Town Hall Drama Reported by Cory Vaillancourt of Smoky Mountain News: When Politicians Meet Their Constituents (Spoiler: It’s Awkward)
Cory Vaillancourt from Smoky Mountain News joins us today, and boy, do we dive into some juicy political drama! The main dish? Congressman Chuck Edwards actually showed up for a couple of town hall meetings, and let's just say, things got a little spicy. With the folks in Canton and Asheville throwing some serious shade his way, especially about cuts to Medicaid and the whole Social Security debacle, it's a wonder he didn’t just crawl under a rock. Spoiler alert: he didn’t answer the tough questions—surprise, surprise! We also chat about the absurdity of political theater, the glaring disconnect between politicians and their constituents, and how a sh*tstorm of misinformation is wreaking havoc on public perception. Buckle up, because this convo is one wild ride through the chaos that is local politics—complete with a side of sarcasm and a dash of reality-check vibes!
Cory Vaillancourt, the political editor from Smoky Mountain News, joins us for a wild dive into the chaos of local politics in western North Carolina. The episode opens with a bang as we recount Congressman Chuck Edwards’ recent town hall meetings in Canton and Asheville, where he bravely (or foolishly?) faced a crowd that was more than a little hostile. As the three of us dissect the peculiarities of Edwards’ approach to constituents—who, let’s be real, are not exactly rolling out the red carpet for him—we can’t help but crack jokes about his ability to dodge accountability like a pro. You’d think he was in a game of dodgeball instead of trying to address the concerns of the people he claims to represent.
Vaillancourt shares the drama that unfolded at the Canton event, where a frustrated constituent named Nate Roberto shouted pointed questions about Medicaid cuts, leaving Edwards visibly rattled. We can practically feel the tension in the air as we discuss how the Congressman, who was supposed to be handing out $41 million in federal funds, looked like a deer caught in headlights when confronted about his legislative choices. The irony of him showcasing “other people’s money” while simultaneously critiquing the federal government is not lost on us, and we dive into the absurdity of the situation like it’s a hot tub full of hypocrisy.
As the episode progresses, we transition to the Asheville town hall, where things go even further off the rails. With over 2,000 people trying to cram into a venue meant for 360, it’s a perfect storm of frustration, anger, and an overwhelming sense of urgency from constituents who feel ignored. We laugh (and cringe) as we recount the scenes, including a veteran being escorted out for voicing his displeasure—because who doesn’t love a good ol’ political spectacle? In a world where democracy often feels like a spectator sport, our chat with Cory reminds us that it’s vital to stay engaged, hold officials accountable, and, most importantly, keep the sarcasm flowing as we navigate the absurdities of politics.
Takeaways:
- Cory Vaillancourt spills the tea on Congressman Chuck Edwards' town halls—they're like reality TV but with more awkward silences and less drama.
- The town of Canton got a sweet $41 million for its water system, but the irony is that it comes from the same folks Edwards loves to roast.
- When Chuck Edwards faced a hostile crowd, he dodged tough questions like a pro, proving that accountability is not on his agenda—surprise, surprise!
- The chaotic town hall meetings showed that folks in WNC are fed up and ready to hold their politicians accountable, like a public roast but without the marshmallows.
- Cory's trip to Ukraine revealed the stark contrast between American political woes and the genuine crisis faced by Ukrainians—cue existential dread.
- If you thought the state of journalism was bad, just wait until you hear how people value their news sources—hint: kitten videos are winning over hard facts.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Elon Musk
- Smoky Mountain News
- Blue Ridge Public Radio
- Evergreen Paper Mill
- Biden
- Social Security Administration
- HCA
- Mission Health
- Asheville Citizen Times
- WLOS
- USA Today
- Project Hope
- Doge
- Angel's Envy
Transcript
FOREIGN.
Speaker B:Welcome back folks, to muck you where we cut through the noise and dig into the truth.
Speaker B:No sugar coating, no spin, no just the raw, unfiltered conversations that matter to Mo and me.
Speaker B:I'm David Wheeler and always I am joined by my co host, the one and only Colonel Mo Davis.
Speaker B:Take it, Mo.
Speaker A:Hey, David, good morning.
Speaker A:Good to see you again.
Speaker B:See you.
Speaker A:Well, I'm mixing things up a little bit here today.
Speaker A:Now our last guest was came to us from South Africa, Elon Musk.
Speaker A:Father.
Speaker A:Very interesting, lively conversation, but we're going to bring it closer to home today with a local.
Speaker A:Corey Valencourt is the political editor at Smoky Mountain News, is based out of Waynesville and he's a regular on Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Speaker A:And I think most everyone that's lived here in western North Carolina for any length of time knows Corey and his reporting.
Speaker A:And Corey, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker C:On MUC U.
Speaker C:Yeah, glad to be with you guys.
Speaker C:Good to see both of you again.
Speaker A:Well, it's been an interesting 24 hours here in western North Carolina on the political front with Congressman Chuck Edwards.
Speaker A:Had a couple of town hall meetings here in the area, which is kind of breaking tradition with his colleagues on the Republican side who have been avoiding town hall.
Speaker A:So I think you got to give him credit for for showing up.
Speaker A:But Corey, you covered the one out in Canton in the afternoon and the one here in Asheville last evening.
Speaker A:So could you talk just a little bit about those two events?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So obviously very different events.
Speaker C:Mo earlier in the day, 1:00 in Canton, Representative Edwards was appearing to present the town of canton with a 41 million dollar federal appropriation, that is for Canton's water system.
Speaker C:So the town of Canton's water system, the water pipes under the town, they're old, they break often.
Speaker C:There are boil water orders unfortunately, very regularly there.
Speaker C:So they really need some help.
Speaker C:It's the only kind of apparatus that could pull together $41 million to give to a town, the federal government.
Speaker C:And so it was supposed to be a good occasion.
Speaker C: aper Mill had closed there in: Speaker C:The county's largest employer that was recently sold to a developer and they've started scrapping it already.
Speaker C:So there's a lot of optimism in Canton, but without that water piece of the puzzle, they really have some problems with development.
Speaker C:So this appropriation that Edwards was bringing to the town is going to help the town of Canton in the future.
Speaker C:It's going to help them provide better service to their residents and Also provide a consistent flow of water to the mil.
Speaker C:What was the mill?
Speaker C:So that future developments can rely on that.
Speaker C:Now there's another piece of this puzzle.
