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Business Roundtable CEO Josh Bolten On Covid Package

CNBC transcript: Business Roundtable President and CEO Josh Bolten speaks with Kayla Tausche live during CNBC’s Capital Exchange today Q4 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more   Interview With Business Roundtable President and CEO Josh Bolten…

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Josh Bolten

CNBC transcript: Business Roundtable President and CEO Josh Bolten speaks with Kayla Tausche live during CNBC’s Capital Exchange today

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Q4 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

 

Interview With Business Roundtable President and CEO Josh Bolten

KAYLA TAUSCHE: We are joined now by Josh Bolten, who is the President of the Business Roundtable, for the view from corporate America. In the course of the last year working from home I think we've done Zooms from my attic, my home office, my backyard, and I'd now like to welcome you into my living room, as well. I want to get your reaction to Jared’s comments on stimulus, first and foremost, where he talked about this desire to hold firm that whittling down is the enemy, and essentially go big or go home. How realistic do you think that is?

JOSH BOLTEN: Sure. Just first, thanks for having us all to your living room. On the issue that you were discussing with Jared on whittling down the Biden plan. That's not where the business community is. What our members are saying is that they are supporting what the Biden administration and what Jared was saying, the urgency of providing the rescue that's needed first, to get the pandemic under control, and second, to support the most vulnerable through the tough economic times that the pandemic has created. So, we're for whittling up on those elements of it. But to the extent that the administration has tried to move into their COVID package, things that don't address — that aren't designed to address the immediate crisis, and are making it difficult to get bipartisan support for this urgently needed package, we think they ought to be flexible about putting that stuff aside and taking it up later.

TAUSCHE: But Josh, put the urgency into perspective. Because the cares act when it passed in March was $2.2 trillion. The American rescue plan is $1.9 trillion. The previous package was passed at a time when the entire economy was at a standstill, and it passed with full bipartisan support. Now, of course, we were at a point where large swaths of the economy are open, yes, the pandemic is still requiring a lot of people to work from home, it has slowed growth, it has slowed a lot of contracts. But there is a package that was just passed at the end of last year that is trickling into this system right now. So I'm just curious on a scale of one to 10, how you would grade the urgency of this moment? Sure it is an urgent moment, but how does it compare to the times in the past year where lawmakers rose to the occasion and passed these packages?

JOSH BOLTEN: Well, it's not the very deep crisis situation we were facing at the front end of the pandemic, but the pandemic is still with us. So I put the urgency at the at the high end of the scale. But the urgency is with respect to getting the pandemic under control, and supporting the vulnerable while that process keeps underway over the course of the coming months. And so, that's what we're as representatives of the business community that's what we're putting our weight behind. Is get the money out there for the vaccines and for the testing, and for the public health workers that are going to help get the pandemic under control, and then take care of the people who have been just devastated by the pandemic. While we head toward what looks like it can be a robust recovery.

TAUSCHE: One of the elements in the package as we were just discussing with Jared is a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Senator Bernie Sanders who will chair the budget committee, has suggested that there is a CBO report forthcoming that will show there will be a deficit impact from the minimum wage that will potentially allow Democrats to include that as part of their bill that would potentially pass on a party line. But I'm curious if you buy that argument that raising the minimum wage would make people less dependent on the social safety net and ultimately have a positive impact on the federal deficit?

JOSH BOLTEN: Well the Business Roundtable has been in favor of raising the minimum wage for some time. $7.25 is clearly too low. But we're skeptical about the argument that this is the moment to proceed to push through the Congress on what would have to be a partisan basis, and a large increase in the minimum wage. You know, the members of my organization, the Business Roundtable are the CEOs of America's largest companies. By and large, most of them already pay at least $15 an hour. The folks whom an increase in the minimum wage most directly effects are the small businesses around this country and they are the ones who have been most devastated by the pandemic, who are flat on their back – many hundreds of thousands out of business completely – but many just barely hanging on. And we want to get them back going again. I mean it's in the country's interest, it's in the interest of our businesses because for America's large corporations, those small businesses are our customers and suppliers. And so, pushing through a minimum wage increase that, especially in the short run, can be very damaging to small business unless it's crafted in a way that takes into account regional differences that has appropriate carve outs for small businesses, that will take a lot of time to negotiate and that's why we think this package is not the right place to do that. This package ought to be put through on a bipartisan basis, and focus on ending the pandemic and helping people make it through in the meantime.

TAUSCHE: As the political prognosticator that you are, what do you think the odds are that a bipartisan deal can be reached that would pass with 60 votes and not be pursued through a partisan process instead?

