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Episode 4: The Real GOP
15 Plays8 days ago
The Republican party serves big corporations when they should be serving the people. This is why they tells so many lies, like that immigrants are bad.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to 'Saving America'
00:00:18
Darwin Kastle
Welcome to Episode 4 of The Big Swing, Saving America.
Are Democrats Really for Open Borders?
00:00:23
Darwin Kastle
Part 1, Barbarians at the Gate, The Big Lie of Immigration. We can't discuss the core myths of the Republican Party without talking about immigration.
00:00:34
Darwin Kastle
According to the GOP, Democrats are for open borders. They insist that Democrats want floods of criminal gangs coming into the country and immigrants stealing your jobs, driving up home costs, using taxpayer-funded services, and voting illegally.
The Border Bill and Trump's Political Maneuvering
00:00:51
Darwin Kastle
That's why you need to vote for Republicans. They, and only they, will protect the country from this great evil. As I mentioned, this is a myth.
00:01:01
Darwin Kastle
The reality is Democrats do care about immigration and the border, even if part of the reason is just to take away this stupid Republican talking point. A key difference is that Democrats would like to solve the issue, and Republicans specifically don't want to solve it.
00:01:18
Darwin Kastle
If immigration was no longer viewed as a problem, why would anyone vote against their interests and support the GOP? The mind blower? Immigration is a big net positive for the country.
00:01:29
Darwin Kastle
The really big mind blower? Even illegal immigration is a net positive. One of the more obvious tells that immigration is just an electoral tool for Republicans is the story of the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, better known as the bipartisan border bill.
00:01:49
Darwin Kastle
This was a $118 billion package negotiated in 2024 between a bipartisan group of senators and the Biden administration.
00:02:00
Darwin Kastle
This was the most restrictive border bill proposed in decades. Given the GOP's claim to wanting tougher border restrictions, this seemed like a slam dunk, right?
00:02:11
Darwin Kastle
I mean, the only real question was how did the wily Republicans get the open border loving Democrats to get on board, right? Well, the problem is that the reality is different than the myth, especially during an election year like 2024.
Immigration's Economic Impact
00:02:26
Darwin Kastle
Donald Trump was running for president again and desperate to win as a way to stay out of prison after being convicted of 34 business related felonies while facing trials for indictments on election interference and improper possession of classified documents.
00:02:43
Darwin Kastle
Starting from the day Trump announced his campaign for his first presidency in June of 2015, he has run an immigration. Even in his announcement speech, he said Mexicans were rapists that were bringing drugs and crime across the border into the United States.
00:03:00
Darwin Kastle
In 2024, he was running for president again. And again, one of his main campaign issues was immigration and the border. At the Republican convention, his supporters could be seen waving placards that read, mass deportations now.
00:03:16
Darwin Kastle
In order for this campaign message to be helpful to Trump, he needed voters to believe two things. First, that immigrants entering the U.S. were a problem. And second, that the problem wasn't going to get solved unless they elected him.
00:03:30
Darwin Kastle
If Congress had passed the bipartisan border bill, one of his signature campaign issues might have become moot. So he contacted the Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and instructed him, kill the bill.
00:03:44
Darwin Kastle
Given that it was a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by a Republican and about an issue that Republicans claimed to care about, it had been expected to pass. But Mike Johnson, like most Republican Congress people, is Trump's lackey.
00:04:01
Darwin Kastle
So the bill was buried. If that's not cynical enough, there's another issue that doesn't get talked about nearly enough. Immigration benefits the U.S. far more than it hurts the U.S. The U.S. typically has one of the strongest economies in the world, and immigration, both legal and illegal, are big parts of the reason why.
00:04:23
Darwin Kastle
As the U.S. workforce ages and retires, the influx of immigrants crucially helps keep the ratio of working-age people to retirees high. As new immigrants arrive, they stimulate the economy by increasing demand for food, housing, and services.
00:04:39
Darwin Kastle
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, immigrants contribute way more in taxes than the amount of public benefits they use. In 2023, they paid over billion dollars in taxes while generating over trillion in economic activity.
