[00:00] Speaker 1: (intro music plays) Conservative? You bet. Controversial? Right again. It's time to squabble on the Jim Benson Show.

[00:31] Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Jim Benson Show, conservative news and commentary addressing the issues that concern you, here on the BBS Radio and Television Network. With all the fast-moving events taking place in the Middle East these days, as usual, it's hard to tell what's really happening versus what's, we're being told is happening by the far left-leaning so-called mainstream media. That is, communist-leaning mainstream media, which is, serves as, largely as a shill for the, and propaganda organ for the communist-leaning Democratic Party, today's Democratic Party. And also, by what is being told to us by some podcasters of the alternative media who have turned on Trump, that is, conservatives, w- or conservative-leaning podcasters who have turned on Trump over Iran.

[01:33] Speaker 2: (clears throat) What's really happening behind the scenes is not immediately apparent, but I continue to fully support the Trump administration's actions in this war against Iran, and I agree with Donald Trump that the current US actions should have been pursued years ago by prior US administrations. I mean, the West took in and coddled the true religious fanatic and madman Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and facilitated his apocalyptic return to Iran in the late 1970s, where he and his fanatical followers immediately began a brutal campaign of mass repression and murder against any and all who opposed them among the Iranian people.

[02:16] Speaker 2: For almost half a century, (clicks tongue) we have watched these fanatics mass in Tehran and other places, chanting, "Death to America," and, "Death to Israel." We've seen hundreds of Americans murdered and mutilated in terrorist attacks in, by, facilitated by the murderous mullahs' regime in Iran and its proxies, with Iran long having g- been designated the world's chief sponsor of terrorism, and its actions aided and abetted by our friends, the Communist Chinese, and the Communist Chinese party, North Korea, Russia, and others.

[02:54] Speaker 2: The Iranians have long been building massive so-called missile cities deep under mountains where ma- Western military weapons could not reach them, and in those locations, producing, storing, and launching, I understand it, thousands of missiles and drones, and vigorously pursuing a program of producing many thousands more of these weapons, along with nuclear weapons, and implementing and strengthening sophisticated air defense systems and satellit- satellite capabilities. The mullahs were said to be very interested in eventually developing nuclear-tipped intercontinental hypersonic missiles capable of reaching the US. You think they weren't going to pursue that?

[03:37] Speaker 2: As of the time this program is being produced, late in the weekend ending April 25th, 2026, the fragile ceasefire agreement between the US and Israel and Iran seems in doubt, while the fractured and fragmented Iranian governmental factions, while warring among themselves, have been issuing conflicting statements and taking confusing actions regarding whether the strategic Strait of Hormuz is open or closed, and whether the Pakistani-hosted peace talk- talks will, second round of which, will take place or not. Here's a short video segment from Dinesh D'Souza's podcast show, April 20, and rebroadcast on x.com, with Dinesh, Dinesh, Dinesh's observations and commentary regarding the Iranian conflict.

[04:31] Speaker 2: (mouse clicks)

[04:34] Speaker 1: (instrumental music plays) The Strait of Hormuz, like Schrodinger's cat, is open and closed at the same time. Is it open? Yes, according to Trump and Iran's foreign minister. Is it closed? Yes, according to Iran. Traffic going through the strait now seems restricted. Here's the voice of an Indian tanker captain trying to get through.

[05:07] Speaker 3: Sepah Navy, Sepah Navy, this is motoring Azzam Al Hadl. You gave me clearance to go. My name, second on your list. You gave me clearance to go. You are firing now. Let me turn back.

