The Ron Show

I've hosted this show - for what is just six weeks shy of three years - on AmericaOne Radio. To let you behind the curtain a little, I and its owner wanted to be candid about its current and future.

In essence, Jeremy reached out to me last week to tell me he was going to close up shop. AmericaOne has been a labor of love/passion for Jeremy and less about making money. In fact, it's cost him. For that reason and with the general fatigue many are feeling after last November, and because he has a full-time job and other ventures he'd like to focus on, AmericaOne is likely to disappear.

Sort of. There's the potential for new ownership and that may bring changes - but good changes - to the outlet. So much is up in the air, but I felt it right to let AOR's and TRS's listeners know everything that's on the table. With that, onto show material:

The open theft of our right to cast votes for 'regime change'

Donald Trump knows enough about U.S. history to know Presidents and their party usually lose the House in the next election cycle, and both his and generic polls show that to be likely in 2026, as well. To offset that possibility, of course, he and Vice President J.D. Vance are working the phones and executive branch airline budget to get red states to mid-decade gerrymander. ⁠MAGA memes, of course, misinform their voting bloc⁠ howling indignation at states like Delaware and Vermont gerrymander (when in fact, they have only one House seat), adding in states like Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, which have two. Uhm, how do you afford House representation to 40% of those states fairly with only two House seats, math wizzes? Context is everything, and that's what I'm here.

Hi, Democrats; this is where you bring up (as Texas Rep. James Talarico has) that no Republican voted with Democrats on a House measure to make gerrymandering illegal and that the Trump-packed Supreme Court didn't address it when it could, either. Or, that uncapping The House, by the way would address their howling about these smaller blue states lacking representation for those poor-poor minorities of Republicans. That, incidentally, contributes to fixing the Electoral College, SO USE THIS MOMENT TO DO SOMETHING.

Now, Trump wants to ⁠eliminate mail-in voting⁠ (the Constitution prohibits him from doing so but when's that stopped him, before?) It's par for the course, though: Republicans are all about making it more difficult for law-abiding legal voters to vote. High turnouts almost always mean "GOP losses." So they have to suppress. Even 'hero' Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State who stood up to Trump in 2020, ⁠whiffed when given the chance to speak against Trump's latest attempt to rig voting⁠.

Patricia Murphy at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, however, wrote, that there's ⁠a movement afoot to make it as easy to vote as it is to order your lunch on Door Dash⁠.

That's right: using your mobile device. Murphy informs that ⁠The Mobile Voting Project⁠'s Bradley Tusk's recent ⁠TED Talk⁠ illuminates the argument for what would be a massive expansion of voter participation opportunity.

We can predict where the pushback will come from, though, right?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visiting the Centers for Disease Control campus ⁠while himself being a leading voice in the vaccine skepticism that poisoned the mind of the alleged assassin at the center of Friday's deadly assault aimed at CDC buildings is quite something. At least he's acknowledged it - unlike the President or the White House at all.

While here, though, RFK Jr. could've swung by Emory University to offer his apologies for ⁠pulling funding for mRNA vaccine research⁠, but of course, he didn't.

"“I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,” said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations."

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Upon further review, I have to admit I came away from my interview with 2026 gubernatorial candidate Jason Esteves a little unfulfilled - mostly with my questioning. He did nothing wrong; I just didn't spend the time I had wisely enough. I'm pretty high on him for reasons other than policy, but he's said nothing policy-wise to sour me, either. Here's the thing: there are those who believe he doesn't definitively say much of substance at all. That has ⁠at least one Georgia progressive considering a run for the party's nomination⁠ - friend of the show, state

Representative Ruwa Romman. She and I texted back & forth a bit yesterday and while I'll keep most of that between us, she didn't deny having interest.

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One reason a progressive like Romman is dissatisfied with the field might be the potential that former lieutenant governor ⁠Geoff Duncan is openly considering joining it⁠. I've said it before and I'll say it again: ya just joined the congregation, Geoff. What makes you think you should already be a deacon?

Friday afternoon in Atlanta became chaotic, with ambulances and emergency vehicles all screaming and racing their way to the campus of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Those personnel from multiple jurisdictions arriving to the scene of a⁠ lone, mentally unstable gunman carrying a grudge triggered by vaccine skepticism ⁠- the kind Trump's Health & Human Services Secretary⁠ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been stoking for a decade or more. ⁠

On that note, current and former ⁠CDC staffers didn't hold back ⁠with their assessment of said rhetoric. Nor did Atlanta Journal Constitution ⁠columnist Bill Torpey⁠. Former CDC senior health policy analyst Jason Cecil joined me for insights.

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Hours before that chaos, state senator ⁠Jason Esteves⁠ gave me 25 minutes or so of his time on the campaign trail to see how his campaign's doing, what he's learned about the state that he might not have known before, what are some big and/or pressing issues he'd like to address if elected, and more.

