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Smerconish

Border Numbers Don't Lie; Border Towns Overwhelmed As New Surge of Migrants Arrive; You Are What You Wear; Deion Sanders Scores Big Coaching Colorado Buffaloes. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired September 23, 2023 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:00:24]

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: The figures don't lie. I'm Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia. More than 3.8 million. That's the number of migrant encounters at the southwest border in the last two years, according to the House Homeland Security Committee. That number is only going up. Homeland Security officials said that nearly 10,000 migrants crossed the U.S. Border on Monday alone. The head of the union representing Border Patrol agents said they had arrested more than 8,000 people that day. Agents have apprehended roughly 140,000 migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization during the first 20 days of September. That's an average of about 6,900 each day. That's according to the internal agency data.

It represents a 60% increase from the daily average of 4300 in July. Over the past two and a half years, Border Patrol has recorded unprecedented levels of migrant apprehensions, including 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022. That's a tally on track to being matched in fiscal year 2023, which ends at the end of this month. 2,500 National Guard members are already serving on the border, but it's not nearly enough to keep up with this week's influx.

Reports say that migrants in Mexico were waiting in mile long lines by the tracks in order to hitch a ride to the United States. Areas being hit hardest here include Del Rio, El Paso, Lower Rio Grande Valley and Tucson. The mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas declaring a state of emergency after getting hit with crowds of new migrants. U.S.-Mexico border towns, they're struggling to keep up with reduced resources and overcrowded facilities.

It's an admittedly complex and concerning problem that's not going unnoticed by the voters. A new CBS poll shows that 55% of adults in the U.S. want President Biden to be tougher on immigrants trying to cross the border. Gallup similarly found 73% of Republicans say they want immigration numbers to go down. That's along with 39% of independents and 18% of Democrats saying the same thing.

The Biden Administration announced on Wednesday it'll be expanding humanitarian relief to Venezuelans who are already in the United States, meaning the roughly 500,000 Venezuelans who've crossed the border illegally will become eligible for work permits. And this all comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized the administration's handling of the crisis. The city has nearly 60,000 migrants in city care, and local leaders are calling for work authorizations to reduce the need for more city resources.

As of right now, officials are giving no clear explanation for what's driving the latest surge, aside from the ongoing poor economies and authoritarian regimes that typically drive border crossings. One explanation is that America's border crisis is partly driven by Mexican drug cartels. And listen to this a recent study in the journal Science estimates 175,000 people are employed by the Mexican drug cartel. That would make the cartels the country's fifth largest employer. And they've moved far beyond just trafficking drugs into the U.S. Cartels partake in other lucrative operations, including extortion, kidnapping, fuel theft, and migrant smuggling.

In the last decade, 37% of people working for the cartels, 37% were either killed or incarcerated, meaning that the cartels have to recruit more than 300 people each week just to replenish their ranks. It's an issue the Biden administration needs to address. Or the problem, shown on a loop by television outlets, favorited by Republicans are going to drive a lot of voters in the 2024 election. It could end up neutralizing whatever advantage the Democrats have received from the overturning of Roe versus Wade. So is the ongoing border crisis the issue that's going to end up turning out voters in the 2024 election? Or will it be outweighed by the overturning of Roe versus Wade?

Remember, even in the Midterms, in GOP leaning states like Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Michigan, voters turned out in droves to support abortion access. I want to know what you think. Go to my website smerconish.com and answer today's poll question. Which will matter more in the 2024 election, abortion or the border?

Joining me now to discuss is Rodney Scott. He's the former chief of the United States Border Patrol, serving under Presidents Biden and Trump. Scott is the distinguished Senior Fellow for Border Security at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Chief Scott, thank you for being here. I just read in this morning New York Times that in Mexico, people coming from South America are outpacing those from Central America for the first time. And as I read it, I wondered, well, what's their ultimate destination?

