Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - PUBLICSQUARE TOWN HALL: Live with Rep Matt Gaetz and Michael Seifert

00:00:00.000 you you

00:06:35.000 you Hey guys, thanks so much for tuning in on a special edition of the show.

00:06:40.000 We don't normally do this, but we've been talking about this a lot.

00:06:43.000 We're doing a Public Square Town Hall in Pensacola, Florida, with Michael Seifert, the CEO of Public Square, and Congressman Matt Gaetz, a great fighter for the America First movement.

00:06:56.000 We'll talk all about the patriot economy.

00:06:59.000 We're continuing to get the message out and connect like-minded businesses with like-minded consumers.

00:07:06.000 This is a big tenant of pushing back against the woke mob that has taken over so many of our critical institutions, especially corporate America.

00:07:15.000 As we watch that poison take over, as we've watched them take your hard-earned dollars and weaponize it against all things that you may like But even the basic tenets of American freedom, we gotta push back.

00:07:29.000 So we've done that, and you're gonna really enjoy this one.

00:07:32.000 It's a major theme of the show, obviously, and we want to make sure that everyone's out there doing it,

00:07:39.000 that they are aware, that they can find and they can choose to have their hard-earned dollars go to people like them.

00:07:47.000 True patriots, small businesses, you don't have to simply support the woke corporate mob and its radical left-wing

00:07:57.000 agenda.

00:07:58.000 There are great options for you, and I think that's really important.

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00:09:20.000 global turmoil, and Biden-caused disasters each and every day.

00:09:23.000 It's only leading to more economic anxiety.

00:09:26.000 I want you to be prepared.

00:09:27.000 Like, with your health, we want you to take care of your financial well-being, you and your families.

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00:09:56.000 It's that simple. D-O-N-J-R-gold.com. 0.94

00:09:59.000 Learn more. Educate yourself.

00:10:02.000 So thanks so much, guys.

00:10:03.000 Enjoy the town hall.

00:10:05.000 Like it. Share it.

00:10:07.000 Subscribe. For the people who are asking, hey, what can we do to help?

00:10:10.000 I'm sure we'll be talking about all of these things today.

00:10:14.000 All of the things that we need to do to be able to promote and push forward the America First agenda.

00:10:22.000 Supporting patriotic small businesses, etc.

00:10:25.000 This is going to be your cheat sheet.

00:10:27.000 Check it out. Share it with your friends.

00:10:29.000 If you get your podcast in other ways, you can get this later on or you can share it later on with people on Spotify, on iTunes, podcasts, etc.

00:10:36.000 It'll all be available there.

00:10:38.000 It's you guys that help get this out there.

00:10:41.000 Main Street again and the small businesses that make our nation so special, Public Square is the marketplace for that.

00:10:47.000 We have 80,000 vendors on the platform now.

00:10:50.000 We well past a million consumer members faster than Twitter, Airbnb, Spotify, which is again a sign that we the people are ready for solutions.

00:10:59.000 We're ready for solutions politically and we're ready for solutions economically.

00:11:02.000 we at Public Square, amen, are proud to be the demonstration of that.

00:11:07.000 So without further ado, we wanted to come together and host this town hall series with

00:11:17.000 a simple goal.

00:11:19.000 We want to bring together leaders from our community, leaders from our country with incredible community members, small business owners or active participants in your local community.

00:11:28.000 Which all of you qualify as tonight.

00:11:30.000 And we wanted to make sure that you know that your voices and your opinions and your concerns are valued.

00:11:35.000 And we want to give you the opportunity to hear from them about how these leaders plan to pave a new way forward so that we may protect those things that we hold so dear.

00:11:44.000 So that's the purpose of our Town Hall Series.

00:11:46.000 We cannot wait to enjoy it with all of you tonight.

00:11:48.000 One last piece. This time together tonight is being live-streamed on Don Jr.'s Triggered podcast on Rumble, which is really exciting.

00:11:55.000 So everybody say hi to the Triggered crew! 0.97

00:11:57.000 Yeah! So this podcast will go live tonight.

00:12:03.000 If you'd like a replay, make sure you go check out Don Jr.'s channel on Rumble where you can watch this whole thing.

00:12:08.000 If you have family or friends that wanted to be here tonight but couldn't make it, you can give them that podcast and say, hey, relive the moment with me.

00:12:14.000 Y'all ready to see Don Jr.

00:12:16.000 and Congressman Matt Gaetz?

00:12:19.000 I would like to introduce to you Donald Trump Jr.

00:12:25.000 and 4 to 1's Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:12:28.000 Thanks.

00:12:51.000 So, Michael, you threw us for a little loop there.

00:12:53.000 You put the stairs.

00:12:54.000 It's like a Biden trap.

00:12:55.000 Like, he'd fall down the stairs.

00:12:57.000 So, at least Matt and I can still make it and navigate the staircases.

00:13:02.000 I was planning on coming down like a fireman pole if it was available.

00:13:07.000 Ginger would have loved that, wouldn't you, Ginger?

00:13:09.000 Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

00:13:10.000 How's it going, Pensacola?

00:13:15.000 Can I just take a moment because it's so special for me to be able to show off all of you to my friends Michael and Don and there's a there's a very special person I want to recognize here Kimberly Guilfoyle Kimberly Kimberly Kimberly is like a member of our family as well.

00:13:37.000 A lot of people don't know this, but I really don't think I would have gotten married to Ginger, my amazing wife, if it wasn't for Kimberly, because Kimberly saw us wandering around Mar-a-Lago, me trying to get the courage to talk to Ginger, Ginger talking to way more impressive people than me, and... Tough but fair.

00:13:57.000 Yes. Tough but fair. And so Kimberly says, you know, it's my birthday party tonight, and you need to ask Ginger to be your date.

00:14:04.000 And so I said, you know, Ginger, Kimberly's got her birthday.

00:14:07.000 I really need a date.

00:14:08.000 And Ginger said it was a pity yes, that she didn't want me to have to go without.

00:14:14.000 And so she was sitting between me and Tucker Carlson at the dinner, and Tucker kept going on about his show, and Ginger turned to him and said, it's lovely you have a television show.

00:14:23.000 What's it about? Yeah.

00:14:26.000 So you're saying there's a chance.

00:14:28.000 Right. That was your window.

00:14:30.000 It all worked out great.

00:14:31.000 I also have to thank Don.

00:14:33.000 This is the third consecutive campaign I've been in where Don Jr.

00:14:37.000 has come to Northwest Florida to help me share a positive message about the America First agenda.

00:14:44.000 We like our fighters, guys.

00:14:46.000 We've got to support our fighters.

00:14:48.000 We don't have enough of them.

00:14:50.000 And... You know, there are like 220-some-odd members of the Republican House Conference, and I think Don gets about 400 requests every year to go to People's District.

00:15:04.000 And I think it's a combination of our dear friendship, of the patriotism that emerges of this place, and the exquisite hunting and fishing that we offer today.

00:15:13.000 That gets Don to the community.

00:15:17.000 And finally, you know, Don and I have got a few things in common.

00:15:21.000 We both definitely are getting to spend our lives with women who are way above our league. 1.00

00:15:27.000 We both, you know, have incredibly powerful fathers.

00:15:30.000 And I just want to thank my dad, Don Gates, for being with us here tonight.

00:15:38.000 And, you know...

00:15:41.000 Don is an incredibly successful international businessman, and I have a very powerful father.

00:15:48.000 So it's really exciting to come together tonight to not just talk about what's going on in the nation, but what's going on in our economy.

00:15:56.000 Because while every few years you get to vote with a ballot...

00:16:00.000 Every single day you get to vote with your dollars.

00:16:03.000 You get to choose who you engage in commerce with.

00:16:07.000 And what's so positive and exciting about this movement we have is we really are one family.

00:16:13.000 We're one country. We want to be there for one another.

00:16:16.000 And that's what's so exciting about the mission of Public Square.

00:16:19.000 It's there to make sure that when we vote with our dollars, we're engaging in commerce with people who actually love America and don't seek her demise.

00:16:27.000 Michael, it's the biggest sadness I have about Congress.

00:16:31.000 When I was in the state legislature, sure we had Republicans and Democrats and we disagreed about stuff, but I really felt like most of the time both sides wanted Florida to win.

00:16:41.000 We just had different ideas about how to get there and more and more these Democrats I serve with today, they actually believe that their mission, that the world would be a better place if America were weaker.

00:16:53.000 If we were diminished. And that is something Northwest Florida will never abide.

00:16:58.000 We are all here to make America stronger.

00:17:01.000 So, Michael, thank you for bringing us together.

00:17:04.000 And I'm excited about, you know, us not just leaving here encouraged and inspired, but all of us leaving here more capable To engage not only in our politics, but in our economy in a meaningful way.

00:17:16.000 Well, thank you, Congressman. Couldn't think of a better way to kickstart our conversation tonight.

00:17:20.000 We are going to focus on the economy.

00:17:23.000 And we are going to cast a vision for what a better economic future could look like.

00:17:27.000 As Main Street and the small businesses that make this country so special are supported.

00:17:32.000 So we're going to go through a little panel tonight and then we're going to have an opportunity for folks to ask questions.

00:17:36.000 We've had some great questions come in over the past few days from folks that RSVP'd to this event.

00:17:41.000 So thank you for submitting those.

00:17:42.000 Matt, I actually want to start with you.

00:17:44.000 So you...

00:17:46.000 I want you to extrapolate a little bit on the message you just gave.

00:17:49.000 Small businesses are obviously incredibly important to you.

00:17:51.000 Northwest Florida has some of the best restaurants I've ever been to in my life, for example, by the way.

00:17:56.000 The Panhandle's a very special place.

00:17:58.000 And the real classic Americana heart of Main Street seems to be alive and well here.

00:18:03.000 But what are some of the biggest threats you see to that way of life that you're trying to cherish?

00:18:07.000 Well, when we look at the cost of money right now, it's out of control.

00:18:12.000 I mean, when you look at the fact that people's starter homes are now becoming their forever homes, when you look at the cost of a car loan, 61% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

00:18:24.000 And more and more folks are having to rely on credit cards to get you from that paycheck to the next one.

00:18:30.000 And the reason we are in default on loans more than at any time in the last decade is because of the federal government spending.

00:18:39.000 You see, I think for many, many years there was never a cost to the debt that we were accruing.

00:18:44.000 People saw it, but they didn't really feel it.

00:18:47.000 But now we're $34 trillion in debt.

00:18:49.000 We're gonna be 50 trillion in debt on the path that we're currently on and that is causing major credit ratings to devalue the United States of America and that means everything you've worked for your whole life is becoming worth less and less.

00:19:05.000 Now, that is all too acceptable to the people I work with.

00:19:09.000 They don't mind not taking the tough votes and making the tough decisions and making you pay the price for it every time you go to the grocery store or the gas station.

