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>> All right. We'll leave
it there. Commissioner Don

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Millis, thanks very much.
>> Thank you. Have a good

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weekend.
>> Looking ahead to the

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2026 midterm elections,
Wisconsin Attorney General

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Josh Kaul announced this
week he's running for

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reelection to that office,
not for governor. Where

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does this put the crowded
race on the Democrats side

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and the not so crowded
field of Republican

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candidates? We check in
with our political analyst,

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Republican Bill McCoshen
and Democrat Scott Rawson.

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Thanks for being here.
>> Thanks for having us.

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>> So, Scott, first to you,
would it be fair to say

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that Josh Kaul would have
been considered the front

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runner?
>> Oh, absolutely. He's a

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statewide elected,
statewide elected official

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who's who's won twice in
tough environments. So yeah,

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he would have been he would
have been a great candidate.

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He'll be a great attorney
general candidate again.

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And I believe that if some
changes are made in terms

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of the environment, that
he'll win again. But, you

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know, Democrats have an
embarrassment of riches.

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really good candidates.
They have some candidates

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who are still talking and
thinking about it. But, you

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know, to run against, you
know, what I would argue is

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the front runner in Tom
Tiffany, who is, you know,

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basically an extension of
Donald Trump and everything

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about Donald Trump is
embodied in Tom Tiffany. So

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but again, it's about the
it's about the environment.

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And I think Democrats have
to do some things to change

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that environment.
reaction on the Republicans

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part to Josh Kaul not
running?

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think he would have been
the front runner the day he

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got in. He's running won
statewide twice before.

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He's got a record. He's got
a base a statewide base. So

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it's big news for us that
one of the top tier

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candidates got out of the
way. So that leaves

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Democrats I think their
bench is a little bit short

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right now. The top tier is
David Crowley, Milwaukee

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County Executive Sarah
Rodriguez lieutenant

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not former Lieutenant
gets in. That would be

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their top tier. And I feel
pretty good about our

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chances against that.
>> So this leaves Tom

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Tiffany, you think, who has
announced his run in in

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good shape?
question Tom Tiffany is the

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frontrunner. I mean he's a
sitting congressman.

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Congressman. All have
districts with 760,000

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people. He's got a base and
it's a very red base. Where

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he's less known is
southeastern Wisconsin. And

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as I pointed out, the last
time Scott and I were on

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his show, the deficit for
Tom has always been

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fundraising. He wasn't very
good at it. He's already

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raised more than $1 million
in the first two weeks in

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the race, including 250,000
at a single event last week.

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So he's going to be our
frontrunner. But I think

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Josh is going to stay in
the race. Josh is a you

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know, he's got a couple
advantages. Josh is a

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younger man. He's 24 years
younger than Tiffany and

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he's got geography on his
GOP primary come within 100

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miles of where Josh lives.
>> I just want to stay with

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you a minute, Bill, and ask
you your reaction to your

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former boss, Governor Tommy
Thompson, once again saying

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he's seriously considering
a run.

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misunderstood on that. I
love Tommy Thompson. I

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wouldn't be where I am
without him. I think what

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he really was saying was,
if these guys don't get out

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of the blocks, I'll be
available. I'll be in the

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bullpen warming up, and
that would be next spring.

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And I don't expect that to
happen, but I love I hope I

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have half the energy he has
when I get to be 83 years

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old, and I don't expect him
to be a candidate.

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>> He'll be ready there to
wish youngster Joe Biden a

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happy birthday, right? I
think they know that

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they're born on this
basically on the same day,

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right? Yeah, but the former
governor is a year older. I

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mean, I think the great
news about Tom Tiffany

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being the front runner and
he is the front runner, and

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I expect that he will be
their nominee. Is that that

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nationalizes this race
because he is so tied to

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Trump. And, you know, the
definition of fascism is an

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authoritarian political
ideology defined by a

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dictatorial leader,
centralized governor, and

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suppression of opposition.
That is part and parcel of

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everything that has
happened in these, you know,

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what seems like ten years,
but is really nine months

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of Trump being in office.
They have control of

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everything. They have
control of the Supreme

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Court. They have control of
Congress, they have control

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of the executive. And they
are running the fascist

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playbook up until and
something on Friday where

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they were. They were
calling the march planned

