Food – Love – National Security – and MICHIGAN!!

19:21Shelley:But I just, I can't stop watching it. I think it's the funniest thing ever. I just love dogs so much and particularly Goldens and Lads. So do I. Oh my God. So, like, are you, by the way, when you're on the road and all the stuff you're doing, like, do you have any, you know, Instagram reels that you, like, watch when you're tense and that make you laugh? They're all dogs. Me too. They're so funny. They're so funny. And then what else? Golden Girls. Oh, that's so... I laugh out loud all the time. People say that. I need to watch it again. Can you believe that those women are only in their 50s? Oh, my God.

20:01Shelley:It's insane. No. Because clearly I don't look like that. Cleavon is. Right. Clearly you do not. Cleavon, for the record, is hysterically laughing. But some of the. I mean, they're our age. And they all have white hair and, like, granny. It's terrible. Everything. Mm-hmm. I thought they were much older than that. Right. Right. But some of the things that they say are so funny. Mm. you could never get away with saying that now. They were so politically incorrect. If I had a dime for every time someone said that. Oh, my God. I laugh my, it's hysterical. That's hilarious. So do you watch it on? So I'm going to totally fast forward, but I love this trajectory, but we can come back to it.

20:47Shelley:But, I mean, so now you're on the campaign trail for the second time. Is it exhausting? Yeah. And super fun. Right? Yes and yes. I mean, so I told Mike this year and his team, I was like, we didn't even have time to grieve, you know, the loss, which was only by 0.3%. It's the closest race in the country. And we didn't think we were getting back in on anything and not running again, which is like, okay, that was a lot. We're done. And then when Senator Gary Peters announced that he's not running again in February, Mike's phone just blew up. Literally, not even two hours after he announced it. I'm sure.

21:30And so you're thinking, in February, like, hang on a second. Our race was just in November. We've just been trying to process, figure out what we're doing. And so, on one hand, it's good that we didn't have a lot of time, you know, to think and process. And we still had the team in place. We have the vast majority of our team wanting to come back.

21:48Shelley:Oh, that's so nice. So the campaign manager and the general consultant. It's not surprising, but it's so nice. I mean, they're all like, uh-uh. We were winning. We were going to win this thing. And our name ID, Mike went in the field and did a poll just to see, like, hey, you know, is this, I'm not going to fly my plane in a building for either Christy or myself. And his favorables jumped even 5 % higher than what they were at the election time. And you're like, wait a minute, how'd that happen? So. How did that happen? Way too many details. But we got outspent five to one. Right. None of our, like, our money didn't come, we didn't start spending money until October.

22:24Shelley:I mean you and I were together in February or March and we were talking about the election then and you were in I don't even think you had a fundraiser you were considering fundraisers it was unbelievable and so when we finally got out on TV and Mike started talking to the citizens as opposed to going door to door which we had an incredible ground game which is how we kept it so close we were people were like oh my god that's who you are You know, we just didn't have enough time. And so I think our poll numbers in February were kind of reflecting people's sense that, you know, when Mike started getting out talking to people, they were like, okay, he's not so bad.

23:05He's not, you know, this terrible human that all these lies were saying that he was. But this past weekend, we did a tour of the UP, Upper Peninsula. And I have family in the Upper Peninsula. But we went to places. We had four or five events a day. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. My God. And it was, I mean, we went all the way up to Iron Mountain. I don't know. So I had stupid questions to ask you about Michigan. I went to the UP State Fair on Monday. It was awesome. What did you eat? All right, well, so I grew up going to the UP State Fair because I have family in the Upper Peninsula. My parents actually met at Northern Michigan University.

23:45But what did we eat? The one thing I wanted, French fries with vinegar. Oh, that's good. But we didn't get them. Okay. Why? Just because we were moving in. It just wasn't around. Yeah, moving too fast and going from place to place. But we stopped at, and it's a trailer, but it literally is the best. And I don't like ice cream. But Mike loves ice cream. Yeah, everybody loves ice cream in the summer.

