Kind: captions
Language: en
war is a test of Wills Israel is very
determined to completely eradicate Hamas
it's going to cause years and years of
strategic problems people are going to
seek revenge on them if I was an enemy
of this country I would do everything I
could to fuel the fires of division
within this nation do you think that
China is doing that with Tik Tok
yes why do you think so many people want
you to run for
president I would say
probably if anyone wants me to run for
president it's probably because they
look at the current choices and think
just about anything would be better so
that's that's probably has something to
do with it I will say that you are a
strong man with strong character and if
I had to guess that that's what people
are going for um I know you don't want
to run for office but does that resonate
do can you see why people would
gravitate towards that at this
moment you are correct that I do not
want to run for office I definitely
don't want to be in in politics I I have
friends that are in politics it looks
absolutely horrible their lives look
terrible it does not look like the kind
of the the way I would want to spend my
time because of how people go after them
or something else the whole nine yards I
mean just having to travel to live in DC
a bunch of the year there's pragmatic
selfish
reasons that I look at it and think but
yeah do I want to do I want to go and do
that and and the answer that I usually
give is if things got bad enough in the
country then clearly I I love
America and if that was required then I
would step up and and do
something and then people of course say
to me well how much worse can it get and
I usually say listen it can get a lot
worse things can get a lot worse
everyone right now has a phone and they
have food
and we're we're doing pretty well
comparatively to countries that fall
apart
so would I do it at some juncture if
things got bad enough yes would I do it
if I was maybe older and didn't H still
have you know kids I I got one daughter
left in in high school so it's I wasn't
around much for my other kids cuz I was
deployed all the time so it's nice to be
around a little bit
more and yeah and I think that I would
say that actually probably the reason
that people might look at me and think
hey he might not be bad at that job is
because
I'm pretty levelheaded I would think I
don't fly off the handle I can open my
ears and my eyes and and take in a bunch
of different perspectives and understand
people's perspectives and why someone
might be saying one thing and why
someone might be saying something else
and how they're both probably got some
points that make sense and so I've spent
I spent the my entire adult life really
in leadership positions so I've
constantly been collecting data points
and making decisions and driving things
forward and and I think that probably is
visible to someone on the that that
looks at me so that might be why they're
thinking that and I I apologize for
letting them down but I I really don't
want to do that that kind of job I can
get that I certainly not that a single
person has ever said I should run for
office but I likewise would not want
that role but the thing that makes that
question interesting because I've heard
your answer about not wanting to do it
though we will get to the warlord part
uh at some point today but the I think
it says something really interesting
about what either people covet in a
leader full stop or what they covet in a
leader right now um okay so you laid out
sort of why you think people might be
responding to you but let me ask who
would be the ideal person you would like
to see in real life like who ideally
would you like to see run for president
I think right now what we need is is
someone
that's less polarizing and has a more
open mind and is more concerned about or
looking more to find Solutions and
compromise and figure out how to make
things work rather than hey here's what
the party that put me in this position
wants to have happen and therefore
that's what I'm going to do my best to
make happen because what that results in
is oftentimes nothing happening so if we
can't come to a compromise and figure
out how to move forward we don't make
any decisions we don't make any progress
so I I would like to see someone that
said oh yeah there's some good aspects
to this idea there's some good aspects
to this opposing ideas what can we do to
take those ideas and pull the best
components from that and put together an
idea that's new that will function
correctly and and look you could
say uh there's some saying oh if you're
in the middle of the road you're going
to get run over right there's a saying
like that but look that's the the
reality of life is there's there's
different there's different beliefs
there's different ideas and and everyone
that has an idea there's going to be
some good components to that idea and
there's going to be some things that
won't really work out and in a
leadership position you've got to say
okay what will what will function how
can we move forward and how can we make
compromises that that will benefit
everybody that all feels like the right
gravitational Center but if you had to
pick somebody uh like so what prompted
this question was somebody came up to
you at the Arnold Classic wearing a
shirt I think that said Rogan hannes and
you were like something affirmative I'm
here for that or you know whatever um
maybe ingest or maybe serious
but the people that you know that have
that ability to bring people together
that have an ability to think through a
problem and look for Solutions and not
get caught up in the drama to not become
beholden to their base which I think is
part of what people love about Rogan is
that he is um he'll have whatever he
thinks to be true he's going to tell you
and whether that gets him in hot water
or not he does not seem to care um I'm
certainly not feeding you that as the
answer but I'm just curious if there's
somebody that you know in your life or a
public figure that you're like l really
that person yeah I mean Rogan's a good
example of someone that has an open mind
