1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:03,760 We got Memorial Day coming up, and that's what this is about. 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,760 There's kids right now growing up in this country that will 3 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,600 never know who their father was because they were willing to 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,480 give their lives up for me to be here today to fight for this 5 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:16,040 country. So if I don't, if I don't stand 6 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,560 up and fight against something that I see is wrong, all we're 7 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,000 doing is pissing on their grave. If we turn the other cheek for a 8 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,000 paycheck and I couldn't look my kids in the eyes and tell my 9 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,080 kids to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences are 10 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:29,960 to you if I wasn't willing to do it myself. 11 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,000 So I I thought for sure, there's no way I win this fight. 12 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,600 Nobody beats the government. But one thing I will be able to 13 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,760 do at night when I'm standing in the the bathroom mirror, I'll be 14 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,600 able to look myself in the face and be proud that I didn't let 15 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,880 my children down. If we're not willing to stand up 16 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,680 and fight today, in reality, all we're doing is we're passing 17 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:49,920 this fight on to that next generation. 18 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,920 And if you're OK with that, then in in my eyes, you're a coward. 19 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,560 And that's something I'm scared to be. 20 00:00:55,840 --> 00:01:01,080 I'm scared to be a coward. All interviewers have their own 21 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,879 style, and my style is to try to get to the point and to be 22 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:08,280 intensely curious. And the key to interviewing is 23 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:10,760 listening. Take a look behind the curtain 24 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,160 with a real whistleblower and American patriot. 25 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,400 Prepare to embrace the uncomfortable truth because this 26 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,080 program has no time for comforting lies. 27 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:22,320 Here is civil liberties enthusiast, Second Amendment 28 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:25,880 defender, and recovering FBI agent Kyle Serif. 29 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,760 Well, hello my friends, welcome to the Kyle Seraphin show in our 30 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:32,320 Sunday Sit down. I think you're going to really 31 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:34,520 enjoy this one and I hope you give it a listen. 32 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,040 It's an important time. Sometimes you get to discover 33 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,480 another suspendable and we've done just that got Matt 34 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:41,480 Strickland on. He's a restaurant owner, he's a 35 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,040 military veteran. He's a guy that stood up against 36 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,840 the government multiple times, whistle blower from DHS. 37 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:51,440 That's not the beginning of the story and it's definitely not 38 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:52,800 the end of the story. So make sure you guys stick 39 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:54,400 around for that. I think you're going to really, 40 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:57,320 they're going to walk away inspired on this Memorial Day 41 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,240 weekend, which is a good thing to do. 42 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,240 Something to remind you about. It's a heavy time as you're 43 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,800 thinking about those folks doing a Memorial Day sale. 44 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:06,680 Our friends over at My Patriot Supply. 45 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,280 You can check them out at mypatriotsupply.com slash KYLEI 46 00:02:10,479 --> 00:02:12,400 don't want to give you a big heavy-handed talk about it. 47 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,080 At the end of the day, we're in this for our families. 48 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:17,840 If that means that you need to prepare yourself with water 49 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,800 filtration, emergency food, solar power, etcetera, check 50 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:22,200 them out. They're doing up to 60% off 51 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,160 right now. You guys can scan either QR code 52 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,280 if it's on your on your screen. Otherwise just visit the website 53 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,280 itsmypatriotsupply.com slash Kyle, go check it out. 54 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:32,440 The link's in the show description. 55 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:34,120 That's all I'm going to say about that right now. 56 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,040 We're going to honor the men and women that died for our freedom. 57 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,280 And at the same time, we should be protecting our own by 58 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:40,720 investing in the things that keep us free. 59 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,200 And some of that means making sure that you're able to stand 60 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:44,800 against tyranny with the right equipment. 61 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:47,240 If you get squeezed out, maybe they take your liquor license, 62 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,280 maybe they shut down the power at your house, maybe they take 63 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,080 away your ability to go out and buy food. 64 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:57,200 Whoever they is right now, be aware, be prepared, and a little 65 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,040 bit of forewarned is forearmed in this case. 66 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:01,840 Let's dive right into this conversation. 67 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:02,880 You guys are going to learn something good. 68 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:13,600 All right, folks, thanks for joining me for the Sunday. 69 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:15,400 Sit down. We got a good one today, at 70 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:16,680 least I think so. I think we're going to have a 71 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,200 fun conversation with Matt Strickland. 72 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:20,480 He's a restaurant owner. He's got some stuff behind him 73 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:22,200 on the wall. Matt, you want to tell people a 74 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,120 little bit about who you are and your background and about your 75 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:27,800 restaurant maybe too. Yeah, absolutely. 76 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,800 Well, first of all, it's, it's great to finally, finally meet 77 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,440 you virtually, Kyle and, and I wanted to thank you for 78 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,760 everything that you're doing up just that doing, you know, 79 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,680 standing up for the little guys, everybody here in America that 80 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,720 doesn't necessarily have the position to stand up and speak 81 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,560 out against some of the things that are going on in our 82 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,280 government. So thanks for having the balls 83 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:51,840 to do it because not a lot of people do. 84 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:58,560 Me personally, I joined the join the military at 17 years old and 85 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,400 actually my first day and I joined as a combat medic. 86 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,040 So I was an infantry medic and my first day at my first unit 87 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,280 was September 10th, 2001. And I was 17 years old. 88 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:15,280 So get to my unit and, and the next day was on from there. 89 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,959 And I, I enjoyed my time in the military. 90 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:24,080 I, I came from some pretty rough neighborhoods growing up had, 91 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:26,760 you know, not the most ideal childhood. 92 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,560 I don't think many people have. So, you know, I don't, I don't, 93 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,000 I don't tell some kind of old OSB story or anything like that, 94 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,800 but it's the reason I joined the military. 95 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:40,680 My oldest brother, he was killed from gang violence in 1996. 96 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:46,000 And my other older brother, he's been in prison since 1997. 97 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:51,320 One of my oldest sisters, she was also killed in, in, in those 98 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,360 same neighborhoods. And so I, I've got little 99 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,120 brothers as well. And I wanted to set a better 100 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,240 example for them and prove to them that even though we, you 101 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,480 know, we grew up in the situations and the conditions 102 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,520 that we did, it's still, it's America. 103 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,040 Everybody's got the same opportunities if you bust your 104 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:12,360 ass and don't make excuses. So I joined the military for 105 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,840 that reason at 17 years old. And it was the the best thing 106 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,640 that I could have done at that point because I got the 107 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,600 discipline that I needed that I didn't know that I need in the 108 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,320 military and especially. So I joined as a medic like I 109 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:31,280 told you, and the recruiter kind of kind of tricked me into it 110 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:33,800 because I was good at taking tests. 111 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,320 So I did well on the ASVAP and everything and, and could, could 112 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,440 have pretty much selected any job I wanted to. 113 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,360 I was always interested in the medical field. 114 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,560 And the recruiter kind of talked me into it saying, hey, listen, 115 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,840 check this. She showed me a picture of like 116 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:51,680 this medic in the hospital, like looking up at an X-ray and all 117 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,080 these chicks behind them, these nurses and everything. 118 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:56,440 And I'm 17 years old. I'm like, yeah, absolutely. 119 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:58,760 Sign me up for that. I want to go hang out with with 120 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,840 every chick in that picture. So I always get you. 121 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,880 I always. Get you with that that's that 122 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,000 sly lie like it could happen but it's just. 123 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,520 Not going to happen. Yeah, they got me 17 year old 124 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,760 me. But I get through basic 125 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,040 training, AIT and all of that and I get orders for since 25th 126 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,320 Infantry. And I looked at the the drill 127 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,240 Sarn and I said, hey, drill Sarn, I'm a medic. 128 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,760 I'm not in the infantry. What is this 25th Infantry shit? 129 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,400 And he was like, well, the infantry needs medics as well. 130 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:31,520 And that's where you're going, buddy. 131 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,440 You're a combat Med. And, and at the time, I'll be 132 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,160 honest, I wasn't all fired up for it. 133 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,960 And I, I was fired up to go hang out with the chicks in the, in 134 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,000 the hospital, man. But it was the best thing for 135 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,160 me. It's what I needed. 136 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,640 It's what I didn't know I need, I needed. 137 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,680 And it, it kind of set the course for my life at that point 138 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:53,960 right there. And, and like I said, I, I, I 139 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,600 enjoyed my time doing that. I made a lot of lifelong 140 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,040 friends, a lot of a lot of brothers. 141 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,200 Actually, one of the brothers I met is, is the reason why in the 142 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,880 in the, in the Army is the reason why following the 143 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,840 military. I got into security contracting 144 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,280 downrange and he had his own team with Blackwater. 145 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,400 He ended up we were in the same unit. 25th Infantry ended up 146 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,400 going to first group at Fort Lewis where I was stationed at, 147 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:23,360 which is another funny story because once I realized I'm 148 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,760 going to the infantry, I see 25th Infantry and I think I'm 149 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,320 going to Hawaii. So I at least get to celebrate 150 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,200 that. But no, I was going to 1st 151 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:32,040 Brigade, 25th Infantry at Fort Lewis. 152 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,840 So yeah. So they hit me with a double 153 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,920 whammy that day. But one of my brothers, he was 154 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:40,520 as soon as I got there, we got real tight. 155 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,000 He ended up going to selection with the first group at Fort 156 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:45,680 Lewis. So, you know, he stayed there. 157 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:50,600 We and we grew that brotherhood and friendship that that we 158 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,080 started with the because we both got there at the same time. 159 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,400 Anyway, he got his own team with Blackwater, called me, told me 160 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,800 about it. And at first, honestly, I 161 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,480 wasn't, wasn't interested because, you know, a young guy 162 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,720 just wanted to come home and, and see what I missed the past 163 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,600 few years while I was gone and hang out with friends and, and 164 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,120 just do what people, you know, in their early 20s want to do. 165 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,200 But then when he told me how much they made, I was all in. 166 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:21,440 I said at the time it was all, it was all SF guys, Seals. 167 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,640 I'm at the very least Rangers and I was just a regular 168 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,480 infantry medic, combat medic. So he's so I told, I said, hey, 169 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,240 man, I'm not SF or anything like that. 170 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,000 I don't know if I can get with Blackwater. 171 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,919 And he was like, well, you know, let me see if I can vouch for 172 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:37,720 you and call, you know, talk to one of the recruiters. 173 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:40,039 So anyway, I did that. I went to the vetting course 174 00:08:40,039 --> 00:08:44,560 down in Moyock, NC, went to that training course down there and 175 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,360 it worked for Blackwater and. Was that course a challenge? 176 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:50,800 Yeah, the course was a challenge. 177 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:52,840 It was it. It wasn't because it's not a 178 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:55,160 training course that you go through with Blackwater. 179 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,240 It's a vetting course. So you got to come down there 180 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:59,080 knowing your shit. You got to come down there 181 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,040 knowing how to shoot, move and communicate. 182 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,880 And as a medic, you got to come down there knowing tactical 183 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:05,920 medicine. You got to be squared away. 184 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,960 And they also, you know, you also peer each other out. 185 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:12,360 So that's another reason why I thought I was going to make it, 186 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,360 because I'm in there with all these SF guys and Seals and I'm 187 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:16,920 here. I am this combat, you know, 188 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,840 infantry medic. Oh, for sure, because you got to 189 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,600 you got to put, I think it was every week, if I'm not mistaken, 190 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,560 or I can't remember how often it was. 191 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:30,720 But you had to fill out a, you know, a piece of paper saying 192 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,680 who in the class would you want to deploy with the most? 193 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,560 And then who in the class would you not want to deploy with? 194 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:38,720 Sure. They, they took the same kind of 195 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,840 things from, from SF selections from Ranger School, things like 196 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:44,000 that, where they want to see, you know, who's top and bottom 197 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:45,360 amongst the peers. Yeah. 198 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,760 So even if there was, there was, even if you we're cool with 199 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:50,880 deploying everybody, with everybody in the room, you still 200 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,960 had to select somebody. So that was nerve wracking, you 201 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,600 know, knowing I didn't come from the same communities as these 202 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:58,920 guys. So I'm probably going to be on 203 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,560 that chopping block. But I made it through and it was 204 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,360 once again one of the best things that's ever happened in 205 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,720 my life. I have no complaints working for 206 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,640 that company. Eric Prince, one of the best 207 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,760 bosses I've ever worked for that got squared away and has 208 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,800 probably the best military mind of anybody that I've ever come 209 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,640 across or met. If that guy's planning an 210 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:24,200 operation, you're going to be good to go. 211 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,240 Like if, if we were into, if we were getting into World War 212 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:32,280 three with X country and I knew Eric Prince was planning the 213 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,360 entire war, I'd be comfortable with it because that guy's just, 214 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:39,320 he's so sharp. He's so smart and, and, and, and 215 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,080 he's also just a good boss to work for. 216 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,760 So I don't, I don't have any any protects his guys. 217 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:45,160 You know, he looks out for his guys. 218 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,240 So it was a, it was a great experience working for that 219 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,280 company. So I did that until I think it 220 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,800 was May 5th of 2009 when Blackwater got kicked out of 221 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,920 Iraq. So I was there and it was 222 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,640 because of the 2007 Dassault Square incident. 223 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,880 But So what happened is in that SOFA agreement that Obama signed 224 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:09,560 with Iraq and that was put into place, I think in 2008, part of 225 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:12,640 the part of that SOFA agreement said Blackwater is no longer 226 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,080 allowed to operate in Iraq. And but it didn't make any 227 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,200 difference because May 5th, 2009, I mean, all of us that 228 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,680 work for Blackwater, we just woke up the next day doing the 229 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:26,480 same job working for some another company, you know, so it 230 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:30,680 didn't accomplish anything. But, but anyway, it, it was very 231 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:32,920 different working for another company. 232 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,760 I won't name any, any companies to talk bad about them or 233 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,560 anything, but it wasn't the same as working for Blackwater. 234 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,680 I can tell you that. So in 2010, I wanted to, you 235 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:47,000 know, I have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, you know, pretty 236 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,600 much my whole adult life at that point. 237 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,920 And, and I was married and I had kids and I want to come home and 238 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,440 be with my family. So I started applying for jobs 239 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:59,040 and in 2010, I got a job at the National Ground Intelligence 240 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:01,280 Center as an intelligence analyst. 241 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,000 And I didn't have any Intel background or experience, but 242 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,160 they were looking for somebody with a medical background 243 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,760 because part of the job was casualty analysis. 244 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:17,280 So anyway, got a job there and, and I was kind of honest, to be 245 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,840 honest with you, Kyle, I was, when I got that job in 2010, I 246 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,440 was kind of intimidated walking into the building because I'm 247 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,040 just this guy that's, you know, I guess kind of been a door 248 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,480 kicker my entire life, since I was 17 years old. 249 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,280 Never worked in the office environment at all. 250 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:35,960 And part of my title now is intelligence. 251 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,240 And I didn't see myself being that smart of a guy from being 252 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,840 honest with you. And I was kind of, you know, I 253 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:46,040 was kind of intimidated walking into the building thinking about 254 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,200 what those guys would be thinking about me. 255 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:52,080 But I learned very quickly that, oh, these guys aren't as smart 256 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,920 and as sharp as I thought. This intelligence thing that 257 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:59,560 they talk about, actually these people, not all there's some 258 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:03,040 pretty sharp people working in the industry, but the vast 259 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:04,920 majority of them are actually pretty stupid. 260 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,920 And this job is not hard at all. So I hit the ground running in 261 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,320 that position and, and I wanted to prove myself. 262 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:16,720 So it went above and beyond, actually did some things that 263 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,960 made it so a couple new programs were started. 264 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,480 So I, I, I, I would say I did a great job from 2010 to 2014. 265 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,080 But then what happened in 2014 is ISIS started taking back over 266 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,080 Iraq and I wanted to get into that fight So, and I hated the 267 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:33,560 office life, to be honest with you. 268 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:35,480 It was. It wasn't for me. 269 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,480 Before we before we dig into that next Phase, I want to kind 270 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,320 of just pick your brain at it, just because I wasn't there at 271 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:43,960 that time, but I had this kind of growing instinct about what 272 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:45,840 the Intel world looks like, various different agencies. 273 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:47,720 Were you a blue badge or were you a contractor at the time? 274 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:49,360 I was a contractor. Yeah. 275 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:50,720 OK. So you're working in there. 276 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:54,000 What was the culture between permanent employees and 277 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,440 contractors and was there a respect differential there out 278 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,200 of curiosity? Absolutely. 279 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,560 There's, there's always been a respect differential between 280 00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:05,360 contractors and, and government. And I think that's one of the 281 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:09,320 things in the government that doesn't allow for efficiency 282 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,640 because there's a lot of contractors that bring a lot to 283 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:18,280 the table and experience and, and, and, and just knowledge. 284 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,760 And they're not allowed to, to share that or do certain things 285 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,280 because they're not a government employee. 286 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,720 They're a contractor. But to me that doesn't make any 287 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,760 sense because we're all Americans and, you know, we're 288 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,440 all supposedly here doing this job for the, for the same 289 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,080 reason. But so like, yeah, for example, 290 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,280 some of the things I did on that program, I didn't get the credit 291 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,400 for or the acknowledgement for it because I was a contractor. 292 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,960 And what I did had to run through a government employee. 293 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:51,240 So they're the ones that moved from a 13 to a 14 or 14 to a 15 294 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:53,600 because of the work that that I did. 295 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,400 But I was cool with that. I never wanted to be AGS 296 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,880 employee because I didn't see myself working for the 297 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:02,800 government for 20 years. I knew even at that point that 298 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,600 that wasn't the life for me. And honestly, the reason for 299 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:11,200 that was because I thought going into that job in 2010, maybe the 300 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:13,920 government life would be for me. But I learned very quickly it 301 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,240 wasn't because I saw how miserable everybody's life was, 302 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:21,960 worked for the government and, and honestly, you know, making 303 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,160 the same amount of money every two weeks no matter how hard you 304 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,040 work or how lazy you are does not motive. 