I've said for a few days now that Donald Trump's goading of Texas to "find" five new safely GOP congressional seats in a highly unusual mid-decade gerrymander could spark something akin to a civil war. Perhaps not a literal "military" rift between red and blue states, but a fraying of the threads that keep them "united" as a nation.

Well, it turns out I'm not the only one who thinks that. ⁠Bloomberg's Ronald Brownstein sees what I see, too⁠: blue states matching what Texas does to counter-act their stifling of "we, the people's" ability to elect representation vs letting the representation choose us. Where does that lead us as a nation? It's ominous to consider, and more importantly, it's anti-democratic. Perhaps the silver lining in all of this is that Texas' egregious actions could be what finally convinces enough Americans and House members to pursue making gerrymandering illegal - no matter the state doing it.

⁠Texas state representative James Talarico⁠ - I think of him as "white Obama" - is a pastor, former teacher and rising star in the Democratic Party. He's everything scumbags like Ted Cruz isn't: courageous, decent and lives his morals and values. He's among the handful of Democrats refusing to give Governor Greg Abbott the legislative quorum required to pass the Trump-ordered gerrymander. Do keep an eye on him if you aren't already.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump thinks he has the power to have the Commerce Department "re-do" the 2020 census to remove undocumented people from the count. Never mind the unconstitutional nature of the order (buy when's that stopped him before?) but say he does it: doesn't that also mean Texas loses three U.S. House seats when 2.1 million immigrants aren't counted? Derp.

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Closer to home, Georgia's still fighting the Civil War in a court battle with the Sons of the Confederacy. You see, Stone Mountain Park, just outside Atlanta - the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan - had long been a magnet glorifying the Confederacy. After civil rights protests in 2020, the state drew down a lot of that, and the SOCVs⁠ are throwing a judicial hissy⁠.

Here again, a Kemp-led Georgia (a broke clock being right occasionally) steered from pandering to Confederate fetishists, and ⁠Trump's recent emboldening of said fetishism⁠ has them itching for a fight.

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Lastly - and this is rich - Georgia attorney general Chris Carr is howling like a scalded dog because his 2026 GOP gubernatorial combatant⁠ (Burt Jones) has the benefit of a state law giving him cover to fundraise using a "leadership committee"⁠ only state legislators or governors or lieutenant governors can use prior to winning party primaries.

Here's the funny part: AG Carr has been defending the law that created that unfair advantage in court since it became law. Also, a Republican whining about there being "too much money" in campaigns when his party's done everything they could to let as much big money sicken the process for decades.

Okay, cool; former Republican Lieutenant Governor⁠ Geoff Duncan is a Democrat⁠, and while he's (supposedly) ⁠"fielding calls" to run for office, he's not saying he has any interest in doing so⁠.

To that I say "good." You just sat in the pew; no sense aiming to be a deacon just yet.

If does decide to run, however, there are quite a few questions Democratic activists and voters sour on his role in the state of affairs in Georgia now would like to ask him. I shared a few in-show today. Former Georgia Democratic Party chair Steve Anthony also sought to ⁠remind Duncan and AJC readers how Georgia became "the" southern state that rose from the southern mire when under Democratic control. ⁠

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Former Dekalb County CEO Mike Thurmond had a busy "day one" in his quest to be the Democratic Party nominee for Georgia's governor's race in 2026, which included three social media posts: the campaign video rollout, an offer of prayers to yesterday's Fort Stewart shooting victims and his end-of-day video.

It's the middle one that bothers me most. Not because he offered prayers and well-wishes, obviously, but because he hasn't posted a SINGLE thing on that ⁠same professional Facebook account⁠ since June of 2023. Why is there no offer of prayers for Apalachee High School shooting victims from last September?

If the answer is "he wasn't campaigning then," then that's my problem.

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AJC columnist Bill Torpy penned a piece about ⁠the curious case of a Georgia coach's son handpicked to be a Senate candidate⁠ by that state's governor. Is this about a famous daddy's prodigal son or about Brian Kemp not trying to concede that Donald Trump is his daddy? Lots to unpack.

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Lastly, what IS the deal with Megyn Kelly and people of color if - as she insists - she's not a white supremacist? The "Santa is white" lady - for some reason - felt the need to compare the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle "genes/jeans" campaign to ⁠Beyonce's newer Levi's jeans 90-second motif⁠.

My two cents? I'm indifferent to the Sweeney ad but it felt kind of lazy - a riff on Brooke Sheild's iconic Calvin Klein ad from my childhood but I rather enjoyed Beyonce's episode. It's like a "short story," and ... I don't know ... was entertaining.

Megyn, however? ⁠She opined that something about Beyonce's "look below" was ... "bought and paid for."⁠ You know, "artificial, fake, enhanced."