[05:20] Speaker 1: A further escalation by the US military might be next. Just yesterday, an Iranian cargo vessel refused to turn back, and bam, hole in one. (gun fires)

[05:32] Speaker 4: Motor vessel Tosca, Motor vessel Tosca, vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire. (horn blares) (gun fires)

[06:00] Speaker 1: ... the strait, now off-limits, might be open once again before we know it. We're in the fog of war, and not only is finding out the truth elusive, but the truth itself, the facts on the ground, change pretty rapidly. So, what's going on here? I debated this subject, uh, last Thursday with Myron Gaines. He insisted that Iran is winning on virtually all fronts. Not militarily, of course. Myron couldn't bring himself to say that. But diplomatically, strategically, reputationally. The war, Myron insisted, is a big win for Iran and a big loss for Trump. Well, let me start with the reputational issue. Is Trump losing in Iran or is it simply the case that Trump's critics want him to lose? I find that whenever Iran does something extremely minor, a huge cheer goes up from the global left and from the Democrats here in America, and even from the anti-Trump right. "See? Iran got a missile all the way to Diego Garcia.

[06:58] Speaker 1: That shows how powerful Iran is." Well, never mind that the missile was disabled, it didn't do any damage, Iran hasn't been able to get off a second one. Or, "Iran has hit Israel, penetrating its defenses. See? Iran is just mobilizing its counterattack." Well, to me, this is all just pathetic. I mean, a small country like Israel, 10 million people, ruthlessly pummels a big country, Iran, nearly 10 times its size, killing its scientists and top officials, toppling its military and communications facilities, and you're getting excited? Iran landed one rocket near Jerusalem, hardly disturbing normal life in the city? The simple truth is that the left is hoping for Iran to win, not just because they are anti-Trump, but also because they see Iran as being on their side. Why do you think Obama sent all that money to Iran if not to build its military and terroristic capacity? Why did he approve an Iran deal with inadequate safeguards if not to hurry Iran along in getting a nuclear weapon?

[08:02] Speaker 1: I made a film about Obama in 2012, Obama's America. Other conservatives viewed Obama as a misguided civil rights guy. I exposed that his real motivation was anti-colonial. Just like the Islamic radicals, he views America as an evil empire, an evil regime. His policies were aimed at helping America's adversaries and taking down America's wealth and power. Very much in the Obama vein, the left today wants to ally with the radical Muslims to undermine traditional America and defeat the right. And the harsh truth is that the anti-Trump podcasters, like Tucker and others, are collaborating with them. Now, of course, Tucker can't openly say that, so Tucker makes predictions, "It will all go badly for us. America will regret this. We should never have done it," and blah, blah, blah.

[08:51] Speaker 1: Now, beyond Tucker, the endless forecasts of woe, "Oil will skyrocket to $200 per barrel, global energy crisis, stock market crash, collapse of the dollar, World war III, thermonuclear holocaust." Every prediction proves wrong, and Tucker never admits this, never apologizes. One gets the impression his predictions are wishful thinking, nothing more. All right.

[09:21] Speaker 2: The rest of our sh- show's videos today will focus on the US domestic political situation, which is fraught with danger for President Trump and the MAGA, or Make America Great Again, movement. Thanks to the ongoing scheming of our staunch opponents, the lying, cheating, election-stealing communist Democrats, with their hate-filled and, if you believe in America as we have known it and love the precious individual rights and freedoms it has bestowed on us, evil vision for this country. Now, as I always do in my commentaries, I want to make clear, I am in no way advocating or calling for any violence or illegal acts against the monstrously evil political left and its many powerful supporters among our country's societal and financial elites. Not only would that be politically and ideologically stupid, but it's also morally wrong and illegal.

[10:26] Speaker 2: That said, we have to recognize the appalling dangers we face today by the madness and horrific destruction on America these fanatics intend for us. Why would people engage in this madness and hate against the USA? Different reasons. For some, it's been a way to get rich, and they are so greedy and stupid, they don't care what happens to their own country, even though m- many of them will surely perish with the rest of us in the cata- in this cataclysmic religion of the all-powerful totalitarian state they are wittingly or unwittingly promoting. For others, they actually believe with stunning stupidity that they are somehow saving the world by imposing a totalitarian, communistic world government and redistributing other peoples' wealth while they keep and grow theirs, enjoying power and privilege as supposed elites overseeing the enslavement of the masses, ostensibly for their own good and the good of humanity.

