Transcript
Tom Schultz
We’ve got primary election season. It’s actually in full swing here. We do have a lot of invites out there to candidates, and we’ll try to make this an Ave. for you to hear from them. Also question them as well, because it’s important that we make good, fully informed decisions. when it comes to our votes here. And so we’ll have a little visit today and got other lined up, got other candidates lined up for next week as well. But today we’re going to focus on this Western District House race. And Democrat Ryan Bussey is on the line. To be our guest, we’ll talk about his call to public service. He’s got a campaign platform. Like I said, primary election season is underway here. And there’s, I think, a lot of candidates in this Western District race. Let’s see. You know, I put it down, but it’s That’s a long list. Ryan Bussey was on the line here. Sam Forstog is from Missoula, Russell Cleveland, St. Regis, Matt Raines from Sims on the Democratic side. Republican side, Aaron Flint, Al Olszewski, Christy Jacobson, and a guy named Ray Curtis as well, University of Montana’s director. So we’ll be talking an awful lot about candidates and their positions here. And the primary election season underway, it actually will culminate in a vote on, is it June 1st, June 2nd? Yeah, I think it’s June 2nd. So absentee ballot request deadline is June 1st. You can hand them in there. Early voting, May 4th, and then general election, November 3rd. And a lot at stake here. As we welcome our guest, Ryan Bussey with us here as well from Kalispell, Montana, a Democrat running for this Western House District seat, former vice president of sales at Kimber Manufacturing, which is a major firearms company. company there, authored Gunfight, My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America. Controversy there, a lot of thoughts to share in that regard. Has lived in Montana since 1995 and raised his family here. Good morning, Ryan. How you doing, sir?
Ryan Busse
Hey, Tom. I’m doing great. It’s a beautiful day up here in the Flathead Valley. It’s a rare, I’m at home moment on this campaign trail. Doesn’t happen very often. I got to sleep in my own bed last night. So, hey, man, I’m doing pretty good.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, tell us about the campaign. I mean, I know you ran for governor and of course you were the underdog in that race. Well, I’ll just put it that way. But people had a chance to hear from you and you had a chance because you’ve never had public office before. You had a chance to get out there and find out what campaigning is all about. What is campaigning all about?
Ryan Busse
So don’t believe what they tell you, Tom. Campaigning is super, super glamorous. It’s very easy. No, this is all a joke. Hey, it’s hard work, and it’s invigorating, and it’s rewarding. And you’re right, I ran for governor. We held 187 in-person events. Wow. I was in folks’ homes. I was in breweries with them. I was in restaurants, and, you know, I was in front of crowds of five, six, 700, and crowds of 30 or 40. And I guess what I took away from that, was an 18-month campaign. We ran hard, ran proud. This state that we love, I’m sure you love it, and I’m sure all the listeners love it, this place, this non-judgmental place that makes people a better person, it certainly made me a better person. It’s still alive and well. All of this national media that tells us we got to hate each other, and we got to poke each other in the eye all the time. We got to make up things to to hate our neighbors over. I just, after you break through that kind of partisan shell, it’s just, that’s just not the way people are. And so I came away from it, even though it was a tough electoral cycle for me. and other Democrats that came away from it thinking, man, this state is still worth saving. It’s a special place.
Tom Schultz
Well, and I can appreciate that as well, because this is a very human experience. So, we think about politics and there’s a lot of mechanisms behind politics, the messaging, and it’s a multi-billion dollar industry and it’s 365, 24/7. And I think that is part of the problem here is that, I don’t necessarily believe it’s all about money. I believe it’s, It’s about how much weight we put on it. And there’s a lot of, a lot of critical decisions to be made as well. Let’s talk about some of those decisions. Let’s talk about what do you see is critical. And I should get this phone number out as well. We already have a caller online, Dylan in Missoula. So stand by 866-627-5483. And then you can text a message here at 781-627-5483. It’s that time of year again where you’re talking to people on that wall. one-on-one level, and Ryan Bussey is our guest here. Let’s start with what you think is very, very critical to the issues that need addressing in this country right now.
