Gratitude, the Peters Clemency, and the Price of Bigger Government

Kim Monson opened her Monday, May 18, 2026, broadcast in gratitude over news that Governor Jared Polis had commuted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ sentence ahead of a June 1 release. State Farm agent Roger Mangan explained permissive-use auto coverage. State Senate candidate Rich Guggenheim challenged Colorado’s appointment machine, and author Brian Joondeph warned of the escalation from lawfare to political violence. Financial advisor Jody Hinsey addressed emotion in investing, and Susan Harris tracked election transparency in two states.

Auto Insurance and the Limits of Permissive Use

Start listening at 06:35 – Hour 1

Roger Mangan of the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team took up a question most drivers never think about, what happens when you let someone else drive your car. In Colorado, Mangan explained, auto insurance follows the vehicle, not the driver, so a friend or relative you give permission to is generally covered by your policy up to your limits, even if that person has a poor record or no license you knew nothing about.

The protection has a hard edge. Permissive use extends from the named insured to a household driver and to the person they directly lend the car to, but it stops there. If that authorized driver in turn hands the keys to someone else, the coverage is gone, and the named insured can be left exposed for an accident they never saw coming.

His practical advice was aimed at parents. Children who drive a family car need to understand they cannot re-lend it, because a claim will trace back to the parents who gave the original permission. Mangan said his team has cut some clients’ auto premiums by as much as $2,000 a year and offers a no-cost coverage review.

“So be sure parents that your kids know that because you could be left holding the proverbial bag if those kids are letting other kids drive those cars.”

Roger Mangan, State Farm agent

A State Senate Bid Against the Appointment Machine

Start listening at 16:04 – Hour 1

Rich Guggenheim, author of Escaping the Rainbow Plantation and former director of legislation for Gays Against Groomers, is running for Colorado Senate District 25, the seat formerly held by the late Faith Winter and now occupied by appointee William Lindstedt. His central argument is structural. Roughly a quarter of the Colorado legislature reached office through vacancy-committee appointment rather than election, and he says a party cannot claim to defend democracy while a quarter of the chamber was never elected.

The district splits Weld, Adams, and Broomfield counties, and Guggenheim credited the Adams and Broomfield county chairs for in-kind support on web design, accounting, and volunteers. He framed the race as winnable, noting half the district is unaffiliated and that seats only skew Democrat when Republicans leave them uncontested. His prescription is a ground game of door knocking, a message that resonates, and candidates who do the work rather than just appear on the ballot.

On policy he pledged to protect and strengthen TABOR, signed the Colorado Union of Taxpayers pledge, and called for a return to in-person voting, paper ballots, and voter identification. On energy he argued for an all-of-the-above approach, citing a December Broomfield outage when the wind stopped.

“It doesn’t matter if your energy is green or brown, if the grid is black.”

Rich Guggenheim, Colorado Senate District 25 candidate

The Dangerous Endgame of ‘He Must Be Stopped’

Start listening at 33:33 – Hour 1

Brian Joondeph, a physician who writes for Rasmussen Reports and American Thinker, walked through his May 4 American Thinker piece, The Dangerous Endgame of ‘He Must Be Stopped’. His thesis is that a decade of investigations, impeachments, indictments, and lawfare against Donald Trump has failed, and that when those tools do not work, a fraction of the tens of millions who have been told Trump is an existential threat can rationalize political violence. Joondeph noted multiple assassination attempts and argued the media and entertainment industries bear responsibility for the rhetoric.

He was pointed that this is not solely a Democrat project, naming Republicans such as Mitt Romney, Bill Cassidy, Adam Kinzinger, and Liz Cheney. Kim Monson added the Colorado context, listing by name the petitioners who sued to keep Trump off the state ballot before they lost. Joondeph also answered the “king” charge directly. Critics who can mock and protest a president without arrest, he said, are themselves proof the country does not have a king.

When asked why the establishment wants Trump stopped, Joondeph pointed to money and power, describing a uniparty that tolerates fraud, waste, and endless wars and views taxpayers as a cow to be milked. He closed on voter identification and election confidence as the path back.

“You keep stoking the flames of hate like that and there’s predictable consequences. And that’s what we’re seeing.”

Brian Joondeph, author, Rasmussen Reports and American Thinker

Taking Emotion Out of the Investment Plan

Start listening at 62:36 – Hour 2

Jody Hinsey of Mint Financial Strategies made the case that the biggest threat to most portfolios is the investor’s own behavior. She cited studies showing the average investor underperforms the market by roughly 8 percent a year, calling it the largest behavioral gap of the past decade, and described her role as a first layer of defense against panic selling.

With 25 years in the business, Hinsey said every plan she builds is customized to the client’s goals rather than a cookie-cutter template, and that the discipline of having a written plan makes emotional decisions less likely. On artificial intelligence, she said Mint Financial is embracing AI as a tool but that it cannot replace the judgment and reassurance a human advisor provides, and it cannot stop someone from making an emotional trade.

Hinsey offers a no-cost consultation for anyone weighing their own plan. She also previewed the firm’s June 26 Women in Wealth event, which pairs financial education with a networking project.

“It’s funny, the stock market is the only place where things go on sale and people run out of the store screaming.”

Jody Hinsey, Mint Financial Strategies

The Peters Clemency and a Transparency Fight in Two States

Start listening at 71:56 – Hour 2

Susan Harris, a gold sponsor of the show who now lives in Arizona after years in Colorado, opened on the news that Governor Jared Polis commuted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ sentence, with a June 1 release. Harris called it a relief while regretting it was a commutation rather than a pardon. Kim Monson noted that the Colorado County Clerks Association called the decision a blow to the rule of law and that Phil Weiser, who is running for governor, called it mind-boggling and wrong.

The conversation moved to election transparency. A Help America Vote Act complaint filed in February had its hearing, with a decision due May 21, and Monson flagged the conflict of interest in the Secretary of State’s office judging a complaint against itself. She explained “smurfing,” the practice of layering small donations to disguise large or foreign money, and cited research that 21.2 percent of one candidate’s donor addresses failed postal validation against a 1-to-3-percent baseline.

Harris brought an Arizona parallel. A ballot initiative she said is funded largely by the national teachers union would rein in the state’s education savings accounts, a program more than 100,000 families use; she also flagged a Maricopa County recorder who won back his election authority on appeal.

“But specifically in Colorado, it is very shocking to me that there is so little transparency about what goes on in our elections.”

Susan Harris, election-integrity advocate