In this episode, Republican political strategist Jamie Miller gives his views on why Trump was re-elected and if American democracy is safe.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome. I'm Eric Fleming, host of A Moment with Eric Fleming, the podcast of our time.
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00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 The following program is hosted by the NVG Podcast Network.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:56 Music.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 Thank you. Thank you.
00:01:55 --> 00:02:02 You Hello, and welcome to another moment with Eric Fleming. I am your host, Eric Fleming.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:09 Today, I have a guest that I think you will appreciate the conversation.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:17 You may not agree with everything, but I hope you get a better understanding.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:26 And I hope it sets an example of how we're supposed to have discussions in this country.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 So I'm really, really excited for this.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:38 And I really hope that y'all appreciate it as much as I appreciated this guest coming on.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:44 And, yeah, I think this is going to be a good show.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:52 So, without any further ado, let's get it started with a moment of news with Grace G.
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 Music.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:05 President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, after previously committing
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 to not interfere with legal proceedings.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:13 Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare's insurance unit, was fatally shot in
00:03:13 --> 00:03:18 a targeted attack outside a Manhattan hotel, with the assailants still at large.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:23 President-elect Donald Trump nominated Kash Patel, a former national security
00:03:23 --> 00:03:24 official, to lead the FBI.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:28 Chad chronister a florida sheriff
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 nominated by president-elect trump to lead the dea
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 withdrew his candidacy amid criticism and
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 concerns over the responsibilities of the role the
00:03:37 --> 00:03:41 u.s justice department reported that the memphis police department uses excessive
00:03:41 --> 00:03:47 force and discriminates against black individuals walmart is revising its dei
00:03:47 --> 00:03:52 policies amid a conservative backlash against woke initiatives joining other
00:03:52 --> 00:03:57 major companies that have scaled back or eliminated similar programs. A U.S.
00:03:57 --> 00:04:01 Judge is considering a federal takeover of New York City's Rikers Island Jail
00:04:01 --> 00:04:06 due to the city's failure to improve violent conditions that endanger inmates and staff.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:11 Wisconsin Democratic Party Executive Director Ben Wickler has entered the race
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 to chair the Democratic National Committee.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:20 South Korean lawmakers demanded President Yoon Suk-yeol's resignation or impeachment
00:04:20 --> 00:04:25 after his abrupt martial law declaration sparked chaos and a standoff with Parliament.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:31 French lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Michel Barnier,
00:04:31 --> 00:04:36 a move that jeopardizes the government's ability to manage a substantial budget deficit.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:43 The United Nations is seeking $47 billion in aid for 2025 to support 190 million
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 people in crisis, despite facing unmet needs from prior appeals.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:53 Black Friday retail spending in the U.S. saw minimal growth in physical stores
00:04:53 --> 00:05:00 at 0.7%, while e-commerce sales surged by 14.6%. And the U.S.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:05 Postal Service reported delivering over 99.2 million ballots for the November
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 election with a high success rate.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:12 I am Grace Gee, and this has been a Moment of News.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:19 Music.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:27 All right. Thank you, Grace, for that Moment of News. And now it's time for my guest, Jamie Miller.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 Jamie Miller is a seasoned political consultant, mostly known for working in
00:05:32 --> 00:05:40 Florida, although he has been successful in North Carolina, West Virginia and Mississippi as well.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 He is a former executive director of the Republican Party in Florida.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:50 He has managed and served, managed or served, excuse me, as senior advisor to
00:05:50 --> 00:05:54 four statewide campaigns, including president, governor, U.S.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 Senate and attorney general.
00:05:55 --> 00:06:01 He now shares his political insights on his blog and YouTube channel and has
00:06:01 --> 00:06:05 authored a book titled American Speeches That Change History.
00:06:05 --> 00:06:13 You can read and subscribe to his blog at www.ReasonableArguments.com.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:20 Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest
00:06:20 --> 00:06:24 on this podcast, Jamie Miller.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:35 Music.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:39 All right. Jamie Miller. How you doing, sir? You doing good?
00:06:40 --> 00:06:44 I'm doing better than I deserve. Well, that's that's all of us,
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 if we really are honest about it.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:52 Well, first of all, thank you for coming on. So I've had a couple of guests
00:06:52 --> 00:06:57 on to kind of dissect what happened in the election.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:04 And I've had basically they've been, you know, independent writers,
00:07:05 --> 00:07:09 one kind of leans conservative, one kind of leans liberal.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:17 And so but you have a unique history. And so I wanted to get your take on it
00:07:17 --> 00:07:24 because I think it's important for my listeners to kind of get a sense.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:30 As many, as many, I hate to use the word autopsies, but as many analysis,
00:07:30 --> 00:07:35 I guess, of why the election went the way it went.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:40 But before I do that, what I normally do with a guest is offer a quote to them
00:07:40 --> 00:07:41 and let them respond to it.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:47 So your quote is really, really simple. It says, you are your ceiling.
00:07:47 --> 00:07:53 What is your, what does that quote mean to you? You know, it's funny on my dry
00:07:53 --> 00:07:54 erase board, I have that exact quote.
00:07:55 --> 00:08:04 And to me, it means that, you know, the only goals I've never met are goals I have not set.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:13 And so it, for me, it's to encourage lofty and aspirational goals because every
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 goal that I've, that I have set, I have met.
00:08:16 --> 00:08:23 Yeah. Yeah. I can, I can relate to that. You know, and being somebody that's
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 that's been involved in politics, it's run for office.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:31 You kind of have to have that kind of mindset, which leads us into our discussion,
00:08:31 --> 00:08:37 because I don't think there's any higher goal in American politics than to run for president.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:45 So let me ask you, why do you think that Donald Trump won this election?
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 You can probably dissect this at least two ways.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:57 One is you talk about the campaign that Donald Trump ran, and the other is the
00:08:57 --> 00:08:58 campaign that Harris ran.
00:08:59 --> 00:09:07 So we'll start with Harris. I feel like she failed to tell people who she was,
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 what she was going to do, and why she was qualified to do it.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:16 And at times I think she maybe tap danced around one of those topics at a time.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:21 But I don't know that she ever explained those three things succinctly to the American people.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:26 And so I think whenever things like attacks came her way, she didn't have the
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 foundation to repel them.
00:09:29 --> 00:09:36 And then you look at the campaign of Donald Trump, which I think history will
00:09:36 --> 00:09:41 show that he ran a much different campaign in 2024 than he did in 2016 or 2020.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:49 And I like to break it down as simply as in 2024, he practiced the politics of addition.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:54 And in those two previous campaigns, he practiced the politics of subtraction.
00:09:54 --> 00:10:01 And by that, I mean, if you wronged Donald Trump or you ran against him or whatever,
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 he would call you little Marco or, you know, whatever.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:10 And and it would stick and it would stay. He would stay mad at you.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 Right. And you were not going to be part of his administration.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 He really didn't care what you had to say.
00:10:15 --> 00:10:22 And compare that to 2024 where, you know, he practiced the politics of addition.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 He brought in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He brought in Tulsa Gabbard.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:29 He brought in, you know, former, and Nikki Haley spoke, I mean,
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 at the Republican National Convention.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 So I felt like he tried to reach a larger electorate in 2024.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:43 And it appears that he is doing so with his cabinet. So I'm encouraged.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:45 You know, I'm Republican.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 I write a right of center blog. I've certainly been around a lot longer than
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 Donald Trump has been involved in politics.
00:10:52 --> 00:10:56 I probably will be around a lot longer, hopefully, after he's done being president.
00:10:56 --> 00:11:01 And, you know, so I like to think that, you know, while while I am right of
00:11:01 --> 00:11:05 center, I look at these things, I try to look at things, I try to view all 360,
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 360 degrees of the elephant, so to speak.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:14 And, you know, nobody gets to see them all. But I try to my experience probably
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 allows me to see more than most.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:20 And if I think that's the basic breakdown of this political campaign,
00:11:20 --> 00:11:25 we can get into and dive into deeper on either one of those folks or what they
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 did. but I think that's probably a pretty good...
00:11:29 --> 00:11:36 You know, top line analysis of Harris's failures and how and how Trump was able
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 to build a coalition that that helped him win.