Ryan Busse
I guess I’ll start big picture. I feel like the people in this state, working people in this state, folks like me, I moved to the Flathead Valley 31 years ago. My wife, Sarah and I, like a lot of people, we moved here with nothing. We joked that we both married poorly, equally poorly, which was pretty poorly. And we bounced around rentals, bought our first house for $127,000, and that felt like a trillion dollars to us, but this place gave us a chance. And I’m worried that for people who need a chance from Montana, it’s out of reach now, and that’s not by accident, it’s because We don’t have representation in Washington, DC. Millionaires, billionaires, big corporations, all of those folks who have lobbyists and attorneys and private jets, they have a lot of representation, but we do not. And so I think that’s why we’re in the pickle that we’re in. And I think it’s time that we send somebody back there that will fight for us. I think one of the main policy objectives for me is that we attack this healthcare crisis, and I believe we are in a crisis. I don’t talk to Republican voters, independent voters, crossover voters, or Democratic voters that aren’t scared to death about getting hit in a car accident or their kid getting sick or, you know, God forbid, some kind of bad disease. We shouldn’t have to worry like that. So I think we’re 50 years past the curve. We need universal healthcare in this country, and I’m fighting for that. I think everybody deserves it. If we can have an economic system that makes trillionaires, gives them enough money to fly rockets into space on the weekend, I think we can have health care for the people who make our towns go. So I’ll stop there because I don’t want to… I don’t wanna take up the whole hour here, we’ll get to other stuff, but that’s just one of the first policy objectives that I’m working on.
Tom Schultz
Well, let’s go into universal healthcare. Obamacare years ago promised a system that was gonna cost $800 billion. It now runs at about 1.5, pardon me, trillion dollars. So 800 billion to 1.5 trillion. The subsidies in Montana, we’re looking at like $2 billion a year just in Montana. There’s been a lot of discussion about it. I think we need a full on healthcare discussion in this country, Ryan. And universal healthcare is one of those things that is on the plate as well. But there’s gonna be a lot of, I think, pushback on that because there’s a lot of information. Obamacare was one of those things I think you’ll hear an awful lot about that actually raised the cost of insurance, that took away people’s choices. It did insure a lot of the underinsured, whether they want insured or not. I’m not a big fan of socialized medicine, but I do think we need to have a conversation. Where do we start? Where does it lead? And if you have universal healthcare in mind, what does that look like for you?
Ryan Busse
Okay, I told you, Tom, before we got on the air, I’m gonna do my best to convert you here. So a bunch of the stuff that you just mentioned there, I think you’ll see that we have more agreement than you might anticipate. Obamacare, or the ACA, of which 77,000 Montanans rely on, it has a fatal flaw in it. And you’ve identified that flaw. You mentioned the word several times, and that is insurance. We have a system now that relies far too much. In fact, focuses on making sure big insurance companies get paid and have a profit. And just think about this for a second. in this country, after these huge bonuses are paid to these insurance executives, after they lobby Congress and buy these big steaks and buy everybody whiskey, after all that. which is hundreds of millions, billions of dollars, the insurance industry in this country profits $74.1 billion per year. And none of that is making your healthcare better. So when you are frustrated with insurance companies, insurance industry, the cost of insurance, and the overall cost of healthcare, man, you and I are square right on the money together. And insurance, it’s not just that money that we make sure that insurance companies make, all those insurance companies drive up the cost cost of our health care. And if you don’t believe that, my wife and I, we don’t have traditional insurance. We have a health savings or a health, we’re part of a network that’s not traditional insurance. So we have basically major medical, which means we are, you know, we’re consumers of health care every time we go in. And for those of you who haven’t tried this, go in and get a test or have some medical procedure done, and tell them you’re on insurance, and then tell them you’re not on insurance. And there’s always a 30, 40, 50% discount for people who don’t have insurance. That tells you the slot in the system that insurance is forcing. So we have a system that’s focused on making sure insurance executives and insurance companies and bajillionaires flying their jets around or making their money on health insurance, but it ain’t helping us. Now, here’s the part you and I probably agree on. Look, I’m going to be running against Republicans when I win this election, and I hope to represent lots and lots of people in this state, everybody. But the truth is, people in my own party, Democrats, have been way too guilty of having their hand in the pocket of these big insurance executives. I think that we need to elect a Democrat who goes back there and puts an elbow on the side of the Democratic Party too, because there’s plenty of blame there. And I don’t argue with you one bit about that.
