Speaker. Hes the host of the jason rantz show on ktar radio in seattle, washington and hes a frequent guest on fox news and the author of a new book, whats killing america inside the radical lefts tragic destruction of our cities. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome jason rantz. Hello. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Jason, you want to kick us off with a little an excerpt . Yes. And we chose the perfect excerpt from the introduction. So it actually sets up the actual book. Okay. Activists on the radical left are more organized than those on the right theyre more organized than those of you who dont have a firm ideological position. You vote for you think best, serves your community and believe no one party can completely define your interests and views you like some on the left, others on the right and vote with your gut. Now, with the political identity you casually identify with how in the world do you find like minded people to join you in a political fight to retake your communities . And even if you could find them, would you have time to do whats necessary to make meaningful change the radical has a set of ideologically motivated professional activists who show up to meetings in the middle of the day when youre at work on a tuesday evening, when youre preparing dinner for your family or when youre picking up your son or daughter from soccer, practice the endlessly scroll social media looking for protests to attend or new causes to embrace. They share information with a community theyve to help promote their activism while youre online paying bills, finding recipes on a budget or, looking for a movie to watch with the kids, its hard for you to organize because you have jobs and lives, families and responsibilities and want to spend. A thursday evening, a City Council Meeting when you could be at home spending quality time with your spouse and kids or grandkids, going to a concert in front of a movie or reading a book. Believe me, i get it. But when you choose not to engage more in the community, you unintentionally ceded power to the radical left. They know you dont show up to meetings or town, so they fill the empty seats. With the purpose of convincing lawmakers to take their positions and transform our sure in democrat run. Its much easier for the radical left to convince lawmakers to take their side. They share a general political view and see the world through the same social justice lens. But why should we make it so easy for . Why not put up a little resistance and inspire those who are not politically motivated, who see whats going on in our displeased so that we can win Small Victories before ultimately winning war for the future of our country . Why not connect the dots for those who dont or even see whats going on so that we can explain away most of whats destroying our neighborhoods by directly tying it to a radical policy that ever produce the results we deserve. Thank. Thank you. Thank you for that. So, jason, for the folks here in california based in seattle, can you give us a little bit of your background and tell us a little bit about yourself . Absolutely. I actually. And from los angeles, which is where i spent most of my life ive been working in radio since i was 15 years old. Im now 41 years old. Tinder profiles as 28. Were going to keep it that way for a bit. Ive been doing radio for my entire life. Ive found a niche in seattle. I moved about 15 years or so ago and i cover essentially what i think is not getting covered locally. I to connect the dots. I talk a lot about the policy decisions that are made. I host a four hour weekday talk show and then i do fox news pretty frequently for hours. I talk a lot. What im talking and it all on seattle politics or is it National Politics or so its its a mix. I mean, obviously we do a lot of local but i talk about whats going on nationally and all National Stories are they become local so its really easy to tied in plus. I dont want to just talk about local stories. I i have a fix. I need to get. Thats a long day. So why this is your first book . It is why write the book . I wrote the book because was noticing trends that were unfolding in city, city after city. And i talk a lot about this on my show but also for fox news where i spend almost all my time talking about National Stories and i saw the same scripts unfolding over and over and over again, when you do just even a casual dive, you see its connected, an ideological position thats same. And in many cases its the same exact policy or strategy and. Obviously, as a conservative, i think that these issues are destroying our cities. Hence the subtitle, the book and i wanted to give information out because even as i was talking to a of folks who ideologically aligned with, they werent connecting the dots the same way they knew just instinctively something was wrong in their cities and obviously in seattle very to San Francisco and there was rising crime rate the homelessness was of control. There was drug use that was out in opening. Yet weirdly spending a whole lot money living in those communities and covid really exposed a lot what was going on and i could ask them what, do you think is to blame . And they might say democrats, which i mean, technically, i suppose its. True, i believe that. But thats not really the answer much deeper than that. Well im sure people come up to you all the time say, hey, im unhappy about, this thing and i know youre youre the guy talks about these things in seattle, but how often do they know who their supervisor is or who the mayor is . Half the time. I mean, is isnt a big part of this issue needing to get people engaged 100 . I mean, and most of us are guilty of this, you dont do the research thats necessary before youre voting for a judge. If dont have kids, youre not spending as much time likely with the School Board Races as you otherwise would or should. And you said, oh, i like this persons name. I had an aunt that was named cathy. Its like, okay we got it, but thats not a great way to go ahead and vote for folks and i come from a position in part because i have to as a republican in seattle, i dont care if someone disagrees me politically and makes a decision that i wouldnt make. I do care if theyre making a decision without any knowledge whatsoever or and its the same with republicans. Theres an r next to the name, so im going to vote for that person. I prefer that generally, but not always. And i dont think that thats an informed position. Well, one of the things you talk about in in the intro that you just went and that you do talk about in the book is how to is sort of encouraging people to get engaged. And there is this, i think sometimes an issue with with folks on the right where im old enough to remember the contract with america. But it seems like if if your platform is really no right, your platform is lets stop all of these things that are harming our city. Wouldnt it be better to have a more sort of affirmative agenda around what people are interested in . And thats seems to be lacking a bit on the other side. Well, it can i think it depends on where youre where were talking about. I think regionally there are lots of really good ideas that just dont get whole lot of attention because theyre coming from a Smaller Group of people who generally dont have any political power anyway. And so i think theres a disincentive to spend too much time on the good ideas. I do often think, though, youre right that people will say that this is it was like, yeah, no kidding. We know that wrong. It turns out we dont like homicides, but whats an answer to respond to that . What can we do that might actually work do . We oftentimes we will say, well, we need innovative solutions, not always. Sometimes we just need to do what was working. Before that we stopped doing. And i think its about recognizing that and then becoming an evangelist for a position. The people who do show up to these meetings and i spent a whole lot of time almost hyper focused on this we see so much power to one group of people who can go to meeting on a tuesday at 11 a. M. , whereas youve got job or afterwards youre spending time with your kid. Like, i get that. But by not showing up. Were giving so much away. So what else can we do . You realistically cant show up to these and most people