[09:05:15]

RODNEY SCOTT, FORMER CHIEF, U.S. BORDER PATROL: The ultimate destination is the United States. And thank you for having me on this morning, Michael. And I think it's important for people to realize that you're talking about the big macro numbers, but CBP is arresting people from over 160 different nations around this country on a daily basis. It's not just a Mexico issue or Latin America or even a Western Hemisphere issue. It's a serious threat to this country.

SMERCONISH: I wondered as were preparing the introduction for today's program, whether those numbers were just too much and would get lost in translation. Here's what I want to ask you. We speak in terms of apprehensions, right? It makes me wonder, well, how many are getting through who aren't apprehended? Is there any estimate as bad as the numbers are that I just shared? Is the reality even worse? I guess that's my question.

SCOTT: The reality is much worse. Thank you so much for keying that up. So right now, today, a lot of the people that you see on the video loops you just discussed, those are people that are trying to take advantage of loopholes in the asylum system. But the cartel uses that massive number of people to shape the border every single day. What does that mean? That means overwhelm all the law enforcement so they can create gaps to bring in something else.

The United States Border Patrol has documented with evidence over 1.6 million known gotaways just since this administration took over. And they report those through court documents and other things. That's 1.6 that million they know about. But what America needs to understand is the Border Patrol reacts into these huge groups that forces them to leave hundreds and hundreds of miles of border completely wide open.

And when the border wall system was terminated, so was the technology that was going in with that, the cameras and the sensor systems. So there's literally no eyes and ears on a significant part of the U.S. border with Mexico and for Canada for that matter, when agents are not out there. And right now agents are not out there. They're busy processing.

SMERCONISH: Chief, I hate to see this as such a part as an issue. I can only imagine when I go to my social media, people are going to be saying, oh, what are you on Fox? Why are you spending your opening segment talking about this? But I'm alarmed by the numbers indicative of a porous border. Speak to me about solutions.

SCOTT: So the solution really is and thank you for bringing that up too. I worked for different administrations going back to 1992. And the thing at the end of the day is there has to be a consequence. There has to be some kind of law and order for laws to mean anything we are constantly working on that. So not all solutions are perfect. Not everybody likes them. But you need to put the judicial process in the right order. People should not get released into the United States until a judge has adjudicated their case. The Remain in Mexico program did that.

When this administration came in and they turned over that policy on day one, they created a system or they recreated a system called catch and release. And there's really no enforcement you can do at the border that's going to overwhelm that, because what happens when they meet a Border Patrol agent, the chances of that individual getting released into the United States is very high. Their court date is years down the road, and they're never going to be seen again. That incentive is what is creating this massive wave.

SMERCONISH: I referenced earlier in our conversation the fact that now South America is accounting for more of migration that's going to Mexico than Central America. Of course, here in the United States, the administration just said to a half million Venezuelans who are here, you can stay and work for the next 18 months. I get that there are a lot of American employers who need workers like those who will be provided. But how will that message be received back in Venezuela, when somebody's cousin, sister's, nephew's, brother gets the word, hey, they're allowed now to stay and to work. Isn't that going to compound the problem?

SCOTT: It's going to compound the problem. It's more of a draw. People don't understand. Every single alien that's released into the United States does exactly what you or I would do when you get to a destination. They call home and they tell their relatives how the trip went and where they're at. That message gets out that, hey, I'm not only am I in the U.S., I was released and I don't even have to show up for court for a couple of years. And then now if I'm from Venezuela, I have this temporary permit to work.

And then that does expand. And that is a huge draw. People need to understand too. We keep talking about this as a border issue. The border is a transit location. Nothing stays at that border. And over 2 million or I'm sorry, over 1.8 million people encountered this last year were adults, single adults.

It's not the families that you see Border Patrol overwhelmed with. Those are the ones that waited for Border Patrol. It's the ones you talked about that are trying to get away. That's the threat.