and he listens to different people's
perspectives and he also changes his
mind he changes his perspective when he
gets new data in he says oh yeah I was
wrong about this subject and you can
he'll he'll openly say oh this is what I
thought before now I've learned this
here's what I'm thinking now and even
when he says he's thinking something now
he doesn't say this is what's correct
now he says no this is what I'm thinking
now so having that kind of an open mind
that's the kind of person that I think
would do a good job in that position I I
can just about guarantee you that Joe
Rogan does not want to be president of
the United States of America but yes
someone with an open mind like that
that's going to that's going to bring in
new information and and put those data
points into the calculus of a
decision-making process that's that's
what I think someone would be good in
that position I don't know if there's
any public figures that I can think of
off the top of my head that that sort of
come to mind I mean uh I'm friends with
Tulsi gabard I think she's a very
squared away woman with a an open mind
and she brings in data points and she's
very articulate I I was honestly quite
quite surprised when she got so
obliterated by the Democratic party
because I thought she was a a good
candidate but I think you know she's a
she's a veteran she's got a great
perspective she's got a great attitude I
think I think she would have been a good
candidate I have no idea what happened
there what happened oh Tulsi gabard so
she was she was uh a Democrat and she
was running as as a Democrat and she
didn't agree with everything that the
Democratic party was saying and she
spoke about the fact that she didn't
agree with everything that the
Democratic party was saying and the
Democratic party just turned on her and
obliterated her so it was it was was
very interesting to watch from the
outside and they did the same thing to
Bernie Sanders you know Bernie Sanders
was very popular within the Democratic
party but he he he got obliterated by
the Democratic party so it's uh it's
been interesting to watch that yeah yeah
politics right now strikes me as very
weird and as I try to zoom in on uh what
I think people should be doing when
they're looking at their leader versus
what they're doing uh it gets very
jarring so I'm I'm currently exploring
an idea that is I think we've stopped
stopped using philosophy because
philosophy became a standin for
something up in the air sort of
pointless it's not grounded why are we
talking about this when in reality if
you get rid of philosophy which I see as
it is the Bedrock from which your
thinking grows if you get rid of that
philosophy now you just have a bunch of
random either facts or thoughts and
there's nothing that congeals it nothing
stated that congeals it and so when
people debate you get this sort of shows
that we're getting right now where it's
name calling ad homonym people even if
they're talking about facts they're not
recognizing that they have different
value systems which is what I mean when
I talk philosophy to me philosophies
philosophy is values plus beliefs so
they're not recognizing we have
different values and so when we look at
the same facts we come up with wildly
different conclusions and because nobody
stops them and goes hey why do you
believe what you believe not what you
believe we've already heard that you've
been screaming it for the last 45
minutes why do you believe what you
believe so looking at that gravitational
Center I think becomes critical so what
I want to see people do is say this is
my stated philosophy this is what I
believe and this is what I'm trying to
achieve so I'll give you mine just by
way of example human flourishing is my
aim and thinking from first principles
is My Philosophy like one ought to build
up literally starting with physics and
then everything from there is about
predictive capabilities so if I believe
uh that politicians are going to vote in
their long-term best interest of getting
reelected am I able to better predict
their choices or can I predict them less
better if I assume that um politicians
are going to stand by their morals can I
better predict or Worse predict their um
their actions less right and
so that that is sort of mind in a
nutshell what would you say is your
Bedrock upon which you build your
thought process my thought process from
a political aspect or just my thought
proc a political person so that seems
like a wasted question so I'll say in
life well I I I I agree that you don't
very often hear politicians talking
about these are the principles that I
believe in and you could you you could
even take that further so there's some
goals right that if you pull any
politician out of Congress and you say
hey do you think
that people should have access to
healthare I mean I can pretty much tell
you that 100% of the people in the US
government would say yeah I believe that
people should have access to healthcare
they all think that like there's a sick
kid they would want to help that sick
kid there's a s sick Grandma they'd want
to help that sick Grandma the the
disparity comes in when how do you get
that healthare to those people right
because on one side of the spectrum it's
like we need to give it to them for free
on the other side of the spectrum is if
you give everyone free health care then
the health care is ends up being pretty
worthless
so these people say nope we need to
charge top dollar for the healthare the
other people say oh no we need to give
that healthcare for free and what needs
to happen is some kind of a balance
right but unfortunately often times it
just turns into an argument I think it
should be for free I think it should be
top dollar and that's what you end up
with is like I like I said earlier you
end up in a situation where no one is
compromising no one's trying to figure
out an actual solution to the problem
and so not knowing what the what like
you're saying not knowing what the
philosophy of a human being is now we
don't we don't we doesn't matter what
end goal they're going to towards
because how are they going to get there