Speaker C:The mill, the paper mill used to treat the town of Canton's municipal waste for decades, six, seven decades, the change in ownership.
Speaker C:Through all that into doubt, the town of Canton has been looking at solutions.
Speaker C:What do we do?
Speaker C:Do we operate the plant?
Speaker C:Do we build a new one?
Speaker C:If so, where?
Speaker C:And where are we going to get the money?
Speaker C:Those things are not cheap, you know, probably 20, $30 million easy.
Speaker C:So some of the money that Edwards had brought to the town was earmarked for that specific project as well.
Speaker C:It bails the town of Canton out of a very desperate situation.
Speaker C:So, again, it was supposed to be a good event with Representative Edwards bringing this money.
Speaker C:Would either of you two gentlemen care to guess where that money came from?
Speaker A:I'm guessing back from the Biden days would be my guess.
Speaker C: Resources Development act of: Speaker C:It was agreed on in, I think, December, and President Biden signed that in early January before President Trump took office.
Speaker C:So Chuck very happy to show up and give away other people's money from people that he routinely berates, discredits, and ridicules.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So what happened at the event?
Speaker A:I understand there was.
Speaker A:Things didn't go according to script.
Speaker C:They didn't.
Speaker C:So we're sitting there, and Mayor Zeb Smathers kind of gives his boilerplate, thanks for the money.
Speaker C:This is going to help.
Speaker C:Representative Edwards does the same thing.
Speaker C:He gets up there and.
Speaker C:And the.
Speaker C:The little press conference they were having was kind of winding down, and I believe Mayor Smathers was about to open it up to questions.
Speaker C:I was told that Representative Edwards was willing to answer some questions, right there.
Speaker C:Had some questions for him.
Speaker C:You can believe that.
Speaker C:However, some guy behind me starts shouting, and I turn around and look, I'm saying, who is this?
Speaker C:There were only two reporters there, me and Eric Long from the Mountaineer.
Speaker C:And I said, who the hell is shouting?
Speaker C:And it was this guy, Nate Roberto, Haywood county man.
Speaker C:He's a registered independent.
Speaker C:He started questioning Edwards very.
Speaker C:In very strong terms about cuts to Medicaid.
Speaker C:And Representative Edwards, he appeared startled by the question, annoyed.
Speaker C:You could tell he didn't want to answer it or didn't want to go down that road.
Speaker C:And so as Edwards is kind of brushing off this question, this gentleman, Mr.
Speaker C:Roberto, continues walking very slowly to the podium.
Speaker C:Now, when you see that in an event where there are tons of cops and you've Got a lot of elected officials from the county, from the town.
Speaker C:You start to get nervous because things can go bad in a hurry.
Speaker C:And, you know, obviously my hat's off to the town of Canton Police Department for diffusing the situation.
Speaker C:It didn't look like it was going to be something violent.
Speaker C:The man was.
Speaker C:Mr.
Speaker C:Roberto was walking very slowly towards the podium, but still very alarming.
Speaker C:If you've ever stood in front of a crowd or stood in front of a podium and had someone from the crowd start to approach, you know, again, things could go very bad.
Speaker C:So Mr.
Speaker C:Roberto got a good talking, too.
Speaker C:He was kind of hauled away by the cops.
Speaker C:They ended up letting him go.
Speaker C:I don't think they charged him.
Speaker C:He left the scene without further incident.
Speaker C:But another set of Canton police officers also kind of swarmed onto Edwards and extricated him from that situation just to ensure that there would be no physical contact between Representative Edwards and anyone in that crowd.
Speaker A:Well, it's a legitimate question they brought up about Medicaid because Congressman Edwards voted for the Republican budget bill that, in order to make the math work, would potentially kick off what, about 65,000 Western North Carolinians that are on Medicaid.
Speaker A:So did he respond to the question or how did he handle it?
Speaker C:Not at all.
Speaker C:As he was being escorted from the scene for his own protection, he never once attempted to answer the question.
Speaker C:And, you know, I was kind of, I guess, surprised that this Mr.
Speaker C:Roberto shouted out his question because I was ready to do the same thing on another topic.
Speaker C:So as Representative Edwards is walking away, I tried to get him to answer a question.
Speaker C:You may have seen a story that I wrote on March 3.
Speaker C:The Social Security office in Franklin is on the DOGE list for lease termination.
Speaker C:And it says.
Speaker C:It says the office has already been closed, which is wrong.
Speaker C:But if you're surprised by inaccuracies in the DOGE data, I can't really help you.
Speaker C:It also said that the lease termination would save $1 million.
Speaker C:So as we're looking for waste, fraud and abuse, saving a million bucks versus a $6 trillion budget doesn't seem to really make sense, especially when you factor in the facts that the Franklin office is the only office west of Asheville.
Speaker C:Asheville is 95 miles away from Andrews.
Speaker C:So if you had to go handle some business with the Social Security Administration, you would have.
Speaker C:It would.
Speaker C:It would be a whole day.
Speaker C:There are also a number of things you cannot do online or on the phone.
Speaker C:You have to show up in person for certain actions by the Social Security Administration.
Speaker C:I talked to a woman who said she has two 38 year old sons with cerebral palsy.
Speaker C:They can't read, they can't write, and periodically they have to deal with the Social Security Administration for their benefits.
Speaker C:She said I have to pack them up, put their walkers or their wheelchairs in the car, drive to Asheville, deal with that situation, pack them back up, drive them all the way home.
Speaker C:That's, that's somewhat of an extreme case, but certainly the population that the Social Security Administration serves is elderly, sometimes infirm, sometimes disabled.
Speaker C:So just a completely nonsensical move to close that office.
Speaker C:So I asked Representative Edwards, I said, elon Musk is closing a Social Security office in your district.
Speaker C:What are you doing to stop them?
Speaker C:He had the same answer for me that he had for Mr.
Speaker C:Roberto, which was, he didn't even acknowledge the question.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, you're right about Doge there.
Speaker A:I did a piece for the Asheville Citizen Times recently about, I refer to it as MSU making up because they just fabricate facts.
Speaker A:And it started with the, my articles about female.
Speaker A:You know, they're claiming that Fema money was it 59 billion up in New York City was, got pulled away from disaster victims.
Speaker A:And that certainly resonates here in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
Speaker A:And it was going to put up migrants and you know, the Waldorf Astoria, you know, living in luxury.
Speaker A:And it just wasn't true because those are two separate appropriations.