[09:10:03]

SMERCONISH: Well, and look at what Eric Adams is dealing with in New York City. I think there's like a perception among some that's because Greg Abbot put 50 people on a bus. No, that may have been theatrics. These are folks who are finding their way to New York City.

A final subject, were you surprised? I made reference to that peer reviewed story that said 175,000 people apparently their ranks easily replenished, are working for the Mexican drug cartels. 37% of them either get incarcerated or killed within the last decade, and they're able to fill their ranks. It makes it the fifth largest employer in Mexico. Quick reaction from you?

SCOTT: Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me, and we talk about it with Mexico, but that cartel operates within the United States as well. When I was a high school kid in Ogalas, Arizona, they were constantly trying to recruit high school kids to bring narcotics or illegal aliens across the border. That's a real threat to our next generation and our current generation. But every fentanyl death in this country that came across the Southwest border that's fueling the cartel, they have so much cash, and we're just giving them more right now.

SMERCONISH: Chief Scott, thank you. Hang on a second. Here's some social media. I may need to lean on your expertise.

Go ahead, Catherine. What do we have from the world of YouTube? Sorry. I've been hearing fear mongering about illegal border crossings since, like, 1984, when I started really paying attention. Every year it's supposed to be a disaster, but is it really? Well, let me ask you, Chief. SCOTT: It really is. And again, people think this is a border issue.

It's not. Look at your own local community. Look at the fentanyl deaths across the United States. Look at the narcotics deaths. Look at the border itself right now, with the massive chaos that's going on. There are more border crossing related deaths than there have been in many, many, many years. Every one of those deaths, whether it's an American or a migrant, is a travesty. And I think we had solutions in place, but they were bipartisan solutions. The border was getting more and more secure. And by the way, a secure border supports legal immigration.

And then we can finally get to have that conversation. But if you can't control who the (inaudible) coming into your home, you can't and have that conversation.

SMERCONISH: And I -- I want that legal -- I want that legal immigration to continue. I want people to pursue their dreams. In the United States, the sort of person who leaves behind family and friends to come here is the same risk taker who will be an entrepreneur. We need them. We need the new blood. But it's got to be orderly. Thank you, Chief. I appreciate it very much.

SCOTT: Thank you for having me on this morning, Michael.

SMERCONISH: I want to know what you think. Go to my website smerconish.com and answer this today's poll question. I was going to say this week, but we have a poll question every single day on the website. Which is going to matter more. Forget about Trump and his indictments and Biden and his age and all those other issues. I'm just asking, as between these two, is it abortion or the border that's going to drive folks?

Up ahead, will the new relaxed dress code on Capitol Hill further damage our politicians' ability to govern? It turns out that there's some data, an academic study that suggests that, in fact, what you wear has behavioral consequences. And one football coach who's currently undefeated seems to agree with that finding.

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[09:17:44]

SMERCONISH: So is there more at stake in the debate over a Senate dress code than just hoodies and hemlines? Might a dress down body politic actually have a negative impact on the way that they view themselves and the way they're perceived by the public? This week, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the Senate's sergeant at arms will no longer be tasked with enforcing a dress code on the floor of the chamber. The chain seems mostly to accommodate Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, who, after wearing a suit for his first few months as a senator has reverted to his trademark hoodie and baggy shorts.

In fact, this week he memorably presided over the Senate chamber in shorts and a shirt sleeve casual shirt. Previously, to skirt the regulation, Fetterman had been using the unwritten workaround of voting from the doorways. But I should point out there was no such furor when Jim Jordan presided over a House hearing in shirt sleeves, which has long been his trademark.

Look, my first thought about this relaxing of standards was that it would most likely further diminish decorum and dignity and decency in Congress, and at a time it's already suffering from deficits in those departments. It turns out there's actually academic data to back me up.