24:10Shelley:My son and my mother are obsessed with ice cream. It's the best. It is hands down the best. It wins awards all the time, apparently. And she was telling me this. She said, we have, like, normal ice cream does 4%, like, the milk or the cream. We do 10. Oh, my God. And so it is so thick. It is so creamy. And I had chocolate espresso. Nice. Shake. But I had the shake. Oh, my God. It was so good. So I ate that. Ooh, a shake. Oh, it was excellent. So I was in Michigan once, in Lansing, Michigan. Oh. And I was visiting a really good girlfriend, Catherine, and her sister and I went to visit her. And I think it was like something incredible, like there were like Navy boys in town or something.

24:55Shelley:Like there was some really funny reason why we were in Lansing, Michigan. But my question to you is that people from Michigan are so intense about it from a sports standpoint. So why? And number two, like, what else do you love about Michigan? Like, I know the lakes are amazing. The lakes are amazing. I mean, it's so funny because... Is that, like, the best part of Michigan? No, yes. I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of good parts, but... Northern Lower Michigan, especially, there's so many great parts about it, but especially the west side is some of the prettiest geography in the country. I mean, it's just stunning.

25:33And it was funny because when we were there this past weekend, We actually went, we did Traverse City, and then we did Charlevoix. We went over to Gaylord, which is in the middle. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge. We did St. Ignace, which is, Michigan a lot of times says the sunrise side and the sunset side. Oh, nice. Right, because we're a peninsula. And we were talking to people from Minnesota. Yeah. It was their first time in Michigan. I was there this summer, yeah. And they were like, we had no idea Michigan was this pretty. Really? And it just is. It's just stunning. And so that's one of the things.

26:03The other thing that people look at me like I have four heads when I say this is it has some of the best fruits and vegetables in the summer of any state. Like what? They just taste the best. Everything? Okay. Tomatoes in particular. Okay. But, of course, they've got cherries, speaking of black cherry ice cream. Oh, okay. But all the Traverse City cherries. Oh, okay. Which was once the world's largest cherry producer. But, funny enough, China has an influence on our cherries now, oddly. That's bad. It is bad. But the blueberries are amazing. The blueberries in Florida are incredible. It's just great vegetables.

26:39Shelley:And people. People are just nice. Yeah, I mean, it's true. And what is the obsession with sports? And by sports, I mean football. Is it only football or is it basketball too? Well, I'm a basketball freak. And hockey. You've got to throw hockey in there with the Detroit Red Wings. Okay. And the Tigers right now, even though they're slipping. I mean, it is an obsessed. It's everybody. It's baseball. Yeah. But it goes, it really goes, now I'm not really usually a pro sports fan. However, I'm back to being a Lions fan for football and a Tigers fan for baseball. I actually gave up watching professional sports way back when, when they had the massive strikes.

27:20That was forever ago. Michigan, Michigan State. That actually kind of drives the sports fanaticism. Oh my God, people are crazy. Well, Mike and I are a mixed marriage because he's Michigan and I'm Michigan State. Yeah, right. And it's intense. He's a bit more gracious than I am. I will admit it. Well, he's more, but you're both diplomatic. I'm not. In your life you are. When it comes to Michigan State basketball and Coach Tom Izzo, I am not diplomatic. I am a bleed green, crazy Michigan State basketball fan. Football, I'm like, yeah, you know, I want him to win all the time and I cheer for him.

27:58But I'm not, you know, I won't throw things at the TV. Right. But you will. For basketball? Yeah. That's funny. I do. And Mike has converted to a Michigan State basketball fan. And I joke. Is that allowed? Not really. But I joke. And he says it's because of Tom Izzo. Coach Izzo is literally the best. He's got a saying is that he takes boys and he makes men. Right. And, you know, I just, he's, it's almost like a cult following that Tom Izzo has.

28:24Shelley:Okay, so here's another thing, terrifically not in any order, but what do you think of the National Guard being in D.C. taking over security? The president has the authority. Right. Have you seen any yet? And things were getting out of hand. I agree. You know, so, you know, it was funny. I was listening to Bloomberg, and they had, I don't know, a commissioner on, and she was talking about, you know, this is not the right solution. And so my response to her in the car, as I'm saying this out loud, well, then what is your solution? Right. Like, you all haven't done anything to help this. Right. I mean, if we don't feel comfortable walking to our cars, you know, I can't tell you how many stories I have, and I'm sure you do, of friends that have gone out to their cars close to Capitol Hill or close downtown and have been mugged.

