Democracy or Mediaocracy? – with Dick Morris [Ep. 44]

Linda J. Hansen:  Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101 Breakroom Economics Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen. Your host and the author of Prosperity 101 - Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck, and the creator of the Breakroom Economics online course. The book, the course, and the entire podcast library can be found on Prosperity101.com. I seek to connect boardroom to breakroom and policy to paycheck by empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs.

My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful. I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests and be sure to visit Prosperity101.com.

We are at a pivotal time in our nation’s history. As we wait for the results of our election to be certified, it is important to refer back to our Constitution for guidance. It is also important to respect the process and the views of others. There are reasons to be concerned about how the voting process was handled in various states, and it is good to verify accuracy and integrity. This protects everyone, both now and in the future. If you have seen or experienced any voting irregularities, please report them. And before I begin this episode, I just want to say that my guest, Dick Morris, had very little time to spare but we were able to squeeze in a quick phone interview. So, as in many phone conversations, you will hear some sound issues. However, he is always full of insight, so I hope you will enjoy the episode.

Thank you so much for tuning in today. In this special time where we are all hanging in limbo regarding a presidential election, I know that the media has called it but the vote totals have not necessarily called it. So, I wanted to bring in someone whose opinion I highly respect. He is basically a walking encyclopedia of political knowledge. My good friend and fellow colleague in the fight is Dick Morris. Dick Morris is a well-known political operative. He has been a consultant to presidents, governors, senators, and everyone in between. He has been a political news commentator, prolific author. He’s written countless books along with his wife, Eileen McGann. And I just count Dick as someone I go to for information regarding our Constitution, our system of government, and all current events. So, with that brief introduction, Dick, I’d like to welcome you to the episode today. Thank you so much.

Dick Morris:  It’s good to be here, Linda. Good to talk to you.

Linda J. Hansen:  Well, thank you. As we know, we are recording this today on November 9, 2020. While the media, much of the media, has called the election, we know that there is much to be decided. There are votes still being tallied. There are lawsuits pending and there is much to be discovered about what actually happened on November 3rd. I know that you have been very involved in all of this in several states and I’d like you to give the listeners a little bit of an update of what truly is the state of this election, and what we can look for and what we need to look out for when it comes to information or misinformation in the media.

Dick Morris:  Well, thank you once again. Let me take this chance to thank you publicly for the wonderful work you’ve been doing in Wisconsin for us. Really, you’re making quite a difference, even after the election. The media has called it for Biden, but that’s not their role. We do not determine who the president is based on what the media says. We do it based on what the Electoral College says or what the state legislatures say when they certify the results from the state. And Biden is far from being President-Elect by that rubric. 

The media companies wanted to call this election four years ago before it even happened. They’ve never recognized the Trump Presidency and they don’t now. We have to realize, though, that this election is far, far from over. The electoral vote counts that are published by AP and Fox, and various other sources, they gave Trump 214 electoral votes, which is absurd. He’s had two-to-one in Alaska and has been since the moment the polls closed. A majority of the votes are counted and so he certainly is going to win the three electoral votes, bringing him to 217. And he’s been heading North Carolina ever since Election Day. The counts hasn’t moved. He’s 75,000 votes ahead. That’s more than even a point – more than a point and those 15 electoral votes should be called for Trump. So, that would give Trump 232 electoral votes. 

Then there are three states that are really an issue. Well, four, but three immediately – Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin. If we win those three states, even if we don’t reach Pennsylvania, we will win the election. We have, with that point be a tie in the Electoral College, 269 to 269. The matter is that we’re 232 counting North Carolina and Alaska, and you’ll have 16 in Georgia, 11 in Arizona, and 10 in Wisconsin. So, how did we get those states? Georgia and is – still is currently in the initial count, then are up to recount yet. And we have found significant numbers of people, more than 10,000, who were over the age of 90 who voted. And in fact, we have about 1,000, who – I’m sorry – we have about 2,000, who are over the age of 100, who voted, and we’ll be calling each of them to see if they’re still alive and if they did vote. But I think a number of those are fraudulent. We also have large numbers of voters who voted, I would challenge and we need to go through those as well. We might – we probably will reduce the margin in Georgia to 5,000 to 10,000 votes, probably about 5,000. It’s now at 10,000 and then we go into the recount. 