cant. What else can you do . Well, it starts by being knowledgeable and then starts by making sure that youre arguing the right way for your position. And i think that whats missing in a lot of cases. Well, i mean, youve watched plenty of local board meetings. I certainly have watched many, many of supervisors. So fun. Can just acknowledge it. It sounds nerdy and dorky, but its really lot of fun, especially public comment. Boy, oh, boy. But but youve seen and i know ive seen a situations where youre literally watching members of this body getting persuaded by the loudest voices in the room and. It shouldnt be that way, right . I mean, it shouldnt just be like whos able to show up and who doesnt have a job or has a job . It allows them to do this. But but it really actually to to a shocking degree is we see it happen in real time. There was a case not ago where seattle was deciding whether or not it was going to decriminalize drugs, which it eventually did. But the vote where we had an actual piece of policy that i think was reasonable and what we needed to do, one guy was getting yelled at and he was the deciding vote and he switched at the very last minute and you could see it happen in real time. And thats just so depressing. Regardless of the position that you take, i dont want to see anyone act like that because all youre doing is encouraging those same recalcitrant activists to show up and just yell at you even more. I just dont think that thats the best way to move forward. I mean, weve had issues here. We had a trial of sheriff several years ago and. There would be people, supporters of the sheriff who would pack the room and then you would outside and talk to them. And they were all from oakland and, you know, and, you know, so you can definitely sort of create an atmosphere thats, you know, thats whose purpose is to to influence decision makers. And again, it can it can in ways that are kind of depressing and so what are some of the solutions to this kind of issue . Because we cant expect parents of small children, example, to to sit and watch board of education meetings, fully understand them and read the package and all of that. So what i think is important to do is to understand how the party in power uses language to their benefit. I talk a lot about the of language where were if you control words and you can redefine words well youre going to win every single debate actually quite easy. So first its to understand whats being proposed and not just, well, it sounds good. Im going to go with it and ill give you an example. Harmer as a strategy, i think responsible for the rise in drug overdoses, the fatal overdoses, the roof nationally and in the cities that have really embraced Harm Reduction. And they embraced it a while ago. But during covid, it all accelerated. I could ask average person to define harm on the street, not a single will be able to. Now, if i pitched it to them the way that it was pitched originally. They would say, yeah, that sounds great. How would you love it if we were dealing an addict . We would do whatever we needed to do to keep them alive just for a bit so we can get them into treatment. Were going to do whatever we can to mitigate the risks. It is the compassionate, humane way to treat this. I would say, yeah, that sounds great. And originally when it was pitched to me before i even knew what Harm Reduction was like, okay, yeah, who doesnt love Harm Reduction wants to increase harm. So yeah, how do you support that harm . Its a really easy way. Convince someone that your side is compassion and youre going to get the results you say youre after. But then when you dive into how the money is being spent, its being spent on needles. Its being spent on pipes for, fentanyl and smoking meth. Its pumping kits. I got to explain to a 3 million white audience about that was which was very fun dont you can google it. Dont look up any of the images dont it. Its in the book. Dont worry. What if you were to explain it to them way . I dont think you would get same buy in. You would get buy in. Sure. There are people who on right and on the left who support legalization drugs and dont think it should be at all. But i dont think you would get the same kind of response that made it so for this policy to be in place all across the country and its not just in democrat run cities in the counties and its in the states. We actually just recently, i think it was yesterday or maybe the day before abc7, i dont know if you guys saw the story, did a story where they actually had a person sort of an undercover situation, where they they were getting these kits, these sort of, you know, drug kits where they had pipes and things and then they asked, do you have any pamphlets that would tell me about rehab . Like, what do you what resources do you have you have a phone number i can call to see about getting help. Nothing. That that you had enough them to folks who even you support the Harm Reduction model if the whole goal is to ultimately them clean to get their life in order you would at least want the minimum of were here for you when. Youre ready just the just the bare minimum but theyre not providing that. They think its stigmatizing to the drug user to judge. And im okay with judging addiction. I think its hurting you. And unless were willing to say that and treat it like that, youre not to get any results. And we know what works. Its worked before and it currently works when we have a carrot and stick approach, when we actually show that there are consequences to this continued addiction, all of a sudden it may take a while and it may be expensive, but no more expensive than it is right now. And people start to go into the right direction. And of course you deal with the culture of drug use, which i think is a big issue. Right. And how did you sort of narrow down the issues for for the book . Sort of part one is about its about crime and part two is about other kind of lifestyle issues. How did you how did you go about doing that . One of the things that i really liked about the is you really bring in personal stories, not you personal jason, personal stories, but peoples personal, nobody bumping my hand, but Actual Stories of of human beings whove experienced certain things and finding those stories and weaving them in was a really important part of making these sort of issues, more real. And so tell us about the process. Yeah. So i always wanted to do it in two parts. The first part, even though its more crime, its really how policies are. Impact in your everyday life. And then part two is more about how its telling you how to live these. And so i was just looking across country, i was focusing on the top two cities to if there were any themes. And i already went into this knowing what the themes are going to be because on fox and on my radio show i cover crime, homelessness and drugs. Thats my sort of my go to topic. Thats what im known for. And so that always clearly going to be a part of it, but course its just someone who lives in a city. What impacts my life . Talking with folks, reading their emails or tweets when they would come in, what are they talking about . And more . You dive into it, you start to see these themes and because theyre so similar from city to city to city, it makes it a lot easier to focus on an issue going to impact the most amount of people. Are there any cities doing it right or what is it . What is the least bad city . So i its its better to say that there are every city can be doing something the right and some most are if you look at it in a very specific way. So austin real hard it really do because when were talking about the cities that i focus, its because theyve been i focus on because theyve been overcome by folks i believe to be radical. Im not talking about although theyre on the democrat side but i think that the radical democrats and theres a difference because of the way that they operate its very hard to say one city is doing everything correct because its seen through that lens. So i think austin is a good of at least programs about how its starting to go after homelessness, where youre going to live in a community, were going to you in a tiny home village or whatever the version is that they use theyre basically saying but going to have some responsibilities and its not a free for all