Speaker A:And I said, right, you want to gripe about spending money on migrants.
Speaker A:You had to complain to Chuck Edwards because he voted for the bill that funded housing migrants.
Speaker A:So how about then he came to Asheville later in the evening.
Speaker A:I was there, I the event started at six I think, doors opened at five.
Speaker A:I got there about 4:25.
Speaker A:And I believe they said they could accommodate 360 people.
Speaker A:And I must have been about number 600 by the time I got in line at 4:25 and so on wlos they were estimating there were over 2,000 people that showed up for the event.
Speaker A:So you were inside.
Speaker A:How did things go inside?
Speaker C:So I got there probably 4 o'clock and there was a small line and they asked press to report at 4:30.
Speaker C:And so we had to go in at 4:30.
Speaker C:But right before that I spoke to almost everyone in line.
Speaker C:I just walked down the line and I said, where are you from?
Speaker C:Where are you from?
Speaker C:Where are you from?
Speaker C:It was overwhelmingly Buncombe county or Asheville, but there were a lot of folks from Henderson county as well.
Speaker C:I also counted folks from McDowell, from Madison, from Haywood.
Speaker C:So there was a pretty good turnout.
Speaker C:One thing I noticed though was that there, I didn't see one single Trump supporter or outward Republican there.
Speaker C:And that makes a lot of sense because from their perspective, listen, we've already won.
Speaker C:We've got no reason to go to this thing.
Speaker C:We've got nothing to fight for.
Speaker C:We're just going to sit back and enjoy our electoral victory.
Speaker C:So I understand why maybe you didn't see all the MAGA stuff that you typically see at anything where you have a Republican representative.
Speaker C:At the time that I walked in at 4:30, I swept the crowd.
Speaker C:I did a headcount.
Speaker C:There were 450 people as we were sitting in there waiting for the event to spool up.
Speaker C:There were folks outside that I was in communication with who had done another count.
Speaker C:And they did say there was over 2,000 people waiting in line to get into this 360 person event.
Speaker C:So that's kind of how it started.
Speaker C:And if you put this into the context of what happened in Canton earlier that day, I even wrote it in the lead of my story.
Speaker C:It was likely a preview for what we were going to see in Asheville.
Speaker C:And I was 100% right because that entire event was just about what you would have expected.
Speaker A:Yeah, I was, I didn't make it in obviously, but I was standing outside.
Speaker A:It wasn't long after the event started that a, a veteran got escorted out by the.
Speaker A:Which apparently made cnn.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:What happened?
Speaker A:What happened there?
Speaker C:So Reuters asked me for the video last night and I provided it to him.
Speaker C:I've been told it's on cnn, on CBS as well.
Speaker C:That veteran was a fellow named Jay Carey.
Speaker C:Do y'all remember Jay Carey?
Speaker A:Yes, from.
Speaker C:Jay ran.
Speaker C: in the Democratic primary in: Speaker C:Uh, he came in third behind, uh, Katie Dean, she had about 25.
Speaker C:And Jasmine beach, fer potential nominee, had about 60%.
Speaker C:So Jay's a veteran of the 3rd Infantry Division, and you can see that, the blue and white diagonal stripes on his hat as he's escorted out.
Speaker C:But it took me a second to catch what was going on because there was a lot of yelling in the room the whole night.
Speaker C:And then I see the police up front persuading him to leave.
Speaker C:And he comes up the aisle.
Speaker C:I happen to be right there to shoot the video.
Speaker C:He was dropping F bombs left and right.
Speaker C:He was very upset.
Speaker C:And his issues seemed to stem from the fact that he's a veteran and he was concerned about President Trump and Representative Edwards treatment of veterans.
Speaker C:Kerry actually issued a press release this morning.
Speaker C:Believe it or not, it's the same PR firm that handled his congressional run.
Speaker C:And it, it has a headline of Chuck Edwards Silences Disabled Vet.
Speaker C:Now, I don't know that it's super accurate that Chuck silenced him.
Speaker C:I think he kind of silenced himself because we have freedom of speech in this country.
Speaker C:But when you become unruly, disorderly, disruptive, they're going to ask you to leave.
Speaker C:And that's basically what happened with Mr.
Speaker C:Carey.
Speaker A:Well, again, I give Chuck Edwards credit for showing up.
Speaker A:I mean, he knew absolutely this was, this was not going to be a friendly audience.
Speaker A:And good on him for, for being willing to stand up there and, you know, knowing he's going to get slings and arrows.
Speaker A:But understand Mr.
Speaker A:Carey's position.
Speaker A:I'm a disabled veteran as well.
Speaker A:And These cuts to 30% of the federal workforce are veterans.
Speaker A:So these layoffs, just taking a hatchet to the federal workforce is 30% of those people are veterans.
Speaker A:And here in Asheville, we're fortunate to have one of the best VA hospitals in the country.
Speaker A:And what they're doing to the VA is, I'm afraid, they're trying to do to the VA hospital what they did to Mission and they sold it out to hca.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And I think it's unfortunate that, you know, I'm not a veteran.
Speaker C:I never served in the armed forces, but I understand that some are many.
Speaker C:That's one of the fringe benefits of being a veteran is preferential hiring in federal agencies and situations.
Speaker C:And so some folks may be banked on the fact that they were going to have a job for life somewhere.
Speaker C:And, you know, to have it stripped away in this manner for poor performance is just an insult, I think.
Speaker B:So wait, I've got the video here, so let's.
Speaker B:I'm going to go ahead and share this and run this.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's been edited by me, so there's a political angle to it.
Speaker B:But let's just let folks decide for themselves what they think about Chuck Edwards in this interaction with Mr.
Speaker B:Carey.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you for that feedback.
Speaker A:To be clear.
Speaker B:It.
Speaker B:So to be clear.
Speaker C:To be clear, Chunk, the people of NC11 don't like you.
Speaker C:You are just another rich guy in D.C.
Speaker C:and could give a.
Speaker C:About real country people.
Speaker C:We will vote you out.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:Okay, hold on a sec.
Speaker B:Let me kill that video.
Speaker B:But so obviously there's a little bit of political angle there that I'm trying to get through.
Speaker B:But, you know, Mr.
Speaker B:Carey may have Been a little bit over the top.
Speaker B:But, you know, I.
Speaker B:I think the interesting thing about that whole interaction is, look how many cops are there.