00:11:39 --> 00:11:46 Yeah. So that's interesting. That's the first time I've heard anybody use the
00:11:46 --> 00:11:53 term addition with the Trump campaign, because people of my political.
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 Thought and most people
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 that I guess I don't know if you can call them fair
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 or not but most of the talking heads they they
00:12:03 --> 00:12:11 focused in on what he was trying to eliminate like you know like mass deportation
00:12:11 --> 00:12:22 or DEI stuff like that so it doesn't naturally equate to us I'll just be general like that,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 that the word addition comes to mind.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:34 But you have a salient point. I mean, I don't remember people being as upfront
00:12:34 --> 00:12:39 as they were in previous elections that he ran.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:44 Like you said, he pushed away all the people that ran against him in Republican primary in 2016.
00:12:44 --> 00:12:49 They just came on board because they wanted a Republican to be president.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 They were part of the, told the department. The devil we know, right?
00:12:54 --> 00:12:59 Yeah. On our side of the aisle, we say we'll vote for a yellow dog,
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 right? Before we vote the other way.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:07 But seriously though. And so in 2020, yeah, you, you, you kind of,
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 you know, rinse and repeat,
00:13:09 --> 00:13:15 but I guess you do have a point because he did make it an effort at his particular
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 rallies to, bring in different people.
00:13:19 --> 00:13:23 Because he didn't have any opposition, you know, for real.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:29 Although the one opponent that a lot of people thought would give him some grief was Ron DeSantis.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 And you weren't a big fan of him.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:37 You're from Florida. And you were not, you were very critical about Ron's campaign.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:41 I think you knew he was going to lose before he acknowledged it.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:47 And Ron has the same, Ron's been a great governor. And I've spoken and written
00:13:47 --> 00:13:53 about that ad nauseum. and certainly he'd be a great administrator and therefore
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 I support him being secretary of defense.
00:13:55 --> 00:14:00 Before that was floated, I think I was the first person to advocate Ron DeSantis
00:14:00 --> 00:14:04 as secretary of the Navy because, you know, they had already picked somebody
00:14:04 --> 00:14:09 to be secretary of defense and so, and I still support that because he's a great administrator.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:15 He's a little bit of a tone deaf politician and he, I think he could learn from
00:14:15 --> 00:14:20 Donald Trump's 2024 campaign because in the past, Ron DeSantis has been guilty
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 of practicing the politics of subtraction.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 You know, you're either with him or you're against him. And it's like that just
00:14:26 --> 00:14:30 because I'm not with you on this one particular thing doesn't mean I'm against you forever.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 It just means that you and I disagree on this one thing.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:38 And he kind of takes it as a, or in the past, he has taken it as a personal
00:14:38 --> 00:14:44 affront and would do the, you know, kind of practice the politics of subtraction.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 So that's interesting that you you you brought
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 up about the because i want to
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 get back to the harris thing for a point but
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 since you brought up governors well i brought him
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 governor santos and you finish it off about the
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 appointment if i was in the
00:15:01 --> 00:15:05 united states senate i i would
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 i would if i had my only choice
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 was this guy what's his name pete hex it's hex
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 stuff am i saying his name right i never mean
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 to mispronounce anybody's name either so i understand the struggle
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 you're going through but i would say it very similar to you just to you
00:15:20 --> 00:15:24 but we both could be wrong yeah yeah
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 except or or or governor de
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 santis i would i would say well if
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 i only got these two choices give me governor de santis one
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 because he's been a governor two he's he
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 served in the military and and three
00:15:39 --> 00:15:44 he's been a congressman so he understands the
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 diet can i add a fourth one to that
00:15:47 --> 00:15:53 okay you know he he he faced extreme extreme hardship on several occasions with
00:15:53 --> 00:15:58 these hurricanes you know when the the government came in and the hurricane
00:15:58 --> 00:16:02 last year i forget which one it was came and knocked the bridge out between
00:16:02 --> 00:16:07 the mainland of Lee County and Sanibel Island,
00:16:07 --> 00:16:11 which I'm sure a lot of people know about in Southwest Florida.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 And they said, oh, it's going to take four months to rebuild this bridge.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:20 DeSantis says, listen, when I was in the service, it didn't take us four months to build a bridge.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 We built them in days. And we put huge trucks across them in days.
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 We're going to build that bridge in three days. And he did.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 He's like, we're not going to mess with the bureaucracy. We're not going to
00:16:29 --> 00:16:34 do this. Our people need this bridge working to get goods and services to people out on that island.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 And he did. And he did that time.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:44 There's numerous dozens of examples of Florida communities that were suffering
00:16:44 --> 00:16:50 due to hurricanes through means of no government. It's not politics. It's not partisan.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:56 A hurricane hits Republicans, Democrats, poor and rich, and he didn't care.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:01 If you need help, we're going to send help, and he planned the help.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:06 And so I think, you know, that I would add that as a fourth reason for him to
00:17:06 --> 00:17:11 be, you know, I would consider him a great administrator of whatever department
00:17:11 --> 00:17:15 he's, he would be, you know, honored to be picked.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 Type things yeah and then i was gonna flip it and say
00:17:17 --> 00:17:23 that hegstaff would be hegstaff i should say is the would be fall in the line
00:17:23 --> 00:17:28 of somebody that you would stick in as the secretary of the army rather than
00:17:28 --> 00:17:36 put him in the the top position and i would not say that ronda santis is,
00:17:37 --> 00:17:43 The governorship is great, but I do get your sentiment.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:50 And since you are in Florida and you are a Republican down there,
00:17:50 --> 00:17:56 I would I would understand why you would you would kind of hold them to a different standard.
00:17:56 --> 00:18:02 But like I said, if it came down to it, I think and I don't know why President-elect
00:18:02 --> 00:18:07 Trump did not push the Santas out there, although I guess this other guy,
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 they have a history together.
00:18:11 --> 00:18:17 And, you know, so he I think he and he looks good on TV. So I guess maybe that
00:18:17 --> 00:18:18 was what the deal was. I don't know.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:25 But let's get back to the Harris thing. so one of the things i was talking about
00:18:25 --> 00:18:30 with you know the other guests and one of the big criticisms was the fact that
00:18:30 --> 00:18:38 she kept saying the basically she stayed within her talking points.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:45 And you know as a candidate you know myself i had the privilege of running for u.s in a twice,
00:18:45 --> 00:18:51 you know it was like you you're in a different audience and all that but the
00:18:51 --> 00:18:56 difference between me and her is that I wasn't going to get national coverage every day.
00:18:56 --> 00:19:00 So it wasn't like every time I turned on the TV, I was going to hear the same
00:19:00 --> 00:19:05 speech or people were going to hear the same speech for me because they weren't covering like that.
00:19:05 --> 00:19:10 But in her case, you know, so when she got asked, why do you,
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 why do you do that? And she said that was discipline.
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 What's your pushback on that? Yeah.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:24 You know, I felt like she probably did run what would be considered a disciplined
00:19:24 --> 00:19:30 campaign against an, you know, Trump in the past has run pretty undisciplined campaigns.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:38 And so I think the goal there was for her to be seen as a more disciplined candidate than Donald Trump.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:42 The problem for her became that Donald Trump's campaign actually turned out
00:19:42 --> 00:19:43 to be pretty disciplined.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 You know, they kept to their talking points. They, you know,
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 some of the wild things that Trump would say on a daily basis,
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 let's say he made on a weekly basis instead.
00:19:54 --> 00:19:59 And so I say that the people who supported Donald Trump supported him because
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 they believe he will lead us through fire.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:08 And they were willing to overlook the fires he sets because they know that he'll lead them through.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:12 And so, you know, I know that that's not a sentiment for everyone,
00:20:12 --> 00:20:18 but that I think is kind of a good synopsis of people who supported Trump is
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 that, hey, he got the job done.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24 And yeah, he sets a couple of these fires, but he fixes them.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:32 And, you know, and Harris was dealt some bad cards, you know.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:37 Everybody can on her side can complain, oh, she only had 100 days.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 Well, if you had had a real primary, maybe she would have had,
00:20:39 --> 00:20:44 you know, an establishment, you know, a more established, you know,
00:20:45 --> 00:20:49 campaign and foundation to run. But, you know, she was the vice president.