29:19Their cars, their windows have been smashed. It's like, wait a minute. We used to walk these streets. Walk these streets, that sounds true. We used to walk to our cars. We built this city. Yeah, right. No, but you're absolutely right.

29:33Shelley:Well, I have dear friends, one of them who was on the podcast, and he left. They both left Capitol Hill because there were just so many homeless people right outside their door. It was just crazy and depressing and just too much. And that was, it is really a shame because it's four months away or four blocks from the Capitol. And I, when I first came to town, I lived on 3rd and Maryland. Oh, yeah. And you couldn't, which was a terrific area. my girlfriend and I used to walk into the middle of the street and say, oh my God, there's the Capitol. Because it is pretty on spot. It is. It was so exciting.

30:11Shelley:But anyway, you couldn't go past 7th. No. And now you can actually probably go to 12th, which isn't really that stupendous. You know what I mean? But anyway, Capitol Hill is scary for sure. I got mugged a long time ago in Georgetown. I remember this. Yeah. And he was a young kid. It was a teeny tiny kid with a teeny tiny gun. And I was on a teeny tiny date. Gun is a gun. A gun is a gun. I know. You're listening to Lunch with Shelly. You and I had a really fantastic trip in the Caribbean. And it was very, very fun. And we drank a lot of champagne and told lots of girl secrets with a great group of girlfriends.

30:55Shelley:It's fabulous. And I remember that you were definitely single. Yeah. And we were all single. Anyway, not more than three months later, you met Mike, I think. So tell that story. Oh, my God. So then that was probably 2008? Sounds right. Seven, eight? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, Mike and I have a, it's interesting. I mean, literally, our paths have crossed. If you can see me, I'm kind of doing like a figure eight. They've crossed. The first time I met him was way back, I think in 94. He was running for state senate, and I was running a state senate campaign in Michigan. Oh, I did not know that.

31:39Yeah, and a senate majority leader brought all the people that were running for office together at a big picnic at his house. It was actually a farm. At Mike's house? No, at the senate majority leader's house. And all the campaign managers. So I met him and actually secret. I don't remember this. He remembers it. Right. So but now it's kind of like in my memory because he tells me, he goes, yeah, you were, you know, he's like, you were wearing this. I'm like, what? That's so nice. But it's funny. So and then when my Senate candidate won, I didn't go back to working in the Senate. I had I was working for the Senate majority leader.

32:17So I went to work for the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. Mike was elected. So our paths never like really never. I mean, they crossed, but they didn't. And then I came to D.C. He won. He ended up coming to D.C., but then I went over to Iraq. I mean, it was just very strange. And he, I'm trying to remember, there are so many people that take credit for us getting, for us meeting and dating. Including his daughter. Oh, you're kidding. Erin takes credit for setting us up, so we give her all the credit in the world. Right, of course. I think she was 12 or 13 at that point. It was at a Habitat for Humanity event.

32:52And she apparently, according to Mike, because he said this to me when he asked me out, he said, well, my daughter Erin said, Daddy, why don't you ask her out when I left the event? And so Mike then looked at me and he says, okay, so then why, you know, would you go out with me? And I started laughing. I was like, okay, that was either the cheesiest thing or the cutest thing. I don't know. I don't know. In the end, it turned out to be the most adorable. Yeah, it was funny. I mean, you know, and the other person was Meg. Oh, Meg takes credit. Congressman John McHugh, who ended up being Secretary of the Army.

33:25Oh, yeah. From New York. Yes. So McHugh was on the intel committee with Mike. And I was running a nonprofit. I started a nonprofit when I was at Aegis. I started a nonprofit called Hearts and Minds. And we were raising money for women. I remember that. We were raising money for women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yeah, right. And I was creating an advisory council. And so I asked McHugh, and McHugh's like, hey, you're from Michigan. Why don't you ask Rogers? And I'm like, ah, yeah, we met before, but no. Right, right, right. And it's, there's a funny story there. And McHugh then looks at me and goes, I'm not doing it unless Rogers does it.