305 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:32,280 I'm a very self motivated person and money wise, I want my 306 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,920 paycheck to reflect how hard I work, you know, and, and, and I 307 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,560 would just see these people that are working all around me that I 308 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,000 know aren't doing anything except checking their emails and 309 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,360 I'm in here busting my ass, you know, making, making them look 310 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:48,520 good and they're getting paid more than me. 311 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,880 And, and it was just, it was just, it wasn't motivating, you 312 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,200 know, so I knew I wanted to, I knew I wanted to be a small 313 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,240 business owner. That was, that was my dream at 314 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,640 that point. And I knew specifically I wanted 315 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:04,440 to be a restaurant owner because the thing I learned very quickly 316 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:09,680 is that you have to really love what you do as a job, as a 317 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:13,000 career, because it's going to affect every other aspect of 318 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:14,320 your life. It's going to affect your 319 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,640 relationship with your children, with your wife, with your 320 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,720 friends, everybody. Because you're at work majority 321 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,880 of your life. So if you're miserable in it and 322 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:28,760 you don't enjoy it, you're going to be miserable in the presence 323 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:30,320 of everybody. It's going to, it's just it's 324 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,760 going to negatively affect you. So I, I wanted to be a small 325 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,280 business owner because I, I wanted my earning potential to 326 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,360 be limitless. I wanted it to be dependent on 327 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,400 my work ethic. And you know, I've always, I've 328 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,920 always been proud of my work ethic and knew that I've always 329 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,120 felt like when I go through a course, a military course, or 330 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,240 like you asked about the course with, with Blackwater, my 331 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:55,800 mindset has always been, if another man has done this and 332 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,520 completed it successfully, then I can do it. 333 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,760 That's always been my mindset. And that's what, what, what has 334 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:03,800 always gotten me through tough courses and such. 335 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,200 So anyway, I wanted to be a restaurant owner specifically 336 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:09,400 because I love cooking. It's always just been one of my 337 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,480 #1 passions. And I knew that if I did that 338 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,480 every day, it'd be something that I enjoy going to work for. 339 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,560 And, and I'm a restaurant owner now. 340 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,560 And sometimes I'm at work, you know, 1216 hours a day and, and 341 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:22,920 it feels like I was there for two. 342 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,520 And could you imagine being inside of a government office 343 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,440 for 16 hours a day? I feel like you were there for 344 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:30,840 three weeks. It's, it's, it's awful. 345 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:31,920 It's. The worst feeling in the world. 346 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,320 And, and I ran restaurants for a little while and I know that 347 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,960 thing where you look down and you realize like you smell like 348 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:40,120 fry oil and, and your feet are exhausted and they feel like 349 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:41,800 they're about to fall off. And at the same time, you've 350 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:43,960 been there, you've only been there for a few minutes and it's 351 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:45,120 been all day. So that's right. 352 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,320 And it's not for everybody. I mean, you know, everything's 353 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:49,560 not for everybody. Some people. 354 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,360 I hate the restaurant industry. I happen to love it, you know, I 355 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:55,320 love the fast pace of it. I love meeting people. 356 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,200 I love talking to people. I love seeing somebody take a 357 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,160 bite of something I created and loving it. 358 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,040 You know, I just enjoy that some people enjoy working on 359 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:05,800 computers. I blow my brains out. 360 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:10,240 If that was my job, everybody, everybody's different. 361 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,600 But so, you know, I talked to my wife at that point in 2014 and I 362 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,560 was like, this sucks. I'm miserable. 363 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:20,480 I can't do this for the, you know, 30 years and and I've got 364 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,040 a great wife. You know, she's always had my 365 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:23,600 back. He's supported me and everything 366 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:28,000 and, you know, been married since I was 24 years old. 367 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:32,720 I'm 41 now, still married to the same woman, but always been 368 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,720 supportive of me. So she said, well, listen, I 369 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:37,720 don't want you to be somewhere that you're miserable. 370 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:40,000 So figure out what it is you want to do. 371 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:41,720 And then and, and you know, I've got your back. 372 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,640 And I told her about this dream of owning a restaurant and 373 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,360 everything. In 2014, ISIS started taking 374 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:48,760 over Iraq. And I, I knew this was my 375 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:54,600 opportunity to first of all, I didn't want I, I, I was still 376 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,520 kind of in that neo con mindset, if I'm being honest with you. 377 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:03,560 I was still, I, I was still operating under the lie that we 378 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,280 were told as to why we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. 379 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,960 So I, I wanted to go get some more payback from these guys 380 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,000 taking back over Iraq for my brothers. 381 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,320 Then I left on the battlefield. I wasn't going to let, I wasn't 382 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,840 going to let them just come and destroy and take over everything 383 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,720 that I thought we built up the past, you know, 1514 years. 384 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:29,680 So I went back to Iraq to fight, fight ISIS and, and I was there 385 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,600 for, for two years. And the goal with that was to 386 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:38,000 come home after this experience and not go to back to work for 387 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,120 the government, but open my own business, open my own 388 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:42,440 restaurant. So that's what I did. 389 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,800 Went to Iraq for two more years. 2016 came home and actually 390 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,840 opened a food truck and and it took off pretty quick. 391 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:50,640 Yeah. When you were, when you were 392 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,400 going back over there, were you going back as a medic? 393 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,160 Did you maintain those credentials as you're during the 394 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,080 government time? Yeah, absolutely. 395 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:57,800 Yeah. I maintained my my medic 396 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,280 credentials and went back over as a tactical medic in the, in 397 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,320 the, you know, in in the same sense that I was there before. 398 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,760 And it was weird when I got there in 2014 though, because 399 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,160 there was absolutely no military there. 400 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,640 There was no U.S. military presence. 401 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,720 The only military presence was US contractors. 402 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,640 US contractors. When I say no military presence, 403 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:24,040 I mean, so I flew into the, I was flew in the Biop and then 404 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,240 went to the the Baghdad embassy compound and there was literally 405 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,040 not one great suitor there. It was wild. 406 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:35,000 It was just all contractors because they had evacuated all 407 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,840 of the support elements out when ISIS started taking over. 408 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,240 So it's just US contractors. Not too long after the Marine 409 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:46,120 FAST team moved in to secure the, the NBC and then, and then 410 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:49,760 there was one, I think it was, I think it might have been the 411 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,360 82nd thing that came in first. I I can't remember, but there 412 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,520 was probably about a month there where it was just US civilian 413 00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:59,600 contractors. Did that change the nature of 414 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:01,120 what the what the fight looked like over there? 415 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,360 Yeah, it did. It, it, We were allowed to for a 416 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:09,520 couple of months do things that contractors probably, you know, 417 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,480 shouldn't have, but we were allowed to do. 418 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:13,480 We were allowed to do certain things for the first couple of 419 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,000 months that were probably more of a military mission. 420 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:20,760 Yeah. But anyway, so came home and, 421 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,120 and opened that food truck and it took off. 422 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:26,560 I had two trucks, 3 trucks. And then, you know, a year and a 423 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:28,600 half later, after I opened the first food truck, I opened the 424 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:32,400 restaurant and it was booming. And right before COVID, I was 425 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:34,800 actually getting to getting ready to sign a lease on 426 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,320 multiple restaurants. That's how good we were doing. 427 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,120 What was the? Hold on, what was the cuisine 428 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:40,720 that you were selling out of the trucks, and was it the same 429 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:42,160 thing that you're going to go brick and mortar with? 430 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:44,560 Yeah, same thing. So the name of my restaurant is 431 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:50,520 Gourmelts, spelled GOURMELTZ Gourmet melts combined, 432 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:52,400 obviously. So what I mean, our claim to 433 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,360 fame is grilled sandwiches, but we do all kind of unique grilled 434 00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:58,760 sandwiches, like brisket sandwiches, all kind of 435 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,480 different chicken sandwiches, pulled pork, different BBQ 436 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,080 sandwiches. We also do smoked wings, 437 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:09,120 something we call grilled cheese tacos, where we we take a corn 438 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:12,200 tortilla and we grill some fresh mozzarella to the outside of a 439 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,080 corn tortilla. That way it doesn't fall apart 440 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,280 like corn tortillas do and you don't have to double up the the 441 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,920 the tortilla. We do some pretty cool things, 442 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,920 man. And and do you love? 443 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,560 Do you have formal? Training in running a 444 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,480 restaurant? Do you have formal training in 445 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,280 anything culinary? Did you ever go to any schools 446 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:30,840 for this? Was this just like I got a 447 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,600 dream? I'm gonna make it happen 0. 448 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,400 Zero training was I've never. I worked at KFC when I was 449 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,440 probably like 14 for like 3 weeks. 450 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:39,480 So you're well. Trained. 451 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:40,600 Is what you're saying? Yeah, Yeah. 452 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:41,920 So I. Had a ton of training. 453 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:43,040 I was ready. Pedigree. 454 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,400 Yeah. I so you're about to get into 455 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,960 the COVID story and, and that's when I first became aware of 456 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,400 Gormeltz. I I lived in the area at the 457 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:50,680 time. You may not know that, but like 458 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,720 your story was a, a big local story in the DC area. 459 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,000 So you're in Fredericksburg, correct? 460 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:56,080 Correct. Yeah. 461 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:57,840 And you are further. South in Old Town, which is 462 00:22:57,840 --> 00:22:59,080 where my wife and I would have gone. 463 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,760 So you were always kind of maybe outside of our drive radius. 464 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:03,240 So I never actually made it down to the restaurant. 465 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:04,680 I was looking for it. I was like, where the hell are 466 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,640 they? Like because Fredericksburg is 467 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,800 really small in my mind. It's obviously got some 468 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:10,840 additional parts. You guys are off the highway. 469 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:12,760 They're off 95. Yeah, we're right. 470 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,320 Off of 95, like not even a mile off of 95. 471 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,560 But yeah, we're probably, I don't know, 10 minutes from 472 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:18,960 downtown where you're talking about. 473 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,640 Yeah, I'm in the probably the most southern part of 474 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,200 Fredericksburg. Yeah. 475 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,880 But. It was a huge fight and, and, 476 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:32,520 and it was a huge local story, a huge Virginia story and then a 477 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,400 couple of big social media personality shared it. 478 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,160 Much love to the Hodge twins cause the Hodge twins were the 479 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,520 first ones that were a conservative personality that 480 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,320 shared my story and, and, and then it kind of took off from 481 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:46,960 there. But so look. 482 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,720 You were doing the trucks. You're about to sign the lease. 483 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:49,840 I don't want to take away from the story. 484 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,040 I just wanted to say that it was, it was an obviously big 485 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,680 story even then. And I heard about it when I was 486 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,040 working for the Bureau. So this is not like something 487 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:57,760 I've not been, you know, unaware of. 488 00:23:58,200 --> 00:23:59,880 That's going back five years now then. 489 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,400 Yeah, this is at the beginning of the lockdowns, which was 490 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,760 February, March 2020. Yeah, March. 491 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:11,920 March of 2020 so honestly, like in March of 2020, I didn't know 492 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,400 what COVID was about. Like like nobody did. 493 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,080 I mean, they were telling us that this was this, you know, 494 00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:21,920 virus that was going to kill half of the people in the world. 495 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,840 And so, you know, I took a step back and, and, and I said, well, 496 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,040 let me, you know, let me close my restaurant and make sure I'm 497 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,760 not putting anybody in danger, you know, including my family. 498 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:37,640 So in March of 2020, I, you know, I listened to the, the, I 499 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,320 guess mandates or whatever you want to call them. 500 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,760 And I closed my restaurant down in March of 2020 just to 501 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,520 evaluate the situation and see what was going on because it all 502 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,840 happened so quickly. And then three months later in 503 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:54,240 June of 2020, that's when the then governor of Virginia, which 504 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:57,600 was a Democrat governor named Governor Northam, that's when he 505 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,920 said, OK, restaurants, you can open back up, but under these 506 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:05,880 provisions and and that's when it it, you know, during those 507 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,920 three months, I started kind of noticing weird stuff that didn't 508 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,880 make sense to make me kind of think this was more about 509 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,880 government control than it was our health and safety. 510 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:17,960 But when they told us we can open back up, but under these 511 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,880 provisions in June of 2020, that's when it really clicked. 512 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,160 And that's when I, I realized, oh, this is, this is not about 513 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:27,760 health and safety. This is about control. 514 00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,480 And, and the reason I say that is because they, they put in, 515 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,320 they made me as a restaurant owner follow these like 516 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,680 draconian mandates that absolutely made no common sense. 517 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:42,400 Like my bartender could could make a drink right in front of 518 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,640 somebody across the bar, but couldn't hand that drink to the 519 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,480 person across the bar. They had to walk around the bar 520 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,400 and hand it to the person side by side. 521 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:56,120 And nobody was allowed to sit at my bar, but I could pull a bar 522 00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,760 height table all the way up to the bar and they could sit at 523 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,080 that bar height table. And you, you, you probably know 524 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,640 the one where you know, you had to wear a mask walking into the 525 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,760 restaurant, but as soon as you sit down, somehow you're safe 526 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,720 and you can take the mask off. It was just stuff that didn't 527 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,000 make any sense. And, and I immediately 528 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,240 recognized what it was. And I, you know, I talked to my 529 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,080 wife about it. I said, hey, listen, I, I spent 530 00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:23,880 my whole adult life in other countries fighting against it. 531 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,560 It, you know, dictatorships. And I'm not going to come home 532 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,040 to my country and allow a dictatorship to rule here. 533 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,880 I don't like what's going on. And I just can't be blindly 534 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,520 complicit in it. If I know it's wrong, I got to 535 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:37,400 do something about it, yeah. What was the? 536 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,440 Other side of that conversation because I've had similar 537 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,880 discussions with my wife and I don't think everybody has the 538 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,200 same one but it they all tend to run the same route. 539 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:49,360 I'm curious how yours went. Well, so my wife is, is probably 540 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:52,920 has even more comments. I so I, I, I'm not the smartest 541 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,120 guy in the world. I don't have 100°. 542 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:57,680 I'm probably smarter because I don't have 100°, to be honest 543 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,640 with you. But I do pride myself on having 544 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,760 a lot of St. smarts and common sense a lot due to, you know, 545 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,640 how I grew up. But my wife has even more common 546 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,160 sense, I think, than I do. And, and, and she's actually 547 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:12,640 even more of a fighter than I am. 548 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,840 So, you know, when I mentioned it to her, we will be, of 549 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,440 course, it wasn't just out of the blue. 550 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,240 We've been talking about it ever since it happened. 551 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,280 Sure, we both saw the same things. 552 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,120 And we're married for a reason. We share the same values. 553 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,560 And, and when I told her, I said, Hey, listen, I don't think 554 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:29,760 we can do this at the restaurant. 555 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:34,320 I, I, I'm not comfortable with not affording my customers the 556 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,640 right to choose what's right for them themselves. 557 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,200 And one thing I'm not going to do is take away my, my customers 558 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,400 constitutional rights. I'm not going to be complicit in 559 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,560 that, you know, because even though I'm being forced to do 560 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,600 it, if I do it, I'm just as complicit as the person forcing 561 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,120 me to do it. That's my mindset. 562 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,720 So I told my wife, I said, I don't want to do this. 563 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,040 I want to, if we're going to open up, I want to open up 564 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,680 business as usual and let the people decide for themselves. 565 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,880 If they don't want to come to our restaurant, they don't have 566 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,880 to. But if they want to come and 567 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:06,960 they don't want to wear a mask, then they're more than welcome 568 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,520 to do so. If they want to sit at my bar, 569 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,640 they can sit at my bar. It's up to them, 100% up to them 570 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:13,760 and see how, let's see how it goes. 571 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:15,640 So she was all in from the beginning. 572 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,920 She was like, yeah, absolutely. Did you guys discuss? 573 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:20,680 Consequences. Did you war game that out at all 574 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,280 well? So we did. 575 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,880 I was the only restaurant here in Virginia to do what I did. 576 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,120 So we didn't know what the consequences would be. 577 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,480 And obviously this is something that's never happened in the 578 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,600 history of the US. So there was no case law to go 579 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:37,640 off of. You know, we were, we were 580 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,480 flying in the dark, but. You know, I just. 581 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,840 I just, I couldn't be complicit in the corruption and I saw it 582 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,520 taking place before my eyes. You know, there's, like I said, 583 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,760 there's, there's a lot of people that, that I, that I deployed 584 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,160 with that have kids growing up right now in this country 585 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,320 without a father because they thought that this country was 586 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,000 more important than themselves. And they, they, they gave their 587 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,480 lives. I mean, we got Memorial Day 588 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:05,960 coming up. And that's what this is about. 589 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,120 There's kids right now growing up in this country that will 590 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,120 never know who their father was because they were willing to 591 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,000 give their lives up for me to be here today to fight for this 592 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,840 country. So if I don't, if I don't stand 593 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,280 up and fight against something that I see is wrong that's 594 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,640 happening to the American people, not only am I wrong and 595 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,160 the American people, but I'm pissing on the graves of every 596 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,840 man and woman that went down range to fight for you and me 597 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,160 and didn't make it back. And they've got kids growing up 598 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:34,760 right now in this country without them. 599 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,080 All we're doing is pissing on their grave if we turn the other 600 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:42,520 cheek for a paycheck. And so I just, I, I couldn't do 601 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,040 it. I could not look myself in the 602 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:48,200 mirror if I did and I couldn't look my kids in the eyes and 603 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,120 tell my kids to do the right thing, no matter what the 604 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,000 consequences are to you. If I wasn't willing to do it 605 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,600 myself. And, and so, and I know I didn't 606 00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,120 didn't know what the consequences. 