00:20:49 --> 00:20:53 She went after it when he decided to get out and became the nominee.
00:20:53 --> 00:21:00 And then, you know, almost unexplicably, she she decided not to,
00:21:00 --> 00:21:04 you know, I wrote I wrote a sub stack that I said, you know,
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 there's three phases of Kamala Harris early in the campaign.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 It's excitement, relief, and regret.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:13 And I wrote that during the excitement phase.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:20 And she never captured that excitement truly. Like, she could have rode that wave of momentum.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:25 But you remember, like, around Labor Day, conservatives really started talking
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 about, like, why won't she sit down for an interview?
00:21:27 --> 00:21:33 Like, why is she hiding from the press? And so by not sitting down for an interview
00:21:33 --> 00:21:38 or not going before the press, she squandered that excitement phase.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:41 And quite frankly, this race was close enough. If she could have spread that
00:21:41 --> 00:21:47 excitement phase out probably just another 10 or 12 days, she probably wins this race.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:52 But I felt like she squandered the opportunity that was given to her because
00:21:52 --> 00:21:58 there was certainly a lot of excitement going into and out of the Democrat National
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 Convention about her candidacy.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:02 And then she...
00:22:03 --> 00:22:08 Faltered, you know, and so now she was given a bad deck of cards,
00:22:08 --> 00:22:12 you know, because they kept saying things like, oh, the economy's in great shape.
00:22:12 --> 00:22:17 And, and while that from an economic standpoint, you know, if you have an economist
00:22:17 --> 00:22:21 talking to you, those numbers would say, oh, the economy's on a better place
00:22:21 --> 00:22:24 than, than what it was, you know, during the inflation years.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:29 But people, I mean, you know, people who, you know, you're going down to,
00:22:30 --> 00:22:36 to buy groceries and a box of cereal is now $7.99 or the family size is now
00:22:36 --> 00:22:41 $8.99 when it was $3.99 or $4.99 in the past.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:48 And so people are still, even though, quote, inflation was down, prices are not.
00:22:49 --> 00:22:55 And people and wages did not grow with inflation oftentimes like wages have
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 grown with inflation in the past.
00:22:57 --> 00:23:01 And so she was facing kind of this double speak.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:06 And then in August, when I think she had trouble, when the Department of Homeland
00:23:06 --> 00:23:10 Security said that there's 300 children lost that are unaccounted for,
00:23:10 --> 00:23:14 unaccompanied, unaccounted for children in the United States.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:18 And they said that they didn't know if they were alive, sex traffic,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:21 enslaved, and she had no answer for it.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 And she didn't care to really talk about it.
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 Right. And so instead of saying, hey, I recognize there was a problem.
00:23:28 --> 00:23:32 This is my plan to fix it. She just ignored it. And I think that hurt her.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:39 The DEI, I think, was another issue that Republicans grabbed hold of.
00:23:39 --> 00:23:45 And I think that people misunderstand DEI programs, affirmative action,
00:23:45 --> 00:23:49 we used to call it, and all those sorts of things where, you know,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:56 those programs are put in place to try to ensure that about 30% of the population,
00:23:56 --> 00:24:01 let's say, is treated fairly in things like higher age.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:07 And in jobs, you know, large corporations, while those programs are put in place
00:24:07 --> 00:24:12 to protect 30% of the population, they apply to 100% of the jobs.
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 And so I think enough people reach the level where they're like,
00:24:15 --> 00:24:20 Like, hey, I'm in my mid-40s, I'm 50, and I just got passed over for promotion
00:24:20 --> 00:24:24 by a 28-year-old who is less qualified than me, but they check another box.
00:24:25 --> 00:24:29 And whether that's true or not, I think that was a sentiment that was felt out
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 there among the electorate.
00:24:30 --> 00:24:33 And there were other things, I think, where Democrats went too far.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:38 Of course, you mentioned the open border, and there was really no recognition of Democrats.
00:24:39 --> 00:24:43 That number one was a problem, or number two, they had a plan to fix it.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:49 Another one, and I think this plays into the inflation, and in Florida, this was a big deal.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 I know in a lot of places, it's not a big deal. I think in very cold climates, it's a big deal.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:58 But when you start talking about things that haven't even really hit a few evacuated.
00:24:59 --> 00:25:03 Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward counties, which are Fort Lauderdale and
00:25:03 --> 00:25:07 West Palm Beach, those three counties in Florida are the population of Maryland.
00:25:07 --> 00:25:11 Maryland's the 10th most populated state in our country.
00:25:11 --> 00:25:17 And if you have to evacuate them with electric vehicles, they make it to Disney
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 World in Orlando before they have to recharge.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:27 And there's just no mechanism in place for a mass evacuation of people in electric vehicles.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:32 And where I live in Sarasota, Florida, we have one of the best beaches in the
00:25:32 --> 00:25:36 world, Siesta Key, and it was evacuated and people left their electric vehicles.
00:25:37 --> 00:25:40 And when Siesta Key, in a lot of these places, the garage is flooded,
00:25:40 --> 00:25:44 but the houses did not because the houses are higher.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:49 But the electric vehicles are obviously in the garage. They caught on fire and
00:25:49 --> 00:25:54 we lost at least a dozen houses on Siesta Key because of electric vehicle fires.
00:25:54 --> 00:26:01 And so I think that they ignored, Democrats ignored a lot of practical application
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 issues that Americans were feeling.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:06 And they either ignored it or didn't
00:26:06 --> 00:26:12 understand that their policies were negatively impacting real people.
00:26:13 --> 00:26:17 Yeah. And so, Jamie, you just broke news because that's the first I had heard about,
00:26:18 --> 00:26:23 that phenomenon about the electric cars and the flooding and all that kind of
00:26:23 --> 00:26:28 stuff, you know, and that kind of exacerbates what's going on in Florida.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:32 And we'll have to come back at another time to talk about that as far as the
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 insurance and all that goes.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:39 So let me ask you this. On your website, you have a quote that says history
00:26:39 --> 00:26:45 repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect a resemblance
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 until the damage is done.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:52 So throwing that quote in the context of this question, should Americans be
00:26:52 --> 00:26:56 concerned about democracy in America?
00:26:57 --> 00:27:02 You know, I write on every election day I post on social media,
00:27:02 --> 00:27:06 whether it's a presidential year or in Florida, we have our gubernatorial elections
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 in non-presidential years.
00:27:08 --> 00:27:14 I write that we are very fortunate as Americans that we are able to,
00:27:15 --> 00:27:19 number one, voice, have these discussions and voice our opinions through our votes.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:25 But truly, we are the ones, we're really the only people in the world who can
00:27:25 --> 00:27:29 tell our government and our government leaders that they've gone too far.
00:27:29 --> 00:27:31 And so you're on the left, I'm on the right.
00:27:32 --> 00:27:36 If you and I agree that our government has gone too far on anything,
00:27:36 --> 00:27:40 there's enough mechanisms in place that our leaders will listen to us.
00:27:41 --> 00:27:46 And, you know, that's so I truly do believe that.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:51 And so, no, I don't think that democracy is at stake. I don't think democracy
00:27:51 --> 00:27:58 was at stake if Harris won because of my foundational belief that American people
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 are stronger than its government.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:06 And while we argue about our government, and it certainly makes for fun and interesting podcasts,
00:28:06 --> 00:28:11 it's, you know, when we decide, you know, I really think in this election,
00:28:11 --> 00:28:19 not the EI, but certainly the transgender issue went too far when you have boys in girls' bathrooms.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:23 Boys and girls sports and men and women's prisons and
00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 i think particularly on that issue america the american people
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 said this has just gone too far
00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 this is this is not what we want and you
00:28:32 --> 00:28:36 know this is really the tail wagging the dog and you
00:28:36 --> 00:28:39 know well our system's based upon conducting the
00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 will of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority and
00:28:42 --> 00:28:46 while our history hasn't always been great
00:28:46 --> 00:28:50 in the aspect of protecting the rights of the minority we you
00:28:50 --> 00:28:53 know strive to live to that standard and this
00:28:53 --> 00:28:56 was certainly a case where you know certainly the minority
00:28:56 --> 00:29:02 was driving the policy against the majority and i think the majority stood up
00:29:02 --> 00:29:07 at this election and said you know this is this is too far well and that's that's
00:29:07 --> 00:29:11 going to be interesting dynamic because now there's actually a member of the
00:29:11 --> 00:29:15 transgender community in Congress, Nancy Mace.