Tom Schultz
I appreciate that. I mean, insurance may be a necessary product in solving our overall healthcare system. Universal healthcare is, well, I don’t like the sound of it an awful lot because I think we got a taste of that with the ACA and insurance rates went up 130%. And there’s a lot of, you know, a lot of issues out there. I think that people have some solutions for, I don’t wanna, you know, drag this one out over and over, but you know, you’re saying then that it’s gonna be 100% government paid for and government directed healthcare. We see some really bad examples and our name.
Ryan Busse
Not government directed. I think we need single payer system. I think we need a system that provides healthcare coverage for everybody because I don’t know a working person. I don’t know an average Montanan right now who’s not, either they’ve been kicked off their coverage, so they’re worried about what’s gonna happen, or they’re worried about coming home and opening up an envelope and seeing that their healthcare coverage, that their insurance is now like, you know, 30, 40, 50, or 100% more expensive. So we need to provide. We need to provide coverage. We need to band together as people and provide one big insurance pool. And we do this through the government. Yes, it’s our government. Now, I think there should be choices. If that doesn’t mean, let’s just say you are provided coverage, you and I are provided coverage through the system that we designed through our government. But if you want to buy supplemental insurance, I say go for it. Have the supplemental market wide open. You want extra insurance for this, that, or the other. I think that American people should be allowed do that if you can afford it. But we cannot continue to drive, you know, entire families into the dirt because they can’t afford healthcare. It’s immoral. It’s wrong. I know it’s stressing people out. It’s a big part of the reason why it’s almost impossible to afford to make it in so many of our towns and frankly, states across the country. And I think it’s time to fix it. And we’re the only industrialized country that doesn’t do it. And we’re the only industrialized country that spends, we spend twice as much on healthcare as just about everybody else, every other country. And that’s because we have insurance slop in it. And if you doubt me on this, just listen to some of President Trump’s own words. He identifies insurance as one of the big problems. Now, I don’t agree with anybody’s policy prescriptions. I don’t think they really are policy prescriptions, but I’ve heard him say things like, We’ve got to get the insurance companies out of it and give the money back to the people. Well, that’s not really a policy prescription, but we do need to do it through universal health care and make sure everybody’s covered.
Tom Schultz
Western District candidate Ryan Bussey is with with us today on Voices of Montana. Monday, Kyle Austin will be in studio. He’s a Libertarian Senate candidate. Then also on the Republican side, Al Olsvewski will also be in Billings. So come on in, Al. He is running for the Republican primary nomination for the Western District as well. And welcome back to Ryan Bussey. Ryan, thank you for coming back on the program. Appreciate that. Bussey, it’s B-U-S-S-E for montana.com for more information. I anticipate we’ll probably spend the rest of the time here. I got a few things I want to talk about, but Dylan in Missoula has been waiting for quite some time there and listening online, I believe, as we’re tape delayed in Missoula. So, Dylan, good morning. You’re on the air with Ryan Bussey.
Speaker 3
Yes, thank you. I’ve just been listening on the phone. Thank you, Mr. Bussey, for doing this and talking to us. I’ve watched, in several recent years, your social media messaging. You’ve decreased mention of your record of pushing gun control with Giffords, and you’ve increased discussion of politicians and policies that you deem as fascistic. You said that Gianforte wants to replace our hard-fought, hard-won democracy in Montana with a dangerous brand of fascism and authoritarianism. Do you now avoid mentioning your record of pushing gun control because you view it as a time where you were essentially doing the dirty work of civilian disarmament for the fascists you fear may take power?
Tom Schultz
Well, Dylan, I appreciate that. It sounds like a plant, but that’s, those are good questions, Ryan. Montana, very much a second amendment state. And you’ve had, well, you’re the author of Gunfight, My Battle Against the Industry That Radicalized America. It’s probably heard an awful lot, yeah.
Ryan Busse
I appreciate Dylan calling in. So for those who don’t know, I think I’m the only national candidate for office who has ever been an executive at a gun company. And I built a sales team that’s responsible for selling almost 3 million guns, hunt and shoot with my boys just about every chance I get. Pretty cool thing to go out. hunting with guns that you sold and helped design. And I’m very, very proud of that.
