things and, and doing the work. 46:04 And, uh, I appreciate always having our talks every, every Friday. Hopefully we'll have a few more- I-... before November. Yeah, I hope... Yeah, absolutely. 46:12 And I, I love just, uh, getting to talk about the machinations of politics, whether it be here in Oklahoma or in, uh, across the country. Do you have anything big planned for this weekend? Today is Juneteenth. 46:23 Uh- Yeah, we got a Juneteenth celebration here in Tulsa, absolutely. Uh, it is Father's Day. It is. So Happy Father's Day, Ryan. 46:30 Um, and, uh, uh, to all the fathers out there, uh, to my dad, uh, Bill, uh, Croisson, uh, I'm gonna... I got a card for him. Uh, my mom's- So, oh, so, so is it Croisson? Do we have breaking news here? 46:43 He, he'll g- he'll go with the Croisson. He's, he's adopted the croissant. Yeah. So, you know, he... 46:48 It's still a Muskogee version in the, in, in, in my dad's house, but, uh, but yeah, no, um, I, you know, I'm gonna bring him a card. Uh, my mom's been battling, uh, she had stage two lymphoma, uh, cancer. Right. 47:01 That's sorry. And so she had her last treatment, uh, several weeks ago, and, and she's, uh, on, uh, looking on the up and up, and finally has an opportunity to get out of the house. That's awesome. 47:10 And so I got, I got him a, a, a, a nice card to go, go take her out to, out to eat hopefully sometime soon. And, uh, I just hope everybody has a great Father's Day. 47:21 We've got a lot of work to do before November on the campaign, but, uh, you know, hopefully everybody's got a great weekend. 47:27 And I hope you'll make time with me as we go along this path toward November, because I think it'll be interesting for Oklahomans to see the journey and how that, that goes away, document the journey. All right. Yeah. 47:37 Well, John, for John Croissant, John Croisson, John Croissant, we'll just... Yeah. Cri- www.croissantforcongress.com. www.croissantforcongress.com As we say every week, until next time, we will talk to you later. 47:50 Go USA and Boomer Sooner. And Boomer Sooner. Go USA. You bet.