00:29:15 --> 00:29:18 If we didn't know, Nancy Mace guaranteed that we knew.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:24 And what real quick, what's your take on how she's approached it?
00:29:25 --> 00:29:28 Before you ask, let me tell you how I would have done it. I think,
00:29:29 --> 00:29:35 well, I know I would have approached because of her history.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:41 I would have approached Representative McBride and, you know,
00:29:41 --> 00:29:48 and just had a conversation and, you know, let let them know my discomfort.
00:29:48 --> 00:29:51 Or my concerns and all that stuff.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:56 And then I think, you know, what represented McBride, what she said as far as
00:29:56 --> 00:30:01 she had already made arrangements because she kind of felt that there was going to be some pushback.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:06 I think that they could have settled that privately.
00:30:08 --> 00:30:13 And, you know, and everybody, you know, everybody keeps it pushing, as I would say.
00:30:15 --> 00:30:21 You know i guess based on what you just said as far as how the electorate responded,
00:30:22 --> 00:30:25 that that representative mace is is taking advantage
00:30:25 --> 00:30:28 of that i i just don't think that
00:30:28 --> 00:30:31 that was the right way to do it but but what you
00:30:31 --> 00:30:35 know you're you're a strategist what's what's your take yeah
00:30:35 --> 00:30:38 i mean if you know my advice for me and
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 for representative mace may be two totally different things depending
00:30:41 --> 00:30:44 on what her goals were you know you know
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 i think representative base used that moment to try
00:30:47 --> 00:30:50 to you know elevate her profile and she
00:30:50 --> 00:30:56 did that and so i'm like i said my my sub stack youtube those are all called
00:30:56 --> 00:31:02 reasonable arguments because i i agree with your some point we have to have
00:31:02 --> 00:31:06 more discussions like you and i are having today and the right and left And
00:31:06 --> 00:31:10 I think that's one reason why I want to appear on podcasts like yours,
00:31:10 --> 00:31:14 because when we have these discussions,
00:31:14 --> 00:31:19 I think it shows our politicians, it shows us that, hey, number one,
00:31:20 --> 00:31:24 people out in the real world are getting along, despite everybody arguing at
00:31:24 --> 00:31:26 a Thanksgiving dinner. Right.
00:31:26 --> 00:31:32 So but when we have we can disagree and have and still be professional about it.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:37 And I think that's what you're suggesting is that Representative Mays could
00:31:37 --> 00:31:40 have handled this in a more professional manner. And I agree with that.
00:31:41 --> 00:31:45 You know, if her goal was to fundraise and to elevate her profile,
00:31:46 --> 00:31:48 then that's she met that goal, probably.
00:31:48 --> 00:31:52 And that's unfortunate. That's an unfortunate part of our political environment,
00:31:52 --> 00:32:00 especially right now where extremism is is the on both sides is kind of how
00:32:00 --> 00:32:08 politicians raise money instead of being workers who get things done by trying to build consensus.
00:32:08 --> 00:32:11 You know, I've been around in politics long enough that, you know,
00:32:12 --> 00:32:18 it was the consensus builders who were able to make a great living in it.
00:32:18 --> 00:32:24 Right. Like and so now it's, you know, hey, can I write the meanest darn email
00:32:24 --> 00:32:29 to the extremist people so I can raise five dollars apiece?
00:32:29 --> 00:32:32 And, you know, that some of that I would go back.
00:32:32 --> 00:32:36 There's probably a podcast on its own would be about the Citizens United case.
00:32:36 --> 00:32:40 I'm one of the few Republicans who feel like that was a moment in history that
00:32:40 --> 00:32:44 I think historians will look at and say, okay, this division that we're facing
00:32:44 --> 00:32:46 right now, that was a pivotal U.S.
00:32:47 --> 00:32:51 Supreme Court case that kind of brought around this division.
00:32:51 --> 00:32:56 But I don't want to go on too big of a tangent on that unless you care to.
00:32:57 --> 00:33:06 But, you know, I think that Republicans with what I think the electorate said,
00:33:06 --> 00:33:07 which I've already stated,
00:33:08 --> 00:33:13 want to put a line in the sand and say, listen, if you're a man, use the men's room.
00:33:13 --> 00:33:22 You know, and, you know, we all know, you know, nobody looks at a one-hour-old
00:33:22 --> 00:33:25 baby and says, oh, look at my transgender baby.
00:33:25 --> 00:33:27 It's either a boy or a girl.
00:33:28 --> 00:33:33 And, you know, it is a good bit of environment that determines whether or not
00:33:33 --> 00:33:35 somebody wants to be transgendered.
00:33:35 --> 00:33:38 And I'm, listen, I think you're less what adults do.
00:33:38 --> 00:33:41 Like, I've never been somebody that's never been a hill I want to die on.
00:33:41 --> 00:33:46 And I'm a very libertarian when it comes to adults and their freedoms.
00:33:46 --> 00:33:50 Now, I have advocated that all things adults should be 21, you know,
00:33:51 --> 00:33:54 which would include voting and being drafted, right?
00:33:54 --> 00:34:00 But if you're going to have drinking at 21, everything should be 21 or everything should be 18.
00:34:00 --> 00:34:04 You know, buying a gun should be 21. But, you know, we say you're an adult at
00:34:04 --> 00:34:09 18, so you should be able to do everything at 18, not gradually become an adult.
00:34:09 --> 00:34:11 Anyway, that's another tangent.
00:34:12 --> 00:34:16 But I think that you're, you know, representative base, you know,
00:34:17 --> 00:34:22 did what I think her supporters wanted her to do, which was make a public stand
00:34:22 --> 00:34:27 in the halls of Congress and say men should use men's room and women should
00:34:27 --> 00:34:29 use women's rooms. Yeah.
00:34:29 --> 00:34:35 So let me get let me get back to the gist of why I asked that particular question
00:34:35 --> 00:34:40 about democracy, because you mentioned the word extremism.
00:34:40 --> 00:34:46 And I think one of the big concerns I had and that and the first time that that
00:34:46 --> 00:34:50 Donald Trump was president, whenever I went to D.C., I said,
00:34:50 --> 00:34:51 take me to the National Archive first.
00:34:52 --> 00:34:55 And they would say, why? So I just want to make sure the Constitution is still
00:34:55 --> 00:35:02 on display because I've never seen anything in his leadership style that makes
00:35:02 --> 00:35:04 me feel comfortable that he respects the Constitution.
00:35:04 --> 00:35:10 And I listened to a lot of his rhetoric and a lot of his supporters rhetoric
00:35:10 --> 00:35:14 during the campaign season this time.
00:35:14 --> 00:35:21 And, you know, just just some of the words that they used and phrases and all that.
00:35:21 --> 00:35:26 You know, that's that's why all this talk is going on about authoritarianism
00:35:26 --> 00:35:30 and fascism and all that. And I get it that the president of the United States
00:35:30 --> 00:35:34 is a strong executive, but there's limits to that.
00:35:35 --> 00:35:43 And he's and he's he's he's come across as he wants to push those limits as far as he can.
00:35:43 --> 00:35:49 That's why I asked the question about democracy. I'm hopeful,
00:35:49 --> 00:35:54 too, that the people will have the final say.
00:35:55 --> 00:36:03 But I'm also a student of history and I've also observed what's going on in
00:36:03 --> 00:36:04 other parts of the world.
00:36:05 --> 00:36:09 And the people's best intentions sometimes fall short. So that's why I asked
00:36:09 --> 00:36:15 that question. But you think that the American people are going to be more resilient
00:36:15 --> 00:36:19 and we'll be able to keep this democracy.
00:36:20 --> 00:36:24 Well, we have elections every two years that impact the president.
00:36:24 --> 00:36:30 And I don't want to say that, you know, oh, Donald Trump can't get anything done.
00:36:30 --> 00:36:37 But when Donald Trump is in his last term as president and, you know,
00:36:37 --> 00:36:40 we know that Congress is going to be separated by about the U.S.
00:36:40 --> 00:36:43 House is going to be separated by about four votes.
