Best Robport Podcasts (2025)

1
615: 'Donald Trump likes people who like him' 58:37

Play Pause

1d ago58:37

58:37

President Donald Trump joined Israel's attacks against Iran's nuclear program, and so far the operation seems to have been a success. That's certainly Sen. Kevin Cramer's view of it, as he explained on this episode of Plain Talk. He also praised Trump's willingness to repudiate some of the isolationists in the MAGA movement. "I've often said, and p…

1
614: 'When someone on your own side is referring to them as cuts, you're losing that war' 1:02:20

17h ago1:02:20

1:02:20

Recently, Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak sent out an email seeking to debunk what she describes as myths when it comes to proposed changes to the Medicaid program. She argues that the program isn't being cut, but rather just being slowed in its growth. But wherever you come down on that debate, the fact that she's prompted to make these arguments is…

1
613: 'We're not providing a grant. We do expect a return to come back to us.' 55:02

7d ago55:02

55:02

In a recent column, I argued that the concept of "baby bonds" — a verison of which is included in "big beautiful bill" President Donald Trump is backing in Congress — is something North Dakotans should implement whatever the federal government might do. We have hundreds of millions in revenue from the Legacy Fund's investments, and we have the Bank…

1
612: 'I'm a North Dakotan first. I'm the governor second and a Republican third.' 1:00:40

8d ago1:00:40

1:00:40

The North Dakota Republican Party censured Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong at a recent meeting. And yes, despite what some party leaders are now saying, Armstrong does see it that way. "It was a censure," he said on this episode of Plain Talk, going on to expand on his immediate reaction to the censures which was "I don't care." The censures expres…

1
611: 'The escalation is 100% the point' 1:14:44

15d ago1:14:44

1:14:44

Andrew Loftesnes is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. Specifically, he served with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, which is the same unit that President Donald Trump has, controversially, deployed to Los Angeles to, as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem put it recently, "liberate this city from the socialist and burde…

1
610: 'There's going to be an election day reckoning' 1:23:45

17d ago1:23:45

1:23:45

When former Congressman Earl Pomeroy looks at the protests today against the Trump administration and the so-called "big, beautiful bill" in Congress, he sees echoes of the 2009 protests that ended his tenure in elected office. "There's going to be an election day reckoning," Pomeroy, a Democrat who represented North Dakota in the U.S. House from 1…

1
609: Remembering Rep. Josh Christy on AI (REPLAY) 33:38

22d ago33:38

33:38

Artificial intelligence continues to dominate conversations worldwide, sparking both optimism and deep concern. On this replay episode of Plain Talk, hosts Rob Port and Chad Oban revisit a compelling discussion with the late Rep. Josh Christy, an influential North Dakota lawmaker and expert in artificial intelligence who tragically passed away duri…

1
608: 'That is a blatant falsehood’ (REPLAY) 31:10

24d ago31:10

31:10

At the beginning of this episode of Plain Talk, Attorney General Drew Wrigley took exception to my recent reporting suggesting that he and Gov. Kelly Armstrong are at odds over sentencing legislation and the performance of state prison officials. Based on what would follow, I think the conflict between two of North Dakota's top elected officials is…

1
607: How do we do politics in the classroom? (REPLAY) 34:15

29d ago34:15

34:15

We all know the old saying. You don't talk about religion and politics in polite company. Only, does that advice make sense in a society like ours, where we practice self-governance? How can we govern ourselves if we can't talk to one another about politics? And, more pertinent to this episode of Plain Talk, how do we teach our kids how to particip…

1
606: ‘We can disagree and still respect each other’ 53:21

1M ago53:21

53:21

Recorded live at the North Dakota Professional Communicators conference in Minot, this special episode features Rob and Chad in front of a live audience talking media bias, political polarization, and the value of honest disagreement. They share lessons learned from tough interviews and respond to audience questions about journalism, trust, and wha…