607 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,160 I, I thought for sure, there's no way I win this fight. 608 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,880 Nobody beats the government. I will probably lose everything 609 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,440 that I have worked for my entire life, you know, but my wife and 610 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:16,120 I have the same mindset in that we'll be OK no matter what 611 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:17,480 happens. We'll be fine. 612 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,120 I'll go, I'll go mow lawns if I need to. 613 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,480 I'll do whatever it takes, but one thing I will be able to do 614 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,120 at the end of the the day, at night when I'm standing in the 615 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,840 the bathroom mirror, I'll be able to look myself in the face 616 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,400 and be proud that I didn't let my children down. 617 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,440 Because why did I bring them into the world if that's what 618 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:38,040 I'm going to do? Because one thing I think we're 619 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,680 forgetting about in all of this that's been going on the past 620 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,360 five years is if we're not willing to stand up and fight 621 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,600 today, in reality, all we're doing is we're passing this 622 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,240 fight on to that next generation, to our children and 623 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,320 our grandchildren. And if you're OK with that, then 624 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,480 in in my eyes, you're a fucking coward. 625 00:30:57,880 --> 00:30:59,360 You're the definition of a coward. 626 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:01,360 And that's something I'm scared to be. 627 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,640 I'm scared to be a coward. Where did that? 628 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,800 Mindset come from I. Think that mindset was, was, was 629 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,520 instilled in me and the way that I grew up, you know, I had to, I 630 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,240 had to being in the neighborhoods that I was in 631 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,720 growing up in those neighborhoods, I had to, I had 632 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,000 to fight my entire life basically. 633 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,760 You know, like I told you, my brother was killed from gang 634 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,960 violence when I was, you know, just just 12 years old. 635 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,760 And, you know, he was, he was in, he was in gangs. 636 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:33,120 He, he sold drugs at a high level, not proud to say that, 637 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,920 but that's what happened. And you know, at that point, 638 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,240 gangs were really big in the 90s, especially in the 639 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:43,000 neighborhoods I grew up in. And I live my entire childhood 640 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,840 thinking that the people that killed my brother were 641 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,440 eventually one day, you know, going to come after me and kill 642 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,360 me because that's how things happened. 643 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,320 And had to fight a lot in the, the neighborhoods that I was in. 644 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,520 And it's just, I think that mindset was born from that. 645 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,640 You know, I've always, always been, you know, been a fighter. 646 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:05,360 But I guess the mindset of doing the, the right thing for my 647 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,120 country was really instilled in me through the military and, 648 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,160 and, you know, through security contracting and, and, and being 649 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,880 in a mixing pot, you know, being in a, a, a squad, being on a 650 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:21,320 team of people that are not from where you're from, that grew up 651 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:25,640 in completely different, you know, environments than you did. 652 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:29,280 But being able to, to come together on one thing. 653 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:33,840 And that's that we're from this piece of land that our ancestors 654 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,840 fought and died for and gave up so many sacrifices. 655 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:42,760 So, you know, we can have the, the, the ability and the 656 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:46,680 privilege to be here today to fight for that next generation. 657 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,160 And, and it really, just really going through that and still so 658 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,920 much patriotism inside of me that I just wanted to always do 659 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,720 what was right for my, I'm not a perfect man by any means. 660 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:01,080 Fuck up all the time. I, I, you know, I've done a lot 661 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:05,440 of wrong things in my life. I'm not, but I mean, I try to be 662 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,960 a great husband, try to be a great father, try to be a great 663 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,520 friend and great brother. And sometimes I feel like that, 664 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,600 but I try all the time. I, I can honestly say one, one 665 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,960 thing I've never failed at is being a patriot of the United 666 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,240 States of America. I've always done what was right 667 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:24,680 for my country. And honestly, the main reason 668 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,720 for that is because my kids are Americans and they're going to 669 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:29,680 be living in this country when I'm not here one day. 670 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,760 And that's all I think about is I will, I, I just want this 671 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,480 place to be the best place for them when I'm not here, you 672 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,640 know, and my family fought every war that this country has had. 673 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,240 We've done it as Americans and I just, you know, just to steal 674 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:46,960 something in me that I just, I don't know how to. 675 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,640 I can't put my finger on it, but it just lights a fire in me. 676 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,120 When somebody works against that, I think that you become my 677 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,040 enemy instantly. When I know that you're working 678 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:00,440 against the American people, even if it's not me 679 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,880 specifically, just lights a fire in me. 680 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:04,400 Yeah. So I think that that comes. 681 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,240 Through real clear, I want to. I want to have you reflect on 682 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,639 one thing. We're pretty close in age, so 683 00:34:09,639 --> 00:34:11,920 the odds are you've seen the movie Fight Club or you've read 684 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:13,000 the book. Does that sound right? 685 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,040 Yeah. Yeah, there's a moment in that. 686 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,440 Movie where they talk about after Fight Club, all the volume 687 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:19,440 is turned down on on corporate BS. 688 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,719 Like you're in an office and people are upset with you or 689 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,199 somebody steps on your toe or bumps into you on the bus and it 690 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:26,520 just doesn't mean as much because you've seen actual 691 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:27,880 violence. You've seen actual things. 692 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,960 You with your experience as a medic, had to have hands on some 693 00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:34,040 some people that were really in bad shape and and done some 694 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,199 things with them. Teams very aggressive where your 695 00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:38,120 life's on the line. People died around you, I'm sure 696 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,360 of it. So when you see those things, it 697 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,480 tends to turn the volume down on like the government might come 698 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,000 and shut down your restaurant, right. 699 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,159 Is that not like just a lower consequence when you've seen 700 00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:51,600 people give their life for something or you've seen people 701 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,400 die around you because the right thing wasn't done and then 702 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,000 someone's going to shut down your sandwich shop. 703 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:58,680 You actually. Just explained it perfectly. 704 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:02,600 Yeah, absolutely. And so that sums up what my 705 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,480 mindset was, You know, if those guys were willing to to die for 706 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,840 this country, then I better be willing to lose my business for 707 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,640 this country and. We, we had this moment during 708 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,160 that time, which I think a lot of us saw and it really blew my 709 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,360 mind working in federal service. I'll just share this one more 710 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:18,680 thing. Just as you walk around and 711 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:21,400 think about it. We're told that members of our 712 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:23,760 law enforcement community, right, our military members, we 713 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:25,320 all sign up up to it, including our life. 714 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:27,240 That's the deal, right? That's what we signed up for. 715 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,680 Listed guy here as well. And the the deal is, is that we 716 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,800 saw people who theoretically were willing to lose their life 717 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,960 for everyone else's freedom and they weren't even willing to 718 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,920 lose a paycheck for it. So how do you take those people 719 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:40,880 seriously when you've seen people do the real thing? 720 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:42,080 You. You. 721 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,560 Can't you know you hear the excuses all the time? 722 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:49,840 I have a family to feed and, and to me, I want to sit those 723 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:54,120 people down and, and tell them, look them in their eyes and tell 724 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,400 them. Do you realize what you're 725 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,680 giving the fight you're giving up right now to feed your 726 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:02,360 family? What you say is to feed your 727 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:03,600 family. There's many ways to feed your 728 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,840 family, but the excuse you're using that you're, you're not 729 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,120 taking this fight on for a paycheck every two weeks. 730 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,120 Do you, do you realize what you're giving up and what you're 731 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,960 passing on to your children? You think you're doing this to 732 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:19,360 save your children so you can provide monetarily for them, but 733 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,160 in not all actuality, you're screwing your children over by 734 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,240 not willing to step up and take this fight head on right now. 735 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,800 Because your children's future will be so much easier, so much 736 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:33,640 better if you just do what you know you should be doing right 737 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,120 now. And I don't know why people 738 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,600 don't understand that. Like that doesn't compute in my 739 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,840 head. Why they think why they think 740 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:47,080 short term comfort is better than than long term stability 741 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,360 for this country And and you know the the following 742 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,720 generations to come doesn't compute to my own, but you said 743 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:55,200 it right there. That people were were addicted 744 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:56,880 to comfort in this country, we are. 745 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,120 Yeah, is I'm, I'm telling you right now, the best thing, the 746 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,120 best strategy that. Anybody's ever. 747 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,120 Had is the US government employing more people than any 748 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,880 other corporation in the world. So by the US government being 749 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,240 the biggest employer, they've got everybody by the balls 750 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,400 because they can make people do something they wouldn't normally 751 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,480 do or go along with the plan that they know in their heart is 752 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:24,400 wrong to make sure that those benefits and though and that 753 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,560 paycheck keeps rolling in. And so they got people by the 754 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,080 balls because of that, because there's people that have worked 755 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:31,920 for the government for, you know, 20-30 years. 756 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,360 That's all they've done. That's all they know how to do. 757 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:36,920 They don't have any other talents outside of government. 758 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,080 They couldn't do anything else in the private sector. 759 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,880 So there's no way they're going to push back against the hand 760 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,240 that feeds them. And the government knows that. 761 00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:47,480 And that's why a lot of what happens in the government, it's 762 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,680 not necessarily because those government workers are, you 763 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:55,640 know, these, these sinister deep state actors that have a 764 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:57,920 mission. It's really honestly just 765 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:02,040 because these people are spineless cowards and they don't 766 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:03,680 want to lose a paycheck to do what's right. 767 00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:05,800 That's what it comes down to. It does. 768 00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,080 I just love how how plain spoken you are it that that resonates 769 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,040 with my heart really well because so many people dance 770 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:12,800 around the answer. You know they don't. 771 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,560 I'm sure a lot of your clientele work in federal government based 772 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,400 on where you are. There's got to be people that 773 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,520 are either part of the federal government or they work really 774 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,160 closely with folks that do most. Of them, yeah, most of most of 775 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,080 my client, I mean, I'm in Fredericksburg, VA, right 776 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,320 outside of DC. Most of my customer base is, is, 777 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,120 you know, federal government workers. 778 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:34,160 And like, don't don't get me wrong, you know, thinking I'm 779 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:37,000 saying everybody that works for the government is a spineless 780 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:38,280 coward. That's not what I'm saying at 781 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,840 all. Or that the government shouldn't 782 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,840 exist and nobody should work for the government. 783 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,880 That no, no, we, we, there's, there's programs in the 784 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,080 government, there's agencies, there's departments, departments 785 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:54,800 that do essential missions that we absolutely need to protect us 786 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,200 as Americans. And there are people that work 787 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,200 for the government that bust their ass. 788 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:01,000 That's right. And aren't lazy spineless 789 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:05,560 cowards absolutely 100%. But the default setting that's 790 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,640 exactly right, because the. Default setting is what you said 791 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:10,360 the first time, so it's very. Few and far between. 792 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:15,320 Yeah, I, I'll be generous saying it's 20% of the government work. 793 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:17,200 Oh yeah, that is that. Might be a little generous, but 794 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:18,160 we'll, we'll, we'll give it to you. 795 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,520 We'll we'll round up because you got the folks in your area And, 796 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:23,640 and I wonder this too, people who come to your restaurant have 797 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,440 to know what the reputation of your restaurant is. 798 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:27,320 You want to talk about the rest of the fight that you guys got 799 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:28,600 into and that where that left you today? 800 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,760 Yeah, I'll summarize. That real quick for you. 801 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:35,320 So I took on that fight and like I said, I didn't know where I 802 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,080 was going to go, what the outcome was going to be. 803 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:42,320 I, I expected to lose everything I worked for my whole life and 804 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:45,120 and I took on that fight kind of under the radar. 805 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,840 At first. I just allowed my customers to 806 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:50,880 choose what they wanted to do what was best for themselves 807 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,360 without announcing it on social media or in the news. 808 00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:56,920 But eventually people started complaining to the health 809 00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,120 department that I wasn't following COVID mandates. 810 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:04,000 So I got it. So I got a visit from OSHA and 811 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:07,400 the Department of Health and they actually came in and they 812 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,800 were doing their inspection. And so I've never my, my, my 813 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:12,720 restaurant is the cleanest restaurant you've ever been to. 814 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:14,640 I mean, you can eat off the floor in my kitchen. 815 00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:17,400 You can come inspect my kitchen anytime you want to. 816 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,640 You'll see me exactly what I'm what I'm never had a health 817 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:21,360 violation at all. And that's rare for a 818 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,520 restaurant. But had OSHA and the health 819 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,040 department come to my restaurant and do their little COVID 820 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:30,520 inspection. And in my kitchen area, in the 821 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,320 back where we washed dishes, there's a three compartment sink 822 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:35,840 and then there's a space and then there's a dishwasher. 823 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,880 So the ocean guy says, hey, how many people work back here at a 824 00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:41,480 time? And I was like sometimes 2, 825 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:43,680 sometimes somebody be washing the dishes and then the other 826 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,880 person will be putting it in the dishwasher and rinsing them off 827 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:48,800 and or whatever. Sometimes two people. 828 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,720 He was like, OK, well, I need you to put a piece of plexiglass 829 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,680 up between those two sections so those people don't infect each 830 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:56,920 other. I was like, what? 831 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:01,280 So I wanted to play with this guy and actually I recorded this 832 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,720 when I did it and, and I did put this video on YouTube and it's 833 00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:06,720 hilarious. I'll send it to you when we get 834 00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:10,040 off. But so I saw I wanted to mess 835 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,000 around with this OSHA guy because he was making no sense. 836 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:14,000 So I said, oh, OK, cool. I said, well, what's the 837 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,720 regulation? Like how tall does this 838 00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:19,360 plexiglass need to be? And he was like, well, I need to 839 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,320 go from floor to ceiling. And I said, oh, OK, cool. 840 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,440 But these fire sprinklers that I have, you realize I'll be 841 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,560 violating the fire code if I do that because I'll be blocking 842 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:31,720 the sprinklers. And then he was like, oh, OK, 843 00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:33,600 well, yeah, don't violate the fire code. 844 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:35,960 Just get him as high as as you can get him. 845 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,400 And I said, well, that's not the regulation. 846 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:40,400 I want to make sure when you guys come to spec, then I'm 847 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:43,400 following regulations. And so he stutters. 848 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:45,240 He well, just get him as high as you can. 849 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:47,360 And I said, OK, So what you're telling me is you guys actually 850 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,880 don't have a regulation for it. So I said, all right, let's move 851 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:51,760 on. How wide does these do these 852 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,760 plexiglass separators have to be? 853 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,280 And he told me, he said, actually there's no regulation 854 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,160 for that. And I said, so you're telling me 855 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:02,880 if I put a one inch piece of plexiglass from floor to 856 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:07,240 ceiling, technically I'm within the the regulation. 857 00:42:07,240 --> 00:42:09,000 He said technically that'll suffice. 858 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,280 I said, OK, buddy, take your OSHA hat off for one second and 859 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:15,720 just talk to me man to man. Does that make any sense to you? 860 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,520 And his reply was, well, Matt, it doesn't have to make any 861 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,520 sense. The governor said you will do 862 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:24,720 this or you will do this. And I said, well, it's a good 863 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:28,000 thing that we don't live in a under a dictatorship. 864 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,440 It's a good thing we're Americans because we have 865 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:32,240 rights. And right now you're violating 866 00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:33,480 them. So you're going to have to leave 867 00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,600 my my property or I'm going to have you removed. 868 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,160 And, and that's when he left. And then that's when he told me 869 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,760 as he was leaving, we'll be back to suspend your health 870 00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:44,840 department license. And he made good on that 871 00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:47,640 promise. So they came back, suspended my 872 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:51,280 health department license. And in the state of Virginia, 873 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,720 you're ABC licensed. So you're licensed to sell 874 00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:56,000 alcohol is connected to your health department license. 875 00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:58,160 So I lost both of those the same day. 876 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:04,200 But my, my, my mindset was if the Constitution means nothing 877 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:07,120 to you, then your licenses mean nothing to me. 878 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:10,040 And I continue to operate without those licenses. 879 00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:14,840 And that's when I took my story public because I knew the only 880 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,760 way I win this thing is, is if I get the people of America to 881 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:20,920 come out and get behind me and support me. 882 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:24,080 So that's when I, I made a video saying, Hey, guys, this is this 883 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,720 is what I'm doing at Gore Melts. Hopefully you guys will come out 884 00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:29,920 and support me. And they did at that point, they 885 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,720 came out in droves. I mean, I had people flying to 886 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:36,600 my restaurant from like the West Coast coming to Virginia and 887 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,320 come in just to shake my hand and thank me for standing up and 888 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,560 fighting. And I mean, it made me tear up, 889 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,440 man. It made me at that point I knew 890 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,560 I was doing the right thing. And at that point I kind of felt 891 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:50,960 the sense of security in that, that we might be fine, maybe we 892 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:54,520 might be OK, we actually might get through this thing and it, 893 00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:58,320 and I truly believe that it was because of the support of the 894 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:00,960 people that I did win my fights in court. 