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march, saying no kings as a
terrorist outfit. This is

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this is not what America is
about. And I would say to

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my Democratic friends, if
you don't start treating

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fascism like fascism and
calling it out, you can't

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expect people to see that
America is in crisis and

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that we need to step up and
do something about this so

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that we can stop it,
restore the Constitution,

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restore our civil liberties,
and stop things like

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marauding ICE Gestapo,
disappearing kids in the

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middle of the night.
>> Nobody on the dem side

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has Tiffany's record. He
was elected to local office,

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State office, State
Assembly and state Senate

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and now Congress. So he's
eminently qualified. He is

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a strong, consistent
conservative. So is Josh

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Schoemann. I think we have
an embarrassment of riches

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on our side, and it's going
to play out pretty well.

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>> Scott, the one candidate
that we've mentioned that

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has not yet entered the
race on the Democratic side

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is former Lieutenant
Governor Mandela Barnes.

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What's your take on his
entry into the race?

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>> Well, his supporters
tell me that he would be

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the most experienced, best
campaigner to get in the

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race if he got in the race
and that he spent since he

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left office working to
restore democracy, protect

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democracy and lift the
lives of others. You know,

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and I think that, you know,
all of the candidates in

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this race have some claim
to that, whether it's David

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Crowley or Sarah Rodriguez
or Kelda Roys, you know,

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they all have that claim
that they have stood up for

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democratic values. Again,
the question for me is who

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is going to tell it like it
is and step up to this

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threat that America faces,
because I don't think we

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can win the race if we're
defined by the feckless

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politics of Chuck Schumer
and Hakeem Jeffries. You

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know, what is going on is
it's unprecedented in

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American history. And we
have to look at it that way,

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and we have to treat it
that way because the people

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want nothing less than to
than to make sure that the

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Constitution is being
upheld.

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>> So, I mean, swinging
back to the race, bill,

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what do you think about how
formidable Barnes might be?

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>> You got to remember,
2022 was one of the best

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midterms for Democrats
since Bill Clinton was in

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the white House in 1998,
and Mandela Barnes lost.

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This was the first election
statewide election post

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Dobbs. He's one of the few
statewide Democrats to lose

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that night. So we're not
afraid of Mandela Barnes

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being their candidate. And
to you, if you think Thom

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Tiffany's too conservative,
is he more conservative

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Mandela Barnes? I don't
think so.

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that Schumer left Mandela
Barnes high and dry for

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three and a half weeks
after the primary, where

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there were no TV ads from
DC coming for Barnes. You

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know, you know, I don't
want to relitigate that

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campaign. But if you if you
allow your opponent to if

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you allow your opponent to
define you, you're in a lot

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of trouble. And that's what
happened in that race. I

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think it was, you know,
again, it was a it was a

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tough loss for sure, but it
was one that's explainable

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beyond Mandela's.
in Wisconsin that came back

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from a statewide loss and
won statewide is Bob Kasten

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in 1980. It's been a long,
long time indeed.

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>> That's a deep cut. Nice.
both about the government

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shutdown and which party
you think goes down as

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being blamed for it, and
whether or not that has any

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kind of political legs.
>> It will. I mean, next

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week is payday for a lot of
federal employees, and it

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needs to get solved. If
Republicans think they're

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not going to get blamed for
this, ultimately they're in

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charge. And I understand
the filibuster rule.

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Frankly, I would do away
with the filibuster if I

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were John Thune, and I
would pass the C.R. today.

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I think that's their best
move. And I would be ready

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with a health care reform
bill in the next two weeks.

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>> I mean, yeah, I think
Bill's right. You know, the

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Republicans are in charge
of things and the

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Republicans own this. But
again, let's see what's you

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know, again, back to my
point two centralization of

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government. On Friday, we
started to see illegal

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firings of union and
nonunion employees in

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federal government. Those
by Trump Partizans. And

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again, remember all this. A
part of this is about it's

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taken the it's taken the
ability of the House to

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vote to release the Epstein
files. They're one vote

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short. You know, Johnson
won't appoint you know,

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won't sit a congressperson
who won a special election

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so that that deciding vote
will make this happen. So

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again, it's all about this
is about protecting, dear

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Leader. It's about
Leader. It's about