First, kinda gross a woman is making accusations like that, but when it's the tighter-faced Megyn Kelly, it's even richer. Also, does Meg not know Beyonce just wrapped a global world tour where those legs and glutes put in a hell of a workout for 3-5 nights a week for many months?

Ma'am; that ain't "artificial." It's hard work. Clearly Megyn Kelly doesn't recognize it.

Last week, Georgia Recorder columnist Jay Bookman ⁠wrote a well-measured op/ed⁠ asking why Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial candidate Burt Jones looks to Florida and Tennessee for ideas on tax & economic policy when Georgia is already superior to them? Answer: t⁠o put an even greater tax burden on the working class by eliminating the state income tax⁠.

He and I caught up to go over that, the ⁠newest entry into the 2026 governors' race, Mike Thurmond⁠, the shape of the field as it stands now, plus ⁠Marjorie Taylor Greene's recent "boys' club" frustrations⁠ . I shared with him a theory about her that worries me: her 2026 frustrations leading to a 2028 White House run, where MAGA voters may look favorably on her moreso than J.D. Vance and ... well, we know what happened the last time a mouthy idiot stood on the GOP presidential primary dais for the first time.

I also wondered if he felt (as I do) that Trump triggering Texas to gerrymander (even more!) could lead to a very-real fracturing of the country the likes of which we haven't seen since the 1860s.

Former college football coach and son of Georgia coaching legend Vince Dooley, Derek Dooley has ⁠put himself in "the game,"⁠ so to speak. He's among the three prominent names seeking the GOP nomination to try and unseat Senator Jon Ossoff in 2026.

The delicate balance he's trying to seek - being Kemp-anointed but kowtowing to Trump fanatics simultaneously will be an interesting tightrope walk for him, and already his two combatants are taking aim at his being largely absent, politically until now.

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Meanwhile, former GOP Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan has gone from leaving the GOP to now ⁠fully embracing his entry into the Democratic Party.⁠ I'd been inhospitable to him doing this, instead imploring he and those like him to go wrest the GOP from MAGA and save this country in the process, but I've softened my tone and thrown out the welcoome mat - with caveats.

Not in chronological order as you (I hope) listen along, but the LEAD story for this chapter is and should be this:

New Georgia US Senate hopeful Mike Collins' chief-of-staff - the ⁠dog-kicking Brandon Phillips⁠ - also seems to have ⁠a nepotism problemL namely that he hired & paid his girlfriend for work she allagedly never did⁠. If that's not bad enough, he fired the whistleblower. On Collins' watch.

So uh, all those ⁠Georgia Republicans bucking Brian Kemp's endorsement-in-waiting for Derek Dooley siding with Mike Collins⁠ ... what will become of them?

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David Eichenthal has worked in - and with - state and local governments for more than thirty years, including in New York City and Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he now lives. Eichenthal recently worked with the Domestic Policy Council and the Treasury Department in the Joe Biden administration, and ⁠penned an op/ed in Friday's AJC bemoaning Democrats' looking to build a "Project 2029"⁠ and not addressing "left behind" Americans in "left behind" communities - you know, "drive through" counties and "flyover country" locales I've long said Demcorats have to at least try to campaign in to win.

Something about it reminded me of the 'scanda' Jane Fonda found herself in, here in Georgia, in the late 1990s when ⁠she likened parts of the state to a 'third world' country⁠. I've traveled all over this state and she wasn't wrong then and wouldn't be wrong now, but she backtracked.

Anyhow, while miffing the very people who feel "left behind" in making such a statement, at least she paid attention to them. Something Eichenthal (and I) note, Democrats haven't done enough of.

MAGA is literally HANDING Democrats opportunities dotting the map - in rural, ruby-red MAGA hotspots. One such example (one I've mentioned before because I'm very familiar with it) is Cedartown, Georgia in Marjorie Taylor Greene's district. A ⁠recent New York Times piece⁠ did some in-depth coverage of a story I'd made mention over before: that the Trump-coveted "big beautiful bill" that MTG voted for herself has likely cost that town of 800-1200 good-paying jobs. An influx of jobs and in a vital and longterm industry that commuinity leaders and developers were banking on to transform that struggling small city.

With word that ⁠Kamala Harris wouldn't be seeking the California governor's office in 2026⁠ came immediate speculation (⁠and derision⁠) she's eyeing a second go at the White House in 2028. Incidentally, 'Meet The Press' anchor Kirsten Welker (again) brought up this alleged, yet-to-be-proven cover-up inside the Biden White House to shield Americans from knowing the former President was .... old?

Why am I the only one troubled by mainstream media types insisting there's a "there" there? It smacks of ageism and the same kind of "took the bait" group-think the right lambasts Beltway media over when it's "RussiaGate" or "the dossier."