895 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:04,040 So eventually with the court proved in court that some of 896 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,520 these mandates were indeed unconstitutional and, and I won. 897 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,280 I was, I was, I was able to prove that they were 898 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:12,720 unconstitutional. They had to give me my health 899 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:15,320 department license and my ABC license, Mac. 900 00:44:15,720 --> 00:44:18,160 So we were victorious. 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A little power outage, which is 921 00:45:10,720 --> 00:45:13,080 quite interesting for me. I had a little panic moment 922 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:14,880 where I sat in the dark and thought, oh, my God, who's 923 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:16,880 coming through my doors? You guys will continue to listen 924 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:17,960 to this. It doesn't make you feel any 925 00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:20,240 less panic, but it should make you feel more ready. 926 00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:22,760 All right, back to the conversation right now. 927 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:26,440 OK, Little little power outage never stopped anybody except 928 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:28,920 when all your stuff is digital and it all just shuts down and 929 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:30,120 I'm sitting in the dark by myself. 930 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,360 Matt, you were just talking about how he told the government 931 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:35,160 kind of to stick. It sounds like you won that 932 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:37,840 fight in the end and they you're able to send them home. 933 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,200 You had your liquor license restored, is that correct? 934 00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:45,680 Yeah, well, it, it, it was even more long and drawn out than 935 00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:48,360 that. So I, I won my health department 936 00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:51,200 license back in court. So then we went before the ABC 937 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:54,320 board, the liquor board, and we basically told them, hey, 938 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:58,160 listen, you guys took my ABC license only because the health 939 00:45:58,160 --> 00:45:59,800 department took my health department license. 940 00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:03,720 Well, we went to court and proved it was unconstitutional. 941 00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:05,480 They had to give me my health department license back. 942 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:08,960 So now in turn, you should have to give me my ABC license back. 943 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:10,560 That makes sense, right? Sure. 944 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:13,680 Well, the ABC. Board said, now Matt, when we 945 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:16,400 took your ABC license away from you, you continued to sell 946 00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,600 alcohol without it. And I said, yeah, I did because 947 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:21,680 you unconstitutionally took it away from me. 948 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:24,200 So they said, well, you're not getting it back. 949 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,320 So I said, Roger that. And once again I said, if 950 00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:30,080 constitution means nothing to you guys, neither does your, 951 00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,080 your, your liquor license. So went back to my restaurant 952 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:35,920 and sold alcohol business as usual. 953 00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:39,960 And the, this important part about that was by this time 954 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:42,840 Glenn Younkin was the governor of Virginia. 955 00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,080 And I supported the heck out of Glenn Younkin while he was 956 00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,040 campaigning. I mean, he came to my restaurant 957 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,600 to garner the support of the people that was supporting me 958 00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:54,120 gladly. Did you know, events forum and 959 00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:57,800 everything like that. And he told me if, if we win, 960 00:46:57,800 --> 00:46:59,960 not only your COVID mandates gone, but we're going to make 961 00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:03,040 sure businesses like yours are no longer prosecuted for COVID 962 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,880 mandates. What he won and then he did the 963 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,040 opposite of that. I continued to be prosecuted 964 00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:12,200 under his governorship. And so as him being the 965 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:15,560 governor, my restaurant was raided by the Virginia State 966 00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:19,960 Police and ABC agents for not following COVID mandates. 967 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:24,400 And there's a long back story as to why that happened and why he 968 00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:27,320 allowed that to happen. I'll just tell you real quick so 969 00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:30,120 we can move on from that. But So what happened is there 970 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:32,840 was a guy that came to my restaurant who was going through 971 00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:37,000 kidney failure. His name is Shamgar Connors and 972 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:38,400 it's a cool last name, by the way. 973 00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:43,440 So he came to my restaurant and he was like, hey, Matt, I'm 974 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:45,360 coming to you for help because I don't know where else to go. 975 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:47,560 I've been hitting up every politician there is. 976 00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:49,000 I'm going through kidney failure. 977 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:51,640 I'm about to die. I was on the kidney transplant 978 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:55,240 list at UVA, University of Virginia Medical Center, which 979 00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:58,160 is a state funded hospital. And they called me, told me they 980 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,560 got kidneys for me, but they said I won't get these kidneys 981 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:04,200 until I take the COVID vaccine. And I'm just not comfortable 982 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:07,160 with the COVID vaccine because my immune system is already 983 00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:09,920 compromised. And I just, and I've already had 984 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:11,400 COVID. So I got the best vaccine 985 00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:13,880 available. So he, so he told me he was 986 00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:16,360 like, if, if I don't get this vaccine that I don't want, they 987 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:19,800 won't give me what I need to stay alive, which makes no 988 00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:23,040 sense. So I said, hey, listen, funny 989 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,600 you say you need help because I'm doing a event in two weeks 990 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,040 at my restaurant for a congressional candidate, and 991 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:31,400 Glenn Yunkin's actually going to be here. 992 00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:32,720 I'll make sure you get in front of him. 993 00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:36,120 So two weeks pass, he comes to the restaurant, I get him in 994 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:40,400 front of Glenn Yunkin, tells Glenn Yunkin his story, and in 995 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,800 front of me, Glenn Yunkin tells him he'll make sure there's a 996 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,000 resolution to that. Long story short, with that, 997 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,080 Glenn Yunkin doesn't He allows this man to be kicked off the 998 00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:52,400 UVA Medical Center kidney transplant list for not taking 999 00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:54,480 the vaccine. So I started looking into why 1000 00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:57,960 would Yunkin allow this? So I started uncovering the 1001 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,120 millions of dollars that Glenn Yankin takes from Pfizer and all 1002 00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:02,880 the rest of the big pharmaceutical companies. 1003 00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:07,200 So I wanted to help help save this man's life. 1004 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:12,080 So I started blasting that on social media and and Glenn 1005 00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:15,040 Yankin wasn't happy about that. So that's the real reason he 1006 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:17,200 allowed my restaurant to be raided by the Virginia State 1007 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:21,320 Police and ABC agents. But anyway, to wrap that story 1008 00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:27,680 up, they took all of my alcohol and this was December 2nd of I 1009 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:30,080 think 2023 that this happened, OK. 1010 00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:37,080 And and so it went viral because I recorded the police raiding my 1011 00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:39,640 restaurant. I went live as it was happening 1012 00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:41,600 and. And I told these. 1013 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,400 Police officers and you can go back and check that video. 1014 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:46,600 I told these police officers as they were doing it, I said, hey 1015 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:48,640 guys, I already won my case in court. 1016 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:51,560 I already proved the reason you're stripping me of 1017 00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:54,800 everything that I own right now is unconstitutional. 1018 00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:58,800 And, and I, and I told them to their face and I recorded it. 1019 00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:00,840 When I said it, I said what you're doing right now is no 1020 00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:03,720 different than what they did back in Germany in the 40s. 1021 00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:05,920 And you saying that I'm just doing my job. 1022 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:09,120 I said that is no different than what you're doing right now. 1023 00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:11,560 I said, you know what you're doing is wrong, but yet you're, 1024 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:13,920 you're using the excuse that I'm just doing my job. 1025 00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:16,560 And that's no longer an excuse. You're screwing your kids over 1026 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:21,360 by saying that. And, and anyway, I ended up with 1027 00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:23,960 it. So I got a call from everybody 1028 00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:27,760 from across the nation, came to my defense once again, and Glenn 1029 00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:30,280 Younkin couldn't make a post on social media without somebody 1030 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,280 jumping on there saying, hey, what about Matt Strickland and 1031 00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:35,120 Gore melts? What are you doing about that 1032 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:36,840 situation? Why'd you allow his restaurant 1033 00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:39,680 to be rated for COVID mandates when you campaigned against it? 1034 00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:43,600 And he couldn't make a post on social media without people 1035 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:45,920 coming in the hundreds and having my back. 1036 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:48,960 And they were calling his office everyday, sending him emails. 1037 00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:52,000 So he finally felt the political pressure behind the scenes. 1038 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,440 They reached out to me and said, hey, we got to come to a 1039 00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:56,160 resolution. How about this? 1040 00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:59,680 How about instead of, and this is December, remember he said 1041 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:03,600 instead of us bringing your alcohol back to you in February 1042 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,600 and giving your license back to you then and you paying the 30 1043 00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:11,080 grand penalty or whatever the price was, how about this? 1044 00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,120 How about we bring everything back to you now and you just 1045 00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:16,560 give us $2000. And I said, absolutely not. 1046 00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:18,840 Here's what's going to happen. I said you're going to bring 1047 00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:21,440 everything back to me. I'm not going to pay you a dime 1048 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,640 and I'm going to give you until Christmas to do it. 1049 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:25,640 By this time it's like December 17th. 1050 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:28,240 I said I'm closing my restaurant for Christmas. 1051 00:51:28,240 --> 00:51:32,600 Obviously when I open back up on the 26th, I will be serving 1052 00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:34,800 alcohol. And I'm guessing at that point 1053 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:36,400 you're going to have to come arrest me. 1054 00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:39,840 So if you're ready for the political backlash that comes 1055 00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:41,920 with that, I'm ready to go to jail for my country. 1056 00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:45,920 And on December 23rd, they tapped out, brought everything 1057 00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:48,120 back to me, gave me my license back, and that was the end of 1058 00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:53,080 that. So that entire fight cost me a 1059 00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:55,440 lot of money. Everything that I had right 1060 00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:57,680 before I went into that fight, like I said, I was doing very 1061 00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:00,680 well, getting ready to sign the lease on multiple restaurants 1062 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:04,440 for the first time in my life, had, you know, well, in the six 1063 00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:07,640 figures in the bank. At one point during that fight, 1064 00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:12,720 my bank account was drained to -500 dollars, and I didn't know 1065 00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:14,240 how I was going to make it the next month. 1066 00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:20,520 And yeah, I'm a Christian and, and, and I take my faith very 1067 00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:24,000 seriously. And I just believed that God 1068 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:27,600 wouldn't allow that to happen. And he brought me down to the 1069 00:52:27,600 --> 00:52:29,360 lowest point. Nothing. 1070 00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:32,960 And and that's when my story became public. 1071 00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:36,520 And at that point, the next month, the people showed up and 1072 00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:40,200 supported me and I was able to pay all my bills, pay all my 1073 00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:42,360 employees, and I had a couple 100 bucks in the bank. 1074 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:46,040 And then the next month pay my bills, pay my employees, and I 1075 00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:50,440 had 1000 bucks in the bank. And I'm nowhere near where I was 1076 00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:54,000 by any means, but I'm able to provide for my family. 1077 00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:57,200 And I believe that's because I stayed faithful to the Lord and 1078 00:52:57,400 --> 00:52:59,040 I stayed faithful to the American people. 1079 00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:03,200 And they showed up in droves to to back me up. 1080 00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:07,560 And so because of that fight, and because it took so much from 1081 00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:11,600 me, I had to I had to go back to work as a government contractor 1082 00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:15,120 to, you know, try to make some more money because of what the 1083 00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:17,200 government put me through, ironically. 1084 00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:21,480 And that's the reason why I was at DHS as an Intel analyst. 1085 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:25,920 Have you and I ever. Talked before this no. 1086 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:27,400 Never have we. Ever. 1087 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:30,920 Compared notes about the commonalities between what went 1088 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:34,640 on COVID and the Nazi Germany and people following orders, no. 1089 00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:38,200 Not at all. There's something. 1090 00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,560 Really. That it? 1091 00:53:40,720 --> 00:53:43,760 It's really hard to understand how many people made the same 1092 00:53:43,760 --> 00:53:46,960 analogy at the same time. And every time. 1093 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:48,560 Someone does it that I haven't talked to him. 1094 00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:50,560 I'll tell people that are listening to me like this is the 1095 00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:52,800 first time we've talked. We had a conversation when the 1096 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:53,960 power went out. That's about it. 1097 00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:56,720 It was a few minutes compared a couple of notes, which are also 1098 00:53:56,720 --> 00:53:59,040 very similar. We have similar stories with the 1099 00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,960 folks that, you know, the gals we married and and how they look 1100 00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:03,840 at the world now and versus maybe the way they did. 1101 00:54:03,840 --> 00:54:06,280 But other than that, we didn't have to compare notes because 1102 00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:09,720 men knew this. Like I feel like, I feel like 1103 00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:11,240 we're throwbacks. Is that is that what's going on 1104 00:54:11,240 --> 00:54:13,080 here? Like we just rake their guys 1105 00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:15,960 from 40 years ago that just don't want this crap to to to 1106 00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:18,200 jump into our lives like this. It kind of does. 1107 00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:21,120 Feel like that I don't I don't I don't know what it is I don't 1108 00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:26,400 know why men aren't men anymore. I, I always say that if my 1109 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:30,080 grandfather's generation were all to magically come back to 1110 00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:34,360 life and see the men running around this country now, they'd 1111 00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:36,320 be embarrassed. They'd be embarrassed of what 1112 00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:40,800 their, what their lineage grew into because it's, it's, it's 1113 00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:42,920 it, it, they wouldn't recognize it. 1114 00:54:43,080 --> 00:54:46,720 It doesn't represent what they stood for at all whatsoever. 1115 00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:52,040 And I, I, I don't think so. I got in the media, I, I got 1116 00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:54,760 some backlash for saying that to those police officers. 1117 00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:57,920 They, they, they started saying me and my restaurant don't 1118 00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:00,800 support police officers, which is a lie. 1119 00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:05,240 They started saying that I compared police officers to 1120 00:55:05,240 --> 00:55:09,640 Nazis, which I compared what those specific officers were 1121 00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:12,720 doing that day to what Nazis did back in the 40s. 1122 00:55:12,720 --> 00:55:14,880 Yeah. I wasn't being walked into a a 1123 00:55:14,880 --> 00:55:16,920 train to step into a gas chamber. 1124 00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,680 No, but they were taking my livelihood away from me. 1125 00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:23,760 They were taking, they were stealing from me and they 1126 00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:26,920 couldn't have cared less how it affected me or my family. 1127 00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:30,280 And that's no different than what they did back in the 40s 1128 00:55:30,280 --> 00:55:32,360 to, you know, to the, to the Jewish folks. 1129 00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:34,280 There's, there's a whole. Book about this, we talked about 1130 00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:36,360 it on my program on a pretty regular basis, but the book's 1131 00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:39,280 called Ordinary Men, and it's the story of how men who are 1132 00:55:39,280 --> 00:55:41,520 just keeping a roof over their head and working for the 1133 00:55:41,520 --> 00:55:44,160 government and doing what they're told following orders. 1134 00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:47,200 They went from being guys that were butchers and bakers and 1135 00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:50,280 Candlestick makers and people who ran restaurants and, you 1136 00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:53,520 know, they're regular dudes and they got conscripted into, to 1137 00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:57,040 work for the Nazis. And, you know, within two years, 1138 00:55:57,040 --> 00:55:59,920 three years, they were shooting little kids in the back of the 1139 00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:02,160 head and, and, and old people that were moving too slowly to 1140 00:56:02,160 --> 00:56:05,080 get on the box cars. And so, and the other crazy part 1141 00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:08,360 about all that, Matt, is that the historical examples already 1142 00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:11,760 been set for people that said no to those disgusting and unlawful 1143 00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:15,200 and, and, and inhumane orders. And nothing bad happened to 1144 00:56:15,200 --> 00:56:17,160 those guys. We already know what happens if 1145 00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:19,280 you say no, you might lose your livelihood. 1146 00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:21,320 But generally speaking, when the regime is looking for 1147 00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:23,480 compliance, it doesn't actually even go punish the people that 1148 00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:26,120 don't comply because it would highlight that that actually 1149 00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:28,400 there is a resistance and that what they're doing is wrong. 1150 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:31,680 So in any case, well, you know, good on you for doing the right 1151 00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:32,840 thing. And I didn't know all the back 1152 00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:34,560 story on it. I knew enough of it from from 1153 00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:36,960 being in the area. Makes perfect sense to me. 1154 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:40,560 Again, do you find that the people that are quite a bit 1155 00:56:40,560 --> 00:56:43,680 older than you, people in their 70s and 80s seem to have a 1156 00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:46,200 kinship with the value system that you're talking about that 1157 00:56:46,240 --> 00:56:48,840 maybe skip the people that are our age, They. 1158 00:56:48,840 --> 00:56:54,120 Do I mean, I, I love when people from that generation come into 1159 00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:57,520 my restaurant. I, I spend probably more time 1160 00:56:57,520 --> 00:56:59,280 than I should sitting down talking to them. 1161 00:56:59,640 --> 00:57:04,440 Actually, my first job straight out of the military was I worked 1162 00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:09,120 in the emergency room up in Fairfax in the, as a medic in 1163 00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:12,000 the ER. And I worked the overnight shift 1164 00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:16,760 from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM. And that night shift is, you 1165 00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:17,960 know, it's a level 1 trauma center. 1166 00:57:17,960 --> 00:57:21,000 So you're, you're, you're bumping and grinding until about 1167 00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:24,000 3 O clock in the morning. And from three to seven, that 1168 00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:29,080 four hours takes so long because everybody's already, they've 1169 00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:31,240 already overdosed or they already gotten in that fight or 1170 00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:34,320 they already have gotten shot. So those, those last four hours 1171 00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:37,000 ago, I slowed what I used to love to do during those last 1172 00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:40,880 four hours of my shift was going the rooms of of World War 2 1173 00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:43,320 veterans to just talk to them because they were the most 1174 00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,200 realist people on this earth at that point. 1175 00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:49,600 A lot of most of them are going now, but I just used to sit, 1176 00:57:49,600 --> 00:57:51,760 love, sit down and talk to them because they didn't give a shit 1177 00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:54,800 what you thought. They didn't care about hurting 1178 00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:56,760 your feelings. If you ask them a question, you 1179 00:57:56,760 --> 00:57:58,480 were going to get an honest answer from them. 1180 00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:01,440 And I just, I appreciated it, even if I didn't like the 1181 00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:03,800 answer. I appreciated the fact that you 1182 00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:08,400 weren't going to bullshit me and I and, and people today, I, I 1183 00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:11,640 love that about some people that, that that's why I try to 1184 00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:13,880 surround myself with people that aren't going to bullshit me 1185 00:58:14,680 --> 00:58:16,800 because it's so easy to tell when you are. 1186 00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:21,760 And I just, it's something that not a lot of men hold as a value 1187 00:58:21,760 --> 00:58:23,560 today. And it's, and it's, it's 1188 00:58:23,560 --> 00:58:26,320 sickening to me, honestly, I don't, I don't know how women 1189 00:58:26,320 --> 00:58:30,520 date these guys, to be honest. So really. 1190 00:58:31,040 --> 00:58:32,960 It's it. There's a funny dynamic about 1191 00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:35,960 all this for some reason. You know, like women basically 1192 00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:38,520 steer a lot of society by what they're willing to tolerate in 1193 00:58:38,520 --> 00:58:41,360 their mate and. And and they have certain. 1194 00:58:41,360 --> 00:58:43,520 Expectations. So when I hear men say, you 1195 00:58:43,520 --> 00:58:45,720 know, you know, women are acting like this way, it's like, well, 1196 00:58:45,720 --> 00:58:49,440 you, you seek out women that are like that and women who are 1197 00:58:49,600 --> 00:58:51,720 upset about the way men are. You allowed men to treat you 1198 00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:53,680 that way for some reason or you demanded it of them and they 1199 00:58:53,680 --> 00:58:56,480 did. And you know, we're all to blame 1200 00:58:56,480 --> 00:58:58,080 for it. It's just, it's strange to watch 1201 00:58:58,080 --> 00:58:59,480 it as kind of, I feel like an outsider. 1202 00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:01,920 I feel like a like a like a stranger in my own land often 1203 00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:03,200 times because my wife and I walked in. 1204 00:59:03,400 --> 00:59:05,400 My wife has gone from being someone who was a Liberal 1205 00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:08,840 Democrat out of New York and she wears a veil to church every 1206 00:59:08,840 --> 00:59:10,120 Sunday. And she converted to to to 1207 00:59:10,120 --> 00:59:12,480 Catholicism and got baptized in 2022. 1208 00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:16,200 Like I said, we haven't talked before this, but my wife got 1209 00:59:16,200 --> 00:59:18,520 baptized the day before. They took my badge and my gun 1210 00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:20,720 away. If you could imagine, God does 1211 00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:22,880 speak in really interesting, powerful signs occasionally when 1212 00:59:22,880 --> 00:59:24,680 we really need it, and I think that's one of them for me. 1213 00:59:24,680 --> 00:59:27,400 But that's why and. I don't I don't believe in 1214 00:59:27,400 --> 00:59:28,920 coincidences. You know, I think everything 1215 00:59:28,920 --> 00:59:31,920 happens for a reason. And I think if you're willing to 1216 00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:36,280 open your eyes questions that you have, there are answers for 1217 00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:37,680 them all around you. That's right. 