Indiana Republicans Move to Replace Diego Morales While Avoiding Accountability for Years of Scandals

Today is the day that those of you who have been with me for lo these many years, we all take our little victory lap together because yesterday the power structure of the Indiana Republican Party admitted we were right. And not that we didn’t know we were right, but not that we needed any affirmation. But the Republican Party power structure yesterday admitted in their own little way, Diego Morales is a corrupt, unethical, walking, talking scandal, and if they go into November with him, they will lose the Secretary of State’s office. All the years of the belittling, the name calling, the insulting, the just flat out ignoring as we begged them to do something about Diego. That all stopped yesterday. Now they’re trying. They’re not trying to hold him accountable. There’s a huge difference. They’re not trying to hold him accountable. And this is why I’m pissed off. So many people yesterday was like, Rob, what are you so angry about? I thought your dream was to get rid of Diego. I thought all you wanted was to get rid of Diego. Now they’re doing it. And you’re angry. Yes.

Indiana Republican Leadership Signals Diego Morales Has Become Political Liability

And we’re going to go into all of this today because the Republicans aren’t holding Diego accountable. They’re trying to get rid of Diego. They’re trying to sweep Diego and his scandals under the rug. I saw this on Twitter yesterday and it is absolutely right. The Republicans are treating Diego Morales in 2026 the same way the Democrats treated Biden in 2024. It’s the same thing. And we as Republicans, we as conservatives, looked at Biden and said and what they were doing with Biden and said, nope, no, we’re not going to allow that. And it’s the same thing happening here. And we’re going to go into all of that today. We’re going to tell you about this Max Engling guy and the Jim Banks power move to try to take over the Republican Party. Look, this show is special. This show is unique. This show is different. This show lasts because we have a bond with you guys. And that bond has always been around telling you the truth, telling you things that you’re not going to hear anywhere else. And then people walk. And this is why. This is why the radio show is so dangerous. And this is why this show is dangerous, because they know when people hear it, they go, damn, he’s right, because we don’t care. We’re not beholden to anyone but you, the listener. And so today is our day to walk you through because this is a big moment. By the way, don’t quit, Diego. Don’t quit. We know you guys were all in on it together. At the very least, the Republicans completely turning a blind eye to all the crap you were pulling. Don’t let them force you out. Don’t go out like this. You stay and you fight. They’re not any better than you. You know, the big room was like, Diego Morales is going to quit the Secretary of State’s race and spin it. How, Diego, and spin it, how the Republican Party, the Republican power structure, they made Diego. They knew what he was. The last meeting I had with Braun, part of that was him acknowledging when I was still naive to think, hey, these guys, like, they’re going to do something about this, right, when I still had some hope that Braun was a decent human being. He acknowledged in that meeting what Diego was and said they were going to take care of it. It’s being addressed. Of course, nothing’s been addressed. Jim Banks, who is orchestrating the Max run, endorsed Diego. We’ll read you Banks’ endorsement here in a little bit. The hypocrisy of these people, the lawmakers, the power brokers, the donors, the lobbyists.

Critics Accuse GOP Power Structure of Protecting Morales Instead of Holding Him Accountable

