This is interrupted by Matt Jones on news radio Waight forty WIGHTJS.

Now, here's Matt Jones.

It is Time, episode twenty one of interrupted by Matt Jones, and I am honored to have as our guest for this our governor in Kentucky, Andy Basheer.

I'm gonna call you Andy because I feel like the whole state calls you Andrey.

Are you good with that?

But it is my name still Andy, So no worries at all.

Hey, thanks for having me on.

Of course.

You know it's interesting.

I think part of your success as a governor has been in the fact that people feel like they can relate to you, And I think the fact that they just call you Andy, I think in some ways kind of exemplifies that.

Do you do you think that that sort of connection that allows people to call you governor Andy or whatever is part of what's gone well?

I do.

I think it's a couple of things.

First, it's loving the state, loving our people, and working my tail off every day to try to make life better, not just for people of one party or one area of the state, but to make life better for everybody.

And then the second piece is not letting the job change you, because the job can come with some grandeur or a lot of pomp and circumstance, but at the end of the day, you're still the same person.

And for me, I had two things that have helped me do that.

Number one, parents who went through this job knowing that they were still the same at the end of the day.

And number two, a wife and kids who don't let me get too high on myself when I come home.

So I think what I've always said is if you think this job makes you smarter, taller, or better looking, than it's going to eat you up.

So it didn't make you taller, but I do think it made you.

I do think it made you to where you showcase and empathy in this job that I think has been, at least on my personal opinion, your best talent.

And part of that was because you really got thrown into it.

I mean you had just taken the job COVID hits, and then, of course soon after all of these tragic natural disasters fourteen of them, fourteen of them, It'll start for just COVID For a second.

You've been in the job six weeks.

Do you remember the first time you got a report about the possibility of something happening.

Well, our first case was March sixth of twenty twenty.

I actually had a different report that came in before that.

That looking back is wild to think about.

I'm sitting at a meeting in the Governor's office, probably a month in so January, and somebody comes and hands me a card that says we have our first case of a bola right, And I'm looking at this saying wait, wait, and I get up and I walk over to my desk and then I walk into the side room and say, follow up on this.

This has got to be wrong.

And it was.

Somebody had absolutely misdiagnosed something to the worst doctor.

In Kentucky, you can imagine.

But to think back on that now and then we do get hit by a pandemic, you know it was?

It was really you started hearing at the end of January, and certainly February we were out talking about it.

Certainly not every day.

Could did you think there was any chance it would be what it was?

I mean it was that when was the moment you said, wait a minute, this is going to be a life altering thing for people.

I'd say that happened for all of us, not at the beginning of March, but by the end of March, and certainly when we went from our first death to maybe ten deaths to having one hundred deaths on a day.

And as you know, I read that list every day for a year and a half, mainly because I didn't want anybody else to have to.

It's one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but certainly it was.

There was the moments that the stores were running out of things.

Yeah, and as a new governor, I was saying, please, don't take more toilet paper?

Are you doing?

But but what the pandemic proved to me and every natural disaster is at their core, people are good that in many ways, Lord of the Flies is wrong.

Left to our own, stripped of everything else, we don't gang up on each other.

We support each other.

You saw people be willing to share and not take too much in the pandemic light their homes up green, so other people would would see it.

After natural disasters take Eastern Kentucky.

I'm in in February of this year.

I'm in Pike County after that flooding, and I'm standing next to a woman who had a beauty shop, and it worked more than a decade to do it, and everything's destroyed.

MUD's halfway up and she she looks at me and says, where do I start?

Well, there were twelve people standing around us, and every single one of them looked at her and said, start with us.

I saw, you know, we went to Mayfield, we went to Breathett County in the and then I was in London.

And you raise money to help and I appreciate that.

Well, it was our listeners.

It was the people listening to you right now.

And in all those places, I got that exact sense that you saw the best of people absolutely during those circumstances.

And how much do you think your governor's ship or just the way you've shaped politics has come from those disasters has come from because I think even your harshest critics would say he's good at that, He's good at comforting people in those moments.

Well, we've sadly had a lot of practice and how you respond to tragedy and adversity.

Part of it is preparation and execution.

The aftermath of all those disasters could have been a lot worse, certainly our most recent flooding, and how we were able to preposition the boat teams and the helicopter teams, meant we've saved thousands of lives that otherwise might have been lost.