Now, when we get into the recount of the re-canvass, we have to realize that there were three kinds of votes. There are absentee votes, early mail-in votes, and in-person voting whether early or late. The in-person voting probably is not going to change much. It went mainly for Trump and it was mainly by machine. The early votes, which are largely mail-in will have significant issues in them and the absentee votes will have a huge number of irregularities, because they are completely filled out by hand. And as those are recounted, I absolutely do not think the margin that they have now since Georgia will stand up. I think we’re going to carry Georgia. And probably one of the giveaways for that is the margins by which the Republican Senate candidate Perdue won the election, and on the recount may even avoid a run-off. On to Arizona. In Arizona, first of all, we’ve shaved the margin from about 25,000 to 17,000. 

Linda J. Hansen:  That is significant.

Dick Morris:  We now are entering – we’re still finishing the count, not up to the recount yet, 25,000 votes to be counted, and then 65,000 votes that have already been cast in-person on Election Day, which means they’re very likely to be overwhelmingly for Trump by back to the one and they have been discarded for various reasons. They claim that the people moved or received – they voted in the wrong place, all kinds of stuff like that. And what we’re now doing is working on rehabbing those voters and getting them back into counting. And I think we’ll be able to do that with a significant number of voters and we’ll pick up a significant amount of the margin through that.

And then you go to the other methods, which is to check how many people are old enough to take a – dive to vote or other issues. The counting in Arizona probably will not give us the state, but it’ll probably bring our margin down below 10,000 – 5,000 to 10,000. Then we go into the recount, just like we are in Georgia. And there, all kinds of issues come up, particularly, as I said, with absentee ballots. If we go into the recount with a margin of less than 10,000 in Arizona and Georgia, we’d probably carry both of those states. And that then leaves us with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a mess. We’ll talk about in a minute, but we’d rather avoid the mess and win in Wisconsin. And our polling right up to election day, the – in Wisconsin, were down by about 20,000 votes and they’re up to the recount.

And the recount procedure in Wisconsin is unique in the country. It is the most honest and fair recount anywhere in the nation. The law was overhauled by Republican Governor Scott Walker earlier this decade, and – or last decade and those laws are still on the books. And they strictly have the Republican and the Democrat at each table, looking at each ballot. And while they have same-day registration in Wisconsin, which slowed the turnout. The person who registers has to have a photo ID, a form of ID that has a signature that can be verified, and the witness statement. So, there’s a little margin for fraud there and we just need to see what happens in Wisconsin. It’s perfectly possible to make up 20,000 votes.

In 2011, there was a Supreme Court election in that state that we lost by 5,000 votes and then after the recount, we won it by 7,000. We, meaning the Republicans. So, we need to look at Wisconsin. Now, if we win Wisconsin, it’s over. A tie election goes to the House of Representatives and every state has one vote regardless and we control the majority of the state delegations. So, Trump would be elected. If we do not win Wisconsin, but we do win Georgia and Arizona, Pennsylvania becomes the key state. And there, there are a plethora of issues, a host of them.

First of all, there were 100,000 votes that were cast by in-person on Election Day, which gives us probably an 80% chance that their Trump votes, that we’re in the wrong place and they vote in the wrong location. It’s a simple matter to move them and count them in the right location. And given the fact the margin is only about 40,000 there, that right there could be enough to swing the Pennsylvania election. Secondly, we have all sorts of other counting issues there. In addition to the usual counting issues about absentee ballots and everything, and we have excellent chances on those, we may win in Pennsylvania simply on the recounts, on the actual counting getting into court. 

