Brandi Kruse
Politics • Culture • News
[un]Divided Newsletter: December 25, 2022
December 25, 2022
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Merry Christmas! I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend (and that you managed to survive the ice storm). Take a minute to [un]wind with our Sunday newsletter. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on what you may have missed from [un]Divided this week.

Let’s Go Washington!

This week on “Fridays with Friends.” I was joined by Brian Heywood, who discussed his 11-initiative effort to turn Washington state around. Let’s Go Washington gives voters an opportunity to change misguided laws around public safety, taxes, and good governance.

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You can watch our interview here at the 19:10 mark.

You can read each initiative here.

You can find a location to sign the initiatives here. After my interview with Heywood on Friday, I stopped by Wade’s Eastside Guns in Bellevue to sign all 11 initiatives.

As Heywood and I discussed, the initiatives present an opportunity to turn frustration around these issues into action. Mad about the police pursuit law? There’s an initiative for that. Upset by de facto decriminalization of personal possession of drugs? There’s an initiative for that. Baffled that the state didn’t give us a break on the gas tax this year? There’s an initiative for that!

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Heywood said they must get enough signatures to qualify the initiatives by the end of the year. If they’re successful, the legislature will be forced to consider them. Should lawmakers reject them, or fail to act on them, the initiatives will go to the people.

My only regret is not having Heywood on the show sooner.

Emergency power reform

The list of things that need to be fixed this legislative session is long, but chief among them is the stunning lack of checks and balances in a time of emergency.

Since early in the pandemic, I've advocated for emergency power reform. My opinion on the issue is based on three things:

  • Cooperation yields better results: I would much rather have the collective minds of our directly elected representatives brainstorming solutions than rely on the brain power of a single person.
  • Involvement of all areas of the state: Including the legislature in emergency decision making ensures that the needs of all areas of our state are taken into consideration - not just Seattle. 
  • Check on power-hungry governors: The current system gives the legislature no ability to reign in a governor who is truly abusing his/her power. Think about that for a second. Is that the kind of system you'd want if a governor of the other party was in power? 

Blinded by partisan considerations, Democrats in Olympia have failed to act on emergency power reform the past two legislative sessions. I’m hoping this year will be different, especially considering the pandemic is behind us.

I was pleased to see a bipartisan bill pre-filed this past week that would add meaningful, and reasonable, checks and balances in a time of emergency. The bill is co-sponsored by Senator Mark Mullet, a Democrat, and Senator Lynda Wilson, a Republican.

You can read Senate Bill 5063 here.

It would make two primary changes to existing law:

  • A state of emergency can be terminated via the passage of a concurrent resolution if the legislature is in session.
  • If the legislature is out of session, a state of emergency may be terminated in writing by all four members of leadership of the House and Senate if the state of emergency has already been in place for more than 90 days.

Both of those changes are incredibly reasonable and would require bipartisan agreement in order to terminate a state of emergency. That is a high bar, as it should be, but it at least provides a tool to use in extreme cases.

 

 

Kellyanna Brooking

If you watch one thing from [un]Divided this week, make sure it’s Wednesday’s episode with 14-year-old conservative commentator Kellyanna Brooking.

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Motivated by the 2020 riots and pandemic-era school mandates, Kellyanna has become an outspoken advocate for conservative principles. She now hosts her own digital show, advises a gubernatorial candidate, and serves as an ambassador for Turning Point USA.

As I told Kellyanna during the segment, I long hesitated having her on the podcast because of her age. Kellyanna started speaking out at 12 years old, which made me wonder how much the adults in her life were influencing her advocacy.

A couple years later, I’m so impressed by her knowledge on the issues and think you’ll find her to be incredibly independent minded.

Housekeeping

Not sure I would call this housekeeping, but please keep the family of KIRO Radio reporter Darren Dedo in your prayers this holiday, especially his four kids. I've had the privilege of getting to know Darren while filling in here and there on The Dori Monson Show. This past week, the newsroom was informed that Darren was in the hospital fighting for his life. The news was very unexpected. On a GoFundMe page set up by his family, we learned a little more about what he's facing:

"A few nights ago, he was hospitalized with what the doctors believed to be common pneumonia. Overnight, his oxygen levels dropped, and he was placed on a ventilator. The doctors have now determined that he has bilateral pneumonia. He was transferred to another ICU unit, where they discovered that his lungs have hardened. Through ECMO, his body is being kept alive to allow his lungs to heal."

Sending lots of love to the Dedo family and praying for a full recovery. 

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A few other things:

Mark your calendars: Our December LIVE Q&A will be this Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 8pm PT. Watch out for a link. 

Also:

Rejoice! Our ongoing issues with Apple Podcasts have been resolved. If you listen to the podcast on Apple, you should now see all the episodes missing since December 5 have populated. Please send me a message if that's not the case. 

Again, Merry Christmas and thank you for your commitment to giving common sense a comeback! Have a great week. 

 

 

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I struggled with what to talk to you about tonight. 

Well, that’s not true. I didn't struggle with what to talk to you about – I struggled with whether I was brave enough to say what I wanted to say. 

When I'm invited to speak to groups, I don't want to offend anyone or be too controversial. So, I reached out to a few of your fellow party members to ask whether any topics were off limits or wouldn't go over well with the crowd. 

I got some good advice. 