00:19:19.000 And so I think a lot of what we've got to do is get a little more courage among my colleagues in Washington, D.C. And one thing I know is...

00:19:32.000 Courage is contagious.

00:19:33.000 Because I saw a lot of these weak folks in Congress, when Donald Trump was in the White House, when he was laying out that clear vision of productivity and progress and unapologetic success for the American people, a bunch of them got in line.

00:19:48.000 But as President Trump has not been there these last four years, we've reverted.

00:19:53.000 To the establishment mean.

00:19:54.000 And they've been all too willing to sell we the people out.

00:19:58.000 And so that's why tools like Public Square give us resilience.

00:20:02.000 We have to have resilience against this.

00:20:04.000 If they're making things more expensive, if they're making buying a sandwich or buying groceries a lot harder,

00:20:10.000 we need to make sure that when we have the opportunity to do that,

00:20:13.000 the benefit is going to people who, I don't know, hire our fellow Americans and put up the American flag, 0.94

00:20:19.000 not that weird flag with all the triangles and pink and black on it all the time. 0.95

00:20:23.000 So crazy, you're so radical.

00:20:32.000 I mean, how dare you put America first in America! 0.96

00:20:41.000 It's so true. 0.84

00:20:44.000 When Michael came to me a little over a year ago talking about Public Square and just trying to get this off the ground, it literally started at home during the lockdowns.

00:20:54.000 He was like, hey, I'm going to a coffee shop.

00:20:56.000 They're forcing me to wear a mask.

00:20:57.000 Who's not going to do that? Who's going to honor the freedoms?

00:21:01.000 Literally, it started like that.

00:21:02.000 It was a list that he made on his own, and then it sort of expanded.

00:21:05.000 When he brought it to me, It's like, hey, do you think you could maybe help us?

00:21:08.000 I was like, yes. Within a year, we were literally traded on the New York Stock Exchange because people understand it.

00:21:16.000 And the same weakness and the same lack of courage that Matt's talking about from our representatives, we see from corporate America.

00:21:23.000 They feed that beast. 0.94

00:21:25.000 That beast goes with the woke talking points because it's easy.

00:21:29.000 While sacrificing your guys' jobs, your guys' well-being, making you pay more, destroying every shop on Main Street, they don't care.

00:21:39.000 Those interests are very much aligned because those are also the people, the corporations that are willing to write the big checks that perpetuate the process.

00:21:47.000 So this is something that's different.

00:21:49.000 And they'll sell us out. Every time.

00:21:50.000 One of the things I was just most startled by in a recent revelation on an investigation the House Judiciary Committee was doing, you had the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and entities that they fund telling banks that they had to report back to the government suspicious activities.

00:22:08.000 And guess what those suspicious activities included?

00:22:11.000 The purchase of a gun.

00:22:13.000 How about a Bible? The purchase of a Bible.

00:22:16.000 Wow. The donation to any cause where you put America First or MAGA in the memo line, and it was compounding.

00:22:24.000 So if on the same day you bought a gun and a Bible and made a MAGA-oriented donation, they are trying to remove you from the American economy.

00:22:35.000 This is not a punchline.

00:22:37.000 This is not an applause line.

00:22:38.000 This is a warning call to all of us.

00:22:41.000 This is the direction they're trying to take us.

00:22:44.000 And so, you know, what I think they're most afraid of is they're actually more of us than there are of them.

00:22:52.000 That's so important.

00:22:53.000 And I heard when you said it about the Bible, someone just, in the back, I can't really see because the lights are bright, but someone said, what?

00:23:00.000 No, no, that's happening.

00:23:01.000 That literally happened.

00:23:03.000 And the banks, many of whom you work with, willingly just gave over that information.

00:23:07.000 They're not required to do that, but they just, it's easier to bend the knee.

00:23:11.000 That's the same FBI and the same DOJ that labeled concerned mothers and parents going to PTA meetings Who did not want the indoctrination of their children into DEI and other nonsense?

00:23:23.000 Domestic terrorists. That's the same organization that also labeled practicing Catholics domestic terrorists.

00:23:28.000 Now, if you're a trans shooter and you shoot up a children's school, they will protect your identity? 0.87

00:23:33.000 They will hide your manifesto for months. 0.97

00:23:35.000 It was definitely something other than, you know, jacking up someone on all sorts of ridiculous drugs since they were, you know, a teenager or even much younger, which they'd love to do.

00:23:45.000 It definitely wasn't those things.

00:23:47.000 But if you're a MAGA, if you bought a Bible, if you purchased stuff at Bass Pro Shops, you're on a list.

00:23:52.000 So, by the way, if you're here right now in this room, you are now all on a list.

00:23:55.000 Welcome! No!

00:23:59.000 Matt... Matt and I are on every list, so you're just part of this club, but it's why we do have to band together, right?

00:24:08.000 We saw this with my father.

00:24:09.000 We see what they try to do to the squeaky wheels who will actually be willing to talk about these things, whether it's what social media does, trying to censor me and others like us, whether it's what they did to my father, where they canceled, quite literally, the most powerful man in the world, at least on paper.

00:24:25.000 If we all band together, they can't do that.

00:24:27.000 Didn't they try to kill you yesterday?

00:24:29.000 No. Yeah, well, yes. 0.93

00:24:31.000 I mean, what happened with that? Every time you come to town...

00:24:34.000 It's my second sort of, like, white powder envelope hate mail thing.

00:24:38.000 Hunter Biden has been waiting for that white powder every day, and they send it to Don Jr.

00:24:47.000 I heard he was pissed.

00:24:49.000 I mean, every time you come here, you were on The View the day before the last time you came to Pensacola.

00:24:58.000 That was fun. By the way, if you haven't seen that one, Google it.

00:25:01.000 Yeah, if you had to get killed by anthrax or go on The View again, which would you take?

00:25:07.000 Well, that one was, going on The View was sort of like shooting fish in the barrel because they're used to, no, but go watch the episode, right?

00:25:13.000 It was their 5,000th episode, so that's a lot of episodes.

00:25:16.000 And they had me on to talk about a book.

00:25:18.000 I was doing a book tour and, you know, I didn't get a single question about my book.

00:25:21.000 Now, you know, you're supposed to, you figure they're at least honorable, but I said, you know what, in case this goes really wrong, why don't I just Google the dumbest things ever said on The View?

00:25:31.000 And that list was actually long and not very distinguished.

00:25:34.000 So I just had a couple pointers going in, and, you know, we went there, and Kimberly was there with me.

00:25:38.000 She was sort of, you know, I call her Kimberly Voice of Reason, because, you know, I go aggressive hard, and, you know, you had to sort of, even if it was five on one, basically, with them against me, right, you have to sort of let them get their stuff out.

00:25:51.000 And once the audience started realizing, like, this wasn't me talking about my book, then I could start hitting back.

00:25:57.000 We had about, we got ten tickets in the room of about 150 people.

00:26:03.000 But... They started losing the audience when I started heading back because the audience themselves didn't know, you know, Whoopi Goldberg, you know, being an apologist for Robin Polanski, and they didn't know that, you know, Joy Behar had done the blackface thing, and all these, you just call them out on all of the hypocrisy each and every day.

00:26:22.000 And what was the best that you did not see, Matt, but I wish we could get the outtakes real.

00:26:27.000 Like, when we were in commercial break, Whoopi was there, MFing, quite literally, using the full words, the people in the audience.

00:26:36.000 This isn't an MFing MAGA rally!

00:26:38.000 I was like, no, no, these are people from New York.

00:26:39.000 I have less than 10% of this audience.

00:26:42.000 We're friends. But when you actually...

00:26:45.000 When you talk about the truth, when you bring the reality where they're just not the people that are in charge, someone else needs to go there.

00:26:52.000 I was there to sell a book, but they weren't going to do that, so I figured I'd just go scorched earth and have some fun.

00:26:57.000 But when you don't need them to come back again and you don't care, they got nothing.

00:27:04.000 They're empty suits.

00:27:07.000 So when we all band together and do what we're trying to do with public square, link patriotic people, link like-minded individuals, take the extra effort.

00:27:15.000 Don't just go on Amazon and, well, it's easy.

00:27:18.000 I can click one button. I click two buttons.

00:27:19.000 We're getting there. Take the effort.

00:27:22.000 To take that next step, you take away that money that they've been using to fund against you, to weaponize against you each and every day the causes that you can't stand, that they're gladly donating to.

00:27:34.000 You know, they'd put all of us in the gulags if they had their choice at this point.

00:27:38.000 Well, I appreciated the comfort of it.

00:27:41.000 When we were in Washington last, and we wanted to know where to go to dinner, you pulled up Public Square, and we knew we were going to go somewhere where we weren't going to be harassed, that we could have a nice experience.

00:27:51.000 And really, it's a community you guys are creating.

00:27:54.000 Yeah, we had wild – it was Matt, myself, Kimberly, Carrie Lake, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nigel Farage, like really like leaders of the movement.

00:28:02.000 And we went to a restaurant in Washington, D.C., the heart of liberal insanity in America, where conservatives are harassed.

00:28:11.000 And we were brought into a restaurant.

00:28:13.000 That we were loved at.

00:28:15.000 The managers, the waiters, they're sitting there taking selfies with us.

00:28:18.000 We closed the place down.

00:28:20.000 Not a peep. And so it exists.

00:28:22.000 It's so much more common than people know.

00:28:26.000 Again, once you become unafraid and you're willing to explore and just sort of break out of the easiness that's been sort of put before us right now.

00:28:35.000 Don? Yeah, let's hear it for that.

00:28:37.000 That's fantastic. So, two weeks ago, Politico wrote a piece.

00:28:44.000 You ready for it? This was the title.

00:28:46.000 Donald Trump Jr. ventures into the lifestyle space and brings the culture war with him.

00:28:51.000 And in this piece, they mention a quote, and they meant this negative, okay?

00:28:55.000 So everything I'm about to tell you, they were trying to make this some dig on Don that he feels this way.

00:29:00.000 And you tell me if you resonate with this quote.

00:29:02.000 I know that I do. Having your dollars go to a small business that shares your values instead of some woke conglomerate that's donating to whatever leftist cause is and literally weaponizing people's hard-earned money against them, I'm all for that.

00:29:19.000 Highly controversial. Incredibly radical.

00:29:22.000 That was the voice of the people.

00:29:24.000 It's how I feel. It's how all of us in this room feel.

00:29:27.000 If you have a dollar and you can choose to spend it for you, the family that you have, and the community you want to build, or you can give that dollar to somebody who's going to use it and put it into a pool of $400 million to fund elections against you, what are you going to choose?

00:29:43.000 $90 million. The choice is pretty simple.

00:29:45.000 We're all choosing the former.

00:29:47.000 So, Don, you've really been a leader in this sort of parallel economy movement.

