Trump Endorsements in Indiana Primaries Face Backlash as Critics Say Redistricting Fight Was Never About Hoosiers

Everything I was telling you guys throughout the whole redistricting process, this isn’t about us. This isn’t about a better Indiana. This isn’t about better public policy. You’re not going to see Turning Point Bros and all of these people, Trump people, come swooping in next year for property taxes. What’s the one thing you’ve seen them talk about? Scott Presler, the SAVE Act. Why? Because Trump wants it. I’ll be back next year for the SAVE Act. We already have voter ID in this state. They did this massive statewide investigation, and they were able to get one guy. One guy got arrested in a state of 7 million people. We don’t have voter fraud in our state because of voter ID, which is great. We don’t need anything else. Now look, if you want to have some nationwide thing that matches Indiana, I’m okay with that. We’ve talked about it. I’m fine with that. If you want to say nationally, you have to have a valid ID to vote, great, no problem. But that’s not an issue here. It’s not an issue here.

Critics Say Indiana’s Redistricting Battle Was Driven by National Politics, Not Local Issues

But they can’t give it up, right. There’s always got to be the next level of grievance, the next level of subserviency to Trump. And so you’re hearing them talk about the SAVE Act. Okay, great. Talk about it in places that don’t have voter ID. We do. Well, you know what I want to talk about here? Property taxes, because I actually give a damn about my neighbors and I live here. You know what I want to talk about? Utility bills, because I actually give a damn about my neighbors and I live here. You know what I want to talk about? Corruption at the IEDC. Billions of dollars of our money going to rich, powerful, connected people, not benefiting us, bringing in foreign workers. By the way, that’s what I want to talk about. So they’re admitting now what we have said for months, which is Indiana’s a pawn in a game. It’s not about better public policy. You’re not going to see these people next year in mass rallying the troops, getting better public policy. You’re not going to see it. It was about trying to bully and intimidate other states into doing what they want to hang on to the House of Representatives.

Trump-Endorsed Candidates Produced Mixed Results Across Indiana Senate Races

So I wrote an article in the Star, and this is like I said, look, I have decided now my lane is common sense and that is the future. I was watching a documentary on Moses last night and, you know, he flees Egypt and he’s wandering around and I’m like, that is me. For the record, I’m not in any way comparing myself to the actual good deeds and doings of Moses. But I was watching him and he’s like, you know, obviously then Moses becomes dependent upon the kindness of strangers, strange man in a strange land, right? And that’s me. I’m like walking in the wilderness going, my gosh, the left is run by complete crazy people. And now the all Trump all the time orbit is giving him a run for their money. It has nothing to do with not being for Trump. I want Trump to succeed. I want our country to succeed. I want Trump to do well. But it is bizarre that we can’t look at things and go, this is very obvious what happened here or this is obvious what’s happening here. I should have the ability to say that. It shouldn’t be some controversial thing. It was obvious to me from the get go Indiana was being used to help powerful rich people in Washington hang on to power. And I’m not just talking about politicians. I’m talking about the donors and lobbyists that control them, and the special interests and the political class and the consultants. They’re admitting it now. So I wrote an article in which I said, okay, there were three, and we’ll go into more detail a little bit, but there were three cases that it appeared the Trump and Turning Point people wanted the most, and that was Travis Holdman in northeast Indiana, Spencer Deery in Lafayette and Greg Good in Terre Haute. And again, the reasons for those are different. We’ll go into them in a little bit. But those are the three. And Nikki Kelly kind of backed me up yesterday on that. Holdman, Deery, Good were the three big ones, and all three of those elections, even though all three of those guys voted against redistricting, all three of those guys got very different results, very different outcomes. If the vote on Tuesday was some statewide outrage or referendum on redistricting, the results would not have been as different as they were. And so in this Indy Star article, I walked through why each one of those people who all voted against redistricting, who the Trump and Turning Point people all wanted for various reasons, and we’ll go into those later, personal reasons, why the results were so different. And people are now just outraged over that, that I had the audacity to say, hey, redistricting brought Trump, which was money and resources. But I think it’s pretty obvious based on how these three guys who were all essentially public enemy number one, for various reasons, which we’ll talk about later, they all got different results because they’re all different people, and they all have different backgrounds and different circumstances in their district. And as usual, it’s just pure outrage from people who will not read past the headline. And if we can’t get people to, like, if you’re going to judge something without even reading it, like I challenge anybody to read that Indy Star article that I wrote today because I tried to be very fair with it. I tried to look at these three and say, okay, they all did the same thing. They had a ton of money spent against them. Why were the results different? But we can’t even get people to do that anymore. Why? Because the talking point is the Trump, Turning Point talking point is it was redistricting, and if you say anything else, you’re a traitor, you got TDS. Well, that’s not how we operate here. And again, there ain’t no program director to harass anymore. There ain’t no general manager to harass anymore. There’s no president to harass anymore. There’s no owner unless you all know the guy who runs YouTube. If you got that sort of sway, I’m in big trouble. And yeah, don’t come to Producer Jason. So we’ll get into that in a little bit. But let’s talk about the other thing that I’ve been trying to say as it relates to these Trump endorsements. And again, I’m trying to be as specific as I possibly can. I have voted for Trump three times. I want Trump to do well. At 40 plus years old, I’m way past being a fanboy of anyone that controls my existence. I just don’t cheer for politicians anymore. I’ve been burned too many times. Too many times I’ve heard all the right stuff and then they do the exact opposite. And it is bizarre to see grown ass men fanboying over politicians. You know, for years we talked about the guys who wear other people’s names on the back of their jerseys. I feel that way about politicians too. It’s very bizarre at this point. We have to stop worshiping these people. We have to stop cheerleading for these people. We have to stop the premise that these people are infallible and everything they say is awesome. And if you dare object to it, well, you’re the bad guy. We are squashing in this country free thought. Now, I’m certainly not a guy that’s like the left does, screams out Trump’s a this and Trump’s a that and blah, blah, blah, Nazis, like that’s all ridiculous. It’s all ridiculous. We still have free speech in this country within reason, with guardrails. We still have the ability to vote for who you want to vote for, campaign for who you want to campaign for, say, again, within the confines of the law, not threatening people or whatever you want. Trump’s not any of that.