Speaker B:I mean, how is it that Chuck Edwards is in a position where he needs.
Speaker B:There must have been more than a dozen cops there to interact with his constituents.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And that says something about our society, I guess, but it also says a lot about him that he has created an atmosphere that's so antagonistic, that are so difficult for him that he has to have a dozen cops there.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker B:What was the law enforcement presence like there, Corey?
Speaker C:It was substantial.
Speaker C:And even going back to the event earlier in Canton, it was in Sorrel Street Park.
Speaker C:It's a big, wide open space.
Speaker C:There were about 20 chairs laid out.
Speaker C:You had the Canton governing board, you had some county commissioners, people like that.
Speaker C:And when I rolled up onto the scene, they had a lane of traffic blocked, and they had several police vehicles with their lights on.
Speaker C:And I said, wow, what's going on here?
Speaker C:Why would.
Speaker C:Why would that happen?
Speaker C:I've never seen that before.
Speaker C:I think it was in anticipation of massive protests, not just in the situation that you say Chuck Edwards has created, but that Republicans in general in this country have created.
Speaker C:We know how they've been received at these town halls.
Speaker C:We know that's why Richard Hudson told Republicans not to hold town halls.
Speaker C:So I think they were bracing for the worst.
Speaker C:In Canton, the only member of the public who was just kind of a disinterested person was Mr.
Speaker C:Roberto, who ended up being escorted from the scene.
Speaker C:It was all water department employees, elected officials, two reporters.
Speaker C:So that translated later in the evening.
Speaker C:Law enforcement presence was very heavy inside the room.
Speaker C:Sheriff Quint Miller of Buncombe county was also in attendance, standing right there.
Speaker C:So I think we all can agree political violence has no place in the American system, and nobody wanted to see anybody get hurt.
Speaker C:And again, my hat's off to the law enforcement in that room who were able to manage a very hostile crowd for more than 90 minutes.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, it.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And listen, Mr.
Speaker B:Carey was hot, but couldn't have Edwards just say, okay, listen, I hear you.
Speaker B:I hear you loud and clear.
Speaker B:How can I help you?
Speaker B:What can I do that would make your situation better?
Speaker B:Because veterans are important to me in this, you know, district is.
Speaker B:It's got a lot of veterans.
Speaker B:Why didn't.
Speaker B:Why don't politicians respond that way?
Speaker B:I don't understand.
Speaker C:I think they don't respond that way because they know the answer is not going to be the answer.
Speaker C:That or they don't give it or.
Speaker B:They don't give a really, I'm not sure.
Speaker C:I believe that in all cases, but in this specific case, what possibly could Chuck Edwards have told Jay Cary that would have made Jay Cary say, oh, okay, you're right.
Speaker C:Well, gosh, thanks so much for doing that.
Speaker C:I, I appreciate your help.
Speaker B:Yeah, good point, good point.
Speaker B:But I, I think that Chuck could have turned it from Mr.
Speaker B:Kerry yelling at him to Mr.
Speaker B:Kerry being outrageous.
Speaker B:And it doesn't come off as outrageous for the most part when you look at it from afar, I think.
Speaker C:Yeah, and sometimes that's easier said than done.
Speaker C:I mean, we could say Chuck could have did this, Chuck could have did that, but when you're standing in front of nearly 400 people screaming at you, it's a different story.
Speaker C:You know, Chuck, to me, at times appeared very rattled.
Speaker C:People were drowning him out.
Speaker C:People were calling him all sorts of names.
Speaker C:And, you know, Chuck is usually a pretty kind of laid back guy on the, on the microphone.
Speaker C:He's not very expressive.
Speaker C:He doesn't seem to get agitated or upset easily.
Speaker C:But there were a number of times during that event last night where he almost, I believe it seemed like he was choked up a little bit or just stumbling over himself because again, you know, several hundred people screaming at you, it's not pleasant.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, I think he deserves every bit of those screams, to be honest with you.
Speaker B:I mean, if you look at the way he votes, he just, he doesn't represent the entire district.
Speaker B:He may represent a faction within western North Carolina, but he deserves every bit of that.
Speaker B:And he needs more of it, frankly.
Speaker B:I, I, I don't, I don't think we need violence.
Speaker B:I don't think we need screaming.
Speaker B:But he needs to hear directly from people more often.
Speaker B:I think he, he looked like a cake eater last night to me.
Speaker B:I mean, he looked like he was so far above it all.
Speaker B:He talked about or what I remember him talking about being on Air Force One, going to Egypt, going on trips abroad.
Speaker B:I just found it, I found it very patronizing and kind of talking down to people the entire time instead of listening.
Speaker B:Now, he may been on the defensive and that's why he was acting that way.
Speaker B:But I just, I thought that was an absolute shit show for him.
Speaker B:Hats off to him for trying to do it, but I don't think he did it very well.
Speaker B:What do you, what were your impressions, Mo?
Speaker A:Yeah, well, again, I didn't get inside and by the time I got home, it was just about over.
Speaker A:So I didn't get to really see what took place inside, but I can tell you outside.
Speaker A:There was also a fairly substantial law enforcement presence out there and a lot of, you know, people that were very vocal and agitated.
Speaker A:I think I posted a clip of.
Speaker A:There's a.
Speaker A:The crowd chanting Deport Musk, you know, so it was, it was good to see people engaged.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Rather than, you know, just sitting on their butts, people made the effort to come out and stood there knowing that they probably weren't going to get in.
Speaker A:But it was good to see, you know, people are, are interested and hopefully that continues for a while.
Speaker B:So, so what were your takeaways from both events, Corey?
Speaker B:I mean, did Chuck get the message, do you think, or.
Speaker B:Or is he just walking away with his tail between his legs?
Speaker C:I'm not really sure, David.
Speaker C:You know, I can say from what I've known of Chuck Edwards, he doesn't walk away with his tail between his legs ever.
Speaker C:He doubles down and hardens up.
Speaker C:And so if this was supposed to be some sort of epiphany or awakening for him, I don't think it had that effect.
Speaker C:My biggest takeaway, the issues that people brought up.
Speaker C:So Chuck, he started.
Speaker C:It was three parts, 90 minutes, 30 minutes a piece.
Speaker C:He started by trying to talk about what he had done during Helene and just some of his accomplishments.
Speaker C:And he was drowned out by the crowd during that segment.
Speaker C:Then he took questions that people had written on cards.