00:04:57
Darwin Kastle
that's a lot Undocumented workers pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, which are services they don't get to use, a straight-up economic boost for Americans.
00:05:08
Darwin Kastle
Also, according to the ACFR, 46% of Fortune 500 companies were created by immigrants or their children. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that immigration will increase the U.S. GDP by trillions over the next 10 years, which will reduce the federal deficit.
00:05:26
Darwin Kastle
Immigrants are great.
00:05:29
Darwin Kastle
While it's hard to argue with all this pro-immigration economic data, some Republicans will still say that either illegal immigrants are stealing your jobs or the reason you can't get housing is because of immigrants.
00:05:42
Darwin Kastle
More BS designed to get your vote. Undocumented immigrants can't get the jobs you want. They're working backbreaking jobs as field hands, overnight shifts in meatpacking facilities and low level landscaping jobs.
00:05:59
Darwin Kastle
Are these really the jobs Republicans are pining for? When ICE sweeps up immigrant farm workers, it's not like a bunch of Americans suddenly swoop in to grab those jobs. Instead, produce goes unharvested and we all suffer for it.
Housing Issues and the Myth of Undocumented Impact
00:06:15
Darwin Kastle
As for housing, the U.S. has around 15 million vacant homes, according to USA facts. There are many reasons for this, but among them are second and third homes for rich people and properties owned by corporations and investors.
00:06:30
Darwin Kastle
None of those homes aren't available to you because of undocumented immigrants. But it's not like the GOP are going to blame anything on rich people. If anything, there is more housing available because so many undocumented immigrants work in housing construction.
00:06:46
Darwin Kastle
As usual, the GOP has found a way to take something good and portray it as something bad in order to get you angry enough to vote for them, even if it's against your own interests.
00:06:59
Darwin Kastle
That's why it's so important to point out that conservative mythology is just bullshit. The GOP's greatest political asset is uninformed and undereducated voters.
00:07:10
Darwin Kastle
Informing and educating voters is one of the keys to making the big swing back towards American political sanity.
Should Government Be Run Like a Business?
00:07:19
Darwin Kastle
Part two, billionaire politics.
00:07:22
Darwin Kastle
Should the government be run like a business? As I've previously discussed, the GOP is the party of the ultra-wealthy. They make an effort to pander to the culture of blue collar workers, pickup trucks, boots, country music, blue jeans, beer, football, you get it.
00:07:42
Darwin Kastle
But over and over, their actions have proven they're all about the money. And by that, I mean keeping all the money in as few hands as possible. So it's not surprising that their policies pander big business and that their chosen candidates are often rich businessmen.
00:07:59
Darwin Kastle
The reason rich people donate so much money to Republican candidates is because they want to control government. What better way to do that than to be personally in charge of government or at least have their friends and peers running things?
00:08:13
Darwin Kastle
The seven wealthiest members of Congress are all Republicans per Wikipedia. And with the two wealthiest Democrats, Nancy Pelosi and Daniel Goldman, leaving office this year, that likely is going to grow. That number is going to grow.
00:08:28
Darwin Kastle
There are 10 Republicans in Congress with a net worth of over $100 million. Once Pelosi Goldman are gone, there will likely be only one Democrat worth that amount.
00:08:39
Darwin Kastle
President Trump is the wealthiest president in our entire history, even factoring inflation. So he's got a net worth of over $5 billion. That's five times the total net worth of the next five richest presidents combined.
00:08:57
Darwin Kastle
Members of Congress have a salary of $174,000. times the salary the average American. that's almost three times the salary of the average american But despite being well paid, people in Congress aren't becoming millionaires based on their salaries.
00:09:12
Darwin Kastle
So why run for office if you're making so much money outside of office? The answer should be public service. Perhaps that's why there's so many billionaires in the Trump administration. Maybe they have so much money that now they just want to serve the public.
00:09:28
Darwin Kastle
The Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Education, and the Secretary of Interior are all billionaires. Sadly, the Secretary of the Treasury is only worth around $600 million. Poor guy.