So part of it is that preparation and always afterwards asking what different should we be doing so that we can be ready the next time.

I mean, our response to these last two floods has been some of the best I think that the country's seen because sadly we've gone through a lot, but the other pieces don't.

Know.

If you care about people and you've been around people that have lost a lot, then you know that one of the most important things is to be there for them, to make that promise that you're going to help, not just in those those immediate days after, but in the years after.

I'm heading down to Mayfield next week.

Oh really, and we still have more houses.

We're almost through that wait list though.

We are almost really yes to everyone who has needed a house getting one, which is pretty special.

You know.

So I was telling somebody that works with you just a little bit ago, I'm blessed to get to do the opportunity to meet a lot of people from other places and the folks that I work with.

I'm in a fellowship with the Aspen Institute with people from all over the country, and so they all want to talk to me about you because I think the fact that you are a democratic governor in a Republican state, there are really only three governor I think there's only three governors in the country that are governors of a non swing state but from the other party.

I think it's like you Kansas in Vermont.

It's also interesting you and Vermont the governor there the two most popular governors in the country of side of the poles.

It's rare.

Why do you think it's worked here?

And do you think there are lessons that can be transitioned to other states in for Democrats or even Republicans in states where they're not in the majority.

Well, I think for me, it's three things that I think have helped may be successful as governor and successful politically.

First, laser focused on people's everyday needs.

I'm recognizing that when people wake up in the morning, they're not thinking about politics, and they're probably not thinking about me as governor.

They're thinking about their job and whether they make enough to support their family.

They're thinking about their next doctor's appointment for themselves, their parents or their kids.

They're thinking about the roads and bridges they drive each day, the school they drop their kids off at, and whether they feel safe in their communities.

It's the idea that if you can't check those boxes, if you don't feel good in those areas, you don't get to anything else.

Do you think we've gotten away in our party from that?

Like, I feel like a lot of the conversations we have are significantly less about that day to day stuff than it is something else.

So I believe that the Democratic Party has good policies towards them, but spends a whole lot of their time talking about other stuff that doesn't impact everyone.

So the idea is, let's spend eighty percent of our time talking about things that are important to one hundred percent of Americans.

And you know, I've stood up for my convictions.

I've done things that could have been unpopular in Kentucky because of my beliefs.

But the next day I'm opening that next factory.

You know, we're cutting the ribbon on the Mountain Parkway, on the newest section that's four laned.

And the hope that that's going to bring and I think that gives me.

It gives the space for people to disagree on this or that, but say, well, he's creating jobs.

You know, I'm making more than I did five years ago.

So I think that's number one.

Number two is we got to get back to talking like normal human beings.

Okay, let's talk about that for a second, because I talk for a living, yes, right, and I have to talk like a normal human If you're gonna have my political beliefs and get people listen to you, you're gonna have to talk like a normal human being.

I think most of our party is awful at that.

You and I talk differently.

You are not quite as outrageous as me, but we both, I think, share the different jobs.

True, but we both share that conviction.

You have to speak as a normal person.

How do you see that?

Oh, it's important to talk to people like you would talk to your friends, ensuring that we're not caught up in advocacy speak.

Right.

When you get caught up in all the sanitized language, it sounds it's like you're talking down to people, or or you're talking yes like that, you know, I mean the the idea that that in Kentucky.

You and I have both seen what what the opioid epidemic has done well, and we've all lost people that we love and care about.

I mean, I think I can count at least twelve and that's probably normal sadly for the most Kentuckians.

Yet I didn't lose one to substance use disorder.

I lost them to addiction and addiction when you when you say it, you hear it and you feel it.

It's mean, it's nasty, It kills people, and it and that word has the emotion of the trauma that it's caused all the state and so many people.

But also think about the people that are in recovery, that have done the hard work to try to overcome it.

They deserve when you say that they're in recovery from addiction, something that was really hard to beat and they put in the work and look at where their life is.

Uh.

Now, there's the term food insecurity drives me crazy, but because when people don't have enough food, they're hungry.

They're not insecure, They're hungry.

Right, they have the hunger pains, they have the difficulty how do the kids learn that are going through hunger?

And then the newest term is justice involved population.

I've never even heard that those are inmates.

Justice involved population.

And when you look at when you look at what we're trying to do, we've got some of the lowest recidivism rates that we've had in a long time.

We're teaching a skill in every prison.

I believe in second chances.