00:36:43 --> 00:36:45 There's almost I haven't really double
00:36:45 --> 00:36:49 checked it, but it's about the same majority, four votes in the U.S.
00:36:49 --> 00:36:53 Senate. although there's you know a quarter of the people in the u.s senate
00:36:53 --> 00:36:57 and so you know we're going to,
00:36:57 --> 00:37:01 you know donald trump's going to try to move as fast as he can and you know
00:37:01 --> 00:37:05 there will be bumps along the road and i think i think he has to be very strategic
00:37:05 --> 00:37:12 about what he tackles publicly you know and how he tackles it because when his
00:37:12 --> 00:37:15 team's looking at oh well he's we president for four years.
00:37:16 --> 00:37:21 This window is only two years long because if, of course, if Democrats take
00:37:21 --> 00:37:24 the House and that's normally what happens is that, you know,
00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 Americans say, oh, you know, we've had enough of the top,
00:37:27 --> 00:37:31 you know, and we're going to switch, you know, we're going to have a little
00:37:31 --> 00:37:35 bit more balanced government by, you know, having, you know,
00:37:35 --> 00:37:37 more Democrats in the U.S. House in the.
00:37:41 --> 00:37:46 So I think he has a very short period of time to try to get,
00:37:46 --> 00:37:49 like we talked about all the rhetoric of the campaign.
00:37:51 --> 00:37:55 There's a lot that he wants to do, but he has a very short time to do it.
00:37:55 --> 00:37:58 He's going to have to decide what are his priorities.
00:37:59 --> 00:38:04 Is the priority to eliminate the Department of Education or is the priority
00:38:04 --> 00:38:10 to round up 10 million illegal immigrants and deport them?
00:38:10 --> 00:38:15 My guess is, you know, the 10 million is probably a huge lift,
00:38:15 --> 00:38:19 you know, and something that Americans will not.
00:38:19 --> 00:38:25 The reality of that will be greater than the political will to do it.
00:38:28 --> 00:38:32 And not that there aren't Americans who want it done, but I just think when
00:38:32 --> 00:38:34 people start seeing people in their community,
00:38:34 --> 00:38:42 the owners of their restaurants, their friends, kids, the kids who are friends
00:38:42 --> 00:38:45 of their kids being deported.
00:38:45 --> 00:38:49 And I think attitudes on that particular issue can change very quickly.
00:38:50 --> 00:38:54 So he has to decide what his priorities are and what,
00:38:54 --> 00:38:59 number one, he can accomplish in a very short period of time and how much political
00:38:59 --> 00:39:07 capital he's willing to utilize to get those things done. Yeah.
00:39:07 --> 00:39:12 So there's a couple more questions I want to ask you why I got you.
00:39:13 --> 00:39:22 But one just came to mind as I'm sitting up here thinking about the African-American
00:39:22 --> 00:39:23 community, the community I'm from.
00:39:24 --> 00:39:26 And a lot of people.
00:39:28 --> 00:39:31 We're very dismayed with the results.
00:39:32 --> 00:39:39 And, you know, there was some idiotic debate about whether Kamala Harris was black or not.
00:39:39 --> 00:39:42 And on this podcast, she's black.
00:39:42 --> 00:39:46 So we'll just, we'll keep that moving.
00:39:46 --> 00:39:51 But, but seriously though, I think, you know, one, there's, there's a major
00:39:51 --> 00:39:57 concern because you mentioned about the department of education and, and,
00:39:58 --> 00:40:06 I think there's a major concern about how the conservative movement views black people.
00:40:06 --> 00:40:13 We talked about DEI and how people misinterpreted that, and that was your words, not mine.
00:40:13 --> 00:40:16 But what would you say,
00:40:16 --> 00:40:21 this is your moment to speak to black folks,
00:40:21 --> 00:40:31 What would you say to them to assuage their fears about this administration
00:40:31 --> 00:40:33 and the conservative movement?
00:40:34 --> 00:40:40 Yeah, I think that, you know, I think we all want I think we all want the same things.
00:40:40 --> 00:40:45 We want a good economy. We want safe streets and we want good education for our children.
00:40:45 --> 00:40:50 I mean, I think those are probably three major things that everybody wants.
00:40:50 --> 00:40:54 And, you know, we may see things a little differently on how to get there.
00:40:55 --> 00:41:02 And, you know, I'm I believe, you know, when it comes to specifically education,
00:41:02 --> 00:41:04 that the money should follow the child.
00:41:05 --> 00:41:09 You know, we have we have, you know, in Florida, we have 67 counties.
00:41:09 --> 00:41:14 We have 67 administrations to administer our local schools.
00:41:14 --> 00:41:19 And I'm not saying that that should be scrapped or be taken over by the state
00:41:19 --> 00:41:25 or federal governments, but all these administrations, when you start talking about that,
00:41:25 --> 00:41:30 you start talking about school buses, which I think are still very much needed
00:41:30 --> 00:41:31 in some areas of our country.
00:41:31 --> 00:41:37 But some areas, you know, in Sarasota, there's not very many school buses or
00:41:37 --> 00:41:39 kids on school buses, you know.
00:41:39 --> 00:41:47 So it seems like a redundancy of tax dollars when you have a school bus and a public transit bus.
00:41:47 --> 00:41:51 Right. And I think there are communities who are trying to rectify those things
00:41:51 --> 00:41:55 to save tax dollars. But, you know, but when you start looking at the amount
00:41:55 --> 00:41:59 of money that is spent on education and the amount of money that is spent in
00:41:59 --> 00:42:01 the classroom, I think we can do better.
00:42:02 --> 00:42:06 And one way we can do better is saying, hey, listen, the money is going to follow the child.
00:42:06 --> 00:42:10 So if you, you know, I don't believe in religion in our public schools,
00:42:10 --> 00:42:14 but if you're a religious person and you want to send your child to a religious
00:42:14 --> 00:42:17 school, the money, the tax dollars should follow the child.
00:42:17 --> 00:42:23 If we're committed as Americans to educating children, which I think we are,
00:42:23 --> 00:42:26 I think we agree on, that, you know.
00:42:27 --> 00:42:31 That should be a parental decision. And I know that some disagree with that
00:42:31 --> 00:42:35 and think that the government can better make those decisions.
00:42:35 --> 00:42:41 But, you know, I'm a parent myself. My children are outgrown. I have grandchildren.
00:42:41 --> 00:42:45 But I feel like parents should have that choice.
00:42:45 --> 00:42:51 And Florida is kind of the proving ground for that. And it's worked out really
00:42:51 --> 00:42:56 well. And I think that it's worked out, maybe not perfectly,
00:42:56 --> 00:42:59 but I think it has worked out well in the African-American community.
00:42:59 --> 00:43:05 We're very, very new in the phase. I think this year was maybe the first year
00:43:05 --> 00:43:06 where truly money followed the child.
00:43:06 --> 00:43:10 So it's still, you know, a work in progress.
00:43:10 --> 00:43:17 But, you know, my encouragement is that, you know, I don't like to separate
00:43:17 --> 00:43:22 our communities and say, hey, we're going to do this or that for a community.
00:43:23 --> 00:43:30 I've written my very first letter to the editor in the 1980s was about racism
00:43:30 --> 00:43:32 and affirmative action.
00:43:32 --> 00:43:35 And at that time, college admissions was the big deal.
00:43:35 --> 00:43:41 Right. And so what I said then and I agree with now is that racism is going
00:43:41 --> 00:43:46 to continue to exist as long as our government continues to separate and ask
00:43:46 --> 00:43:49 us about our race and make financial decisions based upon it.
00:43:50 --> 00:43:52 And, you know, I don't believe that the government.
00:43:53 --> 00:43:58 Should be asking about our race. And I don't think that the government should
00:43:58 --> 00:44:01 be making any decisions based upon race.
00:44:01 --> 00:44:05 You know, whether that's a small business loan or college admissions,
00:44:05 --> 00:44:08 you know, in Florida, for instance, you know,
00:44:08 --> 00:44:16 we have a rule or law in Florida that a certain percentage of top performers
00:44:16 --> 00:44:19 in every high school get to go to college.