00:09:42
Darwin Kastle
There is a billionaire running NASA. There's a billionaire running the Small Business Administration. And there's a billionaire working in the Department of Defense. or the Department of War, as they like to call it.
00:09:53
Darwin Kastle
And that's before we even get to the shining night of public service, Elon Musk, who ran the glorious Department of Government Efficiency. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that after using Doge to make a bunch of changes to the government that favored his companies, Musk is now the world's first trillionaire.
00:10:13
Darwin Kastle
Surely, though, putting rich business geniuses in charge of everything just makes sense, right? I'm sure that's what the Democrats do, too, right? Oh, wait, I forgot.
00:10:24
Darwin Kastle
The Dems are big idiots. Just look at the dubious qualifications of some of President Biden's cabinet and cabinet level employee appointees. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
00:10:37
Darwin Kastle
He started working in the State Department in 1993 and worked in a whole bunch of different high level national security and State Department jobs over decades before his appointment. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen.
00:10:50
Darwin Kastle
She's an economist who had previously been chair of the Federal Reserve and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
00:11:02
Darwin Kastle
He previously worked as a teacher, a principal, a superintendent, and a state commissioner of education. EPA administrator, that's Environmental Protection Administration, Michael Regan.
00:11:16
Darwin Kastle
He worked in the EPA for eight years. worked for the Environmental Defense Fund, and he served as a state secretary of environmental quality. CIA Director William Burns.
00:11:30
Darwin Kastle
He worked in U.S. Foreign Service for 33 years, including serving as ambassador for Jordan and ambassador for Russia. Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
00:11:42
Darwin Kastle
She spent over 30 years in the Foreign Service and served on four different continents. You get the picture. Not only did Biden appoint a bunch of absurdly qualified people to serve in his administration, there wasn't a single billionaire.
00:12:02
Darwin Kastle
The stark contrast isn't surprising when you compare the two presidents themselves. Trump is a billionaire businessman with a string of failed businesses and bankruptcies.
00:12:13
Darwin Kastle
Biden served as a U.S. Senator for over 30 years and served as vice president for eight years. So this begs the question, is it better to have the country run by rich business people or by people with years of experience serving in government or in fields related to their jobs?
00:12:34
Darwin Kastle
The obvious answer might seem like we should elect and appoint people with relevant experience, but all right, maybe there's something we're missing about rich business people. There's two big questions we need to ask.
00:12:47
Darwin Kastle
First, does being a wealthy business person give you the knowledge to be good at running government? Second, does being a wealthy business person suggest you're the type of person who would put service to the country first and focus on doing whatever is in the best interests of the average American?
00:13:04
Darwin Kastle
There's a saying that goes, to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Well, to business people, they tend to think that organizations should be run like businesses.
00:13:15
Darwin Kastle
They certainly want us to think so. Otherwise, what reason would there be to elect business people to run something as important to the government, even though the government's not a business? There are a number of problems with this attitude. First, CEOs run companies with the power to make final decisions without having to compromise.
00:13:34
Darwin Kastle
Politics is all about compromising. The Founding Fathers literally designed our Constitution that way because they were afraid to give any person or even small groups of people too much power.
00:13:45
Darwin Kastle
Trump is especially good example of this because in his businesses, he didn't even have to answer to a board or to shareholders. Senators, ambassadors, and congresspeople learn over and over the value of collaborating and compromising with other public servants and lawmakers.
00:14:03
Darwin Kastle
Not so CEOs. CEOs often view things as a zero-sum game. You're either a loser or a winner when interacting with other organizations.
00:14:13
Darwin Kastle
Trump certainly thinks so. Yet in politics, the right course is usually trying to find a compromise that's good for everyone. Outside of the reconciliation process, bills don't usually get passed when Trump is president.
00:14:26
Darwin Kastle
This is because not only does he not want to compromise, he doesn't want Democrats to get anything. It might seem like a win for them, even though that's often when it's good for the country.