were not doing a Housing First model that doesnt actually work. We want you to have some buy in. We want you to have some skin in the game and. We want you to follow some set of rules. And the people who do that, the ones who enroll those programs, not just in austin but austin is doing this particularly well. Youre seeing tremendous results. The first time that someone that paycheck after living on the streets for in some cases a decade or more just to see how they react to that and how it inspires them is really just amazing. And get you get the sense real quickly that this is precise. This is just human nature. We go back to when we got our first paychecks, how exciting it was now all of a sudden theres some hope for these individuals and theyre starting to think about what life was like before they ended up becoming homeless. And i think when they go into it that way, when you approach it in that way, where there are some consequences to criminal behavior that works in the cities . Adopt that and the cities that put money into programs that do that see the biggest well even in San Francisco you know weve been pursuing a Housing First model for quite a while and its only recently i want to say probably within the last 1 to 2 years that there has been more emphasis put on shelters and trying to in addition to maybe some housing, of course, builds temporary housing so that we, you know, sort of help people. But thats a good way to just read the language. What do they mean . Housing first, again, on paper. Sounds great. And i kept hearing over and over and over again when i would do panels on homelessness, Housing First look at salt lake they theyre doing it they got a functional zero homelessness. No they didnt they told you that but the data never back that up they were comparing to completely separate numbers and every year since declared that homelessness was under control functionally zero. Its gotten worse and theyre the ones that were pointing to and saying, see, Housing First works, but theyre not a success story. And the same thing is here as it is with addicts. If you give someone a home, they are technically not homeless for the moment, but youre not addressing why theyre homeless to begin with. And there are various reasons drug addiction, Mental Health issues that go untreated. Sometimes they are just like being you who are one paycheck away from winning on the streets. You go after it in different ways. But this is just putting someone whos a drug addict in a home with no conditions of entry and a that so long as they dont murder someone you get that subsidized home for the rest of your life. I dont think that thats treating anything and i dont think that thats compassion fair to the individual nor to the taxpayers. They werent born. So unless you go after the reason why theyre homeless Housing First is never going to work. And thats its been such an utter failure and yet adopted statewide adopted nationwide. Well the chapter about the Salt Lake City sort of experiment is is one that i definitely recommend. I remember that was the thing where remember them talking about that and and thinking, oh, thats great and there were all these leaders in from utah just very proud of them . You know, very proud, well intentioned . I dont think that were doing anything with the intent like fooling people. I think they were fooling themselves and it got so coverage from the media nation San Francisco chronicle i remember one of their editorial we got to do it here. Look at whats happening in salt lake daily sends their reporters down there and they make a big deal about it. Mocking all the republicans at the time who are saying, i dont think that this is going to work. And they pretended that it was as simple as just saying, oh, it turns out, giving someone, a home actually solves homes, but it really doesnt mean i didnt intend to write a chapter this i as i was doing the research because i was i always kind of knew the surface level, but then i took a really deep dive into the numbers. I was like, okay, im going to do my own chapter now on this. It only supposed to be a subsection of a and it became its own. Well, you paint a pretty grim picture in the book of of cities generally, particularly west cities you to portland seattle, San Francisco all definitely had issues yet you live one so explain i live in one because im not going to be out of a city that i live in because the people in charge disagree with me politically. I see a problem. Id like to actually help solve it. I think that theres a lot of benefit living in a place that you talk about a lot you experience it from a different level. You have skin the game, its very i opening when you are the results of policies that you criticize and or the opposite living the results of policies that you love and sometimes it opens your own eyes like okay maybe position on this was not necessarily the right one. Ive gone through that throughout my adult life of i think i believe this. And then now im experiencing it. I dont believe that ive gone through that. And i think that thats incredibly important. And beyond that, the that happened is not las vegas. What happens in seattle or San Francisco or new york like. It spreads everywhere. Eventually its going to come to your neighborhood anyway. And thats what i tell people, because i, i used get early on with my radio show several years ago. I would get Text Messages or calls basically saying, im done with seattle. I cant handle it anymore. Im moving to im moving to spokane im moving to vancouver, bellingham now. Im getting pretty much the same people saying. Oh, my god, its come to bellingham and even in bellevue, i cant do it anymore. What are we supposed to do . It eventually comes you. So i monster. It really does so i dont want to just abandon a play and you know, i dont own a car too. So its very easy for me to get to the studio. Aha. Its a selfish thing to the truth comes out but you know but if cities attract a certain kind of person, i mean look especially california weve got initiative recall referendum. I mean the cities are the way they are because of voters to a large degree i mean its you can blame you know shiftless politician you know to a point but there are Ballot Initiatives and other things that that weve done and other sort of people that weve supported that that have made this and so you know in some sense you know what do you say to this issue of, you know, these are the these are democratic newly elected reforms are . Are people just for folks who are in the unhappy . I mean, what can they do . We get the government that we deserve, wherever it is you live, youre getting the government that you deserve. Now, does every individual voter deserve . No, but thats how it works. And so i truly believe im you and i were talking about this earlier. I hypercritical of local media of which im a member, but im open about my bias and my position does not rely on having access to any politician versus most tv reporters. They if thats what they cover, they have to have access to the governor or the mayor, the dea, whatever it happens to be. So i dont think that theyre as critical as they need to be. I dont think that theyre connecting dots. And i think that the average voter, even though they understand somethings going wrong, they dont know why. And they certainly one wants to believe that a politician that they support or a party that they support on either side, no one wants to acknowledge that thats the problem. And so they dont really know what to do and was a big piece of why i wrote whats killing america is that i wanted to those dots i come from a state that few years ago passed ban on vehicular pursuits police not able to pursue criminals engaged non violent felonies which originally it had to have probable cause which is an incredibly high bar in a circumstance like that it used to be reasonable suspicion. So now they got reasonable suspicion for certain violent felonies. But for the most part, you cant chase. So people realize that somehow i talk about the time, but not everyone is listening to my show. And its a problem because had a rash of mostly teenagers nowadays stealing a car, driving it into, a storefront, stealing whatevers in that store, and then driving off in another stolen vehicle. They dont have to speed away. They could