Live from Music Row, Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed official guest host Aaron Gulbransen and all-star panelist Carol Swain in studio to discuss Damar Hamlin’s injury from Monday night’s game and the selection of a new U.S. House Speaker.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by two of our favorite people in the world, the official guest host of The Tennessee Star Report, the state director for the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, and our former lead political reporter who was stolen from us by the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, Mr. Aaron Gulbransen. Good morning, Aaron.
Gulbransen: Good morning and Happy New Year.
Leahy: Happy New Year to you and showing that it’s a new year and making an impulsive decision, which we appreciate to join us this morning, the great Dr. Carol Swain. Good morning, Carol.
Swain: Good morning. And Happy New Year to everyone. I’m hoping that 2023 will be better than 2022, 2021, and 2020.
Leahy: I’m hoping the same thing, but the early returns after three days into the year don’t look good. Aaron Gulbransen, are you optimistic or pessimistic about 2023?
Gulbransen: That’s one of those things. It’s the year before the presidential election. I’m looking forward to 2024 already.
Leahy: So you are looking forward to that.
Swain: Michael, we have to start the year off by being optimistic (Leahy laughs) and so we can’t be a Debbie Downer today.
Leahy: Well taken. I understand that, Carol. I totally understand that. Kind of interesting, because if you were to talk about who is the most organized and structured person that I know. Plans everything out like a month in advance, it would be Carol Swain.
Swain: That’s not true.
Leahy: No?
Swain: No. I have ADHD. I’m disorganized.
Leahy: At least in our interaction over the years that we’ve met, you always plan things out, and so it is unusual.
Swain: I’m kind of joking. So I do plan out a lot of things. But I had a Fox and Friends hit today. I got up at 3 a.m. this morning. And it’s Fox and Friends first. That’s the early, early morning.
Leahy: So you drive to the studio, you got three minutes on airtime or five minutes.
Swain: No, I did it from home. I got up and did my makeup, and did the hit. But then I had so much energy left.
Leahy: What am I going to do?
Swain: I thought, yeah, what can I do? I’ll surprise Michael.
Leahy: There you go. And I am delighted, we are delighted that you surprised us here. Didn’t do the makeup here for me, nor did Aaron, as you can tell. (Swain laughs) And thank goodness this is radio. The big news today, of course, our thoughts and prayers are with Damar Hamlin and the cardiac arrest incident last night. His heart stopped when he did a hit.
He is the safety for the Buffalo Bills in the first quarter. It was a cardiac arrest, an unusual circumstance. They restored his heartbeat while he was on the field, and half an hour after the hit, they had him in the ambulance. But right now, he’s in critical condition, stable and critically sedated. We pray for Damar Hamlin.
Swain: We certainly do. And all the players were shaken up on both teams. And these kinds of incidents involving young people are happening so frequently now. In fact, there’s this whole thing “died suddenly” of people that were in good health, and all of a sudden things happen. So we hope that won’t be the case for him. We hope the doctors have gotten to him in enough time.
Leahy: And apparently if you talk to cardiologists. In a circumstance of cardiac arrest, I’ve watched two or three cardiologists on television say, look, it’s the timeliness of the restoration of the heartbeat and the quality of care subsequent. And so it’s possible that we could have a good outcome.
Swain: I hope so.
Leahy: It’s also possible we may have a bad outcome. So we’ll see.
Gulbransen: I think it’s important, obviously, for everybody to keep the player in their prayers.
Leahy: Prayer time.
Swain: That’s right. With God, all things are possible, and he controls our days.
Leahy: Exactly. Now, the other big story today is it’s January 3rd, a new session of Congress. They have to elect a Speaker. Oh, my goodness. It’s a big mess. 222 elected Republicans, 213 Democrats. A very narrow margin. Aaron Gulbransen set the stage for what’s going to happen today.
Gulbransen: As you just mentioned the numbers, there are five Republican members of Congress that have vowed to oppose Leader McCarthy under all circumstances.
Leahy: Under all circumstances.
Gulbransen: Under all circumstances. I heard it was five, it might be four.
Leahy: Five, have said that under no circumstances will we go…
Gulbransen: Andy Biggs is one of them. Matt Gaetz. Of course, Matt Gaetz on this particular subject, and I’ll let you understand the irony here. He said, in sports, when the team loses games it’s supposed to win, the coach gets fired. In business, when earnings vastly miss projections, the CEO is replaced.
In Republican politics, a promotion shouldn’t be a failure. Chaser said, Congressman Matt Gaetz. Of course, it appears, based on his comments, that he is blaming Leader McCarthy for not having the sizable House majority that they had hoped for.
Leahy: The red wave turned out to be a pink drizzle.
Gulbransen: And there’s a variety of reasons for that. But I anticipate Congressman Matt Gaetz being a hypocrite on that statement when he makes his endorsement of the presidential nomination contest.
Leahy: Very interesting. And so those five have said, no way we’re going to vote for, and they’ve said this, we are not going to vote for Kevin McCarthy. Carol, that will mean on the first vote, if it’s 217 for Kevin McCarthy, five for Andy Biggs or somebody else, and then 213 for Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat, they’ll have to go to a second ballot. Your thoughts, Carol Swain.
Swain: Bob Good from Virginia is also opposed, and I think that if you actually listen to what people say about their concerns about Leader McCarthy, some of them have raised some legitimate concerns. And I think there are 12 people that have put forth, I guess, demands, and I believe that we are often disappointed with our Republican leaders.
They have to be held accountable in some sort of way. And regardless of how this turns out, I think that having the discussion and having the dispute was worthwhile. There’s no reason to continue supporting leaders without trying to hold them accountable. The American people can’t hold them accountable because 98 percent of members of Congress are re-elected.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Carol Swain” by Carol M. Swain, PhD. Background Photo “Buffalo Bills” by Buffalo Bills.