Tom Schultz
Ryan, again, he is an author, former firearms industry executive. Sam Forstog, a wildland firefighter, a smoke jumper, and a labor organizer. You have a Navy veteran in Russell Cleveland out of St. Regis, a rancher. And then Matt Raines out of Sims, a U.S. Army veteran, who has spoken with Matt in the past, as well as Russell Cleveland, I believe. On the Republican side, it’s again, Flint, Aaron Flint, conservative radio host with Montana Talks and a National Guard veteran. Al Olszewski, also a veteran from the U.S. Air Force orthopedic surgeon. Christy Jacobson is Montana’s Secretary of State. And Ray Curtis is an instructor at the University of Montana. We got Ryan back on here. All right.
Ryan Busse
What happened there, Tom?
Tom Schultz
That was our fault. That was our fault. Yes. That was a, we’ll call it a technical human error. Yeah.
Ryan Busse
I would just say, look, I’m very proud of working in the gun industry. And like a lot of things in life, sometimes when you see things and your people around you, need to speak up. And I did. I I’m I’m a big believer in the freedom of the Second Amendment. I’m also a big believer in the responsibility of the Second Amendment. And I’ve never espoused this thing that people say about gun control. I don’t espouse that. I espouse gun responsibility. And I don’t know anybody in Montana that doesn’t, 67.5% of us own guns, use them, hunt with them, use them for self-protection. And I think that’s pretty cool. So anyway, I’m happy to answer any questions there, but sorry we got cut off.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, well, okay, so then, yes, we have a long tradition of gun ownership here. But what was the argument you were making when you said this is an industry that radicalized America? You just called 65% of America radicalized because they’re gun owners.
Ryan Busse
No, absolutely not. What I mean is this sort of radicalized politics where it’s an all or nothing, where we have to hate each other, where we disavow responsibility. I think of things like, just like Hunter Safety. In this state, just about everybody that I know is a hunter. Tons of people are. And when we go through hunter safety, we have a firearm safety class as part of that hunter safety certification. And I think it’s those sorts of things that are important because there is one freedom that we espouse that has the instant ability to take everybody else’s freedom away that’s around us, and that’s owning guns and using guns. I just think we need to be responsible about it. So when I saw the industry I was in espousing ever more, you know, hateful politics, electing people that eventually marched on the Capitol on January 6th, those sorts of things. I decided to stand up against it because I believe in responsibility and I think we all have a duty to do that.
Tom Schultz
Well, that’s a key issue as well. And you say you’re not in support of a gun ban, but what kind of restrictions do you support? I believe that as an expert in the industry, you were asked to testify, I think even paid to testify in support of a gun ban in California. At least that’s what a texter has texted here. Is that true? And then if we need to curtail it, where do you suggest that happens?
Ryan Busse
Yeah, I’ve never been a supporter of federal bans of any sort. I have been an expert witness. I just testified about the history of the gun industry. That’s it. I don’t Expert witnesses don’t testify for or against a particular thing. They give their expert testimony. And so, you know, I had spent 25 years in the industry and I’ve given expert testimony when called upon, just like lots of other experts have, but I’ve never espoused a ban. In fact, I’ve opposed it.
Tom Schultz
Okay, so then what steps, what additional steps are necessary?
Ryan Busse
I don’t think we need additional steps. I think we need, I think we need to protect things like background checks, I think we need, as gun owners, We should make sure that irresponsible people, to the extent possible, don’t jeopardize all of our freedoms. So I’m a fan and a proponent of basic laws like we have now. I don’t think we should dismantle them. I think we should protect. our freedoms and the freedoms of other citizens by just making sure that we do what we can to make sure responsibility is in the mix.
Tom Schultz
Thank you for that. You know, I appreciate candidates speaking their minds and also, you know, doing it in this public venue where you can be held accountable for it.
Ryan Busse
Yeah, I’m happy to be here.
Tom Schultz
Yeah, thank you. I don’t know if we can get this in in two minutes. Skip my fault. I kept chatting away here. Skip and Hamilton, right in your district there, so to speak. Ryan has got a question for us. Good morning, Skip. Thanks for hanging on.
Speaker 4
Good morning, Tom. Thank you. And when you chat away, we all learn something every time. So that’s okay. And so Ryan, I’ve talked to you many times in person and on the radio. And like tomorrow night, I’m gonna be at a Lincoln Reagan dinner and I’ll be talking to Al and Ryan, excuse me. And all of the people that you would run into as Republicans, or one that’s gonna probably win the primary, and then you’ll hopefully, I’d say, run into them.
Tom Schultz
I got a minute.