literally drive the speed limit and drive off as cop is there. The cop cannot pursue and i talked to a lot of police and the sheriffs in the state. Im like, well, what are the people say . Oh, theyre blaming us. They dont think were willing to do the job. They dont think that willing to chase. I have to tell them, no, this is a policy i love for it to be changed. But thats reality. So if youre not getting in local news because everyone has their lives and their jobs and whatnot, how are they supposed to know . So they end voting for the same people who are pursuing this to begin with. And yet the polling, by the way, overwhelmingly says same thing and its been mostly the case in the cities that i cover people recognize theres a problem. They dont like it. They maybe disagree with how to fix it, but they certainly would not knowingly vote for the same policies that currently complaining about. And yet they do. And i surmise its because they dont realize that thats what theyre doing but isnt it also issue of what matters right. You know lets say youve got ten issues and maybe you pull people and you go, what . Why why are you electing these people over here . Well, maybe ive got my one issue that i care very about. And im going to vote for the politician that aligns me on that issue, even though im not crazy about the other nine. Youre in terms of, you know, why why the politics not lining up with what people stated interests are you know is that the issue that theyre just they care but not enough to start electing new people it can be ive noticed that and this is not some like huge light bulb for me but when youre impacted personally by something thats when you start to Pay Attention to it more. The problem i with that even though it is a truth is that were having a crime in a lot of these cities and certainly over the course the last two and a half years we have i dont want people to suddenly care about because they just had a break in or god forbid, someone they know or maybe themselves injured, assaulted. I prefer paying more attention. And youre right, theyre folks who have their one issue right. I think nationally we certainly see that for for democrat voters around abortion. They might disagree with everything else. But this is on this one issue. Thats what i get that then youre going to have to sacrifice some quality of life issues that thats just the reality that if youre not looking at these issues more holistically. Youre not paying that close attention. Youre going to end having to suffer some sort of consequence and i just want at least people to go that knowing it and i dont know how often people think about it in those we do it just because its second nature. But how often people step back and say, okay, going to reflect on my positions here and see what like we just this is not how any of us act and again, i get it so people will start to shift a little. Chicago is a great example of this. Chicago gets rid of lori lightfoot, who was a disaster for them very far to the left. You would think that they would go with someone whos a little bit more moderate, and he wasnt even that moderate. The guy that it was a democrat versus a democrat. They end up going with the guy whos even farther to left than lori lightfoot. And now all of a sudden, youre seeing people in communities speaking up on issues that they previously want, including immigration, which talk about in the book. All of a sudden theyre saying, whoa, whoa, youre giving away. Our rec center or our Senior Center to folks who are in this country illegally. And while i want to be compassionate, understanding, i also live in this. And our community is not doing so well. So are you doing for us all of a sudden youre youre seeing that pushback in new york as well. And i think that thats going to hurt at some point. But i just wish we wouldnt have to get that point in order for people to spend a little bit more time thinking about the decisions that theyre making. Well, you know, you end up in places San Francisco where, you know, youre trying to deal with an issue like crime and youve got police chief, youve got the mayor who appoints the police chief. You have the Police Commission which sets forth the rules that, govern the police. Youve got the staffing of the police issue. Youve got board of supervisors members. Appoint some of the people on the Police Commission, but not all, you know, to be like so it can be a little hard to know where to aim when youve got, you know, concern. Lets assume youre in a place where youre like, yeah, this is my issue. Im for it. Where do you where do you put the vote . You have to do some work, theres no doubt about that. I to do a lot of the work for individuals, even if they dont agree with it, is i come out on an issue i at least im telling you how things are happening and why theyre happening. So you got to start somewhere, right. I just hope people will do a little bit of the work and the folks that i talk to on a regular basis, the folks who reach out to me when they see me on on fox or listen to the show, theyre starting to talk in those terms. And i can appreciate that because you need one person who then to someone else who talks to someone else who, talks to someone else, and all of a sudden youve created a little bit of a group that youre getting more active in, the community and maybe one in your group is able to go to one of those meetings, maybe is a parent or two or a parents, and all of a sudden theyre telling single people who dont have kids whats on the line. Those are the kinds of conversations that i think not only are meaningful, but we see them make change. We that here in San Francisco with chesa boudin, we saw it with the school board directors. Weve seen it in other states where and its not just loudoun county, but saw in other counties and cities and states, parents getting together and saying i dont like going away from a merit based system. My kid is working his or her tail off to get to this point. Im instilling in them these values. And now youre telling me they dont matter. The parents although it hasnt been perfect, but the parents who get together have seen significant victories, legal victories in some cases because they learned what was on and they said, look, we have shared interests here, actually pursue for some change, right. Well, i mean, thats one of the things your book talks about is, you know, how to get people to pick an issue and really immerse themselves in it. Why dont you run for office. That was one of the i was looking around. I was googling your book and seeing what were saying. And one of the comments was what is in jason put himself out there because. I like what im doing now. I dont want the spotlight on me. I want to put the spotlight on other people. Oh, really . Ive never been interested running for office for reason. I just dont want to have to worry about everything, say and do, and wondering if im going to have a job tomorrow. I work in media, actually i do have to worry about. I to do some of the nerdy work behind. The scenes i like to highlight my ego is too big to be a politician thats how big it is. Wow i know that i like performing right. I like the radio job. I like being in front of a television camera. I like the writing aspect. I dont want to perform though. 