In one peer reviewed study from the publication Public Personnel Management, researchers focused on city employees and their perceptions regarding the importance of dress and appearance in the public sector workplace. They found this our results suggest that you are what you wear. Respondents felt more competent and authoritative when wearing either formal business or business casual, more trustworthy and productive when wearing business casual, and least friendly and creative when wearing formal business attire. Respondents also believed that uniforms had a positive impact on customer perceptions of overall service quality and that tattoos, athletic wear, unconventional hairstyles or hair color, sweatpants, facial piercings, revealing clothing, and clothing with tears, rips or holes had a negative impact.

Joining me now is Rhonda Garelick. She's a professor of English and journalism at SMU Southern Methodist University. She writes the New York Times Face forward column about the intersection of fashion, media style and politics. Her latest just published what we lose when we loosen dress codes. She's the author of three books, including Mademoiselle Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History, and is currently writing a book called Why fashion Matters on Fashion and politics.

It occurs to me, Professor Garelick, that it's much more a difficult subject for women than men, insofar as, you know, I'm a guy, I just change my tie and my shirt, and I can have on the same navy blazer, and you'd be none the wiser.

[09:20:24]

RHONDA GARELICK, PROFFESOR OF ENGLISH AND JOURNALISM, SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY: You're absolutely right. Gender is a huge consideration here, because, for one thing, the business standard, business attire, which is the former senatorial standard, is actually based on a male pattern of clothing the dark suit, the simple shirt. Women, as you suggest, have about a million micro decisions that they have to make from head toe in order to present themselves in public, and each one of those decisions risks tipping you over somehow into inappropriateness. So it's actually much easier for women to have some sort of dress code. It need not be a formal uniform, but standards that at least restrict the very vast number of problematic decisions. So I think this is a gendered decision.

SMERCONISH: I thought you made an excellent point in your latest New York Times essay. I'm going to put part of it up on the screen and read it aloud because I want you to amplify on this. You say, "Finally, dress codes are a marker of social, national, professional, or philosophical commonality. They bespeak shared ideals or training, membership in a group. This is why sports teams and the military wear uniforms." And then you go on to say, "A sea of 100 adults all dressed in some kind of instantly recognizable, respectful manner -- a suit and tie, a skirt and a jacket -- creates a unified visual entity, a group in which individuals have agreed to subsume their differences into an overarching, sartorial whole." Talk to me about that.

GARELICK: Yeah. I think it's very important to remember that something like the Senate is itself a body. It's a collective cultural body. And we dress bodies collectively, not just individually. And when we can see similarity among a large group of people who represent something larger than themselves, that enhances the idea of unity, militaries, sports teams, certain school teams, when we look at them, we perceive them as a body.

And I always say that fashion is very intimate in that it is the place where the culture touches our bodies, and it's where we integrate ourselves into the larger society. Something like the Senate is not your average workplace. It is an august body still that represents our nation to not only ourselves in the country, but to the world at large. And while I don't believe that it needs to be a strict uniform of exact identical clothing, obviously, I do think we want to enhance the perception for ourselves, for the senators, for the world at large, that this is a collectivity that works together for larger goals than just individuals.

SMERCONISH: I love that observation and I like the optics of some form of uniformity because of all of the dissension and polarization that exists in that body and across the country. Hey, what other thought on this?

The staffers. The staffers will still be subject to a dress code. You correct me if I'm wrong, so how do you see that dynamic playing itself out?

GARELICK: Michael, you're absolutely right. And I did write about this in my column. The New Dress code, Relaxation, applies only to the senators themselves. Right. There are a lot of other people who work in the Senate staffers interns. They still will be required to wear formal business attire. And what that will do is create a disjunction between the senators and the rest of the employees of the Senate, which will, oddly, only exacerbate a kind of class stratification.

And since clothes only mean things in relation to other clothes, what we're going to have is potentially a bunch of senators in different states of leisure wear being waited on, served, worked for by a cadre of people in formal wear, which will start looking potentially like livery or waiter, staff garb, because everything is relational, right? I do not think that's an egalitarian message, and I don't think that was the impetus behind the relaxing of codes.