But our inmates call themselves inmates, and we should too.

And then I think the last piece, and I think it's about authenticity but also about respect is Democrats are very good about talking about the what we're really good about policy right point two, Bullet point three III.

But we almost never talk about the why.

Why are we making a decision that we make For me?

That's my family and my faith, that's trying to live by the Golden Rule and the parable the Good Samaritan.

There have been a number of bills that I've vetoed simply because they're mean, and my faith tells me that we should be reaching out with kindness.

That's interesting.

I'm a person of faith too, and it's very easy for people, like a lot of people say, how can a Democrat be a Christian?

I hear that.

I'm sure you've heard that.

Sometimes it drives me insane.

I remember growing up this idea that you shouldn't be mean to people, and it seems like meanness has been the goal of some politics recently.

Do you agree with that I do?

Or cruelty cruelty that's out of the Trump administration.

We are seeing cruelty even if there's a tough decision that some people think that the country should or should not make.

You can you can approach these issues without that meanness, without that cruelty, without the intention to create division.

Now, I'll constantly hear this president say that that people of the other party are the enemy, and that don't don't like America.

Listen.

I mean, we say the Pledge of Allegiance when we're kids every day, and in that pledge, we pledge to a flag into a country, not a person.

But we also pledge to keep the country indivisible.

So the idea that we would have people pushing cruelty or intentionally turning Americans against each other, I just think is wrong.

I agree with that.

When you talk about your policies are driven by faith, give us some examples for what do you think are some examples of policies that are tend to be supported by the Democratic Party that are faith driven.

Policies.

A lot of people think of faith driven policies and they'll think of Republican social issues.

Are there?

What are things you think that are faith driven for you.

Think about healthcare.

In the Bible, Jesus says the doctors for the sick.

Yet these cuts in that big ugly bill are going to make it a lot harder for the sick to see a doctor.

You know.

It's that idea that healthcare is a basic human right, that when somebody is ill, they should be able to see the doctor in their home area and hometown that they need to.

I mean, that's one Look at the SNAP program, which is food assistance so that people don't go hungry.

The miracle of the fishes and the lows is one of the only miracles to appear in every book of the Gospel you have.

They're a national Republican party, just significantly cut how much food is going to be available to hungry Americans all over the country.

I want to give you a chance to answer something that I get said to me.

So for people who are listening to other places I travel over the state, I'd say, next to a couple of public officials, I'm probably out in the state as much as anybody.

People pretty much universally respect you.

But when I hear a criticism of you, inevitably it often comes back to like things you did during COVID, where somebody will say something about, like, he shut down the churches.

When I know you've heard that.

What's your response when people say he shut down the churches, he made people, you know, get tickets for going to church, etc.

What's your answer to that.

Great The incredible part of COVID, and it's hard to say there's an incredible place art of dealing with a pandemic is how many people came together.

Now, we had eight churches that didn't voluntarily close during the scariest period of time when the virus was spreading, when we did not have any treatments.

In fact, how we were treating it may have made it worse.

There was no hope of a vaccine at that time, and if it had spread faster that early, we would not have had enough beds and the hospital system would have generally collapsed.

I'd like to think that strong leaders make really tough decisions.

Is there anything that you did during that time that you regret or not regret?

God, it's not the word.

But is there anything looking back you say, well, I wish we'd done it this way instead of that way.

Well, definitely the Tupac Shakur incident, yeah, remind me.

So we open up unemployment, yeah, to help people, and early on in that somebody comes in and says, we're already seeing the fraud.

And I said, what do you mean.

They said, well, there's this guy named Tupac Shakur who applied for unemployment benefits.

And so I go out, you know, all upset and and say, I can't believe someone's taking advantage of us.

Well, there's a great gentleman named who changed his name to Chupac Shakur that was in the hospitality industry.

And one of the reporters that was at that press conference knew it, so he told me afterwards.

I called him that night and I apologize.

I said, it's all on me, and I'm so sorry.

I mean, I was governor and I basically threw this guy under a bus and it's just wrong, are And I was just saying.

I came back the next day and I told the Commonwealth I'd made a mistake.

And I think that's important in our leaders I mean, I did it because it was the right thing to do, and I felt so bad about what I'd done.

But just being upfront with people, they can forgive a mistake or two, But how few people in these positions will say I shouldn't have done that and I shouldn't have there.