Now, if we are forced to go into court, we’ve sued already, but if that case acquires relevance, we have all kinds of grounds. Probably the most significant is the order by Judge Alito for extended voting hours to be completed by Friday, November 6th. And for the ballots to be postmarked before Election Day, November 3rd. The legislature said that there should be no votes cast after Election Day. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court then took upon itself illegally to overcome – override that and say you have three days, and it has to be postmarked by Election Day. But the Supreme Court does not have that power. The state legislature does and that was a state legislative law. So, that’s one ground of challenge to allow the several – more than 100,000 votes.

Secondly, Alito – the judge Justice Alito, who oversees the circuit court that includes Pennsylvania ruled that the three-day requirement – there was a litigation to invalidate the three-day rule by the state by the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court voted for it for against accepting the case [inaudible] and that’s going to be litigated and with Barrett there, they may accept the case and may rule right off the bench that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court acted wrongly. If they don’t, the issue then becomes did they comply with Alito’s order? When the Republicans said that these late ballots were being counted in secrecy without Republican observers, Alito issued a follow-up order saying, “[Inaudible] I meant it the first time. You have to have Republicans there.” 

There are about 50,000 ballots in Pennsylvania that were cast and counted late without Republican representation. That provides a basis for throwing those ballots out. And then there are many, many periods [inaudible], where votes were counted into the hundreds of thousands without adequate Republican representation, including in Philadelphia. The Republicans were never allowed to watch the count and they were kept at a distance of 30 or 40 feet. And when the court ordered, they be moved six feet closer, the vote tabulators moved six feet further away to compensate. So, all of those issues will come up in Pennsylvania, in addition to the usual recount issues. So, I can’t predict the outcome of this. But my guess my sense of it at the moment is that Trump has about a one in three chance of remaining as president. So, we’ll see.

Linda J. Hansen:  That’s fascinating. And, you know, the media has already decided who is president, but like you said at the beginning of our interview, the media is not the one who decides. So, I would ask you, what would you recommend to people, to individuals – we’ll talk about business owners in a moment – but to just any individual listening, what can they do to help this process to unfold and what do you recommend for Americans as we wait?

Dick Morris:  Oh, if you live in one of those states and you have evidence of irregularities, please report because we’re amassing evidence and those witness statements are terribly important. For example, in Pennsylvania, we have over 100 witness statements about fraud. And the Republicans keep saying – the Democrats keep saying there’s no verification. Well, these witness statements of our verification.

As to what Americans can do as a whole, first of all, the Trump campaign is going to have to pay $3 million to have a recount in Wisconsin and they obviously left Election Day with zero balance. So, it would be good to send the money and start watching Newsmax. They are really the only outlet now that shows credible – that really has the accurate news. But in terms of a daytime news organ, Newsmax is the place to go.

Linda J. Hansen:  Well, and that is fascinating, in and of itself, as we’ve watched the cultural shifts, and I noticed as well. I like Fox News. I really like to get my news from a variety of sources to compare and I’m sure American citizens do as well. But it appalls me actually, that Arizona was called so early by Fox News, it seemed totally out of order. And it made me feel like they, as well as many other media outlets, are trying to shove a Biden Presidency kind of down our throats.

Dick Morris:  Yeah.

Linda J. Hansen:  And if you win fair and square, fine. Fine. You know, I saw a social media post the other day that said, amazingly enough, 70 plus million Trump voters are feeling disappointment right now, but we don’t see buildings being burned down or riots and things.

Dick Morris:  Yeah.

Linda J. Hansen:  So, you know, we are all about having the Constitution to be our guide and a fair, transparent, honest, open election process. And so, when we talk about wanting to fix this for this particular cycle, whatever state it is, it isn’t just so that, say, Donald Trump can remain President. It is so we can keep our republic.

Dick Morris:  Yeah. I believe we’ve gone from a democracy to where they call a mediaocracy. And it’s that – that needs to be we need to retake our government.

Linda J. Hansen:  Yes. Yes, I would really like you to address the business community. I know that, as I’ve talked with employers all across this country, they have had such optimism and such growth during the Trump presidency. We have finally had a business person in the White House who understands how to help businesses grow, which in turn, you know, helps to fund our government, helps to fund the American citizens. I always remind people that our government has nothing and so, a healthy business creates the wealth which then provides taxes and provides jobs, et cetera.