Now, my question is, because Morales is basically, in many cases, appears to be in bed with Sopranos type characters. How does that work? Do the Sopranos like, I don’t picture on The Sopranos, when people get in business with The Sopranos, you know, there were never any like just, I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m out, right. Like, you never saw that on The Sopranos. Can Diego just say to his Sopranos, like, buddies, I’ve had enough of this. I’m out. Yeah. That’s right, Jason. There’s only one way out. Does he get to just say that? Look at the people, Diego. And we’ve named some of them over the years. And you look at the resumes of some of these people and tell me if they wouldn’t have fit in perfectly with Tony and Paulie and Bobby and still. Can Diego, can he just walk away? We’ve got so much to get into today, guys. Abdul will be with us. He’s going to talk to us about his reporting that maybe, I don’t. You know. Who knows? Look, this has been in motion from delegates for at least a couple of weeks now on trying to find someone to get rid of, to run against Diego. But delegates aren’t the power structure. Delegates aren’t the deciders. The deciders decided. Time for Diego to go. Was it the EElina Kupce story? Was that it? By the way, where is Elina Kupce, the deputy chief of staff for Diego Morales, former deputy chief of staff for Diego Morales, who, according to reporting from Abdul, and Abdul will go into some more detail on that coming up here in just a little bit, appears not to have been a citizen of this country. Where is she? Why won’t Diego address it? Was that the last straw? Is that what it took? I’m pissed off because the Republicans still aren’t holding Diego accountable. And we’re going to talk about specifically some of the things they said yesterday. They don’t want Diego exposed. They don’t want Diego held accountable. They don’t want to publicly reveal who paid for the trip to India. They’re not calling for an accounting of where Elena is, whether she was a citizen of this country, what she did, how she got that job from Diego. They’re not doing any of that. They’re treating Diego the same way the Democrats treated Biden. Oh, he’s wonderful. He’s marvelous. But for the good of the party, for the good of the party, it’s time for Diego to go. Well, if he’s a good guy, why would, for the good of the party, it’d be time for Diego to go? And then they, of course, anoint this Engling kid who not only did get smoked when he ran for public office a couple of years ago, got smoked in his delegate race a couple weeks ago, they’ve made him out to be the next Reagan, the greatest freedom fighter since the guys who stormed the hill at Iwo Jima. He’s a viable challenger. That’s why we’re changing. Viable challenger. He couldn’t even win amongst his neighbors. He couldn’t. Even his neighbors who knew him best. Like no pick five. He couldn’t even be one of the top five on his delegate race. He ran for Congress and got smoked. What’s viable about this guy other than Banks said it? You know, the thing that’s frustrating is for all the BS Diego’s pulled over the past four years, the Republicans, the power structure, the elected people, they’re probably, if we’re being honest, bigger BSers than Diego. Diego’s an idiot. Everyone knows it. He’s a moron. He’s a figurehead. He’s infinitely stupid. Look, I remember when I first went into the Statehouse, when I first went to work for the state auditor in the Statehouse, and I’ve told this story before. There was a scandal going on that was known in the Statehouse. Everybody was talking about it. I’m like totally naive. I’m like, well, why doesn’t the other side like put it out there to the media? This seems like a big deal. And a very seasoned person in the Statehouse told me, they said, you have a lot to learn. I said, yes, please, please, please open my eyes to this because it’s obvious like the media would love this. He said, almost everyone in this building is dirty. Almost everyone in this building is dirty. And everybody kind of knows everybody else’s dirt. And so this sort of unspoken rule is, as long as you keep it in house, as long as you’re not stupid enough to be brazen about it and make a headache for everyone, we generally protect each other. There’s ways people go away. There’s ways things get dealt with. Sometimes people gotta go, you gotta go. But you don’t get embarrassed. You don’t get called out publicly. You know? You ever notice how convenient, you know, like these ill timed, like so representative, so and so is retiring. Wow, that seemed kind of fast. Yes. He or she has had a long, distinguished career of public service. They’ve just, they’ve worn, they’ve just, they’ve worked so hard for the people. They’ve worked themselves to exhaustion and at their advanced age. Advanced age. He’s 53. Yes. It’s time for him to go. You really believe that? That’s how it works. It’s the mafia. Government is the mafia. But in the case of Diego Morales, he’s such a moron. And he has zero self-control. And he’s so entitled that he repeatedly does stupid things over and over and over again. That the handlers can’t hide it. Who the hell disappears to a foreign country for ten days and thinks someone isn’t going to notice? By the way, and I’ve never given full credit on this because we broke the India story. That was us, right? We talk about things when? The other day that I don’t normally break news unless I think nobody else is going to do it. We broke that India story. That was us, and a bunch of the information that came out in real time about India came from us. And I’ve never given credit to this, and she deserves it. You know who did a whole bunch of research on that and found a whole bunch of things that became very vital down the road was Casey. Casey took it upon herself to start digging and researching and found a lot of that stuff that still has never been explained, still never been accounted for to this day. Diego, the Republicans never owned up on any of it. And now, and this is why I’m angry. They’re still not going to own it. They’re still not going to say, you’re right, Rob. Just last week, I wrote a column in the Indy Star saying, if the Republicans nominate Diego, they will lose the election. By will win. Ballard will blow past the 10%. There will be a new political party with primary ballot access. What was their response? You guys saw it. See it on Twitter now if you want. They were awful to me. A liberal Indy Star. How far he’s fallen. Well, apparently I didn’t fall that far because as of yesterday the Republicans said yeah, that’s right. He’s going to lose. As of last week, they still were demonizing and vilifying me for pointing out the obvious that they admitted yesterday that this guy is a walking, talking, never ending scandal. And he gets more and more brazen about it by the day to the point that he’s going to lose the office for these guys. And it appears, it appears it took a story about Diego Morales somehow allowing someone who appears to be a noncitizen to elevate to his deputy chief of staff, and her professional background appears to be doing something with the Pacers, the Fever and the Miami Dolphins. Now, again, maybe there’s some explanation on all of this. Diego won’t give it, just like everything else that he won’t give it. And this woman, by all accounts, still hasn’t been located. At least I’ve seen no stories, no comments from her.