There's really no such thing as complete freedom in dress, any more than there is complete freedom in how we speak. It's all in relation to other people's speech, other people's garments. Fashion is a language.

SMERCONISH: Professor Garelick, thanks for your expertise. I appreciate it.

GARELICK: Thank you, Michael. A pleasure.

SMERCONISH: So, social media reaction. Catherine, what do we have on the subject of the dress code? I like the Senator very much, yet it seems absurd to me that, bright as he is, he doesn't understand the standard in the House. Who cares in the Senate? Decorum, please.

[09:25:05]

Well, I think it's benefited him, right? I think it benefited him during the campaign. By the way, 100% sympathetic of his very public battle with mental health issues. I applaud him to no end in that regard, in bringing that to the surface and handling the Walter Reed admission the way that he did.

Having said that, this is a totally different issue. I think everybody needs to up their game. My God. Have you flown recently? Have you just taken a look at the American populace boarding an airplane?

I'm with Dion Sanders. I hope I get it right. What did he say? What was that know? Dress good, you'll feel good, you'll play good. Same for the United States Senate. I want to remind you to answer this week's poll question @smerconish.com. Which will matter more in the 2024 election, abortion or the border?

Up ahead, the biggest football game of this weekend isn't an NFL match, at least in my opinion. And it's because of a coach. Coach Prime. Former pro football and baseball star Dion Sanders took over as head coach for the struggling University of Colorado Buffaloes and has turned them instantly into a team that so far is undefeated and a merchandising behemoth. How did it all happen? I'm about to ask a sharp dressed man himself, legendary broadcaster Stephen A. Smith.

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[09:30:33]

SMERCONISH: Hey, it's Coach Prime mania. As two undefeated college football teams facing off today in a highly anticipated game much of our attention may veer off to the sidelines now that football legend Deion Sanders is coaching the University of Colorado Buffaloes through record-breaking victories. Sanders, also known as Coach Prime, signed on as head coach last year, revamped the team that last season had had 11 losses now ranking in the top 20.

The University of Colorado announced back in April it had already sold out its season tickets for the first time in 27 years. Sanders' drive for excellence inspired Nike to produce Buffaloes' merchandise with shirts that say Prime. And according to the university, sales are up by just 819 percent.

At the start of the season, Sanders flipped the team's roster upside down by replacing most of its players and welcoming 86 new student athletes some of whom transferred from historically Black colleges and universities. In his coaching debut for the Buffaloes, they pulled off a stunning win against number 17 rank team TCU. It was the most watched season opener in Fox Sports' history.

The following week the city of Boulder brought in an estimated $18 million in revenue from the Buffaloes' first season home game beating the Nebraska Cornhuskers. And last week the team smashed an ESPN record by drawing in 9.3 million viewers during its double overtime victory against Colorado State making it the network's most watched late night college football game ever.

But Sanders' success didn't come overnight. He coached at Jackson State University for three seasons, where his sons also played and eventually followed their dad to Boulder, Colorado, to play for the Buffaloes. Sanders is one of the most versatile athletes in sports history. The now 56-year-old is a retired NFL and MLB player, the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series game.

Back in 1989 he became the first athlete to score a touchdown for the Atlanta Falcons and hit a home run for the New York Yankees in the same week. But perhaps his biggest impact so far is best explained in an Axios' piece which is titled "Coach Prime's making Colorado Black America's team."

The piece references Michigan's men's basketball team, the Fab Five, and how they captivated Black America and hip-hop culture just like the Colorado Buffaloes are doing right now. Big names like the Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, LeBron James and a whole host of NFL superstars praising Coach Prime's hard work.

And joining me now to discuss all of this is legendary broadcaster Stephen A. Smith, the host, of course, of ESPN's "First Take" and author of "Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes." Stephen, if you said to me six months ago that I would be clearing my Saturday afternoon to make sure I was in front of a TV to watch Colorado and Oregon, I would never have believed you. What explains all this?