00:44:19 --> 00:44:23 They must get accepted to college, right? And so instead of saying,
00:44:23 --> 00:44:29 oh, well, we're going to have this affirmative action rule, we recognize the
00:44:29 --> 00:44:31 fact that, you know, some communities.
00:44:32 --> 00:44:36 You know, a rural community, for instance, may not have as much money that they
00:44:36 --> 00:44:38 put into education as Sarasota.
00:44:38 --> 00:44:43 And so, you know, in Sarasota, we vote to tax ourselves a penny,
00:44:43 --> 00:44:49 a penny sales tax to put directly into K through 12 education on top of what
00:44:49 --> 00:44:51 we get through other means, right?
00:44:51 --> 00:44:56 So we do have more money here in Sarasota than a lot of communities.
00:44:57 --> 00:45:02 But, you know, in Florida, I think that's a fair way to look at, hey, listen,
00:45:03 --> 00:45:06 you know, over in Wachula, for instance, a little rural community,
00:45:06 --> 00:45:10 you might not have the same level
00:45:10 --> 00:45:14 of, be able to attract the same level of teachers as Sarasota, Florida.
00:45:14 --> 00:45:21 And so, so we feel like that, I feel like that balances that a little bit better than just saying,
00:45:21 --> 00:45:24 oh, we're going to, you know, we have 18% African-Americans,
00:45:24 --> 00:45:29 we're going to have 18% African-American admissions to college.
00:45:30 --> 00:45:34 Because I think that, quite frankly, takes away from, you know,
00:45:35 --> 00:45:41 what if, what if 22% are the smartest of the bunch, right? So you're now saying
00:45:41 --> 00:45:44 4% of African Americans are denied entry.
00:45:44 --> 00:45:50 And I just feel like as long as our government is making those decisions based upon race, the,
00:45:51 --> 00:45:53 you know, we're going to continue to face some of these problems.
00:45:54 --> 00:45:59 Well, Jamie, you passed the conservative position test. That is a true conservative position.
00:46:01 --> 00:46:04 So I appreciate you doing that.
00:46:04 --> 00:46:10 Let's close it out with, I'm going to combine the two questions and it might
00:46:10 --> 00:46:13 be a little awkward, but I think you can handle it.
00:46:13 --> 00:46:18 The first part is what motivates voters more fear or hope.
00:46:18 --> 00:46:26 And tying into the next question, what is the future of politics in America, as you see it? Oh, okay.
00:46:27 --> 00:46:35 All right. I think the difference between fear and hope depends upon the dynamics of the race.
00:46:35 --> 00:46:39 I always say elections are about who is running against to him.
00:46:39 --> 00:46:46 And, you know, you have a narrative that is built around each candidate.
00:46:47 --> 00:46:53 And so, you know, Barack Obama built his narrative around hope and it worked.
00:46:53 --> 00:46:59 You know, it was a moment in time where people were very accepting of that message.
00:46:59 --> 00:47:01 His opponent was, you know.
00:47:02 --> 00:47:07 Tone deaf with drill, baby, drill. You know, it was kind of this weird thing.
00:47:07 --> 00:47:10 It was like, I'm, you know, I'll take hope over, you know, drill,
00:47:10 --> 00:47:14 baby, drill any day of the week, take the candidates out of it. Right.
00:47:14 --> 00:47:19 And it's the, it's very similar with, you know, make America great again.
00:47:19 --> 00:47:22 You know, that's like, that's a great slogan.
00:47:23 --> 00:47:27 Take it, take it, you know, take the man out of, out of the equation and we can all agree,
00:47:27 --> 00:47:31 Oh, let's make America great or make it greater or less any number of those
00:47:31 --> 00:47:36 words right and so i guess the fact that he uses again means that you're saying
00:47:36 --> 00:47:44 it's not now but whatever you know so and in harris's case,
00:47:44 --> 00:47:51 you know i think fear did work with her narrative because she failed like i
00:47:51 --> 00:47:55 said at the beginning of the show she failed to say who she was what she was
00:47:55 --> 00:47:57 going to do and why she was qualified to do it.
00:47:57 --> 00:48:02 You know, she kind of said, oh, I'm vice president. So I'm qualified.
00:48:02 --> 00:48:06 And, you know, I think Americans, they may not say it, but we also know that
00:48:06 --> 00:48:09 we don't know a whole lot of vice presidents who didn't become president.
00:48:09 --> 00:48:13 And so we don't know if they're qualified or not. And so just being vice president
00:48:13 --> 00:48:18 means you may get the job, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're qualified for the job.
00:48:18 --> 00:48:21 And I don't know that she ever made that jump.
00:48:21 --> 00:48:24 And so I think the fear tactics did work on her.
00:48:24 --> 00:48:30 So I, you know, I tell people I've never run, I've run hundreds of campaigns, political campaigns.
00:48:30 --> 00:48:35 And I say, I've never run a negative campaign. I have clarified an opponent or two.
00:48:35 --> 00:48:43 And I think, but it's, I say that to be funny, but, but I mean it true.
00:48:43 --> 00:48:45 Like I, I don't lie about people.
00:48:45 --> 00:48:49 I don't go dig through garbage cans, but if somebody's out there saying,
00:48:49 --> 00:48:56 hey, I'm pro-gun, and they've done anti-gun stuff, well, then I'm going to clarify that, right? And so.
00:48:57 --> 00:49:03 And I think that she had a problem, you know, I think she had a lot of problems.
00:49:03 --> 00:49:07 You know, when you look at her campaign, you start getting into the nitty gritty of it.
00:49:07 --> 00:49:10 There weren't a whole lot of Harris people involved with her campaign.
00:49:11 --> 00:49:15 There were Obama people, there were Biden people, and then you throw in a few Harris people.
00:49:15 --> 00:49:21 And so the dynamics of that is, it's hard to balance because you just,
00:49:21 --> 00:49:24 you end up with these little warring factions within the thing,
00:49:24 --> 00:49:28 you know, where if you look at the Trump campaign, they were Trump people.
00:49:29 --> 00:49:33 Like there's, there's no denying that if you were on the Trump campaign, you were for Trump.
00:49:33 --> 00:49:37 And, and so, you know, I think that was one of the, one of like,
00:49:37 --> 00:49:41 if you're going to do a case study on these two campaigns, I don't think that
00:49:41 --> 00:49:47 that could not be part of a chapter in that case study of just how the staffs were built.
00:49:47 --> 00:49:51 You know, one was built around the candidate and the other one was built more
00:49:51 --> 00:49:56 around maybe ideology, but it really, they weren't really Harris people.
00:49:57 --> 00:50:00 I think they all wanted her to win. I think they all did their best work.
00:50:00 --> 00:50:06 You know, like, I'm not criticizing them that way. It's just that she did not
00:50:06 --> 00:50:14 have Joe Biden's 40 years of working in Washington to build a foundation for our government,
00:50:14 --> 00:50:19 you know, and so she needed to rely on previous administrations,
00:50:19 --> 00:50:21 and I think that may have been part of her downfall.
00:50:21 --> 00:50:25 Now, how does that work towards the future? I mean, certainly these podcasts
00:50:25 --> 00:50:28 made a difference in the election.
00:50:28 --> 00:50:34 And, you know, and I think you're going to see more and more people get more
00:50:34 --> 00:50:36 and more of their information from,
00:50:36 --> 00:50:41 you know, people like yourself who are taking the time and the effort.
00:50:41 --> 00:50:46 And, you know, I appeared on about 50 different podcasts from people.
00:50:47 --> 00:50:54 End of July through the election. And almost to, I bet you 47 of them make no
00:50:54 --> 00:50:58 money, you know, like, you know, they're, they're doing it because they love
00:50:58 --> 00:50:59 the country. They love the discussion.
00:50:59 --> 00:51:02 They love, you know, having their voice heard.
00:51:03 --> 00:51:09 And, and so, you know, and, and that's why I, I do it is I do it because I love our country.
00:51:09 --> 00:51:13 I'm willing to come on more, you know, more progressive podcast,
00:51:13 --> 00:51:17 you know, just because I feel like, you know, at some point,
00:51:17 --> 00:51:19 you know, I'm not on Fox News.