1218 00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:41,240 You just got to be willing to look up from your phone every 1219 00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:45,120 now and then and recognize that, you know, the Lord puts those 1220 00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:49,680 answers in front of you. And it's up to you to it's up to 1221 00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:50,920 you to acknowledge them and see them. 1222 00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:54,760 And honestly, I think the one of the, one of the biggest ways, 1223 00:59:54,760 --> 00:59:56,040 like you said, we've never talked before. 1224 00:59:56,040 --> 01:00:00,080 I don't know where you stand spiritually or, or religiously. 1225 01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:03,120 You say you go to church. So that tells me pretty much 1226 01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:06,080 what I need to know. But I think one of the best ways 1227 01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:08,400 that the Lord speaks to us is through our gut. 1228 01:00:08,440 --> 01:00:11,400 You know that gut feeling you have that that that just 1229 01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:14,160 instinct when you know something is wrong or when you know you 1230 01:00:14,160 --> 01:00:16,840 have to do something. I believe that that's the, the, 1231 01:00:16,920 --> 01:00:19,600 the Lord speaking to us. We, we got that kind of 6th 1232 01:00:19,600 --> 01:00:22,360 sense and that, that gut instinct for him to kind of 1233 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:25,120 guide us. And when you knowingly ignore 1234 01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:29,600 that, usually bad things happen and you can you can watch people 1235 01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:31,200 ignore. It in real time and if you've 1236 01:00:31,200 --> 01:00:33,760 ever questioned the subject or if you've ever rolled up a high 1237 01:00:33,760 --> 01:00:36,080 value target and they've done something they shouldn't have 1238 01:00:36,080 --> 01:00:38,840 done and you ask a real simple question and that that there's a 1239 01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:42,320 visceral response when human beings know they're doing the 1240 01:00:42,320 --> 01:00:45,480 wrong thing because they're being told to do otherwise and 1241 01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:48,520 they can't do it you. Can feel it absolutely you're 1242 01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:52,040 absolutely I'm going to send you the video of when those police 1243 01:00:52,040 --> 01:00:56,680 officers came to my restaurant that day watch watch what their 1244 01:00:56,680 --> 01:00:58,600 face looks like as I I already I don't even. 1245 01:00:58,600 --> 01:01:00,160 Have to see it. I will see it, but I already 1246 01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:02,160 know what it looks like because it looks the same way that my 1247 01:01:02,160 --> 01:01:05,160 boss taking my badge and gun looked when I shook his hand. 1248 01:01:05,360 --> 01:01:06,440 Matt. I reached out because I 1249 01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:08,760 instinctively or he wanted to shake my hand for some reason. 1250 01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:11,720 He held his hand out to me. This is a man that's got 8 1251 01:01:11,720 --> 01:01:14,560 inches on me, probably 70 lbs on me. 1252 01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:18,360 You know, I'm 5/8 and weigh $1.80 and, and he's probably in 1253 01:01:18,360 --> 01:01:22,480 the 250 range and he's, you know, 6 something 6364. 1254 01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:27,120 And he he reaches out to shake my hand and it was ice cold and 1255 01:01:27,120 --> 01:01:30,960 soft and and and scared and you could just, he knew in that. 1256 01:01:30,960 --> 01:01:33,760 Moment that you were a bigger man than he was. 1257 01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:34,560 I did too. And. 1258 01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:36,480 My boss came up and he said you handled that like a gentleman. 1259 01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:39,040 My other boss and and I said, well, these men are beneath me, 1260 01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:41,680 you know, and when you have that moment when you're righteous and 1261 01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:43,400 you know, and in your fight you were and that's why you don't 1262 01:01:43,400 --> 01:01:46,520 accept any half measure. That's why a $2000 fine and 1263 01:01:46,680 --> 01:01:49,880 we'll make it go away shortly. It's like, no, no, you apologize 1264 01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:52,160 is the answer. The answer is, is that tyranny 1265 01:01:52,160 --> 01:01:54,280 doesn't get, you know, I have a little thing. 1266 01:01:54,280 --> 01:01:55,920 I'll send it to you on my phone. You can send it to people 1267 01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:57,920 occasionally. It says you don't make peace 1268 01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,560 with evil, you destroy it. Absolutely. 1269 01:02:00,560 --> 01:02:01,360 And what? What those men? 1270 01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:03,720 Were doing whether they were complicit or they called the 1271 01:02:03,720 --> 01:02:06,000 order out, or they just obeyed it, that's evil. 1272 01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:08,960 That's what evil looks like. It's good men agreeing to 1273 01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:10,920 something that they knew was wrong, and that's why their face 1274 01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:12,560 looked that way. One of you knew it too. 1275 01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:14,760 One of the guys. That was in that video. 1276 01:02:14,760 --> 01:02:17,800 One of the police officers, one of his friends he grew up with, 1277 01:02:18,520 --> 01:02:21,880 came to my restaurant in the next couple of days following 1278 01:02:21,880 --> 01:02:22,960 the incident. Yeah. 1279 01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:26,160 And he said, hey, man, I just wanted you to know that guy in 1280 01:02:26,160 --> 01:02:30,040 the video, he is on the same page as us. 1281 01:02:30,040 --> 01:02:32,880 He's got the same values as us. He didn't want to do what he 1282 01:02:32,880 --> 01:02:35,120 did, but you know, he was just doing his job. 1283 01:02:35,560 --> 01:02:38,480 I said that guy doesn't have the same value systems as me 1284 01:02:38,480 --> 01:02:40,600 whatsoever. He's not on the same page with 1285 01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:41,840 me. And we don't believe the same 1286 01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:45,040 things because I would have lost my job that day. 1287 01:02:45,360 --> 01:02:46,960 That's the difference between him and I. 1288 01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:49,600 And I would have done it with pride and I would have went home 1289 01:02:49,600 --> 01:02:52,280 and told my wife. I did so with my hell, my, my 1290 01:02:52,280 --> 01:02:55,240 head held up high and we would have been just fine the next 1291 01:02:55,240 --> 01:02:56,960 day. That's the difference between me 1292 01:02:56,960 --> 01:02:59,640 and that man. If you can call him a man, but 1293 01:03:00,120 --> 01:03:02,760 it's it's a. It's an easy identifier and it 1294 01:03:02,760 --> 01:03:05,840 and and anybody who says, well, they believe this way, but they 1295 01:03:05,840 --> 01:03:08,600 acted another way. Show me, don't tell me. 1296 01:03:08,920 --> 01:03:10,400 Real simple. That's it, man. 1297 01:03:10,560 --> 01:03:13,200 I mean, that's what we're supposed to do is men, our 1298 01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:16,360 actions are supposed to speak way louder than our whether our 1299 01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:17,920 actions do speak louder than our words. 1300 01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:22,720 And that's why it's so easy to identify who The Who the cowards 1301 01:03:22,720 --> 01:03:25,520 are in this society. And then the wild thing is, so 1302 01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:29,720 I, I was going to like school board meetings and such during 1303 01:03:29,720 --> 01:03:32,760 the COVID stuff because my kids are in public school. 1304 01:03:33,680 --> 01:03:36,920 I got 2 in college now. And and then my, my twins, who 1305 01:03:36,920 --> 01:03:39,720 are the youngest, they're going into ninth grade, but they were 1306 01:03:39,720 --> 01:03:42,960 all young back then. And I was at the school board 1307 01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:46,240 meetings pleading for these folks to let our kids back in 1308 01:03:46,240 --> 01:03:48,920 the schools and let the kids back in the schools without 1309 01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:53,320 masks on. And, and the disappointing part 1310 01:03:53,320 --> 01:03:57,000 about it the most is supporting pointing part about it all is I 1311 01:03:57,000 --> 01:03:58,720 was one of the only men in there doing it. 1312 01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:02,000 The rest of the 50 people and they're fighting the school 1313 01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:06,120 board were women. It was like 3 guys and 47 women 1314 01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:08,120 in there. And I would even make posts 1315 01:04:08,120 --> 01:04:10,320 about it on social media like, hey, where's the men at? 1316 01:04:10,800 --> 01:04:13,200 Why, where, why is it moms for liberty? 1317 01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:15,200 Where's dads for liberty? Where you guys at? 1318 01:04:15,600 --> 01:04:18,520 You fucking cowards? Why aren't you guys joining me 1319 01:04:18,520 --> 01:04:21,000 at these school board meetings to speak up for our kids and our 1320 01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:25,600 wives and our community? And it was just so it was, it 1321 01:04:25,600 --> 01:04:28,280 was disheartening is not even the word for it. 1322 01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:29,880 Man. It was embarrassing, you know, 1323 01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:34,280 for, for me as a man to to be in there with all those women and 1324 01:04:34,600 --> 01:04:38,040 just feel bad for them and have them make excuses for their Oh 1325 01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:42,040 my, you know, my husband gets off late and I understand that. 1326 01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:45,640 So do I, but I'm here because this is more important than 1327 01:04:45,640 --> 01:04:47,520 anything right now. It was just so it was 1328 01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:51,800 disappointing, but I won't won't be dead, dead horse. 1329 01:04:52,120 --> 01:04:55,000 No, I know I'll. I'll add this little piece to it 1330 01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:57,280 and maybe this, maybe this helps. 1331 01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:01,520 I think that one of the greatest two things, we had a really 1332 01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:05,080 incredible gift in Joe Biden's presidency, which is difficult 1333 01:05:05,080 --> 01:05:08,200 for people to accept. We also had a really incredible 1334 01:05:08,200 --> 01:05:11,880 gift that was given to us when these COVID tyrannical mandates 1335 01:05:11,880 --> 01:05:14,960 came down. And, and the, the gift was as we 1336 01:05:14,960 --> 01:05:18,840 got to see what was happening, we got to reveal who was who in 1337 01:05:18,840 --> 01:05:20,760 a way that you couldn't have done it without hardship 1338 01:05:20,760 --> 01:05:23,800 without, you know, testing folks in the same way, you know, you 1339 01:05:23,800 --> 01:05:25,800 throw something in the fire, you find out whether the purities 1340 01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:27,800 are there or not. We found that out. 1341 01:05:28,560 --> 01:05:30,680 I think if you had eight years of Donald Trump, he would have 1342 01:05:30,680 --> 01:05:31,920 been ineffective for four more years. 1343 01:05:31,920 --> 01:05:33,320 He would have been impeached another time. 1344 01:05:33,320 --> 01:05:35,520 You would have just been hamstring by a bunch of people 1345 01:05:35,520 --> 01:05:37,480 that didn't quite see what we were up against. 1346 01:05:37,840 --> 01:05:41,520 And in the same way, I, I think the, if we hadn't had the, the 1347 01:05:41,520 --> 01:05:43,840 COVID lockdowns, we wouldn't have seen what people would and 1348 01:05:43,840 --> 01:05:46,000 would not tolerate. And who will those people were. 1349 01:05:46,440 --> 01:05:47,680 And so you know what side you're on. 1350 01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:49,720 And I know what side I'm on and I know what side other people 1351 01:05:49,720 --> 01:05:51,360 are not. We saw some people on the fence 1352 01:05:51,360 --> 01:05:54,720 that realized they got a second chance because it didn't all go 1353 01:05:54,720 --> 01:05:56,720 away. They can make a better decision 1354 01:05:56,720 --> 01:05:57,800 now. They probably won't. 1355 01:05:57,800 --> 01:05:59,360 That's just the way that human nature works. 1356 01:05:59,880 --> 01:06:01,080 But at least they get that free will. 1357 01:06:01,080 --> 01:06:04,080 Maybe God will turn their hearts to actually realize what 1358 01:06:04,080 --> 01:06:05,880 matters. And and so that's a gift. 1359 01:06:06,120 --> 01:06:07,880 It's it's an ugly gift. It's not what we would choose 1360 01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:09,600 for ourselves. You're right, I'm. 1361 01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:14,080 Glad all of the hardships that have happened in my life 1362 01:06:14,080 --> 01:06:15,920 personally have happened the past five. 1363 01:06:15,920 --> 01:06:20,160 I'm a totally different person than I was in 2019 and I'm I'm 1364 01:06:20,160 --> 01:06:23,960 happy for it. Like I told you, I got less 1365 01:06:23,960 --> 01:06:26,200 money in my bank account than I did in 2020. 1366 01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:31,720 But the, the main thing out of all of this, honestly, Kyle is 1367 01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:34,960 and the reason why I'm grateful for what happened to me is 1368 01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:38,200 because my kids got to see me go through all of it. 1369 01:06:38,480 --> 01:06:39,960 That's right. They were watching me everyday. 1370 01:06:39,960 --> 01:06:43,680 They were watching their mother and their father everyday go 1371 01:06:43,680 --> 01:06:47,960 through being in a court or before some kind of board on a 1372 01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:52,440 monthly basis, you know, being dogged in the media by liberals. 1373 01:06:52,480 --> 01:06:55,440 And, and they got to see everything that happened to us 1374 01:06:55,800 --> 01:06:59,600 and they got to see us not quit, not for one day that we even 1375 01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:02,920 think about quitting. And, and, and what I'm grateful 1376 01:07:02,920 --> 01:07:07,120 for is that is not a that's not a lesson that I could buy my 1377 01:07:07,120 --> 01:07:11,480 children if I wanted to. So it taught them something that 1378 01:07:11,480 --> 01:07:14,240 they will, they will pass down to their grandchildren. 1379 01:07:14,240 --> 01:07:17,680 And I can't buy that lesson if even if I wanted to, Kyle. 1380 01:07:17,720 --> 01:07:19,400 And that's why I'm so grateful for it. 1381 01:07:20,080 --> 01:07:23,920 But you're right that certain things have to happen in order 1382 01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:25,840 for us to wake up. And we were given a gift. 1383 01:07:25,880 --> 01:07:29,800 And I told you before I was that that kind of neo kind guy that 1384 01:07:29,800 --> 01:07:33,240 loved the war and thought that America just, she could should 1385 01:07:33,240 --> 01:07:35,400 just go crush everybody because we could. 1386 01:07:36,040 --> 01:07:40,080 And we were the we were the only people in this entire world that 1387 01:07:40,080 --> 01:07:42,240 were righteous. And we're trying and everything 1388 01:07:42,240 --> 01:07:44,000 we did was for the right reasons. 1389 01:07:44,440 --> 01:07:48,520 And I slowly have woken up to holy shit. 1390 01:07:48,560 --> 01:07:50,440 And some of these scenarios were the bad guy. 1391 01:07:51,040 --> 01:07:53,840 And I'll, I'll tell you, it was even before COVID that I started 1392 01:07:53,840 --> 01:07:58,640 realizing that when Trump took office in 2016, you know, I was, 1393 01:07:58,800 --> 01:08:04,400 I was, so I, I, when I, when I came back and I opened the, the 1394 01:08:04,400 --> 01:08:08,240 food truck, I went back to my other job as an Intel analyst 1395 01:08:08,240 --> 01:08:10,160 just for a little bit to, because when you open a 1396 01:08:10,160 --> 01:08:11,360 business, you're not making any money. 1397 01:08:11,600 --> 01:08:13,480 That's right. So I got my old job back for a 1398 01:08:13,480 --> 01:08:17,120 little bit to, you know, to kind of help pay bills and such. 1399 01:08:17,640 --> 01:08:20,040 So I worked as an Intel analyst under, under Trump for a little 1400 01:08:20,040 --> 01:08:23,600 bit. And what really opened my eyes 1401 01:08:23,600 --> 01:08:27,560 and, and changed kind of my trajectory of thinking was if 1402 01:08:27,560 --> 01:08:32,960 you remember, we were, we're flying some drones around in the 1403 01:08:32,960 --> 01:08:35,479 airspace over near Iran. And they shot our drone down 1404 01:08:36,240 --> 01:08:42,720 and, and, and all of the, the, all of Trump's senior military 1405 01:08:42,720 --> 01:08:47,279 advisors wanted us to go to war over and it was their chance to 1406 01:08:47,279 --> 01:08:51,720 invade Iran. And it was one night that I left 1407 01:08:51,760 --> 01:08:57,120 work and we, we had five different strategic military 1408 01:08:57,120 --> 01:08:59,800 targets that we're going to get hit that night in Iran. 1409 01:09:00,520 --> 01:09:03,160 And thousands of people were going to die. 1410 01:09:03,840 --> 01:09:06,520 And it was, it was, it was it was an eerie feeling when I left 1411 01:09:06,520 --> 01:09:10,160 work that day and, you know, seeing that operator, knowing 1412 01:09:10,200 --> 01:09:14,120 that in just a few hours there's going to be people waking up in 1413 01:09:14,120 --> 01:09:16,600 Iran and it's going to be their last time waking up. 1414 01:09:16,960 --> 01:09:21,160 And I know this and they don't. So I remember checking the news 1415 01:09:21,399 --> 01:09:24,800 at whatever time it was supposed to happen and it didn't happen. 1416 01:09:25,399 --> 01:09:27,479 And so I thought maybe something, maybe they cancelled 1417 01:09:27,479 --> 01:09:28,600 the mission, something went wrong. 1418 01:09:29,240 --> 01:09:33,760 And the very next day, if you remember, Trump got on TV and he 1419 01:09:33,760 --> 01:09:39,319 said we had five different strategic military targets that 1420 01:09:39,319 --> 01:09:42,680 we're going to be obliterated last night in Iran. 1421 01:09:43,640 --> 01:09:45,960 He said, I called it off personally. 1422 01:09:45,960 --> 01:09:47,560 And he did. He's the one that stopped it 1423 01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:50,040 personally. And he said the reason I did is 1424 01:09:50,040 --> 01:09:53,840 because I didn't think you guys shooting down an unmanned drone 1425 01:09:53,840 --> 01:09:55,800 warranted me killing thousands of people. 1426 01:09:56,560 --> 01:09:59,160 But make no mistake about it. Next time I won't hesitate. 1427 01:09:59,640 --> 01:10:03,760 And and at first, the day before, I was like, yeah, fuck 1428 01:10:03,760 --> 01:10:05,760 yeah, let's go into Iran. Let's fucking kill everybody. 1429 01:10:05,760 --> 01:10:07,920 We're America. And the. 1430 01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:11,640 Very next day when he said that. I don't know why it just kind of 1431 01:10:11,640 --> 01:10:13,760 woke me up like what, what was I thinking, man? 1432 01:10:14,520 --> 01:10:17,520 Why, why was I thinking that? What, what, who am I? 1433 01:10:18,200 --> 01:10:20,720 And I was like, he's right. Shooting down an unmanned drone 1434 01:10:20,720 --> 01:10:22,640 doesn't warn us, killing thousands of people. 1435 01:10:22,640 --> 01:10:25,200 What is wrong with me? What is wrong with the people 1436 01:10:25,200 --> 01:10:28,720 who were were making the decisions to let that happen? 1437 01:10:29,360 --> 01:10:33,080 And honestly, Trump kind of changed my neo my neo con 1438 01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:37,320 mentality at that moment. And, and then, you know, he when 1439 01:10:37,320 --> 01:10:40,840 when we killed General Soleimani in Baghdad, when he rolled out 1440 01:10:40,840 --> 01:10:43,440 of the gates of buy out and we, we dropped that bomb on them, 1441 01:10:44,120 --> 01:10:46,600 obliterated them. If you remember, Iran's 1442 01:10:46,760 --> 01:10:53,040 retaliation for that was to send 17 missiles into al-Assad air 1443 01:10:53,040 --> 01:10:56,120 base in Iraq where our U.S. troops were. 1444 01:10:56,800 --> 01:11:00,640 Well, thirteen of them landed. And if you remember, there was 1445 01:11:00,640 --> 01:11:03,840 not one American casualty. And the reason for that is 1446 01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:06,400 because they told us the exact grid coordinates and times that 1447 01:11:06,400 --> 01:11:08,080 these missiles were coming in, right? 1448 01:11:08,280 --> 01:11:10,840 And the reason they did that is because they told Trump, hey, we 1449 01:11:10,840 --> 01:11:13,440 have to have a response because if we don't, we'll have a coup 1450 01:11:13,520 --> 01:11:14,760 in our country. That's right. 1451 01:11:14,760 --> 01:11:15,880 And Trump. 'S responsible. 1452 01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:18,720 Like, Roger that. However, if one of my service 1453 01:11:18,720 --> 01:11:22,040 members are injured, make no mistake about it, I'll be 1454 01:11:22,040 --> 01:11:24,480 retaliated as well, and I'll obliterate your country. 1455 01:11:25,080 --> 01:11:28,200 And, and he commanded that respect on the international 1456 01:11:28,200 --> 01:11:30,240 stage that I've never seen before. 1457 01:11:30,640 --> 01:11:33,600 And that's when I truly fully got behind him, you know, as a 1458 01:11:33,640 --> 01:11:35,800 is he perfect? No, not by any means. 1459 01:11:36,320 --> 01:11:38,760 But I believe he's the right person in the right position 1460 01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:40,240 right now. And that's the right 1461 01:11:40,240 --> 01:11:41,720 temperament. Too, It's like, fine, you need 1462 01:11:41,720 --> 01:11:43,080 to save face. I understand that. 1463 01:11:43,280 --> 01:11:45,960 And he said something recently that that, and I don't get into 1464 01:11:45,960 --> 01:11:47,920 foreign politics as much because I just, it's just not 1465 01:11:47,920 --> 01:11:50,600 interesting to me. I understand we all live in a 1466 01:11:50,600 --> 01:11:52,920 global world, but I, you know, I live in an American world. 1467 01:11:53,520 --> 01:11:56,360 The, the thing that was most interesting is that he's like, 1468 01:11:56,360 --> 01:11:57,880 we're not going to export democracy. 1469 01:11:58,440 --> 01:12:00,720 We're not going to make, you know, put American values on 1470 01:12:00,720 --> 01:12:02,000 other countries. We're going to allow other 1471 01:12:02,000 --> 01:12:04,160 people to be themselves. We're interested in American 1472 01:12:04,160 --> 01:12:05,520 values in America. That's it. 1473 01:12:05,840 --> 01:12:07,080 So don't screw with what we're doing. 1474 01:12:07,080 --> 01:12:08,760 And that's kind of what he went out and told the Middle East. 1475 01:12:08,760 --> 01:12:11,080 He's like, we're not trying to shove America on you. 1476 01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:12,280 You guys do whatever you guys do. 1477 01:12:12,600 --> 01:12:13,760 We already know what it looks like. 1478 01:12:13,760 --> 01:12:15,280 You've you've been in war to see it. 1479 01:12:15,280 --> 01:12:18,280 It doesn't work. You don't you don't superimpose 1480 01:12:18,280 --> 01:12:20,560 America on top of a place that didn't ask for it. 1481 01:12:20,840 --> 01:12:22,520 They don't want it. Well, and. 1482 01:12:22,520 --> 01:12:25,320 That's the reason why so many Americans have issues with this 1483 01:12:25,320 --> 01:12:27,320 illegal immigration that's going on right now. 1484 01:12:27,600 --> 01:12:30,640 Yeah, because I can, I can tell you that probably majority of 1485 01:12:30,640 --> 01:12:33,880 Americans maybe not at this point because we have too much 1486 01:12:33,880 --> 01:12:35,320 illegal immigration that happened. 1487 01:12:36,360 --> 01:12:39,480 Most Americans just want a halt to everything right now and let 1488 01:12:39,480 --> 01:12:41,240 us evaluate what's what's been happening. 1489 01:12:41,240 --> 01:12:46,760 But I can tell you that probably most Americans agree that if we 1490 01:12:46,760 --> 01:12:51,080 were able to have some kind of psychic power and determine 1491 01:12:51,440 --> 01:12:53,760 whether or not somebody was a good person and just coming 1492 01:12:53,760 --> 01:12:56,760 across the border to make a great life for themselves and 1493 01:12:56,760 --> 01:12:59,360 they were going to assimilate to the American values, I don't 1494 01:12:59,360 --> 01:13:01,360 think any American would have a problem with that. 1495 01:13:01,600 --> 01:13:04,440 The problem is we don't have psychic ability. 1496 01:13:04,560 --> 01:13:07,120 And with those families that just want to make a better life 1497 01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:10,080 for themselves are terrorists who want to kill you. 1498 01:13:10,200 --> 01:13:12,440 And they will kill you at the first opportunity that they 1499 01:13:12,440 --> 01:13:14,240 have. But the problem, the biggest 1500 01:13:14,240 --> 01:13:17,480 problem is that a lot of these people especially that come over 1501 01:13:17,480 --> 01:13:20,920 the border illegally, they don't assimilate to the American 1502 01:13:20,920 --> 01:13:24,480 culture or American values. And just like those people don't 1503 01:13:24,480 --> 01:13:27,200 want us changing their country or their systems or their value 1504 01:13:27,200 --> 01:13:31,480 systems, neither do we. And if you're coming to America 1505 01:13:32,040 --> 01:13:36,200 to for a better life, it, it should be known, it should, it 1506 01:13:36,200 --> 01:13:39,320 should go without saying that you won't try to change our 1507 01:13:39,320 --> 01:13:41,560 country. You will assimilate to the value 1508 01:13:41,560 --> 01:13:44,120 system and the structure that made it such a great place that 1509 01:13:44,120 --> 01:13:47,280 you want to immigrate to. So for that same reason, we're 1510 01:13:47,280 --> 01:13:50,800 never going to change any, any, any country in the Middle East 1511 01:13:50,800 --> 01:13:53,240 or in Europe. Those places have been those 1512 01:13:53,240 --> 01:13:57,280 places for thousands of years. And to think we're going to, but 1513 01:13:57,640 --> 01:14:00,200 honestly, nobody thought that we were going to go turn these 1514 01:14:00,200 --> 01:14:02,720 places into a democracy or whatever they want to call it. 1515 01:14:03,120 --> 01:14:07,520 The, the, the, the intent of these wars were to launder money 1516 01:14:07,520 --> 01:14:10,520 and make certain people billionaires is all it was. 1517 01:14:10,560 --> 01:14:13,200 But yeah, the sales pitch. Was what was very different than 1518 01:14:13,200 --> 01:14:15,240 the what was deliverable in in the in the real world. 1519 01:14:15,240 --> 01:14:17,400 I think 100% one. 100% absolutely. 1520 01:14:17,400 --> 01:14:20,440 But just to I do want to touch on one thing real quick, just 1521 01:14:20,440 --> 01:14:22,960 because I talked about there was no injuries from that Al Asad 1522 01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:26,400 air base incident, the media reported just to make Trump look 1523 01:14:26,400 --> 01:14:29,800 bad that 100 and something soldiers were injured. 1524 01:14:30,280 --> 01:14:33,400 Well, I like I told you, part of my job as an Intel analyst was 1525 01:14:33,400 --> 01:14:36,000 looking at casualty analysis. So I saw every injury that 1526 01:14:36,000 --> 01:14:39,720 happened from that attack. Every injury that happened was a 1527 01:14:39,880 --> 01:14:43,920 reported headache from people that were in the vicinity of one 1528 01:14:43,920 --> 01:14:45,800 of those missiles that landed. They just had a headache. 1529 01:14:46,240 --> 01:14:50,360 So they classified that as a concussion or TBI, and the media 1530 01:14:50,360 --> 01:14:53,840 classified that as an injury so that the media reported over 100 1531 01:14:53,840 --> 01:14:57,040 and some people were injured. In all actuality, nobody was 1532 01:14:57,040 --> 01:15:00,040 injured from that attack. And it was because of the 1533 01:15:00,040 --> 01:15:04,080 presence of a, of a president like Donald Trump. 1534 01:15:04,080 --> 01:15:06,680 And that's honestly, that's why I got behind. 1535 01:15:06,680 --> 01:15:09,960 I voted for the first time in my life in 2020 because of that. 1536 01:15:10,560 --> 01:15:13,320 Never voted before, ever. And one of the reasons I never 1537 01:15:13,320 --> 01:15:15,360 voted before, and I'm, I'm embarrassed to say that 1538 01:15:15,520 --> 01:15:18,720 honestly, but one of the reasons I never voted before is because 1539 01:15:18,760 --> 01:15:22,000 when I work for Blackwater, one of our missions was protecting 1540 01:15:22,000 --> 01:15:24,000 these politicians when they come down range. 1541 01:15:24,480 --> 01:15:27,640 And as the medic, you stay with the person that you're 1542 01:15:27,640 --> 01:15:30,160 protecting, you stay with the principal and in case something 1543 01:15:30,160 --> 01:15:32,240 happens and medics right there with them. 1544 01:15:32,960 --> 01:15:35,320 And so I got to meet a lot of these people and they were all 1545 01:15:35,320 --> 01:15:37,240 full of shit on both sides of the aisle. 1546 01:15:37,440 --> 01:15:39,640 How did I know you were going? To say that they I mean. 1547 01:15:39,640 --> 01:15:41,800 They honestly, they were, they would, they would, what do you 1548 01:15:41,800 --> 01:15:44,600 guys need down here on the ground to accomplish your 1549 01:15:44,600 --> 01:15:47,240 mission successfully? And we give them a list every 1550 01:15:47,240 --> 01:15:49,840 time and we wouldn't hear from them once they're back in DC. 1551 01:15:49,840 --> 01:15:53,120 They're all full of shit. But I never voted until 2020, 1552 01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:56,320 honestly, because of those two decisions that Donald Trump 1553 01:15:56,320 --> 01:15:59,000 made. And, and I'm I don't regret 1554 01:15:59,120 --> 01:16:01,000 voting for him. I don't regret voting for him 1555 01:16:01,000 --> 01:16:05,960 and supporting this time. And, and one of the reasons I 1556 01:16:05,960 --> 01:16:10,000 blew the whistle at DHS is because I kind of want to get in 1557 01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:11,520 front of him. I don't have his phone number. 1558 01:16:11,520 --> 01:16:15,400 I can't call him what I want to. Hopefully a message gets to him 1559 01:16:15,400 --> 01:16:18,520 that he has people that he had put in these political appointed 1560 01:16:18,520 --> 01:16:23,520 positions that are subverting his agenda and they are not 1561 01:16:23,520 --> 01:16:26,160 doing what's in the best interest of his administration 1562 01:16:26,160 --> 01:16:29,600 or the American people. And, and and that's why you and 1563 01:16:29,600 --> 01:16:31,800 me are talking right now, because I blew the whistle on 1564 01:16:31,800 --> 01:16:33,880 some of the things happening up at DHS. 1565 01:16:34,040 --> 01:16:35,600 Yeah, to be fair, we. Probably should have before 1566 01:16:35,600 --> 01:16:37,120 because there's a lot of commonality here and I 1567 01:16:37,120 --> 01:16:39,680 appreciate and it's nice hearing another saying and sober voice 1568 01:16:39,680 --> 01:16:40,880 that sees a lot of the same things. 1569 01:16:42,000 --> 01:16:43,760 You know, I don't have to seek out confirmation, but there's 1570 01:16:43,760 --> 01:16:46,160 always someone out there that saw the same thing that didn't 1571 01:16:46,160 --> 01:16:48,840 have any contact before. Let's talk about DHS. 1572 01:16:48,840 --> 01:16:50,160 You went, when did you start working? 1573 01:16:50,160 --> 01:16:51,680 How did you even come about the job? 1574 01:16:51,720 --> 01:16:54,240 Was it and and give me kind of like the parameters what level 1575 01:16:54,240 --> 01:16:56,720 you're working at, Like give me the background on it and let's 1576 01:16:56,720 --> 01:17:00,640 walk into it. I, I, I finally got through that 1577 01:17:00,640 --> 01:17:05,200 fight at my restaurant and, you know, I'm down to nothing in my 1578 01:17:05,200 --> 01:17:06,960 bank account because of the fight. 1579 01:17:07,440 --> 01:17:12,280 And the only thing else I had to lean on was what I've done since 1580 01:17:12,280 --> 01:17:15,200 I was 17 years old, which is, you know, government contract. 1581 01:17:15,840 --> 01:17:21,440 So reached out to a company, got a job as a government contractor 1582 01:17:21,800 --> 01:17:25,880 up at DHS as an Intel analyst working on the countering 1583 01:17:25,880 --> 01:17:29,480 weapons of mass destruction team at DHS headquarters. 