Questions Continue Surrounding India Trip, Hiring Practices, and Deputy Chief of Staff Allegations

Today is the day that we take our victory lap. That’s one part of today. All of us. All of us take our victory lap today because we were right about Diego. But it’s also about not letting the story go away. Because that’s what the Republicans want and that’s what they’re trying to do. They’re never going to address who paid for India. Why? Because it’s bad. They’re never going to address the no bid contracts that went to huge donors to his campaign. Why? Because it’s bad. The $90,000 car, the hiring of family members, the using of state resources to create political commercials. This woman now, they don’t want any of it addressed. They want to throw Diego out on his ass like a piece of garbage and hope he just goes away. And then hope you forget about all of it. Look, the new golden boy is here. Well, what qualifications does he have? None. What did he do? He was a stooge for Jim Banks. I heard that guy Max on Katz this morning. He sounded like he had all the enthusiasm of a hostage victim. I can’t put him behind the curtain. I was like, really? That’s it. This is your big opening salvo to the world, and you sound like you’re in some insurance seminar. And of course, it’s all the talking points. These guys that are, like, made in a laboratory now, all the talking points that have anything to do with the office, like they’re still on this, this election integrity. Where is the lack of integrity in Indiana elections? Can anyone point me to any widespread or organized voter fraud that is taking place in this state ever? Certainly in the past ten, 15 years. But I’ll just say ever. Our elections are safe and secure. How much money did Rokita and Diego spend trying to find all these illegals voting in our elections? And what they found, they found one guy. But that’s the talking point from this kid, because that’s what he was told to do. The job of the Secretary of State is to be an eyesore. Andrew Ireland. Max Engling will be America first. What the hell does that mean? He will be America first. That’s not your job. They always want this to be some larger than life political, save the republic type of person or candidacy. It’s not. The job of the Secretary of State is to be an administrator of the will of the General Assembly. You guys say it. We do it. You guys make the rules, we enact them. That’s it. It’s supposed to be a boring ass, nobody knows what I do job. But that’s not the culture we live in anymore. And now, because Diego is so bad, they’ve got to try to paint this kid. And look, I’ve met the guy. I think one time, maybe, maybe twice. He was at an event for Micah when Micah was running for lieutenant governor. I remember talking to him at the Noblesville. And maybe I met him one other time, I don’t know. I may have messaged with him a couple times, I don’t recall. Seems like a nice enough guy, but this is ridiculous. Acting like this is some savior swooping in and then all of the people, and we’ll talk about it today, who are lined up with Diego, who are on board, Diego’s great Diego all. I can’t wait to read you the Banks endorsement of Diego. And with no shame whatsoever now they’re like, well, that was because there was no viable challengers. Well, David Shelton’s a Knox County clerk. He’s an elected official in the state of Indiana. That’s not viable? He actually administers elections. There were no viable challengers. Now there are this guy who is a stooge for Banks, who, when he ran for public office last time, got absolutely smoked and then just got rejected by his own neighbors in a delegate race. That’s the viable challenger. But the guy who actually has won public office and administers elections, he’s not. These, the mental pretzel twisting.

Republican Convention Fight Exposes Deep Division Inside Indiana GOP Leadership

But here’s the thing. And it goes back to what my buddy who works in the Statehouse told me a couple of years ago. The politicians realized during Covid that they could say or do whatever they wanted. And if they weren’t held to account during Covid, if the public wasn’t in outrage, going to reject, resoundingly reject them and replace all of them for what they did to us, they said, why would they care if we lie to them about anything else? Why would they care what else we do? If we can shut down their businesses, we can take their jobs. We can lock them in their homes. We can force them to wear a mask. We can pressure them, force them into getting an experimental vaccine. Why would they care if we lie about anything else? And so you saw it yesterday, and I’ll read you some of the tweets. I’ll read you some of the posts today. We are not letting this story go. And Diego, if you quit, if you quit, everybody’s gonna know why you quit. You won’t be able to slink off on this one, buddy, because you’re still in that office for seven more months. Don’t let these people boss you around, Diego. You guys were in it together. You know that. You know that. And there’s a chance you got as much on them as they got on you.