Well, if I if I went back, I mean, I made every decision, And these are battlefield decisions because I'm getting that death list every day.

What we know about the virus is is changing, and certainly we had great access to information actually on the first Trump administration and then and then under Biden, where we made the best decision on the science each and every time.

Now, if we knew today, if if we knew then everything we'd known about the virus would would would it have been nuanced?

Sure?

But I think we made every decision based on the information we had to protect the most number of people.

I give leaders.

I've said this a lot on my show.

I give all the leaders of that era.

I give you all a lot of grace because like I can't imagine sitting there and looking even people who made decisions I disagree with, Well, it was you did.

People didn't know, and just about every decision I made.

Every other governor was making the same decisions at that time.

People forget the person who told me to shut down this state right now.

It was President Trump on the phone to all the governors.

All fifty of us were on there, and he says, I wish we didn't have to do this, but this is the scientific advice that I'm getting now.

Later he would argue with the reopening and speed and different pieces like that, But it was President Trump on the phone that told us all that these steps needed to be taken.

We were able to open up or encourage worship faster than the federal government did.

But again, some people want to find a reason to be upset, and that's okay.

It was a tough, stressful, difficult time.

What I'd say to those people is I'm glad you're still with us.

I'm glad you're okay.

You can disagree with me, but I'm glad you're here.

I can't imagine, okay.

So I think about the various points I've considered public service, and one of the things I think about is I actually think I would have a hard time because of guilt slash second myself, right, like just myself.

I think I would have a hard time sitting there and thinking what if I did this and it didn't work, and how that would bother me.

You're sitting there and you're seeing these reports of people dying.

Did it weigh on you?

I mean, oh, yeah, it had to.

I would think that would have been.

One of the hardest experiences of my life.

And then because it was the right thing to do, eulogizing people every day, you know, understanding how much their family misses them and loves them.

But what I also would hear is how deeply meaningful that was for the family, and so I wanted to do it.

And even for those that didn't send in the information, just hearing that their loved ones were recognized and were counted was important.

And that's why when we look back on different statistics of the rest I tell some people take some of it with a grain of salt, because some states stopped counting very intentionally early wanted everyone that we lost to be counted.

Now, we don't talk about the pandemic a lot now, but it was a deeply traumatic experience for a lot of reasons.

The one we don't talk about is the main reason why it was so traumatic, because so many people died in our commonwealth in such a short period of time.

You know, we've been through more loss than World War One, World War two, Vietnam and the Korean War put together.

And I worry sometimes about whether we've processed it enough that we need to talk about it a little more.

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Let's switch gears for a second.

So I gotta ask you, like, are you gonna?

Are you running for president twenty eight?

I mean that's what everybody say every where I go.

I hear, hey, you know, I look delist of candidates I see, Andy Basher, is that something on your mind.

I've heard that question before, and I give the same answer each time.

It's interesting.

What's interesting is sometimes I'll use a different synonym okay, and It'll be reported like it like I'm breaking news.

So right now I'm trying I'm traveling the country, trying to speak reason in the chaos, trying to make sure not just Democrats, but Republicans get back to common sense, common ground and getting things done.

That idea that if both parties would spend eighty percent of their time on those core issues that one hundred percent of people care about, if we actually depoliticize those issues, we're nonpartisan instead of bipartisan, what we could do.

It's not really an answer, though, is it fair to say you're considering it.

I'm still going next year next year on the head of the of the Democratic Governors Association, and so my job there is to win as many of those races and to change the map, and then at that point, you know, I'll sit down with my family and we'll talk about it.

I would have told you right after reelection that I was done, okay now, that I was going to go out on top because This is enough for me.

I love this state, I love the gains that we've made these last five and a half years.

This is a special job where you can really make people's lives better, and at that point I was done.

As I sit here today, I'm committed to not leaving a broken country to my kids or anyone else's.

And so what I'll look at is whether you know I'm the candidate that can heal this country, that can bring it back together, or whether that's someone else.

Because what's most important to me is a positive future for this country where my kids don't have to get up every morning, run to the news, say what the heck happened last night?

And is our democracy going to continue?

So is it fair to say, by the way, one of those governor's races, a good friend of mine from the fellowship is in Jason Stepez in Georgia, So shout out to him.

You're good things.

Yeah, he's a great guy.

Is a fair say?

You're at least considering it, you know.