00:51:19 --> 00:51:22 I'm not in the Trump administration. I'm, you know, so what can I,
00:51:22 --> 00:51:27 you know, what can I do to help, you know, bring my expertise and hopefully,
00:51:27 --> 00:51:30 you know, as much as your audience may have disagreed with some of the things
00:51:30 --> 00:51:32 I had to say, I hope that they.
00:51:32 --> 00:51:36 Come away with, hey, listen, this is a guy who,
00:51:36 --> 00:51:39 you know, we could sit down and have lunch with and discuss some real
00:51:39 --> 00:51:42 issues and maybe come to some real conclusions on
00:51:42 --> 00:51:45 on the best way to move forward and so i
00:51:45 --> 00:51:48 really want to thank you for having me on and and hopefully
00:51:48 --> 00:51:51 i didn't dodge your question no no you didn't
00:51:51 --> 00:51:55 and and with the time constraints even
00:51:55 --> 00:51:58 if i if you did dodge it i was going to let you slide because
00:51:58 --> 00:52:03 um i've taken more of your time than i than i promised you but But I want to
00:52:03 --> 00:52:11 double down on that sentiment because the only way that we can guarantee that
00:52:11 --> 00:52:16 democracy is going to not only stay but thrive is that we have discussions.
00:52:16 --> 00:52:22 People ask me all the time, why don't you get back into running?
00:52:22 --> 00:52:28 And I tell them, you know, the last election I ran was in 2008.
00:52:28 --> 00:52:32 So that's almost 20 years. You know, it's not like you're going to ask somebody
00:52:32 --> 00:52:37 that's in a sports, a famous athlete that you like 20 years removed from the game.
00:52:37 --> 00:52:39 You we need you to come back and play. You know what I'm saying?
00:52:40 --> 00:52:44 It's just it's it's very similar. It is a different thing.
00:52:45 --> 00:52:50 And the politics that I was involved in was more like the discussions where
00:52:50 --> 00:52:55 we were having. And I don't have time to get into a real war story on the air.
00:52:55 --> 00:53:01 But, you know, so it's a it's a different feel. And so the gist of what I'm
00:53:01 --> 00:53:06 trying to do is to get us back to having these kind of discussions.
00:53:06 --> 00:53:13 And we don't have to agree, but we don't have to be confrontational about it.
00:53:13 --> 00:53:20 And so, Jamie, I really thank you for coming on and taking the time to do this.
00:53:20 --> 00:53:25 And hopefully, I hope you understand that once you've come on my podcast,
00:53:25 --> 00:53:28 you have an open invitation to come back. So if you say, you know,
00:53:28 --> 00:53:30 your hair is on fire, look, I need to talk about this.
00:53:31 --> 00:53:34 You know, we'll get you on and we'll talk about it. So, Jamie,
00:53:34 --> 00:53:35 thank you for doing this.
00:53:35 --> 00:53:40 And happy holiday season to you. Merry Christmas and all that.
00:53:40 --> 00:53:43 It's my honor. Thank you. All right, guys. And we're going to catch you.
00:53:43 --> 00:54:02 Music.
00:54:03 --> 00:54:11 All right. And we are back. So I hope y'all got some out of that discussion.
00:54:11 --> 00:54:16 Jamie, again, thank you for coming on. I really appreciate Jamie Miller.
00:54:17 --> 00:54:21 And I forgot we got so caught up in the thing.
00:54:21 --> 00:54:28 I forgot to give him a chance to promote, you know, what he does and all that kind of stuff.
00:54:29 --> 00:54:37 But, you know, like I said in the intro, you can go to www.reasonablearguments.com,
00:54:39 --> 00:54:48 and read his stuff and kind of understand why I reached out to him to come on.
00:54:48 --> 00:54:53 And, you know, all this contact information and all that stuff is on there.
00:54:53 --> 00:54:57 So I apologize, Jamie, for not giving you that. I usually give people,
00:54:57 --> 00:54:59 guests, the opportunity to,
00:54:59 --> 00:55:05 you know, pub whatever they're doing and how people can reach out to them.
00:55:05 --> 00:55:09 So like I said in the interview, next time you come back on,
00:55:09 --> 00:55:11 we'll make sure we do that.
00:55:12 --> 00:55:17 A couple of things from that that we really didn't get into,
00:55:18 --> 00:55:25 but, well, we got into it with one, with the Secretary of Defense appointment and all that.
00:55:27 --> 00:55:35 You know, I think that we as a community, when I say community,
00:55:35 --> 00:55:38 I'm talking about black folks, African Americans.
00:55:40 --> 00:55:43 And I do want to make that clear, too.
00:55:43 --> 00:55:48 You'll hear me interchange that because that's me.
00:55:48 --> 00:55:52 I know some people are trying to, for whatever reason, separate that.
00:55:52 --> 00:55:58 And I'll probably mention that several times until people come to their senses
00:55:58 --> 00:56:05 that black and black American, African American are interchangeable.
00:56:05 --> 00:56:06 They're not unique.
00:56:07 --> 00:56:08 They're not separate.
00:56:10 --> 00:56:16 And if you listen to my last podcast, I basically kind of explained where my mindset is on that.
00:56:18 --> 00:56:25 But we have a unique opportunity to decide how this thing is going to go.
00:56:26 --> 00:56:31 And I've noticed now that some of the emotion has gone away,
00:56:31 --> 00:56:37 that people are talking about collaborating again, people are talking about engaging again.
00:56:39 --> 00:56:43 And, you know, those of us who are committed to the work, you know,
00:56:44 --> 00:56:49 we have to take our losses as well as our victories and keep it moving.
00:56:51 --> 00:57:01 So I'm encouraged because we're at a point now where we cannot go back.
00:57:02 --> 00:57:09 You know, that wasn't just a campaign slogan for Vice President Harris. That is a mindset.
00:57:09 --> 00:57:15 We can't go back. We've got to keep moving America forward.
00:57:16 --> 00:57:22 We can't recess. And so we need to have real discussions about how that looks,
00:57:22 --> 00:57:29 and we need to have people having calm,
00:57:29 --> 00:57:34 rational interactions to move this thing forward.
00:57:35 --> 00:57:45 And we can't really get distracted by, you know, sound bites and tweets and all this other stuff.
00:57:46 --> 00:57:55 So we have to we have to engage. You know, it's easy to take your ball and go home.
00:57:56 --> 00:58:01 If the game is not going the way you want, you can do that when you're a child.
00:58:01 --> 00:58:04 But as adults, we can't do that.
00:58:04 --> 00:58:10 We've got to continue to be engaged. We've got to continue to fight.
00:58:10 --> 00:58:13 We've got to continue to raise our voices.
00:58:14 --> 00:58:22 And, you know, and we've got to be willing to stand in places where we're not
00:58:22 --> 00:58:27 comfortable and let people know how we feel.
00:58:28 --> 00:58:34 In other words, in the old colloquialism, you know, when I get hurt, I say ouch.
00:58:35 --> 00:58:40 And as long as we have the right to do that, we should do that.
00:58:41 --> 00:58:51 I think what you saw on the other side was that they were able to effectively connect with pain.
00:58:53 --> 00:58:56 And when I say pain means struggles.
00:58:57 --> 00:59:05 Meaning economic struggles, meaning worries about day-to-day stuff.
00:59:06 --> 00:59:07 And,
00:59:08 --> 00:59:15 It doesn't mean that we acquiesce to fear and anger, but we do need to say ouch when we hurt.
00:59:17 --> 00:59:25 And, you know, I don't know if you can effectively boycott anything anymore. Doesn't hurt to try.
00:59:26 --> 00:59:32 But there's got to be some way that we let these companies, for example,
00:59:32 --> 00:59:37 that are now saying, oh, it's, you know, because of the backlash. Right.
00:59:38 --> 00:59:41 We're going to renege all the promises we made in 2020.
00:59:42 --> 00:59:45 And we've got to say, ouch to that.
00:59:45 --> 00:59:52 And we've got to remind people that if you want to make money in America, you need to be diverse.
00:59:53 --> 00:59:57 You need to be diverse in your office. You need to be diverse in your marketing.
00:59:57 --> 01:00:00 You need to be diverse in your brand.
01:00:01 --> 01:00:06 You can't go from one extreme to the other. Are we going to be blackety black?
01:00:06 --> 01:00:09 And then four years later, we're going to scrap all that.