Speaker C:And then finally there was an open mic session where they went around and people were able to stand up and ask their direct questions.
Speaker C:The biggest issues of the entire night.
Speaker C:Social Security, Medicaid, the VA and the Department of Education.
Speaker C:Ukraine was probably a close second to those.
Speaker C:But those are all entitlement programs of a sort.
Speaker C:And he didn't seem to do very well with answers on any of those issues.
Speaker C:Huge, huge issues.
Speaker C:Social Security.
Speaker C:We talked about closing the Franklin office.
Speaker C:He didn't even mention it.
Speaker C:He said he would protect Social Security.
Speaker C:He said, I'll never vote to, to dissolve your Social Security or something like that.
Speaker C:Someone asked him, well, what about removing the cap or lifting the cap on income?
Speaker C:I think it's $176,000 a year.
Speaker C:Once you make that, you don't have to pay Social Security tax anymore.
Speaker C:He dodged that questions like a ballerina.
Speaker C:Like, he.
Speaker C:He refused to get anywhere near it.
Speaker C:They pressed him on it.
Speaker C:Medicaid.
Speaker C:Somebody talked to him about Medicaid cuts, as Mo mentioned earlier.
Speaker C:He told the person that asked the question, well, I don't think you read that bill.
Speaker C:Incredibly dismissive.
Speaker C:We've Already talked about cuts to the VA and my favorite, the Department of Education.
Speaker C:They asked him about dismantling the Department of Education, and he said, well, if you look closely at the Constitution, the Department of Education's not in there.
Speaker C:And I thought to myself, yeah, there's something else that's not in the Constitution either.
Speaker C:It's the Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaker C:So just very, you know, he didn't seem to fare very well on any of these things.
Speaker C:As far as Ukraine, which is a cause that's close to my heart.
Speaker C:I see it's close to yours, David, wearing the, the Trident there, the national symbol of the country.
Speaker C:I've been there twice.
Speaker C:I was on the front lines in Harrison Oblast in the south.
Speaker C:I heard the Russian artillery fire, the MLRs.
Speaker C:We were embedded with a group delivering humanitarian aid to people who had been under Russian control for six months.
Speaker C:And you could see the stress and the hurt on these people's faces, lining up for toiletries and toothpaste.
Speaker C:It was just horrifying.
Speaker C:Chuck said he went to Ukraine.
Speaker C:He was there for nine days.
Speaker C:He said he felt the pain of the widows and their tears and heard the bombs and stuff.
Speaker C:But he also said that he feels that Donald Trump has been very supportive to Ukraine, which I think there are some people that would agree otherwise.
Speaker C:He, Chuck also said, I believe Donald Trump recognizes Vladimir Putin as a murderous dictator.
Speaker C:I don't know that you can recognize someone as a murderous dictator and then try to sit down at the table and carve up a sovereign nation.
Speaker C:I, I just, it, it doesn't make any sense.
Speaker C:So again, kind of like what we were talking about earlier, I don't know that there are any answers that Chuck could have given where the crowd would have said, oh, okay, great, good job, Chuck.
Speaker C:And when he did give answers, he was ridiculed because they were either non answers, deflections, or just outright lies.
Speaker B:Go ahead, Mo.
Speaker A:Yeah, Corey, you're out and about around western North Carolina.
Speaker A:Probably a lot more than, than David and I are.
Speaker A:A lot that's taken place in the last, you know, couple of months since Trump took office has tremendous consequences for folks here in western North Carolina.
Speaker A:You've touched on, you know, Medicaid and education and some of those things, but also, you know, our national parks and national forests, you know, kind of the lifeblood of our economy, and cuts to those programs are going to have a significant impact on western North Carolina.
Speaker A:Is it your sense that, that people here in the district have, are comprehending what's happening to them and their families.
Speaker C:And Their communities, I think they are.
Speaker C:MO I wrote a story a couple of weeks ago about the national park firings and the Forest Service firings, and people truly understand, you know, this is supposed to be America's best idea.
Speaker C:It's one of the most amazing things that we have in this country is unspoiled wilderness like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Speaker C:I live in Maggie Valley.
Speaker C:I'm literally two miles from the border of the park.
Speaker C:I see the tourism that comes in here.
Speaker C:I see the mom and pop shops, the motels, the hotels, the bars, the restaurants.
Speaker C:This would have an economic cascade.
Speaker C:If the quality of the parks goes down.
Speaker C:People stop visiting, they stop buying boojum beer, they stop going to the diners in Waynesville or over on the Tennessee side.
Speaker C:So I think people are really starting to understand the consequences of.
Speaker C:Well, we want to, we want to shrink the size of federal government.
Speaker C:Okay, fine, but can you do it in a less damaging way?
Speaker C:And I don't think that they're really concerned about doing it in a less damaging way.
Speaker A:How are you.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, you're reporting facts.
Speaker A:It seems like a large segment of the population is totally detached from facts.
Speaker A:I was looking online near the response to, to the town hall last night.
Speaker A:You know, people were saying that those 2,000 people, which included me, I was there, that we were all, you know, hired by George Soros, that, you know, talking about Ukraine.
Speaker A:I had my, my, my Ukraine shirt on.
Speaker A:Out in the audience there outside, they're saying, you know, Ukraine that's, you know, Putin's doing Ukraine a favor by getting rid of the Nazis that were running the government.
Speaker A:And it's, you know, Zelensky's fault, not Putin's fault.
Speaker A:And, you know, just on and on with this delusional perception of, of reality.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:And we experienced some of that yesterday with Errol Musk, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:He had some pretty crazy.
Speaker B:And we've had some back and forth between now and then.
Speaker B:He's not backing down from that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:How do you deal with that, Corey?
Speaker A:When you're, you know, you're trying to present, you know, hard news, real facts, and you've got a significant portion of the population that just doesn't care about.
Speaker C:Facts anymore, you know, it's difficult.
Speaker C:MO that's the million dollar question.
Speaker C:I mean, personally, I just try to put as many facts out there as possible, and I don't let people bother me about it, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'm not going to be able to convince you the sky's blue if you keep Telling me it's brown.
Speaker C:I mean, look at it, it's blue.
Speaker C:You want to ignore that.
Speaker C:I'm just going to keep moving along and doing what I'm doing.
Speaker C:You know, I think in all aspects of municipal and federal government, this is becoming a larger and larger problem.
Speaker C:And threats to elected officials over misinformation have just climbed.
Speaker C:We've had a ton of storm related information.