Right now I'm focused on both the work I'm doing for the country as well as those democratic governors races.

It's after that that I'll sit down, okay, and Brittany and I will take a look.

So people, that's the other question I get is do you think he could be someone that could be a nominee for president?

And it's an interesting because I want to hope that someone like you our party could still nominate.

But I sort of look at the Democratic Party and I see three types of people really sort of stepping to the forefront.

One are people like Gavin Newsom who are like throwing bombs like Trump does, kind of trumping back to them.

Then I think there's like second, like a group of people like Zoron Mondamie in New York who their policies tend to be a little bit more socialist, getting young people who are disenchanted with capitalism.

And then I think there's a third of people who, for whatever reason, people think fit the part because they like various parts of them, whether it's demographic or just the way they speak, etc.

And what's interesting is I don't know that you obviously fit into any of those three categories.

But I also think you're like a ton of Americans that are just sort of average everyday Americans.

So do you think someone who's like you?

I think you've done a great job governing Kentucky, can you win a national Democratic primer?

Well, you ask anybody in my seat whether they can win something, We'll always think the answer is yes.

Yeah.

But I think what people are craving right now is someone who is committed to helping them in their everyday life.

The pressure to pay bills right now, the young couple that can't afford a home in or around the same time that their parents could, the American dream and is it still possible for some right now?

And the Trump administration making it worse.

Tariffs atting about twenty six hundred dollars and costs or will on the average American family per year, the big ugly bill shutting down healthcare all over the country to where you're going to have to drive several hours just to see a doctor.

I think I'm someone that's always focused on those non partisan day to day issues.

And by the way, I think that's the reason both we have a President Trump and Mundami one that primary.

I think it's that they convinced the last group of undecided voters that they were more focused on those everyday issues than their opponent.

And so what that tells me is the American people need help they want help.

They're willing to vote for somebody they think can help them, even if they're cruel in terms of the president, or even if they call themselves a socialist.

They want someone who who they believe is committed to trying to make their life better.

That next bill right now is so hard.

It's that idea that you may have a social issue that you care about so much, but if you can't pay for your next child's prescription, vote for anybody you think can help you.

Do you You may know the number of this what's the percentage of people that voted you think trumpshar.

Well, Trump won Kentucky by thirty points, and I want it by five.

The diver electors though in a governor and presidential race.

But butteen you also have more more Democrats that come out in a presidential in Kentucky two So yeah, probably all.

Right, So let's say it's fifteen more for people around the country who are wondering, who are those people who Do you think those people are that vote trumpshar.

I think those are are people who look at me and see somebody who's who's committed to this state, who's committed to creating those jobs and we've We've got a good track record.

You know.

We brought in the most private sector investment, the most new jobs, the highest wages, the most exports, the biggest impact for tourism in the history of Kentucky.

It's been really exciting.

And so I think there are some who say I agree or I disagree with them on some of the these things, but the state's moving in the right direction.

They might not feel that way necessarily about the country.

And when you can have a personal relationship, which I think is where we started with a lot of the state, you can push off some of that national politics and people say, well, I really don't think how they're describing him as who he is.

What I see is that new jobs announcement.

What I see is him celebrating that new road that takes twenty minutes off my commute each way and now I have forty more minutes with my family.

I think you're right.

I think people in Kentucky, back to our first point, think they know you, and you thought about how you're going to make people in the other forty nine states if that were to happen know you, Because I do think I will say this, like I said, I know very few people who know you who don't like you, but like, do you think do you think you're able to get people in you know, New Mexico or Pennsylvania to know you like that?

That's a slightly different question than I've gotten asked before.

What I've gotten asked before is, well, you win in Kentucky.

Do you think you could win in a swing state?

Yeah?

You could.

And what I keep saying is, wait, I can win in a Trump plus thirty red state, but can I win in a state that regularly or sometimes votes for a Democrat?

Yeah?

And I always think that's this fascinating question.

For me about election.

I would even argue, I've said to people if I was dictator of the Democratic Party, which we shouldn't have, so I'm glad we don't, I would say you have the best chance to win a general election for all the reasons we talked about.

I just worry if people like you can win primaries.

I want to believe that you that they can, but I don't know.

I think the two things that have to be most important to the Democratic Party for their candidate in the future is, first, the country feels like it's been whiplashed, rightfully, or wrongfully they feel like it was too far one way and how they feel it was too far the other way.

