On today's episode of the Anchor Podcast with Matt Gaetz, we have a special guest on the show, Terry Schilling, the lead of the American Principles Project and the father of 7 kids. We talk about how to balance a career, a family, and a life as a parent.
00:30:49.860Head to meriwetherfarms.com and enter promo code Matt G for 15% off your first order.
00:30:56.180I think that's a huge part of it. I think that, well, there's a few things I would do. I would come
00:31:00.820up with first time home buyer programs. I would come up with, you know, things geared towards the
00:31:06.580family where you might have like a lower, like an FHA loan, but for families, something along those
00:31:11.540lines. I would remove the capital gains tax. You know, you met, you said earlier, the boomers are
00:31:16.580sitting on multiple homes. Oh yeah. Well, let's incentivize them to like help their children buy
00:31:21.620homes, right? So like give them a tax deduction. If they help their child with the down payment for
00:31:25.300their first house, encourage them to sell their homes by getting rid of capital gains taxes on
00:31:30.580houses under a million dollars. Well, yeah, it really is true that a lot of boomers feel like
00:31:34.420they're stuck in their homes because of that, because the tax consequences of leaving would be
00:31:38.900a lot. Well, and what's funny, I, so I have a one rental property, um, and I used, I, we had one in
00:31:44.900Virginia and when COVID was happening, I was like, oh, I think these are bad. So we bought a home in Florida.
00:31:51.540I used a 1031 exchange to avoid paying capital gains taxes.
00:31:55.940Why don't everyday people who don't have rental properties get to use that too? Like our system
00:32:01.700literally favors landlords over the people that need to buy homes. You are sounding like Zoran Mamdani.
00:32:07.700Well, there's a lot of similarities, right? Because where Zoran Mamdani is right is in diagnosing what
00:32:14.740Americans and what, what New Yorkers and people in this country are suffering from. He's crazy on the
00:32:20.980solutions, but he's right on what people are suffering. The Democrats do this really good,
00:32:26.820good job at listening to people and what they're, except on the trans issue. Like I don't know where
00:32:30.980they get that, but when it comes to economic problems, they do such a good job at listening
00:32:35.060to what people are actually suffering from, but they totally take advantage of them once they get them
00:32:40.340over. But there is a, there is an elegance to how easy some of the Democrat solutions roll
00:32:46.020off the tongue, right? Mikey Sherrill in New Jersey get, I will, I will freeze up energy bills.
00:32:51.220I'm like, oh, well, how come we didn't think of that? Just like make it where stuff can't be more
00:32:56.180expensive. Of course, that, that, that creates distortions in the market that collapses inventory
00:33:02.100that's available for people and ultimately leads to considerably higher prices. I don't hear a lot of
00:33:10.100Republicans on Capitol Hill, speaking to these affordability issues in a compelling way that
00:33:17.380doesn't sort of sound like a governmental theory lecture. Are there folks you're looking at here
00:33:22.020and saying, you know what, this is somebody we really need to elevate and, and listen to when it
00:33:28.180comes to this affordability crisis? I really like Ben Klein. I think he speaks in pretty plain.
00:33:34.740Virginia Congress. Yep. Yep. From Virginia five. Um, I really like, uh, Jim Banks. I think Josh
00:33:41.300Hawley does a good job of talking about economic populism. Eric Schmidt's been doing a good job. I
00:33:45.620think Missouri has a really good, uh, delegation, uh, over there. Um, no, we need way more, right? We
00:33:52.180need way more. I, I, I thought Marjorie Taylor Greene did a good job about talking about the everyday
00:33:56.100concern, economic concerns of people. Now she's gone. Um, I, we need way more people that come from normal
00:34:02.900America. Like, and that's so rare. Like my dad was a one-term member and they redrew his lines and
00:34:09.220gave him a district that was twice as democratic. He had no college degree. He was literally just a
00:34:13.540pizza guy with 10 kids at the time. Like, but he knew what people were suffering from. He was in a
00:34:18.900union for 14 years. He owned a business for 14 years. They kicked guys like that out of Congress
00:34:23.860just to rig the game for their political power in Illinois. Like, it's super frustrating, but I, I will
00:34:30.020just tell you, I do think that like there are real concerns about doing like economic stimulus
00:34:36.900packages and giving people huge checks, assuming that the economy, because the money's all messed
00:34:42.580up, right? No one wants to talk about it because one, monetary policy is boring as hell and it's,
00:34:48.420you're really messing, playing with fire. But this easy money policy that we've had for the last,
00:34:53.300what, 40 years, we have a K-shaped economy. Yeah.