34:04I need a break. So I was like, seriously? So I asked Mike. And there's a very good friend of ours, mine, who ends up being a very good friend of Mike's too, Jeff Fahey, who's an actor. He was the helicopter pilot on Lost. Do you remember Lost?

34:18Shelley:I have never watched it, and my husband and my dear friend who I was visiting last week are obsessed by it. Okay. So Jeff was a helicopter pilot on Lost. Very successful career before and after, but was on Lost. And I asked him to be on my advisory council. I'm like, well, I have an actor, you know, right? Yeah. And so Jeff also takes credit for setting us up. Oh, that's so funny. But the story I remember is that you came back from, we'll call it Tortola, which was amazing. And you were testifying or something. You had something in front of Mike's committee. And he looked at you and he was like, oh, my God, I want to date that girl.

35:02Shelley:That's hysterical. I never testified before his committee. Never. Why do I think that's the story? No. Well, because it sounds good. Yeah, because it sounds good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like this. Yeah, no, no. Well, speaking of intelligence, and I'm going to probably be sorry that I asked this, but what keeps you up at night? Honestly? Yeah. China. China, China, China. China, but completely shutting off our access to a handful of critical minerals and rare earths. And they've put export controls on some of them, which has made life extremely challenging and difficult. And I shouldn't say life, has made business extremely challenging and difficult for the defense industrial base, but also our automotive space and advanced manufacturing.

35:56It's not widely known, but we're in a really precarious situation. with China controlling so much of our supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths that literally underpin modern society. Yeah. So everything from your dishwasher, your iPhone, your car, to either F-35, to all military technology,

36:19Shelley:does not get made. Yeah. Unless you have these critical minerals and rare earths. And China put export controls earlier this year on a handful that are all, it's germanium, gallium, graphite, and then also some on tungsten and others. Why did they pick those minerals? Because all of those are what goes primarily into all of our military technologies. Right. And so you bring military companies to the table, defense industrial-based companies, and you're saying, okay, what's your inventory? Like, do you have an inventory? or do you have a stockpile of some of these minerals so you can continue producing for the United States?

36:59And the interesting thing is because the rest of the world is also very concerned about this because the U.S. provides weapons, oh, I don't know, to a lot of people. Right. Ukraine.

37:09Shelley:Right, right, right. You know, you just think about this. And we sat around a table, and I'm not going to say the amount of time, but we sat around a table with, and I brought together folks from the administration probably in April with several executives from the defense industrial-based industry. And I said, okay, you executives tell this administration how much you have and what your supply is to continue producing. The jaws were on the table. From the administration. Nobody had an idea how bad it was. China does. China knows. That keeps me up at night. Isn't there another option that's, like, isn't there some new mine or potential that we've discovered that could help supply?

38:04We need 300 more new mines in the next five years.

38:11Shelley:Is there a potential for it to be in the United States? No. To meet current demand. But is it in Lithuania or Eastern Europe? There's another country that has potential, right? Oh, so many countries have potential. That's what I'm saying. So many countries have potential. Like what are the top three? But the problem is that from flash to bang. Oh, Ukraine has potential. Yes, from pulling it out of the ground to operationalizing it. Right. I mean, think about this. Is it five years? In the United States, it's 29. In Lithuania or Ukraine, how many? It averages between, so Germany's the fastest, but they don't have what we need.

38:50And theirs is like two years. China's one year. In most of European countries, it's probably 12 to 19. Africa, India, yep. But China has bought up all the licenses. So for all of the current and existing mines, China owns them or owns the licenses. So they're pulling everything out of the ground, and they're shipping it to China for all the processing and refining. So, yeah, I mean, the United States has enough critical minerals and rare earths, copper, zinc, lithium, cobalt, to actually be independent, but we don't have the mines. More importantly, we don't have the processing and refining. So everything we pull out of the ground of the existing mines in the United States, we ship to China for processing and refining.

39:31How do we change that? We have to embrace the processing and refining in the United States. That means manufacturing. And a lot of people are like, well, not in my backyard. Like, it's the NIMBY. Oh, right. Because they believe it's dirty. Well, you know, 20, 40 years ago, it was dirty.