Speaker C:President Donald Trump came here and spouted storm misinformation and Chuck Edwards stood right behind him and didn't say a word.
Speaker C:He gave him a pin for being a McDonald's fry cook for that stunt he pulled off.
Speaker C:So until everybody steps up and addresses this, it's going to continue to spread.
Speaker C:And we saw it here in Haywood after Hurricane Helene.
Speaker C:So many resources were wasted trying to tell people what was really happening on the ground.
Speaker C:And that goes from first responders to reporters.
Speaker C:We had to write entire stories debunking the bullshit that some people were coming up with.
Speaker C:And I could have spent that time doing almost anything else, talking to families, talking to victims, talking to elected officials about response.
Speaker C:Instead, I'm trying to tell people that the government cannot control the weather.
Speaker C:And they don't believe me.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker A:We had that here over towards Lake Lure where, you know, the, the, the rumor mill was that this was a government plot to get the lithium from under Chimney Rock.
Speaker A:And, you know, and people act, people acted on that.
Speaker A:People, it's, it's incredible the, you know, the level of that people are willing to believe because it supports their, their feelings.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's, it's difficult.
Speaker C:And, you know, until we get somebody to step up and counter this misinformation with facts, especially in regards to Chuck Edwards, he's obviously up for reelection.
Speaker C:He's going to be going for his third term here in the next year or two.
Speaker C:I don't, I haven't yet heard of an opponent.
Speaker C:I do know that this is usually around the time people start to pop up, April or May, with a well funded, well thought out campaign.
Speaker C:And so we're looking to see if there's going to be Democratic challengers or Republican challenges.
Speaker C:He had a, a guy, Christian Reagan, who is further right than he was run against him last time.
Speaker C:And of course, Mr.
Speaker C:Reagan didn't do well.
Speaker C:I don't know what the Democrat bench looks like out here right now.
Speaker C:I haven't heard people saying, I'm getting ready, I'm gonna run, I'm gonna run.
Speaker C:You know, Mo from running in this district, what it takes and what kind of person is needed.
Speaker C:Even though you weren't successful, you were out here and you were campaigning, do you think that's something you would do?
Speaker A:Again, I don't know.
Speaker A: to me that in losing back in: Speaker A:But my regret is that I know we can do better for western North Carolina.
Speaker A: you know, when I ran Back in: Speaker A:You're implying that people are stupid.
Speaker A:And it's like, well, they are because they're, they're hurting themselves and their kids and their communities by voting.
Speaker A:And I understand, you know, people don't want to get, but if you don't, you know, don't elect a.
Speaker A:It's frustrating.
Speaker A:I, I, you know, I think, you know, the demographics are, you know, are trending in the right direction.
Speaker A:I think one thing that is really hard to, to, to assess is what impact did Hurricane Helene is that going to have on that demographic trend?
Speaker A:Because, as you know, you know, a lot of, particularly service workers, a lot of folks left and haven't come back.
Speaker A:So I'm not sure what that's done to that trend line, but I still think over time it's heading in the right direction.
Speaker A:But I, I'm just not convinced the numbers are there yet.
Speaker A:But if I thought they were, they were.
Speaker A:I would certainly give it some serious thought.
Speaker C:Yeah, point with the math.
Speaker C:I mean, that's, that's what it all comes down to.
Speaker C:And you know, unfortunately, Republicans in this state have picked, been picking their voters, just as Donald Trump is picking the journalists he allows to cover his, his work.
Speaker C:So, I mean, it's always a difficult uphill climb.
Speaker C:And I suppose if you watch this town hall video and you watch some of the videos and the, you know, Jay Cary getting kicked out.
Speaker C:I have another video.
Speaker C:Protesters outside banging on the doors.
Speaker C:I'm sure you saw that M.O.
Speaker C:or heard it, you might think, oh, my God, it's a populous uprising.
Speaker C:People are finally done with the bullshit.
Speaker C:And I think it's important for people who don't live here to know that, you know, Asheville is a very liberal place.
Speaker C:It's a liberal oasis awash in a sea of red that was not a representative sample of the district.
Speaker C:If it was, Democrats would win this district 80% every time.
Speaker C:But it's just not.
Speaker C:You had a lot of liberals from western North Carolina show up, and that's not the reality of it.
Speaker C:As, you know, you get out and get out into some of these counties, they get pretty red pretty quick.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I remember when I was running, being out in one of the far western counties and kind of getting the same treatment that Chuck Edwards got here in Asheville.
Speaker A:And I'm sure that hadn't.
Speaker A:Hadn't gotten better.
Speaker A:I guess, you know, one of the frustrating things is, you know, David and I tried last time to use the rules to our advantage.
Speaker A:And, you know, North Carolina has a system where if you're an unaffiliated voter, you can pick which primary you vote in.
Speaker A:And here in western North Carolina, the decision is largely made in the primary.
Speaker A:So I guess, you know, one possibility would be to run as a Republican and try to get enough Democrats to register as independent to.
Speaker A:To win on the Republican side and win in the primary.
Speaker A:Then the general would be a cakewalk.
Speaker C:And that's kind of what Madison.
Speaker C:I'm sorry, Representative Edwards did to Madison Cawthorn.
Speaker C:We knew Madison Cawthorn was probably going to win just based on the numbers.
Speaker C:As many times as he wanted to run, the only way to get him out of office was to primary him with a decent, solid Republican.
Speaker C:And that was Chuck Edwards, and he did it.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, we helped.
Speaker A:Yeah, we did our part.
Speaker A:But, you know, the demo, the Democrats are so, you know, we've had a couple of folks on, like Adam Kinzinger and Denver Riggleman and some others that have.
Speaker A:Have talked about that.
Speaker A:You know, the Republicans are committed to winning.
Speaker A:You know, they're ruthless about winning where Democrats seem to be.
Speaker A:They want to play by the rules and be fair and polite and, you know, do things the right way.
Speaker A:But if you don't win, all those great policy ideas are totally irrelevant.
Speaker A:And you got to give the Republicans credit.
Speaker A:They are focused like a laser on winning at any cost.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And, you know, my personal opinion, especially after going to the DNC in Chicago last year and seeing all the energy, there was this.
Speaker C:You know, they go low, we go high.
Speaker C:It has ruined the Democratic Party.
Speaker C:The interest of being genteel and polite have outweighed the fact that you're absolutely right.