00:34:56.820The rich are getting super rich. The, the middle class is being eliminated. They're
00:35:01.140doing terribly. I just read this, the top 10% of Americans with their, with their annual incomes,
00:35:07.380they accounted for 50% of all spending last year. The, that it was 20 years ago, it was only 30%.
00:35:15.860It's not sustainable. The rich are getting super wealthy and they don't care about the rest of us.
00:35:20.820And if you mess with their game, you're next. Is that why socialism, uh, is increasing in
00:35:26.900popularity in virtually every poll we see? Just because you've got a lot of people say, look,
00:35:31.620I don't really know. I probably couldn't, uh, delineate socialism from capitalism, but I know
00:35:36.500we've had a capitalist system. That capitalist system has screwed me. Uh, I don't have any real
00:35:41.540prospects to gain wealth. So this, this other thing, I'll give it, I'll give it a shot. Is that,
00:35:46.180is that the chapter of the book? It's exactly right. And I forget who said it. I got, you know,
00:35:50.500I got eight kids names to remember, but they said that basically if you just sort the money
00:35:54.980and you mess with the money supply, no one will know what the hell the problem is because it's
00:35:59.620too complicated to understand really. And they'll blame everything else. And so like right now,
00:36:04.420people are thinking that our country's failing because of capitalism and because of the free
00:36:08.420market. No, it's failing because these guys in government are rigging the game. People don't
00:36:13.220realize. I don't think we have capitalism. No, we don't. I think we have the apparatus of
00:36:16.820government that wraps around the business model of the people who can sway power in this place.
00:36:23.140And that is, that is the worst type of, of klepto capitalism you can have even in the category.
00:36:29.460And, uh, when, I mean, are, are we long away from Republican candidates for office talking about
00:36:37.060things like universal basic income? Oh, they already are. And like single payer healthcare?
00:36:42.100Uh, I, I think single payer healthcare is a ways off, but yeah, I mean, this is, this is what
00:36:47.300happened in Canada. This is what happened all throughout Europe. Like we are on the same path.
00:36:51.380We're a little bit delayed. Our system's different. Our country's bigger. It's more diverse
00:36:56.100in a lot of ways, but it's really bad. And the thing is money affects the whole economy. If you met
00:37:03.220the federal reserve, what they do, it impacts the whole country, the whole economy. When you change
00:37:08.100the tax rate, this doesn't actually impact everyone, right? It impacts a group of people.
00:37:12.260And yeah, maybe that might spread out, but when you affect the dollar and the value of the dollar,
00:37:16.340you can make everyone's money worth less or more. You can cause inflation and then deflation. Like,
00:37:22.660it is way too much power for men to be in charge of, right? And, and I think it's a really, I think
00:37:27.700it's been a disaster. And you've seen the middle class be eliminated in the 20th century.
00:37:31.300Well, they are going to be voting and that these midterms are coming up. And I think that Republicans
00:37:38.660are going to be running on the one big, beautiful bill. They're going to say,
00:37:40.980we secured the border. That was a core promise we made. There's not this border crisis. We said
00:37:46.020we would enforce immigration laws in the interior of the country. We're doing that. We said we would
00:37:51.060get rid of the crazy transification of everything. We've done that. And the economy takes longer
00:37:58.340because Trump's whole theory on tariff and invest has a gestation period. Uh, you know,
00:38:05.060if we were to just drop all tariffs, allow all cheap goods to flow to the country for a time being,
00:38:13.220stuff would be cheaper. I mean, everything would be cheaper if you did that. It would,
00:38:16.980it would have long-term catastrophic impacts on the country, but there would be a sugar high there.
00:38:22.260The converse of that is tariff, drive the investment, build durable economic foundations.