For the sake of the country, we need people to feel like that pendulum is stop swinging and that they can get back to their normal life.

And then we need somebody who people feel that they can trust, because we're all glued to the TV right now and it's and the news is hitting us too many times a day.

It's creating way too much stress on people.

I think people are are are are having even similar reactions on a mental health side than they did in the pandemic.

And I think they're going to be looking for stability and competence, and those are two things I definitely think I can bring to the table.

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This is the good life.

What's something?

What's something Trump's done that you think has been good?

His FEMA response in the floods, Yeah, that's the ironic part.

So his FEMA response both in in February and then in uh March, February and March, where the where the two floods with some of the best I've seen the people on the ground in eastern Kentucky, where we had seen some tough relationships in twenty two, we saw really positive relationships in twenty five.

And so I think that they deserve credit there.

Some of those improvements probably happened under the Biden administration, but when you're present, you get to blame, so you ought to get the credit too.

So I've spoken very publicly about that because I only have the credibility to criticize the Trump administration if I can also admit when I think they're doing something right.

Is there a policy of his that like, for instance, I'll just use myself while I'm anti well, I don't generally like tariffs.

I do think Trump has highlighted the problem of American industry declining.

I don't know that he's done a ton about it, but I do think that was something that needed to be pinpointed.

Are there policies of his that you think are.

How about concept okay, concept of is playing?

Can yeah?

Exactly?

Conceptually him talking about reshoring, Yes, it's critical.

Going back to the pandemic, he did not make the things we needed to be safe.

And so these last several years Kentucky has seen the reshoring of manufacturing in amazing ways, huge investments in doing so many things.

Look at ge Appliances making refrigerators where they claimed we'd never make them in the United States.

Again now bringing a line back over from China.

But we were doing that, especially under the Biden administration when we had different incentives, when we had the carrot.

Well, the Trump administration on tariffs has exchanged the carrot for the stick.

But the problem is it doesn't work.

And the reason it doesn't work is he wants to have these big tariffs that say, Okay, you can't afford to import things, so now you have to make them in the United States.

Except you can't build a new manufacturing facility because your costs could float thirty percent.

Why because of tariffs.

Because you do have to import a lot of those materials.

You do have to import machinery if we're not making things currently, And because the tariffs are immediate, there's no ramp up.

I mean, there's no two year period where you can get that done.

So what I see is a slowing of projects.

I see a slowing of that reshoring that that his method is preventing his the goal.

A couple more and then I'll let you go.

Since it is heading into a weekend.

I what is a weekend when you're governor.

That's a that's a different concept.

I'm sure that's true.

I am from Eastern Kentucky and I grew up in Middlesbrough.

I would say to you, when I was a young kid, there were still the remnants of a vibrant economy in eastern Kentucky.

I can still remember what Middlesbrough was like in the early nineties, when it was a vibrant downtown, et cetera.

It's a different it's different now.

And I have watched as going back to George W.

Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, a lot of things have disagree, But when it comes to East western Kentucky, honestly, very little has changed positively for many of them.

If you're someone in a place like that, and Eastern Kentucky is close to my heart, but there are places like that all over the country.

I mean, what can places like Eastern Kentucky do?

I mean not theoretically, like practically, how does it get better?

Then?

Let me first say that I recognize how Eastern Kentuckians can feel left behind or betrayed.

I mean, Eastern Kentucky mine the coal that powered the Industrial Revolution, that helped create the strongest middle class the world's ever seen, that powered us through two World Wars.

Yet when the energy economy changed, the new jobs didn't go where the old jobs were, didn't get a thank you, didn't get credit for helping to build America, and all of a sudden, all the jobs are gone.

Because this concept of environmental justice came a lot earlier than economic justice, and they were reveal And I think if if we could go back in time and every means of new energy production took place where where we mind the coal, then we be in a different place right now that it's more of a concept of caring about a people that have done such hard work.

And I agree that we have not seen the help from federal administrations that are that are needed, the real help.

But what I will say is on the state side, we are working hard.

That's everything from the new high ground communities where we've got eight new housing opportunities to move people out of the floodplain up onto high ground.

We're spending tens of millions of dollars in it so that people can be safe.

I'm finishing the four landing of the Mountain Parkway, the first real interstate we've heard going and got last it is.

We just broke ground on the last section, so every part of the Mountain Parkway.