24 seven and you always have be on as a politician. Oh, god bless them. I dont know how they it. The why not pick a subject i mean you call for people to pick an issue and get dedicated and devoted. It is your issue just for Public Education or is there a specific of the of the number of issues the book is there one specifically that youre really passionate about . Im very passionate about homelessness. I do a lot of work. I dont talk about within Homeless Community and working with and trying to get people to go on the right path that for me is whats calling my name. Also am very passionate about issues around policing. I thats those are the two issues that i talk about most my show and write about the most as a voter. Those are also things that i pay close attention to. But obviously if youre in a position i am or youre paid to read news and know about the news and know you cant help but be informed on all of these different issues and then have conflicting positions like you just youre in that position. I enjoy it. I like it so i dont have to pick just one or two issues, even though those two are very personal to me. And you get recognized. I mean you open the book with actually a pretty scary story of of getting recognized. And as a reporter having covered some of some of what we had here in terms of like antifa people dressed in black clothing and getting really dicey. You know, i know from, you know, a distance with a large cameraman, like how scary that can be. But were you were right in some of that i went in so the positive of Wearing Masks because it turns out doesnt do anything outside covers your face. I have very very i dont know if you noticed this dramatic eyebrows so i have to wear a hat. Wear a hat wear some sunglasses if its during the day, usually at night, its harder to see. You can blend in really quickly. And i opened the book, this is the only chapter that i just hardcore dive in from my own personal experiences because it was so traumatic. I went into one of these rallies and this was post the capitol hill autonomous zone. They were marching. I made a mistake. I usually do tweet out photos from a scene or post videos unless like 20 minutes has gone by. Because i dont want people to realize that im there i did a little bit too early and people were in those groups. They literally look on social to see if theres anyone who they can spot who has infiltrated their group and is deemed an enemy and theyll out you. And so i was outed. I was there with a colleague of mine and of a sudden i got a direct message telling me, have you seen this tweet . They know youre there. And then almost within a minute, someone i heard name being mentioned from the group, they knew i was there. And then we had just stopped and im okay. Theyre new. Going to search for me and my friend was like, shall we go . Im like, were in the middle of a neighborhood. Ive never been in tacoma. I dont think right now, after just hearing my name is the best to leave because thats going to bring attention us. Youll have to. How it turned out youll read about it in the book was not killed. Spoiler it was but it was was incredibly dicey and it could be really scary it really is and i have a just because of what i do and where i go, i have a high bar of what makes me uncomfortable in the i dont normally i didnt normally go into the field until was all going on where i felt i needed to because no one else really was doing or very few people, certainly local media because you got a camera, youre not going in to these. But once they started to tell me, then antifa didnt exist, that there was no real violence, im like, okay, come on guys. I get why they did that. But it was kind of drive me nuts because some people actually believe that all of this was just made up and that it truly was just everything was peaceful and great. No, it wasnt it very clearly wasnt. So i did for those reasons. And then to get called out when youre there. Not really, because you see them being violent. So know that thats what theyre capable of. You kind of scared. And at that point have a concealed carry permit. So i was definitely vulnerable. You do now, though . I do now, yes. Noted. Okay. Questions from audience. Thank you for speaking about engagement. What are your thoughts around precinct. Strategies and mobilizing republican voices to be more visible and active in liberal ground cities like seattles San Francisco and the surrounding suburbs . Dont do that. You shouldnt do that. Youre not going to a republican in most of these cities. Certainly not the beginning. The cities i focus on are run by radicals, and oftentimes youre only getting a radical versus a moderate democrat put your energy and focus on the moderate democrat. I am under no illusion. Im not going to be happy with pretty much anyone in the city of seattle that im that ends up getting elected. Im just not going to be happy. And im okay with that for now. Ultimately i want to get people away from the radical side of. Things just moderate a little bit and. Thats when you can start to really position to get a republican or a moderate republican or an independent, maybe someone who youre not quite sure where they are into office and, then you can make that that shift. But im just im all about getting away from the radicals and usually that means youre not electing youre not putting a republican into the primary. Its not going to help. And you have enough voters to get that done anyway. So focus where youre going to have the biggest impact. Now, if you come from a neighborhood, when were talking about like the state legislature here, thats a little bit different sometimes. And it truly is a purple district thats. When you got to mobilize, thats when you have to create your own little group of folks who are to maybe one or two issues each has a different issue. Youre actually to have to knock on some doors, send some Text Messages to friends and family members and coworkers who wont write. You have to answer for talking politics. Those are the folks who you have to get in front and actually engage. But its important to understand, and i cant stress this enough understand the language that is to pursue these policies that folks think compassionate, but they really arent. Its so interesting when the the chesapeake nine recall was happening in San Francisco, those who were in favor of the recall was all maga republicans, im told. Apparently, you know, they they really tried to say, you know, youre racist. Youre youre youre right. And even now we see this in oakland where theyre Gathering Signatures to recall the day over there of alameda and and she and shes also saying youre you know youre as bad as the january 6th insurrection and you know and its just wow theres some people who live in that echo chamber they truly believe that thats the case theyre what 17 republicans in San Francisco . I think you have one more here than we do in seattle its clearly not driven by that. Its condescending. And i wish democrat voters hear that and react little bit differently than i see them reacting. If youre going to tell that to as a republican, that its only liberals who are upset and were like, screw you, i know what i am. I know whats on. Especially with chesa boudin, frankly, the school board director, i mean, first of all, it started generally with asianamerican community in San Francisco, organized, stepping up and, saying, okay, no, no, no, no, no, talk. The one issue. Yeah, i mean, theyre not driven by politics. I dont think most these issues are even seen as inherently political. They become political because politicians are involved. But they said, i dont like what youre doing with our this is absurd. Were seeing them suffer. Maybe we ought not focus on the name of a school, a white supremacist. Its just so silly. And thats what drove that. I think that that was a really important point for San Francisco, where people woke up even though ultimately i think it was too late for the city at least in the near term they woke up and said we take this back. There is such a limit as being too far to one side. Its not okay with us anymore. And i think we might see some additional reform on additional ballot measures. Think so too. I think everything headed in the right direction. I just, i think its unfortunately little too far gone. If youre expecting within like the next year or two, which is, i think, how most of us think if not we want it like next month some sort of fix thats not going to happen in San Francisco and. There are a lot of other cities that are very close to a San Francisco where it might take a decade or more to get us back in the right direction. I think when you look at the Seattle Police department, for example, youre not fixing the seattle pd staffing issue within the next decade. It is not possible it is simply not possible. They lost over 600 cops. Ive got a story coming out soon. The staffing that they give out is definitely not true. It is much lower than what saying, which is about 980 ish for a city that certainly grown over the course of last decade. You have to go back to the 1980s. I think it was actually 1980 to get as low as we were a couple of months ago. Were now lower than so were nowhere near where we need to be. And cops are still leaving. That doesnt change overnight. Youve changed the culture of policing in seattle. Youve got a lot