00:38:29.140Uh, but what I'm concerned about is I don't see Trump get enough credit for that. I don't see,
00:38:34.020I don't see your regular truck driver married to a teacher sit, uh, watching the Saudis announce
00:38:41.060that they've gone from 600 billion to a trillion in investment and saying, well, that's going to make
00:38:46.180my world. That's going to make my life. And that's going to, uh, that's going to be a hard thing to
00:38:51.140connect, uh, between now and next November. I agree. And I think you had to do twofold.
00:38:56.500So I read, uh, last week under Biden, Americans lost $2,900 annually in purchasing power. Prices
00:39:04.820increased that much more than wages during that time. Under Trump's first 10, 11 months in office,
00:39:10.500he's gotten $700 of that back. We need to talk about what president Trump's doing to get that
00:39:15.380$700 back and get back on top, but also remind people, these are Democrats. They took $30,000
00:39:22.340annually away from you just last year, right? We also need to remind people, under Biden,
00:39:28.580mortgage rates increased by 450 basis points. What does 450 basis points mean? It means $1,200
00:39:35.380more for your monthly mortgage payment. Or that credit card.
00:39:38.180And the credit cards. It's, it's so bad. And so we need to remind people about direction. I mean,
00:39:44.660what, what seems to be what you're saying is you have to show people that this is directionally
00:39:49.140better and you have to remind them what, what, uh, what a sewer fest that was.
00:39:54.420Trump gets a lot of grief from like the old guard about when he starts attacking Biden and bringing
00:39:59.540up what a failure he is. He should never listen to those people every day. He should be reminding
00:40:05.140them about what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Democrats did to our country. You can't stop
00:40:09.940talking about that. At the same time, you need to talk more about, I didn't know about the $700
00:40:13.620until last week. That's crazy. I'm in politics. I should know that. So talk about the damage and
00:40:19.540the destruction of the Democrats did because they're going to do it even worse now. Like we, we kicked
00:40:23.620up a hornet's nest, you know, by getting into office. He, Trump winning and being as aggressive
00:40:28.180as he did, he has pissed off these Democrats like we've never seen before. No, they are angry.
00:40:33.060They are playing for keeps. They are voting. We saw in Tennessee, Democrats had strong turnout,
00:40:37.460though they came short of, of winning a seat that is a hold for Republicans and a very safe Republican
00:40:42.260seat. Uh, I, I do think we're going to have to confront that and we got to get our best team on the
00:40:46.740field. Uh, I heard, uh, a critique today from someone who loves president Trump and they said,
00:40:53.300I love president Trump, but I want to see him out in the country more. I want to see less
00:40:58.820president Trump hanging out with MBS and more president Trump, uh, handing out french fries
00:41:04.100at McDonald's. And by the way, he loves that stuff. He is, he is such an extrovert. He is recharged
00:41:10.660by, uh, his time with, with folks and out in the country. Uh, you know, uh, D there are some
00:41:17.860consultants in this town who will say, well, that does motivate the Democrats when he goes out in
00:41:22.900these places. I think, I think that is where you are. Uh, and only with Trump's aggressive campaigning
00:41:29.620will Republicans be able to meet that enthusiasm. Well, I agree with that. Getting him across the
00:41:34.980country will be great for his morale, for our morale, getting that message out. Every time he does those
00:41:40.580rallies, that's literally tens of thousands of people just from the rally alone that are hearing
00:41:45.300his latest updates from what he's doing as president. Get him on the campaign trail. But
00:41:48.740here's the, here's the magic about Trump that everyone's discounted and they really don't
00:41:52.500understand it. Those rallies are focus groups for him. He pays attention when people cheer. He pays
00:41:59.060attention when people boo. The whole women's sports thing, he started talking about it because,
00:42:04.580you know, he's out in Iowa. My mom was there. It was at the Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa.