Debate Grows Over Blind Loyalty, Political Influencers, and GOP Messaging

But what we are seeing inside the Republican Party, and this is a Republican Party as a collective thing, not just with Trump, and it didn’t used to be this way, believe it or not, especially when I was an elected person and I was just as mouthy and as big a pain in the butt then as I am now, just without the platform. But when I was an elected person, it was the same way I am now, and I was welcomed at Republican events. There was never any doubt like, should Rob be here? I used to get invited to these things, and the Republican Party used to be a very welcoming, free thought sort of place. Now, whether it’s the party or Trump, anytime you question anything, they cut you off. They try to take you out. They try to cut you down. Look, I’m not as familiar with the Democrat Party because I’m not a Democrat. But obviously we have seen the Democrats and their attacks on free speech, on freedoms and liberties as well when they’re in power. So it’s not like they’re some harbor of individual liberty either. But one of the things people got very mad at me during the primaries is I said, these Trump endorsements should mean nothing to you because he doesn’t know these people. Like an endorsement should matter if the person doing the endorsing knows the person and can give you reasons specifically about them that weren’t a talking point handed to them on a piece of paper. Trump didn’t know any of these people. He couldn’t even get Brenda Wilson’s office right, the lady who ran in Terre Haute, who lost to Greg Goode, which will tell you in our piece in Indy Star why she lost if you’re actually interested. How did she lose if it was all about redistricting? She lost, she got smoked. Well, how could that be if it was all about redistricting? How could that be? How is Spencer Deery, as of right now, still winning his reelection? And so I said, if you’re going to vote based on Trump’s endorsement, understand you’re voting based on just complete subserviency to Trump because they’re not redoing redistricting. Most people, if they’re really honest with themselves, know what sort of Republican Indiana puts forward. They know what sort of Republican we were going to get in those two districts if indeed you got them. It was going to be the Jefferson Shreve, Jennifer Ruth Green, Erin Houchin, Jim Baird type of Republican. Look, if you just want to say it out loud, just own it, right? It’s like the meme of the guy holding the person’s eyes open. Just look at it and say it. I’m completely subservient to Trump. I want to do whatever Trump wants. That’s okay. You can vote that way. That’s fine. That’s your right. You’re able to do whatever you want to do because we still are a free country for the most part. There are some rules, which I’m learning now that I’m not on a terrestrial radio platform. You always got to look at whatever the rules are. Always got to be very careful, whatever platform you’re on. What are the rules? Like I spent all those years on the radio, and so I knew, hey, as long as I don’t say these words, I’m going to be okay. Now on other people’s platforms, you got to abide by their rules. But the point was, I said, do not take the Trump endorsement as though he knows anything about the people he’s endorsing or their voting records because he’s endorsing a bunch of idiots. And two of the specific idiots that we laid out that he’s endorsing because they voted for redistricting, not because they like Trump, but because they were calculated and unprincipled enough to recognize, well, this will probably save me in the primary. If we’re actually being honest with who the most honest, I guess, honest, the most forthright people are, are the people who voted against redistricting because they probably knew when they cast those votes, I’m going to get a primary challenger if I do this. They should have, and they voted. Jean Leising was asked about it yesterday, and she said, I’m not changing my mind because I did what I thought my constituents wanted. I still think that’s what they want. That’s what I did. And she made a good point. Jean Leising is a Republican Indiana state senator. She said if bomb threats and swatting didn’t stop us, why do you think a couple of elections would. I thought, well, that’s interesting. But two of the biggest idiots that Trump endorsed were Ron Alting in Lafayette and Liz Brown in Fort Wayne. And I said at the time, and I’ve said ever since, I knew this was a big joke when he endorsed those two, because those two, Alting and Liz Brown, have been two of the biggest hindrances to what Trump’s base wants. Super libs. In the case of Liz Brown, held up two items near and dear to Trump’s base, constitutional carry and then immigration enforcement. By the way, did you guys see, we’re talking about Rokita here a little bit because he’s a ridiculous clown. Did you see Rokita called her something like a witch who rides around on a broom? Did you guys see this? Like, geez. There are certain parts of Rokita that are endearing. Very few, but there are some. But I knew, I mean, I knew this before, but it’s like when he’s endorsing them, these people are awful. They’ve been horrible to our state. They’ve cast horrible votes. Ron Alting is by far the most liberal Republican in the Indiana Senate. Think Todd Young on steroids. And he’s pretty brazen about it. Ron Alting is more liberal than a lot of Democrats in the Senate, and Trump endorsed him. Why? Because Ron Alting made a calculated decision, I’m going to have Richard Bagsby running against me. He’s going to get a lot of support from the right. I got to figure out a way to cut into that. I’ll just vote against redistricting to get Trump’s endorsement. Alting, I guarantee Ron Alting was against redistricting. I guarantee he didn’t want it. And I was saying this the entire time, but we still had the radio show. I was like, don’t listen to this idiot. He’s using you and Trump is enabling it. Like, no offense, but Ron Alting is infinitely worse than Spencer Deery or Greg Good. Not saying I’m a super fan of either of those guys. I’m saying if we’re going to put the voting record up there, Ron Alting is infinitely worse than either of those two guys in terms of the harm he’s done to our state. Spencer Deery is actually very conservative, socially extremely conservative, extremely pro-life, didn’t anger any conservative and voted against the property tax bill. His great sin was he was supported and was mentored by Mitch Daniels. That’s it. And he voted against redistricting. So I knew when Trump started endorsing people like Ron Alting, okay, this is a big joke. We’re done here. It’s over. This means nothing, and a bunch of bad people are going to get reelected because of these endorsements.