00:29:52.000 One piece I want to highlight, one thing I love about the men on this stage and all of you here tonight, is that you're more known for what you're for rather than just what you're against.

00:30:02.000 The left has no vision for the future.

00:30:04.000 They only know destroy.

00:30:05.000 These men actually want to build something.

00:30:07.000 We at Public Square want to build something.

00:30:09.000 We actually want to take our roots and And bring something beautiful to life through it that's rooted in excellence and meritocracy.

00:30:16.000 So I love that this concept of a parallel economy is more than just boycott.

00:30:21.000 It's actually, here's how to move your money more positive.

00:30:24.000 Here's the businesses you should support rather than the ones that you just should stay away from.

00:30:27.000 So Don, speak to that a little bit.

00:30:29.000 What's your history with the parallel economy?

00:30:31.000 When did you start realizing that we had a need for a new American renaissance in the world of economics?

00:30:38.000 Honestly, it really started with politics, right?

00:30:40.000 Because I was a business guy from New York.

00:30:42.000 We built buildings. It's a very liberal city.

00:30:44.000 I was always a conservative. But my first political fundraiser ever was for Andrew Cuomo.

00:30:50.000 I know, but that's the reality of the world.

00:30:54.000 I'm not saying I agree with it, but when you build buildings in New York, the Attorney General is the guy that signs off on all of your offering plans.

00:31:01.000 You literally couldn't do it. So you start learning the political game.

00:31:04.000 You understand what's going on.

00:31:05.000 But then once we actually entered politics with an R next to our name, as opposed to sort of,

00:31:11.000 hey, I'm a conservative, but I got to play somewhat of this game, that's when you started seeing the attacks.

00:31:17.000 We saw the attacks on our businesses. We saw the things, you know, my quote sort of about my father in the elevator

00:31:23.000 going down before he announced the bid back in 2015. It's like, and

00:31:26.000 now we find out who our real friends are?

00:31:28.000 Like, it shows, like, he got it.

00:31:31.000 He knew exactly what was going to happen, but more importantly, he knew exactly what was going to happen, and he did it anyway.

00:31:38.000 And so we saw the attacks.

00:31:44.000 We saw the attacks on our business, and then, you know, otherwise.

00:31:47.000 And then they started doing the whole, you know, well, if you don't like it, build your own.

00:31:50.000 It's like, okay. Will do.

00:31:53.000 That's the reality, right?

00:31:55.000 We took that. Now, they say it sort of sarcastically, like you're never going to be able to do it, but we did it with True Social, and we're doing it with Public Square, and we're doing it with other things.

00:32:02.000 I started a publishing company, because as you know, Matt, they would literally, whether it's other colleagues of Matt, congressmen, senators, conservatives.

00:32:09.000 I got canceled by a French publishing company.

00:32:12.000 It was the first time the French stood up for anything. 0.99

00:32:16.000 And it was to cancel my book.

00:32:18.000 The one time they don't surrender.

00:32:20.000 Right. And so, you know, they say it's sort of like build your own, but then when you do, then they make everything much harder for you.

00:32:27.000 Then they try, they actually, they're not trying to give you a fair chance, right?

00:32:30.000 It's sort of like, well, you can do that, but oh, your business is on Amazon Web Services.

00:32:34.000 Now we're going to shut it down. So Rumble.

00:32:36.000 That's why I have my podcast on Rumble, not other places.

00:32:40.000 It's about free speech.

00:32:41.000 You know, Rumble now and working and talking with Chris Pawlowski, you know, they're bringing out literally cloud services.

00:32:47.000 So they're going to compete with Amazon so that you're not actually concerned about those guys allowing you to build a business to a certain point, committing the blood, sweat, tears, toil, you know, capital that it takes to get something going only to find now you're cut off.

00:33:03.000 I mean, we've seen that.

00:33:04.000 I mean, how many businesses do you see?

00:33:06.000 Oh, and now you're canceled. Or now you're cut off.

00:33:08.000 They did it to other conservatives' things on social media, so you have to separate those things.

00:33:13.000 That's why that whole concept of the parallel economy, it has to be everything.

00:33:17.000 You know, there's great banks on Public Square that aren't going to do what those other banks did.

00:33:22.000 I started a media business, news, literally just aggregation, because, you know, you go on Google, and we've seen Google in the last week with Gemini.

00:33:30.000 It's like, Apparently, the Founding Fathers are African-American. 0.92

00:33:35.000 It's lunacy. 0.61

00:33:36.000 But they've been doing that with Search.

00:33:40.000 For two decades now, manipulating the scales of truth, influencing people's mindsets and decisions with lies and nonsense, and that's the way the algorithm works.

00:33:49.000 You now see that.

00:33:50.000 So I started literally a media company that just aggregated news.

00:33:54.000 So, hey, you want to see the New York Times?

00:33:56.000 Great, but you're going to juxtapose it against Breitbart or The Daily Caller or a conservative place.

00:34:00.000 Instead of, you know, you go on Google, the first 200 searches or pages worth of searches are the CNN version of...

00:34:07.000 You know, not exactly the truth.

00:34:09.000 Like, you know, is that true or did you see it on CNN? Because it's one or the other.

00:34:13.000 And so I did this, and it was right around the time of CPAC, right?

00:34:16.000 Actually, there was the day before this dinner that we were talking about in Washington, D.C. And my partner in the deal, literally, we're not creating news.

00:34:24.000 We're just literally showing you everything so you can read all of it and make up your own minds.

00:34:29.000 But they don't like that.

00:34:30.000 So PNC Bank, a big bank out of Pennsylvania...

00:34:34.000 Apparently canceled our account.

00:34:35.000 We didn't know this. So my partner calls me.

00:34:37.000 He's like, hey, the operating account for this entire business that we started was like three quarters of a million dollars.

00:34:42.000 He goes, it's at zero. I think we got hacked.

00:34:45.000 So I'm sitting there like, that's, you know, it's a lot of money.

00:34:47.000 Just gone. And like, that's the whole business.

00:34:49.000 I'm like, what do you mean? We got hacked?

00:34:51.000 Well, I mean, we're at zero.

00:34:53.000 We were at 750 yesterday.

00:34:56.000 We call the bank. Oh, oh, yeah.

00:34:59.000 We just don't want to do business with you.

00:35:00.000 There's a cashier's check in the mail.

00:35:01.000 I was like, they didn't even call.

00:35:05.000 So, of course, it happened to be at CPAC, so I'm telling Matt.

00:35:08.000 Matt's tweeting about it. Carrie Lake's tweeting about it.

00:35:11.000 Kevin McCarthy even tweeted about it.

00:35:14.000 So this was a universal one, okay?

00:35:16.000 All sides, all sides were hitting this thing.

00:35:20.000 So then they call us, oh, it was a mistake.

00:35:22.000 I go, but it wasn't a mistake.

00:35:23.000 You literally got on the phone and told us that it wasn't a mistake.

00:35:27.000 You said you didn't want to do business with us.

00:35:29.000 You just, now it's a mistake because you got caught, just like what happened.

00:35:33.000 So again, this is about that unity message of getting together.

00:35:37.000 Once we all go out there, you know, 175 million Americans, and it's more, because the independents see what's going on right now also.

00:35:43.000 I also think it's about trying to get us to self-censor.

00:35:46.000 I think there are a lot of Americans, there are a lot of Northwest Floridians, there are a lot of people who wear the uniform in our community who worry that if they fly their patriotic flag at full mast, that there is some damage that will come to them.

00:36:01.000 And so we have to figure out ways not just to, oh well, maybe I'll self-censor a little less.

00:36:06.000 No, we have to say we're going to make our values and the things we believe an advantage.

00:36:11.000 We're going to use that to grow our networks, to strengthen our relationships, to improve our commerce, to make it make us feel better.

00:36:19.000 That's how we flip the script on them, not just by saying, oh my gosh, you know, if we put something online, are we going to get kicked out of the PTA? If someone sees me in a MAGA hat, am I going to get thrown out of my church group?

00:36:30.000 In Northwest Florida, you know, I think that we've got a good way of things because we've got so many veterans who live here, so We got a good way of thinking about stuff.

00:36:42.000 But maybe that's the obligation we have to lead.

00:36:45.000 Maybe because we're a little less worried about those consequences in the neighborhood or around the block, maybe we need to be the first ones out there saying, no, we're going to be a central part of that resilience.

00:36:57.000 And I'm so glad you were able to highlight the zenith of Kevin McCarthy's speakership.

00:37:02.000 That I can now never say he never did anything good.

00:37:06.000 Listen, I gotta bring it all up.

00:37:08.000 I gotta call them all out. But it is what we're up against.

00:37:12.000 But it also feels, honestly, there feels like a hope.

00:37:14.000 People are calling out the nonsense.

00:37:17.000 They're calling out Google.

00:37:19.000 They understand. But then you have to make the definitive decision to get away from that.

00:37:24.000 So we see it.

00:37:25.000 It also feels like there's a component of cancel culture.

00:37:27.000 Think of the things that you're now saying.

00:37:29.000 The things you're calling out.

00:37:32.000 I talk about it all the time.

00:37:33.000 Whether it's the insanity of some of the trans movement on our children. 1.00

00:37:37.000 People are now having the guts.

00:37:39.000 To attack back.

00:37:41.000 And guess what? They're not getting canceled anymore because people understand that the people are actually there, but so many of the people were the silent majority because they were pushed into a corner.

00:37:50.000 They were afraid. But it's gotten so ridiculous. 0.78

00:37:53.000 The other side has failed so badly across the board in every conceivable metric. 0.95

00:37:58.000 You can't lie to them anymore.

00:38:00.000 You can't tell them that Bidenomics is working when they go to the grocery store.

00:38:03.000 I'm the son of a billionaire. Like, if I go to the grocery store and I'm pissed off, America sees it.

00:38:08.000 Like, like... I mean, in all fairness, if I'm like, damn, I got sticker shock. 0.98

00:38:14.000 I paid $11 for carrots the other day. 0.98

00:38:18.000 Carrots! Congressman, a question I want to ask you.

00:38:24.000 You mentioned Northwest Florida leading, which I love it.

00:38:27.000 I come from San Diego, California, although we have recently moved.

00:38:31.000 We are political refugees to the beautiful state of Florida.

00:38:34.000 We moved our business here.

00:38:38.000 It feels good.

00:38:40.000 The air is different.

00:38:41.000 It's just more free. It smells like freedom.

00:38:43.000 It does. It does smell like freedom.

00:38:45.000 It's the freedom and humidity together.

00:38:47.000 A little blend.

00:38:49.000 But one area that I've seen you lead specifically is in the world of trying to dismantle business

00:38:56.000 and politics at the financial level in the sense that for a long time, DC has really

00:39:02.000 been bought and paid for by corporate oligarchies that pretend that they're rational free market

00:39:07.000 actors, but we all know they're structured as fascist actors.