Speaker 4
‘Cause I would love to see you and whoever is the winner of the Republican primary, say at the city club in Missoula, having good debates. Because what I’m interested in mostly, is our natural resources problem in western Montana, and especially in the Bitterroot Valley. You’ve been down here a few times. My guess is, if you were talking to groups down here, you run into the issue of the Sheep Creek mine. I hope you’re boning up on all of the things about that and what’s important to the voting bloc here, whether they be Republicans or Democrats. And I’d like to know what you think about the Fast Track 41, if you know about it, I hope you do, and how you would handle that situation of the most ridiculous site in Montana to put a brand new mine is at the headwaters of the River.
Tom Schultz
Ryan Bussey. is with us. He is the candidate for a Democratic candidate for U.S. House District, Montana’s Western District, I should say. And the primary election season going on here, as I mentioned, we’ll have a lot of candidates and a chance for you to hear from them directly. And then you get to make up your own mind about things. That’s one of the things we enjoy about this format. And again, thank you for making us a part of your Montana Day. Ryan, thank you for being here as well. And I do appreciate you running. I know it is a tough haul, so to speak. There’s a lot of days where you’re thinking, what am I doing? But there’s also a lot of days that, you know, confirm that you’re in the right place. And I’m going to ask you about your call to public service personally too, because I think that’s telling. But let’s go back to Skip’s question, right? Sheep Creek, mine over there, he has not been a fan of that. I don’t mind fast tracking legislation because I believe Radical environmentalists have used the courts to delay projects just for the delay and as a deterrence to investment. And it’s, I think, has had an impact on us. So back to his question here about the Sheep Creek Mine, more specifically in Western Montana.
Ryan Busse
Well, I have talked to Skip a few times. Here’s why I agree with Skip and a whole bunch of other Republicans in the Bitterroot Valley. I was just in Hamilton two nights ago. And this fast-track situation on the Sheep Creek mine is a potential disaster for the entire valley. I’m ardently opposed to it. Ryan Zinke and Steve Daines have done everything they can push it. Aaron Flint has pushed on it. This idea that we’re gonna put a 4,100-acre mine at the very top of the West Fork of the Bitterroot and one of the absolute worst places to put a mine in this country. It could potentially ruin the entire 75 mile long Bitterroot Valley, could poison fish, probably would. This idea that we’re going to remove the environmental protections that we as citizens have voted on through our representatives to protect places like this and make sure that rules and regulations are followed. I’m ardently opposed to it, and I want to do whatever I can to fight this. The beautiful thing about this particular instance is how many Republicans agree with me. You want to see something beautiful, something bipartisan, people join in arms with their neighbors, even if they don’t vote the same way. Go look at the opposition to the Sheep Creek mine. People showing up, 600 people showing up in the Bitterroot. to oppose this thing and to speak out. These are not tree hugging greenies like they’ve been made out to be. These are ranchers. These are guides. These are cafe owners. These are the people that depend on that ribbon of river running through the Bitterroot. And I think it’s time, look, big mining companies, I get it. They got lobbyists. They got attorneys. They got money to pay politicians off. The people of the Bitterroot need representation, and I’m happy to stand with them and protect their valley. I think it’s really important that we do it.
Tom Schultz
Again, kind of going back into the public lands overall about this. I mean, there are a lot of conservatives who say there’s a right place and a wrong place to place a mine. And that does take some time to flesh out. We’re often told that protecting our public lands means doing less. But then we look at the federal timber harvest, which has fallen by more than 80% since the 1990s. And now our forests are denser than ever and wildfire danger has exploded in that regard. and we need that infrastructure to manage that. You also look at mining and energy projects as well, because we’re looking at critical mineral issues in all of our plans moving forward for more demand when it comes to energy in that regard. So how do you balance that? You know, what’s your key balance point between operating fairly. I mean, you look at these wilderness study areas, they have been de facto wilderness for, five decades, 4 decades. So, and we know that solar and alternative energy is not going to satisfy the global projections for future energy needs. How do we balance responsible, useful public land resources in light of the necessity to strengthen our communities from them?