Ron Alting Comments Fuel Claims That Redistricting Votes Were Politically Motivated

And so fast forward to yesterday, two days past, numerous media outlets reporting this, by the way, Ron Alting got asked about his vote on redistricting after winning reelection. And here’s what he said, quote, I feel terrible that I let some people down on my vote on redistricting. Not thanks to the president, not man, I’m so glad I made that vote, not that was the ironclad most amazing thing I ever did, I’m so glad I did that. Quote, I feel terrible that I let some people down on my vote on redistricting. Oh, it gets better. Now remember to the Turning Point Bros and their buddies, Posobiec, Cernovich, Rob Kendall’s the bad guy. Remember that, right? They didn’t go after Ron Alting on Twitter, who has time and time again screwed conservatives and the Trump movement over and over and over. They went after me because I had the audacity to say Trump doesn’t know who he’s endorsing. He’s endorsing clowns and the Turning Point people are propping it up and they’re going to make it worse. So we’re hammering this home. If you know a Turning Point bro or Posobiec or Cernovich or any of the rest of these people, ask them about this quote, I feel terrible that I let some people down on my vote on redistricting. I hope that I’ll be able to make it up to them. I hope I’ll be able to make it up to them. Translation: I lied out of my ass and Trump bought the bait. Trump took the hook. Now that I’m reelected, I can tell you exactly what I want to tell you. So go ahead, guys, and put one more tally in the no column for redistricting in 2028. He just said it. He lied to everyone and it was obvious to everyone other than Trump, who endorses and governs on revenge. Ron Alting is awful. Awful. And now he’s going to get four more years in the Indiana Senate, thanks to Trump. Thanks to Trump. Then he crapped all over the Trump endorsement. He got asked about the impact that the Trump endorsement had. Quote, I still think that it’s the candidates. I think it’s the horses that’s running. What I mean by the candidate is you got to produce, you got to deliver results for your constituents. No credit to Trump whatsoever. He’s running so far away from that endorsement Jesse Owens would be like, slow down. But I’m the problem here for pointing out that when Trump endorsed people like Ron Alting, he was enabling bad people to continue governance. He was giving a free pass to someone who has time and again harmed Hoosiers with his voting record. And by the way, Ron Alting said here what I and others have said. It was not about redistricting because it wasn’t. Redistricting brought money. Redistricting brought attention. It brought resources. But the votes themselves were cast on people being upset over the governance that they were getting in the Indiana General Assembly the past 6 or 7 years. And we’re going to lose the ability to stop a lot of that change, a lot of that, because these people got elected without agendas, without mandates. Redistricting is not coming back this year. And now you’ve got at least one more no vote for 2028. Well done, guys.