we don't know what measure they might
take so I I think we have to be I think
we should be discussing those things I I
would I I would love to hear a debate
between people where instead of spouting
off like what you said hey here's some
facts and figures which the data is all
manipulated and we all know you can take
that and you can make it say whatever
you want but hey what's the end state
that you're trying to achieve and what's
your belief and how you think we should
get there and there's going to be
changes because no one can come up with
a plan that's perfect to execute
anything so you come up with a flexible
plan and you start to move in that
direction and then you iterate and make
changes to the plan as you get closer
but you're still sticking within the
principles that you believe and still
going towards the end state that you're
trying to reach that's what a leader
should be doing and that's what leaders
should be doing instead of well it's not
what I wanted so I'm going to burn it
down which is what we get a lot of right
now yes why do you think we get that by
the
way well part of it is what you
mentioned right we got people that their
their goal is to make sure that they
stay in their position of power so
that's what they're going to that's
that's the way they're running their
business that's the way their business
being being a politician so when they go
in front of a camera what do they want
they want to get a little more popular
well what kind of what kind of things
get viewed in social media or on the
media right now what what gets viewed
what gets shared it's it's emot things
it's quick sound bites that insult
someone really bad or make someone look
really stupid or make me look really
good or dunk on someone all that so
that's what they do that's what they're
trying for hey I'm going to go out there
and make a statement that's going to get
shared and that's going to get my name
out there and it's going to keep me in
this position of power so instead of
someone saying well you know I've never
really thought about that before let me
get back to you does that get shared no
that doesn't get shared so they they
have some some remark that they're going
to say it's GNA it's going to be
inflammatory and it's going to make the
rounds and so they're going to keep
themselves in power and then of course
they're going to vote for things that
are going to keep them in power they've
got lobbyists that are putting money in
their pockets it's it's a it's it's a
system
that's it's a system that's in many ways
is corrupt yeah yes it is and very
troubling so right now
our corrupt or corrupt adjacent system
is most likely going to be putting
forward two potential candidates for CEO
of
America uh Trump and Biden if you came
into a company and Trump was the CEO
what advice would you give him to
improve his leadership abilities to do
the things that you've laid out which to
consolidate uh you want somebody who is
solution oriented somebody who
understands that you're going to have to
compromise to bring Unity uh somebody
that oper Ates on a goal plan uh
execution pattern somebody that
understands that there's going to be
messiness and you're going to have to
work within that system somebody that
has principles that are articulable that
are knowable uh that they operate on you
said all of that and I'll add one thing
that I think you implied even when it's
hard so even when the sexier thing
that's going to get you farther would be
to um be more salacious so that it goes
viral to not do that and instead to
Anchor around principles um I have a
feeling my audience will resonate with
that very much I certainly do so
assuming that you're Consulting Trump as
the potential CEO of America with all of
that as your center of gravity what
would you knowing what he's like what
would you advise him to do or a CEO like
him clearly he gets himself in a lot of
trouble because he's very
Brash that and he gets himself in a lot
of trouble because he's very Brash he
also is very popular because he's very
Brash and I think that the brashness is
one of the things that got him into the
situation you know that got him elected
in the first place once he was elected I
thought and I would advise him once you
get elected you've used this brashness
we understand it we understand that you
use sound bites we understand that
that's that makes you very popular but
now that you're in this position what we
want to do is we want to build
relationships with with the with the
with everybody so that we listen to what
other people say we make sure that we're
moving in the same direction um and so
yeah I would say let let's let's build
some relationships you've you've you've
said a lot of things you've done a lot
of things and actually really he says a
lot of things that that one one part of
the country finds glorious and he says a
lot of things that one part of the
country finds completely offensive and
so once he was elected I would say all
right let's let try and let's try and
say things that are a little bit more
Center let's try and say things that are
a little bit more uniting instead of
saying things that are very divisive now
that
brashness is one of the main things that
that made him so popular because he
stood up to people
that that that one part of the country
never gets to talk back to and he he
stood up to him and they supported that
so once that again once that election
takes place and you're in that position
now all right let's look to let's look
to unite people instead of divide them
so one of the things I think that makes
Trump um really appealing to people is
this idea of a strong man it's one of
the reasons I think as I said earlier
that people are so drawn to you but
you're a much more interesting variant
where I feel like I can track your
principles seems like you're always
operating in accordance with them uh but
Trump is very much a strong man like he
is not afraid to Brash to bully to
chastise he said something I think the
first go round which which love Trump or
hate Trump I think this is brilliant um
I may be a bully but I'm your bully and