Ryan Busse
I guess I’ll go two areas here. Number one, all the listeners should know as you experience your power rates going up and potential skyrocketing of power rates from these data centers, which are currently unregulated and need regulation. You should know that people like Aaron Flint, Ryan Zinke, have made your power more expensive because they have supported removing the cheapest new power to the grid. So solar and wind, you may have opposition to them for some reason, but if this is an all of the above strategy, solar and wind are by far the cheapest new power to put on the grid. So by removing incentives for solar and wind, What those folks did is make your power bill go up. I think that’s insanity. At a time when we can barely afford to live in this state, where we talked about healthcare, we talked about housing, to make conscious decisions, to make your power rate, your power bills go up, which is what they’ve done, I think that’s absolute insanity. We need to be, if we say we’re focused on cost, then let’s focus on cost. And the all the above strategy includes solar and wind, it’s the cheapest thing to go on the grid. for that. Secondarily, you ask about what the balance should be. Well, the way a democracy works is that we elect people to enact laws for us to balance the usage of our public lands. And we already discussed big corporations, foreign mining, foreign owned mining corporations. They got all kinds of attorneys. They got all kinds of lobbyists. They got all kinds of slush funds to pay people off. That’s why they can do things like fast track the Sheep Creek mine over the objections of almost everybody in the Bitterroot Valley, that they have that influence. Our influence are the laws that we pass and the representatives that we put in DC. That’s our balance. We get to say, hey, yes, we know we need resource development, but we need it in the ways that protect the very lifeblood of our valleys, of our state. of the entire Western Montana district. You don’t just get to run in here roughshod because you guys have the big corporate attorneys that can pay people off. You have to adhere to the regulations that we put in place to make sure that it is done right. So when they come in here and say they’re gonna fast-track over the top of the ranchers down there that are screaming bloody murder and worried about their water supply, I’m with those ranchers. I’m not with the corporate, the guys with big wads of cash paying people off in DC, I’m with those ranchers. Those are regulations and tools that we put in to balance the use on our public lands, and I’m for that.
Tom Schultz
How much of this is, when it comes to energy affordability, the responsibility of democratic policies? The Biden administration halted natural gas exports and drilling projects. It is pressuring investors to abandon fossil fuels. Solar and wind energy is not the cheapest new energy. Hydro is still the cheapest form of energy. And there are now environmental groups that are trying to take dams out. The Biden administration drained the strategic petroleum reserve for political reasons. And we’ve got this climate policy prioritized over energy security. And I think it’s more of a hoax than it is. I wanna be serious about our energy moving forward, But, you know, when does accountability fall upon your party for the unaffordability that we are running into when it comes to a lot of these things?
Ryan Busse
Hey, I’m no stranger to putting an elbow in my own party when it needs it. In fact, I’m proud of that because I think it means I stand up for what really matters to Montanans. But I’m gonna pick on you a couple things here, Tom. Number one, solar and wind are absolutely the cheapest to bring on the grid. Yes, you can mention hydro, if it exists, of course it’s cheap. Do you wanna go try to build a dam now to see how expensive that is?
Tom Schultz
I just don’t wanna take out the ones that are working.
Ryan Busse
Solar and wind, without a doubt, there’s not even any debate. Every figure, every study shows it are the absolute cheapest new energy to bring on the grid. Why would we tell consumers in this state that the government is going to say, no, we want to disincentivize the cheapest new energy. While your power rates are going up, that is crazy.
Tom Schultz
It’s not cheap to replace all of the fossil fuel energy with wind and solar. It’s not even feasible.
Ryan Busse
Nobody is even talking about that.
Tom Schultz
They are in Washington state. They are in Oregon. They are mandating 0 carbon neutral energy. And that’s what has quickened some of the shutdown of some of these coal plants. So.
Ryan Busse
If I was running for office in Washington State, we’d have a different discussion. I’m running for office for Montana and I want to work for Montanans and the people who open up their power bill every day and see Northwestern Energy charging them more all the time because the Trump administration and Ryan Zinke and Aaron Flint have said, no, you can’t have cheaper new power. We’re going to make it more expensive for you. mentioned the export of natural gas. If we want to be energy sufficient, why are we exporting our energy? Why are we exporting it? We say we have self-sufficient energy. Why would we want to export it? Why aren’t we using it ourselves? That’s a Trump administration policy. Secondarily, you talk about the strategic oil reserve. President Trump, how long has he been in office? He could have been filling up the strategic oil reserve.
Tom Schultz
And we have. We haven’t done it. And he has.