JOSH BOLTEN: It's looking tough, Kayla, but it's not impossible. Jared was right. The reconciliation process if that's the way the administration and the leadership decide they need to go – even the reconciliation process does not need to be partisan. I was part of the George W. Bush administration, which in 2001 went through a major tax cut bill with the support, overwhelming support, of the Republicans in Congress, and in the Senate, the support of 12 Democrats. So reconciliation doesn't mean that it's a partisan measure. But I think they've got a fair amount of work to do to get Republicans on board. And taking out of their proposal, put aside the issue of the top line, and I thought Jared made good points about. It shouldn't just be I propose X, you propose half X, let's end up at point six X. What they ought to focus on is the very necessary measures that can bring an end to the pandemic and support the vulnerable in the meantime.

TAUSCHE: I want to move on to talk about the priorities more broadly of some of the Business Roundtable member companies. I remember talking to you at the end of last year and you were talking about how important a federal mask mandate would be for companies who are otherwise charged with enforcing mask mandates on their own premises and oftentimes getting significant pushback from their customers in the process. In the days and I guess it's been –  two weeks exactly actually since the mask mandate that the Biden administration signed has been into effect. Has there been a noticeable impact on your companies and the behavior of their customers and in terms of complying with this?

JOSH BOLTEN: I haven't gotten reports of that so far, but it's directionally absolutely right that the federal government and the President, personally, is showing very welcomed leadership on the safety measures that all of us need to adopt during the course of the pandemic. That means masking and distancing. They work. All of our members are doing their best to promote that within their workplaces, in their shops and so on. And so, to have the President step up and mandate the mask wearing on public transportation and in federal facilities, we're 100% behind that. That's the right thing to do. It's setting the right tone for the country. And our members appreciate it.

TAUSCHE: And on the agenda more broadly, it's been unmistakable that over the last 12 months the priorities of the Business Roundtable have shifted quite substantially. At the beginning of the Trump administration the priorities were tax reform, deregulation, and, of course, some free trade elements in there as well. In the last 12 months the agenda has been refashioned to include that federal mask mandate to include some immigration priorities, some climate priorities, and supporting an increase in the minimum wage, and some other elements that are unmistakably more reflective of the Biden administration's agenda as well. And so I'm wondering if you could just take me back to the drafting process and how you fashion your priorities. Is it truly that the priorities of these companies have changed in the last 12 months or is it that, you know, you're looking at the reality of engaging with an administration that has a completely different policy slate than the one that you engaged with for the last four years?

JOSH BOLTEN: Kayla, not quite either one of those. All of the things you just mentioned – immigration, trade, some other items that are high on our priority list, including worker training and infrastructure investment – all of those things were on our members priority lists during the Trump administration. But there, there was the priority and the opportunity during the Trump administration to reform our corporate tax code in a way that made it competitive for companies to operate in and out of the United States and on this side, I have a strong disagreement with Jared Bernstein. But where we will have agreement is on a number of these other agenda items that now come front and center that they've been priorities for a lot of our members for some time. And now with the new administration, there's an opportunity to pursue them. Jared mentioned infrastructure investment. That's a very big deal for the country and strongly supported by members of the Business Roundtable. We'd like to see a fundamental way that is paintable meaning that the people who are taking advantage of those infrastructure investments help defray the cost of that. So there are political hurdles to be met on all of them. Not least on controversial issues like immigration. But we're encouraged about the many items on our priority list, which also are on the new administration's priority list. First thing we got to do is get past the pandemic, but once we start to look beyond that there's a lot of reasons for optimism about alignment on priorities.

TAUSCHE: And on the engagement with the administration, obviously the Trump administration valued the feedback from corporate America and held a seat at the table for members of some of the country and the world's largest companies, but I'm wondering where corporate America is in the hierarchy of feedback for the Biden administration and how your engagement and dialogue with the Biden administration looks different from your engagement with President Trump?

JOSH BOLTEN: Well, you’d have to ask them where we stand in the priority. From our perspective, they've been terrific. There's been a very high level of engagement outreach, consultation. Candidly, in ways that are much more extensive and deeper than we experienced even at the outset of the Trump administration. So, very well launched from the standpoint of the Biden administration on giving the business community the signal that yes, they're interested in the business community's views. Now, we're not going to agree on everything. But at this point we feel very comfortable that we have the communication. The  channels are open. There are people that are senior people in the Biden administration who are interested, want to hear from us and will take our views into account. We're encouraged by that.

TAUSCHE: And finally, I couldn't let this conversation end without asking you about the Reddit rebellion and the takeover of many stocks that we've seen in the last week by amateur day traders in this sort of uprising of the everyday investor against the so-called smart money. And I'm wondering how executives are watching this activity unfolding in the market, whether BRT plans to study it further, whether you think it's a longer term trend or if it's going to be more of a flash in the pan.