1
605: ‘It just doesn’t work for me’ 1:01:17

1M ago1:01:17

1:01:17

On this episode of Plain Talk, co-host Chad Oban takes the reins with guest co-host and former State Senator Jessica Bell for a conversation with Matt Perdue, Government Relations Director at North Dakota Farmers Union. Perdue, who's running to become the next president of NDFU, emphasizes the uncertainty facing many producers amid economic headwin…

1
604: 'Our partners in the Republican Party' 1:08:53

1M ago1:08:53

1:08:53

On this episode of Plain Talk, Sen. Josh Boschee, a Democrat from Fargo, characterized the just-completed legislative session as marked by crucial victories but also "too many missed opportunities" and numerous "close calls on bad Republican bills." He emphasized how Republicans and Democrats worked together to achieve both. Among the victories? Pa…

1
603: 'Nobody in the nation is doing what North Dakota is doing' 1:02:25

1M ago1:02:25

1:02:25

Though his instance on a "skin in the game" provision in property tax reform -- effectively a cap on how much of the primary residence credit property owners could receive -- was one of the major flash points during this year's legislative session, Senate Majority Leader David Hogue says he's satisfied with the outcome overall. More than that, real…

1
602: 'We are horrible at telling our success stories' 1:15:20

2M ago1:15:20

1:15:20

Nick Archuleta and North Dakota United, the state's combined teacher and public workers union, are touting a report showing that our state is sliding down the rankings in terms of teacher pay. We're now 40th in the nation, down significantly from roughly a decade ago. But Archuleta admitted during an interview on Plain Talk that educators could be …

1
601: 'We found out about it in the newspaper' 1:21:44

2M ago1:21:44

1:21:44

"The Minot State one took us by surprise," U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak told us on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to the cuts of nearly two dozen staff at the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities. One of those workers, Kyle Erickson, who lives with cerebral palsy and not only works for the center but received services from it as a …

1
600: 'We're going to have problems with the caps' 1:13:55

2M ago1:13:55

1:13:55

During the closing hours of the legislative session, lawmakers came to a consensus around a property tax plan endorsed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong which provides $1,600 credits for the primary residences of North Dakotans and a 3% cap on the growth in overall property tax bills. Rep. Scott Louser voted for that plan, and encouraged his colleagues to vo…

1
599: 'We are 100% in a no-win situation with this' 1:20:38

2M ago1:20:38

1:20:38

Like many organizations and government entities across our region, the Fargo School Board has had to weigh how to react to an erratic president who is on a seek-and-destroy mission for anything with even a whiff of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Katie Christensen Mineer is the president of the school board. She and her fellow board m…

1
598: 'Fodder for just trolling and fishing' 1:18:13

2M ago1:18:13

1:18:13

On this Plain Talk, Sec. of State Michael Howe and Rep. Ben Koppelman joined us to discuss a surprisingly contentious issue in the closing days of the legislative session. Namely, a debate over laws requiring more rigorous campaign finance disclosures from legislative candidates. Howe supports the legislation, saying he wants better data for a new …

1
597: 'We're at the point where we're ready to throw fists here' 1:06:57

2M ago1:06:57

1:06:57

"Everybody's frustrated with everybody right now," Rep. Jeremy Olson said on this episode of Plain Talk. Olson is a Republican from Arnegard, and serves as the Majority Caucus Leader, and is well known as a "gentle giant" of North Dakota politics. Which is to say that his comment about fist fights was tongue-in-cheek, but he was expressing a real s…

1
596: 'I'm kind of a free speech absolutist' 1:18:11

2M ago1:18:11

1:18:11

Just before Gov. Kelly Armstrong appeared on this episode of Plain Talk, he issued two vetoes for two very controversial bills passed by the legislature. The first was a rejection of Senate Bill 2307, a book ban bill sponsored by Sen. Keith Boehm. "I'm kind of a free speech absolutist," Armstrong said of his decision to spike the legislation, "beca…