00:39:10.000 The definition of fascism, by the way, is big business and big government in bed together

00:39:15.000 doing the bidding of a regime against the American people.

00:39:18.000 So I always find it ironic that we are called the fascists when it's the literal definition

00:39:22.000 of what they're doing.

00:39:23.000 But point is, one area that you really led that I admired.

00:39:27.000 You famously said in 2020, honest capitalism is under attack, not just from Bernie Sanders, Antifa, and the radical left, but by special interests and political action committees in the swamp of D.C. D.C. has been bought and paid for.

00:39:41.000 And it makes it really difficult as a small business to advance against what seems to be a Goliath.

00:39:47.000 You've put your money where your mouth is.

00:39:48.000 You've also said that you're not actually accepting federal PAC money, which I found really admirable in this quote here.

00:39:54.000 It's amazing. But, Congressman, speak to us for a second about this issue of D.C. being infected by corporate dark money that acts more like political actors.

00:40:08.000 No, thank you. And I want you all to know I'm the only Republican in the entire United States Congress who takes no donations from federal lobbyists or political action committees.

00:40:19.000 I work...

00:40:20.000 And I... I do that because there are going to be times we disagree on something.

00:40:29.000 You might see things one way.

00:40:31.000 I might see things another way.

00:40:32.000 But I want you to know that there aren't any money strings attached to what I believe.

00:40:37.000 I know who I work for, and it's all of you.

00:40:40.000 So I've got three reforms I'm pushing for.

00:40:42.000 Members of Congress shouldn't be taking money from lobbyists in PACs.

00:40:46.000 Members of Congress...

00:40:47.000 Second, members of Congress should have a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists or registered foreign agents...

00:40:56.000 And third, for the same reason you don't let the referee bet on the game,

00:41:02.000 members of Congress should not be allowed to trade individual stocks.

00:41:06.000 And...

00:41:08.000 ...

00:41:14.000 To President Trump's credit, President Trump has come out and he has endorsed all of these reforms,

00:41:18.000 and we can do them by House rule.

00:41:21.000 And because I'm fighting for them, they fight against me.

00:41:24.000 But you know what? Any politician who stands before you and tells you that the millions of dollars that they get from lobbyists who are paid to buy their votes or the millions of dollars they get representing foreign countries when they're out of office doesn't affect them.

00:41:38.000 They're not being straight with you.

00:41:40.000 And I think that something that This moment in our politics has awakened is a consciousness where you all know, you know the real deal from the fakes and the posers and the sellouts.

00:41:53.000 And that is my mission now.

00:41:55.000 I wish so much I could be home every single day.

00:41:58.000 But in Northwest Florida, look, we got Navy towns, Air Force towns, Army towns, and we know that...

00:42:05.000 Sometimes you've got to be an expeditionary force.

00:42:07.000 Sometimes you've got to leave home and you've got to go to where the fight is.

00:42:11.000 And on March 5th, we've got the beginning of primaries in Ohio and Texas and other states, and they run all the way through September.

00:42:20.000 And my goal right now in life is to ensure that the United States Congress is better prepared for the second term of Donald Trump than we were the first term.

00:42:31.000 And so...

00:42:36.000 Just like Don's been on the trail.

00:42:39.000 I don't think you spend a lot of nights at home.

00:42:41.000 Kim's been on the trail. Ginger and I, we are out there trying to inspire and encourage and really to connect people.

00:42:47.000 And that's what Michael's about.

00:42:49.000 If we connect people who believe these things, we don't have to be political experts.

00:42:53.000 We don't have to be the rich and the elite.

00:42:56.000 Our patriotism will be the shining light.

00:42:59.000 It's always been the shining light.

00:43:00.000 And so that's why I do what I do.

00:43:02.000 These are the reforms I'm fighting for and I hope you're proud of them.

00:43:05.000 Amen!

00:43:18.000 By the way guys, he actually loves you more than you love him.

00:43:23.000 You should have heard me say the people of the – when he was talking up there.

00:43:26.000 I mean, it's genuine, and that's why that's amazing.

00:43:29.000 I am a little shocked, though, Matt, to hear that the people don't genuinely believe that Nancy Pelosi is better at trading stocks than every person on Wall Street ever.

00:43:39.000 I'm shocked that that is not the case.

00:43:42.000 But she does better than all of them.

00:43:44.000 And big tech is one of those areas.

00:43:46.000 I mean, one of the reasons why platforms that we believe in are important to be a part of and invest in is because so much of big tech has turned against us.

00:43:55.000 And Nancy Pelosi's husband was betting on the big tech stocks.

00:44:00.000 Well, I was working to try to break up big tech.

00:44:02.000 Now, how do you think that made me feel?

00:44:03.000 I didn't have too much of a chance, but we don't deserve that.

00:44:07.000 This is, I work every day and I walk under the statues of people like John Adams and

00:44:13.000 Thomas Jefferson.

00:44:14.000 I see the sacrifice of George Washington reflected in these murals and then I work along the

00:44:19.000 side of these folks who are willing to sell out and willing to put their own future and

00:44:25.000 a short-term financial benefit over what's right for this country.

00:44:28.000 And we can't win with those people.

00:44:30.000 And so the only way we do this is that we shock the system with the greatest political

00:44:36.000 comeback in American history.

00:44:38.000 And I think we all know what that is.

00:44:43.000 Wow.

00:44:44.000 Well, thank you guys.

00:44:48.000 I appreciate it.

00:44:52.000 Thank you.

00:44:55.000 Thank you.

00:44:58.000 Well, thank you guys.

00:45:00.000 You know, it's – honestly, it's moments like that that make all of it worth it.

00:45:05.000 You know, we got a half-a-billion-dollar judgment against us last week, and they want to put my father in jail for 700 years-plus, maybe the death penalty.

00:45:16.000 I mean, minor details. That's like an average – that's like an average Tuesday for us at this point.

00:45:20.000 But I understand that I am not the upstanding citizen that Hunter Biden is.

00:45:26.000 But I feel like maybe I've been treated a little bit disproportionately bad.

00:45:32.000 If it was my laptop, I think it'd be a problem.

00:45:35.000 You'd hear about it. The intelligence people and agencies wouldn't be coming and pretending it's Russian disinformation.

00:45:40.000 You know, minor things like that. But it's why we fight, and that honestly means the world to us.

00:45:45.000 I can assure you it was a lot easier just being a businessman, even in New York City, even as a Republican.

00:45:52.000 But it's that that makes it worth it.

00:45:55.000 It's that spirit.

00:45:57.000 That we're all fighting for.

00:45:58.000 You know, having five young kids and wanting to make sure they grow up in an America that we all know and recognize that is disappearing before our very eyes is super, super important.

00:46:08.000 And so thank you all.

00:46:09.000 That's just awesome. Your daughter is, like, going to be on the LPGA soon, man.

00:46:19.000 Every time I'm on Instagram, your daughter is, like, hitting a golf ball 300 yards.

00:46:23.000 So, until a man's competing against...

00:46:25.000 She's the best golfer in the Trump family. We just don't tell Grandpa that, you know.

00:46:30.000 Did I say that out loud?

00:46:33.000 Yep, on your podcast, yeah.

00:46:34.000 It's that I can't really control my internal monologue.

00:46:37.000 It was like... He's going to call you Don.

00:46:40.000 I heard about your controversial statements in Pensacola.

00:46:43.000 Well, it was like, and Kim can vouch for this during my father's presidency a couple times.

00:46:48.000 I'd get the call. It's, Mr.

00:46:50.000 Trump, this is the White House operator.

00:46:51.000 The president would like to speak to you.

00:46:54.000 Like, what did I do now?

00:46:57.000 He's like, sir, I don't know, but he's not that happy.

00:47:02.000 Don, you're getting a little too aggressive on social media.

00:47:07.000 I'm like, what's that? I'm looking around for Ashton Kutcher to jump out of a cake and be like, you're being punked.

00:47:18.000 I was like, really? Like, you know, I truly respect my father.

00:47:24.000 I fight hard for him. I worked hard for him in business.

00:47:26.000 I'm like, I will listen to you about all things with maybe that being the solo exception where perhaps you've seated the high ground, Dad.

00:47:38.000 It's like, you know, like... And Dad, this is why you're not allowed to have a Twitter account.

00:47:42.000 Yeah, exactly, yeah.

00:47:45.000 Oh, yeah, that was the best.

00:47:47.000 Hey, Don, have you ever thought about telling your dad maybe not...

00:47:49.000 No, I never thought about it.

00:47:52.000 Not once.

00:47:54.000 When they call me at like 4 in the morning and be like, hey, you're going on CNN in 20 minutes.

00:47:57.000 What happened now? Well, there was a 2.30 a.m.

00:48:01.000 tweet. What are the talking points?

00:48:06.000 I don't know, man, because you're on your own. 1.00

00:48:08.000 You're good at this crap. Figure it out. 1.00

00:48:10.000 Get out there. Go get them. 0.68

00:48:15.000 I love it. I'm ready for Mean Tweets to come back, aren't you all?

00:48:19.000 I'm ready for Mean Tweets.

00:48:23.000 People want to criticize the mean tweets, but when Donald Trump was president, even the dictators were on their best behavior.

00:48:29.000 Weren't they? Weren't they?

00:48:31.000 I didn't see Putin invading any other countries when Donald Trump was president.

00:48:36.000 And, you know, Biden and them, they all go play foreign policy like it's paid by numbers.

00:48:40.000 And Donald Trump understood that sometimes you talk softly and carry the big stick.

00:48:45.000 I remember when your dad saw those pictures of those kids from Syria who had been bombed with chemical weapons.

00:48:51.000 And he didn't go out there And run his mouth, and he didn't give a bunch of speeches, and he didn't write a bunch of strongly worded letters.

00:48:57.000 He dropped 68 Tomahawk missiles on the airbase that launched those attacks, and there were no more of them. 0.88

00:49:05.000 By the way, he gave that order while he was shitting with Xi of China at Mar-a-Lago.

00:49:09.000 It was like, oh, by the way, once they were about 30 seconds out, he told them. 0.90

00:49:13.000 Somewhere between his first and second milkshake is...

00:49:16.000 Yeah, two scoops. Two scoops.

00:49:19.000 But, no, I mean, listen.

00:49:20.000 Hey, I will take mean tweets and world peace.

00:49:23.000 I mean, like, seems like a fair trade-off.

00:49:28.000 And by the way, I think the mean tweets often got too much criticism because, like, you can have a mean tweet, but it can be true.

00:49:33.000 Meaning, we all probably had maybe, you know, it was probably actually in my life, it was probably more my mom, you know, Eastern European tough woman, like, you know, we all had, like, the disciplinarian parent that you needed at some stage in your life that kind of, you know, Maybe we all as Americans actually needed to hear some of these things.