01:00:10 --> 01:00:13 We have the right to say, ouch, when that happens.
01:00:15 --> 01:00:20 You know, we cannot get caught up in extremism and emotionalism.
01:00:21 --> 01:00:25 We have to be rational and we have to be thoughtful.
01:00:25 --> 01:00:29 The reason why the civil rights movement was effective because,
01:00:30 --> 01:00:34 yeah, it stirred up some emotions as far as images and all that.
01:00:34 --> 01:00:41 But it was a rational argument. It was a rational argument based on the fact
01:00:41 --> 01:00:48 that the majority of the population is Christian and that Christian principle
01:00:48 --> 01:00:53 that if we don't work together as brothers, then we'll perish together as fools.
01:00:54 --> 01:01:00 Right. I mean, you know, again, if you're not Christian.
01:01:00 --> 01:01:07 You understand the rationality. Either we work together or we lose together.
01:01:08 --> 01:01:15 Bottom line. Whether you played sports or not, you get that concept. Right?
01:01:16 --> 01:01:25 So, especially in a team sport. So, you know, I'm not going to try to belabor anything today.
01:01:26 --> 01:01:29 I just want us, especially black
01:01:29 --> 01:01:34 people, especially African-American people, I want you to be engaged.
01:01:34 --> 01:01:41 And this may sound like a rerun, but that's going to be a mantra because even
01:01:41 --> 01:01:46 if you voted, I need you to be more engaged. Right?
01:01:46 --> 01:01:50 And I'm not saying that you got to jump on every issue and all that.
01:01:50 --> 01:01:54 And I'm definitely not saying that you need to be a political junkie like me.
01:01:54 --> 01:02:02 I've made that appeal many, many times. But what I will say is that we need
01:02:02 --> 01:02:05 to understand what is going on.
01:02:05 --> 01:02:13 We need to understand government enough to understand its impact and how we can change that.
01:02:14 --> 01:02:21 And last episode, I stressed voting, but there's other ways to be engaged in between elections.
01:02:22 --> 01:02:29 One of the most important things is knowledge. You got to know what's going
01:02:29 --> 01:02:30 on before you can address it.
01:02:31 --> 01:02:38 And, you know, in the newscast, it takes time, but things are happening, right?
01:02:39 --> 01:02:42 You've heard about what was going on in Memphis. You've heard what's going on
01:02:42 --> 01:02:46 in Rikers Island. And you've heard what's going on in Fulton County Jail.
01:02:46 --> 01:02:49 That's because people got engaged and said, we can do better.
01:02:50 --> 01:02:58 And even though, you know, some people got elected in spite of all those concerns
01:02:58 --> 01:03:03 that may have turned a blind eye or may not have effectively dealt with those
01:03:03 --> 01:03:04 situations that I mentioned,
01:03:05 --> 01:03:07 you still have a voice.
01:03:08 --> 01:03:15 And if you feel that the people that are in positions now with the problem can
01:03:15 --> 01:03:18 be the people to solve them, you vote accordingly.
01:03:20 --> 01:03:29 But again, the engagement is an intellectual exercise as much as a physical one.
01:03:30 --> 01:03:33 We've got to pay attention to what's going on.
01:03:33 --> 01:03:41 Even if you feel that you can't do anything, which I totally disagree, you need to know.
01:03:41 --> 01:03:44 You need to pay attention to what's going on in your school board.
01:03:44 --> 01:03:47 You need to pay attention to what's going on at your church.
01:03:47 --> 01:03:49 You need to pay attention to what's going on in your neighborhood.
01:03:49 --> 01:03:52 You need to pay attention to what's going on at your job.
01:03:52 --> 01:03:55 You need to pay attention to what's going on in your city, state,
01:03:55 --> 01:03:57 county, and federal government.
01:03:58 --> 01:04:03 Because the decisions that those elected officials make will impact you.
01:04:04 --> 01:04:10 Even if it's not on the nightly news every day, doesn't mean that it's not happening.
01:04:10 --> 01:04:16 I'm in Atlanta, haven't heard any recent coverage about Cop City,
01:04:16 --> 01:04:18 the training center that they want to build.
01:04:20 --> 01:04:26 Still an issue. So you have to stay focused.
01:04:27 --> 01:04:34 And I know it's hard because we live lives every day. I have a real job. You have a real job.
01:04:35 --> 01:04:37 If you're retired, you have a lifestyle.
01:04:39 --> 01:04:45 But it's our civic duty is what's going to hold this thing together.
01:04:46 --> 01:04:56 If we don't engage, then people will take it, take our silence as approval and do what they want to do.
01:04:56 --> 01:05:00 And we don't have the luxury for that. We have to fight.
01:05:01 --> 01:05:05 And it doesn't have to be confrontational.
01:05:05 --> 01:05:11 That's why I said engagement is the intellectual exercise as well as the physical
01:05:11 --> 01:05:14 one. All of us are intelligent beings.
01:05:15 --> 01:05:17 Some are more intelligent than others.
01:05:17 --> 01:05:22 Some have been more firmly educated than others. But on general principle,
01:05:22 --> 01:05:24 we're intelligent beings.
01:05:24 --> 01:05:34 And so each one of us contributes to how society functions, if we choose to do so.
01:05:35 --> 01:05:39 You know, there are people that are fighting for their right to contribute more
01:05:39 --> 01:05:41 to society, and we need to fight for that.
01:05:44 --> 01:05:49 Side with them. Everybody has a role to play. Everybody.
01:05:50 --> 01:05:56 And don't get caught up on how much money you got or how much money you don't
01:05:56 --> 01:06:01 have, what side of the tracks you grew up on, what school you went to.
01:06:01 --> 01:06:07 If we truly want to live up to the mantle of making America great.
01:06:09 --> 01:06:12 Of making sure that America lives up to its creed.
01:06:13 --> 01:06:18 We've got to engage, and we've got to engage in a civil way.
01:06:18 --> 01:06:23 We've got to engage in a thoughtful way.
01:06:24 --> 01:06:26 The vision is not going to do anything for us.
01:06:27 --> 01:06:30 Crabs in a barrel syndrome is not going to do anything for us.
01:06:31 --> 01:06:36 We have to be deliberate in our collaboration.
01:06:37 --> 01:06:43 And we have to be thoroughly engaged when we do so.
01:06:44 --> 01:06:48 You ain't got to be the leader, but I'm going to need your help.
01:06:49 --> 01:06:55 Everybody needs to pull their weight. Everybody needs to participate.
01:06:56 --> 01:07:03 If all you want to do is vote, okay. Because not voting is not an option to me.
01:07:03 --> 01:07:08 Maybe an option to some folks, but not to me. But if that's the bare minimum
01:07:08 --> 01:07:11 you want to do, I thank you for that.
01:07:11 --> 01:07:13 At least that's an engagement.
01:07:14 --> 01:07:20 But in order for us to really, really move this needle, we really want a country
01:07:20 --> 01:07:28 that our children and our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren can live and live abundantly in.
01:07:28 --> 01:07:33 Then we have to make a commitment to be engaged.
01:07:34 --> 01:07:39 And so that's the purpose of this podcast. That's the purpose of other like-minded people like me.
01:07:39 --> 01:07:46 It's the purpose of all these different groups that are out here and all these
01:07:46 --> 01:07:51 folks, you know, that are out here not necessarily getting all the notoriety
01:07:51 --> 01:07:53 and the praise, but they're doing the work.
01:07:54 --> 01:07:57 It's that dedication when people show up to teach our children.
01:07:57 --> 01:08:04 And it's that dedication to show up at your job to make products that are beneficial.
01:08:04 --> 01:08:06 It's your job when you work for the government.
01:08:07 --> 01:08:11 Anything that you do should be contributing.
01:08:11 --> 01:08:19 But when it comes to our governance, nothing, there really shouldn't be any
01:08:19 --> 01:08:23 barrier to that other than your will to do so.
01:08:24 --> 01:08:30 I can't make you do it, but I promise you that the more of us that are engaged,
01:08:30 --> 01:08:32 the more of us that are involved,
01:08:32 --> 01:08:39 the better our chances to succeed and to advance and to move forward.
01:08:40 --> 01:09:31 Music.
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