STEPHEN A. SMITH, ESPN HOST OF "FIRST TAKE": Prime, Deion Sanders. I mean, he's one of one. There's no other way to slice it, Michael.

I mean, the reality is that when you think about Deion Sanders he is, without question, the greatest cornerback in the history of the National Football League. He was an all American at Florida State. So, that he was an all-state basketball player when he was in high school. He succeeded on every level.

And then when you take into account his charisma, the way he articulates himself, his thoughts, his believes, et cetera, the inspirational impact that he has on an abundance of kids. You're talking to somebody that has been a friend of his for close to the last quarter century. He and I are extremely close and we talk all the time.

And I know that when he was in this business doing commentating and what have you, working for the NFL network, working for CBS, being -- you know, garnering interest from various other networks throughout the years, one of the things that he religiously stipulated was that he was going to have time to coach his kids.

I'm not talking about just his kids meaning his two sons, Shedeur and Shilo, but others as well. The guy who loves coaching. He loves having an impact on the lives of young men. That's always been what he's been about. And he would make sure to carve it out.

It was just an absolute mission of his. And to see him doing what he is doing, it's sensational to watch. I'm so happy for him. But I would be lying if I told you I was surprised. Wherever he goes, he's going to be able to recruit.

[09:35:00]

And I know that he knows what he's doing from an X's and O's perspective. But his level of patience when it comes to young minds is unrivaled.

SMERCONISH: Stephen, is it a Black thing? I mean, I was kind of bummed when I read that Axios piece because I'm a suburban White guy and I'm loving it. I've ordered my Coach Prime t-shirt and I'm hoping it's going to show up in time for me slip it on when I sit in front of my TV today.

SMITH: Well, I would say it's a Black thing because the reality is that I don't see too many folks that are not Black that can do what he has been able to do. To walk into a program that was 1-11, to have 10 scholarship players to turn it around and get 86 new players, knowing about their existence of the transfer portal, knowing the name, image and likeness issue and how that's come into fruition and that's coming to the focus.

The reality is you that have got to be able to walk into living rooms, not just talking to parents but talking to kids and convincing them, hey, this is what we're going to bring to the table. Now, I'm trying to throw any shade on anybody else.

Nick Saban is phenomenal. Kirby Smart is phenomenal. Dabo Swinney is phenomenal. There's an abundance of coaches in college football -- Brian Kelly and various others that are exceptional minds and exceptional football minds who have obviously recruited exceptionally well. And we get all of that.

But it's hard to imagine that they could warrant to a 1-11 program like Colorado in a Pac-12, which by the way is on the verge of dissolving, for crying out loud, and do what they have done in their first year. So, it remains to be seen if this is going to continue, but think about the spring game.

Georgia is back-to-back national champions, Smerconish. Back-to-back national champions. And when Deion Sanders arrived in Colorado for spring football, it was nationally televised. And more people were interested in him and that program than they were interested in an SEC. program, which is clearly the best conference in college football, with the reigning defending two-time national champions.

There was more interest in him and that program than there was in the national champion. That's Prime Time Deion Sanders. And when you hear people (INAUDIBLE) is because you don't see too many Black folks in Colorado but they come now. And I know because I've been in there last week.

SMERCONISH: Well, you don't -- you don't -- well, you don't see -- you don't see too many of the one-two punch of having both a Black head coach and a Black cornerback, which historically have been like two of the whitest positions. I get that a coach is in a position on the field.

Let me ask you this. I have got Colorado in the 21 points. Does the fun end today? I mean, you're a guy who knows the X's and O's. What -- yes, talk to me about that.

SMITH: Oregon is lethal. Bo Nix is no joke. They put up points in bunches. They're a top 10 nationally ranked team. Not to mention the fact that they see Colorado coming now.

Colorado has had some issues defensively, you know, period. Prime Time will tell you. Times they are really like hot garbage on offense. When they're doing well on offense they play like hot garbage on defense. And they can't seem to bring it together.