1
595: 'I couldn't care less that this comes from Donald Trump' 1:18:52

2M ago1:18:52

1:18:52

Dane DeKrey is a criminal defense attorney with the Moorhead-based lawfirm Ringstrom Dekrey. He recently signed onto an amicus brief in a legal fight over an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which exacts retribution on a law firm Trump feels has wronged him. It does so by, among other punitive measures, revoking the firm's security…

1
594: 'I hope it's not that I'm some kind of junky for chaos' 1:03:10

2M ago1:03:10

1:03:10

When former Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford accepted the job as interim chancellor of the North Dakota University System, he said a long time colleague contacted him to say he's "proven that you like dysfunction and you like to jump into that." Sanford said he laughed it off. "I hope it's not that I'm some kind of junkie for chaos for goodness sakes, but th…

1
593: Ethics process is 'ready for exploitation and weaponization' without good reforms 1:24:48

3M ago1:24:48

1:24:48

"The way the current process is set up, it is ready for exploitation and weaponization," Rebecca Binstock said on this episode of Plain Talk. Binstock is the executive director of the North Dakota Ethics Commission, and she admits that there are problems with the status quo. For instance, public servants who have a complaint filed against them are …

1
592: 'We have...lifelong Republicans saying I'm done. I've had it.' 1:09:45

3M ago1:09:45

1:09:45

If you're a Republican on the ballot in North Dakota you're probably going to win. It wasn't always that way, and it won't always be that way, but it is that way now, and it makes a problem within the NDGOP, where a certain faction is playing games with the rules to control which candidates appear on the ballot as Republicans, all the more acute. "…

1
591: 'We're going to be right back in this position fighting' 1:14:46

3M ago1:14:46

1:14:46

"I think we are for certain going to see another property tax measure if that's the version that we kick out." That's what Minot Republican Rep. Matt Ruby said of the watered-down version of Gov. Kelly Armstrong's property tax plan that the state Senate is currently backing. "I don't think that that measure failing by that amount was because people…

1
590: 'We don't even know who we're supposed to call' 1:14:18

3M ago1:14:18

1:14:18

Gov. Kelly Armstrong is pushing a "bell to bell" ban on cell phones in schools, and his inspiration is a book called the Anxious Generation, which was written by Jonathan Haidt. But it's more than a book. It's also a movement. Casey Mock, the senior policy manager for Anxious Generation, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss their initiative…

1
589: 'I think this is an unforced error' 1:37:30

3M ago1:37:30

1:37:30

It's an annual tradition to have Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Plain Talk for a baseball-only episode contemporaneous to MLB's opening day. Unfortunately, we didn't keep our promise this time, since we're in the closing weeks of the legislative session in Bismarck, and there's a lot going on. When you have the governor on in that context, you have to ask…

1
588: 'Does everything in the library need to be at the at the level for a kindergartner?' 1:15:24

3M ago1:15:24

1:15:24

There is a big debate over criminal justice reform at the legislative session in Bismarck. Attorney General Drew Wrigley suggests the state has been soft on crime, and that's resulted in higher crime rates. He's pushing a bill to keep people convicted of many crimes locked up for longer. But Jonathan Holth, Gov. Kelly Armstrong's Commissioner of Re…

1
587: 'I don't know what President Trump's position on Canada is right now either' 1:08:33

3M ago1:08:33

1:08:33

Many North Dakotans are demanding that our state's federal delegation hold town hall meetings to take questions about the extraordinary beginning of President Donald Trump's second term in office. I've called for town halls, too. Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak joined this episode of Plain Talk, and while that's not a town hall, she did take some que…

1
586: 'The people who ultimately get hurt in this...are the patients' 1:17:57

3M ago1:17:57

1:17:57

MINOT — Our attitudes about health insurance shift, depending on the context we're in. When we're healthy and paying premiums, we want costs to be low. When we're sick or hurt or sitting alongside a family member suffering some malady, we want expansive coverage and not a lot of bureaucracy. Unfortunately, these things are in tension with one anoth…