of people who dont want to become cops anymore and the ones who do dont want to work for seattle. Thats not going to change. Thats going to take a lot of work. And thats a assuming we get on the right path and were not there yet. Well, we are. We have a similar, of course, here in San Francisco getting most most cities right now are dealing with precisely the same issue. And its not a money issue. If it was a lot of these cops would have stayed in the profession because theyre getting a lot of money in a lot of these cities. Theyre leaving because not able to do the job that they sign up for, theyre demonized unfairly. Theyre being judged by bad. This is one industry, one profession in which we judge everybody because of a handful of bad actors who cops loathe as much. Any activist on the far when were talking about a bad cop because it makes them all look and they didnt sign up to be bad they didnt sign up to hurt a community. They signed up to help it. And so theyre ones who push the hardest and sometimes the loudest for reform. Actually, they have to make sense. And it cant just be this broad brush were going to just completely dismantle all and then reinvent policing. I give probably only credit. I give to the radicals. They were open after george floyd with their intent. They said it we want to dismantle systems oppression and then rebuild it within our own political image. They believe all of these institutions oppressive. They said that specifically about defund the police. I mean, they were very direct. Thats what they and they hurt to the point where we now seeing a rise in crime, depending on where it is, youre seeing different. Seattle is about to hit an all time high number homicides all time high. Some other cities when you look nationally violent, has actually started to trend down. Its a little bit disingenuous because youre comparing it to historic high. So id rather at it pre 2020 and were nowhere near where we were but its you know, its going in the right direction, not everywhere. In other places, youre seeing a rise in assaults. Youre seeing a rise in property crimes like this is because of what was done to the police departments. And even if you restore funding, i mean, youve got funding, youve got a serious morale issue. I mean, in San Francisco, when the police leave, theyre going to suburbs. We have were surrounded by very wealthy places who are more than happy to pay as much to do work, where theyre not going to be followed around and, heckled and and, you know, sort of constantly sort of berated and accosted for doing for doing their job at least that thats the perception is like why would i stay here i can go to orinda or lafayette and and get cats out of trees and go hey this you know we have that issue. Thats not they signed up for. If you if you are okay with getting yelled at and you know maligned to in the media youll be fine there. But they know its not what they sign up for as cops. Well, ive heard stories from from Police Officers who say things like theyll be out and theyll be therell be or a group of people following with the calling them slave catchers. And the guys like, im just im trying to get a sandwich like that. The sandwich. And ive got these people sort of like following me down the street, yelling at me, calling me a slave catcher. I mean, its just bananas. I know an officer who was told during his shift by someone, some random activist, that he doesnt care about the community. A few years before that, he was shot in the line of duty. So, i mean, its not everyone signs up for those kinds of jobs. They do. We ought to give them some level of respect. Well, i have what is probably the most controversial question of the day, courtesy of our audience. Which city has Better Coffee . San francisco or seattle . Its not seattle. Oh, ill be totally honest. First of all, heresy am a coffee snob. London has the best coffee. So wed have to go out of this. Sorry. Its true. San francisco has slightly Better Coffee, but dont have great coffee here anymore. You used to, but you dont anymore because covid just killed all of that. Whats coffee called . Coffee culture is able to go to a coffee shop and camping out for a while and not feeling about doing it and not being treated poorly because youre not leaving your table and being able to sort of just enjoy your of coffee all day if you want. Thats gone now and its really still its still an issue in europe where they take seriously i dont think we do that here anymore. Do you do that in seattle . Do you have the coffee . Oh, we dont. That covid killed the coffee culture and starbucks say that five times that. By the way, anyone who likes a dark roast dont talk to them. Slight roast laughs. True. If youre a coffee snob, you know that this is the most controversial part of it today. What weve heard seattle not. Okay. So what what . Or and ill add this who inspired you to pursue a career of writing radio hosting and political commentary . I grew up listening to talk radio and it was on all sorts of issues. It was not political, wasnt Rush Limbaugh . It wasnt limbaugh. It was actually howard stern and jay thomas. Jay thomas in los angeles did morning radio there. And thats what got stir eventually. Yes, of course. Rush i mean, he was regardless of how anyone thinks about any of his positions, he was a brilliant broadcaster and he was able to in a way that allowed to do my job. Now, if there was Rush Limbaugh, there would not be talk radio. It is today, although some people might say it shouldnt be. I got into radio when i was 15 years old, i was working. I had. How is that legal . It frankly, it wasnt legal. Im pretty sure i remember skipping out on school. Go and meet the Program Director of a sports radio station. It was a show that they were developing for kids host hosted by kids for the dodgers or around the dodgers and i was big into baseball at the time and that was my first radio gig and then i realized this is what i want to do for the rest of my life. You were on a kids dodger. I was i was double jay. That was my my nickname. And it was so fun. You know, youre a kid and youre going out on the field and youre meeting all the players, doing things that. Now, dont impress me at all, because ive done a million times. But back then, of course, it does and so its really cool. And then you in front of a microphone and you start to talk, perform. And i always felt generous comfortable doing that and thats when i knew this is what i was going do. And i, you know, i was wondering or not i was going to truly pursue this as a career. When i was in college, i went to school occidental ultimately with the goal of being lawyer. And i took the alsace adds. I got accepted to some schools at the last minute. I said, im going to stay in radio. And i was part time at the at the time and it was the right decision i think. Why politics and not dodgers . Thats a. J. . Yeah, i know politics interests me more. Theres more depth for me to talk about. I like talking about one issue and theres a sports station in my building and dont understand it. Its like what you about today . The seahawks. Okay. Whatd you talk about yesterday . Seahawks every once in a while you throw the mariners in when, theyre doing well. And then when theyre sucking again, i just, i, i dont find that interesting. I like to watch, but i would never do four hour show about soccer i did a one hour soccer is a four hour show. I will 90 minutes relax i feel like for i love soccer but i just couldnt get that passion about doing that for a living but could around politics and i started doing tv because it was a Tucker Carlson who saw one of my stories linked to in another story about going vancouver, British Columbia and looking at their their heroin injection sites and i did a couple hits for them was fine i like tv. I didnt really think it was going to do anything. And then chop or chaz happens. Im on every single day almost. And then all of a sudden, all the other producers wanted me and i started to do other shows, and i realized, yeah, i can do this too. Its fun. I like, youre going to move to tv or use that word that the goal is, i wont let you talk for 4 hours. Yeah, thats true. So my hits are, what, 3 to 7 minutes depending on the show thats out cable works versus, so its much easier, but like what im doing now and if