JOSH BOLTEN: My own personal view is more like a flash. From the standpoint of the Business Roundtable, recall the Business Roundtable CEOs run the largest companies in America. They're not typically the ones that are subject to these flash episodes of short selling and short squeezes. What the Business Roundtable members want to see is good, clear transparent, easily-functioning markets with good price discovery. So a lot of these blips are in a sense counter to that. We have confidence in the regulators and supervisors in our federal government to monitor the situation and to make sure that these, you know, episodes that largely affect a band of retail investors confronting some hedge funds that that doesn't bleed over into the very necessary function that our broader markets serve to the economy. I don't sense any great anxiety on the part of Business Roundtable members about it. But we'll see how it develops.

TAUSCHE: Well, we know the Treasury Secretary is going to be having a meeting on that topic with top officials from the Federal Reserve and other regulators, so we will see whether that yields any changes, any new regulation, and we'll see how long this episode lasts. But Josh, we really appreciate your time and your perspective on a range of issues today. Josh Bolten of the Business Roundtable, thank you again.

The post Business Roundtable CEO Josh Bolten On Covid Package appeared first on ValueWalk.

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Mike Pompeo Doesn’t Rule Out Serving In 2nd Trump Administration

Mike Pompeo Doesn’t Rule Out Serving In 2nd Trump Administration

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former Secretary…

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Mike Pompeo Doesn't Rule Out Serving In 2nd Trump Administration

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a new interview that he’s not ruling out accepting a White House position if former President Donald Trump is reelected in November.

“If I get a chance to serve and think that I can make a difference ... I’m almost certainly going to say yes to that opportunity to try and deliver on behalf of the American people,” he told Fox News, when asked during a interview if he would work for President Trump again.

I’m confident President Trump will be looking for people who will faithfully execute what it is he asked them to do,” Mr. Pompeo said during the interview, which aired on March 8. “I think as a president, you should always want that from everyone.”

Then-President Donald Trump (C), then- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L), and then-Vice President Mike Pence, take a question during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus at the White House in Washington on April 8, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

He said that as a former secretary of state, “I certainly wanted my team to do what I was asking them to do and was enormously frustrated when I found that I couldn’t get them to do that.”

Mr. Pompeo, a former U.S. representative from Kansas, served as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2018 before he was secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. After he left office, there was speculation that he could mount a Republican presidential bid in 2024, but announced that he wouldn’t be running.

President Trump hasn’t publicly commented about Mr. Pompeo’s remarks.

In 2023, amid speculation that he would make a run for the White House, Mr. Pompeo took a swipe at his former boss, telling Fox News at the time that “the Trump administration spent $6 trillion more than it took in, adding to the deficit.”

“That’s never the right direction for the country,” he said.

In a public appearance last year, Mr. Pompeo also appeared to take a shot at the 45th president by criticizing “celebrity leaders” when urging GOP voters to choose ahead of the 2024 election.

2024 Race

Mr. Pompeo’s interview comes as the former president was named the “presumptive nominee” by the Republican National Committee (RNC) last week after his last major Republican challenger, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, dropped out of the 2024 race after failing to secure enough delegates. President Trump won 14 out of 15 states on Super Tuesday, with only Vermont—which notably has an open primary—going for Ms. Haley, who served as President Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

On March 8, the RNC held a meeting in Houston during which committee members voted in favor of President Trump’s nomination.

“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump on his huge primary victory!” the organization said in a statement last week. “I’d also like to congratulate Nikki Haley for running a hard-fought campaign and becoming the first woman to win a Republican presidential contest.”

Earlier this year, the former president criticized the idea of being named the presumptive nominee after reports suggested that the RNC would do so before the Super Tuesday contests and while Ms. Haley was still in the race.

Also on March 8, the RNC voted to name Trump-endorsed officials to head the organization. Michael Whatley, a North Carolina Republican, was elected the party’s new national chairman in a vote in Houston, and Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, was voted in as co-chair.

“The RNC is going to be the vanguard of a movement that will work tirelessly every single day to elect our nominee, Donald J. Trump, as the 47th President of the United States,” Mr. Whatley told RNC members in a speech after being elected, replacing former chair Ronna McDaniel. Ms. Trump is expected to focus largely on fundraising and media appearances.

President Trump hasn’t signaled whom he would appoint to various federal agencies if he’s reelected in November. He also hasn’t said who his pick for a running mate would be, but has offered several suggestions in recent interviews.