1584 01:17:29,880 --> 01:17:33,440 And when I first got there, one of the first questions I was 1585 01:17:33,440 --> 01:17:36,560 asked is, hey, Matt. And this was under the Biden 1586 01:17:36,560 --> 01:17:41,080 administration. So I got there in March of 2024, 1587 01:17:41,520 --> 01:17:43,440 OK. One of the first questions I was 1588 01:17:43,440 --> 01:17:47,320 asked was, what do you think the biggest chemical weapon threat 1589 01:17:47,480 --> 01:17:51,680 to America is right now? And my response was fentanyl. 1590 01:17:52,600 --> 01:17:56,560 And, and my response was fentanyl because it kills the 1591 01:17:56,560 --> 01:18:01,640 most Americans age 18 to 45 than any anything else, natural 1592 01:18:01,640 --> 01:18:04,040 causes, accidents, guns, anything. 1593 01:18:04,440 --> 01:18:07,840 Fentanyl overdoses the leading cause of death of Americans age 1594 01:18:07,840 --> 01:18:13,400 18 to 45. And not only that, but we know 1595 01:18:13,800 --> 01:18:17,840 that the CCP is responsible for bringing the precursors to make 1596 01:18:17,840 --> 01:18:20,480 fentanyl to Mexico for the cartels to make. 1597 01:18:20,880 --> 01:18:25,120 We know that China has trained the cartels on how to take it 1598 01:18:25,120 --> 01:18:28,440 from being a precursor into fentanyl as a drug. 1599 01:18:29,120 --> 01:18:33,680 And over 60% of the of the fentanyl that come comes across 1600 01:18:33,680 --> 01:18:38,880 the border is of a lethal dose. So if you're just trying to make 1601 01:18:38,880 --> 01:18:43,840 money, you're not going to have over 60% of your product be of a 1602 01:18:43,840 --> 01:18:46,720 lethal dose because the last thing you want is your customers 1603 01:18:46,720 --> 01:18:48,440 to die. You want to keep your customers 1604 01:18:48,440 --> 01:18:49,960 alive so they keep buying from you. 1605 01:18:50,400 --> 01:18:53,560 So the fact that over 60% of it is over lethal dose lets me know 1606 01:18:53,560 --> 01:18:55,240 that the intent is to kill Americans. 1607 01:18:55,720 --> 01:19:00,320 And, and the fact that the only reason it's it's it's it's able 1608 01:19:00,320 --> 01:19:02,720 to be made in, in Mexico is because of China. 1609 01:19:04,280 --> 01:19:06,520 It, it is being used as a chemical weapon. 1610 01:19:07,320 --> 01:19:10,280 So that was my response to them. And you know what their response 1611 01:19:10,280 --> 01:19:12,160 to me was? I don't feel like it was going. 1612 01:19:12,160 --> 01:19:15,200 To be positive, no, they said. Matt, you can't say the F word 1613 01:19:15,200 --> 01:19:17,520 in this office. Fentanyl. 1614 01:19:18,720 --> 01:19:22,840 And, and it was obvious why, because it was under the Biden 1615 01:19:22,840 --> 01:19:25,920 administration. Everybody I worked for in there 1616 01:19:27,160 --> 01:19:30,320 was liberal and they knew it was their fault and the 1617 01:19:30,320 --> 01:19:33,320 administration that they supports fault that we have a 1618 01:19:33,320 --> 01:19:37,120 fentanyl crisis in America. So it's best just to ignore the 1619 01:19:37,120 --> 01:19:40,080 problem. And, and I wasn't, I wasn't 1620 01:19:40,080 --> 01:19:44,200 allowed to do anything Fentanyl as an Intel analyst working for 1621 01:19:44,360 --> 01:19:48,400 the, the, the, the, the, the weapons of mass destruction team 1622 01:19:48,400 --> 01:19:53,320 at DHS, which is insane. So they told me it's a narcotics 1623 01:19:53,320 --> 01:19:55,360 issue, Matt, it's not a chemical weapon issue. 1624 01:19:55,360 --> 01:19:58,080 So that's not our lane. You're not allowed to touch it. 1625 01:19:58,560 --> 01:20:04,120 So, so I wasn't. So anyway, I worked in that role 1626 01:20:05,400 --> 01:20:10,000 since March of last year. And I I So what happens in the 1627 01:20:10,000 --> 01:20:13,400 Intel community when when it when an intelligence analyst 1628 01:20:13,400 --> 01:20:16,760 creates a report or Intel note or an Intel bulletin? 1629 01:20:17,640 --> 01:20:21,280 It's, it's actionable Intel. So you're creating this to send 1630 01:20:21,280 --> 01:20:23,880 out to the rest of the Intel community for them to take 1631 01:20:23,880 --> 01:20:28,240 action on it. And I saw many, many, many 1632 01:20:28,240 --> 01:20:31,080 different Intel reports come out for review. 1633 01:20:31,080 --> 01:20:34,200 Because like for me as an Intel analyst, if I'm creating Intel 1634 01:20:34,200 --> 01:20:37,480 report, I send it out to the Intel community for everybody to 1635 01:20:37,480 --> 01:20:41,760 look at and review and either suggest changes that should be 1636 01:20:41,760 --> 01:20:44,040 made or tell me it's good to go before I publish it. 1637 01:20:44,880 --> 01:20:48,600 So a lot of those reports would come into my e-mail across my 1638 01:20:48,600 --> 01:20:53,960 desk and I would look at them and they were almost, I would 1639 01:20:53,960 --> 01:20:58,120 say at least over 60% of them were completely politically 1640 01:20:58,120 --> 01:21:02,200 biased and targeting Americans for things that should be 1641 01:21:02,200 --> 01:21:06,240 illegal. And in October of 2024, 1642 01:21:06,560 --> 01:21:10,200 something came across my desk that I could, I could no longer 1643 01:21:10,200 --> 01:21:12,840 stay silent on. And So what happened at that 1644 01:21:12,840 --> 01:21:16,480 point is that's at right after Hurricane Helene in North 1645 01:21:16,480 --> 01:21:18,080 Carolina happened. OK, Yeah. 1646 01:21:18,200 --> 01:21:21,120 And. I received the Intel report for 1647 01:21:21,120 --> 01:21:26,200 review that that targeted the victims of Hurricane Helene. 1648 01:21:26,800 --> 01:21:30,200 It said that we need to look into these victims in Hurricane 1649 01:21:30,360 --> 01:21:34,480 Helene because they're spreading conspiracy theories on social 1650 01:21:34,480 --> 01:21:38,680 media that can put FEMA workers in danger on the ground. 1651 01:21:39,080 --> 01:21:41,720 And these conspiracy theories that they were spreading were 1652 01:21:41,720 --> 01:21:44,240 things like. FEMA. 1653 01:21:45,640 --> 01:21:48,560 FEMA sent. Money to different cities in 1654 01:21:48,560 --> 01:21:50,760 different states to house illegal immigrants. 1655 01:21:51,080 --> 01:21:52,560 Well, that's not a conspiracy theory. 1656 01:21:52,560 --> 01:21:56,200 That's easily provable. Over $300 million was sent from 1657 01:21:56,200 --> 01:21:58,360 FEMA to house illegal immigrants. 1658 01:21:58,800 --> 01:22:03,240 And conspiracy theories like FEMA doesn't have enough money 1659 01:22:03,240 --> 01:22:05,160 to make it to the end of hurricane season. 1660 01:22:05,640 --> 01:22:07,440 Well, that's also not a conspiracy theory. 1661 01:22:07,440 --> 01:22:13,160 Secretary Mayorkas himself said on mainstream media, CNN, Fox 1662 01:22:13,160 --> 01:22:15,800 News, all of the channels that we don't have enough money to 1663 01:22:15,800 --> 01:22:18,080 make it to the end of hurricane season. 1664 01:22:18,480 --> 01:22:21,000 So they had all these things in these reports that were 1665 01:22:21,000 --> 01:22:24,680 conspiracy theories that were easily provable to not be 1666 01:22:24,680 --> 01:22:26,840 conspiracy theories, but actual facts. 1667 01:22:27,280 --> 01:22:29,440 So I flagged it and I said hey guys. 1668 01:22:30,720 --> 01:22:32,920 First, you can't. Target these victims who just 1669 01:22:32,920 --> 01:22:36,840 lost everything from this hurricane for things that are 1670 01:22:36,840 --> 01:22:38,960 not conspiracy theories but actual facts. 1671 01:22:39,120 --> 01:22:43,320 And I sent evidence up when I flagged that report in my 1672 01:22:43,320 --> 01:22:45,320 e-mail, I said, here's the evidence that these aren't 1673 01:22:45,320 --> 01:22:47,640 conspiracy theories. These are actual facts. 1674 01:22:48,200 --> 01:22:51,640 And this needs to be changed before this report is published 1675 01:22:51,640 --> 01:22:55,320 and other people within the Intel community take action on 1676 01:22:55,320 --> 01:22:57,440 it, like surveilling these these victims. 1677 01:22:58,040 --> 01:23:01,680 And, and I set that up and I heard nothing back. 1678 01:23:03,080 --> 01:23:05,600 And so I kept reaching out to, I sent it up through my chain of 1679 01:23:05,600 --> 01:23:07,080 command. Nothing happened. 1680 01:23:07,080 --> 01:23:10,400 Nothing happened but and I kept pressing them and by the time I 1681 01:23:10,400 --> 01:23:13,920 heard something back, they said, hey, Matt, that's not our lane. 1682 01:23:13,960 --> 01:23:19,440 Your lane is is chemical, biological, radiological or 1683 01:23:19,440 --> 01:23:20,800 nuclear weapons. That's it. 1684 01:23:21,440 --> 01:23:25,640 And I said, OK, Rodger that man, why'd it come across my desk for 1685 01:23:25,640 --> 01:23:28,480 review then? And I said even beyond it being 1686 01:23:28,480 --> 01:23:31,280 my lane as an Intel analyst, I'm an American. 1687 01:23:32,240 --> 01:23:34,400 So this is my lane as an American. 1688 01:23:34,880 --> 01:23:38,560 It's my lane as AUS government employee, even though I'm a 1689 01:23:38,560 --> 01:23:41,800 contractor to look out for the people who are paying me to be 1690 01:23:41,800 --> 01:23:44,120 here. So it is my lane and it's your 1691 01:23:44,120 --> 01:23:47,400 lane to do something about it. And they said well the reports 1692 01:23:47,400 --> 01:23:49,480 already went out as is. So they were. 1693 01:23:49,640 --> 01:23:51,920 They put that Intel report out as is. 1694 01:23:52,280 --> 01:23:54,320 And to be fair. Those are First Amendment 1695 01:23:54,320 --> 01:23:56,800 protected things. You can think or say anything 1696 01:23:56,800 --> 01:23:58,480 that you like. Now how about crazy how it is? 1697 01:23:58,480 --> 01:24:01,320 Like what does the federal government have as far as taking 1698 01:24:01,360 --> 01:24:02,880 it? You have the right to spread 1699 01:24:02,880 --> 01:24:07,320 even a conspiracy theory online. Yeah, it's up to the American 1700 01:24:07,320 --> 01:24:10,360 people to accept it as truth or call you out of your bullshit, 1701 01:24:10,640 --> 01:24:13,240 you know, but well and, and. I want to put a finer point on 1702 01:24:13,240 --> 01:24:15,560 why this is dangerous and and I'd like you to help me kind of 1703 01:24:15,560 --> 01:24:18,240 explain it to people because this is a broader problem in the 1704 01:24:18,240 --> 01:24:19,880 Intel community, at least in my experience. 1705 01:24:20,640 --> 01:24:24,880 You get something like that, a novel indication that conspiracy 1706 01:24:24,880 --> 01:24:27,960 theories or Catholics in Richmond, VA are white 1707 01:24:27,960 --> 01:24:31,280 supremacists or take your pick of whatever thing is, you know, 1708 01:24:31,520 --> 01:24:34,880 that pro-life advocates might hurt people at abortion clinics. 1709 01:24:35,480 --> 01:24:37,400 And you don't have any evidence of that because you don't need 1710 01:24:37,400 --> 01:24:41,320 to to write an an IIR or any of these other Intel bulletins or a 1711 01:24:41,320 --> 01:24:43,760 domain awareness product. So you're going to generate a 1712 01:24:43,760 --> 01:24:46,040 report that's basically your suppositions. 1713 01:24:46,160 --> 01:24:48,160 It's your editorialization of something. 1714 01:24:48,160 --> 01:24:50,960 You've analyzed the facts and you've got some, you know, 1715 01:24:51,040 --> 01:24:53,400 concrete little touchstones. You're going to put them all 1716 01:24:53,400 --> 01:24:54,680 together. And you say this is what I 1717 01:24:54,680 --> 01:24:57,640 believe this information means. And you send it out there and it 1718 01:24:57,640 --> 01:24:59,720 goes across someone's like your desk and nobody, there's not 1719 01:24:59,720 --> 01:25:01,680 another Matt there who says, hey, this is problematic. 1720 01:25:01,680 --> 01:25:04,320 And by the way, possibly, you know, any illegal use of our 1721 01:25:04,320 --> 01:25:06,680 resources to call it out. So everybody agrees to it. 1722 01:25:06,680 --> 01:25:08,320 It goes out there. Well, someone writes on that 1723 01:25:08,320 --> 01:25:10,960 product, someone sees that product and writes a follow on 1724 01:25:10,960 --> 01:25:13,680 product, which becomes part of a body of work. 1725 01:25:13,880 --> 01:25:16,600 And now suddenly it is an agreed consensus within the 1726 01:25:16,600 --> 01:25:20,480 intelligence community that hurricane victims might be 1727 01:25:20,480 --> 01:25:23,840 targeting FEMA workers because we've got 11 different 1728 01:25:23,840 --> 01:25:25,800 intelligence reports that have all been peer reviewed and 1729 01:25:25,800 --> 01:25:27,760 vetted. Or we think that Catholics who 1730 01:25:27,760 --> 01:25:31,440 like Latin Mass are problematic because we have 17 people in 1731 01:25:31,440 --> 01:25:35,240 various field offices from DHS and Border Patrol and ICE and 1732 01:25:35,440 --> 01:25:37,520 you name it, you know, they're, they're over in the FBI and 1733 01:25:37,520 --> 01:25:39,880 they're over in NSA. And they're all saying, well, 1734 01:25:39,880 --> 01:25:42,120 these people might be white supremacists, which by the way, 1735 01:25:42,120 --> 01:25:43,800 is also illegal in this country. It's not illegal in this 1736 01:25:43,800 --> 01:25:45,120 country. You can be a white supremacist. 1737 01:25:45,120 --> 01:25:47,360 Like we probably don't want to hang out with them, but you can 1738 01:25:47,360 --> 01:25:49,920 be you're on. It Kyle and that's. 1739 01:25:50,520 --> 01:25:51,920 You're on it feed. Feed that back to. 1740 01:25:51,920 --> 01:25:54,920 People to understand what happens when you build on 1741 01:25:54,920 --> 01:25:57,400 somebody else's body of work. That becomes sort of like an 1742 01:25:57,400 --> 01:25:59,920 established mentality inside these offices. 1743 01:26:00,120 --> 01:26:03,680 It becomes the truth. You know, once 10 different 1744 01:26:03,680 --> 01:26:06,920 Intel analysts put that out, it becomes the truth and it becomes 1745 01:26:06,920 --> 01:26:09,680 actionable Intel. And that's what I was trying to 1746 01:26:09,760 --> 01:26:13,440 prevent. And and, and you would think 1747 01:26:13,440 --> 01:26:18,000 that I'd be applauded for that, but I, I painted a huge target 1748 01:26:18,000 --> 01:26:20,760 on my back at that .0. Yeah, I knew what I was doing 1749 01:26:20,760 --> 01:26:22,960 when I did it, but I had to do it. 1750 01:26:23,320 --> 01:26:28,840 And then so Fast forward to December, when you remember when 1751 01:26:28,840 --> 01:26:30,200 all the drone activity was coming? 1752 01:26:30,440 --> 01:26:34,280 I do was here the DC area. Now this was after the elect. 1753 01:26:34,280 --> 01:26:38,000 So that that report that I flagged, remember that was in 1754 01:26:38,000 --> 01:26:40,760 October. That was before the election. 1755 01:26:40,760 --> 01:26:44,320 So I was kind of, you know, I was, I wasn't protected by the 1756 01:26:44,320 --> 01:26:46,280 new Trump administration that was coming in. 1757 01:26:46,720 --> 01:26:49,080 I was, I was ready to lose my job over it. 1758 01:26:49,640 --> 01:26:53,080 So Fast forward to December when the drone activity was happening 1759 01:26:53,080 --> 01:26:57,480 here in the DC area, I reached out to through my chain of 1760 01:26:57,480 --> 01:27:02,040 command once again and I said, hey, guys, we are the CWMD team 1761 01:27:02,040 --> 01:27:04,040 for the Department of Homeland Security. 1762 01:27:04,040 --> 01:27:07,760 It's our job to protect the homeland from any kind of CBRN 1763 01:27:07,760 --> 01:27:10,520 attack. And we're getting multiple 1764 01:27:10,520 --> 01:27:12,920 reports of all these drones here in the area. 1765 01:27:13,480 --> 01:27:18,320 And we know that bad actors, state actors and non state 1766 01:27:18,320 --> 01:27:22,360 actors are trying to equip drones with CBR and weapons. 1767 01:27:22,360 --> 01:27:24,920 So now this is our lane. You can't use the excuse now 1768 01:27:24,920 --> 01:27:27,920 that this isn't our lane. I said, why are we talking about 1769 01:27:27,920 --> 01:27:30,040 this in the office? Why aren't we a part of any 1770 01:27:30,040 --> 01:27:32,960 investigation into this? Why haven't I heard one word 1771 01:27:32,960 --> 01:27:34,720 about this drone activity in the office? 1772 01:27:35,680 --> 01:27:39,720 And crickets once again. And eventually when I kept 1773 01:27:39,720 --> 01:27:43,400 pressing, kept pressing, my boss got back to me and said, hey, 1774 01:27:43,400 --> 01:27:45,320 man, not our lane. We don't do drones. 1775 01:27:45,760 --> 01:27:48,000 So that's what the government workers do, man. 1776 01:27:48,000 --> 01:27:51,560 They, for the most part, they kick the can down the road and 1777 01:27:51,560 --> 01:27:56,600 they spend more manpower and time trying to figure out a way 1778 01:27:56,600 --> 01:27:59,320 to get out of doing work than they do actually doing work. 1779 01:27:59,680 --> 01:28:01,800 The excuse is always this isn't our lane. 1780 01:28:02,440 --> 01:28:05,200 We're not allowed to do this because this is our mission, 1781 01:28:05,200 --> 01:28:08,680 when in all actuality, it relates to our mission. 1782 01:28:08,680 --> 01:28:12,840 But so at that time, I was just a thorn in their side. 1783 01:28:12,840 --> 01:28:17,440 I kept calling out bullshit, calling out improper reports and 1784 01:28:17,440 --> 01:28:20,520 politically biased reports, reports that targeted 1785 01:28:20,520 --> 01:28:25,480 Christians. And it was so I, I knew it 1786 01:28:25,600 --> 01:28:29,080 started, it started to be a very hostile work environment for me. 1787 01:28:29,560 --> 01:28:36,760 And what happened at that point is the new, so over the CWMD 1788 01:28:36,760 --> 01:28:40,840 program at DHS, the, the, the guy at the top of the food 1789 01:28:40,840 --> 01:28:46,040 chain, there is an assistant secretary, OK, that is appointed 1790 01:28:46,040 --> 01:28:48,640 to that position by the the president. 1791 01:28:49,160 --> 01:28:54,680 So in January, in came a new assistant secretary before you 1792 01:28:54,680 --> 01:28:55,760 even. Get into that piece. 1793 01:28:55,760 --> 01:28:57,320 Do you mind explaining to people? 1794 01:28:58,080 --> 01:29:00,320 Some people probably have never worked in a real hostile work 1795 01:29:00,320 --> 01:29:03,640 environment where you know that any day somebody could walk you 1796 01:29:03,640 --> 01:29:06,880 out or, or or you know. You're you're. 1797 01:29:06,880 --> 01:29:08,320 Constantly. Basically scrutinized for 1798 01:29:08,320 --> 01:29:09,920 everything. You can you explain what the 1799 01:29:09,920 --> 01:29:12,280 physiological response is? You're first of all, you're a 1800 01:29:12,280 --> 01:29:13,400 medic. I have the same background. 1801 01:29:13,400 --> 01:29:15,800 I can you talk about what it feels like when you're walking 1802 01:29:15,800 --> 01:29:19,200 in those doors and and and looking around and realizing 1803 01:29:19,200 --> 01:29:21,160 that you're you're not in friendly territory anymore. 1804 01:29:21,200 --> 01:29:23,760 Yeah, yeah. I mean, if it feels like, well, 1805 01:29:23,760 --> 01:29:26,560 I've boxed since I was seven years old, OK. 1806 01:29:26,960 --> 01:29:29,880 And it kind of feels like you're walking into the room, to be 1807 01:29:29,880 --> 01:29:32,440 honest with you. You know, when I, when I walked 1808 01:29:32,440 --> 01:29:36,360 into the skiff every day, I kind of felt like I was walking into 1809 01:29:36,360 --> 01:29:39,480 the ring a little bit. Like I was walking into a fight. 1810 01:29:39,840 --> 01:29:43,760 Like everybody was looking at me like, oh God, here's this dude. 1811 01:29:45,040 --> 01:29:49,160 Can you just shut up, Matt, and let us make our money and, you 1812 01:29:49,160 --> 01:29:51,600 know, not cause any ruckus and not rock the boat. 1813 01:29:51,760 --> 01:29:53,200 We've been doing this for so long. 1814 01:29:53,200 --> 01:29:56,160 And here you go showing up, you know, messing everything up for. 1815 01:29:56,160 --> 01:29:57,760 That's kind of what I felt like, man. 1816 01:29:57,760 --> 01:29:59,960 But would you say? It's a fight where you don't 1817 01:29:59,960 --> 01:30:02,280 know who's going to hit you, absolutely. 1818 01:30:02,280 --> 01:30:03,560 You don't know where it's coming from. 1819 01:30:03,640 --> 01:30:09,840 And, and, and so they, they took me off of the report reviews. 1820 01:30:09,840 --> 01:30:14,560 So they took me off the list of people that the reports come to 1821 01:30:14,560 --> 01:30:18,080 for review is what they did in retaliation for me flagging 1822 01:30:18,080 --> 01:30:22,600 these reports. And, and, and then so the new 1823 01:30:22,600 --> 01:30:26,480 assistant secretary came in and this guy's name was Dave 1824 01:30:26,480 --> 01:30:29,600 Richardson. And he, he hit the ground 1825 01:30:29,600 --> 01:30:31,360 running. Everybody was. 1826 01:30:31,800 --> 01:30:34,800 So the first, his first all hands meeting, he scared the 1827 01:30:34,800 --> 01:30:37,800 shit out of everybody because he said, hey, listen, I'm going to 1828 01:30:37,800 --> 01:30:40,640 make sure Trump's agenda is pushed forward. 1829 01:30:41,120 --> 01:30:44,440 And he came very forcefully. And everybody was was scared of 1830 01:30:44,440 --> 01:30:46,760 him at that point. And we had to brief him on what 1831 01:30:46,760 --> 01:30:51,760 the Intel division was doing and, and they asked me to do it 1832 01:30:51,760 --> 01:30:52,920 because they everybody was scared. 1833 01:30:52,920 --> 01:30:54,600 They were like, hey, Matt, will you brief the new assistant? 1834 01:30:54,600 --> 01:30:56,760 Second, suddenly you got. Value now you're the guy that 1835 01:30:56,760 --> 01:30:59,400 they need in that fight yeah, of course I was like yeah, I. 1836 01:30:59,400 --> 01:31:00,480 Don't give a shit, I'll brief him. 1837 01:31:01,240 --> 01:31:04,160 I was like, wow, this is my opportunity to let him know that 1838 01:31:04,160 --> 01:31:06,720 what should be happening in this office is not happening. 1839 01:31:06,720 --> 01:31:07,840 And I did. Yep. 1840 01:31:08,040 --> 01:31:13,040 And and and he liked it. And honestly, from SO they kind 1841 01:31:13,040 --> 01:31:16,760 of messed up making me brief him that day because he realized my 1842 01:31:16,760 --> 01:31:20,560 value pretty quickly. And he brought me into all the 1843 01:31:20,560 --> 01:31:23,680 senior level meetings that after that as a contractor. 1844 01:31:23,880 --> 01:31:25,480 Sure. Usually it's all SES and 1845 01:31:25,480 --> 01:31:28,600 fifteens in these meetings. And he had me in those meetings 1846 01:31:28,600 --> 01:31:30,400 from that point on as a contractor. 1847 01:31:30,840 --> 01:31:35,480 And, and so I was, so he started a series of working groups, 1848 01:31:35,480 --> 01:31:39,800 complex problem solving working groups to attack issues that the 1849 01:31:39,800 --> 01:31:43,800 CWMD office should have been attacking for decades, for years 1850 01:31:43,800 --> 01:31:46,560 and they hadn't been. And he had me in all these 1851 01:31:46,560 --> 01:31:52,400 senior level working groups and over, so not to get too in the 1852 01:31:52,400 --> 01:31:56,080 weeds, but you got DHS headquarters and then you got 1853 01:31:56,080 --> 01:31:59,560 this countering weapons of mass destruction program underneath 1854 01:31:59,560 --> 01:32:02,520 that. And then in the CWMD program, 1855 01:32:02,520 --> 01:32:04,800 you got these different directorates, one being the 1856 01:32:04,800 --> 01:32:08,240 Intel directory where I worked well over each directorate. 1857 01:32:08,240 --> 01:32:12,440 You have an SES level person and you have AGS 15 who is that 1858 01:32:12,440 --> 01:32:13,960 person's deputy. Got it. 1859 01:32:14,240 --> 01:32:19,080 Well, so the SES and the deputy over the Intel division didn't 1860 01:32:19,080 --> 01:32:23,120 like the fact that the assistant secretary found favor in me and 1861 01:32:23,120 --> 01:32:26,280 was bringing me into all of these senior level meetings. 1862 01:32:26,640 --> 01:32:31,120 And so they already didn't like me for, you know, flagging all 1863 01:32:31,120 --> 01:32:33,920 of these reports and such and finding out who I really was. 1864 01:32:34,800 --> 01:32:38,000 But then when the, the, the assistant secretary found favor 1865 01:32:38,000 --> 01:32:39,640 of me, they really didn't like me at that point. 1866 01:32:40,080 --> 01:32:42,480 And the hostile work environment really ramped up. 1867 01:32:42,880 --> 01:32:45,560 They would, they would, they would come up to me and ask me 1868 01:32:46,480 --> 01:32:48,320 why he's got me in these meetings. 1869 01:32:48,760 --> 01:32:50,600 And I would tell them, hey, I don't know, man. 1870 01:32:50,600 --> 01:32:52,640 Ask him. I mean, you're my boss. 1871 01:32:52,640 --> 01:32:55,000 Yeah, but he's your boss. So that means he's my ultimate 1872 01:32:55,000 --> 01:32:57,520 boss. He, he put something on my 1873 01:32:57,520 --> 01:32:59,560 calendar and I go, that's what it is, man. 1874 01:32:59,680 --> 01:33:02,680 I'm, I'm following orders of the senior executive person on this 1875 01:33:02,680 --> 01:33:06,400 program. And so anyway, that, that really 1876 01:33:06,400 --> 01:33:10,640 created a lot of tension because they knew the reason that he had 1877 01:33:10,640 --> 01:33:13,360 me in those meetings and working on the things I was working on 1878 01:33:13,760 --> 01:33:15,760 is because he didn't have any confidence in those people 1879 01:33:16,240 --> 01:33:21,360 because he saw the, the, the risk adverseness of them in the 1880 01:33:21,360 --> 01:33:25,040 inaction. And, and honestly, so CWMD right 1881 01:33:25,040 --> 01:33:26,720 now is on the chopping block to be cut. 1882 01:33:27,800 --> 01:33:30,680 And the reason it's on the chopping block is because of 1883 01:33:30,680 --> 01:33:33,840 their risk adverseness and their inaction the past few years. 1884 01:33:34,320 --> 01:33:36,360 They're, they have not been doing what they should have been 1885 01:33:36,360 --> 01:33:39,400 doing and in any way. So he had me in those meetings 1886 01:33:39,400 --> 01:33:42,400 be, you know, because of that, he trusted me and I wasn't 1887 01:33:42,400 --> 01:33:44,000 working outside of the scope of my contract. 1888 01:33:44,000 --> 01:33:46,960 Everything I was doing was Intel related, related to the Division 1889 01:33:46,960 --> 01:33:49,280 I was in. But they didn't like the fact 1890 01:33:49,280 --> 01:33:50,360 that he had me in those meetings. 1891 01:33:50,360 --> 01:33:53,640 So what happened is that hostile work environment ramped up. 1892 01:33:54,040 --> 01:33:59,240 They started having me report every week, every meeting that I 1893 01:33:59,240 --> 01:34:02,480 was in, what the meeting was about, what the do outs were for 1894 01:34:02,480 --> 01:34:05,080 me of that meeting, every project that I was working on. 1895 01:34:05,520 --> 01:34:07,920 And I said I complied. I was like, OK, Roger that. 1896 01:34:08,160 --> 01:34:10,360 You know, even though the the assistant secretary. 1897 01:34:12,160 --> 01:34:14,480 You. Know he he chose me instead of 1898 01:34:14,480 --> 01:34:16,160 them in some of those meetings for a reason. 1899 01:34:17,360 --> 01:34:19,680 I still complied and let them know what I was working on. 1900 01:34:20,680 --> 01:34:24,560 I was getting calls so the SES and the 15 on my program would 1901 01:34:24,560 --> 01:34:27,960 call the the, the core, the person in charge of the contract 1902 01:34:28,640 --> 01:34:31,000 who would then call the company I'm working for and complain 1903 01:34:31,000 --> 01:34:33,960 about me saying they don't know what I'm working on because I'm 1904 01:34:33,960 --> 01:34:36,600 working directly for the assistant secretary, right? 1905 01:34:36,600 --> 01:34:38,000 And that's what. That's not what they hired you 1906 01:34:38,000 --> 01:34:39,560 to do, allegedly. That's not what they hired me to 1907 01:34:39,560 --> 01:34:40,720 do. They hired me to work in the 1908 01:34:40,720 --> 01:34:43,280 Intel division. My reply back would be like, I'm 1909 01:34:43,280 --> 01:34:45,800 working in the Intel division. I'm just taking directions from 1910 01:34:45,800 --> 01:34:49,720 the assistant secretary anyways, so I let me, let me. 1911 01:34:50,000 --> 01:34:52,000 Just ping a thought off you or a question. 1912 01:34:54,320 --> 01:34:58,640 Would you prefer to go to war with a team that you trust, 1913 01:34:58,920 --> 01:35:03,280 which you've done before, or show up in an office like you 1914 01:35:03,280 --> 01:35:05,960 were in with those DHS folks where you've what you've been 1915 01:35:05,960 --> 01:35:07,160 calling hostile work environment? 1916 01:35:07,160 --> 01:35:09,280 Which one is preferable 10 times out of 10? 1917 01:35:09,280 --> 01:35:13,480 I'd rather be shot at by people I know are my enemies than being 1918 01:35:13,480 --> 01:35:16,080 an office full of people that tell me they're on the same side 1919 01:35:16,080 --> 01:35:19,680 as me and stabbing me in the back. 10 times out of 10, I just 1920 01:35:19,680 --> 01:35:20,880 want people to. Get a grasp on it. 1921 01:35:21,360 --> 01:35:23,400 I had a buddy one time telling me that he would rather go back 1922 01:35:23,400 --> 01:35:25,760 and invade Fallujah again than go to Air Army Airborne school 1923 01:35:25,760 --> 01:35:27,680 because he thought it was really dumb and he didn't like the way 1924 01:35:27,680 --> 01:35:30,520 they trained it. It's like there's some things 1925 01:35:30,520 --> 01:35:32,880 that, like even administrative bullshit like you're talking 1926 01:35:32,880 --> 01:35:35,600 about can weigh on you more than I think than combat. 1927 01:35:35,600 --> 01:35:37,800 And that I've had more than one person tell me that there are 1928 01:35:37,800 --> 01:35:40,720 things like that that are much, they're much less preferable. 1929 01:35:40,720 --> 01:35:42,680 And so anyway, you're, you're one more data point in that 1930 01:35:42,680 --> 01:35:43,760 lane. Yeah, well. 1931 01:35:44,440 --> 01:35:47,640 I'll wrap that up with I wanted to go through everything they 1932 01:35:47,640 --> 01:35:49,240 did to make it a hostile work environment. 1933 01:35:49,240 --> 01:35:51,280 It'd take an hour and it was insane. 1934 01:35:51,640 --> 01:35:56,560 But so I had the company I work for call me and tell me, hey 1935 01:35:56,560 --> 01:35:59,680 man, somebody in your office is trying to get you fired. 1936 01:36:00,800 --> 01:36:04,760 And they told me I should file a hostile workplace agreements. 1937 01:36:04,800 --> 01:36:08,520 They saw how bad it was. They said we even got word 1938 01:36:08,520 --> 01:36:11,520 through the core that somebody said you're not going to have, 1939 01:36:12,720 --> 01:36:14,560 you're not going to have the protections of the assistant 1940 01:36:14,560 --> 01:36:17,360 secretary forever. And then he. 1941 01:36:17,360 --> 01:36:20,120 Said, take that as a threat. Somebody wants you fired in 1942 01:36:20,120 --> 01:36:22,440 there and just watch your back in there, Matt. 1943 01:36:22,720 --> 01:36:28,840 And, and I said, Roger that. So anyway, the assistant 1944 01:36:28,840 --> 01:36:34,600 secretary of CWMD 2 weeks ago ended up becoming the acting 1945 01:36:34,720 --> 01:36:38,080 administrator of FEMA. So right now he's serving in 1946 01:36:38,080 --> 01:36:41,280 both roles, the assistant secretary of CWMD as well as the 1947 01:36:41,280 --> 01:36:45,200 acting administrator for FEMA. So as soon as he got appointed 1948 01:36:45,200 --> 01:36:49,640 to that position, he has been over at FEMA 100% of the time, 1949 01:36:50,040 --> 01:36:52,200 obviously trying to get his wheels under him. 1950 01:36:52,200 --> 01:36:54,560 Yep. And so as soon as that happened, 1951 01:36:55,480 --> 01:36:57,320 almost a very, I think it was might have been the very next 1952 01:36:57,320 --> 01:37:01,680 day I get an e-mail from my contracting company telling me 1953 01:37:02,040 --> 01:37:06,360 that the SES and the 15 that are over me and my directorate has 1954 01:37:06,360 --> 01:37:08,680 said I'm going to drop everything that assistant 1955 01:37:08,680 --> 01:37:13,600 secretary has had me working on. I am not to go to any meetings 1956 01:37:13,600 --> 01:37:17,840 unless it's ran through them. I am not to meet with anybody or 1957 01:37:17,840 --> 01:37:22,360 talk with anybody outside of the Intel division and I'm to report 1958 01:37:22,360 --> 01:37:24,640 to them every morning to get my marching orders. 1959 01:37:24,960 --> 01:37:27,640 So they really ramped up the hostile work environment as soon 1960 01:37:27,640 --> 01:37:30,880 as the the AS was gone. And then not only that, they 1961 01:37:30,880 --> 01:37:35,560 said any meetings I am a part of they want reported everything 1962 01:37:35,560 --> 01:37:37,320 that happened in that meeting. What my do outs in those 1963 01:37:37,320 --> 01:37:41,280 meetings were, they knew that part of the reason why I'm 1964 01:37:41,280 --> 01:37:43,560 working on what I'm working on is because they haven't been 1965 01:37:43,560 --> 01:37:45,760 doing their jobs the past four years and they really wanted to 1966 01:37:45,760 --> 01:37:48,840 know, you know, what was going on with the alcohol anyway. 1967 01:37:49,160 --> 01:37:53,400 So, but not only that, they said from now on I need to report 1968 01:37:54,120 --> 01:37:57,280 every conversation that I have during the walk work day with 1969 01:37:57,280 --> 01:37:58,840 people. They want to know who those 1970 01:37:58,840 --> 01:38:00,920 people are and what the conversation was about. 1971 01:38:01,320 --> 01:38:03,520 Yeah. So just insane reporting 1972 01:38:03,520 --> 01:38:06,480 requirements that nobody in the US government has to go through 1973 01:38:06,840 --> 01:38:10,080 and the the the the reason for it was from the put their their 1974 01:38:10,080 --> 01:38:11,840 foot on my neck and try to make me quit. 1975 01:38:11,840 --> 01:38:13,600 Basically. Yeah, or or build. 1976 01:38:13,600 --> 01:38:16,600 Out the the the termination documents with whatever it is 1977 01:38:16,600 --> 01:38:17,600 that they're trying to build together. 