On Wednesday’s 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. – Michael Patrick Leahy spoke with special guest Neil McCabe who is a former Breitbart colleague and Washington journalist.
During the third hour, McCabe praised President Trump’s proposed Easter timeline to open up America for business again. He added that it was great to see a renewed enthusiasm in the Republican party that was getting behind Trump how going forward will play favorably into the 2020 election.
Leahy: We are joined now by my former Breitbart colleague and Washington journalist Neil McCabe. Good morning Neil.
McCabe: Good morning Michael.
Leahy: So there is a deal perhaps ready to be done in the Senate? Is that right?
McCabe: Yeah. And it’s really amazing. So the Obama stimulus package was let’s say it was 900 million and that was capped on top of the federal budget and that never went away. Now we’re at four and a half trillion. So basically half of the federal budget is now part of this stimulus.
Leahy: Two trillion dollars. Two trillion dollars! And that bill was held up by Nancy Pelosi who wanted to add all sorts of craziness to it. Supposedly they had a deal put together late last night? They’re going to vote on it may be at one o’clock today. What are the next steps in this process, Neil?
McCabe: Well I think a lot of people have to look through this bill to see. We know about the 35 million dollars for the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Leahy: Is that in this bill?
McCabe: I think people have to look for that.
Leahy: We don’t know.
McCabe: Nadler wanted what, four million for the museums. There’s a lot of sweetheart deals. There’s a lot of language. I saw Mike Lee was Tweeting about the fact that the language would allow local Planned Parenthoods’ to apply for aid as small businesses.
Leahy: And that’s still in this bill?
McCabe: I don’t know that. (Leahy chuckles) You see that’s the thing.
Leahy: Nobody knows what’s in the bill!
McCabe: So I guess we have to pass it to find out what’s in it right? And so it’s really really shocking that this thing exploded so quickly. And I think that the one thing I really take solace in is that the President is trying to sort of re-order the country and say by the way we heard for years from the leftists that a bad economy or bad business or unemployment was deadly to people because of suicide and it breaks up families.
And the crime. You go to these towns in upstate New York or in Ohio where a lot of the factories are closed and you look at what it has done to destroy these towns. And the President is saying, hey we can’t have the cure worse than the disease.
And the idea that he’s paced this thing at Easter is just, I think people are really going to hang on to that. And people are going to will the country through it with the hope that the churches will be filled on Easter Sunday. I don’t want to say it was brilliant, I just think that it speaks to the guy’s heart.
And he needs to open up more about what Easter means to him. I don’t think a staffer suggested it to him. I think maybe Melania suggested it to him. I was just really amazed when you have like CNN who is now opening up its war on Easter. It’s like its crazy Michael the times we are living in.
Leahy: I would agree. And I think the symbolism of opening the country up parts of the country up back for business on Easter April 12th which is what, 18 days from today? I think the symbolism is outstanding and it makes sense. It fits our history. The other thing is that the reality is Neil, people are realizing yes there will be increased deaths from this very severe illness but the country will go on.
And the President has made the decision that we’re not sacrificing the economy because we’re going to be experiencing a higher rate of death from this. We’re going to do the best we can to limit it. We’ve just got to go forward. I think most of the country Neil agrees with that approach.
McCabe: Let’s be honest. A lot of the economy shuts down for the winter. Whether its construction or even farming. When the weather gets a little warmer people have to go outside and start planting the corn.
And start digging ditches. So there is a lot of construction and other projects that don’t start until the spring anyway. So that’s that. That’s already planned. You already got the permit. You’ve already got the planning board’s approval. Why not go ahead?
Leahy: Yeah. I’ll tell you what I’m thinking as far as symbolism. I think the most important public thing going on right now would be opening day for major league baseball. If I were the commissioner right now I’d be thinking about this.
I’d say OK, we want to have baseball again, let’s be smart about it. There are ways you could do this. There are protocols you could set up so that perhaps people over 55 who are at risk don’t go to the ballgames.
But people under 55 can. And you have a protocol. Maybe everybody gets tested before they go in? I think (Sings) ‘take me out to the ball game’ and I think that may be an indication. I think when you hear that maybe America’s going to be on its way back.
McCabe: Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of baseball teams where there’s nobody in the stands anyway. (Leahy chuckles) So it wouldn’t make any difference.
Leahy: That is interesting. We’ll see when that happens, Neil. What’s the overall atmosphere in Washington these days? Is it as nasty and vituperative as it seemed on the Senate floor the other night?
McCabe: Yeah, I think what you’re seeing is a carryover from impeachment. Rahm Emanuel who was Obama’s first chief of staff. He was a very effective Congressman and he’s really the man who engineered the take over of the House by the Democrats in that 2006 midterm.
He’s most famous for saying never let a crisis go to waste. But another thing that he said was that winning brings more winning. And he used to tell Obama that we just got to win and when you win, you win more. And you just keep winning.
Coming out of impeachment not only do you have enthusiasm among House republicans and Senate republicans that you haven’t seen since really the Tea Party. Because the Tea Party exposed fissures in the Republican party between conservatives and leadership.
John Coon on the Senate floor really speaking up, guys are willing to step up and catch arrows. Before impeachment, there weren’t a lot of other Republicans who were willing to catch arrows in this era of Trump. You have cabinet officers now, Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo.
Those guys are willing to step up and take the hit. It was McConnell. Now you’re seeing Coon and you’re seeing Lindsey Graham who is spectacular. Spectacular. And so that is going to continue going into 2020. I think the Republicans’ have tremendous momentum.
I think you’ll appreciate this as a writer when I say they have found their narrative. They found their groove. And once the narrative settles and they find that kind of groove its a very powerful thing. Because they have a confidence now.
They are not really confident when they talk about guns or banning abortion or building a wall. There are a lot of things that they can’t articulate. But I think in this instance and it’s going to increase the Republicans are more willing to step up.
I think you’re seeing Democrats in absolute disarray. Doug Jones the Democrat Senator from Alabama, he voted with Republicans. There’s a lot of Democrats who are not happy about having to vote against that stimulus bill.
Listen to the third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