Speaker C:Republicans pursue victory at all expense, and elections have consequences.
Speaker C:And they've run roughshod over North Carolina as well as the federal government.
Speaker C:And my hat's off to them.
Speaker C:They are winners.
Speaker C:They've earned it through whatever means, and they are exercising power.
Speaker C:If Democrats want to do that, they have to stop being so polite and kind of stop humoring these things and show that they have some sort of backbone.
Speaker C:And that's what a lot of folks out here I've heard have complained about, is that amidst all of the chaos of the last 53 days or whatever it's been, Democratic Party still lacks a unified leader.
Speaker C:They lack any sort of organized resistance to what is happening with Doge and in the federal government and in our foreign policy.
Speaker C:I think they're really looking for a leader.
Speaker C:They're yearning for someone, and that person has not yet revealed themselves.
Speaker B:I agree 100% on that front.
Speaker B:Corey.
Speaker B:We at American Muckrakers have been trying to get Mark Cuban to get more involved.
Speaker B:And I think he's a reluctant character because I say that respectfully, because of his business interests, because of his family.
Speaker B:He knows the show.
Speaker B:Once you cross that line, what's coming down the path.
Speaker B:But I agree with you that, you know, even Schumer in the last 24 hours has said he's going to vote for the CR and my first response was resign.
Speaker B:I mean, if you can't put up a, a modicum of resistance, what are you doing there?
Speaker B:What's the point?
Speaker B:I don't understand it.
Speaker B:Just stay home, you know, and, and I.
Speaker B:What drives me crazy is I think these folks are so out of touch.
Speaker B:Schumer, I mean, God bless him, he's trying, doing the best he can.
Speaker B:And Hakeem Jeffries, you know, he's got a.
Speaker B:His handful with that caucus, but get out of D.C.
Speaker B:in New York City once in a while and come and talk to real people.
Speaker B:And I think the resistance would become a little more real to them.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:All right, well, that's my diatribe for the day, so.
Speaker B:Which nobody gives a about but me.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Cory, we all do.
Speaker A:We all care.
Speaker B:Well, when I ran statewide, I earned the reputation as Mr.
Speaker B:23%, so at least 23% of the people care.
Speaker B:So, Corey, which isn't.
Speaker B:Isn't enough to get things done, but tell us about your experiences in Ukraine.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm just fascinated by the fact you would go do that at your own expense.
Speaker B:And you know, what, what did you walk away with?
Speaker B:Feeling about that country and the people and in your experience there.
Speaker C:Well, David, full disclosure, I'm half Ukrainian.
Speaker C:My mother is a hundred percent.
Speaker C: he United States in the early: Speaker C:At that time, it was the Austro Hungarian empire is where they were technically born.
Speaker C:So I grew up in the culture.
Speaker C:I don't speak the language, but I went to the.
Speaker C:The Orthodox churches.
Speaker C:And so I understand the culture maybe a little bit more than some Americans who couldn't find a place on a map until three years ago and still probably can't.
Speaker C:But I had a friend who worked for a.
Speaker C:An aid organization called Project Hope.
Speaker C:And Project Hope was funded by usaid.
Speaker C:So he had.
Speaker C:He'd spent his entire career delivering humanitarian aid in places like Sri Lanka, in Chad, other places, and signed on to go to Ukraine in August, like, you know, five months after the Russian invasion.
Speaker C:And so since I had that connection, he's based in Odessa, I said I ought to take advantage of this.
Speaker C:So I talked to some folks around here, and I learned that there is a huge community of Ukrainians and Russians in the Asheville area, almost all of whom support Ukraine and its territorial sovereignty.
Speaker C:So I talked to some of those folks.
Speaker C:I made some connections, and I ended up carrying over 150 pounds of body armor.
Speaker C:It was expired body armor from a law enforcement enforcement agency that will remain unnamed, that was still usable, but had to be cycled out of their inventory.
Speaker C:So I had to carry these two heavy suitcases with this crap all the way halfway across the world by myself.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker C:It was a challenge.
Speaker C:But getting there, you know, I went through Kiev, I went down and stayed in Odessa.
Speaker C:We ventured out into places like Mikolaev and Harrison, which is.
Speaker C:The Dnieper river splits the Harrison oblast where the town is on the north side.
Speaker C:Russians had briefly controlled it.
Speaker C:Ukrainians want it back.
Speaker C:But Russians still control the southern.
Speaker C:The southern bank of the Dnieper, which leads to Crimea.
Speaker C:So we went there.
Speaker C:I got to see the destruction firsthand, you know, again, never served in the military, so it's really foreign to me to see entire towns gutted.
Speaker C:There's not a pane of glass in any of these places.
Speaker C:You see tails from rockets sticking out of farm fields, undetonated munitions.
Speaker C:I was able to talk to David Culp, another retired member of the armed forces, who had been going over there advising EOD teams, Ukrainian EOD teams.
Speaker C:He told me at the time, and this always stuck with me.
Speaker C:He said, you know, in 10 years, the Ukrainians are going to have the best EOD teams in the world, because they don't have a choice.
Speaker C:So going there and seeing the aggression, seeing the senselessness of.
Speaker C:Of what was happening, you know, it really hurt.
Speaker C:It really Hurt to see that and see people.
Speaker C:In Harrison, I had a Red Cross worker tell me about torture basements, about rape.
Speaker C:We were in another town, Chornobayevka, that the Russians tried to assault 90 some times and were not successful except for brief periods.
Speaker C:And they just described it as like Lord of the Flies, you know, drunken Russian soldiers driving through town, shooting at stuff, breaking people's legs, taking their papers, their phones.
Speaker C:Just a complete and total lack of the civil rights that we enjoy here in the United States.
Speaker C:So when I got back from that trip, I, I thought to myself, you know, the United States has a lot of problems, but I'll take our problems over Ukraine's problems any day of the week.
Speaker A:Well, Corey, before we wrap up, let's talk just a little bit about, about the state of journalism.
Speaker A:You know, the, the right wing is, you know, pretty much owned social media.
Speaker A:And it seems like they've kind of beaten the mainstream media into submission with, I guess, going back to November, you know, when Bezos pulled the endorsement from the Washington Post.
Speaker A:A number of folks to their credit have quit and walked away, you know, from the Post.
Speaker A:But, you know, here locally, I think we're, you know, we're lucky that we've got, we've got folks like you, we've got the Asheville Watchdog.