[11:32] Speaker 2: And there are other more complicated reasons for the madness constantly exhibited by the left, which we don't have time to explore further today, such as the Chi- Chinese Communist Party's enormous influence over much of our society today through their giving it money and offering, uh, access to their markets, and the influence that has on different elements of our society and leaders within it. With all these thoughts in mind, there are two more video clips...... played back-to-back, which we will show now, discussing the communist-leaning Democratic Party's plans for America in more detail. The first is from a recent YouTube posting by Brian Maxwell on his Real Politics podcast. The second is from another recent podcast show on YouTube from the Matt Morris TV Podcast.

[12:32] Speaker 5: For every American citizen that watches this video, this should be the most upsetting and enraging video that you see, for the simple fact that in our country, we have people within our government that are supporting the enemies that wish to do harm to this country. Now in this video, I'm going to give you irrefutable proof that the Democrat Party not only supports Iran and hopes that they defeat the US, they always have. As a matter of fact, the seed, the seed that led to what's happening today was planted with the Democrat president under Jimmy Carter and has been carried on under every single Democratic-led administration happening right up under our noses. And you don't have to take my word for it. You're going to hear directly from high-ranking o- Iranian officials that are working against the Islamic Republic that is within Iran.

[13:20] Speaker 5: So let me make that distinction, the separation between the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic that took power in Iran, capturing it from the Shah, who was the American ally. That was a time when the Iranian people were allies with America. They lived similarly to the West.

[13:35] Speaker 6: In the mid-20th century, Iran was ruled by a dynasty that pushed rapid westernization, European clothes, parties, and secularism replacing traditional Islamic life. The dynasty allied closely with the West.

[13:46] Speaker 5: The women didn't walk around wearing hijabs and the people were able to live free. But in 1979, with the support of the Democrat President Jimmy Carter, the Islamic Republic under the Ayatollah captured the country and they've held it in a stranglehold up until present day, which is what President Trump is working to, which, uh, he's just broken it loose. So when you watch these Democrats get up here and they're arguing and fighting for this and having these votes to limit President Trump's war power, and they say it's because Iran didn't pose a threat to us and all these other BS excuses, in this video you're going to hear exactly why they're doing it. It is not for the reasons that they're saying when they get in front of the television.

[14:26] Speaker 5: It is for a deep-rooted aversion that the Democrat Party has that for whatever reason they want to see America fall and us to become a socialist country ran by a tyrannical dictator, and as if all of them will have their own little areas in which they will be rulers. If you notice, the Democrats don't, they don't care about law but always want to talk about no one's above it. No, they feel like no one's above the law besides the Democrats. So let's get into it, and remember, I'm going to show you irrefutable proof. You're going to hear it directly from the Iranians. But let me get into this article a little bit. So as you see right here, Lucas, Democrats the only friends that Iran has left. So before I get into that article, I want you to listen to the one lone Democrat, and, uh, of all people, John Fetterman, after he had his stroke, I thought that he was just a kind of a useless putty that had been elected by the people of Pennsylvania derangedly. He actually beat Dr. Oz.

[15:23] Speaker 5: I can't be more happy that John Fetterman is a senator of Pennsylvania. Now, Kaitlan Collins there of the failing Communist News Network CNN, she's going to try thinking she's going to get a gotcha, but what Fetterman's going to do, he's going to remind her of Democrat words and what Democrats said when it came to Iran and the Islamic Republic, throwing it right back in her face. Then after that, I'm going to let you listen to the Iranian gentleman as he breaks down exactly how we got here. But check out John Fetterman as he spoils Kaitlan Collins' gotcha moment and throws it right back in her face what's really going on. Check this out.

[15:56] Speaker 7: ... ask because some of your Democratic colleagues say that they don't think the administration has a clear endgame in Iran. Do you have concerns about how they know when to, to be done with Iran?