The fore landing is now uncomplete or under construction, and we're going to finish it right by the end of my term.

So you know Gene Hale, who is the head of a big bank or was in Pikeville.

We recognized her today at the Sore Summit and she said, I'm going to see the four landing of the Mountain Parkway in my lifetime.

But there's more work.

It's also getting broadband deployed.

You look at Whitesburg where we've got a lot of entrepreneurs now because they've got a good broadband.

It's always finding that next opportunity.

But I tell you the biggest threat to Eastern Kentucky is a threat to the fastest growing part of its economy, which is healthcare.

You look at the fact that Pikeville Medical Center opened up a pediatric autism center, which has never been in Appalachia, and now there's one in Floyd County.

You look at how AARH has all those regional hospitals.

Each of those hospitals is the highest biggest payroll in those counties, the second largest employer in most of those counties.

But they are all going to get hammered by the big ugly bill and the cuts to Medicaid.

So if that rural hospital shuts down, it's just the hospital, it's the restaurant, if you're a coffee shop, it's probably even the local bank because the amount of money that's that's gone.

And so the crazy thing to me about this big ugly bill is it's an attack on rural America.

The people who are getting the big tax breaksted it live in a blue city.

The people who are paying for it, who are going to lose their jobs, who are going to lose their health care or the ability to see a doctor in their community, are in rural, typically red America.

We've talked on this show a lot about the healthcare bill and what it can do, and let me make in terms of say, like.

Industry, regardless of how they voted, I don't want people to lose health care.

I don't want them to lose those jobs in that community.

And my job is to be and maybe the reason that I am popular and successful here is I truly believe my job is to be the governor of all Kentuckians, whether they always voted for me or never voted for me.

And so Eastern Kentucky is really important that we continue to push.

Now.

We're already seeing some new opportunities with the four laning because that's been the big You know, if you're going to manufacture something, you've got to be able to ship it, and so this will help with the logistics.

Magoffin County is already seeing opportunity.

The former thunder Ridge property, which was a horse track in Prestonsburg, we've now been able to purchase for the county.

We've cleared it.

That's fifty acres of flat land that will have access to a four lane road.

That's everywhere.

We're investing in other sites that are there to make sure we have the water, the sew or all the rest so that when a company says we'll go there, we get it up and running in the jobs there as fast as we can.

Are you optimistic?

I am more optimistic today than ever.

And part of that so we just got great county judges and great mayors too.

There's more cooperation in Eastern Kentucky regionally than I've ever seen.

And were most of them Republican right and some.

Democrats and then mayors are are typically nonpartisan.

But now if we have one big opportunity say we're trying to land something in Boyd County.

The county judges for six other counties will come and support Boyd County because they know it creates jobs for everybody surrounding it too.

And it's just great to see county judges and mayors showing us how it's supposed to be done right a job a Democrat or Republican and say they're not going to bring that into it either.

I'll finish with this.

I remember when you when you were elected, you were the attorney general.

My mom is a prosecutor.

I thought you gave my mom the Prosecutor of the Year award.

You your mom earned it.

Yeah, I totally agree with you, and I was there.

There's a picture of me standing behind you as you're as you're giving that award.

And I always appreciated how kind you were to my mom.

But also she would praise how serious you were about the job.

She really valued somebody who was serious about that job.

And she used to say, you and Ben Chandler were the two people that really took that job as serious as as as she believed it should be.

But I remember when you ran for governor.

I sort of would describe I would describe you to people, and I am a little embarrassed by this.

In hindsight, I would say you were like vanilla ice cream without sprinkles.

But I've watched you over the last six.

Years and you earlier say you say outrageous things.

Yeah, but it was a nice outrageous because everybody likes me.

Everybody likes me quite popular.

Yeah, But I've watched you over these six years and I actually I think you've really grown into you feel more comfortable.

I feel like doing things like this.

Would you agree with that?

When you've when you've gone through what we've gone through, you you show who you are to the people that you serve.

I mean, you can't hide anything about yourselves in a pandemic where you give a press conference every single day and and you know in all the questions, I am who I am and I'm comfortable with with with who I am.

And if that's what you're looking for, then then good.

But I don't want to sell myself as anything different.

I care about people, I work hard at at this job, and that's that's just always who I'm going to be.

And do you now that you move on?