Ryan Busse
No, no, he hasn’t done it. And here we are in a self-made, self-selected war costing a billion and a half dollars a day, driving oil prices through the roof. Go look at, just go down to town Trump and look, I looked at it yesterday, driving oil prices through the roof for every single Montanan here. That is a choice that the Republican Party, that President Trump, that Aaron Flint, that Ryan Zinke have made and celebrated. And it is hitting people in Montana in the pocketbook in the worst possible ways. That’s a choice that was made.
Tom Schultz
I think you’re completely ignoring the accountability of policies that come from your party, especially those radical environmental edge of your party as well. Those rules that have been passed down by the Biden administration were unnecessary in a lot of ways. So if you’re talking about cheap energy, you can’t.
Ryan Busse
Why is it radical to bring the cheapest form of new energy on the grid to bring people’s electricity prices?
Tom Schultz
Because it’s all subsidized, it’s not cheap. It might be cheap for some of them, but it’s still subsidized by taxpayer money and it’s not gonna be efficient enough and it doesn’t last long enough. It’s just not the solution to our energy future needs. It’s gonna be part of it. But I don’t know, I just think the math is not adding up. And I think we have to have more of an honest realization of where those choke points are. Talked about this yesterday, about the meaning of Good Friday, about Jesus’s sacrifice and the availability, this gift that’s presented to you. I pray that you look more into it, that you use this Easter time to explore that. If you are spiritually curious and if you are really asking questions, I’m here for that as well. It’s Tom at voicesofmontana.com for more information. Got just a few minutes. I think this text message is going to be a little bit too late here. Ryan Bussey is with us again. It’s Bussey for montana.com. Boy, it goes so fast. Ryan, I got to ask about immigration because I’ve groused about it. I feel betrayed by it. The Biden administration issued executive orders early on, ended the national emergency, even at the southern border, even though we were in the middle of a COVID crisis, halted the border wall, he narrowed ICE enforcement. I’ve asked Democrats, and they don’t have an answer to this, what was that policy for? How did that policy benefit the American people uh uh outside of the only answer I get from a lot of people is that it was done to get um take away my vote and my wealth um and replace me uh on the voting line so again I’m burned by that Ryan uh I I hope you’re hearing about that on the trail.
Ryan Busse
You know I don’t hear about it on the trail much I uh but I but I want to One of my tenants is that I answer questions when asked, and so I appreciate this opportunity, and I’m more than happy to do it, Tom. I have been very upfront. Again, I want people to know that I’m not the sort of person that toes a party line for the sake of doing that. I don’t believe in it. I think the Biden administration, I think their performance on immigration for three and a quarter, however long it was, three years, over three years, was pretty damn poor. They allowed the asylum system to be abused. We let way too many people in the country because of the way the asylum system was abused. I differ with you. I don’t think it was out of nefarious reasons. I think it was just out of pure incompetence. And I don’t, I’m not a supporter of it. I think it led to some of the things we’re facing now. And I want to switch, though, to say I don’t believe in the inhumane ways in which this ICE system has been developed, killing citizens in Minneapolis, including Alex Preti. I don’t believe in that.
Tom Schultz
There’s a lot of place to argue about who’s dead because of illegal immigration. Let’s move on ’cause I only got a minute and I’m sorry I didn’t give you enough time, that happens. You know, why are you running? What’s your call to public office and why should people look to Ryan Buzzi?
Ryan Busse
Well, when we say Montana’s the last best place, those aren’t just words for me, it’s really true, this state has made me a better person. Sarah and I have been married 27 years. We got married on the banks of the Flathead River here in this valley. We’re raising two boys, 18 and 21. And I think of the magic, freedom-loving, non-judgmental place that this is, that always has been. I feel it being taken from us now, and I think I owe it to my wife and my boys and to the voters. all the people of the Western District of Montana, whether they’re in my party or not in my party, to fight for what makes this place special. I think we have to make it a place where working people can afford to live here, not just where super wealthy people come and have a house and stay in it for three or four weeks a year. This has to be a place where nurses and mechanics and farmers and ranchers can afford to make a go of it. And I’m fighting for this place I love so much.
Tom Schultz
Bussey4Montana.com for more information. Ryan, appreciate it. I appreciate you putting your hat in the ring. And we do want public servants, real public servants in office. Thanks for joining us for the podcast and join us weekdays live from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. for more Voices of Montana on great radio stations all across our treasure state.