39:48Shelley:Come to Pennsylvania. But it's not anymore. Yeah. Technology has so sort of leapfrogged. Well, it's also the nuclear thing. People think that nukes are dirty and they're not dirty. Thank you so much, by the way. You're listening to Lunch with Shelly. So China is your big bugaboo. Yeah. I mean, just the fact that, you know, and even if it was, let's say, let's take a friendly country. Let's take France. Even if France controlled all of our supply chains, that's not good. Right, right. Now, China's adversarial. China is weaponizing our supply chains. Never before have we actually seen a country weaponize economic tools like China's doing.

40:30Shelley:When I said you love supply chains, you said no. I thought you did. I do love supply chains. Well, you're an expert in them. I've been doing supply chains for a very long time. What are your thoughts on crypto? I can't get my head wrapped around it. Right. You know, I mean, talk to Mike about it. And Mike has been a big believer from the beginning. But he was also a big believer in the beginning that we've got to get out in front of the regulating it because it will quickly become the currency of the mafia drug traffickers because it's not traceable. It's not. Right. I can't get my head wrapped on it because I'm like, okay, it's, it's, what is it?

41:07It's not tangible.

41:08Shelley:I'm so depressed that there's not a coin. It's not tangible. You can't grab it, right? I know. I don't have something to hold on to. Exactly. I don't understand that it's a mathematical equation. It's just as bizarre that why are you mining it? Call it something else. Yeah, and what's backing it? Like you don't have a bunch of gold stacks backing it. Right. Like what is behind it? Nothing. It's just what people determine it is. I'm like, then it's nothing. Well, what is your most favorite thing to think about when you're working and not in D.C.? What are you focused on mostly? Winning the Senate race.

41:38Shelley:Okay. So really more your head and heart are in Michigan right now. Yeah. But here also because I'm very passionate about reindustrializing the United States. And I don't mean it in terms of smokestacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we really do need to bring some of the manufacturing back to the United States. Completely. And to our allied nations. And it's for our economy. Right. Writ large. And I think there are a ton of opportunities to do it right now. And do it in a way where it's abiding by much higher standards and higher environmental standards. Of course, the labor standards and governance standards we have anyways.

42:19But because of the cutting-edge technology we have right now, we can do it in a much cleaner way and in a better way. The challenge that we have, though, which is another thing that keeps me up at night, yeah, great, we bring all these companies back to the United States. We don't have the people to work the factories.

42:35Shelley:I was hoping you weren't going to say that. You think that's the case? I know that's the case. I mean, we've already had several of our companies that I work with that are like, I'm going to have to recruit from Australia. I'm going to have to recruit from India. Yeah, they can't find skilled enough workers. But then they can't come in. Can they come in? See, that's the problem. And you have to get a special waiver for it. So we're going to have to address that at some point, and that some point is getting very, very soon. I mean, I was actually talking to a White House official who named his top three issues, and he's a supply chain critical minerals guy.

43:10So it was security and resiliency of our critical mineral supply chains. And his number two was workforce development, workforce training. We need the skilled workforce.

43:22Shelley:So what is the number one issue in Michigan? So right now the number one issue in D.C. is that there's the National Guard and other federal agents taking over our police department. What's going on in Michigan? Molto grazie. You know, it's interesting. So jobs still, manufacturing. How do people feel the economy is doing? better, but not good enough. Never good enough. And everyone still says, we want our kids to have a reason to stay in Michigan. It's so interesting you say that. Which is so sad. Because you're like, oh my God, it wasn't that way when I was growing up. I know. It was booming.

44:06But we've lost 30 ,000 direct manufacturing jobs in the last 10 years.

44:11Shelley:Who moved? Just anybody. Numerous. Yeah. And then you think about that. And so I heard a statistic last week, and I don't remember who, so this is third hand, but they said for every one manufacturing job, there are five other indirect jobs that are attached to that. And I was like, well, what happened to those jobs? So we know it makes sense because when I make more money, you know, I'm getting my portico fixed, right? My house painted, you know, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. So there's that. in the last two decades, Michigan went from number four in the country in education to number 43. Oh my gosh.