I think people so hunger for that to be
able to draft off somebody it's what I
call the Invincible winner when you
believe somebody's an invincible winner
you always want your big brother to be
an invincible winner you want your dad
when you're a little kid that's the
fantasy dad's an invincible winner and
and there is nothing more traumatic than
watching your dad who you think of as an
invincible winner get his ass kicked
like that that's that would be a
transformative moment for a child to
witness that like whoa the foundation
upon which my world was built just came
crumbling down so I think that's a big
part of the appeal to Trump is nobody's
been listening to me and I don't want to
derail on the whole Elites versus
everybody else but I think that's very
real so understand everything I'm saying
is in that context where people are just
like my life is being run by people I
don't understand I make a living uh in a
more middle class working class way and
this guy's basically telling everybody
to [ __ ] off like he's
just potentially a WWE wrestler but he
nonetheless is your
bully um how do we take somebody that
has those
Tendencies and is known for firing
people inside their cabinet and creating
that instability would you sit him down
and say uh tell me your principal and
standards because this is something I
know you do when you go into a company
would we start there where we're just
trying to get him hey so that you're not
constantly just firing from the hip and
saying crazy [ __ ] like we need to
outline what what do you really believe
in you as the real human or is there
another First Step so in doing what
you're saying because that's essentially
the idea but a big piece for me is
getting people to think strategically
instead of tactically so in in the
military there's
there's three level levels of combat
you've got tactical operational and
strategic I don't really talk about
operational very much because it's
confusing to the civilian world but
tactical is what we're doing right now
this gunfight that I'm in right now
there's machine gun bullets flying at me
how do I get out of here strategic is oh
we've got a war to win we've got we've
got brigades and divisions to maneuver
we've got supply lines to fill we've got
local populace that we need to get on
board that's strategic thinking it's
long-term
thinking versus tactical of short-term
thinking so for a guy like Trump and
I've had this conversation with many
leaders over the years hey you and I get
an argument and I tell you like all
right I've heard enough from you Tom
shut up and get out of my
office and shut up and leave the meeting
right so I just do that to you in front
of 15 people we've got in this meeting
tactically I feel great I showed my
power let out some emotions other people
are going to know they better not mess
with me right so a good tactical win
feels good what happens after the
meeting people are sitting around going
I can't believe he did that to Tom Tom
was just trying to make a point you're
now saying that guy won't even listen to
me now we got your three or four close
friends are saying he's not going to
listen to any of us and now what we end
up with is a problem a long-term
strategic problem because we've got a
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today so I would start talking to him
about okay let's stop acting tactically
and let's start acting strategically and
and I'm not talking about his about his
Global policies I'm talking about his
basically his media and his
reputational impact because he's he's a
very tactical guy I mean Twitter for the
most part is a tactical tool like the
it's so fast it's so rapid you're get
your information out there but it's not
a
longstanding image that you give it's
just a tactical oh I dunked on this
person I made that person look bad I
made myself look good in this moment but
it doesn't help you strategically in the
long term so I would be talking to him
about okay how are we going to think
about building these relationships
strategically over the next four years
so that when you go and you present
something that makes
sense you actually get support there's a
there's a a term there's one one term
called Psychological reactants which is
when I tell you what to do most people
they don't like that they don't like
that but there's also a psychological
mechanism that we have that when I don't
like you for whatever reason oh Tom he's
he's he's he never says hi to me in the
morning he treats me bad he looks down
on me he he made those couple comments
to me in that meeting and now you come
into a meeting and you present an
idea I have an instinct a psychological
instinct to be oh I don't like your idea
your idea is bad Tom's idea is bad I
don't like Tom so I don't like Tom's
ideas and it doesn't matter what your
idea is and we have we saw that you see
that in politics all the time I mean
that is basically the way politics runs
is oh if you're a Democrat and Trump
came up with an idea it's awful if
you're a Republican and Biden came up
with an idea it's awful we hate it and
that's the way that's the way it the the
country is operating right now instead
of saying hold on a second what is the
what's the what's the value of this idea
what's the Strategic value of this idea
where is this going to put us in the
long term I don't really care where it
came from is it a good idea or is it a
bad idea but they take wholesale
everything that TR Trump does or
wholesale everything that Biden does and
say I hate it all I don't support any of
it and you end up with no progress
there's no progress there
so that's what we need to watch out for
so if I was talking to Trump I'd be
saying listen you got to build these
relationships so when you present an
idea that by really any metric makes
sense people will say yeah you know what
that makes sense let's move forward with
it and in order to do that you got to
you got to build some relationships if
you don't have relationships you're just
going to you're just going to get hatred
and that's kind of where that's kind of
where America is right now unfortunately
how do you build relationships with