00:49:48.000 We've become so scared of telling people that maybe, well, that's just not good.

00:49:53.000 Everyone wins in the participation medal society in which we live in today, except for Republicans, but minor details.

00:49:59.000 But I think the mean tweets may have been mean at times, but they were...

00:50:04.000 True. They were right, and we all needed to hear it, and that's why we were prosperous, and that's why we had peace.

00:50:10.000 That's why it disappeared like that.

00:50:12.000 Yeah, it's true.

00:50:13.000 One of my favorite authors says, the world does not need more nice men, it needs more honest men.

00:50:18.000 Yeah. And I think that's true in politics.

00:50:24.000 It's certainly true in business.

00:50:25.000 You've watched these CEOs of these mega-corporate entities cower away the minute they have a diversity officer on their board say, sir or ma'am, you need to do this, or else the investors will think that you're not meeting your ESG or DEI goals, and they'll cower into a corner.

00:50:40.000 And our planes will fall out of the sky.

00:50:43.000 Yeah, I was going to say. Minor details.

00:50:44.000 Yeah, yeah. If you've never read Atlas Shrugged, it's a good book that demonstrates where this all goes when you have this just general apathy move through society.

00:50:52.000 So I think that, you know, sometimes the DEI ESG-driven world is really funny, like Google's Gemini, which I want to ask about in a second.

00:51:00.000 But other times it gets really disastrous.

00:51:02.000 If you are prioritizing in your customer service or in your safety these woke expectations instead of excellence and meritocracy, what other expectation can you have other than disaster?

00:51:14.000 None of it goes a good place.

00:51:16.000 I want to lighten the mood, though, a little bit, and I do want to talk about Google.

00:51:18.000 They lost $90 billion in market value in two days this week.

00:51:26.000 Don, you first. I would love to hear your take.

00:51:29.000 We talked about social media and Twitter.

00:51:31.000 One of the most things that went the most viral this week is Gemini, the release of this AI that they had spent billions on that was unwilling to show a single white face in their demonstrations of anything.

00:51:42.000 What are your thoughts on this?

00:51:43.000 What does it show you about society more broadly?

00:51:47.000 Well, listen, I mean, I think...

00:51:49.000 The fact that the pendulum has overcorrected so far, they're so desperate now to push the stuff that they did that they're saying the quiet parts out loud.

00:51:57.000 You know, when it was just search, it was like, wow, that's weird.

00:51:59.000 I'm only seeing CNN, but, you know, at the time, maybe if you're not like – if you're here, you're into this stuff, so you're paying attention.

00:52:05.000 You've been watching. You're sort of awake to what's going on, but there's – Tens of millions, probably 100 million Americans that, hey man, they're busy trying to live what's left of their American dream, what hasn't been exported to China or elsewhere.

00:52:19.000 We've got to use the proper vernacular.

00:52:22.000 So, you know, they hear this stuff in the background, and they assume it's true, whether that's media, whether that's tech.

00:52:29.000 But in the desperation to try to claim that stuff, to try to make, no, no, DEI, it's great corporate governance.

00:52:36.000 It's good. It's like, no, no, how about just having the best person for the role?

00:52:38.000 I mean, that was an article today.

00:52:41.000 In the UK, where, you know, that is controversial.

00:52:45.000 Hiring the most qualified person for the job is controversial because, for some reason, that is considered to be racist in the UK. And that's – we're not far behind.

00:52:54.000 So watching them spend that kind of money to do this insanity, watching Disney spend billions in a movie to remake it with, like, woke characters that no one understands and then no one shows up, and they're like – Well, it's racist if you don't show up.

00:53:07.000 It's like, no, like, if you make good content, people will show up.

00:53:11.000 It's that simple. And so they've overcorrected so badly, but it's good because people understand it now.

00:53:16.000 They know that even if they fix it, the problem will still be there.

00:53:20.000 They'll just figure out a way to do it more subtly.

00:53:23.000 The influence will still be there.

00:53:25.000 They've done immeasurable damage to our country and to reality.

00:53:30.000 Because the way they've been able to influence people's perception.

00:53:34.000 But it's not just Google. That's going on on Facebook.

00:53:37.000 That's going on on all of the meta platforms.

00:53:39.000 That's going on on social.

00:53:40.000 It has been forever. I see what's going on since we sort of got back in the race.

00:53:45.000 My algorithms and my engagement on social media is down the tubes because they are actively out there pushing other things.

00:53:53.000 They're pushing the opposite side.

00:53:56.000 People get it, though. You know, we're combating multi-trillion dollar enterprises that are actively out to destroy our country and our way of life.

00:54:06.000 But, like, we're actually doing pretty good despite that because people finally get it.

00:54:12.000 Again, once you get over that hurdle, once you become unafraid, once you stop caring about what they're going to do, we actually win this battle hands down.

00:54:20.000 Yes. But we have to be hyper-aware, and we also have to, like I've said, the point of this is take the time to go find the people, the businesses that actually share those values and support them.

00:54:32.000 If you just take the easy way out and say, well, okay, I won't like them, but I'll still use it.

00:54:38.000 I'll still bank there instead of switching to go across the street or whatever it may be.

00:54:42.000 I'll still go to Starbucks instead of, you know, the coffee shop across the street that actually shares our values.

00:54:47.000 We won't win because the funding is what has enabled them to do this.

00:54:51.000 It's why Google is a trillion-dollar business.

00:54:54.000 It's why they have that power.

00:54:57.000 We have to just abandon those things, and we have to take the time, energy, and effort to create the alternatives.

00:55:03.000 Hey, Congressman, you – yeah, that's fantastic.

00:55:05.000 Let's hear it for that. One of the last questions I want to ask you here before we jump into audience questions.

00:55:14.000 The hot topic the last few weeks has been immigration.

00:55:17.000 And I came across a stat as we were conducting some small business research just two weeks ago.

00:55:22.000 For foreign-born people living here and engaged in our economy, whether they're here illegally or legally, they 1.00

00:55:31.000 have experienced parabolic job growth in the last five years.

00:55:34.000 But if you are a native-born American, you have flatlined.

00:55:38.000 No job growth.

00:55:39.000 And one of the worst things about illegal immigration, this unfettered crossing across our borders, zero respect for 0.97

00:55:45.000 our national sovereignty, is the fact that it hits small businesses so hard.

00:55:49.000 Wages decrease for native-born Americans that are just trying to earn an honest wage. 0.97

00:55:54.000 So, Matt, talk to us a little bit about what does Congress need to do to fix this behemoth of an issue at our southern

00:56:02.000 border.

00:56:02.000 To be honest, Congress doesn't need to do anything to shut this border down.

00:56:06.000 President Trump got the border closed with executive action, and Joe Biden on his first day repealed all the Trump policies, and that's why we are the way we are.

00:56:18.000 We all remember watching that Democrat debate, and when they asked the question, who wants to give free health care to illegal aliens? 0.59

00:56:24.000 Every one of their hands went up, including Joe Biden.

00:56:27.000 So that's why we have these challenges.

00:56:30.000 And so I don't believe that we ought to be baited into the notion that we have to give $60 billion to Ukraine to close our border.

00:56:38.000 Or we have to give, like, Joe Biden's woke and weaponized government everything they want, or raise spending over Nancy Pelosi's levels.

00:56:46.000 I believe that it's the three things that Trump did.

00:56:49.000 You stop in the first safe country you get to, you don't travel all the way to the United States.

00:56:53.000 If you have an asylum claim, remain in Mexico. 0.86

00:56:56.000 And third, according to Title 42, we have a public health emergency to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration into this country.

00:57:04.000 You do those three things, you solve the problem.

00:57:09.000 But you know what I worry about?

00:57:12.000 I worry about the lack of courage among so many of my colleagues, because while we have a two-vote Republican majority in the House, there is not a majority to really stand and fight on these issues.

00:57:23.000 And you know why? Because there's no special interest in Washington that actually wants to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants.

00:57:30.000 Just like Michael was saying, these big businesses, they want to increase the flow.

00:57:35.000 And their big white hat entities, they're all there to push for open borders policies.

00:57:41.000 And because that's where the money is, and that's where the interest groups are, that's where your politicians go.

00:57:46.000 And the one man who put the working women and men of this country first was Donald Trump.

00:57:53.000 And that's why we have to get him back in the position to do it again.

00:58:01.000 You mentioned the bureaucracy out of D.C. or these larger corporate entities that have celebrated illegal immigration

00:58:01.000 and have welcomed it with open arms.

00:58:10.000 One of the most shocking institutions that is leading that charge to welcome illegal immigration into our country, disrespecting your sovereign America, is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

00:58:21.000 They stand for everything except the U.S. and her commerce.

00:58:26.000 They're the Chamber of Chinese Commerce.

00:58:28.000 Yeah, 100%.

00:58:29.000 So, Don, talk to us a little bit about this, and then I want to ask you both one more question.

00:58:33.000 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was supposed to be the institution that was celebrating American small business.

00:58:38.000 They were supposed to be the one bureaucracy out of D.C. that would help small business America, Main Street, know that their values were protected.

00:58:45.000 And unfortunately, they have sold us out every chance they get.

00:58:48.000 So, if you're sitting here tonight, you're giving advice to a business owner, what is

00:58:54.000 your encouragement to them?

00:58:55.000 Why should they keep fighting?

00:58:56.000 Why should they remain hopeful when it feels like so many of these larger entities are

00:59:00.000 against them?

00:59:01.000 What's your encouragement to the small business owners that are here tonight?

00:59:03.000 Listen, I think the fact that guys like us are actually out there doing this kind of

00:59:07.000 You know, people... There was a serious consequence to this, but now people understand what's happening.

00:59:12.000 They see it with their very eyes.

00:59:13.000 You know, those same interests. The Chamber of Commerce became Washington, D.C. It became the swamp.

00:59:18.000 The billionaires and their mega corporations said, hey, you know, we can ship your American dream over to China. 0.98

00:59:23.000 We can buy our widgets for two cents cheaper.

00:59:26.000 We want that. We're going to fund the Chamber of Commerce.

00:59:28.000 We're going to create all sorts of little interesting things for you.

00:59:30.000 It's a perpetual job.

00:59:33.000 Congratulations. Your policies now reflect that of big corporate America, not the little people. 0.67

00:59:38.000 And so as people have figured that out, as they understand, as they go, you saw what's going on with some of the auto workers supporting Trump right now.

00:59:46.000 You know, they're coming out and be like, yeah, wait a minute.

00:59:48.000 But the unions, right?

00:59:50.000 The unions were still big Democrat super donors because they've been bought and paid for by the Democrat Party forever, not the workers.

00:59:57.000 But you listen to what they say, the EV mandates and all of this nonsense.