1
585: 'We're going to need massive amounts of CO2' 1:23:59

4M ago1:23:59

1:23:59

It's no secret that the oil industry is central to North Dakota's economy. Still, it's surprising even for in-the-know citizens to look back at the remarkable growth of that industry over the last couple of decades. The North Dakota Petroleum Council routinely commissions studies into the economic impact of their industry, and the findings are eye-…

1
584: 'I just found it disgusting' 1:31:24

4M ago1:31:24

1:31:24

We invited Sen. Kristin Roers to this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the debate over term limits reforms making their way through the Legislature in Bismarck, but before we turned to that topic, I asked Roers about recent comments made by state Rep. Brandon Prichard about her former colleage Rep. Josh Christy. Christy passed away during the curre…

1
583: 'The retaliation is the problem' 1:16:24

4M ago1:16:24

1:16:24

President Donald Trump's announced tariffs against Canada and Mexico and their retaliatory measures have significant economic risks, particularly for places like North Dakota, where so much of our economy is tied up in international markets. But perhaps even more damaging is the uncertainty Trump's mercurial approach to this policy area engenders. …

1
582: 'We've got counties in North Dakota where 20, 25, 30% of the kindergarteners aren't vaccinated' 1:19:50

4M ago1:19:50

1:19:50

"It's a tragedy what's happening in Texas," Dr. Paul Carson said on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to that state's measels outbreak, which has already claimed the life of one child. Carson is a medical doctor and an emeritus professor of the public health faculty at North Dakota State University. I wrote recently about North Dakota's statewi…

1
581: 'I'm taking the heat for it' 1:19:12

4M ago1:19:12

1:19:12

Rep. Scott Louser, a Republican from Minot, is one of a handful of North Dakota lawmakers who, after casting a vote in favor of a resolution asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn precedent striking down state bans on same-sex marriage, came to regret the decision. "I'm taking the heat for it," Louser said of his change of heart on this episode …

1
580: Introducing dozens of bills is 'poor legislation' says lawmaker 1:05:02

4M ago1:05:02

1:05:02

On Tuesday, February 25, lawmakers in the state House of Representatives worked late into the evening to finish work on the hundreds of bills introduced in that chamber this session so that they could be sent over to the state Senate for consideration. This legislative session has seen a lot of bills introduced — the most since the 1990s — and that…

1
579: 'Nobody wanted to listen to Scott Davis the Indian guy' 1:08:50

4M ago1:08:50

1:08:50

"I got angry," Scott Davis said on this episode of Plain Talk. "I had to walk away." Davis served as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs under three North Dakota governors (John Hoeven, Jack Dalrymple, and Doug Burgum), and now works as a consultant for North Dakota's tribal communities (he has familial roots in both the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe an…

1
578: Plain Talk Live! The legislature will have to change 1:16:25

4M ago1:16:25

1:16:25

MINOT — For the first time ever we took the Plain Talk podcast on the road, to famed bar, restaurant, and political hangout Peacock Alley. We interviewed Senate Majority Leader David Hogue and House Minority Leader Zac Ista. We also interviewed a couple of former lawmakers, Jessica Bell and Erin Oban. The theme of the night? The legislature is goin…

1
577: Will the Legislature pass education savings accounts? 1:29:02

5M ago1:29:02

1:29:02

Lawmakers in Bismarck are considering a number of school choice bills which would, in various ways, make public dollars available for parents to use toward private school tuition. The most important one, perhaps, is Senate Bill 2400, introduced by Sen. Michelle Axtman, and it does a whole lot more than just fund school choice. As currently amended,…

1
576: 'That is a blatant falsehood' 1:18:20

5M ago1:18:20

1:18:20

At the beginning of this episode of Plain Talk, Attorney General Drew Wrigley took exception to my recent reporting suggesting that he and Gov. Kelly Armstrong are at odds over sentencing legislation and the performance of state prison officials. Based on what would follow, I think the conflict between two of North Dakota's top elected officials is…