people that are on the opposite team
there's five
components in my opinion there's five
components to a relationship trust
listen respect influence and
care and so in order to if look if I
don't trust you and you don't trust me
we don't have a relationship if if you
don't listen to me and I don't listen to
you we don't have a relationship if I
don't respect you and you don't respect
me we don't have a relationship if I
have no influence over you and you have
no influence over me we don't have a
relationship and if I don't care about
you and you don't care about me we don't
have a
relationship so I want to build those
things how do I build those things and
the the original idea the original
kernel of this this concept came to me
when people would ask me all the time
how do I get this person to listen to me
and you know how do you get how Tom if I
want you to listen to me what do I do
you're not listening to me what do I do
do I talk louder do I start to yell at
you no actually it's very
counterintuitive if I want to listen to
me I need to listen to
you I need to listen to what you say and
by the way if I want you to respect me I
can't say I'm the boss you better
respect me I actually need to give you
respect if I want to have influence over
you I actually need to allow you to
influence me if I want you to care about
me I need to care about
you if I want you to trust me I have to
put trust into you so if you're going to
build relation ships with people what
you have to do is you have to listen to
them you have to treat them with respect
you have to allow their ideas to
influence
you and if you do those things then that
will open up their mind and now you can
have an actual conversation and you can
try and figure out a good solution as
opposed to just stonewalling each other
not listening to each other and closing
up our
minds that all feels incredibly right to
me the one thing I worry about is that
we are living in a time where uh some
portion of the half of the country that
hates the other candidate which is very
fascinating to me I feel that it's
breaking along evolutionary lines but
that's a conversation for another day
but you have left and right uh and so if
you're on the left you're going to hate
the right candidate if you're on the
right you're going to hate the left
candidate now partly because of social
media we are now at a stage where people
actually believe that the other side
represents an existential threat so very
smart
very intelligent people I have listened
bang on about the fact that Trump is a
legitimate existential threat to the
country uh one do you think he's an
existential threat do I think he's an
existential threat to America yeah okay
so you and I agree on that and and and
nor do I think Joe Biden is an
existential threat to America America is
a big strong giant Empire and one of
these people is not going to take down
this this country now could we get to at
some point maybe in our lifetimes where
we we reach some kind of a point of no
return where yeah this this downward
spiral that we're on right now is now
Beyond hope could we get there in our
lifetimes I guess we'd have to do we'd
have to continually do dumb things and
America's done all kinds of dumb things
but normally thankfully when we do dumb
things we look around and we go that was
kind of dumb we need we need to fix this
that's why we get the kind of classic
pendulum going from the left to the
right we kind of get that that swing
going back and forth we do dumb things
we we get ourselves squared away we take
that too far we do something else dumb
we go back in the other direction but
America is a strong country the the
people of the country the other thing
you got to remember is you talk about
social media right and the fact that
you'll see on social media that the the
left thinks that Trump is an existential
threat and the right thinks that Biden
is an existential threat to the
country that's what you hear on social
media look I have a consulting company I
travel around this country I talk to
businesses and and and industries all
the time all the
time all over the place uh energy
companies insurance companies
construction companies manufacturing
companies all these different companies
and you know what those people talk to
me about they talk to me about how they
can build a better product how they take
care of their client how they can take
care of their people what they can do to
unify their team they're not talking
about these these polarizing political
situations they're talking about how do
they make their company and their world
better so that's the vast majority of
the country now are there a bunch of
loud
mouths that sit on social media and and
attack each other yes there absolutely
are there absolutely are and by the way
if you get the chance like if if you get
the chance to go to the
mountains and you don't look at your
social media for 7 days while you're in
the mountains when you come back nothing
will have changed those people will
still be yelling at each other you
didn't get any aggravation from it it
didn't impact what happened and it's
going to be fine so we could shut down
those things right now and it wouldn't
make that big of a difference it's
really interesting it's a great point
about detaching uh I have in myself many
times not knowing about something is the
same as it not happening at least from
your perspective uh so okay uh you don't
think either side poses an existential
threat but going back to what triggered
this in my mind uh we're Consulting
Trump and you're telling him look we
have to be more um unifying we've got to
bring people together love the brashness
you got yourself elected totally respect
your ability to do that with the media
uh but that's not going to fly now we
have to stop being tactical we need to
start being strategic we're going have
to bring people together however the
other side does think he's a problem and
whether it's just that they want to win
as a team and they're going to use a
faux sense of you're an existential
threat as as the push back the reason to
shut the door whatever they're going to