Meanwhile, someone I'm still going to insist should be considered for a Presidential movement (til he says he absolutely won't do it) is 'The Daily Show' Monday host Jon Stewart. He and author ("Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza" ) Peter Beinart - two Jewish American men - ⁠had such a profound conversation last Monday⁠ - about Netenyahu's bloodlust and the long-range ramifications on Israeli safety and security - I felt it worthy of revisiting. Just more reason I see Stewart as a "Trump elixir" for most of non-MAGA America. C"mon, Jon.

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Stacey Abrams also isn't running for governor - here in Georgia - at least not yet. A ⁠recent interview with NPR's Tanya Mosley⁠ about her latest novel, "Coded Justice" naturally led Mosley to ask while she had Abrams on. The TL:DR is she's "not ruling it out."

Meanwhile, an Abrams-led organization - Fair Fight Action - is working to counter-act state government-led voter purges by ⁠providing an online search tool to help Georgia registered voters⁠ check their standing.

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Georgia Recorder op/ed columnist Jay Bookman penned a ⁠response piece denouncing Lieutenant Governor (and 2026 gubernatorial candidate) Burt Jones' pitch⁠ to have Georgia ditch the state income tax. Bookman used liberal tools - facts, math and data - to make a cogent argument against Jones' scheme to put a greater burden on the poor and working class to fund the state's budget.

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There's movement in the tussle to succeed U.S. Rep. Mike Collins. Thirty-year old ⁠state representative Houston Gaines has tossed his hat in the ring⁠. On the left is ⁠Lexy Doherty⁠, but there are rumors a conservative Democrat from Hall County is set to announce his run, too, but until verified, there's little to do but speculate.

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Georgia's two Democratic Senators ⁠joined a Bernie Sanders-led push to limit military aid to Israel⁠. Good!

Oh look; another round of unneeded "⁠inactive voter purges" in Georgia⁠. Nevermind that they make mistakes. Often. I gave one anecdotal example. Investigative reporter Greg Palast gave more: "...Maj. Gamaliel Turner of Columbus, Georgia, because he filed a change-of-address to get his absentee ballot while assigned by the Pentagon to ⁠California⁠. He was one 4,000 who lost their vote to a challenge by the Georgia Republican Party on or near his military base.

Then there was Christine Jordan, MLK’s cousin, who put in a change of address form because, at 92, she wanted her daughter to review her mail. Then there is the case of Dr. Carry Smith, expert on voter purges, who herself was ⁠removed for cockamamy reasons.⁠ "

He opines that ⁠Georgia's GOP is ensuring 2026 victory ⁠already with these tactics.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't running for a Senate seat, and she announced earlier this week in a ⁠600-plus word screed on X ⁠that she won't be running for governor either. In that rant, she railed on the "good ol' boy" network being on obstacle for her while simultaneously bragging that if she did run, she'd win. You know, overcoming that "good ol' boy" network she's upset at stunting her ascendency. She seems to believe there's this patriarchy unfairly stunting the advancement of marginalized people like women. Isn't that what D.E.I. initiatives she and her party eviscarated would mitigate?

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HOW has it flown under the radar for American political media that Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lgo had 16-year old girls working in its spa and that Jeffrey Epstein poaching such a 16-year old girl from him? Never mind that ⁠the story doesn't line up with previously revealed dates chronicling their rift⁠; actually no, don't pass that on by. It's noteworthy. Still, ⁠Jon Stewart ribs Donald over his "poaching pouting."⁠

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Brian O'Neill, former CIA executive and guest teacher on national security at Georgia Tech, ⁠scribed an op/ed for the Atlanta Journal Constitution⁠ insisting that Tulsi Gabbard abandoned core intelligence standards. O'Neill believes Trump's national intelligence director used her position to make politicized claims against President Barack Obama, flouting norms in intelligence accuings "officials of selectively quoting or suppressing intelligence - without acknowledging that selective citation is standard." He writes "what matters is whether the selection is transparent, justified and consistent with tradecraft, not whether every fragment appears."

"Her rhetoric - 'shoddy,' 'irrefutable,' 'dubious' - wasn't the language of objective critique," O'Neill continued. "It was a prosecutorial script. That matters. Intelligence doesn't operate in absolutes."

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The state Senate special election in GA-21 has but one Democrat running against a half dozen Republicans in a 'jungle primary' August 26th, and low turnout is expected, but GOP infighting could help Shigley clear the field, too. Well, a touch of that ⁠came to fruition this week, with a "hit website" ⁠ (read ⁠HERE⁠) coming out attacking one Republican candidate. The AJC reports "It accuses him of not paying his taxes, pocketing taxpayer money from a COVID-era government loan and even threatening to shoot his neighbor’s dog."

Woof.