[16:13] Speaker 8: Y- yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm very much a- aware that I'm the only Democrat in the Senate that supports, uh, this operation, and I'm going to continue to do that. And I would remind all of your viewers whether it was Hillary Clinton when she was running for president or Kamala Harris when she was running just in '24. In fact, she actually identified Iran as her top concern. You know, she had, she called Iran a grave danger, and now everyone, every single Democrat agrees that they can never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb. And now D- Donald Trump has done that, made that virtually impossible to achieve their nuclear weapons, and they've effectively broke the entire Iranian military apparatus. I don't know why we as Democrats, if we had all those kinds of goals and those kinds of concerns, and now that he's achieved that, why now we only can criticize that, or they could always make it seem like it's been a failure or things are out of control. That's just categorically not true.

[17:07] Speaker 7: Well, I-

[17:07] Speaker 5: And I'm glad that he finished off with that being categorically not true because you know you got those black pillars and then you got those Republicans and Independents that are worrywarts, and every little thing that the Democrats say, they believe it, "Oh my God, Trump's doing this." And you say, "Calm down and pump the brakes." There's a such thing as propaganda, which Obama legalized in this country when they amended the Smith-Mundt Act, allowing subversive media to be used on American citizens, and that's what they do. When they say, "Oh, Trump's losing in Iran, oh, Iran's fighting back," folks, we obliterated every single branch of the Iranian military. They're literally losing using little bitty, uh, tugboats that have... that's a gunboat. It's a little boat that has a gun on it and it has, like, a rocket launcher, and that's what they were using when they were threatening ships on the Strait.

[17:51] Speaker 5: But the only reason they were able to do that, because they told everybody there's mines in the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz, and any ships that don't travel along the proper route might be blown up. So the, the route forces the ships to go close to the coastline.... of Iran. And by utilizing that coastline, now you're at the mercy of one of their gunboats. And we don't even know if there's mines really in the bottom of that strait. All we've seen in Iran- from Iran is nothing more than desperation tactics. But if I could find the clip, I'm gonna find the clip and let you hear how Democrats spoke of Iran and what they said they would do if they had the chance to go in there.

[18:28] Speaker 9: Either the issue of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is resolved diplomatically, through a negotiation, or it's resolved through force, through war.

[18:38] Speaker 10: ... message to Iran's leaders. The United States will never allow you to acquire a nuclear weapon. As president, I will take whatever actions are necessary to protect the United States and our allies. I will not hesitate to take military action if Iran attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon.

[18:57] Speaker 9: Which foreign country do you consider to be our greatest adversary?

[19:02] Speaker 11: I think there's, uh, an obvious, um, one in mind, which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands, okay? Th- this attack on Israel, 200 ballistic missiles, um, what we need to do to ensure that, um, Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power, that is one of my highest priorities.

[19:22] Speaker 5: And while we're talking about these disgraceful, disgraceful Democrats-

[19:26] Speaker 12: A senior ranking member of the progressive Democrat establishment, a top Democratic political consultant and campaign strategist, in fact, by the names of James Carville, seems to have just accidentally exposed, really leaked, the Democrats' entire top secret anti-American agenda. I kid you not, seriously. I have a feeling that the Democrats don't want any of us to know what we're about to be talking about today. So with that being said, let's go ahead and talk about it and break it down. Ladies and gentlemen, this is, like I said, top Democrat political consultant and campaign strategist. He's been a boil on the side of the Democratic establishment for decades, longer than I've even been alive. His name is James Carville. You might have heard of him. Well, he just stated two days ago on the left-wing podcast, it's called Polycon, left-wing podcast, that when the Democrats get back in power, should they ever regain power in this country again, they plan to do the following.

[20:37] Speaker 12: One, he said it himself, one, grant statehood to Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, so that the Democrats can then unlock four extra seats in the Senate. Two, they're going to pack the U.S. Supreme Court from nine justices all the way up to 13 justices, adding another four radically progressive left-wing Supreme Court justices to the Supreme Court. Three, they want to reopen the U.S.-Mexico border and then grant mass amnesty to every single illegal alien currently residing inside of the United States of America. Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is not some crazy right-wing conspiratorial, I don't know, these are not Fox News talking points. He said this himself on this left-wing podcast. It's called Polycon, and he is the senior ranking Democrat establishment political consultant and campaign strategist. Now, he issued one more. He said this, I kid you not. He said this during this podcast. His advice to Democrat politicians moving forward, he said, "Don't run on any of this.