I mean, you've still got two years to a little over two years left of being governor, whether it's running for president or something else, do you still see yourself when it's over as as having public service in your not And I don't just mean like going and working in the community, but like some sort of thing because public service in your life.

I always want to find a way to help this state because I love it.

I love where we're from, and I think we're all bound together by our love of Kentucky.

And for far too long people look down or have looked down on us.

I feel that that has changed nationally, and so it's it's been, you know, the honor of my lifetime to serve in this role to see some really positive change happening.

With that said, I never intended to be governor.

I intended to run for attorney general.

It's a great job.

I thought i'd go back into into law practice, and then we had Matt Bevan, and I didn't think he was the right governor or the right example for our kids, and so I don't have to continue public service.

The only way I'll do it is if I'm convinced that I'm somebody that can bring value and in this instance, heal the country and we can't continue to constantly have this US versus them.

We can't have people telling us that our neighbors are un American simply because they have some different views.

And I feel like in Kentucky we're further along.

I agree with that healing that that last election you didn't see many signs.

You didn't see neighbors yelling at each other.

No, I don't like the way that people voted, but they still care about their neighbors and their neighbors kids.

And the temperature is just so much lower in conduct.

Kentucky is different, and I think there's a variety of different reasons for it that probably could be a conversation for it.

But if you went back to twenty the difference between the election in twenty and twenty twenty four was significant.

And I just think it's that we've been through a lot.

We banned together, we've had great success.

Our state's feeling optimistic when the rest of the country is feeling pessimistic, and we've moved past this US versus them.

It's just in US we win in a national title this year, though I mean, like I know he should Juckey Fan, I mean, there's a lot of money on that roster.

Are we gonna?

Are we going?

There's a lot of money in the era of n I l you're a Kentucky fan, right I am.

But I will say when we don't say something good, But when you're the governor of Kentucky, you got two jobs to root for your state schools?

Are you ready?

And a root against Duke?

Okay, all right, I'm good with that.

But like it's okay to say, like Mitch throws the l's up, you're still a cat's got number one?

Right.

I grew up being a big UK fan.

Okay, good?

Good.

I do like Mark Pope.

I've gotten to know him a well, very nice family.

I think he goes about his job well.

He's a great example and seems like just a great human being.

In fact, he came to one of my son's basketball games because he was there for Malick.

Yes, my son is now about six three and was the backup center, and.

And he's in high school.

Yes and Moreno, of course seven seven to one dunking on everybody.

I kept hoping they wouldn't bring Will in the game.

Uh dunk.

He's mainly a mainly a baseball player, and and and I think done with basketball, but uh both both him coming over and and and texting me, uh and and the way he treated everyone in that gym was special.

You know, there's only one person in that gym that was potentially going to play for Kentucky, but he was talking to all the players and all the parents, and I just think that shows.

It's the community thing we're talking about.

The women's coach, I'm also reallys Yeah.

I think I think he's not only an excellent coach, but from the one meeting I had with him, just an impressive human being.

Do you the nile thing you got?

You were like, weren't you like the first governor to do the executive order or something?

I was at least one of of the first.

Yeah, and that was coach cal spearheading a lot of that.

But we had all the coaches in together.

We had Darren Horn, I remember that, and the rest.

It was pretty We had Ryan Howard there from from the women's team, who was wearing heels, and thus I'm sure I looked tiny, well six to one, but that day like five eight.

On a personal level, I want to say, just as a citizen of the state.

I have watched, how you know, on almost all of those tragedies we mentioned.

I've been there like the next day or two days after.

I saw you in London the day after at the airport.

You know what it's like.

I mean, I still remember driving up there in London and seeing that area.

I mean, you saw it.

I mean, I'll never forget it, and the way you have shown humanity to those folks.

I don't care if I disagreed with you on every political issue.

There's some things that are more important.

And I see you with Robert Stuivers standing there because I know he would probably say the same thing, just as I just want to thank you for that, because I don't think you people realize the effect that has.

And in a purely political sense, I remember looking at the twenty twenty three map and you could see your vote total different in the areas where the tragedies were, and I think that was a reflection on how you treated those people and handled those people.

So just as a citizen, actually, I very much appreciate you for that, because I think there are things that transcend politics.

And then on a personal level, everybody know who listens to me knows I love my mother yea, and you have always been so kind to her, first elected prosecutor from female in Kentucky, and so I do appreciate both those things, and I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you very much, and thanks for having me on.

Appreciate it.