do that but I really believe the thing
that you laid out is absolutely true
about what has to be done so in terms of
building a relationship so now the
question becomes when you have somebody
who I mean just swimming with sharks
right so how do you befriend a shark
somebody who is politically motivated to
never give an inch with
you let's also have you ever seen those
um compilations where they have the past
I don't know probably 20 elections where
people are saying this is the most
critical election in the history of our
democracy and our democracy at
stake for sure they're going to keep
saying this so let's not get too crazy
there our our democracy is going to be
okay and like I said could there be some
things that we could do where we could
get to a point where yeah we can't
recover we could get there we're not
even close we're not even close to that
right now okay so now I've got someone
that is a complete antagonist to
me just wants me out of that job wants
to take care of themselves what do I
have to do I've got to do the same
protocols that I just talked about
you've got problems with me Tom come in
and let's talk about those problems you
I'm going to listen to you I'm going to
allow what you're saying I'm going to
try and understand your perspective I'm
going to actively try and allow you to
influence what my plan is I'm going to
make that happen I'm also going
to consistently and
repetitively ask you why you want to do
something what is the outcome that
you're looking for why why do you want
to do that why do you wanna spend money
in that marketing campaign right if you
and I are working together you come in
look Joo you're shutting down all of our
marketing we need to put money into this
marketing campaign okay well talk to me
about why well because that is a a group
we've never talked to before okay do you
what makes you think they're going to
want our product well I got this Market
data oh okay so you just taught me
something I didn't know about this
Market tell me more and all of a sudden
when I open my mind and I started
listening I and say oh I didn't know
that we had Market let me see that
market data oh you're right this this
would have a good impact for us here's
something I didn't tell you Tom the
reason we pulled back all of our
marketing budget is because we're losing
money and we don't have much left oh so
now you're thinking how can I do this
more effect effectively and efficiently
and save money while still addressing
this new market that we have an
opportunity in so now we start having a
conversation and guess what we start
doing we start solving the problem so if
I go yeah you know what Tom's just a he
just always wants to spend money a
maniac he's going to come into my office
and you say hey I'd like to spend some
Morey we're losing money you're talking
about spending money we're losing money
it's because you don't understand get
out of here it's a fail but if I say all
right Tom tell me tell me what you want
to do tell me why you want to do it
let's let's try and find a solution to
What's Happening Here our country
doesn't do that right now and look you
don't have to go back that
far 15 20 30 years where these these
government officials these elected
representatives on both side of the
aisle they were friends they had
conversations they talked to each other
they went to Banquets together like
that's what they used to do they don't
really do that
anymore so we've completely thrown these
relationships out and it's a problem so
if you want if you're in an organization
which as you said the the government is
an organization and you're trying to
solve problems you have to work together
so guess what I have to do as the leader
I have to put my ego in check look Tom
did everything in his power to make sure
I didn't get elected he said nasty
things about me he said horrible things
he lied he tweeted a bunch of stuff he
brought up stuff from my past he's he he
hates me guess what I have to do I have
to say okay you know what what's more
important than my ego our country what's
more important than mudslinging our
country so you've got people in our
government that put their own agenda
their own ego their own personality
their own election above the most
important thing which is America our
country so
until well there's two things until
those people in those offic in those
positions recognize that and until we as
voters recognize that what we need is
someone that's going to affect change
not someone that's going to yell and
scream
so I want to vote for someone that is
going to build relationships and and
affect change I I'm not voting for
someone the reason oh I'm voting for
this guy because I saw him on social
media and he really blasted the other
side he really made the Republicans look
like idiots or he really made the
Democrats look like idiots I'm gonna
vote for that person no it's like wait
wait a second what did you what did you
accomplish have you you know I don't
know when this is coming out but we just
signed like a $1.3 trillion bill
and I just really quickly on my way up
here was going through it to see you
know like what we're spending money on
trillions and trillions and trillions of
dollars that that we're spending money
on it's a bill that's a thousand pages
that has to be voted on like today yeah
or tomorrow no one has time to discuss
that and I get it that there's staffers
that run the numbers and put those
things together but guess what when I'm
in a POS when I'm in a leadership
position of course yeah I have my
staffers and my subordinate leadership
put things together and I trust them but
I still need to go through those numbers
and assess what we're spending the money
on and that's clearly not happening you
can't do it you can't do that on a
thousand page bill in 24 hours you can't
do that
so that's what that's that's what's
happening inside of our government right
now and we as voters apparently we're
okay with it because we keep voting the
same people in there
yeah that that becomes a complicated
question as to why we keep going for it
I think a big part of it's not the only