00:14:42
Darwin Kastle
CEOs like Trump use bankruptcy as a major business tool. And in Trump's case, he often doesn't pay business debts, even when his companies aren't bankrupt. These sorts of tactics might work in business, but they'd be disastrous for a country like the United States.
00:14:59
Darwin Kastle
If the U.S. went bankrupt, it would devastate the world economy. We don't want that. Not only does being a CEO not prepare you for work in politics and public service, but it teaches you a worldview that is bad for public service.
00:15:16
Darwin Kastle
CEOs are driven to make as much money as possible and to have their organizations make as much money as possible. This is a terrible mindset for government. Most government organizations aren't profitable.
00:15:29
Darwin Kastle
They aren't supposed to be. They aren't intended to be. For example, the Veterans Administration isn't supposed to make money off veterans. It's supposed to provide a service to them.
00:15:41
Darwin Kastle
The post office wasn't created to make money. It was created to provide a service to the public. The idea is that we pay taxes to the government so the government can then use that money to provide us with services.
00:15:56
Darwin Kastle
A business person like Trump just wants to use tax dollars to make money for himself and for businesses that have carried favor with him. Using tax dollars to help average people and to serve the public just seems like a waste of money to him.
00:16:12
Darwin Kastle
When Trump was inaugurated for the second time, the front row was filled with billionaires like Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. It's not because by some coincidence they all went to the same grade school together or anything like that.
00:16:27
Darwin Kastle
It's because those are the type of people that he thinks matter, not everyday Americans. When Trump wants negotiations done during various wars, he doesn't send veteran diplomats from the State Department.
00:16:41
Darwin Kastle
He sends billionaires like his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, or his real estate buddy, Steve Witkoff, who don't even have official government jobs. It should be no surprise that the billionaire class that funds the Republican Party want us to think the government should be run by and for billionaires.
00:16:59
Darwin Kastle
But they can't relate to everyday Americans. Plus, their goals and interests are different than those of everyday Americans. The idea that the government should be run by business people and run like a business is just another myth that rich conservatives want you to believe.
Republican Myths and Misinformation
00:17:18
Darwin Kastle
Part 3, Lying Liars, the truth about the GOP. In recent weeks, I've spent time talking about the Republican mythology designed to get working class voters to support the party of the mega-rich.
00:17:33
Darwin Kastle
It's become clear that the things the GOP claim to be the party of just aren't true. and in many cases, the exact opposite of their claims are true. So if the GOP is not the party of freedom, not the party of small government, not the party of piousness, what are they? I'll tell you, nothing good.
00:17:56
Darwin Kastle
The problem is the premise. They want to govern with policies designed to help only the wealthiest Americans. And they can't just say that if they want anyone to vote for them.
00:18:08
Darwin Kastle
The predictable result is an all-out assault on the truth. Years ago, I didn't think this would be possible. With the widespread use of the internet, I thought we were entering an age of enlightenment.
00:18:21
Darwin Kastle
Ignorance would be banished with the click of a few key keys. With all the world's knowledge at your fingertips, what hope was there for people who lied about provable things like science, history, news stories, and data?
00:18:35
Darwin Kastle
What can I say? I was young and naive. Oh, and did I mention charming and handsome? Well, facts and truths did become more accessible with the internet, but it also gave megaphones to anyone who want to peddle misinformation and disinformation, or as scientists like to call them, lying liars.
00:18:56
Darwin Kastle
It can be difficult to know who and what to believe. With the internet becoming omnipresent, the need for critical thinking and media literacy has become vital. The lying liars realize this.
00:19:07
Darwin Kastle
So support for education is constantly being undermined, especially in red states. In Texas, the GOP recently passed a bill to require reading from the Bible in schools.
00:19:20
Darwin Kastle
It's not that they want you to actually learn lessons from the Bible. God forbid you care about immigrants or the poor. Conservatives just want students to be religious, and particularly Christian, in hopes that that will increase their influence over them.