tv only or radio only, again, the future, it is what it is. Well, i do want to talk about this. Vancouver injection site, because San Francisco officials like seattle officials, went up there and visited. I remember seeing video of the safe injection site there this is back in 2017. And it was you could see there was this site and then for about 2 to 4 blocks around the site was just a disaster zone. And i remember thinking stupid, that our leaders will go up there. Surely they will see the city, the outer ring of of of craziness that was happening. And they will put that in our city. But here we are everyone was racing to be the first. It was San Francisco, seattle, philadelphia, all visiting. And to your point, they saw what i saw. They saw the reality. But then they had to do it because theres this competition to out progressive another city you to be the first and when you so when i talk about the radical left i sort of separated out into two different categories. On the one hand, youve got the people who see the destruction, see the consequences, but in good faith, they say short term for long term gain, that if we truly do it the way that we want, if we truly commit and we give some time, its going to lead to this great, wonderful city. Then youve got the people who are who view it like a cult and they just i legitimate dont think they see whats going on that theyre just delusional theyve convinced themselves that theyre not doing anything wrong. I dont always know where politicians fall within those two groups, but its between. Thats me being very generous because i could very easily just assume they see it and they dont care. But i, i just for the most part, even though every once in a while theres a politician who i do think just likes chaos, i try not to think about people in those because that would be deeply depressing to live in a place where people live genomically see harm that theyre doing or that their policies are causing and okay with it. I refuse to believe that. Well, i mean, its a trade off, right . I mean, one of these like how how much do i think people will tolerate, you know, whats the job of a politician to remain a politician . Yeah. All right. The job is to stay in office. If you know, if allowing this to happen will keep me in office, if its more likely that that will keep you in office, then get me booted from office. Well, then step over it. Well, its the voters, too. I mean, theyre reacting to what they think the voters want. And voters in these cities generally, openly. I want the one whos the farthest to the left. We want the most progressive, regardless of the consequences. And again, they probably fall into those two categories to the people who view that way. And youre just playing to the crowd. Just so happens that places like a San Francisco, seattle, portland, they just have a lot more of those voters at least thats the perception than the other group, which is like im going to go with the person who makes the most sense and does the best for my city and my community while i was listening to this interview of man, who was a former drug addict, who was explaining that the reason so one of the things that we were sold on with Safe Injection Sites is that people would do drugs inside and so would some somehow sort of help keep people from doing it in the streets. They would have a place go and do it. And he was explaining why they dont do it inside the safe injection site. There are people in there, wellmeaning people with narcan ready aggressively to you out of your high. And so you have been waiting all day for and this is you finally get, you know you finally are about to get high. And then theres, you know, again, sort of nurse standing there with narcan that. Im not saying they want to die. Im saying they want the they want to stay there. They want the most risque high. They dont think theyre going to die, maybe in the back of their minds. They acknowledge its a clearly a possible idea, but thats not what theyre thinking in the moment. So thats why they go out outside. So thats why the area around the safe injection site is the one thats more sort of active than inside. So what the you literally walk out the door and you do it out there because its literally you can kind of it. But what was so crazy about this i thought that makes sense and and didnt know one thing to ask but i you know when you were in vancouver and, like just go up to literally anyone say why are you in there . And them tell you why theyre and so they were be informed by that. In fairness, many times theyre passed out and thats the truth. I mean, many theyre literally just passed out. And this was before fentanyl was a significant issue where youre not getting through to them. Theyre not having a conversation with you and the ones who will you dont want to have a conversation with at that very moment. But remember, we talk about language. You call it a safe site. Thats how it was originally pitched. Shame on all of us who fell for that, because when you, a medical professional whos there to ensure that, you do not die because of the behavior that youre engaged in. That by definition is not safe. Youre making it safer for the individual is not safe. And they originally pitched it at least in seattle, San Francisco and philadelphia especially philadelphia. I spent a lot of time talking about kensington, which is just a total disaster. They tell us they told us this will get people into treatment this will keep them alive for one more day so we can convince them to get in treatment they do not pursue treatment. They do not push any of these people into treatment. They just continue to enable and ultimately they will die. They die an addict. They will either die on the streets or in subsidized housing. That is them being in subsidized housing is not a success. That is a failure if theyre dead and why people dont acknowledge that, although theyre starting to theyre coming around to it kensington and philadelphia neighborhood. Thats just been completely destroyed by drugs that was determined to be the site for their first heroin injection site a few weeks ago, the Council Passed a bill that said, you know, were not going to do that. And but one neighborhood now, they should just completely get rid of it. Theyre clinging on to, but its a step in the right direction. I seen some of the videos of its horrendous wow. And by the way, narcan not really work in the same way that it used to. Youve got different kinds of fentanyl. Thats being put out there. Narcan, by the way, only with opioids. And its not a guarantee some people think that it works for all drug overdoses and its a guarantee it is not. But when you start to now theyre mixing fenton hall with other drugs including tranq its thats thing its also called like the zombie because it eats away at your skin and weve had cases in washington where they lost a finger on ear didnt even realize it thats what the drug is doing to these people. It the tissue and youre high all the time so youre not even noticing it. By the time someone notices its too late thats spreading in a significant way. It started in not necessarily philadelphia, the general region in philly its now on the west coast and its going to get across the country again. Whatever narcan doesnt work with, it can work. Usually have to do two treatments and thats still not guarantee. And on top of that, now youve got kids who are getting exposed to fentanyl. Weve had a rash of deaths of, toddlers gaining access to some. It sometimes literally looks like. And now youve got pets who getting im not even making this up. Theyre overdosing because of the homelessness crisis thats pushed through by drug addiction. Fentanyl is just being left and the dog is licking and then having an overdose. Like i dont know if dont care about kids or animals. If you want to vote or adult, if you want to vote a a revolt in San Francisco mess. The dogs. Yeah. Like that will. That will not stand. Well, if it hasnt happened here, it will, unfortunately. The question from the audience, what do you think is at the root of homelessness that seattle could focus on . You said, you know lets talk about the root of it. Instead of just housing people, its drug use by the actual definition of root cause according to the city. When you look at the legal document, when theyre