00:42:08.820And he's talking about bringing billions of dollars back to the farmers in Iowa. And
00:42:12.740there's like a tepid, like, oh, okay, thank you. And then he's like, well, you know what I'm going
00:42:16.660to do? I'm going to get these, these men that are in girls sports. Can you believe this? And
00:42:20.180they're like, I'm going to get them out of there. The crowd went wild. And Trump in the middle of
00:42:23.540the speech, he's like, I don't get you people. I'm talking about bringing billions of dollars
00:42:27.700back and I get this, oh, thank you. But then when I say get men out of girls sports,
00:42:31.540you all lose your minds. These things are focus groups for him. His magic is he listens
00:42:35.780to us. No, it's an osmosis effect, right? That is such a good point. I think that when
00:42:41.140the person I was talking to mentioned this, they were talking about the value of Trump just being
00:42:44.980in the communities. You know, he always does the local media. There's always the big buildup when
00:42:49.700he comes, the afterglow of his highlights. But what you actually said is perhaps more prescient
00:42:54.740because it's about the feedback he receives from people who aren't ever going to be inside the Oval
00:43:00.580office with him. And that is so key to, I think, nurturing his exquisite political instincts.
00:43:07.540I don't want to touch a third rail here, right? But I kind of do. You think Trump on the campaign
00:43:11.860trail, is he going to get a huge, raucous applause bringing up 15-year car notes and 50-year mortgages?
00:43:19.060Yeah. I don't think he does. No. I think he might get booze from that. And that's why we need him
00:43:23.380on the campaign trail. Get him out of D.C. What about when he brings up Israel? What will happen then?
00:43:28.100I actually, I think the base, I think that there's a good portion of the base that's like
00:43:34.820starting to question Israel more, especially young people. But I still think the base is like so
00:43:38.800evangelical that it's like, they don't, they don't really view Israel and America as separate
00:43:44.300interests. So you think that debate that's happening in the Republican Party about our relationship
00:43:50.280with Israel is largely an online debate? You think it's not one that's...
00:43:53.020I think it's largely online. I know, I talk to a lot of people. I have town halls all the time,
00:43:57.440like teletown halls, and we open up for questions, and we never get any questions about Israel. And we
00:44:02.480talk about everything. I mean, we talk about transgender surgeries for kids, you know, like
00:44:05.700everything from that to tax cuts. Israel never comes up. When I go back home in Illinois and Iowa,
00:44:11.960I, we have this little Saturday morning breakfast club, Reagan, the breakfast club, and
00:44:16.960never brings up Israel. Why do you think it comes up so much more with young people?
00:44:20.700Well, I think that there are like these like, you know, newer influencers that are hot on the right. They're questioning a lot of this stuff. I also think that like, young people are just more open asking questions. They see this system that is chewing them up and spitting them out. And they're like, questioning everything.
00:44:37.940Like, anything that has power in that system generates...
00:44:40.580They're questioning the moon landing. Like, I mean, like these young people, I'll never forget COVID, COVID made a lot of these young people crazy and question everything. Because we all knew we were being lied to about COVID and the shots and all that. My, my, I'm not gonna say who it is, friend of mine, we were, we got in a huge argument about the moon landing, about, about whether or not Winston Churchill was the bad guy. And I'm like, what are we debating here? Like, this is all settled. We've been to the moon. The earth is...
00:45:07.920He's not round. Like, I get... These young people are going crazy because they're being lied to on fundamental things.
00:45:14.160But that has to be a COVID thing, right?
00:45:17.280Everyone's locked in their homes. They're in these bubbles. They're just scrolling.
00:45:20.060Well, and also, again, just what a wide-scale lie it was, how many people bought into it, and that we had to pay all such a collective punishment price for it.
00:45:30.800Like, the Russia hoax was a crazy lie, but the Russia hoax didn't fundamentally change how America...
00:45:37.020No one died alone in the hospital without their family because of the Russia hoax.
00:45:41.660Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think that, that is why it caused such a, a cultural time of questioning.
00:45:47.780But, look, we're going into these midterms. You've talked about the challenges.
00:45:51.120I have my perspective on the U.S.-Israel relationship. I think that Netanyahu's damaged it terribly.
00:45:56.160But I think that it's not the time for the circular firing squad here.
00:46:02.420If going into this midterm with what we're facing, we want to expose ourselves to a series of, like, regressive purity tests, that will demoralize our base.
00:46:13.280So I would even say to the pro-Israel crowd, to the crowd that loves Netanyahu, we ought to be on the same team to build stronger families, to build a stronger economy, to work together where we can for peace in the world.
00:46:27.580Do you think that's achievable with what you see in some of the schisms on the right today?
00:46:31.000Yeah, I think so. And I think Trump's the key to that.
00:46:33.080And I think Trump is the key to all this stuff.