00:19:35
Darwin Kastle
Teaching people to religious happens to be the opposite of teaching people to be skeptical. In many modern democracies, college tuition is paid for by the government.
00:19:47
Darwin Kastle
That doesn't happen here for multiple reasons. One, wealthy donors want private profits, not government helping ordinary people. But also, they want college to be for their children, not for other people.
00:20:03
Darwin Kastle
After all, Republicans get a much higher level of voter support from people without college degrees than they do from people who do have degrees. undereducated and uninformed voters are exactly what the GOP want.
00:20:19
Darwin Kastle
Politicians have been lying and saying things that aren't true for basically all of history. I had hoped that greater access to factual information would make them lie less for fear of getting caught and suffering political consequences.
00:20:32
Darwin Kastle
In the case of the GOP though, it went far, far in the other direction. That's not good. Republicans have long used propaganda to their advantage, using their many right-wing media outlets and the influence of big corporations over traditional media.
Trump's Misinformation Strategy
00:20:48
Darwin Kastle
But Donald Trump has taken lying to another stratosphere. Trump uses the fire hose of lies strategy laid out by his 2016 campaign chief, Steve Bannon.
00:21:00
Darwin Kastle
Lie constantly, and not only will many people believe you, but you can also get a bunch of people to stop trusting all politicians, including your opponents. Everybody lies. I can't believe any of them on the right or the left.
00:21:15
Darwin Kastle
It's also been proven that repeating a lie over and over and over can convince people there must be at least some truth to it. That's one of the reasons Trump keeps saying Russia, Russia, russiaha Russia, Russia. russiaha It's been fully proven that Russia interfered with the 2016 election on Trump's behalf.
00:21:35
Darwin Kastle
But Trump's constant denial and mockery of this concept has greatly increased the number of people who doubt that. Many people can't wrap their heads around the president United States telling a bald-faced lie like that on national television over and over and over again.
00:21:52
Darwin Kastle
So there must be some truth to it, right? The Washington Post documented President Trump making over 30,000 false or mislead statements during just his first term, averaging over 20 lies a day.
00:22:08
Darwin Kastle
There are several organizations dedicated to tracking and documenting Trump's false statements. PolitiFact, CNN, The New York Times, Wikipedia, and the Toronto Star all dedicate pages and pages of digital space to that topic.
00:22:26
Darwin Kastle
Trump may have the biggest megaphone, but he only deserves part of the blame. Other Republicans know the truth and they could help ensure the American public does too. Instead, they choose to amplify whatever lies that Trump selects for them.
00:22:42
Darwin Kastle
Personally, one of the most galling lies is the big election lie of 2020. Not only did Joe Biden win the election of 2020 by a comfortable margin, but federal courts have ruled over and over that he won the election.
00:22:57
Darwin Kastle
That doesn't stop Trump from claiming over and over that the result was fraudulent and that he was the actual winner. Once it became clear after Trump left office that he remained the most powerful figure in GOP politics, Republicans start to repeat his lies about the election, even though they themselves had won their elections on the same ballots that Trump was saying were fraudulent.
00:23:26
Darwin Kastle
This phenomenon is particularly striking when Republican nominees for federal office are being questioned by the U.S. Senate. Inevitably, a Democratic senator will ask them to confirm that Biden won the 2020 election.
00:23:41
Darwin Kastle
Just as inevitably, the nominees will refuse to say that Biden was a legitimate winner. They know that to be a Trump nominee, you need to support his lies.
00:23:52
Darwin Kastle
And sadly, they're willing to do so. To be clear, Trump and his allies will repeat over and over that there are mountains of evidence supporting their big election lie.
00:24:04
Darwin Kastle
But it's been six years and they've never presented any. It's just another lie from the party of lying liars.
The GOP's Corporate Alignment
00:24:16
Darwin Kastle
Part four, corporate lackeys. I'll take the Republican party for a thousand, Alex. As I've previously discussed, The Republican Party is the party of the ultra wealthy.
00:24:29
Darwin Kastle
In practical terms, there are two forms to this. Sometimes they push policies that cater to rich people directly, but more commonly, they push policies that cater to big companies.