suing opioid manufacturers, theyre giving you the data. Its caused by drug addiction overwhelming and than treat the drug addiction. What did seattle and washington and oregon do they legalized drugs precisely the opposite of what you should be doing to. Get an addict to finally go on the right path. You told cops you can no longer leverage jail time over an addict to turn over their drug, their drug dealer. Before you could you could say, hey, going to detox over this long weekend jail. You know what its like already. Youve done it before. Youre going to be miserable. I wont put you in jail. I wont even book you if you go ahead and tell me who your drug dealer is, the second that they legalize drugs, they took that tool away from. They also took the tool away from prosecutors and from judges to say, were going to put you in jail unless you take this treatment that offering. Theres no jail time for drug addicts anymore. If breaking the law. So we took a giant that we took several backward and we saw the results of that organ through the roof in overdoses fatalities through the their whole idea of well were not going to criminalize were going to give people a ticket and if they dont want to pay the ticket, they can go ahead and, go into treatment. Just call this number, the back of the ticket. Pretty much no one called shocker seattle in general. Same exact thing we have hit ever since 2018 where a prosecutor said were longer going to charge for personal possession. And then in 2020 we legalized every single year since then, weve seen a record high fatal overdose rate every single year. King county, where seattle is hit a new record two, three weeks ago. As were talking early october, they already hit a new record. Its over a thousand. I think the number now is like, i dont even want to give you a number because itll be different tomorrow. Itll be different by the end of the year. For the year. Its already its hit. Thats how bad it is. And no one steps back and says, maybe were pursuing the wrong and maybe they disagree with my strategy. They clearly do. But lets say you havent tried my strategy. None, seattle. None portland, frankly, not in San Francisco. Whats the worst that can happen . Youre already hitting record highs. Whats your strategy . The strategy is a simple approach. You go to jail or you go into treatment when theyre breaking the law. Sure. Be in jail for a day. Guess what . Im going to be here tomorrow. Im going to do the exact same thing. Youre clearly breaking the law. We need to save you. That will work for a huge portion of people when you work specifically in marysville, washington i talk about that in the book. They implemented this a simple carrot and stick approach. It saw huge successes. It seemed success in austin where been used. Its seen some successes. The country when you allow the it cant be the only solution criminal justice cannot be the only part of this but it has to be a part. And when you take that out, youre taking away the consequences, it turns out they clearly dont think theyve hit rock bottom. Being homeless and, struggling every single day, stealing whatever they can, so that they can afford the one or 2 pills that fentanyl go for. They dont think that thats rock bottom. So youre going to have to step in and youre going to have to help in that way. And its actually compassionate for a lot of these people to say, im going to throw you in jail if you not take this seriously. And if they like it in the moment, ask them once theyre clean, how they feel. Well, so the gentleman i was telling you about that i that i heard talking about drug use and the safe sites, he got clean jail. Yeah, he said i went to jail for theft. I believe it wasnt drug possession but he that was the first time he had and he didnt have access do the treatment jail put the money into treatment in jail and they dont even to serve a full sentence if theyre going through the program and theyre taking it seriously thats marysville Just Announced that a new aspect to their their plan theyve got one of the few jails that does full detox has staff social workers everything and they say look you may not spend more than 12 days here if youre taking this seriously and youre showing interest and progress. And then you them and if they relapse, will be there for them. If they start breaking the law again, well, youre going to go back to the system and maybe this time you do a month turns, it works. How does seattles environment differ from california views or maybe just washingtons political environment . I feel like theyre very similar, but im sure different in many ways. So washington is considerably more passive aggressive, just in a general sense. How is that possible . I know. Come visit it. It really and i think that there is i think you have more pushback here in california than you do in washington. You have so few republicans in positions of power, you at least because youre just larger than than we are, youre going to have more voices. I think you have a little bit better diversity of thought within the media landscape generally than we do in washington state. And i thats that makes all the difference in the world sometimes. You may not ultimately see significant victories if youre a conservative, but youre at least going to see the debates. And i think thats why youve seen such a significant focus on seattle particular is because theres just no debate and so National News there, at least on the conservative side, theyre interested in that. They want to shine a spotlight cities in which theres other side, theres just the one side or various. Versions of the one side. Well, it also seems like here weve got you know, weve got San Francisco bay area, weve got los angeles, even san diego. And so theres sort of multiple centers in washington state, it seems theres sort of seattle, and then theres just sort of spokane. Theres like five people in the know the rest it and you know and so its its a little less ballet in that way. Yes. I mean, clearly thats the case and especially when you look at washington and oregon, you have tales, two sides of the state. You have western washington and western oregon, where theyre very, very, very far to the left. Eastern side of both states are like. Can we just join idaho . Yeah. Which is never going to happen. But god bless them for at least theyre involved, which i like. I just wish they would be involved a slightly different way because its not going to happen. None of the states nor congress will allow for that. But it is interesting that despite the debate getting so heated to point where theyre moving legislation along, at least have the conversation. Its interesting, no one in montgomery county, portland is none of those lawmakers who basically rule the state, step back and, say maybe we to address the underlying reason why theyre unhappy that they dont want to be with us anymore. Just none of those kind of. Oh, theyre just rubes, theyre white supremacists. Theyre republicans. Thats all you hear. Its like, thats not a great way to govern. Agreed. Well we are running out of time here. Weve got time for more question and for this one, i will ask hopefully something we will to end on a happy note. What advice do you have for individuals looking engage in constructive political discourse in todays environments . Always remember to be civil. Always remember. Be civil. Sometimes difficult. Theres no doubt about it. And you will encounter. People who dont want to be civil to you, especially you are on the opposite political side of the radical left. But the second that youre not civil is the second that the entire movement painted by that one action. So i tell you, i tell everyone to always be that one person who makes that one phone call or sends that one email or text or tweet, advancing an idea and doing it in the most civil way. And i think if enough of these one people do just that well start to see some significant wins. Just dont be uncivil. But also dont view it. So as partizan, because like i said republicans arent going to win in these cities at not yet. Thats for the book that i write. Whats helping america. Part two. Many thanks to jason rantz, host of the jason rantz show and author whats killing america inside the radical left. Tragic destruction of our cities. Jason, you for being here. Thank you