01:00:00.000 So you're going to pay dues.

01:00:02.000 You're going to give it to the union.

01:00:03.000 That union is then going to basically encourage policies that will literally be the demise of your job, our company, and push EV mandates for batteries made in China with rare earth minerals controlled entirely by that dictatorial regime, and you're still going to pay union dues?

01:00:22.000 Yeah. They get it now.

01:00:23.000 They understand. So, you know, the people that had been lied to, again, it's hard to get by in this world.

01:00:30.000 You know, you're working hard. You trust the people that you put into leadership.

01:00:33.000 But I think Trump and the commensurate Trump derangement syndrome that came with it.

01:00:39.000 No, the insane reaction to common sense.

01:00:43.000 You know, the visceral reaction to just logic, facts, and reason.

01:00:48.000 People are like, but wait, why wouldn't we do that?

01:00:52.000 Why aren't we doing this?

01:00:53.000 This makes total sense. No, no, no, you must.

01:00:55.000 You've got to believe your lying eyes. 0.98

01:00:58.000 People get it now. 0.96

01:01:00.000 They've seen it. So perhaps we needed that level of insanity.

01:01:03.000 It's sort of like anything else. Are you going to hit rock bottom?

01:01:05.000 I think we have, and the hardworking men and women of this country who have been abandoned and sold out by the corporate interests in Washington, D.C., and otherwise, they've had enough, and they're willing to finally say it.

01:01:19.000 Love it. And Congressman, I want to make this Pensacola specific.

01:01:28.000 Or we'll broaden it to Northwest Florida specific.

01:01:30.000 The great people of Florida one.

01:01:32.000 What is your advice to the business community here?

01:01:35.000 Why should they keep fighting? Why is it worth it?

01:01:37.000 Well, because life here is better than everywhere else on the planet.

01:01:41.000 If you can't do it here, where are you going to go?

01:01:46.000 You know, we are blessed.

01:01:49.000 We are blessed by the nature and fabric of our community being so connected to the military.

01:01:55.000 Raise your hand if you're part of a military-connected family out there.

01:01:59.000 Look at this. This is incredible.

01:02:00.000 You don't get this anywhere else.

01:02:02.000 And also the people who come to visit here often are from, you know, the SEC states, the Bible Belt, and they want to come here to have a good time and relax.

01:02:13.000 And oftentimes they've worked all year for that one week that they get on Navarre Beach or Pensacola Beach or Okaloosa Island.

01:02:21.000 They get what? They get seven days to spend like we get to spend the whole rest of our year.

01:02:26.000 And so you know what? Let's kill it for them. 1.00

01:02:29.000 Let's make sure that we've got great businesses and great opportunities and great experiences. 0.97

01:02:33.000 One thing I know, the whole secret of this place, we've got all these great military folks, and they're here to do their naval aviation or their equipment training or their research and development work, and if we can get that white sand in between their toes a little bit...

01:02:46.000 And we can get them dipped in that emerald green water, get a red snapper tugging on the end of the line.

01:02:51.000 It's real addictive. And then they want to come back and have their families here and make their forever home here and have their roots here.

01:02:58.000 And we are the ecosystem that can be a shining example to the rest of this country.

01:03:03.000 When I brag about you all so much, when I go around this country, I say, listen, my folks know what a great nation this can be, but we have to fight for her.

01:03:12.000 You know, Madison said the greatest role in this government wouldn't be congressman or senator or even president.

01:03:18.000 It would be that of citizen.

01:03:19.000 And so you have to undertake that obligation, and you have to know what that calls upon from each and every one of you.

01:03:26.000 And it's something I don't doubt one bit.

01:03:28.000 We know it full well here in the Florida Panhandle.

01:03:34.000 Ladies and gentlemen, it's here for Congressman Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump Jr.

01:03:41.000 Thank you, guys. Did we win Michigan yet?

01:03:45.000 Do we have any Michigan news?

01:03:50.000 Did we win Michigan yet?

01:03:52.000 Have we won Michigan?

01:03:54.000 Joel? Did we win?

01:03:56.000 Is anyone paying attention? Kim, why don't you check?

01:04:01.000 At least it's good. No one was on their phones while we're talking.

01:04:03.000 Wow, we had them enraptured, Don.

01:04:07.000 You got the primary there.

01:04:09.000 We all realize it's over, but it's just another way to make fun of Big Haley.

01:04:14.000 I just moved out here from Michigan.

01:04:17.000 Well, by the way, we love that you're here.

01:04:20.000 Don't go back, but I'm kind of worried all the Republicans are coming here.

01:04:25.000 You're allowed to come here, but you have to send 1.2 Republicans back to Michigan to take your place.

01:04:31.000 You have to find them, and they have to go.

01:04:35.000 You know, we tell our fellow Californians all the time, there are over 5 million registered Republicans in the state of California.

01:04:40.000 It has the second largest conservative representation in the entire country, and yet, California is a supermajority in both chambers of Congress at the state level in the state House and legislature.

01:04:51.000 So imagine if you took the five million conservatives from California and just moved them to all the purple states.

01:04:56.000 We would have a cemented red majority as long until the cows come home. 1.00

01:05:01.000 It would be amazing. Oh, could you just imagine how...

01:05:03.000 I want to deliver the notices.

01:05:05.000 Be like, hello, Sheila.

01:05:08.000 I know it's 76 and sunny in Santa Barbara, but you've been selected for Wisconsin.

01:05:14.000 Yeah. It wouldn't work.

01:05:18.000 We get the New Yorkers.

01:05:20.000 We love Wisconsin. We get the New Yorkers here.

01:05:23.000 We tell them they're all welcome so long as they leave their Democrat voter registration card north of the Mason-Dixon line.

01:05:29.000 We say, y'all come.

01:05:32.000 Don't New York my Florida.

01:05:34.000 As a political refugee myself, can we move Trump Tower to Orlando?

01:05:42.000 Can we just...

01:05:46.000 Hey, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to jump into some audience questions, which we're excited about.

01:05:50.000 That's how we're going to end the night here, and then we have a fun surprise for you at the end.

01:05:53.000 One more fun story, though, about Florida.

01:05:55.000 My wife and I just moved here six months ago, and we stepped foot into a restaurant on night number two.

01:06:01.000 And we're sitting there, and we're talking about the menu, and the sweet waitress said, oh, is this your first time here?

01:06:05.000 We said, yes, ma'am, it is.

01:06:07.000 We're new to the entire state, actually.

01:06:08.000 And she said, oh, where'd you move from?

01:06:10.000 And we kind of leaned in. We're like, California.

01:06:13.000 California. She's like, oh, no, oh.

01:06:19.000 And she was trying not to be mean, but it kind of felt mean.

01:06:22.000 But she was like, oh, no.

01:06:24.000 We're like, we promise we're the good kind.

01:06:27.000 That didn't stop her from spitting in your food. 1.00

01:06:32.000 I tried to put that part out of my mind, but it was so sweet.

01:06:35.000 She said at the end, welcome home.

01:06:37.000 And I thought that was incredible.

01:06:39.000 That's how you all have welcomed us tonight, and we're so grateful for it.

01:06:44.000 So we have a microphone in the back here, and we're going to take some questions.

01:06:47.000 I've got a list of folks that I'm excited to introduce, and it is so blindingly bright up here.

01:06:51.000 So I can't see you, but as long as you can see me, then we're in good shape here.

01:06:55.000 I want to start with a question from Ken Weeks.

01:06:59.000 Ken Weeks, are you here tonight?

01:07:00.000 Yes. Yeah, there you are.

01:07:02.000 Raise your hand, Ken. I can't see it.

01:07:04.000 Say something, Ken. You got a microphone?

01:07:08.000 Yeah, hello. Hey.

01:07:09.000 Hey, there you are, Ken.

01:07:10.000 Fantastic. You've got a question for us tonight.

01:07:12.000 Yes, sir. So, Florida has seen substantial growth recently.

01:07:17.000 How can we keep Florida as free as we can with all the new influences?

01:07:23.000 Yeah, with a whip and a chair. 0.97

01:07:25.000 You know? Yeah, I think that the good thing about Florida, I've noticed, is it gets in the blood pretty quick.

01:07:35.000 You know, folks can come here from just about anywhere, and, you know, you can tell them the new arrivals, they're like, they're trying to get that cup of coffee a little bit faster, and, you know, they're in a little bit of a hurry.

01:07:46.000 But you know what? It gets right.

01:07:49.000 We get them squared away here in the panhandle especially.

01:07:53.000 And here's the good news. You know, when Don and I were campaigning for Ron DeSantis in 2018, this state had 300,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

01:08:02.000 And like today, we have half a million more registered Republicans than Democrats.

01:08:10.000 It's not just that everyone who wants their third grade teacher to pick their kid's gender moved out.

01:08:17.000 It's that a lot of great, patriotic, freedom-loving Americans moved here.

01:08:22.000 And so I think the best way to ensure that our influence really permeates is to be the very best version of ourselves.

01:08:29.000 And we do a pretty good job of that here in Florida One.

01:08:32.000 I also think, honestly, that all of the things that we're talking about have sort of appealed to a lot of demographics that would have been traditionally Democrat voters.

01:08:40.000 I mean, I think if you look at where it's going in Miami-Dade even, very left area, the Latino community over there, I mean, they are...

01:08:49.000 Republicans. By the way, they've always been Republicans, they just didn't know it, and they didn't vote accordingly.

01:08:53.000 But they believed in family and education and hard work and all of the things that we all believe in, and so they're now getting it.

01:09:01.000 And the Republican Party is the outlet that they realize the Democrat Party is no longer anything about.

01:09:06.000 Kimberly gets the credit for that.

01:09:08.000 She flipped all the Hispanics. 1.00

01:09:10.000 Puerto Ricans for Trump. President right there.

01:09:13.000 Kimberly, go for it. Love it.

01:09:16.000 Great question. Hey, let's head to Barbara Mile. 0.98

01:09:19.000 I apologize if I mispronounced your last name.

01:09:22.000 But Barbara, we'd love to hear from you.

01:09:24.000 What's your question for us tonight?

01:09:25.000 Well, I just wanted to thank you all for coming, and Mr.

01:09:30.000 Gates has known me for a long, long time.

01:09:32.000 We were on his first campaign, so we thank you.

01:09:35.000 We've had our ups and downs, but it's like a marriage.

01:09:39.000 You know, you fight, then you get back.

01:09:42.000 I'm just glad I know what you're talking about, ma'am.

01:09:45.000 I'm just glad I don't have to pay any alimony, Barbara.

01:09:49.000 We thank you. We thank you, Matt.

01:09:53.000 You know, the panhandle always brings the people home because South Florida is like an hour ahead of us, but we, even with Rick Scott, with DeSantis, like just that tenth of a tenth of a percent, the panhandle hits a home run every time and brings you guys in.