But this is one of those situations with exception of opening weekend when they upset the national runner up in TCU, with the exception of that, you know, you see them coming now. And so, when you look at it from that perspective, they definitely got -- they were cut out for them and the USC next week as well.

SMERCONISH: Hey, Stephen, is the influence all positive? I know you're tight. You've already spoken eloquently in support of Deion Sanders.

I told you I'm on this train. But you know that there are some who say that the way that he walked in that first day and said, get on the portal and explore your transfer operation, was just too harsh and they don't like the commercialization and open discussion of getting paid good. You would say what to that?

SMITH: What I'd say is those people can go to hell. I mean, have got to stop this nonsense. You know, college football has been making money hand over foot for decades, all right, on the backs of kids that were not being supported.

What he did was name, image and likeness. You're looking and -- Sanders, his son who is the star quarterback, and he's worth over $5.1 million right now with NIL. OK? And he has exceeded almost even his father who's at about $5.5 million. OK?

We're looking at programs getting money. We're looking at coaches getting exorbitant amount of money. When Prime Time Deion Sanders walked into Colorado and said, OK, these are the rules and we all know that I can't give you incremental process -- progress, I'm Prime Time. They are going to judge me immediately. And if I don't succeed immediately, I'm going to be out of it.

I'm not -- even though I'm back-to-back swap champions when I was at Jackson State, even though I put HBC -- I helped put HBCUs on the map by giving them a level of notoriety and pub that was sorely lacking, people are going to judge me very harshly.

This is my situation. I'm inheriting a 1-11 program for crying out loud. OK. Nobody cares about this program. Nobody is thinking about this program. I've got to come here and win now.

What is he supposed to do? Serve everybody cookies and milk? Let's stop the nonsense here. You got to up in there. You got to recruit. You got to make sure that you're getting marquee dudes to come and play for you.

[09:40:02]

And you got to instill in them a belief that this program is something that you can uplift so they can galvanize themselves and draw additional interest so folks will want to come to the University of Colorado because they damn sure wasn't looking to come there beforehand.

So, let's stop it. We all know everybody is getting paid. Kids you can get paid too. And he represents that. He has personified that throughout his career from the time that he was a player to now him being a coach. Let's stop the hypocrisy.

SMERCONISH: I'll tell you -- I'll tell you what brought -- what brought it home for me is I watched the "Johnny Football" documentary on Netflix. He literally built that stadium. And to think that, you know, he had to surreptitiously go off and do signings for $20,000 when he shouldn't have done it, those folks all should have gotten paid.

Stephen, when you come back, don't hold back. Tell us what you really think next time, OK?

SMITH: I'll do best. I'll do my best.

SMERCONISH: Thank you, Stephen. Social media reaction. What do we have? From the world of YouTube, I think. What do we got?

Coach Prime made Jackson State a household name. Proud of what he did for the HBCU.

Yes. And, Mary, a lot of folks say, oh, you know, they wish he hadn't left. He achieved what he set out to achieve there. We'll see if it continues but I'm loving it. I'm loving it. Don't call my house when that game is on.

I want to remind you, go to the Web site, Smerconish.com, and answer today's poll question. Which is going to matter more in the 2024 election, abortion or the border?

Still to come, more of your best and worst social media comments. Sign up for my newsletter when you vote. Jack Ohman, the Pulitzer Prize winner, he sketched this cartoon for us this week about Senate voting and age. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:49]

SMERCONISH: Here's some of what you're saying via social media during the course of today's program.

Typical Smerconish. First attack President Biden on the border and then attack John Fetterman on the dress code. Of course, cherry picking guests to support your agenda.

John, you have outed me. How dare you do that. See, this is what I'm talking about though, 3.8 million -- I think that was the statistic I began the program with, 3.8 million interactions on the border in the last two years. We're breaking all records.

Now am I not supposed to talk about that? Is that supposed to be relegated only to the world of Fox? I don't think so. I think it's a legitimate issue. By the way, plenty of criticism to go around for every president during my entire lifetime.