44:51That's horrible. It is disgusting what has happened. So that is a huge issue. It's like, why can't our kids read? You know, why can't our fourth graders read at fourth grade level? Why can't our eighth grade graders read at fourth grade level? Why are we graduating 57 % of our 12th graders that can't read at the 4th grade level. 57 % of our 12th graders can't read at the 4th grade level in Michigan. You're like, oh, what happened?

45:19Shelley:The situations are insane. Thank you so much. You know, you just think, what happened? So, education is a big one right now in Michigan. And it's popping up everywhere. The other thing that, which is weird and I heard it, oh my god, we heard it left, right, and center. In the northern lower Michigan and then upper peninsula this week are the solar farms. Tell me about them. I have a really good friend that's invested in them. Are they good or bad? They hate them. And not just because, you know, so so so many farmers sold their farmland. I kept saying a solar farm. That sounds so dumb. And they were like, Shelly, you know what a solar farm is.

45:57Shelley:And I guess I do. But all right, go ahead. So here's what they're discovering. Yeah. Well, me, my China hawk that I am. I'm like, really? Is it like the wind? All these solar panels are made in China. So we're giving all the business to China. Wonderful. We're taking up all the farmland. But the other thing that they're discovering, they're leaching. Rows and rows of just windows that are absorbing the sun. Yeah, but they're leaching. Leaching from what? Toxicity. Oh, you're kidding. Into the ground. Into the soil. And so they tested 10 different farms in northern lower Michigan. and all 10 soils, like, and I don't remember how, like, the vicinity, they're all toxic.

46:42They can't plant anything. For a long time? Or can you? So they're leaching. Oh, that's horrible. So there was a company that came in and said, and it's a very well-known brand company. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure we've all eaten their food. And they are going around. I don't know why I'm laughing. Well, they're all going, they're going around in Michigan Farm saying, do you have solar panels on your land? And if they say yes, they won't buy their vegetable. Is that a Michigan issue or an everybody issue? I would think it's an everybody issue, but I don't know everybody because I just know Michigan and everything we're hearing right now.

47:16But isn't that crazy?

47:18Shelley:You're listening to Lunch with Shelly. So if you were going to have lunch anywhere in the world, where would it be? What would you be eating? and I would assume you'd be with Mike, but who else? Or could it be your parents or whatever? Okay, so it would be with Mike, and then I would definitely also want a friend group. I was going to say, are you inviting the kids or are you inviting buddies? Buddies. Okay. Where would you be? Santorini. Mmm. That's sexy. Or any one of the Greek Isles. Oh, my God. And I love the food. It's so fresh. And, I mean, so I'm a pescatarian, as Mike calls me pesky. Okay.

48:07So it's 33 years now that I haven't eaten meat.

48:11Shelley:That's terribly surprising because you are, you know, meat and potatoes-ish. And you used to be. So I got away with it because I told my dad, I'm like, Dad, I still wear my meat. Leather suede and fur. Right, right, right. Now, I had no business saying that because I couldn't afford leather suede at that point. But that's my line. You had some leather. I did. Yes, I did. But, yeah, so I just love the Greek aisles, the aisles. Oh, my God. And the food is just to die for. So that's what I would do. Well, what would you be eating? I mean, if you're at lunch, just think of yourself at lunch in Santorini, and you're wearing some fabulous flowy dress, and you have a fantastic table by the water, and it's 2 o 'clock.

48:55Shelley:So you have champagne or rosé? I would completely. Right. Are you having grilled fish? Are you having grilled calamari? What are you having? I would have grilled calamari. Okay. I love grilled calamari. I would have their cucumbers, their tomatoes, because they're the best. Their pita bread, which is just to die for, but it would grill. Yeah, yeah. Pita bread and tzatziki. I'm a happy girl. Anything for dessert? No, I'm not sweet. Me either. More champagne. More champagne. Cheers to that. That is a marvelous answer. And I think you are not the only one to say Santorini. Well, everybody, I am just so happy that Christy is here.

49:37Shelley:It is so nice to be back on the podcast with Christy Rogers and with Cleavon, again, newly engaged. He doesn't look any older. He looks a little more sophisticated. He looks actually dopey in love. He's still smiling, right? He hasn't stopped smiling. It's just good. But anyway, thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Check out other podcasts at www.lunchwithshelly or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. And as always, and in the meantime, peace, love, and lunch. Yay!