00:24:42
Darwin Kastle
But in the end, they both boil down to helping rich people over everyone else. Billionaires generally gain their vast wealth in a combination of three ways.
00:24:52
Darwin Kastle
Number one, large ownership stake in a big company resulting in a high net worth through the value of their shares in the company. Makes sense. Number two, inheritance from an already wealthy family, but typically due to the family's ownership stake of a big company.
00:25:09
Darwin Kastle
Option three, lucrative investment in big companies, typically aided by one of the sources of wealth that I just mentioned. They can invest in big companies with money that they earn from other big companies or from a wealthy family.
00:25:23
Darwin Kastle
The point is, individual mega wealth is almost always tied to big companies that are making huge profits. So when the government makes policies that favor big companies over other considerations, they are making policy that specifically favors rich people.
00:25:41
Darwin Kastle
Well, Republicans will try to convince you that's okay, because what's best for big business is what's best for America. Is it? Nope. A key party of these policies is deregulation.
00:25:55
Darwin Kastle
This is spun by saying that business can't thrive in America because there's too much red tape holding it back. Corporations must be freed to thrive and to keep the economy thriving.
00:26:08
Darwin Kastle
There are so many problems with these claims. When you roll back environmental protections to let big companies pollute more, how is that good for most Americans? When you remove food inspectors that keep our food safe so that big companies can sell more harmful food, how is that good for most Americans?
00:26:26
Darwin Kastle
When you sideline the SEC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the FDA, how does that help most Americans? When you make the IRS remove the program that helped you file your taxes for free, how does that help most Americans?
00:26:44
Darwin Kastle
When you remove rules against charging people junk fees, how does that help most Americans? When you spend billions in tax dollars to cancel green energy projects, forcing up gas prices and making climate change worse, how does that help most Americans?
00:27:02
Darwin Kastle
When you lower taxes on big corporations, how does that help most Americans? I could go on for a really long time. But you see the pattern.
00:27:13
Darwin Kastle
Republicans constantly choose big companies run by super wealthy people over the rest of us. The GOP like to portray themselves as caring about blue-collar workers.
00:27:25
Darwin Kastle
They talk about bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. and helping create good blue-collar jobs. but the facts suggest otherwise. Despite pledges to re-industrialize America from the Trump administration, the United States has lost manufacturing over 100,000 jobs of manufacturing in less than a year of the second Trump term, according to PBS.
00:27:51
Darwin Kastle
But the most revealing part of how conservatives view the working class comes down to unions and collective action. When Joe Biden was president, he literally attended a union protest to show his support.
00:28:05
Darwin Kastle
Trump, however, hasn't bothered to hide his contempt for unions in his speeches. President Reagan, you may remember, fired striking air traffic controllers rather than consider their grievances or improving their working conditions.
00:28:20
Darwin Kastle
Conservative billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are infamous for their legally dubious but constant union-busting tactics. 26 states have so-called right-to-work laws in place that are designed to hamstring unions by preventing them from requiring dues.
00:28:40
Darwin Kastle
Can't really have a union without any money to run the union. Guess what? All of those states are conservative red states, or in a couple cases, purple states, but that pass the laws while under Republican control.
00:28:55
Darwin Kastle
You can have a debate about whether right-to-work laws are good or bad, but they're clearly harmful to union power. The fact that those laws are clearly conservative policy and not supported by Democrats makes it clear which party is pro-union and pro-working class,
00:29:13
Darwin Kastle
And it's not the Republicans. The GOP serve the interests of big corporations and the billionaire class. They don't have to be that way. It's a choice.
00:29:25
Darwin Kastle
Why do they keep making that choice? It's corruption.
00:29:31
Darwin Kastle
Subscribe for free and join us next time as we discuss the party of corruption. Thanks for... joining me on episode four of The Big Swing Saving America.
00:29:44
Darwin Kastle
The Big Swing Saving America was written and recorded for you by me, Darwin Castle.