In various interviews, the former president has mentioned Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, among others.

Tyler Durden Wed, 03/13/2024 - 17:00

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Riley Gaines Explains How Women’s Sports Are Rigged To Promote The Trans Agenda

Riley Gaines Explains How Women’s Sports Are Rigged To Promote The Trans Agenda

Is there a light forming when it comes to the long, dark and…

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Riley Gaines Explains How Women's Sports Are Rigged To Promote The Trans Agenda

Is there a light forming when it comes to the long, dark and bewildering tunnel of social justice cultism?  Global events have been so frenetic that many people might not remember, but only a couple years ago Big Tech companies and numerous governments were openly aligned in favor of mass censorship.  Not just to prevent the public from investigating the facts surrounding the pandemic farce, but to silence anyone questioning the validity of woke concepts like trans ideology. 

From 2020-2022 was the closest the west has come in a long time to a complete erasure of freedom of speech.  Even today there are still countries and Europe and places like Canada or Australia that are charging forward with draconian speech laws.  The phrase "radical speech" is starting to circulate within pro-censorship circles in reference to any platform where people are allowed to talk critically.  What is radical speech?  Basically, it's any discussion that runs contrary to the beliefs of the political left.

Open hatred of moderate or conservative ideals is perfectly acceptable, but don't ever shine a negative light on woke activism, or you might be a terrorist.

Riley Gaines has experienced this double standard first hand.  She was even assaulted and taken hostage at an event in 2023 at San Francisco State University when leftists protester tried to trap her in a room and demanded she "pay them to let her go."  Campus police allegedly witnessed the incident but charges were never filed and surveillance footage from the college was never released.  

It's probably the last thing a champion female swimmer ever expects, but her head-on collision with the trans movement and the institutional conspiracy to push it on the public forced her to become a counter-culture voice of reason rather than just an athlete.

For years the independent media argued that no matter how much we expose the insanity of men posing as women to compete and dominate women's sports, nothing will really change until the real female athletes speak up and fight back.  Riley Gaines and those like her represent that necessary rebellion and a desperately needed return to common sense and reason.

In a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Podcast, Gaines related some interesting information on the inner workings of the NCAA and the subversive schemes surrounding trans athletes.  Not only were women participants essentially strong-armed by colleges and officials into quietly going along with the program, there was also a concerted propaganda effort.  Competition ceremonies were rigged as vehicles for promoting trans athletes over everyone else. 

The bottom line?  The competitions didn't matter.  The real women and their achievements didn't matter.  The only thing that mattered to officials were the photo ops; dudes pretending to be chicks posing with awards for the gushing corporate media.  The agenda took precedence.

Lia Thomas, formerly known as William Thomas, was more than an activist invading female sports, he was also apparently a science project fostered and protected by the athletic establishment.  It's important to understand that the political left does not care about female athletes.  They do not care about women's sports.  They don't care about the integrity of the environments they co-opt.  Their only goal is to identify viable platforms with social impact and take control of them.  Women's sports are seen as a vehicle for public indoctrination, nothing more.

The reasons why they covet women's sports are varied, but a primary motive is the desire to assert the fallacy that men and women are "the same" psychologically as well as physically.  They want the deconstruction of biological sex and identity as nothing more than "social constructs" subject to personal preference.  If they can destroy what it means to be a man or a woman, they can destroy the very foundations of relationships, families and even procreation.  

For now it seems as though the trans agenda is hitting a wall with much of the public aware of it and less afraid to criticize it.  Social media companies might be able to silence some people, but they can't silence everyone.  However, there is still a significant threat as the movement continues to target children through the public education system and women's sports are not out of the woods yet.   

The ultimate solution is for women athletes around the world to organize and widely refuse to participate in any competitions in which biological men are allowed.  The only way to save women's sports is for women to be willing to end them, at least until institutions that put doctrine ahead of logic are made irrelevant.          

Tyler Durden Wed, 03/13/2024 - 17:20

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RFK Jr. Reveals Vice President Contenders

RFK Jr. Reveals Vice President Contenders

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times,

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former…

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RFK Jr. Reveals Vice President Contenders

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times,

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura are among the potential running mates for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the New York Times reported on March 12.

Citing “two people familiar with the discussions,” the New York Times wrote that Mr. Kennedy “recently approached” Mr. Rodgers and Mr. Ventura about the vice president’s role, “and both have welcomed the overtures.”

Mr. Kennedy has talked to Mr. Rodgers “pretty continuously” over the last month, according to the story. The candidate has kept in touch with Mr. Ventura since the former governor introduced him at a February voter rally in Tucson, Arizona.