part and in a conversation like this
there's a certain amount of
simplification you have to do just to
have the conversation but the velocity
and volume of information can be
leveraged as a weapon I see people do it
on social media all the time Trump is a
master at this where he's just going to
give you another crazy thing to deal
with you know 45 minutes later and so
each thing more crazy than the next and
just you just sort of get numb to it
same thing you give somebody a thousand
page bill in 48 hours to go through it
uh you're going to skim you're just
going to try to find out like what are
the things that I know they're trying to
sneak in here I'm going to look at that
I'm going to ignore everything else and
then once it's a part of the government
man getting rid of it is very hard now
you said something though that I want to
go back to um so you were saying that
what's more important than my ego
America this is where I start to get
distressed so I grew up in the 80s and
be America was the best as an American
obviously and I always believed if you
live in England you should think England
is the best if you're in Japan you
should think Japan is the best India
India is the best but if you're in
America you should think America's the
best it's your team and it that was just
like obvious that America was the best
it was in all the movies I mean the just
the the Heyday of all of those movies
where PS it was a guy with an accent
nine times out of 10 Schwarzenegger
whoever that was American so you know it
wasn't n necessarily homegrown but it
was this ideology that we could all
believe in around freedom and that you
could rise from the bottom to the top
all of it so that idea is tied to
something I can't remember where I first
heard this but the idea that we all need
to kneel before something and if there's
nothing to which you will kneel you're
you're going to get caught up in your
ego and so I'm very curious to know one
what is it that you think people ought
to kneel before whether
it's the family unit the American flag
whatever and then in a world now where
you have Americans that hate America so
much there was a kid I forget what um
what school but there was a a high
school kid who was told he had to remove
the American flag from his car because
it was considered offensive I was just
like what that's crazy if I was to try
and figure out something that I think
people should kneel before I would say
freedom and the reason I say that is
because there's some people that there's
some people that would choose to kneel
before God there's some people that
would choose to kneel before the country
there's some people that would choose to
kneel before a different God there's
some people that would choose to kneel
before science and Academia and and I
don't think that I or anyone else has
the authority to tell
people what they worship what they look
look up to and what they kneel before so
therefore there's only one thing that
protects you to do any of those things
and that's Freedom so if you're going to
kneel before one thing in my opinion it
should be freedom and you have the
freedom to kneel that gives you the
freedom to kneel before whatever you
want so that's what I think on that case
on the other case of
why people might start to
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lose sight of the fact that America is a
is an awesome place is because they're
spoiled we're we're super spoiled we're
super spoiled in America it's It's
amazing
And if you you know if you've got like
I've got kids and if you know I think if
my kid says the Wi-Fi the Wi-Fi in my
bedroom is I only got two bars in
there guess what
I'm I'm a good dad you know what I'm
saying right if if if we're complaining
about like oh the Wi-Fi in my bedroom
isn't that good you go to another
country there's no Wi-fi there's no
bedroom there's no
bed so we're at that point where we as a
nation some people in this nation are
complaining about the fact that they
don't have Wi-Fi in their bedroom or
they don't have strong enough Wi-Fi
signal in their bedroom when they forget
the fact that there's some people that
don't have Wi-Fi some people don't have
bedrooms some people don't have beds
some people don't have houses some
people don't have roofs so
metaphorically
look what what what is going on in this
country well all kinds of stuff there's
all kinds of people with all kinds of
different ideas and they're saying wild
things and they can say
them and they have the right to say them
and that's okay so what protects
people's ability to say those things
freedom and what protects Freedom
America it's your first amendment right
you could say what you want that's
what's happening so just like a spoiled
kid that you know I I wanted the
convertible Mercedes dad right that that
actually happens you go and talk to like
some rich 18-year-old kid that got a
Mercedes for their birthday and it
wasn't the convertible they're
mad so do we have some of that in
America yes we do
yes we do there's places in the world
right now if you go into those places
you do not have these freedoms you do
not have these freedoms you can't kneel
before this God or that God you can't
participate in Academia there's all
kinds of parts of the world where you
don't have these freedoms
so I would recommend when someone when I
talk to someone like that I don't say
you're an idiot and I say well what is
it you don't like about America CU
America is far from perfect America's
flawed just like any person's flawed
we're America's made up of humans human
beings are flawed human beings make
mistakes there's there's all kinds of
things that America has done that are
absolutely terrible absolutely
terrible
yeah and while we when we do things that
are
terrible what what do we do do we
continue down those paths no we try and
fix ourselves we try and fix ourselves
and if someone you know if Tom was a
drug
addict and now he's clean and you come
to apply to a job for a job with me do I
say you sorry you were a drug ad I I I
don't trust you I don't like you or
maybe you just failed out of you dropped
out of high school and then you went