[21:58] Speaker 12: Don't even talk about any of this. Just do it." Wow.

[22:07] Speaker 2: The first of our last two videos today, also played back to back for brevity, is commentary by Dr. Steve Turley about the referendum last week, uh, this week rather, uh, uh, at which I'm recording, April 21, in Virginia. Clearing the way, barring results of legal actions against it for Virginia's Democrat-controlled legislature and radical leftist governor to redistrict the state into congressional districts heavily favoring Democrats over Republicans from the present six to five Congressional seats to ten to one. This would make it much more likely for Democrats to retake control of the House of Representatives in the midterms this fall, shutting down Trump Administration issues and shutting down investigations into corrupt Democrats.

[23:03] Speaker 2: This would be done by a third impeachment of Donald Trump, a- among other things, a third impeachment of Donald Trump, the ultimate aim of which is removing Trump from office and killing off all traces of the MAGA movement, and in the process, doing all the Democrats can to reinstitute the vile Marxist revolution, the, in my opinion, illegitimate, criminal, and treasonous Biden regime began. These people are clearly aligned with... They're aligned politically and ideologically with communist China, America's communist and other socialist parties, and notably, China's chief proxy and ally, the Iranian mullahs' regime.

[23:49] Speaker 2: Therefore, you see their opposition to Trump's dumb war in Iran as the radical leftist, Democrat, gubernatorial candidate in California, the now leading Democrat gubernatorial candidate in California, Tom Steyer, is calling Trump's dumb Iran war in recent advertising.The second video has to do with the commentary about the current state of, with commentary about the current state of far left-controlled California, as I said, as I referenced just a moment ago, and the current chaotic governor's race there, where former Democratic front-runner, congressman, and despicable leftist propagandist and activist Eric Swalwell suddenly withdrew from the race and subsequently resigned from Congress amid a sexual abuse and harassment scandal. Much as I can't stand the arrogant and demagogic Swalwell, he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He's admitted that he at times acted inappropriately with women but denies criminal allegations of rape and related offenses.

[25:08] Speaker 2: And here again, we have yet more instances of women coming forward, in some cases years after the crimes they accuse Swalwell of committing, but who took no legal action at the time they say these offenses occurred. This withdrawal however now enables the former Democrat runner-up in California's gubernatorial contest, billionaire and extreme leftist Tom Steyer, to take the lead. Steyer made much of his fortune, as I understand it, having his hedge fund invest heavily in coal-fired power plants in China and other parts of Asia, power plants which were almost certainly not, or not substantially environmentally regulated as they are in the US, and thus heavily polluting but very profitable. Now Steyer is a radical environmentalist fighting against this type of effective energy system and the like in the US.

[26:03] Speaker 2: He's also a radical Joe Biden-style open borders maniac threatening to jail all ICE agents in California and establish a taxpayer-funded legal system to bring back criminal deported illegal aliens. The Democrats of course have schemed and long wanted these hordes of illegals here in this country in part so they can be counted in the 2020 U.S. Census and give blue states like California more congressional seats, helping allow the communist Democrat takeover of America. This last, the last video in this, in these two, is part of the commentary in a recent YouTube posting by California Republican State Legislature Carl DeMaio, founder of reformcalifornia.org, on just a few reasons, of the reasons why Tom Steyer would be a disaster for California and the nation. I have no doubt Steyer hopes to use the governorship of California as a springboard to the U.S. presidency, which he tried running for years ago but failed to generate significant support.