Then I decided to ignore that good advice entirely.

Too much is at stake to be polite. 

As we sit here tonight, we are in the final battle of a war. 

A war that has pit sanity against insanity. 

Pragmatism against idealism. 

A war that has sacrificed the public good, in favor of a twisted idea of progress.

It's a war that began long before I moved here 15 years ago. It started silently and it was mostly waged in the shadows.

Most of us didn't even realize that a war was being fought. We were too caught up in our own lives and our own problems. ...

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My full remarks to President Donald Trump
Disrupting violent extremism in all forms should be a nonpartisan pursuit.
 

 

 

I was honored this week to join President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and other independent content creators for a roundtable on Antifa.

While a certain joke about TDS is getting a lot of attention, the underlying mission of the meeting was serious – deadly serious.

For years, organized left-wing radicals have sought to influence public policy through coercion: using harassment, threats, vandalism, and violence as their tools. From the Occupy movement, to the May Day riots, to the "Summer of Love" and up to the most recent anti-ICE actions, I've followed these activities closely – and been the target of their tactics far too many times.

Whether you call them Antifa, terrorists, radicals, or just criminals – understanding, investigating, and disrupting violent extremism in all forms should be a nonpartisan pursuit.

Here are my full remarks to President Donald Trump:

Mr. President, you’re going to hear us be very fired up today, as you can tell. It’s because some of us have been covering Antifa for 15 years and have never had anyone in a position of authority even acknowledge their existence.

The single most powerful thing you’ve done to deal with this scourge has been acknowledging that Antifa is a real thing. I genuinely believe there would be people at these tables who would be dead today and would have been killed in Portland had you not called them a terror organization and said you're going to bring the full weight of the federal government to bear.

I talked to Katie Daviscourt in Portland the other day. She’d been assaulted all summer. And she said the same thing. They didn’t seem as quick to violence as soon as you made that designation. They’re worried. There’s been two dozen or so arrested in Portland. They don’t want to go to federal prison.

There’s this video of one of them who was in the face of an ICE agent and then he’s in custody shaking. Once you take the mask off, they’re nothing.

I was told by probably a dozen people not to tell you this. I’m going to tell you anyway because it’s relevant to what we’re talking about. I’m living proof that you can recover from TDS. I had strong Trump Derangement Syndrome for probably eight years. This is one of the reasons I recovered from it.

By the way, it’s much better to not have TDS. I’m happier. I’m healthier. I'm more successful. I even think I got a little more attractive after I got rid of my TDS.

I’m a reporter in Seattle and frankly, I could not care any less what any of you have to say about this meeting (looks to Press Corps). I could not care any less. We’re not here for you. I’m not here to convince any of you that Antifa is a real thing. Because if you have not come to that conclusion by now, you are never going to come to that conclusion because you don’t want to see it. And you’re going to say it’s a bunch of right-wing conservative influencers who are here spinning a tale.

I was one of you. I was a mainstream reporter in Seattle for 10 years. I was a TV reporter, on the streets, doing my job and I was still assaulted by Antifa. So, it’s not about being conservative. It’s about people who go out there and show what they’re doing.

When I saw after all those years that the media wouldn’t be honest about what was happening, that Democratic politicians wouldn’t be honest about what was happening, I thought, well, if they’re not being honest about that, maybe they’re not being honest about President Trump either. It opened my mind to just looking at things for what they were. And now I find you quite funny, actually (looks to President Trump).

Again, I could not care any less the stories that go to print. This is what I care about: We have three and a half years. Nothing is guaranteed. Although, I think if Democrats keep it up, we’ll probably have Republican presidents for the next three decades. But nothing is guaranteed. So, what I want to see over the next three and a half years is a fullcourt press to dismantle Antifa once and for all in a meaningful way. I know Andy Ngo, we talked before this about some ideas. We want the federal government to take as many of these cases as possible and look at the interstate travel between Portland and Seattle when it comes to these people who are committing violent acts.

Hopefully, in three and a half years, they will be a shell of their former selves.

President Trump:

Well I think we're very close, and it’s Antifa and many others. Unfortunately, there are many others, bad ones. Most have been named terrorist organizations. There a couple that we’re going to focus on, but I think we’ve got it pretty well covered, but there are many others. Specifically today is Antifa and it’s really bad and we’re going to get it cleaned up.

Thank you very much. I’m glad you no longer have TDS. I feel very good about that. Thank you.

 

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September 29, 2025
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Hello from the 'war zone': Portland

There will be no live show today, September 29.

Why?

I'm on the ground in Portland, doing my best to sort through competing narratives about what's happening outside the ICE facility here.

President Donald Trump declared the city a "war zone," mobilized the National Guard, and authorized Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use "full force" to finally bring months of unrest outside the facility to an end.

Democratic leadership, including Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, have called the city "safe and calm," suggesting there is no need for federal intervention.

As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. But after just one night on the ground, it is clear that Portland has failed to address the unrest in any meaningful way for more than 100 days. The federal government has a right to protect federal assets and agents, especially considering the abdication of responsibility from local leaders, but what level of intervention is appropriate?

We will be back on air tomorrow, September 30, at our regular time with a special report. In the meantime, the best way to follow breaking updates is on any one of my social media platforms:

X: @BrandiKruse

FB: @BrandiKruseNews

 

 

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