Fleming vs. Letlow, Cassidy on the Phone, and J.B. Pritzker Thinks Trump Has It Coming

Stay connected with us at americangroundradio.com, on Facebook, and Instagram. You're listening to American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avallone and Stephen Parr. This is the full show for May 5, 2026. We open with a deep dive into the Louisiana U.S. Senate debate — the one Bill Cassidy didn't show up for. Moon Griffon hosted Fleming and Letlow on KPAL this morning, and we break down what it revealed about each candidate. We watched the whole thing and came away with a clear observation — when you ask Julia Letlow a direct policy question, she tends to say that's something we need to go study, while John Fleming comes back with the principle, the problem, and the direction. We also note that Fleming needs to stop talking about Governor Landry as much as he has been, and we discuss what it means that the candidate with arguably the best instincts is the one with the smallest campaign infrastructure. Then we get Senator Bill Cassidy on the phone — live, while he's on the road to New Orleans. We ask him directly about the debate he skipped, about President Trump's Truth Social posts calling for Louisiana Republicans to vote him out, about the SAVE Act, and about Julia Letlow's stock trades that look a lot like the kind of trades Nancy Pelosi has been criticized for making. Cassidy makes the case that you don't have to like somebody to deliver for your state — and lists the legislation he has helped pass in Trump's second term, including the Huff-Fentanyl Act and a bill to lower pharmaceutical profits that Trump called one of the most important bills he would sign this year. We press him on whether he thinks all three candidates should debate on television in prime time before the election. He says absolutely — and explains exactly what he wants to say to Letlow on that stage.In our Top 3 Thing You Need to Know, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an expedited ruling requiring Louisiana to immediately redraw its congressional districts — waiving the standard 32-day reconsideration period at the request of both sides — after finding the 6th Congressional District was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in violation of the 15th Amendment. Governor Landry has already postponed the congressional primaries. Then a recall petition has been filed against Governor Landry — the petitioners now have 180 days to collect nearly 600,000 signatures, which is about 20% of the state's registered voters. We remind listeners that a recall effort against John Bel Edwards after COVID lockdowns couldn't get there. And the Orleans Parish School Board approved a new financial deal with the city of New Orleans to end a long-running lawsuit — including a $6 million settlement now, $2 million annually through 2042, and $4 million a year from Caesars starting in 2030. We also cover Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker's claim that President Trump has set a tone in this country where political violence is acceptable — and we systematically dismantle it. If the president is responsible for the tone that leads to violence against him, what exactly has he done that's violent? Mean tweets? And if that's the standard — what does that make the people who spent eight years calling him Hitler, a domestic terrorist, a pedophile, and an existential threat to democracy? We play the Bill Maher clip where he says on his own show that if you watched the White House Correspondents' Dinner assassination attempt and were disappointed the president wasn't killed, you are not a good person. We celebrate Maher for saying it — and ask why it took a liberal comedian to say what no Democrat elected official has been willing to say plainly.We get into Al Sharpton's F around and find out message to Florida Republicans over the new redistricting maps — and walk through what the Florida map actually looks like versus what the media is calling it. We point out that compact, square-block districts that cover the state don't look like the backwards C's and donut-shaped monstrosities of Chicago. We remind listeners that Sharpton's National Action Network led protesters through New York City chanting for dead cops just four days before two officers were ambushed and murdered in their patrol car in Brooklyn. And we make the broader point — if you're going to engage on the redistricting battle as a conservative, get comfortable being called a racist for believing that districts should be compact and that people shouldn't be judged by the color of their skin, because that label is coming whether the charge makes any sense or not.Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, visit AmericanGroundRadio.com, and join the conversation at 866-AGR-1776!