[27:14] Speaker 13: President Trump is reportedly considering signing an executive order that would declare Arlington County never legally left the District of Columbia in the first place. And this isn't some wild idea out of left field, as it were, or right field better, right? This is a serious legal argument that many have been making for decades now. It's being made by very serious legal scholars, and here's the history that you need to know. So back in 1790, Virginia ceded a parcel of land, the territory that would become Arlington, to the federal government to help form the new District of Columbia. Virginia's own agreement stated that this land was given for the, quote, "permanent seat of the federal government." But then in 1847, under President James K. Polk, that same land was what was called retroceded back to Virginia. And why? (laughs) You're not gonna believe this. Because Virginia wanted to protect slavery in northern Virginia after the district began moving toward de-, uh, abolition.

[28:30] Speaker 13: So after DC started adopting abolition, northern Virginia wanted to save, uh, slavery states as much as they could. So Virginia Democrats demanded Arlington be restored back to them, restored back to their state so it could be safe for slavery. I mean you literally can't make this stuff up. Now presidents as far back as Abraham Lincoln questioned the legality of that retrocession. President William Howard Taft openly called it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has never been forced to definitively weigh in, and now Trump could direct the Department of Justice to do exactly that, to formally challenge the 1847 retrocession and restore Arlington and even Alexandria back to their rightful place inside the District of Columbia, and he would force that through an executive order rescinding the retrocession.

[29:33] Speaker 13: And many are arguing that such an executive order would be on stronger legal footing than many of the autopen era executive actions that, that via Biden that sailed through without challenge. The constitutional text is clear, Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 describes the seat of government as land seated by particular states for a permanent purpose. If the secession was permanent, and the original Virginia agreement says it was, then how on earth can a state unilaterally take it back? Now, in the meantime, this redistricting referendum is facing its own court challenges, and they're certainly formidable. Bottom line...This referendum was blatantly illegal, and here's what most people don't know about it. A Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge, Jack Hurley, already ruled that this entire redistricting push was illegal.

[30:33] Speaker 13: Judge Hurley found that Democrats failed to follow Virginia's own constitutional rules for amending the state constitution, which require that any amendment pass in two separate legislative sessions with an intervening election. Now, the Virginia Supreme Court allowed the referendum to proceed, but critically, the court explicitly stated that its ruling did not resolve the underlying legal questions. They just allowed the referendum to go on. The highest court in Virginia is still sitting on this case, and if it agrees with Judge Hurley, again, Tuesday's vote becomes entirely moot. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee, the Virginia GOP, and individual Virginia voters have filed separate lawsuits arguing the new maps violate Virginia's own constitution, which explicitly requires electoral districts to be drawn contiguously and compactly, not these gerrymandered Frankenstein districts that we're now going to be seeing throughout the state.

[31:39] Speaker 13: Jason Sneed, Executive Director of the Honest Elections Project, he says he believes that the litigation is going to move at lightning speed given how close the midterm primaries are. And many believe, given how close this referendum was, that the Virginia Supreme Court is going to strike this referendum down. So let's put this all together here. What we're looking at is not, emphatically not a done deal. What we're looking at is the opening round of a multi-front war. Democrats spent more money than ever on this, over $60 million. They even brought in the old corpse Obama. They hid their own map from the ballot so that people, uh, uh, uh, signing or voting yes didn't even know what they were voting for. They barely won because the Virginia electorate shifted to the right by double digits. You've got at least one judge already declaring the referendum illegal, and the Virginia Supreme Court is yet to rule. And Donald Trump hasn't played his ultimate card as of yet.

[32:42] Speaker 13: If he moves, if he directs the DOJ to revisit the 1847 retrosession, the Democrats' entire Northern Virginia gerrymander machine goes with it. The first poll since Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race for California Governor is now in, and it shows Democrat... Coming up, I'll tell you why he actually might end up being worse than Gavin Newsom and he's already done a whole lot of damage to California taxpayers. (music) This would be the nail in the coffin of California. Um, what can we do to stop him? I'm Carl DeMaio, Chairman of Reform California and a California State Representative, and we are still seeing the shakeup in the governor's race in California in the wake of Eric Swalwell's big flame out, uh, and dropout. Uh, we've got a poll back, the first poll, the first legitimate poll since Eric Swalwell's exiting, uh, the race, and it shows that billionaire activist Tom Steyer is now leading the Democrat field of candidates.