Stefanie Spear, who is the campaign press secretary, told The Epoch Times on March 12 that “Mr. Kennedy did share with the New York Times that he’s considering Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura as running mates along with others on a short list.”

Ms. Spear added that Mr. Kennedy will name his running mate in the upcoming weeks.

Former Democrat presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard declined the opportunity to join Mr. Kennedy’s ticket, according to the New York Times.

Mr. Kennedy has also reportedly talked to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) about becoming his running mate.

Last week, Mr. Kennedy endorsed Mr. Paul to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the Senate Minority Leader after Mr. McConnell announced he would step down from the post at the end of the year.

CNN reported early on March 13 that Mr. Kennedy’s shortlist also includes motivational speaker Tony Robbins, Discovery Channel Host Mike Rowe, and civil rights attorney Tricia Lindsay. The Washington Post included the aforementioned names plus former Republican Massachusetts senator and U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, Scott Brown.

In April 2023, Mr. Kennedy entered the Democrat presidential primary to challenge President Joe Biden for the party’s 2024 nomination. Claiming that the Democrat National Committee was “rigging the primary” to stop candidates from opposing President Biden, Mr. Kennedy said last October that he would run as an independent.

This year, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign has shifted its focus to ballot access. He currently has qualified for the ballot as an independent in New Hampshire, Utah, and Nevada.

Mr. Kennedy also qualified for the ballot in Hawaii under the “We the People” party.

In January, Mr. Kennedy’s campaign said it had filed paperwork in six states to create a political party. The move was made to get his name on the ballots with fewer voter signatures than those states require for candidates not affiliated with a party.

The “We the People” party was established in five states: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Mississippi, and North Carolina. The “Texas Independent Party” was also formed.

A statement by Mr. Kennedy’s campaign reported that filing for political party status in the six states reduced the number of signatures required for him to gain ballot access by about 330,000.

Ballot access guidelines have created a sense of urgency to name a running mate. More than 20 states require independent and third-party candidates to have a vice presidential pick before collecting and submitting signatures.

Like Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Ventura is an outspoken critic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and safety.

Mr. Ventura, 72, gained acclaim in the 1970s and 1980s as a professional wrestler known as Jesse “the Body” Ventura. He appeared in movies and television shows before entering the Minnesota gubernatorial race as a Reform Party headliner. He was a longshot candidate but prevailed and served one term.

Former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura in Washington on Oct. 4, 2013. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

In an interview on a YouTube podcast last December, Mr. Ventura was asked if he would accept an offer to run on Mr. Kennedy’s ticket.

“I would give it serious consideration. I won’t tell you yes or no. It will depend on my personal life. Would I want to commit myself at 72 for one year of hell (campaigning) and then four years (in office)?” Mr. Ventura said with a grin.

Mr. Rodgers, who spent his entire career as a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers before joining the New York Jets last season, remains under contract with the Jets. He has not publicly commented about joining Mr. Kennedy’s ticket, but the four-time NFL MVP endorsed him earlier this year and has stumped for him on podcasts.

The 40-year-old Rodgers is still under contract with the Jets after tearing his Achilles tendon in the 2023 season opener and being sidelined the rest of the year. The Jets are owned by Woody Johnson, a prominent donor to former President Donald Trump who served as U.S. Ambassador to Britain under President Trump.

Since the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced, Mr. Rodgers has been outspoken about health issues that can result from taking the shot. He told podcaster Joe Rogan that he has lost friends and sponsorship deals because of his decision not to get vaccinated.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets talks to reporters after training camp at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J., on July 26, 2023. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, Mr. Rodgers challenged Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Dr. Anthony Fauci to a debate.

Mr. Rodgers referred to Mr. Kelce, who signed an endorsement deal with vaccine manufacturer Pfizer, as “Mr. Pfizer.”

Dr. Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022 and was chief medical adviser to the president from 2021 to 2022.

When Mr. Kennedy announces his running mate, it will mark another challenge met to help gain ballot access.

“In some states, the signature gathering window is not open. New York is one of those and is one of the most difficult with ballot access requirements,” Ms. Spear told The Epoch Times.

“We need our VP pick and our electors, and we have to gather 45,000 valid signatures. That means we will collect 72,000 since we have a 60 percent buffer in every state,” she added.

The window for gathering signatures in New York opens on April 16 and closes on May 28, Ms. Spear noted.

“Mississippi, North Carolina, and Oklahoma are the next three states we will most likely check off our list,” Ms. Spear added. “We are confident that Mr. Kennedy will be on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. We have a strategist, petitioners, attorneys, and the overall momentum of the campaign.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 03/13/2024 - 15:45

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