But we have got to deal with it because the numbers are off the charts. The pressure that's being put on northeast cities and other areas of the country, and the fact that now, according to today's report, more coming from South America to Mexico than Central America. So, that funnel is about to change and not in a good way for all of us.

Where do you think their ultimate destination is? You think it's Mexico? You think they are leaving South America to go to Mexico? Because I don't think so. We need to have that conversation.

And as for Fetterman, there was no greater defender of Fetterman and his mental health challenges than yours truly but -- come on, it's time to up our game and act appropriately. What an elite club. One hundred members of the Senate, dress like it.

Next. Sorry, Catherine, I told you I was going to move quickly today and I didn't. Can you imagine the Supreme Court in session wearing casual/sports attire, no robes, maybe even a Hawaiian shirt? Do you respect their decision?

Dean, it was intuitive to me just to think that people take you more seriously depending on how you're attired. We found an academic study that looked -- it was from the University of Tennessee, I cited it earlier, that actually looked at public employees who were in uniform. They feel better about themselves and perceive the public as holding them in higher regard for the way that they are attired. So, the data backs it up. What's next?

The tech giants have proven the dress code data inaccurate. I mean, you know, it goes with whatever your particular gig is. I would say that the dress code, if that's going to be your line of employment, is exactly how we all remember admiringly Steve Jobs, you know, in a black mock turtleneck. If that's what you're doing then that's great. But if you're going to be a public servant, I love the judge point, if you're going to be a member of Congress or school board or whatever, no, I think, you have to dress the part.

Time for one more. Let's see what it is. Make it a winner.

You can't blame all those entering our country illegally on the fentanyl crisis. Where is Mexico's responsibility on allowing a drug cartel to take over their country.

Yes, I wasn't blaming it all on the fentanyl crisis, Patsy. I was astounded. I read about that study in "The L.A. Times" and then I went and actually read the study.

And, by the way, let me acknowledge that some people challenge the methodology and say, well, how could they come up with such a precise number? Read it. Decide for yourself.

But the conclusion was that 175,000 people are employed by the Mexican drug -- I'm not sure if I should say cartel or cartels, plural, probably plural, which would make it the fifth largest employer in Mexico. And 37 percent in the last decade were either incarcerated or died, probably in the line of duty, and yet they are able to replenish their ranks.

Why? Because of the money. And unless we get to that, we're just not going to get ahead of the curve. So -- OK. There. I have had my piece.

I read all your social media or I try to. So, keep them coming. And still to come, the final results of the poll question from Smerconish.com. How about this question? Which is going to matter more, as between these two issues in the 2024 election, is it going to be abortion or the border?

By the way, when you vote, sign up for the free daily newsletter. You're going to get exclusive content from political cartoonists like two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Breen. Look at that, by the way.

[09:50:00]

That is like the cartoon of the week, Biden and bidin' his time.

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SMERCONISH: OK, there it is. That's the result thus far of today's poll question. Wow. More than 30,000 votes. It doesn't warrant that kind of a lopsided result. Which will matter more in the 2024 election? As between these two issues, 72 percent say abortion as compared to the border.

I'm not positive as to the correct answer. I just know that it is a much closer decision than that result would suggest. But, you know, obviously, I'm in the minority on that as usual.

[09:55:02] Social media reaction. Do I have time for one more? I think that I do. What? No social media? Oh, OK. Sorry about that.

Gang, I will say one last thing then about abortion and the resonance of it. It was two months after the overturning of Roe versus Wade that Kansas rejected the anti-abortion method. And at the time I remember thinking, OK, people are really hot about this decision that will probably dissipate as time goes on.

But then -- then came Kentucky, then came Michigan, then came North Carolina, and with each of these states it showed in the midterms and thereafter, no, no, no this issue is not going away. So, as between the two of them, abortion and the border, it's going to be close. See you.

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