01:10:13.000 So, I want to know, how can we, in the panhandle, now that things have changed a little bit, how can we better support President Donald Trump in the upcoming election?

01:10:29.000 Listen, I think Florida, honestly, I think it's going to be more red than it's ever been this time around.

01:10:34.000 And I remember back in the 16th election, I did ungodly amounts of radio and TV the

01:10:43.000 day of the election.

01:10:45.000 And it was that.

01:10:46.000 It seemed like the panhandle numbers were lower.

01:10:48.000 I think we weren't thinking about the time difference, but we knew it was sort of going

01:10:51.000 east to west, right?

01:10:53.000 I literally remember getting on the radio to every DJ in the area that was live.

01:10:57.000 I was screaming at Sean Hannity, like, just stay on the radio.

01:11:00.000 He's like, I'm off.

01:11:01.000 I'm like, no, you just get back on the radio.

01:11:03.000 We've got to make sure that the people here turn out.

01:11:05.000 But, you know, again, I think you see it here, the patriotism that exudes from this part of the state.

01:11:12.000 They're going to show up anyway, but I think we've actually backfilled a lot of what was lacking in other parts of the state that, you know, hopefully we don't need to depend on you guys.

01:11:20.000 We want you to show up, obviously, but we just want it to be a landslide rather than something we're thinking is even close.

01:11:26.000 Yeah, and you know what?

01:11:27.000 We may have to travel a little to fight.

01:11:31.000 You know, Georgia's not that far away.

01:11:33.000 And we're going to be organizing some groups of folks to get into southern Georgia and to make sure that we've got good turnout for good patriotic Americans in that part of the country as well.

01:11:45.000 But, Barbara, I want you to know, when I first saw President Trump in Washington, D.C., I made sure he knew who delivered that victory in the Sunshine State.

01:11:54.000 And it was all of us in the Central Time Zone.

01:12:00.000 One more thing.

01:12:02.000 I just want to thank you for getting me to the inaugural.

01:12:05.000 Thank you for coming.

01:12:07.000 You deserved it. Thanks for all you did for the President.

01:12:09.000 Thank you, Barbara. That was fantastic.

01:12:12.000 I want to now head to...

01:12:16.000 Let's go to Donovan Lee.

01:12:19.000 Donovan Lee, are you here? Right here.

01:12:21.000 Hey, there you are. How are y'all?

01:12:22.000 Fantastic. How are you? Pretty good.

01:12:25.000 I don't know what's going on in Michigan, but I'm not a betting man, but I bet your dad took Michigan tonight, sir.

01:12:31.000 I'd say that's safe. I think the only state that Nikki Haley is going to win is the state of denial.

01:12:38.000 But it hasn't stopped her yet, so, you know, participation medal, it's awesome.

01:12:44.000 Yes, sir. All right, my question is, what can we as a community do to encourage the local businesses to participate and join Public Square?

01:12:53.000 Well, that's for you, Michael. Gladly answered that one.

01:12:56.000 But I do want to hear y'all's take because you've both been really instrumental in helping this platform grow.

01:13:01.000 So I'll give you sort of a high-level answer and then I'll give you a practical one.

01:13:04.000 The high-level answer is let us be, hopefully, if you think we're worthy of it, as a platform, let us be a part of your regular conversations with these small business owners.

01:13:16.000 If you go into a coffee shop and you see a big American flag on the wall, I know this works because I've done it before, it's worthwhile saying, hey, do you love the country?

01:13:24.000 I think you do. I see the flag.

01:13:26.000 Do you love the Constitution? Yes, I think you do.

01:13:29.000 There's this platform that I'd really love to see you on.

01:13:31.000 I'm trying to spend all my money through businesses that are on this platform, and it helps other patriots know they're not alone.

01:13:37.000 Very simple. Last weekend, I was in a hardware store.

01:13:40.000 I don't go to the Home Depots.

01:13:41.000 I don't go to the Lowe's. I don't even really go to the Ace.

01:13:44.000 I go to the local hardware stores because there's a sense of character and customer service that you can't duplicate anywhere else.

01:13:49.000 And so I went to a local hardware store called Hulls in West Palm Beach, Florida, last weekend.

01:13:53.000 And I saw the guy on his shirt.

01:13:55.000 He had a We the People with an American flag on his shirt, and it was their company uniforms.

01:14:00.000 I'm like, oh, this is shooting fish in the barrel.

01:14:03.000 Hulls from South Dixie, right? Yeah.

01:14:04.000 That's why I go too. Isn't that amazing?

01:14:06.000 I do it for the same reason, yeah.

01:14:07.000 Yeah, so they've got Public Square basically written all over them, and I said, hey, I'm a part of this platform.

01:14:13.000 I didn't say I'm me, but I just said, hey, I'm a part of this platform.

01:14:18.000 I really enjoy it, and I think you guys would be a great fit for it.

01:14:21.000 And sure enough, I was talking to the manager, and he said, you know what?

01:14:23.000 I'll absolutely check it out.

01:14:25.000 They just joined four days ago.

01:14:27.000 So... You'd also be amazed, you know, we really pride ourselves that it is a small business-focused platform.

01:14:35.000 98% of the businesses on the platform are small and medium-sized businesses.

01:14:39.000 What's really cool, though, is that the businesses that are joining, most of them aren't even explicitly political.

01:14:45.000 You'd never see that on the surface.

01:14:46.000 They're just great businesses that are providing incredible quality products and services for you, and it just so happens that their values totally align with yours.

01:14:54.000 So I'd say as a philosophical point, let Public Square be a regular part of your conversation.

01:14:58.000 You'll be amazed at where that leads if you talk about the mission first.

01:15:02.000 Practically, we have a table at the back, the back corner there, right before you leave at the door, where, yeah, we've got some great team members back there that would love to help sign you up for our ambassador program, where we'll literally, if you're like, hey, dude, I'm an evangelist for the platform.

01:15:16.000 I love the idea. I'd love to invite businesses.

01:15:18.000 We actually will give you a t-shirt, we'll give you stickers, we'll give you all the things that you need to go out into your local community and just spread the word.

01:15:24.000 By the way, if you, most of you live in a very red area, but even if you don't, you'd be amazed at some of the success we've had in heavily blue regions.

01:15:34.000 Would you believe that Chicago is our second most dense city in the entire country on Public Square?

01:15:40.000 No. You know why?

01:15:42.000 Because they need it so badly.

01:15:44.000 And so they flock to it.

01:15:45.000 Would you believe Seattle's in the top five?

01:15:48.000 So, of course, they're the evident ones like Dallas and like South Florida and like Tampa.

01:15:53.000 Like, you've got these great cities represented, of course.

01:15:56.000 But you never know who needs it, no matter how blue or how red of an area you live in.

01:16:00.000 So, it really transcends politics, and we'd love your help growing the movement.

01:16:04.000 Any other things you'd add there, guys?

01:16:05.000 I would just say for all of us, we all shop at a ton of veteran-owned businesses, right?

01:16:09.000 I mean, a lot of the breweries we go to, a lot of the small businesses here are veteran-owned.

01:16:16.000 And the good thing is, a lot of them advertise that they're veteran-owned, right?

01:16:20.000 And so when we see veteran-owned businesses, that seems like a way for all of us to help our veteran-owned businesses connect with customers who will want to patronize them.

01:16:29.000 Yeah, we actually did some internal research recently and discovered we actually have the largest compilation of veteran-owned businesses of any marketplace in the entire country, which is super exciting.

01:16:42.000 Again, I'm from San Diego.

01:16:44.000 I love Pensacola. Heavily military-influenced cities.

01:16:47.000 There's just a real sense of America that you feel when you're in places like this.

01:16:51.000 See, we train the aviators that are flying over all those folks that are getting trained in San Diego.

01:16:55.000 That is true. That's absolutely right.

01:16:58.000 Hey, I want to kick it to a few more questions here.

01:17:02.000 We talked a little bit about business ownership generally, but I want to talk a little bit about the folks that are actually starting businesses and taking their first steps.

01:17:13.000 And Josh Patello had a really good question about this.

01:17:16.000 So Josh, are you there? Sweet.

01:17:19.000 There you are. All right, Josh.

01:17:20.000 Floor's yours. My name is Josh Botello.

01:17:23.000 I am a senior engineering student local here in Pensacola.

01:17:28.000 And a little bit of the background or influence for my question comes from my mom.

01:17:34.000 She is currently running for the Republican congressional seat in Connecticut for the 5th District.

01:17:43.000 Make it red, baby. She's a Trump supporter, and she is America first.

01:17:50.000 And she supports a lot of the young and small businesses in her district.

01:17:56.000 She endorses several of them.

01:17:59.000 And, I mean, you gave me a mic, so I'm going to give her a plug. 1.00

01:18:02.000 But she really does need that support up there.

01:18:07.000 So that's Michelle Botello. 0.61

01:18:09.000 Michelle! But she's really inspired me with just having that entrepreneur drive.

01:18:18.000 So my question for you guys is, what is your plan to help young entrepreneurs in Pensacola specifically?

01:18:25.000 Yeah, I think it's the connectivity.

01:18:27.000 And first of all, you're in good company because Don and I are both mama's boys.

01:18:31.000 That was one of our first connections as friends, is nothing wrong with being a mama's boy.

01:18:38.000 And no one's ever going to love you like your mother.

01:18:40.000 And so it's great that you gave her a shout-out.

01:18:44.000 But I really think around here, there's kind of a unique...

01:18:49.000 It's a cachet about Pensacola, our history, our culture, our image.

01:18:54.000 It's why American Magic wants to be here.

01:18:56.000 We're getting more and more television and different things.

01:18:59.000 And so being able to be a part of enhancing that Pensacola brand and telling that story.

01:19:04.000 I mean, you go up and down Paula Fox Street here, we got so many businesses that are doing...

01:19:09.000 like millions of dollars in e-commerce and they say having that downtown Pensacola historic address helps them market and so in a way we're all a part of that brand like it or not and so we're brand ambassadors and we have to elevate it for the community but but also like Michael's been saying shopping local We got so many options around here for Florida-based businesses, Northwest Florida-based businesses.

01:19:34.000 You don't always have to surrender to the ease of the big box or the Amazon or the Walmart.

01:19:40.000 And I think that if we make those small choices here, all of it stays among us.

01:19:47.000 Love it. It's fantastic.

01:19:49.000 I want to add something to that to say that if you're young and starting a business, recognize the economic moment we're living in.

01:19:57.000 When I was first pitching Public Square, I had this thesis.

01:20:01.000 I was going to investors that were values aligned and said, I really believe there's going to come a day when you're going to see some of the major corporate entities in our country show their colors, like who they really are.

01:20:12.000 Little did I know Bud Light would just be a year and a half later.