1978 01:38:17,600 --> 01:38:19,880 I mean, this is classic stuff. Anybody who's worked in 1979 01:38:19,880 --> 01:38:21,840 government and seeing how this goes, they're just paper and a 1980 01:38:21,840 --> 01:38:24,080 file full of grievances. So they can say this is the 1981 01:38:24,080 --> 01:38:25,840 reasons why I'm Matt is such a terrible person. 1982 01:38:26,400 --> 01:38:28,160 He was the worst. He was 5 minutes ago. 1983 01:38:28,160 --> 01:38:30,120 He was fine, but now he's the worst guy we've ever seen. 1984 01:38:30,120 --> 01:38:32,880 And if we don't do something, we would be the real problem here. 1985 01:38:32,880 --> 01:38:35,520 So adios, it's. Exactly right. 1986 01:38:35,520 --> 01:38:37,160 So it's almost like I've seen this. 1987 01:38:37,160 --> 01:38:40,840 Done before. I'm sure you have, man. 1988 01:38:40,840 --> 01:38:42,760 And I'm sure there's people going through it right now that 1989 01:38:42,760 --> 01:38:43,960 they are going through it right now. 1990 01:38:44,000 --> 01:38:47,440 Yeah. But ironically, Cameron Hamilton 1991 01:38:47,440 --> 01:38:50,560 was the administrator of FEMA as soon as Trump took over. 1992 01:38:50,640 --> 01:38:53,600 So Cameron Hamilton, who's a former Navy SEAL, who is a 1993 01:38:53,600 --> 01:38:57,040 really good friend of mine, he was put as the number one guy 1994 01:38:57,040 --> 01:38:59,440 over at FEMA. And I was doing a great job over 1995 01:38:59,440 --> 01:39:01,600 there, man. He was, he was getting shit in 1996 01:39:01,600 --> 01:39:06,120 order over at FEMA and he was there for four months. 1997 01:39:06,120 --> 01:39:10,680 And ironically, he was fired and Dave Richardson, the assistant 1998 01:39:10,680 --> 01:39:15,360 secretary in charge of me at CWD, was put to take over his 1999 01:39:15,360 --> 01:39:17,120 place. So that was kind of weird for 2000 01:39:17,120 --> 01:39:21,440 me, but but anyway, So what happened and what led to my 2001 01:39:21,440 --> 01:39:25,360 firing is, like I said, Cameron Hamilton's real good friend of 2002 01:39:25,360 --> 01:39:27,880 mine. I knew the whole story behind 2003 01:39:27,880 --> 01:39:30,640 why he really got fired as the FEMA administrator. 2004 01:39:31,160 --> 01:39:34,560 And I don't know how much you know about it, but he did a 2005 01:39:34,560 --> 01:39:40,560 congressional committee hearing meeting May 6th or 7th, so just 2006 01:39:40,560 --> 01:39:41,520 recently. Yep. 2007 01:39:41,680 --> 01:39:45,400 And he was asked in that congressional hearing what he 2008 01:39:45,760 --> 01:39:47,760 what he thought about FEMA being eliminated. 2009 01:39:47,960 --> 01:39:51,760 And his response was, I don't believe it's in the the best 2010 01:39:51,760 --> 01:39:55,080 interest of the American people for FEMA to be 100% eliminated. 2011 01:39:55,480 --> 01:39:59,080 And his stance has always been that he agrees that it needs to 2012 01:39:59,080 --> 01:40:01,400 be drastically reduced because there's a lot of fraud, waste 2013 01:40:01,400 --> 01:40:04,760 and abuse within FEMA that there are there's there's certain 2014 01:40:04,760 --> 01:40:07,680 essential missions within FEMA that can't go away because 2015 01:40:07,680 --> 01:40:09,440 nobody else in the US government does it. 2016 01:40:09,840 --> 01:40:12,840 And if you try to hand these missions off to state Emergency 2017 01:40:12,840 --> 01:40:15,800 Management teams, they're going to fail because they don't have 2018 01:40:15,800 --> 01:40:19,160 the assets or the capability to fulfill these certain functions. 2019 01:40:19,640 --> 01:40:22,800 So Cameron's, and that's actually the president's view as 2020 01:40:22,800 --> 01:40:24,960 well. As well as what Secretary Noah 2021 01:40:24,960 --> 01:40:26,680 has been saying, if you listen to, I mean, that's a yes, a. 2022 01:40:26,680 --> 01:40:28,920 Nuanced position, it's like, look, a lot of things could be 2023 01:40:28,920 --> 01:40:31,320 cut back, but there's a couple things that can't be duplicated 2024 01:40:31,320 --> 01:40:33,080 somewhere else. Like that's a nuanced position 2025 01:40:33,080 --> 01:40:36,640 for thinking people that are in in operating good faith, so. 2026 01:40:37,320 --> 01:40:41,040 If you listen to what Noam or Trump says, they say FEMA won't 2027 01:40:41,040 --> 01:40:44,960 exist as it does today, which means not going to go away, but 2028 01:40:44,960 --> 01:40:46,600 it's going to be drastically reduced. 2029 01:40:46,960 --> 01:40:49,520 And that's what was, Yep, that's what was what Cameron's 2030 01:40:49,520 --> 01:40:52,960 recommendation was. But he has also said it's up to 2031 01:40:53,160 --> 01:40:56,080 President Trump in Congress with what happens to FEMA. 2032 01:40:56,080 --> 01:40:58,640 And whatever their wishes are, whatever their direction is, 2033 01:40:58,680 --> 01:41:02,120 I'll carry out. So they said that they fired him 2034 01:41:02,120 --> 01:41:05,680 because of those remarks. They said they fired him because 2035 01:41:06,160 --> 01:41:08,520 President Trump wasn't 100% eliminate FEMA. 2036 01:41:08,920 --> 01:41:12,400 And he said that he recommends FEMA not be 100% eliminate. 2037 01:41:12,640 --> 01:41:15,600 Well, that's false. Actually, Cameron Hamilton knew 2038 01:41:15,800 --> 01:41:19,000 the entire time he was in that committee hearing that he was 2039 01:41:19,000 --> 01:41:20,440 already fired. Sure. 2040 01:41:20,720 --> 01:41:23,680 So if you don't mind, I'm going to share with you real quick the 2041 01:41:23,680 --> 01:41:25,960 real reason why he was fired. Let's do it and then. 2042 01:41:26,040 --> 01:41:28,000 Hopefully Cameron will come on and talk to me as well because 2043 01:41:28,000 --> 01:41:31,080 I'd be happy to have him on. He and I have interacted online 2044 01:41:31,080 --> 01:41:33,960 only for probably 2 years now or a year and a half and I'd be 2045 01:41:33,960 --> 01:41:35,160 happy to have him on. Talk about it. 2046 01:41:35,480 --> 01:41:36,760 So OK. Yeah, set it up. 2047 01:41:37,280 --> 01:41:41,200 Yeah, well, so. Ironically, man, Tom Holman, he, 2048 01:41:41,200 --> 01:41:47,000 he, he, he, he came to support me at my restaurant when I was 2049 01:41:47,000 --> 01:41:49,920 going through everything. And he just one of the best 2050 01:41:49,920 --> 01:41:52,560 dudes in this world, man, Tom Holland, is he he's just a 2051 01:41:52,560 --> 01:41:55,840 genuinely good dude. And so I've been friends with 2052 01:41:55,840 --> 01:41:58,200 Tom Holland for, you know, past few years because of that. 2053 01:41:58,760 --> 01:42:03,600 And he called me and, and it was late November, early December, 2054 01:42:04,840 --> 01:42:08,320 and told me, he said, hey, Matt, I'm getting threats from every 2055 01:42:08,320 --> 01:42:11,360 cartel under the sun and I can't get any protection from this, 2056 01:42:11,400 --> 01:42:14,240 this Biden administration. And he knows what I used to do 2057 01:42:14,240 --> 01:42:15,880 in the military, knows I used to work for Blackwater. 2058 01:42:15,880 --> 01:42:18,360 He was like, is there anything, you know, can you help? 2059 01:42:18,880 --> 01:42:21,440 And I said, absolutely, man. So I stood up a protection team 2060 01:42:21,440 --> 01:42:24,960 for him, you know, in 30 minutes and, and Cameron Hamilton 2061 01:42:24,960 --> 01:42:26,400 volunteered to be a part of that team. 2062 01:42:26,680 --> 01:42:28,200 That makes sense. So we were with. 2063 01:42:28,200 --> 01:42:31,520 Tom, you know, pretty much every day leading up to the 2064 01:42:31,520 --> 01:42:35,240 inauguration, and I tell you that to tell you how close 2065 01:42:35,240 --> 01:42:37,760 Cameron and I are, you know, he's he's like a brother to me. 2066 01:42:38,120 --> 01:42:41,440 I know his heart. And the last person's integrity 2067 01:42:41,440 --> 01:42:44,560 you would question is Cameron. He's just a genuinely good dude, 2068 01:42:44,560 --> 01:42:46,640 man. And if you have a conversation 2069 01:42:46,640 --> 01:42:48,880 with them, you'll, you'll immediately see what I'm talking 2070 01:42:48,880 --> 01:42:51,640 about. Just genuinely good guy that 2071 01:42:51,640 --> 01:42:53,920 just loves his country and wants to do the right thing for it. 2072 01:42:53,920 --> 01:42:59,120 But anyway, he was really fired because of a personal beef 2073 01:42:59,120 --> 01:43:01,400 between Corey Lewandowski and him. 2074 01:43:02,800 --> 01:43:06,440 Christy Norm is not the real secretary of BHS. 2075 01:43:06,560 --> 01:43:09,960 Corey Lewandowski is the real secretary of DHS. 2076 01:43:10,360 --> 01:43:15,080 His official position is one of her senior advisors, but that's 2077 01:43:15,080 --> 01:43:17,960 not the case. He's the one really running DHS. 2078 01:43:18,320 --> 01:43:21,680 Christy Norm, in my opinion, is just, it's just campaigning for 2079 01:43:21,680 --> 01:43:26,640 2028. And so where that rift began 2080 01:43:26,640 --> 01:43:31,560 between Corey Lewandowski and Cameron, Cameron Hamilton was 2081 01:43:32,520 --> 01:43:38,000 if, if you remember, there was a payment sent out from FEMA to 2082 01:43:38,000 --> 01:43:43,160 New York City for $60 million. And that payment was part of the 2083 01:43:43,720 --> 01:43:47,560 Shelter and Services program, the SSP program that went to 2084 01:43:47,680 --> 01:43:51,040 housing illegal immigrants in the the Roosevelt Hotel in New 2085 01:43:51,040 --> 01:43:52,120 York City. Oh yeah. 2086 01:43:52,600 --> 01:43:55,920 Yeah, so. That happened in February under 2087 01:43:55,920 --> 01:43:59,520 the Trump administration, under Cameron's watch at FEMA. 2088 01:44:00,440 --> 01:44:03,920 So, and they blame that in the media on Cameron. 2089 01:44:04,280 --> 01:44:09,160 So what really happened with that incident is Cameron was 2090 01:44:09,160 --> 01:44:14,040 told right away, soon as he took over to freeze all grants coming 2091 01:44:14,040 --> 01:44:17,440 out of FEMA, 100% Lottie, Dottie, every grant freeze it. 2092 01:44:17,800 --> 01:44:23,320 So he did, he complied. And then later on, DHS realized 2093 01:44:23,360 --> 01:44:27,160 that because of the massive spending that the Biden 2094 01:44:27,160 --> 01:44:31,760 administration did on the way out, they put ice in a hole by 2095 01:44:31,760 --> 01:44:34,160 like 200,000,200. I don't, I forget how much it 2096 01:44:34,160 --> 01:44:39,400 was, but they put ice in a major hole financially, purposefully I 2097 01:44:39,440 --> 01:44:41,000 bet for. Hamstring the Trump. 2098 01:44:41,000 --> 01:44:44,280 Administration when Trump took over, sure well to try to make 2099 01:44:44,280 --> 01:44:50,280 up some of that capital DHS council as long as as well as 2100 01:44:51,000 --> 01:44:54,960 the secretary, deputy secretary, their direction to Cameron was 2101 01:44:54,960 --> 01:45:01,680 hey, unfreeze all grants because what they wanted to do is so as 2102 01:45:01,680 --> 01:45:07,440 FEMA, like if you're the governor of Texas and, and I 2103 01:45:07,440 --> 01:45:10,760 give you a grant, let's say, let's say you're doing a project 2104 01:45:10,760 --> 01:45:15,680 that cost $8 million, right And, and, and I give you $8 million 2105 01:45:15,680 --> 01:45:17,800 to do that project. Well, you've only spent 2106 01:45:17,800 --> 01:45:22,480 $2,000,000 on that. I can tell you to stop work on 2107 01:45:22,480 --> 01:45:26,880 that project and that remaining $6 million we're going to use 2108 01:45:26,880 --> 01:45:30,000 for mass deportations. So that was their reasoning 2109 01:45:30,000 --> 01:45:33,920 behind unfreezing these grants. They wanted to use the grant 2110 01:45:33,920 --> 01:45:36,200 money that hadn't been used by these states for the mass 2111 01:45:36,200 --> 01:45:41,080 deportation flights and such. Got it a good idea, you know, on 2112 01:45:41,160 --> 01:45:45,000 on paper. So they told him unfreeze all of 2113 01:45:45,000 --> 01:45:47,760 the grants and, and Cameron triple checked with them. 2114 01:45:48,040 --> 01:45:50,680 Are you sure you want me to refreeze, unfreeze all of the 2115 01:45:50,680 --> 01:45:53,840 grants and, and this is all in e-mail, in writing. 2116 01:45:54,320 --> 01:45:56,080 They said yes, unfreeze all grants. 2117 01:45:56,080 --> 01:45:59,320 And that direction came from Christy Noah's lawyers. 2118 01:45:59,440 --> 01:46:02,760 DHS council said that to Cam unfreeze all grants. 2119 01:46:02,760 --> 01:46:03,680 So he did. He did. 2120 01:46:03,680 --> 01:46:06,880 He followed orders. And one of those grants that 2121 01:46:06,880 --> 01:46:09,600 were unfrozen was the grant that went to New York City that was 2122 01:46:09,600 --> 01:46:12,080 then used to house illegal immigrants back in February. 2123 01:46:12,400 --> 01:46:17,240 Well, Doge picked up on that. Elon Musk tweeted it out. 2124 01:46:17,800 --> 01:46:20,920 And this was during the Super Bowl that this happened. 2125 01:46:21,160 --> 01:46:23,400 Yep. And Corey Lewandowski calls 2126 01:46:23,400 --> 01:46:26,400 Cameron and just starts berating them like, hey, what the fuck is 2127 01:46:26,400 --> 01:46:27,480 this? What's going on? 2128 01:46:27,760 --> 01:46:30,560 And cameras like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you, you told me to 2129 01:46:30,560 --> 01:46:33,000 unfreeze these grits that came from your office, man. 2130 01:46:33,320 --> 01:46:36,560 This is not at my direction. You guys did this, not me. 2131 01:46:37,120 --> 01:46:42,240 And so anyway, obviously the secretary's office doesn't want 2132 01:46:42,240 --> 01:46:44,640 to admit their stake to to President Trump. 2133 01:46:45,000 --> 01:46:48,320 So they blamed it on Cameron. They blamed it on camera in the 2134 01:46:48,320 --> 01:46:51,520 media as well, when in fact it wasn't Cameron's fault. 2135 01:46:51,520 --> 01:46:53,640 He followed orders from the secretary's office. 2136 01:46:53,840 --> 01:46:56,640 So that right there started the rift between him and Corey 2137 01:46:56,640 --> 01:47:00,320 Lewandowski, who is actually running DHS. 2138 01:47:00,960 --> 01:47:03,000 Fast forward to there was a meeting. 2139 01:47:03,080 --> 01:47:08,520 So Corey Lewandowski is the senior advisor to Christy Noem. 2140 01:47:08,880 --> 01:47:11,880 Well, Christy Noem's deputy secretary is this guy called 2141 01:47:11,880 --> 01:47:14,960 Troy Edgar. So Troy Edgar and Corey 2142 01:47:14,960 --> 01:47:19,440 Lewandowski called for a meeting to talk about either eliminating 2143 01:47:19,440 --> 01:47:25,440 FEMA or drastically reducing it. And they sent this, they sent 2144 01:47:25,440 --> 01:47:31,040 this meeting out via a, a program called E SEC, which is 2145 01:47:31,320 --> 01:47:34,200 it's just a, it's a, it's a, it's a government program. 2146 01:47:34,680 --> 01:47:39,560 It's a former formal interagency information sharing calendar 2147 01:47:39,560 --> 01:47:42,840 invite that you can send out. OK, well, Troy Edgar sent that 2148 01:47:43,000 --> 01:47:47,440 that meeting out that the title of the meeting was FEMA abolish 2149 01:47:47,440 --> 01:47:50,360 or reform and that meeting went out via E SEC. 2150 01:47:50,560 --> 01:47:55,400 Well, the problem is that many, many people have access to E SEC 2151 01:47:55,440 --> 01:47:59,840 within DHS. So many, many people saw this 2152 01:47:59,840 --> 01:48:02,840 meeting about to happen between the Secretary's office and the 2153 01:48:02,840 --> 01:48:06,040 administrator of FEMA that is about abolishing FEMA. 2154 01:48:06,720 --> 01:48:10,880 So, so they had they hold the meeting and then not even 12 2155 01:48:10,880 --> 01:48:14,560 hours after the meeting, it's reported to the media that these 2156 01:48:14,560 --> 01:48:18,120 senior leaders had this meaning about abolishing FEMA. 2157 01:48:18,120 --> 01:48:20,360 So it is true they want to abolish FEMA, right? 2158 01:48:20,720 --> 01:48:22,800 Sure. Well, Corey Lewandowski once 2159 01:48:22,800 --> 01:48:26,680 again, he calls Cameron, he berates Cameron and he accuses 2160 01:48:26,680 --> 01:48:29,760 Cameron of being the one that leaked this information to the 2161 01:48:29,760 --> 01:48:32,960 media. And Cameron says absolutely not. 2162 01:48:32,960 --> 01:48:36,520 That wasn't me. I didn't leak any information to 2163 01:48:36,600 --> 01:48:39,160 the media. So then Corey Lewandowski says, 2164 01:48:39,160 --> 01:48:41,000 well, then you'll have no problem coming to taking a 2165 01:48:41,000 --> 01:48:44,120 polygraph to prove so. And Cameron was like, absolutely 2166 01:48:44,120 --> 01:48:45,240 not. I don't have any problem with 2167 01:48:45,240 --> 01:48:47,320 that. So Cameron with the DHS 2168 01:48:48,040 --> 01:48:51,080 headquarters was interrogated for hours. 2169 01:48:51,320 --> 01:48:54,280 They flew somebody in out of state to interrogate them, gave 2170 01:48:54,280 --> 01:48:58,280 him a polygraph test, and he passed that polygraph test and, 2171 01:48:58,400 --> 01:49:01,200 and, and, and nobody apologized for it. 2172 01:49:01,280 --> 01:49:05,680 They just continued to allow the media to blame that leak on 2173 01:49:05,680 --> 01:49:09,800 Cameron. And, and, and so that rift grew 2174 01:49:09,800 --> 01:49:11,560 between Corey Lewandowski and Cameron. 2175 01:49:12,400 --> 01:49:14,480 And then also, to be honest with you, in several different 2176 01:49:14,480 --> 01:49:18,800 meetings, man, Cameron just, he's a very smart guy and he 2177 01:49:18,800 --> 01:49:20,880 just called Corey Lewandowski on his bullshit. 2178 01:49:21,480 --> 01:49:25,680 And if you know Lewandowski, he's a, he's got a, he's got an 2179 01:49:25,680 --> 01:49:30,120 ego that won't fit in this room. And he's a, he's AI mean. 2180 01:49:30,120 --> 01:49:32,760 He's a guy that he flies off the chain and cusses at people all 2181 01:49:32,760 --> 01:49:34,240 the time. He shouldn't be in the position 2182 01:49:34,240 --> 01:49:37,960 he's in basically. So anyway, that's what soured 2183 01:49:37,960 --> 01:49:40,800 the relationship between him and Cameron and he's been wanting to 2184 01:49:40,800 --> 01:49:44,200 fire Cameron ever since then. And a lot of other things 2185 01:49:44,200 --> 01:49:49,520 happened, you know, related to what I consider to be corruption 2186 01:49:49,520 --> 01:49:53,480 that Cameron didn't allow, which is another reason they wanted 2187 01:49:53,480 --> 01:49:57,240 the fire room. For example, the if you remember 2188 01:49:57,520 --> 01:50:00,920 that Bourbon Street attack in New Orleans, of course, when the 2189 01:50:00,920 --> 01:50:03,600 guy shot up Bourbon Street and killed those folks out there. 2190 01:50:03,760 --> 01:50:08,200 Well, the, the governor of Louisiana, he, you know, he 2191 01:50:08,200 --> 01:50:12,480 declared an emergency for that. And, and for that incident, he 2192 01:50:12,480 --> 01:50:17,280 said he, he, he was speaking to Governor, I mean Secretary Noah 2193 01:50:18,040 --> 01:50:23,440 and said that as a result of that attack, there was, it cost 2194 01:50:23,440 --> 01:50:29,480 him $50 million in, you know, recovery and, and, and clean up 2195 01:50:29,520 --> 01:50:32,960 from that attack. And he wants to build DHS 2196 01:50:33,360 --> 01:50:36,880 because of that disaster or that emergency declaration that he 2197 01:50:36,880 --> 01:50:38,680 made. He wants to send this $50 2198 01:50:38,680 --> 01:50:44,720 million bill to DHS to be paid. And Christy Noem promised them 2199 01:50:44,720 --> 01:50:47,840 that, yeah, send me that 50 dollar, $50 million bill. 2200 01:50:48,160 --> 01:50:51,200 It'll be paid by DHS some way. We'll fund it via FEMA. 2201 01:50:51,880 --> 01:50:56,320 So that that that was sent to FEMA, that $50 million bill. 2202 01:50:56,560 --> 01:50:59,160 Not Well, first of all, that attack that happened on Bourbon 2203 01:50:59,160 --> 01:51:01,800 Street, there's no way that the result of that cost you 2204 01:51:01,800 --> 01:51:05,160 $50,000,000 to clean up. There was some corruption baked 2205 01:51:05,160 --> 01:51:07,040 into that. I don't have any evidence of 2206 01:51:07,040 --> 01:51:08,600 that, but if you just use, we're talking about. 2207 01:51:08,640 --> 01:51:13,600 Louisiana here so. $50 million, what at most after the, you 2208 01:51:13,600 --> 01:51:16,360 know, the cleanup of the incident, all you're paying for 2209 01:51:16,360 --> 01:51:18,480 is, you know, extra security for a few days or whatever. 2210 01:51:18,480 --> 01:51:20,760 That's not $50 million. So there's some corruption baked 2211 01:51:20,760 --> 01:51:23,240 into that. Anyways, Christie Noah promised 2212 01:51:23,840 --> 01:51:27,440 the governor of Louisiana that that bill would be paid by DHS 2213 01:51:27,560 --> 01:51:31,840 and specifically FEMA. So that $50 million bill was, 2214 01:51:31,880 --> 01:51:38,240 was, was sent to FEMA and and FEMA, you know, through the, the 2215 01:51:38,240 --> 01:51:43,160 correct process, sent that bill to the White House to be to be 2216 01:51:43,160 --> 01:51:45,320 approved while President Trump denied it. 2217 01:51:46,160 --> 01:51:50,000 President Trump denied that $50 million bill to DHS from the the 2218 01:51:50,000 --> 01:51:51,680 governor of Louisiana. Sure. 2219 01:51:51,880 --> 01:51:55,440 So FEMA then drafted a notice of denial to the governor. 2220 01:51:56,440 --> 01:52:01,280 But the problem is, prior to that denial, Secretary Noam have 2221 01:52:01,280 --> 01:52:03,600 already spoken to the governor multiple times and promised that 2222 01:52:03,600 --> 01:52:06,440 DHS will find a way to approve this request. 2223 01:52:07,000 --> 01:52:12,440 But once once DHS was was made aware of that final denial from 2224 01:52:13,680 --> 01:52:16,480 from FEMA in the White House, once the DHS secretary's office 2225 01:52:16,480 --> 01:52:19,600 was made aware, Lewandowski and Noam, they weren't happy. 2226 01:52:19,640 --> 01:52:22,760 They weren't happy with Cameron and they sought to find other 2227 01:52:22,760 --> 01:52:25,560 means to reimburse the state using FEMA funds. 2228 01:52:26,040 --> 01:52:29,320 And actually, in April, after Trump had already denied the 2229 01:52:29,320 --> 01:52:33,840 request, DHS, the secretary's office, directed Cameron 2230 01:52:33,840 --> 01:52:36,320 Hamilton to process the request anyway. 2231 01:52:36,960 --> 01:52:40,760 And Cameron denied and stated that their costs were not 2232 01:52:40,760 --> 01:52:44,240 reimbursable under a FEMA program and their disaster 2233 01:52:44,240 --> 01:52:46,840 requests had already been rejected by the White House. 2234 01:52:47,680 --> 01:52:50,680 So. So that's another reason they 2235 01:52:50,680 --> 01:52:51,960 wanted to fire him because they wouldn't. 2236 01:52:52,000 --> 01:52:54,320 He wouldn't just secretly do what they wanted him to do. 2237 01:52:54,600 --> 01:52:55,560 Yeah. Well, I mean, what? 2238 01:52:56,000 --> 01:52:57,760 You tell me if I'm putting words in your mouth here, but it 2239 01:52:57,760 --> 01:53:04,480 sounds like somebody got their image tarnished and Cameron was 2240 01:53:04,480 --> 01:53:06,320 a good scapegoat. And that image tarnishing 2241 01:53:06,320 --> 01:53:10,440 happened with some PR issues that happened in the media that 2242 01:53:10,440 --> 01:53:13,560 looked bad but weren't. And then maybe a funding request 2243 01:53:13,560 --> 01:53:16,200 where promises were made that couldn't be capitalized on 2244 01:53:16,200 --> 01:53:19,520 because there are actual policy and appropriation mandates that 2245 01:53:19,520 --> 01:53:21,720 certain money is only supposed to go to certain places and you 2246 01:53:21,720 --> 01:53:24,080 got to meet certain criteria. And if somebody's being an 2247 01:53:24,080 --> 01:53:25,680 honest operator and says, sorry, I can't do that. 2248 01:53:25,680 --> 01:53:29,200 And by the way, the boss says no, the chief executive of the 2249 01:53:29,200 --> 01:53:30,760 United States said, I'm not interested in this. 2250 01:53:30,760 --> 01:53:33,400 I'm not going to sign off. That's the end of that. 2251 01:53:34,040 --> 01:53:36,000 But doesn't mean that someone's not going to lose their job over 2252 01:53:36,280 --> 01:53:36,800 it, right? Yeah. 2253 01:53:36,800 --> 01:53:38,520 And. That's The thing is, is, is 2254 01:53:38,520 --> 01:53:41,960 Cameron, Cameron says, hey, I was, you know, I'm put here by 2255 01:53:41,960 --> 01:53:44,960 ultimately I work for Trump. If Trump approves this, it'll be 2256 01:53:44,960 --> 01:53:47,400 approved. But the White House denied this 2257 01:53:47,400 --> 01:53:48,440 request. Yeah. 2258 01:53:48,600 --> 01:53:51,560 And I'm not going to go over the president of of the United 2259 01:53:51,560 --> 01:53:53,400 States head and approve this request. 2260 01:53:53,400 --> 01:53:58,200 So if you want this request approved, Secretary Norm, you're 2261 01:53:58,200 --> 01:53:59,800 going to have to go talk to the White House. 2262 01:53:59,800 --> 01:54:01,240 It seems like that's what. Should happen anyway. 2263 01:54:01,240 --> 01:54:03,200 I mean, I can just imagine we saw a chain of command, right? 2264 01:54:03,200 --> 01:54:05,440 The military. This is a simple idea if if 2265 01:54:05,440 --> 01:54:10,640 you're working a job and and the commander in chief comes in and 2266 01:54:10,640 --> 01:54:12,720 you've been ordered to do one thing and the commander in chief 2267 01:54:12,720 --> 01:54:16,040 gives you some different orders. Those supersede your immediate 2268 01:54:16,040 --> 01:54:17,560 supervisor. That's super, you know, 2269 01:54:17,560 --> 01:54:20,320 supersedes the captain, that supersedes even maybe, you know, 2270 01:54:20,320 --> 01:54:22,120 a Colonel that's running whatever your squadron or your 2271 01:54:22,120 --> 01:54:25,000 group or your wing or, you know, I don't know what the Army, army 2272 01:54:25,080 --> 01:54:26,800 versions of it are. But like, it's pretty 2273 01:54:26,800 --> 01:54:28,600 straightforward. There's one ultimate boss. 2274 01:54:28,600 --> 01:54:30,920 We know who that person is in the executive. 2275 01:54:31,280 --> 01:54:33,320 You work at DHS, That's an executive agency. 2276 01:54:33,640 --> 01:54:35,160 So you work for Trump at the end of the day. 2277 01:54:35,160 --> 01:54:38,240 And if he came in and said no? You. 2278 01:54:38,240 --> 01:54:41,000 Know there's no there's no real argument there 100%. 2279 01:54:41,000 --> 01:54:44,160 But what you know, what Christy Noem is doing is she's, she's 2280 01:54:44,160 --> 01:54:46,200 collecting political favors, Sure. 2281 01:54:46,280 --> 01:54:48,640 And I believe she's collecting political favors and 2282 01:54:48,640 --> 01:54:50,400 endorsements. For future, it sounds like from 2283 01:54:50,400 --> 01:54:53,800 what you're saying right in 20. 28 Because while all of these 2284 01:54:53,800 --> 01:54:58,640 grants were, were paused, the, the, the Governor of Missouri 2285 01:54:58,640 --> 01:55:02,440 actually called Secretary Noam and multiple people from FEMA 2286 01:55:02,440 --> 01:55:06,240 were on this call as well. And like I said, all grants were 2287 01:55:06,240 --> 01:55:09,720 paused at this point. And the Governor of Missouri was 2288 01:55:09,720 --> 01:55:14,600 urging Secretary Noam to make an exception and turn back on 2289 01:55:14,600 --> 01:55:17,080 grants, at least just for the state of Missouri. 2290 01:55:17,720 --> 01:55:21,920 And, and, and, and she did, she actually turned on grants just 2291 01:55:21,920 --> 01:55:24,760 for Missouri because of that request from the, from the 2292 01:55:24,760 --> 01:55:29,200 governor And OMB was concerned at that point. 2293 01:55:29,320 --> 01:55:32,760 And, and this came from multiple people within FEMA that DHS was 2294 01:55:32,760 --> 01:55:35,880 going rogue with their budget and not involving the president 2295 01:55:35,880 --> 01:55:39,880 in these significant decisions, which obviously have significant 2296 01:55:39,880 --> 01:55:43,640 backlash. And in in late March, no one 2297 01:55:43,640 --> 01:55:47,560 authorized, she authorized the payments for some of these 2298 01:55:47,560 --> 01:55:52,040 grant, these grant programs. And in April, DHS and FEMA, they 2299 01:55:52,040 --> 01:55:55,560 actually received a court order directing the cessation of this 2300 01:55:55,560 --> 01:55:58,680 manual review that they were doing on some of these grants 2301 01:55:59,400 --> 01:56:01,720 and reinstatement of previous grant payments that have been 2302 01:56:01,720 --> 01:56:04,400 put on hold and legally awarded to the states. 2303 01:56:04,400 --> 01:56:09,080 But it's obvious that the secretary norm is she's running 2304 01:56:09,080 --> 01:56:13,080 around just collecting political favours for, in my opinion, her 2305 01:56:13,080 --> 01:56:16,960 run for 2028. Wagowski is running DHS. 2306 01:56:16,960 --> 01:56:18,840 He's incompetent. He should not be in the position 2307 01:56:18,840 --> 01:56:21,680 he's in. And there's some there, there's 2308 01:56:22,000 --> 01:56:25,320 some things going on there that so there's some conflicts of 2309 01:56:25,320 --> 01:56:26,960 interest. So the position that he's in, he 2310 01:56:26,960 --> 01:56:30,200 doesn't have to report financials and he's involved in 2311 01:56:30,200 --> 01:56:34,160 a lot of contracts. And I'm not going to make any 2312 01:56:34,160 --> 01:56:35,960 accusations because I don't want to get sued. 2313 01:56:36,400 --> 01:56:37,640 Yeah. But I can tell you when you're 2314 01:56:37,640 --> 01:56:40,800 in charge of the entire DHS budget and then you're also 2315 01:56:41,080 --> 01:56:46,120 associated with contracts that involve DHS, that's of conflict 2316 01:56:46,120 --> 01:56:47,600 of interest and should not be happening. 2317 01:56:47,840 --> 01:56:49,080 There's a real ethical. Question there. 2318 01:56:49,080 --> 01:56:51,240 I feel like I can turn you over to some people that might want 2319 01:56:51,240 --> 01:56:53,760 to look into that and not from the federal side of this is 2320 01:56:53,760 --> 01:56:56,640 stuff that this is what the journalist historically used to 2321 01:56:56,640 --> 01:56:58,120 do for accountability. That's right. 2322 01:56:58,480 --> 01:56:59,720 That's what, that's what investigative. 2323 01:56:59,720 --> 01:57:02,640 Journalism actually looks like it's like, oh, you're doing 2324 01:57:02,640 --> 01:57:05,120 things that are unethical regardless of whether you're on 2325 01:57:05,120 --> 01:57:06,880 our team or not. Send them my way. 2326 01:57:06,880 --> 01:57:09,000 Man, I'm I'm going to and we're. Going to make that happen and if 2327 01:57:09,000 --> 01:57:10,680 Cameron wants to come on and talk to me, I think that was a 2328 01:57:10,680 --> 01:57:13,000 great tee up of what his story looks like and and why. 2329 01:57:13,000 --> 01:57:15,120 And I've been meaning to talk to him for probably a year and a 2330 01:57:15,120 --> 01:57:16,560 half now. So that's a easy thing. 2331 01:57:16,960 --> 01:57:19,320 If I I just want. To I just want to reiterate, 2332 01:57:19,320 --> 01:57:23,080 man, all of these details that I know they didn't come 2333 01:57:23,080 --> 01:57:25,760 specifically from Cameron. I know that's terrible people at 2334 01:57:25,760 --> 01:57:29,360 senior levels within FEMA who have all corroborated this, not 2335 01:57:29,360 --> 01:57:33,960 just one person. So I'm not sure if if if he will 2336 01:57:33,960 --> 01:57:36,960 come on and he he was actually transferred to another position. 2337 01:57:37,680 --> 01:57:39,040 That's fair, if he. Wants to come talk. 2338 01:57:39,040 --> 01:57:41,360 He's got a spot here. There's always a space to to to 2339 01:57:41,360 --> 01:57:43,520 tell the story. I want to. 2340 01:57:44,080 --> 01:57:48,360 I want to end with a couple of thoughts #1 how, how are things 2341 01:57:48,360 --> 01:57:52,400 going now as you sit there? You, you know, you're, you got 2342 01:57:52,400 --> 01:57:55,200 terminated like a couple days ago, your contract did. 2343 01:57:55,640 --> 01:57:59,040 So how, how are you doing and can people support you and 2344 01:57:59,040 --> 01:58:00,600 what's the status? Just give me kind of an update 2345 01:58:00,600 --> 01:58:01,840 on that. Yeah, I'll, I'll. 2346 01:58:01,880 --> 01:58:04,960 End with with with with that because I didn't even talk about 2347 01:58:04,960 --> 01:58:07,480 me being fired yet. So sorry. 2348 01:58:07,880 --> 01:58:10,160 I jumped the gun, but I've read it and I think a lot of my 2349 01:58:10,160 --> 01:58:12,280 listeners, people actually, I said I have ADHS whistle 2350 01:58:12,520 --> 01:58:15,040 blowing, ADHS whistle blower coming on and someone said, 2351 01:58:15,240 --> 01:58:16,760 well, I hope it's Matt Strickland. 2352 01:58:16,760 --> 01:58:19,280 That's a good guess. So I, my, my chat was on to this 2353 01:58:19,280 --> 01:58:21,120 earlier this week. Sweet. 2354 01:58:21,320 --> 01:58:25,360 So I I I put a post out when Cameron was fired in support of 2355 01:58:25,360 --> 01:58:28,440 Cameron. I didn't say anything that 2356 01:58:28,440 --> 01:58:30,320 violated the contract I was working on. 2357 01:58:30,760 --> 01:58:32,640 I didn't name any names specifically. 2358 01:58:32,680 --> 01:58:36,400 All I basically said was a vague post saying Cameron was doing 2359 01:58:36,400 --> 01:58:39,480 great things at FEMA, He shouldn't have been fired. 2360 01:58:40,040 --> 01:58:42,280 And basically that's it, that he should, I just put a post on 2361 01:58:42,280 --> 01:58:43,280 support. He should have been fired. 2362 01:58:43,280 --> 01:58:46,440 He's doing great things at FEMA. He is in support of President 2363 01:58:46,440 --> 01:58:49,440 Trump's agenda more than most people that are working for the 2364 01:58:49,440 --> 01:58:52,480 administration actually. And and that's what I put in 2365 01:58:52,480 --> 01:58:56,320 that post basically so. Last. 2366 01:58:56,320 --> 01:59:01,920 Thursday I get a call and this person told me that somebody 2367 01:59:01,920 --> 01:59:05,800 very high up in VHS was pissed off about that post I put out in 2368 01:59:05,800 --> 01:59:07,880 support of Cameron and they want me fired for it. 2369 01:59:08,760 --> 01:59:13,200 And I and I told that person, I said they can't fire me for that 2370 01:59:13,200 --> 01:59:14,440 post. That is First Amendment 2371 01:59:14,440 --> 01:59:17,080 protected speech. I didn't say anything classified 2372 01:59:17,080 --> 01:59:19,160 in that. Nothing, no proprietary 2373 01:59:19,160 --> 01:59:21,400 information. It was just my opinion that 2374 01:59:21,400 --> 01:59:22,920 Cameron Hamilton shouldn't have been fired. 