Speaker A:But our other media, like, you know, the Citizen Times has been totally gutted from what it used to be.
Speaker A:WLOS is a Sinclair station that, you know, puts out the propaganda.
Speaker A: on the state of journalism in: Speaker C:Listen, the, the actual Citizen Times is part of the USA Today network and they're still going to provide you all the kitten stuck in a tree content you want to consume.
Speaker C:And there are people that, that's the extent of their desire is that's all they want to read about, is these human interest or quirky offbeat stories.
Speaker C:They do some good reporting and they have some good reporters there.
Speaker C:But as a legacy media institution like that, it is certainly not what it was 10 years ago, 50 years ago.
Speaker C:What we're seeing now in the industry that I think is very positive, we're seeing a lot of collaboration and a lot of consolidation.
Speaker C:We're also seeing outlets like you mentioned, the Asheville Watchdog, that just kind of pop up independently to do watchdog type journalism.
Speaker C:Another one that I'm really enamored with right now that if you haven't checked out is the Assembly.
Speaker C:It's a Statewide online entity that produces top flight work.
Speaker C:Some of our reporters, news editor Kyle Parati, has written for them.
Speaker C:You know, a lot of folks contribute to that publication.
Speaker C:So I think the, the kind of collaborations like that, producing impactful work on a statewide level are really benefiting the industry right now.
Speaker C:It's going to take a while for the whole thing to get rejiggered.
Speaker C:You know, it's been a ritual for many of us to go to the newspaper or go to the mailbox to get your newspaper or go down to the corner store and get your newspaper.
Speaker C:Our grandfathers and grandmothers did the same thing.
Speaker C:We're currently unlearning that behavior.
Speaker C:And it, it forces people to really consider what they're looking for in news and then they have to actually go out and find it.
Speaker C:You know, you can, you used to be able to find a newspaper laying around anywhere on any given day at the barber shop, at the auto repair shop, at the bar.
Speaker C:Now it's different.
Speaker C:If you want to be informed, you have to seek out sources that you have to put the work in to determine their credibility and their trustworthiness.
Speaker C:That's asking a lot of Americans who typically wouldn't get off the couch if they saw a 10 bill on the floor.
Speaker C:So hopefully, as things progress, you see more of these collaborations and more, more folks working together to get these issues out, not only to their local and regional off audiences, but also to statewide and national audiences.
Speaker A:You know, I guess one I, I've neglected to mention that you're also affiliated with is Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Speaker A:And I'm hoping with all these cuts that are taking place, I know they're not, you know, government funding is not their primary source of revenue, but they were, they were.
Speaker A:Particularly during Hurricane Helene.
Speaker A:That was, I know we were landlocked here at my house.
Speaker A:We couldn't get, leave the neighborhood.
Speaker A:And that was our, our source of information was Blue Ridge Public Radio.
Speaker C:Yeah, I haven't actually been affiliated with them in, in some time since probably late 22, but as you recall, I, I used to do a ton of work for them and that was a great benefit for us.
Speaker C:They've since gone in a different direction.
Speaker C:I don't really think it's a good direction, but I understand people still value that resource.
Speaker C:Back during Trump's first term, I remember talking to David Feingold, who was the general manager at the time, because Trump had also threatened to cut funding for the arts and, and for npr.
Speaker C:And I think Feingold told me that like far less than 5% of their budget came from federal funding.
Speaker C:And so if you think NPR is going away because Donald Trump doesn't like it, you're fooling yourself.
Speaker C:These, these outlets are listener supported, donor supported.
Speaker C:And I think, you know, if you want to attack Blue Ridge Public Radio and their federal funding, you would probably see a tremendous response from local donors that would net them a positive revenue shift as opposed to a negative revenue shift by removing federal funding.
Speaker B:Yeah, don't.
Speaker B:With public radio.
Speaker B:You'll around and find out.
Speaker B:Well, Corey, I.
Speaker B:I still believe you're one of the best reporters in North Carolina.
Speaker B:You're the best western North Carolina political reporter, and it's been a pleasure to have you on the show today.
Speaker B:One of the things that we haven't talked about in the last couple shows, but we like to end on is bourbon.
Speaker B:What's your favorite bourbon?
Speaker C:Controversial opinion?
Speaker C:I'm actually a rye guy.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker C:So previous news director at bpr, good friend of mine, Matt Bush, turned me on to it.
Speaker C:Matt Bush is from Pittsburgh, which is the vicinity of the original Whiskey Rebellion that George Washington had to go put down.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Two pickets to Pittsburgh.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So Bush is always pushing rye on me.
Speaker C:He buys me these really fine bottles of rye.
Speaker C:I've actually got one right here, Terry Bradshaw.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker C:As a ride.
Speaker B:Holy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And another.
Speaker C:Another distillery that I understand is a fantastic bourbon.
Speaker C:Distillery is Angel's Envy, I believe it's called.
Speaker C:So I have a bottle of rye from them, but, you know, I'm not much of a liquor guy.
Speaker C:It.
Speaker C:Bush pushes these bottles on me faster than I can drink them.
Speaker B:Do you need my address?
Speaker C:So, yeah, maybe come, come by, sit down.
Speaker C:We'll try to.
Speaker C:We'll try to take one of these out because it takes me a couple of years to get rid of one of them and I've already got a new one waiting on me, so.
Speaker B:All right, well, that's a wrap for this episode of Muck you where we cut through the crap and call it like it is.
Speaker B:If you liked what you heard, please subscribe, share, and spread the word.
Speaker B:And if you didn't, well, muck you.
Speaker B:We're here to hold the powerful accountable and remind it, remind you that democracy isn't a damn spectator sport.
Speaker B:So stay informed, stay engaged, and most importantly, keep your eye on the bigger picture.
Speaker B:Catch you next time with more facts, fire, and a whole lot less bullshit.
Speaker B:Until then, on behalf of Mo and myself, muck you.
Speaker D:This has been Muck you, co hosted by Colonel Mo Davis in Asheville.
Speaker D:North Carolina, Carolina and David Wheeler in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.
Speaker D:Thanks to our guest today, Corey Valencourt of the Smoky Mountain News.
Speaker D:Read Corey's work@smokymountainnews.com Muck you is produced by American Muckrakers.
Speaker D: Copyright: Speaker D:You can learn more and donate@americanmokrakers.com Follow us on X and Blue sky under American Mutt.
Speaker D:Come back soon for a new episode.
Speaker C:It's.