[34:01] Speaker 13: Uh, I'm gonna share with you the poll, and I wanna walk through who is Tom Steyer and why you actually may end up, uh, preferring Gavin Newsom over Tom Steyer if this, uh, blank hat, uh, ever gets into office. It is truly frightening when I walk through just how bad Steyer is and how dangerous he is. Uh, before we do that, I need to call you to fight. You can't just learn about what's going on in California and be angry about it. No, I need you to be informed, but I need you to be active, and that's why at Reform California, we are organizing the fight to take back our state from the insanity of the far left. Go to our website, reformcalifornia.org, and on that site you're gonna find a variety of, uh, breaking news items about what's going on in California news and politics, but more importantly, action, campaigns, like our Voter ID Initiative, our Save Prop 13 Initiative. Uh, we need your help to make sure that these initiatives pass in the 2026 election. Uh, these are game-changers.

[35:07] Speaker 13: Um, also, our voter ID, our voter guide is on the website at reformcalifornia.org. Just click under Voter Guides, under Voter Help, or the top bar says, "Get Reform California's Voter Guide Here," and it will give you a list of all the candidates that we are endorsing in this election. Plus we found 90 local tax hikes hidden on the primary 2026 ballot. And so you can search by your county and get a full, complete voter guide, including judge races at reformcalifornia.org. Please also chip in a contribution while you're there and sign up, first name, last name, email, phone, and ZIP code. You'll be tethered into our growing movement. We'll give you updates on what's happening in your area when we're stopping by for events and rallies, and of course, we will send you the voter guide, uh, when your ballot arrives. We do not share nor sell any information. This is all about organizing the campaign and keeping you active. With that, let's get on with who in the hell is Tom Steyer?

[36:05] Speaker 13: Well, first, he's now leading the polls in the governor's race o- on the Democrat side. Here's the Emerson College Poll, and this is the first poll, the first independent poll out since Sw- Swalwell's, uh, uh, demise. Uh, it shows Steve Hilton in first place at 17%.

[36:24] Speaker 14: Uh, Steyer is at 14%, tied with Bianco for second place, but that means that Steyer is leading the Democrat field because you have Steyer at 14%, Katie Porter at 10%, and Xavier Becerra at 10%. Becerra has really jumped up in the wake of Swalwell's exit. Matt Mehan is really not getting any traction. He's still in the low single digits. But, so Steyer is now, uh, in second place. And look, Steyer was moving up in the polling even when Eric Swalwell was still in the race. Steyer went from like 2% or 3% way back in the middleof 2025. Uh, the Emerson Poll had him at 4% starting out in just December of 2025, uh, but then that rose all the way up 9%, 11%, 14% in the last, uh, few iterations of their poll. The reason why is he's a billionaire. This guy is spending right now, I think, $130 million spent so far on nauseating TV ads and, and, and mailers. Uh, and I expect, since he's a billionaire, he could, he could easily spend, uh, half a billion dollars, a quarter billion dollars.

[37:39] Speaker 14: Who knows? Uh, so money will not be the object for him, uh, but what you will find is that Steyer, um, has, uh, uh, a lot of liabilities, even with Democrats. Uh, the things that, uh, we know about him, well, he's elitist, he's a liar, he's a hypocrite, and he's a far left progressive extremist, which, uh, hey, makes him perfect, right? Perfect for, uh, Democratic voters. But despite spending this amount of money, and I'm talking about like 15 to 20 to 30 to one versus his competitors, this is still a jump ball race. Easily, Porter could win, Becerra could win, maybe Mehan, probably not. Uh, uh, but you also could have Steyer and Porter make the runoff. It's, it's not a foregone conclusion that Hylton and Bianco, either one of them, will get in the runoff, and I've covered that topic in a different podcast. But who is Tom Steyer? What is this guy really about?