2375 01:59:22,960 --> 01:59:25,320 And I'm allowed to post that on social media. 2376 01:59:25,840 --> 01:59:28,720 And I sent him a case law. I said, hey, let that person 2377 01:59:28,720 --> 01:59:31,760 that wants to be fired know that there's case law on this, and 2378 01:59:31,760 --> 01:59:35,640 they can't fire me over that. Well, that person hurried up and 2379 01:59:35,640 --> 01:59:38,920 got off the phone. And very soon after that call, 2380 01:59:38,920 --> 01:59:42,640 not even an hour later, I get a call from my company saying that 2381 01:59:43,040 --> 01:59:46,480 they got word from DHS that I'm not allowed to come on the 2382 01:59:46,480 --> 01:59:48,840 property tomorrow, which would have been Friday. 2383 01:59:49,120 --> 01:59:51,120 Yeah. And I said. 2384 01:59:51,120 --> 01:59:54,480 Why? And I knew why I knew it from 2385 01:59:54,480 --> 01:59:55,920 from that post. I said why? 2386 01:59:56,160 --> 01:59:59,840 And, and the guy that called me from my company said, I don't 2387 01:59:59,840 --> 02:00:02,200 know. All they gave me was that you're 2388 02:00:02,200 --> 02:00:04,600 not allowed to come on DHS property tomorrow. 2389 02:00:04,600 --> 02:00:06,760 So I'm suggesting you take a PTO day. 2390 02:00:07,280 --> 02:00:09,520 And I said Roger that. And I told him I said it's 2391 02:00:09,520 --> 02:00:12,720 because of this post. And I sent them the post And I 2392 02:00:12,720 --> 02:00:14,240 said, is there anything wrong with that post? 2393 02:00:14,240 --> 02:00:16,600 And they said absolutely not. There's nothing that violates 2394 02:00:16,600 --> 02:00:19,240 your contract in this post. They can't fire you for it. 2395 02:00:20,120 --> 02:00:22,560 Well, Friday comes. I get no word. 2396 02:00:23,280 --> 02:00:25,320 I called my company. Hey, did you guys hear anything? 2397 02:00:25,320 --> 02:00:28,160 They said no, nothing at all. I said, is that typical? 2398 02:00:28,160 --> 02:00:30,640 Have you ever had somebody be told they can't come on the 2399 02:00:30,640 --> 02:00:32,880 property and you weren't given a reason why? 2400 02:00:33,200 --> 02:00:35,720 And the next day, nobody from the government reaches out to 2401 02:00:35,720 --> 02:00:37,560 you. And they said absolutely not. 2402 02:00:37,560 --> 02:00:40,280 This is fucking weird. We've never had this happen 2403 02:00:40,280 --> 02:00:43,360 before, but we'll get back to you once something happens, once 2404 02:00:43,360 --> 02:00:46,200 we hear anything. Well, the next day, Saturday. 2405 02:00:46,200 --> 02:00:48,600 So this took two days. Saturday I finally get an 2406 02:00:48,600 --> 02:00:54,000 official word from my company. I'm assuming that why it took so 2407 02:00:54,000 --> 02:00:56,960 long is because they sent that post to the lawyers to review 2408 02:00:57,360 --> 02:00:59,640 and they were trying to figure out if they can legally fire me 2409 02:00:59,640 --> 02:01:01,960 over it or not 100%. Saturday I get a. 2410 02:01:01,960 --> 02:01:04,640 Call from my company like, hey, Matt finally got word while 2411 02:01:04,640 --> 02:01:08,200 you're fired. They're using the excuse that 2412 02:01:08,680 --> 02:01:12,800 you worked on things when the things that assistant secretary 2413 02:01:12,800 --> 02:01:16,080 of the program had you working on was outside of the scope of 2414 02:01:16,080 --> 02:01:18,360 your contract. So they're firing you over that. 2415 02:01:18,920 --> 02:01:20,880 And I knew immediately it was bullshit. 2416 02:01:21,440 --> 02:01:24,760 You're telling me the direction I took from the senior executive 2417 02:01:24,760 --> 02:01:28,320 on the contract following his order is why I'm being fired. 2418 02:01:29,160 --> 02:01:32,080 So that's, and everything I worked on for him, like I said, 2419 02:01:32,080 --> 02:01:35,360 was in the scope of my contract. So it was just an excuse to fire 2420 02:01:35,360 --> 02:01:37,840 me because they knew. And they, I'm assuming that 2421 02:01:37,840 --> 02:01:42,360 they, they, they, that they properly got counsel from the 2422 02:01:42,360 --> 02:01:45,000 lawyer saying you can't fire this guy over this post. 2423 02:01:45,440 --> 02:01:49,320 But my, my opinion and what I think happened is Corey 2424 02:01:49,320 --> 02:01:53,160 Lewandowski, the the maniac that he is, probably said, well, 2425 02:01:53,240 --> 02:01:55,360 you're going to find something to fire this guy over because 2426 02:01:55,360 --> 02:01:57,240 he's not coming back to DHS property. 2427 02:01:57,800 --> 02:02:01,600 And and that's I can almost. Guarantee that that phone call 2428 02:02:01,600 --> 02:02:05,360 happened, somebody called out and said find me a lawyer that's 2429 02:02:05,360 --> 02:02:07,640 going to find me an answer that's going to go the way we 2430 02:02:07,640 --> 02:02:09,200 want. Just the same way that you've 2431 02:02:09,200 --> 02:02:11,320 worked in an Intel community that knows how to find the 2432 02:02:11,320 --> 02:02:14,440 answer. No, and not my job, not my lane. 2433 02:02:14,720 --> 02:02:18,120 Yeah, somebody will pick up. You're embarrassing us. 2434 02:02:18,320 --> 02:02:21,000 We're going to figure out a way to make it our problem to to get 2435 02:02:21,000 --> 02:02:22,520 rid of you. And isn't that amazing? 2436 02:02:22,840 --> 02:02:24,880 It was fire. This guy, find a reason. 2437 02:02:25,240 --> 02:02:27,400 Exactly what you said. Yeah, predetermined. 2438 02:02:27,400 --> 02:02:31,400 Outcome go find me the the actions that that justify and 2439 02:02:31,400 --> 02:02:36,600 and substantiate it 100%. Man, so now trying to find a 2440 02:02:36,600 --> 02:02:38,600 lawyer that'll help me in this legal battle because I'm not 2441 02:02:38,600 --> 02:02:41,200 taking this laying down man and I love it. 2442 02:02:41,920 --> 02:02:43,920 I want to, I want to, I want to do the best I can to help with 2443 02:02:43,920 --> 02:02:45,320 that too. If, by the way, if you happen to 2444 02:02:45,320 --> 02:02:47,400 be listening and this is your jam, you want to get in this 2445 02:02:47,480 --> 02:02:50,080 First Amendment type stuff, there's a space for that. 2446 02:02:50,080 --> 02:02:52,240 We've got a couple of leads. Like I said, I've already 2447 02:02:52,240 --> 02:02:53,880 reached out to some folks and we're going to try to get some 2448 02:02:53,880 --> 02:02:56,080 answers there. The other answer is that they. 2449 02:02:56,080 --> 02:02:58,520 Need man, this should be an open and shut case form. 2450 02:02:58,920 --> 02:03:00,640 Yeah, the sad. Thing is, it always takes time, 2451 02:03:00,640 --> 02:03:02,600 it always takes money, and it takes a will to fight it. 2452 02:03:02,600 --> 02:03:04,640 You've got that. So that's something, yeah. 2453 02:03:04,640 --> 02:03:08,200 I don't have money, no, but you got the you got the will to go 2454 02:03:08,200 --> 02:03:09,680 forward with it. And and there are people that 2455 02:03:09,680 --> 02:03:11,240 want to see these. Where I'm at at how I'm doing, 2456 02:03:11,240 --> 02:03:15,600 man, you know I don't have I didn't have a plan when I spoke 2457 02:03:15,600 --> 02:03:19,720 up at my restaurant. I didn't have a plan when I blew 2458 02:03:19,720 --> 02:03:24,360 the whistle on those bullshit Intel reports at my job and I 2459 02:03:24,360 --> 02:03:27,880 don't have a plan now. I just I just know I need to do 2460 02:03:28,000 --> 02:03:31,000 that gut instinct. I told you yeah, I believe God 2461 02:03:31,000 --> 02:03:33,880 talks to you through. I just followed that man and 2462 02:03:33,880 --> 02:03:36,880 tried to trying to do what I thought I was there to do, which 2463 02:03:36,880 --> 02:03:39,360 is protect the American people is all I've ever done as a 2464 02:03:39,360 --> 02:03:42,520 contractor. And I didn't have a strategy and 2465 02:03:42,520 --> 02:03:44,320 a plan of this is what happens next. 2466 02:03:44,320 --> 02:03:45,720 And if they do this, I'm doing this. 2467 02:03:46,240 --> 02:03:48,040 I don't have that plan. All I know is that I need to do 2468 02:03:48,040 --> 02:03:51,240 what's right. So I'm in a position now where 2469 02:03:51,240 --> 02:03:56,120 once again, you know, I'm losing a lot of income for doing the 2470 02:03:56,120 --> 02:03:58,440 right thing. But like I said before, man, 2471 02:03:59,920 --> 02:04:02,280 I'll mow lawns if I have to. I don't give a shit. 2472 02:04:02,280 --> 02:04:05,880 But I want to be able to look my kids in the eyes and my wife and 2473 02:04:06,000 --> 02:04:08,440 look myself in the mirror and be proud of myself at the end of 2474 02:04:08,440 --> 02:04:10,520 the day. So you know anybody that needs a 2475 02:04:10,960 --> 02:04:13,160 lawn mowed man out in Fredericksburg? 2476 02:04:13,160 --> 02:04:16,800 Yeah, I love it. Let me let me put one last thing 2477 02:04:16,800 --> 02:04:18,240 in there. Is it just a kind of reflection? 2478 02:04:18,240 --> 02:04:19,480 And you tell me what you think of this. 2479 02:04:21,440 --> 02:04:24,600 What do you make of the fact that a guy who joined the Army 2480 02:04:25,320 --> 02:04:32,400 at 17 years old and, and, and you know, now you're 41 and, and 2481 02:04:32,400 --> 02:04:34,920 you're talking to people that are sub cabinet level positions 2482 02:04:34,920 --> 02:04:36,960 and you're, you're making friends with people that are on 2483 02:04:36,960 --> 02:04:39,560 the news every day. And, and you're in this actual 2484 02:04:39,560 --> 02:04:40,880 like at we're at, you're at a level. 2485 02:04:41,120 --> 02:04:43,320 It probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense of that 17 year old 2486 02:04:43,320 --> 02:04:44,280 kid. Do you ever have that moment 2487 02:04:44,280 --> 02:04:46,120 where you sit back and go like, how the hell did I get here? 2488 02:04:46,680 --> 02:04:49,080 I do. I do, you know, I have a have a, 2489 02:04:49,520 --> 02:04:51,520 you know, I have those moments like I told you about when I 2490 02:04:51,520 --> 02:04:54,720 walk into the office as an Intel analyst and I've never been an 2491 02:04:54,720 --> 02:04:57,200 Intel analyst where I think I don't belong here. 2492 02:04:57,680 --> 02:05:00,120 I'm not supposed to be here. Everybody's smarter than me. 2493 02:05:00,880 --> 02:05:03,320 When I actually meet these people that are on TV, these 2494 02:05:03,360 --> 02:05:06,520 people in these high level cabinet positions, Yeah, I 2495 02:05:06,520 --> 02:05:08,840 realized very quickly, oh, I am supposed to be here. 2496 02:05:08,840 --> 02:05:11,360 These people are not impressive at all whatsoever. 2497 02:05:11,680 --> 02:05:15,120 These people are liars. These people are here for self 2498 02:05:15,120 --> 02:05:17,160 gay. These people are here to make 2499 02:05:17,160 --> 02:05:19,600 money and that's it. Honestly, you know, the, the 2500 02:05:19,600 --> 02:05:22,480 deep state that people talk about the establishment, 2501 02:05:22,760 --> 02:05:26,160 whatever you want to call them, there's some people who are 2502 02:05:26,160 --> 02:05:29,720 nefarious and actually trying to do things to hurt people 100%. 2503 02:05:30,400 --> 02:05:34,520 But the vast majority of them are just are greedy, they're 2504 02:05:34,520 --> 02:05:38,960 power hungry and they'll do anything it takes to to make a 2505 02:05:38,960 --> 02:05:41,480 lot of money. And, and that's what it comes 2506 02:05:41,480 --> 02:05:44,240 down to. And these people are, they're 2507 02:05:44,240 --> 02:05:45,720 not intelligent. Like I said, they're not 2508 02:05:45,720 --> 02:05:47,240 impressive. So when I get around these 2509 02:05:47,240 --> 02:05:51,800 people and I meet these people and, and, and I think this 17 2510 02:05:51,800 --> 02:05:54,160 year old kid from the neighborhoods I'm, I'm from 2511 02:05:54,160 --> 02:05:57,240 shouldn't be here. I pretty quickly realized that, 2512 02:05:57,440 --> 02:06:01,840 oh shit, yeah, I I should be here because these these people 2513 02:06:01,840 --> 02:06:04,720 are the reason why we're in a position that we're in as a 2514 02:06:04,720 --> 02:06:06,240 country. And there's very few people 2515 02:06:06,560 --> 02:06:08,160 actually represent the American people. 2516 02:06:08,160 --> 02:06:12,000 And that's why I love Tom Holman so much, because he's, he's one 2517 02:06:12,000 --> 02:06:15,000 of those genuine people that don't give a shit. 2518 02:06:15,000 --> 02:06:17,800 We'll, we'll absolutely get fired for doing the right thing 2519 02:06:17,800 --> 02:06:20,560 for the American people. And I know not a lot of people 2520 02:06:20,560 --> 02:06:21,720 know them. They just know them from being 2521 02:06:21,720 --> 02:06:23,680 on TV and such. But I can tell you right now 2522 02:06:23,680 --> 02:06:25,720 that that dude's got your best interest in hand. 2523 02:06:26,120 --> 02:06:29,200 And I wish everybody in government was like him, but 2524 02:06:29,200 --> 02:06:32,040 unfortunately 98% of people aren't. 2525 02:06:32,600 --> 02:06:33,760 Yeah, no. They never will be. 2526 02:06:33,760 --> 02:06:36,000 And the other fun thing is, is all those people that you, you 2527 02:06:36,000 --> 02:06:37,800 wonder whether or not you should be in the same room. 2528 02:06:37,800 --> 02:06:39,720 They wouldn't have survived the things that you've survived. 2529 02:06:39,720 --> 02:06:42,040 It becomes really obvious when you start meeting folks like 2530 02:06:42,040 --> 02:06:43,320 that. I've had similar experiences. 2531 02:06:43,320 --> 02:06:46,320 So I, I appreciate your assessment on that too. 2532 02:06:46,320 --> 02:06:49,400 It's like I said, it's one more, it's one more just confirmation 2533 02:06:49,400 --> 02:06:51,560 of something that. Everyone. 2534 02:06:51,560 --> 02:06:54,040 Expects that these people are heroes and they've got a name 2535 02:06:54,040 --> 02:06:55,960 they recognize and therefore they're going to go do something 2536 02:06:55,960 --> 02:06:57,240 for you. At the end of the day, most of 2537 02:06:57,240 --> 02:07:01,160 these people, they're self interested, you know, it's not 2538 02:07:01,160 --> 02:07:03,960 evil, not in the not in the sense that they're diabolical. 2539 02:07:03,960 --> 02:07:06,080 It's evil in the sense that they just don't have any scruples or 2540 02:07:06,080 --> 02:07:07,960 moral and they're just wanted. Well, let me ask you A. 2541 02:07:07,960 --> 02:07:13,200 Question man, Sure. Do you ever think about why it's 2542 02:07:13,200 --> 02:07:17,040 always the same names that are picked for certain positions? 2543 02:07:17,320 --> 02:07:22,400 Especially now when in the past five years, so many true 2544 02:07:22,400 --> 02:07:25,720 patriots have stepped up and done the right things for 2545 02:07:26,600 --> 02:07:29,680 America and the American people that should be in certain 2546 02:07:29,680 --> 02:07:31,840 positions. Do you ever ask yourself, why is 2547 02:07:31,840 --> 02:07:34,360 it always the same people that are nominated for these 2548 02:07:34,360 --> 02:07:36,360 positions and we get the same result? 2549 02:07:36,640 --> 02:07:39,840 Why aren't some of these people who have been willing to give up 2550 02:07:39,840 --> 02:07:43,080 everything, like the people who were kicked out of the military 2551 02:07:43,080 --> 02:07:46,480 for not taking the, you know, the the COVID vaccine? 2552 02:07:46,480 --> 02:07:49,320 Why aren't some of those people promoted to some of these high 2553 02:07:49,320 --> 02:07:50,400 positions? Why? 2554 02:07:50,400 --> 02:07:51,000 Yeah. You know. 2555 02:07:51,280 --> 02:07:53,680 I mean, I have an instinct. It's the most cynical instinct 2556 02:07:53,680 --> 02:07:55,920 there is, though. Yeah, I'm with. 2557 02:07:55,920 --> 02:07:57,920 You, I think we got the same instinct on that, man. 2558 02:07:57,920 --> 02:08:00,000 You know what? Next time you're in the DC area, 2559 02:08:00,000 --> 02:08:01,480 we better go get a fucking beer, man. 2560 02:08:01,840 --> 02:08:03,720 You know it's a it's. A deal, it's a done deal. 2561 02:08:03,720 --> 02:08:06,080 I hate being in DC, so it'd be nice to stand around someone 2562 02:08:06,080 --> 02:08:09,040 that I don't hate being around. My, my, my worst instinct is 2563 02:08:09,040 --> 02:08:12,600 always that some of these people have no other choice but to do 2564 02:08:12,600 --> 02:08:15,800 that that kind of work. And and for whatever reason, and 2565 02:08:15,800 --> 02:08:18,200 maybe this is maybe the worst thing because cynically I can 2566 02:08:18,200 --> 02:08:20,480 look at other people and say those are crappy actors or bad 2567 02:08:20,480 --> 02:08:23,200 people and I don't I don't want them in charge anything. 2568 02:08:23,200 --> 02:08:27,080 But the other problem is, is that Americans, and maybe this 2569 02:08:27,080 --> 02:08:29,080 is the legacy that we learned from COVID, maybe you and I 2570 02:08:29,080 --> 02:08:32,440 learned the same lesson. Americans desperately want a 2571 02:08:32,440 --> 02:08:34,320 king. They want someone to say that 2572 02:08:34,320 --> 02:08:36,320 it's all going to be all right. They don't want personal 2573 02:08:36,320 --> 02:08:38,360 responsibility to do the hard thing on their own. 2574 02:08:38,640 --> 02:08:41,520 And then the worst part of it to me is as long as they feel like 2575 02:08:41,520 --> 02:08:44,280 they can root for their team, it doesn't matter if their team 2576 02:08:44,280 --> 02:08:46,320 does the right thing when it happens. 2577 02:08:46,320 --> 02:08:48,920 Well, you're absolutely. Right, babe, we got an idolatry. 2578 02:08:48,920 --> 02:08:51,080 Problem is what I call it. They want somebody. 2579 02:08:51,080 --> 02:08:52,560 Else to do the hard part for them. 2580 02:08:52,840 --> 02:08:55,880 That's right. In all actuality, you know, like 2581 02:08:55,880 --> 02:08:59,320 if I wasn't the only restaurant in Virginia to do what I did, if 2582 02:08:59,400 --> 02:09:01,960 a hundred other restaurants stood up and said no, there 2583 02:09:02,160 --> 02:09:03,960 would have been nothing that they could have done about it. 2584 02:09:04,600 --> 02:09:06,320 Same 100%. Same. 2585 02:09:06,320 --> 02:09:08,840 There's no reason why people should know your name, because 2586 02:09:08,840 --> 02:09:12,240 what you did should have been common in the same way that 2587 02:09:12,240 --> 02:09:13,640 exactly. It's the same story. 2588 02:09:13,640 --> 02:09:16,440 For me, there's nothing exciting or exceptional about what I did, 2589 02:09:16,440 --> 02:09:18,120 in my opinion. You know what the craziest? 2590 02:09:18,120 --> 02:09:23,480 Thing is, is after I won in court, COVID mandates were still 2591 02:09:23,480 --> 02:09:25,240 in place. I thought for sure when I walked 2592 02:09:25,240 --> 02:09:27,760 out of that courtroom and I proved these mandates were 2593 02:09:27,760 --> 02:09:30,360 unconstitutional, I thought for sure the next day all 2594 02:09:30,360 --> 02:09:32,160 restaurants would would do what I did. 2595 02:09:32,560 --> 02:09:35,160 None of them did man. They still followed those 2596 02:09:35,160 --> 02:09:39,080 mandates even after I proved in court what I proved and it just 2597 02:09:39,080 --> 02:09:41,680 meant it. It doesn't compute in my head. 2598 02:09:41,680 --> 02:09:44,120 I don't have an answer for it. People ask me why do you think 2599 02:09:44,120 --> 02:09:46,640 that is? Man, I don't even have the space 2600 02:09:46,640 --> 02:09:51,520 in my mind to go into uncovering of reason that makes sense to 2601 02:09:51,520 --> 02:09:52,360 me. It doesn't make sense. 2602 02:09:52,360 --> 02:09:55,400 And like for you wouldn't have the gun, you wouldn't have to 2603 02:09:55,440 --> 02:09:57,640 have done what you did as an FBI agent. 2604 02:09:58,000 --> 02:10:01,240 If you know there were 100 FBI agents that did what you did, 2605 02:10:01,240 --> 02:10:04,600 there'd be too many of you guys to to target, to prosecute. 2606 02:10:05,000 --> 02:10:08,040 But unfortunately, men, there's not a lot of Kyle Seraphin's in 2607 02:10:08,040 --> 02:10:11,400 the FBI or or in the USG as a whole. 2608 02:10:11,480 --> 02:10:14,520 And that's the reason why they can put all the resources they 2609 02:10:14,520 --> 02:10:17,880 want to target you and, and get you up out of there, man. 2610 02:10:18,000 --> 02:10:18,880 Yeah. And the saddest? 2611 02:10:18,880 --> 02:10:21,200 Thing is, is one, it was effective because it got rid of 2612 02:10:21,200 --> 02:10:22,720 me and everybody got the message the same way. 2613 02:10:22,720 --> 02:10:24,680 They just got the message that anybody that was feeling the 2614 02:10:24,680 --> 02:10:28,200 same way you were in your Intel shop, they realize, hey, shut 2615 02:10:28,200 --> 02:10:30,840 your mouth or lose your job. Those are the two options. 2616 02:10:30,840 --> 02:10:34,680 It's very straightforward. So if you want this paycheck 2617 02:10:34,680 --> 02:10:38,120 every two weeks, that's it. We used to say that some of 2618 02:10:38,120 --> 02:10:40,320 these people don't love service. They don't love America. 2619 02:10:40,320 --> 02:10:43,000 They just love seeing that that golden eagle take a shit in 2620 02:10:43,000 --> 02:10:44,320 their bank account every two weeks. 2621 02:10:44,320 --> 02:10:46,120 That's. Weird, I actually had a guy 2622 02:10:46,120 --> 02:10:47,560 tell. Me that about one of our one of 2623 02:10:47,560 --> 02:10:50,840 our long time 25 year, we call him 25 year mistakes FBI agent 2624 02:10:50,840 --> 02:10:52,720 that just he's been there too long to get rid of. 2625 02:10:52,720 --> 02:10:54,640 So he'll be there until he retires when he wants to. 2626 02:10:55,080 --> 02:10:56,840 And I said, you know what does he like working? 2627 02:10:56,840 --> 02:10:58,000 Does he doesn't care about the mission? 2628 02:10:58,000 --> 02:10:59,880 Does he care about anything? And they go, man, he just loves 2629 02:10:59,880 --> 02:11:02,840 seeing that golden eagle shit in his bank account and he just go 2630 02:11:03,120 --> 02:11:06,240 what a disgustingly pathetic. There's better ways to make 2631 02:11:06,240 --> 02:11:07,760 money than being in the United States government. 2632 02:11:07,760 --> 02:11:09,440 There really are the the reason the. 2633 02:11:09,440 --> 02:11:12,120 Problem is like working for the United States government should 2634 02:11:12,120 --> 02:11:15,320 be such a noble thing to you, you should brag about it. 2635 02:11:15,920 --> 02:11:17,520 Yeah. And when somebody tells you they 2636 02:11:17,520 --> 02:11:19,480 work for the United States government, you should say, oh, 2637 02:11:19,720 --> 02:11:22,480 holy shit, that's a sharp dude. That's that's somebody that 2638 02:11:22,480 --> 02:11:24,520 loves America. And there's now now. 2639 02:11:24,520 --> 02:11:26,480 I know it's somebody that doesn't have any other common 2640 02:11:26,480 --> 02:11:28,440 sense or capabilities. They could never start their own 2641 02:11:28,440 --> 02:11:31,440 business or their own restaurant that this is the only option 2642 02:11:31,440 --> 02:11:33,320 they had. And if you take it away from 2643 02:11:33,320 --> 02:11:35,280 them, then you're going to be paying them on welfare. 2644 02:11:35,280 --> 02:11:38,040 It's a my buddy calls it a glorified jobs program and it's 2645 02:11:38,040 --> 02:11:39,800 just basically welfare by another name. 2646 02:11:39,800 --> 02:11:41,480 And I don't disagree with most of those jobs. 2647 02:11:41,720 --> 02:11:43,360 It's highly paid. Welfare is what it is. 2648 02:11:43,360 --> 02:11:44,520 Yeah, it is. Yeah, with. 2649 02:11:44,680 --> 02:11:47,000 With the dignity of not pretending like you, you have to 2650 02:11:47,000 --> 02:11:48,880 accept the dole even though you don't provide any service for 2651 02:11:48,880 --> 02:11:49,920 anybody. That's. 2652 02:11:50,320 --> 02:11:52,560 You're exactly right, man. And, and, and, and the 2653 02:11:52,560 --> 02:11:55,680 disappointing part is there's a lot of sharp people that do work 2654 02:11:55,680 --> 02:11:57,640 for the government. I've seen, I met them, I talked 2655 02:11:57,640 --> 02:12:01,120 to them and they just are beholden to this paycheck, man. 2656 02:12:01,120 --> 02:12:02,920 Well, they're a threat. They're. 2657 02:12:02,920 --> 02:12:04,560 Also a threat. To anybody that sucks. 2658 02:12:04,560 --> 02:12:06,920 So like, God forbid you step out and try to do something and, 2659 02:12:06,920 --> 02:12:09,960 and, and be exceptional, because if you do, you're the problem. 2660 02:12:10,400 --> 02:12:12,480 You are a problem as an exceptional human being. 2661 02:12:12,480 --> 02:12:14,760 Like they don't need that. Nobody wants to see exceptional 2662 02:12:14,760 --> 02:12:15,720 people. That's a good. 2663 02:12:15,760 --> 02:12:17,640 That's a good. Point man, I, I hope you know 2664 02:12:17,680 --> 02:12:21,000 some of you, you government folks watching contractors or 2665 02:12:21,000 --> 02:12:25,680 blue Badgers, whoever you are, that are sharp and that actually 2666 02:12:25,680 --> 02:12:28,880 do love this country, but maybe haven't stood up and said 2667 02:12:28,880 --> 02:12:33,240 something because of self preservation. 2668 02:12:33,240 --> 02:12:37,520 I hope you guys change your mind here at some point soon and, and 2669 02:12:37,520 --> 02:12:39,760 start doing what you're really there for, which is working for 2670 02:12:39,760 --> 02:12:43,520 the American people. And I, I promise you once you do 2671 02:12:43,520 --> 02:12:45,520 it, you'll feel much better about yourself. 2672 02:12:45,760 --> 02:12:48,200 That's right, immediately, instantly you'll feel much 2673 02:12:48,200 --> 02:12:49,880 better about yourself. And I know there's a lot of 2674 02:12:49,880 --> 02:12:52,640 patriots still working for the US government and there's a lot 2675 02:12:52,640 --> 02:12:54,560 of smart people working for the US government. 2676 02:12:54,800 --> 02:12:56,560 I just want you to prove that to us, man. 2677 02:12:56,560 --> 02:12:59,880 Step up and and do what you're there for, representing me and 2678 02:12:59,880 --> 02:13:03,160 everybody else who's on the outside, hoping you're doing 2679 02:13:03,720 --> 02:13:05,800 what you should be doing behind closed doors. 2680 02:13:06,400 --> 02:13:08,520 Yeah, I'll just. I'll go on record and say the 2681 02:13:08,520 --> 02:13:12,560 pay is shit but but the feeling of of of doing the right thing 2682 02:13:12,560 --> 02:13:15,160 is good. So they kind of balance out. 2683 02:13:15,720 --> 02:13:17,680 The road is tough too. And you wonder. 2684 02:13:17,680 --> 02:13:21,080 Why all of these famous people that have millions of dollars 2685 02:13:21,120 --> 02:13:24,360 are the most depressed people? Because money can't buy 2686 02:13:24,360 --> 02:13:26,040 happiness. No, it can't buy. 2687 02:13:26,040 --> 02:13:27,800 Integrity either can it it can't buy. 2688 02:13:27,800 --> 02:13:30,240 Integrity, it can't buy time. You know, it's like the old, 2689 02:13:30,280 --> 02:13:35,520 the, the, the analogy. If, if I gave you $1,000,000, 2690 02:13:35,720 --> 02:13:38,320 would that make you happy? You would say, yeah. 2691 02:13:38,760 --> 02:13:41,920 And I'd say, well, how about I give you $100 million? 2692 02:13:42,040 --> 02:13:44,720 Would that help you out? You'd say, yeah, but what if I 2693 02:13:44,720 --> 02:13:50,640 said I'll give you $100 million? What that means your life ends 2694 02:13:50,640 --> 02:13:52,320 in two weeks. Would you take that deal? 2695 02:13:52,600 --> 02:13:55,000 Nobody takes it. Nobody takes that deal because 2696 02:13:55,440 --> 02:13:59,680 time is way more important than money and, and, and so is 2697 02:13:59,680 --> 02:14:02,080 integrity and being able to look at yourself in the mirror. 2698 02:14:02,080 --> 02:14:06,240 So people, just please understand how, how deep and how 2699 02:14:06,240 --> 02:14:09,880 meaningful that analogy is, man. And, and, and take it to heart 2700 02:14:09,880 --> 02:14:11,800 and, and start doing the right thing. 2701 02:14:11,840 --> 02:14:13,200 And you know what the right thing is. 2702 02:14:13,200 --> 02:14:15,680 And I promise you'll, you'll feel much better about yourself. 2703 02:14:16,280 --> 02:14:19,600 You might have a smaller banker bank, smaller bank account, but 2704 02:14:20,920 --> 02:14:23,200 you'll sleep so much more soundly at night. 2705 02:14:23,200 --> 02:14:25,240 You won't need that CPAP machine, I promise you. 2706 02:14:26,720 --> 02:14:28,640 So good. You got a friend here, Matt. 2707 02:14:28,640 --> 02:14:30,200 I appreciate you spending all this time with me. 2708 02:14:30,360 --> 02:14:33,600 Thanks for working through the exciting power outage we just 2709 02:14:33,600 --> 02:14:35,680 had, which was fun too. And yeah, I'm glad HRT. 2710 02:14:35,680 --> 02:14:37,960 Didn't Buster your door, man? I thought that man, me, you and. 2711 02:14:37,960 --> 02:14:39,600 Me both. Like you say, you sleep more 2712 02:14:39,600 --> 02:14:41,760 soundly, except when you start thinking about the tactical team 2713 02:14:41,760 --> 02:14:43,400 that might be prepping to come through your tort. 2714 02:14:43,400 --> 02:14:45,480 That doesn't make you sleep soundly at all. 2715 02:14:46,000 --> 02:14:48,040 Thanks I. Appreciate that brother, and 2716 02:14:48,440 --> 02:14:50,240 hopefully we will have the chance to get together in 2717 02:14:50,240 --> 02:14:52,680 person, man, and I hope so too, yeah. 2718 02:14:52,840 --> 02:14:54,360 Yeah, open, open line of communication. 2719 02:14:54,360 --> 02:14:56,680 You reach out anytime I can help you and same I'll do the same. 2720 02:14:56,880 --> 02:14:58,280 Sounds good all. Right, thank you, brother. 2721 02:14:58,520 --> 02:14:59,560 All right, buddy, have. A good one. 2722 02:15:00,280 --> 02:15:03,840 And that's the Sunday sit down with Matt Strickland, a true 2723 02:15:03,840 --> 02:15:07,520 suspendable friend. I didn't know that we were going 2724 02:15:07,520 --> 02:15:09,640 to have so much in common. I love finding out that there 2725 02:15:09,640 --> 02:15:11,640 are people out there that have the same ideas, they saw the 2726 02:15:11,640 --> 02:15:14,560 same things that many of you did that I did, and they made the 2727 02:15:14,560 --> 02:15:16,840 same decisions and many of us did as well. 2728 02:15:16,840 --> 02:15:19,280 Which is that? What is it worth if you can't 2729 02:15:19,280 --> 02:15:23,480 look your kids in the eye and be honest and proud of your actions 2730 02:15:23,640 --> 02:15:26,320 and know that you at least took the fight to the enemy where 2731 02:15:26,320 --> 02:15:28,720 they were when they came at your door and you didn't cower and 2732 02:15:28,720 --> 02:15:30,600 wait and hope that somebody would come and save you? 2733 02:15:31,960 --> 02:15:34,160 It's a good message. It's as good as any for Memorial 2734 02:15:34,160 --> 02:15:36,080 Day. God bless you guys want to check 2735 02:15:36,080 --> 02:15:39,080 out the show You'd always do so during the regular weekday 2736 02:15:39,080 --> 02:15:40,840 shows. I'd appreciate it if you did at 2737 02:15:40,840 --> 02:15:43,400 rumble.com/kyle Serifin. That's the easiest way to do it. 2738 02:15:43,400 --> 02:15:45,960 If you're watching this and you have not hit a like yet, that's 2739 02:15:45,960 --> 02:15:47,240 the thumbs up. Please do so. 2740 02:15:47,480 --> 02:15:49,440 Same thing over on YouTube. We really appreciate the new 2741 02:15:49,440 --> 02:15:51,280 viewers over there. It's making a big difference 2742 02:15:51,680 --> 02:15:55,080 over 10,000 and climbing right now. youtube.com slash at Kyle 2743 02:15:55,080 --> 02:15:57,200 Serifin. It's so easy to get the show a 2744 02:15:57,200 --> 02:16:00,640 day early if you're so inclined and you can do so by going to 2745 02:16:00,640 --> 02:16:02,640 our locals channel. And that's just locals. 2746 02:16:03,120 --> 02:16:06,840 It's it's Kyle serifin.com rather, Spotify is the easiest 2747 02:16:06,840 --> 02:16:09,200 way to take it with you and that's Kyle seraphinshow.com. 2748 02:16:09,200 --> 02:16:11,040 If you ever want to get the link right there or if you want to 2749 02:16:11,040 --> 02:16:12,840 share it with a friend, we'd really appreciate it if you did 2750 02:16:13,000 --> 02:16:15,760 like share, subscribe, comment, etcetera. 2751 02:16:15,760 --> 02:16:18,000 You guys know how to do it. All those things boost us up in 2752 02:16:18,000 --> 02:16:19,960 the algorithm. Leave us a five star review, if 2753 02:16:19,960 --> 02:16:21,720 that's an option where you're at, whether you're on Apple or 2754 02:16:21,720 --> 02:16:23,640 whether you're on Spotify, all those things are very 2755 02:16:23,640 --> 02:16:24,960 appreciated. We always grow a little bit 2756 02:16:24,960 --> 02:16:27,360 there and it does help the show rankings. 2757 02:16:27,360 --> 02:16:30,520 So that's it for me today. I hope you guys have a peaceful 2758 02:16:30,800 --> 02:16:34,879 and thought provoking and and a joyous Memorial Day because 2759 02:16:34,879 --> 02:16:38,080 those who allow something and left it all in the field out 2760 02:16:38,080 --> 02:16:40,400 there. All the people I know. 2761 02:16:40,400 --> 02:16:42,200 That serve this country. They wanted you to be able to 2762 02:16:42,200 --> 02:16:44,879 enjoy it. Remember them, but also 2763 02:16:44,879 --> 02:16:46,480 celebrate your families that you're still there with. 2764 02:16:47,200 --> 02:16:50,400 All right, God bless. See you again on Monday. 2765 02:16:50,400 --> 02:16:52,320 On Memorial Day proper, we'll do something special. 2766 02:16:54,400 --> 02:16:56,639 Thank you for listening. To the Kyle Seraphin Show, 2767 02:16:56,639 --> 02:17:00,559 streamed live weekdays on rumble.com/kyle Seraphin. 2768 02:17:00,680 --> 02:17:04,680 Follow Kyle on Twitter, True Social and Instagram at Kyle 2769 02:17:04,680 --> 02:17:05,280 Seraphin.