Dick Morris:  Let me comment on that, Linda. I think that the Obama – one of the key things that Obama did was change the issue from should we have higher taxes to should we have higher taxes on the middle class? And all of a sudden, it became politically acceptable to raise taxes, as long as you only did it on, “rich people” or on businesses or on corporations. And as a result, we developed a sort of two-tiered tax system, when not only was it progressively graduating, which it should be. But it was – there was a special license to tax people over a certain income and businesses and partnerships. And the problem with that is that you don’t get jobs from individuals. You get them corporations, businesses, Chapter S corporations, and you get them mainly from people who have the money to hire people. Very few people are hired by poor people.

And the – when the fallacy of the argument that we’re only raising taxes on business is absurd. For example, Biden has two proposals in his tax plan, which I have noticed has not passed. One is to raise taxes on corporations that were cut from, I think, 30-something percent to 21% under Trump. He wants to move it back up to 28 or 29. Well, that money comes right out of the pool of money you can use to hire workers and give those figure hiring already raises. I think Trump has demonstrated that business tax cuts directly create jobs and directly creates higher wages. And one key statistic is during 2019, which was the first year where Trump’s policies really had a chance to kick in. Household income in the United States rose. Median household income, the average household rose by $4,000 a year. So, you ended up making $4,000 extra, adjusted for inflation in 2019 and that’s because of the tax cuts. So, the first thing to emphasize to employees, if you already have them, that it is the taxes that are stopping them from getting raises or hiring additional workers.

The second thing, I think, is that – and then the second example from the Biden tax proposal is right now you pay Social Security taxes up to about the first $150,000 of income. Biden wants to change that and say after $150,000, you pay the same tax rate up to $400,000 on the first $125.000. But at $400,000, it kicks in again, and you now have to pay higher taxes on that. So, just to finish that –that’s the English, there’s a 12% – a 13% tax rate on Social Security and a 3% tax rate on Medicare – for Medicare separate as well as on Social Security. If you make $150,000 a year, you’re going to pay 12% of that or about $18,000 in taxes. Then as your income goes up, you still pay that $18,000, it doesn’t go up. It stays right there. So, if you make $350,000, you still pay the 18,000. But once you hit $400,000, it kicks in again, and you then pay 13% of whatever you make over $400,000. And in fact, they’ll probably make it more like 15% or 18%.

So, let’s say you make up – you have a household income of $500,000, you’ll pay FICA on the first $150,000 And the last $100,000 combined and that comes right out of the income of small businesses that can hire people. Two-thirds of the jobs in this country are created by small businesses. That’s essentially individuals and their families who make money and hire people. And the tax rates, particularly FICA, Social Security, is a heavy burden on them and a heavy drag on their ability to create jobs. It’s important for people to realize that. I do have to get going Linda, but I’ve enjoyed this very much.

Linda J. Hansen:  Well, thank you so much, Dick, for taking time during such a busy time in our country. And thank you for all of your work that you’re doing to not only help the President, but also just really to help make sure that our election process is clear, transparent, open, honest, and constitutionally followed. So, I thank you so much for –

Dick Morris:  Thank you, Linda. Nice speaking with you.

Linda J. Hansen:  -- all you’ve done to help America. We thank you. And if people want to reach out to you, they can go to DickMorris.com. Sign up for your daily newsletters or they can also follow you on Newsmax.com. So, thank you, Dick.

Dick Morris:  Every day I do a video on that day’s news and you can sign up at DickMorris.com to get it for free. I just did one this morning, so you can get one every day.

Linda J. Hansen:  Right. They’re very educational. Thank you, Dick. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for working so hard for America. Thank you.

Thank you again for listening to the Prosperity 101 Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a great review. Don’t forget to visit Prosperity101.com to access the entire podcast library, to order my newest book, Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck, or to enroll you or your employees in the Breakroom Economics online course. You can also receive the free e-book, 10 Tips for Helping Employees Understand How Public Policy Affects Paychecks. 

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