Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed The Ohio Star Managing Editor Jack Windsor to the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Windsor reflected on Governor Mike DeWine’s less than favorable reception at the recent Trump rally near Dayton, Ohio this week. He also weighed in on the current Joe Biden ads playing in Ohio stating that the mask mandates being pushed by the candidate are not playing well.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line our good friend, the managing editor of The Ohio Star Jack Windsor. Good morning Jack.
Windsor: Mike, Crom good morning. Thank you for choosing me. It’s an honor to be here.
Leahy: We are always happy to choose you Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m. But you talk about choosing. You had a story that was quite shocking to some people who aren’t following your reporting. President Trump had a rally up in Ohio (Laughs) and he introduced Governor DeWine and the lieutenant governor there. Tell us what happened.
Windsor: So he was at a rally near Dayton, Ohio and the Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted was warming up the crowd and he was booed hardily twice. (Leahy laughs) One time he was talking about masks and held up the masks with Trump’s name on it.
They weren’t booing Trump. And a few minutes mentioned the governor and the first lady and he was booed again. Some people thought maybe that’s just a passing thing. When the president took the stage, President Trump mentioned Governor DeWine and he was showered with boos then. So it didn’t go well for the governor and the lieutenant governor.
Leahy: So Jack. The president apparently his staff had not told him, hey Mr. President you know this Republican governor we have up here Mike Dewine, he’s not really your friend. And the people in Ohio don’t really like him. And so don’t mention him. They didn’t say that to him you know?
Windsor: They didn’t. And when he said it you can see the president looking around and he goes what’s that all about? (Leahy laughs) He’s opening up. He’s opening up.
Leahy: Although you and I have known this since DeWine was elected. And by the way for our listening audience, the one journalist in America that Governor DeWine is afraid of is on the line with us right now. Jack Windsor. He doesn’t like hearing your questions. But he has to respond, right?
Windsor: Well, he kind of responds. He definitely has a visceral response. I ask really long questions for a reason. But you can see his visceral response when I ask the questions. I asked one yesterday about what our end game is and about the constitutionality of what he’s doing. And he really danced around it. You are right.
Leahy: Let’s talk about that first. I want to get back to the president’s reaction.
Carmichael: What constitutional issue are we talking about here?
Leahy: Tell us your question to Governor DeWine. And tell us how he danced around in his response.
Windsor: So the constitutional question, I’ll answer that first. It is amendment one and amendment 14. There is a federal case in Pennsylvania where the judge said that business orders and stay at home orders and rules on gatherings were a violation of the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment.
But my question to the governor yesterday was, I mentioned that he had an 81 percent approval rating in April for his handling of COVID but since that time he’s had the sixth biggest drop in the country. And as late as August he had as low as possible of 53 percent are approving. So nearly half of the state is refuting what he’s doing.
And then I mentioned that he and the governor were booed at the president’s rally the day before. And then I just said look, it’s obviously not a popularity contest. We have judges who have called orders illegal here in even in this state of Ohio most recently.
There is a Republican representative that introduced a bill yesterday that would strike down the state of emergency in Ohio. So my question was that in any war you have an exit strategy. Have you started yours? Because you say businesses are 50 percent open but they are not.
Some of them are not going to survive. That’s taking health insurance and health security away from thousands of Ohioans. Since your oath of office compels you to protect our constitutional liberties and not make sure people don’t get sick, what is the metric? Not the emotion but what is the metric that will cause you to listen to the growing number of people telling you to change direction?
Leahy: So what’s his face looking like when you are asking this question, Jack?
Carmichael: What was his answer?
Windsor: First of all there is an eye roll usually. Yesterday there was a chuckle. A laugh. And really his answer, in essence, it was actually pretty long. He and the lieutenant governor both chimed in. But he said that he and his administration continued to rely on the best science and recommendations to drive policies.
And frankly, he’s used to getting booed. That’s the long and short of it. I wrote an article yesterday published in The Ohio Star and I go into the state of emergency in March. It was really based on the idea that hospitals were going to be overrun. That’s the emergency that never happened.
Leahy: I remember that well. I remember all of the phony projections that now the former Director of Health Amy Acton said. By the way no longer the health director in Ohio largely because of the reporting by The Ohio Star and Jack Windsor.
Windsor: Well thank you for that. (Laughs) That makes me popular in some circles and highly unpopular in other circles.
Carmichael: Let’s switch to the president’s rally because I’ve notice don TV that almost all the people who are now sitting behind the president when he speaks are wearing these great big beautiful MAGA masks. So they are wearing an advertisement it looks like. And so that has to be purposeful. How big are the rallies? How would you compare them to the rallies of 2016?
Windsor: I think that they are still extremely impressive. You have thousands of people attending. And I think that they are right on par. I would say attendance is probably down a little bit but not much. They’re extremely well attended. The people who are there are obviously huge supporters.
The only concern I have is looking at his approval with respect to the handling of COVID has dipped. He was at about 50 percent at the end of April. And plus or minus he’s around 31 to 41 percent now. So he’s dipped a little bit in Ohio. But again, I’m still not too worried. I know that we were showing that he was behind a couple of points to Biden. Actually we should say, Harris.
Leahy: (Chuckles) The Harris-Biden ticket.
Windsor: That’s right. But I think they are really still well attended Crom. I really do.
Carmichael: OK. And he’ll be holding events in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. All across the Midwest right through October. Have you attended any of Joe Biden’s events? Has he come to Ohio? And if he even comes to the state are you allowed to be near him in the sense that in the same room?
Windsor: (Laughs) If I wasn’t it would be by personal preference. I would be allowed yes. I have not. I believe the last time he was here I want to say it was around March. If not a little bit before that. He has spent a lot of money on TV ads in Ohio. They have ramped up. And I want to say its somewhere between one and two million dollars of spending.
Leahy: What is the messaging in those ads Jack? What is the main theme of those ads?
Windsor: You know, you are going to catch me here. I don’t watch a lot of TV. I don’t actually own one. But I have been able to see a couple of them. He’s really big on the masking mandate. That’s one of his promises.
Leahy: Let me just stop for a moment. The one I’m thinking of is where he’s standing at a lectern. Like a wooden whatever. And he basically starts off by saying if needed I will have a national mask mandate. Now, I don’t know. Do you think that plays well with voters in Ohio?
Windsor: No. I do not. I think voters in Ohio are done with masks. And I think it really hit the fan when the kids had to go back to school. Healthy kids and younger kids having the mask all day while they are in school. In some districts. It’s different for other districts.
That to me is when a lot of the push backs for masks really hit a high level. No, I don’t think it plays well. We’ve been under restrictions now for over six months. I think a lot of people look at that and go, wait a minute. You aren’t going to take office till January and you are going to tell me we are going to be wearing masks in January, February, and March?
Leahy: Yeah. That’s not a good look.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Mike DeWine” by Mike DeWine. Background Photo “Donald Trump Rally” by Hayden Schiff. CC BY 2.0.