back and you got your GED and now you
graduate n no you you quit high school
so that means you're no good to me no
people make mistakes and we as a country
have made mistakes but we try we strive
for we strive to be better and on top of
striving for to be better that whole
time we've done our best to protect
Freedom human Freedom that's the most
valuable that's the most valuable thing
in in in
life is is freedom so we it's very easy
to forget that it's very easy to forget
that in America especially it's it's so
easy to forget that because we abs
absolutely take it for granted we
absolutely take it for
granted we do whatever we want you know
it's interesting I I I gave a speech the
other day and I was talking about life
liberty and the pursuit of
happiness that that's that's that's what
we're founded
on and I was talking to some veterans
and and what I was saying is that that's
what
veterans put on the altar of
sacrifice life liberty and the pursuit
when you join the military you're not
it's not about your Pursuit of Happiness
anymore you're going to do this job
that's what's going to happen Liberty
you're not going to do what you you
don't have freedom they they they it's
shocking that's the shocking thing about
going to boot camp in the military is
your your freedom is gone your freedom
is gone your Pursuit of Happiness is
gone you're no longer look and I'm
talking about boot camp of course
eventually you I have had I had the best
times ever with my friends in the
military but you go to boot camp that
Pursuit of Happiness Is Gone the freedom
that you had you you're going to get
dictated what you're going to do what
time you're going to wake up what time
you're going to go to bed what you're
going to do all day that's going to get
dictated to you and finally life you are
going to put you're going to you're
going to possibly sacrifice your
life for Freedom so that's what the
military does very small percentage of
people join the military
normally normally military people
appreciate Freedom why do they
appreciate freedom because they had it
taken away they were put into a job
where it's like you you don't have very
much Freedom
anymore and like I said eventually in
the military there's you have to have an
open mind to have Victory like there's
there's a bunch of things but when you
go to boot camp all those things are
taken away from you that's one of the
reasons why military people generally
are very
patriotic they've had those things taken
away from them part one part two they've
gone to other parts of the world and
they've seen what other parts of the
world are like especially parts of the
world that are run by tyrants that have
have no freedom and when you see that
you get home and you're very
thankful so what do I kneel before or
what do I recommend people kneel before
or what could we universally kneel
before I think the answer is freedom are
you surprised that we have tried to
bring freedom and democracy to countries
that don't seem to want it am I
surprised no because just like any other
leadership situation if I try and impose
my way of life on you you're not going
to like it that's not freedom and that's
what happens we've we've we've done a
poor job in some cases when we gradually
introduce things when we when we
allow freedom to flourish without
forcing it down someone's throat look
what's your favorite
food let's just go with Chinese to make
it easy like specifically oh orange
chicken and so egg fried rice I'm going
to take orange chicken and EG egg fried
rice and I'm going to cram it down your
throat that's less fun doesn't no matter
how good a food tastes it doesn't taste
good when you cram it down someone's
throat so when we go in and we try and
impose our culture on other cultures
they reject it of course they do we're
trying to force it down their throat
when we gradually or when freedom is
gradually exposed to other
cultures over time they nod their head
and they say yeah that looks like a good
deal we we want to get in on that and
that's why that's that's that's what
caused the spread of democracy
throughout the world not we didn't
spread democracy through the
sword when we try to spread democracy
through the sword it doesn't work or it
seldom Works what you have to do is show
people what's out there show people the
opportunities and and allow them to find
their own path yeah agreed values have
to find their way into culture otherwise
and freedom I would say is is simply a
value that we happen to hold very
aggressively in the west the thing that
maybe makes me more pessimistic than you
um long term I think we're going to be
fine but I really do for the first time
in my life anyway feel
that in the west specifically here in
America we are adopting ideas and values
that do not lead to human flourishing so
uh if if somebody's trying to map my
thinking they they have to understand
that's what I'm pointed at and then they
would have to understand what I think
leads to that freedom being just a huge
part of it and I believe any culture
that doesn't have that is not as close
to human flourishing as they could be
I'm not saying that it's a bad place to
be I've been to some countries that
don't have that uh and certainly it's
lovely but I think there is a reason
that um we've been able to create the
things that we've created the level of
prosperity the level of growth the fact
that so many people from all over the
world want to come here uh is for the
ability to choose what they kneel before
I think that's a a really important
concept uh but I'm watching what's
happening in America and I see people
that the value system that's burning
through culture is now one of I would
much rather be safe and in fact I want
to step back what do you think people
are trading freedom for right now if you
agree that it is its Primacy as the
defining value of America is slipping uh
which I certainly believe that it is
what are they trading it for is it
safety is it power is it something
else I would say that you have to have
limitations on things and that's just a
constant it's a constant sort of
balancing act
between freedom
and I guess fo