1
575: Rep. Nico Rios didn't show up 1:06:32

5M ago1:06:32

1:06:32

In our promotions for this episode of Plain Talk, we had indicated that state Rep. Nico Rios would be joining us. Rios has made some fairly ugly headlines over the past year or so. He derated two law enforcement officers with bigoted and homophobic comments during an arrest for DUI. More recently, with regard to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum …

1
574: 'Try to have good speech drive out bad speech' 51:12

5M ago51:12

51:12

"We live in an age where people can say whatever they want without consequence," says Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. Hunegs appeared on this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the anti-Semitic comments made recently by state Rep. Nico Rios, who referred to Mexican President Cla…

1
573: 'If we had less bills we could have more meaningful debates' 1:20:29

5M ago1:20:29

1:20:29

Property taxes are complicated, so is it any surprise that reforming the property tax code is similarly complicated? We talked about the property tax issue on this Plain Talk (again) because it is, without a doubt, the most complicated and consequential question before lawmakers in Bismarck during the 2025 session. Rep. Scott Louser, a Republican f…

1
572: 'Prions don't exist' 1:19:07

5M ago1:19:07

1:19:07

There is a fight in the Legislature between the North Dakota Game & Fish Department and a group of hunters and landowners over regulations aimed at curbing the impact of chronic wasting disease on North Dakota's wildlife populations. But is that fight really about CWD? Or is this another front in the culture war spurred by (in some respects not ent…

1
571: Should North Dakota have an ID requirement for online porn? 1:18:14

5M ago1:18:14

1:18:14

There's no denying that the easy availability of explicit content on the internet is a major problem for parents, not to mention schools. We all agree, children shouldn't be looking at pornography, but how we go about regulating access (and even how we define what is and is not pornography) are tricky problems. Rep. Steve Swiontek, a Republican fro…

1
570: 'That does hurt' 1:08:37

5M ago1:08:37

1:08:37

Former President Joe Biden spent the last moments of his time in office issuing preemptive pardons to family members and political allies. He also pardoned thousands of people convicted of crimes, often to the bewilderment of judges and prosecutors, including some here in North Dakota. New President Donald Trump, meanwhile, spent the first moments …

1
569: 'I'm patient...but our patience is wearing thin." 1:21:40

5M ago1:21:40

1:21:40

Participatory politics is what makes our democracy work, but it also supposes that those who are participating are doing so in good faith. How do we handle people who want to use the tools of participation -- things like open records requests and open meetings -- as soap boxes for narcissistic jeremiads? What if the people participating aren't inte…

1
568: A legislative fight over chronic wasting disease 1:06:48

6M ago1:06:48

1:06:48

In North Dakota, game and fish officials have the authority to restrict bait hunting in order to protect animals from diseases like chronic wasting disease. And that's what they've been doing. When a case is found in the deer population, they ban the use of bait for hunting in an area 25 miles around it. This has a very vocal faction of the hunting…

1
567: Auditor Josh Gallion wants subpoena power 1:06:26

6M ago1:06:26

1:06:26

By his own admission, Auditor Josh Gallion had a rocky relationship with lawmakers last session, which resulted in the Legislature appropriating funding for an audit of Gallion's office. That audit has been completed. It had findings related to communications issues and confusing invoices. The review also found that Gallion has implemented measures…

1
566: Gov. Armstrong and Attorney General Wrigley are at odds over criminal justice reform 1:11:59

6M ago1:11:59

1:11:59

The public and media reaction to Gov. Kelly Armstrong's first address to the state Legislature has focused on his bold and aggressive plan for property taxes. That's understandable. There's a near-consensus in the state's political circles over property taxes being the most pressing issue facing this legislature. But Armstrong's state-of-the-state …