01:20:15.000 But I said I really feel like there's this reckoning coming, and there's sort of this divide coming that we didn't start, but we have a responsibility to respond to.

01:20:24.000 And so as these corporate entities reveal their cards for who they are, it's going to leave a market gap.

01:20:29.000 Here's some numbers to quantify this.

01:20:31.000 Did you know that Trump voters in 2020— By the way, our platform's not just registered Republicans.

01:20:38.000 Our platform spans even political ideology because there are people, there are Democrats that are super frustrated by what's happening.

01:20:45.000 Will they be the ones to tell you?

01:20:46.000 No, they won't. But they exist, and they'll come and they'll support the types of businesses that we're describing.

01:20:51.000 But even if you just said, you know what, let's just quantify the Trump economy.

01:20:56.000 If you take the folks that voted for Trump that they're willing to admit in 2020, and you quantify those in terms of GDP representation, Trump voters in 2020 accounted for over $7 trillion in GDP. Seven trillion.

01:21:11.000 That makes Trump voters in 2020 the third largest economy in the entire world by GDP. Only smaller than China and the United States more broadly.

01:21:22.000 And can you name me even one major corporate entity that's even trying to talk to those people?

01:21:29.000 In fact, they're doing the opposite.

01:21:49.000 A welcome and a God bless you and I'm glad you're here.

01:21:52.000 If you can provide that experience, you will night and day differentiate yourselves over your competitors.

01:21:58.000 It is that simple. People are starving for the things that used to be normal in our country and young entrepreneurs like you can bring us back to it.

01:22:05.000 So that's the thing I'd add. Hey, we've covered a few of these questions tonight in our comments previously, but there's one here that I want to end on that I just think is fantastic, that I think would be a really wonderful way to sum up the evening.

01:22:25.000 Lance Stone, are you there?

01:22:26.000 Lance Stone? We got Lance in the house?

01:22:31.000 No Lance. Oh, that's a bummer.

01:22:35.000 I'm going to ask Lance his question.

01:22:37.000 I try to pretend like I don't know what the questions are.

01:22:39.000 I know all the questions. I have them right here.

01:22:41.000 But... I will gladly ask Lance's question, but the credit goes to him for asking this.

01:22:48.000 What can you tell us to give people hope that this country can still be saved, that we haven't gone too far?

01:22:56.000 And I think you all need to speak to that one.

01:22:58.000 I think you can look at every poll that's out there in every state, despite, again...

01:23:04.000 The manipulation from tech, despite the manipulation from the media, you see it in their commentary, you see it in their desperation.

01:23:10.000 They understand they've lost control.

01:23:13.000 When I say they, I mean those conglomerates that are working as the marketing arm of the Democrat Party.

01:23:17.000 It's groups like this, people who are able to show up, whether it's this, whether it's one of the countless other The primaries that we're talking about where people are showing up, they're getting engaged, they're involved, they're going to the places that a couple months ago, a couple years ago, you'd literally be afraid that you're going to be ostracized in society.

01:23:37.000 People have had enough and they're showing it.

01:23:40.000 To me, I mean, it just feels like an awesome place to be.

01:23:44.000 It's a 1775 type of moment in our country where people, you know, they went along for a long time, they figured out, and now they've had enough, and they're making it very clear they've had enough.

01:23:55.000 So I see this as I go around the country and I go around every – people, they're getting it.

01:24:00.000 They're awake, they're pissed off, and rightfully so, and they're going to act accordingly.

01:24:06.000 So I get this question everywhere.

01:24:09.000 I get this question at all of our discussions.

01:24:11.000 And before we roll, I've got to thank the McDavids, my good friends who are our hosts tonight, who've made this wonderful venue available to us.

01:24:19.000 It means the world to us to be able to celebrate in this space together.

01:24:22.000 Thank you for everything you've done for our community.

01:24:27.000 I remember hearing this as a young man going out into the world when Barack Obama was president.

01:24:32.000 They said the economic growth would never exceed 2%.

01:24:36.000 America would always be reliant on other countries for our energy and our raw materials.

01:24:43.000 That we just had to accept the fact that Obama would be bowing to the Chinese and going to baseball games with the Castros in Cuba. 0.91

01:24:51.000 And I saw how one man put this economy and this country on his back.

01:24:57.000 And he delivered a level of positivity and success and wealth.

01:25:05.000 And we were richer and we were stronger and we were prouder and we were better.

01:25:09.000 And he did all of that despite the fact that in the United States Congress he had Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell doing everything they could to stop him.

01:25:18.000 He did it despite that.

01:25:20.000 Now, my friends, we are better prepared for 2025 than we ever were for 2017.

01:25:26.000 Because in all that President Trump has endured, he has exposed the liars and the thieves and the cheats and the worst in our government.

01:25:35.000 He has this unique ability to force them to expose themselves.

01:25:39.000 And now people see the media.

01:25:40.000 For what they really are.

01:25:42.000 And I see the Congress for what it really is.

01:25:44.000 And that's why I will spend the coming months on the campaign trail throughout this country backing the candidates who will have the courage and the strength and the fortitude and the willpower to make the tough choices we have to make.

01:25:58.000 I wish I could tell you that we were one renamed post office or blue ribbon commission away from saving the country, but we are not.

01:26:06.000 The easy decisions, they're in the rearview mirror and we have tough Work ahead, but we are a tough people.

01:26:13.000 This is a tough district and you have a tough congressman and I will never stop fighting for you.

01:26:18.000 Applause Ladies and gentlemen, let's thank Donald Trump Jr.

01:26:38.000 and Congressman Matt Gaetz.

01:26:40.000 Well done, Michael.

01:26:47.000 Thank you, thank you.

01:26:48.000 Don't forget to sign up on publicsquare.com.

01:26:51.000 Remember, it's not just about the business, it's also the consumer.

01:26:55.000 It's both sides. We're linking up both sides of these transactions, and you guys are a critical part of that.

01:27:01.000 Love it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fun little surprise for you at the end of the evening here.

01:27:05.000 So, at this Town Hall Series, we wanted to make sure that every time we stop off in another city full of glorious patriots like yourselves, we want to give back to the community in some way.

01:27:14.000 We want to actually select a local business and give a grant, albeit small but hopefully mighty for the success of this business, of $1,000 to a different small business every single city we go to.

01:27:26.000 I remember when we were just starting out and growing as a very small business, $1,000 was material.

01:27:31.000 It matters. It's another payroll you get to pay.

01:27:34.000 It's another bill you get to pay off so that you can sleep easier that night and get refreshed for the next day, excited to keep conquering.

01:27:42.000 So tonight, we're really excited to give $1,000 to a small business from the panhandle here in northwest Florida.

01:27:48.000 I want to introduce you to a man named John Blackrock who started a great company called John Candor.

01:27:54.000 John, are you here? I'm here.

01:27:56.000 Hey, there you are.

01:27:57.000 Guys, let's hear for John Blackrock.

01:28:03.000 Thank you. Thank you.

01:28:07.000 So, yeah, we had to do a big check.

01:28:10.000 It just felt right for something like this.

01:28:12.000 So, hey, John Kandor, I can speak from personal experience.

01:28:16.000 He's an incredible clothing company maker, specifically in the world of accessories like shoes and leather goods.

01:28:22.000 The world of footwear has become dominated by people who are either incredibly woke and want to lecture your kids about gender or by people that will actually lobby Congress to allow them to continue utilizing slave labor to make your shoes.

01:28:39.000 That's the world of footwear today.

01:28:41.000 John Kandor is bringing something different to the mix.

01:28:43.000 I'm a proud customer of his.

01:28:45.000 He's been a public square business of ours for probably over a year now.

01:28:48.000 And John Blackrock, we're incredibly grateful that you're here with us.

01:28:51.000 So, guys, let's hear it for him.

01:28:52.000 Thank you so much.

01:28:54.000 Thank you.

01:28:56.000 Thank you.

01:28:58.000 Thank you for all your support.

01:29:00.000 Thank you.

01:29:02.000 Thank you.

01:29:04.000 Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're super grateful for businesses like John Kandor.

01:29:08.000 We're grateful for folks like you that make our nation special.

01:29:11.000 I'm hopeful to that last question from Lance.

01:29:14.000 I'm hopeful because I remember the first time we had a small business reach out and say we only had 150 businesses on the platform at the time.

01:29:20.000 A small business reached out, a hair salon in San Diego, California, and they said we were about to have to go under.

01:29:26.000 And after three weeks of being on Public Square, we've had our most successful month we've ever had times five.

01:29:33.000 And I remember, this thing has taken blood, sweat, and tears to build in three years, but I remember sitting with my wife and saying, if that's all that this ever is, if it was that story, if that's all that we ever do, all of this was worth it.

01:29:44.000 And so I'm incredibly grateful that there's been thousands of stories like that now, and with the help of patriots like you, there will be thousands more.

01:29:51.000 Pensacola, thank you for greeting us tonight.

01:29:53.000 Thank you for being amazing.

01:29:55.000 Palafox, Worf, Peter, Sandy, thank you so much to both of you.

01:29:59.000 We're so grateful for you for hosting us this evening.

01:30:02.000 Thank you.

01:30:03.000 Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you have a fantastic night, and we'll see you next time.

01:30:11.000 Okay guys, thanks so much for tuning in.

01:30:18.000 I hope that was a masterclass in how to combat some of the woke mob that has taken over and owned the corporate media, just corporations in general, how to find those patriotic small businesses and to support them.

01:30:34.000 If we band together, they can't cancel us all, folks.

01:30:36.000 So thanks so much for tuning in.

01:30:38.000 Make sure you're liking... We'll put it up there later on.

01:30:58.000 So if you... Perhaps get your podcast when you're driving or flying and you're not necessarily on Rumble.

01:31:03.000 Go check them out over there.

01:31:05.000 Share them. Subscribe.

01:31:06.000 It's because of you guys that we're able to get this messaging out there.

01:31:10.000 That and with the help of our incredible sponsors.

01:31:12.000 So go to twc.health slash triggered for 15% off the emergency medical kit.

01:31:19.000 Take control of your family's health, their well-being.

01:31:22.000 And also go check out the great folks over at Gold Co.

01:31:25.000 Don't just protect your health side, protect your financial side against the instability

01:31:30.000 of the insanity that we see taking place before our very eyes each and every day.

01:31:35.000 You can do that by going to donjrgold.com.

01:31:38.000 That's D-O-N-J-R-G-O-L-D.com to learn more. 1.00

01:31:44.000 Donjrgold.com.

01:31:46.000 Check it out.

01:31:47.000 Check those companies out.

01:31:48.000 Support the companies that have the guts to push.

Triggered - Donald Trump Jr - February 27, 2024

PUBLICSQUARE TOWN HALL: Live with Rep Matt Gaetz and Michael Seifert

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