[38:42] Speaker 14: Well, clearly he's about himself because he has such a big ego that he's spending so much money, uh, and, uh, uh, he's got a gaggle of consultants who, who, uh, are happy to take his money, but he ran for president in 2020 and flamed out, and he's been running a bunch of ads, um, everything from, you know, "Take back the House for the Democrats," to, um, uh, uh, uh, Prop 50. He's been doing this for about a decade. He's been running for office. So he hasn't been very successful because he hasn't run an office yet, but he's got unlimited money. Uh, so he's a billionaire. How did he make his money? Well, he started working for, uh, some investment firms on Wall Street, and, uh, he started his own hedge fund, Farallon Capital, and that was in the early two- uh, uh, two- uh, uh, 2000s. Uh, he built that capital, uh, investment firm up to $20 billion of net value! But where did he make that money? Oh, you know it. Oil, gas, coal. Even ice detention facilities.

[40:02] Speaker 14: Invested in a company called CoreCivic. (laughs) You can't make this crap up. This guy's running as a Progressive. He's a climate change crusader, and yet where did he make his money? All the industries and policies that he sa- says today are evil, that's where his money came from. Stench of hypocrisy. But hey, he's a Democrat. I mean, these guys are all about the stench of hypocrisy. Uh, so that's how he made his money on, uh, all these investments, uh, dirty, uh, uh, oil and, uh, uh, uh, uh, ice detention facilities. And it's, uh, you know, being pointed out on the left, quote, "Steyer gets rich off of coal and oil, becomes climate warrior. Now running for governor." Here's LA Times, "Billionaire candidate for California governor catching heat for past- with business interests and wealth." And they're trying to be kind to him. Catching heat. Can't you just simply say, "Hypocrite"? 'Cause that's what this is all about. Um, now, Steyer spent a decade running climate change campaigns.

[41:15] Speaker 14: Doing what? Trying to ban any sort of oil or gas, uh, exploration or production, trying to impose a carbon tax, and he was successful here in California. He was one of the biggest reasons why we have a cap-and-trade system in California, which adds about 40, fif- 45 cents right now per gallon of gas, uh, to the cost of, of gassing up. Uh, for electricity bills, massive spike in the regulations. It, it has doubled the cost of your electricity. So all of these carbon taxes and regulations and restrictions that Steyer has advocated under his Green New Deal for California, and he hasn't gotten it implemented anywhere else in the country, but in California, his policies that he advocated for through all of his climate, uh, uh, campaigns that he wrote checks for, resulted in the worst regulations, the most costly and restrictive environment, uh, for energy and electricity and gas. That's what we have in California.

[42:18] Speaker 14: Now Steyer says, running for governor, "I'm gonna cut electricity bills by 25%."... uh, it's like the arsonist showing up and saying, "I'm gonna put out fires." You've set all the fires, you asshat. This... He... Literally, the hypocrisy, the, the gall of this SOB to sit there and say, "Oh, California's cost of living is pretty damn high." Yeah, Captain Obvious, it's because of you. You are one of the main reasons why these policies are, in effect, costing working families so much in California. Now, the, the, the SOB has the, the audacity to come in and say, "We're gonna cut utility bills by 25%. How are we gonna do this?" Quote, "We have to take on these electric monopolies. We have to break up the monopolistic power. We'll drive down costs." His solution? A government takeover of your utility company, 'cause you know, (laughs) government is so efficient. Waste, fraud, abuse.

[43:23] Speaker 2: That's all for our show today. As always, we hope you found our content of today's show of interest, of value. You can watch and/or listen to a podcast of today's show when it's posted shortly here on The Jim Benson Show pages at bbsradio.com/thejimbenshow, and elsewhere on the internet, including at x.com, at jamesb503091977, on rumble.com and Apple Podcasts. While you're at it, if you're visiting my pages here at bbsradio.com, scroll down on my index page at bbsradio.com/thejimbenshow and check out our related videos section. Look for us again two weeks from today in this ta- same time slot with another edition of the show, and have a great rest of your day and evening.

[44:29] Speaker 2: (dramatic music)